Paying compliments

Last night at work, I had three people say things to me that just really kind of made my day. It's so nice to have people recognize your efforts or compliment personality traits you never realized were that desireable. So, make someone's day and just say something complimentary!

Dinosaur Museum

Yesterday, we took advantage of a deal at Thanksgiving Point that everyone is $2 on Tuesdays. Mind you, I waited until yesterday so all the older kids would be in school. I heard from others that the lines were HORRENDOUS the other weeks.

Scott was unable to join us due to already missing tons of work recently. I invited my sister and her son, but she had prior plans. So, it was just me and the kiddos.

We went to the Dinosaur Museum. They both seemed to really like it! I tried to move us quickly enough that they wouldn't get bored and neither ever showed signs of "I-am-SO-done-Mom!" They got excited over seeing the massive dinosaur skeletal structures. Richard was excited to see the "pirates." I guess the only place he's seen a human skeleton before is on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland, so human skeletons MUST be pirates!

Things were crowded, but I only had to wait for a couple of people to buy tickets instead of waiting in a 30-45 minute line like I've heard some did on other weeks. The kids there were all preschool age and younger, so we didn't have to fight older kids for the activities. They were able to play with the dinosaurs on a puzzle board as well as play on the "erosion table" with water and sand.

Overall, our outing was a great success! I'm glad I was able to take them for quite a bit cheaper than normal and that we were able to do something fun and educational.

My luck

At work, I have to make goals for the upcoming year at each annual review. So, last year, I made a goal to take a Neuro class, because our unit is focusing more on neuro cases as the open heart surgeries were moved to the cardiovascular ICU.
Well, our educator kept saying she was going to have a class held at our hospital. That sounded ideal to me, because, otherwise, I would have to drive 1-1 1/2 hours to get to a different hospital for their class.
Back in July, she finally announced we were having one in September. "Great!" I thought. That will work out perfectly.
Alas, last weekend, she announced it has been postponed until October due to the presenters "needing more time to prepare." What?! They will have had at least two months!
So now, lucky me, either I don't take the class in October and so take a major hit to my raise or I take a class that spans my due date. If things go like they did with Audrey, I will make it to one of the four classes and then spend the rest of the classes freshly post-partum. If things go like they did with Richard, I'll still have to attend one of the classes within days of having this baby.
Lucky me!

And she's done it!

Audrey seems to be officially potty-trained! She tells me when she needs to go and has had quite a few perfect days and a couple of others with only one accident (which she was quite upset about). Yea! I'm so excited!
Not only that, she usually keeps her pull-up dry during her naps, which means I'm down to one a day! Yea! She gets upset when I make her put on pull-ups as well.
Now I just have to convince her to not try and empty her little potty into the regular toilet all by herself. She spilled all over the carpet today trying to show me her victory.

And he's off...

...to see his family. I'll be home alone for the next few days. It will be great fun. We've got lots going on and I have a babysitter scheduled for every day except Sunday. Hooray for being a single mom!

Potty Training

Yes, I know you're thinking, "Aren't you done with that yet?!" Well, yes with Richard. I decided to start trying with Audrey. She has shown interest in sitting on the potty and gets diaper rash so easily. So, 2 weeks ago, we started trying. I really want to get her trained before the baby is born if I can. I also wanted to wait until she was old enough to have more of a chance of being successful. So, I decided 22 months was her magic age.

I've been hesitant to blog about it and then have to admit to a lot more people that I tried WAY too early for her. We bought underwear and then I tried to explain things to her and then just put her in the underwear. We've spent hours on the kitchen floor with her siting on the potty and my helping her do puzzles to keep her there. I've given her lots to drink so she'd have experience with what it was like to go on the potty as well as actually get the rewards I'd told her about.

Then, we progressed to just letting her run around in underwear, because I decided it would take longer for her to fully recognize the sensations if she just happened to be on the potty when she went. Also, I can only spend so many hours a day sitting on the kitchen floor doing the same puzzles over and over.

So, we've cleaned up a lot of accidents from the floor and from her underwear. Last week I was getting discouarged, because she could tell me that poo-poo and pee-pee went in the potty and that it was naughty to go on the floor. However, she still went on the floor or in her underwear!

Then, last Thursday, she finally got so she could start telling me she needed to go. She'd look upset like she did when she had wet herself and say, "Owies!" and pull at her underwear. (For some reason, she says it gives her owies when she gets pee on her legs.) However, she would be dry! If I put her on the potty and made her sit there, she usually went within about 5-10 minutes. Still, a longer wait that I'd prefer, but much better than sitting there for 2 hours with nothing!

Then, the next couple of days were not as successful. We went to the reservoir and then out to eat and to the mall, and Scott and I decided she would be safer in a pull-up. So, of course, she went in it. Then, it's hard to trust her when you're at church.

Yesterday went really well. We had to go to the airport to get my sister, and I considered just putting her in a pull-up so I wouldn't have to worry about it. However, I decided that might be confusing to her to be able to go sometimes when she's awake and not have problems. So, I just put a towel under her and a plastic bag under that to keep the carseat protected and left her in her underwear. I figured she may as well learn what happens if you just let it come. (Even now she won't just go if I put her on the potty to try and empty her bladder at convenient times.) She actually made it the WHOLE way (which was about 3 hours) without an accident! We stopped to drop my sister off and she went in my sister's bathroom.

Today, we've had a totally accident-free day so far! She'll say, "Pee, pee potty!" and I help her stay focused and stay on the potty and she'll go. She actually successfully pooped on the potty as well by the same method. She seems very motivated by the chocolate and marshmallows I give her. In fact, she loves to flush the toilet and I'll only let her do it if she went in the mini potty and not if I had to clean her underwear out.

So, I think she may just get it! I'll give it to the end of August to make a final verdict, but I'm very much encouraged! In comparison to Richard, she was showing signs of readiness when I decided to start. I couldn't even get Richard to SIT on the potty at this age. Then, even when I did start trying when he was 3, if he peed on himself, he didn't care. He never came to me in distress like Audrey would the first few days even though she wasn't putting it in the potty. I think that's a huge difference. So, I'm super excited! Of course, she still wears pull-ups for her nap and at night. I'm not even venturing into that territory yet.

Our family vacation

Last weekend, Scott and I decided we needed to have a family vacation with just the four of us. Now, the price of gas, my restrictions, the restrictions that come with children, and the cost of taking days off work for both of us was slightly limiting.

We played miniature golf on Friday afternoon and then went to eat at Red Robin. Richard had a great time playing golf. Though, his technique is slightly lacking.

He raised his club in the air every time he finally got the ball in the hole.

We then just went back to our house that night.

Then, on Saturday morning, we went bowling, got lunch, and then went to the Bean Museum. Richard had a great time bowling. Audrey didn't seem to mind that she didn't get to bowl.

Both kids seemed just fascinated by the animals at the museum. I'm really glad we went after I watched how excited they were. We tried to go to the museum with the dinosaurs, but it's not open on Saturdays. Bummer.

We then stopped and got ice cream. Simple vacation, I know, but we got to spend time doing fun things with just the four of us!

Scott's latest

Ok, so this happened a few days ago, but I was lazy and haven't posted it. Scott stayed after work with some coworkers last Thursday and played paintball. I guess they were playing in an area with a bunch of old concrete foundations. He saw a guy on the inside of one of these foundations and went after him. Scott didn't realize the guy was standing on some stairs and so Scott didn't land very well when he jumped in the foundation area and lost his balance. His right elbow knocked on the edge of the concrete as he came down.
I don't like paying for things that don't need to be paid for, so my limited medical knowledge told me that based on what I saw, not much could be done to facilitate healing. My father is in Denmark right now, and he's usually my go-to medical person. However, my sister just finished her residency in ER medicine, and so she was a perfect person to ask what we should do. I explained that Scott could move his arm just fine with really no pain. He was just a little stiff. It was, however, extremely painful to touch a certain spot on his elbow (and still is). So, we decided he probably chipped part of his ulna, one of the bones in the lower arm, on the u-shaped part that hooks around the bone in the upper arm. My sister said since his range of motion is fine they would probably cast it just for comfort sake. Scott decided to just deal with it since they wouldn't do anything to improve healing. So, poor Scott can't lean on his elbow and has found just how often you place even a small amount of weight on the pointy part of your elbow.

Richard's treasures

We let Richard bring stuff to bed. If it makes him happy and keeps him in bed, I don't really care. I limit what he brings, but he does bring some strange things. Lately, this is what it has consisted of:
1. Blanket he got as a baby shower present. He's had that since before he was born.
2. Doggie that plays "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." Ditto from above.
3. Doggie (a Pound Puppy to be exact) he found in my old stuff as I went through what I'd stored at my parent's house. I was going to give it to the DI. Richard thought it was fabulous and kept it. It is known as "the birthday doggie" since I got it as a birthday present.
4. Doggie he got playing at a carnival at Intel when we went to visit my siblings in California. For some reason it is known as his "pet doggie."
5. a rubber bracelet he got at the 24th of July parade.
6. a finger puppet bird he got at Wendy's.
7. a coupon he found that is for his dentist. We can't use it as he'll never be a new patient again, but he still finds it to be special.
8. his copy of the Book of Mormon.
9. Lighting McQueen, the King, and the pace car he got for his "potty party"
10. and occasionally, other books he brings to bed before he falls asleep.

At least he stays in his room and eventually goes to sleep!

I find it's difficult to have the same amount of compassion...

...for people who are under my care while I'm at work depending on the reason for their being there.
For example, last night I had one patient who is 10 years younger than me and very scared. She had the rotten luck of getting an infection that spread a little too much. She'd even gone to the doctor earlier in the week to try and take care of it. She was very busy, but I really wanted to make things as good for her as quickly as possible.
Then, my other patient is only a few years older than me and has now been admitted twice in one week for a drug overdose. She's been admitted mutliple times for overdoses. She is now very unresponsive and her prognosis is uncertain.
So, I have a really hard time feeling the same level of compassion. I know I ought not judge. I know I should care for everyone as Christ does.
Don't get me wrong. I take care of all my patients to the best of my ability and do what I am supposed to. However, that doesn't mean I always feel the same way towards them.

Just keep swimming...

My hips, gluteus maximus and minimus, round ligaments, etc. are starting to hurt on a regular basis. As I know serious consequences financially and health-wise would result from premature relief of this discomfort, I do my very best to not complain and wish for it to go away.
As I go through-out my day (and most importantly when I am out walking/running), I just keep a happy tune running through my head.
"Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, what do we do we swim, swim...." etc.