The better parent

I'm at the park right now. To my right, Penny practices t-ball. To my left, Carol (she's decided she's Carol now, not Carolyn) is at tennis.

Last week when steve brought them, and it was about 85 degrees at 9 a.m., he watched helplessly as all the other kids went for their water bottles and Penny stood there, parched and alone. This was not to be my fate, as I'm the better parent. You know, the one with the water bottles and the iPhone who occasionally lifts her head and gives a quick wave.

So summer is really here. It's only a shame j have this pesky job getting in the way of my life. Only, not today.

Penelope

Penny decided she doesn't want to be Penny anymore. She wants to be Penelope.

She's worth more than a Penny, she says.

Picnic

Carolyn and Penny had their class picnics at the same park this year. Penny's on Tuesday and Carolyn's on Thursday. Turns out, in true form to the bad luck surrounding Carolyn's first-grade experience, Thursday was the only day this week that was super crappy. Rain. In the 50s. Yuck.

And also an accurate portrayal of Penny's Pre-K experience, Tuesday was lovely. I **heart** every one of those tiny students. I haven't been around much this year, yet I know all of them by name and a little bit about their developing personalities. I know Penny's teachers love their jobs and they love our children.

I just wish I could say the same things about Carolyn's class. The difference makes me sort of sad, but this picture makes me happy.

iPhone

I recently got an iPhone, so I'm pretty brain dead at the moment. I spend most of my time setting stuff up and checking stuff.

Occasionally, I do stuff.

Not real life stuff. iPhone stuff. Because no way did I shower today. But I have started taking a lot of pictures. Like the neighbor's Slip and Slide.

Or the girls at the Children's Museum.
Or the girls at the Coffeehouse.

And I even have a little story.

Steve has this really annoying joke. If I say I like a song, he says, "I wrote it." If I say I like a shirt, he says, "I made it." If I say I like asparagus, he says, "I invented asparagus."

So you get it, right. Annoying.

The other day, the Sting song "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic" came on Pandora. Steve mentions that it's sort of our song, to which Penny perfectly states: "Good thing I wrote that."

Well played Penny. Well played.

And one more thing. High speed rail is being built in Normal. Yay...

Self portrait

Fun at 5

Last night, after I called the girls in for dinner, Penny asked if she could go back out to play after she was done. I told her probably no. I thought it was going to storm.

"Oh yeah. I knew it was going to storm," she said.

Yeah? How's that?

"I read about it in the newspaper."

Penny and her buds at the park today.

Mother's Day

For Mother's Day, the girls woke me up at 6 a.m. Carolyn made me a breakfast of Cheerio's, yogurt, milk and a cookie. She watched to make sure I ate every bite.

The cards were nice. The flowers were nice. Chocolates? Yes. Very nice. But my favorite part of Mother's Day was spending some time with the girls, doing what we love to do.

For Carolyn, this was a 3 mile bike ride while I ran behind her. It was a lovely day as we ran/biked along the trail. We ended up at the playground where Steve had packed a picnic lunch.

Later, Penny and I went shopping. We bought some gifts. I bought some shirts. She got a shirt. I took a picture with her and a mannequin she thought was especially beautiful.

The day was not all sunshine. Residual exhaustion, coupled with a few too-strong margaritas, left me feeling a bit defeated. But we are left with these images to remember this Mother's Day. And even a song from Penny's Sunday school class. See how cute...

Ahhh... Metcalf

The Metcalf transition is one of the best things that's happened to our family in a while. And this is a family that has had a streak of good luck lasting well over two years. Here's why

Reason 1: Bullies. Carolyn has fallen victim to some very mean little girls. It's probably been going on most of the year, but Carolyn has hidden it from us. I happened to catch a piece of it the other day and was ready to call the superintendent from the complete lack of teacher supervision at that $^&*#$%% school. Apparently, the name Carolyn has become synonymous with cootie, and that is not acceptable.

After really talking about it this weekend, Carolyn convinced us that she will take care of it herself, because, in her words, "It's almost over and I'm going to Metcalf next year." Poor kid. And I think it's working. We worked on some anti-bully strategies and I think it might be helping.

I'm not so naive to think that bullies don't exist at fancy shmancy schools, I just hope the staff cares enough to try and stop it.

Reason 2: Pets in the classroom. Fairview does not allow such frivolous luxuries as hamsters, turtles or fish. Presumably, the administration is more concerned with ignoring bullies. Carolyn is pet crazy, so yeah for pets!

Reason 3: The playground. Fairview students are made to stand in straight lines while waiting for school to begin. For a first grader, 20 minutes standing in a straight line can be a long time. Do you know what they do to pass the time? You got it. They bully. Metcalf allows the students to play on the playground, or in the gym, until it's time to walk to class.

Reason 4: Drama. Carolyn will have drama class once a week.

Reason 5: Parents. The parents at Metcalf seem super friendly. I have been pretty absent this year because of school, the new job and working nights. But now that I'm getting more involved, and I'll have TWO kids at Metcalf, I feel like I'm being welcomed openly. The other day at Fairview (That's Fairview Elementary School in Normal IL), I tried to make small talk with this other mom who I know works at the same hospital I work. I say, "So, what department do you work in again?" She says, "OR," and walks away from me.

I'll stop writing now, as this is getting boring (They grow vegetables that they use in the school salad bar. The teachers blog weekly about what's happening in the classroom. They have a pool! OK, NOW I'll stop...) but I am so happy for this little life in Normal. Here's a picture of Penny with a classmate after their recent preschool performance. At Metcalf. Ahhhh.

Quick news

This will be fast for several reason, which I will outline here in great detail. Ha! I kid. I kid. I am on my way to a 12-hour overnight work shift in about five minutes, so I'll just come out and say it.

Carolyn got into Metcalf, which is a public laboratory school run by Illinois State U. that is... the bomb! This means Carolyn and Penny will both be attending the SAME school next year. All day. I can't believe how big they've gotten. I can't believe how big we've all gotten, mostly figuratively and only a little bit literally.

We will tour next week, so I'll point out all the awesomeness of this event soon. Now, off to work where, hopefully, my sick patients will only march in the direction of wellness.

The Otter and the Octopus

Let me just say, this has not been my finest week. I'm stressed out, pissed off and generally in a pretty foul mood. And Penny, a quite extraordinary child, sensed this about me and either a) discovered empathy or b) used this moment of weakness to her advantage.

At the library last week, she created the puppet show, "The Otter and the Octopus."

Turns out, Mrs. Octopus works nights. Poor Mrs. Octopus was sleepy and no fun during the day, and of course she was gone at night. Her three octopus babies were left to fend for themselves as their tired, neglectful mother ran off to earn a living in some frivolous night-shift type career such as, um... nursing? Or maybe prostitution?

So the tired mother runs off and leaves her babies alone. Later, the otter comes around and sees the babies. The otter decides it might be a good idea to take one. After all, they are motherless and alone.

Later, the tired Mrs. Octopus mom returns to find a baby missing. While this is very sad, the mother is tired and in need of some sleep. So she cuts her losses and drifts into an unsatisfactory morning nap.

I finally have to stop Penny after mom heads to work again and a bat is perched on the nursery door.

Penny, who will grow up to an actress, an artist, a doctor or a con artist, is so fun and interesting to be around, when she's not making me feel bad. Here's a fun Sunday picture. The girls LOVE Sunday mass, mostly because it affords them an opportunity to dress up. With accessories! Oh yeah, they love Jesus and all, but it's mostly about the clothes. And the shoes.

Math whiz

Please excuse this short, picture-free blog entry, but I needed to show a bit of Carolyn pride and the obvious outlet (the F-place) is off limits for Lent.

Carolyn just passed her first timed math test. What is so cool about it is there are two boys in the class that passed on the first or second try. Carolyn, who did not pass on the first of second try, spent all week working on her addition and doing practice drills until she was the next person to pass. I love that her trying hard paid off. I was way more proud than if she had just passed without thinking about it.

Also, just because I'm sleep deprived from a single night shift, I want to let everybody know that you shouldn't write checks at 2 a.m. that your ass can't cash. Sure, I e-mailed Steve, I'll be home in plenty of time to help you get the girls off to school. No problem. It's sort of funny the things you think you're capable of doing at 2 a.m. This night thing is sure going to be interesting.

2:22 a.m.

I begin my new life as a night nurse tomorrow. In preparation, I got up at 1 a.m. so that I would be tired enough to sleep during the day. And, surprise, surprise, the middle of the night is super boring.

How about a blog update?

Carolyn. Well, she's learning all sorts of big kid stuff. Her and Steve spent the entire 30 miles to Peoria deciphering road signs and mile markers. She's working on timed math tests and doing book reports. She argues with everything I say without fail. For instance, tonight I told her she can stay up late reading because she has late start tomorrow at school so she can sleep in a bit. Her light was off almost instantly.

We ended up dropping out of girl scouts. It was a pretty sad decision. Carolyn loves it but the group was poorly organized and really hasn't done anything other than gather the girls to run around the gym in the last seven months. It probably wasn't the best decision to stop going, but I just couldn't waste our time with it anymore. I'm a worrier with Carolyn. I think every decision I make will impact the future course of her life. With Penny, I just sort of go with the flow. Oh, it's a real curse to be the first child.

Oh, and here's Carolyn with her new bike helmet. If only it would get warm enough to ride.

Penny, on the other hand, is having a lovely time being Penny. She likes coloring and drawing for hours. She's enjoys an active social life with her classmates and at the babysitters. And who the hell knows how she's doing in dance class. I'm too busy with Carolyn, practicing timed addition test drills. Oh, the tragedy of the poor, ignored second child.

Still, she's having fun doing all the things we like to do. Hanging out at the park, for instance.

A day away

Steve and I don't get out much. We haven't been away from the kids (together) in about six years. Well. I guess we did go away for my dad's memorial service a couple of years ago, but I don't like to count that.

We went to Chicago for the night and it was AWESOME! We ate great food, did lots of shopping and stayed in a super nice hotel. I rode in a BMW for the first time. We saw a play and ate at an empty Thai restaurant at 11 p.m. and saw about 30 minutes of the band Yes in concert. It's so nice that the kids are little older now, because I totally didn't worry about them like I would have a few years ago.

Steve was having an especially good weekend, what with all the gay men checking him out. Some dude at Banana Republic asked Steve, "So, you shop here often?" And this other guy at the Ralph Lauren bar, who was quite intoxicated, just couldn't keep his hands off Steve.

But he was nice enough to take the awesome picture of us and to buy me some Italian sparkling wine. See how happy sparkly stuff makes me! Oh, and Steve. Steve makes me happy too!

Nurse Chris

I wish I had been posting more lately. It's just so darn busy all the time. I ran into a mom I knew and she was asking if it was becoming less overwhelming.

Overwhelming? Did I say that?

Absolutely I (probably) did. And it still is at times. There are days when I wonder how one person can humanly do the amount of work that is required. But as I progress forward, the days become easier. Some days are monsters. Some days are great.

But there is one thing for sure - I love my job. I absolutely love the patients, even the not-so-great ones. I love assessing and making sure everything is going as it should be. I love talking to them.

The doctors and the charting and the communication is still a challenge, but it's coming together.

So, I should try to blog more. Write more. Chart more. Because it's looking back on the record that helps me to remember how far I've come.

Oh... and the girls are great. Just in case you were wondering.

Harmony

Apparently, today kicks off tornado awareness week. Or month. Or season. Something like that. Steve told me about it and I was too lazy to look it up.

But today, our family had a "moment" without even realizing it.

It started when Penny told us she had a "grill," at school today. You know, a tornado grill...

Ah yes. Carolyn had one too. In her grill/drill, she had to sit silently in the hallway and put a book over her head. This clears up the statement she made earlier today about her head being the most important part of her body. Doctors can fix a broken leg, she said, but they have a really hard time fixing heads.

I agreed, that is difficult.

In Penny's grill/drill, she had to stand in the hallway facing her cubby. I guess they weren't as concerned with heads there.

I even had a drill at the hospital. A lady came over the loudspeaker and said, "This is a tornado watch drill. This is a tornado watch drill." And then everybody continued about their day.

Because today is the first Tuesday of the month, Steve heard the the monthly siren on his way to work and also heard a broadcast alert on the radio. This was not as organized as the rest of the family's grill/drill stories, but it was still nice he got to be included.

So, over dinner, we learned that we all sort of had a similar experience today. And after a long day away, it was nice to talk about what happened. Even if it was only a grill.

Ughhhhhh...

It didn't start as an experiment. Honest to goodness, we just forgot to get Carolyn a flu shot. Well, maybe not so much "forgot," as "meant to get around to it but then put it off until flu season hit and then sorta figured it was too late."
So, Carolyn never got a flu shot. And then she went ahead and got the flu.
But, the other three people who live in this house did have a flu shot. So, deep down, we know it's kind of important. And yet....
Guess what...
Penny has the flu too.
They are so sick. Poor Carolyn has run a fever for five days. When the doctor came into the room, she was immediately concerned with Carolyn's appearance. Now we're getting worried about dehydration and pneumonia. And this is with our hardy child.
Penny is a few days behind her, sickness-wise. I'm not certain the flu shot will shorten the duration or potency of this bug, but I really, really, really hope so.
And the unintended medical experiment continues.
This has been coupled by a very tough week at a new job and money troubles at the paper (I HATE the word "furlough"). So I'm really glad I have the next three days to hydrate the children and try to get back into normal with kids who want to do something other than lay on the couch.
Who would have thought I'd have to threaten the girls to eat popsicles?!

Carolyn is 7!

I can't believe it. How did so much time go by so quickly. But here she is for her annual birthday pictures.

Poor girl is spending the first days as a 7-year-old at home sick. Again. Poor kid has been sick so much this winter. Actually, since January, post-Disney. I hope spring comes soon to take away this winter ickiness.

Now, to entertain two sick girls for the next four hours.

Christine Gardner, RN-BSN

When Penny turned 5, she kept saying, "I still feel 4." I love that. And now, I totally get it.

I finished nursing school. I passed boards. I got licensed and sat through a week of orientation and everybody keeps calling me an RN... only I still feel like a student. It's like,it just dawned on me that I'm starting a brand new career. At 37. How did that happen?

But the first week was sort of blah. I sat through hours and hours and hours of orientation about a lot of stuff I just spent a year learning. But this time, I like to remind myself, I was getting paid for staring blankly at the paper in front of me. That is so much better than paying. Also, they won't let us do our tests at home because we have to get paid to take them. How sweet is that?!?!

This week I actually get to spend some time on the floor. I'm pretty nervous, although Steve reminds me there is NO way their going to let me even touch a patient, much less be left on my own. Also this week, Carolyn turns 7. I can't believe that either. Because she might be turning 7, but she still feels like my baby girl to me.

Hell yeah snow day

Here's the last of our three-day, snow-day adventures. It's truly how a snow day is meant to be to be spent.

Snow

There is no denying it. Things have been going my way.

I have a laundry list of things that have gone well for me in the last few years. I sometimes like to analyze how my life made such a 360. I will say it made major strides after I married Steve, but the last three years have been especially lovely. I have all sorts of crazy theories why this is and I like to speculate after a glass or three of wine.

After about 5 minutes of such a conversation, Steve tells me to shut up and just take credit for it.

I'll admit, many of the awesome things in my life were my doing. I started running. I returned to the Catholic Church (Steve hates this theory in particular and asks that I don't give the Catholic church credit for my happiness). I set in motion a plan to return to nursing school and that worked out just fine.

I believe these things built upon the thing before it. But certain things, like Penny being accepted to the awesome ISU laboratory school based on the dumb luck enrollment system, are beyond the theory that I control the happiness in my life. So when I asked God or whoever would listen to grant me a snow day during my last week of freedom before I become gainfully employed, I was not expecting to be heard.

I certainly wasn't expecting this...

Crazy blizzard that has taken Carolyn and Penny out of school for three days. Totally snowed in, which is not easy to do in the Midwest. Some people say it's a "Be careful what you wish for" kind of situation, but I think the wish was very nicely granted.

For instance, it gave us an opportunity to build a bear den that doubles as a penguin pool.

Darnit if these penguins aren't a particularly cute variety.
Best snow day(s) ever! Thanks dumb luck.