Good Moments of Summer 2018

Honestly, it wasn't the greatest of summers. 6 full weeks were written off with Leah and I being so sick. I could barely get off the couch for the first 2 weeks and then when I was on antibiotics the 3rd week, it took a while for them to kick in. There was a brief 3 week period where I started to feel ok again then Leah was admitted to the hospital for almost 3 weeks. And bam! Summers over. But these are the good moments:

We made it to our favourite scoops ice cream stand a couple times and this year Logan really stepped out of his vanilla comfort zone and was eating cotton candy!

9 months of no drinking pregnancy followed by 3 weeks of no drinking post partum recovery, I totally earned the real stuff. And sushi of course.

As we did with Logan, we also jumped on the opportunity for a sushi date night a few weeks after Leah was born. Sushi 168 is the best!

Logan went to Nana and Dziadeks but Leah isn't so easy to drop off so she accompanied us. This was my first drink since last October! And I didn't quite drink it all because I was nervous about how much Leah would take in. It was a delicious reminder of how good beer is.

First season of soccer complete! And we only missed one weekend when it rained (the day Leah was born he still went with Nana and Dziadek). He got so much better as the season went on and the last game he even ran with the crowd while they were playing the game! We will definitely be signing him up again next year and I think he'll get it much easier.

We managed to squeeze in a few fires in the backyard! It is the best kind of family time with these 2 in the backyard making spidey dogs and smores.

At this rate of 1 fire every couple weeks, we have enough fire wood in the garage for about 20 years.

This made me so excited! My first walk with Leah once I was feeling ok to be mobile again! This was when Leah was about 3 weeks old. Next up: learning to run again without peeing.

We discovered the gem of the Ilderton farmers market toward the end of soccer season. We scored some locally grown zucchini the size of Logan for $1. And found a local meat farmer located just up the road from us with the best sausages! Plus some clean treats/granola bars. It was small but had everything we needed and the best corn on the cobb.

One Leah was out of the hospital, we were able to make the storybook garden playdate that we had planned at the beginning of the summer with our friends. Leah and Teegan taking in the day from their strollers like little princesses.

Another carousel ride because Logan is always up for riding the horses!

And a picnic in Springbank to follow with all Logans friends. Logan pretty much just stuck the the trusty ol' PB and J but there were lots of goodies. We have recently really taken to the convenience of store bought with the 2 busy kiddos so a little pit stop on the way to Storybook for cheese, crackers and veggies worked perfect. And also the adult beverage store because why not.
















Logan has been on tons of rides (disney, centreville) but he still has all the enthusiasm in the world for this train ride in Springbank!

Our Huge Logan's 3rd Birthday!

We knew months in advance that Logan was going to have a train birthday. He was looking forward to it for weeks!

Logans birthday party was Sat the 15th and I ordered the train themed invitations well in advance and started some online shopping to get the decorations. Logan wanted to open this little train for the cake so badly before his birthday and it was the first thing he played with whe he got his cake with the trains!

Logans train cake made with love... kit kats for tracks!

To go with the train theme: train whistles and red scarves (and handy little stickers from vistaprint).

Because there are so many little people (and big people) who came to Logan's party, we needed more cake than his train cake, so cupcakes too! I was in a huge hurry when I was drawing the track in icing... but you get the idea!

The little trains and sticks and most decorations I found on trainparty.com... thats actually a thing and made it so easy. Except that I accidentally spent $100 on decorations. Surprise! That final price was American!

How to start a party right: demolish a bag of cheetos. Way to live it up Birthday boy.

My boy is 3! He is such a smart little boy and impresses us everyday. He knows and understands way more than we give him credit for and his fine motor skills are amazing. He loves to build... mega blocks, building his train tracks, connecting sticks, wooden blocks. He isn't so int colouring and crafts. His favourite things to play with are trains on his track and his little cars and car carrier where he makes traffic jams that we step on all over the house (one of his spots is on the kitchen floor right by the sink).

His conversational skills are totally developed. He is still working on telling us about his day (apparently at daycare he does "nothing" and eats "nothing") but otherwise he is a talking machine! Some of his words are hard to understand for other people. I love how he calls a diper a "dipe-oh".

He is doing well with potty training and has gone many days all day with underwear. He hates poos in the potty.

We are so proud of our 3 year old! (we say this to him often and sometimes he tells us he is proud of us too).

I also made train sugar cookies. They tasted like Christmas cookies.. it was great.

Logan's birthday party spread. I am always trying to come up with fast, easy preparation and something that goes on the table and I dont have to cook/prepare the day of. So I did tacos. We ate taco salad for like 3 days and I am currently on a taco break. We also had some veggies, a couple costco salads, 7 layer dips and tostitos and Lorraine made her spinach pastries and an awesome quinoa salad! As you can tell there were leftovers.

Singing happy birthday with some of his buds.

We like to host parties when its 30 degrees or hotter outside so we had the bring the troops inside for the rest of the party so they didnt overheat (toddlers never remember to drink their water... play is too important).

This kid cleaned up on his birthday in all categories of his favourites: trains, trucks, paw patrol, and playdough.

And not to mention his new big boy bike!! Streamers included. Now he has both a balance bike and pedal big boy bike so hopefully he will be riding a 2 wheeler quick!

Logans birthday morning: We had a big special day of going to the Western fair planned for him! He started with opening his presents from Mommy, Daddy and Leah: some tinker toys and a garbage truck (He actually talked about a garbage truck at his daycare for weeks so I figured this would be a win).

First stop before the fair: Mcdonalds for some pancakes and play place play!

Within the first 10 minutes of being at the fair Logan already had a little bear and a unicorn. We played the water squirting target game and although he didnt win, he got the bear and the lady who won gave him the unicorn for being the cutest birthday boy.

He sure loves his rides. He wanted to go on everything. Especially the fast ones... just like centreville! We started with tickets and then had to buy all day passes so he could go on more (and poof! there goes $110... the fair is crazy pricey!)

The birthday boy living large having his ice cream fed to him. He may be particular with his food but ice cream and popcorn were for the win!

This little lady slept pretty much the whole time. It was super hot outside so after a couple hours, we needed to get inside to take a break and feed Miss Leah so she wasn't dehydrated!

Family picture after all 4 of us rode the ferris wheel! It may have been a bit windy and fast for Leah but we all made it out ok!

Logan's favourite giant slides... we rode these 3 times back to back. I agree with Logan; these ones are pretty fun!

And after a lot of rides, some popcorn and ice cream, we decided to call it a day since Logan was getting dopey tired (he has recently decided that 5am is morning... its great) and we were hopeful for a nap. On the way out, Logan wanted to play the duck game (which consists of picking up a duck and no more). We traded in his prize that he won from other games and got a Ruble! I learned that you can upgrade each time you win with a trade in.

This sleepy guy fell asleep in the car (despite a little crier right beside him) and then was placed on the couch and stayed like this. A little late afternoon birthday siesta for a full birthday! We were also going to do a fire but the day was so busy that Logan (and us) needed a chill night in.

Boat Weekend

We went up to the boat on Saturday August 18th with the kids. It was quite the modified boat weekend for several reasons: we usually do 2 nights but we did 1, we booked a hotel because there was no way we would be able to squeeze our big fam into the tiny sleeping quarters and also baby girl wakes up usually twice a night which would be tricky with not waking everyone else up and also figuring out where to feed and change her in the middle of the night. Another big change is I can drink only minimal small amounts of alcohol because of breastfeeding!

 We left around 8am for the over 2 hour drive and just stopped once for a feed and break. We got to the boat right around lunch time (and took the 407 because I'd do anything to keep the kids happy) and had some lunch on the boat!

 As we were arriving, I could see that they were setting up jumpy castles and Paul inquired and it was boaters appreciation day! Score for Logan... he got to bounce on the castle, go through the obstacle course, eat creamsicles and even got a loot bag to take home (which they threw together for him even though we didnt sign up!)

 After lunch and some bouncy castle fun, we headed our for a sail in the afternoon! The wind was perfect. Not too windy that we were healed over but just enough to push us along for a little hour long sail.

Leah's first sail... she slept through it. I started to see that her colour was a bit whiter with blue around her eyes so we tunred around and caught a bouy in the water to go for a swim!

 This was he first year that Logan loved his sailboat experience! The last 2 years he couldn't wait for it to be done but he was Mr. Curious this year! His fave part was all the ropes (which Paul insists are lines... even to the 3 year old)

 I remembered just a couple days before that we needed life jackets for both munchkins because Logan's from the .ash 2 years was too small for hi, but too big for Leah! So almost $200 later our kids were ready and safe for the sail.

Swim stop! Logan was so excited to climb down the ladder and swim with Daddy!

We had to hurry back because feeds dictate life! Leah's glorious life of boat feeds....

And shortly after we got back, we started getting ready for supper! Some good ol hamburgers, corn and broccoli salad. I love this spot for meals! Leah slept in Aleksys arms while Logan played with his trucks and the rocks (and was so into it that he didn't want to eat).

This is the fam picture you get when you ask the lady who's been drinking on the boat all day to take your picture ( the others people were cut off so this was best!).

We headed to the hotel shortly after supper and the kids had baths/showers and then bedtime! Logan got a little inflatable pool in his goody bag which we made Leah's make shift bath because I wanted to get the sunscreen off her.

The hotel we stayed at had a suite room which was awesome for separation of the kids so Logan could fall asleep easily and not wake up in the middle of the night when Leah feeds! And of course had breakfast in the morning.

That's Leah living her best hotel life. After breakfast, we grabbed coffees and some chicken for lunch and headed back to the boat. We had some early lunch on the boat and then headed to Bee's for a quick visit! And then Logan was getting antsy so we headed home around 1pm so he could have his car nap!

Little Leah's Road to Recovery

It has been a long week of hospitaling. Last Monday the 20th, I felt that Leah was warm and took her temperature which was 38 at home. Since I also noticed her to be warm on the Friday before, we made arrangements to go to the hospital that night because we knew she was at risk of infection with her kidney issues.

That same night in emergency, Leah's had her urine screened through a catheter, had blood tested and a spinal fluid test as well to see if there was infection in her blood and brain. We learned quickly that there was cultures/bacteria in her urine a nd she had an infection so she was given an IV in emerg to get the antibiotics in her. We were later met with the pediatrician from the 6th floor who said Leah would be admitted and would need IV antibiotics as we awaiting e results of the tests from the lab.

The first 5 days were really hard as Leah was taking the antibiotics and one of which she did not react well to and her levels were not going down significantly. Leah had an ultrasound on the Thursday and they found that there was a significant amount of puss (medical people call this debris) and her body would be unable to absorb the antibiotic and fight the infection with this in her urinary tract. It was after this ultrasound that they put a catheter on my baby and the Friday she was brought in for emergency surgery to remove he blockage from her grater to bladder so she could begin to fight the infection.

It was after the surgery that everything started noticeably getting better! Her persistent fevers have stopped, we watched lots of the puss in her kidney and ureters come out through her pee in her catheter and she is generally looking much happier these days.

Logan has come to the hospital a few times, gave his sister kissies to help her feel better and loves playing in he backyard Play room here on the pediatrics unit. He is also fond of eating the little peanut butter packs with a spoon... hospital snacking!

 My little lady is so strong. She has had regular blood work done, is on her 4th IV and has been pricked many times to try to get those in, had surgery under an anastethic and has been pumped with medicine. All the while she is smiling more every day and sweet as can be.

So from surgery day, the Drs are saying 14 days of antibiotics/hospital stay. So now 10 more days of sleepless hospital nights and lots of back and forth so Logan gets both his parents.

I am very excited for her to feel better than she ever has since her blockage has been there since I was pregnant. The surgery made us feel much better about recovery (she was scheduled to have surgery anyways but it was expedited with her infection).

Looking forward to some good hometime with the 4 of us together when she's better!

The Fun Stuff of the Long Weekend

We did so many little things this long weekend that it actually felt long! Especially because we made plans on Friday night. Usually Fridays consist of a Wal Mart snack trip and family movie night. Our original plan was to take Logan to Delaware Speedway with a sitter lined up for Leah but then we realized the actual racing started at 7:45pm, which is Logans bedtime and with Leah, we probably wouldnt have ended up home until 10:30-11pm so we decided to cancel (we will try again next year when Logans a bit older and can handle a late night and Leah's bigger too!). So instead of that we decided to go back to Kustermans and go to the play area this time.

The first thing that Logan remembered when we said we were going blueberry picking again was the train ride! Even though it was technically closed, the place was so dead that they let us go on anyways! Plus, Logan got the yellow car.

Last time we got rained out when blueberry picking a couple weeks ago, but this time we had perfect weather. This is exactly how blueberry picking goes: us picking, Logan eating and Leah sleeping. These are the best blueberries.

We grabbed one of their delicious blueberry pies too for our bbq with Steph & Jon on Saturday.

Because evenings are rushed, I thought the best easiest thing to do for supper would be pack sandwiches. Easy and fast!

So we had a little supper picnic before heading into the play area.

It was the best time ever to go. There were no kids... maybe a couple other people out in the massive play area and because of how big it is, we didn't even notice. We had the entire corn pit and everything else to ourselves! If we go back, it will be a Friday after work for sure.

We went to Ilderton twice on Saturday. First, we hit up the Ilderton Farmers market which we discovered the week before for veggies and local meat. The later in the afternoon we went to the Tessa and Scott Moir Thank you parade in Ilderton with Steph, Jon and Rachel!

It was the hottest day ever and a super packed event!

I think I was more excited by Splash and Boots than Tessa and Scott. They have been on my tv on good ol' treehouse way more than the ice skating!




















And this is the huge crowd at the parade and also if you really look close, there's Tessa and Scott in the car there!

And because it was the hottest 45 minutes of parade watching ever, the kids cooled off after in the splash pad. We parked right beside it so why not?

Backyard bbq to follow complete with a fire!

And the next day we decided to re-visit the splash pad this time with a bathing suit so Logan could have more play! He loved it!