Other Blogs

Since starting to blog I have found interest in reading other blogs. I will read my friends' blogs and then randomly click on links on their blogs to other blogs and so on and so on. I have read some amazing stories of strength and courage and faith from these bloggers. I obviously gravitate to the blogs in which people are facing the hardships of having babies in the NICU and recently in the PICU. It has brought a whole new perspective for me for not only what I do and how I care for these babies, but how I care for their parents as well. It is amazing for me to learn about the parent's views and thoughts while their baby's are going through these difficult times.
I learned a whole new perspective myself when I went through my mom's illness and can vividly remember the emotions that changed hourly, if not more often sometimes! And will never forget the day I wanted to punch a nurse, had to walk downstairs and call BW, cry and stare at the fish tank for over an hour before I was ready to be back on the floor where mom was. It's not that I didn't realize these parents face some of the same feelings I did, its just that sometimes I become so focused on caring for the infant that I tend to neglect the care and support that I should give the parents as well.
Anyway, the main point of this blog was to request your prayers for a special little guy and especially his momma who are going through some really difficult times. Another benefit of randomly reading these blogs, being able to lift those in need in prayer as I know so many did for my family while we were going through our hard times. Something I can never be thankful enough for.
So, pray for Stellan and his momma and their entire family today. God, may Your peace pour over them all today. Wrap them in Your loving arms and hold them tight.

St Patty's Day and a Spring Weekend

This being my first year in Savannah for St Patrick's Day I was very excited. After going to see the green fountain...

I was very excited for the fun the city had to offer. Unfortunately St Patrick's Day fell in the middle of the week, which meant I worked Monday night... So Tuesday morning I left worked, went home and put on my green and headed downtown for the parade and beginning of the festivities!! Yes, you can now call me Rock star =)

I did not understand how excited this city really does get for the parade, however driving along the parade route Tuesday morning at 8am and seeing the bleachers set up, along with the tents and the PEOPLE who were out waiting for the parade I started to become impressed and even more excited. (side-note... the parade started at 10:15am!) Met up with Amanda and we had breakfast and headed down to the site our (her) friends had set up.

It was great, the weather was gorgeous and the parade was lots of fun. Who knew people made banners and walked in a parade just because their family had Irish background, hilarious! The parade lasted almost 4hrs I think!!

Wow, my ADD kicked in for sure but I still had a great time and am glad to say "I have been to the parade!" We spent the rest of the day walking around City Market and enjoying the live music and chaos with the other million people who were apparently not working either. It was a great day and lots of fun! Can't wait to do it again next year... maybe with a little more sleep the night before, but I still made it into the night!

Amanda, me and Candice

Worked Wednesday and Thursday (and let me just say I enjoyed my week of only working 3 nights since I have picked up an OT shift every week the past 4!) and then BW came home (again) on Friday so we have spent the weekend together enjoying the beautiful weather. Saturday we went to Hilton Head Island for the wing fest which was loads of fun... although, any festival celebrating food is something I am guaranteed to enjoy =) Sunday BW and I took the bikes and headed back out to the Island to spend some more time enjoying the weather. We went on a nice bike ride around Jarvis Creek Park.

The park was beautiful; we saw birds (that aunt Lil would be able to identify, I just know them as "birds"), an alligator, and some turtles all out enjoying the day as well.

We then headed over to the Tiki Hut on the beach and spent some time

...just relaxing together.

Then we came back home and took Layla on a bike ride...

girl needs to burn some energy!

And BW went fishing =)

**might I just say it is a good thing we were not relying on his skills for dinner!**

What a wonderful week and weekend! I just love being down here and am so happy and thankful for the way everything worked out for me to have this job and be living here.

Hope you have a great week!

Pictures

So here (as promised) are some of my favorite pictures from Alicia's visit...

So happy to be together again!

The fountain in Forsythe Park with green water for St Patrick's Day!

Alicia, Amanda and I

My best girl and my new girl, having a blast!

Fantastic Weekend

Wow, what a great weekend!! The weather was amazing here in South GA... high 70s and 80s everyday with sunny, blue skies! And of course my bestest girl was in town so that makes it all better. Alicia and I had an amazing time together. It was so good to have her here and just get to spend time together, especially since it has been since last July that we have seen each!!! (we definitely have to make this a more "regular" thing... as regular as living on seperate coasts can be anyway)
So our weekend was fun-packed... Friday night I picked her up and we headed straight downtown Savannah to meet up with some friends of mine. We had a blast that night, it was A & J full force =) and, let me just tell you that is trouble!! But super fun. Saturday we spent walking around all of Savannah... it was "first Saturday" on the River which meant local vendors had tents set up selling all of their goodies -- on a side note I am very excited to find out this is every month on the first Saturday, something to look forward to. We went to Forsythe Park and saw the fountain that has GREEN water for St Patrick's Day! And basically spent 5hours just walking around and enjoying the beautiful weather and beautiful city. Saturday night we enjoyed some sushi, my favorite... and I was asked by the JAPANESE waitress if I was Japanese or Asian... really??! No, not so much, but I will eat as if I am! yum yum... then spent some more time downtown that night. However, Sunday I was sicker than I can remember ever being... I think the ranch dressing I added to my pizza late-night Saturday was very very bad and so unfortunately my dearest friend had to take care of me, but boy was it a blessing to have her here during that! I did need her. **On a side-note, received a WONDERFUL phone call from a fabulous boy on Sunday too =) That helped brighten my day as well!!!** Monday Alicia and I needed to enjoy the weather some more, and I was feeling better, so we headed out to Hilton Head Island and sat on the beach for a few hours. Very entertained by the spring breakers who had probably never touched a volleyball, but thought they had great sand volleyball skill.. not so much kids, but thanks for the laughs!! And then my dear friend had to leave today =(
But, that means I am back to work -- and for a "regular" week of three nights this week! And that means that BW comes home (at least for a day or two) this weekend! WHO-HOO!! I am just a little excited... =)

PS pictures of the fun from A & J time to come... standby!

Count down to A&J Time

It's Wednesday... that means half my work week is over (which is a big deal since I have been working OT each week and working 4 nights instead of 3!) and more importantly it means Alicia will be here on FRIDAY!!! I cannot wait... it has been since she came to visit this past summer that we have spent time together and that is a really long time to not see each other... we are both in desperate need of this A & J weekend and I know it will be a blast!
I could not be more thankful for a friend in my life... someone I met and immediately felt a connection with. Alicia and I spend some amount of time on the phone if not daily then every other day, and if we get busy and don't talk for two days... wow! You would think it had been three months! I absolutely love this girl and am so thankful for her and cannot wait to spend the weekend with her.

Smiling

As I was sitting at work tonight, trying to enjoy my book before starting to feed my little ones again I could not keep myself from checking and re-checking (and, yes, re-checking) my email just to see if BW had written to me yet today... but to my dissapointment he just hadn't. It was getting late, and I figured he must have gone to bed early, he thinks he might be coming down with a cold.. so I hoped he would get plenty of rest... well, then my phone rang!! * I could not have jumped out of my seat and ran to the hallway any faster or with a wider smile on my face!!! Let me just tell you, those 15 minutes were so what I needed and wanted and I could not be more thankful for them. After two weeks and some "down time" on my part lately, it was amazing to get to just chat and hear each him and just "be together" for that bit of time.
I have not stopped smiling since the phone rang... and probably won't for awhile =)
Emails are great, but phone calls are so much better... and, we are over halfway until he comes home (at least for a little while)! Hooray!


*Yes, I am allowed to have my cell phone on in the unit here as long as it is on low and we take the conversations out of the unit. I am soo happy about it!