First day of School and Bullying

So today was the first day back to school for Michaela and Fred. I can't believe I have 2 children in High School. Michaela is still at LCI and Fred is going to Chinook, it is good to have them in 2 different schools. Michaela graduates this year, wow am I ever old. I remember my High School Graduation like it was yesterday and now my oldest is graduating this year. 20 years ago would never of guessed I would be watch my own child finish High School. Michaela also has Drivers ed this year and will get her license which means I can then send her on errands to the store, LOL. I have high hopes for Fred this year and that he wont be bullied. I am not going to let the schools handle it anymore, they never really do anything about it. Alot of the kids that bully him are kids he goes to church and Scouts with, this year I am going straight to the parents and we are going to have a chat! I mean I was tease in elementary but nothing like what Fred is experiencing. Kids have become down right mean, threatening and abusive, children should not have to put up with that kind of treatment. Most of us understand what this does to a person, how it belittles them, hurts their self esteem, and can cause depression and lose of self worth. As a society we have determined that this is considered abuse and adults can be charge by the police for it but we constantly make excuses for kids and try to counsel them to treat others nicer. In my experience this is a waste of time, there needs to be some major consequences for kids that bully otherwise they don't get how wrong it is. I have lived with this problem for 7 years now with my son, he is constantly bullied at school or Scouts and doesn't wish to participate at church activities because of the other kids. This year I will hopefully put a stop to this so he can enjoy his High School years as I did!

July and August

Because we moved in a week early was able to clean the old place from top to bottom, shampoo all carpets, fill all holes/marks, sand and touch paint. It was a long, hot job but finished it a day early and called the Landlord to have a walk through. No answer so tried again for a whole week. When he finally called to set one up it was 14 days after June 30th and he had been inside the place doing work. Now taking that all in to consideration I did a little homework about Alberta's Landlord/Tenant Act and found out that he had to do the walk through within the first 10 days after the 30th and he was not allowed to do any work on the premises until said walk through was finish otherwise by law he was required to turn over the whole damage deposit regardless of damages done to the property. He tried to argue with me about the carpet cleaning that I never hired professionals to do it and that it was going to cost $350 to have someone come in to do that. I got mad, LOL, and yelled at him that he either turned over the damage deposit or we would see him in court. Which he thought was funny and felt bad we could not come to an understanding. Well we left and he had until the end of July to either send the full damage deposit or take off what he felt was owed and then end up in court. I am going to assume here that after he went and read the Legislation he realize how difficult it would be to prove that he had just cause to with hold our damage deposit because I received the entire amount in the mail.
August was a nice and quite month, not LOL. August required two birthdays and a wedding. So my oldest is now 17 and graduating this year WOW. She wanted to have some girls over and have ice cream cupcakes from Marble Slab. So we had a BBQ, cake, presents and the cupcakes. Love teenage birthdays they entertain themselves!! Just need to provide a safe environment for them. Next up was the Wedding.
One of Tyler's cousins that he grew up with was getting married. None of these cousins I have met, so it was a must to attend this. Well the girls travel ok up to Calgary but this time we had to go all the way up to White Court. It was a beautiful drive, lots of trees and clean air and screaming children. We had to stop almost every 2 1/2 hours because for 2 hours the girls were good, played, slept and then the last 1/2 hour they screamed or cried. It was just GREAT. Cara is a very active 16 month old and after sitting for 2 hours needed to get out and run around abit and have a bum change. Veronica after 2 hours started to complain her bum hurt, lol, so she needed to get out and run too. Made the whole trip alot longer because of the constant stopping and starting but oh how I miss seeing such beautiful trees. Made me alittle homesick for the Maritime! The Wedding was on the same weekend as Veronica's birthday and she thought that the reception hall was decorated for her... As we entered the hall she stopped in the door way and said "OOHHH so pretty, mommy my birthday!" It was way cute. She loved the fact she was allowed to dance and that she had so many dance partners. It was wonderful to see because normally she is shy around strangers and wont venture to far from me or Ty but she was up dancing the whole time after supper. Tyler's cousins loved her and willingly danced with her quite abit. Tyler even danced with her, he still not ever danced with me! :( Well of course when we went to leave it was poring rain so we made a deal with Veronica, because she did not want to leave, that as soon as it stopped raining we would leave. It did not stop until Midnight and she danced the whole time and still got up at 7:30am the next morning. The also announced at the reception that it was her birthday too LOL. She loved it and I am glad we went even with how horrible they are at traveling.
 The next weekend I have Veronica's 3rd party to plan and have. It was a quite affair with both sets of grandparents and close friends. She loved her tea set and plays with it everyday outside with the water table. Tyler and I got her a VTech ereader which teaches her grammar, reading, word meaning, etc...its good up to 8 years old. The big hit was Grandma and Opa's present, a TinkerBell Quad! Its purple and she loves it, Cara even gets on it to ride.
Now of course it is the end of August and School starts tomorrow for Fred and Michaela, both in High School and Michaela graduates this year. She already has her Grad ring picked out, Grad dress picked out, Driver Education starts and she is on School Council. Its going to be one busy year for her. Fred starts in a new school and is in High School. He turns 14 this year so that means a learners permit to drive. I am going to have straight white hair soon LOL. Still no word on when the boys will be relocated here we are hoping for October. All up to date now, hopefully more post on a more regular bases. I know I have said that before but I am always striving to make it.

Were to begin?

Lets see if I can update you all on all the things that have happened or changed with us.

First, my nephews were pulled from my mom's house and placed in foster care just out of the blue. I got involved and called or emailed several MLA's and Minister to find out what was happening and why no one was informed or why the boys were not placed here instead of foster care as that is what is suppose to happen. After a week of letter writing and phone calls I heard from a Social Service supervisor. We talked for about an hour and half about the situation and their decision to put the boys in foster care and not contact us. After that call I started dealing with the boys care worker and the Taber office. It was determined during that phone call that Tyler and I would start looking for a larger place to stay as they wish to place the boys with family and not with a foster family. This would be a huge decision on our parts as the boys are 4 and 7 this year and instead of a small 5 bedroom home we would have to find a large 5-6 bedroom home. Plus it would complete change the dynamics of our family. Not only would Tyler be raising my 2 older children from my first marriage but he would also become a father figure to 2 little boys not related at all by blood.

So the hunt was on for a larger home. We wanted to stay on the West side of town close to a school. I started checking all the listings out there and found one on kijiji.ca. The house was 2 blocks away closer to the school. In fact we are right across from the school. The house is a large 5 bedroom home. There is alot of room right now but I know once the boys are placed here it will seem alot smaller. There is a large kitchen and dining room, living room (which I use for the day home), bathroom, master bedroom with 3 piece on suite and 2 bedrooms on the first floor. Veronica and Cara will share one room and the boys with bunk beds will share the other one. Downstairs is a large family room, 2 bedrooms, 3 piece bath large storage/laundry area and a nook that I use for crafting. Fred's room is on one side of the family room and Michaela's is on the other by the bathroom.

Packing was a pain as we had 2 weeks to pack and start moving and I was still running my day home. Try packing with 3 small children under feet and trying to keep them out of the boxes that are already packed and stacked. I was kept very busy. The last weekend of June arrived and we rented a moving truck and moved everything over. I had to have at least the kitchen and living room in order for Monday when I had kids in to watch. Thankfully we had a couple of members show up to help move otherwise it would of taken us 7 hours instead of 5. We had run out of boxes so I was emptying them and Michaela was repacking them, that is what took so long. Now if we had to move a greater distance I am sure we would of had everything packed.

So that brings us to the end of June.

Cara's 1st Birthday and Easter

What an incredible busy weekend it was. Last week was worried that the weather would be awful and there was no way we would end up outside. Thankfully the sun came out and melted most of the snow and dried up the backyard. All the family came down from Calgary and celebrated the day with us. Cara got spoiled and really seemed to enjoy a number of her new toys. She was quite shy with everyone but by the end on Sunday was willing to visit with Grandma, Opa, Grandma Sugar, Uncle Darren and Aunt Lindsay. Veronica and Hailey got along well and Veronica loved having another friend to play with. Its nice that there are so many children around the same age in Tyler's extended family. Cara will mostly be the youngest as there are no plans from any of the Uncles to have more nor does Tyler's brothers want more kids. I love having a house full of family and friends. At the same time I am glad that it doesn't happen all the time. I love to entertain and wish I had more space to do it. One day Tyler and I will have our own house and it will have everything I need to have great get to gathers. Until then I will make due. I was so disappointed in the cake I made for Cara, one of them broke so was hard to ice and then the other one I ran out of room when writing on it. I should just stick to shaped cakes as the normal ones I fail at, LOL. Cara had no idea what she was suppose to do with her cake, even with Grandma helping her she would no touch it so have no pics of her making a huge mess. The other kids had fun with the pinata that we had for them. They beat on it but did not break it. Once we got them to select a ribbon and pull on it, the candy and toys finally came out.
For Easter supper it will be the normal crowd, us, Shawn, and Cathy. The only one missing will be Mark, but now that he has his own car he will be visiting his family more for the holidays and I will be feeding him less LOL. They are pretty much our family and we love them like they are related to us.

Happy Easter Everyone and remember be grateful to our Saviour Jesus Christ for he died and was risen for us this wonderful day. Because of him each and everyone of us can be saved and return to live with our Father in Heaven on day.

Bedroom move

Have been talking but keep putting off moving Cara into the shared bedroom for the 2 youngest girls. Was worried that Veronica would not be able to sleep when Cara cried and that I would not hear her to get up and nurse her. Yesterday I moved her crib out of our bedroom and into their shared room. Afternoon nap was a little of a challenge, Veronica and Cara played, Cara in her crib and Veronica standing by her to hand her toys LOL. Veronica finally got tired and laid down on her bed and went to sleep, about 15 minutes later Cara started to cry because no one was there to play with her LOL. Cara wont sleep until she is very tired and falling asleep. She wants to stay up and play or visit and go, go, go. So I got her up so she would not wake Cara and nursed her hoping that she would go to sleep, which she did but as soon as I tried to lay her down she was up crying. Last night was the big question on how they both would sleep in the same room. Veronica went to bed as normal and Cara stayed up until 9:30 when she finally passed out and we could move her to her crib without her waking up and crying. She was up at 12:30, and 3:00 to nurse and then first morning feeding at 5:30, luckily she goes back to sleep easily at those times. Both Veronica and Cara should be up in about 45 minutes which is 7:15am to start their day. My night surprising was easy and I think I got better sleep with her out of the room. Crossing my fingers that this continues to be a good thing. Hoping that we will be able to get Cara on a sleep time routine like Veronica. Next step weaning....Wish me luck there, got her weaned for the day just need to wean her at night now.

Hospital stay

So Cara did not improve. In fact when I got home Friday night we deiced she need to go to emergency. Normally this would of been no big deal but without wheels or cash how to get there. I called my BF Cathy and asked if she could take us down and that if we had to wait long she could go home to bed as she had to work early in the morning. I kind of figured we would get admitted. We get to emergency and there is hardly anyone there, YEAH! but still have to wait. After 1/2 hour I go to the nurse and ask how much longer. He tells me that there are 10 people in the back still waiting to see the doctor so it will be awhile. I ask him to come and check Cara's oxygen levels because it they are low she will be staying for day or so. He replies sure and comes over with the O2 sensor the reading is low and he figures it is the batteries so go off to change them. He comes back and tries it again and it is still reading at about 30% oxygen in her blood, this is very bad it should read 100%. He tells me to bring her because we are headed to see the doctor because this can not wait! I turn to Cathy and thank her for bringing us and send her home to bed. Once we are in the back a Nurse comes over to take vitals and she too is concerned about the oxygen levels in Cara's blood. Once her temp is taken she is given Tylenol and she pucks it up so they have to give it too her again. We are then sent for x-rays of her chest. Let me tell you that is TONS of fun with a 10 month old. I stand behind the machine holding on to her arms so that they are up over her head for the first pic and then sideways and arms held in front without her moving. The side pic had to be taken 3 times because she would start to move toward her arms LOL. No crying and once I get her dressed and return to the emergency beds I see the doctor and he shows me her x-rays. He tells me she has pneumonia and that she needs to be admitted, hopefully in 3 days she will be better to go home. So we head back to the room and wait for a bed on the PEDs floor to be ready for her. While we wait the Nurse comes back in with a Lab tech and another Nurse. They need to get some blood from Cara and set up an IV. Now that is really scary for a parent to see and help with. She is a strong little girl and can put up quite the fight even with being as sick as she was. They try the IV on her hand first but are unable to fine the vain so the other Nurse tries one in the foot and hits it the first time. They draw a vial of blood from that point so they don't have to poke her again and then attach a IV and tape it up and put on a splint so that she cant move her foot or pull it out. On the other foot they attach a line for her heart and oxygen sensor. Finally we head up to PEDs and it is 2:00am by this time. Great staff on the PEDs floor. They take her out of my arms and place her on the crib and start to check her over while they do this I am answering a ton of questions for admittance papers. Once that is all done it is now 3am and there is a bed made up for me to sleep in. The Nurses tell me they will be in every 4 hours to check on Cara and to give her antibiotics but to try and get some sleep. Cara is sleeping some what peacefully she is now hocked up to Oxygen too. So I take off my shoes and crawl into bed and fall asleep.
Now I thought the hospital stay when having a baby was boring well this was worst. Cara was in isolation so anyone that came into the room had to have a gown on and she was not aloud to leave. We were there until Monday afternoon. I got to leave twice for a couple of hours otherwise I stayed there the entire time and over night. Tyler brought me clothes and money for food. I got a lot of sleep surprisingly and so did Cara. Once her blood test came back we knew she did not have pneumonia but RSV which in infants is worst and more deadly then pneumonia. To the rest of the world over 2 years of age RSV is the common cold in infants it presents it self like pneumonia but once the blood work is done pneumonia is not present so the Doctors say it is RSV. Most cases of RSV are a lot worst then ours. The Doctor was very happy with me that I brought her in when I did, he told me that most parents wait far to long before coming into emergency with their very sick kids. They wait until the child is limp with no muscle tone and by then the infection is all thorough the body and the child needs a longer time in Hospital to recover. I told him that to me she was lethargic because she was not nursing, eating and was sleeping all day. Very different then my little toddler that wont sleep during the day at all. So I knew something was very wrong with her.
I talked with the Nurses about RSV and this years cold and flu season, they said it was the worst one ever that they had seen. I explained how the colds seemed to cycle through the kids about every 3 weeks. They told me that Cara likely had not gotten completely well from one before the next one hit and that they just compounded each time and made her worst until finally her body could not take it anymore. One of the Nurses said that is what happened to her and that it laid her flat on her back for 3 days. I also was laid out for a day because of all the colds but got better quickly. Then about a week later Cara came down with this.
She came home Monday the 28th of February and we had to give her flow vent every 4 hours for 10 days plus a follow up with our family doctor on March 16. Because of the 3 different antibiotics they had her on she developed dirrera and it was bad. Called the Healthlink and they said to put her on pedialight and it would stop it. Sure enough the first bottle and she kept it down and her poops start to get little more solid. She lost 5 lbs while sick. Now almost 2 weeks later she has her appetite back and is nursing fine. Working on getting her back on the bottle but looks like she might prefer a sip cup which is fine with me. She is 100% back to being her normal self and you would not know by looking at her how sick she was. I am glad it is over and pray that we will not have to go through something like that again. It is wonderful to be a parent but when they are that sick you just want to die for them if it will make them better. I don't know how parents out there do it day in and day out with a child that is terminally ill. They are the STRONGEST parents ever and wish them all the best and that things will get better for their families.

Just when you thought.....

So our one and only reliable vehicle decide to quit working this past weekend. We finally have a garage to take it to and get it fixed. If that was not bad enough both girls have been sick but was not to worried until last night/early this morning. Cara is not doing well. She is not eating solids and is barely drinking milk, she is not even willing to nurse. Now she is getting enough in her system to keep her hydrated because she is having wet diapers but it is her breathing I am most concerned with. Plus if she continues not eat or drinking she will get dehydrated quickly. Normally this would be no big issue because I could just up and stick her in the van and off to the doctor's office but I have no wheels. So now I have to rely on the generosity of friends and hope they are available to help me out. Otherwise I have no idea how I am going to get her to see a doctor. She is sleeping better right now then she did all night but that might be due to the shower I gave her this morning to help clear out her nose and the steam to help her breath better. Also was able to get her to take an oz of pediesure. Hope she will drink more as her tummy was growling this morning. She also pucked up twice that was why the shower in the first place. I hate it when the really young ones get sick there is not much you can do but wait it out or when it gets worse take them to the doctor. Hopefully she will get better soon!