10 months later

Well, I can't believe it has been 9 months since I last posted, okay really I can! Life since Emmerson has been wonderful, fast paced, changing minute by minute, new and exciting and so much more.

When I last posted in December I was busy preparing for my finals for school and beginning my final semester of my nursing program. Well I am happy to say that has all passed and I am officially as of June 24 a Registered Nurse in the State of Minnesota! I am so glad that school is behind me (most days) and that I am working full time for Mayo Clinic Health System. 9 months ago Emmerson was weighing in at a whopping 8lbs, eating every 2 hours, crying to express himself, and waking up ALL the time leaving mom and dad with little to no sleep each night.

Yes over 9 months life has gotten better and much more exciting for all of us. I can't explain the joy and happiness it brings to myself and Hans to watch Emmerson change minute by minute day by day. He wakes up now happily screeching and banging around his crib, screaming happily "ma,ma,ma" or "da,da,da,da!" It is such a blessing to hear his voice, to see his emotions, and be able to interact with him on all levels. I quite frequently thank God for how blessed not only we are to have a healthy and happy baby, but how LUCKY we are to see, hear, taste, and smell all these wonderful treats Emmerson surprises us with daily. I can't imagine not being able to SEE and HEAR his smile. He is anything but quiet these days! I can't imagine not getting to "share" his slimmy, salty gold fish snacks these are all things that so many parents don't get to experience for one reason or another and it breaks my heart.

Emmerson is now crawling, pulling up, and starting to "cruise" along items! It is super duper fun, encouraging, and yes even depressing all at the same time to see his new tricks but to realize he won't be my little baby forever. He is growing up way to fast and I am realizing all to quickly he isn't always going to want to be rocked, cuddled, and kissed and that is so difficult to accept but with that comes so many other wonderful blessings and needs. However, change is hard but I am learning to adapt.

Other changes in 9 months as I stated is that I have graduated with my bachelors degree, passed national nursing boards, and am working full time for the Mayo Clinic Health System in Fairmont, Minnesota. I absolutely love my job, my co-workers, and the patients I care for. It is so wonderful to have a job and for that I am thankful!

So many things over the past 9 months to be thankful and the list just keeps growing! Here is Emmerson today:

 

Baby Schafer has ARRIVED

Well Baby Schafer has arrived!

Emmerson Diederich Schafer arrived on Friday November 19, 2010 at 2:33pm
weighing 7lbs 6oz and 19.5 inches long!

Life has been incredibly busy since he arrived which is why I have not posted any updates. Here are some pictures of our precious baby boy and when I have more time and done with the semester I will get back to blogging....

Emmerson just a few hours old

First night at home.....our little glow worm....wow I really need to lose that roll!

Great Grandma Doris (Gi Gi) and Emmerson - Thanksgiving 2010

Baby Clothes

The week is off to a fabulous start! Yesterday we had our 38 week (yes 38 weeks) OB check up and well there is no news...it will most likely be after Thanksgiving that baby Schafer decides to join all of us which is fine by both of us. Given the current situation we will be having a baby December 1st sometime at least that is my guess! OB appointments really don't take that long anymore so that left us with time to take Emmet to the dog park which he desperately needs to go to each day otherwise he ends up with way to much energy come midnight (bedtime)!

Today....well I babysit two adorable boys who are 14 months and 4 years old. Of course they keep a 9month pregnant lady hoping non-stop but boy am I exhausted tonight. Hans had a very productive day with Emmet by his side. The two of them cleaned out the entire garden, mowed and bagged leaves from the entire yard and put everything in the compost. The yard looks fabulous and tomorrow we will take our wild flower fencing and garden fencing down for the winter and put away in the shed and that means CHRISTMAS LIGHT TIME!! I LOVE Christmas lights, NO we will not turn them on until AFTER Thanksgiving but it is always fun to go through and pick out what we want to put up this year..yes I said pick out....I am a bit of an extremist when it comes to Christmas lights. I LOVE THEM. They are second in line to Hallmark Christmas Ornaments! So tonight I am completely exhausted but I know if I go to bed now (8pm) I will be wide awake at midnight or 1am then be even MORE tired tomorrow. So I chose to try and attempt to organize the baby's clothing.

Who knew....seriously....that babies would have so much STUFF? I mean seriously...it is insane I know they need it, and they use it but it is just insane how much there is when you sit down and try to organize it. I think the worst part is knowing that they only wear half the stuff a few times and then it is time to box it away...depressing to even think about. Oh well....we have managed to not buy a whole bunch of 0-3 month clothing for that reason....baby Schafer is going to wear and re-wear lots of the same because they spend such a short amount of time in that size. We have a good amount of 3-6 month clothing which they spend a lot of time in so that is nice. I am trying to find a way to organize so that Hans understands what is more appropriate for daytime versus night time. As long as the baby is clothed is all that really matters but he has asked lots of questions and I am trying my best to explain everything. Like why a baby needs a onsie and a sleeper....needless to say this is going to be quite the journey but as long as we are in it together we will do just fine and hopefully survive.

If anyone as suggestions on clothing organization I would love to hear about it!
I will post pictures once the clothes are all put away and organized....soon I hope!

Anna!!

So I must dedicate this blog post to Anna Otto! I am not sure what I would do without her! Oh where do I begin! First of all she is a fellow Hormel wife, and not just any Hormel wife, but a fellow shipping Hormel Wife!! She is a great gal, and a mom of two amazingly cute girls!

I guess the best part is she just "gets me!" She gets all my little frustrations about being a Hormel wife, she understands my complaining about pregnancy and men because she too has been there TWICE! She is just awesome. She always welcomes me over and cooks for me, and makes me comfortable and takes an interest in who I am! I always call to give her my "OB weekly Update" and well Anna you always seem so excited to hear them hopefully you really are... :)

The best part though is she is part of a couple Bible study groups and a ladies group that I have inquired about and she has told me I could join in on...so this Thursday I am going to attempt to go to ladies night. It is SO SO nice to finally have a group of people to "hang out" with and have some connections. Hans and I moved here not knowing anyone and it has taken over 2 years to really start to get to know people and develop a group of friends....I guess that's what happens when you get pregnant you start to "mommy network" but it is a blessing, truly a blessing.

So again, I just have to thank Anna for being there for me these past for months that our friendship has developed! I am not sure where I would be without her....she is a great friend, a great support person, and best of all a great mom and wife! Thank you Anna for being there for me!

Together Time with Emmet!

What a beautiful day out today and I was lucky enough to spend 3/4 of it inside an old moldy building...sound like fun? Not so much, but at the end of the day I got to come home to an amazing man - my husband!! I was so giddy on the way home from school today simply because my hubby was going to be waiting for me and it was such a great feeling. He got our budget done, the baby room is 100% completed and looks fabulous, and he even had the house picked up minus the kitchen! I was so happy!!


Tonight after I took a 20minute catnap we took Emmet to the official unofficial dog park up the street from our house and when we got there, there were 5 other dogs HIS size! We opened the door and let Emmet run and it was so funny to watch Emmet immediately become submissive to 5 female dogs! However after they warmed up to each other they tore around the park and it was so fun to watch. Emmet is like lightning when he runs and he has never gotten to play with other dogs his size so it was a great first experience! Normally he plays with all dogs that are smaller than him simply because he is a big dog but finally we found other dogs that are his size and nice to play with!!

After the other dogs all left then Hans and I played fetch with Emmet for an hour in an attempt to wear him out because he was simply psychotic aka wound for sound! We always have so much fun the two of us with Emmet, it has become something we both look forward to doing with our dog which is really nice!

Hope you enjoy the cute pictures of our little family and the video of Emmet running around!

After we got home we cleaned up and Hans took me out for supper which was really really nice.....nice to not have a dog begging for food or in our face wanting to play the entire time. It was nice to have adult conversation in an adult environment and apparently everyone in Albert Lea was born Nov.5. At Applebees tonight there were 5 birthdays...5 absolutely insane!! Oh well it was fun!

Well now we are off to watch Mythbusters and Ghost Adventures our weekly TV time together!!

Baby Room

Well the baby room is complete minus the shelving! Today we got the bedding ready, the dresser put together and our new rocking chair and ottoman arrived! Hans was the first to sit in the rocking chair and nearly fell asleep...I guess that is a good thing since he gets to be Mr. Dad next semester.

Tomorrow Hans should get the closet finished which will be great because that means I can start putting clothes and blankets and books away and getting organized. However we are still waiting on the woodwork so we have to leave the floor clear and any extra floor space will be needed to navigate furniture around the room as they install everything!

As I mentioned above Hans is going to be Mr. Dad next semester which he says he is looking forward to. Not sure if he realizes quite yet how many hours a week he will have baby all to himself. Between leadership clinical and Adult Health II clinical and in - class time I am not going to be home in the mornings or afternoons much! Thank goodness we have an awesome daycare provider who is willing to keep baby Schafer from 3pm - 1am! God Bless her! She is one of two in our county that is registered for night time day care which is a huge blessing! I hope Hans is up to the challenge...I just wish I was going to be around more but once May arrives I will have lots of time with baby Schafer and lots of studying to do for boards!

Update

Well fellow bloggers I am back and hopefully this time to stay! Hopefully I will have a couple people who will hold me accountable for blogging on a regular basis but we shall see!

Life in the Schafer house has been crazy! Quick monthly update since March 2010:


March: We cruised away to the Easter Caribbean on our wonderful honeymoon. While cruising we have decided to try and make this a yearly adventure for the two of us, again a goal but we will see how that goes with baby on the way!

I almost forgot - found out I was 6 weeks pregnant around the middle of the month. We were told in December that in order for us to have children we would have to depend on infertility treatments and well I was pregnant about 6 weeks after that appointment! Amazing how God works in such mysterious ways!


April: Celebrated Easter and a crazy month in school for me as I completed my junior year of nursing school!

May: Junior year complete - light at the end of the tunnel with nursing school! We were able to celebrate 2 years in our house this May which just seems crazy, absolutely crazy how fast time flies! We started to remodel the entire upstairs as well in preparation for baby.

June/July/August - I was a nanny this summer for two families and busy preparing for our little ones arrival. The summer months were extremely hot and some days down right excruciating on this pregnant lady but I survived! Hans and I also got a new heating and cooling system this summer with whole house air and water purification and whole house humidification which is absolutely amazing! June 27, 2010 we celebrated our first year of marriage which was really fun. We went out for Sushi (me), Pizza (Hans) and did lots of baby shopping and furniture shopping. We bought the rest of bedroom set as our anniversary/birthday present which was awesome and it looks stellar!

September: The light is at the end of the tunnel although many days with all this school work it seems quite dim! Pregnancy is going well and the house is in total disarray due to Hans crappy work schedule but it will all get done eventually! Oh and the house is still a disaster at this point.....the entire upstairs!! This month we had 3 weddings, and we made it to one in Madison, WI for one of Hans best friends! It was a great trip, great wedding, and a great weekend for the two of us to spend some alone time together!
 

October: BIRTHDAY MONTH! Hans celebrated his 29th birthday on the 9th by going to Ames and having dinner with my mom and Bill at his favorite pizza place! I celebrated my 27th birthday on the 15th with a nice sushi dinner and buffalo wild wings....I know what a combination! Then Emmet the most important birthday of all - - He had his 1st birthday on October 28th! If you can't tell we are very proud parents to such a wonderful puppy! Yes, he is still a puppy! Goldendoodles are considered puppies until about the age of 3 even though he weighs 80+ lbs! At least he is cute!! This month we had our contractor come and we got all new wood trim, jam boards, and doors ordered for the entire upper half of our house! We went with all solid oak and a beautiful sahara color. Our bedroom is complete now with our new furniture all here and in its place all we need now is the woodwork to be installed and to hang some pictures. My mom and Bill came this month and sanded and primed walls in the upstairs and painted ceilings! Praise God for wonderful parents! Hans mother also made a whole bunch of baby blankets and burp cloths to put in the nursery which is very helpful and we look forward to using them!

Baby month is finally here! NOVEMBER!!! - Wow it is only the second of the month and so much has already happened! We had our 37 week appointment yesterday and things are going well. Well in the sense that everyone is healthy. However.....I am no where near ready to have this baby. I am due on November 21 but the doctor is guessing by how things look right now we wont be meeting our little bundle of joy until AFTER Thanksgiving! Which seems like forever, but if they try to induce and my body is not ready it will only lead us straight to having a C-Section and of course we want to avoid that if at all possible. The baby room is now almost complete. We have the paint up, crib up, and dresser almost completely built. The rocker and ottoman is coming tomorrow and the closet shelving should be installed by Friday! Hopefully the contractor will be calling soon that our doors and woodwork are all in and ready to be installed! I have 99% of the baby laundry done....just a load of blankets to wash and then it will be complete! I can't wait to start hanging everything and filling the drawers! We have lots and lots of diapers to try and find places for too which yes I know we will need lots of, but we have about 15 boxes of them right now! Trying to find a place to store them all should be quite interesting! The living room is nearing completion as well. We have two walls with their first round of paint up and two walls left to sand and paint. Hopefully by 13th the entire upstairs will be complete - painting and furniture that is! It would be great if all the woodwork was done but if not we wait until it is ready. School is going well this month, I worked extremely hard in the early months to get all my clinical hours done doing two and three days a week and it paid off - I finished 3 weeks early which is amazing. I now have time to put my feet up and relax which I need to do because I have LOTS of swelling! The light at the end of the tunnel for both pregnancy and school is getting brighter every day which is encouraging, there are still days when the light gets dim but that is normal and we get through it!

Hans has been very busy between running with Emmet on a near daily basis 5 miles, working on the house, and of course working LOTS! Hormel works their employees until they are near death but I guess that's what happens when you are salaried! However it is paying off his 60-80 hours a week that he puts in because he is getting 2 weeks off when the baby comes!


Well I believe that is all for now! That is quite a bit though! Hope you enjoy the pictures!

January and February!

Hello to all who follow...I know not many follow but I still enjoy blogging and for the few of you that read I hope you enjoy as well! I can't believe it has been almost a month since I last posted. This current semester is brutal with Mental Health Nursing and Women's Literature along with other courses. Who knew there was so much to learn regarding women, writing, and history? Had I known that the literature course would require more hours than my more important course...Nursing I would have taken it over the summer; however here I am 5 weeks into and there is no turning back now.

Life has been crazy in our house between winter storms the past 3 weeks in a row, planning our honeymoon/vactation, Emmet being sick, and everyday life.

Winter storms: The past three weeks our area of Minnesota has been hit hard with snow, blowing snow, and ice. Interstate 90 was shut down twice due to the storms and school was canceled three or four different days. Hans has had more than his fair share of difficult driving these past few weeks and is ready for winter to come to an end. Emmet on the other hand absolutely loves the snow whether it is blowing, drifting, or falling down he loves it. He attacks it, he eats it, he jumps, digs, and best of all plows through it like a trooper! Nothing phases that dog!

Honeymoon/Vacation: So you read correctly, for those of you that did not know we are leaving for the Eastern Caribbean on March 6th! We are both very excited and can hardly wait to be on the plane headed for Miami, Fl. We are going to be traveling on Carnival Liberty to the Bahama's (Half-Moon Cay), St. Thomas Virgin Island, Puerto Rico, and Grand Turk! We have a couple days at sea in there too so plenty of time to let loose and be crazy, but to also relax and have a great time! We have excursions planned at each port of call which include snorkeling and the Bahama's, snorkeling and a sunset/champagne sail in St. Thomas, Zip-Lining through the rain forest in Puerto Rico, and Clear water kayaking in the Grand Turks. If anyone has a minute to say a prayer for us and that we are able to make all of our flights with no bad weather and a safe and happy trip that would be great!

Emmet: Well, poor Emmet had the unfortunate happen: he got WORMS. He was quite sick for a few days, pooping everywhere, stinking up the house.....and finally I figured that I would rather spend the money to have his stool tested than to have a dead dog. So I took in a bag full of it and sure enough he had enough worms that the vet said if we had not caught it he could have been dead in a months time or less. So we had to "de-worm" him. He took his butterscotch flavored medicine like a trooper and is now feeling better. I think he may still have a few as "it" still stinks, so we are going to de-worm him with another week long round of de-wormer. Stress tends to exacerbate Worms, and since we will be leaving him at doggy day-care in Iowa while on vacation we don't want him to get sick due to stress and end up at a vet hospital because the worms are not all the way gone so we are going to play it safe. Speaking of doggy day care, he is going to a place in Des-Moines that provides daily day-care and boarding at nights. They also have web-cams so we can log onto the internet and see how he is doing while we are gone which is reassuring. The most difficult part will be waking up in the morning without him and going to bed without him. He is a HUGE part of our daily routines and although it will be nice (but sad) to have a break from the same old routine it is going to be difficult. Obviously Emmet has no idea that we are leaving him but I am sure he will miss us. I  am clearly more upset about it than he is and I am sure he will be fine, as they have reassured me over and over that he will get great care! I am going to upload new pictures of Emmet at the end of the blog! He got a bath today which he absolutely loves. As he has gotten older he is learning what water is and that they are best friends. He loves to put his head under the water and blow bubbles and look for his toys, dump water on the floor and both of us, shake and get the entire bathroom soaking wet. Today we had about 1/4 inch of standing water on the bathroom floor, the walls all 4 of them were soaked from ceiling to floor...it was insane but lots of fun!

Valentines Day was great! Our first Valentines Day as a married couple and and Hans did a great job surprising me and showing me love and support. I have been wanting to set up a scrapbook table in the spare bedroom upstairs and he not only found what I was looking for, but went above and beyond and got me something even bigger and better. He got me a solid wood dining room table and bench set. It is a "Farm house" style table with 2 benches. So now during the holidays we can have both our families over and have plenty of seating for every one which will be great! As soon as we have everything put together we will post pictures!

Hope everyone has a great week! Stay warm!

Hans, Liz, and Emmet!

The New Year

Can't believe it is nearing the end of January already, time flies when were having fun! Life has been extremely chaotic around our house this past month since we added Emmet to our family; a great addition but he is one puppy who needs a lot of attention! He is doing very good on the potty training and is starting to understand that he needs to let us know when he needs to go outside...right now he does this buy going to the back door and laying on the rug; only problem with that is that we could be downstairs for an hour and he will have been laying at the back door for 30 minutes. At least he is starting to get the hang of it though, and he holds it all night long which is great! Emmet is growing like a weed and now ways over 20 pounds which is hard to believe but he is doing great!

Lots of news on the adult side: Liz is back to school full-time and acting as a nanny for a local family who is expecting at the beginning of March! Hans has been extremely busy at work, and currently taking a course through Hormel for 12 weeks by the Dale Carnegie foundation! The best news in the past 30 days would be: WE ARE GOING ON OUR HONEYMOON!

Yes, you read correctly we are finally going on our honeymoon and we couldn't be happier. We are leaving March 6th and heading to the Bahamas/Eastern Caribbean for 8 days and 7 nights! We are traveling on the Carnival Liberty and have many shore excursions planned such as snorkeling, zip lining through the Puerto Rican rain forest and lots of food on the ship! In fact there is 24 hour pizzeria, ice-cream/dessert buffet, and a regular 24 hour buffet! As we travel, hopefully we will be able to post and keep everybody updated as well as maybe some pictures. Oh we are also going kayaking, a shoreline sunset cruise in the Virgin Islands (all you can drink free rum punch), and many other fun exciting activities!

The weather has been extremely nasty up here, in fact yesterday Liz tried to make it to her evening class, but had to turn around and on her way back the car behind her ended up in the ditch...good thing she turned around! So far today there has only been freezing rain and sleet, but suppose to get even worse this weekend!

Well, that is it for now! We will post over the next 44 days about preparing for our wonderful vacation! Take Care! Stay warm and safe this weekend!

Week 1

Well Emmet has officially been part of our family now for a week and despite the chaos, stress, and craziness he has brought into our lives he has also brought much fun, laughter, and most importantly LOVE! Sometimes we want to call him Mr. Satan but we don't, but sometimes he really pushes not only my (Liz) buttons but Hans' as well. We were fortunate enough to finally make it home to celebrate Christmas in Iowa with our families early Saturday morning and of course Emmet came along. With a dose of Dramamine he did very well. First we went to the Nieman's where there are two other dogs, a bit on the wild side. We introduced them, and Emmet did not do so well so the other two had to be put in another room for the rest of the day until we left. At least we tried, he is still a puppy and gets scared very easily, to the point that he shakes :(  Saturday evening we then loaded everyone up and headed to the Quad Cities which was great. First we made a detour around Manchester to look at some lights which were magnificent and then we headed onward. Once we arrived in the Quad Cities Emmet was greeted and took very well to Hans' parents. He took quite well to them, especially Sally's purple slippers. No matter where we put them or tried to hide them he found them, so finally they became a decoration on the fireplace mantle :)

Between Saturday and Monday he had only 3 accidents which is absolutely amazing, and I believe 2 were because we didn't take him out immediately after his afternoon nap, and another was after we were playing we again waited a couple minutes until he settled, rather he settled for peeing in the house, but overall he is doing well with potty training. Knock on wood that he will be potty trained come February that is our goal so another 4-5 weeks!

Sunday morning Emmet learned that he could growl which was quite adorable, and today the 30th he has now mastered jumping up onto the couch. NOT GOOD. We have a tri-level, and our couch is against the wall that has an opening onto the entrance level below and he jumped on the couch, up onto the top and was ready to nose dive off when I came running up the stairs to see why he wasn't coming when I called his name and there I found him. First I was mad, because he is not suppose to be up there, and secondly I was scared for his safety, and last but not least it was quite funny.

His new favorite toy is the tennis ball. He is learning not only how to fetch and does very well I might add, but learning to entertain himself which is fabulous as we like to have time to get laundry and everyday chores done as well. Tonight he got beef and vegetable dog food mixed in with his dry dog food and WOW he literally LICKED the bowl clean....the first time he has sat and eaten his whole meal without someone sitting next to him or calling him back 15 times...so maybe we have found the trick!

Other than that not much else is new, he is growing and getting bigger. The neighbors across the street can't believe how quickly he is growing, in fact he has outgrown the travel kennel that they let us use in a weeks time. He starts his vaccinations next week and will finish his antibiotic for his bladder infection next week. Not sure if I mentioned that earlier, but Christmas Eve we had to take him to the ER Vet clinic because he was peeing about every 15 minutes and I was losing my mind...I thought he was the worst puppy ever, come to find out $133 later he had a severe bladder infection but is doing much much better! Praise God!!! He loves his walks, which he gets 2-3 times a day once in the morning and once at night before bed and in the afternoon if we have time. He wears his little coat we got him so he stays slightly warmer in this Minnesota weather!

In other news, Hans and I are both doing well. Keeping very busy with Emmet, Hans working, and myself...studying for my medic boards which I need to take sooner than later!

Had another minor surgery today to have uterine polyps removed which have been causing significant pain for quite sometime, but I was part of a research study and it went very well. Have had hardly an pain which is great! They sent them off to the lab to be checked for abnormal cell growth as they did have an awkward appearance to them but nothing major they said, so now we sit and pray and hope that all goes well.

Well I should call it a night, I took my pain medicine and believe it is kicking in, and Emmet is asleep on my lap so best we get to bet! Hope to hear from some of you, and I will upload more pictures soon!

First 24 Hours!

Well it has been nearly 24 hours since I (Liz) drove on ice covered roads to get our new addition to the family! So far things are actually going pretty darn well for him being a puppy and in a new environment, despite my frustration last night, today is going remarkably smoother! PRAISE GOD! I think that a lot of my frustration comes from the fact that he is hooked to my hip...FREAKS out if he can't see me, or I leave the room for 15 seconds which I must admit makes me feel special but it would be nice to get some Christmas baking done and clean up the entry way which is a disaster from taking him outside every 90 minutes to two hours.

So yesterday I picked him up and he at first wanted nothing to do with coming out of his big kennel, but once he was in my arms he snuggled up and became my apparent new jewelry that is attached to my hip! I placed him the kennel with a nice soft towel, an old shirt from both Hans and I that had our scents a chew toy and a little tiny milk bone for his ride home. The first 10 minutes he whined (high pitched) but soon stopped. We made it to the first rest stop, I put his collar on him which is WAY to big but we made it work and tried to get him to go potty but he wanted nothing to do with that, so back on the ice covered roads we went. He curled up and slept all the way home which was great! When we arrived home, his new dad was waiting him, and it was priceless, Hans melted immediately. However, Hans had to go to work, so he didn't get to spend a lot of time with him but at least got to see him.

So as Hans pulled away, the realization of taking care of our new baby puppy by myself for 36 hours started sinking in. It hit quickly and was not the most pleasant of times. That evening went well, he only had one accident inside for the first day home which was pretty impressive. We spent time on the couch lounging, eating, and then I decided that I would like to clean up for the night so I decided to hit the shower and bring him the bathroom with me so if he made a mess I would see it right away. Well Emmet had other plans apparently...he thought it would be fun to slide into the shower. So much for a relaxing shower by myself :(  I must admit it was pretty funny. So he quickly learned he could lick my legs and get lots of water...crazy puppy. So I quickly finished and decided that since he slid in he was getting a quick bath too....just a little shampoo and then he fluffed up and smelled oh so good!

Our New Puppy

Well here he is...Emmet's big debut on the web. He is as cute as a button but tests every button that I have! Very cute and loveable!

Here is Emmet sniffing around after he first got home. He has done fairly well, given the 6 hours and only 2 accidents. He has gone number 1 outside twice which is great...it is just when I bring him in and 30 seconds later I turn my head and there he is squatting...the life of a puppy. If it wasn't so darn cold and blizzard like outside it would be much easier to stay outside for longer periods of time!

Our Christmas trees are both up and fully decorated. They both turned out beautiful this year here are some pictures of our decorations for the 2009 Christmas season:

This is the tree in the basement...Hans' tree with all the garland and since this picture he added blue garland and lots of tinsel.

These are snowflake lights that we hung downstairs in the basement above the windows. The curtains there are blue with moose on them and Sally, Hans' mom made them for us. They turned out really nice and are helping keep the house a LOT warmer!

Merry Christmas, I will upload more pictures later but at least everyone can see the dog tonight!

FINALS and Christmas 2009

WOW! I can hardly believe that finals week is starting next week which I am no where near prepared for, however God will get me through next Thursday as He always does! The most intimidating final is my Organic/Biochemistry which is 10 chapters cumulative. Speaking of that, I would like to ask all of you who read this to do me a favor and many others will appreciate this too...
go to http://www.youtube.com/ and search for Pink Glove Dance. This is a dance done at St. Vincent Hospital in Oregon in support of Breast Cancer Awareness. For each hit, money will be donated to breast cancer research. The reason I bring this up is because my chemistry teacher informed us that her mother's breast cancer has come back, but has metastasized to nearly every other organ in her body and has a very short time to live. This also hits close to home as my cousin is a Breast Cancer Survivor as well as my aunt, but is currently battling cancer again. So please, take a moment out of your day and think of someone you may know who has suffered or think of the people I mentioned. THe video is hilarious but uplifting and inspiring!

Christmas...wow...Hans and I have gotten lights up outside, but that is as far as we have gotten. We are both so busy working weekends and going to school that the inside of the house is no where near ready but hopefully next weekend...we will get the tree up! Our tree is quite large so it takes a while to get it up and lighted and then all the ornaments placed! However it is so much fun. I am planning on taking pictures of all our Christmas lights, and our backyard display that we came up with this year courtesy of my younger brother it looks amazing! We have done very minimal Christmas shopping, but slowly getting it done! However as many of us know...Christmas is about recognizing the birth of Christ and spending time with those we love not about all the gifts.

Hopefully as the amount of school work left to complete dwindles, I will post some awesome Christmas decorating pictures! Would be nice to hear from some of you!

Happy Holidays!

Life in the FAST lane!

Sorry it has been so long since we updated our blog, as the title of this blog implies we have been living life in the fast lane. Not much time to enjoy much of anything. The last time I posted, I was on the mend from influenza which praise God, Hans has not contracted!

Life is busy, fast paced, but ultimately going ok. My job with the ambulance is keeping every minute of free time that I did have occupied which is good because I don't have time to get bored, however it leaves me no down time, no time to procrastinate on homework, and even less time to see Hans. However, I enjoy having a job, and am learning lots which is always nice!

Speaking of jobs, I graduated in August with my Associates in Intensive Care Paramedicine, but in order to be a licensed Paramedic one must take boards which there are 2 parts to. One part is the practical (hands on), and the other is the computerized written examination. So last weekend, I finally took my Paramedic Practical and passed which was a huge relief. It was a very long and tiring day, but well worth all the stress, long hours of studying, money, and exhaustion because I passed on the first try without having to re-take any stations! The next step is the computerized written test, which I am planning on taking at the end of December, or beginning of January! Once I pass the written test, then I am able to practice as a Medic.

Not much else is new around the house. Hans got the brackets and poles up in the master closet, so that we are able to hang our clothes in our master walk-in closet which will be really nice when it is completely finished. He has also been very busy working on preparing boards to place a piece of equipment that allows him to ride his road bike indoors during the winter months so that he can keep in shape and not have to endure the frigid cold Minnesota temperatures.

However, I must get back to studying less then 15 days of school left, and 3 tests this week along with 4 ambulance shifts, along with daily assignments and taking care of a house, and somehow finding time to eat and sleep in there! So, back to studying for my biochemistry test. The first chem test I earned a C on, which I was obviously LESS than happy about, and the second chem test (last one) I earned an A, despite missing 3 days of lecture! So I am hopefully that between tonight and tomorrow night I am able to become more prepared and ready to take this exam.

Hope all are doing well! We would love to hear back from some of you! You can leave us messages on here, or email us at enieman@gmail.com  (Hans doesn't check his email regularly!)

Take Care!
Hans and Liz

Life...does it exist outside of school and work?

Well today was my first day back at school after being stuck in the house for a week with H1N1! Let me warn all of you, if you get it, be prepared to do nothing, and fall behind in everything because all you want to do is lay around and sleep, but oh wait, your body hurts so darn much you can't sleep. Vicious cycle!

Anyways...so after a week of missing classes I am now trying to play catch up, which doesn't work well in Organic and Biochemistry or Algebra for that matter. I am so far in over my head, not sure what I am going to do! Also trying to prepare for the National Registry Paramedic Boards in Des Moines Iowa on November 7th!

Hopefully the weather will be good througth the 8th so that I can make it back and forth to Des Moines safely to take my boards...after that it can start snowing all that it wants to. Oh wait...it already did that. Today we had sleet, ice, freezing rain, snow...terrible road conditions. Many accidents along the interstates, keeping the ambulance crews a hoppin! Gotta love the winter time...everyone forgets how to drive!!!!! As our teachers always taught us...Keep it simple Stupid...or for this matter Keep it Slow Stupid!

Well not much else to report, Hans and I have not seen much of each other over the past couple of weeks because I have been so sick, his long work hours, and that we work the exact opposite schedules. Oh well, at least we have food and a roof over our heads, we can't complain!

Will write more later!

Back to Blogging

Well, I am going to try this once again! Blogging, I find is a good stress reliever, and a way to let everyone know whats going on, since we all live so far apart and these days don't have much time to travel and or relax.

Our lives have been filled with lots of excitement and craziness the past several months, starting June 27th, the day we were married and became one! It was a great day, I have absolutely no complaints, and am so glad that Hans and I are married and best of all have each other!

Hans was able to take 2 weeks off from work, so the week after the wedding, we spent tearing apart our house and started making it a home! First room we tore apart was the master bedroom. We put up fresh paint, cleaned carpets, and strengthened one wall that needed to be reinforced. We also ripped off all the trim, and are waiting on the contractor to come and install new trim around the windows as well as new base boards. Hans is really into construction and doing things the way he wants them done, so he is still, 19 months later still working on our master closet, but slowly it is coming along and will look great when it is all done.

Most recently, Hans mom made curtains for the entire house, which look fabulous and are doing a great job keeping the heat in, and thus reducing our monthly heating bill!!!! His mom LOVES to sew, and she is always looking for projects. I will post pictures later of all the curtains!

I (Liz) graduated with my Intensive Care Paramedic degree in mid-August, and am busy studying for boards which take place in Des Moines on November 7th which I am trying to prepare myself for! I have a few friends helping me out, as well as some co-workers which is great!

Then came the influenza. Yes, you read it correctly, I was unfortunate enough to catch the H1N1 from as far as I can tell the little boy that I take care of after school during the week. It was bound to happen, however missing Chemistry for a week is not exactly great. I have never wanted to go to school as much as I did this week for the pure fact that I am now severly behind in Chemistry but as I always do...I will manage and I will pass, and make it through.

On the upside, I got a job with Gold Cross Ambulance which is affiliated and run by Mayo Hospital! HOORAY for my income finally! It feels so good to finally have a job, and be able to contribute to our income!

So, from here on out, hopefully I can this site up to date!
Take Care!

Wedding Planning and More Wedding Planning

Well wedding planning is really getting under way since we have 6 months till the big day! I cannot believe how fast the time has gone by. This coming weekend I am going home to Iowa on Friday and looking at wedding invitations because we need to get them ordered and sent out in the next few months I would guess. We got the DJ all lined up, the caterer, the Cake Baker :), we finally got flowers finalized! Believe that all took so much time...oh and we got the photographer all lined up this past fall! So this Saturday morning I am really excited because my mom and I are going to meet with the decorator that we have hired to do all the decorating! She has so much stuff to choose from and it is really quite cheap compared to going and buying all the stuff and then having to have it sit around my house when we are done with the wedding....makes more sense to rent it so that's what we are doing! This weekend I am also going dress shopping with Hans mom in Davenport. I am really excited about this, because I love dress shopping and I need to find a dress yet for our get away day with the photographer where they spend a whole day with us driving around to scenic places and taking pictures with us! VERY EXCITED ABOUT THAT! Time for just Hans and I to have wonderful beautiful pictures without being rushed! Let see...I don't know if I can cram much more into that weekend. Sunday will be spent in manchester for the most part and then driving back home to go to work early Monday morning. Hope Everyone had a great weekend! Stay Warm!

UPDATE!

Well it has been several months since Hans and I have posted anything on here! NO one ever leaves comments or apparently reads our blog so I don't see the point in updating it but will try again.

The biggest change that has most recently happened in our lives is that we have decided to get married! We decided back in September/October time frame which is really exciting for the both of us even as stressful as wedding planning is and can be at times.

Hans is still working for Hormel in Management and is and has been working some very long hours. In fact he went to work yesterday at 230pm and got home this morning at 830am. Needless to say I didn't sleep well and when he got home he was in a terrible mood....understandably so~

Currently Liz is in her last semester of Intensive Care Paramedic classroom training. This summer she will be on the ambulance doing student time the entire summer. She is also applying for some EMT positions with Gold Cross Ambulance Service. So God willing she will be able to get on with a local service which would be nice for her!

Hope to hear from some people out there. It would be nice.....we get lonely up here all by ourselves!

BUSY BUSY BUSY

Well I believe fall is finally here. The weather has cooled down tremendously and has actually been enjoyable. Hans is busy with Hormel, they have him coming in later now which is great, only 12 hour days at the most instead of the 14/15 hour days that he was putting in!!!! I myself am busy with school in Rochester. Taking classes to get my associates degree in Intensive Care Paramedicine! Very exciting, but a struggle at the same time. I am also working for Mayo Health Systems in Mankato which is rewarding but stressful due to the long drive both to Mankato and Rochester almost 7 days a week. However today I learned I can take a bus to Rochester from Austin which means only driving a couple days a week which I can handle! Austin makes for a short drive being that it is only 20 minutes from our house and in the winter it will be great not to have to drive on the snowy icey roads that Minnesota is known for. I am actually in the process of applying to local nursing home St. Johns so please for those of you who read this say your prayers that I will at least get an interview because that would mean a 20 minute comutte compared to 80 minutes. It gets old 80 minutes both ways 7 days a week and doesn't leave a whole lot of time for sleeping, eating, and having much of a social life.

Since I have been out of Mayo things have been going well. Liver enzymes are still significantly elevated which they are working on to figure out why, because at some point as they said it could become detrimental to my health. All the tests they have done have come back negative which is good, but at some point there has to be some reason for why they are at the levels they are at.

Hope everyone is doing well and we hope to hear back from someone at least one person would be nice. We have not gotten any responses back on any of our blogs which is quite disappointing.

Take Care
Love Liz and Hans

Mayo Clinic

Hope everyone is doing well....sorry it has been so long once again since we last blogged; however Liz decided that she was going to have surgery in an URGENT fashion. Needless to say we have become well acquainted with Mayo real quick. So August 8th...a wonderful Friday night Liz ended up in the ER here in Albert Lea due to upper right abdominal pain which is where your gallbladder is, running 102 fever and lots of other crap going on. So they did the usual ran lots of tests the normal CT scan and blood and 8 hours later diagnosed Liz with are you ready for this......the STOMACH FLU! Absolutely crazy! The doctors told us that all of her labs were normal and that the CT scan was normal as well so we got sent home. However none of this went away so Tuesday morning Liz got an appointment early that morning and saw her family doctor who ran LOTS of tests and looked at lab results from ER and found that everything was NOT ok at all. Liz's liver enzymes were severely elevated and the CT scan was not the right test to perform so we ended up wasting lots of money that night. So that morning (Tues) she had labs drawn again and an ultrasound. Well nothing came back normal so to make sure of what he was seeing, he ordered a Hida scan which blatantly displayed an ABNORMAL gallbladder so it was Tuesday evening when we got all these results back and were told to get to Rochester you are very sick and indeed she was, and knew but could not get the ER here to understand that simple little point. So we ended up at St. Mary's at Mayo and got put in the critical care wing and had surgery consult that night! However there were absolutely no operating rooms available that night or Wednesday so despite liz being crazy sick she had to wait until Thursday afternoon to go to the OR where once they were inside took a little bit of time to remove the wonderful organ. So in the end Liz had her gallbladder taken out and was released Saturday afternoon. Needless to say any badluck that could have come our way in particular towards Liz it has this summer. Poor girl. However we manage to hold our heads high and move on.

One good thing about Liz having this operation and being so sick is that her mom was able to come up Saturday and pick her up from the hospital and bring her back home to Albert Lea. So her mom got to see the house and stay with us overnight and relax.

So no lifting anything over 10 pounds for 2 weeks and not a lot of stair walking is encouraged so I believe Liz will be resting on the couch right up until school starts and even that first week of school since school starts the 26th~

Hormel is doing well even though Hans was not there for a week. Trying to catch up on paperwork and payroll due to being gone at the hospital with Liz.

Not much else to report, just tryin to get settled into a routine before classes stsart.

Take Care everyone