Christmas eve winnipeg emergency experience

Never did I think that I'd spend any amount of time in emergency on a Christmas eve but I did the other day. Don't worry, it wasn't an emergency but all the clinics around here were full and my cough turned on me. My lungs started hurting/aching the night of December 23rd and I was puking up stuff and hacking out green thick stuff so I figured a check up was required. I got to emergency, was registered and in minutes called up for blood work, brought to the back of the hospital, given a gown, a bed and told to pee in a cup. I was honestly horrified! We (cam & I) waited for what felt like a lifetime (while listening to a poor man talk about his recent stroke adjacent to where we were) then the doc came in. She looked at me and kinda chuckled, said that the urine test and blood test were unnecessary (really? Great!). She listened to my lungs and concluded that I have bronchitis, gave me some antibiotics and sent me on my way. What an unforgettable Winnipeg Christmas eve!!! Now I just need to wait for this cough to take its course, I could have it for up to a month more... depending if it's viral or bacterial. This is what happens when you work with eighty children who cough on you! At least they are lovable, cute and incredibly fun to teach. Or else I may be a bit bitter about the Christmas sickness. The Christmas gifts I got from them help me through the coughing too! :)

One more week then it's back to work!!
Blessings, N.

Location:Winnipeg,Canada

Merry Christmas everyone!

What a beautiful time of year! Merry Christmas from Winnipeg! We will be back home on the 28th to celebrate with my side of the family.


What a beautiful bunch of children, love them to bits.


Our puppy niece juno, what a sweetie!

Happy holidays to family and friends we love!
N.

Location:Des Meurons Rue,Winnipeg,Canada

Stockings are ready!

I had a vision a couple years ago (our 1st xmas) concerning how I could personalize our stockings for Christmas. This year since there would be many stocking gifts and we had no way to distinguish whose stocking was whose. I took the time to make them our own. Cam requested the snowman, so I tried to make him as cute as possible! And I made myself the xmas tree, I'm going to eventually get beads for it, just not this year. I love how they turned out! I'm very very happy! Who knew I could be that creative with some left over felt and thread???








Now we are ready for christmas, officially!!!

We are off to Winnipeg at 6am in the morning tomorrow! Pray that we get there safely please.

Christmas Blessings,
N.

Life is hard these days!

What a beautiful place to be for our anniversary!

N.

Location:Harrison Hot Springs,Canada

Anniversary get away!

So we are off!!! And taking full advantage of our time off (for xmas) to get away for our 3rd anniversary to Harrison hot springs for 2 nights. We have dinner planned tonight at a very nice German restaurant, then it's dinner tomorrow at the Copper room in our hotel. With lots of hot tubbing in between. It's going to help this very nasty cold I've had since Friday.

I'm so excited to get away with my hubby... Just us, no other family but our own! It's going to be so nice!

N.

Location:Harrison Hot Springs,Canada

Merry & joyful :)

I'm enjoying the Christmas tree, a glass of red wine, a great new recipe for dinner and the company of my husband. I really LOVE my life, I truly haven't been this happy in a while. It's like everything I've ever wanted in life has been granted (just need a baby and it would be perfect!).

Only 9 more days and I'll be celebrating the holiday with my Stehr in-law family in Winnipeg. I can't wait :)


Our pretty tree...

N.

What a weekend!

Today was a good day! Actually this whole weekend was great, but let's start with what I did today!!

A very good friend of mine is preggo and due middle of January (16th to be exact) so we threw her a baby shower! And it was a lot of fun!! We played the "don't say baby, baby" game, the "name the poop" game and "how many sour soothers?" game. We decorated, ate lots and lots of food and had many laughs! She also got tons of gifts. I hope you had a great time Alissa Dueck, we love ya!

Saturday was just as fun! The company that Cam works for had their Christmas party and it was a blast! We went to a pub, in a limo! We even got some great gifts, thank you to Sue aka. Boss lady.


Pretty tree outside the pub on Saturday night, it was HUGE!!

I'm SO excited for our Winnipeg Christmas this year. It's going to be so much fun, T-minus 11 days until we leave for the Stehr family Christmas and 7 days until our 2nd honeymoon to Harrison hot springs! And only 1 more week of work full of Christmas activities and performances it's going to be crazy fun.

Lots to look forward to :)
N.

What Saturdays are all about

N.

A sweet note!

A great end to a rough day that involved a boy having potty trouble which resulted in a puddle of pee and my foot.


At least I got quite a few hugs!

N.

Snow

Well... The first dump of the white stuff for the season and I needed to head off to my night class. Good thing there is a snow policy and I got to leave early. Sadie our new car passed the snow test (such a relief). I'm so thankful we got her, she's SO much safer than Bernie (our previous vehicle). Now let's hope it melts over night so I can get to work in the morning.


N.

I want this painting, SO badly. I love elephants and would proudly hang this in my living room. Maybe one of these days I can convince my church to sell it to me.


N.

Feeling good!

So since I've begun eating healthfully and tracking my food intake, I've lost weight!!! 6 pounds in one month!!! I'd say that's victorious :) I bought a cute sweater today to celebrate. I got more to go but I'm off to a great start.

Next step is adding exercise, my new goal is to start waking up at 6am to spend time in the gym and meditate before my day starts.

I'll let you know if the early to rise is a success. I keep telling myself that I will probably not get to the point right away where I want to get up and go on the bike. But that I should do it anyways because I love and respect myself. Which means taking care of myself! And buying myself gifts (like my cute sweater) when I succeed!!!

Happy long weekend :)
N.

My ECE heart

lately I've been thinking a lot about my job. You see, in my Foundations of ECE class I've been assigned the task of writing my own philosophy of ECE paper. This paper includes my beliefs and values in what it takes to be a quality ECEducator. I need to write about what my opinion of quality care is, what the environment and curriculum in a centre should look like and many other aspects of the field.

It's got me thinking. What do I really believe is important? What are my beliefs in regards to child care and early learning? Why have I pursued this role and what does my future in this field look like?

Well... What I know I believe from the depths of my heart is that children, all children, deserve quality education, care and access to a variety of different experiences. Children should be allowed to get dirty outside (and inside) and finger paint to their hearts content. I strongly believe that children should be able to be as creative and free in creativity as much as possible. There is a time and a place for product art, but if they want to scribble out of the lines and draw a sun brown, let them! They are experiencing and learning. I also firmly believe in risk taking for children and allowing them to try things in a safe environment. As well as, encouraging children to do things by them self, or at least try.

I know my future in this field will be only success and hard work. I plan on working for W&T for as long as possible. I know I'll get my diploma and I know I'll move up into a supervisor role. Maybe convince W&T to open up an infant toddler centre in the future?? Who knows, it's Gods plan. He put me here, I have no doubt that I was meant for this. I finally have passion for my job, there is purpose in what I do. I get hugs and smiles everyday!!!

But, I'm still thinking and eventually that paper will get written... Maybe you'll see more Posts like this until that day :)

N.

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happy HALLOWEEN!!!!

happy Halloween!!! I'm a kitty cat, what are you dressed up as today??


Tonight will be a nice relaxing night of handing out candy at home! At work, my fours dressed up and there was a fantastic variety of super heroes, princesses and animals. My threes dressed up last week too and although party day is a very stressful time for us teachers, it was truly a lot of fun!!! Especially with costumes.

Have a safe Halloween!!! I'm sure I'll be seeing more super men, Cinderella's, monkeys and dragons tonight, starting in about 20 minutes :)

N.

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birds

Feeding the birds is always so much fun for us! They come and land right on your hand, it's so incredible. What a reminder that the world we live in is truly amazing.



N.

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Oh food...

I've got so much going on lately that it feels overwhelming some days. Lately I've just had crazy cravings, I'll get off work and come home and all I want is a hamburger, or chocolate bar. I've discovered a lot about myself in terms of my eating by just being more aware of what I'm doing.

This is what I've discovered:
1. I don't eat enough, and then I get crazy hungry and eat everything I can get my hands on. This then brings me to over eat, on an empty stomach.
2. I never plan anything, this then results with us not having food in the house and then we eat out. If I saved receipts from all our restaurant visits in any given month I'd probably be disgusted by the number.
3. I'm an emotional eater, if I'm sad or had a really hard day at work then I want to come home and eat something. And not something good for me. If I'm happy or something great happens then I want to go celebrate, with good food of course.

Yesterday as I was driving to school, I realized that I need to do things that I may not want to do at the moment because I care for and respect myself, my body, my life and my future.

This means that I need to:
1. meal plan
2. exercise which means waking up earlier in the morning
3. kick sugar and junk food out
4. keep track of what I'm eating in a food journal or my phone app
5. drink waaay more water

There are probably more things I could do, I already stopped drinking caffeine. Anyone have any other ideas?

I'm glad I'm finally respecting myself enough to make changes, even when those hamburger cravings are overwhelming. Like tonight I had spaghetti with veggie sauce, whole wheat noodles and a pear for dessert! Even though all I wanted was fries :)

Off to college now, got a presentation today.

N.


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Happy Thanksgiving

This weekend is our Thanksgiving holiday, I'm so happy for this break it's so great to have good food and spend time with family.

I've been thinking about what I'm thankful for and the list is long. Here are a few:
- my husband who loves me unconditionally
- my immediate family, and in-law family who I adore
- my nieces and nephew and the one Jessica has on the way
- my friends who I love and I am always thrilled to see
- my fantastic job and co-teacher, my regional manager and all the staff at W&T, also all the adorable kiddies
- my health and the opportunity I have on Tuesday at VGH, my gynecologist and the fact that she's made it possible for me to be functional without crazy Endo pain :)
- school and that I found something I love love love to study (psychology) and a career path I'm good at and passionate for

Yah, that's all the obvious stuff. I am also very thankful for coffee, chocolate, my new cute car, flip flops, sweatpants and sweaters, contact lenses, and my ability to be super creative! Oh, and flowers which reminds me


One of my three year olds handed me these gorgeous flowers and with a big hug said "happy thanksgiving teacher Nicole". It made my Thursday all that much better :)

There's just SO much to be thankful for

N.

Also... HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANTINA! love you lots friend, you're my sister in so many wonderful ways, my bestie, have a super day, cheers!! Xoxo


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Wednesday ramblings

So I'm still sickly, not nearly 100%. I suffered from a headache all day yesterday, and still woke up with a stuffed nose and a cough with phlegm this morning. I'm sure this will eventually go away, but I'm done with it already. I want my normal back.

Tonight is my first night class, I'm not looking forward to it. Other than the fact that I get to see my friend Jen. It just doesn't feel like I'm back in school. I wish I had this degree complete before I started work. But I just couldn't pass up the chance to work at W&T. I'll get the degree, eventually.

I'm so excited for thanksgiving this weekend. I get three family meals and I'm overly excited to consume some great food and see all my family. It's going to be good times. I also have a very important assessment appointment at the hospital on Tuesday. I am SO nervous for it, but that's another post.

Time for dinner! I'm thinking a sandwich would be delicious :)

Blessings, N.


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Sick!

So its official (it's actually been official for a while) but I'm sick! Like really sick, like it started as a headache and slowly moved it's way down my body to my lungs of fire kinda sick. My head aches, my eyes ache, my nose is plugged, my ears are plugged and my throat feels like fire. It's like I'm a dragon, radiating heat with every breath. Delightful right?

I didn't call sick into work once this week. I probably should have and my co-worker keeps telling me how much she feels sorry for me (thanks!). My ECE friends in the summer kept saying... "you'll get sick in September, just you wait!" it's like they cursed me. No, they just knew the in's and out's of preschool life. 20 snotty nosed kids in one class times four, it was bound to happen.

In other news, I've got a 7 hr college class tomorrow and I can't skip it. I'm sure my classmates will appreciate my coughing! And my phlegm :)

Happy Friday!
N.


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Sickly & busy...

Went to a wedding yesterday, it was beautiful and I know the extended family quite well so the after wedding party was lots of fun. Cam and I got home at 2am.

Then this morning... Not fun!
- woke up with a cold, stuffed nose, headache and watery eyes

This week...
- coffee date with best friend
- start of night classes (college) and therefore homework
- desperately need to clean house
- desperately need to pre-make dinners and freeze them
- anticipate my cold getting worse
- party day for threes and fours at end of week

Hard week ahead! But I'm sure nothing that a little blueberry tea and a bubble bath won't fix :)

N.

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