Just breathe, Mama bird: It's been a minute (Part 1 -- 2016 and 2017 Recap)

So...it's been a minute. 2.5 years to be exact. 😑 However, here we are and I am going to try to get this blog back up to date. My friend Connie recently had a baby and she asked about Mia's reflux experience and I remembered I wrote a fairly lengthy blog post about it and found it for her. You can read about Mia's reflux experience here. While looking through past blog posts it inspired me to start blogging again. A LOT has happened in the past 2.5 years. So here we go:

2016 recap:

I started a new job on Halloween 2016. I left the inpatient hospital side of nursing and went to the clinic after 7.5 years of night shift nursing on the pulmonary floor. This also meant that at 2.5 years old, Mia went to school for the first time. It was a hard transition for everyone. There were a lot of tears shed (by both of us), but we got through it and we started sleeping like normal people...at night time.

Christmas 2016:
I had a new work crew this Christmas working in the Allergy, Immunology and Asthma (AIA) Clinic.

However, I still managed to hang out with my C7/D9-Pulmonary crew.

With every passing Christmas, the holidays get more and more fun with Mia. She was so excited about Santa that year.

Christmas Eve with my dad's side of the family.

Christmas day with my mom's side of the family.

2017 Recap:

Mia turned 3! She was obsessed with Daniel Tiger and Doc McStuffins at that time. So she had a Daniel Tiger party with a special guest appearance from Doc. Mike and I felt awful that morning (we were both sick) and it was very cold and windy. As we were setting up for the party at a neighborhood park the wind kept blowing everything away. I threw in the towel and changed the location of the party to my in-laws at the very last minute. Thankfully their house was nearby and it was a smooth transition. Never again with an outdoor February birthday party!!

The night of her party, Mike and I spiked high fevers and we all ended up in the ER that weekend with awful bronchitis that required breathing treatments for Mike and I.

Later in the month of February, we went camping (Mia's first time) at Eisenhower State Park to celebrate my sister-in-law's birthday.

In April, we celebrated my 30th birthday at Enoch's Stomp Vineyard and Winery in Harleton, TX. It was beautiful there!

Easter fell on my actual birthday in 2017. Fun fact, that happens every 11 years. Mia had a blast hunting Easter eggs with her cousins.

We went to the Earth Day festival at Fair Park. That was a first for all of us. We were able to visit the butterflies at the Texas Discovery Gardens and see Little houses.

I remember on Mother's Day 2017, Mia changed the empty toilet paper roll all by herself (without prompting) and it was such a proud moment for me!! Haha!

I said good bye to my friends in the AIA Clinic. We had one last outing before I left to go to the ENT clinic and Sophia left Children's Health.

We took Mia to the Dallas North Aquarium for the first time.

Mia has always loved the water, so we spent time at Aunt Rachel's pool to go swimming.

In July 2017, I started a new job in the ENT clinic taking care of airway patients. In August, my new ENT friends and I went to the garage rooftop and watched the solar eclipse together.

At the same time I was starting a new job, we were also selling our house and buying another. That's not the least bit stressful.

Did I also mention that it's a total fixer upper...

Some renovation pictures. This is the guest bathroom during demo.

New guest bathroom shower

Halloween 2017 and Mia's first Fall Festival at school. Mia was Elsa for the Fall Festival and Rapunzel for trick or treating. I dressed up as Rosie the Riveter for work and trick or treating.