I know, its been a while...

Life is crazy up here!! I think that this is the longest I've gone without watching one of my DVD's, and that is a pretty good thing :) (Not that movie watching is bad, I'm just experiencing so much more up here and it's very exciting!)

Last week and this week at the hospital were great--which is what I believe I will be saying about all my weeks at the hospital from now on! There were some amazing patients, some that I'd love to tell you about but I can't because of privacy issues. But I will tell you that I love this work; I love (most of) the patients, I am glad to have the specialist that I do, and I am truly thankful to be where I am. Being a child life specialist is something that is important and rewarding, and that has been proven to me in the past two weeks, I am so thrilled about the potential that I have in this field.

This past weekend was crazy as well, I went to two baseball games where my Texas Rangers played the Washington Nationals in DC at the new Nationals park. It was sooooo much fun to go and be a fan for the visitor :) I liked being the one yelling at the "wrong" time, is that bad?? I really loved it when a Ranger would hit a good ball or a homer and I would stand and yell, and I would be the only one doing it!! It was great, especially since we won both nights I went to :)

Oh, the other great thing was this:


That is totally me with CJ Wilson, the cool Rangers pitcher with a mohawk!!! It was totally awesome, we decided to forgo church (I know, I know, I'm a heathen--but I'm doubling up this coming weekend trying two new churches because we've yet to find one that we're drawn to...) and get to the park early, and well it paid off. We got there while the Rangers pitchers were warming up, and after warm up we went up and asked CJ for his autograph and a picture and of course he obliged! It was great, he is as adorable up close as he is in pictures!

Saturday we also went to the biggest BBQ festival this side of the Mason-Dixon line, it was huge and hot. And it smelled like home...

My practicum

It is amazing how great this job is. I haven't been able to totally immerse myself in the hospital yet, but that will change on Tuesday because I was assigned to my unit--I am will be starting as the child life student on the surgical care unit, and I am thrilled.

I'll start from the beginning with how it has been and what has been going on and what has led up to this point, there are no pictures, so this could get long, but please read it all--do it for me.

The first day I had to go through the hospital general orientation, and that was pretty boring. It was a day of presentations, many of which will not have anything to do with me for the summer, but it was mandatory since I will be there for more than six weeks as a volunteer. Then the next day I went in and it was more orientation as well as two child life seminars that were given by two of the specialists at Children's. This day was a bit better only because it actually had to do with what I will be doing over the summer. My third day was more orientation, by this time I was tired of it and ready to get out on the floor, but I wasn't allowed yet. My last day of my first week was, thank goodness, my last day of orientation. It was just detail/administrative stuff, but I still wasn't able to interact with children yet.
The next week, which was this past week, I was finally put on rotations, and they were amazing. It is so great to be able to go into a room and see a scared little child and reassure them that I am not going to poke them with anything or take anything from them and see them light up when they realized that I am just there to play with them and make them happy. My first rotation was on the medical care unit with the patients 0-11. I was able to go to rounds with the specialist on the unit, then I got to spend quality time with one patient, we played CandyLand. Then I went on to the surgical care unit (my unit for the rest of the summer!!) where I was able to spend quality time with a two year old who was absolutely adorable. Then the next day I started out on the hematology/oncology unit, and although that unit can be very depressing, it amazed me how happy-go-luck most of the patients were. That's why I love working with children; it doesn't matter to them what they're going through or what they're hooked up to as long as you talk to them and let them know they matter they are resilient and happy. It was on this unit that I was dubbed "the baby whisperer" because I was able to play with and subsequently get to sleep two restless infants. After that I went back to medical care and worked with the adolescent crowd--they're still not my favorite age, but they're not bad or scary or anything like that. There I spent time with one patient doing a craft, and that made her day so it was great to be a part of it.

I think this is going to be an amazing summer, and I'm beginning to see how much I think I am going to love this field. It is wonderful that God brought me to this profession and this place, I am so thankful. I am also thankful for all of you who read this and continue to think of me and pray for me as I go through this amazing experience. I look forward to telling you so much more as I get acquainted with my unit and the kids on it. (I don't know if I'll ever have pictures, so you may be reading a lot this summer...)

Vegas Baby!!

So, as probably all of you know I got to go to Vegas at the end of May to celebrate my 21st birthday...it was a blast!! I got to play some slots, on which I won once and then proceeded to put it all back in a loose it, but I had fun and overall I walked away with money so it was good.
I got to go see the Cirque du Soleil show "O" at the Bellagio, and it was great. It was all water and it was so fun, if you get a chance you should go--unfortunately we weren't able to take pictures, so you won't see any below. But I did take many other pictures, and here are a few of them:

The Famous Sign Mimi and Susie

Me and My first slot play Mom and I

Me and my wonderful birthday dinner at Fix; My delicious Fix dessert

Saw Kyle Bush’s car at M&M’s, can you see how I feel about him??; Dad and I

Cute Mom and Dad at the Venetian; Me and the Sign at night

Road Trip!! (aka Longest, most action-packed post EVER!)

Last Wednesday, May 28th, my Mom and I set out on our multi-state adventure that ended in Arlington VA where I will be living this summer while I'm working at Children's National Medical Center in DC. I am super excited and I will be posting more about that this weekend or sometime next week! But first things first, my amazing road trip. There are tons of pictures and tons of stories to tell. It was an amazing journey and I was thrilled to spend it with my Mom, even as close as we are it made us closer and made it so much fun. I am going to start from the beginning and go all the way through, Texas to Virginia and everything in between. This post is full of pictures, and I hope you enjoy it!


Starting out, this is Mom and I in the driveway of the house getting ready to pull out; along with my car-full of stuff! (it was totally packed, any more and I think the poor bug would have scraped the ground!!


Unfortunately Mom missed taking a picture of the "Welcome to Louisiana" sign, and their visitor center was closed, actually it was leveled, so these are pictures of us just after we crossed into Louisiana.


Next came Mississippi. Here is the river and Mom and I with the sign at the visitor center. It was quite pretty :D




Then came Alabama, where we were able to rest and spend some wonderful time with an amazing couple and their beautiful girls. These people graciously put us weary travelers for the night. (Thank you so much, and I can't wait to see y'all again when we drive me and my stuff back to TX!)





Before leaving the state we made our first stop on our NASCAR tour...

Talladega! This superspeedway is HUGE. They're not joking when they say super. Note that the Amp Energy 500 will be there the weekend of Oct. 3rd (just so happens that's Mom's birthday weekend!), can anybody guess where I want to be then??


Then came the state of Georgia. We stopped at the visitor center, then drove on through...Here's a view of the ATL as we left it!



Then it was South Carolina, a necessary path towards my real goal for the day...



North Carolina!


Why was my goal NC you ask?? Well, that is the home of Lowe's Motor Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports, Whiskey River, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. himself. Jr opened Whiskey River a few weeks ago, and when I heard about it I wanted to check it out, especially since I'm 21 now and could actually go in! And it just so happened to be on the way to VA :P
This is a pic of the place from the outside. It is located in Charlotte at a new development that they are calling the EpiCentre because it is going to be a Charlotte hot-spot for after work once it is completely finished.

This is me in my new dress before heading out...

And this is me with my new shirt after going to Whiskey River!

Unfortunately there was no Jr sighting, but I kinda figured there wouldn't be considering it was the Thursday before the race in Dover, DE.
The next morning we decided to hang out in Charlotte for a while more and go check out Lowe's Motor Speedway. It was very, very cool. We weren't expecting to get to do anything but look in from the outside, however, when we went in to check out the gift shop we found out that they give tours for the low price of just five bucks, so of course we said deal and hopped into a van!

Once inside the van we were able to not just go down to the infield, but we actually got on the track and the guide, Stacey, got that baby moving over 70mph! Then she stopped us in turn one, which freaked us all out considering that the banking in the turn was 24%, which is pretty steep. Amazingly enough the car didn't roll down the track. Then we got to go to the winners circle, which still had little Coke-bottle confetti strewn about from the previous weekends Coca-Cola 500 (in which Kasey Kahne won). Stacey was nice enough and took pictures of Mom and I in the circle! :)





Then we headed down the street, literally (.9 miles away from the track), to Hendrick Motorsports. The home of Dale, Jeff, Jimmy, and Casey (yes, we're all on a first name basis...oh I wish!!

This is me with Jimmy and Jeff's cars, as well as Dale's car and myself.



Then it was time to head out once again, and that evening we made it to Virginia!

I'm home for the summer, back to Virginia where I once lived when Dad was in the Air Force...


This trip was phenomenal, and I believe this summer will be a continuation of the awesomeness. I know I haven't posted anything about my birthday trip to Vegas yet, but that will come soon. Hopefully before I get into posting about my summer at Children's National (which from here on out I will most likely just refer to it as CNMC).

Hope this was fun for you, and as always I welcome comments and questions!!

More to come soon!

I have had the busiest, most exciting past few weeks ever!!

I traveled to Las Vegas, as well as went on a road trip from Texas to Virginia (with fun stops along the way!!), I started my summer practicum and moved into my aunts house. I have hundreds of pictures that I will be uploading and commenting on very soon, hopefully on my first day off, which is Thursday. So please please please check back Thursday afternoon and you will have lots to see and read!!