So, ya proud of me? I actually updated my blog list instead of making my Mom do it! :) Lazy, yes, I know.

You might be interested to see that not only did I add friends and family, but also my husband's blog. Taking landscape photos is one of his hobbies, so he decided to post them to start getting constructive criticism. I think he's pretty good, so take a peek.

Chuckle

When getting ready for work today, I was quizzing Kenna on her spelling words. Suddenly, she yells out: "Oh Shaun you have no idea how lucky you are! Wait till you get old, life is so hard! You have to do SPELLING TESTS!"
Oh, if only spelling tests were the one bane of my existence!
And...... if she is old, then what am I?

My Beast

We all know Shaun can be a trouble maker. He's especially hard when I am working, he's got too much energy and I get very little sleep. Usually only an hour or two during his nap time.
I discovered yesterday how bad things can get when he doesn't nap.

The last few days Shaun has decided he no longer needs to sleep. Yesterday I was in between shifts (worked the night before and was going to work again that night.) And he was NOT going to take a nap. I finally just tried laying him in his crib. What does he do? Starts rocking the crib till it is SLAMMING into the wall. Can't let him stay in there, he'll either knock the crib over or knock out the entire wall. I take him out and hope if he stays awake longer, he'll get tired enough to put down again.

So by noon, I was awake 24+ hours and I crashed. Not sure how, but I was instantly asleep for over an hour. I wake to Shaun throwing a diaper in my face. He is buck naked and in the process of peeing on the floor (and laughing hysterically about the pee). That's when I sit up and notice my surroundings. He took an entire box of cereal and spread it all over the family room. Of course it's all crushed in. Shaun climbed the kitchen sink and emptied an entire bottle of hand soap into it to make bubbles. He had gotten into my room and used my deodorant to paint on the carpet. And lastly, he used an entire stick of concealer to decorate himself. Even his little butt cheeks were drawn on.

At the time I was too tired to be anything but hysterical. I really should have been taking pictures, cuz now it's funny. Luckily for him, he decided to take a nap today. If not he might have ended up in the river. ;) From now on, though, if he doesn't sleep I think I need to lock him in the toy room and sleep in there with him.

I still can't believe I managed to sleep through that much!

Yup

Well, ignoring every one's advice, I decided to take the job. It will be a huge cut financially, I am opting to give up my management pay as well as all the other stuff. But, what ultimately made me decide is the work environment.
First, my floor has oodles of issues. There is one RN who has actually showed up to work smashed a few times. One bring her laptop to work to look at porn. She'll stop for a few months after she gets in trouble, and then starts back up again. And the entire talk/attitude of the place is horribly negative. Lots of sex talk. Lots of "I hate being in health care." No one helps each other. And people having affairs is not even hidden. Everything I hear about IMC is it is very professional and everyone works together.
I've been talking to a lot of people about my new floor. Apparently my new manager, Katie, is very much of the opinion that it is only a job, and family must come first. While we already know Annette's attitude is the exact opposite; work must come before everything else. I think that is what made the final decision for me.
In the end, I have decided the money isn't worth what I have to be staying for.
I start training at the end of the month.

So, do I take it?

Well, I have been keeping an eye on the job board at work and an opening came up for one of the critical care units. I looked at it, didn't even submit an application, and I quickly got a call from them later. They wanted an interview NOW, they already knew me and offered me the job the second I walked into the interview.
The plus of taking the job: more room for advancement (I can't get any higher where I am at now.) I get to play with more cool toys, like chest tubes, pacemakers, and probes in people's brain (SWEET!) It's a unit where we are not expected to work overtime. It's something new with a lot for me to learn.
The negative: I wouldn't work only weekends any more, much more babysitter money. My commute changes from a 5-10 min drive to a 30 min. Almost 2 hours on the days BYU has football games. More time away from the kids, and more money in gas. No pay raise. And, I leave a unit where I know I love to work. I have to go through 3-5 weeks of orientation, during the day, what do I do with my monsters?
What do you guys think?

On a different note, I have lost 17 lbs since giving up my Mt Dew! 5 from giving up the soda, 5 from having pneumonia, and 7 on the South Beach. Butthead Aaron has lost about 10 or 12 just on the diet. But, technically, I am STILL ahead. hehehe Still not feeling much more energy. But my clothes are fitting better. I'll take that little bit.

This Sun was the fist day in June that didn't rain. As you can see, the girls made the most of the long awaited sunshine.

Now if only I could get him to rinse first.......

Starting to feel better

So. I'm starting to feel a bit better. I took Friday and Saturday off work and did nothing but sleep the 2 days. That really helped. Then I asked to be taken off all the extra shifts I was signed up for at work. Not working 50 hours a week also helps. I feel a bit closer to a human being now. My manager has been a bum about me not working extras any more. "You better bring me a doctors note saying you can't work extra any more" Huh? What's up with that? I am now required to work OT each week?

On the upside.... When you can hardly breathe, you really don't eat much. I lost 5 pounds this last week. Coughing till you puke might be a part of that. Since I have a head start on the losing weight category, I have decided to start on the South Beach. Eating almost all veggies has to be good for you, right? I haven't lost any from the diet, although Aaron has lost like 3 or 4. So, hey, at least for today I am beating him. ;)

Aren't you just melting with jealousy?

No, not really. I happen to be a very lucky person.
I got pneumonia. FOR THE SECOND TIME IN NINE MONTHS. aaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Really, how many people do you know get pneumonia not only in September but also June? And of those people, how many are under the age of 70? Just thought I'd share my happy news.

Course sometimes he makes me feel a little panic when he decides to climb.

Yeah. He likes to climb, a LOT.

Have I ever mentioned Shaun likes to climb?

The addiction goes on....

So I have now been off Mt Dew for 4 weeks today. Ta-da! And what does Aaron do? Brings home a liter of the sweet, radioactive yellow goodness. humph. I took one sip today. Couldn't help it. I think I need to dump the whole bottle down the drain though. The first 3 weeks was one permanent headache. They aren't as frequent now. That is really the only difference I have felt from not drinking. I wasn't very functional for a while with the withdrawal headaches and frequent migraines. But, on the up side: I have lost 5 pounds kicking the habit. Monday I am starting back on the South Beach diet to get myself healthy again.

Speaking of healthy. I just finished the last round of all of my tests. We found out I am hypopneic. In other words, my brain forgets to tell my lungs to breathe. When I sleep I drop to 4 breathes a minute (normal is 8-12). The cause? What else? Getting hit in the head.
Currently I am using oxygen to sleep. The pulmonologist is thinking about getting me on a bi pap. It blows at the normal rate of breathing, in and out. But not sure how good that will work. I can barely handle the oxygen concentrator.

So all in all. Still doing good. Still pooped. But I am making progress. Just not having a migraine this week makes me feel like I've made huge progress.

This is another veiw at our campsite. I didn't take any pics from my cell phone today, we were in Devil's Garden. We go to Canyonlands tomarrow.

Thos is what I'm doing right now. We went to Moab this weekend and we're camping in Castle Valley. You can see one of the castles behind Avery. I'll send more pics tomarrow. I love cell phones.

Just thought I would let

Just thought I would let you all know it has been 6 days and 12 hours since my last Mt Dew. And, no, I do not feel any better for giving it up.

FWD:

Woof!

Happy Spring from Utah!

The TV

I thought I would give an addendum to my TV post. Why I really can't kill the girls.
They gave me a stack of homemade cards stuffed in a bag filled with coins and one dollar bills. The first card had a picture of a TV with "We are sorie."
The next was a picture of both the girls crying with "We now you are mad, but we love you."
Followed by a card saying "Her is all our monnie to by a new tv."
Next was a card saying "It is all of our savings. It is 25 dolars and 27 cents and 3 dolars off."
After which was a card they found in the mail for $3 off at Toys R US.
At the end, I was cracking up and really couldn't take their money. Of course, they were still grounded. Little beasties. Cute little beasties. But monsters all the same. They narrowly avoided being tied in a bag and thrown in the river.

stories

I know! I know! Two WHOLE days in a row! I know you all are reeling, so just take a deep breathe, and hold on to your chair till the world rights itself again. It's been a slow night at work (miraculously) again so I thought I would share some more with you all. ]

Shaun is starting to talk. He and the dog are best buds. They think they are brothers. Well, lately I have been visiting the vet a lot. Stupid Jack broke his toes. Any possible way to destroy that cast, he has figured it out. We end up in the vets office about 1 or 2 times a week. ugh. During those trips the dog is typically in the very back with his head resting on Shaun's shoulder. Last week's visit was very eventful. On the way home I suddenly hear Shaun "NO! NO! No og! No! NO! NO!" Followed by the sound of Shaun retching. I look back and Jack was car sick all over the rug and Shaun was horrified. The whole trip home was to the sound of Shaun yelling no, no to the 'og' interspersed with the sounds of him gagging.
By the way, my carpet cleaner didn't get it all out. Anyone with a great idea to get dog puke out of the carpet? I'm just glad Jack decided to not puke on Shaun's shoulder.

Jack unfortunately is really not stupid. He's so smart he is at the point of being stupid. He uses the cast to club the girls and snitch treats. The cone is his personal tool to herd Shaun wherever he wants the baby to go. Lately, he has figured out how to open the baby's bedroom door. He waits till the baby is put down for bed to go in there and wake him up. I caught the dog trying to jump into the crib the other night. And somehow through all of this, I am supposed to keep my 7 month old puppy "immobilized" Ummmmm.... because he is not allowed to exercise like he normally does, he's been trying to jump off the top of the stairs into the basement.

I am pretty pooped lately. Correction, I am exhausted. I have been trying to work out religiously for about 3 months now. And it has done me no good. I have lost minimal weight. And still am so tired I don't wake up to alarms. It feels like I'm not functioning anymore. So, I went to the doctor. His answer. Lose LOTS of weight. And get off the caffeine. Does someone care to tell me how I am going to get off Mt Dew? It's worse than crack! I drink it like water. And really, how am I going to function at 3 in the morning at work if I don't have a Mt Dew. ARRRRGGGGG!!!!!! Can you hear the panic in my voice? Cuz it's there. I am now 'pre-diabetic,' my thyroid is wigging out, and I am officially considered obese. Depressing. So. I am GOING to get healthy. I'll keep you all in the loop. I need a support group somewhere. I definitely won't get it from most of my coworkers. (Do you know what most nurses do in the middle of the night? Fill up a clean bedpan with microwave popcorn and candy. They like to keep each other fat, you fit in that way)

Last story. Aaron and I just bought a new TV. Our family TV pooped out. We talked and talked about it and finally decided on a nice one. Flat panel 42 inch LCD. We put it on a credit card with no interest for 18 months. I figured I could work a few extra shifts and pay it off quickly. Of course, the girls have been told repeatedly to not touch the TV. Last week the girls got PB on it. Rather than tell us, they went and got cleaner. Still don't know which kind. And SCRUBBED the TV. They managed to strip the film off the screen and put a great big scratch down it. To top it off- The girls lied through their teeth, multiple times with straight faces that they didn't do it! Aaron managed to clean the TV up so you can watch without everything being blurry. The girls are grounded from watching TV for the next month. And this week was my first extra shift to pay for the %#* TV. Proof right there I never should have bothered with anything material or nice with my monsters running around.

I really do still exist

I've decided I really hate blogging. It takes so much time. And I am never as funny/real/emotional/human as everyone else seems to be. Nor am I ever posting pictures. They are so much easier to put on Facebook. ( accept me as a friend mom, and you'll get to see all of them) Plus....posting just takes time.

Well, Dad has been yelling at me again to post. So I figured I ought to give everyone an update.

The kids are doing awesome. I am just so proud of them.

Avery's croup is slowly getting better. We seem to be having fewer and fewer attacks a month. Whew. Every little bit seems to be such a huge releif. She just had b-day #9. And I can't beleive how quickly she is growing up! The other day Avery and I went to Mommy-Daughter brunch for activity days. The ward's crazy drug addict was there and was beyond horrible. She kept following the 13 year old girls who were serving, critiquing their serving abilities. "I am a waitress at Denny's and you really need to be better. THis service is just terrible!" Because they didn't serve her first (not her daughter, HER) Every time her daughter, Lexi, tried to talk, she'd interrupt and finish every sentence/story. In other words. She totally fried her brain and was furious at the world for not revolving around her. The point of my story? Afterwards Avery and I started to talk. And she said to me "Mom, I bet Lexi was really embarrassed by her mom. I think I would be if I were her............. I think maybe I shouldn't talk about it. Because she is my friend. And that might hurt her feelings." How could I not be proud? And she is trying to quote Monty Python. "Mom, your dad is a chipmunk and your mom smells like Elders." (the original quote is your father was a hamster and your mother smelt of elderberries.

Kenna is just as spunky and funny as always. Quite the drama queen. Just last night I was on the phone and she came running up to me in a panic. "Mom, Mom, it's an emergency! You FORGOT to buy the fruit roll ups!" She has decided to befriend the new boy in school, he's from S. America. His name is Yadid, Kenna calls him Ya did it. She teaches him English, he teaches her Spanish. And, of course, she is bestest friends with her big sister. They still sleep together every night. Don't get me wrong, sometimes I want to kill them for their bickering, but somehow they manage to forget it all at bedtime. I guess that's how sisters always are.

Shaun, oh my lands. He just cracks me up! And I can't believe how much of a boy he is. He is starting to show some interest in sitting on the potty. And, he is dry first thing every morning. I thought, why not? Lets see what he can do. So I let him go naked. Now with the girls, when they had accidents on the floor, they were just grossed out. Not Shaun, he had an accident and played in it. ugh. I put a diaper on him, and later tried sitting him on the potty. His idea of going potty? He had his hand cupped in front as he started and stopped the stream in his hand! OK. Potty training can wait a while. A loooonnnnng while. He has stopped growing. Is that Proffitt genetics? Or could it be the fact that he lost 5lbs in 2 weeks when he was sick? I'm trying to beef him back up. It was nice having one chubby baby.

Work is going. I had to work on both of the girls birthdays. My manager wouldn't let me have the days off. grrrrr. It was OK though. We played the day before McKenna's. And the day after Avery's birthdays. Even though we were a day off, it was still a lot of fun. I have been in talks with a manager over at ICU at the Provo hospital. She is hoping to have an opening for me by October. IHC has been in a hiring freeze, so it'll be hard transferring units. Plus, this unit has a great reputation among the nurses. So, it's worth waiting to get into a good unit. I've discovered my job is just too hard to be at and not like the unit I'm on.
So..... is that enough of an update to satisfy everyone? If so, expect the next post in a month or so. ;) Dad? Do you approve? hehehe

A quick update. McKenna is almost better, she went to school today. She was so excited to, "I don't want to be sick anymore. I want to go to school and see Miss Collins!" Having a teacher she adores is wonderful. It makes all the difference in the world.

Avery's still sick, at first we thought she had strep on top of it. But the rapid strep test was a false positive. Her fevers are slowly getting better. The stinky thing is she has another bowel obstruction. She got so dehydrated she plugged right up. I'll get her moving again. I'm good with 'code brown.' But, she has minimal croup right now. The new meds she is on seem to be working.

Shaun is still really sick. He got RSV on top of the flu. Double whammy. He's lost 5lbs now. The doctor was debating putting him in the hospital because of the weight loss but decided against it, mostly because 1 I'm a paranoid nurse and know when to take him in, 2 there are far, far worse germs in the hospital right now. (Meningitis and pertussis is going around. Luckily Shaun's immunized against the latter.) And, 3 I am a paranoid nurse and don't want him in the hospital around the nasties. So, we are doing outpatient respiratory clinic where we take him in to get deep suctioning. So far, he hasn't needed nebulizer treatments. It looks like we have another week of him being sick. I take him back to the Dr on Monday to make sure he is going in the right direction. He may need to go on long term meds like Avery to protect his lungs. We'll see.

I am doing better. It is exponentially easier having only 2 sick kids as opposed to 3. That, and I have had sleep the last few days.

Ahhh McDonald's!

Sometimes, I just love McDonald's. Can I just tell you that now. Today it was a life saver.

The kids are all 3 sick at the same time. They all have scary high fevers. Shaun in 0.5 away from having to be in the hospital, Kenna 0.2 away from a hospital trip. And, I've had to work these last 3 nights. (Oh, have I told you I have a new manager? I think she escaped Satan's dungeon.) So, today I think I slept 15 minutes at a time, and it was with Shaun lying on my head, Avery across my legs, and Kenna curled up in my armpit. Lots of Tylenol and Motrin being doled out. Avery decides to start throwing up this afternoon. Kenna won't drink any more, and Shaun starts to have a hard time breathing and his fever kept creeping up even with meds. Normally I can deal fine with it, but on no sleep? By the time Aaron got home, I was almost hysterical.

(Oh yeah, and my butt head manager had to call me this afternoon, too. Our hospital is currently being audited, and last night at work, I failed to catch something another nurse missed, 4 days ago. Since I am the one who normally catches these things, it's my fault, of course. And she devil is considering holding me responsible, and what am I going to do to fix it? You know, why am I not doing her job? One more thing to my emotional breakdown.)

I was about to wrap Shaun up and take him outside to open up his airways, when my Honey shows his true genius, "why don't you take Shaun to get McDonald's and leave the window open on the drive?"

End result? A small break, return to sanity, and much better kids. The cold wind opened Shaun up and actually brought his fever below 102. Kenna chugged the powerade. And Avery didn't puke the chicken nuggets. Strange considering that was one of the few things I kept down when I was pregnant with her. Think she was born to not puke nuggets?

Today, I am really grateful for McDonald's.



Funny end story. Because McKenna's fevers have been so high, she's been a little loopy. Sat night, she didn't wake up all the way to go to the bathroom. Avery stopped her from peeing on the stool, so she peed in the garbage instead. (And I was at work and didn't have to clean it!)

I'm finally writing

So, our computer crapped out on us. It took forever to get rid of the nasty virus. The $#%$ virus wouldn't even let us wipe out the computer and start over again. And, of course, it was the first time Trend Micro saw the virus, so they were stumped as well. Aaron and I were frantically trying to move pictures to flash drives and not copy the virus at the same time. We've got hundreds to sort through. And, of course, I didn't bother transferring in any sort of order.

Eventually I may post pictures. In the mean time, I am ADDICTED to facebook. So much easier to put pictures on! I've been sending a bunch form my cell phone to that. As far as Christmas pictures go, don't expect much. I made the mistake of putting Aaron in charge of taking those. So I don't think there is a single one in focus. sigh

The snow here is starting to melt. It's been warm, like 40's to 50's I think we may actually hit 60 this week. At least it's not 2 degrees anymore when I get off work. I'm really looking forward to not scraping off my car. I don't care how much you bundle up, 9 degrees with fog hurts deep down in your bones!
The kids are sad for the snow to be gone, they never entirely finished their snow fort, and we didn't go sledding nearly enough.

The kids are growing fast, Shaun can say about 3 words, and he signs about 6, so he is sprouting. Avery is excelling in school, as always. She's too smart for her own good. And Kenna is just as big a goof as always. She tells me all the time how Avery might be older, but she is funnier.

I though a month was too long to post, so a quick note would be in order. I love you all!