Happy Halloween!

It's Halloween! Justin & I both had to work today... he is obviously in Afghanistan and I was working at the hospital all day. I was so worried that when I got home our house would be toilet papered or something... but it wasn't! I even talked to the neighbors and they said they didn't get one single Trick-or-Treater! We have a ton of kids in our neighborhood too - I just couldn't believe it! I'm glad I didn't beg my little brother Sam to come sit at the house for 3-4 hours until I got home to hand out candy... he probably would have ate most of it; considering no kids stopped by.

So yeah, for our first official Halloween as a married couple, I was dressed as a nurse and Justin probably spent the day dressed as a soldier...just like every other work day! I guess we will just have to make up for it next year! Maybe I will be able to talk him into some form of a couple's costume... or maybe not... But I know I could talk him into hitting up some good adult Halloween parties!

That's Why I'm a Nurse...

Sometimes, you meet patients and families who touch you deep down in your soul. Unfortunately, these moments usually happen when someone is at the end of the road. However, it's very humbling to watch spouses and families help their loved one through anything... and I mean ANYTHING! 

I witnessed the most amazing love between a man and his wife recently. Someday, I hope Justin & I have a love like that; one so deep, and so strong, that nothing can shake it... not cancer, not terminal illness, not imminent death. 

Witnessing this family go through what they were going through, and being able to help them make it more bearable and a little eaiser.... well that is why I'm a nurse. To help those people in need, and to be there for them as they walk down that road that ends in a celebration of one's life - truly "until death do us part."

For any of you nurses out there, you've seen this before and I'm sure you know what I'm referring to. The overwhelming sense of love and compassion, understanding and devotion, the "I'm here with you all the way... no matter what!" Even through the vomiting, the weakness, the inability to change position because it hurts so bad, the loss of appetite, the three bites of ice cream that means the world to someone who can barely swallow... that spouse is there through it all encouraging and loving no matter what. That is human love and human compassion... and THAT is why I'm a nurse. 

New Arrival

One week ago today, my sister and her family welcomed a new baby boy into the world: Weston Edward! He is Steph & Joe's third child and boy was he welcomed into the world by his big brother and sister!

It was an amazing and exciting experience to share with my sister and her husband of course, but what was even more fun was getting to see how my niece and nephew reacted to having a new baby brother!

Ava, their oldest, could not have been more thrilled! At one point, she told my sister "I'm so happy I could explode!" She will definitely be a little mother hen! She doted on her new little brother and could not stop touching the little guy!

Noah, at first, was a little bit timid. I think he was expecting a new brother who was the same age as him that he could rough house and play tractors with! When he seen a tiny little baby, he didn't know quite what to think; he warmed up really fast though to his new little brother.


It was so much fun for everyone to get to come see Weston the day he was born! John & Terra and Sam came up to the hospital to see the 'little' guy... although he really was not little! Even Justin got to Skype some from Afghanistan so he could take a look at our new addition to the family! It was a little sad for me that Justin couldn't be there for this family moment, but we did the next best thing and I feel like Justin got to be a part of something pretty special, all the way from Afghanistan!



Since Weston was born on a Sunday, Lauren also got to come down with our parents. I don't know if Mom and Dad would have let her skip school to come to Manhattan to meet her new nephew... so I guess it was good that he was born on Sunday.

I took the kids down to the hospital gift shop and let them pick out something for Stephanie. Noah was really excited about the "really spooky pumpkin" and he picked the biggest one available! If you know anything about our family, you know we all grew up growing pumpkins for 'extra cash' as kids and now my Dad still labors away all summer to grown them. Noah has lots of fun helping out with the pumpkin chores so he especially liked this arrangement! As soon as he could, he was telling Grandpa Chief all about it.


One thing for sure, is that these two little munchkins could not have been more excited the day that got to bring mommy and baby brother home from the hospital. They practically tackled Stephanie with excitement that morning when they came to the hospital the last time to bring them home! They sprinted through that hospital door and gave mom the biggest hugs ever! Mom being away for three days was all they would take!

After several days in the hospital, big brother and sister finally got to take Mom and baby Brother Weston back home to Greenleaf! They could not be more thrilled... just look as those excited faces. I'm so excited for my sister, Joe, and their happy little family! I'm even more excited for Justin to get to meet Weston for the first time in... well, about 8 or so months. I will be sending Justin LOTS of photos of him for sure!

Missing the Laughter...

After a month of Justin being deployed, I've realized it's the little things I miss the most. Laughter and goofing off is one thing Justin always gives me when I've had an emotionally trying day. Today, I've had to watch people close to me suffer heartache and there is nothing I can do about it. Normally, I'd talk to Justin & somehow he'd make me feel better by listening, giving an encouraging word, and then following it up by lightening the mood with a goofy grin or a silly joke. He is on a mission right now somewhere in Afghanistan- no light mood there. I pray... a lot...to keep him safe and to help those I love through their rough time. Then I know I have to lighten up and find a way to laugh through emotional heartache.

So, I've decided to look through old photos & videos of Justin being silly to make me smile. Here's a few:

It was date night, we decided to take a few photos & of course, Justin made some fun out of it with all of his silly faces! I couldn't help myself from laughing when I looked at the photo to find his faces and the fact that I had no idea he was making them at the time!

Oh this one is too great... we were having fun with our Kinect. He challenged me to a dance-off... bahahaha... no way he could ever actually beat me! He did try pretty hard... check out that booty! Makes me laugh every time I think about it!

This video is even more awesome! Here Justin is trying to dance; and he is trying really really hard! It was really entertaining to watch my man shake it!

Another one of my favorite frequent faces! SOOO GREAT!

Last, but not least!!! This is a Justin Price classic!

Yep, I'd say doing this has helped me tremendously. Just another way to help make the deployment a little easier and find a way to get through tough days. Even though he is physically not here, I find ways to feel close to him. Today, we have officially made it through one month - we are one month closer.

Everyday behind You, You are One Day Closer

Yep, I was having a very rough time with Justin being gone after only 3-4 days. All I could think about was how much I already missed him... how was I going to make it 9 months?!? My best friend, Ashley, called just to see how I was doing. As always, I have no resolve when it comes to hiding my feelings from her, the flood gates opened wide and the tears were in full force. I was whining, and crying, and complaining about how I missed him, how I didn't get to talk to him, how he wasn't on Facebook or Skype, he couldn't call often, how I was sooo miserable, how I felt completely empty, and just how.... how HARD this was. 

Ashley listened for quite a few minutes to let me get all this off my chest; I'll admit it, I like to vent. But then she proceeded to say, in her best 'not-to-bitchy' but 'just-bitchy-enough' best friend 'I-care-about-you-and-you-need-to-hear-this' voice, "I'm not saying this isn't hard...I guarantee it's going to be hard. But you love him, and he loves you. He's going to do his job and then come home to you."

At this point, I REALLY wanted to cut her off, how would she know? She got to see her boyfriend everyday! I just wanted to wallow on my couch in my own pity party a few more days. I replied "Uhuh..." in a pretty snarky attitude voice of my own.

She cut me off before I could even think to come up with anymore complaints: "Look, you've got to stop thinking about how much more time you have left before he comes home. You can't be sitting at home depressed all the time-he doesn't want that. You need to be more positive. We both know it's going to suck for you, but start thinking about how many days you've already got behind you...everyday behind you, you're one day closer!"

And this is why she is my best friend; that was EXACTLY what I needed to hear!

"Start thinking about how many days you've already got behind you...

Everyday behind you, you are one day closer!"

 So that night, I got on Pinterest and started looking for ideas to get through this deployment in a positive way...to countdown the days behind me. This is what I came up with: 

My sister made these vases for me with my initials on them.
The 'A' beads are days to go.  Every night, I write him a positive note & put in in the 'K' vase then move a bead to the 'P' vase representing the 'days behind me'.

This was pretty daunting at first. There's only four beads in the 'P' vase when I took this photo. I wanted to show Ashley I was really trying. I kept doing it though, every single night. I've got to say, it really helps. I make myself only write positive notes; my intention is to make him read every last note when he gets home! This is the last thing I do right before I turn out the light and attempt to sleep... it's actually been helping me fall asleep a little faster too!

Some days...

Any nurse knows that some days are just better than others. I leave my house at 0550 to arrive at work in time for morning conference before shift report and usually don't get home until just before 2100. Shift report is when you find out if your day might be a smooth day, an ok-day where it's not good but not necessarily bad, a this-going-to-suck-but-I-got-this day, or a full blown shit-filled day (these are the days where you want to heavily sedate all your patients, tranquilize their families, literally put a cork in every doctor's mouth, and then throw your spectra-link phone down a flight of stairs where it's sure to be run over by heavy machinery, and all this is just so you can take five minutes after 11 1/2 hours or running like crazy to empty your god-damn bladder in peace). Now remember, this is a 'might be' moment; at any point in the day, it can go from smooth to full-blown-shit-filled in a matter of seconds. Well, today was a full-blown shit-filled day (we're gona start calling that FB-SF-D for short) for me. 

Obviously, due to HIPPA privacy laws, I can't get into details, but this FB-SF-D involved discharging a patient, transferring another to the cardiac unit, followed closely by STAT-teaming another and ultimately transferring them to the intensive care unit, and finally hoping and praying there wouldn't be another seizure. God, NO MORE SEIZURES, PLEASE!!! To top it all off, I got to spend some quality time in my nurse manager's office (all I can say is thank goodness my nurse manager is awesome, been there before, and not mean) how I pissed off one of the physicians on a previous shift & the best way to apologize to that particular physician. Eventually, because I sent all my patients to other locations, I got put on low census, gave report on my remaining patients, and got to come home one hour early. I think this was the saving grace of my whole FB-SF-D! However, this is a blessing and a curse for me. A blessing because I got to get out of that mess a little earlier than usual AND I got to pee after 11 hours instead of 11 1/2! 

It's a curse because I came home to an empty, husbandless house. If you've been following along, you know Justin is deployed. We're only about a month in, but I'm new to all this deployment stuff. So naturally, I worry all the time, I can't get him out of my mind. He informed me today, through a Facebook message, that he's headed out on his first mission. And I thought I was worried, nervous and sleep deprived before! So naturally, I'm trying to find ways to keep my mind busy and pass the time- that's one of the main reasons for this blogging business in the first place. I'm having quite a good bit of fun figuring out the intricacies of being a blogger... but I also like to Facebook and stalk the crap out of my Facebook friends (yes I'll admit, you know you do it too). I leave my Facebook chat up no matter what just in case Justin bleeps me a quick message... so I'm on Facebook A LOT...That's when I found a link to a hilarious nursing blog on one of my RN friend's page... 

http://whatshouldwecallnursing.tumblr.com/

So, for all you nurses out there, when you have a FB-SF-D click on this bad boy and laugh your heart out! It may seem a bit morbid to anyone not in healthcare, but the truth is, we love our patients and our jobs... sometimes we just have to find the humor in the worst parts so we can go back the next day. So enjoy... as for me, I really do have to go back tomorrow so I should probably be trying to sleep...

As much as I complain, I do have to say that I know I don't really have it all that bad. My last thoughts before bed are always of Justin and his unit and all other deployed US Military men & women; they've probably all been up longer than I have and are probably still at it...doing what they do so we can enjoy the good 'ol USA...and continue enjoying freedoms such as posting on blogs like this saying basically whatever we want to say. So I say a little prayer to keep them safe from harm and return them home safe & sound to their loved ones... and also hope to God none of them have a seizure!

I've Married The Army...

We are almost 1 month into this deployment and almost 2 months into our marriage. This is my first official blog post, and my goal in this new blogging business is multi-focal. First and foremost, to stay in touch with friends,  but also I'd like to learn all about being an Army Wife and well just being married in general! I want to learn and grow in marriage in our own 'picture perfect' way, but also learn from others. Seems to me that every marriage has a few wrinkles to iron out in the beginning... but that's half the fun! Then when you throw a big wrench in a marriage such as the US Army... well, things get interesting fast! I didn't grow up around the military so there's lots to learn about supporting my man and how things are very very different, but yet still the same as any other marriage. So, here's to blogging, making new friends, learning new stuff, and sharing it with whoever cares to share!

  

It rained on our wedding day...
we were told that's good luck!

27 days after our wedding, I was saying good bye
way too early in the morning for what seems like way too long already!