Three Little Pigs- new version

"Once upon a time there were three little pigs. Their names were Quinlynne, Abby & Cadyn." (At this point, I'm trying to not laugh. The three little pigs are girls....and cousins??) Quinlynne was VERY smart & built her house out of bricks. Abby & Cadyn were lazy & just built their houses out of sticks & straw." The story went on for quite a while, then apparently "Uncle Aaron & Mandy joined the lazy pigs Abby & Cadyn in Quinlynne's strong brick house, in fact the whole world can just go ahead and join them. The End."

I had no clue there were so many versions of the Three Little Pigs. Also, tonight there were all sorts of questions. "Momma, did you pick me out of the baby store? Why? Did you want a special girl? (I told her a couple of weeks ago the reason she had curly hair is because that is what God gave her. In response to why God gave her curly hair I told her it was because he thought she was really special, and special people get curly hair. She LOVED that answer & has asked me about it repeatedly.) Did you want a girl named Quinlynne? Why did you name me Quinlynne? How did you get my name, when I was in your belly? Did you know I was gonna come out of your potty? Oh yeah- I came out of your belly, huh??" Oh the questions!!!! What a cute way to end my birthday, though. I detest Sunday birthdays, and this was a way to make me giggle on my special day! Thank you, my smart, pretty, funny daughter!

Sorry

I know it's been more than a couple of days since I have posted. But, to tell you the truth- school has kept me hoppin'. The semster is coming to a close, and you know what that entails. Everything kind of starts the downhill trend, speeding up and speeding up! This week was not too bad at clinicals though, even though my patient was one sick guy. I got to go with him to have an EGD & Colonoscopy, and while we were in the PACU, it was great to see a lady from church (who is a nurse) bringing a patient in from the OR. It's always nice to have a friendly face! Soon, my friends, soon I will be able to say (hopefully) "Two down, two to go!" I am close to half done in my quest to become a Registered Nurse. Thank goodness! I just don't know why I didn't do this the first time around in school. It would have been so much easier. But, I didn't think I was smart enough, and I did what was easy for me. Hindsight's 20/20, right?

Since I'm talking about being in the PACU, let me include a picture of my child when she was 11 months old, in the PACU.

This was when she had her adenoids removed. I knew something was wrong when it had been over an hour since they took her back to the OR. Seems as though Quinlynne would not start breathing on her own after they stopped anesthesia. I knew she had scared everyone in all of the ORs, because they kept coming out (after I was with her) to look at her, but trying to look nonchalant. What's that old saying "Can't BS a BSer"? I know how to downplay things so people won't worry. I could feel all this gunk rattling around in my baby's chest, and the ambu bag which had not yet been discarded from surgery lying on her bed. Oh well- she came by the adenoid thing rightfully, I had mine removed 3 times, and Adar has always had problems with his. What a combination. So far, Quinlynne has had hers removed twice. I wonder how many times it'll take? Thank goodness for modern medicine and the people who Heavenly Father had with her in the room that day.

I hope that as a healthcare provider, I will be able to be a person patients and their families will be thankful for. It's my goal!

Halloween 2009

This year Quinlynne had quite the time deciding what she was going to be. Then she broke her arm & we didn't know if the cast was still going to be in place on the big night. Turns out she had a splint, but she still went as a ladybug. I wanted her to be a princess- but the thought that won me over for the ladybug? How many more times am I going to get to see her dressed up CUTE? I had a test today, so Uncle Charlie & Aunt Connie had her for the weekend so I could study. I had to work in trick-or-treating in there somehow.

Quinlynne came home about 4:30 on Saturday evening so I could get her ready. I painted her face. At first she wasn't too sure about what I was doing....but neither was I! After each phase of the makeup application, Quinlynne would get up & run to the bathroom mirror to see what was going on on her face. I knew I had done something right when I heard her shrieks of approval & her making "OOOOOH" sounds in the bathroom.

We went to downtown Broken Arrow for some Halloween action. It was satisfactory. That is all I have to say about it. We then came back to our neighborhood & hit the few houses that had their lights on.

I dressed up (at the last minute) as a gypsy. The thing is...I don't think most people realized I was dressed up! I had on lots of mismatched jewelry, a scarf around my head, I don't know what I could have done differently. Oh well.

Cast is off

We went to the orthopaedist on Wednesday. Quinlynne's bright pink cast was removed. I took my camera with me so I could document this occasion for Quinlynne. The results: her bone is healing. She still has to wear a splint, and we go back to see the orthopaedist in 3 weeks to check on the progress of her radius.

She's checking out the machine...not sure what is gonna happen.
Going to let her arm be worked on, even though she's not sure of what's really going to happen. (Even though I had explained to her several times the process.)

Sawing, sawing, sawing.

It's off!


Here's my arm, momma!

Rah-rah!

Quinlynne's little Fall program in dance class was Thursday. I was afraid we'd have a repeat of last year....when she just stood there like a bump on a log. I was so pleasantly surprised when she danced her little heart out. They were dressed up like little cheerleaders & even had little pom-poms. If you want to go watch it- I put it on youtube.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0A3eT5dSKw

Here are some pictures of it. I'd really like it if cheerleaders' skirts were this length all the time!

Our SCARY jack-o-lantern

Quinlynne & I took Sunday evening as our FHE time. The girl had been harping on me forever to carve our pumpkin. I had a plan. Quinlynne & I had been talking about it. This was not going to be any ordinary jack-o-lantern. (Our neighbors across the street already had their jack-o-lantern lit on their front porch....talk about the pressure on me!) So, we brought the pumpkin inside & started cutting it open and cleaning it. Quinlynne actually got her hands dirty this year. We carved & carved & carved.....this is our final product.

Sorry about the blurriness of the dark picture. But, you get the idea. Quinlynne enjoys going out in the evening to light the candle in her jack-o-lantern. It is also her job to blow out the candle before she goes to bed.

SOOOOO spooky, isn't it?

Kinky or straight?

You know how it goes....girls with straight hair want curly hair....girls with curly hair want straight hair. Well, it's already starting at the Hoffman household. I long ago came to grips with the fact that my hair is straight as a board and there's nothing I can do about it. It's straight & boring and blah. Quinlynne, on the other hand, has beautiful curly hair. Learning how to do curly hair has been a bit challenging for me, but we're coping. A few weeks ago, as I was getting Quinlynne ready for bed, she started stroking my hair and said "OOOOh, Momma, you're hair's so silky & soft & straight." She was just running her hand through my hair & did it over & over. Running a hand through Quinlynne's hair is not something you can do easily. Your fingers get stuck in the curls. Since that evening she has repeatedly informed me that she wants straight hair. I keep telling her how lucky she is that she has such beautiful, soft, curly hair.

Saturday we were getting ready to go run some errands. I had the curling iron & the straight iron heated up. Quinlynne wanted me to use them on her. So...I did. It looked TERRIBLE!!!! It looked like she had on a wig. Grandi hated it as well. I couldn't get all of her hair straight because she wouldn't stand still & I was afraid I'd burn her. She was dying to go out with straight hair though. We compromised & I put her straight hair in a ponytail. If she decides to straighten her hair as she gets older- I hope she does a better job.

That Fall time of year

This year Fall has been beautiful. It's wrecking havoc with my allergies, but it's been beautiful. I've enjoyed not having 90 degree weather into October, and the oranges, yellows & reds are amazing to regard. Fall is my favorite!

Every year we go to the pumpkin patch in Bixby. I've told you this before. Well, it has been raining so much this month I was beginning to wonder if we'd be able to go. Between my schedule, Grandi's schedule & the rain.....time was running out. Last Friday I ended up taking Quinlynne to the pumpkin patch by myself. I know Grandi was quite sad about this- but she survived.

It was super muddy out there. It was also super busy. I've never been there when it was that busy. There was also a nip in the air. This was not the best for picture taking. Quinlynne did not want to take her jacket off. So- I didn't really get many pictures of her with her pumpkin shirt on. The few that I did get- she was crying because she wanted her jacket on again.

We ended up running into a friend of mine from nursing school. She was out there with her family. Quinlynne has had a few play dates with her girls, so it was fun to watch them hook up. Quinlynne is about a year older than my friend's oldest daughter. Quinlynne and Cady enjoyed playing follow the leader. I think Quinlynne just likes trying to take control. Anyhow, the two of them were standing up on this hay bale to look at some animals. I got the cutest picture.

Enjoy the beautiful weather & beauty our Heavenly Father has blessed us with!

Anything wrong with this picture?

Again, since I have to spend so much time on the computer- I alternate between my laptop & the home computer. I found this one.

What the crap is my dad wearing? A Harley shirt, his sunglasses hung from a pocket, a buck knife of some sort in a leather holster on his belt(Because you never know when you might need to whip that out when you're doing stuff around the house), probably a cell phone on there somewhere, and he has a toothpick in his mouth. He is trying to demonstrate to Abby how to ride that tiny pink scooter. Oh my goodness! What a dork. Love him!

Been too long

Needless to say, it has been entirely too long since I've posted. I am now in the midst of my med/surg clinical rotations. I'm in Hell.



I have tons of pictures I need to edit & save to my computer. But here's one for you. This is from when Quinlynne's eardrum had ruptured & we were having to put ear drops into her ear. She hated it. I remember having to get eardrops put in when I was her age & how much I detested it. Poor thing. And look at her curled up on her changing pad. Definitely not the 19 inch long baby girl I brought home from the hospital.