Hello Airdrie! It’s good to be back in the writer's seat at Airdrie City View after 13 months of maternity leave.
I wasn’t sure how I would feel about being back, and was a little nervous I might have forgotten how to do my job, but so far it feels fairly natural.
Already in my third week back, I’ve enjoyed catching up with some of you and getting back into the know of the City's current happenings.
It has also been great talking to so many adults again after a year of chatting AT my twin boys who are only just starting to understand what I’m saying.
Despite my hesitation to have someone else watch my kids while I go back to work, the time was right for me to have something else I could focus on for my own mental health.
A year of maternity leave with twins was no easy feat, but dropping them off at daycare really wasn’t any easier.
My boys are currently going to daycare three days each week, with some additional babysitting help from their Oma.
With less tears during drop off this week, I hope they’re starting to like daycare a little bit.
Instead of sticking to each other's sides, they seem to finally be branching out and playing with other kids.
Of course, the current news of Calgary’s E. coli outbreak at numerous daycares isn’t making me any less nervous about daycare.
This week, I interviewed a mom whose baby contracted E. coli at a daycare in Airdrie just under a year ago.
With my own kids in the back of my mind, it was a tough story to listen to. I could hear the emotion in her voice as she described the nightmare she’s still living as her little boy may never fully recover.
The news from the recent E. coli outbreak in Calgary brought back heavy memories of those initial moments in the hospital for her.
A quick google search will tell you that most healthy adults recover from E. coli illness within a week. But some people, especially young children and older adults, may develop a life-threatening form of kidney failure.
With tons of information on where this bacteria comes from and how to prevent it from ending up on our plates, it’s hard not to question how these outbreaks still happen.
I hope improvements are made to make our food system safer for our most vulnerable and that we don’t stop asking questions.
With that said, I’m ready to delve back into the issues facing our community and learn what you want to read about.
Please reach out to me with your concerns, questions, or requests. It’s good to be back!
