Friday, August 28, 2009

Continuing my search for balance

This week's lesson-spending some time for me while balancing what the kids need. Mary seems pretty happy go lucky, happy to snuggle, happy to play. Robert on the other hand at bedtime turns into Mr "Mommy I want to snuggle" which I am starting to think is a diversion tactic closely related to "I need to go potty" and "I need to find x-y-z toy. But regardless I've been trying to spend extra time with them while still spending a couple hours yesterday watching Julie and Julia. It was so awesome. I really enjoyed it!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

work, work, work....

It seems that all I do these days is work! I did end up working 12:45-3 last night but had gone to bed at 9:30 (they called me at 12:30) and was able to leave right at 3 am and was in bed by 3:25 so I decided not to send the kids to the babysitter. They're going thurs and fri all day so I really hated to send them today. Mary is actually still asleep so I know she appreciates not being woken up to go to Denee's! And Wesley HAD to be at work at 8 this morning so that would have been hard to get the kids up, ready, to Denee's etc. I basically got called in for a new admission so all I had to do was all the admission stuff-IV, labs, questions, assessments, chart etc for him so that went pretty well and I was able to help the other nurses a little with some small stuff until the 3 am nurses came in.

It was SO nice to be able to be home with the kids yesterday. We played outside, snuggled, watched a little TV, they took naps (but at different times so I didn't), bathed snoopy, bathed them, went to nanny night, and they went to bed without a whimper! We didn't even go to they gym-I really felt that they needed ME to be with them and I think it was the right decision. The house is completely wrecked but oh well. I'll get it later :)

Today I'm hoping to hit the gym either this morning or this afternoon. I lost 2 lbs last week (whoot!) so I only have 6 to go to be back at my goal weight. I'm really psyched about that.

Tomorrow I have telemetry class from 7-3 and I'm thinking that I might try to see Julie and Julia afterwards. There's a 3:45-5:45 showing and I think I might just be crazy enough to go and scramble to make supper afterwards! I think my last movie theater movie was ice age 2. I think-maybe? It's been a LONG time!

Friday I'm supposed to work 3p-7p on Peds. The kids are scheduled at Denee's all day so I can maybe try to get the upstairs worked on so we can get the furniture from Granny's house moved in. Her house is under contract pending inspections. The house inspection (by the prospective buyer's dad) was last eve, they still have a well inspection, septic inspection and termite inspection to go.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Full Time Sucks




First, a couple pics from camping this past weekend-if uploading pics were faster I'd do more but this took 10+ min

Full time really does just suck-or rather full time with 2 kids does! Especially when combined with a camping trip in the middle! I've been trying to catch up-did finally get the laundry all done and put away-except the load that needs to go to the camper-it was pouring down rain so I decided that getting it all wet wouldn't help much! Wesley called me at 2 to tell me that our babysitter had called him and needed to take her husband to UVA for an eye apt-they have been on a waiting list forever and they called today with a cancellation. So I got up and picked them up around 3. So really didn't get much done this afternoon-finished putting away laundry and put away a ton of dishes left over from making and canning pizza sauce (YUM) a few nights ago. This evening I made supper and then cut Robert's hair and then tried to get the kids to help pick up toys but they were pulling out faster than they were putting away so I finally gave up. Days like today I feel like I'm counting down the days until they are both in school-how sad is that!?!

Tomorrow Peggy and I are going to take the kids to the farmer's market. Robert is one sticker away from getting the prize and I'm pretty sure he'll poop in the morning to be able to go. Technically he pooped at Denee's today so regardless I'll take him :) He's doing great-he's been wet some in the mornings but otherwise no accidents!

Work is going pretty well-last night was busy with 26 admissions and a 4 hour computer downtime but otherwise no real excitement. I'm still really enjoying getting to know the nurses that work there and all the challenges and questions that come out of it.

I've been hitting the gym pretty hard the last couple days, I've got 8 or 9 lbs I'd love to loose to get back to my pre-Robert weight and I'm hoping that 10 weeks of dieting and exercise will take care of them-and then I'll just need to keep them off. I got a heart rate monitor which was pretty cool-it syncs with the treadmills even! And of course the real attraction at the gym is the food network although the best time to go in the morning based on the kids schedule is 10 but from 10-11 is emeril and I'm usually kinda eh about his cooking. A few too many crawfish ettoufe po'boys for my taste, lol. Of course the best shows are during nap time/no childcare time. I'm going to try for after nap tomorrow and see how that goes. The childcare opens back up at 4 pm.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

pics

I can't remember if I ever e-mailed people that these pics were up. Wesley uploaded them a while back. Enjoy!

http://www.megley.com/photos/kids/jun09/

Ready-set-go!

This has been a travelling summer! And if Robert had his way he'd be back on the road to Philly. Poor kid. He asks every day to go back to the museum in Philla-elphia to see the boats, and the big trains. I think Philla-elphia made a big impression on him! This weekend we're headed to outside of Galax VA for my cousin Jessica's wedding! I'm so excited. We're camping and so are Rob and Kavitha and my cousin Eric, so it should be loads of fun even if we'll only be there a few days. And then on Sunday we're headed to 5th Ave (Dad's old church) where dad will be preaching. I haven't been to our church in so long-we were gone, I worked and then this past week Robert was sick so I was home with him, then we'll be gone, I'll work... and if anyone is sick Wesley can stay home!

Robert seems to be feeling better-no fever since Mon but has a really congested occasional productive cough. He's not eating perfect either but he is doing great with pottying :) He had wet the bed one nap when he got sick and his pullup was wet that night but otherwise he's been dry 24/7! And pooping willingly! We're well over 1/2 way through the sticker chart on the bathroom wall which at the end will get him a Mommy-Robert trip to the farmer's market for lunch and ice cream and a new train or tractor. He is super duper excited. He also gets a smaller prize for every 4-5 poops (there are 24 spaces I think on the chart). I think he only has 10 spaces left-and we just started this last week sometime!

Mary is still a bundle of sunshine mixed with energy. I'm starting to be able to channel it a little bit. She follows Robert's lead well so I have her putting her dirty clothes in the basket when Robert does his. Otherwise she spends her time trying to get the phone, climbing on stuff, moving shoes around. She has a bump on her forehead from falling off the couch yesterday and then today she faceplanted at Denee's and has a matching spot on her chin and bit her tongue and has a spot on her knee. Yikes!

But really the kids have been super duper cool recently, Robert seems to be a lot less challenging now that he's almost 3.5 and Mary well she's so darn cute. She says all sorts of stuff (helcoper!) and then at Nanny's on Tuesday she was sitting in the rocking chair rocking a baby doll. So adorable. Robert is really talking a ton too-he talks all the way home every day just on and on about stuff he's read or seen or that we're passing. It's amazing. They're growing up so fast. I'm toying with the idea of putting them both in a preschool daycare program next fall instead of home daycare. There is a church in Mt Crawford that does 2.5-5 years and Mary will be 2.5 next fall. That's just hard to believe. But I guess I have a while to think about all this. I'm definitely planning on putting Robert in preschool next year and I really think it needs to be his daycare option-I just can't see having him go to part time preschool some days and home daycare some days. So if I can do mon-wed-fri full days for both kids maybe I'll just do that. I've been doing some painting with the kids this week and it's been hilarious. Mary paints her body more than the paper but both kids really enjoy it. They are so cute. I need to get Wes to come out and take pics of them while they paint.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Martha and Me Mondays (yes I know it's Tuesday)

OK I've joined a with Martha and Me to try this week's project (for more go to

http://marthaandme.wordpress.com/2009/08/11/martha-mondays-grilled-vanilla-peaches/


This week was grilled peaches. Which worked really well-we did grilled squash and zucchini (bukini according to Robert), grilled chicken and grilled peaches. With pasta roni that I got cheap at sharp shopper too. It was 102 deg I wasn't turning on the stove so I did them in the microwave. The peaches came off at the same time as the rest of the food so they were able to cool a little while we ate which meant they didn't melt the ice cream. The basic idea is you cut peaches, add lemon juice and oil (I did not use fresh lemmons I used my handy bottle of lemon juice) and then brush them with a mixture of brown sugar, cinnamon, a pinch of salt and a little water to make a paste and then grill them for 20-30 min in a foil packet. They turned out OK. Really cinnomony like apple pie sorta (which I don't really like) and tasted OK with the vanilla ice cream (mmm costco brand vanilla rocks). The kids liked them but I'm not sure I'll do them again-at least not with that much cinnamon. I wonder if you were to grill them with some sort of a raspberry syrup?

cut peaches (also from costco)


ready to grill
the finished product-couldn't find the ice cream scoop and was rushing to eat before going to work.

Thursday, August 06, 2009

Much better!

Well since my last post I have regained my equilibrium or something and feel much better. Robert is-dare I say-potty trained? He's even been dry at night for the last 2 nights (despite drinking milk at bedtime one night and tons of milk at supper the other). The gym has added food network to its line up of TV stations (SWEEEET) so I have a renewed enthusiasm for going. The house is clean-ish, the kids are good-ish and so cute and I should probably be napping but I thought I would blog quick! I even got the spices re-organized today with Mary's help. We have just stayed home so far today-it's been a nice quiet morning. And now Robert is napping (or attempting) on the sofa and Mary in her crib-after finding a diaper and lying down on the changing pad when I asked her if she was ready for a nap! So onwards to nap since I work night shift tonight.

Sunday, August 02, 2009

Ballance

Ballance. I just don't know how to make it work. Is there a way to achieve good ballance when you work and have small kids and only 24 hours in a day? If you know, let me know! I feel like I'm walking on a ballance beam. If I were at home instead of sitting here doing nothing much at work (I did just place an admission but that was the first productive thing I've done in an hour or so) I would be cleaning the kitchen.

[oh well I just got called to restart an IV.
OK I'm back now.
It's amazing how some patients are so hateful when all you are doing is trying to help them... "this arm only, no fishing around, you have one shot at this... " but I digress!]

Or actually I guess I would be sleeping or close to it. Or I would be picking up toys. Or figuring out why the bar of soap in the bathroom suddenly turned green (green?) or putting away the plethera of stuff that we got from Wesley's grandma's house (I got a pressure canner! and a hot water bath canner! and a roaster! and a food mill! now where to put them...) or trying to figure out where the shoe matches are. I'm not exactly sure what Mary's facination with single shoes is. She grabs one and wanders off with it. Or 2 from different sets...

I keep looking at my should-do list:
spend time with the kids/Wesley
more frequent devotions
clean
laundry
exercise
cook
work
grocery shop/costco
and then the cleaning and the picking up are never ending as are cooking, dishes, the garden (and I think I am going to be snowed over in tomatoes soon-they are really ripening fast).


OK so this is my PLANNED week next week
monday-sleep, frantically clean house before Wesley brings the kids home
tues-playdate at 10. Need to figure out what to have for lunch, need to have the house clean. should try to get to the gym. Need to make supper since there isn't nanny night
Wed-work 3-11 ideally gym in the morning. If we're not at home maybe the house will stay clean??? I'm leaving Wesley to do frozen pizza for supper. I give up.
Thurs-work 11p-7a. So have to nap when the kids nap. Otherwise gym and costco for groceries and lunch? Then NAPS. Have to figure out how to keep Robert from falling asleep in the car. Make supper. Wash dishes, rinse, repeat.

[all this is dependent on the person that I covered for this past week not being sick next week. If she is I might end up 7A on Wed instead. Did I mention that I've worked 30 hours this past week? ALL as nursing coordinator. And that doesn't include today (Sunday 7AM starts the new week). I'm scheduled 28 this week so it's not much better...]

Friday-sleep, clean, depending if I'm drowning in tomatoes I may have to figure out how to make and can salsa. (I got 2 canning books for my b-day-I'm so excited!) I'd also love to make dill pickles. I'm off the weekend so that will help. I also need a wedding present for my cousin (which I will prob do on line or pick up a gift card). I think what I'm really stressing about is getting the house cleaned back up-I just can't seem to keep up with it right now. What with being gone and the kids sick and the kids destroying it... and working with garden produce. I've blanched and frozen 8 cups of yellow squash (post blanching-it was a ton prior to blanching) and 21 cups of shredded zucchini (not blanched, just frozen-in extra straw cups that I've lost the straws to). So I guess it has just been a bad week. Too much of everything and I just need to let it go....

I guss I should back up to the kids being sick. Robert is back to complaining about his ear. He finished his abx on Friday. Then he also went from Mon to Friday without pooping so we've been dealing with that. He's pooping again :) and I dare say we are VERY close to being completely daytime trained. Then Mary was up all night Tues crying and sure enough she had a double ear infection so she's on abx and she's cutting molars-one bottom one in, one top one partly in and 2 in progress. Yuck. Can we say fussy? And kids not sleeping between stomach in turmoil from a mega load of miralax, teeth and ears? So I guess we'll see what Robert says about his ear again tomorrow. He's just mentioned it once a day so far yesterday and today so who knows. And he's been super clingy with me "I want mama to hold you". So if I'm holding him Mary is crying cause SHE wants me too. Sigh-would someone please latch onto Daddy? I guess Snoopy likes Wesley pretty well. Although 45 min after I went upstairs to sleep she realized that I was home and upstairs and she wasn't. So I had to let her up and then back down when Wesley got home with the kids. Far be it from her to miss lunch with the kids. Sundays are hard-cause I have to sleep upstairs so the kids leave me alone-but I can't go up until they leave or they'll figure out where I am... :) I think I'll leave them ignorant of that peice of info.