Uncle Fester and sharepoint

Dear Uncle Fester,

Have I ever told you how much I hate Sharepoint? I have to use this software for work and it is so NOT user friendly. I use it like twice a year, for the principal's prize and the lifetime achievement award, and I had to work with it today to finalize the access levels and it took me like 25 minutes to figure out how to remove access for people who are no longer on the adjudication committees. Uploading the dossiers is fine and easy; granting access to individuals is another matter and the access is selective so it is a total pain in the butt:(

Anyway, Ronnie's first week of day camp is done and she seems to have recovered from her dental surgery fairly well. Emma has also recovered from her babysitting duties. At least we didn't get any phone calls of her (or the kids) crying. Marcy and I were talking this morning and apparently she made quite the impression on her daughter Linden. She has been telling stories about "Emma did this and Emma said that". She said they might call Emma back during the summer to see if she is willing to sit the kids again. 

I'm very proud of her!!

I must admit Uncle Fester that I am very tired so I will be signing off. I want to eat some popcorn and drink my hot coco.

'til next time.

Uncle Fester and a day of firsts

Dear Uncle Fester,

We were up very early yesterday, 4:30am to be precise, for Ronnie’s dental surgery.  Actually, truth be told, Ronnie woke us up at 12:30am as she was a tad upset: you would be a little upset as well if you had to push out 2lbs poops on a weekly basis:)  Anyway, Brian crawled into bed with her in the hopes of settling her down but she was very fussy after that; frankly who can blame her?

Anyway, yes we were up at 4:30am and out of the house by 5:45am. Arrived at the Montreal Children’s Hospital at 6:30am and Ronnie finally got called in just after 8:00am.  I have to admit that although we’ve been through this a couple of times with the girls it is very stressful situation to watch your child being wheeled into an operating room no matter the reason. You wonder (at least in this situation) how much Ronnie understands. We explained what was going to happen and I know she understands more than she can communicate but stil…

Fast forward to 10:15am and we got the call that she was done. Four cavities were filled, two teeth were extracted (with one stitch) and her front teeth have been filed down to fix the broken tooth and the fissures that were starting in the other tooth. Oh, and her teeth have been cleaned. She has white teeth again.

We got around at 12:30 and Ronnie slept until about 4:30pm. The poor kid was so out of it, it’s kinda funny but not really. We gave her some advil to help with the pain (she was practically chewing her arm off) and I think it helped.  I know she’s OK but I’ll feel better when she’s back to being herself.

On the flip side, Emma had a great time baby-sitting. Her day went really well and she had fun and the kids like her. Liam, the boy, started off by asking her what detention was like? Kid has an interesting future ahead of him.

Oh, and we got our new (old) truck. Brian and I finally laid the Saturn to rest and bought a 2003 Mazda Tribute. Cool... now Brian can actually wear his seatbelt. Who knew?

Must go to my next meeting Uncle Fester; 'til tomorrow.

Introducing Uncle Fester

So I’ve decided to resurrect this blog but I need to change its focus. The point of starting this was for me to have somewhere to write about how I feel, how I am doing, how my family is doing, our struggles, our failures, our triumphs and our laughter…for me to feel connected and to celebrate the little battles we win on a daily basis. And for me to bitch about the battles we lose ‘cause Lord knows we do some of that as well. 

In order for me to be able to do this with consistency and I hope some success, I cannot write for an unknown audience; it just doesn’t work for me. I need to have an intended recipient even if it’s an imaginary one.  I think I will name this journal Uncle Fester. Why Uncle Fester? I’ll get to that one day. But that day is not today.

So buckle up my sweeties; we are off to the rides.

Dear Uncle Fester,

Today was my first day back at work from a week off. Dare I say it? Why not: I was actually happy to be back at work; weirdJ  Actually, I do enjoy my job. Obviously there are some aspects I enjoy more than others but overall I like working. Having time off is fun for the first couple of days but after that I get lazy. I find it hard to get motivated. For example, I was hoping to clean up the front garden that you, dear diary, are named after but I didn’t get to it. Well, in my defense it was pouring rain for most of the week but between you and me, I fear that even if it had been sunny, the garden would still be weedy. Anyway, I do like working and I like the people I work with.

Today for example Laura (one of my bosses) and I went on a field trip. My other boss (Cynthia) is stepping down from her post in a couple of months and Laura and I are in charge of finding a gift for her. She really likes jewelry and has an artist she visits regularly for handmade pieces. Anyway Laura and I got to step out of the office for a while and meet with her. She had actually made something special for Cynthia which at first I don’t think Laura and I were too thrilled with but the more we looked at it, the nicer it became. I think Cynthia will really like it. And university business was conducted as Laura and I reviewed some work stuff on the drive there and back so it was a win/win. I do so appreciate the fact that I have reached a point in my career that my opinion and comments are listened to – doesn’t always happen when you are an assistant.

Anyway, once we got back to the office, we got to eat cakeJ as it was Mariela’s birthday. Then I stayed to listen to a presentation on her major project and frankly Uncle Fester, I was bored out of my mind. Big mistake; ugh. It’s so boring I don’t even want to tell you about it.

Anyway, tonight I have a meeting with the Board for Ronnie’s day camp. We shall see how the first two days of activities have gone, especially today as I think we were expecting a full house and we are not sure how this coordinator is working out. I think he is a little out of his depth (I’m being polite).

Tomorrow should be an interesting day as well: Ronnie is having dental surgery to repair her cavities and fix the broken front tooth and Emma will be babysitting four kids. I know, four of them – that’s just crazy. Bless her heart that she has agreed to take this on for her first real babysitting job. Ok, so they are not that young (2 x 11 and 2 x 8) but still it is four kids. I hope it goes well for her. And she gets to make a bit of money which she’s happy about.

I actually feel really bad that we won’t be around to provide support or see her off. The kid already feels like she can’t ask anyone for help (long story) but I’d like her to know that she has our support and that we are so very proud of her despite what she may think.

My stop on the train is coming up Uncle Fester so I think I must end this first missive.  Until tomorrow.

Update

Wow, so I just re-read my last post which was in May.  I think I was a little pissed off:)

All joking aside, it was not an easy situation. Things felt very dicey and we were not really sure where to go and what to do.  It was a very scary situation and we tried to handle it as best as we could.

The good news is that things seem to have improved tremendously.  Emma visited a therapist for a bit and it really seemed to help. She still won't tell us what the stressor was that first started her down that road but she seems to have stopped doing it and, best of all, will talk to us know when something bothers her.  I think the fact that she is opening up about somethings is a positive sign.

I still watch her closely and I worry that it will happen again or that some new behaviour will pop up.  So every time she does something new i tend to question it and wonder what self-destructive aspect their is to it but... maybe one day I'll get over it.

Tomorrow is the first day of school so we'll see how she deals with the stress in the first couple of weeks back.  I think we'll have to keep a close eye but try to find a subtle way of doing it or she'll just get pissed off. At least, she somewhat understands that we've earned the right to question.

That's it for now:)

I am pissed off

The last couple of weeks have left me wondering about alot of things including my competencies as a parent.  Just how good a parent are you when both your kids are damaged?  Ok - so Ronnie is not my fault but reality is she is not 'neuro-typical'.  As for Emma, the rational part of my brain says that this behaviour is something she has chosen and that it is not about me but rather herself.  But the emotional part of my brain says 'that's all very nice, but you must have screwed up somewhere for her to think this is normal'. 

I am so angry at her for putting us throught this.  How dare she behave this way and be so selfish as to think that this would not affect us in any way.  Who does she think she is?  She thinks she is so unloved, unimportant, insignificant; that she always gets the short end of the stick because she's 'normal' and her sister is handicaped?  Grow the fuck up!!! Does she have any idea of the sacrifices we have made for her? Does her sister get to take dance classes? Does her sister get to go to movies and buy clothes and hang out with friends? Does her sister get to take karate classes? Does her sister get to hold us hostage to her fucked-up emotions and whims? Does her sister make me uncomfortable in my own home? NO to any of these.

We have bent over backwards to try to make things as normal as possible for kiddo and that is still not good enough. In fact, we've probably neglected some of Ronnie's needs (i.e. fun) to placate her sister and ensure that she is not forced into a public situation she doesn't want to have. And this is the thanks we get?  She cuts herself and then has the fucking balls to tell me it's my fault and to deny total responsibility for it???

I'm at a loss and have no idea how to deal with this anymore.