2 for 2

I will forever remember that when Josh was 2 years old, he got his first stitches - 2 of them. On the back of his head.

It's the worst feeling in the world when you see your child get hurt. Just before we left for Toronto, I had to take Avery for her 2 month shots and I cried when the doctor administered the shots and she screamed. Well, it's 10 times worse when your child gets injured and you can't immediately assess the extent of the injury.

Josh was playing with the bathtub faucet in my parent's bathroom. Their bathtub has a step up to it. My mom and I were both there and when Josh started splashing water, we told him no more playing with the faucet. He stepped down off the step and when he took his first step away, he slipped and hit the back of his head on the edge of the step. The step is marble and tile.

Josh's first reaction was to cry his lungs out - which, I'm told by the paramedics, is a good thing. My first reaction was shock and then, when I realized that Josh hit hard, I gave Avery to my mom and picked him up. I wasn't thinking of external injuries. All I could think was, "What if he has a concussion? Internal bleeding?". Then, my mom noticed that his head was bleeding and that's when I lost it. I asked my mom to call 911 while I tried to comfort Josh.

The police came first. They said the ambulance was on it's way. By the time the paramedics arrived, Josh was pretty calm. I was the one that still had tears in my eyes! They examined him and said they didn't see any signs of concussion or internal injury - no blackout, loss of consciousness, nausea or vomiting. His pupils were dilating normally and they felt down his neck and spine. They said it looked like he may just need some stitches for the nasty gash on the back of head (I hadn't really looked at it until that point!). That was a relief to hear, but I was still a bit anxious to see what the next 24 hours would bring.

So, Josh got his first ambulance ride. I couldn't go with him because I had to stay with Avery - the ambulance didn't have an infant car seat and my dad was out doing errands with the car that had our only infant car seat base! Josh seemed fine with the idea of going with my mom, so they went together in the ambulance and I waited at home for my dad to get back so we could met them at the hospital. It was the longest hour of my life!

My mom said that Josh was great in the ambulance ride and waiting in emergency. When I arrived, they were still waiting. I thought being admitted via ambulance would get us past the walk-in emergency queue, but apparently not! We waited 3 hours before anyone saw us - I was a bit perturbed that the hospital would make a 2.5 year old child wait that long!

I asked lots of questions about the freezing, because I wanted to be sure Josh wouldn't feel anything when they stitched his head. The nurses reassured me that when the topical anaesthetic kicked in after 30 minutes, Josh would not feel a thing. I was still queasy at the thought of Josh getting stitches! After they applied the topical, I got Josh to lay down and rest. He was SO tired after all the trauma and he had missed his nap (it was 4pm by this time). Well, Josh fell asleep in about 2 minutes. He slept so soundly that he didn't wake up when I moved him from the exam room to the suture room. Then, to top it off, he slept soundly while the doctor sutured his head! I guess we can call that "good timing"! Just so you know, I didn't watch while the doctor sutured - I held Josh's hands and looked at his face while it happened.

All in all, Josh spent 4 hours in the hospital. He did GREAT through it all. Avery was great in the waiting room with my mom and dad, too. It was quite an ordeal and I'm not really sure what I would have done if I was home alone with the kids and that had happened. Something to think about...

As an aside, I was was a bit surprised that the police were the first responders. Usually, it's the fire department, since they are usually closest and trained paramedics as well (and it helps that my parent's house is right behind a fire department!). Well, as it turns out, when a child is injured, the police always respond first to determine if it is an abuse case. I was surprised when someone told me that! Here I was talking to these really nice policemen and they were actually trying to determine if I had abused my child! Well, I guess it's better to be safe than sorry.

Here are a couple of photos of Josh that I couldn't help snapping in the hospital. He can look at them someday and I wonder if he will remember "the first stitches he ever got at Grammy's house...".

Waiting in the FastTrack area of Emergency (but it still took 3 hours!)

Waiting to be sutured

first days in t.o.

We've been here for almost a week and we're finally settling in at Grammy's house in Toronto. Note that these Toronto posts are mostly for Brian since he isn't here with us - I don't want him to forget what his kids look like!

The plane ride was fairly smooth. It's always work keeping a 2.5 year-old entertained, but Josh was pretty good. The key, I think, was to buy a bunch of new (but little) toys before the trip and to present them to him at different times throughout the flight. Between that and having Treehouse playing on the seatback monitor in front of him, he kept himself pretty busy.

He even had a short nap on the plane. I think his nap would have been longer except that I explained to him the seatbelt light and the 'ding' sound followed by the flight attendant's message. So, during his nap, we hit turbulence and when Josh heard the 'ding' sound and the flight attendant, he sat straight up and said, "Mommy, I have to put on my seatbelt!".

Avery was a doll during the flight. I nursed her right before take-off and right before landing and she slept the entire flight. Unfortunately for Grammy, she had to hold her the entire flight. But I think she preferred that to trying to keep Josh entertained!

Our first few days have been relaxing - we're (read: I'm) trying to get over jetlag. The last couple of days, Josh has been napping and sleeping a little longer than usual, so I think jetlag has finally hit him. Avery has adjusted quite nicely, still getting lots of naps during the day and sound sleeps at night.

We've already spent time with Lenny and Tini and Larry, Sandra and the kids. Joshie LOVES his cousins, Big H and Little H. Little H is 3, so if she and Josh can find some common ground to play, then they have a hoot playing together. Otherwise, they are both still a bit too young to just pick up and play.

Big H is almost 5 and Josh IDOLIZES her. He follows her around and wants to hold her hand all the time. Big H is so sensitive and sweet. You can tell that she doesn't really want to hold Josh's hand, but she does it anyway.

I have some photos to post, but I have to reduce the size of the images before I post them. I'm on my mom's computer, so I have to find out what apps she has available to do that. Stay tuned...

doing time

Last weekend was the Victoria Day long weekend. My parents wanted to make a quick trip down to Portland to visit friends, so we drove them down to Seattle that weekend so that they continue their trip at the beginning of the week.

Trips to Seattle to visit my brother and his wife are always fun because they mean OUTLET SHOPPING. And lots of it! It's a little harder these days with the 2 kids, but I can always find time to shop. Sometimes, though, it means that I come home with a pile of clothes and shoes from Carter's and Stride Rite rather than Banana Republic and Nine West, but shopping is shopping and clothes for me or the family is ALL good.

Usually, when we go across the border, I'm tuned in to the border line-ups at the different crossings. When we came home from Seattle on the holiday Monday, however, I was too busy making sure that the 2 kids and the dog were kept happy and by the time we reached Bellingham at 10:15 pm, we finally realized we never checked the border crossings.

Big mistake. Both the Peach Arch and Pac Highway crossings were reporting 2.5 to 3 hour wait times. But there was no going back to Seattle at this point. The radio said our best bet was the Aldergrove crossing, reporting a 45 minute wait. So, we headed over to Aldergrove. When we finally reached the line-up at 10:30, our GPS said that we were 2.8 km from the border. So, we waited.

Avery was easy, I could just pop into the back and soothe her or breastfeed when she cried (one of the benefits of a minivan!). And Josh was great. He watched Diego and Cars on the DVD and even though he was pretty tired, he just sat in his car seat. Unfortunately, he couldn't fall asleep because the car wasn't moving, but he wasn't acting up, so we were lucky.

At 11:15 pm, the GPS said we were just over 1 km from the border. At that point, we checked the radio again. This was when the radio reminded listeners that the Aldergrove crossing closes at midnight. OMG. Are you serious?! I never realized that there were border crossings that closed! We did the math and decided to chance it and wait out the 45 minutes. Well, it didn't work for us. When we saw cars in front of us start turning back, the GPS said we were 250 m from the border.

So, we went to the Pac Highway crossing and we finally made it across at 2:15 am. It took us almost 4 hours to cross the border. I'm pretty sure that was the worst border crossing we've had to date. Needless to say, we're going to be applying for a Nexus pass pretty soon now...

motoring munchkin

Since Josh was about 10 months old, we've been taking him to a local drop-in program called Motoring Munchkins. It's basically a gymnasium full of toys for kids, aged 1 to 5 years, to run around and play. Josh LOVES it. He is such an active child that it's perfect for him!

Since I've been on maternity leave again, I've opted to go to the Wednesday class instead of Fridays, hoping that it may be a bit less crowded since it's the middle of the week. Not only is it less crowded, but they also have gymnastics equipment set up for the gymnastics classes that take place later in the day.

All the gymnastics stuff is new to Josh and he is enjoying it quite a bit. He runs around, going from equipment to equipment, testing it all out. His big thing right now is hanging. He learned to hang on the uneven bars and now he'll hang on just about anything - which isn't always good when he can pull over bookshelves and tables at home!

He also loves to jump, but what child doesn't?! And we've found that he's pretty good at walking on the balance beam too!

See what I mean about hanging on anything?!

I forget the name of these riding wheelie things, but you can get them at Costco

Josh likes to build stuff, just like Dad!

Josh jump, jump, jumps right onto a mat at the end

Not only can he balance on the balance beam...

...but he can jump off too!

Butt shot

Who doesn't like the trampoline?!

50d

Brian has wanted a digital SLR for probably as long as I've known him. We've always found reasons not to get one though, citing price as our biggest hurdle. Brian has patiently (and painfully) watched as, slowly, each one of our friends has upgraded from their point and shoot cameras or 35mm SLR's and bought a digital SLR. Each time, I watch Brian's reaction and my heart sinks as I can taste his mixed emotions of envy and reality (that we can't afford it!).

We recently "found" some money and we (read "I") decided that it was time to bite the bullet and get a DSLR. Brian did a bit of research and he decided on the Canon 50D. I have to admit, not knowing anything about cameras, that it is pretty amazing! Even I can take a few good pictures with that camera. But then again, I guess it better be pretty damn good for the price!

Here are some of the first photos we've taken with the camera:

mommy's day

I still find it weird to talk about my "kids". I can't believe that someone saw fit for me to be the mother of 2 kids! These first 4 weeks have been quite an experience having 2 kids, but they have been lots of fun - very different than my experience as a first-time parent! I'm sad that I didn't enjoy Josh as much as a newborn - I was too "post-partum" to enjoy the experience. But I think I've made up for it with Avery.

Brian and the "kids" gave me the BEST mother’s day gift that I think any mom (of a newborn) could ask for. They gave me 6 hours of continuous sleep! It was SO nice. Avery has been strictly breastfeeding and the night before Mom's Day, I pumped instead and Brian gave her the milk, bottled, at her 4am feeding. I got to sleep from 1am to 7am without waking up AT ALL! Brian said she did really well on the bottle – she finished everything that I pumped in about 15 minutes. I was SO happy to hear that and SO happy to feed her at 7am, feeling a tad bit engorged! Hahaha...

It's funny how quickly we adapt because when I woke up, I didn't feel like I had been sleeping for 6 hours. In fact, I felt like I could sleep for 6 more hours! But through the day, I felt like I had energy and I didn't need to take any naps! I'm SO looking forward to the days when I'm getting 6 hours of continuous sleep again...!

We had a really nice Mother's Day. Josh gave me my Mother's Day gift in the morning and said, "Happy Birthday". Hahaha...He also gave my mom her Grammy's Day gift. We all went for dimsum in the late morning and then we spent the gorgeous afternoon outside doing some gardening. In the late afternoon, Nana came over too, so Josh and Avery got to spend their Mom's Day with their mom and both their grandma's. It was perfect!

I hope all you moms had a fabulous Mother's Day. You are ALL my heroes. I don't know any work that is harder than being a mother. I know that even though it's worth it, it sometimes seems like an unappreciated effort. Well, just remember that EVERY OTHER mom appreciates what you do (and, eventually, your kids will appreciate it too!). Happy Mother's Day!

one month

This past Sunday was a milestone first Mother's Day with Avery. Also, it was Avery's 4 week birthday! I can't believe that the first month has gone by already! She looks so different now then those first days in the hospital. For one, she is no longer yellow - she seems to have worked out all her jaundice. I'm glad she didn't have to go through phototherapy!

She also does not look like a newborn anymore. She is filling out and probably weighs around 9 lbs. now! I don't know her exact weight because I'm finding that the second time around, the health care professionals are relying on our experience to get us through the first few weeks. It seemed like we weighed Josh every other day until he was 4 weeks old! With Avery, she was weighed in the hospital and then at one week and three weeks. That's it so far. At 3 weeks old, she weighed 8.5 lbs. She's a little porker!

So, with 2 kids, we're finding that bathtime comes few and far between (for both kids!). The following photos are of Avery's first bath at home. Brian was a little rusty and Avery was new at it too, so between the two of them it was a bit of a clumsy endeavour and Avery was NOT happy...


These first few weeks have found Avery sleeping alot - sleep, eat, poo, she's pretty textbook! She is just now staying awake more and we're finding that we need to start using some of our parenting skills to find ways to get her to fall asleep. It's funny how quickly we forget all that stuff! Now that she's awake more, we're seeing her grey-black eyes and we can tell that she's focusing more. She's even given a couple of non-gassy smiles when she's looking at us!

We've also discovered that she has a REALLY loud cry. We're not used to that because Josh was so quiet as a newborn. It's a bit nerve-wracking. I never realized how much a baby's cry can really grate on your nerves until now. I mean, I don't feel like I'm going to have a nervous breakdown everytime she cries, but it is distracting and I find that I can't do anything BUT tend to her cries when she's crying.

Josh is loving his little sister. Everytime he comes home from daycare or goes to bed, he wants to give Avery a hug and kiss. We just have to make sure that we watch him like a hawk - his idea of a gentle hug and kiss is not quite as "gentle" as we'd like! We also had a "close call" last week - I was sitting on the couch beside Avery in her bassinet when Josh crawled up on the couch between us. I knew he was leaned over looking at her, but I wasn't fully paying attention to what he was doing. Soon, Avery started crying so I leaned over to see what Josh was doing. That's when I noticed 2 pieces of cashew in her mouth! OMG - it just proved to me that you can NEVER be too careful when dealing with a toddler!

Here are more photos of Avery over the last few weeks. The last one was taken on her 4-week birthday: