Dating Again

7 months after the breakup and I finally went on a date last night. Gosh it was fun! I've known the guy for 4 years. He's a great guy, very respectful, honest, sweet, and is confident of his place in the world. He has goals for his life and is working hard to reach those goals.

Whether or not this will last, time will tell. We have a strong foundation of friendship under us and we're moving slow in this new level of our relationship. Wish us luck for this new road we're traveling together. :)

The Story of the Difficult Children

4 kids. 3 siblings and their cousin. Ages 8, 7, 6, & 2. The 2 year old was sick. He was sleeping when I got there at 9:30pm. The 8, 7, & 6 year old were hanging out in the 8 yr. old's bedroom watching movies. Since it was kind of a sleepover, and they were all sleeping in 8 yr. old's bedroom that night, I told them that they could watch movies until midnight. I know it's late but they were hyped up of caffiene and sugar curtousy of their parents. Midnight seemed late enough to me.

Parents left at 10pm for a night on the town. 10:15 I hear the 2 year old talking. 6 yr old woke him up. I shoed the 6 yr old out of the room and gave him a warning. Got 2 yr. old back to sleep at 11. He was an ornery little fella and wouldn't go back to sleep. 11:30, yelling from 8 yr. old's bedroom. They were fighting over what movie to watch. They woke the 2 yr. old up again. I laid him back down to see if he'd go back to sleep, he wouldn't. Instead he took off his poopy diaper and played with it. Lovely. I gave him a quick bath, changed his sheets, and cleaned his crib up with baby wipes. By this time it was 12:30. With the 2 yr. old hanging off my hip, I went and got the 3 older ones and asked them to brush their teeth and get ready for bed. That part went fine. I put them to bed. Got the 2 yr. old some juice in a sippy and rocked him till he fell asleep. By the time that was finished it was 1:00am. I checked in on the older 3 & the only one asleep was the cousin. I made it clear to the 6 & 8 yr. old that it was bedtime and I didn't want to hear anymore noise from their room. 5 minutes later I hear fighting. I go back, they're arguing about blankets. I tucked them in again and warned them AGAIN.

Long story short, this went on for another hour and a half. Every time I had to go in there, I shaved off 30 minutes from their bedtime the next night-(when I was also babysitting). The last straw was when the 6 & 8 year old started hitting each other and I heard screaming and crying. I walked into the room and announced that I was extremely angry with their behavior. That they had pissed me off more than ever before and that I was sick and tired of them behaving like brats.

They finally went to sleep at 2:45am. Parents walked in at 3am. I left and thought over and night and just got upset. What I said was not acceptable in any circumstance and I feel horrible for it. Any advice is welcome! Constructive or otherwise. I know I deserve a talking to.

A Hurting Heart

I just found out today that my friend, who's pregnant with a little girl and due in February, is most likely going to lose the baby. By lose the baby I mean that the baby won't survive. The baby has Trisomy-18, or Edward's disease. It's the same chromosone abnormality that Copeland, over at the Farley's, had. It's her first baby. She's 21. I can't imagine what she and her fiance are going through. They were so happy and looking forward to meeting their daughter. Now, a cloud of sadness have overcome them. Please pray for them.

???

It's 4am and I just got home from work. I'm questioning my ability to work with children, especially difficult children. I'll post more tomorrow, right now I'm just tired and upset.

Turkey Time.....Already?

Wow, this month has completely flown by. I gave up on my wrist brace because it's just too bloody hard to type with it on. I'm swamped with homework for the holiday break. Lovely huh? I only have one professor who didn't give us any homework. She believes that a break should be a BREAK, not a big long study session. Why don't other professor's think like that? Either way, I have lots of homework to do.

I went hunting this weekend with some friends. We got an 8 pointer. :) It's been awhile since I've hunted, but man was it fun.

I guess that's about it. Have a good Turkey Day!!!

Giving Birth is Hard

how's that for a "duh" statement? Charge's aunt's water broke at home at 2:30am. When it broke she hadn't even had her first contraction. Long story short though, I ended up with the Aunt at the hospital while Charge's mom took her to go get Charge's grandma so grandma could be there at the birth.

We got to the hospital around 3:15am, they set her all up, got the IV in, yadda yadda yadda. Then they walked out of the room and we chatted. Then the first contraction hit. She freaked. Screaming "I can't do this! I can't do this!" over and over. She pulled her IV out, attempted to get up, wobbled, grabbed my hand to catch herself and well--my wrist isn't built to support a 5'4" 9 month pregnant woman in hysterics. I hear a pop, I let out a yell, nurses come in and see blood-(from the IV), me in tears, Charge's aunt in hysterics, and a wrist that would make anybody go "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew."

Yeah, my wrist was dislocated. The Dr. popped it back in and did an x-ray once Charge's mom and grandma got there. No broken bones, just dislocated--though I don't know which is worse at this point.

Happy Monday!

Bring It On!!!

I'm currently being exposed to strep throat again. This time from a 2 year old who isn't sleeping well (it's 12:30 & he's sleeping but wimpering from pain). In addition to the strep throat, he also has 2 ear infections. He's a miserable little guy right now. I basically can't put him down in his crib otherwise he'll wake up screaming. So on my lap he is, part sleepy, part cranky, and definately in pain. :(

On a more positive note, I'm not sick yet!

Exposure

I've been exposed to strep throat, roseola, sixth disease, & bronchiolitis in the past 3 days. But hey, at least I got my flu shot!

Girl Gets Detention for Hugging her Friends

Check out the article here.

Are you kidding me? Things like this make me wanna scream. At the preschool I worked at, the handbook had a strict "hands off" policy. We regularly broke the policy, especially when the younger ones needed to be rocked to sleep. But seriously, detention? Some people have a stick where the sun don't shine. Honestly.

I can see it now:

Child: Miss Jen, I need a hug.

Me: Sorry, I can't hug you, I might go to jail.

Sad, sad world we live in. Some people just don't think when they make up ridiculous rules like this.

Catch-22

Well I got more hours this week.....because my Charge is sick. Nice huh?

1/2 Days

I don't know if this is true for schools in other areas, but here November seems to be the month for 1/2 days at the local elementary, middle, and high schools. The kids didn't have any half days in October and only 1 "no-school" day. In November however, they have 4 half days and 2 "no-school" days. What gives? I'm now dealing with panicky parents who are just realizing that they need to find care for their kids on those days. It's nice to be needed, but not cool when parents get angry with me for not being able to do it.

Where's the Clearance Section?

So I went to 2 stores on November 1st. My goal: To pick up some Halloween stuff on clearance for next year. I do this after every major holiday, it's the cheapest way to load up on decorations for the following year. Every time I've done this there's been a bunch of stuff that's marked down really low, so I can get some good deals. This year it was different though. 2 stores, no Halloween leftovers clearance stuff....anywhere. I did find that the areas in the 2 stores that DID have Halloween stuff, before Halloween at least, were overflowing with Christmas stuff. Now, forgive me here but, I shopped on November 1st. I expected there to be Halloween stuff on clearance. I asked a sales clerk about it, apparently they don't do that here. They just send the leftovers back and start in on the next major holiday. There isn't even Thanksgiving stuff, just Christmas. All Christmas. blah.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for Christmas..but November 1st? Come on. Couldn't they at least wait until November 2nd to round up all the leftover Halloween stuff and turn their stores into a Christmas eyesore? I'm a little upset about this. I was looking forward to stocking up. I don't have any Halloween decorations yet. I don't buy anything at full price. I count on clearance sales after the holidays.

I'm sad, I'm mad, and I'm still Halloween decoration-less. bah humbug.

Trick-or-Treating in Da U.P.

Thick cotton tights

Wind Pants

Socks

Winter Boots

T-shirt

Long Sleeve Shirt

Costume-(a size to big so it will fit over all of the clothing layers)

Winter jacket

Winter hat

Gloves

Umbrella-(for the rain/snow/hail)

Candy bag

30 degree F outside so all of the kids are sure to be cold after about 30 minutes.

Hot cocoa for when the kids get home and are freezing.

Warm baths for all kids because they're chilled

Loads of candy for a nice sugar high on a school night

Sounds like a fun time to me!!!