Change

How do you deal with change? Do you embrace it, shy away from or just let it roll off your back without much notice. Things are constantly changing around us. Some changes have greater effects on our daily living while others go seemingly unnoticed. I feel I am in the midst of some major changes that will have great impact on my daily activities.

I am one of those that is a little more reluctant to change. I like to have a my daily routine with just a little bit of change to spice things up, but nothing that dramatically changes my daily activities. Things are changing in two arenas for me. Often when there are changes at home, I can depend on the stability that I get at work and vice verse. However, things are changing on both fronts ,which for a person like me, can cause a little bit of stress. These are both changes that I have known about for some time, but have still found them hard to prepare for.

On the home front, our lives are about to change drastically for the fourth time. We will welcome our fourth child in January. This is a welcomed change. We are beyond thrilled to be adding to our family again, but as one of those people who resists even a welcomed change, it is scary to think about what this change actually means. I hear many comments throughout the day about how my hands are full and how do I think we will manage a fourth. I think to myself that my heart is also made full thanks to our children and that we will manage. I tell those who ask that we will still have one hand for each child between the two of us. I do stop and think though. I have a huge load with working full time and looking after three children, soon to be a fourth. I have a lot of help from my husband, a caring caregiver for my smaller kids and skilled preschool and school teachers. It is still difficult. I struggle (honestly fail) to keep my laundry caught up and I don't sweep my floors as often as I should, but I have a house full of love. When questioned, I find myself scared of adding this fourth child and the laundry and work that will go along with him. I wonder if I will be able to gather enough resources to take on this extra step, but I know that in the end, the love that this child will bring our family will be far beyond what it may cost to have him with us. Although I fear this change, I am anticipating the good that will come from it.

While I am still waiting on the change in my life that will occur at home, I am already in the midst of change that has occurred at work. We have switched over to electronic medical records. While I realize that this is not really a life changing event, it has changed the way I do things everyday. I am already in the middle of this change. We have been using the new system for about a month now. With the birth of my child, I am pretty sure from previous experiences with my other children that the change will be instantly labeled as a change for the good. With every change there is a learning curve. With a child, there is that sweet face there to always reward you for the struggle that you undergo while adjusting to the change. With EMR that reward is not always so obvious as we continue to learn and grow with the system. There is no doubt in my mind that this change is for the betterment of everyone involved, both the patients and the doctors. I see glimpses of this everyday as I am learning more, but know that it will still be awhile into the future before we are able to see all of the benefits of this change. I sometimes find that I get a little frustrated when it seems as if things were easier before the new system and I often find myself reaching for a pen to write something in a chart when in reality, it all goes in the computer now.

I am often reluctant to change. I guess it is as I have said here a few times, due to fear; fear of the unknown that comes with change. I know that both of these changes in life are going to result in a positive outcome. I just hope that I can change a little and deal more effectively with the little unknowns, extra tasks, and road bumps that come along the path of change.

Fashion foward

Do you have one of those kids? I'm talking about the one who is overly concerned about what they wear or just set in their ways about what they need to wear on a certain day or for certain occasions. Are they three? Are they male?

When I had my daughter I might have envisioned the day when she put her foot down or became increasingly opinionated about what clothes she wore. So far that really hasn't happened. As she has gotten older, she has become a little more interested, but not insistent upon what she wears. At five she likes to tell me when she wants to wear a dress vs. shorts or pants (almost everyday), and she likes to be able to pick out what she is wearing for the day, but doesn't get upset if I am the only laying out her clothes. She comes home from school with stains on her clothes and plenty of dirt and mulch from the playground. Some of her articles of clothing do not last very long. (I really must remember this when shopping for her. It is not good to pay too much money for something that may only survive her wearing it once or twice.)

On the other hand, when I had my baby boy I thought I would have full reign for at least a little while. I still had my girl to shop for and now I was going to be able to buy polo shirts and cute sweaters and button down shirts. It has gone as expected pretty much up until this point. As I have mentioned before, Charlie loves dinosaurs. His Nana recently got him a new pair of dinosoles shoes. They have a t-rex on them and he loves them. He loves the free t-shirt that came with them even better though. The child begs to wear this shirt everyday. We have tears in the mornings when he doesn't get to wear it and when compromise by letting him put it on when he gets home. Even if he forgets about his dinosaur shirt he likes to know ahead of time what he will be wearing so that he can give it his approval.

Today was the first day cool enough that he needed to wear jeans. He was slightly upset this morning because he felt his jeans were too big. I told him they fir just fine (one of the only pair he hasn't outgrown), but he insisted that were too big because they covered his socks. After I explained that pants were supposed to be long and cover your socks to keep you warm he was mostly OK until we put on the jacket....

How do you lose a shoe?

Chad went to pick up Isabelle yesterday from school. As she walked into the cafeteria, he notices she only has on one shoe. Somewhere on the playground she lost her shoe. Her only comment was that I was going to be really mad at her and that someone must have taken it. How in the world do you lose a shoe?

Soccer

Isabelle had her first soccer game them weekend. We chose to start with soccer because it is only on Saturdays for this age group. they have 30 minutes of practice followed by a 30 minute game. I think she really enjoyed herself. She has never played before so it was all new to her. She knew a couple of the kids on her team either from preschool or her kindergarten class. She spend a lot of time just running after people with the ball, but she came close to scoring once and she stopped a goal once. Overall we had a good time.



All of the kids are growing like crazy. Isabelle is liking kindergarten and Charlie is doing well in his beginnergarten class. Henry is starting to talk more and more. He doesn't like to say mom, momma, mommy, anything in reference to me. He just laughs when you ask him about me.



We have been super busy as always, but have been enjoying time with family and friends. Hopefully as we settle into more of a routine for the fall, I will be able to share more.

Busy Summer

I can't believe that it is the end of July already. It is almost time to send my baby off the kindergarten and I haven't had a chance to even realize it yet. We have had a very busy summer so far.

June was vacation month. We loaded all three kids in the car and headed to the Outer Banks for a week. Wow, that is a long drive!!! It was beautiful there. The beach, the weather, and home we stayed in were perfect. The kids swam in the pool and we tried to relax. Charlie has had a great fear of water for a couple of years, but by the end of the week, he was in the pool with the rest of us.

July has been busy with short weekend trips. We have had a few birthday celebrations for family and we spent a weekend in Eastern KY where I grew up. The kids got to roast marshmallows and hot dogs over an open fire, play freeze tag and catch bugs. They had a great time.

We are preparing for August. I can't believe my baby girl is going to be starting kindergarten. I am so excited for her, but I am a little anxious. I asked many around me what to do to prepare for the day. Should I take an hour or so off work that morning to take her to school, or just send her on the bus. I have elected to take her to school, but I know that she has to be there by a certain time and I will just leave her there. Hopefully she will have a wonderful day and will be ready to go back the next day.

Charlie has started playschool at the center Isabelle has been attending for the past year. He is absolutely loving it. His teachers usually comment about how funny he is so I often wonder what it is that he is doing that is so amusing. He is an awfully cute kid though.

My big girl is 5!!

Isabelle had a wonderful birthday weekend. We gathered with many of her friends on Saturday morning for her birthday party. There were 16 kids total and it appeared that they all had a great time. They got jump on inflatables, slide down slides and run through an obstacle course for the first forty-five minutes. Then they quickly at some cupcakes and ice cream before that moved over to a big play room full of toys for the last thirty minutes. All of the kids got a chance to have their faces painted. Isabelle wanted a butterfly. There were lightning bolts, pirates, spiderman, unicorns, and flowers. My two were almost exhausted by the time we left. We then went home to celebrate with family. We had good food and more cake!!

Now that she is 5 and summer is upon us, the reality that she is going to school in the fall in really sinking in. She saw our favorite doctor yesterday for her physical. It seems as if all is well. She is about 25% for both her weight and height. She did not like getting her finger pricked for the CBC, but she made it through with only a few tears.

We still have a few things to do to complete our ready for kindergarten check list. She must go to the dentist and to the eye doctor. The latter should be pretty easy since I can get that taken care of. Hopefully she won't be too fearful of the eye drops. The school entrance eye exam is very important for kids. We like to see them early to identify any problems that may interfere with learning. Also many of these problems that can be found during the school eye exam are best treated when found early. If there is an eye turning in or out (strabismus), or if one eye sees a lot better than the other (amblyopia), we have much better success when treating these conditions at a young age. The visual system is much more flexible in the younger years. I really look forward to confirming that Isabelle's vision is developing properly and would love to do the same for your child if they need things checked for school, or are having any difficulties.

We see Walking with Dinosaurs, The Arena Spectacular this weekend. We are all very excited. Also swim lessons start tonight for Isabelle. She will go two nights a week for four weeks. She will have to miss one for her graduation, but hopefully we will have her comfortable in the water in time for vacation.

Rock On!

Chad and I visited Nashville last week. We were there for only one night, but we had a great time. We shopped all day on Wednesday (yes, I am very lucky to have a husband who will shop with me). Wednesday night we headed over to Bridgestone arena to see Bon Jovi. I was a little worried that we might not have a good time. My husband was so kind to buy the tickets for me for Christmas and I was so excited about it. Bon Jovi has always been one of my favorites. As the time drew closer though, I was having a hard time seeing us at a concert. We are the parents of three little kids, and spend most of our time at home with them or on trips to zoo, not at a concert. The opening act was OK. I was still questioning if I was going to want to stay there all evening. My bedtime was already drawing near since we were an hour behind in Nashville. But, when Bon Jovi took the stage I was drawn in. I was up on my feet singing and dancing and having a great time. The arena was filled and everyone was on their feet. He played a lot of his old stuff mixed in with the new stuff. I believe we were among the youngest people there so the old stuff was definitely a hit. I don't really plan on going to another concert anytime soon, but I must say that I had a great time at this one. Plus, I got to bring home some new clothes for me (and Chad) and the kiddos.