More Photos from Chicago

As you know for the end of October we went to Chicago. As you also know, Hurricane Sandy prevented us from coming home which equalled an extra day in Chicago. It was awesome! My sister lives in a beautiful little town, and the accessibility to parks made me jealous. Anyway, the kids all together had all sorts of fun, and seeing them do yard work made me wish I had a yard. Anyway, here are some pictures from the adventures in leave raking...

 

All the kids were excited to help, Makayla preferred to help her Joe-Joe.

 Here, we were trying to encourage the kids to jump in the pile of leaves, instead, they preferred to rake them..

 Makayla saw that Jacob was watching, he became her baby, and she wanted to kiss him ALL.THE.TIME.

 Don't worry, the kids were supervised. I think Jaime loved the fact that they yard was getting raked. I LOVED raking the leaves, it made me wish I had a yard.

Makayla is looking at her work. She loved the rake, maybe for next year, I will get her her own.

 

She tried to be gentle, but really enjoyed kissing Jacob. She really loved him, and misses him. She talks about Jacob, Joe-Joe, Joe-Joe's mama and Joe-Joe's dada all the time. Other than the drive home, I think she enjoyed herself. I know that I miss it and cannot wait until our next trip. Thanks Jaime for having us!

Today is a milestone

Today I will be running in my 6th race of the year. While that is not a lot to some people, it makes me energized! I only did 2 races in all of last year, but, since I only started in Sept that makes sense.  I have no idea how many more I will do this year. Hopefully this race will be my leaping point into my healing and my training for more 1/2 marathons. Instead of doing 3 2 weeks apart, I think for my health benefit I should do 1 a month, that would still give me my 3. But, before I cross that bridge, I have to see how my 4 mile run goes today.
I have never run this race before, it is really close to me, and from running this trail myself, it is really flat. Flat is what I need right now, I was told to embrace hills a little later in my running, which is kinda hard living here, but I do what I can to avoid hills. Hopefully it won't be too hot out, but I will enjoy every moment of this running milestone for me. I know the first half was a HUGE milestone, and running 3 in 3 months will be another one, but today, is a mini milestone and I can't wait until how many more there will be.

Happy Birthday USA! Happy 4th of July to all of you! And no matter what you do, just do it and have fun!

What I ate Friday

I have decided that quite possibly I don't enough calories in the morning for breakfast. I am not going to over indulge, I just think I need more. I found this awesome, yummy recipe and I made it today. I didn't take any pictures, but if I make it tomorrow I will just to share.
It's called easy mug eggs..
You take 1 12 oz coffee mug and spray it with nonstick cooking spray
Add 2 eggs and 2 Tbsp milk
Mix together and then put in microwave for 45 seconds.
Mix again and microwave another 30-45 seconds (I did 45 seconds)
Then you are supposed to top it with 2 Tbsp of shredded cheese and salt and pepper. I added a dash of pepper, no salt and maybe 1 Tbsp of shredded cheese.
Let me just tell you, it was the easiest tastiest breakfast yet.
I also added 2 pieces of thin wheat bread and I feel like I have eaten enough now to make it to lunch time.
According to my pal Hal, today is a rest day. So, I am going to do housework and homework. Have a great Friday!

Monday Randomness (In bullet points)

* What a long weekend I have had, was on call on Thursday night which led into Friday morning, worked Friday 3-11 was on call all day Saturday and Sunday with each day rolling into the next day, for example last night's call, yep got a call at 0440 this am to be at work for 6am. So yesterday rolled into today.
*Makayla is trying to walk. Legit walking...like took 5 steps today before she gave up...
*We are looking at doing a lease to own for our next residence, thanks to my cousin Jason. He just started working at a company that does this, and with a percentage of the rent going towards the eventual purchase. I am looking at it tomorrow to see if it is even worth our potential rent/purchase.
* Working out and running are going. Down 34 pounds since May but definitely getting there.
* Makayla is still sick, sounds like she is getting better, but will know for sure on Wed.
*First semester of school is almost finished, finals next week in one class, next month in the other.
Well, there isn't much more to say going on right now, AND I have to go to work. Hopefully, I will be able to blog more to vent/catch you up on my life. No pictures today, but I will post some tomorrow.

A month...

My dearest Makayla,

You are 5 weeks old officially tomorrow. You went to the doctor's yesterday and had your second Hep B vaccine. You cried for a hot minute, not when they stuck you with that needle, but when they injected the vaccine into your little thigh. You weighed in at 10 pounds 8 oz in the 90th percentile and at 23 inches, the 95th percentile. Your physical went well although the doctor heard what he called an innocent murmur. To make sure that it is nothing major, we go for an Echocardiogram on Saturday morning. A bunch of mommy's friends have been telling her that their kids had this murmur and that everything will be fine, so we are praying that will be the case. Aunt Bet (Nana's sister) said that there is a 10% chance that it is something to be worried about. However, you know me and my faith, I believe everything will be fine. I can't believe how much you have grown in five weeks! You grew from this...









And have grown into this sweet precious piece of love.

Unfortunately, my time on maternity leave is just about over. It makes me really sad that I can't be home with you all the time. To watch you amaze me every moment, to shower you with nonstop love. Trust me, it's not easy going back to work, and that day is going to be filled with lots of tears. The 8 weeks that follow will not give us a lot of time together, but we will push through and we will be fine. "Auntie" Carissa will be watching you, and mommy knows you are in good hands. She is coming to our house so that you don't have to go out into the cold and so that the environment is the same for you. This will be a big adjustment for both of us. Then, come April, will hopefully bring spring, and mommy going to work at 3 in the afternoon. While I won't be home to put you to bed ( I am still hoping you wake up at midnight for a feeding so that I can do it), we will have all morning together. As the weather warms up you and I will be going on walks, and I am sure Pop-Pop will join us too. But mommy will use the time as mommy and you time! April will also bring taking you to daycare, another adventure for mommy. But, you will only be there 3 hours a day, and I think it will be good for you. You will get to play with other children and maybe make some friends ;) Weekends will be family time, and of course visits with your cousin Shae, Nana and Pop-Pop and Uncle Ryan and Tia Rachel. You have no idea how much you have changed me. How you have put things in perspective for me. I truly believe that you are...

You have helped mommy put things in perspective, and focus on what is truly important. But, before we worry away our time together, just know that mommy loves you oh so much. I never knew I could love someone as much as I love you. You melt my heart over and over every day. I can't wait to watch you grow and your personality flourish. January is almost over, so next month you get your first Valentine's Day. Mommy can't wait! I love you my pumpkin and I hope you know that.

Update, life version

You will see why that is the title after future update...
SO, I have been MIA for a while...sorry about that. My new job had a lot of requirements of me, and I wanted to focus all of my energy on that. It has been 3 weeks since I started my new job and I love it! The next two weeks we are in clinical M-F from 0700-0330, so hopefully I will get to scrub and circulate and get to put some of this new knowledge to the test. On Friday we had a midterm, I think I did fine, I did my best, just waiting to see how it went. As I was studying, I was reviewing the quizzes that we took throughout the first month of the job, I remember how I felt when I took the quizzes, and I was able to laugh now at how I thought I was never going to get it. Now, I am like wow, that really wasn't a big deal. So far so good. The week of August 2, I will be away with my family! I can't wait for the family vacation, I wish hubs could go, but school is priority now, and we will figure out a way to get him a mini vacation.
On the baby front, I had a scare on Thursday, but since I had a doctor's appointment already scheduled, I just called to see if they could move my time up. Turns out the pain I was having had nothing to do with Femus, just intestinal pain for which I started medications for, and then we got to hear the heart beat! It sounded great, we also got to hear the static from the baby moving, and man was femus moving! I told the doctor that I couldn't wait to feel the baby move, and he asked if he could get it in writing. The hubs seemed to like this OB, he even took the time to ask him how he was doing. Hopefully I can make more appointments with him in the future.
Other than that the Hubs has been working a lot! He started classes last week, and made every class except Thursday :( Which I feel is my fault but he insisted that he be there for the appointment because me and femus are his priority. I feel so lucky to have an awesome husband, and hope that the pregnancy continues to go well so he doesn't have to miss any more classes.
My in laws came in yesterday, and it was the first time that some of them met. I think it went well. My father in law, step mother in law, and niece all got to meet my brother in law's fiance for the first time. Angie is awesome, and due with their first baby August 1. Looking at her you would swear she could deliver any day. I keep my fingers crossed that their daughter Bella will wait until she is ready to make her entrance into this world. (My brother-in-law thinks that when they go to the doctor's on Monday he can tell the doctor he wants the baby now and that the doctor will make Bella come out...)
I got the best text message from one of my friends yesterday. She was asking me for my address and how to spell my last name, and then curiosity strikes. Through my questioning, I found out that she is pregnant (Due Feb 5) and getting married Sept 18. She wanted my address to invite us to the wedding! I am soo excited for her. I will keep you updated on all these babies and excitement in my life.
Stay tuned...there is another update coming tomorrow!

Tuesday

June 1st already! Can you believe it? Where did May go? Wait, where did the weekend go? My sister J was here and then like that they left. It was like you blink and it's over. Rockle and crew was here and of course took pictures of the weekend to capture moments of my niece and nephew, who are best friends, enjoy every.minute together. It was awesome to see. My nephew is such a little man, he even says please and thank you and more, and it is just adorbs when he calls for my niece.
On another note, I got a job offer today! I will be staying within the current network, I will just now be learning the life of an OR nurse! For the next 9 months my life will be in the classroom and clinical learning the ins and outs of the OR. After that I will have 3 months of OR orientation and then I will be set free. It is DAY SHIFT, and M-F with no weekends or holidays! I get to be NORMAL!! Well normal when it comes to work anyway ;) The hubs told me that a full time position might be opening where he works so he will be applying for that. I am so excited! All of our prayers are being answered. Well, each day God shows his love in another way. Just keep him in your prayers!
Well, back to work I go. Looking forward to a fun filled weekend, but in the meantime it is back to my current reality, sleeping during the day and working at night.

It's all happening...

Yeah, I admit it. I have not been blogging like I used to. Hopefully, this will be the start of something new. Things have been crazy busy around the igloo, and I hope to be able to share some of that with you soon. I believe I will be relying on this blog more in the coming days, but again, this is my outlet right?!? Anyway, the latest in the igloo is that I am working a lot. Not a lot a lot, but enough that I am trying to put some money away and not need it. That is always the catch. I am currently able to put money in savings, then something comes up and I need to borrow from it. I wish either I could go without eating (just kidding) or that groceries would be cheaper (so not kidding here). Anyway, besides that Penguin and I are getting ready to move next week, we actually pick up the keys this Saturday and to say that we haven't started packing is an understatement. We.have.not.packed.a.thing. No, scratch that, I have packed the linen closest because apparently to me, that is a must do. So between work and sleep I need to go to my parents house and get some boxes. It won't really take a long time to pack, it's just getting started that is the problem. Once I get started I know it won't take me long. Then it's the moving and the cleaning of the current apartment and making sure that maintenance can fix the things in the current apartment so that we don't lose our security deposit. Penguin and I are hoping that this is our last move, unless of course we get a house by the end of next year. Again, just put that in the way back burner for now. Nothing else is really going on right now, just excited about moving and helping my folk's watch my nephew for a couple of days while they are in town. Life is kinda hectic right now, but I hope my readers (if there are any out there) haven't given up on me yet. I hope to make this a regular thing, even if it is just a line to let you know that I am alive. So please, bear with me and I promise, hopefully soon there will be more to read about.

High Hopes

...yes, I did have high hopes. High hopes that the Phillies would have won the world series, hopes that I would have bragging rights in the igloo of mine, but I digress. The Phillies did not win, but we are still National League Champions. We are still the team that last year won the pennant and still celebrated our 10,000th loss. There are a lot of what ifs and what could have been, but that won't change the outcome. It won't change the fact that my mom's secret boyfriend is Chase Utley, or that the Flyin Hawaiian is also known as Shae's Victorino cuz he's her best friend. It doesn't change how it makes us feel when they win and when they lose. What it does is it plants a seed of hope and dreams about what next year will bring. I do have to say that I am proud that the series wasn't a sweep, and that the Fighting Phils lived up their name. I am proud to be a Philadelphia Phillies Fan, and I guess I still love Penguin even though he is for the other team.

PS Say a little prayer for me, I have an interview at a top secret location today...I will tell you about it later.