WSDW: Happy Birthday, Mom!

Mother’s Day 2015

I had this vision for writing this Mother’s Day post as a letter to my mom for last weekend’s Sproutings Saturday but I decided to give myself a break since I’ve been so so tired. Makes me think I need to get some bloodwork done to see if there’s a reason why I’m so exhausted all the time. Anyway, so I wanted to post a photo like this for that post, but since it didn’t happen I’m just going to use it for this post! Oh so my intentions for this week are to write a post about lipase in breastmilk and how it affects some babies, or about what the research says about breastfeeding and trying to get pregnant. But, I gotta be honest again – I’m recovering from a brush with pesticide poisoning and my head doesn’t even want to write this post but I’m fighting against my desire to cuddle up with my pillow but I’ll write this anyway.

So what’s Jia been up to?

She can walk backwards! Our little tot has mastered forward walking so she’s now started to walk backwards! My mom was the one who discovered this when she was watching Jia.
She gets a kick out of kicking a ball or if it is kicked toward her.
If we say “What does the doggie say?” she says “Arf Arf!” and “What does the snake say?” she says “HISssssss!”
Stairclimber: She’s getting really good at going down the stairs.
She has a taste for crayons. I think it speaks to what she thinks of my cooking when she can’t help but put crayons into her mouth but will pick at my food, haha…
Weaning: we are a bit more consistent with 2 feedings a day; morning and before bedtime.
I’ve been getting lots of baby hugs lately and it’s great 🙂 Oh how I’ve missed them. The downside is that she won’t be happy with Jeff playing with her in the morning while I get more snoozing time, but at least there are baby hugs that come with her needing my attention.

Me:

The J-O-B. I’ve been applying to jobs trying to find something that will allow me to use both my MPH and my MSN. So far, I think I’m going to focus on Case Manager positions for now. I’ve looked in the CA area mostly (I’ve reactivated my Cali nursing license, am licensed in DC and VA – though I thought my DC one expired because I didn’t pay lat year, and will be licensed pretty soon in Maryland) because California is such a nursing-supportive environment. Out here on the East Coast (or at least the MD/VA/DC area) I get the impression that those who are promoted in the field were those who’ve put in 15-20 years of experience and it’s hard to even get promoted to managerial positions anyway, unless you work your butt of being involved in every committee and working tons of overtime to gain that respect. On the East Coast, your education doesn’t seem to matter so much, but on the West coast; however, education is highly valued, helping you to a leg up.
I may take a couple weeks off of the blog to focus on job searching. It’s tough with a toddler’s energy to find the bedtime energy to look for jobs and get the resumes together.

Some pictures from Mother’s Day: