Blogging With Brandi

St Jude Trike-A-Thon!

2012-01-29T09:49:00.001-08:00

It's that time of year again! Logan is participating in the St. Jude Trike-A-Thon at preschool on February 6th! He is hoping to make his fundraising goal again this year and needs your help! You can donate by clicking on the link below or directly to us. Let's give thanks for the healthy kids in our lives and give to those that are not!

Thank you!
Matt, Brandi and Logan

I Did It!

2011-12-21T08:15:00.000-08:00

Totally funny that the last thing I posted about was going back to finish my masters, obviously going back to work and finishing my masters took every ounce of my time so I haven't been blogging much, but I am back to tell you that I am OFFICIALLY done with my M.A. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology!!! So proud of myself for getting it finished, even though I have NO desire to work in that field right now, I am sure it will be useful somehow, somewhere, healthcare is so diverse you never know were it will fit in.

Anyway doing the happy dance over here. Can't wait to actually see the diploma, have to wait until February I think which is when mid-year graduation. Can't believe I am done, whoo hoo!!!!!

Now it's Matts turn, he is busy getting ready to apply to get his Masters in Library Science!

Here we go again...

2011-09-02T09:02:00.001-07:00

I started back at Elmhurst again last night. I am taking a Capstone class that the I/O psychology program developed so all of us that never finished up the internship portion of the program can now do so and earn our masters degrees. I am happy to report that my cohort is the only one with multiple members in the class, three of us. Everyone else was from different cohorts. We were almost the oldest cohort, but there is one person from the 2002 (we are 2004), so I don't feel so bad anymore.

I had a massive headache by the end of class. It's going to be a rough 3 months, doing something I have no interest in anymore. I was comforted by my cohort mate sitting next to me, say it's been so long as our professor spat out terms for yesteryear. Yes it's been a long time and I don't do anything in the realm anymore so it's going to be a little crazy getting back into this. My eye is on the prize, my M.A. which will be useful possibly if I decided to go on to RN, I could do a bridge program and get my MSN. That's a big maybe however, but at least I will be done and get my family off my back.

It was really weird being back on campus. I haven't been there since graduation in 2006, it was so damn hot and I was 20 weeks pregnant with Logan. I spent 6 years of my life going there, and four years living as an undergrad there so it was weird to be back. A lot has changed, they renamed a bunch of buildings, my sorority is no more, and a lot of the psychology department has moved on since I was there. So anyway hold on tight cause this is going to be hell on earth for the next 3 months for me.

What to do, what to do...

2011-08-26T08:55:00.000-07:00

So I am very excited to start my new career next month, so far my (our) plan is working as planned. We had Ava, I stayed home with her the first year, went back to school to do the CNA program, got a job. The next stage of our plan was to work for a year and then possible start trying for a third bambino. Something that was usually such an easy choice, this time is not. I am not struggling as to whether or not to have a third, that I am good with. It's everything else that is just weighing me down right now.

Issues going through my head right now:

~We don't really have room for another child in this house
~This house will not be ready to be on the market in a year
~Even if said house was on the market in a year, who knows how long it would take to sell
~Money for a new house will mostly come from the sale of this house, so yea we have to sell before we buy
~What happens if I have early complications again now that I will be working? What happens if blood pressure is an issue again? I don't want to lose this job, and I need to make sure I get enough hours in the next year to cover FMLA.
And the biggie that keeps cropping up since I had Ava
~to VBA2C or Repeat C-section

Honestly right after I had Ava, I started researching it. I didn't even get to try with her because of a push to be delivered by 41 weeks, while I could have declined the c-section they forced me to schedule, I ended up with pre-e and had to be delivered anyway. Everything leading up to that was good though. I was dilated a bit (more than I was with Logan before my water broke), I was getting into contraction patterns, they just kept stopping, I needed more time, but my body was done at 8 days past due date, and pre-e is not something you mess around with. I get it, it was necessary. My first c-section, well jury is till out on that one, we will never know if it was necessary.

So I had resolved to the fact that I would have to birth that way if we had more kids. Then a couple of weeks later the ACOG released new guidelines and research that said a VBA2C held no more risks then a VBAC. Well now since then I have been researching providers, midwives, hospitals and more research so we can give this one more try. Through this research it has become very apparent that each c-section you have puts you at much more risk for maternal death. Um no thank you.

So I have a doctors name, a hospital and a midwife practice, it will be a pain to get there, but it's the best choice and chance we have at this. I really prefer to see a midwife this time as they are more holistic in their care and take more time with you. We have decided against my better memory LOL, to try and have a natural child birth, as it is the best and safest way to VBAC. This is going to take a lot of work, classes, doula, whatever it takes. With Logan my water broke and then nothing, so I was hooked up to pitocin as soon as they got me in bed. All I know is I was 1 centimeter dilated and having back to back contractions with doubles peaks, pretty sure that is not normal for early labor. I couldn't handle it I was losing control and had to get the epidural. All the dilating I did with Logan was after the epidural and I could relax, so I don't think they are the devil as some indicate. I know it's different if you go into labor on your own, easier to handle and that's what is getting me through this idea of natural labor. I have a lot of fear to work through that's for sure.

Here is one of the articles I found:

Comparing Risks of VBAC and Repeat Cesarean: Studies and Statistics

In her book, Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth (aff), Ina May Gaskin compares the risk of vaginal birth after cesarean with repeat cesarean:

The medical evidence about VBAC is actually clearer than some recent medical and media interpretations of it would suggest. Cesarean surgery is just as risky as any other major abdominal surgery for the mother — a considerably higher risk for her than vaginal birth. With repeat cesarean she has three times the chance of dying and roughly five to ten times the risk of suffering complications. [emphasis mine]

In examining the the general risks of cesarean vs. vaginal delivery, studies have shown certain increased risks due to caesarean delivery, and other increased risks due to vaginal delivery.

General risks of cesarean delivery (those with higher risk than vaginal delivery) include:

A threefold increase in the risk of death to the mother
Greater risk of death to the infant, by more than double when no labor complications are present
Increased risk of newborn respiratory problems
A dramatic increase in the risk of hysterectomy
Increased risk of infection and its complications
Risk of dense adhesions, increasing the likelihood of organ injury in future abdominal or cesarean deliveries, and increasing the likelihood of bowel obstruction
More intense and longer-lasting pain in the six months subsequent to birth
Bladder injury
Increased psychological problems for the mother, including difficulties in establishing breastfeeding, weakened mother-baby bonding, postpartum depression and even instances of PTSD
Risk to babies in future pregnancies, including increased risk of pre-term delivery, low birth weight, brain and spinal cord injury, respiratory problems, and unexplained pre-term death in the womb
Risks to future pregnancies due to accumulated cesarean scars, such as ectopic pregnancy, placenta previa and placental abruption

General risks of vaginal delivery (those with higher risks than cesarean delivery) include:

Anal sphincter trauma
Temporary urinary incontinence

Fewer studies are available in directly comparing specifically VBAC deliveries to repeat cesarean, however, studies appear to indicate:

VBAC represents no additional risk to the infant,
Repeat cesarean does however represent increased risk to the mother.

Although VBAC does represent increased risk of rupture of the uterine scar, again, this risk has not been shown to correlate with an increased overall risk of death compared with caesarean delivery.

Yea so there you have it. This decision should be an easy one. Especially if we do want to have a fourth. I feel like a 3rd c-section would be it, I had a hard time recovering from my second, one so I feel a third would be it for my body.

So now we have to decide when are we going to do this. In my research I read an article from Mayo Clinical about pregnancy spacing and found out that 5 or more years between births increases pre-e chances. Well I am already at increase for that since I have had PIH and pre-e in both of my live pregnancies. If we wait until we moved, we might get to that point and I don't want to do ANYTHING to increase my chances of pre-e. The treatment is really rough on me, and I am just not a present in the first two days of my kids lives because of it. Not to mention good bye VBAC.

I was starting to think we should wait two more years. I would be 32, which means if there were to be a #4 if would be a lot closer in age then we want to #3. We really don't want to be having kids much past 35 since I have so many issues already, they will just get worse as I age.

I need to get my surgical records from the hospital so I can take them to the new doctor/midwife and see what is going on and if VBAC is in the cards. I need to meet with these new care providers and make my wishes known. I have no idea how long my body is going to take to get back to normal after "the removal" it could be awhile. So if we are going to go for it in a year, I need to get started on all this. I just feel like we have to wait because if the house situation, so then I am back to the spacing problem and if we are nearing 5 years between I am putting my self more at risk for something that I am already at high risk for! So anyway, I am struggling with all this right now. We have to make some decisions and that's all there is to it. My family WILL NOT be supportive of a VBA2C, and I can only surround myself with positive as we take that journey. My husband is supportive, but I feel like sometimes he just says what I want to hear. He is however the only person that really saw what I went through after we had Logan and he was so worried after my c-section with Ava, but it was better this time. I am sure all Logan's medical issues, NICU, etc, played a big part in the hot mess I was after that birth.

I wish I could just jump into work and not worry about it until next year, but the planning and making sure I have a care provider that supports our decision, my take a year to find, or to get into if this place is super busy.

I found a lot of great blog postings from ICAN, I will have to post some. Some of the c-section ones I could have wrote myself. It' s nice to know I am not alone in the way I feel.

SO this was a long rambling post, but I couldn't sleep last night thinking about all this and needed to get it out.

I am, however, super exited to start working and I am sure my nerves in relation to that is also keeping me up at night, which gives me time to think about all this other stuff...oh well that's life!

Another Craft

2011-08-22T07:26:00.000-07:00

Here is another super cheap and easy craft that kept the kids busy for awhile. I picked up water bottles on clearance for $.40 a piece for the kids. Then I dug through our huge art box and pulled out a bunch of sticker sheets, then I let them go nuts putting stickers on the water bottles. They really had fun doing it and it kept them occupied for quite awhile. Matt has some contact paper that is clear and he is going to put that around the water bottles so the stickers don't come off or get wet.

Guess What!?!?!

2011-08-18T09:52:00.000-07:00

I accepted a position with Advocate Health Care at my dream hospital yesterday!!!!!!!!!

I can not believe that this is happening, it is SO hard to get into this hospital and I did it as a new grad to boot!!

There was a crazy chain of events leading up to my offer which I will get to. What is really important, is this: I know I have talked about how going through my miscarriage three years ago was the final push that made me go into nursing. So my interview was last Friday the 12th. Three years earlier on the 12th, I was sitting in this very same hospital in the ER waiting to here the fate of our second baby, and here I was three years later, a new CNA grad interviewing at the hospital where all the greatest and worst moments of my life have taken place. I guess I get to add one more tick to the greatest side!

I will be working on a medical-surgical floor where they put all the cases that don't fit anywhere else in the hospital, they also specialize in CF, detox, and get hospice once in awhile up there. It will be a huge learning opportunity and challenge. I will be working evenings and nights, part time! I will get to train to do a larger scope of practice as a nurse tech, including learning blood draws, which I am excited about! I have a two week orientation that is Mon-Fri during the day, so now I am trying to figure out child care arrangements, made more difficult by the fact that Logan will be in school by then. So hopefully I can get that worked out soon.

Man I am so proud of myself :) I remember when I started my blog I was just starting to figure out when I was going to start my CNA program and I had to wait basically a year from then because Ava was a baby still and I had to wait for another weekend program to roll around. What a journey it has been, and every step along the way has gone just the way I wanted it, great class, got the clinical instructor and floor that I wanted, made some great friends, graduated with a 4.0, passed my state exams, and got hired at my dream hospital...yep a lot to be proud of!

So here is my interviewing saga as retold on a mommy message board I am apart of:

So I know I posted awhile ago about having an interview, after going through three interviews with that hospital, I didn't get the job due to lack of experience (it was on a peds floor) which was disappointing since they seemed to like me so much, but understandable since it is a more specialized floor.

So the same day I get that rejection email I get a call from a hospital that I applied to on a whim, it was a smaller hospital 45-60 minutes away, only reason I applied was because my mom did her clinical rotation there for surgical tech and had liked it there. So I applied for a patient tech position (CNA with a bigger scope of practice) and they suggested since I didn't have a lot of non-clinical experience to try for a patient sitter position (you sit in the room with high risk for fall, suicide, and confused patients and do basic care) and usually within 3 months I could move into a PCT position. So I went ahead and did the initial interview, figuring I just need experience and I could suck it up a deal with the commute for awhile.

Went away from the interview with an eh feeling. So then the next week they call back to schedule a second interview which would have been tomorrow. I was just not feeling good about it, it didn't feel right, but like I said I needed the experience. Then wouldn't you know an hour later my dream hospital called for a phone interview, then called two days later for an interview, went in last Friday was there for almost 3 hours testing and doing three interviews. Well I was offered the position today at the hospital I always wanted to work at!!!! I am so excited, it is SO hard to get into a hospital as a new CNA with no experience and I did it, and did it at one of the best hospitals in this state! I could see staying here for my entire career for sure, and it's only a couple minutes from my house to boot! I will be learning so much more in this position, this hospital trains their nurse assistants to do so much more (phlebotomy, in-dwelling caths, etc) which will make my pursue of becoming an OB tech much more easier down the road.

Crazy, so now I have to call and cancel my other interview and everything worked out perfectly!

What is really crazy is this: the final deciding factor/push for me to start this new career was when I had my m/c, I just felt like I have been through all these crazy medical experiences, both myself, with Logan and with my Dad for a reason and that nursing is where I was suppose to be. Wouldn't you know that my interview with the hospital was on the day we found out we lost the baby (at that hospital too) and here I was 3 years later interviewing for my dream job. Defiantly have a little angel watching over me

Fun Kid Craft!

2011-07-26T12:14:00.000-07:00

So I am totally addicted to Pinterest, what's that you don't know what Pinterest is? It's the site where you can find just about anything. Check it out, you won't be sorry you did, or maybe you will, but I have gotten great ideas for the house, for the kids, for parties, and everything in between. Yes it's addicting! So here is one of the "pins" I came across: easy superhero capes for kids.

On Sunday we did a fun, cheap and easy craft with the kids, making superhero capes out of t-shirts! Then we had superhero day on Monday, kids wore their capes, watched a superhero movie (The Incredibles), colored some superhero's and did some superhero training!

We started with two t-shirts and I cut off the front and the arms leaving the collar.

Next the kids decorated them with paints!

Daddy helped too

All done and drying outside!

Logan is here to save the day!

Good-Bye 20's...

2011-07-15T13:01:00.000-07:00

Hello 30's!

Other than having a biological clock freak out a couple months back, I really have no problem turning 30. Life is so good right now and a lot of exciting things are going on in my life and I feel like my 30's are just going to a great time.

My 20's had huge milestones take place and I was blessed many times during that decade, but I am not going to lie, I wouldn't want to do it over again.

I did a lot in my 20's: college, traveled to Germany, Austria, Hawaii, and all over the US either on vacations or for sychnro compeitions. Went to grad school, got married, had two beautiful childern,Went to US National Synchro Skating Championships and was on TV even a coulple of times with my sychro team, Competed at ISI World Champs when they were here in Chicago, Went back to school and became a CNA. Dealt with financial stress due to Logan's medical needs/NICU stay, struggled with c-section depression, learned exactly how hard going through a miscarriage is and the ever lasting effects it has on you, took on a lot of the responsibility for the care of my father. You get the picture, never a dull moment!

My life changed so drastically in my 20's makes me wonder what my 30's will have in store for me.

As a happy birthday present, I got my first call back for an interview for a PCT (Or patient care tech: a fancy CNA that is trained to do more than basic nurse assisting) position at a local hospital! Next Tuesday is the interview so fingers crossed and lot's of positive thoughts and prayers needed, I am nervous!!

Since we had the big party last weekend no huge plans for today, hubby and I got our tickets early to go see Harry Potter tonight, my sister is going to watch the kids, so it should be fun!

Happy 3oth to me!!

My 30th Birthday Party!

2011-07-13T09:08:00.001-07:00

We celebrated my upcoming 3-0 this weekend with a luau birthday party! It was beautiful outside and everyone has a blast! Thank you to all my family and friends who came out to celebrate with us, it was a great party! It definitely made turning 30 a little easier :<)

Better Late Than Never!

2011-07-13T09:07:00.001-07:00

We were a little late getting Ava's 18 month pictures taken (that happens when your kid #2) and we had them taken when she was 19 months, well more like 19 1/2 months old and we got them back from our wonderful photog friend Lance last week. Logan is in here to and of course he is 4 1/2 and counting!

They were all super cute, here are some of our favs!

A glimpse into the teenage years...

Picture taking is hard work...

It Came!

2011-07-01T09:57:00.001-07:00

I Am Official!

2011-06-30T08:45:00.000-07:00

I am a certified and registered Nurse Assistant in the state of Illinois!
I don't have my certificate to show off yet so you will have to settle for a screen shot from the IL Healthcare Worker Registry!

It feels awesome to be done and ready to move on in my career! I am applying to jobs now and can't wait to get started! I am going to take an elder care course to get a certificate for that to add to my CNA and then once I can, I am going get certified in phlebotomy as well. That program is a little longer. I did send in my readmission materials to Elmhurst, so looks like if accepted back in (which I am sure in a non-issue since they are hounding me for my stuff) I will be taking the capstone class once a week to finish my masters degree...eh I am sure it will be useful later on in my career, but so not my passion anymore so it's going to be a drag.

BNAT Graduation!!

2011-06-23T08:05:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday I finally took my state competency exam to become a Certified Nurse Assistant, I think it went well, there was a lot of random stuff on their that we never went over, but they were more common sense type questions so I should be good! We have to wait two weeks to find out if we passed, they mail something I guess, but we can check in the registry to see if are name is on their also...torture!

Later that night was the BNAT graduation. It was a really nice graduation just for the CNA's graduating from the day, night and weekend programs, a very personal graduation ceremony. Each class had a class speaker and a slide show for their class. Our class became very close, and within our clinical groups very, very close, it is going to be weird not seeing each other all the time now. We have been keeping in touch though and have some meet ups planned! I will miss them for sure, it's not like any other school class you take, it's such an experience and you go through it with these fellow classmates and it just bonds you for life.

It's a life changer for sure!

Getting pinned with her CNA pin!

Mom and I with our pins (she is a CNA and a CST (Certified Surgical Tech) LOL!)

Some pictures from lab at school!

The whole class on our last day of clinical!

My clinical group and instructor who was the best and I am so thankful for her!

6 Years

2011-06-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

Matt and I celebrated our 6 year wedding anniversary on Saturday. We just hung around the house during the day and then went out to the Melting Pot for dinner, it was our first fondue restaurant experience and it was SO yummy! Next weekend my mom is taking the kids overnight for us so we can go out which will also be nice, we both need it big time!

It has been a wonderful, crazy and stressful 6 years together. A wonderful honeymoon in Maui, pregnant 7 months after our wedding, uneventful pregnancy until the last month, bed rest, unplanned and complicated c-section, NICU, heart murmur, developmental and speech delays, moving, financial stress from the Logan's birth and NICU stay, job changes (3 now), more bed rest, miscarriage, fertility issues, threatened miscarriage and bed rest with Ava, lots of fun family trips, new career path for both of us really and most importantly our two beautiful children and through it all we always grow together and not apart. We have been together for 12 wonderful years all together and I love him so much, the first 6 years were not what either of us would call easy, but together we can get through whatever life throws at us.

My wonderful husband arranged to have 6 red roses at our table when we arrived, such a sweetie

Matt with our cheese fondue...yum!

We both had the seafood trio for main course, at first I was worried about cooking it our selves, but it went fine and tasted so good.

And dessert was out of this world...LOVE!

We had a great night together!

Catch Up Time!

2011-06-06T07:51:00.000-07:00

I have been enjoying my time off after school ended, and now it's time to start working on my state test that is only 10 days away now! So I have been busy since school ended with Logan's end of school activities and family in visiting and oh yeah two really sick kids and a night in the ER with Logan and his 104.3 degree temp. Sometimes I really do think two is enough for us and then they get better and do something sweet and then I want another two LOL!

SO anyway I am going to catch you all up using my posts from our family blog, which I do a lot, but a lot of the time there is "extra" parts on my personal blog if you have never noticed, although that won't be the case with these.

So first up:

Logan's Spring Show

Logan had his Spring music show at preschool last week. Of course Logan didn't do any singing, he had missed the show the day before because he was sick which I think had a lot to do with it as he did all the body movements when he had his Mom's night show, but it was still cute!

Next Up:

Logan had his last day of preschool for the year yesterday!?! I dropped him off at his normal time and then came back at 10am for the 3/4 year old sunflower tea party. It was so cute! The teachers had pictures of the kids in front of the ruler on the wall, one from September and one from May so we could see how much they have grown. Logan got a lot taller and his face changed a lot. Matt and I are so proud of him, he did so well this year and is excited about being in the 4/5 year old classroom next year. He will be going 3 days a week next year and staying for lunch bunch on Friday's which he is very excited about doing (Ava starts MDO on Friday's next year, yes that's right, I will have Friday mornings all to MYSELF!) At the end his teacher's gave him a certificate and he gave them a big hug an said goodbye. It's going to be kindergarten time before we know it!

My Invitation To Tea!

Coloring a sunflower with Mommy!

Sunflower Boy!

Sunflower Song!

And Then:

A Picture Post:

Some picture of the happenings around here!

Logan with his field day ribbons from preschool!

The kids love their new swing set!

Ava is a pro at the climbing wall already!

Mrs. Pots got a new hairdo for the summer!

Sandbox fun!

Hopscotch to 100!

With all the rain we have been getting the kids got some new rain boots!

Great Grandma and Grandpa Pable came up for a visit and grandma brought a box of old costume jewelry that Brandi use to play with when she was little. Ava knew what to do with it right away and had fun putting on and taking off the pretties!

BNAT Is Over!!!

2011-05-18T12:34:00.001-07:00

I finished up class Friday and boy does it feel nice to be done!! I missed one question on the final giving me a 99.5% on it. After we took our finial's we had evaluations with our clinical instructors.
My grade break down was:
Theory/Attendance: 94%
Lab:98%
Clinical: 95%

So I am very proud to say that I earned an A in my BNAT program!!! My clinical instructor had such great things to say to me and I feel so very lucky for this experience.

Of course it is not all fun in games yet, I still have to pass my state competency exam on June 16th which is also our graduation night from the program. I am giving myself a week off and then I am going to start doing practice tests to prepare, not to worried about it, but if I want to actually be a certified nurse assistant I kinda have to pass! I started looking for jobs, but most want your name and registry number from the states registry so I am kinda stuck until June 16th on the job stuff.

It was so nice not having to go to clinical last Saturday, but it was also pretty sad knowing our patients are back to their normal care, which not bad, is not as great as the care they get when students are on the floor :<)

In other news, I might be going back to Elmhurst this fall to take a Capstone class that would allow me to finish up the internship portion of my Master's degree and then actually have the degree in my hot little hands. I so don't want to, I am so done with that career path, but, with it official, if/when I ever decide to become an RN I can bridge to my Masters in nursing, but that's a big if LOL! So anyway we will see I guess.

Almost there...

In Denial

2011-05-18T12:28:00.000-07:00

That my "baby" is 19 months old. When Logan was this age we were trying to get pregnant again and seeing how he was 4 days shy of 3 when Ava finally joined us, you can see what a long journey it was to get her here.

Yep this one looks like me!

Me at 17 months!

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-10T07:23:00.001-07:00

I hope all the Mom's out there had a wonderful and relaxing Mother's Day yesterday! I had a wonderful day which started with breakfast in bed with Logan and Ava. Logan made me a really cute card and a flower in a "vase" at school, he was very excited for me to open it! They also got me some yummy cheese popcorn from the new popcorn shop in town and beautiful tulips. Matt gave me some big chocolate cover strawberries as well. I love my family what can I say. After breakfast I went out to get a pedi which was nice and relaxing and then I joined the masses at Home Depot to get some flowers.

A perfect Mother's Day!

It's A Long Shot...

2011-05-05T11:17:00.001-07:00

But I applied to an OB tech position in L&D at an area hospital. It's my dream job, part-time nights and every other weekend...basically the perfect job as far as I am concerned. From the application it was apparent that they will hire before you have your certificate, you just need to be done with the training, which by next week I will be!

OB tech's are a little more advanced than a typical CNA, PCT, NCT. I would be trained to scrub in on c-sections so I would be doing a little of my Mom's job (Surgical Tech) as well. I would also be learning to deal with in-dwelling caths, and how do draw blood among other things that hospitals teach you, but are not part of state CNA training.

I have no experience other than clinical so I know it's a long shot but keep your fingers crossed anyway!

PASSED!!!

2011-05-04T10:27:00.001-07:00

We had our state manual skill exam on Monday and I PASSED!!!!!

There was so much pressure to pass, cause well if you didn't then no point in coming back to class...so yea that was a little added stress.

I ended up picking card 1, which had the "easiest" less involved skills to be done so I was actually done within 15 minutes.

Now that I passed my state skill exam I can sit for the state competency exam in June!!! As long as I pass my class, which I think we would be next to impossible to do since I know I have A's in theory and lab and probably clinical as well. All we have left for class is our big cumulative final and then I have some small papers to write for the job training portion of the program which is a separate class and grade, but I have an A in that class as well so there should be no problems there!

We had career day yesterday and I talked to the two hospital systems I am interested in. The one unfortunately doesn't hire until you are on the state registry and that won't happen until end of June, the other one will hire before you are certified but they have nothing part time right now...blah.

I did talk to some other agencies but I have no desire to work home health or in a nursing home but it seems like most places want you certified first so I can't start really job hunting until after my state test in June.

We are in the home stretch now! I have my last clinical on Saturday and am actually going to miss our patients when we leave!

Zoo Fun!

2011-05-02T10:10:00.000-07:00

Last Friday Matt was home and it was a beautiful day out so we let Logan play hooky from school and we headed to the zoo! We had a really nice day and perfect weather. We took the kids to see the dolphin show for the first time, which I think they both liked (other than the loud music and Logan was worried about getting splashed!). We got home just in time for me to grab my bag and head off to school for a test. Glad we went though!

Zoo Fun!

This was Logan's favorite part of the dolphin show:

Yummy Dinner!

2011-05-02T10:06:00.000-07:00

We had stuffed clams the other night, super yummy!

We bought the clams already stuffed and then Matt made a really good white wine sauce to go with the clams with some noodles. I love that I married a man that can and loves to cook!

Easter Day Fun!

2011-04-26T08:32:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of our Easter Day fun!

Daddy finished up the swing set after our morning festivities!

The Easter Bunny made a stop at our house!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T09:00:00.001-07:00

Happy Easter Everyone!

My Slide Loving Girl

2011-04-15T08:56:00.000-07:00

Ava has no fear when it comes to the slide, even the big ones!

Oh My, We Need Some Updates!

2011-04-14T14:27:00.000-07:00

I have been such a bad blogger, but between school, sickness, and job stress I just haven't had the time or motivation.

We are just getting over our latest round of the crud, in which both kids ended up with ear infections and I ended up with strep, I was so sick my friends, it knocked me on my butt for 3 days and I had to miss class on Monday which means I know have 4.5 hours that I need to make up hour for hour, like I needed that extra stress. At least we are all feeling better and I think it's kinda funny that me and the kids are all on the same antibiotic right now, I call it the amoxcillin cocktail hour.

Well where to start...

Most importantly Matt got the job he interviewed for!!!! Thank God for small favors. He spent about 3.5 hours at the interview, and interviewed with a lot of people, so we knew that they liked him and by the end of the week it was a done deal, it happened so fast, but at the perfect time. Good news for me, our health benefits start on his first day so I will be fully covered for all my remaining clinical days! So same job title, although his job will be much different and in a much different environment, just want he needed. Check out the library, brand new, opening in May, state of the art facility with a really interesting retrieval system to get the books (there are no books out on the floor like a traditional library) Should be cool during thunderstorms!

Here is a link to the library if you are interested in reading more about it, very cool stuff, Matt is excited!
http://mansueto.lib.uchicago.edu/

So we are incredibly blessed that this job came when it did, an answered prayer for sure.

So just as soon as that stress was lifted from us, we all got sick...blah! I am so over this winter/spring and am ready for some sick free summer days.

Next up, my baby girl turned 18 months old!?!?! Time is flying and Ava is turning into such a little person, she cracks me up daily. Her vocab is crazy compared to Logan at this age, I think we will need another phone line when she's a teenager!

18 month stats: 30lbs, 33 inches, Head off the chart (just like her brother)
All is well, next appointment..2 years OMG!

Four days later Logan turned 4 1/2!

Hard to believe he is almost five! He is doing so awesome in preschool and is such a loving boy and he loves his sister so much!

School has been going good, other than missing a day, my lab and theory tests have all been A's and this Saturday we have our mid-term evaluation for clinical, which I am a little nervous about, clinical is so stressful for me, and while I feel better in my ability as time goes on, there is always something you do wrong and it's always something you know better but when you are wrapped up caring for you patients you forget and somehow your clinical instructor is always there in that moment, LOL. Seriously though I really like my clinical instructor and I hope she thinks I am doing ok.

Clinical has been such a life changing experience, the things I have seen just really put life into perspective, when we were going through all the job stress with Matt, in the back of my mind were my patients and how life could really be so much worse and we would make it through. I can't believe we only have four more clinical days left it went really fast.

Career day is coming up and I am really hoping to get in somewhere through that day, fingers crossed!

Other than school and crazy life not much going on with me, I got away a few weekends ago with my Mom and Sister up to Lake Geneva, it was nice to get away for the weekend (after clinical of course) and relax.

So that is everything I got for now, I have a bunch of pictures so I will have to do another post to get all those in!

Interview!

2011-04-04T19:57:00.001-07:00

I have lots of stuff I want to blog about, but I have been massively busy with school, but I just wanted to update that Matt has a job interview Wednesday morning and we could use lots of prayers and positive thoughts that this is it, his last day at his current job is the 28th so the timing would be perfect.

Fingers and toes crossed over here!

Mom's Night!

2011-03-25T12:22:00.001-07:00

After already having Dad's night and Grandparents day at preschool it was finally my turn to have a special day at preschool with Logan!

We had a lot of fun playing, painting, making chalkboard crafts, coloring, snacking and signing last night! Logan was very excited to show me all the fun stuff at school, and he did all the songs during singing time, and he was sooo cute! All the kids made crowns for their Mom's to wear and we all got a pretty flower at the end. What a fun night!

When It Rains...

2011-03-22T12:30:00.000-07:00

It pours.

Matt will be jobless in about a month we found out yesterday. Please send get new job vibes and prayers.

Logan is still recovering from pneumonia, but doing much better and will be back in school on Thursday.

Ava now has pneumonia, caught it before it got as bad as Logan's so hopefully she will be on the mend in a day or two.

Well there's that, three bad things, which means we should be good for awhile.

I somehow managed to get perfect scores on all my lab tests last night, despite little practice because of the kids being sick and all the mental stress with the job situation. Go me!

And here is some pictures of our rainy/sick day fun two days ago.

Sometimes...

2011-03-19T20:50:00.000-07:00

I feel like the world has it out for me.

We have had a tough couple of weeks, mostly over Matt's job situation and things are not getting better. I am praying that God opens a door for him very soon, because he is being pushed out of the door he's in now. I can't say more than that right now, but if you have some extra positive vibes and prayers please send them our way.

Last weekend we went out to lunch with a group of friends, which was great to have some adult time and a good meal. However we planned the lunch for the March 13, which was Peanuts due date and not really thinking about it we would be out to lunch with two preggo's, one about to pop. I didn't think it would bother me much, but get two preggo's together, one a first timer and that is all your going to talk about the whole time. My heart was just...sad. Matt also made a very insensitive comment about us having another baby, and while it was meant to be joking, it didn't come out that way, so basically it was just a crappy day all around. I am however very excited for these two friends of mine, I really am, it was just hard to deal with.

I was on spring break this week, it was nice to get a break, but I have to get back into study mode and it's really hard to do that with all the stress and uncertainly hanging over our heads right now.

On top of all this the kids got sick last week, fevers for a day, low grade and your basic cold. Ava got better and Logan kept coughing, not unusual for him but then he spiked a high fever Thursday night and his cough intensified so we took him into the doctor and we find he has pneumonia. He's on antibiotics, cough medicine with codeine and breathing treatments.

I feel so bad for him, always coughing and I just feel like it's my fault, my body's fault. Probably sounds stupid, but because I had a c-section he got the fluid in his lungs at birth and he developed pneumonia which probably caused weakness in that lung which is why he is so prone to coughing, croup, and bronchitis. He always gets sicker than Ava when they have colds too, then I feel really guilty that I wasn't able to nurse him exclusively because of his stint in the NICU and my bad milk production. Ava got the benefit of EBM until she was 5 months old and after that she still got more BM than formula until around 10 months and I made it until 1 year with pumping and it really shows, she is healthier and bounces back from sickness so much better than Logan. Mommy guilt sucks.

So that is what has been going on here. Bracing for some change over here, and telling ourselves we will get through just like every other obstacle life has thrown our way.

And not to be a total downer here a three good things about the last couple of weeks:
1. My new camera came, whoo hoo!
2. I got to go to Starts On Ice...it was awesome even though it made me miss skating so badly.
3. Ava's personality is really blossoming and she is a constant source of smiles for us, especially when we need them so desperately.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2011-03-17T08:09:00.001-07:00

From my two lucky charms!

More Crafty Fun

2011-03-10T10:32:00.001-08:00

I ended up going back to Target and picked up another fun craft for the kids to do. I got this super cute herb garden set, I thought it would be great since Logan is very into plants and planting things, he watches "Planting A Rainbow" on demand about 100 times a day and Matt is always saying we need to grow herbs so we have some fresh so perfect I thought.

I ended up putting the terracotta paint on first and let that dry and then me and the kids each painted a out and planted our seeds.

Logan helped make the dirt as well and Ava, well lets just say she ended up in the bathtub after we were done (FYI getting wood type paint out of toddler hair is a nightmare).
Logan checks on the herbs every day and we keep the dirt moist waiting to see the first sprouts!

First School Picture!

2011-03-08T11:07:00.001-08:00

I forgot to post this last week, we got Logan's school pictures back that they took in January and they turned out so cute! All I have is a picture of a picture since now both USB ports are busted on our computer and I can't hook up our all-in-one to scan it in, so sorry the quality isn't that great (between my camera and now the computer I am not having a good time with electronics lately, oh well we have a new one of each on the way!).

My big preschooler!

And his preschool class!

Painting Fun

2011-03-07T19:41:00.000-08:00

I found these cute wood wind chimes on clearance at Target and thought they would be perfect for the kids to paint for Grandma's birthday.

Ava LOVED painting, she did try to eat it a few times, but other than that she did really good. They had a bunch of different crafty things like this on clearance so I think I am going to pick up a few other things for the kids to do, they are getting stir crazy and since we have had a couple of nicer days they have been teased with outside play here and there and they both want to go out a play all the time now, but between the weather and my needing to study we have been stuck in the house.

Anyway here are my little artists hard at work!

Chore Chart

2011-03-03T12:14:00.000-08:00

First of all sorry my pictures have been so cruddy lately, my camera is on it's last legs, but I am ordering a new one and can't wait till it's in my hot little hands!

We recently decided that Logan needed to start helping out on a regular basis and start earning treats and whatnot instead of us just giving it to him.

I started my search for a chore chart, and found a lot of nice ones, but this one really caught my eye: http://www.mypreciouskid.com/chore-chart.html

I liked the idea of separating the time of days the chores needed to be done and I liked the variety of chores and the ability to add our own in as well. It also came with a ton of tokens which we use as payment and he turns in for special treats and rewards. We also take away tokens for bad behavior.

Logan really loves being able to take a chore off the hook and put it in his "I Did It Box" on the chart. At the end of the day we add up all the chores he did and he earns his tokens. There is no arguing over teeth brushing, pj time, etc anymore. We aren't telling him to do it anymore, the chore chart does. Usually all I have to say is check your chore chart and off he goes.

Anyway just wanted to pass along this cool find for anyone in the market for a chore chart, it's worked awesome for us!

One Of Those Things...

2011-02-25T08:21:00.000-08:00

There is this one Mom at preschool who also sends her child to MDO with Logan, so I always see her during drop off. She is pregnant and getting close to her due date, but I didn't know when she was due. She was talking with another mom who asked when she was due and she said it, March 13th. I just kinda stopped what I was doing and I felt my stomach drop. I was due March 13 once too. I hadn't really been thinking about the upcoming reminder this year, but now I can't get it off my mind. Missing my angel peanut baby today.

Soooo....

2011-02-22T07:57:00.000-08:00

I had my clinical orientation on Saturday and I am excited to say that I got placed with the clinical instructor that I wanted, on the rehab floor that I wanted, and now I am scared out of my mind!

There are only 6 of us that were placed on the rehab floor the other two groups have 8 each. In not so many words it was made known that the best, most competent in the eyes of our lead instructor got placed on the rehab floor, so I take it as a huge compliment and me working my butt off the first couple of weeks paid off.

So here is the break down of the facility:

Floor 1-high functioning elders (none of the clinical groups are on this floor with these residents, although my group goes down there one day to do vitals and transfers, since doing vitals and transfers on our patients will be difficult)

Floor 2- Not independent, but not total care residents, most all of them are wheel chair bound. (One of our clinical groups is on the floor.

Floor 4-Vent floor, everyone is on a ventilator to breath (no clinical group on that floor)

Floor5-Alzheimer's/Dementia ward residents (the other clinical group is on this floor)

And Floor 3 is the rehab floor. This floor is more of a med/surg floor of a hospital as we were told right of the bat from our instructor. The people here are not residents they are patients as they are hopefully rehabbing to get off of that floor and in the best case, home. These are the sickest people in the facility. Many on vents, many have trachs, tube feedings, isolation rooms, you name it we got it. My excitement quickly turned to fear once we hit our floor. Just as we got there they were transferring someone out to the hospital, our instructor had us listen in on the report to the EMT, crazy. Patients are in and out on this floor, to the hospital, to the morgue and if they are lucky home or to another floor in the facility.

We got a tour and did a scavenger hunt on our floor so we would get acquainted to where supplies and such are on our floor. We had a meeting and were told that a lot of what we are learning in class and lab will not apply or work for our patients. For example a nice relaxing bedbath won't be happening. You can't have a trach patient on their side for more than 5 minutes and in that five minutes we need to wash what needs to be washed and get that side of the bed changed...yikes. Our instructor said we need to by hyper valiant in observations when giving care as our patients can go down hill fast, we need to use a lot more critical thinking and problem solving than our classmates, but the upside is that we are gaining clinical experience that they won't get to on their floors, for example we learned about pulse ox (well I already knew all about that between my Dad's stints in the ICU and Logan's NICU days) and how to use the machine to measure them, something the other students won't get experience with. I will look much more attractive to a hospital (where I want to work) because of the population we are dealing with. Once I am working in a hospital I will get my phlebotomy training, more extensive training with catheter's where I will be able to take them and in some cases place them, accu checks, etc. SO working on this floor during clinical I will be getting a head start on some of that. (If you have been in a hospital and are thinking you have never noticed a CNA working that is because more hospitals call them PCT or NCT (patient/nurse care technicians) and all that is, is a fancy name for a certified nursing assistant with additional training in a hospital, just a bit of trivia for you.

I am freaked out and hoping I feel better after our first day of hands on work there, the other 5 students in my group our equally freaked out which is comforting. I think our instructor knew we all were freaking our a little, she sat us all down and went and got some apple juice and cups from the nourishment room and made us drink it LOL. We did a toast as well. I know it's going to be one of those experiences that change my life, but I am so afraid of doing something wrong with these critical patients, it's a long way off from dealing with L&D and Post-Patrum where I want to end up, but it will make me a better NA and if/when I go to nursing school I will be way ahead when we hit clinical.

We have a week off before we go back and I am trying not to freak out in that time. It is just so sad, the whole place is just depressing, but our floor even more so, these are not cute little old ladies, these are young people for the most part that had unimaginable things happen to them. For example a person from another country that came over to work and save money to bring the rest of the family over had a work accident, brain damage and hasn't seen said family in 4 or 5 years now. Many stories like this are on our floor. I know I could never work in a situation like this long term, my personality is not cut out for it. I think that most of us in the 3 1/2 hours we spent there on Saturday now have a new appreciation for life and this time in our life, there were many tears at our debriefing before we left. Things could be so different.

So any way, wow, that is about all I can say about that.

On a lighter note, I got 19.5 points out of 20 on our second theory test. I got docked 1/4 of a point on two questions, one because I miss spelled a word and another because I forgot somethings in the circulation of blood through the heart.

We had lab testing after orientation on Saturday and did pretty well. Admittedly I think myself and most other's were pretty mentally fried after our morning and I made one dumb mistake that earned my a 3.5 on my weight testing. I said the wrong weight out loud so my instructor had to cue me at which point I realized what I did but cues knock you down in points err, that is my lowest score so far, but still a B. On bedbath I got a 3.75 from my clinical instructor because I put the gown on wrong, even though I did it the way I was shown, not a big deal still an A and she complimented my on my workmanship, whoo hoo! Height and oral care I got perfect 4.0's.

Next up is vital sign testing, I am pretty good on temp, pulse and respiration, just need to practice blood pressure some more. My family has been great test subjects!

Did I Forget To Mention...

2011-02-16T10:28:00.001-08:00

That I got 19.5 points out of 20 on my first theory test! Whoo hoo! Just took test two on Monday so hopefully we will get that back on Friday. I think I would have had 100% on test two but I think I flubbed the last question when I had to explain the blood circulation in the heart. It was only worth 1/2 point so I have a feeling I will get another 19.5 on test two. We have lab testing again on Saturday over bed bath, peri care, oral hygiene (denture care, conscious and unconscious) height and weight, oh and that morning is our first day of clinical and then at night we have to go to the in-law's for a birthday party, what a day that is going to be. So far I have all A's in lab testing hopefully I can keep that up!

Valentines Day!

2011-02-16T10:26:00.000-08:00

We spent this Valentines Day hanging out at home, Matt was at work of course and I had class and a test at night. Matt did cook me a yummy dinner once I got home from school which was nice and he got me the birthstone baby for Ava that my necklace was missing, so now I can wear that again! Logan and I had fun making Daddy a big heart brownie. Hopefully next year we will make it out to celebrate!

The kids started the day with heart shaped toast

Our Valentines!

Logan baking his heart brownie

Logan's 1st Valentine Exchange

2011-02-11T08:20:00.000-08:00

Logan had his Valentine party at school today. They had the parents come in and help the kids pass out their Valentine cards. Logan was all excited about it and put one of his cool Toy Story with blue sucker cards in each bag made by the students. As soon as we got home he went through his bag and of course got to indulge in a sucker from one of them as soon as lunch was done. It was so cute, I remember going through all my Valentine cards when I was younger, so much fun!

Met Our Goal!

2011-02-10T12:45:00.000-08:00

Logan met his fund-raising goal for his Trike-A-Thon in support of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital! Thank you to those that donated on his behalf, I know the kids and parents at St. Jude's will be very thankful! We raised $128 this year!

Here is Logan with his certificate and his lap card!

He will be at it again next year!

I love that his preschool does this fundraiser, I performed in a skating show benefiting St. Jude when I was on my synchro skating team (I even skated one show along with one of the US mens Olympic members!) so it's nice to be doing something for them again. Giving thanks for the healthy kids in my life for sure!

SNOW!!!

2011-02-02T14:32:00.000-08:00

We were hit with a huge snow storm last night, it was crazy! I have never experienced a snow storm that included lighting and thunder, it was wild. This is the most snow I have ever seen in my almost 30 years. We spent the day digging out and playing in the snow and sipping on hot chocolate, a perfect snow day. Matt has to go into work tomorrow, doesn't know if they are opening late or not yet. Haven't heard anything from the school, so I don't know if Logan is having school tomorrow and the college is closed again tomorrow, I just hope they are open Friday because I want to get this first theory test out of the way! I guess that is how you know you are an adult student now, you wish for a non-snow day LOL!

Here are some pictures of the massive amount of snow we got!

Our front porch & steps before dig out

Front of our house

Driveway, our very long driveway, total pain!

Backyard

Our back door

Logan out having fun

Making a snowman with Daddy

During the great dig out

All of you hit by the storm, stay safe and warm!

Yummy!

2011-01-31T10:11:00.000-08:00

I recently started getting Food Network magazine, and there are so many yummy sounding recipes to try in each one. Last week Matt and I made this one and it was really yummy. I think we are going to make it again this week for Dad now that he is back, I know he will love it. I didn't take a picture (my camera is broke and didn't think about using my phone) but trust me it looked and tasted de-lish!

Pork Chops with Apples and Garlic Smashed Potatoes
1 pound small fingerling potatoes
2 cloves of garlic
Kosher salt
4 1/2-inch-thick boneless pork loin chops (5 ounces each)
2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage
Freshly grounded pepper
1 tablespoon EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
1 large red onion, cut into 1/2-inch wedges
2 Granny Smith apples, cut into 1/2- inch pieces
3/4 cup apple cider
1/4 cup buttermilk

1.Put the potatoes and garlic in a saucepan, cover with cold water and season with salt. Cover and bring to a boil, then uncover and continue cooking until tender, about 15 minutes. Cover and set aside.

2. Meanwhile, rub both sides of the pork chops with the sage, and salt and pepper to taste. Heat a large cast-iron skillet over high heat, then add 1 teaspoon of olive oil and sear the chops until golden brown on both sides, about 5 minutes total. Transfer to plate. Wipe out skillet and add the remaining 2 teaspoons olive oil. Add the onion and apples and cook over medium heat until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and stir in cider.

3. Return the chops to the skillet. Cover and cook, turning once, until just cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes. Drain potatoes, reserving 1/4 cup liquid. Return the potatoes to the pan; add buttermilk and mash, adding cooking liquid as needed. Season with salt and pepper.
serve with pork chops, onion and apples. Drizzle with pan juices.

Per serving 413 calories

Enjoy!

St. Jude Trike-A-Thon!

2011-01-26T14:22:00.000-08:00

Logan participated in the St. Jude Research Hospital Trike-A-Thon at this preschool last week. They were late getting the fund-raising packets so we were not able to collect donations before the event, but we are now! Logan completed 12 laps for the Trike-A-Thon and learned all about bike safety and earned his Trike License! He also learned about the incredible kids at St. Jude and how the Trike-A-Thon was going to help them get better!

If you are able to make a donation on his behalf we (and St. Jude's) would greatly appreciate it. I can't image what those parents and children go through and anything we can do to help, I am sure they will be forever grateful for.

2 Days Under My Belt...

2011-01-22T15:51:00.001-08:00

And I love the BNAT program already! I was sitting in class thinking, yep this is were I belong!

It' s been a long time since I was actually interested in what I was learning in school.

Before I get into how class was let's do a happy dance, why you ask? Well I went to prove my in-district residency and when the nice girl was done doing that she printed out my new account balance and to my happy surprise I know only owe the college $330 and some change! Apparently the day I registered since they did ask to see my id (and I didn't know they needed it) they charged me out of district tuition (at the time I thought wow I thought this was a lot cheaper, maybe tuition went up?) So now I only have to make one more payment in instead of 3 at $600+. Which means I am so getting a new refrigerator when we get out tax return back, but I digress...

So that was an awesome way to start class off!

Anyway my teacher is nice, but strict, but I like strict and she is very detailed and has everything outlined which is also awesome for testing purposes. You should see the schedule we got, unreal it's going to be a lot of work and testing, but it will be worth it for sure. A lot of the other students are moms and dads with kids the same age as my own so that is neat, gives us stuff to talk about, I think there only two students who are right out of High School, the rest are all "older" like me, second careers for a lot of them as well.

The one bummer was finding out our clinical site is a rehab facility and not a hospital, where I hope to work. Oh well, at least it's not a long-term, nursing home setting, where I know for sure I want nothing to do with (ever since I was little I have hated nursing homes, when we use to go with church or Girl Scouts I would freak out and practically make my self sick and have a panic attack).

Today for what will eventually be out clinical day, we had lab and learned how to wash hands properly and learned how to glove, gown and mask following proper technique and isolation procedures and how to double bag bio-hazard waste. We practice this again next class, and then start bed making and then we are skill tested on all three. We have our first lecture exam the day before our lab test...yikes!

So far so good though! We all brought home gloves, gown and a mask to practice, and then we are to wash our hands properly every time we need to wash our hands so it becomes second nature, washing your hands for the health care setting, is harder than you think and it's hard to un-train the bad washing habits that I have used for well, almost 30 years LOL!

We also learned about MRSA and C-Diff today which was interesting as well.

Looking forward to Monday now!

Twas The Night Before School...

2011-01-20T20:12:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow night is my first night of class!! I can't believe it's finally time for this, a long time in the making for sure! I am getting all my stuff together, after an annoying misunderstanding with Barnes & Noble, I ended up getting my textbook/workbook for $11 cheaper than the book store, so that was a score! I haven't opened yet, just in case it's not the right one, but it should be. I have to stop at the book store before class tomorrow to pick up the skills book that the college prints up and the prep book for the state test.

I also just found out that I never proved my in-district residency, didn't know I had to other than the address on my application, so even though I have already been paying in-district tuition payments, I will be charged out of district prices if I don't prove by Saturday at noon. So after a small heart attack, I found out I can do that tomorrow before class as well, just have to get there a little earlier now.

Other than that I am ready to go! I still need to get white shoes for clinicals, I have two pairs of white scrub bottoms (I heard it's prudent to always have an extra pair of scrubs on you) and an extra white scrub top (we have to wear a uniform top and smock from the college which we will get fitted for probably tomorrow). I have my new watch with easy to read face for doing vitals, but I still need to get a stethoscope and blood pressure cuff. I am so excited, I am sure I will be over whelmed by tomorrow night, but right now I am excited and that says a lot since i never felt like this about school before, and definitely not about grad school (guess that should have been a red flag).

Well better finish up packing my stuff up and then off to bed, full day of being a mommy (Logan off to school, my regular Friday floor cleaning, taking care of poor Ava who has her first fever) and full night of class tomorrow!

Getting all my stuff together, loving my new water bottle and coffee mug!

Feeling Better

2011-01-13T18:26:00.000-08:00

Kind of.

I don't know what happened but my simple cold I started with on New Years Eve, turned into the head cold from hell this past week. I was going to go to the doctor today, but I did start to feel better this afternoon so I will wait it out another day or so, but I think I am on the mend finally.

My Dad is being discharged tomorrow, his doctor wanted him to stay until Monday, but the rehab place said there was no reason for him to, he is doing great, so tomorrow it is!

His doctors changed around some of his meds and added some new ones so we will have to work all that out now. He is going to stay at my Grandparents house for a day two, as I haven't been able to clean since I got sick and we want to make sure I really am on the mend before he comes back home. I don't know what we are going to do when either my Grandparents are no longer here or we move we we have sickness situations like this.

Ava had a little cold, but she seems to be better today as well so that is good. She had her 15 month check up on Friday (shocking I know!) and she is 27lbs 6oz and 30 and a quarter inches (95 percentile) and her head is 49cm (off the chart, just like Logan's. We call that the Warnock percentile) and doctor said she is doing great! She has quite the vocab for a 15 month old and is already putting two words together. She got one shot and is up to date now until she is 4, she will be happy about that when we go back for her 18 month in April, which I am totally in denial about.

Logan is doing good, he is very happy to be back to school and anxious to get back to gymnastics after two weeks off for the holidays and then missing Saturday because Matt had to work and I was too sick to take him. He has his first school pictures on the 27th, I am sure they will be cute.

School starts in 8 days...yikes! Going to try and get out there this week to get my books and then I have a few last minute things I need to get together. I am very excited but very nervous, big changes. I have been a SAHM since September 2006 so it's weird to think I will be heading back to work (part-time, nights, every other weekend) in the very near future, but I know it's for the best and if we are ever going to move so we can grow our family, mama needs to being home some bacon as well!

I leave you with my diva daughter dancing in a laundry basket eating a cracker...love her so!

They MIght Not Always Show It...

2011-01-06T19:49:00.000-08:00

But when no one is looking they are best buddies.

I found my two sweeties cuddled up together yesterday when I came in from the kitchen, love them!

Good News!

2011-01-05T11:21:00.000-08:00

Dad has steadily been getting better since I last posted. He has been out of the ICU for two days now and in a step down unit. Today he is being transferred to the rehab facility for the next 7-10 days while he finishes up his antibiotics and a couple other treatments that have to go through an IV. His breathing is sooo much better now and he is still getting those treatments as well. His kidney function number is now down to 3.2, less than a point away (2.4) from where it usually sits when he is not taxed. So no dialysis was needed, thank God! Hopefully we will see that number go back down to it usual resting place.

I haven't been able to get up to the hospital, last day I saw Dad was Sunday and he was up and out of bed, walking to the bathroom and back, which is great. I helped him eat, which he wasn't able to eat a lot then, but he is eating full meals now just two days later so that is good.

Matt and I have bad colds, which is mostly why once he became stable I haven't been going up there, the doctor told us we have to be very careful about what we expose ourselves and Dad to right now as his resistance is still down. Matt's Mom came down with the flu a couple days ago and she had been out here last week helping us so we were re-exposed, so far everyone is ok. But we won't be going anywhere or taking the kids anywhere unnecessary probably for the next month. Once Dad is actually home we have to be very careful.

So that is that, thank you all for you thoughts and prayers, they did their work and we are very grateful.

I Did It!!

2011-01-01T17:37:00.001-08:00

I blogged every day for a year, just as I had resolved to do last New Years. I am so glad that I was able to keep it up and now I have record of Ava's first year and all the fun and exciting things that went on during 2010!

Will I keep it up in 2o11? Probably not everyday as I will be busy with school, but I intend to blog still and I am sure with school and eventually going back to work I will have lots to blog about.

With that out of the way it's update time.

Dad is doing MUCH better today! After we left yesterday, he did start to run a fever, but it was gone by morning which was good. His blood sugars are at a much better level now and Respiratory Therapist is able to get more off of his chest now so his breathing is much improved which is making him much more comfortable. He looks so much better today and was even joking around. He is very tired as he hasn't been sleeping well (who does in a hospital) so he is hoping to get a better sleep tonight. Here is a run down of everything:
*Kidney function (his normal keratin level is 2.4) went down from 5.6 to 4.125 which means no dialysis! This was a huge relief, as there was talk about kidney biopsies and long term dialysis and back on the transplant list talk yesterday if there had been serious damage to the kidney. We want to watch that number keep going down to that 2.4 and we are heading in the right direction.
*Dad always struggles with anemia, he gets iron shots every two weeks to combat it. With as sick as he has been, he has become very anemic which can also cause the shortness of breath. They are giving him two units of blood tonight to help with anemia.
*They are now stopping fluids, which is also contributing to the pneumonia, as he is outputting so much urine (good thing, shows kidney is working) that his potassium level (which is usually to high as a diabetic) is too low now. He is on potassium pills to combat that.
*He is receiving breathing treatments and a vest therapy (a vest that goes around his chest that vibrates quite roughly) and that is getting the junk off of his chest nicely.
*He is on contact precautions right now as well, so we have to gown and glove before going in the room, good practice for me, I am sure I will be tested on it in school :<).

Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers, they are working! Thank you to all our family that has visited, it helps and keeps him going!

And yesterday as I was questioning my ability to be a CNA as I had this terrible feeling like I wanted to run out of the hospital (things were bad yesterday and they were asking me questions about life saving measures and such, but I recognize today this is why they never let nurses or doctors take care of their own family in situations like this), that today I had more confirmation that I am headed in the right direction as I thought it was cool that Matt got to see a code blue go down, I would have liked to see that (I know demented right? It's just very interesting to me) I was also in the hall gowning up when they pulled a gurney out of the room next to my Dad with a body bag, a full body bag, and I wasn't the least bit grossed out as Matt fled into Dad's room. (That was also the room I passed yesterday when I needed to get some air and headed to the family room around the corner that had the Nun in there giving last rights, and pretty much sent me over the edge when Dad was so sick yesterday. I never take for granted how lucky we are to always come out of the ICU, he always pulls through.

I think in a funny way I needed this experience right before school started, some days I doubt if I will be able to handle this career, and now I couldn't be more excited to start!

Time to enjoy my last few weeks before schools starts!

Happy New Year to you all! Many blessings for a new year!

Happy New Year!

2010-12-31T15:12:00.000-08:00

Wish I was sharing better news tonight, unfortunately my Dad is still not doing well.

We couldn't get a hold of him this morning, so my Grandparents called the nurse station and found out that his blood sugar was 21 and he was unresponsive when they found him this morning (80-120 is normal blood sugar level), not good, he clearly should not have been left on the renal floor, he needed to be in ICU where he can get the care he needs. One of us should have stayed with him last night.

Soon after we got there they were still trying to get him stabilized with his sugars in the 30's, but he was responsive. When I walked in I could tell things were rough, the floor had medical garbage all over, his blanket's had been thrown in the corner. Luckily Grandma brought some apple juice with her, we got him to drink the little cup of orange juice the nurse had and then the apple juice.
The nurse came back after the second blood check and let us know they were moving him to ICU, thank God!

They checked him right before they transferred him and blood sugar was up to 107 which is good.

Once they got him settled in ICU we went in, and that's where I spent most of the day.

He has pneumonia now is his left lung, he is on antibiotics for that. His kidney functioning is a little worse, today, not my much though. He is getting blood sugar checks frequently and they keep giving him sugar through the IV. Being dehydrated from the diarrhea and the lack of eating and insulin is making it hard to control the sugar level.

Urine output is good, so we are hoping that damage this is doing to his kidney will resolve once the dust settles on everything else. When we know the number tomorrow if it is better than great, go on treating hte infection. If the number goes up more (normal for keratin is 2, he is closing in on 5) then they will start dialysis and go from there. Whether we are talking about short-term dialysis vs. long term and on the transplant list is yet to be seen.

Once he is out of ICU, and on a regular medical floor he will then be discharged to a rehab facility, one that does Dialysis just in case. He will be there for 7-14 days. This has been going on for a week now and he is very weak and will need some help getting back up to functioning.

So yea, not the best New Years Eve, almost 12 years to the date of the last time he was this seriously ill, I remember it very clearly because we didn't think he was going to make it (and I had just started dating Matt) but as always he pulled through. I know he can do it again.

Prayers are much appreciated and needed

Happy New Year.

Blah.

2010-12-30T23:01:00.000-08:00

Dad is getting worse, he is very uncomfortable and breathing is difficult. I haven't been able to talk to him all day, my grandparents have been with him, but I really feel like he needs to be in the ICU. I have a feeling if things don't turn around tomorrow that is where he is headed. Matt and I are both fighting another cold, mine is not so bad, but I decided not to go up to the hospital when Matt got home as I don't want to make things worse by giving him some cold on top of all this. Matt is off tomorrow so I will be going up there in the morning.

Thoughts & prayers are much appreciated.

Updates & Pictures

2010-12-29T21:15:00.000-08:00

Dad is still in the hospital, his doctor ordered them to pump him full with as much fluid as he could take, which happened and now he is short of breath. Now they are pulling back on the fluids and giving him breathing treatments to help with the shortness of breath. His keratin level went down a little, but still is above what it normally runs, hopefully it will continue to go down. I could tell something was wrong when I started talking to him tonight, the shortness of breath is pretty bad.

I will be heading out there tomorrow once Matt gets home, my grandparents weren't up to going there, they are still recovering as well, and I need to make sure everything is going ok. While I was on the phone with him, the whole time his IV machine was beeping, so obviously his bags are empty or near empty and no one came in to change them. I don't want to be the annoying patient daughter, but I may have to do so tomorrow.

His doctor is saying another 24-48 hours in there, he didn't bring anything with him when he went in, so I am going to bring in his book reader and some books for him if it's going to be more like 48 hours, which the way he sounded tonight I am guessing will be more accurate.

On a lighter note, here are some pictures from the last couple days of the kids and their new loot.

Logan loves his new Leapster Explorer and his Pillow Pet

Ava is having a blast with her doll care center and all her new dolls, all of the shown here LOL!

Everyone likes the Fancy Nancy crown!

Oh and I finished my first book on my Nook, and I am totally hooked LOL!

Arrgg!

2010-12-28T20:50:00.000-08:00

Dad is still was not doing good today, he saw his doctor this afternoon and he said he should go to the hospital, he said he could go home, but he would more than likely be in the hospital in a day or two anyway and it would be better to be proactive, which I agree with since I know how quickly things can take a turn with a diabetic with the flu.

So Grandpa took Dad to the hospital this afternoon, so far he has had a chest xray that showed he does not have pneumonia, which is good news, they are starting antibiotic's, his cough is heading towards pneumonia and we don't want that to happen. His keratin level is up to 4 which is not good, due to having diarrhea for so many days and causing dehydration, so hopefully some IV fluids will get that number on track and he won't be in for too many days this time.

Always something going on over here, the kids miss grandpa that's for sure.

I am ready to set off a disinfecting bomb in the house, or at least open the windows and let the cold air kill the nasty stuff in this house. I have disinfected so many times in the last two weeks and been washing my hands so much they are cracked and bleeding. Stressed out doesn't even begin to describe. The one sliver lining it all this, at least it happened before school started.

Thoughts and prayers for my Dad much appreciated.

Toys & The Plague of 2010

2010-12-27T20:40:00.000-08:00

I am currently living in a toy store, every time I start to get cleaned up one of the kids want something out of a package and more mess in sues, oh well they are having a blast playing with everything.

Unfortunately we gave the gift that keeps on giving on Christmas Eve, the stomach flu.

My Dad came down with it Christmas morning, buy Christmas night my brother was sick and two of my aunts kids. I thought maybe since my dad only had lower GI, he had caught the tale end of what we had going through the house, and what my brother and cousins had was something else, but that idea was blown to pieces when I heard that my Grandma and Grandpa had also been hit hard with the stomach flu as well. Yikes, I feel so bad that so many got sick from us, whatever virus we have it's a nasty one. My Dad also has the cold/cough that Logan had one top of it so things are not good. I hope everyone is feeling better, my brother had to miss his 20th birthday today as he was still not well and had to cancel his party. I can't wait for this to be over, and I can't believe I had such a mild form of this given it is making so many sick, I really do have a freaky ability to fight gastro stuff, and Ava had it pretty mild as well which is making the difficult year of breast feeding we did, totally worth it, yea for magic milk!

So everyone get better ASAP!! So sorry we infected everyone :<(

Zoo Lights!

2010-12-26T22:44:00.000-08:00

We headed to the zoo tonight with my cousins and their kids for Holiday Magic. I have been going every year since I was little, and Matt and I have been every year expect the year Logan was born since we have been together. We had a lot of fun, the kids loved running around and playing in all the snow, we adults enjoyed Hottie Totties (Hot Chocolate and Peppermint Schnapps) and the light displays.

Some of the fun!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T19:38:00.000-08:00

Wishing everyone a blessed Christmas!

Christmas Eve!

2010-12-24T23:34:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve lunch with my Grandparents and Dad and then a yummy Christmas Eve dinner at Mom's tonight, with all the family. Kids are tucked away in bed and Santa's elves were busy as work!

He was here!

Can't wait for the kids reactions tomorrow morning! Happy Christmas Eve!

Better, For The Most Part...

2010-12-23T19:45:00.000-08:00

Feeling better cold wise, still having some bad stomach pains, usually after I eat. I think me and Ava have more of a lower GI thing going on, and it's just nagging, totally stinks. The boys are much better however, so that is good.

Tried cleaning as much as I could today between stomach cramp episodes, Matt is out now running some errands for me and then he us going to help clean since I am about out of energy (I just can't stand the house being dirty for Christmas, so much clutter about to come in, it stresses me out!)

Logan painted pictures for all his Grandma's and his Godmommy today and Ava did some coloring, she is much better about eating the crayons now, she only took one bite this time...

Tomorrow morning we are going over to my Grandma's so exchange gifts and have lunch, we usually spend Christmas Eve at her house with my Dad's family, but my Mom's family is having their get together on Christmas Eve this year (usually we do the week before, but good thing they didn't this year since we were all sick) so are normal Christmas Eve routine is off this year, and we will miss the candle light carol service at Church, which is a bummer, but excited to see everyone tomorrow night!

Just What I Needed...

2010-12-22T20:56:00.001-08:00

This came in our church newsletter today, and it really hit the spot:

MEMO

Date: Today
TO: You
From: God
Subject: Yourself
Reference: Life

This is God. I realize that you are quite overwhelmed trying to cope with everything in your life. I love you. If life happens to deliver a situation that you cannot handle, do not attempt to resolve it yourself! Kindly put it in the SFGTD (Something for God To Do) Box. I will get to it in My time which undoubtedly will not be the same as YOUR time. All situations WILL BE resolved in my time. Once the matter is placed into the box, do not hold onto it by worrying about it. Instead focus on all the wonderful things that are present in your life now. Admittedly this may not be easy to do at first, do don't give up. Remember, you are my beloved child and I deeply care for you!

So much has been running through my head lately, school, new house, baby #3, etc. There are some things that are totally pointless to worry about right now and when I read this it was like permission to let it go.

I am so ready for a new house, but we are still two or three years out from that happening. Rolled into the house issue is the next baby issue. Yea we could make it work in this house, but it wouldn't be ideal. So I think that is going in the SFGTD Box. I know these things will happen, but right now school and getting my career going need to be in the forefront.

One of the reasons baby #3 is on my mind even though I am so not ready for that yet, is Matt and I did come to a birthing decision for future baby #3. We are 100% sure we are going to VBA2C!! I started researching this after having Ava and even found an area hospital and doctor that would support the somewhat controversial VBA2C, and had kinda just given up and said I'll just take the repeat. As time went on I felt this was not right for me, and then the ACOG changed their VBAC guidelines to favor VBA2C and then I found even more info on this doctor and started reading about the midwives that work out of this hospital as well. God works in mysterious ways. I feel like He is opening these doors for me and this is what I am suppose to do.

I feel like in order to finally get my VBAC, I need to really change the way we approach the birth, so with that thought we started research, which we still have much more to do, but here is where we are so far.
*Switching to VBA2C friendly hospital down town.
*Switching to new provider, hoping to be able to see a midwife knowing I may have to switch over to an OB in the final weeks.
*Looking into Hypno-birthing (have heard many good things about it) and trying to go the natural route. (This still scares me, a lot, as I have been in labor, albeit pitocin induced labor, so I need help in getting over my mental blocks).
*Dolua will be hired.
*Possible chiropractic care to help with body alignment and hopefully better positioned baby.
*NO NEGATIVE anything, if you don't have something good to say about our choice hit the bricks! (that goes for family, friends, and medical personal)
*laboring at home with dolua as long as possible
*Looking into diets, etc to help keep my blood pressure under control
*Getting back into shape!

So now we need to get to the two year mark (18 months recommended for VBAC, 24 months recommended for VBA2C before getting pregnant again, to allow for optimal healing) and re-visit if we are going to wait until we are in a bigger house or if we are going to go for it.

So that goes off to the BOX for now! Very excited to have made some solid decisions and now there are places out there that will support them! NEVER AGAIN!

New Stove!

2010-12-21T23:55:00.000-08:00

Well today started out much nicer than yesterday. My old stove was hauled off, new stove in stalled and working all before 8:30am. Thank you Home Depot! My stomach was hurting pretty bad today, but by late afternoon I was just really hungry, really haven't eaten much in the past two days with everything going on. So Matt went out and got us some yummy soup from Panera. I hope that was the worst of the bug for me, fingers crossed. I managed to get out tonight and get something to wear for Christmas Eve, and it felt good to get out of the house. Logan seems to be fine, he requested pizza for dinner so we broke in the new stove. Ava had her dinner and then through a fit because she wanted what Logan had, so Ava had her first pizza slice all to her self tonight. I'm telling you this girl loves to eat. Logan wouldn't eat pizza until he was around two, maybe even later, so funny how they are so different. New Stove! That just leaves our ugly beige fridge to replace.

Ava Loving her 1st Pizza Experience!

Logan On The Mend

And Here We Go...

2010-12-20T23:46:00.000-08:00

I have been up since 5am when my wonderful husband starting puking, shortly after that my wonderful son started puking. I still feel like total crap and Ava is still not feeling good and wouldn't let me put her down all day, which made caring for my boys interesting. I am in my own personal Hell today. I hate puke. Hopefully Ava won't get another round of it and hopefully I won't get it (I have a weird ability to avoid GI stuff, I actually got sick 3 years ago, and before that it had been 10 years since I had puked) and if I do it's quick because Christmas is almost here and that would really, really suck. Things seem to be settling down now, Matt hasn't been sick since 7am this morning, although he has other ahem GI problems going on, and Logan hasn't been sick since around 3:30. Thankfully this hellish day is over. Good night, I hope.
My Poor Boys

Lodge Christmas Party

2010-12-19T22:55:00.000-08:00

We went to the lodge Christmas party today and the kids had fun and Logan was very excited about Santa bringing him an early present. They had a magician again this year, although this one wasn't as good as last years and didn't really hold Logan's interest to much. After the magician was done the kids all got hyped up for Santa's visit, to my surprise Logan didn't freak out, he did come over by us and I told him to go sit with the other kids to get his present and he did. Santa read the kids a story first and Logan sat there in awe. Ava cried of course when she went up with Daddy to get her gift, but Logan was a big boy this year and went up by himself and took a picture with Santa. There were some tears shed when Logan realized it wasn't the huge Thomas the Train set he had asked Santa for, but we told him that Santa didn't bring his sleigh today and that was to big a gift to bring today, that seemed to satisfied him and then he as excited about his new Handy Mandy and tools. Ava got another talking purse, Santa must not have talked with the Easter Bunny, as he brought Ava the same purse last Easter. Oh well, she wanted it opened so we opened it up for her and hey a girl can never have to many purses anyway. After Santa we had some food downstairs and Ava started to get crabby since she missed a nap, so we headed home. Glad we were able to make it despite the sickies going on, I felt like crud but the kids are doing fine and Matt doesn't seem to be feeling to bad, hopefully we are on the mend now!

Daddy explaining Lodge stuff to Logan (only 13 more years until he can go ya know)

Listening to Santa's story

Ava listening to Santa

She got bored quick

Ava getting her gift from Santa

She knew just what to do with that gift

Logan's turn with Santa

And he knows what to do as well

Having some eats!

The Report

2010-12-18T22:50:00.000-08:00

*Ava only got sick the once or twice yesterday afternoon in her crib, she seems to be on the mend, not sure if she had the stomach bug or what, usually they say more than once in 24 hours, but usually when I get it I only get sick once and then I'm done, so maybe she just takes after me.
*Logan perked up after his first round of antibiotics and went to gymnastics this morning, he missed last week when he started with the cough so he was happy to go. Still doing breathing treatments, cough sounds bad but isn't happening as often.
*My throat huts and I have that annoying I am getting sick feeling.
*Matt also is feeling the same as I

Crossing my fingers and toes and saying a prayer this passes through the house and we are well for Christmas. Logan is so excited for Christmas I don't want him or us to be miserable through it.

What A Day...

2010-12-17T21:08:00.000-08:00

And not in a good way. Logan was up all night coughing and running a higher fever this time. So I make an appointment to take him to the doctor. I have to take my Dad somewhere before that so I bring Grandma over to watch Logan, Ava was sleeping upstairs. Get home throw the diaper bag together, run up stairs to get and Ava and get her in the car and before I even make it up the stairs all the way, I smell it.

Yep Ava did her first big girl puke all over her crib and was just sitting in it with a what the hell expression on her face. YUCK!

Thank God Grandma was here, I got Ava cleaned up and she stripped the crib. I called Matt to come home and relieve Grandma and I ran out the door with Logan to make his appointment.

Logan pedi upped his breathing treatments and put him on antibiotics so hopefully he will be feeling much better in the next 24 hours.

Ava didn't get sick again and kept down some Gatorade and Goldfish crackers.

Now we wait and see if Logan gets hit with the stomach bug too, if that's what it was and of course the rest of this. Pray that we are done with his crud by Christmas, no one wants to be sick on Christmas.

Much Better Performance!

2010-12-16T23:22:00.000-08:00

Logan had his other Christmas program tonight, and he did much better, still no singing, but he didn't cry, stood up there like a big boy and rang the heck out of his jingle bell LOL! He also took his bow and melted during the snowman song. He was so cute up there. I couldn't get many good pictures, the lighting was funny in there and I got a little video but from pretty far back. I did end up buying the DVD so at least I will have a better video of my first baby's first school performance. They had a little party after the program and Santa was there, but Logan wanted to just see him from afar this time. Logan had fun showing all his grandparents his school and his classroom and cubby.

Logan and most of his grandparents

As Expected...

2010-12-15T13:38:00.000-08:00

Logan did in fact not sing at his Christmas program this morning, he along with a couple other kids, protested by sitting down and holding their head in there hands. Hopefully he will do better tomorrow night when all the Grandparents come, I am just hoping that he will stand and jingle his bell a bit and not look like we are torturing him...

What A Day!

2010-12-14T23:27:00.000-08:00

Here we go:

*Logan woke up with a slight fever 99.5 so I kept him home from school, his first sick day so far, not bad making it all the way until December.

*Had Grandma come over to watch Ava while she was napping so I could take Logan to immediate care to make sure he didn't have an infection now that a fever popped up, plus anytime I start neb treatments on my own and he is not better by day 3 he has to be seen by our pedi, but of course our pedi office is closed on Tuesdays.

*Doctor at immediate care said he sounded good, fluid in the ears but not infected and doesn't think he needs antibiotics for the cough. She told me to up his neb treatment so 3 times a day and wrote a script for predisone in case he gets worse, but I don't think he will, fever was gone by the afternoon.

*Get home, Ava the screech monkey is up and teething something terrible, her gum area was even bleeding a little.

*Our repair, handyman friend comes over informs me that the stove top is pretty much shot and he could try and fix it for around $15o but it's a very old stove and really wouldn't be worth it, not to mention that even if he fixed it, he doesn't know that it wouldn't short out again.

*Good news I am getting my new stove, finally!!! Bad news won't have it until Monday at the earliest. Guess we won't be doing sugar cookie cut outs, in less I bake them down at Grandma's house and bring them home to decorate, but Logan likes cutting them out so blah to that.

*I know need to re-plan the weeks dinners and turn it into stuff we can grill, microwave or crock pot.

*Huge headache for me and I am off to bed, Logan has his first Christmas program at school tomorrow.

She Is So Our Child...

2010-12-13T23:12:00.000-08:00

Caught Ava playing with my, well I guess now it's Logan's Nintendo DS...

Insert cute picture here (took pictures on the internal of my camera and now I can't get them off errr)

Logan is still sick, no fever still so hopefully he will be ok for school tomorrow!

In other news, Matt cleaned the stove on Friday and the top has not been working since then, you have to manually lite it and then it smells awful from the gas, hopefully we can get that fixed asap.

And Ava is now officially known as screech monkey, my head hurts, off to bed!

Baby It's Cold Outside!

2010-12-12T19:44:00.000-08:00

We are getting some cold, cold weather and some snow here today. We spent the day wrapping presents for family and baking cookies. Logan is still sick, but not too bad, just doing breathing treatments in the morning and before bed, no fever still just the cough. Seems it is just a mild case this time and hopefully he will be on the mend by Tuesday.

Once the kids where in bed we wrapped most of their Santa gifts and watched Inception for the first time, that was a crazy movie, I think we are going to watch it again before Matt brings it back to work.

Matt also brought home the first book in the Hunger Games series so i am hoping to start that this week, although I was holding off because I was hoping for a Nook for Christmas and wanted to start with those books, but I think I will dive into the first book now.

So we had a nice relaxing Sunday, our last one for awhile!

Here We Go Again...

2010-12-11T23:33:00.000-08:00

Logan woke up this morning with a barky cough. I started breathing treatments right away and kept him home from gymnastics. He has no fever this time and it's doing to bad, not a lot of coughing, but when he does it's barky (croup). We did end up heading out to my step-cousins house for their youngest 1st birthday party. Logan and Ava had a blast playing with their cousins (one is 3 and the other 1, so they each have a buddy to play with) and Logan discovered a new toy (a toy tool work bench) that he loved and lets just say one is arriving on December 22nd after Mommy elf spent much time tracking one down that was not $80. He is going to flip when he sees is on Christmas morning!

This is the second time I found something on QVC's website for much less than other places and decent shipping. This thing was sold out or outrageously priced everywhere else. We also found Ava's Step2 play house on QVC for only $100, which was awesome. SO if you are ever looking for hard to get toy or an expensive toy hit up QVC's website!

Hopefully Logan won't get an worse and he will make it to all his activities with school this week (two Christmas programs and a party) and his sleepover at my Mom's on Friday. Fingers crossed!

Ornaments & Party

2010-12-10T21:08:00.000-08:00

I was at the craft store the other day and they had their ornaments 50-60% off already so I picked up some cute ones for Logan and Ava to paint. Logan had fun painting his and Ava once again learned that she does not love the taste of paint, she did a good job painting though.

Logan's

Ava's

Matt and I went to his work holiday party, it as fun and the food and dessert was yummy. We came home with a big ol' bottle of wine so all in all a fun night out! Ava didn't want to go to bed for Grandma, but she gave up around 9pm and Logan was still up when we got home a little before 10, so tomorrow will be interesting and we have a party to go to, although we might have to pass if we get all the snow they are forecasting!

Only 17,000 Lights

2010-12-09T22:55:00.000-08:00

There is a house down on the next street from our house that does a HUGE light display set to music every year. Matt bundled up the kids and took them down to see it tonight, the owners were outside handing out candy canes and Matt talked to the guy about it. He uses about 17,000 lights and starts work on the display January 15 for the upcoming December. He starts with programing all the songs and goes on from there. He builds the light displays as well and it takes them 4 weekends to get everything up. They have speakers for the music, but they also broadcast it over the radio (you have to be close to the house, as you drive away you will lose the signal)

Matt got a little video but Ava wanted to walk around so he is going to go back and get a better video and I will post it then, but I will upload what I have so you can get a taste. I love that they do this and I just have to wonder what their electric bill looks like this time of year!

All bundled up!

14 Months?

2010-12-08T20:40:00.000-08:00

I think I forgot about Ava turning 13 months last month, mommy brain strikes again! SO as I looked at the calender today and realized she was 14 months old I figured I better take some pictures and do an update since I totally forgot last month. Ava as really turned into a little diva in the past month. She is very independent and throws a mean tantrum already (God help me when we hit the teenage years) but I knew this would be a difficult time, as it was with Logan. On the positive side of things, she is super smart and is saying quite a few words already. She LOVES to eat and if anyone says the word bath, she runs to the stairs and gets all excited. Ava LOVES reading her books, she spends a lot of time every day reading in her little Ava language, it is the coolest! Ava loves to dance and still loves Elmo. She is still a little mommy as well, Great-Grandma got her a highchair for her baby and she loves feeding her baby. Ava favorite snack right now is a peeled apple, she sometimes throws it like a ball, but always finishes most of it. Oh and she loves rearranging the bottom of our Christmas tree. I can't believe she is 14 months, I miss my little baby, but love watching my big girl, I could sit and watch her play all day.

Whoops!

2010-12-07T13:59:00.000-08:00

I took the cutest picture of Ava today before we went to pick up Logan from school. She actually let me put her cute monkey hat on her and she was all bundled up and had her sunglasses on, to cute for words, and then accidentally deleted the cute picture, so you will have to use your imagination...sorry!

Oh and Glee was awesome tonight, Sue the Grinch was great!

It Sounded Like A Good Idea...

2010-12-06T23:42:00.000-08:00

To make cookie recipe jar's for Logan's teachers and Matts staff for the holiday's, but they are a pain and a mess to make. We have 12 done of 33 so far and I am so done with them! I hope they appreciate these darn things! Logan helped me make a few for his teachers 6 in all, then I get a note home saying the preschool teachers don't accept gifts and instead ask you to donate an item off their classroom wish list, which I think is a great idea, but we will still give Logan's MDO teachers the jars and maybe his gymnastics coach as well. So even though I am done Christmas shopping, we still have to get all these to do and start baking soon! I am still way a head of where we are normally this time in December and it feels great! Anyway, they do make a cute gift that is easy to have little ones help with, just be prepared for a flour mess, so people use funnels to make it less messy, we didn't.

The recipe tag

The Jar

Santa!

2010-12-05T20:05:00.000-08:00

Ava wasn't having it, so Grandma whipped out a sucker and sat Ava on her lap and Logan had about the same expression he did last year, but he did tell Santa what he wanted this year and shook his hand goodbye. Maybe some smiles next year?

SNOW!

2010-12-04T19:42:00.000-08:00

First snow of the season! Logan was very excited to get out there after gymnastics this morning. Snowballs, snow angles, and a ramp to go down in this sled, equals one happy boy.

As Promised...

2010-12-03T19:58:00.001-08:00

I finally got around to scanning in the pictures that Logan's teacher gave me at his conference, sure looks like he has fun!

One of his first days, he still has his name tag on

Listening intently to story time

Striking his Super Mario pose for the camera

From his Birthday at school, you can see snowflake, the one of the class pets, in the background trying to see what's going on.

Blowing out his candles on the fake cake

Logan and Matt making a craft during Dad's night

At the Halloween party, if you look close in the background you can see Logan's name in the chore chart, he was in charge of feeding the animals that day

Thank You Preschool...

2010-12-02T19:52:00.000-08:00

For making shakers today as a part of learning about musical instruments, if Logan is not shaking the crap out of it, then Ava is. Thanks again, love my throbbing head.

Well pretty sure I had the headache before he came home with it, but still not helping. Why do I have a headache you ask, because the kids were up half the night waking each other up every other hour, for no reason other than to make sure we give up on the idea of wanting more children...

We are seriously starting to consider turning the half done room in the basement into a real bedroom and moving ourselves down there and splitting them up. I. Can. Not. Wait. To. Move.

December 1st Already?

2010-12-01T20:31:00.000-08:00

Wow! I can't believe it is December 1st already, I have almost made it a year of blogging every day, don't think I will be making that commitment next year with school and everything going on, but I plan on keeping up with it for sure and I am sure I will have plenty to blog about as I embark on this new adventure in my life!

I got my certificate of medical clearance today for school when I had my TB test read... Whoo Hoo! So nice to have that out of the way and be able to enjoy my last weeks as a full time SAHM! I wish I could get my books already, but I at least I have my Mom's CNA book from her program at another college, not the same book but at least it's something to start acquainting with.

Still on my school to do list:
1. Get a new "e" key for the laptop (little miss ripped it off a couple months back)
2. Get a babysitter for Monday and Friday's from 2:45 until 5:15 to cover when I need to leave for school and when Matt gets home, something tells me we will have to pay for babysitting for first time since we became parents, yeah we have been lucky!
3. Find a nice size tote for laptop and school stuff

I am sure there will be more as I get closer to school time!

Let's Get Physical...

2010-11-30T22:27:00.000-08:00

I had my physical done today, I know, fun times right? My blood pressure was 144/80 and the doctor said I was probably nervous, which is true, when ever my blood pressure is taken after having PIH (Pregnancy Induced Hypertension) with Logan and Pre-Eclampsia with Ava I get spastic about what my blood pressure is and it usually comes out high when it is indeed not and high blood pressure runs in the family as well so clearly I am screwed ever which way in that department and will no doubt end up on medication for it, hopefully when I am much older. The cuff was also a small one and I have to be on a large cuff to get an accurate reading so I am going to go ahead and say my blood pressure was probably fine, but you know I will be checking it once I learn how to in my CNA program LOL.

Other than that no big shakes with the physical, I go tomorrow to have my TB test read and then I should be good to go for clinical which will start in February!

More School Stuff...

2010-11-29T18:16:00.000-08:00

I had to go out to the college today to have my TB test done and hand in my Hep B documentation stating that I had the vaccination series already and another healthy form, fun stuff. Tomorrow I go for my physical and then Wednesday I go back to the nurse at school to have my TB test read and hand in my physical form and then I should be good to go for clinical, just need to have my clearance letter sent to the department chair. I am glad I got this all out of the way right away so I can enjoy the time I have left as a sole SAHM! Life is going to get crazy on January 21st, but I am excited for it and I have great support system so it will all work out.

And can you say cutie! In the second picture she was saying "Cheese" which she does when ever she is close to a camera...totally adorable!

Tree Time!

2010-11-28T17:52:00.000-08:00

We decorated out tree today before Matt had to head into work. Logan was very good at it this year and Ava proved to be much more interested in the tree that Logan was at that age. She put some ornaments on and then took them off and then put them back on and off, you get the picture. She also had fun going through the ornament boxes. We put all the stuff animal and non breakable stuff on the bottom and we are going through tree boot camp with her now, she is doing pretty good with the touching and we let her play with the ones on the bottom so she seems happy with the arrangement, LOL. I am putting up my Christmas Village next and hoping it makes it through without any causalities...

What Logan Is Thankful For

2010-11-27T13:58:00.000-08:00

I took a picture of Logan's feather on the turkey outside his door at school, when I went to his parent-teacher conference the other day, thought I would share the important things my four year old is thankful for.

Hey at least he included fruit...

Just Call Us The Griswolds

2010-11-26T13:45:00.000-08:00

SO...
Matt spent the afternoon hanging our Christmas lights outside. For the past couple of years I have been asking him to hang lights up the peak of our house. So this year I went out bought all new lights (we are doing all white outside this year) and he got to work. Matt does not like heights so him up on a very old extension ladder is not a good time for him. So he spends a lot of time getting the lights on the peak and ends up not being able to reach to the very top, oh well. He used the set of icicle lights from last year and checked them before he started and once half way through when he accidentally stapled the wire (I told you to call us the Griswolds) and it still worked. So he gets that done and then moves on to the rest of the house and the bushes (I put up the inflatable Santa for him and held the ladder during the tricky parts so hey I was out in the cold too) gets that done and by then it's dark and he still has to connect it all to the power source which to most people would be no big deal, but we live in a 80+ year old house that has no outlet outside. So we have this thing that screws into the porch light that has plugs on it, two to be exact so all these extension and and light cords have to end up in these two plugs (you remember that scene from Christmas Vacation where it showed a billion things plugged in, that 's us) so he finally gets everything hooked up and I flip it on in the house and run out with the kids real quick to see and wouldn't you know there is about 20-30 lights on at the tallest part of the peak. Yep just call us the Griswolds.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T21:03:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, with yummy food and good company! I have a lot to be thankful for this year, and at the top of that list is my beautiful, healthy family!

Don't Hate Me...

2010-11-24T20:38:00.000-08:00

But I am almost done Christmas shopping! I am so ahead of the game this year, love it!

In other news, I experienced my first little girl tantrum and wow is about all I can say about that. All I did was take a wipe away from her when she was done eating and she spiraled into a 15 minute tantrum. I finally got her to stop crying after giving her some medicine and a bottle. I think her teeth are bothering her and she was crabby and maybe even the flu shot thrown in. All I know is I think we are in for it when she's a teenager...

The episode reminded me that things got difficult with Logan around 15 months and then I realized she is almost 14 months and well we might be getting into that lovely developmental time I like to call pre-terrible twos 15-18 months was rough with Logan and I was hoping we wouldn't have that happen again, but maybe it's just ingrained in toddler development to be difficult during this time frame. I was hopefully with her vocab being much more advanced already then Logan's was at that age, that maybe she wouldn't get as frustrated because she would be able to communicate easier. Eh, a girl can home, but she's so stnkin cute we will take the bad with the good.

Parent-Teacher Conference

2010-11-23T22:32:00.000-08:00

Logan's first parent teacher conference went really well. The first half of the year in the 3/4 year old class they concentrate on the social aspect of school so we went over how he transitioned (he was a little upset and quite the first few weeks) and his teacher said he is great now, much more comfortable, plays with the other kids. He listens well and enjoys himself. They had a folder for me with some pictures of Logan, a dot-to-dot he did of a pumpkin and sheet of his favorite things. We will have another conference at the end of February and that one will be more in depth and developmentally focused. She said that after winter break is when they start getting more academic with them, working on writing, cutting, etc. So looking forward to that! Matt got stuck in a meeting so he wasn't able to make it, which I think he was bummed, but I am sure there will be many more in our future.

When I get a chance I will scan the pictures his teachers gave me, cute stuff!

Ummm...

2010-11-22T22:26:00.000-08:00

Yea I got nothing. Not much going on today other than Ava having to get her second dose of flu shot today and Matt took her since he was closing and home this morning. I stayed home with Logan and cleaned up, exciting stuff let me tell you. Ava took the shot fine, no fever, crabbies, etc.

Tomorrow Logan has his Thanksgiving feast at school and then we have a parent-teacher conference in the afternoon, how exciting, my first parent-teacher conference. I am sure his teachers will have nothing but good things to say.

Off to finish up the last disc of season 2 of Fringe with hubby!

Turkey Day Feast #1

2010-11-21T20:43:00.000-08:00

of three...I'm full just thinking about it.

We had a nice pre-Thanksgiving dinner at Matt's parents today, our first of three. On Thursday we will have Thanksgiving lunch with my Dad's family and then dinner with my Mom's side of the family (ah life with divorced parents and in-law's)

Off to bed now, early start tomorrow, taking Ava to the doctor for her second dose of flu shot...

Christmas Pre-View

2010-11-20T20:22:00.000-08:00

I took some pictures of the kids in their Christmas outfits so I could start on Christmas cards and make sure everything fit and what not, and here is how it went down...

Which one's been naughty and which one's been nice? I'll let you decide, but hey it all worked out it then end..LOL!

Yep, She's All Girl!

2010-11-19T19:43:00.000-08:00

Ava has reached another important milestone, she found her love for purses! What does she carry around you ask? Her phone of course!

Fun Project

2010-11-18T18:28:00.001-08:00

The kids and I were outside playing the other day and Logan and I spent some time collecting leaves. He had fun picking out all the different colors and shapes, we gathered them into a bag for later and today we used them to make some art work. Logan made a turkey first using his hand and then glued the leaves on as feathers and then we made some leaf collages with the rest of the leaves. An easy and cheap fall project!

My Monkey Girl

2010-11-17T17:14:00.000-08:00

Too cute for her own good...

Etsy Shop Sale!

2010-11-16T20:49:00.000-08:00

I am having a Pre-Black Friday sale in my Etsy shop for all of you that like to get your shopping done early!

Buy One get One 1/2 off (equal or lesser value) and I will pay shipping! (just convo me on Etsy with Pre-Black Friday Sale)

Headbands and Beanies make great gifts!

New fall color headbands now available!

Click my shop link to the right!

Mission Accomplished!

2010-11-15T19:45:00.000-08:00

Although I had a slight heart attack when I got to the college and the line for registration was quite long and I saw many BNAT envelopes ahead oh me. Luckily from the chatter I could hear most of them were applying for the day program. So glad I went out to the campus where my classes are as it is the smaller one, I am afraid of what the line looked like at the main campus. So I am all registered, my program starts 1/21/11 and 4pm! On my registration is says my clinicals are in the hospital which would be ideal since I plan to go the hospital route to become an OB tech or PCT, a lot of CNA programs are geared more towards nursing home work and work with geriatrics but I know for sure that is not were I belong. I am happy to see my program goes over mother/baby and post-partum, pre and post surgery care, which is more were I am headed. SO fingers crossed I will actually be doing my clinical in the hospital setting, which I think would make it easier to get into the hospital for work, I also plan on volunteering at a hospital one day a week for more experience.

I couldn't get my books though which was annoying, but it looks like I can them from the on-line bookstore which is still selling from fall term (same books) so I might go that route so I don't have to wait until the second week of January to start looking over everything.

Just relieved that I am officially, officially in now!

Big Day Tomorrow!

2010-11-14T21:43:00.000-08:00

I am heading over bright and early to the college to get in line for registration. Since the BNAT is limited enrollment and only takes 24 students I am a little nervous. Yes you have to be accepted into the program, but I don't know if they accept more than they take in case some people decide not to do it. They mentioned that if you don't get in, you have to watch for drops. I am also worried because I am doing the weekend program which is only offered twice a year, so if people didn't get in to the August program they would be trying to get into the January program, thus the surplus of applicants trying to get in to a limited enrollment program...ahhh. Registration starts at 8:30 and I want to be there early so I better get off to bed! Hopefully all will go fine and I will be able to get my books too, so I can get started in the material tomorrow night!

Fun Day

2010-11-13T23:41:00.000-08:00

We headed to gymnastics nice and early this morning (boy does that bring back memories) of course I had Ava in tow since Matt is at a sci-fi convention. Needless to say Saturday mornings are very busy at the gym and chasing Ava around was not fun. After gymnastics we headed home packed up the van and headed out to my Mom's. She was going to watch the kids while I skated and then watch them again when Matt and I went to a friends birthday party, but skating got canceled so I ended up just hanging around at my Mom's with the kids. My sister watched them for a big so my Mom and I could run to the store, which was nice.

My Mom bought Ava this little feeding set and a new outfit for her dolly. Ava must of sat and played with the doll and the feeding set for a half hour or more, she is such a little mommy, I love it!

Matt met me at my Mom's and then we headed over to our friends house to help her celebrate the big 3-0. It was a very nice party with good eats and good wine, can't complain there!

Have A Quote

2010-11-12T22:35:00.000-08:00

I love quotes, here is another one I love from my iPod app:

"Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending" -Carl Bard

So true.