Piano Recital Pictures

Here are some pictures of Emily's piano recital.  Well, pre-recital.  I didn't really take many pictures at the church since I didn't want to "miss" it because I was viewing it from behind a camera.  And my low quality camera does not take good inside pictures, as you will be able to tell from the last shot.    *On a side note - We are buying a new camera soonish. We used our credit card points for gift cards and they are sitting in my purse.  As soon as I find the right camera we will purchase it.  Anyone have a camera they LOVE?  My want list includes :  a good zoom (we are taking it Disney World, so I would like to be able to zoom in on parades, rides, etc), short delay between taking pictures, and it needs to be small enough to carry around in a bag - not necessarily in a purse, but I don't want a huge SLR either.  Any suggestions?)

Anyway, back to the post about Emily :)

 She requested curly hair.  It was convenient the recital was at night - I braided her hair in three french rope braids and sprayed it with hair spray.  She wore it all day and when I took it out it looked like this.  Emily has really thick hair - once it was all curled it looks more like a mane :)

 A picture of Jacob just to spice it up.  He is a goof. 

 With our outside cat, Jon.  He is a good boy. (the kids named him)

And with "aunt" Janelle :)

4 - 1 = 3

So today is the first day that my blog has gone private.  There really weren't that many of you to add - about 30 or so.  Maybe more will come out of the woodwork, but if my reader list stays small that is fine and dandy with me.

Anyway, on to my first private blog post.

(This post turned out to big WAY longer then originally planned.  If you know why Justin is away, what he is doing and why he is there, feel free to skip to list below :) )

As many of you know, Justin is currently running the DuPont job up in Mississauga.  He is there Monday to Thursday overseeing all the trades posted there by Pro.  He actually is not there to do any electrical work - Justin barely does any electrical anymore - but to do all the controls.  I wish I could explain to you exactly what that means, but I barely understand it myself!  It is very complicated and you need to be very smart and an excellent problem solver to do what he is doing (at least to do it well).  So he is doing his own job, overseeing the electricians and plumbers, going to meetings, scheduling projects and many many other things.  It is hard for him to come home to his family and leave his work in Mississauga.  But he is doing an excellent job.   I hear other wives sometimes complain about the stress that their husbands are under and how it negatively affects their families.  I am thankful for Justin's strength and ability to tuck the stress of his job away and be himself while he is at home with us for the weekend. 

As you can imagine living without your husband for most of the week is a challenge and huge adjustment for all of us.  Justin misses the kids (and me!) while he is away and is sad that each weekend he comes home he can see a noticable change in Jacob.  He carries the stress of knowing that I am here taking on 100% of the parenting and household jobs.

The kids miss him like crazy.  Emily draws lots and lots of pictures for him each week and Jacob frequently tells me he has "lost his daddy".  We take videos through the week and text them to him and usually can FaceTime each night, although sometimes it just doesn't work out.

I probably miss him the most.  The days are long and the evenings are very quiet.  Suppers are eaten in about 5 minutes as there is no one there to share the events of the day with.  On a less emotional side I miss having a husband to take out the garbage, unclog the drain, and recently, catch mice.   

BUT - this is not how this post was supposed to end up!  I logged on to list all the POSITIVE aspects of your husband being away for the week.  Yes, there are SOME positive things to be thankful for.


1 - You can keep the temperature of your house the way YOU like it.

2 - Less laundry, less dishes, less formal meals to make.

3 - When he is home on the weekends we make our time very purposeful.

4 - The house stays WAY WAY cleaner.

5 - Freedom to run errands at any time.  If we want to head to Old Navy at 4:45pm, that's okay!

6 -  As feelings of loneliness increase, relationships with other family members and friends also increase.  I've spent more time with my family and friends in these last few weeks then ever before!

7 - You can talk to your sister on the phone for the entire evening without feeling guilty that you're ignoring your husband.

8 - You can plan surprise projects for him and you have a week to complete them!  This week my mom came out and helped me REALLY revive my gardens. They no longer look overgrown and have flowers and mulch.  Thanks, mom!  Justin has no idea and it will be a nice 'welcome home' surprise.  (He never reads my blog!)

9 - Our grocery bills are lower.  One less man eating food on a daily basis means less groceries to buy!

10-  You get invitied over for supper more frequently because people know Justin is gone! I've had some delicious meals at my mom and dad's recently :)

11-  Your friends husbands (and your dad) try to help fill the gap by helping out with "manly" jobs.

12 - When you are apart all week you miss each other fiercely and are reminded EVERY day how much you love the other person and how thankful you are to have them in your life. 


Justin has already been away for 8 weeks and will be gone another 6 (hopefully no more).  Our time apart does seem to get easier with each passing week.  The kids and I have more of a "when dad is gone" routine and we can get into the swing of it fairly easily.  Thursdays Jacob is a grump all day - that seems to be his breaking point.  We are all looking forward to August 3rd - it can't get here soon enough :)

My baby has grown up.

Wearing her long white dress, hair all in curls, little ballet flats and music books tucked under her arm she no longer looked like my little 5 year old girl.  But then she ran to me and wrapped her arms around my waist and confessed "Mom, I am so nervous about playing in front of all those people. I can't stop thinking about making a mistake."  

She was nervous, I was nervous.  I wanted this first experience to be a good one.  We told her it didn't matter if she made a mistake or two or twenty two.  We would be proud of her for following through and for trying her best.

She did awesome.  Her first piece went incredibly well and she made a few minor mistakes in her second piece (she was supposed to play one octave higher the second time through Twinkle Twinkle and her hands did not land in middle C position - it threw her a bit but she kept going!)

She was the only one to sing (I am proud mama!) and closed the evening with The Goodbye Song that she sings at the end of each lesson.

We are grateful for Janelle, who has taught her with patience and love.  I highly recommend her to anyone looking to enroll their kids in piano!Emily LOVES her and will listen to and cooperate with her 1000 times better than with me.

HFMD

 Hand Foot and Mouth disease.  It sucks.  Big time.  Apparently almost all kids get it because it is SO crazy contagious but most kids get a milder case.  Sometimes parents don't even realize their child has HFM and it clears up without any aggravation to the children (or their parents).  And it gives them immunity when they are older.  I am hoping that was the case with Emily and that she doesn't catch it from Jacob.  Jacob started showing symptoms on Thursday which means he most likely picked it up earlier in the week making him most contagious from about Tuesday - Friday.  Incubation is 7-10 days, so Emily could potentially have it as I type this but her symptoms won't show up for a few more days.  I am praying that is not the case.  She is a horrible sick person.  And this seems like a horrible disease to have.

Jacob has very painful blisters on his chin, hands, feet, bum, and inside his mouth.  They are the worst ones - he has them on his tongue, inside his cheeks, and down the back of his throat.  Over the weekend he ate a few handfuls of pasta and that was it.  Drinking water was painful and he barely drank enough to keep him hydrated.  But today I am very thankful to say that he ate breakfast AND lunch and has had lots to drink.

We took him to the ER on Sunday morning.  I researched HFM online and was fairly certain there was nothing they could do for him, but the lesions were causing him SO much pain that I felt like a horrible mother for sitting and doing nothing.  We tried Epsom salt baths, lidocaine spray, antibiotic with anti itch cream, and cool cloths.  Nothing helped.  The ER doc told me that the pain is actually an "inside out" type of pain so there is nothing topical that will give them relief.  We tried giving him benadryl but again, the DR. told me that an antihistamine really doesn't help with this type of virus.  We would just have to wait it out.

Jacob thought that the antibiotic cream made him feel better and insisted on having it rubbed onto his feet without ceasing from about 10pm to 3am Sunday morning.  I think he just liked the sensation of me rubbing his feet and the coolness of the cream.  As soon as I would stop he would start screaming and rubbing his heals on the carpet, mattress, etc.  Today he has only complained about his feet a few times and can be distracted from the pain fairly easily.  He also slept much better last night and I will attempt to put him down for a nap shortly. 

 Yesterday afternoon I made up a baking soda paste an that seemed to help his feet, but it could just be coincidence.  I am VERY thankful that once your kids has it they won't get it again.  I couldn't imagine doing this every summer/fall (when it's most common).

So we will be quarantining ourselves at home for a bit to prevent spreading this yucky sickness to anyone else!  Jacob will be no longer contagious on Wednesday so hopefully we will be able to get out and about on Thursday.

Peonies

The rain last night caused many of my peonies to become top heavy and their stems to snap. I had no choice but to bring them in and make a lovely bouquet for our dinner table. Terrible. ;).