Jesus Wants Me For A SUNBEAM!

What the heck, when the heck did I get old enough to have no more kids in nursery and no more prospects of that either?!  Oh my, here's my little baby on her first day of SUNBEAMS.  She was pretty excited for the big event - it quickly turned upside down and she frowned that smile away when it came time to sit with her class though.

She cried, screamed all through most of it, it/she wasn't a pretty site.  Huge thanks to her wonderfully patient teacher for still loving her and welcoming her back the second week (which was 100% better BTW).  We love you Sister Snow!!!

So here she is, my baby - growing up, way too quickly.  I did cry.  Don't judge.

My thoughts on

I have 5 girls.  Five wonderfully amazing girls who I adore to the moon and back.  As I have gone through this mom thing there's a few  a million things that I learned along the way.  Some are small and simple like if you leave the cookies within reach they won't last as long.  Some though I consider life lessons and I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to live them and learn them.

As Christmas (yes I said Christmas and not the stupid 'h' word) is upon us I have been doing a lot of thinking.  Most of my thoughts are triggered by conversations I have with others or things I've noticed.  We recently had a conversation in our parent preschool class about Christmas and we got onto the topic of people in need at Christmas.  The question was asked

Why are people so needy at this time of the year when they know it comes at the same time every year - can't they plan better?

My first thought was YES, yes they can and should.  I certainly do.  It took me back to a quote I used to have in my office when I was an administrator for a University Learning Resource Centre full of 500+ students.

"Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine" 

Wooooooow there cowgirl (k, so I'm not a cowgirl but I've ridden a horse before so it counts).  Seriously?  Here I sit in judgement of these people when I have been blessed beyond measure, including the blessing of being somewhat organized and a planner?  Do I fully know their situation and even if I do (or in most cases "think I do"), is it still my place to call judgement????  

ABSOLUTELY BIG FAT NO!!!

Not only did I remind myself of that very important lesson but it started that thinking wheel in my head again.  I can't imagine the pressure that some families must feel at this time of year, and we're all partially to blame for this.  Think for a minute.  How many of us race out there to get our kids the latest and greatest (regardless of the cost), how many of us conform to 'social norms' and buy our kids things because that the 'cool' thing to have this year.  "Everyone has one" so my kid's going to have one too.  Shame on us.  Shame on us for creating such a society.  I'm not saying that we shouldn't buy gifts or want to give nice gifts but shame on us in thinking that that's what it's all about.  

• Do my kids have nice things?  Yes.  
• Do I race out and buy them the latest and greatest just because their friends have one?  No.  
• Is it a money issue?  No.
• Do they survive?  Absolutely.
• Are they better for it?  I believe they are.
• Are they happy?  Yes.  

The pressure that families must feel to not only get a gift for their child but get the 'right kind' of gift.  It's a real shame.  I have seen my kids eyes light up when they unwrap a little tub of playdough or a pack of crayons from the dollar store just as much as they have when they unwrap that Barbie Dreamhouse!  Then of course next year I gotta do even better!  When does it end?  We're creating a society of spoilt, indulgent children that will grow into teenagers and adults with huge sense of entitlement issues.  

I'm not perfect in this, so don't get me wrong.  I just think we could all take a step back and think for a minute about how we approach Christmas.  

Back to my initial thought (the one about giving to the less fortunate) - we will continue to give, just as we have always done in the past.  It's not my place to judge.  If there's a need I will help as much as I can.  If that means that we go without, that's ok, I'd rather my girls learn sacrifice over indulgence.  

c-c-c-c-c-c-COLD!

Like seriously cold!  I'm talking driving the kids to school in -46 with the windchill COLD!  All week, this is silly, it's been cold ALL WEEK!

I'm beginning to wonder if I live in Canada cause this picture is looking all too familiar.  

I love this beautiful country that I live in but let's get real, this is just

  completely obnoxiously rude.

The blogger guilt

You know what I'm talking about (I hope), you leave it so long that you feel guilty you left it so long so you avoid it which only leads to leaving it longer.....such a vicious circle!

Anyway - I'm here now, again.  Trying to do better and that's what counts right?

This year has been a great one for our family.  We have laughed, cried, done some fun stuff, some not so fun stuff, been scared but all the while loving our life and those around us.

Here's a few pics of some of our highlights:

We baptized

We birthday'd

We adventured

We accomplished

We surgery'd

We everything in between'd

Life hasn't been perfect, we aren't perfect but we live each day loving each other and making the best out of what life has for us.  I thank you for being a part of our lives.  I am blessed, I am grateful, I am living a life I always hoped to be blessed to live.

Massive Mother's Day Giveaway!

It's almost that time of year again when we celebrate being a mom and all the moms out there!  Enter to win this fantastic prize that celebrates being a mom!!!!!  http://www.kinseyholt.com/blog/

Good luck and happy mom day everyone!!!!!

Aylish Update

Aylish was such a TROOPER having her MRI done.  The technician told me that she is the youngest child she's ever done that didn't need sedation.  She was a super star, held completely still for the entire 45 minute test.  I was so impressed, I had heart palpitations for the 3 minutes I went into the MRI machine to show her how it works (yeah, I'm a baby).

The results took about 4 days to come back - - - felt like 4 weeks!  As I sat in the Dr office and heard him tell me her results came back NORMAL tears just ran down my cheeks - I don't remember anything else from that visit.

Today, a month and a half on, she still has a lazy eye.  Last week she became the proud owner of a snazzy pair of specs though - she is in LOVE with her new look.  The hope is that the glasses will help to pull the eye back into position, if not then surgery will be the next step.  We are going to try the glasses for at least 6 months and then if there's still no improvement Dr Novak and Dr Haynes will be referring us to the Children's Hospital in Calgary.

As of yet, I cannot see a difference but who knows what her measurements will show when we go back to the specialist in 2 weeks.

I am so thankful to my Father in Heaven for always being mindful of me and allowing me to feel the warmth of his love at all times.  It's been a rough ride and it's still not over but I know that he is there.

A Week of Stress

This past week has been a hard one for our family, we've all been affected by the events that have taken place.  Let's start at the beginning.

Last Monday (October 15, 2012) I took my five girls and myself up to the Flu Shot Clinic here in town, just like every year for the past 6 winters.  I filled in the required paper work and then off to get the shots we went.  This year my kids were thrilled to discover that instead of a shot this year there was a nasal mist being offered to children over the age of 2.  Yay they all thought, and me too I guess.  Within 1/2 an hour of being in there we were on our way home, all done - way easier than in previous years.

Tuesday evening Rylee (age 7) started not feeling so great, I wasn't home so I can't say exactly what her issues were but Wednesday morning she still wasn't well, she felt dizzy and sick to her stomach.  I kept her home from school.  Later that morning a friend of mine called me to say that Aylish (age 4) was complaining that her eye hurt and that she was hiding it away from the light.  When she brought her home to me and I looked at her eyes I knew something was wrong.  Her eyes weren't lining up.  I know her cool party trick is being able to cross one eye and this was similar but not normal.  I immediately took her to the clinic.  While we were at the clinic waiting to see the doctor Rylee began crying and screaming that her eyes hurt and that it was too bright.  By the time I got her into the bathroom where it was dark she had passed out.  Brief but scary.  We stayed in the dark until they moved us into the dr room.  We kept the lights off in there as both girls were very light sensitive.

Dr Steed came in to see the girls.  He first checked over Aylish and there was an obvious stumped look from him.  He went and called the specialist in Lethbridge and had an appointment for us for first thing after lunch.  He then turned his attention to Rylee who was sitting beside me.  He shone his little light in to her eyes and again she started crying and put her head down on my lap, the lights were hurting her pretty bad - Rylee's a pretty tough kid.  The doctor believed Rylee's to be viral and told her to take it easy and rest.  She is still a week later having dizzy spells and is still light sensitive from time to time, though her symptoms have lessened.

As for Aylish and her 'lazy eyes',  they're still lazy.  She has been to see the specialist 3 times now and has an appointment to have an MRI done tomorrow morning to make sure there is nothing more serious going on.  We are all nervous and praying for a normal outcome.  In the meantime the specialist now believe that there is a link between this vaccine the girls received and their complications with the vision.  Dr Novak and Dr Heyns from Lethbridge have had 3 children in with similar complications following this nasal mist vaccine in the past week.  I am so angry.  All I want is for my little girls to return to good health and put all this behind us.

I am very grateful for the love and support family and friends have been to us through this difficult time, I pray that it'll soon be back to normal.  I love my little girls and would do anything for them.  Right now I'm relying on faith that they will be healed.