This blog of mine
Hello there! I'm Jillz. I'm 26 years old and currently reside in Texas with my high school sweetheart turned husband, Joseph, and our two sons Travis, who was born on October 7, 2010 and Nathan, who was born on May 15, 2012 I'm a full time mother to my two children, a full time military wife to my husband who is in the Air Force, and an RN.
I blog about a variety of things from the challenges and joys of parenthood, the bittersweet moments of being a military wife, the rewarding and stressful moments at work, and just life in general.
Travis got a much needed haircut today. Afterwards, we took both boys to the park to feed the ducks and play.
I’m so thankful that I got this Memorial weekend off especially since my husband had a four day weekend! I worked Thurs night so Friday we just took it easy, ran errands, and went out to dinner. Tomorrow we are going to a bbq.
We decided against going to Wolf Lodge and decided to go to SeaWorld San Antonio instead since military gets in free! We are spending the weekend there and I’m excited! The last time I was in San Antonio was when Joseph graduated BMT (back in 2008!).
Besides that work is going well for me! I love the hospital I work for, they provide such extensive training to their nurses, which is great since it’s been a few months since I’ve worked on the floor. Not really too different from my last job, but it definitely took a bit to get used to their computer charting. Other than that, my preceptor is great at answering my questions and my coworkers are really great.
Anywho, hope everyone is having an awesome weekend!
Me and my sweet Nathan. Some say he looks like me, what do y’all think?
Travis and me! We think we’re cute ;) Hehe well Travis is, can’t say the same for myself!
My baby is turning ONE soon and I need some birthday gift ideas! I am at lost as to what to get him. We have toys still from when Travis was his age so I don’t really want to pile on too many. He is getting much better with standing himself up. He has 9 teeth now! The 9th one just popped up last week. He is getting better with finger foods and has recently taking a liking to mandarin oranges!
For Nathan’s birthday, we had plans to take him & Travis to the Great Wolf Lodge in Dallas. Unfortunately, Joseph and I couldn’t take off on the days we planned for since Joseph has to do some training and I’m still orienting on the floor (more on that next paragraph). We will do something small for him on his birthday (May 15) with just the four of us. I’ll order him a cake/cupcakes and just have a fun dinner with him & Travis. I would love to throw him a big party, but we haven’t really met a lot of people here in Texas! We will just save that for when we vacation to California. We are definitely still going to take them to the Great Wolf Lodge, but it’ll just have to be pushed till last week of May to June.
Anyway, I started a new job! I finished orientation (general hospital orientation + general nursing orientation). I decided to apply to Med-Surg again because I didn’t feel comfortable (yet) to apply to specialty areas. I think this was a good route for me since the hospital I previously worked at was a small, rural hospital so it will be nice to get exposure to more interesting diseases at this hospital that I am working at now (bigger hospital) I was given 3 choices for the units I could work at when I applied: med/surg, ortho, and oncology. All three are under the Med-Surg division, but are broken up into different units (the whole units are actually med/surg, ortho, oncology, neuro, surgical). I opted for med/surg (the medical side rather than the surgical side) since it was very close to the unit I worked in back in California.
I’m also working nights again! I wanted to work days, but after considerable discussion with Joseph, we decided nights was the best course for me since 1) I’ll be the one to drop Travis off to therapy in the mornings after I get off and 2) We won’t have to spend as much on childcare since we need less hours of it with me working nights.
Travis is doing well. We are so amazed at how much he’s improved. I know I always say that whenever I write on here, but really he’s like a whole different child. Travis has also adjusted to going to my friend’s home daycare well. He likes it since my friend’s son is similar in age to Travis! They play together, which is great so that he gets interaction. Nathan on the other hand has separation anxiety issues at the moment, so needless to say he isn’t too happy when I drop them off. Thankfully, he only cries for a minute or two upon being dropped off, but it’s still hard.
Anyway, I am getting sleepy. Hope everyone is doing well!
I feel like this week has got to be one of the most worst weeks I’ve ever gone through. I feel very sad about Travis, but it’s time to wipe the tears away and get to work! I have surprisingly been quite productive regardless of the not so pleasant news. I had gotten the paperwork altogether for our enrollment in the Air Force’s EFMP program and Tricare ECHO. I’ve set up meetings over the next 2 weeks with Travis’s case manager (the one handling his therapy sessions at the moment), speech therapist, and developmental therapist. I can’t set up the ABA therapy yet until we finish our enrollment into Tricare ECHO.
Today, we went to a birthday party and I was observing Travis. He was so carefree and having so much fun being with the other children. He definitely likes being around other children, but he just needs guidance on how to play with them. He had fun playing with the toys and going inside the bounce house. I love how he’s always just so happy. No diagnosis will ever change anything about him or how I feel towards him. I just hope that people will respect him and accept him for who he is.
Today we attended one of Joseph’s coworker’s daughter’s birthday party. It was at Chuck E. Cheese and I’ve totally forgotten how crowded and disorganized (to an extent) that place can be. Anyway, we had a lot of fun! Travis enjoyed playing some of the arcade games (the ones geared towards his age group anyway). He absolutely loved the one where you pumped the balls into the dog’s mouth and the one where you tossed the balls into the alligator’s mouth. He even rode one of the rides there. Best part of all (to him), he had ice cream and cake for lunch. Nathan enjoyed too, he really liked watching the Chuck E Cheese characters dance and sing up on stage. Both boy were good. I had moment where I wondered if both would have fits considering the place was overstimulating (to me anyway), but they didn’t. They behaved wonderfully like always.
It was nice to get out and talk to other people. I feel like we’ve been holed up here at our house since we’ve moved here. Granted, it’s been a busy past three months for my husband who had a lot of training and what not upon arrival here. There’s also the fact that the past 2 weeks we’ve been wondering about Travis, his future, etc. It was just refreshing to be out, to see Travis run around and be around other children that were somewhat his age (almost all were older), talking to other adults, and just a little break from our boring ol’ routine.
We officially put away the Christmas tree and decor yesterday afternoon. The space that the tree was is now occupied by Nathan’s swing, which Joseph FINALLY assembled after oh you know being moved in since September! Oh well, Nathan wasn’t a big fan of it back then, but maybe he will like it now.
Joseph went back to work today, which means that I have to get up a little earlier and start the day with my kids. I’ve been so spoiled the past two weeks that he’s been off. He was the one getting up with them most of the time and letting me sleep. Thankfully it’s Friday tomorrow! Hehehehe! It was nice getting back to my old routine, I felt lazy and unproductive sleeping in.
It’s 2013 now, so what are some plans for me and my family for this year? Our resolutions so far (which I know that we probably won’t achieve all of them):
- Eat less processed foods and eat more fruits & vegetables. We’ve done alright in this area this past year, but there’s always room for improvement.
- Be physically active more. I’ve been trying to go to the gym at least 2-3 times weekly, so far I’ve managed to only go once a week or every other week the last few months. I know it’s better than nothing, but again there’s always room for improvement.
- Go back to work…. BOOO
- Integrate a lot more learning activities and social skills for Travis while we wait for a diagnosis and even after his diagnosis
- Be more organized
- Drink less Starbucks & eat out less
- Blog more
- Do more DIY projects time permitting
I look forward to every December so I can buy an ornament for both (well obviously before it was just Travis) kids. This year we got Travis an ornament that said “Big Brother” while Nathan’s first ornament said the typical “Baby’s First Christmas” I also ended up buying an ornament for Nathan (already) for next Christmas. You see Travis’s ornament that says “T” on it? Well I saw the exact same one at JCP so I went ahead and got Nathan the “N” one. I didn’t hang it this year, but we will definitely hang it next year.
I also felt crafty this weekend and framed Nathan’s homecoming outfit in a shadow box. I was going to do Travis’s, but his was hidden away in a box in his room and at the time (that I was doing the project), Travis was napping in there so I didn’t want to go in there and make too much noise. I definitely need to do it by this weekend so we can hang it up in their room.
The holiday season is hands down my favorite time of the year. I love the weather, the holiday vibe, and everything else in general. I wish it was Wednesday already so that I can start preparing for Thanksgiving and decorating for Christmas! It’s only the four of us for Thanksgiving since we have no family here in Texas and that’s okay!
For Thanksgiving I’m cooking up: ham glazed with brown sugar and honey (turkey is just way too much for us), stuffing, cranberry sauce, roasted broccoli, garlic green beans, two toned mashed potatoes, and banana cream pie for dessert. YUM! I better get to the gym on Thanksgiving morning or the night before so I don’t feel so bad about myself when I stuff my face come Thanksgiving dinner.
I’m pretty much done shopping for the kids for Christmas. I just need to get Nathan’s gift from Santa and something for his stocking. We’re not going to the mall or any other store for that matter on Black Friday because I honestly hate crowds. We’re doing all our shopping online.
So what are you guys cooking up for Thanksgiving?
Both kids woke up early (well to me). Nathan woke up at 0630 (normally doesn’t wake till 0700-0730) and Travis followed suit. I feel like an venti iced caramel macchiato with an extra shot of espresso is in order.
We have an appointment with the Rehab center later at 1430, hopefully Travis isn’t cranky considering that’s usually around his nap time. We’re filling out the paperwork for the therapists to come to our house. Services will probably start next week according to the coordinator that’s been dealing with our case.
