Making Time to keep in touch (day 12)

Making Time to Play (day 11)

Making Time to Improve (day 10)

Making Time for Lunch (day 9)

Today I decided to do something different. I had lunch, ALONE!! I don't know how exciting or surprising this is to anyone else but for me it was pretty serious! It's way out of my comfort zone. I can do a lot of things alone; grocery shop, check the mail, work out. But when it comes to going into a restaurant, ordering food and sitting alone I get terrified! It's mostly because I love the company of others (and talking to them:)). I remember when Dean and I started dating (a long, long time ago) he told me that he went to the movies alone and it blew my mind! I envied him a little and at the same time felt sad for him hahaha No but seriously, I was like "how weird is this guy?!". I thought, why WOULDN'T you want someone with you?! Then I kept dating him and realized he was neither a loner nor a serial killer and that maybe it was pseudo-normal do be in public alone? hmm... what a thought. It actually worked perfectly for my plans today because I was let out of class early and had a few extra hours to spare so I packed up my laptop and micro notes and headed to Panera. It was really nice actually! I got free wi-fi and a yummy lunch and left feeling smarter and full:) I may have to do this more often!

Making Time to Care (day 8)

The dictionary offers several definitions for the word "care". One definition says, "a burdened state of mind, as that arising from heavy responsibilities; worry." and yet another, "to provide physical needs, help, or comfort." Although there is a huge difference between the textbook definitions of "giving care" and "caring" it is extremely difficult to call yourself a nurse and be able to separate the two. I had a conversation with my husband a few weeks ago about my future plans in nursing and the subject of "care" has now reminded me of it. I told Dean that after finishing some further training in nursing I wanted to work in Hospice care. I told him I felt the calling for it and thought it would really be rewarding. His reply was shocking to me but in the same sense, not surprising. He said, "Why would you want to work with people who are dying, that sounds so depressing." His statement was so....true. To many of us the thought of dying is sad and lonely and not something we strive to do. However, most of us are not full of tumors. Most of us aren't struggling to take a single breath. Most of us don't depend of healthcare professionals and around-the-clock care to survive. Those are the people who welcome death. They welcome the thought of no more hurt, no more disease, and no more suffering for themselves and their families. These are the people who we could only be so lucky to surround ourselves with. If you look at these people (not patients, people.) just right you'll see the hope they offer, you'll see just how precious life is and hopefully, you will treasure your life even more. Everyone deserves to be respected and comforted in their final days and being able to be an advocate for those individuals is such an empowering position. It's about caring; providing physical needs, help, and comfort. But it's also about the burden, the worry, and the stress. To truly touch a life as a nurse you have to be able to find a steady balance. I feel as if I have really entered into a profession that fits me. I feel lucky everyday that I am excited to go to work and happy to do my job. I show up to work and I get to hear stories from those who are much older than I am about their lives and their careers and their marriages and I know that life is too short to take any aspect of it for granted. The best part about "caring" is you don't have to schedule it into your day! I hope we can all make a little more time to care about others and shape a more thoughtful world for those to follow us.

Making Time to Learn (day 7)

I was in my Microbiology class this morning, completely enthralled in everything our professor was saying (I love me some science!) when she paused the lecture to answer a couple questions. I noticed then that around the room students were doodling, texting, sleeping, EATING or just talking to each other. *disclaimer, a rant is about to start. skip to the bottom if you don't want to hear it* Not only do I find it extremely disrespectful (call me old school) to speak over a teacher, It's also really distracting! It makes me wonder how anyone can judge a professor (good or bad) if they aren't even taking the time to listen? It's not high school, you don't HAVE to be here, you PAID to be here, why not get your money's worth? Even worse, this professor makes it very clear to the students that she will TELL us what we need to know. So, if you're failing the test maybe you should start coming to class and listening? It makes me so sad to see that so many American students take our Educational system and learning in general for granted. It's been a long time passed since America has had world-rated education programs but we are also far from the bottom people! Take advantage of these learning opportunities and use them! *Rant over* So today I took my phone out of my pocket in class and placed it in my bag. For three hours I didn't take it out or check the screen. I just listened, took notes, and LEARNED something. It was extremely freeing and refreshing:)

Making Time to Pray (day 6)

It may be a bit cliche' that I've chosen to write about prayer on a Sunday but hear me out! The 31 day blog series I've started is all about making time and it made me realize that I have no problem making time for prayer and worship on Sundays (what else is the day of rest for!?) but I am not so diligent throughout the rest of the week. Sure, I talk to God more than just one day a week but writing this post got me thinking. Do I "make time" for God or do I just fit our talks in to whatever smiggen of time I have left in the day? Are my prayers really full of quality and meaning if I am giving them about as much attention as I gave my lunch? My post today isn't as much about how I made time for prayer as how I hope to make MORE time for it. I been fortunate enough to live such a blessed and charmed life and to think that there is one person-one God who made all of this possible, who knew before I did that this would all occur just humbles me to the core. I can only hope and pray that the blessings will continue and God will keep guiding our little family down the path he sees fit.

Making Time to Explain (day 5)

One of our good friends, Nicole and her daughter Leila came over for dinner tonight (Saturday) and left me with more good blog information than I know what to do with. One specific conversation with two year old Leila stood out though and I want to share it. It reminded me how simple, pure, and kind the minds and hearts of children are and how we could learn so much by talking and acting (loosely) like them. Young children don't judge, they don't discriminate, they don't hate (despite what they may scream at times) and they call it at face value. Most of you know who my miracle of a nephew Killian is and the long road of surgeries, hospital stays, and illnesses that he has traveled on over the past 22 months. Last year at Christmas, Lindsey (K's mom) made the most creative (and handy!) coasters that had various pictures on them. These pictures just so happened to include a few of baby K in a Santa hat playing with Christmas lights:) Leila proceeded to unstack the coasters and place them side by side. After reorganizing the coasters she began to examine them. Two of K and two of Dean and I. She looked closely at the coaster with Killian and his Santa hat and began to touch K's belly with her finger. She looked at me and said "boo-boo? baby has boo-boo? why baby have boo-boo?" while touching the spot where Killian's gtube is placed. I could see the curiosity in her eyes while a thousand answers raced through my head. I was mentally grasping at one that would be toddler friendly and maybe educational? So I replied, "baby has a boo-boo called a gtube. He's a very special baby and this boo-boo helps him put food in his belly." Leila took a few seconds to process what I said and replied "baby has boo-boo gtube? baby has gtube!" The simplicity and honesty that was her reaction warmed my heart. Leila has no clue what a gtube is and it makes no difference to her whether a baby has one or not. We should all strive to be a little more like two year olds sometimes (minus the fighting-nap-time, throwing-fits, peeing-their-pants, situations).

Making Time for Friends (day 4)

Before I became a mom I remember hearing people say that they lose friends because of babies or they just don't have time to keep in contact. One of my many goals after becoming a mom was to defy that stage. Although I don't talk to Missy (and my other friends) daily like I used to, (no lie, we would talk 3-4 times a day-AND we both work full time!) but I do still make a point to call and take the time to catch up or text and follow up on recent events. I want my friends to know that they are a huge part of my life. Growing up an Army brat I wasn't raised near my family and I have always considered my friends to be family. These are people I saw day in and day out, many of whom I stayed with when my parents were out of town and vice-versa. To not keep in touch or be in contact regularly just seems unnatural to me. Today (Friday) I called Missy on my way home from work just to catch up, we hadn't talked in about 3 days but quickly updated each other and got on to our normal banter about future haircuts, prime time television, and children. It may not have been an hour phone call (we're pretty efficient:)) but it accomplished what we needed it to. I can't explain how lucky I am and how blessed I feel to be surrounded by such amazing friends. I hope that I can always find a way to make time for them, no matter how long or short that time is.

Making Time for Mornings (day 3)

Most mornings consist of me waking up between 4:45-5am and feeding Myles, getting dressed for work, packing my lunch and my bags and heading out of the house by 5:30. No breakfast in bed, no coffee brewing, no newspaper or morning news. I barely give myself time to wake up before I scramble to the car. I will say though, I'm pretty efficient at rushing and getting ready in a flash in the mornings and it's in part related to the fact that Dean takes mornings with Myles. He gets him dressed, makes his bottles, and takes him to daycare; all things that I don't do most weekdays, unless Dean is TDY which he just so happens to be this week. I must admit, as hard as it is to fit double the amount of tasks into my morning, I do love spending them with my little boy! It's a nice change from my mundane schedule. I don't have to set an alarm on my phone, I just wait and wake up to my little human alarm clock instead. I get to ease in to waking up by feeding Myles first and then getting him dressed. Babies don't exactly respond well to being rushed so he keeps me in check in the mornings and makes sure I take my time getting things together. After Myles' and I are both ready it's time to let Linkin out and feed him. I forgot to mention that Dean also takes care of the dog! How did I forget that!? After the baby and the dog and the mom (ME!) are all ready it's finally time to go! At least I thought it was time to go until Myles coughed up phlegm which caused him to gag and throw up on him and mommy...This actually happened...I really can't make this stuff up...  I was actually wishing that today was my "Make time for a shower day" because I then had to go to work with baby vomit dried in my hair after changing myself and Myles and bathing him and then leaving the house 30 minutes later. (I did shower later though, DON'T WORRY!) I had originally planned on being at work by 7:30 (an hour an a half later than normal) and I managed to clock in by 8:30. Although I hadn't planned on making extra time for the morning, my darling, adorable, sickly little boy made sure that I did! Long story short: I love making time for my mornings with Myles, even if they do get a little messy:)

Making Time to Shower (day 2)

You may laugh at the subject I chose to make time for today. Unless you're a new mom, and then you're probably wondering what tip or secret I'm going to share with you regarding being able to shower in peace. Sadly, I have no secrets. I selfishly take Myles to daycare to shower in peace. It's the only way (other than when he's sleeping) to shower in true peace. Recently I had a conversation with a friend of mine who does not yet have children and my only advice to her was to shower in peace while she still could. Her response, "I've heard a lot of moms say that it's hard to shower. Why can't you just stick the kid in a swing in the bathroom?" That's a great question. Babies are smart. They know just how to manipulate a situation to their favor. No lie, Myles would be soundly asleep ready to nap and I "jump" in the shower for a quick rinse, 30 seconds later the alarms sound and my child is screaming like the boogie man is real and in his room. It's like he could sense my blood pressure dropping and my body relaxing and he needed to wake me up. So, today I made time to relax. I haven't been feeling well the last couple days. Call it change of season or just general yuckiness but I've been achy and tired and gross. All the recipe for a nice, long, hot shower. None of which I have time for on most days. I got my grungy, oily hair, sweatpants self together and dropped Myles off at daycare and then made my home to bask in my glorious, skin melting, steam shower. It nothing short of glorious I tell you and it was my 15 (or 40) minutes to make time for something without disruption and without multitasking. Day 2:Success.

31 Days of Making Time

After being inspired by a fancy blogger with an equally fancy name (www.fancyashley.com) who is taking on a 31 day blog challenge I have decided too to take on this challenge of daily blogging! I'm sure it will be ill-written and at times (more often than not) boring but It is a great reason to start blogging more often and an even better reason to polish up on my blogging skills! So, for my 31 day challenge I have decided to blog about making time. Not "fitting things in" or "multitasking" either. I mean good old-fashioned, clear your calendar, turn your phone off, shut the world out, time. More often than not I find myself playing with Myles while cooking dinner and feeding him and loading/unloading the dishwasher and letting the dog in and out and talking to Dean on the phone while texting a friend and checking Facebook/Instagram. Just typing my multitasking schedule out is exhausting enough, try living it! So, for the next 31 days I am going to try (REALLY HARD) to make time each day for one specific activity. It may only be 15 minutes but it will be 15 focused, uninterrupted minutes. The uninterrupted part is key by the way. We as a society have gotten so used to multitasking (and being pretty good at it!) that we don't even realize we are doing it sometimes. Day 1: Make time for my blog. I'll start simple:) I started this blog as a way for our friends and families to follow our journey as newlyweds and new parents living far away from our comfort zone. Along the way however I have put my blog on the backburner and even when writing blog posts I sometimes find myself preoccupied with the other million things I need (want) to get accomplished that day. So, tonight I'm sitting in our living room on the couch, everyone else in the house is sleeping, the TV is off, I only have one tab open, and my cell phone is sitting next to me but it is locked and was not turned on during this blog. I feel relaxed and realize that this is the way blogging should be; an outlet. One day down, 30 more to go! Can't wait to blog about what I make time for tomorrow!