I'm from here...

Random person at get-together: "So, we just got posted here from Comox, and I have to say, this is the shittiest shit hole we've ever been.  This place is, like, horrible.  And the people?  OMG.  Total hicks.  You should hear them speak.  They speak so weird!   And have you heard about the South Mountain?? Like, wow!!  So, where are you from?"

Okay, so maybe the dialogue isn't exactly like that... and maybe they're not always from Comox (but, in case you didn't know, Comox is the most amazing place on earth, just ask someone from there!) but the conversations I find myself involved in as a military wife often go a lot like that.  I usually try to keep quiet, and refrain from hick-popping them in the head (let's make that a real thing!), until they ask that inevitable question... and then my answer is usually enough to shock them into silence.

Me: "I'm from here.  And by the way, it's scallllop."

Can I just say that I personally think that Valley peeps are some of the friendliest around?!  I mean, I'm fucking friendly!!!  And the Valley is awesome!  Sure, a lot of us try to escape it, but I think we all desperately miss it, and truly love it deep down.  I moved away once... for a whole 10 months.  And then I came back, and have been here ever since!

I grew up in a military family, but I was lucky enough to spend my entire life here in Nova Scotia.  I was born at the (old) Kentville hospital, lived in Upper Clements until I was 6, and then spent the rest of my life in Kingston.  I met Danny when I was 19, at the time when we still went to the Top Hat on Friday  nights, and the atmosphere there between military and "local" folks was pretty disturbing.  I'm sure Danny has had to defend his dating - and then marrying - a local girl more than once.

I understand that getting posted here from somewhere more exotic may be a culture shock.  But it also seems like people these days are so judgy.  They have their minds made up before they get a chance to really know a place.  Or a person, for that matter.  Any place is only as good as you make it.  Danny and I could be posted to the North Pole, and have to live in an igloo, but I know that as long as we support each other in a positive way, we'd get along just fine... I mean, we'd probably fight because I'd always be turning up the heat, and he'd be leaving the igloo window open, but we'd still make the best of it!

The Valley (and Greenwood) has so much to offer!  Beautiful views, spectacular drives, and hey! we even have a Walmart now!!   Anyway, the moral of this story is... I'm from here.  And here is awesome!

Back to the Blog... Oh, how I've missed you!

I'm baa-aaack!  It's been a long, lonely two months without you, Mr. Blog!  So many stories lost and forgotten, so many teachable moments, never to be shared.  You see, I broke my computer a while ago... the screen lost the thing-a-ma-jiggy that keeps it open on its own.  So I had to rest the screen against something to keep it open.  The wires were exposed, and it was a precarious situation... and of course, one night I knocked the screen off the box of wine it was resting on, and apparently severed some sort of wire inside the thing that made it possible to connect to the internet.  The only time I had internet access was when I was sitting directly in front of our wireless router.  And thus, the death of my laptop.  It was now a floppy, useless tool.  I was forced to used my tablet thing-a-ma-jiggy to blog, and that was not working for me, since I type 100+ words per minute, and it was a touch screen. Even after my parents got my the connectable keyboard thingy (can you tell how much I love technology) for Christmas, it was much better, but still unable to keep up with my fingers.  Not to mention, the screen was only 8 inches, and, let's admit it ladies, 8 inches just isn't enough!

But now I have a very pretty, shiny, new, blue laptop.  And when I type, letters appear.  Like, all of them!  It's fantastic.  So I can write again!

But where to start... where. to. start.  You've already missed so much!  Gracie's ongoing conversations with God.  Her 4th birthday.  The 238 times Ella has told us about her last birthday party, and about her coming birthday party.  That's right, 238 times.  Cause she talks about it every freaking day.  And it's been 238 days since her birthday!  There has been so much excitement!  So much asshole-ness from the kids!  So many new things learned by the little mister. And I can hardly remember any of them.  Apparently mommy-brain is in full swing, because I can barely remember to feed the kids these days!

It seems like it's been such a long, cold winter!  I know the snow didn't officially start until the end of January, but it seriously feels like we've been house-bound for months!  I cannot wait to start seeing some green grass.  Or even some brown dirt.  I'd even settle for the piles of dog poop buried under the snow!  I love winter, but I'm done with this shit.  Except, of course, for the 25+ centimetres they're calling for on Tuesday.  Then, seriously, I'm done!

One thing I've noticed this winter, with the girls not being in daycare, is the lack of plague-like illnesses around our house.  Except that one time that Nanny visited and brought all the sick germs with her, we've managed to avoid so many of the winter-time illnesses that we've gotten used to over the past four years.  After Nanny left that time, Ella got sick, and poor Jax got sick, but Gracie managed to avoid it.  Ella has yet to yarf, ever, and I think we've avoided the flu again this year (yay!).  Jax had a nasty, congested cold, and of course being too young to know how to blow his nose, it was a solid two weeks of nastiness running down his face.  Then, two weeks ago, Jax and Gracie both spiked fevers out of nowhere, Jax's man-cold came back, and poor Gracie had one nasty barfing episode and then felt fine (except for the 3 days of unexplained fever).  Jax stayed miserable for about 5 solid days... and I hid at my sister's house during the days to have back-up for the nasty attitude.  Babies are so much easier to tolerate in their miserableness when you have witnesses around.  Plus, my kids think Aunt Tricia is so simple and entertaining, and she can make even the crankiest of kids laugh!

After 5 solid days of crying and whining, I considered taking Jax to the doctor to have him checked out.  Except that on day 6, he woke up and was feeling much better... or so I thought!  The day his whining stopped was also the day I noticed his appetite slowed.  On Tuesday, he only drank about half his usual amount of formula.  On Wednesday, he barely finished any of his bottles, and only picked at his food.  On Thursday, he refused to drink his afternoon and evening bottles, and hardly ate any real food.  On Friday, he wouldn't drink any bottles, and would only eat strawberries and bananas..  When he woke up Saturday morning with a mostly-dry diaper, I knew I had to get the little man to the hospital.  I'm a fantastic potty-trainer, but not even I would take credit for a 9-month old not wetting through the night.  I tried to give him his usual morning bottle, and he screamed and screamed and screamed.  I woke up Danny, told him we were headed to the hospital, and off we went.

To make a long story short, our littlest man had a very nasty double ear infection, and his throat was raw and sore.  The doctor said every time he tried to swallow, pressure would build up in his ears, and cause excruciating pain.  Hence, the refusal of any sort of bottle, fluid, or food.  The good news was that when Jax cried, he cried tears, which meant he wasn't dehydrated.  Yet.  The doctor was very concerned about the lack of wet diapers, and his refusal of any food or drink.  She dosed him up with some pain medication, and offered freezies.  Apparently, even the sickest and crankiest of babies love frozen sugar!  He ate three freezies, and the doctor told me she would let me take him home.  She gave strict instructions on diet (liquid only for the next three days - freezies, soup, gatorade, watermelon, and jello), and gave 10 days of antibiotics, and motrin for pain every 8 hours, day and night, for three days.

We are now at the end of day three, and I would say Jax is just about back to his normal self.  Saturday evening, he had his first wet diaper, which made me dance and sing a pee-song.  Today, he started pooping again.  I did not dance about this... it's been 6 poops... enough already!  He took his first bottle yesterday evening, and has had all of them so far today.  Believe it or not, this is our first experience with an ear infection, the other two have not had the pleasure.  The worst thing about being a baby, is it's hard to tell if he's getting teeth, just being a pain in the ass, or is in genuine pain.  He can't tell us, and by the time we realized that it was not just regular fussiness, he was on the verge of dehydration, and nearly admitted to the hospital.   Thank heavens he recovered quickly and is back to his usual self!

Oh!  In all of the chaos that has been this winter, this little boy also turned 9 months old! Crazy how time flies!  He is scooching all over the place (we've never actually seen him scooch, but every time we look up, he's in a different location), pulls himself up to the furniture, waves, claps, and stands by himself (until he realizes, of course, that he's standing by himself - then he falls).  He'll be on the move soon enough, and I can't wait!  He is adorable, super chatty, and is the chillest of all my babies.  Speaking of my other babies... they are a little less adorable these days!  I have one smack dab in the middle of the terrible-twos, and one who is four.  I don't think there's a title for the terrible-fours, but I'ma create one.  Next time.  For now, we can focus on the adoreableness of the little mister!  :)

At the hospital, waiting for his freezie!

After some pain medication and a few freezies, he was feeling much, much better!