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Gearing up for a semester of hard work

College starts on Tuesday.  I'm taking four classes, all while taking care of a husband and two kids and working full time.  Suffice to say that this is about to be the most difficult few months. I'm getting ready to put  my nose to the grindstone.  


I can't wait though.  I'm excited.  It's been so long since I've gone to school.  I have to buy books on Tuesday.  The four books I need for my classes are going to cost about $400.  It's mind boggling.  I got good news about my financial aid though.  I can go to the bookstore and charge my books and supplies to my Pell grant.  


Nick says that he will help as much as possible with the kids while I'm going but I do know it's going to be hard because he works so late. Hopefully I can get as much done as possible after they goes to sleep and on the weekends.  I'm working for a better life.  That's what I keep saying to myself.  :)

Days and Days since I've written

I was trying to be good and write here every day.  Guess I broke that streak, huh?  I have an excuse though.  Wednesday night I was really sick and still didn't feel quite right on Thursday.  Last night I had a wonderful time spending quality time with the hubby.  So I do have a valid excuse.  However, I do miss writing here.  It feels good to be able to say what I have on my mind and know that at least my blog is listening.  :)

Today, Zoe and I went to my friend Jamie's baby shower.  She's pregnant with her second child, a girl.  As Abbie has grown out of things-her bassinet, travel swing, clothing, etc-I have passed it on to Jamie.  Today I dropped off another load of things.  It makes me feel good to know that she will get lots of use out of the things that I've given her.  Abbie no longer needs them but Penelope does.  Anyway, Zoe and I had a lot of fun today.  It's rare that I get to spend time with my oldest child anymore.  It's usual the three of us all the time and with Abbie as the baby, she by default, requires the most attention.  I feel like we shortchange Zoe sometimes because she isn't a very needy child and is very independent.  But today, it was mommy and Zoe time.  All was well and we had a great time, just the two of us.  She wore her Cinderella dress over her regular clothes to the party and brought her princess shoes, wand and crown.  She was the life of the party.  :)

Doing stuff to things to make them better...

Some how,some way, I have repaired our laptop computer.  It's been out of commission for at least a year and a half. I replaced the hard drive and managed to reinstall windows xp home.  We had an upgrade cd from when we purchased the computer for a windows vista upgrade.  I thought maybe I could use it to get vista back on the laptop.  I thought maybe I'd have to pay for it but I was cool with that.  At first it wouldn't work, but I kept doing it over and over and finally I think the computer just gave up.  :)  It finally installed and has been working great ever since.  It's nice to have my own computer.  Nick has the desktop and I have this.  Now I'm working on putting all my bookmarks back on. I never realized I have so many.  I can't quite think of them all right now but I will eventually. 

I also helped Nick with his blog today too.  He thinks I'm a genius and that's all that counts.  :D

in other words...

Back at work for the first time in about a week.  So glad my baby's doing better.  I actually like my job a lot.  There's just something about your own space.  Your own things.  We're getting back into the swing of things. Tomorrow Zoe goes back to school and Nick goes back to work.  We will all be back to normal.  

I'm going back to college next week.  Finally going to finish my two year degree which has taken me what? 8 years to complete.  It all looks so easy when you graduate.  But then life happens.  I have to do something with my life though.  Nick's promised to help as much as he can.  I plan on working really hard on the weekends and at night after the kids go to sleep.  It's going to be a long road and probably really hard but it's worth it.  With a degree, I'll be able to get a better job.  Now is the time though that I'm questioning my chosen field.  It's something I'm really interested in but I have to look at the monetary side with two kids.  Is it worth it? 

Books for Soldiers

This is right up my alley.  At this website, you can connect with soldiers overseas and send them books.  I think it's a fabulous idea.  Check it out. 

http://booksforsoldiers.com/

Feeling much lighter...

At least when it comes to toys in the kids' room.  We got rid of so many toys yesterday.  Zoe of course kept pulling things back out the bags and boxes, saying "But that's my favorite__________."  Mean mommy kept putting it all back in when she wasn't looking.  We've pared it down immensely. I sent home 3 bags of toys, plus several big stuffed ones, with my mom.  I didn't want to completely get rid of them.  Just get them out of their room.  We will swap them back in a few months. Abbie has her own baskets of toys on the floor so she can reach them.  Zoe has the big toy box and even with removing 3 bags worth of toys, she still has it full.

Christmas was good to them.  We didn't get to buy them very much but we got the main things they both wanted.  Or that I thought they wanted in Abbie's case.  However, family more than compensated.  They still haven't gotten the Christmas presents from my grandparents.  I didn't think they would be getting anything from them so I honestly didn't even think about it.  However, my grandma called the other day and she and my grandpa apparently bought the kids some presents. Color me surprised.

Update for Abbie:  She's doing very well.  She is crawling, walking while holding on to the coffee table and couch, and fighting with her sister.  I'm so proud of how far my baby has come.  Just a week ago, she was very sick.  RSV is nothing to play with at all.

Getting back in the swing of things

I've let this blog sit and wither away for a long while now. I've decided it's time to get back into writing again. Maybe relieve some stress. :) We just got home on Thursday from 4 days in the pediatric intermediate care unit at the Children's Hospital in Macon. My youngest was sick with RSV. I've never seen a child struggle for breath like she was. We went to the pedi on Monday morning and he sent us directly to the hospital. The hospital did what they could, including breathing treatments every hour, and she still showed no improvement. It was so scary. Nick took Zoe and went home and Abbie and I settled for a long night at the hospital. Around 6pm that night, the pedi came and looked her over and said he was sending her to the icu in Macon because her body was working so hard for breath that he was afraid she would get too tired and quit breathing.

That took my breath away. I think I went into shock, sitting there, holding my baby girl. I immediately called Nick and when I heard his voice on the other end of the line, I couldn't even speak. I burst into tears and he of course started freaking out. He called my mom and they came rushing back to the hospital. My mom was crying, my brother was crying. He thought she was going to die. Abbie was so sick.

They took her by ambulance to the pediatric intermediate unit. She looked so little on that stretcher. It made my heart hurt to look at her. I couldn't ride with her in the back of the ambulance. It was the longest ride of my life.

When we got to the hospital, they immediately hooked up up to oxygen and chest leads. She hated all those wires but didn't really fight them. I held her nonstop for most of the time. No sleep for four days. On Wednesday we were looking at at least 3 more days at the hospital. She hadn't eaten since 2pm on Monday. They had ivs hooked up but she wanted food, dang it.

Thursday, the nurse let us unhook the chest leads, oxygen thing on her foot and the blood pressure cuff. They also took the iv out because it started leaking at the site. Abbie was one happy baby. She felt so much better and was actually playing with toys. She wanted to get down and take off. The doctor came in while I was at lunch. My mom came to relieve me so I could get food as we couldn't eat in her room. My mom called me and said that they were letting her go home. The doctor said she looked so much better. It was unbelievable. I was so excited to bring my baby home. Abbie is happy and healthy now. 4 breathing treatments a day and check in with the pedi on Monday. Life is good again.