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.......
