A Mouse in the Van!!!

Yesterday was a traumatic day!! I had my INTERVIEW for the $10,000 scholarship and so was already nervous. First, I had to take Patti to a doctor downtown. I was parellel parking and so I opened my van door to see if I was in the line and as I looked down, I saw a MOUSE jump onto my van and was scrambling trying to get in the door!!!! I freaked and slammed the door and turned to Patti who was in mid sentence and screamed, "GET OUT!! Open your door and get out!!" and I scrambled almost over her in my rush to GET OUT OF THAT VAN!!!! We both tumbled out and I ran around the van (and stood in the road) and saw to my absolute HORROR, the tail of a mouse hanging out of my closed door. Patti and I screamed and screamed and I ran back around, opened Patti's door and peered in but no mouse was visible on the inside..I ran back around and Patti and I continued to stand in the road while cars changed lanes to avoid us. We discussed options. I didn't want to open the door and allow the kritter to get in my van...Patti wanted to hold its tail while I opened the door so she could fling it out (I appreciated her bravery but I could not stand the thought!!) so I did what I always do...I called my knight in shining armour. Pete said, "Are you kidding me? I am on my way to a meeting..." I said, "I don't care...this is a man job and I cannot do it. You have to come right now and get this mouse out. I cannot drive with a mouse in my van.." I was hysterical... So he came... but to my ultimate terror, by the time he got there, the tail had disappeared!!! Ohmygraciousgoodness was that mouse in my vehicle????? He threw open all the doors, looked under the hood, checked under seats and in all compartments and declared the van "mousefree" but I could not would not absolutely refused to get in that van....now understand, if your heart stops, call me. If your child is so sick he needs 15 medfusion pumps running with pressor drips that have to titrated up and down based on vital signs and calculted out to mcg/kg/min, I'm your girl! but I DO NOT DO KRITTERS!!! Yes, I am a low country girl but I hate mice...I don't even like Tom and Jerry and I avoid Mickey Mouse at Disney World... so I took the keys to Pete's ratty old cracked windshield dirty disgusting camry and very happily drove to my interview with Patti while Pete laughingly left in the mouse van. I know I'll have to drive it eventually...but not today!

Happy Memorial Day

Patti was such a good sport!!


Am I tired...or what????


Such a gorgeous day

Kids are so easy to please!

Dad can be so funny...but always ready to serve his family!

ok...so usually we go to the beach for holidays but with gas prices skyrocketing and sooo many beach trips planned for the summer, we thought we'd just go to the lake...bad idea! I had worked all night and was exhausted (see my previous post!) so I took a 3 hour nap while Pete gathered stuff for a portable "cook-out" and packed the van with lake stuff. I awoke before noon and we went to the dam but it was so crowded they were not allowing anyone in. So...we went to Saluda Shoals park thinking we'd enjoy our lunch there while the twins played in the massive sprinklers...but it was closed for the holiday (how dumb!!!) So, we rode back by the dam but it was still too crowded and the lot was closed...now it was almost 2 and we were hungry and hot and the kids were growing restless...so we went to Walmart and bought a fun sprinkler and returned home, unloaded the van and ate on our back porch and watched the kids run through the sprinkler...not the great last family "Memorial Day Holiday" I wanted for Patti to remember but funny in its own little redneck way! (Next year I intend to have a pool and friends to invite over!!!)

A sad night in the Peds ICU

Last night was one of those nights that make me question why I love the PICU. We lost a child...a 12 year old beautiful boy. Two weeks ago he was healthy and active and driving his mom crazy. Then his appendix ruptured and he arrested in the ER...his heart stopped because of the overwhelming infection and it took 15 minutes and a lot of drugs to get the heartbeat back and then he came to us. He was so sick, we didn't have much hope but we tried so hard...he needed a special machine that only a few of us can run and so we all worked overtime these past 10 days...his family was large, close and devastated but they never lost hope. We knew about midnight that he wouldn't make it to morning and they all stayed at his bedside, softly singing (in awesome voices) while his Mama sobbed and his grandma begged him to hang on...it is hard to be professional at those times and finally, I just did my work with tears streaming. My own patient (a 4 year old gravely injured in a car crash) needed my complete attention as he is also very very ill and my heart was breaking for his mom as well because I honestly don't know if he'll survive either. I kept returning to the 12 year old's bedside when I could and holding a hand or hugging a grieving relative...and always watching his monitor as the numbers kept falling...his nurses and I exchanging looks of dread for what we knew was coming. Finally, he coded and we all worked as one in the perfect ballet that we know too well as the family continued to sing and pray and sob. It was an eerie and yet hauntingly beautiful backdrop to the code. His nurse pushed drugs and doctors and nurses took turns doing compressions...over and over, "succeeding" knowing all along it was only a temporary save...and finally, it ended as the sun rose. I was at my patient's bedside...still crying when I heard his Mama's sobs elevate to that primal scream that signifies a parent's ultimate loss. My little man needed me and I had to turn off my emotions, take a long steadying breath and care for his needs. Day shift arrived and as we reported off to each other, we spoke in hushed tones. There was no banter, no greetings, none of the usual cacaphony that accompanies shift change. In somber silence, night shift gathered belongings and left. We left together...our hearts ripped in shreds, our bodies exhausted...stopping to touch and quietly cry with the family... knowing no words that could comfort but trying anyway. It was a silent walk to the parking lot as we each struggled to gain composure...knowing this night might be repeated in the next few days as we were leaving several gravely ill children in the PICU. I tell people that I love my job because usually we win and it is so awesome when a child recovers...but this was one of those horrible terrible no good nights when we were no match for the illness that ravaged that precious little boy. I thought of my sister Jean and little Noah...and I cried all the way home. I thought of the scripture "Jesus wept" and I thought how thankful I am for the gift of salvation and eternal families. and when I got home, I hugged my children tight. As I fell asleep this morning, I whispered a prayer for tender mercies to be sent to that broken hearted mom who cried, "I'll miss you baby...I'll miss you so." And I heard again the sweet voices softly singing, Amazing Grace.

Tagged

1. Pick up the nearest book
2. Open to page 123
3. Find the 5th sentence
4. Post the next 3 sentences
5. Tag 3 people and acknowledge who tagged you


Okay, Christi Mayo tagged me...

This book is on my keyboard shelf...I think it is Patti's...I don't think it's mine, but anyway...

"Chicken Soup for the Girlfriend's Soul"

I love Mr and Mrs Hastings almost as much as I love my own parents, and Lucy is my best friend. But I didn't want to go to school that day. And I sure didn't want to see Lucy.

I tag LaNelle, Jean, and Beth!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Patti Lorraine

These are some of my favorite pics...I have many baby pictures of my Patti-cake but somehow I cannot find them so I'm begging my family to scan and email me copies...

I woke up about 7:30 am on the Saturday before Mother's Day 1990 and LaNelle and Peter were asking for juice. I heard the words but couldn't concentrate long enough to understand what they wanted. My brain was fuzzy and I felt weird so I got scared and called a friend to come over...I didn't even THINK I could possibly be in labor because I wasn't due for 10 days and LaNelle and Andrew were 3 weeks late! (Peter was born on his due date which was Father's Day but that's his story! check back in June) As my friend drove up, I doubled over with a contraction...this was pre cell phones and Pete was out delivering newspapers as a second job. Thank goodness just about then he called me to say he was going to eat breakfast with some other guys that delivered papers...I said, "I just had a serious labor pain, you better come home because I feel very weird." That was 8:00 am. My friend Barbra took the other kids to her house and Pete came straight home and we left for the hospital immediately (MaryBeth, I don't even think I had a bag packed!) I felt stupid for hurrying but after LaNelle my labors were short and I was going to a fancy new hospital on the other side of town so Pete sped...it had just opened..no nursey, only low risk pregnancies, all babies roomed in, there was a whole seperate parking lot with a seperate entrance for L&D, all private rooms with french doors leading to a private brick walled patio, with a jacuzzi in every room (which I never got to use!)...snazzy jazzy...and the TV was hidden in an armoir..oh yeah I thought this was my last baby and I was going out in style!!! We didn't even call our parents to tell them we were in labor because I was POSITIVE it was a false alarm and we were being silly...

we got in my room at the hospital at 8:40 and I was embarrassed and making a joke about running to the hospital like a 1st time Mom all excited over braxton-hicks pains and the nurse said "Well you are too cheerful to be in serious labor but I'll check you anyway after we get you settled" Right!! I was 8 cm dilated and 90 % effaced and that exam precipitated SERIOUS non stop horrendous PAIN...piggyback labor pains (another one starts before the first one ends!!!) I started crying and looked at Pete and said, "I'm not ever doing this again and I'm having this baby by 9 am." (It was 8:50) He and the nurse smirked over my head which just really made me mad...and when I get mad, I do not play around...I quit crying and told the nurse, "I'm serious, you better go call the nurse-midwife NOW!!" It's a good thing she was already at the hospital seeing another patient because I was ready to push at EXACTLY 9 am...

With just two pushes and NO stitches (THANK YOU PAT-PAT!!!!), my beautiful baby girl was born at 9:04 and weighed 8 lbs and 4 ounces. (10 days early!!!!!!) ha! dumb nurse!!

I seriously was in the shower by 9:15..and the nurse kept saying, "Why? you didn't even break a sweat! You still have on make-up. I don't even have to change the sheets! You should have a baby every year." WHATEVER!!!! We called our families and they all thought we were joking! Pete (who wasn't even a member yet) dressed and took all the other kids to Sacrament Meeting the next morning before they came to the hospital and brought me a rose from Church for having the youngest child! And then practically the WHOLE WARD came to visit (the hospital was very near our building...it was sooooo cool!). She was the first child of ours blessed in Church (Our Bishop, home teacher and my sister's family came to our house after Andrew was born and La, Peter and Andrew were blessed then). Patti's uncle, Jerry Edwards, pronounced her name and blessing on Fast Sunday in June at the Charlotte 4th Ward of the Charlotte South Stake in Charlotte, NC

I had thought Patti was a boy (her nursery was all baby blue) and I was so very very happy and excited to have another girl...I named her after her aunt and my best friends so she has an old person's name (she says only 40 year olds are named Patti) but I adore Pete's sister Patti and my two best friends were Patti Hall and Lorraine Love so she's Patti Lorraine. We called her that forever. I cannot believe she is 18...my sweet beautiful, kind, forgiving, righteous, talented and awesome daughter. She was my baby for over a decade and even though the twins are younger, she will always be my baby girl!!! I love you, Patti-cake!!

A threat or a consequence

So Connor was in a weird mood yesterday. Our DVD is broken and the girls wanted to watch a video on his PS2. He wanted to play golf on his PS2. I said the girls could watch a video. He pouted. and cried. and stomped his foot and said, "Well I'm going outside where it's hot and I'm going to run and run and run in the field and I'm not going to drink and I'm going to dehydrate and it will be your fault Patti!" At this point SB starts crying and begging Patti to go get him. I say, NO! He will be okay (it wasn't hot and he had just had an icee). About 30 minutes later (with SB biting her lip and fighting tears and watching out the window and totally not having any fun watching the video) he returns inside. "OKay, I'm not coming in to watch that movie. I want to play cards and if you don't play cards with me, I'm going to go back outside and run and I might run away." Sarah Beth dissolves into tears and Patti is laughing into the couch cushion. I am mad so I grab his arm and say, "Oh no. you are going in your room because that is the 2nd threat you have made and we do no threaten people in this house!" SB cries, "What's threat?" and I reply, "A threat is when you tell someone they have to do something you want them to do and that if they do not, you'll do something they will not like. A threat is very very bad!" So I turned around and marched himto his room and said, "You will not make threats in this house. You need to be kind to your sisters and share and you need to apologize for your behavior and since you are not doing those things, you now get to sit in time out!" As I was closing the door, I heard him mutter, "I thought we didn't make threats in this house!" hmmmm I wanted to blister his behind but I had to admit he had a point and how do children distinguish between the two? So, I waited until time out was over and he had cried and cried and when he finally opened the door and asked for me, I went in and he jumped in my arms and said, "I wish there was no satan and I could be good all the time like Steven and Heavenly Father." We rocked for awhile and had several good conversations about age of accountability, repentence, baptism, the sacrament, prayer, how good he almost always is and how much I love him and at last...the difference between a threat and a consequence with the main point being only parents can hand out consequences for actions...oh yeah...and grandparents and the Bishop and sometimes big brothers and sisters but not same age siblings or ones that are making wrong choices...yeah, parenting can be complicated! But worth it...so worth it! (and we love Steven dearly and agree he is great but somehow Connor thinks he is perfect like Heavenly Father??? Go Steven!)

I Promise Not To Reschedule...

Okay...I love this food and had a great time at Mary Beth's party and promised to have a party and even scheduled one that night for April 22...but the twins were sick so I rescheduled it for April 29 but Pete, Patti and I were sick...ok that is the end of the virus!!!!! We are absolutely without doubt going to HAVE THIS PARTY at MY HOUSE on May 20...I checked everyone's calendars on their blogs and it's not the last week for visiting teaching and I'm giving plenty of notice! Now, since I usually am awful at remembering to INVITE people, I am having a contest..anyone who brings a noninvited guest gets a gift from me and whoever brings the most guests gets one of my special-nobody-cooks-it-as-good-as-me Lasagna Casserole...cooked from scratch all ready in a disposable pan you can heat and eat right away or freeze and eat whenever so PLEASE come. (I know you all think it's not going to happen...put it on your calendar, please!) It will be fun!