Being A Nurse's Kid

Being a nurse's kid has to be hard. You don't get a lot of sympathy for scrapes and scratches.  On the other hand, you get lectured a lot for all the horrible things that might happen if you aren't extremely careful. You get a lot of education about hand washing, and safety and all the things that might (but honestly, probably won't) happen. 

It really stinks to be a nurse's kid when you maybe have a tendency to exaggerate your symptoms, have some reason to miss school a few times a week (which amazingly resolves about 1 hour after school starts), and maybe might possess just a teensy flare for the dramatic. 

Today this nurse's kid didn't feel good.  However, he doesn't feel good about 3 days out of the school week. Some days it's a headache. Sometimes he's soooo tired.  Some mornings it's a really bad stomach ache.  I'm not saying it's not true, or that he doesn't feel crummy some days. However, most of the time if I let him stay home (which has happened a LOT this year), he is fine pretty soon after the school bell rings. 

Last night this boy had some stomach issues.  They are real, and need to be addressed, however it is transient and not related to illness caused by germs.  I helped him out with some over the counter meds and he slept pretty well the second half of the night.  He really didn't want to go to school but I made him.  Well, I bribed him.  I told him if he could make it through the day I'd get him a reward.  He went, and seemed okay after school.  I had planned to go with him to a Relay for Life event with some people from work, and the person I was going with had a boy his age.  He was happy to go with me.  Then we arrived and almost instantly he didn't feel well.  I pushed him to stay for a bit longer, until I put my hand on his head and realized he felt warm.  Darn it.  I was wrong this time. 

Poor kid suffered all day at school, then mom drags him to an event that mostly involves a lot of walking.  He's on the couch beside me now with a fever.  When I gave him some tylenol for the fever, he was having trouble taking it. Rolling it around in his mouth, not drinking the water I had for him. (Drama.) These words came out of my mouth: "Be a good patient, Ben.  You know how to take a pill." 

There are definitely a few drawbacks of being a nurse's kid. 

It's been awhile

The last few years have brought changes and growth for our family.  Little things like nursing school and transitioning to full time working have gotten in the way of writing.  Big changes are on the horizon which have me thinking a lot.  When I think a lot things can kind of spiral and it gets hard to process everything..  Maybe if I get back to writing about our little adventures I'll be able to retain a little sanity.

Overreaction

So there are things about me that I know. One. I hate when things break. Particularly when they are things that are expensive and important and SHOULD NOT break. Two. If something isn't how it should be I might be prone to jumping to the worst possible conclusion. Try as I might... Kevin's a little late from work I worry he's been in an accident (we're talking 10 minutes... crazy!) Today, when there was water in the floor I wiped it up.  When water appeared in the exact same spot a few minutes later I started to get a little panicky.  What causes water to mysteriously appear from beneath the floor?  Broken pipes that's what. Broken pipes that require calling plumbers and ripping up my pretty floor and oh my gosh how expensive is this going to be? Well. Homeowners insurance will cover it. What's our deductible? Pretty high, but I'll be working soon so that should be okay. How long is the warranty on our house? Would the builder maybe have to compensate for a repair like this?  See, after I freak out I go through this process of figuring out how it will all be okay.  Suddenly though, it occurred to me today that the ice maker was turned off when we got home from vacation. Water spot was right near the fridge and even though I turned the ice maker back ON it had never actually produced any ice.  In fact, I had heard the water run a few minutes ago and that is kind of odd even though it didn't occur to me at the time. Hmm. I wonder. I pulled the fridge out and there was water back there... promising although disturbing because standing water + electrical appliance = SCARY!! Then the ice maker ran water again and it leaked all over the floor.  Hallelujah! I turned that bad boy O-F-F and wiped up all the water one last time. Glad I didn't call the plumber quite yet!

Stingy

Yesterday Zack got stung by a wasp.  We were at the pool and the kids were drying out at the playground before we left. He was literally walking to the van and just started flipping out a little bit. I knew some other kids had been stung recently so I put two and two together.  He calmed down but it was still hurting him and starting to welt up quite a bit when we got home. 

A while back Kevin bought an extractor thing for times like these and I actually had the good sense to find and use it to help my boy. The thing says for snake bites which I am oh so thankful we haven't experienced that (knock on wood!!!) But it works super great for things like fire ant, mosquito bites and wasp stings, apparently. 

I also put tea tree oil (mixed with coconut oil) on the site of the sting and sent him to take a bath. By the time he got back to me, his arm looked like this.  I've just recently started experimenting with essential oils, but so far I've had success. 

I'm really happy this didn't cause him any more pain and stress than it needed to. I've had wasp stings that hurt for hours and this one was invisible and pain free in a matter of minutes!

Back to Blogging (I hope!)

I have a ginormous zit on my face and I just don't get it. Hello face, I'm not a teenager! Oh and I picked it and made it bleed.  So, now here I sit with a gargantuan (bleeding) pimple on my chin. That's not really why I'm here, obviously. I'm here because I need to write. Particularly, I need to write for a brand new nursing blog I'm contributing to and I've started about 5 different things and the words just aren't flowing. So, I figured what better time to come on to my own poor, neglected bloggy spot and just write whatever comes to mind. AND that happened to be the very moment I realized my blemish was bleeding. Lucky you!

Other things of note... I graduated nursing school. I passed the NCLEX (UGLY, awful, horrible test... but I passed!) I am an RN.  It hasn't really sunk in yet, but I'm sure that will change once I start my RN job later this month. Oh and of course this new project I am super excited about working on a blog for my wonderful friend's Travel Nursing Website (which I will of course link to once its up and running.  Assuming I can get some words down. Hope to be around here more!

It's like a magnet

I keep feeling drawn back here - to bloggy land. Things will happen, I will think "I should blog that" and I don't because time gets away from me.

Just now, though I commented on More Mom Time and the picture made me laugh because that's me and my fifth grader when he was in kindergarten!  My oldest is 11 and I think my bio says he's 7.  My tiny guy will be 7 in February.  So even though there are chores and studies to be done I think I simply must make some updates.  Don't you agree? 

Unintended Hilarity

My boys are big into practical jokes.  Most of the time it's hilarious.  I'm trying to teach them not to let it go too far or turn into things that make people feel bad... But an ice cube down the shirt never hurt anyone, and it keeps life fun.

So, last night when playing cards came out of the ice cube dispenser it was only natural for Eric to respond with "Alright, who is the joker who put cards in the ice maker?"

It took me a minute to process this because I remembered something happening with the cards but nothing to do with the ice maker.  So once my summer induced brain fog lifted a little I remembered. Those cards had been put on top of the refrigerator, but not quite far back enough, so when I had opened the freezer they fluttered down to the floor.  I picked them up and put them up on the top of the refrigerator again.  SO, apparently some of them made their way down into the ice dispenser.

I never would have dreamed even if I tried to orchestrate this little funny event that they would come all the way through and into a cup.

Life is funny that way!  Sometimes when you least expect it you get a good laugh.

Mystery Rashes

I just took my two little ones to Publix for a few things.  While Ben was getting out of the car I noticed some little pink dots on his feet and legs.  Now, it's not all that strange for Ben to get rashes. He has seriously sensitive skin.  But this rash was different that what I'd seen.  As Zack got out of the car, I saw the exact same spots.

My mind raced.  What on earth? Zack NEVER gets rashes.

I listed the possibilities. 

Allergy?  - Hadn't fed them anything unusual and they wouldn't have the exact same allergic reaction.

Virus?  - They probably wouldn't show up with the exact same symptoms at the exact same time. 

I grew more and more perplexed over this when suddenly I remembered.  They were pouring some strawberry banana juice earlier in the evening and spilled it all over. They cleaned it up as I asked them to. 

I got home and prescribed baths for both and sure enough, the mystery was solved.  Juice splash.  Thank goodness :)

The little crazy things resolve.

So about the crazy...

The car seems to be working well.  No engine light, no weird shifting.  I'm crossing my fingers and toes that it stays this way and we finally got the final fix.

I found the red box movie. I had it for 10 days. It was in a little cubby hole in the van.  Actually Ben found the movie when I had given up on looking for it. While we were driving, completely by accident.  So, 12 dollars later I turned the stupid movie in. I should have called them and just bought it. Because we didn't even get to watch it. 

We evicted the stray cat from the garage.  Actually all my best efforts failed because I was scared of the thing.  It took up residence behind some boards and I was afraid if I moved them it would attack me.  Cats are scary (aren't they?). So, I left the garage door open and eventually it left. I've seen it roaming around here and there. I still don't know if it has a home. It doesn't look starving or anything.

Good stuff is happening here. Lots of summer fun, and it's exactly what we need right now. We are going to visit my brother and family in Pensacola this weekend and I have so much left to do and it is now midnight so I guess it is left for tomorrow. Once I'm home I need to find a better schedule and motivation to implement it. 

More little things

More little things:
Ben talking about his heart "beeping" instead of beating. 

The boys ganging up on me and throwing me in the pool. (Ok, I could have fought harder, but the laughter was well worth it.

Lots of hugs and kisses and "I love yous" coming from the guys. They are really the sweetest, most loving little boys.

The little things can drive you a little bit crazy too, though. 

My car still inexplicably keeps rejecting components of the transmission. Everytime they think they've got it something else fails. I'm really out of energy. This last fix I had to pay for (most of the others have been under warranty of the initial repair.) That was yesterday, and the check engine light came on again today.  So, I'm going back to AAMCO tomorrow and I probably am going to talk to another shop to see if I can get a better idea of why this is happening. Summer fun at it's finest!

There is a cat that has take up residence in our garage.  I'm scared. I don't like cats. Maybe it's the severe allergy talking, but I have no desire to do more than try to shoo it away from afar. Mark wants to adopt it. I told him we can feed it (it doesn't look hungry, but I can't see a collar so I don't know if it's a stray.) It's hiding out, though, escaping from the torrential rains we are having.  I hope he decides to vacate soon.

Yesterday, we rented two redbox movies.  One of them is MIA and I have looked everywhere. No one remembers where they put it.  I told them if I have to pay for it we aren't getting anymore movies this summer. 


Yet, I must remember that life is good. Things can annoy, but all in all I am thankful. Thankful for my family, for the best friends a girl could ask for, and just for the amazingness of this world we live in. The trick is to keep that in mind and keep all the little things in perspective.

It's the little things

So a little tiny bit of honesty. Things have been stressful and difficult these last few months.  But sometimes it helps to just see what's good.

Today was good.  It was actually great.  I was able to go to Animal Kingdom with Eric for his 5th grade field trip. Things still weighed on my mind, but it was just fun.

Coming home to my guys and snuggling with Ben was A-mazing. It's been so long since I've just sat and snuggled with my kiddos. It's shameful, but that is about to change.

Driving home from my parents house and singing with the boys along with the radio.  And then laughing so hard when we got the words wrong or sang out of tune.

Life throws a lot of curve balls. It's hard to understand. Choosing to cling to these little things that feel good eases everything just a little.

Ben

Funny how things change but still they stay the same.  Ben is 6 now and finishing up his first year of kindy. HOW is my tiny baby boy about to be a first grader? And do you remember when he was tiny and driving me crazy with the climbing and escaping and getting into things?  I clicked a random link in my blog just now and ran across this post . He was tenacious! He would do anything to get what he wanted... and he still is the same. A little daredevil who got one of his only "yellows" in school this year for running up the slide and jumping off of the play structure. The poor teacher was so worried about a broken arm (and he mostly got in trouble for NOT stopping when told to stop.) He has no fear which may serve him well in life if he can survive long enough to temper it a little. He's learning to take no for an answer a little better. Often it involves some stomping and begging for me to change my mind, but less often will he out and out defy me and do it anyway. It's a process.

His teacher told me recently."Ben has so much energy! But he has the sweetest most caring heart." It made me tear up because it's true. So often I see it. He has so much love and compassion in that little wild heart of his.  It means so much to know that others see it too!

                                                Ben May 23, 2013 Splash Day at school.

So it's been a while

Looking at my last post I can't believe it was December that I was last here. Haven't blogged, haven't read blogs.  I have pretty much spent most of the last 5 months buried under books and trying to keep things in some semblance of order. 

But I finished my first year of nursing school!  I survived! And while school is so very challenging I really do love the part about becoming a nurse at the end.  Just one more year.

There is SO much to catch up on, but I never have been very good at catching up. I'm more a pick up in the here and now sort.  I'm enjoying the time off while the kids are still in school. I'm working on getting things orderly and keeping up with the chores.  I'm also trying to think of the things that I really miss from before I went back to school and writing is on the list. 

Reading that last post way back from December makes me giggle, because we've tried riding bikes to school a few times since then. Usually with similar results. Someone falls, someone bleeds.  The big kids end up getting aggravated so I tell them to go on ahead. Then they still want to do it again. There was an incident when I FORGOT we had biked to school and drove and just almost got in the pick up line. Thankfully at the last second, I remembered, went and parked the car (illegally) and met them at the place where bikers get released.  I explained the situation, and two of my guys decided to hitch a ride with me, putting bike and scooter in the back of the van. The other two rode home on bikes without me. This last time, things went well though. No falls, no whines, no need for the bandaids I stashed in the wasteband of my yoga pants. Then on the way home, my bike got a flat and I got to walk the bulk of the way home.

In spite of it all, do you know what the guys ask me most mornings now that I'm done with school?  "MOM! Can we bike to school today?"  This week has been full of morning appointments and such for me, but tomorrow, I might just say yes.

Blood, Sweat, and Tears.. and dead things

You know the time when you decide to say yes more often, and be a better mom?  The time when the kids say "Can we ride bikes to school?" And you say "SURE!" and you just know it's going to be great! You'll get some exercise! The kids will be happy! And some of the excess energy (ha! I just typed injury by accident - foreshadowing perhaps..) out of the crazy boys.  Win for everyone, right?

Well let's examine the reality. The reality involves one child falling off the scooter multiple times.  One time he was pretty badly scraped up, and guess who didn't have any band aids.  Yep - this one... right here.  All told, the ride to school wasn't too terrible aside from the bleeding. The real fun was on the way home.

It started out with me helping Ben with his helmet. I knelt down on the grass and got attacked by ants.  They were all over my feet so now I'm itchy and welty.  Fun! Then, Zack fell again.  This time, I was smart and had band aids. Alas, I only shoved TWO band aids in my pockets and this job clearly required 3 or 4. By this time, my bigger boys had given up on us and ridden home with some friends.

Along the way, Ben saw a possum ( I think, maybe a raccoon?) lying at the side of the road.  He asked me about it and I explained that it had died and he bursted into tears. After I talked to him for a bit, he brightened up and said "Maybe we just need to take him to the hospital? Is there a hospital for animals?"  To which I tried to explain that the animal was dead and there was nothing that could be done without be completely morbid with my 5 year old.  He was OK.  He decided as we left that maybe it could come back to life.  SIGH. I didn't correct him.

Then it rained.

Fine, it was just a sprinkle. A more dramatic end would be that it poured and we all got soaking wet, but reality is it just sprinkled. We've snacked and neosporined, and now everyone is playing outside and hopefully will remain uninjured.

I think tomorrow we will drive.

More Funny Stuff

So today was McDonald's night for the kids school.  You know, where part of the proceeds go to the kids' school and they get to see their teachers at McDonald's.  For my boys this is the single most exciting thing EVER.  Because seeing teachers outside of school is just so exciting and different! (Because they don't quite yet realize that teachers have their own kids and families and lives and stuff. It's a cute thing to see how giddy they are.  If we run into a teacher at Publix forget about it!  Teachers need groceries??? Who knew?)

Anyway.  We saw all the teachers, except one. Ben's teacher wasn't there during the same time we were, and it didn't occur to me it would even be an issue.  It was totally an issue. Even though he saw his math teacher, and other teachers that work with him it was simply NOT okay that he didn't see his Language Arts teacher.  As we walked out the door, he burst into tears in a most dramatic way. I was feeling pretty good, after a good day, and then getting to talk with some of the most awesome human beings (teachers are AMAZING people, by the way. My boys are blessed with good ones - the best!) So, I was trying to think of a way to deal with ridiculousness without getting grumpy or ruining everyone's day.  So completely without thinking about it, and after trying many different rational ways to help my boy feel better, I said "Okay Ben, here's the deal. I get it that you are sad Mrs. B wasn't there. But it's time to be done with the crying. So, I'm going to count to three and you are going to let out your very loudest cry, and then you are going to move on."  We were still in our parking place, so I was watching his reaction in the rear view. He had to fight soooooo very hard not to crack a smile.  I braced for the very loudest cry, but it never came.  He was simply fine after that.

I think sometimes, if we can just confuse them to the very limit, it works to our advantage.

 I'm still laughing that it worked. It probably WON'T work next time... but at least the crying stopped.

Kindergarten Tales

A few minutes ago, Ben announced to me that his clip got moved to yellow.  Obviously, I asked why. He said for chatting. I told him he shouldn't talk while his teacher is talking.  He told me his teacher was testing kids outside and Ms. M came into class.  I asked what Ms. M looked like and he said she had an afro.  Hmmm.  I couldn't think of any subs with afros.  I asked if she was old or young and he didn't know, but when I asked if it was dark hair or blond hair he said it was pink and purple.  This makes me wonder about the validity of the whole story, because I know a lot of teachers at the school, and I have NEVER seen a sub with a pink and purple afro.

What will I do with him?

Amazing

We went to the beach today. It amazes me still, that in a day  we can pack up, hit the beach, and make it home by dinner.  Every time I drive to Kevin's office over the Howard Frankland I am amazed that I really live here.  Anyway, after a perfect day at the beach, on the way home I realized Eric's glasses were missing.  After some sleuthing of the 4 adults in the car we pieced it together that they were probably sitting in the spot where we were loading stuff out of the boat, and back in the van.  The absolutely amazing miracle part of it all, is that when Kevin and Eric went back to check if they were salvageable, they were sitting untouched and unscathed.  Amazing! 

I am grateful!

Rudeness

I am in.a.mood. 

My basic demeanor lends me toward being happy. I get stressed and anxious, sure. I worry about stuff that I can't control and I think I might be a little on the hyper side. For the most part I identify myself as a happy person. I let things roll off my back.  I go with the flow.  And sometimes... rude people really piss me off.

So I went to Wal-Mart.  This goes against my rule of "Never go to Wal-Mart on the weekend because all the crazies are there and Rebecca, you are simply going to get irritated."  I really should just FOLLOW my rules and life would be good.  But I had already been to Publix today, and another of my crazy character traits is I get all weird about going to the same store twice in one day.  I don't know why I care. It doesn't even matter.  Anyway, needed a couple of things I had forgotten and went on to the store. 

The situation that occurred had nothing to do with Wal-Mart. It had to do with some crazy lady who was determined to get a parking space.   My philosophy on parking is I'd rather walk than stalk a spot and wait for someone to unload their stuff.  Walking is HEALTHY.  Waiting is kind of a waste of time. And time is precious because due to my inability to organize and remember what I need to buy on a given day I seem to never have enough.

So here's what happened.  I am driving in the parking lot looking for a space.  Not necessarily a close space just a space.  I rounded the corner and there was a car pulling out.  There was also a car that had fully passed the car pulling out just sitting there.  In the way, so the guy couldn't even pull out.  I sat there and waited for the lady to pull on up and go for the next space, but she didn't. I guess in her mind she got their first.  In my mind she needed to move on because she was past the point of no return. Right? Am I wrong?  So I sat there and felt my blood pressure rise because I don't do confrontation but I felt this very strong urge to stand my ground.  She waved me to go around her and I smiled and waved that she should go on.  She glared at me. I sat there. Then she started backing up all the while glaring at me as if to bully me to move.  I continued to stand my ground and then she did something I couldn't believe.  Maybe it's just because I couldn't pull this particular backing up maneuver.. or maybe that I would never, ever have the audacity to do this... she swerved around me and continued backing. There wasn't room for her there.  I was scared the crazy lady was going to hit me at this point and ended up honking my horn and moving on. You should have seen the look on her face when I honked. As if I was the unreasonable one here.

My analysis of this situation (because oh my goodness, I am the Queen of rehashing and over analysis) is as follows:

1. She was crazy.  Or maybe not. Maybe she just really wanted that parking space.  She was thin, so I doubt she was lazy. Perhaps it was because she had gotten there first.  Yet, the rule I follow is if I am past the space when I see the person is leaving and someone is behind me I figure it's my loss and the next guy gets the space.

2. The poor guy who was trapped in the parking space was probably doubly annoyed at our little standoff.  And rightly so.

3.  I completely overreacted. 

I was so embarrassed that I didn't even go into Wal-Mart. I ran into CVS on the way home since I really only needed a couple of things.

I am slightly irritated that I ended up bailing out.  But clearly this other lady wasn't backing down. She's probably celebrating her victory right now. The funny thing is I didn't even care about the parking space (really!)  I just was so appalled at her bossy, rude behavior.  In the end, none of it matters. I'm laughing now at how upset I became over something so silly.  But it seems like politeness is becoming a lost art.  That's what disturbs me the most.

Summer Time Wrap Up

So this summer has been absolutely nothing like I envisioned. It  hasn't been bad, just as often happens the reality is different from the expectation.

We were going to spend lots of afternoons at the pool.  Instead, a lot of times by the time we got our chores done it was raining, so we've had to find inside stuff to do.

I had a whole schedule lined out. We were going to  have reading time every day and handwriting practice and a host of other scheduled items.  I never actually got around to any of it.  The boys did read most days because they are avid readers.

I devoted more time than I anticipated to getting paperwork ready for nursing school. Which the boys patiently endured. (Thank you boys!)

My patience has at times worn beyond thin. Then I've recovered and moved on.

The boys have fought way more than I expected. But they are learning to work these things out on their own (now to get them to work it out without smacking each other!)

The really funny thing is, that seems to happen to me often, is that we are kind of in a good groove now.  Wake up, chores, relax, go play. In the groove just in time to start back to school. I'm not ready. I think they might be though.

Puppies

So when people used to tell me having a puppy was like having a baby and I'd scoff because babies are PEOPLE and puppies are DOGS.  I still see that distinction, but I can now also totally see the parallels.  Let's explore:
Babies get you up at night. They need to eat and be changed.  You sleepily feed them and change them and if you are reallllllly lucky you can sleep for a few hours before waking up again.  I still remember this phase and it is very very hard, and completely harder than puppydom, so if you are in the middle of the newborn phase please don't take this the wrong way.  Puppies get you up at night.  They have to pee.  You have to get up, get shoes, meander outdoors and stand there while you wait for them to do their business, and then if you are lucky, they fall asleep and you can do the same.

Actually, I never ever thought I'd be so in tune with the bathroom habits of an animal. It's all consuming.  I was never actually good at potty training.  It eventually got done.  Right now we do pretty well, as long as I am very nearly OCD about what the dog is doing.  We spend a LOT of time outside.  Figuring out how to get her to "ask out" is eluding me.  I have several doggie training books on hold at the library. If books can't fix it I don't know what can!  It's not bad but I am a very type B personality, and if I have to obsess about stuff for too long it takes a toll on me. 

The rest of living with a baby dog is more like having a two year old than a newborn.  They like to chew, they love to get into stuff. Just when you thought you had everything picked up, you find them chewing on something that you missed (this may be exacerbated by the 4 boy factor.) And the energy! She runs like lightning. Then two seconds later she's out like a light. Yep, much like a little 2 year old.

But despite it all she's CUTE! And we are all a little smitten with the new little creature in our family.