2013

     I'm a little late with my New Years post. No party for us this year, I worked on Jan 1st, so I was in bed nice and early to end 2012. I'm off orientation now and am flying solo as a labor and delivery nurse. My first day on my own was one to remember...the doctor didn't make it to my patients delivery. For that matter, no one else did either, including the nursery nurse because that baby seriously flew out! All the deliveries I've been to in the last 7 1/2 years as a nursery nurse, I have never seen a baby come out that fast! To give ya'll a time reference, I didn't even have time to get gloves on...yuck! I was telling the grandma to hit the call light, but she was so caught up in the delivery that she didn't hear me. Luckily I had left the door open when I went in to check on my patient, so my co-workers heard the baby cry and quickly came to my assistance. Momma and baby were great! It is definitely a day I will never forget :)
     I'm going with an old fave for my resolution this year. Work out! No excuse, some sort of exercise on my days off. Today was my first day off of 2013 and I just completed my first workout. Welcome back 30 day shred!
     Today was a fun day, Brad and I had a date. He's finishing up his two weeks off and since I wasn't working today, Raelee went off to see her friends at Pre-School and we went out for lunch and a movie. Les Miserables...wow! That was a movie and a half. This is bad to admit, but I honestly did not know the story line...like at all. Not really sure how I missed out on that all these years. But back to the movie, I'm really impressed with the actors. Those were some serious emotions being conveyed. It was fun to have a date with the hubby. I've been spoiled with him being off work for the last two weeks, next week is going to be an adjustment for sure.

My Baby turned THREE!

     I cannot believe it's been three years since Raelee was born. Man, this time has flown by! She is so big now, I love having conversations with her, listening to her sing in the backseat of the car to Taylor Swift, and playing pretend games. The newest has been our house being a jungle, complete with jungle animals. The couch is a tree, the stairs are a mountain, the sink a water fall, the shower is a cave that has a waterfall in it, the rug is the river, complete with alligators. It's so funny watching her explore the jungle and take pictures of all the animals lol. Her personality is so sweet and fun. Brad and I love having us some Raelee in our lives. We decided to just do a family party this year, thinking it would be a bit more stress free, which is was. Raelee summed it up in her prayer tonight "thank you for my lots of family". It's always so fun to have my family and Brad's family get together, I think we mesh pretty well. We had a bonfire and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows  because Raelee LOVED doing that when we went camping and talks about it all the time. Our theme was very loosely owls( the girl loves owls) and my dad made her an awesome cake. Very realistic. and tasty. Raelee also received many blessings in the form of toys. I think we might be able to skip Christmas gifts this year. Just kidding. I already feel bad enough about having her so close to Christmas. I was a little sad that Raelee didn't get a shout out on Sprout, but otherwise I think she had a pretty great birthday. Enjoy the pics :)

She hasn't quite gotten down holding up three fingers yet.

Santa Claus came to town

I don't have the pics yet, but on Saturday Raelee met Santa Claus. For the very.first.time. Bad mom award right here, my child's about to turn three and has just now met Santa. For some reason in years past it just hasn't worked out and I know the reason. My co-worker(and very close friend)'s husband Steve is Santa for the hospital parties. My unit also used to have a fabulous family party at their house and then Santa would come in and bring toys to all the children. I'm talking serious Christmas magic here. Carol sadly has had some health problems, so since Raelee's been here we haven't been able to have the party. Steve makes such a legit Santa that I really, really, really wanted that to be the first Santa Raelee met. Sooo long story short(lol) it finally happened this year. Raelee was so cute, she was super nervous standing in line. Afterwards when Santa left, he made his way through the room and told Raelee bye(hey it helps to know people in high places, a mom can't get much better then being personal friends with Santa). My niece Makenna was there too, so we were able to get a picture of the cousins on Santa's lap. Makenna showed how smart she is, by trying to revel Santa's identity to the rest of the children when she tried to pull his beard off! We then went to the mall and Raelee ended up seeing Santa there, and then that night at our ward's Christmas party she saw Santa again! So my thoughts are, that seeing Santa 3 times in one day makes up for not ever seeing him before right?

Out of the mouths of babes...

Raelee cracks me up with her sayings and other times she strikes me with her knowledge. Today's Raelee quote:
   Raelee "Where's Daddy?"
   Me "He's at work".
   Raelee "Oh...so he can make money and buy me toys".
My two year old understands a concept that so many in our country do not. She understands that you can't have the "toys" without the work being done. Now how do we go about teaching this basic principle to the grownups who just don't get it?
     On another slightly related note,we went with my younger brother to Chick-Fil-A today while he dropped off his app. When Raelee was saying her prayers tonight, she prayed for "Matt-matt to get the job at chick-fil-a." This was awesome to hear because she's been saying repetitive prayers for awhile now, and every night I tell her to think about her day and pray about it to Heavenly Father and then she'll say the same exact prayer. This was the first time she's changed it up. So here's hoping(and praying) that Matt gets the job!

Thanksgiving

     Thanksgiving was a super fun day. We had beautiful weather. I was able to change my schedule at work so I was able to have Wednesday off, which in turn lead to us being able to get together with Brad's family and my family on Thanksgiving Day. We were originally going to split the days up, but Brad became sickish, so he opted out of playing football, I still was't feeling good, so no Turkey Trot for me and I was able to rest on Wednesday, so long story short, we're glad it worked out to see both families lol.
     We went to Quincy to Brad's grandparents for brunch with his grandparents and parents. It was super fun and yummy. After we ate we shot guns for awhile and then road around the farm in the truck. Can I say that shooting targets is really, really, really fun! Brad and I definitively have a new hobby. I LOVE our rifle.
     We had dinner at my parents. My mom did a fabulous job cooking. Growing up we always did Thanksgiving in Alabama at my grandparents house and it's been sad not going there anymore since my grandparents passed away, but my mom did a great job in keeping their memories alive through the food. It was a great day to spend time with family and reflect on all the amazing blessings in our lives.

our neighbor made this for Rae

goin for a ride round the farm

Gigi and Rae

Brad

Spoons!

Gramps

I LOVE this pic of Brad

Raelee dancing with the Rockettes

very random

     Work update. I did a delivery start to finish with minimal assistance from my preceptors. Yay for me! Only 1 more month until I'm on my own. Wow, has this 8 weeks flown by! I successfully placed my first FSE(fetal scalp electrode). This is what is placed on the baby's head during the labor process( so while baby's still inside momma) to more accurately monitor the baby's heart rate. Obviously this is not very easy to place due to not being able to see and having very limited space...hello birth canal? :p Did it right my first time, I was super excited. So excited that I forgot that the part you pull out that guides the wire in was covered in amniotic fluid and other lovely bodily fluids from the nether regions, and almost placed it right on my lap. That would have been not gross at all. One of my patients I was able to have through admitting her, then a full day of pitocin, placing her cervidil and then another half day of pitocin until delivery. I thought we had bonded until she kicked me while I was doing a vaginal exam and told me to "get the --- out of her". Oh and "not to come back in her room without the ------- epidural or she would ------- strangle everyone in the room". That was super fun too. Guess this job is going to toughen me up for sure lol.
     This cold/flu has still been hanging on. I was over the worst of it and thought I was on the mend, but then started feeling crummy again. I've had two 4 hour naps this week. Which, hey I am NOT complaining about, but I really feel like my days off have been kinda wasted-ish. I'm ready to feel better and get back to exercising. I need my exercise! Gotta shape up before Christmas lol.
     On a lighter note, Brad and I watched the new Spider Man movie and LOVED it! I was a spidey fan growing up(have brothers) and watch the cartoon and read the comic book. When the last set of Spidey movies came out I was super excited...until I saw them. Umm...fail. In my opinion,  they took Peter Parker from being nerdy cool, to just being nerdy and not cool and definitely not cute. It took me awhile and encouragement from family and friends who had seen the new one to finally watch it. Great job Marvel! Thank you for not being afraid to admit your mistake and remake the movie. Loved the new Peter Parker and the chemistry between him and Gwen was great. You're welcome for my movie review of the week:)
     On Survival. Ugh....go home Abi! Can.not.stand.her.
     On Revolution. Really...I have to wait until 2013? I needed a bit more from the season finale. Good, but needed a bit more punch or something. Is Miles really the same guy that's Bella's dad? Weird.
     Starting my 3 day weekend...whoohooooooo!!!    ~Shells