Logan's surgery

In the emotional roller-coaster ride that is the life of a CHEO parent, Logan's surgery has been postponed because the ICU is full... Surgery will be rescheduled for some time in August. This may sound like good news to some of you, but it isn't. It's devastating. You spend so much time preparing yourself for this day and to have to start all over is overwhelming and so disappointing. 

NICU Buddy Logan

Please take a look at this family and keep them in your thoughts today.  They need all the prayers and positive thoughts they can get as Logan takes that too familiar trip back into the operating room.  Logan has Tretalogy of Fallot, which gave him a special heart.  A heart that needs extra help from some amazing people at CHEO.  His parents are some of the strongest people I know and I can't say enough wonderful things about them.  Logan and Caelan became buddies in the NICU, born only a couple of days apart.  I'm so happy that we've remained friends and I love watching our boys together!!  Can't wait for Logan's fast recovery -- hopefully by the book this time since Logan has a history of doing things his own way, kind of like Caelan.  No wonder they get along so well!  Sending hugs and kisses your way Logan, Heather and Graham.

hair, hair, everywhere!!

ambushed while brushing his teeth!



ugh




 

Note:  He is going to be so unimpressed that this made a post!!  Talk about mugshots! LOL! xo

Happy Birthday Ryland!!

Oh my beautiful Ryland, my first born.

I remember holding you in my arms for the first time.

I remember wondering how I could love something so small so much.

I remember dreaming about the person you would become.

I want you to know that I am so proud of you & all of your ten years.

You amaze me regularly.  You are your own person. 

You are intelligent, compassionate, and kind. 

I love you more every day. xo

first pro haircut

tease



hmmm... wonder what this could mean??



Silly kids

I was out one night last week and Damian had the pleasure of putting all the kids to bed by himself.  I've been asking him to write this out for me ever since...

Baths were done and everyone had their jammies on.  Things were calm.  Ry read Darcy a chapter of Harry Potter for her bedtime story.  She tucked her in and headed back down the hall to her own room.

That's when the crazies came out.  Darcy came barelling down the hall like a wild monkey and tackled her sister into her room.  This was followed by a whole bunch of hooting, hollering, and giggling, the volume of which just kept increasing.

That's when Damian had to become all "mean-yelly-Daddy" rushing into Ry's room trying to regain control of the craziness that had so suddenly taken over.

And right on his heals, was Caelan yelling and pointing and signing at those girls to GET TO BED!!

Damian had to turn to him and tell him to "stop yelling!  I get to do the yelling around here!"

and he did.

Top Ten Tuesday - to do

I can't believe that summer is pretty much here and these things are still on our "to do" list.  I feel like they've been on the list forever!  Actually some of them have been there for over two years... and that kind of feels like forever. 

Obviously, getting things done with Caelan around takes more planning and organizing, more time and hands too! 

So, here they are, those items that have been haunting us, those that are forever hanging over our heads, those that will feel so good when we can cross them off!  Unfortunately, by that time there will be another project just waiting to take it's place!

1. finish painting the closet and trim in the front entrance
2. stain quarter round trim in kitchen
3. finish taking wall paper down in hall alcove
4. paint the hallway
5. paint front and back doors
6. fix eavestrough
7. fill in baseboards
8. fix doorknobs
9. put pictures in frames that were bought before we moved
10. replace flooring in basement hallway

Ugh.  I thought it was bad when it was in my head.  It's worse when I see it in writing.

garden update

PUMPKIN!

left to right; peppers, spinach, green onions, lettuce, zucchini
and pumpkins in front

left to right; tomatoes, beans, peas and
then same peppers ,spinach and beets

So far our harvest has included two yellow beans... although the lettuce and spinach look ready to eat!

happy daddy day!

To all the special Dad's in my life, xoxo.  Love you all!

taken this morning by the pool

Happy Father's Day, love Darcy

I love cheese

I love chocolate

I love you

but sometimes chocolate more!

summer days

We can only hope that all our weekends this summer are as beautiful as yesterday!

more pics

Ryland has obviously overheard me giving her Father trouble for not taking ANY pictures, EVER!!!
In her attempt to save her Father from further grief she's been picking up the camera more often.  These are some that she snapped the other day.  I absolutely LOVE them!  Caelan's expressions are priceless!

OK I'll stop there... but I could keep going!

Found on my pillow...

opinion

I think I might really like this picture...

Is it cool and artsy or just dark and fuzzy?

Walk for Miracles II

I love these moments between Cami and Caelan...

I love when Caelan takes Cami's hand, melts my heart every time.

Walk for Miracles

It rained on our drive in. 

The skies still looked threatening. 

This wasn't looking good. 

We were worried.

Our team, CHEO TRIO, met up at our designated spot. 

Those of us who wanted another shirt got one. 

It was weird to be there missing one third of our TRIO. 

Logan and his parent's absence was felt ever step of the way.

Their reason for not participating this year was more than valid.

Logan goes in for another heart surgery at the end of the month.

The risks of catching anything in such a large crowd is too high.

We've been there.  We get that.  We still missed them.



Caelan, Mom, Darcy, Ryland, Dad, Nurse Jenn and her daughter Alison



Bert, Jim, Campbell, Joanna, and Lynda



We paused for pictures.

The sun came out.

The view made you hurry.

The dark skies were looming.

This is what we were looking at while getting our picture taken.

We crossed the finish line.

We ate our fill of hot dogs.

The girls had their faces painted.

And still had energy for the bouncy castle

What a success!

Our team raised over $1700 for CHEO.

We all headed home.

Until next year.

THANK YOU!!!

Saturday morning

Well the day didn't start off great with pesky mosquitos interrupting my sleep-in morning, but I've managed to turn things around...  The beautiful sun shining sure helps!

The girls have painted the inside of their playhouse in the backyard and managed to get paint all over themselves in the process.  They've just had a shower and have successfully scrubbed themselves clean.  I'm afraid to go look at the bathroom now.

I cleaned out the car and then began vacuuming it out.  Caelan had a blast sitting in the car like a big boy while I vacuumed around him.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to finish since Damian left with the car to go to martial arts.  I'm hoping to continue where I left off once he returns... maybe without Caelan's help things might go much faster!

When Damian left with the car Caelan, Darcy and I took a wee walk.  Actually Caelan 'drove' his ice cream truck the whole time, those little legs were just a pumping.  We didn't go too far because I was worried about having to carry both Caelan and the truck home if he got tuckered out!!  He did great though.

Now we're back inside for Caelan's lunch time milk and I think I'm going to make some blueberry bran muffins...

Good start to a productive day, feels good!!

Quickie

work has become work again -- new hires start on Monday

Caelan is handling this crazy heat amazingly well  -- little trooper

on Wednesday I had my first lunch hour ASL lesson -- ugh

Auntie Vicky came for dinner last night -- should do that more

had lunch with CHEO TRIO Moms today -- so good for us

Walmart Walk for Miracles is Sunday -- have you donated?

Top Ten Tuesday - weekend

We had a great weekend and here are ten reasons why it was fabulous.

1. I read an entire book - talk about lazy and staying up too late, but I can't remember the last time I did it and I sooooo enjoyed it! It's the second book in a series I've started that reminds me of Twilight; teenagers, supernaturals, young love, battling all the evils of the world... nothing heavy, just total fluff!
2. Went to visit some great friends. We're committed to getting together more often this year and that's a good thing! We always share tons of laughs when we get together and this visit was no exception.
3. Said friends make the most amazing potato salad... it's truly the best in the world and I was thrilled when B made it for our visit!!
4. I got to bring the leftover potato salad home. Yes, this is most definitely a highlight of the weekend... you just wouldn't understand if you've never tasted this potato salad!!
5. Baking. I baked lots this weekend and enjoyed it. I even cleaned as I cooked which makes me even happier as there was no gigantic mess when I was done. I made a Boston Cream Cake (which I wasn't impressed with), double batch of chocolate chip cookies, lemon loaf, blueberry lemon loaf, and two cantaloupe loaves with a praline glaze. Most of it's in the freezer now.
6. Best part of making chocolate chip cookies is getting to eat one fresh out of the oven while it's still warm. Yummmmm
7. We had a family fun movie night and watched Princess and the Frog.  Love that movie!
8. Took the fam out for a long walk, almost 5k. Actually, the girls biked and Caelan relaxed in the stroller, but Damian and I walked. It was hot. It felt really good. Except for the horse flies that were attacking us.
9. Weatherman got the forecast so fantastically wrong. No rain or thunderstorms as predicted!
10. Relaxing out on the deck in the shelter of mosquito netting enjoying my family and beautiful warm weather. oh and there might have been a nice glass of something cold and refreshing there too...

I think that about sums it up! 

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend too!

Busy Boys

I got some quick kisses from my boys today when they stopped by my office to pick up Caelan's health card. I've been meaning to hand over all the kids' health cards to Damian since he started staying home. I just I keep forgetting. So of course, today, when Caelan has a doctor's appointment with his regular pediatrician, we realize that I still hadn't done that. Oh well, what a great way to break up the day!

This morning Caelan had occupational therapy with Julie. I asked Caelan what they did and he wouldn't tell me anything. He told me to "go work". Eventually I got "elephant" out of him. (I think Daddy was doing some prompting behind me.) Can't even imagine what they were doing with elephants. Work disguised as play. It's usually fun times at OT. I later found out that they worked on mimicking and did some oral stimulation.  Apparently, the elephants were walking up to a watering hole of blue jello to refresh themselves and Caelan was encouraged to do the same. He wasn't having any of that though.

Caelan was also measured for a special table and chair for him to sit and play at. They have volunteers that will build it to spec for the cost of materials. Not sure when it will be ready but Caelan loves to sit at "his table" at OT so I'm anxious to have one at home for him.

Immediately afterwards he had speech language with Liz. They pretended to feed, bathe and dress a doll. They played house and tea party. They sang songs and read books. As a grand finale he got to play with Thomas the Tank. Through all of this he is encouraged and prompted to sign and even try to vocalize.

An exhausting morning for my little guy. That's a lot of hard work all that playing. Explains why he was so sleepy in the warm van when they stopped by the office. It was after these two appointments that they had time to come pick up the health card and run some errands before heading to the pediatrician's office. It was just a routine doctor's appointment. Everything is good, no concerns. Caelan's stats are:

weight 33lbs
height 35"

I have to say that he feels a lot heavier than that!!

weekend

For a weekend that was supposed to be full of rain and thunderstorms, it turned out awfully sunny!

Gotta love when the weatherman get's it wrong!!

CHEO Telethon weekend

On Friday the girls school had a "Support CHEO Day" in anticipation of the telethon this weekend.

Did you donate?