Tuesday, December 21, 2010

What a Day!

I have been dreading this week for weeks. It's Christmas vacation for the kids in school so I have been anticipating having 5 kids here all week. Two of them (Wesley and one other girl) tend to have temper tantrums so that adds to the fun too. I knew it could get ugly. I've been preparing activities and crafts to help keep everyone busy and entertained throughout the days.

Well one little boy has been sick the past two days so he hasn't been here. Of course, he's such a sweet little guy that he's pretty easy and fun to have around. But yesterday I managed to keep everyone happily entertained throughout the day and things went pretty smoothly. I was hoping for a similar day today.

We got off to a pretty good start today. We worked on a cool craft and then went downstairs to play. I thought I'd make a quick trip down to the bathroom while the kids were heading downstairs. However, by the time I got to the stairs (less than one minute) I could hear the girls calling out to me that Wesley had been hurt. I ran down the stairs and saw Wes lying on the floor with one of his legs at a weird angle. He was lying face down so my first thoughts were of his leg. I gently rolled him over and saw that his eyes were rolled up. I checked his leg and it was limp. I called his name and he tried to look at me. I knew right away that it could be something serious so with Nick and work and me at home with 4 kids I felt the best thing to do would be to call 911, so I did. Then I called Nick and got him on his way home.

By this time Wesley was completely conscious and crying. A lot. I never saw him completely unconscious but I wasn't there when he was first hurt so I can't say for sure. He had apparently been crouching behind our Klik Klak couch and Darcy was sitting on the couch. She got up and leaned back, which kicked in the Klik Klak mechanism and the couch laid down, with Wesley underneath. That knocked him over and he hit his head on the floor. We've got a nice carpet with a super-thick pad underneath but it seems he still hit pretty hard. His altered consciousness lasted less than 15 seconds and then he was crying hard.

The paramedics soon arrived and were concerned but not freaking out. That really helped me to calm down. Nick arrived by taxi soon afterwards and we decided to be careful and have Wesley taken to the hospital by ambulance. We could have taken him to a hospital or clinic on our own but the paramedic seemed to feel that the ambulance would be better in case he started vomiting or lost consciousness on the way. Nick went with him while I stayed at home with the girls.

Well, he was apparently laughing, joking and singing in the "ambulance truck". They didn't have to wait terribly long at the hospital before he was seen. The doctor gave him a good checking out and she felt he didn't require any further testing. They said that when consciousness is lost for more than a minute they get concerned but because his was so short it wasn't as much of a concern. He needs to take it easy for a bit, but he seems to be just fine. A man from our church is an emergency room doctor at the children's hospital and he popped in too. He said everything this first doctor said and they were on their way. The girls and I drove over to the hospital to pick them up and he was his normal, silly self all the way home. He's been fine since he got home.

We've now pushed the couch against the back wall to make sure that nothing like this happens again.

On a completely unrelated note, tonight before bed Darcy and I started reading "Anne of Green Gables" together. She has a young readers version (that is probably still a bit beyond her comprehension) so that's where we're starting. We read the first chapter tonight and she didn't want to stop. At the end of the first chapter you still don't know if Matthew and Marilla are going to keep Anne or not. She was pretty worried about that. I reminded her that the name of the book is, "Anne of Green Gables" and that Matthew and Marilla live at Green Gables so it looks promising. We're looking forward to reading more tomorrow night.

So that's been our exciting day. I would much rather have dealt with some fighting and temper tantrums, but we're really glad that Wesley is OK.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Still Here

Although I'm sure there's no one checking anymore.

Since opening my home daycare in October, time for blogging is really limited. These guys keep me super busy all day so sitting down to the computer is not a luxury I have much time for anymore.

In mid-October I started with one family, with a 3-year old son and a 6-year old daughter, just like our kids. It was a really great fit and things started off really well for the most part.

The big problem has been Wesley's adjustment. He has been used to having me all to himself and doing what he likes throughout the day, so having another little guy around all day long was a bit of a shock to his system. He also wasn't big on sharing his toys all the time. For the first few weeks it seemed that he spent more time in time out than he did playing. But as time went on he seemed to get used to it and was doing a lot better.

Then we added another girl to the mix and it started all over again. The new girl can be a bit bossy and is the youngest sibling with teenaged brothers. She is really not used to having little guys around and doesn't like it much. It has caused some real problems. She and Wesley are like oil and water. He can do great all day long but then he freaks out as soon as she joins us at the end of the day. I'm still trying to figure out how to get both of them be a bit more patient with each other.

It's been an interesting adjustment for all of us, but we're still pretty sure that this is the right choice for our family right now.

Aside from that, we're settling in for our first winter in Ottawa. We got our first snow on Halloween, and have had little bits here and there since then. Last night was our first real dumping of snow. And wouldn't you know it, Nick is out of town so all the shoveling is up to me. We drove the girls to school this morning and then the boys and I came home to do the shoveling. It was good fun. We followed it up with some yummy hot chocolate and it made for a pretty great morning all around.

Nick is in Windsor for a couple of days settling up a case he was involved in before we left Windsor. Weather permitting he will be home around midnight tonight. He's staying with Jerilee and Fred so I'm pretty bummed about that.

I think that's our update for now. I will keep updating from time to time, so please keep checking back if you're still out there!