Life

It has been a long time since I have blogged!  Life has definitely thrown us a few major life changes. 

Where to start?  Well Nate had been interviewing with Allegiance Hospital and finally got hired in on the Step-down unit!!!  HOORAY for a job!  We found out on the 21st of May and then we got all our ducks in a row and moved back to Michigan 4 days later.  It only took us 2 days to move!  One to pack up our apartment in Indiana and the other to unpack in Michigan.  Thanks to my mom, step dad and brother we got moved out in only 4 hours!  We moved in it was only Nate, my step dad and myself moving us in and that only took us 2 1/2 hours!  We were moving machines!  I was able to put the apartment together in a few days for the most part and then over the next few weeks I have been straightening things up and decorating little by little on my days off to make it more homey!

I also was in the interview process for a few different positions in the Imaging Department where I used to work before I moved to Indiana.  On June 11th I was hired and now I work part-time with Allegiance Health as well.  I have been training these last couple of weeks so I have been working a lot of hours.  I am so looking forward to working the 48 hours I hired in at!  I have hardly had time to do anything it feels like these days.  I am however thankful I have a job and my baby is being taken care of by my awesome family (mom and step dad, MIL, husband and friends) Everyone has been so wonderful at helping us out during this transition stage. 

Little miss Nataleigh is getting so big.  She will be one on this Friday and we are having a party for her on Saturday evening.  Can't wait for it!  I will share pictures from her party later.  Nataleigh is cruising so much and can stand for a long time but hasn't taken any steps on her own yet....I know in due time when she really wants to it will click and she will be off before I know it!  I have truly cherished the time I am able to spend with her each and everyday!  She makes my world a better place!  She also has 5 teeth now.  Three on top and two on the bottom...with more coming in :D  She weighs 21.5lbs and I'm not sure how tall she is.  She is mastering at picking up food with her fingers and she hasn't quite got the hang of using utensils yet.  Her favorite food seems to be avocado!  It's surprising but as soon as I put it on her tray she swoops it up and it's gone!  She can say mama, dada, nana, all done, kitty and she loves to point.  She doesn't always say what you want her to say but hopefully soon it will start to click.  She loves to giggle and play with everything...including typing on the keyboard. She just loves to sleep on her belly and her butt sticking up in the air...it's cute!  Nataleigh also has a baby Doll named Stella (thanks to my MIL who got it for her right after she was born) that she just LOVES to hug, hold and rock!  You tell her to hug Stella and she does.  She even gives her kisses.

We just found out yesterday that my husband passed his NCLEX that he took on Thursday..what a relief to have that behind us now.  He was so sure he failed but he always reacts that way after he takes a test then when he gets the results he usually passes with flying colors!  Thank you God!!!  I had faith that he did well and I am so happy for him to be a RN!  Job security baby!!!!

Well I think that is all for now.  I feel I have caught everyone up on our new life changes.  Hope everyone is well!

I'll leave you all with a few pictures of the last few months.

 Chris & Anne at Chris's graduation from Spring Arbor University

This picture is from my brother-in-law Chris's graduation dinner.  He graduated with his BA in social services.

 Nataleigh just loves her kitty

Moving

Nataleigh playing in her box

More packing!

The Men

Uncle Nick & Nataleigh

Nataleigh's first time in the her pool at my MIL's house.  She loved it!

 Giving Grandma kisses

Memorial Day weekend we were in Frankenmuth watching the Hot Air Balloon Show.

Momma & Nataleigh...sleepy girl before our bike ride Memorial Day weekend.

Nate & I riding the tandem bike. 

 Family pic at the Memorial ceremony

With Grandpa & Grandma

The family in front of the Veteran's Monument Randy & Megan sold.

Nataleigh & cousin Samuel right before Grandma Cumings Tea Party

 Marideth, Megan, Dorothy, Nataleigh & I at the Tea Party.

Nataleigh & I...love this picture of us!

All the ladies!

 Samuel & Nataleigh playing on Grandma :D

Family Picture in Frankenmuth

Well that's all for now.....hope all is well with everyone....till next time!

7 Things Sunday

Hello everyone!  I am so excited that I am writing this on Sunday around 4 and not later :D

1.  Congrats to my brother-in-law Chris for Graduation with his BSW yesterday from Spring Arbor University....we are extremely proud of you!

2. Nataleigh is now 10 months old today!  She is getting sooo big!!!  She cut another tooth within the last week!  She looks so cute with her 2 teeth on the bottom!  I will be taking her pictures this week and will do a post with them and her 9 month pictures!

3. We find out tomorrow if my husband gets a job he interviewed for last week.  If he doesn't get the job he has another interview with the same hospital on Tuesday afternoon at 215.  Please keep us in your prayers :D

4. This is so sad for me but we finally gave in and started Nataleigh on formula.  She does really well with it.  She just is not that interested in nursing anymore and want her to get the nutrients she needs.  Does anyone have any similar experiences with this?

5. I am torn about what position I should apply for at the hospital where Nate might get the job.  I will wait to apply for them until I know he is hired.  I don't want to work full-time because I have Nataleigh and don't want to be away from her that much but at the same time it is very appealing because I want to help my husband pay off the debt as fast as we can.  Nate and I have discussed it and we are hoping that if he gets the job that I would be able to go back to my old job being on-call and choosing the shifts I want to work...we think it would work out better for our family instead of having a set schedule...we still need to pray about it more.

6. I am looking forward to this summer.  There are a  lot of things going on with Nate's family (weddings, showers and babies oh my!)  We are going on a few vacations (Ohio for Jesse's wedding and Wisconsin for Ben's wedding)  we mine as well have some fun while we are there :D 

7. I am going to planning Nataleigh's 1st birthday and want to come up with some ideas...does anyone have any suggestions on themes for a 1st year birthday party for a girl???  I would love any help!  Can't believe she is going to be 1 in 2 more months!

Well got to go...Nataleigh is hungry.

Till next time!

7 Things Sunday

With only 40 minutes left on Sunday, here are my 7 things!

1. Today is my FIRST Mother's Day!!!!  It was a good day overall and I felt very loved and appreciated by my husband and of course by Nataleigh!

2. My Mother's Day gift was a can opener (electric!!!  woot woot!)  I kept complaining to Nate that my new can opener that we just got a month or two ago doesn't work right and he took a hint!  Thanks Nate for listening to me!  (p.s. Men actually DO listen to their wives!!!)

3. Here are the cards I sent to my sister-in-laws that are expecting.

               Sent this card to Megan.

                   Sent this card to Anne.

4. We went to Olive Garden for Dinner ***MY FAVORITE RESTAURANT!!!***  We had the soup, salad and bread sticks.  (my favorite meal is the chicken parm though :D)

5. Nataleigh's second tooth poked through today....hopefully she will start sleeping better at night. 

6. Here is a picture of when Nataleigh was born:

Here is a picture of us from today:

7.  Here is my family picture from today when we were out at Olive Garden. 

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers and mothers-to-be out there!

Till next time!

Graduation Festivities

So this last weekend was a huge weekend for my family.  Nate graduated from Bethel College with his degree in nursing.  His parents, Megan & Patrick, Jesse, Marideth & Sam, and Grandma Cumings all came down on Friday.  Nate, myself, his parents, Megan and Jesse all attended his graduate dinner later Friday night.  The food was really good and Nate won a sticker to go on our van.  The Alumni Board gathered info and the most popular car on campus was Honda Civic.  Nate's broke down in January but was still registered on campus so he won the decal.  He also received these beautiful Bethel College glass cups (set of 4) that will look nice in a display case with all of his memorabilia from college (someday!)  We only stayed for dinner because the program would have lasted a few more hours and we wanted to spend some quality time together as a family!

                             Here is a picture of us from the dinner.

                                      Nate's parents at the dinner.

After we left the dinner we headed back to our apartment and everyone decided to go to an original Putt-Putt close to our apartment. (His family loves to play and they are competitive!)  I decided to stay back with Nataleigh.  Dorothy said she would stay and watch her but it was already getting late and it didn't make sense to drive all the way downtown and then come back just to turn around and drive back downtown so I stayed home.  I finished up my necklace for graduation day to go with my outfit...I love it! Here is a picture of it.

It's not the best quality picture but it works.  When I was done with my necklace I went to bed only to be woken up by a pounding on the wall our bed is against!!!  Nate didn't have his key to get into the apartment and I had been asleep for over an hour so I was out!  They tried to call my phone a few times but it was on vibrate in the other room in my purse and I didn't hear it...they also were throwing rocks at the window (like in the movies) to try and wake me up...somehow I finally woke up!  I let everyone in and then went back to bed.

Saturday was a fun-filled and busy day.  Got up early and fed Nataleigh, got ready for the day, made breakfast for Jesse, Marideth & Samuel (they were the only ones that stayed with us...the rest stayed in a hotel in downtown Mishawaka).  We then went to the nurse pinning ceremony and it was so nice.  When they said to stand and give then a hand I started to cry because I was overcome with joy and I was sooo proud of Nate.  It was something I will treasure!  Here some pictures from the pinning and afterwards.

After the pinning ceremony we went out to eat with Nate's side while my side went back to the clubhouse to prepare for the after graduation party later that night.  We ate at Culver's and it was very yummy!  While we were there we discovered Nataleigh's first tooth had poked through!  She wouldn't let me get a picture of it though! :(

We didn't have a lot of time between the pinning ceremony and graduation.  The graduation was very nice.  It was a lot faster than I thought it was going to be...altogether around 1 1/2 hours!  Here are some pictures of graduation.

Nataleigh with Nana looking for Daddy

 

After graduation we had a chance to thank Nate's professors for the wonderful job they did and take more pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My sleepy baby!  She was so good the whole day!

We decorated for the graduation party the night before.  Everyone helped out and it turned out just the way I wanted it to!  Thanks everyone for your hard work!  We had great food and played some games.  It was quite the day and I slept pretty good that night.

Hope you enjoyed reading and looking at the pictures about Nate's graduation festivities!

Till next time!

7 Things Sunday

Well only one day late isn't bad, right?  With everything that went on last weekend I decided to just rest and catch up on sleep yesterday.  I took a 2 hour nap in the afternoon and it was marvelous!  Well here are my 7 things!

1. NATE GRADUATED!!!!  I am so proud of him and all his hard work.  He looked so handsome!!!  Here is a picture of us.

2. Nataleigh cut her first tooth on Saturday...it is so cute!  On the other hand she loves to play with it and when she nurses she likes to bite at times so if anyone has any suggestions on how to train them not to bite I would appreciate any feedback!

 Just got a good shot of it and thought I would share with everyone!

3. Nataleigh also learned how to army crawl this weekend...she can get on all fours and scoot forward but hasn't quite figured out the whole crawling thing yet.  She is hot on its tail though!

4. I am so happy to announce that my sister-in-law, Megan is pregnant with a GIRL!!!  We found out last Monday...so excited for Nataleigh to have a girl cousin!

5. I am also happy to announce that my sister-in-law, Anne is pregnant with a BOY!!!  We just found out last night and I am thrilled that Nataleigh will have another boy cousin!  She loves other little kids...hmm maybe we should jump on the baby bandwagon???!!!  We shall see!

6. Now that we won't be moving to Michigan the weekend of May 14-16 we will be able to help friends move into their new house and go to a graduation on Saturday.  I think I stated before I was bummed but I have had some time to let it settle in and both Nate & I agree that God has a different plan for us.  Please continue to pray for our family!

7. Mother's day is coming up next Sunday and I am getting really excited since this will be my first Mother's day (last year didn't technically count since I couldn't hold my baby.  She was still developing in my womb!)  I am looking forward to see what Nate has planned.  There is a local Putt-Putt that has a deal going on that all Mothers play for free that day so I think we will probably do that after I get out of work.

Well that is all for now.

Till next time!