A boring week...

Also a sleep deprived week. While working overnight shifts works great for our family schedule, it generally means I get 3ish hours of sleep in a 48+ hour period. I know that's nothing compared to what my brother pulls, but it's really throwing me. Even with a decent nights sleep I'm still wonky, and I have absolutely no idea what day of the week, or month, or even year, it is. Our professors have told us over and over that midwifery school is like pregnancy and labor, and I totally get that now. I'm clearly in the transition stage where you've lost all sense of time and place and are totally focused on one thing: get this schooling (labor) over with! Not to say that I don't enjoy it. The staff at hospital and birth center continue to be welcoming and kind, my clients are wonderful, and I don't think I could have imagined a better preceptor than Connie. I'm also thrilled to announce I have now performed many speculum exams and paps and received rave reviews from both Connie and my clients. It's stuff like this that gets me excited to head to clinic every morning :)
So because I've been either zombie brain or at the hospital, the picture count is low. Here are a few I had on my phone. Plans for the upcoming week include decorating the church, a surprise dinner with Aunt Tammy and Uncle Paul, a 24hour shift at the center/hospital, decorating the house, and lots of paper writing (it never seems to end). I have tons of crafting I need to get going on for Christmas, as well as 40% of my shopping left to do, so I'm looking forward to the break I have in clinicals in two weeks.

Getting ready for the park is now a huge production. H has become a big fan of swinging

I read an article on the jobs your 18-month old should have. H's doing most of them, but I hadn't included her in meal prep (I hate people in the kitchen when I'm trying to cook). I let her whisk the dry ingredients and then cut in the shortening for our biscuits. She actually did a great job and they turned out delicious. She still refused to eat one, though...

She got to play with a small ball of dough later on and enjoyed that as well

Sorry about the background...She loves to ride in her doll's stroller so she was getting pushed around this morning while getting ready for school

Thanksgiving in VT

Though it was a flying trip, we had a wonderful time in marvelous weather enjoying amiable company. Can't wait to get back!

And an unrelated note: I'm a bit ticked at Google for charging me to upload pictures. Understandable, but I liked free. So I'm taking advantage of all the space I just purchased, you're welcome :)

H reading Trader Joe's Thanksgiving flyer with her breakfast. She was mumbling like she was reading and saying "mm hmmm", haha.

Waiting for the feast (and the table to get set)

Signs of the season were everywhere

What we should really be thankful for

This years place cards. Meghan made the stars from paper; hard to see in this light, but they're puffy and teeny tiny. Very cute.

The never-ending quest for a decent family portrait. At least we all coordinated...

Papa has a great assortment of vehicle type toys

After eating we headed out to whack some golf balls into the trees

Pretty Payte

I have beautiful sisters

The lovefest directed at Papa continues. H dominated his time and attention, and if it looked like he might be doing something else she'd grab his hand and demand a "walk"...which is nothing more than a stall until she thinks of something to make you do for her.

The moon always looks more impressive in real life

Yet another beauty!

They had no excuse. I didn't see either sully their hands with dishwater

The cousins were introduced to Catan

H woke up Friday in a fine mood

Reading "Go Dogs, Go!" with Gram

Chillier day, but still lots of sun

Used to be my hat, back in the day....

A version of field hockey using whiffle bats and a play yard ball

H trying out all the rocks on the stonewall as chairs

OK, another example of an attempt at a photo....do you see what the little stinker is up to in the background??? Eating leaves. She's gnawing on a stem here.....

Tire swinging

H loves to swing

The Ent has lost an eye

H found the sled on the front steps and was thrilled. She wanted me to give her a ride, so I guess come snowfall she'll be expecting a sled.

We've sort of hit our stride (I think) with clinicals and so far they seem to be fitting well into our schedule. I feel like I'm either there or on the computer which is hard for H, but this is a relatively short period of time in her life and will be over by summer (*fingers crossed*). She's seemed to be fine and is adjusting her wants/needs in accordance to which parent is available at the time. I'm still waiting to be the primary midwife to catch a baby (got to deliver a head this week!) as things have been dreadfully slow, but everyone assures me this is abnormal so I'll remain patient. I've got grand plans for crafting this week after I complete a largish project for a class, and I might make some of those draft logs as icy air is coming in from somewhere in the kitchen area and I'm freezing. I think next weekend we'll be brave and try decorating for Christmas. Has anyone else started?

Clinicals and homelife

It finally happened. After much agony and stress and planning and reassurances and studying, I began my clinical portion of training. Lest you be one of those confused by my course of study, no I'm not finished school yet, no I'm not getting paid for this (I wish!), yes I still have another 6-9 months to go, and yes I'm still writing papers and completing projects. But it's the hands-on stuff and way more exciting than textbook reading (though that's thrilling in its own way as well). Anyway, given HIPPA and all that good stuff I obviously can't tell you what I saw and did, but know that it was awesome and I'm so not used to working a full day anymore, and everyone was so welcoming and kind, and I do indeed have a pager, and all of my clients have seemed thrilled to have the additional attention of a student. I think it's good for them as well, because they feel more the expert in their pregnancy (since I have the title of "student") and want to tell me about everything going on with them and what they think it is, what they should do about it. It really makes them the leader in their own care, which is what midwifery is about. Anyway, I'm very humbled that they are so willing to let me in on this special time in their life, be so open, and be completely forgiving of any bumbles I make (be assured, Connie has her hands poised right above mine if I'm doing anything that would in any way risk mom or baby). I've already seen some really hard stuff that I'm still processing, some really happy stuff, and heard some pretty crazy things (the nontraditional lifestyles gravitate towards this care and it's pretty awesome). I'm on call through the weekend so I may or may not get some more hours, but this coming week I have a few overnight shifts as well as clinic, and being that it's the holidays, I'm hoping for some action :)

Other than that, everything has been the norm around here. H loooooooves her school (there's happy cheering in the backseat when I drop Steve off and tell her I'm taking her to school), she's testing like crazy when she's home, she's started to not play as independently (boo) and grabs our hands to pull us to wherever she thinks we should be, and she's starting to string 3 words together. She also has this habit of not correctly pronouncing the first letters of a word, but she'll pronounce those letters in other words so I know she can say them. It leads to some pretty bad-sounding phrases. And while my language isn't always lily-white, I assure you what she's saying is NOT what it sounds like. For example, "S" usually gets the "SH" sound at the beginning of a word so demands to "sit"...well, you get the picture.

(I just dashed off to hit up my favorite thrift store...got there 7 minutes after it opened and there was only 1 parking spot left. Crazy. I made out like a bandit!!!!!!) Anyway, some views from the week:

Food shots are annoying, my apologies, but this cake has been a huge part of my week. Not only is it chocolate, I made the frosting out of avocados, agave syrup and coconut oil. Who knew? It's fudgy and rich and it's made me very very happy. Also very very fat. That's the trouble with being the only chocolate eater in the house....

Oh yeah! I became an aunt again :) Dustin Josiah. This kid has the most incredible hair, I can not wait to meet him, and it amazes me that my little brother is a dad. Sounds like everyone did really well, and I can see already that Katie is going to be a great, easy-going mom. Hopefully we'll get to see them over Christmas!

She's not so much in to dress-up as she is anything with zippers....

Being a ham. I'm trying to keep her hair up at all times because she has this massive mullet going and I don't want to cut her hair because it's so thin....and only long in the back. We'll see.

Hard to spot, but our friendly cat and groundhog. They spend a lot of time in our backyard.

Pants I made H. Anything I make her she proudly wears because she thinks it's special. I'm milking this time for all it's worth as I know this phase does not last long

She's starting new favorites for books, ones that have a longer story line. Right now it's "Dr. Dan the Bandage Man" and "Nurse Nancy" (I'm so proud) although she just picked up "Goodnight Moon" the other day and it's been with her since.

Steve and I had a friendly bout of ladder ball the other night. I smoked him

Henri pretending she has no idea where all the balls are that she just ran off with. She has a pretty definite idea of where stuff belongs and what the proper order of things should be and gets VERY upset if that gets disarranged (no idea who she picked that up from). She doesn't like us throwing the balls, she wants them hung neatly. She freaked in nursery because the kids were running around playing duck duck goose. And unfortunately she thinks all the refrigerator magnets should be in a heap on the kitchen floor. Good thing she's such a cute tyrant.
 

We're looking forward to a quick trip to VT for Thanksgiving Day. I'm having fun plotting for Christmas and trying to think of a few traditions I want to make/keep just for our family as it looks like there will be a lot of traveling. We might save decorating the house/stockings for January when things settle a bit. Hope you're all enjoying this season of thankfulness :)

Photo Dump!

This has been a normal week of paper writing, studying, grocery shopping, laundry, organizing...the usual. Adding to the fun has been the on-again/off-again nature of my clinical site. Looooong story short, I am currently set to take to the halls of Cambridge Hospital on Saturday night at 1930. If anyone is having the hankering to birth a child, the aforementioned would be a great time. Despite the years of study, yada yada yada...it wasn't until the orienter at the hospital told me I'd be getting a pager did I feel like a genuine student nurse-midwife. This is real and it's happening!

Mostly because the days have been mundane, the camera hasn't come out much. But we've had some leaf days and some snow days, so I just cleared off the camera (and my phone) and here's what there was:

Mom brought us a bushel of apples for our anniversary gift. H has been helping herself whenever she's feeling a bit peckish (haha, get it??)

H's new "smile for the camera" smile

Lobster hands!!!!!!! This winter is going to be a challenge for her. She was having trouble walking with the layers of clothes throwing her off balance

S and I went to the Cheesecake Factory where I got...(drumroll, please)....cheesecake!!!! And other good stuff...

The only damage we got from Sandy was the stripping of our trees. Lots of leaf piles made and disposed of over the hill

Forced labor

I've just thrown in the towel. Sesame Street comes on at 1000, and it's a standing date at this point. As H's down to just one nap a day, this is my sanity saver. Almost a solid 45 minutes to myself. I usually end up watching with her....especially Super Grover!!!! But I hate Elmo so I leave at that point

She likes to surround herself with friends, pillows and a beverage. Girl knows how to view

Elmo just went off the screen; this is her gearing up for a hissy fit till he reappears

First snow! We got about an inch and then it sleeted all morning today and now it's gone. The exterminator told me it's supposed to get warm next week. He also told me there was no sign of termite activity. 3 visits and we've been clean each time. Phew.

As it was sleeting/raining we stayed inside today. H checking out the snow

The thrill of being allowed to stand on the chair was almost more than that of seeing the snow

Showing Bobby the snow. These two are pretty inseparable at this point. And when she has nothing better to do, H chants "Bobby Bobby Bobby" over and over and over. And over and over and over and over....I hope you begin to see why the Sesame Street is so vital to me...

Another favorite pastime; looking at herself and shouting "Henhe!" (her version of her name). My computer's screen saver is set to pictures so H likes to just watch herself (as she makes up 97% of my photos) scroll across the screen

Pigtails and big eyes. Love this squirt.

That's it, folks. I was supposed to babysit tomorrow but that got pushed off so I'll have time to write the paper that's due tomorrow so I shan't bother doing it tonight. I get to get my flu vaccine (yippee....although I get the preservative free because of H so it shouldn't hurt as much) and then hope to check out the newly opened Michael's in Porter. Steve actually asked what I was going for and I just looked at him speechless. Does anyone go into these places looking for particulars? I just walk in knowing I can only spend a certain amount. I've never failed to find stuff I couldn't live without. Although I still need to get some wooden letters to decorate H's room with...I think I'll pull out some yarn and needles and get started on these tonight.  Happy snuggling-in weather!