Getting to know Tana!

Well, hello world!

I have decided to write a blog on the advice of a great friend.  She always talks about me needing to write a book, memoir, or blog.  So, this is my attempt.

I am 31 yrs old, and a stay at home Mom.  I am so very fortunate to have the ability to stay home with my babies and see them grow, and reach milestones most working mothers miss.  My son Riley is 11, and my daughter Keni will be 7 next weekend.  My children are my everything!  I have a loving Husband, Gerry.  He has shown me what love actually is, and how magically it can be.  He works hard to provide for our little family, and to keep our home a beautiful place to live.  I feel very blessed to have such an incredible family!!!

I had a car accident 5 yrs ago this January 17th.  It changed my life .... literally.  I will forever have pain, spasms and a lot of other issues due to favouring the parts of my neck and back that are hurt.  I take mittfuls of medication 3-4 times a day, and am having a torrid love affair with my heating pad.  Without that, I would not make it through the day/night.  I don't sleep during the night.  That is usually when I have the most spasms and pain.  Mornings are a little hard for me, but once I get going I'm fine.

For the past four months I have been dealing with a lot of health issues.  I got a sinus infection that turned into double pnuemonia, which then turned into strep throat, which turned back into pnuemonia, and then for kicks I got bronchitis, double ear infection, and pnuemonia ... AGAIN!  Unfortunatly, at some point during all that sickness I became unable to swallow food.  I cannot swallow anything thicker than a very watered (well, milk) down milkshake.  I have been eating popsicles, freezies, fudgesicles and drinking lots of juice, water, and even some pop.  I finally went for some swallow testing this week after meeting with my team of Dr's last week.  I go in next Friday for the results.  I have crossed all my appendages that they will be able to see the problem, and fix it swiftly.

My son Riley is 11 yrs old as of February 25th.  He is an incredibly smart little man.  Riley will always have my heart.  He is such a caring, empathetic, devoted and loving little boy who is not afraid to show affection to his Old Mom, even with a friend around!  He wants everyone to have fun, and will do silly things to make his beloved Sister laugh!  When Ry was 3 he was diagnosed with Severe ADHD.  We tried changing everything from his diet, routine, discipline, and expectations, but at age 6 1/2 had to finally put him on medication while he was at school.  He was only under the medication while at school, and it was completely out of his system by 4:00pm.  He now only takes one pill in the morning, and then he has the option of taking a pill for the afternoon/evening if he is severely hyper.  Riley says he feels like he is able to make better decisions, and is able to control his behaviour better with the afternoon/evening med.  We give him a natuarl pill called Melatonin (what your body produces to help you sleep) at bedtime to help him get to sleep.  It seems to calm his mind down enough for him to fall asleep, however it does not keep him asleep.  Ry went through psychoeducational testing when he was in grade 4, where he was diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome and OCD.  Those diagnosis were a bit of a shock.  I have always suspected OCD since he was very little, but the Tourette's one you could have pushed me over with a feather!  I didn't really know much about it other than what they show on television.  So I started panicking that my Baby Boy was going to scream out obsenities and have his body jerk around uncontrollably!  He does have over 20 tics, but most are non-verbal.  Even the verbal ones are not to the degree that they show on the television.

My Daughter Keni is such a beautiful, bright little girl.  She worships her Big Brother.  They are so very close.  Hardly ever fight.  However, when they do fight it's usually a good one where at the end at least one child is crying!  Luckily for Gerry and I, these are few and far between!  Keni has always wanted hair to her bum.  She's been talking about it since she was 2 years old.  Well, this April her hair was halfway down her thigh!!!  My incredible Daughter donated 15 inches of hair to donate to Pantene Canada, and raised just over $1,200 to donate to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.  She was very adamant that she wanted her hair to go to a woman or child in Canada, and I wholeheartedly agree.  Keni told me one day that she was going to change the world .... and I have no doubt that she will.  She is very caring child who will do anything to help a friend.  She makes friends easily, and often has a hard time picking out only 6 or 7 to invite to parties.  What a hardship to have to figure out who's coming and who's not, LOL.  We are currently redo-ing Keni's bedroom as part of her birthday present this year.  I cannot wait to see it all come together now ... we are sooooo close to it being done!  I will talk more about it another time.

So, this is a brief getting to know Tana post.  I am really looking forward to having an outlet to share my thoughts, questions, and silly moments with.  Even if it is just one person reading (I love you Cass!) then it is worth it to me.  I hope you all in the internet world have a wonderful weekend, and enjoy your time with your famiy and friends.

Ciao!