This Morning's Bus Stop Conversation

"Hey, Mom, do you know you have gray hair?"

"Yeah, Mom, you have a lot of gray hair right there."

"Gee, thanks guys."

I teach my kids to tell the truth, and this is what I get. :-)

Happy Birthday Jacquelynne

Jacquelynne turned 11 three days ago. Wow, time sure flies. So in honor of the prettiest young lady in 5th grade this year, here are 11 things about Jacquelynne:

11. She shares my middle name.
10. She is an incredible artist with a very good eye for balance and composition.
9. She is sensitive and caring toward all her younger siblings.
8. She has my attitude.
7. She is growing up so fast, and taking longer to get ready in the morning.
6. She loves purple.
5. She already has her vet school picked out for after college.
4. She is an avid reader, and is currently enjoying historical fiction books.
3. She is our little dog trainer.
2. Her favorite TV shows are on Animal Planet.
1. She is growing into an amazingly beautiful young lady.

- Love you sweetie,
Mom

Lipstick

Monday night was meet the teacher night for Back to School. As we were getting ready to go to 3 different schools to meet 5 sets of teachers, Joseph's sweet little heart showed through again. I had the kids gathering their school supplies to load in the car and get their shoes on and I told them that we had 10 minutes to get out the door. I was heading upstairs and told them I need to "put my face on" and they needed to be ready when I was done. (Yes, I have this down to 5 minutes or less on most days)

Anyway, as I was turning to go upstairs, Joseph looked up at me with his fully loaded backpack on his back and his arms full of Kleenex boxes and said, "But mom, I think you already have your pretty face on." Aww. I told him thank you and gave him a kiss and he added, "you just need lipstick, that's all."

He made my day!

Happy Birthday Jackson

Today my very first baby turns 13. What a wonderful young man he is. It is hard to believe it has been 13 years since I first saw his perfect little face. Today, he is a teenager and at the beginning of a new chapter. Being his mom just keeps getting better and better.

This week he is off on his grand 13 year old adventure with Grandpa and Grammy. He boarded a plane on his own last Friday. Everyday this week they have jam packed outings customized just for him. They have explored the International Spy Museum in D.C., visited the civil war battle site Antietam, seen the new Harry Potter movie, visited the National Zoo, and the week is only half over. And Tuesday night they went to my sister's house to see his Aunt Chrisi, Uncle John, my mom, and his 3 cousins to celebrate his birthday.

As hard as it was to let him go, I know he is having such a great time. So in honor of the big 13, here are 13 things about Jackson:

13. He is compassionate with his younger siblings.
12. He is intelligent and curious, and a terrific learner.
11. He is a fan of Harry Potter and Star Wars.
10. He reads books to his little sister.
9. He taught himself how to make stop action movies with Windows Movie Maker, Lego's, and my old camera.
8. He spent last summer with one of my old German text books just because he wanted to learn something new.
7. He can build a house of cards.
6. He plays the viola so beautifully it brings tears to my eyes to sit and listen.
5. He is my tech support kid. He can plug in and set up the DVR, DVD, Wii, Xbox, and computer.
4. He sang a solo part at our church in front of approximately 3000 people when he was only 9.
3. He draws cartoons.
2. He is funny.
1. He is now a teenager.

I love you buddy!
-Mom

Lazy Morning and Wii

After cleaning the house top to bottom last week, we are enjoying a lazy, rainy morning today.

Quick update on last week's cleaning frenzy... 5 large bags stuffed full of kids clothes went to goodwill. Yippee!!! I *LOVE* cleaning out and purging stuff we can no longer use.

So this morning, we are playing Wii NASCAR racing. The kids are so much better than I am. OK, really, I am terrible at this game. However, playing with the kids is fun. My favorite Wii game is the Family Game Night set. Battleship is my game.

Gotta run now. Almost my turn.

Cleaning Day

It is cleaning day here at the funny farm. We have stripped bare the kids bedrooms, thrown out garbage bags full of papers and broken toys, and filled old Wal-mart sacks full of shoes that are too little. My washing machine has been loaded to the brim 3 times so far, and the pile just keeps growing. 5 beds of linens make for a mighty big laundry pile.

All five kids have wiggled under beds and into the far reaches of closets. I cannot even count the number of times I have heard them say, "Wow, having five kids is a lot of work."

Now, we are all taking a break for apple slices and a card game. All of us except the washing machine that is. :-)

Not so fun to read about I am sure. But a clean house is always a good thing.

Big Scare, Glad It Is Over.

Two days ago, we had one of our biggest scares ever. Jenna fell and hit her head while rough housing with her older brothers. For several minutes I told her she was ok and tried to sooth her crying. Something wasn't right. I can't tell you exactly what it was, maybe the way she held her head, maybe the way she told me, "I'm trying not to cry." But something wasn't right. This went on for several minutes. My gut told me we needed to have her seen by a doctor. So, I told her to get her shoes, that we would go to the doctor. I gathered my things and got ready to go call the family doctor, and then everything changed. Jenna threw up. I mean, really bad kind of threw up.

I am not a doctor or a nurse, but since I do work in an ER, I have seen reactions from medical personnel change to key things (chest pain, trouble breathing, etc...). Every triage nurse I have ever worked with asks 2 questions to someone who hits their head. 1. Did they lose consciousness? 2. Did they throw up? If the answer is yes, they respond differently. So, combine that with my Jenna was nearly limp after vomiting, and my response changed very quickly too.

I scooped her up, she didn't need shoes anymore because I could carry her in faster than she could walk anyway. I told Jacquelynne to call daddy at work and tell him to meet us at the ER. Forget the family doc, he is a nice guy and pretty smart, but we now needed a cat scan and he doesn't have that at his office. So off we went to the ER.

There have been many times that families have complained to me at work that they have to sit too long in the waiting room to be seen. One thing that I know for sure is that non-life threatening cases do have to wait when we are overloaded. This may sound strange, but the ER is the one place you DON'T want to be first in line, because that means you are potentially really sick or injured.

Since I work in our local ER, I knew the registrars and nurses. I also knew it was not good to be pulled into the triage room and told that she would be going back to a bed as soon as her vitals were done. She was limp, rated her pain at a 10 out of 10, and threw up again in triage. I guess it is good that I don't know specifics of how bad it could really be, because I just cannot go there about my own kids. But I knew it just wasn't right. So we got a cat scan, saw the doctor, and I tried really hard to be patient. My baby was hurt, and I couldn't fix it.

Now for the good news: no fracture, no bleeding, no bruising. She will be fine. She had a concussion with nausea and vomiting. We stayed overnight in the hospital so she could be watched and get iv fluids and zofran to help with the nausea. We had to wake her every couple of hours, but she responded well. After a good long nap, she perked up enough to eat and was very happy to find out she could have all the jello and chicken noodle soup that she wanted, and that the pediatric unit is stocked with over 200 movie choices for her to pick from.

We are home now and she doesn't really like that she can't rough house for a few days. And, I am making her take naps because she doesn't realize that she is sleepy because she is still recovering. We will see the family doctor Thursday afternoon and hopefully get an "all clear." But at least I know she will have a full recovery and she is getting back to her old self again.

I am grateful that she is ok. I hate being the mom whose kid is so sick she cannot wait in the ER waiting room to be seen. Hopefully, we won't be doing that again any time soon.