Another Big Recap

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Because we were at Smokewood for most of the Memorial Day Weekend and because my Dad's computer is on the fritz- I did not have a chance to blog along and now I am sitting here with a bunch of pictures and a few stories but it all seems overwhelming. I will hit the high spots and call it good.
It was a great weekend. We were hopping the whole time and we had lots of places to be and we had lots of fun. On Sat we had a cook out here at the Casa, a Coastie from the station came as well as Aunt Jenny's crew. On Sunday we packed up the kids (the furry and non-furry) and headed to The Burg (Grandma's town), we stopped off at Smokewood long enough to drop off Billy Bones and add Brevin to the retinue, then we went to Chucka and Cheryl's for a cookout there. C&C have a huge yard and it is VERY kid friendly! There was a swing set, a pool with ladder/slide action, a dirt pit with trucks and shovels, a big cardboard box that had a door and some windows cut into the sides, kid sized chairs and lots of other toys. I have NEVER seen B&E play so hard!!! They were exhausted. They were 2 of 7 kids there and all of the kids played hard. It felt nice to have them close by and happily playing while I got to talk with friends and relax. On Monday we stayed in at Gram's, had Brats and goodies, the kids played on the swing set and in the pool there. Aunt Tanya came for a visit. The TV was off nearly the entire time we were there, we just all sat and talked and enjoyed each other.
That about sums it up.
Except that I had to use regular adult sunblock on Ev at Grandma's house on Sunday and she now has a pretty bad rash from it. I took her to the Dr. yesterday as the redness and itchiness were increasing- all's good. Hydrocortisone 2.5% is a good thing.
OH! My weekend did start off with Breakfast In Bed!!! For no reason, other than he loves me, Leslie made me breakfast, including home made biscuits and carried it all up to me in bed. I could get used to that.
There were lots of great small moments from the weekend. Basically I know that I have a great family, great friends and I am in the best years of my life.

I added some stills as well as the slideshow because my sister and the Rad Gang can't view the slideshow at a certain location......

Yeah - Big Bad Nurse Alright

Last night about 4:45 am, Evelyn started crying and screaming for me. I rolled out of bed and stumbled as quickly as I could to her. She was laying there in bed, on her back, just crying and screaming, she would not answer me when I called her name or shook her. I thought she was having a bad dream and I just reached down and picked her up. When I lifted her a bit she screamed even louder and wailed and I heard her say " Mama!!!! I cracked my neck and now it hurts so bad!!!" I looked at her and her little head was at an angle and she was clutching the left side of her neck, towards the back but closer to the shoulder. All I could think was that, here she was with some neck injury and I just hauled her off of the bed and swung her around to get her onto my lap.
Then I had to holler and yell for Leslie. Because, even though I am a nurse, even though I KNEW it was probably just a pulled muscle, even though I knew she was yelling mostly from the shock of waking up in pain, even though I knew that I did not hurt her by lifting her onto my lap....the Sympathetic Branch of my Autonomic Nervous System kicked in. I got all clammy and sweaty, nauseous and head spinny. I really thought that I was going to pass out and I did not want to hit the floor with Ev in my arms, so I yelled for Les. He came. I handed Evelyn over to him and got up to go to the bathroom, as I was not sure WHAT I was going to do. I sat on the toilet and put my head down and breathed deep for a bit, then I splashed some cold water on my face and resumed Mama Duties with Ev.
So that's what it was- she slept wrong on her neck and now has a pulled muscle. OK.
I just gave her some Motrin, cuddled her, reassured her and laid her back in bed in a neutral position, put on some soothing music for her and let the Motrin do it's thing. She fell back to sleep, as did we all. When she woke for the second time this morning, she still has a sore/stiff neck but she is not howling in pain and keeping her head tilted down and to the side. Heck, I even had to stop her from jumping on my bed not 20 minutes ago.
Moral of the story?
Just because you can papoose someone else's kid and assist with about a gajillion facial stitches after a sledding incident does NOT mean that you can even handle the slightest problem with your child. Just because you can help save a person mid heart attack does not mean that you will stumble out of bed and not freak when YOUR child is wailing in pain. Just because you can calmly and rationally assess someone else does not mean that you won't nearly puke when you see your baby holding her neck and crying.
Yeah. Big. Bad. Nurse.

Other Subjects

I have been taking my camera about and getting photos of things OTHER than that beautiful daughter of mine. Leslie and I used to go out and have photo safaris all of the time, it seems though that for 4 years I have had mostly one subject with variations on a theme. I enjoy photography and I am trying to get back in the groove of things. Here are few samples from around my yard. If you are wondering, the bee photos are real and I did take them and yes, I did nearly get stung-many times.

Bullets for the Weary

• Today was the last day of my Nursing Refresher. I studied for 2 days for the final, I ended up with a 96% overall score. Not too shabby.


• Today was the day that my daughter learned to tie her shoes "all beside herself"! I sat and watched and got a bit teary eyed with pride and wonder. Ev noticed that I was emotional and said "Why are you so sad? Because you won't be able to tie my shoes anymore?"


• Billy Bones is convinced that Grandma's house is the coolest house on the planet. Why? Because there is always fresh game in the house somewhere (rodents and etc. brought in and lost by Mom's cats) and he can nap in the sun on a vintage muscle car.


• Evelyn is convinced that Grandma's house is the coolest house on the planet. Why? Because that's where she gets to be with her "all family". And there is a swing set.


• 84 degrees today. Not too shabby. Evelyn and I may forsake the very dirty, in need of a cleaning house to get to the lake and sit in the sand all day tomorrow. Priorities people.


• Today I read a post about a Mama getting on a plane to go and get her daughter from China. I CAN NOT WAIT to do it again.
• I am pretty tired after a couple fo days of non-stop studying and then that final and then another 6 hours of class time after that- thus these bullets.....

So, ummm, yeah

Last weekend we went to a baseball game. Not just any old game. A Major League Game. We went downtown and watched the Indians get beat by Detroit. The score wasn't really the point though. The point was that it was Bean's first time at a baseball game. It was her first time eating Cracker Jacks and yes, there were hot dogs with stadium mustard, there was cotton candy, there were soft pretzels. In short it was a great time.

Just let me mention that IF you take your 4 year old to a game and buy a bag of cotton candy, it would be wise of you to NOT get so involved in the game that you don't realize that the 4 year old in question is ingesting the ENTIRE bag of cotton candy. Because that stuff is like crack cocaine for kids. She was literally vibrating. For hours. And talking loud and fast. For hours.

Needless to say, Bean wants to go for more baseball games, she said "oh! yes let's do that more. Next time I can get PINK cotton candy."

A Single Purchase

Three days ago I realized that our agency has had our MCC (Medical Conditions Checklist) now for about 2 months.
Two Months.
That means that we are two months down people! I am surprised because it does not feel that way. So this got me thinking and thinking. Now I am a bit lip chew-ey and heart palpitate-y. I guess that this thing is real? There will be 4 of us eventually.
Then I went to Target.
While at Target I made a purchase.
Bright Start Lots of Links was the purchase. Bright colored play rings that a baby or small child can gnaw on, drop a hundred times, link together, tether toys with, argue with sister over.....
So yeah.
I just bought something for my "baby".
How do you like that?
I like it.
I like it alot.

Three Dresses- Just Waiting

Leslie and Evelyn were out in the backyard yesterday, planting flowers and pumpkins and I was futzing about- cleaning up the house a bit and being a bit.....ummm......grumpy.
I made it into Ev's room and I was cleaning up bits of paper strewn about and tossing toys back into the toy box. I stood up to stretch my back and I took a deep breath in, then I noticed a bright sun patch just streaming in the window.
Then I was just hit with such an overwhelming sense of luck and gratitude that I just sat right back down and lost my grumps.
Here I am, in the middle of being a Mama.
Everytime I sweep, it looks like we have zany little elves all over because all of my dirt has bits of glitter in it. Sometimes I walk thru the house and I see little groupings of stuffed animals arranged around a miniature tea set. Sometimes I wake to find little pieces of art work that a certain someone has created and snuck onto my bedside table for me to find in the morning. Sometimes I find huge mysterious wet places in the house because someone is obsessed with water play. I can not keep any window surface clean. Every morning when I make my bed, I have to sweep out a truckload of crumbs because there is this little girl that likes to eat breakfast in my bed.
And sometimes when I am feeling grumpy , I look up and see the sun hitting on three little princess dresses that my daughter has hung up on her "fish rack" so they are ready to go when she needs to be a Princess.
And it's moments like that when I realize just how very empty my life and my home and my heart would be without her. It's moments like this that I thank God with every fiber in my being, because I love the messes and the glitter, the surprises and smudges. I love that we have a gajillion crazy bits of paper floating about. I love that we have shiny, swirly little dresses at the ready. I love all of these things because they are solid reminders to stop and think and realize what it would mean if they were not here. I love these things in my life because they mean that I am getting every single thing that I ever wanted. I love these things because they come with having a magical, creative, energetic and original human as your daughter.