Visitors from near and far..

Even though we had ice, rain and thundersnow we managed to host our company this weekend. On Saturday, Uncle Rene flew into KC from RI. His flight was to land at 6:50pm, however Darin, Madison and I were watching the weather report and we heard the KC airport was closed. I managed to get a hold of Rene to make any airline changes. However, the KC airport opened one runway for arrivals and departures. His flight ended up being 10-15 minutes early...imaging that.
On Sunday, my parents and Aunt Sharon came to KC. We spent most of the day playing in Madison's new playpen, a.k.a. fenced in area. We tried giving Madison applesauce and she would not open her mouth. As we got the spoon closer to her mouth, she scrunched her lips together and refused the applesauce. We couldn't even get her to laugh. We also tried to get her to open her mouth. Then we got the carrots out and her mouth was WIDE open. She was laughing and ate the entire container within a few minutes. Maybe she does not have a sweet tooth.
For supper we went to Fiorella's Jack Stack for a little BBQ. We all ate ribs except for Madison, she ate buttered bread, just kidding. My uncle Rene was teasing me that he was going to feed it to her. We decided to relax for the evening, as our stomachs were full.
My parents, aunt and uncle are heading to Branson for the week and will be back to visit us on Saturday.

Getting ready for Easter..

It's nice to be home. Weather in Baltimore was a bit cold...30s. However, when I arrived in KC it was in the 50s. Madison, Darin and Sonic are happy I'm home. I probably will not have to travel anymore this year...Yeah!!

Madison is very excited for Easter and the Easter Bunny. (Okay, maybe I am as well!)

Jen should be landing soon

Can't wait to see her.... I bet Madison will be excited as well.

Storms kept one of us up

Madison has been really good since Jen has been gone. But last night, she wouldn't go to sleep. I had to sit in our room until she finally closed her eyes and nodded off. I was worried about her waking up with the storms last night, but she slept through everything. In fact, she didn't want to get up. She did the Darin stretch and roll over. I had to laugh. Sonic and I did not sleep as well. That rain just pounded on the windows. When I woke up this morning, I was glad to see there was no damage. I was certain there would be something. Maybe my yard has become conditioned to these storms.

Today was pajama day at daycare. I'm sure they'll take lots of pictures. I also brought in an extra pair. Madison destroyed her outfit yesterday, so I came with a plan B.

Jen and Madison

Jen's Traveling Again

This time Jen will be out of town for two evening leaving Madison and I time to get in trouble. Jen has not laid out her clothes for the day and night, she even labelled them in piles so I get everything to match. Last time Jen was gone, Madison did great. The first night was a little rough (she got up every 2 hrs), but nights 2-4 were a breeze. Biggest issue we had is Daddy wanted to play and didn't stick to the routine. So, I have to remain focused.


But one thing won't change... all fruit when Daddy feeds her...

Our little giggler...

Late Night at O'Malley's

Last night a friend and I drove to Westin Missouri to watch Flannigan's Right Hook perform at O'Malley's. The band was really good and highly entertaining. I was really amazed at the fiddler. We were told he plays for the KC Symphony Orchestra and I wouldn't be surprised. He had a lot of talent. The place was packed and full of people drinking and singing along. We will definitely go back. I took some pictures with my cell phone. My phone doesn't take the best pictures, but they'll work.

Busy as a Bee

Work has been very busy lately. Seems like everything is changing at once. We are moving locations, solidifying my new team and trying to build a new business. We have the high class problem of having a larger pipeline than we can handle. I feel like we are creating some very good traction with our clients. The proposals, reviews and meetings seem to be non-stop. I really made the right choice with this career opportunity. Not that I wouldn't have enjoyed Dubai and learned a bunch as the Director of Operations for the Middle East, but I believe this new division is about to take off. Hopefully we can sign a contract soon so I can share in the details of my role.



Until that time, here is a picture our daycare took of Madison to celebrate St. Patty's...



BTW... MADISON IS 7 MONTHS OLD TODAY!!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

It's Madison's first St. Patrick's Day. She pre-celebrated with a little peach cobbler...Yummy!

Sun shiny day

Yesterday we went for a family walk, Sonic included. The weather was in the upper 50's, it felt warmer as there was no wind. On our walk around the Lake, Madison fell asleep. When we arrived home, she was still sound asleep and we did not want to wake her. We hung out in the garage for awhile, then decided to go on another walk. Midway through she woke up and enjoyed some of the sights. We tried front-facing her, which worked out pretty well. Once she was awake, it was time to play and babble...dada...dada....dada.....(the second picture is her squealing dada with such enthusiasm).

Oprah on Medical Mistakes

http://www.oprah.com/dated/oprahshow/oprahshow-20090219-dennis-quaid


Above is a link to the Tuesday Oprah show talking about medical mistakes. My mother-in-law saw this show and said she finally understood what Cerner was trying to prevent. I finally got around to sharing the link with everyone so they can see what she watched. A 2003 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine examined the quality of care across the healthcare continuum and found that Americans receive the recommended healthcare services about half of the time. That is a pretty startling statistic. Through automation and evidence based care, we hope to eliminate those mistakes and save money.

Congrats to Beth Bohuslavsky

My cousin Beth is a starting guard for Seward's women's basketball team. Seward won the Class B state tournament on Saturday. It is amazing how time flies. It feels like yesterday that Beth was our flower girl at our wedding. Now she is a freshman at Seward and winning state titles. We wish we could have been in Lincoln for the game, but we were able to follow the results on line. (Besides, each time we showed up for one of Don's kids sporting events, they got hurt. Probably best we stayed away.) We are very proud of her and can't wait to see her state medal. Congrats again!



(Beth is in white.)

full story on the game:
//www.journalstar.com/articles/2009/03/08/sports/prep_extra/girls_basketball/doc49b32f233e48c396246096.txt


Additional story from the journal star about Beth...

http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2009/03/08/sports/prep_extra/girls_basketball/doc49b340e8b43cd014568386.txt

New Slide Show

We've added a new slide show below. It's pretty amazing comparing the two and seeing how much Madison has grown.

Peek-A-Boo

Yesterday Darin went into work, so Madison and I went with him to see his new office location. Darin will be located on Cerner's South Campus, which is about a 45 minute drive from our house. It's amazing how much Cerner has grown and they have an incredible complex "down south" for their associates. We are still planning to keep Madison at CernerKids (main- headquarters location). We're still working out the logistics and time frames. Once Darin gave Madison and I a tour, M and I went shopping and ran some errands, then picked Darin up later. The weather was great in KC on Saturday, around 70 degrees.

Based on what we've read and what Parents as Teachers told us is that Madison will be experiencing some signs of separation anxiety around six to nine months (plus). So we received a few exercises/games to work with Madison on understanding she doesn't always need to see us and that we do "come" back. One of the exercises is peek a boo with a scarf. This is where you put it on your head and say,"where is da da or mama." Madison love pulling the scarf off of our head...then we give her a big BOO and she laughs and/or smiles.

She also loves to roll and now she has figured out (on her own) how to roll front to back and back to front.

Darn and I have realized we are in trouble and need to baby proof the house very soon!

Cerner's Vision for Healthcare Reform

Below is a link to a dialog that Cerner's CEO wrote about our vision of Healthcare Reform. This is how Cerner sees the future of healthcare in a sustainable model. The project I am working on will assist our clients with A, B and to an extent C. This dialog is publicly accessible and marketing has ok'd my sharing in this blog. I'd encourage everyone to read this and form your own thoughts about solving the healthcare crisis. Also, it will help my family understand more of what I do for a living..


http://nealpatterson.cernerblog.com/2009/02/26/the-abcs-of-systemic-healthcare-reform.aspx?ref=rss

PS. Exhibit 1 in this link is tough to see. If you double click on it, you'll get a larger version of the picture.

Back from Michigan

On Monday I flew from KC to Traverse City, MI via Detroit. I went with my manager to do a presentation for one of our clients in Petoskey. It was interesting that the plane from KC to Detroit was smaller than the plane from Detroit to Travers City. I guess I found that odd. Once in TC, we rented a car and drove north to Petoskey. It took us about an hour and forty minutes of drive time. The roads were clean for the most part but sections definitely slowed us down. We ate in Charlevoix at a restaurant called the Weathervane. It was right on a small river that ran through the town. It was maybe 5 degrees but the water was still moving. I was quite impressed with the meal. I had a stuffed white fish that would fit in nicely with many upscale restaurants in KC, but for half the price. We then headed further north to reach Petoskey.

You remember how much snow they get in Michigan, but you kind of forget at the same time... if that makes sense. The snow was thick and piled everywhere. There was no wind, but the air felt moist. I also forgot how that moist cold air goes right through you. My blood has definitely thinned since I moved to KC.

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The meeting went fine on Tuesday. We drove back to Traverse City, ate downtown at a diner Jen and I used to frequent when up north and then headed to the airport. It was my first time to see an airport that was closed. Yes, the airport only has flights in the late afternoon and evening. They actually had a metal gate that prevented us from going through security. The security team showed up about 2:00pm, opened the gate and allowed us to go through. You can tell they don't have a lot of traffic because they inspected everything. Anal doesn't describe it. They also wanted to over-explain every step. They must have a lot of first time flyers in TC. The airport, by the way, had 4 gates. So we hung out in a designated sitting area and checked email. We left TC about 3:10 and had a 3 hour layover in Detroit. I basically read a magazine and watched CNN until it was time to board our plane.

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I believe I'll be making a few more trips to Petoskey, but hopefully, we can move those to May or June when Norther Michigan is at its best. There isn't a better place on earth come summer time.

My trip to Orlando

Last Sunday evening I flew to Orlando for a seminar related to business and operational structures. This was my very first extended travel since Madison was born. My only worry was that Madison would not recognize me when I got back. I knew and had no doubt that Darin would be just fine. When I arrived in Orlando (about 11pm) it was 60 degrees, much warmer than when I left Kansas City, which was 30 degrees. I arrived at the hotel check-in desk and handed the cast member my driver's license. Right away she said, "Princess Jennifer, welcome to the Disney Contemporary Resort." Every sentence started with Princess Jennifer, it was a little much to say the least, but I was on a magical adventure. The Disney Contemporary Resort http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/contemporary-resort/ is where my seminar was held the entire week, so it was very convenient.

One of my missions of the trip was to get some "ears" for Madison. Of course when I spoke to the concierges desk it was, Princess Jennifer.

This resort/hotel is the only one that has a monorail that runs right through it. I decided to take the monorail one evening to see where it went. Plus I timed it so the fireworks show at Magic Kingdom would be seen while I was riding. I started at the Contemporary Resort, it went to Epcot, Magic Kingdom and back to the Contemporary. It was nice, as I could stay on the monorail the entire time.

During the first session of my seminar one of the attendees told me to go downtown Disney for "ears." You don't have to pay the amusement park fee of $40 and my hotel had a shuttle that took you downtown for free.

I was absolutely amazed with downtown Disney and ended up going there every night for dinner, entertainment and shopping. Yes, I found "ears" for Madison. The one store that I went into had, "Build your Ears," similar to the concept of "Build a Bear." I just could not decide, so Madison needed some be-dazzled ears and some Minnie ears. Both of them have her name inscribed on the back.

In addition to the Disney stores, there was a Harley Davidson store, so I got Darin and long-sleeve shirt.

As the week progressed the temperatures got warmer and warmer-- mid 70s. Then on Friday it was suppose to be 86 degrees, however I left on Thursday night. I had a great time, but REALLY glad to be back home.