Chasing Rachel

Whoa, two entries in the same day. This one coming from Colorado, where the word of the day is "Mama." Not really, it just seems that way. Daddy spent all day trying to wear Rachel out so hopefully she'll sleep well tonight. I wanted to update everyone on some super fun moments we've had this weekend - sorry the photos are more limited than usual. This is a stories blog.

Saturday
After dropping Meggs off at the bus stop so she could catch the shuttle to the airport, Rachel fell asleep 5 second into our drive to Lafayette so I drove around checking things out. Finally she woke up and we explored the model home (again) and Rachel had a great time pointing out things like the giant balloon that advertises the development. It generally floats right above where our house will be - fun.

Eventually we made our way to Centaurus (my school) where we were scheduled to participate in the Warrior Marble Relay to raise money for the CHS track team and the family of a student who has been undergoing treatment for leukemia since the fall. Immediately upon arrival, Rachel was a hit. We set up the Chariot, and took off running. I was determined to get in as many of our scheduled miles in before R became fed up with the chariot. My fears were unfounded, however, as she loved it! "Yay" "Go!" "Windy" (there was a headwind on the back stretch) and "Hi" were constantly heard coming from the front of the chariot. After half an hour, however, we got a flat tire! We went over to the nearest bike shop (right outside school) and had rude service and were overcharged by the guy -- won't go to Joe's Bike shop ever again. Back to the track. Ran some more, and Rachel remained happy and pleasant. As we approached our 10th mile, we had another flat! I was frustrated at the bike shop guy, but after examination with some helpers, we determined that the rim tape on the tire was terrible and we called it a day based on mechanical difficulties. After eating our free Chipotle burrito (R was a big help) and saying hi to everyone and running all around the track infield, we completed one more lap to bring our daily total to 10. The team raised a ton of money and several track guys ran marathons -- brought back memories of my own first marathon, the Shamrock in Virginia Beach, almost exactly 14 years ago. Home to hang out, play, and destroy the house.

Sunday

Started our day by going for a walk with Janny and Finn near NIST. We stopped at a creek and threw rocks for a while before meeting a friendly man with his puppy for a while. R was so excited to keep petting the puppy! To the park for fun before lunchtime, then Daddy biked us downtown (Rachel fell asleep). Rachel did help pump up the tire inside before we left. Read on Pearl Street park for a while before decided R was going to stay asleep and just came home. At home we had great fun unpacking hats and gloves and trying them on. Daddy tried on one particular hat of Rachel's, which was too small. She said "Help!" and reached up to try to pull it down onto my head farther, and then struggled to fasten the strap while seeming frustrated that she couldn't get her hat to work for Daddy.

Rachel had a snack outside, and enjoyed walking around and waving in the wind. Went to the pool after that, which was fun. Rachel went down the big slide, the small slide, and swam the lazy river. She could live at the pool. Cutest story from this evening, after dinner. As I was putting away dishes, Rachel took Nunu (her blanket), put him in the hiking backpack, then proceeded to say "Please...Okay!" about 8 times. When I checked on here I realized she was offering him water from the backpack, then feeding it to him.She had done the same with an empty snack wrapper and some crackers. So cute. :)

Wish us luck in our week without Mommy!

CMPT COMPT or FAAOMPT?

I'm writing this in Benton Harbor, Michigan.  I'm here on a spinal manipulation course that runs for 6 days.  This post is a bit about the travel and a bit about the training.  Nothing about Rachel or Jason because they are at home together.

Travel Sat.  Bus from Boulder to Denver airport (1hr - $13).  Fly Frontier airlines to Midway, Chicago (flight $126) .  Rent a car (sweet Fiat) and drive.  Fiat cost about $250 for the week.  Dinner: 7-11 sandwich($5).  Get change for toll roads.  Drive 2.5 hours through tolls($5.60), through Indiana and into Michigan.  Check off 3 new states.  Arrive at Motel 6 in Benton Harbor.  Room is $35.99 per night.  Pretty basic.  Free wi-fi is the best part.

Course started 8am Sunday.  Tuition $1000.  Wake up and confuse myself about what time zone I'm in (answer - Eastern, not Central as I had thought).  Go to Walmart and buy a few things for breakfast/snacks.  Drive 15 min to Andrews University for the course.  It's a beautiful, small town, green grass, friendly place.  83 degrees for the high today. Course taught be Erl Pettman, a Canadian PT who lives in Abotsford BC and teaches for the American NAIOMT system.  All day we learn lots of didactic stuff and practice 3 spinal manipulations on the upper cervical spine.  Subway for lunch ($7).  Done at 4:30pm.  Drive to Michigan lake beachfront and run on the beach.  Go to Steak N Shake for dinner ($6).  Walk around the yucky strip mall area around my hotel in Vibrams enjoying sunshine.  Hang out in motel room by myself for night.  Repeat similar Mon-Fri then fly home late Fri night.

I will not include anything in here about what I learned today except to say that the human body is absolutely amazing to me and I'm continually impressed by how fantastic it is... and I am so inspired by how much knowledge the instructors that teach have and just think they are phenomenal therapists and educators to be able to understand and deliver information so succinctly and 'on the fly'.

All of this course process is in order to 1) be a better PT and 2) finish a process I had started in Canada.

In Canada, I started the Canadian manual therapy levels system to becoming a Fellow.  I did level 1, level 2 (24 days of course, exams, and mentor hours), level 3 (another 24 days of course, exams, and mentor hours), a written exam (lots of studying), lots of group and mentoship study hours, and a practical exam.  After that I received something called an 'Intermediate Diploma in Manual and Manipulative Therapy'.  The USA equivalent in this NAIOMT system is a CMPT or a Certified Manual Physical Therapist.  I completed all of this in March 2010.  Some people refer to this level in Canada as the Part A or the Resident level (RCAMPT).

In Canada, if you say 'manual therapy' to a PT, that means mobilizing or manipulating a joint.  Moving one bone on another to produce more movement.  Manipulating often produces a popping or cracking sound and everyone thinks of chiropractors as doing this.  In the USA, manual therapy means anything you do with your hands, from massage to mobilizations to dry needling, but in these courses it is moving one bone on another.  After completing the level 3 exams, it means that I was certified as competent in the peripheral techniques - arms, legs, hands, feet.  Level 4 and beyond are all dedicated to manipulating the spine.

If I were to remain living in Canada, I would have continued on to complete Level 4 and 5 and find more mentorship hours and do another practical exam, and then I would have my 'Advanced Diploma in Manual and Manipulative Therapy' and become a Fellow or FCAMPT... recognized internationally and very well respected.

In the USA, I have a few options.  One I am not exploring is to take a University based Fellowship program because I've already done so much of the coursework in Canada.  I am currently taking the final level 4 spinal manipulations course.  Next I can:

1) Finish the course, know that material, and stop spending money on these courses and be done.  Use the letters CMPT behind my name, complete my board certification exam to also get OCS behind my name, and enjoy my family, travel, and our new house.  Also take other courses.  With this level of training I can do some minimal amount of teaching.

2) Finish the course and register for the oral/practical exam later this year.  This exam would cost me another $1250 to write, would require lots of studying, traveling to either Michigan or Portland in the fall to do it, and hopefully pass.  Then I would earn the right to use 'COMT' or Certified Orthopedic Manipulative Therapist behind my name.  Also do the OCS board certification.  This level of training would allow me to pursue teaching in this field and eventually becoming a certified instructor to mentor other students possibly.

3) Finish the course, complete the exam, and register to do a Fellowship.  Sign an agreement with an instructor in Denver and spend 130 hours with her on my own time, possibly paying her for some of her time out of my pocket.  Take a couple more courses, do some instruction, involve myself in some research project, and hopefully satisfy enough hours to receive a Fellowship or FAAOMPT, recognized internationally and very well respected.  This option also allows similar teaching opportunities within the USA, but would allow me to also pursue teaching in any country down the road.  I'd still pursue board examination to be OCS.  If I had access to a mentor in Boulder, I would do this for sure.  But because the nearest one is in Denver... it makes it a lot more difficult and expensive.


Confused yet?  At no point, by the way, will anyone else pay for any of this, will any of my patients understand any of these certifications, and at no point will it lead to a pay increase.


So why do I want so badly to do that Fellowship?  Is it really about the letters behind my name?  The knowledge I will gain?  The confidence it will give me as a practitioner?  The opportunities it will afford in teaching? 


We've talked before about Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO)... which is an easy thing to criticize team MOJO for... Rachel doesn't sleep well during the day when other fun things are happening because of FOMO.  Jason wants to keep running longer distances and even though I think it's completely crazy, I will support him to reach his goal of 100 miles and be really proud of him when he does.  I am a sucker for any goal that I can follow steps and achieve a goal at the end.  Jason often says I am the most goal oriented person he knows.  I'm a very focused and hard working person once I set my mind on something.  


Running a marathon last year was all about achieving that goal.  I look at any list of places to go, races to run, parks to visit, moutains to climb, waterfalls to see, etc and I want to do it.  I'm not always particularly good at the process itself and don't always enjoy the training or the studying, but I love the result of finishing or checking off a box.  For me, PT courses are like that.  I feel really close to being able to get another certification so I think I should do it.  CMPT doesn't feel like enough when I know I could almost be a COMT or even a Fellow.  There will always be more courses tempting me to learn more and be better.  I have a huge list.  It's why I have to spend my pennies so carefully while on courses and while traveling... because I want to do it again and again!

779 Westcliff Dr

779 Westcliff Dr  Lafayette, CO
That will be our new address in August because we bought a brand new house!  So far, it's dirt pile #8 on a road that doesn't exist yet according to google maps.

Our cul-de-sac and lot

But in the next 5 months it will turn into something like this:

The model

This is the model for a 'Spruce' Meritage home in the Silver Creek development.  Our house will be light green in color, with a purple front door.  We are really excited to have a 2 story house with a garage!  We have a million decisions to make in the next few weeks so it feels a little bit like it did when we were planning our wedding.  Lots of decisions.  Lots of money being spent.  Some decisions we care about and some we don't at all.

We'll have a garage!!!

So far we've made these decisions:
- insulate the garage, garage keypad, garage door opener with 2 transmitters
- no fireplace
- no security system or home theater system
- please add a cable outlet in the study
- please add an electrical outlet and mounting option for our tv to be wall mounted in the family room
- no gas appliances (we're going to have solar)
- 3 bedrooms upstairs, 2 bathrooms upstairs, laundry upstairs
- put plumbing in so we can have a laundry sink, but we'll buy our own sink later because yours is expensive
- kitchen, family room, bathroom, and study downstairs
- yes we would like glass doors going into the study
- unfinished basement with 8ft ceiling
- standard doors on rest of house
- wire for an air conditioner but we'll buy our own later
- we'll buy our own fridge, washer, and dryer
- railings on the stairs instead of a half wall
- just one sink in Rachel's bathroom
- add a door in Rachel's bathroom but not between the master bedroom and bath area
- no need for a plug in our walk in closet
- no paint upgrades because all your colors are boring
- please add an additional plug in the basement and in the garage
- no jets in the master bath
- please pre-wire each bedroom for a ceiling fan and light but we'll buy our own later because yours are too expensive
- no instant hot water in kitchen
- no drawer or under cabinet lighting
- no extra furniture or cabinets provided by the builder

We have not made any of these decisions:
- flooring
- cabinets
- window coverings
- counter tops
- tile
- kitchen sink
- faucet for kitchen sink
- lighting in kitchen and study
- pay the extra to get all items in bathrooms brushed nickel or leave as chrome?
- landscaping
- appliances choices for range, microwave oven, and dishwasher

So we have a few things to figure out!  Grandma/Susan will get to come see the model when she comes to town March 31st.  Nana/Carol will get to come and see it when she comes to town April 22nd.   Cousin Kelsey Butler will get to see it when she moves to town in July.  Aunt Karen will probably also get to see the house nearly finished in July.

Thanks for sharing in our excitement!

17 months old

I could write about the glorious 70+ degree weather we've had and the tank tops, spring dresses, and flip flops that are flowing.  I could write about the illness that Jason and everyone else I know seems to have had.  Or how great it is to actually be working and seeing my own patients again.  I could write about the new house that we are buying.  Or the packing craziness that is to be had since I fly to Chicago tomorrow and then drive to Berrien Springs, Michigan for a 6 day course on spinal manipulation.  But we know that really what people want to see is Rachel.

 Rachel's favorite toys and activities these days include: sliding at the park or pool, talking on the phone, wooden puzzles, wooden animal tower, big lego and block towers, throwing/kicking/rolling balls, pushing the vacuum plug retract button over and over, wearing and adult's hats/coats/socks/shoes, dressing her stuffies in diapers or clothes, running and being chased, ring-around-the-rosy and falling down, books, her Nunu blanket, raking or shoveling in the yard, emptying anything and putting items back, 'helping' with laundry and other chores, snuggling, coloring on paper at her table, or at her new easel, or on her own body, or on other people's clothing, or on furniture.

Things that Rachel is not as interested in: saying goodbye in the morning at daycare, having Mommy or Daddy get too far away, getting dressed, sleeping in later than 5:30am, having her hair brushed or clipped back, getting into the stroller or backpack.
We finally bought an ergo baby carrier by the way.  I got a brand new one on craigslist for $85 (they are $115 in stores).  It's a great option for travel, getting Rachel to and from daycare and leaving it there, and even for cross country skiing if we didn't want to use the chariot.  And guess what?!  So far - Rachel hates it.  We'll keep trying.

What a week!

I'm having trouble keeping up... so here goes:

VEGAS - was really fun.  The best part was definitely seeing my two friends April and Jessica.  We spent lots of our time catching up (Jessica has been living in Winnipeg and April lives in Vancouver) and talking about work (we are all physical therapists).  I even practiced dry needling on them!  We did the typical Vegas weekend and I'm really glad I did this.  But I also never feel the need to go back ... ever.  I am not a gambler.  I did enjoy having a few drinks for the first time in years, but we kept everything fairly under control.  I was impressed with how friendly everyone was.  I loved seeing the "O" show from Cirque and could have seen loads more shows.
Pictures from the trip are on my face book album:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150573718725894.377543.599030893&type=1&l=6cad608d8d

RACHEL - Jason and Rachel did really well while I was gone.  Everything went well, and they even had a fun adventure going to the zoo and then out for a run with friends.  Rachel did miss her mama... but managed just fine.  She was a little extra 'clingy' with me when I got home.  Ok, a LOT extra clingy.  But it all went well.

Rachel is learning her shapes, how to count, and even some colors.  When counting, she'll usually just repeat what you say but she says "one.... two.... FEEE!!!"  She knows that Elmo is red and Grover is blue.  She thinks everything else is green, so clearly mastering colors will take some time.  She's also learning to run away and hope you chase her, and she's got a mean arm for throwing toys.  It's funny to see what she'll pick up at daycare.  For example, she'll wave her arm at you and say 'Come on' with a sort of hispanic accent, because her main teacher is hispanic.

Sleep - Rachel sleeps every night from 7:30pm until about 5am.  She has been sleeping through the night beautifully... and 5am is better than 4:30am.  We'll see if daylight savings can help us a bit to make it to 5:30am or 6am.

DAYCARE - Rachel has attended 3 full weeks of daycare.  Tuesdays are not available at our regular place near our house, so we have arranged to take her to the temporary YWCA daycare downtown until the end of April.  Dropping her off is really hard because she screams and cries and won't say goodbye.  Often she's not that happy when we pick her up, either.  But she eats well, sleeps well, and probably has a great time when we are not there to see it.  It has really helped her nap longer.

CAR - I was in a car accident on Tues March 6th.  Another driver ran a red light and hit me as I was making a left turn.  There are many things to be thankful for:  1) I was alone in the car   2) by the time we collided we had both slowed significantly so the damage was relatively minor  3) The other driver apologized right away and admitted to the attending police officer that she ran the red accidentally 4) neither of us was hurt badly.  I have been sore and stiff, and may yet get some PT for myself.  It has been a huge headache dealing with the claims and police and doctor, etc... but it's all going to work out just fine.  Here's a picture of the damage after Jason pieced the car back together some.

WORK - I am thrilled to have started my job.  I am not working very much yet, but will start 32 hours per week on March 26th.  Until then it's not very much, but it's so nice to think and use my hands again.  I also just learned what my schedule will be, and I'm pretty happy about it:
Mon 12-6pm, Tues 8am-6pm, Wed 8am-2pm, Thurs 8am-6pm, Fri off.... pretty sweet all around except for the fact that Jason has to pick Rachel up from care 3 nights per week.  This means less staying at school for him and that will be a challenge.  We will also be able to remove Rachel from daycare for Fridays and I'll be able to have one day with her to enjoy mommy and Rachel time and activities in the community (music?  gymnastics?)
Everyone has asked me what working here is like compared to working at home.  It's very similar.  Just like Colorado and BC are very similar... the clinics operate similarly.  Boulder is full of active, educated, well-off people... so my patient population is fantastic to work with.  Doctors and surgeons are way more involved than at home, so people don't tend to have lingering or unexplained pain for long periods of time.  People have had way more surgeries here, and there is a tendency to get cut open rather than persist with therapy or pain.  I will also be employed, paid by the hour (not the patient), get benefits like sick days, but overall probably make less money.

SKIING - The weather has been all over the place here.  We've had some cold days here and there... but overall it's definitely Spring.  Baby cows in the fields and praire dogs and bunnies hopping all over the grass.  No more snow visible.  T-shirts and shorts and days of 65 degrees.  Went biking today with Rachel in the Chariot and was too hot.  Went skiing by myself the other day (at our local Mountain - Eldora) and it was very warm and slushy by lunch.  I got 10 runs in and only shared a chair once.  Tomorrow we're going up to Breckenridge to remind ourselves what Winter feels like and get some real skiing in.

HOUSING - We've been house shopping........... more on that to come.......

Packing...

It's taken us 7 years to plan this trip, but tonight I will meet my friends April and Jessica in Las Vegas!  This will be my first night without Rachel since she was born.  Three nights, in fact.  It will also therefore be Jason's first nights with her on his own.

Packing:
- went grocery shopping, did laundry, cleaned the bathrooms, mopped and vacuumed floors
- made lasagne for Jason and Rachel for the weekend
- made lots of extra food for Rachel for the weekend so Jason shouldn't have to
- making dinner for us for tonight to eat before I go
- have a list for Jason for what Rachel needs to take to daycare Monday morning, and have arranged it so her can drop her off earlier than normal and still (hopefully) make it to school on time
- checked hotel, flight, and airport bus and shuttle info
- dug out some old 'fancy' clothes for going out after dark, which is not something I'm sure I know how to do anymore!!!
- not packing any work out clothes, any baby gear, any kids books, any toys, any snacks for Rachel
- sipping a cup of 'Tahitian Vanilla Hazlenut' Tea
- going to walk to library before picking up Rachel and get a few books for myself because I might be able to just sit and enjoy reading on the plane!!! Wow.

Turns out my aunt Jocelyn and uncle Derek are also going to be in Vegas this weekend, so I hope to be able to meet them for a drink and catch up as well.

I'm READY!!!!!