January Update #3 - The Last of our Firsts?

Fear not! The rest of our firsts have not resulted in broken bones or head injuries! But they are coming pretty darn close...

Canaan has decided to make sure that we KNOW he is a boy. He uses the drawer handles of the cupboards like his own personal ladder. He can already reach midway into the counter without climbing so adding his new climbing dimension is opening a whole new world of possibilities. It is no longer safe to have anything anywhere on a counter, or even drying in the sink. He can and will get it!

The day after Mattea's head injury - I caught him hanging off the dining room table...he climbed up, crawled across the table and then trying to get back down at a different spot sooo literally was hanging with no chair underneath him...good thing his trusty sisters (who goaded up to get up there in the first place) were also right there to rat him out:-)

 Climbing and jumping...his new favourite past times...and are the two catalysts for an increase in my heart rate:-P

 Oh yeah, and wrestling...he's totally into wrestling and beating anything and everyone up. Who teaches kids this stuff?? Lol...but on a positive note, he has also changed alot in a good way this month:-) He is talking alot more and seems to be comprehending just about everything. He got Duplo for Christmas and is loving that. He is also fascinated with colouring and reading. And of course sitting up at the school table with his sisters trying to steal whatever they have:-) Okay...so I guess some things never change:-)

 She is slowly (and I repeat slowly) recovering from her trauma...but has still been able to do all her work and piano. We are definitely back into full swing!

In update news for  Mattea (and another first;-)) she will be finished her First Grade Letter and Sounds and Language books next week (so yes Grandma Kennedy and Auntie Darla were right!) - good thing I listened and bought the Grade 2 books as well - so she will jump right into that!:-)

So there you have it...if you managed to actually read through all of these posts, you have probably seen and read more than you ever wanted to! Lol...but at least you know what we've been up to, and seen some pictures along the way:-) So here's me signing off...hopefully not for another 5 months:-P

January Update #2 - The Tale of the Not-So-Tough Girl

Well it is true that all kids are different. In the case of our daughters...they couldn't be any more different!

By now you've read the tale of Kayla and how she coped with a broken arm for days without saying a word...

Well you also read that January has brought a series of not-so-nice firsts for us...let me tell you about the night of the 13th...

Let's start with an obsession in our house with what the girls call "slippery" socks (you know, the ones without those little grips on the bottom...which are really just called SOCKS. Normal socks)

Now picture 3 kids racing from the dinner table to bath time

...around a corner onto hardwood floors.

THUMP!

Enter screams.

No, not screams...blood curdling shrieks that could only belong to one person.

Mattea.


We didnt' see exactly what happened, but putting together the pieces of the puzzle...

Mattea + slippery socks + running + hardwood floor = disaster

Now...like the merciful mother I am...I began the rant about how we don't run in the house, and that I can't understand a word she is saying because she is screaming....Mark however, is a merciful soul and tends to indulge her injuries...and this time, thankfully so! Although typically her screams are without basis...this time in her defense...she really was hurt!

It took quite a few minutes but Mattea had transitioned to just whimpering... Mark noticed the blood making its way through her mess of hair and dripping onto her shirt

Mattea SEES the blood.

 There is alot more wailing...

I pulled her hair back to reveal a cut in the side of her head, about an inch and a half long, but it looked deep and was just laying open. I knew right away where we were headed. The same place I had been just 5 days ago (what kind of neglectful parent am I?!). And by WE meaning there was no way I was taking THIS particular kid to emerg for stitches on my own.

Mattea has always had a flair for the dramatic...and her injuries are no different. She can cry a river over a paper cut, she can make you think she broke her leg when she stubbed her toe...she is one of those kids. But this time she did have a reason to cry so I worried about her coping skills.

Mark's cousin came over and watched Kayla and Canaan for us, and we both set off for the hospital and tried to prepare Mattea for what was going to take place.

The nurse confirmed...Stitches...GREAT

Now, it is important to note that God answers prayer and doesn't give us more than we can handle....so I"m not sure who He was thinking of that night...Mattea or US. But by the time the Dr. came to stitch her up, the cut had stopped bleeding (but still lay open over a centimeter deep - so on your skull...that's grossly deep:-/)...BUT he was able to use glue instead of stitches!!!

Such an answer to prayer, because as much as we try to teach self control....in the area of pain, I know Mattea just doesn't have it!

I didn't end up taking any pictures because it all happened so fast. And after the fact there was nothing to take a picture of because the glue closed it up so tightly that you could barely find the cut. You only knew where it was by the mat of glue encrusted hair that was there:-)

Its been several weeks now, and while her sister doesn't say a word about her arm, we still hear status updates on Mattea's head on a daily basis:)

 

January Update #1 - The Tale of a Tough Girl

What can I say about 2014 so far?

Um....simply that I hope it doesn't continue the way that it started!

We have started this new year with quite a few firsts, and they are not good ones!

Let's start with January 5th, which began as a happy day (yes Janessa's b-day) but also the day of cousin Isabella's princess themed family party - much to the thrill of our girls! Donning their cousins finest gowns, the girls paraded around Auntie Rachel's house, and all was fine and good until we heard a series of thumps and a cry. The cry was from Kayla. Now...that right away says something. Kayla never cries over something important. Don't get me wrong, she cries at the drop of a hat, in the most irrational ways, at the most irrational times...but she NEVER cries when she is hurt. The kid bounces off walls daily and never says a word, just spends her existence covered in bruises that we never know where they came from.

Sorry...I digress...back to the 5th...Mark rushes over to pick up a crumpled princess at the bottom of the hardwood staircase. It wasn't a big flight of steps, only about 5 or 6 and we think she fell down about 3 or 4 of them. She stopped crying within a few minutes but said her arm hurt. Mark put ice on it right away, but she was ready to go back to playing within no time. The part that bothered us was that she had gone sheet white...and although she was using the arm, she was certainly being careful with it - and careful is something that Kayla never is! But there was no way she was going to miss out on cake or any other part of the festivities - she kept saying she was fine.

That night, we debated taking her to emerg, simply because it still looked swollen. She wasn't complaining at all, but would say it hurt if you pressed on it, but again, not crying...just saying "ow, you hurt me". They were calling for another massive snow/ice storm that night so we decided that unless things got worse in the night we would take her to the Dr first thing in the morning.

After a trip to the pediatrician in the morning, we were told it was just a sprain, and it would take 2-3 weeks to recover. He assured us that it couldn't be broken otherwise she would be dying in pain if he moved it certain ways and when he moved it, she didn't say anything. Weeeeeelll as it turns out, doctors can be wrong.

On the 8th (yes 3 days later), I had finally had enough....she had been waking in the night, but when we asked her if her arm hurt, she would say "no...it not hurting...I just want to sleep...but I cannot sleep"...her arm still looked swollen, and she still would say it hurt if you touched it, and that day she started favouring it like a little bird with a broken wing (but yet totally using her hand??) Sooo...off to emerg we went...and before even xraying it, the nurses told us it was definitely broken. POOR KID!!! We felt horribly guilty, especially having to explain that she fell 3 days prior, but in our defense we DID take her to a Dr...just not a very smart one apparently! So after xrays, the ER doctor confirmed that she had a buckle fracture in her ulna and would need to be in a cast for 6 weeks.

All that to say it doesn't always pay to be tough:-(

Here she was the on the 8th during the day, before having the cast on...so her arm is literally broken and she is going on with her day as if nothing is wrong!

 Here she is the morning after her cast was put on...so far only Mattea has signed it...

 With her sunny little personality, she has always been a fan favourite at church so her new cast drew quite the crowd and by the time we got back home there wasn't much room left to sign!

At her 2 week followup - the Dr said to come back in one more week, that he might remove the cast early!

This was taken just on Tuesday, which was the day we would find out if her cast would come off

Its off!!! The Dr. said it was very loose (literally pulled it off instead of cutting it off), and then after xraying he said it is not completely healed yet, but he can see the new bone growing and everything appears to be healing normally, so he didn't want to put her back into a cast. So she is just under instructions to be careful for the next little while. Great. This Dr. obviously doesn't know her...

There was some weird bruising on her wrist under the cast, the break itself was on the outside bone (ulna) of her forearm. Aside from the bruise, her arm looked a little skinnier, definitely alot scalier, and stinkier!!! But after a nice bath (without being covered in a plastic bag) and some cream - she's back to her usual self....

and true to form, has required the use of an icepack on her head twice in the two days since having the cast removed...

...like I said...that Dr doesn't know her...he probably should have left it on:-P

December Summary

Remember this face?

Well, there is a new smolder in town....

Complete with all the drama of his sister, and then some...

 Seriously couldn't get enough of his haircut...he looks like such a big boy now!!!

A highlight for December was definitely advent for the kids - they loved opening their envelopes each day!!! Here they are with the product of their "build a snowman" card:-)

December ushered in some crazy weather for us!!! The kids loved it, the adults...not so much!!!

We still did schoolwork throughout December, but then took a 2 week break over Christmas. It was the first time that Mark has ever taken that much time off work, and it was SO nice!

With the huge ice storm that hit just before Christmas, we were the only members of Mark's extended family that still had power! So that being said, we became the warming house for family! It was certainly a Christmas to be remembered! The kids thought it was the best Christmas ever...but after about 3 days or so, us parents were wondering if it really was...Lol...but actually it was nice...crazy but nice. It made us all just slow down and enjoy each other and ultimately brought about a whole new sense of gratefulness for all that we DO have and enjoy on a daily basis. We truly are blessed!

November Summary

November seems somewhat forgettable so I will mostly give you some pictures...

The after-bath attempt at a siblings shot...I think if I could merge these two pictures together I might actually have all 3 looking and smiling:-P But alas...it never seems to happen all in the same picture!

Here is a shot of our living room/school room which we redid/decorated back in the spring...

This is where Mattea works and the others play - it also works as a great place for their playmobil (and yes, they've caught the bug!)

Now that I look through my pictures for the month there were a few firsts...

Printing finally clicked for Kayla! She finally grasped the concept of tracing, or perhaps to satisfy my frustrations, she decided to actually start trying? Who knows...but all I know is, she got it, and I'm happy! She even started to print a few letters all on her own as well! She has known all her sounds, identifying letters etc for over a year but never quite got the hang of the printing and the fact that there was a certain way to form letters.

She has been showing a ton of progress as she learns alongside Mattea...memorizing poems, songs, verses etc. Incredible how much little minds can absorb even when they don't appear to be listening at all! In fact, Kayla has mastered that skill. She has the ability to be completely and totally off in her own imaginary world, talking and playing (with literally nothing) and look like she isn't paying attention to anything at all, but then when asked to recap what a story was about, or some fact about something Mattea was learning, she can spout off word for word what was said! She literally can recite back entire stories or lessons with every single point but appearing like she hasn't heard a thing. Is this a talent? A skill? We don't quite know...but I'm just relieved to know she IS actually really smart! Seriously...sometimes I wonder...:-P

Now remember a few posts back I said you will see a progression of Canaan's hair...well this what we progressed to!

He looked like a crazy scientist! It could be tamed when wet:

but for the most part it looked like this:

Sooooo I decided it was finally time for our little baby to become a big boy! So sad...but oh so necessary!:-)

October Highlights

There were two momentous events from the month of October and they both happened on the very first weekend! The long awaited Markham Fair and the even longer awaited chance to meet and visit with Grandpa and Grandma Kennedy, Auntie Jillaine, Uncle Lehman and Auntie Maryn!

Although the time at the airport was all too short we were grateful for the time! The kids were quite taken with their grandparents, aunties and uncle - Mattea asked us in the van on the way home: "Mom are you SURE that we can't marry uncles?" 

The girls went head to head in a few categories at the Fair...Kayla came out on top with her rainbow...

But Mattea beat her in the waterfall fingerpainting...

C'mon, I thought Kayla did pretty good...

 Mattea had a few more categories than Kayla did simply because there are only so many things that  2 year old can make without too much help!

Mattea drew a picture of her family - Daddy's moustache and all:-)

When it was all said and done, they each got a cheque - Mattea's for $7.50 and Kayla's for $2.50 and we went to the bank to cash them. They were so excited with their coins - although Mattea felt a little ripped off that she and Kayla got the same number of coins even though she won more. All she got was a piece of paper as part of her money, she was a little moody until I explained what a $5 bill was:-)

I think this face pretty much speaks for itself. This is what I get to deal with on a daily basis:-P

 We still had quite a few days of nice weather...the kids discovered some old toys of Mark's that no longer work and were thrilled to be able to make them outdoor/sandbox toys!

And for Halloween, all the Newallo cousins came over and brought costumes for our kids to borrow, so this how Caney ended up. As a million tricker-treaters came to the door, all our kids would swarm the doorway to see who was here...
so one particularly outgoing kid (probably about 7) says "Wow! That's alot of kids! Are you having a party in there?"
To which I replied..."Well, sort of...."
The kid: "Can we come!?"
Me: "Um...no......."
The kid clearly not listening and not deterred and also not moving from our porch: "Soooo...are you going to let us in???"

And that is how kids get stolen by crazy people! Lol...