Hip Hip Hooray ~ Miss V is 5 today...

Time flies ... sweet little miss V is turning 5 today - how did that happen!!!!

Wishing a sweet girl a very happy birthday...and birthday wishes to big brother K as well.

I am working on cleaning out old files on my computer this morning and I came across a few pictures of V from when she was very little .. just about the same age as Zola is now.  So cute!!!  Surrogacy is so amazing.  It is truly such a fabulous thing to know that I had a part in creating another family.  I love when I hear and get pictures from them ~ it just makes my heart smile.

Sweet smiles and cooing...

Zola is so sweet!  She is starting to dole out the cutest smile and starting to coo.  I love watching her and giving her tons of kisses every day.  So totally in love.

Hard day...

Today is a bittersweet day.  The sale of our home was final and this is a good thing...but also a sad thing.  I loved my house and I loved everything about living by the beach.  It was house that we build and put our savings and love into.  It held so many many wonderful memories for me and I will miss it a lot. I am already missing opening up my sliding door and listening for the sounds of the ocean.  To stand in the backyard and watching the elk stomp through the wetlands and missing my wonderful neighbors.

The good news is that the bank finally finally gave the ok for a short sale and accepted the purchase price offer in full settlement for the mortgage.  It has taken almost a year to get this negotiated this time around and that is in addition to the 8 months of trying to get it sold when we relocated back to the Midwest a few years ago. 

I wish for lots of happiness and love in "my" home for the new family that is moving in.  I hope that they will love it as much as we did.  They are getting a gem for a steal of a price while financially we will be hurting for a quite a while.  I guess that is the name of the real estate game .. we purchased land and build at the top of the market and the tanking of the real estate market is definitely not doing us any favors.  So I will be thankful for the outcome even if it hurts and makes me cry.

I pray for peace for my heart and acceptance that this was the right thing to do.  That the peace that I always felt from watching the waves and the lull of the wind from standing on the dunes overlooking the ocean will settle in my heart and soul for now and carry me through this difficult time.

Two little letters...

RN!!!!!

I am so excited!!!  It has taken a lot of hard work, sweat and tears to get to this place.  I took my NCLEX exam yesterday and got 75 questions and the exam shut off.  So many things went through my head when the screen went blank and the test was done.

I walked out of the exam thinking about all the things that I did not know...all the questions that I felt like I needed to make an educated guess on.  There is so much stuff to know!!!

Today I got my official notification from the State Board of Nursing and what a blissful email to receive.  I am a nurse....I am a nurse!!!

Next up .. celebratory lunch with the kiddos and a loooongggg snuggle nap with Zola and then a study free weekend!

Work it out...

Slowly!!!! 

I feel so ready to get back into a workout routine and I am starting up slowly.  I feel really great physically and my recovery has been relatively smooth.  The area around my incision line is still pretty numb but this is pretty common for abdominal surgery.  I still also have the burning on the external sides of the internal incision but it is getting better.  I took all my measurements this morning and overall I am actually pretty happy with where I am at this point.  My focus is not so much loosing weight but rather shapening up and rebuilding of muscle.

I have dropped down into the 130s and while my ultimately goal is to get to 125lbs but I know that is not likely to happen until after I finish nursing - which God willing I will be doing for a long time to come.  I love feeding my sweet baby girl.  Breastfeeding provides such a special bond and I feel so fortunate to be able to care for her in this way.  

My goal for now is getting my daily step goal back to 10K a day, make sure that I use my ab glider and to use hand weight for a light upper body workout.  To kick my thighs back into shape I have started doing lunges (will add squats soon) starting with 25 a day and planning to add 5 each day.

Hoping that adding exercise back into my daily routine will yield a little more energy for studying!