The Weekend and Pictures!

So this past weekend was kind of crazy. I had a personal day on Friday and cleaned house in the morning and then went to get the girls to spend the afternoon with them before I went to Zumba. Wouldn't you know it, the one afternoon I had to spend with the girls and Ryleigh took a 3 hour nap (she never does this, but I knew she was tired)! Saturday was a bit crazy. I was on call this weekend and I had to go into work to draw some blood on a patient and was there also talking with some frustrated staff. All was good when I left a couple of hours later. I took the girls to a friends 4th Birthday party and during that I received another phone call from work stating that I had an admission coming in, which meant I had to go back to work. I was there another few hours before rushing home to finish putting my cheese ball together for the neighborhood block party that took place on Saturday. I got home at 4:30, changed out of my scrubs, into something cute for the party, put together my cheeseball and was picking up the babysitters by 5 to get them here and show them some things before going to the party at 5:30! It was an evening of firsts. It was our first neighborhood block party and it was very fun!! We will have one every other month hosted by different neighbors. The neighbor who hosts provides beverages and then the other neighbors bring something to eat. The food was delicious and I got so many compliments on my wonderful cheese ball, which by the way was fabulous. I am so excited to bring it to Ponca to share with my family!! Jason and I don't have to host a party until March of 2012 (but we are thinking of starting to buy for the beverages now ;)!! LOL! It was nice to get to meet some of our neighbors for the first time! Saturday evening was also the first time Jason and I have ever had anyone babysit the girls other than grandparents and daycare (and my friend when it was only Ryleigh)! We had a 13 yr old and 15 yr old sister and brother over. I used to work with their mom and I have known them for about 5 years, so it was nice. Neither of them had ever changed a diaper before so I had to teach that quick and they did a great job!! They both said they would love to babysit again and told us that Ryleigh was very entertaining. (I would have to agree with that one). Both girls went to bed perfect for them. Usually we get grief from Ryleigh most evenings with something related to bedtime, but Saturday, they read her 3 books and then she said she was ready to go to bed and was fast asleep 10 minutes later. We didn't stay to late and were home by 9:45 pm. Sunday I had to go back into work in the morning to draw more blood on a patient. Then, after church, Jason and I worked outside on the play area and the girls played in their sand pit and sprinkler in their swimsuits and we all got a little sunkissed!!! It was around 95 degrees on Sunday....lovely! Monday was also a sweltering hot day reaching over 100 degrees (the thermometer at work said around 101)!!! I hope that means we are in for a hot summer!! I can't imagine what is was like down in AZ where my friend Cami lives....??!! This next Saturday morning we are heading to Sioux Falls, SD, but dropping the girls off in St. James, for a gathering at a friends house that lives there. We will be back on Sunday and will be working on building the swing set and fence on both Sunday and Monday. The wood gets delivered on Thursday!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think we are as excited as Ryleigh is about the swing set. Jason and I also made our vacation destination plans final today by buying airline tickets to Colorado this summer. We were thinking of a beach vacation but decided to wait until spring and thought it would be fun to go to the mountains as well as take a short trip to Garden City, KS! We will be visiting Jasons mom, sister, and aunt and uncle in Colorado and his Grandpa and more family in Garden City.

I have attached a few photos of the past month! I posted a few of the pinning ceremony where I pinned my friend and new nurse, Teresia! Also, a few from the vehicle fair, some around the house and some from when we went to visit Grandpa Danny and Gramma Terri! Enjoy!

Some Pictures

Here are a few of my favs from the past couple of weeks of the girls. Have more, but need to clean the house quick before I go get the girls from a short day of daycare. Yay for personal days and Fridays and two 3-day weekends in a row!!! Miss Landree Izz is 17 months old today. I can't believe she will be 1 1/2 years in a month. Just a few things on Miss Ryleigh Grace. She has dressed herself every morning this week. It started out Monday when she came into our room at 6 am and said she was ready for the day and had dressed herself. "Mommy", she told me after we were up and at 'em, "my clothes even match!" There was only one outfit where I was like, um, ok....but she did great the rest of the time. Most little kids her age who dress themselves don't focus on matching, but little miss princess over here has got that concept under control at a very early age. She also told us this week, "I burp every time I'm full!" Jason and I have been doing a lot of work outside and are getting ready to build a fence and swing set/play area for the girls in part of our backyard. I wanted to take before pictures with the ugly bushes out there, but Jason cut them down real quick. :) So I will try and do, before the fence and after the fence.

Also forgot to tell you about a song that Jason made up out of the blue the other day when the girls were being very nice and playing quietly together. Usually, when they are not sleeping they are very noisy, crying, laughing or something when they are playing together, but on this one occasion, they were playing nicely and silently together. So here is the song: (to the tune of the Christmas song, do you hear what I hear)!

Do you hear what I hear

It's quiet, it's quiet

I can't believe my ears

They are playing nicely, but soon it will disappear.

Oh, but for now, it's quiiiiieeeet in here.

Catch Up

This past week has been crazy, so I'll just hit the high notes and move on as the next few weeks are just as busy as the last few (plus, my momnesia is so bad lately, I can barely remember last weekend)! Oh, that's right......Ryleigh and Landree's little friend Hayley turned one and they were invited to her birthday party on Saturday the 9th! The girls had lots of fun getting all dolled up in dresses. It was a fun time, next Saturday is a birthday party for her older brother that I think we will also be going to! Sunday (the 10th) was Mother's Day and Jason made my mom and I (and dad and kiddos) a wonderful homemade meal which was delicious and tasted wonderful with the wine my parents brought! We hung out with them for the afternoon and into the evening and my brother finally got to see Landree via skype! Usually shes fast asleep by the time we all get a chance to get on skype, but we kept Landree up so he could see her. She went to sleep about 5 minutes after that. It was great to talk to him and Kelli. The week went fast with Baby Thatcher joining the family on Wednesday! Our friends Matt and Krista welcomed baby #2, a girl, Payton Arlene to their clan on Friday. Congrats to Matt, Krista and Damon. She is absolutely beautiful and we can't wait to meet her!  This past weekend was crazy! Saturday and Sunday morning Jason had to work, so the girls and I had fun playing and making messes until he got home each day. I was trying to clean the messes, but things were not working out in that area with the girls. When he got home on Saturday, we took the girls to a "Parking Lot Party" put on by the Children's Museum of Southern Minnesota. It was actually pretty cool. They had three different bands playing (it was so fun to watch these kids dancing and jamming out to the bands), a bunch of different stands about resources for parents as well as food stands. It was the last time to play in the Amazing Castle as it has been here for six months and will travel to it's next destination this week. The best part was a vehicle fair that was also taking place for the kids. Ryleigh got to sit in 3 firetrucks, a police car, and a cement truck. They were giving rides in a dump truck but the line was from here to Canada, so we skipped that. She got to turn the sirens on in the police car and firetruck. She waited in line to sit in a tractor but when there was only one person left in front of her, she decided she wanted to go elsewhere. The line to sit in the ambulance was also very long, so we skipped that one. There was also a crane, semi truck and many other vehicles to play in and on. Ryleigh was kind of being ornery and crabby so we didn't stay too long, but it was fun anyways. She also got her face painted (I find it funny that every time there is an opportunity to get her face painted, she requests a caterpillar-it all has to do with her bug catcher!!) After we got the girls home and got them a nap, we were invited out to a campground where a couple of my friends and their hubbies were camping in a nearby town. We cooked out over a campfire, roasted marshmallows the size of my fist and had a good time visiting. Jason and I decided we'd like to do the whole camping bit and are thinking about looking into buying us a camper.......we will see!! Living in the land of 10,000 lakes, there are campgrounds everywhere! Landree of course was so into the camping scene and flirting with the adults, she didn't fall asleep until about 2 seconds into the car ride home. By 5 seconds into the ride, both girls were snoozing!! Saturday morning was a fun time waiting for Jason to get home from work. I went upstairs to put some laundry away for not even two minutes and knew something was going on because our little Landree was being quiet as a mouse. Ryleigh was with me, so I knew she was OK. As I walk down the stairs to see what she's up to, the last two steps on my way down were soaking wet. First I was asking Ryleigh, "did you give her your cup full of water?" (she can do that independently now too....climbs up on my counter, gets a cup, goes over to the fridge and fills her up). "No", Ryleigh says. Then when I saw where the water was really coming from, I wished it was Ryleigh who had given her a cup of water. So, what do I find, miss Landree in the toilet (full of pee water) YUCK! What I would give for two of my peeps to flush...and put the lids down!! Well, there lying in the middle of the floor is Landrees little dolly, wet. So, in the washer goes the doll clothes and in the sink goes the doll to get a Dawn dish soap bath and then outside to line dry. I get all the water cleaned up (which has also been soaked up by the rugs in the bathroom) and think everything is all good. NOPE...I go into the toy room where the girls are playing. I see water running down Landree's hand which is holding a cloth duck that she has in her mouth!!! Yes, she has pee water ducky in her mouth, which instantly got a dawn dish soap bath as well and out to dry and then Landree got a sponge bath. At the campground, the little turkey gives her sippy cup to a yellow lab named Jack who slobbers all over the cup, later shes drinking it, which grosses some of the people out until I tell them about the toilet story. My famous line, if a little pee water didn't kill her, I don't think Jacks saliva is going to do much!! :) Landree is also getting tired of not getting what she wants when she repeatedly yells out uh, uh for things. So, she has added quite a few words and signs into her vocabulary...it's AMAZING!! She figured out quickly that she needs to start using words to get what she wants. Hard lesson, but it's paying off! Speaking of toilets, them and I are not getting along here! I had one overflow on Ryleigh and now she's afraid to flush it. Finally tonight I got her to flush and it and she started cheering when it didn't overflow. All I know is, I have amazing plunger skills and hurdling over toddlers to get towels skills!! HAHA!! I have some pictures to post, but will have to do it later. I almost forgot to mention that we went to Grandma Terri and Grandpa Danny's on Sunday. We missed Mr. Thatcher, but Ryleigh sure had a blast on the 4-wheeler with Grandpa Danny! Terri said, and I think it's true: "I don't know who's having more fun on that 4-wheeler, Ryleigh or Grandpa!" It was pretty cute. Oh, and I LOVE ZUMBA!! It is so fun and I want my teachers arms.....my goal for the next few years.....to get her arms!! Weights, here I come! I've never had so much fun working out as I have in that class. I found a new love! Alright, that's about enough for now. Hope everyone has a fabulous week!

Congrats to Shea and Josh!!

Congratulations goes out to Auntie Shea and Josh (Jason's sista) on the birth of their baby boy, Thatcher Mikton whom had his birthday yesterday at 1:48 pm! I got to go see them today in the hospital. He is such a beautiful little boy and we are excited to have him join the family! Ryleigh is so excited to meet him, which she will on Sunday! Oh, the smell of babies, and the soft skin and oh................(baby fever???) LOL! Here are a few pictures I will share of the time I spent with them!! ENJOY! And, again, congrats to you both!

                                                               Mama and Thatcher:

The three of us:

I agree with Ana here: baby yawns are so sweet (even when they are blurry):

Baby Thatcher and Aunt Heather:

Beautiful Baby Boy:

What the hecks going on...........you're not my mama:

There's my Mama's voice (love it):

Happy Mother's Day!!

Here are a few pictures of me and the girls today as well as one of my mom, me and the girls today! Mom, listen to the songs as well as they both are dedicated to you and seem so appropriate for our lives!! Love you lots!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See more wishes below!!

Just wanted to wish all the special moms in our lives a very Happy Mothers Day!! Happy Mothers Day to all the moms reading, especially my mom,Gramma Pam; Jason's mom, Nana Peggy and Jason's other mom, Gramma Terri! We love you all so much. (Also, too Ana, Andie Q, Shea B, Andi T, Andrea T,and Cami)!!! Now for a couple of sweet poems I thought I would add as I thought they were pretty cute!

~~Before I was a mom~~

Before I was a mom, I made and ate hot meals.
I had unstained clothing, I had quiet conversations on the phone.
Before I was a mom, I slept as late as I wanted,
And never worried about how late I got into bed,
I brushed my hair and teeth every day.

Before I was a mom, I cleaned my house each day.

I never tripped over toys or forgot words of lullabies.
Before I was a mom, I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a mom, I had never been puked on, pooped on, spit on, chewed on, peed on, or pinched by tiny fingers.
Before I was a mom, I had complete control of my thoughts, my body, and my mind..I slept all night.
Before I was a mom, I never held down a screaming child so that doctors could do tests, or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a mom, I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put it down.

I never felt my heart break into a million pieces,
When I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.
I never knew I would love being a mom so much.

Before I was a mom, I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.

I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important.

Before I was a mom, I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the wonder...
Or the satisfaction of being a mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much before I was a mom.

~~ HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!! ~~
 
 
 

MOTHERS

Real Mothers don't eat quiche;
They don't have time to make it.


Real Mothers know that their kitchen utensils
Are probably in the sandbox.

Real Mothers often have sticky floors,
Filthy ovens and happy kids.

Real Mothers know that dried play dough
Doesn't come out of carpets.

Real Mothers don't want to know what

The vacuum just sucked up.......

Real Mothers sometimes ask 'Why me?'
And get their answer when a little

Voice says, 'Because I love you best.'

Real Mothers know that a child's growth

Is not measured by height or years or grade...

It is marked by the progression of Mommy to Mom to Mother.....

The Images of Mother

4 YEARS OF AGE - My Mommy can do anything!

8 YEARS OF AGE - My Mom knows a lot! A whole lot!

12 YEARS OF AGE - My Mother doesn't know everything!

14 YEARS OF AGE - My Mother? She wouldn't have a clue.

16 YEARS OF AGE - Mother? She's so five minutes ago.

18 YEARS OF AGE - That old woman? She's way out of date!

25 YEARS OF AGE - Well, she might know a little bit about it!

35 YEARS OF AGE - Before we decide, let's get Mom's opinion.

45 YEARS OF AGE - Wonder what Mom would have thought about it?

65 YEARS OF AGE - Wish I could talk it over with Mom.

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears,

the figure she carries, or the way she combs her hair.
The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes,
Because that is the doorway to her heart,
The place where love resides.
The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole,
But true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul.
It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she Shows,

and the beauty of a woman with passing years only grows!

Happy Nurses Week

Today marks the beginning of Nurses' Week which ends on the 12th, which is Florence Nightingales birthday. She is known as the founder of modern nursing (for those of you who have not gone to nursing school).  To all my nurse friends reading, thank you for all you do for your patients every day and Happy Nurses Week! I am proud to be a Registered Nurse!!! And....I helped save a life yesterday, it was awesome....I get goosebumps just thinking about it. Usually I am there taking care of the dying, so it was nice to get to experience the other side of nursing, LIFE.

When you're a nurse you know that every day you will touch a life or a life will touch yours - Unknown


 
Reflections on the Hands of a Nurse
written by Mark Darby


Let us take a moment to remember our hands.

For these are no ordinary hands.

These are the hands of a nurse.

These are the hands that help us do our work.

These are the hands that carry out the skills that make nursing possible.

Let us remember our hands and be grateful for what they do

For the eyes may see, the mouth may speak but it is the hands that hold, the hands that heal, the hands that give the caring touch.

These are the hands that feel the first breath of a new born child,

These are the hands that feel the last breath of a dying one

These are the hands that hold a family, who has just lost a loved one, These are the hands that clap for joy at the healing of a disease. These are the hands that insert tubes that bring healing to the body

These are the hands that touch a forehead and tell, within a degree, normal or febrile.

These are the hands that feel a pulse and know fast or slow, weak or strong, effective or for naught.

These are the hands that restrain the angry from self-harm

These are the hands that compress the sternum to bring life

These are the hands that clean unspeakable places on another person's body but do so with dignity and respect which allow that person to feel like a human being.

These are also the hands of different people not just black or white, brown or yellow but all.

These are not the hands of male or female but both.

Other hands may build buildings or write books. Some hands may even pull the trigger or plunge the knife but these are the hands of life.

These are the hands that take up the task passed down from so long ago—to bring healing to the sick, comfort to the afflicted, hope to the hopeless

But these are not the hands of timid maidens who look for direction outside themselves

These are also the hands that can be clenched because sometimes some thing has got to change.

These are the hands of a nurse

These are the hands that have the privilege of being at the bedside

For these are the hands of a nurse, the hands of a person that does a job that not everyone can do.

These are the hands of a nurse, the hands of strength compassion and love

These are the hands of a nurse,

These are my hands.

Long time, no blog!!

It seems like forever since I've blogged, but I think life just keeps getting busier and busier, and really I don't know how to explain it because it doesn't seem like we've done a lot. Jason and I had a pretty relaxing weekend. We went to St. James on Saturday because I wanted to go to a craft fair in a nearby town with my mom. We've (my mom and I) have only gone to the fall one so we decided we'd try the spring one. Well, it was the second weekend, so we think things were a little picked over. They always have adorable baby stuff and since we are now Godparents to Elaina and will also be aunt/uncle soon, I thought I'd go check it out.....but, nothing cute like I've seen in past years.........BUMMER! I was also asked by one of my nursing assistants, if I would pin her at her Nursing Pinning Ceremony on Friday evening, which is quite an honor I must say. So, I had to find a little pin and gift for her and found some cute stuff at the Country Collage store in St. James. Now, since I just realized it's Mothers Day this coming Sunday, all of my plans that I was going to do for Mothers Day will be late. I don't know how to keep better track in my mind. I don't know if I just get so busy up there that when things finally occur to me, it's too late. I keep telling myself every new year that I will be better and then I get behind right away with Terri and Peggy's birthdays. That is going to be my new years resolution next year and I am going to start working on it with June (I hope) to get everything thought of in time. I just hope everyone understands that I am a space cadet at this point in my life and that I truly think of all of you reading on all of your special days!! So, in addition to all the new little people in our lives and the Pinning Ceremony coming up this Friday, I have also joined a Zumba dancing class. It is a high energy Latin dance class for an entire hour once a week. Some friends from work are also doing it, so it should be lots of fun! It is a 6 week class, and adds variety to my running workouts! Speaking of running, I ran 3.5 miles with a friend last evening and I am so sore today! I always feel when I run with someone or in a group, I get a better workout because I am a competitor and it just sets the pace faster. Of course, she is running the 1/2 marathon in October and is up to 6 miles, so it was a breeze for her and she lasted longer in the "having a conversation while you run" department! Jason continues taking his guitar lessons and is sounding really good! Yesterday, Jason and I worked out in the backyard. We have some big landscaping plans that we are starting on, and hopefully soon we will have a place for a swing set...which I am looking forward to since my girls love being outside all the time. Landree screams when we come in for supper or anything, and even when it looks nice, but is a little chilly, she still wants to be out there. Which is good, I guess, I don't want them in front of the TV all the time!  We also have our first neighborhood gathering coming up here in a few weeks. I guess the neighbors around us have been talking about having a neighborhood party for years and this year they started it in March. They have get-togethers every couple of months and it looks like all the months are filled for about 2 years (by then we should have our house the way we want it) !! I am so excited to as there have been many new neighbors moving in with children!! YAY!! And we just found out Sunday that a couple that goes to our church just moved in the neighborhood in January and also had a little boy in January!!

Enough about that, now for the girls!!

Ryleigh is getting to be such a big girl. Tonight when she was standing next to the counter, Jason asked me what she was standing on.....I told him nothing and he couldn't believe she was that tall. I've been noticing it for about a month now as she can reach everything on the counter, so I have to put things back farther on the counter if I don't want her to get them! She is quite the little bug and worm catcher lately, too. In fact, she has caught so many different things lately. The funny thing is that nothing "dies". We caught a caterpillar (the way she first said it: capetiller). I thought the thing had died, but it actually made a cocoon in her bug catcher...we think it might be a moth and that it might actually be dead now. She brings her bugs to daycare (poor Cindy) and enjoys showing them to all the boys. One day the "ladybugs" were laying on their backs and when Cindy asked if they were okay, she told Cindy that the ladybugs were just "chillin"!! She loves talking via Skype and while my parents were in RI at my brothers, every night she would say, "Lets go call Uncle Ryan, Aunt Kelli, grandma and grandpa on the puter real quick". Her and Kelli had a fun session of kissing the camera...they were giving each other all kinds of kisses...butterfly, eskimo, regular. It was hilarious. She has also been asking me lately if she does something she knows I am not fond of, "are you disappointed with me?" I had to laugh at her the other day as Jason was telling me something about work that he wasn't too happy about and out of the blue, she pouts up her lip and says, "oh, poor daddy!" and then played the fake violin for him!! It was so funny. Another cute thing that she said recently was when her and Jason went to run an errand. She said to him, "daddy, I wanna move by the door. I don't wanna sit by you. I love you, but you make me hot!" And the funniest and naughtiest thing she's said.....at daycare last week, the kids wanted to play with some other toys and they were told before they could play with something else, they had to pick up what they had out. Apparently, Ryleigh was the only one who was picking up the toys and she looked up at all the kids and said, "come on guys, lets get this crap picked up!" LOL

Landree is getting so big too! Okay, well her weight is still peanut-like but she is growing length wise. At her last Dr. appt she weighed in at 19.1 pounds (she weighed 20 on my scale at home), but she is 31.5 inches long!! She is still not talking as much as Ryleigh was at this age, but she is learning that "uh, uh, uh" and pointing is not going to get her what she wants. So, we have been really working on her talking or signing. Some more words that she has recently added to her vocab: cookie, all done, up, hi and more. She has been using a fork and spoon at mealtimes now for about a month and is doing good with that. I tried a few months ago and she didn't want to have anything to do with it, but now she barely misses a piece of food and she seems to eat more when she uses the utensils. One of the afternoons that Jason and the girls beat me home from work, Jason had them outside playing and Landree went into the garage. She wasn't coming out, so Jason went to check on her and found her inside Remy's kennel. She was grinning from ear to ear! And, boy does she have some dance moves on her....LOL!! We love to dance here in the Quint house, we jam out on the weekends!!

That's about all I have for now!! Until next time......
Here's a slide show of some recent photos: