Chanley Update

Chanley is now almost 16 months old...this is so hard for me to imagine. I look at her everyday in amazment at how much she is growing and learning. She has quite a personality and lets you know when things aren't quite going her way. She is a cuddlebug and so loveable. She loves to climb on everything and doesn't seem to be scared of much at all. Her favorite thing to do right now is to pull all of my tupperware out of the cabinet and climb inside and play with her brother. This keeps them occupied for hours but leaves a huge mess! She is so tiny compared to Colby when he was her age. She weighs about 23lbs and I think she has at least a pound in each cheek. Her hair has grown so much and I love to fix it in pigtails or up like Pebbles...and she always has a bow! Her vocabulary is growing everday and it is so much fun to watch her and Colby play. She loves his cars, trucks, football, and Spider-Man playhouse. As much as I try to get her to play with her purse or babydoll, she would pick his toys over hers anyday. She isn't the best eater but still loves yogurt and chicken nuggets. She still wears a size 4 diaper, 12-18 month clothes, and size 5 shoe. She goes to bed around 10pm and usually sleeps until at least 10am. I know I'm soooo lucky! She sleeps in her own crib in her room and loves it. I hear her in the morning talking to her dolls and calling for me. I walk in to the most beautiful baby with the biggest smile on her face. She is a joy to us and we are so blessed to have her. We love you baby girl!

Christmas with PaPa

This past weekend we drove up to Cave City where my dad lives to have Christmas with him and my grandma. We also went up to my aunt and uncles on my mom's side and had Christmas with them as well. It was an exciting day and we all ate good food and enjoyed everyones company. I was exhausted to say the least since I had worked all night the night before....but I made it. My dad let Colby "drive the tractor" (aka lawn mower) and he thought he was hot stuff. He has so much fun when we are there because he gets to do totally gross boy stuff, like catch frogs, or play in the mud. I only wish we were closer and could see him more often.

L&D Branson Trip 2008

Yes I know I am waaaaayyyy behind on my posting but I am going to do my best to do better with the start of the new year! For now I'm just going to try and get caught up :)!
Back in November several of us L&D nurses went to Branson for the annual girls weekend. Most of the girls drove to Branson on Friday but I had to work so Rachael, Shelby, and I drove up on Saturday morning. I got about an hour of sleep on the way up and shopped for 8hrs!! It was totally worth it....we all got lots of good deals and a lot of Christmas shopping done. Later that night we went back to our condos and had a bachelorette party for Becky, one of our coworkers. It was wild to say the least! I had so much fun but missed home terribly. This was the first night in more than 5 years that I had stayed away from my husband or my kids! It was good for me though and I definitely want to go again next year! Here are a pic from the tame part of the trip :)

Christmas Card Pics

We attempted for the second time today to get a picture for our Christmas cards. After about 30 shots I think we finally got one. I wanted a pic of all of us since I sent one of just the kids out last year but we just couldn't get it together. So Brandi came over today and took some pictures of the kids and this is what we came up with! Send me your address if you want to see the finished product!!

Halloween Fun!

We had a great Halloween this year. Colby chose to be Ironman and Chanley was a strawberry fairy. They were both absolutely adorable and had lots of fun. We started out the day having lunch with YaYa then we came home for naps so we could be recharged for that night. When Daddy got home we went to Kidz Fest at our church where the kids were able to jump in bounce houses, get their faces painted, and play games. Then it was off to get us some candy!! We didn't go to very many houses but we got more than enough candy! We ended the night with dinner at a mexican resturant down the street....and started the wee morning hours with violent vomiting!! Colby and I got super sick from the food!! Needless to say we won't be eating the dog food there again! Here are some pics from our fun day!

DAISY Award

Last Wednesday I went to work as usual thinkng it was going to be just another day in L&D. Little did I know it would be one of the most exciting days of my life. I was awarded the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses! A former patient that I had taken care of wrote a letter and nominated me for the award. My nomination was choosen from several that were sent in for the month. Tears of joy fell down my face as they read the letter from the T family. I could remember them as if I had taken care of them only yesterday. My patient wrote the sweetest things about my care for her and stated that I had saved her baby's life. This hit me so hard knowing that I have such a huge impact on the patients that I care for everyday. That night I did nothing special other than just doing my job and what I feel I was called to do. I am so deeply appreciative of having the opportunity to do what I love and to get this type of feedback melts my heart. Thank you again T family for nominating me for this award. It means more to me than you will ever know! Here is a slideshow of the presentation.

DAISY Award Pics