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.
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| 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:)
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| 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:)
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| Halloween last year, my how she's changed |
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| Ballerina outfit |
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| 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!
