Nakita Grinie

I'm kind of over the forms for my weekly posts now that I broke out of them last week. I like rambling a lot better;)

2.24.14: I'm twenty one weeks today!



Belly button is barely hanging on. Feeling huge at times and tiny at other times. Still in some regular pants and was shocked to find I've 'only' gained 11 pounds total so far. At my 20 week OB appointment last week, I braced myself to see a 2 pound per week gain after my huge growth spurt from weeks 16-20. But nope--just a pound per week during that time, bringing me to 11 total. Nice. I'm sure I will still top the scales at at *least* 30 total but I'm fine with that. Just prefer to stay less than 40 if possible. Not really worried since perspective is key this third time around---weight should come off eventually and it's more important for me to enjoy this final pregnancy and eat when hungry that let myself worry about the scale. We will see if this zen attitude changes when I'm huge.

My appetite is still out of control every few days, especially in the evenings. For example, Friday night is always pizza night here. I had a few slices, was starving, so we had ice cream. Still starving, so ate some cookies. Forced myself to chill out but I seriously could have had even more! And that is not our usual 'healthy' food either, obviously, but it all tasted great. Luckily we do usually eat healthy, acceptable portion sizes and I can contain the hunger most of the time. Just trying to follow my gut (literally!) and if I'm hungry I eat. Hopefully I don't eat an entire sleeve of Girl Scout Cookies but a few usually does it for me. Cereal is still my fave and clementines are disappearing by the dozen around here. Mmmmm.

Pointy bump last Saturday night, as we were getting ready for our much-needed date night (!).



WOAH. Bump is out of control at this angle!


We both accidentally wore blue to our dinner out. Erin watched our kids for us, since it was our turn for the date-night swap. Truman fell asleep in the van on the way over to Erin's house and was NOT the happiest to be left there when half asleep. He pulled through and they all had a blast….and Nate and I gorged ourselves on fantastic food. Nothing like a dinner with my husband to reconnect, make eye contact, and actually TALK to each other without breaking up sibling fights and spilling milk on the floor. I love date nights so much!


Just because food pictures are extremely appetizing to me, and eating is one of my life's greatest pleasures when pregnant, please note how amazing this meal looks. Then we will get back to the topic at hand;)

Our appetizer platter:


My amazing burger and fries. Had to take half of it home and it was still awesome the next day.


Nate's pork schnitzel and beer. Lucky guy with the brews.


Dessert #1: molten chocolate cake with raspberry sorbet.


And oops, dessert #2. Sticky Toffee Pudding. LOVE. We were only going to split one dessert but they hooked us up at Rumpus Room since we know one of the head honchos at corporate (ahem, Erin!). Don't mind it a bit!


Moving on from the food porn…

Last week was an incredible week overall. We found out baby #3 is healthy, first and foremost. We also found out that he is a BOY. Then three days after our ultrasound, we settled on a name. (!!) Let's discuss. It was the fastest decision ever for us, and it was not difficult to nail down our favorite. It's a name that literally hit me out of the blue one day in Target a few weeks ago---one I've never really heard in real life before, and one that has never been on our lists before. I had a light bulb moment like, 'I love that name. If this is a boy that has to be it.' I mentioned the name to Nate that night and was dreading his response, but he immediately said, 'I like it. A lot.' So I knew that could be it if baby was a boy, but at that time I still really thought it was a girl. However, from that moment of seeing this name I started to get really excited about a baby boy. So I guess it was meant to be;)

I had Nate look through my gigantic phone list again Friday night after the US and simply said, 'Which ones do you like?' He said the one we picked and Grant---which was our number two for Truman. Still LOVE that name but it doesn't feel quite as special or exciting for us anymore, since we've thought about it for over four years. Therefore, baby boy has a different name and we love it. Won't share it on the internets, I'm afraid, but rest assured it goes well with the other names we've picked. Truman loves it and will probably blab it to anyone who will listen, too.

Middle name will either be Nelson (my dad's middle name, but he uses it as his first) or Nathan. I love having family names for our kids' middles---Truman has Nate's middle name and CC has mine. Other top boy contenders (for first names) on my list that Nate did not like: Sullivan (Sully), Gilbert (don't laugh---it's my dad's real first name and he is a junior, I think 'Gil' is the cutest!), Wade, and Walter (Wally). Again, none of these are The Name since Nate shot them all down. Top girl choices of mine: Alice (totally could have pushed for it this time), Phoebe, Rosalie (Rosie), Francine (Frankie), and Gwendolyn (Gwen). I like nick-names and older names apparently. Nate only remotely liked Phoebe of this list, I believe. Baby names are so much fun!

The day after deciding his name, I got totally inspired via Pinterest for baby boy's nursery. At first I was just going to keep Cecelia's light blue walls, repaint the crib, and find a new rug. But after falling in love with my first ever theme for a nursery, I can't help myself but get this room started! Cecelia and I went to Home Depot and bought a gallon of dark 'Seal Gray' paint by Glidden and I did all of the rolling that afternoon when she napped for two hours (and Nate hung with T). Then on Sunday I did all of the trim and the dreaded radiator while both kids napped, plus one 'take Henry for a walk' break. I believe this second part took at least three hours start to finish. It looks so fresh and so different!





Ta Da!



Obviously, the pink roman shades will go along with the rug. Pretty sure I won't use the dollhouse bookshelf either, so those things plus the pink pom pons and I will have a huge hunk of 'girlie' storage in our attic, I suppose. I cannot part with any of it just yet---maybe someday CC will have her own room again and I can re-use the pink?

I cannot wait to pull this idea together and usually I'm not a big fan of cookie cutter 'themes'---this time I love the woodsy, outdoorsy, forest friends theme enough to make it work for my specific tastes. I can't steer away from bright colors, I'm afraid, and want to incorporate an outdoorsy Wisconsin and mountain-y Colorado feel into the room a bit, too. Here is my inspiration board on Pinterest if you care to peek. It will be such a fun nursery for our baby boy…and mostly for me. I have officially remembered that decorating a nursery is truly one of my favorite things ever. No joke. I wish I could just shop and craft and paint furniture all day long to make it happen ASAP but taking my time will be fine, too;) I guess we have plenty of time.

Another big milestone from this week? Nate felt his son hiccuping. Baby boy hiccups already a LOT and is so freaking active, I figured it was time to make Nate feel this kids' shenanigans. Sure enough, hiccups and kicks for his daddy one night. God, I love this stage of pregnancy so much.

A fantastic ultrasound, fun pictures, a great OB appointment, a name, a nursery idea, painted walls, Nate feeling him kick….could I be any more annoying as a 'high on life' pregnant lady? Probably not.

One 'thank god your life isn't perfect' thing you will appreciate is that mornings have SUCKED around here lately. Again. Cecelia and or Truman have both been waking up at 2, 3, 4, and 5 am…taking turns, it seems. Truman will sometimes frantically call us in there to ask, 'Where is CC? Is she still in her crib?' And she always is. Sometimes he will need a tuck in. Sometimes he will wander into our room to inform us he is headed to the bathroom. Sigh. Just do it, child!! And then his sister? Fussing for her pacifier, mostly, but also she seems to just want to start her days around 5am despite our pleads to last until 6:00. If she DOES win the battle and we let her get up that early she is a mess by 9:00. So yeah, lots of night time wake ups over here---blah blah blah, preparing me for baby, whatever. I'm not into it though and something must be done! Room sharing is going really well overall and I really think they'd be going through this weird early-morning stuff in different rooms, too. Heck, they both HAVE pulled this stunt before anyway. Still need to do that 'room sharing update' post but we are still loving the shared space. May officially move CC from her crib into a big girl bed and BUNK the kids in the next few weeks. Holy changes.

Comparing pregnancies: here is the 21 week post from Truman's pregnancy. First reaction is that I've gained 11 pounds this time and was at 13 pounds that first time, so that's good? Plus my belly was still microscopic at that point. We were pretty much settled on his name already but didn't solidify it yet because I wanted to wait---do not remember this in the slightest. Woah. And then Cecelia's 21 week post was sweet because we had just bought our house! Similar belly size to right now, same weight gain, but last time we were nowhere near deciding on her name. Ha! Oh yes, agreeing to Cecelia's name was painful for all involved. Happy that this boy was easier in that sense. Maybe he will be our easiest baby yet? (shouldn't be too hard when it comes to sleep).

So that was last week---a pretty eventual one! Not to mention that Cecelia turns 21 months on Friday, and Truman's fourth birthday is Saturday. Better start working on their posts and preparing for my mom and Memaw to arrive this week! Excited for Truman's party on Saturday and I think we are buying him his first bike for our big gift. Hopefully he can ride it before June if this snow ever melts.

And with that, I guess I have proved that not following a pregnancy form for my weekly posts = mega post with a ton of random stuff in it. Nursery and baby names and a date night HAVE to get mentioned, though!

Did you know that blogging is not my actual job or calling in life? Shocking, I know.

Kristal asked me to post about my career as a Physical Therapist in the home care setting, which is something I've discussed but never in much detail.


"I’m also curious about your job and Nate’s. This might be more info than you want to share, so maybe not a good topic. I know you are both PTs, but you do different things. You work with people at home…because they are sick? Or they have an injury they are recovering from? Or is it just general maintenance for the older crowd? You work part time…does that mean you have to take on a certain number of patients but you can schedule them in your own time? And Nate, what type of clients does he work with? And I know he teaches some, right? As in, PT students? Writing that all out sounds super nosey, haha. But I’m just curious about what y’all do!"

I obviously don't mention my job too often for patient privacy reasons but also it doesn't seem like it's especially interesting to describe. But then again maybe it's a fair topic (especially when grasping at straws daily blogging) since not everybody knows what a PT entails and some people might be curious. I mean, it *is* a huge part of my life and I don't mind describing my job minus specific patient details.

So yes, both Nate and I are Physical Therapists. He has his Doctorate in Physical Therapy (DPT, not a PhD) and graduated four years ago. I have my Masters in Physical Therapy (MPT) and graduated ten years ago, before the profession upgraded to a doctoral degree. Lucky me got out of school with 'just' my masters and I don't ever have to go back to get a doctorate, since we don't get paid differently based on our degrees. I suppose someday employers might really push for DPTs versus MPTs but so far that hasn't been the case for me. I mean, Nate's dad is a Physical Therapist and he practices with 'just' his bachelors degree--I cannot even tell you how long ago he graduated but I'm guessing 35 years ago? So you could work with a PT who has their bachelors degree, a masters degree, or a doctoral degree all based on how long ago we graduated. Anyone who wants to go to PT school now will have to do four years for a bachelors and then three years of graduate school. It's a lot of schooling (ahem, and loans) for sure and I'm lucky I graduated just a few years before the DPT was mandatory! But everyone has to sit for the boards to obtain their license and then we all do continuing education courses to stay up to date with our licensure.

Hahahaha, this was 'only' ten years ago?! December 2004, Masters graduation with my family. Geez we have all changed just a bit.


And 2011, Nate's Doctoral graduation with his family (his brother couldn't make it). Aw, Sammy dog!!


Once you graduate you can 'specialize' in many different areas and work in all sorts of settings, changing it up if you get bored or want to try something new. I have worked in an outpatient clinic, a nursing home, a hospital (on the floors, called acute care) and now home care. Nate has always done Sports Medicine at an outpatient clinic and both of us really love our particular settings. We like to make fun of each other to our respective patients about how the other person has it made as a PT. Nate tells his patients that I have bankers hours and work from 10-2 three days a week (not totally true, but pretty freaking close!). I tell my patients that Nate has froufrou patients with minimal pain in their knees after golfing 72 holes WAH WAH (also not true, but it's fun to elaborate) while I have the patients struggling to stand up off their bed at home.

Let's talk about Nate first: Nate mostly treats athletes who are injured or who just had surgery, but he can also see a variety of other people who aren't athletes, too. All sorts of pain issues (knee pain, back pain, hip pain, shoulder pain, etc), and all sorts of surgeries (ACL reconstruction, rotator cuff repairs, total hip replacements, etc), plus he does running gait analysis, dry needling and lots of corrections to *how* people move their body. Actually, he would probably love to write all about what he does as a PT and he'll totally roll his eyes at my description for you here today;) His clinic is affiliated with one of the local universities so they see their student athletes, he works with our professional hockey team, and also adjunct teaches at a PT school twice per week. He's a super PT and a dedicated employee. So very glad he decided to go to PT school after wavering about his options for a solid few years after his bachelors!

As for me: I work part-time which is based on the number of visits I make per week, not the number of hours I put in. Averaging five patients each day is my ideal so that I can meet my FTE requirement but of course it fluctuates quite a bit. There are never two days that are exactly the same in my job and truly never a dull moment!

I work Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays and usually schedule my patients beginning at 9:00, I try to squeeze in a lunch break at some point, and I prefer to be completely done with patient care by 3:00 and done with paperwork by 4:00 so I can pick up Porter and Cecelia from Lori's. That doesn't always happen and sometimes I have to do my paperwork at night after the kids go to bed--I dislike cutting into my 'me time' of the day so so much but oh well. There is a LOT of paperwork in home care but if you are organized and Type A like myself, it doesn't pile up on top of you and it's always a goal to get it done the same day.

I schedule my own visits with my patients and I adore this part of my job because it's so incredibly flexible. But this can be both a wonderful and a challenging part of the gig. Let's say one of the kids is sick: instead of 'taking a sick day' and staying home with them, I am responsible for calling each patient I have scheduled, explaining the situation to them, and then attempting to reschedule our visit for a different day that week if possible. Almost always, my patients are more than accommodating as soon as I explain that my children need their mom;) It does create added stress for me to rearrange my schedule but I'm lucky I have that option for sure, and usually I can usually stick to a solid schedule with each patient because we all know how much I love routine.

One part of being a PT in the home care setting that is very different from other settings? The autonomy that is required. There are no co-workers, no doctors, no other staff present during my treatments so the responsibility that rests on my shoulders can be enormous. I make a lot of phone calls to doctors, updating them about patients. I have had to call 911 for several patients over the years and it's still really scary to wait for an ambulance to arrive. There are so many things that can go wrong and a home care PT has to be assertive enough to make decisions constantly. That being said, home care PT is not for everyone (Nate would HATE it!) for a variety of reasons, but I really do love my job.

I go into patient's homes all day long (well, from about 9-2:30ish) and there is a never a dull moment being introduced to how other people live within their own houses. That's all I'm going to say about that, but I really haven't seen anything TOO horrible in my years in home care.

I adore being in and out of the van, driving a bit, getting to know my way around the city, and getting some sunshine/fresh air on non-blizzard days.  I'll sometimes have a cancellation or a lighter case load that allows a quick Target stop, allows me to fill up for gas, run to the grocery store, etc. I do a lot of my end-of-day paperwork at Starbucks, too, so that makes my job extra rough;)

A majority of my patients are elderly and it's very rare that I treat anyone who is younger than age fifty. One big stipulation to medical insurance covering home care services is that the patient has to be 'home bound.' So if they are healthy enough to be out and about in the community, they probably don't need me to come to their home for therapy---they could go to an outpatient clinic. This means a lot of my patients are fairly sick, or recovering from being sick. I can see people with all sorts of diagnoses: stroke, fall, orthopedic or any surgery, pneumonia, general weakness, cancer...really anything that would make a person less than 100% of their previous selves with a need to regain their strength.  Most have recently been to the hospital or just came out of a rehab stay/nursing home.

Big picture is that most of my patients are older, frail, have some health problems, and tend to be very appreciative for the help I give them. Some are lonely and their PT sessions with me might be the only thing on their calendar all week. Sometimes it's difficult to get out the door after a session is over, turning down coffee and cookies and candy. Sometimes people I see are really struggling with some very heavy issues, like a terminal diagnosis, the decision to sell their home and move to an assisted living, or the loss of their independence. My job can be emotionally draining as you can imagine. But it can also be incredibly rewarding.

I am constantly blown away by caring families who will do anything and everything for their loved one, to keep them at home. I'm also constantly blown away by how much priorities can change and what I take for granted---like my ability to just stand up, walk out the door, down some steps, hop into my van, and drive away. We might work on those individual tasks for weeks if not months in physical therapy. My job constantly reminds me to be grateful for this busy, fun, exhausting time in my life because things can change in an instant.

Whew. That got deep. But now you know a little bit more about my 'real' job;)

Hope that answers all of the burning questions you never knew you had about my 'real' job.