A few all-time favorite pics: Part 1...

Over the years, I have posted lots of pictures on facebook. Some humorous, some sweet. It was quite the trip down memory lane looking back. Here is the first installment of a few of my favs, in no particular order or date: 

The funeral for the baby bunny that was so carelessly killed by our dog. Such a mournful pose with their hands clasped... the devastation is evident.

The lovely task every parent hates... trying to take a good picture. I love this because Layla was not having it, and Summer was doing everything possible to make her smile.

While this was definitely a stressful time (no parent enjoys their child having to be put under anesthesia), she smiled her way through it and when they gave her the "silly medicine" it was kind of amazing.

My little worker bees... I said it then, I'll say it again now: I only hope they love cleaning this much when they are teenagers. 

Our family trip to the Alligator Farm in Saint Augustine. My caption then was about how it showed the personalities of all of my girls. 
Summer: Omg I'm totally scared but I will smile for the camera! 
Layla: Oooh what is this guy, let me squeeze his head!
Olivia: Mehhh I'll just go with the flow and look unfazed.


Makeup, Soccer and Speech...

The weekend flew by, per usual. The major exciting event in our house was.... Summer started soccer! On Saturday morning, the girls spent about an hour getting ready for a surprise. Matt took Summer and Layla to Dick's Sporting Goods to get all of the stuff that Summer needed. Of course they had to put makeup on and dresses before they left: 

Pretty sure he was more excited than she was, because they came back with a giant bag of shorts, cleats, balls, shin guards, socks, a water bottle, and a baseball tee (???). It doesn't matter that everything had some sort of pink in it... it is sports-related! Summer even said, "Daddy really likes that store!" Summer is our girlie-girl but she really did want to play soccer (and do ballet of course). Layla is dying to play soccer but everything seems to be parent-involved until you are three (which doesn't work so well when you have multiple kids). So, soccer happened... and while it may not be Summer's forte, she was by far the best-dressed (and only girl). (I really want to post a video, but for some reason videos from my iphone don't like to be normal when I put them on here. If anyone has any insight to this problem, please let me know). 

Soon enough Layla. Soon enough. 

On another note... did this weather wrench anyone else's day?? I made an appointment today for a women from a county program to come evaluate Layla's speech (she understands everything, doesn't shut up, but you can't understand SO much of what she is saying. Summer has to translate, and then Layla is like, "Yeahhhhhh" like you were a total idiot to not get what she was saying. A lot of frustration, so we are just getting an evaluation). I drop Summer off at school at 9:15, Olivia goes down for her nap at 10ish, so I figured 10:30 would be ideal for a quiet scenario to talk to this woman for about an hour. Enter bad weather and a two hour delay, and now everything is a mess. Summer should be going to school at 11:15 (but only until 1:45) which will be right in the middle of the speech evaluation. So, it looks like Summer won't be going to school today. I'm pretty sure 2 1/2 hours is pretty pointless... I'll just make her read me an extra book :o). I swear, I can make the most perfect plans and schedule, and no matter what... everything changes. This is why it is always so hard to balance a schedule vs being "go with the flow" as a parent. You always have to adapt, because your kids will surprise you in any way they can. 

Happy Monday!


My job...

So whenever I tell people I am a nurse at a jail, I get lots of questions and reactions. Yes, it may seem like a strange career path, but I actually really enjoy it. Here are a few questions that I usually get: 

1. Why a jail?
     *After I finished nursing school in December, 2011 (I gave birth to Olivia and then took my final eight days later), I was so burnt out. I took my NCLEX (nursing boards) in February, but didn't want to start working until Olivia was a little bit older. Essentially, this job has provided me the flexibility that I need with having three young children. I started out working once a week overnight in September, then got promoted to Chronic Care Nurse in mid-November. I now work 24 hours a week, so I usually go in crazy early one day (like 4-5am) and stay for 14-16 hours, and then crazy early again another day for 8-10 hours. I try to do it in two days but I may spread it out over three in the future. 

2. Do I ever get scared? 
     *Scared? Not really. Maybe a little nervous at times if I'm seeing a tatted up giant man who could flick me and I would go flying (but of course you can't ever act like you are scared. These people smell fear). Security there is extremely good, but you still always need to watch your back. You also never really know what a seriously mentally ill person will do, so you just have to be smart. I did get scared once when someone was getting seriously agitated and screaming so the correctional officer and I just ran out of the cell. Other than that moment, I have always felt pretty safe.  

3. Am I ever alone with the inmates?
     *(You have no idea how long it took me to call them inmates instead of patients). Yes, technically I am alone in the treatment room with them but the door is open and security is usually right outside the door or nearby. 

4. Do I get hit on? 
     *Yes. But mostly it is just a side compliment or something like that. I can always tell the correctional officer if anyone is being inappropriate and the inmate will get a ticket. 

5. How do I feel giving medical care to criminals? 
     *So I work at a jail, not a prison... inmates I deal with have shorter sentences (usually 18 months or less) or people awaiting sentencing. So yes, I do see people who have murdered someone, but I also see a lot of drug-related issues, DUI's, etc. I normally don't know what they have done (and a lot of times I don't really want to know). People in jail can be pathological liars or brutally honest. You have to handle people who are actually really in pain and really sick, and the ones who are drug seeking and try to do everything they can to get more more more. It is so completely different than a hospital where you really try to go above and beyond to make people as comfortable as possible. In a jail, you just have to say, "No, I can't get that for you." The ones who have finished detoxing are usually very normal, nice people with a lot of regrets. It can be really sad.

6. What is chronic care? 
     *I am the nurse in charge of everyone who has any type of chronic issue (high blood pressure, diabetes, HIV, asthma, seizures, cancer, etc) and also everyone on long term medications for anything (psych medications included). So in a facility with over 1500 inmates, you can imagine I am quite busy. I track these people, see them every 45 days (or more if they are unstable), talk to the doctor about their medications, problems, etc. Sidenote... working in the medical ward (which I still help out with when needed), I also see gun shot wounds, stab wounds, funky infections, you name it... it is kind of an ER/doctor's office all in one. You never know what you are going to get. 

Any other questions?? 


New Years Resolutions...

So I'm a few weeks late in making them, but ehhh... I figure better late than never. I like doing resolutions, but realistic ones that I can possibly attain. Some of these aren't hard-core measurable, but they are the direction that I want to head in. 

1. Have special individual time with each daughter once a month (Layla gets way too excited to go to the doctor because that is essentially the only time she gets to be alone with me. I can't let her have these middle child issues).

2. Keep up monthly dates with the hubby.

3. Wear a bikini this summer (I finally lost the baby weight but there needs to be some serious tightening before this becomes a reality). 

4. Plan meals consistently.

5. Start using coupons (I started this one last week. Between the weekly specials and coupons, I saved $73 at Harris Teeter!!! Amazeballs!!). 

6. Not have dishes left in the sink at night (I know some of you may gasp at the mere thought of going to bed without a spotless kitchen. I, my friends, am not one of them. If I'm exhausted, I have been known to sneak off to sleep... but then I'm so completely irritated at myself the next morning. I need to remind myself... it is ALWAYS worth it to do it right away).

7. Start a blog (Woohoo! I completed a resolution already!).

8. Write a note of appreciation to someone every month (I also need to resolve to buy more stamps, because whenever I think about doing this, I'm always like, "Well I can't mail it anyways..."). 

9. Buy less clothes but nicer ones (My husband questioned this one. Since I'm my normal size now, I don't have to worry about the whole "I don't want to buy expensive stuff in a size I don't plan on being for long." Let's be serious... Expensive jeans just make your butt look SO much better. Hmm... I should use the money I save by couponing... ). 

10. Put laundry away IMMEDIATELY after folding (There are few things that I get more irritated at than when a basket full of clean laundry gets confused with the dirty...aka peed-through pants get tossed in... and I have to re-wash everything). 

11. Keep a plant alive (this may be the hardest resolution I am going for). 

12. So this one sort of goes along with #1 but in a daily way. I was about to post this earlier this morning (without this resolution), but I woke up late (I worked for 17 hours yesterday, I'm sort of half-asleep as I type this), got Summer ready for school (thankfully Matt was able to drop her off) and discovered I have a flat tire (I will be walking to my sisters later to borrow her car to pick Summer up from school). I have laundry to do, bathrooms to clean, rugs to vacuum, etc. I usually try to get things done around the house in the morning while Olivia is taking her nap, so I try to set Layla up with toys, books, a show, something to keep her occupied. This morning, in my half-zombie state, I decided... screw it. The laundry will get done later. Who cares about a little toothpaste on the bathroom sink. I need my La time. So, we made brownies (she couldn't believe she was the one to put ALL of the ingredients in herself... and also, this will not help #3), read books, did a puzzle, and even now she is sitting in my lap while I type, looking at all of the pictures in my phone. A lot of times when I am this exhausted and try to get things done, my patience wears thin in about 0.237 seconds. Instead, we have had a fabulous morning. So, for 2013, I would like to have less of a task-oriented mindset (within reason... laundry won't do itself). My girlies and the hubs are the most important. 


A few weekend moments...

A few lovely moments from over the weekend... 

My fab babysitter Sofi (who watches the girls on Fridays while I work) put Summer's jacket on Olivia while they were playing around. Livi is now obsessed and brings it to me 13 times a day to put on. The Cruella Deville song from 101 Dalmations enters my head as she bops around... 

So my five--going on 35--year old daughter is now requesting for her hair to be curled every day. Clearly this is not something that is going to actually happen since it is often a feat for ME to even get makeup on, but on Saturday we had some time since Matt was home. When she put on my glasses, I had visions of the future and semi-freaked out. This is one of about 512 pictures my little diva had taken of her, but it may be my fav because of the awesome photobomb that Olivia managed in the background. 

Adding a video of the girls doing a "dance routine" is currently failing so I'll put it on  later... Happy Monday!!


Green Monster Smoothie

I realize I'm posting a smoothie recipe in the middle of January... but bear with me. It will be worth it. So last summer I got awkwardly obsessed with this smoothie. It is crazy healthy, and you literally cannot taste the spinach AT ALL. I got it from www.iowagirleats.com (an awesome blog for recipes) but I tweaked it slightly (as in I added ice and made some side comments)

-1 cup milk (I used organic 1%, but you can used almond, vanilla soy, skim, whatever...)
-1/2 cup 0% vanilla chobani greek yogurt (I don't like this type of yogurt normally but it is good in this)
-1 frozen sliced banana (MUST be frozen. I promise it isn't as good if it's not. I just get a bunch of ripe bananas, peel them, break them in chunks and put them in a freezer bag to have on hand)
-spoonful of peanut butter
-2-4 cups organic baby spinach (I throw in a few handfuls)
-15ish ice cubes

Blend until all of the little spinach pieces are gone and enjoy! I'm telling you, if all three of my kids love it (although they question why it is green), it has to be amazeballs. And it seriously fills me up until lunch. 


Best Friends...

Yes, they are on a moonbounce in our basement. 
Me: "So Summer, who is your best friend?" 
Summer: "Everyone is my friend."
Me: "Well that's great and so sweet. But do you have a best friend?" 
Summer: "Well yeah. Layla of course." 
This literally melted my heart. 

We have begun the "love hard, fight hard" stage between Summer and Layla. Olivia gets in there sometimes, but she has been deemed "The Destroyer" by Summer (a title she transferred from Layla. I sort of agree with it.). I'm just so happy they all have each other.  


Long long LONG day...

I posted this on facebook in the morning:

Planned on a nice, leisurely morning... here is a snippet: 
-Start making eggs for the kids. Let the dog out. Child #1 trips over the 47 things on the ground and starts crying. Forget about the dog. 
-Start making coffee when there is a knock at the door. Get totally startled (in part because I am not dressed/presentable in any way to see other humans), so coffee is spilled everywhere. Remember the dog is out and figure it is a wonderful neighbor at the door who deals with my flakiness.
-Go to the door. Thankfully it is a wonderful neighbor's daughter so my lack of appropriate clothing is okay. She tells me Emmie is out. I yell for Emmie and she comes running over.
-Smell burning eggs. Start to shut the front door because Emmie ran around back. Child #2 starts screaming because I am shutting the door on her fingers.
-Grab ice for child #2, make sure her fingers aren't broken, take the eggs off the stove, let the dog in. Hear child #3 yelling. Give child #2 gummies (don't judge), and go upstairs.
-Discover child #3 diaperless in her crib, with poop everywhere.

To recap: Dog out, spilled coffee, wonderful neighbors, burnt eggs, smashed fingers, gummies, and poop.

This was the rest of my day: 

-Put child #3 in the bath. Scrub her. Strip the crib sheets. Put them in the washing machine. Scrub down the crib. Put extra sheets on the crib. 
-Clean up the kitchen from the burnt eggs. Give children cereal and banana for breakfast. Clean up from breakfast. 
-Put child #3 down for her morning nap.Try to clean up the rest of the house. Fail at cleaning up.
-Child #3 wakes up. Go in her room and smell poop. Child #3 is yet again, diaperless in her crib with poop everywhere. 
--Put child #3 in the bath. Scrub her. Strip the crib sheets. Put them in the washing machine. Scrub down the crib. Put sheets from the first poopy load back on crib. 
-Fix lunch. Get ready for doctors appointment for child #2. Drop child #1 and child #3 off at sister's house.
-After doctors appointment, got a treat for child #2... a milkshake from McDonald's (again, don't judge). Give child #2 milkshake in the car. 
-Child #2 is exhausted from her nap, and doesn't want to hold her milkshake anymore. She puts it on child #1's booster seat next to her. Milkshake dumps over and spills everywhere. On a highway and can't pull over. Yell for child #2 to pick up the milkshake. She does, and dumps it all over herself. 
-Finally get off highway. Pull over and attempt to clean up the milkshake that is everywhere. 
-Pick up child #1 and child #3 from sister's. Go home. Emmie gets out while getting everyone inside the house but no one notices. 
-Wonderful neighbor #2 knocks on the door and brings Emmie back. Wonderful neighbor #2 asks if child #1 and child #2 want to come over to play and eat dinner with them. Almost kiss wonderful neighbor #2. 
-Husband isn't going to be home until super late, so eat cereal for dinner and give child #3 leftovers. Wash child #1's booster seat cover and wipe down rest of the seat. 
-Start doing dishes (sink is overflowing). Notice child #3 is quiet. Find this: 

-Pour a VERY large glass of wine. 


The why...

A few years ago, I began posting conversations on facebook that I had with my daughter Summer, or funny things that happened in my crazy life. They were deemed "Summerisms" by friends, and people started telling me how much they enjoyed them. I was told many times to write a book or start a blog, but I had never wanted to because I just didn't want the pressure... and I didn't think that anything I had to say was really that important or interesting enough for people to want to read. I know that right now my main issues are tantrums, potty training and poop explosions... but before I know it I will have three teenage girls (which is pretty much the scariest thing I can imagine). Older people stop me while I'm out and about and tell me to enjoy every moment when they are young because it will fly by. I'm not going to say I will enjoy every moment. I will attempt handle it with humor and as much patience as I have that day, write about it, then look back and laugh hysterically at the madness. So, my main reason in doing this is to record my memories. My life is pure chaos, I'm a disaster, my husband is a saint, my girls are adorable... and I'm doing the best that I can.