Merry Christmas

Everyone has their own Christmas Eve traditions, at this point in time, ours have not been set in stone. What we do on Christmas Eve varies from year to year because of circumstances, work or whatever. As a nurse, holidays are not able to be "sacred" for me. I worked Christmas Day the year Possum was born and I have worked most Thanksgivings since I became a nurse. This year, since I have been on leave, has been different. I have managed to "get" all the winter holidays off, which could only happen if I was on leave.

This year, we are having a nice, quiet Christmas Eve. We have a fire in the fire place (a real fire, a wood fire,) we are going to watch Its A Wonderful Life, and make some hot chocolate. Olivia will wear her red flannel nightgown and Possum will wear his red flannel jammies after they get their bath. Sofia got a Babies First Christmas sleeper from a friend of ours and she will sleep in that. Drew will sleep in whatever he chooses :o) Nice and quiet, but wonderful in every way.

I hope everyone gets to spend Christmas Eve they way they wish. I hope Santa is good to everyone. Merry Christmas!

Christmas This Year

Christmas this year has not taken the big role that it normally plays in our family. We didn't buy our tree until yesterday and we didn't decorate the tree, or the house, until today. We normally decorate the house right after Thanksgiving and the tree on my birthday (the 14th.) We love the holidays and we love decorating as a rule. Our decorating this year, though done today, is still limited from the norm. We only decorated inside the house, normally we decorate outside with lights as well.

It is funny in a way, the weekend after I got out of the hospital, I was looking at msnbc.com and saw an article about the holiday shopping season, and was taken aback. Holiday shopping season? What? What is this about the holidays? I had COMPLETELY forgotten about Christmas and shopping and decorating. Never mind I had gone shopping with my mom the DAY BEFORE I went into the hospital to have Sofia.

It is amazing how much Christmas has been de-prioritized this year. Our house is beautiful, it looks really nice, but it pales in comparison to my beautiful new baby girl. I am glad we finally got around to decorating though, as Possum and Olivia are enthralled by the lights, stockings, ornaments, etc.

I finished picking up the few things I needed today for Christmas. I got Drew's stocking stuffers, candy for everyone's stockings, and Sofia's gift. Yes, Sofia's gift, she only gets one gift this year, but I don't think she will mind. Actually, she gets one gift under the tree and one in her stocking, so I guess she technically gets two gifts. I can't say how relieved I am that I had 95% of my shopping done before Thanksgiving and 99% finished before Sofia came along. I finished the other 1% today, so that means no Christmas Eve shopping for me.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas.

Harry Potter

Thomas, Possum, Olivia, Sofia, and I went to see Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire today. Possum and I had already gone to see it with Drew on Thanksgiving, but Thomas had not managed to see it yet. So, today we all bundled up and went to the movies. This blog, however, isn't about this movie, or any of the movies really. I am going to write about the books.

The Harry Potter books are the best in modern literature, in my humble opinion. I don't say this because of the massive popularity, as that is not important to me. However, I do think the level of popularity is very indicative of the quality of these novels. The books are well written, have interesting characters, and fascinating plots. The characterization is one of my favorite aspects in the books, no one is two dimensional. The characters are multi-faceted and have many layers. There are so many sides to everyone. For example, Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts, is presented as this quirky Headmaster who is a brilliant wizard. As we get further in the series, we learn that Dumbledore is the only one Voldemort ever feared, and then, in The Order of The Phoenix, we got to see why.

J.K. Rowling has created an entire world full of interesting characters. J.K. Rowling has also managed to get kids who won't do anything but play video games to read 800 page novels, for this reason alone I think she has more than earned every penny of her wealth.

I am looking forward to the seventh, and final, installment of the Harry Potter series. I can't wait to find out how it ends, yet I am sad of the prospect of this coming to an end, yet I know everything comes to an end eventually.

Happy Birthday To Me

Today is my 32nd birthday and 32 doesn't feel any different than 31 did yesterday. I guess that is one thing I have come to understand, age is just a number and it only means what you allow it to mean. Of course, I still can't run for Senate since I am not 35 (if I remember my social studies correctly) but since I have no desire to run for public office, this really isn't a huge issue for me.

Today was a nice quiet day. I had two friends bake me birthday cakes, so if anyone wants to come over for cake, feel welcome as I have a ton of cake here.

Well, I meant to write more, but Sofia just woke up and feels the need to nurse, so I am going to head out for tonight. I will blog again soon.

Sofia Rhiannon

Sofia Rhiannon came into this world on Monday, December 5, 2005, at 2:11 PM. She weighed 8 lbs. 9 oz. and was 20.5 inches long.

The morning of her birth turned into a frustrating experience. My c-section was scheduled for noon. At 11:45 we found out my doctor was running late and wouldn't be at the hospital till 12:30. Hormonal me broke down into massive tears, but I finally calmed down just in time to find out that there was an emergency c-section and we wouldn't go back until 1:30, which of course caused me to break down once again. My poor OB walked in to find his patient bawling her eyes out. I love my OB though and he is great, he walked around and gave me a big hug and assured me that we would go back soon and everything would be fine. Well we did head back around 1:30 and, after some trial and error to get my epidural to work right, my beautiful baby girl was born.

My baby girl is lying on the couch next to me while I type this and as I look over at her I know she was worth every second of the wait for her. She is the most calm, serene baby I have ever seen. She barely cries at all. She squawks now and then, and at first we said she sounded like an ostrich, but now she has earned the nickname of "Chicken." She really is the most peaceful little baby and she brings a peace that I can't even describe. I don't know if this calmness, this sweetness will permeate her personality throughout her life or not, as it doesn't really matter as I can't wait to get to know her more as she grows.

Children are such a miracle, such a blessing. They are each unique and they each bring something special. It will be fascinating to watch Sofia carve her own place, in both our family and in the world.

The picture above shows her with her big brother Drew and her big sister Olivia. Olivia is enamored with Sofia, she just is blown away by her baby sister. As for Drew, Sofia already has him wrapped around her little finger. He so much loves holding her, more than he liked holding the others from what I can tell. As for Possum, he seems less affected by her presence, but he definitely knows she is here. Both he and Olivia have wanted to hold her and kiss her, I am very glad that her coming home has been best case scenario, which is what I hoped would happen, though we prepared ourselves for the worst case as well.

Well, I think this is all for tonight. I am going to go change Sofia's diaper and put a sleeper on her, then she can nurse till her heart's content and maybe we can get a few hours sleep.

Salvation Army Bell Ringers

I heard recently that Target stores have banned the Salvation Army bell ringers. Ten years ago, this would have bothered me. Now, however, I will probably frequent Target more often because of this ban.

In the past few years, my experiences with the bell ringers has not been a positive experience for me. The are standing closer and closer to the door and the attitude given if you "don't" drop any money in the pot is not a good thing. I don't know what has happened, but I have felt less and less comfortable going through any door that has a bell ringer. I do not feel this way for other charities who stand by the doors. The Knights of Columbus wander through the parking lot and I have never seen them come up to anyone uninvited.

As for the Salvation Army, I always try to put money in the pots during the Christmas season, however, they are outside EVERY store and if I go to ten different stores, I can't put money in ten different pots. If you don't put money in the pot, the bell ringers treat you like you are a terrible person. I would be more apt to contribute if there were less bell ringers around town as the "pressure" would not be so persistent. Sometimes I see a pot without a bell ringer and I wish there were more of those around as my problem isn't with the pots or the Salvation Army, just the bell ringers.

Oh well, just my opinion.

Update on Baby Coming Soon...

Sofia Rhiannon Wilson was born on Monday, December 5, 2005 at 2:11 PM. At birth she weighed 8lbs. 9oz. and was 20.5 inches long. For whatever reason, I cannot access the pictures on the other computer, so when I can, I will blog about my new baby girl.

Having My Baby

So, today is the big day. Thomas and I have to be at the hospital at 10:00 this morning for the c-section at noon. I should be home in two or three days based on how I am feeling, and barring anything unforeseen. I am not sure when I will get to blog again, or reply to any responses, so I don't want anyone to worry or think I am ignoring them. I will update my blog as soon as I can. I will ask for everyone to keep us in their prayers today.

Being a Nurse

One of the biggest challenges in my life was nursing school. I swore that if I made it through, I would never do something so insanely difficult in my life again. LOL, what did I know? Being a nurse is an even bigger challenge than nursing school EVER could have been. I love the challenge of my job, I love interacting with people (most of the time,) and I love my kids. I spent five and a half years as an adult surgical nurse, short of cardiac surgery I worked on most any type of surgery floor you can imagine. I have now spent one year as a pedicatric nurse and I have never been happier, professionally speaking.

I work in what is know as a float pool, which means I am pretty much assigned to a different floor every night (yes, I work twelve hour night shifts.) I work on every floor except the Cardiac ICU, though I do work in the Cardiac Step-Down Unit. The Cardiac Step-Down Unit and the Neonatal ICU are my favorite floors to work on currently. Why? The reason is simple, I love the babies. In the NICU, I only care for babies. On the cardiac floor, a good majority of the kids I care for are babies as well. Not that there is anything wrong with the older kids, I have great fun with them as well. I am not so hip on the teenagers, but then teenagers are a species in and of themselves. I can, and do, care for them, but I don't think I understand them very well (and I am only 31, not like it has been TOO long since my teen years!)

Okay, as for being a nurse; I am a good nurse, no strike that, I am a DAMNED good nurse. I am a better pediatric nurse than I ever was an adult nurse, but I love my patient population much more, and that makes all the difference in the world. I may sound like I am bragging or that I am prideful, and maybe I am, but I would want a nurse like me caring for my kids should they be sick. I know what my strengths and weaknesses are, and I do have weaknesses, but I actively try to work on those, and I have even conquered some. That being said, I do still feel like I am a fabulous nurse and I know that EVERY child I care for is getting the best care he/she possibly could get.

There was a time, earlier in my career, where I would have encouraged people to run as fast as they could from this profession as it is thankless most of the time. I would encourage everybody who receives good nursing care to thank their nurse. We aren't there for the thank yous, but they sure do mean a lot, especially when given sincerely. Would I still encourage young people to avoid this profession, well, that is a mixed answer. I would encourage them to work as an aide or a tech and see what they are getting into. Nursing is a demanding profession and is not for everyone. However, anyone who truly wants to be a nurse would have my encouragement every step of the way.

Demanding, challenging, thankless? Yes, those all describe nursing. But the adjective that comes most readily to my mind is rewarding.

St. Louis, MO

Thomas, Drew, and I moved to St. Louis in June of 2001. Thomas, Drew, Possum, Olivia, and I left in January of 2004. As you can see, the size of my family increased while living there, for that reason, if no other, St. Louis will always hold a special place in my heart.

To be honest, I didn't really like St. Louis, I couldn't wait to leave almost as soon as we moved there. Being from the South, I am used to very friendly people who go out of their way to welcome you, but nobody in St. Louis was like that as far as we could tell. Now, maybe I am not being fair, maybe it was just the people we lived near and worked with, but we did meet other transplants to the area who shared the same experiences we encountered. The only people we ever entertained in our home were people who were from somewhere else. That was hard on us as we are social people, when we moved to California we had more people in our home, having dinner, over for get togethers, or just hanging out in the six months we lived there than the entire time we lived in St. Louis.

Now, there is some good that came of our isolation, I must say. Thomas and I have a stronger relationship and marriage than anyone I know. He is the best friend I could ever ask for, not to mention husband, father, lover, etc. I can't say if we would be as close if we had spent so much of the early part of our marriage in a "friendlier" town.

All that said and done, I must admit there are MANY things I miss about St. Louis. I cannot ever imagine living there again, but we have talked about visiting with Possum and Olivia when they get older, so they can see where they were born. Not to mention, there are plenty of things to see and do that we want them to enjoy. So, the purpose of this blog is to list the things I enjoyed and miss about St. Louis.

1. Dr. Jacob Klein - now this may seem unusual to be the first thing on my list, but let me tell you, he is the best OB/GYN I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. He delivered Possum and I must say that the experience I had with Dr. Klein is one I have never had repeated. I like my doctor now, but Dr. Klein is one of those special people that I am fortunate enough to have known.

2. Casa Gallardo - a chain Mexican restaurant in the St. Louis area. I ate at a few of them, but the one in South County on Lindbergh was, by far, the best. The service was phenomenal and the food was to die for, I will have to eat there a few times when we go back to visit.

3. Ted Drewes - frozen custard is a St. Louis thing, I had never heard of frozen custard until I moved there. There were a TON of different frozen custard shops but none compared to Ted Drewes. Ted Drewes was worth a drive into the city even if you had no other reason to go. We also bought our Christmas tree there every year :o)

4. St. John's Mercy Medical Center - well, the labor and delivery aspect anyway, I can't speak to the rest of the hospital. I had Olivia at St. John's and I know neither of my hospital stays with my boys compared and I am pretty sure this next visit will not compare either. Babies are St. John's game and they play it superbly.

5. Imo's Pizza - St. Louis style pizza is very strange in my opinion and, with the exception of Imo's, I never did have any that I liked. The pizza is on a hard, cracker-like crust and topped with a thin sauce and provolone cheese. It was very unusual, and as I said, Imo's was the only place I liked to eat it. I will order from Imo's when we go visit.

6. The St. Louis Zoo - This is the most amazing zoo I have ever been to in my life. Besides the fact that it is gorgeous and the exhibits are phenomenal, its free. That's right, I said free. You only had to pay to park or to visit a "few" (very few) special exhibits. You could go completely free though if you wanted by parking on the many side streets and avoiding the exhibits that cost. I have been to many other zoos in my life and none compare to the St. Louis Zoo, I don't even want to get started on the Atlanta Zoo. I went once with a girlfriend and her kids and it was small, dingy, and expensive. I figure if I have to pay for entrance it should be FAR SUPERIOR to anything I can go to for free.

7. Other free stuff - there is plenty to do in St. Louis that doesn't cost money. Short of walking the mall in Atlanta or going to a park, there isn't anything free here. The Museum was free, the Science Center was free, etc. And these weren't dinky places, they were outstanding. I am not sure why things that can obviously be done for free cost so much money in other cities, but it is a shame.

8. Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital - I was hired to their PICU and worked there briefly before I moved. I wish I could have worked there longer, but everything happens for a reason. This area has another children's hospital, but I wouldn't take my dog there, let alone my child. Every nurse I worked with felt the same way. The other hospital gets all the recognition, but none of the medical people I knew would ever trust that facility with the care of their children. The stories I heard from nurses who had left the other hospital and come to Glennon was enough to make me want to run the other way. Cardinal Glennon was an amazing facility, by far the best Children's Hospital I have ever been to, including the one I work at now, however I do love the facility I work at now and my daughter has been a patient there, so I trust it very much.

Okay, with all those good points, why wouldn't I want to move back to St. Louis? That is probably what anyone who reads this is wondering. Even if I could get around the isolation, there is the fact that the area does not respect its nurses (unless things have changed in almost two years.) The pittance that hospitals pay their nurses is an insult. I have brought home paychecks here that were full double what I made as a night shift charge nurse at one hospital in St. Louis (and I was supposedly paid "better" because I was a charge nurse and a member of management, yet that was my worst paying job in the area overall.) The cost of living in this area is much cheaper than the St. Louis area, we pay less on rent, utilities, groceries, gas, etc than we ever did there, yet I make more than $10.00/hr more here than I ever did in St. Louis, at my best pay rate (and this is talking base pay, when I add on the shift differentials, it is more like $14.00/hr.) I worked with a nurse in California who was from Missouri (I can't remember where though) and she, like me, would not go back there because of the pay.

Oh well, every place has its good and bad. We experienced both in St. Louis and we are better people overall for the time we spent there. There are many things I would like to do there that I didn't before, like go up in the Arch and visit Grant's Farm and take a tour of Anheuser-Busch. I think though, that for the things I enjoyed and the things I miss most, with the exception of Glennon, I can experience them as a visitor to the area. I wish I had a zoo and a museum close by like the ones in St. Louis, but we all make compromises and I think the life we have now is better overall.

Tipping Etiquette

As anyone who has read my blog knows, I am out of work on bedrest because I went into early labor on Halloween. The company I work for, which has many good benefits, screws you on short term disability. I qualify and I receive it, but the way they do things makes it so I get less than half my usual take home pay. Because of this, Thomas is working and he is waiting tables at a nice family-style restaurant. Thomas is a SUPERB waiter, he has already been offered a job as a waiter trainer, but of course he refused since he won't work after I return to work.

Now my complaint is about the way folks tip, not all folks mind you, but a large number of people. Part of the expense of eating in a restaurant that employees a wait staff is leaving a tip, if you can't afford to leave a tip, you need to eat at a restaurant that doesn't have waiters/wairesses. Now, that being said, a tip is expected to be 15-20% of your total purchase, which means on a $50 check you need to leave $7.50 - $10.00. If you receive lousy service from a waiter, then I understand not tipping, but you also need to let the manager know of the problem because if you just don't leave a tip then the entire staff just thinks you are cheap. Believe me, everyone knows you didn't tip and they remember this should you come back into the restaurant again. If the waiter is bad, believe me the manager WANTS to know because it makes his restaurant look bad and could cause him to lose customers.

Thomas says the chronic non-tippers seem to be the most demanding of customers at times, the ones who keep him running for this and that, then either don't leave a tip or tell him to "keep the change." This usually means the check is $19.88 and he is given a twenty. I wonder if some people aren't taught about tipping or if they are just stupid, rude, and inconsiderate. A waiter is paid $2.13/hr and tips make up the rest of the salary. Thomas has told me of some really good managers who confront repeat customers who are chronic non-tippers, one previous manager he worked for encouraged a customer not to come back if he couldn't properly tip. One of the managers at Thomas' current job has said he has done the same thing before in the past. The other issue that people don't know is that a waiter is required to "tip out." This means that he has to give a total of 1% of his sales to the busboy, 1% to the bartender, and 1% to the person who helps set the trays up and carry them out to the customers. This is 3% of his sales, not his tips. So if he has a busy night and has $500 in sales, he has to tip out $15. This may not seem like a lot of money, but if you have crappy tippers, you many not have much money to bring home at the end of the night. Or if you think of the person with the $19.88 check out "tipped" 12 cents, then Thomas lost money on that table as the 3% he has to tip out is 59.6 cents. Tipping out is not optional.

I really would like to understand why people feel they don't need to tip. Thomas has averaged a very good salary every time he has had a job waiting tables. If there was a change and tipping was no longer allowed and restaurants had to start paying their waiters the salary they had been making in the past, where do you think the money would come from? From the bottom line? I don't think so. Menu items would increase in price 15-20% or more to make up the difference, and then there would be no statements about how one could not afford to eat out AND leave a tip. If you can't "afford" to leave a tip, you can't "afford" to eat out.

Black Friday

My post from yesterday and the reply I have gotten has made me think about my biggest pet peeve/complaint about the holiday season and that is Black Friday. I find it very offensive that retailers would make their employees get up and get to work for a store to open at 5:00 AM. What daycare opens at that time? Hopefully none of the employees are single parents who rely on daycare.

But beyond that, for me personally, I find it offensive that a retailer would have a sale start at 5:00 AM and end it six hours later. Why must I get up at that time in order to find the items I want at these great prices? I am not a Wal-Mart fan at all, the company could go out of business and I wouldn't miss them, but they had computers at $398 for six hours on Friday morning. If I was in the market for a new desktop or laptop PC, these were GREAT models especially for the price. However, if I didn't get to Wal-Mart at least an hour before it opened to wait in line, I wouldn't have a chance at getting one of these computers. Hear what happened to the guy who cut in line in Florida?

That brings me to my next point. People who are perfectly sane every other day of the year become absolutely insane the day after Thanksgiving. People fight each other for parking spaces, for the last Tickle Me Elmo (or whatever the toy of the year is,) for spots in the check-out line, etc. What happens to these normal people that they become horrible, terrible people on this one day? Actually, this is the worst day of the shopping season for people to act so terribly, but it continues on through the holiday season. What material item in the world is worth turning into a raving lunatic over? Are we really so materialistic?

The individual who replied to me state she/he saved over $160 on one item. That is wonderful, but I didn't even spend the amount she saved on each of my children. They probably will have around $100-$150 spent on each of them (except the baby, she is getting one item under the tree and one item in her stocking.) This is what we are spending on them, they will have more spent on them by grandparents and others, but not by us. It is not that we are cheap, it isn't even because I went out of work early and money is much tighter.

We buy our children things they want throughout the year, not great big items, but toys or movies or CD's or whatever, that they may want. We have found that they so hugely appreciate things when the get them in small doses, they become massively overwhelmed when they have tons of presents showered on them at one time. I know as they get older presents become more expensive, which is the challenge I have with Drew, but since we don't allow video games that does seeem to help control costs. I about had a fit when I saw the new X-Box was $400, who the heck spends that kind of money on ONE item for a child?

Okay, to get back on topic of Black Friday. I can only vaguely remember going shopping on that day once, and that was with my mom when I was a teenager. I have never gone on my own and cannot imagine a deal so good that I would go at any point in the future. I bought a newspaper on Thanksgiving and looked through all the sale ads and, I must say, there really weren't any sales that tempted me to get out of my bed that early on a Friday morning. I don't like to be used, and that is what the retailers do when they offer these sales for such a short period of time. I like to be treated with respect as a consumer, so when retailers stop trying to "lure" me into their stores at unreasonable times of the day, I will be more apt to spend my money there.

Best Laid Plans

In my previous post, I talked about our wonderful Thanksgiving we had planned. We would go see Harry Potter and eat at Golden Corral. Then we would come home and the kids would play and we would relax. Sounds great, right? Well, life sometimes gets in the way of our plans.

Thomas got sick on Wednesday night while at work and woke up a few times in the night to get sick. He didn't want us to change our plans however, so we all got ready to leave for the movie. About twenty minutes before we were to leave, Olivia got sick all over her beautiful outfit. So, Daddy and Olivia got into the jammies and watched the Macy's parade for a while, then they watched "James and the Giant Peach" and "Shrek 2." Drew, Possum, and I went to see Harry Potter after picking up some supplies at Walgreens for Daddy and Olivia.

After Harry Potter, we went to Golden Corral as planned. However, the line was huge and my Possum started acting like a tired three year old (go figure.) At this point I decided I didn't really want to eat Thanksgiving dinner separate and apart from my husband and daughter, so we got our dinner in to go containers and took it home. Olivia ate a red popsicle and the rest of us ate our Thanksgiving dinner out of to go boxes.

Definitely not the Thanksgiving we planned, but always one we will remember. Thomas says that Olivia was so sweet and would tell him when she was going to get sick. She went through about six nightgowns, but did a really good job of using the bucket Daddy got for her.

At least the abrupt change of plans wasn't because of me and the baby girl this time. We behaved fine and I am still pregnant. I reached my 37th week today, which is full term, so all is well should anything happen. I would like her to stay put until her scheduled arrival date so Grammy can be here as planned, but I am just pleased she stayed put so far.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and that most of you had more sense than to go shopping on Friday.

Take care,
Kimberly

Thanksgiving

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day and I have a lot of reasons to be thankful. I can think of the first five without even hesitating.

1. Thomas
2. Drew
3. Possum
4. Olivia
5. My Baby Girl

I have the most awesome family in the world, my husband and children are the biggest blessings in my life. There are more things I have to be thankful for, of course. I have a job I love in an amazing profession. I have friends I care about and who care about me. I have a mother who will be here a week from Friday to help out with my other children when I go in to have the baby on the fifth. I could go on, but I really don't need to at this point.

My family and I have developed our own Thanksgiving tradition. We have never really lived near family during our marriage, so we started eating out for Thanksgiving dinner. Cooking a huge meal for just us never seemed to be worthwhile. We have cooked a couple of times, but we end up throwing so much food away the next week, that it seems more of a waste than anything.

So tomorrow, we are taking our children to see the new Harry Potter movie at 11:00 and after the movie, we are going to Golden Corral for Thanksgiving dinner. At Golden Corral, everyone will be able to get what they want, but can pass up what they don't want. I know I want turkey, dressing, baked sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie. I am not exactly sure what will be on the buffet, but anything that is missing from my wish list can be made another night at home.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Turkey Day, no matter what kind of plans you have. Happy Thanksgiving.

Bon Jovi

Bon Jovi. Hmmmm, what can I say? Their website is in my links, and with good reason, they are my favorite band. I am a holdover from the 80's, I loved them then and I love them even more now. I remember their song "You Give Love a Bad Name," shocking the hell out of me and my sheltered world. That song seemed so BAD, I mean "I Want Your Sex," by George Michael didn't shock me as much, but maybe that's because I was a little less sheltered by that time.

Okay, Bon Jovi, I know, so many people scoff when I talk about them, but they are amazing. Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora are truly talented songwriters and the musicianship of the band is second to none. I am not sure why anyone scoffs at them, they have been around for more than 20 years. How many other bands that got started in 1984 can claim that? Not only are they still together, they are still recording new music and still getting radio play, and it isn't just old people like me who like their music. I mean, they got rid of Alec John Such and Hugh McDonald now plays bass for them, but that was a change for the BETTER in my opinion, a change for the MUCH BETTER.

Another thing I like about them, is that they appear to be a group of nice guys. Anything I ever hear refers to them as nice. Now, whether this is true or not, I cannot speak to, but I have never heard anything about them wrecking hotel rooms or getting into fights at concerts, etc. I also appreciate that they don't hang their dirty laundry out for the world to inspect. Whatever happens within the band seems to stay within the band, and I hugely respect that.

Now, as for their music, my favorite album is These Days. I think I am getting old, but that album is full of what I refer to as "grown up rock and roll." Now, don't get me wrong, I love their other music too, both old and new, but I definitely like music with a message. These Days is full of songs that make me think, and sometimes not about easy things. "Hey God" is definitely not an easy song to listen to, but it does pack a punch. My favorite song on the album, my favorite Bon Jovi song, is the one I consider the saddest. "Lie To Me" is not a happy love song, it is about a man in a relationship that is falling apart, one of the lines says "if you don't love me, lie to me." What a terrible place in the world to be, how sad and pitiful, but we have all been there at some point in our life. I am grateful that I am in a wonderful place in my life and I wouldn't want to change anything about it, but that other place is one I am also grateful for, because it taught me how to not take the things in my life now for granted.

Now, my husband says that no one should diss Bon Jovi. If you watch any of their concerts on DVD or video, look at the audience, he says that Bon Jovi's audience is full of the BEST looking women. As a musician, he says to look out over that audience would be a wonderful treat. But, you know, I don't think Bon Jovi's music appeals to just women, but if it does, it just goes to show that we have great tast.

A post about Bon Jovi wouldn't be complete without me mentioning my 20 year crush on Richie Sambora. Yes, I know he is happily married, but then so am I, however, I am not dead and I am not blind. Richie Sambora is truly one of the most sexy men I have ever laid eyes on, and he only improves with age. I was looking at some photos of the band from their early days, and yes, they all looked good, but they all look better now in my opinion. Better, not older in my mind, but maybe that is because I am getting older also.

Television Watching Habits

My husband and I are perfect examples of television watching in moderation. We are not the kind of folks who keep the tv on "for noise." If we want noise and the toddlers aren't making enough, we put in music. We both love music very much and our children do as well.

I read all the time about how much tv the average American watches in a day, week, month, year, etc. I just cannot comprehend sitting in front of the television that much. There are so many more interesting things to be doing, such as "blogging." Sorry, couldn't help myself there, but it does actually take brain power to figure out what to write about and to actually type up a post in a coherent fashion.

Right next to me on the sofa is the cordless phone, my purse (as I was balancing my checkbook), my pad of paper with the monthly bills listed on it (being on short term disability requires creativity with bill payment) and my book. I am rereading a book I haven't read in a few years, actually it is a series and I am on book four of seven. When I went into early labor with my two year old, I discovered Anne Perry and her Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series. I must say that Anne Perry is now one of my absolute favorite authors, I have read all the Pitt novels, all the Monk novels, and I am trying to get into the WWI novels. I am having a more difficult time with the WWI novels because I love the Victorian era that the other series are set.

Okay, enough rambling off topic. Television watching habits is the topic of this post, not everything I do besides watch television. I watch about five hours of television per week. I watch only CBS shows at this point, I am not sure when CBS started creating good shows again, but I am sure enjoying them. I watch Cold Case, Criminal Minds, CSI:NY, CSI, and Without A Trace. I see the pattern and I am well aware of it, only cop shows (well, FBI and cop shows.) I am not sure what my fascination with cop shows is, or where it came from, but I do like them. I don't like doctor or hospital shows, probably because as a nurse, I get more frustrated and angry with the blatant inaccuracies and errors, than I enjoy the stories. I am sure the same goes for cops with cop shows, but I will take my guilty pleasures even though I know the shows are full of crap about the reality of crime scenes, etc.

Oh well, enough posting for tonight. I hope everyone is doing well.

Crazy Girl

I think my two year old is the craziest little girl ever. There is not much girly that she likes. Oh she likes lace and a bow on her nightgowns, but she prefers her Batman and Spiderman nightshirts to any nightgown.

My daughter would like nothing better than to get shipped off to Australia and be adopted by Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter. Wild animals are one of her passions, she loves crocs, gators, bears, eagles, snakes, lions, tigers, etc. Kittens and puppies are okay, but sharks are the coolest things ever (especially if they are attacking the camera man.)

For our kids birthdays this summer, we decided to get them new bed linens. Possum's was easy, he got Spiderman sheets and a bedspread. Olivia would have accepted this as well, but there does need to be some lines we don't cross. So my husband and I purchased material with a bald eagle pattern and her daddy made her an eagle bedspread and pillow case, which she loves. She calls them her Weagulls. She also has a throw blanket in an eagle pattern as her brother has a Spiderman throw.

I am not sure what to do with this child. Her other true loves in this world are Super Heros, such as Superman, Batman, Spiderman, etc. She was HUGELY excited when she realized that there are girl Super Heros. She adores Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Batgirl, etc. She dressed up as Wonder Woman for her interrupted Halloween! We record Superman and Batman on our DVR and when she gets up from her nap in the afternoons she wants to watch "Duperman" and "Matman."

Maybe my next daughter will like girly things, but this child rolls her eyes at Dora, Strawberry Shortcake, etc. The only doll she REALLY likes is my Cabbage Patch Kid that I got for my birthday last year, and I think she only likes it because it is mine. We buy her the Holiday Barbie every Christmas, but so far they stay in the top of our closet in a box, maybe someday she will appreciate them, but that time has not yet come. Oh well, I will keep buying them for her, in addition to her Justice League action figures and her Wonder Woman Season One DVD set.

This girl is insane, but I love her dearly.

Grammar in the United States

I recently read an article on MSNBC.com that discussed the abyssmal state of grammar in this country. This was an "interesting" read for me as I bemoan this topic myself. The article stated how major companies are having to send their employees to "remedial grammar" classes. I find this horrifying.

Now, I am not perfect in my grammar, but I do try hard especially in my written communications. I find that with the advent of the internet, email, text messaging, Blackberries, etc., we as Americans are becoming very sloppy with our written language, and we should be ashamed. I remember filling out a "profile" about myself online a number of years ago and one of the questions asked about pet peeves. While I did not list bad grammar, I did list the penchant I see for people typing, for example, "are you okay" as "r u ok." I said that I did not communicate like that and I would not communicate with anyone who typed that way either.

I must say that when I get emails, or read people's websites that are full of errors, it is a turn off and I generally delete the email or leave the website. My current pet peeve is the apparent inability of folks to use commas or semi-colons appropriately, instead there is the chronic use of "..." as punctuation. Now, before I go further, I must admit to using the occasional "..." myself, but I have been trying to avoid this more and more as it becomes more and more bothersome to me. I also have to say that one of the biggest "offenders" of this type punctuation is my husband, who holds two Bachelor's degrees and a Master's degree. I know he is no dummy and is perfectly aware, and capable, of writing "correctly." However, he like most people, seems to throw grammar to the wind in online communcations.

I have no way of knowing if there is anyway to change the current trend, but I hope there can be a cure. I get so discouraged when I read things like the MSNBC.com article. I wonder if this problem is worldwide and not just an American problem. I hope not worldwide, yet if it is not, it makes Americans look stupid. I don't ever wish to look stupid as an individual, but I do not want my national identity to look stupid either.

Just some food for thought and some rambling while awaiting this baby's due date.

Pediatrics

Well, I am back again. I never did get my nap today, by the time I went to lay down, I realized that it was late and the kids needed to get up so that they wouldn't be up half the night.

One of the downsides of being home is that I actually LIKE my job. I am a pediatric nurse in a children's hospital so I get to see all sorts of "interesting" things. Unfortunately, interesting translates into things that regular pediatricians and regular hospitals cannot treat, but the kids are amazing I have to say. I work in the float pool at my hospital which means I work on all the different units, so I defintely get to see a wide variety of patients and illnesses.

I love caring for the babies, they are my favorite. Whether I care for them in the NICU or on the cardiac floor or on a general pediatric floors, I am never happier than when I get to care for the babies. I like the little kids too, but I tend to lose my patients with the teens, especially the older teens. I think the older teens remind me more of the adults I cared for, and I left adult nursing and I have never looked back. Adults tend to be whiney by nature and "like" being sick, they seem to like having people wait on them, feel sorry for them, etc. Kids are so not like this, kids want to get better, they want to go and play, they don't "want" to lie around in bed. A kid can be sick as anything, but as soon as he/she feels a tiny bit better they are up and out of bed wanting to go for wagon rides or to play in the playroom or whatever.

Now, all of this being said, I have to admit to the downside of caring for kids and it probably isn't what you think. The downside is the parents. Not all the parents mind you, but a good number of them. I figure if you bring your kid to the hospital, you need to let the staff do what they need to do to take care of them...but no, I have many parents who won't let us do basic care because we may "bother" their child. Many parents won't let us take vital signs in the middle of the night because we "might" wake their child.

However, the worst offenders, in my opinion, are the ones who "forget" how to change a diaper or give a bottle when they walk through the front door. They are in the hospital and the nursing staff is suddenly responsible for diaper changes and bottles and baths, etc. We give our parents a letter when the kids are admitted that state that they are still responsible for basic care and the parents must sign the letter, yet they "sleep" through their kid screaming his head off for an extended period of time. We tend to get mad at the parents who "drop" their kids off like they are in a daycare center and come back to get them when they are discharged, yet I would rather deal with this than the parents who sit on their asses watching tv or talking on the phone while their baby sits in a dirty diaper or screams about being hungry. At least if I know a kid is alone, I can prepare for his/her care differently.

Okay, enough ranting about the parents and back to the fun part...the kids. These kids are unbelievable, whether they come in because they broke their arm or because they need an organ transplant or because they have cancer, they are just unbelievable. I remember when I worked day shift and a group of kids on the cancer floor were worried about their friend. I was taking care of the friend and he wasn't feeling well, so he just hung out in his room that day. Well, his friends (other patients with cancer) were more worried about him and if he was okay than they were anything else. One of them stopped and asked me if he was all right since they hadn't seen him in the playroom that day.

I remember one girl in the PICU who had gotten a liver transplant two days prior to my working there at night. She was up with her dad walking in the halls with a smile on her face. A liver transplant is MAJOR surgery, with a HUGE incision, yet she was up walking and smiling at night.

I get people who ask me how I can do what I do. My answer is to look around and see the kids, this is why I do what I do, they make it all worthwhile...inspite of their parents :o)

Stuck At Home

Well, once again, I have gone into early labor and am not allowed to work. My boys never did this to me, but these girls are quite contrary. I went into early labor with Olivia at 32 weeks and six days; now with Baby Girl #2, I went into early labor at 32 weeks and two days. What is it with these girls? They should not try to come out before they are done cooking, but they are in such a big hurry.

So, once again, I am on bedrest, whatever that means. With three kids ages thirteen, three, and two, it surely doesn't mean I get to stay in bed and rest. I think real bedrest only works for first time moms and women put on bedrest in the hospital. I don't do too much, heck I feel like a bum sitting on this couch most of the time. I did try to clean one night, and I did a great job if I say so myself. My 13 year old son, Drew, turned into a turd (well, he is a teenaged boy after all) and I sent him to bed at about six in the evening. Of course, that meant that SOMEONE needed to load the dishwasher after dinner, clean up the dinner mess, vaccuum, pick up the little kids' toys, etc. Oh, and I couldn't leave that basket of clean laundry either, I had to fold and put that away as well. See, we made a deal with Drew, he was supposed to take care of the stuff that I can't, since I am supposed to be on bedrest, and we took away his punishments for flunking Language Arts this past quarter. I am beginning to think he LIKES his punishments.

Oh well, enough rambling for now. The little ones' are napping, Drew is reading, and Thomas is at work. I think I may take a nap myself :o)