What a way to kick off a vacation!

Last night I went to a neighbor's house to drop something off. I was coming down the stairs and made it to the last one. When I stepped off the last step onto the sidewalk my foot landed on a toy that was laying around. I was holding Palmer in my left arm and we both hit the ground hard. Palmer's head hit the concrete very hard. I was ok, my knees are the size of softballs and I am scraped from the elbow to my hand. Palmer got a big goose egg on the left side of his head just above and behind his ear. Besides crying like crazy he seemed fine. We hung out for a while and then had to run to Lancaster for a couple of last minute items before leaving today for Disney. When we had just pulled into Lancaster Palmer started vomiting. This is when things got a little scary. Bret and I both knew that vomiting after hitting your head hard means swelling and that we should probably get to a doctor soon. Funny thing, I cleaned my car yesterday at lunch so there was nothing in it to help clean anything. We stopped at a gas station to get directions to the closest hospital because Oh yeah I forgot my cell phone at home and Bret's was completely dead. What are the chances of that? We found out that the Lancaster hospital was about as far away as the Reading Hospital at home. So we turned around and headed for home. At this time it was after 8 pm and Palmer is tired and trying to keep him awake meant either screaming or sleeping. Poor Emily kept gagging from the smell because she was blessed with her mother's weak stomach. We get home, I give Palmer a quick bath and change his clothes. Bret decides to call the pediatrician to let him know that we are coming and I take Emily to the neighbors house. I get back and Bret said the ped said that he thinks Palmer is fine and that we needed to keep him awake for a few more hours and then wake him up every hour for most of the night. This is much easier said than done. Poor Palmer was a good sport about everything but was so tired that he kept falling asleep sitting up. We took baths, watched tv, etc. trying to keep him awake. I felt horrible when he kept saying Ni-Night mama! In the mean time I managed to do two loads of laundry, pack, and pick up the house. We all finally fell asleep for the night at about 3am.

Besides being tired and a little sore we are all fine. We leave for Disney early this evening and we hope to have a very uneventful vacation. I am hoping that we have now gotten the drama out of the way for the trip.

I hate packing!

Packing is my least favorite part of a vacation. I don't know why it stresses me out but it does. The right clothes are never clean which calls for laundry and I always worry that I am going to forget something. Heavens forbid I forget someone's swimsuit and someone doesn't get to swim. I always forget the strangest things too. One time I forgot dress socks for Bret (I think it was Christmas and he had to borrow some of his dad's), another time I forgot enough underwear for me. You think...how could she forget something so simple as underwear but I think you forget that I pack for four people..two of which are young children that require so many extras that yes forgetting the basics for me is possible. I think I also forgot to mention that our trips are usually for extended period of times and places that you can't always just run to Walmart. Although the cruise last year and Disney this week are trips you don't want to pay a ridiculous amount of money for forgotten things...Bret's parents for a long time lived 90 minutes from the nearest Walmart and the little one room store had limited hours which left us with little options.

So my solution to this panic is lists. I create a very detailed list for each person of every last thing that need to be taken with us. I check and double check the lists. I also try to pack the most important things first so they don't get lost in the decisions of how much warm vs cool clothes to take trains of thought. I think it goes back to one of those thankless mom moments. Mom takes care of everyone by trying to remember everything necessary to make a lifelong memorable trip. However, when she forgets something (Emily's baby, Bret's hat, Palmer's swim diapers, etc) it is all her fault. The guilt and hard feelings of this are the reason I spend so much time trying to avoid this exact situation. I am sure that we all can remember a time our mom forgot something and how upset we were with her not thinking that maybe it wasn't all her fault or how bad she already felt.

We leave tomorrow evening, then come back for a week, then leave again for Kansas. Wow what a crazy October month and it hasn't even started yet. Sometime in there I still have Halloween costumes to sew. None the less we are going to have a good time and I am really excited. Stay tuned for Disney pictures!

Parent/teacher meeting tonight

We started the kids in a new daycare/preschool at the college that I started working at a little over a month ago. I have had very mixed feelings about this program. Pros: nice discount for being an employee, close to work, availability, and nice facility. Cons: lunches must be packed everyday, must provide own diapers/wipes, etc, and most importantly big changes at the facility a week after we start there. The director when we started was a nice older lady that had no administrative capabilities but we survived the enrollment process. A week after we started she was put back in the classroom and one of the other younger teachers was made interim director. The new director is great...however the old director got moved into Emily's classroom and her old teacher into the new director's room. Problem. Emily's teacher was great the new teacher is nice and takes good care of the kids but is not really a good pre-k teacher. The kids have done no work on letters, numbers, or anything else you would expect a preschooler to be working on. On top of that they have moved towards a multi-age classroom. Before I freaked about this idea I went online and did a lot of research and surprisingly the research has been overwhelmingly positive. A multi-age classroom means that there are 3, 4, and 5 year old kids in the same room. They work in small groups based on learning abilities. Again however this is a new learning curriculum and Emily's teacher is not familiar with and is obviously struggling with. She spends a lot of time just watching the kids and trying to get them to listen and behave. Her assistant seems much more adept most of the time. My dilemma is what to do. When the announcement was made it was on a Friday and the changes were to take place the following Monday. No time to change preschools at this point because everyone was full or had already started. I asked for Emily to be moved into a different classroom and this was not possible either as that room was full. This irked me because we had only been there a week and had the option of either room when we started. If we had any indication that these changes were coming our choice would have been different.

I don't want to be one of those crazy parents that are worried that the right preschool will keep their kid from getting into the college of their choice. However, pre-k is important as it lays a foundation for kindergarten and I don't want her to be behind. The teacher is a really nice lady who taught for 25 years before this all happened. Is the fact that she taught for so long enough? Anyways, I haven't had an opportunity to talk to any of the other parents and get their feedback. I keep telling myself that a lot of high ups here at the college have their kids in her classroom so if it is good enough for them it should be good enough for me right?

Along this topic Bret and I have been spending a lot of time trying to decide whether or not to send Emily to our church's school or public school. Even though I hate to say it money plays a big part of our decision at least right now. Is a Catholic education for a kindergartner worth $2200 plus uniforms, etc? I am not sure. Who knew that making these decisions would be so hard and would come so soon?

What did I get myself into?

I love to do crafty things. I like making homemade Halloween costumes, baby blankets, Christmas cards, etc. I also like helping out with things like throwing a baby shower, bridal shower, themed birthday parties, etc. I start with the fact that I like doing these things because I have to keep reminding myself that when I start to panic that they are not getting done on time or that they are not coming out the way I want them to, etc.

My husband says that it is just a process I go through. I start by being excited...picking out fabric, deciding on a theme these are all fun and exciting times. Then I step into the overwhelmed stage. Holy cows, what did I get myself into, how am I ever going to get this done? Then frustration, as in I am never going to this again, next time I am just going to say no. Then panic, I am never going to finish this project, it looks terrible. Finally relief and pride. It looks great, I love doing this, I am so proud. Right now I am at that stage with Halloween costumes. In my defense we are going to be gone to Disney World for a week and then off to KS for a short trip. This cuts heavily into my costume sewing time. We will get there. I always thought that if I stayed home I would have more time but that was not true last year. Time at home with the kids is just not more time. I will keep you posted on the stages of this process so for now it is to be continued.

The Heskett's are famous...kind of

Tonight is the last night on nights...at least for this month. I am so relieved that we survived this month. It was definitely not the easiest of months for us but I don't think any of the other rotations that he does is that bad. Days is bad but not this bad I don't think. For those not in the resident world...nights rotation is 7pm to 8 am on the labor floor. Days is 7am to 7pm on the labor floor.

On a much happier note. I submitted a picture of our family dressed up last year as the wizard of OZ for Halloween to parents magazines website. The article was about Halloween costumes made by real moms. Our picture is number 10 listed out of 20 costumes for this category. While it is not like we are on the cover or the magazine it is still a big deal to me. Thousands of pictures were submitted and ours was chosen. I make the costumes because I enjoy it but it is always nice when someone else pats you on the back and makes you feel good about the work you do. If you are interested here is the link to our picture and part of the article.
http://www.parents.com/holiday/halloween/costumes/halloween-costumes-made-by-moms/?page=10

I hate mornings

I am one of those moms that subscribes and reads three different parenting magazines. Although I think a lot of their ideas about how to make home life better or new ways to teach things to the kids are a little far fetched for this KS mom I try to keep an open mind and try new things.

Mornings in our house are sometimes brutal to be honest. Emily is crying or pouting depending on which moment you catch her in, Palmer is hysterical with hunger and thirst, and I am trying to stay calm and get us out the door. The answer always seems so simple, get up earlier and try to get more done the night before. I do this really I do. I pack everyone's lunches the night before, the kids bathe the night before, and I lay out our clothes the night before. It doesn't matter. My kids go to be no later than 8:30pm and usually as early 8 and they are up and out of bed before I get out of the shower on most days. I get up between 6 and 6:30 and only take about 20 minutes to get myself ready. We need to be in the car pulling away by 7:35 for me to be at work on time comfortably. 45 minutes should be enough time to get the kids dressed and out the door. There is no single point of melt down either. Sometimes it is what Emily is going to wear, how her hair is fixed that day or simply that she got her because she fell down or her and Palmer were fighting over who knows what. I give Palmer a granola bar or pop tart while getting him dressed and he wants a drink. I give him both and he still gets mad b/c Emily has what he wants. I think it all boils down to WE ARE NOT MORNING PEOPLE. Pre-kids Bret and I didn't talk to each other before we were walking out the door and it usually was a simple "have a great day" or "love ya". We are not chipper people in the am and probably never will be so I can only imagine how horrible the next 18 years of getting kids out the door is going to be when I can't just rush them through dressing and getting out of bed.

Yeah for History!

So my crazy husband who seems to have way to much time on his hands during the middle of the night while on the labor floor this month managed to trace my paternal family geneology all the way back to the early 1600's and when my too many great's to count grandfather came to America on a boat from Switzerland of all places.

While there is a lot know about my paternal grandmother's family there has never been a lot that I knew about or at least told about my paternal grandfather's family. Besides being surprised that we are originally from Switzerland I was also shocked to find out that we first setteled right in here in Lancaster, PA. That same great grandfather was one of the first people in this country to be warranted land from Sir William Penn himself. In fact there is a stone house that still stands and has been relocated to the historical society. There has been books written and there are copies of all kinds of important paperwork. Although I am not normally a history type of person even I think that this discovery is kind of cool. So this weekend we are planning on taking a voyage to find these long lost treasures of my past. For any of you die hard history buffs I included a couple of links that details this information.

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~pacahs/harn.htm

http://jennzunker.homestead.com/harnish.html

A Big Fan

Last night I went and saw Jodi Picoult speak and it was really great. I am a big fan and can honestly say I have read all of her books and get signed up on the waitlist asap when I find out a new book is coming out. She ended up being a great speaker too. She talked about how she got into writting and then how she wrote three of her books. She was a very down to earth person that felt like one of your girlfriends. She is a mom and will tell her that she simply moonlights as a writer. She is inspiring and makes everyone around her want to write and most importantly feel like they can write. I loved listening to her and meeting her it was awesome.

My favorite line of the night that she said was "you can always edit garbage but you can't edit a blank page". My favorite line from her book Change of Heart was, "When you give birth to a daughter you have just met the person who is going to hold your hand on your death bed." How profound is that? As a daughter and a mother I just thought wow.

Welcome to the crazy lives of the Heskett's

As an avid follower of several friends' blogs I thought what better way to keep family and friends from KS and all over updated on the going ons of our lives.

After tonight we have one more week of nights rotation. For those who don't already know nights is awful. Essentially Bret works from 7pm to 8am Sunday night through Thursday night with half a day of clinic on Friday mornings. Since he gets home after we leave and has to be at work a little before seven we get about an hour with him everyday. The bright side of this is that we get weekends off..sort of. It is hard to really say that we have our weekends when Bret is on a crazy sleep schedule and it hard to get him motivated to do anything but sleep late and take a nap in the afternoon. Did I mention that nights also makes both of crazy grumpy? Bret is tired and just doesn't feel good from being up all night and I am stressed and tired (really more than usual).

Although somethings are better about second year 3 months of nights is not better. But as I said earlier one more week for this month will allow us to check one month off the list for the year (fyi the next two months are November and January..ugh)

On an up note the Heskett's (+ Rosalee) are going to Disney World! I have been surprised at the number of people who have responded to this news with the feeling that it is a waste to take the kids this young because they won't remember anything. So what? It is not like we will never go back and besides should we not do anything with our kids because they may or may not remember any of it? I guess that is why I spend hours upon hours scrapbooking so that I can help them remember. Not to mention Bret and I have never been and we are totally excited too.