Week in Review

It's been an interesting week. Nothing too exciting, just more of the usual. But I thought I'd just post anyway. I always have something to say, just not always time to sit and write and say it!

I discovered two interesting things about Spencer yesterday: 1. Spencer is afraid of elevators. I took him to work to complete this dumb accucheck test thing that needs done by the end of the month or I won't be certified (and I knew that inevitably there won't be time to complete it while I'm at work...). Whatever, the CNAs always do my accuchecks anyway. Oh yes, Spencer. SO he freaked out on the elevator. As we stopped at every floor before arriving to my 5th floor (a million other people were on the elevator too, stopping at each floor) I couldn't figure out why he suddenly was trying to squirm his way out of his stroller. It took me until we were leaving and going BACK down the elevator to figure out that he really didn't like that sensation. Interesting. Especially since we took him on Pirates and a million other rides at Disneyland only a few months ago. I wonder how he'd react to those rides now! 2. Spencer likes pop rocks. Yes, I gave them to him, but I maintain that it was Grandma Smith's fault for sending them!:) Adam couldn't believe that I gave Spencer a taste, but well, I guess it's because he's my second kid. I know he'll live...and he was whining for them so I decided he HAD to try them!:)

Justin had a soccer game today. I wish I could report that he's getting more into it, more aggressive in trying to get in and get the ball, but I actually think he's going backwards in that regard. Adam says it's no big deal and that he's "having fun." While I agree that he's having fun, I just don't know. Maybe it's because I've watched this kid slide backwards in certain areas through the years and I just don't want his motor skills to go backwards. I need to sign him up for swimming, I think it starts soon. That kid is so afraid of water, it's not funny. Poor guy. I know that I did this too at around his age, but I think the difference was that I knew how to swim at 2 years old and he still doesn't. One step at a time I guess.

On Wednesday I got to take care of a 35 week pregnant woman. Yes, she was on my cancer floor, and no, no cancer for her (yay!). I guess the OB floor didn't have room for her and since she wasn't in labor and had other medical issues they decided it was fine to have her on our floor. I had to laugh when I gave report though to the next nurse taking her after me. My coworker said, "Melissa, if this lady goes into labor I won't know what to do. And I'll be really mad at you!" I told her that it's not like her baby would just magically fly out of her body, that all she would need to do is wheel her right on downstairs to the L&D floor! Ha! Anyway, I really enjoyed this patient. I realized how nice it was to take care of someone who wasn't quite so sick as the others we care for. I guess having her and then also taking care of a lady who had had a potentially permanant (and fatal) reaction to some chemotherapy in the same shift gave me a different perspective on things. While I said at the end of nursing school that I could never care for kids because I'm one of "those moms" who no nurse would want to deal with if my kid were in the hospital and that it would be hard for me to separate being a mom to caring for others' kids, I'm not totally sure now. I think I'd like OB, except for the fact that when things go wrong, they go REALLY wrong and I don't know how I'd handle that emotionally. I've dealt with plenty of families with their loved one dying. I've been the one to "pronounce death" before and to have to turn to the family after listening for heart tones and tell them that their family member indeed is dead is certainly hard. I don't know. I know that I love nursing, I just feel like I'm in a weird place at this point. Torn I guess. I love my boss, I love my coworkers. I love my patients. But things have been more than demanding lately and I know, it's only 8 hours of work (that usually is around 10) and it may just sound like I'm whining, but I think with all the other nutty stuff in my life right now, those 8 hours are hard to psych myself up for, and then spend the next day recovering from. Maybe I'm a whimp. I look at the other girls on my floor who seem to have it more difficult, one girl is only a year or two older than me and has 5 kids, and works FULLTIME. I just don't know how she does it. I have a hard enough time leaving the kids with Adam for 5 of the 8 hours of my shift. And yet I know it's good for me, that I NEED that time to "lose myself" in serving others while I don't think about me, my worries, and my family. Hmm. I just don't know. But for now, we need the money so I guess I'm stuck!

Today was great. Adam is working tonight, a friend split his call and he's only taking the night shift portion. So that meant that he could be awake and play with the kids today instead of needing to sleep (or just plain being gone for 30 hours as is a usual Saturday call). He asked what I wanted him to do today. I told him that the only thing I wanted him to do was to watch/play with the kids while I cleaned house. I think my house finally reached that "I-can't-take-it-anymore" level of dirtyness (sadly enough!). Since Spencer is just getting more and more demanding (it seems) unless someone is around to amuse him and only him, I get nothing done but play with him. And while I know that's most important, there still is kind of a "standard" of dirtyness that is humanly acceptable...and I think I crossed the line! It was SO nice to have the morning to scrub, REALLY scrub the bathrooms down. Boys really do icky up bathrooms, I don't know how Adam's mom survived with 6 kid-boys sharing a bathroom, eww! Anyway, so I scrubbed bathrooms and worked on cleaning my room. It seems that my room is always the last to get cleaned. It was just nice to ignore the crying kid(s) and get some work done! YAY! Then we went to Justin's soccer game (next week is the last one. He's had awesome coaches, I hope we get good ones in the future!). I was able to get a lasagne made tonight, all ready for the oven. It's Adam's and my favorite. I absolutely hate ricotta cheese (I think I might be the only one in the world that thinks that stuff is from the devil!) and "cottage cheese" versions of lasagne; I think this one is the BEST. And it always turns out so pretty. Wish I had a picture but I'm going to bake it off when we get home from church, all hungry from fast Sunday tomorrow so I suppose it's not technically done yet. Yum, salad, french bread and that tasty lasagne, I can't wait!:) There's nothing better than completing a day and feeling like I actually accomplished something. Whew. Now for tomorrow, Sunday, hopefully I'll get a day of rest....does THAT really exist??:)