Pic of the Day ~ Becca’s Peek-A-Boo

… One day in my PJ’s and I think the world would be a better place from my perspective. Just one day … Today was not that day … Today was the day they numbed my stomach to make sure it was tissue bruising and not ulcers (or something nasty like that) causing me discomfort (ummm yeah let’s call it as it is PAIN!) Thankfully I am alright except for the aches of bruising. Damn the life-saving seat beat all to heck!

Our health insurance is for the dogs (actually I think dogs get better insurance here!) They are making no exceptions or allowances for the fact that Becca is like not even two years old and that her vision issues differ from that of an adult, and therefore has different needs. I so love it when one insurance representative tells me one thing, lulling me into a sense of false security, then the next guy ripping the rug out from underneath me!

One of our biggest struggles is the fact that the majority of Optomtists do not have a wide range of toddler sized frames if any at all. Now I am a vain and determined mother, that refuses to buy frames that are ugly. Becca is being viewed differently because she is wearing glasses (you can be all polite but you know it is true!), damn I am going to make sure she looks darn tooting cute while wearing them.

The Eye Specialist was very positive on Wednesday, stating that Becca’s eyes are definitely improving which is awesome. It is not quite at the level of improvement the doctor would liek to see, so she prescribed bifocals and a new frame (to hand the new lenses). The bifocals should pull Becca’s eyes even moreso, and therefore straighten them to perfection. By doing so we avoid an eye surgey, which is really my goal as a mom. Hence why Becca loves her glasses and cries when they are removed. Her and I worked on the concept of wearing glasses, and continue to do so. There is a lot of positive energy involved in making sure we are doing all we can.

So when the insurance company tells me that they are not helping us do the best we can for our daughter, I turn into a Mother Bear. The poor supervisor on the phone last night, I am so sure he was wishing he was on break when I called. I yelled, I cried and came so close to completely loosing it on his butt. Eventually we came to a compermise that is so not good enough, but will have to do.

We have purchased a frame from a children’s eyeglasses specialty store, after hunting and searching for alternatives that our insurance would cover. The frames sadly will be our cost to bear, so yeah whatever. The company will cover the new lenses (excluding our co-pay of course!) so that saves us a few clams. Dudes, you realize that in Canada we would have been able to get what we needed for our daughter (obviously within the limits of the company) where ever we needed to no questions asked and surely not the running around that we have had to do. I feel so terrible for Americans that have to fight like this for their children their entire lives! I get that our plan is not the top of the line, but it ain’t half bad either. *sigh* Living here is so stressful, I so am loving the carefree lifestyle of Canada more and more every day that we live here!

Speaking of Canada….Happy Birthday oh Sweet Country of Ours! July 1st is Canada Day!!! How I hate to be so far on such a great day! For those of you enjoying a long weekend (both Canadian and American!) have a great weekend full of BBQ’s, beer, fireworks and good times!

Tomorrow there is a special surprise for you, in honour of holidays, bloggers and all that jazz….

Pic of the Day ~ The Airport Shot (darn balloons kept Becca looking up!)

It has been a really long day. Saying good-bye really sucks. The last few days have flown by and the whole we were in a car accident so did not help. I am tired, my tummy hurts and I am still a little sore. So for tonight I wish you all well…Tomorrow I will be back on track .

Pic of the Day ~ Becca and her Grandpa

lol oh the irony that no one specifically guessed that our insanely bad luck has continued and we were involved in yet another car accident *sigh*

The four of us were happily cruising down the interstate, excited to arrive at the Happiest Place on Earth, we can see the exit to Anaheim … we are so close … suddenly traffic comes to a stop, as it often does on the freeway … I am prepared, step on the brake and come to a stop with tons of room … wait for the cars to start to move (yup I was driving this time) .. when suddenly … BAM! The car that had stopped behind us was hit at about 45 miles per hour and therefore nails us HARD! *sigh* Becca starts screaming, thankfully because she was startled and afraid, not because she had any visiable injuries (and is still happy as can be so thankfully unharmed). J cannot get out of the car because the frame has shifted to a crazy degree. My Dad appears to come out unscathed, same with J. I am very sore on my left side (that is also the side I always carry Becca so that does not help). But no one is hurt badly, thank God.

I am still very much in shock that we have yet again been involved in an accident and our lives thrown into chaos. We just got the car back from the last not-our-fault accident. I am not sure how many more times we can cheat death or serious injury. I very much want to go home, I am finding this country very scary and stressful, yet part of me loves the good adventures just as much, as well as my wonderful caring friends here.

We need to purchase a new car seat now that ours has been involved in an accident. Of course, American car seats are not legal in Canada due to different car seat regulations (weirdly we are allowed Canadian car seats here though). I am sure there are some seats that are identical in both countries, just the country stickers differ, however no one will ever verify that officially. We have decided to just get a car seat here and deal with Canada later (our car insurance covers the replacement, however if we buy it from Canada they will not pay for shipping, can you imagine the cost of shipping?!?!)

I am trying really really hard not to be discouraged and down with all the crap to wade through here. We finally got Becca’s new frames so she is free from duct tape. She had another eye appointment this morning, however that is a tale I will tell tomorrow. My Dad is flying home tomorrow , however it has been so awesome to have him here (even through the sucky times, we made the most of it and had a lot of fun!). I will be very sad to take him to the airport tomorrow, yet I think Becca will miss him even more than I will…

Pic of the Day ~ Double the trouble!

I have to say, the four of us had a GREAT time once we arrived in Disneyland! The hotel that we stayed at last night was AWESOME! Great deal for $45! This morning we survived the line for the new & improved Pirates of the Caribean ride that opened up 3 days ago. There were people that were waiting up to 3-4 hours in line! We headed there right at 8 am and got on the ride in less than an hour!

I was sad to think that we will not be back to Disneyland for 6-8 weeks . We are so spoiled, and I am going miss that place!

It was INSANELY busy (not what we are used to!), however there was a lot to see, characters everywhere and we made the most of it!

So it was almost the perfect trip….I want you all to try to guess what could have possibly gone wrong … Think about our luck … *sigh*

As a parting shot …. Do you think we wore them out?!?!

Since we are enjoying Disneyland today and tomorrow, I wanted to share a little story that happened a week or so ago, enjoy!

Pic of the Day ~ The Darling Becca

Last weekend there was a little craziness in our apartment complex, in fact right across the hallway from us! The apartment across has been empty for a few weeks now. I have seen the cleaners and painters in there preparing it for a new tenant, but no furniture or any indication that people are moving in ASAP.

We got home to discover a homeless man sleeping next to the garbage bins, next to him a 24 pack of beer. It is not normal for the homeless to sleep in the apartment complex. It is kind of a “Don’t Bite the Hand that Feeds you” type of concept. There is a blind eye to people checking out the garbage and sorting through it and in return they leave the property alone.

I called the Courtesy Patrol, however I think it was still a little early and they were not patrolling yet. I left a message and felt I had done my duty. Later that evening, I was reading blogs and J was watching some TV, when there was a knock on the door. A lady was inquiring if the apartment next door was rented out. J answered no, then she wanted J to tell her friend that so she could get her to leave. J told them he did not want to get involved. At this point I am all WTH?!?! So I call the Curtesy Patrol again and talk to a guy.

He comes by and causally asks the people if they rented the apartment…blah blah blah…then walks away. So I start bitching to J, that there is no way those people are renting that apartment, yak yak yak. The Patrol guy calls us to say he has called the police and to lie low.

Dudes I so did not need to be told not to stick my head out that door!!! So after a long wait the police show up all yelling and kicking the homeless people out. The guy that was inviting people over was a new guy in the area, but the others were very well known to the police. Rather than marching them all to jail they were banned from the property, which really is worse, since that affects their food and income.

It was the first time we had to encounter the craziness of police and that jazz. It was like watching a boring episode of Cops! It definitely was the closest I would like to get to crime down here, but it did spice up our Saturday night!