...And a Happy New Year

Another year has, somehow, already ended. I'm honestly surprised that it's the end of the year already. The older I get, the faster life goes.

I guess I'll have to include the obligatory Christmas pictures in this post. The holidays are one of the times when I really realize what the life of a nurse entails. I don't care so much about Christmas itself - I find the holidays in general are over-hyped and way over-commercialized, not to mention stressful. However, I do care about spending time with my family and the nice thing about the holidays is that everyone with an office job (which is the majority of the population) gets time off to spend with their loved ones. I like to say that the jobs that are the most crucial to the functioning of society are the only ones that never get to take holidays (which says a lot for those in government, ha ha). Obviously Mark and I are used to having to give up time with our own families so we can literally save other people's asses and generally I don't mind too much, since we both knew what we were getting into when we chose our careers and if we haven't accepted it by now we really ought to be reconsidering some decisions we've made. But this year I felt a bit resentful because I drew the short stick and got scheduled to work 7 PM - 7 AM Christmas Eve, and again 7 PM - 7 AM Christmas night. So I got to make the eternally frustrating and no-win decision between sleeping and spending a sliver of time with Mark and Mira. I'll admit it, I was grouchier than ever before about having to work an entire holiday. Before Mira I would prefer to work the holidays to get the extra money but now I want to spend time with her, especially since she's getting older and is really starting to notice when I'm not home.

But as I talked about briefly in a previous post, sometimes all you need is a fresh perspective to change your attitude. The PICU was very full over the holiday with a much higher than normal census for this time of year. That means there were all those families with critically ill children, stuck in a hospital for the holiday. As crappy as it is for me to spend my holiday working in a hospital, at least at the end of the 12 hours I can swipe my badge, clock out, go home and leave the hospital behind. These families can't do that. Sometimes I feel less altruistic about my job than other times, but the bottom line is I chose nursing as a career to help people, even if the timing is less than fantastic for my family. Sometimes this job feels more selfless than I ever planned on (and same for Mark's job).

So enough ranting about how the scheduler apparently hates my guts enough to give me a crappy holiday schedule. When I got home from work Christmas morning, I stayed up late so we could open presents with Mira. We didn't go too big because 1) she really wasn't expecting presents to start off with and 2) we figured she would get spoiled by her grandparents, which she did. Her big present from us was a Cabbage Patch doll. I remember my Cabbage Patch doll that I got as a kid and it was a bit nostalgic for me.

Mark and I also exchanged gifts. I gave Mark a pair of expensive running shoes that he's been eying, and Mark gave me a new camera to replace the one that took a dunk in the Atlantic last month. I'm still mad at myself for that but the new camera is, umm, freaking awesome! Mark definitely put a lot of thought and research into choosing it. We also got a ski rack for the SUV, which I'm very excited to try out.

After staying up as late as I deemed safe I crashed into bed so I could be somewhat rested before going back again. Mark took Mira out to see a movie in the theater with some family. Apparently after they got home she was so worn out from all the excitement all day that she actually fell asleep on the couch. I don't think, besides when she was a baby and would fall asleep all the time, she's ever fallen asleep on the couch before. Absolutely amazing.

That has got to be one of the cutest things I've ever seen.

Trying to coordinate with my family to exchange gifts with them has been a pain too, again mostly because of my work schedule. It took until today to get everyone's presents where they needed to go, except apparently I've got one from my dad that still needs to migrate my way so maybe we're not actually done. Besides working the entire holiday, I also decided I'd be nice and work an extra shift since we were so busy, which fell under the category of "Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time But Then I Regretted It." So that was close to 50 hours in one week. I'm really hoping I'll stop regretting my selfless act of altruism when payday comes around. But anyway, Mira made out like a bandit from my dad.

Then my Aunt Ellen found a dress that had Mira's name all over it so she sent it over. Mira was trying to pull it on over her clothes the second she pulled it out of the package. She's such a girly girl, I love it! And I got a chance to try out my new camera.

And she'll get even more when I can figure out what to get her with the money my grandparents sent. Maybe a new outfit for her doll. Yep, she's spoiled. I'm not sure now why I thought it was avoidable...

I took Mira to visit my mom today and she was so tired she fell asleep after we'd been driving for less than 5 minutes.

Not taking a nap every day has definitely resulted in a sleepier child. So when she does fall asleep we run with it. I decided I'd hang out in the car once we got home so she could get some sleep and while I was enjoying the silence I noticed this scene from The Birds happening in our yard.

And now for the obligatory New Year's Resolutions. I'd like to be more patient and less high-strung as a parent, for starters. I'd like to make a concerted effort to make more one-on-one time with Mark. I'd like to run a 10K. And I'd definitely like to learn to stop rushing around, all the time, and be more laid-back.

Check back in one year and we'll see how things went.

Have a very happy New Year!