6/365

Today has been one long day. Rewind to 3am. I was working when I received the phone call that Veda had a fever, leg pain, and was hysterical. I panicked. For good reason. A friend of a friends daughter recently was experiencing lots of leg pain at the age of two. Woke up one morning and couldn't walk, she was soon diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma and was given a 40% chance of survival. Veda has been complaining of leg pain often and having this story be fresh in my mind has sent me over the edge. I am a pessimist, always playing worse case scenario in my mind and I freaked. I came home and snuggled her until we both fell asleep. While laying in bed Veda said to me "mommy, when I wake up and your not here, I'm scared. I'm afraid you won't ever come back" I nearly lost it. She hugged me so tight. She is an amazing kid. I explained that mommy has to work some nights but I'm always going to come home. I have no idea why she would question my return, we have hardly spent any time away from one another. I'm glad I came home early to have that time with her. We went to the doctor today and she has an ear infection and was febrile. I voiced my concerns about her leg pain and the doctor gave her a more thorough exam and said she feels there is no reason for more testing. For now I am satisfied with that. Veda is feeling much better this evening. Here is a photo of her at bed time. She was being silly and said this was her mean grumpy face! Lol

5/365

Here I am 15 weeks 2 days

4/365 Who Needs Toys....

When you have laundry baskets!!

3/365 Sibling Love

Its not often that Veda and Grayson get along, in fact its quite rare. Today was a rare day in this house. I love moments like these. Usually they are fighting over who had the toy first and so on. Trust me, they fought today but I was able to capture a few moments of peace. ( I did however ask them to give each other a hug, that was the only staged picture) lol!

2/365 For the love of a Dog

Here is my sweet Veda and my long time companion (10 yrs) Zoe. Unfortunately, Zoe was born with 3 1/2 legs, which has given her a life with arthritis. Her health is declining. She isn't eating as much as she used to, she no longer joins the family wherever we are in the house, and she is having a difficult time getting around these days. We have some hard decisions to make in the near future. It breaks my heart. Veda is totally in love with Zoe. We have had the heaven talk with her and she seems to understand somewhat. Sometimes out of no where Veda will state that she wants to go to heaven to see Zoe when she is gone. I then explain that we will see Zoe in heaven someday. So sad. Children don't understand the permanence of death, so its a hard topic to try and explain. Especially to a 4 yr old. My hope is a few more months with Zoe before having to let her go to doggy heaven. I want to create as many memories for Veda as I can before then.

1/365

Coffee anyone? Last night was a late one, although my eyes were closed before the ball dropped! Pathetic, I know. We spent the evening at Joe's cousins house. It was a blast. Today we are all tired, hence the coffee mugs. Joe and I had finished our coffee and the kids were pretending to drink coffee and would clank the cups together in cheers fashion and shout "cheers" lol!

2011 In Review

2011 was a fantastic year! I had just finished nursing school at the end of 2010 and was lucky enough to find an RN position shortly after, working in Neuro ICU. My career has had many challenging moments but I have learned so much in this first year that I wouldn't take back a second of it. An added bonus? I have met lots of amazing nurses along the way and even a few nurses that I will make sure I never become ;)

I started my photography business and although its a slow start I am loving it and hope to continue to make great progress in the years to come!

The kids have grown so much this past year. Veda started preschool and enjoys it immensely. She recognizes all of her letters and can write each one, spells her name, knows her address, and just has this amazing personality. She has a strong personality which I am so proud of but it certainly gets her in trouble at times!

Grayson is my little terror always looking for trouble! He is always smiling, unless of course he is in one of his short lived tantrums...usually stemming from not getting his way! This past year he has really sprouted his personality. He isn't much of a talker but we are working on that. He knows his body parts, animal sounds, and a few colors (so says my husband, but I have never seen him recognize a color) I became slightly concerned that he wasn't talking much but after some advice from a dear friend and a little more work on my end, and less work on Veda's end...he has begun to say more! I suspect he will be a little chatter box in no time!

Joe and I have had time to work on becoming more of a couple than strangers passing at shift change. Our relationship was on the back burner for a while it seemed. I was always doing school work and paying attention to the kids and by the end of the day I had nothing left to give. We have made it a point to spend more time with each other this past year, even incorporating date night at home into our schedule. It has been a wonderful change for our marriage and we will keep making the changes. Sometimes you just need to stop and look at the big picture and see what is missing and make the change. So glad we are connecting again.

We are looking forward to what 2012 brings us. We are challenging ourselves to work hard on becoming debt free, becoming more frugal, and spending a lot of quality family time together. All we know so far about 2012 is that we will be completing our family in June with our 3rd and final baby! I cannot wait to meet him/her! I plan to document more on the blog. I am challenging myself to the 365 project where I will post a picture and a blurb of what is going on in life at the present time each day! I hope to keep up!!