Cam's cousins!!!

On Thursday, Sept 6th, my brother and SIL, Clarissa had their precious twins, a boy and girl.   We weren't able to come home until Sat, but I was filled with joy and happiness.   How exciting!  TWINS!   We have twins on our side of the family ....my maternal granddad's side (Bowman side).  ....and Shannon said twins on his side (his brother).....so I knew the possibility was there for me but thought since Shannon's brother did, it would surely skip me.  Never did I think of my brother!   Comes to find out, neither of them thought it either.   Clarissa had to ask about the twins on her side and sure enough, she had them too.  Looks like my brother & Shannon's brother has twins!  How fun!!!!   :)   Maybe one of my children will have twins, one day!

The best part of this is to see my brother.  At the hospital, I've never seen his smile is big.  He was on cloud 9.....the happiest I've ever seen him.  A proud daddy, that's for sure!

Nonetheless, I have tried to see them once a month......not sure I'll be able to do that every month, but at least at the beginning while they are growing and changing so much.  Sept-Dec won't be a problem.....but hopefully 2013 will still be at least 6-8wk.....I definitely want our children to grow up close......and now that Cam is walking, he and Hudson can play a bit more.  This makes me happy and sad.  It makes me wish we all just lived in the same town......but I know we will not move back to Owensboro....nor do I really want to and with Raymond working for dad and Clarissa's family also in Owensboro, I know they will never leave either. Oh well, it's only a 2hr drive. 

Here are some pictures of my sweet niece & nephew, Vera Kate & Merrick Reid Smith. 

My brother, Raymond with the twins at birth! I have never seen him so happy!

Dad & Alicia before the babies had to go to the NICU, on the day they were born.

Auntie K with Merrick

With baby Vera Kate

Leaving the hospital.  Since the babies were in the NICU, cam couldn't meet them.  We talked to big brother, Hudson before we left. 

Merrick & Vera Kate finally home!

Cam meeting his cousin, VK

Precious

At dad and Alicia's wedding reception.

Kristen Hord, PA-C

Well the moment my life depended on ...boiled down to a 6hr exam on Sept 21st. 

It's hard to believe that it was August 2008 when I quit my sales job, took a PT job at a pharmacy and dedicated my life to school again.   After 4 years of undergraduate school at UK and then 5 years of working, I felt I was not satisfied with my career.  Something was missing.  I researched and asked and went on interviews.  After running across the "PA" field, I knew it was meant for me.  I had about 5 pre-req classes to take that I did in 2009, along with applying for the program and after being accepted, started in Jan 2010.  Here it is Now 2012 and I start my FIRST Physician Assistant job in 1 week!!!   

I finished the program (my rotations) on August 10, 2012.  I dedicated myself to studying for 5 weeks (giving myself 1 week off to plan Cam's birthday) and registered for the PANCE (Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam) on Sept 21st.  I was scared, nervous and anxious.  I didn't tell a lot of people.  I was afraid of the outcome.  I was literally sick over it.  After days and days and days of studying at the North Oldham County public Library (that was as big as a Starbucks), I knew it was time.  (Well not really, I wanted to change the date out of sheer nervousness).  Results are not immediate.   I left feeling totally clueless.  There were a ton I didn't know, yet there were a ton I did know.   I took my breaks and tried to stay focused.  By the end of the day, I wasn't sure if I should cry, laugh or just go to sleep.  I think I did all three. 

Sept 26.....after waiting 5 (the longest 5) days, I received an email saying my score was posted.  My heart was beating so loudly and so fast, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to type in the web address.  I was the only one home.  I carefully logged on and then started to procrastinate.  It gave the option to skip right to the results OR to fill out a bunch of personal information (address, job, etc) so I chose to fill out all the information I could.  I was scared.  Once I was done, there was nothing left, but to click the "get results".  

Holy Moly it said PASSED.    I felt a rush of relief, happiness, joy, self-satisfaction....I ran to Kneesa and danced and kissed her and screamed.  I was so happy.  The life I dedicated myself to, has now become a reality.   I was on cloud 9. 

It's OFFICIAL!! I am a certified Physician Assistant!!!  Woot Woot!

Well it's now Nov 5th and I start my job (OB/GYN) at Women's First on Nov 12...yes my 32nd birthday.   The job sort of fell in my lap.  I was at the park with Cam and saw a girl (NP I had met before)....she said her office is looking to hire more mid-levels.  So I sent my resume and within a few weeks, the job was offered.  I truly think I will enjoy this job.  The doc I am working with is very nice, understanding and patient.  I think we will get along great.  I'll have to update everyone once I get my feet wet.   It's crazy to believe I will be seeing my own patients in a week!  EEK!  

School Picture suckers

OK....I forgot this was another topic.....geez. 

Cam took his very first "school pictures" a few weeks or so ago.  We got the proofs back and of course, like the suckers we are, spent about $65 on 4 5x7s and 16 wallets. No digital.  They wanted $100 for the digital CD.  No thanks.  But who doesn't offer affordable digital copies these days!? Oh wait, school photos, that's who!!

I do have to say, he charmed the photographer and gave them his winning grin.  (No wonder he was not smiling much for his 1yr old pictures later that day). 

He is 14mo in the Discovery Room at Vanguard Academy for these pictures.  :) 

Cam's 1yr old pictures

Well, here I am again....it's been about 8 weeks since my last post and I'm playing catch up, one blog at a time.  I think I have 3-4 (already happened) topics.... If only I would blog when my ideas or stories were more present and not past tense.  Such is life.

Topic 1: Cam's 1yo pix
Topic 2: I took & passed my boards & got a job!  Kristen R Hord PA-C
Topic 3: My brother had twins
Topic 4: Cam is walking!
Topic 5: Cam is moving to toddler room on Nov 5th- eek! (I'm waiting for his first day to post this one considering my emotions are all over the boards already...)


 Back to topic #1.

We had a friend, Kimmie Cupolo, take Cam's pictures for us.  We were about a month or so behind (as in he was more like 14mo ..not 12mo old but again, time easily kept slipping by) but the pictures are perfect.  He had his school pictures earlier that day so by the time we were taking these, his precious smile was not going to emerge.  He had no interest in grinning for the camera.  I am very pleased with them, regardless of his impatient, uncooperative self!  

Here are a few:

 

I love my little boy.  I still can't believe he's over a year old.  I am NOT ready to call him a toddler (refer to upcoming topic #5 after Nov 5th).

1st Birthday Party Pictures

Well it figures that of all days, our son decided not to nap like he normally does.  His party started at 3pm and he had had only 2 30min naps since he awoke at 6:30am.  Mommy knew it spelled trouble.  The party went well and I hope everyone had a good time, but when it came time to open gifts, our sleepy boy was anywhere but there.  He had no interest in opening them, he just wanted to sleep.  Needless to say, we rushed through the gifts (which I felt terrible about doing) so that we could do the cake and move the party along.   Love his heart.  He made it until about 7:15p and was out cold. 

 

Breathing Treatments Blow....

Literally...they blow pressurized air and albuterol into the nose/mouth of a person needing their "lungs opened".  I've prescribed (via my preceptor, because I haven't taken my boards yet to officially practice medicine) duo-nebs (nebulizers aka breathing treatments) to children, but I guess it's always best to empathize with parents because we were given Cam one for 5 days 3x/day.  These have been the LONGEST 15min of my life.  No joke.  It's terrible.  I feel so bad for my little man. 

On Thursday, I had made an appointment for him because he has been coughing, primarily throughout the night, for the last 2 weeks and given Shannon had pneumonia, I wanted a reassuring "yes, he's fine".  We head to the Peds office with a happy man..... the picture below is him happy as a lark and his eyes closed tightly every time the loud noise of the toy stick he had in his hand, hit the seat.  ha.

Doesn't seem sick, right!?  Well, she listened closely and said he was wheezing and wanted him to have a breathing treatment in the office.  Boy, will I always pity the mother when I hear the child screaming bloody murder in the clinic, because that's exactly what happened. 

They brought the nebulizer in and the 15 min count down started.  From minute ONE, Cam was screaming, crying, and flailing his arms and legs.  His face was beet red and he was not a happy camper.  What seemed like an eternity, the 15 min lapsed.  I was sweating and my neck was broken out from my blood pressure rising with each scream he made and tear he shed. 

She said the nebulizer just made his wheezing worse because he must have been so tight, so she wanted us to do it for 5 days, 3x/day with a follow up appointment on Tuesday.  Great!  Just what I wanted to hear. 

While I haven't had the heart to take a picture of my poor, vulnerable child with tears streaming down his face and this mask over his nose and mouth, I did take a picture of the nebulizer.   For those parents with asthmatic children (I PRAY this is not going to be the case for Cam), I feel for you.  I truly empathize with the process.  As it goes, the "A's" follow the leader.  There's a higher chance of asthma, if your child had Atopic Dermatitis (eczema) and Allergies.  Well, Cam has both.  So, I'm praying we don't have to battle asthma.  Neither of us (Shannon or I) had it. 

Doesn't this apparatus look scary?  It is! haha jk.  But for a child, I'm sure it is.  It is noisy and blows air/steam through the orange part that covers their nose/mouth.

To top of off, at his 12mo check up appointment (weighing 23lb), they said his Iron is low and we have to give him iron supplements for 4 weeks with a follow up appointment to retest. Lovely. I thoroughly enjoy the nasty, thick, smelly liquid iron that we have to give him. And here I thought breastfeeding for a year would give him all the nutrients he needed. Guess I was wrong! Maybe it's because mommy doesn't eat meat. ****SIGH**** 

I hate my boy having "issues" of any sort.  Breaks my heart.  :(

Happy First Birthday, Cameron!

I can distinctly remember the night before 8/16/11.  We went to St Joe East around 8pm to start Cytotec (to ripen my cervix since little man was refusing to come out).  We ordered pizza and my nerves started to get the best of me.  My blood pressure kept creeping up.  Here I am, in the medical field yet I had never been a patient (inpatient, that is).  I was nervous!  Maybe I knew too much, I don't know.  I had convinced myself that my L&D was going to be smooth sailing and this child was going to be born within a few short hours after my water was broken. 

Boy was I wrong!  ha!  8 hours, 9cm and 'failed to descend', a C-section and there we have it, a healthy baby boy was born on 8/16/11.  My emotions were crazy.  My love, the love that I am still uncertain as to when it filled my heart as I was completely in love with this tiny newborn the second he arrived, continued to grow more with each passing day.  I guess that's why they call it 'unconditional love'.  There is such a large amount that you can't describe.  There are simply no words that would ever justify the love and awe one feels for their child.  It's truly a gift from God!

While this year has been crazy for me with PA school, starting clinical rotations and us moving to Louisville, we have also experienced Cameron growing right along with each passing day.  It's hard to believe he is already one year old.  It feels like we were just in the hospital a few months ago. 

He is such a happy boy.  He is always laughing and smiling.  He loves to eat.  We still feed him some baby food but he loves just about all table food.  He transitioned well to whole milk, but still loves it warmed and in a bottle.  His school is giving it to him in a sippy during the day so we are slowly transitioning away from bottles.  I'm in no rush! ha!  Too many changes all at once stresses this Type A momma out!!!  Gave up breastfeeding at the year mark so bottles and pacy will have to wait a few more months!  ;)  He has hit all the great milestones and it was such a joy to watch him conquer those goals from rolling over @ 3mo, sitting up @6mo, crawling @10mo and he is assisted walking at this point.  It might be a few more months before our chunky man decides to walk on his own.  We are OK with that though....our backs might not be from constantly being bent over walking with him, but who's keeping score. ;)

We are doing a small "birthday celebration" with just us tonight and then the family and a few close friends are invited to his Mickey Mouse Clubhouse birthday on Saturday!  I will be sure to post pictures after his big day! 

As for today, here are a few pictures from this morning (more to come tonight) and the video I made!  I made it on Adobe Premiere Elements....on there the pictures look blurry, but the videos are perfect.  I have it on YouTube and Vimeo.  The YouTube pictures look fine, but the videos are blurry.  Go figure!  I'll never figure all this creative computer crap out!!  Argh!


Birthday Boy's morning: Waffles and Balloons!

Enjoy!

Video Link to Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/47658501
Video Link to YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJ-y1AKanhw&feature=g-upl

Video (iphone version): above

The actual version from Adobe Elements: above 

Hopefully ONE of those is not blurry! haha

BTW- Jason Windows Movie Maker did not like my QuickTime videos so it became a nightmare using Adobe b/c it's outdated, so Shannon says, but I didn't have time to convert all my videos.  Stupid computers!!!  haha

Nourishment No Longer From Mommy....

What a goal! Even before I became pregnant, I knew I wanted to breastfeed my child for the first year of their life.  Once I became pregnant, I truly knew it was something I wanted to do and prayed it would be easy for both mommy and baby.  Once our son arrived, the joy and ease of breastfeeding was a great gift from God.  I am thankful for the money-saving, mommy-son bonding, natural nourishment opportunity of breastfeeding!

While there were trying times, tired times, and times when it was inconvenient, I pushed through and made sure my son was given the nourishment of breast milk for as long as possible.  My goal was to hit the one year mark.  Well, here we are, 4 days shy of Cameron's first birthday and I have officially stopped pumping/feeding.  We have a few ounces left from frozen supply, but he has been on 1/2 BM, 1/2 WM for 10 days to get adjusted to the change.  He has done wonderfully with the change and it makes me happy to know he has transitioned so well.  It is also a great feeling of accomplishment to know he was solely a breastfed baby for the first year.  While I have nothing against formula, it was a goal I set out to make and I'm proud I stuck with it for so long. 

 Cam only ate off of me in the morning for the last 4-6 months or so and the rest were BM bottles, but the special bond of breastfeeding him is something I will never forget.  To pick him up from the crib early in the morning and watch his eyes widen with joy and mouth open as he became acquainted to the schedule. To have my baby fall asleep in my arms while feeding him.  To have him snuggled up against my chest, nourishing him.   Such a wonderful mother-child bond to share!

I can't believe my baby boy is growing up so quickly.  I still haven't stored all of my breast pump supplies away.  It's almost odd to think I am free of that.  While I could feel a little saddened that I will not be providing for my child in that way, I know I will (and have) provide in many other ways for him.  I am thankful to be done for the time being!   It's also weird to think Mother Nature will probably return.  I've enjoyed not dealing with that since Oct 2010! ha!  My body needs some rest and normalcy before child #2 is conceived......which hopefully will be in the next few months! :)  

I thank God for giving me the opportunity to provide for my child (and to save money! ha) by breastfeeding for so long.  It was a natural way to shed post pregnancy baby weight, to keep the weight off while not eating so healthy and slacking on exercise, and it opened my eyes to the God-given way to feed your baby.   I only wish it was more accepted in public.  I'm not saying one should expose themselves to others, but with a proper cover-up, I feel it should be accepted to BF in public places.  Why not!?  I see mothers feeding their children with bottles.....if she is not exposed, why does it matter!?  I see mothers smoking cigarettes with their children in tow, but I don't hear as many people complain or get offended about that.    Society! Argh! 

D-O-N-E!

WOW.  I haven't written in almost two months.  Time easily slips by when you have a mobile child and going to school.  Goodness!  

Today was my LAST day of my LAST clinical rotation ....so it was my LAST DAY of PA school!!!!  YAY!  I can not believe I have made it this far.  I can remember working at Galls (Sales) and thinking that I would like to go back to school, unfamiliar with what a mid level provider could offer.  That was 2008.   Here it is, 2012 and I have graduated with my Master's, had a baby and moved to Louisville.  I will be practicing medicine sooner than I realize.  :)

I am very proud of myself for coming this far,but the celebration is far from near.  I still have to take my National Certifying Exam (PANCE) that is a 6 hour exam that a PA must pass to rightfully earn the "C" after their title.  Without the PA-C, one can not practice medicine.  Yes, I graduated, but that does not mean I have a job.   I plan to take a well known review course in Chicago for 5 days at the end of August and then dedicate weeks to studying.  I hope to take my boards mid September. 

I am taking this week off though.  Cameron's FIRST BIRTHDAY is 8/16 and I need to spend a few days cleaning house, buying decorations, gifts, making food, etc.  We are having his party here at our house and I'm happy I will be able to devote this whole week to cleaning and planning. 

I'm not sure what field of medicine I plan to go into.  The good thing about a PA is that we are trained in all areas of medicine, which means I can "hop around" from Pediatrics to OB/GYN to Surgery to Family Medicine to Derm!   I do not see myself doing a lot of 'hopping', but I do plan to take a job that is offered if it seems a good fit, even if it isn't my top choice.  I have thoroughly enjoyed all my rotations therefore, I think....I hope I will be happy in just about any area I practice in! 

10 months old and crawling....

We hit another great milestone this month!!  Cameron started crawling a week before he turned 10 months old (6/8).   The few weeks that preceded this, we could tell he was getting close.  He would get aggravated he couldn't move, he'd rock on all fours and he'd scoot around.   Well, on 6/15 I went to pick Cam up from school and they shared the news with me!  They even videoed it for me so that I could see the "first time" he crawled.  Of course I was happy!   I'm sure there are the mothers that want all the "firsts" to be at home with them, but for the working mother, there's just no way.  I've had to accept the fact that many of his milestones will happen during the work week with his daycare providers.  I'm OK with that, as long as they video/take pictures! haha  :)

Oh, did I mention on 5/30, Cam waved for the first time- to Kneesa!!! hahaha

Cam turned 10 months old on 6/16/12. It was a big weekend. We were spending the weekend in Lexington because our friends, Wolfe and Jane were getting married and Shannon was the best man. I had my psychiatry EOC exam that Friday, our PA school graduation banquet Friday evening, Shannon had rehearsal and then Sat was Cam's 10mo plus the wedding and Sunday was Father's Day. I didn't do anything "big" for Cam/Shannon. It was hard being in Lex, Cam had stayed with his mamaw Sat night so we didn't even have him until lunchtime and didn't get home until close to dinner time. Nonetheless, it was a great weekend. It was also MY first weekend (one night) away from Cam. Not because I didn't think I was ready to be away, but moreso due to the fact of breastfeeding. I really think the night away was good for me, but it was stressful making sure we had enough milk to send to Mamaw Hord's house. (Yes, all 800oz of frozen BM is gone......)

On 6/24, Cam pulled up for the first time. Another milestone and this one was at home!! I was laying on the floor and he pulled up on me! So sweet. He hasn't mastered pulling up on taller object (i.e. coffee table or crib) but I'm sure it will come with time! We just love our little man so much. There are no words to describe this unconditional love one feels for their children. :)

Here are a few pictures from the last few weeks.    

Kneesa and Cam eating Vanilla Wafers

Happy man eating dinner.  He's learning how to feed himself.

First time in a big pool and he loved it!

Hanging out in his raft

Snack break at the pool

Crawling around with Kneesa

I love my choo-choo train.

Breakfast of champs- eggs, sausage, biscuts and oatmeal!

I'll try to upload some videos of him crawling, but it takes forever so we'll see if I can get to to actually work!