Determination

This summer Victoria has been at the pool most days.  I don't even mean that as an exaggerated statement.  Most days she is at the pool.  It is more a social scene than anything. But I figure that it is not too bad of a place to spend her time.

Normally, Colby or I take her to the pool in the afternoon, then pick her up a few hours later.  Since we are short a vehicle, some days she has to walk to the pool.  Yes, I said it, we torture her by making her walk to the pool. I mean walking a whole 1.8 miles each way is equivalent to child abuse right?  Having said that, she still goes.  She isn't about to go without her friends for very long (I made her stay home yesterday...gasp). She even makes sure to take a shower before she goes so she is clean (I tell her she will be sweaty by the time she gets there, but she doesn't understand).  So, here she is hoofing it to the pool. : )

P90X

This past week, I started a home workout program called P90X. It is extreme!  The program includes a nutrition plan as well as the exercise video.  My good friend Ashley did it a couple of years ago and it helped her look awesome.  My cousin Cari started doing it about 2 months ago and is toning up (She was already a stick).  I am in dire need to do something.  I do Jazzercise, but it is at 9am and sometimes I don't want to go because it is too much work to get the kids together and out the door happy (Devon snoozes at this time).  I know that  this can be done at home on my own time, so why not?  Colby is doing it with me too, which is a nice.  The whole premise of why it works is muscle confusion or mixing it up so much your body never gets used to the exercises.  There are 3 phases each one lasting 30 days (hence the 90 in P90X).  I love it! I am very tired and sore, but it feels good.  I admit that I am not following the diet to the T as it is very limiting and I still Nurse Devon.  I do the best I can to stay close though.  I am going to stick to this and keep cycling through until I reach my goal weight.  I can't wait to have my old body again!

Visit to Public Saftey

Lately Jake has been having bad dreams about Policemen taking either him or us away. I am not sure why, but he has.  It has upset me because I don't want him to be afraid of the Police.  So I decided to let Jake meet some of Gardner's finest.  In Gardner, the Police and Fire are one and the same hence Public Safety.  This morning Jake and I baked some cookies(frozen dough...not Nestle though we aren't trying to poison them) and brought them up to the station.  At first Jake was afraid, until they asked him if he wanted to see the fire tucks.  His response "oh, that's so cool".  Because it was 100 degrees out, we made it a short trip, and home we went.  Now, I hope to use the good experience with Policeman Jacob (that was really the name of the officer who showed us the truck).  I hope it helps, at least it was fun.

Teething Woes

Poor Devon, this has been a very rough few days for him.  Since Thursday (our Anniversary) he has gotten 4 teeth...well 2 plus another 2 part way through.  He ran a fever over the weekend, and has been super congested, as a result coughing and hacking up nastiness. He has the diaper rash from hell and I also think he has sprung a leak in his mouth (notice the soaked shirt?). Did I mention that he will just randomly take a bite out of my shoulder?  The worst part though is I can just tell how bad he feels.  He doesn't know what he wants, he is so congested nursing him is hard.  He doesn't want to eat any solids, and I couldn't get him to sleep for me (though he slept the day away for Colby yesterday...go figure).  Having said that he is sleeping for 12 hours at night, so when he wakes up, he is a starving madman.  I feel bad for the poor little fella.  I am glad that teething is something we do before we start having memories, I don't want to remember that.

New to us Van coming 7.10.09

Colby and I recently learned that we couldn't keep our Dodge Stratus.  After Devon upgraded car seats, the back seat had no room for Victoria to sit.  We decided to sell it, and look for a Van.  If you are keeping score, yes we sold our beloved Honda Odyssey last year.  It was too much money for us and we had no business buying it.  We sold it to help get out of debt.  I also think that not getting another van then was Gods way to help me accept not having another Odyssey.  I was very pissy about selling our Odyssey, and didn't want any other van then.  I hated all vans but ours.  I just spent almost a whole year in a 4 door sedan with 3 kids.  Needless to say I am open to a few other vans now.  Colby and I decided to start looking for vans on craigslist(I narrowed them down by vetoing the ones I think are ugly) and found that we were most likely going to have to settle for a 2002-2003 with 120k or higher miles for around $7000-7500 dollars. One of my friends told me of a van for sale here in Gardner and gave us the info to call.  It is a 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan with only 49,500 miles on it for $8595! Since we are going to pay cash for this van (no new debt for us) we figured that we would save and have enough money around the first of July if we get what we need from our car. Well, we sold our car this week, and got what we need.  However, we sold our car this week.  We still won't have enough money until the first of July, so we will have only one car for three more weeks.  We drove the van from Gardner and the woman selling it is taking our $8000 offer and is going to keep the car for us until July 10th so we can save up to pay for it in cash. I have never bought a car and NOT had buyers remorse...until now.  We may have just put a car on lay a way, but we will be driving it home for the first time with it paid for!

Thanks Carrie!

I got to leave work early today.  This is very unusual, I haven't left early since October 18th when my Dr told me that I could only work 8 hours. Those of us who work Weekend Option, know how precious even a few weekend hours off can be, and we tend to cherish them.  I have to give a big shout out to my friend Carrie Fiske for getting me out of work for the last few hours today.  

Carrie and I used to Car-Pool quite often, but haven't in over a year.  Yesterday we decided that we would Car-Pool today.  We had a fun drive into work, and each went to our own floors to work.  I hadn't talked to her the rest of the day until around 3:30.  I was pumping in the NICU Lactation room (a normally quiet place) when I hear the door open and a frantic/laughing Carrie saying "Jol, guess who got off work early, but didn't remember she didn't drive until she got to the parking garage?"  I chuckle out loud, this is classic Carrie.  Well, she was in luck.  I had only 2 patients at this time, and one of them was getting ready to be discharged.  The other nurse in my Pod only had 1 patient.  After explaining my conundrum to the charge nurse(and discharging my patient), we both were able to have a few extra hours at home.  Thanks Carrie, I owe  ya one.

What is wrong with people?

I have a hard time understanding the huge battle that surrounds the abortion debate.  I understand why it is a hot topic, I don't understand why people think it is ok to kill someone in his church because they disagree with his career choice.  This weekend a controversial abortion Dr. was gunned down in opposition of abortion, I still can't understand these severe emotions.

  Abortion, no matter what your position, brings out a very distinct opinion for each of us.  

I am a Christian.  I have a relationship with GOD and am very grateful for the grace that he has extended to me.  Having said this, I am also reminded that he has given us free will.  An ability to choose the path we take.  This doesn't mean that we will always pick the right path, but we will always have open arms to come back to when we realize we didn't.  I could never choose to have an abortion.  I had an unplanned pregnancy, and that thought never even occurred to me, because that is who I am.  I have a great support system, my parents would support me no matter what.  I am one of the lucky ones.  Many women/girls find themselves in unplanned pregnancies and have no one.  Not even someone to remind them of all of their options.  While adoption is a viable option to abortion, it isn't feasible for everyone.  There are families out there that will physically abuse their children for their mistakes.  When you are a girl who is already abused, and find yourself with an unplanned pregnancy, carrying a baby to term for adoption isn't always an option.  There are a lot of reasons that women have abortions, many of them reasons that we can't even begin to understand unless we have already walked a mile in their shoes. I can't image the emotional pain they go through.  Most women dream of having a family, it kills them to make a decision like this. 

I also understand the importance of that little life that is at the center of all of this fuss.  I can't imagine my life without any of my kids, I love being a mom.  I love my kids enough that I will support them unconditionally, I will always be there for them.  Just like my Heavenly Father will always be there to support the children of his that have made bad choices.  He is the one who we have to face for the CHOICES we make as a result of the free will we have been given.  If Jesus were here today, don't you think that instead of shooting someone at their place of worship, he would be forming a relationship with them so they could have a support system that promotes the best choices?  

Too much knowledge

Every year Jake can't wait to go to the pool.  When it is snowing outside and we drive by the pool, Jake wants to go.  Today was our first trip to the Gardner pool this year as a family (Victoria has gone about 7 times already).  As soon as we got to the pool, Jake put on his floaties and took off.  He loves the playground in the pool, the water slides, swimming around in the deeper area, he loves it all.  Jake is a very good swimmer...with floaties on.  He is starting to feel a comfort level that leads him to venture out on his own, or at least without us right next to him.  This scares the crap out of me!  The nurse in me keeps screaming "don't let him out of your sight, you don't know when it could be too much for him" or "what if he takes those floaties off, he can't swim well without them".  I have a really hard time putting that part of me out of my mind.  I work at a place that sees accidents from swimming a lot during the summer.  I have to remember that those cases are the few and far between, most of the time, things are fine.  I have to learn to parent stealthily from afar, and remember that I am not even in control...God is.  Hmmmm...as I write this, I see an area that I am being worked on...submission.  Who know blogging would be such a spiritual media?