Recital/Bridal Shower Weekend

 My parents and Katie came up the other weekend for recital and Jenifer's shower.  I haven't talked about Jenifer that much but she's my best friend since Kindergarten.  (Hi Jen!)  I mean, my best friend other then my mom and Katie.  (Hi Mom and Katie!)  Anyway, Jenifer and I went to UF together and then we both  (coincidently) ended up moving to Tallahassee around the same time.  She is getting married in July and I'm her matron of honor!!!  I was pretty excited (and still am) until I realized that I would have to make a speech in front of a whole lot of people.  My mom said that I wouldn't have a problem writing the speech, it's the public speeking part that would be difficult.  Great, thanks for the vote of confidence, mom!  ;)  Back to Jenifer.  She just moved to Crawfordville, which is exciting, especially since the house that she is renting has a bad ass swing set in the back yard.  And it's exciting because what are the chances that Jenifer was going to move to Crawfordville?  I mean, seriously.  Who do you know, other than me, that just up and moved to Crawfordville?  No one.  Exactly.

See?  It really is a pretty bad ass swing set.  And that was Alexa's first time on a big girl swing!!!  She was obviously thrilled.  Can't you tell by the look on her face?  OK, back to recital weekend.  Nick met Alexa and I at dress rehearsal and the stage is now Lexi's new favorite place to be.  Every time she saw me, she asked "back?".  Meaning, 'Mommy, will you please take me backstage with you so that I can watch the dancers?!'.  (Wow, she sure is polite!)  Apparently, even during the actual recital she liked watching the dances and was really good.  Or so my parents, Katie and Jenifer say. 

 Me and my Lexi Lynn after the show.  Can we all please notice how light her hair is getting?!  Maybe she will have some red in her hair after all.  That would make my mom happy because you know, those red heads are going to become extinct.

 Baye and Alexa checking out the stage.

 We had our first missing baby scare.  Well, it would have been a scare had we realized Rachel was gone before we saw her sitting on the lost and found table.

 Bath time after the recital.

 We had Jen's shower at my house on Sunday.  Do you like her sash?  Mom and I made it.  You can't tell from the picture but it says 'Future Mrs. Fortenberry'.  How jealous are you? 

 Jenifer, myself and our moms before the shower.

 We had a lot of fun, played games, typical shower stuff.  (Although, I think our games were pretty awesome!)  The reason why I put this picture up is to illustrate Alexa's need to act like a fool when surrounded by strangers.  She felt it necessary to throw herself around, roll on the floor, arch her back, etc.  All in a happy, kind of drunk looking way.   Which, I know is much better then her acting like a screaming, crying crazy, but still strange.  It makes me very worried for what's going to happen at Jenifer's wedding where Alexa will be a flower girl and expected to walk down the aisle.  Maybe she'll roll down the aisle.  Or dance down the aisle.  She can do summersaults now...I can totally see her summersaulting down the aisle. 

Oh yes, and somebody (named Alexa) is obcessed with Abby Cadabby which means that somebody else (named Janeth) feels the need to buy Abby socks, a wand and an Abby potty book.  Which Alexa loved, of course.  I'm really enjoying the crossed ankles while sitting on the toilet but not so much the sickled feet.  We are going to have to work on that.

Ballerina Roach

You know how I hate roaches? No? Well, I do. They're horrible and are on my list of the top three things which should become extinct (along with alligators and toads). For my whole life they have been out to get me. I am not kidding. I have distinct memories of playing in the living room at my parents house right after we moved in (I was 5) and pulling a dead roach out of the shag carpeting. (I realize that one was dead and could not possibly be out to get me, but still) They have crawled across my arm when I was working at my dad's shop in Miami. They have tried to attack me in my house. I have even witnessed a flying roach fly down my mom's shirt (which, I'm not gonna lie, was half terrifying and half hilarious). Usually, when I see them, I run for cover and scream at someone else to go kill it. Once, I was laying in my bed, saw a roach on the opposite wall, and instead of killing it, I pulled the blanket over my head and called Nick (who was in the other room) on my phone to come and get rid of it. I think I have made my point.

So, a couple of weeks ago (it has actually taken that long for me to talk about this) I was at work giving report to the oncoming nurse. Now, let's remember that it was 7am, I had been at work for 12 hours and I was pretty much delirious with no filter. OK, so we were standing outside the patient's room when the day shift nurse, let's call her Betsy, casually said to me "oh, look at that little roach running". What?! How can you even speak that sentence no nonchalantly?! And, little roach? Oh no, that thing was a freaking monster! And you bet your ass it was running...right toward me! Plus, it was running and barely touching the floor! It's like the thing was running on pointe. It was freaking ballerina roach in attack mode coming to get me!!! What do I do? Of course I jump around screaming "kill it, Betsy, kill it!!!!" (Which is what every PICU patient and family want to hear at 7am, I'm sure.) I tried to move laterally and what does the roach do? Turn toward me. It can sense my fear. Finally, after 3 stomps (3 stomps!!!) Betsy killed the roach and then kicked it under the counter thing of the nurses station (where, I'm sure it was regenerating and planning it's next move). Meanwhile, all the other night and day shift nurses are at the nurses station either looking at me like I'm crazy or hysterically laughing at me. I, of course, announce that I'm having palpitations and that I needed to finish giving report on the other side of the unit because I really feel that the roach is going to come back from the dead and attack me again. Seriously.

I know that I live in Florida and that means that there are roaches everywhere. I also realize (in the rational part of my brain) that the roach really can't hurt me and that my fear would be better placed on even something like a bee or a wasp where there is a small but real potential for harm. But I don't care. Bees and wasps don't freak me out. I have no problem killing spiders or any other kind of bug that gets into the house, and I'll pick up lizards and put them back outside without even squirming. But for some reason, I can't handle a roach. I think we should kill them all.

Update

So after searching through all of mine and my mom's pictures on Kodakgallery, I found this one:

 Which was taken four years ago.  And yes, it's the most recent picture of me.  Can we also all appreciate the beach scene?!?!?!  Although this one is a much more accurate representation of that weekend (you totally wish you were part of my family):

The Bulletin Board

OK, so they have this bulletin board at work where they talk about the staff.  There's a little paragraph or two about where the nurse/secretary/PCA grew up, went to school, hobbies, why you like working in Peds, etc.  And then each person has a picture by their little summary thing.  (Well, most people have a picture.  There's one picture that makes me feel slightly uncomfortable and another one that has a picture of the beach...no person, just the beach.)  This board is right in the middle of a wall between Peds and the PICU so it's there for everyone (patients, families, everyone) to see.  When asked the "why do you like working in pediatrics?" question, every one's answer is something like "I love working with kids" or "my coworkers are great and I love the kids" or "little kids are so sweet and innocent" or "any time I can get even a small smile out of a child, it makes my day."  (yes, I got up just now to make sure that I got that all right)  Anyway, so I was joking around last weekend about how they would never put me up on that wall because they'd be afraid of how I would answer the questions.  For example, if asked why I enjoyed working in pediatrics, I would answer that, given the choice, I'd much rather clean up baby poop than adult poop.  Now, that's an honest answer.  Well, now wouldn't you know that on Monday morning, one of the leadership people asked if she could interview me for the board?!?!  First of all, this person works day shift in the out patient area so I have spoken to her a total of about 2 times (including my little 'interview').  And I'm about 99% sure that she asked about me (mostly who I was, but also if I was married, had kids, etc) before this so called interview.  I have my sources.  Anyway, she interviewed me at7 in the morning after I had just worked all night (without much sleep the day before) and was exhausted so the filter was way off.  Plus, she asked me all these questions in the middle of the nurses station with both the night shift and oncoming day shift nurses (who I happen to really like) there so I felt the need to make small comments after each of my answers.  For example, when asked where I grew up I answered "Hollywood, Florida" and then proceeded to do a single handed raising of the roof while singing in my ghetto voice "Holly-hood!"  See?  Filter off.  I couldn't help myself.  It was my musical turrets.  It's hereditary, right Katie?  I think I did OK with the middle questions about school and stuff.  I told her about how I danced in a company in college and how I teach now.  I talked about competition but I don't think she really got it.  Then came the question I was waiting for!  She asked me why I enjoyed working in peds and I answered, without hesitation, that given the choice, I'd much rather clean up baby poop than adult poop.  She stared at me.  Courtney and Catherine laughed.  She asked me what I wanted the board to say and I told her to write something about how kids are wonderful and I work with awesome people but right as I was answering, Courtney said "no, she said the poop thing, that's what you should write!"  Then Courtney (she used to work night shift) said that I was really funny so my interviewer wrote on her paper "funny".  So, needless to say, I'm pretty excited for the new board to come out.  Oh, and she also asked me to email her a picture of myself and tonight, as I was looking for one, I discovered that there are none.  At least none in the past four or five years where I don't look like a complete idiot.  Most of the recent pictures of me include Alexa:

 Or, they are of Katie and I acting like a bunch of fools:

 Or, Katie and I trying to be pretty (while wearing other people's mickey hats...sorry Lauren):

 Or, we take pictures to bring attention to serious issues.  For example, this picture, which clearly demonstrates the many dangers of under aged driving:

 There is the random picture of me posing with objects (not shown is me with flowers (which happen to be a great example of my best friend's wedding colors), me with random pieces of food and me with various Christmas presents...I like the croquet mallet picture the best):

 And then there is this one, which I still consider to be one of my finest moments and pretty much the best picture ever taken (slight exaggeration):

In conclusion, I have decided that my little personal summary thing is either going to be highly offensive to others or an extreme misrepresentation of me.  It could go either way.  Oh, and also, I need to have her take a picture of me because I don't think they will approve of my options and I refuse to have a random beach scene as my photo.

This post brings new meaning to the phrase 'Crazy long post of pictures' (consider yourselves warned)

We went down south for Easter last weekend, which also happened to be the weekend before Nick's birthday.  So, obviously we had to have a party (because what good is a trip home without a Nettina party?).  

 Easter Bunny Alexa helping to put candy in bowls.

 'I have my baskets, where should we go shopping?!'

Yes, those are glass.

 Lexi and my mom

 She loves to dip.

 Alexa and Nikki.

Again, yes, that is a roll of tape that she's playing with.  No worries, I took it away from her before she could cut herself.

 awwwwww...look at the little cousins playing!

 They are so cute!

 Happy Birthday to Nick!!!  This was about two seconds before Alexa dipped her

finger in the icing and had a little taste.

 OK, so apparently this is one of those paper lantern things where you make a wish or something like that (I don't know, I was giving Alexa a bath when they took it out).  But, regardless, look at how big it is!

 Everyone on the patio watching the lantern go up.

 How can you send up a lantern while on a screened in patio, you ask? 

Oh, that would be through the large hole that is ripped into the screen.

 Want to see something just as ghetto as the gianormo screen hole, 10x as creepy and 100x as awesome?!  We (we being my mom) found a website where you can put people's faces into movie posters.  So she put

Nick's face (plus some with other people) in all these different movies, had them printed on 8x10s at Costco and then we taped them to the front of all the picture frames in our house.  Yup, scotch taped them.  Like I said, ghetto, creepy and awesome all at the same time. 

That was Saturday, now on to Easter Sunday.  We went to church in the morning.  Alexa was pretty good, she made it about half way through until Nick had to take her outside to walk around.

 I know that this isn't the best picture, but it's the only one where I don't have a triple chin.  Since this is my blog, I get to choose the pictures, and I choose the one where I don't look like a fat ass.  :)

 I don't know what she's doing in this picture but, I'm not gonna lie, she's pretty cute.  Why are you all standing in front of a slide, you ask?  Well, that's because Crazy McCrazeCraze threw a small fit and insisted on being by the slide.  In an attempt to get a decent picture, we went with it.

 Looking for Easter eggs (by outlet boxes).

 Yummy, Easter bread!  And...it's off to Easter with the Nettinas:

 Alexa got an Easter present from Aunt Kathy (and a bunny from Aunt Bunny...appropriately)

 Nettina cousins (plus some red-headed husbands)

 Playing with Aunt TeTe (aka Aunt Bunny)

Katie and Michael decided to talk to Grammy to avoid cleaning up...slackers.

 Yeah, I'm related to them.

 I love this picture just for Alexa's face toward Anthony. 

She seems to be very concerned about those cupcakes.

Both Nick and Abe's (Jennie's husband) birthday was on Monday so Aunt Kathy made them a peeps cake and we sang to them.  Apparently, they gave Grammy 1/4 of the cake as her piece and she went with it.  :)  Please notice the bib, it's awesome.

Uh Oh Spaghetti-Os!

We went home for my Dad's birthday!!!  We were going to be home for other reasons but that party got cancelled.  No worries.  We celebrated my dad's birthday instead (which apparently was a big deal because we never celebrate his birthday other than the usual Boston Creme pie).  Have I ever talked about the birthday Boston Creme pie?  Well it's a running joke in our family that we never get to eat anything that my mom doesn't like.  For example, on the rare occasion that my dad would have to feed us dinner we often got Pizza Hut because we all liked it but mom thought it was gross.  My mom loves Boston Creme pie (only the one from Publix), therefore, we always got a Boston Creme pie as our birthday cake.  Now, I don't want this to sound like that's the only birthday cake we got because we definitely had a 'birthday week' which included many birthday parties (all of which had their own cake).   Back to our weekend.  We brought the dogs with us so Minnie and Rosie got to hang out again.  They love each other.  Rosie just puts up with our other dogs but her and Minnie are BFFs.  Also, Nicky was down for the weekend so he gave Alexa her Christmas present (as if she needed another present).  It was a little shopping cart with plastic food and two spots for her baby dolls, which is perfect because both Rachel and Temperence got to ride in the cart.  Alexa loves it she pushes it around all the time and loves to fill it up with anything and everything.

 I guess Grammy wanted to hold Rachel and Temperence but Lexi didn't like that too much.  She had everyone at dinner banging their hands on the table too.  It's hilarious what we'll do for her entertainment!

 Oh!  And Brittany came over on Sunday!  I'm going to brag a little bit and write about my friend Brittany.  She got a job dancing in an opera!  How cool is that?!  We are going to try to go see it which I am also pretty excited about because I've never been to an opera before.

One more cute thing to write about...

Alexa says 'uh oh'.  I think she picked it up at school because we don't say it at home very much.  Anyway, when she says it, I automatically say 'uh oh Spaghetti-Os'.  Don't ask why, just consider it a turret-like symptom of mine.  So yesterday I was listening to her walk around saying 'uh oh, sedio' over and over again.  Hilarious.