2011 Podzius holiday pics!

My dad (www.artmendozaphotography.com) took these pictures for us for our Christmas cards this year! He is usually a very tradition photographer in the way and takes and edits photos, but he had a little fun with our pics. ;) They were taken at a pretty rose field near our home. We drive passed this field every week going to church and I thought it'd be a great place for a photo session! Enjoy the pics. Our little growing Podzius family... next year Abigail will be in our family pictures! Yes, we are having a little GIRL! More on that later. :) Click on the photos to enlarge.

Black Friday Shopping!

On Thanksgiving morning we lined up at Big Lots to purchase a sofa with chaise lounge for $399! We are going to put it in our loft area which will be our baby's play area in the future. :)  I unfortunately had to work on Thanksgiving day, but my awesome husband brought home leftovers for me from Thanksgiving dinner at Mom and Dad Podzius' home. That night, Jim picked me up from work and from there we went straight to Toys R Us to line up for Black Friday shopping! I love the excitement of shopping that day. :) And I love that Laura, my sis in law, shares my excitement for shopping that day! It's starting to become a tradition for us to go Black Friday shopping together! The doors opened at 9pm and we got what we came for! Up to a 96-pack of diapers for $10! We are starting to stock up on all things for baby now, while they are cheap! The plan was to go home, sleep a few hours and get back in line for the Babies R Us doorbuster sale starting at 5am, but we overslept :( We didn't end up getting to Babies R Us until 5am and the item I really wanted (432-ct wipes for $5) were already sold out! But the amazing deal on our dream crib and changing table was still available! I've wanted to purchase the Graco Lauren Classic Crib  ever since we found out we were pregnant. So happy that it was 50% off! Usually it sells for $179 plus the changing table which is $99 (still a great deal normally), but Babies R Us was selling them together for $148 total! Ahhh. Feeling so blessed for snagging such a great deal! The high chair that was advertised was also sold out by 5am too (which is when the deals were technically supposed to start, but you know Black Friday shoppers and the crazy early times they line up to get the deals hehe), so I bummed that it was sold out. BUT when we got home, they were stil available for purchase online with the advertised price! Unfortunately there was a shipping and handling fee, but still cheaper all together than what it would've been full price and we love the high chair - Fish Price Space Saver in the tan swirl print - very neutral. :) We also were able to purchase a great flat screen tv from Wal-Mart AND beat the crowds! They had the same awesome deal online! We also went to Old Navy and got great winter clothes for our niece and nephew. :) This is the first Christmas that I'll actually have money to shop for gifts since this is my first year with a real full-time job! Feeling blessed that I'm able to shower the people I love with gifts this Christmas season.

LOVE OUR BLACK FRIDAY BABY FINDS!!! :)

Graco Lauren Classic Crib

Graco Lauren Dressing Table

Fisher Price Space Saver High Chair

Thankful for Jim

This past weekend Jim went on a company trip with his co-workers. When he returned, I couldn't have been happier to see him. Just being away from him for 3 days was like torture to me. I've never missed him so much before! But him gone for those few days also made me realize how amazing of a husband I have and how grateful and thankful I am for him. The cheesy saying really is true... "distance makes the heart grow fonder" hehe. I just hope I don't have to be away from him for a long time again.

I am so in love with my husband. We have been married for almost 1 year now and time has just flown by. I can't believe I married my dream man! I can honestly say I did not settle one bit. He is the best of the best, and everyone who knows Jim knows how blessed I am to have him. He really is the greatest. :) I know every wife probably thinks their husband is the best husband in the world (or should think that anyway) but I truly believe mine is. Just one recent example: I was sleeping when Jim came home from work on Monday (I had worked the night shift that day) and Jim woke me up and surprised me with fresh flowers at my bedside. :) We pretty much always have fresh flowers in our house since he knows I really enjoy and appreciate them. It's the little things like that that make me feel so loved by him. He is so thoughtful and wonderful.

First night on med/surg!

Last night was my first shift on the med-surg/oncology floor! Jim took a quick pic before I left for my first night. :) I was so excited to finally be working in a hospital but also so nervous because I felt like I have already forgotten so much since nursing school. My first night went well. I was working in the med/surg side of the unit and only had 3 patients with my preceptor. I was surprised and proud of myself that I actually remembered how to hang an IV piggyback. :) I also tried to start an IV but was unsuccessful. :( But my preceptor who has 35 years of nursing experience took 3 attempts before she finally got a good stick, so I didn't feel too disappointed in myself. My experience at the prison has helped me in unexpected ways to prepare myself for this new job, for that I am thankful. There have been sooo many days I wonder why God has me working there, but if anything, to build my character and hopefully add a little positivity to that place. I was also proud of myself that I survived the whole night! I wasn't able to sleep before my shift, so by the end of my shift, I was awake for over 24 hours! Wouldn't recommend it, but glad I survived. This switching back from night and day shift every week is going to be tough, but hopefully worth it.

We are now in our 2nd trimester!!! We are 14 weeks and 6 days as of today. Woo hoo! We will be finding out the sex of our baby on November 30th and couldn't be more excited. :) I have been browsing baby furniture literally since the day we found out we're pregnant. (I love anything having to do with decorating our house and turning it into our home) While we are on our honeymoon, we will be getting the interior of our house painted a neutral tan color on all the walls and so after we return we can finally start to decorate baby's room! Hopefully I will start showing soon... still just feel like I look bloated or ate too much. :/

I'm back in the blogging world!

This is my first post on my new blog which will hopefully be kept updated for years to come. I used to be a faithful blogger ever since my teen years on different bloggers and before that, ever since I was a young girl I kept a diary. I loved documenting my day-to-day life and reading back on it later and remembering exactly what I did and how I felt on such day. My life now is more exciting than ever and all of this excitement and busyness has left me neglecting to journal any of it. :( So I've decided to recommit myself to online blogging and sharing my life with the public. :) I hope this blog serves as an honest and open account of my life where growth in all areas will become evident.

So I just placed an order on Amazon.com for my Littmann Classic II S.E. Stethoscope in Raspberry! I am so excited to receive it in the mail! Littmann is the best of the best when it comes to stethoscopes and the Classic II S.E. series is supposedly the best for general medical use. And I ordered it in Raspberry (pink), well, because I just love the color pink. :) Throughout nursing school I used a stethoscope my mom gave me that was hers years ago. It worked fine but after borrowing another nurse's Littmann and hearing the higher sound quality that came from it, I knew one day I just had to have one.

I'm buying this now since I start my new job at Maricopa Medical Center on Monday! I got hired along with about 60 other new nurses for this new grad program. This program goes until March and then after that they will hire about 30 of us for full-time staff. I will be about 7-8 months pregnant by then, so I'm not expecting to be hired, but either way I'll be okay. Jim and I will be expecting our first baby by then and God hasn't failed me yet. ;) I have my orientation this Monday and Tuesday and will be working on the med/surg and oncology floor. I cannot wait. Med/surg is exactly where I need to be as a new grad nurse.

I know I will learn a ton at Maricopa Medical Center, especially since it is a teaching hospital. I am so thankful for this opportunity and it made working in a prison for the last 6 months totally worth it. If you didn't know, I'm currently a nurse at Lewis Prison. It's an all male correctional facility in Buckeye, AZ. Haha never thought I'd EVER be working or let alone step foot in a prison, but funny how God uses any situation to use and grow you. I'll actually still be working there part-time since my new job will also only be part-time to begin with. Once I transition into full-time at the hospital (after our couple months of training), I will be working PRN (medical term meaning 'as needed') at the prison. I work there through my nursing registry CNS, and even though I definitely don't plan to be there forever, while I am starting this new job, it'll be nice to come back to a place that I know the routine.