Okay - major photo post!

In order to celebrate the first day of school this year, I suggested to Tracy that we go to Candy Cane Park. We haven't been there since we have lived here and I remember going there as a kid and wanted my kids to go there too!

Here are some pics!

my niece Erin

Abbey sleeping - nice hat, heh?

Sarah in the candy cane tree

Gorgeous Grace

Sarah in the sand (sounds like a song title, heh? Isn't she adorable?)

Olivia in the candy cane tree

Must get up!

(Gotta love that Canada Goose slide!)



Katie decided rather than going down the slide - she would run it. So as each girl came into the back of the goose, Katie would sing "Welcome to the Canada Goose". She would then proceed to help them up the stairs. It was so cute!
But eventually I did get evidence that she did go down the slide!

We had a nice time - EXCEPT my poor sister-in-law! We had taken KFC to picnic there, and the wasps were absolutely UNBELIEVABLE! It was crazy, so we decided to abandon the idea of eating leisurely and we threw what was left away to go over to the playground part. On the way there Tracy tried to have another sip of her root beer and all of a sudden she gasped, and held her lips. I thought for a moment that she had swallowed a wasp, but no, one had stung her on the tongue! On the tongue! It was so awful! I felt so bad for her - and it was MY idea to go to the park! It hurt alot, and her tongue got all swollen! Ugh! She sounded like she had just come from the dentist! Anyway, once it was all over, we giggled a little about it, but I am already dreading the ARCHE picnic if the park is that crazy with wasps!

It was fun regardless, especially for the kids, and Tracy is feeling much better!

Erin giving Grace some lovin'. Aunty Tracy is in the background - and you can't even tell her tongue is completely swollen, can you?

First day of school!

A Taste of Egypt

Math book - learning division

More Math

what??

So today was our first day of school for this year, and the first day using the World of Adventure unit study! I think it went pretty good!

We started out by reading Genesis 37 - the beginning of the account of Joeseph. Both Grace and Olivia listened and answered discussion questions. Olivia moved on to vocabulary and comprehension and Grace reviewed some readers and sight words from last year. We joined up after 30 minutes to have a "Taste of Egypt" which consisted of figs, apples, grapes, plums and melons, reclined around a low table. We washed it all down with grape juice, and while we snacked I read aloud about Ancient Egypt. We sang Change my Heart, O God and then the girls had a break outside. After 15 minutes, they came in and did math, and then we went to meet Tracy and the girls at Candy Cane park to celebrate the first day of school.

It was fun! I ran to the library this afternoon to get some more books - about ancient Egypt, and deserts. Tomorrow we start studying the desert biome.

So far - so good, except for Tracy's poor wasp sting, but we'll talk about that later when I post pics from the park!

again?

Again Abbey had a fast heart-rate today. I took her to emergency when an ice pack on the face didn't work, and they took her right in. This time they got the IV in on the second attempt, which was relieving. Her rate was 270 beats per minute. Fully double what it normally is. Jeesh! It is so unbelievable!
So, they had the IV in and were wrapping gauze around the board on her wrist to keep it from slipping or being pulled, and they had just gotten the scale in to weigh her to determine what her dosage of adenosine would be and she was trying to fill her diaper. Well, the "bearing down" action slowed her heart on its own. It was so weird - everyone moving so fast, and the doctor noticed her monitor as it was going from 60-78 beats per minute. It made its way to 165 and then stayed there for a while. But didn't go higher. We waited on the monitor for 2 hours, then were released to come home.
So now, I am trying to stay awake until her 6:00 dosafe of propranolol. I don't want to be asleep when it is time to give it to her.
I wish I knew what caused her to flip into tachycardia. I wish and hope this is the last time it happens. I am phoning the cardiologist tomorrow - just to be sure that they have us booked into an outpatient clinic time in the next month...I haven't heard from them yet, so I have to follow up.
Twice in this last three weeks is just so not comforting to me. I realized today that if she continues to have this issue past the 6-9 month age, that I could be taking her into emergency to have an IV started when she is Amelia's age. That would be so gross and hard. I am not trying to borrow trouble - I know that is a long time from now, but really. More quickly coming is the time that Greg is in school. Won't that be interesting? He'll be in Moose Jaw all week - and then what do we do? I mean, I know what I will do, I'll take my kids to Tracy's or something, but it is just so difficult. I just love that baby so much, why does this have to be happening?
I am grateful that everyone seems to know what to do about this problem, and I am grateful it is not something worse. I know that sick kids are in families just like ours - but it does make things a bit more stressful.
Okay, I can probably give her meds now, and I am backspacing more than typing, so I am going!

A birthday!

Here is my 10 year old daughter! Yes 10! Can you believe that? It is a whole decade! A tenth of a century, one one hundredth of a millennium! Too sad to believe. DOUBLE DIGITS!
She celebrated her birthday at Dallas Valley Ranch Camp. So in this picture she is surrounded by her cabin mates and 175 or so other campers in the dining hall ready for supper!
We went out to have dinner with her, although we couldn't really have dinner WITH her because she has to sit with her cabin. So we had dinner in her presence and then hung out to visit with Stew and Betty (my in laws) for a while. They volunteer at DVRC for a week every year, and since Olivia has started going they work the week that she is there. It is good for her, makes me feel better and gave us a reason to go out and visit Olivia on her big day.
10 years, the big 1-0......wow!
Parent to a real tween - or maybe that is not until next year! LOL!!!
I am so blessed though - I mean she is such a sweet girl, so fun to be around, so enthusiastic and excited. I am glad that she is still as sweet as she was when she was a little girl.
It is a weird place to be in with her right now though, because I am a bit sad that she is getting so old, seemingly so quickly. But at the same time I am so excited to know her as she grows into adulthood. I am looking forward to talking about things and watching her mature - ready to be on her own and live the life that God has penned for her!
Anyway, I just wanted to share this picture, and give a tribute to my beautiful double-digited 10 year old daughter!
Man, do I feel old! LOL!

Olivia high on her chair having "Happy Birthday" sung to her by 200+ people! What fun, heh?

Already a year?

So we have been in Regina for a full year now. I don't know how time has gone by quite so quickly, but it has.
I have to say that Tuesday was quite a day of mixed emotions for me (emotions heightened by postnatal hormones I think). I am glad that we are here, but I would be more glad if we could have all of what we have and still be in Calgary! LOL! Talk about having your cake and eating it too, heh?
I miss my home fellowship group and my church. I miss my friends and my school board. I miss the support group meetings, and Blake and Kori. I miss taking my kids to dance lessons. But I don't miss Deerfoot ;).
I just still feel like we are STILL new here, I don't feel like this is 'home' yet. I used to say that when we came to Regina for a visit we were coming home, and then after about 6-7 years, Regina was a place to visit, and going back to Calgary was going home. So now I still feel a little like we are away from home.
I don't know if that makes sense at all, but it is what is happening.
There has been so much frustration here as well. My husband's attempt to be a police officer not panning out (at least this time), starting a job at a MUCH lower wage than he had expected, only being offered 2 jobs out of however many resumes he put out....it has been such a frustrating year for him, that it tends to wear a bit on me as well.
I am glad to be here - for many reasons!
I am glad for Tracy and Clay and the kids - they are a SUCH a blessing to us.
I am glad for my sisters and my parents and Greg's parents...to start getting to know them all over again in a new way.
I am glad for the vibrant homeschooling community here - what an encouragement to me!
I am glad for our church - I like it there, so many welcoming families, a real spirit of fellowship - and great programs for the kids.
I guess my dissatisfaction stems from the second 'glad' statement. Getting to know people all over again - I think I don't feel 'known' here. I don't feel as comfortable in my skin because people don't 'know' us - like we were 'known' in Calgary. People at Greg's work treat him like a green helper instead of a journeyman construction worker who is only green at electrician construction - not construction in general. They don't know him to know what he IS capable of. And the same for me - people are getting to know me, but don't know me to ask me to do the things I would be asked to do in Calgary by people who were more aware of where my gifts lie. Again, not knowing what I am capable of - and also - I still haven't figured out our spot all the time. Our role as a family within our extended families, our role in our church, our role in the homeschooling community.
I guess it is still 'new-kid' syndrome or something! LOL!
I know that all of this comes with time - and there have been so many changes in this year, it is just always hard to adjust to them all at the same time!
I am looking forward to the coming year - if for nothing else but that it is fresh and new, and I expect that we will be able to see the growth.
Here's to this next year.

Pictures

Abbey and Erin - best friends extraordinaire

Abbey loves Aunty Tracy!

Update

We saw the cardiologist - and he was very reassuring for me. SVT is not exactly common, but definately not as rare as I would have assumed! 80% of kids with SVT grow out of it in the first year, so that is what we are hoping and praying for. The plan is to give her this medication for the next 6-9 months. Then they will take her off and see if she goes into tachycardia again. If not - great - if so - she will go back on meds until she is 3 or 4 at which time if she still goes into tachycardia they will consider surgery - which is done through cathetar. So obviously our hope and prayer is that she will grow out of it in the next few months!
While we were in the hospital, they had us take infant CPR training and we bought a stethoscope so we can monitor her heart rate. She was totally fine for about 4 weeks, but then last Friday I checked her heart rate while I was cleaning up the camp site (we had finally decided to attempt camping again) and I couldn't count it. So I took her back into the city (we were only 20 minutes away) and to emergency.
3 nurses and a doctor tried for an hour to get an IV into her, as the drug that slows the heart is given by intrevenous. After that was unsuccessful, they called Saskatoon for advice and decided to attempt to slow her heart by dunking her head in a bowl of ice water for 2 seconds. Sounds weird, heh? And I mean her whole head! So it was scary, but it worked. It shocks the heart into stopping for a split second and then it restarts at a regular pace. They kept her on the monitor for 3 hours and once she remained stable they let me go home. So we just came back to the house and went back to the campsite in the morning to get Greg and the girls. Since then we have finally gotten a cell phone, in case it happens again at some weird time.
I guess the blessing is that even at the Pasqua hospital (that doesn't have a neo-natal unit) they were prepared, and knew what to do. I won't take her to that hospital again though, because the other one in the city has a neo-natal unit, and a neo nurse may have had an easier time getting an IV started. She had about 30 (no exaggeration) poke holes all over her tiny body from where they tried to start an IV. Hands, feet, wrists, elbows and even one in her forehead.

It is so odd though, because she seems so healthy! Growing, smiling!

Here is a couple pics from today!