Go together well

{College hockey is really growing on me! UMass Lowell vs. UVM. And a new scarf made by my dear Vickie!} Okay, so posting a daily picture has proven somewhat difficult--especially since I simultaneously started an inpatient rotation and started getting sick on Monday. Anyway, I took my first sick days of residency, and I think I'm on the mend now. Here are a few pictures from the past couple of weeks:  {Zoey's first ice cream -- from the Ben & Jerry's factory!} {A daily occurrence during our "Vermont vacation week," which is actually a thing for schools in Vermont. And I took the week off too, because why not?} { "Must. Lick. Baby." You can sort of see my hand holding back Tessie's head} {Sweet cheeks!} {Zoey likes cheek raspberries}

I will blame residency for another lapse in posting! The days (and many of the nights...) have been full, and as I move from one rotation to the next, I am increasingly pleased with my match in family medicine. It is very fulfilling, though at times overwhelming, to be a witness to the full range of the human experience. I get to be the first person to hold a newborn baby, to support a family through the dying process, and to be there for people at every stage in between. There are daily reminders both of how difficult and of how great life can be. Every day is an adventure! A few updates:  After 30 fracture-free years, Chris has broken both his collarbone and his right thumb this year, on separate occasions... In spite of his fragility, he has had a great time working as a junior high teacher. I'm more than halfway done with residency, which is crazy! I was elected as a chief resident for next year. Tessie is still awesome. Vermont has been super cold but with great ...

{Lake Champlain sunset} The summer was busy, but I made it to my second year of residency! I'm enjoying an outpatient procedure month and working on a few different projects, including Health Care Shares  and a group working on expanding the number of people with advance directives . And Chris got a job teaching junior high at a Catholic school that's 10 minutes from our house! We've gone apple picking twice so far this fall, and we're looking forward to the fall colors. Although I spent most of my summer in the hospital, there were a few highlights: {a new niece! adorable Zoey Elizabeth} { Vermont Brew Fest } {visitors, hiking, and a concert  (with free ice cream )!}

{views of Vermont} We've been living in Vermont for about 10 months now, and we've found that there's a lot to love about this state and all its quirky crunchiness. I'm a big fan of making top ten lists as a way to embrace the good things in life (especially when I get stuck in a worrying rut , as I occasionally do)...so here is my Vermont top ten list! 10. Recycling: everyone's doing it.  { Universal Recycling Law  & Green OR's } 9. The beer.  We've been to 9 breweries so far...just 20 to go!  { Fiddlehead  & Hill Farmstead are my favorites.}  8. Farmers' Markets galore  { There's even one in the hospital! } 7. People are generally laid-back and low-key.  {Lots of jeans, fleece vests, and duck boots} 6. So. Many. Baguettes.  { August First , Red Hen , Klinger's , O Bread , Gerard's ...} 5. The food--which deserves a separate bullet point from the baguettes!  Everything on the...

The past few months have been full of long work days and as much skiing as we could squeeze in on days off. Over the course of this ski season, Chris has had more opportunities to ski than I have--and he has gone from being nervous on the bunny hill to cruising down black diamond runs. I'm very proud of his progress and excited that he's providing me with a new ski buddy! {View from the top! Lincoln Peak ; A spring skiing day in early April} Over the past month, whenever I haven't been out skiing (i.e. most of the time), I have been catching babies on labor & delivery.  I have been fascinated by the degree to which expectant parents try to plan their respective birth experiences. They arrive to the labor & delivery unit bearing detailed outlines of how they want the process to unfold. The bullet points vary widely: We would like to listen to music ,  I want to experience an orgasmic birth , we would like to bring the placenta home , I want a water birth...

{Family Medicine residents at American Flatbread } My intern year has flown by (to the point that I haven't had a single post since November )! I've managed to make it through 9 of 13 rotations so far: ER, labor & delivery, inpatient cardiology, NICU/newborn nursery, urgent care, inpatient family medicine, general surgery, outpatient pediatrics, and inpatient pediatrics. Tomorrow, I'll start back on labor & delivery -- week 37 of my intern year (I'll be delivering babies conceived at around the time I started residency)!  The year has definitely been challenging, and I couldn't be more grateful to have the support of a fantastic group of residents  and attendings ! Wednesday was our spring retreat, and we got to spend the day doing yoga, eating pizza, and cross-country skiing -- I think I'll stick with the downhill (read: faster) version, but it was fun to try something new!   Match day is coming up very soon, and I'm looking forward to findi...

On Monday, October 28, my first niece was born! That morning, my brother sent me a text message at 6 am (4 am for them), stating that they were at the hospital, 8 cm dilated. Twenty minutes later, another message: Marion Jean Dorwart, 6 pounds 12 ounces, 19 inches (the name was inspired by  this Indiana Jones character , and the middle name by baby's maternal great-grandmother). She is beautiful, and I can't wait to meet her in person! {Dad/Grandpa, Dan/Dad, & Baby Marion} Halloween weekend, I made a trip to Philadelphia with a group from my residency program to attend the Family Medicine Education Consortium, leaving Chris to hand out candy to a number of dragons and football players. I learned about leading group medical visits and heard a great speech about the future of primary care by Dr. Ted Epperly , while representing my residency program to potential future residents.  After the conference, I took a $3 Megabus  ride to Washington, D.C., where ...

Residency orientation started on Tuesday, and so far it has been very school-y: sitting in lecture halls, meeting all the other new residents, hearing about benefits and protocols and policies. I've gotten to meet all my fellow family medicine interns, and I think they're all going to be really great. Fletcher Allen  seems to be a very friendly place...and judging by the fact that our future landlords (a cardiology fellow and a hospitalist, both at Fletcher Allen) have let Tessie and me stay in their home for the past week and a half (while they are still there!), I think the friendliness is genuine.  {new ID badge...the baby rattle means that I am allowed to deliver babies (at least that's what I'm assuming)} I'm getting a little nervous about Monday, when I'll see my first patients as a "real" doctor in the Emergency Room. It is so surreal to see my new ID badge and to think about introducing myself as "Dr. Dorwart." Yikes! Shw...

Starting last Sunday, my mom and I set off on our journey of 1,996 miles from Sidney to Omaha to Primghar to Iowa City to Westchester to Niagara Falls to Burlington, bringing my total mileage to 3,813 miles through 12 states and one Canadian province. {my indirect route from Baltimore to Burlington} I'm so glad my mom came with me. It has been really nice to spend time with her and to have her company. Plus, we got to visit lots of wonderful people...aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters-in-law, friends, grandparents, grandparents-in-law, parents-in-law! Although it's difficult/sad/stressful/overwhelming to move around as much as we have, it also provides for a lot of places to visit and people to see.  Plus, it's fun to think of life as a series of adventures--and starting our next adventure with this view is not too bad! { Overlook Park : a 15-minute walk through the woods from our new place}

I lived in one place from the time I was born until I left for college, but since then I've led kind of a nomadic life: four different dorm rooms/suites during my time at Creighton ; one summer spent sleeping on the floor in a bedroom shared with my friend Marie in a house rented by some girls we sort of knew in the Dundee neighborhood in Omaha (it seemed like a good idea at the time...); 4 months in Granada, Spain ; a year in Forest Park, IL ; a year in the Field Club neighborhood and three years in the Gifford Park neighborhood in Omaha, NE; and now a year in Charles Village in Baltimore.  {this will always be "home"} {transient homes, in chronological order: top L-R: Kiewit Hall, Kenefick Hall, Davis Square, Dundee--sleeping on the floor; bottom L-r: Plaza de Gran Capitan in Granada, Opus Hall, Des Plaines in Forest Park, Field Club in Omaha} {the second-longest home: Gifford Park} When I found out on March 15 that we're heading to Vermont for t...

After a week of immersing myself in shopping for a mortgage and making plans to buy our first house (just outside Burlington, VT , where I'll be starting residency in June), my dreams of tending the perennials and painting the door of a cute little farm house were dashed when the seller rejected our offer on Wednesday night. Buying a house is much more complicated than I had thought!  Since I tend to dwell on disappointments a bit too much, I was glad that I had no classes and an appointment for a haircut in DC the next day so that I could take advantage of the heat wave  by spending the day wandering around the capital city! {Cherry Blossoms at the DC Tidal Basin} After waking up at 5:30 am to ride with Chris from Baltimore (where we live) to Clinton , MD (where he works), I hopped on the Metro and headed toward the National Mall. I got off at the Smithsonian stop and followed the groups of tourists wearing sneakers and carrying cameras to the Tidal Basin. The che...