When I grow up...

Preston informed me yesterday that he's decided what he wants to be when he grows up:

"When I grow up, I want to be a vet at a zoo. I want to take care of the tigers. Plus, they would let me ride the elephants."

Good to have a goal! :)

Bad Blogger!

I know I've been a bad blogger recently. I haven't managed to post much at all. But in my defense, it has been REALLY busy around here.

1. I spent the last weeks of April and 1st week of May frantically trying to finish everything up for a big education session we were having. 250+ nurse supervisors and administrators coming to Denver for a week and I was in charge of all the sessions, presenter materials, activities during the sessions, etc. Talk about stressed! I was working flat-out all day at the office - to the point that as I was leaving for the day I would realize that I'd never had a chance to do things like eat lunch... or go to the bathroom. Then I'd go home and work some more; going to bed around 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. then getting up by 5:00 to go back to the office and start in again.




2. It was a relief when the time for the conference actually arrived! At least the end was in sight. And the conference itself actually went great! The sessions (mostly) went as planned. The attendees enjoyed the week. My boss was happy. Her bosses were happy. We (the planning group) were exhausted but very happy. I was VERY glad that my awesome mother agreed to come over and help for the week. It meant I didn't have to feel so bad about the early mornings and late nights all week (I barely saw the kids). I did feel bad for my poor mother having to deal with all of that! But I was glad she was there to help Aaron. I was ESPECIALLY glad on Wednesday, when...




3. The school called in the middle of a session. They were letting me know that Haley had pink-eye and had to go home immediately. Thank goodness Mom was there at the house, so she could pick Haley up and take her home. The pink-eye started a wonderful round of sickness at our house. Pink-eye for all! Actually, Aaron and I escaped it, and only Haley had a really bad case of it. Poor Preston did have to miss his preschool graduation, though. As the pink-eye was winding down, Rylen got sick with RSV. So the week after the conference I was home with him all week because he was just too sick and miserable to go to daycare. Just as I thought I could go back to work on Thursday, Brekken threw up on Wednesday night. Then Preston woke in the night complaining that he was really sick and about to throw up. So I stayed home on Thursday, too. And Preston missed his last day of school and the party for that, but both the older boys seemed fine by about noon. I actually went to work on Friday! Thank goodness, because I was out of sick time.




4. While all of the above was going on, we were getting ready for the kids' choir performance. Haley and Preston are both in Sounds of Joy and they've been practicing for a musical for the last few months. The performances were - you guessed it - last week. So in the midst of all the illness, we had to juggle in practices for the healthy (healthier?) ones. 4 hours on Tuesday night. Another 4 hours Wednesday night. Performances on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. The kids did great and it was a very fun show - but everyone was pretty tired out by the end of the week.




5. Oh, and we had two birthdays (Brekken & Preston) to celebrate, too. Had to work that in. And the end of school, field days, assemblies, etc.

So finally, it's all at an end. Things are back to normal with work and kids. Right? Except that yesterday (Sunday) Rylen still had that nasty RSV cough. And Brekken started running a fever. By the end of the day, we hoped things were looking up. Everyone seemed well enough to go to daycare on Monday - so I went to work.

Sure enough, an hour after I got to work, I got a call from Aaron. Brekken is throwing up. Rylen is running a fever again. Preston is complaining that he doesn't feel well. I'm going home...

Maybe TOMORROW things will be back to normal. I hope to eventually get some sleep.

Quick Funny from Brekken

It's Brekken's birthday and he desperately wants to open his presents. He keeps picking them up and shaking them next to his ear, then making a random guess at what might be inside.

"I think it's a burrito!"

"Maybe it's a periscope!"

The presents are from Grandma & Grandpa Shields, so I can't be certain, but I'm fairly sure they did not send a burrito or a periscope.

When Brekken started to open one of the presents, I reminded him that he needed to wait until Daddy got home.

"Why?!?"

"Because Daddy would be sad if you opened presents without him. He wants to see what you got."

"Don't worry, I will tell him later."

5:55 a.m.

5:55 a.m.
What is that irritating sound? It's not my alarm. I think it's a phone beeping to be charged. Is it my phone? Wait, what time is it? Should my alarm be going off? WHAT!?!? Why didn't my alarm go off? I'm supposed to leave to catch the bus right now!! CRAP! I guess I'm driving today.

5:57 a.m.
Okay, I can still get to work on time. As long as I leave by 6:30, I can be in the office by 7:15 to start packing up for the convention. I just have to be quick. 10 minutes to brush my teeth and shower. 5 minutes for clothes and makeup. 15 minutes to change the baby, give him his medicine, and feed him. No problem.

6:07 a.m.
Shoot! What happened to the time? How has is been 10 minutes already? I haven't even made it into the shower yet.

6:12
Okay, see, that was nice and fast. Now just dry off, yank the hair into a ponytail and put on some clothes. We're still okay here. So I get there by 7:30. Georgette probably won't be there by 7:30 anyway. We just have to have everything packed by noon - if we start by 8:00 we're probably okay.

6:15 a.m.
Thank goodness I laid out today's clothes before going to bed last night. That really speeds things up. I should do that more often. So, just a little moisturizer and I'm good. No meetings or anything today, I don't need to worry about makeup. My lips are a little dry, though. Maybe some chapstick. Oooo... I have that nice lipstain with the moisturizing gloss - I could put on some of that. Yeah, that looks good. Oh great. Is that a zit on my chin? Okay, a little concealer. It doesn't really conceal all that well on its own though. So alright, just a quick coat of foundation. And a little powder, because that's what I do when I wear foundation. So done! Oh, except I forgot mascara. And I'm already wearing foundation and lipstick. I guess I could add a little eyeliner and some shadow. Now I look all dressed up. All dressed up to spend the morning packing, that makes a lot of sense.

6:25 a.m.
Gaah! Why did I spend all that time messing with makeup? I have a schedule to meet, here! Okay baby, wake up! Time for medicine. No - don't drool it out! I don't have time for you to resist on this...

6:30 a.m.
Baby medicine - check. Baby changed - check. Now if you'll just cooperate and eat fast...

6:40 a.m.
That's going to have to be enough to hold you for the morning. I have to get going! That's right, lay back down in the crib... go back to sleep...

SHHH! Brekken, don't talk! Why are you up? Just climb in bed with Daddy and be very quiet, okay?

6:45 a.m.
Okay, kissed everyone goodbye. Everyone still sleeping - except Brekken, but he's watching cartoons quietly from the bed. I'm only an hour late leaving the house... I hope this isn't an indicator of how the day will go. [For the record, it was...]

It finally happened...

So after all my paranoia over the last couple of months that I would accidentally go to work without a shirt, or walk out of my office with my shirt unbuttoned, or somehow expose myself in an embarrassing fashion... today it happened.

And it was totally not my fault! And it was really not as bad as you'd think it would be.

Let me set the scene for you. I was in my office pumping. Because I'm so swamped getting ready for this convention right now, I have no time to actually take a break and pump. I put up my sign on the outside of the door telling people I'm pumping, please don't disturb. Then, since I have a hands-free pumping band, I pull up my shirt, strap on the pump, and keep working away. So I sit there facing the (closed) door.

There was a quick tap at the door. Then before I could say a word (like - Don't come in. I'll be with you in a moment. Something along those lines.) the door pops open and in comes the CEO. He started talking as he walked in and then he suddenly registered what I was doing.

I pulled my sweater around me to cover up as best I could, smiled at him, and said: "Hi."

I've never seen such a comically horrified look as was on his face as he backed out of the office as fast as possible.

I talked to him later to find out what he'd needed, and he apologized for barging in. I told him it was fine - and it really was. It was really more amusing than embarrassing because he was so obviously horrified to have intruded.

So then it was all over with - you'd think.

Except that later in the day, I was pumping again. (I generally pump twice a day.) And here came that same knock on the door. This time, at least, he didn't immediately open the door. I had time to ask him to wait a minute, then put myself back together before opening the door. The poor man's face was beet red as he realized he had almost done it again.

As a co-worker pointed out to me, perhaps today is a good day to ask for a raise. ;)

Party in the USA

Like most everyone else in the U.S.A. last night we saw the news last night about Osama bin Laden. When they first broke in with the "Breaking News" banner, we started speculating about what it could be. Something tragic like a plane crash? Something worrisome like an escalation of the conflicts in the Middle East? Something not truly newsworthy like Donald Trump announcing an election bid?

We definitely didn't expect the announcement of Osama bin Laden's death. To tell the truth, he's really fallen off the radar for me lately. I'm sure he's been doing things behind the scenes that I'm just not aware of, but since he hasn't been front and center in the news recently, I'd kind of forgotten about his existence.

Now that I've been reminded of his existence and his actions over the course of his life, I am very glad to have him no longer out there plotting against the U.S.A. I worry about what others in his organization might plan - either as retaliation or as a way of showing that they're still as big and bad as ever.

One thing I don't understand is the partying in the streets after the announcement. Like I said, I'm glad he is no longer heading up Al Qaeda. I don't have a problem at all with Special Forces taking him out, because it seems like something that had to be done to neutralize the threat he posed. But the fact is that no matter how evil he was, he was still a human being at the core of it. And it feels wrong to me to celebrate the death of any human being.

So I didn't join in any partying in the streets. Though Aaron and I joked that if we were truly patriotic we would roust the kids out of bed and head down to the Colorado capitol building with our American flag. And then we went to bed instead. ;D