He Said…

As we mentioned last week about the sudden passing of our Uncle Brian, this week started out with heavy hearts as we awaited the details of what happened, and how they were going to get him back to Canada.

Our cousin Lisa was able to make it over to Greece to be with Aunt Jeanné and Jason was able to make it home from his trip in India where he happened to be at the time.

By Friday, Brian’s body with the autopsy and paperwork completed, was back in Canada. Visitation starts tonight, and carries through until Tuesday morning when they will have the funeral service in Wallaceburg. Emelia and I will go, as I was able to juggle my schedule.

With Friday bringing us the month of March, we’re really hoping that we’ve seen the last of winter. We’re all getting a little stir crazy and even though the winter hasn’t been that rough, we could all do with a lot more sunlight, fresh air and time spent outside. So here’s to hoping that March goes out like a lamb.

Once again, this week I had a couple week days off work and Emelia was not in school. Wednesday, we spent our afternoon in the spare room painting. I love that Emelia picks this activity with me, because she is aware that I went to university for art, and she sees this as connecting with something I love.

And I see a lot of what I felt as a kid doodling, in her. I have a feeling art or creativity will be a central piece of who she becomes. So, she’s absolutely right about the connection we have through creating something on a blank canvas. The afternoon listening to records and painting on the floor was utter bliss for me. And something she’ll hold close to her, I hope as she becomes an adult.

On Friday, my other day off, Emelia and I set out to The Children’s Museum in the afternoon. We’ve been so many times and she never seems to tire of it, and since she asked a couple times in the last few weeks, I decided Friday would be a perfect day for that.

What made it even better was we met up with our friend Marty who brought her daughter Scarlett and the two girls got in a couple hours of exploring and discovery while I got to visit with Marty. It was a great afternoon.

Today, I managed to have off work so I could spend a day with Emelia and Danielle which was really nice. I had been spoiled for that stretch in late January where I had a bunch of weekends off that I had missed having days with everyone off work together. So, today was a nice bonus to the week, to have that extra time with just my girls.

Tuesday this week, as I mentioned is the funeral. Emelia and I are heading down with Mom and Dad so we can pay our last respects and see the family. Although it’s not the ideal reason to reconnect with the extended family, it’s still comforting to see them even in times like this.

And… by the way, we set sail in 68 days!

She Said…

The week was well a normal week with one big exception. I spent much of my down time in the work week phone interviewing perspective families.

I was mildly overwhelmed with the number of families who wanted the opening. In the end I phone interviewed 6 families, although they were all wonderful, one was a great match for when they needed care and our parenting beliefs. I spent Wednesday’s quiet time assuring the house was in order, and the evening meeting with a wonderful family. By Friday I had filled the opening a week to the day it came open. This new family has been able to ease in the little boy into care so I can have my daycare girls stay on a part time basis for a bit longer.

It does not solve the loss of income for April and part of May but it is the best I could hope for. And I have a wonderful new family, I get to have one of Emelia’s favourite daycare girls come back for the summer giving her a playmate to play with. Win-win.

It did help being so busy this week so this weekend’s appointment was not weighing as heavy on our minds. On Saturday after a mad dash rush after swim class Emelia and I made our way to see the eye doctor again. This time they were doing more detailed testing on her eyes to assure they knew exactly how poor her vision was so they could get the best prescription for her.

After the drops were put in her eyes to fully dilate her pupils the doctor did the same tests as he did 3 weeks prior. She was of course insanely shy about the whole thing but was brave. What we did find out this time is that her vision was worse that the doctor first thought so thankfully we did further testing. He is amazed how well she reads considering.

Once we were done there off Emelia and I went to get her glasses ordered so we can get them back as fast as possible so our girl can start seeing things much clearer. She is pretty excited about the whole thing. Although I am a wee bit sad about her needing glasses I am amazed how far glasses have come since I was a child. There are such sweet styles available for kids. She picked a very cute pair and now we wait.

I am glad we took the time before to let her try on MANY pairs of glasses to assure we had the pair she loved the most because the poor thing could not see a thing for most of the day. Everything was blurry. And with her slightly dramatic side I was so impressed how well she did with the whole process.

All in all it was a good day, we have the answers we need and we ended it with some time as a family after John was done at work. We got a bit of shopping done.

Speaking of shopping. This is something I really need to get done and soon.

My need to shop is for all the right reasons, over the last 18 months I have completely changed how I treat my body. For years I ate what I felt like, did little in the way of exercise and my body was paying the price. I was so unhealthy. Something had to change.

Between grocery shopping and Emelia’s swim class on Saturday I thought I would try on what clothes I had from last summer. I had bought a few things last summer because I had lost some of the weight. Well about 90% of my clothes swim on me now. It is amazing what the 45lbs I lost over the last year has done to my figure (adding to the 15 I had lost the 6 months before that). I have gone from a size 16 to a size 8 — a size I have not been in since first year university.

So I have to get over my hatred and panic when shopping and finally buy things for myself. I have been looking around and asked my more fashionable friends for help and I might be on my way.

Today we spent the day together as a family, John was off so we took the morning at slow pace and then went off to the Y so I could get my workout in and he and Emelia could get their swim time in. All-in-all a great weekend! Now if spring would arrive I would be happy!