That is all she wrote....

Well, the end is here! My last paid day of Maternity Leave is today, where has the year gone? Why is the nice weather finally here? What a tease to have to go back to work as we finally get nice weather and a little Vitamin D from the sun!! I am greatly enjoying my last day, it's certainly not over yet, as I sit in the comfy corner of my couch (well worn in from my butt being placed there each day for the past 365 days) I am listening to the traffic...you may not think that is very exciting, but it's lovely because that means for the first day in recent memory, I have all the windows open and the fresh air is circulating. I had my nails done this morning, found a few great deals out shopping and soon will be off again for a pedicure followed by munchies with friends and a movie. I don't think I have had such a full day for me in the past year. Actually, there is no thinking - I haven't!!! Of course, it is a bit easier to relax and enjoy my day knowing Greta had a successful first day at the sitter yesterday, today is Day 2, and no phone calls (yet) so I am hoping that means she is doing well and enjoying her play time and hopefully today maybe even a little sunshine at the park. My house is clean, the laundry is pretty much done...I tried on approximately 50 pairs of jeans / pants from my closet and they all fit - but I am starting to purge, I mean 50 pairs of pants is just one closet - my love of trying to find the perfect jeans has accumulated a lot of varieties but I must part with some...(so, Size 6 gals, if you need jeans - let me know, they are all in excellent condition).

All in all, I feel rather good, and to top it all off, I am not in too much pain today. The Dr's have asked me to reduce stress - UMMMM - easier said than done, but a me day does feel pretty good. Since it was the Dr's request to eliminate stress, I did combine a little retail therapy with stress reduction and have purchased a massage chair. It was a huge splurge and one I have wanted to do for years, I thought I deserved it...it should be here next week, can't wait to program in the relaxation treatment!

I do need some sun on my very, very pale skin, but I do want to summarize my year at home -

As much as I still cannot believe that we have a Daughter, she has been the blessing we never dreamt of becoming a reality. I don't regret one moment of calling her our little Alien, the story of my fears and shock of becoming a mother has found a home in her Baby Book and I stand behind every concern, terrifying thought, comment and mental psychotic break before she arrived...it was shocking and SOOO scary to think we, at 37 years old, were going to become 1st time parents to a creature with 2 legs...not 4. Scarlet was the love of my life and I even forgot to put food in her dish, so I couldn't imagine how I would care for a little baby with my lack of kid skills, zero baby experience and I can't deny not many motherly instincts or love of children. The first few months were a blur, I'll either blame it on the medications I had to take, or the fact that my memory is poor, or maybe it was that she didn't really cause us any grief or sleepless nights so she somehow just melted in to our lives and hearts like she was always part of the plan. Maybe that makes her even more special, despite not being planned we made it work and upon reflection of the past 11 months, we did an exceptional job. She is happy, healthy, cute, smart, playful, gentle, charming to all who meet her and despite the toxic diapers - she is always pleasant to be around.

The transition from stay-at-home Mom to back to work Mommy is going to be fine - I work so I can shop... so it isn't really an option to stay home but I also don't want to. Sure I would like to stay home and get paid - but since that isn't reality I am happy I have a good job to return to and I hope Greta will succeed and continue to flourish at the sitters. My biggest transition will be to get ourselves out of the house on time, dressed in something other than a yoga outfit or pjs and ensure I don't have baby food splattered on my outfit! I really am concerned, but we just have one baby, many families are doing it on their own or with multiple kids so surely if I survived a year of motherhood I can survive getting ready and be on time for work! Unfortunately I finally got use to my current gig and am in a groove at last (just took 11 months), so change at this moment isn't quite welcome, but we'll do it!!! I will LOVE getting up at 5:30am. HA! What I am looking forward to is dress up clothes, high heel shoes, dangling earrings, adult conversations, listening to something other than Treehouse cartoons in the background, Greta's dirty diapers being changed my someone else, but also will look forward to pick up time and making the best of the time we have before bedtime. I'll look forward to my back to work present from Darren and already counting down the days to my first compressed Friday off.

So, stay tuned the adventures of Gail and Greta may take on a whole new meaning as we have a soon to be one year old in the house and a back to work Mommy. I can't end my year at home without thanking those who made efforts to support us, lend a hand, listen, chat and be a friend. Never underestimate the power of a phone call, a visit, a text message, an email or a Facebook comment, those who were there this year and who Greta has gotten to know made our year at home that much better. Greta will miss seeing her little friends, but don't fret - the weekends and every 2nd Friday off will be made to count, she can still do some play dates and her birthday is coming...will have to have her buddies over for some cupcakes!

Toodles.

Happy Anniversary Blog!

Happy Anniversary to my Blog - 1 year and 3 days ago, Gail and Greta's Blog became reality, my days of maternity leave were just starting, and out of boredom I thought I would write a few tidbits of my experiences. Where did the year go, how is it possible I have been away from work for a full year, or better yet, how did I survive - if you start from the beginning of the blog - survival was really not expected. I am happy to say - if I can survive a year of motherhood, and maybe more importantly, Greta has survived almost 11 months - Anybody can succeed! I had never changed a diaper, passed babies back to their mothers when they cried, squirmed, looked annoyed, puked, stunk....and that is now my life. I'm not saying it's all fun - Greta's diapers can still make my hair stand up straight and make me gag, there are moments of sheer frustration, sleep deprivation thankfully hasn't been much of an issue - but when it does it - it royally sucks, my shopping habits have changed from spoiling myself to spoiling a little girl because there are too many cute things to buy and life as we knew it as DINKs ( Dual Income No Kids ) has been forever changed. It has been quite a journey, a year of ups and downs all made better by a sweet little girl who we never dreamt would be part of our lives, but here she is, learning something new every day, charming those around her with her (usually) pleasant personality and cute looks, not to mention her stylish wardrobe. And sadly, just as life is starting to be fun and structured and easier - I have to return to work. Why does work have to get in the way. I really think babysitters / daycares should take the babies from birth to lets say 4 or 5 months of age, then our year of Maternity Leave should start - the first few months are a tad rough, but after a few months when you realize hey, I think the child likes me, I think I may like her - I think we will survive - then the fun begins. It is going to be a tough transition, I do hope Greta will succeed at the sitter, I'm sure she will, I'm not fooling myself to think I'm the greatest fun person out there, I'm sure there are days she is bored out of her mind with me and will thrive in a new environment, but I'm wondering how in the heck I will survive. Not emotionally, I'm ready for the sitter transition, I'm wondering how in the heck I'm going to get out of my pjs in to REAL clothes - not pjs to yoga outfit - and out the door, make up and hair presentable and to the office by 7am. UMMM, I am going to have to practice next week, even setting an alarm, oh my it seems like such a tough challenge, motherhood was nothing compared to this latest hurdle, I have to get up and out the door again and this time, I have a baby to organize as well. I know others do it, so it will happen, but sitting here typing it seems so impossible!

Another thing about this year flying by - I still have things on the TO DO list that didn't get done - I had a full year and the closets are not all cleaned out and organized, my French Tapes I bought a few weeks before Greta was born to improve my speaking ability are still sealed (actually I am not even sure where in the house they are), the gardens I thought I would work on have seen the seasons pass by and my hands maybe pulled out 50 weeds (and that was just last night), the yard sale I planned on having last summer, and then this spring - not yet reality, oh, the list goes on and on. I did accomplish a lot though, so it wasn't a year of being home and just playing and surviving with Greta. We finally renovated the kitchen which has been on my TO Do list since we moved (Happy Anniversary to our house this week too), painted the remaining rooms in the house that were in need of a reno, bought a new vehicle, two trips to the States, made a lot of purchases over the year some out of want others out of need...to really look at the past 12 months, it is amazing what has been accomplished. I am so happy I was picture and video happy - some may say obsessive, but with a poor memory like mine and family & friends who don't see Greta on a regular basis people have been able to share Greta's year with us, as a bonus, it allows me to update the baby book with some accuracy, as the many firsts she accomplished are captured in pictures and every once in awhile I realize they should be transferred to the baby book! So for the Mama's to be - there is never such a thing as TOO many photos, I can look back and recall the first bath, first smile, first scoot across the floor, first kiss from the dog, first wave, first food, you name it - it has been captured - if I didn't have all the picture albums, I wouldn't have believed it all happened!

My only regret this year (some may assume I have more - but I really don't - things happen for a reason, people enter and exit your life for a reason and I have zero regrets about that) but my biggest regret has been the time I have missed because of my health. Greta didn't deserve to have a sick Mommy, no child does. The poor little thing I am sure thinks the Doctors and Specialists in my life are her family, besides my Mother, she has seen them more than all the other relatives combined. She has never made shy with any Dr's or office staff members - WHY, because they see her weekly! They have watched her grow and always love to see her, I am not sure what they will do when she is at the sitter and I show up alone - I have a funny feeling the first comment will be "Where is Greta!" In her short life, I just completed my 4th Biopsy, had what feels like my 100th blood test and 50th medical appt, I should be glowing from all the scans and Xrays I have had, I have 10 hospital visits under my belt, 3 specialists and lets be kind and say about 5 wrong diagnosis (although that was just a week span at the QEH, so I assume it is much more). I have seen some wonderful nurses and some dreadful ones, some knowledgeable Dr's and some who I think found their medical degree in a Cracker Jack Box, I can definitely say, the best thing that has happened was landing in the Moncton Hospital during a recent shopping trip / visit as Greta just may have a Mommy who will have some answers and a new medical team who is going to try to fix me. I have been quite fearful at times and shed many tears thinking I wouldn't be here to see her first birthday, but I think we just may make it! I am thankful for my Mother who has had to make so many trips to PEI to help because I was in the hospital or heading for tests, and to Darren who continually has to take time off to watch Greta or me...I have been worried his work would not believe him, surely no one needs to see this many Dr's, I feel like I should send his bosses my medical charts as proof..ha!

So, that is a quick review of my thoughts today. Greta is trying to climb up the couch, and getting impatient..must run - will spell check later...so deal with the mistakes for a bit!!!

Toodles.

Run, Run, Run

Just a quick video to share today, thought it would put a smile on a few people's faces, both the animal and kid lovers. I love Greta, but I am still in the animal lover category, having one child doesn't mean you all of sudden love a full room of them! We had a hectic few days, Greta had her make or break future vacation trial. We headed to Halifax for Emily's 1st Birthday, due to the lack of our experience packing a full truck load of items for a 10 month old and travelling with Greta for more than a 2 hour drive, we showed up fashionable late, and when I say fashionable I really mean embarrassingly late. ( I think embarrassingly is a word, if not, pretend it is). We struck out in loads of time to hit the one store I really wanted to get to, and to the party, however half way there sickness hit - and it was me. I got car sick - in my new truck, thankfully I yelled to Darren to pull over, as he was driving, however didn't have time to get out of the truck, but phew, had a plastic bag, my other option was my Coach purse and honestly, the truck was going to get it before the purse. Of course, I got sick because I was in the back seat because Greta woke from her 90 minute nap and had no interest in sitting in her seat, so I was in the back feeding her cheerios and playing. SIGH. Lesson #1, my ability to sit in the back seat has not improved since childhood, won't be doing that again. We made it to Truro and had to stop, Greta was hungry, despite us thinking we would have made it to the hotel to feed her, it wasn't to be, so a stop at Wendy's in Truro was a welcome rest. Greta charmed the patrons, 3 people came over to tell her how beautiful she was - of course, she smiled ear to ear as if she knew (which she does), she was waving as people came in and happily shared a baked potato with me (all I thought my stomach could handle). She is now wanting to eat food on her own, quite Miss Independent, so meal time take SOOOOO much longer. Lesson #2, bring more finger foods that don't require 5 minutes to chew for each bite. On to Hfx where she again had no desire to sit in her seat, so I drove, Darren joined Greta in the back seat and thanks to the iPhone, she watched Baby Einstein. Lesson #3, Buy a DVD player for the car, oh, and carry more bags in the car, Darren was feeling car sick too. Finally hit Halifax and we get lost, big surprise, the GPS took as all over town and stupid me, although I thought I knew where the Halifax Shopping Centre was, I listened to the annoying direction of the GPS. Well, 30 minutes later, we finally are at the mall, I run to the one store I need to get to, and it was packed solid, then it took forever to get what I needed. We were so late at this point we decided to not go to the hotel to check in, we changed Greta in to her party dress in the car (not while driving just to ease the minds of the skeptics) and again - got lost... I HATE DRIVING IN HALIFAX. We did however make it to the party to watch the birthday girl open her presents and had a lovely time seeing old friends, as a bonus, despite Greta being wiped and having not slept all afternoon, she didn't embarrass us and we decided to take her home with us - to the hotel. Another great bonus, the hotel stay was lovely, we were all exhausted, the hotel provided a crib for Greta, and she had a wonderful sleep, as did we. Had hoped to get swimming, but not meant to be this trip, we had to pile the truck up and boot it home as I had day surgery booked for Monday and needed to prepare - by starving for my day. Had a quick visit with my dear friend Sherry Lynn, a quick trip to Costco and we were on the road - surprise, surprise 2 hours later than we expected. Overall, Greta may be allowed to vacation again, but we will need to figure out how to entertain her in the car longer, hopefully before the next big adventure she will be facing forward in the car and her DVD player will be hooked to the back seat.

So, that was the weekend, day surgery is over with, now just await the results of the latest biopsy. They had to knock me out so I have no idea what happened, I tried to do the procedures with no sedation, but I recall a scream of pain, and then nothing else, so I assume they said, enough is enough and pumped the drugs in to me. I just hope I didn't swear too much or tell the medical staff off, I've been known to do that fully alert, so lord knows what I could say with sedation.

And, to put a smile on a few faces today, the video I mentioned at the beginning of the blog is below. Enjoy.

Toodles.

What to say...

My Blog is almost 1 year old, which means, it has been almost one year since I started maternity leave, which means my time at home with Greta is quickly...and I mean quickly drawing to a close. I never dreamt the months would have passed by so quickly, I know so many have said it before me, but never has a year passed by so fast. The first few months are a blur. Those "please let these days end" mangled weeks of trials and errors, throw up and full diapers, Dr's appts, googling everything and anything that I worried about, and now we are here - wanting time to turn back just a little. I'm not wanting to stay home...I haven't changed that much, well, let me rephrase, I'd love to stay home but I still want to be paid, and since that won't happen, I must return to work to support my shopping habit and pay for the things I want. Time is ticking....

I do have one great worry - well, a few. I am still not the healthiest chick on the block, I'm heading back to the OR on Monday for a little exploration - the Dr's version of we don't have a damn clue what is wrong with you, but we are going to put you through three dreadful procedures to see if we can rule out a few more things. I am convinced there is just going to be one disease or organ left and they'll say - that is it. I am just hoping it's not during an autoposy. Not to sound morbid, but I'm rolling in to 6 years of the Specialists trying to determine why I have auto immune diseases and how many organs it has affected. I found a new medical site (against Dr's orders to stay off of them) and it asked for my symptoms - I was to click on the body parts, well, it wouldn't allow me to choose anymore after 6, lets just say, not the best site I have found!

A few fun things to report, I made it back to New Hampshire. Darren and Greta had a Daddy Daughter long weekend and I shopped til I dropped - literally. On a whim, the day before the trip I bought a new SUV, quickest decision I ever made - it will hit me once the payments start to roll out of my account that it may have been a crazy one, but thus far, I'm really liking the truck. And it allowed me to fill it with lots of USA buys. The weather was amazing, truly summer like, the deals were great as always and the retail therapy actually made me feel pretty good health wise. Since returning home I found the week just few by. Greta had her first hair cut, a little bob! She was such a good client, phew, didn't need her banned after her first appt.

So a hodge podge of info tonight, no real topic, will write more when I can think of something worth chatting about. Must run, despite it being 11pm, I hear a little gal crying..SIGH. Does she not realize I'm wiped...our little gal who slept 12 hours through the night has resorted to have an evening wake up between 11 and 12 each night...only for 10 minutes or so, but holy...I hope it ends soon.