Randomness...

Life has been ever-changing the last month and a half and it's crazy.

School started up again, I'm taking 15 credits and at times it is very challenging. Back in the day when I was doing my generals, I didn't have kids, and I was only 16-17 years old, anything less then 16 credits was slacking... I always took between 16-18 credits each semester and it didn't really bother me. Then again, the classes back then were, well, generals, and not exactly hard. This quarter I'm taking Medical Laws and Ethics, Kinesiology, Human Anatomy II, and Massage Techniques II. My mind is jammed full of words, terms, names, ect. that I could have never even thought of and at times, I'm so confused at to why they gave certain muscles and bones they names they did... I mean, really, I think they just wanted to make up crazy new words and use letters in the alphabet that aren't used as much. Like zygomaticus major or sternocleidomastoid... they purposefully tried it make it difficult... in my opinion ;)

Soon I'm going to have to start doing two massages a week for my massage class... now I just need to find clients!

School is also more challenging this quarter then the last because of my job. When I started my job I was at the end of my last quarter and there wasn't much expected of me at my job because I was new. Now I've had the job from the beginning of this quarter and there is far more expected of me at work then before. I have started (though not sure if I will continue...) to interview people and train in new waitresses. The restaurant was also short on staff for awhile so I had to take more shifts then I actually wanted too or thought I could handle. I'm actually still stuck in this stage for a bit longer but it should change soon as I've trained in a few more waitresses as of late that will help relieve the load.

It's hard having two kids and going to school full time and working. I give people credit who do this all the time with little to no help. Thankfully I have some people around me who help me out and watch the kids for me when I have to go to work and school. I don't know how I would do it without them! I have to say though, that I still miss my kids something fierce. Going from stay-at-home-mom to student-working-mom is definitely challenging, for me and them. I can tell they miss me and I really miss them! 

My boys are doing so well! Eli is finally getting a little weight on him and Gabriel is getting so tall! Eli doesn't like to use words much but he is far from quiet :) He is picking up more and more though with words and I am so proud of him! He is also discovering more of his adventurous side and therefore, getting into lots of trouble :)

Gabriel is entering a new stage of learning. He has always been a very factual child. He has never been one to do a ton of imaginary play, he would rather fix something or learn how something works. Now he has entered this stage of asking how and why everything is the way it is. I love it! I love to teach him new things about the world and all the little parts of life. Granted, I'm not big into how things work, so a lot of his questions stump me... like 'how does a car run?' ect. But I try my hardest and sometimes, I just have to send him to someone else who knows more mechanical things then I do... like Opa :)

The boys and I have been sick. A lot. It seems like one or all of us have been sick since Thanksgiving. The worst hit for me a little less then two weeks ago. I lost my voice and felt (and still feel) like I got hit by a bus and someone is trying to blow up a balloon in my head. I missed work and school and pretty much tried to lay in bed or on the couch for a few days. I thought it was going away, and then it relapsed and I feel like I'm back at square one, except I still have my voice, somewhat :)

Anyway, life has been ever-changing, difficult and rewarding lately. We're taking it one day at a time and doing what we can for that day, and seeing my boys taken care of, loved, learning and happy is the best thing in the world! 

little family christmas

Today I celebrated Christmas with my boys! I had to do it a little early because the next two mornings I work in the AM and on Christmas day the house is going to be full with family members from afar... ok, just the Brainerd area... so not too far but you know what I mean :)

So last night I gave my boys their Christmas PJ's and we put out cookies and milk for Santa! By morning the boys totally forgot about the whole thing so I actually had a moment to wake up this morning before we dug into presents :)

The boys got up pretty early (6:30AM) so it was dark outside so you'll have to excuse the dark pictures...

 They loved all of their gifts!

I tried to get a picture of my boys in the Christmas PJ's...

 Then this is where I found Gabriel most of the morning...

 Being ever so naughty taking pine needles off the tree...

Then I made breakfast for us. Carmel rolls and scrambled eggs... YUM!!!

The boys spent the rest of the morning playing with their new toys and fighting with their new swords! Uncle Christopher helped them with the toy tool set cause, ahem, I have no idea what goes with what and what not. And since the toy set resembled real life tools, well, I was kinda lost and Gabriel kept asking me how things worked and soon my brother came to my rescue after the umpteenth 'I don't know how it works' from me :)

We ended up going to town to an appointment but afterwards I took my mom (whom is also having a birthday today, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!) and the boys out to lunch at my work, The Lazy Moose... not that I love work so much or anything that I want to go in on my day off... but have you been to Moose Lake? There is only one nice restaurant in town to go to and I happen to work at it :) I don't mind though!

We got home, I put the boys to bed and ate some pie and then started on supper. I made green bean casserole, creamy sweet potatoes, and herb roasted chicken! YUM!

By the way, I discovered today that it takes a heck of a lot of work to get the giblets out of a chicken if your chicken is not de-thawed completely. Seriously, a very. long. time. I had my hand up a chickens bottom for far too long of a time today...

Ahem.

After supper we made a gingerbread house! Gabriel was so excited and even more so when he discovered things were edible. After discovering things were edible there was less decorating that went on and more eating because according to Gabriel 'I'm hungry and I need more sugar!' lol!

 Did I mention there were some sour candies?

Our final project!

It was such a fun day! 

Merry Christmas! 

St. Nicks Day

Every year I celebrate St. Nicks Day with my kids. The boys write up a letter to Santa...

Gabriel drew a picture of the sword he wanted and the tools...

Eli had a little help from Mama and didn't know what to think...

And then we stuck the letters in their boots...

How cute are they?

We put the boots outside and waited for Santa to come along and take the letters and fill the boot with goodies!

This year they got candy, their Christmas ornament, and a card from Santa :)

This is what Gabriel does when I ask him to hold up his card and say cheese! He sticks the card in front of his face and then says cheese!

The boys thought it was fantastic and loved every part of it!

Then we came upstairs, hung up the ornaments and had the boys favorite cookies, ginger snaps!

I love St. Nicks Day!

Almost one year ago...

Absent

You may have noticed (or not) that I have been very absent from my blog lately. A very large reason for that would be this...

I have been trying to nurse my two boys back to health for almost two weeks now. Both boys got sick the Tuesday after Thanksgiving and have been sick ever since. They had 100+ degree fevers for 4 days, Eli's peaked at 104+ that Friday, before I took them into urgent care late Friday night along with awful coughs and nasty gunk coming out of their eyes. I hardly ever take my kids in when they are sick, or myself for that matter. Things have to be really bad for me to go to the doctor, and I'm not a huge fan of narcotics, but I knew my children needed something. They both were so sick that I had to help them sit up to take sips of water, neither one of them wanted to eat a thing, and all they did was sleep. Honestly, they looked like the walking lying down dead, just, you know, alive. It was awful.

I took the kids to the hospital in Moose Lake where the urgent care unit was and the nurse and doctor looked them over. The kids pretty much just laid on the table or in our arms and let the doctor do whatever he needed to do. Eli was a little less cooperative at times but still, they were obviously sick. That and they both had pale white skin, little red dots on their cheeks, obvious black circles under their eyes and their eyes were pink and puffy. The doctor looked them over and then told me he really had no idea what was wrong with them. Of course, in different, more doctor like words then that. He said that if their fevers weren't gone in another 3 days I could give them this prescription and hopefully it would knock out whatever the heck it was that they had.

I was not happy.

I took the kids home and put them to bed. The next day I wanted to take them into a different urgent care but it got to the point that if I took my kids in, it would 'wipe them out' and make them worse and who knew if another doctor would say something different, or I could stay home and they could rest and sleep and be far less miserable then if we went out.

To make a long story short, I didn't take the kids back into a doctor because they started to show signs that they were slowly getting better. The first day they actually smiled and were semi their normal selves was the next Tuesday, but neither, especially Eli was 100% better. Throughout the week I monitored both of them closely and Gabriel got better daily and now, he's almost completely back to his normal self. Eli on the other hand I'm still worried about. I thought he was getting better but his awful cough has persisted and suddenly his fever came back. And, odd for him at least, he won't sleep! Eli normally takes very long naps, sometimes more then one, every day. And the last few days he's so tired but he just can't sleep. I feel so bad for him! I went and filled the prescription that the doctor gave me the week before and now we're giving that a couple of days to see if it works.

It's been some really long days (and weeks!) around here. Also, in the midst of all of this I got sick myself and I started a part time job as a waitress at the Lazy Moose in Moose Lake. And, to top all of that off, it's getting down to the last few weeks of school, which means lots of papers and assignments are due. Today is my first 'day off' in what feels like forever because I don't work AND all my homework is done for the week. Alas, there is laundry and cleaning to do and Eli is still sick, but it still feels like a day off to this lady :)