donut love

Leah turned 7 months this week! It's hard to believe that 7 months ago we were just getting home from the hospital.  In some ways I feel like it's flown and in other ways it feels like a lifetime (pun intended).

Highlights from Month 7:

• Leah had her first overnight away from Mom & Dad! She stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Nick and had a blast while we were celebrating Mike's birthday in Milwaukee

                                                   

• Started crawling!  While we were still in Chicago Leah started "crawling".  That may be a generous term, since it's actually more akin to doing the worm from point A to point B.  But, hey. How many people do you know who can do the worm? Let alone babies?!

                                                   

• Slept through the night.  HALLELUJAH!  This happened once in a while at first, and now we're getting better and better at it.  It only took 6 months...
• Ate! And when I say ate I mean ate, as in food, as in NOT just milk!  Sweet potatoes, cereal, and pears are the staples 

                                                 

• DADADADDADADA - whether or not she knows it she's saying dada now.  She's gotten as far as "meehhhhh!" crying when she is stuck and really wants me to pick her up, but no mama's yet.

Leah has started LOVING bath time, it's so cute.  In general she always wants to be on her tummy, I struggle to get her diapers changed and clothes on because she won't stay on her back long enough for me to do any of those things.  But when she's surrounded by bubbles and splashing her toes she just lays there for as long as she can.  It's so cute!  Last night her legs were like a little motor the whole bath and she was humming along the whole time, it cracked me up.

We had an unconventional Easter weekend for us, but I’d say pretty standard for residency.  Mike was on call Friday and Sunday, while I had Good Friday off work. I was excited for the weekend off, but sad that I’d be spending most of it alone with Leah (not that she's not amazing, and a great conversationalist).  So I was thrilled when my mom came over Friday afternoon to see us.  We got to catch up and she got to see Leah’s new crawling skills, as well as her fresh tufts of hair.

We spent the afternoon and evening watching HGTV, baking Easter rolls, and playing with Leah.  We successfully got a few spoonfulls of sweet potato/rice cereal down Leah’s throat.  Unlike literally ALL of her relatives she does not love food!  But with my mom’s help we had more luck than in the past!

Saturday morning, my dad drove over to see the baby (he cannot stay away for more than a week or two, it’s adorable), and Mike got home from being on call in time for breakfast and some down time.  We ran errands, baby-proofed and watched March Madness.  After dinner dad headed back home and Mike and I watched Kentucky lose to Wisconsin before falling asleep 2 minutes into Interstellar - it was a rockin' Saturday night.

Then Sunday came around and we had to leave church early so Mike could go into surgery.  I always feel like I want to tell the people sitting next to us that we have to leave because he’s on call, not because we’re skipping out!  Anywho, Dog, Baby and I went to the dog park and played for a while, then spent the day eating, playing and sleeping as only a baby and dog can do.

Mike got home in time to eat dinner and finish Interstellar (great movie) with me.  I am blessed to have this beautiful family and a husband who loves me so much that he’s willing to race around and back and forth so much just to see us a little extra, to put his daughter to bed, and to be there for me because I’m lonely.  I'm a lucky girl.

Wow...just stumbled upon my old blog while going through some old emails...it's crazy to think of all that has happened in the past 4.5 years.  Here's the cliff notes edition to catch you up:

• Left Wells Fargo (Thank God), well actually - it closed down the part of the company I was working for
• Started working for a marketing company; started as a Marketing Consultant, then was promoted to Assistant Program Manager and I've been the Program Manager for the last 2.5 years
• Moved from my one bedroom apartment into 126 W Reservoir Ave with the lovely Sekadlo sisters where I lived until I left Milwaukee
• Got engaged to Mike on the 4th of July, 2012
• We went through the crazy Match process during his last year of dental school, so many internships, applications and interviews...SO glad that's over
• We ended up matching to Iowa City!  We were totally shocked when it happened, but were excited to be moving right in between our two families, and over the last year and a half we've learned that everything really does happen for a reason
• Bought a townhouse in Iowa City 10 minutes away from the hospital - first big purchase!
• Got married! May 25, 2013 - what a great day!
• Got a puppy! Jelasco "Jelly" Nick the black goldendoodle joined our family in July and we've never been the same.  But seriously he's one of the most insane dogs but it comes from love...at least that's what we tell ourselves :)
• Bought a car! We were really on a roll with the big commitments...little did we know what was up next.
• Got Pregnant! Wow talk about surprises! We found out a little over a year ago that we'd be welcoming the newest Nick to our family in September of 2014.  Shock, awe, and shock soon gave way to excitement and love as we awaited our little bundle of joy.
• Leah Christine Nick was welcomed 5 days early on September 15, 2014.  She's the cutest little thing ever and we fall more and more in love every day.
• I had maternity leave until December 8 (a terrible terrible date that has been forever etched into my memory).  Now I'm back at work, Leah's at Daycare and Mike's doing a rotation through pediatric surgery. 

So in case anyone gets worried...just want to let you all know that my hours have been switched for the week to 10:30am-8:00 pm.  It totally sucks, because even though every day I think I'll wake up early and work out with that extra time, I never do and end up just sleeping in, making my days much shorter.

Also, to make it a really great day, Stephanie quit.  For those of you who know, Steph was the only other person in my office (aside from Curt, my boss).  Nick quit in April.  So now it's just me and Curt.  Working the night away together.  Ordering Cousin's Subs and splitting 24 oz. bottles of Diet Mt. Dew.  High-fiveing whenever I sell a mortgage.

HELP

Brendan (right) is one of the toughest dudes I know...and when I found this picture I realised he's always been this way. As if you needed any more convincing please notice the small hoop in his left ear. Case closed.

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I am obsessed with the Steig Larsson books, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and The Girl Who Played With Fire.


A friend recommended them to me and I read the first one in a week, and bought the second book on my flight home yesterday, and so far it's just as good.  They're about a bad a$$ girl who helps solve these mysteries.

I've actually started dictating my life to seem a lot more mysterious in my head, and thought about if I went missing, all the details that detectives would have to piece together.  It just makes me want to solve a mystery in real life!  I even googled unsolved mysteries the other day to see if there were any I could work on solving, but after a while I realised that its much more solvable if you're somehow involved in the mystery.

So basically what I'm saying is that if anyone has any mysteries that need solving, or people that need to be investigated....you now know a freelance Detective who is seeking work.