Sheep Sheering

Yesterday I had enough of my stinky smelly dog and decided to go my yearly shaving of her. The first time I did it, the decision took weeks. Because part of what I love most about my beautiful English Springer Springer is her lovely coat with the feathering and her long ears. But with how hot it gets here and how much she loves to play in the mud with the kids and how much I love to have a clean dog, I decided that shaving her down once a year would make her and I much happier.
Every time I shave her down I feel like I'm shearing a sheep. The clippers I have are incredible and they cut so well, it's practically like a hot knife cutting through butter. She was do happy afterwards, she did a little happy dance. And Milo (our cat) loved playing in the pile of fur afterwards which meant I had to race her in getting it cleaned up. Today though I found that she still managed to steal a few hair balls because I found them hidden in the family room.

The Baby Gate

RN = Real Nurse

I’ve been trying to post this for four days. But my internet has been fickle.

On Friday was my first day of work in the ER as an RN! Every time I think of myself as an RN I remember when Ellie told her class that now I'm a real nurse! I don't think that she intentionally changed "registered" for "real" because quite frankly, I don't think that she knows RN stands for registered nurse. Every time I think of RN now, though, I think "real nurse". For the past week I have been going to hospital orientation and competency reviews. I find it rather humorous because they spend an entire day discussing why they are the best hospital in the area and yet the other hospitals in the area have been telling my former classmates the same thing about their hospitals. It's silly. One thing that I need to get fixed soon, though, is that they left out my credentials on my ID badge! I was so sad. I have spent the past four years working my butt off for those three letters (BSN) behind my name and quite honestly, they are more a part of me than the RN behind my name. I will forever have my Bachelor's of Science in Nursing but I will only be an RN as long as I keep my license up to date. When I received my badge I noticed that those three letters were missing and I went to HR to let them know that my credentials had been forgotten on my badge. They were very reluctant to put them on there because they were worried that the associate or diploma nurses would feel lesser of themselves because they would see I have my Bachelor's. I don't see how this is my problem. Anyway they wouldn't change it because they wanted my to bring in my diploma AGAIN. Ugh. Frustrating.

Amelia has been making her way around the house as usual. Her new favorite place to crawl to is the back door where she stands and watches Kara. Kara has appreciated the new friend as well. Amelia's other favorite activity is bathing. She recently found that Ellie had left her Little Mermaid Barbie in the tub. Poor Ariel: she got her eyes poked out and then her head chewed off.

I was cleaning the kitchen the other day and Amelia kept crawling over to me. So I decided to be silly and give her a bath in the kitchen sink. She thought that was a blast! The kids thought that it was pretty goofy too.

 

 Speaking of the kids: hubby has been taking them out a few times a week to play in the “big backyard” which is the parking lot, field, and dirt piles behind our house. Ellie is getting really strong in riding her bike and Noah has been practicing kicking his soccer ball around. Sometimes, though, they just like to be kids and play “king of the mountain”.

Let's Rodeo San Antonio!

Yup! It's that glorious time of year again! The fabulous three weeks where being a Texan is actually fun! The RODEO!! Now with me being a Texas transplant, I spent the first two years here in Texas, rolling my eyes at any mention of a rodeo. I found it to be 100% ridiculous. Then one year my girlfriend brought me and I fell in love. It immediately became my favorite part of living here. I don't know what it is. Because in actuality, it's kind of sad for the cows getting flipped on their backs, the horses who really don't want a rider and the cowboys who just don't do as well as they hoped. I don't know... it's still thrilling for me. (And millions of other people who attend the Rodeo every year!)I love how you can slap a cowboy hat and cowboy boots on any guy and he immediately looks sexier. Of course, my husband is the sexiest! But still, that truth remains for most guys as well.  I love seeing the pride of the youth who spent all year taking care of their cattle or swine, I love the smell of the cattle barns! I love how these animals are all picture perfect and would go perfectly with my picture perfect farm in my mind! I love that it's a family event for all these families competing. It's just fun! This year we brought my brother and sister in law and left Amelia with a sitter. I don't know how it is in other areas, but the rodeo here is two hours and then there is a two hour concert. We saw Clay Walker. Well we saw him sing a few songs, before the kids got too tired and we needed to get home for them to go to school today.

Today was early release for the kids' school. So since I didn't need to rush home to get dinner going or lay Amelia down for a nap, we stayed and played on one of the play grounds. Oh it was so much fun! Noah came over to me while I was sitting on the bench and tried to tickle me. This lead into a full 20 minute game of chase with Elisabeth, Noah and I. It was a blast! We were laughing and giggling so hard our tummies all hurt. Then, since it STILL wasn't time to make dinner, we went to Target to get supplies for the kids to make Valentine's for their friends. I don't believe in buying a box of already made cards and the kids have more fun making them from scratch anyway so it works all around.

Sickies

I've had so much to say yet no time to write it. It's been a fun several days! Fun -- and thoughtful and productive and relaxing!

Hubby got sick and was sick for about a week, during that time he was sent home from work which meant I got to spend more time with him! Although with him being sick, he wasn't THAT much fun. Still... he's my favorite person in the world to hang out with (good thing I married him!) so even just being in the same room with him is sufficient to me. Poor guy, I've not seen him this miserable in the eight years I've known him.

Then Amelia has been teething. She had been running a fever, high fevers, for several days. Finally one night when I checked it and it was 104.5 and seemed to be trying to catch her breath, I took her into the ER. They did tests and couldn't find a source so they sent us home. And no one would ever believe she has a fever ever because she's the most pleasant baby to be around even with temps of 103 all day. Well it gets that high if I let her meds wear off. She continued to drool and pee, so I wasn't worried about dehydration, which is what I worry about when anyone gets fever. And she never was lethargic. That's how I know that her fevers are related to teething. Although, any medical professional will tell you that fevers have nothing to do with teething. There is "no evidence that she are connected" and we should just "consider it a coincidence". I respectfully think that they are full of crap because most any mom will tell you that their babies run a fever while teething as well. My children have all gotten fevers with every tooth. Hmph!

Being a parent of a patient in the ER gave me more insight into how it is to be on the other side of things. I love being a nurse in the ER but I hate being the patient. I hate the feeling that the nurses think I am being paranoid mom, I hate the wait with all the other sick people in the waiting room, I hate that I get asked ten times to describe while I'm there. Ugh! Then I was thinking that maybe I should just take one of my kids to the ER every few months so I can remember how it is to be a patient! Ha ah ha ah! No! But every time I do go from now on will always be humbling for me. I hope that I can help my patients never feel that way. I do love nursing in the ER because I have the chance to briefly meet with so many kinds of people.

We've been having some behavioral issues with Noah lately. It's been really hard on Hubby and I because of course, we want to be the best parents for our children and help them to feel loved, safe and happy all the time. Noah seems a little distant and we are baffled as to how to help him. I've talked with a psychologist who thinks that it's deployment related. Hopefully we can get things all worked out. Regardless of the cause anyone else comes up with I can't help but wonder if I hadn't been in school for the past four years, if he'd have a better relationship with me and I'd understand him better.

A couple of days ago the hardships of parenting had really wore me down. I have to say: choosing to follow my dream of getting my Bachelor's degree and to become a nurse has been hard on me emotionally. It truly makes me happy, yet I feel guilty because I feel that there is something wrong with me for not being content to be home with my children. I love my children more than anything and I am always trying to figure out how to make their life better. Why, then, do I have to go out and help "other" people to feel fulfilled? Why isn't it enough to help my children? This weighs heavy on my heart. Then I was listening to the album "Fee to Be You and Me" with Noah yesterday (I can't even tell you how much we love this album! I should get the DVD for my kids.) and the song, "Parents are People" came on and I realized I need to stop being so hard on myself. There was a line that said, "there are a lot of things a lot of mommies can do" and I just have to remember that I am a more patient and happy mother to my children when I have other things to focus on as well. That's okay. My children can still be my world without me being with them 100% of the time.