A Great Loss

My dear friend Lynn passed away very suddenly at the end of April.

Lynn and I became friends in the fall of 2004 when Morgan went to Junior Kindergarten. Her youngest daughter Maddison and Morgan became instant best friends, and so did we. It started with play-dates so that the kids could play; but pretty soon we just started getting together while the girls were in school so that we could visit.
Lynn was a wonderful member of the community; volunteering in the school. She was also a prominent member of Girl Guides of Canada, and shared her love of guiding with Morgan. Lynn was with me every queasy step of my pregnancy with Ella and was one of the very few that knew I was pregnant before I left for England! We never went more than a day or so without contact, even chatting online while I was in England.
Lynn was like family; especially to the girls. She had such a big heart and gave so much love to Morgan, Paige and Ella. She was a constant support for me; and the kettle was always on for tea and a chat. I can remember a number of instances where I got told; because after dropping Paige at preschool I hadn't come for tea....the kettle was on you know!

Lynn was in our lives for such a short time, but she touched our lives so deeply and we will never forget her. I miss her every day, but am very grateful to have had the privilege of knowing her, and to have her family in my life. Maddison and Ashton; you've become part of our family,and I'm so glad that we have you in our lives!


A very good friend of mine sent me this poem:

She is Gone
By Anonymous

You can shed tears that she is gone
or you can smile because she has lived.

You can close your eyes and pray that she'll come back
or you can open your eyes and see all she's left.

Your heart can be empty because you can't see her
or you can be full of the love you shared.

You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday
or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.

You can remember her and only that she's gone
or you can cherish her memory and let it live on.

You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back
or you can do what she'd want: smile, open your eyes, love and go on.



I have wonderful memories of Lynn. I have Maddison here today, and Morgan, Paige, Maddison and I sat around for quite awhile this afternoon looking at pictures and sharing memories.

Busy, Busy

Well things have been a little crazy around here lately. About a week after Ella came home from the hospital we ended back in the emergency room. We had fish for dinner, and within an hour Ella was vomiting and unresponsive.It was exactly what had taken us to the hospital the first time. The strange thing is that we had fish the first time as well, which made me think that it was the fish. They watched her in the ER and sent us home because we had an appointment the next morning with the pediatrician. She was quite dehydrated but bounced back quickly. So now we wait for an appointment with an allergist...poor baby! Ella has lost some weight through all of this, so we go back to see the pediatrician on Monday to make sure that she is gaining it back.
Also in the last couple of weeks Kevin and I celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary!!!!!
Last week I had Belle at the vets because she has an eye infection. Apparently it is a herpes like virus which she has had before. There was evidence of an ulcer scar in her eye. She is on drops to clear it up, but it could reoccur at any time. As if that isn't enough, she hurt her paw the other night. I was going to take her in to get checked, but have been watching and she is getting better. She is in constant motion so I am not surprised that she hurt herself as she is quite a klutz. If she isn't fine by Monday, I'll take her in then!
Other than that it has been run, run, run, and trying to get caught up from the kids being sick for well over a month!!!!
xx to all!!!

Fun in the Sun

We had beautiful weather on the weekend, and here are the girls enjoying the day.

Before and After

Morgan decided a couple of weeks ago that she would like to get her hair cut as short as Paige's. Keep in mind that when you pulled her hair straight it went to the bottom of her shoulder blade!

Here they are after their hair appointment, while we were at the hairdressers, Morgan decided that she wanted her hair straightened with the iron for fun.
What cuties :)

Playing ball

I've been meaning to post this for a while now, but time seems to keep getting away from me....more pics, and an update to come.

Miss Paigie hard at work!

 
 
 

Baby's got her groove back!

She is walking around the kitchen like an old pro. Actually she's walking farther than I've seen her go before!!! HOORAY ELLA BEAN!!!!!!
Check this out:

Easter eggs and Easter bunnies

The dying of the eggs! Note the spotty face.


This year they coloured them with marker as well.


The lovely basket of eggs.



And of course of resident Easter Bunny!

Chicken Pox are not a joke!!!!

Last Sunday Ella had an off day. She was extremely cranky, not eating, etc.... We just put it down to teeth. Then after dinner she started throwing up. When I put her into the tub to clean her up - she fell asleep, sending off all sorts of alarm bells. I told Kev that we needed to take her to the hospital.
We took her to the General, which is closet to our house, a) because I didn't want her in the car for long while she was vomiting, and b) because I wasn't thinking straight and it didn't even occur to me to take to the children's hospital where her pediatrician is - DUH!!! I know.
They started an IV and took her for a chest x-ray. They told me that she had a double ear infection, and pneumonia. After consulting with Mac they decided that they would give her a dose of antibiotics through her IV and then transfer to Mac via ambulance. I went with her by ambulance and Kevin had to go home to relieve our neighbour. Around 1am at Mac, they told me that she was very dehydrated and had gastroenteritis (stomach flu). Keep in mind she only vomited for three hours and had no diarrhea.....They also said that she had no sign of pneumonia in her x-ray and that both ears were clear. WHAT???? Apparently pediatric chest x-rays are hard to read and they had been mistaken at the other hospital. Also nobody seemed too excited that she was only just over the chicken pox.In the meantime she was really out of it. Around 4am they told me that they would admit her and that they were just waiting for a bed upstairs.

We finally got somewhere the next morning when the pediatrician came in and actually listened to our story. (Kev was with me by then after taking the others to school). She asked us how Ella's balance was and was she still able to walk. So we put her on the floor and she couldn't even keep her balance to stand. That's when they said she possibly had acute cerebellar ataxia caused by post-varicella cerebellitis. In English that means that she had loss of balance due to swelling in her cerebellum (which is your balance center). Apparently they think that this is an auto-immune response to the chicken pox virus. She needed neurology to consult and we would go from there. It was then decided that Ella would have to have an MRI to rule anything else out. She had that done on Tuesday and after she was cleared by neurology and the pediatrician we were able to come home late Wednesday afternoon. This a condition which clears on its own, and she is already almost back to her normal self. We go to see our pediatrician on Thursday. Quite a scary time though.
Poor old Paigie Pie broke out in spots on Tuesday night, and is starting to feel much better now! Thank you so much to L for stepping in and taking the girls throughout last week so that Kevin could be at the hospital with me, and to Grandma for spending Paige's first day of spots with her!!!!
xxoo

Here comes trouble!!!!

Just had to share these (especially for L & A).


She wasn't cooperating, which is why her head is cut off. What a cutie.

Long, long week!

Well it has been a very long week. Ella is much better, but is teething and very miserable. Morgan spent the first couple of days being very itchy and miserable although she was very good about the whole thing. Then cabin fever kicked in. They aren't used to being at home everyday! Once Morgan started feeling better, the girls started being quite wild. Even though they were spending a ton of time outside and we were going for walks most days, they were wild crazy kids! Getting homework done has been quite a task as well. I must say that I am looking forward to her going back to school ;)
Paige shows no sign of getting spots, and I seem to have a bit of a cold.

Two down, one to go!

Morgan broke out in chickenpox on Saturday, so is off school for the week. She is very itchy, but handling it really well. Ella is still quite miserable, and Paige is so far fine. The weather is beautiful outside though, so at least they can get out in the backyard to blow off some steam!

The purple icing:

Last week the girls and I made cupcakes, and they requested purple icing. It wasn't the prettiest colour I have ever seen, but they were pleased with it, and had a great time icing the cupcakes themselves.




Two cuties colouring.

Morgan is home from school today. She is running a fever and is generally miserable. She has a couple of suspect spots but I am not entirely convinced that it is the chickenpox...time will tell. Ella has a gazillion more spots today and is being a trooper! She is in the best mood of the three of them!!

Guess what?????

Ella has the chicken pox!!!! The older girls haven't had it yet, so we are potentially in for a very long month!!!!! I have no idea how she got it either.
Wish us luck!!!
xxoo

Check this out!!!!

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

First Steps

Ella just took about five steps BY HERSELF in the kitchen!!! We're in trouble now.... what a star :)

XXOO to all.

Taking a little breather!!!!

We have been running non-stop for I don't know how long!!! March break is finally here and we are taking it easy. A very welcome thing! The in and out of the van with boots and snowsuits is getting old (and exhausting!) so it is really nice not to have to be rushing three little people into the cold every morning.
We are back into a hectic appointments for everybody. Dentist, pediatrician, family doc, etc....Ella has had a bunch of appointments, and all is well. She had her eye appointment and her eyes look great! We go back again in six months. Now we're just waiting for ENT and her follow-up hearing and speech appointment.
Had a nice weekend - visited with friends from Montreal whichwas awesome. We really wish we all lived closer!!!!!
Other than that it has just been the daily grind - and I have been slacking in the picture department.
xxoo to all :)

Birthday Pictures

The Birthday Girl and Tasha!


The Birthday Cake chosen by Paige:


Eating of the cake :) No mess here; it all went in her tummy!!


Opening of presents!

The big snowstorm:

Last week we got a huge dump of snow. They say somewhere between 70 and 80 cm of snow hit our city....Here is what it looked like when we got up in the morning:

This was the view from our patio doors.


From the kitchen window:



The living room window:


The kids had a wonderful time out in the snow:


This was taken from the kitchen window; Paige is almost as high as the window.



Morgan was having too much fun throwing snow in the air to come any closer for a picture.

Today in guiding we celebrate Thinking Day. This is in honour of Lord and Lady Baden-Powell's birthdays. They were the founders of guiding, and shared the same birthday. Very cool! Morgan is wearing her Sparks uniform to school today to mark the day.

Happy Birthday Ella Grace!!!

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Originally uploaded by The Doodlebugz.

I can hardly believe how quickly this year has passed, and that your birthday is already here! Hard to believe that at this time last year Maggie was bigger than you- much bigger than you!!!You have brought such love and joy to all of us, and to everyone that loves you. We love you little Miss Ella Bean, Happy Birthday!!!!!
Love,
Mama, Daddy, Morgan, and Paige
xxoo

Amazing Discovery! Oh yeah, and Happy Valentine's Day ;)

I have been getting HARASSED for an update, which this will not be; I just discovered something today that I wanted to share. Actually I'm a bit surprised that I haven't noticed it before; although I think that Grandad did when he was here in November and I being so distracted by everything else took no notice. Anyways, enough rambling.

My big discovery is that Paige is a south-paw. She has been having trouble colouring and I couldn't for the life of me figure it out since her fine motor skills are so good. Well it is because she is really left-handed. She was colouring up a storm today with her left hand!!!!!!! What a star!

Update to come; it is a certain baby's birthday in two days, plus we just got a dump of 70 cms of snow so I have pictures of that as well.


xxoo to all :)

The spay that wasn't and other tales....

What a bunch of cuties. This was from a couple of weeks ago when we got together for dinner.



Little Miss Belle went to the vet on Friday to be spayed. I took her in for 9 am and at about 10:45 got a call from the vets clinic. They had done her pre-surgery blood work and all was well. They had put her out, shaved a strip on her belly, and there was a fairly recent spay scar. I couldn't pick her up until late afternoon though because she had had a general anesthesia. Poor kitty. Here she is sleeping it off; she was still quite stoned when I brought her home. She has had the desired affect on Maggie, who seems much happier to have company. Not to say that there isn't still the occasional hissing....


This picture is a just because picture.



Other than that, everyone is sick still, and I can't wait for winter to end. Okay I know that it just started, but I've had enough!!!! Ella has her hearing test on Friday, so I'll update then.
xxoo

So much for being original. I just saw a top ten list of baby names for 2006, and Ella was on it. Hmmn. Off to make dinner but I'll post later......

Update

Morgan had her first experience of heartbreak last week. A boy in her class whom she was very close with (although I must say more last year than this) moved away on Friday. We had tears all weekend. She is such a sensitive one (underneath the bubbly facade) and was really quite sad. She's feeling much better on that front but stayed home from school today because she wasn't feeling well. The teacher said she had a really "off" day yesterday so I let her stay home today. Hopefully after a good night's sleep she will be right as rain.

Paigie has school tomorrow and I am duty mum. It was quite cute on Monday when I went to leave she came running for a hug; and so did her best friend. Her teacher told me last week what a nice person Paige is. That was so nice to hear given all the tantrums (although they have been a bit better of late).

Miss Ella has me stumped. I have this sippy cup that reminds me of a bottle (the top is silicone and squishy rather than hard plastic) and she has never really taken anything from it. I used to pump on a regular basis in the hopes that she would take fluids from somewhere other than me, but with no luck. So I got frustrated pumping and tried water, and when she was old enough, watered down juice. Still no joy. She would take a bit, and spill most out the side of her right lip. The plastic surgeon even told me that it was because she couldn't get good enough suction. Well I gave her warmed up cow's milk this week, and she took it; without spilling! I've even been trying to get her to take a straw with no luck. So it seems that she likes milk! Or maybe also because she is getting older. She even went to bed twice this week with only having drunk from the cup, no nursing! So it looks as if I may be able to wean her in the near future! Although surprisingly enough, for all my bitching about wanting to have her weaned by a year (or near abouts), now that she is starting to take a cup I feel a little bittersweet about the whole thing. I guess knowing that she really is the last....


Well I'm off, Kev is out of town and I'm quite tired. Friday is a PA day so Morgan is off, need to figure out something fun to do with them. We have to get up early anyway on Friday
to take Belle into the vets to be spayed.

Dictee

Morgan got 100% on her dictee today, and even got the bonus word right (which we hadn't studied)! Good Job!

Poor Ella Bazoo

As if an ear infection wasn't enough; when I went to put Ella in the tub last night, she was covered in a lovely rash all over her tummy and back. I called the after hours line, and the registered nurse told me that she has an "amoxicillan rash" which is quite common and does not indicate a penicillin allergy. She is to keep taking the medicine and the rash will go away on its own. She probably won't develop the rash again. Poor little muffin though!
Morgan has her first dictee (spelling test) today, we worked really hard on learning the words so I can't wait to see how she did. I'll post later.
Off to vacuum.....

Storm Day

The big girls painting with water colours, and having a great time!

This is the baby with the fever and ear infection. She's still smiling!!!!

The princess is crashed in her favourite spot. She only sleeps on the couch because I told Kevin not to worry about the cat shedding all over the couch; Maggie doesn't. Ha, ha, should have kept my mouth shut on that one. Speaking of Maggie, no picture of her, she is on top of the cupboards in her usual spot refusing to pose.....

I'd take a picture of outside, but there is nothing to show, doesn't take much freezing rain for them to close the schools here; makes sense though as the roads were pretty bad this morning when we went to the doctor!
xxoo

Freezing rain and one sick baby

There was no school today due to freezing rain. The kids were pretty excited to stay home. We did have to go out though. Ella has had a very high fever on and off since Friday supper time. I took her in to the doctors this morning and she is now on antibiotics for an ear infection. Poor muffin. She hasn't complained at all, just had this wicked fever.
I'm off to try and sneak a little nap while she is asleep and the big ones are playing. Ella hasn't been sleeping much at night so I'm pretty beat!

Happy Birthday Hannah!!!!!

Yesterday we celebrated Hannah's birthday, and her real birthday is today; 5 years old!! Hard to believe how fast the time is going, I can remember holding her in the hospital when she was first born!

Placental pathology

How's that for a title??? I had a phone call this morning from Kathleen in the genetics department. When we saw the geneticist I asked about the placenta, and they didn't know. So she got the pathology report from the hospital where I delivered. Apparently my family doctor has had it all along; nice of him to share, and for some reason the paediatrician did not get a copy. Go figure! So, the report stated that the maternal side of the placenta was fine, but the fetal side had necrotic (DEAD) tissue areas. Problems in the blood vessels and some cysts. Now apparently this can happen in pregnancies with normal outcomes, so it doesn't really give us any new answers. We already know that it had to do with that placenta. I also think that we won't ever have any real answers; and I am finally okay with that. I want to focus on the fact that I have three gorgeous healthy and tenacious daughters. Ella does not have any major health issues. So far her hearing looks fine, and so does her eye. What more could I ask for? For months and months (probably because we didn't even have any kind of diagnosis) I was desperate for answers. I am now able to let that go, and enjoy this sweet baby girl that we've been blessed with. Hard to believe that in a little over a month, she will be a year old. WOW!

All caught up!!!

Well guys there you have it, I am all caught up on pictures, I think. Must run, it is Sparks night.
xxoo to all.

My three divas ;)

Three Divas ;)

Daddy's girls