Posting Again

I have not posted here in a very long time. Things have kept me busy and this along with so many other things have been put aside for another day. My procrastination is one thing that I would like to improve on and I have always wanted to write so I am going to try again to keep up with this. It is a new year with many new things going on in my life. Whether anyone is there to read it, I don't know but for now I am just going to write and see what happens.

I am still the Director of the Parent's Day Out at church but I am no longer the Treasurer. That job became a nightmare for me due to one member that decided to single handedly make my life miserable. It worked and I no longer do the job. I am much happier. I don't know or care if she is happier. She is one of those people that I have chosen to not think about anymore.

I have an 18 month old grandson that stays with me every day while his parents work. My daughter is a teacher so I have great hours and great holidays. He is the light of my life and I never get tired of him. I do get tired sometimes but never want to be away from him. He is so sweet, cute, smart, loveable and in my eyes perfect in every way. I am Nana and that is the best name I have ever had.

My son joined the Navy last year which was one of the hardest things I have ever experienced but due to a defective enlistment agreement he only stayed a month and was separated and sent home. That too was a very hard thing to go through. It amounted to him passing everything here and then when he went to Boot Camp he failed a vision color test that disqualified him from the job he had gone in for. It was devastating for him and he is home now looking for a job.

It was a year of ups and downs but we are blessed. I want to try to come here and share my life with you as we have started a new year with new adventures. Maybe this time I will be more consistent. We will see.

Enrollment

I am so excited. The calls are coming in and the kids are coming. When I can get the parents to come and visit they always seem to enroll. I just have to get them in there. Today, I enrolled a beautiful 18 month old boy. He came in and immediately started smiling and playing. It was so neat to see him so immediately comfortable in the room. His mom was very happy as well and enrolled him immediately. They are his foster parents and are going through the adoption process that should be finalized next month. It is neat that they have been able to have him with them throughout the process. They recieved him into foster care at 6 months and now plan to keep him for the duration. He seems so happy and well adjusted. This family seems so meant to be. This is my second adoptive family this year so far. Both families seem so ready and eager to take on the challenges of parenthood and very calm. I love to see happy families whether they are biological or adoptive. I love the stories of both. I think that these people that enroll in our school must think that I am very nosey but in reality I just love the kids and want to know where they come from, etc. I love my job.

Start Up Time Again

I am so looking forward to school to start again. As you may know, I am the director of a Parent's Day Out at a local church. We have classes 2 days per week in order to give parents and care givers some time off but mostly to give young children a chance to socialize with others their own age and to be a part of a secure, loving, learning environment. I love being a part of such a wonderful program. We have less than a month to get everything ready for the first day of school. I have the good problem of having some money to spend on the classes this year. We had two deaths in the church and both of them have left us memorial money to enhance our program. I ma so touched by this gesture. I have ordered new awnings for our playground climbing structure and the teachers have given me some idea of what they might like to have in their rooms. We are also getting a new refrigerator for the kitchen. I am very excited. For many years we have run on "hand me downs" and we are getting some new things this year. My problem lies in low enrollment. Our baby and 2 year old classes look good but my 3 and 4 year old classes are very low in enrollment. The city that I am in is offering Pre-K for low income and English as a 2nd Language students and I think that is why I do not have as many 4 year olds. We have an excellent preschool with a wonderful teacher. We have so much to offer and I am struggling with finding the right avenue for advertising. Hopefully they will come at the last minute. I usually have a couple of panic weeks each summer and I think maybe this is it but, yes, I am in panic mode once again. I just want everything to fall into place and be able to relax for a few days before the first day of school. Why is it never easy???

Sad Week

My father passed away on July 19. He had been ill for a while and we could not seem to find out what was wrong with him. The Saturday before I went over to check on him and his blood pressure was really low. I convinced him that we should go to the hospital and he finally agreed. They began running tests and found that he had a fairly large bowel obstruction that looked like cancer. They called in a surgeon who began to talk with us and make plans to do surgery ASAP. His cardiologist was called in because of his weak heart and we felt that we were doing everything that we could to help him. He came through the surgery well and we were so encouraged that he would recover. Then he crashed and the blood pressure dropped again and his heartbeat was irregular and fibrillating. He was put into ICU and again seemed to be recovering. On Friday the 18th they told me that he had responded well to the meds and that they would be moving him to a regular room again either that evening or the next day. At 3 a.m. they called and asked us to come quickly. When we got there he was not conscious and had been put on a respirator. They told us that they thought he may have had a heart attack. His heart had stopped once and they feared that it may happen again. Within 45 minutes he had passed away. It was terrible. Our lives have been upside down since. We took him back to his home town for burial. The whole ordeal has been awful. The death of a parent is too hard. I know that my Mom is so lost now after 61 years of marriage. We are watching her so close and trying to keep her together as we ourselves struggle through the days.

Family and Stress

I created this blog because I wanted to share about children and family. I feel like so far most of my posts have been about my ill parents. This one is going to also be about my Dad. Hopefully soon I will be able to focus on my favorite subject, children.

As I have been posting, my Dad has been very ill for months. We have not quite known why he wasn't getting better and at times felt that he may be prolonging his illness purposely. That, I am glad to say, was not true but it is also a bad thing. On Sat. I went to his house to take his blood pressure and it was dangerously low. I talked him into going to emergency and through the course of the day, they found that he has a bowel obstruction. It is about 4 cm. and appears to be cancer. He is going in for surgery in the morning to have it removed. We are very concerned because he is almost 80, a diabetic and a heart patient. The Dr.'s tell us to be positive and that they believe that it will all be ok. I pray that things work out. My Mom is very worried and I am trying to be the positive person that comforts everyone else. I hope that I believe what I am trying to tell them. I am going to go to bed early and get to the hospital to be with him before surgery. I pray for the best.

What to do????

When there's nothing to do. My Dad as I keep mentioning is in poor health. He has ulcers and is 79 years old and thinks he is just ready to die. He is now refusing to eat. He has lost a tremendous amount of weight and doesn't seem to think that it is making him weak. Yesterday he fell and my 78 year old mother struggled to get him back up. She is sore and tired today. I have instructed her to call 911 next time for help and then to call me and I will come to them. Whether or not she will, I do not know. The Dr. has asked him to accept some in home physical therapy. He has agreed but told my Mom that he is too weak and won't be able to do it so they are wasting their time. I spoke to the Dr. about depression and he put him on meds Friday so maybe they will get in his system in the next couple of weeks and maybe that will help. So far nothing has helped his attitude at all. I am at the end of my rope and do not know what to do. I know he is elderly but I do not see any reason for him to not be able to get better if he will just try. He has never been an easy man but now he is impossible. My poor Mother is there all the time. I am worried about her too. It is a very difficult time right now.

Kindergarten Smells

As posted before, I am the director of a Parent's Day Out at a Presbyterian Church. We are closed for the summer but I am still there quite often to return calls and meet with perspective families. Today I got a call from one of our preschool parents. Their daughter was in our program from the infant room all the way through the preschool class. She is going to Kindergarten in August. Her Mom called today to tell me that she said she couldn't go to Kindergarten after all. When asked why, the little girl told her Mom that it smelled at the big school so she would just come back to our school instead. Apparently our school smells like home but the big school smells funny. Kids are funny. I love it.