Pediatrics.
On to my second specialty rotation :)
My first specialty rotation after my second attempt at med/surg.
Just my luck, more med/surg but for little humans. At first I didn't know how to take it. Should I be happy that I have pediatrics right after med/surg being that the concepts are pretty much the same? or Did I want a break from all the med/surg crap? Well at this point I didn't have a choice. Pediatrics it was.
I'm not going to lie, it was hard. No room for procrastinating since it was only a 7 weeks rotation with 5 exams. It all started well, I passed my first, second, and third test without any issues. Again, lots of studying was involved. I had little anxiety and I was testing well. The material was easy to understand and I was actually interested in it. Then the cardiac section came along and although I loved it all I felt like I was back in med/surg the first time around. I couldn't get it all down packed and my anxiety started to creep back in. Let's just say it wasn't my best test out of the 5, but I had done well enough in the others that it really didn't affect me much. With one test to go I was having a little anxiety but it was all good in the end. As soon as the rotation finished we headed to celebrate. We were officially half way through the nursing program.
To be quite honest Peds isn't my thing. You need to have a calling for it and lots of patience, something that I lack even with being a mother. Don't get me wrong, the children were adorable and baths and changing diapers is a lot easier on little humans but giving meds to a toddler was not fun at all! Just imagine having to give meds to your toddler? Now imagine having to give meds to someone else's toddler? Big difference right. Yup, my point exactly. I rather give meds to an adult any day :) Whatever little patience I have went out the window the first minutes. Aside from that however, interacting with them was so much fun.
On another note, the very tiny humans were so much better to work with. I totally dig the NICU. I don't know exactly what it is about super tiny humans but I loved my experience in the NICU and I was lucky enough to have had an infant almost every day in clinical. It was definitively intimidating at first but I think that was more due to my lack of knowledge on their health issues and how to go about properly caring for them.
I didn't care much about the office setting neither. I didn't feel like I was really helping anyone. It involved a lot of parent teaching and gathering information for the provider. Kidspeace, a behavioral health inpatient setting was not my cup of tea either. It was sad learning about their family/medical history and to try and help them was very challenging. Is not my calling. Home health care was interesting, maybe it's something I can do after several years of experience in a hospital setting and with the proper training but at this moment is not something I want to do right after graduating. My calling is with the newborn and the premature babies which goes hand in hand with my love for Obstetrics but that's a topic for another post.
On to my second specialty rotation :)
The second semester, which was Med/Surg nursing, well that was a different story. I was screwed from the very first test. Definitively no common sense there. Remember when I said that "I was indeed smart enough for nursing school"? well by the end of the first month I was back at questioning my abilities to succeed in nursing school. I had never cried so much, I had never dealt with so much anxiety and frustration. I even took a couple of trips o the doctor's office regarding my severe anxiety and of course right away they wanted to start me on medications but after taking pharmacology I wanted nothing to do with meds.
I decided to take more of a holistic and prayer approach to my anxiety issues but by that time it was a little too late. I needed a miracle to pass the class and unfortunately I didn't get it. I failed out of med/surg and I had never felt so defeated. I honestly didn't know what I was doing wrong. I felt that I was studying a lot but the question was, was I studying effectively? It was very disappointing failing and letting my family down. They were a great support system helping me in which ever way they were able and here I was failing.
I remember coming to my mom after my first test and telling her "Mom, I failed my test." her response, "Damn Pamela. Is that why you have been killing yourself studying for? Is that why I'm picking up your lack, so you can fail your test?" and then she walked away. I cried my ass out! that was just my first test. I didn't even dare telling my husband. Then at the end of the semester having to tell them I failed the course was torture. I honestly don't even remember how I told them or what was their reaction. And quite frankly I don't want to remember it either.
I remember coming to my mom after my first test and telling her "Mom, I failed my test." her response, "Damn Pamela. Is that why you have been killing yourself studying for? Is that why I'm picking up your lack, so you can fail your test?" and then she walked away. I cried my ass out! that was just my first test. I didn't even dare telling my husband. Then at the end of the semester having to tell them I failed the course was torture. I honestly don't even remember how I told them or what was their reaction. And quite frankly I don't want to remember it either.
There was not a doubt within me that believe that I wasn't meant to be a nurse, so failing out of nursing school or changing careers was not an option. I emailed my program coordinator and told her I was planning on returning and she was a sweetheart about it. I began to analyze the past semester and figure out what I was doing wrong to change it for the next time. First on the list was dealing with my anxiety. I was determined to get myself together, focus, and have realistic expectations.
I had to wait five months before starting med/surg again. In between that time I found ways to study effectively and ways to reduce my anxiety, especially for testing days. Guys, nursing school is no joke. Nursing school has been the hardest thing I've ever done. Nursing school is about prioritizing, and that means your family is no longer #1 on the list. Nursing school is hard but it's not impossible if you are dedicated and focused.
The things that helped me this time around was staying organized. I planned a lot, especially my studying time. I did most of my studying in the library, I didn't study in groups, I focused less on the actual disease itself and more on the nursing care/intervention and the teaching aspect of it. I practice nclex style questions, studied one topic at a time, and utilized the resources I had available without trying not to get overwhelmed by all the options. I'm a visual learner so YouTube was my best friend.
I'm not proud about having to repeat the course, but I have to admit that repeating it was a lesson for sure. I went from grades in the 70s the first time around to grades in the high 80s, high 90s, and even a 100. I got a 100 on my Endocrine system exam! Things happen for a reason. Would I want to fail again? Hell No! Do I want to pass with a nice grade? You bet!
And that was my first (plus) year in nursing school. A complete roller coaster.
I'm officially into my second year of nursing school, with only nine months and three rotations to go. All through my prerequisites I questioned myself whether I would be good or smart enough for nursing school.And yes, although nursing school is no joke and takes a lot of your time, effort, and dedication I have come to the conclusion that I am both good and smart enough.
Let's start at the beginning. I've mentioned before that many times I have felt upset with myself for not going to college right after high school. But the more I move along through the program the more I am convinced that this was all part of God's master plan. I eep thinking that maybe if I would have done nursing school at 18yrs old I'd probably would have failed. I'm not trying to be negative about it or insinuate that I wasn't smart enough. I'm simply saying that I wasn't as dedicated or as prepared as I am now.
Nursing 1, which was Fundamentals of Nursing, was fairly easy for me. I like to think that this was due to my employment at the hospital working as a nurse aide. I was familiar with many of the topics, safety, infection control, and protocols parts of it. Nursing concepts, care plans, prioritizing not so well. Familiarity to the other topics made a lot of it seemed like common sense and I say that only because that's what I dealt with a work. The style of nursing questions and taking Pharmacology at the same time as nursing as was the most difficult part of this semester.
Clinical for nursing one was also pretty straight forward for me. It involved a lot of taking vitals, giving baths, and toileting patients which was what I did on a day to day basis at work. Now, collecting information, assessment, passing medication, and constantly being put on the spot when giving said medication, charting, and relating nursing concepts was something I as not used to. That took a lot of time to get used to.
My assigned unit was a cardiac floor consisting mainly of med/sug patients with some sort of cardiac problem, step-down patients which is simply patients that require a higher level of care but not high enough to be on a critical care unit, and it included a section of either 8 or 10 rooms exclusively for patients who had just had open heart surgery. These patients would be there several days being closely monitored and then be moved to another room out of the open heart area. It was a great experience from beginning to end. I had the opportunity to insert foley, give meds and hang IV with my instructor or a nurse, give injections, etc. the list goes on.
The best part of this programmed is that it is part of a hospital so the clinical experience are amazing!
I don't want to make this post super long so stay tuned for part 2 of my first year in nursing school.
To be continue...
* Trip to Ocean City, MD in June and August. For the June trip my childhood best friend and her little family joined us. In August hubby's sister was in town from California with her husband and children and they wanted to take the trip to OC since it had been years that they had visited and so we tagged along for that one as well. As always, it was a well deserved beach getaway.
* Steven graduated from the fifth grade and finished his last year in the program El Systema where he played the Viola for three years and taught himself to play the guitar. It was a bittersweet moment as that marked both the end and the beginning of a new stage in both of our life, Steven entering the preteens/middle school years as we embarked on being the parents of a teenager wagon.
* We had great baseball season. We made it to the championship as well as the All Star games and although we did not win in the All Star games it was such an amazing experience for all the kids. I am kind of looking forward to next season :)
* Hubby and I celebrated six years of marriage. I still can't believe that we are where we are today after all of our problems shortly after marriage. God is good y'all, God is good.
* After two years of not getting our family pictures we were able to do so over the summer. I love to freeze certain moments in time to look back on as the years moves on.
*I successfully completed my med/surg rotation in nursing school. There's more to this story so make sure to stop by and read about my struggles in nursing school thus far, which will be blogged soon.
*Weddings, birthdays, pool time, gardening, grilling, and several camping trips filled up our summer agenda.
*My little cousin came from the Dominican Republic to play in a baseball tournament and after it as over he stayed with us until late August. He was able to come with us to OC and experience summer here in the sates. He was very quiet and reserved and it was like pulling teeth to get him chime in a conversation so I really hoped he enjoyed his time here. The boys and him got along really good, specially AJ. I'm sure he went home and had tons of stories to share about my little crazy family :)
*I am proud to say that as of August 2017 I am an official USA Citizen!
*My little cousin came from the Dominican Republic to play in a baseball tournament and after it as over he stayed with us until late August. He was able to come with us to OC and experience summer here in the sates. He was very quiet and reserved and it was like pulling teeth to get him chime in a conversation so I really hoped he enjoyed his time here. The boys and him got along really good, specially AJ. I'm sure he went home and had tons of stories to share about my little crazy family :)
*I am proud to say that as of August 2017 I am an official USA Citizen!
This was definitely a busy summer, or at least it felt like it.
The best is yet to be.
It's been 6 years now that we've been on this journey we call our married life. And with each passing year I'm reminded that this journey will probably never reach a destination because in some way or another we continue to grow and evolve into different yet better versions of ourselves. We continue to grow, we continue to mature, and we continue to love and appreciate even more the little things we have done that has made us fall in love.
It has not been a walk down the park, but if I'd had the opportunity to do it again I'd still chose you and I'd still love only you.
This year feels different however. I don't know what it is, maybe it was the first 6 years of bad luck and the curse finally broke. For the first time since our wedding I feel that we are finally on the same page. We are able to communicate effectively and fight fair, well most times anyways.
I love that I have finally realized that there's more to a marriage then being married, having kids, and owning a house. Being married is like Anne Taylor Fleming says "two people trying to dance a duet and two solos at the same time". Being married is learning to accept and still love each other as we evolve into mature and even more unique individuals. Just because you reach adulthood doesn't mean you stop maturing, rather you continue to change your train of thought and the way you view life. Is not that your personality changes, more so your priorities and that's an adjustment your other half have to learn to accept.
Marriage involves going through many phases. The dating and honeymoon phase, child rearing years, buying or building a house (which I hear is one of the most difficult), career changes, children moving out, reconnecting, health problems, major life changes/crisis, the list goes on. And lets not get started on the in-between. But when you surpass all that that's when you know the love is real and long lasting.
I look forward to sitting on the sand at the beach at 80 years old as we talk about the awful years and the awesome years in our marriage. I want to tell our children, grandchildren, and great-greatchildren a love story worth telling. I want to break the cycle of divorce and multiple re-marriages. I want to prove that it is worth staying married through the not so good years because that's were a successful marriage derives from.
Happy late anniversary love of my life, may God grant us with many years of real love, peace, health, and happiness.
I love that I have finally realized that there's more to a marriage then being married, having kids, and owning a house. Being married is like Anne Taylor Fleming says "two people trying to dance a duet and two solos at the same time". Being married is learning to accept and still love each other as we evolve into mature and even more unique individuals. Just because you reach adulthood doesn't mean you stop maturing, rather you continue to change your train of thought and the way you view life. Is not that your personality changes, more so your priorities and that's an adjustment your other half have to learn to accept.
Marriage involves going through many phases. The dating and honeymoon phase, child rearing years, buying or building a house (which I hear is one of the most difficult), career changes, children moving out, reconnecting, health problems, major life changes/crisis, the list goes on. And lets not get started on the in-between. But when you surpass all that that's when you know the love is real and long lasting.
I look forward to sitting on the sand at the beach at 80 years old as we talk about the awful years and the awesome years in our marriage. I want to tell our children, grandchildren, and great-greatchildren a love story worth telling. I want to break the cycle of divorce and multiple re-marriages. I want to prove that it is worth staying married through the not so good years because that's were a successful marriage derives from.
Happy late anniversary love of my life, may God grant us with many years of real love, peace, health, and happiness.
WOW! Ten years!
Crazy I know. I can't even believe it. Actually I have mixed feeling about that.
Growing up I always dreamed of going to college but I was never sure what I wanted to study. Criminal law was always an option but I made it through one month of college back in 2005 and then thought "this is not for me". I find it both frustrating and satisfying the road my life took from there. Some days I wish that I would have gone to college and would have graduated within the 2-4 years mark, but then I think well maybe I wouldn't have been in the nursing field. It took years for me to realize how passionate I was about it and here I am ten years later half way through nursing school.
It hasn't been nothing easy. Nursing school is no joke. I'm always broke because I can't work too much. I spend most of the hours in my day either in lecture or studying for an exam. I yell at my kids more often then I'd like to admit. I'm stressed more often then not. I'm constantly eating, better yet eating junk. I've have developed crazy testing anxiety. My marriage have felt like a roller-coaster. I depend on my mom to pick up so much of my slack. I don't get enough sleep and I'm definitely addicted to coffee by now. And as of recent I have developed chronic headaches.
On the plus side of that I have learned so much!
Last week we had our recognition/half way mark ceremony and it felt so good. I am so proud of my self and the example I am giving my boys. I couldn't have made it this far without the support of my family, lots of praying, and the new friendships I've made.
I know we still have several months for the year to be over but I am so ready for 2018 to get here. It is going to be an amazing year!
"If you haven't thought of quitting, your dreams are not big enough."
•Family is the only person who will truly ever have your back. By family I mean siblings (and your parents). You may fight, get on each other's nerves, take each other for granted, judge each other and even be jealous of one another, but at the end of the day family is who will have your back and also back you up. So love them unconditionally.
•True love is not living a fairytale where everything is perfect and revolves around you. True love is trying your very best every single day, putting your partners needs before your own, fighting and making up before the sun goes down, having disagreements but choosing to make whatever decision makes your partner happy, taking responsibility for your actions and asking for forgiveness, forgiving from the heart, and trying not to strangle your partner while they sleep because you can't imagine a life without them.
•Motherhood is the most amazing and rewarding yet frustrating experience of a lifetime!
•Friends. Well, a good friendship comes once every hundredth year. Don't waste your time trying to have a relationship with someone who's intensions are not the same as you.
I'm 30! OMG, I am 30!
When did that happen? Oh yeah, just a few weeks ago hahaha. I'm so excited to take on this next decade of life. I have so many plans and goals to achieve.
To get started, I've been thinking about some things that I want to focus on this next year. I'm an adult now. Things are serious y'all.
So here we go, here's some things I want to work on and do this first year in my thirties.
Love myself. I mean like really love myself and learn to accept and be happy with the little imperfections. I want to stop comparing myself to others and appreciate what I've been blessed with.
Creating a routine. My life is chaotic being that I'm still working on my nursing degree so lots of my time is being taken up by school work on top of being a wife and a mother. All the more reasons to be super proud of myself when it is all done.
Get to places on time. Be better organized. Read more books (kind of hard with nursing books on my back). Do some volunteer work. Donate blood. Read the bible daily. Make time for those that matter. Spend alone time, enjoy it, and do more soul searching. Spend less time on social media (this is almost impossible in this generation right?)
Pray More, Worry Less, Be Positive!
Really focus on my health. I hear that is not as easy to lose weight with little effort at this stage so I have to really hop on it now. I would like to exercise at least 3x a week and record monthly progress. Eat healthier meals and less fast food -meal planning will help with this. Do a yoga/meditate challenge.
Send 30 handwritten notes to 30 people I appreciate. Thoroughly document the first year of my 30s.
Do a photography challenge. I'm eyeing Project 365 but it sort of intimidates me. Learn to properly edit photos. Run a 5/10K. Take a weekend trip to the Poconos (either winter or summer). Learn to swim properly. See a Broadway show. Learn to dance salsa. Take the kids to Disney World (I think I want this more for myself) ;-)
Learn to type with two hands (yea yea I know, but it's true I'm a one hand typer). Dress for your age, don't worry about what your younger sisters have to say.
Most importantly, Have Fun & Be Happy!
"What consumes your mind, controls your life"
Oh March. You were so good to me. Thank you!!!
Lots of things happened this month.
My dear friend flew up from Florida with her brand new baby :) we were able to catch up on life and the we got to me her husband.
Most of the bathroom face lift was completed this month. It's still not 100% finish but we're getting there.
We celebrated my brothers 28th birthday.
We took a trip to the ice skating rink. It was the boys first time and boy oh boy was it fun and hilarious hahaha. Definitely something we'll be doing again.
I turned 30!!! Oh yes, more on this soon.
After dinner and cake with the littles, hubby and I flew down to the Caribbean to give the 30s a proper welcome. 😉
My Dad's little sister came to stay with us for a weekend from the Dominican Republic. Lots of shopping and family time well spent.
Hubby and I attended our church's marriage seminar for the 4th year in a row now. Very informative, so glad we were able to attend.
This month we didn't get to attend bible study like we had been doing which made me feel so guilty. Hoping we get back on the wagon for April.
March was so amazing! I am loving life so much right :)
I’m not even
going to lie. I like the idea of turning 30 tomorrow and starting the new
volume of this book I call my life on earth. Its bittersweet t say goodbye to
an era where in most of it all I did was try to find who I was and my purpose
on earth. And although I have yet to figure it all out I have learned so much
about myself.
My twenties were
full of some great moments and some not so great, but let’s call those life
lessons. By reflecting back to those moments I can truly say I learned a lot. I
definitely had several lessons I had to repeat to grasp the concept but for the
most part I think I got it now. Aside from those life lessons everything else was
perfect.
*I married my
best friend. I may not have known so back then but the older we get the more we
realize we really are each other’s best friend. We have grown and mature so
much together and most importantly we have leaned to love each other
unconditionally. Marriage is hard, very hard. It requires patience, love, forgiveness,
and maturity. Yet for every bad day there were at least ten good ones, which I
wouldn’t trade for the world.
*I became mother
to two amazing sons. Half of the time I still don’t get this motherhood gig
right but seeing those sweet angels of mine grow and evolve into their unique
loving and caring personalities makes me forget about every gray hair I have
gained since their birth. They seriously are my pride and Joy.
*I have grown so
much closer to my mother. She is right up there with my husband holding a best
friend title. She’s my backbone, she seriously is. Life would be so much harder
without her and I am thankful for every day I get to have her on earth with me.
*My siblings on
the other hands are a different story. I feel that over these last several
years we have grown apart more than I have ever dreamed of. However, things are
turning around and I hope that as they grow older and mature more themselves
they’ll too start to realize what’s really important in life and who truly
means them well. Whatever the future holds for us they will be forever my
little brother and sisters.
*I’ve had the
opportunity to travel so much these last ten years. From Dominican Republic to
Puerto Rico several times, Costa Rica, Mexico, and several other states in the
country. I look forward to the many other travel adventures that are waiting to
happen.
*I decided on a
promising career. It has been a long and everything but easy of a journey but
I’m getting there and that’s all the matters. I like to say that I live a life
of no regrets because those experiences have helped in shaping who I am.
However, if there’s anything I would do different is in this section of life.
*Friendships.
Well let’s just say that the older I got the less friends I ended up having.
These days I seem to have a lot of acquaintances and about a handful of
friends. And I’m okay with that.
*I have spent
this entire decade working in the medical field. Learning, seeing,
understanding, helping, you name it. I’ve come across so many people and I have
learned so much about so many things. These years were years that developed my
work ethic and really taught me about the meaning of life.
*Heath &
Fitness were not a major part of this decade but will for sure be a part of the
next. I like to call the last ten years stepping-stones ;)
*Last but not
least, my faith and religion. The biggest most gratifying decision I made this
decade was to follow Jesus, to trust him and believe on his promises. Don’t
misunderstand me I’m not perfect. I fail a lot. Yet being able to see the
progress I have made over the years motivates to continue on this path. I am so
happy about my growth in this area of my life. I am no where near perfect nor
do I expect it to be by the end of my time on this earth but one thing I know
for sure is that with each passing day I become more aware of the importance of
prayer and faith in God.
I have to
admit that I have yet figured out all there is to know about life but I can
finally say that I have figured out part of who I am and what I want out of
life. So no, I will not be saying goodbyes to my 20s, I rather say Thank You.
Thank You for the lessons learned.
Life in general
Life is a
beautiful gift and you have the ability to make it as worth it and as
meaningful as you wish. There is truth in saying that with age your priorities as well as you
maturity level changes. Even just last year when I got the idea of writing this
post I wondered, “well… what would I say? I still don’t feel stable enough to
write anything "good" about my 20s. Little did I know that I was living a
negative lifestyle even though I would always make it seem otherwise. It also
didn’t ponder that it would take pretty much the full year to come to my senses
and change my ways. It was one of those things where I wasn’t practicing what I
was preaching.
Today however I
have concluded that my 20s were amazing! I lived a healthy decade both
physically and mentally, meet amazing people (whether or not some were just
phase friends), married a wonderful man, had two amazing smart, funny, and handsome sons,
moved into a spacious house, and worked wonderful jobs that taught me a lot and
prepared me for this next chapter of life. The list is endless!
Let’s review
some facts.
Every single
person on this earth grows up with different upbringings, experiences,
circumstances, luxuries, etc.
In my case, I
was born in a third world country and was raised by a single mother.
I didn’t really
have a father figure for long. The first 6 years of my life my father was in
prison for 5 of those years. Two years later my mother, siblings, and I move to
the United States without him. And two years after being here my father died.
I grew up in the
projects with a mom whose main concern was to make enough money to feed us and
clothe us. Which means she wasn’t really an involved parent with our education.
Not to mention she never truly learned the language.
Due to her
absence I was promoted to mother figure for my younger siblings. I was cooking meals
by age 11 and was responsible for dropping off my siblings at daycare and school
before getting myself to junior high.
I left my
mother’s house at age 15 with a “boyfriend”. Got a job and started supporting
myself. Of course that didn’t last long.
By age 17 I was back home. Shortly after, I found myself in an abusive
relationship that almost destroyed me.
A year after
that I met my now husband and got pregnant at 18. It wasn’t easy. I always knew I wanted to go to college and have a career yet I had no
ambition or true motivation on getting started nor did I know exactly what I wanted out of
life. I was simply going through the days as they came. Until my husband talked
some sense into me, of course, and motivated me to reach for the stars.
He on
the other hand had a completely different life story than mine.
All through my
20s I wondered what it would have been like if I would have had a different
childhood. I was envious of all the people I came across by that had a dad, who
knew what they wanted from an early age, who were smart, ambitious, and go
getters with an extrovert personality. Pretty much for the majority of my 20s I
compared myself to others while neglecting all the blessings and good I had
right in front of me.
Today, although
it took long enough, I have realized that the grass in not always greener on
the other side. From that other side my grass looks greener to someone else.
We are all
different. We all grow up with different experiences. We all want to be happy.
What we don’t realize is that we block so much happiness from entering our
lives by focusing on other people’s lives and their blessings instead of
enjoying ours.
If we want our
grass to look greener than our neighbors' then we must water our own lawn
instead of wasting time wondering how and why theirs look better.
I know still have so much growing to do and and so many things I want to achieve but right now I know that I am exactly where I need to be. My perspective on life has change so much. My priorities have shifted. I am so much more positive. Life feels good. It feels right. I can finally say that I have done some effective soul searching and that I am happy with my life.
Today I am thankful and feel blessed to be where I am and who I am.
to be continue...
Oh February. You will always be a dear month to me for many reasons but mainly because just like December with it festivities and the way it makes me feel, the cool air that surrounds this month fills me with me love and everything that is happy and good.
Although unlike January, February felt like it lasted an eternity. Even today as I write this all I can think about is, "is it really only February 28th?" Hahaha. I feels like it lasted forever. Like I didn't accomplish much of anything and pretty much everything all at the same time. Maybe it was just a bittersweet month as I accepted that my 20s will soon end and a new decade of life will begin. I feel like I learned a lot about myself believe it or not. I feel mature. I feel grown. I think back to when we first came to the USA almost twenty one years ago and how my mom was my soon to be age. A single mother to three kids under the age of 10 in a country where she didn't speak the language and had the support of everyone and no one. Gosh it sounds crazy realizing that back then the only thing my mom was able to focus on was working to support and provide for her children meanwhile two decades later she is living the life with her husband. I don't know about you but I think she should have been "living the life" back then. No?
Anyways that's besides the point. I guess the point I'm trying to make now is that back then I thought my mom was "old" but reaching her age from then in sixteen short days make me realize that she wasn't old at all in 1997. Being head of household, working a 8-5 job, cooking daily, having multiple children, etc is pretty much the norm at 30 whether you're married or a single parent. Unless you are otherwise single and children free, then life is probably totally different right?
This month I did lots and lots of cooking. From new recipes to traditional Dominican recipes I must say that I have surprised myself in my cooking skills and the ability to feed my boys.
My brother and I have been of great help and support for each other these last months. It feels nice to share the bond that we share as siblings. Early in the month we even got our kiddos together to go watch Disney On Ice. It was a great time and a beautiful experience to watch them all enjoy this so much :)
As a family we continued to attend bible study at our church and my brother joined us several times as well with his daughters, that was nice!
I did lots of cleaning, de cluttering, and reorganizing around the house. So much so that we even started giving our bathroom a facelift. Eekkk! So exciting. I hope to share that adventure along with our Kitchen Reno this month.
I tried focusing a lot on exercise and healthy eating this month and well, simply put I failed. I did eat healthier most of the month but most days dinner was done kind of late. And I only attended the gym about a handful of times. But I'm not giving up. A little bit of improvement each month is better then no improvement at all.
We had beautiful weather several times this month and one "real" snow day.
Hubby and I had a total of 3 date nights. Like actual outings with just adults. Ahhhh that was nice! We love our boys but it is nice to have adult time once in a while. One of those times we meet up with two my cousins and their husband and fiancé. Definitely time well spent :)
And of course my boys got bigger both physically and mentally, is like who are these kids??? Check out this comparison of AJ and Steven with me both at 4 years old :) #priceless
And this just about wraps it up. So far 2017 has treated us good. Looking forward to the next 10 months and all the adventures that they'll bring.
This month felt like it came and left way too fast while at the same time it felt like it lasted an eternity. My little family and I welcomed the New Year by celebrating with my best friend and her family. She had lots of food and a pretty nice set up at her house where she invited her. Lowest family and friend to ring in the New Year together. We hadn't spent the NYE out of our home in years. We would always stay in and simply watch the ball drop from the comfort of our couch. Most of those times the ball would watch us because we would be asleep even before midnight. However this year I was determine to dig deep into the festive gal who was burrows deep Year after year and what do you know, she came out and enjoyed herself even more than she had expected. Specially because she had everything she needed right next to her, her family :)
The next day we celebrated Penelope's christening.
And a couple days after that we celebrated Adrian's 4th birthday. Can you believe he's already 4 years old and will be starting kindergarten next year? Holy mother has time flown by. I feel like it was just last month I was writing pregnancy update posts. I seriously have no idea where the last few Year have gone to. Getting back to his birthday celebration, on the second of January we gathered immidiate cousins and headed over to Chuckie Cheese where they all played, ran, are pizaa and cake, and had a grand ol' time together. I love having this picture as memory because I know it will mean a lot when they are all grown up with kids of their own. The only one missing is Penelope but it's ok. We'll get another picture with her in it soon enough.
On his actual birthday we stayed home and had my best friend and her kids come over to sing happy birthday to him. He was having the time of his life celebrating over and over again his birthday. I think we may have confused him a bit jajaja. Sorry buddy.
The following weekend I started the 21 day fast with my church. It was hard let me tell you. I didn't prepared for it as well as I should of and needless to say I failed at it half way through it. I had only done this fast once before and fasting is, or rather was, something I wasn't too familiar with until just a couple weeks ago. Even after starting the Daniel fast i was super confused and it was t until mid way through that I truly understood the principles and practices of fasting. Next year I'll be better prepared for sure. Until then I want to try faster for skitter periods because I honestly felt a change within me in the past month.
On another note, I want to add that the family and I have been consistent in attending bible study every week since the end of December. It makes me so happy to see the kids enjoying bible study just as much as I do. Even the hubby plans his day around bible study on Wednesdays. God is good friends. God is good and his timing perfect :)
We also celebrated Lito's 12th birthday this month. I can't believe this is his second birthday with us already. You see what I mean. Time does fly. And he truly is a good kid. Is unfortunate that he is in this situation but I have faith that he'll pull through it just fine.
I met with my coworkers fur dinner one night and it was much fun. I'm beginning to feel very attached to these girls. It'll be sad when we all go our separate ways in the nearing future.
There's not much to say about Steven Jr except that my child his growing up fast. He is starting to get into girls, caring about his looks, and getting into fashion and other sports. He even pull a stunt last weekend where he and some friends from school planned on going skating over the weekend and he actually convinced us on taking him. He even used his allowance money to pay for himself and Lito. Umm... I wonder if the teen years are closer than I think.
Lastly, hubby and I have been doing pretty well in the marriage department. I'm proud to say that we are beating our 12 years dating anniversary and that life has been pretty sweet lately. We ended the year attending my work "Christmas Party in January" event and that was pretty fun. A lot more fun than last year actually ;)
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