You should be grateful ...

I saw this photo on a website (fan page) that I currently like to follow. It's called the Unnecesarean. http://www.theunnecesarean.com/. It's a site where women go after they've had a c-section and grieve their lost birth experience. I followed the link (http://birthlove.cyclzone.com/pages/gretchen/grateful.html) and I read the story there. I know you're all wondering what the heck I'm doing at a site like that, but I wanted to get a little insight on c-sections. It upset me and made me feel better at the same time. It's more of a letter of a lost birth experience. I beg you all to read it and hope it touches you as it did me. I am so tired of being told this exact phrase, and I didn't even have a c-section. I am a woman. I can adapt. Why can't the doctors? Nurses? Other hospital caregivers? Why are we women always the ones who must adapt? The entire birth experience and baby's health should be treated as one entire event. It's sacred and transitional if you ask me (I know you didn't haha) ... How can we get a healthy baby and a healthy birth experience? So many people tell me that their birth went the way it was supposed to ... If we all REALLY looked at our birth experiences ... what would we change? I challenge all of you who've had babies ... to dig deep and tell me ONE thing (or more if you want) you would change in your birth experiences. What would have helped you? Whether you had a good experience or a bad experience ... Perfect birth is rare ... let's share our stories and heal together. This is not to advocate homebirths, but for safebirths (which I will blog about on another day :-)

Salt in the Wound

I have to vent. I have to absolutely, vent. In case you are not aware, recently I lost my job to a teacher from out of province. I was given a new job as a teacher's assistant. Okay. Grrrr. That whole situation was a load of crap in the first place. Okay ... i'll start at the beginning

In June 2009 I was informed that they wanted to hire a teacher to teach preschool and phys. ed in elementary. I was confused. We have a preschool teacher and a phys. ed. teacher. Were there complaints? No. Glowing praise. I was so bewildered I actually tried to see the positive of the situation immediately ... then I began to think about it. I went and saw a few people I knew would give me good points of view ... and they confirmed my suspicions. It was a load of crap.

I had recently started taking Early childhood Education classes ... and had been greatly praised for this and encouraged. I was asked if I planned on making this a career. I was asked if I was planning on staying at the school. To which I replied of COURSE ... and then in June I'm told too bad so sad. Why the HELL wasn't I told EARLIER that there was even a remote possibility that this could happen. My boss KNEW this could happen. He KNEW it was going to happen and did not tell me. AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH! (I learned this a bit later though)

So numerous meetings and ventings later, I'm sorta told they might not find anyone and would I be willing to take the job. I said ... yes. I'm an idiot. I know. I was led on by a job I ADORE and CHERISH. It's not my fault!! Then a week (ish) before we go back to work they decide to call me and tell me they found someone. From _______!!! OMG. So I'm thinking, this person is qualified and amazing. I'm hurt beyond belief that the bearer of bad news sounded so cheery about it and insulted beyond belief that I was on f-ing speakerphone (pardon my ... french) I decided I was going to do the best I could do at animation culturelle and being a new teacher's assistant. I would just accept it. Get over it.

I get to work on monday and I'm met by my co-workers. Lots of fun and stories. Fast forward a bit to where I meet the new teacher. She's like I'm so happy to meet you. and i'm thinking .... maybe she won't be so bad. Maybe I'll even help her a bit. Onward with the meeting, which was long and disorganized and I'm still confused about it. anyone??

THE NEXT DAY

I go with mom to pick up Eveline for lunch (Patricia and Maddie and Gayle too) I get into the school and mom is chatting away with Helene (the new principal) They are having a good time figuring out the alarms. LADY (she who can not be named) taps my shoulder. I turn around, surprised and a bit taken aback. She's like 2 inches from my face. She has the nerve to begin asking me where I've been. I'm a little amused and tell her I'm not working today. She tells me I'm supposed to help her. That she was told I would help her plan her year and classroom. THIS Lady is supposed to be QUALIFIED and capable to teach preschool Why the FFFF would she need my help??? How DARE they (SHE) expect me to help her!! THEN she had the nerve to insult my work ethics and asked me ,... : So you only work on days you get paid for?? OMG YES. I worked my ASS off for two years prepping that class. It got thrown out when I went for mat leave and then in June I'm told it was pointless to do it over again. She took my job right out of my hands and then I find out she has NO experience. She used to teach COLLEGE biology. OMG OMG OMG ... AND at the end of this insulting tirade, I found the costumes for her and she had the nerve to be INSULTED and MAD ... as if I'd HIDDEN them in the BOX marked COSTUMES. ARRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

So ... that is the story minus a few more details that I may add later as I decompress from this situation.

Pictures August 2009

Here is the link to some more pictures and I posted a couple to peek at !! :-)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=132206&id=543155419&l=3602dca114

Pulling a temper tantrum because daddy's outside with the Quad and Amélie is ... not

Pépère Rodger


Helping to clean the beans for canning

Hahahaha I climbed up here!!

4 weeks pregnant

Yeah!! I took the test this morning and at first I saw the first negative line and I thought, okay now I know. Right? But just when I was going to set it down, I saw another line appearing and I thought ... how dark does it have to be. So I actually had to go and get the instructions LMAO. Seriously. Who does that??!! I can't tell you how cautiously excited I am!! I hope it goes great. Of course you won't be reading this until I hear the heartbeat in a couple months, but it's still caution :-) It's going to be hard hiding it haha! This gives us an EDD of April 27th for baby # 2. Let's hope it goes good everyone!!

Knives

We recently were visited by a young man (23 years old) named Cody. Very cute, very friendly and outgoing ... all good things to be when you're trying to sell something. WAIT. The story begins with a phone call from one of Corey's pals, Bob. No really his name is Bob. He was talking about this knife and he kept talking about it to Corey and we agreed to see Cody. I was so annoyed hahahaha. ARGH. Cody agreed to come and see us at the lake, which I told Corey was dumb because what happens if we get rained out (which we did). At 10 am we left the site and decided (completely randomly) to stop and get some juice. Cody pulled in for gas. Lo and Behold Corey discovered he was the Cutco guy. So weird. Corey invited Cody to our home, apologizing for the terrible inconvenience. Cody said. SURE! Hm. I was intrigued. He wasn't pissed off, but in my defense, I thought it was dumb to come to a campsite to show off knives, so ... there. We sent him to Gayle's house first, knowing she would be interested in a couple knives. By the time we got home, we thought he'd beat us there. But he didn't! He was still at Gayle's and they were having fun with the knives. Now I was realllly intrigued.
By the time he made it to our house, it was 3:30 pm. I actually watched him drive right by the house the first time, but he made it back. It was loads of fun! We did end up buying some impressive knives. I am very impressed by the peeler and ice cream scoop (it MELTS ice cubes) and you don't have to heat it up or ANYTHING! I was able to scoop out some rock hard ice cream easily without beating the crap out of anything or heating up my scooper. So cool. We got a few other things as well, which we tested on everything we could find. Literally I went outside and tried cutting a tree lol. A DEAD tree that was soggy never mind LMAO. It was pruning shears so I figured it should work. It did! Then I pruned some of my flowers. Midas right? Corey got a hunting knife and a fishing knife and after Christmas we are getting a whole new pots and pan set. We'd seen similar ones to these and had been impressed, but didn't want them or need them at the time. It's now time to refit the kitchen! If anyone is interested in this stuff let me know. I'll send Cody to you! You don't have to buy at ALL you can just test out all the knives lol. It's tons of fun!! You can check out this website ... www.cutco.ca if you want. Cody's tons of fun and he'll come visit you wherever! :-) The site is pretty cool too.

Schooling Update

I am SO proud of myself. I recently completed 4 assignments in less than 3 weeks!! Okay so I kinda procrastinated, but still!! I had asked to have them checked over to make sure I was on the right track and 3 of them were kept as final copies! Yay!! 1 of them (my first one) I was just getting back into the groove so ... I'll take that lol! I'm SUPERBLY proud and all I have left for this class is an interview. I hope that goes well!!! Then it's ... whatever class they send me next LOL.

Amelie - July 2009

Here are a few recent pictures of Amélie. Below is a link to more of them :-)

Dr. Amélie Linfit???

Our little Vegetarian

Ah crap. Busted standing on the coffee table

Handcuffed to keep out of trouble

Here is the link to Amelie's pictures!! I've updated them so just in case you lost the link :-)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=132206&id=543155419&l=3602dca114

Gabriel the Ox

Rodger and Gabriel at the Wakaw parade on August 1, 2009

Krystal, Gabriel, Rodger and Rachelle (mom)

Considering it was Gabriel's first ever parade and he's very young ... 2 years ... he did spectacularly well! Madison on the other hand was a wimp and had to be put in the wagon lol. Below is a link to more pictures from the parade! And more random pictures including mom and I quadding. Gabriel is a very docile ox, very sweet and he was super great. August 3rd he is going to be in the Rosthern parade. Let's hope he does well there too!!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=18932&id=543155419&l=c528bd6ef2

Camping

We have a camper. It's new to us and it's great! All that really matters is that the furnace and the fridge works and nothing falls off while we're driving. :-D Below is a link to see some of our great camping pictures!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=136232&id=543155419&l=b518d68a91

Amélie adores camping!! Like a lot!! She loves, loves camping. Whew! I guess it DID make a difference that we took her camping when she was 3 1/2 months old.

Early Childhood Education

I am looking for the following items to help me in my ECE correspondance course. I don't care what shape they are in, I want cheap texts lol. I've already started the course, but I want to get the books so I have information. Thanks a bunch everyone. I'll keep updating as I find them or don't need them anymore.


CD - CHARD / TAKING A CLOSER LOOK THE PROJECT APPROACH
CROWTHER / INTRODUCTION TO EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION A CANADIAN
DOHERTY / OCCUPATIONAL STANDARDS FOR CHILD CARE PRACTITIONERS
ECE / ECE 100 INTRODUCTION TO EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION COURSE MANUAL
ECE / ECE 101 ROLES AND VALUES OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATOR
HINCKS-DELLCREST CENTRE / HANDLE WITH CARE STRATEGIES FOR PROMOTING
CROWTHER / CREATING EFFECTIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS
ECE / ECE 102 PROGRAMMING FOR CREATIVE ARTS DEVELOPMENT
ISBELL / CREATIVITY AND THE ARTS, CHAPTER 5, 2ND EDITION SPECIAL PACKAGE
ECE / ECE 103 PROGRAMMING FOR LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
HANEN / ENCOURAGING LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT IN EARLY CHILDHOOD
HANEN / LET LANGUAGE LEAD THE WAY TO LITERACY OC 4588 20
ECE / ECE 104 PROGRAMMING FOR COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
ECE / ECE 105 PROGRAMMING FOR SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
HINCKS-DELLCREST CENTRE / HANDLE WITH CARE STRATEGIES FOR PROMOTING
ECE / ECE 106 ROLE OF PLAY IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
VAN HOORN / ROLE OF PLAY IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION/CUSTOM EDITION
CROWTHER / SAFE AND HEALTHY CHILDREN'S ENVIRONMENTS
ECE / ECE 142 HEALTH SAFETY & NUTRITION
QUEENS PRINTER / CHILD CARE REGULATIONS 2001*
CURTIS / ART OF AWARENESS
ECE / ECE 181 OBSERVATION OF CHILDREN
BERK / CHILD DEVELOPMENT (2ND CANADIAN ED)
ECE / HUMD 100 CHILD AND ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT
ECE / HUMD 183 CHILD GUIDANCE
HINCKS-DELLCREST CENTRE / HANDLE
WITH CARE STRATEGIES FOR PROMOTING
KAISER / MEETING THE CHALLENGE EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES FOR CHALLENGING

Homework

I'm supposed to be doing my homework. Obviously, I am not. But ... I DO have my laptop open and my books open. I'm vaguely aware that it needs to be done before the end of the month.

I need a new library card.

I love homework. I know. Weird. It's okay, make fun of me. I love writing SO much. In fact, I'm going to finish my certificate and then I'm debating taking some creative writing classes. I love writing. I love stories. I love the land of make believe. Corey likes the land of make believe too. Although ... every once in a while I'm not sure how something would really look or sound ... so I'll prance around the house trying to act it out. Seriously weird I know. I get so involved in the story, whether I'm reading or writing it. It's so much fun. You should try it. I think my next story is going to be about Rodger's horses.

Okay. I should do my homework now. Nope. Not going to happen, hmmmmm.

A while ago, someone (my mom) told me my blog was more like a diary instead of just facts ... so I changed it ... it got boring for a while didn't it? So I've decided that ya'll are going to have to suck it up. I'm creative.

I want a piano.

Romance Novels

Life is not a romance novel. Or so I've been told. At one point in my life, I would have agreed. Romance novels are very deceiving.

I don't think so. Romance novels are NOT deceiving. mmmmm. Even now I can hear my husband walking towards the computer room, and although I'm totally annoyed that he's going to interrupt my typing, I'm infinitely more curious to see what he's going to do. My heart picks up it's pace and I quickly debate downsizing my screen. I can see him out of the corner of my eye. He's leaning against the door frame. He looks amused, so I can only assume he's pretending he can read what I'm writing. I know he can't see from that far. I stop and look over.

"What?" I ask, biting back my smile and looking very annoyed. I'm not very successful because he's coming closer. He leans over, his arms on either side of me.

"I just came for a kiss," He lies. I give him a quick peck and push against his chest, "Romance novels," He sounds disappointed, "I thought you'd be writing about the camper." See. He's a spy and incredibly nosy.

"I'll write about that later so ... go away," I push against his chest. I like his chest bare. His physio is really sculpting those pecs. He puts his hands up like he's typing, I realize he's going to make fun of me.

"Stupid piece of crap camper, I can't believe Corey bought that thing," For the record, I don't sound like that.

"I won't write that," I shake my head and laugh, allowing a brief moment to think of the old camper on the front lawn. He walks out of the room and I turn back to my screen. Except now I'm no longer thinking of typing ... or farm town, or facebook ... just how funny my husband is. I like funny. Funny is good.

Romance novels are a great way to get inspiration. Life is about creating your own story isn't it?? Personally, I love writing and I love reading. I also love narrating ;-) Everybody gets into a rut, it's how you get out of it that's half the fun!! If you're finding that romance novels are seriously deceiving your expectations, read a different book! Trust me, you'll find one that really is realistic to you, then you realize ... hey! my life ... is a romance novel.

But, gotta go ... I'm just getting to the good part in my novel ;-)

June 2009

So. My daughter. Yup. Wow. What a character. Seriously. I never realized how dumb I look or how often I do certain things. So. Funny. She now says the famous *no* as well as sings *fait dodo* even though most of the words are ... dodododododododo. She likes to say *don't*, *sit*, *there*, among some other funny words. She can undress herself and likes to pick her own clothes. She can put her shoes on, WHILE standing ... as long as I help slide them on. She is a little copy cat. She is an awesome baby. In other news, we have a camper. More on that later. Lol

Looking cool in her sunglasses

SIT Maggie

In the night garden must be on

Here is the link to the photos from 1 year and up. enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=132206&id=543155419&l=3602dca114

Work ....

So it's june. I find that I'm not as enthusiastic as I was at the beginning of the month. The school (or school board) or whoever makes these decisions has decided to make my position (preschool teacher) one that only a teacher can apply for. I ... am not a certified teacher. I am taking ECE (early childhood education) which in case you don't know is ... everything about children ages 0-12 or something (I just started give me a break lol). So. I'm pissed. I'm hurt and I feel completely betrayed. I don't know how they can do this ... and I don't understand their reasoning and I feel like I wasn't good enough. I KNOW I was good enough though. I worked REALLY hard and had good reviews :-(. I'm not the only one unhappy by this decision. All I can do is wait ... ... anyone have a full time job for me?

Update ~ May 13th, 2009

Okay in case I missed anything :-)

I have recently been to the orthodontist and was told that June 23rd was the day I was getting my braces off. Now this day hasn't changed but after getting two heavy wires, two green chains and a mouth full of elastics I'm having my doubts. I guess we will soon see. In the meantime, lets all cross our fingers!

In Amélie news, she is now talking. She says Yes, dodo (she also sings), nananes, maman, daddy, c'est doux and tanks (thanks) She also says *ide* outside. There are other sounds she makes that are obvious but not actual words, for example, all done ... it's a hard one to miss haha. We are teaching her tout fini but she just laughs. She has also peed on the potty twice, and on the floor ... at least 3 times. She loves being outside and gets rather insulted if you don't bring her with you. She's had a tumble down the stairs after a huge miscommunication on mine and Corey's part :-( , but she's okay. Luckily, and we thank God every minute and double check that door religiously, she fell with her arms bracing the way. She only fell part way before Corey caught her. On the upside to this, and there's an upside to most things, she's not willing to go near the stairs anymore. Phew! Any parent knows the scariest thing in the world is the thought of your baby being hurt.

In more other news, I'm taking a new course! Early Childhood Education ... in french! WOot! I'm taking it by correspondance. So far ... not much haha.

The next few weeks are crazy busy around here. Gayle's wedding, Valois grad and field trips and school events like there's no tomorrow. Sigh, July is JUST around the corner.

Gayle's Shower and Stagette

Gayle opening presents
Mary Kay makeup lesson

May 9th was Gayle's shower and her Stagette. It was a blast. We started off with some Mary Kay facials and some hilarious attempts at putting on makeup. Thank God for Jennifer LOL otherwise some of us would look like Mimi off Drew Carey. Then after a quick bite of pizza we had the bridal shower. Some fun games including hang bride and hang groom, as well as pictionary and a beautiful (ahem) fill in the blanks love story. Once we had calmed down and put things away, we literally tossed things into Gayle's house and drove to Saskatoon. A check in and an elevator ride later we were in our hotel room. We ate supper at Tomas the cook. It was great and our waitress was soooo funny :-) We then went to the bar (Long branch) and had a fantastic time!!!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=124948&id=543155419&l=c9d6c20d3d

Amélie's first birthday ~ May 5th, 2009

New camping chair with cup (bottle) holder
So sweet! Reading the cards too (takes after her daddy there haha)

Mmmmm Backyardigans birthday carrot cake

Talking with adults

Wagon from Maman and daddy

Thanks to everyone who could make it and to those who tried :-) It was a lot of fun! Amélie had a blast and got great new things. She loves everything, but her couch is taking a beating lol. She had a Backyardigan carrot cake because we couldn't find In the night Garden. Corey had set up monkey golf and horsehoes and there were a few games that went on. The BBQ was yummy and we hope everyone had fun. Below is a link to the pictures for those of you without facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=123944&id=543155419&l=f97774b924

Landscaping

New path oooooh

working on the new pathway


A little tractor help to level things out



Before Picture

Corey took on a landscaping project this April/May and I have to say it turned out very nicely. With some much appreciated help from our neighbours it was done just in time for Amélie's birthday party. :-D Hooray for great neighbours!! I, of course, lent my supervising skills .... it's what I do best ;-) Here is a link to more pictures

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=123102&id=543155419&l=536d37d008

11 months ... could it be??

Let's go somewhere! I found my shoe!!

Eating cookies and visiting with mémère


Busted while trying to print something hahaha

Reading one of her new french books.

Has it been 11 months? Wow. It has. Amélie has grown so quickly and is such a little person I can hardly believe she was ever a newborn. Although our nights are no longer sleepless ... Amelie has a tendency to wake up once or twice here and there. I have to admit to not minding the night time wake ups ... it's a wonderful reminder that she's still breathing. I think every parent fears that one morning their baby won't wake up. She now has a little mouth of razor sharp chompers - 7 total, and one on the way I think. Or so the cranky, biting baby says :-0. She walks like she's been doing it since she was born ... I swear she thinks she has too. I miss her spongebob walking (with her arms up in the air) lol, but her little swagger is cute too! She doesn't run very well, but that sure doesn't stop her from trying and she is very, very sneaky. There isn't much we can do to block any doorways (short of an actual door), she always seems to climb, crawl or wiggle out. She enjoys walking from the kitchen to her bedroom, to the porch to the living room ... multiple times during the day. Amelie is also very helpful with laundry - most days. She eats mostly what we eat and I look forward to the no formula days ... YAY!

As for work, I'm back lol. Have been since January. Corey on the other hand was in a bit of a fight at the jail and is now off for a couple weeks, maybe longer. He's okay. The hospital has seriously only confirmed their complete incompetence and I simply have no trust in our very own health care providers. Instances of blood to blood contact - no matter how slight can be very traumatic and dramatically change a life in a second, but there is a cocktail that you can take that kills everything (including Hep C), but it MUST be taken within 2 hours of the contact. Corey waited for 5 hours ... despite having told them he'd had blood to blood contact. Are you as impressed as me? Now some of you are saying ... well there are other emergencies. From what I understand ... heart meds have to be given within 30 minutes ... that still leaves 90 ... am I not doing the math correctly? And how long does it take to give a drink to someone? PLUS Corey watched them having coffee ... soooooooo .... yah. Anyways, turns out the inmates blood tests were all negative ... PHEW! and lucky for the hospital ... although Corey did complain, and write a report and they are implementing a policy for correctional officers. YAY Corey! lol

10 months and walking!!

Relaxing with dad on the couch :-)

Looking for trouble

Her caterpillar from her Uncle Leo
She loves it!

I can hardly believe she is already walking, but then again ... she is a mover. Now that she's figured it out, Amélie wants to walk everywhere ... including the tub lol. She has quite a few teeth and says some words too. Her first official word was *up* and now she says fais dodo, dad, maman, ohhhh c'est beau ... and a couple other ones :-)