My last crazy month...DONE!

I finished my last day of ICU yesterday. The Peds ICU can be, well, intense! It can also be very, very sad. And if nothing else, this month has made me grateful for the amazing health of my little Princess! I'm also glad for all that those kids and their families taught me. Yesterday morning, when I was getting ready to leave, one of my patient's moms came to give me a great big hug to thank me and say goodbye. No matter how grim things seemed to her and her little one, she still thought to come to me and thank me. They are amazing!

Well, I'm down to 5 months of residency...EXCITING!!! I can't wait to start my new job! I've been planning our graduation retreat for me and my residency class. We are going to Chicago with our families for a weekend in April. Brian, Mia and I will be having a big city Winter/Spring...We are headed out to the Big Apple in a couple of weeks to visit my brother and his wife before they welcome their new baby girl...I wish I could be there after she is born, but my little Mimi likes to smother babies with love so we figured we'd head out before :)

Mimi is growing up so fast...her vocabulary is expanding and she's such a little tease! She's such a sweetie and just adores giving us hugs and kisses and cuddling. Her favorite things to do are to go down in the basement to play...she puts on a pair of my high heels, has one of my old purses and just walks around clanking my heels on the cement floor. She loves doing all the motions to and singing the itsy bitsy spider. And potty training is moving along just nicely. She poopies in the toilet and has almost got the hang of the pee thing...but usually waits until the very last second, so that by the time we run to the toilet, she's peeing already. My busy ICU month kindof put a hold on the potty training thing, but my next 5 months should be pretty laid back so we'll hopefully get it taken care of. I'm sort of a germ freak (o.k. ---I'm a huge germ freak) and am worried about how we'll handle public restrooms. In that sense, I wish that I could keep her in diapers when we are out in public...yuck! I just hate when the kids have to hold on to the toilet so they don't fall in, and her little bum is so puny that I think she'll be at risk of that until forever! She's also pretty OCD about germs, too, and can't stand to have dirty hands, a dirty face, dirty clothes and would take 10 hour baths if I let her. She may look like her pops...but she got her mom's OCD!!!

We finally got our videos downloaded to the computer...about 1 1/2 years worth of videos!!! So I'm putting some of my favorites on this post for my parents to watch, since I've been scolded more than once for not uploading our videos.

Just for fun, here's one of Mia almost exactly one year ago...it is amazing to see how much she has grown up!!! Brian says he can't believe her hair was so short--Brian now calls Mia's hair her mane! It is now always crazy and wild, especially with the static from the heater!


Here's one of her giggling when she was just a wee 2 1/2 months old. Brian was taking care of her while I was doing some sort of training or something at work...Mia always laughs at Brian's silly sounds.


Here's one of Mia dancing a couple of months ago to her favorite song, Chris Brown's Forever. Don't ask me why it is her favorite...


Here's a funny video of Mia at the beach in October...


Here are snippets from Mia's first visit to Disneyworld!

My Sweethearts!

I just love this photo of the loves of my life! It perfectly captures just how much this man loves his little girl...I've never seen any man spoil his daughter as much as this daddy does! He can't even bear to let her cry one little bit. Even when she goes to nursery and I'm in there with her, he is constantly peeking in the window or walking in just to give her a quick squeeze between classes. I just love it!

A Wonderful Christmas!

Other than the fact that we've been trapped at home for 3 days because of 4-5 foot tall snowdrifts in our driveway, walkways and streets, we've had a wonderful Christmas! Mia was teething and did not sleep very well on Christmas Eve, so was a little sleepy Christmas morning but once she woke up, she was in heaven with all the goodies Santa, Grandparents and ma and pa gave her. She has not even noticed that we've been trapped at home because she has had so much fun playing with all of her new toys! Brian was supposed to be on call the day after Christmas, but since we couldn't get out of our house, he got to spend an extra day at home. We've had so much fun, the three of us, here at home. What a relaxing Christmas! But poor Brian had to go in to work today and this morning he had to walk to the highway so his chief resident could pick him up to take him to work. But we are finally free as a bobcat and caterpillar are currently clearing off our driveway and streets.

At this time of the year, we truly feel blessed. I have enjoyed spending the holidays with my wonderful husband and daughter and starting to teach our little one about the true meaning of Christmas. The Lord has truly blessed us and been there for us through thick and thin. What a wonderful time of year where we can reflect on all that we have. It is also a time when I am reminded to think of those I care for. In the past couple of days, my heart has turned to a few of my good friends, as I've heard updates about their situations. For one (linked here) family in particular, I wish them to know that they are in my thoughts and prayers.

Here are some pictures of our holiday...Here is Mia and Dallin copying eachother as we were getting ready to make gingerbread houses with the Besse's!Dallin and Mia making gingerbread houses...or just eating the graham crackers!!!

Little buddies! Both super sleepy...

Making Christmas cookies for Santa on Christmas EveWe hope Santa likes icing...I'm glad we decided to take off Mia's clothes before decorating these! The funny thing is that she is so OCD that when she got the icing all over herself, she panicked. She hates having dirty hands.Look...Santa was able to eat one of them...but then he probably had a sugar seizure afterwards!!!
Watching TV on her new beanbag

Mia's new Madame Alexander doll riding in her new shopping cart
All tuckered out from playing

Snuggling with pops while trapped in the house
Checking out ma's new Fender that Daddy gave her! I was able to brush up on my guitar playing while trapped in the house!
Getting ready to eat Christmas dinner!I was also able to get some knitting done while trapped, including these little leg warmers for Mia.And Mia's Christmas slippers!This was before they were felted.
Brian jumping over some of the drifts outside our front door...we didn't have stairs anymore! They were all covered up. And note Brian with a broom since we don't own a snow shovel! Probably not a good thing in Nebraska!