New Places in a New Year

Updates:
The semester wrapped up in early December, and the unthinkable happened! I got an A in CHEMISTRY! It's very very exciting- and I am relieved to have one more hurdle crossed in my professional journey. It will be even more exciting in May when I have passed Organic Chemistry.
I was blessed to have Christmas off, and got to spend some time in Urbana. My group of friends from high school got together on the 23rd and had a great time laughing and reminiscing.
After a quiet Christmas at home, I went back to work on the 26th. My little guy (the 24 weeker) is doing so so well! He is almost 5 pounds, has started taking bottles, and only needs a tiny bit of oxygen to help him breath. The docs say he should be home in a month or so. It has been pretty healing for me to watch him grow and get to know his feisty personality. We spent New Years together, as it was my turn to work the holiday.
I spent this past weekend in Dallas, visiting Bethany and fiance Jay. We ate some Tex-Mex, visited the arboretum, went to the 6th Floor Museum (on the 6th floor of the Texas Book Depository (where Lee-Harvey Oswald shot JFK), and attended a BSC Championship party with some of Bethany's friends. That last one was a little disappointing, since we were routing for LSU, and they didn't cross the 50 yard line until the fourth quarter. Oh well! We had a good time anyway!
And next month, to continue the theme of 2012- "Travel"- I am going to visit friend Erin in Boulder, CO.
Tonight, I booked my most exciting trip yet! Friend Wendy and I are going to PARIS (as in FRANCE) at the end of April for a week! We are both so excited! This was on a "life list" for both of us, and we can't wait!!! On y va!

Party Time

So tonight we had an "Appetizers, Wine, and Dessert Party. Delicious. So yummy. But now it;s over, and everyone has gone home. Before 1 am. Like old people. Is this what happens? You reach an age above 25 (or above 26) and all of a sudden, even on a weekend, people have to "get to bed" around (or before) midnight?! Wow.
That being said, it was fun, and we had really good appetizers, wine and dessert!
This was the spread BEFORE other people got here...we may have gone a little overboard. But my friend Lora came, and we haven't seen each other in YEARS:
And some Urbana gals were in attendance, which is always fun:
It was a nice night, and we are already planning the next one (which trust me, is easier said than done because we are busy ladies!)

Parental Units

This past weekend, the parental units visited. We went out to Dunley's with Grandma B, and the mom and I putzed around in Lincoln Square, where we happened to stumble upon their Trick-or-Treating. So many small children dressed as monkeys, and ladybugs, and pieces of fruit (bananas). But the best was a teeny tiny Harry Potter and his tall tall Dad dressed a Hagrid- THE CUTEST! The we met up with dad and went on the Chicago Architecture Foundation boat tour.
It was beautiful (albeit a little chilly), and I learned a lot about the buildings I see all the time. I tried to take a picture of the three of us:
To be fair, mom did warn me that I was aiming at the aisle the whole time...But the lighting was beautiful and the rest of the pictures turned out pretty good:
That night we went to Revolution Brewing Company, one of my favorite neighborhood places, that has amazing food and beer! The next morning we went to Lula Cafe for brunch, another neighborhood favorite. So much good food! And really nice to spend time with two of my favorite people!

Crazy Cat Lady

So I have become an old lady. A crazy old lady with cats. Who takes pictures of her cats. Really just one though. There is this cat, Box (Ok, so her name isn't actually Box, it's Sox, but when I first read her name tag, while in the midst of saving her from the certain death of being violently eaten by a dog who was passing by, I thought her name was Box), Anyway, Box is like a neighborhood cat, except she has a collar with a tag, with a phone number, so someone probably owns her. But she wanders all around and sometimes sits on our back porch and meows, and looks all skinny and sad...so then I give her a little bit of cat food I bought at Walgreens...but LOOK HOW CUTE (even for a cat):

Tiny Babies Indeed

Another month has almost passed, and - news-flash-- I'm still terrible at being a regular blogger!
I went to Seattle again. Such a good time, as always, and beautiful weather the whole time! Wendy planned a fun weekend for us- we went to the mountain town of Leavenworth and went to their Oktoberfest. Beer, brats, gorgeous scenery- we had so much fun!
Back to reality:
I think the "honeymoon phase" has worn off at work. It's not all grins and giggles anymore. Things got very real last week and it sobered me up a bit. After being off for a whole week to go to Seattle, I came back to admit a 24-weeker. The baby weighed only 1lb 1.4 oz, and is obviously pretty sick, considering he was 16 weeks early. He basically looks something like this:

photo credit here

I was terrified to be responsible for his tiny life and it made me really question whether or not NICU is the place for me after all. Luckily, after some time, and a few *slightly tearful* phone calls to my parents and others, I have decided not to give up on it quite yet. Since I admitted him, I will be one of his primary nurses (meaning every time I work, I will have him as a patient). I'm guessing he and I will get pretty close, considering the NICU standard is that preemies usually stay until their due date at the very least. His due date is in the first week of February. While I am still feeling overwhelmed by him at moments, a week later, things are going pretty well. But I am far from feeling comfortable with working in the NICU. Again, just more motivation to get through school so I can have my pick of jobs (but who knows, 2 years from now- NICU might just be my pick of jobs!)
For the last 6 nights, we have had 2 babies total. 2. Which means only 2 nurses are needed each shift. Which means I have had 2 day work weeks for the last two weeks. Awesome! There are perks to the high stress career of life-saving!
I am looking forward to the weekend, when my parents are coming to stay for a night and experience my life in the city.

"Big City, Tiny Babies" has never been more appropriate!