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Life is Life: Good Intentions and Few Follow Throughs


Looking back at my last blog and I can’t believe it was over a month ago.  I think about writing a lot…but the act of doing is completely different.

These days I find myself numbing my brain in with recorded episodes of The Voice or Real Housewives of New Jersey or Long Island Medium after the girls are in bed.  I wish I was doing something more productive like reading, writing or finishing that afghan I lovingly started for Nola nearly a year ago…

Either way, life has been life.  Full of good intentions and few follow through’s. I know you can relate.  We all have good intentions, good thoughts and usually great ideas that somehow get caught up in the rumble of daily maintenance and things that “need to get done”.  For some reason those good intentions don’t show up in the “need to get done” category.  Maybe they belong there a little more?

The girls have been amazing.  I’ll start with Miss Nola.  Her bossy boots have come on and seldom come off.  She is hilarious and can count to 10.  She loves to sing and is trying her hand at ABC’s…she’s not even three!  Crazy!  She’s going to the bathroom by herself…sigh…and doesn’t do a good job but kudos to her for being Miss Independent!  She loves her baby doll to death and has recently fallen in love with the world of Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse.  Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is a favourite and it’s adorable to watch her sing and dance along with it.  Her vocabulary amazes me but I’m sure it’s nothing spectacular to all of you already parents.  She’s a smart girl but likes to be pretty.  Her hair is done every day, sticker earrings in place and nails painted.  Pink and purple cannot go a day not being worn.  I’ve said it to everyone; “Having a girl is awesome, but having a girl that likes to be pretty is better!”  She’s totally in love with Heidi and the best big sister I could have imagined she’d be.  She’s gentle and kind and forever handing out kisses and hugs.  Best yet, Heidi loves it too.  Also, I’m proud of Nola for doing so well in some swimming lessons.  We enrolled in a mom and tot swim class, “Sea Turtle” and she had a great time.  We went twice a week for a half hour and I was able to leave Heidi in child minding.  Nola blew bubbles and splashed and learned to float on her front and back.  She did very good and is now able to enroll in “Sea Otter” when she turns three.


Heidi is a happy and good natured second born.  She rolls with pretty much anything and lets her sister do what she will.  Heidi is often decorated with necklaces and blankets or offered toys and dolls to play with.  Heidi doesn’t even have to jump herself in the jolly jumper thanks to Nola.  Heidi’s been eating solid foods for about a month and is doing typically well.  She’s a good eater and doesn’t love new things.  The basics are in her: carrots, peas, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cereal.  I’ll move on to fruit, but I am WAY more laid back this time around!  Heidi isn’t a good day time sleeper and I can’t seem to get much more than 45 minutes out of her a time for napping.  The night has been quite grueling too.  Getting up every 2-4 hours has left both of us exhausted…although she still has a smile on her face…  I’ve purchased some Essential Oil Lavender to help her sleep and last night was a remarkable difference.  The child slept beautifully and peacefully for eight straight hours! Hopefully we can duplicate and multiply that nighttime experience!  Her pacemaker is fine for those that wonder; Kevin and I regularly forget she even has one.  We won’t be seeing the Cardiologist until sometime around Christmas.  Heidi’s a healthy but petite 14+ pounds or so and is squirmy and wiggly.  I can’t seem to slow the days down, which saddens me because I LOVE this age.  I’m going to miss this and it will be over far too fast.


Last weekend, Kevin and I practiced some detached parenting and left the girls at my folks place.  We went to Jasper for two nights and enjoyed sleep filled nights and great shopping!  Not to mention uninterrupted meals!  It was a lot of fun and awesome to have my husband all to myself; I know he felt the same!

I’ve been keeping busy with normal wifery/motherly things.  I’m selling Avon and not making money at it but having a good time.  I’m getting my product for free and it gives me a little something else to do in my week aside from the regular playdates and errands.

Opa and Oma celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary and my cousin Stephanie and I planned a little party for them.  To our surprise, all of my Opa’s brothers and sisters came and it was such a heartwarming and wonderful visit.  The travelers spanned from Kelowna to somewhere in Ontario.  It was so fantastic.


Sadly, after the party, I had myself one of my worst Lupus flares.  I had felt it coming on for a few weeks but thought I’d be able to manage.  By the end of that night I knew I was hospital bound.  My joints had become so bad my legs had started to seize and I was having problems breathing.  After supper, when Kevin was able to be with the girls my cousin took me up to the hospital.  I stayed there for some 8 hours and was prescribed a high dose of prednisone.  I am on review right now and will likely undergo a medication upheaval to try new things to help the flares from coming.  It’s a shitty ongoing battle, and let me tell you, chronic pain sucks.

I’ve also been going through some changes regarding my friends.  Not that I’ve had the changes but they sure have.  Some close ladies to me have gone through some abrupt changes in relationships and jobs and living situations.  Their lives have changed drastically which has affected mine too.  Life is in a constant change, that’s for certain.  About two months ago, these ladies were at home with their little ones plugging along and now they are working full time or moved to another town, or about to move away to better the family.  Life has improved! But I sure miss them and find myself looking for other ways to fill the days or actually having to wait to talk to them.  Absence makes the heart grow fonder AND it reminds me that true friends are not affected by time or distance.

Kevin, of course, is great.  He is out working at the moment on a job just east of town.  His 39th birthday was at the end of September and I managed to pull off a surprise party for him.  All our friends and family were able to come and it went without a hitch!  He had no idea until he opened the door! I’m usually terrible at keeping secrets—I often think I’m SO clever for coming up with something that I have to share it because of how amazing I am—but managed to keep it under wraps this time!  I think he appreciated it! It was definitely a good time.


So next week is Halloween and I think Nola is going to be fairy princess.  Not too scary… but I think we’ll just do a few neighbours.  She can be quite a shy little girl, so I think taking her to the mall for their Trick or Treating might be overwhelming to her.  Besides, she does not need a pillowcase full of candy.  Poor girl has her mother’s sweet mouth and would eat candy ‘til the cows came home.


 
That about wraps it up for this installment of Macleod Momentum. We carry on as best we can with what we’ve got.  I’ve been trying hard to pray more and not judge others for decisions they make…hope they give me the same kindness.

All the best. Thanks for reading.
http://www.youtube.com/user/KJMacs08

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