Week 17

So week 17 was FULL.  We had a blizzard at the end of week 16 which allowed me a day off of work due to the nearly 4-5 feet snow drifts we experienced.  My grandmother passed away on Friday of last week, which was difficult, but also a relief.  She had been suffering for such a long time, its nice to know she is finally at peace.  The funeral and visitation allowed us to see a lot of family we haven't seen in a while and we even babysat our niece Gianna for a few hours while Jim and Ang had dinner with some of their friends who live in GR. 

Saturday was Gianna's first birthday party...she looked SUPER cute!  She's almost walking and saying "oooh" to almost everything these days.  So precious!

I have an appointment on Monday with my midwife and am excited to make our ultrasound appointment at which we will find out the sex!  Should be in the next 2-3 weeks!  I am beyond excited!!!  My belly is starting to pop out a tad and I think this might be the first week I gain a little weight!  I was starting to think maybe it wasn't a baby in there after all..just some bad Chinese food or something.  This week the baby is the size of a large sweet onion!

Bless me blogger, it has been.....I lost count? since my last confession..err post :)

Well...to be fair I did WARN that my blogging may not last.  In fact, I had given up on blogging all together, deciding to never look back, until most recently I've been inspired by a few friends to get back to it.  I suppose I did not have much to say before, I'm much wittier in person than in type.  But now that our lives have completely changed I think blogging is TOTALLY in order.

In May of 2010 we decided to start trying to have a baby.  What a relief to be off birth control for the first time in a long time and actually be hoping and praying for a little surprise.  Even though we had been married for over a year when we started trying, with me being in grad school, an early baby would have presented quite a scheduling dilemma.  After 6 months, we finally received the answer to our prayers!  I never expected it to take that long, and to be honest, I started to feel extremely discouraged and became obsessed with all things baby, fertility, etc.  During that 6 months I acquired an obsession for pregnancy tests, particularly ones at the dollar store.  I used to buy 10 or so at a time!  I would test one or two times a day, even before the recommended testing time.  For some reason I had it in my head that I could WILL the test to be positive.  I tried looking at it in lamp light, sun light, fluorescent light..everything.  After Glen started figuring out what I was doing he put a stop to it right away, and I wasn't allowed to purchase another test until I  had a late period.

Glen's 28th birthday was on November 6th and on the 7th his parents returned from a 2 week trip to Hawaii.  We celebrated their return and Glen's birthday at the Japanese Hibachi restaurant Ichiban, here in Grand Rapids.  I was due for my period that day.  At the end of the meal we all got a fortune cookie, and mine said "You will soon be greeted by a much anticipated guest".  As weird as it is, I knew then that I was pregnant.  I was only one day late, and I waited ALL day the next day at work for my period.  Eating tums by the handful for the awful heartburn I was experiencing.  By the end of the day, I still had not started, so on my way home I stopped at the store for a digital test.  I had to see it in writing..no interpretative light maneuvers, no opening the thing up to see if I could convince it from the inside to say positive.  I had to know.  It was POSITIVE.  I couldn't contain myself.  Glen was due home from work any minute and luckily there was a lingering gift bag sitting on the kitchen table, so I wrapped the test up and told Glen that he had one more gift for his birthday.  He couldn't believe it!  After all this time we were finally going to have a baby.

Things since then have been wonderful.  Sans the vomiting, exhaustion, etc.  But I wouldn't trade it for the world.  I spent my first trimester being VERY averted to foods.  Mostly I wanted gummy worms, spaghettios, or McDonald's.  I usually went to bed by 8 at the latest, and had very little motivation to do anything else.  Luckily, Glen has been an amazing helper.  He took over the dishes, the cooking, the cleaning..pretty much everything except my schoolwork and my job so that I could focus on resting.

I am now 16 weeks and 5 days pregnant.  I'm starting to show a little bump, and I'm feeling the baby fluttering and flipping around ALL the time.  I've always heard of people describing how close they feel to their baby while pregnant..and the fetal movement has really made me aware of this.  Obviously we are connected, but it is the most joyful thing in the world to feel that little tickle. We certainly feel very blessed.

The baby and I have been doing some prenatal yoga, and we're looking forward to the snow melting so that we can take some nice walks with Enzo.  In another month we get to find out the sex.  My Mom and I painted the nursery and Glen put together our furniture.  I'm just waiting for the final say on the gender so that I can get to decorating some more.  We ended up choosing a gender neutral color for the walls.  I love green for both girls and boys (Not so into the girly pepto pink or expected baby blue) and finally settled on Whispering Willow by Valspar at Lowes. 

I have to say this is the absolute most exciting time in my life.  I am loving every minute of being pregnant, even though that first trimester was rough.

Disney or bust!

In two short days, Glen and I will be Disney bound for a magical 7 night 8 day stay at the Disney Resort..so excited! This vacation is much needed..my stress level has been in the red zone for quite some time, as if it were a level of possible terrorist attack..I would officially be on HIGH ALERT. Outbursts of frustration and meltdowns in Meijer parking lots are over OFFICIALLY as of RIGHT NOW. I am in the middle of a glorious 15 days off of work! Not that I don't love my job, but the time off before the trip to Disney helped me successfully finish my leadership final project for school and oversee the installation of 17 brand new windows in our house!

Before:














After:










This trip falls just before our 1 year anniversary and I have to say that regardless of the stresses I complain about, this year has been the absolute best year of my life. In December I blogged a posting about my hopes and dreams for this year and so far so good. I can't say that I've become more patient, but we have settled into our beautiful home, I'm loving my new job, I've been crafting away to de-stress, we found a great church and we are closer than ever. I had a conversation about this with my Erin a few nights ago over some Cinco de Mayo margaritas...about how I feel more in love with my husband now than I was the day I said "I do" and how amazing that feels. Erin is in the middle of planning her August 2011 wedding and I couldn't be more thrilled for her and Jake and I pray they experience the same blessings Glen and I have.

Happy Anniversary to my amazing husband and my best friend. I cannot thank you enough for your love, support, compassion, and patience. We have been so blessed this year and have experienced so many changes, I can't wait to see what this next year together brings us!

Showtime teaser

So this month, Comcast's OnDemand is allowing us basic cablers to view showtime for 1 month. Perfect! I've been dying to watch Nurse Jackie which I've heard is a HOOT from some friends at work and from schoolmates- apparantly it demeans, demoralizes and disgusts the nursing profession. Sounds like its just up my alley. So what do I do? Pull a couple all nighters (normal for my night shift self) to tune into the entire first season and I'm officially hooked. I'm now as addicted to this show as Nurse Jackie is to Percocet, Oxycontin, Vicodin or any other narcotics she can sleep her way towards. This lady snorts, swallows and chews pills that she gets from the pharmacist she's currently having an affair with and her nose is now starting to bleed. The pharmacist has just been replaced with a pyxis and is losing his job and just before he leaves, he teaches her how to unplug the thing to reset the pill count. As you can tell, this is tv perfection. I have to applaud Comcast, really. I'm now looking into how much it'll cost me to add showtime to our menu. Effing geniuses.

Holidays, houses and progress!

What a blessing this year has been: I married by best friend, continued to learn more and more at my job about how to help people become well, brought a puppy into our lives, and now have just purchased our first home. I also just accepted a job in the Critical Care Unit at my home hospital Battle Creek Health Systems. A couple more weeks til Christmas and then we move, my new job starts, and I finish my first semester of grad school. Since the end of this year is almost here I've been doing a lot of thinking about things I want to work on for next year. I have never been a fan of New Years resolutions, except for I probably work out more often in January than any other month of the year. Here's what I'm wishing for this year:

I wish I was more crafty, more patient, more thoughtful, more considerate of other's feelings. I wish I was a better listener, less of a talker and that I could say my actions always reflected my true feelings. I wish my relationship with God was closer, and that I woke up for church more often. I hope this year to find a home church where both Glen and I feel comfortable, where we can meet new friends and have fellowship with others.
I hope that I can truly relate to my patients and their families this year. I hope to be more patient with their needs, and roll my eyes less when they ask me for little favors that I often feel too busy to help them out with. I hope that my studies continue to go well, and I honestly hope to find a mentor for my practice. As I venture further into the ciricculum, its become apparant to me how little I know about what I ACTUALLY want to end up doing.
I hope Glen and I can continue to stay as close as we are, and that our marriage will continue to fufill us.
I hope our families continue to be healthy, and blessed.

Thats a lot to ask for, but hey, go big or go home right?
~Abby

Tired and cranky

So I worked last night my normal shift 5p-5a and got home this morning wide awake..which is a first for me. I tried and tried to fall asleep but once Glen was up and moving around I really couldn't rest at all. I decided with the puppy coming that maybe after shifts I should try and get in a workout, do some housework, etc. and then later take a nap in attempt to be a little more normal on my days off. I think the dog is going to SERIOUSLY require close supervision during the day and I'd feel bad having him be cooped up alone while I was sleeping away. No more sleeping all day.

I'm going to have to mourn this time in my life. I think this might be it for my lazy days. I really have had it easy for the past 2 years since graduation: work 3 days a week, no real responsibilities on days off except for shopping of course. So with the pup coming soon and school starting in 5 days (YIKES!) I am saying "farewell" to my "me" time. It's been so lovely. See you at retirement!

Everything else is going well with us. We're looking forward to having my family over for a Labor Day Sunday bbq! Even Jim and Angela are making the trek over from Detroit to stay with us overnight and also visit some of their GR friends.

Hope everyone has a safe and relaxing holiday!

Welcome to bloggin? Let's see how long this lasts...

So I haven't blogged since the days of Xanga circa freshman year at GVSU straight from my dorm room in good old Weed Hall (great name for a dorm). Hopefully this venture be more successful than the potted plants I insisted I would take care of. Now I just let the rain do the watering and hope Glen reminds me to water the inside plants before they turn brown and start smelling.

News from our house mostly includes our new addition! No no no..I am NOT having a baby, nor do I intend to until after grad school. We are getting a little cockapoo puppy! He is a 1st generation toy cockapoo (mom is a cocker spaniel, dad is a toy poodle)! We found him on puppyfind.com and fell in love over the internet. Last week Glen and I took a mini road trip up north to the middle of nowhere michigan also known as Mio, MI to take a peek at the little guy. At my first glance of him all I could say was "Where do I sign?" The breeder is a really sweet lady who loves her dogs and breeds periodically. The pup is only 20 days old and cute as a button! He's white with some tan spots and we've decided to name him Enzo. Name inspiried by the absolute best waiter on the face of this earth whom you can visit anytime at the 28th Pizza Hut in GR. Greatest guy ever, very friendly, considerate and always keeps your lemonade glass full! (He even gives you extra marinara free of charge) I later googled the name Enzo and found it means "Master of the house" which seems fitting since I'm sure he will soon take over our lives but we couldn't be more excited!

School starts back up for me next week. I'm nervous and excited at the same time. I finished my first class during a one week residency on campus the 2nd week of August at Spring Arbor where I learned tons about using technology in a way to help further my education, career and the practice of nursing. I thought it was great and really enjoyed meeting my classmates. My next class is completely online and I'm sure requires lots of research, writing and online discussion forums. Good thing I'm becoming so very tech savy. I can even SKYPE now! Who knew one week away at grad school would turn me into a techy geek. Glen's proud but patiently waiting for me to end my love afair with my laptop. (Get comfy honey, it's become an extension of my body!)

Work is the same old thing, lots of complaining patients, lack of staff and GSW's this summer. Battle Creek seemed great growing up however now seems a lot more like Detroit than the streets I ran around as a child playing hide and seek type games called Bloody Murder. Name seems fitting now seeings to how so many young people seem to be attempting to solve all of life's problems and arguments with deadly weapons. I'm still appreciating ER for the experiences I've had and all that I've learned. My contract is up a year from this Christmas and I'm eager to move on to something clinically different and excited to find a job in the same city where I live. Driving is getting annoying. I'm trying to decide what area to work in next. I figure I have 3 years left of time as a Registered Nurse before moving onto Advanced practice (which I'm so pumped about). Any suggestions? I'm thinking maybe surgery. We'll see.