Win a Free Computer!

Here's your chance to win a free computer this month! Lenovo is giving away 26 of their M90z all-in-one PCs over the next 2 months and you can win one here on PhysicianMom.com!  Click here to read my previous thoughts on this machine.

On April 16, the contest will open up on this site and it will run until April 20. The prize will be a free Lenovo M90z which is a touch-screen 23"all-in-one business PC that runs Windows 7.


On April 16, I will publish a blog post that outlines the specific details of the contest.


To maximize your chances of winning, you can enter to win an M90z on each of the sites listed below:


Lenovo M90z Contest:

Site		Start	End Date
Free Tech 4 Teachers		Apr 14	Apr 18
Ilja Coolen \ ICSS		Apr 15	Apr 19
Physician Mom		Apr 16	Apr 20
Scrubd In		Apr 17	Apr 21
KathySchrock's Kaffeeklatsch		Apr 18	Apr 22
Steve Hargadon.com		Apr 19	Apr 23
Box of Tricks		Apr 21	Apr 25
Clinton Fitch.com		Apr 22	Apr 26
Around the Corner		Apr 23	Apr 27
Tech Savvy Ed		Apr 25	Apr 29
Small Biz Technology		Apr 26	Apr 30
Ablet Factory		Apr 27	May 1
Click Newz		Apr 28	May 2
Geekazine		Apr 29	May 3
21st Century Education Technology		Apr 30	May 4
A GeekyMomma's Blog		May 1	May 5
Marsha Collier's Musings		May 2	May 6
VA Insiders Club		May 3	May 7
Your Virtual Assistant		May 4	May 8
Jake Ludington's Media Blab		May 5	May 9
Mobile PC World		May 6	May 10
Dangerously Irrelevant		May 7	May 11
Bud the Teacher		May 8	May 12
Kikolani		May 9	May 13
Geeks To Go		May 10	May 14
Chad Lehman.com		May 11	May 15

Praying for Japan

I was going to post this a few weeks back but due to illness I had to delay.  


Around the time of the whole Japan earthquake crisis, I decided that praying for Japan might be a good way for me to introduce the concept of praying for other countries to my three year old.  After all, I would like her to develop a world view perspective.  Up until now, we've been praying pretty consistently at night and she has gotten down the concept of praying for herself and even for the people around her that she knows (mommy, daddy, sister, grandparents, even friends..)  I was not so sure whether she'd get the concept of praying for someone or something she is not daily in contact with and was amazed at the results.


I tried to keep it simple by telling her that we should pray for Japan because there was an earthquake which made a lot of houses fall down so many little boys and girls lost their houses.  Boy did she have a lot of questions.  


"Why did the houses fall down?"
"Well, because there was an earthquake"
"Why was there an earthquake?"
"Sometimes earthquakes happen"
"Why our house didn't fall down?"
"Because there is no earthquake here"
"But why there is no earthquake here"
"Because God didn't let there be an earthquake here"
"Why did God let there be an earthquake in Japan?"


uhh... I had to think about this one... trying to keep things simple for a 3 year old actually was making things harder than I thought...
"Well... sometimes God let bad things happen... but that's why we have to now pray and ask God to help those in need..."


So then she wanted to pray and it went something like this... I wish I tape recorded...
"Dear God,  please help Japan because she doesn't have a house.  Please let there not be anymore earthquake so her house doesn't fall down.  Please help Japan feel better.  in Jesus name, Amen."


Then she asked me if we could invite Japan to our house since "she" doesn't have a house (think she thinks Japan is a person).  I tried to explain the concept that Japan had a lot of people in it because it was a country and that they would not all fit in our house.  She then tells me that maybe some of the people can go to a friend's house.  I was just so tickled and amazed by our whole conversation and I didn't know I was going to get all that from just introducing the concept of praying for Japan.  So for a couple of nights in a row, she would voluntarily offer to pray for Japan.  My mom tells me that when she was babysitting while I was at work, my daughter even told her all about Japan and the earthquake there.


It is just amazing to me how a three year old brain works...


Here are some interesting scientific facts I learned about Japan and the impact the recent earthquake had:

• moved Japan 13 feet closer to the US
• shifted the earth's axis by 6.5 inches
• shortened the day by 1.6 microseconds (we're spinning faster!)
• sank Japan downward by 2 feet

You can click here to read the full article.

Pink Eye

It has been a while since I've blogged and part of the reason is because my family has been fighting one sickness after another and I'm just tired.  It's hard enough to be sick but harder still to be pregnant and sick.


We've had it all the winter... two bouts of GI issues (the whole nausea, vomiting, diarrhea bit...) as well as your typical cough, congestion, upper respiratory infections.  We'll be well for maybe 1 week and then another member will start with runny nose and the cycle starts all over again.


Recently, I've developed conjunctivitis... or the laymen's term, "pink eye".  I haven't had this since I was a child!  So far, no one else in the family has gotten it and I hope it stays that way.


So conjunctivitis is basically inflammation of the membrane lining the eyelids.  The symptoms can consist of:

• increased tearing
• crusting that forms overnight
• itching
• redness
• pain
• blurred vision
• gritty feeling
• sensitivity to lights

There are many causes including:

• viruses (most common cause)
• bacteria
• allergic
• chemical
• extended contact lense wear

Some other rare causes may also include:

• fungal
• parasites

So the treatment for this depends on the cause.  Examination of the eyes and sometimes a swab can be taken for analysis.  

For allergic conjunctivitis, cool compresses can help.  Allergy medication and/or eye drops can be prescribed to help.

Bacterial eye drops help with bacterial causes.  Viral infections should go away on its own but sometimes a mild antibiotic eye drop is prescribed to prevent bacterial infection.  Warm compresses help soothe discomfort.

Finally prevention is key in not spreading to others:

• avoid rubbing eyes with hands
• wash hands frequently
• do not share towels or hankerchiefs
• do not share eye cosmetics
• change eye cosmetics regularly
• clean contact lenses properly
• change pillow cases regularly  

Lenovo M90z

Here is my first short blurb about my thoughts on this computer, the Lenovo M90z. I'm testing this computer, thanks to Lenovo.

So three main advantages I find as a physician mom who also happens to have a preschooler and toddler:

1)  Sometimes I am holding my one year old on my lap while I'm trying to work on the computer. I may do some charting at home. I may read medical articles. With the Lenovo, I have the option to unhook the keyboard and just use the touchscreen.  This is useful because when I am holding my daughter using my laptop,  she will usually bang on the keyboard and mess up my typing or accidently send emails to people without a body.  So with a touchscreen computer, it is easier for me to keep it out of her reach.

2)  The big wide screen of the Lenovo (23 inches) is much bigger than my laptop so my three year old finds that watching movies or cartoons on it pretty enjoyable.

3)  The other advantage of the big screen is that you can easily fit two windows in the screen to multitask.  Plus the machine is very fast.. so this is helpful when I need to try to get as many things done as possible while the kids are napping.

I'll be sharing more thoughts about the M90z over the next few weeks, so stay tuned...

Disney World with a Three Year Old and One Year Old...

The phrase "needing a vacation from vacation" sure stands true especially if traveling with two small children under the age of 3... and the third on the way!  We just got back from Orlando, FL and the kids got to visit Disney World for the first time.  This trip was mostly for my three year old who is totally into princesses right now.  We would have waited till both kids were older and even for kid #3 to join us but my husband was speaking at a conference so we thought we'd tag along.  We also brought my mother-in-law with us since there were going to be some days where I'd be alone with the kids and an extra pair of hands is always welcome.


So... Disney World... I could probably do a whole series of blogs on this alone but I will try to summarize our experience here.


Now some folks stay in the park and do the whole meal plan package.  I think if the kids were older and we were planning on making the most out of the entire Disney experience by doing as much as possible with rides, shows, etc that may be the way to go since it is convenient and we would never need to leave the gigantic park.  However,  because my kids were so small, I really wanted them to nap and sleep well at night.  Everyone is happier if the kids are not cranky =)  My three year old sleeps great if she is in a room by herself, so I got us a vacation rental home that was 6 miles away.  It had four bedrooms and a private heated swimming pool.  In addition, it was less expensive than staying in the park!  Sounded pretty ideal on paper but the 6 miles took about 20-30 min to get to Disney because of traffic lights and traffic.  My plan was just to hit a Disney park in the morning then head back to nap and chill in the afternoon.  Depending on the nap, we did go back for fireworks two of the nights.


Since we only had a few hours each day at the park, I did a lot of planning the night before.  Actually, I had to book the character dining months in advance and am very glad I did because those were definite highlights of our trip.  Since my three year old is enthralled with princesses right now (and especially Cinderella) we did a lunch at Akershus in Epcot and a dinner at 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian Resort.  If I had booked more than 6 months in advance, I might have booked a lunch at Cinderella's Castle.  I'm not sure if I'd book the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique because of how pricey it is.  However, one mom gave me the advice of just buying the princess costume separately from home and going for the Coach Package.


Akershus Royal Banquet Hall - She got to take a picture with Belle after entering and we got to keep a 8x10 as well as 2 4x6 photos as part of the package.  There were four other princesses there roaming the dining hall going from table to table so you can take more pictures and chat (Aurora, Cinderella, Jasmin, Ariel).  They even had a little parade where my daughter got to hold Aurora's hand while parading around the dining room.  The food was very good, too!  It was a buffet appetizer bar then you pick from a menu for your main course.  Dessert came in plate where you get to try a little of everything.  The entire lunch took longer than I had anticipated so my 14 month old was pretty tired by the end of it.  Our reservation was for 12:10pm.  In the future, I'd probably try to book an hour earlier time if I'm aiming to get nap time in by 1pm.


1900 Park Fare - Cinderella and Prince Charming starts the evening off by opening the dining room doors and welcoming everyone there to dinner.  Our dinner was at 4:40pm so this was the day we skipped naps.  I think if my older one had napped she would have enjoyed this so much more since it was all about Cinderella and her world.  Cinderella, Prince Charming, the Fairy Godmother, and both step sisters (Anastasia and Drizella) were there to greet and take pictures going from table to table.  At one point in the evening, Cinderella and Prince Charming danced then they opened it up to dance with guests.  Again, I think if my older one was less tired she would have been there hopping and twirling with the Prince.  It was a buffet dinner and the food was very good.  So if we were to ever attempt this again I may go for a later dinner time to see if maybe we can squeeze a nap in and just sacrifice a later bedtime.


Personally, my favorite part of the trip was actually visiting Epcot Center at night.  The lights were beautiful and it was fun to walk around.  I actually thought it was pretty romantic.  They also had an amazing light/fireworks show called Illuminations at 9pm.  Unfortunately, it was so loud and so powerful that it totally woke up my sleeping one year old.. but oh well, one makes sacrifices when the daily routine is disrupted on vacation.


We didn't really go on that many rides for several reasons:
-  kids really were too young and even some of the more benign rides have parts of in it that may be too scary for a three year old
-  the more exciting rides have longer wait times and we really didn't have the time
-  I'm pregnant and can't go on a lot of the rockier more exciting rides anyway


So what rides did we go on?
At Magic Kingdom:
-  It's A Small World (this was my favorite ride when I was 3 and we actually rode this one like 3 times)
-  Peter Pan's Flight (though there was a part with the crocs that scared my 3 year old.. she now claims it is her favorite ride and wants to know why we didn't go on it again.. go figure)
-  Magic Carpet of Aladdin
-  Dumbo The Flying Elephant
-  Prince Charmin Regal Carousel
-  Jungle Cruise
-  watched a 3D Mickey Philharmagic Show


At Epcot:
-  Nemo Ride (had scary shark part.. but talking to Crush at the end was super funny and cute)
-  Living with the Land (read online that this was good to do with three year old so chose the ride.. it was okay)
-  spent the rest of the time princess hunting:
      Mulan was in China
      Snow White was in Germany
      Belle and Aurora was in France (though we didn't go since they were at the lunch)
      Jasmin was there too but we caught her in Magic Kingdom


At Hollywood Studios:
-  Voyage of the Little Mermaid (you get a little wet which the one year old didn't care for too much and had some parts that were little scary)
-  Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage (three year old loved this!)
-  then we had to stop by Star Wars: Jedi Training Academy because my husband is a Star Wars fan (to say the least)... you had to be four to actually do this and since my girls did not seem to interested maybe we'll be back with #3


So really, we spent most of our time princess hunting, watching parades and random music shows they would have on Main Street of Magic Kingdom.  My one year old loved waving at all the characters in the parade and swaying to all the music!  We watched the Dream Along with Mickey show twice because there were scenes where Cinderella, Belle, and Aurora all were waltzing with their prince.  When they first came out, even I got the chills =)


Bottom line for us is we have to do Disney in chunks, otherwise it is way too overwhelming!  It was helpful to go back to our vacation rental and just chill in the afternoon.. swim in the pool... we did take out and ate in two of the nights so we could get the kids to bed earlier.  When they slept, they were much happier and it made for a better day the next day.  My husband and I even went back to Magic Kingdom one of the nights while the kids were sleeping so we could have some alone time and went on some rides that we wouldn't bring the kids on like The Haunted Mansion, the Snow White ride (this is way too scary for a three year old), and we wanted to go on Pirates of the Carribean but the ride was down so we did the Jungle Cruise at night... very different ride at night!


All in all.. it was fun... but tiring.  In the beginning of the week, my three year old told me she wanted to live in Disney forever and never go home.  By the end of the week, she told me she was glad to be home and didn't want to go to Disney anymore.  Hahaha... go figure.


Well, if we ever do go back I'm sure it will look like a totally different trip.  Depending on the age of the kids and gender, there will be different interests and activities.  Since we're supposedly adding a boy to our clan I'm sure our trip would not be so focused on princesses in the future... but I suppose we'll see.


So we're home now and on a totally side note, I got a Lenovo Thinkcentre M90z shipped to our door for me to play around with and blog about.  So for those of you who know us, my husband is the techy one with all the cool gadgets and toys to play with.  He has blogs dedicated to this.  So now I get to play around with a touchscreen computer and kinda see what benefits it may have for a mom and/or physician in a clinical setting.  So I will be throwing in some posts on this as I figure it out...

Tribute to Parents Who Sacrifice for Their Kids

So 20/20 recently had a two hour special on the sad story of the Kim family.  This happened in 2006 and I remember feeling very sad back then for James Kim (CNET editor... for those of you not familiar, it is like a gadget news site).  My husband, being the gadget geek that he is, actually brought it to my attention back then.  Since he is also quite the outdoorsy mountaineering guy, he also understands more the dangers of extreme weather in remote mountainous regions and was explaining that to me.  I can only draw from my own experience of attempting to climb Mt Rainier on my honeymoon May 2002.  It was very cold and very difficult!  We never made it to the top because of the bad weather and made the wiser (but less glorious) decision to climb back down after reaching high camp.  Sadly, two very experienced climbers  perished the very night that we would have attempted the summit!  Now that was with winter gear and boots etc... this guy James attempted to look for help I think only wearing a sweatshirt and sneakers?!  


However, reading the story now from the wife and mom's perspective and having 2 young girls myself... I feel the sadness and desperation in a whole new light.  Especially when she mentioned that the 7 month old stopped smiling and had feeble cries... my heart is wrenched and I just want to go hold my girls.  How I take for granted a warm roof over my head... food on the table...


I remember being told that I would not really understand how God our Father loves us as children until I have children of my own.  Truly this agape love that a parent has for a child is strong stuff!  We just celebrated Valentines Day... I suppose the emphasis there is more on eros love.  It probably should be a holiday to celebrate all forms of "love".


So "kudos" to all you moms and dads out there who love your kids and who would sacrifice for them.  Hopefully, we will never be put in the same desperate situation as the Kims but when it boils down to it.. we would probably do whatever it takes for their well-being.


For those of you interested in learning some winter survival skills, I thought this was an interesting link.  You can click on this for a more condensed 5 basic survival skills.

Daddy Daughter Relationship

My three year old daughter went on her first date tonight.  Daddy took her to the Chik-fil-A Daddy Daughter Date Night.  She was super excited and had been talking about the event for a while.  They both dressed up (she picked out his tie) and he even got her a rose and a balloon.  I thought it was a really neat idea when I first saw the flier at our local Chik-fil-A.  Who better to go on a first date with than with one's own daddy?


Many have touched on this topic about the importance of the father daughter relationship.  He is the first male interaction in her life.  He plays a powerful role in shaping her self image and self worth.  She'll watch the relationship between mom and dad to know what to expect in a marriage.  And based on how he treats her, she will form expectations on how she should be treated by other guys later in life.  Plus, some studies show that fathers now influence the future and career path that daughters may take.


Watching my daughter and husband interact is very sweet.  It is a different relationship than the one I have with her.  There are times (usually when she is sick and throwing up) when she wants mommy.  I'm there as her comforter.  But I recall other times... like when we were at the beach and the waves were coming fast, where she will call out for daddy!  He is her protector.


My younger daughter is too young this year... but next year, daddy will have three girls to take turns taking out on individual date nights!