So normal

Apologies...life has gotten so much more normal, including irregular blogging. We are in a groove with diabetes, within our normal schedule anyway. I'm sure when we have a playdate or dinner out etc things we be hard for a moment.
Sam is doing amazingly. She's gotten her silly back in the past few weeks...I think we hadn't noticed that it had been missing for a while. Katie is being an awesome big sister...helping out Sam when needed...getting toys, distracting with fun...they are playing so so well lately for the most part, including as I type this. As evidence, I present the picture below, with their "playdough machines".

This girls got their swimsuits on while I was out shoveling snow on Sunday and played "beach". Such wonderful imaginations.

It snowed more on one day this weekend than it has the whole winter. Cold but not too cold. It's really quite bright and beautiful...it helps knowing that it won't last too long...according to both the forecast and the calendar as we head into march already this week.

We are well...special thanks to the cards and thoughtful phone calls we received after word got out about Sam. I think feeling the love family and friends definitely has helped us get through this time.

Talk soon!

Happy Birthday Sam!

Happy Birthday Sam!
Today you turn three.  You are such a big girl now!  You have been super strong these past few days and most of the blog doesn't even know why.  (this has nothing to do with my lack of blogging...this is pure laziness, dishes, reading and knitting.  Sorry about that!)

We took you to the hospital emergency room on Sunday evening. You'd been feeling sick all weekend...sick like napping on and off all day and really really tired.  And you'd been drinking a ton of water (over the past two weeks) and peeing a lot...while i thought you were doing an exceptional job of keeping hydrated, we know know that you were starting to show us signs that you have diabetes.  Auntie Gail helped us see on Sunday evening that we had to take you to see a Dr. and i'm eternally grateful because she may well have saved your life...with one prick of a finger, you were diagnosed, given awesome care and now our lives will be a little different forever.

Your dad and I cried a lot while you were recovering, hooked up to tubes of saline and insulin and sleeping.  It hurt so much to think that you were so sick.  As soon as your sugars and other levels got a bit better the next morning and you could have actual food and water again...we knew everything was going to be ok.  You were quietly smiling and talking that Monday evening, the very next day from when we brought you in.  We got to take you home almost 24 hours after we came in...pretty amazing.

We were at education sessions today (and the rest of the week) and Gram and Papa and Gram and Grandpa and Auntie Andrea were there too, all learning about how we can help you be the best Sam you can be with the help of insulin and controlled diet.  Katie, who missed you sooo much and cried because she was sad, was with GG Lill (and had stayed over the night before at Gram and Papa's and the night before that Gram Cheryl had stayed over at our house with her).  I'm overwhelmed with information but also grateful...

Grateful for:

The love of our family and friends,

the knowledge and skills that we all bring to the table (biology, math, coping, positivity, creativity, organization etc),

our already strong focus on healthy eating that may make these nutrition changes for our diet a little less difficult and the opportunity to learn even more about healthy eating,

the digital scale that I bought with Christmas money,

realizing now now we dont have to find a place in the cupboard for the scale because it will live on the counter,

the health care system...we have dietitians, nutritionists, social workers and doctors all working hard long hours for us so that we can become diabetes experts ourselves,

and probably many other things that i just don't know about yet. 

Sam...this will all become normal soon.  You will still be you...feisty, outspoken, funny, friendly, kind and polite (you're probably about the only 3 yr old who the nurses have heard say "no thank you" when they were coming at her with a needle)(true, it was kind of screamed/yelled through tears, but very polite)

I wish I had more time and brain power to write more about the other amazing things you have been doing as you grow lately, but I'm exhausted and still have to get meals and things ready for tomorrows session.  I'll make sure to bring lots of activities since Katie is coming tomorrow too and I'm sure you'll want to colour, play dolls or stickers together.  

We can't believe you are already three...be happy, the dietitians said they can work the Strawberry Shortcake ice cream cake into your meal plan for your birthday party on Saturday.  Wouldn't be a birthday without cake.  =)

We love you!

Christmas and Happy New Year

Happy 2012!
We have had a lovely holiday so far. Christmas was great, especially not getting sick like last year (remember...Ben and I were throwing up?). We saw lots of family, had some lovely food, and the girls especially received many thoughtful gifts.

Santa brought them a rather large doll house. Taller than both the girls! I suppose he figures this way they can grow with it a bit.

This is the girls opening the box for the dollhouse, which had a note on it telling them to go downstairs after they opened the box. Katie refused at first, saying she'd rather play with her new stamping set.

The girls also received from Gram and Grandpa and Ben and I some Rapunzel dolls and from other friends some Strawberry Shortcake dolls, so I think this house will get lots of play time.

Santa assembled the dollhouse for us and had it ready to go downstairs. Smart guy.

The girls watching TV with the new blanket Gram Mary made for Katie. It's such a warm fleece that Ben and I love it for tv watching too!

We went to G Auntie Gail's for Xmas day dinner. Katie and Sam were a little shy (actually a bit of a theme this season...) but warmed up a bit come present time. Katie is wearing one of the headbands the girls got from auntie Alli in their advent calendar...you should all know that I steal them every chance I get because they are so adorable. And if you want to give me...ahem...I mean, my kids... more cute headbands, feel free to do so.

We've definitely enter the land of dolls but also maybe board games...we got the Candyland game as a gift and it's fun! So great to play a real game with the kids. Katie is definitely a little more into following the rules, but will still bend them when she gets bored. Sam doesn't really care about the rules much. She wanted to stay on the sticky "miss a turn" spot for about half the game.

I found time to bake (of course!) and Ben requested cinnamon buns. They were delicious, I didn't do the cream cheese icing since it's not Ben's favorite but found a simple brown sugar caramel icing instead. I only iced some of them in case the icing wasn't great, but not to worry it was good. Yum. We froze a bunch so we wouldn't eat them all at once.

Last Friday we went to a park for a sledding party with friends. The weather was pretty good (as in, not too cold) and there was some snow (which, I imagine by now might have melted some as it was 12 above zero yesterday!). The girls had lots of fun. I brought some hot chocolate and we all got some rosey cheeks. The sun started to peek out just as we were leaving to go to our friends house for lunch (Jon, Shelley and their kids L and E...it was a full house with lots of friends!).

Hope you are enjoying the few days left of holidays. This week has been great with Ben still being home and we have been doing some more relaxing and normal activites...a few small playdates and catching up on laundry etc. Sam's potty training is awesome and she hasn't worn a diaper since the Tuesday before Xmas (except at night). We don't have big messes to clean up any more but we are sure going through a ton of laundry...wet undies mostly. Usually just a bit wet and definitely making progress every day. Exciting! I can't believe how much less garbage we are making without the diapers. Big milestone for our (second) big girl! :)

It's all about timing...

Christmas is almost here...I can't believe how fast it has come this year. We had a warm fall and late snow which I think tricked me into thinking it was farther away. The girls had a My Little Pony advent calendar (as well as a chocolate one and one with pictures) that they love, and every morning, as the numbers got higher, my disbelief just increased. Crazy.

We did eventually get some snow, and the girls actually love shoveling it! They got these cute shovels from my parents neighbour who moved this fall.

We've been having quite a few nice playdates with our friend W and his new baby sister N (now our Goddaughter!). Colouring at southgate is lots of fun. And the moms get coffee. Yay!

We had a fun snow evening with one of our first real snows. The girls had a blast riding the sled and making snow angels and playing in the snow. The sled (which I was using to pull the girls across the field from where we park at school) has since gone missing. I don't know how that could happen but we really cannot find it.

I tried making caramel apple for the girls. They loved it, but I have decided that it's actually a lot of caramel for them to eat in one sitting and probably won't do it again for a few years.

We went sledding once right after Ben got home from work and it was just getting dark and chilly so we didn't stay long. The girls had fun and got nice and tired!

We have managed to do quite a few Christmas activities this year, so I really don't know how I didn't see it coming! We painted ornaments (a great little kit from Costco) with W. I have to tell you, when the box says "washable but may stain some clothing". That really means "if you scub for an hour the paint might wash off hands and probably won't ever come out of clothes or the dishes you use to wash the paintbrushes in between colours even though it wasn't really used to wash brushes but to make paint soup".

We went to the Festival of Trees which was so much fun...the girls were really excited and loved the trees, the fake presents, the hot chocolate, writing letters to Santa (we got the cutest replies last week! Personalized letters! Thank you Canada Post).

We went to grandpa Ken's staff family Christmas party. Super fun...there were Christmas crafts, a petting zoo, santa and a bouncy castle. This is the first year in a long time that we managed to get a Santa photo...the girls have been too scared previously. It was amazing how un-scared they were this year! I love it!

Katie had some fun with math. It says 1+1 2+2 etc...from a song by They Might Be Giants, the girls know, one plus one is two, two plus two is four etc... Cute. Excuse the terrible red eye.

We went to the museum with friends C and G (who's not quite a baby any more!) and the girls went fishing in a canoe. I got in earlier too and C said she was taking me to South Carolina. Interesting. :). We will be going back more since I bought a year pass. So cheap! 35$ for a whole year!

We decorated our Christmas tree and the girls were SOOOO excited.

One day I was trying to get some things done, probably baking or cleaning or dinner or something like that, so I built the girls a reading fort. The fitted sheet sure did the trick! And a lamp to light it up so they could read.

I'm going to try and finish up quickly since Sam and I have to pick Katie up from school in a few minutes.

About timing...Sam decided to start peeing in the potty and toilet recently. I'm not ally pleased about the timing but I'll admit I encouraged her by bringing out the little potty...I'd heard our younger friend D is trained and I got envious. Jealousy has brought it's karma on me though ( if that makes any sense) because we are now dealing with Christmas prep as well as tripling our laundry and cleaning pee off the floor. She's has some awesome success but still some not and I had somehow completely forgotten what a pain it is. I'm happy that we are getting the though and our new year will be great I think.

Hope this has gotten us mostly caught up. Look forward to seeing you more in the near future. Merry Christmas is I don't talk to you before then!

Have I mentioned how much Sam is growing? She's talking up a storm (Katie can't even seem to get a word in edgewise!) and pretending as much as Jillian Jiggs.

Her colouring is improving too...Katie is exceptional and it appears that we have 2 artists in the family with strong fine motor skills. Sam coloured this page this evening...she does a great job of staying in the lines for her age (2.75 yrs to be accurate).

We also had a big moment yesterday when we weighed her and she's JUST enough of 40 pounds to make it into booster seat territory. Which makes things soo much easier with winter snow suits and everything.

Yay for big girls!

Some super quick photos because I know I am behind in sharing with you!

At the playground, Sam in hat I knit. I've been a hat knitting monster this ever since I realized it was going to get cold. (and snowy, but only as of just yesterday!)

Katie and I at the playground. We rode our bikes as it was so nice and "warm".

The girls shaking their pigtails, us making chai tea, which we do a lot now, and some messy baking...the mess is one reason why I wasn't baking with the girls for a while. I'm taking a deep breath, letting go and we've been baking a bit more lately. Making two batches so that they each have a bowl to mix helps.

We bought letter cookie cutters for super fun cookies!

Pumpkin carving and princess dresses for Halloween! This is the best pic I got of the girls in costume. Princess with wings is apparently the costume "Du Jour" at preschool as all but maybe one girl was dressed as this. The girls went trick or treating with dad in Gram and Grandpa's neighborhood and had a lot of fun. I stayed home to hand out candy to the THREE kids that came to our house. Disappointing. Guess I should stop buying candy at Costco!

Sam and I went to a YMCA indoor playground (tis the season!) with friends Steph and W and new baby N. Sam thought she was super clever when she took off her pants and stuck them in the playhouse mailbox. She is so funny these days.

These two photos were taken at our nearby playground. We decided to go right before dinner one sunny afternoon. Beautiful day. Katie's wearing another new hat (though it is an exact replica of one I made her a couple of years ago). Sam is or course, wearing our favorite hat...an oldie but a goodie. The girls love playing on the teeter totter. Katie, being bigger, does make Sam bounce a bit at the top, so I stay close by, but they see, to have reached an age where Sam can handle a bounce and Katie has an idea of how hard to bounce her.

I'm not going back to edit this as the girls are bugging me for a snack. Just had to post something and I must be physically incapable or sharing just one photo or not commenting in depth or something. More to come, as I mentioned, we have finally had some snow and dad and the girls had a blast shoveling and making snow angels and sledding in the back yard and I have pictures to prove it. (though not good ones since it was dark).

Talk to you soon!