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!