Back To Reality

I'm back!!!!

My last post was right before the Saskatchewan River was expected to swell and do some major damage on the city of Medicine Hat.  We were packing and getting ready to catch a plane to Victoria to see my family.

Well, the river did swell, there was flooding and there was a fair amount of damage.  But the Trans Canada Highway bridge did not close and the river did not get as high as they had originally thought.

We had no problems driving to Calgary and the flight to Victoria was.....fairly uneventful.

I say fairly as I was expecting to be flying on a JET aeroplane, but when I looked out the window at the boarding gate I saw a plane with PROPELLERS???  Seems Mickey bought Air Canada Express tickets and Air Canada Express tickets give you a plane that looks like this:

A PROP PLANE!!

What's the big deal, right?  No big deal really, but for some reason the thought of flying on a plane with propellers was a lot more nerve wracking to me then flying on a jet plane.  Oh, and guess where my seat was?  Yup, right next to the propeller.

I am not a big fan of "take off" while on a plane and this time was no different. Mickey always gets a good giggle watching me close my eyes and "breathe" as the plane bounces up and down in the air as it makes it's way up past the clouds.

Once we levelled off, and the plane stopped bouncing around I was able to relax.  Stella on the other hand... she was not impressed at all.  She never actually cried, but she did not like the sensation of being on the plane.  Poor kid just didn't know where to put herself! She'd sign "mommy" and then once she was in my arms she would fidget, pull away and then sign "daddy".  Then Mickey would take her and she would do the same thing with him.  Sophie and Livi were awesome travellers! They sat together and giggled and sang and were just really cute.

Our week in Victoria was awesome!  We stayed with my sister, her husband and my two nieces.  Sophie and my niece Emily are the same age (6 weeks apart, to be exact).  They got along so well! Every year they see each other they get along better and better! There were a few arguments between Sophie and Emily and there were a few arguments between Olivia and Sophie, but on the whole.....they were all just really well behaved little girls.  They shared, they laughed, they played, they giggled, it was just so lovely.

Playing "Baby".  Emily is the baby, Sophie is the mommy and Livi just decided to jump into the picture....

These two were just so cute. 

Livi and Abby.

Stella and my other niece Abby (she's 15 months old), got along really well too....for toddlers...  Abby enjoyed pushing Stella every now and then, and Stella got in a good scratch here and there.  But on the whole, they did way more hugging and parallel playing then pushing and scratching.

The Toddlers!! They were the  "silent communicators".  Neither of them said much, yet they seemed to know exactly what the other one was saying.

Too adorable!

It was awesome hanging out with my sissy sis.  It was awesome seeing my parents again and having my girls spend time with them.  It was awesome seeing a few of my girlfriends and their kids again.

Stella loved listening to gramma sing her songs!

At the park with Grandpa

LOVE this photo of my dad and Olivia!

I miss living there.

I miss the mass amount of lush, green trees... and bushes!!

I miss the hills.

I miss seeing the mountains.

I miss having my sister nearby.

I miss having my parents nearby.

Yet I feel like where Mickey and I are right now (living in Butt Fuck, Alberta), I feel like this is where we are supposed to be.

The air may not smell as fresh, the trees may be more sparse, but this is our home.

Life is good here.

I will see my family again next year.

And it will be awesome.

And maybe we'll get a picture with ALL of the grandkids with the grandparents......

So this was the best picture we could get of the grandkids with the grandparents....Sophie, during the whole trip, refused to cooperate and smile for a picture....unless it was just her in the picture.  Stella, clearly, was DONE and not the least bit happy. Abby was nowhere to be found, Emily was distracted with Stella crying.  The only child cooperating was Livi.  But wadaya gonna do?

PS. This post was brought to you by the word "awesome"

No River Flooding Is Gonna Stop the McG Clan

Alberta is facing mass destruction and devestation due to flooding. Mass amounts of rain in Northern Alberta have caused the rivers to swell.  High River is covered in water.  Here is an article from the Calgary Herald.

High River

Yesterday residents from downtown Calgary were told to evacuate and this morning, this is what downtown Calgary looked like.  Pictures courtesy of Calgary Herald.

Down Town Calgary

Here in Medicine Hat, those living in the lower lying areas (those close to the South Saskatchewan River) have until 10pm tomorrow night to evacuate from their homes.

So far, there is no flooding, but the river is predicted to start to swell at an alarming rate tomorrow afternoon.

We McG's do not live near the river so we are still in our home.  We have plans to travel tomorrow...to Calgary...but NOT to downtown.  We will be going to the airport and flying to Victoria, BC to visit my family. All roads to the airport are good so off we will go, crossing our finger and just taking it as it comes.

We have stocked up on as much water as possible.  We are unsure as to what we will be coming back to.  I am optimistic that all shall be ok, but I am not sure if there will be available running water.  I honestly didn't even think to go and buy water to stock up on, but no matter as ALL stores in Medicine Hat are sold out.

I honestly don't know just how bad this flood will hit Medicine Hat, but I am optimistic that it won't be as bad as everyone is making it out to be.

My thoughts and prayers are to my "Hat" residents who have been displaced from their home.

My thoughts and prayers are with all of my fellow Albertan's who have lost loved ones, who have lost their home, who are displaced, or who are just scared shitless.

I am attempting to Stay Calm and Carry On as the British have once said.

Daddy-O - A Father's Day Tribute To My Dad

Father's Day is today and what a better way to celebrate then to write about my dad.

My dad was in his 30's here.....hard to believe that I am now in my 30's......

What I remember most of my dad:
(these are but a few things that I remember)


I remember his calmness and his patience.  He had a knack of making me feel better when I was worried about something.  If I had a bad dream, I would sit at the top of my stairs and quietly call for my dad.

"Daddy.........Daddy........Daddy...."

Eventually my dad would wake up and come upstairs to my bedroom.  I'd tell him about my bad dream and he'd hug me and tell me "it's ok". We'd say a little prayer and I would feel calm, secure and so much better.

My dad worked hard to support us.  He had a dental lab attached to our house when we were young.  That way he was able to work from home. At that time he worked as a dental technician.  He made dentures and other orthodontic devices.  We LOVED hanging out in his lab.
I remember always being down there asking him questions or asking him to help me hide when I was playing "hide and seek" with my brother and sister.

I really don't know how he got any work done.  However, he never got angry or impatient with us.  

He would always answer every question.

He would always stop what he was doing and help me hide when I asked.

A very patient father, and for that I am grateful.  I'd love to say that I am as patient with my own McG girls, but this is still a work in progress for me.

I remember every Saturday night we would have "Soup over rice" for dinner.  You know Campbell's Chunky Soup? Well, we would have that over rice.  Then we'd sit down and eat it while watching wrestling on TV.

And almost every Saturday afternoon after church, my dad, brother and I would drive out to the airport.  We LOVED the airport.  Perhaps it was because we lived on such a small island and it was a symbol of "escape" for us.  Nah....we liked going to the airport because it carried good memories of the travelling we did once a year.  Not only that, but there was a really cool dump near the airport where people used to take their old worn out objects like bikes, stoves and tons of other cool stuff.  It was fun to climb around and look at all the cool stuff.  Then on the way back home we would sometimes stop at the ice cream shop and have a yummy treat.

My dad is an awesome grandfather.  He was always running around playing with Olivia.  Sadly we moved to Butt Fu.... I mean Medicine Hat before Sophie was old enough to really appreciate her grandfather.  However, my parents send little 5 minute videos of themselves talking to our girls and Sophie gets such a kick out of watching my dad do silly funny things.  I can't wait for this summer when she will be able to see him and get to experience his silliness in person.

My dad has not seen Stella since she was 8 months old!!!

Thanks Dad, for being such a great Daddy.

Thanks for your patience. 

For your calmness.

For your reassurance.

I couldn't have asked for a better Dad!!

My Baby's Daddy

When Mickey first moved to Victoria (before we had met), he lived with his aunt and uncle for a few months.  During his stay with them he spent a lot of time with his young cousins who were 6 and 3. When I had been dating Mickey for a while, he took me over to his aunt and uncle's house to meet them.  He had talked a lot about his little cousins and I was excited to meet them.

I could tell immediately just how much those two little kids loved him.  Their eyes lit up when they saw him and were just so happy to play with him.  Yup, Mickey pretty much dissed me to go play with his little cousins.  Brownie points, BIG TIME!  (Well played Mickey, well played).

Seeing how he interacted with his young cousins, how he seem to really, honestly enjoy playing with them, I knew that he would be a fabulous father one day.

I was right.

From the moment Olivia entered the world he has been an amazing father.  I remember feeling so unsure, so awkward with holding Olivia or changing her diaper for the first few weeks.

Not Mickey.

He held her, dressed her, changed her diaper like he had been doing it for 10 years! When I was stressing or worried about something to do with Olivia, he was calm, logical and reassuring.

He was like that with each of our girls.

So confident, so sure, so loving with each McG girl.

He still is like that to this very day.

He's my "go to" guy when I am worried or unsure, or just need to have straight up logic.

He's an amazing father to our McG girls.

He never flinched, not once, when we were faced with the possibility of having a child with special needs, and when Stella was born and we saw that she in fact did have Down Syndrome, not once did I see any sadness in his eyes.....just love.  I clearly remember him bent over gently touching her face and softly talking to her as tears of pure love filled his eyes.

He works his lil touche off to provide for us.

I work hard yo! Just look at my bulging biceps...

When he gets home from work, he is always in a good mood and happy to see his girls (and they are always excited to see him too). No matter how shitty work may have been, no matter how stressed he is, he leaves it all at work.

Our McG girls LOVE to spend time with him.

Every Sunday (his only day off), he spends his day playing with his girls.  He'll even sometimes let me sleep in!!

Thanks to his "need" to have everything in order and organised, I always have someone who will pick up my slack....that's right ladies my man is NEAT and ORGANISED (he makes me look messy in comparison).  I shit you not. When we were dating, that was the first thing I noticed when I went to his apartment for the first time....it was IMMACULATE!

My McG girls have a wonderful example of what a "real man" is.

Happy Father's Day my darling.

such a joker

gotta love a man who can act like a kid...occasionally

We love you to the moon and back!

Passing On The Torch - My Liebster Award Nominees

FINALLY! I have put together my nominations for a Liebster award.

Just a brief recap as to what a Liebster award is:  A Liebster Blog award is a "peer award" given to upcoming bloggers who have less then 200 followers (as best you can tell)

Liebster (German) - beloved, cherished, esteemed.

I have found extreme value in these bloggers that I have nominated.  Each has a different writing style and each offers GREAT value to my world.  So I am sharing these blogs with you:

The Down Syndrome Action Plan

Down Syndrome: A Day to Day Guide

Our Little Chilli Tribe

The Chronicles of Ellie Bellie Bear (this blogger has already been nominated by 2 other bloggers but I have nominated her anyway cause her blog rocks my world.)

Our Epic Story

Garden Of My Heart

Down Syndrome Up Up and Away

I Will Carry You

Let's Do This

Green Tea Ginger

Chromosomally Enhanced

So now what?  Well here are the steps to follow when nominated for a Liebster Award.

Step 1
First, thank the Liebster-winning blogger who nominated you and created a link back to their blog.  I was nominated by Treyton's Posse.  Thanks again Rob!

Step 2
Post 11 facts about yourself.  They can be about anything! The goal is to get to know the person behind the blog better.  Here are 11 facts about me that you can check out.

Step 3
Answer the 11 questions presented to you by your nominator. You can answer them all in one post, or basically however you like!

Step 4
Create 11 questions for your nominees to answer. Here are my questions to you:

1. Why did you start blogging?
2. What is your favourite colour?
3. When you get the chance for "me time", what is your favourite "me time" activity?
4. What's your preference, a "sweet" or a "salty" treat.
5. Where is the most interesting place in the world that you have visited?  If you don't feel you have been anywhere interesting, then where in the world do you find interesting and would love to visit? (whew, hope that makes sense)
6. As a family, what is your favourite thing to do in the summer?
7. If you don't already, would you ever consider using your blog to make money?
8. Who is your favourite band (if you have a favourite band, that is....)
9. Which season is your favourite and why?
10. What is your "all time" favourite movie?
11. Where do you envision yourself 5 years from now?

Step 5
Now here is where you recognise 11 blogs who you feel deserve recognition. It is up to you.  You get to pick the blogs for any reason as long as they have less then 200 followers to the best of your knowledge.  Once you have made your selection, create a post like this one on your own blog that explains the award process.  Then notify each of your nominees by leaving a comment on their blog with the link back to the post you created.  I have already announced my nominees above.

Step 6
The final step is to post the award badge on your blog.  I will now try and go and figure out how to do this. I am still really new at all this picture badge stuff so I really have no clue how to go about doing it.

So there you have it! I hope that some or all of my nominees are able to complete all the steps as I personally am looking forward to getting to know each person behind the blog better!

Working On A Few Things

So, I have been working on a few things and have been having a hard time finding the time to blog.  Yeah, so this is my post to quickly say "sorry" and let you (all 22 of you fabulous followers) know that yes, I am still alive and no, I haven't given up blogging.

Here is what I am working on.

Putting together my last post in regards to my Liebster award.  I have been having such a hard time coming up with 11 questions to ask!! I know, it should be easy, but somehow I am struggling.  Have no fear though, I am almost done and should be posting soon!

The hubs and I are looking into "out of the box" non conventional methods to help Stella achieve her FULLEST potential.  This current road we have been going down using early intervention and OT and PT and SPL has been helpful, but I have been feeling for a long time that there HAS to be MORE that we can be doing for her.....and there is.  But at this moment I need to collect my thoughts and get my shit organised before I can possibly even begin to explain this new journey we as a family are planning on embarking on.

So have a lovely weekend and stay tuned for two new blog posts....which are in the works....I promise!!!

I will leave you with some pictures from the last week.

Enjoy.

EPIC Family Fun FAILURE!!

What.....the......F**K just happened??!!

I am still a tad flabbergasted as to just how fast our family fun weekend in Calgary turned into a family fiasco!!

Friday afternoon, the McG Clan headed out in the minivan to Calgary.  The drive was lovely! The kids watch movies on the DVD, Stella had a short nap and we all happily arrived at our destination (The Sheraton Hotel) at around 4 pm. We skipped on up to our room, unpacked, put on our bathing suits and skipped on down to the pool.  The big McG girls went up and down the fun twisty slides with Mickey while I played with Stella in the nice warm baby pool.  She LOVED it!  She also insisted I take her into the big cold pool.  Personally I would have been happy to just stay in the warm pool the whole time, but I '"sucked it up" and went into the cold pool.  Stella LOVED it!

Our happy car ride to Calgary!

Aren't we so happy??

After swimming, we ordered room service and had a lovely dinner in our room.  The girls went to bed fairly easily for being in a room all together and being in unfamiliar surroundings.

In the morning (which came VERY early), we went down to the hotel restaurant and had a lovely breakfast.  I think that here, is where the seeds of total meltdown began.  As with all my kids, when they travel they tend to eat less and usually eat nowhere near as healthy as they do when they are at home.  Sophie is a nibbler, and when we travel she eats even less.  That being said, she had about three bites of her breakfast and then claimed to be full.  With our darling Sophie, Mickey and I know there is no point in pushing the issue, so we let it slide. After all, I ALWAYS have lots of snacks in my purse, so if she got hungry later there would be something for her to eat.

Sadly, this day, I forgot to stock my purse full of food.  I only brought a few items and halfway through our zoo trip, Stella had already eaten the few snacks I had.

But let me rewind a bit as drama and sadness and crying had already begun way before the zoo.  You see, Olivia was soooo excited and you know how it is as a kid, waiting is so very hard.  After breakfast we drove off to the train station. (We were going to take the train to the zoo).  We got to the station and WHOOPS! We left the stroller in the hotel room.  So BACK into the car we went to go back to the hotel and get the stroller.  Here is where Olivia lost it! She started fussing and crying and expressing very loudly her disappointment.

Then as I was putting Stella in her car seat I heard Mickey make a sound, like he had hurt himself. As he was lifting Sophie up into her car seat he somehow pulled out his back.  He was hurting...bad. I know this cause I said "are you ok?" and he said "No".  Now he has to be hurting pretty bad to admit to not being ok.

Somehow he sucked it up and we went back and got the stroller (Olivia is crying and fussing this WHOLE time).

We made it to the train station, we got on the train and made it to the zoo.

Yay! We made it!

So now we are pretty much back to where Sophie is now demanding food and is getting extremely agitated that I don't have any food left in my purse.

Olivia had also been complaining on and off since we got to the park because she wanted to go to the zoo playground and didn't want to go and see any more animals.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Stella was getting pretty crabby because she was still hungry even though she had eaten all of the snacks.

"This SUCKS!"  This SUCKS this SUCKS!!!! (I am screaming this in my head)

We went in search of food and the playground in order to quiet down the madness.

Mickey went and ordered food and I watched the kidlets.

Ahhhhhh, things seemed to settle down.

Mickey came back with food and I went and attempted to feed Stella some of it while Mickey went to get the girls.

He was gone awhile.....and I could hear screaming....which sounded very much like Sophie.....

Sure enough he comes on over with Olivia  "you gotta go and get Sophie, she won't come down for me and keeps screaming for you"

Now I am sure that Mickey would have crawled his adult ass up the kids play area if his back hadn't been causing him so much pain.  But since he couldn't, I went over there and attempted calm rationale talking to Sophie.

"Sophie, Sophie, it's time to eat. Come down now please."

"NOOOOO!! (picture, a child way up high in one of those netted outdoor play units, looking down with a "fuck you" look on her face screaming at the top of her lungs)

"Sophie (insert stern voice here), this behaviour is UNACCEPTABLE, it is time to eat, come down now please!"

"GO AWAY, I DON'T WANT TO COME DOWN, NOOOOOOO!  LEAVE ME ALONE!!!"

People are staring.

Little kids were offering to go up and get her.

I thanked them but insisted that they did not engage in conversation with her for fear of them being hit or scratched by my agitated, hungry, tired, strong willed child.

What else could I do?

I squeezed my adult ass up the twisty stairs, trying not to step on a child's hand or head along the way.  Once I made it to where Sophie was I again attempted to reason with her and give her choices ( I somehow have forgotten that reasoning with a 4 year old is NOT possible).  I had given her the choice of going down the twisty stairs or down the slide.  She refused both.  I told her that she needed to choose or mommy would choose.  She responded by trying to crawl away from me all while screaming.

So I picked her up and dragged her 40lb body over to the slide and pushed her down it......she screamed the whole way down.

I then twisted my body down the twisty stairs again, picked Sophie up and carried her out of the playground.

Phew!

I was pissed off. I was so angry. I was so frustrated.  Mickey and I then told the girls that the fun was over and that we were going home.

As we all ate our lunch Sophie was back to her cute, funny, sweet self (Dr.Jekl and Mr. Hyde, is this child).  I had calmed down, Mickey had calmed down, so we gave the girls another chance.

The nightmare continued.

Olivia had changed her behaviour and was cooperating and being a very big girl.

Stella was tired and had eaten a lot of chips (she would not eat anything else) and was happily chillin in her stroller with her suckie and blankie.

Sophie...well Sophie was slowly falling apart again.  For a few minutes she would be happy and giggly and cooperative and then something would happen (i.e.. Mickey and Olivia would be walking too far ahead) and she would start screaming at the top of her lungs demanding that they "STOP!!! COME BACK!!" Then she would refuse to walk and wanted to sit in the stroller ( note to self: in the future bring the double stroller!).  So I would let her sit in the back of the stroller where my purse was, but it wasn't very comfortable so then Sophie would start screaming about that.

Looking at the peacocks...in between melt downs

Sophie was screaming as I took this picture.....good times, good times

Finally she just fell to the ground face down, arms and legs splayed out and screamed while throwing her hat.

I......was.......done......

I looked at Mickey and said "Let's go home"

Olivia cried the whole way back to the hotel, while we packed up our stuff and part of the way home in  the car.  I felt bad for her as she had changed her behaviour and was cooperating, but yet she was still loosing her privilege and had to go home.  Sophie didn't seem to give a crap.  As long as we were ALL having to go home and ALL not going to Chuck E Cheese's then it made no difference to her.

I kept hoping that at some point on the way home it would "click"  that we were GOING HOME as a consequence of her bad behaviour, like we had said we would do..... but I honestly think, she just didn't care.

I think what would have worked better for her would have been if we had stayed and had her stay in the hotel room and rest while Livi went with me to the pool without her....THAT would have been a consequence that would have worked for her.

But  we didn't do that...

But Mickey's back was really, really bad so on that note it's a good thing that we came home.

Being a parent is just plain hard sometimes....

But the weekend ended on a good note!

I took the girls bowling yesterday and there were NO meltdowns! (Cyber HI-FIVE!)

And today I took the girls to the water park (which is literally right across the street from our house) while Stella napped and Mickey iced his back for the 50 millionth time.

Oh and Mickey's back is a tad better...

So....there is always a silver lining..right??? Right!

Bowling and getting along! HI-FIVES!

PS. I really must remember to not only take pictures of my kiddos looking happy. A meltdown picture would have really added to this post I think......