A day in the life - when K has a break from school and doesn't have to work

The phone alarm at 6:30am lets me know it is time to wake R for school.  I touch his arm to wake him, despite the fact that last night he said "nobody can wake me up in the morning, NOBODY!"

R - "I said NOBODY could wake me up!"

"Good morning love, see you downstairs in a bit"

His bed head makes me smile as he makes his grand entrance downstairs.  I'm already putting together his lunch for school, his breakfast of poppyseed muffin is on the table - cut in half, the only way he will eat it.  "Good morning mom, I'm ready for breakfast"

The boys sit together at the table and eat breakfast. 

Clearly R is NOT a morning person, but once the initial wake up is over, his mood drastically changes.

It was 21 degrees this morning so I drove R to the bus, K came along for the ride, causing R to comment that "K says he sees the stars or moon twenty-two-five-thousand times, and it gets annoying!" What can I say, K loves astronomy.

We waved goodbye as R got on the bus, I snuck in a quick kiss, I always do.  He says "moooom" in that annoyed, yet I know he likes it still, sort of way.

We got home from drop off, and I decided to reclaim my living room floor.  I kept K busy for a bit, as I told him to try and find all the sneaky socks that were hiding in the pile, then try to match them up.  He (mostly) did a great job.  That mountain of laundry is folded.  I counted 11 dryer sheets, which means ELEVEN loads were sitting there on the floor, wrinkled and clean.  For the moment my laundry room was empty.  A huge accomplishment.  It filled up quickly though...

J woke up at 8:30am - changed her diaper, then went downstairs for breakfast.  K always eats a second breakfast with J.  Chocolate milk (milk mixed with instant breakfast), and Cheerios...always.

After breakfast, it was playdoh time.  That lasted an hour.  Seriously.  These toddlers are OBSESSED.  Then we went for an outdoor adventure walk, they were annoyed they had to wear hat and gloves.

We came back and K asked to vacuum.  Seriously.  He likes to do it.  And similar to the book "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" K's vacuum job turned into wanting to wipe the mirrors down, then put away clothes, then sweep the floors.

So, my house is now clean.  Let me elaborate, clean in the sense that K helped me wipe down the bathroom mirrors - so clean with streaks, and K vacuumed the front room - so maybe more missed spots than vacuumed, and J helped pick up the toystore  play room explosion - so maybe more mixed up toys in bins than organized, and J helped "seep a floor" - which really consists of her spreading everything I swept up back around the floor.  So maybe my standard of clean doesn't equate to the kind of clean that a cleaning service would offer, but the current state of my house is clean, and I'm happy.  The streaks, the missed spots, the kitchen dust bunnies, the unorganized toy bins, the way it gets messy before it is really clean, clean...I love our house, and the people who make it a home.

Perhaps this mornings line up - playdoh, chilly outdoor adventure (it was 26 degrees for our walk) and then the enormous cleaning spree was a little too much activity for my toddlers.  There are flash cards and color crayons/books that didn't get picked up before naptime - we stretched our morning out too long, and had to abandoned the activity mid session related to an all out brawl over the purple crayon.  Purple.  He didn't even know which color it was, but she had it, and so of course he wanted it.  So I whisked them upstairs.  He fell asleep, woke up 3 hours later sobbing because his bed was wet.  Then the sob-fest intensified as I had to wash all the blankets, including his most special brown blankies.

We got R from the bus stop, came home to have a snack - apples, fruit snacks, and Cheeze-its.  R talked about PE, and how he didn't want to do his homework right now, and asked me to play angry birds.

A fight over the angry birds (between brothers) ended that activity, and was the start of some much needed quiet time for my kindergartener.  K got bored and remembered he wanted his blanket from earlier, so we switched it into the dryer.  

He is sitting in front of the dryer waiting for them.  Seriously.

J is writing on a post-it note, left handed, sitting on my lap as I type.  A post-it note with P scribbles of random to-do stuff.  He leaves them everywhere.  I hope this to-do list was done.  If not, it is not legible anymore.

We all played in the play room, were we messed up the cleanliness that it once was earlier in the day.  But they had fun, and played well together for almost 2 whole hours - which given the high activity of the day is a win.

P was at work, and got home in time to tuck them in.  So I faked a dinner to span out the time that I could be doing something with my kids instead of cooking.  Tuna and crackers, and fruit (bananas, grapes, and raspberries).  It is nice doing dinner that way every once in a while because I know each and every one of them will eat it.

Bathtime happened at 6pm, with bubbles because we do bathtime right around here.  Then I slathered em' up with lotion because this dry, cold weather is just nasty to their skin.  Then it was time for  books - R read one of them, and then bed.  J always needs her blanket, doll and kitty cat (stuffed animal), R will only cover up with his angry birds blanket, and then sleep on the left side of his bed (since it is a school night, he sleeps on the right on the weekends...weird I know), K will need his blankies and then say "after night-night we'll got to the swings at the park," (even though we don't do that every day, he asks to do it every.single.night).

I run on the treadmill - 6 miles cause I'm trying to get back into marathon shape.  P works.

Shower, and then relax watching TV - because at the moment I don't have homework.

Bed by midnight, because I'm not working.  Woot.

My Mr.

I love the way he looks at me, with smiling eyes.  How he makes silly faces when I insist on taking photos of us together.  How he really enjoys my company, after almost 10 years of this togetherness we share.  How he overlooks the pile of (clean) clothes, once housed on the couch then dumped on the living room floor, and goes looking for socks in the mountain high pile instead of putting up a fuss.  How he contributes to the enormity of this pile of clothes by washing/drying and dumping, never folding.  Ever.  How he points out daily, "check out the nice mow job on the yard" even after 2 weeks have lapsed since he mowed the lawn.  Dude loves positive affirmation.  I snuggle in bed with a smile as he turns on the fan in the bedroom, shuts the bedroom door, and does early morning duty with the kids so I can have more sleep.  And then when he is doing morning duty, how he does it as a present father.  Paying specific detail to them, their needs, their features.  "Yes R that is a sweet tower you build for the pigs to knock them down with the angry birds, and yes J you look fancy with your brother's yellow Crocs on, and K let me help you put back your undies and pants on - good job for peeing in the toilet!"  Without a struggle, mostly.  I love that he wrestle with our girl, snuggles/hugs/and kisses our boys - no gender discrimination whatsoever.  I love that he changes his dietary habits on a regular basis - "I'm not eating meat," but then goes on to eat a chicken burrito from Taco Bell.  Because apparently "taco bell chicken burritos isn't even real meat."  I love that dates can happen in the McDonalds playplace.  Him, me, and some sausage McMuffins while our littles play in the play structure.  Aside from R's announcement every few seconds of "I'm COMING DOWN THE SLIDE" and then J's "I having fun" it is like we are there alone.  Just us.  Except we aren't and I like that.  I like the transition we've made in life together, and supported each other along the way.  How no matter how many times I told him I hate grad school, and want to quit - how he just says "do what you want, but have no regrets about your decision."

He stays up late to work, spends as minimal time in the office as possible, gets up early to be the family guy, and soaks up every precious second of time that I can spare to spend quality time together - as P and K.

He is exceptional at life.  Seriously.

I strive to be like him.

Because he is great.

The happenings lately

J came down with a fever on Nov 29th, I was hoping she'd wake up feeling better this morning since it has been a week, but instead she woke up with new symptoms.

Of course she would catch something else.

Those darn low WBC making her little body unable to fight off yuck.

But, the pediatrician's office called and she doesn't have strep.  So it is something viral of course, that has weakened her immune system, and now she has picked up some other yuck.

Knowing her luck, this new runny nose/cough will turn into an ear infection.  A perfect set up really.

Poor gal.

*****

I finished up this term, and am ready to celebrate an entire month free from text books!  I think a mojito is in order, stat!  I also look forward to the start of my Christmas shopping. 

*****

R has declared me as his favorite parent, again, after a several month hiatus.  I might be smiling inside, but not too big because I don't want P's feelings to be hurt anymore than they are.  He wants to do homework with ME, have ME get him up, have ME take him to the school bus and pick him up, have ME snuggle him...yep, I'm loving it.

He would be the child to figure out a way to incorporate the word POOP into his homework for school.  His sentence, which had to include the word "get" -

"If my brudder gos poop in the toilat, he gets to pick a toi"

We are not allowed to help him spell, he must sound it out and write what he thinks, then we talk about how to spell it after.

• K - "Great job, only brudder isn't spelt all the way right.  Do you remember what two letters together make the TH shound, since it isn't a "d" sound in brother"

• R - "Who cares, mom, I got to use potty talk in my homework."  followed by immense laughter.

boys...

*****

P wrote a kinesology rap to sing to his students.  True story.  There are no words for the weirdness that is my husband.

*****

At the library yesterday the librarian asked K if J was his sister.  He said "this is J, she is cute."  The librarian thought it was the sweetest thing ever.  Lately K is so protective of J, it makes me so proud. 

3

K is 3, and poorly documented.

So I'll fix that.

He is finally making headway in the speech department.  I thought he had a delay, so I had him assessed, and was told he scored in the 4 year old category for language and reception by our local speech and language pathologist of the headstart program.  I am both shocked, and amazed at this information, but elated too.  I've noticed a drastic change the past month, and now he is finally doing better with sentence structure.  So we'll keep doing what were doing.

He says kiwi instead of kitty (kiwi cat), and it cracks us up.  R has declared our cat to be named Jill Kiwi Loprinzi because she needed a middle name, and he thought it was funny that K calls her that.

He use to attempt to hold Jill by her neck, I told him to hold one arm under her butt, he said "gross, I not gonna touch Kiwi's butt!  Disgusting!"  After a bit he figured it out.  The cat thanks him.

He still gets a little wild with her.  She is one "loved" kiwi-cat.

He won't poop in the toilet, and it drives me wild.  No bribery of food, toys, fun will convince him otherwise.  He would be golden in the potty business if he did, he wakes up every morning dry.  There are worse things in the world to fret over, he'll get it in time.

He is such a middle child, and plays so well by himself.  I'm a middle child, so bias I am sure, but he is amazing.

He LOVES lincoln logs,

He playing loves trains, and obsessed over driving over train tracks - "mom we going to go over train tracks now..."

and taking 13 identical pictures on my phone of his train crash scenes.

and playing outside.

Like his big brother, he is also becoming a puzzle master.  He can put together 25 piece puzzles solo in record time, and beams with pride as he puts the last piece together.

a take-apart-toy guru

Well known for falling asleep just minutes before arriving at home, then waking up and acting as if he never fell asleep.

When he gets bored he says "I'anna EAT!" which happens a gazillion times a day and may, or may not be extremely annoying.

He is the first to rise in this house.  Always.  He comes into my room, and grabs my cell phone and plays on it, sometimes ordering expensive games...for 30 minutes everymorning while we sneak in some more sleep.

He looks forward to taking R to the bus stop every morning, and then picking him up in the afternoon.  He says "Oh, my Rykie bear is coming home, he comes on the big yellow bus!"

note - this is a cheap-o car he picked out as a "poop prize."  He earned it, and refers to it as "poop bus"

He also frequently asks about "kay" of which is an often debate in the car between him and R of the correct pronunciation

K is obsessed with fruit snacks.

and hates haircuts, but deals with getting it done.

He loves warm, clean blankets fresh from the dryer.  And looks adorable all snuggled up in em'.

 When he tries to fold his hands, his fingers get all goofy, and it makes me smile.  His crazy hair on the crown of his head makes me smile too, the way it sticks up all crazy when it gets too long.

He has lovingly named all of his stuffed monkeys "George"

He loves rides on daddy's shoulders

Giggling swing rides from his big brother

and duo bike rides

causing trouble with his little sister

and taking cheese ball pictures with his mama

He loves watching the sunrise and set, spotting the first star in the sky, and checking out the moon with daddy every night.

Most of all he is our sweet, sweet guy.  He is the middle kiddo, big and little brother, our Kip, Kippy, Kipster, Bubba, Piplin.  And he brings us so much joy.

Staying energetic

Correction to that failing grade - I really got a 90% cause he missed something apparently.

So all that stress, a total waste of a night.

I did have a fabulous run today because of it - 4 miles.  I ended up walking the loooong hill right before our cute yellow house, and felt embarrassed.  Perhaps it was all that wasted energy stressing out.

This run made me realize I want to run a marathon.  again.  I've got a looooong way to go given I had to walk up that hill, but I'm a marathoner at heart, I've got what it takes to get back in marathon shape.  Maybe not finishing a marathon that will give me a personal record time...but finishing a marathon as a personal accomplishment - a marathoner, mama of 3, RN, grad student, and wife to the greatest Mr. around.

Anyway.

P has been a basket case preparing for a lecture on performance enhancing drugs for tomorrow's class.  Apparently his collegiate days as an athlete didn't prep him for knowledge on this topic, which I am not complaining about at all.  He's retired his running shoes, and declared em his stay fit and healthy shoes.  Apparently that loss at the Skeleton 5K Halloween run was too much for him ;(.  I was really looking forward to a redemption title during the turkey trot 8K too.

But these littles keep us too busy for competitive running most days.

Not complaining.  At all.  Just saying how it is.

When you want to keep up, and parent them they way they deserve, training hard enough to win races makes us tired and less patient.  And they deserve more.

So we choose health, and them.  Making our priority to exercise to stay healthy, and have enough energy/time to make a difference in their life.  Maybe someday we'll be rockstars of the masters age group.

Until then, we do what we need to do to keep up with these monkeys...and love every single.second we get with them.

 Why yes, I let them jump off the bed.

 except I didn't let little lady.  She's too small, and would probably break.  And so, she's mad.

 My little loves.

He bumped his head, on the wall, cause I let him wrestle with his brother.  And I melted as I looked over to see R.  Sibling sweetness.

and in a second all was right in the world and the wrestling/jumping fest continued.  He is a tough on, my K.

I hope they are always buddies.

Progression of nursing degrees

I went to nursing school.

Earned my Associates degree in nursing (ADN).

It is the proudest I've been of myself, school wise.  Ever.

Then I continued in school to earn my Bachelors of Science in Nursing, because I am a sucker, and thought it was a big deal to have those BSN credentials after RN.  Several thousand dollars later, and no pay difference than what an ADN, RN makes...I'm here to say, having a BSN just lengthens my already long name on my badge at work.

And so I thought, since I must work, I might as well make something doing it.  So, back to school.  Only this time it is grad school, which isn't for sissies.  Not only is it not for sissies, it apparently isn't suited for people named Kristina, who has a husband, and three kids, and a job, and lives across the country from a support system...

So, the truth...

 I failed an assignment.  Not just any assignment, but one of the "should of been and easy A" type of assignments.  Which for this type A lady, it is huge.  HUGE. 

It is dollar signs, and pride, and handwork turned crap, and tears all rolled into a big, hot mess.

Which is me, right now.

Sigh.

Deep breath.

Leaky eyes.

"But it is a 75%," well let me just tell you that is failing.

So I'm confused about wanting to quit/continue, and frustrated that money rules the world, and driving my husband wild with my irrational thinking.

Like I'll never be smart enough for this.

It has been a recurrent theme this term.

And since I have no other uplifting things to write about, I'll let the pictures talk.  Cause they don't swear.

Which is all I want to do right now.

*****

 A day with them, here, was so sweet, and swear-free.