Onward and upward

I am the first to say that using the term "graduation" for anything other than completing High School or College is moronic. We have a picture board at work each May/June for the 'graduates' of anyone's family... and each year it is populated with more 5 year olds than anything. Kindergarten or Pre-K graduates. Seriously??

This being said, Omar and I trucked over to the JCC last night to see Max graduate from Pre-K. As a parent of this particular 5 year old, it was pretty cute, and Max was quite stoked about the whole deal. I still think it's a bit of a ridiculous mantle, and I can guarantee you there won't be any Ansari's on the work board for about 13 more years, but what's wrong with an excuse for a good party?

The night shift

My schedule is a little strange... as anyone who lives near me can attest, you never know when you are going to find me home, at work or sleeping. Last night was one of those much-romaniticized (when thinking of a medical career) 'night shifts.' As I walked in at 10pm, there were 15 people waiting to be seen in addition to the 38 people already in rooms. We didn't have any emply waiting room until 4am, and even then the exam rooms stayed fairly full with people trickling in.

I used to have a litany of funny/dramatic stories from the ER. I still have the oldies and goodies, but I have very little new material. I don't think it has anything to do with a lack of new good stories... I just don't "see" them anymore. It all carries on in the same-ol' same-ol' of any job you do all the time. Chronic pain, chest pain, abdominal pain, toothache, "this BB in my leg from 5 months ago still hurts," kids fevers... I still drive home at 6:30am regardless of what the last 8 hours held, still crawl into bed, still awake ~1:30 feeling a little confused.

I guess its a good thing, from a patient's standpoint, to have an ER doctor that isn't particularly phased by things. One man last night had a bleeding varicose vein that was scaring him to death, and said "You say that with such wonderful confidence!" when I told him I'd have him fixed up within 5 minutes. He was out the door in 10. I guess not stock-piling stories anymore means I've made it to some 'other side' of this crazy career. Now, on to the next 20 years....

Getting away

This weekend we had the wonderful experience that is so very Minnesota... we 'went North' to the cabin for 4 days. I headed up Friday morning solo to try to get some things done, then our committed cabin companions Vince & Paige arrived, followed by the 11pm arrival of Omar and the kids. There was much weeding, planting and general outdoorsy stuff to be had.

Saturday, Omar started his quest to become a full fledged Barbequer. He's a man on a mission. I am embarrased to say the only shot I got out of 9 hours of sitting in front of a smoker was a terrible picture on my camera phone of Omar's coffee mug next to his beer can... BBQ starts early in the day people! Unfortunately, we had forgotten that Omar had thrown away the grill at the end of last summer, so he was off to town ~9am on Saturday! We sat down to amazing pulled pork sandwiches, slaw and fried okra (you can take a girl out of Oklahoma...) ~8:30pm.

Sunday... not really the weather you are hoping for over the Memorial Day weekend. What do you when when it's raining? Well, run in the rain of course. Naked for some.

We actually had a lovely stretch of sunshine from ~10am to 2pm, so we were able to enjoy the day more than we initially thought would be in the cards. Somehow it still always involved water.... and some more nakedness...

Sunday was pretty cool, and after spending much of the morning lecturing the kids on how it's not acceptable to choose actions solely for the purpose of irritating your siblings, we decided to head home. The 5 of us sitting in essentially one large room for multiple hours just wasn't working out very well... I wonder how many times I will have to say "leave your brother alone" in this lifetime... It will be running a close race with "we do not hit," "we do not lick," and "stop whatever you are doing that is making him scream."

Ah, kids...

For any of you out there who have given birth western-medicine style, you know the obsession our OB/Gyn's have with urine. Every time you go in, before they even take your name, or say hello, they point you in the direction of the bathroom to make your monthly or weekly deposit to the great yellow lab (and I don't mean the dog).

So there I am yesterday, doing what I am told, as is the blessed mother-to-be next to me. She is in a large stall with her ~1-and-a-half year old little boy and his stroller. As I am preparing to leave, the child begins chanting, and I can hardly contain myself...

"Juice! Mama! Juice! Juice!"

Is there an echo in here?

This is the "conversation" I hear out the back door as I wash the dishes last night -

Omar: Spencer, come here and put your shoes back on.
Omar: Come here and put your shoes back on.
Omar: Come here and put your shoes back on.
Omar: Spencer, come here and put your shoes back on.
Omar: Come here and put your shoes back on.
Spencer: No
Omar: Come here and put your shoes back on.
Omar: Come here.
Omar: Put your shoes on.
Spencer: Their wet
Omar: No they are not. Come here and put your shoes back on.
Omar: Come here and put your shoes back on.

I still don't know if he ever did...

Maxinova

Now that the weather has finally started to give glimpses of how glorious summer could be, Omar has started walking the kids to the JCC in the morning. Dandelion season has just busted out all over, and Spencer is in love with picking them.

Friday, Max decided he was going to pick some dandelions and give them to his teachers. He also decided to pick one for his friend Faith. This is as close to a crush as a 5 year old gets... always drawing things to take them to Faith, reported last year that he had kissed Faith, fighting with his friend, Quinn, over who Faith likes more.... you get the point.

So Omar, trying to defuse our precocious little Casanova suggests "Hey Max, why don't you pick enough dandelions to give to ALL your friends." Max loved the idea and entered the doors of his class with a bouquet of yellow weeds, happy to spread joy to one and all.

Now, we always send Max off to his class solo while we settle the two younger monkeys down in their class. After Cal and Spence were deposited, Omar went to check on Max and say goodbye.

As Omar walked onto the playground where Max's class was playing, he couldn't initially find our boy. That would be because he is blocked by the LINE OF GIRLS eagerly waiting their turn to receive a flower from our smiling, lovin-every-minute-of-it boy.

What else can you say.... chicks dig flowers....

Olympic Gardening

I know I am not in shape. I know that I haven't moved faster than a trot since finishing my last triathlon in July of '07. I know that pregnancy is a fairly good excuse for not getting out jogging every day. I know that I spend a lot of time chasing small children with the little free time I have.

But to be this sore from a day of gardening....

... so sad....

Cold Mama

Ok, so I decided that since was my final run at this whole pregnancy thing, I was going to do something I hadn't done before. Namely, it was time to buy some of those fabulous clothes I have seen other pregnant moms in instead of wearing the shirts that I currently own - the word mumu is really too complimentary. Not sure how it is that I REALLY dislike 85% of what I saved from before, but that's how it is.

So, off I go to the coolest shop in town, Hot Mama. I bought a stupid $$ amount of short sleeve shirts for someone who will no longer be pregnant in 17 weeks, and felt sassy and wonderful....

.... all this, so I could live in a sweatshirt.

If we don't get some warm weather around her at some point, I am going to kill someone...

Big Boy Beds

Well, as much as I would like to keep Calvin and Spencer in their cribs until they turn... oh, I don't know, 8... we kinda need a crib in a few months. So, we bit the bullet, bought the bunk beds, and now all three brothers have more freedom than we know how to leash. So far, they are actually doing remarkably well. The biggest problem so far has been the 6am Spencer attack... a little rough for the mama who's workin til 3am...

Monkey See, Monkey Do, Monkey

My brother tastes good

Here is what Omar and I spend most of our days dealing with...

So, how does this work now?

Alright people. I have decided to enter the 21st Century and start bloggin! I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to enter here, but it seems like the right thing to do. I love catching up on everyone else when I check their blogs, and lord knows I suck at updating people regularly on our lives. So! Here it is... I might also start taking pictures this way. Now if I could just knew what I was doing...