Ahhhhh....Saturday

My day started ut with both babies (although Jay insists hes a big boy) in bed for cuddling. Cereal for me and Jay. Then nursed Nell. Jay and Nell had some cuddles on he couch. There's been a generous amount of Noggin and lunch with Gigi coming up! I love Saturdays!!!

Deep Thoughts...

Since having my own children, I find that I'm far less judgemental of other people. One of my favorite statements has always been that opinions are like assholes, everyone has one and everyone thinks the other person's stinks. Everyone has their own opinions about everything from childcare to politics to religion. You know the drill. Every day we are subjected to other people's opinions. You ahve a choice whether or not to let it influence you. I recently told someone that if I let everyone's parenting advice affect me, I wouldn't be able to do anything right. You hear this is wrong or that is wrong. You should or shouldn't do these things. You have to make a decision that's right for you. I know that I have strong opinions myself (duh) and it's hard to keep those to myself, but I have to remember just because it works for me doesn't mean it works for someone else. Keeping our opinions out of other people's business is hard. What it boils down to for me is that I can determine my own values, morals and opinions and you can have yours. I can't necessarily expect to change yours and you're not going to change mine. now there are some things that are just givens. Murder is wrong, and abuse or exploitation of a child is wrong. But other than that, adults have a right to express their own opinions and do their own thing. I can't tell you what you can and can't do to your body, that decision has to be right for you.

There's nothing really pressing that brought this to my mind other than just something that has been rattling around in my brain for a while.

In other news, it's Friday. I have a dilemma that is rolling around in my brain. You know how when you know what the right thing probably is, but it's hard to do and you know either way you won't be very happy with the outcomes? Yeah,t hat's where I am right now.

Jay is going to stay with his Gigi and Papa tomorrow night. Originally it was because I had a paper due next week, but that deadline has been pushed back two mroe weeks. Planning to use the time to catch up on other work and maybe get ahead of the game for once. Possibly dinner with new friends tomorrow night. Spend time with Nell. I feel like we're so wrapped up in everything else that she doesn't always get the individual attention that Jay has always enjoyed. And Jay will definitely be getting special attention Saturday night with his Gigi!

Pictures of the kidlets...

Here is Jay pulling an ET moment. He wanted to sleep with all his stuffed animals. I'm afraid he gets this naturally.










Jay decided to share "Ruff Ruf" with his sister. Anyone who knows Jay knows what a big deal this is...










These are my favorites. Sibling love....

Monday, Monday...

As if Monday mornings weren't hard enough already, I just opened an e-mail that says our big DOJ visit for the hospital looks like it will happen the first week in November. Great. At least we'll be getting it over with, but things around here will be really kicking into high gear. For those not in the know, a few years ago the Atlanta journal Constitution ran a series of articles about unexplained deaths in Georgia's mental hospitals. While we were at the bottom of the list when it comes to incidents, the whole system was shown to be flawed. This prompted the Department of Justice to decide to investigate the hospitals. We were waiting and waiting for when they would make a visit to CSH. Many, many trees were lost in the task of copying documents requested, many man hours were spent figuring data and numbers. And they continues to postpone their visit until they finally said they weren't going to investigate CSH. They had seen enough at the few hospitals they visited to make a general assumption that all the hospitals had the same issues. So a settlement was reached with the state and plans were made that they would be able to come in basically whenever they chose. We have to show that we are making improvements in several areas and any time there is a problem, they can show up. Fast forward to this past Spring. We had a death in my building. And a pretty grisly one at that. One of our patients killed another patient in his room. Of course this brought DOJ down on us like a pack of spider monkeys. They visited, reviewed documents, etc. They identified areas that needed improvement. The week before my maternity leave they visited again to see if changes had been made. They were not satisfied with the changes that were made and that's how we became split from CSH. We are now directly supervised by the comissioner of Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilites and the forensic coordiantor for the state is working here in this building. So now we get word that it's time for DOJ to make their initial visit to survey the hospital. Take a baseline, if you will. And that will take place the first week in November. I'm expecting that things around here will be nuts! It always gets that way. The good news is that now that we're spilt from CSH, I think it will be much calmer. Cook building staff tend to be less reactive in general to these things. I think it will be handled better than it was in Powell where people just get really crazy about these things. I call it "Danger, Danger Will Robinson" mode! LOL

So that's it in a nutshell. Over the next six weeks or so if I seem crazier (than usual), you'll know why. As if I need anything added to my brain fogginess, now it's this.

Who said tomorrow's Monday?

This has been such a wild weekend. I don't feel like I ever really rested. Well, there was this one time Saturday afternoon when Nell was asleep in her bouncy seat and I laid on the loveseat with Jay's head at the other end and him lying on my legs. We slept that way for about thirty minutes. I had rounds this week, so I had to go walk the building yesterday and today. That was just peachy. The library fair (yay books!) was yesterday. I always love this. Mom came with us this year and I couldn't have made it without her! There were so many people and Jay was wild, plus Nell and then two bags of books. It was crazy, but fun. Got some good books. Jay had a blast. Replaced the tires and tubes on the bike. Now to figure out how to remove the chain so I can replace it. It's so rusted and the chain tool isn't working. Hoping to get it figured out soon...

Tomorrow is Jack's birthday. One more year until the big 4-0. I made an ice cream cake for him today. It didn't turn out just like I'd want. I forgot to put some layers of caramel between the cake and ice cream, then the "icing" was too runny. But I'm sure it'll taste great. Who doesn't like ice cream and cake? Maybe some pictures of the big mess tomorrow.

Last week saw the arrival of my newest niece Lucy. Whitney and Cole are parents. Even though they're Auburn fans, we still love little Lucy and can't wait to meet her this Thanksgiving.

I wanted to upload some pics of my kids, but blogger is being testy and I'm too tired. So pics tomorrow.

Permanent Brain Farts

When I was pregnant with Jay, my mom told me that when you're pregnant the blood flow is diverted partially from your brain to the baby and it causes memory loss, but after you have the baby, the memory will come back....she lied! Sometimes I feel like I'm just swimming through this permanent brain fog. Then get a couple of kids on top of that and you just lose it! Yesterday afternoon I had taken the kids for shots and when I was leaving Macon Nell started crying....loudly. I turned on the tibetan monk songs and all it did was make Jay mad. So he's just whining about me turning it off. I was returning a call to Uncle Bill and about the time he got on the phone I just couldn't even really remember my name! It was like I forgot who I was, where I was, etc... Then I get to work this morning and apparently after I unplugged the fridge to pump, I didn't plug it back in again...at 11:30am yesterday! So of course the leftovers in there I planned to eat for lunch today are ruined. Which means I'll have to go out for lunch instead of eating in and getting schoolwork done like I had hoped. I think I need some memory pills of anti-brain-fuzziness pills or something. That would be great with all the pills I'm taking every morning anyways! Zyrtec, cingulair, hydrochlorthiazide, prenatal vitamin, vitamin C, brewer's yeast, fenugreek. Bring it on!

Today is a long day for me. I have work, then I have class, then I'm doing my second of four administrative rounds tonight. Will also need to pump in there somewhere tonight so it will be a long night for me. I think I'm not going to push to get here too early tomorrow. This weekend is the library fair here and I can't wait. I really look forward to it every year. I already have two or three books that I'm waiting to read, but I need more! LOL Actually I generally get some good books there and this year Jay's old enough to enjoy the kids' games so he'll have a ball.

Another life change since Nell is that I have a new found love for all things caffeinated. I literally kissed my diet coke from the machine across the hall from my office this mroning...and it's my second one. Coffee too! I never really drank much pre-Nell, now I love it. I think I'll wait to wean myself off of it when Nell is three or something. For now it's a daily necessity.

Work issues I'm going to have to deal with today, need to get some reading and reviews done, need to get more work stuffs done. It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood! Hectic, and crazy, but beautiful!

Snowball Effect

When you start your morning out right on time or just a few minutes late things have a way of snowballing. I guess I just have to be resigned to the fact that about once a week I'm going to have a rough morning. That's been the pattern since I came back to work. They can't all be smooth. This morning as soon as I get to daycare Nell spits up all over my shirt. I get the kids in and think that maybe it will dry and not be noticable. By the time I get to the building, it's still noticeable. So I head on home and have to bypass a wreck to get there. Run in and change the shirt, then whack my head getting back into the car. On top of all this, my eczema which has been a mild inconvenience the past few days decided to come on out this morning to so I'm having issues relating to that as well. Come on Tuesday, what else have you got!?!?

If you need me I'll be hiding under my desk.....

Just another Manic Monday.......

Ooooh aoooooohhhh....

This weekend was filled with the good. Saturday was scrapbooking with friends. Nell went with me because it's never too early to start, right? I got about six pages done. I'm caught up through the first of December. Then Saturday evening was the Georgia game. I was so tired and missed the last quarter, but Jack ssaid it was amazing. Sunday I did some baking. Took the kids to Wal-Mart. I need to really find a more organized way of shopping. I feel like I spend a good bit of time staring at a piece of paper in my hand and looking for things. While I was there Jack called to say he had found my debit card. I was so mad and with a full cart of groceries. He brought it to WalMart for me and even took the kids home with him while I checked out. Had DishNetwork installed yesterday evening. The guy was at our house until like 7:30! Long day.

Maybe later I'll post some recipes and pics of what I've been doing, even though Jack made fun of me taking pictures of my cookies. I also have to do administrative rounds this week. Joy! Can't wait...

Circle of Life

Reminders everywhere today of this. This morning we doscovered that a little possum had entered Georgia's territory. He don't move no more.... Just now taking something to our storage room in the back of the building I happened on a spider with something in her web. Just stood and watched as she dispatched him and began draggin him to another part of her web. Life is short...shorter for some bugs and possums today.

Also tonight is the Indigo Girls playing in Macon. I first heard them playing at the Victorian Village in Macon when I was fifteen. I remember that concert and may even still have the shirt somewhere in the attic. Tonigh they're playing the Douglass Theater in Macon. I had thought about trying to go, but just couldn't think of how to arrange it with two kids and one being more needy these days. And who to go with. All those other questions. The concert sold out a week or so ago so I didn't have tot hink about it too much. But this morning I closed my office door for a little guitar game and my favorite way to play is to take my songbook and just randomly open it to a page and play that song. Yeah, about 75% of them have turned to an Indigo Girls song. Thanks universe for reminding me that I'm not going to that concert tomorrow!

I'm having a dilemma right now of how to spend Halloween. A group that I love to play music with is playing at a Fall Festival that night. they aren't expecting me since I usually take kids trick or treating that night. Usually I do this myself and Jack stay home and hands out candy. The past couple of years we've had less and less trick or treaters and I usually just drive Jay to a few friends' houses and go downtown where most of the businesses give out candy too. But I'm also thinking of just taking the whole family to the Fall Festival so I get to play music and they can just dress up for that. Not sure, need to give it more thought.

Sibling love

We had our first sibing related incident tonight. I've been taking nell into Jay's room at night to "tell him good-night." Tonight I had her lying with her head on his pillow so he could lie next to her (I was holding her the whole time) and he bumps heads with her when he lies down. Both were crying. It was nice. I felt so bad for her. Jay started crying because she was crying. It was lovely!

Made a corn tomato salad tonight for a bridal shower at work tomorrow that I won't even be able to attend. We have the Relay for Life luncheon tomorrow. Yay for my third free lunch this week! Two more days till the weekend! I can't wait for Friday. It's kind of funny. When I was on leave I almost lost track of the days most of the time until everyone on FB started posting their TGIF status updates. Now I'm there with them again. So looking forward to the weekend...

Decisions

This article makes me happy in so many ways. There have been several times in the past couple of weeks that I have thought about throwing in the towel with nursing. For no other reason than my convenience. It just takes so long to pump. Takes time out of my night and work day. Three times a day during the week. I know I' doing best for Nell and she is definitely benefiting. But this article really made me even more happy about my decision to breastfeed. It truly is best for my child and will help protect her from this nasty swiiiiine flu. Thank you CDC. I know that there are a lot of people out there who try to breast feed and it doesn't work out. With Jay I had to supplement. I nursed as long as I could, but we had to give him a bottle because he wasn't eating at first. I worked really hard to be able to nurse him, but we always had to supplement. There are a lot of people who just aren't successful at all and those people I support in their decision. You have to do what's right for you and your baby. It's the people who don't breastfeed because they just don't want to or they think it's gross or just don't even give it a try. Come on people, the CDC says it's important.

I'm so tired. It's been a busy day shuttling around town and back and forth to the Garden Clubs program in the Fellowship Hall. Tomorrow morning more of that, and trying to get caught up!

Rookie Mom Mistakes

This morning I made them! You'd think I hadn't done this before. First of all, Nell spits up...a bunch and misses the burp cloth with some so I ave to change shirts before I can even get out of the door! Then I walk in to daycare and raelize that I forgot bottles! Anything else they could have made do, but you can't forget the bottles! So I rush back home and get the bottles out of the fridge and run back to daycare. The sweet girl in the room met me outside and took them so I didn't have to go back in again.

Today we're having a Garden Therapy program at the chapel. I'm in charge of making 40 pens with flowers on them...forty of them. I'm just over halfway there, but with having the holiday yesterday it threw me off and I thought I had another day. Luckily Lisa found some left over from our Flower and Art show so I have those if I need them.

They're super simple to make. I'll add pics later, but you need a stick pen (the kind with the caps), floral tape and artificial flowers. I've found that the mum types work best. You take a piece of the floral tape and cut it in half lengthwise. Wrap this around the end of the pen. Then take the flower off of the stem and remove the plastic middle part. Stick the writing end of the pen through the hole in the flower and push the flower down to the end right against your tape. Do it this way instead of cutting it so it will be a snug fit. Then take your floral tape and wrap it starting at the end of the pen all the way up to the flower. They turn out really cute and are fun for flower themed party favors or just for fun. I've seen them in stores and they usually cost $5-$10. Mine cost less than $5 to make a bunch. the flowers I buy at the dollar store so a bunch is $1. The floral tape you can sometimes find there too, but it's never more than $3 and the pens you can buy the cheap kind that come 20 to a bag for a couple of dollars too.

Drinking for two???

Tonight I went to pick up dinner from Chili's. I love it when I don't have to cook! Plus with Jack not feeling 100% this weekend it's just easier. So I have to go in to the bar to pick it up. I took Nell since we're trying to limit her exposure to Jack, and I sit her carrier up in a bar stool (The ones with backs like chairs, very safe) and I go to sit in the chair next to her. The hostess rushes up to me and says she can seat me in a table if I want! I think she thought I was just going to sit up at the bar with my baby and get my drink on? It was pretty amusing.

Tomorrow is Labor Day so no work for me. We had hoped to take Jay fishing, but with Jack sick I don't know that it will happen. So I'm going to try to reschedule our playdate with Sidney since it never happened Saturday and maybe grill some chicken. If Jack isn't up to it I'll bake it (thrilling ain't it).

Some reading on tap for tomorrow and some knitting. I also need to check out the cash in the old bank so maybe I can take it to the bank and use it to get the new tires and tubes for the bike. I think that would help me know what else needs to be worked on.

Tutu Cute!

I made this with this. Gooo Dawgs. It was a disappointing game, but at least Nell was cute!

New project

I need another project like I need a hole in my head! LOL I bought a bike this morning at the Knights of Columbus yard sale! It was $5 and needs new tires and a new chain at least. Not sure what else it needs. I'll probably take it down to the bike shop one day and see what they say. I figure I can do a little bit here and there and maybe if there's any big work I can get it done for my birthday. I've been wanting a bike for a while and just hadn't had the opportunity or cash to get one. $5 seemed too good of a deal!

Other than that, we're having a lazy Saturday. My child who won't get up during the week was wide open at 5:00 this morning! Of course. We hit the yard sale. Jack's dad and our neices and nephew from Jefferson were here. The twins had not met Nell yet so that was fun. Jack Jr. took Jay for a haircut. Now we've had chicken nuggets and we're heading towards a nap! Maybe playdate this afternoon with Sidney.

I should get some reading done for school, but I also want to get some knitting done and finish up Nell's Georgia tutu!

Later taters!!

Work Week One

So I've almost made it through my first week back to work, broke the 200 pound mark I've been hanging around at for the past month, taken Nell for her first set of shots, been to my first code yellow....what else?

Actually it's been a pretty good week. I've gotten most of my questions asked and am meeting with the "big wig" from Atlanta who's here to run things some time next week. Am settling back in to a routine which is the best part for me. Catching up on work stuff. Still have some upcoming projects that need some attention including the Fall Musical which is in a couple of weeks and I have very few people agreeing to performa nd havgen't picked out music for the choir yet. Need to get my schoolwork finished finally. The clients on my new unit are all in transition phase. They are hopefully on their way out of the hospital so I'm working on some ideas for them. They want to go to breakfast on a Sunday. I also want to work with them on some health related/exercise stuff and want to set up once a month meal planning/cooking group. I think that would be fun and right up my alley!

Nell is adjusting well to daycare. I think it makes it so much easier to start out early. They get used to it easier and it's not so hard for her to leave me. She's such a good baby and is pretty much sleeping through the night these days! I'm so glad. Makes getting up for work a little easier. Note I said "a little." 5:30 am is soooo early!

We're doing a Labor Day thing this afternoon with snacks for the clients. Tomorrow I need to take Jay for a haircut and am trying to set up a playdate. Tomorrow afternoon is the Georgia game. Then it's a three day weekend! Yay for three day weekends!!