We are all doing well here. Just busy. I never thought Nursing school would be this much work - I mean I knew it was not going to be easy but I just never thought that there would be this much work. On Tuesday evening we get our patient for the next day and we have to know everything about them - the reason why they are there, their past medical history, why everything is the way it is.... so all in all about 6 hours of paperwork on Tuesday after class, then clinical at the hospital on Wed at 7 am .... ugh, that is early. I do enjoy working with the patients but then it is home to finish up the paperwork. I have Fridays off so I try to catch up on homework / reading/ and maybe clean the house... maybe. It seems to all be coming together though. I started off the semester with just giving baths and taking vitals and now I can give shots and medications ... woo!
The kids are doing well in school - I volunteer in their classroom every other Friday and it is great to see them in their element. The kids love going, they love their teacher, pretty much love everything about it. I really just love this age.... don't get me wrong - they are not perfect but I do appreciate the innocence and simplicity of being 6. Like this is one of their favorite parts of the morning
They are creating an echo as we wait for the bus to come to the end of our driveway.
They had Super Hero Day at school - Bella struck this pose on her own (it is hard to see but they are both wearing their capes - I made those capes when they were 2 or 3 so I can say we got our use out of them!)
I took some pictures of them last weekend - it is amazing how grown they look
Random dance / silly break
I think I love this one the most because this sums them up perfectly - Jack strives to be normal while Bella just dances to the music in her head....
I am going to get ready for bed but hopefully I will try and update a bit more frequently.
The kids seem to get silly in the morning while waiting for the bus. (We are so fortunate to have the kids picked up at the end of our driveway). This morning they kept asking me "take my picture" over and over again.
One came out decent :)
They are silly, happy kids!
They are continuing to do well in school - nothing too exciting. Bella came home yesterday and told me she has a "new best friend" and she loves her! It was cute. She has been doing fine and socializing but she doesn't remember names well so she was excited to talk about her.
Last Friday night we went to the York Fair and the kids had a great time. A woman that Jason works with gets us free tickets and free ride tickets every year so the kids were excited to try them all out. Jack loved the elephants - Bella was not so sure at first but did go on it a second time.
Bella was really good at sharing her ice cream
So good at doing it that Jack surprised her with a kiss!
On the way home Jack fell asleep and started talking random stuff. He then said, "don't worry Grandmom will take care of it for me." I asked him which Grandmom and he said, "Grandmom Newman". He couldn't specify what she was going to take care of but I thought it was cute that he was dreaming of her and that she was taking care of him :)
School is kicking my butt - so much work but it is going well. I am just trying to balance everything. I have had two "clients" so far. (We are suppose to use client instead of patient - it seems odd to me.) Both have been so nice and wonderful to work with so I am lucky. Since we can not actually do too much we are also answering call bells and I have been able to interact with several other clients - all in all it is interesting and I feel like I am learning a ton - although I can not seem to get enough sleep - coffee is my friend :)
The kids are still loving school and get points each day for listening and doing their work. The kids have earned all of their points since they started. I am so proud of how respectful they are.
Here are a couple pictures from this week. Jack loves to be "Jack the Magician" and was trying some new tricks earlier this week."
As Bella says, "you can never have too many stuffed animals". She sleeps propped up on them. She does love them :)
Jason and Jack went to a Penn State game last weekend so Bella and I were on our own. I told her I was going to go on the treadmill and she said she wanted to go with me. So the second picture is of us that day on Saturday and then on Sunday when Jack was home the three of us went for a jog / walk. I had my phone out so we could listen to music so I just snapped this picture. They look SO old here!!
Bella starts back with ballet on Saturday and Jack will *hopefully* start basketball soon. Sign ups are next week and we won't know until then the schedule.
So nothing new and exciting but I like this - we are all happy - so I can not ask for anything more :)
The kids will be writing thank you for the gifts soon - but thank you for the cards and gifts. We went shopping last week at Kmart and carefully spent over an hour picking and repicking and repicking out toys so we could make sure that they each had two but did not spend any more money. Jack ended up getting a really nice Nerf Bow and Arrow and a Rabbid character (it is from a cartoon). Bella got a Care Bear and a baby carrier for one of her dollies. They were thrilled to be able to pay for it and were so excited and told I think everyone in the store that they were turning 6.
They got the gifts from Grandmom yesterday and, oh my, did they love them!
They were exited to come home to a big box. They liked the gifts but when they saw that they sang and danced, they were hooked. This is Bella yelling, "OH MY GOODNESS!"
A dance party ensued. You will see Bella ran to get her scissors so she could get the duck out of the package quicker than I could. Bella had therapy last night and she brought it with her so she could show her therapists (and the receptionist, and the waiting parents.... well just about anyone)
I need to run to get them going - it is a dreary day here and we all seem to be dragging this morning.
I did try to post twice this week but my computer kept freezing so lets hope that third time is a charm?
The kids had another excellent week of school. Jack got to walk like a monster in gym and Bella liked her teacher - so all remains right in their world.
They have started to get birthday cards in the mail and that is even better than normal "Grandmom Mail". They do not get too much mail but 99% of it comes from Grandmom so they know her writing and they appreciate all the details - from the little drawings to the stamps that are used. Grandmom's birthday cards came first and Bella took it literally. Grandmom wrote for to watch for the mailman to bring her something so she went to watch for him. I explained to her that it would be awhile so she laughed.
We also got the cards from Aunt Pat and Aunt Jil and Uncle Don. The kids are SO excited to go shopping. I told them we were going to use one of the gift cards for anything they wanted and one for something they "needed". Well they are beyond excited to go shopping for something they want because in their mind it is something they NEED!! (they will be
sending thank you notes out soon! - I need to go get stamps)
Bella
still continues with Occupational and Speech Therapy and is doing really
well with it. She just got switched to evenings because she had always
went during the day. She is SUPER GIRL :) She goes to school all day
and then home for dinner and then we leave for therapy and she works
hard and we come home read some books and go to bed. A busy day and she
never once complained. Jason has been doing some side work and went to
go do a couple of things while Bella had therapy so Jack went with him
to "help".
Here he is showing me some of the tools from his tool box
Notice his fancy tool box - thankfully he is getting a real one for his birthday. Jason is working for a friend and they have drinks in their fridge so Jack got a gatorade after working so hard and that was all the payment he needs! I can not wait to see his face when he gets his tool box - he wants so badly to help out his Daddy.
Speaking of Jason.... I really did luck out. I no longer am watching Isabella (she went off to a different kindergarten) and I was trying to find another job. With Jason's support I decided to not work while I am in school so I can focus on my schoolwork. Jason has some side work he has been doing to help out*. I never expected the course work to be THIS much. It is really a lot of work that I have to put in each week (and rightfully so because this is an amazing school I am at. I don't know if I mentioned it or not but this school accepts less than 30% of it's applicants - there are no slackers. Plus no one wants a nurse who doesn't know their stuff). It is weird to not work - to not have an income but it will be worth it. One of my biggest fears of going to school full time was not being able to see the kids ... my amazing husband is sacrificing his time with the kids so I can have more (and more study time). I am so blessed.
*we are fine with just Jason's salary - we will just not be going on any fancy vacations anytime soon. We joke that we will not know what to do with ourselves once I do actually go back to work full time - we can live on just Jason's so to add another full time we will not know what to do with ourselves.
I better run - the kids are already asking me when we can go shopping :)
I love days like these!
P.S. Grandmom - I did get your message about the Penn State Game today in Ireland. Jason is working today but he will be able to listen to it on the radio. Jason is also surprising Jack with tickets to next week's game - it will be here in PA so no fancy trips to Ireland :)
I don't think I have been this happy for a Friday in a very very long time. I have classes Mon-Thursday and there was just SO much information to learn. When I was in high school and at York College - I never had to study like this. It will be worth it in the end but I feel like my brain might explode in the mean time. We just learned the basics this week - how to take a temp, pulse, blood pressure, etc. It is harder to take a blood pressure than I thought. This is one of those times I miss living in NJ because if I were closer I would go visit my Grandmother and make her "patient". I know I could take her blood pressure and pulse 100 times and she would just keep on being patient with me. :)
While I am trying to update the blog more often I may not get to do it as often as I wish... we will see!
The kids are doing amazing in school and can not wait to go everyday. I had an almost panic attack yesterday while I was driving to school because I did not have them with me - it was such a weird feeling to not have them by my side when I have been at home with them for so long. I am so so fortunate.
I took a picture of each kid yesterday and asked them a couple of questions.
My kids are so darn lucky. While Jason was waiting for the kids to come home off the bus on Wednesday he built them a bench to sit on while they waited for the bus in the morning.
Yesterday was a big day in the Druck home. The kids started kindergarten.
We are lucky that the bus picks up at the end of our driveway. I was in school all day yesterday so Jason put them on the bus and followed them to school. A couple of years ago I laughed at my sister in law when she followed the bus on the first day of my nephew but I was very relieved when Jason was going to do it - apparently most parents do it the first day. Anyway as Bella got off the bus she yelled to Jason, "DADDY! I made a friend". At that is Bella nowadays - she will just go up to people and ask to be friends and then goes and plays - she is SO outgoing. I would have never thought that. Jack is a bit more shy but his best buddy from his t-ball team is in his class and he was talking to other boys while we were at back to school night.
Yesterday gym was their "special" period and today it is art so you have my two kindergartners summed up right there - all is right in their world if Jack has gym and Bella has art.... also bacon.... add bacon into anything like Jason did for their breakfast yesterday and we just knew they would have a perfect day :)
I will write more about my school tomorrow but I better run for now to finish getting them ready!
Random thought popped into my head the other day. I have often had off of school for my birthday (Martin Luther King Day) and the kids will often have off on their birthday (Labor Day). Something little and cool we share. The kids turn 6 in just under 2 weeks. Their birthday was the cut off date for starting school so they will be some of the older kids in their grade. We had back to school night last night and we got to meet their teacher. She actually grew up two houses down from here and knew of the kids. Her uncle still lives on the other side of my in-laws (where she grew up) so I guess she was Jason's neighbor at some point in time.
I will be in clinicals tomorrow so I tried to get a picture of the kids last night and this was the best that I could get. Can you sense their excitement? No - me neither - they were excited, just tired.
What else is new?
The kids have started swim lessons. We waited until they were not so afraid of the water and they were loving the pool this year. So lessons started and it is too darn cold to get in our pool - hopefully they will remember some of this next year
Bella was sick earlier this Summer - fever, lethargy, not eating - basically just not herself. We never really found out what was wrong with her but they treated her for Lymes Disease because it is possible to get a false negative. She just finished her second round of antibiotics and was SO happy that we danced as she threw the bottle of meds in the garbage. So far so good and she is pretty much back to herself. Point of this is that when she was first sick she had a really high fever and just felt crappy and Jack tried cheering her up by performing magic.
He got a magic kit at his birthday party and he was originally "Jack the Magnificent" but changed his name to "Jack the Magician" because he could not say magnificent. They are getting to the age where they have their own friends and they told their bus driver that they do not want to sit next to each other on the bus but I don't doubt for a second that they love each other and have each others back. They really are amazing kids!
One last picture of teamwork!
They were playing a video game and they could not reach the pedal. They took turns steering and pressing the gas (they never actually used the brake so there was a lot of crashing). Isabella was there with them and when she was steering Bella sat behind her just to "support" her while Jack did the gas. That really was awesome teamwork.
I am going to try to update more often. I figure if I do a tid bit here and there it won't take long. So check back on Thursday and I will update about their first day of school!
Well it is over for me at least. I start school today. I have a nursing theory course on Mon and Thursday, Math on Tues and I start clinicals on Wed. In two weeks I will have actual patients - real live people that I will have to interact with .... I am a bit excited and nervous all at the same time. The kids start school on Wednesday and I am super bummed that it my clinical day because I will leave the house at 6 - long before the kids even get up. Luckily Jason will be home to put them on the bus. The kids are so excited for school to start and we get to go meet their teachers tonight. They will be in the same class.
Bella lost her third tooth last night (all on the bottom). It was quite loose for awhile so Jason said he would get pliers and help her and she was excited. Jack on the other hand freaked out that we were going to hurt Bella and he went and hid his head.... Great brother there ;) (Please don't mind the mess). Jason did not get it out and after a long night Jason's mom tied dental floss to it and she pulled it out. The tooth fairy almost forgot to come but thankfully she remembered and Bella was super excited to wake up to her $1.
This was the last week that I watched Isabella. I have watched her for almost 4 years so it was sad to realize it was her last day. We had a really fun week though and I know we will see her again. She is going to a different kindergarten than Jack and Bella.
Bella and Isabella with their matching Friends Forever Tees
A couple of quick pictures of camping: It was the cardboard boat race and Jason went out with Bella in their boat
I just liked this picture. It is the back of the kids. Friends of mine with twins who are just a couple months older than Jack and Bella came to visit and our nephew Connor was up as well.
Jack's job was to make OJ each morning :)
Jack woke up the other morning and realized it was August and both the kids started jumping up and down because they realized that August = Kindergarten. They were not thrilled when I told them they had to wait until the 20th. It was a wake-up call for me though to realize how quickly time is flying.
I have one class over the summer and am taking the final on Wednesday. YAYYY! I will be happy to be done with it. I then have a week off and classes start full time for me on the 18th. This semester is exciting and nerve-wracking because I will actually be working with patients.
The summer has been a lot of fun. We had the kids' birthday parties early this year. Jack wanted to have it at the local minor league baseball team. It was amazing. He threw out the first (well actually it was like the 6th pitch- there were a couple others who threw one out too)
and the whole stadium sung happy birthday to him (along with the two other birthday boys) on top of the dugout.
Bella had a "Girly Tea Party"
I have to run for now but I will post some more pictures soon - I can not wait to have some down time when this class is over.
