The Joy of the Holidays

November and December always fly by!  Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years are all so jam-packed close together that the end of the year goes by so fast.  

Well November Brad and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary!  I worked and Brad had school, but the next evening Brad surprised me by arranging for a baby-sitter so we could go to dinner at The Pitt in Raleigh (good ol Carolina BBQ).  It was delicious and so fun to go out just the two of us.  We got through dinner pretty fast (it was a Tuesday after all) so we headed across the street from the restaurant to a Videri Chocolate Factory.  We got to see how they make their chocolate, sample all the different varieties and we bought a bar and one truffle (the most expensive bar I have bought in my life but it is a yummy 60 cocoa salty chocolate).  

For Thanksgiving we drove up to Northern Virginia to spend the holiday with Brad's Aunt and Uncle and the two boys still at home.  We had so much fun with Mike, Karen, Johnny and Will and Tacy loved the boys (especially "Jogey"). We spent Black Friday in the capitol doing a family version of Amazing Race around the Lincoln Memorial, WWII memorial, Korean War Memorial, and Vietnam War Memorial looking for random little things you don't normally look for at DC.  It was freezing!  Tacy would not keep gloves on her hands so they were so red.  We were there with all of Aunt Karen's family and one of her sisters offered the use of her scarf to wrap around Tacy's hands.  We had fun, even if it was cold.  

Brad finished up his finals the first week of December and survived/passed them all!  He has been able to stay home with Tacy all of the month after his finals so the two of the have had a lot of bonding time.  I love coming home from work seeing them playing!  School starts back up next week and this month was the longest break Brad gets off for the next 2 years so we have enjoyed the time while it lasts.  

Brad's mom came out to visit us for a few days Dec. 11-15th.  Tacy loved spending time with "Maga".  While she was here we got to go to the Apex Nativity at our stake center by the Raleigh Temple where there were over 900 nativity sets displayed and different choirs singing carols all day.  We all loved it!  Tacy loved sitting and just listening/watching the high school choir sing.  She also loved walking around looking for baby Jesus.  We have been talking a lot about our Savior and how the Christmas season is all about celebrating the glorious birth of Jesus.  Tacy has loved Jesus for a long time and now she loves baby Jesus too.    It is so cute when she asks to watch a baby Jesus video (thank you mormon.org and Mormon Messages for all the Christmas videos).  I have three nativities but none of them are toddler friendly, so we spent a Family Home Evening coloring a paper nativity for Tacy to play with.  Needless to say they are very colorful!  Tacy loves arranging all the characters and animals and finding baby Jesus and Jesus' mommy (Mary) and daddy (Joseph).  

In fact Tacy is at an age where everything must have a mommy and daddy.  Anytime she deems something a baby she then tells us what is the baby's mom and dad.  We were at the park on Saturday enjoying our 60 degree weather and Tacy and I found lots of acorns.  Tacy was examining them and picking up some and started calling them "baby corns".  So then she pointed out to Brad and I the daddy corn and mommy corn.  It's adorable even if not true.  I did explain briefly that the trees were actually the acorns mommy but Tacy did not seem to listen to that idea.

Christmas was fun because even though we stayed here in NC instead of going to see family, we got to spend lots of time with friends.  There are a lot of people here we have met at church who like us do not live by family because of jobs or they are also in grad school.  We had a friend Christmas Eve dinner with 2 other couples (6 adults and 3 kids).  

Brad cooked a turkey - which was an experience because we have never cooked one before.  Brad wanted to try injecting flavor but the herb and garlic mariande was too thick for the needle so Brad had to strain out the herbs before he could inject the liquid base.  Then he injected Carolina BBQ sauce in one leg and left the other leg plain.  I made stuffing for the turkey, jello, salad, and cookies.  However, with all the fuss of cutting up the turkey, we completely forgot everything in the fridge.  Luckily there was enough food at the dinner that the salad and jello were not missed.  

Christmas was a fun/adventurous morning.  I wanted to make Christmas breakfast with my dad's delicious waffle recipe, sausage, and grapefruit.  We bought cool whip and berries to put on the waffles and had syrup already.  Well the waffle iron was not seeming to warm up all the way.  I thought maybe the ready light wouldn't come on until batter was cooked, so I put some in the iron and waiting another 10 minutes.  The waffles did not cook at all.  So I then had to clean out the iron while Brad took a look at it and deemed it dead.  So waffles turned into pancakes.  They were still delicious.  Tacy ate 3 with just butter, I used the cool whip and berries and Brad used jam (we could not find our syrup). 

 Then we shocked Tacy when we told her that she could open presents now.  After so long of not being able to touch them she was pretty excited.  She had so much fun ripping paper off every present (even if it was not her own).  If she uncovered a box, she would move on to the next present, being too impatient to wait to open the box.  We had to keep stopping her to get her to finish opening each present.  She got a lot between us, aunts, and her grandparents.  It was so fun watching her excitement with each gift.  We bought Tacy and Elsa dress, which she has wanted to wear every day since, and a kitchen which she uses to cook us lots of meals.  My sister got Tacy a cabbage patch doll which Tacy loves to carry around.  She also got 3 barbies from each grandma and one of Brad's sisters.  So we play a lot.

We had Christmas dinner at the church with 6-7 different young families.  I brought rolls and the forgotten salad from the night before.  There was once again lots of food.  Tacy had fun running around with other kids. It was nice to spend the holiday with friends and not have to cook everything alone.

That has been our busy holiday.  We are finishing the holidays with my parents arriving tomorrow.  Tacy is loving seeing all of her grandparents.  We are enjoying it too.

Oh and Brad grew out a neatly trimmed beard and mustache for Movember.  He had fun slowly shaving it off the first few days of December during finals.

Precious Moments

Today has been a day where I have just sat and watched Tacy a lot and smiled.  This girl cracks me up so much with her cute and funny personality.  It started with us all getting ready this morning.  I had put my hair up in a pony tail and put Tacy's hair up in two piggy tails.  Then I was trying to do my makeup, so Brad offered to let Tacy brush his hair (Friday morning she asked him if she could).  So he sat down a step while Tacy took the brush to brush his very short hair.  Then she asked him if she could give him a piggy tail and he said yes.  So she ran in to the bathroom and asked for an elastic which I gave her.  At this point I stopped doing my makeup so I could watch her and get pictures.  Tacy tried so hard to put the elastic in Brad's hair and finally put it on top of his head.  She then gave it back to me and asked for a bow.  This was still not working due to his short hair (his beard probably would have held the bow).  Tacy tried putting the bow on top of his head and putting her hand over the bow to keep it in place.  I was laughing so much.  She finally gave up and gave me the bow.  Then she brushed his hair a few more times and told him that he was "all done".  Brad thanked her for helping him.

Later, Tacy kept wanting to lay down to "sleep".  She would lay in bed and ask to be covered by her blanky and then suck her thumb or giggle because pretending to sleep is so funny to her.  Well, after her real nap, she was playing and ran upstairs and came back down with her pillow (she loves her pillow, especially ever since I made her a pillow cover with her choice of fabric).  She then laid the pillow on the ground, put her blanket over her and laid down.  She then rolled over and got my attention all to tell me that she was sleeping. 

Tacy has the funniest/cutest little imagination.  After running errands I asked her if she wanted to go for a walk. I was surprised she said no and played by herself.  She put her doll in time out and let me know that her doll was in time out (she put her little blue chair in the corner where Tacy sits for time out).  Then she was sitting on the floor with her baby and barbie talking away, laughing, singing songs to them and dancing with them.  Then she had her baby and barbie lay down on her pillow with her to sleep.  Her little imagination is so fun.  I stopped reading to just watch her and I couldn't help smile.  I love her little pretend conversations with herself and her toys.  She repeats alot of the same words or phrases and will then start laughing and keep on talking.  

Tacy is pretty good at playing like this by herself as long as I am in the room.  So I can read while she plays and she will sometimes run to tell me something and then go back to playing (like saying that her baby was in time out).  But she will not play for long by herself if we are in separate rooms. 

Tacy has been picking out her outfits and this one cracked me up with all her stripes

A couple days ago Tacy really melted my heart.  It was Wednesday I think and we were all ready and had a few minutes before we had to leave for work/school.  Tacy was playing and I went up and hugged Brad.  Well, Tacy saw us and ran up and hugged Brad's leg and looked up at him and said "Love you" then she ran away giggling while Brad tried to chase after her to get a full on hug.  After this, while driving Tacy to drop her off at our friends for the day, Tacy was talking to herself and then said "Love you Mom".  That evening she told us that she loved us again.  Tacy has told us this before, but it's so fun now that she seems to do it a little more often and it's so random sometimes.  I just love it.  Brad and I tell her that we love her repeatedly every day.  I'm glad that she is telling us she loves us too now. 

Tacy felt Sully needed to be buckled in her car seat

I just love watching her play.  It is so fun to watch her, to see how happy she is and how creative and imaginative that she is.  My little girl is getting so big.  It's moments like these where I just smile and remember how much I love this precious daughter we have.

Oh and Tacy loves listening/watching Taylor Swift's Shake it Off.  Tacy will dance to it and it's so cute.  She is now trying to mimic some of the things Taylor does in the music video and it cracks me up.

My Love of Fall

So I was the weird kid in kindergarten who picked fall as my favorite season while all the other kids picked winter or summer (this is a memory I can never forget because we drew pictures of our favorite season and then our teachers put them on a board to display so it was very easy to see that my opinion was not the same as everyone else).  While I did feel odd/outnumbered at the time, I stood by my decision.  I do truly love fall!  Spring is a close second.  Here are the reasons why I love fall most:

Tacy's art project made from leaves she collected during a walk

1. I love the crisp autumn air!  I don't know a better way to describe it, but it's how the air feels when it is no longer hot from summer but is starting to cool down, and you can smell the leaves, your cheeks get a little pink from the cold but it just feels so refreshing to be outside...I love it!

2. I love the fall colors!  I missed seeing all the leaves changing colors while living on the west coast.  Yes, it does happen, but not to the degree and amount that it does here on the east coast (probably helps that there are a whole lot more trees over here).  Fall colors are so warm and beautiful.  I love driving during the fall because it is just gorgeous to look out and see green, brown, yellow, bright orange, red, etc.  Fall is just a beautiful time of year and makes me appreciate this world so much.

3. I LOVE apples!  Seriously, I love eating apples, I love apple pie, I love apple smells, I love finding new apple recipes (I'm going to make apple pancakes tomorrow and I'm so excited!).  Cider is nice too, but I love the carbs of apple deserts!  Haha.  The NC State Farmers market is perfect because the farmers there bring such a wide variety of apples and sell them for such a good deal!  Apple heaven! I love winecrisps and I'd never even heard of them until a few weeks ago.  Brad's favorite are arkansas black.  They are yummy too.  It's fun eating and finding these not as popular/common types of apples. Brad rolls his eyes at my obsession with apples, but hey, they are delicious, yummy and healthy!  At work, my co-worker bought apple spice air wick plug ins and it makes our little office smell so good!  Not all the other girls agree, but Angela and I love it!

4. I love wearing jeans and sweatshirts.  Fall is perfect sweater weather!  It's not too cold that you need to bundle up so you don't freeze to death and it's not too warm that you are uncomfortable in modest clothes.  I love it!  I love being all warm and snuggly (just ask Brad about Tacy and my obsession with blankets and being well wrapped).  Seriously, I will turn on the fan so it is cool enough to need to be wrapped up in my comforter at night.  

5. On top of being great comfortable sweater weather, it is also perfect weather to exercise!  So i'm not great at exercising but we did a 5k walk for diabetes (November is National Diabetes Awareness month) on Saturday and then I went for a short run.  It was perfect!  I got warm but i was comfortable jogging in my yoga pants and a t-shirt.  It was great.  Gotta love the brisk air!!!  

6.  I love leaves!  I have many found memories of my Dad racking up all the leaves in our front yard in NC and letting me jump into the pile and play.  My freshman year at BYU I remember jumping in leave piles with my friends once.  It's just so fun.  I would love to do a fall family photo shoot with all the leaves and beautiful colors...maybe next year since we just had some done in July.  

Well, I could probably think of more but they all start to be similar.  I just love Fall, baking, apples, and the beautiful leaves.  North Carolina is the best place to spend fall because Fall lasts for a few months not just a week.  Oh, fall also makes me think of soccer.  I miss KSA soccer days.  

I hope everyone has been able to enjoy some Fall at least as not everyone lives in a place with a long enough Fall (#1 reason I'm happy not to be in Utah right now, well that and the snow, but that's kinda the same thing).  

Beach Time!

Brad had Fall break thursday and friday and we had been talking for a while about me taking time off work so we could finally actually all go to the beach.  This was mentioned to Tacy, who has never been to a beach or seen the ocean.  After I explained to her what a beach was (lots of water and sand) she was obsessed with the idea to the point that while singing her to sleep she would quietly whisper "beach" occasionally or wake up saying "beach" randomly.  

Friday we finally went to the beach.  It was the perfect day!  It was warm, but not hot.  The water felt great (anything is better than the freezing pacific).  The only downside was the car ride (like 2.5 hours to get to the beach we went too, which is long for a toddler).  But once we crested that last light hill to get to the beach and Tacy saw all the sand and water, her eyes were wide and she said something like "woah".  It was so cute.  She was pretty excited.  The poor kid has never seen that much water in all her life and sand is only a recent discovery since moving here to NC.  

I personally am afraid of waves (well that's mostly because I'm afraid of drowning and waves are something I cannot control that are strong and create strong currents, riptides, etc which lead to drowning).  I was curious to see how Tacy would react to waves.  Needless to say, the child is fearless (unless you are talking about hermit crabs because she did not like seeing those).  But Tacy ran to the waves.  We had to do a nice talk about always holding a parents hand when by water - that talk did not really sit in her brain at all because she would run to the water any chance she got.  But she had so much fun kicking her legs in the water and would laugh anytime the water/waves would get to her.  Her first time to the water i was actually using my camera to take pictures and Tacy managed to get caught in a wave (just a little one) and rolled around a little in the water.  She looked startled by the experience and she was wet and sandy all over.  But she never cried and after trying to clean her up a little she was ready for the water again.  Needless to say, I didn't bring my camera to the water again (Brad was there for that experience so it wasn't just me watching her).  That was also when I got protective any time we were by the water while Tacy kept fighting to pull us both closer to the waves/farther into the water.  Brad would run up close to the waves then chase the waves to Tacy.  She loved this game.  

We took lots of sand breaks.  Brad and Tacy started to make sand castles, which quickly evolved into Brad trying to build faster than Tacy destroyed.  Our little bucket and shovel broke really fast, luckily I had also brought some plastic BYU cups as back up so these became the sand castle builders.  When Tacy wasn't destroying what Brad made, she was trying to copy him by filling a cup up with sand and flipping it over to make a sand castle.  She never filled the cups all the way up so she usually ended up with a tiny little mound of sand, but she was always so proud of herself.  

Tacy and I went looking for some sea shells.  She had fun putting them in our cracked bucket.  She also loved picking up whole handfuls of sand and throwing them, usually at the waves which she found hilarious.  She was pretty covered with sand by the time we left.

Tacy was shivering after a few times down to the water and back to play in the sand.  The wind is pretty strong so even though it was warm, it can be chilly when you are wet.  Now I remember so much why I loved when I dad would dig big holes at the beach at Topsail Island.  He would dig them big enough for me to stand in and they were nice and warm (they blocked the wind).  I kept asking Tacy if she wanted to be wrapped in her towel but she would say no.  Well Brad had dug a good little hole in the sand from collecting sand in cups to make sand castles.  Tacy sat down with her legs in this hole and was just rubbing her legs back and forth.  She again refused her towel.  So Brad asked her if she would let him burry her legs.  She was fine with this and thought it was pretty funny.  After she got out we burried Brad's feet.

While eating snacks, seagulls came to visit.  They weren't aggressive, there were just a lot in close proximity.  Well, Tacy loves birds so she would run after them trying to get close.  Needless to say she was good at clearing the birds.  Brad then taught her to tease the seagulls by throwing little shells in the air so the birds thought it was food and would fly after them.  They both found this funny.

The beach had some showers so I tried rinsing Tacy off here and managed to at least desand her a little.  Then we drove down to one of the NC aquariums and looked at fish, alligators, turtles, etc for a little while until Tacy was too tired to listen at all anymore so we left and drove home.  Tacy slept for a little over an hour, not great.  I'm glad we were able to go to the beach.  Brad was happy with how warm the water was.  None of us went swimming because we had Tacy and I don't swim in waves.  Brad probably would have liked to. 

We are just loving this nice October weather.  It is warm still.  Some days are nice and cool like Fall but some days are in the 70s and Brad is still wearing shorts.  When I see pictures of all our friends in Utah bundled up I just laugh and am so glad to have a legit Fall again.  Tacy and I have worn pants with the cooler weather, plus it feels so weird dressing up in shorts in October.  We are still waiting for the leaves to change, but i know it will happen.

Motherhood

I love to talk about Tacy and how she is growing/developing.  However, I realize that when I mention motherhood, I sound more pessimistic and unhappy than happy.  I have always wanted to be a mom.  I've always known that.  I loved babysitting kids when I was younger.  They are fun to play with and have such fun imaginations.  I also am an older sister and got to watch my younger siblings a lot, granted, they were good at being annoying but I love them anyways.  I knew having my own child would be life changing.  I knew it wouldn't be easy.  But I also knew that every mom talks about how worth it it is.

Well I just want to say that I would not change being Tacy's mom for anything.  I love this little girl so much.  Being her mom is definitely not easy every minute, it has it's ups and downs, good times and bad times, etc.  But it is all worth it.  While Tacy can be my little drama queen and throw temper tantrums, hit, pull hair etc, she also gives great hugs, has an adorable smile, and loves to kiss you on the lips.  

I have had computer training the past two days and have gotten down early and been able to spend more of the day with Tacy.  Now, if you remember my post about being a stay-at-home mom and having a hard time spending lots of time with Tacy, you'd think that would mean the past two days have been horrible.  But they were great.  Yes, Tacy has thrown tantrums, she has refused to go anywhere without her diaper bag, she was upset when I would not let her keep wearing her Princess Aurora dress...but we have laughed a lot, hugged a lot, and tickled.  She tried tickling my feet last night during our family prayer (we are working on getting her to sit still with her arms folded for the whole prayer).  I love this girl.  She is so sweet and special.  

Lately when I go to pick up Tacy after work she runs to me and gives me a big hug!  I love it!  Maybe we both just work better when we don't spend the whole day together every day.  I have talked with other moms who have made the switch from working to being stay-at-home moms and they have told me that it is/was a hard transition (that helped my wounded mom ego).  Sorry, that was random.  But anyways, I wouldn't trade being a mom for anything.  Life isn't easy for sure.  Every day I have to give up things I want to do to help Tacy.  But when I see how happy she is when I play with her, when we sing and dance to "Shake It Off" or sing Happy birthday (in Tacy language the song goes "happy day to to"), it is all worth it.  

The hard things are what make life meaningful right?  If we don't work for something we don't appreciate it as much.  Well, every day is a work for me to be a better mom to Tacy and I see how much it helps me, Tacy, and our family when I put in the work.  I love Tacy.  If our situation were to change and I could stay at home or needed to, well I would (I might still work part time because I want to keep my RN license active).  I love Tacy.  I do want her to know her mom and to be raised by her parents.  The work I do in the home is the most important.  Hopefully my work will eventually help Tacy to loose some divaness...haha

On a side note, Tacy's tantrum about me not letting her wear her Princess Aurora dress is my own fault.  We bought it a while ago and have had it in her closet.  Tacy forgot about it.  But I have been dying to see how it fits her, so yesterday I put it on her.  It was adorable and Tacy loved it.  She did ask me to take it off, so I did (Tacy loves dressing and undressing).  When she wanted to put it back on and I would not let her is when she threw the tantrum.  Even this morning she kept trying to get to the dress in her closet.  Patience is something I struggle with so it shouldn't surprise me that my child struggles with it too.

Blocks are so fun!

My mom bought Tacy these blocks for her birthday and we just got them in a the mail last week.  Tacy loves playing with them to build towers and knock them down.  I found her using blocks a phones and had to record her cute little self.  She cracks me up!

Staying afloat in the Rain

It's starting to feel like fall here and I LOVE it!  The temp has been nice (60-low 80's).  Tacy and I have worn pants and sweatshirts some days.  It's just lovely.  I'm so excited for all of the leaves to start changing colors!  Fall is my favorite season!  I remember being the only kid in kindergarten to draw a picture of fall when we were asked to draw pictures of our favorite season.  Most of the kids drew pictures of the beach, there were a lot of snow, and then there was me.  I felt different but you know, I do love Fall!  Spring is a close second, but I love these cooler seasons (not the crazy extreme ones).  

On that note, I have now been working for 2 weeks.  I have had 2 days of general orientation and one day of computer training for Epic (the electronic medical record/scheduling they all use out here).  General orientation was at Rex Hospital and boring.  Most of it applied to people who actually work at the hospital.  Then the computer training was at this closed down outlet mall (it looked like a regular mall to me but the east coast is a little different than the west obviously).  Anyways, one wing of this mall has been taken over by UNC for all of this Epic training.  It has all been converted into a bunch of computer rooms (making it look nothing like a mall but more a computer prison - there is a guard at the door and you have to have a key to get in and out of the rest of the mall).  The training was mildly helpful, but it mostly applied to things a Family medicine clinic would do (vaccinations etc).  Oh well.  We did have a really long lunch break at which point I did get a key card so I could go out to the center of the mall.  Here I could look down the two creepy vacated/unoccupied wings of the mall.  The last wing was the food court, which amazingly almost all of the food places were open.  Epic must bring in a lot of customers for them to all stay open.  Honestly this mall looked like a good scene for a scary movie.

Work at my clinic has been good, just slow.  The neurosurgeon I work with is really nice and funny in a very sarcastic way.  He does not like people to call him doctor (he told me he thinks titles are very smug) but asks that everyone call him by his first name.  It throws patients off a little.  The Office Manager/Administrative Assistant for my doctor just avoids saying his name because she refuses to call him by his first name.  It makes me laugh but I agree it is weird not to call him Dr.  Afterall, he is a doctor.  Angela is the office manager but also Dr. Herzig's secretary, so we work really closely together.  She is awesome, loves soccer, is from the bay area but now loves NC, so basically we have a lot in common.  She is also a really relaxed manager which makes work much better.  Since Dr. Herzig is a new neurosurgeon, he is still building up his practice so it's a little slow. It has given me good time to get familiar with the system and time to learn how to do things the right way.  I also help Angela with what I can.  However, Tacy got sick again this week and I had to leave work early Wednesday to go pick her up from my friends and take her home.  Because work is slow, this was fine and no coverage was needed for me.  

No worries. I took Tacy to a pediatrician and while it's hard to say for sure what's wrong, the doctor said her lungs sound a little crackly in the left and since she has had a cough for over a week, and with all the kids getting lung infections right now, she started Tacy on Amoxicillin.  Tacy is still sick with her runny nose and a cruddy cough, but she is playing and acting like the crazy toddler which she is again.  So today I went back to work and she went back to playing with our friends.

Tacy loves her daycare arrangement.  She gets to play with friends all day (well at least the 3 year-old), they have a lot of fun toys and activities at their house, and they also go a lot of fun places too.  I'm glad she is happy.  Plus being around older kids might help her with her talking.  She did help clean up toys yesterday while singing "clean up clean up everybody do your share".  She only sings "clean up clean up" but still, that was nice.  

Tacy is now also counting different.  When my mom was out here the 8th - 10th, Tacy counted "1,2,5,6".  Then a few days ago she counted "2,4,6,7".  Yesterday she added five in.  Today she did say 1, 2, 3.  So we are making progress.  She also loves to asks "what's that?"  So I spend a lot of the time telling her what everything is, even when they are things she knows like her toys.  It is most difficult when she asks me while we are driving, so I don't know exactly what she is pointing too.  Yesterday we drove by construction and Tacy kept asking "what's that?" while we passed lots of construction machines.  I threw out the few I know (bulldozer, tractor...haha) and finally had to tell her that I did not know.

Brad is still keeping his head above water with all of his tests and skills assessments.  They have been told that it calms down after October.  So as long as he can make it to his birthday, then it should get easier.  But he really is doing great.  Now he also understands how hard pharmacology is!  

Love

So I had a really eye opening experience during our drive out here to NC.  I guess eye-opening is the best way to put it.  This move across the country, Brad starting a demanding/time consuming master's program, and job hunting has all been hard.  Life has been crazy, chaotic, and stressful.  In terms of finding a job, well, that was depressing for a while.  The east coast is really big on having your BSN (bachelors of nursing).  I just graduated with my associates of nursing.  You pretty much cannot get a job in a hospital without a BSN.  Needless to say, this made job hunting really hard.  

There were a lot of jobs that stated that they "preferred" BSNs, but as long as you received your BSN within 2 years of hire you were ok.  I applied to a lot of these.  I started applying for jobs as soon as Brad got the call he had been accepted, so late June/beginning of July.  After lots of applications and no calls I was getting pretty discouraged.

So when we started our drive to NC, I figured I would just have to go around handing out my resume to places and trying to put myself out there since I was having no luck with online applications for hospitals, nursing homes, and hospice/home health.  Well, while driving through Nashville my phone rang (thank goodness for bluetooth).  I saw on my car screen that it was a 919 area code, so I answered it.  It was a manager for a clinic asking me if I could come in for an interview.  Of course I said yes and scheduled to meet him that Friday (two days later).  

After this call, it just hit me - this whole wave of emotion.  Heavenly Father had not forgotten me.  He heard all of my prayers.  He loves me.  When everything else that had been a worry (getting packed, the drive going well, etc) was relatively taken care of so my biggest worry was my lack of a job, here I was finally getting a call when we were a day away from NC.  Now, I never doubted Heavenly Father's love for me.  It just hit me hard right then that He still was thinking about me and trying to help us.  And it's more than just getting a call for an interview.  Our move went smoothly.  We were moving not just anywhere, but to NC, somewhere I have been wishing to go back to since my family moved away June 1999.  Brad was starting PA school, something we had been praying for for a long time.  I just felt so loved and blessed in that moment after that call.  Driving through Nashville I was holding back the tears and just feeling so grateful for all my many blessings and for the love of my Heavenly Father.  

I have now been offered that job at the clinic I received the call about in Nashville.  It's funny how long of a hiring process it has been (and slightly frustrating), but I am still so grateful for the job, and for receiving that call at that moment that day in Tennessee.  

I just wanted to write this down before I forgot about that strong feeling I had.  I know we have a Heavenly Father.  I know that He loves each and every one of us very much.  I know that He wants the best for us.  I know that I have to try my hardest to be the best I can and put forth my effort to get what I need, but that He is there for me to help with what I cannot do.  I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father.  I am grateful for every moment when I am able to truly feel/acknowledge His great love for me and all of us.

Pinterest fun

So several years ago, when I was working 13 hour days 3 days a week at the pain clinic and had every thursday-sunday off, I was bored.  My best friend then told me about pinterest (which I remember Ted stated was not a good idea haha).  It was fall.  It all came up because I talked about all my free time and how I would love to do crafts, but had no idea what to do.  I love walking into Michael's and JoAnns but seriously, who knows what to get there?!  Well Pinterest changed my world!  I made a lot of fall/halloween crafts right away.  Living with my in-laws, I didn't really ever make any of the recipes I pinned.  Brad started to tease me about pinning things I was never going to make.  

One of my first pinterest crafts

Well no worries, now that we have our own little place and my own kitchen, I have been having fun!  I was again have had time on my hands while waiting for work to start.  So I have made a few desserts (cause really, what is better than dessert?) and a craft.  I will feel better about doing more once I have an income again.  

I already mentioned the delicious lemon cheesecake bars.  I also made these thick, chewy chocolate chip cookies (mine weren't really thick but they were chewy and nice and under-down).  Here is the link if you would like to try: http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2013/05/13/chewy-chocolate-chunk-cookies/.  The cookies were pretty good.  I really want to find the best chocolate chip cookie recipe, cause some are good, but then store bought can be better...but this one was pretty good.

My other pinterest fun was a Fall leaf glitter garland.  Brad told me that I would be in charge of clean up for all the glitter and has had great fun in making fun of how glittered I am after working on this.  I did all of it in three days I believe (mostly evenings when Tacy was asleep).  I'm happy with how it turned out and now our kitchen finally has a little decoration on our blank wall.  Best part is, it can stay up through Thanksgiving!  here is the link: http://6thstreetdesignschool.blogspot.com/2013/10/diy-falling-leaves-garland.html

I just love Fall!  It always makes me want to get crafty, but I run out of room for new things unless the decoration can hang on the wall.  

My month as a full-time Mom

I have been unemployed for a month.  This month has been crazy and hard.  I love Tacy and spending all this time with her has been great.  But at the same time, I feel like I'm doing nothing productive and am bored.  I have a whole new respect for stay-at-home moms.  This month has made me wonder if I am not that great of a mom because I want to work.  Tacy can drive me crazy, make me laugh, and wear me out.  I struggle to come up with things to do at home because she doesn't always want to learn (not that I'm a great teacher), I'm tired, she's bored, and Tacy just wants to run around and watch Curious George.  She still counts "1, 2, 5, 6".  She still says "blue" when we ask her what color something is.  But she now knows the difference between a spoon and a fork.  Ha ha  

Maybe my problem is that Tacy's whole life I have been going to school and working.  Other than a 2 week break my first year of nursing school where I sleep trained Tacy, I have always been doing something else while being a mom.  So now just being a mom feels slow and very tiring.  Being a mom is definitely a full time job whether you are working a job or not.  And Tacy wore me out the days I wasn't at school or work before.  But now to be with her everyday, boy, she runs me ragged.  It probably doesn't help we are in a new area and still trying to figure out places to go and things to do.  And every other day we don't have the mazda (which has AC).  

I'm not complaining I promise.  It's just a realization I've had that makes me feel like less of a mom.  Maybe all moms feel worn out and wish they could do something else sometimes.  I have only been away from Tacy for a few interviews.  Props to all my friends who do this full time, every day.  

chowing down on corn at the Farmers Market

Other than being worn out, I have been loving cooking/baking again.  Having my own kitchen again is fantastic.  Now I feel I can really try out all the recipes I find on pinterest.  It's exciting.  I actually made these lemon cream cheese bars that are fantastic (if you love lemon).  That was the first time I have ever zested a lemon.  You can go here for the recipe : http://thegirlinspired.com/2014/06/lemon-cream-cheese-cookie-bars/.

Tacy sure does love all my baking too.  We have been to a few fun parks in the area.  We had friends take us to a park in Raleigh that had a train, carousel, and kiddies boats as well as a lake and playgrounds.  Tacy loved it!  She had so much fun riding the choo-choo train and steering her little boat.  Her little friend got scared by both of them.  I thought Tacy would too so I was impressed that she loved them so much.

Tacy also had a run-in with biting ants at the playground in our apartment complex.  The poor kid walked over a small ant hill and they bit her feet all up.  She has 20+ bites on her feet, calf, and one hand.  Thank goodness for benadryl and Beauty and The Beast.

I have had two unofficial job offerings.  One is unofficial because HR has to call me with the amount they will pay and apparently HR is really slow at this).  The other is unofficial because they were waiting to here back from my references because I can be officially hired.  Both are with clinics, so working Monday-friday.  One does work mornings on weekends.  The same one also would have me working at two different locations.  Hopefully I will hear from HR soon so I can make the best decision.  Money would be great.

Brad has his first crazy test week this week with a test Wednesday and Friday.  He has been great at studying every night after Tacy goes to bed (even on weekends).  My friends at Weber are all starting the BSN program today and I'm sad I'm not with them, but I know that it's better that Brad is doing his PA program.  

she always puts her babies on a chair to watch shows with her

Life keeps moving, I keep swimming.  Meanwhile, Tacy and I have grown much closer over this past month and that has been very nice.  I understand her more and I really like that.  So while she has worn me out and there are days I swear we are not having more children, I'm very glad we have her!  Who else would crack me up while she cleans all her animals, runs around with no clothes on, and comes up to me saying "tickle tickle" while laughing her head off.  

she didn't want her picture taken