I got to spend the first half of March Break at Poppa & Grandma’s with my cousins. And the second half helping Mummy with the daycare kids!
He said
With Danielle wrapping up almost every last piece of the planing for the cruise, the only thing left to do really is count down the days until we leave (1 month & 17 days, but who’s counting?) and plan what (and how) we’re going to pack. It’s hard to believe we’re this close to going and more importantly that we have yet to spoil the surprise. Danielle and I finally think we have sorted out precisely how and when we will let her in on the trip and I think that is the thing I am most excited about of all the things. Though a week in the Caribbean Ocean won’t be all that bad either!
With last week being March Break for Emelia, I was originally off on a couple of week days which meant I could spend them with Emelia. But, as soon as Emelia got wind of the Welland Teeters staying down with Poppa & Grandma for a visit, as well as her cousin Vaughan also being over there, plans were quickly hatched by Emelia to spend the time with her cousins at her grandparents until Tuesday which was my day off. Even then when I got over there, she wasn’t certain she wanted to leave and hang out with me for the day. But eventually I got her convinced we could have some fun together.
She and I first stopped at McDonald’s for lunch — mostly so she could get a Kid’s Meal and the requisite treat of the week, as well as have some time to burn off energy in Playland. After a half hour of that she was good to go, and our next adventure was to see what interesting things we could find at Yardigans a second hand store that has yet to disappoint us on a visit. This visit was the same and Emelia and I were able to burn off another hour here discovering through their warehouse. The highlight find was a cage for Taffy that was more than double the size of the one we have now, but after a lot of deliberation and a second visit this weekend, we passed on it as there really just isn’t a good space for a cage that size in our house. We closed out our day at Walmart so that Emelia could show me all the items she has planned for her big girl room makeover she’s been working with Danielle on.
The rest of the week was literally peppered with work for Danielle and I and Emelia trying to keep herself entertained during a her March Break. On so many levels with Danielle having her own in-home business in the daycare has been an absolute blessing to us to be able to plan around Emelia’s needs, but I know at times like March Break, it can definitely be a challenge for her when Emelia doesn’t understand or care that Mummy has a job and that job involves kids much younger than her and that she needs activities that develop and maintain the attention level of those kids. Emelia does try and can be a very caring helper for Danielle, but there are also the not-so-great times too — it was a delicate seesaw all week. But it did sound like the week was pretty great for the most part.
This weekend saw me have a close shift on Saturday and then today off. It meant that both yesterday and today there was no alarm clocks in our lives which was wonderful! And even better that we’ve hit the stage in Emelia’s life where she gets up, gets her own breakfast and entertains herself until we get downstairs. Both days we managed to get some reasonably good sleep-ins. Today of course the highlight was that whole day was ours to do with it what we wanted!
We finally got to use one of the gift certificates Danielle was given by one of her daycare families at Christmas for a meal at WICH is WICH — a fancy sandwich place in the downtown core. Every one us thoroughly enjoyed our meals and the best part is every sandwich on their menu can be made gluten free which made Danielle very happy. We will definitely be back there again! The rest of the day we enjoyed puttering around the city without an agenda or anywhere we needed to be at any time. There were no groceries to get, no swim class or gymnastics to be at, and no work to be done — it was utterly and completely perfect. And it ended with a steak dinner done on the BBQ and there’s still a hang with Danielle on the couch tonight while we watch the boob tube, after Emelia goes to bed. I can’t think of a better way for a week to end. And the best part is next weekend with Easter, we’re all off three straight days together! And we’ll see Welland Teeters again this weekend too!
She said
We are wrapping up a very full week. Emelia had the last week off as it was her school March Break. What this meant is that I got to spend some extra time with my girl and she got to take life at a lazier pace. Sunday night after we went to dinner with most of the family we ventured back to Helen and Doug’s and it was a matter of moments and Emelia was begging to stay there so she could spend more time with her cousins. With a happy girl sent off to play with her family John and I ventured home and I prepared for the next week. Emelia spent until Tuesday visiting and then off for her adventure day with daddy so it was a very quiet pace for me around here. Well as quiet as it can be with 4 children in the house, drizzly weather and lots of indoor time.
The weather for the week certainly was not co-operating for the week but I quickly shifted into crafting and activity mode and we had a full and fun week. By Tuesday later in the day Emelia was home and she was greeted by 4 very excited children who were so trilled to have their ‘Ya-Ya’ (their nickname for Emelia) home. Emelia instantly flipped into teacher’s helper and entertained the children for the remainder of the day. The kids just adore her and for the most part she adores them. They are at least 6 years younger than her so there are challenges for sure but she does her best to adjust her play and find fun things for the kids to do.
The week really did fly by but by the end I was more than happy to put to rest another March Break, I will be happy that next week we can get back to our regular routine as much as Emelia has enjoyed this week off with me and the kids. The other focus this week was a nagging problem that has been causing me a fair bit of pain. For going on a year my dentist and I have been trying everything to solve a very painful tooth. I had a filling removed and replaced, the bite adjusted on a few occasions, the gap between the teeth adjusted all in an attempt to fix a persistent problem.
Well this last week or so the pain has returned with a vengeance. It ended with an emergency trip back into the dentist Thursday evening and it has been determined that I have to finally have a root canal on that problem tooth. Hopefully this will solve things once and for all. Now here comes the curse of my career, I can only go for appointments in the evenings after I close or the weekends. Well these are of course the most popular times any medical office. So what does that mean for me? I have to wait over a month to get this tooth fixed. Right now it is about pain management and hoping for a cancellation appointment but for now I wait and take over the counter pain options.
With that out of the way I could shift to the weekend. John worked the close shift yesterday, this meant we both could take the morning at a blissful lazy pace and get some much needed sleep. By noon John had Emelia at gymnastics and I was off getting the weekend errands done. Once Emelia was done her gymnastics I picked her up and she and I carried on to get some things done ourselves. I am still trying to get her some much needed new shoes since she has since outgrown everything she owns, I am trying to quietly manoeuvre some things I know she will need for the trip and get those for her as we are out as well. She is no longer my girly girl so trying to plan things like dresses and dressier shoes for the dinners is less than ideal since she has little to no interest in this style of clothes anymore. But we managed to get a few things done and other than dressier sandals, a new swimsuit and a more formal dress for the formal night of the cruise Emelia is quietly ready to go.
This brings us to today – the day of the week I have been looking forward to all week. Our one day this entire week that we had the day off together. And we had no real plans, it was perfect. We lazily got moving this morning, made our way out for lunch at WICH is WICH (which had plenty of gluten free options!) using a gift certificate from one of my daycare families and then we did a bit of window shopping.
Emelia has been really wanting her next stage bedroom. The room we did 2 years ago I thought would hold her interest a bit longer but nope our girl is growing up and she is no longer all about butterflies and flowers. She wants a more grown-up pre-teen room. She has it all planned out and it will be fun to do but there is one thing she doesn’t know, her parents are desperately trying to save to assure we can have a vacation of a lifetime. She is being very reasonable about finding affordable options and making a lot of the decorations herself with our help but things like new bedding and some accessories do cost money. We sat down with her today and added it all up to give her an idea and she is realizing that we will do things as we can. She also has a mandate from me that if she wants us to spend money on a new room she needs to show us she is going to take care of her room now. So she has agreed, keep care of her room and step up with helping in her chores and it gets her closer to her bigger tween room she wants so badly.
Speaking of rooms, it is time to sign off for the week so we can get our girl in her bed asleep at a decent hour as she is back to school in the morning. Until next weekend and all about the Easter Bunny!