Easter

I'm a little late posting about our Easter festivities, but life has been a little busy this week, so you'll have to excuse me. We started the morning with the boys opening checking out their Easter baskets. Woohoo, the Easter bunny came!

This is essentially the same picture, but I love the look on Gummy Bear's face.

Wait, that bunny brought you more stuff than he brought me!

Then we had breakfast. Since we weren't actually going to hide our dyed eggs, we had them for breakfast. Cheeky Monkey was an enthusiastic partaker.

Bear ... not so much.

Again, the monkey. He peeled and ate most of 2 hard boiled eggs.

This was the aftermath of the Easter baskets. That paper "grass"? It's a terrible idea. Don't do it.

I found some more today. In the laundry.

We went to Easter service and then headed off to our big Italian family for Easter dinner and egg hunt. I realized I didn't get great pictures of the egg hunt, but the boys had fun. There were something like 96 eggs for 5 kids.

In other news, I got my transition assignment this week. I'll be working nights with a Labor and Delivery nurse! I'm really excited and can hardly believe I'm almost done. I have one month until my final exam. The whole thing feels pretty surreal right now. I am completely finished with lecture and have one more week of clinical before my transition rotation starts. It feels like I've been working on this forever, and here I am, about to be an RN. Whee!

Marching again

Hi everyone. I am marching for the March of Dimes again this year. This is an organization I believe does really important work. They are on the forefront of research about prematurity, vaccines and newborn screening. Since I'm hoping to be a maternity nurse sometime soon, this organization is near and dear to me. Check out this graph to see how your state is doing on premature births. Here in New Jersey, 12% of babies are still born prematurely and 18.5% of pregnant women are uninsured. How is your state doing?

As you can see, I have nearly met my goal of $350 (you guys rock!). Last year, however, I raised $450 and would love to match or exceed that this year. If you're looking for a place to park your donation this year, please consider the March of Dimes.

Thanks!

Fun with chicken ova

Yesterday, we participated in the annual Festival of Chicken Ova Dyeing. I bought the kids those pink tongs because I thought it would lessen the degree of crackage. I was wrong. But we had fun anyway. Cheeky Monkey wanted to do everything himself (because of course, he's two).

Look, a picture with both boys looking at the camera and smiling. Holy cow!

Back to our regularly scheduled programming. Gummy Bear was really into the ova-coloring this year. He dyed some with multiple colors and had Neena write his name on a few.

Every time Cheeky Monkey picked up an egg, we heard a disconcerting crunch. Then there was more crunching when he took the egg out of the dye. Strangely, out of the 6 eggs he got to color, the only two to remain without cracks were the yellow ones, his favorite color. Coincidence? Unlikely.

Birthdays and things

Guess who had a birthday yesterday?

Gummy Bear picked the big balloon, "because it has work on it. And it's square."

 He's finally my age again (for the next 7 months). He asked for birthday pie instead of birthday cake. It's lucky that my mom jumped on that, because I don't do pie. This one is coconut cream. She also make a chocolate cream. My mom rocks.

We had dinner together, where apparently, Bear was freezing to death, because he put on his winter jacket halfway though.

Monkey anxiously awaited the pie.

Seriously, how much does he look like a little boy these days?

Yep, Ry turned 32 yesterday. And he just keeps getting better. I couldn't have gotten a better partner for this crazy life. Happy birthday, my love. You are the tops!

In other news, Bear has been a very helpful big brother lately. He's been helping Monkey use the toilet, helping "repair" his car, helping him stay out of trouble, and generally being a sweet kid. I don't know what happened, but I like it.

The power company has been tearing up our street this week to upgrade the pipes. They've had all kinds of cool diggers and trucks outside. The boys are fascinated.

And cute.

My family is the best kind of awesome

I'm graduating in May. Since this my third college degree, and associates at that, I was just really excited that some of my family was going to make it to the ceremony. I certainly didn't expect gifts. I definitely didn't expect gifts of sheer awesomeness. And yet, my sneaky husband got my whole family together and got me this, very, very cool ukulele. It's a Kala solid Acacia Tenor Ukulele. Ry had to spring the surprise early so he could make sure to get the size I wanted and get it ordered. It came this week. 

The guy who sold it to us called me when it arrived and told me that he "tuned it up for me." Also, it made "everything else we have sound like cardboard." Seriously, this is a beautiful ukulele and has the best kind of mellow sound. I certainly don't have the talent to need an instrument of this quality, but I sure do appreciate it.

So, this is a little thank you from me to you: Ry, Mom, Greg, Dad, Laurel, Becky, Brad, Jo, Mike, Frank, Pat, Cathy and Eric. I am humbled by your thoughtfulness and love you so very, very much. I will, in fact, think of you every time I play it.

A visit from Tantie and other assorted news

Let's begin this post by asking, how good-looking is my husband? Right?

The last day Tantie was in town, she made her Mummu's famous Swedish Coffee Bread. It was a seriously involved process that included 2 risings and about 4 hours.

 It was delicious (and gorgeous). We already miss Tantie so very much. Come back soon Tantie!

Birthday. Potty.

We've had a very eventful week here in NJ. We started potty training Cheeky Monkey last Friday. He's been dry at home since Sunday. He's having a tough time at school, but at home anyway, it's all dry undies, all the time. And seriously, how cute is his little bum in those undies?

Our other big event for the week was Gummy Bear's 5th Birthday Party. We decided to have the party on a Friday evening instead of a weekend morning since it was half the price. We had a really lovely time. There was lots of sliding and bouncing by kids big and small.

Unfortunately, bouncing sometimes = head bonks. I'm fairly certain Bear is going to have a shiner tomorrow.

Here they are on the giant slide. There were a few more at the party than we managed to wrangle onto the slide, but this is the majority.

Pizza!

And cake. Making this cake was an adventure for another time. It was fun though, and turned out pretty well.

And of course, there were presents. There were also meltdowns because it was well after bedtime by the time we got home. And that, my friends, is why my kids have bedtimes.

This was, by far, my favorite picture of the evening. Someday, we'll see this picture at their wedding.

The Big Bear

Gummy Bear turned 5 Tuesday. How is this possible? He's been hair-on-fire excited for the past week. Since his birthday was on a Tuesday, his official party isn't until next Friday. Still he had his school party and we had a little family get together on his actual birthday. He decided he wanted Chik-Fil-A for dinner, so there we went. He also insisted that we all wear party hats. The woman who took our order was trying desperately (and failing) not to laugh.

What can I say about my Gummy Bear? He's a precocious, high-energy little man. The day after he turned 5, he told me that he was excited to be 5 because "I'm going to be so much smarter this year!" He loves board games and playing outside and conducting "speriments". Of course, the speriments usually end up with a mess or broken toys or both ... but hey, he is his father's son.

It's a good thing he's sweet-natured, because he is naturally bossy. I can only imagine the trouble he'll be leading his brother into in the years to come.

Gummy Bear is one of the most outgoing kids I've ever met. When we registered him for kindergarten (gulp) a few weeks ago, he went off with one of the teachers like they were old friends. And when I asked him who he wanted to invite from his pre-K class, he rattled off the entire classroom. When I asked his teachers who his pals were, they confirmed that "he kind of plays with everyone." I'm so thankful for his outgoing, generous and loving spirit. He never has a bad thing to say about his friends and wouldn't know what to do with a clique (and yes, they exist, even in pre-K).

The Bear loves all things sparkly and shiny, and his current favorite colors are red and pink. I'm hanging on to his penchant for sparkly and shiny just as long as I can, since I know a few years of school are likely to quash even those small excursions from the "norm."

He's a funny kind of kid. Recently, he discovered Finding Nemo, which if you remember has sharks in a support group with the tag line "Fish are Friends, not Food." When we had fish for dinner a few nights later, I was surprised to hear him chanting, "Fish are Friends, not Food" before each bite, only to say "He tastes delicious!" after he swallowed. It's fun watching his sense of humor develop. Today's joke was "What kind of pet does the sun have? A hotdog!"

More than anything, I love my biggest boy more than I can say. Happy Birthday, Gummy Bear.



We had a fun family get together. G-Pa decorated their dining room for his birthday. Bear was appropriately shocked and awed. The "5" balloon is as big as he is. It will likely last until his next birthday, so maybe we can use it as the measuring sticks.

Neena made him a beautiful cake, and he most thoroughly enjoyed it.

And boy, I just had to include this picture of the rarely seen, unigepa. Neigh.

Goings on: a list

1. Cheeky Monkey got sick (again) the day after my last post. His daycare called me lunchtime to tell me he had a fever. This time, I took him straight to the Dr. (I have learned my lesson, thank you pneumonia). This time he had an ear infection. The antibiotics cleared it up and we've all been pretty healthy since then.

2. I started my mental health rotation. This is the second rotation where I thought, "this is not for me."

4. We registered Gummy Bear for kindergarten. How is this possible? It went really smoothly, but I couldn't help but feel a little melancholy. He seems pretty excited though, and the school has a good reputation in the district.

5. Spring has sprung here in NJ. We've had a string of gorgeous days. The kids have spent loads of time playing outside, we decided to have our very first grilled pizza of the season. I'll tell you what, I could eat this every day once the tomatoes are in season. Serious yum.

Step the first: roll out pizza, put on grill, low heat. Flip once the underside starts to feel solid. Brush on garlic-infused olive oil.

Step the second: T'OMATOES!

Step the third: mozzarella and basil.

Step the fourth: Yum.

 5. My Gummy Bear turns 5 tomorrow. *Sniffle* He is beyond excited and has been telling anyone who will listen about how he gets 3 parties this year (one for school, one for the family and the friend party at the local bouncy, eaty, melt-downy house). Because he's really into Wall-E this year, that's what he wanted for his party theme. He asked for gray and blue cupcakes "because they look like Wall-E." The blue turned out less like sky or space and more like ... cotton candy. The gray shows more purple than anything. And then I ran out of the other colors and had to come up with a third color. Ry suggested orange-brown (you know, cause Wall-E is rusty). The orange came out more ... fleshy. I can't help but think, wow, those are some ugly cupcakes. I can only imagine the big reveal tomorrow at school. "Ew, Miss Kristina, I don't want the one that looks like skin!" "Why does mine look dirty?" Well kids, those are the breaks. Next year, ask the Bear to pick some normal, mainstream birthday colors.

Gray, seriously?

And that is what's new in our little corner of the world. What's new with you?

Meanwhile, in the doctor's office bathroom

I took Gummy Bear to the pediatrician this morning. Because the appointment was at 9 am, I decided to just drag Cheeky Monkey along rather than try to get him dropped off at daycare first. The Bear needed to give a urine sample, so the 3 of us were crowded into the little bathroom. I was crouched down, helping the Bear get things ... situated. I heard the water running behind us, but just assumed Monkey was washing his hands (a new favorite hobby).

I stood up and turned around to find Monkey getting himself a drink of water from one of the (mercifully clean and empty) specimen cups.

True story.

Meanwhile at children's church

We've been attending a new church for about a month now. Each Sunday, there is a children's lesson right before the sermon and the kiddos leave for children's church. Gummy Bear likes this a lot. Two weeks ago, they were talking about being thankful. I wasn't there (since I spent the first 3 weeks with Cheeky Monkey in the nursery), but when asked what he was thankful for, Bear said, "My Mommy." Awwwwww.

This week's lesson was about pride. The woman leading the lesson asked if anyone knew someone who was a know-it-all or a smarty-pants. Gummy Bear lifted his hand in the air, turned it around, and pointed it at himself.

True story.

A 2-year-old tells a joke

Cheeky Monkey has been trying to tell jokes lately. He's got a really good one, it goes like this:

Knock knock.

Who's there?

Interrupting kitty.

Interrupting ki....

Meow!

He told it over and over and over again, and it's pretty cute, so I thought I'd get it on camera. This is what happened as soon as I turned on the camera. I tried half a dozen times ... it didn't get any better.

One down

We had our first exam of the semester today. Because our scantron machine broke (and the school is closing, so no one is paying to have it repaired), our instructors have to hand-score the exam. So, it'll be a while before we have test scores. I think I did pretty well, so there will be no lost sleep for me.

One of my classmates has been keeping a running tally of "days until graduation." Today, that number is 89. This is both extremely exciting and extremely terrifying. At the moment, I feel like I'm at the tippy top of a roller coaster and the car has just started to creep over the edge. You know that moment? It's the one where you get the first glimpse of how high you are? Then the adrenaline kicks in because you are so excited and scared at the same time? I look forward to that feeling of weightlessness and the adrenaline high. And then it's fast and scary and fun and before you know it, you're done and waiting for the restraints to unlock. So yeah. One tortured analogy later and you know how I'm feeling about the rest of the semester.

The rest of the semester is going to go fast. I have 3 more 2-week clinical rotations and then start my transition experience. Next week we put in our requests for where we want to transition. In point of fact, I only have 6 or so weeks of "classroom" time left in nursing school. Holy cow. I'm actually going to be a nurse. And soon.

How did I get here?

I usually sing to Cheeky Monkey when I put him to bed. The past couple times, he asks for songs about random things. "Sing. Mommy and Finley song." "Sing. Bed song." "Sing. Kitty song." Last night I made up a kitty song. It was lovely. It was about how he had white and orange stripes and how the Monkey liked to cuddle with him.

Tonight he asked again for a kitty song. I couldn't remember the one I made up the night before. My mind was blank. The only thing I could think of was "soft kitty."

I finished the song and Cheeky Monkey looked up at me and said, "More. Purr. Purr. More. Warm. Kitty." Each time, he asked for more. And that is how I ended up singing "Soft Kitty" a dozen times.

The Saga of the Bank

About a month ago, we decided that Gummy Bear was getting old enough that he should start getting an allowance of sorts. If he does certain chores, he gets money for his Spending, Saving, and Giving jars. He was using a turtle bank his Tantie made him for his Spending Jar. It met an untimely demise when Cheeky Monkey dropped it one morning before school. Gummy Bear was inconsolable.

Oh. Sad.

And so I promised him that we would go to one of those Paint Your Own Pottery places where he could pick out another bank and paint it himself. And so we did. And he picked an owl bank (because it was the biggest).

He did a pretty good job, although he was bored by the end (each color had to be painted 3 times). Luckily for him, he has a mommy who was willing to do coats 2.5 and 3.

He was pretty darned pleased with himself. And it was pretty darned cute. Alas, the owl had to stay at the store to be glazed and fired. I finally got the call a few days ago that the owl was ready.

And now he sits, proudly guarding Gummy Bear's room. We just have to keep him out of the Monkey's hands.

Baffled

I have to admit that I'm completely baffled by physical sibling fighting.My sister and I are almost 7 years apart. As far as I know there was one physical altercation between us. She was 2 or 3, which had to make me somewhere around 9. This is my recollection of that incident:

I pushed/hit/smacked/physically harmed my sister in some way.

My parents:

RAWR!!!!!!!!!!

And that was pretty much the end of that. It wasn't that we always got along, but because she was so much younger, she was more of a nuisance than a real object of anger (I love you Peanut!).

I know most siblings fight. My husband,who has a sister 3 years younger than him, admits to lots of physical shenanigans, including vacuuming her hair. Now, of course, he's one of the gentlest men I've ever met.

Our boys are currently at a peak of irritating each other. To be fair, the physical pushing/hitting/smacking is mostly coming from Cheeky Monkey right now, because, well, he's two. Gummy Bear plays the role of the instigator. Rarely an hour goes by without them squabbling over a toy or annoying each other such that it ends in tears and/or time out. I am praying that they'll outgrow it at some point. Until then, here are the new household rules:

• If you fight over a toy, it becomes Mommy and Daddy's toy.
• You must make some attempt to solve your problem before turning it over to a higher authority.
• Any physical altercation or tantrum results in immediate corner/time out time.
• Further inability to get along means you get to play by yourselves. In separate rooms.

Because seriously, I'm tired of this. But mostly, just tired.

My day in the community

Last week I  had the opportunity to spend a day with a community health nurse. It was an experience I didn't expect to like that much. Instead, I found that I "clicked" with it in a completely unexpected way. We visited 6 patients, 3 of whom my nurse had been seeing for a long time. There are a lot of complicated rules governing when and how often a person can be seen by a home nurse that I'm not going to get into here.

I think patients interact with nurses differently in their homes than in a hospital room. They seem more relaxed, more receptive. I also really liked that you got 5 minutes to just talk to people. I learned more about people in a 45 minute home visit that I learned about people I took care of for 4 + days in the hospital. I also learned a lot about how doctor's orders get carried out (or not carried out) in homes. I liked that the nurse practices really independently in the community. She draws labs, makes assessments and recommendations to doctors, who write orders based on those recommendations.  She makes the decisions about how to best structure the visit and what the priorities are for that individual situation. I also liked the case-manager-ness of it all. My nurse was on the phone to pharmacies, doctor's offices, home health aide services, and caregivers. She made referrals, tracked down orders, and went out of her way to ensure that the patient had things in motion before she left the house.

While I enjoyed the people I met, I don't know if that particular population is the one I would want to work with. Mothers and babies? Oh my yes. I know there are some agencies that offer mother and baby visits, especially for at-risk patients. What I don't understand is why a visit from a nurse isn't a requirement after a mother has a child (especially a first child). It should be part of the package.

Have a baby? Here's your nurse! I know I could have used an experienced maternity nurse showing up on my doorstep around day 3.

Breastfeeding not going well? Let me help.
Not sure if they're getting enough to eat? Let me explain.
Concerned about that spot/rash/cough/bleeding/pain? Let's take a look.

Research shows that community nurses keep patients out of the hospital. They keep patients from getting hospital-acquired infections. They keep patients taking medications correctly. They allow them to go home earlier. Why community nursing isn't ubiquitous is truly a mystery to me.

Scenes from a Cheeky Monkey

Scene: the Monkey and I are sitting on the couch, post-nap. Gummy Bear is at school.

Monkey: Come-a momma!
Me: Huh?
Monkey: Come-a momma!
Me: Ummm.
Monkey: Come-a!!!
Me: Can you show me what you want?
Monkey: Gets up, goes to the basement door. Want. Jacket.
Me: You want to put on your jacket?
Monkey: Jacket!!!
Me: OK then. I take his jacket off the hook and put it on.
Monkey: Momma jacket.
Me: Now I'm putting on my jacket?
Monkey: Momma jacket!!
Me: Ok, why not. I put on my jacket.
Monkey: Come-a momma! He grabs my hand, pulls me to the front door and unlocks the deadbolt. He heads straight for the truck and stands waiting by his door, expectantly. 
Me: Ok, I'll bite. I grab my keys and bag, help Monkey into his seat and get into the driver's seat. Now what?
Monkey: Count. School bus!
Me: HA! A little background information is important here. Every morning on the way to school, the boys and I count the number of school buses. You want to drive around and count school buses?
Monkey: YA!
Me: But where are we going?
Monkey: I nunno!
Me: You don't know?
Monkey: I nunno!
And that is how the Monkey and I ended up driving around, counting school buses.


__________________________________________________________________________


Scene: I'm brushing my teeth. The boys are hanging out in the living room, suddenly I hear a mysterious musical sound. I peak around the corner to see the Monkey putting change in the oven door slots.

__________________________________________________________________________

Distracted

This has been quite a week. Monday afternoon, Cheeky Monkey started running a 103 fever. There's been a lot of crap going around the daycare, so we gave him some Ibuprofen, and put him to bed. Since he was still running a fever Tuesday morning, Ry and my stepdad stayed home with him so I could go to clinical.

Tuesday evening, his fever was breaking through the ibuprofen in about 3 hours, so I called the pediatrician. He told us to bring him in Wednesday morning. I came very close to staying home with him Wednesday, but since I have to make up clinical time and pay $150 every time I miss a clinical day, Ry persuaded me to go to school.

The doctor said that the Monkey had a double ear infection and what she thought was mild pneumonia. She prescribed an antibiotic and asked us to nebulize him twice a day. I slept on the floor of his room last night because his breathing was freaking me out last night. Today, I'm staying home with him. Thankfully, he's only been running a low grade fever this morning. He's also been considerably more chipper today than I've seen him since Sunday. His lungs are also starting to sound better. So, that's why no blogging this week. Keep my Monkey in your thoughts and prayers?

Putting them to work early

Ahh, childhood, that mysterious time when vacuuming is fun. I had to pry the vacuum out of their sticky little hands to finish up.

Best Hide and Seek ever

A girlfriend of mine found an article a long time ago about the best games for lazy parents. I'd like to think we're not lazy parents, but certainly the kids have a lot more energy than we do on our best days. This is the best iteration of hide and seek I've met yet.

Slightly windy with a chance of twisters

We had several twisters today that just blew away the living room. Very sad, actually. Make sure and watch Cheeky Monkey at the end.



In other news, I'm two weeks into my last semester of nursing school. Interpreting EKGs is hard. Overall I don't think this semester is going to be as difficult as the last one. The boys are big and healthy. Even Cheeky Monkey seems to be readjusting to preschool well. Ry hasn't been working crazy hours. I'm still chugging away  learning the ukulele. We're trying to refinance the house. Ry and I celebrated our 8th anniversary. Overall, our lives have been pretty ... boring actually.