surgery - part 2

We had to head back to the hospital this evening.  Leah bumped her eyebrow (not hard mind you, she turned into my leg, I barely felt it).  Within 10 mins it was swollen up to this size so I was quite worried and headed back to the hospital with Leah and my Mom. 

The very nice doctor who saw us explained it has filled with blood which has since clotted (it feels hard to the touch).  Good news, no permanent problems, should still heal fine just as before.  Bad news, it could take weeks for the clot to dissipate (side note: too me a few tries to get that word spelled correctly and I ended up googling just to be sure). 

I will be seeing the surgeon next week for Leah's followup appointement.  Hopefully he's as unconcerned about this clot as the ER doctor.  I hope it truly doesn't affect her healing in any way.  And I hope this clot can go away sooner rather than later.  Because with a little girl who likes to jump off the stairs, jump around like a bunny constantly, and run at top speed whenever possible it's going to give me many more grey hairs trying to make sure this eye heals without further injury!

Leah's surgery

Leah's surgery went really well, we are home and she is a little groggy but otherwise back to herself.

Her and I were out the door at 6:10 am this morning.  Got to the hospital and went through registration, Leah was happy to have a bracelet.  The hospital was practically empty, very nice to have an early morning appointment. 

After changing into her fancy yellow striped outfit, we waited a bit more.  The nurses also made sure pink bunny had a bracelet, as Leah would be taking bunny in with her.  Leah entertained herself with some colouring and we had a visit from the surgeon while waiting.  He is so nice and reassuring, I definately felt more relaxed after speaking with him.

And then it was time.  I was so nervous about handing Leah over to the nurse to take into the OR.  Sure enough she did cry and it was hard.  But after a few seconds I couldn't hear her anymore.  A very nice volunteer who was in charge of keeping everyone informed of goings on came to see me after a few mins to let me know he'd seen her being rolled into the OR and she was fine, phew.

Then I spent the next 30 mins looking at this...

And finally I got word from the volunteer she was out of surgery and resting, still asleep from the anesthesia.   In the recovery room it is normally 1-1 patient/nurse ratio but Leah had 2 nurses with her at all times.  The surgeon came out to see me and let me know things went very well.  He wants to see her next week for a followup appointment. 

Once Leah woke up they gave her a quick check and it was into another recovery room where I could join her.  The volunteer came to let me know she would be on the move so I was able to join her bed in the hallway as they were rolling her along.  You could tell she was still out of it from the anesthesia.

Hanging out in recovery.  Leah hated the IV and was anxious to have it removed.  We read some books and she had snack to keep her distracted.  Her eyebrow is bruised, and will likely get even more bruised over the next day or so (surgeon said she may end up with a black eye).  But otherwise looks good.  She has dissolving stitches so we don't need to do anything, just keep the tape on there and keep it clean and dry.  She is such a trooper, she did amazingly well the whole time!!  And the nurses and surgeon were wonderful, definately put both Leah and me at ease.  Everyone just thought she was the sweetest thing, she definately got lots of attention.

last day of school!

After today it is onto Grades 1 and 4 for these two!

I'm not sure who is looking forward to this more...the kids, or me!  Summer means a break from:
* endless papers coming home (especially this year with the kids being in 2 different schools, twice as many dates/events to keep track of)
* last minute rushing to get lunches and snacks made (in Sept I always have grand plans to be prepared and make lunches the night before, that happened exactly twice...there's always next year)
* last minute scramble to find hats, shoes, sunscreen, library book, homework (again, plans to pack the backpacks the night before...didn't happen)
* fighting with Kyle to sit for more than 1 minute to do some homework (he is perfectly capable of doing the homework without assistance, I just need to help him sit long enough to get it done)

But we'll see how long this lasts.  I'm sure within 1 week I'll be looking forward to that first day of school!

We do have a fun summer ahead.  The kids each have a few weeks at their favourite day camp.  We have some family road trips planned including Montreal and Quebec City.  We have the pool, and Kyle and I are currently planning his birthday party for later in the summer.

Last time for Sam (our nanny) walking Kyle to the bus stop and Jillian to her school.

And here's a comparison from the first day of school back in September. We had just gotten home from a week at Disney World the night before!

Today they have a half day of school which means I'll pick each of them up, drop off teacher gifts and surprise them with lunch and a trip to the bookstore.

the little things

I've been in a funk for a while.  I've been trying my best to fight it off, move past and just be myself again but for some reason it's not as easy as it sounds.  I'm not sure why, there's no specific reason.  I'm just feeling generally overwhelmed and anxious (as are all moms!).  So something I'm hoping will help is to make an effort to recognize all the little things which make my day.  Of course there's always the biggies (3 healthy children, a loving husband, a great family, a home, a job, enough money to be able to buy what we need, and enough money to buy some fun want-to-have-but-don't-really-need things).  I never take those things for granted.  But I want to make sure I don't lose sight of the little things.  So here's my list for today:

* Jillian quickly agreed on her last-day-of-school outfit for tomorrow without any fuss
* the dress Jillian wants to wear had a small rip on the seam which I've been meaning to fix for a while now so I went to my tiny little sewing bag (and I do mean tiny, it's a small makeup bag, I'm not a seamstress by any stretch of the imagination!).  What did I find when I opened it up?  A needle pre-threaded with a good length of thread, in the exact colour I needed to fix the dress!
* the girls had a lot of fun in the bath tonight, and Leah now has that sweet babyfresh smell...I can't stop smelling her hair every time she walks past!
* I made salmon tonight for dinner along with brown rice and sugar snap peas (my favourite veggie) and it actually tasted pretty good...we aren't big fish eaters but I'm trying to add it into the menu more often and I don't have a lot of experience with it, so I was pleased it turned out well
* I'm excited about the last day of school tomorrow.  Even moreso because we were given some last minute days off work which was a nice surprise.  So now as a surprise for Kyle and Jillian, when they finish school midday I will be taking them out for lunch and then onto the bookstore as I've bought them each a Chapters gift card as an end of school year gift.
* today I wore a new bracelet for the first time...it's a charm bracelet with a Canadian theme so it has an inukshuk, maple leaf, etc and I love it.
* I had some nice comments on the blog...thanks!!

tv and movies

My kids and I are big tv and movie fans.  Yes, I will admit my kids watch too much tv.  We have a pvr which is stocked with their favourites (and we are currently enjoying free preview of teletoon retro!).  They don't have unlimited tv time, but a fair bit...probably more than they should.  And then there's movies, we also love movies.  And I'm really enjoying the fact the 2 big kids are getting into movies I also enjoy watching.  But not to worry, screen time isn't the only thing my kids do, even though they might watch a lot of tv and movies, we also do a lot together as a family which exposes them to many things.  We always have several family memberships on the go and frequently visit zoo, museums, art gallery, science centre, playgrounds, go for walks, ride bikes/scooters, swim in our pool, etc.  It all evens out, right?

Jillian has been asking for "Family Fun Movie Night" for a while.  We try to do this as often as possible but just haven't had a chance lately with life being busy, evenings full of gymnastics and other activites.  But I know how much the kids (and I) love it so I want to make an effort to have them more often.  They aren't anything extraordinary, just all of us sitting on the couch to watch a movie together, and the kids get some sort of fun snack, I like to give them a popcorn/chip/fruit gummy combo mix which they love. 

Part of why we haven't done this recently is we don't have any new movies.  And getting the kids to agree on one we've already seen a bunch of times isn't easy, plus there's only so many times *I* want to watch one of their movies.  There's been some good ones on tv recently which we've been enjoying, such as The Princess Bride (a personal favourite!).

Tonight I found myself in the movie store where they had an additional 30% off the already lower priced previously viewed dvds.  I took a look and actually found a few which I thought the kids would enjoy.  Here's what I picked up:

The Barbie one is for Jillian.  Gforce is the only one the kids have already seen, we took Kyle and his friends to see that one in the movie theatre last year for his bday party but haven't seen it since.  I'll probably tuck one or two away to keep for the summer when we go on a road trip for vacation.  And now this gives us a few movie nights with new material which is nice.

Then for $5 I picked this one up for myself.  I remember seeing previews and thinking it looked like a movie I would enjoy.  And with my husband currently pursuing a masters while working fulltime you can imagine I have some evenings to myself on the couch while he studies.

On the topic of movies, I recently took all 3 kids to see ToyStory3...we all LOVED it!  I even cried at the end, I admit.  I'd like to take Kyle to see the new Karate Kid movie at some point, but I think it would be a bit much for Jillian so I need to find a time just he and I can go.  He has seen the original on tv and I know he'd enjoy the new one.

And yes, the 2 year old is also a big tv fan.  She is currently into Dora, Elmo and Kai Lan.  Leah is very similar to her big brother in this area, Kyle has always enjoyed anything with a screen, and Leah is following in his footsteps.  With Kyle first it was tv, then by age 4 he was quite proficient on the computer, and has since easily mastered any and all video games he comes in contact with.  We are sticking with nintendo brand game systems as I like the games, they are family friendly (i.e. no violent games).  I plan to keep him away from any and all war/fighting/death related video games if it's the last thing I do as I absolutely hate the idea of them.  I realize there will come a time when I won't have a say in the matter, but while I do, they aren't in this house.

Jillian hasn't always been so tech savvy.  Now that she's 5 she has become much more intrested in tv/movies/video games.  But she still doesn't have the same natural inclination Kyle has toward screen time.  Jillian is often happier sitting at the craft table drawing, colouring or painting.  Which I think is amazing, I love that she is so creative.

soccer season has begun

Soccer season is here.  Kyle and Jillian both played soccer 2 years ago, and neither of them enjoyed the season all that much.  In fact just getting Jillian out onto the field was tough.  And so I was surprised when Jillian requested to be signed up for soccer this year.  

She was adament so here we are...and she is really enjoying herself so far! She's been getting right out there when it's her turn, Jillian even had a turn playing net and made a few saves. I see a great soccer season ahead.

Kyle and Leah had fun playing offside.  Maybe Leah is a future soccer player as well?

Snacktime is always a favourite for the girls.

I'm excited to watch Jillian play this season, she really seems to be enjoy being out there!

"Got it!"

You know how I was gushing about how much the big kids love their baby sister? How sweet they are to her and so on and so on. Well, there is a flip side which I've just discovered.

First of all, I have to say Jillian has been sick the past 2 days, some throwing up has been involved so she has a plastic bowl with her on the couch, beside her bed, etc. She is feeling much better this evening but the bowl is still around (clean, of course) just in case.

So the two girls head upstairs to put pjs on, and before I could head up after them I hear Leah coming back downstairs. I watch her go over to the couch and grab Jillian's bowl. She heads back over to the stairs and calls up in a really loud voice..."GOT IT!".

Apparently Jillian has discovered one of the better parts about being an older sibling, make the younger run errands for you, you know things like "go grab my throw-up bowl, would ya?".

So Leah heads upstairs with bowl in hand to give to her big sister. I wonder how long this will last with Leah actually following through on Jillian's orders, ahem I mean requests. I give it a few months before she catches on and starts ordering the 2 big kids around for herself. Hmmm, now that I think about it she already has the 4 of us wrapped around her finger quite nicely as it is.

I really love my brother and sister

I have been very lucky with each of my kids and not dealing with a lot of sibling rivalry. We've never had a problem bringing a new baby home into our family. Sure now that the kids are older there is some bickering (ok, some days it would be classified as a lot of bickering). But really the kids all love each other very much and it really shows in all the little day to day things. If Leah falls down and hurts herself, Kyle and Jillian rush to her side, get a cold pack from the freezer and comfort her. Now that Jillian is finally in a booster seat she is in the third row of the van with Kyle, they sit back there happy as can be playing together.

Here's Kyle as a brand new big brother. He was so excited about the baby and having a new sibling. This was when he visited us in the hospital shortly after Jillian was born



And back when there were only 2, I used to take a ton of pictures of the kids together. This is one of my favourites from a family vacation to Montreal and Ottawa


And then there was 3. This is from a series of pictures I took when Leah was only 3 days old. Kyle and Jillian were in love with their new baby sister. Kyle was again an amazing big brother, helping with the new baby. And Jillian jumped right into big sisterhood happily with both feet, holding the baby, singing to her gently and picking out clothes for her to wear.



Leah with her big brother. These two have a really special relationship and it makes me smile to see them together. Where I see some fighting between Kyle and Jillian, and I'm sure there will be some between the girls as they get older, it's different with Kyle and Leah. The 7 year age gap plays a part in that I'm sure. Leah truly adores her big brother and loves to have him hold her, help her do things, etc. And he is more than happy to help out for the most part. I hope the girls realize as they get older how lucky they are to have Kyle as their big brother.



And Leah with her big sister. Just a note, I hardly ever dress the girls in matching clothes but when they do happen to have a matching outfit like these 2 dresses, they really love to wear them at the same time. Jillian and Leah have a great relationship, especially now that Leah is a bit older and I see them playing together really well. Leah just loves doing anything with Jillian, I see them being great friends as they get older.


I don't know how it happened that I get to be the mom of these 3 amazing children but I do, lucky me!

starting to really like this blog thing

I was nervous at first starting this up. Now I find I'm really enjoying having a place I can put pictures and stories down quickly for future reference. It's like scrapbooking a little bit each day instead of putting it off for years and being so far behind I don't think I'll ever catch up. Even my husband, who knows how much I love to keep the family pictures and memories together, is skeptical I will ever get caught up! I'm looking forward to the end of this year. Usually at the end of a year I have a guilty conscience knowing yet another year has passed with pictures upon pictures stored on the computer and nothing else done to capture our time as a family. Now I'm hopeful I will be able to put together a book online rather quickly to print and keep.

I'm even enjoying playing around on the blog, changing the template, etc. Another reason for me to spend too much time on the computer ;-)

Father's Day - part 2

After lunch I gave Jeff his father's day gift from me...I took all 3 kids with me to the grocery store leaving him the house all to himself for more than 2 hours. We needed pretty much everything so it was a big grocery run, and it is the weekend which is when I usually avoid the grocery store. Still, it went better than some other shopping trips with all 3 kids, letting them snack their way through the store helped, my kids love seeing those free samples!

Once we got home from the grocery store it was time for a swim. Jillian got all the way across the pool again, and quite fast this time. She is going to be swimming around by herself regularly in no time!







After the pool we got everyone dressed and went out for dinner and ice cream, yum! Then onto a local park for a walk around the lake...

I took this picture of Leah running, she was running everywhere, we could hardly keep up with her. It was only once I had the pictures downloaded and was looking at them on the computer I noticed Kyle and Jillian standing together in the background...how cute is that?


I swear I didn't pose them like this, they did this all on their own. Of course the years and years of me taking their picture constantly, asking them to stand together and so on may have become ingrained and contributed to the spontaneous grouping into a cute shot, but who knows? In any case I love this picture of the 3 of them.


Intently watching the ducks, geese and swans




Daddy and his two girls



And then it was onto the playground beside the lake, the kids ran around for ages. I have a bunch of pictures where one or more of my children are just a blur running past.


Taking a break and having a chat


A very intricate game of restaurant


I am so in love with this little girl


I think Jeff enjoyed his father's day...

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to my husband, the most amazing father I could ask for to our 3 beautiful children.


9 years ago with Kyle...


5 years ago wtih Jillian...


2 years ago with Leah...


Today we woke up and the kids gave Dad their cards and gifts they had made at school. And also some presents we had bought...a magnetic dart board so they can play together in the basement (we've had the regular dart board packed away for years, and since it will still be many many years before we can use regular darts I thought this would be fun for now). Also some new guitar hero themed pjs for their favourite guitar hero. Here they are, bedhead and all.


So Happy Father's Day to all the great Dad's out there, to my Dad and Father-In-Law who have been great Dads and are now wonderful grandfathers!

still 2 weeks away and I'm so nervous

We had an appt at the hospital this week and now Leah's surgery is only 2 weeks away. I.AM.SO.NERVOUS. I know it's very routine surgery, it is day surgery so we will hopefully be home that afternoon. I'm mostly stressed about the whole general anesthesia thing, and I really hope the whole ordeal isn't too stressful for Leah. I'm so sad they said I won't be able to stay with her while she's being put to sleep, I just know she's going to scream when they take her away, that's probably going to be the hardest part for both of us.

Here's a picture from Leah's second birthday where you can see the benign growth we are having removed from her eyebrow. I first noticed the tiniest little bump on her eyebrow when she was about 1 month old. And then noticed it growing ever so slightly. It has since grown quite a bit and the drs all tell me it will continue to grow and there's a chance of rupture, so it needs to be removed.



I just love this little face.

It's official...no more soother

That's right, we are free of all soothers in this house! Leah had hers the longest out of the 3 kids. I had the most trouble getting her to sleep at night so I was hesitant to take the plunge. However, I was also tired of her constantly asking for it over and over again. I had a rule in the house once the kids were walking around regularly the soother was only in the crib/bed and only for nap and bedtime. But Leah would ask for hers constantly. The only place we could find where she wouldn't try to climb up to retrieve it was the top of the fridge. Many times throughout the day and evening she would stand in front of the fridge whining and asking for her soother.

And so one weekend just before nap I cut the tip off the soother, and we went through the whole "it's broken" scene. She was very, very sad. And for several days would ask me to buy a new one. I would tell her the stores were all out, no more soothers. She would say "oh, okay" in the saddest little voice. Almost made me want to go buy her another one (yeah, I'm a big sucker, especially for Leah, I just hate to see that little girl sad). But I held strong and now here we are soother free! I have to admit it's a little sad, I almost miss the little sucking noises she would make as she drifted off to sleep. Almost.

Another part of babyhood is behind us.

The slingee has become the slinger

This is how Leah spent the first half of her life, in the sling. I loved this sling, it was by far my favourite baby item I have ever owned. I bought it when Leah was just a few months old, when the baby carrier was getting unconfortable. Due to all the activites I was doing with Kyle and Jillian, I found wearing Leah to be the easiest solution, and she loved it too. With Leah in the sling I walked around the amusement park, spent time at the playground, volunteered in Jillian's kindergarden classroom, took minutes at parent council meetings at Kyle's school, and toted the 2 big kids to various extra curricular activities. It was lovely, she napped in there, snacked in there, sat up and enjoyed looking around. And then she started to walk. I was still able to get her into the sling regularly for a few months after she started walking but eventually she wanted to run everywhere and sitting on mommy's hip just wasn't going to cut it, she wanted to get out and move.

Here we are at the apple orchard in the fall of 2008


And now here Leah is wearing her stuffed animals in the child sized sling. This is an exact replica of my sling, I had this made for Jillian and she would carry her babies around while I toted Leah in mine. Jillian hasn't played with it for a while and I came across it a little while ago so I showed Leah how to wear it and sure enough she wears her various babies and stuffed animals. It's so cute to see her, and I can hardly believe it was only a year ago I wearing her like that.


By the way I was sentimental watching Leah play with this so I pulled out my sling and tried to put her in there (she is still under the max weight limit!). But no go, she wanted nothing to do with being contained.

art gallery

We visited a local art gallery this weekend and the kids had a lot of fun exploring inside and out, and doing some fun art projects themselves...

I loved the background of the old cabin so I took a ton of pictures outside


Trying to get a peek in Tom Thompson's cabin


Rocks are always a big hit with the kids, especially when there is a giant rock in the middle


Jillian ready to make her mark on a blank canvas


Leah had so much fun with this project, I need to try this at home because it's so simple and easy for a 2 year old...glue stick and little squares of tissue paper. Kept her occupied for ages.


Showing off her finished product, she was very proud of her artwork


All the artwork...from top left, clockwise we have Leah's painting, Kyle's landscape painting, Jillian's painting, Kyle's art made with plasticine, Leah's plasticine polka dots, Kyle's tissue paper house, Jillian's hearts and finally Leah's tissue paper art. We do lots of crafts around our house, the kids just love trying out different things so the art gallery is such a great place because they always have different mediums and ideas for the kids to try out.


Kyle made his landscape painting for his outdoor room, so it is currently framed and ready to be hung beside his bed.