in search of a new camera...

...beautiful pictures my good friend Jessica took at my wedding...

I'd like to get a new camera... or start saving up for one. We have a nice enough digital, simple camera that works well but I want to really be able to take some beautiful pictures of my belly growing and our precious spud. Matt and I don't know anything about cameras... any advice? Nikon? Fuji? What is a simple-user-friendly camera that can give us beautiful pure pictures?! You know, where there is something in focus and the distant things are blurry?! It gives a great feeling to the moment, no imperfections. I love it.

maternity leave...spud days.

All of this planning may sound crazy, but I love planning!! I am a list maker, if that wasn't already obvious. So of course I am planning my maternity leave. I know it will be absolutely the hardest thing to go back to school and work with our new spud at home. It is not ideal, but it has to happen. But the time off I do have has to be realistic. We need to find a balance between the amount of money we need to live on and how precious our time is being new parents. Fortunately I do get maternity leave- due to the family and medical leave act. Yay!
 I get to have 3 months of un-paid leave regardless for giving birth to a child, then half of that time off is 66 2/3% of my base salary paid leave (tiny amount, but we can make do)...so that's 6 weeks of partial pay. Then if I want the other 6 weeks paid I need to save up my PTO (paid time off) I accrue every paycheck. Because I work a different number of hours every week (36-50 hrs) I get a different amount of PTO each paycheck, its unreliable and rather difficult to figure out. So I made a spreadsheet to keep me on track with how many hours I am accruing and to encourage me to save them for a worthy cause... spud days!!
So here is my spreadsheet in excel that I threw together. I have time to start saving the hours, but also with the holidays I know I need to use some PTO before next year. The total number of hours I need for fulltime pay for 6 weeks is 216 hours!! I have about one year to save hours, each month has 2-3 paychecks (thus paycheck #1,2,3 for each month), then a column for hours I used that month, then the grand total.
I think I can get close, even though I am at a daunting 24 hrs as of yet, however if I have a ton of stressful test weeks next semester or morning sickness days it may throw off my accumulation efforts :( I also plan on working right up until the day I deliver, working in a hospital there is no safer place to do that. Then all of my time off can be with the spud! So we shall see if I get a say in all of this. Anyone have a plan that works? How do you plan to save money?

timing of the spud...

...super cute onesie from etsy...

Well, we told both of our sets of parents about our "plan." We were both a little nervous, sure both sets of parents are incredibly supportive and absolutely wonderful... but we might be rushing things by planning for a baby now, in their minds. Yes, we do have a few things working against us...Matt and I are both in school full time, recently married, we don't have careers/nice salaries, we are working full time, and we have three huge dogs. But we have a plan!!

the "plan"

(this is assuming ideal situations occur, which we are fully aware is difficult, and somewhat out of our control, but we are positive thinkers...)

-try to get pregnant in February/March 2011 (ahh thats soon! 3 months away)

-spud to arrive during christmas break...Dec 2011/Jan 2012, where we have five weeks off from school for delivery.

-deliver in the hospital I work at... nice, reasonable insurance coverage, with my birthing plan in full effect, to be discussed later.

-take 3 months of maternity leave during most of my last semester of nursing school, so that I only have school, not work...more to come later on how I plan to get paid maternity leave.

-utilize wonderful, affordable childcare at my hospital available 7 days a week, from week 1 on... when matt and I both have school at the same time this will be greatly needed, especially without either of our families living in Idaho... so this will probably around 10 hrs/wk.

-be able to be hired in May 2012 when I graduate nursing school, as a nurse...who is a mom. Why do we want a kid before I graduate, why rush it?! Well, I am a little nervous that being pregnant during my preceptorship in my last semester or applying for a real nursing job upon graduation pregnant (that even though its illegal) they will discriminate and not hire me with fear that I would be taking maternity leave shortly after being hired. With soo many nursing grads being cranked out of programs every semester, I want to be able to take the job of my dreams and fully orient to be a real nurse. So with this timeline Matt and I will still be able to have little spuds on our time schedule... sooner than later. Matt will have just a year and half more of school to graduate, when we will be wanting our second child...and have two incomes to support our family.

Awesome. Winter spud.

what to expect before you expect you're expecting...

...me giving a toast at my best friends wedding, I can say goodbye to wine...

Time to evaluate what is going on in my own body and what I need to modify before I get pregnant. First topic..prenatal vitamins! I started taking these early because I felt exhausted all the time...granted my schedule is crazy, but seriously?! I'm 27. I should be able to hack a busy life. So, as a good nursing student, I self-diagnosed myself with anemia. I though it would be wise to do a trial of prenatal vitamins from Costco and see if I felt any better.... well...I do! I feel like I am able to stay on top of my daily goals. So I will keep taking these, fantastic.

to do:
- dental exam.
- pre-conception OB appointment, I am waiting for the new calendar year for insurance.
- find time for exercise, I love the idea of an hour long walk a day from sara over on feed the soil, especially with this romantic fall weather and soon to be peaceful snowy winter.
- stop taking birth control pills to allow myself to ovulate regularly
- I've had 3 melanomas removed this year, so that's a never-ending check up with the dermatologist to stay on top of being cancer-free.

what I do that's potentially unsafe...
-highlights
-paint my nails
-drink 1-2 cups of coffee daily
-drink a glass of wine about 2 times a month
-sushi.... I love sushi, so california rolls here I come
-don't eat a great amount of veggies and fruit like I should
- I am exposed to xrays and CT scans at work in the ED... I always wear lead, but unless the pt is actively tanking...I think I need to step 6 ft away, and wear a full lead ensemble.
- not to mention blood, needles, fluids, HIV, TB, Hep C... and the list goes on. wash my hands! be safe and smart!...ok.
- doing CPR?! debatable... can I do this pregnant?! If I am the only one around, sure I wouldn't give it a second thought, but should I let another take over the compressions for me?! Probably.

Those are the big ones....anything I am overlooking?!