The Jazzies

I just finished my second semester of nursing school. You know, it's odd, really, because in some ways, it feels like I've been in school for FOREVER, in other ways, I'm shocked and amazed at how quickly time is flying by. This semester, I had 4 classes. One class was really composed of 3 classes, but you only got 1 grade for it.

Nutrition: A-

Pharmacology: A-

Chemistry: A

Nursing Fundamentals: A-

Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, this means that I have gotten straight A's thus far through school, and I couldn't' be happier about it! I've worked freakishly hard, but I have a little trick up my sleeve. I call them the Jazzies.
The Jazzies, my friends, are my good luck charms. I wear them to school whenever I have a test, I need a little bit of luck, or am just in need of a little bit of extra Jazz. Learning a new skill in lab? Don't worry, the Jazzies will get me through it! Have a REALLY tough test coming up? No fear, rub the Jazzies, and you'll do just fine.

So, if you're ever knocking on death's door, and I come in, wearing a little bit of Jazz? Don't you worry, you're in good hands.

The Great Corn Fiasco of 2009

Remember last year when I decided to come home with well over 200 lbs of peaches? Do you think I learned? Bah! Absolutely not! This year, I decided we needed 11 dozen ears of corn around our house to shuck, decob, and deep freeze to enjoy corn throughout the winter.

It took way longer than I planned, and Jason ended up doing way more than HE planned, but we finished our project! Hazen was so cute, because he loved sitting on the porch with Jason, shucking the corn. Every time he would pull some of the husk off, he would jump up and down and exclaim, "I did it!" Then, when the corn was ready to be de-cobbed, he would bring it to me, (usually with a bite or two taken out), and say, "Here Mommy. I'm a helper!" That stuff just doesn't get old.

Our freezer is full of corn, but we look forward to the delicious treats we will make with it throughout the winter.

An Outing for the Lees

We don't get away NEARLY as much as we should, or would like. So, on Labor Day weekend, we decided to take a nice little getaway and go to Midway for Swiss Days. I really enjoyed spending time in the car with my darling little family, even if it was only a 35 minute drive. Going through the canyon reminded me how close we live to such beautiful surroundings- and we need to take advantage of them as often as possible!

I was happy as a clam because I got to get some new cute crafty things for the house! Hazen got to see a horse up close and personal, and well, Jason, he got to entertain the boy while I shopped. What a keeper I've got! I'm so lucky to have such a cute family. I sure love them!

My Most Recent Adventure

So. I wasn't going to blog this, because I didn't want it to be an awkward foray into imagining what I look like naked, BUT, given the funny adventure it's turned out to be, I thought I'd throw all caution to the wind. If you know me, you know as a Hazen girl, I've got boobs. You also know that I hate aforementioned body part nearly more than, oh, Mustard. And War. And People who drive with Dream Catchers in their cars. (Seriously, these people must be stopped.)

So, I decided to take advantage of the killer insurance Jason has through work, and I did something about them. More specifically, Dr. Cheng did something about them, surgically, at Intermountain Medical Center on Friday morning at roughly 7am.

I checked in and had a grand old time with my nurses before surgery. The anesthesiologist met with me, asked if I had any questions, and as soon as I said no, he slipped me something that he said would make me not especially care about anything in the world. The last thing I remember was laughing hysterically before everything went blank. 6 hours later, I was awake, and vaguely aware that something had happened to my pants. If you've never been under general anesthesia, do it. It's quite the experience.

The first thing I remember hearing was a nurse asking someone how to administer Potassium. "Should I hook it to a line, or push it?" If you don't understand precisely what this means, google it. Come to find out, they weren't even talking about me, but I made sure to inform them that I enjoyed the way my heart was beating, and would appreciate it if they didn't kill me via a bolus of Potassium.
There was a lot of drama that I had with the incompetent nurse that is for another post for another day, but after Jason had to leave to go get Hazen kicking and screaming from Heather's house (the kid needs a sibling), my friends Heidi and Amanda came to spend the night with me in the hospital. They were JUST what I needed as I was feeling awfully lonely and sad before they came, and laughter truly is the best medicine. I love those girls for spending time with me even though I was on A.LOT of drugs.
Don't mind me and my teeny tiny small eye. And O2. I was having a hard time keeping my sats up, but a little bit of Oxygen on the Canula did the trick.

Since coming home, the pain hasn't been bad at all, but I want to puke. All.the.Time. In fact, having had a C-Section makes the pain from this procedure seem like a walk in the park. I have to sleep in a throne of pillows, which makes the good 'ole Cal King seem quite a bit smaller, but Jason is a trooper. Hazen's been really good with things, although I'm sure he's very confused at why he and Mom can't wrestle like we used to.

So, next time you see me, it makes it a lot less awkward to just ask to see a profile shot instead of giving me the wandering eye to check me out. Remember, I've been trying to get people to look me in the eyes me whole life- 25 is never too late to start!

The Little Asthmatic

Anyone who knows Hazen knows that the kid gets winded. Really, really, really easily. As in, much faster than any 2 year old, and possibly any person in their mid 80's ever should. We knew that Hazen would probably have some respiratory issues pop up as a result of his prematurity at birth, but when the popped up, they really came out of the blue! It started with him getting winded if he would run around outside too much. Then, if he was running around crazy in the house for a long time, he would start to cough. Finally, about a week or two ago, we could hardly make the poor kid laugh or he would be on the floor in a fit of coughs. Luckily, his 2 year well child visit was a few days later. I took him to his amazing Pediatrician, Dr. Lauret, and it was very quickly determined that our little buddy has a pretty decent case of Childhood Asthma. We already have a Nebulizer to give him breathing treatments when his breathing is giving him problems, but the doctor decided to go from PRN (as needed) treatments to twice a day.

While this diagnosis made me a little sad for my baby who can't run and play quite as much as other kids can, it made me so grateful for modern medicine, and its ability to help our little boy so easily! It's incredible seeing how Hazen associates the Nebulizer with feeling better. How many 2 year olds do you know that will sit on your lap and hold the medication in their mouths for 15 minutes twice a day? When we tell him it's time for medicine, he runs right to the couch and clamours to get into our laps. What a blessing for Hazen to understand that we're just trying to make him feel better!

We also had a close call with the Pharmacy. When we got the prescription for his Nebulizer, we got one for Albeuterol, which is for Acute Asthma, and Pulmacort, which is a steroid that would treat the chronic asthma. After paying a ridiculous amount of money for the prescription, I was on my way. I got in the car, and started fiddling around with the Pulmacort- to see how many days my $98 dollars would last. (The answer was that I would have to refill it 2x/month. Ouch.) I realized that I couldn't figure out how to open the dang medicine, so I drove around to the Drive Through Pharmacy. While the Pharmacist was trying to figure out how to open the medication himself, I decided to look at the insert for the med. I had taken a test in Pharmacology about medications for Asthma the day before, so I felt pretty happy that I was about to make sense of a lot of the technical mumbo-jumbo on the insert. As the pharmacist was taking his fine sweet time, I felt the need to flip the insert over and keep on reading. As if the words were in bold type, size 30 font (they weren't), I saw that the particular medication was contraindicated in children under 6 years old. I immediately asked the Pharmacist, who told me that sometimes Pediatricians prescribe things slightly outside of the recommended doses for the medication. Ordinarily, I would have taken his advice and been on my way, but this time I felt the need to do some more research. I kept on reading until I came across another portion in the insert that instructed its users that the medication was absolutely not to be taken more than every other day. We were prescribed to give Hazen this medicine twice a day- 4 times the recommended amount. I informed the Pharmacist that there was something that was wrong, and with a look of concern in his eyes, he told me he needed to look at the Prescription another time. Long story short, the prescription that was written wasn't completely clear, but the Pharmacy opted not to call to clarify. He looked at me earnestly and told me that he didn't know HOW I caught it, but he was so so glad that I did. This medication had the potential to do Hazen great harm.

I got into my car and tears ran down my face as I drove home, audibly thanking my Heavenly Father for helping me catch the mistake. I thanked him for letting me have the test when I did, because if this mistake had happened even one week earlier (when Hazen's Dr appointment was actually supposed to be), I simply didn't know enough about the medication to catch it. I thanked him for a mind that could retain information, and, for out of all the times that I miss promptings and don't catch on to the things that He wants me to, letting this time be one that I did.

Camping out At School...again

Do you remember last semester when we camped out all night to get the schedule that we wanted and needed?? Well, we did it again this semester!! Jason and I picked up Micah and Amanda at 3am, and we headed over to the school. We camped out and tried to sleep as much as possible before our clinical math test at 11am. Micah, Amanda and I were relegated to the grass while Jason slept comfortably in the car. We were tired, but we had fun, and most importantly, got the schedule that we needed!

HIDEOUS Pictures, but Hilarious Situation

So, a few weeks ago, I got really sick. I had been studying all day, not drinking enough water, coupled with the fact that I had gone boating the day before and hardly consumed any beverages. Needless to say, later in the afternoon, after almost passing out a few times, and not even being able to lift my head up, we decided to call Aubrey, who was working at the Fire Department to come give me an IV.

Now, my friends, if you ever HAVE to get an IV, having it whilst laying in your living room on the couch is definitely the way to go. I looked horrible, and was sweating profusely, hence the killer pit stains, but seriously after I had received the IV, I was a new woman! We just thought it was pretty funny having the ambulance come over to our house, but it was exactly what I needed! I'm a pretty tough stick, and it took 3 tries to finally get the IV in. Brandon blew my vein, which HURT a lot more than I had ever imagined. Next semester, when we get to start doing IVs, expect lots of practice to be going on in our house! Any volunteers?

My Baby's Growing Up

I think I'm realizing more than ever lately how quickly Hazen is growing up. For his 2nd birthday, we weaned him off of his naptime and bedtime bottle. He didn't even bat an eye. I know you all are probably thinking, "Are you kidding me!?! The kid is 2, get that bottle away from him!" Hazen never took a binky, and until recently didn't have a stuffed animal that he loved, so his bottle was truly his one comfort object. I think that Jason and I loved it just as much as he did, because it was a time that we could snuggle with him without any interruptions. Now, Hazen has "puppy", and as long as he has him for naptime, it is completely seamless. We sing him songs before he goes to sleep, and he absolutely loves it. He snuggles up with us, and sometimes helps sing along. It really melts my heart. Hazen's been alive for nearly 800 days, and it shocks and amazes me how my love becomes deeper and deeper each day. He truly is the center of my life and what I was put here for.

He's also becoming so much more self-sufficient. When I'm getting ready in the morning, he'll either come hang out and play around the bathroom with me, or lay on our bed and read stories. He's becoming so good at articulating his needs. Just today, while we snuggled on the couch, he looked at me and said, "I love you Mommy". Tears streamed down my face as I exclaimed to him over and over and over again how special he was to me. I didn't even say it first! He's also getting great at putting together phrases like, "Cracker please, Mom?" or "Daddy, come here!" I love it if I'm in a different section of a store than he is and I can hear him hollering, "Mommy, Where are you?????"

It's incredible how quickly he grows. It seems like he stays the same for a while, and then out of nowhere, he gets so big. It makes me excited and a little bit sad. I can never say enough how lucky Jason and I are to have such a wonderful little buddy in our lives!

PG's New Tiller

Ok, I'm severely behind on blogging- what else is new? But like, a month ago, Pleasant Grove got a new Tiller truck for the fire department. It was a big surprise what it looked like, and seeing it in person did NOT disappoint. It truly is unreal, and we're lucky to have such an amazing apparatus in our town. Just to break it in, Jason got to climb to the top of the ladder. I don't remember how many feet it is, but it's ridiculously high, and he would have been dead if he fell. Jason's looking forward to any training that he will get to do on the Tiller. Yay for Pleasant Grove!