Words! (kind of)

Alahna is finally starting to communicate! She has known sign language for please and all done for quite some time and says mama, sometimes daddy, but a few nights ago she actually answered a question! I said out of the blue, "what does a dog say?" and she answered what sounded very close to "woof, woof"! It's been consistent everytime we ask now so I think it's real. Too funny that dog sounds are her first form of communication (outside of the given mama, daddy)!! Even more funny is that our dogs don't even bark! It's so fun to see her starting to connect things. I'm sure she will be breaking out in sentences before we know it.

bath time fun

Baths are Alahna's favorite thing. I think she would live in water if she could! We got some bubble bath paint and she absolutely loved it. The funniest thing was when I said "look at mommy" and these are the faces she came up with! What a cheese ball, but I love her to death!!

Dr. Sullivan aka Mommy Higginson

Wow, it has almost officially been a year since I went back to "work"! I can't even begin to explain the challenges of pursuing my medical degree and specialty while being a mother and wife. I try to break my day into two each day and focus as wholeheartedly on each aspect of the day as I can. Although being a doctor and a mom can be seen as two very different jobs, I actually can appreciate many similarities. Both require a lot of patience, compassion, energy, dedication, and endurance to name a few. The newest reward when I get home and transform into Mommy Higginson is that Alahna claps and dances when she sees me walk in the door! It's so overwelming that I wouldn't change my life for anything. Being a mom keeps me sane and allows me to remember that there is so much more to life than the daily turmoils of residency. I do have to pay a major tribute to my loving and devoted husband. I can't forget my third role, wife! (PS all these roles are by far not in order of importance, just chronological throughout my days!). Eric is such an amazing dad and has endured the toddler mood swings, energy level, crazy hours of internship, and a constantly sleep deprived wife like a pro. We are currently reading Song of Songs together and are starting a bible study every other week. I look forward to this time together as a couple to deepen our relationship. It's unfortunate that I have to "schedule" time to spend together, but honestly it's been the best thing for our relationship. Thank you to all of you for your continued support through this difficult portion of our lives!

Love to all

Valentine's Day was blessed with me coming home post-call to roses and a wonderful card from Eric and Alahna. We went to church that morning then went to a new play place to let Alahna expend some energy. The rest of the day was spent enjoying time as a family and then Eric made a wonderful dinner. It might sound simple and not that exciting, but I couldn't have asked for anything more. Just being able to spend quality time with my husband and daughter, the true loves of my life, made it an extra special day!

The big brown pillow

I have to give our dogs more credit than I normally do. Eventhough we are all couped up in a two bedroom apartment, they have endured the active toddler very well. They still don't seem like they particularly love her, but they do quite well when she wants to lay on them or climb on them, etc. Alahna loves them so much. I'm excited for them to grow-up together. They will soon be the best of friends.

Please read this mommy

Alahna's new favorite thing is to read. She LOVES to flip through books and hand us ones to read to her all day. It is so fun to see her learning. She loves her books so much that she even pushes them around in her stroller! Silly baby!

Snow day!

One good thing about living in a state that isn't used to large amounts of snow, is that everything closes, including doctor's offices! I enjoyed being snowed in with Eric and Alahna today. We decided to suit up and venture out to let the dogs get some play time in the snow. We made our first snowman with Alahna. You can tell she was born in Iowa, because she loved the snow =) The official total for today was 14 inches on top of the 27 inches we got on Saturday!

Winter fun

We finally let my dad come down and watch Alahna for the day a couple weeks ago, so we could go up to the "mountains" to ski with some friends. It was a great day for all. My dad enjoyed spending time with Alahna and we really enjoyed getting out to have some adult time! One of the oddest experiences was being on top of the mountain and looking over the valley to the other hills where there was not a drop of snow! Sad to be in a state that has to make all their snow, but still thankful we got to have some fun. We did get a foot and a half of snow last night and hope to go for a fun snow hike later on today. We took the Jeep out for the first time in a snow storm this morning. It did wonderful! Since we had the baby and dogs with us I didn't let Eric do doughnuts =)

The world upsidedown

One of Alahna's new favorite things to do it so bend down and look at the world upsidedown through her legs! It is hilarious. We finally captured a picture of her.

Thankful for a new day within the day

Every day I drag myself out of bed kicking and screaming wishing I could sleep longer. I lazily stroll to the shower then the coffee pot. I make it through the long days of seeing patients, some better than others, but every day I restart my day when I get home. The joy that I find seeing Alahna's face when I walk in the door is priceless. I am so thankful for my family. I am so thankful for my loving and wonderful husband. He takes such good care of Alahna and endures the rigors of residency with the best of them. I continue to pray that I can have strength to make it through this year and to view each day as a blessing and opportunity to reach out to those in need. I'm not going to lie, it's hard and I fall short daily, but I'm trying and that's the first step! Enjoy some recent smiles that can't help but brighten your day!