Struggling Through a Work Weekend

How to get through a work weekend at the hospital:

1. Try to get all home tasks done before your Friday shift
(miserably failed at this one this weekend)

2. Avoid thinking, dwelling and obsessing about the weekend before the weekend

3. Find out what your husband's plans are for the weekend.

4. Give husband strict instructions about house cleanliness codes if he has people over while you are gone.

5. Try not to feel bad that your kids are dancing around excitedly because you are going to be gone. They love you, they just like to have a little more room in your bed.

6.When you are at work, wishing that you could devote more time and attention to your job, remember "for everything there is a season".

7. Daydream about being an ED nurse when you hear a trauma called over the loudspeaker.

8. Refuse to acknowledge the state of your house. You can clean it next week.

9. Make sure you have plenty of starbursts!

10. Everyhour remember how much money you just made and make a list of things to buy

just 8 more hours...

A Little Boy's Paradise

The boys could have spent their whole vacation at this park in Sioux Falls...
See all those rocks and all that water? No railings. They could go anywhere and climb on anything. Well, anywhere that their mama would let them. Which was pretty much anywhere she or the Daddy man would go.

See the big boy jumping the gap? See my little boy hanging on the rail watching?

We didn't do that. I gauge my level of recklessness on where the nearest Level 1 trauma Center is located. It wasn't close enough.

Here we are heading down the into the crevice. See Roman's hands on his head? He does things like that when "it is so scary!"

Daddy and the boys

I am pretty cool - even though it looks like I only have one arm.

Helping Roman avoid the muck.

Lincoln was so funny. He loved climbing on the rocks and dancing. While we were waiting for the light show to start he did this whole rolling all over the grass thing to amuse himself. He also amused the teenage girls nearby. And his mom and grandma.

While at this park Roman stated that he needed to use the bathroom. I took him to the public facilities and he decided he didn't need to go. Something about the poop smeared all over the walls turned him off to the idea. Oh, and the crack in the toilet. He doesn't like broken toilets. On a side note, he was pleased as punch when one of the bathrooms we went to (and believe me we saw the inside of A LOT of bathrooms) had a "cover, just like ours".

But I digress. Anyway, he apparently decided that pooping in his pants was less disgusting than pooping in the available toilet. Well, he thought that until he did it. Then he very quickly realized that the toilet may have not been so bad after all.

I threw his pants out. What else could I do? And do you know what? It never happened again.

Family Vacation was a Success!

Deacon wanted to see Mt. Rushmore.
I had never seen it.
Noah had never been there either.
So we thought, "why not?"
Let's take the preschoolers on an 1800 mile road trip to see the faces!
So we did.
(I can think of a lot of "why not" reasons...but the kids actually did great and we all had a good time)

First we stopped to see my grandparents. My Grandpa Andy is 92 and my Grandma Vivian is almost 85. They were happy to see the boys. See my mom there in blue? We brought her along to be the "Granny Nanny". She was invaluable as an extra set of hands. And it gave us the all important 1:1 ratio.

These are just some pictures I snapped as we drove along through what we call "Teletubby Land". It looks more like the land where the Tellytubbies come to play in real life, only there are no fake rabbits or creepy baby sun.

Those windmills are so HUGE. Noah gave us a little lesson on how they provide energy. He is handy that way :)

Well, I have mountains of laundry to finish, miles to run and milk to buy. Oh and flowers to plant....

Family Shot

Good thing it was shot from behind, so you can't see all the tears...

Sweaty Head Reduction Plan: Summer '09

We got a lot of sweaty little heads around these parts. And though they don't smell HORRIBLE, it is not exactly like a walk through the lilacs. This summer, I am taking matters into my own hands and creating a new plan to minimize the amount of sweat that gets wiped on me.


1. Polar fleece to be banned from wardrobes and bedding as of June 1st

2. Mandated monthly haircuts with buzzer set at a 3 (this also helps with wood tick/deer tick isolation and eradication)

3. Baths QD and prn (for you non nursing types that means "every day and as needed")

4. Personal fan for Deacon at bedside

5. Central AC in use despite the cost

6. Mom to keep a towel at hand for wiping off heads.

7. Mom to keep a towel at hand for wiping any residual sweat off of herself after hugs

8. Plenty of water and popsicles to increase coolness and hydration on the hottest days.
(to come: sticky popsicle residue reduction mission for summer 2009)

9. Pairs of shorts or boxers instead of full sets of pjs

10. Lots of pool time, that way I can't tell if it is sweat or just wet. It makes me feel better.


Oh, how I shudder at the sheer volume of fluids lost.

But oh how I love those sweaty little boys.

Jr. Asparagus

One day Roman came downstairs and plopped down next to me at the kitchen table. "Look what I made, mom! It is Jr. Asparagus!"

And sure enough, it was!

Surely this kid has a future in modern art.

(By the way, the cup was full of water. There was also water all over the bathroom counter and floor, but who am I to distrupt the flow of artistry...)

Happy Birthday Lincoln!

Lincoln turns 2 today!

This is the 1st time I have had a 2 year old without still being in the new baby fog!

He is silly.

He is charming.

He gets into everything.

He just wants to be one of the gang.

And he is.

And he is loved.