Today was a warm and sunny day by Minnesota standards so I dressed the boy in his Aran sweater for some outdoor photos. I knit this about a year ago and he has plenty of wiggle room in it.
He was very interested in the snow although it was a little too deep for him to walk in.
He couldn't wait to get down in it but it was warm and melting and his knitwear was soaking wet in about 2 minutes! Look at those beautiful eyes.
I've been busy working on some tacky Valentine crafts. I had fun getting out all my tools and stash for a great idea I had. I snapped a cute photo of Marek playing with a pen and pad of paper in our hotel last month when we were up in Fargo for Grandma's funeral. He just looked so serious writing on the paper.
I played around editing the picture on my phone so it looks as if he is writing "Happy Valentine's Day" and made little craft foam picture frames. That large bag of foam conversation hearts has been living in my seasonal craft box forever and they were used as well as some magnetic tape I had in my sewing room. Each set of grandparents will get one of these as well as one of Dave's sisters (one of Marek's godmothers) who helps us a lot with babysitting.
I started making these weeks ago. We had a huge jar of applesauce that wasn't going to get eaten up and I had a bunch of cheap dollar store jars of cinnamon and made
dough ornaments out of it. I shaped and cut them and they've been drying and scenting in the sewing room for a few weeks. I finished painting and glittering them this afternoon during nap time. Now they just need hanging ribbons. I also made some Christmas ones for our little family with our names on them.
I'm tooting my own horn when I tell you I was completely surprised at work this week when I was given
The Daisy Award! A patient's wife nominated me after I cared for them and spent a lot of time discharge teaching with them. She even came in person when it was rendered. At the time of the presentation, I was again in a patient's room working on discharge education and my manager called asking me to come to the desk when I was done. Then a few minutes later my mid manager stuck her head around the door and said she needed to talk to me. Honestly I thought I might be in trouble for something. When I finally came out of the room and they were all standing in the hallway with balloons and flowers and the whole works! I have never felt more honored and validated for what I do at work.
This is the second hospital I've ever worked at. Prior to this job, I worked at a non union hospital in Iowa, I won't say which one, but I worked 12 hour night shifts from 7p - 7a. Everyone knows that the night shift just sits around eating bonbons and looking pretty because all the patients sleep at night. Nothing could be further from the truth, but every nursing job I've ever had has that opinion of the evening/night crew. We work our tails off with half the staff. We get so much accomplished with our limited resources and have a laid back roll-up-your-sleeves-and-get-busy kind of attitude which is more than I can say about any day shift I've ever worked with. I always felt looked down upon and not valued in Iowa. My manager there used to point blank tell us that if we complained, they'd find a reason to get rid of us and they had people lined up to replace us. I don't ever want to revisit those days or they way I was constantly made to feel at that facility.
That being said, it felt so good to be honored for what I do. I pray every day on my way to work that my patients see God working through me as I care for them. I am still deciding where I'm going to put my statuette so I can see and enjoy it. What an honor.
No comments:
Post a Comment