Life

Lately life has taken over.

Lately, I have gotten so tied up in the get up, get Tyler to school, get to the gym, clean the house, do the laundry, run the errands, pick up Tyler, and oh yeah, get Alex a nap, that I have quite forgotten that I will never get these days back. Well, there will alway be things that need to be "gotten done", but there will not always be two little boys that need there mommy this much. In light of this I declared friday a mommy/sons day. It was the most amazing, refreshing, loving feeling in the world to just be completely WITH them. No cell phone, no computer, no TV, just me and my boys (and maybe my camera) doing what we love to do.

Alex and I headed out for a walk to the park where we got to play in the sand box (for the first time).

Then we found a cool building to take pictures at.

Alex loved exploring Magnuson park and we couldn't have asked for better weather to do it.

After a nap, for both of us, we picked up Tyler from school and headed out to Golden Gardens to soak up some more of the beautiful Seattle October day.

Of course there were treasures to be found

and water to be tested

and who could forget the pictures to be taken... most certainly not me!

Alex got hungry and I forgot a snack, so he feasted on a meal of the finest golden garden sand.

Now the challenge is to make a mommy/sons moment in EVERY day, no matter what chores are lurking.

Tonight I ready Tyler my very favorite book "I love you forever", it only seemed fitting.

"I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always.

As long as I am living my babies you will be."

Mr. Socialite he is

Last week Alex informed me that we most certainly needed to work on our play date action.

It went a little like this...

Alex: (screaming at the top of his lungs)

I am pretty sure the window were rattling!

Mom: Alex, I see you are bored of running errands and hanging with mom . Do you want to go to the zoo?

Alex: (nodding head "yes" while still screaming at the top of his lungs)

Mom: We're out of here. Maybe the animals will appreciate you primitive form of communication more than I am today :)

With our friends Malia and Charlie on board we were off to the Point Defiance Zoo.

The new baby tigers were definitely a favorite of the boys

Alex couldn't quite figure out why we would want to see any other animals when the tiger was right there.

The next coolest thing to be encountered was the sinks at the petting zoo ?!?

Luckily Owen decided to join the fun at the park a little later.

Thanks ladies and boys for getting us out of the house on such a beautiful day. Can't wait to do it again!

Grandparents Rock!

So I am a little behind... ok, a lot behind.

A few weeks ago Grandma Jill and Grandpa Jan came to visit us. The weekend went way too fast but somehow we squeezed in enough to keep up content until we get to go see them in November. Tyler's "best weekend ever" started on saturday when they got here. We headed out to dinner with Nana, Boppa, Grandma and Grandpa. After that Tyler got to spend the night at the hotel and go swimming. It's always a treat! Sunday brought a visit to the Seattle Lego convention. I will put it nicely and just say that the Lego convention brings an interesting group of people. Tyler was in awe though and was quickly brainstorming all the things he was going to build. He could have spent all day there!

Thanks Grandpa and Grandma for "the best weekend ever"!

I ♥ him

A break...

that's all we need.

A break to get back to the things that we do best. A break from the distraction, the heartache, the relentless media. A break to let us to get back to the ones that are most important... the kids, the babies, the families that we provide extraordinary care for day in and day out.

As you all well know Seattle Children's has been in the forefront of the media for the last week. A week that will go down in history as one of the worst weeks for all that work there, I am sure.

Although I cannot release any details of any of the occurrences at the hospital I will say this...

mistakes happen, we are people too. Fortunately for most people mistakes are not life and death. Mistakes cost some a loss of profit, a loss of a customer, etc. For us, a mistake can mean the life of a child. It is scary. It is the fear that we have to live with everyday caring for extremely fragile patients. Yet we do it because we love it. We do it for the kids, their families, and their friends.

You see a nurse is not just a nurse, but so much more. Caring for out patients day in and day out is a self less job. We work with doctors, nurses, pharmacists, x-ray techs, respiratory therapists, dietitians, social workers, volunteers, all to ensure that each and every patient is getting the care that they rightfully deserve with love and respect. Us nurses are at the forefront of patient care and we do a damn good job. Weird how, in a time of crisis for us, the media is choosing to continue to air our dirty laundry, all the while us nurses are working to continue to save lives. Working hard to learn from our mistakes and make our institution that much safer and better. Why don't the air the story of a mom that got to hold her 480 gram son for the first time yesterday because he is alive for her to do that? What about the thousands of babies that we save, the miracles that we produce every day at our hospital? Have they forgotten about stories such as this and this.

A friend of mine wrote this post and I couldn't have said it better myself.

Screw you media! Maybe you should stop thinking about making money for a moment and start thinking about all the lives that you are affecting right now.