If anyone cuts off a limb, I'm your guy!

K, if you actually cut off a limb, I have never actually attached a limb, and it is still not in my scope of practice but if you promise not to tell anyone I did it, I will try to sew it on. Anyway... for the real news.
Well, I am finally done with Nursing school which ended in Nov. and on Dec. 29th I took my Arizona State license exam, and passed. I am now officially a nurse. Up until this point, when a patient asked me something I did not have the answer to, I would tell them, 'I dont know, I'm a fake nurse, I'll go ask the real nurse'. So... I am not quite sure what I will say now if I don't know the answer so let's just hope I know EVERYTHING (I did say hope). I am working at Phoenix St. Luke's hospital in downtown phoenix. Not only am I a nurse, but I am a telemetry nurse (I work with heart patients). I told the director on the floor, where I was a student, that I would like to work on her floor and she said she would love it. To work on that floor though, you have to have an ACLS certification, which I actually got before I took my exam to be an RN. I am very excited, I was dreading the thought of working as a med/surg nurse which is a typical entry level position.

I am also incredibly excited to have so much more time with Allie. I am sure my mom is thrilled, not that she does not love allie, but I'm sure it will be nice for her to maybe have two minutes free to herself a day. We probably won't give her much more than that, I would not want her to get bored. :) I love my days off when I wake up and just hang out with my little girl. A problem we have always had is that everytime I tickle her, she gets the hiccups, so with all my time off I have discovered that if I tickle her upside down (her upside down, not me), she does not get the hiccups, so now every day I walk over to her to give her a hug, I pick her up, and I softly tell her, don't worry Allie, I won't tickle you, I only tickle on Thursdays, or whatever day it is. The first time, she actually fell for it :) The second time, well she is smart, but she still loves to be tickled!

The other thing I am excited about, I told Marge and she told me she doubted anyone else had those same thoughts or looked at the walls of a bookstore the way I have, so I will try to paint a picture.
If you can imagine, a single mom (unless you count my parents who have doubled, and tripled? as parents), in school for two years, working most of that time, and just about every free second I had was spent at the local Barnes and Noble (which was not really free, although I do enjoy their comfortable chairs and starbucks, I was studying). My friend Rich and I would go several days a week. We would study for hours, get up to get a cup of coffee and back to studying while we drank the cup. And with books open all around me, at least a couple on my lap, one on the arm of the chair, a couple on the little plant holder thing in front of me, and probably one where my feet should go, but I sit with them in the chair, and as I would sink deeper and deeper into the chair, I would stare up at these sort of poster paintings of all the classics (books) and dream about the day I would come to the book store, grab a cup of coffee, and read a book for enjoyment, and not because if I didn't find out what drug you give for superventricular tachycardia I would surely flunk my test. Then, when I was too tired to study even after the coffee, I would go home and go straight to bed, wake up and repeat. Rich and I would joke that we would meet back at home the next day (the bookstore), or that we should just bring a pillow and a change of clothes. Anyway, so now, I can't wait to pick out a book, go to the bookstore, and read it. I am so excited I am having a hard time deciding which book to read!
Anyway, on to my next adventure, I am going to teach myself Spanish, read a good book, and spend time with my amazing daughter.
P.S. I will post holiday pictures later.
Love you all, Ang.