BC part one

My daughter is a vampire....

or at least she acted like one anyway.

Many of you have been asking about how my trip is going, and how the plane ride went. Ohh where to begin. Let me first start by staying, I will never be traveling on a plane with a toddler again. Not with Coral, not with future siblings of Coral. I wont do it. I refuse to. I think it would have been worth paying the $600 for a plane ticket for Coral so I could have strapped her in her car seat the whole time. 

It. was. horrible.

I expected it to be bad. I mean, Coral has a hard time sitting still to watch a movie, let alone for almost 6 hours on a plane. I was prepared for her to have fits. I wasn't prepared for the nasty looks from other people, and the whispering under their breath. 

I was lucky enough to get on a plane that wasn't that full (the one bonus of flying super early I guess). So once everyone was boarded, people moved around so that Coral and I would have a full row to ourselves. My luck however ended there.

The plane that we were on had broken tvs....which I was counting on the cartoons to help distract Coral a little bit, PLUS it didn't have any snacks or drinks on it. I was also lucky enough to get that very same plane after my lay-over in Edmonton. Gah. Shoot me now I thought.

Coral was super excited as we got on the plane. Her excitement ended when she found out that she had to be sitting on my lap for most of the trip (only when the seat belt signs are on...but they were on for most of the trip). That resulted in her kicking, screaming, slapping, and biting. Ohh the biting. She was a noodle (every mom knows how difficult it is to hold a noodle baby), and was flopping on the floor, while biting my ankles as hard as she could. 

My lay-over in Edmonton wasn't that long. In fact if our plane wouldn't have arrived early, I wouldn't have had a lay-over at all. So Coral ran around until it was time to board the second plane. She knew what was coming so she wasn't stoked to say the least.

But were here.

We made it.

We have been having a blast so far. Christy and I, along with the three babies, have been out and about every single day. There have been times where all three babies are screaming, whether were in the car, or in the store, and we don't care, because were together. 

We have gotten to visit with some great friends (thank you to Deanna who has drivin almost an hour everyday to see me, Kalia who drove all the way from Vancouver and is coming out again to have a sleep over and girls night with us, and Darcelle  for the sushi date and threw a bbq for Coral and I last night). I am truly blessed to have such close good friends. 

Coral has been doing well here as well. She normally doesn't sleep well in playpens or at other peoples houses, but she has been having all her naps, and has been sleeping through the night! Woo hoo! She has enjoyed playing with her buddy Malachi (we have been working on sharing with both babies this week) and other friends of Malachis as well. She also is in LOVE with baby Carter. This girl is going to be such a great big sister when we have another little one. She loves babies. The first thing she says when she wakes up in the morning and after a nap is "baby". She loves to talk to the baby, and help with his car seat. She even said "baby please..daddy" today. Hmm maybe thats a hint.

On a sad note, I forgot my camera at home. SO...no pictures of our trip.

So, that is the first half of our trip. Thank-you everyone who has been praying for us as were away. I have actually been feeling great this entire time (a huge relief since just before the trip I was in 24/7 pain)....maybe its this wonderful BC air?

Homemade Dough Art

As ya'll know, Coral and I enjoy getting our craft on..especially on rainy, cold fall days.

So, the other day, I decided to do one of my favorite childhood crafts-homemade dough art.

My mom used to do this craft with us all the time when we were younger. I remember getting so excited when she would tell us its dough art day. I knew that Coral may not fully understand how to make different things out of the dough, but I knew she would have a blast helping me make it, and watch it bake in the oven.

First we need the recipe.

Since this is a childhood craft, I knew I would be able to find the recipe in the homemade cookbook my Aunt Barb gave me for our wedding...she probably made this craft with her three girls when they were little too. 

We will need:

-1/2 C. salt

-1 1/4 C. flour

-1/2 C. water

Coral is always so excited to pull out the bowls and spoons that we will need.

Sometimes she gets a little distracted when she finds something really cool in the cupboard.

Or when she finds hidden fruitloops.

Not to worry though, eventually we get back on track.

Ok, stir the salt and the flour together, then gradually add the water. Knead well.

Then you have your ball of dough. Coral started ripping apart the dough and making little balls with it. We decided to make lots of little balls, and then poke holes through them with toothpicks.

Once you are happy with your shapes, or whatever your making, bake it in the oven for about 2 hours at 200*, until its rock hard.

Then comes the fun part, the painting.

Coral hasn't gotten around to painting her balls yet. Mostly just because of time and how busy we have been. But, they are all baked, and ready to be painted. We have some string, and once the balls are all painted, we will be making necklaces for some very special people (grandma and nana). 

Enjoy getting crafty with your little ones today :)

Prepping for BC

Three days!

I can finally start prepping for our trip to BC.

I don't like to start prepping to early because most of the time I will end up digging back into my suit case for stuff that I need, and the less time I have to live out of a suit case, the better. That and if I was already done my packing the anticipation would kill me, and I would have nothing to occupy my "free" time with while Andrew is away. 

So, let the packing begin....well...after I finish a couple of loads of laundry.

But in the mean time, I packed my carry on today.

My carry on is going to be my life line while traveling with that energetic toddler of mine. Truthfully, I have been dreading the plane ride. The total travel time, from the time we leave our house in Whitby, to the time we touch down in Abbotsford, is a little over nine hours. NINE HOURS! Thats like a whole day for Coral. And since she hasn't napped in my arms since she was 8 months old, Im not counting on her sleeping for any of that time. I need to be prepared.

Heres my plan:

To entertain her on the plane (she will be forced to sit on my lap for a little over four hours on the first flight, then another hour and fifteen minutes on the second. She normally doesn't sit on my lap longer then 15 seconds...gulp) we did a trip to Dollarama. Yes there are plenty of things around the house that I could have brought with me to attempt to entertain her, but if ya'll know Coral, you know that she LOVES to play with new things, and its new things that will hold her attention for longer.

We stocked up on stickers, new crayons, books, puzzles, stamps, beads, and a little case of mini mega blocks. Lord give patience to the people that have to sit next to us. All this will hopefully entertain her for the flight there, and back. And of course I will have to pack lots of snacks, and will buy Coral milk once were through security.

To entertain her at the Airport, well Im going to let her entertain herself (and by doing so, MAYBE she will tucker herself out and fall asleep on the plane). I know that I wont get her to sit in a stroller for very long, and why should she if she is going to be stuck in one little spot on the plane for four hours. I know that she wont sit by our terminal and play quietly either. Nope, she's a runner, and a running she will do. 

Meet my new best friend.

Ok, so I know some of you look at that and think "Don't you think its a little cruel to strap your baby into a harness?" The answer is, nope not at all. I know my daughter. I know she wont sit still, and I know how fast she is. So, safety comes first. This allows her to roam around and explore things, but also keeps her within a safe distance of mommy (without me trying to chase her with my arms full trying to make her hold my hand so she doesn't get lost or have a stranger take her). 

And lastly, for when she DOES (hopefully) get tired of walking (or tired from getting up at 3:30 in the morning), I will have this:

We finally got an umbrella stroller!

Umm why didn't I get one of these sooner? Its so light weight, and so easy to fold up. I seriously think I just about crack a rib every time I pull her other stroller out of the Buick. And this one takes up so much less room. Im loving it. Of course I tried to look on kijiji and craigslist before purchasing a new one, however people were putting their umbrella strollers up for sale for the same price as a new one, AND most of the time they would say things like "back wheels don't spin" or "handle bars are missing". No thank-you. So new it was.

Ok, so lets get the full picture here. Im in the Airport with my huge bag packed full of goodies hanging off my shoulder. I have the stroller in my other hand (plus Corals precious blanket) and Im hanging onto the tail of my little monkey as we walk around. 

Do you think I could manage to carry a coffee as well? I think Im going to need it :)

What a week!

-Two different visits to two different hospitals (I did end up getting some tests done, however the doctors are still stumped as to what is going on in my body).

-A dinner date with some excellent friends (Taylor Burns we miss you already, Maria and Jac..booo school).

-A surprise pumpkin spice latte from my hubby immediately followed by a surprise visit from my sister and cutie nephew Kaden (one of Corals highlights of the week).

-Andrew officially becoming a student again

-Kaya going to puppy school, but really if Im being honest, she learnt nothing.

-Babysitting Kiptyn for a few hours on Sat. It was so fun to have him "all to myself" for a while. He is so much fun to play with and is great at showing his excitement with that huge smile of his.  Coral also enjoyed the time on her "supervised date".

And now we start a fresh week.

And what an amazing week it is going to be!

Remember what's happening this week ya'll???

BC!!!

Andrew left early this morning for a business trip, which means that today is day one of not seeing him for 16 days. That is a LONG time for us not to see each other, and as cheesy as this sounds, I miss him already (especially when Coral pooped in the bath tonight....don't be so shocked ya'll, she poops in the bath almost every night) and he wasn't there to scoop her out and entertain her while I drew her another bath. Andrew comes home wednesday night, will get a few hours of sleep, and then will get up in the middle of the night to take Coral and I to the Airport. So yes, I guess its not technically 16 days that we will be apart, but Im really not counting the few groggy hours we will see each other. 

While Andrew is away, and then while Im away, we have a little friend staying with us. Andrews old pooch Cocoa is staying with us for a few weeks while my in-laws are touring England. I picked up Cocoa after church today, and Coral is loving having two poochies in the house. Im loving it too. Mostly because Cocoa is much larger then Kaya. I feel comforted, and safe with her here while Andrew is away. Cocoa is enjoying herself too. For some unknown reason, she has always loved me. So, she follows me around the house EVERYWHERE (like if I need to go to the washroom, Cocoa is outside the door scratching and whining to come in). I have been stumbling over the two poochies all day) which Coral also loves. 

In just a few short days, Matty will be reunited with Andrew (Matty, I love how excited Hodg gets to see you), and I will be reunited with all my BC loves. I will also get 12 whole days of snuggling a newborn...gah, my uterus aches already. 

Yup it is going to be a good week!

Update on me

I've been feeling:

scared

worried

helpless

Allow me to introduce ya'll to the pain on my right side. A pain that I first felt during my late pregnancy with Coral. A pain so sharp it literally made me crumble to the floor. Everyone assured me that it was fine. That the baby probably just moved funny. Against my better judgement, and really having no clue what pains were normal during pregnancy, I let it be.

A few months after Coral was born, I had that same pain. I laid on the couch for a day before Andrew finally convinced me to go to the walk-in. You see, I don't like going to the doctor. I feel like they are always looking at me with judgement, or looking at me like Im completely crazy or something. So when Im not feeling well, I leave it until Im practically on my death bed before I see the doctor. But, the hubby made me go, and the doctor sent me home with a prescription for heart burn. Now I know Im no doctor, but I knew it wasn't heart burn. First of all, I had heart burn throughout my whole pregnancy, so I knew what it felt like, and this was not that. Secondly, the pain I was feeling was on my upper abdomen, across my belly button, and all the way around to my lower back. Yah, not heart burn. 

The next day I felt worse, so I sucked it up and went back. The doctor this time told me it was gallbladder disease. FOR SURE he said. Not a doubt in his mind. He just wanted to send me to get an ultrasound done to confirm it before he booked me in with the surgeon to get my gallbladder removed. Two weeks later, ultrasound done, the doctor called me to say he actually doesn't think its my gallbladder, and that he has no idea what is wrong with me.

Feeling discouraged, I left it. I mean, the pain was bearable, as long as no one touched me on my right side or back (doing so would cause me to once again collapse on the floor). I left it for a little while longer, then left it some more. Finally two weeks ago, I couldn't take the pain, and made an appointment with our family doctor.

When she saw me, thankfully she didn't make me feel like I was insane. She believed that I was in pain, she was just perplexed at what was triggering this pain. Her conclusion- a hernia (which you can get from pregnancy). She would make an appointment with the surgeon for me.

So I waited. 

And waited.

And waited.

The waiting was the hardest part. Along with the hernia came so many other complications. Would we be able to have more kids in the future? Most things we read said no. If we were able to have more kids, how long would we have to wait post surgery? So many questions, and the more we read up on it, the more we got discouraged.

Finally after a week and a half, my doctor called me with an appointment to talk to the surgeon. October 5th. Wow. Thats a long ways away. I did some more research, and started to doubt that it actually was a hernia that was causing all this pain. Everything I read said that there should be a visible bump where the hernia is. Or if you couldn't see it, you would definitely be able to feel it. Also, hernias are apparently not suppose to be all that painful, and I, was in constant pain.

So, on monday, Andrew and I made the decision for me to get checked out by a hernia specialist. There is a hospital downtown Toronto that deals only with hernia patients. Examinations are free, they take walk-ins, and they will tell you on the spot if you have a hernia or not. After a long wait, and being examined by two different doctors, the conclusion was that it WASN'T a hernia. The doctors had told me exactly what I already knew, that I had no bump, and that hernias don't cause a lot of pain. They did however recommend that I figure out what is going on sooner rather then later, since they both had to hold me up while pressing on my "sore spots" so I wouldn't collapse on the floor in pain.

Relief? A little.

Mostly because the dream of me having more kids seemed within reach again.

But that relief didn't last long.

Ok if its not a hernia, then what is it?

At least when my doctor said, "its a hernia", I felt like we were making progress. But now were back to square one. No guess as to what it could be. No idea why Im feeling like this. 

Let me tell you, its a scary feeling.

Its terrifying knowing that your body is failing you in some way, but the doctors have no clue what it could be.

Its infuriating.

I don't understand why, instead of just guessing what's wrong, the doctors wont get some tests done. Blood tests maybe, x-rays, ultrasounds. All four doctors that I have seen, have all said one thing in common, that something serious is going on in my body. Yet if they are so sure that it is something serious, why is no body acting on it? Why do I have to wait five weeks from the time I saw my doctor, to the time I see the surgeon? 

So now I wait until October 5th, where I will see a surgeon, and she will take another guess as to what could be wrong with me. I hate this kind of guessing game. In the mean time, I feel like crap. I feel helpless as Andrew and I just sit in limbo land, not knowing what's wrong with me. I feel scared, that I have a beautiful daughter to take care of, and while nothing is being done, her mommy is slowly getting worse and worse. 

Thank-you to everyone who has been praying for us. God is good, and we trust that we are in his hands.  We just ask that you continue to pray for us, as the unknown is quite scary. It may be something as small as a pulled muscle, we don't know. But pray that the doctors will have wisdom, and that we will soon know exactly what is wrong, and then we will be able to focus on getting better. 

When the baby wont nap

Coral, we had such a good thing going.

You napped two hours, twice a day.

Mommy enjoyed listening to your little sleeping sounds.

Now the only sounds I hear from your bed are screams, sometimes laughter, and lots and lots of stories to your animals. Don't get me wrong, I love hearing those stories too, especially when they have a happy ending, but I sure do miss those sleeping sounds.

With the last few weeks being so busy, Corals whole nap schedule has been changed. Most days we have been out and about doing stuff (also, naps at my parents and the farm are a write-off. Coral wont nap unless she is in her own bed. She still gets put down in her play-pen for some "down time" but she rarely sleeps). So, her two naps a day, got crunched down to one nap a day. Thats not so bad since most toddlers her age only do one afternoon nap a day anyway. However, this last week, Coral has struggled with naps, even with just having one a day.

Its not her fault. She truly is exhausted by nap time. The problem is the guy who is re-doing our neighbor across the streets driveway. He is cutting stones and concrete all day. Literally all day, for the last week. Its loud. I can see why she struggles to fall asleep in this noise. SO, she still gets her down time in her bed (she needs time to talk to all her animals anyway), and then she is usually in bed for the night at 6. 

So, instead of Corals nap today, we decided to make cookies for our trip to Windsor tomorrow.

She was so excited to be helping mommy. 

I always let her stir whenever I can. She has become a pro at it....ok maybe a little bit got on the floor...

We watched a little bit of her movie while the cookies were baking. Then finished her movie snuggling together, eating warm cookies and sharing a glass of milk. Coral is a dipper, and was thrilled to learn the art of dipping cookies in milk. 

And now were going to go visit her boyfriend Kiptyn, who also hasn't been having very good naps lately. We figured they can be grumpy together :)

Ok buddy, finish up that driveway so my baby can get some sleep.