When you love someone, set them free...

When you love someone, set them free. If they come back, they are yours. If they don't, they still were yours. Okay, so I switched up the end a little... She will ALWAYS be mine. And I do believe she will come back. She just needs to find things out for herself and hopefully not suffer any traumatic events or lifelong consequences in the process. This is very hard for a parent to do...step back, let go, and give your child the independence you know that they are not ready for. When you want the very best for someone and you feel that what they are doing is not that...it hurts to watch. Watch and wait...

Frustrated and Irritated!!!

What a day! My tolerance level is low...I can feel it. First off, I was supposed to call a patient this morning with her lab results that we drew yesterday. Well, our pneumatic tube system (the snake in the wall that sucks tubes through tunnels to different departments - like the drive through at a bank) was down - not working on and off for about 18+ hours. I bet you can figure it out from the preface of my introduction...yep! Her lab samples were LOST! Lost in pneumatic tube space! UGH! Let's keep in mind that this was a one hour glucola that the patient really wasn't excited about doing in the first place. So, I tried to contact her to let her know of the unfortunate mishap and now we are playing phone tag...I was totally frusterated about that FIRST thing this morning.

Then, today was a specialty day at work. Which, in simple terms means: we have a specialist come to our facility to provide a service that we don't offer. So, the doctor meets with the patient for the comprehensive exam and then the patient has a "follow up" appointment with a provider from the care team to review the findings of the specialist and make a care plan. Well, charts were a HUGE issue here. The chart needs to be available to for the specialist visit, but then also needs to get to the follow up provider. So after multiple phone calls to the chart room, chart runner, previous department, etc. I waited over 1 1/2 hours for one chart. Well, it really wasn't about ME waiting, but more so the patient. I was so tempted to just walk my little hiney down the hall and one flight of stairs to pick up the chart myself. Of course, that goes against my company policy and I would be doing a no-no. Yet, my patient wouldn't have had to wait...

Then I get home, and my lovely children are schmoozing on the couch, watching tv, being lazy, basically. Mind you, two of my three kids have failing grades in their academics. OOOHHHH....take a deep breath, Heather, breathe. And there are only 3 weeks left until the first quarter grades come out. Yes, keep breathing! This is really out of my control, I know this. Please don't let my blood pressure rise...breathe. Okay, so I know my kids ultimately suffer the consequences of their own academics. Damn! What am I doing wrong?

1064 Balloons and a Birthday

Birthdays are a celebration of life. Yes, they are! I stole an idea from one of my teenage daughters friends (well,I did ask her for permission) to brighten my mothers 59th birthday. To my recollection, my mother has never been the subject of a "Surpise" party. So I took an annual leave day off work and let the children skip school for the day and we pulled off a fantastic surprise!

At the end of the preparation, we had filled my mothers living/dining/kitchen area with 1064 BALLOONS! I had made a pot of chili in the crock pot, bought a deliciously moist chocolate cake, a few gifts, of course, and gathered the beautiful grandchildren for the festivities. Now, we just had to try and patiently wait for Nan to come home from work. She had no clue what we were up to and so she took her sweet little time coming home. But, finally...

It's just time...

I have come to realize over the past few weeks a simple concept - that everything is just time. Basic, I know. Yet, so abstract. It's just time to wait until the fertilized egg becomes a rapidly growing cluster of cells, turning to a fetus, an infant, a schoolaged child, a teenager, a mature adult... Time goes so fast, yet at times so slow. As I struggle through many changes in my life, time definitely seems slow. Though one look in the mirror and the creases at the corner of my eyes and the larger pores at my skin's surface make the same slow time seem fast. Keep in mind - it's just time.

Whoever said having a newborn is hard, tough, physically demanding, etc? I have a teenager and I am the most physically exhausted that I have been in my time as a mother. My sleep deprived body physically aches from exhaustion, stress, and demands of parenting a child trying to be an adult. And just how does one get through to a know-it-all teenager? The love I have for my children is intense and it is very painful to witness them experiment with life. Will they ever realize and care what they have put their mother through? I feel like I am grasping at the most delicate and fine string...

Shingles and PreProm

With all good intentions to write on this blog in the past 16 days, time gets the best of me.



Bubba has recovered from his bout of shingles. It doesn't look like he will scar much from them, unlike his little sister who calls her scar from her bout of shingles when she was two "an angel kiss." How precious is that? She doesn't even remember having them. Thank goodness. The nurse practitioner who saw Bubba appeared to dis me when I told her the reason I brought him in was because he had shingles. After looking at his cluster of blisters on his waistline that went from midline bellybutton around to the middle of his back, she amazingly stated " Wow I have never seen shingles in a child before." We got our antiviral medication for him and he was pretty much dried up within a few days. Sometimes, when you are in the health care profession, it is almost better that no one knows what you do for a living.



My precious teenager is getting ready for prom this week. She is a sophmore going to prom with junior and senior girls. (I'm sure boys will be involved at some point). She is excited and I hope she has an incredible time. She has been primping herself for two weeks....finding the right accessories - purse, jewelry, etc., fake-n-baking (although I keep encouraging her to not overdo it), and then she is getting fake nails. I suggested that maybe she consider a pedicure since she has open toed shoes and she IS a dancer and her feet are NOT that attractive. And her response was "No one is going to look at my feet anyway, Mom." Okay.



I just attended a two day breastfeeding conference this week. I love getting new information and learning more about something that I am so passionate about. This is cool - Alaska has the highest rate in the United States for EXCLUSIVELY breastfeeding babies to three months of age!

A good day

I've decided this blog is for me, myself, and those who care. I have been wanting to write about my life happenings and things for quite some time and keep putting it off. This is an easy way for me to write (because I can type pretty darn fast) and keep things together.

I figured "Heather's Housequake" is a great name for my blog because this house is always shakin' and quakin'. It is quite a task to keep up with the extracirricular activities and social lives of three children while working outside the home full time. Sometimes I just look for the day when I don't have to get off the couch. Yet, I welcome the days full of "stuff". It is one of those love/hate things...

Today, after the kids got home from school, we went to the gym and worked out. I, myself, am still trying to lose those 8 pounds I gained on the Mexican cruise that my man and I went on in January. So easy to put on, so hard to lose! Kate gained 2 pounds at her Grandma's over the weekend indulging in her homemade fudge and ice cream. And she has been trying to watch what she is eating in preparation for the Dance World Cup in July. Bubba, all of a sudden, seems interested in "building up" his muscles - particularly his chest and arms. Huh. And Baby Girl is just interested in socializing with whoever will let her talk to them. We all had a great workout. Kate is happy as long as she is running faster and farther than me on the eliptical or treadmill. Baby Girl's faced was flushed and her hairline sweaty after her attempts at mastering the rock wall. Bub was complaining about how sore his arms were before we ever got home. And I, myself, just plain feel good.

It's a good day.