Work Annoyance

I had the busiest, saddest day at work that I've had in eons. The day started off with a terribly needy patient...which means they are pushing the "help" button every two-three minutes, usually for something they could do themselves. Some people are just so lonely that they get to a point where they don't care who they are bothering; they just need that attention. The annoying thing about that is not that I have to get up to answer the light but that there are patients who really do need things. Things I can't get them if I'm constantly in another room. It is always a challenge to keep a good attitude with someone like that. I grumble all the way to their room and then put on a smile before I walk in...and then try to keep the smile while I'm there. ;o)

BUT I transfered that patient fairly early in my shift. You may think that this was a turning point in my day, a turn for the better, but it was not.

I also had a patient who I really, really liked. A very sweet older (80!) lady. Her son was there for a good portion of the shift and he was the most polite person I have ever met. I asked her how she was able to do that, to turn out a kid as polite as her son. I told her I needed to take some notes so I know what to do for my boys. Lol.

So, I have this conversation with her and everything is great. She even said to me, "I know exactly what you looked like as a baby; you looked just like a little angel." Awww. I left her room and something changed. For the worse. I was told she called to say she was choking so I quickly went to see her. She seemed fine, maybe feeling a little panicky from feeling like she couldn't get her breath. I assured her that I'd help as much as I could, left the room to get some medication, and then something changed. Like a switch went off. She went into a total psychotic breakdown. And I do mean total. I could even see in her eyes that she was no longer with us.

She did not come back, either. She stayed in that psychotic mode for about the last six hours of my shift. Her son & daughter were notified and came in to see her. The decision was made to put the patient on "comfort care" which means only keeping her comfortable. Letting her die, in a very peaceful way.

The peaceful death part of my job is actually not something I hate. Not to be morbid, I just feel like it is better to go peacefully than to go kicking and screaming. More dignified, as well as the whole comfort issue.

The worst part of my day? It wasn't the needy patient. It wasn't the fact that I couldn't even sit down (or pee!) until 4:30, nearly 10 hours into my shift. The worst part of my day was that I really wanted to hug her son & daughter before I left but I wasn't sure if that was appropriate. I'm not a natural hugger and there is always a hesitation for me. This time I had that hesitation but I also had to consider that I was on duty and is hugging an okay thing to do. When I got in my car and was driving away, I even started to go back into the hospital.

I know I'm doing this guilt thing to myself. I honestly liked the whole family and maybe I'm feeling bad that I couldn't help the lady, that her breakdown happened on my shift...so I channel that into guilt. A character flaw, I guess. Actually, that flaw is probably what drew me to nursing in the first place. Feeling like I need to help everyone yet having this incredible gift for packing my bags and going on a guilt trip. Lol.

What did I do to make myself feel better? I came home and played on the bed with Mike & the boys. Dancing and being goofballs. I put them to bed and watched the last part of Extreme Makeover Home Edition. That show always makes me smile & cry at the same time. I used to watch that show every single Sunday evening while I was pregnant with Sullivan. I was the typical emotional pregnant lady and it felt good to have an actual reason to be weepy. ;o)

Then I had to go online and renew my nursing license for $105 bucks. Ouch! Nursing was a very painful thing to do today, that's for sure.

Kittens Like Turkey Day, Too!

How could I forget the kitties? The Moore Kittens celebrated Thanksgiving by scarfing down some "healthy" canned food. Yum!

And, since they look so much alike, if you cannot tell which one is Moose and which one is Reuben...Moose is the one with the great big "M" on his head. ;o)

Keatonisms Of The Day

Keats had his first taste of Pop Rocks tonight. His expression with the first couple of rocks was priceless. Too bad I didn't have a camera in hand (very unlike me!). He looked at me and said, "Mom, it feels like my brain is burping."

Then he was outside with me while I was putting up some Christmas lights. He enjoyed turning the lights on and off, annoying me to distraction, and basically having that four-year-old awe with the things we don't even consider as being, well, a thing. We just plug something in and understand that it will either work or not work...who cares about the details? Keaton does. So, when I attached a few strands of green lights to the blue strands, he was amazed that all the lights went on. He kept turning it off and on with this look of confusion and amazement. He asked, "How do they do that? Do the lights talk to each other?" I told him that there is a current of electricity that connects all the lights so they turn off and on at the same time. Satisfied that he understood how it all worked, he said "So the first blue light talks to the second blue light and then that blue light talks to the two green lights and the last green light talks to the other blue light." This was not a question. This was a statement. He finally had it all figured out.

A few minutes later, out of the blue, he asked "How am I going to hold the whole earth?" I asked what he meant and he said "I have to fit it all on me because I love our earth and want to give it a hug. So it has to fit in my arms." Geez, he's cute. Maybe the cutest thing about it is that he says "erf" rather than earth.

Little kids sure make you see the world in a whole new light, huh?

Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving with Debbie and Vince. Vince's family was there along with a few of his soccer buddies. We had a lot of fun and aren't as hungover as we deserve to be!

If you are one of the Moore Boys, this is how you may have celebrated the holiday...

...you sit at the kid table and make silly faces for the camera...

...you make a cute "o" face while riding down the treadmill...

...you also try to take a ride on the exercise ball...

...you finally smile at the camera. Not a smile so much as it is just not a goofy moster face...

...and you ride the treadmill some more...

Play-Doh Extravaganza

This is how you spend your four-day-weekend when you have two little guys...

My Play-Doh sun...the one that Keats and Sully destroyed minutes after this picture was taken.

Sully could do this for hours. I am seriously going to have to invest in some Play-Doh supplies! We made do with silverware, Legos, and cookie cutters.
My mama bird and nest of eggs...

...and Keaton's version of the nest of eggs. How cute is this?? ;o)

This is Mike's creation. To me it looks like something from a Mayan ruin but Keaton's first reaction was "It's Stephen Colbert!!!"

Ghosts

I finally have some funny pictures to post. This was Sullivan's own choice in attire this evening. Mike put the footie pajamas on Sully and then Sully added the boots himself; he then walked up to me, asking if I would put the life vest on him. This is the end result. What a goofball, huh?

Footie pajamas, bug rain boots, and a life vest.

The rear view.

Magazine pose.

I cannot get Keats to make any face aside from this one for the camera. I'm pretty sure he is supposed to be some sort of superhero with this expression. I guess that because he is ALWAYS supposed to be some sort of superhero...
More superhero expressions. In case you were wanting more. Lol.

Goundhog Day

Geez...nothing interesting to write about lately. No cute pics to share, either.

Today is Keaton's last day at his current preschool. He is very excited because he received an Iron Man figurine for surviving five shots the other day; he couldn't wait to show Iron Man to his school friends. I, however, barely survived the doctor visit and should have received either a large dose of sedative or a large shot of tequila afterword. What a stressful event!

He starts Brush College Elementary School's "Ready for kindergarten" class on December 1st. He will attend on M-W-F for about 2-1/2 hours a day. Keaton has his second karate class tonight. I sure hope he enjoys the class. Karate would work wonders for his confidence and concentration abilities. Today, we bought Keaton a Transformer bike for his birthday. I cannot wait to see how excited he is for that! His old bike is much too tiny for him...he looks like an adult trying to ride a tricycle or something like that. He will probably be a much better bike rider with his new bike. Keaton is obsessed with the human body so he will receive lots of that sort of thing for Christmas.

Sully is, well, he is two. Favorite words are "No!" and "Mine!" He is still off the binky except for sleeping and is doing great with that. I think he talks more and has more of an attitude since we took away his binky during waking hours. ;o) I've decided to call it the "testing twos" rather than terrible twos. He's far from terrible...he just tests every nerve I have as well as testing things such as how much pressure he can apply to the kittens before they yowl at him, how high he can climb into the fridge, how high he can climb anywhere...that is the sort of testing he does.

Sullivan easily recognizes the letters o, p, s, b, w, x, k, y, f, c, and i. He also says the entire alphabet. He is absolutely, completely, and totally obsessed with the alphabet! Santa is going to bring him lots of alphabet-related toys and books, that's for sure. He still counts to ten but has gone up to fifteen, with help. He started saying "Debbie" and "Phoebe" very clearly; he even says "uh" before saying Debbie and I think the "uh" is for "aunt". He also clearly states things such as "I see an O" or "This is an O". Oh, and he will not leave his clothes on about 80% of the time. Good thing he has a cute little naked butt!

I've nearly completed all my Christmas shopping, at least for the boys. Costco has so many great toys and books right now that I figured I should buy them before they sold out. I have never been this far into Christmas shopping this early in the year. I'm very happy to be this organized! A rare event for me, for sure.

That is life in a nutshell. It seems as though we are always busy, yet do the same thing over and over. Like living in the movie Groundhog Day. ;o) But I'm not complaining...

Karate Chop

Keats had his first karate lesson tonight. He had such a good time and looked quite sharp (and adorable) in his "costume" as he calls it.

We have two classes scheduled and then we make the decision about continuing the class or not.

I hope he wants to stick with it!

Keaton's Birthday Party

I just booked the NW Kids Club for Keaton's birthday party. Saturday, December 13th from noon-1:45. Not sure if we'll send out actual invites so if you want to come to the party just let me know so I can pay for the right number of kids. ;o)

Just Stuff

Brotherly stare-down.

Cute pic of Keats from the other day. His right eye looks bruised on my computer but it really isn't. If he looks like an abused child, please know that it is just the funky color from my computer. ;o)

He said that he was a pilot and putting his mouth on the bar and that's how he was able to breathe some oxygen. Lol.

The baby brother.

The baby brother's cute Elmo butt.

Yet Another New Background

I could not stand looking at my blog when I had the brown background. No matter which color I chose, I couldn't quite focus on the words. Drove me batty. Hopefully this background will treat my eyes, and yours, better.

Party Time

Here I go again, doing what I was trying not to do: posting about the boys. I can't help myself. They are what goes on in my life. Sometimes something else sneaks in but they are the one (two?) constant.

Last night I took the boys a snack before bed. Milk (with what Keats calls "mush-mellow" flavor...actually sugar-free vanilla syrup), a few pretzels, and a few Disney animal cracker thingies. Sully was happy to see his milk (juice!) while Keats was happy to see everything I brought for them. Keats was a little hyper/happy at the time so perhaps he would have reacted so giddily (is that a word?) had I brought brussel sprouts and green beans? Anyhoo, he was a happy kid.

And he ate. And he ate.

Then he said, "Hey Mom! There's a party in my tummy! The milk makes big splashy waves and the pretzels and crackers are swirling and dancing all around like they're at a party."

*sigh*

Today, I sat down at my computer, ready to write a profound blog entry. If not profound, it certainly would have been of higher quality than that of my regular posts. Or photos of my boys...whatever you want to call them.

I never really intended this entire blog to be about the boys. I had visions of writing out thoughts, ideas, ponderings, musings...things not of boyhood, basically. But the boys had another plan for my blogs. It seems that every time I want to write something of heft, one kid or another desperately needs something from me. Not Daddy. From me.

An example taken from today. I was on "break" and decided to finally blog about the Obama election. I have this partially-formed thought that had something to do with how amazing & bizarre it was to see the throngs of people celebrating Obama's election. Frequently, on the news, you see stories of countries who have been liberated from one form of tyranny or another; they always show thousands of people in a group, crying, celebrating, hugging one another. While watching those scenes I am always happy for that group of people but, until the Obama election, I have never, ever been able to understand what they were feeling. Now I do.

Like I said, it is only a partially-formed thought. ;o)

So, I sit down and am ready to type. Keaton takes that opportunity to ask me what we'll do tomorrow. Here is a paraphrased example of our conversation. I am not adding anything that he said, though I am probably leaving out some things he said. Probably leaving out loads of things he said because, boy, did that kid say a lot!

K: Mom, what are we going to do tomorrow?
M: I'm not sure. We don't have to do anything.
K: Maybe we could go to a park and play.
M: If it isn't raining we may just do that.
K: But if it is raining we could go jump in puddles! I love mud puddles!
M: We'll have to see. Would you let me type now?
K: (completely ignoring my request) I love jumping in puddles. I want to make mud angels tomorrow! I love to make mud angels and snow angels and M&M angels and rock angels. Oh! What if we made soup angels?
M: You would get all wet, silly.
K: I wish you could make me into a soup and eat me all up.
M: You hate carrots and peas and celery and you would make a terrible soup!
K: (without taking a breath) Austin Powers' mom dies in the movie.
M: Huh??
K: Her bones get all broken up. And so she dies. And then Austin Powers gets a new girlfriend. And then Dr. Evil comes in and opens a door and finds Mini Me and they sing a silly song...something about "just the two of us, we can make it if we try, just the two of us, you and I". (For that last part he makes his voice very, very low. Really gets into the part.) Mom, can you see my hands?
M: No.
K: Can you see my legs?
M: No.
K: Can you see my other eye?
M: No.
K: Can you see my mouth?
M: No. Can we please play a new game? How about the game where you go play with Daddy?
K: I spy with my little eye...Hey, which day was that picture taken? Daddy has a picture with all the bridges in Portland, on the other earth where we used to live.
M: Um-hmm.
K: Sully didn't eat all his dinner. Look! A red dino! The dino is leaving red mud puddles on the plate. Stomp, stomp, stomp.

Soooo...I guess the conversation did sort of, in a very roundabout kind of way, come full circle. And maybe now you understand why my brain is mush and all I can manage to do is post pictures of my boys. I am, at this time in my life, incapable of intelligent thought.

Sully's Fortune Cookie

I'm not even kidding. This was his fortune. Perfect, huh?

Happy Birthday, Granny!

Sunny Pics of Reuben

As promised, here is a nice shot of Reuben in the sunshine.
I think I got lucky with this one. The camera didn't want to focus on him, again. It wanted to focus on the deck railing or the trees in the background.
Keats was begging me to take a picture of Reuben and him together.
The only reason he has such a big smile here is that he thought I was still taking a picture of Reuben, too. I'm such an evil mom! Lol.

These guys are so cute. They hang out together all the time.

Now, what would the day be like if I didn't post the newest picture of the Moore Boys?

Here they are in all their shaving-cream-covered glory. I can't believe they are both looking at the camera. Miracles really do happen. ;o)

This is what I did with my day: rearrange the living room. I'm not sure that I like it...but I mostly like it. Still gives the boys lots of room to run around like the crazy little creatures that they really are, but has a sort of grown-up feel to it as well. In five minutes the middle of the room will be covered in toys & general debris but for now, for now it looks like a real room!

Mama's a Rockstar!

The best thing in the world happens when I come home from work every Sunday evening. When Sully hears me open the door he starts yelling "Mama! Mommy! Mommy!" and by the time I get upstairs he has worked himself into a frenzy. He literally jumps up on me and starts laughing like a madman.

I love his reaction. I am with him every single day, aside from Sunday, so usually he is just like, "Oh. Hey Mom, can I have food or milk?" ;o) So, on Sundays Mama is a rockstar. For 45 seconds anyway. Makes going to work very much worth it!

Future Archaeologist?

So, we got our new computer last night. I downloaded these pictures from my email. They were taken with my cell phone camera. Don't they look suspiciously clear? Is it just me? I am wondering if the new computer has anything to do with that. Weird.

Anyhoo...here is Sully playing archaeologist at our local childrens museum. We attended art class where he made dinosaur footprints in play-doh-type-stuff, made some odd little dino drawing on a stick, made a large glob of gloop that is supposed to turn into a dino egg that you can "hatch" and a baby dino comes out...but Mama put waaaaay too much water in the mix so we pretty much got gooey glob. Oh well. We tried. And he didn't notice how crappy our project turned out compared to all the other kids whose mom actually paid attention to the directions. ;o)

But...I digress. Here he is playing in the large sandbox that has big ol' dino bones that kids can climb on, under, or simply play in the muddy water. Sully chose the latter. In the art class I made sure he kept on his apron and took off his nice red sweater so that he didn't get dirty. And then I let him roam in the dirt. What was I thinking? He was soaked from head to toe. Even his toes, which were inside socks and inside shoes, had sand between the toes. Lol.

How Keats and Sully Celebrated Obama's Election

Playing a cool alphabet game on the computer.
Telling me how totally awesome something on the computer was...
I think it had to do with a motorcycle.

Sully was exceptionally cute due to his happiness at the Obama election.
Okay...he's really cute every day... ;o)

"New" overalls. Not sure if he liked them since he walked around

like this much of the day.

Funny view from the front.

See How Helpful We Are, Mom?

Find the kitten!
























Find the kitten!














Here's Moose proving his Certified Dishwasher Internal Workings Inspector skills.





















Cute shot of Moose.









Cute shot of Reuben.

YAY!!