Visitors.

This weekend we had visitors - my awesome baby brother, his fabulous wife and my handsome little nephew.  We had a blast.  Shayleigh woke up and went to sleep thinking of and asking about "baby Jackson."  She LOVES her cousins and she was absolutely thrilled that her "baby Jackson" came to visit! On Saturday, we were able to babysit Jackson so my brother and his wife could go to graduation. Although Shayleigh has stolen the title of "baby stealer" from my sister, I did get to hold and love on Jackson a little. We had a absolutely wonderful weekend getting to spend time and visit with my brother and his family!


Waiting on Uncle BeauBeau, Aunt Libbie and Jackson

If I can get out the window, maybe they will get here quicker



Waiting & Smiling



I have the cutest videos, but unfortunately I have NO IDEA how to download them. Maybe one day someone will teach me how to do that. (hint,hint Megan). I hope ya'll had an GREAT weekend too!!
Nikki



   

Mommy.

Mommy. How is it that such a small 5 letter word can make our hearts melt?!?!  We wait, breathlessly for that first "Mommy." And then it comes and from that moment on it's cloud nine! For me, ever "Mommy" after the first "Mommy" is still super surreal. And sweet. Even when it is "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy...." I love being a Mommy everyday, but somedays I love it even more than EVER! Who could resist this beautiful face?!?


5/17/12



Crooked glasses

"Mommy, slide"

I have watched this little girl grow from a small little blip on an ultrasound picture to a 7 lb 12 oz healthy baby girl and now a 21-22 lb munchkin who runs, talks nonstop, gives hugs, kisses and most importantly says "I Love You." It is amazing to watch her grow!! She is super smart (she gets that from her daddy). She can say ANYthing (she repeats EVERYthing), she can count to 15, sing songs, sing her abc's and the list goes on....Lately, I have been feeling super blessed & I just wanted to take this time to just brag on my baby girl. My request  & challenge for you?? Stop and think about the things you are blessed with.

Nikki

P.S. I spent about 3 minutes trying to figure out how to download a video...you can see how well that went....

Mother's Day 2012

My poor husband. The first 2 weeks of May can be super $$$$. We have my birthday on the 5th, Nurse's day on the 6th, Nurses week 6-12th and Mother's Day is always the 2nd Sunday in May. This year for Mother's Day Nick and Shayleigh made this for me:



Mother's Day 2012

My sweet husband expected me to actually use these. LOL. I love homemade stuff. Here is a recap of how we spent our Mother's Day weekend:



Saturday. (Just so happened we were close to where they were playing)





Sunday. Baby dedication.



ALOT of Gracelyn & Jackson (in a high pitch/shrill/sweet voice of course)



Shayleigh's favorite people :)



As you can tell we used this opportunity for a photo shoot of the cutest babies! All in all, it was a wonderful

and special weekend. I just love being able to go home and visit my family. I miss them soooo much. Three hours seems like a lifetime away & I don't feel like I ever get enough time with them. I was also able to spend a few hours with my Memaw. She will be 96 at the end of July. She is an amazing woman.



This is actually a picture from Easter, but you get the idea.

I have a also been blessed with the world's greatest mom!! She worked full time, but she NEVER missed a ball game (or anything we did for that matter).  She spent time shuttling us around from one place to another.

Mom and Dad with the grandbabies (at Easter- don't judge)

I could go on and on about the wonderful qualities of my spectacular mom, but it is way later than I expected to be up..so we will save it for another post. :)  I hope ya'll had an amazing weekend & for all you Mommy's out there -Happy Mother's Day!!

The BIG three-oh.

I was doing really good blogging, then I started getting closer and closer to the big three-oh. It is over now, but let me tell you, this birthday has made me sad and somewhat depressed. Not only because I am leaving the 20's, where a lot of great things happened, but mainly because I feel like I am not where I planned to be at 30. It seems like time has just flown. I will admit I never really thought much about 30 when I was younger. Not because I didn't expect it to come around, but because it seemed like SUCH a LOOOONG time away. And unfortunately, now it is here. To stay. So, in honor of my 30th birthday, I am going to take this time to bore ya'll with 30 things I am blessed with & also things I want to accomplish(*).

1. God                                                                           16. DVR 
2. Nick                                                                          17. Books
3. Shayleigh                                                                   18. Good Sales
4. Great Parents                                                             19. Coupons
5. Great Sibblings                                                           20. Electronics (cell phone, xoom, laptop)
6. Healthy Nieces and Nephew                                      21. Chocolate
7. Great Family                                                              22. Good Food
8. Free house                                                                 23. Good Health (myself & family)
9. Want to own our own place *                                     24. My Dyson (don't judge-I have 2 dogs=SHED
10. Job & PRN                                                              25. Diet Dr. Pepper & Coke
11. Cheyanne and Bear                                                  26. Pay off Nick's student loans*  
12. Hugs, kisses, and snuggle time w/Shayleigh & Nick   27. Lose weight *
13. Friends                                                                     28. Be a better nurse *
14. Education                                                                 29. Smile more *
15. TV                                                                           30. Fix my hair everyday *

Ok, I realize some of those might seem a bit shallow & a bit out of order. (After the first 3, I didn't worry about order as much). Don't judge, it is SUPER hard to come up with 30 things! But, as I look at my list, I realize that although 30 seems overwhelming and I might feel like I haven't accomplished as much as I thought I would at this age, I am blessed. Thank God for allowing me to celebrate the big 3-0!!!! Now, ya'll comment and make a list of things ya'll are thankful for using your age. (mainly because then you will realize it IS hard.). GO.

Disclaimer: I'm not responsible for any bodily harm I might inflict to those of you younger than 30-haha

Nursing.

I thought I would wow ya'll with some great things I hear at work everyday.  You can go ahead and thank me ahead of time :).

Nurse: "What brings you the the Emergency Room today?"
Patient: "Well my ribs are hurting."
Nurse: "Ok. Did you fall off something or hurt them anyway?"
Patient: "I got a bear hug last week."
Nurse: "A bear hug...like a tight hug from someone?"
Patient: "Yeah (with a look of stupidity directed toward nurse).

Nurse: "What brings you to the Emergency Room today?"
Patient: "My tooth be aching."
Nurse: "Have you seen a dentist?"
Patient: "I'm from out of town and I don't have money for a dentist."
Nurse (thinking in her head of course---yet you come to the emergency room?!?)

Nurse: "What brings you to the Emergency Room today?"
Patient: "My foot is hurting."
Nurse: "How long has your foot been bothering you?"
Patient: "5 years."

Nurse: **same question as before**
Patient: "I have jungle feet. It had it on one foot, but now it's spread to the other foot."

Patient: "I am here for my foot, but can I have a pregnancy test too?"

Nurse: "Where are you hurting?"
Patient: gives talk to the hand sign

Ya'll enojy!! Maybe I can hear or remember something new for next week in honor of Nurses Week. Until then, ya'll enjoy!!

Nikki



I am woman.

This post is going to be short because I am exhausted. Not only because I ate an awesome dinner - marinated stew meat on the grill & homemade scalloped potatoes. Or because I  had red velvet ice cream AND red velvet cake for dessert (don't judge- it was a busy day).  No, because I apparently decided to try to kill myself today.  I vacuumed, washed, folded, unloaded and loaded the dishwasher, cooked, cleaned the bathroom, played with Shayleigh, and mowed most of the yard. I'm not gonna lie, I did get a 2 hour nap in between, but still I am pooped. What did ya'll do today?

Nikki

P.s. I had planned to take pictures of our awesome dinner and dessert, but (1) I forgot, (2) Nick said "please don't put food pictures on your blog" {insert eye roll- from Nick of course}

Thy name is forgetfulness.

In my professional medical opinion (also known as paranoid nurse) I have (like any good nurse) self diagnosed myself with early onset Alzheimer's.  I am not kidding. My memory is terrible. I don't normally forget really big things (like birthday's or anniversaries), it is the little day-to-day things  I forget. For example, this weekend I went home to visit my family. On my way home, my sis-in-law, Libbie called and told me one of the Wal-Marts in town had diapers and wipes on clearance.  I coupon. I live for sales and I can't pass them up. This, of course, means that I dropped Nick and Shayleigh off at my parents, picked my sis-in-law up and we proceeded to head into town. At 10:15 at night.  We started off at our first Wal-Mart where I purchased diapers (I paid 15 cents a diaper) and wipes (I paid 2 cents per wipe).  Not only did I go for the good deal on diapers and wipes, I also went because Libbie told me they had kids pajamas on sale for $1-$2. If you have kids, you KNOW that is a super good deal. Kids pajamas are stinkin' expensive. Anyway, I digress. We looked through all the sales racks and I picked up the cutest little blue jean romper (I paid full price for it), and a tshirt and pants ($1.50) and a pair of black shorts ($1.00). Unfortunately, I didn't find any pajamas. That was the first walmart we stopped at. We proceeded to stop at 2 more walmarts. I got home at 1:30. I didn't unload the car because it was so late. The next morning I unloaded the car to show Nick and my mom my finds (My dad really doesn't care. Neither does Nick, but he has to pretend he does). I showed them the wipes, diapers, and the clothes I got. I thought "I could have sworn I bought more than that." It wasn't until later that night when Libbie asked how Nick liked the romper that I remembered that I bought it. So I looked everywhere for it & couldn't find it anywhere! I didn't remember buying it or walking out the store with it. Needless to say, the only thing I figure is that it was left at Walmart. If you have a child then you understand exactly the next scenario I'm about to tell you. Shayleigh has a pink blanket that she sleeps with. We call her "blankey bear" (yes, we have given an inanimate object a sex- it's pink after all).  It has a little bear head on it and it is soft on one side and silky on the underside. I had heard other people talk about these "security objects" and when I bought blankey bear I bought 2 (greatest idea ever). I switch them out pretty often for washing. This weekend I realized that I hadn't seen my extra blankey bear in a while. When I tell you Shayleigh LOVES her blankey bear, she does!

The Infamous Blankey Bear

 It has gotten to the point where we take blankey bear EVERYWHERE. She even carries her around during the day.

Shayleigh and blankey bear after breakfast & before getting ready for the day

 So imagine the panic attack I had when I couldn't find her extra one. After tearing the house up looking for her and calling the sitter, I am happy to report that I found her...in a bag on the kitchen table. Crisis averted. Those are the most recent examples I could come up with to support my earlier diagnosis. I have several more, but I won't bore you. Ya'll have an excellent day and be thankful you are not suffering from early onset Alzheimers.
Nikki

Just a cute picture I had to post

Life is short.

Lately I have been thinking about how short life truly is. I know it is kinda early for me to write such a "serious" blog, but I have a huge burden laying on my heart so I am sharing from my heart.  It is a challenge mainly for myself. I know that as we get older, we lose family, friends and acquaintances. Unfortunately, that is life. And let's be honest here, sometimes life is just not fair and doesn't seem to make sense to us. Of course, God has it under control, He knows what He is doing and therefore it doesn't really matter if we understand.  That brings me to my point (yes, I do have one). I was 18 when I lost my MawMaw. I was 2 weeks into my freshman semeter of college. She was 72 when she passed suddenly. Even though it has been almost 12 years I still miss her. I won't say that I totally understand why she was taken, but I know that she lived a good life and is in a better place. I have lost other family members since her death. My PawPaw in 2005. My great uncle in 2008. However, lately, it seems that the losses just keep coming. I hate to say it, but unfortunately it seems like the only news I hear is bad.  We hear of an older person passing away and we think "They had a good life."  Now, however, everytime I turn around it seems I am hearing about young people dying, people with families and young children. Case in point, about 3 weeks ago a woman I was close to when we worked together full time died. Unfortunately, we did a terrible job keeping in touch after we quit our full time job. She was 46. She was given 4 weeks after her diagnosis of cancer. She didn't even make it 4 weeks. She left behind a husband of 18 years and 5 kids between the ages of 18 and 7. The only thing I can think is it's just not fair. Those kids not having a mother...it is just not fair.  This past week a guy that attended our church (he was in my in laws Sunday School class) died suddenly after being involved in a motorcycle wreck. He was 41. He left behind his wife and kids, his youngest child is only 4.  These stories hurt my heart. I just can't imagine going through life without a mom or a dad. I know people do it, but it just breaks my heart. I found a blog this weekend about a 5 month old baby girl named Avery who had an SMA and was given only a few months to live. Today, I found out that she suddenly passed. A few months ago, in February, a little boy with EB a genetic disease died. He was 2 years and 8 months.  My heart is broken for these families. To loose a child has to be absolutely terrible. I can't even imagine what these families are going through. I say all this and give all these examples for one reason: LIFE. IS. SHORT. We are not promised today. We are not promised tomorrow. That's why everyday when we wake up we should THANK GOD that he has allowed us to live ONE MORE DAY.  We should not take ANYTHING for granted, because you NEVER know when you will breathe your last breath. We should never complain about a bad day (I am terrible about that), but we should be thankful that we were given another day.  We should do something everyday to make a difference in someone's life. Our children, our spouse, our inlaws (those can be the hard ones) or a perfect stranger.  We should live each day like it IS our last!! Make sure that you tell someone you love them. Make sure you kiss your spouse or your kids 10,000 times a day! Make sure you smile (oohh, I really hit home there...I am a frowner).   So, in fear of repeating myself (bad habit), I will sign off with this thought. We only have ONE LIFE! Let's live it!  Let's show others God and HIS love through our life! 


Nikki

P.S. Make sure you give those family members hugs and kisses, tell them that you love them and hold them close.
P.P.S. I am not going to lie, as I proofread this post I am thinking "what the heck makes me think I can write about this subject". But, it has been laying on heart and I think it is something I definitely need to work on. So, whoever wants to work on it with me....let's do this!  Also, feel free to write me some feedback.