Moving Up.....!

I have been feeling very stagnant with my career lately. I LOVE being a nurse, and I LOVE being a labor and delivery nurse, yet I am constantly looking to grow as a professional. Well, after about a year of interviews, management changes, and maternity leave, I finally got hired as an assistant nurse manager of labor and delivery!
I  am excited about this new chapter in my career. I would love to become a Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) one day.
I know this job will present challenges to me in many ways, but I am so ready for it!

Come see me at The Women's and Childrens' Hospital if you're having a baby:)

Cohen is Two!!

We had a great time celebrating Cohen's second birthday. On the day of his birthday, I dropped Sutton off at Ms. Lily's house so I could dedicate the day to my big boy. We went to Chick-fil-A and I had free coffee while he played in the play area. We ran errands, then I took him to Ms. Lily's so I could put together his Thomas the Train table we got him for his birthday. Chad and I went to Ms. Lily's at 4:30 for Cohen's birthday party with his friends Liam and Duke. Ms. Lily goes all out for the kids' birthdays. They had fruit, goldfish, and cupcakes. Then Cohen got a birthday gift of 2 diggers from Ms Lily, a camera from Liam, and a bubble-blowing lawnmower from Duke. Ms Lily also gives party favors to Sutton, Duke, and Liam. The "favors" are actual toys, not chincy dollar-bin gifts! We love Ms. Lily.
Saturday was Cohen's big party. The weather was a bit chilly and quite windy, but we all had a great time. It was a construction theme since that is Co's fasination now. I had fun decorating and putting together favor bags, but the wind made my decorating challenging. We had the party at the park down the street so all the kiddos could run wild.

The party hats. Even though most kids didn't wear them.
The table cloths were made to look like roads!

The Favor bags. They had a mini "digger," digger stickers, and Playdoh.

The big truck is where the hot dogs were served. You can see the dirt cake in indivdual cups with "caution" tape.

As you can see, Cohen had a great time. He was smiling the entire time. He got so many great gifts.

His shirt was perfect for his party. My friend Andrea made it, and it was a huge hit with Cohen!

Sweet Sutton was loved on by everyone at the party and got in plenty of cuddle time with his grandparents and aunts.

We came home after the party and all four of us were exhausted. So we all took a 2.5 hour nap! When we woke up Chad wanted to go get Cohen a train with an engine, so we went to Toys R Us and got a train and a potty. I don't plan on potty-training now, but I wanted a potty in the house for him to get used to sitting on.

We had a very wonderful, exhausting weekend with our perfect family of four and all of our extended family and friends. We are so blessed!

Wishing you a wonderful week!

Kelly

Sick boy(s)!

I will be the first to get super-pumped when winter arrives and beg for snow. I LOVE winter. But I am ready for spring because Old Man Winter is making all 3 of my boys sick. Sutton has been coughing for a few days now but his personality is still as precious and bubbly as ever. Chad feels puny. Cohen, on the contrary, is pitiful.

He has a fever of 102-103.5 the past two days and his nose is like a faucet on full blast, and he is coughing so much. He keeps saying, "Crash, ears, loud!" I am not sure if this is because he is talking about his trip with Daddy to the Monster Truck Show Saturday, or if he is trying to tell me his ears hurt. I know that often times, you don't give antibiotics to kids 2 and over for ear infections and instead just tough it out until it goes away. So as of now, I don't have a doctor appointment scheduled for him. Just lots of Emergen-C and love from Mommy.

I took Sutton to the amazing sitter Miss Lily today and decided to have a cuddly day with my sick bigger boy. So I went to Walmart to get Vicks Vapor-rub to put on his feet. And we saw this movie. It's one of Cohen's favorite books. We had to get it. Cohen carried it the whole time and wanted to watch it as soon as we got home.

He still takes a paci at bedtime and naptime. I will take it away one day, but not today. He only wants the paci upside-down though! He also has to have his dog all the time. He plays with his tail as you can see in this picture. Poor baby feels like poo.

Sutton spits up A TON. I'm sure I've said this before. Well, Monday night before I went to work, he spit up a large amount as he often does, but this time it was full of coffee-ground looking stuff. As a nurse I know that usually means there is old blood somewhere in his stomach or esophagus. I felt a bit panicked and called the on-call doc who said it sounds like there is an irritated area in his little esophagus from all the spitting up he does. He did it again yesterday. I'm taking him to the doctor tomorrow. He doesn't seem to be hurting at all and is still a smiling, laughing ball of joy. But I am a bit worried for my littlest one:(

And here is a sweet picture of my loves on Sunday at Nana and Pop's house after church. They are starting to interact with each other. Sutton giggles at Cohen and Cohen always looks for Sutton as asks for him when he isn't in the same room. I LOVE this small age gap. I highly recommend having your kids this close in age....At least I do now. I may change my mind as Sutton becomes mobile.

Hoping for some healthy boys in the Cochrane house soon!
Kelly