Kari|Doyle

August is going to be a big month for the Doyle household – more specifically…me.   Here’s a taste of what we have in store for August!

 - ZUMBA – I’m starting to co-teach a few classes at Stretch Studio (Zumba Basics @ 4:45 on Monday and Wednesday if you want to come!) and then in September will hopefully be on my own for instructing!  I’m heading up to Zumba Instructor Certification this week, and am SO excited to start teaching dance!  I’m lucky to be working for one of the hippest and best dance studios in town!  

 - Rapid City Medical Center Laboratory - I’ll be falling back to my college education and returning to the career of medical technology at RCMC for one day a week.  This should be nice to keep up on my skills as a lab tech while still having lots of time for my family and other interests!

 - Young Life – As wonderful as my time at Young Life has been, I’ll be cutting back due to other opportunities in my life presenting themselves.  I’ll work one day a week from home managing some of their data entry and handling phone calls/messages.  I haven’t totally firmed this up with Corey yet, but I remain hopeful that I can stay invovled with such a powerful ministry.  Plus – I can’t not work with Marci Eben any more!   That would be tragic.

 - Antoinette – Our dear friends, the Wahligs from Germany, are sending their oldest daughter to live with us for a year starting on August 22.  She’ll be attending Stevens High School, and we’ll be her host family for her time here.  I’ve just barely figured out how to parent my almost one year old, and now we’ll have a teenager to keep track of!  Wish us luck! 

 - Weddings – (Neither of these are in August, but they fall just either side of the month, so I’m counting it…)  My friends, Kaia and Tarin, are both getting married this summer and have asked me to be a part of both of their weddings!  I’m a bridesmaid in Kaia’s and personal attendent in Tarin’s.  I’m so excited!  I LOVE weddings (see earlier post) and I love that both of these gals have found the guy to spend their lives with! 

 - My baby boy is turning ONE.  It doesn’t seem possible.  Or right.  Or real.  But its true!  We’ll be having a party on August 7 (his actual birthday is August 6, but that’s when everyone could come…except for the Parrishs…and Marci….and Jo.  Sad.)  I’m looking forward to watching him attack his cake!

 Well, I think that’s enough!  As you can see, we’ll be quite busy!  Pray that I find time to sleep!

My little man....

It’s kind of amazing how much stuff we find to fill our days!  It seems like there is literally a never-ending list of things that need to be done, and even when you think you’re all done and you can sit down to relax….something else raises its head and says, “Hey…you forgot this!”  I feel like the past week has been a total whirlwind of activities and things to do, but I look around my house and think “So…what is it I’ve been doing for the past week?”  I thought I’d detail it out just to prove to myself I got some things accomplished. 

 - I cleaned up the flower beds, and planted some very pretty perennials and annuals.  I also purchased some raspberry bushes, but I’m not sure where I want to put those yet. 

 - I made about a billion different kinds of baby food (blueberry/blackberry sauce, peaches, pears, butternut squash, and carrots)  Okay, so not a billion, but it was quite a busy day. 

 - I cleaned…and cleaned….and cleaned.

 - I worked Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday….and then Monday and half of Tuesday (only half because my baby boy decided he wasn’t going to nap in the afternoon which lead to super crabby baby)

 - I worked out (4 mile walk, 2 mile walk, 2 mile run x 2, 2 Zumba classes, and a pilates workout)

 - I spend a lot of quality time with Kilian this week…lots of playing, walks, and just fun time spent together. 

 - Took Kilian to the doctor because he was SUPER fussy last week; turns out it was just teeth…again.  We’re up to six of those bad boys now!

Well, perhaps it wasn’t as much as it seems…feels like a lot though.  Sean is out of town getting Magnum certified in Sioux Falls, so I’m going to take the time to just relax…at least until something else comes along.

I never used to have a coffee addiction.  I really didn’t.  I’d drink a cup here and there, and perhaps a latte once in a while, but nothing serious.  Then I started working at Young Life.  Now, I think a good 60% of my blood stream is brewed with the world’s finest beans.  At the hospital, we didn’t really have time for coffee breaks all the time, and you certainly couldn’t drink it in the lab!  At Young Life, you’re almost a little crazy if you don’t have a reusable coffee cup (with a sticker of some sort adorning it) sitting on your desk with your favorite java permeating the air around you.  What’s more, is one of my dear friends and coworkers works for a coffee roasting company, and now provides me with amazing whole bean coffee at a reasonable rate to feed my addiction.  Plus, one of my other wonderful coworkers got me a Starbucks coffee card for Administrative Assistant’s Day, so I am able to get a hit from my drug of choice for FREE!  *sigh*  Oh, and now Starbucks is coming out with amazing new flavors all year long, so I’m not only hitting them  up in the fall for Pumpkin Spice Lattes and Caramel Brulee Lattes…now its Dark Cherry Mocha and Passion Tea Lemonades!  *drool*  AND, now the same dear friend who is providing me with coffee, now got me to become a soy fanatic, so every latte is automatically $0.50 more!  Hooray! (Seriously though…so amazing!) 

Anyway…where was I going with this?  Apparently I need a pick me up…I wonder if Starbucks will deliver…

I’ve decided I complain too much.  I complain about work, I complain about being in debt, I complain about not having any money because we’re trying to get OUT of debt, I complain about Kilian not napping, I complain about Sean being gone, I complain about losing baby weight, I complain about clothes not fitting right, I complain about my hair and skin, I complain about dog hair, I complain about family and friends being too far away, I complain that pumpkin spice lattes are only around for a few months out of the year, I complain about my bed being too soft, I complain about my husband putting his life on the line every night he goes to work, I complain about not being able to work out enough, I complain that I don’t WANT to work out (want the fat to just melt away).  You get the idea.  So, from here on out, I plan to complain less.  I can’t obviously stop everything (let’s just not be crazy here!) but I can definitely tone it down.  So as my friends and family, I ask you that if you catch me complaining, tell me to KNOCK IT OFF!

Thanks.

So, I’ve got a lot of things I’m thinking about right now, and I’m going to blog about it in order to maybe make some sense of it all.  It may not make any sense to anyone else, but I’ll feel better.  

1. Church – my husband and I are trying to figure out if we should continue making the trek out to Rimrock, or if we should try and find a new church home.  We have been less than consistant about attending since Kilian’s birth because of schedule, but there’s more to it than that.  I just don’t feel as though I get as much from the sermons anymore when we do make it out there.  Also, I think I’d enjoy a smaller congregation where I can feel a part of the church, rather than just another face in the crowd.  I know some of that is our own fault because we could be more active, but its hard in such a large population!

2. Work – I’ve been toying with the idea of helping out as an instructor at Stretch Studio for awhile now, and I think I need to either go or get off the pot.  There’s a Zumba training coming up in March, and I definitely WANT to attend, but I’m trying to figure out how to balance teaching there and working at Young Life AND having a life at home!  It’s a lot…not sure where to go…

3. Teething – not fun.  Kilian is better, but mostly because we know how to handle him now with the teething.  Hylands Homeopathic Teething Tablets have been a God-send – thanks, Angelica! – and we are really trying to figure out what schedule works best for him.  I’ve given up on being scary mom and making him lay in his crib for three 2-hour naps.  It just doesn’t work for him, and I don’t want him to think the ONLY way to get me to come in is to scream bloody murder for an hour.  So, he gets 1-2 one and half hour naps and one 45 minute nap…seems to work for him…and he still sleeps through the night.  I’ve started going into his room right at the 1 1/2 hour mark and getting him up, and then he seems to be happy and he still is getting plenty of sleep. 

4. I NEED to get myself thoroughly back on Weight Watchers…Kilian is eating cereal now, so I don’t get as many points a day and I need to be more careful about what I eat.

Okay, that’s enough for now.  I’ve vented…I think I’m going to go clean, because that’s I do my best thinking.  Have a great Sunday!

I officially started my new job at Young Life as the administrative assistant on Thursday of last week.  If you’ll notice, my last post of being totally overwhelmed coincides with that day.  First off, I need to say that I think its going to be totally awesome working there!  There is so much to do that my day just flies by, and my coworkers are great about answering questions, and keeping a cool head as far as Kilian is concerned.  It’s such a blessing that I’m able to take Kilian with me, but there is definitely an adjustment period.  Right now, he’s not really resting when he’s at work with me.  I haven’t figured out if its because of the new environment, or that I have him in the office with me, so the noise keeps him awake.  Regardless, I’ve purchased a cheap-o baby monitor, and am going to try putting him in the back of the club room to give him some dark and quiet to see if that helps.  Otherwise, he does pretty well!  He plays with his toys, and enjoys being tickled by Chris and Corey when they walk by.  Corey actually has magical powers when it comes to getting him calm!  It’s amazing!

The job itself entails a lot of computer work (which is AWESOME cuz I am good at that!)  Young Life was kind enough to purchase me a kickin’ laptop (17″!) which I’ve been playing with for the past couple of days.  This means we also have wireless again at home (Annie…you’ll be so pleased!)  Also, I spend quite a bit of time coordinating mailings, and on the phone with parents and donors.  I feel like God has me in the right place…He’s just letting me figure out what I’m supposed to do now that I’m here!

Yesterday I went into the hospital and put in my official resignation as of November 6, and I’m officially entering a new chapter in my life.  I worked at RCRH for over six years if you include my internship.  I made a lot of friends and had a lot of good times!  Some of the highlights for me were:

1. Working on the Emerge project with the system’s lab directors, Carol, and Traci.  Mmm..is time for lunch yet?

2. All the random conversations had with my coworkers during down time.  Wouldn’t have survived without  you!

3. Many, many happy hours at Casa Del Ray….before its demise.  Margaritas…mmmm….

4. “Can’t wait.” – Ken Sherman

5. “It’s a toe!  It’s a toe!” – Me; I was supposed to grind it up and culture it….I made the supervisor do it.  Ick.

6. “What the hell happened to your head?” – Corky; after I had dyed my hair blonde with BRIGHT red streaks.

7. Alcohol foam fights

8. Making dry ice squeek using the Rh negative hammer.

9. My husband asked me out for the first time in the ED at the HUC desk with Rene watching.

10. Getting accused of sexual harassment by a 53 yr old woman for calling her “Honey”.  *sigh*

And of course, many more. 

I am moving on to a very exciting stage though!  I’m going to be working at Young Life as an administrative assistant for Chris, Corey, and Marci.  It’ll be wonderful to help out with a ministry I feel very strongly about, and one of the best parts is that I can bring Kilian to work with me, so he won’t have to be put in daycare!  How wonderful is that?  I can work, AND be a mom to my little man.  God truly provided for us, and I’m very excited to be starting this new chapter in my life.

Yesterday was my third anniversary to the greatest guy in the world, Sean.  God has so blessed me by bringing this man into my life.  He always knows what to do to take care of me, and just helps make my life much easier.  I just hope that I do the same for him.

For example, today was a rough day with Kilian.  I attempted to stretch his feedings a little and it totally went awry.  He was one unhappy kid and didn’t sleep most of the day.  So, needless to say, I was frazzled by the time Sean woke up.  I was almost hysterical when he saw me, and he just stepped up and informed me I was to lay down and take a nap and that he would take care of Kilian.  While I was doing that, he got me dinner to go, and set up my pump so I could just pump and leave for YL leader training (which I was sure I was going to miss).  He also arranged to go to work late, so that he could feed and take care of Kilian while I was there.  Kilian did pretty well for him (actually ate most of his meal from the bottle!) and was sleeping when I got home.  I feel restored and able to take on the night with my little man.  Praise God for my wonderful husband!

Here’s some photos of how Sean dealt with him…

There are so many things I love about fall, so I decided to make a tribute to fall post.

1. The beautiful colors of the leaves.

2. My anniversary!

3. Pumpkin Spice Lattes….*drool*

4. Apples!  I started canning yesterday and succeeded in canning five pints of applesauce.  It would have been six but I didn’t keep the jars warm enough and the first one broke.  I plan to make apple butter today or tomorrow and perhaps one apple pie…cuz its SO good.

My first five pints of applesauce

5. Usually the cooler weather, but this summer was not unbearable, and this fall is been quite warm!

6. Halloween!  Pumpkin carving! 

7. YL Club is starting up again!

8. Get to check out my cool weather clothes (it’s like getting a whole new wardrobe just by digging them out!)

I think that’ll do it.  Happy Fall everyone!

Last night was AWESOME!  The band I play my violin for, Inside Out, played at Alternative Fuel last night for a pre-Hills Alive worship night.  It was great!  Thanks to every one who came and praised God with us!  We played for three house and hopefully was able to reach some people that may have not normally listened to Christian music.  We tend to play a mix of David Crowder and Hillsong United songs, although there are some random ones thrown in there.   Mostly, I just love playing my violin for God…so it really made the night fun.

Afterwards, Sharon, Marci, and I took a few YL girls and went to the LATE show of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.  I must admit…this is probably my favorite HP movie thus far, mostly because of the humor!  Lots of great funny bits.  I did have a couple of complaints about changes made…I didn’t remember Harry hitting on a waitress in the book, and I double-checked the ending of the book and there was a great fight seen that they eliminated from the movie.  And, of course, they left out most of the schooling for that year, but the books are so long that they must leave something out or you’d be at the movies for five hours!  Three hours was plenty long.  By 2 AM we were ALL quite tired, and ready for bed. 

On a side note, I got a massage yesterday for this new fun pregnancy pain called sciatica.  It was possibly the most painful massage I’ve ever had, and I still hurt.  Boo on THAT!  I think I may try another chiropractor appointment with a massage before hand, and see if that does it.  Otherwise, I’ll keep trying to stretch and popping Tylenol once a day and see if that doesn’t work…  There are some things that will be good about not being pregnant anymore.