Just breathe, Mama bird: It's been a minute (Part 2 -- 2018 Recap)

Believe it or not, I am trying to get this blog caught back up. I recapped 2016 and 2017 in this blog post and this post will get us caught up with 2018.

2018 Recap:

2018 was a busy year with a lot of traveling.

We started the year taking a quick road trip to San Antonio to visit family. This was Mia's 2nd trip to San Antonio. You can read about the first one here.

We visited the Japanese Tea Gardens and spent time with our extended family.

Mia's first boy cousin, Haidan, was born in December. He had to stay in the NICU for a while, but he came home in January. Mia loves her baby cousin!

I attended my first Tracheostomy Conference (International Tracheostomy Symposium-GTC). I have taken care of pediatric patients with tracheostomy tubes since I was a new graduate nurse back in 2009. It was awesome to see an international collaborative effort to make life better for patients with trachs.

Dr. Johnson wanted to show everyone how we do things here in Texas. Haha.

The conference also landed on the Mia's 4th birthday weekend, so I had to leave the conference early to get everything ready for her party. We wanted to keep things simple so we had the party at Pump it Up. There wasn't really a theme (first time ever), but her unicorn cake was a hit.

Blogger doesn't really support videos, but there are some GREAT videos of the adults (Mike, my siblings and I) having WAY too much fun. The videos share a resemblance to Wipe Out style videos. The party was a lot of fun for everyone.

Being a nurse is one of the most challenging aspects of my life. Having amazing nurses by your side is key to maintaining your sanity. These women have been there for me since day 1 as a nurse. We all have gone down different paths and no longer work on the floor we started on, but it's always so much fun getting together with these ladies. Stephanie (pictured in the middle) lives out of state and we always make it a point to get together when she is in town.

We celebrated some milestone birthdays in my family. My step-mom turned 50. We went to The Woolworth and had amazing drinks and got to see the giant eyeball downtown.

My sister turned 30 and we celebrated with drinks at a speakeasy and visiting the recently renovated Statler Hotel. That was a really fun night!

I randomly decided to climb the trees in my backyard. Climbing trees as a kid was one of my favorite things to do at my grandma GiGi's house.

I turned to look down and sure enough Mia was following behind me and had climbed the tree as well...in her tutu!

In March, we had to make another trip to San Antonio to lay my grandfather to rest. Thankfully, we had just visited him a month before his passing. I'm glad Mia was able to meet him! My grandpa had actually just commented on how proud he was of me with how I was raising Mia when we were in San Antonio. I'll cherish that memory and will continue to make him proud.

Selfie with my sister and beautiful Grandma GiGi.

This trip to San Antonio was a sister road trip and we stayed with my brother in the hotel.

Both of my grandfathers served in the military, so I was able to visit my Grandpa Lucas's gravesite during my Grandpa Tom's military burial.

Random photo of me after work, I crashed on the floor petting the dogs and Mia decided to join me.

Mikol and I had a night out venturing to various bars and clubs in Downtown Dallas and Deep Ellum. A very seldom occurrence, but a fun night for sure.

Alec was born and Mia added another boy cousin to the crew.

Alec and Haidan.

Easter 2018

31st birthday trip to Austin. SO much fun and adventure!

Coincidentally my sister was in Austin the same weekend, so we were able to meetup and hike together.

Mount Bonnell has a breathtaking view, so pretty and kind of nerve wrecking if you're scared of heights.

Birthday Dinner with friends when I got back into Town.

Earth Day 2018

The city has a fishing event that is so much fun, we didn't catch anything, but I'm kind of grateful we didn't!

Grace is so pretty!

Spring 2018 school photos

Spring 2018

Dallas Zoo Trip

Cystic Fibrosis Walk

Mother's Day Hike. They humored me with this, they definitely didn't appreciate it as much as I did!

Boston Trip! Mia's first plane ride. My first time in Boston. SUCH an awesome trip to celebrate my cousin's graduation from Boston University. Boston has so much history, we loved it!

I of course took the opportunity to hike while there.

Over Memorial Day weekend, Mia broke her arm at a birthday party (it was a ropes course place and she was swinging from a rope and fell, landing just right on top of it to break both bones in her forearm). She was most concerned that she wasn't going to get cake! We spent HOURS in the ER, but she was so brave! I will say that seeing your baby high as a kite on ketamine to set the bone was the most traumatic part of the experience.

Aunt Marsha (Samirah) came into town and spoiled Mia rotten!

Independence Day 2018

Mia's cast came off and her arm healed beautifully right after July 4th!

We had a lot of Summer catch up to do once the cast was off!

The Summer is for concerts! Pentatonix with my brother. They put on such a great show!

Logic with Mikol. We also got to see NF open for Logic.

More summer catch up sans cast.

SURPRISE!! Baby # 2 on board!!! Mia was SOOO excited become a big sister!

My friend Adrienne got married! We've been friends since Middle school. Misty (on the right) and I have also been friends since middle school. We were both pregnant in this picture!

My friend Connie and I were also pregnant together!

Lauryn Hill concert with Mikol (this concert was AWFUL, we waited longer than the actual concert lasted, it didn't help that I was stone cold sober, HA!)

Cousin Love

State Fair 2018 (it was POURING down rain).

Celebrating Mikol's 34th birthday! We went to Fogo de Chao for the first time and went to the movies.

My Friend Amber and I were also pregnant together!! When I was pregnant with Mia, I was the ONLY one, but this go round it was fun to be pregnant with friends!

This pregnancy was ROUGH! I threw up for the first 22 weeks. I had to go to the ER twice for dehydration and a sinus infection gone terribly wrong. I STAYED sick during this pregnancy.

Halloween 2018

Fall at the Arboretum is so beautiful!

Winter 2018 School Photos

Family Trip to Glen Rose to see the animals and dinosaurs.

Feeding the giraffes. The ostrich scared the crap out of us since he was so aggressive, but the giraffes were such a treat.

Digging for fossils!

Thanksgiving 2018

Christmas Prep 2018

We found out we were having a Baby GIRL!! Mia was stoked to find out she was getting a baby sister! I was happy to know I was getting another baby girl...boys are gross and dirty. Ha!