Ride that pony

Look at this little cowgirl. Richard's mom grew up in Oklahoma and her childhood best friend sent this little cowgirl outfit. I know this pic is blurry but I had to close up on the tights. It even has little a cowboy with lasso. In honor of this outfit we put Charlotte on this bouncy horse and she quite enjoyed herself. Seeing my baby girl in wrangler wear reminded me of Elko and going to the rodeo. Rich has never been to a rodeo...I think that needs to happen sometime. We were going to do it in Utah, but never got around to it. I don't even know if they have a rodeo in Virginia. I am rambling. The End.

Lone Reed

Last week Rich and I went to the Washington DC temple. We took turns going in for a session. While I was hanging out with Charlotte we went to the visitors center and I listened to a portion of a talk by President Monson. What he said left an impression on me*. He was talking about having a vision and working toward it. I came out wondering about myself and what I am supposed to be and accomplish. It reminded me of this part of You've Got Mail:

KATHLEEN I don't know. I was just wondering about my work and all. I mean, what is it I do exactly? All I really do is run a bookstore --

FRANK All you really do is this incredibly noble thing --

KATHLEEN But I don't know if I --

FRANK (stopping her) Kathleen --

KATHLEEN But I just --
FRANK You are a lone reed.
So Anyway, one morning I was getting ready for the day and contemplating my goals for life and wondering what long "vision" I have for myself. As luck would have it on the particular morning my darling baby had a massive blow out. I was stripping her down and trying to get ready, while still thinking about this perplexing subject. I told Rich what I was thinking about and asked him, "What are your long term goals?? What things do you want to accomplish in life?" He looks at me and I am waiting for him to expound his great life plan or at least reassure me, as Frank would, that I am a "lone reed." Instead, I get, "You have poop all over your fingers." I almost said, "no...your line is, 'you are a lone reed.'"

AWESOME.

Still trying to figure out my long term goals, but at least I have cleaned the poop off my fingers.

*This is the quote from President Monson:

"May I suggest that first of all every one of us develop the mark of vision. One writer said that the door of history turns on small hinges, and so do people’s lives. If we were to apply that maxim to our lives, we could say that we are the result of many small decisions. In effect, we are the product of our choices. We must develop the capacity to recall the past, to evaluate the present, and to look into the future in order to accomplish in our lives what the Lord would have us do.

The second principle I should like to emphasize as a characteristic of a true priesthood holder of God is the mark of effort. It is not enough to want to make the effort and to say we’ll make the effort. We must actually make the effort. It’s in the doing, not just the thinking, that we accomplish our goals. If we constantly put our goals off, we will never see them fulfilled. Someone put it this way: Live only for tomorrow, and you will have a lot of empty yesterdays today"

I forgot to post pictures of Charlotte on the last post:

She loves digging in her diaper bag
Look who is standing up by herself!!
Charlotte LOVES football
MMM green beans!

It's my party...

A few weeks ago I had an appointment with a patient. It was quite comical. So picture this: a nearby assisted living center(I am omitting the name for HIPPA) decided that they wanted to serve alcohol at their holiday party. They are required to offer alcohol to all of their residents and then get clearance from their doctors before they allow them to drink. This patient was brought in by her daughter-in-law to talk to me. The patient was an 84 lb lady who is hard of hearing and has some dementia...I will call her LOL (little old lady). The daughter-in-law (DIL) explained the situation when I walked in and interjected that the family did not want the patient to drink because they were concerned about her balance. I wasn't even certain LOL wanted a drink, so I commenced to yell the following conversation, because she couldn't hear me:

Me: Did you want to drink?

LOL:What?

DIL: Do you want to drink alcohol?

LOL: What? Now?

Me: No, at the assisted living center. They may serve alcohol, are you interested in having a drink?

LOL: (confused look at DIL) What?

Me:They may serve alcohol, are you interested in having a drink?

LOL:(confused look at DIL continues)

DIL: They may serve alcohol, are you interested in having a drink?

LOL: Did somebody say I have a problem??!?!?!

Me: No. It is for a party. If they serve alcohol, do you want some?

LOL: They don't serve alcohol at the assisted living center.

DIL: They are planning on serving it at the holiday party, do you want some?

LOL: Well I suppose if somebody handed me a drink I would want to drink.

LOL: I don't have a problem.

At this point in the conversation I am realizing what her dementia would be like with alcohol on board. Then I reviewed her med list and saw she was taking percocet and lorazepam which don't mix well with alcohol.

Me: I know you don't have a problem, but with your medications I think it would be best if you didn't drink.

LOL: (Indignantly and nearly screaming) I am 84 years old, I can have a drink if I want to.

Me: I am concerned that your balance would be off with some of your other medications and alcohol.

LOL: I can have alcohol if I want to!!! What medications!?

Me: The medication for your hip pain and the one for anxiety?

LOL: I don't take any medications!

Me:I have it listed that you do and I think that it would be best if you didn't drink.

LOL: (slamming her little old lady hand on the table) I am 84 years old, I can have a drink if I want to.

Me: I understand, but I don't think it would be best.

LOL: I haven't had a drink in 15 years, I can have a drink if I want to.

DIL: If you have gone that long, it wouldn't be any different.

LOL:They don't serve alcohol at the assisted living center.

LOL: I don't have a problem!! I should be able to drink if I want to.

Me: (in a normal tone to DIL-pt couldn't hear this) Maybe one small glass of wine wouldn't be that big of a deal.

DIL: (through gritted teeth) Stay strong doctor.

Me: (yelling again so the pt could hear me) Well let's send you to the lab and I'll make a decision about it later.

LOL: I am 84 years old, I should be able to have a drink if I want to.

We helped her out of the room and as we are walking her down the hall to the lab she continues to yell: I am 84 years old, I can have a drink!!

Me to DIL: Thank you very much assisted living center...hope you have a nice party.

Parks and Rec hit it on the head!!

I died laughing during this weeks Parks and Rec. This is my life!! I swear 1/2 my patients have random things like this.

I'll get you next time, Gadget. Next time!

Anybody remember "Inspector Gadget?" I loved that show. Really that has nothing to do with this post, but I thought this title fit for Charlotte's interests right now. She is ALL about the electronics and gadgets.

Rich went a little (a lot) crazy at Christmas and bought this girl so many toys. I kept trying to remind him, "she is only six months old, we don't have to buy her every toy in the world right now. We will have other birthdays and Christmases to buy her things," but I am pretty sure those words went in one ear and out the other. Anyway, the point is Charlotte is super spoiled with toys.

Well, the other day I was looking through the pictures on our camera and I realized that every single picture had Charlotte playing with some gadget and all of her awesome toys littering the background-getting no love. She does like her toys, but it is so funny to me that she would grab the boring phone when there are squeaky, talking, rattling toys all around her.

Mmm...which one do I want?? Toy?? Phone??

I am going with phone

I am trying to distract her into taking her Sophie giraffe instead of my phone

But when I started texting it was all over. Forget you, Sophie!!

The one plus side is that since my work started doing some of our charts on the computer, Charlotte doesn't mind as much that I am doing my paperwork at home (but honestly I don't think she would mind the paper charts if I would only let her crinkly them up)

In fact, I think she kind of likes it.

Identity Theft

For the past 7 years I have been working in the Primary for my church. When I was first called to the Primary by my bishop in Provo, I was a little apprehensive. He said, "I think you will be perfect, because you are a kid at heart." It was a growing experience, but I enjoyed those two sweet little sunbeams. We moved and changed wards twice since then and both times I ended up in Primary within 2 weeks of moving in. I love primary. I love the simple lessons and the music. I love the sweet spirits of the children, I love their innocence and their willingness to learn. I think kids are hilarious and just so honest. I love that you are a celebrity when you walk down the halls of church...all the kids say hi or wave.

This Sunday I was released from my calling in Primary. I was heart broken. I couldn't stop crying through sacrament meeting and on my way home. I will miss the kids so much. I know that change is important and I really do feel like I am supposed to be in my new calling (relief society meeting leader), but it doesn't make it any easier. Primary has been part of my identity for the last 7 years. I am in mourning and needed to share. Also to any of my friends that are currently serving in primary: If you need a sub, feel free to call me!!

On a happier note, Charlotte got to meet Santa.

Big fail??

I just told Rich that I should update the blog and this is the conversation we had:

Me: I should update the blog

Rich: Yeah, you should. Baby pattern baldness was a big fail.

Me: oh really?

Rich: Yeah, you only got 2 comments

Me: hmm (I was chuckling that he was feeling like I had failed by not getting comments...I mean don't get me wrong I also like comments, but "Fail"? It just seems a little melodramatic)

Rich: I am not trying to make you feel bad, but there are a lot more cute pictures of Charlotte that you could post. People would rather see her cute face than her balding pate.

I guess I ought to update with cute pictures then.

Grandma came to visit. It was a quick visit, but we enjoyed it:

Thanksgiving was yummy:

Charbaby loved swimming with daddy and Doodoo and spending time with Nana:

Charlotte is cute:

This baby shower at our house was fun and Charlotte thought it was tiring:

Rich got puked on. He asked for a rag and I grabbed the camera:

Story from work/me ranting about things that annoy me: The other day I got a message from an 18 year old patient that said, "Needs birth control refilled. She is away for school and can't come in for an appointment" There was a sticky note on the chart that said, "Patient's mother called back 3 minutes after the patient called and said, 'Unless Julia (my coworker that was out that day) wants to take care of a baby she BETTER fill my daughter's birth control pills." This totally annoyed me. First of all, this girl hadn't been in for her appointment and I am SURE she was home all summer and waited until she was away to get this message in. But more importantly, I am shocked that the mother feels that it is OUR responsibility to prevent her daughter from getting pregnant. Seriously?!?! How about a little self control people.