Bad Pizza Delivery

My husband and I were just recently in Edmonton, Alberta attending a Wiggles concert at Rexall Place with our 2 kids. We had a great time at the Wiggles but had horrible service from Pizza Hut. I had called Pizza Hut to have some food delivered before the concert and we had just enough time to eat, get ready and head to the concert. Our pizza and wings arrived on time but we did not get our pop that came with. I had already signed the receipt before realizing that we didn't have our pop. I caught the delivery guy before he entered the elevator and told him we did not recieve our pop. He checked the bill and said that he didn't have any pop and would have to go back to get some. My husbands first responses was he will not be back. He is going to screw us out of some pop. We didn't have an option of waiting or complaining at that time since we had to go to the Wiggles Concert. It was awesome,, but in the back of my mind I was thinking about the pop. Did the driver come back with the pop like he said and leave it at the front desk. I had told the front desk at our hotel before we had left for the concert. When we arrived home after the concert of course no pop. I didn't have time to complain at that time either because we had two young kids to put to bed in a hotel which is always a struggle.

The next morning we went for a swim to get the use out of the pool before we had to check out at 11am. I phoned Pizza Hut after we got back from the swim and got ready and packed up so we could leave. The person on the phone wanted to get us our pop. My problem with the whole thing is that he kept saying if you come here I will give it to you. Is that not beside the point? We ordered delivery for a reason we didn't want to pick it up. He also want us to wait until 11am when the restaurant actually opened and send us the pop. I informed him that we were checking out at 11am. After more complaining on my part and actually get a little upset with the bad service he had decided to send us some pop before 11am. Well we checked out and no pop. So I not very happy with Pizza Hut and I am not going to order or get food from Pizza Hut until I get my pop.

I guess what really upsets me is that they lied 3 or more time to me about my order, my pop and they didn't seem to be really concerned about satisfy their customers.

Pizza Hut rating for service is horrible. Never Again. I want my pop.

Parenting

I just finished reading one of the best articles about parenting. I was reading an article from Today's Parent one of Canada's parenting magazines. I have been getting the magazine ever since I was pregnant with my first, Peyton, who is 4 years old now. The article was called Words of Wisdom by John Hoffman. I really enjoyed the sense that he speaks about in his article. I really find he speaks a lot about how I parent and how I feel about parenting as a whole.

He talks about expert advice and says this "Experts are not experts on your kids. YOU ARE!" This is exactly right. Parenting is not an exact science that you can say well just sleep train them, put them in timeout, don't spank, don't co-sleep, don't hold them too much, and whatever you do listen to what I am saying. With saying all of that I have strong beliefs about certain ways I do things but this is the way I do them not everyone else. I don't think there is one way to do things, each child is unique and requires you to do things different and being the first, second or even third child plays and roll in how you parent too. I also don't want to discourage parents from reading and learning more and more about what parenting advice is out there because you may use some of what they are saying or use nothing but being open to learning about what else is out there makes and helps make you a better parent.

I also find that not just experts make us questions or feel guilty about how we parent but family, friends and even complete strangers. Someone always knows how to fix your problems with you and your baby or child. I remember being a first time parent and feeling all the pressure and advice coming from everywhere and how overwhelming it is and how much you just want to scream and say "This is our child and we are going to do what we want to do." Now I find that I really empathize with new parents and don't ever want to be that person who tells them how to do it. I find when I hear someone else saying well I think they shouldn't hold the baby to much or just critising how they are doing things I will often say....... "It is really hard being a first time parent and not everything is easy and we don't know everything. If they make mistakes they will be their mistakes which is the way it should be." My mom and my sister and I all parent different and we are different and I do what suits me and my sister does what suits her. We don't agree on some parenting but we do agree that we all do things the way we think they should go, the best we know how and the best for our kids.

I like to read Today's Parent because I find it informational, hilarious, helpful, and encouraging. I want to keep informed about today's parenting practices and use or not use what I read about. I hope you keep being informed. I know you do know what you are doing because if I was to ask anyone about your kids you would be the expert.

Why does death tear families apart?

We all get older as we do we find that we are faced with many of our loved ones passing. I have been to too many funerals in the past year and have found that during and after someones passing some families really come together and cherish the time they had with that person and some have difficultly because of past problems. I understand that families have problems and fights.... wow... who doesn't. Life is not perfect are we are definitely not. I know that my sister and I still fight and have had many fights but she is my sister and we forgive each other because we are family.

I often find that some family members get greedy, selfish and can't forget the past. Why when someone passes do we worry about money expect to make sure we have enough to cover the funeral and past debts. Now I worry about money when I pass because I want my children to be taken care of but when my kids have kids of their own and so on... I am not worrying anymore. With all the deaths this past year my sister and I have talked a lot and well... I know that I was jealous of my sister and the time and money my parents spent on her. As I get older I think why would have my parents not done the same for me well.... I think about it and realize... my sister and I are different. When we raise our kids we treat them fairly not equal because every kid has different needs. My son has fever seizures. When he is sick my husband and I are watching him and really worried about his next seizure. As for my daughter when she is sick we worry but not to the same extent or degree. Are we bad parents for doing this no because Rayna will have her own things that we do for her and not for Peyton.

I guess what I am trying to say is that when someone you love passes think about all the things they did with you and how much they added to your life. Try not to focus on who gets what and realize that you all are grieving and have compassion for one another because each person is affected differently. Why should you be mad because one family member got the piano and you got a locket or an old house to clean up. Whomever passed away did it that way for a reason.... remember they did things differently because of how each of you are different. Get over it..... Life does go on and how you are remember when you pass will be reflected on how you are in your life.

What is Twitter?

What is twitter? Well I am not the an expert but it is a great way to keep in touch and follow what people are doing and well have people follow and want to know what you are doing. My husband finds lots of education and information links through his followers and who he follows. I am trying to convince my father to go on twitter and keep up with the now. The video above is on the Ellen show today where she talked about twitter and was hilarious. When my husband first talked about going on twitter and tweeting it sounded very funny. We had a few chuckles about it. We are often on the computer at the same time and tweeting each other. I would like to find more moms to follow and follow me on twitter but still looking and hoping. My twitter name is germannjaime.

Understanding Death

How do we teach our kids what death is?

My grandma of 93 years passed away February 1st. We will all miss her very much and know that she lived a very full life. I am very blessed that both my kids were able to meet and spend time with their Great-Grandma. Peyton and Rayna are quite blessed. They have two sets of Grandparents, two Great-Grandma's, one Great-Grandpa and one Great-Great Grandpa who is 105.

I was trying to explain to Peyton, who is 31/2 years old, that his great-grandma, my grandma, had passed away . He either didn't have the attention span to listen to what I was saying or had no understanding of what I was trying to tell him.

I am noticing now in the last couple weeks since the passing of my Grandma that Peyton has been using the word die... a lot. He uses it so freely and doesn't quite understand the meaning of the word die or dead. I would like to find some way to help him understand or maybe he is just to young.

My cousin has a boy the same age as my son and her son seems to definitely understand the meaning of death. This maybe because his Grandpa passed away two years ago and his passing has had a direct impact on his life since he spent a lot of time with his Grandma and Grandpa.

Maybe Peyton can't understand it because Grandma's death doesn't really relate to him. He had spent some time with her but only about 3 - 5 times a year. I am trying my best to help to understand but most of the time he just makes me laugh because he is soooooo not listening to what I have to say. The craziness that comes out of his mouth has nothing to do with dieing or understanding death at all.

I was explaining the dangers of balloons to him today and how putting them in your mouth is not safe at all. I was telling him that he can't put them in his mouth because he could swallow the balloon and choke on it. I was trying to explain that Mom and Dad would be very scared and he could die from choking. I don't know if his lack of understanding and silliness is because he is trying to avoid and get out of the conversation or he really doesn't have the capabilities to understand what I am trying to explain to him.

Is my son ready to understand what death is?
Does he not want to talk about it and tries to be silly to avoid the conversation?
Should I want him to understand what death is or try to keep his innocence for longer?
Does the understanding of heaven make it easier for kids to understand what death is?
How do you teach about death but not scare them?

Autism and Immunizations

I just recently watched an episode of Private Practice on television and was quite taken with the content. The episode was about a young boy who contacted measles. His older brother has Autism and he had not been immunized because his mother felt that immunizing in some part caused her oldest son's Autism. I will not spoil the story for you but I had tears. As a parent, I never questioned getting my children immunized. I thought to myself I am not a doctor or nurse they know more about that kind of stuff than I would. How many parents choose not to give their children immunizations? I am one of the people who choose to give my children vaccinations. I would like to here from other parents and how they fill on this issue.

1. Should we vaccinate our kids?
2. Is the risk of not getting vaccinated way worse than the alternative?
3. Is there a link between vaccination and autism?
4. Should it be mandated that we all are immunized?

I have done some searching and found a lot of information on the web. Here are the first I searched and briefly scanned.

1. An article at CTV.ca supporting the issue that autism is not caused by immunizations.
2. A site in which parents of autistic children discuss their change in their children after immunizations called Think Twice.

Before seeing this episode on Private Practice I also have seen Jenny McCarthy on several television shows speaking about her son's autism. She speaks out about her struggle with parenting and autism.

I don't know what my final decision is on this matter but I am interested to hear what other parents have to say about it.

I put out a message on Twitter and received two messages back. Thank you for sending back some links.
1. Vaccination News or Age of Autism - Website based on the Autism Epidemic.
After skimming over the site it seems to me that I should try to become more informed since my son Peyton has had 10 febrile seizures starting just before his first birthday. I am glad to say that his seizures have caused him no known affects as we can see right now.