Preschool for Jude!

My little boy is a school-goer! He started preschool and we are excited for him and his growth. My friend here in town transformed a room in her house into a preschool room and has a great little set-up. She's spent a lot of time creating lesson plans and games and songs and other activities for the boys! His class is 9:00-11:30 on Tuesdays and Thursday's and there are five boys in his class! 

I'm really excited for him to progress and have this experience. He's so ready and had no problem at all going off on his own! 

I thought it started at 9:30 and spent the morning getting everyone and everythingn all ready! My thoughtful friend, Brittany, texted me, "are you coming?" And I got a pit in my stomach when I realized what I'd done!! Our pleasant morning quickly became chaos and we rushed into the car and off we went! Luckily our neighbor, Kara, was in the same boat as me and we were late together!

Jude didn't have much to say about it but it wasn't hard to tell he really enjoyed it! He learned about the letter "A" and later in the day asked questions about te days of the week. We also worked on his A sticker worksheet and I was proud of his determination in doing a good job on it!

happy BSN! &more...

I've been doing the BYU-Idaho online nursing program for my Bachelor's degree and I just finished! I did it part-time so I could continue working and mama-hood and everything else. :) It was definitely a nightmare at times but it was a great program and I learned a lot. It was amazing how I formed relationships with my peers and teachers without ever meeting anyone! I did clinicals everywhere from the NICU to home health (in the back woods of Alabama) to the health department to a low-income doctor's office. Thank you Mom &Dad Mulder for the most amazing new lens for my camera. And thank you Mom & Dad for my to be determined gift! (Any ideas anyone? I do not know. It has to be something for me...) So, I know have my Bachelor of Science in Nursing.... next is my IBCLC (International Board Certified Lactation Consultant), which I am soo excited for!

PS- While we have been down in Las Vegas for Christmas, I did a week of "travel nursing" in December and I just finished another two weeks. I worked all 12-hour night shifts at Sunrise in the ER, different Med-Surg floors, Adult Oncology Unit, and the Maternal Infant Unit (I was ecstatic about that one!) It was an absolute nightmare most the time, but we were able to put some money in savings and I definitely had some valuable learning experiences. I worked 14 out of 17 nights! I have promised myself I will never do it again (or I'm just telling myself that now for the sake of my sanity and emotional health). I know we will always need a little more money but I am not going to put off my IBCLC any longer. I know it is better to sacrifice now and reap the rewards later... not to mention love my job! Once I get my IBCLC, I could work per diem and get some experience until one day I can really live the dream and have a private practice. Woot woot!

University of Alabama grad!

My sweet Dan has graduated with honors with a Bachelor's degree in Biology from the University of Alabama! I am so proud of him. He didn't walk at graduation so we are waiting for his diploma to get here in the mail and we will have an official celebration! He had lots of good memories there so I asked him a few questions to help us always remember them. :)

What are your best memories from the University of Alabama?

"Football games, swimming in the outdoor pool with the water slide, going to the Bahamas, my labs"

What were some of your most memorable classes?

"Organic chemistry, generak biology with Dr. Olsen (because of the teacher, not really the class), Freshman English was crazy because my teacher was psycho (he used to swear all the time and I was smarter than everyone else because I was way older). I really liked my rural studies with Dr. Wheat. I liked my general chemistry labs because I got to dissect lung fish, frogs, rats, and more. I liked working in the lab with Dr. Lopez and Hu studying phycology. Cell cycle regulation was challenging but I felt like I started out knowing nothing and had a firm grasp on it by the end of the class."

What are your favorite memories at UA?

"The football games"

Tell me about the football games.

"I liked  screaming roll tide, learning all the songs, winning, picking fights with LSU fans...

The LSU game was a lot of fun even though we lost. We beat LSU though in the National Championship though so that was much better. One time a drunk, loud LSU fan was being really crazy and stupid and kept saying that LSU was going to go to the National Championship and we had no chance so I pushed him. He pushed me back. Then he started swearing at me and everyone else told him to be quiet. He yelled “You wanna fight?! Let’s go!” And I said… “You better keep walking if you know what’s best for you.” Josh had my back. Literally, he was standing behind me. Trevor was like ten people behind me with his baby strapped on. Trevor told everybody about it. He thought it was awesome. I was just mad because we lost the game."

You are in the process of applying for the Navy. Tell me what happened the other day.

"It all began in New York City, the Big Apple. Rachael tried to buy some postcards from a Chinese guy and he refused to sell them to  her because she insulted him on accident. We found ourselves wandering down the sidewalk of Times Square at 10:00 pm with no postcards. A mystical sign appeared in front of us, "10 postcards for $0.92". We looked at each other and said, We gotta get some postcards! We started looking at these postacrds when this naval officer walked up and started looking at them too. He had heard us talking about how cool these postcards are. So Rachael was joking with him and said, "We don’t need ten postcards; we should go halfsies and each pay 50 cents." That opened the door to discussion. Then I said, “I’m actually applying to the Navy right now. “ And he asked me who my recruiter is. I told him HM1 Gerity. He said "Oh, I don't know him but he’d know me. I ‘m Force Master Chief Grey and I’m in charge of all naval recruiting." Then he handed me a card and told if you have any trouble in your application process let me know, and if things don’t work out how you want them to then give me a call. He then bought his postcards and left. 

It’s such a small world and a great blessing to have met the head of recruiting for the Navy right when I was desperately trying to gain acceptance into the Navy and get their scholarship!"

What other memories do you want to remember?

"The University of Alabama trucks would ride by and I would grab onto the back of them (usually without them even noticing) and hitch a ride around the quad on my skateboard. Everyone would watch me and think it was so funny. That was fun. I liked that."

"I missed my finals twice. The first time was because of the tornado and I never had to make them up. That was a good thing because I probably would have failed Organic Chemistry if I would have had to take the final. The second time was a miracle instead of a tragedy! Instead of life being taken away it was given when Jude was born. I had to make up all my finals. I got a 98% on my Biochemistry final so it turned out pretty good!"

We had a mock graduation ceremony in the midst of packing and moving since Dan didn't walk. So he donned his honors stole, Katlin played the University of Alabama song and I gave him his super official diploma. It was so great.

... in real life.

have you ever seen the illusionist?! dan and i watched it the other day. i was a little skeptical at first but totally and surely la-huved it. edward norton is our celebrity crush. i have just been beyond elated that they got to be together in the end and i wanted to watch it again immediately after it was over.

our life is really "real-lifey" right now. back from vacation, unpacking, cleaning, making dinner, sleeping, working, going to school, running errands, etc. but we like it. we love being in our own place that's a little more permanent. 4 months post-tornado and we finally feel settled.

dan's semester includes: ecology, biochemistry, working in a genetics lab, an online writing class, and a proctorship with reallll doctors. he is soo cool. and smart. he loves me and takes care of me when i have the hardest, worst nights and works and lets me cry to him and holds me tight. work is a little overwhelming at times (biggest understatement ever/trying to be politically correct sounding). it's the little things that get me through. like: my coworker brought chocolate to share last night. and i walked into my patients room the other morning and she cut me off mid-sentence to say "you look cute" (UGH!!! i died of joy at that moment), my patient's husband who hugged me and sincerely thanked me numerous times, when my supervisor calls me to tell me i'm getting an admission, a lady with a hairball... no big deal.

well, i'm off to bed. lots of love.

a bad case of academia

is the first fall day finally here? i wouldn't know, as the high today is 97 degrees. i wore pants yesterday and am currently cuddling a mustard colored blanket, just pretending and hoping and anxiously waiting for the weather to change.

looking forward to lots of days in the library this fall, as dan is a busy bee learning the sciences and i am beginning my first semester of three to get my BSN (bachelors of science in nursing). i love going to school & studying with dan... i study much better on the 27 inch mac! last week i went to dan's biology class with him and pretended to be a girl he just met in the library and introduced myself as such to all his friends. it was the most entertaining to pretend and be so flirtacious and new-feeling again.

but most importantly, congratulations to my hubby on getting two beaming A's on his first biology and organic chemistry tests! yay, so proud! :]

paradise lost. &found!

life is fun.

dan is taking a shakespearean literature class and a human development class. that means he is reading spicy tales written by perverted men who are long past. and he comes home with all sorts of fun facts about birthing processes/questions about menopause. it's quite entertaining [for myself more than him i think].

we watched a water birthing video...

i have been fully soaking up my few days off work, i needed it soo much! we've been swimming, shopping [SHOPPING!!!! more to come later on that], returning all our wedding plates since they were chipped & getting MORE!, thrifting our hearts away, cleaning, cooking, smoothies, mutual activities, renovating our bathroom, organizing our closet {that was a chore of a chore of a chore}, saw inception at the MOVIE THEATRE (first movie we've seen in the theatre since thanksgiving). we L O V E D that movie! so good. it really just bamboozled our minds and we have to see it again, for sure.

[ps: everyone register for your wedding at bedbath&beyond. why? they will return ANYTHING and give you cash back if it is off your registry. so we returned our plates, got cash back, &looked around for new plates. we decided we would wait because we weren't sure for sure. we went to treasure hunt {best-EST store ever, for reals} and found the EXACT SAME PLATES we were going to buy at BBB for 1/2 the price. and if they ever chip or we need to return them we can go back to BBB! shrewd, very shrewd...]

we've finally caught up on the office. [we had missed spots so we had to start over at season one episode one... and we are finally up to the new ones] cutest show. we are the biggest fans. pop some popcorn &we are the happiest little cuddling souls.

we had the sister missionaries & elders over for dinner on sunday. can you say pot roast/carrots/onions/mashed potatoes?! it was delish. we enjoyed debuting our new green plates. i made gravy from the pot roast &even made a RUE. who knew? i do now.

random post of our little lives.

loves!