Hey, Mrs. Wilson!

Did you get the hint?

I started doing childcare this month. The 11-month-old little boy that I watch is very high maintenance. He does not let me put him down. If I put him down, he screams bloody murder. He also doesn’t nap. Unless we’re in the vehicle. I end my days with him with a headache. The whole back of my head feels like it’s convulsing. I really hope he gets a little more independent, because I can hardly go to the bathroom while he’s here. I really like children, but I also like putting them down once in a while! I also have a 3-year-old boy being added in October, and a 12-month-old boy in November.

Noah is not home a whole lot. He is working his tail off for our family’s present and our future. He goes to full-time school every weekday morning, and then goes to his full-time job every afternoon. The dude is a hard worker, there’s no doubt about it. But, since he’s gone most days, I’m doing a lot of single parenting. My favorite day of the week is Sunday, because he’s home ALL DAY LONG!

I’ve also been doing all the housework myself, which some of you probably thing I should be doing anyway. It’s true! He shouldn’t have to do anything! The thing is, since we got married, he’s been very helpful around the house and did pretty much all the dishes for a whole year while I was pregnant and just after Liliana was born. (We don’t have a dish washer.) Like I said, the dude is a hard worker. So, now that I’m home all day, all the housework is on me. I just have to get used to it! I’m not exactly the best housewife ever, but I hope that I’m improving. (Noah? Yay or nay?)

We’re heading out to Saskatoon this weekend to see the in-laws. I cannot wait. I think it’ll be great to get out of town for a little while. I love it here, but you know, a break every once in a while is nice! Also, the food there isn’t so bad. It’s only pretty much the best food I’ve ever tasted, even if we just have naTchos. (That was for you, Nita!) My in-laws take care of us pretty good. And yes, I’m looking forward to seeing them as well as enjoying the food. (That was for you, Russ, because I know I’ll get a phone call if I don’t put that in there!)

Next weekend, we’re just at home doing the usual thing. The weekend after that, we’re heading to Noah’s grandma’s place in Manitoba for Thanksgiving. Again, GOOD FOOD!! And the people aren’t bad either. ;) The weekend after that, my mom and my sister are coming. My mom, Grannie, is Kaylie’s favorite person in the whole world, so needless to say, we’re looking forward to the two of them here. Also? My mom has never been to Saskatchewan. I tried to explain to her that you can see a WHOLE TRAIN! in the DISTANCE! and you can see your dog running, even though he left THREE DAYS AGO!

As I write this, I’m watching the Presidential Debate. The American Presidential Debate. The little I know about American politics is way more than I know about Canadian politics. I don’t even know who’s running in Canada! Sad, I know. But, if I lived in the States, I think I’d vote for John McCain. I don’t know that I completely agree with his running mate, but if it was just a choice between McCain or Obama, VPs aside, I’d vote for McCain. He just seems a lot wiser about everything than Obama. Maybe it’s just me. They’re only half way through the debate, but that’s what I’ve noticed so far. (Also, Obama is tight with Oprah. Don’t get me started on that woman.)

What’s that? Who am I voting for in Canada? Um … who’s running? I’d better look into that.

School shootings and kids bringing guns to school always happens in someone else’s town. Today it happened here. Nobody was hurt and it ended up being a CO2 pistol, but seriously! He held most of the student body at gun point!

I just got back from a relaxing weekend. By myself. I left my family behind on Saturday afternoon and headed to Saskatoon and had dinner with my in-laws.

On a side note, last night was my first night being away from Liliana. It was my first time not checking on the girls after they’d fallen asleep. It was my first night not being able to kiss the both of them goodnight as they slept like little princesses. Don’t worry, I survived.

This morning, I went to a hotel in Saskatoon and trained for my new career. After this week, I am officially a stay-at-home (and work-at-home) mom. I got the job I’ve always wanted, plus a couple on the side.

A couple months ago, a friend of mine introduced me to BeautiControl®. The first product she introduced me to was the Show of Hands® Instant Manicure. The stuff is like no hand treatment I’d ever had. It made my hands feel like baby skin. I fell in love with the company instantly.

A couple weeks later, a week before I was supposed to move halfway across the country, that same friend told me of all the benefits of joining the company as an Independent BeautiControl® Consultant. After talking to Noah, I jumped on the opportunity.

I was supposed to attend the training, BeautiU™, in Terrace before I left. The only problem was that is was on the last Sunday we were there. I just couldn’t miss my last Sunday at my home church. So, I signed up for the training in Regina, which was supposed to be last weekend. It was canceled. Strike two. So, I signed up for the one in Saskatoon this past weekend and called my in-laws to make sure it was alright that I came to stay with them for a night.

BeautiControl® is the smartest, most organized company I’ve ever been involved with. There are so many amazing benefits of being an Independent BeautiControl® Consultant that I can’t wait to get my business going. I also can’t wait to share the amazing products that BeautiControl® makes.

The other thing I’m going to pursue while staying home during the day is to do childcare myself. I’ve spent two months looking for childcare, and all I found was a couple of teenagers. They are totally amazing babysitters, and the girls love them, but they go to school during the day. I have not been able to find anyone to care for Liliana during the day, thus the sudden change in careers. I was going to use BeautiControl® as a supplemental income, but now it, along with childcare, will be my half of our bread and butter. And, I don’t have to ship my kids off to someone else every day.  So, I’m going to open my home to 1-2 children during the day.  I actually really like other people’s kids, and I look forward to hanging out with them every day.

So there you have it. Another thing crossed off my Things to Come post. I have to work this last week before Noah starts University, and then I’m home, hopefully for good. (Or until my kids are old enough to take care of themselves.)

Watch tomorrow for the next episode in my Ode to my Family series!

These last couple days have been crazy, to say the least. Moving in, moving out, a marriage simulcast conference, a birthday, a girls night out, and two days of intense cleaning. The weekend was physically, mentally, and extremely emotionally draining for me. Let’s just say I’m excited to get away and see Chelsey and Teresa and their families.

We are 100% moved out of the old house. Today was the last day that we had possession. It’s always kind of a challenge when you’re going into a place literally 1/10th of the size of your old one. From 19 doors to 2. From 4 bathrooms to 1. From 4 bedrooms to 1 (ish). From 3000 square feet to 300.

I had amazing help today, and I could not have done it without some amazing people. Ann and Kevin babysat for the afternoon while I did a storage run and a Salvation Army run with Todd’s truck, and Marg and Brian helped me clean all the live long day and also did a couple loads with their truck.

We finally mopped the last bit of floor at 9:30 tonight and I’m happy to report that the people moving in tomorrow will be moving into a sparkling clean immaculate house. A huge burden has been lifted having that place done. The funnest part of the evening was driving the Corvette to it’s new home. Yup, highlight of my day right there. I had a big goofy grin plastered to my face the whole 10 minute drive. It was my first time driving it, unless you count moving it daily on to the lawn it hopes that it would sell, which it didn’t.

In new house news, one great thing three great things about living here are the three people who live upstairs. Ann, her daughter Michaela, and her nephew Kevin. Michaela is a couple years younger than Kaylie and the two of them get along great. Ann and Kevin just happen to have the same taste in TV as I do. They are also great fun to hang out with and I’m sure we’ll spend a lot of time together over the next couple months.

Also, my little Liliana absolutely adores them. She cries when we leave them and hold her arms out for them when we see them.

I have taken a couple “before” pictures of the suite in disarray. Alas, you will have to wait until I find the driver disc for my camera to see any sort of recent picture. (Also, that will give me time to clean and organize for the “after” pictures.) Apparently I lost the disc sometime between Christmas (when I got the camera) and now. I installed it on my old computer at Christmas, and since we got the new computer have been uploading pictures onto that, uploading them to Flickr, then downloading them to my new computer, editing them, and uploading them back to Flickr and/or my blog. A process? Yes. That’s what happens when you lose things.

Why can I not do that still? We had hooked the old lap top up to a ginormous monitor and it will not fit in our suite. No way no how. Unless we feel like having any no space to walk. Operation: Find Camera Disc. Soon.

That is all I will leave you with for today. I know that reading blogs are way more fun with pictures, so I won’t bore you any longer and I’ll go hunt for the disc.

It should have a pager like my phone.

*Edit: I found it!  In the lap top case.  Where I already looked three times before.  Idiot.*

Okay, so it was mostly Noah’s bad day, but it was not a great day for me either. There were a couple sunny spots though. This will be in mostly point form, as it was just that kind of day. I’m sorry if I bore you with my longwindedness, but it was a very very full day.  (PS. If you don’t feel like reading it, then skip down to the bottom and read the note there.)

I dropped Kaylie off at school.

I dropped Noah off at the dentist.

I dropped Liliana off at Finney’s house.

I dropped the car off with Noah at the dentist and walked to work.

I got to work at 9:00 (ish). So far so good.

I got a call from Noah (he was at work by then) at about 10:15. He said he was having chest pains.

Now let’s back track just a little bit. Noah has not been to the doctor in the whole time I’ve known him. He pretty much boycotts the doctor. He also does not get sick. Ever. Okay, just once, but it was just a bad cold and he solved that with a whole lot of NyQuil. He is also not a whiner. At all. So when he admits that something hurts, I know it’s serious. He also said that the pain went all the way through to his back and that he could not lift anything (which is kind of vital to being a grocery clerk).

I asked him if I could take him to the hospital or to the doctor or something, but he said he’d call me back in 15 minutes to let me know how he was. He had just been told by the dentist that he needs to have all four of his wisdom teeth pulled, so I was hoping it was just some sort of anxiety attack.

During that time, he went to talk to the pharmacist (he works in a grocery store with a pharmacy). She called the hospital and talked to a doctor who told her that it was most likely not heart related because of a couple symptoms that he did not have.

He called me back and allowed me to make him a doctor’s appointment. Now I know he’s really not feeling well. I made the appointment for 11:00. It was 10:52. I told him to book it to the medical centre (conveniently only about a block from where he works and across the parking lot from where I work).

We waited in the waiting room for about half an hour before Noah was called in. (Yes I went with him! I was worried about him!) He came out of the exam room and was sent to the hospital for an EKG and a chest xray. Oh goodie.

I took him to the hospital and showed him where to go (like I said, he boycotts doctors and thus had never been to that part of the hospital, only that maternity ward!) I then went to play taxi for a friend’s preschooler. I picked her up and dropped her off at preschool and then went to see how Noah was doing.

He was just finishing with some blood work and we headed over to Radiology. Luckily, it was a short wait and we were out quickly. We were also starving as it was just after 1:00 and breakfast was a long time ago. We picked up a super healthy bag of grease some McDonalds and headed to my office to scarf it down before my dentist appointment and Noah’s doctor’s appointment for his test results. There’s nothing better than McDonalds right after an EKG.

When I got back from my appointment, I called Noah to see how his went. He said that there were too many patients ahead of him so he went home and waited for the nurse to call him.

I went and picked up the preschooler and brought her home. I called Noah when I got back and he said that the nurse had just called. I picked him up and we waited for the doctor. Again. While I waited for him to come out of the exam room, so many what-ifs ran through my head. What-ifs are not fun. I will not even write them, because they’re too scary to re-think.

When Noah finally came out, he said that the doctor said that it was probably just a skeletal or muscular inflammation (phew!) and that we needed to pick up some prescription anti-inflammatory medication.

We dropped off his prescription, picked up Liliana from daycare, picked up Kaylie from her after-school playdate, picked up Noah’s prescription, and finally headed home.

The kids and I left right away to walk to Ann’s for our weekly Widow’s Dinner and gave Noah some peace and quiet.

One problem. Halfway through our dinner, Liliana produced a dirty, stinky diaper. I changed her before we left and naively thought I did not need to bring a diaper. (I hate carrying a diaper bag.) I called Noah to bring me a diaper with the promise of pizza when he arrived. I felt completely horrible for making him even move because he was in so much intense pain and by this point could hardly move his left arm.

Being the amazing, wonderful husband and father he is, he was there in a matter of minutes and I traded him pizza for a diaper.

The kids are now in bed and Noah is asleep on the couch beside me. Bliss.

Time worked out of an 8-hour work day: 1/2 an hour
Amount of gas used during crappy workless day: 3/8 tank
A healthy husband: priceless

*******

I’ve been following the Confessions of a CF Husband blog for a little over 3 months now, and have been reading the story of Nathan, Tricia, and little baby Gwyneth. Tricia has Cystic Fibrosis, and gave birth to tiny Gwyneth Rose at 24 weeks on January 8. Soon after giving birth to Gwyneth, Tricia was put back on the transplant list as she desperately needs new lungs. Today is Nathan’s 27th birthday. Nathan and Tricia got a call earlier today that the transplant team had a set of lungs they hoped would be a match to Tricia. The lungs were checked out and determined to be a match. Right now, right this second, Tricia is having a life-saving transplant surgery that will hopefully give her many more years with her husband and newborn baby daughter. Go and check out Nathan’s blog. He and Tricia have amazing faith in God and it is evident in every single blog post. If you feel led, pray for Tricia, that her new lungs will work as they should, and that through their story God will be glorified.