New Year - 2009

Economy dampens celebrations for New Year's Eve

Fireworks, good cheer, but long shadows as world hails 2009

Most of the New Year's headlines were negative towards 2008 as being one of the worst economic years the country and the world has seen in decades. 

While this is true, 2008 was probably the best year of my life (and the most full of life-changing events). Here is a brief overview:

For the first 4 1/2 months of the year, I was engaged to a wonderful man <3

(One of our engagement pictures taken January, 2008 by Kami Flavin)

I was also finishing up Nursing School, which I graduated from on May 8, 2008. I was so glad to be done with college forever!! (Unless something possesses me to go back.) I went to the Pinning Ceremony instead of the Graduation Ceremony. The speakers played a short clip I had recorded thanking everyone for helping me get to that point. My parents pinned a Nursing pin on my on stage. It was really nice. 

(My future in-laws, my future husband, me and my parents at my Pinning Ceremony)

6 days later, on May 14, 2008 I got married to the best man ever. The wedding was beautiful and I loved sharing it with my closest friends & family. I was most excited about spending the rest of my life with Alan <3 

For our honeymoon we went up to Wyoming near The Yellowstone National Park. :) It was beautiful.

After the honeymoon, we started our life together in our apartment. We had most of our stuff set up before the wedding.

I had 3 weeks to be a housewife before I started my first "real" job as a Graduate Nurse at a Neonatal ICU. So I enjoyed setting up/decorating the kitchen and the rest of the apartment.  And of course spoiling my new husband with homemade meals when he got home. I had waited a long time to be a wife and have my own apartment, and it definitely lived up to my expectations ;)

(The first meal I made Alan after we got married. Isn't he adorable? <3)

On June 9th, I started my new job. I wasn't an RN yet though.. I still had to pass the licensing test.  So I stressed/studied over that until I took the test a few weeks later. When I finally took it, It was the worst experience of my life. I was sure I had failed it, and I knew the computer knew if I passed or not.. but I had to wait DAYS for the results.  I don't think I'll ever forget the feeling of dread I had waiting for those results.. but I PASSED. Thankfully! I became an official Registered Nurse on July 1, 2008! I was in orientation in the NICU until about 6 weeks ago.. and I have been on my own since then. I still love my job. I love helping the smallest and sickest babies "finish cooking" and getting them ready to go home with their families. 

Also in June, we adopted our two kitties, Hobbes and Lucy. Lucy is cuddling with me in my lap right now & being a sweetheart.  (As I was writing that, Hobbes got in my lap too, haha) No human babies in 2008 though ;)

(Me, our babies, and a book. I still have my work scrubs on. I thought I could stay awake long enough to get some reading in.. but I was wrong, lol)

(Lucy and Hobbes (younger) taking a nap on the couch... It's a hard life)

In October we went to Jamaica with Daniel & Virginia. Our first Feast together as a married couple.

(The four of us on the snorkel cruise)

All in all, it's been a great year filled with a lot of blessings. I am looking forward to what 2009 will bring. Unfortunately, Alan and I slept right through New Years this year because we are an old married couple ;) And because I had to be up at 5:20 for work! I did get my New Year's kiss later though ;)

***Correction*** Alan brought to my attention that he did wake me up at midnight to give me a kiss. I must have been out of it. So we didn't entirely sleep through New Year's after all ;)

Here's to everyone having a great 2009!

Mystery Dinner Party

So for those of you who haven't heard of a Mystery Dinner Party, it is actually a game you buy with a murder mystery plot weaved into it. You send out invitations, assign each guest a character/suspect to play (which the guest dresses up as), and make a nice dinner (recipes included in the game) and try to figure out who the "killer" is during the evening. Each guest has a character booklet which tells them about their character, and what they can disclose to the other "suspects". It really is a lot of fun. Getting ready for it was not the smoothest experience though...

I cooked all day in preparation for the game. Cornish game hens, herb seasoned orzo, parmesan and montery jack cheese crackers, chocolate biscotti, salad and bread. We had the table set nicely, and had set the cornish game hens around when my husband started to build a fire in the fireplace. We thought it would add a nice ambiance to the evening. Well, he lit the fire, and the apartment started filling with smoke soon after. He tried to reposition the handle that opens and closes the vent to the fireplace, but nothing was working, and the smoke was getting worse. Then, the fire grew and covered the handle so we couldn't even try a different potition to open it if we wanted to. I got the fire extinguisher from under the sink, and Alan was able to extinguish about half the fire before the thing went dry. So we started filling up water bottles to extinguish the rest of the fire. The smoke was so bad by this point that it hurt to breathe inside, and we had to open the door to get any air. (which took me about 30 seconds to open, because it had just been painted, and the door was stuck closed). We finally got put the fire out, and we set up fans and opened the windows and kept the door open to vent out the smoke. By this time it was 8:00, which was the time everyone was supposed to be there. That's when we notied our entire living room was covered with a layer of soot. (including the plates and wine glasses that were already set up!).  My brother and sister-in-law were th efirst to show up, and they helped us rinse off the dishes. The smoke smell gradually diminished throughout the evening, and we still managed to enjoy the game. It was definitely a memorable experience!

Top Row: Daniel as Otto Von Schnapps, Jeremy as Papa Vito, Alan as Ralph Rottingrape

Bottom Row: Virginia as Marilyn Merlot, Sherry as  Hedy Shablee”, Krystal (me) as Tiny Bubbles

You can see the charred fireplace in the background.
Jeremy & Sherry's daughter Sophia trying out her hand at Papa Vito.

Off Orientation

So after about 4 1/2 months working in the NICU (during which I have been working under a Preceptor for guidance/asking questions/help) I am officially on my own, as of last week. I am both excited and nervous about it!! So far, the babies I have taken care of on my own have been feeder/grower babies, which are the more stable babies who have resolved most of their medical issues and are learning how to eat before they go home. I am hoping they give me some more critical babies too, to challenge me. Below is a picture that my mother in law sent me in an email. It's a good example of a more critical baby that we would take care of. It really is amazing working with these infants and their families, and I feel like I will be learning the rest of my career about the best ways to take care of them.  

New Camera!

I ordered a Canon PowerShot SD1100IS off of Amazon last week. I haven't had a camera since mine broke October of last year, and we are going to Jamaica in few weeks, so what better time to buy a camera?? Considering my last camera was 3.2MP and this one is 8MP (with image stabilization)... I love it! Here is us playing around with our new toy:

Neonatal Nursing

I love working in the NICU, it's been my dream since before starting Nursing School. The premature/sick babies are so dependent on the doctors/nurses/respiratory therapists/developmental therapists to take care of them, and they are so precious!! And working with the families of these babies can be very rewarding (and challenging). One of the websites that made me start thinking about this career was http://www.allnurses.com/... which is where I found this great post about being a NICU Nurse:

You know you're a NICU nurse when...

1. You've eaten hamburger patties bigger than most of your patients.

2. You define colors by the color of stool you've seen - ex. baby poop green/yellow.

3. You don't understand why talking about sticking a needle in a baby's head is making other people at the dinner table ill.

4. At one time or another you've had breast milk, poop, or urine on your work clothes.

5. You have affectionately called a patient Cletus the fetus, wimpy white boy, troll, or FLK (funnylooking kid) in report.

6. You can change your patient's bed linens with one hand while holding your patient in the other.

7. You can make an IV arm board out of some 4x4 gauze and tape.

8. You've almost caught your hair on fire on your patient's radiant warmer bed.

9. You've used a sock or a piece of tape for a restraint.

10. You check out the scalp veins, cap refill, and fontanels on a friend's new baby.

11. You use a cotton ball to obtain urine samples.

12. You use Saran Wrap to keep your food fresh and your patients warm.

13. You think all crying babies need Benadryl, Versed, or intubation.

14. You think the pulse oximeter, CPAP, and those crappy no sticking leads were created by the devil.

15. You have ever shown a doctor a green residual while they were eating.

16. You have obtained a 10cc residual when the patient only gets 1cc.

17. You have put an intensive care patient in a swing.

18. You don't get excited if your patient has a heartrate of 180.

19. You do chest compressions with two fingers.

20. Most of your meds come in TB or 1cc syringes.

21. You prepare your patient's bath water in a Dixiecup.

22. You draw blood from your patient's heel.

23. You use a rubber band for a tourniquet.

24. You've seen two complexes on the EKG screen and not been excited - you merely pat your patient on the butt and it's all good.

25. Newborn babies look like preschoolers to you.

26. You tell people what you do and they think you sit around and rock babies all day.

27. When you tell people what you REALLY do they start to cry and/or vomit.

28. You have assisted with surgery on your patient in their bed and on the unit.

29. You have considered using duct tape to hold a pacifier in a screaming baby's mouth.

30. You have met your patient's father, mother's boyfriend, and mother's husband all in one day.

31. You have made a mental note that no matter how stupid people are, they still know how to get their groove on.

32. And lastly, you know you're a NICU nurse if you've read 1-31 and have laughed your fanny off!

(Photos from http://www.kodak.com/US/images/en/corp/1000words/lauren_640x480.jpg & http://www.jillstanek.com/pree.jpg)

Our Engagement - November 8, 2007

The night of our engagement was perfect, and I wouldn't change anything <3. We have a unique story that I feel is very much 'Alan' and everything I love about him.

Alan and I had been talking about getting married since June, 2007 where we only half-jokingly were taking about eloping while on our trip to Galveston. (Galveston was still intact then). We pretty much knew we would end up married, we just clicked.

Later that year I sent Alan the design of the engagement ring I wanted from bluenile.com (I was pretty specific) ;). The weekend before he proposed, he asked both of my parents permission to marry me. My parents both appreciated that.. and I thought it was so sweet for Alan to do that; I know how hard that must have been.

Alan bought the engagement ring in secret, but didn't keep it secret for long. I got it out of him that the ring was arriving on November 8, and that that was the date he planned on proposing.

I (very) impatiently waited for November 8th to arrive. Since I already knew he would be proposing that night, Alan made the engagement night special in a different way:

Alan picked me up and gave me flowers & a list of possible locations the engagement could take place. Alan instructed that I had to pick a locations, which we would go to. And I would continue picking locations until I picked the one where he planned on proposing. The locations were: Cliff Nelson, Lake Arlington, Target, UTA & Martin - all places that we went on our first few dates/had significance)

Cliff Nelson was closest, so we went there first. We had often gone to Cliff Nelson just to walk or jog. The first time we jogged together was at Cliff Nelson (where it also started raining on us :p). We were walking around the pathway, and Alan suddenly got on one knee. I thought, "he's already proposing? What about the other locations??" He pulled out a box from his pocket, opened it, and inside was a Ring Pop. He thought he was pretty clever :)

The next location I picked was Target:

We went to Target on our second date. He said he was going shopping for shirts and I really wanted to see him, so I invited myself along.

On our second date after we shopped, we went to UTA to study (we were both still in school). I had left my car in the Target parking lot, so he dropped me back off at Target. He kissed me on the forehead (our first kiss). So we reinacted that kiss on our engagement night before going inside.

Alan told me to look at some shirts inside. He had hidden a note. It said "Krystal, are you having fun?" This was also the wrong location though.

Next we went to Chili's. It wasn't on the list, but we were both hungry, and Chili's was where Alan took me on our first date.

At Chili's Alan gave me a bracelet. I wore this on my wedding day :)

We ordered the same food we had both gotten on our first date. No engagement ring at this location either. At this point, I suspected Lake Arlington was the location Alan had in mind, but I didn't want the evening to end too quickly. So I chose to go to UTA next.

At UTA we went bowling, which is where we bowled on our first date after we went to Chili's.

This was also the wrong location, and I got another Ring Pop.

But I got to see my sexy (then) boyfriend bowl <3.

This is where we "studied" on our second date.

Now I was ready for the ring, so I decided to skip going to Martin, and go straight to Lake Arlington. I couldn't imagine how he would have proposed at Martin.

Us at Lake Arlington. When we got out of the car, he asked me to wait, and I could hear him putting a ring pop in his pocket. I thought, "I guess he won't propose here; how could I have been wrong about the location?"

I could hear the Ring Pop in his pocket as we walked around Lake Arlington.

It turned out that he was just tricking me with the Ring Pop, which is completely Alan's personality. He got to one knee, took out the Ring Pop, threw it away, and then got out the real ring and proposed :) It was so sweet. Here is me with the ring.

The Lake is behind us.

It was a great night :) More to come on the wedding later.

Our Babies

I was never one to consider an animal part of the family. The only pets I've had before we got our kittens were hamsters, fish, and one dog that stayed outside.

But I really am starting to see our kittens as our little babies.



The two of them are getting along better every day too, which we are excited about. Having Lucy around has made a huge difference in the amount of attention Hobbes needs from us, and he almost never bites us anymore (See 9/3 post). :)


Alan giving his daughter a head massage:
Awww. Sleeping on the couch together.