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Less than 100 days til football season!!!

our last week with Daddy

Matthew and I have one more week with Mark. After this coming week, he'll be at Princeton again for almost two weeks. We're so thankful for the flexibility of my job - there's no pressure to work during these types of circumstances.

I am looking forward to a few dates with Matthew - either up to Little Rock or Hot Springs. I'm soooooo looking forward to my parents coming down for a few days, as well.

succombing to the economy...........

After going to the store this past weekend and being utterly discouraged by the prices, I've decided to try more meatless main dishes. Mark would have been happy enough - well, I don't know if happy is the word - to increase our food budget - but I suggested trying some different recipes that didn't necessarily include meat.

I wish we had an Aldi's or Save A Lot - but we don't - WalMart is our cheapest option and we don't have a yeard to grow our own produce (some day, hopefullly).

Thankfully, Mark is not a meat and potatos guy! He's fine with chips and salsa for dinner - but, I do want to incorporate some protein and variety into our meals - esp. with a little one that will be eating with us soon.

If anyone has any good recipes to share - I'd be happy to try them out. I'll let you know if I find any really good ones in my quest, too.

A new toy from Uncle Brad, Smiles and Mr. Blue Eyes

Our non-holiday holidays

Seems like since we've moved to a galaxy far, far away - holidays just aren't the same. I'm not complaining - it just is what it is. We're just not geographically close enough to any family or friends anymore - especially with gas prices!

Another reminder to keep praying that God will allow us to move closer to loved ones in the next few years.

Smiley day

Mark took all of these pictures yesterday. As you can see, I think he got more smiley pictures in one day than I've gotten in total! :o)

Mr. blue eyes

Mom and Janie mentioned his eye color. They're still blue. They're not the newborn blue, though. They're a bit darker. I can't see any other colors in them at this point so I guess time will tell if this is it for his eye color. It would be fine with me if this was his final color - it's really pretty.

I read a little chart for the chances of eye colors depending on the parents' eyes - Mark's eyes are brown, mine are more of a hazel-green. We'll see :o)

5 months old

I'm five months old today! This past month, I've started rolling over more - esp. while I'm sleeping. I like to kick my feet. I actually discovered my feet just a few days ago. I'm eating cereal - not quite every day - but Mommy and Daddy will get better at that - I'm still not too impressed with it. Daddy says he notices that I get a little frustrated when I can't grab what I want. I reach and grab for lots of things. I like to put everything in my mouth. I'm starting to drool more - maybe I'll get some teeth soon. I had a cold this past month - that wasn't much fun. My only thing that I would say that is my favorite would be my burp cloth - but, I'll just use my shirt or a blanket or whatever is handy to hold on to. Mommy and Daddy are glad that I'm not too attatched to it, though. Oh, yeah, I like to have big belly laughs, too - usually when I'm really tired. :o)

The empty band aid box

As you can see, we have the most advanced toys for Matthew :o)

This entry is the work of Matthew

xxxxx g bbbbbbbbbbbnnnnn / bhhhh ll

Another Boilermaker coming to Arkansas!!

Sean accepted the position in the history department this week!!!!!! Thanks for the prayers - we are soooooo excited!

Disoriented

I'm two days in to my orientation. Worked on Sunday and Tuesday.

It's going okay. There was a code on the floor yesterday that I got to go to(it was actually one of the patients we admitted on Sunday). I'm certainly not glad that the patient coded, but it was good for me to be able to be there to see the process.

I also got to start an IV on a 12 year old - he was very brave and I had to put on my brave face. That was my first peds IV start - he broke his arm at school - he was fine after the doctor reduced it.

I wouldn't say that I feel too guilty about working all day - the fact that Mark is able to be here so that we don't have to hire a sitter has allayed that. I just feel a bit out of sorts/diorented with Matthew as far as his schedule.

Thankfully, working full time is only temporary. I know that my supervisor wants to get me to nights ASAP( I think a lot of that is so he won't have to keep picking up shifts - and I don't bame him). After I finish up next week, he wants me to discuss whether or not I'm ready for nights.

I really think a lot of my learning will just come down to doing it. My biggest concern (as well as the concern of my dayshift coworkers) is the fact that there are a couple of night shift nurses who either don't pull their weight or who are not necessarily nurses whom you would want to care for your loved one. So, when there are only 4 full time nurses on nights - the odds are pretty high that I'll be working with one of them soon - and they may not be good resources for me being new to the ER.

The comforting thing that has been confirmed is that ER nurses are ER nurses where ever you go, codes on floors are basically the same where ever you go and patients are the same where ever you go. To sum up - you run into the same people issues where ever you go.

CEU's

Okay, all of you in the healthcare field know about CEU's. Well, in Indiana - for nursing - you don't need CEU's to renew your license. I confess - it quite spoiled me.
In Arkansas, you do need CEU's - 15 hours every two years. Now that I'm starting in a new direction - with working in ER - and since I do have an infant - I'm actually looking forward to the course I just ordered - pediatric care. It's one of those things that I know is good for me, but it's kind of nice when I'm excited about learning something new, too.

I just put the picture of MTE up because he's a cutie - and this is his new discovery - his bottom lip. :o)

Sorry, it's a little dark and fuzzy - they kind of go and hand in hand when the lighting is less than optimal.

The drawback of outdoor graduation........

The university always has outdoor Spring ceremonies because there is nowhere big enough on campus to have an indoor ceremony for all of the graduates plus their families.

Mark is sitting in the ceremony right now and I hear thunder in the distance.......Hmmmmmmmm

Back to work

I have been thinking this week about how much I take for granted. I had my orientation in Little Rock on Mon and Tues. On Tues, we had to go around the room and say our name, where we work, what we wanted to be growing up. I was surprised that there were so many women that had grown up wanting to be a nurse and, for some reason, got side tracked and were heading back to school to fulfill their dream.

I actually felt a tinge of guilt by the time we were done. Even though I went to school for nursing right out of high school, I was never one of those people that had always wanted to be a nurse. I confess that "getting my education" is something that I've taken for granted.

At the end of the day, I truly believe that I made the right choice at the time. Nursing is a good field and you really can get a job just about anywhere You may not like the job, but you can find a job - and I know I take that for granted, too.

I still feel like I'm trying to figure out what's next - I really don't forsee doing direct patient care when I'm fifty. But, I know that God will give me the grace for that if that has to be.

Right now, working nights is what's best for our family, I'm certainly not thrilled about it - but, I can choose to be thankful for it. I know I've mentioned this before - sometimes I just need to post it again as a reminder for myself.

God is faithful and good and worthy of my trust and worship

Got cereal?

I've been trying Matthew here and there on cereal. I haven't been trying every day - I don't know why, I just haven't.

Anyway, he did really well today - he took it all without much fuss - a few faces, though :o). I was actually quite surprised!

We do the "hands down" approach and he did well at that, too!

In this picture, he's looking up at Daddy. :o)

Slowly but surely....

We are building a stock of broken down electronics. Apart from paying for kidney stones and Matthew, we have had to buy a new computer, television, DVD player(still in that process) and now a stereo system - all since January! Either the stuff has been old or cheap(mostly old) - they all just decided to go kaput within a five month period.

We're not sure where electronics go when they die ;o) Can we donate them to our version of Goodwill or do they have to go somewhere else - also, do we need to take the hard drive out of the old CPU? If anyone has any input/experience we'd surely appreciate it.

:o(

I was informed this week that Grandma E. can't check the blog at work :o( That's one of the reasons why I was trying to post so many pictures - esp. some weekends. I am aware that there are many other topics than Matthew ;o)

We're so excited!!!

For all of you old Careerians - I'm sure that you remember Sean (I won't use a last name for privacy reasons). BJ grad - came to Purdue to work on his PhD in history, lived with George and Bev while he was finishing...........

Well, to make a long story short - he's coming next week to potentially fill a recently vacated position in Mark's dept!! Mark's dept only has five - which is small - compared to Purdue's 35.

What a blessing this would be for so many reasons! It's not a done deal, however - I won't bore you with the reasons why, I just ask that you would pray with us that this would be God's will, and if it isn't, that we would be content with that.

Growing like a weed!

Matthew had his four month checkup this morning. It seems as though we are finally coming out of the eating struggles - April was a rough month. With that said, I was happy to go to his checkup and see what his weight/height was - especially since it's been two and a half weeks since he was there last.

Anyway - his height is still over the 95% - 27". His weight is 17#2oz(around 90%). His head circum. was around 16 3/4 or 17". The doctor was pleased with his progress.

On the homefront - we are venturing into new territory. As a result of his 40 minute nap at church(not long enough!), he ended up eating three meals + his nighttime feeding. He has been eating around 7, 11ish,3ish, 6ish and then 10:30. Now it's pretty much 7ish, 11:30ish and then 4:oo/4:30ish and then 10:30. I've been testing out the rice cereal, too. He's not too impressed with it. :o)

The other new thing is that MTE is turning over more - while he is sleeping! You know what that means - he wakes up crying and mad because he can't figure out how to get back on his belly. In the long run it's a good thing - right now it's a "oh,no he's done it again" - especially in the middle of the night. I am thankful that he is progressing to more mobility - Mark and I think that he will be everywhere once he gets going! :o)