Time sure fly's by when your busy!!

Well my goal this year is to write on my blog at least 1-2 times a week, or maybe 2 times a month. Will see how this first month goes.

Catch up....

Dylan is almost 21 months on the 16th, and he is a VERY busy boy. He dosen't really play with his toys, just gets into things!!! Climbs up on the table to get the computer or itouch so he could play some games etc. He can play some games on the itouch, but he loves to push the back button ALL THE TIME!!! I think he's really smart and catches onto a lot of things just by watching us. Here are a few things he loves to do.

1. Pass some gas and then say " Toodles" lol
2. says " Up, Up, Up" all the time
3. When he's hungry he'll go to his high chair and say " Up" then you know he's hungry.
4. Points to the candy cupboard and says " treat, treat, treat, treat," until you give him one
5. gives kisses when you as him too * I love it*
6. He's learning how to give BIG HUGS
7. Starting to say " I wrove(love) ....and then that's it
8. He's knows what a duck says, mommy says * no, no, no*, daddy says * touch down*,
9. He loves opening up the oven and dishwasher and sit on the door!!!
10. He loved Christmas so much this year, he was not afraid of Santa.
11. When driving in the car at night time over Christmas he loves the LIGHTS on the houses and would say " Ohhhhh LIGHTS!!! AHHHHHH LIGHTS" * makes me laugh* He would even say that during the day. On Thursday early mornings when I drive him to his day home we would drive by the liquior store and he would say the same thing for those lights too lol I need to get this on tape before people start taking there lights down.
12. He loves LOVES to sleep in, and we are not complaining. This kid can sleep in till noon, and still go down for afternoon nap. * he's for sure my kid*
13. He learned that if he puts a pillow down beside the coffee table that he can step on it and help him get on top!!!
14. When ever he saw something Christmas he would say " Ho, Ho, Ho" He's actually sad that I put Christmas things away today.Can't wait till next year to see how he does.
15. He LOVES going to Grandma and Grandpa Shirley's house. Whenever we turn the corner to get to there house he yells " grandma!!". It also helps that they have Christmas lights out( we didn't out any up at our house). * Thanks mom and dad for all help watching him*

I think that's enough for tonight's post....HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!

Three Names I go by
1. Swirls
2. Em
3. Hun

Three Jobs I have had in my life
1. Safeway Cashier
2. Taco Time
3. Dental Assistant

Three Places I have lived
1. Down Town Calgary
2. South Side Lethbridge
3. North Side Lethbrige

Three Favorite drinks
1. Pepsi/Coke
2. Sprite
3. Water.....nah who am I kidding? More pop :)

Three TV Shows that I watch
1. Entertainment Tonight
2. Oprah
3. Dr. Oz
There's WAY MORE!!! lol

Three places I have been
1. Vancouver
2. Washington, DC
3. Seattle

Three People that text me regularly
1. Ryan
2. Tara
3. Tanis

Three of my favorite foods
1. Taco's
2. Mcdonalds FRESH French Fries
3. Fay's potatoes

Three Things I am looking forward to
1. Finshing our reno's
2. Moving into our house
3. Dylan walking

Three of my favorite clothing items
1. My Curvy Jeans
2. Pull Over Hoodie
3. Pajamma Pants

Three places I would like to go
1. New York
2. Europe
3. Texas

Three things that will make me cry
1. Thinking of Dylan in the NICU
2. When a husband or wife die in a movie
3. When my mom cry's

Three things that will make me angry
1. Drivers....slow...or feel the need to keep me under speed
2. Late people(Ryan)or being late
3. When people can't communicate face to face, but tell someone else to tell me.

Three "perfect dates"
1. Going shopping in the states
2. Just going to a movie.....maybe dinner first
3. Getting out of the house

So there ya go, something to help me keep up with my blog :) Now it's your turn!!!!

Living with the parents(picture overload)

So Ryan, Dylan and I have been living with my parents since Sept/09. And I can honestly say that this time has flown bye. Now the reason why we've been living here is because we bought a house and needed to do reno's. It's funny though, because before we bought the house I took my mom and asked her how long it would take for us to do the reno's and she said a month, maybe 2. Well here we are going on our 6th month.

The house has a 1 bedroom basement suite that we needed to paint, redo the kitchen floor,and fix the wall that had wood boards(I can't think of the name for it) Anways, so the first month we were trying to get all that done so we could get a renter in there ASAP. We got that all done and have the best renter in there. Once we were all done with that it was time to start up stairs on our part. We were just going to paint, remove the wood paneling, new cupboards, and put carpet in the bedrooms.

Well that did not work out how it should have. When we were taking the old cupboards out we noticed there was no insulation in the kitchen walls, so we replaced that and new drywall-thanks to Ryan's dad GREAT job of helping us out. Then we had to order the cupboards and decide how I wanted the floor plan to be. Well when we were deciding that, it turned out we needed to get some electrical work done( not estimated in our budget). So Ryan's brother Chad helped us out with that which was WAY cheaper then getting someone to do it.(Thanks Chad) Then when were were taking the wood paneling down there was old insulation in there that needed to be replaced, so we did. During this whole time we would have people come to the house to see how much progress we've been doing and would recommend we do other stuff, like re-do the kitchen & bathroom floors, new vanity, new closet racks, new sliding doors, etc. Ryan and I would take what people would recommend and agree with them. Well those little things add UP!!! We've re-done the bathroom-kitchen floors, new vanity, re-finished the wood floors(still working on them), new closet racks,and new medicine cabinet. Which it's all good in the end, but we've gone over, OVER budget. I've never done reno's like this and I can understand when my friends/family have done this they always say they've gone over budget. I just ranting right now, and updating my blog. But I bet once we get moved in there I really will appriecite it all. I can honestly say I would do this all over again, but do a better budget.

This house is not the house that Ryan and I are going to retire in. In a couple of years we will either buy another house/or build and make this a total rental property. But that is again down the road, who know's we might really love it and not want to move:) Here is a couple of pics of before. When we are all done I'll put the after shots.

NICU

I've been draging my feet about writing about this because I swear it took 10 years off my life. I would say this is one of the HARDEST things I have ever gone thru.

So since Dylan was born 5 1/2 weeks early the dr's were worried about his lung development, his weight, etc. Because of that he had to go straight to the NICU and stay there for awhile. After I was all taken care of I got to go and see Dylan in the NICU. I will never forget seeing him there with just a diaper on under the heat lamp with all these cords looking helpless, it kinda scared me when I first saw him. The nurse that was looking after him was very nice, and said he's doing great. But I started to cry and didn't know what to say or do. She asked me if I wanted to hold him, and I was shocked because I didn't think I would be able to hold him. The nurse handed him to me and the tears kept rolling, finally I was trying to get myself together so I could look at my son. When I finally focused on him he opened his eyes and looked right at me. I've been in love with him ever since. Ryan just let me hold him while we cooed over him. He asked the nurse some questions like how long will he be in here?? The nurses there give you the same answer which is don't expect him to go home until his due date. That's 5 1/2 weeks!!! I was kinda mad, but I had to understand that it's better for him to be in there then at home with me. Ryan and I were in the NICU for about a half an hour and then I went back to my room. Ryan was tired, and so was I. Ryan left, and I tried to get some sleep but I would wake up to other mother's babies crying. And then that would make me start to cry because I never thought that I wouldn't have my baby in the room with me, and when I would have visiters they would come in and look around the curtain expecting to see the baby but all they would see is my breast pump. lol

So the next day we would be in and out of the NICU to see Dylan not knowing what was happening and the nurses couldn't give us answers just the dr could. But we never had the same dr. because the dr. that looks over the NICU was in Africa for 6 months. So other drs would come in on certain days to make the rounds. So we never got the same dr which was really frustrating because no dr.s were talking to us to let us know what was happening. Dylan in my eyes was doing great!!! About 2 days later we had this nurse named Tabitha which was a saint. She finally told us what needs to happen to get him home. Dylan needed to meet mile stones in order for him to get discharged. He had to gain weight, be able to search for a nipple, and got 48 without his feeding tube. Ryan and I were going to help him out in any way we could. But of course there's no way they would let me stay there the whole time Dylan was there. I remember the dr. that was on call came to my room and said since your doing great were going to discharge you tomorrow. I was fighting back the tears, and just agreed with her. She left and I texted Ryan right away and told him to get here ASAP. I went into the bathroom and broke down, and didn't know what to do. How could I leave the hospital without my son??? Why would they do this to me??

Ryan finally got to the hospital and I had gotten myself together. He was a little mad that I was getting discharged without Dylan. But that's how it goes. That whole day Ryan and I held dyan as much as we could. We would do skin to skin, take picture's. Just love him :) Tabitha came on duty and Dylan was under her care. So she said lets try feeding him a bottle with 5 cc. We said sure. lol It seriosly took us an hour to try to feed him those cc's ( it's like a pin drop of milk). Dylan just needed to get used to nipple and sucking without getting tired. He did so they had to feed him the rest thru his feeding tube. We were such proud parents trying to get him to take the bottle( my milk wasen't in yet) but he just tuckered himself out. We were smiling though knowing that he was making his mile stone on feeding.

The next day was my discharge day. I went to go and see Dylan before Ryan got there. I was holding him skin to skin trying to hold myself together thinking I'm not leaving here without him. Ryan got there and we tried again with feeding but he tuckered himself out before he finished his CC's. We decided to go home. we went to go and get the stuff out of my room and our hands were FULL!! We walked by the NICU and I started to break down but kept walking. We got to the elevator and Ryan Says " this is not right that were walking out of here without our son" I said " its funny because were would we put him, our hands are full" it kinda broke the mood. But the ride home felt like it was forever and all I could think of was him. We got home and looked around, and I finally said this is not right. But we knew that we could go up the NICU anytime we wanted too because we each had a band around our wrist that gave us the right to walk past emergency when the front doors were locked. When we left we knew Dylan's feeding scheld. was every three hours 8 am, 11am, 2pm, 5 pm, 8pm, 11pm, 2am, 5 am. I would go to his 8am, 2pm, sometimes 5pm, 8pm, 2am feedings. I never wanted to leave his side. I would go in the morning, be there for 2 hrs, come home and sleep till his 2pm. Then for sure be there at 8pm for his feeding and bath time. Ryan was working night shift so his 2 am feedings we'd both be there. the nurses at first told me I didn't need to be there but I told them that if I was at home I would be up knowing this is his feeding time and think to myself why am I not there. We did this scheld for almost two weeks, till finally he got to come home. It was funny because the dr told me he could come home in three days( he finally didn't need his feeding tube, and he was gaining weight) I remember two nights before he was supposed to come home I couldn't go to his 2 am feeding because I couldn't stop crying, I wanted him HOME!!!!

The next day I went to his 8 am feeding and his nurse which we've never had before asked me if I was ready for him to come home. I said "Yes" Why? She goes I'm going to talk to the dr(which just got there to do her morning rounds) about him going home today. My eyes started to well up with tears,I couldn't look at nurse,all I could do was look at Dylan. She left to go and talk with the dr, and I whispered in Dylan's ear " your going to come home today baby". When I said that he opened his eyes and looked at me, then closed them. I was so excited!!! Finally the dr came around and checked on him and said he can go home today if your ready, and I said YES!!!! I asked the nurse when can I take him home, she said whenever I wanted too. I told her I was going to go home,wake up Ryan and come get him. I was so excited I didn't even finish feeding him.

I came home and Ryan was sleeping of course. I ran into the room and kicked the bed and said we get to bring Dylan home....RIGHT NOW!!!!! He didn't really move, just looked the the ceiling, finally he said " are you serious?" I said "Yes, now get up"!! So he did and out the door we went!!! We got to the hospital and the nurse haden't even finished the paper work to discharge him yet. So we got him changed into one of his outfits that we had packed for him. Then the nurse went over home care stuff, etc. Out the door we went!!! When we left the NICU I turned to Ryan and said " it feels strange that were walking out with him" like we were going to get in trouble!!! ha ha....but out of the hospital we went!!! I'll never forget that day and feeling!!!!

so....

I quickly get changed, and grab stuff and just throw it in the bag, not thinking we were going to get admitted to the hospital. We get his bag, and off we go to the hospital. As were driving I'm remembering all the stuff I forgot to pack, like the CAMERA, PHONE CHARGER!!! The most important stuff. But again I thought we would get turned away and sent home so then we could grab that stuff then. When I got out of the car I told Ryan not to worry about bringing in the bags, and if he needed to he could just come and get them, and then a big gush of water came out that I had to stop at the side of the car. I really felt dumb walking into the emergency with wet pants, but good thing they were black. The nurse got my information from me while I was sitting on her chair not thinking of what the chair is going to look like once I move. So the nurse sends us up stairs. As Im walking Ryan goes" did u see what the chair looked like?" I said " no, Why?" He goes it was wet I started to laugh and felt more embarrassed and kinda laughed as more water was rushing down my leg. I had to stop and maybe try to pinch the water from coming out.....but no luck. The nurse that sent us upstairs saw us and noticed the water and got us a wheel chair with a pad on it......thank goodness:) So we get up to the delivery ward and the nurse gets me into a room and asks us a bunch of questions while the student nurse was hooking me up to a fetal monitor to see how the baby and I were doing. Everything was fine, I wasn't feeling any contractions, just WET. The nurse then called my family Dr. told him what was happening and then he told the nurse to admit me. The nurse moved me into another room and I really didn't know what was happening all I kept thinking about is the stuff I didn't pack. So finally I asked the nurse if I'm going to be staying here and she said yes. I then ask Ryan if he could go home and get the stuff I forgot and pack some stuff for him. So he left me but I told him he needs to hurry just in case something happened s. I called my mom to let her know what was happening and Ryan called his parents. Ryan was gone for more then a half an hour even stopping at 7-11 for some Gatorade :) He gets back and he has about 5-6 walmart bags filled with stuff...lol....he couldn't find a bag. When he got back the nurse came in to see how I was doing and she noticed that I was having contractions about 4 mins apart. I was shocked because I wasn't feeling ANYTHING and I thought to myself maybe I won't need drugs if it's going to feel like this...lol Now because I was so early the nurse was not allowed to check my cervix in case of infection, so she had to call my dr and he said he would come on down.....that was at 1 AM. He came and checked me and I was 3 cm dilated. He then got hold of the dr. on call that night and told him my situation and then went back home. the dr. on call told the nurse to move me to a delivery suite which was fine. We got settled in and the nurse told us to get some sleep, but we both couldn't. Ryan was texting anyone who would listen and I was on facebook. I would try to get some rest but just before I would fall asleep the nurse would come in and check on my blood pressure and the monitor. About 4-5 AM my contractions started to pitter off and I was not progressing, so then the dr's had to decide if I didn't progress would they send me home, or give me some protosin. But they needed to know for sure if my water broke...ha ha ha....it not like I was enjoying peeing myself!!!! So a intern dr. came and took a sample and it came back in deed my water broke, and as we were waiting my contractions started up again....but they didn't hurt just felt like a mild cramps nothing bad. My family dr. came in to check up on me and he said he won't be here to deliver the baby because he's was going on a trip....I was a little sad because I wanted him to deliver the baby because he delivered me into this world, but I couldn't convince him to stay...lol...An hour went by and the dr. on call came in with the intern and told me that they decided that if my contractions& cervix don't progress by 2 pm then they are going to give me some protosin(spelling) to help me along. Now during this time me and Ryan havent gotten any sleep. So we tried to get some sleep, and I think we got like 30 mins. But during this time I started to FEEL the contractions and I asked for morphine......kinda for the pain and I wanted to get some sleep!!! Well.....I loved the morphine and can understand why people get addicted to it. My mom came up to see how we were doing and brought Ryan some KFC. I didn't want any just in case I went in to extreme labor and didn't want to have to throw that up. She chatted with us for a bit and then she went to walmart to pick up some stuff, and I asked her to pick up some premie clothes. When she left it was 2 pm and the nurse came in with the protosin and asked me if I wanted to go into the shower to help things along. I said sure. Ryan helped me and about half way thru I felt SICK, and the contractions keep coming, harder, and longer. I didn't know what to do, so I got out of the shower crawled into bed without putting my hair back or anything just in PAIN!!!! I asked for some more morphine and the student nurse gave me some but I wasn't feeling it like I did before....well she didn't put it in right and I wasn't getting anything!!!! So I asked for my epidural( I knew from the begging I was going to have it) and they paged the guy who does it. HE WAS TAKING FOREVER is what it felt like to me I kept tossing and turning from one side to the other asking for my epidural. At one point I yelled and pressed my forehead saying " I just need 10 mins to think", I don't know why I said that but I think I just wanted a break from these contractions...one after another...there where no breaks in between. With all my yelling and breathing the nurse finally said to me in a stern voice " Emily, he has been paged and will be here as soon as he's done with the other patient, just breath" It kinda took me by shock because here Karen/ or Carol my nurse was all nice to me and then to see this side of her...lol. The Anesthesiologist finally got here and was asking all these question as I was having contractions....I don't even know what he was asking me I just kept saying give me the drug, stop this pain. I remember looking at Ryan at one point of my crazy time and he looked helpless and didn't know what he could do for me except just hold my hand. Once the epidural took affect I was a different women. I sat up in bed, wasn't feeling ANYTHING(love this drug) I finally took a look around the room and there was about 10 people....NICU nurses, pediatrician, some more student nurses, my main nurse, Ryan.....Then there was a knock at the door and it was my mom, she came in and started to show me the outfits she picked out, and then she looked around and asked what was going on?....lol... I told her we were getting ready to deliver ....she smiles and then my nurse asked her if she wanted to stay. I swear before the nurse was even done asking her, her jacket was off and she was standing in the corner behind Ryan.....but she has another story.....Anyways I never really picture my mom in the room, but I'm happy she came at the right time :) Finally Dr. Adolph came and we were ready to get this baby out of me!!! I didn't know when to push because I couldn't feel my contractions, so the nurse would feel my stomach and tell me when to push. In between contractions there was no noise, everyone was just looking at me waiting for me to push, I said sorry to everyone in the room for taking up there time lol I call it a Scientology birth. Finally at 4:43 on April 16/09 our baby boy was BORN!!!! Dylan David James

A little behind...

So a lot has happened in the last month or so, and I told myself that I need to continue from my last post before I write about the my son Dylan. That should keep me motivated to catch up on my blog :)

So I went to that Tuesday appt with my dr. and my blood pressure did go down but was still way too high 166/95. A normal pregnancy blood pressure should be 140/90. I can see why my dr. wanted me on medical leave ASAP. I was still swollen on my feet that I would call them Fred Flinstone feet....they were HUGE!!!!! I should have taken a picture but by the time I would see how big my feet were I would already be comfy on the couch with my feet up. Anyways at that dr. appt's they saw still how high my blood pressure was, and the regular nurse who usually see's all expectant mom's kinda went back and check up on my chart and noticed things got missed. Like my gestational diabetes test that I got done first was high, and then I had to do a second one and that one was just over the normal rate. So I should have been sent to see a specialist or dietitian but never happened. And I should have told them about my blurred vision and spotting. She told me that I had pre-eclemsia(spelling) After the nurse got all my updated information and new blood pressure she notified my dr and he wanted me to go in ASAP to see an OBYN Dr. Malich(spelling) I got in that Thursday.


April 2, 2009-Dr. Malich's appt
They Nurse checked my blood pressure and it was normal 139/88, how could that be?? So then she checked my other arm(left) and it was 128/86. I felt so stupid that I was wasting there time, but she assured me that it happen ed's, and so did Dr. Malich. Dr. Malich explained things more too me about what was happening to me and my baby. That with having high blood pressure that means my heart is working harder to pump and it's not getting to my uterus or placenta to produce oxygen for my baby to breath, which scared me. He also told me that if I go into to early labor that I needed to tell emergency or whomever that I am under his care. He also wanted me to do what is called a stress test every Thursdays for the next 8 weeks or until the baby comes. I went to the hospital right after wards and they hooked me up to a monitor to hear the baby's heart rate/beat, and mine to make sure the baby wasn't under any stress. They also would keep checking my blood pressure. At my next appt's at the hospital they would do the same stress test, and a ultra sound. They didn't do one that day because it was short notice that I went there. Everything was fine, and the baby was sleeping, not moving around much. :)

April 9th, 2009
My last day of work was here already. I kinda was happy because my feet were killing me, but on the other hand sad. Not sad because I wasn't working, sad because for the next year I wouldn't be interacting with patients or my co-workers. It just was an odd feeling, and my last day came so fast. I would joke at work that my baby was going to come early, he wasn't going to cry, he would stay small for a long time, our baby would be different.......who knew what was to come :)


April 10, 11, 12, 2009
For some reason I was getting the "Nesting urg" and told Ryan the things that needed to get done like : put together the drawers/hutch together for the baby
get the clothes organized
de-cluter some things
update the baby book
clean the house-behind the fridge, & stove etc
Buy the last baby gear stuff, diapers, diaper bag
get the hospital bag ready for me and the baby
Just stuff like that I felt needed to be done, even though the baby wasn't due till May 25/09. So that long weekend me and Ryan plugged along getting that list done, and the only thing that didn't get done was me packing my part of the hospital bag. I was tired by the end of that weekend, and so was Ryan because he did most of the work:) It's strange how things work out, I even remember telling Ryan I have a feeling he's going to come early and I need this list done this weekend. I'll admit he wasn't too keen on getting this done, but we did :)

April 14, 2009
I had another Dr. appt with my family dr where he just wanted to take my blood pressure again and see how I was doing. My blood pressure did go up to 159/97. My swollen feet were somewhat down from before, but still swollen. Then I asked him who my dr. was going to be in the delivery because I needed to fill out the form's for the pre-registration for the hospital. He told me to put his name down. So I did. I also asked my dr. if the baby had dropped and was locked in. He checked me and yes in deed the baby had dropped and was ready. My dr. also said I could be having this baby in the next 2 weeks. Which I found was odd for him to say that but didn't think anything of it.

April 15, 2009
So with me being on Medical leave I had a lot of dr. appts to go to to keep me busy, but I also would make fun dates for me to stay in touch with my friends and stuff. So today I had a lunch date with Kimberly from the office, and then I was going out to Raymond to drive my mom to pick up her car from getting fixed at my father in-laws house. We also went to my mom's friends house to look at her quilts and baby blankets and we picked out one that says " Our little buddy" on it, and then my mom was going to croeshay the edging. Ryan was working nights for awhile and was home sleeping. But when we were leaving Raymond my mom asked if we wanted to go for supper with them. So I picked up Ryan and we went to Earls. Got caught up with Mom and Dad because for Easter Holidays they went out to Vancouver to see my sister and her family. Since being out of the house all day I never got to have my nap, so after supper I layed down on the couch and had a 2-3 hour nap. When I woke up Ryan was already getting ready for work, and I had to pee. So I went to the washroom and then came out and was talking with Ryan before he left and then I felt a little dribble just thinking that I pee'd a little and needed to go back to the washroom. So I did. I went back down stairs to finish talking with Ryan and then all of a SUDDEN I felt that peeing feeling again. I grabbed Ryan's wrist and had this look on my face of shock. He looked at me like what...and kept asking what??? It was 9:45 and he had to work at 10 pm, and I told him I think my water just broke. He joked and said "no", I said "yes". So I sat down for a little while to make sure, and when I stood up more water came out. Ryan ran up stairs to grab some towels, while I took my pants off. He layed them down under me while the water was coming out. We both looked at each other and didn't know what to do....lol Whats funny is a couple weeks before my sister in-law was up from Vegas visiting and she was telling me how her water broke, and it's the strangest feeling to have. And here I was standing in my living with that feeling. Ryan says you need to call your mom. So I called her and she said I needed to go to the hospital and get checked out or at least call them. While I'm calling Ryan grabs the books- Birth partner, and what to expect when your expecting because he was supposed to at least read the Birth Partner book before labor, but he kept putting it off. LOL So he thought he could cram it all in before we left for the hospital...lol. I called labor and delivery and they told me to come down to get checked out.......


To be continued

Bedrest

So I had a dr. appt this last Thurday and my blood pressure was up to 170/?. At the time I really didn't think anything of it, just the my feet were really swollen and hurt, and my hands too. He told me that I needed to rest, and go on medical leave ASAP. I didn't really ask any questions. I even went home and had a two hour nap. Then around 10pm that night I started to look things up on the internet about high blood pressure during pregnancy. WHELP, I wish I new about this before my dr. appt because now I have ALOT of questions, and it makes sense on some symptoms I have that I didn't even think to tell my dr. Like Thursday night I said to Hussa my eyes seem blurry, like I can't focus(that's a sign), another thing I didn't tell my dr. is that I have been getting cramping, and a little little bit of spotting that only lasted a day. The spotting only happened a couple of weeks ago and I forgot to tell him. Hussa told me I need to write these things down so I have a list to tell the dr. instead of thinking of them after wards. But the good news is that I have another appt with him on Tuesday for them to check my blood pressure again.

So with going on medical leave early I talked with my boss the very next day, and my last work day is this coming Thursday April 9/09. Trust me I'm excited and sad that it's happening so fast. I tentatively gave them a date of May 6-7, so this does bump me up. I'm going to be fine with taking things easy, but I know my sleep scheld. is going to be all off kilt and I'll turn into a night hawk. Anyways Ill hopefully keep this blog posted :)