Thursday, January 22, 2009

New Job and Working Parents

This past Monday I started my new job as a cardiovascular clinical nurse specialist at St. Joseph's hospital in St. Paul. Technically, I am called a clinical practice lead right now since I haven't passed my boards and I can't legally call myself a CNS just yet. The week was spent in orientation, both at the healthcare system's level and at the hospital site level. I met many, many people all of whom I can't remember their names now. I am sure I will learn as I interact with them more. I have also been setting up zillons of meetings and put on committees to be a part of. I think I am really going to enjoy the job. It is a brand new position for the hospital, so I am the first and can make it basically what I want it to be. There is a lot of autonomy in the job, which I really like, but I still have a lot of support from other CNSs within the hospital and in the healthcare system in which the hospital operates (called HealthEast). It is going to be a challenge, which I am excited about.

Mike is still loving his job at Best Buy, HQ. Of course, with Circuit City going out of business that eliminates some competition for Best Buy. Mike's job is very safe though and he continues to do very well as an auditor there.

Julia is continuing to grow. We weighed her last week and she is up to 15 pounds! We don't know how long she is. Her next doctor appointment isn't until mid-February. She is doing extremely well. She can hold her head up and she is cooing and making lots of noises. We love to listen to her and have a conversation with her even though we have no idea what she is trying to say. She does "talk" back when we talk to her. She is very smiley and is quite smiley when mommy is nearby. Daddy does solicit some smiles, but I think she favors mommy (as she should!) :) Day care just loves her, probably because she loves to sleep in the morning. She usually naps from about 9:30 to 12 or 1pm, but doesn't sleep much after that until night. They love to hold her and interact with her and her constant smiles and cooing are very entertaining for all of them. Julia has started to really enjoy being in the exersaucer at daycare and her Baby Einstein jumper at home. Now that she can hold her head up pretty well, this is yet another toy she can enjoy. She also really enjoys a musical toy that lights up that Grandma and Grandpa Mock gave her for Christmas. We use it a lot to entice her to hold her head up longer during tummy time.

Julia in her Baby Einstein jumper

One of Julia's favorite toys

Julia doesn't sleep through the night yet. She did it once last week, but unfortunately that wasn't permanent. I of course freaked and checked on her a few times just to make sure she was breathing, but I did enjoy the full nights sleep with no crying or fussing! She still gets up once at night around 1 or 2am to eat, but goes back to sleep. Mike is usually the lucky one to get up with her since I put her to bed and wake up early (4:45am) to get ready myself and then get her ready for the day. For the past few days she had been getting up more and not sleeping as well and we were afraid she was getting sick because I had a cold last week. Fortunately, she didn't get sick and went back to her regular sleep patterns last night. I am sure Mike will be excited when she finally sleeps through the night permanently. We have adjusted pretty well to being working parents. We have the morning routine down pat as well as the nighttime routines. Julia does love to throw us off sometimes by waking up early as she did yesterday at 4am, or wanting to go to bed a little later than usual. We, of course, accommodate her, but she has a pretty regular routine of napping for about 3-4 hours in the morning/early afternoon, going to bed around 7:30-8pm, waking at 1 or 2am and then I have to wake her up at 5:45am to get her ready for day care. I am sure she will break this routine eventually as they all do when they are growing.

Julia has now eaten her way through about 2/3 of the breastmilk in our chest freezer. She eats about 5 ounces every 2 to 2 1/2 hours. She is starting to demand a little more and I am sure that remaining milk will be gone in no time!

We really wanted to post a cute video of Julia "talking" to the t.v. She was sitting on the floor with me watching the Ravens vs Steelers game and was just chatting away. I think she was cheering for the Steelers. She is just like her great-grandpa Stephany who always used to love to yell at the t.v. during Packer games! Unfortunately, we haven't been able to get the video to load to this blog. We will keep trying, but are worried that the HD quality of our video camera may be to blame and the file might be too large to post. We may just have to post it in a private area of You-Tube or something. We will let you know if we figure it out!





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