Happy Birthday, Poppy!!!

Last Wednesday was my parents anniversary and also my Poppys 75th birthday!!

On Saturday, we had a cookout at Mimi and Poppy's house to celebrate Mothers Day with that side of the family and also to celebrate Poppy's birthday! I didnt stay the whole time because I left to go to the Phillip Phillips concert! But the rest of the family stayed and hung out with each other and went swimming. Chanel had a blast swimming and watching my little cousin jump of the diving board!

 Me and my great-grandma, Nanny

 Me and Mama

 Mama and Mimi

 4 generations.

 Hunter and his girlfriend, Savannah.

 Aunt Pam and Taylor

Taylor 

Poppy and Uncle Mike 

Another one of me and Nanny 

 Savannah, Hunter, and Andrew.

Happy Birthday, Poppy!!!!!

I hope you had a FABULOUS birthday!!!

I LOVE YOU!!!

A New Member of the Family...

In my family, I am known for bringing home animals without telling people. At my house, I have a dog, Buddy, who we found on the side of the road and gave it to my dad for his 40th birthday. We have two black cats that one of my classmates at Valdosta was trying to get rid of. Without asking my roommates, I brought both of them home. They then had kittens at the same time. We have another cat that I got when I was going through a break-up. The list could go on and on....

 Well this is the newest member of the family. My Aunt Sue's cat (which was a kitten to one of our black cats) had kittens. I knew that my parents would say no, so I decided to try and surprise my Mimi and Poppy with a new kittten.

 I had been laying out at their house and at lunch I told them I had to go get a surprise. My Mama and brother went over to their house so they could see Mimi and Poppy's reaction when I walked in with the kitten. I was really surprised that my mama encouraged me to do this, and didnt make me stop..

 I walked in the kitchen holding the kitten and Mimi immediately took her from me. Poppy walked in and I said, "Poppy look at this kitten". His response was, "Thats a cute kitten, but its NOT staying here". I was a little discouraged at first, but then when Poppy wasnt in the room, Mimi said, "I might want to keep this kitten".

 I decided to go back out to the pool so her and poppy could talk without me in the kitchen with them. Mimi walked out to the pool a little while later, and told me that they are keeping her!

She is only 4 weeks old, but is already litter-box trained, playful, and a little cuddler. They have finally decided on a name....

*Sugar Baby*

Poppy wants to call her Sugar, and Mimi wants to call her Baby. 

I am such an animal lover, and I am so glad that they are too!! She is going to be one spoiled rotten little Baby!!!

Happy 25th Anniversary!!!

On Wednesday, May 9, my parents celebrated their 25th anniversary!! My Dad being the romantic that he is, decorated the dining room with candles to surprise my mom with a nice dinner.

The dining room.

 He had his laptop set up on the floor playing love songs from the 70's.

 If you dont believe me, here is proof.

We ate some gigantic steaks!

They pretty much took up our entire plate.

The love birds.

Congratulations Mama and Daddy! Not too many people work at a marriage now, but Andrew and I are blessed to have parents who have made a marriage work for 25 years and counting!! I love yall!!!

Goodbye Augusta, Hello Albany

On Friday morning, all of the interns had to go to the hospital to get our final grades. We also had to turn in all three of our badges :(

Laura Merriem and Stephanie waiting to get their grades. We are sitting in the oncology playroom :)

Im going to miss this so much!!

After we got our grades, we had to meet two of our supervisors at Starbucks to talk about the internship and what could be changed for next years interns. I am so thankful for the two women in this picture! I have learned SO much from both Kym and Katie. I am thankful that they want to help us find jobs and keep in touch with us. It is always nice knowing that somoene believes in you.

That night all of the interns went to a restaurant called TakoSushi for our going away dinner.

Tricia, Me, and Carrie.

Words cannot express how much these girls mean to me. I was so embarrassed when we went to hug and say our goodbyes, I lost it and started bawling. I know I will see them in two weeks when we go to Washington, DC for our test, but it was still so hard saying goodbye. I have been with these girls almost every day for the past 9 months, so its going to be strange not having them around every day.

Saturday, Carrie's family and my family went out to lunch so our families could meet each other.

I never imagined that I would make such a great friend during this time. Carrie has done so much for me during this internship such as taking me to the ER, getting me groceries when Im sick, helping out when I had my wreck.. I could go on and on. I am so glad that my family got to meet her and see how special she is to me.

Our families clicked right away. They all had so much in common, and I have a feeling that ALL of us will keep in touch :)

Andrew trying to be gangster while packing up.

brother & sister.

an empty apartment :(

My bedroom.

 4 1/2 hours later.... I am HOME.

Relay for Life

This past weekend was Relay for Life. It is so hard to believe that only THREE years ago, my Aunt Lynda was the speaker for it, and now she is in Heaven.

I hate that I was not able to be a part of Relay this year.

 My cousin, Spencer-Aunt Lynda's grandson, at the Relay for Life.

 This was Mothers Day, almost two years ago.. I miss this woman! She is one of my inspirations who led me to want to be a Child Life Specialist. I remember wondering how her grandchildren were handling her death and dying experience. I remember seeing the regression that she was going through. I remember seeing family members torn to pieces over this experience (including me). But the number one thing I saw was a FIGHTER. She fought this cancer long and hard! That is why she is a huge inspiration in my life.

Our Going Away Lunch

Today was a great day at the hospital! I cannot believe that I only have TWO more days left with the sweet patients!! All of our supervisors took us out for lunch today at The Pizza Joint downtown. It was nice to be able to spend time with them outside of the hospital. All of the interns got together to buy all 6 supervisors a cute tote bag and got their initials monogrammed onto the bag.

 When we walked in, the supervisors had backpacks across each chair as our "going away gift".

 This is what it looked like.

 .....and this is what was inside!!

These are all items that you can use while providing distractions for kids while they are having a procedure done. My favorite items that they gave us are the fart putty-(the kids have the best time with this!!!) and the magic wand. 

I am so thankful for every supervisor that I have been with. They have taught me more than I could have ever imagined I would learn in these past 9 months. I learned how to introduce what child life is to patients and families. I learned how to prepare a patient for an IV placement, blood draw, PICC line, scope, port access, NG tube, sutures, x-ray, CT scan, MRI, shots, skin test, and many more that I know I am leaving out. I learned how to distract patients while they are getting a procedure done. I learned how to provide support to the patient and families in a trauma situation in the ER. I learned how to help the child meet their developmental and physical needs while being in the hospital. I learned that Child Life can work with dying patients. I was able to see the difference that Child Life makes while working with patients and families while they are at the hospital. I was able to see how special events such as, pet therapy, superhero visits, mini concerts, and art activities helped the patient cope with their hospitaliztion. I learned alot about time management. I learned how important it is to have a good relationship with you co-workers. I learned alot about myself through constructive criticism. I could go on and on about what I have learned. This has seriously been the best experience of my entire life. It feels so good to be 23 years old and already know my calling in life! Wow, these 9 months flew by.

Weekend..

This weekend has been a busy one.. On Saturday all the interns and supervisors went to a place called Adventure Crossing. There is a program we help out with called "Healthy Grandparenting" which is a support group for grandparents who are raising their grandchildren. All of the kids were invited to come to Adventure Crossing on Saturday for a fun day of riding go-carts, rollercoasters, other rides, laser tag, putt putt, and tons of arcade games!

Since I couldnt take picture of the kids, I found this on google :)

 Afterwards, all the interns went out to get some food and enjoy each other! This is Carrie and Tricia.

 Me and Stephanie.

 Care Bear.

 We tried about 10x to get a picture with all of us in it.. This is the best we could do! haha I think we were all beginning to cry we were laughing so hard! After we ate, we all rented the movie "We Bought a Zoo".

 After church on Sunday, Carrie and I decided to lay out and study for our certification exam.

This is the life.

Words cannot describe how much I am going to miss these interns. I have had such an emotional year. I am drained physically and mentally. I do not think anyone understands what I'm going through, except for these girls.. because we are all in the same situation. It was nice to actually have a weekend to where we could all hang out and enjoy each others company without completely stressing out. This is our LAST week together!