"Your mom goes to colllege"

I hope it's not too uncool to quote Napolean Dynamite anymore, because I just did. Well, I'm at about the 2 month mark since my last post, so I decided I should write an update for the ol' bloggity blog. One reason I've avoided blogging is because, well, life has been a little hard lately. Also, I tend to be a complainer (I'm working on this) and no one wants to read complaints. Anyway, here's what we've been up to:

I started school full-time at UNMC in August, so I've been busy trying to balance school, motherhood, working, church duties and being a supportive wife. Unfortunately, I've never been the greatest at balancing, so one or more of these areas often gets neglected. My education hasn't exactly played out as I planned it would when I was a 18 year-old freshman at BYU many eons ago, but that's okay. I'm grateful for the training I've received thus far and that I've ended up in a field where I can easily find a job and support a family. So after 5 years of attending 4 different colleges in 3 different states and being in school during 2 different pregnancies and 1 marriage, I will finally graduate with my Bachelor's degree of Nursing this spring (I currently just have an Associate's degree in Nursing). School has never been particularly difficult for me, but throwing a toddler into the mix definitely makes things a bit more challenging. Luckily, most of my classes are online, so with the help of daycare, my mother, and Seasame Street (bless that dear Elmo), I've been able to survive thus far. Next semester makes me worry a bit however, as I'm not sure how everything will balance when I'll have a newborn to care for during my last month of school. One day (and Diet Pepsi) at a time I suppose. Needless to say, I've been a tad stressed, and if Marlee could talk in complete sentences, she'd say my favorite pants to wear lately are my "cranky pants" (which come with an elastic wasteband- FYI). Even though I often feel stressed, being in school has been a blessing in more ways than one, and it really makes time pass quickly with Jamie being gone.

How I feel sometimes....:)

Jamie, lover of my soul, is currently on an audition rotation in West Virginia. Due to having to travel for either his "core" rotations or "audition" rotations, he's been gone for a total of over 6 months since April. Overall, his rotations have been going well and he's been working very hard. He's getting slightly burnt out in the homestretch as months of working 12-16 hour days are starting to wear on him. We have really missed each other and are counting down the days until our "long-distance relationship" will be over. He's also gone on a few Urology interviews already and has some lined up in the near future, so it's exciting to see his hard work (hopefully) pay off. Marlee sure misses Jamie as well and I often find her looking out the window saying, "Daddy? Daddy?" That girl loves her Papa. When we started this med school journey, we promised ourselves that when all was said and done, we'd take a nice graduation trip; however, with Baby #2 coming this spring, we decided to reward ourselves early. I found a great deal on flights to Puerto Rico, so we took the leap and planned a week-long Marlee-free trip mid December. If any of our family or friends feel like getting away too, we'd love company:)

Love these two cuties

Marlee continues to grow and be my sweet, spunky toddler. When she's acting especially toddler-ish I like to call her Hurricane Marlee because she can leave quite a path of destruction. I have talked before about her pacifier addiction, so a couple of months ago after one too many nights of crawling around on the floor by her crib at 3am looking for her lost binky, we decided to cut her cold turkey. Initially, it was a rough few nights, but we all got through it. I think Jamie and I were more attached to her binky than she was. The downside of ridding her of the binky is she no longer sleeps until 8 am. That was nice while it lasted. Now I debate if I even want to introduce one to baby boy. I'm sure I will, but I think I'll take it away much sooner 2nd time around. Marlee looks and acts more and more like a little lady each day, and sometimes I find myself missing my chunky little baby. Here's a couple of pictures from Halloween. She had 2 costumes this year. Jamie found a cookie-monster costume at the Goodwill (because we're classy like that) and got so excited about it that we decided to get it even though I thought she looked like a little boy in it. So that's what she wore on Halloween night when I took her to a few houses in the neighborhood (because the neighbors don't know if she's a boy or girl anyway...) However, when I took her trick-or-treating at my work Halloween party, I quickly threw together a ballerina outfit because I didn't want my co-workers to think I cross-dressed my child:)

Halloween last year, my how she's changed

Ballerina outfit

My little cookie monster

Baby boy has been doing good. I'm about 21 weeks along and feel pretty good in my 2nd trimester. I felt like I've been so busy I've kinda ignored this pregnancy, so it's been flying by. With Marlee everything was new so I always read the week-by-week development charts, etc... and this time around I sometimes forget I'm pregnant. That is until I try to put a pair of non-stretchy pants on, then I'm quickly reminded. I have no boy things whatsoever, so I'm afraid our little man may get dressed in a girly outfit or two during the first month of his life until I'm done with school and can get my life on tract once again.So that's the latest and greatest around these parts!

Changes

Well, we have some exciting news around these parts! Our little family will be increasing by one come March! By now we're pretty much experts at this parenting thing so the second time around should be a piece of cake, right!? Anyway, we're SUPER excited and just a tad nervous for the craziness that will ensue!
And since I don't feel like taking the time to write anything else, I will end this post with a picture of a dirty-faced Marlee and a giant pile of cheese. Enjoy!

A long, less depressing post...

Summer just seems to go by faster and faster the older I get. This summer has been no exception. Much of the bustle was caused by the hair-brained idea Jamie and I crafted in May. We had been causally searching for a new place to live since our apartment required 1 year leases and we do not plan to be in Norfolk for a another whole year. Well, after searching and not really finding anything that would make moving worth it, we were over at my mom's one night and got the idea that maybe we could fix the upstairs apartment of her house and move in for the next 10 months, thus saving ourselves a little money and possibly improving the value of her home (she was trying to sell it, but there was little/no interest). Little did I know how much time and effort our "small project" would take! Luckily, we knew a really great handy man (aka-Jamie's dad) who helped us quite a bit by laying new carpet (the pre-exsisting red and green shag carpet had seen better days/decades....)

Handy man in action

Loving the new carpet!

Now I'm once again living under my mother's roof, which ups my coolness factor by at least 50! Actually, after our BYU years, we moved into my in-law's basement for a year, so moving into my mother's house is just bringing things round-circle. Is this called failure to launch!? I'm unsure....
While Jamie's parents were in town helping out with the re-model, we decided to hit up one of the local rodeos like real country folk do. I can't wait until Marlee turns 3 so I can strap her to the back of a sheep and turn her into a real motten-buster (jk)!

The day after Jamie's family left, we headed up to my mother's small hometown to visit with some relatives at the town festival. Marlee got to experience both bounce houses and lip-syncing nuns for the first time. She was luke-warm about the bounce house, but the nuns received some of her most enthusiastic cheers.

Jamie jetted off to Philadelphia for a couple days to take his physical examination boards while I packed up our old apartment. Talk about perfect timing! That lucky duck once again missed out on helping pack for a move! Five moves in five years of marriage, four of which I packed myself. Who needs Two Men and a Truck when you have awesome Amber armed with packing tape!? Jamie did a little site-seeing while in Philly and also fulfilled his life-long dream of witnessing the NBA draft in person. I was, however, extremely disappointed to hear he did not eat a cheese steak while in the City of Brotherly Love. Complete waste of a trip I tell ya!

Blurry picture....he must have been shaking with excitement!

The Italian Stallion and my Dreamy Dane

As we moved into our new place, my sister and her family flew in from Seattle to visit for a week. It was fun to visit with her and her cute family. Wish they lived closer!

After our visitors left the morning of the 4th, Jamie, Marlee and I headed to the 4th of July parade. It was pretty lame parade with mostly antique cars and rodeo queens. Marlee's face is telling of how exciting it was.

The weekend after the 4th reality began to set in; I was going to have to say goodbye to Jamie again. Luckily, his school required all the 4th year students (he's finally a 4th year!) to return to Des Moines for a week of testing. I sent him packing Sunday night and then Marlee and I drove over Tuesday to celebrate his birthday and spend a few more days with him before he left for Detroit.

The Fab Four

Jamie's siblings and parents drove a long way for a quick birthday dinner! So fun to see them!

He got some very useful gifts!

After a rough first week of single-parenthood (see last blog post), my mother-in-law must have sensed my desperation because she invited Marlee and I up to Estherville for a couple of days to play while she tended Marlee's cousin Addyson. Those two little girls sure had fun together!

While in Estherville we took my in-law's boat, The Iron Maiden, out for a cruise. About 20 minutes into the ride ominous clouds appeared, so we docked the boat and watched a beautiful thunderstorm from the car.

Perfect boating weather

Now I've got a couple days to settle down until we head out to Utah for 2 weeks for my brother-in-law's wedding festivities. T-minus 5 days til I see Jamie! Woot woot!

Hi, I'm Crazy, and you are....?

For the past week I feel like I've been suffering from a mild case of insanity. The extreme heat compounded with the fact that I'm once again a "single parent" of a toddler has been quite a challenge for me lately. Jamie got home from Michigan in the middle of June and after a few busy, passing-too-quickly weeks, he left again to rotate at a different hospital in Detroit and then Chicago. Life without him around just isn't quite right. Sigh, I miss him.

So back to my craziness.... Here are a few snippets from life lately. This post is a self-indulgent pity fest, so feel free to stop reading now if you want to maintain your rosy outlook on life. Have I mentioned it's hot outside? It's been in the upper 90s/low 100s every day for a while now. This means that Marlee and I have been cooped up inside for much too long as it's too hot to let her play outside for more than a few minutes. We still go on little daily outings, which are great distractions, but when we get home, Marlee turns the whine factor on high. The only things that stop the whining are a continual source of snacks, or constantly holding her, letting her bounce on me, etc... Those things aren't necessarily bad, but I'm anti-childhood obesity, my arms quickly grow tired, and my bladder can't handle the stress of continual bounces (due to previously birthing a child and all). I try songs, dancing, toys, and games, but their effects are fleeting; so needless to say, Marlee spends a great deal of her day whining and tugging on my pants (I have the snot marks all over my legs to prove it). Does this make me a bad mother!?

I consider myself a fairly patient person, so normally, I can handle whining. However, when I'm tired I turn into Mr. Hyde (Jamie can verify this fact). For some reason, Marlee has been waking up screaming multiple times during the night since we moved apartments 2 weeks ago. Most nights it's 2-3 times, but a couple nights ago it was SIX times! I don't know if it's night terrors, teething, or what!? The one thing I do know is I'm oh-so-tired during the day, and therefore a little less enduring. Also, due to my own error and failure to turn in my availability on time, I haven't worked at all this week. I generally look forward to working a few hours each week and the needed break it provides, so I'm definitely feeling its absence.

Now please don't get me wrong. I love being a mother, and I love, love, love my Marlee. In fact, I just went to go check on my sleeping beauty, and as I watched her rest, I actually missed her and wanted to pick her up so I could cuddle her sleepy body. It's just that sometimes parenthood is HARD. It's not always peonies and butterflies. A lot of times it's full of slobber, boggies, messes, clashing wills, and days that just never seem to end. However, I know that one day I'll miss my whiny toddler with her runny nose, jack-o-lantern smile, perfect little Buddha belly, and slobbery kisses. And if history continues to repeat itself, those days of "missing" will be here sooner than I think.

That belly was MADE for raspberries!

And then there were two

Friday afternoon I sent lover boy packing. He loaded up his trusty rusty Acura and headed to Michigan for the next month to embark on his first Urology audition rotation. (For those not familiar with med school lingo, audition rotations are as they sound. During the end of 3rd/beginning of 4th year, med students do externships at different hospitals around the country in the specialty of their choosing and do their best to impress, hoping that they can land interviews in the fall, and subsequently "match" to a residency spot in the spring.) We've looked forward to and prepared for this day for a long time as it means we're getting closer to the light at the end of the tunnel, but it was still hard to say goodbye. It was a warm day, so as I watched Jamie pull away, my eyeballs began to sweat, which to some may have looked like I was tearing up a little, but I totally wasn't;) I will most certainly miss him and his jar-opening skills while he's gone.

It's a good thing I have this cute little girl to man the fort with me while he's gone. She's pretty good company. She doesn't mind if I spend the greater part of the day in lounge clothes or eat a form of breakfast food for practically every meal. Plus she's super helpful. She loves to help me unroll toilet paper rolls, take her shoes off after I put them on, develop my seeking skills after she hides the car keys, and increase my strength during our daily car-seat pin-down battles.

Between working, spending time at grandmas, church duties, a few little projects, and a continual supply of Diet Pepsi, the time should go quickly. I think the two of us will be just fine.

Just some silliness

Because I have nothing much to blog about, I thought I'd post a funny little video I took of Marlee in December. It was her first taste of orange. One of my favorite moments is her eye twitch around the 26-second mark. I'm happy to report she's much more fond of oranges these days.

Oh the weather outside is freightful

Isn't weather such an exciting thing!? Many people think the weather is mundane and boring, but I legitimately enjoy a good weather conversation. Plus, it's always a good tension breaker, especially when I'm working.... "excuse me, ma'am, can you please relax while I stick this tube up your urethra? Boy, isn't the weather just lovely today?"
That being said, I will tell you about the cuh-razey weather we had here in the 'folk. Our little town even made national news, or so I hear. Anywho, we had an epic hail/rain/wind storm on Saturday. Apparently, we had around 3 inches of rain and massive amounts of hail that led to flash-flooding and a lot of property damage. Here's a few pictures I "borrowed" from various web sources as proof

If you enlarge the picture you can see there's an abandoned car drowning in the middle of that water

No, that's not snow, it's a hail drift. Crazy!
p.s. I do not know who this man is, but I'm sure he doesn't mind me using his picture (I found it on foxnews.com)

Of course the flash flooding occurred right as I was driving to work, so I ended up stranded on "higher ground" (aka the Salvation Army parking lot) for 15 minutes while waiting for the flooding to dissipate. Luckily, I was safe. Not so lucky, both of our vehicles received hail damage (not covered by our struggling student budget insurance). Also not so lucky was the ER department of the hospital. It flooded with 4 feet of water.

One of the ER exam rooms after the water was gone. Those are hail clumps deposited on the floor.

Overall, I can say there's at least 2 positives that came about due to Saturday's storm:
1)I have enough conversation material to last me for at least a week.
2)We now live in lake-front property. Go ahead, be jealous.

Go baby go!

This post is mostly for Jamie. He's away in Omaha for a month (again...) doing a pediatrics rotation. Since he's gone, he misses some of the daily going-ons around the house. This is what happened today...pretty exciting stuff around these parts!

A few pics from my day

I'm sorry, but I can't help but chuckle every time I look at this picture of Marlee. She recently discovered that the hole in her nose is a perfect fit for her finger, so this has become a new favorite pastime for her. I obviously try to discourage her from sticking her finger in her nose, but I kinda think it's weirdly cute. At least she hasn't tried digging for gold (yet), for now she's just satisfied using her nose as a garage for her finger.

This is a scene from earlier tonight. Can these two get any cuter? Tonight was just one of those simple, lovely nights. We grilled some steaks, and then went on a walk in the field outside our door looking for pheasants. Yes, this is Nebraska and that's what we do. We walk through fields looking to scare up pheasants, and then go tip cows when they're sleeping. Try it sometime.

This is our current appearance. Talk about a happening Friday night! I'm sitting in my robe blogging (obv) while Jamie watches the Jazz on some *cough* very legitimate website. Typical scene in the house of Olsen.

This little girl had a birthday

Well, Marlee up and decided it was time to turn one on Sunday. It's bittersweet. I miss my sweet little baby but love the fun, spunky, and sometimes mischievous little lady Marlee is becoming. I'm so grateful for this little girl who made me a mama, and find myself loving her more and more each day.

For her birthday we invited just a few family and friends over to help us celebrate. I did a rainbow themed party, and was actually kind of impressed with how her cake turned out (mind you, when it comes to domestics and all things crafty/creative, I usually flop).

The rainbow fruit spread

Blowing out the candle

Enjoying her piece of cake

Since she's the lady of the hour, I'll write a little about Marlee at 1 year.

-She loves food (a girl after her mama's heart). Some of her favorites include avacados, pears, and chicken. She gets super jealous when she spots someone eating something she doesn't have in front of her.
-She's (almost) completely weaned. She still nurses once in the morning, but to be honest, it's because I'm just too lazy to open the fridge and pour her milk when I first wake up (well, I suppose if I'm being completely honest, I still enjoy the extra calories I burn nursing, so I hesitate a little to give that up). However, the days of mama milkshakes will be over very soon.
-She loves her Papa more than her Mama. I have accepted this fact, and I'm okay with it. In fact, I don't blame her, her Papa's a pretty good man.
-After suffering through numerous "sick" months during the winter that disrupted her sleep (darn germy daycare), she's finally turned back into the champion sleeper she once was
-She's not walking yet, but she'll sometimes stand up on her own in the middle of the room.
-Her favorite activity includes emptying any cupboard, bag, or drawer that gets in her way.
-She has 8 teeth and gives the best cheesy smiles

-When it's time to pray she folds her arms for about 2-3 seconds (we're still working on this one...), but it's pretty much the cutest thing ever.
-She loves other kids, and squeals with delight each time she sees one. This makes me feel a little better about dropping her off at daycare when I work.


Anyway, we love our Miss Marlee dearly, and are relieved she survived her first year with us as parents (quite a feat!). Here's to many more adventures!

One day...

One day, I'll do a better job of updating our blog. But it's easy to procrastinate when taking care of this...

Most of my time is spent cleaning up after this...

And this...

And trying to keep her hands out of this...

One day, I'll stop taking pictures like this...

 Look at those sexy sweat-pant buns! There's some major VPL (visible panty line) going on;)

One day, my husband and I will be mature enough to stop performing silly "Christmas talents"  such as this...

Acting out a scene from the life of the Olsen family pet George (RIP). This picture in particular captures George's pre-bathroom ritual

And one day, I hope to get over my addiction to food like this...

But for now, I'm just going to enjoy this...

One man's trash.....

    I have a confession. I have a secret passion that involves greed, scheming, metal bins and waste. It's called dumpster diving. Generally, I personally try to avoid the "diving" part, that's what my husband is for:) Anyway, my love of dumpster diving began innocently enough. When we lived in Des Moines, I noticed that whenever I saw a moving truck in the parking lot, the apartment dumpster would usually be overflowing with goods. I noticed a broom handle sticking out here, a picture frame peeking through there, but it took me a while to muster up the guts to take action. Well, on one said 'moving day' I noticed a perfectly good book shelf sitting next to the dumpster. Immediately, I began scheming (because heaven forbid anyone should see me taking the trash in instead of out). Finally, when it got dark outside, I grabbed my accomplice (Jamie) and pretended to take out the trash. After a few nervous glances to make sure no one was around, we grabbed that puppy and scurried inside as quickly as two people awkwardly carrying a book shelf while trying to appear nonchalant could.
    The bookshelf was just the beginning. Since that day (well over 2 years ago), I have rescued a swiffer sweeper, a vacuum, a ficus tree, an office chair, a body-length mirror, and an exersaucer from the trash (just to name a few). Now, every time I drive past the dumpsters at our complex, like magnets, my eyes are drawn to the metal treasure chests on wheels and I perform a quick scan to see if there are any precious gems beckoning me. My confidence has increased as well. I used to only go out at night and take Jamie with me, but slowly I began solo daytime diving. I guess you could say I've become a regular ol' dumper:)

*Although, I feel I should clarify that I've never actually crawled into a dumpster, I just grab the stuff placed outside it or within an arms reach (I don't care to catch a disease)*

    Anyway, I just want to bear testimony that one man's trash will probably end up becoming my treasure. Oh and here's a picture of something I didn't find in the trash....love that girl!