COURT

Well its been a challenge for this mama but I kept things low key until we officially became OWNERS just a couple of hours ago to a foreclosure home here in town! I really didn't think we were going to get it as foreclosures are quite the rigamarol...We spent all day in court, yes Alistair too, until finally our case came up. Alistair and I had to sit outside on cushy chairs for most of the day as Alistair decided to become a little vocal misterman! We got a few giggles and a couple cold stares so I figured we had better go hang out outside out of respect for those who were actively having their case reviewed. It would have been interesting though as it wasn't only foreclosures that were being dealt with there were also such things as adoptions and financial disputes. For our case there were two lawyers there as the former owner was trying to make a case but the judge didn't see it in his favor to our delight. He was trying to say the realtor didn't make enough of an effort to sell the property but they did have 63 viewings and 8 offers in aproximately 4 months. So that whole idea was kiboshed. The bank had their lawyer there too which supported our side of things. We also thought there were going to be other realtors and perspective buyers there to challenge our original offer but NO! Whoop whoop. Its quite the experience dealing with foreclosures as even though the bank accepts your offer you can loose it in court. This is due to the fact that competing offers can be brought to court and then you blindly put in a new offer and the highest offer gets it. Quite archaic really but I guess it works.

Our New Home!!

So ya we are so pleased that we didn't have to go any higher as now we have a nice cushion if something else surprises us as new owners of an older home. Anyhooo about the house! Its a 2500 sq ft home on three city lots around downtown PG over by Conaught Hill. Its in an older part of town but this particular area is starting to get fixed up and everytime we went for a drive by (every few days) people were outside shoveling their walks and carrying for their homes. In otherwords it didn't look like rentville...It looks like quite a well settled area. Anyhoo it also has a detached single car garage and a huge front yard with spruce, mountain ash, and birch trees. It needs quite a lot of work to make it pretty and updated but Jason had a good look from the attic to the basement foundation and found it overall to be quite a solid structure. So bonus for being married to a carpenter! So yeppers we are quite pleased to have done so well with our percedings especially considering we are both first time home buyers!! So now out comes the good ol' Bargain Finder, some trips to the Habitat for Humanity warehouse, and scanning of the flyers to see what kind of deals we may get for our new home. It'll be quite some time yet before we can actually move in but until then it'll be fun to fix up and make our own! Once again WHOOP WHOOP for us! Looking down the center of the house

The view out the front window...nice big front yard!

~ Hope you all had a great day cause we sure did! Cheerio Julie

Olympic Torch

Mr Bo Man Carrying the torch!

My proud mother with her nephew

The Hedges/MacMillan Clan with the Olympian

Ah yes the flame came our way and what a housefull it created! My cousin Bo, who I bragged about in the last post, came up and carried the torch in Hixon. It was such a special time...unexpectedly it gave me a lump in my throat to see Bo carrying the torch and as I looked about I saw a few other shinny eyeballs. It really was a wonderful site. Him carrying it in Hixon proved to be a bonus as the whole famdamily got to run along side the whole time he carried it. The security had their eyes on us all the way though insuring we didn't get to darn close. Can you imagine if someone jumped Bo while my whole family was there?? Just look at the pics...I would recommend anyone else but Bo to jump!!! LOL Anyhow it was great.

My Bro with Bo

My brother George surprised us and turned up the night before along with 8 other family members from Ft St John. So our house was jam packed once again with 13 people laying their heads down for a snooze. That night we had some more fun playing Rumoli and "The Construction Game" until midnight. Good times O if you want to see more pics of the event George posted them at this link http://picasaweb.google.com/ghedges/RobertsTorchRelay#

As for the cloth diapers YES we are still happily doing the cloth diapering. The fuzzibunz are the choice brand for me even though they are pricey. Even when my kids diaper is heavy his skin is dry. Absolutely no rash issues with them. So yep I'm pretty happy with my self to bid the disposables goodbye.

We had our neurology appointment and we not changing anything. Just a bit more blood work and a MRI for 2 yrs of age. The doc figured what I saw since Dec was "extra movement" and not seizure activity. Not sure how she figures that one when he was contracting significantly to the side for 3-4 sec three times in a row but hey I'm not going to argue when he seems to be progressing in the right direction. At least the activity he is having is less than before. Just an interesting position to be in as a parent and not feel that you are being validated for what you know, see, and feel as a parent. Alistair may as well have gone in on his own in that appointment.....ya enough on that subject.

Alistair is a munchin man!! We went in and got his 4 needles the other day for H1N1, flu shot, high risk pneumoccocal, and the typical combo needle for whooping cough, tetanus etc... He had a good cry for 20 sec and finito the fist was in his mouth and he contently drooled away. I gave him some tylenol a couple times more for me than him as when I had the H1n1 i felt like crap and complained about my shoulder pain so tylenol he got. But it really was uneventful to my relief. One interesting tidbit though was looking into the H1N1 and the adjuvant. I asked about getting the nonadjuvant version of the vaccine and found out they don't give nonadjuvant H1N1 for under 3 yr olds. Adjuvant is often included in vaccines to enhance the recipients immune response to a supplied antigen while keeping the infected foreign material at a minimum. I just wanted to look into the options as there is so much hype out there about going for the nonadjuvant vaccine. Well when the public health nurse and i looked into it the nonadjuvanted vaccine had more thiomersal, a mecury containing compound, in it then the adjuvant vaccine. the thiomersal is placed in the vaccine as a perservative. But interesting really when people are so concerned with the mecury side of things.....Anyhow I decided to go with all four needles as I figure the risks of having an adverse reaction to the vaccines outway the risk of acquiring one of the conditions itself. So needles he did get.....and he remains to be a happy camper.

Actually my kid is in the "Oooo thats my voice" stage!! For the past 4 days or so he wakes up around 4 or 5am for a feed (another growth spurt I think) and then precedes to chat quite loudly till mama decides she can't sleep through it anymore. Yes at this stage in the game Mr Alistair would acquire his own room if we had our own home but for now we are one happy family sleeping together within the same four walls! : )

Ooo one more tidbit...Alistair has reached 13 lbs. Yep he is a growen up a storm and nicely tracking along on the the percentile chart. This is just a little chart the medical world likes to track you on to ensure that you are growing appropriately. They measure the head size, length, and weight and plot your kid on a graph and if your kid is making any drastic changes in the wrong direction they refer you to a specialist and down the specialist road you go....Anyhow we are tracking along it well. So yippeee. It must be all the chicken Alistair is consuming...Here is a little video of him using a utensil! Yessiery the little man grabbed the spoon from my hand the other day and promptly stuck it in his mouth. So now we need two spoons when eatting...Good times!

K toodallooo folks ~ Juels

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