Spring Break...

We had a great spring break! The boys and I were off the same week, which was nice. I pretended that I was just a stay-at-home-mom again and not a student. Well, that's not completely true because I worried about not studying throughout the week and I did go to S.'s house to identify muscles on the pictures she took of the models in Anatomy. We ended up with a playdate every single day. Here is a brief description of how that went.

Monday: We were originally supposed to go to TG Park and ride our bikes, then go to lunch at the R.'s. But then M.R. got strep so that was cancelled, but we still had the boy R.'s over for a playdate while M. and A. went to the doctor and then had the prescription filled. Then we rode bikes to my in-laws house, where we played and fed the dogs and watched satellite. Then we rode back home.

Tuesday: We went for a bike ride to TG Park. Then we stopped by my in-laws, to see if A. needed us to come back to feed the dogs. She didn't so we went home and the boys played in the back yard for something like four hours. I stayed inside and cleaned the kitchen and tidied up the rest of the house. Later in the evening, The Scientist's friend, M., came over for a sleepover. They stayed up pretty late playing video games then reading.

Wednesday: We all went to Mastadon State Historic Site, in Imperial, to visit their museum and hike their "Bone Bed Trail". It was a neat little museum and I learned the difference between Mastadons and Mammoths. Mammoths were mainly in the western portion of the United States. Mastadons were mainly in the eastern portion. Mammoths were bigger than Mastadons. The differences between the two are similar to the differences between African and Asian elephants. After the hike and a snack, we came home and the boys played outside for another few hours.

Thursday: We went "all the way" to Wildwood to visit the Ri.'s. It was the first time that I got to meet their newest addition C. He is super-cute and pretty much just slept the whole time were were there. BUT that meant that D. and I got most of the entire playdate to ourselves to sit and chat. The boys all got along great and were pretty much off playing. D. and I ended up tidying up the toy room near the end. I realized mid-playdate that I forgot to take the play table, which I told P. M. that I would transfer to D. Then the boys and I left, and it wasn't until I reached Lindbergh on I-44 that I realized that I'd forgotten both of the boys books in her basement. So I called her and we set up an additional meeting the next day to exchange everything I'd forgotten.

Friday: I dropped the boys at the R.'s to play while I went to meet D. in Eureka, where we had a cup of coffee and chatted a bit more. It was nice to see her two days in a row (just like old times). That ended pretty quickly, because I needed to leave to get back to the R.'s. I watched A.'s boys, and my own, while she took M. and G.K. to dance class. While she was gone I tidied up her kitchen from lunch. I figured it was only fair since she fed my children. Then she got back, and we sat and chatted. I tried to help her process clothing choices for her upcoming reunion in NOLA. It was a lot of fun, but being the fifth day of non-stop action I was pooped and therefore not much in the energetic scheme of things. The boys actually left relatively easily, which was a nice end to things. That night, we met my in-laws for dinner at Pho Grand, and then we had gelato next door at The Gelateria.

Saturday: I believe we had a pretty lazy morning, then we headed to Home Depot. After that, we came home, regrouped, then headed back out. The boys went swimming and I went to Target. I bought all of the Charlaine Harris' paperback books, Twilight: The Movie, new shelves for the boys room, and a few other odds and ends. Then, I went back to The Heights to meet the boys. They were finished playing, but the weather was so nice, so we went to the playground.

There one of my pet peeves reared it's ugly head. A mom sat in her car where she talked on her cell phone the entire time. Within one minute of the boys getting onto the playground, the youngest needed help getting down from somewhere. Within fifteen minutes, the youngest whipped "it" out and started peeing in the middle of the playground. Granted, this was after a minute or so of him looking frantically around for "something". At that point, his mother started yelling his name from her car. He obviously couldn't hold it and she's yelling at him. After about ten seconds of him peeing in the middle of the playground and her yelling, she FINALLY gets out of her car, still on her cell phone, and it isn't until she actually gets to the gate that she says, "So and so, I have to go. Yeah, I'll call you back later." Then she yells at him, "YOU DO NOT DO THAT! IF YOU HAVE TO GO TO THE BATHROOM YOU GO TO THE SIDE OF THE PLAYGROUND! YOU DON'T STAND IN THE MIDDLE AND GO! YOU ARE SO NAUGHTY!" Then she called her older son and said they had to leave shaming her younger son even more by saying, "We have to leave because your brother is naughty." Um yeah, how about you don't leave two children under six unattended on a playground. Sure, the playground is completely fenced in, but what are they supposed to do if they need you? Walk out of the playground and across the parking lot to your car to ask you? Right, then you make your child feel like an idiot because he doesn't know what to do, but you are nowhere near him in order for him to ask you. Nice.

Sunday: Another last lazy day. We took our time getting ready and then we went to the Zoo. We went to Zoomagination Station and renewed our Zoo membership. Then we rode the train and got to see the orangutans close up. All of them were right up against the glass just looking at the people looking at them. So cute. After the zoo, I dropped the boys at home and I went to Old Navy. Then, we spent the rest of the evening at home, winding down, and getting ready for the upcoming week. I finished my homework for tomorrow and finally completed my notecards for the muscle test in Anatomy on Friday. And now I'm writing a blog about our Spring Break week. It was so nice to have a week off, do nothing but be, and we have fantastic weather. It could have been slightly warmer for my tastes, but overall it was lovely.

Note to self...

A bird free-flying around an open space will scare the living s&%# out of you. Having a flying beast come near your head with wings a flappin' will cause you to pull your left trapezius. It will also give you flashes of gigantic moths flapping around your face, and you know how freakin' scary you think that is. No, no it's not swimming from manta rays or stepping on crocodiles in rivers, but it's still an experience that will scare the bejeezus out of you. No matter how much the bird tries to lift the cage door open or tweets at you to let him out, "DO NOT DO IT!!!"

I can't fall asleep....

I don't know if it was the Diet Dr. Pepper after 7 p.m., the ice cream at 9 p.m., the uneasy processing about my day, or my anxiety about the upcoming week, but I cannot sleep. I was hoping that if I got into bed and relaxed with a little music that I would get the urge, but it's now 12:15 a.m. in the newly daylight savings time and I am no closer to sleep. This week Dirty and I are watching my in-laws three dogs and their lovebird. I'm torn between the comfort of home, which is a sense of normalcy for me and the boys, namely a fairly set schedule, and how much time I can spend at my in-laws to give their animals a sense of normalcy, namely people in the house. Although, my two kids, and heck even the husband and I, are probably more stressful for them that just being alone. Part of my reason for not falling asleep is figuring out my school schedule, the family schedule, and adding in the extra four animals schedule. I know I can work it out. I will work it out.

My next big worry is my Anatomy class, which is slightly weird considering I also have a History test this Thursday. But I am more worried and especially anxious about the two Anatomy exams I have after getting back to school after spring break. The two exams are on muscles. (sidenote: Yay, a yawn.) There are A LOT of freakin' muscles in the human body. I don't have to know all of them, but of the 40+ muscles I do need to know I also need to know their origins, insertions, actions, and innervations. I'm already behind in the schedule that I made up for myself for the next couple of weeks. This week, I'm going to put some time into learning those four things about the muscles I need to know, but I'm going to put more time into learning where exactly they are on the body. I have to do that because the campus is closed the week of spring break, which means I'll have no access to the charts or models on campus.

I've also been feeling especially out of shape lately. I told myself that when I got the right equipment (a sports bra) that I would start jogging. Even with my crazy upcoming week, I'm going to try and jog for at least 20 minutes 7 days a week. My other problem is that I have clicking in my wrist, knee, and sometimes ankle. Now my anatomy professor said that once it starts it won't get better, but right now I'm carrying more weight than almost ever, I haven't worked out regularly since I started school, and my diet is that of a couch potato. I've been really stressed by school, family, life...

Some good things:
I thought I might be sick of John Frusciante's The Empyrean before I listened to it, but I wasn't. It is really a spectacular album. I hope I never get sick of it.

The workmen, R. and J., finished all the work on the plaster and the hole in the hall ceiling that they were hired to do. It was nice to no longer have strange people in our house...no matter how nice they were. (and they were really, really nice people) They did a great job, and I can't wait to paint everything.

We have painted the boys room. The Scientist picked the color (although we actually bought the shade lighter than what he picked, please don't tell him...ever). It is called moss green. It looks great in their room. We still have to re-white the trim and parts of the ceiling, but we are going to do that a little later because painting a room is a lot of work. We also purchased a curtain rod and four navy curtain panels to place between the living room and their room (Monkey picked out the blue). I also bought a new lamp for their room. So we can get rid of the lamp that was a hand-me-down and had a patched wire (kind of scary). Our final purchase for their room will be shelves for the wall and that will likely happen next weekend. (that's my hope anyway)

We had a really nice playdate Friday night with The Scientist's three best friends, J., I. and M., for M.'s birthday. He chose to go swimming at The Heights, which works out great for us since we're members, and dinner at CiCi's Pizza. All the parents were there, and we both really feel blessed that The Scientist has such a great group of friends. They play really well together and go out of their way to make sure that everyone can be included. On another day, they wanted to go down the big slide, The Scientist was the only one not tall enough, so in the spirit of fairness they decided that no one should go. All of the kids, except for I. are also in the gifted pull-out at school which, after a couple weeks of The Scientist not wanting to go to school on Fridays because of it, he is enjoying it again.

I suppose that's all for now...even though I'm not really any more tired than before. I probably shouldn't have taken Macroeconomics on a Monday, because I seem to get like this every Sunday. Then I'm in a class on Monday that is very interactive and the teacher makes us answer questions and write on the board and I'm out of it. Nice.

How do you spend the nicest day in weeks...

Well, here in the House Full of Boys we started out pretty good. Dirty went for an early long bike ride. I slept in until about 9:15 while the boys played quietly. Then after I woke up, I ate breakfast and gave Monkey a bath. Then, we went to a playground at McGrath school, which I think is in Brentwood, and followed that with a stop at Maplewood Bike Shop. After much waiting, The Scientist was finally getting a bike that wasn't too small. We drove toward home and, because The Scientist had his new bike, I dropped Dirty, The Old Man, The Scientist, and Monkey in Tower Grove Park so they could bike, scooter, or walk home.

It wasn't too long after I got home that they arrived. Monkey was crying, and The Scientist updated me that Monkey had fallen and cut his Chin. I don't remember if I blogged about it before, but he'd cut his chin at the pool, in practically the same place, maybe four or five months ago. This time, he had fallen off of the scooter, cut his chin, and bit his tongue. I hoped for the best but, after about five minutes of trying to clean it, realized that we needed an emergency room visit.

I packed up a bag full of Transformers, HotWheels, Micromachines, and Transformer books. The last four or five times that I've been to the emergency room, we waited for a long time, and the tv, bead coasters, meager selection of books, and locked-up video games only hold the attention for so long. I only brought water because, from prior experience, I know that they don't allow any food or drink for the patient just in case anesthesia is needed. I dropped the boys off at the entrance and went to park the car in the garage. I'm always surprised how fast people drive in the garage (or the boys' school's parking lot for that matter) knowing that there might be kids darting out into traffic, but I'll save that rant for another blog...or facebook. :D All of my preparing, was unneeded though. We weren't there more than 10 minutes when they called us back to an exam room.

We weren't in the exam room for even one minute when the ER resident, Dr. C, came in to evaluate. We were still working on getting Monkey's shirts off, and he was less than helpful. He even snapped at Dr. C, which is understandable. The poor kid has been in the ER no less than five times in four years, and the visits have never been exactly pleasurable experiences. Dr. C. had already looked at our file and reminded us of verified our prior visits (ex. possible swallowing of thumb tacks-negative findings, laceration on ear from fall in daycare). I smiled and said, "He's adventurous." Dr. C looked at his chin and told us it's superficial, but because of the location of the laceration sutures would be needed. He said that he would have someone from Child Life come in and explain the procedures to Monkey and bring some distractions.

She, sorry I can't remember her name, came in and talked with us, and Monkey a little, about a cool gel that would make his chin feel better. Monkey snapped at her too. The doctor dropped by again with some of his supplies. The nurse then came in to numb up his chin. Then we waited for about thirty-five minutes for the gel to kick in. I told Dirty, in that time, that I was a little ticked, the one time he's able to go the the ER for the boys, we didn't have to wait for hours, and everything was moving really smoothly and quickly. He said that he was glad it did because he was freaking out as it was. Monkey did really well throughout the procedure. It took about thirty minutes for Dr. C. to give Monkey five stitches and he had to leave, come back and re-lidocaine part of Monkey's chin. We were released soon after that with orange popsicles for the boys.

We made a quick stop at McDonalds for dinner (read: Daddy feels guilty that I told you they wouldn't hurt you in the emergency room, but then they did.) After that, we made a quick stop at the grocery store for ice cream, triple anti-biotic, dinner for a couple nights, and milk. We've ended the trip to come home to about ten spots of dog vomit throughout the carpeted area of the house. I made Dirty clean it up because I would yack myself if I had to clean it up. And that is how the House Full Of Boys...and Me spends the warmest day in what seems like months. I'm sure you're extremely jealous of how glamorous my lifestyle must seem. :D

Stop teasing your brother...

I have a question, a survey of sorts, to pose to any readers with early childhood experience, or other insight, into dealing with brotherly teasing. This is an issue I try to curb as much as possible, because little things always end up turning into big things. Then I end up with a headache.

So here is the situation, my four year old, Monkey, has no problem with having girlfriends. For a while, he didn't really have a definition for what a girlfriend is, but I always follow up when he talks about girlfriends by asking, "What is a girlfriend?" His answer to me used to be, "She's a girl and she's my friend." But lately his answer has evolved into, "It has to do with kissing, Mom." I, of course, had to ask, "You kiss, P, Mo, and Ma?" I was relieved when he said, "No, Mom. You can't kiss at school." Also, lately, he's added another girl to his list of "girlfriends".

The new girlfriend is my seven year old's, The Scientist's, friend J. The Scientist has no problem with Monkey saying J is his girlfriend. What The Scientist does have a problem with is Monkey saying that J is The Scientist's girlfriend. J is a girl, she is The Scientist's friend, but at this stage in his psychological development having someone say that someone else is your girlfriend really bothers him. He loves playing with J. We've have a semi-standing playdate every Friday evening swimming and then going out to eat. I need to know how to help him feel comfortable with having J as his friend and still deal with any teasing, which with other little boys seems to be occuring now. With Monkey I'm usually around to make him stop teasing his brother about it and explain the meaning of girlfriend in the context of J as The Scientist's friend. I don't know why Monkey's started this other than it is something he found that he can do to push The Scientist's buttons and sometimes that what he wants to do. Any thoughts/suggestions/comments?

I don't have long but...

A few things I wanted to get off of my chest...My last blog when I mentioned my neighbor's dog I said a form of "dear" like a billion times. Greta was a very sweet dog and very loved by her family, friends, and neighbors. However, it is possible that my comp professor from last year will read this blog, and I don't want her to think that I've somehow regressed into a world of redundant writing. I like to think that I have not, but since I am not given a grade which will add or detract from my college GPA, I am a bit less intense about checking for errors than I was with any papers for class.

I've also started a new semester at school. I've mentioned before what I'm taking, but I don't feel like looking through my blog archives to find the exact entry to hyperlink, so the classes I have this semster are Developmental Psych, Anatomy and Physiology I, Macroeconomics, and American History I. My first week went great. I enjoy the topics in the classes and enjoy most of my professors. I have two classmates from last semester in three of my classes this semester, which is always nice. The class that I know no one is Macroeconomics. I think it will be a fun class. The teacher is a trip and talks like a radio announcer or the guy who announces the rules at the Omnimax. Plus he's really interactive and runs a tight ship. I like those kinds of professors. I already have a ton of reading, but have enjoyed getting back into the learning environment. Throughout the week this week I just kept thinking how I really love community college.

I'm eager to move on to the next portion of my nursing education, but in the meantime I'm really enjoying school. The campus is great. I like how it's laid out. The Campus Life group holds a lot of functions. This week I attended my first and it was an inaugural party for Obama. They had two big screens which played CNNs coverage of the event. Luckily, I had a break in between classes and was able to watch a majority of the actual inauguration. After the ceremony there were beverages, sandwiches, chicken, and taquitos. It was nice. I would get more into that but have lost my blogging momentum...

The last weekend before school starts...

It is now the last Thursday before school starts for me. I am both excited (because this pushes me a little bit more toward my goal of becoming a nurse) and anxious (there will be a lot of studying for the classes this semester and less time to have get togethers with friends). I'm looking forward to my anatomy and physiology class and hoping that I'm able to do as well in it as I did with the rest of my classes last semester. I've really enjoyed my time off. Jake was off most of the boys Christmas break and, while it was nice to have some time to myself during the day, I wasn't at the point of "Get my children out of my house before I lose it!" It was nice to have time to spend with our little family. Then, after the boys went back to school I had a week and a half of laidback housewife-life. I went to coffee with friends. I visited some of those same friends. I went to playdates that were for the kids, without my kids, and visited with my mom-friends. I kept the house relatively clean. I cooked dinner for the family where we were able to sit together around the table.

Sitting together around the table is something I'm hoping eventually pays off. Right now it's a bit of a chore. We are trying to push the learning of manners. This is something I have to teach not only the children, but my husband. We had rolls tonight and my husband took his butter knife and cut (read smooshed it through) the middle of his roll, and the roll he was preparing for a child. I said, "I know this is advanced manners, but you aren't supposed to cut your dinner roll." He said, "Pssshhhh. Whatever, that's stupid." Then he proceeded to say, "Would you pass me a roll?" I said, "You didn't ask politely." So he looked at Monkey and said, "Please, would you pass me a roll, please." Then he felt the need to bring up Lambert's, which I feel is not a good idea when you're trying to instill table manners. Luckily, the boys didn't pick that up and run with it. It's bad enough teaching table manners to three boys without them thinking it's okay to throw food around the room.

I also wanted to mention a dear soul who passed away and will be dearly missed. Our neighbors across the street lost their dear Greta after twelve loving years. Our sympathy goes out to you M and D.