First I do Yoga, Then I do Things.

I tried something new!  This week I attended a Barre class at my yoga studio before my usual Aerial Yoga class.  What a great work out! I did Barre from 5:30-6:30 and then Aerial from 6:45-7:45.  Best work out combination because you had the strength training and stretching from a Barre class and then the stretching, relaxing and fun from Aerial.  Perfect Monday night if you ask me!

I had never taken a Barre class before and did little research on it before attending, I just kind of went without really knowing what to expect.  There was only 1 other girl in the class with me, which was absolutely awesome! Our instructor Rose is great and she tailored the class to fit exactly what we wanted to do and work on.  Practicing in front of a mirror was wonderful.  I felt like I could really work on my positioning and technique.  You know those pictures that float around pinterest and youtube where they say "what I think I look like and what I actually look like", this was a little like that.  

For those of you who haven't taken a Barre class before it really isn't as intimidating as it sounds.  There is A LOT of leg work but you don't need to be flexible.  You build your flexibility slowly.  Barre is more about strengthening your legs and core in a way that feels graceful and controlled.  The nice part is while your taking the class you don't really feel how much of a workout your legs are getting...that hits you later and for me it was during Aerial.

I brought my friend Mindy with me to Aerial for her first time and she did AMAZING!  I really love when I invite new people to join and they really enjoy the class and want to come back.  Best Surprise ever! My best friend Sam showed up! I had no idea she was coming she was getting home from a trip earlier so that absolutely made my night.   Aerial is so much fun when you go with friends.  You can applaud each other on accomplishments, try new things and laugh at each other when you have an epic Aerial fail like I did that night.

After Barre I was already feeling warmed up and my muscles were loose so I thought great I can really get a deep stretch going tonight.  I didn't realize how bad my legs really hurt until we were practicing warrior 1 and warrior 2 in the silks.  With every squat and lean into the stretch my legs felt like they were on fire.  Thankfully at the end of class Rose commented that her legs were dying also and then I didn't feel so lame.  I really think I was walking funny even the next day my legs and inner thighs were hurting for sure.

So let me tell you about my epic Aerial Yoga fail moment.  This is what I get for trying to be cool and keeping up with the girl behind me who is Fantastic at Aerial!  I don't even know if I can explain what I was attempting to do.  You have to start in a hip hang and then wrap your leg around the fabric.  Then you pull yourself up in the silks and flip yourself over so that your upper body is wrapped in the silk.  I am not explaining it in a way that makes any sense.  I will master this eventually and then share a picture of what it is supposed to look like and maybe a video so we can see how close I was at explaining it! Anyway I got myself really stuck when I was trying to wrap my body around and ended up flipping towards the floor.  I was able to catch myself and ended up so tangled with the biggest wedgie imaginable!  I don't even remember how I was able to get myself untangled but it did take awhile.  Sam was super helpful by taking pictures and laughing at me haha.  Now we just have a really funny story to tell.

Mommy Moments

Finally its nap time!  I probably only have about 30 minutes left in quiet nap time bliss before the tiny human decides to wake up and wants a snack.  Always the first thing he thinks of upon waking up.. "Snack please".  Its pretty cute.

I think I just about got done everything quick that I wanted to.  Mailed some things, emptied the dishwasher, showered and got ready, updated our calendar for the month.  I think thats a pretty successful nap time so far.

I need to vent about an experience I had about a week ago.. I think it was roughly around there.  We are hitting the terrible two's currently at age 18 months and the thing Brooks seems to hate the most right now is sitting in his carseat!  It is such a struggle sometimes to get him to sit and strap him in.  I try everything that I can possibly think of, I let him watch youtube on my phone, I bribe him with snacks and toys.  I take him out, give him a big hug and sit him back in.. nope nothing the kid refuses to sit.  Sometimes I literally have to lay across him and wrestle him into his seat kicking and screaming.

There is no rhyme or reason to when he is going to have a carseat melt down either.  I wish I knew what things set him off to go into full hatred for the carseat.  One time I can just pick him up and sit him down to get buckled without any issue at all and the next its tantrum city!  He is completely unpredictable.

So the other day I had taken him to run some errands with me.  We went to target, the pet stores and he was being so good that I pushed it and took him with me to go buy some wine (ironically I probably ended up drinking the whole bottle that night after this incident).  He was so good when we were in the store and everyone was commenting on how well behaved he was.  We shopped and checked out without any issue at all.  I am carrying him to the car and it is about 4:30 in the afternoon, he asks me for "Pizza".  I said "Sure Huni! as soon as we get home I will make Pizza for dinner".  I open the car door and he loses his little mind!  He arches his back and starts screaming, protesting his carseat screaming "Pizza" at the top of his lungs"  I try reasoning with him (useless) reassuring him that when we get home I will make the pizza right away and telling him we need to go home in order to have the pizza.  Nope, nothing. 

15 minutes later he is still screaming and I am still trying to coax him into his car seat (I was against laying on him at this point in time but I got over that REAL FAST!).  I am standing there begging him to sit down and promising him all sorts of outrageous things when this older women taps me on the shoulder.  At first I was so thankful, maybe he will sit for someone else.  WRONG! She wasn't there to help me at all.  

She gives me a dirty look and says "Is he even YOURS".  Seriously how rude can you be!  It took all I could to politely say (because small child was listening) that he wouldn't sit in his carseat and thanked her for her concern (in a sarcastic tone of course).  

First! Can I remark again how absolutely RUDE this was!  Even before I had a child I would NEVER say anything like this to someone and would always offer to help!  Second, my son looks IDENTICAL to me..maybe she needed stronger glasses.  And finally,  honestly if I was going to steal a child I would NEVER pick steal a child who was in the middle of a tantrum.  Seriously who wants to steal a bad child (not that my child is bad in any means but he was acting like a brat in that moment).  If I had actually "Stolen" him, I would have quickly returned him to his parents if he was throwing a tantrum like that!

How did I finally get him in his carseat you might wonder.... I caved and called Morgan.  He had to come and rescue me... and you know what was the icing on the cake! Brooks saw him... gave him a big hug and then let Morgan place him perfectly in his car seat and said "Home now".

Ok Rant over, Thank you for listening :) 

Mommy Moments

I am still new to this being someone's mommy thing but so far I couldn't imagine any other way to be.  Being a mom has taught me so much.  Every part of this life is like a roller coaster where you never really know what is ahead.  You can read every parenting book out there but I can guarantee you that you will never feel like you are doing things right.  These little humans are like nothing you could ever prepare for, and just when you think you have them all figured out they catch on to your tricks and outsmart you once again.  Raising tiny humans is HARD.

    My little tiny human has taught me so many things about how life should be, having patience and a lot about myself.  You learn your breaking points are completely different then you had imagined.

   Learn to take time for yourself.

    When you run around all day playing, chasing and just taking care of your little human it is easy to forget about yourself and your needs.  For the first time in your life taking a shower is something that needs to be planned for.  There have been so many days when I had to try and think about what I ate that day or how much water I have been drinking.  With my son my life is in constant GO mode.  He is crazy hyper from the moment he wakes up until nap time and when he goes to bed.  I play with him for what feels like 2 hours only to turn around and realize 20 minutes has gone by.  You begin to lose your sanity after awhile and it's hard to learn at first that this is ok! Naptime is your time! Don't clean or do laundry unless it's a MUST! Shower, nap and do what makes you happy.  Because honestly if you are happy and content they will be also.  These toddlers seriously feed off your emotions its kind of like "Hey mom seems stressed out,,, why don't I throw at tantrum and see if I can make her cry".   Coffee is your best friend... oh and wine can be your nightly little dirty secret.  Seriously those people who say they don't drink because they have kids are either saints or lying to you.  Coffee gets me through the day and then wine helps me de-stress at night.  The best advice anyone ever gave me is always accept the opportunity to do your own thing and have some alone time.  If your aunt, sister, grandma or husband wants to watch small child take them up on it.  Yoga is my most favorite hobby and I would lose my mind of Morgan wasn't so supportive and understands the importance of my yoga nights with friends.

    Toddlers are like tiny dictators that turn into cuddle monsters at the drop of a hat.  They can make you want to pull your hair out and then shower them with kisses the next second.  But you can't teach them how to be calm and act like a respectable human if you aren't on top of your game as well.  Make sure you are still your own person as well as someone else's mommy.

Our little tiny human on his 1st birthday! Literally destroying his cake and loving every second of it.  

Valentines day!

So my post is a day late..oh well.  This weekend was a total whirlwind! Work was absolutely insane and then our little man was sick, but we still managed to have a Great Valentine's day.  

This year we planned a pretty low key Valentine's day which ended up being the best option with Brooks running fevers all weekend (he is finally starting to feel better today).  It was just really nice to be able to spend the day together as a family.  Costa Rica was supposed to be our Valentine's day present to each other but of course Morgan had to surprise me with presents and offering to make dinner.  I really think I am just going to stop making dinner all together and let Morgan cook every night, he is Fantastic!  He made scallops and pasta with a homemade creamy sun-dried tomato sauce. We also got fresh Oysters to start which were so so good!  Seriously Wegmans actually has great fresh Oysters I was surprised.

We shared a bottle of wine and curled up on the couch to watch a movie after dinner.  I wanted to watch a cute romantic movie since it was Valentine's day but Morgan Vetoed my choice of a Nicolas Sparks movie..and no it wasn't the notebook.. I have never seen that movie nor do I have any intention to.  I really think I am the only girl on the planet who has never seen the notebook.  Anyway, we choose the Longest Week with Jason Bateman and Olivia Wilde.  This movie was..interesting.  It wasn't a bad movie, the actors were great in it.  I just found it to be a little bizarre, definitely not something we would have picked to watch on Valentine's day date night if we knew anything about it before hand.  But once we started watching it we really couldn't turn it off, it was kind of intriguing. 

I really do love Valentine's day, for me it isn't about the presents but more about taking the time to just spend together.  However, Morgan probably is the best present giver on the planet.  I don't know how he secretly knows me so well and always gets me the most perfect gifts!  I'm really not that hard to buy for and I go on kicks were I really like certain designers or brands.  Lately I have been completely in love with everything Kate Spade.  I just find all of her things to be really fun and classy.  

Morgan surprised me with 2 very amazing Kate Spade gifts!  I love glass water bottles! I have one from Nordstroms that he got me for christmas but this new one is my favorite. "Just Add Water" how cute is that!  

And the bracelet... totally took me by surprise and I started crying.  It's stunning.  He knows how much I love rose gold.  This was the most sweetest gift and I love knowing that he really put thought into the gifts that makes it extra special.

I hope everyone had an equally wonderful Valentine's day!

Life Update

I hate how fast our weekends off together seem to fly right by.  This weekend we both had off together, no call, no plans, just a whole weekend off to spend as a family.  Between my every other weekend work schedule and Morgans weekend of call schedule, it can be tricky to really have some free time off together.

In my post of the Ava Wilde tops you saw how my weekend started...really who could ever want a better start to the weekend.  Brooks had woken up at 4am crying (he is teething again).  All he wanted to be was to go downstairs and snuggle on the couch with us while watching a movie.  At 5am he was starting to rub his eyes and get sleepy but was refusing to go upstairs and go back to bed. Morgan is so wonderful and let me go back to sleep while the two of them snuggled on the couch and continued watching the movie.  Honestly I think he was just trying to hog all of the sweet baby snuggles.  It was so so great to sleep in until 8:30 when I finally woke up on my own for once!  It was completely silent downstairs so I snuck down and found the two of them snuggling on the couch completely asleep.  I'm not going to lie I did stand there for about 10 minutes just watching them and tearing up a bit.  Morgan is always making fun of me because I will cry a bit whenever I see them having adorable moments together.  There is just something so wonderful about seeing just how much your son loves his daddy.

So on Saturday we got a wonderful wonderful surprise! My sister called me and asked if she could watch Brooks for a few hours in the afternoon at her house.  YES YES YES!  After dropping him off for some Aunt time I was able to get some Target shopping done and head to Sephora (I'll share this spontaneous shopping splurge soon).  Morgan is taking his huge Plastic Surgery Inservice exam at the beginning of March so it was great to be able to give him some complete alone time to study. 

After I got home from shopping and he was done studying we left to head over toward my sisters house to our favorite sushi restaurant.  With 2 hard months of rotations for Morgan and the craziness of the ER lately we really haven't had a lot of free time for a date night so this was much needed!  It was so nice just to sit next to each other sharing wine and sushi, just talking about how our life has been lately and all the fun times coming up.  

We did get into a discussion on how much we really hate watching Elmo and Daniel Tiger.  Now I personally don't find Daniel Tiger to be horrible awful but for some reason that cat on this show drives Morgan insane.  He started quoting her at dinner, "Meow Meow Yes" haha.  This cat cannot say one word without saying Meow Meow first and I think Morgan is reaching his breaking point if he has to hear to one more time.  The worst show for me is Elmo.  There is just something about his voice that makes me want to throw the remote at the TV.  

Sunday was our relaxing day.  I let Morgan sleep in that morning, Brooks and I woke up and shared some oatmeal with blueberries (his favorite) while watching.. of course.. Daniel Tiger.  Later that afternoon Morgan went upstairs to get a bit of studying done while Brooks and I made cookies for his preschool valentines day party!

He was the very very best helper! He loved rolling out the cookie dough, stealing bites of it and helping to use the cookie cutter.  After the cookies were done we placed them on the dinning room table to cool and Brooks went into the living room for his snack and to put a puzzle together.  I had told him prior to this that he wasn't allowed to have a cookie until after lunch.  We have an open floor plan so when I am doing dishes in the kitchen I can see him in the living room playing.  I literally looked away for 1 minute to wash a pan and I heard him just munching away on something.  I walked over to notice he was laying on the ground eating one of the cookies! He must have snuck so quietly into the dinning room, reached a cookie from the table and silently returned to the living room.  

I really couldn't even be mad look at this face he was so darn cute!!

here is our conversation

Me: "Didn't mommy say you had to wait until after lunch for a cookie"

Brooks: "Yeah"

Me: "Well don't you care what mommy says?"

Brooks: "No, Good Cookie"

HAHAHA at least he is honest!

The weather was so nice on Sunday, we actually got a little time to go out and play.  We took his new car stroller thing out for a little ride and he just had the best time ever.  

Later that evening we went over to our friends house with a bunch of the other plastics residents to watch the super bowl.  Seriously if I have to see that stupid puppy, monkey baby commercial again I am going to lose it.  I also was severely disappointed in the Budweiser commercial this year! Every year I really just look forward to this commercial.  Morgan thinks its hilarious that I always end up tearing up a bit at the end.  Its just so stinking sweet with the puppy and the horses!  This year was absolutely awful, so bad that I stopped watching the Super Bowl after this moment

Enjoy the rest of your week everyone! We are getting hit with another snow storm today and of course I'm stuck at work! 

Vacation dreaming

Our Costa Rica vacation is right around the corner! 5 nights and 6 days in paradise with my favorite person in the world. We will be staying at Dreams Las Mareas in Guanacaste all inclusive!  We have so many plans for hiking, snorkeling, paddle boarding and exploring the island.  

  Costa Rica has the best hiking I've seen!  We will be hiking in the rainforest, to the hot springs, volcanoes and along the beaches.  We are very active so exploring the island through hiking and hanging bridges is perfect for us. I have high hopes that this vacation will be the best of my life..we will see.  Literally since we paid our final deposit I have only been thinking about this trip.  

  I thought I needed to come up with a list early of some must have things I need to buy before we go.

This Lily Pulitzer sundress is top on my needs list for vacation.  Maybe not this exact color but something flowly that looks similar.  We are going to make a little day trip to a large mall about 1.5 hours from us so that we can get this dress.  How fun! Then not only will I finally get a Lily dress but I get a fun date day out of it as well!
Lily Pulitzer

I have been looking for a great beach cover-up that will go with any bathing suit.  I've looked everywhere and my favorite has been this knit poncho from express.  It will be perfect to just throw on to get a quick lunch at one of the restraunts coming right off the beach.
Express

You all know I love Lavanila products!  I have been so focused on my skin lately and I don't want to use just any sunscreen and have my face break out while we are on vacation I would rather invest in quality sunscreen. Plus it's I scented so Morgan and I can share this to use on our faces and chest.  With the potential for exciting exciting things happening I want to look amazing at all times I can't risk a break out on this trip.
LAVANILA

I need a new bronzer desperately I am almost to the bottom of the one I am currently using.  If you saw my winter skin blog you know how much I love my Laura Mercier matte radiance in highlight! I am going to purchase the same product in bronze 02. I thought it would be just the perfect amount of light bronze with the little shimmer that I love so much from this product! If I'm not a fan then I have my eye on the bronze universal from Chanel!
Laura Mercier

Fun lipstick colors are the best when you are on vacation.  I love how bright this coral rose is from Burberry! I have another Burberry kisses lipgloss in more of the neutral color and I am obsessed with it.  I just ordered this from Sephora so I will have to try and hide it from myself until vacation.
Burberry

Save the best for last! I need to stock up on some bath bombs for the trip! I was trying to think of ideas on where to pack these and if I can pack them.  Thankfully there is a LUSH store in the airport on our way down if I do have to buy them there and carry them on the plane.  Our room has a hot tub on the balcony overlooking the rainforest so a couple bath bombs with room service, champagne and beautiful sunsets sounds like the most romantic night.
LUSH

 Can you tell I'm super excited for this trip haha. If I could start packing tomorrow I would.  My packing process is intense be sure to definitely catch that post to see how much I can actually fit in my suitcase and keep at weight limit. I am seriously a pro packer! 

Surviving the Blizzard!

Hi Everyone! For those of you lucky enough not to be on the east coast right now I'm jealous because we are getting an outrageous amount of snow.  

Thankfully both Morgan and I are off this weekend and are snowed in at home instead of the hospital.  Seriously in the last 4 years I have had to work every snowstorm.  Not that I'm fully complaining because it was a "snowed in" at the hospital storm that started our cute little love story.  I am really loving being snowed in this year at home with Morgan and not at the hospital.  

     The snow started here around 4pm yesterday afternoon.  Brooks got so excited when it started snowing he kept yelling "Snow Snow!" while looking out the back doors to our deck. 

 So the last thing you want to realize you don't have when your about to get hit with a massive snow storm is a shovel.  We moved into our house in June and at the time never thought about buying snow supplies...until yesterday.  Morgan made an attempt to get one from Target after getting off work yesterday but no luck they were sold out.  Guess we are borrowing our friend Weavers as soon as we are plowed out. 

The snow really didn't start falling hard until sometime in the late night, way after we had went to bed (at 10pm) haha.  We made a fire in our little wall mount after Brooks went to bed last night and curled up on the couch to watch Spectre. We aren't fully finished with it yet we are going to finish tonight, but so far it is really good! Not as good as Casino Royale, that is still my favorite.  Going to bed last night was so relaxing.  The snow from our back yard gave off the prettiest glow that reflected through our bedroom windows.

Here is our back deck before we went to bed last night

The snow came down heavy for most of the day.  We are officially 100% snowed into our house.  Not even the Volvo is making it out of the garage right now until we shovel a few more times.  During the morning and afternoon we just all completely relaxed!  We all stayed in our pajamas for most of the morning, all snuggled up on the cough watching Home.  Absolutely an adorable movie, its the current favorite of the week for Brooks.  I am really into candles so today I picked a cozy scent that made our house smell wonderful while we camped out all day!  It was Cinnamon Vanilla by Yankee.

After nap time we finally made it out into the snow.  I had Brooks so bundled up to the point that Morgan was making fun of me and telling me he looked like the kid from A Christmas Story.  But seriously who need to be able to move as long as you are warm!  As you can see in my first picture we got a huge amount of snow, over 3 feet total at our house.  Brooks was able to sit in the snow but then had to be carried by Morgan for our total of 5 minutes that we spent outside.

I seriously just love them both so much, they are the cutest!

Apparently playing in the snow for 5 minutes was rough.

Hot Chocolate is a must in our house on snowy days.  So it was hot chocolate, snack time and more movies/napping after some fun in the snow.  It actually is still snowing here right now at 7:30pm while I'm writing this.  I don't think it is really accumulating to much right now, the real heavy stuff ended around 5pm this evening.  Brooks was so tired from his day and was in bed by 7, Great for us because we are exhausted as well.  Morgan is down working on his gun and I finally have some time to put on my LUSH face mask from my recent review and catch up on some blogging.

Tomorrow we will be shoveling most of the day and then hopefully finishing our snowed in weekend with the Cinders bath bomb from LUSH.  I have been saving this since christmas and I wasn't sure why.  I guess I must have secretly known this snowstorm was coming.  Today all my friends were posting that they were taking bath bomb baths during the storm and it has me really looking forward to one tomorrow!

What we watched today

My snow day Candle

Hope everyone survived the snowstorm and you are all able to shovel yourselves out tomorrow!

Life as an ER nurse...Part 2

I love moments when you have no idea what else to do but laugh.  When the strangest things happen and you all just look at each other completely dumbfounded.  Everything is so quiet, and then one person starts laughing and suddenly all of the ER staff are laughing along.  Some stories are so good that they make their way around the whole hospital and even spread to other nearby Emergency Departments.  This is one of those stories...

  Just your typical Monday in the ER, full waiting room, hallway beds and everyone is stressed out.  We were getting slammed with sick patients left and right, too many ambulances and traumas to even count.  Is this a recipe for a hilarious disaster... Yes! 

  It was the middle of the afternoon almost the evening when my team of 4 nurses were all in a room starting the work up on a very sick patient that had just came in by ambulance.  The patient started coding and soon the entire department was in the room helping out.  Normally, the ambulance crew drops the patient off, gives report and heads back to their truck.  We love this local ambulance crew and when the patient started going downhill, they stuck around to help us out.

In the midst of the chaos of trying to save a life, one of our other nurses walks in and says "Umm everyone.. I think my psych patient got out of their room".  The patient was considered a 302 which means they were being placed in a psych facility against their wishes for their own safety and best interest.  Side note- it is a lengthy process to commit someone as a 302, its not like we can just hold people against their will for fun.  We all just looked and kind of dismissed her, psych patients leave their rooms all the time with a patient sitter to go to the bathroom or just take a walk around the department.  

Now that my patient was stabilized a few of the other nurses went to help look for the other patient that was MIA.  I stood back with my critical patient and was talking with the paramedic about everything we had done.  I heard the overhead pager system calling for the patient that couldn't be found, Hmmm that can't be good.  I said goodbye to the paramedic and went to help out my team.

I had just sat down to start charting when the paramedic came up to me, "Did anyone move our ambulance?" he said.  I went back to check with our communication center (they control all the ambulances coming in and our helicopter) and no luck, no one had moved the ambulance.  At this point I hear the other nurse saying "OH SH*T".  I turned to the paramedic who was standing there with that deer in the headlight I just really messed up look on his face.  "Did you happen to leave the keys in the ambulance when you ran the patient in?" I asked him.  His face went completely white.

Prior to this incident it was common that many of the EMS crews left the keys in the trucks or even the trucks running.

The whole department got up and ran into the communication center where the crew was pulling up the security tapes that showed the ambulance bay.  As clear as can be we all saw the missing patient hop into the ambulance, turn it on and drive away.  The amount of silence in that room was like nothing you will ever have in a Emergency Department.  You could literally hear everyones breath.  Out of no where one of our charge nurses just starts deep belly laughing, a true hilarious laugh.  Pretty soon everyone was laughing so hard we were in tears.  Never in the history of our department has anyone thought to steal an ambulance until that day.  Touche to that patient they will be remember for eternity.

Ending of the story...the patient was found shortly after (really you can't get very far in a stolen ambulance).  No harm done everyone was just fine.  Lesson to this story: If you steal an ambulance or any vehicle, do not drive it to your house and park in your driveway when we have your address on file.

Hope everyone got a good kick out of that story to start your week!

* Please be aware that a lot of details are left out or changed for patient privacy and the privacy of our department.

Baby Gap, Old Navy and Lush shopping trip

 When I did my last post about my shopping splurge you guys really seemed to enjoy it! I got some really great comments from those of you who liked that post.  So I thought I would keep up with my shopping adventures and so you guys what I recently just bought on an mini impromptu shopping trip.  Plus throw in a rant on how big my baby is getting!

Recently I went to a local mall by us for the sole purpose of getting things for my son.  

He is now 16 months old and just started wearing size 18-24 months.  The rate that kids outgrow their clothes is astonishing.  One minute they are fitting perfectly into a certain size and the very next day NOTHING FITS THEM.  I swear our son grew an inch over night.  Two days prior he was fitting perfectly still in his 12-18 months pants, then the next day they look like Capri's on him.  Everyday he just seems to get bigger and bigger.  I'm starting to accept the fact that he will probably be taller than me by the time he is 10.

(How cute is he!)

With that being said I went to the mall to get him in particular new pants that actual fit him.  First stop was Baby Gap.  I am a HUGE fan of Baby Gap and Gap Kids.  I love how they make clothes for toddlers that seriously look just like tiny man clothes.  My son is only still a toddler but he already loves being told that he is dressing like his daddy.  I go in that store and find things that look almost identical to the types of shirts and pants that Morgan likes to wear (very adorable).  I promised myself that I wouldn't be that parent that dress their family in matching outfits...but I now see why people do that.  In my defense I do not make them wear the exact same outfit but they do have a lot of clothes that look similar.  Seeing them together dressed almost alike honestly melts my heart, so until they start complaining I am just going to keep doing it.  When that time comes they can start buying their own clothes.

Baby Gap

How cute are those little Valentines day shirts! I am in love the the Dr. Love top, since daddy is a doctor I thought this was appropriate.  Right now all of the winter wear is on super clearance. I'm pretty sure those gloves came down to $3.

Old Navy

Old Navy is also top on my list for buying kids clothes.  Their stuff is really decently priced and great for everyday wear!  The fit is very loose and moveable, which is great for crazy boys on the go.  You can't beat their cozy pants either which are perfect for the days where we just stay at home and play.

LUSH

Can anyone really go shopping and not buy anything for themselves? If you can then you have the ultimate willpower, please teach me your ways!  Of course one of the main reasons I chose to go to this particular mall was because I knew they have a LUSH store.  I was determined to get some Fresh Face Masks, since last time they were all sold out the day I went.  I did a little bath stock up as well. I will do a link below to all the products websites.  Just FYI, unfortunately the Fresh Face Masks can only be purchased in the store and not online..bummer I know.

Starting from the back left and reading like a book.

Pop In the Bath- Bubble Bar

Dragons Egg- Bath Bomb

Melting Marshmallow Moments- Bath Melt

Sakura- Bath Bomb

Below are the 2 different face masks I bought.  Rosy Cheeks I bought for a friend and am SUPER excited to surprise her with it.  

I also just wanted to throw in quickly a really cute shopping outfit idea! I threw this outfit together thinking that it looked fun and I would be very comfortable shopping in it all day.  Which we all know comfort is key when shopping!

Both the cardigan and tank top are from Express
Necklace from The Limited
Jeans from True Religion

I'm really glad that you guys like little posts like these, I find them really fun to do!  I'm sure my LUSH products will be in a review sometime in the near future..I do have a lot of other products to use first though.

Thanks for reading!

Life as an ER nurse...

Who watches Greys Anatomy? Those of you who are medical and watch this show know that the actual medicine that takes place in this show is totally fake, but the crazy stories and personal interactions are completely spot on. When Derek was in a coma did anyone realize that his ET tube was obviously in the wrong place. Or when they shocked the patient in Torsades? I wanted to scream "Defib for VFib and pulse-less VTach!" My favorite moments are when they show someone being bagged and the ambu bag isn't even inflating.. Really how hard is it to get some details correct.

   Rant over.. As I've mentioned before I am a Registered Nurse at our local Medical/Trauma center.  I have a strong love for Emergency Nursing.  There have been moments that have made me laugh hysterically and moments where I have balled my eyes out.  In the past 4 years I have done just about everything you can think of.  I've flown in the helicopter, stuck my hand in someone's open chest,  delivered a baby, kept a straight face while listening to hilarious stories and complaints, but most importantly I have comforted and helped many many people of all ages.

  I want to start a small section in my blog where I share stories of my nursing experience.  All the good, happy, upsetting and just completely hilarious experiences that I have had or are currently having.  So here we go starting with one of my most favorite experiences!

Animals to never snuggle... A Groundhog

 One summer afternoon I was the main triage nurse, it had been a really slow day so you know something is going to happen to ruin your perfect shift. I hear a couple walk in through the main ER doors getting ready to check in, the man is laughing and his wife is screaming at him, this is normal in the ER.  The registration assistant looks over the wall to me with a shocked look on her face and says.. "Umm you might want to just bring him back and I can get him registered then"  I pull the mans chart from the wire basket and open the door to call his name.  When I pulled the door back I saw a man standing in khaki shorts, sperrys and a ripped to shreds white button down shirt that was covered in blood.  He had lacerations all over his arms, chest and face, and we are talking deep lacerations and puncture wounds.  He didn't appear to be in any pain and was obviously intoxicated judging by the way he was laughing and how totally pissed off his wife looked.  He walks into my triage bay without a care in the world and sits down on the chair across from me.  His wife was standing as far away as possible with blood also all over her adorable white lily pulitzer dress. Side Note: I would murder anyone who got blood on my lily pulitzer so kudos to her for not killing him on the spot!

The first words out of my mouth to this man was "Are you OK?"  He starts laughing and states "Of course I'm ok...Never better!" and continues to laugh.  I look over at his wife and ask her what had happened.  She is beyond furious at this point towards her husband, she states "We were at my family picnic and this A**hole gets drunk and decides to pick up a ground hog and snuggle it"  I looked at her in utter disbelief. "Oh no I am 100% serious, bet you never heard this one before" She was right.

The man is still sitting there laughing and at this point he is getting out his phone and showing me pictures of him and the ground hog.  I ask him why in the world he would ever think that this was a good idea.  With all sincerity he answered "I just love ground hogs! They are so cute and fat and I love the way they wobble when they run away" He precedes to try and wobble like a ground hog.  At this point it is taking everything I have in me not to laugh at the situation.  He told me the story about how his brother in law dared him to catch the ground hog and when he did he began to snuggle it.  When people at the party realized he had taken it to far by actually catching the ground hog they had tried to chase him to get it back.  This was the point he stated that the ground hog "went ape sh*t" on him.  He said he started running away from his family while still holding the ground hog close so that it wouldn't escape.

Getting really into the story (how could you not) I asked him what happened to the ground hog... He gives his wife a death glare and says "SHE MADE ME DROP IT" like a five year old who was told to put down a dead mouse or something.  I really did laugh at this point and thankfully his wife laughed right along with me.

Now this gentlemen is bleeding all over my triage bay from multiple lacerations and I had to decide what to do about that.  I quickly called our head attending physician and said "Dr... I think I might have a trauma consult out here?". Hearing my questioning tone he states "Megan, you know what your doing, does he meet trauma criteria?" (We pretty set trauma criteria that we follow).  I said "Well no but I don't really know what else to call this".  Now he is interested "Well what is it".  "Man Vs. Groundhog" I stated.  He started laughing on the phone "Um, no I don't believe that is trauma criteria but hang out because I have to come out and see this".

Lesson of the story is that ground hogs are quite mean and should never be snuggled ever.  No matter how intoxicated you might be. You will end up in the ER and we will talk about you for years to come :)

This man only had minor injuries when he was all cleaned up.  He was discharged and healed perfectly.  Super nice guy, he did bring me in doughnuts a month after and apologized for being so drunk.  Little did he know that he made my nursing career that day he was in my triage bay!

Thanks for reading!

2015 Highlights and Resolutions

Happy 2016 Everyone! 

It seems like 2015 went by way too fast but we really had an amazing year. I just wanted to take some time and share my favorite moments of this past year (only top favorite or we would be here forever) so many great things happened this year and we have made the best memories!

 Here are a few quick highlights!

February our sweet sweet boy was admitted to the hospital for RSV, thankfully all of our wonderful co-workers took such great care of him and he was better in no time!

We had the best Valentine's Day week in Watkins Glenn New York at the finger lakes for some great wine tasting! 

In April of last year week took an amazing vacation just the two of us to cancun and to visit Morgan's family in Utah. We had 4 AMAZING days in cancun then 4 even better days in Utah, hiking, shooting and spending time with his wonderful family. 

In June we FINALLY closed on our house. The process took about 4 months but it was 100% worth the wait we absolutely love it.  What a crazy month that was, Morgan was working nights in the SICU and we slept on an air mattress in the master bedroom for a week until we got our frame set up! 

Morgan took me to Philadelphia for a weekend in the city in July for my birthday.

In August we took Brooks to the beach for the very first time in Dewey DE. He had the best time ever with all of his family and family friends. It was so wonderful to all be able to spend some time together at the beach with joined houses. He always I even took his first steps the first day we were there! 

 Morgan's family also came to visit us in August. Having everyone stay at our house was so much fun! 6 adults 1 Myah and 2 babies.  We had a full house for sure but we wouldn't have had it any other way. It was so nice to have them and we can't wait until they come back again.

 September is our favorite month! Both boys had birthdays, Brooks turned ONE on the 6th and Morgan's birthday is also in September. 

In October Morgan presented at the national Plastic Surgery Conference in Boston and did AMAZING, I am so proud of everything he has accomplished.

So many wonderful things have happened for us this year and 2016 already feels like its going to be a great year for us! We are planning a trip to Costa Rica in March. In April I am going to Key West for my grandma's 75th Birthday! and much much more.

My Resolutions for this year aren't really resolutions but more things that I want to do more of and improve on.  

First is to be more organized,  our house is always clean but I really want everything to have a set place.  Its so hard with a toddler who likes to re-organize everything and place things in the most off the wall spots that you could think of.  I want to get into more house projects and really start personalizing some things. Starting with a picture wall at the top of our stairs!  I am also working on a little small project that I've hinted at in my last post for our hallway.

Next I want to really get back into yoga.  I have been going to Aerial yoga with my friends when we have had the time and are all off work but we are going to try to make this more of a routine.  Aerial yoga has been so much fun and I feel like I'm getting my flexibility and abdominal strength back.  I want to practice yoga more at home also and not just wear my yoga clothes around the house.  I need to put all this new LuLuLemon to good use!

Finally I am going to try to focus on a really excellent skin care routine.  My skin has always been clear and I have thankfully not had any real issues with it.  I truly believe that your make up is only as good as your skin underneath and if I want my skin to stay healthy for years to come I need to start working on it now.  I just bought some new products that I am really excited about and will be doing a review on soon!

Ok that was long enough for tonight.. It is absolutely freezing here so I think its time to steal Morgan away from his research and snuggle up in bed with a movie!

Thank you so much for catching up and have a great rest of the week! Look out for my Lavanilla product review later in the week. 

Good night everyone!

Spontaneous Ikea trip

What do you do when you are driving back from New Jersey through Philadelphia, your boyfriend won't let you stop at King of Prussia, and you have an hour to kill before you need to be home.  You go to IKEA!

So today we made a trip down to New Jersey (right across the PA line) for my very best best friend's son's first Birthday Party!! Happy Birthday Keagen!  We had to be home by a certain time and after the party was finished we realized we had a hour before we actually needed to be heading home.  Not wanting to head home early and be lame we decided we would do something as a family to kill some time.  Last week I had went to King Of Prussia (huge mall outside of Philly) with two of my best friends and spent more money then I probably should have so stopping there on the way home was not one of Morgan's top priorities.  

We just started working on a few little cutesy projects for our house (which I will be sharing in a later post when they are complete), so we decided to stop at Ikea!  Now Ikea is a super special store to us, not just because it is totally amazing and has everything you never knew you needed but must buy right when you see it!  About a year ago we had met our friends at KOP for the day and stopped at Ikea quick on the way home.  We were walking through the store when Brook's decided he no longer wanted to be in his carseat and wanted to be held.  He reached his little arms up and said plain as day "Dadad" reaching for Morgan to hold him.  FIRST WORD!

As you can see Sir Baby Bubba is way too cool to ride in his stroller anymore and insisted on riding in the cart and pointing out everything we should buy for him (he has great style).  We found some wonderful things for the house.  I was really looking for a little light to go on top of the end table that I am finishing for our hallway and Morgan was trying to find strand lights to place under the wine rack he had built for us a few months ago.  Mission Successful! Plus a few other fun finds!

Here is my fun little silver lamp for the end table, I think it was around $14 and also some little glass cylinders we found a set of three for $18.  Not sure what we are going to do with them yet but who can't think of atlas 100 things that you can use glass cylinders for.

I call these little extra finds "Wins",  when you find something or do something unexpectedly that is a huge benefit Morgan and I call those moments "Wins".  Brooks is now wanting to be totally independent when it comes to eating (which is highly annoying at times) He refuses to sit in his highchair, has to be a big boy and sit at the table, ON YOUR LAP.  He also insists that he uses his own plates, bowls and utensils..which normally end up flying across the room.  So today I found him some new plastic plates, bowls, spoons and adorable dog cups!

Of course no trip to Ikea is complete without Cinnamon Rolls!  

Someone was really excited and ate the whole thing... He wasn't excited however and the sparkling lemon flavored water that we let him try... haha

Isn't that just the cutest little face in the world! I'm sure when he is 16 he will hate me for these photos but right now they just totally melt my heart.

I am super excited to share my little project that I'm working on for our hallway, right after you walk in the front door.  I just added the second coat of paint onto the table tonight but still have a lot of work to do before its ready to show.

Thank you so much for catching up with me about our day, more fun things to come for the rest of the week I promise! 

Enjoy your Monday everyone!!

Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone had a wonderful and happy holiday this year! Ours was super special with this being Bubbs first real Christmas. Last year he just napped under the Christmas tree and loved all the lights haha.  We really got to enjoy some fun times with him this year! Not sure when I will be able to actually publish this post.... It might be a long one. Work has been crazy busy so I want to share a little of that, some details about Bubbs Christmas experience and a few of my favorite presents that I got for Christmas!  Ok so here we go!

This Christmas season was very exciting and very exhausting! Both Morgan and I had the craziest schedules for the holidays.  We celebrated Christmas with Bubs on Christmas Eve (we both worked Christmas Day for a bit).  Morgan had 24 hour call the night before up to that morning so Bubs and I had the whole night just us on the 23rd. He really enjoyed reading his new Christmas books and snuggling up on the couch with me watching frosty before bed! After he went down I quickly wrapped all of the remaining presents that we hadn't got around to wrapping prior...normally my routine is to get a big glass of wine and go wrapping crazy!  This year I was way to exhausted so in order to make myself not feel totally lame.. I drank green tea out of a wine glass (Atleast I felt cool).

Christmas was way too much fun! Bubs was so so excited when he saw all of his presents! Opening presents however was not high on his priority list.. He would open one super slowly then want to play with it or read a new book. Literally it took him almost all morning to get through his presents.  Of course his favorite present was a toy ambulance! With medical parents how could he not love a gift like that! Let me tell you also how much he loved the PACKING PEANUTS that came in one of the boxes... Loved them! He laid on the floor as Morgan dumped them on his head and laughed his cute little butt off!

Enough about our cute, adorable child! Time to share my favorite favorite things from Christmas! We are going to Costa Rica in March, that was our big present to share but we did end up getting some small things for each other.

First, ever year Morgan gets me a new crystal ornament for our tree (next year I want to start a little tree just for those ornaments).  This year he got me one with a photo of our little man taking his first steps! He literally took the video of his first steps, broke it down into pictures and got his very very first step. I cried like a little baby over this, how wonderful is he!

I love presents that go together, I got some really fun Kate Spade things also.  A new coffee mug that I was been wanting, insulated tumbler, coozie (to take to key west for girls week of course) and a passport holder to take to Costa Rica!

One of my favorite stores is LuLulemon, Morgan knows obsessed I am with this store.  He's gotten smart and has realized that if he buys me gifts from there it keeps me from going into the store (and spending hundreds of dollars). They make hands down the best yoga clothes! I just order a new yoga outfit from Express so we will see how I like it but nothing will compare to LuLu. Whoever else out there wears this brand you understand what I mean.

Just a couple fun things from Express and 2 small Lush products. Excited to try the Yoga bomb!

Sorry for the long post but there was just so much to share! Work stuff can wait for another blog, I think I might do one just of my funniest ER nurse moments.  Hope everyone has a wonderful New Years! We are getting super crazy tonight at our house.. Letting the baby stay up an extra hour (until 8:15) we might even stay up until midnight! Then breakfast mimosas!

See you next year!