Blog a Day

I’ve seen so many people increase their daily blogs and vlogs, so now I’m not following in their footsteps.  Having this blog is a great place to share and vent what’s going on.  I did so well keeping up with this before I had my daughter and I really need to get back to this.  I’m not sure what I’m going to talk about, if I’m going to put themes to this or not, but stay tuned and you will find out soon enough! J

More on 2011

In my last post, I talked about Brianna getting croup. I felt so bad for that poor little girl, I wished that I could have had it for her.

That following Monday, we were off of work for Martin Luther King's birthday. One of the perks of my job is that I get off alot of the "school" holidays, since I work for a test publishing company. Unfortunately, I spent most of the day suffering from a nasty migraine headache. I tried everything to get it to go away, but nothing would work.

The next morning I woke up and while the headache itself was gone, I still felt really weak and "off". Had it just been myself, I could have easily gotten up and forced myself to work that day. However, I had to get little miss to school, and to be honest, I just didn't feel comfortable driving in the car with her, for fear that I would be in an accident. So, I called in sick.

Later that evening, I received a call from my mom that grandma was in the hospital and it wasn't looking good. Turns out she had pneumonia and had been taken by ambluance earlier that day. When I talked to my mom, she was out of the ER and was in ICU, being pumped full of antibotics. I asked my mom "had she been sick when Dad she her on Sunday" and when he saw her, she was fine, no sickness at all. We decided that it was best not to visit her that night and allow her some time for the medicine to do it's thing. Grandma was a fighter and I knew that if she could, she would work hard to fight this. However, it was up to her and God, and I prayed so hard that night.

Next morning, went to work as usual. Got a call around 9:30 a.m. from my mom and said that Grandma wasn't doing well. She had to wear a C-PAP mask and if she didn't have it on, her breathing would become labored after 30 minutes. I was faced with the hard reality that Grandma probably wouldn't make it through the day. I tried to keep going about my day as best I could.

I went home for lunch to get away from the craziness and try and clear my head. I'm lucky enough to be close to home, so I will do that every once in awhile. Just I was starting to get ready to head back to work, I get a call from my dad, who is calling on his cell phone. I knew right away that this wasn't going to be a good call. He told me that she had asked to stop all medications and treatments, and quite literally, "pull the plug". If I had wanted to see her, now was the time. So, I called my boss and told her what had transpired and that I was headed to the hospital.

When I got there, I immediately went to see Grandma. She was trying to talk, but it was difficult to understand her. Through my tears, I told her that it was okay to go and that we would all be ok. Shortly after 4:00, they stopped the machines and gave her medicine to make her feel comfortable. She was essentially in hospice care. Right around 5:00, she simply stopped breathing and just went to sleep. She was surrounded by her two children, my dad and my aunt, along with my mom and uncle and myself. It truly was one of the most beautiful moments in my life. She was at peace with her decision and she just went to sleep.

She had lived for 93 years and led a wonderful life. More about that later....

My blonde moment for the week

Got an email earlier in the week about the birthdays that my Facebook friends were having.  Looking through the list because I can’t remember everyone’s birthdays.

So I noticed that Bill’s uncle has a birthday today.  Then, reading on, I noticed that his aunt’s birthday was today also.  I thought to myself “That’s cool…Aunt Betty and Uncle Jim share the same birthday how cool is that that a brother and sister share a birthday”…….

 

Wait for it….

 

 

 

 

 

YUP, they are twin brother and sister!!

 

2011

So, here we are halfway through 2011 and my first question is “How the hell did that happen?”  Seriously, it was New Year’s like a second ago…right?  RIGHT??

Ok, freakout over.  Back to your regularly scheduled blog.  To say that 2011 has been a wonderful year with no problems or struggles, would be a bold face lie.  But it has had it’s good points!  So grab a snack and enjoy the read.

The suckiness factor kicked in right away...on January 5^th,  we received word that my brother-in-law’s grandmother passed away at the age of 94.  Some may so “wasn’t your grandma”…true, she wasn’t but in a way she was.  K&P (sister and brother-in-law) have been married for 16 years and I have known GG since then.  She sold wedding invitations as a side business, so she insisted on taking care of ours when we got married.  She and my Grandma were good friends and she was half of the “Yentas”.  You see, it was GG and GE (my grandma) that introduced my sister and her husband. 

Then the following week, Brianna got sick.  At first we thought it was a bladder infection, but that came back clear and we were told it’s a virus and it just had to run its course.  The next morning, I stayed home with her and the poor little girl had no voice.  My girl, who has inherited my gift of gab, sounded so awful and had this awful barking cough.  Broke my heart.   As the night went on, she kept sounding worse and about 8:00 it seemed as if she was really struggling to breathe.  So, we got dressed and off to the ER we went.  Luckily, we got in quickly…and she has croup.  Breating treatment + 2 year old = one FUN night (note sarcasm here).  We ened up leaving the ER around midnight…neither Mommy or Daddy slept well that night because we were worried that she would have more problems.  After a few days, she became her little silly self all over again…

More to come later…

 

Need to get back to blogging

It has been way too long.  I was a faithful blogger before my daughter was born.  Besides having a newborn, turned infant, then turned toddler, so much has gone on these past few years!  I’m going to start with this year and work my way back in time.  Just you wait and see!!

 

 

Holy Cow...Long Time No Update

I really need to get better about updating my blog.  I realize that my “fan” list is short, but there are times when I want to express my thoughts and feelings, but don’t know where to go.  It may be an issue that I don’t want posted out on Facebook (which I am completely addicted to).

 

For my first entry back into society, I am posting something that was copied to me from a friends blog… www.erinweed.com  Erin and I are high school classmates and she is the Director and founder of Fight Back Productions.  Enjoy!

 

Do you have a flaky friend who is constantly re-scheduling a coffee date? Or a pal that seems to avoid making plans in the first place? Do you start finding yourself feeling bitter towards these people, or even talking smack about them to others because this hurts your feelings? In many of these instances, the outcome is not desirable. Maybe the smack-talkin’ gets back to the “disser” (person doing the dissing), or the “dissee” (person getting dissed) ends the relationship abruptly and (seemingly) for no good reason.  Avoid writing off a friend that you truly care for, until you’ve tried setting a boundary first.  The outcome may surprise you.

I’m finding the phenomenon of “flaky friends” is becoming more and more common, as our lives get busier, technology overwhelms us, work gets more demanding and we try to dissect this whacked concept of work/life balance. (Which by the way, I’m convinced is a total farce). Something’s gotta give.  Especially for women, it can be hard to set clear boundaries about our expectations and desires in both personal and business relationships. I believe that many of us lack the basic skill of boundary setting, which leaves us feeling bitter and powerless.  And it’s not surprising so many of us lack this skill, because for most people, we’ve never been taught to use clear communication! In many cases, we’ve been encouraged to do just the opposite.

Here are some tips on how to use verbal boundaries. Ideally these boundaries are set in person or over the phone, but they can be written as well. Just be VERY careful about the written boundaries, because without the tone or inflection of voice, words can be misinterpreted quite easily.

• #1: Have empathy. I believe most people want to do the right thing. Especially if this is a true friend, they don’t want to hurt you. Chances are they are totally overwhelmed, and they cancel on your because you’re the most likely person to forgive them.
• #2: Feel flattered. In many cases, people cancel or postpone because they want to give you QUALITY and undivided attention. Unfortunately in these busy times, finding that kind of time is rare, which leads to an endless string of postponements.
• #3: Be direct, yet compassionate. When it’s time to set a boundary, keep it short, sweet  and direct. Express your feelings and appreciation and move on. But also have compassion for their busy situation. This compassion will surely be reflected right back at you.
• #4: Don’t guilt and use “I” statements. Using guilt to get anything is not only manipulative, there is no long term benefit for anyone. They may begrudgingly agree to your wants in the short term, but may also start to resent you. Using “I” statements instead of “You” accusations creates a non-threatening tone for the conversation.
• #5: Make lighthearted suggestions, not demands. People are very receptive to ideas when they are presented as something to think about, or as a reasonable change of course.  Ultimatums don’t work among friends, because they are forced.  And just because you’re setting a boundary doesn’t mean you have to be all scary and intense.  Be able to laugh at your mutual inability to spend a little time together. Life can be ridiculous…and laughing at “life” takes away any feelings of blaming the other person. (Even if it’s blatantly their fault…you’re gonna need to let it go if the goal is to salvage the friendship.)

Example Conversation: Good friend keeps postponing that long overdue martini to catch up on life. Maybe you say…

“I know how busy you are. Frankly I don’t know how you have time to do it all! That said, every time we set a date and it gets cancelled at the last minute, it’s not a good use of everyone’s time. So I have an idea…let’s make a pact to be realistic with our time, and only schedule dates that we’re going to stick to, even if the house is burning down. Realistically, maybe that’s just once a year, but I’d rather our face time be less frequent if it means we both can really count on it.  You are a person I truly want to spend time with, and life is too short to miss out on laughs with good friends! How does that sound to you? <THEY AGREE, IT SOUNDS GOOD> Oh, that works for you? Great! Well let’s look at our calendars and figure out a time to make this godforsaken martini happen already!” *laugh*

Try this with someone in your life – I’d love to hear your comments on how it went.  Obviously there may be a million other reasons why someone might keep postponing on you, but this strategy usually works if the person is purely busy and disorganized.  If they are actively trying to avoid you for some reason, that’s a whole other blog post.  It also might be handled differently in a professional setting.  That topic is coming soon. Running a company of 20 people (nearly all of them female) I think I have some good insights to share!

 

 

 

http://www.erinweed.com/2010/01/27/setting-boundaries-with-flaky-friends/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+erinweed+%28Erin+Weed%27s+Blog%29&utm_content=Yahoo!+Mail

Whoops...been too long

It's been almost 4 months since I've last posted on here. Last time I posted, it was just the start of summer. Now, fall is in the air, I'm thinking about someone's first birthday as well as Halloween and then the other holidays that follow. This year has flown by.

I'm having a rough time this week...it was one year ago that Grandpa really started to get sick. This was the beginning of the end. He had gone in for his routine swallowing test and it was discovered that he had not been able to swallow, and therefore, had not been getting any nourishment for a few weeks. During that time, I felt so helpless, because I was so close to the birth of my little girl, that traveling was out of the question.

More to post later...

Trying this out from my mobile phone.

7 months...

Brianna is now 7 months old. I can't believe how fast these past 7 months have gone. I look back at the pictures of her first few hours, days and weeks, and it seems like a blur! She has changed so much and I love looking at life through her eyes. I can't remember life before her...I completely love being a mother!

She is not crawling as of yet, but not without trying. She understands that the arms need to move and the legs need to move, just hasn't realized that they both need to move at the same time! Ha ha. She loves to roll around and that is her main method of transportation.

Last week, we started her on baby food. We had started on cereal a few weeks back and she didn't seem a big fan of that. So far, we have successfully made it through sweet potatoes and bananas. We are going to do a vegetable, then a fruit, until we've gone through all of them.

That's about it for now...