Natalie being her amazing little self :)

Natalie was having a grand ole time banging on Nanna and Popop's piano. I guess I'll have to get her into piano lessons...along with gymnastics, dance, soccer, voice.....ok, not all at the same time :)

Natalie with Popop and Great-Grandma on July 4th















So cute! I love the faces she makes :)

















Playing in her new princess pool. I couldnt get her out of it!


















YAY! I'm a princess!


















This is my daughter in a nutshell....with a minnie hat on top.

In dinosaur world....yay...*note sarcasm*. it was pretty lame lol

She looks THRILLED, as usual :)

Goofy was the only character she would stand still for

aw, arent we cute?

vacay

the whole gang! from top left: john (mary's bf), mary, dad, grandma, me, natalie, kevin, drew, amanda (his gf), chris (katie's husband), katie, mom, patrick, anna (his fiance-as of last month). phew! the ENTIRE group went to disney world-minus grandma who was having surgery that week. we had a great time, although i wish we could have spent some more time with each other instead of splitting off into couples. but, atleast we all got to go.

The Happy Graduate

Well, here it is. I'm a college grad. I'm probably still in shock, because none of it seems real. I'm 25 years old, and except for a 'break' in Iraq, I've been in school my WHOLE LIFE! But now I'm done with nursing school, and I dont know what to do with myself! All I have left to do is take my boards this summer (exactly when, I have no idea). After that, I'm an RN! Wow, that's scary. Well, just intimidating really, it's a lot of pressure. You cant be a mediocre nurse...although I've definitely seen it, it aint pretty! All I want is to be effective, useful, thorough and caring. If I strive for that, I cant lose, right? I will miss all my friends though, many of them I havent known for that long because I switched from the evening program, but they've all been awesome, and I'm sad to be relocating. I wish I could work with you guys, we'd ROCK the hospital :) Good luck to all my fellow graduates, just be the amazing, funny people I know, and you'll be successful anywhere you go. Maybe we'll cross paths again someday! Class of 2009!

Counting Down til June 11th

I'm almost there, approximately 11 days until graduation!! My finals are on Wednesday, and then I'm gonna just pass out. Dont be surprised if I go into a coma-like state after that, possibly not waking until we leave for Disney World. I've got a lot of sleep to catch up on! I'm doing pretty good academically though, I've pretty much secured a passing grade, even if I flunk the final, so I'm feeling pretty good! All I need now is for everybody to just cheer me on :) Oh, and giftcards to a Spa would be great too, LOL! No, for real.....hehe j/k. I need to see a chiropractor in all reality, but I've heard once you start, you cant stop! So I think I'll suck it up for now. I'm just counting down the days, and so is Kevin, poor thing. I dont know if he can handle me like this much longer! I'm going crazy.....

My poor Nattie

I have to say, it's been a rough couple of weeks for Natalie! On top of Kevin been gone and having to be in daycare most of the week-while I'm at school and clinicals, the poor thing has been sick off and on since Kev left! First, it was an ear infection, which she got antibiotics for and it cleared up. Then, she stuck something in her ear, damaged the outside of her eardrum and it started bleeding, so I had to take her to the ER for that (it was past normal business hours-of course!). So, she had more medicine to take, just eardrops to prevent further infection. THEN this morning she woke up early, and I picked her up to cuddle in bed with me, and she was a little hot potato! Her temp was 103.8! I gave her Tylenol and took her to the Dr. later that day, only to find out that they dont know what's wrong with her. They tried to say it was Roseola (a harmless virus), but she had that when she was a baby and you cant get it again. So, I just have to watch her, give her Motrin to keep the temp under 101 and call again on Saturday if she's still hot. Hopefully she's not, because then they have to draw blood and possibly admit her. Kevin comes home on Saturday, and that's the last thing we need! This week is just gonna be nuts. Between my careplan, clinicals, studying for 3 tests this Wednesday, AND doting after a sick toddler (who's VERY clingy when she's sick) I just dont have the energy. HELP!