Road Trip!

On Monday Amy, Lyla, my mom, and I started on the long trek from Prince Edward Island to Newfoundland.  We had about a 5 hour drive, which included a ferry from PEI to North Sydney, where we caught the night crossing of the ferry.

It wasn't too bad the first day, we caught the ferry from PEI to Nova Scotia first which was nice because Lyla was able to get around a bit before our long drive.  Our drive along the way was filled with Nursery Rhymes blaring from the stereo system and me and mom trying to shush Amy to be quiet so Lyla would take a nap.  Finally, we were at North Sydney early and was able to get supper, then spent a couple of hours on the loading dock while waiting to board.  Upstairs in a waiting area there was nobody around so we pitched camp there for the time being.  It was filled with vacant chairs and a tv playing Wheel of Fortune, a huge room and luckily it was all bared off and safe for Lyla to crawl around.  She was pretty cute there trying to push her stroller around in the waiting area.  Since nobody was around I was able to change her and dress her in her night clothes.

Finally we went to board the new ferry, mom had the tickets in her hand a few moments earlier and we were looking at the number of our cabin.  A lady stops us to scan our tickets and mom searches her pockets, can't find em.  She looks in her purse, in the glove box, the floor, everywhere and they're not there.  The lady finally had to pull us over to the side so the other cars could get by and mom finally had to admit to defeat and go back into the terminal to get her tickets replaced.  Luckily, it was no trouble and we got on the ferry no problem.  Once we get settled in our cabin, which are tiny compared to the older ferries, we notice that Lyla didn't have her soother.  Any mother knows that when your child is addicted to a soother, breaking them of it while travelling is not going to help your already frayed nerves.  So me and Amy go back down to the car to get the soother.  I drop it off to mom and she says she'll stay in the cabin with Lyla and try to cuddle her to sleep.  Me and Amy go off to check out the new boat, Amy was so excited.  So we found a little snack shop on the boat that was selling hot dogs and chips and we sit down to eat.  A few minutes later my cell phone rings.  Mom's calling from the cabin and says that Lyla's soother is missing and she's searched the entire room.

Mom was changing Lyla on the bed and baby had the soother in her hand playing with it.  Mom ripped her bed apart looking for it, got down and looked under the bunks and even went back to make sure Lyla didn't poke it into her diaper, she often tries to rip the diaper out from underneath her while we're changing her.  So I did all of the same things with no luck.  Finally we cease the search and lay down to try to get to sleep then mom starts searching her bra for the soother thinking maybe Lyla poked it down there because she picks at everything.  Then a lightbulb went off in my head and I snatched Lyla up off the floor and start patting her down, low and behold there's the sookie in the leg of her sleepers.  Thank the Lord!  The soother didn't make much of a difference though, we were still up half the night with her.  She bunked with me on a small cabin bunk and kept taking up half of the bed, oh my!

Other then that, the ferry ride was very smooth and we were very impressed.  I was so glad to get off the boat though, then we had the long 10 hour drive across Newfoundland but right now I have to go to bed!

To be continued....

Overwhelmed!

Our lives are busy at the best of times with all the kids day to day things, work and keeping up the house.  This month has just been crazy!  I'm really starting to feel the toll this month has taken on me, I just want to be alone and do nothing for awhile.


I've been busy at work trying to get the year ends for two companies ready for the accountants aside from doing the payables, the payroll, and getting the Lodge's paperwork in order for the sale of the company.  Our house has been turned upside down for the past two weeks.  Last year we had our basement finished but ran out of money to get the basement stairs and a few little things finished down there.  Finally we've been able to go ahead and get the stairs done, and it's looking wonderful but it's been crazy at the house with a workman here trying to work while Ian has his IBI therapy going on down there every morning from Monday to Friday and with Curtis home everyday with Lyla.  Ian has been very hard to manage because it's upsetting his usual routine and of course all the power tools around are really fun for him to play with........climbing up on the table saw!  Ian has also been actively trying to bolt from the house and we've had to put locks up high on all the outside doors.  Plus since the stairs finally has carpet on them, Lyla now likes to climb them so I guess a baby gate is in order.  Aside from that, it has been crazy trying to keep the house clean.  Dust everywhere!  Downstairs is now our living area, the tv is there and a big sitting area and all the kids toys are down there so it's just been hard to relax at all.


Aside from that we had Mother's Day this month, and my mother's birthday.  I was really happy to celebrate both events and happy to get a manicure and pedicure gift certificate from Curtis.  Then last weekend we had the fundraising softball tournament held for Ian.  It was a wonderful day on Saturday and I was overjoyed with the support from volunteers.  It was just really busy the week leading up to that because we were fundraising and trying to get door prizes donated from local businesses.  Plus, I played my first 3 softball games ever and boy was I sore on Sunday!


Now I'm getting ready to go to Newfoundland next Monday with mom, Lyla and Amy.  I'm really looking forward to the trip since it'll be a break for me from all that's happening here.  Even though it'll be busy with the two girls at least it's a change and I won't have to think too much.....I hope!  The problem is trying to think and do everything I need to do at work and at home for us to go for a week......argh!


On top of all of that, I'm also switching Ian to another daycare.  At his current daycare the Owner has been particularly difficult to deal with lately.  Since we required them to have a Special Needs Assistant for Ian at the daycare for 4 hours a day during the afternoons three days a week she's been very stringent on the times he's there.  She's getting paid by the government for the SNA plus I'm paying for his spot in daycare out of my own pocket yet she'll only let him be there from 12-4pm so I have had to leave work early to pick him up.  She wouldn't let him stay for another hour without an SNA plus when Ian's tutor went to drop him off one afternoon the owner made her wait out in the car with him for 5 minutes because they were early!  So now a new daycare has opened in Montague and we're switching on May 31st, the day I'm going to Newfoundland so I have to make sure everything is in order there.


I'm sorry about all the ramblings here but I just needed to download all of this, I just feel like I'm wound up so tightly with all the stuff I need to deflate.


Just breathe!

Mama!

Ian had been saying Mama since he was about 8 months old.  I remember drilling it into his head every time I sat him in his high chair to feed him and Mama was his first word.  When Autism took ahold of him Mama went away, and Dada became one of the only words he'd say, even calling me Dada some days when I'd pick him up from daycare.  Mama started coming back though recently but it has been very few and far between.  Even Poppy is getting greeted when he comes through the door and Nanny and Nana hears their name from his mouth more times than I hear a Mama.


Yesterday, I picked up Ian from daycare.  I saw him across the yard playing around and called out his name, he looked over at me and said "Mama" with a great big grin on his face and started running towards me.  It was the biggest reaction I've gotten from him since we've started taking him to daycare.  I was so happy and started running to meet him.  You could almost hear the inspirational music playing in the background like something from a movie, mother and child running to meet each other.  Then about a foot apart, I open my arms for that big hug and Ian stops dead in his tracks and turns to run the other way.  I finally got ahold of him and gave him a big hug and kiss, which he abruptly wiped off!


My boy said Mama at three and a half years old and I couldn't be more proud......Mama's back!

Happy Birthday to my Wonderful Mother!

I struck gold when I was born to my mother.  God knew that I'd need a strong woman like her to lean on when I was weak and needed guidance.  So many battles she's fought on my behalf to get me through school, to get me through Diabetes, to get me through marriage, child birth and divorce.  How can I ever show my gratitude to someone who's done everything for me without ever been asked?

When my first marriage failed and I was left with nothing, had no home, no money and a child to raise, she was there for me, gave me a home, did everything they could to supplement me so that I wouldn't have to live on welfare.  I often thought to myself, "why is she doing this, I didn't ask for this".  She could've just let me go and fend for myself as best as I could, but she didn't.  She knew if she had the means to help then she wouldn't see me and my baby do without, struggle for grocery money, rent and to put gas in the car.

She dragged me out of a dark hole more than once and never ever turned her back on me.  No matter how much she didn't like what I did, she never gave up on me.  She knew I was better than the life I was living and helped me to see that life can be good if you just let it be.

I love you mom!  I would not be where I am today if it weren't for you helping me to get here.  I appreciate everything you do for me and my family and I hope I never take advantage of you.  I only pray that I can be half the mother to my children as you were to me and that you know how much of a blessing you are to our family.

Happy Birthday and thank you!

May is full of events!

Wow, there's so many good things going on this month of May.  Of course this coming weekend is Mother's Day and I hope I get my pedicure and facial......hint, hint!  My mother's birthday is on the 10th and we're celebrating this Saturday with a dinner out with her....minus the kids.....if of course I can get a babysitter.

Then on the 22nd we're having a benefit for my boy Ian.  Every year a neighbouring community, Cardigan, has an Autism Softball Tournament where all monies raised goes to a child in the area with Autism.  Ian was chosen!  I really can't wait for that event, Curtis is barbequing and will be selling hot dogs, and hamburgers and I'll be playing on a friends team, which should be funny since I've never played softball in my life!

Somewhere during the long weekend....can't remember the date, I'm sorry, is my sisters wedding anniversary.  Then the 25th is dads birthday......59! 

Then finally on the last Saturday of the month we are hosting a farwell dinner and dance for the employees who've been so dedicated to us during my families ownership of the Lodge.  That should be a bittersweet night with lots of emotions.

This will be a good, busy month.  I'm so happy to be a part of so many wonderful things!

The End of an Era

I was 10 years old when my parents purchased the lodge.  I remember that first summer well.  Mom had to rip us out of school early because dad actually purchased the lodge without her permission and now all of a sudden she had to go manage it.

Being only ten years old, I really couldn't do much to help.  My brother and sister were older so they both worked and did what they could.  I was left to explore the new building and visit with the residents that lived there.  Back then it was much smaller and very out of date.  I remember going downstairs to a big, dark, open room with no windows and black and red shag carpeting.  I remember being scared going down the dark narrow hallway to the nursing care wing with a brick wall on one side and the windows of the bedrooms on the other side.  I'd never go down there alone.  Now when you ascend the stairs the big open space is light and airy with big windows to let the light in.  The flooring has been replaced with light tiles and the dark narrow hallway to the nursing care wing now has what we've called, the solarium.  Big open windows going down that dark hallway is now where the residents sit in a bright open space.

It's hard to believe how much of our lives were spent in that place and now with it sold, it's like a huge family member is gone.  When the three of us children tried to go different ways, we all ended up working there.  We all lived in that small trailer next to it and we've all watched our babies walk the hallways knowing that they could sneak upstairs to the kitchen for a treat.  We've watched our last living grand parent pass away in those walls, knowing that we did everything we could possibly do to keep her comfortable in her last remaining years and feeling blessed that she was with us throughout our most difficult times.

For the past 23 years the Lodge has dominated our family conversations.  It's not like a normal job that you can just switch off when you leave at the end of a work day.  We've always turned our Christmas dinners, Mother's Day brunches and Easter suppers into a conversation about the lodge and what needs to be done next, when to give raises, when we can buy new furniture and how we deal with unfavorable employees.  I can't imagine what we're going to talk about now!

So even though the Lodge isn't ours anymore, it'll alway hold a deep place in my heart.  I've walked those walls in my wedding dresses, yes both of them.  Paraded my 3 newborn children through the hallways only to chase 2 them a year later, buried a dog in the back yard and watched my dying grandmother play with my little baby's feet.  So many memories. 

Busy days!

I haven't been able to write much lately.  I will get back to a regimen when life gets back to normal, or probably this weekend when I don't have to work. 

We've been swamped with appointments this week for myself and the kids.  Last night, I was so tired that I went to bed at 8pm and was still tired today.

I've been busy getting things ready for the sale of the Lodge.  Our family business for 23 years!  My mind is running a mile a minute trying to remember everything I have to do and everyone I have to call and I'm so worried I won't get everything done on time.

It's hard to believe it's all coming to an end.  I will write a blog this weekend about the sale of the lodge but I don't have the strength right now to do it, it will be emotional.

Take care everyone!

Les