June 2013

 

 

Above were some of my favorite pictures from Abigail's 1st birthday shoot and our spring family photoshoot (as promised in my last blog I would post) taken by our family photographer J Lobbins Photography. :) Just tonight I've started to organize all our professional pictures, so we can finally get them printed and have some pictures up on our walls!

 

Speaking of bare walls, pretty much our whole home is bare right now. We plan on being in this home for 20+ years, so I know there is no need to rush on buying new things and filling all the spaces, but we've lived in our home for almost 2 months now, and even though we are unpacked for the most part, you would think we were still in the process of bringing our things in. Even our windows are bare... We ordered shutters  6 weeks ago and they said it should take 6-8 weeks to get here, so any day now I'm assuming. This past week we had a contractor take a look at our front room. When you walk into our home, to the left is an open space labeled as a "flex" room on our home's floor plan. I've noticed some neighbors have made that space a dining or living room. For us, it is Jim's office. But I'd like to have a more defined space for him (especially so Abigail won't get into all of Jim's electronics). We plan on enclosing the space with french doors and adding board and batten wainscoting to the foyer area. We're still waiting for a quote to see how much it will cost, hopefully my dreams for these renos won't be crushed by the price tag!

 

So an update on what's been going on with me lately... last week I started my new work schedule of working Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights. It should be staying like this for awhile. That first night back at work every week is always rough, but then having 4 days and pretty much still having my whole weekend is very nice. Sucky part means Abigail is at the babysitter's Monday-Wednesday (I pick her up on Wednesday after I wake up in the afternoon). I've decided I need my sleep nowadays, especially being pregnant again. I don't think I'm much of a mom anyway when I'm trying desperately to keep my eyes open after being awake for 24-40 hours and "taking care" of Abigail. I can't even function at that point. I have co-workers that still do that because of their family, but for me, I need sleep. Part of me feels like a bad mom for choosing sleep over being with my daughter, but again, I have to just remind myself that it isn't very safe for me/my future baby and not even for Abby if something were to happen. Abigail really seems to be enjoying herself at the sitter's, not even wanting to leave some days because she's having so much fun, but it still pains me to be away from her that much. Oh the struggles of a working mom. :( I know I could go back to working every weekend (Friday, Saturday, Sunday night) but I was just miserable with that schedule, never seeing Jim, family/friends and rushing or being super sleepy at church. But I know once our second baby comes, we will have to re-evaluate again what will work best for our family. Well I finally applied to an OB position at my work a few weeks ago! That took a lot for me to even apply since working on my floor has become my comfort zone. I emailed our director that I applied, but it turns out they aren't really hiring right now and a lot of nurses are getting canceled because of low patient census (my mom works postpartum/antepartum/gyn so it's true. :( So now my plan is to stay on my floor until our baby comes (even though some days I come home seriously wanting to quit because of the horrible/busy night/patients I had). But that's the plan for now. Even if a position were to open up, I don't want to be a on new floor for only a few months, then be off for up to 3 months for my maternity leave, then start back over again. Once I go back to work after my maternity leave, I will start applying for my dream nursing job again. Work is really starting to push for the nurses to get their BSNs (required starting January 2020), which I know is still far, but I'm always being asked if I'm going back to school yet and I just don't know. I know there is never going to be an 'ideal' time, I just have to go back and do it, but it stresses me out thinking I will be working, going to school and taking care of 2 little ones. I know a lot of people do it all the time, but that to me just seems very overwhelming. Prayers/advice on what to do would be very much appreciated. Oh, and not to mention the cost of going back to school. I don't want to take our a student loan, but I also don't exactly have an extra $15-$25k laying around. I know I will need to go back to school eventually, especially since now rarely any hospitals will hire without a BSN (I know my hospital is only hiring BSNs now).

 

Enough about work, we are now 10 weeks along in our pregnancy!!! This pregnancy definitely feels different than the first... I am craving things constantly, and I'm nauseous and vomiting a whole lot more. Our next doctor visit is July 5th, so we still have a couple more weeks to go until we hear our sweet baby's heartbeat again. I don't think there will be another ultrasound until our anatomy ultrasound around 16-20 weeks. My dad, who's been in Washington state for the few months for a long-term work assignment- they plan on keeping him there 6 months to a year :( should be coming back to AZ to visit for the first time at the end of August, so hopefully we can find out our baby's gender while he's hear. Two of my aunts will also be in town, so I'm excited for a mini family reunion. :) It would be awesome if we could find out the gender while my dad was in town, especially since if it's a boy, we will name him James Arthur (James after Jim and his dad) and Arthur after my dad! If our baby is a girl, we will be naming her Katherine after one of my aunts. :) Still deciding on a middle name if our baby is a girl. Some that I have in mind... Jane (since my aunt's name is Catherine Jane, but we would spell ours with a K and call her Kate for short) or Catalina after my grandmother. It is midnight now, I really should get to seep! Hopefully I will update my blog again soon!