Another Good One...

My "Spare Time Must Reads" column is growing rapidly...if only I had enough spare time to completely appreciate these must reads! Check out my new favorite--The Pioneer Woman. If you're into photography and photoshopping...or cooking...or home decorating...then check her website out...pretty cool! She has photoshop tutorials on there! That's fantastic...I'm really excited about that....photoshop has it's own foreign language going on and it is taking me forever to figure it out!!

That's all for now. ;o)

Divin' Right In...

Today was my 1st day out of orientation and on my own!  Let's just say the L&D spirits wasted no time in getting my feet wet...


Choose the easiest possible patient right off the bat--a scheduled induction patient---Check!

Start the Pitocin, after all appropriate initial interventions---Check!

Prepare the baby warmer & delivery table ASAP, this is her 4th baby---Check!

Ahh crap, fetal heart tones down to the 50's for 3 minutes---Check!

Rush to the OR for a stat c-section---Check!

Go to the bathroom and check my drawers---Check!

Return to patients room after the c/section false alarm (heart rate up to 120 by the time in
OR)---Check!

Amnioinfusion for the big fat repetitive variables in fetal heart rate---Check!

Scarf down leftover gumbo & a greek yogurt for lunch in a record 7 minutes---Check!

Brush up on my communication skills with low-socioeconomic status patients---Check!

My patient begging me to take her home with me at 3:00 because she doesn't want to "do this anymore" (Literally, sobbing she repeatedly said, "Liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiz, pleeeeeeeease take me home with you!!! My response, "You're pushing this little boy out...like right now! You've got this, girl!!" )---Check!


All in a days work. ;o) Craziness.......

A New Favorite...

You might not have noticed the newest addition under my "Spare Time Must Reads" column called Thrifty Decor Chick, but you've got to check this blog out!!! As the title of her blog implies, she is the queen of decorating on a budget...this girl can do it all!! She offers fantastic ideas on simple home decor, stuff that you'll be like, "Oh my gosh, that sounds so easy, and it looks so cute! Why didn't I think of that!?" She gets her ideas from catalogs like Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, and the like. She even includes in-depth tutorials on how to make this stuff on your own! It's a cute site...my new favorite...I hope you'll take a look!

A Sweet Message ...

In honor of Valentine's Day this weekend, I wanted to share a fantastic email I received from a friend. What a great message...a great reminder that marriage is an everyday work in progress. I'm reminded by these inspirational words to keep the "cartilage" of our marriage strong and be gracious, encouraging, and understanding in my interactions with my life-long partner...even when he pulls clean clothes out of the dryer and piles them on top of the washer... ;o)

I hope this email reminds you to keep the cartilage of your marriage in check, as well! Enjoy!

Happy Valentines Day Lovebirds! <3

Cartilage is a tissue that is found in many places in our bodies, including at the end of bones where joints form. It protects our joints from wear and tear, helps them move smoothly, and absorbs shock. When the cartilage in our knee, for example, is damaged, we feel pain.

Grace in our marriages is like the protective covering of cartilage in our joints. Couples who show each other a gracious attitude cover their marriage with understanding, protect their marriage from misunderstandings and short-tempered emotions, and help one another absorb life's jolts and shocks.

For example, the other day Scott came home late to discover that I had forgotten to turn off the ho se after washing the dogs. The backyard was overflowing with water—an inconvenience and a costly mistake on my part. He could have gotten mad at me, but he didn't. His gracious attitude covered my shortcoming.

Today's key verse contains the word love rather than the word grace. That's because one aspect of love is grace. It's the part of love that is generous, forgiving, encouraging, and unconditional. It's the part of love that empowers you to fill in the gaps rather than notice what's lacking in your spouse. Grace asks, "How can I help you?" instead of growing frustrated or bitter when your spouse isn't measuring up to your standard.

Bringing criticism, judgment, and self-righteousness into your marriage is all too easy. Saying "Why didn't you…" "You should have…" or "I told you so" requires no effort. But being gracious is what we need in marriage, and that's what Christ calls us to be. We're human. We're going to disappoint one another. We 're not always going to meet each other's needs.

When you are fully aware of your own weaknesses and of the ways you fall short of the glory of God, you are more likely to show your partner a gracious attitude. God's Word reminds us that "love covers." How can you cover your spouse with the love of grace today?

Dear Lord, search me, O God, and know my heart (Psalm 139:23). Soften my heart and make me willing to adopt a gracious attitude toward my spouse. Where I have been unforgiving, harsh, judgmental, or bitter toward my spouse, Lord, I am sorry and ask Your forgiveness. If we need to talk about an issue, Lord, I pray our conversation will lead us both to a gracious attitude toward one another. If there's something I need to be quiet about or just to accept, give me willingness and strength. Lord, I pray that my attitude toward my spouse will reflect Your gracious love. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

 
 
This exerpt is from Melanie Chitwood's blog...check it out!

Back in business!

Oh, hallelujah!! My daughter is showing definitive signs of feeling better from that dreadful DOUBLE ear infection. I can't even express my joy in words!

You see, this girl was a c-o-m-p-l-e-t-e basket case for...oooh, probably 3 weeks or so before we decided that something had to give...the whining, fussing, and crying was sending mommy & daddy over the top!!! Basket-case baby=basket-case parents!! Not sleeping well at night, not napping well during the day, not eating well, draining enough boogies to clean out a box of tissues in about 4 days...she felt miserable and our nerves were nearly rubbed completely raw. I was pretty positive that I would never have another kid...ever. YES, it was that bad! So stressful...ugh. I actually feel pretty bad that it took us 3ish weeks to take her to the pediatrician...but, in our defense we've all been fighting a nasty case of the snots & coughs for weeks now...and we all know that antibiotics do nothing for viral bugs...which is what Eric found out after his first round of azithromycin that did absolutely nothing for him (I tried to tell him...but he doesn't listen to the wife...even though I'm a NURSE!). Anyway, amoxicillin has done wonders for my baby girl and I'm hoping we can all stop being sick now for awhile! Going back & forth from the sitter whose family is struggling with their own set of sickies creates a vicious cycle for our families. Good news is, baby girl is smiling, giggling, curious, playful, and oh-so-sweet again!! Thank You Lord!!

Playing in the Snow!

Winter is getting a little boring around here. No walks, no playing outside, no swingset, no zoo....just plain old boring. I've been trying to make lots of playdates with Ava's little friends lately, and we go to the library for toddler time a couple days a week trying to prevent serious cabin fever. We'll definitely be getting back outside once the temperature rises a little!! For now though, we just dress up in our snow gear and get outside for a quick puff of fresh air.

Lil marshmallow puff girl ... :o)

She's so serene sometimes...just taking it all in. :)

My snow angel... 0:-)

Checkin' out the fluffy white stuff.

There's always time for peek-a-boo!

Uh-oh, mittens are coming off...time to go inside. :o)

Growing Too Fast!!

My daughter is growing too fast. I want to bundle her up in a warm fuzzy blanket and snuggle with her again. That stage went entirely too fast...I blinked, and it was over. Anyway, I'm trying to keep up with her and enjoy every last second of every stage. She's a little person with a HUGE personality nowadays. The words are flying out of her mouth faster everyday. Cracker, ice, cheese (CHEEEE, is what we hear...alllllll day long:), dog, kitty, mama, daddy, please...I mean, they're never ending. She says the beginning of many words after she hears us say them. It's fantastic...we love her to death and are eating up every second of her toddler hood...cause Lord knows this stage too, will be gone before we know it.

She loves this chair and her books...she certainly doesn't sit still long enough to flip through every page...but still loves looking though them.

She likes watching our mouths move when we read to her...I wonder what exactly she's thinking. I wonder what she's thinking a lot of the time.

Portia gets hugs all day long from Ava. She's been really into hugging things lately...us, her babies, Portia, kitty. She also loves picking things up and carrying them around...things as in big things...bigger than her usually...but she manages to lift her couch up and carry it across the room...grunting the entire way. ;o)

Such a snuggle bug. And Portia eats it up...every last hug she can get. :o)

The child loves tomato sauce...I don't know what we'll do when we're out of our canned tomato sauce. It's such a mess to clean up...but by the look on her face, she can't get enough of it!

Yep, she's still got it...the kissy face...pucker lips...whatever you wanna call it. :o)

Let Your Inner Health-Nut Shine!

I find that the hardest meal of the day to prepare is lunch. I always struggle with what healthy & quick meals to give Ava...especially because she's only got 6 teeth! The easiest would be things like Dora shaped mac & cheese, hotdogs, spagetti-o's, bologna sandwich...stuff that I remember eating for lunch as a kid. BUT, then the OCD-health-nut side of my brain takes over and since so many people have asked me lately some good ideas for quick and healthy meals I will just share some ideas from our house. :o)

 ~ Whole wheat spinach & ricotta cheese ravioli with our homemade canned tomato sauce...

~ Whole wheat toast with organic peanut butter & jam...

~ Frozen broccoli, peas & carrots, bite sized butternut squash, edamame...

 ~ Bits of cheese (Ava loves Babybel cheese!) ...

~ Homemade canned peaches...

~ Kiwi, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, bananas...

~ Homemade mac & cheese made with whole wheat elbows & organic cheddar cheese....

~ Pieces of baked chicken leftover from dinner last night...

~ A brown rice, tomato, black bean, ground beef mixture used for our stuffed peppers...

~ Unsalted Ritz crackers make great snacks...we buy the Whole Foods 365 brand of these and Ava loooves 'em!

(Don't forget about leftovers! You can freeze leftovers and heat them up for quick & healthy lunches...also good when you're having something spicy for dinner and need a 2nd meal for little ones.)

~ Happy Baby (all organic) makes some great toddler meals too--Ava loves Salmon Stix & Veggie Tots! Okay--they're a bit pricey--but they almost always have Buy One Get One Free coupons inside the box...which to me is worth it!!

~ Organic cereal bars are fantastic as snacks...they are soft enough for Ava to bite pieces off, and they don't fall apart and get all crumbly & messy...the best part. Barbara's Bakery makes a great fruit & yogurt bar!  One of these is usually Ava's afternoon snack...with a little milk or juice on the side. :)  I actually, on a whim, gave Ava a nutri-grain bar and she spit it out like it was dog food...oh my, I'm creating a miniature food snob...

~ When it comes right down to it, I think the most important component to well-rounded meal preparing for toddlers is providing foods with a variety of colors. I always shoot for at least 3-4 different colors on Ava's plate when I prepare any meal for her. That goes for our meals as well!!

So, there are a few ideas for healthy meals & snacks. I always think its helpful when I read healthy meal options for toddlers in magazines & on other peoples' blogs. From one mom to another--happy meal makin' !!

Just Some Random Cuteness ...

Just wanted to throw these totally random pictures from the last couple days on here... enjoy!

Just playing with her popper! Ava has been fighting a bug for what seems like a month now!! We have all had serious sinus issues actually..runny & stuffy noses...awful coughs...and Ava had a fever last week. I can't express to you how ready I am for it to be spring!!!!!!! Since that isn't likely to happen anytime soon, I would at least be relieved if all of us could get rid of the SNOTS!!!

Classic fridge shot. I saw yesterday that Ava's 2nd cousin Allie also loves to play in the fridge! :) It sounds like this chilly reservoir is an obsession for many kiddos this age!

Just my boo-bear...looking cute. :o)

She's incredibly ornery these days!! And I'm not sure why, but she has literally been attached to my hip for the past week. She's not interested in playing with anything...she just wants me to hold her...and she's perfectly content to watch me try to do laundry with one arm. :o) Maybe it's this bug she's fighting that's got her extra clingy. She's also been adjusting to one nap a day lately. That was totally her idea...not mine. She began putting up the biggest fight for her 2nd nap, so we've eliminated the morning nap and are trying to get her used to taking a nap after lunch. Otherwise, one nap in the morning makes it far too long without sleep before bedtime.

Nice buddha belly, Ava.  Target has the cutest toddler clothes out right now, by the way...in case anyone is looking...I had to talk myself into leaving the store before I bought one of everything!

Trying on daddy's slippers.

Lil monster!

She has the chubbiest, kissiest cheeks...I'm not sure who she got those from? ...... ;o)

And we're trying out utensils...she actually doesn't do too bad with them! We've also totally stopped babyfood...its been awhile now...I think right around her 1st birthday we just weeded it all out. She pretty much only wanted finger foods at that point anyway. We're working on bottles next. Pretty much she only gets a bottle at bedtime right now...and she looooves that bottle. So, it will be interesting to change up her routine and leave out the bottle...she might be a little mad at us!! :o)

Ears Pierced!!

We took Ava to get her ears pierced tonight!!! She looks so cute!! She was naturally not a big fan of having me put her in a head-lock for the piercing...but she was still such a trooper! They pierced both her ears at the same time...thankfully! Only about 48 seconds of some wild wailing and it was all over...and she's got cute, girly pierced ears! :o) Oh, the things we do to our children...

Signing her life away...

"Why are we sitting here on this big tall stool, mom?"

"Hmmm...something doesn't feel right here...something in the air tells me I should be afraid!"

"MOM, why are you holding my head still--you know I hate that! And what's this lady doing on my ears!?"

"Playing with my hair does not make this situation seem any lighter, mom!"

"OH MY GOSH, SHE'S GOT ME IN THE HEAD-LOCK!! AND TWO STRANGE LADIES ARE COMING AT ME AT THE SAME TIME WITH BIG GUN LOOKING THINGYS!! AHHHH"

"WHAT IN THE WORLD JUST HAPPENED?!! Oh, that was horendous!! I knew something wasn't right here!! MOTHER--You Traitor!!!"

"OH STOP..can't you just get off me lady? I don't care if that cotton ball is supposed to make my ears feel better...Oh, I am so OVER this day! Take me home right now....oooh where's my daddy?"

"Ahhh, my daddy...my savior...the man of the hour...oh, how you just saved me from that traitor of a mother of mine!!"

"Yay! I'm on my sofa! What's that you say? Do I remember that awful experience from the mall? Naaah...what ear piercing? I don't remember anything about this ear piercing business. Can I have more juice?"

THE END...