So I seriously can't believe it's been 2 long months since posting. So very quickly lets catch everyone up. After our nice family get away in sept. it was work, work, work. Mike has continued to stay busy (thank God) and I have been setteling into my nursing career.
We hit up the pumpkin patch at Irvine park. The kids loved it and Brandon was actually able to participate this year, so we had lots of fun.
Then was Halloween. Ally was tinkerbell, and Brandon was Thomas the train. The day before Halloween, we went to treats in the streets at the Orange Circle. THey close down the circle and the shop owners stand outside and pass our candy. Then on Halloween, we tricker treated at the Brea mall. Its close, and safe and indoors. We met our friends there. Then we all had a nice dinner and were home by 8pm. Great!
Then was the big 30th birthday. Crazy fun and 30 really isn't that bad!
Then was my actual birthday. It was a famliy day, hung out with the kids and then Mike took me to dinner at Northwoods inn. It is one of my favorite places, but low and behold the next day was Thanksgiving and we missed it! I had the flu so bad! It was the worst flu ever. It literally took abou 4 days to fully recover.
That brings us to last week, when I started working night shift. I have to say It's not as bad as I expected, but know it will take a while for my body to finally get into the groove. Along with the night shift came my first experience with the death of my patient. I am still trying to recover from that. Her death was expected, but it saddened my heart to the core. I knew this is something that I had to expect with the job I picked, but emotionally it is the most draining expericence to date. God bless her soul and her and her famliy will be in my heart and memories forever!
Along with famliy photos last week, it has been a draining first week of December. Here are some photos to recap.
I am officially done with my nursing residency Dec. 27th and will be on my own. No more working other peoples schedule, no more classes, just finally my 3 nights a week. I have already turned in my paper work to be put on days, so as soon as it comes up, I am hoping soon, I will transfer. One positive about nights is that you make $6 more an hour. So until the day shift comes up, I just keep telling myself that the extra money is going for the kids college fund, so that's a positive as well.
Hope all is going well and you are getting ready for the holiday season. Let the decorating begin.
Over the last 6 weeks (since getting back from our cruise) Mike has worked 7 days a week. I was able to get 3 days off in a row this past week so we decided to take the kids down to San Diego for an overnight stay. We left Tuesday am for our first stop..... SEAWORLD!!!
Then it was onto the Wild animal Park. They loved it there too. We all had a great time.
I just knew it was going to be a boy!!! YEAH!!! Now Brandon will finally have a playmate. What we all were not ready for was how big he is. And believe me you can't tell by the pictures, but Lennon Michael Taylor was born this am (Sept. 2nd at 7:14 via C-section weighing in at 10lbs. 3 oz and 21 inches long. CRAZY!!!!! Thank goodness she scheduled a c-section because she wasn't able to birth her daughter who was a mear 7 lbs 14oz so there would have been impossible. He is amazing and the family is doing wonderfully. Paislee is so excited to have her baby brother here finally and safe and healthy. It was so great seeing him and it makes me wonder if Mike and I will have anymore of our own....... But for now we are so happy to have him here and can't wait to watch him grow.
So here's the update. Started my new job on 8/8/08. It's been all classes right now until last week when I worked my first 2 shifts. They are starting us training in days, which is nice, but a little harder with the family schedule. I LOVE IT. I must say last Wed. when I showed up, I was a little nervous, but by Thurs. I felt great. They are starting us out slow especially since it's an Oncology (Cancer) floor, so Wed. I shadowed my nurse and Thurs. I had my first patient. It was so great. This week I have class on Wed. up at UCLA (uggh, what a drive), and work on Thurs and Friday. Not too bad.
Mike has been super busy. His work hasn't let up and he is now booked till the beginning of October. He has been working a lot of the weekends too, but did find time to fix some things around the house. Both toilets were dripping, so he fixed those. The front door lock wouldn't close anymore without shaking, and pushing and pulling the door directly into the right place, and now that is done. And we bought a new garage door opener since ours was so loud you could here it 4 houses down whenever we opened and closed it. OK so we bought the opener that is driven by belt and it is amazing. He left this am for work and our bedroom is right over the garage, and I couldnt' even hear the door open. Thank goodness. SO anyways, It's great that he is busy since around Thanksgiving it should start slowing down again until after the first of the year.
Allyson is crazy. Last weekend she attended her first real big girl birthday party. It was at Rainbow kids the hair salon for kids. So she got her hair washed, and done up with flowers, glitter and bows. Then they painted her nails and put on some blush, eye shadow and lip gloss. Now I was a little hesitant about this since she is only 3 1/2, but the little girl who's party it was turned 6. Ally did great. She loved it and so of course I had to take lots of photos.
Mike was working so I took Brandon too. He had a great time.
Brandon is growing like a weed. He is now saying so many words. Ball, bird, Bath, Outside, it's crazy, but my favorite of all this weekend he started saying Allyson. OK so not really Ally son, but more like Ason. It is so cute. Yesterday he had just woken up from his nap and she had just gone down to take her nap and he was standing at the gate on the stairs yelling for her. Ason, Ason. It is so cute. He is also starting to copy us with everything we do and Allyson too. As soon as she is done doing something he's right behind her. It is so neat to see them together adn know that he is learning so much from her. I am pushing back his 15 month appt. till next month so will give you the update on that.
Otherwise life is well. Just busy getting settled into my new career. Aubree, my good friend who had a lot of issues with her pregnancy is having a C-section tomorrow am. She has made it till 39 weeks and had a C-section with her first due to some issues so she is having another one tomorrow am at 7:30. I am so excited! We all have given her our guess as to what the sex of the baby is, but I just can't wait to find out. I am hoping it's a boy! Just so she can have 1 of each and so that then Brandon can have some boys to play with. I am just so happy she was able to get over her problems and carry the baby to full term. God heard all of the many prayers I am sure. Will keep you posted.
Is over, but we had a great time. 7 days is a very long time to be away from your kids, so we were so excited to come home and be with them. Now it's clean up time before I start my new job on Friday. Our boat left Long Beach Sunday at 4pm with 2 days of cruising before we reached our first stop.
When on the boat we ate. We slept a lot. We played in the casino, explored the ship and just relaxed which was great. We got a room with a balcony, so we hung out there and relaxed to.
So the theme of our boat was art. Lots of naked people. Crazy! So I had to take my photos with them. But one the 2 days at sea, we saw whales and flying fish. We enjoyed the shows, we saw ice carving and the hairy chest completition. FUN, FUN! We hung out in the casino and layed by the pool. Oh yeah the most important, we caught up on our sleep. We had our first formal night on Monday. We got all dressed up and took photos then ate. Lobster, and shrimp and steak. Amazing food.
Then Wed was our first stop at Puerta Vallerta. Humidity was about 100% and we went on an ATV ride in the mountains, through a riverbed, for about an hour and 45 mins. Stopped at a little hut where we had a beer, then rode again for another hour and 45 back to the hacienda where we had a tradition mexican lunch of chicken and beef tacos followed by sampling of all the taquilas made there (6 of them, YIKES). It was a great time. While we were riding it started to down pour and it felt amazing.
The next day we were in Mazatlan, where we kayaked and hiked on deer island. It was great fun! We enjoyed a fruit bar and drinks when we got there and on the boat ride back to the pier we enjoyed complimentary beer. It was a geat activity.
Our last stop was Cabo San Lucas. It was nicest there. We snorkeled. It wasn't as good as in Hawaii, but we had a great time. We took an hour & 15 min catamaran ride to the snorkel site, snorkeled for about an hour and then had lunch, then took the catamaran back to the port. On the ride back we once again indulged in some beverages. It was a nice way to end our time in Mexico, but I was already missing the kids badly. That night we enjoyed another formal night, followed by a show, then midnight buffet, (which we only took photos, we didn't eat, we were still so full, then an adult comedy show. We had a great time.
Then to end our trip on Saturday was another sea day and it was cold, so we slept. ate and realxed some more. Then we went on a tour of the kitchen. It was cool. Then it was the last show on the boat and then to bed. We had a great time. We are so glad to be back with the kids.
Was a busy one. First we started with our afternoon swim. Every day when Mike and I get home from school we take the kids to the pool to swim. They have such a great time.
Then one of our nightly routines is getting on the couch together and reading a book. When doing this Brandon lays on whoever's closet (Normally Allyson) and gets a back rub. It's so cute to see them together. It makes me so thankful every night for all of my blessings. These precious children we have are all gifts from God.
Tuesay I took the kids to the fair. Me and my friend Jen loaded up the 3 kids and off we went. It was a real nice day and the kids had a great time. They saw the animals, watched dancing and singing, and looked in the exhibit halls. Then we finished it off by getting a funnel cake with stawberries. After the fair we went to the local taco joint with about 15 others and their kids for dinner. It was a great time and we were able to have some drinks in celebration of me passing my nursing test.
Wed. we do concerts in the park. It is right down the street at the Sports complex here in Fullerton. 6:30 - to 8pm every Wed. from July to the end of Aug. So we have been taking the kids there and taking a picnic dinner. We meet a few groups of friends down there and listen to music, our kids all play together, we eat and it's great inexpensive fun.
The kids are obviously growing fast. Brandon is now getting his 3rd molar. He has a tooth coming in on the bottom front, a molar coming in on the top right, for a total of 11 teeth. Where did they come from. He hasn't been too whiny about it, but he has the worst poop and diaper rash. So bad that last week I had to get the medicated cream that CHOC puts on their kids, which you need a prescription for. It works so great that in 2 days it was gone. Then 2 days ago it was back. I took a look in his mouth and that's when I found the molar coming in on the top right.
Brandon has been very interested in using utensils now while eating. So of course had to get some photos of that. He is talking so much. He is all boy, but has lots of fun putting on his sisters shoes, purse and hats. It's so funny how much he has changed in just the last couple of months. He says, duck, quack, quack, he says GG for my grandma, he says Al for Allyson, he says dog, flower, thank you and he says please in sign language, but can't say it yet. He knows where his nose, eyes, ears and head are too. Of course he loves the nose thing, and walks around with his finger in his nose half the time.
He is definatley a nice mix of both Mike and I. His new thing this week is that he is tall enough to reach the door handles and can open all the doors. Privacy??? What's that. If you are using the restroom watch out. His favorite thing to do is to get into the hall closet, bring out the little vaccum, turn it on and help me clean. Praise the lord, both my kids love to help me clean. I am so excited.
Allyson is growing big too. She loves going to school. Helping me with Brandon and is such a good girl. She just attending vacation bible school last week and loved it. She came home with a great CD they gave all the kids with about 8 songs they sang over the week and it's great. She made crafts and met new kids and loved every second of it. This year the charity of choice for the bible school was CHarity: Water. Our goal was to earn at least $1000 last week, (for the whole school) and we earned a total of about $1500. Ally was the 2nd top kid in Bible school to donate the most money. I am so proud of her. When I picked her up from school the first day she told me what were donating for and that she wanted to go home to her bank and put all the money she had in the bottle. Needless to say, quarters would no fit through the opening in the bottle, but she gave all her other change in her bank. Totaling $25. What a great learning experience for the kids. She was so proud of herself. So we decided that when we take our daily walks if we find any money we are going to collect it and take it to the church when we get a lot in our can. This is just great that she is learning to give to others. Praise God and the wonderful things he does.
We are now cleaning up today and packing all of our stuff and the kids stuff to go cruising tomorrow. I am excited to get some time with Mike as we are always so busy we never get that, BUT am sad about leaving the kids for so long. I have never been away from them for this long, and you all know how that is. I feel like I am going to miss out on something with them when we are gone. They will be staying with my mom, step dad and grandma so they will have a great time. I am so ready for a vacation and to top off one of the most excellent week's of my life so far, I received my nursing license in the mail yesterday. I am completley finished now. I am packing away my nursing books in the garage now. Now I can officially RELAX. Hope you all have a great week.
Well I found out Tuesday am via the internet I passed my boards and officially am a Nurse! What a relief. I have finally accomplished something and it feels amazing. Now I can go on vacation next week and truly relax. I have never felt better. Thank you all so much for your prayers and support and well wishes over the last 2 years. It's finally over! Now a new chapter begins. Coming Aug. 8th....... The RN Residency at CHOC.....Stay tuned for updates.
Last week we took the kids to the Farmers Market here in Fullerton where they have a fountain that the kids fun in and this was the first time Brandon went in. We met a few of our friends there with their kids and had a great time.
o Friday we went to our friends house for 4th of July Festivities. It was a fun day in the sun and the kids got their faces painted, we had good food and some good times.
Saturday was another BBQ at a friends house. We all went to the pool and hung out. Ally and Brandon are definatley water bugs. I can't get them out ever.
Today we are just running some errands and getting things ready to go back to work tomorrow. It's so hard after being with the family and friends for the weekend, having such a great time to have to go back to work tomorrow.
This am Mike and I booked our excursions for our cruise. We haven't really done excursions before on any of the cruises before so we are really excited. We are going ATV riding in Mazatlan, Kayaking and hiking in Puerta Vallerta and Sailing and snokeling in Cabo. This just makes me even more excited to go. Next weekend we will go out and get all the little things we need like, sunscreen, hats, underwater camera, etc. I can't wait.
I have slacked the last 2 days on studying for my NCLEX test, so just finished taking another practice exam. Yesterday at the BBQ there were 4 nurses and a doctor. Pretty funny huh? Me, antoher girl who will take her test next year, one who just got her LVN license this year and a nurse that works in the military. They all told me just to do practice questions to study. So that is what I have done. Then when you complete the test it has all the rationals for the questions and to read over all of them right or wrong. Hopefully this is enough. I have 2 friends taking the test this week, one that took it at the end of June and most of us are taking it within the next couple of weeks. We shall see how we do as a whole.
Mike has been out of work for a few days this past week with really bad neck pain. Being the man that he is doesn't want to go to the doctor because we have a PPO that is totally expensive and we haven't met our deductable for the year yet, and will have to pay a fortune. I don't care about the money, I just want him to feel better. He has been o the phone with a chiropractor this week and he has told him how to manage things in hopes that he will have to NOT have an office visit. So this am he awoke feeling a bit less tight. This is good, lets just hope that it is finally getting better. It has been a week now so say a little prayer that things are on the up!
Brandon will be watching by Mike's mom for the next 2 weeks as my grandma is on a 2 week cruise with my aunt and her family in the CArribean. I am so excited for her and hope she has so much fun.
One of my friends at work just had her baby this weekend. Their first baby and they named him Matthew Ryan. How cute huh? Hopefully will get to meet him this week.
Last weekend we let the kids play in the little pool and just took some random pictures.
I decided last weekend that he was no longer going to have a bottle. I really struggled with this because as soon as I took Allyson's bottle away, she stopped drinking milk. I don't want him to do the same, but it was an absolute breeze. He is drinking milk with his meals and doing well. It was a very easy transition. I am very pleased and thankful. The kids have been swimming everynight so have some photos of that, so will be posting those soon. We have 2 BBQ's to go to tomorrow and 1 on Sat. so will post all at the same time.
We also got our cruise tickets in the mail this week and are very excited. This is the longest I have left the kids and am still a little apprehensive about it, but Mike and I are overdue for some time away. It will be a nice vacation before starting the RN residency program at CHOC, which starts out like being in school full time again. Starting Aug. 8th I will be in class all day the whole month, M-F from 8am - 4:30pm. SCARY!!! I I thought I was done with all that. I know it will be well worth it.
On a sadder note, my sister left this week to move back with her mom back to North CArolina. THere is an 18 year gap between us and we probably aren't as close as we could be, but it's just weird that she is not here anymore. My dad is sad too. So we are working through that too.
I got my first paycheck after being back at work and it was nice, but I am tired and am finding that I am not having much motivation to go everyday. It seems to be hard for me to keep the house up and work a full time job too. There are tons of people in the world that do this, so I know that I can too, but when I get home, I really just want to play with the kids and not do anything around the house. Ahhhh.
Happy Independence Day to all. I hope you get to spend it relaxing, and cherishing the day. Take a moment to say a prayer for all those still fighting for our country today and enjoy!
I got my interim license to work as an RN and I scheduled my test for Friday July 18th. Since last Monday I have been answereing quesitons everynight on the computer after the kids go to bed. At least 75 a night. So just study, study, studying is in my future and will check in with you before I take my test. Say a little prayer.
