WAIT Summer stop going by so fast!!

Well, I am already down to my last week of school! I can't believe how fast it has gone by. I finished up my speech class, I did my last two very well and even managed a 100% on my last persuasive speech, yah! The class wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be, I guess I'm still good at speaking in front of people, but my nerves do get the best of me, more now then they ever have! I guess my 5th grade scare (it was 5th grade right??) of D.A.R.E Mr. deputy Cope making me read my essay of what I want to be when I grew up in front of the whole 5th grade + Family still gets under my skin :-)
As is, I have two more tests for Nursing, one being tomorrow and I'm ON HERE! The motivation for this class is lacking... I don't care for it, I just want to pass and move on to more exciting things! I did have a great time in clinical though. Being hands on is what I love the most, I always learn something new and I miss being the "busy body" that I'm used to. I'm in the process of trying to find out what classes I need for VCU (Virginia Common Wealth University) to continue my education after I get my ADN. I figured I need to get on board or I may never go back until my supervisor gives me a choice of going back to school or no job... therefore I better just do it. They have a RN-BSN program but they also have an RN-MSN program.. skip the bachelors and just get my Masters..?? Sounds interesting so we shall see what it consists of, it may not be possible since Brandon will be back on the ship at that time, but who knows!
Graysen is in a new day care! I got the phone call literally right after I posted the last blog. She still doesn't like "school" but this one is all because she doesn't want me to leave. She hasn't said that she doesn't have fun, or that she was bored, and she hasnt' told me once (yet) that she didn't do ANYTHING! So that's a plus as far as I stand! She will get used to "leaving" me soon enough, but it will take time. I just hope it's sooner then later, makes the mornings so tough!!
We have been enjoying the summer as much as possible. We've gotten to the beach a few times and this year I've actually gotten in the water woohooo, but I still have yet to get Graysen to liking the water. We've gotten her out there twice, but both times were against her will ha, so you can imagine how well that went!
Brandon is still waiting on results and in the mean time getting trimmed up, it's funny how we always seem to go on our "diets" and "work out" plans at different times therefore are never there to be support to one another. He's doing great though. I on the other hand have not been keeping up with anything due to school and everything else going on.. well... maybe just making excuses (haha) I decided to I need to get back on it but this time I'm going to try things a little differently. I did loose a lot of weight but then hit a wall and didn't even think about doing something to help out such as a cleanse... we all need that from time to time. I've done a colon cleanse before with a cabbage soup/diet thing basically eating raw fruits and veggies for a week. This time I'm going to switch it up, not only does my colon need it but my liver too so I've looked into this Fat Loss Factor diet.. which I'm really just interested in the whole cleansing factor of it. You are raw for two weeks then start a liver cleanse which is a salt flush + lemonade cleanse, for 10 days.. SINCE you don't eat anything on it I'm going to do 3 days on 3 days off 3 days on and see how I do. After that I will slowly start adding back food but am going to try to stay away from as much processed foods as possible. The "diet" doesnt' have you bring back meat for a while, they say to just have fish as your meat but I'm not sure I can depart from steak for that long :-) So I will see how I feel. I do have a friend who has made this a life change, doing only fresh, mostly raw but it seems very hard, but I'm up for the challenge (hopefully!)
That is what is going on in the SAUL household!!! Here are a few pictures but I did post more on Flickr. Also here are TWO links to TWO cute videos brought to you by Graysen :-) Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th!!

http://youtu.be/vro5xCbImg4
http://youtu.be/N1B--Zq31Yg

May & June 2012

I keep meaning to get to the blog, but it just hasn’t happened. I did posted pictures last week I know you aren't all on the flickr bandwagon but I have posted some pictures on Brandon's facebook as well as posting some with this blog. Here goes this update!

 This semester has been tough surprisingly more son on Graysen! She does NOT like going to the babysitter. She cries the night before and tells us she does not want to go to the babysitter she wants to stay home with me. Then the morning of is a cry fest. Brandon and I are not impressed with the provider we have but I know we just have to keep her in there. I’m not saying she would be doing better or even more in a day care center (even though I think she would be) she doesn’t seem to be doing ANYTHING at this ladies house. So far we’ve noticed she isn’t patient with Graysen at all when it comes to the morning crying fit, they have done a few “crafts” in the three weeks she’s been there one being a kite that I have yet to see and the others are coloring pages! That’s it! Graysen has helped her with her house work… YES! She mentioned to me that Graysen wanted to follow her around and be her helper so she “let” her go upstairs and help her clean (so normally you just leave the kids downstairs while you go do it??) She also can't get her name right... I've corrected her a few times but she calls her "Grayci" as well as spelling her name "Graycion" Alright, this is not a bash on babysitter blog but it’s tough on me to leave her with someone like that when she obviously hates going! Graysen's attitude has changed a lot and it seems like when we have her on the weekends she’s sitting in time out (which for some reason doesn't phase her anymore) more than actually getting to spend time with her. Breaks my heart to have to be “the bad guy” when all I want to do is make up the time missed with her! Again, I’m taking it hard, can you tell? She is still on the waiting list for a day care center, I keep harassing them to see when it will be that we get in but we will get in when there’s a spot I suppose. 

On a better side of Graysen she is going to be 3 (!!!!!!!!!!!) in a little over 2 months! Where has the time gone?!? She is officially FULLY potty trained. She was day potty trained right before her 2nd birthday, and then a few months ago she was Day and Nap time potty trained and now folks she's sleeping in her panties at night too! (I'm sure she wouldn't appreciate me telling the world that, but I'm one proud momma (and daddy too))!!! Our biggest problem with that is her water cup is her "safe haven" she doesn't have a blanket or stuffed animal it's her water cup and I wasn't about to make her dump that, but she would wake up and drink it at night causing her to not stay dry. She has finally grasped the understanding that water and milk and liquids we drink is what makes you have to go potty so she still takes her water to bed and if she has a little drink at night she will wake up and go potty and tell me "I drank some water so I need to go potty"! Or she will not drink anything and when she wakes up she tells me "Momma me not pee my bed, I don't drink any water so I don't go potty"! She's very proud of herself as well! She is a very smart cookie!!

These last few weekends have been filled with fun! We went down to North Carolina for Mother’s day weekend. We had a blast, Graysen LOVES going down there and spending time with everyone. She’s already asking when we get to go next. We also had a great Memorial Day weekend; we got down to the beach and hung out with some friends. Here is a video of Graysen and Mimi you can check it out it is on youtube and you don't need an account to see it! http://youtu.be/GWJLj_e4RfU

I’ve been trying to not slack in school but going through summer is a tough one! I still don’t love the unorganized part of this Nursing Program but I think I'm getting used to it. This class is very tough for me because I don’t care for medication. Simple as that! I understand taking antibiotics when needed, not everything can be treated in a natural way… A lot can be prevented but once you get something sometimes you have to take a medicine to get over or through it… but for people who choose medication over trying to change a lifestyle I don’t understand. Therefore it’s very hard for me to go into a hospital room to give medication and hand them the 12+ pills they need to take; when in all reality they only NEED 2 of them but have to take the other 10 because of the horrible side effects the 2 needed cause. My rant.. Why not get down to the root of the problem instead of continuing to mask the symptom. A few classmates have told me “you are in the wrong field then”… I guess not everyone gets my understanding! I know I will get to where I want to be one day! On another school note I had my first speech this last weekend, I was pretty nervous but I think I did alright. This speech class is on-line and I only go three times to present a speech, 1 down 2 more to go!

I did have one "dramatic" change. I cut my hair off and colored it, or should I say, Brandon colored it! Here is a before and after, it's not the greatest after picture couldn't snag a good one but I will put more up next time!!



Before


After

Brandon is doing well also. We are waiting to see how boards go as far as advancement. He’s still a “youngin” Navy wise so as I keep telling him, if he doesn’t make it this round he will next time! He finally applied to a few colleges so hopefully he will start school soon and get a degree to sit on!!!

This is a short “catch you up” blog so there you have it! I hope to write again soon! I will get back on the social networking sites as soon as I finish summer semester!!

Alright... This is the FIRST full day of no facebook for me! I have to say it's tough, haha or maybe I should say; sad to say it's tough! I appreciate anyone reading our updates, and looking at pictures via flickr. I KNOW how convenient facebook is but here is the reason or a watered down version of why I have faded it out...It's my addiction! It's always at my finger and I am constantly getting on it just to see "what's new" even if it's someone who I don't even really know but hey, we are facebook friends right! Well, it's a distraction between school, and just getting chores done since I stop every 15 minutes to check it. Also with some recent family issues I have been having I didn't want to deal with any drama, so there is another reason. I'm not sure how long I will last... or if I will, but I really need to kick the constant login. How in the WORLD do people go days without logging in? Haha << see addict!!

On the home front we have all been doing great. We have had some hurdles to get over, but thankfully my little family is very strong and we can take on anything! Right now it's back to just Graysen, Brandon and I. I am on break from school after doing pretty well in my first semester of nursing. We are trying to get a day care in order for Graysen, although we are on a waiting list for one and have been putting off finding a back up. I'm sure all will work out in the end!

Brandon and I just ran (or tried to run) a 5K called Color Me Rad. My nursing (some) gals wanted to do it as a group since it was right after our first nursing final. It was a lot of fun but the reason I say try to run is because we've never seen so many people WALK a 5k! We were all trying to jump/dodge/hurdle over people, which made it fairly annoying. It wasn't a timed run, more of a fun run to support the YMCA. The point is you where as much white as possible going into the run and they have "color" stations where they throw this colored corn starch (crap) at you, or in some stations they actually have pain they spray at you as you run through. Other then the one guy shoving the corn starch down my mouth, it was a lot of fun!

Here is Before

 Getting ready to start

 After! So much fun!

 Very messy!

The guys!

We also had a great family weekend! The three of us had a little dinner and Nana Sushi to celebrate my first semester done, Brandon getting Instructor of the quarter and all the other good things that have come about our way these last few months! Then we also went out with our friends and had a nice Italian dinner along with some Ice cream. Overall it's been a wonderful weekend and time off, although it's going by extremely fast!

Last but NOT least, Graysen had a little photo shoot with Galia who did our family pictures last year. We really do like her she's very sweet. We do recommend her to anyone out here. This was a free shoot, she's wanting to start doing kids and is working up her portfolio, so that was fun to be apart of. The beach was FREEEZING, so considering the circumstances Graysen did great! Here is a preview:

Well, that wraps this blog up! I will try to update as much as possible!!!

Reflecting on 2011, and outlook on 2012!

As this last year finally closed in on me, it made me ponder “Where in the world did it go?” Years used to drift by, but now that I have an overwhelming amount of things going on in life it seems to speed by in the blink of an eye; that can be nice… in all parts besides the kids’ part, another year goes by and Graysen has grown a ton!

2011 was brought in with my husband, Graysen and my mom. She was here visiting and actually left on New Year’s Day. Brandon and I went to Ruth’s Chris for dinner to celebrate our Anniversary (a few days early) and New Year’s. Then we went over to a friend’s house to enjoy the ball drop! This last year has defiantly had it’s up and downs; but the ups have taken over as they usually do! A few highlights of the year…

Spring semester was a very hard semester for me, but I kept my 4.0. That semester was more about me learning how to….learn! I have a tough time in school because reading something doesn’t do anything for me… I’m more of a visual/hands on learner so when it comes to Labs I’m GREAT, but when it comes to lecture classes…. Forget it! It can take me 4 hours just to read one 20 page chapter and take notes on it, and even then I can’t tell you what I just read. Thankfully I’ve finally gotten in a groove and it has helped me with the rest of the semesters!

In March I joined a VERY good friend of mine, Laycie in Hawaii. We had a blast, but really it was a great time just catching up with her. I’m very bad about keeping in touch with people, and with her busy schedule as mine, it’s almost impossible but we make do, and I’m very thankful for the friendship I have with her! We got to enjoy the island of Kauai, and also be in another Tsunami; thankful for us, nothing drastic happened to Hawaii but those in Japan will forever be in our thoughts, we ended our vacation tossing our lei’s  to the sea in remembrance of those lost.

March was also the month Brandon had his ACL surgery. It wasn’t as crazy as we had planned, he was a trouper and was able to walk out of the hospital, and still take care of Graysen while I was in school! It healed great, and has little problems with it!

May, I finished my fall semester and decided to take summer classes so I could keep getting credits, and not slack! I only had one on-line class and one class that I attended, overall a pretty easy semester! In between semesters we went down to NC to visit family, always a fun trip!

July I went down to Myrtle Beach for the first time. I was helping a friend by getting her daughter down there for a competition and decided to stay and enjoy some time at the beach. I didn’t explore too much but I do hope that I can go back down there with Brandon and enjoy some time together there! I made it home by July 4^th to spend time with the family.. even though we didn’t end up doing anything since it was rainy and Graysen is still a little young for all of that! That month was also when I got a letter saying I was not accepted into the nursing program, with no reason given. Instead of trying to figure out why I just let it go.

August was our trip to Missouri and Colorado. Since I lived in Hawaii I had been saying I needed to go to MO to visit my grandmother and it kept getting put off… time after time! I finally decided that it needed to happen, and we made the arrangements and I am SO happy that I did! Graysen loved her GG, and we had a great visit. We headed to CO with limited time in Denver. Since CO is where I grew up it’s always nice to go back, but each year you see those who care to see you and those who don’t. Ever since I lived in HI I truly found out those who care, and yet again, those who don’t. I’ve learned to respect that, and move on with it, therefore I hold little conversation with those I was once so close with. While in Denver I did see my closest friend Jennifer, we stayed with her and her family. We also saw a few people at the Denver zoo. I was hoping for a nice big turnout, to reconnect and see the new generation (and the almost new generation!) but it didn’t happen that way.  It still turned out wonderful! I got to see my Byers crew J I’m so happy I got to see them again and meet (some for the first time) their kiddos! We also got to spend time with my good friend Liz. She helped us get up the mountain and stayed for a day so we could spend time with her and Trevor!  We had a great time up in Maybell with my mom, Graysen enjoyed herself, and did great with the traveling and still working on her potty training! When we got home it was time for Graysen to turn 2!!! I had planned a big party at our house for a certain weekend. With school and everything going on it was the only weekend I could get it done, not knowing we were going to have a bit ole’ Hurricane that weekend! Brandon’s Dad and step mom had made it up here the day before so we decided no matter what we were still going to have her birthday party, even if no one could come, just the way it had to be. Because of the wind and the strong rain very little people made it but it was best that way, she had a wonderful birthday! Brandon’s Mom and step dad made it, our wonderful friends Steve and Melissa and our close neighbors came. We had MORE than enough food to feed everyone and Graysen had more than enough attention given to her!

GG and Graysen!

Being super lazy at the zoo!

My family

Elizabeth and I with our little ones

September Brandon and I did our first 5k run with each other!  It was in honor of those lost during September 11^th, so it was a wonderful run! I didn’t walk and that was basically by goal! It was a great time and a great weekend with our friends. Angie, Pat and Johnny watched Graysen for us and we all went to breakfast afterward! The Jardina’s also spent that weekend with us at the carnival and concert/fireworks!  I believe September was the month I talked to a counselor and found out why I didn’t get excepted into the nursing program, and with a few corrections and it taken up to the nursing board I was accepted into the March program! That was a wonderful Birthday present! The entire fall semester my focus was to learn how to prioritize. I was doing great in school but I was leaving my family on the side burner!  That being the first full time semester I’ve had it was a good way to learn to still have fun and still get my work done, and I did just that!

November and December were full of house projects and seeing family. They were both great months!!

The whole year is almost a blur! Graysen has gotten so big and has come so far with her personality and learning. She impresses me every day! I’ve had a few “family drama’s”… but that is life, I am proud of my mom for the hard decisions she’s been having to make, but I think she is improving her life and I can’t wait to see her happy and better off this next year!



Start of 2011




End of 2011 What a difference in Graysen!



As that is said this next year is going to be a tough one. I start the nursing program, but we are very lucky and thankful to have my mom come move in with us. She is going to help us with Graysen and the house while I’m in school full time during the days. I’ve already started school for the semester but I’m taking two extra classes while in the nursing program. I’m slowly trying to get all my prereqs done to be able to transfer to a university once I get my Associate degree and my RN license to get my bachelors. That is my short term goal for now, so we’ll see how this next year goes for me and my family. I’m looking forward to this year, and the next ones! I will try to do a little better with the updates as well!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Make the most of our time!

Once again (do I start EVERY blog with this?) it’s been a long while since I’ve updated. Every time I get, or I think I get a few seconds to blog something comes up!

As is, we’ve had a lot of things happen in our house hold the last few months… Of course I will start with Graysen! She has been doing great, her vocabulary has been wonderful and she is able to tell me anything she wants. We have had VERY few tantrums and if we do it’s basically just because she didn’t get something she REALLY wanted, or she is very tired! She hasn’t been taking as many naps as usual so we’ve been dwindling down on those unfortunately!  She has been in ballet for a few weeks now and she seems to be doing great with it. She loves the beginning and the end because they are more active. The middle of the class is about the actual moves, and she doesn’t enjoy that too much, she just likes to sit by me. She has her very first recital in a few weeks. Every now and then she lets me know that her teeth hurt, and when I look in her mouth she’s got another 2-year molar coming in. She’s got three almost all the way in! Graysen is VERY bossy, and she claims any “baby” that she sees as “hers”.

We recently had our puppy pass away. Graysen and I came home to find her dead in her kennel, which was crazy because she was perfectly fine when I left. We paid to have someone figure out what is wrong with her but we have yet to hear anything. We did get a note stating that there has been no obvious reason on why she passed away, so they are doing a further investigation with it. Otherwise, Graysen does really good she only asks for Daisey at bed time, but she is understanding that she is no longer with us. Annabelle is also doing good, but she is very lonely. This done is constantly on the go and is so energized she doesn’t get enough attention from us even if we play with her as much as possible!! We are thinking about another pup.. but I’m not sure how I feel about it!

Since I got accepted into the nursing program I figured I had better get some things, on the medical side, taken care of. I’ve had back pain for at least 10 years.. nothing I can’t bare but it has been getting worse not better! SO I made an appointment with a doctor and it was the worst experience to date. I told him everything, anything and all. He told me that I needed to go get injections in my back for pain relief, I would have to do it every four weeks for the rest of my life or for as long as I have pain. Well.. FIRST OF ALL.. how am I not ever going to have pain if I don’t take care of the problem. If you are in pain THERE IS A PROBLEM.. So as I explain this to the doctor he proceeds to tell me that NO one can figure out the real reason for back pain, everyone has back pain. Really sir? I’m pretty sure that PLENTY of people are able to find out the reason for what’s causing their back pain.. with it either being pinched nerves, slipped discs, detrition in the discs or tissue…. There are a LOT of reasons, and not EVERYONE has back pain! So now that this is going into a rant haha… Either way, I told this doctor that I wanted an x-ray and an MRI, to cancel out any of those things and then I’d go from there. So after doing both they found nothing, my next step was physical therapy, but I honestly did NOT think that would help me. So instead I made an appointment with a Chiropractor. So far, the BEST experience I’ve had. He knew exactly what I was talking about and explained to me that MD’s are not trained to see alignment issues therefore they skip them, ignore them and just give you meds to decrease the pain (symptom) that’s caused by the misalignment. After a few x-rays AND an examination it has been concluded that I do have Sclerosis, I have 3 misalignments of my lumbar vertebrae and 2 misalignments of my cervical vertebrae.  My cervical region also protrudes out instead of in… for all that he thought I was WAY older than 25 L!!!  I haven’t been easy on my back that’s for sure, all the accidents I’ve been in have taken a toll on me. I did my first alignment in my lower back today, it’s a little sore but I can already feel a difference. I couldn’t stand for more than 5 min in one spot without being in pain and I couldn’t sit or lay down without being in pain and so far I feel fine. I go back to review the x-rays for my cervical region to see what we need to do/start with.

I’m still a little nervous because the doctor at the Tricare place stated that he would NOT pass my physical for the nursing program.. which is ridiculous. Therefore  I’m not going to get my sclerosis scan done by them because that would be another point against me. So all they have in my records is that I went there due to having back pain but everything was normal in my scans. So when I go back for my physical and see a DIFFERENT doctor hopefully an “Oh I feel much better now” will be good enough to get a paper signed! Not sure why they have to make things so stressful!

School is almost over for the semester and I can’t wait. The 17^th is the last day for lab, I have my last practical. I’m nervous because I’m a little behind this semester with it. Then my last anatomy lecture test is right before the practical. She’s giving us a take home final.. so everything is basically downhill after lab! I’m ready to get the house cleaned haha! Next semester I’m just going to take a couple on-line classes for the first 8 weeks, then I start nursing in the second 8 weeks. We’ve been searching for day cares, and the search keeps going, not sure I will ever find something remotely close to what I give her at home… That’s the issue for me! I best get over it haha!

I’m very excited for the holiday’s but it seems like they’ve come too fast!  Hopefully I will be able to blog before the new year!! Otherwise this is the best/quickest “wrap-up” I could do!!

This one's a GOOD one!!

Well, it’s been a VERY long time since I’ve posted so here’s to catch ya’ll up! (if your on here to just get the good news, scroll to the bottom!)

Graysen is doing great, as usual she’s starting to get sniffly but I think that has a lot to do with allergies and this lovley cold (okay.. cooler) weather we’ve been having. She had her two year check up and they were very impressed with how well her communication (and mocking) skills were! She repeats absolutely everything we say, and she is starting to say 6-7 words in a sentence. When she wanted me she used to just yell “MOM!” now it’s “Momma, Momma where are you?” or instead of just telling the dog “NO!” she will say “NO daisey that my toy, bad dog!” She even is bossy enough to tell the dogs “Dogs STOP! Stop barking in baby house!” Aweee.. I LOVE her! Haha!  She is doing VERY well at the Y now. She used to hate going, and anytime we even got close she’d cry and say “no momma, no play!” Now she is excited to go play. She is still in Gymboree as well, we moved her up a level and this level seems to be a lot more fun for her. They do more interactive things like looking and pictures and telling the “teacher” what is in the picture, she will sit in the front row and point and answer all of Mrs. Robins questions.

Potty training is also going very well! We have had two accidents in four weeks. One was a pee accident at home, and another was a poo accident in public. I’m not sure what happened with that one my only guess was that she was having fun and she wasn’t sure where I was (even though I was looking at clothes right near her, I wasn’t in plain view). Either way she’s been in panties for a while and she is doing wonderful! She even tells the Ladies at the Y when she needs to go potty!

The home front is good as well! The house looks like a tornado went off in it by the end of every week because I can’t quite keep up with it… but that’s life! When I get breaks from school I take advantage and do a quick deep clean just to keep the dust and mites down the best I can. We haven’t had to do too much to the yard since the weather has been cooler so that has helped my slacking J

School is kicking my butt nothing new on that end! I had a birthday and it was wonderful. Brandon and I ran our first (okay mine, but our first together) 5K and that was a blast! I came in 12^th out of 27 in my age group, and with my age group being 18-25 I was at the top of it so I thought that was pretty dang good! Brandon hurt his knee again, so we are waiting for him to get into a doctor to see what’s up… really hoping he didn’t’ re-tare it! (wow I am making this quick!) The dogs are good as well, Annabelle just got fixed so that’s been interesting. Tuesday will be two weeks so she can finally go back to her normal self.. That will save some headaches for us all! Oh and I got my hair cut! I LOVE it…much easier to take care of, and less headaches (I seem to get a lot of headaches.. ) since I don’t’ have to pull it up all the time!

Okay… Now… A couple weeks ago I put on my status something I was anxious for and yada yada yada it was blog worthy…so here is the story…(yes another one)!

School related…. So if you are already bored you can stop reading now! Anyway as most of you know I applied to the nursing program out here and did not get accepted. They didn’t tell me why, just that I wasn’t accepted. I didn’t’ get the greatest grade in my very first Anatomy class in Hawaii so I figured that had something to do with it even though I retook it here. I do have a 4.0 here and have taken everything I can for the nursing class minus the one class I’m taking now! Therefore I went to speak to my counselor (WHO told me by the way I’d have no problem getting in), to see what else I could do instead of nursing (at least while I keep attempting to get in). She was astonished that I didn’t get in, and couldn’t’ understand it so we sent a few e-mails out and made a few calls. She gave me the info I needed so I left it at that. This nursing program is pretty good. They only accept 120 students a year (4 cohorts) but they have over 400 applicants a semester. The lady in charge of the nursing department got back to my counselor and come to find out the reason I did not get into the nursing program is because I did not put my Student ID number on my application. Therefore they did not know I was a TCC student so they didn’t pull my transcript and just thought I was applying with NONE of the pre-reqs so I was tossed out from the get-go! Either way.. they fill their nursing program fast.. and In July at that, so it may be MY fault for screwing up so I have to deal with that! Either way this lady went out of her way and took my application back to the nursing committee to see if they would be willing to take a second look at it. It’s been almost three weeks and I finally heard back on it.. It was a long drawn out e-mail.. again telling me it was my fault for not putting my student Id number on the application (TIME OUT: TCC calls their student ID number : SIS on this application it asked for your EMPL ID… okay I THOUGHT that looked like employee Id.. that’s not what TCC calls their student ID number so how is that my fault.. yes I should have called and asked.. but really.. FIX IT!.. okay rant over) For a LONG e-mail shortened I HAVE been accepted into the nursing program. They had someone drop out of the Cohort 4 and I will be taking their spot! So the program starts in March, which gives me time to take a few 8 weeks classes in January to keep going for my bachelors (this is just an associate program, but hopefully by the time I’m done I will have every single class I need to just transfer to a university to get my BSN)… but did I mention how EXCITED I AM!... I’m sooo releaved! Starting in March puts me a little behind schedule but it’s okay, better then it being next August or November! SO that was the BIG BIG news J   Thanks for taking the time to read (if you made it this far haha!)

The end of summer already!!

Well I’m way overdue for an update so here is one. I will try to make it as quick as possible!

Graysen has been doing great with potty training (not making this a separate post this time). She hasn’t had an accident during the day in about 5 days or so. When we are out she will tell me she needs to go potty and is actually telling me a good length in time before she actually has to go, so we have time to get to a potty! When we go to the Y she will go potty at home before and then when I get done with the Y I will take her to the potty and she goes just fine! I think I’m going to put her in panties here soon! I will just make sure I have change of clothes and plenty of wipes in case of an accident! Night time can still be an issue. Sometimes she will wake up in the morning and just play in the room before I even know she’s awake and so she’ll go in her night time diaper. This morning was a different story though, she actually woke up at 5:30 and told me she needed to potty so we went potty and then she went back to bed!! So it’s a working progress for sure!

This lil’ lady of mine is talking so well! She is putting 5-6 words in a sentence now. “Momma me play side (outside) wif Annabelle.”  “Momma me hungry, me eat ummm” hehe She is still referring to herself as “baby”. If you ask her what’s the babies name she will tell you “Grayhen” (missing the S sound). She can count to 10 just not always when you want her to and she’s doing great with her ABC’s.. again when she wants to! At her birthday party Mrs. Shirley asked her, Graysen how orld are you? Graysen said “uhh two..” and Mrs. Shirley said “you are TWO!” and Graysen’s reply “Yes Shirey (Shirley)”. She does great with her colors as well!  We rearranged her room so that a lot of her toys are in her room now. Before it was so crowded with the changing table and all that stuff, and since we don’t need that anymore we took it out. So now she is playing a lot more in her room by herself. She will shut the door (and lock it ) and just play. I will check on her and when I knock on the doory she will say “Ummm Yes Momma?” haha I wil ask “Graysen can I come in” And she will respond with a “Otay momma, coming” and she will unlock the door for me and let me in! Really, she’s just growing so fast and it makes me sad just thinking about it!!

We did recently have a few weird weather issues. We had an earthquake which is extremely rare for this area. Actually so rare that a few months ago Brandon and I were reading that Chesapeake VA (where we live) is listed as NUMBER ONE of being the safest city from ever having an earthquake haha, I guess they wiped that one off the record! The earthquake was quick, and didn’t cause any damage to us or our surrounding area. Most will say it was very mild but definitely felt! Then of course Hurricane Irene… I understand that the people here want everyone to be safe, but they really just freak people out! This was our first “real” hurricane that actually made land that we’ve been in and I’ve been in worse thunderstorms. The states north of us got a lot more flooding, and even VA beach got flooding but we didn’t get anything that wasn’t gone the next day! I enjoyed the rain, but it wasn’t as bad as they were predicting it to be.

Graysen’s Birthday and Birthday party fell on the day of the hurricane. I decided not to move it due to the fact that if it was supposed to be a bad Hurricane Sunday wouldn’t be a good idea because of “aftermath”, and putting it off a week was not going to work for me. One, we already had the food, and two I was already so behind in school trying to plan this party, get it in order, get the house clean for it, KEEP the house clean for it…. I wanted it done with and wasn’t really too worried if everyone decided not to show up! This was basically the case! Brandon’s parents made it, our good friends Steve and Melissa, and our neighbors. Even though there were no other kids (yet again) it was actually perfect. Graysen (at this age at least) is a total show off and the number of people we had over was already overwhelming for her. I’m glad we didn’t have much more than what we did! Food wise though, I do wish we had more people haha because of the storm we did lose power for two days and lost all of the left overs and everything else we had in the fridge! Overall the birthday party was great, and Graysen had fun, it’s one we will never forget!

Can’t remember if I mentioned the new dog in the last blog post, but we did get a new dog. She is a Newfoundland – Lab mix, and she is a DOLL! She is starting to listen very well and as I train her Annabelle is slowly starting to do the same things, which is exactly what we were wanting! Annabelle hasn’t chewed up one toy/item/sock since Daisey has been in the house with us. Of course Daisey is a pup so I have to stay on her, but Annabelle has taken the mommy role and has been an excellent dog! They keep each other company when Graysen and I are out of the house, and Annabelle just seems so much happier! Miss Daisey has been a great addition to the family!

Only 11 weeks old and as big and Annabelle, OH BOY!

School is already kicking my butt! Being full time wasn’t the BEST idea, but I’m doing it! I was a little stressed out because they still hadn’t put an open lab schedule up for my Anatomy class, and the last Anatomy class I living in the lab, and that’s how I got such good grades. Since I hadn’t been able to get into one open lab Minus my first time being last night I was getting really worried about my upcoming grades. They finally got an open lab up for Sunday so I’m a little less stressed now! History seems to be very easy (because of the great story-telling professor I have), math is math, and my sociology class seems to be tedious, but it’s still a lot of work and tests… and tests on the same days… UHG! We’ll see how it goes!

Last and not least I just started this couponing thing. I won’t be the extreme one that goes around finding deals every day but I am going to start trying to save more money. My first trip went extremely well, for it being my first time. I basically cut our normal shopping trip in half by just using coupons and getting stuff on sale! There were only a few items that I needed that weren’t on sale but otherwise everything else was! We’ll see how that goes!

Thanks for checking in!