Saturday, September 12, 2009

Catching up...the story of my life :)

I've written a hundred posts in my head over the past month or so but just haven't gotten around to putting pen to paper, or whatever.

We're trucking along. Life at home is lonely and the house feels so empty without Rob and Lady to fill it up with all of their...well, fullness. But we're making it. Besides my wonderful/nightmare job, Rowen keeps me quite busy. He's into tantrums these days. It's actually comical, but I'm trying not to laugh and really praying and searching for A right way to approach these episodes. I'm sure there's several right ways and I know I'll find a good fit soon enough. If he gets upset over one thing or another, usually me taking something dangerous away from him, he first bats his hands to make sure you're not trying, in any way, to come near his person and then he whines and throws himself on the floor, spreads eagle and convulses. He has, on occasion, banged his head on the floor, but thankfully this extreme is rare. I would say we are experiencing about 2-3 tantrums per week. But other than that, he's loads of fun. He has such a fun little personality. He thinks really mundane things are fantastic. He loves any kind of water. He's not really saying any words at all. Not consistently anyway. He has been known to say Mama and Daddy (more like Dadadadadadadadeee) but he won't reproduce this on command. I should tell you, though, he does a mumble/hum type thing and you can all but hear him saying all kinds of things. Like if I ask Rowen what he wants to eat, he says Hmmmm MMMM Hmm Hmmm MM. Or when he "counts" you can hear his intonation as he hums OOOOnnnnneee, tttttwwwwoooo, tthhrreeeeeee. And I totally get that ;)

We love PUDDLES!


And his big boy chair!


And Straws!


We had the good fortune of a long weekend visit from my best friends from Alabama over Labor Day! It was the best gift! Knowing they were coming just really got me through a very low time and it meant the world to have them here. We went to the beach, went out, went shopping, got massages, ate good food, drank good drinks and just had the best time! Steph, Jess, and Hayley, Thank you SO much! I could not be luckier!





Once the girls were gone, it was back to reality and with reality came grocery shopping. Now, I had been in the habit of hitting up the commissary for quite some time but they have limited hours and many of you know that it literally pains me to go to the grocery store during daylight hours. I just feel that time could be SO much better spent! So I started going to Walmart because they are open 24 hours. Then I noticed how much I resented going to Walmart and I had to check myself and figure out why. Basically this has been an interesting self exploration...I realized I would become so judgemental when time after time I stood in line behind a young mom talking on her cell phone with fake nails with 2-4 children in her cart, most with runny nose and dirty faces and no shoes on and eating a ring pop and "eaten up" (as my family says) with some inflammatory rash and then pays with food stamps. And I'm just throwing out all kinds of nasty thoughts in my head... clean your children up... get that rash treated... at least use coupons if you're shopping on my dollar... it goes on and on. Go ahead. Judge me. I deserve it. Anyway, God says cut it out if it's causing you to sin, so I'm cutting Walmart out. I'm not saying Walmart is causing me to be judgemental. I'M causing me to be judgemental, but maybe removing myself from a situation where I encounter that so frequently will help. I'm also not saying I'll never go back, but I'll make every effort to broaden my grocery horizons.

I'm on call today and it has been a pretty good day so far! The up side to a 30 hr call on Saturday is that you usually have some time to catch up on charting and in this case, blogging :) I also caught the tail end of "Overboard" today and was reminded how awesome that movie is. It may be my favorite '80's movie. However, "Money Pit" and "Cocktail" give Kurt and Goldie a run for their money. I love the NINETEEN EIGHTIES! Especially, the Reagan-esque goodness of it all!

I have to say as much as I complain (at least in my head) about living at Riverside Regional Medical Center, I'm pretty proud of my hospital. Aside from being one of the top 100 Cardiovascular hospitals in the nation, I think its pretty neat that we have an indoor walking track in the hospital. Ok, so maybe the two aren't comparable... but it's 1/2 mile marked by confusing signs that lead you through the bowels of the hospital basement and once you get used to it, it's great. But tonight I was walking the track by myself and for some reason felt spooksters as I passed the morgue. Normal, I thought. After all, it IS weird. Then you have to re-trace your steps and I felt even more spooksters that second time by. Then I heard people approaching in a perpendicular hallway and there was a man's voice. Ok, no prob, just need to make myself heard, so I don't startle them and then have a painfully awkward situation on our hands. So I coughed. And then I intersected with the person. Just one person. A man. Who was talking to himself. Interestingly, this particular gentleman is a maintenance man for the hospital with whom I've been trying to make friends for over a year. Every day since I've been at Riv, I have smiled at this guy. Usually, at least for the 1st 6 months, I would say "hey" too. Never has he acknowledged me! NEVER. Now we'll never be friends because he probably feels ridiculous that I heard him talking to himself! Oh, what to do? :)

Well, have you had enough of me? I sure have. Happy almost-fall everyone!

2 comments:

  1. meryl, thank you for today! i am blessed by you!
    where is LADY?? did something bad happen to her?????

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  2. You girls look beautiful . . . was somebody selling extra large turtle shell framed sunglasses on the beach? Don't forget North Shore or Thrashin' on your list of best 80s movies!

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