Sunday, March 24, 2013

Blizzard

(Wrote this on Thursday...didn't get it proofread until today, Sunday, just so you know)

Well hello!  Another long absence.  I was hoping that if I had waited this long to blog, I'd at least have some springish pictures to share, but there was an actual blizzardy snowstorm today.  (and I didn't photograph it...but trust me).  Days are getting longer and that's a joyful thing.  

This photo must be from early February when the girls felt like pretending it was summer.  Wishful thinking for sure.
 This is from Valentine's day.  As much pink and red as possible.  =)  Funny thing I've noticed lately...Katie has not been wearing as many skirts or dresses.  She still wears them but it's not as guaranteed.  She did mention once that they are hard to fit in her snowpants, so I'm not sure it's it's merely a practical winter issue, or a change of style preference altogether.  Time and warmer weather will tell.
 I notice that my last post was about the week Katie got sick.  Well, she recovered slowly due to problems with hydration (next time, more liquids with electrolytes, not just water!).  Sam also was hit with this bug the Friday, a few days later.  Unfortunately, due to the severe nature of dehydration caused by the vomiting, we ended up taking her to the hospital.  Once on Friday night, after her blood sugar wouldn't go up within an hour after the first bout of vomiting and again the next morning, after they sent us home but she continued vomiting.  It was a very long 4 days in hospital and we learned a lot.  Definitely we need to advocate more and trust out gut instinct when it comes to the pump...average doctors and nurses are not familiar.  Sadly, it was a little reminder that while the day to day diabetes stuff is fine, certain situations will be difficult for us.  We heard several comments of surprise that we hadn't been in the hospital in the whole first year of our diagnosis.  We will continue to wash hands often and avoid sick people when possible.  Tough times.  (I can't go into every detail because it's just too long to recount all the issues we had, and as it was a few weeks ago, I'm kind of over it...)

Turns out, the girls are old enough for a little Rummikub...sorting numbers by order and/or colour?  How simple and skill building is that??  Katie has started requesting "games night" every so often after dinner. A worthy reason to skip cleaning the kitchen, don't you think?  (of course, I'd take any excuse!)
 Sam still loves her Dolly.
 Katie had a bear from school for a weekend.  They have a project where every student gets the bear on a weekend and they take pictures of things they do with the bear, and add them as well as draw a picture, to a page in a binder.  At the end of the year, Chocolati (the bear) will have a lovely keepsake book with pictures of all the kids in the class.  Also, Katie has started trying VERY hard not to blink her eyes for photos...I'm not sure if someone said something to her about it, or if it was the result of having to retake her passport photo, but she always asks post photo is her eyes were blinked and we get these really WIDE eyed pictures.
 Katie did some dishes for me.  I post this photo, mainly to demonstrate how crazy tall she is getting!  She just looks longer and leaner every day.
 We decided a few weeks before the kids got sick to try getting The Organic Box, a weekly delivered box of organic vegetables.  I like supporting local (or fair trade) growers and having it delivered is a treat too.  The customer service is great...we get an email on Saturday telling us what's in our Thursday delivery and we have until Tuesday to make substitutions...tired of mushrooms, add more kale!  The girls get excited looking in the box when it comes.  And today, they shared a mushroom, raw, right from the box.  Wow.  =)  By the way, my newest favourite version of Kale Salad, is this one.
 The girls got shirts from Auntie Patty in Australia...she was here the week we were sick, so we missed seeing her.  =(  (see the wide eyes again?)
 In other news...I'm in love with Yogaglo.com...did I tell you that yet?  On line yoga classes for 18$ a month.  Great quality and lots of choice.  It's amazing, fun and challenging if I want it to be, and I'm down a size in my favourite jeans...not like I was trying, but just having the ability to practice at my own convenience...I'm doing more yoga now and it's treating me well.  They have beginner stuff too, and loads of great tutorials, so I'm not sure who you are, reading this, but with a 2 week free trial, it's worth a look.

Katie is a star in school...the latest meet the teacher was great.  Katie has done some amazing work.  The word "perfect" may have been mentioned.  We do have to work on some performance anxiety, but I would say we already knew that, so we just need to think a bit and find ways to encourage her in a low pressure way to deal with new/uncomfortable situations.  Also, she is READING.  Totally is able to sound out words and read.  I would say she's probably been capable for a while, given that Ben and I have had trouble spelling in front of her for a few months.  We are still reading to her mostly, but if 'm busy, I can see her pick up a book and can tell she's reading some of it.  And doing vey well with her French early reader books that come home every week.  This week's book had a great line that had both girls giggling (about a monster who likes honey) "Il aime le miel et les chausettes" (he likes honey and socks)...tons of giggles.

Can I say what a joy it is to raise these two girls?  They are both so smart and funny and kind and imaginative.  The growth I see in them is awesome truly.  I am excited that we are on spring break and get to spend some extra time together next week (Ben has just one more day!).