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.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Monday, October 15, 2012
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!!
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!!
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
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.
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.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Gawk! What a month!!
Ok, the last few weeks have been a complete whirlwind.
It all started the day Livy decided she was going to wipe her bum and flush the toilet herself. Suffice to say, she felt she needed 3/4 a roll of toilet paper to wipe (not sure whether her bum really was that dirty or whether she has a germ phobia thinking it is). "We" (aka Olivia) have learned that 3/4 a roll of toilet paper does NOT flush done in one flush. Nor does flushing it another 12 times. No, that simply results in a flooded bathroom floor and a lot of dirty water seeping into the laundry room downstairs.
This was my Friday night...
The next few days saw us saying goodbye to our cousins who visited for the summer and hello to my brother and his wife.
The day my brother and his wife were to arrive (a Friday again) Livy decided it may be a good time to try new tricks on the couch and proceeded to break her arm. She's now sporting a funky purple cast and another life learning lesson. "Arms don't bend that way"
Payton has also kept us on our toes with another cold running through our household (Livy got it first, same day she got her cast) and this cold was enough to develop into croup with Payton.
We did have a day trip to the ER on Saturday but they sent us home with a "lets see how she does, don't let her get any sicker and bring her in if anything else develops or bothers you". Monday she had her 1st year checkup (yes, 5 weeks late: our Doctor is a busy woman) and her check up got turned into a croup visit diagnosis. So we're not sure if over all things are good with her 1st year checkup and the few words Payton is attempting to say is on track, where she lies on her growth chart or whether any other of my concerns are actually concerns (I worry that Payton's hearing is affected again, she doesn't listen. I realize this is a reverse oxymoron...in that no one has ever heard of a 1 year old who doesn't listen). Suffice to say outside of the cold/cough, I'm not overly worried about Payton's development and growth and I'm going to assume that she's just fine.
Just over a week ago (while my brother was visiting) we were fortunate to have a representative/volunteer photographer from the Tiny Lights Foundation visit us for a photo shoot. We're still waiting on the photos but here's a sneak peek at a couple of photos.
She's also gotten better at calling me Mama and pointing at me when she does. It doesn't happen often so I'm still not fully concinced she's got that figured out.
Next week I head out of town for a work trip and I'm thinking it'll be time to fully ween Payton off of breast feeding. Ironically it was the same weekend (3rd in Sept) that I did this with Livy. I'm having a few mixed emotions over it but mostly 'wow, she's old enough to do this??'. I will say that she isn't the funnest baby to breast feed as she's a chomper. No warning, no rhyme or reason and no particular mood will pre-empt her biting. So I won't be sorry about that. Still, I know its something that helps her especially with her 'issues' but my fall with work will be a busy one with a lot of travel and it will be easier on all parties (Payton, those left behind and myself) if we establish a schedule with another form of nutrients. I've never encouraged nursing for comfort (with both girls I instead comforted with words, voice, motion and touch) so hopefully the transistion for those left behind is relatively easy.
With no breastfeeding to counteract various sicknesses, our goal will be to ensure our household will be a well rested, well nurished and active (I'll let you know how badly we fail this in, say, March/April).
I'm starting to prep Livy for Halloween and I'm excited to start seeing all the stuff come out in the stores. She's currently afraid of Halloween as (and I was surprised at this) she remembers being scared. In particular, we went to the West Coast Train Station in Squamish last weekend to ride the mini train and she remember being scared (we took her into the haunted house which was admittedly more appropriate for teenagers). So she's got a good memory and a low fear tolerance. So we're slowly working her from not wanting Halloween to come because she's scared, to trying to make her excited (mini chocolates have thus far been somewhat successful).
So that's our 'end of summer' post. I'm hoping the next month or 2 are less eventful than the last month. Payton will be having a follow up appointment in October with her surgeons and BC Childrens Hospital and I'll be sure to provide an update with that.
It all started the day Livy decided she was going to wipe her bum and flush the toilet herself. Suffice to say, she felt she needed 3/4 a roll of toilet paper to wipe (not sure whether her bum really was that dirty or whether she has a germ phobia thinking it is). "We" (aka Olivia) have learned that 3/4 a roll of toilet paper does NOT flush done in one flush. Nor does flushing it another 12 times. No, that simply results in a flooded bathroom floor and a lot of dirty water seeping into the laundry room downstairs.
This was my Friday night...
The next few days saw us saying goodbye to our cousins who visited for the summer and hello to my brother and his wife.
The day my brother and his wife were to arrive (a Friday again) Livy decided it may be a good time to try new tricks on the couch and proceeded to break her arm. She's now sporting a funky purple cast and another life learning lesson. "Arms don't bend that way"
Payton has also kept us on our toes with another cold running through our household (Livy got it first, same day she got her cast) and this cold was enough to develop into croup with Payton.
We did have a day trip to the ER on Saturday but they sent us home with a "lets see how she does, don't let her get any sicker and bring her in if anything else develops or bothers you". Monday she had her 1st year checkup (yes, 5 weeks late: our Doctor is a busy woman) and her check up got turned into a croup visit diagnosis. So we're not sure if over all things are good with her 1st year checkup and the few words Payton is attempting to say is on track, where she lies on her growth chart or whether any other of my concerns are actually concerns (I worry that Payton's hearing is affected again, she doesn't listen. I realize this is a reverse oxymoron...in that no one has ever heard of a 1 year old who doesn't listen). Suffice to say outside of the cold/cough, I'm not overly worried about Payton's development and growth and I'm going to assume that she's just fine.
Just over a week ago (while my brother was visiting) we were fortunate to have a representative/volunteer photographer from the Tiny Lights Foundation visit us for a photo shoot. We're still waiting on the photos but here's a sneak peek at a couple of photos.
This week Payton's started adding a few words to her vocabulary, my favourite being "sit". Its very cute when I'm telling her to 'sit' and she replies with the same force and inflection.
Her other fav word is "press". Its currently a obsessive thing for her to go around pressing all the light switches (or anything else that looks like it may do something when pressed). Cute the first 3 times, ready to pull my hair out from the last 3,205 times I've stood there waiting for her to press the light on or off. Still, its a form of communication so I'm going with the flow.
She's also gotten better at calling me Mama and pointing at me when she does. It doesn't happen often so I'm still not fully concinced she's got that figured out.
Next week I head out of town for a work trip and I'm thinking it'll be time to fully ween Payton off of breast feeding. Ironically it was the same weekend (3rd in Sept) that I did this with Livy. I'm having a few mixed emotions over it but mostly 'wow, she's old enough to do this??'. I will say that she isn't the funnest baby to breast feed as she's a chomper. No warning, no rhyme or reason and no particular mood will pre-empt her biting. So I won't be sorry about that. Still, I know its something that helps her especially with her 'issues' but my fall with work will be a busy one with a lot of travel and it will be easier on all parties (Payton, those left behind and myself) if we establish a schedule with another form of nutrients. I've never encouraged nursing for comfort (with both girls I instead comforted with words, voice, motion and touch) so hopefully the transistion for those left behind is relatively easy.
With no breastfeeding to counteract various sicknesses, our goal will be to ensure our household will be a well rested, well nurished and active (I'll let you know how badly we fail this in, say, March/April).
I'm starting to prep Livy for Halloween and I'm excited to start seeing all the stuff come out in the stores. She's currently afraid of Halloween as (and I was surprised at this) she remembers being scared. In particular, we went to the West Coast Train Station in Squamish last weekend to ride the mini train and she remember being scared (we took her into the haunted house which was admittedly more appropriate for teenagers). So she's got a good memory and a low fear tolerance. So we're slowly working her from not wanting Halloween to come because she's scared, to trying to make her excited (mini chocolates have thus far been somewhat successful).
So that's our 'end of summer' post. I'm hoping the next month or 2 are less eventful than the last month. Payton will be having a follow up appointment in October with her surgeons and BC Childrens Hospital and I'll be sure to provide an update with that.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Fun Stuff
Not much to update other than some fun videos and pictures.
We survived another year of JABR (Dwayne's mountain bike race) and it would appear I've offically been placed in charge of the kiddie bike race (its in our blood) and I'm looking forward to next year when both girls will participate.
Enjoy!
We survived another year of JABR (Dwayne's mountain bike race) and it would appear I've offically been placed in charge of the kiddie bike race (its in our blood) and I'm looking forward to next year when both girls will participate.
Enjoy!
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