Can I quit?

My back aches from lugging around hockey gear, backpacks full of homework, babies, dogs, groceries. My throat hurts from screaming. My jaw hurts from clenching it. My brain hurts from trying to outwit an 7 year old evil genious.

I had to stay away from the group of moms at hockey who were busy perusing travel magazines, because I might have inadvertently killed one of them. They were all able to sip coffee and read magazines while their extra child (they have 2 boys each) sat and nicely played with yu-gi-oh cards or something. Instead I plucked my boys off of the rafters about 9 times, said 'no' to various requests about 1500 times, lost a child or two about 7 times and chased Kira around for about 6 miles.

I'm losing it here.

Calgon take me away

I decided to leave Puck in his big crate when we went out shopping this morning. Big mistake. I came home to SHIT everywhere! No joke, EVERYWHERE. I walked in the front door and the smell hit me. UGH.

I still can't get that smell out of my head.

Kira has been miserable today. I'm wondering if she is coming down with something. Just when we were all healthy again. OF COURSE she is coming down with something.

The boys are all so tired tonight. They are constantly attacking each other. I let them have a snowball fight in the backyard in hopes that they would blow off some steam. Big mistake. Campbell ended up coming in screaming because Damon had found some cat poo on the snow (STRAY cat poo - ewwwwww), and used the shovel to whip it at his head.

Can somebody please tell Kira to STOP tearing things off of the bookshelves? She is always throwing the videos on the floor, but today she is ripping off photo albums, our art books and history books. ARGHHHHH. I tell her 'no', but apparently I'm funny when I say that. Puck is cowering under my chair, but Kira thinks it is hilarious.

Matt is in NYC this week. He was getting dropped off at the hotel and the bellhop came to help with the bags and shut the door and the cab immediately took off. Matt had set his envelope full of documents, including his plane ticket and his passport on the seat. The driver didn't see Matt trying to chase him down. The cab company says they don't know what they can do, but they will take his information down and call if they find it. On top of that the company forgot to send some of the stuff he needs to do this installation, so this won't be a fun week for him either.

I'm just waiting for the day to end.

real pain in the neck

Here we go again, Patrick has a new ailment, he has a sprained neck. It started Sunday night after no apparent injury. He stayed home on Monday so that I could take him to see the doctor. He was back at school and hockey on Tuesday, but that only aggravated things. Yesterday, the school called and asked me to pick him up because he couldn't concentrate through the pain. So I told them to send home tomorrow's homework while they are at it. I am considering taking him back to the doctor's today. Friday is a day off, so hopefully he can use this time to totally recover.

Matt's parents were planning to come up Friday and visit us, but his dad thinks he might be coming down with something. I have a back up plan now, DO NOTHING. Nothing at all. It is sad though, due to our weekend hockey schedule and his mom's cancer treatment schedule in January, we haven't seen them since Christmas. We were going to go out to dinner to celebrate Kira and Damon's birthdays!

Oh and I have to correct myself. I was shocked and dismayed to find that Patrick's team has to take part in a consolation round. Even the players aren't really excited about the sound of that. We still don't have the schedule for that. But in the meantime we carry on with practices 3 nights a week (down from our 6 day a week schedule), and the other 2 boys each plays an hour of hockey on Saturday AND Sunday. Until Super Saturday, March 29th. *sigh*

Mixed blessing

A German Shorthaired Pointer won BEST IN SHOW at Westminster Kennel Club's Dog show!

This is a mixed blessing for the breed. Sure breed recognition is nice. I would love to be able to STOP explaining that Puck is NOT a skinny chocolate lab with a docked tail. But at people involved with GSPs are concerned that this will mean that lots of uninformed people will be getting them because they are trendy. GSPs are not an easy dog! They are beautiful, intelligent and affectionate, but very demanding, energetic and potentially destructive. If they aren't exercised enough or stimulated enough they are a nightmare!

k, getting off my soapbox now.

Puck's mother's sister Schomberg's Some Like it Hot "Monroe" won an Award of Merit in the Best of Breed competition. Pretty good considering that the only other bitch that beat her ended up winning the whole thing!

Awwwwwwww

A funny valentine

Settling in

Silver lining

Well Patrick's team lost their game yesterday and today. They were outplaying the other team and both times there were goals that weren't counted. Now they are out of the playoffs and their season is over. Patrick is sad, and I feel badly for him. BUT....


THEIR SEASON IS OVER!!!!!! That means no more time conflicts with hockey! That means I don't have to go to the rink as a single mom of 3. No more strollers in the dressing room! AHHHHHHHH.

Tryouts for next year's team are just around the corner though.

More Puck

Sleeping under Campbell's seat.


Okay, YES my dog has a suede coat. I swore I would not dress my pets, but he was cold. BRRRR. And yes I know he will outgrow it, but I am thinking my brother's jack russell can use some hand-me-downs. lol

The Princess and the WHAT?

I love this grungy princess look! (note the spaghetti-sauce-stained cheeks)


Some day, I will pull this one out to horrify him.

Here is Puck, I am learning that he is WICKEDLY smart!


Isn't he a cutie!


Okay I think we need to upgrade to a King, what do you think? LOL


Here he's nibbling on the blanket that I made for him to keep with his litter so he wouldn't be so sad without them. I think he has a wistful look as the STENCH of this blanket reminds him of them.



And his first full day with us has come to an end.

Introducing...

Our new baby, Puck! 

He came home at dinner time and he has explored and played hard with the boys.  Damon cried the whole way to the breeder's because he was feeling sorry for Becca, the puppy's mom because we were taking her baby.  I told him not to worry, that the breeder would be keeping 1 or 2 of Becca's daughters, but that was little consolation. Then we picked him up and the whole way home, Damon cried because he felt sorry for Puck because he will miss his family.  LOL  Campbell was funny because as soon as the puppy got in the door, he hauled out everything we had got for the dog.  Toys, blankets, food, biscuits, leashes, a large sized sweater. After dinner, he got a chance to romp with Puck and pretend he was a littermate.  Kira isn't sure if she likes him yet. Poor Patrick had to go to hockey and couldn't pick him up with us and then his coach gave him a curfew because he wants the team well rested for tomorrow's game, the first of the playoffs. He will have to wait a bit to bond with Puck.

I know that I like him and can't wait for a chance to snuggle with him tonight.

Almost puppy time

one more sleep!

The school went skating today and I went along. I'm glad I did, because otherwise none of the boys in Patrick's class would have had their skates tied on properly! Another mom who has 6 boys in hockey (EEEK) was there with her niece (who is one of 8 kids) tying all of the girls laces in record time!

Poor Damon though. He was having a good time, skating around, showing off his great skating skills to his teacher and fellow classmates. Then his "best friend" and another friend who was his teammate from last year began to chase him and then push him down on ice. He came and told me and wanted to come off the ice. I told him to tell his teacher, but she wasn't skating, and he couldn't get her attention through the glass. I watched them do it to him again (of course not in front of where the teacher was watching). He couldn't even skate fast and get away because they had gotten another older child to help them round him up. I walked around the arena and told her and she watched them do it to him again at the other end of the ice before calling them over and giving them one last warning before they would be pulled from the ice.

I think we are going to have to convince Damon to go through a change of guard when it comes to his "friends". I am getting irritated by the way his "best friend" treats him and his brothers. They have known each other since they were 3 and they have a lot in common (2nd son, love the outdoors and extreme sports). BUT he is argumentative with me, mean and spiteful to Campbell and Patrick, and is a bad influence on Damon. (I want my kids to make their own friends. I wonder if his mom is thinking the same thing about Damon.) And now he is bullying him. That is not a friend. I haven't tried to intervene before because I really like his parents and his brother and sister, and I don't understand why he is such a playground bully. He is the biggest suck around his mom too. *rolling eyes* I don't have him over very often because I have to supervise them very closely. When he has been here, he and Damon have destroyed property, picked on Campbell and he has said some pretty inappropriate things in an attempt to look tough. Once I even took him home early because he was threatening Campbell with a baseball bat (well he did it twice, the first time I told him that if I saw that again he was leaving).

Damon has a sensitive soul inside of his tough exterior. I have been encouraging that with his art classes and signing him up for the junior humane club, but at the same time letting him "get it out" with things like lacrosse, hockey and doing physical things with his buddies.

Only 95 school days until summer vacation!

Well, Miss New Teacher went to bat for us. I need to give her credit. She went back to Ms. Resource Teacher and explained that Patrick had already had a full medical work up because of my concerns about his repeated illnesses, and has in the past had lots of tests done to monitor his kidney condition. Ms. Resource Teacher's response was, "well that's the best we can do". So Miss New Teacher tells me there is nothing to worry about. I thanked her, but let her know that I was insulted that Ms. Resource Teacher's attitude towards me. I said that I understand that her concern would be warranted if she didn't know the parents and was worried that the child may be slipping through the cracks medically, but *I* am insulted that she didn't trust that I would get my children proper medical attention. I also let her know that I have done my homework on how many hours of french instruction time he needs and that there is no policy on legitimate absences during that time. I thanked her for her time and effort in clearing this up for us. I'm sure Miss New Teacher is not going to say anything to Ms. Resource Teacher about that, but hopefully this will help her in the future when Ms. Resource Teacher tries to bulldoze her again. Miss New Teacher is new, and doesn't know when to trust her own judgement yet. *sigh* So I'm going to walk away from this, but I've already spread my seed. heee hee I got to go for tea with a bunch of mothers from the school, one of them even works at the school as a lunchtime superviser. When I told my story, I heard another horror story about Ms. Resource Teacher (AKA the ice queen) from her. And they all had negative things to say about the teacher and the games she plays. So I feel supported by my fellow parents anyway. Thanks for all the words of encouragement from you ladies. Only 96 school days until summer vacation.

Ohhh, Game ON!

I am just livid. Patrick's teacher called me, but she's not the one I am angry with. After discussing the fact that Patrick is already caught up from an entire week's worth of absences, she was calling me to warn me about another teacher. There is this "resource" teacher at the school, who is in charge of way to much in my mind. She is the one who assesses children for giftedness, or LDs. She edits the school newsletter (which never congratulates children for their sport successes under the school name), she reads the announcements. Anyway, she decided that Patrick should continue to be in a reading group with her, despite the fact that he is doing really well in reading now. So after he has been sick so often, and his teacher expressed her concerns about how much classtime he has missed, I questioned the need for him to be in the reading group, since they miss classtime for that. The teacher said she would bring it up with Ms. Resource Teacher, who in turn said that Patrick needs to be in it but it is ultimately my decision. I said, fine, let's let him do it, but if I find that he is missing too much, I will ask that he doesn't go with her anymore. Well I'm guessing she didn't like that. Last week when he was sick (as in sick with asthma and a high fever), Ms. Resource Teacher noticed and asked Miss New Teacher how much school he has missed already this year. She told her 24 days so Ms. Resource Teacher said, well then you need to bring him up to "team". "Team" is when the teachers, the principal and Ms. Resource Teacher sit and discuss individual students and their progress or their struggles. She told Miss New Teacher that Patrick would probably be recommended for a pediatric evaluation. I was floored and said, that it absolutely unnecessary. I said, you realize that he has asthma, and a kidney condition which have both required extensive testing. I also told her that last fall when he had the flu 3 times in a row that the doctor and I were concerned and had him go for bloodtests to rule out frigging leukemia. She is going to bring this up. I don't really have anything to fear if he has an assessment, it is basically just a checkup, but it infuriates me that Ms. Resource Teacher is taking it to this point, just to piss me off because I questioned the necessity of her group. She claims that the concern is that he is missing too much french instruction time that is required for French Immersion. She said that he has missed 25% of it. So, I did my homework and found out that is bogus, there is no such requirement, and if they want to get technical, their program doesn't even meet the minimum percentage of daily french instruction to be considered and get funding as french immersion. Does she really want to go there with me? LOL Based on the school year, he has actually missed 14% of his french instruction time. While that is a lot, my point is that he was SICK. You know, fever, headache, lethargy, cough, wheezing and oh yeah, ASTHMA ATTACKS.

I called another mom who is an executive on Parent council and she was furious too. She has an older child at the school, so she knows full well what Ms. Resource Teacher is like and she HATES her. She said to go take her on. ;-)

I understand that this process would be good for some child who was missing a lot of school, because he or she wasn't getting adequate medical treatment, or if they had concerns that there may be signs of child abuse that is causing the absences. But neither of those is the case. He isn't missing days because of untreated illnesses, nor is it because of questionable injuries. He has missed it because he has had 5 viruses since September, not to mention the relapses that he had because after pressure from the teacher, we sent him back too early.

Okay, I can breathe now...

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Kristen on the safe arrival of Brett!!!! I still haven't heard the official middle name yet, but I heard that he arrived this evening and weighed in at 8 lbs. 10 oz. I can't wait to hear the birth story and see pictures of this not-so little guy.

Matt and Patrick are away this weekend. Patrick had games today and tomorrow in neighbouring towns that are almost 2 hours away from here, so the team decided to stay in a hotel tonight. I'm sure that Patrick is having a great time with his teammates, swimming, playing video games and just running up and down the halls. ;-) I'm sure that Matt isn't suffering either with his fellow hockey dads.

They called to say that Patrick's team won their game against the first place team in the league. That after they beat the second place team last night! woohoo! On to play the third place team tomorrow. I think that the best they can finish is third place in the regular season, but it should help build their confidence going into the playoffs next week.

In the meantime, Damon, Campbell, Kira and I are trying to have a low-stress, quiet evening at home. After a struggle to keep her temperature below 105 early this morning, Kira's fever has been fairly low today, but I anticipate it will be high again tonight.

I should have seen this coming

With all of the sickness that has been going around this house this past month, Kira has stayed relatively healthy, just minor colds here and there. Not anymore. Last night she woke up with a high fever and a nasty cough. She has been lethargic, not her plunky little self. Every chance she gets, she gets her arms wrapped around my neck in a death grip. She is so cute when she coughs though, Patrick gave her a lesson in coughing this morning. He taught her to cover her mouth and she always remembers to do it, it is so sweet.

We went to the mall to get some new cold medicines for her and cough medicine for Patrick. I thought that since we were there, I'd go across the hall to Gymboree to get a rain coat for Kira. I changed my mind about the coat and somehow we left with a new shirt, jeans, sunglasses and wallet for Patrick. How did that happen??????? He is quiet and helpful, but that kid has to get back to school next week! We are both enjoying these sick days too much. lol

I stopped drinking cola today. I had one can of pepsi yesterday, and none today. I have been drinking a lot of water, milk and some orange juice. I have been surprised by how hungry I have been though. I have had a wicked headache all afternoon so I resorted to trying a can of diet cola, but that didn't help, so I'm not sure if it is caffeine withdrawal or maybe I am sick again too.

This family is sick on many levels

I have to let you all know that bowl had just been cleaned and was filled with fresh water. Campbell taught her that yesterday, and every 5 minutes today, she was having a sip. LOL In the last picture she is getting comfy because she lapped up the whole bowl there.

My cat caught a mouse today, I thought about taking a picture for my blog, but mice just creep me out way too much. I don't like picking them up and since Matt wasn't here and I didn't want to ask Damon unless I had to. I opened the front door and we chased the cat out to enjoy his prize on the neighbour's driveway. :-D He came in with Matt and has been strutting his stuff all night.

Patrick is still sick. His asthma is bad, even on his puffers. He has a fever and his tummy isn't feeling great either. I think I will take him to the doctor's tomorrow when Damon and Campbell are at school. He even missed a hockey game tonight. He wants to get better though, because he has his last 3 regular season games this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Damon woke up in the night with a stomach ache, so I let him stay home. I don't think he was really sick. I did manage to get him to let me cut his hair. It isn't a good haircut because he had a lot of rules (no clippers, no brushes, only a certain comb) and he kept resisting. UGH. Anyway, he hates his haircut and I am mean for giving it to him. *sigh* I'll try to sneak a picture of it when he is sleeping, but I think it is a drastic improvement.

Here we go again...

round and round on the merry-go-round of sickness.

Damon and Campbell went to the school for the first time in a week. Damon's teacher still hasn't gotten my "hazards of scarves/why-did-you-worry-about-a-hat-when-my-kid-was-burning-up-with-fever" letter yet, because she was off sick today. *evil cackle*

Patrick who was the least sick last week, woke up early this morning having an asthma attack. Usually, he takes the day off and is fine. But today he continually had problems with his asthma, and tonight he is losing his voice and has a fever. I'm getting worried about him and we will probably make the trek to the doctor's office tomorrow. He came home from his semi-final game and went to sleep and didn't wake up until late the next morning. I thought that he must be coming down with something then, but he was fine on Sunday. It is a shame because he will miss a hockey game tomorrow night.

I was just getting better too and looking forward to taking Campbell and Kira out shopping and to the SPCA to cancel Maddie's dog license and get a form for a new one for "Puck". I can do that by phone, but it isn't as much fun that way.