A ghost says BOOOO

Halloween night this year was "rained out" and postponed due to strong winds and heavy rain. Unfortunately I wasn't able to go trick-or-treating with Camden this year because of that. I worked really hard to be available from clinical and work on Halloween night, but was scheduled to work the next day. Thus my disappointment in the postponed trick-or-treating.

Several local mascots came to visit the kiddo's on Halloween!

On Halloween I had my pediatric clinical and someone coordinated about 8 mascots to come visit the sick kids in the hospital that day. Some students in the past have gotten to meet Peyton Manning (which would also be SO awesome, hint hint).

Around Halloween a local senior community hosts an indoor Halloween trick-or-treating event. The residents can sit in their doorway and the kids run up and down the halls trick-or-treating. They also sit in the dining area and serve cookies, fruit punch, snacks, and more. I am not sure if they had it this year, but last year they had a craft station and arts area where kids could make a drawing, too. 

Camden had a lot of fun. (Even if it did take him the entire hour and a half we were there to trick or treat on his own.) He was a little scared to go near the strangers at first but when he saw they had candy and other goodies he started warming up.

On Halloween night (the postponed version .. bah humbug) Brad took Camden out to trick-or-treat. I think that he did better there because it was in our neighborhood he's familiar with and he knew some other people. He likes doing whatever the big kids are doing.

I guess he caught on quickly and went house-to-house saying "Trick or Treat" and greeting our trick-or-treater's later in the night with a "Happy Ha-ween!"  He absolutely loved dressing up as Mickey Mouse and totally understood the costume idea. He liked all the pretty princesses in sparkly dresses and also saw a spider girl!

Mom and dad like the raiding the candy bucket at the end of the night part. ;)

The rest of the year should be fairly low-key since I'm on call at work for Thanksgiving and Christmas is always at home. I can't wait until I get an entire month off of school in December! We haven't had a break since spring break in March. 

Literally nonstop. 

I'm thinking a mini-vacation is in order. Maybe for spring break? Yes, please!

Fam updates

Summer has officially come to an end. 

It ended on a difficult note. Brad ended up in the ER one day for what turned out to be a 2-foot-long blood clot. Yes, you read that right. I freaked out and the ER doc put him on a strong anticoagulant medicine. He unfortunately wasn't allowed to finish out his baseball season; his last baseball season (so he says). 

And they won the championship...

After a few weeks I finally convinced him to see a vein specialist. He told Brad that the ER doc was overreacting and that it's not a big deal. (NOT A BIG DEAL?) He has to wear compression stockings ..

(moment to laugh at that, since I work in Orthopedics)

.. for about 6 weeks and then can have surgery on the affected vein. Between Camden's broken leg, ENT appointments, my gall bladder surgery, and this, we've definitely met our deductible so I'm glad it's being taken care of this year at least.

As for school, I'm finishing up a rough and busy semester on Friday. One. More. Final. Then I am going to do nothing but relax and enjoy the fall weather and my family this weekend. My next courses do not open up until Monday so I can't even print things or see what the next 8 weeks look like so I don't want to know. ;-)

I'm excited to go from two clinicals a week to one, but I am also starting part-time at work (mainly for benefits) so I will be even more busy than before. I wanted to get used to working more as well as get the benefits my hospital provides since they are way better and affordable than my husband's. If we do the premium plans for all (medical, dental, and vision) plans with my company, it's less than the cheapest and highest deductible plan with Brad's. I consider that a HUGE advantage!

Also, I found a GREAT baked french toast recipe that is easy, quick, and uses regular sandwich bread! YEAH!

Here we go ...

I've successfully completed my first few weeks of nursing school. I can't really comment on how the workload is because I've yet to have an exam or anything graded.

 

As for myself (aka a mess), I can definitely comment on that.

 

When I finally decided to apply to nursing school, I was nervous but excited. I wasn't sure if I'd even get in, much less be good at it or enjoy it. I got in and then things got real.

 

I had to find money to pay for (very expensive and private) tuition, bills, day care, etc.

Register for classes.

Buy uniforms, scrubs.

Figure out how to motivate myself to study because ALL of my classes are online.

ALL.

 

Let's just say the library and I have become well acquainted these last few weeks.

 

In the first few days of classes officially starting, I was full of butterflies (and an upper respiratory infection). I quickly doubted myself.

 

Is this something I CAN do?

Am I sacrificing too much?

How much debt will I actually accrue?

Should I just drop out and work until I become a SAHM?

Why did I want to do this in the first place?

 

Lots of doubts and questions bombarded me in that first week. I still am a little nervous, but feeling much more confident that I chose the right path for myself and my family. I know that in the end this is really what I want to do (and will be great at).

 

One reason I know is because I've read every word of every chapter and studied like crazy in just a mere week-and-a-half. I love this information and just inhale it; soak it all in. I can't help but ask myself why I wasn't in nursing school to begin with.

Ah hem .. I have an announcement ..

 

I have been accepted into an accelerated nursing program!

 

I took my last 2 prerequisite classes this semester and bit the bullet and finally applied. This is something I've been wanting to do for a really long time, I was just too afraid of rejection and debt. In all honesty, I'm still terrified of the loans and debt I'll accrue during the next year and a half, but I know that it will be more than worth it in the end.

 

I can't wait to start classes in January and I just finished registering for classes, meeting the faculty and other students, and buying my books so it's really all just sinking in and I'm getting really excited!!! So far, my ideal specialty would be wound care or surgery. We'll see how that changes over the course of the next 16 months. :)