Sad or Happy day??

Today I signed papers at the nursing home. I am full of every emotion. Excited, scared, anxious, devastated, happy, not so happy. In the past week I have taken the NCLEX, passed the NCLEX, got a job and have been searching for the perfect day care.

This job is something that Brady and I have been praying for and it's the most perfect job at the most perfect timing. Here is the up side:

-I am working 30 hours a week 6am-2pm (so four 8 hour shifts with a 30 min. lunch). I am also working every other weekend, which means I will have 2 days to work during the week (and weekends) and then back to 4 days. Does that make sense?? To explain it in another way...I will be working 4 days a week total including every other weekend. haha

-It pays extremely well (more than double what I've made in the past)

-It will give me the experience I want and need to apply for other positions

-I get to have adult interaction and maybe meet new friends

-I still get my afternoons with Cooper and for myself...maybe a nap or two :)

-It's in the field I went to school for and love

So you might ask "what's the down side?":

-Cooper must go to day care :( I have cried SO many times in the past week that my eyes are permanently glossy. I know it will only be 4 days/week then 2 days/week but I have put 98% of my time and energy into raising our boy and making him happy. He's been at my side everyday, all day (with the occasional shifts at the hospital for school) since I got pregnant. Since I graduated from BYUI in April we haven't been apart for more than a few hours...I don't think ever more than 4. It's going to be a difficult time for the both of us. I want to be a stay-at-home mother. It's what Brady and I have planned all along but this job opportunity has been a blessing and is an answer to our prayers. The main reason for a job is because our townhome is still up for sale and no one has shown interest in renting. A mortgage payment, HOA, rent, utilities for BOTH places, along with everything else makes it kind of tight financially... especially with a baby. With this job we won't have to worry about our finances and we can actually save more money. Stay out of debt right? We do have someone walking through our townhome tomorrow morning but I'm not going to get my hopes up like last time!

So is today a sad or happy day???

pictures

peek-a-boo

found the chairs!

he thought he was soo funny!

cute after a bath

he is getting sooo big!

bath time!

getting into trouble

playing with daddy

a new silly face of his

playing with his toys

Job??

Monday morning after I found out I passed my test I called the nursing home. I told them I passed the test and they said "Congratulations! We will get something set up for you." I didn't know what that meant but I assumed I would be getting a call later in the week. Later that day she called me back and asked me a few questions. We set up a date for me to go in and sign some paperwork. She asked if I wanted full-time or part-time. After a little discussion I decided to go with full-time (30 hours a week) and day shift (6 am - 2 pm) and working every other weekend. I'm not sure if it's set in stone or whatever...but I'm ASSUMING I got the job?! We are EXTREMELY excited about this because of the stress we've had about our townhome not selling or renting. We've been so blessed and everything seems to be falling into place! Well, except for a day care center. The place we wanted to take Cooper to has a waiting list until about January...so we'll be asking around and trying to find the perfect place for him until January.

After college...

(WARNING: long and boring...it's kind of journal entry for myself. Feel free to skip it all and scroll down to the bottom!)

I started college as soon as I graduated high school not knowing what I wanted to do or who I wanted to be. I wanted a career and not in an office. I don't like to sit and do paperwork...but I do love the organization and interaction with people. It wasn't until after I was pregnant with Kegan that I wanted to become a registered nurse. I looked at schools for a while and didn't want to wait the 2+ years to even start a program. So we headed out to BYUI with faith that it was what we were supposed to do. I took the prerequisites, earned a 4.0 in every semester, and applied for the program. To our surprise I was accepted on the first try, which can be very difficult to do! Everything was falling into place as we had prayed for :) I went through the program with 4.0 every semester until I was pregnant with Cooper. I had Cooper in the middle of my last semester and struggled with putting in the time to study...even though I knew that I could jeopardize my place in the program. Thankfully, I made it through with an A and an A- in my nursing classes! Woohoo! I even did 12+ hour shifts at 38 weeks pregnant! I graduated in April and did not pass the exam I needed to to be approved to take the final NCLEX. I studied and procrastinated to take the 2nd exit exam. When I finally got around to it I didn't pass once again. A serious disappointment. So some more time studying and took another test and my director was confident that I was prepared to take the NCLEX.

Last Friday I took the NCLEX. I drove up to Boise Thursday night and stayed in a hotel. I had to be at the testing center at 7:30 for my 8:00 appointment. I wasn't very nervous but more anxious to get home to Cooper (Cooper cried the entire night I left until bedtime)! After 91 questions and only an hour at the center my screen went blue...I was done. Seriously scary! That's when my nerves hit me. I am the kind of person that needs to know the results right then and there but the NCLEX doesn't let you find out for 2 business days (if you pay the extra money). So I went home thinking of the questions and how I should've taken more time. The weekend was a little stressful but I knew that whatever happens I would get through it. Even though I knew I wouldn't be able to see the results I checked the website several times this weekend. This evening I thought "I'm sure the results aren't there...it's Sunday. But what the heck, I have nothing better to do." The "unofficial" results WERE in!!! I paid the extra money and I...

PASSED!!!!!!

I am "unofficially" Kelsey Ellis, RN

I couldn't be more proud of myself! I have successfully graduated from college, took the NCLEX, and became an RN. I accomplished something that I have worked so hard for. It's such a relief and now I can't wait to spend more time with my family :)

Oh...and I had an interview last week!! It sounded as though they were interested in me but told me to call them (on their cell phones) when I found out the results. The job opportunity seems kind of perfect right now so we'll see!

Quick update...without pictures

Brady: STILL working harder than ever. He works at least 10 hours a day right now. Poor guy is super busy and stressed. Still no soccer :( He did find someone to play around with at a park. Hopefully he'll squeeze some time in. He loves to play with Cooper! He's a wonderful father and helps out a lot!

Kelsey: Took the NCLEX...no results yet :( I'm confident I did well...but during school whenever I felt that way I always did bad. So we'll see. Cooper keeps me busy along with the dishes, laundry, cleaning, and taking care of myself. My house is a little neglected sometime but I suppose that's okay.

Cooper: crawling everywhere! His poor knees are all red and slightly swollen. His front teeth look as though they're working their way through. Teething tablets have been amazing. He's sleeping through the night again (for a while he was waking up once to eat). He has an attachment to his bottle that drives me nuts. If he sees it he starts whining for it. It's ridiculous. He LOVES to read. If he's fussy I can usually calm him down with a story book. We have started giving him little finger foods for his age. He uses his thumb and index finger to pick up his food. It's adorable and just shows how fast he's growing. He still doesn't like his sippy cup. I'm going to go to the store to get another one with a smaller nipple to see if hell take that. He started to say "mama" when he's crying and he sees me. Especially when I put him in his high chair and he would rather have his bottle (that attachment thing). His arms reach up to me and he goes "mama". Cute but breaks my heart a little. He absolutely LOVES other children. I've taken him to a babysitter that has two little boys and he played with them the entire time without crying once. Going to stores is entertaining too. I always hear how happy he is! He smiles at everyone that walks by. He really is happy and super energetic!

Well, that's all for now. Pictures will be coming soon along with a video of him crawling :)

Job Hunting

Earlier in the week I had stopped in every doctor office/medical office I saw. I asked if they were hiring RN's and most of them were not. They kindly offered to take my resume and have it on file. Some office's even plainly told me that they don't hire RN's only LPN's. So that was discouraging. Brady and I also surfed the web and found a few places that were hiring...well, only 2 places. The hospital and a nursing home. The hospital has like 7 job openings that would be perfect for me. But they kindly told me that they usually don't hire new grads and that they have a stack of applications with nurses who have experience but to not give up or get discouraged. The nursing home gave me an application and took my resume. They called me a few days later to schedule an interview for next week!!! It's not the most ideal job but it would give us the income we need at this time and the experience I need for a position I would prefer. If I don't get this job I will continue to search for something...almost anything. I have also applied to several banks that are hiring tellers. With my experience as a teller I hope something will come open.

On a lighter note...here are some cute pictures that were taken in Boise a few weeks ago.

Cooper at the zoo. He was SOO excited!

At Cabela's. He loved this hat and thought it was pretty cool!

Cooper is all over the place and he's much faster than he was 2 days ago! He sees something, starts giggling, and giggles until he gets there. I really enjoy my time home with him. I cry every time I think about leaving him at a day care. He is at a great stage and he makes me laugh all day long...with the usual frustrating moments. He absolutely loves to take naps and go to bed. We put him in his bed, give him his blanket...and he will grab the blanket, pull it up over his face and roll onto his side. We usually don't hear a peep out of him until he wakes up. I think he is the coolest little kid around! Brady and I often talk about how easy it is to be his parents. We couldn't have asked for a better little boy :)

Ugh...

...is my new word of the week. We've had many unexpected events. Be prepared for a big bummer.

- Car needed to be worked on. $550 dollars for tires, new alignment, and other things I can't remember. Some things were still under warranty (thankfully)

- Our town home buyers backed out and our renters are moving out at the end of the month. No one has shown interest in renting or buying. We dropped our price to as low as we can go. Please pray that we sell or rent this thing out.

- I am job hunting :( I hate it. The idea of leaving Cooper with a babysitter is heart breaking. But if we don't sell or rent out our town home...so long savings.

- Both of our cars need oil changes...perfect timing right?

- I lost a reimbursement check. Oh Joy!! Still haven't heard from the bank if they will cancel the old one and send a new one.

- Cooper started this weird thing when he eats. He'll swallow a bunch of air and then not want to eat. I bet it doesn't feel very good. I'm not sure what to do about it so I am going to call the pediatrician and see what he thinks.

So enough of the bad...here is some good!

- Cooper is army crawling with the occasional real crawl! He's all over the place and getting into things...like the outlets. He goes to the furniture and tries to stand up. Only a matter of time until he's pulling himself to stand up.

- The weather is cooler. It's wonderful to have the windows open.

- I am enjoying my new calling. I'm the young women's secretary. It's nice to have interaction with people at church. We are going on a temple trip tomorrow! Can't wait!!

- I have my temporary license as a RN..NCLEX is coming up fast.

so there ya have it. Things are crazy but I have to look at the things that are going good. I get too stressed out. I don't deal with stress very well. My heart starts acting up and I get very grumpy. I can feel my blood pressure go up and I get headaches. Seriously...my body does not handle stress. I often wonder how I even made it through the nursing program without having a heart attack.

Ugh!

crawling??

ALMOST!! Cooper is super energetic. He is almost always moving, kicking, playing, jumping, spinning in circles, throwing toys...you name it. He's on the move constantly, so it doesn't surprise me that he's close to crawling. The last few days he's been working hard to get his knees under him and move forward, but today he's figured out how to move forward without being on all fours. He kind of looks like an inch-worm (getting his knees under and then throwing himself forward). It's hard to explain but the boy is purposefully moving forward!

On his knees reaching for his toy.

He got his toy and is now doing his famous push up!

Looking cute after a nap

Some other fun facts:

- he laughs when he hits his spoon on the tray. It's adorable!

- he gets excited when he hears the water running for a bath. His whole body shakes when he gets excited!

- LOVES to eat! "MMMM" is what we hear the entire time.

- still hates to get dressed...it's annoying.

- He's a mama's boy!! I can't leave the room without him screaming.

- Everywhere we go people comment on how happy he is! He smiles and flirts with everyone.

- Poor little guy gets a lot of attention because of his ears :( Seriously people...don't say he looks like an elf. It's just rude.

- his newest thing is to scrunch up his face and breathe in and out fast through his nose. It's something that I can say he got from me!!! He will even copy Brady and I when we do it.

More exciting news in our little family. We have our townhome in Rexburg for sale or rent. Our renters will be out by the end of this month and so we are desperate for something to come along. If we had to pay the mortgage on top of everything else right now...we would loose our savings pretty quick. So we put our place on the market and ended up getting an interested buyer in the first week. We negotiated a price and they WANT TO BUY IT!!!! We are SOOOOO happy and extremely blessed. There have been places on the market for months and months. We just pray that things will continue to go smoothly.