Reality check

Today I spent 10 minutes trying to wipe off hair dye from my face, only to realize it wasn't hair dye.  The marks were age spots... (I wish I were joking)

Before going back to work tomorrow, I was really, {REALLY} hoping to lose 10 pounds, but the extra month off, really wasn't good for my waistline.

Once I realized I couldn't lose 10 pounds overnight, I thought I would at least colour my hair.  Makes sense, right?

Now, I am not a hairdresser.  This was confirmed a couple of weeks ago when I tried to cut my Son's hair.  All I can say is thank goodness he is only one, and will not remember the whole ordeal. 

Now having made this confession, I would kindly ask that you please not tell my Grandmother.

Why the secret from my Grandma?  Well, I think she may believe I'm a hairdresser.

When I was a teenager, I took a semester off from High School and moved to Mexico to live with my Grandparents.  The plan was to brush up on my Spanish, (and learn to read and write) but when I arrived, my Grandma gave me two options.


Option #1) I could enroll in school as planned 
or 
Option #2) I could take private Spanish lessons and use the remaining time to travel. 

Duh... There was really, only one logical choice.   

I absolutely insisted I go to school.


Okay, that's a lie!  I chose option #2.  I figured I could practice my "Dos Cervezas Por Favor" at the resorts.

So, I got a tutor.  And my Spanish really suffered as I became good friends with my Spanish teacher.  We spent most of my class time at the local coffee house drinking coffee and chatting about her boyfriend.  (Come to think of it, maybe we weren't really good friends as I was still paying her for Spanish lessons and her coffee)..  Great.

Okay, back to my lack of hairdressing skills...  

My Grandmother thought it would be fun for me to join some classes in between our travel adventures so that I could make some friends and have some fun.  So I joined hair dressing school... (Why hairdressing and not baking you ask?  Because her Nephew owned a hairdressing school.)  So my hairdressing really suffered as I made some friends and we spent most of the class at the local coffee house drinking coffee and chatting about their boyfriends. 

Do you see a pattern?
I do like coffee.  

So, now you know.  I dye my hair and I have age spots.  I blog about hairdressing but throw in some baby shower cookies and cupcakes.

I am sitting in my kitchen eating a pear, pretending it's a cupcake.  Yet still, in all likely hood, my uniform still isn't going to fit me tomorrow. 


That's it.  End of Story.

Happy Grey's Anatomy night.  Do you watch?

Annie- Part 4

A few years ago, my Mother was diagnosed with 2 Brain Aneurysms.   This is the story of her journey.

For Part 1 of this Story click Here
For Part 2 of this Story click Here
For Part 3 of this Story click Here


She was amazing.  


My Mom fully recovered from her first surgery with very minor consequences; One (strangely enough) being her loss of smell, which eventually would slightly return. 


She regained full use of her eye which surprised everyone, including the surgeons. 


In between her two surgeries, my Mom returned to work.  During this time, my Husband and I found out we were expecting our first baby.  


We showed up unannounced to surprise my Mom with this cake I had baked,  And without saying a word, we watched and waited for her reaction.

It was amazing and definitely the best way to break the news to our families.


My Mom's second surgery date arrived and she made it through the surgery amazingly well. There were a few scares for us during her recovery such as slurred speech and loss of balance, and at the time I feared it could be a stroke.  Thankfully, it wasn't. 


2 Brain Surgeries.  No major consequences.
BRAIN ANEURYSM SURVIVOR, And I thank my lucky stars everyday!


During my Mom's surgeries, my Brother George had done a tremendous amount of reading about Brain Aneurysms, and insisted I ask my Doctor to be screened.  (Brain Aneurysms being hereditary, more common in women, and my few episodes of migraines during my pregnancy). 


I thought I would humour him (and my super-overly worried Mom) and I mentioned it to my Obstetrician during my next visit.  To be honest, I truly thought the Doctor would think it was crazy, but instead, he immediately booked me for an MRI to be screened.
  
Friday March 28th, 2008 
Week 27
Day 187 of Pregnancy 
I find myself laying in an MRI machine, not worried of the results, but terrified that I am having an MRI while pregnant and unnecessarily exposing the baby to a lot of unknowns.

A couple of weeks passed and thankfully I hadn't heard anything from the Doctor.  No news is good news!  I call my Brother and my Mom and tell them everything is fine, and joke that they will need to find something else to worry about.


My Husband (Mike) and I loved our Obstetrician (Mike came to every single Doctor's appointment with me during the pregnancy) and we spent most of the appointments laughing and joking with our Doctor.  


Wednesday April 16th, 2008
Week 30
Day 206
  
On our way in to the doctor's office, Mike and I were laughing and joking around about a conference he wanted to attend 2 weeks before my due date.  I thought he was crazy but I agreed we would leave it up to the advice of our doctor.

Me: 

"Mike wants to go away to a conference 2 weeks before the baby is due. Please tell him he can't go {Laughing}...

Dr:  

"Mike, You can't go"..

Me: 

"ha ha, told you so!"

Mike: 

{Laughing} "Really?  You really think it's pushing it if I go that weekend, even though it's 2 weeks before the baby"?

Dr: 

"Yes!  Mike, you can't go, because we have the baby scheduled for a c-section on June 10th".

Me: 

"Really?" {Confused} 

Mike: 

"What"? {Also Confused}

Dr: 

"Jen, we got the results to your MRI and you have a Brain Aneurysm, like your Mom".

To be Continued...


(Please note:  Although I did make the cake in this post, the design is not my own.  It is a replica of one I saw on Cake Central.  Thank you for visiting)

One Month

On September 1st, my Maternity leave officially ended, and I was scheduled to return to work (after a year off).  I was so sad the year had gone by so quickly.

On August 31, I received a call that my training had been cancelled and I was to be off for one more month.

Talk about winning the jackpot!

Don't get me wrong.  I love my job.  

But I love being home with the kids even more!

How often are we fortunate enough to get a call from work saying "Stay home for the month, Relax, Enjoy Your kids"

 Okay, perhaps the phone call wasn't exactly like that;  But Hey... I'll take the month!

Wouldn't you?

Please note:  This wedding cake design is NOT my own.  Thanks for stopping by!

When I Should be Studying...

In one short week, I will be returning to work as a Flight Attendant, and my year of Maternity leave will be OVER.  (Insert tears, here).

The last year at home has been incredible, and I have truly enjoyed every minute of being home with my kids.  

The thought of going back is difficult.  I have a lot of mixed feelings about my return.  

Nervous.  

Scared.  

Sad.  

Happy.  

Don't all Moms feel like that after maternity leave?

Nervous.  I have not worked a flight in nearly two years (I worked on the ground while pregnant).

Scared.  I may be spending too much time on the computer, and not enough time studying.  What if I don't pass my 6 days of exams? Isn't that right, Mom? :) 

Sad to be leaving my kids (although, they won't really notice because I will be flying while they are sleeping, and home by the time they are out of bed).  

Happy that I passed my medical exam and that I am allowed to return work... (that's a whole other story).

In preparation for my Flight Attendant Exams, I have a tremendous amount of reading to catch up on, along with a couple of work books to complete.  And for those of you with kids, you know how difficult it can be to read with 2 little ones running around...  (It took me nearly a week to get through one chapter of my manual).  

Then, when I do have some time to myself and should be reading, and studying, and preparing myself for my exams (such as right now), I am here.  Writing this post, and watching my kids in daycare from my computer.

And posting these little guys.

With short arms

And crazy hair.

And little air bubbles in their icing belly... see them?

(The quickest fix for removing the air bubbles, is to remove the belly cookie from the picture all together!)  :)

Happy Wednesday.  

I hope your day is a little more productive than mine!

Annie-Part 3

A few years ago, my Mother was diagnosed with 2 Brain Aneurysms.   This is the story of her journey.

For Part 1 of this story click Here

For Part 2 of this story click Here

The Code-Blue announcement over the hospital intercom left us frozen in our spots, unable to move.


Doors flung open. Nurses came out from everywhere and headed towards the intensive care unit where my Mom had been taken to.  


I wanted to yell. 


I {So, Badly} wanted to yell at the nurses to run, but the words wouldn't come out of my mouth.  


The clock slowed down and the seconds ticked by. So. Incredibly. Slowly. As we waited for any kind of an update.  


At last, the door that led to the ICU, opened again and the nurses slowly trickled their way back out.


"False Alarm, she's fine," the nurse said.  The cord was accidentally unplugged when they were getting her in the room.


I wanted to punch her.  


One would think that finding out your Mom's heart never actually stopped beating would be a joyous moment.   And it definitely was, don't get me wrong.  The build up anxiety-stress-fear-worry, of the last few weeks-days-hours-minutes-seconds, left me feeling sick with an incredible urge to vomit.  Especially knowing that there was still a growing Brain Aneurysm, and she would undergo a second surgery and go through this hell again. 

Over the past month, the larger of my Mom's two Brain Aneurysms had been growing and pressing against her optic nerve.  By the time she was admitted to the hospital for her first surgery, she had lost the majority of her eyesight in one eye and was unable to open the eye without physically lifting the eyelid with her hand. A blessing in disguise as it was ultimately what lead to the discovery of the Aneurysms.  


The Neurosurgeons were not sure if the damage to her eye was reversible and if my Mom would regain use of her eye again.  At this point, we just felt so lucky that she was alive.


During her first Brain surgery, the larger Aneurysm had been clipped and my Mom was scheduled a couple of months later to have the second Aneurysm coiled. 

The wait between the two surgeries was hard on all of us, as it literally felt like she had a ticking time bomb in her head.  The news that I was pregnant was a little bit of a distraction for my Mom, giving her a {little} something to keep her mind off of the upcoming surgery.

To Be Continued...