Update about the Boise interview

I had the interview with the Boise site yesterday. I think it went pretty well, but it's always hard to say. I felt good about it after I left, but then spent the rest of the day worrying...I kept thinking of all the things I should have or could have said differently. I'm just hoping it went ok. I REALLY like the site! The people are great and the current interns are really happy there. I think I would really enjoy it there. I would be doing individual and group therapy with children, adolescents, and their families. I would also see some adults since sometimes the parents are seen for therapy if they need it. I would also do comprehensive assessments and go out to the schools for one afternoon a week to meet with kids for therapy. It sounds great!

This whole internship application process is very long.....once I have completed all my interviews (my last one is Jan 18th), I have to submit a rank order list of the sites where I interviewed. All the applicants have to submit their lists by Feb 6th. The sites have to rank all the people they interviewed and submit those too. Then a computer system figures out where everyone is placed based on the rankings submitted by applicants and the rankings submitted by the internship sites. We find out on Feb 22nd whether or not we matched. If we matched, then we find out on Feb 25th where we matched.

Anyway, I will keep everyone updated about my interviews. My next one is Jan 3rd. Wish me luck!

Interview update

I have heard from all but one of the sites I applied to....the Ole Miss e-mail was partially working by Monday (I had to access it using Mozilla Thunderbird). I found an e-mail from Oregon State--they rejected me. That left three sites I hadn't heard from. I e-mailed the remaining three today....turns out that two sites had e-mailed Friday while the OleMiss email was down and I didn't get the emails. Annoying. Anyway, I got rejected by Wasatch Mental Health in Provo, UT. I got offered an interview at the University of Utah Neuropsychiatric Institute in Salt Lake City. The interview is on-site and will be on Jan 18th. I still haven't heard from one site (it's in Portland) and I'm not really sure what is up with that. They haven't responded to my e-mail yet. So, the total now....7 interviews, 7 rejections, and 1 site that hasn't contacted me.

I had my first interview this afternoon. It was a phone interview (the site only does phone interviews). It went ok, I guess. It's so hard to tell with phone interviews since you can't see the people on the other end. It was with two of the psychologists on staff at the counseling center. They were on speaker phone. I feel like I answered some of the questions pretty well, but feel like I didn't do so hot on some of the others. It was hard because this was the first interview. Plus, I was SOOOOO anxious. I'm glad to have one under my belt now. Tomorrow is my interview with the Boise site. I really, really hope it goes well since I feel like it's the most important one. They said I would meet with the psychologists for an hour and then meet with the current interns for an hour. Wish me luck!!

Kids will sleep anywhere!

People always talk about how kids will sleep anywhere. You hear stories about kids falling asleep in strange places, in strange positions, in the middle of doing something, etc. Well, Christopher was never one of those kids. It usually takes quite a bit of convincing to get him to go to sleep. He prefers to keep playing. He has occasionally fallen asleep on the couch and quite frequently falls asleep in the car, but that's about it. Until now......

Some explanation first....Christopher has decided that he no longer wants to take naps. Unfortunately, he still really NEEDS to take a nap. When he doesn't take a nap he gets uber-cranky and becomes Destructo-Boy. He does things like take ALL the clothes out of his dresser and throw them around the room or tear down all his drawings and paintings that were hanging on his walls or climb up onto a chair and attempt to get everything off the kitchen counter. Today he emptied three shelves of the book shelves in our family room and left all the books in a giant pile on the floor. He was refusing to clean them up and at one point was trying to hide from me by going behind a chair in our family room. I knew he was back there and couldn't get him out, so I decided to get back to work preparing for my interviews. After a little bit, I realized that he was very quiet. I went to investigate. This is what I found.....


He had fallen asleep back there behind the chair! He slept like that for about an hour. Crazy kid!

E-mail can be frustrating

The Ole Miss e-mail system was supposed to be back up this morning, but it isn't yet. They said we should be able to access our e-mail accounts by this evening. So, it means I still don't know anything about the remaining 4 sites and whether I have any more interviews. Sooooo frustrating!!

Random pics of the kiddos

Here are some random pictures of the kids taken in the past week or so. Christopher didn't want me to take his picture most of the time, so there aren't as many pictures of him.

Christopher got this fireman hat when the firemen came to do a presentation at his daycare. He was so excited to see the firemen. He LOVES the hat!

Here Christopher is just playing around...

Here's a picture of Jessica that I took today. She is a very smiley baby!
She will be 5 months old on Sunday (the 16th).

Here she is just chillin' in her bouncy chair.

More smiles!

She is totally into blowing bubbles these days. You can kind of see a big bubble on her chin this picture...

Here's another picture of her just hanging out....

one more...

I got an interview at the Reno VA hospital! It's on-site and will be on Jan 16th.

So, the total now stands: 6 interviews, 5 rejections, 4 sites I haven't heard from.

I probably won't know anything else until Monday. The stupid Ole Miss e-mail system is down until Monday and the sites notify by e-mail.

more interviews!!

I got two more interviews! Valley Mental Health in Salt Lake City offered me an interview. It's on January 3rd and is an on-site interview. Then today the counseling center at University of Idaho offered me an interview. They only do phone interviews and mine is scheduled for January 7th. Yay!

So now: 5 interviews, 5 rejections, and 5 sites that I haven't heard from yet.

...and another...

Got rejected by the counseling center at Utah State University today.....

Now, 3 interviews, 5 rejections, 7 sites that haven't notified me.

....and another rejection

The Portland VA hospital rejected me. They got 192 applications this year, so I'm not too surprised I got rejected.

Now...3 interviews, 4 rejections, 8 sites that haven't notified me.

Yay! Another interview!

I got offered an interview at the counseling center at Washington State University today. Yay! They don't do on-site interviews, just phone interviews. It will be sometime in the next couple weeks. I e-mailed them some preferences for times and they are supposed to get back to me once they get it all scheduled.

Current interview status: 3 interviews, 3 rejections, 9 sites yet to notify me.

Jessica's check-up at the dr

Jessica had her 4 month check-up with the dr today. She is actually almost 5 months old (she'll be 5 mo. on Dec 16th). We got behind because she was sick at 2 months old and had to wait to get her shots. Anyway...

She weighs 18 lbs, 11 oz. (above the 97th percentile) and is 26 1/2 inches long (the 97th percentile). She is still a really big baby and is so much bigger than Christopher was at this age. The dr said she looks great! She got her shots today, which she wasn't too pleased about. The dr said we could start her on solid food now, so that should be fun. She'll start with rice cereal.

She goes back for her 6 month check-up (and more shots) in 8 weeks (at the beginning of February).

Subject: Rejection

I got rejected by the counseling center at Central Washington University yesterday. I appreciate that the internship site was perhaps trying to save me from getting my hopes up when I saw an e-mail from them in my inbox, but there is really nothing at all pleasant about getting an e-mail where the subject line simply states "Rejection." They of course also sent the somewhat standard rejection e-mail...we had lots of qualified applicants, it was a difficult decision, we are unable to offer you an interview, good luck with the application process, etc, etc. Oh well. Another one bites the dust.

Current application status...2 interviews, 3 rejections, 10 sites yet to notify me.

More interview news....

Yesterday the Salt Lake City VA hospital rejected me. Then this morning I got a call from Warm Springs Counseling Center (the Boise site) and they offered me an interview. YAY!! I'm interviewing there on Dec. 19th. So, for those of you who have nothing better to do and are keeping track....that's 2 interviews, 2 rejections, and 11 sites that haven't contacted me yet about my interview status.

Interview update.....

I heard from two internship sites today...one offered me an interview and the other rejected me. Pacific University's Psychological Service Center (which is in Portland) rejected me, but Spokane Mental Health (in Spokane, WA) offered me an interview. Their interview day is on January 11th--it's basically an all day kind of thing (from 9:30am to 3:30pm).

I'm excited to have an interview at the Spokane site. I have heard really good things about their internship program. The training director is a graduate of my clinical program at Ole Miss and had the same advisor as me. One of the grad students from our program went on internship there a couple years ago and said it was a great site.

Anyway, now I wait to hear from the remaining 13 sites. Keep your fingers crossed for me that I get some more interviews.

Thanksgiving pics

We had a nice low-key Thanksgiving this year, just the four of us. We made a Tofurkey for our Thanksgiving dinner. Practically everyone we told about it responded in the same way..."What does it look like???" So, I took some pictures of it so people could see. It looks kind of weird, but actually tasted pretty good. (I can practically hear everyone laughing right now about the crazy vegetarians and their weird food) :)

Anyway, here is the Tofurkey almost done cooking. Matt took it out of oven to baste it (that's what he is doing in the second picture). It is laying on a bed of carrots, onions, sweet potatoes, and garlic...

Here it is after it was done cooking and Matt sliced it. It is stuffed in the center. The stuffing was yummy...wild rice and seasonings....

Here is our whole dinner (pretty much). We had the Tofurkey with gravy, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, veggies, and Tofu Nut Balls (they are in the middle of the plate). The Tofu Nut Balls were quite tasty. We also had dinner rolls and cranberry sauce, but they are not in the picture. We had pumpkin pie for dessert, which Christopher loved!

After we ate dinner we all bundled up and went for a walk. It was COLD outside. I think the high temp that day was only like 38 degrees.
Christopher insisted on brining his bulldozer with us on the walk.

Here are some other pictures of us with the kids from that day.....

Jessica loves it when you kiss her cheeks. It always makes her smile!

Here is Matt with Christopher.

Here is me with Jessica again....

Christopher holding Jessica....

Me with the kids.....

And another one of Matt with Christopher. Christopher is holding a toy golf club in the picture....he loves it. :)

Jessica just being cute

Here are some pictures of Jessica just being cute. I took these pictures about a week ago. She is 4 months old now. We think (well, at least I think) that she looks a lot like Matt. I think she has his eyes, his mouth, and his chin. Her eye color isn't really set yet, but I think I see a little brown and green in them sometimes (which means they may end up being hazel like Matt's).

Here she is just chilling out....

Here she is having some "tummy time". Christopher usually loves to lay on his tummy for tummy time too whenever Jessica has tummy time.

Fingers crossed

Keep your fingers crossed for me. I just put the last of my internship applications in the mail today. I applied to 15 sites total:
*Two in Idaho (1 in Boise, 1 in Moscow)
*Four in Oregon (3 in Portland, 1 in Corvallis)
*Three in Washington (1 in Spokane, 1 in Pullman, 1 in Ellensburg)
*Five in Utah (3 in Salt Lake City, 1 in Provo, 1 in Logan)
*One in Nevada (in Reno)

Most of the sites say they will notify candidates about their interview status by mid-December (most say Dec. 15th). I am really hoping I get some interviews. Now I just have to wait and hope I hear something soon.

Lightning McQueen and the Pea Pod

Christopher had so much fun Trick-or-Treating on Halloween. He dressed up as Lightning McQueen from the movie Cars. He LOVES that movie! Jessica dressed up as a Pea Pod and looked so cute!

Here is Lightning McQueen......

Here is the Pea Pod.......

Christopher rode from house to house in his new wagon. He thought it was so much fun!

We were at my sister's house in this picture.....

3rd Birthday and update

Christopher turned 3 years old on October 30th. I still can't believe he is 3 yrs old! The time really flies by. It seems like just yesterday that he was Jessica's age. He went to the dr yesterday for his check-up and he is doing great! He is 38 1/2 inches tall (the 75th percentile) and 33 lbs (the 50th percentile). He had to get two shots, but was very brave and didn't cry very much.

We had a little party for him to celebrate his birthday. Here are some pictures of him opening his presents. I took video of us singing happy birthday to him. Since I was videotaping, I didn't get a chance to take pictures of us singing to him. I plan to post the video once I figure out how to post videos on this blog. :)

He was very happy to get this car--it's "Doc" from the movie Cars.

He is showing his new car to Papa.

Opening more presents....

This is the Cars tent that he got from Aunt Alli and Uncle Brandon. He likes to play in it upside down.

Our Disney World Trip

We just got back from a whirlwind trip to Disney World. We left Saturday morning (the 20th) and got back really late Tuesday night (the 23rd). Some friends of ours got married at the Disney Yacht Club on Sunday and we spent Monday at the Magic Kingdom. Then we left Tuesday. Like I said, it was a whirlwind trip. We had a fantastic time, though!!

The wedding was really fun. Matt got to see lots of his friends from law school, which was great. Our wedding experience was not without complications, though. We didn't quite make it to the ceremony. We were already running late that morning. It's practically impossible trying to make it to things on time with two small children. We would have made it there with time to spare, but as we went to leave the hotel we realized we couldn't find the key to the rental car. Christopher had been playing with it and had lost it. We tore apart the hotel room looking for it. We eventually found it buried in the suitcase. Who would have thought?! So, now we no longer had any time to spare...we were hoping to make it there just as the ceremony started. That brings us to mishap number two of the morning...we got lost on the way to the Yacht Club. Matt had called the Yacht Club to get directions and the directions the woman gave him were HORRIBLE. By the time we found the place, the ceremony was ending. We got to go to the reception, though, and had a great time. I even put on a dress for the wedding, something that hadn't happened in about a year. When I put my dress on, Christopher said, "Mommy, are you a princess?" I said YES of course. :)

Here are some pictures from our trip....

This is Christopher on the airplane. He was so excited to go on the plane. He was 18 months old the last time he flew, so he doesn't remember it. He loved looking out the window!

We stayed at a hotel in Orlando that was outside the Disney resort, but only a quick drive away. The hotel had what they called 'Kid Suites'....part of the room was partitioned off and there were bunk beds, a toddler bed, and a TV in there. Christopher loved it! We of course had to take down the ladder to the top bunk shortly after arriving. Christopher kept going up there and jumping around. Crazy kid!

Matt took this picture of the kids and I when we first got to the Magic Kingdom. Christopher was not into having his picture taken, though, and wouldn't look at the camera. He thought the castle was pretty cool!

Here he is checking out the castle again!

It was really hot the day we went...it was in the low 90's and unbelievably humid! It's apparently not normally that hot this time of year. It was also really crowded that day. There were really long waits for most of the rides (like 45-60 minutes on many of them). This time of year isn't supposed to be busy, so I can't imagine what it must be like during Disney's busy time of year. Matt still got to take Christopher on some of the rides, though, just not as many as we had hoped. Geneva and Stephen (the bride and groom) met us for lunch that day too, so it was great to spend more time with them. They took a couple of pictures of all of us with their camera. They are planning to e-mail them to us, so I'll post them when I get them.

Christopher loved riding these go-carts. Matt controlled the gas/brake and Christopher got to steer (sort of--Matt helped with that too!). He had a blast!

Christopher was checking out Dumbo in these pictures.

This is how Jessica spent most of the day--hanging out in her stroller. She is too little for the rides. She and I spent lots of time at the Baby Care Centers--air conditioned areas with changing tables, a quiet room with rocking chairs where you can nurse, a room to bottle feed, highchairs, a bathroom, and water if you need it. It was great! Jessica was nursing a lot more frequently that day since it was so hot outside, so we went to the Baby Care Centers A LOT.

This is a picture of Christopher just hanging out, checking out his surroundings.

The absolute highlight of Christopher's trip was when he got to meet Mickey Mouse. He thought it was fantastic!!!

Overall, it was a great trip. We managed to use almost every mode of transportation too--we traveled by plane, train, car, and ferry boat. We also learned a lot about what to do (or not do!) on our next trip to Disney.