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Hello! I’m Val, the other half of Two Docs.

My entire life has lead me to Two Docs and a Blog. So let’s find out how it went down! My first memories include wanting to be a dentist. In fact, starting at age 7, I was announcing to the patients at my dad’s dental practice that I would be joining him in 2015. To achieve my goal, I eventually went to Indiana University (the only place I even considered!) which is where I met my awesome friend Alyssa. I did get my DDS in 2015, and that summer I got my wish and started practicing with my dad in my hometown! It was not always easy, even with a laser focus on becoming a dentist, I have struggled with dyslexia and debilitating migraine headaches my entire life. But I have always persisted.

Jacob, my super fantastic husband, and I first started dating when I was 14, legit half my lifetime ago.

We have been married for almost 4 years. We have two fur babies, Wemberly the cat joined me in 2008. Our lovable labradoodle, Falco joined us in 2012.

A tiny human joined our rag-tag group when we welcomed our daughter, Juliette, in August 2015.

I am a huge Disney fan, and in my own mind my life is a musical, so busting out in song is totally normal (perhaps much to the displeasure to anyone else with ears). Even with my obsession with oral health care, I am a diehard Diet Coke fan and am highly motivated by cake (brush and floss folks!).

Trying to figure out life as a new mom and new doctor (pretty much all at the exact same time) has been a challenge. I have been so lucky to have a friend like Alyssa, who has been with me through the trials of just starting to learn about life in university, to trying to get in to professional school through late night breastfeeding sessions. Being a young doctor and a *fairly* young mom, I have been stressed and scared but also unbelievably blessed and humbled to get to raise a strong girl and serve my patients. I certainly do NOT have it all together, there is always something new and exciting to learn in all areas of my life. We certainly hope that by talking about our lives both as doctors and moms, people can see that love and drive and determination are really forces that can change the world.

Hi!  I’m Alyssa.

To put myself into context: I am twenty-something.  I have known Val since college at IU (go Hoosiers!).  I got my MD, and now I am a pediatric resident.  I have had type 1 diabetes for 17 years.  I have been married (hi Kyle!) for almost 5 years.  Our first child, Guinness the dog, has been part of our family since April of 2013.

My daughter (hi Molly!) was born in July of 2016.

I don’t cook, but I love eating.  I miss traveling, and I someday hope to go on vacation again.  You can win my heart with a good bottle of wine, a time-turner, or preferably both.

I am so excited to talk about all of my favorite things here: medicine, my family, breastfeeding, diabetes, puppies, parenting, food, and the crazy that is squishing alllll of that stuff into a day.

Two Docs and a Blog has been a several-year-in-the-making goal for us, and we are so glad it finally exists.  I am so excited to share the blog posts I’ve been composing in my brain for years.  I hope that this blog can be an inspiration for other fancy ladies who want to have it all.  When I was in college and dreaming about med school and a family, I remember googling “can you have kids and be a doctor”, only to find mostly doom and gloom.  Years later when I was an intern and newly pregnant, I went to google again (never a good idea, ladies!) only to find mostly the same.  While having a big job and a kiddo (and maintaining your sanity) is not always easy, it is always interesting.  I hope through reading what Val and I have to muse about, someone else out there googling will see that with determination and a friend to crazy-text in the middle of the night when your infant is screaming and you are on call the next day… anything is possible 🙂