Out and About!

ACK!....I had the blog all written up and ZAP it was all gone....so here we go again! Actually that reminds me of back when I was in nursing school and I lost a whole 12+ page paper...you'd think that would teach me to click on the save button on a regular basis!....Anyhooo here we are finally on the outside of a house. My elementry school buddy, Lisa Frisken, heads outside everyday with her one year old Rocco so she gave me the extra little push I needed. I figured Alistair would have a melt down being out in the cool fresh air but instead he was so happy he fell asleep for most of the tour. So now every Thursday Lisa and I are going to tour around town with our matching "Bobs" and get some blood flowing up to the brain. I must say its just another step to promote sanity in this incredible life of motherhood. I actually took him out the next day here on the farm and we four by foured through the solid snow pack to the back pond and did a little slide about on the ice..........The stroller is going to be great for the next time Alistair and I head down to Vancouver which is actually towards the end of March. My NICU friend, Jan Louise, gave me the idea to pack a backpack and a stroller the next time we came down as we then can just hop onto the train that zips within blocks of house. Plus she is only a few blocks from the hospital.
Rocco and Alistair snuggled into the strollers!
Fast asleep

This past weekend was a busy one! My cousin Bo got flown up to PG so that he could do a wheelchair basketball demo during half time of the University Basketball team and also to sign some autographs as an Olympian. When the Olympics were in China the mens team, which Bo is on, won silver and they're planning to win gold in London in 2012! To check out more you can hit this link and you'll get taken to the Canadian Men's Wheelchair Basketball website. http://www.wheelchairbasketball.ca/en/content.aspx?id=57 Rick Mercer also did a show with the team last year and it gives you a little taste of the intensity and strength of the members! Click on this to check it out...http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/ID=1236782028..O yes...and he's back again next weekend to carry the torch.So he's a bit of a busy body.....Anyhooo on top of Bo coming up, Valerie and Jackie (more cousins!) came down from Ft St John for soccer and basketball. AND my bud Sandra Whitney and her husband Les came for a visit and she got me out for a ski. So needless to say Saturday night ended up being a great night for a game of Rumoli and a big feast of ribs! Good times!

Daddy getting giggles

Moose Poop

I have no idea why I can't get this pic of my kid to come in straight....strange computer...you'll just have to give your neck some exercise to check out this cute pic!

Mummy and son checkin out the camera~!

Well Alistair is sure in love with eatting. The only issue is mama wasn't thinking and he consumed half a banana and became constipated. Yes bananas bung you up. I should have known better as when working in Emerg we'd tell parents about the BRAT diet when kids came in with loose bowels. BRAT stands for bananas, rice, applesauce and toast and they work as good "binders". I know half a banana seems like a lot but everything says to keep feeding until they don't want anymore and he kept opening wide! So yep finally after Alistair gave birth to a moose poop...not a rabbit pellet or a deer poop...a moose poop....I decided I better give the little guy a laxative. I must say he was happy. It generally would be against my better judgement to give a laxative but the poor kid was needing something! .............For Christmas Grandma Hedges gave Alistair a "Munchkin" baby food grinder. You can check it out at this link http://www.munchkin.com/products/detail.html?pID=24 I love this thing. I hadn't given baby food much thought apart from rice cereal. So when I got this thing I figured I'd give it a go and now I really can't see buying any baby food. Its so basic. For instance, tonight I gave Alistair a sweet potato, avocado, rice cereal and breast milk concoction and he loved it. I found this great website http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/ on easy homemade baby food ideas. Like slicing up advocado and freezing it on a cookie sheet and throwing it in a zip lock. Then you can take whatever proportions you need. Makes meals easy........As for the cloth diapering its still a go! Yep were on day 8 and its working like a charm. The biggest issue was getting around diaper rash especially with the chinese prefold diapers as he stays pretty wet with them but those fuzzibunz work like a charm! As for the real dirty diapers mom gave me the great advice to throw the diaper in the toilet (holding on to one corner of course!) give it a scrub with the toilet brush and then flush. It works brilliantly and then I throw them in a large pail beside the toilet. Easypeasy and reduces any issue of staining! ....So yep thats some of the exciting turn of events this last week......Alistair is obviously a lot more aware of his surroundings which we're all enjoying and he has turned into a thumb chewer!....Toodaloo till next time~Juels

A little bit of this ....a little bit of that...

Little Mr Alistair having a snooze while I blog
Not the best pic of me but its kinda funny!

Alistair very taken with "Pinky" the elephant

Alistair trying on his hat from Grandma MacMillan

Ah yes the life of ever changing motherhood! I was enjoying a nice 6-8hr sleep every night but as of late Alistair has decided to change things up a bit. For instance, last night he fed at 9pm, 1130pm, 4am, and 630am! Ooo how one loves good ol cover up for those lovely black circles that are created at times like these. Mind you, the smile lines he has created have never been so evident either so that makes up for it.

All this growing may be the reason that he has had some more seizures. Yes, unfortunately this is the case. He had a few on Dec 27th, then he was good until Jan 8th, and then he had what was like a little electrical storm for about an hour on Jan 12th. I never did take him in for any of these as I figured they are just going to stick an IV in him for "just incase" and then hook him up to a monitor for 24 hrs and send us home. I figured I'm a good monitor and he doesn't ever have a lack of oxygen ie turn blue during his seizures and they only last secounds. So mama monitored. Of course I did let the Paediatrician know the very next day and he's really good for taking phone calls. We just went and got Phenobarbital levels done which is a blood test to see if the antiseizure med he is on is at a theurapeutic level. I'm hoping not as that is an easy remedy......The nice thing is is he isn't regressing afterwards. Just the first two cases he looked like he was stoned for about 24 hrs but he still chatted, fed, rolled, smiled etc... O another thing is we did hear back from the neurologist regarding Alistair's MRI and there is NO signs of an hypoxic event (lack of oxygen to the brain), stroke, brain atrophy, or hydrocephaleus. There is some excess fluid around the brain but this is just a wait and see thing. It could mean absolutely nothing. Does that line sound familiar??? : ) Anyhow that was very nice for us to hear. We actually will be seeing Dr Huh up here in PG in February so we'll see what she thinks or does regarding all the seizures.

Cadillac of Cloth Diapers ~ www.fuzzibunz.com/

Yesterday I asked Jason to pick up some diapers for me and of course he forgot. Once we made a sweep around the house we found that we had a total of 3 diapers left!! As some of you know I had great plans to use reusable diapers and had thankfully bought a few here and there. So at the moment Alistair is in his cadillac of reuseable diapers called a FuzziBunz. They work great. Perhaps that was just some incentive to get on the reuseable diaper band wagon. We actually have a selection of reuseable diapers as when I was rolling in the dough I bought the cadillacs and then as it became evident things were going to be drastically different I bought the true blue prefolds. Then mom went out and bought some Bummis. So Alistair is going to be a test model on all three! I figure we may as well use them while at home and then he can go in pampers while we go out and about.....shall be interesting. ....and save the landfill at tad as it has always bugged me somewhat how many of those disposable diapers go in the landfill in just one month from Alistair. A good guess would be about 250! So with an annual rate of aprox 1400 births in PG thats an aprox 350,000 diapers in the landfill in one month in PG and aproximately 4million 200,000 diapers in ONE YEAR!!! UGG THATS DISGUSTING! Especially when disposable diapers have only really been used in my life time its obvious that they are truly unnecessary. Just another convenience at the sake of the earth. Mmmmm yes I sound like an environmental pusher but hey don't you think thats ridiculously disgusting. Thats one little town of 80,000 people imagine Vancouver or Toronto! So lets figure out what the landfills get in a year for all of Canada. Stats Canada states that the birth rate for the 2008/2009 year (summer to summer) was 377,703. So that is aproximately 1,133,109,000 diapers in one year that go into our landfills cause we are too use to convenience! Over ONE BILLION. Yousers thats disturbing! Hmmmmm....makes you think

Well its definitely a mild one here...feels like spring but aha its not! Few more months to go....and a bit more cross country skiing!!!! WHOOP WHOOP

Time to Toot My Own Horn!

My pups posing for a picture

My workout wonderland path
Zak & Jessie taking it all in.
Mom's backyard

This morning I jumped on the scale and to my udder joy (oops I meant utter) I have shed a total of 51 lbs in 6 months. Granted I`m doing the math using my absolute maximum weight just prior to delivery. But hey when the numbers sound this good ....why the heck not! It definitely feels good mentally and physically. Now I just need to get my butt in gear and do some dreaded situps. However, I`d rather roll in mud in a pig pen then do them! But since we have no pigs I am throwing on the cross country skis (not that skiing is going to do much for the abs!). ....Actually I just got in from another ski around the farm. Being just below zero its absolutely gorgeous out there. The dogs love to keep me company which makes me happy as one of the nurses at the hospital told me that her daughter had seen a cougar just across the highway from moms here. So needless to say Zak and Jessie are a total comfort. Well I just had to toot my own horn! Hope you enjoy the snowy pictures. Ciao for Now! Julie

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! ((HUGS))

Alistair lovin his pa!

Alistair's favorite pillow. He does this all the time!
Checkin out his Uncle Lance
Alistair getting cuddles from Auntie Bonita

One healthy and happy familyAlistair is giving out lots of free smiles now

Santa stuffed Alistair's stocking with a brand new stuffie and Uncle George got his very first stuffie in his stocking. Its stuffed with straw! That doesn't show our age I hope!

Christmas Day!

Catching up on the daily news

Alistair getting belly rubs from Uncle George

WOW is there anyone else out there that can not believe that we are no longer in the year of 2009?! HAPPY 2010!!! I have to say that was the fastest, most intense, and emotional year of my life. It also has to be my most unselfish year of my adult life. Up until getting pregnant I did exactly what I wanted when I wanted. Then little Alistair came about and now its all about him. I have to say that part really hasn't been a hard change for me. I am really happy that until now I have lived my life quite selfishly. By doing so I believe its allowed me to be so much more content with life in its present state...... You know I've always heard parents say "I can't imagine my life without our kids" I was always like ya ya ya I've heard that one before. WELL Jason and I just were saying yesterday we can't imagine our life without Alistair LOL! Of course I can remember my life without Alistair and wow do I ever appreciate the time I had on my hands. I can not believe how little time I have to really sink my teeth into anything. Thank goodness for Jason and Mom as I really get good chunks of me time. Todays a good example as Mom's going to take Alistair for a few hours while I go to the local world renown cross country ski hill here in PG. My brother gave me the awesome gift of a seasons pass so I'm going to make at least a once a weekly occurance if possible.....As for Christmas it was truly lovely. It was all about food, family, and fun as I had hoped for. Brother George came for over a week. Nearly every night we played some type of board game. I did what I promised and fed everyone till they were bursting at the seams. We had the stuffed pork dinner on the 23rd, turkey dinner on the 25th, and lamb dinner on the 27th. That gave us just enough time in between to make a nice dint on the left overs. ....Alistair got us started on Christmas day at about 7 am and then he promptly slept off and on through the rest of the morning completely oblivious to the ridiculously wonderful generosity of the whole extended family. I think he has enough stuff until he's about 3 yrs old.......For New Years Alistair's Uncle Lance, Aunt Bonita and Cousin Hayley joined us. While they were here Lance and Bonita asked us to be Hayley's godparents. It really is a priviledge to be asked. ........Just before Hayley's bedtime we got her to smash the gingerbread house. It took her a bit to get into it but then she was delighted to smash things into little pieces including every single reindeer! As for New Years itself the whole family slowly started to make there way to bed prior to the strike of midnight. Jason, being the good husband he is, stayed up with me till 12:01 gave me a kiss and headed off to bed.....Well it really is amazing what has all passed under the bridge for us this past year. We just feel so fortunate to beable to say goodbye to 2009 with smiles on our faces. Happy New Year Everyone! ((HUGS)) to all ~ Julie