Where has the time gone? I can't believe it's almost April already!
March has been a crazy busy month for me. Started the new job. LOVE it. It's so different from working in a nursing home. I didn't fully realize it then, but I felt totally worthless in my old job. Now I feel like I'm actually doing something... something that is actually benefiting my career. All month I was orienting full time, which my body has not liked very well and is still adjusting to working midnights. Now I'm done orienting and my first shift totally on my own will be next week. Lord be with me! lol
School is going okay... this semester is really rough and time consuming and super stressful. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed to make it through and still have a full head of hair. I have decided to split up the remainder of the course curriculum-- I'll be taking two classes over the summer sessions and only two over fall semester. My initial anticipated graduation date was going to be May of 2011, but I've also decided to stretch out the last semester--- it consists of 15 credit hours: 2 nursing lectures, a general education lecture, a clinical, and many many hours of precepting. Plus work and spend time with Claire?! Can't possibly happen! So in the name of maintaining and keeping my sanity and getting to spend time with my munchkin, I suppose that graduating six months late isn't so bad after all.
Claire has been doing well- she has an occasional accident (for "other" people, not yet at home) but otherwise is completely potty trained during the daytime. The majority of the time she is remaining dry during naps and bedtime as well. She's taking on so much more of a personality... she might be turning 3 in a few months, but she is definitely going on 13. She doesn't roll her eyes, but she does this thing where she kind of rolls them with her eyelids closed-- so much worse than actually seeing her roll them! But she is also the sweetest, big-hearted 2 1/2 year old I know. Just yesterday a house in our neighborhood caught on fire, which we came across on our way home. She was concerned about all of the fire trucks and her face suggested that she was scared of them all and she asked what was going on. I explained to her that the house had a fire in it but that all of the fire trucks meant that they were there to help the house & the people that lived there. Today she told me she wanted to go see the fire trucks, to which I told her they weren't there anymore. Her response was "Momma, I go see the house is okay." I mean really. For a 2 1/2 year old to grasp the concept that the house was going to damaged from a fire?! Ohhhh how much I love her. I can only hope and pray that she carries her loving demeanor with her throughout her entire life.
07 March 2010
24 February 2010
22 February 2010
Not Me! Monday!
Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by McMamma. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.
I did NOT turn the thermostat in my office up to 84 degrees yesterday.
I am NOT going to stress over today's METI experience in clinical... it could very well be a logical senario that could come strolling through the E.R. doors at my new job (see yesterday's post here), but I can certainly just wing it, right? Not!!
I did NOT spend a half hour blogging instead of studying.
I am NOT looking forward to warmer weather and the possibility of a Girl's Weekend in Chicago with one of my besties in April.
NOPE, NOT ME!!
21 February 2010
Where's the LOVE?!
Ok, so I have to say I'm a little disappointed that I only have ONE follower. Where is everybody?! Thank you, Jodi, for being my ONE and ONLY loyal reader, as far as I can tell. If there is anyone else out there who reads my blog, please please please show some love and add yourself as a follower... don't leave me hangin!!
Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
I have been an STNA since October of 2001, and have worked in Geriatrics & Adult Rehabilitation ever since. But, things on the career front are about to get very, very different.
I have been offered a position with a (somewhat) local hospital's satellite Emergency Department as an E.D. Nurse Tech-- a great opportunity for my nursing career! I'm sure I'll still be assisting with an occasional bed pan or two, but this is a big step up from being an STNA. I'll be doing admission vitals, dressing applications or changes, inserting catheters, blood draws, assisting in codes, you name it as long as it's not within the RN or MD scope of practice. It's been a LONG time since I've participated in a code & had to do chest compressions on anyone-- working in geriatrics most of my patients have been DNR-- so I have been reviewing my CPR skills and just praying that nobody codes during my shift at least within the first week of working there.
The shift is a 12-hour midnight shift, 2 days a week--- actually, every other weekend and one week day. I used to work midnights before Claire was born, so it's not totally new to me, but I think it's going to take some getting used to again and some re-training on my part to adjust to the difference.
But at any rate, I am super excited about my new job and I can't wait to start! Hospital orientation is March 1st, and then my first day on the unit is March 3rd!
I have been offered a position with a (somewhat) local hospital's satellite Emergency Department as an E.D. Nurse Tech-- a great opportunity for my nursing career! I'm sure I'll still be assisting with an occasional bed pan or two, but this is a big step up from being an STNA. I'll be doing admission vitals, dressing applications or changes, inserting catheters, blood draws, assisting in codes, you name it as long as it's not within the RN or MD scope of practice. It's been a LONG time since I've participated in a code & had to do chest compressions on anyone-- working in geriatrics most of my patients have been DNR-- so I have been reviewing my CPR skills and just praying that nobody codes during my shift at least within the first week of working there.
The shift is a 12-hour midnight shift, 2 days a week--- actually, every other weekend and one week day. I used to work midnights before Claire was born, so it's not totally new to me, but I think it's going to take some getting used to again and some re-training on my part to adjust to the difference.
But at any rate, I am super excited about my new job and I can't wait to start! Hospital orientation is March 1st, and then my first day on the unit is March 3rd!
08 February 2010
Betty Crocker, I'm Not!
I don't bake. Really. I tried to bake peppermint cookies for Christmas a few years ago. They came out so hard and so flat that you could have played poker with them. They were a joke. So I don't really bake that much unless it's fool-proof, like a simple pre-boxed brownie or cake mix.I love watching the baking shows and I can only wish I had enough talent to make some of the things that I see on Cake Boss or Amazing Wedding Cakes (namely, the things that the Cake Girls make!).
A girl needs to start small, right? So, thanks to I am Baker, I have gotten brave enough to try something she has posted. Now, to a seasoned baker, this might not be anything major. But, don't forget, I don't bake. So attempting this recipe was a big step for me and it only dawned on me half-way through the experience that I really need to share this with all of you.
The recipe is for Coffee Sugar Cookies. I got the bright idea to make a tray of these in the heart cut-outs as shown on the original blog by "I am Baker", decorate them and take them to Claire's school for all of the teachers. Then I thought why not make a double batch, complete with names, for each of my 9 clinical classmates? I got all of the ingredients, a great heart-shaped cookie cutter, and even purchased Wilton meringue powder for the royal icing and a small package of Wilton icing tips.
So, I made the dough. Refrigerated. Rolled it all out. Cut it all out in the heart shapes. This is what they looked like going into the oven:
Pretty cute, right?And THIS is how they came out of the oven:
I'm not entirely sure what happened, but whenever I try to bake cookies, they NEVER hold their shape while baking! I wanted to cry. I had such a vision of how cute these were going to be and how I'd feel so great for being the one to actually make them. And then this is what I get?!
But, I got yet another bright idea. Since they actually came out bigger than they went in, the heart-shaped cutter still fit on the baked cookies. I let them cool enough that they weren't super soft but not all the way set up and re-cut them. Kind of a pain in the tuckas and a little bit of a crumbly mess, but it worked!!
That was all on Friday. Saturday morning, I got up and dutifully got to work preparing the royal icicng. Got it all mixed up and got my food coloring in it and the pink looked so pretty! Put my Wilton tips in the bag, added the icing, and...
Somehow the tip got drawn back into the bag, making it impossible to reach without splooging out a ton of icing. After fussing with it for a good five minutes, I squeezed the bag hard in anger (therefore losing most of the icing from the bag), forcefully pulled the now-pink gooey tip out, tossed the tip into the sink, and threw the freaking icing away. An innocent bystander said "Why did you throw it all away? You could have just iced the entire cookie instead of a decoration!"
Because that's not the vision I had. The vision I had isn't working but I still don't want to do it any other way!
I had this whole idea about how cute they would look-- the ones for my clinical group, with each person's name on their own cookie in red, with the cookie itself outlined in pink. And the ones for Claire's school drizzled as they were in the I am Baker post.
So what did I do? Loaded my happy self into the car to head to work, leaving an extra 20 minutes early to run to Walmart. I should have just bought the pre-packaged Betty Crocker icing to begin with!
After work Saturday night, I calmly decorated the cookies.
The finished product?
They still look pretty cute, right?
But will I be making them again anytime soon?
Negative!
06 February 2010
Motherhood
One of the mommy blogs I enjoy reading, Burried with Children, recently posted a blog about "Things I Didn't Know" about motherhood. I enjoyed it so much I thought I would share it with you:
Motherhood or parenthood, if you will, is a very strange thing. Raising children, guiding them and molding them into successful members of society and people is a very big and overwhelming job. It is also the most important job you will ever do in your life.
That being said, it is the only job that I can think of that doesn't involve or include multiple hours of training or schooling.
All you have to do is find a partner, get busy at the right time and poof! Nine months later, someone is handing you a little bundle (or multiple bundles) and says, 'here you go'. And that's it. You are off and running.
Does that seem weird to anyone? It does to me but yet everyone who is a parent has just excepted this, took the kid and went along their merry way. I did it. No questions asked.
So needless to say there are a lot of things that we don't know as we enter this parenthood journey. Here are a few that I had no idea about before I was a mom.
1. I had no idea about how often you were suppose to feed a baby or how much that you needed to feed them. Shoot, I didn't realize that they should be fed. Don't babies just self feed?
2. I had no idea that I would pray for at least 3 hours of sleep in a row and consider that a good night of sleep.
3. I had no idea that my pre-baby body was awesome. I would kill to get it back again but when I had it, I thought it sucked.
4. I had no idea how much poop a small child could produce. Seriously, where in the world does it come from.
5. I had no idea how annoying and mind numbing children's cartoons were. If I have to listen to Dora's map tell me how to get to Grandma's house one more time, I may just throw a child at the TV.
6. I had no idea how sentimental I would be. I have saved clothes that my children wore when they were tiny babies. These clothes are in perfect condition and someone could get good use out of them but I just can't let them go. Or my closet shelf in my room is over flowing with my children's art work. I have saved almost every piece and I can't bare to part with it.
7. I had no idea the lengths that I would go to to stop a crying fit. I prevent crying at all costs. I am willing to run up and down the stairs as many, times as it takes to get each child their precious toy.
8. I had no idea the crippling power of mommy guilt. I had no idea how it could eat me up inside and make me sick to my stomach.
9. I had no idea how judgmental other mommy's could be. It is so sad that we judge. We should not judge but offer compassion because we all have been there.
10. I had no idea that I would want to or be able to catch child vomit in my hands to save the carpet or a piece of furniture.
And so much more. I am pretty sure that in the years to come, even more things will prevent themselves as things that I didn't know before I was a mom.
Motherhood or parenthood, if you will, is a very strange thing. Raising children, guiding them and molding them into successful members of society and people is a very big and overwhelming job. It is also the most important job you will ever do in your life.
That being said, it is the only job that I can think of that doesn't involve or include multiple hours of training or schooling.
All you have to do is find a partner, get busy at the right time and poof! Nine months later, someone is handing you a little bundle (or multiple bundles) and says, 'here you go'. And that's it. You are off and running.
Does that seem weird to anyone? It does to me but yet everyone who is a parent has just excepted this, took the kid and went along their merry way. I did it. No questions asked.
So needless to say there are a lot of things that we don't know as we enter this parenthood journey. Here are a few that I had no idea about before I was a mom.
1. I had no idea about how often you were suppose to feed a baby or how much that you needed to feed them. Shoot, I didn't realize that they should be fed. Don't babies just self feed?
2. I had no idea that I would pray for at least 3 hours of sleep in a row and consider that a good night of sleep.
3. I had no idea that my pre-baby body was awesome. I would kill to get it back again but when I had it, I thought it sucked.
4. I had no idea how much poop a small child could produce. Seriously, where in the world does it come from.
5. I had no idea how annoying and mind numbing children's cartoons were. If I have to listen to Dora's map tell me how to get to Grandma's house one more time, I may just throw a child at the TV.
6. I had no idea how sentimental I would be. I have saved clothes that my children wore when they were tiny babies. These clothes are in perfect condition and someone could get good use out of them but I just can't let them go. Or my closet shelf in my room is over flowing with my children's art work. I have saved almost every piece and I can't bare to part with it.
7. I had no idea the lengths that I would go to to stop a crying fit. I prevent crying at all costs. I am willing to run up and down the stairs as many, times as it takes to get each child their precious toy.
8. I had no idea the crippling power of mommy guilt. I had no idea how it could eat me up inside and make me sick to my stomach.
9. I had no idea how judgmental other mommy's could be. It is so sad that we judge. We should not judge but offer compassion because we all have been there.
10. I had no idea that I would want to or be able to catch child vomit in my hands to save the carpet or a piece of furniture.
And so much more. I am pretty sure that in the years to come, even more things will prevent themselves as things that I didn't know before I was a mom.
03 February 2010
30 January 2010
27 January 2010
Wordless Wednesday
This is my mom, Claire & I at the zoo
this past summer- Claire's first trip.
Apparently that pretzel was extremely tasty
since she couldn't look at the camera!
25 January 2010
Not Me Monday!
Who? Me? NEVER!!As of 10:20pm last night, I certainly was not frantically rushing around to complete an online testing assessment, a 5-page worksheet for clinical and review for two quizzes, all of which are TODAY. Nope. I had all of this stuff done way ahead of time, completely finished by last week. Huh-uh. Not me!!
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