Passing Gas

Ha! Guess what?? As of December 7th at 0940, I am officially a "gas passer"! In other (more mature) words...I am officially a CRNA - certified registered nurse anesthetist!! I have never been more stressed out in my entire life! I have spent the last month studying (I'll post my study plan for SRNAs later) and the last 27 months waiting for this one day.
These were my thoughts:
1) How would I ever face my friends and family if I failed?
2) How could I possibly stand another moment of studying?
3) I'm going to freak out!!

Our graduation was in November, but it didn't give me a sense of relief because you can't do anything as a CRNA until you pass your certification exam. It was definitely a sense of accomplishment though.

Getting my diploma

My parents gave me the Fisher Price doctor's kit that I always played with. It came with a note saying "Who would have thought when you got this kit as a gift from your grandparents, you'd make it a career!"

Finally, the big day came and it was time to take the certification exam! The entire week prior I had been a nervous wreck, had to force myself to eat, and barely could sleep. Thankfully, my test was first thing in the morning so I didn't have to stress about it all day. 
After going through the thorough check in process (2 IDs, picture taken, pocketes emptied, sleeves checked, palm scan taken, blood draw...kidding on the blood draw) I was able to start my exam. Half way through the exam I had to close my eyes and take a few deep breaths and refocus my brain. Then, at the end, an hour and 40 minutes later, my identification was checked again and I was given a piece of paper that would tell me if I passed. I honestly thought my heart couldn't be pounding any harder and that I might just pee my pants. I went around the corner and peeked under the paper and there was the best four-letter-word I had ever seen: PASS! Oh my goodness, I just started shaking all over, gathered my stuff and scooted out of there. I can't describe the relief I felt!I did I little ninja kick in the hall and ran to bathroom so I wouldn't pee my pants. Seriously, unbelievable day! 
That night we celebrated at our house with a yummy dinner with my parents, one of my sisters, and a fantastic bottle of wine. I also received some gorgeous roses from my grandparents. 

And that was my fabulous day!!I'm looking forward to the rest of my life as a CRNA!

A Mortified Mama

I haven't blogged previously about ButterBean's digestive system because I was hoping he'd get over his "problems". But, after yesterday's events, I needed to share! I will tell you the tale of my woes
A little History:
ButterBean was a VERY barfy baby. So barfy that I marvel at the fact that he grew! I'd say 3/4ths of whatever he ate came right back up.
When he has decided he is done eating, he will gag and spit out his food. We see a lot of gagging around here.
As he has gotten older he will randomly projectile vomit, look at it, say "Uh-Oh!" and walk away and go about his business. To ButterBean, a spontaneous explosion is just no biggie. I began to worry about this at his 15 month checkup when he had not grown a smidge since his 12 month checkup. After trying to figure out why he is throwing up and trying to correlate it to a food, we've given up and have an appointment with a GI specialist on Monday.
Sooooo, about yesterday. We had friends in from out of town and decided to invite them and another couple over for dinner. We've had them over once before, but it's like a once a year thing. Gatsby and I spent ALL day cleaning the house (it was in dire need of a deep clean) and making homemade enchiladas, and Mexican rice. ButterBean had a great appetite and had wolfed down his food for breakfast and lunch. Since dinner was going to be late, I fed ButterBean a half an avocado before the guests arrived.  By the time the two couples arrived, I was tired!
Things were going great, a little chit chat, beer/chips/salsa/guac were being consumed. Then ONE OF THE MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENTS OF MY LIFE occurred. ButterBean took a chip, nibbled it, ate a little more and crawled up on the couch. Something was excited to him because he proceeded to bounce on the couch a couple times. I saw his make his gag face.
I put my hand out to catch the food he would inevitably spit out. He spit out his chip and out came a little of the prior avocado.
"Oh no! Not here, not now!!" I thought. I have caught a lot of barf in my hand over the last year, so that was nothing new. (I've tried to save our carpet by diving in front of the falling barf and catching it, but at this point it is beyond help)
"Please don't barf in front of guests!"
This was no ordinary ButterBean barf. This was the Mt. Vesuvius of barfing. This was everything that he had eaten since breakfast vomit. And it just. kept. coming.
Imagine - one guest leaping off of the couch to get out of the line fire, me trying to contain ButterBean's spewage as he does NOT stop!, people yelling, and more barf! Just what you'd like at a dinner party right? I won't even list all of the places that we had to clean or the details of what it looked like (think the Excorcist!). Just know it was bad.
I whisked him off to the bathtub and to get some incidental chunks out of my hair while Gatsby tackled the couch.
Amazingly, our guests stayed for dinner (I can't thank them enough for eating after that ordeal) and we had a fun time. However, I am not having people over for a looonng time.
Monday we will hopefully get some answers from the GI doc, or at least start getting somewhere in this process. I can't take many more days like that. I recently had a trip to Trader Joe's that was almost as embarrassing and left me walking out with a shoeful of vomit. I've had my share of this!
And since no photos were taken of this event (duh!) I will show you the latest in ButterBean dance moves

Little Lentil Lover Soup

ButterBean has become increasingly hard to feed. What happened to The Baby Who Eats Everything? He has turned into The Baby Who Spits Out Everything! Most of the food offered to him get chewed for a second and then promptly spit out onto the table, floor, or into his mother's loving hand (disgusting!). He will actually sometimes wait to spit something out and just gag on it until I put my hand out. Nice.

You expect me to eat THAT?

His one true food love right now is Lentil Soup. My mom discovered this when she fed him some Trader Joe's. He will eat and eat and eat lentil soup. The downfall of this (besides the obvious: extreme flatulence) is atrocious garlic breath. I could not believe how awful his breath would be for a full 24 hours after consuming that soup. So, today I set out to make him a homemade lentil soup for three reasons
1) cheap
2) not from a can - I have a mild can phobia and the BPH that lines them
3) less garlic = better breath
I used this recipe that I found on Pinterest, from The History Kitchen blog, which uses ingredients that come straight out of the Bible. I had to tweak it though, because I didn't have all of the ingredients, and I had extra stuff lying around the house. And I recently made some yummy chicken stock that I was itching to use up.
Here's what I did:

• 3 carrots, chopped
• 3 celery stalks, including leaves, chopped
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic minced (I cheat and use the jarred stuff)
• 2 cups dry red lentils
• 1/2 cup pearl barley
• 2 small potatoes, peeled and diced
• 2 qts. chicken stock (homemade preferred)
• 1/2 cup fresh chopped cilantro
• 1 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1 bay leaf
• Salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in medium soup pot and add diced onion. Saute until translucent. Add carrot, celery, and garlic and saute for another couple of minutes until the veggies start to get a wee bit softened.
Add red lentils, barley, potatoes, and chicken stock. Stir. 
Bring to boil, add cumin, cilantro, parsley, and bay leaf then reduce to simmer. 
Cover and simmer for 1.2 - 2 hours stirring often. I left it for a half hour and it was sticking to the bottom. 
Remove bay leaf. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with more fresh cilantro!

Good to the last spoonful!

...And he gobbled it up! Laaahhh! That would be heavenly angels singing. This soup has a nice mild flavor - great for little folks! And, it can easily be spiced up with spices like cajun spice, more cumin or garlic, perhaps a little curry powder. Also, it gets a little thick after you refrigerate it, so you made need to thin it with some water or broth.

All gone!!

Advice to an SRNA

Close to 30 months ago I found out I was pregnant. 
27 months ago I started school to become a nurse anesthetist. 
In that 3 month period of being pregnant and preparing to start school I scoured the internet for any kind of advice about going through anesthesia school pregnant/with a newborn and I could only find a couple of chats. I asked my school if there was anyone I could talk to that had gone through this before, but they had no names to give me (it's been done many times before, but they had no contact info). I talked to students in the class ahead of me and they encouraged me, but had no real advice for a new mother. 
SO, if there is any one out there in the same predicament and scouring the internet for advice on what you should do if you are going to have a baby in anesthesia school - here it is!

I can only speak for my program, so obviously it could be different elsewhere. I've already given this spiel to a few other people who have asked me and they appreciated the straight forward, no sugar coating truth.

1) It's doable. Not ideal, but doable. And it's worth it! My best advice and what I told every one who asked me if I was crazy for trying to juggle a new marriage, new baby, and anesthesia school is "I take it one day at a time". Of course, you need to plan ahead so you can study and what not, but if you look to far ahead it gets overwhelming. Just focus on getting through one test, one more doctors appointment, one more feeding, one more paper. It's much less daunting that way!

2) I would never have gotten through it without the help and support of my family and in-laws. I didn't want to have to put ButterBean in daycare when he was so little (I went back to class when he was a week old) and through the help of ButterBean's grandmas I was able to keep him out of daycare the entire time. 

3) You will be tired, so tired! If you didn't drink coffee already, you will. Oh yes will
If you want to be extra tired you can do what I did and work your regular ICU nursing job every weekend for the first 5 months of school while pregnant because you need your health insurance! I can look back now and say "What on earth was I thinking?" But, you gotta do what you gotta do!

4) You will have intense mommy guilt. Add in fun postpartum hormones and you have a recipe for an emotional merry-go-round! When you are studying, you feel guilty you aren't with your baby. When you spend time with your sweet bundle, you have the massive pile of books and future test looming in the back of your mind. 

5) If possible, find someone else in your class who has kids. You are going to to need someone to talk to who can relate to your situation. Other students (without kids or spouses) in your class will complain to you about how they just don't have time for this or that, or can't get time to study and you are going to want to jump across the table and smack them repeatedly saying "YOU don't have time? YOU are tired?!! Do you realize who you are talking to? A sleep deprived, emotionally racked, hasn't even been able to shower in three days, just spent her lunch break pumping breast milk crazy woman!" Usually, as soon as the words come out of their mouths, you can see they know exactly what they just said and they back-pedal with "But it's nothing compared to what you are dealing with"
Anyway, the point of that was to say, only other mothers with kids will understand the stresses you are going through. Your significant other and family won't understand anesthesia school (unless the are an anesthetist themself) and other students won't understand parenting. I have my study-buddy and we vent to each other all the time. It's quite therapeutic really!

6) Your husband MUST be 100% on board with this decision because he is going to be picking up slack. He is going to be dropping of baby with the grandparents or at day care because you are going to be getting up at 4:30 to be in the OR by 6am. He is going to have to watch baby while you hole yourself away with authors like Nagelhout, Miller, and Barrash. He is going to have to listen to you whine complain talk about your crazy day in the OR, hard test, or annoying coordinator. If he isn't supportive of you being in school, I guarantee it's going to fall apart. I've been told story after story of couples getting divorced during anesthesia school. Both of you have to be in on this together!

7) As far as taking time off - that will depend on what your school allows. Mine gave us 30ish days off to use how we wanted within the 27 months. We could work holidays to get extra days off later. Like I said earlier, I went back to class when he was a week old, but I didn't go back to clinicals until he was 5 weeks old. My body would not have tolerated going back any earlier. In all I only used 17 days of my vacation days for a "maternity leave". With the next kid, maternity leave is seriously going to feel like a vacation compared to this!

OK this is long enough. If I think of more I'll make another post. And truly, just contact me if you have any questions. I'd love to be of help.

I will post later about the study material I bought to help me with the SEE exam and to study for boards. I'll post that AFTER I pass, though.

Look What I Can Do!

All mothers think that their children are the cutest and all think that their children possess amazing skills. And soooo, let me tell/show you the amazing "talents" of my adorable son!
First of all, he makes daring fashion statements. Sock gloves...who knew they could be so stylish?

 Not only does he get the spaghetti-o's out of the cupboard, he gets the can opener too!

 Applies deoderant. Somehow this has become ButterBeans favorite bathroom ritual as of late.

 Can kind of put on his own boots. This photo also shows his keen sense of fashion!

 Fabulous hair stylist. This boy can spend a good 15 minutes to a 1/2 hour thinking that he is doing his hair. 

 Like I said, incredible fashion sense...

 Budding photographer

 Ear-budding rock star

 Make up artist. Perhaps he watches mommy in the bathroom a little too much!

And that, folks, is proof as to how cool my baby is. 

The Cutest Cowboy

It is definitely past Halloween, but my little buckeroo was much too cute to not share a post of his Halloween costume! Earlier this year we went to Nashville for a wedding and my parents bought ButterBean a western shirt. It was big on him then, but it fits him perfectly now! I paired that with some second-hand cowboy boots and a straw hat we already had! Presto! Costume!

"There ain't room for the both of us in these parts!"

I assumed he would be really shy about Trick or Treating, but I was wrong! He loved it! We went to 6 or so houses right around us and he walked right up and  held up his little basket. He even kept his hat on the whole time! 

Then we went home to hand out more candy. He wasn't scared of the trick or treaters either! Then, after all of our hard work, we had our fair share of KitKats!! We had a Grandcowboy and Grandcowgirl stop by to see us!Butterbean's face was so surprised to see them show up at the door instead of trick or treaters!

I thought that the boots would be a one time thing, but he has a shoe fetish and the cowboy boots are his new favorite accessory! 
I dare anyone to say that he is not the cutest cowboy to ever live!!

Fall fun

Full swing into fall! It's official of course because I have my at-least-once-a-week pumpkin spice latte and there is a continual loaf of pumpkin bread on my counter.
Babies playing in leaves is one of the cutest things! Cue montage of baby in leaves!! (My sister took these photos...talent!)

ButteBean with the aforementioned sister

Oh, and one little detail that makes this fall extra special: I'm DONE WITH ANESTHESIA SCHOOL!!! El fin! Ok, almost el fin! I still have to pass this pesky test...no biggie, just the scariest biggest test of my life: the certification exam!! Even with that looming, I'm still overjoyed to never go to clinicals as a student, go to class, write a paper, or have a group project EVER again!! Hardest 27 months of my life are over! 

That's right ButterBean!! Mommy's almost a CRNA!!

Triple Tomato Soup

Fall season cooking is upon us, people! This is by far the best cooking season of the year! I still have a load of summer tomatoes to use up because my plant decided to only give my tomatoes in September. Now it's too cold at night, so I picked all the green ones and are waiting for them to ripen. I did, however, have enough ripe tomatoes to make a batch of tomato soup. Since it's a few days away from payday, I had to just go with whatever I had. Here's how I made it!

1. Cut about 10 tomatoes in half and drizzle with 4 Tbs olive oil with 2 cloves of minced garlic. Sprinkle with dried basil. Roast in the oven (400 degrees) for 20 minutes or so. If you are going to leave the soup chunky, you might want to scoop out some of the seeds before roasting them.

see all those green tomatoes? 

all roasty toasty

2. After letting cool a bit, the skins should be able to just slip right off - discard them.
3. Heat up 1 Tbs of olive oil in a pot and saute one onion until it is softened. Add a couple of ounces of tomato paste and 1/2 cup of oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes. Mix it all up.

4. Add 1 cup of white wine, 1 cup of water, some more basil - I would have used fresh if I had it. Bring to a boil and then turn down the heat to simmer for 20 minutes.

5. I used an immersion blender to puree the soup to the consistency I wanted. Then I added whole milk until it was thin enough to call soup. It needed a little something so I added a little bit of brown sugar and that mellowed it out. 

Triple Tomato Soup
10 tomatoes, cut in half
5 Tbs olive oil
2 cloves minced garlic
Dried basil -- couple Tbs? didn't measure
1 yellow onion
1 cup dry white wine
1 small can tomato paste
1/2 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
1/2 cup cream, whole milk, milk whatever you want
Salt and fresh-ground pepper


1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Place tomatoes on baking pan, cut side up and drizzle with 4 Tbs olive oil with 2 cloves of minced garlic. Sprinkle with dried basil. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes until soft. (If you are going to leave the soup chunky, you might want to scoop out some of the seeds before roasting them).
2. Take skins off tomatoes and discard
3. Over medium high heat, heat up 1 Tbs of olive oil in a pot and saute onion until it is softened. Add a couple of ounces of tomato paste and 1/2 cup of oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes. Mix it all up.
4. Add white wine, water, some more basil - I would have used fresh if I had it. Bring to a boil and then turn down the heat to simmer for 20 minutes.
5. Use an immersion blender, food processor, or blender to puree the soup to the consistency wanted.
6. Stir in cream and warm. Enjoy

Optional - add in cream at the end and warm
Any of the following are my faves with tomato soup - parmesan cheese, saltine crackers, Annie's Cheddar Bunnies, crusty garlic bread,

Oh and by the way... ButterBean is now driving...

End of Minnesota Summer Fun

Summer has come and gone again! It seems like as soon as the MN Fair is over, BAM! fall comes swooping in. I love the crisp fall air, being able to bake without steaming up the house, wearing hoodies, and so many other wonderful things about fall! BUT this cooler air also means that winter is on it's way. Bleegghhh! Here is a last look as some of the wonderful things of this summer. Good bye summertime!

Fun in the water

boating is exhausting!

 Garden Fresh Sun Ripened Tomatoes

Hours of Sliding in the Back Yard

We were given this monster pink & purple play set from a friend whose daughter has outgrown it. He loves it, but our house now looks like twin girls live here rather than a boy!

Trip to the Sculpture Garden

always running...

Hey look at me! I'm about to make a run for it!!

Ice Cream

The Como Zoo