It's April!

That means spring can come.  Any day now!  We had a small glimpse of it for about a week and then winter snuck back.  I am so done with winter!  It's really gotten to me this year.  I am ready for warmer weather and sunshine.  The girls really enjoyed it a few weeks ago.  They spent a lot of time in the backyard playing with bubbles and running around.  I am so glad we were able to put our sod in last fall.  It will be nice to have the yard this year.  

Life is busy, but it is good.  This semester has been hard.  What am I saying, it's all been hard.  The good news is that I am doing just fine, and as long as I can get past Monday's EKG test without totally flunking, I should be able to breath fairly easy the rest of the semester (which ends 5 weeks from today!!!).  I have learned a lot this semester.  I really liked my med/surg clinicals.  I am also feeling more comfortable with my skills and the things I'm learning at the NICU.  I had the hardest day to date there last week, but it was a good opportunity to see how much work (and prayer) the doctors, nurse practitioners and nurses do to try to keep sick babies alive.  

I have strep throat right now, and that's made it hard for me to do much of anything.  It has zapped all of my energy and made me feel like dirt.  Fortunately there was a scheduling issue with our EKG lecture last week so the test was pushed back a week.  That meant I didn't have a test to study for over the weekend.  Of course I was feeling fine until about 9:00 on Friday night.  I was able to sleep and rest most of the weekend, and called the doctor first thing Monday morning.  The fever, aches and pains are gone for the most part but the sore throat is staying strong.  I have been on antibiotics for a little over 2 days, hopefully the sore throat will go away soon!  I cancelled my shift tomorrow, which I'm bummed about, but I am just not up to a 12 hour shift when I feel like this.    

Maddie is looking forward to her spring break because it means she can go to Chuck-A-Rama with her Grandma Nina.  She is very excited about that.  She also has no idea she's going to Disneyland with Aaron for a couple days at the end of the week.  He's going as a chaperone for his brother's HS band tour and got permission to take her with him.  

Aaron and I are going to Florida in May for a week.  Just the two of us!  We have a trial timeshare week to use and the options were kind of in odd locations.  I was leaning towards Richmond, VA so that we could drive to some of the surrounding areas including Washington D.C. but Aaron didn't want to drive in D.C.  So, we decided on Orlando (found a great deal on airfare!).  There's a lot to do there and it will be nice to just get away for a week without the kids!!!  We haven't done anything like this for more than 8 years.  

Cami and Brie are funny, funny kids.  They are so animated and expressive.  Most of the time they appreciate having a built-in friend that's always here to play.  Brie has mellowed out a bit the last few weeks.  They idolize their big sister and that's okay with me, she's a great kid.  :)  While the days are full of things that challenge my patience, I am trying more to take things in stride and just enjoy them.   

Spring break

I finished up my last clinical of the semester on March 5th and then had an exam on March 9th.  I have been on break ever since and it has been so nice!  I haven't done much of anything for school during the break, but that changes tonight.  I have two exams on Monday.

We took the girls to the Living Planet Aquarium and Disney on Ice.  We've been able to just spend some time together at home.  I am hoping to get a sitter on Friday night so that Aaron and I can go out for date night.  I have tried to get caught up on housework, but this is a challenge because I have the same messes to pick up every day and the days aren't long enough to get to the other stuff all the time.  I cleaned out the van and our poor little commuter car.  I painted an accent wall in the living room.  I also rented a few videos from Redbox and enjoyed a couple quiet nights relaxing.  

Yesterday I went to the Journey's End day spa in Lehi.  Aaron and the girls gave me a SpaFinder gift certificate for Christmas and I used it for a massage and pedicure.  The spa was really nice.  I was impressed with the service and the ambiance.  The massage was perfect and my feet look great. 

The weather has been so nice and the girls have been spending some time outside every day.  Today is the first time I've taken the twins over to the little neighborhood playground one street over.  They loved it.  It's nice having grass in the backyard because they'll go out and play with bubbles or sidewalk chalk and run around a bit while I make lunch or Aaron makes dinner.  

We've gone out shopping a couple times and that has been a disaster and a half.  Oh my goodness.  I am so clueless about what to do with Brie sometimes.  I'm sure if I had asked any of the dozens of onlookers at Sam's Club or Maceys, they would have had some opinions.  Yikes.  Only two months of 2-year-olds left, but I worry 3 will be worse!   

Taking a quick study break

I'm having a hard time focusing, so I thought I'd take a break for a minute.  Life is crazy this semester! (as you may have noticed from the lack of new entries the last couple months)

I have at least one test every week.  Sometimes there's more than one, and if that's the case they're both on the same day.  It's been more challenging for me to cope with everything this semester.  Fortunately I have a lot of support and everyone is being patient with me.  I have been more emotional, stressed, anxious, etc.  The good news is that there is less than 2 months left of the semester, and then I have 4 glorious months off before starting back to the 4th (and final!) semester of the program.  

I just finished up my clinicals last week.  That will help relieve quite a bit of stress as it saves me almost 24 hours a week - that's the combined time it took for travel, the 12 hour clinical shift, and the time I spend working on careplans.  My psych clinicals were really draining.  It's so much easier to have blinders on to so many things in this life.  I really struggled with that rotation and I'm grateful it's over!  

I really enjoyed my med/surg clinicals.  I was able to practice a lot of new skills and I saw a lot of new things.  Two of my clinicals were on an oncology unit.  I had been dreading that assignment.  I actually really liked it and would even consider working on a similar unit in the future.  All of my patients were very young, from the young 20's to late 30's.  That made quite an impression on me.  They all had various forms of leukemia.  Putting faces with the facts I had already learned reinforced the need for bone marrow donors.  One of the patients I took care of has been unable to find a match because of their ethnicity.  Their options are limited.  The more I thought about it, the more I considered registering as a donor.  The registration is a painless process.  Think about it.  www.dkmsamericas.org.  Maybe one day you'll be able to save a life.  

Thoughtful

Cami and Brie had a doctor appointment this morning, it was a follow-up from their appointment on Monday. They've both had a respiratory virus of some sort, but their airways were really tight. Home health delivered a nebulizer on Monday night and they've had 4 treatments since then. They sound worse after each one, but it's because their airways are opening up so the gunk is able to "mobilize."

After the appointment today we went grocery shopping. I dread taking them to the store. I tried all my tricks and they did fairly well, we were in and out in about an hour. Not bad considering Brie kept trying to climb out of her cart and Cami was trying to open every package in her cart.

Once we had the groceries loaded in the van I asked the girls if they wanted Wendy's for lunch. Brie said "YEAH!" and Cami said "But Maddie's at school, we wait for Maddie?" I thought that was so sweet. Even after we pulled up to the drive-thru Cami was asking me if we should get lunch for Maddie.

Here we go...again...

I still haven't put together a post about our trip.  One is coming, I promise.  My winter "break" was chaotic and hectic and I didn't get near as much done as I'd hoped to.  I did have a great time with our family and my sister in California, Christmas was low-key but nice.  We got together with friends and family a few times over the break, and I attended nursing orientation at the hospital for my job.  

Yesterday was my first day back to school.  I have pharmacology 2, advanced med/surg and mental health nursing.  It's 11 credit hours.  My pharm class is completely online, med/surg is half in-class and half online.  I have 7 clinicals for med/surg and 3 for mental health.  I start mental health clinicals on Friday and med/surg next Thursday.  Fortunately there's only 2 weeks where I'll have two clinicals back-to-back.  This semester will be challenging because so much of it is online.  The only thing (HA!) that will be hard to schedule it around is the girls and my clinicals.  

I'm overwhelmed by it all, again.  I am not typically an anxious person (I don't think!) but nursing school has changed that.  It's especially difficult for me at the beginning of every semester because it's hard to know what is really expected of me by my instructors.  My anxiety level has typically gone down a bit after the first test in each class.  

Disneyland Pictures!

Here's a very small sampling of pics from our trip a couple weeks ago.  Thanks for looking! 

*Click on this post's title "Disneyland Pictures" 

Merry Christmas!

Christmas seemed to jump out of nowhere this year.  I'm sure it's a combination of having school/finals eat up the first 10 days of December and then taking off for a week's vacation in Southern California (I will post about our trip later this weekend when I get our pictures organized).  We got home late Saturday night, did church and had dinner at a friend's on Sunday, got caught up on laundry and some housework on Monday, did some *very* last minute Christmas shopping on Tuesday, and had 2 Christmas parties/dinners on Christmas Eve.  

This year we had the opportunity to participate in two "Sub-for-Santa's." One of them was done with Aaron's family for the Homeless Youth Resource Center.  Instead of doing a gift exchange, we took the money we would have spent and purchased items to donate for backpacks that they put together for the youth that they provide services for.  I thought it was a great idea.  We bought things like socks, handwarmers, and cup-of-soups.  

We also got together with our friends to help a family in need.  I enjoyed this one especially because it was fun to get the kids involved in picking out what to buy and wrapping the presents.  We went to our friends' house for dinner and a gift-wrapping party.  When we were done the guys took the older kids to drop the gifts off and "doorbell ditch" the house.  It was a great opportunity to teach Maddie about service and it really helped me put things into perspective.  

The girls have been a lot of fun this Christmas season.  Maddie wrote and revised her wish-list for Santa several times.  The final draft was mailed off on Monday.  The twins were enchanted with the lights and decorations and even got into the idea of Santa a bit.  This morning when we were going downstairs I asked Cami if she thought Santa had come.  She said "yes!" and then noticed the living room where presents were laid out and the stockings were overflowing (none of it had been out the night before - too risky!).  Her eyes were huge!  I'm glad we didn't go overboard this year, the twins lost interest in opening presents after two gifts (I think they each had 4 to open).  Maddie's favorite gift is the Barbie laptop that Santa brought and the twins love their baby dolls from Santa.  A close second was the Sleeping Beauty castle with several Disney characters that we bought at Disneyland last week (for 40% off!).  

Aaron was scheduled from noon-midnight today but was called off for the first 4 hours, it was nice to have him home longer than we had expected.  I took the girls up to my parents this afternoon for dinner and a gift exchange.  It's nice to spend some time with everyone.  I left around 6 so I could get home before the roads got icy and the expected storm hit.  The kids all went to bed fairly easily so it's been a quiet night here.  

Short on time

but I'll post a quick update.  First of all, I took my last final on Wednesday.  It was a very busy and stressful week but we got through it.  I passed everything!  I think I'll end up with a B in med/surg, a B+ in OB and an A- in peds.  Not too bad.  I'm so relieved to have second semester over with!  One year left!  A year from now I'll be done with finals for the 4th and final semester and getting ready for the NCLEX.  (That word makes me want to panic but I have another year, right?)  

I'm really looking forward to a few weeks with nothing but time to spend with the girls and Aaron.  I should also do something about the chaos in our pantry and my bedroom that has occurred since August.  

  

Have I mentioned

How much Cami and Brie are talking? Oh.my.goodness. They don't ever stop. 98% of the time I understand what they're saying. They are very conversational. And they have picked up some funny stuff. Here's a sampling of what I've heard the last several days:

"Me-haw, I'm a cowboy!" (said while "riding" a My Little Pony and wearing a cowboy hat) *Cami*
"We're having turkey dinner today. It's delicious!" *Brie*
"Kaden's house is broken!" (the Christmas lights weren't on)
"Kaden's Christmas is better! It's so bootiful!" (the Christmas lights were on again)
"OH NO! What are we going to do?" *Brie*
"I put water in it, Mama" (I was making Chex mix yesterday for a potluck and Cami dumped an entire bottle of almond extract into the dry cereal mix while I was cooking the candy coating for it. Yum.)
"We're going to Disneyland. In 2 weeks! I'm so excited!" *Brie*
"We go to primary today?" *Brie*
"You have a test tomorrow, Mama?" *Brie*
"Is this for your homework?" *Brie*
"I'm brave" *Cami*
"I want you to sleep with me, Mama." *Cami*
"I love you too Mama" *Brie* (She says this out of the blue, not in response to me saying it)
"Are you bootiful?" *Brie*
"I like to move it move it." *Brie and Cami*
"You guys are crazy!" *Cami*

And finally, "Mom, the crocodile is going to bite my toes!" There is a flying crocodile that likes to chase us when we're driving. Who knew? On Thanksgiving he spotted us as we were driving through The Ranches and he was a threat all the way to Murray (about 40 minutes). It was quite the ordeal.

Closer

I took med/surg exam #6 today and it went really well! It's great because it gives me lots of breathing room for the final. That is such good news!!!! I take a standardized test called the HESI on Wednesday, I am not really looking forward to it but it has to be done. Yuck. Nice way to kick off the holiday weekend. Oh well.

Last Tuesday Aaron dropped the twins off at my school so that he could go to work and I could stay for a baby shower for a classmate. They were playing and keeping themselves entertained exploring when Cami fell off a chair and hit her lip and nose on an end table. At first I thought she bit through her lip but she just cut it pretty good on the table. Once we got the bleeding settled down I went to take the girls upstairs to find something to cover it with while I drove to the hospital for stitches. Brie didn't get off the elevator with us but I didn't realize it. I looked for her frantically for a minute or two while a friend went up to the 3rd floor to see if she got off the elevator up there. She was standing there pushing the down button trying to get back down. Luckily it's an open floorplan and she was easy to find, I was feeling SO horrible!!!!

After we got Cami temporarily fixed up we headed up to the ER where Aaron works. I was about 1/2 mile away trying to figure out who I could get to pick Maddie up from school when I saw a cop and realized I was speeding. I slowed down but it didn't matter. He pulled me over and gave me a ticket. I deserved it and I wasn't even surprised that one more thing was being added to my terrible day. (It all started with an absolutely awful score on my third OB exam).

Aaron was surprised to see us, I hadn't been able to get ahold of him (my cell phone battery died). Cami was such a trooper for stitches, I was shocked. She stayed perfectly still and didn't make a sound the whole time the doctor was working on her. We got lunch at Wendy's and Frostys for a treat - the doctor told Cami I'd get her ice cream for being so brave.

Aaron took the stitches out on Saturday and I think it will heal nicely. I feel so bad! Several people have said "Now I'll be able to tell which is which!" Hmph.

Taking a minute

that I don't really have to post an update.  Life is sooooooo crazy at the moment.  I am looking forward to the finish line that is just 4 weeks away - unfortunately the next 4 weeks are jam-packed with clinicals, careplans, tests, and a few shifts at the NICU.  Oh, and Thanksgiving.  (I am taking that day OFF from my real life and just enjoying it!)

First of all, my 30th birthday has come and gone.  Aaron wanted to make sure it was a birthday I'll never forget and pulled together one humongous surprise party.  He was one busy guy for several weeks getting ready.  He invited everyone he could think of, snuck into my email contact list and my facebook contact list.  We had a huge Cafe Rio-type spread of barbacoa pork, shredded beef and chicken - all compliments of Aaron's superb cooking skills.   He also got a bunch of salsa from my favorite salsa place, Morelia's.  It was all so tasty!  I really appreciated all of the thought and effort he put into it.  Maddie even knew about it for several weeks and never once slipped up.  

I am definitely on the downhill slope for this semester.  As it stands, I'm getting the green light to go on to next semester.  I won't feel like I can breath until finals are over, but I'm optimistic at this point.  

That's all I have time for tonight.  I will try to update again soon.  Thanks for checking in! 

WHOA!

I finally have a minute to take a breath. It has been crazy! Just a quick rundown of my schedule last week:

Monday: 12 hour day shift at the NICU
Tuesday: Exam #2 for OB, 2 hour class
Wednesday: Preload (gathering information on my patient) and work on my first careplan for med/surg. Ick.
Thursday: Med/Surg clinical from 6:45-5:00 (which means I left my house at 5:45). Turn in first part of careplan.
Friday: Final OB clinical.
Saturday: Family Halloween party, sod laying at our house (which I didn't participate in, but thanks to everyone that did!), finished second part of careplan and made revisions to the first part.
Sunday: Church, study for med/surg test
Monday: Med/surg exam #4 (didn't go so well, but I'm still okay overall in that class) and turned in finalized careplan. 3 hour class.

Today I am just taking the day off. I do have a small paper to write, but it shouldn't take more than 30 minutes. I went to Maddie's class this morning to read to them during their read-a-thon. I also went visiting teaching and cleaned up downstairs while the twins pretended to take a nap. After school I had a couple of Maddie's friends over to decorate sugar cookies (that I made last weekend and froze). The kids had a lot of fun with that. I then took the girls to McDonald's for Happy Meals because I forgot that when I use the self-clean feature of my oven it needs an hour to cool down before it will let me unlock it - so the lasagna couldn't be baked. Once I get the kids to bed I'll write my paper and then spend a large portion of the night folding laundry and picking up my room. Some day off, I know, but it feels good to get stuff done that I just don't have time to do lately.

I have to give kudos to Aaron. The poor guy got pink eye and was sent home from work on Saturday the 18th. It took several days to clear up and they gave him a medical release through the 23rd. Because of his schedule, today's his first day back. I think it was by divine intervention that he ended up home all of last week. It definitely took some stress off of me to have him home without having to worry about getting the girls to a sitter and what was for dinner and everything like that. He has been so incredibly helpful. I'm a lucky girl!

Tomorrow I have to go preload and do another careplan. Not my favorite thing to do. Tomorrow night our ward is having a "Trunk-or-treat." Thursday is another clinical. Friday we will be busy with Halloween stuff, there's a parade at Maddie's school and then I'm helping with her class party. We are also going to a party that night with some friends. Saturday and Sunday Aaron is working, but my sister called me yesterday and ordered that I not ask her any questions but that she's coming to pick me up at 10:00. I don't know what the plan for the girls is but I'm assuming she has something planned for my birthday (it's on Sunday). I'm hoping to fit in a little bit of downtime with my DVR on Sunday since I don't have any exams next week. What an exciting way to turn 30. :) Actually, the idea of a quiet house with a few hours lounging on the couch sounds great right now!

Playing hooky

I had a med/surg test Monday morning. Our tests are on computers in a testing center. We have two hours to complete the multiple choice tests. In the nursing program I've had tests with as few as 40 questions and as many as 80. I usually finish taking the tests in 30 minutes or less. Unfortunately our test block is from 8a-10a and my class doesn't start until Noon. Yesterday I decided to skip my class and take care of some errands I needed to run and go home for some family time. It wasn't really skipping out on lecture material because our instructor has her lectures available online as narrated Power Points - so I'll catch up on the material later this week. It felt great to "find" some extra time I don't usually have! I ran my errands without the kids, and no one was expecting me home so I really had some free time. I stopped and picked up takeout for Aaron and I for lunch.

We decided to take the kids to see Beverly Hills Chihuahua after we picked Maddie up from school. Actually, Aaron went to see Eagle Eye while I took the girls to see "chichiwawa" (that's what Cami and Brie call it). The girls did really well until Brie tried to climb from the seat on my left to the seat on my right and she fell into the armrest, giving herself a nice little goose egg on her forehead. I had to get all of the girls out of the theater while trying to keep Brie quiet. Not an easy task, Cami was GLUED to what was going on in the movie. I talked to the manager and got rainchecks so that we can try again another day. I texted Aaron to let him know what happened and told him to stay in his movie and we'd meet up when it was over. Unfortunately I left my purse at home since Aaron had his wallet, or I would have taken the girls to get a treat at the bakery next to the theater. Instead I let them play around a little fountain and then we walked to Target to look at Halloween stuff and then stopped in the book section. It worked out fine, Aaron met us when his movie was over.

We stopped at Artic Circle for Square Pumpkin dinners (ick) and the girls were asleep by 7:30. I decided to put a second coat of paint up on the accent wall in our family room. It took me about an hour and a half. After I was done I decided to head to bed. It was nice to have a day where I focused on something other than school. It has been kind of all-encompassing lately. I appreciated the little break and almost feel like I am ready to tackle the next several weeks ahead. My next "break" will be Halloween weekend. We don't have any tests that next week and my birthday is on the 2nd. I'm so looking forward to that weekend if for no other reason than that I won't have a test looming over my head. :)

"Keep moving forward"

While desperately trying to keep the kids calm and quiet this morning, I watched Meet the Robinson's with them while in a graveyard hangover state. There is quote by Walt Disney at the end right before the credits start:

We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.

While I really like that quote as a whole, I think am going to use the "keep moving forward" part as my new motto. I really feel like I am barely functioning in so many aspects of my life. I have so much going on that I can't give any of it 100%. Whether it's my role as a wife, a mom, a student, a daughter, a sister, a member of my faith, a friend, an employee. It's all so overwhelming. I'm managing, and I am not really feeling like I just can't do it, but it's definitely a challenge right now. This semester is so much different from last semester! I am learning a lot, and I do enjoy it, but it's requiring a lot more brain power. Yikes.

I am so grateful for Aaron - he is really helping me out a lot. I'm not home much when he's off, and I know that's hard for him. The girls miss me when I'm gone, but they are handling everything really well I think. Some day they might even appreciate what I'm doing now. I hope so, anyways. Holding onto that hope helps ease some of the guilt I feel when I realize I didn't get something put together for Maddie's show-and-tell or I missed something funny that the twins did. My standards for a clean house have really gone out the window - so don't just drop by unless you're prepared for a mini-disaster area. ;)

9 weeks until Christmas break! Yay! I am so looking forward to it, and I'm really glad that we are able to go on a family vacation when the semester is over. Everyone in my little family is sacrificing something to allow me to get through school and they all deserve some time at the happiest place on earth.

How about that...I just started and ended this post with a reference to Walt Disney's great vision and accomplishments.

Guessing Game

1. Shes the Best Mom EVEr.
2. Shes thE coolIst MOM EVER.
3. She Loves DISneYLand.
4. She LoVeS to Play wIth Maddie.
5. She Loves Dad to.
6. She Loves Har faMLe.
7. She Lovs hAr frends to.

Maddie gave this to me the other night. I was supposed to guess who it was. If I can figure out how to continue being this mom and her opinion of me stays the same, I will be one very lucky girl.

I love you, Maddie.

1. She's thoughtful.
2. She's helpful.
3. She's a good friend.
4. She loves her family.
5. She's a great big sister.
6. She's a hard worker.
7. She is the coolest 6 year-old I know.

My buddies

The twins have been obsessed with panda bears lately. It all started several weeks ago when Cami told Aaron "I'm not Cami, I Ku Fu Panda!" (Kung Fu Panda is the first and only movie they've seen in the theater - I guess it made a lasting impression). They frequently do "karate chops" and say "hi-ya!" Oh, and then there's the absolute delight that they had the day we picked up Panda Express take-out. Did you know there's a baby panda bear on the boxes? Or that maybe panda bears live in the mountains by our house? Neither did I. :) It only seemed appropriate to get them Panda costumes this year for Halloween. They arrived today and the girls were SO excited. You can see it on their faces. I love it!

It is getting easier to take them out when I have to run errands. I no longer grimace at the thought. :) Yesterday we stopped at Target. They climbed out of their seats, held my hands as soon as they got out of the van and walked with me all the way up to the store. They willingly got into the cart and sat down the whole time we were in the store. When we were done shopping, they climbed into the van, got in their carseats and buckled the top buckle. We went to the grocery store today and had a similar experience. The twins *love* to go places. I am grateful that it has become uneventful and even enjoyable lately.

We are going to Disneyland in December. I am becoming more optimistic about the experience with two 2 year-olds in tow.

Just thought I'd let you all know

I'm still surviving. :)

I have not completely lost my mind and I don't feel like I'm drowning...yet.

I don't have time for much of an update. I will shoot for one later this week.

No defecit

That's my goal. Wait, that makes it sound like I'm an under-achiever. I'm really not. I do have higher expectations of myself, but when all is said and done, the important thing is that I pass my classes. :) So far, so good. I had my first exam in med/surg yesterday and my first exam in pediatric nursing today. I passed them both. I actually nearly aced my peds test. Med/surg was rough! They still have to PAR our exams, so my scores might go up a bit. I'm hoping for a few percentage points in med/surg just to give me a bit more of a buffer.

Life is keeping my busy!!! My calendar is full. I had an exam yesterday, one today, a careplan and assessment due on Thursday when I get to my clinical, a SNA meeting tomorrow, my first shift at the U is on Friday night. I have another med/surg exam on Monday. I also have two careplans to memorize for OB that I need to pass off, a few videos to watch in the library at school and two service learning projects to help coordinate and do.

Last night about dinner time Maddie had a horrible croupy coughing fit and we decided she needed some medication. I packed up my peds book and notes and we headed to the ER while Aaron stayed home with the twins. I ended up not having time to look at my notes much, but it turned out okay. The doctor gave her an oral steroid and sent us home with two more doses. I'm glad we went, the night was quiet and she seems much better today.

The girls are so much fun. The other day Cami came up to Aaron and very seriously said "I not Cami, I Ku Fu Panda!" The twins love panda bears. We picked up takeout from Panda Express the other day and they were so excited about the pictures on the bag and the boxes. We went to the fair on Saturday and they loved the animals. Church on Sunday was actually pretty uneventful - I took crayons and paper and the three girls used their chairs as a desk and colored quietly throughout most of Sacrament Meeting. Both Brie and Cami went to nursery without any fuss and that was so nice! Maddie's been home sick the last two days, I'm hoping she'll be well enough to go tomorrow. She's getting a little stir-crazy.

Aaron has been great with the girls and patient with me as I get back into the school groove. We're taking it a day at a time and we're really looking forward to the semester being over but we're all managing okay! Oh - and we've booked a trip to Disneyland for a week in December. That will be great! Less than 3 months to go!!!

What I'm doing

Tomorrow is my first clinical at PCMC. It will be a long day. They have asked us to take Trax in because the parking is bad for patients' families (I actually remember this from when the twins were in the NICU). I'm fine with it, it will give me some extra study time. However, I also need to go to the U to have my TB test read and get my badge so that I'm officially ready for my first shift next week. My clinical doesn't start until 9 so I have time to do this stuff beforehand, but it means I'll have to leave my house at 6:15 to make sure I get to the hospital on time. My clinical goes until 8, then it's Trax to the park and ride lot and then the drive home. I'm not planning on getting home until 9:30 or later. Yikes. My peds rotation is only three weeks long so it won't be too bad. I start my OB clinicals at the end of September, Med/Surg clinicals start at the end of October and go through December 4th. The days won't be quite as long for those though.

Friday I will be studying during the day and then that night I'm meeting up with a big group of ladies who are lucky enough to be enjoying a retreat in Heber for the next 4 days. I knew I couldn't swing it with my upcoming exams, but I do want to get a chance to see some friends I haven't seen in awhile and meet some of the ladies from our group that I haven't met yet. We're going to dinner at the Snake Creek Grill and I'm really excited about that.

Saturday we are planning on taking the girls to the state fair. Aaron also has a co-worker getting married that day so he wants to go to the reception on Saturday night. Sunday we'll go to church and I'll be studying every chance I can over the weekend for my tests on Monday and Tuesday. Monday is my first med/surg exam (yikes) and Tuesday is my first pediatric nursing exam. I have been studying for 2-3 hours a night almost every night for the last two weeks, I hope that I'm ready enough by Monday to pass the test. That's all I'm asking for!!!

Making progress

I have blogged about the twins' pooptastrophes before. The most recent one was about 3 weeks ago. Aaron was home, I had put the twins down for a nap. I smelled something, we went to check on them and found another "art project." Aaron quickly took them into the bathroom and scolded them, scrubbed them off in the tub and then put them in the shower (their very first shower). I kind of stayed out of the way because, well, none of my disciplinary tactics had worked on preventing future poop finger-painting events. I was working on cleaning up the mess in their room instead.

I realized the other day that we hadn't had a mess of disastrous proportions since that day. And then, it happened. Last night, Cami and Brie came out of their room holding hands telling us that they needed a diaper change. Indeed they did. I gave them all kinds of positive reinforcement for coming to tell me that they needed a diaper change.

Tonight, it happened again. They came out together and asked for a diaper change. Now, it just appears that I need to figure out how to get them to poop before I put them to bed for the night. :) Oh, and potty training...is an adventure I'm just not quite ready for. We're actually planning a trip to Disneyland in December and I just cringe at the thought of having two mostly potty-trained 2-year-olds in lines with that urgent need to go potty. I also didn't do potty training with Maddie until a month before her third birthday and it went incredibly smooth. Since the twins are just 2 years and 3+ months, I'm not in a hurry just yet. (Other than that a case of diapers has gone up from $32.99 to $42.79 in the last several months!!!)