The Birthday "Twins"

Here are a couple pictures of proud Opa with the birthday "twins". It was impossible to get them all to smile at the same time and sit still. But we tried! At least Opa is smiling.

Bring on the Sun!

I just love this time of year. Hopefully we get many more sunny days to come!

Kaitlyn is 2!

Just wanted to quickly post a happy birthday to our sweet little girl. Unfortunately Kaitlyn had a rough night last night and is pretty cranky today (my guess is more teeth?) but it is official - we have a 2 year old in the house!

On another note, I'm enjoying being at home and doing regular things. I have been tackling (what is it Yvonne always calls it? Mount Washmore?) the laundry, cleaning the house, and I even baked chocolate chip cookies yesterday. As well, I made a nice dinner trying out a new recipe called Cheesy Stuffed Peppers. They turned out really good and were a bit of work but inexpensive to make. Don't believe me? Here you go!

May Long Weekend

The May long weekend is upon us (already!). Work has been crazy for me lately with plenty of overtime and learning new things. I was supposed to clerk my first jury trial but the accused chose Judge alone the day the trial was to begin. At least I was able to clerk the jury selection which was an interesting experience (and a lot of talking on my part which I was nervous about).

Ryan is loving his job as a security guard and is also working plenty of hours (definitely more than me) and also looking forward to the new process for sheriff training. He has an application in for the August program and they recently announced changes including pre-hiring, no more tuition, and paid training. All good things in our minds!

Monday will be our 7th wedding anniversary. I cannot believe it has been 7 years already! What a crazy 7 years it has been but we have been blessed, especially in the last few years with the arrival of Kaitlyn, being able to be close to family, and the purchase of our first home.

Kaitlyn will be turning 2 two days later, on Wednesday. The last 2 years have definitely flown by and we are constantly amazed by the things that she says and does. She has recently shown a lot of interest in puzzles and is actually quite good at them! She loves to carry around her princess purse and calls it "backpack" (yes, way too much Dora for this girl). She can sing most of the alphabet song and is consantly making up her own words to the same tune.

Today was gorgeous with temperatures of 30 degrees and Ryan was able to get a lot of much needed yard work done and shrubs carried away to the green dump (thanks Jake!). Our yard is still a work in progress with a lot of work that still needs doing.

Next week I am off for the entire week and will hopefully be able to get a lot done around the house and spend some time with Kaitlyn.

Here are a couple new pictures to share:

Thinking of Things...

There are a couple things that have been running through my head lately. Kaitlyn has had a persistent runny nose and dry cough for about 3 months at least. In addition, she has eyes that water daily, sometimes she has tears running down her face, and she's just sitting there. I'm beginning to think we should ask the doctor about a possible milk allergy. Considering both her parents were allergic as toddlers, this might be not a bad thing to check out. It also could explain why she's getting sick quite a bit lately... Any thoughts?

Also, there was a job posting in our area and I think I'm going to apply for it. It's not a lot more money, but would definitely be a good experience to go through the job competition process again, and if I did get it, would add to my diverse yet specialized career in the Ministry. Plus it would mean less overtime and I have the option of working a little bit longer each day but getting every third Monday or Friday off, which is a definite plus. But do I really want to put myself through the disappointment again? Yeah, I do. Call me a sucker ;)

Here are a couple pictures of our silly girl.

First - I was being really lazy this night and told Kaitlyn I wouldn't be giving her a bath. I turned away for about 2 minutes and found this when I returned. I guess she really really wanted a bath. It definitely is interesting and exciting that she understands almost everything now and is sometimes smarter than we give her credit for!



Here is Kaitlyn just being a goof and balancing a pillow on her head. The ways she finds to amuse herself are definitely amusing to us. Another cute thing she does lately is she hardly ever calls me "Mommy" anymore but it's usually "Mom". Guess she thinks she's not a baby anymore?

Our Trip to ER

Kaitlyn has not been feeling well, basically since 2 weeks ago when she had her immunizations. The following day, she puked twice and I was concerned since she had just had her shots. I phoned the Nurse Helpline and the nurse was friendly and helpful and suggested it had nothing to do with her shots, but she probably caught the flu bug - just try to keep her hydrated.

She was fine until the following Monday while at Krista's (our sitter) she got sick again. She was fine again until Wednesday, threw up again. Thursday I brought her in to see Dr. Clarke and that's when we found out about the ear infection and that would explain the dizziness and nausiness. Since being on the amoxicillin, she has thrown up off and on, but never more than once a day and usually not 2 days in a row. Other than that, no fever and acting normally, keeping food down between vomitting spells. Then on Saturday she grew worse. She now had diarrhea, was refusing bottles and juice and threw up in the evening. Sunday morning, she was sick again and I had had enough. I went to emergency and was told there was a 4 hour wait and to head across the street to the walk in clinic which had no wait. The doctor didn't seem concerned about the 2 pound drop in weight but seemed to focus in on her runny nose, and diagnosed her as gagging on mucus from a cold. I told him she had not had a wet diaper yet today and I was concerned. He dismissed my concerns.

I brought her back home and tried to treat her normally as the doctor suggested but with frequent, smaller feeds and drinks. She threw up again and that was it. We went to emergency and waited the now 2 hour wait and saw the doctor. She was diagnosed as dehydrated with probably a stomach flu that she wasn't able to shake because of her dehydration. The doctor left it up to me on whether she should be admitted overnight since her blood tests showed definite dehydration, but suggested we take her home and treat her the same way they would overnight. They weren't too keen on starting an IV until they saw how she tolerated some fluids. She did great! After giving her a prescription anti-nausea medication, we cup fed her 1 oz of apple juice at a time, 10 minutes apart for the next hour and she kept it all down. They then released us with instructions to continue which we have been doing. She slept great last night and for her nap, for the first time in a week or so and seems to be on the mend (hopefully!).

I keep saying, I cannot wait until summer. Hopefully warmer weather will bring better health along with it! I am sick of sickness.

Finally a Post... and another ear infection

I cannot believe it's been 2 months since I've posted. That really is horrible and I do apologize.

Things are moving along here. I've been struck with the flu and am feeling better, 10 pounds lighter (not quite the way to do it but I'll take it anyways!). Tomorrow I go to a Violence Prevention Seminar for work and am the designated driver so Ryan is out there vaccuuming the van as I type.

Kaitlyn woke up 2 mornings ago and I noticed some gross yellow stuff on her crib sheet. I didn't know what it was until she put her finger in her ear, held her finger out to me and said "see" and then I noticed the fluid draining from her ear. After speaking with someone from work, I grew concerned, and made an appointment for her with the doctor. Sure enough, ear infection and the yellow stuff is lovely puss. Gross. The doctor explained she would have a lot less pain with this ear infection compared to past ones since the puss doesn't build up, but drains outwards with the help of the tubes. A good thing I suppose!

Ryan is doing well with his new job as a security guard and they are very anxious to train him on more sites and upgrade his first aid so he'll get a raise and be more of an asset to them. He's definitely making a good impression and still looking forward to getting into the sheriff program, hopefully in August.

Anyways, off to make some dinner!