It's been a cold winter so far! Good thing Santa brought Payton a nice new hat and mittens to match his sweater! Cute! Cute! Cute! All bundled up to go to dinner with my parents.
The new year rolled in quickly! I still can't believe it is already here! We had a lot on our plate so its not surprising that came and went so quickly! January is already half way over!
My parents came down the weekend after Christmas to deliver Payton's tractor (which wouldn't fit in our car) and to help with a few things around the house. We were so busy that they had to come back the next weekend too!
Fortunately, they watched Payton so we could go to a New Year's Eve party at Anne and Seth's. I met Anne through the New Mom's bible study group I have joined at church. They also live in our neighborhood and she is good friends with my friend Gene, who I went to nursing school with and who assisted with Payton's C-section. Small world! The party was a lot of fun. As usual, it was nice to have a Payton-free evening which are few and far between. Without any family in the area, we do not have the luxury of having a babysitter very often. There were lots of old friends at the party and we met a few new friends. Chad even met someone from Yadkin County...yes, the one and only Yadkin County. Turns out they played baseball against each other for years and had many of the same aquaintances. Small world again! We had a blast ringing in 2010 at Anne and Seth's. I hope our new year brings as much fun and as many laughs (mostly at my husband) as the party did!
Having my parents around gave us the opportunity to get some much needed home improvement completed. Thanks to my mom and dad, we got more accomplished than I would have dreamed possible! We cleaned out the garage, added shelving to the garage, organized the garage, cleaned out my "Christmas" closet, added shelves and re-organized, cleaned out the laundry room and discovered 2 feet of space that had been lost under piles for at least 6 months, cleaned out the bonus room closet to make room for some toys and some storage for Payton's old clothes, and we started getting Payton's new big boy room ready. His new closet was cleaned out and had shevles added to make it more user friendly (it was COMPLETELY full of stuff and I completely emptied it). His clothes have been moved to his new closet. His new room is now a beautiful shade of Carolina Blue - for you SC residents - Clemson and USC fans - Carolina Blue is the same color as the sky, which was created by God! We are just waiting on his new furniture to arrive. Chad and my dad took several loads of stuff to Goodwill. We hung curtains in the living room and in our master bedroom. I love the curtains downstairs.
They really complete the room. We hung blinds in the bonus room and in Payton's new room. We hung pictures in the bonus room. We changed light bulbs - we are now energy efficient! I still have a few more closets to declutter and a desk to clean off but we made major improvements! It was a great way to start the new year! Declutter and organize our home - hopefully that will carry over to other parts of our life as well!
In January I have also started my new job at MUSC. I am now the Pediatric Cystic Fibrosis Nurse Coordinator. I have been working as the clinic nurse in the Pediatric Specialty clinics since moving to Charleston in 2007 - most recently as the charge nurse over the multiple specialty clinics. From day 1, I have been involved in the Cystic Fibrosis clinic and have always enjoyed working with this team and the patient population. Prior to moving to Charleston, I worked in Peds Heme/Onc at Duke for nearly 3 years. While I hate to see the downsides of chronic conditions, I do love to help these patients and families deal with their diagnosis. I thrive when I can focus on one specific disease and learn as much as I can about this particular disease. I have a little experience with Cystic Fibrosis. While at UNC, I was involved in raising money for the CF Foundation and was the co-chair for the Great Strides walk at UNC. I never dreamed it would all come full circle! I have a great opportunity with my new position as the CF Nurse Coordinator. Cystic Fibrosis is a chronic condition. In the past, it was a pediatric disease and most patients didn't make it to adulthood. This has changed drastically and I look forward to being of part of the MUSC CF team and striving to continue to improve the quality of life and average life expectancy of CF patients. As the coordinator, I will work directly with the CF team - doctors, nurse practitioners, dieticians, respiratory, social work, genetics - and the patients to help ensure they get all the referalls and testing they need, help with insurance issues, help with getting medications filled, follow up on any concerns or illness exacerbations, follow up on lab work, see them when they are inpatient, set up home health needs, etc. I've only been fulltime in this position for a few short days but I already know I made the right decision. In some ways, the job will be more challenging and require a little more work from home and a few late nights. I am prepared for all of these changes because I know at the end of the day the job will be much more rewarding....much like my time at Duke - I may have come home in tears, but I loved every minute of my job working with the heme/onc patients and their families. You can learn more about CF at www.cff.org.
The past few weeks have also provided some interesting times as a UNC fan. We were so happy to get tickets to see them play the College of Charleston in Charleston...until they lost! We were happy to get to see Eric Hoots while he was in Charleston. Payton enjoyed visiting with him as well! We had dinner with Eric on Sunday and then went back to downtown to watch the Duke vs. Clemson game. We had a brief stop by Eric's room and Payton enjoyed jumping on his bed :).
We had to go to Wild Wings to see the game. A few of the UNC players were watching it there as well. Deon Thompson was sitting right beside Eric...unfortunately in prime position for Payton to spill a full glass of sweet tea of him. Luckily Deon was a good sport about it but poor Payton was so scared! He hid in the booth with Mommy and Daddy for several minutes and continued to be upset even after Deon tried to tell him it was ok! This story would be a little more impressive if Deon was having a standout senior season....we'll hope for a quick turn around! Either way, he's still a good guy!
Even though we lost, Payton was VERY excited to see his Heels live for the 1st time this year. He continues to be amazed by the Heels and basketball in general and was completely interested in the entire game. The C of C fans were pretty excited and Payton enjoyed clapping with them too!
Then came the Clemson game...and they lost! It is difficult to be a UNC fan in South Carolina as it is. The Carolina Blue is hidden beneath the Orange and Burgandy of the 2 schools of South Carolina. A Carolina fan is often hard to find and you don't usually hear much from any other fan during basketball season...until you get beat twice within 8 days by two South Carolina schools. Suddenly everyone remembers that you are a UNC fan and has several comments for you...does it matter that we have beat you 120 of 140 times and that you have never beat us in Chapel Hill....no, not when you are surrounded by Tigers! As for the C of C - you win, you've beat us twice - I hope we never play you again!
We squeezed in a little time to attend our church's annual oyster roast. I missed out on the oysters but the chili was great! Payton had a blast with all the other kids. At the end, a church member played the guitar and harmonica so all the kids could dance. Payton and Ella enjoyed dancing. They still only have eyes for each other!
While the other kids danced all over, they held hands and danced "together" the entire time!
Basically, that has been our new year so far - work, home improvements, and Carolina basketball. We're heading to Chapel Hill this weekend for the 1st time since a quick trip in October. The Heels play Georgia Tech on Saturday. I hope they win but either way, Payton is already excited about seeing the Go Heels! Hope its worth the drive!
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