Friday - Day 12

AH HA HA HA HA.... Yeah.... I just read my blog from yesterday about what is to happen today..... Yeah...... *L*

So just a quick note here as today is a busy one (I'll write more on my Saturday post)....

1) No shower, nails or lawn watering got done.... Oh dear...

2) We did however eat sandwiches and blueberries in my bed (all is well, nothing was blue but their faces! *L*) while watching Sesame Street!

3) Laundry... LOTS of laundry got done. Most of the girls clothing (or at least everything that needed to be packed) and towels. We like clean towels..... *L*

4) Ended up helping Zoe tear her room apart and clean, clean, clean today.... Hopefully she's learned a lesson in 'put your toys away properly when you're done playing with them or else I bring in the garbage bin from outside!'....

5) Was late leaving the house as I got caught up in talking to the neighbor about the fence he's building... Which, of course, goes down our yard as well... Thought he had a crew (like his wife said he did) but it was just him doing all the work.... Humm... I guess his Father (in-law?) was coming to help him later on....

6) Dropped the girls off at my Grandparents and am now off to get stuff from Wal-Mart over here and then it's time to meet up with Sarah! I believe we're going to The Fringe tonight! Yay!

More tomorrow!

Thursday - Day 11

Well last night didn't quite go as planned.... *L* But overall it was okay. Emma had a shower and that was all I could do.

They went to bed, got up a thousand times each and I nearly thought I was going to call Tyler in tears... But I didn't!! Yay! *L*

I ended up falling asleep with the TV on right after the kids went to bed.... Or somewhere between the 999th to 1000th time Emma was getting up out of bed... Woke up around 3:30am and watched TV (since it was on anyways... *L*)..... Went back to sleep around 5:30am....

TODAY:

Girls got up and chilled for a bit while I did some work.... Then we got ourselves ready for the day....

FARMER'S MARKET! I love, love, LOVE going to our Farmer's Market! Fresh food, great times.... Warm weather, how could it not be fun??! And the bonus So do the girls! We walked around and made our decisions of what to buy (blackberries, blueberries, apricots and white cherries from BC) and grabbed lunch there (hot dogs and juice!)... In between there the girls got their faces painted (I just realized that I haven't added photos to this blog at all! Ack! Check back next week for added photos to my previous posts!)... Emma was a pink butterfly and Zoe became a ladybug! Afterwards we started towards our vehicle when we ran into neighbors of ours! What fun! We chatted for a bit and then they headed on their way to get some shopping in while I checked out what the girls had been looking at..... They bought the cutest homemade wands! I'll take a photo and add it to here next week!!! ;)

Once home we put the fruit away and the girls started to act up... Always when I'm on the phone (confirming their weekend arrangements of course).... So it was nap time. Emma fought this until she was just too tired.... Yay! Zoe went straight to sleep. She's been 'camping' out on her floor for the past few days... I'm not sure why she's into this but as long as she sleeps, I'm happy!

After their much needed naps, and a wonderful phone call to Daddy, we got into the van and headed for... McDonald's! *L* Yeah, I know.... Anyways..... We ate while on our way to WEM to do some major shopping.... Let me tell you, it was wonderful!

In two hours (less actually!) we had bought the girls shoes for the wedding we're all in next weekend (honestly, I've been searching for months!) even though each girls' is a different shade, I'm not concerned.... They have them! Whooo hoo! Then it was off to Emma's surprise (will have to write about that one later.... Just in case Daddy is reading this)... Then it was backpack shopping (I refuse to let Emma have a backpack that will slowly fall apart on her this year.... So she got a gooder!) and then ice cream! Yum! After that we checked into Payless where they were having some awesome deals, so each girl walked out with a wonderful pair of shoes for $21 in total (together! Amazing!)...

My favorite parts of today's adventure into the city for shopping?

1) Walking towards ice cream Emma turned to me and said 'I LOVE shopping!!!'... *LOL* She said it in the most sincere, innocent way ever! SOOOO cute. And in my head I heard myself say 'And that's my little girl!'... *L*

2) While in Payless Zoe started to 'dance'... It was one of the cutest things I have ever seen her do!!! Apparently she has a whole routine down! *LOL* So much so I took a video of her (and Emma of course) doing this in the middle of the mall's hallway... That on it's own is a HUGE deal (she gets shy around people she doesn't know!).... But yes, adorable! I'll post the video too!

3) The girls both took the time to say 'Thank you!' for every little thing we did this evening.... It made my heart grow!

Home again it was... About 40 minutes later the girls were clearing their rooms of ALL their dirty laundry (a recent rule is: 'If you don't put the clothes where they go when dirty, you will wear nothing!').....

Along the room cleaning journey Emma and I realized we didn't know where her brand new indoor shoes were.... Uggggghhhhh..... And they're tie-up one's too! A big thing for her! Emma set her mind to learning how to tie bows before the last school year ended (I wouldn't buy the shoes until she learned)... But being the stubborn girl she can be (or better yet, we butt heads on things like this), I showed her a few times, she threw an 'Emmasode' and I said no more. Months, months later she came in one morning to show me that she had tied a bow in the ribbon attached to her dress! YAY!

But yes, she did eventually find her shoes (hiding from the cat in her closet) and they went into her new backpack with 90% of the other school supplies we have so far.

PJ's, teeth brushed and it was time for prayers and bed!

As of right now my little ones are asleep... The wind is picking up outside and I have WAY to many loads of little girls laundry to even begin thinking about! *L*

Tomorrow is another busy day for our household. Zoe will have a shower, the girls will get their nails done... I'll water the lawn (note to self!!!).... Packing will happen and then it's off to the Great-Grandparents for the weekend. I'll meet up with Sarah in the city for some hair color shopping and who knows what we'll do after that! I'd like to walk around the Fringe grounds before it closes for this summer....

So off I go to start the dreaded laundry (good thing their clothing is adorable... *L*) routine... Hopefully there's something good on TV! *L*

Wednesday - Day 10

I lost my temper today.

As of right now I have one child in my bed watching TV with an injured back and one in her room doing a forced cry.

It's been a lovely morning, can you tell?

Ugh.

Zoe decided to jump on Emma's bed and ended up landing right on her tail bone... Which made her whole back crack and an instant pain shrill happened. Something I hope to never hear again.

Emma's mad at me because I won't let her talk over me while she's on time out. Life's hard I know, but honestly, DON'T TALK OVER ME!

ARRRRRGGGGGGH!

Okay... Better. Moving on... I did get a text from Tyler this morning, 4:45am... I guess he got busy and wasn't able to text us back.... So the girls never did talk to him last night (which I'm paying for today, does it show??!).... I went to bed after a few texts back and forth and now I'm paying for the late night. Cranky kids + tired Mommy = Bad day.

Hopefully things will get better. I did manage to remember to put the garbage out before bed last night! Whoo hooo! *L* We have no major plans today.... Maybe just naps and chilling time.... Will write more later!

4:01pm update:

Okay so... Emma has napped, Zoe played with the cats in her room (even set up a water drinking station in her room!)... I on the other hand watched an episode of ER that I had never seen before (which is amazing!) and took a shower.... Emma came in to ask if she and Zoe could play together until I got out, and boy was she in a much better mood! Yay naps!

Now the girls are cleaning their rooms, well run over to Safeway to grab buns (Emma's awesome, when I asked her what she'd like for dinner she said 'do we have beans??!'... Yes -thinking green beans- then she asked if we had hot dogs.... Hummm.... She wants Pork and Beans! *LOL* Awesome!)....

Then we'll come home and give Daddy a much needed phone call! Afterwards I'll make dinner while the girls play outside with chalk, we'll eat and the girls will have a shower.... Then it's nail and hair time! I promised to french braid Emma's hair and paint all of the girls nails! *L*

So here's to hoping my next post doesn't include a photo of me missing hair from being ripped out! ;P

Tuesday - Day 9

Today the girls went on the Nature Hike.... It's one of the programs we booked months ago.... What made this one extra special? Tyler picked it!

I dropped the girls off just before 1pm and picked them up at 3:30pm.... During that time they went on their hike, picked nature things (twigs, cattails, leafs, etc.) and had glued them onto a piece of fabric. Emma's was well done with everything in it's place while Zoe's was one big glob of glue.... Still runny! *LOL* It was so thick it was coming through the other side of the fabric! *LOL* Both look great though. I've been informed these are for Daddy's Birthday! I'll just place them by all the drawings and letters (Emma) that are for him as well!

My girls are tired. Last night Zoe was laying in her bed.... After awhile I went in and sat next to her little body and asked what was up....

"I miss Daddy" was all she responded with. Not once did her eyes move from the spot on her wall that she had been staring at... My heart broke.

Emma has always been Daddy's girl... She's pretty much a carbon copy of him! *L* But Zoe... Well she's only known shift work... So she's used to this in and out-ness of Daddy's work schedule... And she's more of my girl... Even looks more like me.... So when she says something like this I know it must really be bothering her.

Anyhoo.... All seems well. The girls were good today, they're just recovering from their fun weekend. Last night (I forgot to write so much yesterday!) Emma tried riding her bike! I put the training wheels on at the lowest level... She did a round with that and decided we could move them up to the higher level... Did a round with that and we took them right off... After I tried to keep up with her with no training wheels on we decided to put them back on at he higher level until Daddy is home to help her! *L* There's no way I can keep up with her! I'm so very proud of her though! She has no fear when it comes to things like this sometimes! Way to go Emma!

Right now the girls are sleeping... Today was a hard day for me.... Emma was being a bit of a pain and Zoe decided she didn't need to sleep! *L* Although I can't really blame them as their quiet time after the Nature Hike turned into us all having a nap... So a late night it was! I had also promised the girls that if they got ready for bed without any issues they could call Daddy at is 10pm break.... Well I texted him at 5 after to let us know when he was actually on his break (sometimes they start late because of their work, etc.) and he never texted us back... By 11:30pm I had to get the girls to bed... By 12:15am I had already dealt with both girls in and out of bed for a hundred different reasons... *sigh*

I'm off to bed soon. I'll date this as 11:59pm so it's on the correct date but it's actually 4:32am... I'm exhausted. I would just stay up another hour so I could talk to Tyler but unfortunately I never know when he randomly works a 12 hours shift... Which means he's not off until 7am... One night on the weekend I stayed up all night but didn't get a hold of him... He worked a 12... *L* Oh well, that's life.

I'm doing okay... Trying to keep us busy... Life goes on, right? It's hard but even harder when I realize just how much the girls miss their Daddy. I'm quite thankful that they're willing to be the amazing kids I know they are while he's away. I don't think we'd survive this if they decided to act like spoiled brats!

Okay I'm off for some sleep. Will update more later! Another busy weekend ahead and juggling of the girls! *L*

'night all!

Monday - Day 8

Last night I picked the girls up from my Grandparents house.... We didn't get home until the wee hours of the morning but it was so worth it! The girls had a blast hanging out at my Grandparents with the dogs (they have my parents dog there as well as they're on holidays) and playing in the back yard all day. Emma got her hair done at the salon after my Grandma did (Emma had a French Braid done for the dinner Saturday night) and then she did some shopping with my Grandpa the next day! Zoe was quite content on staying at the house with the dogs, sun and TV! As well as doing my Grandmother's make-up and her own.... AND Emma's when she came home from shopping! *LOL*

Not much to say about Sunday, I did more cleaning, organizing and relaxing. Then had dinner at my Grandparents home and brought the girls home. Zoe was exhausted when I got there so she slept the whole time while Emma fell asleep in the van on the way home...

All in all it was an awesome day!

Today the girls played with out neighbors little girl. She's 2 years 4 months old and an only child.... And adorable! Apparently she loves to play with our girls! She now keeps an eye out for our van and starts heading out the door when we pull up! *LOL* Too cute!

We drove over to 7-11 and got some cheesies, Sunny D and a snack for myself... While there we ran into other neighbors of ours! Us Mom's chatted while the kids played for a bit and then they headed on with their walk to the park while we came home for a late dinner.... But only after playing on our slide with the little girl next door.

While outside Emma realized that her necklace had broken in half... Oh the tears... Oh the drama... *sigh* So tomorrow I have to mow the lawn and I've promised not to mow her necklace piece... Ack!

The girls were able to speak with Daddy quickly tonight.... Thank goodness! Hopefully while we're home we can keep this up! I'm already dreading our school schedule with Tyler's schedule. We'll deal with that when we have to. For now it's time to catch my show!

Sunday - Day 7

Yesterday was fun! I went shopping at West Edmonton Mall in they city and enjoyed the time to myself! AND I found some awesome deals!

1) Found a shirt for Sarah's Stagette!
2) Found a gift for Tyler (funny book!)
3) Found wedding shoes for the girls, just need to take them there to try them on...
4) And a few other things that I can't remember right now... Huh....

It was nice to wander the stores and not think about 'Don't touch!', etc. You parents out tehre will understand what I mean.... Sometimes it's odd to hear another child an have that split second 'where are they?' until you remember.... *L*

After shopping I came home and did some major cleaning! It's crazy the stuff I have kicking around here... Stuff I just don't need... Honestly, when will I ever be a size '0' again??!! *LOL*

Last night was pizza and movie.... Was fun! I do miss my girls though (and Tyler, of course... But I know I can see my girls sooner! ;P).... I can't wait to see them later!

Saturday - Day 6

Quick note:

The house was painfully quiet last night when I got home in the wee hours of the morning. I stopped at Tim Horton's to grab a sandwich and soup on my way home... And as I stepped over the random toys left in our hallway I all of a sudden realized just how quiet our house can be.... Huh.

The wedding went wonderfully last night. We found ourselves with extra time on our hands... Something that we're not accustomed to! *L* But it was nice! This is the last wedding before one of my Best-Friends, and partner in the company I work for, is getting married... So it'll be nice to have a bit break before the chaos of that (our whole family is in the wedding... I'm the Maid of Honor, Tyler is a Groomsman and MC while our girls are the Flower Girls)....

But yes. All went well with the wedding, the Bride and Groom were thrilled with our work, I was able to see a photographer friend of mine who took our family photos to long ago.... It was great!

And now I'm off to try and get some sleep.... Maybe... Or I'll stay up until Tyler is off work at 5am and give him a call about 5:30am... We'll see how things go! :)

Oh wait! I was able to speak with Tyler for a few minutes last night.... It was so nice to hear his voice! He seems to be doing well, tired but well!

The girls are spending the day at my Grandparents and then they and my parents will be going to my Aunt's place for a dinner.... I'm taking today (after sleep) for myself. No schedule, maybe some major cleaning... Humm....

The girls made cookies and french toast at my Mom's yesterday! What big girls (all she did was the 'hot stuff' so they wouldn't burn themselves!)....

What else.... Oh! I did the cat littler today... First time in years! This job is usually Tylers'.... So yay me! *L*

Friday - Day 5

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HONEY!!!

Today is Tyler's 31st Birthday! WHOO HOOO! *LOL* I'm sorry that we're not there to celebrate it with you but we'll just have to have a bash when you're back home for your days off! Anyhoo, Happy Birthday... We love you! <3

Last night I ended up being late to meet my parents.... Ack! Thank goodness the location had a restaurant/lounge area! For some reason I had 8:30pm stuck in my head even after confirming times! *sigh* But no one was in a rush so it all worked out. Today the girls are spending the day with my parents and then transferring over to my Grandparents (their Great-Grandparents) for another sleepover there. They'll be at their house until Sunday evening when I'm able to pick them up.

Anyhoo, last night we did the set-up of the chairs and small stuff. The Bride and Groom have decided to do everything in one location (because it's beautiful!).... Which means more work for our company! Thankfully we were able to get so much stuff prepped last night we could sleep in today! Yay! *L* Today should go smoothly as long as we can usher all the guests away from the 11th floor and get them down to the lobby for the receiving line with enough time to flip the room.

As well.... Because of my crazy schedule and the girls being away from home, we may not get to chat with Tyler for a few days... Sadness for us all. Thankfully my girls are understanding... And they get the bonus of visiting family! I know I'll give Tyler a quick call from my cell before he heads to work just to wish him a 'Happy Birthday'....

Must run!

Thursday - Day 4

Today is a bit of a busy one for us..... Emma has to work on the poster for Daddy as we didn't bother with it once she woke up from her nap yesterday...

Then we need to take a photo of the girls as I've promised to send it to Daddy on his actual Birthday (tomorrow)....

After that it will be playing outside, eating, any little shopping we may need to do, packing and heading out to meet my Mom and Dad for 8pm.

I'm lucky that my parents will be meeting me half-way in the city where tomorrows wedding will be! Yay! Saves me a bit of time and a whole lot of gas!

By 8:30pm the girls will be on their way for a sleepover at my parents while I start the set-up for the wedding.... a whole 170 chair covers and ties, centerpieces, etc... Whoo Hooo! *L*

More later!

Wednesday - Day 3

Well now.... Today was 'the day'....

The girls got up, ate and got ready for their day camp... Months ago I signed them both up to go to the Corn Maze... it wasn't until the wee hours of the morning that I realized they changed the maze location! Last year Emma went to the one out here by us, maybe a 15 minute drive.... This year they're going to the Edmonton based one... A 40 minute drive from us! *LOL* Oh goodness... At least the drive is pretty straight forward!

So my scheduling has changed a bit. My big plans to come home and get some laundry in and some major cleaning in may not happen... And yes, I could stay with them but the whole idea was to have 2.5 hours to myself... *sigh* We'll see.....


....... So I took the girls to the maze and low and behold I could not find the group they were supposed to be with. I asked the person at the front desk if they knew where their group was set-up, they didn't.... Nor did the people on the intercom with them. *sigh* So I took the girls back to the van to lock up and sunscreen them when I decided to ask another group by the front who they were... And it was our group! Yay! So I happily left the girls with them (the instructors are the same one's Zoe had earlier this summer! Zoe calls them her 'teachers'! So cute!) to enjoy their day while I drove home where I had just enough time to take a quiet shower! It was nice not to have little girls knocking on the door or having to use the bathroom (because using our other bathroom would be too much for them! ;P)....

Then it was back on the road for 40 minutes to pick them up. Good thing I actually enjoy highway and country driving! *L*

Once we made the drive back home (sooo much driving! *L*) Emma had a bit of a melt down... And this one I knew was coming. She wanted to ride her bike and I said only if she could fin her one missing knee pad and one missing elbow pad (to make the pairs to go with her helmet)... Well this wasn't happening. She threw a fit and for some reason I just knew this wasn't what it was all about.... I left her to search in her room while Zoe and I worked on the 'Happy Birthday Daddy' poster that we were planning to take a photo of with the girls and send it to him on his Birthday (the upcoming Friday)... I heard crashes and thumps from Emma's room above and decided enough was enough....

As I made my way upstairs I came upon a very messy hallway.... Which lead to her room... *sigh* And there in the middle of her bed was Emma crying... Sobbing.

Instead of getting myself all worked up like I usually do when she acts this way, I stayed very calm... I picked her up and rocked her and after awhile I asked what the real issue was....

She misses Daddy.

It finally caught up to her....

So we made a deal. She would take a nap, then she would work on the poster for Daddy... The next day the girls were off to my Mom's for a few days while I worked a wedding.... So while they're away I promised to find her missing safety gear... She agreed.

All was well. She had a wonderful nap while Zoe and I watched some shows on TV.... Once awake we all chilled, ate dinner and then went to bed... I believe we crammed in talking to Daddy as well....

*sigh*

Tuesday - Day 2

Today was a hard one...

Again the weather was beautiful so I allowed the girls to play outside with chalk.... And then they asked if they could play with their friends from the neighborhood, I said yes.... Off they went. First off they had to drop off something at one of the neighbors home for me and ask where their kids were... Then they headed over to another house on our street where all the girls from the neighborhood were playing... Except when they got there they were told they couldn't play with them because (the girls) wanted to play inside the house and they weren't welcome to do so....

Long story short Emma had a meltdown, she came home in tears not understanding why this time they weren't allowed in the home when last time they were. And why the girls would come outside to see where my girls were and then run back into the house away from them....

I hate, hate, hate having to see my girls upset... Especially about t things that I just can't control. So instead of letting them mope about it and feel sorry for themselves I told them to get their swim suits on. While they did that I grabbed the fun sprinkler (it's a string shape and has little hoses that come off of it all over that wave all around when you start the water) and set it up for them...

They were thrilled. And no more tears (thank goodness!)... While they played in the water I made them a snack and gave them water bottles with home made herbal iced tea that Daddy had made before he left for work...

All was good!

We were also given a bike with training wheels from our friend down the street... Which is awesome since our girls don't own bikes... Yay! And now we have something else to work on while Daddy is away!

All in all things are still good on our front. Tyler will work his first night shift with this company today... Starts at 7pm and goes until 5am.... Ugh! Makes calling him a bit difficult right now as we use the home phone to keep costs down (instead of our cells)... And we've given up on the web cams for now.... So we try to call around 5:30pm (he gets up at 5pm, we call, he eats dinner at 6pm and is on the work bus at 6:30pm).... We'll see how this goes...

Bedtime has been good. I honestly thought I was going to have to deal with Emma getting out of bed a hundred times (bathroom, etc.) and Zoe just not wanting to sleep and eventually falling asleep in my bed. But no! Zoe does wake up around 2am but is happy to go back to sleep!

Yay!

p.s.

Must remember to put the garbage out!

Monday - Day 1

Today was calm. It was nice weather outside so I pulled out the sprinkler and let the girls run it all day. We'd move it around the yard so everywhere would get watered, why not do two things at once??! *L*

I had a work meeting to be at in the city for 5pm.... So we scheduled in play time and ready time... I was taking a moment to make sure that I had grabbed my sketch book and research right before we were leaving when Emma came in with a huge gash on the palm of her hand... I guess she was talking to our neighbors a few doors down and feel on our sidewalk cement.... It was sooo gross. The worst part was that I wasn't able to get all of the dirt and stuff out from under some of the skin... So I placed a band aid on it and hoped this would ruin our good day that we'd been having so far.

Thankfully Emma bounced back wonderfully! She was happy to see people she knew at the meeting and played nicely while I worked with an artist on my sketch.... Then we had pizza! Couldn't get much better then that! ;P

After the meeting we made the trek home where I parked in the back.... To which Emma said 'WHY are you parking back here???!'..... This is something I hadn't put a lot of thought into, I just parked there without thinking of how it would make the girls feel.

After a mini-chat about it I learned that Emma has the back garage pad as 'Daddy's spot' while I tend to park the van in the front for easier access to everything.... So my parking back there disrupted her thoughts...

After making a promise that I will not park in the back when Daddy is back home we were on our way indoors to get get ready for bed.

We were also able to speak to Daddy on the phone and I on Facebook for awhile.

Today I'm thankful that Emma didn't have one of her 'Emma-sodes'... I honestly just don't know how I would deal with it... Instead she picked up the pace and has been an amazing little helper!

It begins...

Today Tyler left. It was around 11:30am and he had to meet another Trades Guy in the city to give him a lift to the job site as well....

Hugs and kisses were given and promises of being 'good girls'... The girls went out to the garage pad to wave bye to Daddy while I sat on the steps.... Trying my best to keep it together. I thought I had done an excellent job of not breaking down until Tyler called minuets later to ask if I was crying.

Dang it. So much for my cover.

We didn't do much today. We didn't go to Church, we didn't play outside. We did nothing. Or, I suppose, I did nothing.

I had enough energy to get the girls a meal and make my way to my bed. I laid there for hours... Every once and awhile a little girl would walk into my room asking if they could color or play with play dough... Or grab a snack.... I must remember to thank them for giving Mommy one day to mope.

I am very, very thankful that my girls caught onto the fact that Mommy needed to chill and not move from her spot on the bed. They would come and cuddle and tell me stories... And make sure I was okay.

We did have the opportunity to talk to Daddy on the phone and see him on the computer later in the evening once he as settled into his camp...

Our computer connections were giving us trouble so web cams seem to be out for now... But at least we have the phone!

Tomorrow Tyler has Orientation and it's at an insane time in the morning.... So our first full day of 'work schedule' won't begin until Tuesday.... Should be interesting!

The Day Before...

As a Wedding planner most of my weekends tend to be busy creating that one special day for Bride's and Grooms... This weekend was no exception.

I had the great opportunity to celebrate their wonderful day on Edmonton's River Boat... A first for me! I have to say, the staff and everyone there were amazing!

As I drove home though after the sun had gone down (the drive is about 45 minutes) I realized that my heart hurt.... Not in a heart attack way though... As if it was preparing for a loss of some sort.... It ached I suppose....

Over the last few days I've tried to make sure that I keep myself in check... No blubbering tears or breakdowns.... Must stay strong for myself and my family. What good will crying about the future help? It doesn't take away the constant knots in my stomach though....

Another major thought that keeps popping into my head is how Tyler is actually going to be away.... All day and night... Odd. His job isn't easy or safe for that matter. They take precautions but still... Accidents happen. We've had a few close calls since this career choice and the only thing that kept me going was the fact that I knew he'd be coming home after his shift. And somehow things are easier to accept when you know that you can physically see your loved one every day after work. I'm not sure how I'll deal with the stress of knowing the dangers of his work (or not knowing the exact dangers) and not being able to see him everyday..... Ugh.

Tyler is my rock. I'll admit it. I'm not trying to score any bonus points here... He keeps me stable... And strong. I know for a fact that I'd be a mess if it wasn't for having him in my life! We've been through a lo of stressful things (Emma was an emergency c-section and then in the NICU...) but somehow having him around me makes me feel stronger. Like I can handle anything.

I guess time is the only way that I'll be able to see how I can handle things on my own for awhile...

Here we go!

T Minus One Day....

ACK!

Official...

Today Tyler confirmed his spot at the camp he'll be staying at... He also gave a call to another Brother from the Boilermakers to confirm meeting times, etc. He'll be giving this other man a ride out there as well and splitting the cost of gas.... At least he'll have someone by him for the 6ish hour drive out there!

So they meet in Edmonton at noon Sunday.... Ack!

Now it feels.... real.

The Calm....

Since April my Husband has been working in "the field"... He's a Journeyman Welder with the Boilermakers Union.

We've been lucky to have him pull jobs close to home since April.... Even if it meant an hours drive to and from work after a 12 hour shift... At least he was home every night! An unusual thing for us as we had been trained for 4.5 years beforehand to two weeks of 7:30-4:00pm and then two weeks of 4:00-12:30am shifts..... So it was a whole other thing to see him every night!

Then came the end of June where things became slow....

We have been very lucky to have Tyler (my Husband) home everyday since then! He was able to see our first born graduate from Kindergarten (whoo hoo!) and be able to spend more 'normal' time with our second born (our children are a year and a half apart.... So our second born has only known shift work schedule...).

Then the rumors started that shut downs would be coming at the beginning of August. We were two weeks into our 'holiday' of Daddy being home and made the crucial decision to keep Tyler home for as long as possible to move him up on the list.

It has now been about 6 weeks.... And we have a new job coming up... Which is quite exciting to have a regular cash flow coming in again... But I've gotten a bit used to having Tyler around everyday. It's nice being able to do outings with him instead of having to tell him about the excitement of the day!

This new job is a maintenance one... the shut down one was taken by the others that had the same game plan as we did... And who ended up on the list above Tyler...

That's okay though, any job is a good one at this point!

It's a night shift.... Starts around 6pm and is called for 10 hour shifts.... It's also not close to home. It'll be about 4-5 hours away from here... The call is for 22/6. For those of you who don't understand what I just wrote it means 22 days on and 6 days off...

We've been away from Tyler before, the girls and myself, for long periods of time... A week here and there. Just this year I drove the girls down south to visit with Tyler's parents (a 7 hour drive) for the first time on my own and then a few weeks later we did the long drive to Manitoba for our good friends' wedding... (over a 10 hour drive which we did straight)...

None of that scared me like the thought of being home with the girls for 22 days alone scares me. Maybe not scare scare me... But makes me feel like this challenge that I may not survive very well...

So in three days the man of our household will be heading out.... And his girls will try their very best to make him proud and not kill each other before he gets back! *L*