Lila Photo Shoot

Lila picked out her clothes today. She picked her favorite shirt. She picked her favorite skirt. And her favorite tights. They are her favorites individually, and when they are all clean at the same time they make for a pretty cute outfit. The shirt is cute but I can't understand why she likes it SO much. So since she had it all together today, I thought we would take some pictures. I tried posing her and we had a good time. Just a few minutes of play. But she's still adorable.

Days

So at our charge nurse meeting in January we all decided it would be beneficial if all the night shift charge nurses worked 2 day shifts and vice-versa. We are having some problems figuring out how we can use our money to pay for employees on the floor. Recently we changed night shift staffing to have 4:1 patient to nurse ratios instead of 3:1. If you can to math that is more than a 30% increase in our patient load for the nurses. In exchange we got a secretary for the shift and another tech the second half of the shift. Anyway we are trying to decide if this is better than the old model (which by the way, I don't believe it is) and thought that it would be helpful for everyone to walk in the shoes of the other shift.

So the last two days I was a little day-shift lady again! I can't believe how fun it was. mostly because I had freaking amazing patients, but still. It was nice to not have to fight the sleepy bug. It was nice to have the doctors come around so I knew what was going on. It was nice that I wasn't trying to make my patient's sleep better, resulting in boredom for me. I got to do a lot more teaching, helping, and coordinating. And I had a lot of people that seemed happy to see me because it's been over a year since I've worked days! That part was nice. Always nice to be noticed.

It was also nice to take part in some treat getting. Day shift gets a lot more treats than night shift does. On Thursday I ate a delicious peanut butter bar, and today I got a Krispy Kreme donut (which, by the way, I LOVE). I felt a bit guilty taking part, knowing that night shift gets the shaft.

However, when I got home at 7:30 to find out that I had ruined Todd's plans for the evening by being so late, he just said "this is why you don't work days." And I felt bad. Even if it weren't for the extra money I get from the night time differential, I do get to go to church every week and only one evening is ruined at a time instead of two. (I have to go to bed early the night before and get home late the night of.)

So the moral of the story is that even thought I like being at work a lot more during the day, my home life is more important and it's better for me to work nights. However, this was a fun refresher. Maybe I'll try to pick up another day shift every now and then.

She Sings

Lila and I have a little tradition when I put her to bed. We sit in the rocking chair in her room and I sing her songs. Most of them are primary songs. I ask her what she wants me to sing, and she will say "Temple song" or "Jesus song" or she'll pick the frog or duck song. Actually most of the time she will just say "help." That just means she wants me to pick the song for her. Last night she picked the temple song for her last song (I think that is her favorite one). I asked her to sing it for me before I sang it for her. And she did. The cutest thing ever. I wish I could portray her musicality in writing but of course it will never do her justice. But it went like this- "temple song, I go inside."

One day Lila, I hope you do.

Advance Directives

Does everyone know what they are? I have some plans in the back of my mind to have an end of life care planning party the next time my whole family is together. I really think it is a topic of conversation that everyone needs to discuss with their loved ones. Everyone!

So, just in case you don't know, I will tell you what advance directives are. They are sometimes called "living wills." So, you all know what a will is, right? You get to decide what happens to your stuff after you die. Well a living will dictates what happens to your body when you are unable to do the dictating for yourself. For example, in your old age you get pneumonia and are on a ventilator to keep you breathing and you are unconscious. Or tomorrow you get in a car accident and are comatose. Things like that. Things we don't want to think about because they are scary and no one wants them to happen. But they do!

Generally people are either considered "Full code" or "DNR". If you are full code status we will do everything possible to keep you alive, and everything possible to bring you back if you die. If you are DNR, we will (or at least should) do everything possible to keep you alive, and let you go if you die. I have the opinion that everyone should fill out the paperwork in their state to specify which they would prefer- even if you would want everything done. However, it is even more important to have a discussion with your family.

Everyone has a different idea of the value of quality vs. quantity of life. Some people really want to be kept alive no matter how much pain they're in, how dependent they are, and how clear their cognitive abilities. Others would rather pass than stay in a mortal state that is less than optimal. If your family ever gets put in the position when they have to make these kinds of decisions for you, it will be so much better if they know what you want. People feel guilty over letting loved ones go, and they also feel guilty over watching them suffer. If they know what you would want, it makes it so much easier. Plus you get what you want. And no one has to fight over it. Families get torn apart over this stuff!

Sorry if that was morbid. It is just something I really believe in.

Mote to a Beam

So I just chastised my best friend Puddle for not posting enough on her blog. I admit several months ago I was so sad that hardly anyone was posting, that I decided to boycott my own blog for a while (to teach them all a lesson, of course). It was just getting really sad when I wanted to see what was new with all my friends and family and there was nothing to see! And the more I posted the more I checked other peoples' blogs and the sadder I got. So the last few months I have been trying to get back into it, but I still have not been very good.

So here are a few things that have been going on. I have officially started working part-time, which is really nice. Unfortunately, it came at a time that it didn't actually give me any extra time. With my new calling in church and school really picking up, I think it is possible that I see Lila even less now than when I was just working full-time. I miss her! Lucky I am on day 3 of my 7 days off so I have already tried to remedy that by spending a lot of time with her and doing a lot of playing.

Another big exciting thing is that my best friend showed up on my doorstep this afternoon! (This is how I was able to tell her to blog more. Thus the Mote/beam title for this post). She had an adorable little cake with her that she made for my birthday. Having her here made me realize how much I miss her. She is such a good friend, I love her so much! Pretty much ever since we have been friends I have been frustrated with how little time I have gotten to spend with her. In high school she was a rockstar gymnast that practiced every day and had meets on lots of weekends. In college we went to different schools. Then we had real jobs. Now she's moved to Arizona. All of this makes me sad to think about.

But she has always been there for me. I have always wanted a surprise birthday party. But really the surprises she has done for me probably would top any party anyone could throw for me. She surprised me by visiting me when I lived in Philadelphia. That was amazingly fun. What a good friend to spend the money to fly out, then deal with my work schedule and anything else that was going on where I couldn't give her my undivided attention. Then she threw me a surprise baby shower when I was pregnant with Lila. She invited a lot of friends that I was really happy to see, and made the cutest diaper cake I have ever seen. Then she showed up on my doorstep today. All the way from Arizona just for my birthday! (Not really, of course, but I can pretend).

The funny thing is, I really had no clue about any of these surprises. And if you ask Todd, I am usually pretty good about picking up on things. He also tried to surprise me while I was in Philadelphia, but I knew he was coming. I had another surprise baby shower from the singles ward Todd was in the bishopric for, and I figured that one out too. But Puddle, she always knows how to get me!

Just because she deserves it, you all can now hear some of the sappy things that I think make her wonderful. She is so smart. And nice. And caring. Just a sweet person to be around. She is nonjudgemental and helps me be the same way too. She knows who she is and has blessed my life by just being the amazing person she is. Her husband is so lucky, and she is the best mom to her kids. Her darling little girl is so sweet and graceful, just like her.

I wish I had more pictures of her on my computer, but here are a few. In fact, if you have an amazing memory you will notice you have seen 2 of them before.

Best friends and their babies

Lila gives Brooklyn a kiss

At the Jersey Shore

Puddle's First Cheesesteak

The pair of us in New York