Lucky 13 & a Cold

I reached my 13 week of pregnancy mark on Dec. 13th, which was also my birthday. 

We had our church Christmas program the same day.

Oh, and also our Sunday school class Christmas party.

We had a full day, which, in all honesty, is fine with me. The "older" I get, the less I care about making my birthday a big to-do. I actually don't know if I've ever really wanted a huge fuss over my birthday. Probably because that's how my family has always treated birthdays.  They are special days, where you definitely feel loved, but it's no parade with fireworks. 

And I'm fine with that. 

Back to Sunday,

We had our Christmas program at church. The day before, my mom had bought us all tickets for The Living Christmas Tree at First Baptist in Little Rock.  It was fantastic and I'm glad that most of our family (minus Logan and Morgan- boo to finals!) was able to come and enjoy it together.  I teared up a couple times - it doesn't take much lately - but the choir was SO good. I am a sucker for the old Christmas classics.

We ate at Chuy's (my pick) after the show.  My dad was the only one that had never been there and I do believe that he enjoyed himself. ;)

My baby brother Clark had to go back to OBU after dinner because he had to study for finals coming up, and when he told me to have a happy birthday and that he'd see me soon, I had to quickly say goodbye because I almost lost it again in the parking lot. 

baby brother

These pregnancy hormones, YALL :| 

Oh, yeah….our Christmas program. 

I think it went well, despite my husband saying that a few of the songs were a little long (insert eye-roll here). We had several testimonies shared…they were tear-jerkers….and I'm not just saying that because I am hormonal, because even grown men in the church were wiping their eyes. 

I was a hot mess by the time the second service ended. A HOT MESS.

I'm sure the video will be attractive LOL!

That afternoon, we had our SS class Christmas party. It's always fun to get together with that group. The only "negative" thing is that our class has grown so much in the past few months, that is hard for me to remember everyones name and what they do and which kid belongs to which family.  I blame pregnancy brain… I think it's a real thing. But our party went well, we played dirty santa/white elephant, and ate some delicious food.

________________________________________________________________

Monday morning rolled around and I did not feel good, but I went to work anyway.

Monday evening came and I was miserable. 

I had "caught" a cold. 

Tuesday and Wednesday were not pretty days. I decided to call into work on Thursday because I felt like I did not need to go in sneezing and with a hacking cough when I have to work with sick babies. SOME people I work with don't care about that, because either they don't want to miss work or they simply can't afford to miss work. But it still irks me because I feel like everyone is just passing it from one person to the next.

But I digress…

As I'm typing this, it's Friday. I work Sat-Mon and so I am praying that I can just make it through the next three days without getting worse and hopefully all this sinus mess will finally go away. I am already feeling like I can almost breathe normally again, so here's to getting well!

I hope the {few} that read this are staying happy and healthy this week!

'Tis the Season,

Holly

12 weeks & a tiny heart beat!

December 10th was our 12 week appointment.

I've been a nervous wreck because ever since I woke up at the start of week 11, my symptoms have decreased significantly. Most people would be rejoicing, but this little momma-to-be is a worrier and so I have fretted a bit. 

We showed up to our morning appointment and I just knew my BP would be high because for about a week and a half, I had been worrying and praying that everything was okay.

It wasn't high, it was perfect!

Our doctor popped in and basically said this would be one of the quicker appointments and that she would be using a doppler ultrasound to listen for the heartbeat.

I held my breath and she searched for what seemed like several minutes, when in reality it was probably just a few seconds.

We heard that precious, tiny, strong heartbeat and I about lost it on the exam table. :')

this was right after we got to hear the heartbeat

I even got the hubs to take a video on his phone, just so I can listen to our baby's heartbeat whenever I want. Best decision ever.

Baby had a heart rate of 150 and it was nice and strong. I'm feeling better than I have in weeks!

We are very blessed!

'Tis the Season, 

Holly

Our {little} Secret: Part 2

Once we went to the doctor for our 8 week appointment on Nov. 12th, we decided to plan to tell our parents the following weekend.

I ordered this SUPER CUTE onesie on Etsy, paid extra to have it rush delivered, and we (mainly me) racked our brains on how we should tell everyone.

I'm sharing the picture again because, I MEAN!

Coming from larger families, we knew that getting everyone together at the same time was not a real option.

We told my family on a Friday night. A few days before our appointment, I got online and did some "research" (my husband's favorite word) and found an adorable book for new grandparents, called "The Gifts of Being Grand."  So I ordered two and had them rush delivered.

My family does a Thanksgiving tree and it's been a tradition for years.  We have colorful, contraction paper leaves and we write various things we are thankful for every year.  So I dug around in our office, found some red construction paper, and made a leaf and wrote Baby Nicholson on it.  I stuck that in a box with our ultrasound picture and then the box in a bag with the book.

Late that night, after we had been over at their house visiting for a while, I stepped out into the garage to grab the bag that we had stashed before we walked in.

I made my family (Dad, Mom, & Joshua) sit on the couch together and asked them to open the box first, before pulling the other gift (the book) out of the bag.  My mom was SHOCKED, Joshua was speechless, and my dad….well…bless him.  I believe his first words were "Oooohhh noooo…." but not in a negative matter, just a totally shocked, never saw it coming way. Or so we think ;)

We told Aaron's family the following morning. When his mom opened the box with the ultrasound picture, she immediately started bawling, as did his sister, and his dad walked over, over-alls and all (you just have to know him) and he said "Well it appears you have a bun in the oven!"

Later that day, we told my baby brother Clark, who had come home from college for the weekend.

The next day, Aaron told his two brothers, and we face-timed brother Logan and my SIL Morgan, and I walked over to the Thanksgiving tree, where we had put up the leaf, and we laughed about some of the leaves that somehow make it back up on the tree every year, and then I casually focused on the Baby Nicholson leaf.

We called our grandparents in the following days and everyone was SO thrilled and SO surprised.

We decided to make our announcement early, after we got a chance to tell some more family and some of our close friends. Considering that we didn't really trust some of our family members to keep it a secret for very long, I think it was a good decision. I am very happy we announced early.

I was so tickled at the outpouring of love and kind words that were showed to us during those first few days. I may have cried a couple times (I DID).

'Tis the Season,

Holly

Our {little} Secret: Part 1

After we found out that we were expecting, we couldn't wait to tell our families.

Except we did wait.

I am a notorious "worrier" and I think it may be due to a recessive worrier gene on the Garland side.

I wanted to get through our first doctor appointment, just to make sure that we were 1) really pregnant, and 2) that everything up to that point was normal.

I scheduled our first appointment on November 12th, 2015. So that means from October 21st until the 12th of November, we had to keep our secret.

Talk about a hard couple of weeks.

Actually for me, it wasn't so bad. I am a pretty private person and this was a huge deal for me, for us, and so it was easier for me to remain tight-lipped.  My poor husband on the other hand, was "on the struggle bus."  I'm so proud of him for not slipping up ONCE.

What was really hard was hiding my "morning sickness" (just let me LOL at the fact that it's called morning sickness, when (for me) it's really 24/7, constant sickness, that comes and goes ALL DAY LONG) from my mom/family and from my coworkers. I stayed home a lot and visits with family were short and sweet. Work was a bit easier because I could just say I was tired (which I was) or that my stomach hurt a bit and most people left it alone because there's always something going around at the hospital.

I nibbled on Saltines and sipped Powerade for weeks and drank more Sprite and Ginger Ale than I probably have in all of my life. But I rarely complained (out loud) because I knew that in the end, it would be worth it.

I was a bundle of nerves before our appointment. I just knew my blood pressure was going to be through the roof (IT WASN'T) and that all my vitals were going to be out of whack. (THEY WEREN'T).

Aaron met me for lunch before and I gave him the run down of what I thought the first visit might entail. He doesn't "do" medical stuff.

Long story short, I think our doctor will be fantastic, Aaron handled the appointment like a champ even though he mentioned how he felt like he had germ crawling all over him (BLESS), and we got to see our little nugget on the ultrasound.  Aaron's face in that moment will be one of my other favorite memories. I wish I had videoed it. We saw the little heart just beating away and our baby even moved a tiny bit.

Also, I wish I had known about the ultrasound. I thought it would just be a regular US.

NOPE.

Here's how that little convo went…kind of...

"Okay, we will now walk down the hall so we can get an US of your baby!" said the doctor.

"Oh wonderful! How exciting! We can't wait!" said Holly and Aaron.

walk walk walk….

"Okay, I will need you to undress from the waist down and I'll be back in a minute to do the transvaginal ultrasound."- Dr.

(mental brakes screeching) -Holly & Aaron (mainly Aaron)

So while undressing, I told him the gist of what would happen and to just hang in there and not really watch anything but the screen.

He handled it like a champ.

Meanwhile, I was the one that had a wand stuck in my hoo-ha and was "undressed" from the waist down…. and then I got blood work done. Yay for being a woman! And a mommy! :)

 I think all women should get a reward for that…and after a PAP smear. I am just saying. Maybe like a gift card for free ice cream or something. I think we should make that a "thing."

I would have done way more/worse if it meant we got to see our baby.

WHICH WE DID AND IM STILL TICKLED ABOUT IT. That ultrasound picture will be one of my greatest treasures.

I tried to guess my due date, just so I could order ones of these super cute onesies that I found a few months prior on Etsy! I figured by our timeline, June was the month and we could figure out the actual date at the Dr.
Our doctor said baby Nicholson measured at 8 weeks during our appointment, so our due date is going to be June 20, 2016!

We can't wait to meet you!

Be blessed today,

Holly

First comes LOVE...

(This post has been a few months in the making. I know I should have written it at the time everything was happening, but hey, life gets busy!)

"Aaron and Holly sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.

First comes LOVE.

Then comes MARRIAGE.

(then comes a few years to enjoy said marriage…)

THEN comes a BABY in a baby carriage!"

____________________________________________________________

I feel like life as a young adult is just a constant ache/rush/longing/pressured feeling to get to "the next stage of life." 

Whatever that stage may be.

Aaron and I got marriage fairly young, he had just turned 24 and I was 22. But we were in love and we were ready. I mean, we dated all those years. 

It seems to me, and correct me if I'm wrong (don't, I'm not), but when you are in a serious relationship, everyone wants to know if and when you will get married. 

But then there's a new level of annoyance. Once you are married, people start asking when you plan to start a family.  I believe the first of those questions began right after we returned from our honeymoon. No joke. I think it was my grandparents ;) BLESS.

My mom likes to say, "people mean well" and most of the time I can agree with her. 

Aaron and I have talked about babies since high school. How we hoped they would look like us and what our house would look like.

We've talked about babies for 4.5 years now. Adding to and changing our (ever-changing) list of baby names, what sports they might play, schools, where we might want to raise them, but how we weren't quite ready for them. (I can say that the pressure to actually have a baby increases rapidly each year you are married, from SOME people (it's not your life, folks!), but not ALL people. That's another rant for another day.)

But, we've only REALLY talked about babies for the past several months.  When was the right time to start trying, what about insurance, where would we live, would we have family close, what about new/bigger cars, etc? 

One day my sweet, wonderful, loving, crazy, dreamer of a husband looked at me and told me he thought it was the right time. So we talked about it some more and prayed about it and decided to just see what happened. 

I took a pregnancy test the morning of October 9th, 2015. That was the day we had planned to go look at a car for me (see previous pos: thttp://tistheseasontobeholly.blogspot.com/2015/12/rainfall-scratches-and-growing-up.html). It had been a little while, well a little while is relative, I should say it had been an appropriate amount of time and I thought that if, by chance, it was positive, we could celebrate that day since he already had the day off work and we were going to be together all day.

It was negative. 

I was surprised (at myself) how it actually took me a few minutes to compose myself and to go tell Aaron the news. My first and only pregnancy test I had ever taken was negative, which I knew there was a 50/50 chance it would be, but it REALLY bummed me out.  We knew there was an obvious chance that it could take a while to get pregnant, but just seeing the little word on the stick bummed me out for a few days. 

Thankfully, my awesome husband was encouraging and I was able to bounce back to my old self and change my mind set. Still praying and trusting God through the process.

October 21st rolled around. I had been feeling a little sick to my stomach the past couple of days and I told my husband that I was going to take another test and if it was negative, I was going to the Dr because I believed that I had caught some "bug"(there's always something going around) at the hospital. So the morning of the 21st rolled around, Aaron left for work, and I worked up the nerve to take another pregnancy test. 

I left the bathroom and went into the kitchen to fix breakfast for myself and turned on the TV. Several minutes went by before I could muster the courage to walk back into the bathroom. 

When I finally did and the screen said POSITIVE, I kind of flipped out. My poor dog could not figure out what was going on! (He still can't figure out what's going on actually)

I kept the secret ALL day because I wanted to tell Aaron face to face, but I didn't think that I should tell him he needed to come home early or anything.  We even had dinner with one of our couple friends and I was proud of myself for not slipping up in front of them.  

Once we finally got home, we decided to watch a little tv before we went to bed for the night.  I was just sure my face was going to give me away, but I told him I'd be right back and went and got the pregnancy test.  I was on the verge of (happy) tears, so instead of melting into a puddle in front of him by trying to be cute or clever, I just handed him the test.

The look on his face will be one of my favorite memories. :) We were so excited and in our prayers that night we thanked God for our little blessing.

:) we are VERY blessed

Tis the season!

-Holly

Rainfall, Scratches, and Growing Up

Friday, the 9th of October, is a day that will "live in infamy" in the Nicholson household.

Let's start from the beginning, or really, about 6 months ago.

Aaron drives a Toyota Prius. We LOVE the Prius. But it's "ode" (as my brother Joshua would say) and it has over 200,000 miles on it.  We have made a lot of good memories in that car.  A. LOT.

The Prius has been acting its age this past year.  It is having issues with the oil, with the speedometer, and TURNING ON AND OFF.

Yes, you read that correctly. The dang car will sometimes not turn on and will sometimes not turn off.

WHAT THE WHAT.

Needless to say, we (by "we" I mean "Aaron") have been looking at cars (24/7) and trying to make a budget so that we may be able to smartly purchase said car.  Our 2nd biggest purchase with the first being our house, but our first biggest purchase without any "help" from our families.

So fast forward to this past week.  Aaron got ALL excited because he had found "The Car," had been watching it for a couple of weeks, decided it was worth checking out, and called me at work to tell me about it.  Of course, I don't normally have my phone on, so he left a voicemail, and when I saw it on my lunch break, I automatically assumed something was majorly wrong. :|

He tells me about "The Car" and how he has decided to take off work on Friday and have to two of us drive up there and check it out.

This was Tuesday.

By Wednesday afternoon, he has talked to our bank about financing and has it all lined out.  The boy does not waste any time. He also had put down a (refundable) deposit to "hold" the car for us until we could check it out in person.

Friday morning we headed to Muskogee, Oklahoma.  Yes, OKLAHOMA. It a little over 3 hours away, because, we live in Arkansas.  And "The Car" is in Oklahoma. (insert eye roll #1)

Oh and did I mention it was RAINING? (insert eye roll #2)

OH. OH. Did I mention that Aaron we rented a car to drive up there? Because we were worried about taking our actual daily drivers (mainly the Prius) on a long road trip. (eye roll #3)

I love my husband. :)

So we get to Muskogee, OK and your stereotypical car salespeople are out front, and a few of them are smoking…in front of the door…the entrance to their business...I mean really? But that's another rant for another day.

We meet the salesman that Aaron has been in cahoots with communicating with all week.  He pulls the car around and it is beautiful. But my husband, being ever so picky thorough, walks around and around and around the car, gets on the ground by the car, mashes all the buttons in the car, and asks the salesman as many questions as he could think of.

I am so thankful that he was so thorough.

We both test drove "The Car" and, no surprise, it drove like a dream.

Then Aaron requested to check out the car OUT of the rain (gasp!) and to see it dried off (gasp!).

You would think he would have asked them to cut out their kidney. We waited and waited and waited.

They finally called us back to the back garage to see the car.  Aaron walked around and around and around and laid on the ground to look under the car (yes, I regret not taking any pictures).

Guess what we saw?

SCRATCHES.  The whole back bumper. Superficial, but still. Not the point.  Aaron was NOT having that.

He went into competitive deal maker mode. I love seeing that side of him.  I know that we would be in good hands because my Aaron David is not going to make a financial decision that he is not 110% sure about or that he can't afford. He reminds me of my Dad in a lot of ways. ;)

Long story short…because believe me, it was a LONG day in Muskogee.

The dealership manager came and talked with us, because we were going to walk away from "The Car," and said he would refer us to his personal body shop (eye roll #10 at this point) and that he would personally take care of whatever repairs necessary that the body shop could do to fix this car for us.

We went to McDonalds in Muskogee (never again) and talked it over. We decided to just go get an assessment at the body shop, and if they couldn't give us what we wanted, we would walk.

The body shop was the highlight of the day. They were surprisingly friendly and wonderful and by the end of our 3 hours there (yes 3 hours), I was best friends with the secretary and she told me ALL about her family and her two dogs and showed me ALL of her pictures on her phone.

Aaron was in the back with the workers, so I don't really know what all went down, but I do know that when my husband walked back in the front door of the body shop, he had the biggest smile I had seen on his face all day, heck, all week. That's when my attitude went to slightly bummed about probably not getting "The Car" to slightly optimistic.  Aaron told them exactly what he wanted done and somehow got it all fixed and all expenses were covered by the dealership. "The Car" looks brand spankin new.

Oh, wait, didn't I say long story short? ;)

We got the car.  I will spare you any more details.  Just know that I am tickled that Aaron is so tickled and I am thankful that God has provided Aaron and I with two great jobs and that we were able to get a great deal on "The Car".

I'm pretty sure that dealership will never want to rumble with Aaron Nicholson ever again.  I love my picky husband.

Here's to growing up!
-Holly

The Dreaded NCLEX

My sophomore semester of nursing school, we started prepping for the NLCEX (our state boards) by taking an exam called the HESI.  It's a precursor to the NCLEX and helps you understand the format of the exam and the style of questions you will have on your NCLEX.  The HESI is hard.  It gets harder each time you take it (or at least it did to me) because the questions are at a higher level.  We took one as sophomores, one at the end of our junior semester, and the final HESI earlier on in our senior semester.

When you take the HESI as a senior, you get 4 chances to pass the test, and it counts as a pre-requistite for graduating.  Thankfully, I passed my first HESI my senior semester.  I had friends that didn't pass the first time, but some passed the second time.  I had friends that didn't pass until the third time. I had friends that pass the fourth one right at the end of the semester.  "They" (being the teachers) said it was an indication of how well you attempt at the NLCEX would go.  I'm proud to say that all of my group of nursing school friends passed their NLCEX the first time, so take THAT nay-sayers! ;)

I graduated June 15th, and had already submitted my application to test (authorization to test or ATT for short) and applied to get my temporary license.  Due to the fact that so many nursing students graduated in april/may/june/july, processing application requests took a little time.  Anxiety set in for most, including myself.  I didn't know how to plan my study schedule until I knew the date of my test. In early July, I finally got my ATT. After a few days of prayer, I scheduled my exam for August 14th at 8am.  I studied and prayed, and studied some more. I really buckled down in the last 3 weeks before my test.  You kind of have to when your nursing career lies in the balance.

The week of my test, I prayed and told God that I was giving Him all my stress, all my anxiety, and that I had done what I could to prepare and the rest was in His hands.

Of course, being a human, and being Holly, I struggled that week. I prayed that prayer, but didn't quite give all my stress and anxiety away until the last days before my test.  Let me just tell you, when I finally let go, what a wave of peace that washed over me. I mean, it's hard to quite put it into words.

I arrived at the testing facility 30 minutes early, as I was told.  I prayed and listened to some good jams on KLove and just sat in my car, with total peace. I texted my husband and my parents to let them know I had made it safely and that I would let them know when I got out of the test.  There is a strict "no phones allowed" policy, in fact, the whole process is a very high security ordeal. So, I left my phone in the car and only took in my drivers license and a black ink pen.

We had to check in and scan our palms in the waiting room. Then we had to put what belongings we had in a locker, then palm scan again to get into the actual testing room.

You could cut the tension in the room with a knife. I recognized one girl from my school, but didn't know her name, and the rest of the people in the room were taking their LPN state boards.

As soon as my number was called, my stomach flip-flopped a bit, and I was seated at my computer.  The next two hours are kind of a blur, even still.  I said a prayer before I started, a prayer before every questions, and a prayer of thanks when I made my decision before I submitted each question. The test automatically gives you a break at 2 hours, and it just so happened that I was at question number 74 when it did. With the NLCEX, you can take a minimum of 75 questions, and a maximum of 275 questions. So after I submitted number 74, I said a bit of a longer prayer, and clicked "no" when it asked me if I wanted to take my 2 hour break, took a deep breath, and started question 75. After I had decided on my answer, I clicked submit.  I held my breath. It felt like a long time passed, but in reality it was probably more along the lines of 5 seconds. My screen went blue and it told me that I had finished my exam.  Then I had to fill out a review and submit it before I could leave.  I had a LOT of SATA (select all that apply) which is normally a good indication, since those are higher level questions, but I couldn't believe that I only took 75 questions. I was so relieved and so tired at the same time, that I felt numb about the whole experience. But I felt like a huge weight had dropped off of my shoulders. It was done. I had taken the NCLEX.

I called my husband first. Then I talked to my mom and dad. I met my husband for coffee, then met my dad for lunch.  I was mentally drained and was ready to get home and take a nap.  That's exactly what I did after we were done with lunch.  Then the waiting began.  It usually takes 48 hours to get your results, but since I took it on a Friday, I knew I would have to wait until at least Monday morning.

It was a LONG weekend.

My husband tried to distract me, bless him. We went to Fayetteville and to the farmers market and he bought me flowers. My family tried to distract me on Sunday. Monday morning rolled around and nothing had posted. I checked all day long. NOTHING.  I prayed and tried to stay calm, but that's easier said than done.

Tuesday morning, my bladder woke me up before my alarm went off. It was probably about 4:30 in the morning. I decided to take my phone with me, just in case.  I checked the two sites that I knew my license would post on, just in case. I saw my name and my RN license next to it.  I wanted to jump up and down and scream, but again, it was 4:30 in the morning. Then my phone buzzed, it was my friend Brittany texting me congratulations, because she was getting ready for work and wanted to check and see if my results had posted too!

I crawled back into bed and nudged my husband, who smiled and said congrats, wrapped me in a bear hug, and promptly fell back asleep. Bless. :)

It is a huge accomplishment and I can say that God helped me through it, along with lots of prayer and encouragement from my friends and family, and for that I am so thankful.

  ( Also, I NEVER want to take that test again.)

Be blessed,

Holly Nicholson, RN

OBU Homecoming & Tiger Tunes 2015

OCTOBER

One of my favorite months of the year. Why? Because October at OBU = Homecoming + (more importantly) TIGER TUNES. 

Tiger Tunes (for those living under a rock who do not know) is an annual event at Ouachita Baptist University where the "social clubs" put on a song and dance show all in the name of raising scholarship money for students.  About three weeks out, the clubs, having decided on their themes at the end of the spring semester, learn the routines and songs and practice practice practice.  Then the shows are performed over a a four day span, Wednesday through Saturday. Awards, like "Theme & Lyric," "Best Costume," and "Choreography," are presented each night and then the winners are announced in the final show on Saturday night. 

It is SO FUN. 

I may be a little biased, because I participated in Tunes for 3 out of my 4 years at OBU.  We try to go to at least one show every year. My husband seems to enjoy it too, unless the Arkansas Razorbacks are playing. ;) 

This year, my youngest brother is a freshman at OBU.  I thankfully had the weekend off so my family made plans to drive down to Arkadelphia and attend the Homecoming game and Tiger Tunes…oh yeah, and to see Clark. (LOL)

Aaron and I got the game a little early because my social club the EEE's have a Homecoming Tea before the game every year. I was able to run into some old sisters and some of my pledge sisters that I haven't seen in a good while! It's always nice to be back on campus, considering that it was my "home" for 4 years. 

I hope that Clark will enjoy his time there as much as I did. But anyways…

Aaron is obsessed with the hamburgers at the OBU games, so he was tickled to get not one, but TWO burgers. Basically his trip was made right then and there. 

me & my cute, little mom

I always "need" to go find my name on the sidewalk on campus

Clarker

Joshua

Love my Dad

It's always fun to see these friends!

we had a great time at the game!

We found my family and sat with them during the game.  It was tough, but OBU pulled out a win over Harding University! We went to a late lunch and then my parents went to the early Tunes show, Joshua went to hang out with Clark in his dorm room, and Aaron and I roamed around campus and posted up in the student center to watch the Razorback game before the late Tunes show started. 

Tunes was wonderful and my EEEs made me really proud! They didn't win, but it was still a great show, and I think the group that won really deserved to win. We didn't get home until 1am but I think we both thought that it was worth it because we had a wonderful Saturday at my old stomping grounds!

BOTH of my pledge sisters are recently engaged!

Just a few of EEE PC '08

Go Tigers! 

-Holly

More catching up!

So my last post was two years overdue and more about what I had been doing. BUT, the past two years have also been exiting times in our families as well!

1) May 31, 2014

Logan & Morgan got MARRIED! They were wed at a church in Benton, AR and had the reception at the brand new event center in Benton. It was a beautiful day.  Not in the sense that the weather was necessarily perfect, or that mini potential disasters did not occur (cue the first dress mishap of 2014), but the day, the family, the celebration of Logan & Morgan's love, was beautiful.

2) Logan graduated from ASU in May 2014! We don't have an pictures, because he chose not to walk, but he has his diploma and I guess that's all that really matters :) #howlyes 

ALSO Logan got accepted into the brand-spankin new OT program at ASU and started a few weeks ago. It's a 3 year program, so there's a lot of hard work ahead, but he is a smart guy and we are all very VERY proud of him! 

3) Clark graduated from Conway High School in May of 2015.  Both sets of grandparents were able to come into town AND attend graduation.  All four siblings were reunited. That was a fun weekend. 

from Senior Sunday at 2BC Conway

Senior Sunday at 2BC Conway

4) Clark made a 30 on his ACT (He's SO SMART) decided to attend OBU in the fall of 2015.   He was very excited about moving off to college. The night before he moved, I ugly cried the the whole way home. I had to work the day that the family moved him in on Freshman move-in day and I fought off tears ALL.DAY.LONG. Not a fun day. I got to love on some sweet little babies and thought about how one day they would grow up and move off to college and break their sister's (and mommy's) hearts….kidding…..kind of….

pre-ugly cry 

5) Joshua. Ooooohhh Joshua…. Joshua has celebrated birthdays, kicked butt in Special Olympic power-lifting, become a little more ornery (haven't we all), shared his view on many topics, become slightly obsessed with psychology (or as he says "Pie-sology"), and is still an active member (he considers himself more of an "alpha-leader") of his therapeutic recreation group. 

about to watch cinderella

hanging out with his furry nephew 

That's about all I can do for now! My day-off duties (aka laundry & housework) are calling my name!

Happy Rainy Wednesday,

Holly

Long time, no see!

Um…hey! It's been about 2 years since I last blogged. TWO YEARS (insert face of horror)?!?

First things first, I'm not dead. I know that an unexplained two year absence is not a good sign, but I am still here, alive and well!

Second things second (that's not a real saying), I have to do a quick run down of the past two years so that I can be all caught up!

1) 2012-2015 = The Nursing School Years

I attended Baptist Health School of Nursing to pursue my dream of becoming an RN. It was the hardest three years of my life. I did the traditional 3 year track, the first year was called "pre-professional" and I kind of dipped my toes in the water, just to see if I was really going to like this whole nursing thing.  The second year included Freshman/Sophomore semesters which brought along tough teachers and (seemingly) increasingly tougher exams and clinicals.  The third and final year, which probably was the longest, most difficult, and busiest year of my life so far, consisted of my Junior/Senior semesters. My junior semester had me enrolled in classes covering Pediatrics, Women's Health, and of course the dreaded Med-Surg. Once I conquered those courses, I knew that I could finish nursing school. Senior semester was a blur, full of Critical care exams, drama, and excitement.

I made some great friends, learned hard lessons, and I think I have changed for the better as a person. 

My girls! 2 CCU RNs, 1 NICU RN, 1 ER RN, & 1 OR RN

2) CONWAY, AR - We bought a brand new house in Conway in December of 2013. We moved in with the help of our families and we love our little house! It's a 3 bedroom/2 bath in a small new(ish) neighborhood in Conway. 

It's cute, no?

3) I graduated from nursing school on June 15, 2015. I had the support of my whole family, including Logan & Morgan who were there in spirit!

4) In April of 2015, I decided to stick my neck out and apply for a night shift RN position at Baptist Health Medical Center in the NICU. I had two friends that were currently working there and they just GUSHED about how wonderful it was. I knew my junior semester of nursing school that I wanted to pursue a career in Pediatric nursing. All my friends cringed at the idea of peds, but I just knew in my heart that peds is where I am supposed to be, for now. So after a few weeks of waiting, I got a call to come in for an interview (EEK!)!!! Before the interview, my mom, brother Joshua, and I came into LR early because I had NO clothes that were business attire, so we did a little shopping. I came in for an interview with the nursing supervisor of the NICU and I felt that I did my best and that it went well! I was asked to come back in for another interview with the night shift personnel in a few days.  That interview went well, despite the fact that they were busy that night and kind of forgot I was coming. 

post-interview #1

So about a week later, I got a phone call while I was in clinical, so I checked my phone at lunch and called the number back…it was the nursing supervisor from the NICU offering me a job!!!! I was ecstatic to say the least.  And the news only got better, even though I had interviewed for a night shift position, she offered me a DAY position!!!! Talk about an answered prayer! 

5) Last but certainly not least, the DREADED NCLEX.  After weeks (felt more like months) of waiting, I finally got my ATT (authorization to test) for the NCLEX.  The NCLEX is the board exam that nurses have to take to become licensed.  I scheduled my NCLEX for August 14th and studied like a mad woman for several weeks.  I prayed and prayed and decided to give it all to God. HE brought me through nursing school and I knew that He would bring me through the NCLEX.  I did my part (the studying) and He brought His peace over me. I sat through that test, in a room so filled with anxiety that a person could literally choke on the air, and prayed before every single question.  I had such peace about that exam.  I mean, yes, I was still very nervous about it because it was a big test, but over-all I was calm. When my test hit question 74, the screen went blue and my stomach dropped for half of a second, until I realized that it was just the 2 hour break that the test gives you the option of taking. I said "no" I did not want to take the break, so I went on to the next question, number 75.  After submitting my answer, I held my breath and the screen went blue again, meaning that my test was OVER. I left the testing center with SUCH a weight off of my shoulders.  I may have even been smiling. Not because I was overly confident that I had passed (although I DID feel pretty good about it), but because I was relieved it was over and that peace that God had laid over me was still very much there. With the NCLEX, you can take 75 questions minimum or up to 265 questions maximum. So taking 75 means you did really well or really poorly, and taking 265 does not necessarily mean that you won't pass.

 I took my exam on a Friday morning, so I thought I might find out over the weekend, but surely by Monday morning, as the testing center says that it takes 48 hours for results to post. Well, after waiting what seemed like FOR-EH-VER, Monday morning rolled around, and NO results had posted. I spent Monday checking all the result sites I could check, every hour, all day long. Tuesday morning at 5 something in the morning, my bladder woke me up, so I grabbed my phone to use as a flashlight and made my way to the restroom.  Normally, I'm not a "take your phone into the bathroom" kind of person, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to check the result sites while I was already up. Wouldn't you know it that I saw my name with the RN License behind it and I was screaming (on the inside) because, again, it was 5 in the morning. The funny thing was, as I was leaving my bathroom, I got a text from my friend Brittany (nursing school buddy) and she was congratulating me on passing! She was already up getting ready for work (she passed her NCLEX at the end of July) and she knew I was still awaiting my results so she decided to check too! I got back into bed, wide awake from excitement, so I decided to nudge Aaron to see if he was awake, and when he opened his eyes, I told him my news. He was so happy, but SO sleepy :) He wrapped his arms around me and said he was so proud of me, aaaand then he promptly fell back asleep. Can't blame him. ;)

So much more has happened, especially this year, but I think this blog post is already long enough on it's own! 

Holly Nicholson, RN

Tis the Season,

Holly