SNOW!

This winter has been a little crazy with all of the snow. I honestly don't remember any winter with this much snow growing up. Global warming, huh? 2 days ago we got 7 inches here in Conway! In NWA they had 18 inches! GEEZ! We aren't much into playing in the snow yet, so we just enjoyed some lazy days at home.

The snow started coming down Wednesday morning. I went into work, saw one patient, and was sent home. I got straight in my pjs and spent the day with my hubs and my baby girl! Thursday was another snow day and it was GREAT! I never got out of my pjs and never put on makeup!

Today was back to work. It was actually not nearly as busy as I expected! The 2 snow days were a nice break to our busy winter season!

In the last snow, we got some pictures of Ashlynn in the snow, and she wasn't really crazy about it so we decided not to even mess with it this time. We did put her hand in the snow and she HATED it! She screamed more than she has in a while! It took her a minute to calm down too!! I'm sure she will grow out of it when she's older and can have fun in it.

Who knows...maybe we will get more, maybe we will wait til next winter!

Love your children

Today I witnessed something so heartbreaking. I saw a grown man talk to a toddler in such a terrible way. It truly broke my heart. I had a hard time saying anything, so I had someone else address it, and that was hard enough.

It made me want to love on Ashlynn even more. How someone can talk to a child in such a hateful way is beyond me. I love my daughter and want her to always know that. I want her to feel love and learn to love others.

I see a lot of things that make me sad for other children and other families, but this was beyond what I've seen up to this point. I know these things go on far more than I would like, but I hope to never witness it again.

LOVE YOUR CHILDREN!

Welcome back!

Wow...its been F-O-R-E-V-E-R since I've written a new post. I believe its been since before Ashlynn was born. And...um...she's going to be ONE in a couple of weeks! YIKES!

Being a mommy is INCREDIBLE! It definitely has its challenges, but Ashlynn is worth every minute! There are no more spontaneous outings, late dinners, or other things we used to be able to do, but we wouldn't change it for the world!

Ashlynn is such an easy child. She has always gone to bed early (around 6-7) and sleeps a good 12-13 hours a night. Granted, she still wakes up once to eat, but she goes right back to sleep. She is so happy and HILARIOUS! We are so blessed to have such a wonderful daughter!!

For her birthday we are planning to have a monkey party. She has monkeys in her room decor, and has many monkey toys. The theme is so cute and our cake is going to be even cuter! We registered for her gifts today at Laura's Family Goods. Its this new store in town with the cutest kids toys and home decor. Ashlynn probably won't have a clue who gave her what and could probably care less about a party, but will play with her toys until she is worn out! She LOVES to play and she plays HARD!

As for me, I'm FINALLY done with school and studying! I graduated in December with my Masters in Nursing and a week and a half ago I passed my APN boards! HOORAY! I'm working at Central Arkansas Pediatrics as a Nurse Practitioner there and love it so much!

I'll try to do better at posting now that I don't have to study! I still keep up with others' blogs, just haven't really had time for mine...That will change! :)

Recooping after Christmas

This was an exciting, yet exhausting Christmas! Our first Christmas shindig was the first part of the week in Louisiana. We went down to see Daniel's family and had Christmas and baby shower all together. We took our camper and it was a nice time to spend with just Daniel and I (well, and Bella, of course!) We got back Wednesday and couldn't wait to open our presents so Daniel and I did our Christmas together then. More Christmas Thursday at Mamaw and Grandad's house and then Daniel's parents house that evening. Christmas day was spent at my parents house. They got a wii so we stayed almost all day and played off and on with them! Saturday we went to Hot Springs to April and Ray's house to spend the day with my dad's sign of the family. At this point....I'm so tired!

Then we took a few days to recooperate from all of the festivities. Fortunately, Daniel and I were both off work all this time, so we could enjoy each other's company!

Thursday we went to Tulsa with Matt and Holly to help orient Matt to the area since he is getting ready for PT clinicals. It was a short trip, but exhausting! I finally caved into getting some UGG boots, and exhausted my energy trying on shoes at every store! Its VERY hard to put on shoes and socks with your belly is the size of a watermelon! I finally found a pair I loved, and then gave up on the rest of the shoe shopping because I couldn't bend over ANYMORE!

New Years Eve was spent in Tulsa, but we passed out around 10 pm....real night owls, I know! :)

Now for the Ashlynn update...

As of today, I'm 30 weeks and 5 days! Almost 3 weeks ago she was 3 pounds, so I'm sure she's bypassed 4 pounds at this point. We're all ready for her...the room is ready, the closet is ready, now we just need a baby to put in it! :)

This was my most recent project. A friend did this for her little boy's closet and I saw it on her blog, so I made my own! They sell something that serves the same purpose, but DEFINIELY not near as cute! This was fun to do and I feel like it makes me more involved than buying something off the shelf! They're already in her closet and her clothes are divided out so far, but I'm sure there will be more to add!

I'm hoping we can shoot for around 38 weeks for Ashlynn to make her debut. With a midterm right after my due date, Ashlynn already measuring big, and Daniel not having a schedule, it will be much easier to schedule a date for her to arrive so Daniel can be here. I guess we will just have to see how it all goes, she may come even sooner! I'm hoping I can stick in school this semester, so we're praying for NO c-section because that will make it even harder to recooperate and get back in school!

I guess that's enough update for now...

Catch Up

So...its been way too long since I wrote...I have been so busy I can't keep up!

As for Ashlynn update, she's great! Tomorrow makes 26 weeks and its gone by so fast! Its been awesome! The back pain has gotten so much better and I've had lots more energy! Daniel helped get the Christmas decorations down from the attic and helped put the tree up, but I put up the decorations in the house, the ornaments on the tree, the snow village, and the outside decorations! WOW! At Life Choices today I got to hold a model of a 26 week old developing baby ( I hate calling them fetus). It was so cool to see how big she was and how much she weighs! I know by reading what she's doing, but seeing and holding it was just incredible! I'm looking ginormous..more and more everyday, LITERALLY! But we are so blessed to be able to experience this! Daniel has been so incredibly supportive and more than I could ever ask for in a husband!

Ashlynn has been flipping, flopping, and kicking all of the time! Of course I feel her, but Daniel, Donna, and my parents have been able to feel her too! :) I can see her moving around in my belly too, which is so neat! I can't wait for it to be even more so everyone can feel her! Some pregnant women get irritated when people touch their belly, but I think its precious! I love whats going on in there, and want to share with everyone else too! Friend, family, or stranger!

As for school....I finished my last day of Peds clinicals today. Kind of bitter sweet. Its hard spending so many hours in clinicals and not being able to get paid for it, but I LOOOOVED working with Lisa Martin and the children! I did not care for Pediatrics in Nursing school, so I expected the same in this semester, but I was so wrong! I Had such a good time playing with the children! Unless my Adult clinicals blow me out of the water, I will probably try to stick with Peds! Or at least try to do lots of Peds in family practice. My final is next week, then I will have a lot of time left over! We start back January 20th, so what a break! :)

As for work....I LOVE! Working at the hospital isn't my favorite, but it works. I always dread going in for a shift, but once I get there its not that bad. I really enjoy the people I work with! I work 1-2 days per month, so I can suck it up, right? I haven't been able to work at the day school since July. Every time they need me to fill in, I have something else going on. I feel bad that I haven't been able to help out, but they're all so fabulous there they understand. As for Life Choices...where do I start?! It is the most rewarding, enjoyable, and blessed job ever!! I get to work with incredible women and make an influence on great girls in our community. Everyday that I get to work, I love it even more! Sometimes seeing that baby on the ultrasound really makes all the difference in the world! Of course we have awesome ladies that visit with the girls before I see them and they tend to build great relationships with them! Then I get to come in and do the fun part...look at babies! I feel that with my Women's health clinicals I learned a lot to help the girls at the clinic. I hope that I can make a difference in the lives of these girls and their unborn babies!

Daniel and I just got back from a 10 day vacation and it was fantastic! We took our camper up to Petit Jean and camped from the Friday before Thanksgiving through Thanksgiving lunch with his family, then went up to Branson and camped and hung out with my family. It was so nice to get away! We are so glad we bought our camper and enjoy getting to use it! It even has a little second back bedroom with bunks for kids on down the road! ;) Hope they like it too!

Thats about all that I can think of...my brain is kind of crazy today! :) I'll try to post again soon!

Just Deal With It

So there are so many obnoxious things that come along with pregnancy, but its all for a good reason, right? I've been having these back pains for A WHILE! The one I've had the most I know is normal, but before my last appointment, I was having a different pain in my lower back. It was more sharp, stabbing, than what I expected with pregnancy. I figured I would ask my OB/GYN about it at my appointment, and I asked if it was just something I would have to "deal with." She said "yep, you're just gonna have to deal with it." Unfortunatley, Daniel was there for that appointment, and has loved to torture me with "just deal with it" everytime I have a complaint. FOrtunately, he laughs after he says it, and I do too...

So other than the back pain, heartburn, feeling like a whale, and other assortments of pregnancy woes, things have been fantastic. I am so happy to be pregnant and can't wait to bring Ashlynn into this world.

I've been pretty healthy, and so has our Princess, but being in my Pediatric clinicals, I knew that there would be extra germies I was exposed to. My preceptor is fantastic and made me wear a mask every day in the clinic so that I wouldn't have as much direct exposure to the germs. She kept me from going into see the patients with flu as well. IN addition to the clinical precautions, Daniel and I have watched where we go, trying not to be around a lot of people in small spaces, etc. But...even with all of that, I got the flu! :(

Yes, flu...most likely H1N1 since thats about all thats going around at this point. I was really nervous because of all of the pregnant women in ICU and dying from complications, etc. However, my wonderful OB/GYN called me in some Tamiflu on a SUNDAY so I could get better. She probably regrets giving me her cell phone number, but she is incredible and I couldn't ask for a better doctor! I also did my Women's health clinicals with her and was able to learn so much!

Daniel did NOT use the "just deal with it" while I had the flu. He was as sweet as could be. He gave up golf so he could stay home and take care of me. He's so wonderful!

Monday I have my next OB/GYN appointment. Daniel will be out of town and the parents and in laws aren't coming, but, my best friend, Holly gets to go! I'm so excited that Auntie Holly will get to see little Princess! She's already spoiling her and she's not even here yet! :)

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

Life as of Now

Things are going fantastic right about now! Ashlynn is doing fabulous! I'm 19 weeks prego now and actually starting to enjoy it (other than the rounded out face and the feeling ginormous part). I'm at that phase where you can tell I'm pregnant with my baby bump, if you KNOW I'm pregnant, but it could easily be mistaken for a gut! :)

Clinicals are great, I've been playing with kids doing my Peds clinicals with Lisa Martin and love, love, love it! I'm really starting to put Peds up at the top of my list. I think being pregnant makes me love those kids even more...now if I just had the knowledge base I need and could do exams and know whats going on, we'd be in great shape! It will come...

Daniel is being so fantastic through everything! He is a huge help when he is home and I appreciate it so much! He already loves little Ashlynn too! He will put his hand on my belly and talk to her! So sweet. He already painted her room too! We have bedding, decorations, and have picked out the furniture, and will order it this weekend! I'll have pictures of it later!

Thanks for keeping up, we are so blessed!