The holidays

Hi all!

So the past week has been a wonderful adventure mixed with good and not so good(sick kid) times. The plan was to go up to Blackfalds where Peter lives and spend New Years with our family there. So we decided to leave on Boxing Day. Peter happened to be down in Lethbridge area and was sleeping at our place. So on Boxing Day morning we got up at a decent time and got ready to go. Except then our little BMW wouldn't start at all. It did happen to be -26 that night so that probably played a part. But anyways thankfully Peter was down and he volunteered to drive us up and then back home after Jan.1st. So that was very nice of him. Before we arrived at Pete's place, we stopped in Calgary to go shopping. Not such a smart idea. I have never ever seen a mall this busy before. There was no joy in shopping whatsoever. I will never shop on Boxing Day again unless absolutely necessary! Finally after pushing and shoving our way through the mall we safely made it back to the truck. Phew. What a relief. It was then mutually decided to get out of there and go to Pete's house. And so once we got there Peter and Jasper went out again to grab some groceries in town and I stayed home with James. Richard and Heather came shortly after that with their bundles of joys and we had a great week with everyone. We gave gifts the next evening and Jasper got a neat fishing toolbox and cowboy boots and I got a book and a really neat kids chair for James for in the summer and James also got a little ride-on car that converts to push car...(pictures coming - the blogger website isn't letting me upload pics as of now - not sure why).
Over the week, we played games, laughed, joked and went out on excursions together. One of those was heading up to West Edmonton Mall. What a place that is. First time I've been there, even though I've lived in Alberta before, I just never headed up there. It's a huge place with rides for kids and adults, stores, swimming pool and skating rink. The kids loved going on the train ride and the airplane ride. And Richard, Jasper and Peter went on the 14 storey rollercoaster.
I took James in to see a doctor at a walk-in clinic on Saturday because his cough was really bad and he has had ear infections and bronchitis in the past and so I thought just to get it checked out. The doctor gave him a puffer and steroids. So I gave that to him with no results, if anything James was getting worse, but he was sleeping good and eating well, with no fever so its a tough call. We headed back to Monarch on Tuesday this past week in Peter's truck. The drive went really well and we were back home at 7pm. Now, to solve our little BMW problem. We really needed this thing to start. Thankfully the weather was not as cold so Jasper tried to start it but to no avail. (I'm pretty sure the BMW manufactueres in Germany don't realize how cold it can get out here. But then again they don't care.) It was then decided all three of us would push the car into the shop in the back of the property which is always heated and is around 15 degrees C. So here we are pushing and heaving and shoving this car through the snow until Jasper stated he needed his other boots and ran inside to get them. Peter tried it again and VROOM, it started. Phew. So Jsper drove it into the shop and plugged in the battery. Peter stayed the night and left the next day after he had helped me drop off our BMW which thankfully started to go get a block heater put in it. Apparantly every car out here has a block heater. The parking lots have places to plug your car in when it gets really cold. Wow.
So last night James's cough was getting worse and worse and so we decided to take him in to get checked out again. This time we had a doctor that took his time with us and explained everything. I am so thankful for his help and he put James on antibiotics for a lung infection and also gave prednisone at a higher dose than this other doctor did. So I'll be giving that and hopefully things will be looking up from here.
I have applied for a job as RN here in Alberta to do some educating work in the southern part of Alberta and I got the job. It is a really nice position because it is very flexible and it is only until end of March and I am due in April so that works out good. I will probably work 2 - 3 days a week for the next couple of months which is exciting. It is a job that is educating all the nurses and leb techs in Alberta about a new glucometer system they are initiating. It is very like the one I used on Ontario, but they are just starting out so I feel pretty comfortable with the system.
I also have booked my flight to come out to Ontario!! Jan. 31 to Feb. 7th! I am very excited to see mom and dad again too!
Till next time!