Saturday, June 23, 2012

Life with Two


Flaked out inside during 27 degree heat.

Francis in her frillies

Hanging out on the Patio during the Summer Solstice

Mom having too much fun dressing her daughter all pretty!

I can't say I was a believer of the Chariot stroller but WOW they are what they rave about. The kids loved it.

Being pretty

Becca being a saviour on one of my "I need some assitance days"

Grandma loving being Grandma!

Enjoying the Patio

I've been really making an effort to get outside for the health of my brain and we're being pretty successful

Bonding during nap time

Francis not so sure of the situation

Francis hanging with two of her hand made quilts from California (tx Anita!)

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Time to Demedicalize

Its funny I'm having a bit of a hard time writing this blog.. I just can't seem to put it into words what I'm feeling these days. Yes me having a hard time with my words! LOL Anyhow, I'll give it another go...so basically since Francis has arrived things have been so super different. Obviously right! Well its different in a way I didn't even expect or perhaps see coming. I have been so driven in the last three years with Alistair to put my life on hold and put as much time and energy into Alistair to help him get to the best spot he can be (ooo shoot tears are coming..what the heck!)

Anyways, even before Alistair was out in the world we were told that if he survived the first few months he'd turn out like any seven year old. So my mind set has been to live and breath my son and get him to where he needs to be. But at the same time I think I really exhausted myself as it wasn't until this fall that ir really became obvious to us that Alistair will be living with us for the rest of our lives and that there is a very good chance that he won't ever walk or talk.

 I know he makes strides but his strides are so different than the average kid. Anyhow, its not at all that we are giving up on these dreams/possible realities...its just that we've hit a new reality that has had to be absorbed. Truthfully, this past winter was difficult for me due to this fact. Acceptance sometimes can be the biggest challenge of all. I also realized this spring that I truly have never grieved Alistair's situation. ie that he isn't going to take the normal path, he has some mental disabilities, and he's going to grow into a man with a varying amount of disabilities in our home and we are going to have to figure out how this is going to work for all of us physically, emotionally and financially.
 Plus we have to figure out how to do this and enjoy life at the same time... ie not be defined as a family by his disability but more so that his disability is part of our family ... Anyhow, basically, as soon as we walked in the door from the hospital the whole family dynmaics felt different. Different good! It was like suddenly we were all about family and a lot less about the medical side of things.
 I've just been so focused on the medical side of things with Alistair that I really haven't stopped to truly enjoy being mom with him. So now its taking a whole new route as I feel I have to not put all my time and energy into his development. With Francis I don't have to do this and because of this it makes me apply the same enjoyment of simply being a mom to Alistair.
The funny thing is lately he has been doing really well again with his development. He's rolling over on his tummy a ton and playing with all sorts of toyswhile doing so. Its not just rolling once but several times to get to stuff. He's also very chatty again which is lovely as he stopped talking almost completely there for a bit.
So ya, I have to say it definitely is a challenge when the work off each other and both are screaming for Mom's attention. Plus Alistair has gotten into a full on big boy cry with crocodile tears when Francis is getting more attention than him.
But in one way its so lovely to see that he can react this way and have this awareness although it pulls on mama's heart strings and then suddenly there are three rather than two individuals crying in the house! LOL Anyhow, life is fantastic right now and I think this past winter I did grieve about Alistair not being "normal" to the point now that I can move on with a whole new level of acceptance and enjoyment of our new family of four. Everything is a process in life...and this one has been reached! Have a lovely day!










So I had no intentions of posting all these photos but unfortunately someone went into Jason's truck last night and stole his camera which sadly had all our newborn pictures etc. on it and a neat video I wanted to post of Francis and Alistair hanging out together. So fortunately the only pictures or videos of her first weeks are what we do have are on this blog! I do have a couple on my camera but it wasn't working properly so we had taken Jason's camera to the hospital. Anyhow, it could have been a lot worse if this blog didn't exist. Now I just have to see if I can pull the pictures back off. Ce la vie!
☼ Enjoy the Pictures ☼

One of Francis's many funny faces. Love it!


My arm is almost long enough to get both our heads in the picture!





Fabulous Auntie Lise and Francis in the outfit she gave her.

Daddy & his little girl
Dad loving being Dad

Francis in one of her many little girl dresses I had way to much fun buying...yes me!

O so cute!

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Time flies!

Wow time flies! I can't believe that Francis will be two weeks old tomorrow night. Its been just wonderful enjoying her. I must be on a total high as I am pretty sleeped deprived in regards to the number of hours I'm getting however I don't feel tired at all like I think I should. I'm also happy to report that my brain is very happy too. I didn't even have one down day. I woke one morning feeling a tad teary for no reason and fore warned Jason and it lasted about as long as it took me to forewarn Jason! LOL I think I'm just incredibly relieved that all has gone well up to this point. Perhaps a little surprised that Francis can truly be just "normal". Love her!

This is a nice little video of Francis just prior to us hitting the hay the other night. She has quite the facial expressions. One minute she can look so Angelic and the next she has this massive furrow over her brow and looks as if she needs to put her false teeth back in!

♥ Angelic Moment ♥
♥ Another Angelic Moment ♥

♥ OOooo and Another! ♥

 Daddy loving holding "Sissy" as he calls her.
 She's just like holding a hot water bottle on your chest...except with lots of lovin
Hmmm just can't get enough of her!
Oooo and someone else can't seem to get enough of her either! This so warms my heart...but I'm going to write more about this brotherly love in my next post as I'll be sitting here for another hour!

Well I'll leave you with another "link" to click on. Once again I went over the time allowance for video length so just click on the link below to see little Alistair making his mother proud once again. The big deal with this is that he's very specifically making a choice. The speech therapists have been encouraging me to find ways to get Alistair to make choices and here is a great example!


K till next time! Toodaloo ☼

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Quick Pic Post

Hanging outside with Mom for the first time on the Patio
Not so sure about this carseat business

Alistair being all clever with drinking from the cup

Having a bath and deciding whether its s good or bad thing

Looking super cute in some fuzzi bunz diapers
Getting to know each other

Ooo just being cute


Lovin the Snuggles

Towel Time

Cuddles in the Sun

Friday, June 1, 2012

♥ Videos to Warm Your Heart! ♥


Hi.... So I've got a couple of videos to share with you... this first one you have to click on the link as I had to upload it to youtube as it was a tad too big (by three seconds or so) for the blog. BUT its super cute. Its the first little video of Francis and it's when she's only one day old...not even actually. So click on the link below and get a nice little smile!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm4gfQOC7a4&list=HL1338527507&feature=mh_lolz
This next video is of Alistair in a little pool contraption that I bought online. Its made specifically for higher needs kids. I was skeptical regarding how well it would work for Alistair. As the main part I was really buying was this floatation ring that goes around the neck...yeppers the neck. Anyhow, I set it up and Alistair tried it for the first time today and he really enjoyed it! Lots of giggling and moving his extremities. What I'm hoping to get out of it is a better sleeping son! LOL I say this as he really doesn't have much he does that wears him out. So I figure his 930pm to 4am regular sleep schedule could maybe possibly lengthen with some extra physical activity..In this particular video he has his legs pretty straight. However, as he spent time in the pool he got more and more relaxed and then had his legs bent a lot. His first go he was in the pool for 20 minutes! I was so pleased! So he did sleep till 6am rather than 4am today so who knows if its because of the pool but I'm definitely going to try it out again and see if there is a pattern!

Well all is going well. Yesterday was day six and I'm feeling pretty darn good. Plus last night I got a great sleep which makes today going to be even better! On my fourth day post partum I had to take Francis in to the doctor for a regular check up and she had almost gained all out weight back. They like to see the babies weigh the same as their birth weight by one week as the little kidelts always drop initially. As for myself, I jumped on the scale hoping to be under 200lbs as I got up to a nice healthy 214! lol Anyhow, to my delight I was 191 lbs! So only 25 lbs to loose to get back to my preprego weight....breast feeding did wonders for that department when I was prego with Alistair so here's hoping the same goes for Francis :D