Firsts...

'

I realized after my last post that I have been blessed to be there for sooooo many firsts with Wesley and the wonderful memories we have created as a family.

 Here's a few I figured I'd share with you :)

First Family Photo

First time being put on display!

First time meeting Grandma Donna

First time meeting Godmomma Nicole

First time meeting Nana Nancy

First time meeting Papa Jim

First time meeting Great-Grandma Kinane

First car ride!

First time meeting MARLEY!

First day Home!

First time meeting Great Nana!

First time meeting Auntie Vick!

First time in my crib!

Watching his first Giants game!

After my first bath!

First time rocking a pair of Vans!

First time playing on my playmat!

First playdate!

First Birthday party I went to!

First Thanksgiving!

First time Haylee held Wesley!

Wesley's First Ornament!

Wesley's First Christmas!

Wesley's First Valentine's Day!

Wesley's First ER visit!

First time meeting the Z's!

First road trip!

First St. Patrick's Day!

First time Wesley rolled over!

First time mommy let Marley and Wesley play together!

First Easter!

First "dog bite"!

First swing experience!

First time in the pool!

First Strawberry Festival!

First Baseball Game!

First Family Vacation!

First time in a life preserver!

First "light-up" toy experience!

First Concert!

First bubble bath!

First Fourth of July!

First ODU Football game!

First Wine Festival!

First ODU Homecoming!

FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!

First time picking a pumpkin!

First time petting a goat!

First Trick or Treat!

First Giants Jersey!

First mohawk!

I'm grateful for all the firsts, the seconds, the thirds and the ones to come.

I am SO grateful.

Walky Walkerton

Whelp, we officially have a TODDLER!!!!! Baton down the hatches life is about to get crazier...

A few nights ago our little 15 month-old took his first steps!!! Ok that is actually a lie. He took his first steps towards my MIL the day before he walked to us. I was crushed when she told me. I guess I was bound to miss the first of something being a full-time working mommy. When she told me I wanted to quit my job become a SAHM so I would never miss a "first thing" ever again. Who am I kidding that will never happen but whenever kiddo #2 comes along I do expect one of us to go to part-time to be with the kiddies.

Anyways back to the original subject manner...

This mommy is SO proud!

Walking...

Walking...

and we all fall down :)

Man I love this kid!

Oh, and to make up for the delay in this post here is a little diddie from tonight that makes me giggle oh.so.much. I swear his laugh is contagious :)

Giving credit where credit is due

Sometimes patients teach me instead of the other way around.

As you know I am a Nurse. Nursing is definitely a job that is not defined by one particular task and there are many areas in the workforce a nurse can go the floor (aka, the hospital), outpatient centers, surgery, administration, teaching, you get the point. Currently, I work in the Neurosurgical ICU at a Level 1 Trauma Center. So, that makes me a floor nurse. :) I LOVE where I work. It is a constant challenge. My patients range from critical to actively dying to stable to the ones just there for observation after a minor procedure. Because of where I work we get a decent amount of head traumas but the majority of what I deal with are strokes. 

Pretty crazy looking right?!?! 

Please educate yourselves about Stroke and it's signs and symptoms here! 

Time is Brain people!

So, those are the scans of my patient population. Feel a little intimidated?? 

Wait for it...

BAM! This is the general view for me at work. Ventilator. Drips. Feeding tubes. "Output" tubes. Central lines. Drains. Pressure Reading Devices. So, I'm pretty sure you just said whoa. I still get intimidated when I walk into the unit. I still cry when a patient passes. I still sometimes don't know what to say to families when they ask if their loved one is gonna make it when it is very clear that they are not. And sometimes I really really really just don't know.

ICU nurses sometimes get a bad wrap for being know-it-alls, b*tches, heartless, etc, etc. I refuse to ever allow myself to be like that; I care too much. I try very hard to not be a judgmental nurse either. Some patients I get for self induced reasons and others I get for unforeseeable reasons.

This post actually all stemmed from a patient I had recently. She was young. Scared. Even through the sedation and pain drip she was able to follow commands. Sometimes doctors tend to come in do what they got to do and leave. Well that's just what this doctor did. Came in, ripped off dressings, replaced them and left. I immediately increased her pain pump and sedation and held her hand until he was finished. I sat with her for an hour afterwards calming her back down. 

 My little lady who was scared as scared could be had actually chosen to take her own life and survived her self-inflicted injury. She regrets her decision and is grateful she survived. Her road to recovery will be long. She now knows there are people who love her and has begun the healing process with her family. It doesn't matter to me why she was there I am just grateful I was able to help her through it.  

Since coming to the ICU I have begun to value life a little more. Say I love you more to my family members. Hug more people. Reach out to friends I haven't seen in awhile. Tried to make amends in relationships where I can. Have more patience with people who tend to irritate me. And really try and let the trivial things go. We are not guaranteed tomorrow. 

Nursing is a lot of things but my number #1 is to care. 

And I think we all need to laugh after this oh.so.seriousness...

I love these things. They make me giggle. Nurses have a very twisted sense of humor. 

Still not laughing???

Go here O.M.G funniest stuff EVER!!!

Also, if you or someone you care about is having suicidal thoughts please reach out. 

Your Life Your Voice You Are Loved!

Spring Cleaning

Oh me, oh my! What a whirlwind of a weekend. So, not only did I work Friday through Sunday I decided it was time to reorganize Wesley's room. He has an overwhelming obscene amount of toys and clothes and just STUFF, everywhere. His things have began to even gather into the rest of our household and our home has become overwhelmingly cluttered! As evidence by:

 And this (don't mind the Christmas decor...):

We live in a 1200 sq. ft apartment and we utilize every spare inch of closet space we can. We needed a solution so I thought hmmmmmmm Wesley needs a toy chest. I didn't want one with a lid due to the possibility that Wes could possibly pinch his little fingers. I found this mamma jamma on Pinterest but in dark blue; you can find it here:

If you clicked the link you'll find this sucker costs $94. A bit pricey for a toy chest. My oh.so.amazing.Amazon.searching FIL found it at a beautiful lower cost at Walmart for $60. That's a $34 difference!!!

While I don't have any pictures of what Wesley's room looked before we started moving things around, I do have a few random shots from before he was born and then after (ha! you can totally tell too):

As you can see the bottom picture was during one of Wesley's famous closet de-bulkings.

But this what his room looks like now:

Ah, this makes mommy so happy. (And I really despise mirrored closet doors!) I also went through and boxed all of his 6-9 month clothes. Because this kid is finally ALL 12 month clothes. Ugh, #shortpeopleproblems!

I also purchased this fabric and supplies for my first sewing project! Hint Hint Hint :) Lol! Not really a hint more like a give-away!

Excited to see if I can pull it off. Stay tuned...

I do what I do and that is all I can do, right?!?

Momma always said life was about balance. A little of this, a dash of that and a splash of "secret sauce"and there you have it.  Balance. I really try to be the Pinterest-it-all, craft-til-my-ears-bleed, all-organic-gluten-free-recipe making mom but let's face it some days I don't have the energy to even push the button on my Kuerig. Sad really. 

I work full time (sometimes overtime) and my husband works full time and Wes is well Wes. I work night shift at the hospital which means my shift runs from 7pm to 7am. I give report to on-coming shift and normally leave the floor around 7:40 am then home by 8:30 am. I stay up with Wes til he goes down for a nap around 10:30/11 and sleep only when he sleeps. That is the only sleep I will get. Somethings have to give so if I can't create oh-so-cute dinosaur shaped fresh baked bread, turkey and cheddar sandwiches while he naps I really don't feel so bad. 

So back to balance. I have been doing this oh.so.stupid sleep deprivation to myself for about a year now and I'm done. Like super done with going 48 hour periods with only getting 3 hours of sleep. Enter, weekend nights. I worked weekend nights before. You get your three nights done in a row then have four nights off and the pay is not too bad to supplement working strict weekends either. That ensures me more sleep and an increase to the household fund age. Ahhh, balance. Feels good.

So come March I'm pretty sure I'm going be happier which makes Jimmy happier. Remember:

Happy wife, happy life.

And I'm pretty sure these are the images you have in your mind about night nurses...

Sorry to disappoint.

Why hello again

It's almost been a year since I wrote on this do-hicky. Whoa! Before you pull out the remarks about how much I suck at blogging let's come to the understanding that I had NO CLUE time went this quick! Where did the year go?!?! You know what has happened in a year??? Wes turned ONE. We got another dog. Jimmy and I both changed jobs. We got fish. Okay it really doesn't seemed like much has happened other than our apartment becoming an extension of Animal Jungle but it sure feels like it has!!

For instance the last time I blogged Wes looked like this:

Now he looks like this:

We only had ONE of these:

Now we have TWO:

Oh and THESE:

So enough of the pets.

Let's catch you up on other news.

Jimmy has taken on a different job description but due to the companies "no-blogging" clause I can't talk about what he does. Which makes it sound so dangerous and sexy. Reality, it is not. 

I am no longer working on a Trauma-Stepdown. I have made the full head-on swan dive into the ICU. The Neurosurgical ICU at that. Round of applause, thank you so much. It has a beautiful 2:1 ratio but don't let the meager thought of two patients to one nurse fool you. It is INTENSE. Most days I come home and cry or am utterly exhausted. It is mentally, emotionally and physically challenging and I LOVE IT!! Best decision ever made. EVER!

So, Wesley. Our dear Wesley. We should have named him CRAZY! He is the sweetest thing next to strawberry jelly but the kid just goes, goes, GOES! I am not kidding and he isn't even walking on his own yet. He will walk holding one of our hands, along the furniture, in-between the furniture, behind his stroll-a-long puppy walker-thingy but the kid refuses to take a step on his own. Lazy. That is primarily his only "delay". Other than that his Noonan's Syndrome has no real effect on him. We were given clearance by his cardiologist for a year (yay!) and only go every 6 months to his other doctors for routine check-ins. Educate yourself on Noonan's here. We have been truly blessed. Once we get clearance from his Hematologist he will have to have a minor operation; nothing serious just think of it as a little help for his "boys".

So maybe Ill actually get into this blogging thing again or maybe I won't. I just felt a re-vamp was due. :)

Stay tuned...

Once upon a dream...

I thought I'd travel the globe a lone soul and I was sincerely okay with that thought. I am so glad that life intervened because I am one super lucky lady...yeah go ahead and call me spoiled!

Married the LOVE of my life!

Finished school and started my career!

I have the coolest Mom ever who happens to be a cancer SURVIVOR!

I became a mother to my perfect little miracle!

We beat the Pats AGAIN! YEAH SUPER BOWL CHAMPS!

I love it all!!

SN: Wes is 5 months old!