Shhhhh

Kira was playing in her room while I finished sewing. I could hear her singing and talking to herself as she played. There was suddenly silence. I (as in me and my shadow Puck) went to make sure she was okay. She has been sleeping that way for an hour now. Moving a sleeping Kira is an impossible task, so we have learned not to bother. If you want her to stay asleep, don't touch her.

Princess Kira and her loyal subject

Note the new (well old) princess bed.

Around the house this weekend

Something we learned when we moved our laundry room to the second floor was just how much old top-loading washing machines shake. No adjustment seemed to help. Twice a day, the earth seemed. We had gotten used to the "ding ding ding" of the pot rack in the kitchen and our wrought iron bed. Then the thermostat stopped working and for the past year I've been washing in cold only. We don't even have the benefit of using "Cold Water Tide" as Matt, Patrick and Kira are all allergic to Tide. So, I have been soaking my whites in buckets of hot water before washing them. Our dishwasher quit last week and we decided to pick up a washing machine at the same time. After it's arrival, Matt eagerly waited for our first load with our NEW washing machine. When the spin cycle started, Matt grinned as he said, "Quiet kids, I'm trying to listen to the washing machine."

While watching part of Titannic, I heard Campbell turn to Matt and say, "Okay, that's it, I'm NEVER going on a boat again." Damon was quite impressed by that movie and for 2 days straight he has talked about Rose and Jack as if they were members of our family.

Let's see, what else did we do? Hockey, hockey, playoff hockey. Oh, Patrick had another trip to the ER for a hockey head injury. He was fine.

While Matt was out with him, Kira bonked Campbell on the nose and I've never seen a nose bleed like that. It was like a scene from Monty Python and I had a big clean up after. (The new washing machine did a fabulous job on my white towels.) Luckily the nose wasn't broken. "I soy Cambo."

Damon, the human crayon-maker!

Damon went for his annual check-up. He is healthy and growing well, but has been having a problem with his ear ever since last summer when he had swimmer's ear. I knew he had a problem with wax and dried up blood in there ever since, and he had started rubbing his ear in his sleep. I looked in it the day before his appointment and it was clogged. I asked the doctor to flush it. Damon was very brave as she stuck the tube into his ear. In an instant we heard a "CLUNK" as something fell into the bowl. The doctor blurted out, "What did you put in your ear?" Damon looks confused and just shrugs. I looked into the bowl and it looked like a 1 inch piece of a brown crayon. The doctor examined it a bit more and declared that it was impacted wax. The boy really couldn't hear me half the time! But now he has no excuse.

Happy 8th Birthday Damon!

You are a wonderful little boy.  You are so smart and analytical, strong and athletic.   And you have the singing voice of an angel.  You are always eager to share with your family, friends and unfortunate strangers, you are the most generous child I've ever seen.  I just hope that you always know how important and special you are to everybody.

Hamming it up with his cake.

He was thrilled with his new guitar.  He'll be starting lessons soon.

And here he is teaching Kira how to cheer for him.

I heard it straight from the horse's mouth

"Every day is like opposite day to me." - Damon Fair

This was his response when Patrick teased him. He asked Patrick to watch his food and Patrick told Puck to eat up and said, "oh didn't you know it's opposite day today?"

Logically reverse psychology should work on him. "Damon don't clean up your dirty clothes." The problem is that this guy is always one step ahead of me and will do a double reverse on me. *sigh*

A word of thanks

I wanted to say 'thank you' for the wonderful fudge! It disappeared rapidly. It tasted so good that the kids couldn't believe that "somebody actually made it." (I think they thought it was sent from the heavens.) Matt was away for work, so the kids and I decided that meant more fudge for us.

We are home from an exciting weekend away. Patrick's hockey team played in an international (ooooohhh aaaahhhh) tournament this past weekend. They didn't win any games, but Patrick looked great! And then after today's game he was awarded a special puck as the MVP! We are all so proud of him.

We all had a lot of fun hanging out with the players and their families at the rink and hotel (with a pool) this weekend and came home tired out. We aren't really looking forward to going back to work and school.

Behind those pretty ears

Kira woke up in the night after her birthday with croup. We used her inhalers and she started breathing easier so we went back to sleep. She was much better in the morning, but it returned again last night. This morning she was coughing a lot and started getting feverish (38 C or 100 F), so I rushed her over to the doctor's office. We waited there for an hour and her fever was up to 40 C (104 F) and she became very clingy and lethargic. The verdict was that she has a really bad ear infection in one ear. The doctor didn't rule out bronchitis, but we were already getting more inhalers for the croup and antibiotics for the ear infection anyway. Kira has also had diarrhea for a week now, which has left her with an awful diaper rash, so the doctor also prescribed some cream for that. Diarrhea, Respiratory infection, Ear Infection and a Diaper Rash. This poor girl is a mess.

I should have known when she asked for a cookie and took one bite and said, "I no like this Mommy." That's not the Kira I know.

It's still a bit early, but now I'm considering staying home with Kira (and Damon and Campbell) this weekend instead of going to Patrick's hockey tournament in the U.S.. I'm so tired of cancelling things because of sick kids.

On a related note, this clever ad made me laugh out loud today.

I'm not sure where I stand on this, I'm not cutting out ALL dairy from our diets yet, but I have never been one to push the kids to drink milk. Something about drinking milk that is made for 300 lb calves seems illogical to me.

Happy Birthday Princess!

Kira turned 2 today! We spent most of her birthday in the parts and service waiting room at our Ford dealership. It was special.

After our simple repair of the seat warmer turned into a major repair of the electrical system, they rented us a Dodge Caravan and we zipped off to the mall for a little bit of shopping and to get the one thing that Kira wanted.

Pretty ears! Daddy was away, so we had plans to take Patrick to hockey practice and then go out to dinner with Grandma-Sue. Patrick was home with a stomach bug and Campbell was green around the gills when I picked him up from school. I decided that I didn't want to waste money on meals that were likely to come right back up. So Grandma-Sue decided to bring cake and ginger ale to us. Kira opened her present.

A pretty charm bracelet and charm. See her pretty ears again!? She keeps wanting to admire them in the mirror.

I am sad that the day was hampered with illness and vehicle problems, but I hope all of your birthday wishes come true.

The 2006 New Years Resolution Generator

In the year 2006 I resolve to: Make as many people hate me as I possibly can. Get your resolution here

Along with many of the parents on our hockey team, I'm off to a rip-roaring start.

But seriously, my real new year's resolution is not to eat anymore oranges.

Gift tag fun

The boys got a kick out of these on their gifts on Christmas morning.

Here is Kira at Campbell's "Wild" Christmas party. She was not impressed with Santa, but happily accepted the bag of candy he gave her.


Here she is hanging out with her boyfriend. They are hilarious together. The other day, he was sick and wanted to be cuddled by his mommy. Kira didn't know why he was being picked up and cuddled, but she threw herself down on the floor and cried, "I fall down, pick me up too." Actress-in-training

A sad farewell to Uncle $andy

"Glenn Murray 'Sandy' McTavish, 83, of Shakespeare passed away in the Maples Home for Seniors, Tavistock on Saturday, December 31, 2005. He was born in North Easthope Township, Perth County on April 8, 1922, a son of the late Joseph and Jean (Taylor) McTavish. Sandy served as a pilot in the R.C.A.F. during World War II; he had been a salesperson for Rolland Paper; was a member of the Shakespeare Optimist Club; a member of the Exeter Memorial Branch #167 Royal Canadian Legion and the Stratford Saturday Noon Hour Club. He is survived by one brother, Grant McTavish of Mareeba, Queensland, Australia; two sisters-in-law, Lillian McTavish of Stratford, Dora McTavish of Exeter; several nieces and nephews and special friends, the Oldershaw family of Toronto. He will be expecially missed by Murray McTavish whose daily visit enabled him to remain independent. He was pre-deceased by two brothers, Donald McTavish and Gordon McTavish; his sister and brother-in-law, Isabel and Harry Darrel."

Uncle $andy was a wonderful man. He was a dear friend to my grandmother and grandfather and was considered part of our family. I think I was about 12 before I figured out that he wasn't actually a blood relative. For about 30 years, he welcomed my whole family to his farm every Thanksgiving weekend, and many of my childhood memories are of times spent there amongst his antiques playing kick the football in the tree, cards and sitting by the fire. His passion for old houses and antiques is probably what gave me the desire to buy our old house. I am sad that I didn't get to see him at my Aunt's house on Christmas day. I will remember his warm smile with fondness.

The Three 'C's

I hope that everybody had a very merry Christmas spent in good health and good cheer. It didn't exactly go that way for us.

My aunt says I'm working my way through the alphabet, but I got stuck on 'c'. 'C' for concussion, croup and chocolate.

Patrick was okay after his concussion. The next morning we asked him if his head hurt and he said, "It only hurts when I shake it like this."

Damon was still wheezy on Christmas eve morning, so he missed his hockey game. Kira was still wheezy too and very clingy. We went ahead and went to my sister's Christmas Eve gathering. Kira was not enjoying herself though, and the croupy bark started up. After she opened a red wool coat from us, she put it on and said, "I wanna go home now." She curled up on my shoulder and fell asleep. Soon she was running a fever. Once we got home, I started up the steamy shower and locked Damon, Kira and myself in the bathroom and started giving out doses of motrin, ventolin and flovent. Then Kira and I took Puck outside. The drugs, the steam and the cold night air did not help her. I am pretty laid-back about croup, because I have dealt with it so many times over the years with Patrick, but I was starting to panic. Finally, I gave her another dose of everything and she finally seemed to breathe a little easier so we went to bed.

Patrick woke up at 8 am ready to open stockings. We woke up the other boys, but didn't have the heart to wake up Kira, so we went down and opened stockings without her. The boys were happy with their stockings and raced upstairs to try out their toys and video games. I was feeling very tired and kind of sick myself, so I lay down on the couch while they played. Suddenly I realized that my shadow, Puck, was not with me. That's where the third "c" comes in. I went down to the living room and found the shredded remains of Matt's 1 lb Toblerone chocolate bar. I slammed him in his crate (mostly for his own protection - Matt is especially protective of his Toblerone bars at Christmas) and checked on the internet. I read a few different pages giving different levels before chocolate can become toxic. The consensus seemed to be that 1 lb of chocolate would not kill a 50 lb dog, but it could make him feel mighty sick. I used a syringe to give him hydrogen peroxide to try to induce vomiting in hopes that I might be able to get some of the chocolate out of his stomach and alleviate some of his discomfort. He stood there on the deck with foam coming out of his mouth, trying desperately to hang onto his chocolate. I put him in his crate, and let him out frequently. No signs or symptoms.

So back to Kira. She finally woke up and sounded horrible. Croupy, miserable and congested. At this point we decided that she needed to see a doctor and we would have to miss out on the gift exchange with my dad's family and Christmas dinner with Matt's family. I called a few walk-in clinics but none were open. Kira opened her stocking and presents in our bed. Matt took our gifts to my brother's house so that he could pass them along to my aunt's house. Meanwhile, I gave Kira more medication and put her into the shower. She fell asleep again soon after that and I made brunch for Matt and the boys. After brunch, Kira and I headed off to the ER.

After 5 hours there, we left no better off than when we arrived. The triage nurse took Kira's temperature by armpit and it was 98.4 F. I said I thought she felt warmer than that, but the nurse and eventually the doctor just ignored me. I tried to clarify the point that I was not bringing her to ER because of croup, I was bringing her because her croupiness and wheeziness was not reacting to steroid inhalers and steam, but nobody seemed to "hear" my concerns. By the time the doctor saw her, the barking cough had changed and was now a wet productive cough. The doctor looked at me like I was a moron. "That is no croupy cough, that sounds wet to me." Well yeah it sounds wet now, but trust me it wasn't so wet at 3 am last night and I'm guessing it won't be as wet tonight. She listened to her lungs and heard a rattle so she sent her for chest x-rays. They came back clear. So the doctor came in again to talk to us and when she touched Kira's hand she said, "oh she feels warm now" and sent the nurse in to take her temperature again. The nurse did a rectal temperature this time and it was 102.5 F. Oh wow, mom was right. The whole time we were there, Kira just lay on the bed like a rag doll, asking me to lie next to her and then trying to close my eyes with her little fingers. The doctor said she felt it was a virus and I should just continue with the motrin and inhalers and follow up with the family doctor. Ohh, I'll be following up with the family doctor all right and not because she said to! My mommy instincts tell me there is something more to this.

For now, I'm putting my money on 'b' for bronchitis.

We had submarine sandwiches for Christmas dinner and watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory together while Puck whined in his crate. Yesterday morning, when he was finally given free reign of the house again, the first thing Puck did was head straight for the dining room table. He jumped up on top of it and stole Kira's small Toblerone bar and swallowed it in one gulp. A day in solitary taught him nothing.

Kira was much better yesterday and was able to properly cough, so we had our Christmas dinner with Matt's parents. They spoiled all of us.

Matt is tired and having problems finding a good night's sleep, Patrick recovered fine from the concussion and his team is getting KILLED at a hockey tournament right now, Damon is slowly recovering from his virus, Campbell is fine and doing hockey school every day this week, Kira sounds like she is drowning with every cough and Puck has a stomach of steel. I'm treading water.

I've woken Patrick up once now and he was reactive. I was already up doing the old croup routine with Damon and Kira. This is a first for Kira and Damon hasn't had croup for an awfully long time. Kira's on my lap now.

Why am I not surprised that it is now Christmas Eve and I am dealing with a head injury and 2 croupy kids? I'm thinking that if I had all my shopping and wrapping finished already this would never have happened.

I should start taking wagers on Campbell.

They are home now. The ER was remarkably quick! The doctor believes that it is a concussion, but a mild one. His vision problems have cleared up. He sent home an information sheet on symptoms to watch for, and instructions on waking him through the night, and told him to take some Advil for the headache. He said that as for playing hockey again, we should play it by ear and if he has no further problems he can probably play in the tournament on the 27th. And he assured Matt that concussions aren't as bad as most people believe.

Agonizing

We are busy busy busy these days. We are finding it especially challenging to get all the shopping done in time. The kids didn't give us many suggestions this year so they have been hard to shop for.

Patrick's hockey team played a great game tonight and even though they lost, they weren't outplayed. They could easily beat this team next time. And Patrick played very well and even the one goal that was scored on his line he had played properly (forced the shot, didn't block the goalie's view).

However, during the third period, he started having problems with his vision. We aren't sure why, it could have been the elbow to his head during the second period, or it could have been sweat in his eyes. Either way, he went to check a guy into the boards and missed him buy a lot and hit the boards and hit his head. He skated away though and played another shift after that. After the game, his coach talked to Matt. Patrick's eyes were red, he was crying and had a headache. He said he had trouble seeing colours, but I think that he means that he is over-sensitive to light. On the way home we tried to assess him and all he kept saying was, "Can't I just go home and lie down? That's all I want to do." He showered and got into some comfortable clothes. He had no problems answering my stupid questions ("what is today?" "who are you?" etc) but his headache was not getting better and he was very sleepy, so we decided to take him to the hospital. Matt took him and I am sitting here waiting for him to call.

If it does turn out to be a concussion, this would be his first sport-related injury. So far he has been very lucky.

Puck turns one!

Today was a big day! Puck turned 1! He celebrated it amongst his adoring family.

Damon sat with him while Campbell brought in the "cake" (an end piece of Rollover). Kira gave him his gift (a brand new Kong). Patrick was certain that he was suddenly much more mature and not as hyper, because now he is an adult. Sure.

Now he is happily chewing his Kong, lying in his armchair while I type.

A year ago today, I was obsessively checking emails, feeling foolish that I was secretly hoping that MY puppy would be born that day, the same day as my old dog Maddie's birthday, feeling even more foolish that I was secretly hoping this would bring me some sort of psychic connection to MY puppy (I know, I have watched too many episodes of The Pet Psychic). But he is that puppy I was dreaming of. He is beautiful, loving, so smart and playful too. He plays hard and sleeps soundly, loves my kids and adores me.

Happy Birthday Bronte, True, and the other 7 beautiful puppies born that day!

overheard during gingerbread house decorating...

Campbell: Can somebody move? I can't get close enough to put this candy on.
Damon: I know, it's too crowded here.
Patrick: Well you guys had better get used to it. It's like that in this house.
Damon: What? too crowded?
Patrick: Yep.