So, I got a few things that I could talk about and really I have NO idea where to start.
I had really high hopes that I might be able to post everyday this month, and here we are only a week in and I’ve already blown it.
It’s okay! I’m not too upset. I’ll get over it. It’s not really that big of a deal, and I’m not really sure why I’m so fixated on trying o accomlish this…..*shrugs*
I’ve put some pictures up over in Flickr….one Saturday we went to Graville Island. It’s always so much fun. You can click on the picture to see the whole set.
This particular picture is of Jeremy kissing Aunty Amy. Amy is Jonathan’s psuedo adopted sister. We love her dearly and she’s getting married in ONE MONTH. SOOOOOOOOO EXCITING!
We had a great afternoon hanging out with family and checking out the little shops and taking pictures. It was a great day.
You can also check out this set of pictures that I took on that most fabulous sunny day. The kids were DESPERATE to play outside in the sun and they wanted to play on the slip ‘n slide. Again, just click on the picture to click through to see the whole set.
I’ve already gone on and on about the sun and sadly…there isno sun out today and that SUCKS!
Add into the mix that Jon and I are supposed to be going on our “lunch date” today, but he is barfing because he ate some samosas that I told him to not eat because I thought they would have gone bad and he “pooh poohed” me and well…..he’s barfing. So, that wrecks my day. Thanks so much, darling.
You can also check out the pics over here on Chris’s side of the world and well….if you were feeling so inclined or helpful or whatever…….you could help us out….Think about it? Huh. Huh. Please?!?
I’ve got to get ready for Geli’s 12 birthday party – a sleepover with a few of her school friends…..AAAAAAAAKKKKKK!
And actually, Geli has been practising for MONTHS for a musical that she’s in.
Her school is putting on BEAUTY and The Beast and we went and saw it last night. She did such a good job – she’s a knife – and I loved watching her be apart of something as BIG and FUN as this. It was an absolute blast. She had 13 people from our family out to watch her last night and tonight another 8 are going. She feels special and I hope that tonight goes really REALLY well.
Here are two pics of her in her maid costume after the spell has been broken and they are all “Human Again!” They are crappy pics because I dind’t have my camera – only my phone….
I do have a few things that I have to do today and so I can’t hang around here all day – much as I’d like to just chill and relax. Duty calls.
We had a poker night last night. This is our 4th month that we’ve had a poker night….First Friday or Satrday of the month..two games…$5 per game…runner up gets their money back, and the winner gets the rest….It’s a BLAST!
So, everyone showed up arund 7ish and we hung out and finally got the first game going around 8pm….we wrapped up the 2nd game and chatted a bit more and just as everyone was getting ready to leave around midnight….SIAH WAKES UP.
….and starts to scream…..and scream…..and scream……and scream….
Long story short…he screamed for over an hour and then we finally gave up and I nursed him and he fell asleep.Â
BUT….that meant that we didn’t get to sleep until after 1am…..and then the little stinker was awake and HAPPY!?!!?!??! at 6am….UNREAL!
Now, I must say that I think the green smoothies must be doing something, because I don’t ever remember crawing outta bed at 6:30am on a Saturday morning…or heck, ANY morning EVER at 6:30am and being fairly awake and fairly cheerful and not feeling like death has enveloped me and is trying to drag me back into the pit of hell.
But, the afternoon sleepies have hit, and I’d love nothing more than to just crawl back into my nice feather bed and go to sleep…..
I might need to go and make another “Shrek Shake” or “Swamp Shake” as J is now calling them.
We actually met up with my parents for breakfast this morning. It’s been a while since we’ve seen them, and well, I don’t think that a “Ricky’s” breakfast really counts as “quality time”, but it’s better than nothing.  After breakfast, we had to do a bit of running around and we dragged Chris along with us (but not the same way that my mom dragged the lawnmower around with her back in the day – anyone remeber that story?)…..and it was good. We hung out…..checked out some music videos and blathered on about unimportant stuff…all in all a good day.
Man, gotta go and get me a “pick me up”…..I’m fading here.
So, it’s late(r) on Friday night and Spring Break is almost over.Â
I think that I’m ready to send my little darlings back to school. My house is a DISASTER and Josiah needs some time without the kids IN. HIS. FACE…….and I need to have an hour where the kids are not hoovering me out of $60 in fruit and veggies a week. Okay, it’s not that bad, but close, and so while I love to have the kids around – I’ll be thrilled to have some quiet time.
So, anyway…Wednesday morning we got up and had a leisurly morning and then headed into Walnut Grove for a visit with my Chiropracter. My hips have been out and Siah needed an adjustment because he….he….fell out of his crib. I don’t know how it happened, and yes, we should have had the railing up, but ‘Siah’s only been army crawling for a little while and can’t sit up on his own and hasn’t shown any interest in pulling himself up on anything and so I didn’t think it was even possible for him to fall or crawl out of his crib, but last Friday morning we woke up to a rather large BANG followed by an extremely large CRY and I ran in and pick him up off the floor. I couldn’t (until today) figure out how he could have possibly pulled himself up and managed to heavve his rather large body over the railing. He seemedto be okay and I squished and pulled and prodded until I was sure that there was nothing broken and he quickly stopped crying and seemed to be his happy self. He did have one funny scratch on his head, but I wasn’t sure if he had been gouging at the exczema on his head or if he had somehow hit his head when he fell. It did look like his head was lumpy off to one side, but maybe I was seeing things…..ya know how you’re just not sure when you’re stressed out?
So, we get to my Chiropracter…I’ve mentioned him before Dr. Alan Irving.  He’s AMAZING! He fixed ‘Siah right up.Â
Later in the day I was telling my brother, Chris, about our visit and told him about how the Dr. manipulated ‘Siah skull and how you could definately see how it was out before and how now it was a nice round melon… and Chris says, “He just shoved the skull back in place?“ So I explained how the bones in the baby’s head are not set in place and again Chris says, “So,….he just smooshed it back in place?“ And I started to explain how Dr Irving went to school to learn how to “smoosh” a baby’s head back in place, and Chris (very sarcastically says) says, “Yah, he took Smooshology!”Yah, that’s right Chris….he took smooshology…for sure…
After our appt, we hit the Starbucks and then took the kids to the park. We got some good pictures and the weather totally co-operated so that was really nice. Click on the picture to see the pics that we took at the park.
After these pictures the camera died and we had to run home to get the charger but the battery takes a while to recharge and so we got no pictures of us wandering around Fort Langley. We let the kids just wander in and out of all of the cute and eclectic little shops and see and exploreand it was a lot of fun. After we were done at Fort Langley we headed over to my parents house for dinner, and after dinner was done – we spent some really special quality family time……
….around the laptop, ’cause nothing says family like dorking out around the computer.It was another great Wednesday, and the kids are already asking to go back to the Fort again.
Day # 5, what can I say about Day number five.   Actually, what can I not say about that day. It was absolutely crammed packed to the limit, and I almost don’t know where to start.
The beginning is probably the best place, isn’t it?
We got up early, and left the house around 8am headed into North Vancouver. We were going to have breakfast with Great Grandpa and Aunty Ruth and Aunty Hope at the Eighties Restaurant.Â
A little background history for ya’ll….My parents started going to the Eighties Restaurant back in 1981 when Debbie was born. My dad took us kids there when Mom was in the hospital and had just given birth to my sister Debbie. So, we’ve been going to this restaurant for quite a few years. I was only 6 years old, and Dad fed me split pea soup.  I barfed it all over the green vinyl booth, and have never eaten split pea soup since then.
Back to Wednesday morning…….we made it into North Van. in record time. I don’t know what was up with traffic, but there was none. Yah for summer time! We got to see Grandpa and my two Great Aunt’s, and it was the first time that they got to see and hold Josiah for the first time (outside of pictures on here).Â
Another weird tidbit of info……I’ve taken all 4 of my kids to Eighties shortly after they’ve been born, to visit and meet family. It’s almost a tradition of sorts.
It was so nice to see my grandfather and Aunt’s, but also it was sad, ’cause my Grandma wasn’t there. I thought about how she would have loved to have seen Josiah. I have pictures of her with Geli, Xan and Jeremy, but not Josiah……too sad! I tell myself that it’s okay ’cause she’s holding the babies that I never got to, and loving them until I get there.
Josiah was a little stinker (literally), and pooped almost as soon as Aunty Hope got to hold him. This kid is a champion pooper, and we have gone through SO MANY diapers. I’d say that it’s not even funny, but at this point, it’s gone beyond being not funny, and way passed over into being halarious. I kid you not, the kid can go through 20 diapers a day. He’s a pooping machine. I think that his system might finally be starting to regulate because Jon’s changed him twice now, and there was only pee in the diaper. I know that’s relly not exciting to anyone but us, but to us……..it’s a MAJOR EVENT!
Anyway, we had a really nice breakfast other than totally messing up the waitress by ordering 4 of the same breakfasts with just slight variations, and for some reason…asking for “no toast” really threw her off. And then I ate Grandpa’s meal ’cause they switched ours by accident…..oh well! It all worked out in the end, and no one ended up hungry.
I love this picture, and it’s neat that you can really see my Grandpa’s two different colored eyes. There’s nothing wrong with them; they are just two different colors. Neat, eh?
Here we have the oldest and the youngest men in the family. Actually, Everyone says that Josiah looks just like Jeremy did, and even I have to agree that there is a strong resmeblance. They have the same nose, and………I’ve always wondered where Jeremy’s nose comes from. I like to be able to see the different family members coming through in the different children, but I’ve never really been able to figure out where Jeremy’s nose came from. It’s not weird or anything, but it’s just not the same as my nose or as Jon’s.
Jon took some pics of Grandpa and Jeremy, and I think the mystery is solved. Jeremy has Grandpa Kennedy’s nose. See for yourself.
After Breakfast, we headed into Vancouver to do a fly-by drop-in on Uncle Chris. We weren’t planning on staying for a loooong visit, just long enough for him to be happy when we left. We can cause quite the commotion wherever we go. The girls and Uncle Chris played a few games of Dung Beetle…..don’t know what that is???? You’ll have to go in and visit Chris to find out. He’s a champion Dung Beetle player, and is ruthless. He won every game that they played, but it’s still fun!
After the card game, Josiah had a quick cuddle with Uncle Chris.
He loves to cuddle. (Josiah, that is.)
We stayed for about 45 minutes, and then left to go to down to Granville Island.Â
Chris had been hooked up to the IV all day at this point. Normally, he gets about an hour around lunch time, but because of the way the nurse hung the meds, he didn’t end up getting his lunch time break……..
So, hopefully we were a bit of a diversion from staring at his four walls. Fabulous walls that they are….it can get a bit much to spend ALL DAY EVERY DAY cooped up inside your room.
He’s definately feeling and looking better. It’s nice to see him getting more mobile and recovering more and more every time we go in.
Then we headed on down to Granville Island. The kids had been waiting for quite a few days to go here. We parked, and hit a small playground first, to let the kids burn off a bit of steam.
Jon was sitting on the other end of the teeter totter in this pic, and would let it bump onto the ground, and Jeremy would laugh and laugh and laugh…until he had enough, and then it wasn’t fun anymore.
This was the smallest park ever. It had 3 teeter totters and 3 swings, but it was in the shade, and had a bench and so I could nurse Josiah, which is what I spent most of the day doing.
I HATE “snack” nursing, but I was trying so hard to just go with the flow, and enjoy the day, regardless of the fact that Josiah wasn’t getting a FULL feed, and as a result wanted to eat every 5 minutes.
After the park we headed out to see what we could find. We window shopped quite a bit`at all the little artist studios. There is some really cool stuff down there. We made it over to the Public Market where we had promised the kids that we’d check out the weird, different, and unique fruits and try them out.
 Once we got inside, the first thing we saw was the fish……always exciting.
YUCK! But so much fun for little boys!
We picked out 6 different fruits to try, and not one of them was disgusting……so obviously we did not try that Indonesian fruit that smells like poo….what’s it called??? Oh yah! Durian or something like that…..YUCK!
We took a bunck of pictures, and I was really proud that all 3 kids tried every single piece of fruit regardless of how strange it looked.
This one was all hairy on the outside, and I forget the name of it, but it was kind of like a Lychee. It was a bit like a grape looking thing on the inside, and was kinda sweet tasting. Everyone liked it in spite of the hair.
The absolute highlight of the Granville Island trip was going to Kid’s Zone.Â
The kids had been asking since we got there if we could go over to the Kid’s Zone, and we used it to hang over their heads every time they bickered or acted up. Finally we made it over there, and I was getting tired, but we wandered in and out of EVERY. SINGLE. STINKIN’. STORE. IN. THE. WHOLE. FREAKIN’ PLACE.
And we had a good time….gash darn it!
I think that the best part, was that Great Grandpa had given each of the kids $5.00 and they could spend it on whatever they wanted.
 It was 5:30pm when we finally wrapped up at the Kid’s Zone, and the kids would have loved to stay, but I was wanting to get home by 9pm, and if we were going to finish up our day the way I had planned then we needed to get a move on.
We wandered back to the van, and headed out into the lovely world of 5:30pm DOWNTOWN Vancouver Traffic.
 It had been so long since either Jon or I had been tooling around Vancouver in traffic that we forgot all about it. It took us a lot longer to head on down to English Bay than we had planned, but after some sweet manuvering on Jon’s part, and some serious eye cringing, passenger side braking, and arm rest clutching, and only one yelling match with a Handy Dart Bus Driver (Nice Jon! Really Nice! Way to set an example for the kids.)
We made it to the Beach.
The kids were so excited. It’s been a LOOOOOONG time since we’ve been to a beach.
We hadn’t planned on going to the beach when we set out in the morning, as so weren’t dressed for the beach, and had no spare clothes to change into.
Apparently, that doesn’t matter if your 6. It took him all of about 2 minutes from the time we hit the sand until he was soaked all the way up to his shoulders. The girls were sure he was going to get in trouble, and were shocked when I said that I didn’t care if they got wet, it would just mean going home naked and cold. That wasn’t much a deterrant, and as soon as dinner was done, they went swimming as well.
Here is another shot of how our time with Josiah is spent.
If I’m not nursing him, then odds are that we’re changing a diaper. Gotta get a few shots that show our REAL life at this exact moment.
Diapers, Boobs and Sore Backs from cuddling a sleeping baby. This is truely the life.
The funniest part of the evening was when Jon got back from getting the fish and chips. He had even purchased an extra piece of fish so that he and I could have 2 pieces for……3 freaking dollars. What a joke!
He put the box of fish and the box of chips down on the log that we were sitting on, and then walked away to take a picture of the kids dow by the water.
I was nursing the baby (what’s new) and about 6 seagulls came over and one actually stole a piece of fish right out of the box. It was only a foot and a half away from me, and I was hollering at the stupid thing. But it was too late. He had managed to drag it out of the box and into the sand. One piece down, but thankfully all 6 birds hadn’t converged on us and taken everything. It was pretty funny especially when Jon told me that he had to buy that one extra piece over and above the other meals that he had bought.Â
Those seagulls are too cheeky!
We had a great day, and although I was tired at the end of it, to hear the 3 kids talk all the way home about how much fun they had….was worth it…almost!
Wow! It’s been almost a week since I posted anything…..okay…maybe not a week, but it’s been 5 days, and that’s a week’s worth of work. Any way, we are officially on VACATION right now.
It’s Fabulous *snort*…..yah! A vacation at home with 3 bigs kids, and one newborn, and a husband who is still trying to catch up on a back log of work in his “down time”, and a messy house, and activites scheduled and then having to be “arranged” around a nursing baby’s schedule, and a screaming baby when we are on the road and it’s feeding time, and that’s just the tip of the fun we’ve been having…….OH THE JOYS!
As I mentioned last time, we decided NOT to go on vacation up to Vasseaux Lake, and instead we would stay home where we had all the gear, and didn’t have to pack anything up, and then just spend money on random bits of fun here locally.Â
On Friday night, We invited friends of ours over and we had a birthday party for one of our friends.Â
Yah! It was the first time that I’d had anything at our house, and well…..it went pretty well, but things took a little onger than I had expected. EVERYTHING takes longer with a newborn around.Â
We even had a surprise guest from Labanon. Jon’s brother was in town, and came out for the party.Â
It was nice to see him, and for him to be able to see Josiah for the first time. They only just left, so it was a nice surprise to see him again soo soon.Â
It was a fun night for all, until the babies started to go beyond what they could handle, and everything was shut down, and we all parted ways to put the children to bed.Â
Do they really even realize what power they hold at such a young age?
On Saturday, we “showed up at our cabin for the week” and would you believe it????…….the last people to use the place had left it a mess…..can you believe it? So we had to spend our first day at the “vacation cabin” cleaning up. That was Saturday….ALL DAY! because they fussed for the entire day about “HAVING” to clean up, and it took ALL FREAKIN’ DAY to get the house cleaned. Talk about frustrating….. We did go out to a nie Greek Food restauraant with Denver and Debbie, but I forgot my camera. Lucky for us, Debbie had hers, so as soon as she sends the pics to me (HINT, HINT) I can post those.
Sunday we got up and we thought about going to church, and then quickly dismissed that idea ’cause it would have meant that we needed to rush, and I really wasn’t into rushing. I’m feeling the lack of sleep these days. It’s not too bad, and I’m really not complaining, ’cause this little angel child only wakes at 2am and 5am (like I’ve mentioned before) and mostly just eats and falls right back to sleep unless he gets a air bubble that he won’t let go of. He really likes to hold onto his burps. It really takes an act of God to get him to burp.Â
Any way, we went into Vancouver to see Chris, and then we were going to go to Granville Island and check out the market and see if we could find any “weird, cool, unique and unfamiliar fruits” that we could try out for fun. We might not send our kids with a dollar to the candy store at Granville Island, but we will take them there and search out weird fruits…..hey, if you say it with enough excitement in your voice – you can make just about anything sound fun.
We stayed with Chris for a long time, and had a REALLY GOOD TIME, but by the time we were done, we couldn’t go to Granville Island. It was too late – maybe another day. Instead we took the kids to Red Robins, and they were wonderful little angels. Which was a miracle, as they’ve been a bit wild recently.
We had to stop at the Farm Market to pick up some fruits and veggies on our way home, and Jon took the kids into the Market while I sat in the car and nursed Josiah. Josiah was still going strong when they were finished, and so they played in the gravel parking lot. Who knew that a gravel parking lot could be so much fun. See how sad they are to be leaving…what a bunch of goofs.
On Monday, Jon worked in the moring while the kids tore the house apart, and I tried to sleep (Sooooooo tired – I know……I’m a whiner, I have it sooooo easy) Then we all pack up and went to the Matinee for Ratatouille. The kids loved it, and it was actually a really cute movie. We had to go into Langley to see see the movie ’cause that was the ONLY place close that was still playing the movie. After the movie was over we went and visited my Dad at his office, and then went shopping for a few baby things.
We ended up picking up backpacks and school shoes for the kids, so they were happy.
That brings us to today. We had a bunch of stuff planned. Little things that required little to no money. We were going to hit the Library, and let the kids take 5 dollars each and spend it at the Dollar Store, go to all 3 parks at Mill Lake, and finish up shopping for school supplies. (I just have a few things left to pick up).Â
A friend of ours called us this morning, and adjusted those plans for us. YAH!
Jason is down from Prince George, and got to see and hold Josiah.
I’m posting this picture to drive Lise mad with envy, and then maybe she’ll move back…..or maybe she’s still holding out hope that we’ll move up there.
Anyway, Love ya girl, and miss ya tons.Â
It was so nice to see Jason, and we talked and talked and talked, and still didn’t get to say everything that we’ve have liked to. We could talk forever.Â
We really miss these guys. They are AMAZING people, and we are worse off because they’ve moved so blinking far away.
 Movin’ on before I start thinking about it too much and cry…..
We did get out and pick up a bunch of school supplies, but I’m still looking for a few specific things. Jon did take the kids to ONE of the parks at Mill Lake, but aside from an amazing visit, our day was pretty much shot.
Here is a cute picture of our little demon angel.
Here he is at one week old.
and Here’s Two Weeks
And we Absolutely LOVE this Lion King shot….love the arms and legs.Â
They’re so long and scrawny.
Alrighty, I have so much more, but the little man is calling, and so I must go.
Today has been a very busy day, and that’s why I’m so late with the update.
Really, there is no update, but I can still blather on about my day, and take up some space.
We got up and went to church this morning, and then after church we decided to drive into Coquitlam to Baby’s World to get a Hooter Hider. When we got there, they were all sold out, and so we headed into Vancouver to Granville Island to a children’s boutique that sold them.
I picked one out, and then we decided to head up the road to VGH to visit Chris. He’s been transferred to VGH to get his leg drilled out ’cause there’s infection in the bone. Not nice or fun, and it basically sets him back to the beginning stages of healing as far as his leg goes, but the Drs. have said that this is not uncommon for an injury of this type to end up with infection in the bone. We visited with Chris, and it was nice to see him. It’s been about 2 weeks since I’ve been in, and I was able to go ’cause Jon was with me.Â
We hung out for a while, but the kids were a bit scrambly, and we finally just left. Which worked out okay, ’cause Chris was going to take a shower…..
We came home, and some good friends showed up to hang out this evening. We got the kids off to bed, and hung out just chatting. Now it’s 10pm, and the day is spent…..another one down………
I have an appointment with my Dr. at 9:20am, and will let you all know what he says.
I’m frustrated, and want this baby to come now, but also realize that it can and will come any day now……it’s not like I’ll be pregnant for another 4 months….it’s just a waiting game…I just have to keep myself occupied until it happens…..if that’s possible.
Oh, I gave the Hooter Hider to Mom, and she’s going to make somehting similar for me with some different fabric.  I think that I’ll go tomorrow to a cute little quilting shop here in town, and check out the amazing fabrics that they have. It would be nice to have a few of those, so that in case one’s in the wash – I still have another if I need to use it.
Oh well! Another day down, and we’ll see what tomorrow brings………
…..but hey! At least we made it before Father’s Day rolled around! Last year we didn’t all get togethr to celebrate until alfter Father’s Day. At least we know it’s the thought that counts………
Every year we’ve gotten together, Mom and the girls for a dinner and usually a coffee afterwards. Well, seeing as this year’s just a little tiny bit different what with Chris in the hospital, and 3 of us on weird natural healthy diets – our plans were slightly off of normal.
The biggest thing was that Chelle didn’t make it. Things are quite busy for her, and she just couldn’t swing it between her schedule and the girls and work and well…..she was jsut really tired out, and needed to stay home. That was sad! Very Sad!
The rest of us met at the hospital just before 7pm (’cause that’s when the shift change is, and we can’t be there with Chris anyway) and decided to go to Cactus Club. We drove down Broadway, and when we passed Cactus Club, and parked up the next street, well – Earls was right on that corner, and so we just went there ’cause it was all of about 4 steps closer!Â
We laughed and talked and chatted about life and mostly about the food that we could or could not eat. It’s fun that there are 3 of us on similar eating plans. Makes it easier to not feel so left out when EVERYONE around you is gorging down on foods that you’re not supposed to have, and you’re gnawing on a plate of lettuce, and feeling quite like a rabbit.
Debbie had the most delicious mashed potatoes, and even bought a side order to take back to Chris, as he seems to be really enjoying his daily Mystery Meat Log – NOT! When we finally finished our dinner’s, we decided to forgo the coffee much to Debbie’s dismay. She had been waiting all day for her special drink, but we were thinking that Chris might be asleep if we waited too much longer. The pills they give him do a really good job of knocking him out for the night – usually!
He had fallen asleep when we showed up, but just barely, and when we asked if he’d like a bit of company, he told us to come on in. It was fun to just be in there and joking around with him. It was quite the party with the 5 of us girls in there, but he seemed to handle it quite well. It was nice to see him joking and laughing and even teasing Lisa ’cause she was a bit squeamish about his arm and leg. Nothing says “family loving” like a little bit of mental torture…Â
We finally cleared out ’cause it was getting late, and we were a bit loud. Oops! NOt only that, but Chris is only supposed to have 2 visitor’s at a time. Oh well! Not that it really matter’s now, ’cause he’s been transferred up to a regular ward. That just seems so amazing. It’s just one step closer to him coming home and being better.
If you want to see all the pics – not that there’s that many – just click on the picture at the top of the post and it’ll take you there.
I don’t know how some of you do this on a regular basis. I know that there are those out there who regularly pull all nighter’s. I am not one of “those” people.
Chris has not been sleeping well for a couple of nights, and so we decided that someone should stay with him over night and see if that might help him get a better sleep.
Well, He did sleep better last night, but I volunteered to stay overnight. That meant that I didn’t sleep. I’m okay, but was planning on coming home and sleeping, and it just hasn’t worked out that way. I’ve been up since Wednesday morning at 4:30am. How many hours is that……….34 hours as of right now, by my calculations, and I will not be getting to bed before 10pm tonight. So, unless I fall asleep standing on my feet I will be up for a total of 42+ hours. Nice, eh?
Well, We are going to pick up the kids, and then I have to figure out something for dinner, and then I really need to put my feet up. They are so swollen. Oooops! Not good, but the naturopath said that feet swelling was not a big deal. It was a big deal if my hands and face were swelling, and so far so good!
Jon will be home with some liquid gold* in about 2 minutes, and then we are off to collect our children.
* Liquid Gold – Grande, Half-sweet, sugar free, hazelnut, soy latte from Starbucks! Mmmmmmm, and I’m not supposed to have coffee! Ha! Like that is happening right now!
FINALLY, I got Jon to take the picture. Not that it’s Jon’s fault, but you know….I have to have my hair done, and decent clothes on, and make up, and well…….the stars all have to align, and when they do……..then we can take a picture.
So, finally we did it. I don’t think it’s magazine worthy, but then again, I mostly just want to keep a record of everything, and that’s what I’m doing, and so I’m doing good!
The little bugger has been breech for a while, and he turned the right way up for one whole day, and by the next day, he was back in the breech position, and hasn’t truned again since. I’m really hoping he’s not getting to comfy – I don’t want a C-section, and will do whatever it takes to avoid that if possible. I’m not against it, if it’s totally necessary, but don’t want to have to deal with that.
I finally got the book keeping done. I do books for my Grandfather’s Misions Society. I was going to finish the books a month ago, and then the accident happened. Well, as of last night I finished them, and then……….then the angels sang, and harp music played, and I rejoiced! And it was good!
Today I was going to go in and see Chris, but I figured that I’d just stay home for one more day, and get caught up on a bunch of stuff that has been getting shoved further and further down the list of “things to get done”. I feel like I’m almost caught up, abd even though I know that I’m pretty much caught up, I still feel kind of pressured by the thoughts that I have stuff to do. Not sure what is up with that. I might just need to make a list of everything that I’m still thinking about, and cross off all the stuff that I’ve finished. Sometimes I need a visual. I can see the list inside my head long after it’s been taken away. No, I don’t have a photographic memory…well I have a slighty inaccurate photographic memory. I can actually see the things that I’ve looked at, but I don’t usually pay enough attention so that I can recall every single detail. What I would have given to have had that ability in High school….Can you even imagine how cool that would be?
 Like I said, I can do that to a certain extent, but it’s a hit and a miss as to the percentage of perfection that I attain on a regualr basis.
 The kids are doing okay. Nothing really exciting to report on that end. Geli has been complaing, and I finally found some sort of okay multi-vitamins that I’ve been giving her and Xan just in case we’re not covering ALL the bases with the food we eat. Hopefully she will stop complaining about how sick she feels all the time.
I was getting calls from school from her EVERY FREAKING DAY. I kinda subscribe to the , “Are you barfing or do you have a fever?” school of thought. Either of those will win you a trip home and confined to your bed for the rest of the day, but anything less than that will earn you a prayer and an over-the-phone kiss and hug from Mom!
The kids have been doing fabulously as far as the food stuff goes. I still need to post some of our meals that we make. Will get to that one of these days. Jeremy did get in to see the Naturopath while I was up in Kamloops. Jon took him, and he’s doing really well. I’ll have to do an update on that, as well. Our next appt for him is on Monday May the 28th. He gets retested for his food intolerances, and gets a hemoglobin test, and another appointment with the Naturopath. It will be so exciting (I hope) to hear how much better he is doing. I’m really hoping that his yest levels have dropped, and that he is well on his way to a healthier life.Â
When I went in for my appointment last Friday ,we talked briefly about Jeremy especially seeing as we had made a visit ot the ER the night previously. She said that waht we are doing right now is only the tip of the ice berg as far as what she CAN actually do to help him. That is SO EXCITING. To know that the sucess that we’ve experienced with him is only the beginning. It’s so encouraging.
Well, I’m off to see Chris tomorrow, and have to pick up my mom just before 8am- AAAAAAWWWWWWCCCCCCKKK! That’s WAY TOO EARLY! Oh well! I’m excited. Chris has been moved out of the ICU and into the Trauma Unit. This is a step in the right direction, and so exciting to hear. I can’t wait to see him tomorrow.
I mentioned that I had an appointment with my Naturopath for yesterday. Just when I was getting ready to take the kids to school, we got a call that something had come up, and that she needed to rebook. So, no hand holding after all. At least not until Tuesday afternoon.Â
Tuesday is shaping up to be a BUSY day. Jon rebooked my OB appointment for Tuesday morning, and then the Naturopath rebooked for Tuesday afternoon. I don’t think I’ll be making the treck into Vancouver to see Chris on Tuesday……too much going on.
The baby was really moving around yesterday afternoon, and well into the evening. Jon was moonlighting doing sound for a Graduation, and I don’t usually go to sleep until he’s home. Don’t know why I do this, maybe just something about him being home….I don’t know! I sleep fine when he’s not here, and if he’s gone for some reason until 2 or 3 or 4 am then I don’t stay up, but if I know he’s going to be home oarund midnight or so I just wait up. Was probably stupid of me, ’cause I know that I was tired, but my brain is just moving and moving at a zillion miles an hour. I even had to read once I crawled into bed, and finally shut the light off and went to sleep about 1am. Paid for it this morning though, when the alarm beeped at 7am, and I really didn’t want to get up. Had to though ’cause Jon had to leave by 8am to do more of the same sound gig, so I had to be ready to get the kids off to school by myself.
It’s all good though. I’m feeling okay right now, although I may go to bed after the hockey game tonight just to try to catch up on sleep.
It’s weird being here at home, and with Chris in VGH. I don’t mind the drive in, but when I’m tring to fit it in to “my life” I realize just how special the time up in Kamlops was. We were just there. Nothing to do. No where to drive to. Just sleep and eat and be with Chris.Â
It’s funny (maybe that’s the wrong word) trying to “do” life after a tragedy. Not that I think that we are “in” a tragedy, but this is a tragic situation, that could have been a lot worse, and Thank God is actually much better. I remember after Nathaniel died, trying to figure out what my new “normal” would be. While this isn’t exactly the same, it still requires an adjustment. I want to be there for my brother, my sister-in-law, and my family! I will gladly rearrange things for a season to be able to “be there” for them. I think that it’s important. We are a very close family. I probably need to explain that. We do not necessarily live in each other’s pockets, but when we do see each other, it is as if no time has passed. We do not make a big deal about who can and can’t come when we do have a get-together. If you can make it great, and if not, then we love you lots and will see you next time. I think that comes from a great love for each other, and a HUGE confidence that we will always be there for each other if/when needed, no strings attached.
Right now it’s Chris and Nina’s time. They need us, and we are here for them. It’s nice to see that we are here for each other as well. I love seeing the way our family pulls together, and does what’s necessary.Â
Like I said, I’m just rambling, but when my mind is going, and I have all these thoughts, and I just need to get some of them down so that I can let them go, and hopefully slow my brain down, that’s when I ramble.Â
The picture at the top of this post is of the steps up to the hospital in Kamloops; or, depending on which way your headed, down to the Starbucks across the street. The trees around the hospital were dropping these little seed pods (maybe) and they were every where. Some times it looked like it was snowing green. They made me think of confetti they way they were all over the ground, and especially piled up along the edges of the paths and the stairways. I even had some in my hair. Again with the rambling…..not very exciting…….just another thing rumbling around inside my brain.
Well, hopefully with a few things dumped, I’ll be able to pick a few to focus on, and actually get some stuff accomplished. Hope you’re having or have had a great day.
We got up early, and left the house around 8am headed into North Vancouver. We were going to have breakfast with Great Grandpa and Aunty Ruth and Aunty Hope at the Eighties Restaurant. 
Another weird tidbit of info……I’ve taken all 4 of my kids to Eighties shortly after they’ve been born, to visit and meet family. It’s almost a tradition of sorts.
Anyway, we had a really nice breakfast other than totally messing up the waitress by ordering 4 of the same breakfasts with just slight variations, and for some reason…asking for “no toast” really threw her off. And then I ate Grandpa’s meal ’cause they switched ours by accident…..oh well! It all worked out in the end, and no one ended up hungry.
After the card game, Josiah had a quick cuddle with Uncle Chris.
Then we headed on down to Granville Island. The kids had been waiting for quite a few days to go here. We parked, and hit a small playground first, to let the kids burn off a bit of steam.
over to the Public Market where we had promised the kids that we’d check out the weird, different, and unique fruits and try them out.
Durian or something like that…..YUCK!
The absolute highlight of the Granville Island trip was going to Kid’s Zone. 
 It had been so long since either Jon or I had been tooling around Vancouver in traffic that we forgot all about it. It took us a lot longer to head on down to English Bay than we had planned, but after some sweet manuvering on Jon’s part, and some serious eye cringing, passenger side braking, and arm rest clutching, and only one yelling match with a Handy Dart Bus Driver (Nice Jon! Really Nice! Way to set an example for the kids.)
We even had a surprise guest from Labanon. Jon’s brother was in town, and came out for the party. 
Any way, we went into Vancouver to see Chris, and then we were going to go to Granville Island and check out the market and see if we could find any “weird, cool, unique and unfamiliar fruits” that we could try out for fun. We might not send our kids with a dollar to the candy store at Granville Island, but we will take them there and search out weird fruits…..hey, if you say it with enough excitement in your voice – you can make just about anything sound fun.
A friend of ours called us this morning, and adjusted those plans for us. YAH!
