productive day

I have to say that today was a productive day for me. I took Rhys to daycare around 9:30 am and then came home and got right to doing paperwork for work that I'd been putting off for days now. I knew that if I didn't get it done today, I wouldn't have time later. Well, I think after printing everything and then filling everything out, it took me about 2 hours. Then I started to wonder what I wanted to eat for lunch as well as what I was going to feed my family for dinner. I looked to see what was inside my fridge and I really started to scratch my head. How can it be that I spend $50-$100 at the grocery store about once a week and still have nothing in my fridge to eat? I only have a family of three! Rhys does eat a lot, but he eats one of his meals at daycare! I opened the freezer door to find a few items that I made to freeze (won't use those unless I'm working on the weekends) and not much more! There were some frozen dumplings, some frozen ravioli and Dino nuggets, but nothing else really. I saw the bag of mexican cheese I bought a couple weeks ago and noticed that there was a recipe on the back of the bag for spanish rice! So with that, I was all set to make a spanish dinner. I went to Albertsons to buy the ingredients for the spanish rice as well as some chicken and coleslaw. Can you believe it!?? It cost me $40!! How??? I guess it would have cost me $30 if I didn't buy fruit. But in any case...$30! I might as well just eat out! It's just as much money and I don't have to cook or do dishes! Sigh...but I want to cook somewhat healthy meals for Rhys so I try to cook. Oh yea, I realized that I really suck at cooking. My spanish rice was more like spanish mush. Good thing the recipe called for cheese. That's the only thing that saved my sad dish. Thank goodness Rhys ate it up!! Hehe. He will eat almost anything if it has a sprinkling of cheese on it. Also...I thought I liked cooking too! I don't really like it these days. I really am starting to understand what my mom would mean when she'd say, "I love eating food that other people cook for me!" Nowadays, I cook because I have to, not because I want to. 

I find myself always stressing over what to make for dinner. I buy cookbooks that have recipes that I can make for my family, but I honestly don't even try to attempt most of the recipes. Poor Rhys...and poor Brian. I should just do it, but the few times that I do, it just doesn't turn out right...and I don't have the patience or the time to try and do it again. I don't know where my passion for cooking went. I used to love going to the grocery store every other day to buy the few ingredients I would need to make dinner for the next couple of nights. I remember when I first moved to SD, I'd actually make lunches for Brian. 

I used to bake too! To be perfectly honest, I don't have time. I spend most of my days trying to keep our home from looking like it's been recently burglarized or catching up on sleep after a night of working. Sometimes I think to myself...if I can take an hour to bake a pie, I can use that time to cook a meal and freeze some of it for later in the week. 

Overall I feel so bad for both of the men in my life that I haven't been making delicious meals. I am so thankful that they eat what I give them though...I love them so much!! 

A case of Urticaria

Rhys has come down with a case of Urticaria...hives. He basically started with some weird looking bumps on his legs yesterday in the late morning that quickly progressed into these welts all over his armpits and his belly area. Rhys was still fortunately a happy camper so I wasn't too worried. However, at the end of the day, Brian and I decided to load him up with a dose of benadryl so he could sleep and hopefully have the rashes/hives go away. Unfortunately for us, his hives persisted even after a 2nd dose, so Brian took him to the Dr.'s office to get a checkup. I pretty much had a feeling that they wouldn't really be too concerned with the hives because he was afebrile and not lethargic. But I'm kinda glad he went because we at least ruled out an ear infection which was the reason he broke out in hives the last time. Brian ended up dropping rhys off in daycare and he did fine. 

Where was I during all of this you ask? I was taking an IV certification course that day. Caitlin and I decided to take it to try and improve our skills. I'm not sure I would say that I came out of the class feeling like I was much better skilled at starting an IV, but I did learn a few tips to try and hopefully make it easier for my future attempts. We shall see. The last two IVs that I started at work were a success so I hope that streak continues.

I'm really starting to consider picking up knitting again. Now that the weather has started to somewhat cool off, I am getting into the fall mood. Before Rhys came into this world, I was really getting into cable knitting and I think this is what was making knitting really fun for me because I was no longer knitting my boring designs and actually making something that looked more intricate and fun to look at. I am currently sitting on my bed with some yarn and some needles...debating whether I should pick up my needles and start knitting. I may...but I find that these days, sleep trumps just about everything. I start reading and within 20 minutes, my head is already on the pillow and I am snoring away. I love sleep! I am sleep deprived to say the least. On the days that I work, I get a max of 5.5 hours of sleep....and that ain't enough!! I probably should be sleeping now too. I think the only reason I'm awake is because of that iced coffee I had with my bagel sandwich from Einsteins Bros bagels today. 

I work two days: Saturday and Sunday and then I'm off for like 7 days! Well not totally off. I have a New Grad meeting on Tuesday and then two days at an OB/GYN conference on Thurs/Fri in downtown SD. Caitlin and I are going together and we are both really excited!!! I am excited to learn more about the field of nursing that I'm in and become a more informed nurse. Yay for education!! 

Sigh...my eyelids are falling...I should sleep. good night!! 

Best Fridays!

The best Fridays are the ones where I'm not working in the evening AND Rhys is in daycare. Today is that such day! Brian also has the day off today as well so that is an added bonus. Unfortunately Brian has scheduled doctor's appointments today and is stuck at the Dr.'s office due to a 45 minute delay. The cleaning lady is here today so I can't leave the house, but I'm happy that our house is getting cleaned while I rest!

I can't believe that the last time I wrote on this blog was when I started working as a nurse! It's been about 6 months now since I've started and I think I'm starting to get the hang of things now. Working nights actually works okay for me surprisingly. I think having Rhys to take care of tires me out enough that I never have any problems falling asleep. Brian and I fell asleep on our lovely new couch last night and didn't wake up until 4 in the morning. That couch I tell ya..it's so comfy that it's dangerous.

Stephanie moved out last Sunday and we miss her a lot these days. It still feels like she is just away for the week...but I'm sure in another few weeks it will really hit me that she is gone. But she is visiting next weekend so I am excited! Too bad I have to work the whole weekend. 

I tell ya...I start writing these things and I get about 2-3 paragraphs in and I go..."Hmm...that's it. That's all I have to say about my life." Many times I have started writing on this blog, only to erase the entry because it doesn't sound interesting at all. But you know what...at this rate, I'll never get a blog entry out. So I decided to write about anything. Even if I sound like my brain is all over the place, I'm just gonna write whatever is in my head at the time.

Here goes...
When I went to pick Rhys up from daycare yesterday, I asked his teacher how he liked "water day" this past Wednesday. She told me that he liked the water the most out of all the kids in his class. While the other kids were afraid of the spraying water, Rhys' remarks were of pure joy. He kept saying that it was raining! I knew Rhys would really love water days because he loves playing with water when we are at home.

The only downside to his love of water and playing outside is that he has developed quite the farmer's tan. 

My days these days are ridiculously the same day in and day out. So nothing really new happens that I really feel like I need to write about. What I do notice is that I'm always looking at my watch to see how much time I have free so I can get as much done during the day before I have to pick Rhys up. I have 5 hours before I need to pick him up today and I have two things I need to get done. I need to figure out what we will eat for dinner and cook it, and also get my nails done. I probably should read a little too. Currently I am reading For One More Day by Mitch Albom. I borrowed it from my coworker so I should finish it soon. Pretty quick read

 though...I'm already halfway through and I've only sat down to read it twice.

Ok ok...I will write more another day. Time to get some stuff done.

Finally starting as a nurse!!

I am finally going to be a real nurse! After 2 years of worrying if I'll ever get hired, I finally am starting my journey! Although I am very excited about this new adventure, I am also very scared. I feel like I've been put back into nursing school again. After 2 years of being out of nursing school, it is a weird feeling to have to think about all of these things again. I hope I'll get the hang of things soon. I'm also kinda sad that I won't be able to spend as much time with Rhys. Let's face it...I'm really sad.

All I wanted to do today after I came home was hug him and kiss him. I don't know what I'm going to do when I won't be able to see him for more than a day because of my schedule!! I have been with this kid non-stop for the past 15 months! And now I'm spending a lot of time away from him. I just hope that he adjusts well to being in Daycare. Oh man I love that kid so much!!!! Sniff Sniff...

It sounds weird, but I'm already thinking about baby number 2! I mean, we're not gonna have a baby any time soon, but I am thinking about when the right time may be to start thinking about having another baby.

But first, I need to make sure that I can make it through these 90 days out alive! I can't even miss more than 2 days of work without an approval. That scares me a little cuz it's almost like a 3 strikes you're out deal. Hopefully Brian and Stephanie can help out during the next 3 months if we come across any emergencies with Rhys.

Waking up at 5:30 in the morning is not something I'm looking forward to...

I better go pray for a good day tomorrow and then hit the sack!!

Here is a pic of Rhys sleeping with his Tigger.

19 Kids and Counting

So I've been pretty much obsessed with the TLC show, 19 Kids and Counting. They are the Duggars and they live in Arkansas. You could say that I watch it all day long. I have it on on my ipod that is hooked up to a speaker in my kitchen so I listen to episodes while I cook, eat with Rhys and so on. I dunno what it is about this show but I love watching them just live their lives! All of their kids' names start with the letter J and they have 9 girls and 10 boys! They are: Joshua, Jana, John-David, Jessa, Jill, Jennifer, Josie, Jordyn, James, Jason, Jedidiah, Jeremiah, Jinger, Justin, Jackson, Josiah, Johannah, Joy-Anna, and Joseph! Whew!! The statistics worked out correctly in the long run! haha. They are a very religious family with very conservative values. Some of their values I don't think I could stick to or have our family stick to like the idea of courtship where instead of dating, you ask permission from the girl's parents and you basically court the girl you want to marry. You also can't kiss until you are married. I respect their values and they seem to have what it takes to keep a beautiful family and marriage together so they must be doing something right.

There is such a thing called "Duggar time" where they always have to tack on at least 30 mins to an hour when they are getting ready to leave to go somewhere. Since there are so many people, it's just too hard to get everyone out the door on time. I love it that they call it Duggar time. hehe. I would like to have a big family and have the home be bustling with people...but at the same time it is a lot of work. So I think I'll just live vicariously through the Duggars.

Playdates

Rhys at the park on one of our playdates

Rhys and I have been trying to go to more playdates these days as Rhys has gotten more active. Rhys enjoys going to the park and looking at the birds. He is OBSESSED with birds. He loves watching them and asks to be taken to the birds if they are far away. He mimics the cawing sounds that the birds make (we have mostly crows in our neighborhood). So we both are getting to enjoy more of this early fall San Diego sun. Rhys likes to bit and pull at other children, I believe as a show of his excitement...but it usually scares the other kids. I've actually started to worry about his biting. He will come charging at another kid with his mouth open and proceeds to grab the kid's face, arms, clothes...whatever he can get his little hands on. It feels like after every playdate, I'm telling Stephanie about how Rhys tried to bite yet another kid today. Earlier this week, I went to go meet a woman I became friends with at a playdate and he ended up biting her boy's fingers! I saw Rhys bite the kid and he bit hard! The other kid had a delayed reaction to the bite, but he cried a lot. I felt so bad that Rhys was the bully. I know he doesn't know that what he's doing is wrong, but I can't help but be a bit more stern when it comes to his biting. I really hope that this is a phase and he will grow out of it soon. 

More~!

Lately I've been teaching Rhys some sign language here and there so I can better communicate with him. I've started with a few simple words: More, Eat, Milk, All Done, and Car. So far he's signed back More and All Done for sure. He signs more when he wants more food or when he wants me to do something fun again for him. I'm having a lot of fun signing with him because I really can sense that he wants to communicate with me. These days in the mornings, Rhys does this game where he rolls a ball under the crib and then grabs my hand and pushes it under the crib toward the ball, basically asking me to get it for him. He also will ask to be picked up and then proceed to point to where he would like me to take him...(it is usually outside that he wants me to take him to). It's fun and exciting being able to understand him more, but I can't always do what he asks me to do (like give him a mini twix bar) so he gets frustrated too. But overall we have a great time with it. He understands the word milk as well. When I ask, "Do you want milk?" He stops what he's doing and walks over to me with a BIG smile on his face. Love that kid!