After the tornado

I'm sitting here, after a day of sleeping in, reading a book with absolutely no intellectual value, and playing a Lego XBox game with my girls, and wondering if this can really be my life right now.  So much has happened in the last few months, that it feels like a tornado has come and gone, and left me dazed to make sense of it all.

I just finished my last quarter of nursing school.  It was great to discard the much-hated dorky blue vest in favor of regular scrub tops.  I was able to precept in the NICU at a local hospital for 8 weeks.  I took care of some very tiny preemies, and some other sick newborns.  I was able to attend several births, including C-sections, and was able to "catch" the baby from the surgeon delivering it, take it to the warmer, dry and suction, and stimulate it to breathe.  It was exciting watching the babies breathe and get pinker, and see the joy in their parents' eyes.  It was so great to be a part of such a happy day.  It was also great to see very tiny babies grow and develop, and "graduate" to be able to go home with their mommies.  The nurses were awesome to work with, and I had a great experience.

My sister Jenn that has been living with me for the past year and a half got married.  My family all drove in from Utah for the weekend, and it was great spending time with them, despite it being such a short visit.  My sister moved out, and I was able to move the girls into their own rooms again, which has made everyone happier with a little more space.  It was fun painting their rooms to reflect their maturing tastes.  Alisha chose a Kermit green walls with peace signs on the wall, and Megan chose a turquoise blue walls with a beachy theme.  We found flip flop vinyl decals and put them on the wall.  They really love their new rooms and most vitally their own space where they can kick each other out when they want space and quiet.

I finished up with nursing school officially, and had a great time celebrating with the friends I have made there over the last two years.  We all became very close, from very early on.  Our personal space shrank considerably, as we practiced moving each other in bed, transferring each other to chairs, and put each other on bedpans.  We practiced finding sites for injections, looking at each other's veins, and even practiced flu shots on unwitting students on campus.  We bonded over our drill sergeant instructor, waking up in the wee hours of the morning, our fear, our mistakes, and eventually our successes.  We cried together, laughed together, and hugged each other through everything.  So many dropped out along the way, and we mourned together.  I'm going to miss seeing their faces in class and at the hospital.  It was so nice to just make eye contact, and have someone immediately understand exactly what I was feeling.  It was bittersweet ending nursing school, because I know I will probably never see some of them again.  But I have made great memories and great friends that I will always treasure.

Christmas came and went, and it has been so nice not having to study, and being able to spend time with the girls.  I have been able to actually clean and organize things around the house, and catching up on mommy duties.  Chris is a great dad, but not very good at being both dad and mom.  He has been pretty busy with work, too, and a lot has fallen through the cracks.  So I'm trying to pick up the pieces of where I've been slacking, and giving him less to worry about.

Now I am onto taking a Kaplan prep class to prepare for the licensing exam (NCLEX).  I will take the NCLEX sometime in January and move onto finding a job.  The job market is pretty tough for new graduates, so hopefully something will open up soon.  I really want to work in pediatrics, but will take any job I can get.  We'll have to see what pans out.

So now I am back to "real" life, and making a new one in the process.  It's exciting and scary to think I have absolutely no idea how this next year is going to go.  Stay tuned...