Baby Talk 2

So I don't know why the sound player wouldn't work after I posted the last blog....

I went with plan B and just made a video with the file playing so that you can "watch" it! You won't see anything except for my computer speaker, so turn up your volume and listen to my baby talk :)

Making Things

Doesn't that look yummy??? That is what I made for lunch today. Last week I made a big batch of my family sauce and we have been eating on it since then. I love to get the whole wheat pitas and make little custom pizzas with them. Now that I have fresh basil, I made tomato/basil pizzas in addition to Hawaiian and pepperoni. They were all soooo good!

I haven't sewn much in awhile so I went in my craft room and resolved to make something. I attempted follow a pattern for a dress but I didn't have the right color of bias tape, then I sewed a part I shouldn't have....long story short I made this out of fabric and a onesie!

I hand-embroidered a lowercase "t" in the corner for the little girl who will be wearing it. I already got a request to make one for her big sister! Too bad Brad doesn't wear dresses....

Speaking of Brad, here is a pic of him right before bed last week. He insisted on wearing his novelty glasses that were party favors at his birthday. He looks like a little Elton John! (Yes my face is a bit swollen b/c this is the day after my surgery)

After my last post I ended going into work on Friday afternoon even though my boss gave me off to recover. I worked about 2pm-9pm, came home and ate dinner, then got called back in just afte 10pm! Me and the other recovery nurse ended up being there until 3am doing NOTHING just waiting for the surgery to be over. The patient ended up going straight back to the ICU and we didn't even get them. So we went home!

Today I am on-call again and was planning on having my dad over for dinner to eat some homemade eggplant parmesan with us. Well I got called in at 3pm and was there until 7pm doing two surgeries. Dad met me at the house and chatted with me in the kitchen while I cooked up two huge eggplants with spaghetti. Then we feasted at the dining table until nearly 10pm! It was a nice relaxing evening and I'm *hoping* that I don't get called back in again tonight!

Dratted Wisdom Teeth

If you recall in my last post, I mentioned having a toothache? Well the pain had intensified after a couple days of me nursing it so I called my dentist first thing on Monday morning. They said they could squeeze me in only if I came in right then, and I said I was on my way! They took a 180 degree xray of my mouth, and the doc looked at my sore spot. She said yep it looked infected and wrote prescriptions for antibiotics and Lortab. I had them call a surgeon right then and get me in for a consult the next morning.

The pain continued on that day and night, and the next day I grudgingly went to work. I had to leave for a couple hours in the afternoon to go to the surgeon's office. After a bit of waiting they took me back, did another xray, then had me watch a video about wisdom teeth extraction. Then the surgeon came in to see me and looked in my mouth....she said with as bad as the infection already was, I needed to have the surgery immediately! She has seen these kinds of infections get bad very quickly and end up in the ER with abscesses into the jaw.

I have taken care of people in the ICU for that same reason so I knew she wasn't playing around. She said the antibiotics might help a bit, but they wouldn't get rid of whatever was stuck under my gum that caused the infection. She got me scheduled for surgery under general anesthesia the next morning! I signed the consent forms and told Nick the plans.

I went back to work and let me boss know the news. She was very understanding (I heart my new job) and let me off Thursday and Friday no problem. I picked up an extra day next week to help make up my hours. When I left that evening, everyone wished me good luck, gave me a hug, and said they would be praying for me! One of my coworkers also brought me a huge transplant of her homegrown basil!

My surgery was Wednesday morning at 10:30, and I was home by 12:30. I took some pain pills when I got home and Nick went to fill my other prescriptions. Later on that day I was already feeling better than before the surgery and ate a little bit of soft food. I didn't wake up once last night in pain, and I am only taking ibuprofen now instead of Lortab! I have been up and doing stuff all day, and even cooked a big batch of pea soup last night to eat on. My dad came and saw me last night and brought ice cream, then my mom and brother came and saw me this morning.

I honestly thought I would be a lot more sore than I am now, but it's not near as bad as I was imagining! The infection pain was much worse. My jaw is still pretty stiff and there is a bit of swelling but it's not too bad. I am actually thinking of going in to work for a few hours tomorrow...

Couponing "Stockpile"

Don't worry--I'm not like the Extreme Couponing crazies who have an entire room dedicated to their stockpile. I just wanted to give you guys a glimpse of how I have been doing since I started couponing a few months ago.

My stockpile is probably small compared to some others, but there is only 3 of us here and I don't need more stuff than I have space for. I don't buy extra papers either. I only use what coupons I get out of mine and what stragglers my MIL hands down to me.

^In our main bathroom I keep all of our body washes, shampoo/conditioner, shaving cream, and razors.

^In our master bathroom I keep our deodorants, toothpaste/toothbrushes, makeup, lotions, hair color and hair styling products.

^In part of my pantry I keep our extra salad dressings, condiments, and snacks. (I got most of these for $1 or less)

^In the other part I keep overflow box dinners, cereal, and juice. We did have a LOT more cereal but we've been eating thru it and I am due to get more.

^Of course in my laundry room I keep extra detergent and fabric softener. I got each of these for less than $2.


I have noticed that there are certain things that go on sale very frequently, like body wash, razors, cereal, and hair color. It has gotten to the point now where I don't even buy them unless it's super cheap! I have gotten my own little system down and I feel pretty comfortable knowing that I am getting the best deals possible. I recently discovered a little grocery store right down the street from me doubles coupons, so now I have 3 stores where I coupon at including Homeland and CVS. I really don't even look at Walgreens because I never saw deals there that I couldn't get at CVS, plus they are significantly further away from my house.

I still keep my coupons organized into labeled envelopes but I am keeping my eye out for a smaller box to keep them in. Some people take their whole box/binder to the store with each shopping trip, but I prefer not to. Sure, I might "miss" a deal every once in awhile but I don't want one more thing to worry about lugging around in the store.

My system is that when I get the store ad in the paper, I generally have an idea of what coupons I have in my stash. So then I match up the sale items in the ad with the coupons that I have and if my net price is a GOOD deal then I pull the coupon out and start a shopping list for that store. But if it's not a good price (e.g. I could get generic cheaper, or it's something I wouldn't usually buy) even with the sale/coupon combo, I don't use the coupon! Sure I end up having several coupons that expire without getting used, but that is where you save money--because you aren't giving into the mentality that you are "getting a good deal" just because you used a coupon.

In other shopping news, one of my fave fabric/craft stores called JoAnn recently opened up a branch right down the street from me!!! The only other one I knew of was way on the north side like 45 min from my house. They just opened a couple of weeks ago and have been having all kinds of grand opening specials and deals. I went to check it out and got this ADORABLE reusable shopping bag to put my goodies in!

It's quite large and sturdy, but it's way to cute to throw in with my other ratty grocery shopping bags.

I have been plagued with an awful toothache this weekend. It crept up Saturday afternoon, was very bad Saturday night with no sleep, and even after "borrowing" my dad's leftover Lortab today has been pretty awful. Anything I eat comes back up within an hour. I try to catch cat naps when the pain meds are at their peak. I have known my wisdom teeth were jacked up and needed to come out eventually....but they never hurt before so I wasn't pushing it. Of course the week after I quit my job with dental insurance is when they decide to flare up.....sheesh.

I will leave you with an adorable pic of Bradley from the week--this was during a nap and he had thrown every single thing out of the crib and was just chilling in it sleeping like this:

The Final Weekend

For my last two shifts at OU on Friday and Saturday nights, I took my camera with me to take some pics with! Unfortunately not all of my favorite friends were working this weekend so not everyone is pictured...but here are the ones who were there!

Driving to work Friday evening

The lovely temperature

Where we sign our name after passing our licensure board test. They started this the year I graduated nursing school in 2006 and these are hanging right by the entrance.

My name third from the top

My locker!

Me and Kimmie

Kimmie and Whitney getting meds out

Chelsea and me!

Jim, Whitney, and Kimmie hanging out in the North pod

Bobby

Bethany, Chelsea, and one of our supervisors Kelli

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And now here is Saturday night, my last night there.....

I baked a couple loaves of Amish Friendship bread (will post about that later) and took one to work for my friends!

Mucho rain in the distance

Chelsea and Mike

Greg

Janice and me

Karim and Lana--two of my fave RTs!

I will miss the people I worked with and hopefully will see many of them again in the future. It is time for a break from the ICU and from working 50 hours a week! For the first time in about 8 years I will have my nights back, and for the first time in about 3 years I will have my weekends back!! I am so happy with my new work family at Saint Anthonys and I look forward to focusing on that job for awhile.

A New Camera and a New Baby

Do you recall the camera that I ordered with my points from work? Well I got it in the mail a few weeks ago and finally sat down to figure it out and get the memory card set up. Here is my first batch of pictures:

The boys chilling by the pool

Cuddles watching me surf the web.

Bubba playing

Yesterday we ventured out into the 114 degree weather to Shawnee to see our good friends who just had a baby on the 29th. They also have a newly-walking one year old so I baked them a meal and took them food and diapers! We spent a few hours talking, laughing, corralling the babies, and changing diapers!

Holding a newborn is MUCH different than holding a 2 year old! I had forgotten how to do it!

The two Sphynx kitties--Tessie and Luna.

Nick loves the kitties and the kitties love Nick.

Jet giving Brad some love smacks as I try to get a picture of both of them together.

One of Brad's perches when we go over there--the toy bin.

Rachel holding her precious new little girl Tinley.

The three boys--James, Brad, and Nick--hanging out on the couch.

Brad shimmied himself into the walker then got stuck!

Jet wearing the new outfit that I made for her birthday! Isn't she a cutie!?

We had a great time over there as always and finally left so that they could all get some more rest. I remember those days of no sleep! Rachel and I won't be working together anymore unfortunately since she is on maternity leave and this is my last weekend at OU. I'm sure we will be making more trips out there and meeting for family meals!

On the way home it was so ungodly hot that we had to get Brad out of his carseat, take his dripping-with-sweat clothes off and cool him off in front of the air conditioner. GRRR! I am so completely over the weather here. Done.