A hospital stay

The first couple of weeks of November have definitely proved to be interesting and memorable. Everything actually started before Halloween, with Lucas having a low grade fever the Friday evening before Halloween. On Saturday morning Lucas seemed to be doing okay, we brought Emma and Xavier to dance class, in their costumes and then headed over to Momstown Winnipeg's Boo Bash. Lucas was a little clingy to daddy, but really did enjoy himself. By Saturday evening, Lucas' fever spiked up really high, so we decided to stay close to home. Monday morning I called the pediatrician's office and talked to the head nurse. Listing his symptoms combined to the fact that he is 18 months old, she assumed he was coming down with baby measles, if his fever had not broken by the next morning and spots had not appeared, we were to call back.
As it was Halloween, I had made arrangements to go over to my mom's place. My sister would come out with me and the older two while Lucas stayed behind. That was the plan. When Lucas saw we were going out without him, he was not impressed. I took him out for about a block or so before heading back to my mom's place with him.
It's important to note, Lucas had not once pulled or tugged at his ear. He was irritable, cranky, had trouble sleeping, hardly was eating anything and was not wanting to drink either. If he had been tugging at his ear, I would have brought him in, instead we waited.
Tuesday morning arrives and poor little Lucas has a fever of 39.8 C, his left eye also has a pinkish mark around it. I called the peds office and she arranged for us to see the substitute pediatrician in the morning. He was diagnosed with an angry ear infection, which surprised me since he not once tugged or pulled at his ears. He was also slightly dehydrated. We needed to concentrate giving him liquids and not worry about solids. He was prescribed amoxicillin and a follow up for Thursday was scheduled.
On Wednesday morning Lucas's eye was swollen shut. Since the doctor had seen him on Tuesday and was doing a follow-up on Thursday, I decided to google his symptoms. Let me just say this, google does not have all the answers. From what I could find, the answers seemed to be either he was rubbing his eye too much or it was an allergic reaction. Since we started giving Lucas Advil on Monday as per the nurses advice, I thought maybe it was allergic reaction and I stopped giving him advil. I wasn't terribly worried since we had a follow up on Thursday and both the doctor and nurse had seen his eye on Tuesday.
Thursday morning I debated going to a planned event. I felt Lucas seemed to be doing alright, so we decided to go, everything seemed to go well, other than having a swollen eye. Oh and I was also positive he didn't have pink eye, because his actual eye ball seemed completely unaffected.
Afternoon rolls around and I head over to the doctors with Lucas. The waiting room was packed and there were about 5 people ahead of us just to get registered! As I'm waiting with Lucas, the nurse comes with a big smile on her face and asks: "How is Lucas doing?" When I turn him around to face her, her expression completed changed and mentioned she needed to find us a room right away, since we weren't registered yet we had to wait. I could see the nurse pacing waiting for us to be registered, when we were getting registered I hardly had time to put my medical card back in my wallet when the nurse called out "room 5". That's the quickest we've ever been shown to a room in this clinic! The doctor came into the room almost right away. He took one look at Lucas and diagnosed him with cellulitis, a bacterial infection. He said I had two choices, he could prescribe an antibiotic but it could take a couple of weeks for the infection to go away or bring him to Children's Hospital where they would administer medication intravenously and we would see results right away. He strongly suggested the hospital route and since I didn't want to see my little boy suffer for two extra weeks for this, I agreed with him. While the doctor called Children's to let them know we were coming, the nurse photocopied all his notes. My sister was just finishing her shift in the Heart Failure Clinic upstairs, so she drove Lucas and I (using our van) to Children's so I wouldn't have to leave our van there and was able to bring it back home for me.
We went in through the Children's emergency, let them know why we were there and handed over the doctor's photocopied notes. They took Lucas's vitals and whisked us to an isolation room, because the ER was full. A few different nurses and med students came in and finally home of the ER docs. She gave us the choice of being admitted or come in as an outpatient a couple of times per day while still having an intravenous tube, but all bandaged up while at home. The outpatient works better on an older patient, they find it more traumatic on the little ones to be an outpatient, so I decided that we get admitted. After a little while we were put in a room in the ER where Lucas was able to watch cartoons, but also received his IV tube, let's just say he wasn't a very happy camper. The ER attending came in and within about 15 minutes we were brought up to our room.
The first night was a little rough, Lucas fell asleep sometime after 9pm and it took me much longer. He woke up at around 3am and partied until close to 5am. Richard arrived at the hospital sometime after 9am with Xavier and we switched off. Xavier and I rushed back home so that I could have a shower and some breakfast before E arrived to be babysat for the day, and boy, I just made it under the gun. I had my final homework (worth 40%) of my final mark due that day, I was planning on working on it the night Lucas was admitted to the hospital, so I had to put a fire under my butt and really get it done! Luckily the boys had preschool and I was able to finish typing everything up and sending it in just under the wire. As soon as E was picked up for the day (Emma was already home from school) we went straight to the hospital to meet up with Lucas (who had switched rooms) and Richard. Lucas seemed to be doing better. We discovered the Ronald McDonald Family Room which is awesome, they had a big screen TV, toys for the kids, colours and paper for them to draw on, there is a kitchen where you can get milk, juice, you can make your own food and it in the dining area, there are always homemade treats being baked by the volunteers and internet access, the place was wonderful. A good break. This second night went a bit better and both Lucas and I slept better. By Saturday, Lucas's eye seemed to swell up a little bit again, so the doctor decided to change his medication to something a bit stronger, so instead of having a syringe full of med being put into his IV for 3 minutes, he was now being hooked up to a machine for 45 minutes or so. It didn't take long to notice that this medication had a better effect. During the afternoon Gen came to pick up Emma and Xavier so they could go to Xavier W's birthday party. On Saturday night Richard convinced me to let him stay overnight, it was a hard decision to make but Emma and Xavier really wanted to me to come home with them. I cried all the way home and Xavier kept asking why I was so sad. sigh. Needless to say both kids slept with me that night. As soon as everyone was awake, we quickly dressed, rushed to McD's for take-out breakfast and straight to the hospital. Apparently at 5am, when they went to give Lucas his medication, his IV came out, they tried to put it in his right hand, but it didn't work, so finally they put it in his right arm, poor little guy. I felt even worse about leaving the little guy, at least though Richard was with him.
Since Sunday was my birthday, my family decided to meet up with us in the Ronald McDonald Family Room and have some take out Boston Pizza for supper. Lucas slept through almost the entire time the were there. Little guy. Finally by Monday we were able to get released from the hospital with a prescription for more meds to be given orally. He has been doing better, there is still a dark mark under his eye, but the doctor said that was normal and should go away within the next couple of weeks. He has had a bit of a mild fever yesterday and today, so who knows if we really are out of the woods.

Bumpy beginnings

Xavier had a terrible time adjusting to our new rhythm of life these past couple of weeks. With E coming four days a week as part of our daycare family it was almost like bringing home a new baby. He seemed afraid that he was losing his "spot". He had quite a few melt downs the first week and the stress caused him to regress by having a few "accidents" and wetting the bed a few times each week. It was eye opening to me and I had to pull out my bag of parental tricks to help him realise he just as important as he's always been and we love him just the same.
Add to all this the fact that Emma, his BFF, started kindergarten, let's just say it's been a challenge. He is much better now. The things that did help, is that E is a pretty laid back kid, phew, and he started going to preschool. He missed his preschool teacher over the summer and going back into her class (even though the physical classroom has changed) has given some stability back into his life.
Emma, on her side, LOVES going to school and going on the bus. In fact she loves taking the bus so much, she refuses to come back with us in the car when I go to pick up Xavier and E from preschool. Luckily we get home a full 20 minutes before the bus which gives us leeway when everybody's in snowsuits.
Xavier misses Emma so much that he will actually run out the door and jump into Emma's arms when she gets off the bus. So incredibly cute! Lucas is also very happy to see his big sister come home.
I love how excited Emma is to tell me all about her day, I've already learnt three new songs and one new dance from her already =) I hope this excitement follows her through until the end of her university studies, hehe.
Lucas has really been enjoying his 2.5, 3 days a week, of one on one time. He's such a cutie. Although I don't mind doing errands and grocery shopping with my whole gang, I love it when I can go with just Lucas. He's so cute in the store and such a flirt.

New beginnings

We are already in the month of September and this time next week Emma will have completed her first full day of kindergarten, a big milestone in the life of a young child.
This month seems to be full of new and exciting beginnings.
Emma will transform from a little caterpillar until a beautiful butterfly as she ventures into the new world of school.
Xavier will be entering into pre-school, three times a week, venturing to make new friends and get his caterpillar ready for its chrysalis.
Lucas will discover life with just Maman three days a week and of course continue to grow, learning new things, new words.
Another new beginning the unofficial start my daycare! I don't have my licence yet, but I am able to take care of four children including my own until I get my licence! This means the new official member of our daycare family will be starting on Tuesday. I am very excited about this. Emma fully understands that E will be part of our daycare family and will be here four times a week, the boys not so much. Whenever I tell Xavier that E will be here four days a week, he asks why? LOL. I am sure the beginning will be a little rough, but hopefully I can plan enough activities and crafts to keep them busy.
Keeping on the daycare vine, the basement is starting to take shape, which has gotten me really excited. All the walls are primed and one has a first coat of paint. Once we get all the paint up, next comes the flooring. It's all coming together. Good things come to those who wait and new beginnings.

Fun in the sun

We definitely have had a busy but fun summer. Part of that is because of this great new moms group that has formed recently in Winnipeg calleds Momstown Winnipeg. We've had car wash play dates, tonnes of stroller walks, play dates at the new Nature Playground in Assiboine Park, an outing to tinkertown and even an outing just for moms!
This group is so good for me and for the kids.
It gets us out of the house doing things with other people. Hopefully it will also garner some friendships for the kiddies and for me. I am definitely in need of expanding my social circle. I am so insecure with myself, however, I am constantly afraid of doing or saying something wrong. Gah! I need to learn to relax and try to convince myself I'm someone that other people can/do like. Why is this so hard? I always wonder how making friends seem to be so easy for other people.
I just need to relax.
How did this blog about fun in the sun turn into my self esteem issues? LOL. I was thinking of deleting that part, but I've decided to leave it on here as a reminder to myself.
Let's get back to topic. I really love picnics and thankfully this summer we've managed to have a picnic every week. Some were more organised, other were thrown together last minute and one was just me alone with the kids in the park, literally. Every single one of them was well worth it. It's so much fun hanging out at the park with the kids.
We've made it to the beach once this year, better than none last year, hopefully next year there will be more trips to the beach though! However, it's not totally lost for this year, even though tomorrow is September 1. EGADS! 9 more days and Emma reaches another milestone: kindergarten! I have mixed feelings about this one :-S
We did spend some time earlier this month at the CanadInns. The kids had a blast, we spent most of the time in the pool, a lot of times we were the only ones there! Xavier hardly swam though, he just going on the slide! LOL! What a guy. He will definitely be my daredevil.
All of these activities however, have hampered my concentration on my homework, so I really need to kick my butt and get my homework done for the end of next week. (that's my personal deadline). We'll see how things go!

Lovely summer days

I've been busy with enumerating for the upcoming Provincial election, other than that we've also enjoying summer!
It was sweltering hot, which I love! My niece came over for a sleepover and we played outside a lot. Played in the sprinkler, played a water game and went to the nearby outdoor pool.
We've also been enjoying weekly picnics/play dates in the park. It's been a lot of fun.
I can not believe we are almost to the end of July. Received a letter last week telling us what time Emma will be taking the bus, her intro into the world of Kindergarten is starting to feel more real. I can wait until the end of the summer for the rest of the info though, don't need to be reminded of fall/winter. LOL!
Right now we are having a slumber party (part two) in the living room. Xavier was the first one to fall asleep sometime just after 7pm, poor little guy was so excited. The next one to fall asleep was Emma around 10pm! I think I'll have to make sure she takes a nap sometime in the afternoon tomorrow. Lucas was the little party goer this evening, he just went down at around 10:45pm! Oh boy! I hope this means he will be waking sometime later than his usual 5:30am, please? fingers crossed...
Of course, Lucas is not sleeping in the living room, I put him in his bed.
I should get me own self to bed now! Ta ta for now!

Family, friends and good times

What a beautiful and HOT weekend. This is the weather I dream of all winter long. What bliss. Saturday was the Frog Follies in St-Pierre-Jolys. We jumped into the van and picked up my sister early to make it down for the parade, which is the highlight for the kids (not the actual parade, but the candies being thrown to them)! Richard picked up my Danika and Kieran to join us while their parents were very busy with the St-Malo farmers market.
The kids had a lot of fun on the bouncy castle/slides and in the kids tent where they went from one station to the next. They also played on the new play structure and got spray on tattoos. After lunch was finished we headed to St-Malo to cool off at the Beach.
All the kids had a blast at the beach. I think Lucas really loves the beach! He would come up for a minute to the grassy area where we had a stuff to have a snack/drink and immediately run back down to the shore line. He didn't want to get in too deep, but he enjoyed getting his feet wet and playing in the sand.
Once adequately cooled off, we headed back to St-Pierre and enjoyed a nice pizza supper with my dad and Lucille. Lucas slept almost the whole time we were there!


Sunday we had a play date/visit from our friends Shella, Tomo and Yoshi! It's always cute to see little ones playing together (Yoshi is only 10 months old). Lucas is starting to learn to play with other babes, but he would still get upset when Yoshi would play with one of his toys, especially the musical chair.
We moved the play date outside where Yoshi enjoyed playing in the little baby pool for the first time, it looked like he was having a good time. We enjoyed a nice supper of bbq hot dogs, except for Xavier who was being his usually picky self. Unfortunately I had to go to bed (in preparation for my midnight shift) before the visit was over. Overall though it was a very good day and a very good weekend!

Ah summer

I love beautiful summer days! I wish it could be summer all year long!
Yesterday was such a beautiful day. We started off the morning by going to "J'apprends en famille" with the lovely ladies from Pluri-elles. I really enjoy learning how to be a better parent, and I think my kids appreciate it as well! :)
Once we finished up there, we headed to Parc Provencher to have a picnic (which I prepared earlier that morning). The kids had a blast! Playing on both the play structure and the splash pad, too bad I forgot my camera at home! Luckily Uncle Tony and Tante Nicole joined us for part of the day and took (hopefully) tonnes of photos. Can't wait to see them (wink, wink, nudge, nudge). Joëlle also joined us with Lucas' friend Gabriel and Maélie. There`s nothing cuter than watching a group of 1 year old kiddies play, hehe.
Before heading home, we stopped in quickly at the manor where I work to get some ice cream and strawberries (they were have a Strawberry ice cream social). The kids had the patience to just eat their ice cream and go! LOL!
Once home, the kids played in the pool with Richard while Lucas napped and I rested/prepared supper.
I wish everyday could be a fun summer's day.

Perfect day =)

Today was just one of those really lovely days.
The weather was better than could be expected.
In the morning we had a "car wash" play date organised by the Winnipeg Momstown chapter. The weather was really warm, but overcast with a nice breeze, perfect for the little munchkins. The kids had a really good time. Each mom brought a ride on car for their kids to wash. Emma and Xavier took their seriously and with much enthusiasm. Unfortunately, I was so busy chatting with the other moms, I forgot to take photos! I know! Me, forget to take pictures??? What??? I discovered two of the moms (who are sisters) have a Chilean background and one of the other moms is Mexican. The best part was that these moms were speaking Spanish to their kids! Since Richard doesn't speak enough Spanish to our kids, I think these ladies might have a good linguistic influence on them ;)
We came home to a spotless kitchen and lunch being cooked, thanks to Richard and Karina. Didn't have to do anything at lunch but eat!
After lunch Karina decided to take Emma and Xavier on a bus/shopping adventure! Lucas was the happiest boy on earth when he realised he had both parents all to himself! After Richard went to work, Lucas and I went on a lovely walk. We walked on Lyndale Drive (in the Norwood Flats) which runs along the Red River. Lucas really enjoyed this part. We kept walking until we arrived at Mémère's house (which preceded a 5 min freak deluge!)
Lucas was just as happy to see his Mémère as she was to see him. It was so nice to have a visit with just the three of us. Mémère even commented on nice a quiet it was =) After having a nice supper thanks to Pasquale's, Lucas and I headed home.
Lucas fell asleep just blocks from home where Emma and Xavier were already playing in the pool for a nice cool down. Karina and I joined them, well I only wet myself to my knees, at least I was there.
Now all three babes are snug as a bug ;)
What a perfect day...

Hellooo out there =)

So much has happened since the last time I blogged! I really need to prioritize some time to sit here and write. It would be nice to have something to show the kids when they are older.
Lucas is now a year old, running around, climbing, putting everything in his mouth! He's such a sweet little boy. His favourite thing to climb is the living room coffee table. Once he succeeds to make it, he quickly does a dance before we take him off! What a cheeky monkey!
Xavier is growing like a weed! That child is so tall, he'll be massive when he's older! He is extremely inquisitive and some scrapes/bruises as evidence.
Emma is really looking forward to starting kindergarten in the fall, especially the part where she takes the bus! She'll ask me every other day if this is the day to go to school. I'll have to remind her of this when she's a teenager ! LOL!

Lucas walking around

Our weekend

As Richard still has a lot of work to do in the basement, I've been trying to keep the kids busy and out of the house.
On Saturday we decided to go to the Festival of Fools at The Forks. Emma invited Mémère to come along with us and I think she had a good time. When we first arrived there was a magician/clown making a whole bunch of different sizes and shapes of bubbles. The kids seemed thoroughly impressed. Once the show was over, we headed to the craft area. Xavier was feeling a bit tired so he just relaxed in the stroller, whereas Lucas walked around everywhere. Emma made a paper bag puppet and an cape with different coloured ribbons. Afterward we headed over to the line up for face painting, Xavier was not interested and actually fell asleep. While waiting in line we watched a fire juggler and Emma got her face painted to look like a dalmatian.


On Sunday it was time for World of Wheels! The kids and I headed out to the Convention Centre to see all the classic cars, race cars and motorcycles. Xavier and Emma even got to sit in a race car!

After looking at all the nice cars, we also had a chance to meet a couple of celebrities. First Emma met with Noah Munck "Gibby" from iCarly, luckily my camera was working and she got a picture taken with him. Then we got the chance to meet Captain Jonathan Hilstrand from Deadliest Catch. Since my camera is tempermental it didn't work when security tried to take the picture. Snap! At least I have a signed photo that says "Micheline, shut up and fish!" hehehehe! Love it!

After supper we decided to go for a family swim. The kids were so excited. Lucas actually squealed when we got out to the pool. He was so cute! We really had a great time. Emma and I even had a chance to sit in the whirlpool =)
Unfortunately I was feeling sick by the time we got home and was really sick overnight. I started to feel better now, so I'm thinking maybe it was something I ate? Who knows. At least we had a good weekend!

Good thing we have nothing planned for today, this way I can "rest" as best as I can with three kids at home.
Hope everyone has a great spring break!!

Life is going 100 miles an hour

Wow! I can not believe how fast time seems to be flying these days. I remember as a child thinking how time took its good old time. So funny how our perspectives change.
Emma is now 5 years old! Unbelievable, I remember when she was just newborn. In just over 5 months she'll be heading off to kindergarten. She really is developing in such a little lady. She loves crafting and is quite independent, all I have to do is put out the supplies. She has created some beautiful and unique little crafts! That's my girl.

Xavier is still having some issues with his iron, but it's definitely much better nowadays, we're keeping on the medication however, until he becomes a better eater. He also has some hayfever, so he taking some meds for that now and the eczema still continues to affect in, poor guy. Developmentally however, he's doing great. We filled out an ASQ questionnaire and he seems to be hitting all the milestones head on. That's my boy!

Speaking of milestones, Lucas continues to be ahead of the curve. He started walking just before Emma's birthday, so he was technically still 9 months old when he started =)
Now all he wants to do is walk around everywhere, he's even running in his own little wadly baby style, it's so cute to watch. He really enjoys climbing up the stairs and is really hankering to try climbing down the stairs, Maman's not ready for that!

All in all I'm feeling really blessed with my little trio and absolutely love spending time with them.

Spring break is here and we have a lot planned, so hopefully I'll have time to update the blog during the week detailing all our little adventures =)

Baby girl is growing up

Time flies when you're having fun.
At the end of the month Emma will 5 years old. Unbelievable.
Today I had an appointment to register Emma for kindergarten. Come September she'll be a big girl taking the bus to and from school, gone all day.
Emma is really turning into a big girl. She definitely has her very own character, a strong one at that. She is looking so much bigger to me almost every day. Some days she seems so much older and mature. She has even worked with me to plan her birthday party with her friends, including a theme she chose, what kind of birthday cake and the activities we will be doing. Amazing.
That's my baby girl =)

Muddling through the winter blues

It's official. I'm done with winter. Unfortunately winter is not done with us.
Even Emma is showing signs of wanting winter gone. Only today she was mentioning that she is wanting to play in her sandbox and swim in an outdoor pool. Le sigh.
On Friday we received a good old dumping of snow. It was snowing so hard I could hardly see a stoplight just one block away from me!
Of course, being a hardy Winnipegger (as opposed to a stay indoors and hide Torontonian LOL, jk), we still went to our baby group. After being there for only two hours, there was at least 5cm of snow my van! Driving definitely was slow going, but we did manage to get gas, bring Emma to preschool and pick up Richard after his dentist appointment.
Richard took over the driving, we got some fast food for lunch from A&W, I like their Swiss Veggie Burger, although you usually have to wait extra time for it to be ready.
Richard then dropped my off at the walk-in clinic. I had a headache for one week already by that point. I think because of the snow storm, the place was virtually empty. I was in and out in about 15 minutes. I actually had to wait longer for my prescription to be filled! LOL.
I walked over to the Salvation Army and picked up a few good deals for the kiddies. Afterward I walked over to Emma's school where Richard and the boys met up with us.
We were supposed to go Le Centre Crée for Soirée Pijama (Pajama movie night), but we decided to stay home. It's on a small side street and with all the snow, we figured it would be too tough to find parking.
All week since then we've been stuck in a deep freeze, today it finally warmed up, but the kids all have a cold so we're still indoors. Hopefully the weather will still stay nice at least for a few days.
I miss going to the park and I miss doing picnics.

Long overdue update

Oh boy. It has been a while since I've written on our little blog.
I am committing myself to take some time, at least once a week, to write on here. Even if nobody reads this, it's nice for me to see to look back.
The past couple of months have been really busy.
I have really been enjoying staying at home with the kids. I love being able to drive Emma and Xavier to school and back. I love going to different Healthy baby classes and connecting with other moms. I'm really not looking forward to going back into the work force :(
Lucas is now 9 months old today! Incredible how quickly he's grown. He has been crawling since he's 5 months old and he's quite fast. He's been walking around the furniture for quite a while. He can stand on his own and he has even taking one or two steps without realizing it. I thinking he may be walking by 10 months, Xavier was walking at that age, so we'll see.
Xavier keeps growing, if he gets any taller, people will think he and Emma are twins! He's so tall. He turned 3 years old in November and he's doing very well developmentally . He really does enjoy going to preschool and playing with his friends. He had his first dance recital in December. It was so cute. I can't wait for the big recital in June.
Emma is always growing and looking like a little lady to me every day. She will be 5 years old in just one month! Amazing. She, of course, has already planned out her entire birthday party, which will have a Rapunzel theme. So cute. She is definitely much more interactive with her party planning ideas this year. In just over a week I will be having a meeting at her school to sign her up for kindergarten! How time flies when you're having fun =)