This week's journal entry (exciting I know!)

This week has been one of those weeks where not any one specific thing makes it a stressful week, but where lots of little things come together to form a constant barrage stress/irritation.  Its all fine and I am in relatively good spirits, but I feel that deep down sense of tiredness and lack of patience.

Matt started his first week of actual teaching for EAC's nursing program as a clinical instructor, and he LOVED it.  This makes me happy!  As a clinical instructor he gets to work in the sim. lab with students teaching them practical skills/application and he also goes with them and is responsible for them/oversees them when they go on their clinical rotations at the hospital.  This semester he is going to be working a lot in Payson and Globe, which means that when he has all day lab/clinical days he also drives 4 hours round trip.  Which means he is gone extra time = a sad wife.  I am actually really happy that he is enjoying it, I am sure that it is affirming his desire to teach after he stops practicing one day.  It is always nice to have a husband who really enjoys what he is doing.  It makes it a lot easier to have him gone.  I am really grateful for the opportunity and it is good stuff, but the selfish side of me wishes that he were home.  I thought about pretending to be the do-it-all wife and mom who doesn't need his help around the house and is super busy and independent and doesn't mind when he is gone as long as he is happy...but you all probably know better than that anyway!  I always miss him when he is gone.

Last Saturday Lily woke up sick.  Really sick.  And she still is sick!  It is hanging on forever and the cough that accompanies it is horrible.  Wednesday Isabel started getting it. (Boopah also got it later in the day on Sat).  Both my big girls sound like pubescent boys.  I feel so bad for them every time they get a coughing fit, you can tell that it just hurts.  It always breaks my heart when they are sick and you can't do anything about it.  Sometimes with kids they get sick, you know, runny nose/fever/general cold stuff, but they don't seem TOO miserable and after a couple days they are better and the whole experience isn't too bad.  This is not one of those times.  I think that Lily is finally starting to feel a bit better, she is wanting to play some and not just lay around, but she is still hacking and coughing.  It has been a week, and Isabel has only been sick for a couple of days, which means I probably still have another week of sickies ahead of me. (which is depressing!)

Kate thankfully hasn't gotten it (yet at least...knock on wood).  She did however cut her first tooth yesterday!  Hooray!  I wasn't expecting it since she got it about 3 months sooner than my other kids!  This does mean however that she has also had a fever (though her's is low) and been whiny and miserable.  So in general 3 whiny kids + an absent husband = a tired mommy, who by the end of the week is running out of patience!  I had a couple of days in a row where I had maybe a half hour between 5am and 8 pm where I didn't have at least one kid touching me.  Sweaty, feverish, whiny kids.  I love them with all my heart, but it is very difficult to get ANYTHING done in that kind of situation (IE go potty, cook meals, make bottles, etc).  They are also so sick that they wake up miserable as soon as their meds wear off so I am up a couple times a night with miserable kids.

This is all typical mom stuff, and I wouldn't trade it for the world!  It can be exhausting after several days though.

We also have been very busy getting the finishing touches on some school applications this week!  Hooray!  We have mailed everything we can for 5 schools this week (hopefully his references have also mailed their letters in time...)!  It is SO exciting!  I am really hoping that when I call the schools next week they tell me that everything is received/complete!  We are also REALLY close to having the app's finished for 3 more schools.  It is just hard because with Matt's new schedule he maybe has one random day a week, here and there (some weeks 2 and some weeks none, depending on EA's clinicals).  And on those days he obviously has a lot to do, and mostly just wants to be able to relax and spend time with the girls.  These 3 app's aren't due until Oct 1st, 31st, & Nov 1st, but I am anxious to just get them done so that I don't have so many files/resumes/application information/essays/references to keep organized.  It will be nice to have them all completely done, and not have to stress about making sure they are all done correctly/in time. 

Of course, once they are all done, we will then just have to stress out while we wait to hear back (or not...) from the schools.  Its trading one kind of stress for another, but at least on Matt's days off he won't actually have to do anything for school.  Although, it is incredibly likely that we will not get into any of the 8 schools this first round and around Christmas we will have to start this process again.  Most of these schools accept 5-15% of their applicants, Which mean that there is a 85-95% chance of rejection.  I am hopeful though.  Matt has a good resume and good grades/test scores.  Who knows though...Like I said, its a whole other can of stress.

Anyway, I could ramble on about more of the mundane parts of my life, but you have probably already fallen asleep twice while reading this, or let's be honest, skipped this post entirely due to lack of pictures...