Road Trip to Winnipeg!

Late August we drove to Winnipeg/Anola MB as a family :-) Although busy, we had a great time! We slept in Opa and Nana's holiday trailer (so, kinda camping) and spent our time hanging out with family and friends.

On our way! After Matthew came home from work, we packed up the van, picked up supper and we were on our way at 6pm.

After a long drive these two were happy to be out of their carseats.

Watchin' TV/Movies with Uncle Dawson

Was pretty special to spend some time with my Oma B! 

All smiles

The twins turned one! 

Visiting friends.

Toys at Opa and Nana's are the best.

The house is coming along nicely! They are planning to move in the basement this fall. 

Puzzles are always fun. 

More puzzles

Playing with cousins

Beach time! It's been a few years!

Ryan

Ian

Sandcastles!

It was a nice day (the wind was a bit strong though lol)

Uncle Dawson and B watching the big trucks 

Nana's here! 

The twins loved it!

Catchin' some rays

Uncle Dawson and Ryan having a good time haha! 

Nana's wagon made a great portable playpen! Ian fell asleep almost right away. 

Ryan put up a bit of a fight... but he did fall asleep eventually. 

Playing so nicely

BBQ by the playground for supper --- lol Nicole! gotta love those chips haha

Ian and Ryan napped in Uncle Byron's 'room' most days.

We snuggled sweet Jaida often

We had some extra time one day when running errands in the city so we had lupper (lunch/supper) at the forks. 

At the top of the tower

Baby shower/Going away party for Aaron, Sherene and Jaida

I don't know how this picture ended up on my phone.... but silly selfies get posted. haha

On our way back home...I drove the van with myself, Dylan, Lydia, Ian and Ryan. Matthew drove Aaron's car with himself and Miriam, and Uncle Aaron drove their other car with himself Sherene and Jaida. We also met Dad B and Dawson in Saskatoon (Regina?) They had driven the trailer full of Aaron and Sherene's stuff to AB. They left early Monday morning, and were on their way back to MB Tuesday morning.

Mmm! Eating popcorn on the way back.  (I flatten and save mc dee's french fry containers for easy, toss-able popcorn/anything-you-can-think-of holders for in the van.  

Vans are great for changing babies in! We are pretty excited this little sweetie lives close by now. 

The Twins Are 1!

Wow! Time sure flies. Our little tiny twins are now a year old! (Aug 23rd)
Below are comparisons of the twins within two weeks of being born, and at a year ☺

August

Jaida is feeling better :-) She is home now and doing well. Thank-you for all your prayers. 

A new front door 

Ryan - Sunday Best! We received these suits as a baby present for the twins

Ian looking dapper. 

On a Monday at lunchtime we found these funny characters in our fridge.  Daddy had a little fun marking the boiled eggs on Sunday when he cleaned up lunch after we left for church. 

Almost crawling... Ryan can go from sitting to laying down and back to sitting, and he can wiggle around, just can't crawl yet haha. 

Sisters

Iced Coffee on hot days yum!
Recipe: a scoop of instant coffee and a little honey, dissolve in a little boiled water, add milk and ice. Drink. YUM! 

Can't handle this cuteness! And I get two of them! 

Can't handle the cuteness! And I get two of them! 

Chatting in the morning before diaper changes and bottles. 

A yummy snack while supporting our miracles and all the miracles we know. 

Who doesn't like a blizzard?

DQ's Miracle Treat Day!! Yum!

Sometimes brothers make good foot rests haha!

Oh my heart is so full!

Siblings reading, and Ian taking the shirt off Ryan's back ha! 

An Update from my sister

Here is an update on Jaida from my sister .  ❤

Jaida Caroline

Please pray for my new little niece, and her parents Aaron and Sherene (Matthews brother and my sister)

Today 4 day old Jaida is scheduled for a surgery to remove a large cyst in her abdomen ❤ 
As capable as the drs are, it is hard as parents to pass your new baby over to someone you barely know and yet trust with her life.
As Christians we are comforted to know that Jaida is in our Heavenly Fathers hands. He knows even the number of hairs on her head! May God guide the hands and minds of the medical team as they work on little Jaida today ❤

Back to Summer

On the 23rd of July the twins turned 11 months! (9 1/2 adjusted) They aren't crawling or walking yet (yay for Mom! :-) ) But Ryan is bumming around slowly. Ian was bumming a little before his last hospital visit, but he is a bit too tired/weak to try again. Once he is strong enough I'm sure he'll be back at it. :-D
 Ian is recovering SO quickly I was in shock. From being very very sick, to being home in a week. What? 

God is good!

Okay, let's get back to summer!

It's August already!! This summer is flying by!   Day trips are fun for us as long as we can take a stroller. Public pools are not something I dare to do by myself yet... (3, 2 and under and only one set of arms...even with Matthew along, it's not enough.) :-) 

  Beaches around Edmonton are gross... I'm from Manitoba and birds hill park beach seems like a dream compared to the beaches I've been to here :-P  At best they are slimy. Call me spoiled or picky, but I don't like sitting on the beach and smelling the algae, nevermind swimming in it. YUCK! I think there are some beaches a few hours from Edmonton... Maybe next year we'll take some day trips out there :-)  Splash parks are a great way for the kids to keep cool, I'm so glad Edmonton has so many of them! We have been to a number of them this year.  We also went to the zoo on holiday Monday :-) 

 We are hoping to go to fort Edmonton, and a few other places before the summer is through!

Ian's hospital stay has set Matthew back a bit on his schedule for volunteering at the school. They were hoping to be done the computer stuff by the end of July, but that was not to be. We have only done one day trip all together as a family (went to the zoo yesterday) since Matthew has been working hard most evenings (often 7pm- 12 midnight). He's also worked a few Saturday's and took a Friday off to work at the school (some 9am-12 midnight).

On top of volunteering at the school, his full time job, and a little overtime, we are planning to reno a little more around here, next on the list: Change our front door and add a door bell (the house doesn't have one - too old) Then, change the back door and raise it a little :-) 

Hope you are all enjoying your summer! 

Playing together on the couch.

Bouncers are still used most days.

This is fun! 

Peas were doing well... till the mice started chewing them from the bottom up... 

My raised gardens this year. A few herbs and the spinach went into seed the week Ian was in the hospital :-(  Spinach didn't do well this year.... too hot to fast? Don't know. 

Yummy!

We've had beans a few nights for supper now. 

1. Tried peppers this year. One of the three plants worked. 

Hot pepper... dried up. 

Cherry tomato plant. - We are also growing roma's

Little sweetie fell asleep on the couch on Sunday afternoon. I couldn't resist a snuggle 

The girl pushing Lydia's stroller is my cousin. She is staying with us for a week this summer. :-) 

We didn't see anything... maybe next time. 

bumming around and starting to get into things... 

Questions. Answers?

For those of you that have questions about Ian, here are some questions that have been asked a few times.

Why did Ian get SO sick?
We don't really know.
Short explanation - He caught a cold.
Long explanation -  He has been sick since coming home in Jan, and recovered fine. He just hasn't been this sick. We were told that there is a bug going around right now that seems to hit preemies harder... (Ryan has a cold, but seems to be handling it just fine. Same cold? Don't know.) 

For now we are going to keep Ian home from places he is likely to catch something for a few weeks (church nursery etc. ). We will give him a rest so he can recover completely, try take him again in September or so and see what happens...

Will Ian get this sick from a cold/flu again?
We don't know. Maybe. Maybe not. Putting all of Ian's medical history together we know from his intestinal surgery last September that Ian had a lack of oxygen to his intestines at some point in his life (strange pattern of blood vessels going to the intestines). If he had a lack of oxygen to his intestines, then he could have had a lack of o2 to his whole body at some point. 

When did this happen? There are 3 times we can think of that he could have had this lack of oxygen.
1. Just before the ttts surgery in Toronto.
2. During the ttts surgery (lasered the blood vessels connecting the twins on the placenta...Ian ended up with 20-30% of the placenta after the surgery)
3. Just before birth, since Ian's portion of the placenta was so small, and it was a long/strange portion, it was possibly dying off just before he was born. The Dr's in Toronto only expected Ian's part of the placenta to last to 30 weeks...if my water didn't break first. Ian and Ryan were born at 34 weeks.
  This may be why Ian had such a hard time with his lungs when he caught this cold.  

Or maybe its just because he was a preemie... (2 lbs 11oz at birth, 2lbs 6oz before is first surgery...tiny) Preemies are often more susceptible to sickness. (At birth the twins were both on cpap  (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) for a bit to help their tiny lungs, but just room air (didn't need extra o2))
So really, we don't know for sure why Ian got SO sick. 

Often in the past and still now people ask me. Is Ian fine now? He's fine now right?
The question " Is he fine?" isn't really something we can answer with a yes or no.
'Fine' means MANY different things.. 

Right now when I answer that question I think...  Well, he's bouncing around in his bouncer, babbling, smiling and overall doing quite well. To me that's fine. 

In the past when people have asked that question 'yes' just meant he was alive...so he was fine. 

Is he ever going to get seriously sick again? Maybe. Maybe not.

We are incredibly thankful God has guided the hands and minds of all the medical teams we have worked with. These people have been blessed with dedication and caring for their patients and the patients families and are truly remarkable people! Thank-you!  

Dr. Ryan and his team in Toronto.

Dr. Dicken and the GI team in the Stollery. 

Dr. Duff and the team in the Stollery PICU. 

Are a few of the teams we have worked with more closely.