Not Dead

Wow, I haven't blogged in forever. I'm not dead, just crazy busy. I always feel like no one really cares what's going on with me anyway, and they probably don't, but I love keeping up with my friends on their blogs so I'd be a hypocrite if I don't at least try to keep mine updated.

My excuse for not blogging: work. Life is pretty crazy right now. Here's how it goes when I work day shift: Up at 5:30. Lightning fast shower. Get dressed. Breakfast. Pump. Wake up Jack. Get him dressed and fed. Derek drives me to work by 7 and the Jack to the babysitter and then himself to school by 8. Derek picks up Jack at 4 or 5, depending on the day. Pick me up from work at 7:30. Go home, eat dinner, and put Jack to bed. Go to bed and do it all again.

Luckily, this is only 3 days a week, and usually only 2 in a row. The good news is that soon we will be getting a new car to ease the driving burden on Derek!

Still, we have found time to do some fun things. I'll post about those soon.

For now, I'm just going to do a little developmental update on Jack. He's a busy little boy and is constantly exploring. He has started to scoot on his tummy but mostly he just rolls to get around. We got him a walker and he loves being upright and feeling like he's a part of everything. Also, he's proving to be a good little eater. He loves peas, sweet potatoes, oatmeal, cheerios, and bananas. Oh, and meatloaf. Yes, meatloaf.

I went crazy taking pictures the other day.

He loves playing with leaves! He kept trying to eat them.
I love this kiddo!
What a handsome boy.

Netflix

Derek is gone from 7:30 am to 6 and 7:30 pm to 10 every day. I am at home with Jack. There are no sidewalks in our neighborhood so we can't go on walks. The only park nearby smells like pot. You can only go grocery shopping and to the library and to playgroups so many times. I haven't started my job yet, and Jack is pretty happy to play with his toys on the floor or nap. This leads to a boring, boring, boring life. There is one thing that has saved me:
I don't know why it never appealed to me before we moved here. Maybe it's because I don't like waiting for movies to come in the mail (I didn't know you could stream them!), maybe it's because I was a student and didn't have much time for movies anyway. But now I've decided it's the best thing ever. We stream movies directly to our Wii. So basically a giant library of movies and TV shows is available to me, while I sit on the couch (and we wonder why our society is unhealthy...lol).

Now I'm going to tell you how lazy I've been, as evidenced by how much I've watched.
1. All of Pushing Daisies. It's a great show, it's a shame it got canceled.
2. Two seasons of Arrested Development, which I've seen before, but I forgot how hilarious it is.
3. Several documentaries--One about Wal-Mart (never shopping there again, BTW. I've always hated it but that documentary was the push I needed to swear it off altogether.) Also lots about food, such as Super Size Me, Food Inc, and some other similar ones.
4. Workouts! I love being able to do a different one every day! See, I'm not totally lazy.

The other thing I do to entertain myself is to dress up Jack and take pictures of him. Here's a recent gem.

Missionaries

I have two pretty awesome siblings. I'm the oldest, Holli is two years younger than me, and Ryan is two years younger than her. They're both doing something pretty remarkable right now. Holli has been serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Fiji for the last 10 months. Ryan left on a mission just this week, and will be serving in North Carolina.

Since I'm the oldest, I'm the one that should be the good example, right? But I'm not. These two have taught me a lot more than I've taught them. It takes an amazing amount of faith to put your life on hold to spread the gospel. I'm so proud of the two of them. I love you guys!

Derek's First Day

Derek took off for his first day of medical school today! We are both a little nervous--Derek for obvious reasons, and me because I know he's going to be gone most of the time. But I know he's going to do great. Derek has determination like nothing I've ever been able to muster up. It's taken him this far, and it will take him all the way to being a full-blown doctor. I'm so proud of him! Here's some pictures of his first day.


Yay Derek! He has to wear a shirt and tie to school every day. He's not thrilled about it, but I definitely had fun picking out a whole new wardrobe for him!

New Job

As promised, here are the details on my new job. I got hired in Labor and Delivery, full time, at a big hospital here in Erie. I start training August 24, because it takes a while to do clearances (background check, physical, etc). I interviewed a week ago and got to shadow a nurse for a while. I told them that I really liked the unit, and they told me they needed to check my references. They checked them, and called me yesterday to offer me the job!

I would like to take this opportunity to stick it to anyone who told me one of the following:
1. You have to do at least a year of med/surg nursing to get anywhere
2. New grads never get hired straight into specialties like L&D
3. You have to do a capstone in L&D to get a job there (I did capstone in ICU)
4. The market is really tight for new grads right now so don't be disappointed if you can't find a job right away (this is the only one I interviewed for, and one of two I applied for)

I have had all these things said to me at some point (although likely not by anyone who reads my blog, so this is really just me venting). It feels good to prove them wrong! I'm glad I didn't listen, or I'd be stuck in med/surg right now. I know some people love med/surg, but I really don't. It would have been a hard year for me if I'd had to do that. In addition, I'm grateful that the market here in Erie is good for nurses. I know some of my friends have had a really hard time finding jobs.

I'll be on a day/night rotation, which basically means as the new employee I'll get all the shifts that no one wants (nights, weekends, holidays). But this is actually great for me. First, those shifts pay more. Second, most of the time, I won't have to worry about childcare. Derek is home on nights, weekends and holidays so he can take care of Jack. My initial plan was to be a stay at home mom during medical school, but when the reality of the gigantic loans we would need for that hit, I decided to look for a job. After all, nursing is probably one of the most flexible jobs out there--3 days a week equals full time and shifts are available on whatever days you need them.

I'm still in the excited phase. I'm sure the overwhelmed, terrified phase will hit soon. Wish me luck!

Critters

Derek and I were watching a thunderstorm through our sliding glass door tonight.

We've seen lots of critters here. Chipmunks are everywhere and we've seen a couple bunnies.

But tonight we saw one that actually scared us and made us forget all about the storm.

A skunk--yes, a skunk--took a leisurely stroll across our porch while we watched.

I had never seen a skunk that wasn't dead or a cartoon. Until now.

I would have been happy to never see one in real life. Thank you, Pennsylvania.

Lake Erie

Life has been a blur since we got to Erie! It's been wonderful to have no responsibilities and just enjoy life. Too bad that can never last long. Derek starts school on Monday, and I just got a job (which is another post). But in the meantime we've just been organizing our townhouse, and exploring Northwestern Pennsylvania (not that there's much to explore).

The best thing about Erie is of course the lake. If you've ever been to any of the great lakes you know that you might as well be at the ocean--they are huge! You can't see the other side, and the waves are bigger than you'd think (maybe a little smaller than the Gulf of Mexico). Lake Erie is beautiful. Here's a picture of us on the beach.
We stuck our feet in the water, expecting it to be freezing cold. But it wasn't--it was pleasantly warm! You could easily swim in it. We haven't found time to do that yet but hopefully we will before Summer is over.

Just yesterday we went rollerblading on a trail along an alcove of the lake. It was pretty hot and humid but fun nonetheless. Jack loved riding in his stroller with Derek pushing it on rollerblades, probably because it was faster than the usual walking.
So it turns out there IS some fun stuff to do in Erie! You should definitely come visit :)

Let's see...what else have we been up to? I can't find a food co-op for produce only here, I can only find ones where you get beef, eggs, etc, which would be great, but they're pretty expensive. Maybe someday. We did, however, find a really great farmer's market that has lots of really good locally grown produce. We've made some excellent salsa with it and will be doing more soon.

Now for a developmental update on Jack! He finally started rolling over a couple days ago. He started sitting up several weeks ago, and that's not really supposed to happen until after rolling over, but he's finally all caught up. He loves to be up with mommy and daddy, doing whatever we are doing. We used to be able to just put him on the floor with some toys and he'd entertain himself but that doesn't work anymore! He always wants to be held or at least up on our level. That's why we got him this high chair.
He's not eating solid food yet, but he still loves to be up at the table with us when we're eating.

Maybe sometime soon I'll feel inclined to post something informative or interesting, but for now I'm just feeling like being journal-y.