tbt

Sorry I've been MIA from the blog, work with appointments and sickness has taken me away. But that happens with kiddos!

I've been posting trow back thursday pics on facebook and thought i would share todays, my baby ninja was born on a Sunday mornning a month shy of 6 years ago and his birthday is on a Sunday again.

Can't believe he is going to be six!

Happy Holidays

2013

11:30 am on Christmas Eve we saw Santa at the mall, that gives you an indication how busy this month has been. Between me going back to work, needing to get a new van quick, birthdays, and soooo much snow we haven't stopped!

Hope everyone has a safe, wonderful, family filled holiday season and new year!

Side not look how much bigger the kids are vs. 2012 (and they are in mirror to this year)

new pics

We recently got new family pics taken so I decided that it would be net to switch the picture on the blog. I was debating which one to choose.

A nice pic of Rhys

very hansom little man

He is the ninja after all, but that isn't quite right.

Maybe one of Gwen

silly Gwen

Or Avery

those eyes! 

Maybe a really nice family shot? that would cover the three preemies and the ninja

I know! something that is of all of us, but it more like "us"

Perfect! Rhys and Gwen acting silly, Matthew not quite looking, and Avery acting like she doesn't know us. 

Thanks again Auntie Mae for taking the pics, and reminding me what is important.

Tooth Fairy

Mr Rhys is growing up way to fast for me. His bottom front teeth have been wiggly since the second week of School.

I picked up fabric for his tooth fairy pillow today, and before he left for swimming with Nana, he pulled out the left one.

Calling everyone to tell them

new smile 

holding his tooth

So now he is off for sleepovers and three nights of tooth fairyness

For all things there is a season

Life is busy, but would I have it any other way? Nope.

A lot has happened, and we are trying to settle into the new normal.

I went to the all day scrabooking fundraiser for the Sunshine Foundation . It was a great day, and I got 14 pages done in Gwen's book. I would take picks of them (and will later) but due to the camera incident I'm currently looking for my old SD card. During the fundraiser, I won not only the door prize but also one for making so many pages. It was great to get out for the day and just create. It was also great that I was able to do so for such a great cause and met a bunch of parents of much older NICU grads.

one cell pic of a double page layout I did

Gwen has gone back to audiology at the end of September. Her hearing is the same in the right and a little better in her left ear. They made casts for new earmolds, and we talked about her starting up speech language. After both girls going on the wait-list back in April 2012, we finally had appointment times for this week (Gwen's was supposed to be Monday & Avery's Wednesday) Both the audiologist and her AVT therapist were excited to get in touch and plan with the SL.

I also got the go ahead from them for getting Gwen's ears pierced, in fact they believe that it is the perfect time to do so, from their end. So now we just are trying to decide if we will get it done this coming weekend, or to wait until the Spring. Matthew and I have talked over the pros and cons, and both Nan's have been informed with expected results. The two main reasons why I think we might wait until Spring is because they need to stay in for so long and we have very cold winters not comfortable with earrings in, and because the girls are already at a high risk for illness why risk an infection on top of all the other bugs they will be fighting? We just want to both be well informed, but at the same time, we know that we can care for them properly and that we want them to get their ears done. I guess there is never the perfect time to do so.

Avery was to Physio and is expected to do fine, we just have to encourage her not to take both hands from people when walking. She was to speech language yesterday, and the SLT is very impressed with her vocab and her language comprehension. That is once she warmed up to the SLT. In the appointment we worked it out that her paralyzed vocal cord is in the worst position for speech. That we can't do much until she is older that we can tell her how to regulate her airflow to project her voice without straining her right vocal cord. Right now when she yells she is straining the cord. So she doesn't need to go back until March/April

Miss Ave

Avery was smiling by the end of the SLT appointment, a big victory due to her sobbing in my arms at the beginning. When asked what she thought of the appointment she said "that was some nice Mama" I jokingly said to her father it was proof that she spent the weekend down the southern shore.

The reason we were down the shore was that one of Matthew's 90 year-old Nan's passed away last week. She was much loved, and lived a great fulling life. I could only wish to be as loved and respected. Mrs Helen was waked on Sat & Sun then her funeral was Mon morning.

Mrs Helen with Rhys May 2008

Late Sun night I packed up Rhys and Gwen for the hour and a half drive home because Gwen's SL appointment was at the time that we would miss the funeral, it would have been at least a 4 month postponement to the appointment if I cancelled it. Rhys also had his school picture day on Monday. At 8:16 am Monday morning with both kids in the van, I got the call to cancel Gwen's appointment. We rushed over to Rhys' school got his pic done by 8:30 am then we headed down the shore again making it before the funeral to be there with the rest of the family. Most expensive school pic he will ever have taken.

I was glad to be there for Matthew, he did the first reading and he did really well given how emotional it was for him.

spent way too much time in the van this weekend 

Or family pics were put on the back burner which turned out to be a blessing because it was raining on the original day that we were planning on doing them. It also gives us more time to find a coat for Rhys that we like that is in his size.

Gwen's SL appointment has been rescheduled for tomorrow, so I am unsure what the plan for her is.

We also completely uncovered the wallpaper, and it looks to be in great shape. I think we might keep the green and work with it. Thankfully it is the same green in my inspiration pillow.

inspiration pillow 

wallpaper at night 

As I was typing I just got the call for Gwen's first visit with her itinerant teacher, its on the same day as our anniversary. So two home visits coming up. More reasons to make the wallpaper work for now.

And we have three birthday parties, two baby showers (on the same day) our anniversary, Thanksgiving and Halloween coming up. Who knows what else! I like to keep busy, but it would be nice if everything wasn't on the same day. We are missing out on the CHHA family Halloween fun day, because its on the baby shower day.

I also had gotten an awesome deal on a new SD card, unfortunately it took a few times using it and loosing some pics before I found out it was corrupt. I almost lost pics I took during the weekend with the family in because of the wake. I have also realized that most of the pics seem to look poorer quality from that card but that could have just been on my end ;) Thankfully Auntie Mae was able to have a look and found out that I had to re-install drivers to my computer and after much finagling we were able to fix my DSLR too. But that SD card is a write off. It is the lesser of the problems, but it sucks that my brand new card did so much damage and caused that much grief. Thanks again Auntie Mae!

Are you his mom? and gaining square footage part 2

Its a beautiful +25C October day here, so I walked to pick up Rhys from kindergarten. There is a convenient trail that is across the street that leads directly to the school but it passes "the purple park" that is right behind the school.

Daddy and Rhys walking home on the end of the path on his first day

"The Purple Park" with Rhys' school in the background 

Rhys has told us before that their new gym teacher on nice days will bring them to the park to play. Its a great idea its so close to the school, and it has a big field to run around. So it didn't surprise me that we passed an elementary class there for gym. Rhys ran right up to his teacher, who is maybe 5 years older then me max, and said hi! 

We had a quick talk and at the end she looked at me oddly then asked "are you his mom?"

I know I was younger when I had the ninja baby. 

But I wasn't unbelievably young. 

So ether I look younger then I think I do, or Rhys looks older. 

Yet this hasn't been the first time this has come up, and it is more frequent the older Rhys gets. It has never come up with the girls. Maybe because I look like I should only have little kids, and that I am too young to have a school aged kid?

I know it isn't the norm to have kids younger, at least not here. I know that I might be one the younger mom's in Rhys' kindergarten class. But I doubt that I am the youngest.

We have been kept busy at home too, with the wall. 

Last nights progress

And then we peaked under the paneling to see the state of the wall underneath when we found...

Wallpaper?????

So now we are placing bets on whats under that wallpaper. But the trend with the house continues. How much space will we gain by the end of this project?

Beginnings

Rhys' first days of school have been great. No tears from him or us.

Rhys' sign thanks to Scarlett Love she is so awesome and made this really quickly 

"enough pics mom!" - Rhys

Class of 2026

Giving Dad a squeeze in his Class of 2026 t-shirt

Gift from his teacher on his first day

We have had to change his wake-up time and bed time twice since Thursday in attempts to get him to school on time. We only live 5 min walk away so there is no school bus, but I have still drove him over in a mad dash three of his four days. I think we finally have worked out the best sleep/wake-up seclude for him because today was on time.  I'm doing a lot better with the early mornings then I thought I would. I'm not a morning person. But the positive is that I'm getting better with it as we go.

I'm already wishing he had full days. 

I feel like I just drop him off and then need to go back to get him, but we have to wait until grade 1 before we get full days.

Still enjoying a break from appointments, still another week before we get one and then we jump head long into it again. 

Update on Icky

We found her!!!! And Rhys couldn't have been happier. She got mixed in with laundry and was only showing white.

hugs for both Icky's before Poppy come to get their's 

ooooooh

I have three very excited kids.

Rhys - Sept 3, 2013

Gwen - Sept 3, 2013

Avery - Sept 3, 2013

Why?

They had a blast yesterday going to the Geo Center. 

Rhys has school in 2 days.

Daddy is off for just over a week in 3 days. 

And the girls still don't have any appointments yet for another 2 weeks. 

That and we took some older toys out of storage, the excitement of seeing something for the first time in months


But we are missing Rhys' Icky from home. Can't find it anywhere. Thankfully we borrowed nanny & poppy's Icky last night. No clue where she is gone. Need to keep looking for her.

Icky went into surgery with Rhys

Just keep swimming

We have hit September, and I'm getting anxious.

I know I really shouldn't but I'm feeling like I used to gearing up to a new school year. I grew to hate school due to being bullied. But I loved University because I truly love to learn.

Rhys isn't me.

Rhys has no worries about going to school. He is looking forward to it and loving it. So I have to just let him be, work through my nerves, and make sure he doesn't know about my anxiety.

I also fear that my sweet little man might bully others and that makes me sick to my stomach. We have had many story sessions about bullies and how to deal with them. I also told him stories about my own experiences and finding out that people didn't realize that their actions were hurting me. Anything to prevent it from happening.

But now we have 4 days until he starts. He has all of his supplies, now I just need to figure out what I need to help him through the year.

Aug 2013

How is it that he is going to school?

Aug 2010

I have also been enjoying the longest break between doctor appointments for the girls. We are entering into our 3rd week and we still have 16 days before the next one. I will love it when this becomes the norm instead of the exception.

But then we are right back into it with two appointments that week.

Halloween & first days of school

So school and Halloween are coming up. We have the girls costumes already but still have to get Rhys'.

As geeks we take costuming to a bit of an extreme. I acknowledge this.

Rhys has been a Ninja

Oct 2008

a Lion (it was the month we got married, I can be forgiven for falling short on this one)

Oct 2009

a pirate (and yes that is a parrot on his shoulder)

Oct 2010

he redid the pirate in 2011, which was upsetting to me. I was willing to make/buy a different costume but he refused. 

and Thor (with Avery as Wonder Woman & Gwen as Super Girl)

Oct 2012

the girls re wore it at the convention in April 2013

Rhys is asking for another Super Hero, not going to say who just because I know we can do it, it just is going to be way to cold! It is October in Newfoundland. So we will be going to the Halloween store in the next week to see what he will be. 

And he starts school in 6 days... oh my! 

I need to come up with a yearly first school day tradition between now and then. Suggestions?

There will definitely be pictures. Lots of pictures! 

My first day 1989

news

So a few posts back I mentioned that I might be guest blogging for someone. Well I am, and she posted it today! I opted to share my last 4 years post.

I'm excited because Lisa B has a great audience and I hope that even one person who reads it might find hope in our story. Lisa is a wonderful woman who has cheered on everyone in the TTC community and has shared her struggle through 6 years of trying for her own little one. Thankfully she recently had her beautiful son, and has now extended her blog to others who can share other stories of the many different sides of trying to conceive. Thanks for the opportunity Lisa!  

That is the main reason why I blog.



Also, I finally found out about Rhys' kindergarten times. He is all mornings until Feb and he won't start until the day after school starts for the older kids. The other thing we discovered is that his teacher that he had through kinderstart has moved to another school so he has a new teacher that we don't even know her name!

7 days until he starts.

We had a Menchie's date 

he might regret making that face later 

Dancing for frozen yogurt 

Just over a week

Until my little ninja goes to school.

Rhys - Oct 2008

This is the last time I can say that it isn't back to school, its going to school shopping/season for a good many years.


When did this happen?

Rhys - Aug 2013

broken record and some possible interesting news

I know I know, I'm busy.

Matthew had a week off so we fled to the southern shore to stay at his nanny's house after the girls cardio appointment.

So first the cardio appointment. It went really well, Gwen's pressures were fine so she got discharged.

Avery's blood pressure is perfect again so... she is off of meds officially and discharged from cardio too!!!!!

look how serene I am now that I have low/normal blood pressure 

Now she has a follow-up with Nephrology in September and her Nephrologist has the last say over her blood presser but it makes me hopeful. 

After their late (holy molly 3pm appointment that didn't start until 3:30pm) we headed off to Matthew's nanny's house. Rhys and the mother-in-law headed up with Matthew's aunt & nanny. While Matthew, the girls and I headed up in our rig. We got there after 7 so we tried to get set up to get the girls to bed. 

All three loved spending most of their time outside, Matthew loved spending time with the kids where he has some of his most favorite childhood memories. 

Matthew took these playing with the kids 

Rhys up a tree that Matthew climbed many times 

the girls playing hid and seek 

Avery enjoying the yard 

Gwen running around 

I loved spending more time with Matthew's family. Most of his aunts showed up for short visits during our time there due to the community one over having their come home year that week. It was also during Lady Day and they are from a good Irish Roman Catholic community with its own grotto so a big influx of visitors during our stay. 

grotto

Rhys running around before the service 

the girls waiting for it to start

Because of how devout some of Matthew's relatives are there were week long candles lit for the girls for at least as long as they were in the hospital (I know they were longer then that, but I can't remember how long) and so a bunch of the people there stopped me telling me that they prayed for the girls and how happy they were to see them now. 

Loved spending time with the family, and getting out of the city. 

So now we have a break until sometime mid September before there is another doctors appointment, and I'm glad for the break. 

Rhys starts up school in only a few weeks, were did the time go??? Still waiting to hear about what session he is in be it mornings or afternoons. But regardless he is all ready, all the school supplies are bought and ready to go! 

Also, I wanted to let you guys know that I might be doing a guest blog for someone that I have been following for a few years during her TTC journey. I will let you know more when I hear it but it is exciting to think about. I will keep you posted!