Moving on up.

So we are moving...again. We have moved every year for the last 5 years. You would think that by now we would be moving pros but according to my friend, Warren, we still suck at it. Thank You Warren for still committing to helping us yet again.

My husband got a promotion. As of Dec. 1st he will be a District Game Warden. So off we go to a new town, new job, new house, new schools/daycares for the girls, and everything else that goes along with turning your life upside down.

I am really excited though. This is what my husband has been working towards. I have my career and now he will have his. There are a lot of blessings when it comes to timing of our move. We got my oldest daughter all squared away on her ADHD medication. We finally found a medication, Vyvanse, that has minimal side effects and really works well for her. My current yet brand new job, knew that moving was a possibility for us and was ok with that. I have some family in and close by to the town we are moving to. I heard that there is a biker church in the town we are moving to and that is right up my alley, I think.  I get to get a new washer and dryer and that is pretty awesome when you have 3 kids. So really I am praising God for all he is doing in our lives.

Every time we have moved I have stressed out so much. I tried to plan for every single detail, every single glitch, every single possibility. Yet nothing works out the way I planned  but it works out and usually it works out better.  So this time is different. I am handing all control over to God. I am not going to worry about the details that are out of my control. I am going to worry about today instead of worrying if I am going to have a job when I move or if I will find daycare. I am praising the lord (and the State of Wyo) for providing us with a house that has more than 1 bathroom, a yard, 3 bedrooms and a chicken coop. To my friend Warren, this doesn't mean that I am slacking on the packing though.

So even though there is a really big part of me that wants to freak out! I remind myself that God is by my side and is helping us to stay on the right path as a family. My 4 year old was singing at the top of her lungs this morning "How great is our God! Sing with me! How Great, How Great,  is our God!"  and I thought amen sista!

Nurse mom to the rescue!

You know how it goes.  In the kitchen, focused on making ratatouille,  and there it is:  a crash and a blood curdling scream.  Okay,  so not all of this is accurate. I was actually putting laundry away in the bedroom. The ratatouille was already cooked. My 9 month old baby was in the kitchen. She is now pulling her self up on everything. For the most part she is pretty stable. She pulled herself up onto the step stool in the kitchen. One of those metal, 2 step, types that fold up to fit between your fridge and the wall. Well I had it out and she was holding onto it. So why I was hanging up some clothes, wouldn't you know it, she pulls it over onto herself.

Next I hear it. Her first "true, mom I am really hurt" scream!!! Just in time for Halloween. It was the kind that send you sprinting across the house. The kind that makes you look like a track star as you hurdle across laundry baskets and toys. The kind that makes you want a drink. So I went to the fridge and pulled out a Coke.

She is ok. But there I was, in complete nurse mode. I was checking her pupils, feeling her head shape, doing vital signs, checking on her every 15 min after she fell asleep....etc....  My poor baby has a big bruise on her face and her cheek is swollen. I remember now why the age of 9 month to the age of 2 is not my favorite age. They get hurts all the time. They are just at the height that they run into every table corner or counter there is; they fall down; they hit their heads; they have various stages of bruising on their bodies. Which as a nurse, I know that these injury's could be consistent with child abuse. Not to make light of child abuse in any way shape or form but "officer, I promise she pulled the step stool onto herself!!!!"

By golly, I breaks my heart when little kids and babies get hurt. They don't realize cause and effect to the fullest yet. I cuss.... a lot.....when I smack my head on the car door or the cupboard that is left open, I cant imagine what my baby feels like when a huge metal thing falls on her head.

It is weird though, that the older my other kids have gotten, the less sympathetic I am to their injuries. If its not gushing blood or its not broken, then suck it up kid!!. It kind of makes me feel back saying that actually. I have noticed that after being a nurse all day long, it is hard for me to come home and want to be nurse. My husband is the worst. If he is sick then it is inevitable that I will hear the words "I think I am dying" come out of his mouth. I am so tired after work that I am usually like "that sucks honey".  BTW  I am not the only nurse that is this way. Ask any of your nursing buddies and they will tell you the same thing.

But tonight, I was nurse supremo! I took care of my baby with mad skill. She will have a wicked bruise but I was able to doctor up the baby and my two older girls thought that I was pretty cool.

Ode to the earwigs

Earwig! How could you?
Didn't you see?
Why do you feel the need to crawl on me?

Earwig! I ask you!
Whats the meaning of this breach?
How do you not die when when I spray you with the bleach

Earwig! Get out!
Reproducing at amazing speeds
Maybe you get busy on our lawn, hiding in all of the weeds

Earwig! You creep!
You seem to survive my Kung-Fu
A squeeze with a tissue or a smack with my shoe

Earwig!Your sly!
The Terminix guy said you'd be dead
But with messy kids and crumbs, you seem well fed

Earwig! I loathe you!
Maybe you're actually a blind little f*#@*%
I better not ever find you again in the baby's booger sucker

Earwig! I warn you!
War is on the way
My plan is to annihilate you and that's all I have to say

Ode to the guy who stole our cat

Ode to the guy who stole our cat:

Hey! Guy! Around the block.
You stole our cat, whose name is Doc.

When my 9 year old confronted you, you said it wasn't true.
But our cat has only  1/2 an ear, is it coincidence that yours does too?

He was all alone in Oregon, so we took him into our home.
But when we moved to Laramie, he must have went on a roam.

We checked the shelter every day in hopes of finding him.
But time went by and before to long those hopes became more dim.

My girls,  they cried every night before they went to bed
I tried to soothe them and make it right and said " he must be dead"

So when my kid was riding her bike around our little block
Who does she see lounging in the sun? Our "presumed dead" kitty Doc!

She asked " hey mister, where did you get this cat?"
You said "at the shelter from the guy in the little hat"

How could you lie to a little girl like that?
There is no guy at the shelter who wears a little hat like that!

You tried to trick us, give him a collar so we wouldn't see
Then you gave him a new stupid name. What kind of name is Mr. E?

Doc does look fat and happy, but not happier then before
I am pretty sure he would still like our kids better then he likes yours

So I guess I will let you keep him, since you don't seem to be on crack
But mister, if we ever leave this town, I wont hesitate to steal him back!

A crazy little thing called love

What do you get when you add  2 people with great hair/bodies, fancy dinners, getaways that cost lots of money, a red rose and usually a guitar and a stupid love song? Answer: ABC's The bachelor / bachelorette. Why is it that I have watched  this show pretty much every season since it began? Do you realize how many hours of my life that probably adds up to? As a matter of fact I am watching it as we speak. If I spent as much time exercising as I did watching The Bachelor, I could have been on the show.  Why is it that as a society we get sucked into this crazy idea of love? Why is love so appealing to us and why does it hurt so bad sometimes? It is also interesting how we seem to know what everyone else needs when it comes to love and relationships but fail when it comes to making it work for ourselves.

The grass is always greener on the other side right? That is until you climb the fence and lay down in this "greener"  grass and notice that this grass has bugs, the beginning of weeds, itches your skin and leaves grass stains on your favorite pair of jeans. Ah, lame sauce! What is a girl (or guy) to do now?

This leads me into telling you about a fantastic book I recently read. It is called "Love, Sex & Lasting Relationships by Chip Ingram"  This book gives the best outline of how and why relationships last or fail. So i am going to repost and hopefully it is not considered plagiarism since I am CLEARLY stating that it comes from the above book.

Mr. Ingram gives two formula's and I think I can safely say that the majority of society falls into one of these 2 formulas:

Hollywood's formula for relationships
1. FIND the right person
2. FALL in love
3. FIX your hopes and dreams on this person for your future fulfillment
4. If FAILURE occurs, repeat steps 1, 2, 3

So I would have to say that I am guilty of using this formula in the past. I dated my share of dudes. I think I was guilty of #3 mostly and then #4 approximately 21 times give or take a few. So I use to look back on my past and think why did I date all those losers? Now I look back and say "I am glad to have those experiences because now I am  learning who I am  and will be a better spouse because of it" It did help that my husband is awesome, most of the time, and he is good looking with a great body, sense of humor,  etc......   I also am aware that I have probably just made 21 different lists as the "top loser" ex-girlfriend.

I have been married for 5.75 years and have been together for a total of 8.5 years. It amazes me that we made it through some of our trials. We met in college our first semester. I was a single mother of a 9 month old and he was single mid 20's guy who was trying to get his life in order. We have always had kids in our relationship and it has taken a long time to get the pyramid right. Meaning God 1st, Spouse 2nd, Kids 3rd and then everything else at the bottom. Since I have figured this out our marriage has been rock solid, fulfilling and very enjoyable. Right now due to job demands we see each other (not kidding) approximately 4-6 hours a week. We have 3 kids including a baby, 2 mortgages, both of us work, we live in a 2 bedroom (800 square foot house), we never see each other and yet we are closer than we ever have been. We are growing together when others around us are falling apart. This leads me into the 2nd formula that Mr. Ingram gives us to share and one of the reasons why we are striving in our marriage.

God's prescription for relationships
1. BECOME  the right person
2. WALK in love
3. FIX  your hope on God and seek to please him through this relationship
4. if FAILURE occurs, repeat steps 1, 2, and 3

One of the hardest things I have had to learn to do in my marriage is to love my husband sacrificially. This means that I love him and give 100% even when he least deserves it. Now I am not saying that we are all lovey dovey- happy all the time- puke on the sidewalk couple ( this is infatuation). Some days I really dislike him. However, we have invested enough into our "marriage bank"  to sustain us when times are tough. We keep on investing even when it feels like we can't possibly give any more.

I know that if I do the dishes and clean the house for him then he feels loved by me. He knows that if he goes on a walk with me or reads his book next to me in bed that I feel loved.

Did you know that infatuation last approximately 2 years, then all of a sudden a couple says "oh, we just grew apart." I think that is what happens when we have kids. It is great for awhile then all of a sudden our kid hits their "terrible twos" or "horrible threes".  Too bad we can't tell our kids " oh I think we are growing apart, so I am going to have another baby and hope it turns out better this time around". Then *poof* the cycle repeats itself. What in the world???? What did I do wrong this time??? Crap, God said no refunds!!

So the point is this: All these darn dating shows and sappy movies that we continue to watch and buy into should come with the following disclaimer " FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY" 

My job the serious side

As I have said before, I am an OB nurse. Here is my take on my job on a serious note:

I work nights, weekends and holidays. I work 12 hour shifts and at times it turned into 14 or 16 hours. I miss my kid's school functions. I work opposite of my husband and have to work extra hard to keep my marriage healthy. I miss meal times and bedtimes with my family so that I can be with yours. I have to hold my bladder and not eat or drink sometimes for 12 hours because I am helping your wife/mother/sister/ daughter to bring a new life into this world and they dont want me to leave thier side. I have given a hand to hold and a shoulder to cry on when a baby is taken much to soon and most of the time I am there crying with you. I have comforted babies that are sick, dying, or premature. I have the knowledge to help and comfort you and your family when things don't go as planned and we are rushing to the OR to save the life of your unborn baby or sometimes even yourself. I listen and am empethetic to all of your aches, pains and complaints regarding pregnancy because I know, I have been there. I am underpaid and overworked but yet I come into every shift with a smile on my face and am genuine when I say that I want to be here. This is what it means to be a OB / Nursery nurse. I am proud to say that I am one!

Childhood dream

So lots of us had childhood dreams when we were younger. Some people wanted to be firefighters, cowboys, princesses, doctors, construction workers, Indians or maybe even a sailor. Well, not me, while you were out there trying to become one of the village people, I was striving to marry Joe Elliott from Def Leppard.

I was so obsessed that at the age of 10, my cousins and I all pretended that the Def Leppard guys were our Boyfriends. My cousin Shanna's was Rick Savage (the bassist), my cousin Alicia's was Steve Clark (the guitarist), my cousin Carina had Phil Collin (not to be confused with Genesis, take a look at me now guy) and we told my cousin Heather how cool it was that her boyfriend was Rick Allen, the one armed drummer.  So while most girls were playing dress up and barbies, we were singing into our hairbrushes and making up dances to Pour Some Sugar on Me.  I loved Def Leppard so much. I still, as an adult, love 2 things: 80's hair bands and hockey, more specifically, the Colorado Avalanche.

This was the case until.................. see link below before continuing..............

http://youtu.be/npwMdSWSeZI


Not only were the stupid Red Wings "bringing on the heartbreak" and making this debacle possible, but they crushed a girls dreams. 10 year old Candice's dreams to be exact.   30 year old Candice was was screaming Noooooooo as a single tear fell onto her cheek. Love really does Bite.

Very sad days when Def Leppard goes from number one band in your life down to the spot right between Micheal Bolton and Kenny G.  So I am not sure how it will ever be the same. God says to give grace and forgive, so I guess I will try but this is asking a lot.