Captain Bryan

Yesterday, was such a wonderful day!

After 9 years as a sergeant (and 9 years without ANY promotions), they announced that Bryan will be one of two Sergeants who will be promoted to Captain.

This whole process has been like watching paint dry... the original announcement came out weeks ago... then they all had to file in a letter of intent... with a resume... then the chief had to interview them all.

Weeks and weeks (on top of the years of waiting)... finally... they called Bryan in to tell him his new role.

Very exciting... Wonderful day.

Outdated medicine

Last month, Olivia and Meredith spent the weekend with my parents - which is something they do on occasion. While they were up there, Olivia got a really bad headache. She gets these sinus headaches about one a month, never sick, just a headache. I guess it is allergies and usually just slip her some Claritin - which doesn't do much.

So that weekend, my mother gave her Drixoral, which is a decongestant. She didn't call to ask us if it was ok - she had the medicine and gave it to her. And it worked!! Took away the headache wonderfully.

When she came home the next day, my mother sent her home with the almost empty box (only about 2 pills left).

Nice Grandmotherly thing to do, right?

Did I bother to check the box? No, why would I? I stashed it away in case one of those sinus headaches came back.

Now, even though Olivia is almost 10, she weighs 110lbs. For most medicines that are weight-based for dosing, her body can take the adult dose.

Over the last month she has had to take those two pills... with much success. Works wonders.

Last night, another headache... empty box. So, I send my wonderful hubby to the drug store and ask him to pick up a box of Drixoral for her. Innocent enough...

When he couldn't find any on the shelves, he approached the pharmacist to ask for the med. He said that the lady almost came out of her skin... turns out that Drixoral has been off the market for 3 years!!!

Yes - this made me pick up the box and check the expriation date... EXPIRED AUGUST 2005!!!!!!!!!!

Honestly, it never occurred to me to check an expiration date. Who really looks at that anyway? I have taken many meds that were a few months expired... most are still good. And, actually, this one was probably too - exprired drug usually equals loss of potency. But still....

How embarassing for Bryan, who got lectured on exprired meds (he had the box with him)from the pharmacist. And how this med is not for children.... she doesn't know mine is as big as me.

My mother wasn't even swayed when we called her. She actually said not to worry about not getting it, b/c (are you ready for this?)....

SHE HAS ANOTHER BOX!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know why I'm surprised.... in my house, growing up, leftovers were always good for weeks. (not like the days of my home today). And I never did realize that my mom always had a spare bottle on anitbiotic sitting on the refridgerator shelf.

Never occurred to me that these were NASTY things... just life as normal.

Needless to say, switching back Olivia to Claritin.

Lesson learned... right?

Halloween

So, Halloween has come and gone... and we are getting ready to throw ourselves into the holiday season.

I can't believe how fast this year went by.

Got some photos here of the kids last weekend. Everyone got lots of candy - everyone went trick-or-treating.

Looks like I had a bunch of pirates, a queen, and a 50's girl.

It was a long day, but worth every minute.

I shouldn't go this long....

Believe me when I say that I think about updating this blog everyday. There is just not enough hours in a day for me lately... something has to give and unfortunately it is my blog.

Briefly, here is the updates....

1. School, for me, is going well. Managing to keep an A or A- in all 5 classes. I am finding that the studying does NOT come easily and that I have having to work hard for these grades. (don't forget that less than 85% is not passing at this level, so when I get an 86% on a test... sounds good but it is not). I like to have breathing room and enjoy the high A's that give me that.

I got to intubate my first patient in the OR the other day. Mastering my own knowledge of maintaining airway in patients is crucial to this field... we are a patient's guardian when they are under for surgery. I breathe for them, provide pain relief for them and keep them stable.

Trust me... I am exhausted at the end of each hospital day (and it has been many years since I felt that way).

2. Meredith is picking up with the reading. Getting better but still needs much improvement. She doesn't seem to care that 40% on a math quiz in school is 'failing' and continues to just randomly answer questions - doesn't read directions, etc. It is frustrating, but I'm waiting for her 'Helen Keller' moment to come... so far it has not.

3. Our guest bathroom is done!!! completely redone and the kids are moved in - which is nice since they have not used their own bathroom - EVER. I will try to post the before and after photos, but I can't promise anything. It does look nice.

4. Weight loss for me is about 22lbs. The last five pounds or so, I didn't even pay attention to... it was just a result of not having time to eat and when there is food - it is not healthy so I just skip it. I've decided to keep going and try to lose another 10 pounds. Bryan wants me to quit b/c I am not working out and, he says, just losing muscle.

All I know is that I'm fitting into 'pre-Olivia' pants, jeans and shorts - actually I am getting ready to pass through those too. (they fit but not for long).

5. This week is the carnival for our church. Me and the kids, not Paige - who was with Bryan, went on Thurs. nite. We got soaked but the kids had fun. Bryan is heading there tonight with the kids so I can have a few hours of study time.

6. Bryan's dad just got out of the hospital, again. He has a bad heart and every few months it catches up with him. This time, my mother in law brought him here and he was admitted into Memorial Reg. I didn't even get a chance to go see him.

Between school, hospital, studying, and keeping up with homework for the kids, reading with Meredith and the never-ending pile of laundry... I just couldn't go.

Such is my life for the next two years.

After a full night's sleep....

I do feel better than I did yesterday. I was tired and cranky, for sure.

I forgot to mention that I am ONE pound away from reaching the 20 pound mark on weight loss. Depending on the scale, of course... but I'm pretty darn close.

One silver lining - I actually wore a pair of jeans to school yesterday that were 'pre-Olivia' jeans. The last time I fit into them was the week that I found out I was pregnant with Meredith.

Actually, everything I bought over the summer is starting to become too big. I can still wear them, but they give more than I would like... so in my search for a pair of pants, yesterday, I DARED to pull out the old jeans - and they fit!!!!!!!!!

That was my silver lining on a really bad day.

The bathroom drama was made worse, for me, b/c Bryan's cousin Mike is in town and was over to have dinner and watch the football game with him. Each year, Mike comes down and MUST eat at our house 'take out' from Disalvos, Italian rest. It is always the same order - he must get the 'ala vodka' pasta... it has become a tradition.

So, when they were ordering food - I ordered the same. I haven't had pasta in 3 months and thought I deserved to eat some serious carbs. (bad day and all)

Well, during the whole bathroom tile drama... I start serving out the food and realize that Bryan had only ordered one 'ala vodka' order. I'm thinking that this one was mine and couldn't believe that Bryan didn't order one for Mike.

Mike answers that he had had a late lunch and wasn't very hungry. THEN HE TELLS ME THAT HE WOULD JUST SPLIT SOME OF MINE. I was like, 'What makes you think I want to share with you?' but I could never say that, of course. So, I had to swallow hard and just say - sure.

The kicker is... I was so mad about the bathroom being tiled wrong - I wasn't hungry and didn't eat. So, guess what Mike did? He took home the pasta!!!!!! I got ZERO.

This plus the fact that he played with my computer, while I was in the shower, and downloaded some stuff. You would think he would ASK first, but he did not and the stuff he downloaded wasn't compatible with my anesthesia stuff - warning, blinking lights kept flashing.

I was livid! but I was livid for the whole evening so I just gave up and went to bed quietly.

Trying to concentrate on the weight loss... not the evil thoughts I was directing at the men in this house.

Yesterday...

I don't even know if I can describe how bad of a day yesterday was for me. Sometimes the day is just off from the minute you get up... it was one of those days.

It all started at 3am when an awake Paige didn't seem to think that darkness was sleeping time. She is not usually a kid that wakes up but, for whatever reason, she was up at 3a, 4a and finally at 5a Olivia brought her to me b/c she had been talking so loudly.

Turns out that she had a fever... she didn't feel warm earlier but I could have been just too sleepy to notice.

So, both her and Meredith had to stay home. Meredith had a temp of 103. Paige was 102. Bryan had to stay home.

I had two MAJOR exams that I had studied for ALL WEEK. I was disappointed in the tests; I thought they were tricky. So did everyone else, but I was unfortunate to not have GUESSED correctly on the first one.

I ended up with an 84 and 90 on them, which took the wind out of my sails. Those scores are NOT a reflect of the amount of time I read those books. The class was a mixture of grades, but most did OK. Better than me.

So, disappointed in the day, and cranky from being up at 3A, I come home to see that the contractor had finished tiling the bathroom tub area....INCORRECTLY. It was a long story, but when I was telling him how to lay out the tile, I knew he was confused and left a detailed drawing of it AND laid out some tile on the floor in the pattern I wanted.

Between him and Bryan, neither one understood - ignored my cartoon and just did something different. I just about had a heartattack.

Have you ever been SO mad that you started to cry? well, that was me. I was demanding that they start over, they were saying the tile was set and too bad. I was threatening to crack every tile with a hammer overnight.

We went back and forth, but the Bryan starting pulling off the tile, which wasn't dry. So changing the pattern was easy and only took an hour.

It helped; but the reality was - I just needed to end my day.

Today is a study day for me... but I'll have at lease two kids home and I need to go buy the grout at the tile store.

Maybe this is why I didn't get a higher grade? Right?

My school...

I wanted to add that our first exam was last Monday... I got a 98%.

It was a pleasant surprise that I had studied correctly and KNEW most of the answers. (the one I missed was a 'what would you give?' type of question and I narrowed it down to two but guessed wrong). If I had to take it again, I would still have given the wrong answer so I don't beat myself up over it.

This Monday we have two tests - both in classes that are harder than last week's so I'll have to post updates on that later.

My clinical assignment will be at Memorial Pembroke... which is wonderful b/c it is exactly a 1 minute drive to the little one's daycare. (I could have been assigned to some hospital in South Miami and had a 1 hour commute each day to be home)

I really lucked out and think that this whole program is turning out to be a blessing. Sometimes the planets line up for you just the right way, don't they?

Since I am on the computer....

I know that I have been ignoring this site, but I cannot explain how busy we have been.

Meredith has been falling behind in school... nothing new, the child hates anything that smells like homework, but she really isn't up to par with her reading skills. This has been a concern for me for the past two years but second grade is proving to be moving faster than her.

We literally spend hours doing homework (just her) each night. She does some homework in aftercare, which is bad b/c no one reviews it. She doesn't know to read the directions and will just answer incorrectly anything with reading assignments. Then, she comes home and has to correct it and finish. Plus, she must read each night... I don't understand how she cannot seem to 'get' the concept of the difference between a sentence and a question, but simple things like this baffle her.

Starting to think she is dyslexic, I have been meeting with her teacher and the guidance counselor at her school.

A friend of mine mentioned that she may need to have her eyes checked. Not that she cannot see the words but if the eyes are not in synch 100% she could be seeing double when reading.

Went to the doctor, who specializes in children with reading difficulties, and she was tested last week. He said that some children have a 'weak' muscle in one eye and that would cause a 'wobble' when she is trying to read. He said that most kids have a 'wobble' of 2-3 points and that Meredith's 'wobble' is 15 points.

He gave us a computer program to help strenthen her eye muscles and asked that she wear reading glasses (that would bring the words closer to her so she wouldn't have to struggle). Also, he said that this type of problem is hallmarked by the child's inability to look away from a page and find their place when they look back down.

I have to admit that that was one of the things that used to drive me crazy when reading with her. She would be distracted and when she would look back down she couldn't remember where she was on the page.

Well, believe it or not, the glasses have made a HUGE difference. She actually did her homework in school and IT WAS CORRECT!!!!!! Her reading speed has picked up too and although her confidence level is still low, she is moving along pretty good.

Very impressive.

I have 'lazy eye' and had corrective surgery to fix it as a child. The doctor told me that it is hereditary and that all of my children should be tested at the age of 4... so Olivia and Wade are going later this month.

Interesting... isn't it?

just a weekend joke...

Five doctors went duck hunting one day. Included in the group were a general practice (GP) physcian, a pediatrician, a psychiatrist, a surgeon and a pathologist.

After a time, a bird came winging overhead. The first to react was the GP who raised his shotgun, but then hesitated. "I'm not quite sure it's a duck," he said, "I think that I will have to get a second opinion." And of course by that time, the bird was long gone.
Another bird appeared in the sky thereafter. This time, the pediatrician drew a bead on it. He too, however, was unsure if it was really a duck in his sights and besides, it might have babies. "I'll have to do some more investigations," he muttered, as the creature made good its escape.

Next to spy a bird flying was the sharp-eyed psychiatrist. Shotgun shouldered, he was more certain of his intended prey's identity. "Now, I know it's a duck, but does it know it's a duck?" The fortunate bird disappeared while the fellow wrestled with this dilemma.

Finally, a fourth fowl sped past and this time the surgeon's weapon pointed skywards. BOOM!!
The surgeon lowered his smoking gun and turned nonchalantly to the pathologist beside him and said. "Go see if that was a duck, will you?"

Updates....on just about everything.

So much to say... so little time to type. I'll try to squeeze it all in.

Bryan's dad...

...is home from the hospital. He spent a week in for confusion that was a result of his sodium levels being completely out of whack. He is very weak but at least coherent and able to care for himself. What made that happen? Well, he basically had a depletion of his electrolytes from a combination of all the meds he's been on for the GI bleeding episode a month ago. That on top of the fact that he battles a bad heart condition.
There was talk of bringing him over here, b/c the three kids were all running across the state to be supportive of Mom and Grandmother. But they decided to stay over there. This whole thing will be repeated over and over, I'm sure, b/c his health is not well and he never can catch up with his illnesses.

But still, we are glad he is home.

School (for me)...

... is getting harder by the week. The material is very detailed, as it should be, but I can see that I am getting lost in the math. The anesthetist needs to be able to calculate the EXACT amounts and percentages of meds (and gas) given to any given patient. (sounds simple, right?)
But, if you realize that we (as students) need to learn (and calculate)the amount of gas mixed into oxygen and that a simple math mistake of .01% could mean that someone wakes up during surgery... you get how important it is to learn (and multiply) correctly and be about to do it at the head of an OR table in an emergency.

How about the calculation of figuring out how much TIME is left on a cylinder of oxygen in the event of a power failure during an open heart case? If the machine isn't working, it will be my responsibility to keep the patient (with an open chest) asleep and pain free during the power failure. I need to be able to look at the cylinder, measure the pressure left, multiply it by how much the patient is using and know how long the patient has before I need someone to get another cylinder.

This is just ONE basic step... not to mention knowing about how the patient's own medical history and medications affect the way that the gas and meds work. Crazy, huh?

There is a reason that the school is 2.5 years long. I think I'll need that long to figure out how to do this.

Wade's Birthday...

...is this upcoming week. He will be four. We are having a small party for him tomorrow. (Linda - if you are not working, you are most welcome to stop by between 11 and 3p.) It'll be just us and the neighborhood kids but he is very excited. He has not ever had a special party - we usually just have cake on his actual birthday, so having people over on Sunday is big for him.

Our pool is literally overflowing. The rain has brought the level up to the rim and cooled the water considerably. Hopefully the weather will hold up tomorrow.

Olivia is having a playdate today. This is a new friend for her that she met in class this year. Seems nice enough and we had the parents and her over here the other night so they could meet us and see our home before the playdate.

Turns out the husband is a plumber - which is good b/c we are planning on gutting the guest bathroom and the plumbing will need to be redone. My fingers are crossed that Bryan can finish this in a few weeks, but I'm just hoping that it is done by Thanksgiving.

My husband isn't the best at finishing projects. A quick look around our house will tell anyone that.

Starting a new week...

After staying up later than normal to watch an incredible football game (between FSU and UM), I was denied even more sleep by a (very awake and crying) Paige.

So, I've been up since 5am watching TV with her.

Now, what I want to know is... how come a screaming toddler doesn't wake up...

a. the 3 year old, sleeping 6 feet from her, that can hear the garbage truck turning the corner each week?

b. the 7 and 9 year olds, sleeping 15 feet from her, that can hear the toilet flush across the house and think it is time to get up?

c. (the best one) a sleeping Daddy, who's ears twitch if his cellphone rings across the house at 3am, but cannot hear her cries at 5am?

Sounds fishy, doesn't it?

Getting late...

It is getting late - I get nervous when the kids have been asleep for 3 hours and I'm still up - but I wanted to share about Bryan's dad, who is in the hospital.

Last month, my father-in-law spent over a week in the hospital for GI bleeding - got lot of blood and they needed to stop is blood thinners (which he takes for CHF). He has been taking it easy since but trying to keep his spirits up and start living again.

So yesterday, my MIL was searching their house for him and she found him in the guest bathroom eating potpourri. Very bizarre, right? He was just acting weird and after an hour - and him moving on to eating postits... she took him the hospital.

He is still there... not much better. His sodium and potassium levels were really out of whack. Low sodium levels will give someone confusion and I heard that his sodium level was 10 to 14 points below normal. They are still testing him to see what is going on.

Meanwhile, my MIL is staying with him 24 hours a day to keep him calm. I guess he becomes agitated easily (could be the brain swelling from the low sodium).

This poor guy can't catch a break.

They are 3 hours away and between all the kids, my school schedule, his regular job and football (let us not forget that football started last week), Bryan cannot travel over. He couldn't go when he was in the ICU last month either.

This has always been a concern for me with his parents living so far away... what happens when one of them is ill? For this weekend - Bryan's sister is over there. Holiday weekend and all.

Keeping close on his status is all we can do, for now.

Just asking for an extra prayer... the guy would like to enjoy his retirement.

Give it a rest... please.

For those that don't click on the comments to read them, I'll save you the trouble.

This was posted this morning....

From 'Dee'... "Stalking" of you hasn't stopped! You're just such an easy target - Adding post after post of a topic you want to see go away.

No, I just think that everyone who comes here should know what kinds of things are being said 'on the side'.

Trust me - I invest ZERO energy into this conversation.

Good morning everyone... happy Sunday!

Well, another week has passed and we all survived, right?

School, for me, is not going to be SO grueling over the next few weeks b/c we are not in the hospitals yet. That doesn't start until October, so I don't have to drive to Miami more than two days a week. Sweet.

Today, Bryan's family are coming over to celebrate our niece's birthday. She is 13... our house is prime b/c it is easy to house 10+ children when you start with 4. It will be nice to see Bryan's sister... I haven't seen her for a while.

Spent the day alone with the kids yesterday - Bryan had football and then he had to take a football-related test on-line so he wasn't free until about 6pm. I spent the day - deep cleaning and laundry. Brutal.

This is how bad I didn't want to pick up another book for school. Although I must try to sneak in a few pages now.

Thought I'd post this photo - did I already post it? It is ,by far, my most favorite of Bryan and any of our children. That baby loves him SO much - you can see it on her face - and Bryan is just so handsome.

I am a lucky, lucky girl.

Even more photos of Massachusetts

All of these photos are taken in the creek that is on Roger and Lara's property. It is tucked neatly into a small woods area to the right of their house so you can't see it from the house, but you can hear the water running all the time.

If you walk into the woods the water is right there.

Wade didn't want to step into the water at first but we convinced him to get wet. It was lots of fun.

A few more photos

The first photo is Meredith dressed as a Shaker. In case you don't know, the Shaker's were a clan that separated women and men. They could not marry and thus, the only way to keep the cult alive was to convert new members (committed to celibacy) and adopt children (who usually chose to leave during the teenage years). I'm thinking Meredith looks good in this outfit and will send her there when she turns 12.

The two of these photos (the ones of Paige) are what she looks like when she is asking for something... and what she looks like when she doesn't get it right away.
She wanted the camera.

Olivia is holding the Browns' new puppy... a Havanese dog named Brownie. That is right... he is Brownie Brown. Very cute.

Bryan and his little one was just too precious not to include. That was at Howe's caverns in upstate NY. Two hour drive for us, but it was fun.

Vacation photos

It takes very long to download photos to this thing so I may have to do it in stages.

The photos here are of us visiting the Witches Musuem in Salem, MA, which I found disappointing. The kids didn't behave well, so that was part of the mix, for sure.

Also, we visited Paula and Frank, so we got to see my great-aunt Gracie. photo is of Me, Mom, Olivia, Aunt Gracie and Paula (both sitting). It was nice for Bryan to meet them all.

One photo is of my older three with our cousins' boys playing in the backyard.

And I threw on in there of Paige b/c this kid is so darn cute!

Last one is of the Brown kids (Ryan and Elena) with my crew at the Hancock Shaker village. Behind them is just a small part of a big estate. They were a fascinating breed of folks, for their time.

I'll post more photos in another post.

Hermit crab posse---

Ok - so a short google search led me to this website...

http://crabstreetjournal.com/xoops/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?viewmode=flat&type=&topic_id=1770&forum=6

which is the origin of the whole HERMIT CRAB adventure that went on last month.

It is too bad that only one of them actually had the b*lls to come on this site to say they understood that the whole thing was a misunderstanding.

They are still commenting, to each other, about my lack of caring about these 'throw-away' pets.

Feel free to read their website... it is pretty funny.

Stalking has stopped with me - so I am happy for that. I'll be keeping a close eye on that thread to see when they finally give it a rest.

Back from vacation and back in school

The last few weeks have been busy, with travel and then we came home to only one week before school started (for us all)

Olivia's teacher is Mrs. Scott. (4th grade). I don't know her but Olivia seems happy and came home beaming about how 'cool' her teacher is.

Meredith's teacher is Mrs. Jackson. (2nd grade) Who was Olivia's teacher for 1st grade (confused?). Meredith is happy that she got a teacher she knows and I'm glad that the teacher knows us all. Meredith's reading is improving slowly and with Mrs. Jackson's watchful eye, I'm sure we will be fine.

School for me started with orientation on Friday and Saturday... which were basically lets-get-to-know-each-other sessions... allowing the 36 strangers to mingle.

They ended the two days with a nice cocktail reception. It was nice.

Yesterday, was all day class, basically a review of anesthesia. Schedule for me won't be too bad for the first 6 weeks... only 2 days a week, then I'll pick up another day. Life will SUCK in January with a 5 day week +++ homework, but I'm choosing to not dwell on that all now.

For now - I'm off for two days. Reading and doing homework.

still on vacation

Well, we have survived the first of three phases of our trip to New England. As I write this, from my blackberry, we are driving to pick up our rental and then will head over to eastern Massachusetts.

Lara and Roger have been wonderful, gracious hosts. Their house is both warm and cozy and it has plenty of room for the kids to run free, both inside and out.

Now, we are giving them a four day quiet house and heading to visit Boston and all the cousins Bryan has never met. It is a once a decade trip for our family. I am sure that once school starts for me, there will be no travel and I'll owe lots of money in student loans. So this is it for a while.

Paige's wound is healing nicely. Her right eyebrow is shiny, from the glue, but otherwise looks great. I don't think there will be a noticable scar.

If I can figure out how to post pics from my phone I will do it. Otherwise we'll have to wait until we get home.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer.

First day of vacation - sitting in ER already

Uneventful trip, kids could not have been better and the flight was smooth. No complaints. Everyone did well.

So, we are here in Lara and Roger's home in Massachusetts. They have a beautiful home with lots of land, lots of rooms and lots of stairs. The kids are having a ball learning the in's and out's of this big, big house.

Our biggest challenge was making sure the kitten doesn't escape from a door left open and keeping Paige away from the stairs. She has been having fun with the puppy and kitten here.

So, after breakfast, we hear Paige crying (which is not alarming b/c there is always someone crying) but when Elena came out to say that Paige had fallen, walking around the coffee table, and hit her head on the table. Concerned but still not alarmed, we all started to get up to see if she was ok.

Then Elena added that she was bleeding... which is not good. Mind you, we are all only abour 20 feet away from this coffee table. Turns out the older kids had thrown the couch pillows on the floor, which made naviagation for a one year old challenging.

Big, split in her right eyebrow. Didn't stop bleeding and it was pretty deep, so off to the ER we had to go. Not the way to start off a vacation but lets hope the next 13 days to go

Again - check out this ad-thingie >>>>>>>>

Please take notice that the ads inside the box are random and the program uses key words from inside to blog.

Until this blog gets off the subject of hermit crabs... I think ads like these will keep popping up.

Kind of funny... and ironic...

Eventually this will change, but for now, I'm enjoying it.

Leaving in 2 hours for the airport.

Enjoying my first (and last) quiet of the day.

Leaving tomorrow!!!!!!!

All packed (almost) and ready to go.

I spent the entire day doing laundry and cleaning. Of course, no kids were here. I was feeling guilty about taking them in the camp and daycare, but when I got home and saw how much laundry and cleaning and packing and sorting there was to do, I was glad to be alone.

It is the only time I'll be alone again for weeks to come.

B-I-G headache... needing some Motrin and lots of it.

Lara and Roger got a new puppy and kitten last month so the kids are really looking forward to that. Can't wait to see their house.

My parents flew up today... made it safe and sound.
Us next...
Rich and Patricia this weekend to NYC (not part of our trip)

Tom and Linda will be up in NH too. Linda make sure you have my cell # or keep your cell on you. We will be in Paula's area from Monday (8/10) to Thurs (8/14), not sure of the days you'll be up there. I think they are planning on doing a picnic on Wednesday at their home... my mom wants to drive to the beach.

Going now to check the weather for New England (of course I've overpacked so it really doesn't matter)

Wish us luck on the plane. We are stocked with coloring books, word puzzles, games, DVD player and movies, cd players and the iPod. Not to mention food and snacks.

Hope for a less crowded flight.

Check out the new ad-thingie>>>>>>

Just added this new add-thingie and I believe the ads are random but come from the google people searching the blog for content and puts in the ad box whatever is being discussed.

So.....

don't you think it is ironic that the whole hermit crab saga picked up enough tabs to have the ad-thingie have hermit crab ads????????

That is hysterical...

I mean, as much as I've been accused (recently) of torturing and teaching torture techniques to the kids when it comes to hermit crabs - that the ads are trying to sell them.

Just wanted to point that out.

I guess once we start mentioning the children and school again, it will start changing the ads to reflect that conversation.

Which is good, b/c I don't need the hermit crab posse coming at me anymore.

I'm sure that their comments were well intentioned but it was directed at me for the wrong reasons, don't ya think?

Anyway, back to the topic at hand....

Finally - summer semester is done!

Hey!

After 13 long weeks of constant homework, the summer semester is done. Last nite was the final class for us in Theory and I completed the Pathophysiology class yesterday too.

Now, it is just packing and leaving for Mass. tomorrow. Can't wait.

The children are so excited about going on a plane they can hardly contain themselves. We don't have to be at the airport until 10am so at least we will have time to eat and clean up.

Ill be in touch ... I hear the dryer buzzing.

The hermit crab saga continues...

**I'm thinking that this blog was forwarded to a hermit crab lover's society club, which would explain all the evil comments. Am I right?**

Today someone left a comment on an earlier post (the original hermit crab one, I think), that reassured me that not everyone in the hermit crab posse is throwing darts at my picture.

It was a long comment, which I will address partly here, but anyone can scroll down to that post and read the comment.

Our hermit crab cage IS INDEED one of those childish looking, circular, mesh lined cages... not Dora the Explorer, but you are on the right page.

I have no idea about salt-water, fresh-water... anything that you mentioned.

Again, here is the story...

Hubby and kids stayed overnight at a beachhouse in the Florida keys for the July 4th weekend. (I couldn't go... too much homework and the baby is too little for boating, so we stayed behind) When they pulled up in the driveway the next day, middle daughter was holding a plastic cup, covered with a rubberband and papertowel, with a hermit crab inside.

She announced she had brought home a pet. I wasn't thrilled but what could I say? Would anyone look in the eyes of a child and take the 'pet' to a pet store? That would be heartless. So, the next day, a friend was at a pet store and called to say she'd pick up a cage for it.

A starter-kit cage comes with:
1. cage (cute, round, mesh)
2. sponge (that is supposed to be wet always)
3. food
4. extra shells
5. sand covering for the bottom of the cage

and here's the best part...

6. A FREE HERMIT CRAB! So, then we had two.

Children were thrilled and really did assist with cleaning out cage, feeding, changing water, etc. everyday. I thought we were doing a pretty good job.

My own lack of how-to-care-for-a-hermit-crab knowledge contributed to their deaths only because I would have never imagined that sunscreen could be used as a weapon.

We live in Fort Lauderdale. My kids use sunscreen everyday and they have never sprayed it on each other. My son's fingers are just now getting strong enough that he can press the button without assistance; I think he discovered that on that fateful day.

I'm glad that the names 'Hermie' and 'Crabby' caught your eye as us being novice crabbers... they were given to them by the child that found the original one.


Here is the end of what Octavia(?) said...

"...For other Hermit crabbers out there, I understand your rage at this but, guys, theirs tons of people out there who do worst stuff then this to crabs. So please, whats done is done. We can just hope that when mother of 4 kids buys more, she understands better care, thats all. No offense to the commentors or the poster intended"


Yes... please - listen to her - she is a wise woman.

Moving on....

Since I'm here...

My official last day of work was this past Thursday. Knowing that it was coming for 9 months didn't make it any easier. I cried like a baby - started crying when the first batch of nurses left at 2pm and came over to hug me goodbye and give well wishes. I didn't really regain my composure for the rest of the three hours I had left to work.

I actually had to tell my patients about it being my last day b/c I'm sure they were wondering why whenever someone would walk towards me, arms extended, I would stop, hug, and cry. I was a train-wreck and by the end of my shift... I had the patients and their families explaining it to new arrivals who where looking at the nurses like we had three heads.

My 19 years at Memorial were filled with great memories, good friends, fantastic food and wonderful experiences. I've grown as a person, wife, mother, friend and nurse all under the watchful eye of the hospital. It has been a real pleasure to have grown up within those walls.

When I started there I was only 20! So young, right?

So, now it is on to bigger and better. I do have the feeling like I'm running head first into a forest on fire, and yet, I am amazing calm and ready.

Thankful that I've had the past two semesters to get back into the speed of being a student, too. I will manage to pull off A's in these summer courses but it wasn't pretty. I had to claw my way there.

This fall I have 6 classes (four for anesthesia, one general nursing, and the clinical days at the hospital are the sixth). The four anesthesia are all on the same days, in the same classroom! Yes, we have to sit in our seats (8-10, 10-12, 1-3 and 3-5) isn't that just crazy? My aging back hurts just thinking about it.

Gotta do what we gotta do.

Taking the kids away for a while will be a welcomed break. We are really looking forward to seeing Roger and Lara. Can't wait.

Dragging this on.....

I can't believe that I'm actually answering this but...

This was posted as a comment today....

"who keeps hermit crabs in a glass bowl? thats low"

I don't know who would keep a couple of hermit crabs in a glass bowl, but guess what?

I didn't!!

The crabs were placeD in a 'ceramic' bowl during the cleaning of the cage. Is there a more appropriate place to keep two hermit crabs while their house gets a good washing? I'd be curious to hear one.

Tried a box - they can climb the walls.

Besides - how long does it take to clean a cage? 5 minutes? Bowl is sitting right next to me in the kitchen, too.

Usually they'd crawl all around trying to find a way to grasp the sides. But that morning, they didn't move.

When they NEVER moved - we knew they were dead.

People.... we need to move on.

Ok.. I give.

Initially, the purpose of this blog was to keep family and distant friends updated on the happenings of our home. Tired of trying to send out photos and stories to everyone I know, I just refer people to here... easy enough.

I also realize that the web is an open forum and that there are many people who read this that do not know me personally, but keep reading b/c after a while it seems like we all have the same issues...
- raising children,
- maintaining a career,
- keeping our heads above water in a changing economy
& managing to stay married and still (deeply) love my husband are all part of everyday life that we can all connect to, right?

What I'd love to know is why it is that negativity and sarcasm bring people to post a comment, but those same people are silent when reading about everyday issues.

Instead of only negative comments about the hermit crabs, why did no one feel the need to share that they, too, had a child with an extra tooth and how their own experience was with that?

Since I lived and wrote about the hermit crab saga - I cannot separate myself from it. Perhaps it could have been worded differently, but this blog is not for perfect writings. I write when I have the time, which is not often and I certainly do not have the time to rewrite and proofread the posts. I can't censor this thing in hopes that it wouldn't offend people that I have no knowledge of reading it.

I enjoy the knowledge that if someone else ever had a kid with 'mulluscum' (sp)they can read my posts from when my child had it and know that they are not alone. (Because, trust me, that was a lonely feeling).

I don't know... The wind is taken out of my sails when people leave sarcastic comments about leaving a 3 years old unattended with sunscreen - like it is fate worse than death.

Anyone with a child knows, that you turn your back and little hands are holding a glass frame off the piano that they had to climb on an end table to get - or the baby has picked up a pencil - or someone leaves a door cracked open and you turn a corner to see a toddler just getting ready to step into the garage.

These things happen. If you can't understand that, I feel for you. But this is my life. If you don't agree with it, don't read about it.

This is getting stupid now -

(for those that are following this hermit crab tale and are confused... read the multiple comments left under the hermit crab posts. That will fill you in)

How can I make this any clearer?

MY CHILD DID NOT PULL A LIVE CRAB OUT OF ITS SHELL!!

As a matter of fact, my children never even touched the crabs that day. The crabs were discovered ALREADY DEAD when I was cleaning out the cage.

BRYAN is my husband (not my son) who tugged on one of them to try to get it to move b/c they hadn't moved in hours. The children were afraid to touch them, but were upset b/c we were thinking they were dead.

When the crab didn't resist - we knew they were dead. Is there another way to test to see if a hermit crab is dead? If so, you can enlighten me.

To insinuate that my child would TORTURE a live animal is insulting and just proves that you do not know me (or my family) personally.

The crabs deaths was accidental and upsetting to all of us - what part of my post would lead you to believe that they were alive? except that you DID NOT know that Bryan was not my son!!!

You obviously didn't read the post completely or with a full knowledge of our family. Next time ask before you jump to conclusions and start accusing me of being a terrible person.

I DO NOT owe anyone an apology!!!!!!!!

I think you owe me one - or at the very least...

The hermit crab society needs to back off... Kindly leave this blog alone.

My offensive post(s)...

Usually, I don't reply to 'anonymous' messages left for me... my feeling is that if someone has something to say to me, they can identify themselves.

However, since the hermit crab tales created a stir, I will address it.

Obviously, those offended do not know me, b/c if you did, you would know that...

1) I would never refer to myself as a 'wonderful mother'.

2) Telling the story was my way of making light of a bad situation. The discovery of the crabs was upsetting to us all.

I offered to bury them, kids said no and wanted to put them 'in the water' back where they belonged. Canal is separated by thick trees and a fence. Did I know, at the time, that this would be a scene? In hindsight, we should have buried them.


I will say that the reactions were harsh. I mean, did I give my kids a B.B. gun and teach them to shoot puppies? No - I did not. The child who sprayed them is only 3 years old. Were his actions malicious? Come now...

I take full responsibility for the actions of my children. It is impossible to keep an eye on them 24/7 and this happened in a moment when I wasn't standing right there. Does this make me a terrible person? I don't think so.

I understand that children need to be taught how to care for animals and by not ever allowing pets in our home - I am probably doing them an injustice later in life. I can count on one hand the number of times my kids have been close enough to a dog to pet it. They just aren't exposed.


I have long realized that we are just too busy to have ANY pets. Trust me, we are not going to get any more hermit crabs. We don't have any pets, never have, never will.


I didn't seek out the crabs - they both just arrived. It was a brief lesson in keeping a pet that my whole family regrets.

Hermit crabs -update

Hermie and Crabby are both departed!

Those crabs stayed all day in the ceramic bowl... never moved. At dinner time, we noticed that the bigger one had come out of the shell - just a little - and for a second we were like 'yeah... they are alive'.

But then Bryan said it was out because he had pulled it out to see if it resisted - and it didn't.

Definitely dead. Meredith was so mad at Wade; he couldn't have cared less.

We pulled the bigger one out of the shell to see what they look like. Never saw one before. N-A-S-T-Y!!! They are just a half body (crab) and the second half is just a big muscle that holds it inside. Just gross.

We brought them out back to throw them over the fence to the canal behind our home. All four kids and me were out back, with the ceramic bowl, and a big spoon. No one was willing to touch the big one because he was laying there out of the shell.

So we agreed to fling them over the fence.

Meredith wanted to do the little one (Hermie) so she put him on the spoon and weakly flung the spoon. Guess what happened? Of course he didn't make it over the fence, but worse than that...

HE SEPARATED FROM THE SHELL!!!!!!!! HIS BODY WENT LEFT AND THE SHELL WENT RIGHT. YUCK!

So we had to stop everything and go find this thing in the grass! What a mess. After three attemps - Hermie was gone - shell and all.

Crabbie was easier - Olivia just scooped him up and away he went over the trees. We kept his shell - it is nice and the kids are asking for more crabs. I told them maybe after vacation we will get two more.

That bought me three weeks.

Weight loss

In my quest to drop some poundage - I've managed to lose 12 pounds!!! (almost, anyway)

I've eaten like a pigeon this month... low carbs (no bread, rice, potatos), no snacking, nothing fried, no soda (even diet).

Actually, I haven't had anything to drink except water (and one cup of coffee each morning) for 4 weeks now.

People are noticing, which is nice, and my clothes definitely fit better.

Later today, I'll put up some photos from a going-away party that my co-workers had for me and Cindy last night. I was pleasantly surprised at how even I could see the weight loss)

Still want to lose 10 more (at least)

Meredith's mouth (oral surgery)

Meredith had that extra tooth removed yesterday. She did great.

They gave her Vistaril (makes her sleepy) 45 minutes before. She was acting like she was fine until it kicked in and she started to complain about being 'dizzy' and crawled on my lap.

20 minutes later, it was over. She is left with two dissolvable stitches in the middle of her two front teeth. She doesn't even act like it hurts.

Gave her some Motrin and she was fine.

This morning, she is acting herself (asking to eat and wanting to swim).

So, after a summer of tasks (Olivia's surgery, my mammogram, Meredith's oral surgery, school projects) we have completed the list.

Two weeks we will leave on vacation to New England and spend 12 wonderful days showing our kids other states and meeting family/friends.

This is a great time.

Hermit crabs

I think we've managed to kill the two hermit crabs.

The kids were yelling (two days ago) that Wade was spraying them with sunscreen. I brought him inside (punishment) but never went out to see if the crabs were ok.(my bad)

So, yesterday, I didn't see them moving around. Didn't think much of it, b/c they sometimes sleep, but this morning they were still laying on the bottom of the cage.

Took them out... cleaned out the cage... and found a layer of tan sludge all over everything (food, shells and bottom of the cage) Smelled like the beach.

Yes... is it was sunscreen.

As we speak the two crabs are in a ceramic bowl, where I put them to clean out the cage. But the bigger one (Meredith's find from the July 4th weekend in the keys) doesn't move its legs when you touch it. The little one is tucked inside very deep.

I kinda thought that they'd come out of the shells to die, so we are giving them a chance to move.

But they are not... :(

great week, so far!

Well, I just had to come on her to tell you that I am THRILLED with the grades I've gotten in school this week.

Last week, I had to turn in 3 really big projects...

1. 30 minute powerpoint slide show about Urinary Tract obstruction.

2. one oral presentation in the class that I got an 87% on the first paper.

3. Group project (for the same class) that was 15 pages long and took 5 of us 6 weeks to write.

Nervously, I checked in with the FIU website for the posted grades. Finally, last night they all popped up.

1. Powerpoint - I got a 49 out of 50 points!!! Very proud and basically just solidified an A in the class. Awesome. Smooth sailing from her on out.

2. Got a 100% on the oral thing. I was worried b/c I was long on a timed thing and got cut off before I could finish. but the teacher understood that I knew the material and didn't count off for my not finishing!!!!!!!

3. The group thing isn't graded yet, but the teacher emailed me to ask that our group start to think about what nursing journal we would like to submit the paper in for publication!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm thinking that this means she liked the paper, so far!!!!!!!!!!!

Great news all around. Only two weeks left of the summer classes!!!!!!! Can't wait to go on vacation.

I know I've been neglecting this blog...

I know that I've been completely neglecting this blog, but I knew that the month of July was going to be a real ball-buster and it has proven to be true. This is only a test run for the amount of homework I will have over the next two years. We are staying afloat, but noticing a difference already. (not necessarily for the better)

The photos here are actually from Father's day. We all had dinner with my parents at the restaurant Christine Lee's. It was a nice evening. Kids were fine, believe it or not. Wade is the only one who is an issue and it is only because he has no volume control and he thinks that farting at the table (ANY TABLE) is funny. So if you can get over that, it was uneventful.

Meredith is having that oral surgery this coming Friday. Her front teeth are coming in with an abnormally wide gap. On x-ray, she has a third (extra) tooth right in the middle of the two front teerth. It is preventing her teeth from moving together and the other teeth can't come down. Not only is it extra - it is upside down! It looks like a bottom tooth stuck up in the upper gum... the tip of the tooth is just under her nose. Freaky! She will have much pain, I'm sure, since they may need to remove it through her palate. Cleared our schedule for the evening and the next day.

Hopefully, this will prevent her from needing braces twice. Once now and later at 13. We'll see.

Olivia is doing well. She hasn't had the spotting since the day of the surgery - and they found nothing on the surgery. Funny how she spotted for 8 months, they take a look (find nothing) and the bleeding stops. $8,000 workup with no answer. Insurance will cover most of it, but I'm sure a bill will come up soon for what we owe.

Speaking of owe - We are still getting bills for Wade's trip to the ER over in Ft. Myers. Ambulance trip was $700 (alone). Keep forwarding the bills to the insurance company - pain in the a**.

Meredith's oral surgery will cost $980.00 out of pocket!!! That is after the dental insurance kicked in. Payable before the surgery. OUCH!

We are leaving on Aug. 6th to go to Mass. for 12 days. Staying with friends mostly, but a 3 day hotel and 4 day car rental is $1000. After paying for Meredith's tooth removal - I'm thinking we won't need to eat on the trip, right?

Speaking of eat... I have lost 10 pounds in the last 3 weeks. Completely let go of anything high in fat, high in carbs and have only drank water (after one cup of coffee before 6am each day.) It has been a great challenge, but I was topping the scales and I needed to do something about it.

Smoking crack cocaine helps... LOL!

Weight goal is half way there. If I lost 20 pounds, that would be nice. Clothes would fit better, if not too big.

Probably won't be back for a while, but I'll try.

In defense of my need for sleep aids...

I had a conversation with a friend last week and we were talking about sleep patterns. I admitted that I take an Advil PM pretty much every night and my friend's tone changed to one of deep concern; which startled me a little, until I did some soul searching.

Here is my defense...

1. I have spent the last 10 years going to sleep with the very real possibility that someone will wake me up before dawn, at least one time if not more. I have a job that being a zombie could actually injure someone else. I think we can all agree that no one wants a tired nurse.

2. I currently live in a home with 4 children (ages 9,7,3,and 1). The older two sleep well, as does the baby, but the 3 year old is in the habit of waking up about 4am. Why? He is potty training and I think his need to pee wakes him. I take him to the bathroom, get him some milk and back to bed. (against all parental books, I do give him milk if he wakes up. Why? Because if I don't, his begging and crying will wake up the others and then the agony of me being up in the middle of the night just gets worse. I gotta do what I gotta do, you know?)Does this motion wake up my hubby - ABSOLUTELY NOT! I am the only privileged one.

3. Speaking of hubby, the children are so afraid of waking him that they will navigate their way in the dark to the far side of the bed to wake me. They never go to him first. Not even on Mother's day or my birthday (which is tomorrow)so I know tonight is nothing more to look forward to... more of the same.

4. I don't have a problem falling asleep, I have an issue falling back to sleep when I get woken up. This was true during each pregnancy and little-baby-in-our-room days (which have been repeated four times over). This is true now - listening to-the-monitor-crackle days. I even have turned off the monitor lately to get the extra 15 minutes of morning sleep before the baby's talking wakes up the whole house.

5. My house is up and running at 6:15 weekdays - 6:30 weekends. The only difference is that I get up at 5:45am during the week to get coffee inside of me before I start the morning craziness. On the weekends I just sleep until someone wakes me at the crack of dawn.

6. I am the last to bed - most nights - and the first to get up. I need my sleep to be uninterrupted.

7. I sleep in the same bed as someone who works overtime. Some nights he is out until 2am. If I go to bed at 11pm... get woken up at 1am when he is getting home... then again at 4am with a child who wet the bed... How is this a restful night? I need to be in a C-O-M-A during those precious hours of darkness.

8. I see myself aging and place much of the blame on the fact that I've had broken sleep, every night, for years. My goal with Advil PM is to stop the cycle.

9. It works!!!! About two hours after I take a precious pill (sometimes I double up, depends on whats on the schedule the next day) I get a wonderful feeling of sleepiness; my eyes start closing as I'm reading my homework. I live for this feeling... it is an open invitation to go to bed and know that I will fall asleep, without thinking about homework, class, work, kids, school, projects, laundry, birthdays, Christmas, cooking, shopping and just life in general.

10. I don't have the ability to nap during the day. Sure, I could easily close my eyes and nod off. I'd love to be able to watch Oprah and just chill for an hour each day. But I don't have that luxury! I can't rest... I have dinner to cook, kids to pick up, homework to turn in, laundry to fold, phone calls to make and I don't even talk about the broken window that needs to be replaced, or the hospital calling to collect $700 because of an insurance mix up; or the need for my 9 years old to have surgery and all the effort and doctor visits it took to get that done. I still need to have the seven year old seen by an oral surgeon to see about having a tooth pulled.

11. I'm sure that the day will come when I can go to bed and know that I have a good chance of 8 hours of wonderful sleep. It is the fear of lack of sleep and the knowledge that tomorrow is not a guarantee either, that keeps me going
to the medicine cabinet.

12. If I get a good amount of sleep, guess what? I have a pretty good day...

Good mood = happy mommy = happy kids = hubby doesn't get yelled at = rainbow at the end of every rainshower.

Bad night = bad mood = unhappy, scared children of psycho mother who slams pans on counter and throws homework in the garbage = hubby is sleeping on couch because wife is C-R-A-Z-Y!!!!

Get the picture?


As far as I'm concerned, I am just fine with my little sleep aids. There is never a night that I don't need a good night's sleep because tomorrow isn't a busy day. Even if I don't have a hectic schedule, I just want to sleep.

The active ingredient in Advil PM is benadryl. It is not physically addictive (they say, I won't know because I won't test the theory yet )and I consider myself lucky to be part of the 60% of people that it makes sleepy. (Bet you didn't know that 40% of people take the stuff with no effect.)

So, I bid you goodnight.

My body is becoming relaxed and I am looking forward to my favorite time of the day - crawling into bed. Which is the exact opposite of my least favorite time of the day - when I hear the pitter patter of feet (big or small) and I realize that it is still dark.

It is odd that my most favorite and least favorite times of the day are always following each other. The sleep aid allow me to have the 'I got two more hours of sleep' excitement when I get little ones back to sleep each night.

It is a good partnership - I love them... they help me.

We work good together.

updates on a Saturday quiet morning...

My friend Beth sent me this photo of me and the kids at her son's b-day party. It is rare that everyone is smiling at the camera so I loved this photo... I'm glad she sent it to me. She is awesome and this is why I love her for all these years.


These chances for me to update this blog seem to get fewer and fewer this summer. I am not kidding - the two classes I am in are really kicking my a##!!! But I think it is due for some updates, so here I am...

Still waiting for the patho results for Olivia's surgery last week. They must have cauderized the bleeding area b/c she has had any spotting since last week. I need to make the follow up appt..

My own mammogram was normal. I guess I get a free ride now for 3 years. I don't plan on having another one anytime during school.

I had a really bad day last week when I got the grade for a paper I had turned in for one of my classes. My friends all got 95%, 97% and 100%, so I was anxious to see my own grade - sure it was going to be great.

Not so... I got an 87%. The teacher tore up my paper! I was highly insulted because I thought I turned in an awesome writing paper, but it was also the first big paper I've had to do in 11 years, right? (I had a paper that I did for our last class in the spring, but I don't think that guy even reads it).

This teacher is VERY strict and follows the rules about writing to 't'. She took away points for it not being 100% APA style which is a writing style for college papers. Since then, my other class has drilled us with learning APA style - so I'm sure that I'm better at it now than I was in May.

Next paper for this class is due June 30th. Hoping for a better grade.

REALITY CHECK - I have 4 children, married to a busy, overtime working guy, am working and attending college in a master's degree level college and still getting A's. Why do I let one B on a paper pull me down? I don't know but I did.

Happy Father's day to everyone this weekend. Sunday is also my birthday so I have to share it with my hubby and my dad... not so bad. We are all planning (me and my whole clan, my parents, and Rich/Patricia) on going out to an early dinner together. Hopefully it won't be so bad and the children will behave.

It is my only prayer this weekend.

I need to spend time working on my paper -Bryan is taking the children to a party at his sister's house. I'm hoping to get a good part of this done.

Olivia's surgery/procedure

Olivia had her procedure today. It was a l-o-n-g day... didn't have to be at the hospital until 12pm.

Luckily, I knew (used to work with) the nurse who took care of her before she went in and went to school (last semester) with the nurse who had her post-op.

Plus, a student nurse anesthestist gave her the anesthesia. I introduced myself and found out she is almost done... will graduate in Dec. of 2009. She will be there when I start in August.

She advised me that the schedule kept for the first year is really difficult - but did say that it was 'do-able'. She made sure I was aware that it would be harder with children.

Great.

Olivia did well. She didn't even have an IV for it. They just used the gas to put her to sleep for a short while. She woke up with a terrific headache, crying. But they have motrin and she was better within a half hour.

The doctor didn't really find anything. She did notice a small area (just inside) that was weeping blood and raw. She swabbed it for a sample, but no bleeding from above that - which is good.

No tumors or anything.

She did mention that she couldn't rule out pinworms and that she sent down specimens that would tell her if they are present. She explained that if she had pinworms, she would be itching in her sleep and causing bleeding.

However, Olivia has not ever itched down there. She denies any itching and I would have noticed her scratching at some point over the past 8 months, right?

I don't think that is it...besides - people with pinworms lose weight. She as definitely not lost weight.

Doctor says she know more next week sometime.

Paige and Wade

Just so I don't leave out the two little ones...

Here are some recent photos. We were at Andrew Maldonado's 1st birthday party. He is the son of my friend and former roommate, Beth, and is one month younger than Paige.

The party was at Tree tops park and painfully hot that day. Compared to the weeks of rain we've had though, it was pretty and they lucked out with the weather.

As always, it was nice to see everyone in their family.

Hip hop show... more

This is Meredith's group. It would take forever to upload the videos - they are big files - but maybe later, I'll try.

Hip hop show... 2009

Olivia and Meredith had the end of the year Hip Hop performance in May.

Bryan, me, Wade and our neighbor Jessica all attended. Paige stayed home with Grandma.

It was a long show - but good music so who can complain.

These photos are of Olivia's group and Wade sitting with daddy.

Some photos - June 2009

All of the end of the year activities were a lot of fun I'll spend a few minutes posting some recent photos.

These first photos are from the end of April. (yes, that is how long they have been stuck inside my camera).

The girls' elementary school has an annual outdoor called Tana-kee-kee. All grades participate in it and it becomes a great tradition that they all look forward to.

Different grades are assigned roles and projects that teach the other grades about life and history of Florida.

Kindergarten = Florida wildlife. (they have to make a puppet of animals found in Florida)

1st grade - Citrus growers. (they sing a song about the goodness of citrus and have games like 'grapefruit bowling' for the other grades to play).

2nd grade - Ranchers - (they dress like cowboys and sing around a pretend campfire).

3rd grade - Pioneers - (they dress like pilgrims and host a trading post. they sing songs)

4th grade - Seminoles - (they create miniture thatch huts and villages and sing songs while doing rain dances.)

5th grade - Military - (they have army tents and games inside the tents to show the younger ones what it is like to live outdoors.)

This year, Olivia was a pioneer. (pictured with Bryan) and Oliva was a Citrus grower (with me).

I was unable to go to both days... Bryan had to fill in.

Paige spoke with me today.

Well, it finally happened. Paige called me 'Mama' from across the room.

I was walking away from her, as she was sitting in the comfy, blue Thomas the Train seat that Auntie Linda gave Wade. She was all set up to watch TV and I thought I'd sneak off to make a fresh cup of coffee and check my email.

Suddenly, I hear - "Mama... Mama" from behind me. At first, I thought I had imagined it. So I kept walking.

Then she said it again, so I turned around to see her sitting straight up and looking at me... calling me.

How cute is that?

She is not a little baby anymore and an active part of this household.

Too cute...

Everyone's upcoming surgeries...

Since I'm on here, I'll let you know of the things going on with the other kids, too.

Olivia has been having some vaginal spotting for 6 months. She has been to the pediatrician, a pediatric endocrinologist and I've consulted an adolescent gynocologist. She is otherwise healthy and tests have showed she is not in early puberty.

So, I took her to a pediatric surgeon. She is scheduled for an examination under anesthesia on June 12th. It is really just a look-see to see if she has any polyps up there, but it must be done with anesthesia. So it is a whole trip to the hospital, IV's and the OR. She is very nervous... she is afraid she won't wake up.

Meredith went to the dentist last week for a cleaning and they took X-rays of her mouth. Her left front tooth is coming in very off-center. Turns out she has an extra tooth up there in the middle. The dentist says she needs to have it removed.

This will be with an oral surgeon and it, too, will require anesthesia. They will have to go through the palate to get it out, but they may not be able to do it for months. They have to wait until her grown up teeth have stronger roots.

They are thinking maybe December.

I'm going to be so busy during those months, I don't know if there will ever be a convenient time for me. Bryan will be the one to take off work to be home with her.

What a mess....

Wade's trip to the hospital...

As I write this, Wade is being brought home from the hospital... in Ft. Myers.

He is over on the West coast visiting Nana and Papa for the weekend. My sister-in-law, Veronica, had brought him over there because she was delivering her son, Sean (4) who is staying there for the week. (They had an overlap of his school shutting down for summer and camps not opening up until next week.)

Everyone thought it was a great idea to send Wade with them... give the boys a chance to be together and the grandparents a chance to have the boys alone. I didn't want him to go, the original invitation was for him to stay all week, but I agreed to let him go for the weekend and come home with Veronica today.

Well, he wasn't feeling so good when they left, but they called last night and said he was swimming and eating well. Went to bed without any problems.

Our phone rang at 5:45am. He had woken up from sleeping and had a hard time breathing. He had a deep, dry cough and was wheezing. He was so worked up that he starting to vomit.

They called 911. Called us next to tell us and we were on the phone with them when the paramedics got there. He went to the local hospital and was given Ventolin breathing treatments and some oral steroids. He was just released with a diagnosis of croup.

Veronica will be bringing him home after they grab a bite to eat, so I'm thinking it will be after lunch.

It is a 2.5 hour drive.

Poor Wade - the first time he has spent the night away from us.

Memorial Day weekend

I can't believe that it is Memorial Day. This past month has gone by in a blur. I was right to say that this semester would prove to be a monster. I think it is a sign of days to come.

Last week, on Friday, I had looked over the upcoming 10 days and realized that I had two quizzes, 2 researched discussions to post, and one 5 page term paper to turn in by Saturday. It was not easy, but I did it.

I'm finding that as long as I keep organized and ahead in the work, I am finished before most of my classmates even start their own. I don't know how long I can keep up this pace, but right now it is working.

The dance recital, last week, was cute. We opted to not take any grandparents with us. My mom stayed with Paige, we took Wade and our neighbor's daughter, Jessica, and my dad stayed home to watch the baseball game.

Trust me, no one missed out on anyone. Jessica was perfect to bring, she kept Wade entertained and really enjoyed the dances. The show could have run in 2 hours, but because they kepts stopping between acts to set up the next act - it was almost 3 and a half hours. Started at 7 - ended at 10:30 and then we went for ice cream. It was a LONG night and I was glad that my parents weren't there to gripe and moan about the show.

It is easy to watch when your child is on stage, but there were long space between our girls performing and the hip-hop music would have burned my Dad's ears.

It wasn't like listening to Bing Crosby, right?

I'll try to download the photos to the computer to post here later, but we took video and it takes forever to download. I just don't have the time to sit there and I'm too tired at night - after my homework is done at 11pm.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Md

Quick note

This summer will prove to be a real lesson in organization. These two classes are throwing papers, quizzes and group projects at me left and right.... but I'm managing to stay afloat.

It is still only week #2. (total = 13 weeks)

In the next 10 days - between the two classes - I have 4 short essays (with 3 references for documentation), 2 quizzes (timed tests on-line), and one 5 page term paper.

Not to mention work and actually driving down to Miami to attend the class.

The girls have their dance recital tomorrow night. I'm still not sure if I have their clothes right. Olivia has lost some weight and I think that the skirt, that she wore for an earlier show, won't fit now.

Linda - I'm not sure if you spoke with Lisa about tomorrow night, but don't worry about it. We decided to just take all the kids with us. Paige will just have to sleep in the stroller.


Going next week to see a pediatric surgeon about Olivia and her spotting problem. I'm hoping that Dr. Long will be willing to sedate her (on another day) and scope her little private area to see if there is any polyps. Something is making her bleed and all the other test are coming back negative.

I'm thinking that this will be scheduled for sometime in June. I took off every Tues and Fri. so I can be available for the surgeon on those days.

Pretty much that is it. Taking the three older ones to the dentist today at 8:30 and meeting with some friends to study for this week's test after lunch.

Thanks to facebook several of us got to know each other before these classes started. There are 6 of us that are heading to anesthesia school in the fall and we are all taking these two summer classes together.

It is nice to know people before starting the full time program. I'm the only married one, only one with kids. Finding a balance is hard, but manageable.

When my classmates are complaining, I just give them a look. I trump all of them with BUSY (working, school, housework, family) and I just tell them to suck it up, if I can do it... so can they. We are turning out to be a good team.

Summer classes

Looks like the two classes I'm taking over the summer are going to be ball-busters. One is totally on-line, but the teacher expects us to log in for discussions at least four times a week. We have a power point presentation due on some illness and we have weekly quizzes (timed - 10 questions in 20 minutes) each Saturday.

The other class is on Tues. nights 6p to 9p, down in the South Miami Campus. (Hello - Will I ever get to see American Idol live? I don't think so, right?)This will be tough. This class involves 3 group projects over the next 16 weeks plus a term paper.

I'm looking forward to the Tuesday class, because there are several people that were accepted into this Anesthesia program with me that are enrolled in this class. Thanks to Facebook - the 40 of us that are starting in August have been in touch with each other and have been 'getting to know' each other for the past few weeks.

It will be exciting to get to meet these new 'friends' this week. Of the 40 of us, about 15 are already emailing and sharing info on classes. Some of them are moving here from out of state for this program.

I'll try to post here when I can - updates with the family, but I don't know what the next few weeks will bring. I'm thinking I'll be very busy.

Oh and by the way - I got an A- in my pharmacology class. Not too bad for a girl who hasn't been in school for 10 years, works part time and has 4 kids to feed, right? The test #2, the one I thought I didn't pass, was graded a 95%!!!!! The last two projects - one term paper and one test - must have been graded an A for each. Grades came out on Friday.

One semester down - eight more to go.

Take your child to work day... is today.

Still at home this morning - getting the kids ready for their day. Wade and Paige have nothing special planned, but Olivia and Meredith are going to spend the day with Daddy at the Police Dept.

I guess they have tours of the PD and Fire Dept planned, plus lunch with Daddy. It should be a great day for them.

Bryan's ex is one of 3 people that work in the community affairs dept, which is the group that will have our kids for the day. I'm curious to know how she will act around the girls.

She has seen them a few times, but this will be a first... them spending the day with her. (I hear only 20 kids signed up)

She never changed her last name... it is still Davis, so I'm wondering if the girls will notice and make innocent comments like,' that's the same name as ours'.

I doubt she'd have the guts to identify herself... but if she did that'll be a big problem for me, since the children know NOTHING about lives led before Bryan and I got together.

Did you know that our 10th anniversary is tomorrow? Exciting, huh? My parents are going to watch the kids so we can go out to dinner. I wanted to go out with my parents, but our babysitter has had lots of personal issues so I can't ask her right now. It'll be nice to go out just me and him... no plans yet - we'll stay close to home, I'm sure.

Anyway, I gotta go get everyone ready. I'll let you know if Val opens her mouth.