I Will Make It Up To You

I took Benji to a new babysitter this morning.  Everything seemed okay; I visited them last week and we worked out all the details.  She made it sound like he wouldn't be a problem, and honestly--he's a pretty chill kid.  I dropped him off about 6:15 a.m.  So I was working at Riverton--a very nice day of ENT with Dr. Dahl, and between cases, my boss comes in with a message for me.  "Call this number about child care."  I check my cell phone.  3 new messages, 3 missed calls.  At least 3 pages.  Crap.

Text Message 1 (7:52 a.m.): "We tried to take his coat off and he started kicking.  I'm sorry, but I have infants around and it won't work."

Text Message 2 (7:52 a.m.): "I have a feeling this isn't going to work, he hasn't stopped crying, won't listen, & I won't be able to watch him with the other kids I have."

Text Page (8:59 a.m.):  I need ur son picked up asap.  I have tried every possible way to get ahold of u.  His behavior is unacceptable for my care."

Text Message 3 (10:34 a.m.): "I need someone to come pick your son up in the next 30 minutes!"

My heart sank.  What am I supposed to do?  I get off work at 3pm, and I told her I'd be there early (2:30pm or so).  Luckily things are low-key enough at Riverton that my boss let me leave.  We had an extra nurse on hand and only a couple of cases left, so I took off.  I feel so guilty about leaving my sweet little man with them.  I feel bad for the babysitter, who doesn't know how to deal with him, and for the other kids who may have been neglected because of his behavior.

So I took him home and cuddled with him and gave him chocolate milk and apple juice and let him watch t.v., and now he's taking a nap.  I still feel incredibly guilty about putting him through that ordeal at all.  I know he does better with a routine, and I totally killed that this morning with a new place, lots of new faces, etc.  It doesn't help that he woke himself up way early this morning (like 4:30-ish) and he was probably hungry and grumpy.  Bad combination.

I called my old babysitter and asked her if she could take us back.  She can (thankfully), but we were looking for someone else because she is kind-of expensive.  Even so, Benji knows her and she's very nice, and I really don't want to do that to him again.  Poor little guy.

I haven't posted any new pictures here for a while; I have put a few up on my photography blog, but not much of the family.  Here are a few from Father's Day weekend.  I didn't get many spectacular ones of the Phoebster's birthday, and I didn't have my camera at all for Miss Lily's, so sorry--this is what you get.

My cute Mom and my Lily-Bug

I couldn't believe the huge smooch Phoebe planted on Lex!

Lily applying her chapstick sparingly.

BFFs Benji & Noah.  Guess who's in charge.

I love the way the water turned out in this.  Hooray for the DSLR!

Cute Sarah Banana

Sarah probably won't appreciate this one very much.  It's at a rather unflattering angle, but I like it.  Yes, it's pretty Picniked, but maybe that way Sarah won't be too mad at me for posting it.  I love it--Sarah has such a fantastic smile, I had to share.

Et puis voilà quoi.

16th of June, 9:05

Today was a good day.  I have spent the last week at the main hospital, and I finally got to go back to Riverton today.  I missed it!  It was good to be back!  I worked with Dr. Peterson (who said, sincerely, "Call me Dave").  Sure, it was a day full of eye surgeries, but that was okay.  I'm finding that I don't mind the repetition or lack of variety.  With variety comes responsibility and the fear in the back of your mind that you'll have to be there for a crazy horrible surgery that will scar you for life.  At Riverton, they only do surgeries on patients who are pretty healthy, who can go home the same day.  That's a huge contributor to the relaxed atmosphere.  I love it.

I have actually been called off for my shift tomorrow.  I can't really afford to take the time off, but Allen's mom is in town.  This is the first time she has ever visited us, and we have been married for almost five years.  Allen and Benji went out to lunch with her and Irene (her friend who she's traveling with).  Since I am off tomorrow, I think we'll all go to Thanksgiving Point.  Maybe we'll rent a golf cart. :o)

I was also pretty excited about a deal I got at Walgreen's.  I had $10 in 'register rewards' that were set to expire tomorrow, and I found some binders on clearance.  Yes, I got excited about binders.  Sad, I know, but I really needed a new one, and I didn't want to pay $6 for one!  So I found two 2" binders for less than $5, plus some nail polish, tape and staples for $1.85.  Aw, yeah.  I love scoring a good deal.

I celebrated my 10-year mission birthday on Monday.  I can't believe that an entire decade has passed since I was in the MTC.  I'm working on getting my negatives scanned so I can make books and such.  Until then . . . I'm not going to buy just anyone's cockatoo.

What's Going On

So . . . apparently I'm working at Riverton now.  Nobody really told me this personally; I heard it second-hand.  I was talking with the Ortho team leader at PCMC, because I really do want to be on the Ortho team, but she said that she had talked to my educator, who said that I was going to Riverton.  All right; if you say so.

I was out there today, and it was good.  I really do like it there; I had a great team today, there was good music on Pandora, and although I'm not particularly fond of ENT, it's not difficult or stressful.  That's good for me.

The thing is, I said I would go to 5 days/week (working 7-3pm, or rather 6:30-whenever I leave) because Allen said that he would be able to work evenings (daycare is sucking us dry!).  Unfortunately, the company he works for is totally flaky and decided they wouldn't start the 24-hour schedule yet.  I seriously suggested he start delivering pizzas.  He's thinking about it, and he's looking for another job.  He's not sure what's happening with the top-secret clearance he has applied for, so we are stuck for the moment.  Grr.

In other news, I got a new camera.  No, I can't afford it, but it is nice.  I got a Nikon D5000, and I love it.  This is one of the better pictures I have taken.  I love Benji's sweet little face in this pic.  I also love the clarity and versatility of the DSLR.  I'm still getting used to it, and I'm having problems downloading some of my pictures, but we'll figure it out.  Here's a slideshow of some pics I took over Memorial Day weekend (with the new camera).  Ne vous inquietez pas--they will get better with time and experience.