Mommy back to work

Jolee wasn't to thrilled to have me going to work, neither was I (I cried, Randy did too)

But, everything turned out to be just fine. Jolee loved playing with Daddy, and she was so tired from the visiting with family, that she slept through the night while Mommy worked! Also, it turns out that Mommy really likes working nights and she is thinking of staying on nights.

Here are some cute pictures of Jolee in her pretty rose dress. She wore this to church on Sunday. Also, look at Randy's tie, it was his Father's Day present!

Baby Shower 2

Special thanks to everyone at the ICU for taking such great care of me throughout the pregnancy. You-all are definately my second family and home away from home.

I definately have some of the bestest co-workers around. Without all of their help and support, there is no way I would be still working. Love you all!

Update on the Cygnet (baby Swann)

I have decided that the baby is already taking after it's father. It enjoys wiggling, kicking, wiggling, summersaulting, and wiggling all the time. The only time it is still is when I am moving, or if Randy really wants to feel the baby move. The moment he puts his hand on my belly, the baby calms down and falls asleep. It is quite funny how frustrated Randy gets. I just hope the baby will continue to calm so easily with his touch after it is born. Then, if the baby is screaming and upset, I will just hand it (I keep wanting to write her, but Randy says it is not fair to try to sway the votes) to dad and the baby will go to sleep. Oh the baby has also starting hiccuping. It is the weirdest feeling. I made the mistake of drinking sparkling cider with Valentine's Day dinner and oh my the baby just about went crazy with all the extra sugar. It was the one time that Randy hasn't been able to calm the baby. He was amazed and kept saying "it is bouncing of the walls, isn't it?" I think my insides are slightly bruised because of how tender I felt this morning. Pregnancy is so interesting.

Well, other than the baby, life is pretty much the same. Randy had me come to class with him 2 weeks ago and I got to be the story lady. I read my favorite children's book to his class. It is called "Itzy Bitzy House" by Christine Morton-Shaw. It is so much fun to read. The class he is with this semester is a preschool class and they are so adorable and so much fun. I enjoyed being Ms. Sarah for a day. Randy is doing well is school and getting rave reviews by the teacher he is shadowing. He is even doing so well that he got to teach the class when the teacher had to go to a meeting and the sub was his helper. He is definately going to be a great teacher. Less than 1 1/2 years until he graduates ( May 2010). I am so much more excited for his impending graduation that I was for my own. I am doing well at work. I am starting to wonder how long I will be able to keep working. I have the energy to do the job, but I am worried I won't be able to reach around my belly. I am growing at a speedy rate. We have a check up this week, so I will find out if I am still on target with everything. I will update again soon.

I feel boring

I'd have never thought that the life of a critical care nurse would be boring, but it is. I do more or less the same thing every day. I did get quite the positive experience yesterday. I was taking care of a cancer patient and he had had a very bad night. Some how, what I did for him changed his day into a very positive day. He told me that I personally saved the VA's reputation and that he wants to take me home as his personal nurse because I was able to help him so much. I am not bragging, it is just so nice to hear compliments and gratitude in the craziness that I work in.

In other news, the power poles are almost completely fixed. They put in metal poles, so hopefully this won't happen again.

Also, on Saturday we are making the drive to Payson, Utah to visit my family. I am going to try to teach my mom to blog. I'll let you know how it works out. We are taking Chonkiri with us, so it may be a very interesting drive, he has done this drive twice before, but it has been a while since the last time. Our next trip will hopefully be up to Preston, ID to see Randy's family (sorry Swanns it may be further in the future than desired, but hopefully not too long).

Additionally, I am having to work more Sundays. I worked yesterday and I will be working another Sunday in two weeks. It really makes me appreciate the times that I do get to go to church. I REALLY miss it! Missing church makes it feel like my week never restarted, but that it is just one VERY long week. I did some research on LDS.org to see if there were any suggestions to help me to feel closer to God even when I have to work. I found a couple, including listening to church music and reading scriptures while at work. I did get to listen to a little bit of church music, but I didn't even get a lunch yesterday, let alone read scriptures. The patients I have had lately have been very high acuity and have taken almost every moment of my time from the moment I walked into work until I leave. I am so tired. I think I prefer surgery patients, rather than medical patients. Both require time, but surgery requires less continual care. I ache all over from lifting, turning, cleaning, adjusting, positioning, dressing changing, etc. etc. I am so looking forward to having a few days off of work to recooperate.

Long over due update

Okay, so I am sorry for not posting in forever. In my defense, I have spent entirely too much time at work. I am averaging 50+ hours a week lately and it has taken a tole on my attitude. Randy and I decided that I need to spend a bit less time and work and more time relaxing. So I had a massage done on Thursday (I was sick, so I had the day off, no sick nurses allowed at the hospital). Next week is our 4th anniversary and we are going to Mesa. We are staying at the Westgate Painted Mountain Golf Resort (East Mesa). Our plan is too spend as much time as possible at the Temple (horray!) and then the rest of the time relaxing and swimming, etc. I am so excited.

I am soooooooo glad that Randy is home from scout camp. Here is a picture of what he looked like when he got home.

Randy went to church the next Sunday without shaving and the bishop teased him saying that he must be the most exhausted of the leaders because he was the only one who was too tired to shave. It was actually my fault that he didn't shave because I decided it was time for him to grow a beard. He is bad at shaving daily (he is at home most days doing homework) and I am getting sick of being kissed "by a porcupine" (Randy said that). My face is often red and hurting because of his prickles (I refer to it as kissing really rough sandpaper). So I thought, at least the beard will be softer. Randy was glad the bishop teased him so that he could shave and I wouldn't fight it. Oh well, if I show up and my face around my lips are red, you know we have been making out. I am brutely honest, what can I say? :)

Oh, during Randy's time at scout camp I kidnapped one of my good friends and coworkers, Christy Rauch (aka Nurse Slaughter, Slaughter is her maiden name, how much better can that be). Randy warned us not to stay up talking all night, but we must have not been listening. Thanks Christy for the slumber party! The rest of the week I worked, worked, worked. Thank-you to all who offered to have me over. I definately wanted to take you up on the offer, but I would have felt bad showing up at 8pm and leaving at 5am.

Hmmmm, what else happened? Randy has been loving observing at the school. He has fallen in love with the cuteness, silliness and goofiness of kindergartners (sp?) and he is planning on possibly being a kindergartner teacher instead of special ed, but we will see what he decides, he has a lot of time left. Also, he had a interview with NAU to get into their program. We are still waiting to find out the verdict.

Randy says that this is long enough for now and he wants me to go with him to pick up the car (I will tell you that story later.)

Ramblings

So, I haven't posted in a while now; Randy has been doing all of the updates lately. Didn't he do a great job on the tile! I love looking at it. But now I want to get the rest of the house done something fierce. Hopefully early this summer we will do the addition, carpet, and tile the dining room. Anyways, this is my last week of orientation as a nurse, then I am given my wings. I have been working on my own for about two weeks now, but after this week it will be official. My preceptor has been great to work with. I have learned a lot and now I feel ready to be on my own. I will technically only have 4 week of orientation. Usually, they give new nurses 6 weeks. But, I have been in the graduate nurse proram since January. They don't count orientation as starting until the VA officially recognizes one's nursing license. I feel ready to be on my own this week, with only 3 weeks of orientation under my belt. It feels good to love my job. I am able to serve the best people in the world, our country's veterans. What an honor! Well that's enough rambling from me for a while.

My morning

0420: Alarm goes off, hit the snooze.
0425: Alarm goes off, hit the snooze but think, "I should get up."
0430: Alarm goes off, tell alarm it's too early, but get up anyway.
0435: Shower. Dry. Get dressed in scrubs, think "well, at least I get to wear almost pjs to work." During shower, Randy (the sweetheart) gets up, makes and packs lunch.
0500: Eat breakfast of mini-wheats, but want to eat Reese's puffs mmmm chocolate, peanut butter.
0515: Brush teeth. Look at clock, realize it is time to get going.
0520: Walk out to car, kiss Randy good-bye.
0522: Drive to work, call Randy during drive so I will stay awake.
0545: Arrive at work, say good-bye to Randy.
0600: Work, work, work

R.N.

Oh, by the way. If we haven't told you yet, Sarah is finally a nurse. She passed nursing boards with the minimum number of questions (almost threw up because of nerves) and she got her license. Her license date was Valentine's Day! Horray for nursehood!