Welcome To Holland

I was sitting around with my soccer team after the game have a brew or two in a team mates back garden and one of the mothers who had lost her teenage son to a bleeding disorder sited this poem. I've read the same poem on many blogs and even heard it in a nursing course and I find it helps people look at their children's diagnosis in a very different light. I thought it would be good to share as it is quite touching and every time I read or hear it I get a few tears in the good ol' eye balls as it definitely hits a chord with me .......It is also a good way of helping family members understand some of what we go through as parents during such a confusing and emotional time with all the unknowns to come......

Welcome to Holland

"Welcome to Holland" I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away...because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss. But...if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

By Emily Kingsley

Whirlwind Trip

Well I almost hate to post that I went on this trip as there is so many people I would have liked to visit but one can only get in so much in a whirlwind trip. Basically, we put on about 2000 km in three days. We left PG early Monday morning and returned Wednesday evening as my buddy Lise, who I didn't take any pics of, wanted to scoot over to Alberta to check out some horses.

Alistair did incredibly well in his new Britax carseat as he didn't have any pressure points on his back. Its a concern of mine as with his hypotonia (low muscle tone) he can be a little bony along his spine. But whoop whoop no problemo there. Plus he was super content for most of the drive.

This was who Lise wanted to go and pet. She bought this beauty and called it after me! I feel so honoured. I'm not sure about the spelling but her name is Gewels.
We ended up staying with my friend Candace in Lacombe. It was great to see her plus her little man Sam. The last time he was in the belly. What a little busy body he is...cutiepatootie!

Little Sam in bath mode. Just love his expressions!

We also got to catch up with my good friend Sandra who happened to be down too. It was so nice for me to have three incredible and important women in my life all together in the same spot. The only bummer is we were having such a great time catching up I forgot to take a group shot! LOL

Its funny you know ALL Mom's are very watchfull over their little people that they don't pull, push, or yank on Alistair but I'm always saying let them go for him! Of course I'm protective so he doesn't get hurt. But because of his situation he doesn't get alot of contact with kidlets and his lack of mobility even makes it more so. Therefore, I am always plunking other kids right beside Alistair trying to get some interaction going!

Not too much interaction going here.....yet happily hanging out. : D En route home we got to see my dad's favortie mountain, Mount Robson. As you can see from the picture we could basically see clear to the top which can be hard to come by. Its so breath taking. We also got to see a ton of black bears, elk, coyotes, moose, and big horn sheep. So it was definitely a stimulating drive and good for this mama's brain! Thanks Lise : D

Mr Incredible

Its hard sometimes to put into words how

wonderful Jason is as a father.
This picture captures it beautifully.
Being Father's Day I asked Jason what he wanted to do and in typical Jason fashion he wanted to seal the side of the house. So afterwards I filled up his belly with Scallops and Bacon, King Crab, Garlic Butter, Sirloin Steak and Shiraz!

Everyday Alistair seems to be getting stronger and stronger in his core. If he's having a good day he'll stand with our hands on support and his foot supports for about 1/2 hour two times a day. Its really rewarding as he seems to get a lot of enjoyment out of it although he doesn't look super thrilled in this picture. LOL My two favorite men!

The Flintstones!

We all remember the Flintstones don't we?!?!?! We'll not too long ago someone had me watch this YouTube video of the Flintstones. Its a neat little clip as over the 49 seconds it gives you a concept of what people are hearing when they are dealing with various levels of hearing loss. So many people figure if they just talk/yell louder that the person can hear and thats just not the case. CLICK HERE to get a taste of hearing loss in a familiar and comical little video clip! While you're watching keep in mind that Alistair has moderate to severe hearing loss.

Heaven in Pictures

Gorgeous and close to Prince George we decided to go and camp out at St Marie Lake. It was stunning and we luckily got the nicest spot on the lake. This lake is only about 25 min from Mom's farm.

I got to go and toddle around the lake in my kayak which was heavenly
We got the brews cooling off in our environmental cooler

Hanging out at our campsite

It decided to pour rain briefly so Jason decided to give Alistair some beginning lessons in driving.

We got slightly motivated and went for a hike through the woods on some deer trails. Alistair is really good in the backpack for about 30min which makes for a nice little jaunt.

I love this picture...Alistair loves to play with our hair as we take him for a walk. Both of us loose multiple strands of hair when we go hiking with him! It helps with good head control LOL

Alistair just woke up from his first nap in a tent. He's been having major teething going on (5 coming in right now) along with some 2 year old attitude making for our night time sleeps a little hairy. But to our delight he crashed hard in the tent. Yahoo for fresh air!

We came to realize that we hadn't gone camping together for over three years! It was nice as we couldn't work on anything but down time! Loved it! Good for the brain..... : D

The sunset was glorious!My two very incredible men!