Knees and Toes

Its been a while since I've provided an update.  Usually that means things are good, life is busy and there's been no 'issues' for us as a family.

For those who check in on our CDH baby Payton, she's doing well, growing like a weed.  She's recently overcome her 4th round of Pneumonia but like all the times, she's handled it like a champ.  This time it only took 1 well timed visit to the ER for them to run an x-ray and send her home with a prescription.  A second visit was in our future but only to deal with asthma that seems to now be in the cards for her when she's dealing with respiratory colds/flus.

Developmentally and physically Payton continues to progress much like we would expect any 'healthy' child.  She continues to be slightly tall for her age (though shorter than Olivia) and while she wouldn't be called chubby, she's just right for a running, active toddler though I'm so used to how chubby Livy was it does worry me slightly that I can see Payton's ribs.  Still, she's tipping the scale at 13 kilos (29 lbs) so I know she's doing just fine in the weight category.

Her reflux continues though easily handled with medication we add to her milk.  She knows what it looks like and will often complain if she sees me pouring it into her cup/bottle.  She's a hoot with her words right now and I have to say, Wilma has done an amazing job with her manners.  Even in the middle of the night if she asks for her bottle she'll say "Thank you Mommy" so clear, and will promptly fall back to sleep.

She can count up to 13 (only skipping the number 8) and can pretty much do her ABC's now (she skips anywhere from 2-3 letters.  I'm thinking that's not bad).  One of her favourite songs is "Head, shoulders, knees and toes...".  Often though I only hear "Knees and toes, knees and toes" repeated over and over until she gets my attention.  Sometimes she breaks into song because she wants her socks removed and she's tugging at her toes.

While in Hawaii at the beginning of April Payton officially started stringing 2 words together (rather than repeating common word combos like "ready, set, go" or "thank you mommy").  This last weekend she spoke a full sentence...it only dawned on me a few minutes later that she had strung a bunch of words together.

Olivia has been growing in leaps and bounds and she's starting to get easier on so many levels but like many 3, almost 4 year old's, her knowledge and maturity bring with it a whole slew of other issues.  One thing I've started to talk to her about is bullying.  That she needs to talk nice to people and if someone doesn't talk nice to her its ok if she doesn't want to play with them but that is goes both ways.  While she doesn't always heed my advice, she sure is on the ball when I say something in a not so nice way.  Suffice to say Dwayne and I have been doing a lot of apologizing to one another for how we talk because Livy does NOT let us get a way with it.  A good reminder for us all.

Dwayne and I are doing well.  Dwayne just finished his first bike race of the season last weekend and we were there in full force to cheer him on (ok, we were at 2/3rds capacity as Payton was at home napping) but Livy and I were there for support.  We're all pretty happy he had a great race and Livy and I got to have our own little fun with the mini pump track they had on site.

Speaking of bikes.  Technically Livy can ride a pedal bike.  Officially she's not quite there yet.  With me as support she has ridden and stopped without support.  With Dwayne she's started and ridden without support.  She has not started, ridden and stopped yet all in one ride on her own but we're down the last final few efforts before she's there.  She's dealing with some fears at this point so its a gentle push to ride from us with her gently resisting...hopefully she'll find that last little bit of confidence and it won't be much longer.

As for me, I'm gearing up for my 1st Half Marathon in less than 2 weeks.  I've made it challenging for myself in that I signed up for a trail run half marathon.  I realized on an 18 km run (15 km on trails) that 21 km road run would be a relatively easy walk in the park compared to a 21 km trail run.  I'm not 100% sure I'll even be able to finish it, not because I don't have the energy but rather because my calves start to seize up around 15 km on the trails (something that's never happened even after 18 kms on the road).

So, time will tell.  Our household is healing from this last round of chest colds (Payton, Olivia and I are on the mend but Dwayne just started it yesterday) and hopefully this won't hinder me too much (I've taken 2 weeks off running).

I'll sign off with a few fun photos of our Hawaii trip last month.  A much needed trip away that Dwayne and I put in over time over the winter to squeeze in.  As our industry faces cutbacks we're still wondering if it was a good idea but we're very thankful for the wonderful memories we did get out of it.

Winter 2013 Update

Ok, I’ve had a number of comments about how out of date our blog is.  Yes, it is.  I agree.

So I’m making an effort to provide an update on where we are in our lives.

As a family, we’re doing great!!  This winter has been long but fast.  I can’t believe I’m eyeing up the seeds for spring planting but at the same time, spring can’t get here fast enough.  That said, I recognize that every single day that goes by, my girls grow up.  It doesn’t matter how many times you savour the moment, stop to smell the roses…time goes by and it goes by too quickly.

Payton continues, health wise, to be doing great.  While she did have a bout of pneumonia this winter, a little bit of asthma and reflux that started in early December, she’s holding her own and these are health issues that are very manageable and I’m very thankful that her current issues are so minor.  We did see a respiratologist (or however you spell it) at Children’s hospital and he’s placed her on an inhaler for the remainder of the winter to minimize potential pneumonia (the inhaler hopefully will keep her lungs ‘open’ so she can clear them when sick and prevent the build-up of fluid, aka pneumonia).  She was also placed on anti reflux medication.  Her reflux only presents at night (around 2 am) when she starts coughing.  Prior to her medication I could often smell that bile smell, knowing that likely she was dealing with reflux.  The medication hasn’t completely prevented incidents but I no longer smell the bile and her incidents are less severe/often.  We are lucky because even without meds the only time it occurs is at night.  We’re hopefull she’ll grow out of it fairly soon.

Developmentally she’s doing very well.  She had her 1.5 y check-up/follow-up with the NICU in mid February and they were very pleased with her development.  They even had to go and ‘pull out the more advanced toys” for her.   We notice this advanced development at home too but in different ways.  Now that she’s able to balance on the back of the couch (NOT encouraged by any means) and do random summersaults (very well I may add, sometimes even launching herself off the couch/bed doing so…again, not encouraged) and crawling up onto chairs, tables etc.  All this, aside from the couch surfing, Livy did not do so we’re in new territory with this one.

Her vocabulary is growing heaps and each day we get a new word.  She’s learning her ABC’s and for every letter of the alphabet she will repeat a word starting with that letter.  E is for… “elephant”, M is for…”monkey”, etc.

Livy is…well, Livy.  She is growing so fast.  Having a little sister brings out the worst and the best in her…in the same motion she will go from kissing Payton to bonking her on the head.  She’s almost swimming independently and I wish we could/would be able to take her to the pool more often.  I’ve tried to enrol her in lessons but when I look, they are ALWAYS full and though I place us on the waiting lists, we don’t seem to advance into a time slot EVER!!  So we go sporadically and THANK GOODNESS she has a good memory.

Skating this winter didn’t take off much (though we tried).  The time slot for family skate is right around when Livy starts to get grumpy and thus its been a bit tiresome arguing with a 3 year old who is frustrated when she can’t do something.  This has been something I’ve begun to notice with Livy.  If she can’t do something ‘well’  then she doesn’t want to do it.  We’re seeing it with her learning to ride her pedal bike (sans training wheels).  She would much rather rip around on her runner bike than brave the pedal bike (even though she has successfully ridden the pedal bike).  She likes her comfort zone play.  So I’m trying to buck the trend and push her to try new, hard things and not let her resort back to the ‘easy way’ all the time.  

Dwayne and I are doing well.  We’re both busy trying to stay active, training for some events once the nice weather rolls around.  We’re both signed up for a 21km cross country run and the Test of Metal thus far.  Dwayne will likely start to add copious biking events to his schedule while I will debate the local triathlon and likely commit (or not) around April.    Training for the 21 km run should make the Tri easy…and since running is my weak part (not that I’m a fast swimmer etc its just easy compared to the run) it may be that large amounts of running I’m currently doing will make it all seem easy  (ha ha, at least that’s the dream).

March is a busy month for us (as it always is) and Dwayne and I head to Toronto this weekend for our annual work conference.  This year we have both Grandma Val and Grandma Helen in Squamish to help us out.  It should be interesting… The good news is each year it gets easier with the girls so by next year we should only need 1 Grandma to watch them :).

At the end of March we’ll be taking a “hopefully” warm holiday. It will be our first trip to Hawaii and Dwayne and I are hoping to use it as our biking season kick start.   My parents are coming with us and while I only need 1.5-2 hrs max each day on the bike (if that) having my parents there will allow Dwayne a few long days in the saddle, something I know he’s looking forward to.

I have a ton of pics sitting on the camera and I will try to get them on the blog.   At a minimum I’ll try to include some of the photos we took on the boys’ birthday (Nov 7^th) the last day I posted an update.

Reflection

November 7th has come and gone for us.  It was, as it has been for the 5 years prior to this, both wonderful and painful.

The wonderful of course very much out weights the painful and for that I'm incredibly grateful.  Still, I allowed myself a small, reminiscent cry in the early morning hours, doing what I always do when I think of the sons I'll never watch grow; I imagine the "what if's".

This year our family day was chaotic and fun.  We started the day with waffles (our new favourite breakfast...well Dwayne's and mine anyway).  We then had our family photos taken and I'm so excited to see them.  Olivia wanted to see a few after our photographer took her picture and the few we saw over her shoulder looked great.

Later that day we checked into the Mountain Retreat hotel for some ... WATERSLIDING!!!

For the 1st little bit we thought it was going to be a complete waste of a hotel room.  Livy wasn't overly keen on hitting the slide, she was more interested in the warm hot tube (still, can't complain that she may be a heat seeker like I am).  After a bit of coercing we had her up the slide with both Dwayne and I.  Then just before packing it in for the afternoon Dwayne let her go down alone with me at the bottom a couple of times.

Payton even had a go at it in my lap for which I think she had mixed feelings about.

Later that evening we were joined by Livy and Payton's cousins and much to my surprise Livy headed the charge and was up and down the stairs/slide all on her own.

It was a wonderful day even though a part of me realized that our older daughter just took one more step towards independence and not 'needing' us.  I little piece of my heart broke as she cut one more cord that makes us her 'everything' and the stark realization that she's growing up...man, even typing this I'm getting teary eyed thinking she'll be moving away from home soon.  Ok, talking myself down from the ledge.  "She's only 3!!"

Bit I digress.  Today was wonderful. And I'm so incredibly content to have these two beautiful girls in my life.  I'm grateful for the love that fills our lives.  Everyday we remember that love, today is the day we celebrate that love.

Can't wait to see what we have in store for next year.

Wave of Light

Today we remember our angels and while I don’t need a day to remember my own angels, I remember and miss them every day, I try to keep this day special to honour and support of other parents who have lost, and those sweet angels who will follow, to remind them that they are not alone.

This evening we will be taking part in the Wave of Light

 Everyone is invited to light a candle on October 15th at 7pm in ALL Time Zones, All over The World.

If everyone lights a candle at 7pm and keeps it burning for at least one hour, there will be a continuous WAVE OF LIGHT over the entire world on October 15th, Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day.

http://www.october15th.com/

Its purpose you may ask?  Is so our angels in heaven can see this beautiful wave of light across the earth and know the whole world is thinking about them.

Today is also Dwayne and my wedding anniversary.  Our 7th to be exact.  While its a bittersweet day to share with the world, we like to look at it as "Every year on our Anniversary not only do we celebrate it with candlelight, but so do so many others" :)

Happy Anniversary Dwayne!!

Goodbye Summer

Our lives have been fairly sedentary these last weeks as we've settled into Autumn which is just how I like it.

Payton has been doing well on the CDH front with only one trip the medi clinic this month.  It would appear she is devoping asthma. While they won't officially diagnose her till she's 6, I've had asthma since I was a teenager and I recognize the wheezing.  The doc did confirm her lungs sounded tight and she was on 'watch' in the event it got bad enough to take her to the ER for treatment.  We didn't have to :).  She's still recuporating from that cold and her fiesty spirit fights on in the form of screaming "no, no, no" whenever I try wiping her nose.

Yes, that means Payton's vocabulary is expanding. She's just so much fun right now and she does a great job with her animal sounds (dog goes ruf, truck goes broom, horse goes neah etc).  She's also saying nose and I think 'mama' but thats still debatable.

On the sibling front, I will say now I am very apologetic to Payton for making her a younger sibling.  Livy is doing the worlds worst adjustment of being a big sister and has resorted to punching and biting her little sister whenever she 'gets in the way' just a little too often.  Fortunately its only been 2 times that Payton's gotten in the way too many times.  Still, poor Payton has been sporting bite marks on her back for the last week.

Aside from the carnavore streak, Livy is doing well and continues to make me smile.  Lately she's gotten into wanting to draw her name and has been practicing her letters. She's also learning to count past 20.  She does really well until 29 where she needs a bit of help remembering 30 but starts up again only to need reminding at 40 etc.  She gets the concept that she needs to start counting from 1 again (ie 31, 32) and it was adorable for a while when she would do 20-11, 20-12, 20-13....  I almost let her continue on because it was so cute (she would need reminding around 20-17).  Then I realized that it may lead to problems and my amusement wasn't worth the potential torment of fixing that concept.

I've made the autumn transistion from being on a bike all summer to running again. Its been nice this fall.  Its been so dry the creeks have dried up and while its sad that the salmon aren't running (thus we'll likely get hardly any eagles this winter) I can run on some of my favourite trails with the dogs without fear of them sporting dead salmon coats.  There is NOTHING more foul than a dog who's rolled in salmon. 

Dwayne continues to squeak out every last moment on his bike though he's taken to the trails running as well.  The leaves are still mostly green on the trees but I think that balance will change in the next few days and soon enough the rain/snow and ice will make us wish we had taken advantage of it more.

This last weekend we started getting our Halloween decor out.  Its early, yes but we have so much stuff it makes sense to take advantage of it and enjoy it longer.  Livy is hilarious and she's very happy to play with much of the stuff though there are a few items that freak her right out...the severed foot being one of them.  He's happily hanging out in a file cabinet until we can find a good home for him (maybe Auntie Monique's). 

I'll be sure to get some pictures of our Halloween decor especially since Dwayne has taken an active interest in it.  Suffice to say he's spent more in the last 3 days than I have over 3 years so our yard is quickly filling up. Should be interesting trying to find storage for this stuff.

On another note, we're still awaiting our pictures from our Tiny Light photo shoot and I've been assured that they are in the mail so hopefully I'll get them soon and I can share our favourites.