Great day!

I had a great Thursday. I went walking with my neighbor Kim this morning. Having a walking buddy is a good way to stay consistent because if it were up to just me to walk in the morning, I would get too lazy. :/ Then Abby and I went grocery shopping in the afternoon. At Fresh N Easy they are giving away a FREE turkey with $30 purchase!!! I have never seen my Fresh N Easy store so busy before! It was not in my weekly ad, but thanks to Cents'Able Shoppin! I am always up to date on the latest and greatest deals. :) I am not in charge of the turkey for Thanksgiving (still don't know what we're going to make/bring...) but I've never made one, so this one will be good practice for me. At night, we went on a walk as a family (including Jasper) to Petsmart to get him new dog toys, Subway for dinner, Sprouts to pick up the salmon that's on sale this week and since Papa Murphy's was right next door, got a dessert pizza mmmm. The dessert pizza was a splurge but I walked a total of 4 miles today, so I think I walked off enough calories to indulge a little. ;) Going on a walk with my little family was so fun. It totally made my day! I love quality time spent together! Here are some pics from the week :)

Jasper is so good around Abigail :) Such a lover and protector.

Abby getting the hang of sitting up! Big girl!

Abigail all bundled up before our walk tonight. I love that the weather is cooling down!

 

So I've been looking into different RN to BSN programs online today. Trying to find an inexpensive, accredited school. My co-worker Christina told me about University of Texes- Arlington. I looked the school up and you can get your BSN in 13 month for only $9,000! Still a TON of money, but very good in comparison to other schools. If anyone reading this knows of any schools I should look into, please let me know! I hate how going to school is so expensive! I'm appreciating my parents so much more now that I'm starting to realize all the sacrifices they made for me (including paying for my associate nursing education so I wouldn't have any student loans when I got out of school). My hospital does offer tuition reimbursement, so I called them today to get more information about it and I found out the wait list in about 2 YEARS! :( By the time my name finally rolls around, I will hopefully already be done with my BSN. I was talking with Kim today on how she was able to get her master's degree with 2 little ones at home. She said as soon as her husband got home, he took the kids and made her go into another room and study/do homework. I know I'm going to have to become really disciplined... working full-time, going to school full-time and taking care of Abby. Oh my. I'm getting exhausted just thinking about it... 2013 is probably going to be my busiest year yet!

Better.

So Jim and I have decided to be healthier. Being healthier in regards to food, activity and lifestyle. I am very much into coupons, but a lot of the foods that are on sale aren't the best things for you. So we've decided that the extra cost for healthier food is worth it for our family. I can still use my coupons to score free toiletries (All our shampoo/conditioner, deodorant and toilet paper I scored for FREE to under a dollar! If I ever had to pay full price for those items I would cringe! LOL), but no more junk food. If we get the munchies, instead of snacking on chips or cookies, we will snack on nuts (unsalted), fruits or veggies. But of course with the holidays coming up, we will have cheat meals/days (NOT going to deprive myself Thanksgiving dinner!), but overall, we are committing ourselves to eating healthier foods.

Also, we are becoming more active. I am now 10 lbs UNDER my pre-pregnancy weight and besides breatfeeding, I definitely feel I've played an active role to losing that baby weight. I am now walking with my neighbor Kim a few times a week in the mornings with her kiddos and Abigail and also going to the gym a few times a week in the evenings. Since Fresh N Easy, CVS and Sprouts are all within walking distance (less than a mile from my house) Abigail and I will be walking/jogging there when we need something from there. I think Abby has fun on our walks. She gets to breathe in fresh air and experience all the new sights and sounds that the outdoors bring. Fun for Abby and exercise for mommy, we both win. :)

As far as a healthier lifestyle, we are surrounding ourselves with friends who love God and want to live better for Him. Every other Tuesday night we have restarted our t-groups. 'T-groups' is short for transformation groups. Something our church does where you get together with a couple people of the same gender and can be totally transparent with. We tell each other our struggles, pray for each other, look for biblical answers to our questions and keep each other accountable to stay on the right path. I love that we've started t-groups again. We used to be involved with them about 2 years ago, but then we just didn't make it a priority anymore and it just fell off our schedules. We believe it's important to have those people in your life that you can go to for accountability, spiritual support and guidance. Also, we are hosting bible study at our home every Wednesday night. Hosting it assures that we will actually attend hehe and I purposely don't work Wednesday nights because of it. I am also trying out a new work schedule in December, so I will be able to go to church without rushing to get to work or falling asleep because I just got off work.

And I want to be better in my profession. Lately, I feel like I've just been going to work and trying to rush those 3 days so I can get to my 'real' job which is being at home with Abby the rest of the 4 days of the week. But it's not working. While I'm at work, I am trying to better myself as a nurse, but as soon as I get home, I forget about work until I have to go in again. Now my hospital is requiring all RNs to get their BSN - Bachelor's of Science in Nursing. I only have my Associate's of Applied Science in Nursing (but it took me and the rest of the associate's prepared RNs just as long to get their degrees, but don't even get me started on that...). Most hospitals won't hire you anymore if you don't have your BSN. The cutoff date at my hospital isn't until 2020, but I know the sooner I get it, the better. I was wanting to put it off until Abigail and our future child that we're planning on having were at least in pre-school/kindergarten, but I know I'll have an excuse then too to not want to go back to school, so there's no better time than the present. Logically, I know now is the best time while Abby is still young and won't remember this time and before the next baby is here. But school equals money and the money we've been trying to save up is supposed to go towards our dream home in Marley Park before their homes become too expensive again. So we'll see. I'm praying about this. I know I need to do this relatively soon. But besides getting my BSN, I want to takes steps to becoming a better nurse now. I have forgotten so much since nursing school and since I work on the medical side of the medical/oncology floor, I get patients with a wide variety of illnesses. I need to set aside time on my days off to study.

6. MONTHS. OLD.

Wow, I cannot believe our sweet baby Abigail is already 6 months old! She brings so much joy, happiness and love to our lives. I am so excited for her to grow up with her cousins and both sets of grandparents in the same state. Life is so much more fun and exciting now because of her! She gives me a reason to work hard at work and makes me want to be a better wife, mother and overall person. Life is more challenging but definitely 100x better after having children. My perspective about what's important in life changed and I really found myself maturing as a person after having Abigail. Some recent pics :)

 

11/10/12 Grandparents with all the grandkids celebrating Papa's birthday!

 

My little family whom I love sooo much!

 

In that last picture, I was in my scrubs because I had to leave for work right after, but for the first 3 Saturdays of December I'll be getting Saturday night OFF! I am so beyond excited! I will be working Friday, Sunday and Monday nights. That means I will actually be able to spend a weekend day with my family and will be able to enjoy going to church without rushing to go to work afterwards or falling asleep since I just got off a 13-hour shift! If this works out, then I will be requesting that to be my schedule. My mom will be able to watch Abgail most Mondays and Tuesdays so I can sleep (thank goodness for a 3-day work week for nurses to be able to do this)! I miss spending the weekend with my family!

Update: Halloween up until now

The weekend before Halloween was my first weekend off since the beginning of July! It was AMAZING. I totally took the weekends for granted before, definitely not anymore. We had a Halloween party on Saturday and I think it's becoming an annual thing. This was our second year! I ran out of time trying to think of a creative costume, so I just wore something we had from our luau we had to welcome Abigail a few months back. Jim and Abigail were Alan and the baby from The Hangover and Jasper was a hotdog! Here is a family pic from the night:

 

Last Monday night at work I developed mastitis. It was horrible and I hope I never get it again! Luckily, it was my last night on and had 3 days off afterwards, so I had time to rest and recover. My mom was off that day so she came over and watched Abby after I came home from work so I could sleep. I don't know what I'd do without the help from my mom! I eventually went to the doctor's office and she confirmed it was mastitis and I've been on antibiotics since then. But still, breastmilk is what's best for Abigail, so I'm going to keep on keeping on for as long as I can.

 

Halloween night I was still recuperating, but I couln't miss out! This was Abigail's 1st Halloween! Jim, Abigail and I grilled up hotdogs in our front yard and also passed out bottled water and candy (of course). We did the same thing last year and it was a hit, so we decided to do it again this year. Some of the trick or treaters even remembered us from last year and referred to us as 'the hot dog house.' Lol. People really seemed to appreciate it. We met our new next door neighbors and also got to chat with our other neighbors. I love connecting with our neighbors!

 

Here are some pics from when we went to the neighborhood park this past week. This was Abigail's first time in her stroller WITHOUT her infant carseat! She is such a big girl now! She will be 6 months this Thursday! Crazy!

 

 

Today Jim and I voted. Then we went to dinner with his parents at Flemings. :)

 





Sick day

Yesterday Jim came home early from work because he was sick. It was nice him being home since we don't get to spend much time together, but sad that my hubby was sick. :( Then at night, I became sick too! He took a sick day from work today and we've both been having fevers on and off and the day has just been a blur. Napping when Abby naps and trying to muster up the energy to take care of her. It was so nice to have a day together with Jim, but the circumstances not so good. At least we took turns getting sick. When one would start feeling better, the other would get a fever again and repeat. I hope Abigail doesn't catch it! She's been okay so far though. I hope by tomorrow we are both better. Jim has to go back to work tomorrow and I'm going to be home with Abby. If anyone reads this, please pray for my family's health! Thank you. :)

GHS Alumni Mommy Reunion!

Last week I had an idea to get some girls I knew in high school together for a mini reunion! There are a handful of us who are now mommies, and it's always nice to get together with other mommy friends and babies! We got together yesterday at San Tan Mall. Kids played in the play area, went to see puppies and ended our playdate at DQ! It was so nice to see them again! I will be planning another alumni playdate, this time not so last minute so hopefully more moms and kids will come.

 

Also, the Halloween pictures that J Lobbins Photography took last week are done! Here are a couple of my favorites. :)

I think I'm the only one who DOESN'T look forward to Friday nights and LOVES Monday mornings!

Today is Friday. Back to work tonight. I know I am blessed to even  have a job, that pays well and has flexible hours, but working every weekend is really getting to me. But then I feel humbled when I meet someone like this... I met a girl at work a few months ago, the week I returned from maternity leave. She was floated to our floor and we started chatting. She told me how she used to be a stay at home home before nursing school. Her husband was successful in his career that allowed her to do that. But then the market crashed and he, like many Americans, was left without a job. So luckily she had the nursing degree to be able to go back to work and make ends meet. Now she is the primary provider of her family for the time being, working full time at our hoispital and 2-3 days a week at another. That's working 12-13 hour shifts, 5-6 days a week. Wow. She knows it won't be like that forever, but for now, it's what has to be done for her family. I was totally put in my place complaining about going back to work 3 days a week. I think God had me meet her for a reason, especially that week I returned from maternity leave. When I think I "have it bad," I am reminded of how blessed I really am. I see that girl around every once in awhile and am reminded of that exact thing.

Anyway, this week was a wonderful week. I just love my days off! I love Mondays because I have the whole week to look forward to, but Mondays are also rough since I can't sleep until Abigail naps. I usually only get an average of 2 hours during the day, maybe 1 hour in the evening, and then I can sleep at night after Abigail falls asleep. Monday was the Mom's Night Out event I talked about in my previous post. So much fun!

Tuesday I finally got my butt back to the gym. Zumba was fun as always. I saw this quote that said "You know all those things you've 'always wanted to do'? YOU SHOULD GO DO THEM." So simple but it inspired me to seek out those things I've aways wanted to do but [insert excuse here]. The only thing holding me back from accompishing my goals/dreams is myself. One of those being to teach Zumba. There are few things I actually think I'm good at or would accept compliments on, and Zumba Fitness is one of them. I was a dancer growing up and my love for dance never outgrew me. I am happy when I dance, my worries go away and I feel like I can just let loose. I've seen friends become successful at doing this, so why not me? I've been licensed to teach for about 2 years now and I haven't actually taught any classes. What a waste! It's time to make it happen!

Thursday Abigail and Jasper had their Halloween pictures taken by J Lobbins Photography. She has become our family photographer and we love her! Here is a sneak peak of Abigail from the shoot: