Monday, March 21, 2011

10 Fun Facts (because I don't feel like studying and I need to stall...no wonder I blogged more in college)

1. I have yearly competencies tomorrow. Mostly, we just go over things in a small group, but there is a short EKG test. We need to be able to identity heart rhythms, most importantly the lethal rhythms. To practice for my test, I will now tell you all the lethal rhythms: V-tach, V-fib, Idioventricular rhythm, asystole (also ventricular standstill and agonal), 3rd degree AV block, and Torsades. They are lethal, because if you don't intervene, the patient will most likey, or rather, very likely die. I have only seen 3 of these in real life. I bet you all know what asystole looks like, it's just a flat line (this is very bad).

2. Audrey has a cold. This makes her already feisty temperament even more feisty. But it also makes her a little more prone to snuggling :)

3. I am wearing a sweatshirt right now I got in elementary school. I have been using it as a jammy shirt for, well, decades. It's a New York Laundry brand sweat shirt. It came with a matching sweat shirt material bag in a matching color: salmon pink-ish. My Grandma Hemmer got it for me one Christmas and got herself a teal set as well. I dunno why she did it, but I'm glad she did. It's ginormous on me now, so imagine how big it was on my 10 year old self.

4. I keep buying Nilla cookies for Audrey, but Chris and I have re-discovered how amazingly good they are and we keep eating them gone before Audrey even gets one. I think I need to stop buying them. (Acutally, they are the off-brand kind, 'vanilla wafers')

5. I distinctively remember when I was nine years old I thought to myself. "I am 1/2 way to being a grown-up"

6. My friend Bridget and I used to get as ugly as could get using make-up and gross clothes. Then we'd take our each other's pictures. Then we'd get as pretty as we could get and take another picture. Then we'd label them 'before' and 'after'. Haha, I miss doing stuff like that.

7. My favorite drug is propofol. It makes my patients sleep. But it also drops a blood pressure, which can be a bummer.

 8. When we were little my brother Brice and I had a knocking system between our walls. One knock was 'hi', two knocks was "hi back" three was "how are you", four was "good, how are you" then seven knocks was something like, "I'm all done talking now and I'm going to bed so don't do anymore knocks, haha"

9. One of my favorite memories with my brother Brice was when I was almost asleep one night and I heard little noises at my window. I looked outside and he was throwing little rocks at my bedroom window, motioning for me to come outside. I was probably like 16 at the time. I drug myself out there and he had my ice skates all ready for me to put on. Turns out our whole cul-de-sac was solid ice. So there we were, ice-skating on our street at midnight. It was so fun. That's my brother for ya. Did you know we did that Mom?

10. My very first impression of meeting Chris was that he was one of the friendliest people I'd ever met, especially for a teenage boy.

Ok, I need to study now. Shoot it's 12:25am.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Audrey and Her Daddy

 I love watching Chris and Audrey together. He brings out a different side in Audrey that I do not, a very silly side! Chris makes Audrey laugh and giggle more than I do and he thinks up random fun things to do with her. I'm so proud of the father that Chris is to Audrey; I'm so glad God chose him to be Audrey's Daddy. I'm so grateful that she will grow up with a strong Daddy keeping her safe and loved. She will feel secure and confident in herself, knowing who she is through Christ because of the things Chris will show and teach her. I'm so excited to raise up our kids with Chris! He is a wonderful man, husband, and Daddy!
Here are some pictures (many pictures, I even cut out several!) of these two silly ones throughout Audrey's (almost) 2 years of life.  
A few days ago...
Always wrestling around
Doin' what they do
Feeding Daddy some crackers
My personal favorite, because of how it captured the moment and because how shocked I was that Chris let himself get soaking wet!
2nd Father's Day
Always making her giggle
Love this
Silly Gooses
Daddy's turn!
Helping Audrey learn to sit!
He was wrestling her around way back then too!
I've always loved this one.
Chris really wanted Audrey to have her 1st icecream cone!
She how she loves him?!
I remember her giggles that day. So happy!
Daddy won Audrey a pig at the fair.
Nappy time.
1st Father's Day.
A natural Daddy
In their Sunday best.
1st horsey ride!
1st bath, I remember that he wanted to be the one to do it!
I always wanted to get that classic Daddy/baby sleeping picture, pretty sure this was our 1st day home from the hospital
Getting to know each other!
Audrey Joanne and Daddy meeting! Their 1st picture!







When I go get Audrey in the morning she usually says, "Daddy?" I say, "Where is Daddy?" Then she remembers and says, "At work!" When Daddy gets home, Audrey usually brightens up and either goes to see him or starts jabbering, telling him about her day. After supper, Audrey looks at Chris and says, "Belt?" This means she wants to go upstairs and 'wrestle for the belt' with Chris. It's very fun to watch them play!
Thanks for all you do Chris. I love you and Audrey does too!

Thursday, March 03, 2011

Audrey's BFFs

Audrey hasn't had any choice in who her friends are, because they are the children of some of my friends. Regardless, she has come to know and really enjoy these friends! Just recently she has started mentioning each by name, randomly throughout her day. Something will make her think of one of her friends and she'll say, "Lukey?" or "Connor?" As if she's asking me if she can go play with them! Some of Audrey's friends were meant to be, because I have been friends with their Mom's for a long time and others have formed just because two ladies became moms around the same time, met, and decided they had a lot in common so they got their kids together! However we all met, Audrey and I truly enjoy getting together with these friends and their wonderful mamas.

*Audrey and Luke get to hang out a few times a month at Luke's house when I go to work in the afternoon! Luke's Daddy and I grew up in the same church, but I have come to know Luke's Mommy through church and MOPS over the years! I love watching these two together. Luke is several years older than Audrey and acts like a big brother to Audrey. He graciously lets Audrey terrorize his bedroom and play with all his toys. He makes sure she is safe, having fun, and taken good care of while she is at his house. For such a little guy, he is keenly aware of Audrey and is so kind to her. Audrey gladly says, "bye-bye" to me when I drop her off at Lukey's house, she can't wait to start playing*

*Emily is only eight days older than Audrey. I met Emily's Mama at my brother's wedding in October of 2009 because she and her husband were the photographers! We started chattin' and found out we were both new moms and had a bunch of things in common. We decided to get our girls together not so long after the wedding and have been doing so since! I love bouncing parenting ideas off Jen and seeing our 'twins' playing together. I always find myself wishing Audrey had a little dose of Emily's calmness (like on car rides!)*

 *David and Sammy Chesney have no choice but to be friends with Audrey, because their mama is my longtime, wonderful friend Kelsey! She and I grew up in church together, but became good friends in college as roomates. It's been fun to do grown-up life together, as we got married and had children around the same time. Audrey adores David and Sammy as well as their parents Kels and Jeff (who are now Audrey's Sunday school teachers!) There have been some jokes thrown around that the boys will have to fight over Audrey someday, haha. They'll be in consecutive grades in school as they grow up. So Kels, someday we'll have a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grader! Or....10th, 11th, and 12th grader, freaky!!!*
(Click on me to see better!)

*Caitlin and Connor (or Conna') as Audrey says, are 2 more of Audrey's buddies. They are the sweetest two little ones and Audrey loves to talk about them. Connor is only a few months older than Audrey and they'll be in the same grade in school. She mentions them both at the most random times. They have graced my home with their presences on several occasions! Their mama is a super fun lady (seems weird to say 'lady', but I guess we're too old now to be called girls!) who I met a few years back at church/MOPs. I  love hearing about what Allison is doing with her kids and bouncing ideas off her. She is very encouraging to me as I keep on learning to be a Mom!*
 

*Sweet, precious Zahra is my friend Diana's daughter. I met Diana way back at WSU pre-nursing school, as we had several classes together. We ended up in different nursing schools and parted ways for several years. Later on, I can't remember how, but we discovered we both got nursing jobs at Mayo! And, we both had baby girls! Diana initiated us getting together shorty after Zahra was born and we picked up our friendship were we left off all those years ago! Zahra is a few months younger than Audrey. It's fun to watch the girls together. They used to fail to even acknowledge each other but I have recently caught them being silly and actually 'playing' together! Diana is such a wonderful mom and I've been blessed to also learn from her great ideas in parenting*

I'm so grateful for all of Audrey's friends and their Mamas! It's fun to look back at the pictures and see how they've all grown over the past couple years. I look forward to more years of fun with Audrey's buddies!