Woohoo!

So first the big news - I passed the Advanced Metabolic Module test! Yay! People kept telling me that I was stressing too much and over-studying and I'd be fine. Well, anyone who knows me won't find it alarming that I was over-stressed and over-studying for any sort of test. I know the material but the part that always stresses me the most about tests is trying to figure out how much detail I need to be able to go into. I talked to nurses who had already tested out of the Metabolic Module and they all said to just go off the study guide we were given. However, that still gives you a lot of leeway when you get things on the study guide that say, "Explain the pathophysiology of DIC (disseminated intravascular coagulation)." Soooooo does that mean you want the 2 minute explanation of DIC, or do you want me to give you the 15 minute explanation and go into this sort of detail:

And then there were questions like, "What's the standard treatment for liver transplant rejection?" The answer is steroids. Then you think, "Wait... that can't possibly be it. That's a one-word answer. There must be more to it than that!" But there isn't. You keep second-guessing yourself - but it really is just a one-word answer.

Anyway, I passed, I'm officially an Advanced Metabolic Nurse, I can stop studying and get back to doing stuff I want to do (like read non-medical books and crochet) and I'll get a nice little pay raise for proving that I'm now slightly smarter. I would have done it even without the pay incentive though - I love to learn new things and be challenged - but I won't turn down an extra 2.5%. :)

Well, on to the fun stuff (Mira, of course). A few days ago she actually took a few steps on her own! And it wasn't to come to Mom or Dad or anything like that... Nope, she was chasing after the cat. Go figure. So Mark and I were really excited, but ever since then we cannot convince this child to try to walk anymore. I think she realized that as cool as walking probably is, it won't get her where she wants to go as fast as if she were crawling. So why bother with walking? So she doesn't. But give her that little pink car and she's like a race car driver - a drunk one at that.

She's also still really into dancing. This theme might be getting tedious to some of you but Mark and I think it's the cutest thing to watch Mira when some music goes on. She's starting to do this crumping sort of move where she puts her hands in the air and bounces up and down. We're trying to teach her to do a "Touchdown!" move with her arms. We're also trying to teach her the difference between "mama" and "dada." Not that she needs to know the difference yet but she might actually be getting the hang of it. For days both Mark and I were Dada. Mark of course was thrilled with this. I started patting myself on the chest and saying "Mama" over and over while I was holding her, then patting Mark and saying "Dada." The next day both Mark and I were Mama. Then the day after we were both Dada again. So cute! But today she started crying when I walked out of the room and I heard her saying "Maaamaaa! Maamaa!" She's never done that before so maybe she is figuring it out.

This picture makes me smile. Most babies fall asleep cuddling a special blanket, or a stuffed animal or some other soft "comfort" object. Mira falls asleep cuddling her bottle. No, seriously. I'll cuddle her and give her her bedtime bottle, and then after she's done with the bottle she still wants to hold onto the bottle until she falls asleep. Weird. But cute, of course. :)

My next goal for a video I need to capture is Mira playing on the iPad. I got an iPad 2 for Christmas (LOVE LOVE LOVE this toy, btw) and Mira being the technology lover that she is really enjoys it too. (Mark was very annoyed with the iPad for a long time - he kept saying it was a waste of money and I don't need it and the whole concept was stupid, but now he gets excited when I don't take the iPad to work with me so he can play games on it.) I have some fun apps for Mira on there that she likes to play. It's so cute to watch her use her right index finger to touch the screen, since that's what she sees me doing. What she doesn't see me do but she does anyway is resort to smacking the screen with her whole hand. Yes, I did invest in a screen protector. :) So I'm going to attempt to get a good video of my techie geek daughter playing with an iPad.