Dallas Arboretum Pumpkin Patch

Miguel and I took the boys to the Dallas Arboretum for their fall exhibit: Pumpkins! They had a really nice pumpkin patch. We took a ton of pictures, with a few cute shots! View the rest on my smugmug!

Thankful Thursday

I'm going to give this a try.
What are you thankful for? Join Sonya over at Truth 4 the Journey to participate!

This week I'm thankful for:

1. The ability to work at night so I can stay at home with my boys.
2. My church, YG (Younger Generation). What an AWESOME group of people.
3. My mom. She is a wonderful mom and grandmother and my boys love her so much!
4. My boys. Colin & Brennan can bring a smile to my face even on the worst of days.
5. My husband. Even though it's difficult at times, I love him with all of my heart.
   

Is God Opening a Door?

It's a little bit of a story, so either bear with me or stop reading now. ;-)
As you know, I'm a nurse. An ER nurse. It's my passion...ER, that is. I love it. I am a true adrenaline junkie. I work best under pressure and stress. I'm on my 'A' game then.
I'm also PRN, which basically means that I don't receive any benefits from the hospital as far as vacation or sick time or health benefits. I get paid a higher hourly wage for that.
The way that the PRN system is set up, it's basically for the hospital to have coverage when their full time and part time staff can't fill the slots. It's supposed to be a last minute call. Well, b/c of the extreme shortage of nurses, I have been able to be PRN for several years. I've actually been able to be placed on the schedule weekly and count on the hours. I think I've been spoiled by the shortage.
Well, 8 months ago, when I went back to work from maternity leave I found myself being called off (the basically call me before my scheduled shift and cancel me) or canceled days in advance. So, I decided to give working nights a try. Turns out that I actually enjoy working nights better! Yay! I was called off a few times on nights, but not nearly as much as I was on days. Things have been going great...
Things are still going great, but I've noticed over the last month or so they've hired a bunch of new full time staff. Nights were REALLY short staffed (which is why I moved to nights)...and now once all of these people are off training, I've been afraid that they are going to take my scheduled shifts. Miguel has suggested cross training to a different department, but with my short shifts (I only work 6 or 8 hour shifts currently), that probably won't work out too well.
So, all that being said...I'm going to talk about my love for the ER. I LOVE working in the ER. If I ever left, I've always said that I would want to go to L&D and/or nursery...but I don't want to leave the ER. The only thing that I really don't enjoy about the ER is working with kids. I guess that I am intimidated by their small bodies...or maybe it's the parents looming over me as I attempt to do anything to their child. I don't know, but whatever it is, I feel extremely uncomfortable working with kids. I've been a nurse for almost 5 years, and I have been able to have someone do all of the intrusive tasks o the kids for me...how did I make it this long not doing it?
Well, the past month or so I've decided that I need to get over my kid fear and just man up and do what needs to be done myself. No more bartering. No more trading off tasks with people. I'm going to start all of my own pedi. IV's, do all of my own pedi. caths etc. So, I've been doing my own tasks. I shake. I'm nervous. I feel overwhelmed, but I'm doing it. That's right. I'm doing it.
Now, I get to the 'Is God Opening a Door' part...
I was sitting in a training class for work last Thursday. I got a phone call and then a voicemail from my MIL. I texted her back and the basic gist of what she was calling about was that she has a contact at my hospital in the nursery and pediatric department that she was talking to on Thursday morning. The woman is the head of the department, and was telling my MIL about how short staffed they are. All things said and done, my MIL mentioned that I'm a nurse in the ER and the lady told my MIL that she wants me to work for her as well and for me to call her.
I called the lady later Thursday afternoon, and left a message. She called me back on Friday afternoon, and basically, she wants me to cross train to her department. She wants me to work in the Special Care Nursery and in the Pediatric departments during the winter. She is willing to cross train me and better yet...she is willing to let me work 8 hours shifts. We don't have anything set in stone yet, she still has to talk to her director about me, but said she will call me back as soon as she does. I'm so excited.
Now, I truly truly feel that God telling me somehow to kick my pedi. skills up a notch b/c he had/has a plan. I'm so nervous, b/c I am scared of kids...but we all know that God likes to make you shine in ways that you never thought you could. So, I know that if it is God's plan for me to cross train and I end up working there, I will shine. I will do great...and who know, maybe I'll even LIKE it!

Brennan's 1 Year Portraits

I just got back Brennan's 1 year portraits a few days ago, and figured that I would share a few of my favorites. The rest are on my smugmug.

Check Out the Comparison

I finally got Brennan's 1 year portraits back and completed the 1 year comparison of Brennan and Colin.
What do you think?
Brennan & Colin's 1 year comparison

Post

I'm planning to post tomorrow!

Look forward to pictures (Brennan's 1 year portraits and others), milestones, jabber, God's plans, surprises and more. Oh, and maybe even a new template if I'm feeling really motivated!

Sweet dreams!

Allergy Test Results

I was told that Brennan's allergy test results would take 7-21 business days, but I got the results this evening! The nurse from the pediatrician called me right before the office closed.
Before i go over the results, I'll explain the test and possible results pretty quick.
The blood allergy test was called a RAST Test.
They draw blood and expose the blood to specific allergens.
They score the reaction on a scale of 1-6.
1, 2 & 3 are mild reactions. Not something the doctor is concerned about. He wouldn't prescribe an epipen for these allergies or even call them an 'allergy'. Basically, you would just be 'sensitive' to the item, and would either avoid it for a while or re-introduce.
Level 4, 5 & 6 are sever reactions. The doctor would consider them allergies and would prescribe an epi-pen.
Brennan's results came in and he did not score any 4, 5 or 6's! Yay! Praise God. Food allergies are definitely not something that I wanted to have to deal with. They didn't tell me if he scored in the lower numbers, but I'm sure that he did...b/c I witnessed reactions to food on 4 different occasions. As of right now, I am just going to re-introduce the food to him in small amounts and see how he does!

ANOTHER Tooth

Brennan cut his 8th tooth today. That definitely explains all the fussiness! It's on the bottom. So now he has 4 in a row on the top and on the bottom. His smile is just getting cuter and cuter with the addition of teeth!

Colin Bakes!

Colin loves to help me cook! Every night he asks to help me make dinner. We may have a little chef on our hands.
I decided to make a Key Lime Pie for dessert tonight, and of course Colin wanted to help me make it. He donned his apron, stood on a chair and played the role of 'Super Mixer'! He did great, and was so proud of himself.
When Miguel got home from work all he kept talking about was how he 'baked a pie for Papi'!

Brennan's First Blood Draw

My little Brennan had to have his blood drawn yesterday for allergy testing. The phlebotomist had to stick him twice because she blew his little vein the first time. I must say that Brennan is a Powerhouse! He handled it like a champ. He barely cried...and the little bit that he did, I think it was b/c we were holding him down. I snapped a picture this morning with his band-aids on. Adorable!

Brennan's 1 Year Check -Up

Brennan had a good 1 year check-up. He saw the doctor this morning. Brennan weighs 19 lbs. 2 oz. (10%), and is 30 inches long (75%). He's so skinny! The pediatrician is happy with Brennan's progress. I brought up my concern about his possible food allergies, and the pedi. decided to run a RAST test...which is a blood test for determining allergies. He's says that it's a good starting point for determining. I took Brennan to have blood drawn after the appointment, but I'll post about that later. Brennan got 4 shots. Poor baby, but he handled them like a champ. He barely cried, and was done by the time that I picked him up! Miguel calls him 'Powerhouse'. One of the shots was his flu shot. We got one of the few doses left at the pedi.'s office. Brennan's next appointment is when he is 15 months old.

This past year with Brennan has had it's up & downs as he is definitely been our more difficult child, but it's also been amazing. Brennan is so loving. He just loves Colin to pieces and calls for him 'Ca' all the time! He is a good eater and a playful child. He is still doing the army crawling, but he is starting to pull up now. He points, claps, signs, and says a few words.

Brennan's Birthday Party

Well, we celebrated Brennan's 1st birthday party today. It turned out nice, but not as planned. I had planned to have the entire party in our backyard. It was a sports themed party. Lots of people showed up in fan gear! We rented a bounce house for the kids to play in, had sports balls all over the place, had a soccer goal & basketball hoop for the kids to play with. Right as the bounce house guy showed up to deliver it...it started drizzling and it was pretty cold out. So, I made the decision to cancel the bounce house and have the party inside...only problem...our house was too small for the number of people that were coming. We made the best of it. I decorated the house with all of the decorations that I purchased, spread the balls around the house, and made the food (hot dogs and nachos...what you eat at a sporting event) in the kitchen and let the kids run the house!

Brennan enjoyed his cake, but had a reaction to an ingredient. We had to give him benadryl.

The kids all enjoyed the pinata.

Brennan was a little overwhelmed when it came time to open the presents, so I did most of them while he *watched*.

Brennan with the birthday girl. Aly & Brennan were born only a day apart!

My boys together just after everyone left!

Colin's 1st Movie Experience

Miguel took Colin to the movies for the first time today! The saw Toy Story 2 in 3D. Colin was so excited. I packed Cheerios & raisins for Colin and that's all he could talk about all day long was how was going to go watch a movie and eat Cheerios and raisins!

Miguel said that by the end of the movie he had fallen asleep. When Colin got home he told me all about Woody & Jesse and his raisins and Cheerios!

1 Year Comparison

Colin - TOP Brennan - BOTTOM

Hmmm, so skin tone is definitely different. Colin was more yellow-y, and Brennan is pinker. I think that their eyes are very similar. Brennan has 7 teeth in this picture, and Colin had NONE!
I love my beautiful boys!

Happy Birthday Brennan

Brennan's birth picture. He was 2 weeks old

Brennan at 1 month. What a sleeping angel.

Brennan st 2 months. He despised bath time!

Brennan at 3 months. He has such a cute personality!

4 months old. He's so serious.

5 months old. What a chunky monkey!

6 months old. I love this picture!

Brennan at 7 months old. He's finally starting to look like he does now.

8 months old. Still serious!

Brennan at 9 months. He has the cutest expressions!

10 months old. You can see his teeth here!

11 months old. He's finally starting to enjoy his baths!

Brennan is 1 year old! Happy birthday!

We are waiting for his portraits to come back.

Oh my, how this year has flown. My baby Brennan is 1 today. Where has the time gone? I feel like I was just carrying him around in my belly yesterday. It's too soon. Time needs to stop ticking away.

I am extremely blessed by this little boy, and really couldn't imagine my life without him. He is so loving and just wants to be in your arms all the time.

Happy birthday to my precious little angel. May God bless you with many, many more.

Pulling Up

Miguel and I were sitting down watching tv this evening, and Brennan was playing with his baby piano on the floor. A few minutes later I was pushing his hand away from my drink that I had sitting on the couch next to me. Then I wondered how he was able to reach the drink, and noticed that he was standing! It sure has taken Brennan a long time to start pulling up, but now he's trying on everything! I was able to capture a picture of his first time!

It's Calling Me...

Yes, my blog is calling me. I hear the faint whisper daily, begging me to post. I plan to post soon. Very soon. I've got a bunch of stuff that's been keeping me busy and keeping me away from my blog...but all things that I want to blog about. So, keep your eyes open for a bunch of updates...again.

***UPDATED 10/8***
I've updated a months worth of posts. I think I got everything, but I'll add more if I remember anything else. Enjoy!

Austin & Austin City Limits Music Festival

We got back from Austin last night. We had a good trip, but ended it 1 day early. I'll get to that later...

We left for Austin Thursday afternoon. Patty in tow in the back seat. Patty was really fun during the road trip...she slept. I thought it was hilarious. We'd be talking and then all of a sudden she would be quiet and I'd look back and she'd be sleeping! We stopped at McDonald's for dinner in Waco and tried the Angus Burger for the first time (Patty's recommendation). It was decent, but their diet coke was gross!!! It tasted like mildew.
We arrived in Austin around 8:00 or so, checked into our hotel. We all rested for a little bit, showered, got dressed and decided to hit up a few bars on 6th street.First Miguel picked a bar that had some live country-ish music. It was pretty neat. After that bar, Patty picked a dueling piano bar. That one was a ton of fun. Next it was my turn to pick, but I didn't feel like it, so Miguel picked out a hip hip type bar. Totally my style! Anyway all the girls there were wearing the same dress. Not literally, but they were all wearing the same exact style. It got old after the first 20 girls. We had a fun night!Friday was the only day that we got tickets to the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Patty had tickets for all 3 days. We arrived at around 10:30 Friday morning. The place was huge...and pretty empty. We moved from stage to stage (8 total) to see the different bands. We got to see Coheed & Cambria, which was really the only band that I was totally excited to see, but I was super disappointed at the mix. The sound mix was just terrible. We stayed all the way until the final act of the evening and then left. The weather was absolutely beautiful...sunny & over 90.
Let's just say that sitting out in the sun all day turned me a little red...


After that we went back to to hotel, cleaned up, and headed back to the piano bar on 6th street to meet up with Patty's friend that flew in from Florida for the festival.
Saturday morning we had some Starbucks and visited a couple music stores; in one of which Miguel met the new love of his life. It was love at first sight...a Nash Telecaster. He didn't get it though. We met up with Matt & Pam for lunch on Saturday. They had tickets for Sunday.
We ended up leaving Austin on Saturday afternoon instead of Sunday b/c Brennan was running fever...which was probably a blessing in disguise. The rest of the weekend was humid, and wet. It didn't stop raining at all, and Patty sent me pictures of them at the festival...in mud up past their ankles. Yuck! We are planning on buying tickets for next year sometime soon!

2 More Teeth

We decided to come back from Austin early b/c Brennan had been running fever since Wednesday night. Low grade, nothing to worry about...but, still, fever for a few days. When we picked him up his smile looked a little different, and I realized that he had cut 2 more teeth. One on top, and one on bottom. His tooth count now totals 7! What a cute smile he has!