Hey Strangers...

Yep. She still blogs...

After my birthday #SummerSixteen seemed like it flew by even faster than it came in. I'm happy to report that I survived the busiest service of third year. I still have to conquer two mini-blocks of antepartum (inpatient obstetrics) and 7 weeks of GYN-Onc, but I think I will be just fine.

Since leaving Wake Med, I have been on a rotation called Ambulatory Care Clinic (or ACC). ACC is just what it sounds like - I get to spend my days in the outpatient OB and GYN clinics. It has been great to learn how to run my clinic more efficiently, especially now that I am a big, bad third year and know a whole lot more about what I am doing...

The hours are also quite nice which has allowed time for other responsibilities - like working on my third year research project, meetings about interview season, tending to my self-care initiative (or lack thereof), and some much needed recuperation with our family. I feel like it took me two weeks before I felt like I was crawling out of the hole of exhaustion from Wake.

In Johnson news...

Natey started second grade! Isabelle is beaming with as much pride over him as we are.

Big Nate finally was able to live out his fantasy on the race track one weekend when our family visited the Charlotte Motor Speedway. And I am sure his fantasy all those years ago included being at a racetrack with his two kids haha!

Back when he was just a teenager with a Mustang :-D

And we completed the fasted (and longest) road trip in history over Labor Day weekend when we went to Detroit for Nate's mom's birthday party:

And then afterward hit the road again to see my parents in Indiana. Something about the familiar spaces at home that seem to put everything back into alignment. I needed it. An added bonus was that  my brother josh, his girlfriend, plus my uncle and his family all came up for the day too!

Seeing your babies in the place you grew up gives you all the warm fuzzies...

So happy I got to see my sweet Samson

And my sweet middle brother came to see us

Josh and Bridget xo

Backyard fishing with my dad (Grampy)

We will talk about my child's sass at another time...

Thanks for bearing with me, still reading, and indulging in my photo dump...

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

xo

29.

On August 1st I turned 29! Even though I rang in my birthday on Nights, I had the following weekend off and planned to celebrate the last year of my twenties appropriately. I am overwhelmed by the love shown by my friends and family, and feel so blessed that so many people took the time to think of me all week long. 

I am so happy I am turning 29 too, Little Nate :-) 

Before leaving for work on my Birthday Eve, we celebrated at home with a delicious carryout Italian dinner and ice cream cake!

At work, my team for the evening surprised me with cake from the caf AND I got treats from our sweet L&D nurses. Later in the week, my daytime team brought even more delicious cake...

In addition to the birthday festivities, this was also a much-anticipated week for our household, because Nate's family was visiting from Michigan. Our house was full of children (7!), laughter, and chaos - it was wonderful. There is nothing better than being around family...

On Saturday, the plan was to put the kiddos to bed and hit the streets of Raleigh. My gifts were not finished yet, though, because in the afternoon my little brother Carey, who lives in DC, casually walked in our house and surprised me! I was so happy I cried! Shout out to the hubby for pulling it all together seamlessly...




And then we met up with some of my friends from work and we partied! So much fun!!

I know I say it all the time, but the years are going by so fast. I'm so thankful for everyone and everything in my life right now. 

It can be hard to stay focused on what is important when life gets hectic, but this birthday was a much needed reminder that no matter the distance in miles, I don't have to travel far to feel the love of those I care about. Everyone isn't blessed to see another year, and I don't want to ever take it for granted. 

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. xoxo

Izzy-Bee Is Three!

Hey guys!

Hope you had a great weekend. The summer is flying by and I can't believe we are already almost into August. Work has my free time extremely limited, but I wanted to share some photos from Isabelle's third birthday last weekend. She was so happy all day and did everything we asked of her - like putting on her party dress without a fight, "I love this dress!" she said LOL

She seems so big now! When she opened each gift, she paused and said, "it's just what I wanted" :swoon: She is such a little doll :-) 

The party was a great time with family and friends - my parents were able to make the trip down and spend time with the kids all week so they were in heaven. They even went to DC with them overnight to visit my brother.  

I felt so good about her party, I almost lost all the mommy guilt left over from two years ago during intern year when I didn't do anything big for her first birthday :sigh:

Here are some photo's from Isabelle's day :-D 

You're OBGYNs ladies and gentlemen...

My sweet co-residents

My parents made the trip too and were a HUGE help with getting the house ready for guests

Post-party nap, still our baby!

We love you Isabelle!

Mode Story Week!

Hey guys,

Sorry for the lack of blogging, but things are a bit crazy over here - in more ways than one... I promise to write soon. In the meantime, here are some of my latest stories on Mode.com:

Check out The Basics of Birth
by Jasmine Johnson at Mode

Check out When It's Time to Break Up with your Daycare...
by Jasmine Johnson at Mode

Check out When It's Time to Break Up with your Daycare...
by Jasmine Johnson at Mode

Talk to you later...xo

Happy Fourth!

Hey friends,

Hope you all are having an amazing Fourth!

It's been a bit cray cray over here. Today was a much needed day off since I started third year at our busiest hospital/service. The fam is doing great, but it has definitely been tough re-adjusting to me not being around much :tear: I'm trying to stay strong, but to be honest, it hasn't gotten any easier three years in...

I am doing my best to stay positive and keep my teams both at home and at work motivated.

In other news, it's also a Mode Story week! One of the ways we get pumped at work is with a great soundtrack. Below I share some of my favorite summer hits on my mommy playlist:

Check out Summer Party Anthems for Moms
by Jasmine Johnson at Mode