working, sleeping, shopping, working...

I really really love my job, I do. I love the babies, I love the nursing aspect, I love most of the families...I hate going and staying up all night. I think it would be really great to work 1 day a week. That sounds like the perfect schedule. But I have to work to afford all the great things I want to buy!

Since my expanding waistline as made it difficult to wear most of my regular pants, Mr. Football agreed that I needed to go shopping. Which doesn't happen very often...so I jumped at the opportunity. I bought my first pair of maternity pants yesterday. Now I'm a little annoyed that I have to already adjust my wardrobe this early in the game, breathing I've decided is a necessity. I got the basics, a pair of capri's, a pair of white cargo capri's, a few tops. I was a little shocked however at the price of everything. I didn't help the situation that I also needed to purchase an outfit for my SIL's upcoming wedding. So while Mr. Football approved said shopping trip, I don't think he realizes the amount that was spent. So let's just keep it a secret.

With that being said, I wanted to share our book of the week...
This week was my pick, and I decided that I really liked this book when I was little. And it is a cardboard book which I was told is very important in those early reading days when the little one's like to help.

I'll be working the next few days, then it's off to the in-law's for the wedding. Have a great weekend!

beautiful weekend

I don't know about you but we've had such gorgeous weather here over the last few days. I'm finding it hard to stay inside...in fact I'm sitting out on the deck right now typing this post. I've got the ghetto fence up and the doggies and I are enjoying the nice weather...until the rain comes that is.

Mr. Football and I had a pretty relaxing weekend. I worked Friday night so I slept half the day Saturday. Cookie, Mr. T and Reverend X came over Saturday night for dinner. We played some Mad Gab...we're pretty cool I know. Sunday was our local March for Babies which went pretty well. We had about 20 people on our team which is double of what we had last year so I felt like I accomplished something. It was a 3 mile walk which would have been just lovely except that it was 80+ degrees, which I'm not complaining about but they ran out of water...at every station. So unless you were part of the front of the group, you didn't get any water for the entire walk. I saw a few of our NICU grads which is always fun. Its always a good feeling when a parent remembers you and shows off their miracle. That's the reason why we're there afterall.

Needless to say after the walk, I crashed on the couch for a few hours. The hubby then made dinner and I laid on the couch all night after that. I have to give credit to all of the dad's out there supporting their pregnant wives...I know it can't be easy. I don't think Mr. Football had any idea what he was getting himself into. Hopefully this first trimester exhaustion will pass soon and I'll be back to normal...as domesticated as I can be that is...

Well I'm off to keep the dogs from attacking the neighbor dogs. Have a lovely day!!

busy

This week is flying by and I can't keep up.

-Monday night I was off, but after working all weekend and staying up extra early to wait for Mckmama's Not Me Monday (wait, I'd never stay up until noon after working all night...) I pretty much was dead to the world Monday night. The hubby was a little miffed that I didn't want to hang out with him and would rather nap on the couch on my only night off...

-My tiramisu is a little stronger than I can handle...as in I followed the recipe exactly, and now theres too much alcohol for me to enjoy it. Why didn't I use less alcohol? I know that I can't handle a lot... I'll never understand myself sometimes.

-Tuesday I went to our March of Dimes kickoff meeting and it was surprisingly fun! There were lots of cute NICU grads and their families so I was in heaven. I think we're going to do awesome this year, and have fun doing it too.

-After the meeting I went to work for a few hours, I'm greedy afterall and I have plane tickets to purchase.

-After work (midnight-ish) headed over to Little S's house to work on our poster for the Conference next week. Can you tell we're night shift workers, who else would plan to get together at midnight?? Its done by the way...thank goodness.

-Tonight after I make dinner (because I promised the hubby that I would cook sometime this week) I'll be headed back into work a regular shift.

Left to do this week...

-Thursday night there's a benefit meeting for my dear friends the P family and Baby Bryson.
-Thursday night after the meeting, I'll be heading back into work...again. (When does retirement start?)
-Then I'm off for 2 days!!!! I can't wait. I promise to catch up on everyone's lives once mine isn't so crazy.
-Sunday, the madness starts over. I. Can't. Wait.

busy night

I saved a baby's testicle last night...what did you do?

Seriously.

We went by ambulance, lights and sirens to save this baby's family jewels.

I know that its a very serious situation, and terrifying for this family...

but it IS pretty funny to think about.

My job has so many ups and downs, when things are bad...they're really bad

so sometimes you need some comic relief.

(And I'm not a totally insensitive cruel b*tch, his "boys" are going to be just fine. I'd probably think VERY differently had the situation been different.)

Finally

I will be spending tonight like the last 2 nights, here...

...at work with my lovely babies. I've had some very cute ones lately...its impossible not to bond with them. (this is not an actual picture from where I work, just one I found on the internet. I would never post pictures of my patients, even though I would love to show you how adorable they are.)

The second love of my life (my DVR) will be spending the evening with...

I'm so excited for the season to start! I'm a TV-aholic. I'm not sure how I lived before DVR...

Anyone else have exciting plans for the evening?

Random Sunday-ness

The other night while I was at work I called home to check on the family...

Me: "Hi, How's your night going?"

Mr. Football: "Fine, I ate healthy tonight." (I'm very guilty of not cooking dinner the nights I work. I just have something small and the hubby has to fend for himself)

Me: "Really, what did you have?"

Mr. Football: "Well I ordered a pizza online and I did it wrong, so I ended up with the wheat crust..."

Me: "Oh, so eating pizza with a wheat crust is healthy?"

Mr. Football: "Yeah..."

...Ok

That is the man I married exactly 3 months ago today. We may have our issues at times but I love him and he knows how to make me smile.

On another note, today is Mr. P's birthday! He's the baby of the group, finally catching up in age with the rest of us. He's having a bad birthday this year...he's been pretty sick the last few weeks and I'm hoping that he'll be feeling better soon. Happy Birthday!

And finally, I was catching up on everyone elses posts and read about the sweet little Harper. She's a newborn who's fighting for her life right now. I'm not sure exactly what is going on with her but I know she has pneumonia and an enlarged heart that isn't pumping adequately. Please say a prayer for her and her family, my heart just breaks for them. I can only imagine what they must be going through...

11 days till christmas

Mr. Football and I had a pretty busy weekend...We started the excitment Friday night when one of my bestest girlfriends came home from Hawaii, yes Hawaii. Little S (as we like to call her) happened to meet this boy at our wedding. They started talking and decided to exchange phone numbers. While the hubby and I were on our honeymoon they talked pretty much everyday. This boy just so happens to live in Hawaii and invited Little S to come visit anytime...well Little S, being a very smart fun girl, decided to take him up on his offer. So she was able to fly to Hawaii for 12 days pretty much all expenses paid. She had a wonderful time there, and while I'm not exactly sure of their relationship, I know that they are great friends now...oh and did I mention that this "boy" happens to be my brother? I think it would be so much fun to have one of my best friends as my sister-in-law but I think I'm getting ahead of myself...we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

So Friday night we all went to dinner and exchanged Secret Santa names. I'm very excited about who I picked because I already knew what I planned on getting this person...and that just about never happens. I'm always at a loss as to what to get people...either I want to buy someone everything, or I have no clue.

Saturday the hubby and I spent the afternoon "attempting to" Christmas shop. Pretty much we went to several stores, got discouraged with the crowds and left with nothing. I did find a 2008 ornament for our tree and a photo frame ornament for Jax. But shopping for myself defeats the purpose of "Christmas Shopping".

Our friends invited us to a Christmas Party Saturday night, there was good food and fun people. We played Euchre, where I happened to beat Mr. Football pretty much every game. He and his friend were not very good sports about losing so they ended up cheating to win! Very uncool...

Today we went to a friends for a Premier Designs Jewelry party. The girls shopped for jewelry and the boys played Guitar Hero. There was lots of cute jewelry that I wanted but since we broke the bank with our wedding we only have enough to spend on others. I bought my mom a very cute charm bracelet. Hopefully it will be here in time for Christmas...

Tonight I'm on-call for work again. Someone must have called in sick because I'm the "A" transport person. I should probably try to get a nap in since I could go out anytime, but I really just was to read my book...

Everyone has been talking about it and I really wasn't that into it when I first started reading it, but now I'm hooked...

...back to reading!

baby, baby, baby...

I just want to start with saying that I LOVE my job. I don't say that everyday, and that's because I don't feel like that everyday...I'm not sure anyone does. Obviously there are other things I'd rather do than work, a million things I'd rather do actually. And when I have a crappy night at work, I feel like why do I even bother? My job is serious, pretty much all the time, and when I have a bad night, believe me...its bad. Thankfully I've only had a handful of "bad" nights, and in my line of work that means...well I work with sick and premature babies, you get the picture.

Last night I had the privilege of taing care of the sweetest babies ever...3 little boys, who just so happen to be triplets. They are doing so well and are absolutely thriving. They are the reason I LOVE my job. It is the best feeling to take care of little people who have fought so hard and are on the path to go home. Normally I take care of sick babies, the sickest, and when they get better I move onto the next sick one. So when I actually get healthy babies, I take advantage of the situation. Their mother was discharged from the hospital last night, so she was pretty tearful. Every mother imagines going to the hospital, having a baby and then going home with that baby...so its only appropriate to be sad when your vision doesn't take...especially times three.

Since I had three very nice babies last night I decided that they needed to be fluffed and buffed...meaning baths and linen changes for everyone. We just so happened to get a delivery of clean baby laundry so everyone got cute bedding and outfits. The hospital provides standard baby shirts, but we are fortunate enough to have a closet of donated baby clothes and blankets. Most are preemie outfits donated from our graduates and others are bought by staff. (If anyone has preemie and newborn outfits lying around look into donating them to a children's hospital. We are always VERY grateful.) Anyways, after bathtime it was photo-shoot time. Its amazing to me that I can not motivate myself to scrapbook anything at home, I don't really know why. I love scrapbooking and I'm always looking for new ideas and buying things, but then I get home and I have no desire to do it...hmm.

A lovely family donated a digital camera and printer after their son was discharged so now we frequently do "photo-shoots" of our babies. Then we make cute cards and signs and banners when we have the time. So each of my boys last night got footprints done, a picture of their face, and a close up of hands or feet. I creatively scrapped each picture on different colored paper and attached each square with ribbon for each boy. It's not the greatest but it was the best I could do while at work. Hopefully mom will be surprised when she comes in and feel at ease that her boys got plenty of attention while she wasn't there...

...and my baby itch was satisfied, at least for a little while.

so I repeat...I LOVE my job!

If your looking for something new you should consider being a NICU nurse...its pretty great.

faithful companions

So its 5 in the morning and I'm awake watching SATC, the movie and blogging. After 3+ years I'm officially a night-shift girl. I'm sleeping while Mr. Football is awake, and I'm awake while he's sleeping even when I'm not at work. I ended up getting called into work last night to go pick up a baby from another hospital that was sick. Part of my job in the NICU is being part of the transport team...which is exactly what it sounds like, we "transport" babies. We go to outlying hospitals and bring babies to our Level 3 NICU or we take babies to other hospitals when necessary. I got the call at about 11pm last night while the hubby and I were watching Hancock. The charge nurse told me that I'd be going to pick up a baby from a hospital 45 minutes away that was pretty sick. We would be going "lights and sirens" which means its pretty serious. No matter how long I do this job I always get butterflies when I go out on transport. I never know what I'm walking into or how bad it is going to be...

I ended up not getting home until 7:30 this morning so I slept ALL day. I consider the first day after I work my "lost day" because that's what it is. Sometimes I can urge myself to get up around noon but today was not one of those days. Mr. Loves-football-more-than-life is pretty good about letting me sleep, especially on football days. So I did not get to go to a Christmas party today and I did not decorate the house like I wanted...

Instead we watched football, had chili for dinner, I slept some more and now I'm still up watching movies and blogging. I've got my two faithful companions to keep me company...

...ok maybe not.

On another note, today was the first snow fall. I mean the first REAL snowfall, that stuck and everything. Theres about an inch or so, and its beautiful. I love the first snow fall of the year, especially when I dont have to be out in it. Im looking forward to snowboarding and sledding, making snowmen, and Mr. Football's birthday!

What are you looking forward to this winter?