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Random Photo
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Nate turns 3 years old today. Wow. It’s been 3 years already. I’m glad he’s feeling better and can enjoy his birthday. Two nights ago I went into his room to kiss him goodnight. When I sat down on the bed, I initially thought he had wet the bed (although that didn’t feel right as he is still wearing pull-ups). Amy was walking in behind me and immediately smelled the culprit. I don’t know how I missed it. Yes, what I had sat in was a pool of vomit. Yuck!
I pick him up out of his bed and take him to our room where he and I are stripped down. I then lay down with him on our bed and try to console him. I’m rubbing is back when I hear his stomach “gurble”.
"Do you need to go to the bathroom," I ask him.
"No," he says whilst hurling all over me.
Oh the fun of parenthood.
The guys in the IT department are out of control. Well, maybe just a bit silly. It’s standard practice around the office that when someone takes a vacation, the others (who aren’t so lucky) pull a prank on the vacationer. Last year my desk and computers were covered in Hello Kitty stickers.
This year, I was greeted on Monday morning after a wonderful week at the beach (those pics coming) with everything in and around my desk saran wrapped. When I say everything, I mean Everything. The guys at the office wrapped every cd, box of paper clips, pen, snack, you get the point. I’m still unwrapping things. Take a look at the pictures. Man, these guys are a hoot (jerks).
I found out yesterday that I passed the NCLEX-RN exam. Yay!!!!! What a tortuous experience that was…it is a “computer adaptive test,” which gives you a minimum of 75 questions and a maximum of 265. The test adapts to your answers as you proceed to determine what level of competence you are at, and will continue to ask similar questions until it is satisfied you understand the topic. Once you hit the 75 mark, if the computer is unable to determine whether you are above or below the pass-fail line, it will ask more questions until it becomes clear. I answered 75 questions, but let me tell you that I only really felt sure about maybe 10 of them. Yikes! Also, not all are multiple choice. Some questions are “select all that apply” and there may be 2 correct choices, there may be 6. Some questions ask you to prioritize the steps you would take while you’re performing some task with a patient. Do you give oxygen first or call the doctor first? Do you change the patient’s position third, before or after you stop their IV? But if you don’t check exactly the ones that are right, you miss the question. No partial credit. Seriously nerve racking!!!!! Glad I don’t have to do it over. Now, I can focus my nervous stomach on starting my new job as a RN next month. No pressure there, ha.
Well our little cruise proved to be quite an experience. Leaving out of Norfolk was a blast! Fortunately, we arrived to the port on the early side and the lines were short. Good thing, since after we got settled in our rooms and were relaxing on the balcony we saw the huge lines of people waiting in the 100 degree sun. It took us under an hour from parking to ship. Those poor folks must have waited close to three hours. We partied by the pool as the ship pulled out of port- great views, great music, really cool. Had a blast at dinner and in the casino that night. And the the next morning, it happened. Hmmm, what was that strange feeling? It was like being on an escalator that never stopped. A dizziness of sorts that came in waves and made the walls move in and out. Not nausea but a strange overwhelming sensation in your head. Yes, I got seasick on my graduation trip. The dramamine didn’t touch it, so my tour of the ship took me next to the infirmary. Apparently, this is not uncommon because they had a giant bin of free seasick pills for the taking. And I took. The dizziness subsided briefly to make way for the medicine head feeling of being in a tunnel. I don’t know which was worse. Needless to say, everyone was having fun without me. Lucky them. I did manage to make it to dinner (and to the casino for a bit again, heh heh), but it was a struggle. How many people actually lose weight on a cruise where they feed you 24/7? Here’s one. I was so happy to get off onto dry, non-moving land. Good thing it wasn’t a seven day cruise. For those of you considering your first cruise, do yourselves a favor and get that ear patch thing from your doctor before you go. I’m told it’s easy to prevent seasickness, but not so much to get rid of it after you have it. Chalking this one up to a learning experience…might even consider another cruise, but not anytime soon! Turn this ride off, already!
One of my coworkers, Erik, lives and works from Spain. His new camera prompts him to take more photos than he did before. He recently took a panoramic shot of a Spanish river basin during low tide. I thought it would be cool to see the picture across my three monitors. Yes, I know I’m a geek. Here is the original photo.
Well the summer is in full swing- complete with 90 degree-plus days. We are SO excited that in 3 days we will be boarding the Carnival Victory in Norfolk, VA for a short excursion sans children. Woo hoo! This is part graduation getaway for me, part anniversary celebration for one sister and part birthday present for another sister. All in all, 6 of us are traveling together. We have rooms with balconies next to each other, buffets galore, pools, and (my favorite) a casino! The ship doesn’t actually port anywhere, it just loops around out in the Atlantic and returns to Norfolk in a few days. Basically a big fat floating party. Much needed after 2 years of boot camp, er, nursing school.
Well, it’s been about a month since I finished school (although studying is still very much a part of my life as I await a test date for my nursing boards), and I am really enjoying the kids. Mostly. Seriously- props to all those mommies who do this day in and day out, because it is HARD. When I’m not breaking up fights or pulling out splinters, I’m cleaning up spills, washing muddy clothes, and wiping up washable (yeah right) markers. My wine consumption has increased during the month of May- ha ha. It seems that the trick to maintaining sanity is to get out of the house- even if only to the grocery store. But with gas prices these days, you can only go so far. We try to get to the pool, but it doesn’t open until 3 during the week. For some reason, all the lifeguards think they need to finish high school. Don’t they understand I’m going crazy here? We try to play with the neighbor kids regularly, too. Visiting grandparents, running errands, paying bills. Great, now it’s 5:30 and I don’t know what I’m going to fix for dinner. How do all you mommies out there keep it together? The boys are actually playing together right now very nicely. It’s sweet. But I’ve got about 3 more minuted before the *%!@ hits the fan. And I need to fold some clothes. Catch ya’ll later!