Enjoying some down time...

Well, I for one am happy to be back into my routine. I think Sydney is too. She has been laying on my bed for the past couple hours. The word on teh street (aka from Izzy and Zoe's parents) that the pups slept all day Wednesday when they went home. I think they were all exhausted.

Holli and I went shopping today and I'm even more exhausted. I did find a yummy pair of pants though that were totally worth it. Anyway... here's a cute picture of my baby enjoying her "bed time" again.

(Can you see the sleepiness in her face? BTW, that's her Christmas toy-- Ellie.)

Until next time.....

Back to normal...

Well, both puppies are gone. I thought Izzy wouldn't leave until tomorrow, but unexpectedly they got back early and came and got her around 2 (a couple hours after Zoe left).
I'm exhausted!! So is Sydney... poor girl! I should be able to actually get a good night sleep tonight and not have to get up before 6 am.
Shopping tomorrow with Holli.
Alright, well I need a nap or my head is going to slam down on the keyboard, and nobody wants that.
Until next time.....

Ok, just one more....

This is the last time tonight, I promise. I was waiting to post our Christmas card because it was a present to our family. But now that everyone has theirs I can let you all see it. It's two sided. Our photographer was Joy Rugaard (Photography by Joy). She's phenomenal and very reasonably priced. Here it is...

(Front)

(Back)

This just in....

More pictures! Holli just sent them to me.

I forgot to mention before that Izzy got into some mud, so she ended up getting a bath today. Zoe got one too because she was going to Christmas dinner with us, and had to smell good apparently. Anyway... here are a few pictures from this morning.

(Holli and Zoe in their Christmas picture for Aunt Betty)

(Lisa and Zoe)

(Me and Zoe)

(Zoe and her present from us)

(Izzy during her bath. She didn't really care for it that much. And no, my dad is not choking her.)

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas All!

Today is finally coming to an end, and I'm kind of greatful. I'm tired.

We say goodbye to Zoe tomorrow. Aunt Betty probably couldn't be happier. Although the same probably goes for Zoe too. She has been good looking back, but it's just been tiring to have to carry her everywhere because she is so afraid.

Anyway.. not much too report. We took some pictures today, but they are on Holli's camera, so as soon as she gets those to me I will post some. For now here is what Zoe thought after we had finished opening presents....

I might post tomorrow if I have time. It's just me tomorrow (with a little help from Holli). Wish me luck!

Day 3: Christmas Eve Night

And so today is done. No major mishaps. Just a few growls and sneers here and there. I must say that Dad and I did okay by ourselves today. As long as we kept the two little ones apart all was well.

It didn't really feel like Christmas Eve today. Maybe it was because we didn't do our annual get together at my aunt and uncle's house. Plus we have two extra dogs running around. It has just been a very bizarre holiday.

Christmas Eve service was good. Then we had a scrumptious dinner prepared by Hol and Lisa. I don't know what it was called, but it was good. plus, Holli made cheesy potatoes. Yummy!

... I like to move it move it, I like to move it move it, I like to move it move it... move it!

Sorry.. Madagascar was just going off and that part is so catchy.

Anyway... tomorrow should be interesting. Have two puppies during present time is going to be crazy. I feel so sorry for my puppy. She looked soo tired today. I think she's going to crash by the end of all this. I'm sure she'll be glad when she can come in my room and get on my bed again. I'll definitely be glad to get back to normal.

Ok, well here are a few pictures to hold you over until tomorrow.

Merry Christmas Eve!


(This picture is so small. I'm not sure why. If you can't see... Zoe's face is all goofy.)

(Here is a picture of the three of them together... finally.)

(I saved the best for last. ADORABLE!)

Day 3: Christmas Eve Morning

Well, as the day has not quite dawned yet Dad and I are on puppy duty. Mom had to work half day and is probably secretly greatful. I slept mediocre again last night, so I'm going to be "dog tired" tomorrow. Sorry... I couldn't resist.

Izzy is a hyperactive monster and isn't afraid of anything. Her and Sydney have actually become somewhat friends. Zoe refuses to be civil, so she has to be secluded 80% of the time.

Well, I better go help Dad. I just wanted to let you all know we survived another night. I leave you with two pictures from dinner last night (b/c they were the only actual pictures I took with my camera).

Uh oh... sounds like Izzy got in trouble. I'll be back later.....

(How hilarious is it that Izzy lays down to eat?)

Day 2: Part II

***WARNING-- DO NOT READ FURTHER (in this blog or future blogs for 4 days) IF: You can not keep a secret, you will be talking to Aunt Betty in the next couple weeks and you can not keep a secret, when you get excited things spill out of your mouth before you think, or you can not read the above. Hence, we don't want Aunt Betty to know we are watching Izzy too. It will only make her worry unnecessarily. So mums the word (or rather pup). Haha!***

Well, it is almostg 3 and all are still alive. I have some more pics and a video to post, so this shoudl be enjoyable for you all. The pics will probably be spread out in an every other day pattern from now on, because my camera doesn't do well with rapid puppy movements, so I'm borrowing my sisters camera. (Thanks Hol!) So I will give the camera to her tomorrow night to download pics and then I'll have her bring it back Christmas morning to capture all that fun activity. (Right Hol? Fun, fun, fun!)

Well, Zoe is laying on my lap right now. Everyone is in their neutral corners. Sydney is roaming the house (as she should since it's hers to begin with), Izzy is in her pen taking a nap, and Zoe is shut in my room with me writing this blog. She's still kind of scared, but only when there is a lot of commotion or one of the other dogs approaches her. She's antisocial, but she's cute....

Ok, well I'm going to go for now, but I leave you with these pictures and short video.

Enjoy!

(This video is of Sydney and Izzy's first meeting. It's a love/hate relationship.)

(This is pretty much what Zoe looks like all the time now. She's always being held.)

(Here is Izzy and Zoe shortly after their first meeting. Don't be fooled by the picture... Zoe hates Izzy)

(This is Zoe laying on my lap while I type this. And yes, she is wearing a t-shirt)

(This is what her shirt says)

The First Morning...

Well, Zoe and I did remarkably well last night. The second we hit my room and shut the door she stops shaking and calms down. Kind of like Lisa (lol). :)
She cried when we put her in her pen last night, so she ended up sleeping in her pen... on my bed next to me. She was fine as soon as she could see every move I was making.
Mom came in to get her at 6 to feed her and she hung out with dad in the bathroom while he shaved. Now she is sitting on my lap while I type this. I'm getting her acclamated to the music so that when I leave her in here to welcome our next guest she will be okay.
Here's to being quiet for 20 minutes.....
I'll be back later today probably with more stories (or the play-by-play, however you want to look at it) and even more pictures.
Until......

Day 1.. Zoe enters

Well, this is just a quick update...

Our dogsitting has begun. Zoe came home with us after dinner tonight, and to say that she was freaked out would be pretty accurate. Hopefully things won't look quite so scary to her in the morning in the light of day. I'll post this quick pic and then I'm going to get my jammies on and snuggle her into bed. I'll be back tomorrow with Day 2 happenings...

Catch up from the last few days...

Can you believe that there are only 6 days left until Christmas?? It's crazy how fast time is going. I've been out of school for an entire week (if you overlook that stupid HESI test that I had to take Monday). So far all that I have done is clean out my closet and clean my desk off. Although, I guess those are two things that needed to be done, so I'm quite proud. Here are a couple before and after shots of my closet.

(Left side, before)

(Left side, after)

(Right side, before)

(Right side, after)

The left side looks cleaner than the right, but what can I say... I have more summer clothes than I do winter.

I also took time to play a fun game I like to call "Where's Sydney?". It's my version of "Where's Waldo?".

(Can you find Sydney??)

That's pretty much all I've been up to this week. I'm eagerly anticipating my dog-sitting this weekend. I've been talking with Sydney about our visitors and how she has to be good. I'm sure I'll have some dandy pictures to post after that. Plus, who can forget Christmas!!!

I better go for now. And just to leave you with a little bit of sweetness, here is is another video of Brooke. (I had a hard time picking, so in a future post I think I'll just have to post the outtakes or something. She's just so gosh darn adorable in all of them!) :)

(If you can't understand her she is saying "a present". I had just told her what it was, that's why I kept asking. I loved her face. She was like, "Hello! I told you 50 times it's a PRESENT!") :)

Until next time....

Oh what fun it is....

... to ride in a one horse open sleigh. Actually, a sleigh isn't such a bad idea. Have you looked outside? It's crazy outside. I'm not sure how much snow we've gotten, but it's enough that kids are building snowmen and making snow angels.

I watched Brooke and Meredith this afternoon. Hope came over for awhile and they played outside in the snow. They were loving it.

Brooke was as adorable as she always is. If ever I'm feeling blue I should just go see her. She is always tickled to death to see me, and never lacks a smile it seem. She's almost the perfect child. She would have been the perfect child had she not colored all over the chair with a black ink pen. Besides that though, she says please and thank you. She was adorable today. She had a nasty diaper that I was changing, and when I was wiping her she goes, "My butt... it hurts." So I put some diaper rash creme on it and she goes "Thank You." How adorable!! And she said it in this sweet and yet slightly pathetic little voice. *Sigh* I'd take her in a heartbeat if they'd let me.

Anyway... I took some pictures of her and a video, so enjoy!

(Check out the hair! The sad thing is, this is after I brushed it and it still looked like this.)

(I made her a ring out of a twistie tie. She kept calling it a "present". So sweet!)

(***THIS JUST IN: My mom was watching the weather and they said we could get an additional 4-8 inches of snow overnight. WHAT?!?!***)

The Christmas Story

I think that this video is so cute of Linus telling what the true meaning of Christmas is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn10FF-FQfs

That's what we should really be focusing on this time of year. Not presents, or food, or lights. Just the True Christmas story.



Merry CHRISTmas!

Oh Happy Day...

You can't even imagine how happy I was to hear my final grade in OB/Peds this morning. I literally broke down. Ask my mom... or my sister for that matter (Hi Hol!). It was a huge relief and now I can move on and enjoy Christmas. Although I still have stress going on I'm much better than before.

As I type this, my puppy is sleeping on my bed. Soo cute!

Well, I better get going. I need to get in the shower and then go to bed. I'm having lunch with my great aunt tomorrow, and then we'll probably play games in the afternoon. I'll be back though... since I'm done with school I have a lot more free time (thank goodness). I actually started to tackle my desk tonight, and tomorrow I'm hoping to find a place for all the junk sitting on my floor, so you can actually see my carpet again. Anyway... I'm out.....

Jack Frost turned Deep Freeze

What in the world is up with all this ice???? I mean any other time I wouldn't mind it so much, but this week is finals and I do not appreciate a "snow day" quite as much. This is the forecast--

Doesn't it look pretty? (<- note the sarcasm people.) I'm hoping that right at the last second it will decide to go north. (Sorry people in Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota area!) I realize the world does not revolve around me, but could it please just cooperate for the next 48 hours?

*Sigh* The reason for my disgruntled attitude is that I do not want to have to make up my Ethics class tomorrow on Friday morning. I was planning on being done at noon on Wednesday and that was it. I guess there's nothing I can do about it though. If God wants to give us ice, He will give us ice. There must be a reason for it.

Well, I'm off to stress over my grades and last final. Stay safe!!

Slicker than Snot

Isn't that a nice visual? You can thank my mom for that phrase. But, however gross it may sound it is quite true of today. We got graced with some freezing rain yesterday and into last night. Needless to say there are collision alerts up the whazoo on tv and everything in a 40 mile radius it seems has been cancelled.

My poor mom had to go to work today because they are having a huge merger this month with more banks (as if they don't have enough already), and she had to work on a Sunday. Oh how fun. She was probably on the verge of a panic attack this morning when she saw the slick roads. She HATES winter. Which is kind of surprising since she's lived in Illinois her whole life. You would think she would be used to it, but oh no. My dad took her to work this morning and now he is hanging out with my great aunt while waiting for her to finish.

I however have been laying in bed most of the morning with the dog. I got woken up by the phone ringing a bazillion times this morning (all before 8:30) and so I let her out of her pen and we went back to bed for a couple hours.

I should start studying since I have about 400 pages of material to get through and memorize for my test tomorrow. Oh what fun it is... to ride in a one horse open sleigh. Hey! Sorry.. got side tracked for a second there.

Anyway... I leave you with some pictures of this icy day. Stay inside people! It always amazes me how ridiculous people drive when it's bad weather. I mean, hello, we live in Illinois. This happens every year. No big surprise. You should know how to drive in it by now, but no. People act like it's the first time they've seen snow, or heaven forbid ice. Good grief. Just save yourself a big headache and stay inside. Let the crazy people drive around and cause accidents today that dont' involve you or I.

Happy Ice Day! Stay Warm!

(This is ice people. A danger when walking or driving.)

(Sydney, hiding behind the tree. I do believe she was sniffing ornaments when I came upstairs.)

(Check out this icicle. It was actually dripping. That's gonna sound pretty when it falls.)

(I should get a sled. I bet I could pick up some pretty high speed sliding down the court.)

(Here's Sydney fogging up the front door, wishing she could romp around outside. Check out our speckled porch. What's that about?)

I will survive... I hope

Well, I made it through my last day of classes/clinicals. Now all I have to do is get through finals!
I don't know what my problem was today. I felt so disorganized and forgetful, which is so not me. I should have been happy that it was my last day of class, but my disorganization overshadowed my joy. Now I have to babysit tonight, because yesterday when I got the call I was in a good mood. I did not forsee my last day going so haywire and leaving me in a sour mood. Oh well... I love the kids, and atleast it will be a "relaxing" and fun time.
Well, that's about all I have to say for now. I'll hopefully be back sooner than last time. I should have a lot of "free" time on my hands after Wednesday.
Chat to ya later!

Antler catastrophe!!

Every year I try to get a picture of Sydney in her antler ears.

So far so good... I got one in 2005 (the year we got her)...

and last year...

but this year may be the year it doesn't happen. Mom and I were trying to take a pic of her, but she was not cooperating, so as much as I did NOT look picture taking worthy I jumped on the floor with her to see if she would sit still... no such luck. All I got instead was a crappy picture and a fat bloody lip.

Needless to say we gave up then.

I'll try later, but for now I go without one. :( The tradition may be ruined forever. So sad...

The three trees....

Here are some pictures as promised....

I don't know why this picture is sideways. I flipped it before I posted it and it still came out like this. If you look closely you can see snow falling outside. My dad was putting lights on the Christmas tree, and it was a perfect Christmas moment. Lighting the tree, snow falling outside, chesnuts roasting on an open fire... oh wait...

Here is Sydney sitting in front of the half decorated tree upstairs. It only has half of the ornaments on it, but it looked sad without any, so I couldn't resist.

Here is our little tree downstairs. The picture is kind of blurry (and sideways), but you get the idea.

Alright, well I'm off to stress about school. Catch up with ya later......

Confessions of a Christmas Tree Decorator...

I have to start this blog by saying that yes, I am certifiabley insane. The day after Thanksgiving I got up at 4 am to go shopping with all the other shopping loons!I even coerced my sis into going with me. (Thanks Hol!) I must say thought that I found some pretty good deals. I knocked out gifts for 4 people for Christmas all in one day. I was quite proud. I also got some flannel sheets for my bed that were an original $60 that I got for $18. I've been sleeping like a puppy the past few nights too. Yes, I said puppy. I don't know why people use the phrase "Sleeping like a baby". If they slept like a baby then that must mean they were up every 4 hours. Anyway, I say puppies because I can remember when Sydney was a puppy, she would just flop down on the floor and be asleep in 2 seconds. Thus, I sleep like puppies, not babies.

I love Christmas!!! It makes me happy even though I'm bogged down with online quizzes and studying for last minute tests and finals. Today it really felt like Christmas! It was snowing!! It was actually sticking too. We didn't get anything remarkable. I don't even think we got 1/8th of an inch, but still there was snow and it made me happy. My dad finally got time in his insanely busy schedule to put up the lights on our Big Christmas tree. I assembled our little tree downstairs all by myself on Thanksgiving night. It's quite beautiful if I do say so myself. I also started putting ornaments on our big tree tonight. I only got through 1 of 2 boxes, but it looks good enough until someone finds time to put the rest on. The tree just looked sad without ornaments on it, so I had to atleast start. Sydney was a good girl too. She didn't bug me at all, and all ornaments are still on the tree. Her tail has not taken out any so far.

Well, I'm off to study, but I'll be back to post some pictures of my pretty tree decorating! :)

Ho, ho, ho.....

Gobble, Gobble!!

Those two words were spoken by the sweetest little boy on Sunday while we were in line for the Thanksgiving dinner at my parent's church. He ran up to his mommy all excited and said, "Mommy! Gobble, Gobble!" Isn't it fun how little kids get excited over the smallest things? He was practically jumping off the ground he was so excited to gobble at his mommy. *sigh* Adorable!
Well, my week is officially over in regards to school. Hallelujah! Today was boring and quite frankly pointless. We should have just had the whole week off. Monday started off with attending a seminar that our instructor made us go to. Only after the fact did we discover that it wasn't because she was doing it for educational purposes... She was partly in charge of it! She tricked us! Grr! Yesterday we didn't even have class for Ethics, and don't even get me started on how we have a test this Tuesday and we don't even have a final grade from our first test from over 6 weeks ago.
One thing I have to look forward to... FOOD!! One good thing about having such a large extended family is that there is always an unbelievable amount of food on the holidays. I'm looking forward to the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, broccoli cheese, bread and oodles more!
Alright well, I think I'm just going to relax a bit before turning in. I've taken 4 online quizzes since I got home, and I'm just about sick of sitting at this computer. Have a Happy Thanksgiving! Be careful if you are going to be out shopping on "Black Friday". I might be one of those crazy loons out at 4 in the morning. I haven't decided yet, so we'll see how I feel tomorrow.
Gobble, Gobble!!

Sleepy eyes

Friday's wear me out. Today was especially tiring. I spent the day on Antepartum for my OB rotation. It was interesting and boring all at the same time if that makes any sense. I had another good nurse though, so that's all that matters I guess.
In the past few days there have been a lot of health issues that have come up between family and friends. It all gets a little overwhelming after awhile. I guess it's more beneficial to pray than to worry, so that is what I will do.
On to lighter news.... The pseudotriplets (aka Hol, Lis, and I) are going on a shopping trip tomorrow to Aurora. I've nothing but great things about their outlet mall, so it better be as good as people make it out to be. I have not really started my Christmas shopping, and I really don't even have any ideas, so hopefully the new environment will spark some creative juices to flow.
Well since I was up at 5 this morning and I have to get up at 5:30 tomorrow I think I should turn in. Hope everyone (all two of you) has a good Thanksgiving. Wait... I'll see you both on Thanksgiving. Ah, nevermind... see you Thursday for turkey and other yummy food! Mmmm!
I'm out..........................

Babies, babies, and more babies!

WARNING!! GRAPHIC MATERIAL TO FOLLOW... IF EASILY OFFENDED OR GROSSED OUT DO NOT READ FURTHER.

I never in my life thought that my first day on Labor and Delivery would be so busy. I anticipated it to be kind of slow, with not much going on, where I would just be standing around doing nothing all day. WRONG! Today was so wild and crazy that it was 12 before I knew it.
I got to see two, count 'em TWO, C-Sections today!! They were crazy! The first one was around 8:30 and it was actually my patient that I saw. Then when I was with her in recovery, my instructor pulled me out of the room to go see and emergency C-Section. That was the time I got to give the baby it's vitamin K shot, and erythromycin in his eyes. I was the one who weighed the baby and got his height and first set of vitals. Then I got to wrap him up all snug and hand him to daddy. It was pretty cool!
After that I took Dad and Baby to the newborn nursery where the baby could get cleaned up, assessed, and have his footprints taken. That was when I snuck away in the small room in the nursery where a circumcision was going on. Poor baby! He was screaming bloody murder... that is until they gave him some sucrose. Yummy! By then it was 12:15 and I hadn't written anything down from the chart on my mom. So basically I just gathered information the rest of the afternoon, and tried to come down from my adrenaline high.
Another student also had an exciting morning. His patient was dilated at 5 (and some other stuff that I don't quite understand yet... effacement, etc), so the nurse and instructor left him with her to do vitals or something. The next thing he knows she's telling him, "You better go get the doctor or something." He asked, "why?". She said, "I feel a lot of pressure." So he goes and gets the nurse and tells her. The nurse pulls back the sheet and the baby's head is already out!!!! She told the student, "Quick!! Go get help!!!" He runs out to the nurse's station (which mind you is about a 2 second walk from the room), and he yells-- get this-- "Yo! Let's go!" Several people ran in the room to see the nurse holding the baby yelling, "Quick get me some blankets and scissors to cut the cord!" This whole event transpired in all of about 1 minute. Quite insane on the L&D floor today.
Anyway.... needless to say there were about 6 babies born while we were on the floor from 7-2. It was quite insane, but oh so much fun!
Now I get to study for OB and finish up some paperwork. Oh yea! :p
I'm off for now...................

Party at the sista's place!!

That's right.. Hol and I are getting down with our bad selves. Well, that is if you consider bad as playing a rousing game of catch phrase (the music edition) and then watching a really crappy a movie, and then a pretty ok movie. We're having a slumber party because Lisa is out of town at a ladies retreat for church. Hol just went to bed and I'm headed off as well after I submit this installment.
Not too much is new around here since I last posted. I did get a new windsheild however. It's nice and clean and my wipers are working fantastic now! I'm quite pleased... Thanks dad!!
Today was my first day on the floor for OB. It wasn't too bad. Ashley and I shared the mother and baby on postpartum, so we were pretty much inseperable. It wasn't as bad of a first day as I thought it would be. We got out early because the instructor had a meeting, so that was a huge plus. Then I went home to read so that I would be free this weekend, well... more flexible for free time would be a better way of putting it.
Well, just wanted to say hi. I'll be back probably next week. Unless something big happens and I just have to share it.
Until then................

All the things I hate about today...

Today was just not a good day.

1. I had to get up early and go meet with the counselor for my SOS meeting.

2. I had to watch two totally outdated videos for OB

3. Did I mention I had to get up early?

4. When Ashley and I were coming back to school from lunch a big truck flipped up a rock that hit my windshield and cracked it! At first I didn't notice it, I just heard the rock hit. Then another rock hit the windshield (Stupid Truck!). That's when I noticed a 4 inch crack on the drivers side. So needless to say, I was not too happy about that.

5. Ethics was agonizingly boring today! I was also quite upset to hear our instructor say that we had to retake a part of the exam because a bunch of stupid people in our class didn't turn over the written part of the exam and complete the long essay part. So now we have to study all over again for the essay part. Gah!!!!

6. Then our last speaker was late, or rather a no-show. Pesely kept us for 25 minutes before deciding our speaker wasn't coming, so he let us leave 30 minutes early. (Now you're probably thinking... "Well, that was a good end to your day... why are you so unhappy?" Just wait....

7. I get out to my car only to discover that the crack has grown to TWICE it's length!!! Now, it is impairing my vision. Ugh!!

Now I am sitting here getting my venting session over with so that I can maybe concentrate on some studying. I doubt that will happen, but I'll give it a try.

I am not thinking tomorrow will be much better either since I have to get up at 5:15 so that I can leave the house by 6:15, get to school by 6:45 to pick up Tiffany, and then drive out to a local hospital through all the construction on the main road to get there. oh yipee skippy. Hopefully I will get there on time, otherwise "M.D." will give me a "U" for the day.

*Sigh* I'm off for now. Maybe I'll indulge in a big bowl of ice cream tonight to numb my sorrows. (Get it? Numb... Cold... Ice cream is cold..........)

Anyway, pray I make it through the rest of the week. It's only Tuesday and I'm having a mini meltdown!

Until next time.............

Let's play catch up, shall we?

Oh goodness... another week has come and gone, and I am one week closer to being done with this semester. Yea!! I heard that next semester is harder than this one, and if that's true I just want to go crawl under a rock right now.

It seems that I have been super busy this past week, and I can't even remember what I did. Let's see if I can get you all caught up.

I watched Brooke and Meredith Friday night. They came over to my house for pizza while their dad took Lucas to basketball practice. Then I dropped Mer off to spend the night at Hope's. They are so cute!!!

OK, let's see what else I can remember. It seems like it's been so long since I've blogged. Umm... Sunday I was in the nursery. That was my last time though, because I'm getting too busy to do that and help Holli in the 2&3's.

Oh, something big that happened Thursday (besides visiting the Gullidge clan)-- I got my haircut! 5 inches... gone!

It feels much better now. And so begins the process of growing it out again. :p

Ok, so did anyone else catch Dancing with the Stars tonight??? Marie FAINTED!! If you missed it I'm sure a hundred clips of it will be circulating youtube by morning. It was quite scary though. Is that what I look like when I pass out? (For those who aren't familiar with me, I've been known to pass out from time to time). I should probably go to the doctor for that, shouldn't I? Anyway.. if you missed I'm sure it will be replayed a thousand times on a bunch of news shows and such. Luckily she was ok.

Alright, well I better go to bed. I have to be to school early to meet with the counselor. No I'm not having emotional issues. I'm signing up to be a SOS (Seniors offering Support) for the incoming juniors next semester. Then Ashley and I are watching the rest of the required videos for OB. Then we're going to lunch. Yum!!

I'll try not to take so long to post again. Although as far as I know only one cousin is reading this, so.....

Until............

Sydney... Dog Genius

Yes, that's right. My dog, Sydney, is a genius. I myself was even in awe at her smartness tonight. Allow me to preface the story....

Since we've had Sydney I have given all of her toys names. Why you ask? Well, I'm not really sure, but once you start you can't go back. So... she's been through a lot of toys (mostly b/c she has chewed them up beyond recognition, or she's removed the squeaker from them and they just look plain pathetic). Right now she has about 6 or 7 various balls and squeak toys. All have some sort of name to go along with them... The dinosaur is named Spike (for the purple spikes on its head), a weird animal thing named Jimmy (just because it seemed funny to me at the time), an elephant with braided hair named Kenya, and a few balls that we distinguish by color. So anyway... on to the story....

So my aunt and cousin came over to show my mom some fundraiser my cousin is participating in through school. She had bought a few things, and my dad finally got home from work, so Sydney was super excited. He was making her do all these tricks and she was doing pretty good. Then he says "Go downstairs and get your red ball." Well, she was too excited, so she ran around the dining room table a couple of times, and then brought dad Kenya (mostly because it's her only toy with a squeaker still, so she favors it). He took it from her and repeated the command, "Go downstairs and get your red ball." She finally got the hint and ran downstairs with a fury. We could hear her rummaging around downstairs, and I was thinking to myself that she was not going to bring the right toy up. My mom and I both thought she was going to bring up her big purple and green ball. Well a minute later here she comes meandering up the stairs with her RED BALL!!!!! I was amazed. Needless to say we all started clapping and praising her. It looked as though we had just gone through weeks of potty-training a toddler, and she had finally gone on the big girl potty all by herself! I just had to share that story. She can be quite blonde sometimes, but she is pretty smart over all.

(This was the only shot I could get of her with her red ball. She was too excited, and wanting to play with Kenya. That's what she is looking at. I was holding her above my head.)

Well, I switched to OB today, and it seems like it will be ok. I have A LOT of reading to do. Way more than in Peds it seems. That is my project for tonight. I am going to try and get ahead in my reading this week, so I don't feel like I'm drowning for the next 8 weeks.

Alright, Dancing with the Stars is on, so I'm off to watch that and read some of my Maternal/Newborn text.

Until next time..................

The new me

This picture is more up to date. Also, I'm not stretched like Gumbi anymore. Win, win. I photo shopped it a little too, so I'm not ginormous. Ok, I'm done... again.

Full Mind After a Full Day

Today started earlier than I would have hoped. It was a pretty good day overall though. It started off with a "conference" sponsered by Bethany Baptist. I say "conference" because it was only a little over an hour long, and there was only one speaker. That doesn't define a conference for me, but it was good none the less. Candace Cameron Bure was the speaker. You know.... DJ Tanner from Full House.

She was quite phenomenal. I could have listened to her all morning instead of just 45 minutes. Anyway... she told her story about coming to Christ and the journey on her spiritual walk. She gave me alot to think about. It's a shame if you missed it.
After the conference us girls (Hol, Lis, and Janeie) went to Panera for lunch. Yummy! I was quite pleased with my turkey sandwich and soup. I think I ate too much though, because all I wanted to do afterwards was take a nap. Us sisters went shopping though (I studied in the car). I got a chocolate brown fall coat from Gap, a camera case from Target, and a small purse from American Eagle. I just needed something smaller that would hold some money, my phone, and a few other small things. It made me laugh when I saw it though. It looked like one of my cousin's purses. My cousin Michelle is so funny. We went out to eat sometime over the summer, and when she went to go pay for her food, she pulled out a small purse from inside her big purse, and I think there was another wallet type thing inside the smaller purse. I guess she really wanted to make sure she had her money in a safe place so she wouldn't lose it. :) It was like Fort Knox in there.
Speaking of cousins... I'd like to take this time to thank my cousin Rachel. I went over to visit my aunt Friday after clinical (the aunt who got hit by a truck and broke her wrist), and Rachel kindly introduced me to a most wonderful game.... Guitar Hero. I didn't play very long because I had to get home, but I can see how that would easily become addictive. It was very enjoyable, so Rach..."Thanks!!!".
I rounded my day off today with a little bit of studying. woohoo. I have a test Monday afternoon, and then hopefully I will have a couple weeks off without tests. This last week has been exhausting for me.
For now I bid you adieu. I must go to bed. I'll be around sometime this week though.
Until..........

Restaurant Etiquette 101

There are some things that you just don't do when you are in a restaurant.
You don't pick your nose, you don't run out on the bill, and you DON'T just sit there and let your baby scream the entire time you are there.
Robin, Ashley, and I went to T.G.I.Fridays, because Bar Louie was closed due to a fire last night. So instead of a $1 burger I spent $15 on a meal. That chocolate mint mousse dessert was worth every penny though. Yum!!!
Anyway, so from the minute I got there it seems, this family sitting near us was being disruptive. Or rather just one member of their family... a baby. Now I would guess the baby to be around 8 or 9 months old, so I don't blame the baby in the least for being mad, cranky, whatever. I do however become quite ticked when all I can hear is a blood curdling, non-stop scream from a baby only a few feet away. The parents did NOTHING!!! They were waiting for their food, so of course no one was going to get up and go out with her. They were barely even trying to comfort her. EVERYONE was looking at them, and they didn't seem to care... OBVIOUSLY! They did get up once and take her out... when she wasn't even crying anymore!!! Then they brought her back screaming again.
Needless to say us girls ate our desserts at the bar... on the other side of the restaurant. We could still hear her screaming, but atleast it was muffled. The bartender-kid-guy told us they aren't allowed to ask them to leave because it is discrimination towards babies, so everyone in that section had to suffer through the constant crying.
Props to our waitress though. She was FANTASTIC!!!! She was prompt, kept our drinks re-filled, and was very understanding when we wanted to move. Round of applause for Monica at TGIF!!
Alright, well I survived my Ethics test today, and now I'm just waiting for the grade. On to studying for Psych. My last day at the hospital is tomorrow. I'm on the Child/Adolescent floor. The good thing is we don't have to turn in paperwork. Yea! The even better thing is that from now on I will be in Community Psych, so that means no paperwork the night before. Double Yea!!
My belly is full and my brain is tired, so I'm going to bed.
Until next time............

Hmmm...

So I'm not thrilled with the current picture to the right, but I was messing around. Atleast I know how to do it now. I'm not sure why I'm so stretched looking though. This is just a temporary picture though. I need to upload another one later this week, and then I will change it. Here's a picture of my Sydney.

Isn't she pretty? Ok, well that's it for real this time.

Until..................

Can I skip Tuesday's?

As I type this I am being serenaded by the lovely sound of a train whistle... from all the way across town. Did I mention that it was 11 o'clock at night? It normally wouldn't bother me, because once I'm asleep, I'm asleep. However, when I'm awake I find it quite annoying.
Anyway... moving on. What shall we talk about tonight? All I did tonight was study for my ethics test tomorrow. yea. Can you tell I'm enthused about it? That's what I thought.
Oh, that's a lie. I didn't only study tonight. I watched a little tv as well. I pretty much was doing both simultaneously. I watched Dancing with the Stars and then Jon and Kate Plus 8. That show is insane. You have to give them props for handling all those kids. Especially her since she stays at home with them. If you have never seen that show, you should, just to see the constant chaos these people endure everday.
Tomorrow is my least favorite day of the week. I know what you're thinking. The worst day of the week is Monday. Oh no... not for me. Tuesday is the WORST!!! Why you ask? Well, one word... ETHICS!! Not only is the class, quite frankly agonizing, but it doesn't start until 1. Talk about throwing a wrench in my day. Then when it ends at 4 I have to go get my Psych assignment (thankfully only for one more day!). But tomorrow there is a ray of sunlight after that. Robin, Ashley, and I are going out for dinner. Yea!!! We're going to Bar Louie at the mall, because every Tuesday night they have $1 burgers. How fantastic is that?? So I look forward to that after my test tomorrow.
Ok, well I better go to bed. I'm getting up early to study some more before class. I'm still trying to figure out the whole posting of pictures thing, but once I do I will get a couple pics up, don't worry.
Alright, well that's all for tonight. I'm out...........

Where do I begin?

Let's just say that I am new to the blogging world. Sure, I've read plenty of them, but I have never actually written one. I don't even have a myspace account. I know, I know... *GASP*!! I guess I never really got into that fad.
However, this whole blogging thing has intrigued me, so I thought I would give it a go. I'm warning you now... I'm not that interesting. I'm not a total bore, but I have never been described as "the life of the party". It usually takes me awhile to show my true self to someone.
This should be interesting though, since this is a one-sided conversation basically. I could essentially be talking to myself most days. That's okay though. I'm in nursing school, and sometimes I just need a place to vent out my frustrations.
I should probably be studying right now, but I've found about a dozen more interesting things to do than that. I got a new digital camera today since my old one seemed to favor my sister more than me. :( I ended up with a Sony Cyber-shot (DSC-W55, 7.2MP), and I think I'm going to like it. This is of course based off of the 5 whole minutes I've played with it (I was waiting for the battery to charge). It will definitely take some getting used to, because it's a lot smaller than my old one. It's great for throwing in my purse though. You never know now when I'm going to whip out my camera and take a picture. From now on, always be prepared when you're with me. You're hair must look stellar at all times now. No make-up free days anymore. You have to have your game face on. Start practicing your perfect picture smiles people!
OK, I should get some beauty sleep. Full day tomorrow, and tests on Monday and Tuesday. Just wanted to get my intro blog up and say hi. I'll be back though, don't worry. I'll come with pictures and stories and who knows what else. :)
Until then......