The champ

My son is a champion.  His recovery has been absolutely wonderful.  He's not complaining too much, the first day, yes, but rightly so.  Before surgery, my heart broke a bit because he would not hold my hand going to the OR.  "Mommy I want to walk with the doctors because we are all wearing blue pajamas!"  He walked into the OR and exclaimed "WOW!  Look at all the cool stuff!"  I stayed until he fell asleep, which didn't look like sleep because he was laughing and his eyes were rolling, then kissed his little head and went to sit and watch the clock.  Hubby and I went to the cafeteria for some comfort food, CHEO cafeteria makes this amazing chocolate silk pie!  Mmm..breakfast pie.  When he woke up from surgery he immediately downed two popsicles (if they were handing out free popsicles, he was taking them!) and a glass of apple juice and was super excited when they offered him a DVD player to watch some Dora.  An hour later, we were out of there!  He told the nurse "Thank you!  I had so much fun today!"  Later in the day after the surgery he was jittery and could not focus, then slept like the dead from 7 pm on (yay!).  He had some blurry vision which he thought was hilarious..."Mommy, you have 4 noses!  I see two daddies!"  He went back to school yesterday and was super cooperative about not playing in the sand and not running/jumping too much.  He did some quiet activities outside with the EA and was never grumpy and barely shed a tear.  He's not loving the eye drops, but tolerates them because he gets that his eyes feel better after he has them.  He looks like he's gone a couple of rounds in the ring, but there are no bruises or bandages for that matter.  Surgery has come a long way in the last couple of decades.  It was silly to be so worried, but alas, I am his mother, it's my job to worry so he doesn't have to.  Not yet anyway.  Picture day is this Friday, he may be a little bloodshot, but hopefully they can do a little magic so it's not so noticeable.  If not, oh well, it is what it is!

Many many thanks to the wonderful Day Surgery Unit at CHEO.  What a fantastic and reassuring experience.  The docs were amazing.  Dr. O'Connor the Opthalmologist and Dr. Splinter the Anaesthetist.  The nurse who prepped him (Stephanie) for the OR did an amazing job.  They had a book with pictures of what it would look like and she explained to him exactly how it would work.  He was nervous about getting onto the table, but once he was settled, he was fine.  When the surgery was done, Dr. O. came into the waiting room sat down and got right down to the nitty gritty:  The surgery went well, J did great, and he's now breathing on his own and sleeping it off.  Exactly the information I wanted to have immediately.  I breathed my huge sigh of relief and thanked the stars and heavens and whoever that my heart was safe.  We are fortunate to live in this city with such an amazing hospital for children.  CHEO treated my son like he was part of the team, each person greeted him by name and interacted with him even if only briefly.  They treated him like he was the most important thing, just as they should.

Blogs are toys

Okay I'm on the third iteration of my blog.  I would like to up the readership but have so far not been comfortable pursuing that because I'm not entirely happy with how it looks.  I am playing around with colour schemes and styles to figure out which one suits me best.  I don't have a lot of patience for it, I'm not that great at coordinating colours and deciding on contrast.  Oddly enough, my husband is really good at that, but it's not his blog and his style and my style are completely different.  He likes sharp lines, bold colours with high contrast.  I'm a little more subdued, but still want to keep it clean looking and not too busy.   

I think my impatience in part, has to do with the fact that I sincerely believe I am colour blind.  My family, well my mom and sisters, they insist that colours that I think are blue are actually purple, and vice versa.  Sometimes I also pair my black socks with blue ones, it's not until I'm actually out somewhere that I look down and notice "Shit!  My socks are two different colours!" 

Please let me know if you think my blog is ugly, especially you artsy-craftsy ones out there!  I swear to not take it personally.  Just want some honest, but please be gentle, feedback.  

Eye of the storm

We are leaving in a few minutes to bring our bug for eye surgery @CHEO.  It's minor, I know it's minor, but your resident worrywart is of course worrying instead of sleeping.  I've been up since about 4 am.  His pre-op went well, they had no concerns at that point, this will be a routine eye correction that they do thousands of every year.  Today, however, I don't find that at all reassuring.  This is my baby.  I'm so glad hubby/daddy is coming with us and staying at least until he needs to be at work.  It's better to not be alone.  The other good thing is that my colleagues are a hop, skip, and a jump away.  I have access to my work friends who include therapists and social workers and best of all, other mothers; who better to get you through a crisis?  I know in my brain that my guy is in good hands.  I just hate that he's not in mine.   

Worrywart out.  Stay tuned for updates later in the day via Twitter/FB. 

Lunch lady

Now that my guy has started JK full time, I have discovered the joy of making lunches!  I never had to worry about lunch before, it was part of the cost of daycare I was paying.  Now I have the pleasure of trying to decide WTF to put in his lunch on a daily basis.  Dollarama, thankfully, had the best selection of lunch containers.  They are easy to open and fit a fair amount of food in them.  My son's school operates on a balanced day, so they have 2 "nutrition breaks", mostly referred to as Lunch 1 and Lunch 2.  I'm grateful that for the most part, my son likes to see the same things in his lunch, so far.  If at some point I have to become more creative, I may go crazy.  I find it hard to not be able to throw in the old staple, eats it every time, peanut butter sandwich.  He has asked me so many times for a peanut butter sandwich, but it's just not possible.  There is one child in his classroom with an allergy so his lunches really need to be nut-free.  I do not want to kill anyone.  

Here is my sample menu:

Lunch 1

1/2 tortilla & ham roll-up
handful of grapes or sliced apple
cheese

Lunch 2

1/2 tortilla & ham roll-up
handful carrot sticks & celery w. roasted red pepper dip
cheese

Snacks:  nut-free granola bar, apple sauce, rice crackers

Drinks:  juice box, bottle of water

Yesterday I baked my own oatmeal/choc.chip/apple muffins and today switched out one of the ham sandwiches. 

I hope he is happy with that, because I really want him to enjoy what I give him and not get bored.  I remember throwing out parts of my lunch, especially the boring old apple, and I really don't want my guy to get into that habit.  There has to be some balance to be struck between including things that are nutritious that are also things he likes to eat.  I'm hesitant to send hot lunches for him, not sure that at 4 he can handle hot food in a thermos.

I am surprised to find out that the school has a catering menu.  WHAT?  Catering for grade school lunches?  This is a concept I just don't understand.  If you can't take literally 8 minutes to put a lunch together for your kid, I mean, come on!!  The prices are outrageous!  And since when is there pizza day every Monday and hot dog day every Thursday?  Ridiculous!  Back in my grade school years (St. Luke's represent!), these were infrequent and meant to be "treats"!  You can't even just buy in for one day, you have to commit to every Monday or every Thursday for 4 months, or both and provide the money up front.  First of all, it's unhealthy, second of all I don't want to pay for weekly pizza or hot dogs.  We can have those things at home for a fraction of the cost, and then I get to have some too! 

The joys of having a child start school. 

And where the hell is the "communication book" I paid $5 for?!?

Sincerely,

The Lunch Lady a.k.a. Mommy

New skool

So my guy starts school this week.  I'm a ball of anxiety.  I know he'll be okay, but I'm not sure if I'll be okay!  He's getting so big, so tall, so mature.  His vocabulary astounds me at times.  I know being a mom is about letting go a little every day, but I want to squish him tight and keep him close forever.  Is that so wrong?  I know I'm irrational, he's been in daycare since he was 1, but somehow, this is a whole lot scarier for me.  I'm not worried about him keeping up, I know he's an intelligent boy, I'm more worried about his short attention span and potentially getting lost in a big group.  He is not shy socially, but he has a hard time asking for help if he needs it.    I'm sure everything will be fine, I'm sure I'm worrying for nothing, but this is what I do.  I keep going over and over to make sure he has all the supplies that he needs, backpack, pencils, crayons, markers, pencil crayons (pre-sharpened!), lunch box, water bottle, glue sticks, indoor shoes, outdoor shoes...it's a long list.  I hope I remember to send him with lunch and pack enough for that matter.  I wish I could go with him (even after the first day when I'm allowed to!), but that would be a bad idea, I know this.  Ok Ok, that's it, that's all I'm worried about...for now.

Goodbye bus pass!

Hellooooooo  new car!

It has been almost exactly nine months since the dreadful day I lost my license.  Now that I have it back, I am so glad life can get back to normal.  Sure, cars are expensive, but my freedom is priceless.  I wasn't being held in a cell for the past 9 months but I was always at the mercy of others in terms of getting around.  Whether it be the city bus, family members, or even my husband, it feels awesome to be able to get in my car and go whenever I feel like it.