Gretchen wisdom, and more new Work info

Gretchen says to me, "If I make my eyes like this (she is squinting) I can see all the way to another country!"

So I worked my first shift Wednesday night. It was really different from my last job, I guess I assumed L & D's would be more alike. For those of you that know, here are some of the differences.
1. They are amazingly well staffed - and they think they are short.
2. They have a anesthesiologist and a CRNA on 24/7, a minimum of 2 scrub techs (and they are not cross over housekeepers) even at night - so nurses are not even required to scrub! If you WANT to, you can.
3. The delivery tables are set up by the scrub techs and have about six drawers underneath full of various supplies.
4. The room has virtually no supplies.
5. The charting is a nightmare - the strip and the charting are two different programs, and you have to use the mouse to click everything. Although one bonus is that the VS automatically chart.
6. The NICU team comes with an NNP to all C section deliveries, and then they take the baby and the dad to the recovery room to wait for you to come out from the section (and they stay and supervise!). However, they don't do anything like baby meds, or measurements.
7. Recoveries are TWO hours - this is really lame 'cause I had perfected the one hour recovery. Of course since I have to do all of the baby stuff, I may need it.

That's about it so far. It was super overwhelming and annoying because I feel like I should know what I am doing and I feel like a new grad! I was hoping to avoid the new grad feeling forever! I'll keep ya'll updated on the invigorating new experience (this is said with my eyes rolling).

What I have learned today. . .

Gretchen's feet actually do grow faster than her hair! (We are continually accepting donations for new shoes, which can of course be made out to me in check form, or cash!)

If you are as coordinated as me and can manage to toss shredded cheddar all over the kitchen, vacuuming it up will then cause your vacuum to smell nasty with each subsequent usage. (If, however, you are priviledged enough to have the awesomest vacuum ever - a DYSON - a quick solution was found after I made a brief phone call to the company!)

Vacuuming is indeed difficult with a 2 year old hanging on your clothes.

It's amazing what one can learn on any random Monday.

New job! Welcome to the rest of the world. . .

So we came home from Cali on Sunday night, picked up my mom from the airport on the way back into town, and I started the new job Monday morning. Gratefully Grandma was here - she has been an awesome nanny/maid/cook during the past week. Orientation sucks! Let me say that again, ORIENTATION SUCKS!!! It is so dumb, they could make it at most one day and still get all of the necessary info in.
Anyway, it will be nice to have a second income again, and I am Jonesin' to start an iv. Wierd, I know - only you nurses will understand!

One thing that has been a big shocker is the variety of folks that are orienting with me. Probably only half of the group of 40 are from Arizona. They are from all over the country, and one from India. I had no idea Phoenix was such a melting pot! It is interesting to get to know all of them.

One thing I have been immediately grateful for is the gospel. I hear them talk about their lives and their stresses and I know that if they had the gospel it would change things greatly. This is such a difference from working in Utah, where it seems like 90% of the staff were LDS. It's a change in life that I am trying to adjust to - it brings a different set of challenges. I appreciate the diversity, but I also worry about my kids and the environment they will be growing up in. It is hard to describe the situation while also being politically correct - dont' any of you take offense! There are loads and loads of fabulous people who are not LDS and many LDS folks who are not fabulous! I am just still working on the adjustment. I miss Utah and all my family and friends. More than I thought I would . . . .

LAGUNA '08!!

We had sooooo much fun at the beach! We met up with some family and spent 8 days just kicked back. I'm pretty sure heaven is just about like that! Sleeping with the sound of waves crashing, spending the day sun tanning and swimming and frolicking in the sand and ocean (mostly only Chris in the ocean - it was only 57 degrees!) and very little cooking and cleaning! And of course surrounded by some of the best company around! The weather was darn near perfect. We were quite blessed on this trip. And did I mention that the drive from our house is about 5 1/2 hours? I'm pretty sure that might make the move down here worth it!


The amazing view from our hotel room - I think Superman made it to our hotel!


We rented bikes and rode along the Newport Beach boardwalk. It was so fun! We got some tandem bikes and I thoroughly enjoyed making some "brrring" bike bell sounds, and then Spencer's fog horn. Oh man, I haven't laughed that hard in ages!
I think this was my best 'action' shot from the trip. This is my nephew Spencer - if anybody wants his number I think we could work somethin' out!

Our hotel room deck at sunset.

We also got to do some visiting with Bella and Hannah, accompanied by the Adler grandparents and Jayme!
Pretty sure Thatcher's favorite activity was throwing rocks in the tide pools! That and anything that had to do with Katie!
Awwwww. So sweet.

While the trip was soooo awesome, it had to end, and I of course left in tears. It was so fun to have people to hang out with! I miss my sisters and lunch companions! The 5 1/2 hours seemed a lot longer going home than going there.

Welcome Back!

So we spent a FABULOUS week in Laguna Beach with some family and friends and have now returned back to the ho-hum. I will share some beach photos and stories later, but for now a quick update on the home front.

My mom was kind enough to fly down Sunday night for me to start my new hospital orientation - this whole week 8-5. It's so amazingly exciting I can't stand it (my eyes are rolling as I say this in a really bored voice). So Gretchen had 3 full weeks off of school - fall break followed by the vacation - and the first morning back was with Grandma instead of the usual, yours truly. So apparently they get about half way there, Grandma pushing Thatcher in the stroller and Gretchen riding her scooter, and Gretchen decides she doesn't want to go and drops her scooter and starts to run home screaming. As Grandma tries to catch her! I couldn't help but giggle as I heard this! She ran back home and after many threats and pleads, Chris had to be called. He gave her a 'talking to' over the phone and she promptly was driven to school. Chris now gets to take her for the rest of the week! This might be heart breaking as a mother if she hadn't already exhausted all of my sympathy!

Today Thatcher apparently spent a fair amount of time crying at the window looking for mom. That's sad - I hate this stupid hospital orientation. They manage to make you feel like a complete idiot - I had to guide a blindfolded man around the halls for 5 MINUTES without using any words, and without him knowing what I was doing. Honestly people.

After eating out for dinner tonight, Grandma asked me, "Do you think you'll ever have an easy child?" That's a good question. What am I raising here? Hopefully we haven't worn her down entirely at the weeks end. She may be ready to say farewell to us until next month!

Circle K doesn't suck

I have to take back everything I said about Circle K. They opened a new one up the street and had a grand opening. They had blow up bouncy things and free hot dogs and drinks and treats. The kids loved it! Not only that, they have a drink and slushy selection that rivals the QT. Not to mention they always seem to have cups!

After the morning of fun at the Circle K, we went to a Safety Fair at the QC Marketplace. They had old cars and an old fire engine and new stuff as well. The kids got to sit in a rescue helicopter, and we watched as they lit a car on fire and then put it out. They also did a demonstration of the K-9 unit and how the dogs attack a "bad guy". That was pretty fun, and Thatche was in absolute heaven with all of the "Woooo, woooo" (that's how he refers to fire trucks, you know, the siren sound) and the "gco, gco" (his helicopter sound). Here are a few pics




I keep laughing at Gretchen. Today she asked me, "Did you come home before you went to bed?"

So it's a good thing I laugh, cause she and the boy are fighting like cats and dogs. I keep yelling and yelling, but they just keep yelling. What's the problem here? I just don't get it.

Oh, and by the way, I was gone last night for about 2 hours playing volleyball with the Relief Society and Chris once again chopped off my little boy's curls! He insists his hair was too crazy, but I have an inkling he doesn't enjoy all of the women ooohing and ahhing over his beautiful hair!

More Funnies.

So today Gretchen said, "My eyes are kinda allergic to sun today."

Yesterday Thatcher was sitting at the table yelling at me, this usually involves, "MOM! MOM! MO!" - aka more with a very loud voice. So I looked at him after about 5 yells and said, "What, Thatcher? You want some dip?" cause he is always requesting "dip" with everything, like ranch on tacos, ketchup, italian dressing on enchiladas, you know, the usual. And he says, "Mo hice" - aka more rice! He speaks! It is still typically grunts, especially to get Gretchen's attention, but let's face it, Gretchen is pretty hard to say. Maybe he is a Canadian at heart, spewing forth, "Eh? Eeeehhh?" with increasing volume and exaggerated pointing.