Flu shots, pumpkins, and boredom (oh my!)...

We took the kids to get their seasonal flu shots this morning, finally. Aiden and Paige were old enough to qualify for the nasal mist, but Finn still had to get a shot. This was expected; the kids were warned ahead of time. Aiden was told that kicking the nurse administering the vaccine was not an appropriate method of protestation. Once in the exam room, Aiden was quite emphatically NOT GOING FIRST!!!! That was fine, we did the reverse birth order... Finn, Paige, then our Drama King. Finn barely made a peep getting his shot, tough kid. Paige was a little confused with the whole nasal mist thing, but she finally got it and inhaled the medicine without complaint. Aiden sat watching it all. Mid-sniff from Sister, and Aide clamps his hands over his nose and starts protesting (loudly) that he is NOT doing that, and he is also NOT getting a shot. Somewhat long, embarrassing story short; the kid ends up in my lap with me clamping onto his head and hands while the nurse quick-squirts-this-crap-in-as-fast-as-she-can while Aiden screams. I have a quick, uncomfortable flashback to The Lego Incident last year. When it was all over, Aiden sat up, blinked owlishly, sniffed, and said, "That didn't hurt..... I didn't feel anything!!!"

On a better note, it was pumpkin carving afternoon today. The kids refused to scoop out pumpkin guts, but at least Paige touched them. Aiden actually helped transfer patterns for the first time today, and had a great time. We're excited to see what they look like lit up on Halloween night.

And boredom...... Really, I'm bored tonight. After all the running around I did at the end of last week and beginning of this week, I have a night with literally nothing to do. I wanted to enjoy this time by catching up on a couple of shows or a movie with the hubby. So not going to happen tonight. Chris is a Yankees fan. Tonight is the first game of the World Series. So, apparently he had a date with some snacks, a beer, and the DVR that I wasn't totally aware of when I was plotting my evening. Stupid Yankees..... I might peruse the bookshelf for an old favorite to re-read, but I'm not really in the mood for that, either. I think I need a pile of new books.

Overextended much???

Halloween is our favorite holiday. Most of you know this already. I love to bake, carve pumpkins, and be a part of my kids' activities,; generally try to make each Halloween/ harvest season as memorable as possible. Usually I'm pretty good at scheduling our activities pretty evenly. Not this week.....

I was looking at my calendar mid last week, and started doing the math..... Work: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. Monday: recover (ie sleep) after work, Paige's end of season soccer party- the soccer party I volunteered to bake a cake for. Hmmmm.... Tuesday morning: Paige preschool- where I volunteered to be parent helper for the day, and bring cupcakes for the Halloween party. Aiden school; also having a Harvest party that I was sending cupcakes to. Oh, and there was the Mommy & Me Halloween party that I was looking forward to taking Finn to.... at the same time as Paige's preschool class. Paige is supposed to wear her costume to the Halloween party- a costume I have yet to finish..... Wednesday morning: to the peds office for flu vaccines (finally)!!! Carve pumpkins.... somewhere in there, so I can head back to work Thursday and Friday nights. Oh yeah, and we have Aiden's parent teacher conference Thursday afternoon. Holy crap when am I going to get all this done?????

Well, Chris volunteered to take my parent helper day at Paige's school this year with the understanding that the Halloween party day would be mine next year. This left me free to take Aiden and Finn to the Mommy & Me Halloween party (which incidentally isn't very fun when you don't know the other moms). I baked the cakes for the Dinosaur Soccer party cake on Thursday and stuck them in the freezer. I worked Friday, and Saturday nights, then prayed for an A-day Sunday night so I could sleep and then run all day Monday. Didn't get it.... oh well. So, Monday morning when I got home, I baked cupcakes, shaped and base frosted the dino cake, then headed to bed around 10. I slept like the dead until 3:30. And when I got up, I discovered that Paige had a fever and was developing a cough. CRAP!!!!!

Well, I had to finish the dino cake. Even though it looked like Sis wasn't going to make her party, I still volunteered the cake. So, I final frosted the dino, and frosted cupcakes. After dropping off the cake at the party (Paige was passed out on the kitchen floor at the time, so we dodged a fit there), we got the kids to bed. I was pretty sure Paige wasn't going to school on Tuesday (so bummed!!! We love Mrs. Mills' Halloween day at school- the kids get to go trick-or-treating in the Rec center and everything...), but figured if I DIDN'T finish her Halloween costume she'd wake up in perfect health the next day. So, I pulled out the sewing machine and wrapped up her kitty costume. Finally, after relaxing with Chris, the DVR, and Dancing with the Stars, I dragged my exhausted self to bed.

Paige woke up with a fever this morning, and missed her second party of the week, but wore her kitty costume at home all day anyway. After that particularly brutal Monday, the rest of the week is going to be easy!!!!

Aiden & Finn at the Mommy & Me party

A family visit and end of season soccer

What a great weekend at our house!!!

Kelsey (Chris' younger sister), her 4 kids and Gram all came out to visit for a couple days. As you know, they got in late Thursday night. (The kids didn't make it into bed until almost midnight that night; it just about killed me!!!) Aiden and Paige were so excited that they were beside themselves. "Where is Aunt Kelsey now, Mommy???" "Are they here yet???" As soon as they got there, Aiden pulled his I'm-going-to-hide-so-they-can't-see-me stunt..... silly kid... With the way the toys came out and the kids ran around the house, you would have thought it was the middle of the afternoon and not after 10 at night!

At bedtime, Aiden and Paige insisted on sleeping with their cousins. It was very sweet to see Paige squish herself into the sleeping bag with Ellie (and very nice of Ellie to share!), and Aiden wiggle himself in between Brogan and Asher. Although the kids ended up in bed with me and Chris that first night, they all slept in the same room after that.


There were 7 kids in the house this weekend, aged 6 and under. I thought it would be wild and chaotic, but really it was just a lot of fun. The kids kept each other busy, and it didn't seem like there were too many meltdowns- at least until the end of the weekend when they had been playing hard for 2 days. Aiden and Brogan are best friends, and spent the weekend playing school and singing songs in Spanish (which Aide is learning) and Chinese (Brogan's second language). Ellie and Paige retreated into pony land- when they weren't being recruited as "students" in the school games, and Asher entertained himself by entertaining me. At first Finn didn't quite know what to make of Everett, but I think he decided that it was pretty cool to have another baby around that was his size. They spent the weekend taking toys from one another, and trying to grab each others' binkis.




Saturday morning saw us all getting bundled into our coats and packing up to go to Aiden and Paige's last soccer games of the season. They were so excited that Gram and Aunt Kelsey were going to be there to see them play. Of course, no one was expecting it to be so cold.... The temperature read 46 degrees, but that didn't take the wind chill into consideration. We bundled the babies, got the kids running, and managed to make it through Aiden's game. He chose to play defense this week (of course), so Gram and Kels didn't get to see him do much but dance in front of the goal. He did get out into the field for a few minutes, though, and helped the team score.



I'm pretty sure were were all mostly frozen through after Aide's game, but we still had Paige's to go. She didn't get the whole fam on the sidelines at once..... We packed everyone into the cars, and parked where we could see the field- then took turns braving the cold to watch her play. Gram was out there when she kicked in the only goal her team scored for the game. I wish I had taken a picture of her in her soccer uniform and bright pink Eskimo coat.... Oh well. In the end, popsicles though we were, everyone had a great time.

(Pictures from the week before, when it was actually warm......)

We were sad to see everyone leave, and the kids are already bored again without their cousins. It's back to "life as normal" for them, and they're not too happy about it! We love having visitors at our place, but as Chris pointed out, it's our turn to travel to family next.

Bedtime

I am a bedtime nazi.... We start bedtime routine at our place between 7:30 and 7:45 every night (I'm home, anyway). My kids are in bed by 8:30 at the latest every night. Now, I'm not saying they are asleep by then.... just tucked in. Finn usually goes to bed at 7:00, so he's long asleep by the time the big kids turn in.

We have company coming from the Portland area this weekend (woohoo!!!), and they are not going to get in until late. We're talking 9:30 or 10:00. Chris and I decided it would be okay for the kids to stay up until their cousins get here, since they know the kids are coming and have been dying to see them. It's a special treat for them. That being said, I'm going NUTS!!!!!

It's 9:25, and the kids are actually being very good. But they're awake and downstairs. My usual night-time routine of cleaning up and then relaxing has totally been shot. How do parents who let their kids stay up late do this???? I love my children dearly, but I also love my few hours of kid-free time every night. If the cousins take too much longer to get here, I think my kids will be headed to bed.

Oh, and the best part.... Even though they'll get to bed way later than usual, they'll still be up at the crack of day tomorrow morning. No sleeping in for them! Aiden especially.

Laundry.....

..... that's what I'm doing tonight. It seems like that's what I'm always doing. I remember when I had Aiden, someone told me that the laundry would multiply and overflow. That's just what happens when you have kids. Well, it didn't. Adding Aiden to the family didn't seem to change the laundry flow at all. Now, when Paige came along... that was a different story!!! Suddenly it seemed like there was laundry coming out of our ears. But it was still manageable; I could wash clothes every other week. And as long as everything was put away right after it was washed and folded (hahahahahahahahahaha.....), it seemed like there was a little time with no laundry hanging over my head. Enter baby #3, everyday school, and soccer.... Now we have laundry coming out our ears, leaking from under beds, trailing down the stairs, and in residence on our recliner in the living room. There is ALWAYS laundry that needs to be done, even if I just finished washing everything yesterday! Where does it come from???? Why does it stalk me??? Sometimes I wonder why I even bother trying to get things put away when they will be chasing me through the house in just a matter of days' time.

I wish there was a laundry fairy.

Oh yeah, there is.

Me.


And my first "horrible mother" moment with Finn.
We all hate those. Poor baby was sitting on my lap (I was sitting on the floor criss-cross applesauce, as the kids say these days). Finn lunged for something in front of him, and I didn't catch him in time. He hit the floor face first (we have hardwoods covered by a rug), and of course let out a wail. I felt awful! Then, I felt even worse when I realized that he had blood pooling from his mouth. The kid only has one tooth!!!! Where is all this blood coming from??? We never found out... the bottom of his tongue maybe? He wailed for awhile, but managed to calm down. A bath, bottle, and some tylenol later the little guy headed to bed.
Sorry, buddy....

8 years and counting...

Wow, 8 years sure goes by fast!!! (Or 11 1/2 for that matter....) I'm pretty sure that 8 years ago, I wouldn't have guessed that I'd be sitting here tonight, eating takeout with my husband in the noisy presence of our three beautiful children, contemplating the staffing at work, how fast the baby is growing, and what I'm going to say in tonight's blog post. I might have gotten the kids right, or the dinner with my hubby. But pretty sure I would have imagined a more quiet dinner at a restaurant somewhere, without worrying about hiding dessert from a certain almost-4-year-old.... Pretty sure I like the reality much better.

I can't say it was the most exciting anniversary ever.... We got Paige off to school this morning, Aiden to school in the afternoon, I took Finn to the Mommy & Me class we sometimes frequent, Chris and I fit in a couple episodes of Bones, I took a nap on the couch, then had a staff meeting at work. But it was a beautiful example of an everyday day in our marriage. Now I'm on the couch, a Yankees game on the TV (NOT my choice, but Dancing with the Stars IS on the schedule for later), looking forward to eating that dessert we hid from Paige earlier..... Mundane as it may seem sometimes, I love our lives! Thanks for 8 (11.5) great years, honey; may they continue to be fabulous!!! And thank you for ordering me a Diet Coke when you thought I might need one. That's true love.

I've heard more Spanish out of Aiden today than so far this school year. He's finally singing me songs that they're learning in class, giving me an idea of what and how fast he is learning. Aide can count in Espanol (as he calls it now), say the days of the week and the alphabet. They are working on learning the months, among other things. He won a sticker in class today for getting Bingo in a game. They have to talk about the letters in Spanish as part of the game. I'm so glad he's learning and having fun. On a side note, he is still doing well with reading. I was afraid that would take a hit when we added the second language.

I put Finn on the scale at the Baby & Me class this morning. Granted, this scale is often off half to three-quarters of a pound, and Finn WAS fully clothed. Still, the number astounded me.... It said 19# 14oz!!!!! Aiden weighed 19# 15 when he turned 1! Wow, the kid just keeps growing and growing on us......


So, who do you think??? Finn, or Aiden?














Aiden, at 6 or 7 months

So frustrating!!!!

I need to pass some time. So, my plan is to finally watch that Netflix movie that I've had lying around for a month. With Dancing with the Stars, Castle, and Bones there hasn't been much other free TV time for watching anything else. I've got everything all set up and am ready to pass 2 hours and 10 minutes according to the movie sleeve. Until I pull the movie out and see that it is a Blu-ray DVD. Argghhh.... I didn't un-click the stupid box that automatically chooses blu-ray if the DVD is available in that format!!!! I'm not at home, I don't have another movie with me to watch, and I've finished my book. Here I thought I was planning ahead......... I have 5 and a half hours to trudge through, and nothing interesting to keep me busy.

Well, internet games here I come.

End of the week thoughts

So my goal was to post here daily.... But I think that's not very realistic on the nights I work. And really not very interesting for the reader, either.... Since I'm a nurse working at a hospital (especially), our pt care is all wrapped up in HIPPA. I get it, really I do.... But it makes telling stories about the funny or amazing things that happen at work hard. We are all smart enough not to use names any more, but where I work even situations are so patient specific that someone could potentially guess who I'm talking about without me mentioning a name- or even a room number! So, I probably won't relate too many funny, interesting, crazy, or amazing work stories here. According to the Women's Services Director, it's just too public and you never know who is reading. Grrrr........

I talked to my GI dr's nurse today; they got the results of my MRI from Wednesday. Lucky for me, everything came back clean. Woohoo!!!! The inflamation and residual fluid left over from my bile leak this summer are improving, and everything else is working the way it should. We've decided that it is just taking an extraordinarily long time for my body to process the toxins from the leak. I have to have follow up labs again in a couple weeks, but compared to some procedures giving a little blood is nothing.

One of my favorite days of the year

Woo hoo!!!! It's Pumpkin Patch Day!!!!

Okay, so we tried to go to the pumpkin patch yesterday, but got rained out. Bummer for us; especially since I'd made chicken soup and homemade cinnamon rolls to have after we got home. Oh well. We made it there today.

The kids and Chris love the 'patch almost as much as I do. We go to a place called Linder Farms in Meridian. And it keeps growing and growing every year. This year the kids visited the petting zoo again, but actually fed and petted some of the animals. Most of the animals there were babies, so that helped. They even had a camel!!! But he was asleep when we were feeding the other animals, so I didn't get a pic.... Paige had a little hitch with her feed "cup" when she walked up to the pen and held the whole thing out. 2 of the sheep devoured all her feed in about 30 seconds! So, she got another cup, and learned the "proper way" to feed everyone. Aiden even touched the animals, which is always surprising......

The pumpkins themselves were a little disappointing this year. There are usually millions of pumpkins in 3 or 4 different areas spread out over the farm's property. This year, there seemed to be only about half the normal amount of pumpkins, and the ones they had were not very good quality. I wonder if our weird summer had an effect on the growing? Hmmmm..... It wasn't a very pretty day to begin with, either- mostly cloudy with a few sun breaks. But it didn't rain all day..... unit we got out into the pumpkin field. Lucky for us, it was just a quick passing shower. But, because of the extra hurry, I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I usually do.

The kids managed to squeeze in the swings, the bounce house, and the haybale maze before it was time for the end-of-the-trip-snack. They're usually not too interested in the other activities there, but this year were really into them. It was fun to see them running thru the maze trying to figure out which way to go. Then popcorn, and little mini-donuts, and time to go. Finn even had a good time, and crashed in the car on the way home.

On another note, I had my MRI today. Just another in a long list of tests and procedures I've had since my gallbladder surgery in July. Some of my lab values are still high, and my GI doc can't figure out why they aren't back to normal. So, we had an MRI to look at my bile ducts again, in effort to see if they are (still) acting up. I see now why claustrophobic people have to be medicated before undergoing an MRI.... it was a very small space, and LOUD!!! Anyhow, I'm waiting for a call back from my doc with the results. I'm hoping to hear from him either tomorrow of Friday.

Aiden and I made it through Chapter 2 in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone tonight. I love that he loves listening to me read. Hopefully some day soon he'll be the one reading, and I'll be the one listening!

Big Boy...

So, this week Finn has decided that he doesn't want to take a bottle much any more. The whole milk thing is just overrated, and he'd MUCH rather have table food. Finn'll eat just about anything.... Strained foods in the Gerber container, the more textured things for "Graduates", puffs, cereal, Eggo waffles, shredded chicken, shredded cheese, and the list goes on. However, if you try to give him a bottle with the still much needed formula, he'll take maybe an ounce before he's pushing it away. The only way we're successful at getting a whole bottle into him is when he's very tired or in the middle of the night. He'll guzzle the whole 6 ounces at 4am. Go figure. Our baby is trying to grow up into a big boy way too quickly!!!

Oh, and Paige slept with the Purple Kitty last night. And she's sleeping with it tonight, too!!!

Aiden:
"Mom, I threw away the milk container. Not the one from the milk from cows, but the one from the milk from McDonald's...."

Okay, so I still don't have the ins and outs of this whole thing figured out. I want to archive the "Funny kid things" and my "what I'm reading" categories as well as just the regular blog posts. But I don't think I can do that from the sidebar area where they are posted. Soooooo.... you may see repeats posted here- some of the things on my sidebar will end up in the body of the blog since I don't know any other way to archive them. Just skip over what you've read before... Sorry!!!

We were out running errands today, picking up some things to finish up Paige's Halloween costume, looking for shelves, etc, etc. I LOVE Halloween, it's my favorite time of year. Needless to say, I'm a sucker for all the decorations that are out right now. So, apparently, is my daughter. We were at Michael's, and Paige found this shiny purple cat- it's made out of what looks like purple Christmas tinsel on wire and molded into a kitty shape. So far, she's named it "Mr. Kitty", "Violet", and "Mrs. Kitty". Mostly she just calls it "my purple kitty!!!!!".20 bucks she tries to sleep with it tonight.......

Flu shots

Ugh.... It's flu season again. I got a flu shot once, in nursing school. I think it was about 9 years ago, and I haven't had one since. So we all know the media hype about H1N1 (otherwise known as the swine flu) this year. There's seasonal flu every year that can be pretty virulent, but this swine flu has everyone up in arms. We're isolating pts with flu symptoms in separate rooms and dressing in masks and gowns to care for them until their flu swabs come back negative. The entire women's services has adjusted the visitation policy to severely restrict the number of visitors a pt can have- usually something only the NICU does. And our triage sees more "r/o flu" pts now than I think it ever has before. Anyhow, I decided to get my flu shot this year..... It wasn't so bad. But, I've also decided to get the kids vaccinated.

Our pediatrician offers my kids the flu shot every year. I always decline, mostly because my kids aren't in daycare, and until this year weren't in public school. But now Aiden has made it to kindergarten, and is in school with exponentially more kids than he was before. And we have a baby in the house again. So, I called the office wanting to make appts to get the kids their shots. Shouldn't be a problem, right? They have the flu shot (and we're only talking the seasonal vaccine here) every year..... Wrong!!! I was informed that I missed the first "flu clinic" and that I needed to call back the next week. Seems they had run out of vaccine and were waiting for another shipment. Really??? How does one even find out about these flu clinics? Shouldn't the office send out an email, or make phonecalls, or something???? Well, I called back the next week. Apparently they could vaccinate Finn, but not the big kids. Since we live a good 45 minutes away from our pediatrician I opted to wait and call back yet again in another week. That was this morning. This morning I was asked if I'd been put on their call back list (Nooooo.... I've called twice and this is the first I've heard of that......), and told that there was a definite shortage of vaccine for my older kids, but that the office "has something in the works". The receptionist took my number and said they'd be getting back to me. Fantastic.

Does Walgreen's vaccinate kids???

Wow

So, I've been tossing around the idea of this whole blog thing for awhile. My husband has one, my friends have one, so why not??? I'll make one too. After all, there are those few souls out there we know who aren't connected to us through Facebook.

I'm sure it will take me awhile to figure out how this all works.... not being the "tech savvy" one in the house. Chris will help me if I ask him to, but I kind of want to figure it all out on my own. Wish me luck!!!