Swine Flu

My dad just called me. He said he wanted me to go to Walgreens or somewhere to buy some surgical masks for me and Holland for our flight tomorrow (a side note, I guess he forgot I work in the surgery department at the hospital!). I was like, "do you really think it's that bad?" Because to be honest with you, I've been rolling my eyes at this whole media wolf cry. But then he told me that one of his customers came down with it, and I read the headline about the little girl who became the first death in the US from it...in Houston...not very far away at all. My dad and his wife even cancelled a trip they have been planning for months to South Padre Island next weekend. He said they're not going anywhere near Mexico.

So, I called Kev and asked him what he thought. He said there was no harm in taking precautions. I told him I thought I'd look like an idiot with a mask on and one taped to my baby. He said I probably won't be the only one.

And then, as I got off the phone with him, I felt fear starting to well up in me. What if Bronwyn is exposed at school? Are some of our dear friends who live in Houston safe? What if , what if, what if???? And I feel the Lord very strongly saying to me, "...a thousand may fall at your right hand, and ten thousand at your left, but it will not come near you..." That, of course, is from Psalm 91, where we are given promises of protection for those who "dwell in the secret place of the Most High...under the shadow of His wings..."

So I just encourage you believers, let's not fear. Let's pray. Pray for the sick, pray for the lost, pray for the scared. But do not fear.

Better late than never...right???

Okay, I have been determined to post this before May. I mean, her birthday was April 3rd so a whole month should be enough time!

My baby is 6! Make that 6 going on 26. If you don't know Bronwyn, you are truly missing out. She is seriously one of the coolest chicks I know. Not only is she extremely beautiful (like sometimes she comes up to me outside to ask a question and the sun hits her eyes just right, and my breath is literally taken away for a second!), but she is hilarious, brilliant, compassionate, curious, thoughtful, well spoken, athletic, adventurous....the absolute total package. Of course, you are also left with an independent free thinker who can already weild a pretty fearsome and argumentative tounge, but life with her is certainly never dull! Because with Bronwyn, you'd just as soon get the girl who is digging up her daddy's flower bed in search of worms to dissect as you would get the girl who is searching for the perfect flowers to braid into her hair for dress up time. And she is just so interesting to talk to. She loves to hear all our stories from our childhoods, but there have been so many nights that she and Kevin have stayed up late discussing the mysteries of the universe and the depths of God's love. And I'm not even close to exaggerating!

Anyway, she wanted to have a "football cheerleader party at the same place she had it last year, which was a cheerleader school that Kev built. It's got bouncy floors, lots of trampolines, and a big foam pit. It's basically just the perfect place to get kids good and worn out!

The rope swing.

The big foam pit you drop into from the swing.

He looks like he's up to something.

Yep, that's me on the big rope swing! They send the grown ups almost all the way to the ceiling. It's half the reason I let her have her party there!

A rousing game of Duck, Duck, Goose has just been interrupted by the birthday girl's crazy daddy!

Cake!

Presents!

After the cheerleader school, we headed back home for her "family" party and pizza.

More cake!

More presents!

We even had half naked boys!

It's About Freaking Time!

I was just watching the LOTR trilogy on cable for like the millioneth time. Okay, "watching" might be too strong of a word, but it's been on for awhile as I've been doing Saturday chores (a side note here: Bronwyn and Boaz haven't been home for 24 hours! They went to the circus with Kev's folks last night and have been there all day!).

Anyway, a commercial came on for a new "drama" starring Jada Pinkett Smith...a medical drama. I was rolling my eyes thinking, oh no...not another one! (just so you know, my hospital is absolutely nothing like Grey's Anatomy) I'm so sick of doctor shows! You've got ones in the hospital, out of the hospital, medical school, medical jerks...it's endless!

But this one is called Hawthorne, and at the last second of the commercial I caught the emphasis on RN in the title. What??? They are actually going to try this from the nurse's perspective?!! I am so excited! I wrote a paper in nursing school about how nurses are portrayed in the media. Now, granted this was like 8 years ago, but I had started out writing about another topic and when I did an "internet search" (this was before the days of Google people!), almost every single topic returned was porn! I thought, is this really how I'm going to be represented in the world?

Do you remember when ER started? Way back when I mean. The nurse, Julianna something or other, was a very strong, smart woman. Who was a nurse. Who ended up going to medical school to become a doctor. That's great and all, but why couldn't they have just left the character a nurse? What was wrong with her that way? It certainly made the show a bit more "authentic" (I use that term loosely), because I don't know when the last time you were in an emergency room, but the doctors do NOT outnumber the nurses 25 to 1!

Or what about "Meet the Parents". Such I funny movie, but half the time they were making fun of Ben Stiller's character being a "male nurse". And the only time he was given legitmacy for making the choice to be a nurse was when everyone learned that his MCAT scores were good, and he really could have been a doctor if he'd wanted to.

Well, all that to say, I'm really excited about this new show. I'm sure it won't be completely realistic, and I hope that it will not be a total soap opera where nurses are making out with patients in the bathrooms or something. I will actually be surprised if I even have time to watch it on any kind of regular basis. But I hope that it helps the rest of the world to see that nurses are not merely women who decided they couldn't cut medical school and ended up emptying bedpans. I hope that RN's are portrayed the way they should be: female or male, smart, strong, caring, willing and able to be the voice for many people who cannot speak up for themselves.

Happy Half Birthday Holland!

I can't believe it...Holland was 6 months old yesterday! Cliche I know, but it's crazy how time flies. To celebrate, we gave her a cake! Okay not really. But she did have her first solid food, rice cereal mixed with mama milk...mmm. The big kids had ice cream and sang "Go Holland go!" in unison the whole time I was trying to feed her. Despite their enthusiastic encouragement, she was not impressed. Here's the big event!


Had to include these. What could be better to a little boy that jumping in the mud with his cowboy boots on? Not to mention a diaper hanging to his knees!


And Bronwyn's birthday is tomorrow. I'll post pics from party central!