Snow?! I forgot what that was like

I can't believe that it is almost December!  Life has been flying by, which is good I guess because that means that it's almost Christmas break for me.  It also means that Tacy Lou is getting huge!  I look at her every day and wonder how in the world she got to be so big.  She barely fits in my arms now when I'm feeding her a bottle.

Tacy was blessed on November 11th.  It was a crazy weekend because a snow storm had hit pretty good so it was very wintery and white.  A lot of family could not make it because of the snow.  But my parents drove in, my mom's parents flew in from SoCal, grandma and grandpa Taylor made it, Brad's parents, and his sisters: Jody (with her husband Eric and son) and Kimber (with her fiance Sam) were all there.  Also, our friends Sean and Ashley and Madison and Joni were able to come.  Oh, and Brad's uncle Dave and aunt Kareen.  So all in all, there was still a good crowd.  Tacy was blessed by her dad.  The circle was pretty big as it was with both grandpas, 2 great-grandfathers, 2 uncles, a great uncle, and 2 friends.

4 generations: Grandma Cramer, Mom, Tacy, and Great-Grandma Bennett

It was nice to get to see my grandparents and have them meet their first great-grandchild.  It was also fun to see my parents as always.  Tacy loved the attention, although she was a little fussy Saturday but I think that was because she was a little parent clingy and had never seen some of those faces.  But she was a champ on Sunday.

Tacy Lou with her Great-Grandpa Bennett

Tacy can hold her own bottle (when she wants to, which is rarely, but she can).  She has taken up napping on her side.  She does not love to roll over, but she does love to roll from her back to her side.  She is also quite the talker!  She just loves talking, sharing stories, and talking with people.  Some words sound so clear, like "Hi Dad".  She has said that twice now.  When she is sad/mad she will sometimes say mamama, but I really don't know if she knows what she is saying or just repeating things she hears all the time.  Still fun though.  Tacy smiles all of the time and laughs a lot.  It's especially funny when she is eating and pauses to giggle then goes right back to eating.  It really makes me wonder what is going on in her head.

Our little side-sleeper

I have not weighed her recently, but i'm sure she is at least 12 lbs.  I did measure her and she is 26.5  inches long!  Like I said, she is getting big!  Tacy is also getting better at grabbing things.  She has a set of rings that she will grab now and shake.  It's fun to play with her.  She also has discovered her tongue.  Now at least half of her smiles have her tongue sticking out.  It also means that she drools a lot (I think she learned that from her cousin).  Sometimes when she is talking it is very gargled from her tongue and all of her drool.  But she loves it and blows lots of bubbles when she is talking and laughing.

Tacy still loves to put her hands/arms in her mouth.  I need to wash her teething toys, not because she is teething, but so she has other things that she can put in her mouth.  We pulled out her high chair and have been putting her in that so she can sit at the table with us.  She loves it.  Tacy is happy as long as she can see people to talk to, so her high chair really helps out.  She just sits in it, talks, laughs, and kicks her feet.

Tacy was doing some karate moves for her Daddy - she kept punching out her arms and kicking her legs

As for Brad and I, Brad is still working hard.  He is such as good dad and husband.  We celebrated our 5th anniversary on Saturday.  It's hard to believe that we have been married so long.  We went out to dinner at Tucanos Brazilian restaurant while Tacy stayed with her grandparents.  It was nice to get out and not have the baby to worry about, plus it was a good excuse to use Brad's free birthday meal.

Thanksgiving was a mad house.  We had 20 adults and 2 babies all in one house for dinner.  Insanity if you ask me.  Tacy was woken up by the insanity.  I didn't get to eat Turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, and some other things cause there was not room at the table for me so I missed when those were passed around.  Oh well.  I like smaller groups a little better because it's easier to all interact with each other.  I was in my own little world with Tacy.  Brad and I ended up going in a different room that evening to try and find a quieter area for Tacy to nap while everyone else played games.  Another reason I don't love big groups - I hate playing acting games with lots of people because I'm self conscious and it's worse with big groups.

The tongue

School is going....I'm still surviving one day at a time.  I have one more paper left, 2 practice NCLEX tests, and 3 tests for the semester.  Oh and a final Focus pass off, where we have to do an assessment on our simulation patient while the instructors watch and grade us on how well we assess the patient and evaluate their chart etc.  I'm super nervous about that.  I had a presentation today on my personal nursing philosophy. We had to do an art project to represent our philosophy and present it.  Most of the grade was based on our creativity.  Not my favorite because if I was creative I would have been an art major, not a science major.  But I made a collage and all my classmates said that it looked good and that my presentation was great.  I still get really nervous presenting but apparently I hide it well.

I have some Christmas decorations out, but I still need to hang by snowflake banner and some red ornaments cause so far the only decorations out are nativity scenes, gold stars, and snow men.  So it's all very not Christmas colors.  If we had room for our little Christmas tree I would set it up, but we really don't.  Maybe this Christmas break I can make some green/red decorations (for next year).  I dunno, we will see.

Tacy is 16 weeks old (can you believe it) and has her 4-month appointment in 2 weeks.  So we will find out just how big she is then!  

12 weeks and Halloween

Just being cute with her bib

Wednesday Tacy officially became 12 weeks old!  I can't believe it has been that long!  Then I pick her up and realize how big she is getting and 12 weeks sounds about right.  It's getting hard to remember when she fit so nicely in my arms and weighed so much less!  Now, when she stretches out I have put her legs over the arm of the rocking chair.  It's pretty funny because when I am burping her and she is mad because she is still hungry she will stand up in my lap so she is on her tipee toes and yell.  Other than the fact that this sometimes makes me feel deaf, I think it is hilarious.  I don't really understand what stretching herself out does for her when she is mad, but she does it every time.  

Now when she is on her tummy she just likes to look up at you

Tacy doesn't cry or yell a lot, but when you take her bottle away to wipe up her milky chin and she happens to still be hungry, boy will she let you know.  You'd think I was trying to cut a finger off.  The other day I was taking her clothes off to give her a bath and she went from sleepy to screaming at the top of her lungs.  Apparently she was cold and it was not until we had her in the tub and Brad was pouring warm water all over her that she finally stopped screaming.  It really freaked me out because she was not breathing much and her legs were turning blue.  Winter sure is going to fun if that's how she reacts to cold now!  Tacy has also started to pout when she is sad so she sticks out her lower lip and quivers.  It is the cutest/sadest thing ever.  I keep trying to get a picture but she stops as soon as she sees the camera.  Tacy is very talkative now, and her favorite things to say are "Aagoo" which I interpret to be her way of saying I love you.  She also loves hey, hi, aye, be, eee, and dee.  The aye and be are usually said when she is mad.  Hey as well like she is trying to scream for our attention.

Sad face, you can kinda see the lip...

Tacy was a skeleton for Halloween.  We went trick-or-treating at my sister-in-law's work.  It felt kind of silly taking candy when my child is a little baby and obviously won't be eating the candy.  But oh well, Brad and I enjoyed it!  Brad dressed up for Halloween again.  He was a bigfoot hunter.  I think he just loved the excuse to carry around a nerf gun.  He got face paint and put it all over.  It was so funny to see him talking to Tacy while he had it on because she looked at him so funny and you could tell that she was really confused because she could hear Daddy but he didn't really look like her daddy.  I of course did not dress up.  On Halloween I actually had the day off so I finished my big Care Plan paper and studied for my mental health test, oh yea, and took care of Tacy.

School is very busy.  I had two tests this week and another test on Monday.  I thankfully finished my care plan already which is due tuesday.  I have had 7 clinical rotations and am getting a little more comfortable with it all.  I got to administer a suppository (I know, you are super jealous).  I have done lots of flu shots, a pneumonia vaccine, and insulin shots.  I did a wound care rotation and got to change some dressings.  I saw some pretty crazy stuff from these people who had diabetic neuropathy and had ulcers on almost every single one of their toes.  Insane.  I also did a hospice care rotation which was interesting but I still would not prefer to work in that field.  I survived my fist 12 hour hospital shift and have my second tomorrow.  I start at 4:45 am and end at 5:30pm.  Fun!  One of the places we go has some really sick people, a lot of whom have traches (the opening in the throat).  At school we have learned how to suction traches and clean them.  Well, during my clinical last week I was so glad when the nurse I followed just assumed I could not suction because watching the patients choke and gag while she did it was terrifying.  I know I need to do it, but traches just gross me out.  I can handle feces, blood, urine, etc but nasty mucous coming out of the trache and causing patients to gag is not my cup of tea.  I have decided that if I ever have to have a trache to stay alive, I don't want to live.  Seeing those peoples quality of life was sad because the majority of them cannot talk, are unresponsive, and are bedridden.  

All dressed up for church

Brad's birthday is today.  I heart attacked the bathroom and Tacy's room for him.  Hopefully he gets home early enough that we can do something fun before I have to go to bed (since I have to get up at 3:30am).  

Too happy and excited to hold still

Brad is hanging in there, still hating his job, but trucking along and he loves being a dad.