Jube-Log; A Log, by Jube

The week in review

2012-01-30T08:01:00.001-05:00

I started class again last week. After nearly 6 weeks off, 4 full days of school last week felt pretty brutal. We have another full week of class this week, with our clinical rotation starting next week. I start with 2 weeks in community health (school nursing and home visits), then mental health, critical care, and telemetry.

We had orientation for mental health last week. I'm starting to see that mental health nursing is going to be a horse of a different color. Instead of our nursing uniforms, we are supposed to wear business casual. The terminology and nursing responsibilities are completely different too.

I was pretty wiped out by the time Friday afternoon rolled around and wanted nothing more than to order in. Unfortunately for me, we have decided to nearly cut restaurants from our budget until I'm out of school. We ended up having eggs and pancakes for dinner. The kids loved it and Ry cooked, so it worked out well for me.

Our weekend morning look a lot like this:

Gummy Bear has mad dance skills.

I had a ukulele lesson, where my instructor taught me to read tab. I am making a serious effort to play the uke for at least 30 minutes every day. If I don't, I feel like we're wasting money on the lessons. I have made some good progress in the last month ... so that's cool.

Ry and I went out last night to celebrate our 8th anniversary, which actually occurs tomorrow. We went to see The Artist. It was wonderful. We also rented Crazy. Stupid. Love. It was amazing. I have to say that Steve Carrel is beginning to grow on me. Happy Anniversary to us tomorrow!

Tomorrow back to the grind. This morning, however, I'm enjoying some snuggle time on the couch with my two favorite boys. *snuggle*

Mark your calendars

2012-01-27T17:01:00.003-05:00

Because I'll be a graduate nurse on May 23.

We had a session today about graduation requirements and licensing/testing/fees that made this whole "I'm going to be a nurse" thing very real. For whatever absurd reason, I'm much prouder of this associate's degree than either my bachelor's or master's. Maybe it's because I'm so much more excited about the resulting career. Maybe it's because I've given up so much time and energy to this one. Maybe it's because I never thought I had science brain and this is some small validation of my ability to understand things that are hard.

Hurrah! Four short months.

Excited. Terrified. Excited

2012-01-24T22:51:00.001-05:00

My final semester of (this) nursing program is upon me. I woke up this morning pretty excited to get it done. And then I went to class this morning and saw the clinical rotations and clinical expectations for the semester and freaked out a little. We have rotations in Community Health Nursing, Mental Health Nursing, Advanced Telemetry Nursing and Critical Care Nursing this semester. Plus we have our transition, which is a 60-hour shadow of a nurse in an area we'd like to be a part of. And oh, by the way, the nursing managers are watching you, so be good so you might be offered a job this summer.

Yeah.

Totally no pressure though.

And then I took a deep breath and realized that this is what I've been working towards for nearly 4 years now. I am so excited to be a nurse. I am so terrified to be a nurse, because then, I'll be the nurse. But I'm excited.

And terrified.

A day with the Monkey

2012-01-23T21:54:00.000-05:00

Today, my mom had Gummy Bear most of the day, so I got to hang with the Monkey. We had a fun day. The way he talks right now is super cute. He over-enunciates everything. So, for example, in the picture below, he would say "Eat. Gogurt."

Eat. Gogurt.

I'm. Swimming.

It's. Pun!

He was also pretending to be a dinosaur and wreck the road below. Unfortunately, every time I tried to get it on video he stopped saying "I'm. Dinotaur," and just roared and said "Inna geetcha!" (I'm going to get you). Still, he's pretty cute these days and I'm glad I got a Monkey day.

Snowy snow day

2012-01-21T13:08:00.000-05:00

And now I return to what I know you're all here for: cute pictures of my kids. Last night into this morning we got about 5 inches of snow that turned into 3 after an hour of rain. Ry is out of town, of course, so it fell to me to decide how much snow removal I really wanted to do. Our township has a rule that sidewalks have to be cleared within 24 hours of snow, so I thought I would at least get that done. As it turns out, I also got the walk cleared and the truck dug out.

Gummy Bear was actually a big help. He cleared all the windows on the truck. Then I literally had to make him go play in the snow.

They had fun playing on the frozen, very slippery play equipment.

It wasn't the 20 inches of snow we're used to the last few winters, but it was enough for the boys to get out and play in. Cheeky Monkey mostly ate it. They both had fun though, and they came in rosy-cheeked and starving.

Uke uke uke

2012-01-20T20:57:00.002-05:00

Because I'm a total slacker and still haven't taken more pictures of my darling children, here is a video of me playing ukulele. I recently had a fire lit under my ukulele-playing bum because a longtime friend asked me to play and sing in his wedding. No pressure. I started taking lessons last Saturday and had a bit of a breakthrough this week with strumming and playing at the same time.

In other news, my adorable children are still adorable. We met up with a friend at a mall with a play area today. It was nice. The kids were really good. They were rewarded at the end of the day with a carousel ride. Gummy Bear named his horse "Seven Silver" and Cheeky Monkey's "Black Tail." You guess why. Then we came home, where they mercifully took a nap, got up and then tormented each other while I made dinner. Good times. Tomorrow we're off to a friend's birthday party if we don't get crazy lots of snow. And Sunday, Ry comes home! Hurrah! Because being a single parent kind of sucks. And I miss him.

Oui, il y a plus

2012-01-19T16:00:00.003-05:00

I know you're like, "what? So your room is clean?" Or, "wow, that is a really ugly room." But for me, this is a huge accomplishment. Our poor room is the neglected room in the house. We're never really in it awake and no one ever sees it, so it becomes the dumping ground for randomonia. Because I'm doing so freaking much laundry every week, it rarely gets put away. Instead, I grow laundry mountains in the basement. While I've gotten better about getting the boys' put away at least weekly, Ry and I tend to use the basement as our closet.

Right now, all my laundry is put away. In drawers and closets.

That shut.

I dusted ya'll.

And this is my entire collection of shoes. This is it. And from now on, I have a one-in, one-out policy on all items of clothing and shoes. Now the shoes have to be cuter and more comfortable than a pair I already own, or they don't come home with me.

I feel good. The only untouched room in the house is our office, which is mostly boxes and Christmas crap that never got put away (and now, 4 giant contractor bags of stuff to donate). Well, and the basement. I'm not sure that's a project I can face on my own though.

I'm sure I'll get back to my regularly scheduled pictures of cute children, but this is what's occupying my life right now. My house is starting to feel a bit less claustrophobic. Ahhhh.

It Continues

2012-01-17T13:04:00.002-05:00

Wait. What? There is no open space allowed in my cabinets.

Charmed by the Doctor and Mr. Holmes

2012-01-16T22:43:00.001-05:00

I'm not usually a book reviewer. However, I'm about a third of the way through the collection of Sherlock Holmes books and short stories and have been so utterly charmed by them that I wanted to share. Certainly, they aren't politically correct, but hey, they were written 125 years ago. What they are quick, clever and quirky. Protagonist with autism, manic-depression and a side of cocaine addiction? Yes please. I'm a little irked at myself for having never picked them up before. If you don't want to be irked, go, now, and get some light, tasty book popcorn.

The complete collection was only $3 on Nook.

Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

2012-01-15T17:05:00.001-05:00

So I just took an unplanned 4 week break from the blog. There was no specific reason aside from not really feeling like blogging. Lately every post feels like more of the same. Here's an overview of the past 4 weeks. Hopefully getting caught up will make me feel more like blogging, because hey, there won't be so much to catch up on.

1. Christmas was super fun. As is my family tradition, on Christmas Eve we went over to my Mom's house. We opened presents, ate food, and hung out. It was wonderful fun and made me grateful again that they are here.

2. Christmas morning we opened our stockings from Santa, ate, and played with toys. This car track from one of Ry's aunts was hands-down the Christmas favorite.

3. The day after Christmas, we loaded up the truck and made for Oz. Along the way, we spent the most miserable night hotel night EVAR when our hotel didn't have a crib. "No problem," we thought. "We'll just each sleep with a kid." While the boys slept pretty well, Ry and I got a combined 3 hours since we had an elbow, head, foot, or knee in our faces or sides approximately every 5 minutes. Then, Cheeky Monkey decided he was up for the day at 5 am. Hotel room fail.

The upside is that we got on the road really early and made it to Oz by 2 pm. We stopped on our way into town to visit a longtime friend and then went to my Dad's.

Where Lala used the Monkey to mop the floor.

We did Christmas x2. This one contained far fewer toys. The boys handled it (mostly) with grace.

We had a great time visiting with both Dads, grandparents and friends. Our drive home was uneventful and a strategic call ahead yielded a hotel stay that was much less suck.

4. We got home, caught our breath, and cleaned out the boys' closets. They are almost the size where I can take clothes directly from Gummy Bear's closet and put it Monkey's. Almost. Then, Ry had to go back to work.

School doesn't start again for me for two more weeks. I have 6 days of boys-in-daycare between now and then. And so this week, I did this:

And this:

The curtains were $9, ya'll!

Poor Monkey had lived for 2 years in a nursery decorated for his brother. The pictures on the wall were of Gummy Bear. There was even a lovely piece of tatting on the wall with his name on it. I updated his room on the cheap. I found the curtains at Ross for $9, and put some scrapbooking paper in the picture frames. It's subtle, but for the first two nights when I put Cheeky Monkey to bed, he would point at something new and say "I like it!" and "It's fun!"

Also, this:

And this:

I couldn't very well leave Bear's room untouched, could I?

5. This weekend we've had some quality time with friends we haven't seen since before the holidays. Tomorrow Ry has the day off (woot!) and he leaves Wednesday for a whirlwind trip to Portugal. I'm hoping to tackle the rest of the house this week. Unfortunately, there is no amount of organizing that will make our master bedroom anything but ugly. Still, I can hope to get everything put away and piles made for "donate", "trash" and "give away." We already have two giant contractor bags full from wardrobe and toy purges this week. Since our house isn't getting any bigger, we need to have less stuff.

And there you have it. Four weeks in one post.

Sorry

2012-01-14T23:44:00.002-05:00

I've been feeling exceptionally un-inspired to blog lately. I'll probably get back to it sometime.

I also just learned I've hit my photo upload limit. This means I need to figure out how to increase my storage space. This is something I don't have the brain power for.

Genes are weird

2011-12-22T21:18:00.000-05:00

I put off dentist appointments for the boys and I until after my semester ended. Thus, this week was a lot of dentist. Gummy Bear has an underbite that the dentist assures me will need orthodontia. Hurrah! He also had his first set of x-rays, which were super cool. I could see all his permanent teeth overlapping in his hard palate, just waiting to emerge.

I also took Cheeky Monkey in for his first dentist appointment. He took a tumble into a fence about 6 weeks ago, and one of his teeth is looking a bit grey as a result. While the dentist didn't seem overly concerned about that tooth, she did discover a few congenital abnormalities.

I wasn't super surprised to hear that he had teeth weirdness. I have a baby tooth that never fell out. I have no permanent tooth to replace it. The dentist said the root looks good and unless it starts to give me problems we'll just leave it alone. Her oldest patient with a baby tooth was 88.

As it turns out, Monkey is not only missing a tooth on the top, he has two canine teeth on the lower left. Seriously? How did I never notice this? Our dentist said this may or may not be replicated in his permanent teeth. She also said it may or may not be a problem. In the meantime, it's not bothering him right now and so she's not going to do anything about it right now.

This evening I took a good look at his mouth. Sure enough, he has two canine teeth. Genes are weird.

A furry Christmas to you!

2011-12-19T09:21:00.000-05:00

We ended up back at Sesame Place on Friday. This time, we skipped all the "seasonal" shows, parades and photo ops and just went on the rides. Since everyone was busy doing the seasonal stuff, we walked right onto all the rides. We had a great time again. I am not sure if Sesame is actually making money, based on the crowds I saw the last two weeks, but hey, I was a fan of the empty park and short lines! With temperatures in the 40s, it was actually the perfect outing.

We decided to have the kids go see Santa, since we kind of stumbled on no line for him too. I was afraid that Cheeky Monkey was going to scream his little head off. Surprisingly, he was very chill. He just stuck his hands in his pockets and watched us all, with a half-smirk on his face.

Look at me, not screaming.

This was the kids' only shot to see Santa this year. Since he's not really a big deal in our Christmas celebrations, I was so not waiting for an hour in some hot mall for the kids to see some kid in a crappy wig and beard. This Santa, however, was good ... real beard and everything. He also took a few minutes after the picture to talk with the kids. I was the one hurrying them off, afraid to incur the wrath of the line growing behind us.

Anyway, Furry Christmas!

So much cute

2011-12-15T15:24:00.004-05:00

Firstly ... my semester is over!! Let there be much rejoicing!!! Ok, technically I still have to take a practice NCLEX exam tomorrow, but the the grade-getting portion of my semester is over! And now I have 5 weeks with which to focus on my family, celebrate Christmas, make a trip halfway across the country and clean my house.

One of the unintended consequences of my chosen career is that my kids play a little differently than most kids. See this pile of toys? Do you know what they have in common? They all have eyes. And the Monkey checked every one of them for pupillary response with his flashlight.

Then he decided he wanted to "ride" the trucks in the book we were reading. So he climbed on and rode ... with kitty of course.

But wait, there's more cuteness! The boys had their Christmas programs at school yesterday. Who was a penguin? That's right. Gummy Bear was a penguin! He was very attached to that belly, by the way. He wore it all evening.

I don't know this little man, but he was cracking me up. He has a serious future in theatre if this little performance was any example. He was so intensely singing about Frosty, and Rudolf, and Hanukkah that I laughed every time I looked at him.

Before the end, of course, Bear started getting bored. So he started balancing on one leg. But hey, at least he was still singing.

Cheeky Monkey's program was a little less performance and a little more fashion show. The kids walked the red carpet and brought presents to their mom's. So. Stinking. Cute. His teacher announced him as "Cheeky Monkey ... and Kitty!" I'm so glad we've found this school. I didn't get a great picture because he took one step out from the curtain and froze, so I spent the rest of the time coaxing him into my lap, where he buried his head on my shoulder for the rest of the performance.

Anyhoo, I'm off to grab my little men.

In which I break my Christmas rules

2011-12-12T10:01:00.001-05:00

Ry and I always swore we wouldn't buy a fake tree for Christmas. For our nearly 8 years of marriage, we bought a real tree. While they varied in size and beauty, every year there was a real, sap dripping, water sucking, formerly living tree in our living room. And this year? Not only did we buy a fake tree, we bought a 4 foot tall fake tree.

We decided that since we were going to be in Illinois for a significant portion of time right after Christmas, it made sense to have a small tree that would be easily taken down and not turn into a fire hazard during our trip. We briefly considered not having a tree at all, but Gummy Bear is so into Christmas this year that it just wouldn't have been right.

So we went to Target and bought a tiny little tree (for less than we would have spent on a real tree, by the way), brought it home and decorated.

As with so many things with young children, it looks like we had a lot more fun than we actually did. This is mostly due to the fact that Cheeky Monkey took the opportunity to rip apart an ornament every time one of us had our back turned. In the end, I removed anything remotely break or tear-able and anything of sentimental value. I was impressed by the sheer destructiveness of a 2-year-old on a mission. He destroyed a wooden ornament by ripping off her arms, and two Hallmark ornaments by pulling off the Grinch and snowman, respectively. We had a tree the year Gummy was almost 2, and he never showed such disdain for ornaments. Clearly, I underestimated the possibilities.

Which one can I mangle before I get caught?

Still, I'm glad we have a tree. Gummy Bear had fun making the Angel tree topper and Monkey seems to have decided the remaining ornaments can live. So, Merry Christmas!

And Bah Humbug.

This was neat

2011-12-10T09:34:00.001-05:00

Last night we went to A Very Furry Christmas at Sesame Place. We weren't going to go, because it was an extra fee. We already bought our season passes, and it seemed silly to spend an extra $15 a person to go at Christmas. As it turns out, I'm really glad I didn't follow my first instinct. I was sincerely impressed with the Christmas-ness of it all.

Walking in, we were greeted with dozens of sets of these lighted trees

There was a ginormous tree in the center, complete with a light show timed to Christmas music.

We met a few of the kids' favorites. Cheeky Monkey was pretty wary of them, and wouldn't get close unless I came with him.

After we visited with the Count, we got Monkey saying "One ... Two ... Ahhhh."

He was absolutely fascinated at the Elmo show. Every time Elmo left the stage, Monkey got very concerned. "Elmo?" He looked around and called for Elmo until we reassured him that Elmo was coming back.

It was even a holiday-themed show, complete with Hanukkah and Kwanzaa bits.

Gummy Bear was really interested in the set afterwards. He was sad that the piano didn't actually play, though.

There were lots of themed tableaus, and Bear took advantage of every one.

I was truly impressed by the lights, lights, lights everywhere we went. I'd be curious to know how many lights they used throughout the park.

We even, you know, went on some rides. Somehow, they seemed secondary though.

MOAR LIGHTS!!!!!

The tickets we bought yesterday are good for the rest of the Christmas season. I think there is a very real possibility that we'll be going again. Hurrah for schmaltzy Christmas revelry!

Creative misbehavior

2011-12-07T13:02:00.001-05:00

My in-laws were here for about a month during October and November. It was wonderful. We laughed, we talked, and we played. Perhaps the coolest thing about them being here is that for a month, I didn't have to take my kids to school in the mornings. It was like being childless again. I would get up, take a shower, have a cup of coffee, make breakfast, and then I would kiss them on their little pumpkin heads and go to school. I know that the kids made it to daycare, because they were there when I went to pick them up. The kids got to take their time eating, getting dressed, playing.

As a direct consequence of this, the week after they left was ... unpleasant. The 3 mornings I had to take them to school before going to school myself generally ended with me yelling, Gummy Bear crying, Cheeky Monkey confused, and all of us grumpy and unpleasant by the time we got to school.

And so, I went and bought this:

Because Gummy Bear gets up freakishly early, he usually sits on the couch and quietly plays with the DS or iPad until we get up. We generally find him, still in his PJs, cuddled up and enjoying some digital entertainment. Now, he has to get up, go potty, get dressed, and brush his teeth before he can play games in the morning. He can earn additional video game/TV time if he can get through to after dinner without whining and/or he cleans up his toys. You may have noticed there aren't a lot of "no whining" stars.

This worked beautifully for the first week. This morning when I got up, I was surprised that Bear wasn't up yet. It was nearly 7 am, and he's usually up between 6 and 6:30. I went into the bathroom to start my morning routine when I saw Raffe on the floor of the bathroom. I opened his door to find the lights out, him sitting on a chair with the DS and headphones, still in pajamas. Trying not to chuckle out loud, I told him that if he got up right now and did his morning chores, he could still play a few minutes of DS before breakfast.

And then the hysterics started. "I waaaannnnttt to play!!!" he cried. I reminded him that he had things to do before he played. So he started to pull on his shirt. Then he looked up at me and said, "There are games on my camera. I'll just play those." "No you won't, if you want to play any games or watch any TV today", I said.

Thinking it was finished, I went back into the bathroom, only to hear him say "I'll just hide it where you can't find it." And so, I walked back into his room and said, "OK, then I'll just start taking toys out of your room until I find it."

"NOOO!!!!"

And thus, the boy was toileted, dressed and teeth brushed. He dragged his feet so much that there were no video games this morning before breakfast. I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

Snippets

2011-11-29T21:55:00.001-05:00

This week I'm studying for an exam, preparing for a presentation, and completing a bunch of case studies. In between these things, today I did a lot of shopping. I bought the lion's share of the kids' Christmas presents and find myself in remarkably good shape on the rest of the family too. I also finally used a gift card I got as a birthday present and some Kohl's cash we got as a result of freshening Ry's business clothes last week.

I love this time of year, because all the fall stuff is on clearance. What this means for me is that I got an interview suit, a pair of dress slacks, 2 sweaters, and 6 tops for a grand total of $46 out of pocket. Woot! Also, I tried on a lot of "fashionable" clothes today. I found a couple of cute things. Mostly, I found a lot of stuff that screamed "I am desperately trying to hang on to my youth", "the 80s doesn't look any better in 2011" and "dear God, my eyes are bleeding".

Tonight when I was putting Cheeky Monkey to bed, he sang with me. Here's how it went:

Me: Summertime, and the living is easy.
Fish are jumping, and the cotton is high.

Monkey: HIGH!!!!!!!!!

Me: Your daddy's rich, and your momma's good looking.
So hush, little baby don't you cry.

Monkey: CRY!!!!!!

Then, for the rest of the time, he would scrunch his little nose and say, "cry" about every 30 seconds. I asked him if he was crying. "Yea," he said, "cry".

Very convincing little Monkey. Very convincing.

Our first Christmas present

2011-11-26T21:53:00.001-05:00

Ry has wanted an Xbox 360 since they came out. Since it cost some ungodly amount of money (and he won a Wii that year) we didn't buy one. This year, however, our Wii is starting to get a little wonky and the Xbox is something in the realm of reasonable. And so we bought one. And then opened it and started playing it an hour later. Sometimes Christmas presents don't wait until Christmas. Plus, now our family has great gift ideas for Ry and Bear!

Bear took to the Kinect like he had been playing it his whole life. He jumped, he giggled, he wiggled and he fell instantly and completely in love. At least he's not sitting on the couch and playing video games, right? I have to say though, that I'm a little creeped out by the fact that I see a little video of myself every time Ry switches games. I about to throw a little Kinect bag over its little Kinect head.

A day late ... but still thankful

2011-11-25T09:15:00.001-05:00

Mostly, I'm thankful for these 3 people here. I'll be a little more specific though.

1. I am thankful for Ry, who is unfailingly patient with nursing school and unfailingly loving to me and the boys.
2. I am thankful for Gummy Bear, who has recently morphed into my "easy" kid. His Mummu taught him to play checkers while she was here, and now he wants life to be all board games, all the time. Still, it's better than the video game obsession that preceded it.
3. I am thankful for Cheeky Monkey, who has been adding a new word about once a day lately. Yesterdays? "Pumpkin", which he had not seen since Halloween. He's thinking all the time, even when he doesn't say anything. Truly, I should start calling him the Cookie Monster. After a meal that included cookies a few days ago, he'll randomly scream "COOKIE!!!!" in the middle of a meal.
4. My mother and stepdad. They have made our lives so much easier and more wonderful over the past 4 months. They seem so much a part of our lives now that I can't imagine them not living here anymore.
5. My sister, who is so very smart and interesting. She feels like home to me.
6. My dad and stepmother, who make me laugh. And remind me all the time of what doing the right thing looks like.
7. My in-laws, who have accepted me with complete love since the day I entered their son's life. My life is so much the better for having them in it.
8. Ukuleles. They are the happiest instrument on the planet. There is no such thing as melancholy ukulele playing. Well, I suppose some Hipster might find a way to be depressed and play ukulele, but I certainly couldn't. I'm also slowing converting our friends and family into ukulele players (Peanut, I'm looking at you).
9. Nursing school. Ok, well I'm not exactly grateful for nursing school, but I am grateful for the career I am about to embark upon. Perhaps I'm grateful that there are only 6 months left of nursing school.
10. Our home, which is closing in around me. Still, it's ours and it's bursting at the seams with love, laughter and kids' crap. Mostly kids' crap, but the other stuff too.

So. Stinking. Cute

2011-11-22T13:48:00.001-05:00

Right. So I'm kind of avoiding eye contact with the mound of school work I have to do right now. Instead, I thought I'd blog about the extremely high level of cuteness going on in our house right now.

We had Cheeky Monkey's non-family party on Sunday. We had a costume party, and so I thought it only appropriate that we make monster cupcakes. I did the icing, and the boys' Mummu did all the monster faces. I have to say that the angry birds ones were the best.

They looked great for a while. And then their little monster faces started sliding off their little monster cupcake bodies and I almost cried. Happily, only 4 or 5 of them were unsalvageable, and more happily, 2-year-olds don't care what the icing looks like.

Ry and I dressed up our 1960s selves.

And the boys wore their Halloween costumes. Unfortunately, in the 2 weeks between Halloween and the party, the Monkey grew an inch and we couldn't button his pants. Sad. Also, somehow appropriate.

Hurrah cupcakes!!

This was just one of my favorite pictures from the party. Seriously, could she be more excited about the juicebox?

See the unbuttoned pants? The hat and beard didn't last long either.

Gummy Bear had a great time ... and lots of sugar.

It was a really great party.

Monkey turned two and someone switched his "2" button. Stuff he's been doing this week:

1. Refusing to eat dinner (unless he damn well decides he wants it or there is a cookie involved).
2. Adding a new word or two every day. Favorite: "hot bum" when he's sporting a loaded diaper.
3. Stringing together 2 or 3 word sentences like he's been doing it for months.
4. Identifying colors. "Lellow!"
5. Destroying everything his brother builds, touches, or thinks about.
6. Opening the fridge and getting his own apple slices.
7. Singing along when I sing him to sleep.
8. Playing Pat-A-Cake.

The Monkey turned 2

2011-11-13T11:07:00.001-05:00

Cheeky Monkey turned 2 about a week ago. While he's still a sweet-natured, laid back little man, he is also most definitely 2. He and his brother antagonize each other nonstop. He has also decided to exert his will in various and sundry ways (like refusing to open his mouth to brush teeth).

He is also a really easy smile. While he wants to pester his brother, he also wants to do whatever he does.

He is also big pretend-player. When Ry and I had a weekend away, we got him a long kitty. They have been inseparable ever since. Where Long Kitty goes, Cheeky Monkey goes. Long Kitty gets the first bite of cheese.

And then Monkey.

And then Long Kitty again.

Long Kitty goes to school with Monkey. Long Kitty goes to bed with Monkey. Long Kitty has to snuggle on my other shoulder when we're snuggling before bed. And I have to take turns petting Long Kitty's back and petting Monkey's back.

He's just staring to put two words together a lot (Mama's cup, more ice, butter please). He also hums along when I sing to him at bedtime. Maybe he'll be a musical boy.

He had his 2 year check up yesterday. He weighed 33 pounds, 11 ounces and was 36 inches tall. That puts him in the 80-85 percentile for both. Gummy Bear at 2 was just over 36 inches, but only 30 pounds, 6 ounces. Monkey is going to be our linebacker (except that I'm never going to let him play football).

He loves to Fred Flintstone the tricycle around the patio. He's also pretty good with a fork and can drink out of an open cup.

I'm completely in love. Happy Birthday little Monkey.

Good morning!

2011-11-11T09:16:00.001-05:00

Scene: Our bedroom, 8 am. Ry has just gone to the nursery to get Cheeky Monkey. I hear Gummy Bear come running up the stairs and burst into our room.

Gummy Bear: Mom! I made you something!

Me: You did? What is it?

Gummy Bear: I'll go get it!

Me: Oh Bear, thank you so much! That's a terrific heart.

Ry from the other room: OH MY GOD! Don't touch it!

Cheeky Monkey from the other room: HAHAHAHAHA

Gummy Bear: Look Mommy, I used a marker that writes on both sides!

Me: So you did. Where did you get this marker?

Ry from the other room: Sit still!

Gummy Bear: I took it out of the cup by the door.

Me: And what did you put the paper on when you drew it?

Gummy Bear: The stool in the hallway!

Cheeky Monkey comes running into the bedroom, clad only in his diaper: Mommy!!

Me: Hi Cheeky! Gummy, please don't take the markers out of the cup by the back door anymore, OK? I think you probably wrote on the stool too.

Gummy Bear: I did!

Ryan comes into the bedroom, carrying a very large diaper: This thing has to weigh 5 pounds.

We all walk downstairs. Cheeky Monkey insists on having his kitty "hold" the stair railing, making it a 10 minute process. I go into the hall to inspect the damage.

It's no house carved on the dining room table with a fork, but it's not going anywhere.

Treat

2011-10-31T22:31:00.002-04:00

Happy Halloween, ya'll! Ours was, as always, an adventure. It started with the boys' Halloween parade. This is a little tradition where the daycare dresses up all the kids and parades them around the playground. Super, super cute. Poor, poor teachers.

Then we set off to do a little trick or treating. The boys had a blast, and won much acclaim for their costumes.

And then, because it's us, Ry got to take the toilet apart. Apparently, earlier in the day, Cheeky Monkey was playing with a little blue ball. About 15 minutes later he took Ry into the bathroom, opened the lid of the toilet and pointed in, saying "Ball?" Ry said "I don't think your ball is in there." Cheeky said "Ball!"

Guess what?

It was.

You're probably tired of these

2011-10-30T08:55:00.002-04:00

But hey, our life is largely about soccer these days. I'm very grateful that yesterday's game was cancelled, since we got about 3 inches of rain/snow/sleet/yuck. It would have been a very uncomfortable day. These pictures are from last week's game. It was a little cool, but a good kind of playing outside day.

As long as I have coffee, I'm a happy woman. Cheeky Monkey loves the new tiny camp chairs I got on clearance at Target a few weeks ago. He keeps calling the fox chair a "bear", but oh well, as least he's trying.

Cheeky Monkey has his ups and downs with soccer. Some weeks he seems to be really into it and other weeks he's just phoning it in. This was a phoning it in kind of week. The kid next to him is an excellent soccer player.

Gummy Bear is a pretty happy guy if we bring snacks. This day it was raisins.

I'm amazed by how far the kids have come in the 8 weeks since the league season started. They're actually starting to show some understanding of the game, instead of just running in a clump around the ball. I don't know what we're doing next. I've been trying to expose Bear to lots of different things to see what he's most interested in. We did gymnastics last spring. After soccer season is over next week, we are taking a break from classes until after Christmas. I need to get through the end of my semester before I even think about classes for the boys again.

The boys Mummu and Papa Mike have been here for the last week. They're going to be here for several more weeks. The kids are in heaven. They have been so very patient and wonderful with the boys.

Transportation has been interesting, but we're managing.

And with this, I'm nearly caught up with the past week. We carved pumpkins this week, but the pictures are on someone else's camera. I'll get there!

A good idea in theory

2011-10-29T08:25:00.000-04:00

Last weekend, we loaded up the troops (and my mom and stepdad and ry's mom and her hubby) and went to the big Renaissance Faire. If you've ever taken small children to a big festival like this, you know it's a better idea in theory than practice. Despite that, we had a good time.

We were greeted by this guy:

He was pretty awesome. I think my favorite part was that he was wearing baby shoes on the ends of his stilts.

We got inside shortly before the Queen. A few of the guests were overwhelmed by her presence.

Also, there was this guy. He is going to haunt my dreams.

The boys went on a giant, wooden twirly ride. I thought Cheeky Monkey might be scared, but he was completely fearless.

Here we are waiting for the Mud Show to begin. I thought the boys would really enjoy it. Both of them were bored. I think the problem was that there was too much talking and not enough jumping in mud.

Again at the joust. Too much talkie, not enough ridey.

The grandparents are determined to make our kids tree huggers.

Cheeky was a big fan of the turkey legs.

And Bear really got into helping Daddy beat G-pa at giant checkers.

We had a fun day, and Cheeky fell asleep on the way home. You can't beat that!

A few of his favorite things

2011-10-29T08:09:00.000-04:00

I've been a pretty serious slacker on the blog front lately. Life has been a little hectic over the past few weeks. Ry got home from his very long trip and we had a few days before his mom and her hubby arrived for a visit. It's been great having them here, but it leaves very little time for blogging. So. Sorry. I'll do my best to update the blog in the next few days.

But first, some pictures of shirtless Gummy Bear and headwear:

He has been really into costumes and hats lately. It seems that it took him longer to get really into pretend play than some of his friends, but now he's full-steam into the costumes. Right now he's running around with the headpiece to his halloween costume. The boys are going to be cuter than ever this Halloween, so stayed tuned for pictures of pure cute.

Nursing school: What I do

2011-10-20T20:42:00.001-04:00

I have had a couple of conversations with friends and relatives in the past few weeks that make it pretty clear that they don't know how I spend my days. I guess because I live it everyday, I assume that people know what I mean when I say "clinical" or "clinical research". So here it is, a week in the life of this nursing student:

Monday afternoon: Clinical Research.
I go to the hospital floor and get my patient(s) assignment. Then, I use the computer, the chart, and medication record to look up everything I can about this patient. This includes: medical diagnoses, labs, exams or procedures done, medication prescribed, pyschosocial history, nursing and medical orders, progress notes, and medical history. This usually takes me around an hour. Then, I go and introduce myself to the patient. After I leave the hospital, I have about 2 hours of work fleshing out the information I received. I need to look up unfamiliar conditions, look up all the drugs (actions, classifications, side effects, nursing implications), and begin to put together my care plan for this patient.

Tuesday & Wednesday 7 am - 3 pm: Clinical
I go back to the hospital floor and you know, act all nursey. As a student, I can most things a nurse can do except give IV push drugs (anything that comes in a syringe and gets injected directly into a vein) and hang blood or blood products.

Thursday 9 am - 3 pm: Class
Where we learn stuff.

Friday 9 am - 1 pm: Exams
We only have 4 exams throughout the semester, but they are always on Fridays. So on 4 Fridays this semester, I have an exam. The actual exam takes 2 hours, but then we do something called collaborative testing where we go through the exam again with a group of students and talk through our answers. I find that it really helps to discuss rationales, as part of doing well on nursing exams is understanding how to take nursing exams.

Sometimes a question will be asked like this: John has a condition and comes onto your floor at 0900. His vitals signs are blah blah blah. He has just had surgery for the condition. Which of the following would you do first?

Then you get 4 answers. They are all actions you should take. You just have to figure out what the highest priority is.

So yeah. That's what my week looks like. What do you actually do when you do what you do?

Well that was bleak

2011-10-15T20:58:00.003-04:00

So sorry about yesterday's post. I'm better now. Missing Ry aside, we have been having a fun time over the past week. There has been lots of goofiness, dinners with friends and time spent with Neena and Gpa. Here are a few pictures that made me smile:

Nothing like a baby in giant nursing clogs. He clearly has a future in the medical field.

Or cross-dressing

And then when I went to the bathroom, I emerged to find this: What were they doing? Eating apples and laying across ottoman, of course. What else would they be doing while I was in the bathroom?

I can't think of anything more logical.

The proverbial straw

2011-10-14T15:20:00.000-04:00

Ry has been gone for 13 days. We expected that he would be home on Monday. Today I found out that his trip has been extended through (at least) Friday. And then I fell apart.

We've been doing pretty good. Chugging along, staying busy and trying not to dwell on missing him. I'm not going to say it hasn't sucked, because it has. I miss my husband, my partner, my best friend. The boys miss their Dad something awful. Cheeky Monkey has started crying any time anyone else tries to take him. He threw a sobbing, choking fit the other night because my Mom tried to give him a bath. Gummy Bear asks at least twice a day when Daddy is coming home, cries for Daddy whenever he's in trouble as has started to act out like he does every time something in his life changes.

Still.

We were going to start "counting the sleeps" until Daddy comes home tonight. Only 3 more! And now he's going to be gone for another full week. And cue the waterworks. I'm aware of the fact that I'm being a giant baby. I'm aware that I'm throwing myself a little pity party right now. But you know what? I don't care. It's my party. And I'll cry if I want to.

How I do it

2011-10-09T23:04:00.003-04:00

Over the past several weeks, I have had several people ask me how I do it all. This question is usually asked by a youngish person with no kids/husband/job. My pat answer for them is "I don't know. I just do."

Perhaps the more truthful answer is, "I don't."

Every semester I struggle to balance the stuff competing for my time and attention. By definition, when you are a "full-time" something (in my case, student), you are a "part-time" something else (in my case, mother, wife, friend and housekeeper). Try as I might, there are not enough hours in the day or brain cells in my head to do it all. What usually suffers for me is the housework, time spent with Ry, and sleep.

The idea that you can do it all is a bill of goods. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either lying or has a great staff.

For some reason though, we all pretend like we can. I'll neglect the housework all week, only to scramble around for 2 hours before I have friends over, so they don't see the layer of cat hair and cheerios on my kitchen floor. I'll post the pictures of fun times with my kiddos on the blog and facebook without sharing the stories about how Cheeky Monkey clings to me and cries when I make dinner sometimes because he just wants to touch me.

And I'll tell my classmates and friends that I just getter done even when I'm wracked with guilt about the fact that my dishes are piling up in the sink, my kids just spent 9 hours at daycare, and my dear husband gets to see me for long enough to help put the kids to bed before I'm off for a study session.

Still, I'm not writing this to throw myself a pity party. I chose to go back to school with two young children. I'm excited about the path I've chosen. Getting a break from my kids 3 days a week makes me a better mom. I just think we should all stop trying to project the image that we're the kind of pulled-together woman advertisements sell us, invite our friends over, and hope they see the humor in it when their kids eat a 3-day-old raisin off the floor.

I do it ... by not doing it all, all the time.

Very Convincing

2011-10-08T20:36:00.001-04:00

When I put Cheeky Monkey to bed, I usually sing him a few songs. He snuggles into my neck and we rock. Tonight, after my usual 5 or 6 songs, I stopped singing and just rocked him.

He looked up at me and said, "More?". And so I sang another song. Then.

"More?"

"No, Babe, now it's time to sleep," I replied.

"Peez?"

"No, Sweetheart, let's snuggle," I said.

"Boo hoo."

*Snork* "Nice try."

Stuff

2011-10-06T21:15:00.003-04:00

Ry has now been away for 5 days. We have 11 days left. All-in-all, it hasn't been too bad. I've been busy with school, and my Mom and stepdad have been life savers. The boys are both a bit out of sorts and Gummy Bear has been asking about Ry a lot, but we are all doing pretty well. Ry is also doing well. The testing he's doing is going well, although he has been working 12 + hour days and sleeping in a bunk where his blankets touch the bunk above him when he's on his side. They gave him an email address (whoo!) so I have heard from him at least once a day. He's been on the deck for most of the testing they've been doing so far. Here are some highlights from the first couple of days:

Also, a press release about what they are doing.

I don't have a lot of blogging left in me, as I've been trying to keep Ry up to date with our life here. Overall, life is good. The boys are cute, I am about to switch clinical rotations (which is good for many reasons) and things are just moving along.

Completely unrelated, this made me laugh. Also, cry. Because I hate clowns.

Mud. Soccer. Oreos.

2011-10-01T23:12:00.001-04:00

It's been raining here since the beginning of August. Every time we get a day or two of sun, it downpours for another day or 10. Gummy Bear hasn't had a practice or game for 2 weeks. Since the giant fireball was actually in the sky this morning, they didn't cancel the game.

Kind of impressed a 4-year-old can do this.

The kids had fun. Since they were playing in 3/4 of an inch of standing water, they also got really, really muddy.

Who? Me?

The kids playing soccer weren't the only muddy ones. I had the foresight to pack an extra set of clothes for Gummy Bear. Cheeky Monkey went home in his diaper.

Ry was apparently confused.

And when the game was over, the kids had Capri Sun and Oreos. Seriously? Capri Sun and Oreos?!?!? I can't think of anything that would be better after an hour of running around. We're scheduled to bring snack the last week of October, and I'm afraid I'm going to be that awful mom who brings diluted juice and raisins.

In other news, Ry is going to be on a ship in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean for a little more than 2 weeks. He leaves tomorrow at 5 am. Pray for me.

I also passed my first exam of the semester. Big deal, eh? I'm actually quite pleased with myself, as the sheer volume of material on this exam made it feel like we were taking a final. Also, it feels good to know that I can do just as well on exams covering material that is not so interesting as material that I'd read even if I wasn't in nursing school. Take that, endocrine system! I own you!

Ahem.

NPR released a list of the top 100 Science Fiction books. I find that I have read a fair number of them, but also found some intriguing new titles to try. You know. In June.

My Fighting Illini are going to give me a heart attack this year. I don't know how many more last-second wins I can handle this year. Also, I've never seen a last-ditch effort like Northwestern's so nearly work. That. Was. Cool.

Finally, and just because it made me laugh. It's Guy On a Buffalo.

He's a funny little guy

2011-09-26T20:32:00.001-04:00

"I'm dead," he announced.

"Nice balloon," I said.

"Thanks," he said.

2011-09-26T20:12:00.001-04:00

A week in the life

2011-09-22T14:25:00.002-04:00

It's becoming increasingly obvious to me that this semester + regular blogging = not happening. So instead of the every-couple-days schedule I used to adhere to, I'll be posting when I have time. So there you go. And here's what's going on with us:

1. We went to our township's annual fall festival with my mom and stepdad and had a super time. This would have been a terrific picture if Gummy Bear could keep the stupid lei out of his mouth. Oh well. Then we went home and put the kids to bed and I went to study with a friend. My life is kind of a cycle right now that revolves around taking care of the kids, going to class, and studying. Poor Ry.

2. We celebrated Gummy Bear's half birthday. Happy 4.5 Bear! Because we went to the same festival mentioned above last year on his 3.5 birthday, his assumption is that the festival is for his half birthday. This year, he called it his "4 and a half festival" for the entire week before we went. Also, there was cake.

3. The boys are playing together. Actually playing. Together. Here Gummy Bear was reading Cheeky Monkey a book about ticklish animals. We've read it so many times that Cheeky Monkey starts giggling every time you turn the page, anticipating the tickling that is soon to come. It's crazy cute, and even cuter when it's his brother "reading" him the book.

4. More playing.

5. Duck feeding.

Quack

Of course, Monkey kept eating the stale crackers himself.

6. Ry is preparing for a monstrous bunch of traveling for work. He's gone 3 days this week and 2.5 weeks of October. He may be in Hawaii during the week of Thanksgiving. We've been trying to figure out a way that I can accompany him. Sadly, I don't think we're going to be able to swing right now. I'm glad that I'll (probably) be working again in a year.

7. I have finally hit a wall with nursing school. Pure excitement about my chosen career has carried me through the past 3 years. This semester, however, is a grind. I'm finding the material this semester particularly challenging (hello, endrocrine system?), and our clinical rotations are all on general medical surgical floors. I miss my boys. I hate being a drag on our finances. Blah blah, bad attitude, blah. I know I'll be better next semester, when we have rotations in Critical Care, School Nursing, Community Nursing, ER and have our "transition", where we shadow a nurse in our chosen nursing specialty for 60 hours. I just have to get through the next 3 months. With my sanity mostly intact. Mostly.

The first soccer game

2011-09-18T09:41:00.004-04:00

One word: hilarious. OK, lots more words. Gummy Bear had his first soccer game of the fall.

He looks very dapper, doesn't he?

While I'm amazed by how far the kiddos have come in the past few weeks, it was still a lot of this:

Everyone ... after the ball!

There was a kid on the other team who was clearly the star player. He made several goals and was the only one who seemed to have a clue beyond "kick the ball." There was a kid on Bear's team who was pretty good too. He would get the ball away from the pack and dribble it all the way down the field ... into the wrong goal. Three times. They play something called "small-sided" games. What this means is that there are 4 players from a team on the field at any given time. The 5th sits the sidelines until a substitution is needed. Thank goodness for that, because at 4, substitutions are frequent ... for meltdowns over water, because they couldn't touch the ball with their hands, because they were "tired," and because they saw something distracting on the sidelines (squirrel!).

Doesn't he look like he knows what he's doing?

He had lots of support. My mom and stepdad were there, as were some old friends who had come to spend the night with us. My voice was actually a little hoarse last night from all the cheering.

Go Bear, go!

While Bear spent the first half of the game in the pack, he spend the second half guarding the goal. Unfortunately, at this age the teams aren't allowed to have goalies. That didn't stop Bear though. He's a born goalie in the land of no goalies.

Ready!

Cheeky Monkey was a bit hard to contain. He ran out onto the field twice. Thankfully, Gpa was there to distract him with a muffin and a hat.

Puffy vests are very slimming.

When the game was over the kids all got goldfish and Capri Sun. I'm pretty sure this was Bear's favorite part of the game. Still, it was a funny, funny 45 minutes. I'm looking forward to next week.

Baby curls ... gone

2011-09-12T21:29:00.002-04:00

This weekend I decided it was finally time for Cheeky Monkey to get a haircut. As cute as the baby curls are, his hair started looking messy all the time. It was also time for Gummy Bear's second haircut. Yes, he's 4.5 and this is only his second haircut. He was super excited. I think he was mostly excited because he got a lollipop when he was done.

The old pro.

Cheeky Monkey, on the other hand, was pretty unsure about the whole thing. The guy who cut the boys' hair is the owner of the shop, and a super nice guy. He was also lightening fast and gave the boys cute cuts. One of the things he said about Cheeky Monkey is that he wouldn't put the cape on him because kids his age tend to freak out if they can't see their hands.

It's something I never would have considered, but seemed to be good practice, as Cheeky never freaked out. He did, however, seem quite concerned about the whole thing. He got this look on his face as soon as we lifted him into the chair, and didn't lose it until a good 15-20 minutes after we left.

Here's where I got all teary. Watching those curls fall to the floor was hard. The cut really changes the shape of his face and makes him look much older.

Still, I have to say that I have the two cutest boys in all of New Jersey.

Don't you agree?

The independent streak

2011-09-10T21:06:00.000-04:00

My Gummy Bear is what you might politely call independent. He has unfortunately gotten the worst of my stubborn streak, and we often butt heads. My constant struggle with him is how to mold this independent, stubborn spirit without breaking it. My mantra has been someday I'll be grateful.

For the first time, I'm starting to see someday.

Chatting with my girlfriends, I'm learning that kids Gummy Bear's age are beginning to get cliquey and exclusionary. Apparently, most kids notice and care. I don't know if Gummy Bear doesn't notice or doesn't care. It doesn't matter to me, because he doesn't get his feelings hurt.

We went to a birthday party today for a friend who he is not close friends with. One of the other boys looked at Gummy Bear halfway through and said, "Do you even know [birthday boy]?" Gummy Bear looked at him like what are you talking about, and walked away to finish his mini golf game. He's far more interested in doing stuff than talking, being part of the in group, or worrying about what other kids think of him.

For that, I'm grateful.

Murphy's Law and small children

2011-09-09T21:42:00.000-04:00

My child will ...

1. Poop as we're walking out the door to daycare 10 minutes late.
2. Wet the bed 3 hours after I changed the sheets.
3. Scrape his face the day before picture day.
4. Find the wettest possible chair to sit on right before getting into the car.
5. Take a 30 minute nap on the day I really want to get some studying done/clean the house/take a nap.
6. Pour the cat's food into his (full) water dish as soon as my back is turned.

Totally unsafe for work

2011-09-08T20:53:00.001-04:00

Oh, but I laughed until I cried.

Lovely, and yours?

2011-09-06T20:26:00.002-04:00

We had a really lovely Labor Day weekend. It was one of those weekends where we had some stuff to do, but not so much that you want another weekend to catch up on sleep at the end.

Ours included a little soiree at our house Friday, a pool party at a friend's house Sunday, and a lot of relaxing in between. Oh, and several hours of school work ... but I'm trying to forget about that. Lovely weekend. Sad to see the summer end. Sigh.

Before and Ahhhhh

2011-09-05T09:55:00.001-04:00

Sometime in the last year, our fence went from being an eyesore to being a safety hazard. We had boards down, nails coming out, as as Irene proved, one good storm almost took it down.

Yuck.

But now? Oh, now I double plus heart our fence.

So clean. So straight. So not going to impale one of my boys.

Before

Erg.

And aaaahhhh.

So pretty.

It totally changes the way the backyard feels. Now I feel like we have a private, cozy little space. We weren't going to install a vinyl fence because it's more expensive. We figured out however that if we're in this house for longer than 3 years it's cheaper to have the vinyl because of the maintenance required with a wood fence. Since this was our 5 year house and we've now owned it for 6 years I figure there's a fair-to-middling chance we'll be here at least 3 more years. And in the meantime .... Ahhhhhh.

Gummy Bear-ness

2011-08-30T21:56:00.000-04:00

Gummy Bear is going to be 4 and a half in a few short weeks. I'm having a hard time processing the fact that my baby is going into Pre-K this year. Talk to me this time next year and I'll probably be a blubbering fool.

Gummy Bear is a sturdy, quick, high energy boy. If I had a fraction of his energy ... I'd get a lot more done. He'll happily spend an hour chasing his brother around the patio and then run around the house for an hour longer.

Gummy Bear is fascinated with all things electronic or mechanical. He loves Mario, and right now he'd happily watch Wall-E everyday if I let him. He also seems to spend a fair amount of time pondering how things work. I overheard him and Ry discussing jet planes for a good 20 minutes one evening. "And what would happen if a bird flew in the engine?" I'm afraid I'll come downstairs some morning only to find that he's disassembled every remote, cell phone and electronic device in the house. At least we'll have tech support when we're old.

While Gummy Bear spends a lot of time tormenting his brother, he also has moments of breathtaking sweetness. He brought Cheeky Monkey's lunch outside for him. He also came and comforted Cheeky when he had a diaper rash; holding his hand and kissing his cheek, murmuring, "It'll be OK, Cheeky."

Gummy Bear is one of the most independent, outgoing kids I've ever met. He'll strike up a conversation with whoever he meets and often gets frustrated when people in stores or on the street don't notice him waving them down from across the room. When he started at the new school last week, he walked in without hesitation while tossing me a "Bye, Mama." His teachers have raved about how quickly he seemed like part of the class. They also told me how very polite he is ... so maybe they're just buttering me up.

And then there's this:

Taking out all those suppressed urges to beat up his brother? I'm already envisioning his starring role on "Robot Chefs Duel Supreme ... of Doom!" Whoever he grows up to be, I'm sure enjoying him now. Also, how stinking cute is his little voice? Not ready for the growing and the aging. So. Much. Love.

Scenes from Irene

2011-08-28T21:06:00.000-04:00

There are a lot of people up and down the Eastern sea board will are still without power, who have feet of water in their house, and whose property has been destroyed. I am extremely grateful that our Irene experience was far less extreme.

We began to get tornado warnings last night around 10 pm. Because our area doesn't have tornado sirens, neither Ry or I got much sleep last night. We spent some time in our basement with the boys around 11:30 pm and then we all slept on the first level. Ry stayed up most of the night monitoring the radio, since we lost power sometime before midnight.

When the boys got up around 7, we got up and surveyed the damage. We lost some pretty big branches. The most devastating loss of course, was part of our beautiful stockade fence. Still, I have to count ourselves pretty lucky.

We decided to start eating the perishable food from the fridge, since the estimate from the power company about when we would get power back was 12 hours to a week. We tried to be careful about how often we opened the refrigerator door. Because Gummy Bear tends to be a stand-in-front-of-the-open-refrigerator-door-and-survey-the-offerings kind of kid, he came up with this helpful "reminder".

He seriously told me to write his name on the tape and draw a big X on it.

We have a gas stove (HURRAH!), so Ry boiled some water and made us some french-press coffee. It was wake-you-from-the-dead strong, but ooooh so good after the night we had.

I cooked up a bunch of our eggs, and Ry cooked our bacon. Mmmm. Bacon.

We kind of spent a quiet day loading the stuff we wanted to salvage from the fridge into coolers and hung out with the kiddos. When our power finally came back on 17 hours after we left it, I tossed all the food that didn't make it and thoroughly cleaned my freezer and fridge. It looks new!

So, anyway, I guess the deal is that Irene treated us pretty well. The road below is about 6 blocks from our house. It was taken at dusk with a cell phone, so sorry for the quality. Still, it's an excellent reminder that things could have been much, much worse.

Cheeky Monkey-ness

2011-08-22T21:09:00.000-04:00

I was told tonight that someone is tired of watching the race over and over. To that person, I say, how can you tire of such joy and happiness? Still, it has been a while since I posted and in fear of being chastised again, here's a post about my Monkey.

Cheeky Monkey is quite possibly the most charming almost-2-year-old I've ever met. He's bashful and cheerful and quirky and sweet and I'm completely head over heels in love with him.

Also, he's delicious.

Right now he is spurning utensils, even though he knows perfectly well how to use them. I've taken to feeding him breakfast in his pajamas so he doesn't ruin his day's clothing before 9 am. That happens sometimes anyway, but I try.

Apparently it tastes better this way.

While he still isn't talking a lot, his vocabulary has expanded quite a bit in the last month. He joyously pokes your eyeball while screaming "EYE!!" and has mastered the two-word phrase "More please!" Of course, please comes out a lot more like "Oui" this days, so it's a lot of fun to pretend that he's speaking French. He also has a slightly disturbing fixation on Elmo. He can find an Elmo in a wall of stuffed animals, and cheerily screams "MELMO!", each time he spots the little red monster. He can't quite distinguish the characters though, so right now, anything with googly eyes is also a MElmo.

He also wants so badly to be just like his big brother. As you may have seen in the race video in the previous post, he Fred-Flintstones it around on the tricycle nearly as fast as his brother can pedal, he's started strapping himself into his high chair and carseat, and tries to brush his own teeth. Every night, we read him the "Goodnight Moon" book. For whatever reason he's obsessed with the mush. Maybe it's because of the spoon. Every toddler knows that mush is best eaten with fingers, not spoon.

The crab? His name is MElmo.

He's finally beginning to grow out of the All-Mommy-All-The-Time phase. At our trial day at the new school last week he did beautifully. About an hour in, he gave me a kiss and told me "bye-bye." The boys officially start their new school tomorrow. While I'm happy to have found them a school that they (and I) like, it's a little bittersweet to know that my time as a stay-at-home mom may now be over forever.

It's a race!

2011-08-13T23:13:00.002-04:00

I'm winning!

Unenlightened Ukulele Friday

2011-08-12T21:02:00.000-04:00

One of my favorite old songs. What? Didn't you follow the lyrics to score your man?

Moving right along

2011-08-11T20:48:00.000-04:00

We found the boys a new daycare for the fall. It's not cheap. We're spending more for 3 days there than full time at the other school we looked at. Thankfully, we can send them just 3 days a week and my mom has agreed to watch them Monday afternoons so I can go and do my clinical research. I can't rave enough about how much it rocks to have my mom here. While I'm sure the other school we looked at would have been safe and fine, I just didn't feel great about it. Now we can send them someplace I feel good about and they get to spend every Monday with Neena. Double super awesome bonus!

Gummy Bear got to spend his very first night at the grandparent's house last night. It was awesome, until he threw up at 2 am. Meanwhile, back at Casa T, Cheeky Monkey was also throwing up. Fun times. Both boys seem to be on the mend today. They still don't have much of an appetite, but are otherwise OK.

I have 2 weeks until school starts for me again. While I'm excited to be done with school, I am not looking forward to going back to school. I have to be so on top of everything during the school year. We have a strict schedule to keep. I have to make sure there are supplies for lunches. My days are often long and my reading list is longer. Still, the material is engaging and I'm excited to be a practicing RN soon. I have heard from several of my friends from last year's graduating class who have found jobs in their areas of interest, so I am hopeful for a job in Labor and Delivery at this time next year. Hope with me people!

And that's what's new in my little corner of the world. What's new in yours?

Canned

2011-08-08T14:55:00.000-04:00

Last week we received 20 pounds of tomatoes from the farm. Now, I like tomatoes as much as the next girl (probably more) but I couldn't conceive of a way to get 20 pounds down. Since our garden is ramping up its production this week, I already have tomatoes coming out my ears.

And so, like any good domestic housewife, I begged my mommy to help me can them. I've always been too afraid of botulism or spoilage to do it myself. As it turns out, canning is really pretty simple. Also, as it turns out, 20 pounds of tomatoes = 6 quarts of canned tomatoes.

Pretty

Now we'll have delicious farm tomatoes for stews, chilis and sauces all winter (or at least into the fall). This week, I think I'm going to make pasta sauce from my 20 pounds of tomatoes and can it. I figure I'll get fewer quarts if I make sauce and 1 quart of sauce will equal one really easy dinner.

Yum.

Ocean City Adventuring .... Aaarrrggghhh!

2011-08-04T14:36:00.000-04:00

We've been beaching down in Ocean City, Maryland this past week. It's been great fun and I have lots of pictures. If you're my facebook friend, you've probably seen some of them. At some point I'll do a big vacation post with our whole adventure. I also got the unwelcome news this week that because of some state regulations our boys' daycare doesn't have space for Cheeky Monkey in the fall. Now I'm scrambling to find an acceptable situation for the end of August. Ry tends to be anti-nanny, which leaves us with daycare centers and in-home centers. I know we'll figure it out, but I'm not looking forward to the process.

Anyway.

This morning we hopped aboard the Duckaneer for a pirate adventure. Lemme tell you, a good time was had by all. Gummy Bear was suitably attired.

Although he did keep calling his spy glass a stethoscope.

And thar she is, the Duckaneer.

The treasure map was ever so helpfully painted on the ship.

I included this picture mostly because it's one of the cutest picture of Ry and Cheeky Monkey, EVAR!

All the l'il pirates got their mustaches and tattoos.

Confused baby pirate is confused.

When the captain was inking Gummy Bear he said "You've very large ears pirate, what's yer name?"

I think he'd make a very handsome pirate.

We enjoyed the open seas.

And then we were attacked! Of course, we had to defend the ship. Sadly for me, the attacking pirates seemed to target the women with their water cannons and I ended up a very very waterlogged pirate.

We got to see the wild ponies on Assateague Island.

And after our victory, the pirates each got a share of the treasure!

Y'arrgh!

Y'aarrggghh!

We tipped our pirate captain and first mate because they were fun but also because "pirates need tuition money." And took the bus back to our condo.

Because even pirates ride the bus.

In the last hour

2011-07-27T20:08:00.001-04:00

~ I pulled a toddler from the bathtub because he wouldn't stop drinking the bathwater.
~ I read the same toddler a book about dinosaurs eleventy billion times.
~ I snuggled a wet preschooler because he was "so cold."
~ Laughed as a toddler made beautiful ukulele music with my husband
~ The toddler then fell on me.
~ Sat on my head
~ Pulled my hair
~ And farted in my face
~ The preschooler requested a song on the piano.
~ And accompanied me by banging a microphone on the keys.
~ Repeatedly
~ Even when he was asked to stop
~ So I threw the microphone across the room (not one of my proudest moments)
~ And stalked into the bathroom to cool down
~ Where the toddler tried to walk in on me
~ I received and requested forgiveness
~ Got toddler snuggles
~ Read a couple of books to the preschooler
~ And watched him fall asleep
~ I went to get out his bed and he said, "Mama, I need snarfle blah Raffe yeggle foo."
~ So I went and got Raffe and tucked him in with my sleeping boy.

Just another evening in the T household.

"I'll be outside with my spoon"

2011-07-27T17:24:00.002-04:00

And other things Gummy Bear said today.

Now THAT'S a cucumber

2011-07-25T16:09:00.001-04:00

I've had a vegetable garden for 5 summers now, but this is the first time I've seen one of my vegetables growing through the fence. Over, around, yes. When I walked out to check and see what needed to be harvested, this was the sight that met my eyes. Um. Nature finds a way?

Well, hello there.

It was so unbelievable I had to get pictures from all angles.

An interesting predicament you've gotten yourself into.

And then there was the comic value.

That can't be comfortable.

It turns out that a cucumber can grow through the fence, but cannot be harvested the same way.

Poor little guy.

I was ignoring myself

2011-07-23T08:54:00.000-04:00

If you've been around my oldest son at all in the past year, you know that he has a constant, running monologue. We've really been working with him on waiting to talk until other people have finished speaking. The other night, we were all sitting to dinner and the adults were having a conversation. Gummy Bear was practically coming out of his skin to say something. When we acknowledged him he looked at us blankly. "What did you want, Gummy Bear?" I asked. "Um," he said, "I don't remember. I was ignoring myself."

Cheeky Monkey, on the other hand, is the strong, silent type. He doesn't have many words. Truth be told, it's something I worry about. Last night, I began to suspect he's been holding out on us. We had some friends over for dinner, and the kids were riding their bikes around the patio. Gummy Bear stopped to talk to us while Cheeky Monkey scooted up behind him. He sat for a moment and then yelled "Go!" When all the adults died laughing he started going round and round the patio, shouting "Go, go, go, go, go, go!"

My baby boy also tried to give me a heart attack last night. He was sitting on one of our patio chairs when he went over backwards and into one of our stone patio stairs. I was well and truly freaked out when I saw a tuft of his blond hair on the edge of the step. Luckily, it was a glancing blow and barely bled.

It looked a lot worse last night.

Still, I got out my flashlight, checked his pupillary response and called the pediatrician. She said to wake him once or twice during the night and check for unusual sleepiness or vomiting. He was happy because in order to keep him still and apply ice he got two ice pops. When I woke him at midnight he looked up at me like "What?" Then he put his head back down and went back to sleep. I think he's OK.

And as cute as ever.

In case you've been living in a hole this week, it's been really hot here. Yesterday it was 119 F with the heat index. When it's that hot, I limit outside time to water activities and push water and juice on the kids. We didn't even venture outside yesterday until 6 pm. The boys seem to really be enjoying our new splash pool though. Gummy Bear has been using it as a slip n' slide.

Cowabunga!

And Cheeky Monkey digs the slide.

We got a watermelon in our share this week, and I was looking forward to chilling it in the fridge, cutting it up and serving it as a nice outside snack this weekend. And then it rolled out of the truck and smashed itself on the driveway.

Sad

Thankfully, the boys didn't seem to mind. We still had watermelon. It just wasn't so pretty.

They even got to spit seeds!

Summer win!

Eskimo Hugs

2011-07-21T00:15:00.000-04:00

I'll save all the "I'm a bad blogger" nonsense. I'm a bad blogger. There.

I can't say there's been any one reason that I haven't been blogging. There have been lots of reasons.

1. My mom and stepdad are here and I'd rather hang out with them than spend time on my computer.
2. My mom and stepdad are here and they've been watching the kiddos so that Ry and I can go out and do things other than spend time on my computer.

Mom's new house. Cute, right?

3. I'm playing the ukulele. So much that the calluses on my hands have all peeled off and (I guess?) are regrowing.
4. Also, I'm playing piano. My mom had my piano for the past however many years and since she's moved here, guess what? Piano! And I'm really bad now. I have to decide if I'm going to take ukulele or piano lessons since there's just no way I can handle both.

Oooh, look at all the hard notes!

5. Um, it's summer.

And the pool is open!

6. Gummy Bear has had swimming lessons every morning. While the lesson is only 30 minutes, it disrupts the flow of the morning and changes the rhythm of my day. There have been no lazy mornings on the couch while the kids watch a show and I drink a cup of coffee with my computer.
7. Uncle Lance came to visit us last week. We had lots of fun. And then, in the evenings when I'd be on the computer we were instead on the patio, drinking and playing ukulele. It rocked.

We went to a festival in one of the most liberal towns in the area where Gummy Bear chose camouflage face paint. Awesome.

Also, we went to the Jersey Shore and played carnival games and won some gawd-awful dirty cows.

8. This has nothing to do with why I haven't been blogging, but it's too cute not to share. Every night at bedtime, Gummy Bear gives me Eskimo kisses. I'm sure you're familiar with them. You rub noses. About a week ago, he insisted that he give me an Eskimo hug. I told him I didn't know what that was and that he would have to show me. Eskimo hugs? They're one-armed hugs. Silly kid.

Um, that's a lot of kids

2011-07-10T22:32:00.000-04:00

As I go about my daily life, I don't often stop to reflect on how it's changing. It's just my life, and since it gradually morphs everyday, I don't notice any big shifts.

Then, every once in a while something strikes me and reminds me how very much my life has changed in the last 8 years. Something like this picture:

And there was a baby on the floor

We went to a friend's house for a BBQ last weekend and when we got home I looked at this picture and thought, Holy cow, that's a lot of kids. Five or 6 short years ago our get-togethers would have started at dinner time, included much merry-making and ended quite late and possibly, quite tipsy. Now when we all get together we bring sippy cups, lawn toys and pajamas for many small bodies. Parties start after naptime and usually wrap up when we all bundle our kids into their PJs and tuck them in their carseats for the bedtime ride home. Our conversations revolve around preschools, playdates and sibling rivalry. We split our attention between adult interaction and making sure no little fingers have been squished or feelings hurt.

Eight years ago, I might have looked at my life and given an involuntary shudder. Now, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Ukulele = Happiness

2011-07-09T13:00:00.003-04:00

And a partridge in a pear tree

2011-07-08T20:44:00.000-04:00

I've sort of dropped off the edge of the earth the past few days, but there's a good reason, I swear! My mom came into town Monday and since then we've been going to swimming and soccer lessons, buying stuff for her new house and cleaning and cleaning and cleaning. I realized today that I haven't actually gotten any proper pictures of the house, but here are a few of the cleaning in process.

Cheeky Monkey is ever so helpful.

She has a lovely sunroom that has windows on 3 sides. Lots and lots of windows!

Tomorrow I'll try to post some pictures that weren't taken by my 4-year-old. Honest.

Cathy Wins

2011-07-04T22:01:00.000-04:00

I've been talking about learning to play the guitar for more than a year now. Ultimately, what I really wanted to do was learn to play the ukulele. So, we bought a ukulele. And I'm playing it. And it makes me happy. Even though I still suck. Because it's the happiest instrument in the world.

What have I been doing?

2011-07-04T09:53:00.002-04:00

To abuse my fingers so?

4th Fun

2011-07-03T21:25:00.000-04:00

Yes, I realize that it isn't technically the 4th of July yet. Our city's fireworks were Friday night, so we loaded up the boys and joined thousands of our fellow residents to celebrate. The boys were thrilled of course, because they got to stay up late, eat lots of sugar, and watch loud stuff go boom.

Gummy Bear decided on a sugar bomb shaved ice thing with no fewer than 6 flavors. He and Cheeky Monkey dug it. The adults passed.

Eat this!!!

Of course, the sugar bomb didn't keep either of the boys from eating their share of our ice cream.

Sugar, Sugar SUGAR!!!!!

As the evening wore on, they decided they were hungry for more dinner. And so we had meat on a stick.

Huzzah, meat on a stick!

We bought the boys overpriced glowing necklaces. They found many amusing uses for them.

More amusing for me than Ry, perhaps.

And because we had been sitting there for nearly 2 hours, we got creative.

But then, the fireworks started, and held the boys' complete attention. Gummy Bear "oooh"ed and "aaah"ed in unison with the kids sitting behind us, and Cheeky Monkey echoed them a few seconds later. It made for a kind of a cheers in the round.

It was pushing 11 pm by the time we got home, so the boys were pretty wiped out. Not surprisingly, neither of them slept the next morning and both were insanely cranky by the end of the day. Still, it was totally worth it. Happy 4th of July, ya'll!

I've never been so proud to live in New Jersey

2011-07-02T23:33:00.000-04:00

A Baboon escaped from our local Six Flags a few days ago. These guys found it. I'm so proud.

Pesto, brought to you by Gummy Bear

2011-07-02T08:47:00.000-04:00

Take one large bunch of basil. Rinse and remove leaves.

Use a salad spinner to spin, spin spin!

Put it all into a food processor.

Add
~ 1/4 cup of shaved parmesean cheese
~ 1/4 cup of pinenuts
~ one swirl of olive oil
~ one garlic clove, minced
~ salt and pepper to taste

Take a moment to admire the impending yumminess.

Put the lid on. Ask your Mommy to finish putting the lid on.

Process until smooth and creamy looking.

Like such.

Freeze for later.

Or eat and enjoy with your favorite pasta, sandwich or veggie.

Teppen Novices

2011-07-01T13:30:00.000-04:00

I was looking through old pictures of Gummy Bear and found this one, at one of his first Japanese Steakhouse experiences. They are within a month of the same ages here. Apparently he liked it almost as much as Cheeky Monkey.

Almost.

"Soccer"

2011-06-30T09:33:00.000-04:00

Gummy Bear started PeeWee "soccer" class last week. The class is 10 weeks and is composed of 3 to 5 year olds. I give the coach a lot of credit. Trying to teach 9 preschoolers how to play soccer deserves more than the $10 an hour she probably earns. Most of her time is spent herding and reminding them not to touch the ball with their hands.

Stretching is an important beginning for all "exercise"

Dribbling

Meanwhile, keeping Cheeky Monkey occupied, predictably means food and frequent retrieval from the field of play.

Puffs? I love Puffs!

Meanwhile, Gummy Bear hasn't quite gotten the hang of not touching the ball with his hands.

Even when the other kids have.

My soccer ball. MINE!

Doh

And then Cheeky Monkey laid down in protest.

I protest that you won't give me anymore Puffs.

The good news for me is that the coach runs their little butts off.

And then they sleep.

Bearisms

2011-06-28T10:40:00.000-04:00

Gummy Bear says some funny stuff. Mostly he doesn't realize it. I need to capture these things somewhere, because I'm going to forget them if I don't. Eh, voila, Bearisms!

Recently, Gummy Bear grew out of a bunch of his undies. On our next trip to Target Boutique, I picked up some in the next size up. Because I thought they were cute, I bought him a couple pair of boxer briefs. The first time he went to put them on, he looked up at me and said, "Mommy! These undies have leg sleeves!!!"

In which I'm grateful for quinoa and frozen yogurt

2011-06-24T20:59:00.000-04:00

We bought a share at a local farm this year. It's been fun and interesting to stretch my cooking boundaries and figure out what to do with unfamiliar produce like kale, radicchio, cabbage and beets. Ry has been loving the home-cooked meals. Today I was looking through my Rachel Ray magazine and found a recipe that called for chicken and radicchio. It also had balsamic vinegar, honey and plums. Score! How could I possibly go wrong? Because it wasn't a big recipe, I decided to make and serve the chicken over quinoa.

One of my most vivid childhood memories is of my grandfather pulling out the crackers and peanut butter whenever his wife served a meal he didn't care for. This should have been a crackers and peanut butter night.

My first bite tasted of balsamic vinegar. So did each ensuing bite. Then Cheeky Monkey, who never met a chicken he didn't like, spit it out. Ry damned it with faint praise, saying, "I like it. I don't love it, but I like it!" And Gummy Bear? Well, I pulled a piece of chicken out of the pan, rinsed it with cold water and smothered it in BBQ sauce. Let's just say that we mostly had quinoa for dinner.

I decided that tonight was definitely a night to go out for frozen yogurt. "HURRAH!" Gummy Bear said. "Yeah, we all have lots of room," said Ry.

Quinoa and frozen yogurt ... dinner of champions.

For all the geeky loves in my life

2011-06-23T19:30:00.002-04:00

Summer = more posting?

2011-06-21T09:31:00.000-04:00

So I totally thought that summer break would equal more posting. Hahahahahaha. I'm not sure if I'm luxuriating in not having anything to do or not boring you with my not having anything to do. We've actually been pretty busy with playdates, birthday parties and a Father's Day outing to Sesame Place. So, perhaps a few quick update blurbs are in order.

1. We have eaten an impressive amount of produce this week. While I still haven't gotten brave enough to make the kale, I'm planning on baking it into a quiche this week. Have any suggestions for how that might work? We have managed to put away 4 cucumbers, 3 heads of lettuce, 8 quarts of strawberries, 2 zucchini, our herbs and 2 quarts of string beans. I have the quiche planned and a pesto pasta to use the rest of the beans. Any recipe suggestions for our broccoli (which I'll probably just steam as a side) or extra zucchinis? I have until Thursday morning when I get a fresh injection of produce.
2. Father's Day was lovely. We visited Sesame Place with some friends of ours. Apparently most Dads are unwilling to do Sesame on Father's Day because it was distinctly uncrowded. Ry got a polo shirt from Cheeky Monkey, and satellite radio from me. Gummy Bear got him a Rockem-Sockem Robot shirt. He was very insistent on that choice. He also made him a pretty special card.
3. The rest of our time has been taken up with playdates, birthday parties and enjoying the weather. Cheeky Monkey started swimming lessons yesterday. Thankfully, there was much less crying and gnashing of teeth than with Gummy Bear last year. Gummy Bear starts soccer this afternoon. I love watching little kids play sports.
4. My boys have really stinky feet. Anybody have a suggestion for a good shoe spray or other remedy? Seriously, I've been washing the boys' feet at the end of the day for fear of their beds permanently smelling of feet.
5. We have more birthday parties and summer BBQs coming up in the next few weeks. My mother and stepdad are also planning to be here (for good!!!) around July 4. I feel like my long, glorious summer is quickly melting away.

What are you up to this summer?

Ach ja, Erdbeeren

2011-06-16T20:16:00.000-04:00

Today I took the boys to Honeybrook Organic Farm to pick up our weekly share of their community supported agriculture. This spring we decided to purchase a share to both support our local growers and to force me out of my cooking comfort zone. Last week, Ry went to get our share since the boys and I were still in Oz.

When we pulled up we were greeted by a red barn right out of Little House on the Prairie. The people manning the food inside were about as nice as you'll find in NJ and the boys had a blast helping me select our pre-picked produce. Most of the weekly share is pre-picked by the staff and waiting for you to bag like at a farmer's market. Certain items are you-pick. This week, the you-picks were string beans and strawberries (also, herbs and flowers).

Having gotten a taste of both from Ry's adventuring last week, I wanted to be sure we got our full allotment and so out I trotted with both boys, a bag, shears and 4 quart containers to get our string beans. I was half-convinced it was going to be a total nightmare, but the kids really enjoyed it. Gummy Bear quickly took charge of carrying the quarts and Cheeky Monkey "helped" me pick. The beans were relatively quick work and the herbs and flowers took less than 10 minutes.

Satisfied, we headed out to their secondary farm, where the strawberry patch is. When we arrived, we took a tractor (Gummy Bear's favorite part) to the patch. This time, both boys lost interest pretty quickly, but I was saved by an 8-year-old and a 5-year-old who played with Gummy Bear and fed Cheeky Monkey strawberries for the 90 minutes it took me to pick 8 quarts of strawberries. Score! Our official allotment of strawberries was 10 quarts, but I figured that since the boys took 2 quarts home in their bellies, we were even.

I am a little disappointed that I didn't take pictures at the farm. Frankly, I was just happy it went so smoothly. This, however, is the aftermath. Do you think that kid could be more covered in strawberries, dirt, water and sunshine?

Where are my strawberries?

And this is our haul. The share is about $25 dollars a week. I'd say we got our money's worth. This week, $25 bought us:
~ 8 (or ... 10) quarts of strawberries
~ 4 quarts of string beans
~ 5 heads of lettuce
~ 2 bunches of kale
~ 4 cucumbers
~ 4 summer squash
~ 2 bunches of beets (which I declined. Ew.)
~ 2 heads of broccoli
~ 20 flower stems
~ chives, catnip, sage, thyme and lemon something or other

I think I'm going to like this very much. We've already eaten an additional 2 quarts of strawberries, 2 cucumbers, and 1 head of lettuce.

Dude

And this is completely unrelated. It was lunch for the boys yesterday and I looked down and thought, "This is the happiest-looking lunch ever!" And so it is.

I'm the happiest lunch EVER!

OZ ... the end

2011-06-13T10:02:00.000-04:00

Before Ry had to leave for home, we went to visit his Grandma Thomas. The boys had a great time playing with her and her magnetic bracelets.

Papa and Cheeky Monkey had some most-nap snuggles.

And we found Gummy Bear the coolest-ever video game at a garage sale. The bike and 4 games only cost us $20! He played it every chance he got.

The boys spent some more time in the baby pool.

And the night before we left, we got a cake for Papa and Grandpa and Tantie, RN. It was really good. Mmmmmm. Cake.

Tell me this is not the most mischievous smile you've ever seen. He wasn't even getting into stuff.

Because it was blazing hot all week, we decided to go to a great little children's museum in town, the Orpheum. Little did we know it was not air-conditioned. Thankfully, there were some water features. Gummy Bear had a great time damming the river.

And Cheeky Monkey had a blast looking for dinosaurs.

It was really freaking hot.

We made a cool archway out of giant blocks. I'm not really sure how it was a children's activity though, because it took me, Tantie, RN and Gummy Bear to put it together. Even then, it was a close thing.

Tantie, RN and I took the boys to Allerton Park one morning. Allerton is a really beautiful old estate donated by Robert Henry Allerton. It's a park I've probably been to a dozen times and until last week, I never spent the time to read about the history of the place. It's an interesting story, actually. Robert Allerton was the wealthy heir to a cattle and banking fortune. He never married, but met 22 year old John Gregg when he was in his 50s. Gregg became his protege, and about 30 years later, Robert officially "adopted" Gregg, making him his heir. The gifts to the university came later, and the two continued to be great collectors and appreciators of art.

If you read between the lines, it becomes pretty clear that Robert and John did not have a father-son relationship. I find it very sweet that he legalized their relationship in the only way possible at the time.

Anyway, we had a lovely time, although Gummy Bear was disappointed that there was no playground. We were there for all of about 5 minute when Cheeky Monkey fell and took a header on the concrete. He was OK, but sported a fine bruise for the next few days.

About halfway along our walk, Cheeky Monkey sat down and stubbornly refused to move. We just kept walking for a while, until Gummy Bear became apoplectic. "Mama! We have to get Cheeky!" I told him that I would never leave him, I was just hoping that he would get up and follow us on his own. "But Mama, we can't leave Cheeky, I will miss him in my heart!" Dawwwww. And so, we turned around and I carried Cheeky's little round bum until he deigned to walk some more.

These little guys line the walk on the way through the gardens.

And hear Gummy Bear rides a stone fish in the sunken garden.

Snack time!

The rest of our visit was uneventful and quiet and Saturday we started our long drive home, stopping to pick up Ry at the Indianapolis airport. For the first time in my life I said the words "Hurrah, we are in New Jersey!" without a trace of sarcasm. We had a makeshift dinner, Cheeky put lots of food in his hair and so the boys had a bath.

Gummy Bear decided to help us vacuum up the cat hair tumbleweeds and we all went to bed, tired and happy to be home.

(I love the) Y. M. C. A.

2011-06-09T22:13:00.001-04:00

As you probably remember, our family recently joined the local YMCA. It's been very nice to get back into the water. We are also enrolling Gummy Bear in some sports classes this summer. He had such a good time in gymnastics this year that I figure we should keep a good thing going.

Our Y has unusually nice staff for NJ. They are almost always smiling, greet you when you walk in the door, and look you in the face. When you leave, they actually look up and say goodbye. It's refreshing, especially after 8 years of huffs, grunts and eye rolls from other local business employees.

This week though, I learned another reason that the Y is awesome. They have an "away" program. This means that I can walk into almost any Y in the country and use their facility. For free. Up to 14 times a year. Because I had the benefit of willing grandparents, I got to swim twice. And you know what else? The staff there? Super nice. Other patrons? Crazy chatty (and by crazy chatty, I mean some of each).

It's the little things.

Oz ... the middle

2011-06-05T17:54:00.001-04:00

After our little adults-only getaway, we came back to these cute little faces.

Maybe my all-time favorite picture of Gummy Bear.

And their Tantie, who drove in from Colorado to spend time with the family and her favorite nephews.

Dawwh.

The next day, Ry's Mummu and Papa drove up to visit.

They got a chance to hang out with their great-grandkids.

Tantie did some more bonding with the boys.

The next day, we tried to go to the pool. As it turns out, it didn't open until the afternoon. Instead, we went with Plan B, a baby pool and sprinkler in the back yard. The water was cold!

Brrr!

Gummy Bear was even brave enough to put his head in the water.

We also took the kids for Cheeky Monkey's very first Japanese Steakhouse experience.

He didn't quite get the point of the chopsticks.

But Gummy Bear latched right onto it.

Everyone was entranced by the fire.

Ooooh. Aaaaaah.

Our chef was a good sport.

And we had a thoroughly good time.

Poor Ry has to go back to work next week, but the boys and I have decided to stay for an extra week. Tomorrow we have to put Daddy on a plane, and pick him up on the way back to east next Saturday.

Oz ... the roadtrip

2011-06-02T22:35:00.000-04:00

Ry and I had a little mini-getaway. It was lovely to get away, recharge, and not have to worry about packing extra snacks, drinks, toys and diapers. As a matter of fact, when we set out for dinner, I didn't even bring my purse!

See how relaxed we are!?

We stayed at a charming little bed and breakfast called The Looking Glass Inn. It was really beautifully maintained, the room was comfy, and the host, Lee, made excellent french toast. It was the perfect place for us to get away and reconnect.

Dining area and front room.

The Looking Glass Inn

The next day, we decided to visit the Indiana State Museum. It was actually a really interesting little museum. They reassembled an old school facade inside.

They also had a collection of "oddities." Among wreaths and bracelets made of human hair, one-man-band instruments and single-log canoes was a display of bustles, girdles and other women's fashion trends of the past. As it turns out, bustles wouldn't have been the best look for me.

Jube got back

Invisible paddle!

Don't fall!

There was also a giant exhibition of Indiana's quilts. I took a picture for my mom.

That's a lot of quilts.

Maybe my favorite exhibit was a collection of old war-time propaganda.

This one is for you, Greg.

This jewel encouraged people to buy war bonds. In exchange, you could cross out one of the racist cartoons.

Ahhh, vintage racism.

Also, I never knew that my garden was a victory garden! My food is fighting.

From now on, every time ask the kids to water the garden, I'm going to ask them to water the Victory Garden.

The boys were really glad to see us. I was really glad to see them.

Well, one of them was happy to see us.

It was wonderful to get away. It was wonderful to come back. It was a much-needed chance to spend a day just being a woman and a wife. Thanks again, grandparents!

Summertime Sanity Saver

2011-06-01T10:35:00.000-04:00

I am off on a much-needed night away with hubby. In the meantime, here are some cute pictures of my kids.

There are many long days in the summer. This is one of my favorite new ideas to entertain the kids. You give them paintbrushes (or in this case, basting brushes) and a bowl of water and let them "paint" anything they can reach. Keeps them occupied for hours!

Oz ... the beginning

2011-05-31T10:29:00.000-04:00

We're on our annual pilgrimage to Oz. It's 12 hours of driving, which means it's more like a 14-15 hour trip by the time you factor in meals and potty stops. Luckily, this drive went fairly smoothly. We stocked lots of toys, snacks, and our car-DVD player. I was pleasantly surprised by how few DVDs we watched. Gummy Bear is one super-cool dude.

The boys are in pay-attention-to-me heaven.

Welcome to Masterpiece Theatre.

On our drive, we stopped at an Arby's for lunch. The kids' meal toy was a paper firetruck. The packaging said it was for ages 3 and over. In reality, it took a much older kid to actually get it together.

And then there was one. I'll have to say that he was pretty proud of that firetruck though.

The grandpas got out the baseball equipment, frisbies and other assorted sports gear.

Gummy Bear is turning out to be a pretty good pitcher, although his catching skills leave something to be desired.

Puppy and a drill. Who could ask for anything more?

Cheeky Monkey and I checked out the creek running behind my Dad's house.

And no day is complete without a few meltdowns.

Cheeky Monkey cornered the cat.

And we all went to the pool for a lovely Memorial Day outing.

Our trip thus far has been a resounding success. Today, Ry and I are heading out for our first overnight trip alone in almost 3 years. Hurrah! Thank Grandparents, you rock!

Oh dear

2011-05-24T16:07:00.000-04:00

My semester is officially over! Our grades were posted today, and as I expected, I finished my semester with an A. Nursing school is so much harder and so much cooler than I ever expected. I started this journey with a single purpose in mind: to become a midwife. While that is still my ultimate goal, I'm finding a lot of areas of nursing that I think I would really enjoy. I am also finding many areas that are not for me.

The worst part of nursing school for me, is feeling like I've always got something hanging over my head. Even when I'm home with the kids, I'm thinking about the test I have soon or the clinical research waiting for me when they're in bed. This summer I have nothing to do. Let me repeat that. I have absolutely not a blessed thing in the world to do this summer. Aside from take care of the kids and house and husband, of course.

Of course, as these pictures show, maybe I'm getting a little too excited too soon. I asked my darling husband to help me, and what did he do? Took my picture. Thanks a lot, babe.

Anyway, the little'uns are in school until Thursday. They'll be home with me until I go back to school at the end of August. I'm really glad that I finished all my prereqs, as many of my classmates are taking Microbiology or some other random class this summer. We have a few trips planned, starting with our annual trip to Oz next week. We also have pool and Sesame Place passes, so we should find plenty to do. I am enjoying these last few days with kids in school to have some time to myself, read a novel (or 4), clean my neglected house and generally prepare for the summer ahead.

And what are you up to this summer?

Someone pinch me

2011-05-23T22:52:00.000-04:00

One of the things taking up my time during the last week was helping my Mom and G find a place to live. While they were looking for a place to buy, they ultimately decided to rent for a year or two until they got settled and figured out just where they wanted to be. I spent a couple of days visiting rental houses with my mom. She found a two that fit the bill. They are officially moving here in the first part of July!

I've been cautiously optimistic about this whole thing. You see, I haven't lived near my family in almost 8 years. I've never really been an adult with my family around. We're so used to doing things on our own that I almost don't know what to do with the idea that we're going to have someone to share holidays and Sunday dinners with. I am so excited by the idea that I can call my Mom if I'm having a really tough day and maybe she'll come over and hold my hand or take the kids for a couple of hours. I haven't wanted to get too excited for fear that if it all fell through, I would also fall pretty hard. Now it seems that they really are moving here! The house they've chosen is 8 minutes from mine (not that I'm counting).

Time for a little celebratory dance break!

Wahoo!

Good morning

2011-05-23T12:29:00.000-04:00

Need a smile?

2011-05-22T23:04:00.002-04:00

I dare you to watch without a big doofy grin on your face. I dare you!

Right, so 18 months

2011-05-21T23:28:00.001-04:00

see more Historic LOL

I've had several people point out to me that I've gone missing from my blog here recently. The reason is multi-factorial. Reason the first is that between finishing my semester, helping my Mom find a place to live (!!!!) here in NJ and taking care of the kiddos, I haven't had a lot of time to blog. Reason the second is that I have not had much inspiration to blog lately. Feeling sort of "meh" about the whole thing. Finally (and thirdly), I now have so much to catch up on here that I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all. Since it appears that no one was Raptured today and the world did not end, I figure maybe I'll get back on the old blog horse.

Let's start with Cheeky Monkey's 18 month check up, shall we? Let's do. Clearly, 18 months is when I begin feeding my children without their clothes.

Cheeky Monkey - 18 months old

Gummy Bear -- 18 months old

They get deliciously messy every time we eat. Having a toddler with hair is an interesting experience. When Gummy Bear used to wipe his food all over his head, I'd just wipe it down with a wet paper towel. I usually have to put Cheeky Monkey in the tub to get the various food bits free.

Anyhow, ridiculous eating habits aside, 18 months is also where kids begin to "assert their independence." What this means for me is a lot of tantrums, running away, and screaming bloody murder anytime his brother takes a toy from him. Good times. It also means that Cheeky Monkey is finally beginning to talk! We have added "up," "Neena," "mine," "kee" (kitty) and "Ta" (his name for big brother) to the mix.

My Monkey is also still a sweet, snugly boy. He generally falls asleep in my arms at bedtime, likes his snuggle time in the mornings and bestows random, delicious, slobbery kisses. He continues to eat everything I put in front of him and weighed in at a healthy 28 pounds, 12 ounces at his visit a few weeks ago. That put him in the 85th percentile for weight and, incidentally, is only 10 ounces heavier that Gummy Bear at the same age. He was also 33.75 inches tall, which put him in the 80th percentile for height.

Eating Lo-Mein on Mother's Day

He is doing beautifully at daycare. Of course, we only have one more week before I pull the boys for the summer. Time will tell if I'm stark-raving looney-toons at the end of 3 months with both boys 7 days a week. We have several trips, a pool pass, and Sesame Place passes to occupy our summer, so I think we'll be just fine.

What is in this hole, anyway?

Cheeky Monkey has a curious nature and seems to be a natural scientist. You can see the wheels turning a lot, even if he doesn't say much. He often plays the "what happens if I do this?" game with us, his brother and his things. I think he's destined to be a social scientist though, especially because he regularly torments his brother by doing just exactly what makes him crazy.

This look? This look means trouble.

He loves to tip his head down and give upward or sidelong glances. It's just about the cutest thing I've ever seen and nearly always precedes trouble.

Did I mention that he's using the potty a couple times a day? And beginning to manage stairs? And climbing on EVERYTHING!?

So, basically, Cheeky Monkey is pretty fantastic. I'm crazy in love with this little man. Happy year and a half, little man!

Ever wake up laughing?

2011-05-08T09:31:00.000-04:00

So the other night, I had a very bizarre, illness-inspired dream that actually woke me up laughing. So, you know shrimp?

Photo Credit: Colorado State University

In my dream, Ry's new colleague was a man-sized shrimp. He had his own desk, where he used all those tiny arms to type, drink his coffee, answer the phone and staple simultaneously. He was a multi-tasking fool. Whenever he stood, he used his tiny shrimp feet to scuttle more than walk. Meanwhile, one of Ry's colleagues followed the shrimp around with a large frying pan and stick of butter, trying to trip it and saute it for lunch. It almost worked too, the shrimp didn't have very good balance on those tiny little feet. I have to wonder what this dream says about me (or Ry or his colleague for that matter).

Someday, I'm totally writing a children's book called It Came on Tiny Shrimp Feet

Guess Who Has Been Using the Potty?

2011-05-07T09:33:00.000-04:00

Granted, it's only once or twice a day, but he clearly understands the process. I'm trying to decide if we're going to really try and potty train him this summer or if that would make me a complete whack-a-doodle. 18 months old, folks.

Also, he had his 18 month check up this week. All is well and I'll get something up with the details soon.

A story without words

2011-05-04T16:04:00.000-04:00

You know how they say a picture is worth a thousand words? These pictures tell quite a story:

Jube and the AARP

2011-05-04T12:52:00.000-04:00

Our family joined our local YMCA this weekend. There are two branches in our community, one of which has an outdoor pool, which we thought would be swell for the summer. After Ry's and my physicals, we also decided that it's time to get back into the gym and be healthy for our kids.

So this morning, I got back into a pool for the first time in almost 4 years. The next-youngest person swimming laps was probably 60. Still, I was feeling pretty good. I only had to stop 3 or 4 times during my 40 minute swim to gasp like the out-of-shape, 31-year-old I am. By the end, I had found my rhythm again and was cruising up and back, up and back. And then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a woman who was 75 if she was a day. I saw her little bathing cap zooming up out of the corner of my eye, and BAM, she flew right by me.

Today I got smoked by my grandmother. And how is your day?

Who wants some?

2011-05-03T20:28:00.000-04:00

Yes, I've disappeared for a while. There are reasons. Let me 'splain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up. It is the end of my semester and I'm trying to cram lots of a really lot of stuff into my brain at the moment. It doesn't leave me much time for other, non-brain-cramming activities. Sad. Also, I finally got the Ock that the boys had last week. Also, we had a beautiful weekend, and spent much of it outside enjoying the beautiful ... weekend.

We had more beautiful weather today, so after I got out of class and picked up the boys, they played outside. What do you think they were concocting?

It involved lots of running too and fro, dirt, water and rocks.

Have you guessed yet?

Of course, they were making "hot chocolate." Want some?

It's coming right for me!

2011-04-26T20:38:00.000-04:00

It's been a strange sort of a week. But first, it's Cheeky Monkey in a box!

OK, anyway. No, wait ... more naptime fun!

Really now. Around midnight Saturday morning, Cheeky Monkey woke us up with a sad cry and a crib full of vomit. We changed him and the sheets and I rocked him for a while. He didn't fall back asleep, but did lay down in his crib as long as I stayed in the room, so I dragged our featherbed onto the floor and made camp. About 30 minutes later, he threw up again. After another wardrobe and sheet change (this time for me too!), we dosed for about 45 minutes before ... yep ... again. This time, all down my back. Awesome! We had one more go-round before he was apparently empty and went to sleep.

Saturday he seemed pretty good, aside from being less-hungry and more-sleepy that usual. We went about our business, dyeing eggs and preparing for general Easter fun.

Gummy Bear was quite proud of all his eggs.

The boys helped Ry in the yard and got pretty dirty, as children will do.

Sunday morning, Gummy Bear awoke to a chocolate dino egg and mini chocolate dinos. He was in chocolate heaven.

Cheeky Monkey ... had a fever. He took his first nap around 9 am.

And his second around 11.

We were undeterred and the Easter Bunny arrived to hide eggs. Gummy Bear was thrilled, and Cheeky Monkey was slightly amused.

He wasn't so amused by the family pictures, however.

Ry and Gummy Bear went off to our adopt-a-family Easter dinner and Cheeky Monkey and I held down the fort. Since he was running a fever, we played in the water table. He approved.

Silly me, I thought the rest of our family avoided the illness. This morning, Gummy Bear woke up around 5:30 complaining of a tummy ache. Ry gave him a drink and he went back to bed for a while. Around 6:45, still complaining, he sat on Ry's lap ... where he threw up. Because he doesn't get sick very often, he was really freaked out. I think he was more scared than in pain, and after a quick bath, perked up. Ry stayed home with him today, and other than the come-and-go fever and lack of appetite, he felt OK.

Tomorrow and Thursday are my last 2 days of clinical for the semester. I am praying to stay well until at least Thursday at 3 pm. I'd really hate to get to the very end of the semester and then have to make up clinical. Pray with me folks.

Today wasn't summer

2011-04-20T22:07:00.000-04:00

But it sure felt like it. It was one of those perfect kind of days. I had a truly lovely day in postpartum. When I left the hospital it was sunny and warm. The boys ate for almost an hour when we arrived home. Then we headed outside to enjoy the unseasonable warmth.

I must warn you that we operate a pants-optional household here.

We filled up the water table. You would think I bought them a pool.

They got muddy.

They poured water in every container they could find.

They got wetter.

And wetter.

And wettest.

And then they got a bath. I'm getting spring fever. Thank goodness there are only 4 weeks left in my semester.

In other news

2011-04-17T20:41:00.000-04:00

1. My semester is winding up (down?) and so posting will be light until May 17, when SCHOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER!!
2. Gummy Bear has been in fine form in the past week or so. Between asking me why the wind blows and telling everyone that they "annoy" him I can't wait to see what comes out of his mouth next. I would love to crawl inside that little brain just for an hour.
3. Cheeky Monkey has officially discovered the tantrum. He threw a spectacular one the other day when he didn't want to leave the park. It included screaming, arching his back so it was hard to get him into the carseat and sticking his head under the little carseat wing repeatedly and to his great discomfort. I can tell I'm a second-time mom because I spend most of the time trying not to laugh instead of trying not to blow a gasket. So much rage for such a little person.
4. The government didn't shut down! There was much rejoicing! We're getting paid until at least September, when I'm sure the children in Congress will once again use nearly 1 million paychecks to play chicken.

5. This was funny. Ry said that Gummy Bear was playing naptime on the floor. He would spread the blanket out and put out a pillow for Cheeky Monkey to lay down on. He chose here. Five or 6 times.

Finally, Ry took pity on Gummy Bear and moved him over where he was supposed to be napping.

And then much cuteness ensued. All together now ... awwwwww!

6. I finally start my maternity rotation this week!!! I've been waiting all semester for this. This week I'll be in post-partum and next week I'll be in L&D and nursery.
7. You all rock. Yesterday, I got a donation for March of Dimes that meets my goal for this year's March for Babies. Thank you so much to everyone who made a donation. I'll be walking on April 30 and will be sure to post an update from that day. Thank you. Thankyouverymuch.
8. That's all. Have a lovely week.

Meatless Monday

2011-04-11T09:30:00.001-04:00

I would say that fully half of the meals that I make are vegetarian. I'm not sure how this happened, but I find that it really helps with our grocery bill. Making sure that our family gets enough protein can be a challenge though, so we end up eating a lot of beans.

This is a recipe for Corn and Black Bean Quesadillas. I slightly adapted the original recipe because I was concerned it would be too spicy for the boys. Also, I thought the butter and oil to be completely unnecessary. Frankly, I didn't think they would eat it at all. Imagine my surprise when they both ate it like it was pizza. Even Gummy Bear thought it was tasty.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 small onion, finely chopped
1 (15.5 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (12 ounce) bag of frozen corn, dethawed
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 cup salsa
8 (8 inch) whole wheat tortillas
1 1/2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese, divided

Directions

Spray non-stick cooking spray into a sauce pan. Stir in onion, and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in beans and corn, then add sugar and salsa; mix well. Cook until heated through, about 5 minutes.
Heat a skillet on medium heat and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Place a tortilla in the skillet, sprinkle evenly with cheese, then top with some of the bean mixture. Place another tortilla on top, cook until golden, then flip and cook on the other side. Repeat with remaining tortillas and filling. Makes about 6 quesadillas (or 4 plus extra bean mixture to eat on tortilla chips later).

Let the hunting begin!

2011-04-10T21:38:00.000-04:00

Every year, some friends of ours invite us over for a little pre-Easter egg hunt with their family. We told the boys that the Easter Bunny had to have a practice day. I don't know if they bought it, but the hunting was enthusiastic.

Cheeky Monkey really got in on the fun. He only got a few eggs, but he thoroughly enjoyed opening the eggs, dumping out the contents, and putting them back on the ground.

Gummy Bear shared some of his eggs. Before you think he was being altruistic, he was really just looking for more room in his own basket.

Then, when we got home, the boys had a few pieces of chocolate. This is what two little Crunch eggs looks like. He kept taking them out of his mouth, looking at them, and putting them back in.

And Ry thinks I'm terribly cruel, but tell me Cheeky Monkey doesn't look a little like Augustus Gloop here.

Right?

On the shut down

2011-04-08T20:26:00.000-04:00

It's looking increasingly likely that tonight at midnight, our Federal government will shut down. Since we'll be one of those 800,000 government workers affected by the shutdown, I thought I'd address a few of the things I've been hearing/reading.

Government workers make too much money!

Government employees do make, on average, more than the average US taxpayer. That is because most government workers are professionals (lawyers, engineers, scientists) who make more money in general. If you compare private and public sector, job title for job title, government workers earn less.

We make a conscious decision for Ry to work for the government. He went to a good school, works hard, and is good at what he does. For that, he makes about 80% of what a private sector employee would make. He also gets to come home at a reasonable hour in the evenings and has only had to work on a weekend a few times during his nearly 9 years in this role. I like having him around, and the kids do too. It's worth the smaller salary for Ry to have some work-life balance.

But what about those benefits?

While I can't speak to the benefits that everyone gets, we pay 30% of our health care insurance premiums. It's not a small $ amount every month and the insurance plan isn't great. I paid far less, for much better insurance before I quit my job to be a stay at home mom.
My husband also has a Thrift Savings Plan, which is nearly identical to a private sector 401K. He pays in, the government matches a little, and we hope that its value increases over time. In fact, his TSP is not even as good as a 401K in the great state of New Jersey. NJ taxes contributions rather than allowing tax-free contributions like they do for 401Ks.

And all that paid time off?

Ry has about as much vacation time as other folks in his profession and with his experience. He gets about 4 weeks a year. It's nice, but not outrageous. While he does earn a fair amount of sick time each year, his sick time is also his disability pay. If he gets sick, has to have surgery or becomes disabled, his sick leave is it.

Shouldn't we all share the pain?

Absolutely! As a matter of fact, Ry will not be getting raises for at least the next 2 years, since President Obama has frozen pay increases. He'd like to freeze them for the next 5 years. Frankly, if they had come and said Ry had to take furlough days or a wage cut, it would have sucked, but I would have understood. After all, we're trying to balance a budget, here.

But that's not really the point, is it?

The point is that next week, Ry is likely to have to go to work. Because of what he does and the way he is funded, he'll likely be working as long as the government is shut down. Of course, he won't get paid until the government is up and running again. If this shutdown lasts 27 days like the one in 1995 did, we'll be using a good amount of our savings to continue paying our bills and feeding our kids. A furlough that lasts a whole bunch longer than that will really start to hurt.

We're the lucky ones, though. At least Ry will (probably) be paid when this is all over. There are hundreds of thousands of "non-essential" employees who may not be paid at all. Consider for a moment what an unexpected 10% (or 15% or 20%) pay cut would mean to your family. Especially consider that the cut comes all at one time, not spread out over a year. How long would you be able to pay your mortgage?

And why is this all happening? Because the Congress can't act like grown ups and come to an agreement over a budget that has been in continuing resolution since last September. It's not even going to save any money! The furlough in 1995 cost $1.4 billion.

So anyway, I'm sorta grrr today. I'm grrr that our politicians would rather play politics than do their jobs. I'm grrr at all the people who think that we live in some kind of government employee bubble. And I'm grr at the fact that we'll be hurting for as long as this furlough lasts. So, we won't be eating out at all. We'll be taking our lunches. We're looking at our expenses and seeing what we can do without. And we're praying that this comes to a quick resolution so we can keep on being the bill-paying, tax-paying, society-contributing citizens our politicians say they want.

Hey Tea Party!

2011-04-07T14:09:00.003-04:00

Glad to see you've decided to take your ball and go home.

Douchbags.

You go, new Doctor!

2011-04-05T21:04:00.000-04:00

Nursing school is making me a little bit neurotic. Apparently, it's a common phenomenon. Every time we learn about a new disease process, I start to wonder if I have it. My legs are falling asleep ... I must have peripheral vascular disease!

So anyway, to combat my ensuing craziness, I decided to make an appointment for a physical. I met my new primary care Doctor yesterday. She was very nice and did a thorough assessment. She also gave me a lab slip for the battery of blood work. Then, as we were wrapping up, she said something that surprised me.

You know, for your height, you may be a little overweight.

This is not really news to me. I've been overweight since Gummy Bear was born. I have also been to several different doctors (with several different specialties) in the 4 years since that happened. No one has ever mentioned my weight. I wonder how many of them thought it was easier to let it go. After all, no one loves to be reminded that they are overweight, and I'm only a little overweight. I'm sure lots of people get really defensive if you dare to mention that they could stand to lose a few pounds.

Still, new Doctor had the guts to have the discussion with me. She looked up my BMI, and said that if I could lose 10 pounds, I'd be right in the middle of "average" weight for my height. She went on to remind me that a healthy weight sets me up for a healthy life.

So, bravo, new Doctor! Way to have an uncomfortable conversation for the sake of, you know, health. In honor of new Doctor, I'm going to work on getting off that last 10 pounds. Thanks for the kick in the rear!

Things I Learned: The Parenting Edition

2011-04-04T21:01:00.000-04:00

1. Kids' heads are unhappy without a bump, bruise or scrape, as evidenced by the fact that every time one goes away, they make a new one.
2. At the start of every season, I buy 18 pair of matching socks for Gummy Bear and 18 pairs of matching socks for Cheeky Monkey. The boys' socks do not match each other. This way, Ry and I both know which socks belong to which boy as we're groping around in the dark, uncaffeinated and groggy. I know, 18 seems like a lot, but by the end of the season, I am doing a load of socks the night before school more often than I'd like to admit. The sock gnomes are especially fertile in this part of the country.
3. The night you go to Happy Hour with some of your husband's colleagues is inevitably the night your 4-year-old will both talk about his penis and take his pants (and underwear) down because "something's not right!"
4. The same 4-year-old will then give you his Raffe to "squeeze really tight" when you are cleaning the thumb you just sliced open making his lunch for the next day.
5. Then he'll ask for Raffe back, because it's time to go to bed.
6. And give you his dinosaur, because "I don't use that dino anymore."

Ry turns 31

2011-04-03T20:44:00.000-04:00

Ry and I are the same age again, for the next 7 months, anyhow. Both of our birthday were kind of anti-climactic this year, but we had a lovely day, all the same. I can't begin to say how much I love this husband of mine. He's the best kind of father: loving and fun, but still boundary-setting. He's the best kind of husband: loving and providing and uplifting and laid back. He's just the best man I know. Happy Birthday, my love. You are my tiny ball of light.

And now, some gratuitous kiddo and cake pictures:

Hurrah!

2011-04-02T21:24:00.000-04:00

I waited until today to post this so no one would think it was an April Fool's Day joke. My Mom and Stepfather are moving to New Jersey (or right across the border in PA)! Hurrah! Joy!

The only thing I really dislike about being out here is our distinct lack of family. I cannot even begin to explain how psyched I am to have my Mom out here. I'm excited to have our boys see (some of ) their grandparents all the time. I'm excited to be able to call my Mom and ask her to lunch, or coffee, or dinner, or a party and then see her in 30 minutes. I'm excited to have Sunday dinners, and evening movies, and Grandparent Day at the school. I'm excited to have a shoulder to cry on and my mommy to make me chicken noodle soup when I'm sick. I'm excited to watch our boys prefer Neena and G-Pa's house. I'm excited to share our non-traveling holidays with our family. Mostly, I'm just excited to have people that I love so very close to me.

So, when are the rest of you moving here?

A Real Love Story

2011-04-01T14:34:00.000-04:00

During clinical one day this semester I was standing at the nurse's station, updating some documentation. A sweet older lady walked up to me and said, "Excuse me, but my husband's feet and heels are so dry and I don't have anything to put on them. Could you find his nurse and ask if there is anything she could bring me?" I asked her room number and told her I'd be right back with some lotion.

When I walked into the room a few minutes later, she was at her husband's side, holding his hand. I popped on some gloves, popped off his socks and rubbed some lotion onto his dry feet. Looking up at me, he said, "Thank you, Miss. What's your name?" "My name is Jube," I responded. "Oh," he said, "we have a granddaughter named Jube!" "She's an attorney," his wife added. "That's wonderful," I said, as I put his socks back on.

Then I asked him if his socks were comfortable, as they looked a bit tight to me. "I don't know," he said, "I just found them in the closet." "Well, then I'll go and look to see if we have any larger sizes. There's nothing worse than tight socks," I said. His wife looked at me and said, "Especially for a diabetic! Whenever his socks at home start to look rough, I buy him new ones. It's so important." I agreed with her, and left to track down some socks.

As I came back into the room, the lady was still sitting and holding her husband's hand. I put the larger socks on his feet and he said, "thank you Miss. What's your name?" "Jube," I said. "Oh," he said, "we have a granddaughter named Jube!" As I looked at his wife, she smiled up at me, then at him and added, "Yes, she's an attorney."