Blissfully Matousek

Two Years Later

2011-08-30T18:32:00.001-07:00

Alexi mentioned the other day that we haven't written on our blog in two years. Outrageous! But, like most things, I get into something and then get right back out of it when I get busy. And busy we've been. We now have TWO kids instead of one, I'm now working at the Brigham & Women's Hospital/Harvard Med School as a post-doc (which means that I finally graduated!), I'm freelance editing for not one, but two companies, and Alexi is STILL a surgery resident. Brace yourself, he'll be one of those for another 5 years. Old Sammy will be 8 years old by the time he's finished. Our new little one is named Evalyn Idelle and she is the light I never knew I was missing. She's awesome.
Sam loves his baby sister. He rarely calls her Evalyn or Evie. She's 'baby sister'.

Three Months Later

2009-08-20T15:11:00.000-07:00

Our new apartment! It's working out SO well. We love having other people in the house to hang out with and interact with - and they all love Sammy - who is walking!! He started taking steps at about 11 months (back in June) but really took off around his first birthday. Here are a few pictures of the living room. We have some furniture moving to do this month so I'll take more pictures as things get finished.

Graduation

2009-05-18T09:58:00.001-07:00

I'll have to add some pictures from graduation when I get them. My camera died at the worst moment possible so my mom has the good pictures.

Alexi graduated from medical school last Friday (May 15) in the late afternoon. His parents, my parents, and my sister and niece were all there to see it. They do the med school graduation at Eastman School of Music downtown in the main theater. It was a really nice ceremony. Alexi graduated with a class of 89 students this year and there was an awards ceremony in the morning where he received two certificates for having completed the 'Academic Research Track' and the 'Medical Education Track'. The first was accomplished during his 'year out' when he did research in the surgery department. The second he completed by going to several seminars and lectures about how to teach medical students and he had to give a few lectures in some of the med school courses.

We're all so proud of him and can't wait to see what the Lord does with us next.

2009-05-09T20:18:00.000-07:00

I hope that picasa link below works. Tonight our community group (old and new) threw is a going away party that turned out to be a surprise early birthday party for Sammy!! I LOVE our friends. We had such a good time. It was so nice of them to think to do the birthday party because we'll be in Boston for Sammy's first birthday in July and we won't get to celebrate with all of them. Leaving is going to be so hard!!

I also have to post pictures of Sammy's dedication last Sunday (May 3). Sam was one of seven kids to be dedicated that night, including his best bud Cameron!

Party!!

2009-05-09T20:16:00.001-07:00

Going Away Party & Sammy's early 1st birthday 5-9-09

2009-03-19T10:59:00.000-07:00

We're moving to Boston!! Alexi matched at the Brigham & Women's Hospital (a Harvard teaching hospital). It was the number one choice so we're thrilled!!!!! Match is INSANE. Everyone grabs their envelopes and then all at once everyone is yelling and screaming and you don't know where they're going until the list is sent out. It's a high energy event.

Now all we have to do is DOWNSIZE. Anyone need some furniture? We're probably going to have to move into a 3 square foot apartment. :-)

MATCH DAY DUN DUN DUN!!

2009-03-19T06:56:00.001-07:00

Today is the day!! I thought is was March 20 but I was wrong. It's the 19th. In T-2 hours we find out where to go! We were talking about it last night (and I want a written record of this) and decided that every school on our list would be a GREAT place to be. We'll be happy no matter where we end up - and a great part of that is because we don't choose where we go so God wants us where ever we end up. It's nice to have such a big decision out of our hands.

I'll post again once we find out - but for now here are some SAMMY PHOTOS!!

He's not a happy child at all:
Nope, never happy.
See? Marshmallow man ate him. And his pants got all hiked up along the way.
Okay maybe he's a little happy. Check out the bottom teeth!!
Chillin in my crib with my super hat.

Dollars $$$$$$ and dollars

2009-03-06T10:31:00.001-08:00

Our small group at church decided to do the "Financial Peace University" series this semester so for the last month we've been watching videos by Dave Ramsey, filling in our workbook, and doing homework - like coming up with a budget that puts a name on every single dollar coming in every month. We weren't able to make it to group on Wednesday night because we had to pick up Alexi's car from the shop and I had to be back to work by 8pm for some last-minute microscope time....so we listened to the CD together last night - the one on "dumping debt". I like a lot of Dave Ramsey's money philosophy and it's nice that he's laid out small steps toward what he calls "financial freedom" - but I REALLY liked the dumping debt session. Alexi and I don' t have a lot of credit card debt (just a small one we'll take care of quickly from our world travels last year) and we don't have huge car loans (just mine - which will be paid of within a year) - but we do have STUDENT LOANS. When Ramsey said that getting out of debt before you start saving for retirement means paying off everything except the house - we decided to consider that to mean that WE pay off everything except Alexi's medical school loans....our own personal mortgage. Thank God Alexi went to undergrad for free (smarty pants).

Until yesterday I had 4 student loans from undergrad - three Staffords and one private loan. All these are relatively small (certainly compared to Alexi's) since my dad paid for the majority of my college education (thanks dad!!). But what bothered me was that private loan I took out toward the end of my Houghton career to pay for a class that prepares you for the MCAT (the big test you take to get into medical school). It's funny now that I decided not to go to medical school and I still have to pay off that dumb loan - I think the total was $2500 to begin with. Anyways, the point - that loan is the only school loan I've been paying on while in grad school because I don't have to pay on any of them until I graduate. I'd put $50 here and $100 there over the last 4 years and last night after listening to that CD I looked up how much I have left on that loan - and it was only about $250 so I just paid it off right then and there! It felt so NICE to cross that one off the list!

On top of that - we're using the ancient envelope system with cash for some of our spending now and I've already found that I tend to spend WAY less when I'm using cash than when I'm using my debit card. For example, I'm much less likely to make impusle purchases at the grocery store or at Babys R Us if I have to pull cash out of an envelope that only has so much in it. I can remember my mom with those dumb envelopes YEARS ago when my parents were digging their way out of credit card debt - and it was so annoying when I wanted something and she would open the envelope and say "there's not enough for that this month". I hated it then, but I do know that they got themselves out of debt and it had a lot to do with my mother's discipline.

So far I'm really glad we're taking this class during this transition year in our lives. We'll be moving (probably) in a few months and Alexi will FINALLY have an income so we'll be more wise about how we use that money - and we probably won't be as quick to blow it all on flat screen TVs when we have a MOUNTAIN of loans to work through. It's pretty exciting to have something to attack together - and there will be a HUGE celebration when we've finally finished paying and we can use our money how WE want to - for Haiti.

2009-03-03T08:47:00.000-08:00

We went to our annual Neurobiology & Anatomy winter party a few weeks ago. It was at a place called Artisan Works and if anyone from Rochester hasn't heard of it or been, it's worth a look. It's a big warehouse with stations all over it for artists to do their work and the bigger room can be set up for parties etc. So we had a nice dinner and then toured around the place to see all the art. It's really neat. This photo was taken while we were there - we had to take Sam because I'm brilliant and totally forgot to get a babysitter for that night. But it worked out because all the ladies in my department got to take turns holding him.

Pictures from Valentine's Weekend in Florida

2009-03-03T08:42:00.001-08:00

I said I would add photos before and I didn't so here are a few from the wedding.

Family photo with extremely tired Sam:

Best man Alexi standing for his brother:

Justin & Natalie:

Sammy first grass experience:
Cousin Maddox and Sammy:

Wedding

2009-02-16T08:27:00.000-08:00

Alexi, Sam, and I went to Florida this weekend for Alexi's brother's wedding. It was a quick trip - we flew to Jacksonville on Friday, drove to Tallahassee, the drove back to Jacksonville yesterday afternoon and got home last night. BUT - it was SO nice to be outside without a million layers on. Sammy even got to sit in the grass for the first time. I'll have to post pictures once I'm at my computer.

The wedding was perfect. Just family - 28 people were there. Natalie's (the bride) aunt had it in her backyard with a tent and twinkle lights all over. Natalie's family is Jamaican - her grandparents moved to the states in 1977 - so the food was GREAT. Jerk chicken, curry chicken, meat pockets, baked macaroni and cheese...

It was nice to see Alexi's family. We usually see them once a year at Christmas but this year we'll see them three times because of med school graduation in May. We'll see them more often if we move to Seattle (I can hear your protests, mom) though, which would be nice for 5 years. After that I would have every intention of moving back east.

The Sam Update

2009-02-08T12:09:00.000-08:00

Here are more Sammy pictures (between 6 & 7 months old). He can sit up all by himself now and he's not quite rolling from his back to his belly - but almost. We're not complaining that he's not crawling and rolling all over the place yet. The apartment isn't quite ready for that yet. But he is eating solid food three times a day. It's a bit of a trick to get him to eat veggies but he LOVES fruit. Especially bananas. At his 6 month appointment he weighed 18lbs 6oz. I think he's 28 inches long but I'll have to double check.

Eating peas - some of them made it into his mouth

Daddy blowing on my belly

Hanging out with my singing seahorse

My first guitar lesson
My favorite expression

February

2009-02-08T11:57:00.000-08:00

This is the month for seasonal affective disorder (SAD) in Rochester....well everywhere in the north. The sun is a distant memory at this point and the wind is biting. People are quiet and disconnected. I think it has its good points though. I wonder if it's coincidence that productivity is so high in the north. People have little else to do but work in the wintertime. We northerners don't take the sun for granted either. Yesterday the temperature hit 50 or so and I took the baby to the market with a friend because he hasn't been outside for months - barring the trips to and from the car. He just stared at the people milling around with big eyes. And right now the afternoon sun is streaming through the windows and hitting the floor - lighting up the places on the carpet where I badly need to vacuum. It lifts a weight off my chest seeing the sun - and I think it has that effect on everyone. You can feel the difference in attitude. At church this morning everyone was so cheerful and friendly - even more so than usual. So we brave the 6 months of cold every year and cherish the warm ones while they last. I don't think I'll ever move south if I can help it. For all the SADness up here it's worth it to appreciate the good things - when they come.

Happy Christmas!

2008-12-23T10:29:00.000-08:00

We're not there yet, but it's close. We're leaving for Cleveland today to spend Christmas with my (Sarah's) family. The morning of the 26th we fly out to Washington state. Alexi doesn't know it yet but my dad got the boys tickets to a Cavs game (basketball for those who don't know) Christmas night in Cleveland. I assume he won't read this so he'll still be surprised. He'll be thrilled.

Too Long

2008-12-18T10:06:00.001-08:00

It's been way too long since I've posted so I'm taking my lunch break to do so. Halloween was especially cute: Sammy was a dalmation (or a cow depending on your point of view). We went to my friend's party and trick-or-treated one house and he got a jar of sweet potatoes. Nice.

Thanksgiving was ENORMOUS this year. My parents are back living in Ohio and my mother invited her entire family - there were 25 people in all. It was nice to see everyone - but of course we left needing a vacation from our vacation.

Here is a picture of us at my parents during Thanksgiving - doing a crossword. :-)

Here is a picture of Sammy at 4 months (November 12th). It was taken by his favorite nanny, Ashley.

Alexi's interviews are going really well but we're both sick of him traveling so much. So far he has interviewed at:

University of Rochester
Syracuse
University of Maryland at Baltimore
University of Colorado at Denver
Boston University
Dartmouth
Harvard
University of Cincinnati
Eastern Virginia (Norfolk)

And he still has to interview at:

Virginia Mason (Seattle)
Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland)
The Cleveland Clinic
Tufts University (Boston)
Carolinas (Charlotte)
University of New Mexico (Albuquerque)

I'm doing the single mother thing again - and trying to pump out a ton of data in the lab to do analysis on over Christmas - we will be spending Christmas day in Cleveland and then flying to Washington state to spend the next week and a half with Alexi's family. On January 5th we fly to Seattle from Spokane where we'll check out the city and he has an interview. We then fly back to Cleveland and Sammy and I will drive back to Rochester while Alexi stays to interview there and then he'll fly to Boston for the Tufts interview.

We don't find out about the match until March 20 - it's going to be torture waiting that long. I think I described how the residency match works on here before - if I haven't and anyone is interested let me know. :-) The short of it is that we don't exactly 'choose' a residency so much as the all-powerful residency match computer chooses for us. It's a nail-biting experience to open an envelope telling you where to move for the next 5+ years. March 20.

Sammy started "eating" rice cereal last week. I say "eating" because he doesn't open his mouth when food comes anywhere near his face. I have to make him laugh and then quickly shove the spoon in - which creates a hilarious expression and usually most of it lands back on the bib. Two days ago we made a little progress - I think he swallowed some.

RAIN

2008-10-26T14:56:00.000-07:00

It's been raining nearly all weekend - except the sunsets both yesterday and today were perfect streaming in through the big window in the living room. Sammy has been sick since Friday - stuffy nose, cranky (for him), and sleeping a lot. I've taken that as an excuse to not do anything, which is nice when the weather is dreary. It reminds me of England and Scotland.
My sister came to visit from Thursday until Saturday morning and she did ALL of my laundry - awesome. I don't have much to write about except that Alexi finally comes home this Wednesday so we're down to the home stretch. His rotaton went as well as it possibly could have so the month was a success! :-) Here are some pics of the mini from today and last night (he's 3 and a half months now and weighs 15lbs 5oz) - huge!

Boston

2008-10-10T20:16:00.000-07:00

Some small news - Alexi got a residency interview from the University of Colorado at Denver today. This was a surprise because they rarely take east coast students and it's a VERY good program. Some of our friends in years past haven't gotten interviews there. Exciting!

We're in Boston (Sammy & I) visiting Alexi for the week and it's been awesome. I was able to meet with Dr. Lemere, a member of my thesis committee. She's a researcher in the building right next to the hospital Alexi is working at this month so I was able to go through her lab and she took Sammy and I out to lunch. I'm so glad I asked her to sit on my committee - she has offered great advice and will be an excellent person to work for if we move here. So as an update - Alexi is LOVING his rotation in the surgical ICU (intensive care unit). He says everyone is nice and he's learning a lot.

We have some great friends here and have been able to spend time with some of them so far and will see more of them this weekend. Alexi's best friend from high school and his wife are residents at Mass General so we've had dinner with them twice. Our friends in the Longwood Christian Community here at Harvard Med are living in the house next door so we've been able to hang out with them. My good friend from undergrad is a postdoc in Cambridge so we'll see him and his wife tomorrow. And another good friend is a resident at UMass in Worscester so we'll see him tomorrow as well. Lots of great people here - we wouldn't be lonely if we end up here. EXPENSIVE though - 2.79 for a half gallon of milk. Nasty. But we wouldn't need a car because the train is a stone's throw from the area and the hospital is just across the street. We like Boston but we also LOVE Rochester - and are interested in other cities too so we'll see!

A part of the Brigham & Women's Hopital (one of several in the area)

Alexi playing with Sammy on our walk through the park

Our family in the park

Sammy hanging out in our room

The street the house is on (Wigglesworth Street - seriously). Three of these houses are owned by the Longwood Christian community - rooms are rented by students, residents, doctors, etc at subsidized rates - but still expensive. Each house has a big kitchen/living room in the basement that everyone shares.

Baby Rolls Over

2008-09-28T16:33:00.000-07:00

On Friday (the 26th) Sammy rolled over from stomach to back for the first time (for his grandma). I don't know what the timeline is for rolling but he's 11 weeks old. TODAY he did it for me TWICE. Here are some shots before the big event - and then the video (mostly for daddy's viewing because he can't be here to see it himself - we miss you!).

Visiting With Mom

2008-09-27T18:44:00.000-07:00

It's been a really good weekend - my mom came up Thursday to help me out since Alexi left and she's been able to spend a lot of time with Sammy. We've also been able to just hang out - something the two of us haven't done in...I don't know how long.

AND, she was the one who first witnessed baby Samuel roll over from his belly to his back. Unbelievable! I was at work Friday when it happened TWICE. He did do it for me today though. He looks a little surprised after he does it like he can't figure out what just happened. If I ever get that on video I'll post it. I'm glad she was the first to see it and not some daycare worker.

Here is a little video of him playing with the toy I borrowed from my friend Jenn. He gets very serious about playing with it sometimes - and other times he talks to the animals. Very amusing.

Separation

2008-09-26T09:45:00.000-07:00

Alexi and I have entered new territory. Separation. For an entire month he is in Boston working an "away rotation" at the Brigham & Women's Hospital in the surgical ICU. This can be considered a "tryout" for residency there. The general surgery program there is extremely difficult to get into (it's Harvard people) but they happen to be the only residency program in the country that is starting a track or focus on international surgery. This is huge - so we're waiting to see what God has for him this month. How this goes might determine whether he gets an interview there.

So Sammy and I are going to be husband/daddyless for awhile. Although it'll be hard beacuse I have to work and things are BUSY there I'm actually looking forward to catching up on my friend and family time. My AMAZING friends at church put together a sign-up sheet so someone is either hanging out with me or helping me with something 3 days a week. And my parents are up this weekend and my sister next weekend. So we won't be lonely.

Alexi did finally turn in his application for surgical residency - 35 programs all over the country (from Seattle to Boston to Miami to....lots of places). He's already been invited to Miami and INOVA in Virginia without his Dean's letter and all his letters of recommendation. I'll update on here how the residency interview process goes (he'll be traveling for much of December and January for those). I can't seem to post without pictures - it doesn't feel right - so here are some of the mini-face.

Labor Day in Ohio

2008-09-02T19:04:00.001-07:00

We went to Cleveland for the weekend to see my family and to go to a wedding. The wedding was for Chris & Laurie Williams. Alexi and Chris were best friends when they lived in Haiti in 1991 and 1992 - Alexi's parents moved down there to be the teachers of the children of hospital staff in Deschappelles where Hospital Albert Schweitzer is located. There were only about 10 kids including Alexi and his brother, but they all talk about those years as the best learning experience of their lives. This is mostly because Alexi's dad is an incredible teacher. He had students ranging from 5th through 8th grade and he somehow challenged all of them at the same time. They drew maps on the floor when learning about European history, got up at 4am to learn about astronomy, went to the ocean to snorkel after learning about reefs, took apart a defibrillator to learn about motors, made different colored borax beads to learn about chemistry,.... Dr. Matousek even wrote and directed plays for the kids and set up a Medieval festival.

The Williams family (back to the wedding) has lived in Africa and Haiti and Dr. Williams (the father) travels back to Haiti and Malawi to do medical work about once a year. His wife, Karen, is the author of children's books. One of her books - Galimoto - was even featured on Reading Rainbow (I know - I couldn't believe it either). Her website is here.

Here's the link to pictures of the wedding. They probably won't mean much to anyone reading this, but Alexi couldn't stop reminiscing about those years in Haiti and all the kids and how they've all done some pretty incredible things since then - so I wanted to write about it for him.

We also got to spend some time with my family - and even got a picture of EVERYONE - mom, dad, Marcus, Meagan, Matt Bliss and his wife Andrea, Jen and her husband James, their daughter Natalie, and Lex and I (and baby Samuel). We're getting to be a large bunch - in fact - it's getting to be very difficult to take a good family picture. Someone is always blinking or something.

Baby Samuel Works the Camera - HOT!

2008-08-25T18:45:00.000-07:00

This guy is working the camera something fierce! He already loves to be the center of attention. He just kept posing and I kept snapping. Vogue!

No really - you're TOO much

Step aside Pitt!

GQ? That's right.

I'm coy ladies.

Gerber has nothing on THIS.

What? I cant hear you over the sound of my lip smackers

This is my super Hulk check out my muscles pose - look beyond the baby chub

Okay, so the muscles aren't quite there yet - I'm an amateur!

Community Group Party

2008-08-25T18:13:00.000-07:00

We FINALLY got together with the community group for a party. It seems like forever since we ended for the summer so it was great to see everyone. We had it at the Congdon's new house - which is awesome by the way. :-) Alexi's mom came with us and she said it was really nice to meet our friends and see what life is like for us here in New York. I didn't get pictures of everyone but here are the ones I took.

2008-08-19T19:10:00.001-07:00

Alexi's mother is in town helping out for the week so I've been able to go to work in the lab a bit - and have someone to talk to during the day - very nice. She even does the dishes! What I've discovered since she came though is that for the first time in my life I feel like I am capable of knowing what a baby wants when it cries. This is probably because it's MY baby - but nonetheless it gives me intense joy to find that when even a seasoned mother like Alexi's mom can't figure out what baby Samuel wants, I can. Not that she isn't good with him - she's wonderful - but I think it's been good for me to discover this...confidence as a mother.

I've also been reconnecting with some old friends from Houghton (college) this week which always makes me excited to see where God will take us next. I love hearing about what my friends are up to - they're all over the world now - and hopefully we'll have exciting adventures to write about soon.

I'll have to put up some pictures from this week so far:

Tummy time with grandma:
At Highland Park with the Baby Bjorn

Baby and grandma
After another bath - our favorite time

My first case

2008-08-14T21:21:00.000-07:00

Today I got to do my first surgery. The residents were all busy, so I got to do the case with the attending. We did a video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery wedge resection for a small lung cancer. I got to open the chest, feel the lesion with my finger, and fire the stapler across the lung to resect the wedge. It was awesome!

-Alexi

Bathtime with Baby Samuel

2008-08-10T09:27:00.001-07:00

Sammy loves taking baths. It must remind him of being in the womb - all warm and watery. My best friend Veronica drove me back to Rochester from Cleveland where I spent the last week visiting my family and we gave her son Wyatt and my son Samuel a bath together. She finally caught a picture of him smiling on camera - the first one!

Church at the Beach

2008-08-10T09:00:00.000-07:00

Last week was our favorite church event of the year - church at the beach. This is when the Sunday evening service is at a beach park on Lake Ontario and we do baptisms in the lake after singing worship songs. The people being baptized have the opportunity to give their testimony before being baptized by the person who most influenced their spiritual journey. This time there were 13 people - both young and old. Here are a few pictures:

Family photo

Baby Samuel's first church at the beach!

The people on the right in the water are about to be baptized

Everyone crowds around the water to watch and cheer

On the left is the senior paster and on the right is our missions paster baptizing his son

Our New Family

2008-07-30T18:03:00.000-07:00

We've decided to jump on the band-wagon and start a 'family blog' so we can update our friends (who are now scattered around the country and the world) with our sweet lives...

Especially since we just had a baby two and a half weeks ago and he's way cute - we'd like to show off pictures of his adventures. He's already been to the zoo, the park, and Walmart - that's right - Walmart. More pictures to come!