I have a GREAT husband!!!

I know I don’t do enough to praise him and if I am not careful I cut him down, especially in front of family and close friends with things I get frustrated about.

BUT>>>>

He has been awesome!!!!

Yesterday I had to take my grandma to a doctors appointment because my sister is out of town.  The appointment was in the early afternoon.  I got back about 4 and promptly went and laid down because I knew I had a short time to rest before I went to work.  Even though he was tired, he got up with the boys since they were waking up from their naps so I could rest.  As I was getting ready to head out the door I made a comment, for him to pray for me since I was going to work all night with very little sleep.  I had only slept about 30 minutes and rested for an hour more, but couldn’t fall asleep.  Normally before working a night shift, I take a 2-3 hour nap.  He offered to take me to work, though it meant that he would get little sleep between his sleep issues and having to get up at 6:30 to come get me from work.  So we quickly got everyone ready to go out the door, since we had to leave within less than 5 minutes to get to work on time.

He was great this morning.  He put up with taking my grandma to get her labs done (that was planned yesterday since it was easier to do it after I got out of work), going to pick up her prescriptions, me finally changing out of my work clothes at my grandmas (he brought me a change of clothes), going to the post office to mail some papers to my dad for my grandma, then to William’s physical therapy.  When we got home from PT, I promptly went to bed 11:30ish am (27 hours awake, with the fore mentioned nap).  He kept the boys quiet and put them down for their naps do I could sleep.  He has even taken care of all the meals today (a job we usually share when I am home).

I am still tired, but very thankful for a kind and thoughtful husband who was so good today taking care of all of us.  I love you, Russ!!

Wordless Wednesday

Works of God Monday

God showed Himself very real to me on Saturday.  I was very out of sorts and I could not figure out why.  I am sure that the pregnancy hormones were not helping.  I just did not want to do anything, was grumpy, and short with Russ and the kids.  I did start working on getting the dishes done, even though I did not want to.  While I was doing them, I started praying.  “Why God am I feeling this way?”

I heard the still quiet voice, “Because you haven’t spent time with me.”  It is rare that I felt God talk to me in that way, but it was so true.  It had been 3 weeks since I had been to church, I worked 2 weeks ago and this past Sunday and when we went up to Boyne we did not go to church the weekend between working.  I do not know when the last time was that I read my Bible.

So after I finished the dishes, I took a bath and took my Bible with me.  I decided to read the Psalms and Proverb of the day.  Psalm 62:1-2 really helped.

My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.

He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

I can rely on God and trust him when I am feeling out of sorts.

While I missed church again because of work, I feel so much better and closer to God.  I am striving to get back into the habit of doing my devotions daily.  It helps to know that I can turn to God when I get so out of sorts, to get my attitude straightened out.

Our busy lives

I know I haven’t posted in a while, between going out of town, working, and really working on cleaning my house and decluttering (a lot more of that to go) I haven’t spent much time on the computer.

Last weekend we went up to my dad’s condo at Boyne Mountain for a very short trip - I worked Friday night shift and Monday night shift, but we made the most of the time.  I wasn’t sure where I had put the camera so I didn’t get any pictures of the boys playing with their aunts. Kelly (16), who usually doesn’t get much time because she is not as fun as Aunt Brittany, was the only one of my sisters there when we arrived Saturday morning.  Tyler and William both had fun playing with her and her friend, Kacey, who also has younger nephews that she is used to playing with.

Brittany (13), (yes my sisters are that much younger than me!) arrived later in the afternoon with Grandpa Sandy (really Grandma Sandy, Tyler started calling her Grandpa Sandy since we refer to her and my dad as Grandpa and Grandma Sandy).  After that pair arrived Kelly was no longer interesting and she could go back to what “she” wanted to do — chase boys or look for boys.  Brittany got almost tortured.  Brittany and Tyler ended up making a “leash” so they could play doggie.  Brit even ended up crawling down the stairs facing forward at one point.  They spent a good part of the time playing doggie, but they also read books and did a fair amount of TV watching.

We did go to Avalanche Bay at Boyne.  I doubt we as a family will go again until after the baby is born.  I was so thankful that my dad paid for our tickets to get in, because in my eyes it was expensive.  The boys did well, they both loved going on the one water side that the whole family could go on.  I couldn’t do the “big” slides because of the pregnancy and Russ wasn’t feeling well so he didn’t feel up to taking Tyler down the slides.  We went down the one slide we could several times.  William and Tyler both loved it.  Tyler even learned to go running when the “Avalanche” comes to go get dumped on by the water.

Monday before we left we went to Deer Lake and let the boys play in the sand.  Tyler even walked out to one of the buoys with Brittany.  When we go up in the summer we will definitely hit the lake since it is one of the few “free” activities we have found at Boyne along with ridding the ski lift up and down the mountain which both boys loved.

The house has been driving me nuts, it is so messy and dirty.  Since we got back from Boyne we have really been working on cleaning the house.  I was working at it before we left, but have really been working at it since we got home.  I got off tract with being gone and not having enough sleep over the weekend.  I have gotten some areas started well, but there is a lot more work to do.  Alot of decluttering to do.

Babywearing Contest

As many people who know me know, I love carrying my little on on a carrier.  I would love to get a new stash of carriers for when this new one is born at the end of December. I saw a link for a contest to win 5 carriers. All of mine I made myself so it would be a real treat for me to win some. Enter the contest for yourself if you want.

Win the Essential Babywearing Stash from Along for the Ride (one Beco Butterfly, one Hotsling baby pouch, one BabyHawk Mei Tai, one Zolowear Ring Sling, and one Gypsy Mama Wrap)

Counting to 5 is hard. . . .

at 4 am that is. I had some free time at work last night, and was working on my knitting. The pair of socks I am working on has a 5 stitch repeat and I don’t know how many times I had to pick my stitches out or slip back the stitches I had just slipped so I could knit them. Ugg! I did much better in “normal” daytime after just an hour of sleep, but I don’t know how I would do now after 3 hours of sleep. It is 5:30 and am ready for bed, but will stay up until 8 or 9, then get up to work day shift tomorrow.

I am really liking my new job. Last night was my first night off orientation and I was very glad to have another nurse who usually works that unit working with me to answer all my questions of things I had learned, but couldn’t remember how to do them. I think one of the most rewarding parts of my job is that I get to know the patients not only their medical conditions, but also the person as well. Since most of our patients are there long-term (the average length of stay on our unit is 16 days and the patients/residents can stay up to 100 days), you really do have time to get to know the patients including their likes and dislikes. I had the same group of patients I had had during orientation, so that part was an easy transition for me.

I will have to do another post about our 4th of July. I didn’t realize my long blogging lapse, between working and going out of town for the 4th I haven’t had much computer time.

First Fish

Tyler caught his first fish today.  We wanted to go have some fun today, so went to a Stratford Woods Park that has a fully stocked fishing pond.  The dock we used you could see the little fish right up at the dock.

I was able to sit a little bit away with William.  I didn’t get to knit like I wanted too, but that was OK.  Tyler was so excited.

How long do you have to work to fill your tank?

I was reading my email this morning and in one of the email’s I read was a link to calculate how many hours you need to work to fill your vehicle.  Since I generally need to fill up after 3-4 trips to work and I have to work 3 hours to fill my vehicle, essentially I need to work 1 hour for just gas.  It is about what I thought my commute cost in terms of gas.  What about those who work outside the home?  (I know many of you who read this are stay at home parents.)

Works of God Monday

A friend several weeks ago started encouraging others to post how God has worked in their lives in the past week.  While I have posted a few posts recently that could be posted with this title, I haven’t posted them on Monday.  This week is different.

I have been trying to get a new job for a while.  While I am not going to go into all the details of searching for a new job, I will say it has been tough.  I thought there was a nursing shortage.  I don’t know how many applications I put out, but I know I only got 2 interviews over the course of 2-3 months.  At the encouragement of the HR specialist, I applied for the position I got.  While I didn’t really want to continue commuting to Saginaw if I was getting another job, it just didn’t work out.  Though it did become apparent that I needed to stay with the same company, since I am going to need short term disability for maternity leave come the end of December.  One company’s short term didn’t kick in until 1 year after hire, so we would have been without pay for maternity leave.  That would have been hard.

Quick Trip

Yesterday we made a quick trip to Lansing.  Tyler has been asking to see his grandparents, “Daddy’s mommy and daddy.”  We have seen my dad a lot recently with everything that has been going on with my Grandma, but we haven’t seen my in-laws since March.

Russ needed to get some prescription refills.  The doctor that he trusts and has done the best for him is in Lansing.  Wednesday I called to get him an appointment, while we couldn’t get an appointment with the doctor until late next week,  we could get an appointment with the PA in the office the next day.  Russ was ok with that so,  I made the appointment knowing it had to be a day trip.  We liked the PA, so that is something that we will do again.  I have avoided the PA in the office to get the doctor, but since it took the PA so long to bring the scripts and lab slip back I am fairly certain that he also consulted with the doctor.

After the appointment, we went to Walmart.  We had about 2 hours to find something to do.  We tried to get together with some good friends, but she wasn’t going to be free until 3:30 which is when my mother in law got out of work.  Walmart didn’t take up the entire time, so we decided to go to a park and let the boys play.  I suggested a different park, but Russ remembered that there was one closer.  Granger Meadows Park was very nice.  The playground equipment was nice.  The sledding hill looked like it was a lot of fun in the winter.  I think if we have to find something to do again, we will head back there again.  William even had fun going down the slides, after some encouragement.

We met my in laws for dinner about 3:45 in time to still order off the lunch menu.  I thought it was a little early to eat dinner, but it ended up being ok.  They didn’t get to spend a lot of time with grandpa since he had to be to work at 5.  I think the boys had fun with them at the restaurant.  We ended up going to Sam’s Club after dinner to get some of the things that we get there after dinner, so the boys got to see grandpa again as we left Sam’s (door greeter).

Tyler rode home with Grandma.  I hoped that he would sleep, but he talked non-stop the whole way to their house.  Russ, William and I ended up stopping shortly at Russ’ grandma’s house.  It was nice to see her.  William took a few minutes to wake up, but he was fully awake and himself by the time we left her house.  Tyler was mad at us when we got to Grandma and Grandpa’s house.  What to you expect when, when he thought we would get there at the same time.  The boys played outside for a while, then we went inside.  My father in law recently got a Wii.  That was fun.  I had not played before, but even I could play decently and I am horrible at video games.  Tyler had fun trying to play.  We bowled, played baseball and golf.  I think we are going to end up getting one at some point.  I wish we could trade in the PS2, for a Wii, but I doubt we could find a place to do that.  We never use the PS2.

We were home less than 10 hours after we left.  No naps for the boys or mom and dad.  William and Tyler did doze a little in the car, but nothing compared to their normal naps.  I think Tyler was so tired he was having bad dreams last night, that he woke up crying twice and we couldn’t figure out what was going on.  William was asleep almost as soon I put him to bed and Tyler was not far behind, except for waking up from the bad dreams.  I just wish I could have slept longer this morning, but I will have some clothes to wear since I just put a load in the washer with my pants.