Summer Recap

We had such a great summer! 

Our first summer as a family of four was a blast! We had lots of day trip fun, went to North Carolina twice, and had fun around town with family and friends.

Enjoy the photo recap. :)  

What a Day!

Do you ever have a day that seems completely normal that turns in to something crazy? I guess as a Mom and an ER nurse, I should always be expecting the unexpected. Well, yesterday was one of those days. I thought the most eventful part of my day was going to be some potty training success with Julianna (finally!).  

We went to her last dance class in the morning. Those girls are so cute. I'm a little sad the session is over. After dance, Madelyn and I napped while Julianna played. I had worked until 3 am and gotten up at 8:15 to get ready for dance. I will not be sad about sleeping later on Tuesdays. We got lunch, then Julianna, Madelyn, and I made our way to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts for Julianna's art class. Julianna likes to walk around the statue garden, usually we go after class. We went before this time. We were early and the weather wasn't looking too promising. The theme this month is Impressionism. Julianna really enjoyed making her art. Anything that involves puddles of paint is good for that three year old! So far, this a typical Tuesday for us.

Class wraps up and Julianna wants to do two things: push the button to open the doors to get out and go look at the statues. Again. I start to say no to the statues, we've already been there, I was hoping to head home and catch a nap, and my car was parked on the opposite side of the museum. She asks again, I figure what the heck? We can make a quick pass by the statues and head home. We start making our way toward the statue garden, passing the patio with seating for the museum cafe. Julianna and I are chatting and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a man on the phone on the patio and a woman who didn't look so great. I took a few more steps, then turned back and asked him she was ok and if he needed help. I knew he probably wouldn't hear me. I walked back inside the museum, much to the dismay of Julianna, and asked the museum police officer how to get to the patio and told him there was a woman outside who didn't look so good. I made my way out there to check on her. I get there and ask the man if she's ok. I can tell by the way she looks that she is not. I tilted her head back and noticed her face looked a little blue. I check for a pulse. She doesn't have one. In "Mom voice" I tell Julianna to sit down, she does and finally stops asking me questions about what we're doing. I take Madelyn out of the Ergo and plop her down in Julianna's lap. I say to Julianna, "hold your sister." She does, at least for a few minutes. The museum police officer has followed me out, he helped me get the woman on the ground. He started doing chest compressions. I held her head back in an effort to keep her airway open. At some point, I tell them I am an ER nurse so they know I have at least a little bit of knowledge of what to do in this type of situation. Another museum police officer appears, I ask him if they have an AED. They do and I send him to get it. I take over CPR while they get it set up and the patches put on her. Miraculously, she was in a shockable rhythm. I backed away from her chest and made sure my children were far away. Julianna was still sitting where I asked her to sit and the man who was with the woman was keeping Madelyn from crawling off the patio. The shock got delivered about the time Richmond Fire and Richmond Ambulance crews got there. As soon as she was shocked, I got back to do CPR. One of the medics told me they had it under control, so I put Madelyn back in the Ergo and got Julianna and her art and we headed back inside. I felt like such a horrible mom, doing that in front of my three year old. What would she think? Did I just traumatize her? A man who saw what happened thanked me and I mentioned something about my worries about the girls. He said,  "they saw their mom do a great thing today." I felt better about that. I knew for certain I couldn't just keep walking and do nothing.

I talked to Julianna about what happened. I told her that lady was very sick and Mommy needed to help her. She seemed ok with that response. She knows Mommy works at a hospital and helps people who are sick or hurt get better. Most of all, she wanted to go look at the statues and run down the hill. So we did. Zac asked her about things later. She told him that "the lady was very sick" and that there was something wrong with her boobies. I understand her perspective, I did rip the lady's shirt open and everyone she saw touch the woman had their hands on her chest. Julianna mentioned something about her today, just telling me, "the lady was very sick." I told her yes, she was sick, but there lots of people helping her get better.

I do wonder what the outcome was. I have more than enough EMS and ER experience to know that cardiac arrests on TV are nothing like cardiac arrests in real life and the likelihood of a good outcome is small. I'm still curious. I also learned that I can never stop being a nurse. I can't turn that part of me off when I leave work. Well, maybe I already knew that. It was just reinforced yesterday.

Oh yeah....Happy Nurses Week!

Feeling Rich

I was just relaxing on the couch scrolling through facebook and thinking about all the things I should be doing instead. There are clothes to be washed, dishes to be put away, and who knows how many little things on the floor in the living room that need to be picked up. While I was ignoring all these things and facebooking I stumbled upon this little gem: "if you want to feel rich, just count all the gifts you have that money can't buy." 

Then, I started thinking about how "rich" I truly am. I have an awesome husband who shows me so much love and can always make me laugh. I have a inquisitive three year old with the most amazing imagination. "Mommy, why are volcanoes so hot?" "Mommy, where does a triceratops live?" "Mommy, can I be a princess when I grow up?" And my personal favorite, "Mommy, I'm a princess and you are the queen." I have a beautiful 8 month old (8 months, how did that happen so fast?!?!) who is growing and moving so much, I love her unique approach to crawling and who has the most beautiful blue eyes. I really hope Madelyn's eyes stay so beautifully blue. Grandma always said she hoped Madelyn would have blue eyes. I often think of Grandma when I look at Madelyn's eyes. I have great parents who are always willing to watch the girls. Let's be real here, they LOVE being Mamaw and Pampaw! I have a job, I even have a flexible schedule that lets me be home with my girls most of the time.

So, I'm going to go enjoy all the things that make me rich.

Smashing?

I discovered something new (well, it may not be new to the rest of the world, but it's new to me!) on Pintrest. I really love Pintrest, by the way. I have gotten so many good recipes and craft ideas. Anyway, thanks to Pintrest, I recently discovered Smash Books. It's like scrapbooking, but instead of fancy layouts and paper and stickers, you just smash all your stuff in the book. This is perfect for me! I'm a pretty sentimental person and I keep lots of little things that I think would be Smash worthy. I have a box of mementos under my bed that I didn't want to get rid of, but I didn't quite know what to do with them. I traded scrapbooking for Shutterfly. Less time and space consuming to chronicle my pictures that way. It'll be awesome to have a place for all the other little things again. I can't wait to get one started.

Madelyn Stats

Madelyn had her 4 month check up today. She weighs 12 pounds, 12 ounces and is 25 inches long. Dr. Snead was not super thrilled that she has only gained 1 pound, 4 ounces since her last visit, but she's happy, developing appropriately, peeing, and pooping (all the important things!). I like to follow the "if you didn't have access to a scale, would you be worried about your baby?" school of thought, so I am not at all concerned about this. She got immunizations today, too. That is my least favorite thing about the early well baby check ups! She tolerated it pretty well. I was actually more worried about Julianna seeing the shot process than I was about Madelyn's reaction. I tried to prepare her by telling her that Madelyn was going to have to get some medicine in her leg and that it would probably make her cry. When it was all over, Julianna told me Madelyn would like an orange lollipop to make her feel better. It will be sad day when lollipops and kisses from Mommy stop solving all her troubles.

A New Year

I'm a little late on this (as usual), but I'd like to make it my goal to keep up with blogging a little more frequently than a few times every couple of years. I have so many fun things going on in my life, I need to a better job with recording things so that I can remember them. I'm sure I have already forgotten silly things that Julianna has said that I swore I would remember. Anyone with kids knows you never know what might come out of their mouths! Just yesterday she said, "I'm scared of chicken nuggets." This was followed by, "Pupdog is angry, like me." She was mad that we were leaving the playground to go have lunch.

Obligatory playground picture.

On Breastfeeding

I got an email today and the subject read "How do you feel about breastfeeding?" Well, since you ask, I will tell. :)

I love breastfeeding. I would absolutely, 100% encourage any expecting mom to give breastfeeding a try, unless, of course, there is some medical reason that it's contraindicated. In my opinion, breastfeeding is something that needs to be encouraged more in our society. For me, breastfeeding did not come as easily as I expected it to. In fact, I pretty much hated it at first, but I was determined to make it work. It's natural, so it should come naturally, right? Do not be fooled, sometimes it takes work. After a couple weeks, we got all the kinks worked out and my baby is now a fantastic nurser! I am so glad that we stuck it out. It is so easy now, especially in the middle of the night. We wake up, she eats, and goes right back to sleep-no screaming while someone fixes formula. It also way cheaper...even if you factor in my love of Mommy Necklaces (fantastic necklaces designed to keep little fingers occupied during nursing sessions, but they're for anyone, not just mommas...check them out www.mommynecklaces.com). Nursing in public is not something I am personally afraid to do, but I know it often draws a variety of opinions. Feel free to share yours.