A week in review

Lots going on the past 10 days. The kids don't stop cracking the whip. They keep demanding frivolous items like food, drink, and attention. Neither are interesting in napping much in these beautiful summer days, and the hot bedrooms make us all a bit cranky at the end of the day. So I'll try to summerize or else I'll never get anything written!

Currently, both children are sleeping! They both napped crappy yesterday. Kevin gave me strict instructions NOT to do any housework if I got a break.

Monday: appointment in Seattle as previously blogged. Wore me out!

Tuesday: training a new nurse. She's been a practicing midwife before, so is quite skilled at the labor part. The nursing-paperwork-prep part is new. The downside to being a good helping is sometimes they forget to ask you first. I'm getting a bit worn down. If I'm going to be charge, then I need my days to just do my job at my speed. After my shift I finished packing for two nights at my mom's house. I am very grateful I did stuff ahead of time here, because...

Wednesday: I was in the car with two kids by 6:30am and on the road to Vancouver. The timing worked great. Patrick watched his morning TV, Fiona slept for most of it. A quick break in the middle for peeing, nursing, and snacking. Arrived in Vancouver around 9:30am! We played at Nancy's house, hit the park and the grocery story, and I got to cook dinner while Mom played with the kids. Patrick alternated between running Gramma around and following Craig like a lovesick puppy. GiGi and Poppa (my grandparents) also came by for dinner. Patrick is really warming up to them, finally. As with most things, I just think his language makes the biggest difference.

Thursday: Another fun day at Mom's. We drove to David's apartment in the morning to swim in their nice heated pool. I gave Dave coffee, he gave us beer. I guess we owe Starbucks and Widmeir for this exchange :) Patrick enjoys the water but doesn't like to get his face wet. It's one of the few areas where he isn't very adventurous. Mom hosted dinner in the evening. The regular crew arrived, and my youngest brother even stayed for longer than 20 minutes. I think we get cooler as he get's older. The kids were so fun to watch. Dylan and Jess brought no-longer-baby Holly. She and Patrick got to practice sharing. It's the one reason I wish we lived closer; they get to do this all the time, these fun dinners.

Friday: I slept poorly after some possible job stress entered the picture. Mom let me sleep in and got up with both kids around 6am. I slept til 8:22am. It through off the rest of my day. I just can't do it anymore! Then I was completely disorganized trying to pack the car (as I brought so much stuff, now I had to find it all). I snapped at my saintly mother who was only trying to help. It was rough. Mom came up with me to watch the kids while I had other meetings going on, such a blessing. It took us forever to get back up. Crying babies, potty breaks, repacking the van, snack stops, traffic. Four hours from Vancouver to Tacoma. I barely made the carpool for my MOPS meeting that evening. Mom made my day by offering to keep Fiona as well (I was planning on taking her). Awesome. Threw everybody out of the car and raced to the meeting. It was on a family home on Fox Island. So beautiful. Maybe next year I'll be able to spend the night!

Saturday: More planning, this time with Fiona in tow. She did great but refused to nap, no surprise there. Patrick stayed with Mom. After the meeting I went to Valerie's Pink Party to celebrate Brenna, her fourth baby and first girl. Jenny A hosted and it was perfect. Great food, fun games (and baby shower games normally suck, but her friend Lyndie did a great job, and adorable girl clothes. The rest of the day settled a bit. We went for a family walk and played at home. Kevin cooked.

Sunday: Mom headed home on the train in the morning, so we skipped church to walk the dogs and cook breakfast. Kevin worked in the evening, so I hung out at home.

Monday and Tuesday: Worked. Vacations, maternity/medical leaves, sick calls, and the like means staffing sucks. And it's busy.

Wednesday: I found a baby sitter last minute for Patrick, yeah! A lovely teenager who is saving money for a car. She arrived at 7am and I went to Seattle to start Fiona on her propranolol for her hemangioma. After taking the medication we hung out for a couple of hours so the nurse could check her blood pressure and heart rate. The gave me a stethoscope to check her heart rate at home (Patrick loves to play with this, "I want to play doctor!") We wandered the hospital, and I enjoyed my time with just one kid. She was really great, but again, no napping until the car ride home. I snuck a bit of time at University Village on the way home. I had a pear and brie crepe for lunch with a chai cardamom cupcake for dessert. In the evening Kevin and I attended the planning meeting for Vacation Bible School at our church. This is a first for both of us. We're assisting in the preschool room with Patrick. Fiona will be with us. We are only slightly nuts. Both kids haven't had a lick of routine, and their bedtime shows it. We are all ready to kill each other by the end of the day.

Today: We had a nice breakfast as a family. The kids slept OK. We talked about how to cut our budget. We went to the Farmer's Market and got raspberries, blueberries, cherries, tomatoes, and squash. Kevin ran off to work. The kids fell asleep! Mom and Craig stopped by on their way home from a vacation in the San Juans. I will now not do any chores.