Liam recently took his first trip to the aquarium with Mommy. I wasn't there so I can't speak first hand, but Jen said that he was mesmorized by the bright colors and water. 

It is so hot here recently that we have relented to letting Liam lay around the house in his skivvies. It is clear that he enjoys it greatly. He must get the gene from his Uncle Justin (a well known Nudist in his day, as well as the nefarious distinction of Captain Disgusto. You had to be there.) 

Reclining to recover from a hard day of breastfeeding and sleeping. It's so hard to be young.... 

Isn't it crazy how much pressure kids are under now a days? I mean they have to hold up to this unattainable body standard. This pressure is hitting kids earlier and earlier. Look at Liam's recent concern about the fact that he can pinch an inch already. Hell in a handbasket I tell you... 

If Liam is going to play sports like his Dad wants him to (again if you are reading this years later Boy, no pressure. I will only disown you for not wanting to) we have to start him on strength training early. Hence the rudimentary push-up that you see displayed here. He started this on his own accord by the way.  

Babies and Boredom

Well we are back. After a short break from posting, we have all new pictures up from the last month.

A lot of things have happened in the last month or so. I have been working OB at Lakeside Hospital out here in the Burbs of New Orleans. I have to say I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. I mean anything is better than sitting around on my but al day reading about what I might do in the future. It has been nice to actually do something every day. Granted I have seen some awful things in the last month or so too. But I am so glad that the clinical years of my education are finally here.

In other news I passed my USMLE step I. I got about what I thought I would get scorewise. I have come to terms with the fact that comparative the rest of the field of medicine I am not all that smart. I am just the average medical student. I converge towards the largest part of the bell curve in every category. So any of you that holding on tosome delusion that I am going to cure cancer or something can feel free to let go of your unrealistic expectations. I am ok with it though. Anyone who knows me could have told me this years ago. It just took a while to convince myself of that fact. You know doctors, all ego...

Jen is doing well but is going stir crazy. It is so hot here that there is awful to be outside, so she is stuck in the house or on errands all the time. We can't go on our usual walks because it is just too uncomfortable. Right now she is looking in to getting a job in medical transcription that she can do at home. She takes such good care of Liam and can't bear the thought of leaving him to work.

Liam is getting bigger, as you can see in the pictures below. He is 95% percentile for weight, and weighs almost 15 pounds now. He is just over 2 feet long, and at 3 months old is starting to show his developmental progress. He smiles when you talk to him, and he loves to hear himself talk. Most of all he loves his bathtime, and will get fussy at night if we don't put him in the bath. He has discovered splashing, something that he does with a lot of gusto, and he is currently working on a plan to make Liam's bathtime bathtime for everybody.

We have lots of pictures below.. so enjoy

In other news, some of you may have heard of the phenomenon called podcasting. Basically what it is on demand radio. People make recordings and post them on the internet, and you can download them and listen to them. It has been around for about 6 months, and became so popular that Apple now has a free links to hundreds of them through the iTunes music store. So why do I bring this up?

I am going to start my own Podcast here pretty soon about my experiences in med school. I may do offshots of that idea later. Anyway, I wanted to make you aware. I am going to publish it through iTunes, and I will let you all know when I post the first episode. I hope you will subscribe to it and listen to it every once in a while.

Anyway... til next

Though it has been sometime since our last deposit, and in that time Liam has grown a lot. So Jen sent me some photos, which i have compiled into the many faces of Liam Nathan Poulson. Exhibit 1 is his usual state of quiet introspection. 

Pensive, thoughtful, solving the problems of future generations. Yes, young Liam is clearly and intellectual Tour de Force. When asked about how he felt about the burden of such clear intelect he simply, but astutely, replied "GAAAAAHHAHAHAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!" Words of Wisdom people. Words of Wisdom. 

The thing you have to ask yourself is, did he delibrately pose for this picture? 

But mostly nowadays we see this face. The face of sheer happiness and contentment. I am getting nervous that this kid is spoiling us. He is really easy to deal with, just a good kid all around. How could you not love that face? 

Look at this!! The last couple of weeks have been a lot of talking and smiling. We all get a great kick of making the Liam smile and laugh. 

But occasionally it breaks down to this. I mean we have to be fair in our reporting 

Would you call this manipulative? I mean pretty much everyone knowsi want my kids to play bsaketball, but this might be pushing it. I just want to say for the record that this outfit was given to us. Not that I wouldn't have bought it myself.... Liam I am sorry. Daddy is messing with your head already 

It's go time

This week has been a flurry of test after test. I have taken 6 tests in the last week, 3 of then finals, not to mention the 2 or 3 tests I take every day from QBank. I think I have answered at least 1,500 questions in the last 7 days. The pressure is taking its toll, and I cannot wait for the next 3 weeks to be over. But I am still working my butt of trying to prepare for the test of my life. I swear in life there is always one more hurdle to jump through, and one more butt to kiss. This is appearing to be especially true in the field of medicine, but I am sure there is no shortage of hurdle jumping and butt kissing in other fields. This hurdle is a big one, so pray that for my sake and my family's sake I don't screw it up.

Liam is getting bigger all the time. We went to church today and saw some of the other babies who have recently been born on our ward and he looks like a giant compared to them. He has a doctor appointment on Monday and I bet he has gained about a pound or two. Jen and I are excited for a lot of you to meet him in a few weeks.

Also, this week my parents are picking up my little brother Justin from his mission in Thailand. We can't wait to see him back. It seems like he has been gone forever sometimes. We are excited to introduce Liam to Justin and all his other uncles.

Not much else is going on here, and not much else will unless I completely lose my mind from studying and start wandering around the neighborhood naked looking for Spiro Agnew. Luckily that doesn't happen very often, and when it does the neighbors are kind enough to lend me clothes and not press charges. I can't spare the community service hours, I am too busy with babies and tests.

Jen and I have decided that Liam is getting too big too fast. We were able to compare him to a couple other babies this week and he is getting huge, causing Jen to scold him for growing up to fast. 

When Liam was born he got just under a thousand blankets. He uses all of them, but he has a few favorites. The green felt blanket from Great Aunt Chris, and the quilt Grandma pieced and Aunt Diane quilted. 

Jen decided to test the quilt out with him. 

Today was Liam's first day at church. We got him all dressed up. He was a good boy, so after church we wanted to reward him. He loves to be out in the sun, and feel the wind blow on him so... 

After church, we went to the lake to hang out for a while. 

Jen and I's new place that we have been living in for about a year now is really close to Lake Ponchatrain. It's a great place to spend a quiet afternoon (should there ever be a quiet afternoon).