Nine years ago this weekend I was sitting on my bed at my parents house watching the Children's Miracle Network Telethon. I remember watching a story about baby Nicole with tears in my eyes. The very next day I would begin my nursing career as a nurse on Children's 2. Baby Nicole would become one of many "Miracle Kids" who I would care for.

This weekend I was able to share the CMN Telethon with my kids. McKenna anxiously awaited the beginning of the news coverage last evening. She likes to watch the TV spots where they show doctors she knows and even some that have taken care of her. She also looks forward to watching the coverage from up on the inpatient units where she has often visited me.

This morning we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and head over to the festivities offered at Geisinger. We arrived just in time to see the hundreds of motorcycles leave for the Motorcycle Miracle Tour. Cooper was in awe. McKenna was ready for them to be gone since they were pretty loud.

There were various booths to visit which included Health & Safety, Pet Therapy Dogs (Cooper's favorite), face painting (McKenna's favorite), finger printing, and a Bounce Around. McKenna had such a wonderful time. We had the chance to see a lot of friends from both the hospital and McKenna's school which was also fun. It's so fun to see her interested in learning. I hope that she stays enthusiastic about learning. I also love the fact that she's interested in the stories about the kids she hears about during the telethon. On our way over to Geisinger today the thing she was most interested in was seeing one of the Miracle Kids who she's met before.

McKenna getting her eyes tested.

McKenna and just one of many pet therapy dogs. The kids in the hospital always look forward to the pets visiting. I swear you can get a kid to do anything when you promise them a pet visit! Not that we ever resort to bribery.

Having a cast put on her finger.

Cooper was a bit too young to fully appreciate the festival. He did enjoy the puppet show and the Bounce Around (although he never was able to get on his feet to bounce). His favorite part of the day...his first ever lollipop! I'm a little neurotic when it comes to things like lollipops and popcorn, trampolines, and ATV's. But I figured since there we were among a 1/2 million healthcare professionals at a hospital maybe it would be an okay time for a two year old to have a lollipop. Weird, I know! He enjoyed his tootsie pop but couldn't count high enough to figure out how many licks it takes to get to the center! He just kept saying, "Mama, lol-pop."

Well, I did have more planned for this post but it's has literally taken me 4 hours to write up to this point. Cooper is feeling a little under the weather and we've been trying to get him to bed for the past 4 hours. I'll even admit to being slightly annoyed. But more than anything I know I'm blessed to have a little guy to keep me up late at night. If nothing else, telethon weekend reminds us of that.

Memorial Day

Surprise! I didn't think that I would have the brain power or energy to get on the computer tonight, but today wasn't nearly as hectic and stressful as I thought it would be. Of course, one would hope after three years of welcoming brand new nurses to GMC that it would become routine. Somehow it never goes quite as planned, but it does seem to get better.

Our Memorial Day turned out pretty routine. For once we didn't plan something or have an agenda. We just kind of let the day unfold. We made a trip to Gilbert's with my mom to find some flowers for our pots. Then we actually had to go buy some pots. Most of our previous pots didn't make the cut when we moved. Buying new ones was kind of nice anyway. McKenna did a great job picking out flowers and planting them too. I thought she would lose interest after the first one, but she stuck around until every last flower was in it's place.

After our trip for flowers, Earl was inspired to start digging out a new flower bed beside our deck. It ended up being about 3 times bigger than what we previously planned...but what the heck! He literally dug from lunch time until I told him dinner was ready. It pained him to dig up some of the grass that he just finished growing but it will be worth it in the end. At least he had some help!

Monday was also our anniversary. And although it was pretty low key (okay, very low key) we appreciated being able to spend a relaxing day with the kids. It's hard to believe we've been married for seven years already. I wish that I had a wedding picture to include here but we didn't even have a digital camera seven years ago. If anyone has a digital picture from my wedding please send it my way. Gosh, I feel like we were married in the stone age...no digital pictures. Pathetic!

Tonight Uncle Shane stopped by with a "graduation present" for McKenna. Can you imagine how excited she was when he presented her with none other than a gift certificate to get her nails painted at Wal-Mart. (And he says he "doesn't read my stupid blog.") She was thrilled. Of course he also had new John Deer "tracker" (Cooper's word for tractor) for the little guy. He's already brain washing him and asking Cooper who his favorite Uncle is. Cooper has absolutely no idea what that means so he just gives Uncle Shane kisses. It's really pretty cute. Speaking of cute...here's my first baby, Tucker. He's all tired out from playing Frisbee yesterday.

It's so quiet in our house right now that I think I could hear a pin drop. The kids were in bed early again tonight. I think Cooper would have willingly gone to sleep at 6pm if we would have let him. We managed to withstand his tired, crabby mood until 7:30. He was so excited to go back to school this morning. Once I got him dressed he started yelling, "Kenna, bye-bye." When I asked him if he wanted to go to school he smiled and nodded "yes" and began saying the names of his little friends. I kind of felt like chopped liver but this morning was so much easier than what I had imagined. Is it possible for me to get that lucky two days in a row?

Preschool Graduation

I fully intended to post on Friday but as you can see that didn't happen. This week has been packed full of fun for us. Thursday was McKenna's preschool graduation. The kids put on a short program about their school year and McKenna did a great job. If I was a little more technically inclined I would upload the video so you could see for yourselves, but that would take the better part of forever for me to figure out. You'll have to settle for a few cute pictures.

A few of "The Girls"

McKenna and her friend Aja.

Mom-Mom and Pappy Landis wouldn't miss McKenna's big day!

Mimi and Pappy Richard

McKenna and Ms. Lorraine

This weekend we spent time at the Brouse's Annual Pig Roast. We toasted marshmellows, ate way too much good food and just spent time hanging out with my family and some friends. Today we stuck around the house and did a little bit of everything from playing with Moon Sand and Barbies to riding bikes and watching a movie.

The kids are pretty much exhausted from staying up late this week and playing hard all day. I'm not exactly eagerly anticipating Tuesday morning. It's going to be ugly folks. Tuesday just happens to mark the beginning of the "busy season" in the nursing education world. Lots of new nurses and summer nurse interns floating around. Tuesday I'll also begin orienting the girl who will be taking over 1/2 of my time come August. I am excited to have her on board and to share some of the workload and stress with someone else. As with anything though it comes with a little anxiety because it is something new. A new routine, a new way of doing things and eventually a new schedule. But after spending this week at home with the kids I'm more than ready to reduce my Geisinger workload a bit. For some reason Moon Sand is starting to grow on me!

Such a Little Man and My Little Lady

Cooper's vocabulary has seemed to explode lately, although that may only be apparent to me. I speak "his" language I guess. I remember when my brother Kyle was a toddler. I spoke his "language" too. It was kind of like secret code but I got it.
Cooper has worked diligently to master words like "tractor" and "big truck" over the past two weeks. But I really want him to say "I love you". So, when I have a quiet moment with him I like to practice. He's very good at repeating I -LOVE-YOU. But tonight he had me in stitches when I tried to get him to put all three words together. I said, "Cooper, say I love you Mommy." He slowly got a huge grin on his face and simply said, "Yeah." I got it though. After all, I speak his language.

On another note, I have to admit to pure Mommy failure tonight. I caved. I mean, I gave in big time. McKenna has been begging me all week to go to Wal-Mart (where they have a nail salon) and get her nails painted like one of the girls in her class. I resisted. I mean, come on, she's 5. So a few days ago while we were out shopping I let her pick out some decals like my gram used to buy from the Avon lady a million years ago. You know the kind that you put on with clear polish over top. Well, let me just tell you how that turned out. I did a horrible job and her nails looked so awful that I wanted to immediately take them right back off. But McKenna had at least stopped whining about Wal-Mart. Or so I thought. Today when I picked her up from school she started all over again. And around 7:15 she finally wore me down. I couldn't take it anymore (not to mention the fact that if I had to look at my own handy work on the end of her fingers for one more day I thought I might go crazy). So, what did I do? I gave in and took her to Wal-Mart. I honestly wasn't even sure that they would do her nails since she was so young. I thought that maybe they had an age limit that might save me? WRONG! Half the place was filled with mom's and little girls getting their nails painted. Great ! (Can you sense my sarcasm?). Long story short, it only cost me 5 bucks and the ladies at the nail salon did an awesome job. Her fingers are now baby pink with little tiny daisy flowers (that they literally put on with a toothpick) just right for a five year old little girl. I guess it could have been worse. But I'm really starting to wonder what the next 13 years hold! (No comments from my parents please! Uh, actually no comments from anyone who knew me growing up or has teenage children of their own. Ignorance is bliss.)

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

As many of you might have read in a previous post, Earl and I took the kids to Inner Harbor this weekend. As luck would have it my cousin, Nicole, and her husband Jon also happened to be heading to Baltimore. Well, maybe it was more than just luck.

Here is the low down on our trip. I'll classify it into the good, the bad and the downright ugly.

The Good:

1. It only takes 2.5 hours to get to Baltimore. For some reason I thought it took longer. The kids were great. They watched a movie and took a short nap. Before we knew it we were there.

2. The hotel. We booked on-line on hotels.com and got a great room for $90.00 that was .5 miles from just about everywhere in the Harbor.

3. We got to spend time with Nicole and Jon. We don't see them nearly enough so it was good spend time together.

4. The National Aquarium. It was awesome. Cooper loved seeing the fish and would run from one tank to another. McKenna liked the little stations that were set up throughout the Aquarium where you could learn about different sea creatures.

5. The free McDonald's latte's they were handing out on the street.

The Bad:

1. The weather. It was cold and windy, windy, windy. Almost to the point of miserably windy. The .5 mile walk from the hotel seemed like 3 miles when walking in the wind.

2. No shops were open on Sunday. Remember that if ever planning a trip to Inner Harbor. The bars also are not open.

3. You weren't allowed to take your stroller through the Aquarium. They should really put this on their web site. We were glad to have Jon along because when Earl and I had our fill of carrying Cooper and holding him up to see some of the fish we handed him off to Jon (or Nicole).

4. No Pack-n-Play. We decided to travel without the Pack-n-Play just this once. I mean, come on we've been dragging it with us for the better part of 5 years. Wouldn't you know that Cooper rolled right over the pillows we had placed beside him and ended up on the floor. He was okay though and quickly went back to sleep.

5. As if falling out of bed wasn't enough....Monday morning Cooper shut his fingers in the hotel room door. He cried for a few minutes and kept pointing out his "boo-boo" to everyone. But no swelling, no disfiguration and lots of movement led us to believe they probably are not broken.

The Ugly:

1. THE STOMACH BUG- Yes, that's right...the stomach bug. On vacation. It started out as "food poisoning" or so we thought when I started getting sick late Sunday night. Suffice to say that I did not sleep and was glad to see the sun rise Monday morning. At least the "active" sickness had stopped. And I thought that I could muster the energy for one last day in Baltimore, especially with Nicole and Jon's help. After all, the last thing that I wanted to do was disappoint McKenna. We had big plans to visit Port Discovery that day.

2. THE STOMACH BUG - As if my being sick was not enough, Earl fell ill right around breakfast time. Of course, we had already checked out of the hotel. Let's just say we won't be eating at Panera again soon. (I know, TMI). But we soldiered on. Earl thought he could make it and I honestly didn't give him much choice.

3. Reading the schedule wrong. After our attempt at breakfast we headed to Port Discovery. All we had to do was make it through a few hours for McKenna's sake. Which would be nice....if it was open! Turns out I read on the on-line schedule wrong. It's closed on Mondays! Let the tears begin. Mine and McKenna's. No problem though. There's still the Maryland Science Center. Surely that would be open. We checked the iphone and sure enough they opened at 10am. So, after paying our $7.00 for 1/2 in the parking garage, we headed across town to the Science Center. It was great and McKenna loved it. Earl mostly sat on any bench he could find while Nicole, Jon and I took advantage of the exhibits. If you've never been there I highly recommend it, especially with 5 year olds. I managed to make it about an hour and a half before my dehydrated body could take no more. I looked at Earl and said, "We have to go." Nicole and Jon were so wonderful and offered to keep McKenna with them and stay the afternoon. We are so appreciative of that and McKenna had a blast. Earl and I packed Cooper up and headed straight to, where else - my mom's - where we promptly unloaded Cooper the diaper bag and headed for home to our bed. I've never been so happy to lay down in my life. I honestly have no idea how Earl got us all the way home but I'm eternally grateful that it was not up to me to drive us.

4. All the tears. Namely all of my tears. I think I cried the whole way to the PA line yesterday. Even though it was my decision to leave McKenna with Nicole and Jon and even though I knew she was in VERY capable hands, I felt like I was giving her away. I looked so forward to this weekend and making memories with the kids (and no, not the memories I've just recounted). Plus, she was having such an awesome time at the Science Center. She is becoming so very curious about so many things. She's like a sponge and just wants to learn about everything. I never knew that could be so fun. To hear her ask questions about the human heart and then tell me facts about is almost as great as watching her roll over for the first time (maybe you have to be a nurse to appreciate that). But you get the idea. So to leave her to enjoy that time with someone else was so, so hard. All that said, I wouldn't change a thing. I'm glad she got to enjoy a few more hours at the Science Center and I loved hearing about the other exhibits today. I just can't wait to see the pictures.

So, there you have it...The good, the bad and the ugly. I honestly can't imagine just how ugly it would have been without Nicole and Jon there. I know that God had them there with us for a reason. And I'm so grateful. I'm just hoping that they might consider vacationing with us again. We're really hoping that the rest of our vacation is more positive. So far it's looking promising. I'll have to let you know. For now I'll leave you with some pictures of the "Good" part of our trip.

Praying for Sun Among Other Things

In a hour I'm leaving for Danville. Every spring on the Saturday after Mother's Day we have Remembrance Service to honor all the children who have died at our hospital in the past year. Their families are invited as well as the doctors and nurses. It's something I've done for years but for some reason it's never gotten any easier. It is a heavy day. I remember the first time I attended. I was asked to read a page of names during part of the service. I remember sitting in the church filled with mothers and fathers who had lost their little ones. It is an odd feeling. It is a feeling that I cannot even describe. It is kind of like when the air is too thick to breathe but you still can because you can literally feel the presence of God there. It's kind of like attending a private party that you were not invited to.

Right now I'm praying, praying, praying for it to warm up a little. We need sun for the service today. First to make all of us feel a little better. But also because the end of our service entails releasing butterflies. Every person in attendance is given a butterfly and we all go out doors together to release them. It is absolutely beautiful to see hundreds of butterflies fill the sky. But if it's not warm enough the butterflies won't fly. We really need the butterflies to fly!


Today is also a memorial service for a little guy who passed away on one of our units two weeks ago. Many of the nurses will be attending. To say that the staff is struggling is probably the understatement of the year. They have watch helplessly as many kids have lost their battles this year. Yet they keep pushing on, trying that much harder to save the rest. They are tired, they are defeated and even though they will never admit it, they are hurting.


So, if you're inclined, I would appreciate your prayers today. Prayers for families who are making the difficult trip back to Danville today; for those of us who will participate in the service-that we make it special and honorable; and for my nurses - that they will have comfort today. And if you happen to be praying before 1:30pm - for those butterflies to fly!

One Crazy Week

Some of you who are on Facebook may know that my week didn't start out so well. Taking your kid to daycare with no shoes on (luckily I remembered the socks) kind of makes you start to wonder what the rest of your week will be like. Knowing that the Department of Health would be spending a week with us obviously had me a bit unnerved. I can't remember what happened on Tuesday, probably because the events of Wednesday were so bizarre. For those of you who haven't already heard the story, it goes something like this. I usually don't work on Wednesday, but again, because the Department of Health was on campus I was asked to come in. After spending our lunch hour outside enjoying a little bit of fresh air and sun, my friend Tara and I, (who incidentally share an office) settled into our chairs to do some much needed paperwork. For the record, we never are in our office, but Wednesday we were committed to clearing our desks of all the piles we've accumulated. We had just selected our music for the afternoon when we heard something over the intercom that we will not soon forget. It went something like this...."99, 99 The hospital internal disaster plan is now in effect." I'm not lying when I say that it took hearing the operator repeat those words 3 times for it to actually sink in. To make a long story short a 24 inch water main that feeds the air conditioner ruptured sending nearly 5 feet of water spilling into one of the lower levels. We instantly lost the air conditioning and our ability to leave the hospital until we were "released". I spent the rest of the afternoon on my units, delivering fans to patient rooms to help keep them cool and otherwise working on plans for the next series of "what if's". The nurses were required to stay until we knew that we would not need to transfer any patients to other parts of the hospital or other facilities. I have to say that I cannot possibly imagine what that would have been like. It could have been much, much, much worse. But I can honestly say that I won't forget that crazy day anytime soon.

So, this blog is supposed to be about the kids....and they are doing great. We are currently preparing for an overnight trip to Inner Harbor on Sunday to see the aquarium and visit Port Discovery. McKenna is super excited. She has been very busy at school this week preparing for her pre-school graduation next Thursday. It's one of those days that's going to be so fun and so sad. She's been at Crossroads since she was 18 months old. I can't imagine dropping her off there every day. But on a positive note, I did find someone in our neighborhood (a teacher who has an in-home daycare) who will watch her before and after school. I am so relieved that I finally have that in place. It was something that I was extremely stressed over. I hope that McKenna likes it there, although I'm sure she will. Cooper will continue to go to Crossroads at least 2 days a week. Earl and I both have been very happy with them and the work they do with the kids. They've taught McKenna so much and we obviously want the same for Cooper. I'm so interested to find out what it will be like to have him home here with me when McKenna goes to school. It will be so odd to finally be part time and only have one kid at home during the day. I'm so excited.

McKenna on one of her first days at Crossroads Discovery Center

A Blast From Our Past...With Our Present (Lots of Pictures Included!)

It's hard to believe that I have only been back to IUP one time in the past nine years. It's also hard to believe that I was there this weekend for my little brother's graduation. I guess it's not because it's hard to believe that he's all grown up and heading out on his own. It's more like, it's hard to believe that my time at IUP is over and I'm out on my own.

Earl and I were happy to take the kids back to the place where we met. A place that holds our memories of dating and being a couple. At one point, as we walked through the Oak Grove, it was like the memories flashed through my mind at a pace too quick for my brain to process. It was both sweet and overwhelming. The funny part was when Earl would point to a certain spot or a certain building and say, "Do you remember that?" Funny because we remembered the same silly things about those spots.

I love this picture of Earl and the kids walking through the Oak Grove holding hands. Earl and I used to like to take walks together through the Oak Grove (although most of the time we walked through there just to get to the library.) He used to sing goofy songs and tell me about his dreams for the future. It went something like, " All I really want is a good job (check), a wife (check), a couple of kids (double check), a dog (check), a decent house (check) and a little money left over at the end of the week (check)." So, there walking right before my eyes it was like the circle was complete. It was awesome to know that in our time since leaving IUP we had met so many goals and been so completely blessed. It was also a little bittersweet to me. Looking around, some things had changed, building mainly. But everything seemed so much smaller. The big hill to the cafeteria looked so much shorter and the Oak Grove so much smaller. Almost like when you're a little kid things seemed so much bigger. But I wasn't a little kid when I went to IUP. Or was I? Maybe things seemed less impressive because of all the living that's been done between my time as a student and now. Maybe it's just the distance between that part of my life and the present. I really can't put my finger on it. What I can put my finger on is the fact that life has completely blown by the past nine years. It's like blinking. What I wouldn't do to do it all over again...even those horrible, awful parts that I couldn't wait put behind me. I would do it over again in a heartbeat and never change a single thing.
Earl was excited to take the kids for ice cream at one of our favorite spots in Indiana, The Meadows. No where else do they serve banana splits like this:

We all had a great time at graduation. After being sick and isolated for the entire week a weekend with my family was just what I needed. The kids had a great time. This was the first trip that Tighe, McKenna and Cooper were on together. I think they did pretty well. We all had a great dinner together Saturday night and enjoyed some time together on Sunday before graduation. I'm really proud of Shane for what he's accomplished and I'm excited to see where his future leads him. Although he threatens to move away I really hope that isn't the case...unless it's somewhere warm and sunny and then I might reconsider!

Enjoy some pictures from our weekend!

Shane and one of his best friends from high school.

Is it too much to ask for everyone to look at the camera?

Tighe was so proud of his Daddy!

McKenna and her "favorite" Uncle Shane

Tighe and McKenna getting their silly's out before the ceremony!

"Mom, someone's hiding bananas in the ice cream. What's up with that?"

Shane's "catering company"....otherwise known as Gram and Pap!

And where would anyone be without their Mom? Glad their FB friends again!

Just when you thought no one could be more proud! (Or maybe he's just glad to finally be done paying for college!)