Thursday, December 9, 2010

Pet Peeves

Lately I've been mentally listing the things that drive me nuts. Here they are.

1) Being late to church.
I don't know how it happens, but ever since we've had Ella and occasionally before, we're always late to church! Usually its just a couple of minutes of singing we've missed, but still way not cool. I don't like trying to squeeze by the people who arrived on time so we can get a seat. But most importantly, I detest getting to church late because I feel like the least thing we can do as a family is get there on time. God has blessed us so tremendously in all aspects of our lives. He's given Sam and Ella to me. We're blessed with a beautiful home that is ours, health, family that loves us, and I could go on and on probably for my whole life with everything God has graced us with.
And I know that it is most important to God to just spend time with him, to talk to him, to love him, to read his word, and get to know him. I do think though, that we are commanded to be a part of the Body of Christ. By that we go to church to fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Together we read his word and apply it to our daily lives. We together take part in his body and blood as he commanded of us. Its a beautiful thing.
And what irks me more than anything is being late. If we can make it on time to doctor's appointments and family dinners and even work, then my goodness- we CAN get to church on time. Its one hour a week, seriously.

:sigh:

2) People who don't put their shopping carts in the shopping cart corrals
This one irritates the heck out of me, because it is a simple common courtesy. How hard is it to push the cart back to the corral? At most, it's what, maybe 30 feet? Or if you don't want to walk that far, park closer to the corral! It's so annoying that literally every time we go to WalMart, there are carts all over the parking lot. We live in West Texas and it gets really windy here. I mean gusts of wind will come up from no where and make you slant forward or sideways when you walk. If it moves a person, I know it sure as heck will move some shopping carts- probably right into someone's car.
The other day Sam and I went to WalMart, and right when we parked this nice lady was pushing all the carts together that had just been left in empty parking spaces- like it was her job, but no, she was just being courteous to people who might take the spots. Sam saw her kind of struggling with 10 or so carts and jumped out of the car to help. What a gentleman <3 Anyhow, we proceed into the store and do our thing. When we walk back out, maybe an hour later, our whole area is surrounded by carts. Literally, our car was surrounded- we couldn't have backed out of the parking spot without hitting a shopping cart. Uggh. So, again, Sam rounds up the carts while I put the groceries in the car and get Ella loaded up. Then, the rudest thing! This lady who was parked right next to us gets her two grocery bags from her cart and instead of putting her cart where she's supposed to (it wasn't far away at all), she puts it with the same carts Sam's trying to get out of the way, after she looks right at him. And he was not dressed like he was working there- there was no mistaking him for a shopping-cart-putter-upper-employee.
Uggh. Some people have no courtesy.



Well I know the title of this post is "Pet Peeves", like there will be more than two listed but these are the only two that have really been irritating me lately. I'll stop here. For now :)

Monday, November 29, 2010

Aspirations

Lately I've felt stagnant in my career growth :( Since graduating from Texas Tech with a bachelor's in nursing, I've felt like I haven't done much to move forward. Now I'll say that I had quite extraordinary preceptors upon starting out in CCU after graduation. I was on orientation with a preceptor for about a month and a half before being on my own. I started taking open heart surgery patients on my own about 3 or 4 months after graduating. That is very uncommon. Definitely. It was not me, but amazing preceptors that enabled such progress. I took on the role of relief charge nurse at 6 months post graduation, and have become a full time charge (well, that's the two days a week that I work).

While all of those things are rare, I feel like soon after finishing school I stopped. With the exception of looking up medical conditions and drugs I am not familiar with, I've stopped pursuing progress. I'm stagnant. I think the 2 1/2 years of experience have made me comfortable and confident in my nursing skills, but I've stopped moving forward. And I think that may just be the problem- I'm comfortable and confident. And I don't mean confident in the arrogant sense; I mean that when a situation arises that requires quick critical thinking, I can handle it with ease. I can start medication drips stat, run a code, precept new nurses with all their questions.

But this is not where I want to be forever. Since Sam started school again this fall, I realized how much I miss learning. I miss taking classes, taking notes, even having to study for a test (though I don't miss the tests). I miss shopping for new school supplies as nerdy as that may sound. I especially love the feel of a mechanical pencil in my hand as I start to write on a new sheet of notebook paper or put a few sticky notes in my book to mark what's important.

Sam and I have discussed it, and as he's just finished applying to school to start a physician assistant program- hopefully, hopefully to start in the summer/fall 2011, I will soon begin my application for nurse practitioner school to start next fall as well. I'm very excited at just the thought, but am worried about what route to take- something I need to decide prior to applying. I'm considering the family nurse practitioner program as well as the acute care nurse practitioner program. I just cannot decide!!

Family NP- I can see patients in a doctor's office, assess, diagnose, and treat. I can prescribe meds, including narcotics. I can start my own clinic if I wanted to.

Acute Care NP- I do all the same as above but see sicker patients in the hospital, including patients that are on ventilators and lots of critical drips. I can put in chest tubes, central lines, and make changes on the ventilator.
here's a pic of a chest tube

and one of a central line, which is bascically a large IV site


The Acute Care NP is more appealing to me, because these are the patients I see day in and day out, and I enjoy the hospital setting. It also is a plus that I would be especially trained and educated to be in the hospital to see acute patients. What I'm unsure of is the scope of practice of a Family NP. A good friend, a very smart friend and well experienced nurse, just told me that that law changes are currently in the works to limit the hospital scope of practice of Family NP's. Ah! That's scary, because should I decide to take that route, I want to retain the ability to stay in the hospital. I don't want to be limited to clinics only. To me, that'd be super boring. (She will be starting Acute Care NP school in January.)

I need to do a lot of research on the differences in liability, scope of practice and privileges of each. I am very excited though and have until the end of May to decide. God willing, I'll be a nurse practitioner in the next couple of years! And that will bring mine and Sam's dream closer to a reality.

Our family goal and dream is to both work no more than 2-3 days a week each, preferably the same days. That way we'll have 4-5 days a week to be together and home school our kids. We've already made the decision that we want to home school, but having both of us there would be fantastic. I just want more time with my husband and our growing family.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Wisdom from my mother

The following is from my mother to me. I just want to share, because I think it's so wonderful:

"Happy thanksgiving!
T-Thankful for all the blessings; big and small.
H-Humility is the best way to see, to feel, to know Our Lord's presence in our lives.
A-Ask Jesus Our Lord for his blessing and guidance throughout.
N-Never think you can out-give, out-love, out-forgive Our Lord. Just follow Him and do what he asks. He has called you my name.
K-Know him like you know your very own family and friends. He yearns for you to come alongside him as a father yearns for his children's company.
S-Serve others with love before you seek your won pleasures. This is a sure sign that Jesus is resting in you and you in Him. When you step out to serve and love, you are stepping out o serve and love Jesus Christ Our Lord.

Mean it when you utter the greeting, "Happy Thanksgiving!"

As for me, today I am thankful for the cross and am hopefully confident in the promises of Christ.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Picture time!

Some pretty pics of a pretty baby!




and finally... a pic of the rover :)

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Sam's birthday!

Tomorrow is Sam's birthday, and I'm so excited! Sometimes I can't believe he's mine <3 I'm not sure exactly what tomorrow will entail. I originally wanted to do something with the whole family, maybe have everyone come over for dinner or something. But on second thought, I'm not sure that that's such a good idea. Sam works tonight and tomorrow night :( No fun, I know. So having everyone over til he has to go to work is probably not how he wants to spend this birthday. I'm thinking it'll be just me and Ella hanging out with him after he wakes up early afternoon. We'll spend quality family time together before going out to eat to celebrate :) I do believe he'd like that very much.

Please keep us in your prayers as Sam and I are rapidly trying to complete his application for PA school. I know we should've started it way sooner, but have prayed about it a lot lately and finally feel like this is where God is guiding us. Ah! It's due Dec. 1!! Almost everything is complete, but we'll feel so much better once we're just waiting to here from the school.

On another note, Ella Grace has just about started to crawl. She gets herself on her hands and knees and just rocks all day :) She's already masted the army crawl and can take herself anywhere she wants to go. There's definitely no staying in one place now!

I'll try to post a video later today, depending on if I get called in to work or not. Hopefully not.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Samy, my sweet Samy

This post is all about my hardworkin', little sleepin', class takin', super intelligent, diaper changing, dream building, strong-faithed, incredibly attractive, rock-my-world, uncomparibly devoted husband.

Samy, I love you. I am SO proud to be yours.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Pump, pump, pump it up

I have a goal of breastfeeding Ella at least a year. God is continuing to help me achieve that goal. In the beginning, it was very difficult. Very, very. I stopped nursing a little bit in the beginning (about a month) and only pumped. She still took breastmilk from a bottle. But after I tried to nurse again, it was much better! I'm not quite sure how to explain it to someone that has never breastfed, but there is such a connection, a bond formed when nursing. It's amazing to think that that is how God intended it to be.

He created my body to be able to conceive and sustain life- even after she was born. I think about it and I'm so in awe of God's wonderful plan! I know it may sound weird (this whole topic) to some, but I don't. I think its beautiful. He helped me carry life inside of me, then gave me the ability to sustain life outside of the womb by producing the most nutritious food possible. Ella now has my antibodies to protect her against whatever my immune system has encountered. Not only that, but its good for me too! Breastfeeding decreases my risk of breast, uterine, and ovarian cancer; also decreases my risk for diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.

I don't mean to sound like a commercial for breastfeeding, but want to share the answer to a question I've been asked quite frequently (and I'm not tooting my own horn at all): "How have you gotten back to your pre-pregnant weight so fast?" Now, I'm adding a little disclaimer before I move on- I'm not saying I'm all that and a bag of chips. Trust me, I'm not. Disclaimer continued: I've never been preoccupied about my weight. As long as I'm healthy, I'm ok with my self image.

Moving on now that all that's been said- I was 120-125 pounds pre-pregnancy, and that was my normal. After breastfeeding for 7 months, which is where I am, almost to the day, I am 109. I was back to my normal weight probably around 2 weeks after having Ella. That's without any effort to be extra healthy. As a matter of fact, I've become quite accustomed to the 600 extra calories my body is burning every day just to make breastmilk, so I've actually kind of slacked off in terms of making a relatively earnest effort of eating healthy. Is that awesome or what? God really did design this to be how mothers are supposed to be postpartum. I like it :)

I'm not judging anyone that chooses not to breastfeed, but I feel very proud of myself that Ella has only breastfed to date. I thank God for continuing to help me with this goal (because it most definitely has not always been easy). Anyway, I know that probably seemed like this whole post came out of left field, but I just finished pumping, so it was fresh on my mind :)

By the way, I got the rover :):):) I'll post pics later.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Southwest special

Another post, though very short. Just want to let everyone know about this REALLY great special Southwest has through midnight tonight. Fares from $30 to $120 for travel in early December and Jan 1 through mid Feb. Go to Southwest.com to check it out (it wouldn't let me post he link) If I needed somewhere to go, I'd be all over it! haha.

Plans for the day

I don't believe Ella baby has slept with either me or Sam since she was a few weeks old. She is almost seven months now; its unbelievable! Well, last night when Samy left for work, I did my usual and checked on Ella before heading to bed. I always make sure she's covered because she usually rolls around a bit after we put her to bed. I'm usually pretty sneaky. Haha, you'd laugh if you could see me crawling around her crib at night to make sure she doesn't see me should she hear the floorboards squeak. Last night, though, she heard me and popped her little head up faster than I thought possible!

She didn't cry or anything, but just looked right at me with those beautiful brown eyes and I just couldn't resist. She slept with me last night :) I think every now and again it'll be ok to do that. But from the beginning Sam and I agreed that Ella and God-willing our future children should not form the habit of sleeping with us all the time. We know several people who have done that, and I think that that's not the ideal situation we want. The people we know who have done that have had a hard time putting the children in their own beds when they get a little older. I know couple who has a little girl that's about 2, and she will NOT go to sleep without her mom laying next to her for an hour or so whil she pretends to sleep. Another close friend of mine stopped sleeping in the same bed as her husband because she'd sleep with her kids in their bed (until they were about 10!! I'm being very serious!)

Anyway, those are extremes. I just don't want to get there. One night every so often will be just fine :)

As for today, I think Ella and I will go visit Sam's mom and granny. His granny is visiting for a little while, and she doesn't get to see Ella much. Yes, I think we'll do that while Sam sleeps.

Right now I'm laying on the floor of Ella's nursery as she plays on her playmat with random toys. She's started doing this thing where as she lays on her tummy and pushes her chest off the ground, she turns in a counter clockwise motion. Its funny because she has begun to crawl yet, but she pivots in cirlces from her hips. Its the cutest thing! And she is definitely not staying put anymore! She wants to see and get into everything. Oh my! I'm going to have such a rambunctious child!

By the way, I found an even better Rover!!! Sam and I are waiting to hear back from the dealership about some specifics, but maybe just maybe! If everything comes sounding good, Sam and I are planning to fly to Fort Worth to test drive and buy it if we like it. Yayy! But I don't want to get to excited in case it falls through. I just hope hope hope!

Better get ready for the day :)

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Discovery

It's been a few weeks since I've blogged. Haven't been online much at all. Life in the Baumguardner home has been rather busy. Sam is taking classes right now and I've been helping him study and take care of beautiful Miss Ella. I'm so proud of my sweet Sam. He's got so much on his plate: working night shift, studying and getting homework done for 3 classes, being a great daddy and husband. I love you, Samuel. You're my hero.

Well for the month of October, I'd set a spiritual goal to read one chapter of Proverbs a day- 31 chapters in 31 days. I listen to Catholic radio all the time and especially like a show called Faith and Family. I caught a great show one of the last days of September where the host did an introductory Bible study to Proverbs. I've read bits and pieces of it but never read the book cover to cover. So that's where I am now :) I knew there was great wisdom in Proverbs, but so much? I've been so amazed. I want to highlight every other verse!

I'm getting off topic a bit, but think it's quite funny how different Sam and I are when it comes to our Bibles. When I study something, anything, especially the Bible, I want to take notes and highlight and underline and make it mine! For as long as I've studied, in school or college, this is how I learn and get into something. Well, Sam, on the other hand, likes to take notes, but cannot make himself write in his Bible. He told me once, (I think it's so cute) "I've never been able to write in a book, especially not the Bible! It's so holy, almost like it'd be sacrilegious to me." My sweet man :)

When I get through the end I'm sure I'll be posting some of my favorite verses. I've studied Prov 31 in my Ladies for Christ Bible Study group and I can't wait to learn from it again.

Moving on, Sam and I have been looking into selling my car and buying a used one for cash. God willing, Sam will be in grad school next summer and I'll be the only one working for a little while. That being said, we're looking at eliminating as much debt as possible and decrease our monthly bills. If we sell my car and buy a used one outright, our only debt will be our mortgage and my student loan. Of course, we'll still have utilities and such, but that's manageable. We went to look at several different cars and trucks over the past several weeks. My favorite would have to be a '01 Land Rover Discovery I test drove a while back. It was sea-green, all leather, two sunroofs, automatic everything, 4x4 (perfect for camping!!). Sooo pretty! Sam found an F-250 he really liked. The only drawback was that the truck wasn't diesel. We'll keep looking to make sure we find the best suv/truck for us, but it's exciting to being getting rid of a monthly car payment and a new car! Well, new to us anyway :)

The Land Rover looks a lot like this. Nevermind the sign.

Anyhow, I'd better wrap up this post. I've got a few dishes to do while Ella baby naps. Have a wonderful day everyone!

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Marilyn Monroe

I don't know much about her, but I was just on a friend's facebook and found some great quotes from her. I want to share :)


"I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best." - Marilyn Monroe


"Imperfection is beauty, madness is genious, and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring."- Marilyn Monroe


"I just want to be wonderful." Marilyn Monroe

The first one I think you'll like, Andi. I especially like the last.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Too funny!!

Maybe...

Just maybe... I won't have to go to work tomorrow. It would be fine with me either way. Hey, I'm just sayin'...

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Lovely things

Ella in her first pair of jeans and the pretty pretty roses Sam gave me this morning!


Sweet Samy!

This morning I woke up and took a shower. Sam had told me he had to stay late at work for a meeting. While getting ready I heard Sam come it. He hands me a card- one of the SWEETEST cards I've ever received. It was about growing old together. Then he handed me two dozen beautiful roses and got down on one knee and asked me to marry him (again)! Today is exactly two years from when he proposed to me. "Yes!! Of course!" I said. I'm so very blessed to have such a sweet, romantic husband. I love you baby.

I know they're not good for me, but I'm chowing down on a couple of corn dogs right now. Yum yum :)Gonna head over to my sister's house in a bit to hang out while Sam sleeps. I can't wait til the day he is off nights. It's really hard on us. We're always on opposite schedules. Not fun at all. But I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining. We are very grateful for his job- it's a really good job. Just don't like that we don't get to spend as much time together as we'd like.

Short post today. I need to do some things before I heady to my sister's. Hope everyone has a great Tuesday!

Saturday, September 25, 2010

errrggg!

That is my sound of frustration. The other day I spent a couple of hours trying to revamp my blog, including lots of new coding and other stuff I have no idea how to do. I found a website that gives step-by-step instructions for tech illiterate people like myself. I follow every instruction, and right at the end I couldn't download a file I needed to make the whole thing work. Errrrgg! :sigh: Maybe I'll try again when I have spare time to waste.

I just came back from a bridal shower a couple of hours ago. A good friend from high school is getting married in a few weeks. It was strange but nice see people from my high school softball team there- people I haven't seen since I graduated. I found out that the bride, one of my good friends back then, went to Italy to play for a U.S. college softball team!! How amazing is that?! Who does stuff like that?! I am so proud of her! She's always been really good, but Italy? I'm so impressed that she played ball in college and just kept her dedication to the sport. Go girl :)

I need to upload some pics of Ella. Haven't posted any in a while. My sweet baby! She's almost 6 months now. Isn't that just nuts? She's pretty much mastered the art of rolling over, and now she's trying to figure out the crawling bit. It's so cute to see her try to coordinate her movements. Sometimes, I'll put a toy in front of her, just out of reach (I know, I'm so mean). But lo and behold, she finds a way to get it!

Ah! We have so many weddings coming up! I thought spring was wedding season... not this year. So far we have:
-Kourtney and Landry
-Micah and Bradley
-Kristen and Evan
-Roni and Chandler (just married)

So, the same day as my last post about the care package- I went as planned to WalMart and got all the stuff. Before my post that day, I had already gone to the post office to find out how much shipping to Afghanistan costs and get the box so I would know what would fit in it. I asked the post office man all my questions about shipping overseas and was all set!

Or so I thought. I got all the stuff and taped the box well to ship half way around the world, addressed it and went to the post office to mail it. Errrgg! So, I tell the man (same guy) that I'm ready to pay. He says, "Did you fill out the customs form?" "No, wasn't aware that I had to." He says, "Yeah, just fill this out." So I step aside and do as told. This was after waiting in line already like 10 minutes because some lady had to ship like 20 pairs of shoes to people all over the country- yeah, heard her whole story. Anyway, I fill out the form and hand it back to the man, and he says, "Oh, you have to go over it again, to make sure all the carbon copies are legible." OOOOOKKKK! I didn't see it when he first told me to fill out the form. It would've been nice if he said that to begin with. So there I go to the side again and fill out the form so that alllllll the carbon copies are legible (7 total). Yeah, I had to press freakin' hard.

Ok, back to the annoying post office man. "Here you go," I say as politely as I can. "Oh, no," he says :( "Do you have more than 4 items in here?" he says. "Um, yes. I have lots of snacks in there for my cousin." "Well, this isn't going to work, ma'am. You have to list each item and it's value." What? Are you SERIOUS?! WHY ARE YOU JUST NOW TELLING ME THIS?!!!!

I say, "Really, like how many packets of ramen noodles and cans of tuna? Really?"
"Yes ma'am," says that wonderful post office man AFTER my box was sealed and ready to ship. So I just got my pretty, duct taped all over box and left. :sigh: It's still sitting in the same spot in my laundry room the day I came back from the post office. Still sealed up all nice and tight. I so don't want to go through that whole process again :( Poopy post office man.

Well, I suppose that's enough for now. Here are some pics of my beautiful little girl.





Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Care package

I want to send my cousin a care package today. When Ella wakes up from her nap, I think we'll go together. Sam's working on homework. At 6 o'clock we have a dinner party for a good friend. It's her birthday today! I love birthdays.

What kind of stuff do you put in a care package? I think I'll google it, but for now these are some things I'm going to buy when the princess awakens:
- trail mix
- chocolate covered pretzels
- pb&j
- jelly bellies
- beef jerky
- protein smoothies
- ramen noodles cups
- fruit cups
- mac & cheese
- granola bars
- pic of Ella (we just got some made last month and they're ADORABLE!!)
- homemade card

Anyway, short post today. Toodleloo!

Sunday, August 22, 2010

I want...

I was talking to Sam tonight about something I've been thinking about. I don't mean to compare... at all... because I'm really really happy with my life. I've just been thinking that there are things I want to do that I haven't done yet. But I'm really excited, because now I get to do them with Sam and Ella. I guess what I want most of these things I speak is to travel. I told Sam that I want to make it a yearly thing to take a family vacation, just our little family.

My whole reason for bringing this up is that Sam and I are both so responsible. We can definitely afford to take trips, even if they're bigger trips. But, we're both so responsible when it comes to saving that we don't. I don't mean to say that we never go anywhere- we do. We take trips to different places and have fun together :) I just want to make memories with him and El Bell in all different places.

Sidenote!: Sam surprised me so wonderfully last night! I feel like such a dork- but I'll get to that part. When we layed down to sleep last night, I rolled over and felt something funny under my pillow. I pulled it out and it was a journal Sam had written a note to me in. It was a really cute note, and at the beginning it said, "Right now, I'm probably trying to find a way to get you to look under the bed..." Well, I just read right past that to the rest of the note and when I finished, Sam pointed to that line. I re-read it and moved my hand under the pillow. Finding nothing, I looked at him funny, like "what?" Haha, he started looking at me and was laughing. I re-read it (again) and realized it said under the bed, lol... not the pillow.
So down on my knees, I got to look under the bed- and what did I find?!?!
A digital camcorder!! Yay!!!! I've been wanting one since I was pregnant with Ella! He got a really really nice one :) We've already taken several videos and I absolutely, positively like it :) Thank you Honey Bear <3

So done with the sidenote...

Anyway, Sam and I are really good at saving, and we're getting better and better at it. We always think things like, "We don't really need it", when we want to buy something and waste money. I just don't want to be like that when it comes to making memories with my family. I really want to travel and see different places with them, especially now that we have the camcorder and can record awesome places and new things. I want to make it a tradition to take a yearly family vacation to new and different places.

Ideas:
-Grand Canyon
-Maine
-Virginia
-North Carolina (I'm not sure why I put Virginia and North Carolina- just seem like cool places to go to)
-Montana
-NYC (Not really sure I want to take little kids here- but maybe one day)
-Any national park ( We super duper love camping)

I will add to this list as I think of new places- perhaps I'll add a tab from my homepage just for my places to go, but I'll have to figure out how to do that first.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Getting things done

Started reading a new book last night. It's the most challenging book I've read in quite a long time. It's scripturally and historically based and hurts my brain. But- it is very very interesting and I want to learn more! I'm going to take notes, and even went to Office Depot today to buy new highlighters and post-its :)

This morning Sam and I went and got Ella's pics taken. FINALLY! Ahh, can't believe it took me 4 1/2 months to do it. I've thought about it almost everyday and kept procrastinating.

I'm really excited. The budget Sam and I started last month allowed us to increase our savings quite substantially. And, honestly, we only stuck with it hardcore for the first half of the month. It kinda went out the window after that. We used to eat out all the time and when we started the budget to the middle of the month, we ate out just once or twice. For us that is AWESOME! I'm just proud that we showed ourselves we can do it. But we've recommitted to start again at the beginning of September. It's nice to see our savings grow with diligence :)
I think I'm going to help my little sis develop a budget for when she goes back to college. I'm really pretty good when it comes to saving and budgeting :)

Random note to self: I don't want to introduce the following foods to Ella or the rest of our future kids (God willing) for a loooooong time
1) corndogs
2) chicken nuggets
3) hot dogs
I know too many little kids that want only those things and are waaay too picky.

I'm off to budget for Andi!

Friday, August 6, 2010

So tired....

Work completely sucked today. And I never say that.

I'm so completely tired. I don't want to go back tomorrow.

Uggh.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Roadshow

I watched an episode of Antiques Roadshow tonight. Omgosh. This lady went to the roadshow with a diamond ring (5.2 carats) set in platinum. She'd been told her grandpa made it for her- I think he was a jeweler. Turns out it was made by Ascher? Jeweler Co. in 1915.

Guess how much it was worth.

I guessed $30,000.


Wrong.


Try $175,000.

Omgosh.

And she'd just had it sitting in her jewelry box.

!!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Can my baby read?

So recently I've been really interested in the Your Baby Can Read program. I've seen commercials with real home videos of babies and really little kids reading- it looks pretty amazing! There's a video of one little girl who looks like she's about three reading Charlotte's Web. Wow. I'm bidding on the deluxe edition right now on ebay. Hope we win so we can try it with Ella.

I asked the opinion of some teacher friends before bidding to get their input. One was all gung ho about it, while the other said I could get just as much from ordinary reading. Don't get me wrong, I do plan on reading just normally with her, i.e., bedtime stories and such- in fact, I do already. However,I think that babies and small children love to learn. Ella already loves to read. She starts cooing really loudly when I turn the pages and changes voices :) Its sweet. But, back to what I was saying- I will do normal reading with her. I think, though, that if learning is fun for her and her learning curve is so high right now- it would be pretty cool to give her an educational "game" of learning to read. Already, she is a sponge. It's amazing to see how interested she is in everything. I don't want it to be a chore at all for her, but for it to be fun. So if I do the flashcards it comes with and all the fun stuff, well... I guess it will be. I'm definitely not going to be like one of those psycho parents who's all about school and "learn, learn, learn"! I just think that if this makes it easier for her in the long run, and she wants to learn anyway... heck, why not?!

I'm excited, in case you can't tell. :)

So the other night, I made this yummy recipe for cheesy biscuits. It was soooo good! I'd say they taste the same as Red Lobster's, and those are simply fantastic. Mmmm! Here's the recipe:
Ingredients:

2 ½ cups Bisquick baking mix

¾ cup cold whole milk

4 tablespoons cold butter (1/2 stick)

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

1 heaping cup grated cheddar cheese

Bush on Top:

2 tablespoons butter, melted

¼ teaspoon dried parsley flakes

½ teaspoon garlic powder

pinch salt

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

2. Combine Bisquick with cold butter in a medium bowl using a pastry cutter or a large fork. You don't want to mix too thoroughly. There should be small chunks of butter in there that are about the size of peas. Add cheddar cheese, milk, and ¼ teaspoon garlic. Mix by hand until combined, but don't over mix.

3. Drop approximately ¼-cup portions of the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet using an ice cream scoop.

4. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes or until the tops of the biscuits begin to turn light brown.

5. When you take the biscuits out of the oven, melt 2 tablespoons butter is a small bowl in your microwave. Stir in ½ teaspoon garlic powder and the dried parsley flakes. Use a brush to spread this garlic butter over the tops of all the biscuits. Use up all of the butter. Makes one dozen biscuits.

Recipe courtesy of Todd Wilbur, "Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2," Plume Books.
I got this from

Anyway, I'm experimenting with dinner and Sam's done with P90X, so I'm gonna go spend time with him and make sure I don't ruin our food!

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Gotta get ready

I was taking a moment to think about some things that are coming up. I'll be busy for a little while :) I like the feeling of busy-ness. Well, sometimes. But for the most part it makes me feel accomplished and productive to know that things have gotten done.
Today, I slept in a bit, put up the laundry, did the dishes, bathed and played with Ella, paid a few bills, and here I sit taking a break.

Saturday will be a busy day too! Ella gets baptized at 10am. I'm having lunch with a couple of friends. Then I host the Ladies for Christ Bible study from 2-4pm. After that I have just enough time before Sam and I go to a friend's weeding at 6. Whew! So excited. I need to go get Ella's white dress and candle. I'll do that today while I have time.

I miss Sam. He's on days for several weeks while he trains for his promotion position. Praise God. Annnnd... We started P90X yesterday! I'm so excited, but also pretty sore. Not the can't move because it hurts so bad sore, but a good sore. Like a nice reminder that I worked out :) Anyway, I'll keep posting about our progress. I'm really happy that we decided to get the program.

I'm so in love with my husband. I'm happy that we made the commitment to each other a long time ago that we always want to try for each other. Trying in the all inclusive sense... meaning I'll always try to be a great wife to him and take care of our home and children, and he'll try to help with chores and disciplining our kids. He'll always try to be the provider and leader of our home, while I try to work a couple of days a week. We have our "main" roles in our family and in our home, but we also make an effort to help the other in their role. It works well for us. But back to working out... part of the trying promise, we also want to strive to be our best selves for the other person, including keeping up with our physical appearances. I want to get really in shape for him, and he wants to be really in shape for me.

More on the topic, Sam kind of mentioned me being his girlfriend the other day. I laughed a little bit, because it just sounded funny to my ears after being married for over a year. After he said that, I said, "I'm not your girlfriend! I'm your wife." Then he explained to me what he meant: "You're my wife and my girlfriend. My wife because you are my everything, my best friend, and the mother of our child. My girlfriend because I still want to date you. To some people, when you get married you stop dating the other person. And when I say dating, I mean trying. You stop trying to learn about the other person, stop trying to spend quality time with her, you stop caring about how you look. Well, to me, you're still my girlfriend." :) That was what he said pretty much. Just paraphrased a little.

Anyway, I love being married to him. He's the best. And my boyfriend too ;)

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

A little sad, a little glad

So I guess I'm a little disappointed. The Bible study turned out great except for the low attendance. I don't so much care about even that, except that there was one person in particular that I was really hoping would come. I think she really needs a group of Christian women to hang out with and be a good influence. But I guess there's not really anything I can do but invite and remind. I had three girls show up, although even that didn't go according to plan. We ended up discussing the power of prayer with three of us... a rather small Bible study group. But it was a great one. I learned a lot and I think the other two girls did too. We talked about Scripture and I read a little from the book "No Greater Love" by Mother Theresa related to prayer. It was really nice. Perhaps more people will show up next time. I will just keep praying that God bring the women there who He wants to be there.

Besides that, Sam and I have started this new budget I found online. It's amazing! It's pretty neat because it has everything in it we were looking for: an income spreadsheet, categories for all our bills, a section on "allowance" money (similar to the Dave Ramsey-style cash envelopes), and a snowball debt reducer. I super duper like it. Here's the link to the website I found it on.
(for some reason, it won't let me hyperlink it) just copy and paste.
http://beyondmom.com/2008/09/free-basic-budget-spreadsheet-template/
Click on Budget Template Spreadsheet. It's definitely worth checking out. I checked I don't know how many sites and budget templates before I found this one.

So, sorry for the short post, but Ella's getting hungry!

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Bible Study

I'm so excited! Today is the first meeting of the Ladies for Christ Bible Study. This is the same Bible study group I first started trying to put together a couple of months ago. I finally got the invitations out. I hand made them with chipboard, scrapbook paper, and various scrapbook pieces. They turned out awesome!!

Today our topic will be the power of prayer and what prayer really is. I invited 9 ladies for meetings every other week, that way we'll hopefully always have a least a small group together. I've been looking for Scripture passages related to prayer and found quite a few. Then my mom heard what topic I'm planning on doing and she suggested a book she's been reading by Mother Theresa. It's perfect for our study today. I'm going to tab certain passages and read them to the girls.

I'm hoping it won't be raining when everyone comes over,that way we can sit outside on our patio furniture in the backyard. Even so, we could always sit outside on the balcony since its covered. I'm really glad we finally got patio furniture. We never used to use our balcony since there was no where to sit.

Ideas for Bible studies:
- fresh fruit and veggies
- crackers and dip
- highlighters and pens out for notetaking
- index cards with next Bible study topic on it and suggestion for daily reading
- prayer before starting study and after ending study

I guess I should conclude this post. I need to clean house, get groceries, review passages.

Pray that our first Bible study be a successful one and that the girls show up!

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Bad sitter... and stander

I just realized what poor posture I have. I don't think about how I sit or stand until by back starts hurting and my neck feels all cramped up. I keep telling myself that I need to work on my posture, but how can you work on something when you always forget about it or get too busy to notice? A nurse I work with has the best posture ever. She says her mom used to pinch her when she would slouch as a little girl. Yeah... don't think I'll do that to Ella, but I would like her to have good posture. Suggestions welcome!

Tonight after work, Sam and I (maybe Ella too) will be going to a body building contest- or whatever they're called. My sister-in-law, Stacey, will be competing. She's so so soooo ripped, its craziness! She has more muscles than any guys I know. If I can take pics tonight, I'll post 'em. (Sneaky, sneaky!) Really, though, it's insaaane! Even though I would never want something like that for myself, I really admire her dedication. I can't imagine what kind of discipline it must take to wake up every morning to work out at the gym alone at 3:30 am!! And with two little girls... by the time she must get in bed...!

Anyway, I'll post pics later if I get good pics. I've gotta go for now.

Real quick, here are some new pics of... (of course)... Ella!




Friday, June 4, 2010

What the heck happened?

Yesterday and the day before I worked. It was a good two days until yesterday afternoon. I was charge nurse and when I charge, I do a lot extra to help everyone else out. Well I was helping one of the other nurses label her IV tubing when my chest started feeling a little funny. It just felt like there was a little bit of pressure. I wanted to stay in there to help some more, but all of a sudden, I felt like I needed to sit down. I went and sat in the nurses' station for a little bit. Then Jeff asked if I could help him reposition a patient, so I went and helped him. While I was in there it got worse. It just kept getting worse and worse even when I was sitting. Eventually it got so bad I started crying and had to got lay down in one of the empty rooms. I called Sam and told him that I felt horrible.

He was there in 15 minutes and my director let me go home. This all happened around 5, so when I left at 530 I only missed about an hour and a half of work. I felt really bad that I had to leave, especially because I was charge. But I felt so so so bad. On the way home Sam had to pull over a couple of times so I could throw up. I got home and layed down and after about an hour it went away like nothing happened. But before it went away the pain moved to my stomach/upper abdomen. It was so weird. I really wish I knew what the heck happened to me.
This morning I woke up feeling just fine. Strange...

Anyway! I want to do something fun today but I don't know what. Oh! I need to pay our water bill... I keep forgetting and I need to do that before they turn our water off. I can be so forgetful sometimes! That's the only bill I forget about til the day its due. I think I need to put it on my phone's calendar.

I'm wanting to start a ladies' Bible study for my sisters and some close girlfriends of mine. Several weeks ago Sam and Ella when scrapbook-paper shopping with me. I had this idea to handmake these really cute invitations and send them out to each girl to join our study. I started cutting out the invites, but it's taking me soooooo long to finish. I need to work on them today and send them out. I'll post pics of them when I finally finish. :sigh:

Here are some recent pics of Ella Bell. I try to take more today and post later.

Ta-ta for now :)





Friday, May 28, 2010

Oh, the irony!

Last night was Ella's first time to sleep through the night. But I woke up at least 5 times because I kept dreaming I was late for work. Go figure.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Good music

I like that music affects me. I guess I've always been that way. Right now I'm listening to some good Carbon Leaf. I think Pandora is such a great idea. It's cool how they find new music for you in whatever genre you're into. Nifty.
I decided not to go back to sleep after Ella got up to eat at 4. I'm gonna stay up til Sam gets home so that I'll be able to go to sleep when he does. I don't like that we're on different sleep schedules :(
I just finished reading Who You Are When No One"s Looking. Good book. I like that the author really incorporates scripture, even to business principles. It's my kind of book, because I've always been really about integrity. I know I have a long way to go, but integrity is the number one character trait I try to work on. I have so much respect for people who show integrity- I guess because they are who they are even when no ones looking. They don't change. They're real and that's pretty cool.
I'm excited. A group of friends are supposed to be starting a softball team next month. I miss playing so much. I miss playing catch, just throwing the ball around. I miss fielding, catching grounders, the smell of caliche in the summer.
I know this is way random, but I was talking to Sam about recently. I don't ever want to become stagnant. I don't want to stop learning, stop pushing myself. I want to keep building my character and my intellect. I want to keep learning about all kinds of things. Study whatever interests me and push myself to learn about things I haven't ever really been interested in- like physics :( It's kind of funny because I've always thought people who read "self-help" books are weird, but how else can I expect mind to be opened to new ways of thinking if I don't allow them in?
So I just decided that I really like Carbon Leaf and I just found a new band similar to them- Sister Hazel- on Pandora. Really cool :) I love good music.
I can hear Ella sighing in her sleep on the baby monitor... my sweet girl :) I absolutely love being a mom.
I guess I should conclude this post. I need to get some stuff done. Have a great day everyone!

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Late night thoughts

Do you ever feel like you are disconnected from everyone, like no one can relate, like there's no one to talk to? That's pretty much how I feel right now. I'm tired. Ella was fussy all day, poor baby had a diaper rash and was hurting. She wore me out, trying to keep her entertained and comfortable. I'm glad I went over to my parents. My mom always lets me rest. Its like going on a little retreat for a few hours. Yes, a much needed retreat where I leave feeling a bit rejuvenated. I should be trying to go to sleep right now, but I guess I'm just thinking too much for that. Today was a bit of an awkward and lonely day. Sam didn't sleep at all yesterday except maybe 2 hours, so when he got home this morning he crashed til mid-afternoon. It was pretty much just me and Ella Bell and like I said earlier, she wore me out. I think the nicest part of all day was sitting outside with her in the cool breeze. I sang to her and she cooed at the songs she liked :) She likes to look at trees. I hope she's an outdoorsy kinda girl. Can't wait to take her camping. I feel like talking to someone rather than writing this entry, but it's late and there's no one I want to bother or wake up. I feel lonely and a little sad. I guess because Ella's asleep and the house is so quiet. Since there's not much else to do, I guess I'll go lay in bed and see if sleep becomes me.
Sorry for the depressing post. Maybe I'll be more upbeat tomorrow. Goodnight all.

Monday, May 10, 2010

I feel like

today is Mother's Day :) I'm getting spoiled <3

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Feeling accomplished

So I'm home with Ella, away from my love :( Samy went to our business meeting tonight, and since there's no one to watch Ella, we're having a mommy-daughter night... I just wish Sam could be here too. She's been so good though- she's been sleeping for the past couple of hours, letting me get some stuff done around the house.
Dishes are done.
Laundry is done... and put up. (That's the what I'm worst at. I do laundry, but then it just sits in the basket for a week.)
The trash was thrown out.
All the random stuff that was laying around the house is back where it belongs.
Everything is ready for tomorrow's trip to Snyder to visit Grandpa.
I'm so happy Ella girl is being good so that I could get stuff done before bed. I just hope she sleeps through the night like she has been. I love my baby girl :)
I can't wait until our business replaces my income so that I can stay home with her. I'm so proud of my sweet Sam. He's been very motivated and growing our business so that we can both stay home and spend time together. I can't stand that our schedules are so different. I feel like we're always going in different directions, sleeping at different times of the day/night. I want for us to be together so much more than we are now. Thank you, my love, for being such a leader and taking the initiative to make our dreams happen. I believe that in the very near future we will be where we want to be. I love you Samuel.
I think I should start posting more often. I love to write and feel good when I take the time to think about my day and just to think about what I'm thinking about I guess. Anyway, I better go- my parents are stopping by in a minute to see the little one :)

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

To contentedness

Today was a nice day. Sam and Ella and I all stayed home and just hung out. Our little family :) Yesterday was her first day out of the house. We went to see the lactation consultant at the hospital for a follow up and to check her bilirubin level since she was a tad bit jaundiced at delivery. Everything is much better now. Since yesterday, I've felt so encouraged. Sam and I were getting a little stressed when it came to breastfeeding because it is really really hard. They say the first two weeks are the most difficult and now I can definitely see why. It is most definitely worth it, though, to know that its for Ella's benefit. The meeting yesterday with the consultant helped us out a LOT. She was very encouraging and gave us great advice.

It made me feel really good that Sam and I came up with a solution that works great for us. Its less stressful on him and me, and I think Ella too. It feels really good to be able to talk through things with him and make important decisions together. I'm so grateful to have a strong marriage.

Last night I got 7 hours of sleep... oh yes :) Sam got up with her a couple of times, but for the most part she slept all night. I slept from 1130 to 5, was up from 5 to 7, and then slept until about 930 this morning. It was so nice and I feel way better as far as exhaustion goes.

Tomorrow I think we'll go for another walk at the park. I super duper love our stroller! Its a jogging stroller and is really smooth. I can't wait til I can run again and start working out. But I suppose its best to recover first.

Anyway, I suppose I should go pump. (The whole idea of a machine to pump breasts is kind of weird, isn't it?) Hope tonight is as good a night as last night :)

Friday, April 9, 2010

Ella Baby

I am a mommy! And my wonderful amazing husband is a new daddy :) Beautiful Ella Grace was born Tuesday afternoon about 5 hours after her cousin Levi. She is so gorgeous. I can't believe she's really here. We've been waiting for her for 9 months, getting her room ready, picking out little clothes, talking to my tummy. I'm so thrilled, Sam and I both are.

Our first day home was yesterday, and our first night was a little on the rough side. Poor baby had really bad gas pains. She was crying all night. My sweet Sam is such a great husband. We took turns taking care of Ella in between feedings. I think we each got about 3-4 hours of sleep. I am so appreciative of everything he does to care for me. He knows when I get frustrated and feel like I can't handle something. He's my love, my right hand, my better half, my best friend. I am so in love with you Samy.

At one point last night, I had just nursed Ella and I was so tired and exhausted, physically and mentally. After I burped her I rocked her to sleep and thought I could lay her down... only for her to cry inconsolably. I was just enough to make me feel ten times more tired. And then, like he knew before I did how I was feeling, Sam got up right as she started to cry and took over... for the next 4 hours. I got 4 hours of continuous sleep because he rocked her and walked around the house with her for that long. (I just started to cry thinking about it.) He is so sweet to me.

:Ah, deep breath: So... pictures! I'll post a few that I have now and upload the rest later. She's gorgeous!


Sleeping with mommy :)

Car ride home from the hospital

Sup?

Friday, April 2, 2010

Great day

I've been awake for only about 20 minutes, but I know its already going to be a great day :) My sweet Samy is home from work, I slept in a little- but not too late, actually slept well last night, and Andi stayed over so I wasn't home alone. (I haven't been wanting to stay alone the last couple of nights in case I go into labor.) Anyway, my tummy is grumbling so in a little bit, I think I'm going to make some biscuits and eggs :) Yum!
After breakfast we're going to go walking in this beautiful weather. Maybe I'll have more contractions. I always get contractions when I go walking, but then they stop as soon as I stop. I had quite a few last night but they too didn't last long. I thought I was going to go into labor- they kept waking me up! So we're on God's time with Ella. I was due yesterday but I guess she had other plans. Its sweet... my mom says she's taking her time because the angels are putting last minute touches on her like giving her little curls :) I like that. I'm sure she'll come out with head full of hair and long fingernails! I'm so excited!!
I'm hungry.
Oh, random, I know- but our grass is getting green! I love spring time, all the trees are so pretty and I like the green-ness of newly budding plants. Several weeks ago Bianca and I planted like 80 pretty flowers in what's supposed to be my flower garden. I'm not sure how long it takes bulbs to sprout, but I guess they're on their own time too. Sheesh, I'm so impatient! I just want Ella to be here and pretty flowers... is that too much to ask? :sigh:
Ok, time to go make breakfast. I'm ready to go outside. Its so nice.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Pregnancy pics :)

As promised, here are a few of my fav prenancy pics. Taken by my dad :)




Monday, March 29, 2010

Sometimes

You just have to realize the important things in life.

When?

I've been waiting, waiting for her to come. She wants to get here when she gets here I suppose. I have another dr.s appointment today. I think we're supposed to discuss the plan if she doesn't appear when she's supposed to. I really don't want to be induced if at all possible, but if this little girl is as stubborn as I can be sometimes... Well we'll just have to see.
We finally took some pregnancy pics. I'll post a few of my favs :) Thanks Dad, for taking them for us. He's so great.
I'm excited. Maybe when the weekend comes, she'll be here. I kept dreaming last night that I was having contractions. I think I was, but it was really confusing because I'd wake up and feel fine and other times my tummy was all tight. That makes for an interesting way to wake up.
To do today:
1) Pay the water bill
2) Watch the last episode of Lost Season 5
3) Go to Target
4) Finish thank you cards for baby shower gifts (there's at least another 50 to write!)

Thursday, March 25, 2010

For you, Honey

I miss this place.



Monday, February 22, 2010

I like

long drives with my husband where we just talk and never put the radio on.
feeling my baby move inside my tummy.
the smell of rain.
leaving my house early when I have to be somewhere.
Saturday mornings at my parents' house- there's always music on and the smell of good food.
hard working people.
baseball caps :)
the sound of my grandpa's laugh.
listening to Samy breathe while he's sleeping.
driving with a newly cleaned windshield.
being married <3
camping.
having such a large extended family.
that my sisters and I are so close in age.
waking up in the morning and just knowing it'll be a good day.
the sound of rain on our tin roof.
that our yard is huge.
my husband works hard in our business to build our future so that some day we won't have to work.
knowing that he needs me. Just like I need him.
going to Bahama Bucks to get a wedding cake with extra cream snow cone.
that God gives us different seasons.
green grass and big pretty trees.
pretty much decor that has birds on it.
our wedding more than any other wedding I've ever been to.
reading motivating books.
that I can trust what God has promised.
people who have morals, even with the small things. Especially with the small things.
feeling productive.
Texas.
that I can talk to my husband about anything and everything. You really are my best friend Samy.
being alive.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Rainy days


It's been nice lately. I woke up yesterday early morning to the sound of rain on our tin roof. It started raining that night and rained all day until this morning. Still its drizzling and the humidity is "150%" according to my husband :)
Right now my sweet love is sleeping at home. I've been busy this morning. Already did the laundry, threw the trash, did the dishes, got our clothes ready for our meeting tonight, and took the car to get serviced. Goodness!
Now I'm at my parents house, listening to some great music and my dad cutting tile. They're tiling the living room and he wants to finish up by Sunday for the game. All there's left to do is grout. I'm glad- he's been working so hard on it lately. Sam came over after work this morning and helped him lay the last of the tile. Soon, it'll be all finished and look so nice :)
I think its about time to eat lunch.
Goodbye for now.