Clumsiest Nurse of the Evening

This is a delivery case cart. Notice the nice expandable pop-up leaf? WATCH OUT IT'S DEADLY! Here is a synopses of the last 45 min of my shift last night.

I discharged my patient and was in line to receive another. I was talking to a friend who's patient was 10 cm and ready to deliver however the Doc was nowhere to be found (OK really she was busy in the OR) My friend had an orientee with her and she was doing most of the work (gotta love a rookie) So when the call light came on we were not suprised to hear her call out that the baby was crowning. Although we paged the Doc STAT my friend and I were prepared to do the delivery without Docs present, she gloved up and waited for the head to deliver and I went to pull the delivery cart up to the bed and assist.... here is where the death trap came in... as I pulled the cart towards me the handy pop-up leaf collapsed on my wrist trapping my hand and sending ALL of the instruments and the large steel basin crashing to the ground and scattering across the room! Can you imagine my pain and humiliation as this poor woman is trying to have a baby I make a giant noise and mess! I managed to free my throbbing hand and run out into the hall to collect a new instrument cart and passed the MD on my way out. In the end it didn't really matter, the delivery was quick and we had a healthy baby girl but just consider this next time you deliver a child and ask for a non-clumsy nurse preferably one at the beginning of her 12 hour shift!

Professional pictures and others

Here is Annie Girls 3 month picture. We went to a local photography place that comes highly recommended by all because of their $10 package. It was pretty much the experience that I expected it to be. Annie (sleeping in her car seat) and I sitting in the corner surrounded by hundreds of thousands of screaming children and whining mothers waiting their turn! Sound like fun? I don't understand the thrill, I definitely don't feel the need to go back every month to commemorate my child's first year as some mothers do. I also feel like my family takes some pretty cute pictures all by ourselves without all of the nasty strangers around to ruin the morning.

This is some of what Joe and I accomplished on sunday. Pictures and a curtain were hung on the walls in Annie's room instead of leaving them piled on the floor in the corner! I love them so much, it was all Kara's idea really. I purchased a Eloise Wilkin little golden book of nursery rhymes from the antique store for about $2 and took it apart and matted and framed the pictures! The whole project I believe cost about $30. The frames being the most expensive part of the project at $5 each!

And who can resist taking a picture of the sweet angel napping in the bed?

Blogging is so overrated

I love that everyone feels guilty when they don't blog for a while. Its always the first line of anyones blog who hasn't updated in a while. They apologize all over themselves for not posting. I think its due to guilt. We all feel bad for reading others blogs and not contributing to the daily news. Well I can relate because I feel bad for not blogging lately. Its like I belong to a club with all of you and I have neglected to pay my dues :o) Oh well, there is nothing I can do but blog away!!

Christmas was eventful for our little family of 3. We spend last sunday at my moms with the fam. I neglected to bring my camera so you get no little snapshots of that event. It was a lot of fun and not nearly as chaotic as some of the get togethers have been with 3 little ones running around and 3 little ones laying around :o) Literally laying around, while we opened gifts Anella was placed under the Christmas tree because after presents were handed out it was the only open floor space available. I made out good in the gift department, we draw names in our family which is something I LOVE that we do (sorry Melissa T) because you get to really think about the person you are buying for and what they would like to have. Kris had my name and I came away with lots of fun kitchen things. I will have to post a picture of the cool bowl she got me, I can't wait to be creative with it its very fun.

Christmas Eve was spent with Joes family in Dayton. His "Grandpal" lives there and he has recently been diagnosed with cancer. It is taking its toll on him and so we think this might have been his last Christmas. However he was in good spirits and all the family made it in for the celebration. We play the gift exchange game where you put all the gifts in the middle of the room and you can steal gifts... you know the one. I came away with new PJ's which is ALWAYS a good gift and Joe got a giftcard to TGIF which is always good for him!

Christmas Day Joe, Annie and I spent a quiet day at my parents with Kelly. I love christmas day because its so quiet. Just enough people around to play games and bake and watch christmas movies and take naps. What better to do on christmas? :o) I decorated my annual Gingerbread House and I have to say that I took about 45 pictures of it until I had a Melissa T quality picture. I swear I dont know how she takes her pictures but I LOVE her style! Here is the finished project.And here is the picture that Kelly sent me from the next morning......
Oops, I knew the front wall was sliding the entire time I was decorating it, but there was nothing I could do about it. I guess it gave out sometime in the middle of the night!

Blogs to look forward to (so I don't forget I want to blog about it)
Having your baby's picture professionally taken
Going back to work
Cleaning the house with the "Help" of your husband

Conversation of the day

After Elly woke up from a nap in Grammys bed...
Grammy- "Elly get your socks and bring them here so I can put them on you."
Elly Beth -"Oh, Grammy, I cleaned my toes out in your bed."

Hehe, just FYI Grammy, you wont find any toe fuzz here today, you will however find it between your sheets tonight! The look on my Dads face was priceless!

Cleanliness is Next to Godliness...except when it comes to my carpets

Joining in on the cleaning (or lack thereof) trend I just had to post. As I vacuumed my house after putting up our tree I realized that my vacuum still smells like pine... from the needles that are in the bag from last year!!!!!!!! No lie I haven't changed my sweeper bag since last January! One might think that means that my house is so clean that when I sweep it doesn't pick anything up... not so my friend, it means that I have only swept my house about 6 or 8 times since last January. Ahhhhhh!! That is so WRONG! But we are so happy :o)

Here is an example of what we do instead of clean... we play dress up in snowsuits entirely too big!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I love decorating for Christmas. I would put garland on every inch of my house if I could and I am seriously on my way to doing that. I have draped a large portion of my house and this is not even all of it! It took me much longer to decorate this year having Annie around, although she is not much of a hindrance (see picture below) she is just time consuming. It took me about 2 1/2 weeks to finish decorating, but it is worth it!

I was very excited about decorating the stairs our first Christmas in the house


Ann Marie being very helpful

Annie's Tree in her room. I love it because it gives just the right amount of light for those early morning or mid night feedings

New this year, this mirror is above the buffet in the Dining Room

Our Glorious Tree

The mantle decorated with the centerpieces from our wedding reception (Annie doesn't have a stocking yet!)

This is a really cool mirror with coat hooks that I got at Hobby Lobby for half off, it is a good compromise to the Hall Tree that we wish we had in the entry way.

What do you think

I was playing with my camera and Picnik.com.

Christmas Pictures

Well we took our Christmas picture on Sunday and I hope it was a success, we had a friend come and take the pictures for us and I haven't seen how they turned out. However we do have a few candids from the day. Starting with the picture that will be going out in my Christmas card.

Popeye? I think not. This is Dory's new "cheese" smile.

Some cute babies

I particularly like the hand coming at Nella from above. At one point Portie had a foot rubbing his head from above also! There will be no rest for these babies :o)

And last, this is what a Grace Fellowship baby shower looks like these days!

Lactation Sympathy

Tonight we had friends over from out of town for dinner. Before they came I did the dreaded nursing math in my head and realized (shock) that she would need to eat right about when we would be having dinner. I decided that I have enough milk stored up to start using it for convenience factor and not hoard the liquid gold for when I have to go back to work.
Right after dinner Annie woke up and Joe brought her to me just as I was getting her bottle ready. I told him he could feed her! I think that he was very excited to have the chance to do this and so the four (well five really) of us went to the living room and sat down for a chat as Joe fed Annie her first bottle. Halfway through I told him that he needed to see if she had to burp and when he sat her up he had a big wet spot on his chest from the bottle leaking and it TOTALLY looked like he leaked! It was the funniest thing ever, and in front of company too! Luckily our friend is pregnant and we had been talking about all things baby all night long so this was just the icing on the very sweet cake :o)

Question: How do I know how much she is eating? I thought for some reason that she was eating about 5 oz. So I have been storing 5 oz containers. She only took about 3 oz tonight. I read somewhere that once you defrost and warm milk that you can still use it for 24 hours, do you think this sounds safe?

2 Months Old

I am stealing Melissa F's idea to take pictures every month to show how big she is getting. So here she is! You will see her in this pose with this background once a month from now until Christ returns :o)

The Original Chu-chi Face

I love this guy a ridiculous amount. Probably because he is my first love. He has been around the longest and he made me an Aunt :o) I can hardly remember when he was first born and in the NICU at University for over a week! He was such a little fuzzy squirt. I do remember the first time I held him, I picked him up out of his incubator to hand him to Kris who was going to nurse him (maybe for the first time?) I also remember the first time I really snuggled him when he got home. We loved him in spite of the faces that he would give us that said "you bore my overly intelligent brain"

I was thinking the other day how far he has come in his social skills. Kris used to have to talk him into saying "hello" to us when he came over, or actually giving us (his loved ones) a hug. Now he runs into your arms saying "Oh I Missed You!"

Things I love about my little ChuChi Face.

• His funny speech (I always think he is saying "Cheese" I dont know why)
• His long eyelashes
• His brain, the kid is a genius, he likes to read children's text books before bed!
• The way he says "Hey Check" when he wants you to look at something
• His pants, I dont know why I notice all the time, but look out Kris because the kid has an adorable butt!
• The way his shoulders can drop down to his ankles when he is sad.
• His love for his sisters, he is going to be a great big brother always. Dory is his best friend (although he may claim Jack) and I love that he thinks Nella is "pretty cute"
• Almost every time he sees Joe and I he will point to me and then Joe and say "Hey... look... same" or "Hey...Look...you go together"
• All Time Favorite the way he drops his head in embarrassment when I start to sing

You're my little chu-chi face
My coo-chi, coo-chi, woo-chi little chu-chi face
Every time I look at you I sigh
And you're my little teddy bear
My lovey lovey dovey little teddy bear
You're the apfel strudel of mine eye
Your chu-chi woo-chi noseYour chu-chi woo-chi eyes
They set my heart a flutter
Your ooo-chi coo-chi waysYour ooo-chi coo-chi gaze
Wilts me down like meltings butter
You're my little chu-chi face
And you're my teddy bear
Together we're a chu-chi woo-chi, ooo-chi coo-chi pair!!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

My sisters may kill me for prematurely posting pictures of Annie in her new Christmas dress so all you get is from the neck up, but you should wait in full anticipation for next week when we post our family picture. It is predicted to be the cutest thing you have ever seen in your entire life. It all started last Saturday when......

Annie and I met Mom and Dad at the mall for the Giving Spree, we were there a little early and JC Penny was one of the only stores that was open so, naturally, we headed to the baby department! The first cute Christmas outfit I came upon happened to be a sale rack! They had the cutest little black and red plaid jumper with a little white blouse under it, AND they had both Annie Girl and Nellas sizes! So I spun around to the boy rack and of course there was a matching plaid romper for Portie!!! Oh this was only the beginning. We have already been warned not to buy any Christmas dress for Elly because she has 8 from her Grannie Roxiena, and in the spirit of saving our (moms) penny's we thought the odds were good that one of Elly's dresses from last year would fit Dory, so we found for them matching sweaters with the same red color as the babies outfits! I thought no way this brand would exist in Buddy's size also.... but I was wrong, he came out looking smashing in a red sweater vest and plaid shirt (smaller plaid, matches but not too matchy, matchy you know:o) Boy were we proud of ourselves! They would be the most adorable group of babies in the world!

So our shopping trip moved on, Mom needed a new coat, so as she is trying on a (beautiful) new coat... what do I spot but a Mannequin wearing a red and black plaid scarf!!!!!!!!!!! I looked at the tag and sure enough it was the very same brand as the babies clothes! I looked for them in the scarf section however they were all out, so mom (naturally) ripped the one of the mannequin and we went off in search of the service desk where we could order 4 more out of the catalog. I thought about calling my sisters to see if they minded wearing black shirts in the picture... but knowing every good woman loves the slimming effect of black, I thought they wouldn't mind at all!
The men in the family are simply required to wear a coordinating color so as to not make the picture to matchy, matchy, we wouldn't want to look like one of those Burrberry families ;o)

AND we received all of these items on sale, and then we got money off according to how much we spent because we had a giving spree discount!!

Have you ever heard a better shopping story or seen so many exclamation points?!!

Everybody Else Is Doing It

1. What is your husband's name? Joseph Aaron
2. Who eats more? Are you kidding, Have you seen my husband eat!? (its a lot!)
3. Who said, "I love you" first? Hmmmmm I don't remember!
4. Who is taller? Joe by about 5 inches
5. Who is smarter? Joe, he is so smart. I love asking him to explain things to me because he understands things and explains them very simple.
6. Who is more sensitive? Me probably
7. Who does the laundry? Me
8. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me, Joe has to be by the door in case the boogy men come!
9. Who pays the bills? I do,
10. Who cooks more? I do. Joe is really getting to be a professional griller though.
11. Who is more stubborn? Joe?
12. Who is the first to admit they are wrong? Joe
13. Who has more siblings? Depends on how you look at it... Joe has 2 full sisters, 1 half sister, 5 step sisters and 1 half brother and 2 step brothers = 11 !!! I just have 3 sister and 1 brother :o)
14. Who wears the pants in the relationship? Joe
15. What do you like to do together? Talk, watch TV, shop, play games, hang out with family.
16. Who eats more sweets? I do, Joe would rather have more meat than dessert.
17. Guilty Pleasures? Driving, Joe would drive to Florida and back in a day just because. that seems a little irrational to me! Mine is definitely Chocolate
18. How did you meet? Calvary Christian High School
20. Who kissed who first? I asked him to kiss me
21. Who proposed? Joe after we went to the play "A Christmas Carol" at playhouse in the park he drove up to the overlook and proposed on the bridge which was decorated with candles.
22. His best features and qualities? He is a hard worker and so giving. He would do anything for anyone before himself. He is smart, he likes to learn, he is an excellent provider. I appreciate his way of coaching to, he is hard on the kids and tries to teach them responsibility and discipline, he has a very Godly outlook on playing sports.

My New Best Friend

I realized something yesterday when making a hair appointment (goodbye roots!). I called my mother-in-law to see if she could watch Annie for me while I had my hair done. It was then that it hit me, today she is 7 weeks old, for 7 weeks she has not been out of my presence, 49 days straight, literally attached to each other for a third of that time, and I still can't get enough of her!!! :o) When others are holding her I can feel what they feel, like I am holding her too (weird?)
I love the shape of her head, and the way sometimes when I look down at her and she is giving me the exact same look I am giving her (I am sure that will annoy me when she is a teenager) I love when she smiles in her sleep because it is a totally different smile than when she is awake. I love how tiny she is, there is no fat on her except her cheeks! I love that she looks just like Joe when she is waking up... it takes them forever and you really have to convince them that it Really IS time to wake up and then entice them with food :o)
So you know how when you are a kid and you have this best friend and all you want to do is be together 24/7? And you spend the night at each other house and you can't believe that you never get tired of one another, until one day you just do and you need a little break from each other. Well I haven't hit that wanting a break part yet and I have to admit I am a little nervous about leaving Annie for just an hour today. I think other people don't know her like I do, and what if they can't interpret her cries... well for the love of Pete... they can't know her as well as I do I have had 1176 hours to get to know her and all they have is the few minuets I let them hold her :o)

She Smiles

She has started smiling and I (for obvious reasons) think it is the cutest thing in the world. I tried to capture her on video yesterday but the camera died. I will keep trying however here is a picture to give you an idea of her adorableness!! She had just woke up from her morning nap and her face was completely broke out, I feel so bad for her but I don't think there is anything I can do about it, I just have to let her sensitive skin mature. :o(

Are none of you my friends?

Ok, I guess you all must think that I am in a fragile state of mind or something. So I now give you permission to let me know when my roots get this out of control!!! I promise I will not hurt you or myself over this information. Constructive criticism people! On a nicer note it is a pretty cute picture of me and my girl Annie. :o)

Trick or Treat

My little trick or treater dressed up as a trick or treater, see the shirt says it all. I should have put a sign on her that said "read my shirt" :o) I hadn't planned on taking her out, we went to my Grandmas to visit and help her pass out candy. However since it was so nice out Grammy took her out with Kara and Ben, Elly and Porter. Annie and Porter were dressed identical and Mom had fun telling people they were twins (not a lie just a little halloween trick:o)

A Fall Feast

I made this for dinner last night and it was sooo easy!! And best of all it made my house smell like fall! I used Honey Crisp apples because my produce place had them and my dad said I had to try them, however the apples were very mushy when they were done, I would have liked them to hold their shape a bit more and have some crunch to them. I would think that maybe Granny Smith would be better. I served this with a salad with Balsamic Dressing and it paired nicely ( that's chef talk :o) Of course my husband had his salad piled high with bacon, cheese and so much ranch it could drown a horse... but hey he got that good lettuce in his system right?
The recipe is from PBS.org Everyday Food I printed a few of their recipes I thought they really did seem easy and "do-able" not like Rachel Ray, you have to buy crazy ingredients for her stuff. However I did make a Hawaiian Chicken Cordon Bleu of hers that Joe liked... of course he didn't eat the Hawaiian part just the chicken and ham.... OK I give up on him!!!


Pork Tenderloin with Apples and Onions

Serves 4 Prep time: 30 minutes Total time: 1 hour

Ingredients

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons maple syrup 3 medium red apples, halved and cored, each cut into 8 wedges
1 large red onion, halved and sliced into 1/2-inch-thick pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 pork tenderloins, (12 ounces each), trimmed of excess fat

Place one oven rack in top third of oven, and another rack in bottom third. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Make glaze: In a small saucepan, bring vinegar and maple syrup to a boil over high heat; cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture has reduced to 1/4 cup, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat; transfer 1 tablespoon to a small bowl for drizzling, and set aside. Reserve the rest of the glaze in saucepan.
On a large rimmed baking sheet, toss apples and onion with oil. Season with salt and pepper; arrange in a single layer, and roast until golden, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and toss.
Meanwhile, line another rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil; place pork on foil. Season generously with salt and pepper; brush with glaze from saucepan. Return apples and onion to oven, on bottom rack. Place pork on top rack; roast 10 minutes. Remove pork from oven; brush with glaze (discard any remaining in pan). Roast until pork registers 150 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, and apples and onion are tender, about 10 minutes more.
Transfer pork to a cutting board, and let rest 10 minutes. Slice 1/4 inch thick; drizzle with reserved tablespoon glaze. Serve with apples, onion.

This is why Katie T and I should be better friends...

Favorite Christmas…

Non-Jesus-related song? Harry Connick It must be Santa Claus

Jesus-related song? Oh Holy Night (Martina McBride specifically)
Santa-related song? Up on the house top (I love hearing my dad sing it)

Fictional character? Hermie wants to be a dentist!!
Dinner’s main course? Ham (although we dont do that anymore)
Dinner’s dessert? Christmas Cookies!!
Scent (pine, gingerbread, candles…)? Pine
Animated movie? Rudolph
Non-animated movie? White Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


This or That
Candy cane or peppermint patties? Candy Cane (peppermint patties arent christmas)
Sugar or gingerbread cookies? Well does moms chocolate dipped shortbread count? Because we make it and cut it out with the cookie cutters and decorate it with chocolate!!

Tinsel or beaded strands? I have the best big red wooden beads ever!!
Multi-colored or same-colored lights? Ohh I do a mix, however I love white only.
Flashing or still lights? You have to have a few blinkers in various spots my dad says so, even if they do make the TV have static when they blink :o)

Wreaths or mistletoe/holly? Wreath!
Rudolph or Frosty? Frosty.
Sledding or snowball fights? Sledding!!
Snow or ice/icicles? Snow, snow, snow, snow, snow!!!!!!!
Snow hat or earmuffs? Neither.... headband
Getting or giving? Giving. It depends, I love giving really good gifts, but I HATE obligatory gift buying and giving.

Stockings or presents? Stockings all the way
Cookies & milk or letter to Santa? We never did the Cookies and milk thing
Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? Christmas Day, I love it!

Log Burning Channel or real thing? I would love the real thing

Cards or emails? Who E mails??

Shoveling or cleaning off the car? The Shoveling!
The Inn’s manger or the animals? hehe I thought that said Manager... who likes the manager, he put them in the barn for heavens sake!!
Mary & Joseph or The Wise Men? Gosh are you allowed to play favorites?
Hot cocoa or eggnog? Cocoa!! With Marshmallows and stired with a candy cane for that perfect pepermint flavor.

Jack Frost or Little Drummer Boy? Hmmm I dont really care

Yay or.. Ugh
Holiday shopping? Yay
Icy roads? Yay

Limited driving visibility? yay I love all things snow and ice and I really love going out in the bad weather. Joe and I went to Krissys house last year after the blizzard when Kenton and Boone Co. roads were closed. (what we have a Forerunner)
Christmas carolers? Never experianced this
Mall Santas? Yay
Salvation Army Santas? yay.
Blizzards? YIPPEEE

24/7 Holiday radio? If I dont listen to it how would I hear I want a hippopotamus for Christmas?

Freezing cold? If there is snow involved Yay
Setting up the tree? Sexiest picture of my husband is him trimming the tree :o)
Wrapping presents? yay.
Visiting/seeing family? yay.
Ad-Lib on “Rudolph…” (like Monopoly!) UGH!
Advent calendar? Oh yeah we always had the chocolate ones
Peeking at your gifts (or by accident)? ugh.
Decorated houses? yay.
Extreme decorated houses? yay.
White Christmas morning? yay, yay, yay.
Searching for ornaments in the attic? Ugh, I always want the boxes to magically appear on the first floor :o)
Santa knowing when you’re sleeping and awake? What is the question here?

Have You Ever?
Built a snowman? yes
Heard Santa’s sleigh? Yes when I was little, Kris did too :o)
Seen Santa & Rudolph in the sky? no
Sat on Santa’s lap? yes
Shoveled the driveway/sidewalk? yes
Made snow angels? yes Last year with Buster

Built a fort/igloo? yes
Wrote a Christmas list? yes
Wrote a letter to Santa? Yes
Left cookies/milk for Santa & reindeer? no
Caught a snowflake on your tongue? yes
Went caroling? no
Got hurt during the winter season? I fell backwards and cut my head open when we were Ice Scating on the Tennis Court. Mom took me to the Hospital and I puked in the waiting room because some guy cut his hand off, I got to be seen before handless guy because mine was a head injury.. go figure
Gone ice skating/sledding? yes see above
Kissed under a mistletoe? As a prop for wedding pictures...
Experienced/saw a miracle happen? What kind of miracle? No water into wine, I think Birth is a miracle
Get everything you wanted for Christmas? yes!
Cooked/baked? Really Jesus can not be celebrated with out cookies and a gingerbread house

Anella Kay Livingston

She is here!!! I dont have a picture yet I will post one ASAP. 7lb 7oz 20 inches. She looks like JP only has a ton of Black hair!! Her labor went great!!

P.S

I forgot to mention that my little pea weighs 8lbs 5oz and is 21 inches long!! Thats 2lb and 2in in 4 weeks!!
She loves the sound of the shower running so I put her in her seat while I shower and she is so happy (generally :o).

Pediatrician

Ok I just need some good old mother to mother conversation here. This is what I would need a play date for, my kid is not much of a friend to play with, but I would like to get together with some of you all just so I could talk about things like this.
-Dr Ja**ings office visit #1:Annie is 4 days old, enter pedi office at 8:30 only people in the waiting room, one other family at the office already in an exam room. I know this because I can hear EVERYTHING Dr J is telling this mom about her 8 year olds ear infection (hello HIPAA) we wait in the exam room for 30 min for Dr J. My baby is weighed with a wet, dirty diaper on (I am new at this I didnt think to check) at an appointment when ounces count. Dr J comes in and introduces himself as an afterthought and didnt seem to care who we were (didnt wait for us to introduce ourselves before launching into Annies exam). He decides that she needs a bili blood level drawn and then proceeds to second, third and fourth guess himself. He kept changing his mind, "does she look yellow" "I dont know maybe its the lighting" "maybe its not as bad as I thought" "oh well I am probably just used to it by now you should have her checked just in case"! I thought Joe was going to go insane.
I left feeling no warm fuzzys toward the office or the Dr and I wished that I had just one good feeling to go off of. Not that I make my parenting decisions on feelings but I just wasn't comfortable. I decided that I just needed to get to know the office and the Dr's.

-Encounter #2 Annie is 2 Weeks old and has a "gunky eye" I called to see if she needed to come in. I really wasnt worried about it but I wanted to know if I should be. The RN called me back and said that Dr J called in a prescription for me for E-mycin and use that for a week. Its probably nothing but just in case...
I am ok with just in case however I thought that he may want to see the eye before prescribing medication.

-Encounter #3 1 Month Check up: I made this appt with Dr W excited to see if I liked her any better. The appointment was for 1:15, I prefer showing up 10-15 min early for appts. I dont mind waiting if they are busy but my history with other offices is that I get seen early if not on time. There was again not a soul in the office and I was told that it would be 15 min...45min later still the only one in the waiting room they finally take us back!!! They were 30 min behind schedule with no one there???? One lady came in while I was sitting there and waited at the window for 5 min before she finally just went walking back into the back offices to find someone to hand her a script. Now I did like Dr W's personality better than Dr J, she was very open to listening to my questions, she was so-so on her answer to my alternative vaccination schedule question with the end result being that she supports me in that decision. Then said "most of what I tell you today is going to be what Dr J already went over at your first visit" and then proceeded to tell me a list of important things that Dr J never went over with me.

Bottom line, am I being over reactive? Do I have a wrong impression of their office or does everyone wait 30 min to be seen? How long would I have to wait if there were other patients to be seen? I am just not impressed with the staff or the Dr's. I want to switch now if I am going to switch but is it really worth it?

A picture is worth a thousand words

As Annie and I went to make cookies Thursday night this is what I found in my mixing bowl!!!!!

Have I ever mentioned to you all that I HATE SPIDERS!! I don't like to kill them either because of the gross sound it makes plus I am certain that they can jump on me the closer I get to them.

My choice spider killer...what? It was the only thing I could find :o). In case you were wondering, Glass Cleaner does NOT affect man sized spiders.... maybe I should have sprung for the brand name...

I found the longest thing I could so that I wouldn't have to get to close. These tongs are no less than 18 inches long! I had good distance but I didn't want to pinch it to death.... I would need something else, like a wad of paper towel!! I'm sorry do I hear you laughing at me? Well you should be, because even wadded up paper towel pressed over man sized spider does not kill him!! After cursing quite a few times I resorted to beating the spider to its demise with the wad of paper towel held firmly by the tongs :o).

VICTORY!!

Now to deal with the tainted mixing bowl....

Most importantly don't forget to equip yourselves in case there is a retaliation of all of his friends.

Petting Zoo

We went to a petting zoo and pumpkin patch last weekend with my mom. This is not your ordinary petting zoo... or maybe it is, I'm not sure, I have never been to a petting zoo before. My parents had been before with John Patrick and since they have a pumpkin patch in the fall we decided to take the babies! My Dad, who had no desire to go back, told me to set my expectations very low... this type of petting zoo would only be found in Kentucky!! :o) Words can not do justice to this place, don't get me wrong, the people are very nice and they have a wide variety of animals that you can pet & hold. I will just have to let the pictures tell the story...

This is what greets you at the entrance, this is the name of the establishment (I will not write it for fear that I will be sued for this post) Is this supposed to be the Ark? I love the windows, and painting it brown, that makes it much more ark like. What you can not tell is that this is in a children's play area. It is a nice fenced in area full of jungle jims and slides and animals, who also play on the jungle jims and slides, therefore you have to wait for the goat to get off the playschool climbing thing before you can slide down the slide. Oh, and watch for the duck, chicken, rooster, poop at the bottom of the slide!

This is a picture of a chicken flying the coop! These birds did not look friendly, there were no less than 250 of them PACKED in this coop and we even saw at least 1 dead one that the others were just walking over!! I think they were trying to put them into a trance with the terrible bluegrass music that was blaring from inside the little chicken house. I would not let Elly get close or try to pet them for fear of returning home with one less finger. I did not feel at all safe with this chicken getting out of the cage, however I was excited that the chicken was free!!!!

Crazy sheep with a bad under bite!!
Weird Mohawk rooster... other favorites that are not pictured: ferret with hair missing from rear end, 10,000 lb pig,

I forgot to mention that they had decorated for Halloween with random frightening decor like this head off of a bugs bunny doll. This was stuck in a brush pile that looked like they were ready to set aflame at any moment... YIKES!!

The best part of the trip was the wagon ride to the pumpkin patch. Aunt Woody and I picked out Annie's first pumpkin. The price for small pumpkins was 2 for $1.00! What a deal, we picked out the smallest pumpkin we could find... to which the farmer yelled at me across the field that I had better be picking out another one because he wasn't going to deal with having to break a dollar!!!!!

I don't even know how to summarize this post...... let me know if you would like directions to this family friendly affordable good time!

A Love Affair

I feel I have to come clean, I have a new love affair with... my BED!!!

Its sick! I have never, ever been one to love bed, I like going to sleep at night, and I prefer to sleep in my bed, but I have never been in love with my bed. I am, or at least used to be, a morning person. I HATED laying in bed once I was awake and I never hit snooze.
Now I dont know if its due to lack of sleep or what but my bed is all of the sudden THE MOST comfortable place on the face of the earth. I climb into it (many times) at night and I fall in love all over again.
I just put our winter down comforter on the bed this week, and we have the "good sheets" on right now. The 600 count sheets we got for a wedding present that are the softest things in the ENTIRE world!
Problem: I dont want to ever leave my bed. It may be because mornings are a bit colder, or the previously mentioned lack of sleep but all I want to do in the mornings (like until noon) is lay in bed with my baby. Now I am a realistic person and I have only done that once this week... but I seriously need to get over this obsession!

On a good note, she is sleeping in her own room and although the first night I cried harder than she did (may have something to do with her Dad coming to her rescue and I was left to cry in my comfortable bed) we are all getting a little more sleep!

My tiny pea in her huge bed :o) I actually took this picture because she has a ridiculously small head but her huge cheeks are always hiding that! So this picture was to capture her tiny head :o)

Things I Don't Understand

I just dont get it. Maybe one of you can explain it to me. I don't understand why anyone would decorate their yard for Halloween! Since I was a small child I enjoyed Trick-or-Treating. Every year we would create costumes months in advance anticipating the day when we would be released in the subdivision to fill our pillowcases with candy (did everyone use pillowcases for candy collection?) We would literally run from house to house to make it to as many doors as possible before our time was up. Its not that I am not a fan of the holiday. I just dont understand decorating in morbid skulls and spiders and blood... i.e. my neighbors yard...

Why on earth would anyone put a headless bloody man in their flowerbed!??!

Especially when you have the opportunity to decorate with beautiful Autumn Orange, Red, Yellow, Brown i.e my house...

Then there are the blow up lawn decorations... but I will not subject you all to hearing all I feel about the blow up lawn decorations.

For Kentucky Kate

Have You Ever…
1. gone on a blind date? Nope, The only "date" I ever went on besides with Joe was with Owen Liske! :o) We were doing it for a friend and now I can't even remember who we were doing it for, but we agreed to double date so the other 2 wouldn't feel awkward. There ended up being like 6-8 couples who went and so we could have just called it a group outing. Anyway I think its funny because it was a Tuesday night and we went to the dollar theatre which cost $1.75 and then Steak & Shake where Tina and I shared a meal and Dave paid. So besides teasing Owen about it I don't think that $1.75 counts as a date.

2. skipped school? Not without someone in authority knowing. I got really good at coming up with reasons to not be at school senior year though (yearbook outings, stage manager for the play etc) This was dumb but I skipped class once, this was a class of 6 people and 4 of us didn't go... we went around the school taking pictures in places we shouldn't have been. I have a picture in my scrapbook of Nema and I in the principals office with our feet up on his desk!! Go CCS!! Oh yeah, we got caught and in some trouble... ;o(

3. been on the opposite side of your country? Hmm California, Texas, Florida, Michigan, South Carolina. That about covers each side I guess.

4. swam in the ocean? I Love Playing in the waves!!

5. had your booze taken away by the cops? Hahahahahahahaha... whats booze? Yeah I didn't really ever have those rebel years of Kate N.

6. lettered in a high school sport? Hahahahahaha this is even more foreign than booze. No really I did play soccer my senior year. But I think that in order to be "lettered" you actually have to have some field time.

7. cried yourself to sleep? Kate if you haven't cried yourself to sleep since you were 14 that is amazing. I have to say, yes I have cried myself to sleep numerous times.

8. played a musical instrument? Piano in Elementary and Middle School

9. sung karaoke? At my bachelorette party at Woodys! :o) Not ever in public.

10. cheated on an exam? Back in the Homeschool days (sorry mom but those answer keys were so access able... I didn't do it more than a couple times I promise... I have a career now so I guess it didn't dumb me down too much)

11. played spin-the-bottle? No.

12. laughed until some sort of beverage came out of your nose? yeah but I cant remember any time specific.

13. watched the sun rise with someone you care about? Well I cant remember any specific time.

14. ever been arrested? Nope

15. gone ice skating? Sure, the Roesslers have the BEST ice skating pond. I own my own skates :o)

16. been skinny dipping? He he, OK yes and my sisters will never go with me again. We were at Lake Barkley about 3 years ago and decided to go skinny dipping. We got into the water with our suits on and then took them off. Then we threw them up onto the rocks and if you have ever seen me throw you would know that was a bad idea. My suit didn't end up where I wanted it so when we were done I told the girls that I was getting out without it,. Well climbing out of a Lake onto big boulder rocks is not easy, so you can imagine the view that they got :o) One of my proudest moments! hey they didn't have to look!

17. been on television? Nope

18. thrown up in front of a date? Nope

19. been out of the country? Jamaica

20. Had sushi? I really don't see myself ever trying sushi.

Excuse Me?

Here is a reply email from my mother that made me laugh so very hard I thought I would share it with you all. Don't worry there is no inside joke you need to get, I had NO CLUE what this was the response to...

"Keep it bare! You will love the freedom!!"
Love Mom

Now how's a girl supposed to take this?

In reality it was a reply to me stating that my calendar is empty from my due date on. This evidently excited my mother ;o)

Most Amazing Week of My Life

I have to admit I am a little sad that last week has past. I am crying simply sitting here remembering it. The blessings that I have felt are too many to count however I will try because I never want to forget this feeling.

• Having Joe home from work all week. Laying by my side in bed as we stare at the face of the little baby between us for hours on end. Waiting on me seeing to my every need so that I didn't have to get out of bed. Providing for us by bringing me meals to helping Annie get hers (she was a difficult latcher and it took 3 hands to get her on properly) Taking his turn when I had been up with her trying to feed for 2 hours (it was a difficult night) rocking and changing diapers. He was understanding of my frustrations and was very gentle in helping me make decisions when it came to how to react to different new baby situations. And last but ABSOLUTELY not least he put up with my post-partum bodily changes and injures better than I could have ever expected.
  
• Having a content baby. She is sooooooo amazingly wonderful and surprisingly easy. She eats about every 3 hours. If she is hungry at 2 hours there is usually a reason (like last night when she Vomited up all of her previous feeding 5 min later) and when she sleeps 4 hours in the night I wake up amazed, rested and thanking our God! She is a little rooter after she eats and gets frustrated however she has taken a paci very nicely. She is content to be held, content to be laying in her bed and surprisingly humble knowing she is the most beautiful baby in the world!!
  
• Humbly receiving HELP!! I really truly appreciate everything that people have done for me so far. The meals have been soo good. Joe and I lost everything in our fridge and freezer 2 weeks ago, I worked 2 12 hour shifts thursday and friday and went into labor friday night, so I had no time to restock the fridge & freezer with more than milk, fruit & pizza rolls (i go for the important things :o) The laundry is 2 floors away so there is no way I could have done that, Joes mom took our laundry home with her and brought it back clean and folded what a nice service :o) My wonderful amazing mother who I can call at the drop of a hat in tears and request giant size nursing bras and nipple shields and she will drive all over earth to find you one because your sister bought the last one in the Maternity store (thanks Kris! :o) My baby sister who has come over most every afternoon to help me love on my baby and run little errands for me, she has done laundry, dishes, and who knows what else but I appreciate her coming by to check on us!!
  
• My faith in the Lord... oh no here come the tears again... To look at my baby and love her so much that I dont know what to do with it all. I have to turn it upwards because I know that it is the Lord who gave her to us and she is HIS!! I will try my best to teach her about her heavenly father for now it has been easy, she is a great listener and has never talked back in her entire life, did I mention that I have the best baby??

"It is no small thing, that those who are so fresh from God, love us" -Charles Dickens

I have no idea where to start, I have so many stories and thoughts twirling around in my hormonal head :o) I have decided that I need to write down blogging topics so that I can have fun things to Blog about when I have time. However, as promised, here is my story...

2:30 am Saturday Sept 20

Woke up with my water broken. Simply a slight leak and not wanting to show up at my place of employment where they consider me a professional with my water not broken I waited to be positive. By 3:00 I was contracting every 2-3 min and was certain that I was in labor. I woke Joe up really curious as to how he would react. Waking him was a little difficult (he was up until 1:00 fixing the shower) and when I told him my water broke he just said "OK"! I told him I was getting in the shower and that I would wake him up when I was ready to go.

4:00 showered and contractions getting more painful than cramps, I was actually doing something that resembled a "potty dance" as I got ready. I paged the MD and left a message telling her that I was in labor. The best part about this was that I had just worked a 12 hour shift with her at the hospital the day before and was just a little whiny about being tired and wanting to have the baby early! :o) She called me back and when I answered the phone she simply stated "wishful thinking really works for you girl"

Fun Fact: I can't get a hold of mom on the house phone, cell phone or Dads cell.....I call Kelly and she informs me that they are in Lexington for a board meeting! No worries right? Problem two, Kelly has no idea where they are staying and they have not been in touch at all...cell phones off... no hotel number left in case of EMERGENCY!!!???

4:30 Pulled over by Bellevue Police for speeding on the Avenue!! :o) Joe was a little upset however I simply told him not to worry he would not get a ticket. When we told the police man I was in labor he offered a squad to which I laughed and told him that I was an L&D nurse and I had everything under control just let me leave!!!! He wanted to know what hospital we were headed to and when we told him he said that his wife worked at Good Sam in the ER and if we were lying he would know!!!! First of all sir why would we lie about going 35 in a 25 at 4:30 am and if you wife knows I am at the hospital and tells you about it I will sue her for violating HIPAA!

5:00 Called Kelly when I arrived at the hospital to tell her she could come (she had to be restrained so as to not beat me to the hospital). She has in the mean time called every hotel in Lex looking for Mom! :o) However had not found them... she did however find a piece of paper with a confirmation # on it and called them all back using it and found them!

I was admitted and in triage, hooked up to the monitor my contractions are indeed every 2 min, and now much stronger. I knew this but its nice to see that the computer agrees with me. I am 4-5 cm and the nurse starts my IV.

6:00 In my room getting the terrible, horrible, worst thing in the entire world...Epidural!!! I would hate them except they make life so much easier. I would not EVER go natural because something tells me that if I didnt like the 5 min Epi process that I wouldnt do well with the 8 hour labor process. However, I freaked out during my Epi. I cried like a baby, I hated the feeling of it! However it took away the pain...so whatever.

7:00 6cm hanging out in bed with tingly legs from the epidural.

Story Kelly told me: she was so excited about coming to the hospital that when she finally got a hold of mom on the phone she jumped in the car and started off to the hosp. and lost connection with mom when she realized she was driving down the road trying to talk on the cordless house phone and not her cell phone!!!

11:00 10 cm 100% effaced and time to start pushing. Now being a L&D nurse I know how this first time pushing can go, I have done it with many of my patients, anywhere from 10 min to 3 hours long, most often at least an hour. I was very nervous about this, I had no idea how I was going to push for 3 hours!! However with my first push my moms face lit up and Joe mentioned something about seeing the head! I couldn't believe how blessed I was, this was not going to take long at all!

In the end I pushed for about 3o min! Joe was an amazing help when I was pushing, he was so intense. I benefited from his excellent coaching skills, I am not really the go get 'em, push yourself hard type, and I really felt myself drawing from his intensity.

11:39 She came out beautifully blue and limp and not really breathing..... she needed just a little help, I wasn't worried though, my RN friends are excellent and she was up and running in no time :o)

I can't believe how blessed I am to have had such an easy labor and so far on day 4 things are going fairly well. When things are hard (breastfeeding) I just have to look at my little girl and I am so in love with her that it is all worth it.