Pulling Teeth and Becoming a Working Mom??

We had kind of a traumatic experience this week. B has been complaining about his teeth hurting on one side the past couple weeks. I attributed it to his molars that are coming in. Well, on sun and mon nights, he woke up crying and complaining about his teeth. At this point, I asked him which teeth hurt exactly. He pointed to one on the top that had a filling in it. Not good. I took him in on monday afternoon and they said he probably needed it drilled out some more because the nerve was getting irritated. We scheduled an appointment for next week. That night it was a lot worse so I got him in the next day to get it taken care of. Our original dentist took a look at it, and said the best option was to pull the molar out and put in a spacer until he is 11/12 and the adult tooth comes in. Well, B was not happy to hear this and all the pulling and pressure during the procedure was pretty traumatic for the little guy. I felt so bad that I let him pick out a star wars figure at the store after. He now is a little puffy but not too sore and slept fine the past 2 nights. Let's hope we don't have any more dental procedures!

On another note, I am thinking of applying for a summer nurse internship this coming summer. I have heard the competition is very high and my chances of actually getting one are probably slim but I'm going to try anyway. It would be 10-12 weeks of working with an RN and would be probably 36-40 hr/week. Not something I am used to, and more hours than I'd want to work, but an experience I couldn't pass up. The probably is the childcare for the kids. I could probably find teens to do most of it, but most of my pay would be going to daycare. But like I said the experience would be more than worth it. If I don't get one, which I probably won't, then I may get a part time nursing assistant job for the summer. Would look good on the resume that I had some health care setting experience, plus it would be nice to work with patients over the summer and keep my skills up. Lots to think about.

First clinical weekend behind me

I had a tiring, amazing, challenging, and fun weekend at the hospital. I actually worked in a real hospital, as a student nurse, with real patients!! It was all kind of surreal. I got up early and put on my real uniform. I found the parking and was there in plenty of time. Saturday we had orientation half of the day and then spent time on the floor finding things and looking around. We got our patient assignments for the next day. Unfortunately they kept discharging patients so we had to double up with partners. This was good in some ways bad in others, since we really will be on our own next time. It made it a little easier this time though. We then had to go home and write up our care plans and try to get sleep for Sunday. We had to be there even earlier Sunday, 0645 on the dot to do vitals. I did my first vitals on a real live patient. She was a very nice woman and very patient with me. She was an interesting case. She had knee surgery and went home, only to get a bad infection later on and came back for more surgery and recovery. She has a resistant bacteria so is on lots of antibiotics and painkillers. She could barely move the affected leg. I can't wait to give out meds, that will be a lot more interesting. Right now we can't do much. Make beds, help client's with daily cares, do vital signs, basic stuff. But it was a great experience and I look forward to my next weekend!

STILL 124.5 lb

At least it isn't going up I guess! I am lucky it is staying the same as I have not been eating the greatest. I went shopping last night so I'm prepared with good for me foods and so that will help. When I am busy and school is stressful I tend to eat whatever is there, and I don't have time to shop often. I ate pizza, arby's roast beef, and some candy last weekend. Not anything too horrible but not good if you want to lose weight! I guess I'm lucky I maintained. I had a very stressful weekend at school and I am so relieved it is over. I had my presentation Sat and my performance test Sun (I passed, yay!) I also went out Sat night and was up too late and therefore very tired the whole weekend. Still tired, and getting a sinus thing I think. My sinuses hurt and I am just very tired. I am going to lunch with B today but one option is chef salad so I'm getting that. I will be eating hot lunch alone since neither B nor J will eat the school lunch! It is hot lunch week so I figured at least I should support the hot lunch program! There should be lots of parents there today for the first grade. I checked B's mid quarter grades online today and wasn't too impressed. I think he is goofing around too much in gym and music. His main grades in reading and math were great, but in participation and cooperation in gym weren't too great. I think he is not paying attention or thinking it is play time. I will have to talk with him. I don't expect all perfect grades (that is just what I expect of myself!) but I do expect above average because I know he is smart enough and can do it. I can't be too hard on him because I know kids have to learn, but I still have to let him know that it is expected he try his hardest and respect teachers. His main teacher is very organized and they have behavior grades each day. He has had a "green" day every day so I know he is behaving for her. I think that system works well for him. Last year his teacher was way too lenient and the kids went wild! Anyway, I then have to volunteer Wed in his class and next week am going on the field trip on Tuesday. Thursday of this week is picture day so I have to figure out what he is going to wear. And his hair is very long right now but he likes it that way so I'll probably leave it. It is pretty cute on him. J is at her friend's house right now so I have to make her a lunch quick and bring her to the school with me. She is loving school still, and will go with the carpool moms no problem. However, I did have a new babysitter last week (a boy) and she freaked out. I am having to use babysitters more, so hopefully she will get used to it!

Why can't I go to bed?

For one, my husband is gone and I have trouble going to bed alone. Second, I seem to get a burst of energy around 10 or 11 pm. I rarely go to bed before midnight. I think my body is doing this now that I stay up later to study etc. I am so tired in the morning though. My sleep is restless. I have so much going through my mind. So many things that have to be done. I have my school work, kids school stuff, fundraisers, lunches to pack, snacks to pack, clothes to pick out, garbage to take out, laundry to put away, bathrooms to clean, shopping to do. It is never ending. I like the busy life I lead, but sometimes it is really hard to shut off my mind to sleep. This is a problem that has just started in the last couple years. I always used to sleep great. Now, I am lucky to sleep more than 2 to 3 hr at a time. I will hear a noise, or just wake up for some unknown reason and lay there. I am not anxious. I am not one to stress out about things. I am pretty easy going. But I do sometimes have a hard time relaxing. And it is worse when I'm alone. I guess I get more nervous. I always set the alarm system, which helps, but I still hate the stillness and quiet of the house. Tonight I watched all my favorite shows. It is my indulgence. I put J to bed before 7pm and let B stay up to watch Survivor with me. I had them take a bath early around 6pm, brush teeth, and read extra books so that I'd be all ready by the time my shows came on. I think I read 6 books tonight just because I made the time to do it!! That is one thing I love doing with the kids. Anyway, had J asleep by 7, she was so tired. I sent B up to bed at 8 but of course he stayed up there tossing another hour (he has trouble falling asleep too!) . I then watched Grey's Anatomy (love that show!) and ER. ER was just ok. I then got out my book and have been reading/taking notes on supporting respiratory function. Fun stuff! It is the longest chapter ever. I have found that you really need to read/study everything because they do not cover everything in class that you need to know. I am trying to get an early start on my reading for my next test which isn't until November 13. Weird how they schedule so many tests early on then give us such a big break. Maybe because we start clinicals soon and we have to prepare for that?? Anyway, I am going to try to sleep very soon. It is so hard to wake up. J comes in about 7am every day so then I have about another half hour to lay around until I have to get up, shower, get the kids clothes on, comb their hair, make B's lunch and snack, get his bag packed and ready, feed them breakfast and get them out the door. I could probably so some of it the night before but I usually have plenty of time. I then get one kid off to school, and still have one here with me (she has preschool 3 days a week in the afternoons). We sometimes will do an errand, but usually we hang out here. We will most likely do some cleaning, and I may have to babysit a neighbor's daughter while she goes to the doctor. I have classes both Sat and Sun and we may go out after the kids are asleep on Sat night to see a band play at the local Oktoberfest. I don't want to be out late but we will probably go for a few hours. I got a sitter lined up. It is now 11:30 and I'm really going to try to sleep. Good night!

124 lb and breathing a sigh of relief

10:30 pm here, I really really should be in bed. I am so exhausted. But I cannot fall asleep this early. I am used to staying up until at least 11:30/12 studying. If I go up to bed I will just lie there awake, and even worse is that my husband is out of town all week and I hate nights alone. I get all freaked out and worry about things and it is so quiet and erie in the house. I hate when he is gone, which unfortunately is way too often. I drove him to the airport today, and he will be coming home Friday. And what luck, I have school all weekend. Yuck!

Anyway, my test tonight was hard. Very hard. I felt somewhat prepared going in, and felt all weird while taking it. First, there was a speaker in the next room using a microphone and it was loud. I got to move into the lab, but it was pretty loud in there as well. You could hear people talking in the hall and just very unnerving to me. I like quiet while taking a test. Anyway, I was having problems with some of the questions. More than usual. Usually I can get through almost all of them and then I go back and try to figure out the ones I didn't know. Well this time, I just couldn't make up my mind on answers. I hate that. I went through that test like 3 times. I finally circled my best guesses and turned it in. Everyone was saying how hard it was, and people were almost in tears. I know it was hard but I knew I did ok. Well, I did better than I thought and got a 93%. I was going to be happy with a B, and I got a low A. I am relieved, and must be a good guesser!!

Not much else is new here. It was beautiful weather here today, for october. It is usually pants/jackets weather this time of year, but today the kids had shorts on. It was great. Soon enough I will be getting out the hats, mittens, snowpants, boots. That reminds me that B needs new snowpants this year. I saw some at the store for $20! I have to find some cheaper than that, especially since they will last 1 year most likely. Poor J will always have boring black or navy snowpants, not cute pink or purple because I will not be buying her a different pair when I have a perfectly good pair of black ones! Or maybe if I find some at a garage sale or something maybe she will get girly ones!! I do not look forward to freezing cold mornings trying to get 2 kids in their snow gear, heating up the car for 15 minutes, trying to fit all the wet stuff somewhere in the mud room.

The only good thing about winter is Christmas. The kids are already talking about it. They each will only really get to ask for a couple things this year. We don't buy them too much, and ask family to not buy them much either. B wants a kids video camera (anyone know if there is such a thing?) and a light saber. J wants a bald cabbage patch baby and a robe like mine. Yes, a robe. She is a unique child! :) They also pick out a nutcracker for our collection that we started last year.

Oh, we also got our costumes ready for Halloween. B is going to be Anakin Skywalker and J is going to be Cinderella. She already had the dress from her birthday so that worked out. I will just have to put sweatshirts and sweatpants on under it. And gloves probably. They really love to dress up so they love halloween. I will wear my witch hat to hand out candy.

Well, I'm going to try to sleep!