My new alarm clock

So I'm off work today and I thought how nice is this that I don't have to get out of bed. As I'm lying there my alarm clock goes off at 6:30 am and I shut it off, no need to get up I think to myself.... all of suden I hear a little voice from the other room calling, "Mum Mum" "Mum Mum" I don't think I've ever leaped out of bed so quickly in my life. So much excitement because although he has said "mum" before he has never done it waking up in the morning. I hope to hear my new alarm clock every morning. So exciting, it is these little milestones that keep me going. Have a great day everyone, I know I will, I obviously got up on the right side of the bed.

Nathan moves out

Last November Nathan moved into our room. He was refluxing and having some difficult nights and I just felt more comfortable having him close by.  In January, Uncle Patrick came to visit from England and stayed with us for several months. We gave him Nathan's room as it was empty and it worked out great. Now Uncle Pat is back home in England (sniff, sniff, we miss you) and it's time for Nathan to move back into his room.  We tried putting him into his toddler bed but he just cried and seemed afraid. So we put the crib back together in his room and he sleeps through the night (wasn't sure if I'd get a full night sleep again.) I guess looking through the bars gives him a sense of security. He's just not ready for a big boy bed yet and I'm okay with that. After all he is my baby.

This is Nathan's view out of his crib

inside the baby jail

View from Security Camera #3 

View from Security Camera #1

Want happens if I pull on this...

Our little grabber has discovered his feeding tube. He's pulled it out twice in less than 48 hours and I'm not even sure how he does so without hurting himself. He pulls it with the ball of water intact and with 5 mls of water in it. He doesn't cry, doesn't seem to be bothered by it. How is that even possible? Oh yeah like I need another thing to worry about....
When the Stoma nurse ( that's what I call her) told me that if the mic-key button ever came out I needed to get the button back in right away,not to wait because after an hour or so it will start to close up. I remember thinking okay but I probably have more time than that. Well she wasn't kidding!!!

The first time Nathan pulled his button out was at daycare. Tanya called me right away but I was on the road and didn't get the message until 20 minutes after she called. I left work immediately (knowing that this was time sensitive) and by the time I got to Nathan's daycare his stoma was almost closed ( It's a 30 minute drive to daycare from work) . Only 50 minutes and the stoma was already closing, luckily I was able to get it back in. Can you believe that! I was shocked!
Over the weekend, Nathan did it again, this time we added an extra 1ml of water to the ball. So far so good but man does he keep us on our toes. He is after all the Little Grabber.

Grandpa is sick

Over the past few years we have had some difficult times. Many of those times surrounded Nathan's health and we pulled through it but tonight it's a different struggle for our family. My father-in-law Doug (aka Sean's dad), has struggled with his health since Mary ( Sean's mom) was admitted to hospital a few years ago. She suffers from dimensia and it is quite advanced. In 2007, Sean and I made a trip to Edmonton Alberta with the kids to see her but it was impossible to carry on a conversation with her. She did not know who I was and when she saw the kids she simply stated that she always wanted to be a grandma, not realizing these were her grandchildren. It was so sad.
Shortly after her admittance, Sean's dad suffered a heart attack. He recovered and was doing well until about two or three months ago. Suddenly he started having pains in his mouth. I don't have a lot of detail at the moment but the short of it all is that there is a growth on his tongue. They have removed it and now we wait for the outcome of test. He is currently in the hospital and until yesterday had a nasal gastric feeding tube ( tube through the nose to his stomach) because he cannot eat orally. Tonight we found out that the nasal gastric tube did not work and so apparently he now has one directly in his stomach and that seems to be working. I'm thinking a mic-key like Nathans? REALLY? Doesn't that seem drastic? Why wouldn't they give him fluids through an IV. Sean and I both feel that this may be more serious than we thought. We don't expect him to get out of the hospital anytime soon. I suspect that Sean will be heading out to Edmonton sometime soon.
I'm emotinally drained. I've had so much on my mind lately. I'm trying to sort out through so many different issues, some of which are and have been sitting on a back burner for quite sometime. Sometimes I really wonder just how much crap does one have to go through?

Wordless Wednesday

Where have I been?

Hi everyone. I have missed blogging and have a huge amount of blogs to catch up on. So much has happened and I feel like I just don't get the chance to sit and blog and read up on how everyone has been doing. There really isn't enough time in a day...

In mid January, my brother Patrick came to visit us all the way from England. He stayed with us for three months and it was a wonderful visit. After two years, it was a long overdue visit. Alyssa and Nathan really enjoyed having their Uncle Pat around and we miss him now that he has gone back home to England. We did lots while he was here, we went whale watching and saw a couple of Orca's, we did some hiking at Mystic beach, did regular tourist things but most importantly had a wonderful time and caught up on some much needed laughs. I miss you Peppermint (for those of you who don't know that was my nickname for Patrick when we were kids)

In March, we purchased our house. Four years ago, Sean and I bought this big 5 bedroom house with a friend ( A way to get into the real estate market). We talked about buying the house now because the interest rates are so low and it's a good time to refinance at a lower rate. Our friends ended up buying their own house and will be moving out on April 25th ( They are pretty excited about their new place) and we are excited about owning and using the entire house.... On that note, we have decided to have international students stay with us. We have two extra bedrooms downstairs and thought we should try it. Both Sean and I love the idea of meeting students from around the world and learning about their cultures and languages. We talked about it and thought we should try it out. Things happened quickly and we welcomed Namsoo to our home today. Namsoo has come to study English and is from South Korea and will be living with us for about four months.

Alyssa has been doing well. She continues to enjoy her preschool and is very excited about starting Kindergarden next year. She had lots of fun with her Uncle and has been asking about him and Louise. It's time for us to sign her up for some extra curricular activities. She's been asking about ballet and swimming.
Alyssa had a follow up appointment with an allergist today. they have confirmed that she is still allergic to peanuts and also has an allergy to grass. A few times now, we've noticed significant puffy, itchy eyes and we couldn't figure it out. Poor thing, summertime will prove to be challenging at times. We will have Benadryl on hand and will continue to monitor any reactions she has.

Nathan continues to have his OT and Speech therapies weekly. He's progressing well and seems to enjoy the sessions. He's a busy boy. I can't keep up with him and he's so fast. We were at the mall the other day and he runs.. It's a game to him, he laughs and just runs as fast as he can. He's been much more frequent at calling me by name too "mum' mum" Usually after i exit the room or if daddy gets up with him in the morning he'll call for me. I won't lie.. I think it's pretty awesome and I lOVE it.

there's so much that's happened over the past few months.. Things will settle a bit here in a few weeks and I'll get back into the swing of things. I've missed you all and I can't wait to read up on what you've all been up to.

Nathan's turn