Merry Christmas!

November

 

 

It’s November and it’s still in the 90s.  Too hot for me.  I’m missing the crisp Autumn air and beautiful Fall colors of Philadelphia.  I’m officially in my third trimester now and starting to slow down.  Jack and I went in today to have our pictures taken.  We’re so looking forward to the baby coming… it’s getting hard to wait!

 

 

 

Happy Halloween!

What a fun weekend.  Jack and I made our costumes on Thursday night, so that I could wear mine to work on Friday.  I was even voted one of the best costumes in the costume contest.  If you look closely, you can see a little pink bow in the baby’s head.  Hehe.  Saturday night Jack and I went to the Trunk-or-Treat at church and had fun passing out candy and seeing everyone’s costumes.  Tonight, we had our friends, Erin and Nate and their son, Charlie, over for dinner in a pumpkin.  It was yummy and fun.  The best was the individual size tapioca pudding pumpkins.

 

Halloween 2010 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Elder Uchtdorf’s Challenge

Jack and I sat down tonight to listen to Elder Uchtdorf’s talk: Of Things That Matter Most.  He talked about simplifying our lives as we turn our ways to the ways of the Lord.  Pheww!  I think that is my lifetime struggle.  It really is so easy to be busy.  If I cut everything out that’s on my calendar, I have lists of things waiting that could fill it right back up!  Sooooo… it’s my challenge for the next 6 months to seek a better balance in choosing the better part and refocusing on what matters most.

Swan’s Ugly Ducklings

Tamara, Lacey, Tate, Annette, Raimee, Monique, Liz, Tanyia, & Kay

 

     Have I mentioned what a great place  I work for?  SWAN Rehab (South West Advanced Neurological Rehab) is an outpatient neuro clinic.  We specialize in all things neuro.  The majority of our patients have had a Stroke or a Brain Injury.
     Tanyia and I started about the same time and Monique has been our OT mentor.  (Monique was my clinical instructor for my fieldwork time.)  Sadly she is moving on to another setting to broaden her experience at an acute trauma hospital.  Tonight the whole clinic got together for dinner to wish her a farewell.

 

     I’m so thankful for all that I’ve learned from Monique about how to continue the stroke recovery process and all of her out of the box ideas.  It won’t be the same without her!

WE are HEALth SoUth

I have been working for HealthSouth Rehab for almost 4 years (since I moved to Phoenix).  I work there per diem a couple of days a week (which means that I give my availability and they schedule me when they need the extra help).  It is an Acute Rehab in-patient hospital.  Last week was National Rehab Week.  It was fun to celebrate with all the Rehab docs, nurses, therapists, and patients.

Saving Money, One Hair at a Time

    I don’t really enjoy getting my hair cut, and I like paying for a haircut even less. Every time I go, I think about how Jack cuts his own hair and how he’s so willing to take new risks. Today, I did more than think about it- I had Jack do my hair cut.

    I tried really hard to not give any negative feedback in the process because I was determined to be happy with my haircut no matter how it turned out. Like Jack said, in the worst case scenario we can just go pay for a haircut after all. I ended up doing some of the front of the haircut myself, and I’m about as pleased with the results as I normally am with any haircut. I was even able to keep a bit of A-line.

    Right now, I’m actually window shopping online while Jack writes my blog post for me.

Get Together

                    Melissa was in town for an extended weekend in honor of Max’s birthday.  Grammy, Melissa, and Maile came over for family dinner tonight.  It was nice to get together and hang out.

 

Melissa also brought my finished Americana quilt.  (Doesn’t it look great!)  I had pieced the top together (with Andrea’s help on the layout and fabric choices) over the summer when I spent a long weekend in Henderson and Melissa offered to quilt it with her long arm quilt.  She used red white and blue variegated thread and even quilted stars into the pattern.  Pretty cool.  (I don’t have a separate family room from living room yet, but someday when I do, I want to theme the Family Room in reds, whites and blues.)

Landscaping

       Jack and I went to a Landscape show this evening.  It was nice to be outside and enjoy all the different yard ideas.  Here are a few pictures Jack took of ideas we liked.  Of course, these are all just ideas to store up for the future, but it is fun to look.  We are planning to put grass in the backyard (right now it’s just dirt and scattered weeds).  So, that will be our landscaping project for the Fall.  We need to grade the ground, so that when it rains, the runoff will go where we want it and not pool on the patio.  It really is nice that Jack enjoys yard work so much.

Aaarrghhh!

Did you know that September 19th is Talk like a Pirate Day? It is also Jack’s birthday. This year Jack turned 30, so I decided to throw a pirate birthday bash. Several friends came and we had a good time playing games and hanging out. The highlights were Mom’s Left-Right Pirate-Treasure-Pass game and the pirate cake. The invitation turned out pretty well too.

		Picturrrghs! VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

It’s a Girl!

This afternoon, we went for our Ultrasound.  The technician and the doctor said that everything is looking great and right on target.  They had to convince the baby to move and shift a little so that they could get a good look and… we’re having a girl!  We’re so excited and are really looking forward to having a this little spirit in our home!

 

18 weeks

 

Jack and I went into the doctor today and she tried to take a peak at how the baby’s doing with her office ultrasound.  She said that the images aren’t very clear and that she’ll send me in two weeks for a formal ultrasound, so they can make sure everything’s on track.  She wasn’t able to tell if we’re having a boy or  a girl, but we should be able to find out in a couple of weeks!

Expecting!

What are we expecting you ask?

• We are expecting to be tired.
• We are expecting to be joyful.
• We are expecting to be parents!

It’s hard to tell, of course, what is in the ultrasound picture, but the x on the left is the tip of the head and the  x on the right is the baby’s bum. 

~The baby is due February 1, 2011.  We are excited!~

Cerreta Candy Company

       

Today, Uncle Richard, Janet, and I took a tour of the Cerreto Candy Company in Glendale.  When we walked in it smelled sweet and minty.  On the tour the guide showed us how the chocolate comes to the store: in a 10 lb brick.  Then they melt it and mold it or envelop marshmallows, pretzels, caramels, etc in it.  We even got a complimentary white chocolate covered marshmallow.

Stone Mountain, Georgia

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jack and I spent the day at Stone Mountain in Atlanta.  The carving is a memorial to Confederate President Jefferson Davis, General Robert E. Lee, and General Stonewall Jackson.  The carving is bigger than the carvings at Mount Rushmore.

We took a skyride to the top and enjoyed the view.  When back at the bottom, we walked around and saw some glass blowing and a candy shop.  It started to rain a bit and we walked through a self guided walking tour of the plantation buildings.

It is surprisingly humid here (only because I am so used to Phoenix’s dry dry heat), but it cools off at night and has such a nice breeze.

What a fun trip!

Wedding Daisies

     Last Fall we planted our left-over Shasta Daisy seeds from our wedding favors.  They have taken off and we are really enjoying the flowers.

     Aunt Suzanne’s had success with her daisies too!  Check out her pics: The Zigs and Zags of Grammyzanne

New Kitty

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    We got a new playmate for Sasha on the 18th!  Of course, she’s not so sure about the whole idea yet, but she’s slowly warming up.  We had lots of name options, but have settled on Paprika.  She’s so little and so cute.  Her favorite thing to do is chase rolled up balls of paper.  She’s a happy playful kitten. 

     We’ve always adopted our kitties before, but they do come with neglect issues.  So, this time we found our kitty on Craig’s List from a family that had 2 litters of kittens, 4 kids, and 2 or 3 dogs.  Paprika is very used to lots of commotion and has enjoyed all the company in town.

School Rotation

Today was my last day of fieldwork in the schools.  Melissa, and Jan took me out for lunch to celebrate.  It was a fun rotation.  My home school was a pre-K though 8th grade, so I got a good variety.  When I started in January I thought that the pre-school was the hardest, but by half way through I really got a routine down and looked forward to my pre-school day.  Melissa is a COTA that works with Jan and she had lots of fun ideas on how to collaborate with the teachers and help her kiddoes progress.  Jan was my clinical instructor and shared a wealth of resources on treating pediatrics.  She had worked for years in Rehab and had recently made the switch to the school system.  I learned a lot during this assignment and put together a great resource file box for if I ever work in peds again.  I’m sure to use the sensory techniques I learned in my next assignment with my neuro patients.