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.