Old iPhone Memories

Here are a couple pictures from when we first moved here. Dayton was a few months shy of 2 and Saige was 10 weeks old. Hard to believe Dayton will be starting 1st grade in August and Saige will be turning 4 this summer!!





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Keeping Up With The Times

I decided that it might be worthwhile to learn the ins and outs of blogging from my iPhone. You see, I have thousands of photos on my iPhone and no way to document them. I mean, what is the point of having all these pictures stored on my phone if I never use them? My blog is meant to document our lives so that one day the children will be able to have a book of memories from their childhood. Call it a modern day baby book of sorts. While my photos usually make it to Facebook for people to look at and comment on, that doesn't do my children any good. Besides, I have tons of photos on my phone that predate my Facebook account activation. I often sift through them when I need a good laugh. Since my phone is always with me, I am more frequently able to document those moments that the children one day will hate me for. Stay tuned....I'm going on a hunt.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Where Did My Baby Go?

Addley is 20 months, soon to be 21 months, but really going on 2.  Today she woke up saying "eat [pause] now" (I need to add the pause because that is how she speaks...with giant pauses between words).  When we got downstairs she proceeded to get out the box of cereal, reach on her tippy toes to get a spoon out of the drawer, open the box of cereal (actually a rubbermaid container), get a bowl out and use her cute little fists to fill her bowl!  Then she said "milk [pause] pease".  Seriously, when did my little baby grow up?  And why donʻt I have any recent pictures of her?  A project I must add to next weeks spring break list!

The TsuMommy

Who knew that before falling asleep last night we would be under a tsunami warning?  Who knew that there would be so much devastation in so many places following that horrific earthquake in Japan?  The sirens started sounding off at 10pm last night and the news said to expect a significant tsunami about 3am.  While I knew that we would be under no immediate threat (we live about a mile in from the coast but we are WAY up high) I still was unable to sleep last night.  After seeing some of the aftermath footage in Japan, sleep was the last thing on my mind.  They said that from the time of the quake until the 23+ foot tsunami hit Japanʻs shores, the people only had about 15 minutes.  How scary.  Hawaii had plenty of warning.  On an island, you cannot help but be close to the ocean....unless you live in the middle.  I couldnʻt imagine being out somewhere with the children and experiencing an earthquake of 8.9 magnitude nevermind a tsunami 15 minutes later.  As much as I LOVE the beach and love the ocean, I am almost always on edge when there (if I have the kids with me).  Perhaps it is the pessimist in me, or the worry wart or perhaps it is just that "mama gene".  I am always wondering what my escape route would be if I had the 3 kids with me.  15 minutes given the right circumstances, can seem like an eternity...during a natural disaster that is nothing.

Fortunately, the kids slept through the hourly sirens.  Well, not Addley, but she doesnʻt sleep much anyhow.  Unfortunately for Scott and I, the sirens and the constant cell phone vibrations from worried friends and family kept us up.  It reminded me of hurricane Katrina days.  Statewide, schools were closed today.  Most kids would be excited, mine were disappointed.  They were supposed to be participating in Jump For Heart Day.  Dayton was asking a bunch of questions about the tsumommy.  He watched some of the news, and for a 5 year old, he was pretty stunned by the damage the ocean caused.  He kept saying "wow, that wave took over the whole town."  For any of our friends that may have friends or family affected by this disaster, our thoughts are with you and for any of our friends and family thinking of us, we thank you.

Making Time and Taking Time

We say it all the time, "I need to make time for this or for that..."  How does one actually do that though?  It is impossible to make time, to have more hours in a day...it seems like a nice concept, a luxury even.  I am always behind in my blogging, in my picture uploading, in my picture taking even and I cannot figure out why.  We live in a day and age with so much technology that is supposed to help us stay organized and "make time" (so to speak) and yet somehow it complicates things.  For instance, back in the day (actually not all that long ago) we used film in cameras and took them in to get developed and voila, a stack of pictures to put in a photo album.  Now we can take literally hundreds of photos and save them on this tiny piece of plastic.  Am I the only one that is literally years behind in having pictures printed?  Like right now for instance, I have a huge list of things to do and yet Iʻve decided to "take time" for myself to blog.  It is a beautiful sunny day outside and I can think of a million better things to do than sit in front of a computer, but the only way to get one thing accomplished is to let other things slide.  If any of you out there have found some method to keep your life balanced, please share...I have yet to figure it out.  I wanted to share some pictures that need sharing.  Some special ones from Christmas that have not yet found their way into a photo album (but one day will).

This is a picture of Grammie, YaYa, Dayton & Saige.  The kids LOVED their time with Great-Grammie and I know she equally loved her time spent with them.

My beach babies are getting too big!

This is a good example of why I am literally years behind in printing pictures - I take too many!  I LOVE sibling pictures; especially when they donʻt know Iʻm taking their picture.

Great Grammie taking it all in!  This was her first trip to Hawaii.

Childrenʻs Christmas Program

This year both Dayton and Saige were involved in their school Christmas program at the church.  And while it was a miserable rainy day, it was a heartwarming performance.  It was Daytonʻs first year to play the part of the first wiseman and as his mother, I was so proud of his speech in front of the whole church; albeit a short one.  It was Saigeʻs first year to perform in front of a large crowd - she was excited leading up to the performance but I think she got a little shy and nervous when it was time to sing.  She kind of went through the motions but didnʻt really look like she was having fun.  She is such an outgoing and loud personality at home, I am always amazed at how quiet and reserved she is in public.  Scott was away on a trip this year so he missed it, but in his place was cousin Ryan and his (awesome I might add) girlfriend Carly.  Of course Addley was also present and she throughly enjoyed emptying my purse, sneaking snacks in church and lying on the floor to peer around the pew to see what was going on.

Thanksgiving 2010 - much to be thankful for.

My blog photo uploader appears to be magically working again - I had pretty much given up on it if you couldnʻt tell from my lack of posts for the past 3 months!  One day I will get to all that youʻve missed, but for today...Thanksgiving 2010.  We did our annual family trip to Maui and stayed at The Four Seasons.  It was everything it always is...indulgent, impressive, relaxing, fun, beautiful weather, and most importantly, some great family time.  Grandpa and MomMom were able to join us.  The kids were so excited to see them.  This year Dayton attended the kids camp and loved every minute of it.  It was sort of sad that he didnʻt want to spend much time with us but I completely understood.  Each day was a different themed day full of both indoor and outdoor activities.  He was exhausted by the end of each day but full of smiles.  And that is what vacation is all about.  The girls spent their mornings in the pool and their afternoons napping.  The adults had time to do a bit of everything...pool time, shopping time, spa time, and the guys even snuck in a little bit of football time.  I decided to try our annual family photo again and for once the kids were somewhat agreeable.  Of course I did have to bribe them a little bit.

This was a test picture I took of MomMom with Saige.  It actually turned out really cute.  Wish Iʻd thought to tell Saige to take off her purple flipflops though.  

This picture was taken on our way out to dinner one night.  Not the best picture by any means, but at least all the kids are looking in the correct direction.

A sweet shot of the grandparents and grandkids.

Iʻm not going to nitpick this photo (although I could) - everyone is smiling AND looking!

My beautiful Saige.  Age 3.

I pat myself on the back for this one!  If you recall last year, all attempts resulted in tears and fussing and nobody would look at the camera.  I still managed a beautiful shot last year, but only because I made it a black and white.  Everything looks better in black and white.  Well, this year I am proud to show off my 3 beautiful babies in color!  Dayton (5), Saige (3), & Addley (16 months)

Iʻm very thankful this year.  For many things.

One Last Addley Update

We had our follow up neurology appointment this week with Addley to review all the tests and figure out where to go next.  The Dr. was pleased to know that everything came back normal, though she wasn't too surprised and actually gave us some positive news.  She prefaced it by saying "your child has NOT followed the typical pattern of breath holding" but typically children grow out of it by the age of 2.  She said it is possible that it last as long as age 5 or 6, but typically (again that word) between 18 months and age 2 you will see a remarkable difference.  I'm hesitant to type it or even say it, but we haven't had a spell since that bad one that caused the 3 minute seizure in early July.  We've certainly had LOTS of bumps and bruises and tears since then, but none have provoked an episode.  This is the longest she has gone without having one.  I am hoping, praying and keeping every finger and toe crossed that perhaps she IS outgrowing it and just maybe I can rest a little easier.  The more time that passes without incident is a GREAT sign.  Our next follow up isn't until 4 months from now.  In the mean time, she goes about her crazy business without a care in the world and certainly no concept of fear.  Her newest thing is to try and jump off the two steps in the office - she watches her siblings compete to see who can jump the furthest.  Of course, she cannot jump yet, so instead just sort of trips and falls down the steps and lands in a heap of giggles.

Addleyʻs Update

Today I took Addley to her cardiology appointment to have the EKG and echo performed that "should" have been done during her hospital admission.  She was of course traumatized by it all and the doctor was upfront in saying that typically children that age cannot undergo an echo without sedation.  I explained to him the miscommunication that happened and said I wanted to try, since I did not (and do not) want to undergo another sedation unless absolutely necessary.  Turns out the EKG was more difficult than the echo as she kept pulling all the wires off of her.  Once I held her arms tight enough she started using her feet to remove them...what a stinker.  For the echo I just held her and he scanned her easily.  She cried the whole time but I think she was sufficiently worn out and just wanted the whole thing to be over.  Poor thing whimpered and whimpered.  The good news is that everything looks great.  A perfectly healthy heart!  Relief.  So that leaves us with a follow up appointment Sept 8th with the neurologist who will likely say to monitor episodes and that this is just something she'll grow out of.  As YaYa recently told me (and yaya's know quite a bit of stuff)...."she's just another drama queen".

I Don't Want To Grow Up

What do you say when your 4 year old says "Mommy, I don't want to grow up"?  I suppose this is where I should add that it was said with a quiver in his lip and a tear in his eye!  Seriously.  7:30 this morning and that is what I am dealing with.  I asked him why and he got more tears in his eyes and said, "I don't want to get bigger, I just want to be who I am and be me."  I tried to laugh it off and say "I don't want to grow up either" but he was having no part of that.  This was obviously something very important to him and he wanted to have a serious conversation about it.  I told him that everything grows.  Trees, flowers, babies, grandparents....and no matter who or how big he grew up to be, he would always be my little boy and I would always love him.  He asked me if God decided how big he would be.  He told me he didn't want to be different and that grown ups don't have fun.  I told him growing up meant lots of fun things like: sleepovers, staying up later, playing sports, going on special trips, making lots of friends, learning how things work in the world....truthfully, I was having a hard time having this conversation.  I wanted to say, "I don't want you to grow up either", "I don't want you to change", "There are lots of things about growing up that are scary and difficult."  My little 4 year old IS growing up, and he IS changing and while I am super excited to share this journey with him, I am so sad at  how fast it is going.  Fortunately by the end of our conversation (just as I was putting breakfast on the table), he turned back into my sweet and smart little 4 year old and said, "Mom, I'm just not going to eat my breakfast so I won't grow."  Ahhhh....if only it were that simple.

You Be The Judge

Every so often I like to dig up pictures of the kids around the same age just to compare - I am always hearing mixed reviews about who looks like who.  These three pictures were taken at the 1 year mark.  Iʻve certainly improved with my picture taking - poor Dayton doesnʻt have any good baby pictures.  

So Sweet I Just Had To Share

So I bought Dayton some new socks for school (he starts Kindergarten Aug 24th) and I was second guessing his size because they just looked a little big.  I get really bothered when I see kids with their socks all munched up in their shoes for some reason.  This morning I was taking the tags off to put them in the laundry basket and I asked him to try one on to see if they fit.  He wanted to know why, so I told him they just looked a little big for him and I wasnʻt sure if I bought the right size....cause you know 4 year olds require an explanation for EVERYTHING.  He put one on and sure enough it fit...I said something like this:  "Wow, youʻre getting so big and it makes me so sad."  He said, "Thatʻs okay mom, Iʻll always be your little boy."  Talk about make my heart melt and bring tears to my eyes.  Kids just say the funniest and sweetest things sometimes.

Hanalei Bay, Kauai

It seems I am finally getting around to adding more pictures  to the blog from our trip to Kauai.  If you have never visited, I highly recommend it.  Such a pristine and slow paced island.  When I moved from Canada to Southern Louisiana, it took me some time to adjust to the slower pace of life and relaxed attitude of the locals.  Weather dictates some of that Iʻm sure.  In Canada it is so darn cold all the time it is no wonder most are in a rush to get somewhere.  Quite the opposite in the south - the heat and humidity cause you to sweat before you even go outside and once out there you are overcome by this hot blanket that causes one to feel and move slower.  (at least that is one of my theories)  In Hawaii, life is just...well, different.  Hawaii is on its own time.  The locals have no concept of deadlines.  If someone here says they will be at your house at 9am, they really mean 10:30.  While most would say traffic is to blame (and while that is likely), I say it is just the way of life here.  When I say here, I mean on the island of Oahu (where we live).  Well, Kauai is even slower paced.  Even the wild chickens and roosters havenʻt a care in the world.  It was very easy to feel as though you were on vacation right away rather than need a day to "unwind".  You wonʻt see a lot of people in any of my pictures (even though our resort was at maximum capacity).  

An early morning picture of Hanalei Bay.

A zoomed shot of the coast on the far side of Hanalei Bay.

Low tide at the resort beach.  We always love hunting for shells and sea life during low tide.  We saw quite a few sting rays (babies) but I never managed to get a picture of one.

A shot from the beach during low tide.

The same shot with the tide coming in.  Very cool.

Rainbows Of Kauai

I never really get tired of photographing rainbows.  Hawaii IS the rainbow state and it certainly lives up to its name.  While we were in Kauai, we must have seen at least one rainbow every single day - right outside our window.  My favorite picture is the last one.  I think it is remarkable how beautiful and sunny it is on one side of the rainbow and how stormy it is on the other.  Somehow, the camera just never does a rainbow justice.

Wednesdayʻs Hospital Visit And Todayʻs Update

An update for those of you I have not spoken to..Wednesday was Addleyʻs hospital admission for a sedated EEG and EKG.  While she was not a happy baby, sleep deprived and food deprived, she tolerated the procedure well.  She didnʻt particularly like having vitals hooked up to her nor the process of the oral sedation, but she doesnʻt know how lucky she was to NOT have to have an IV or general.  I am thankful for that.  I tolerated the procedure well and only shed a few tears - it really humbled me because there are so many parents that have to deal with medical procedures for their children on a daily basis.  I am thankful for my childrenʻs health.  Following the procedure we learned that the EKG had not been done and that apparently the neurologistʻs office did not feel it necessary.  I was a little skeptical of this since the doctor had told me otherwise at our previous appointment.  Following the EEG it took a little bit of time for her to "wake up" but she was able to stomach some apple juice and consequently they sent us home.  I was surprised at how unstable she was the remainder of the day.  It was like her brain was awake telling her to do all her normal activities but her body was non compliant.  I suppose it was equivalent to being drunk.  Funny to watch, but a little exhausting to care for.  We monitored her for 24hrs and of course by Thursday morning she was back to her old self.
On Thursday our pediatrician phoned to give us some preliminary results of the testing.  (Thank God because I wasnʻt prepared to wait for our follow up appointment with the neurologist September 8th).  Everything looked normal on the EEG.  Yay!  This wasnʻt really a surprise since the neurologist had said she was pretty sure it would come back normal.  And while this doesnʻt 100% rule out a seizure disorder, it makes it highly unlikely.  Good news.  I canʻt say I feel as though a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders because I still donʻt have any answers.  The pediatricianʻs opinion was that the neurologist would likely tell us to continue to monitor her episodes to see if they changed in frequency or intensity.  *sigh*
Thursday evening the neurologist called (I was shocked) to also tell me the preliminary results.  I asked a few questions and we talked about what the next step would be.  As suspected, the EKG was supposed to have been done and she has no idea who at the office would have indicated otherwise.  She hinted that perhaps the hospital was just being lazy and nobody actually called to verify.  I am aggravated at the communication mishap and wish that people would just do things right the first time.  Anyhow, we are now being referred to a pediatric cardiologist so that they can perform the EKG and do an echo (ultrasound) of her heart.  The reasoning behind this, is to rule out any possible cardiac arrhythmia's that may be predisposing Addley to having seizures when she breath holds.  If her blood pressure suddenly drops due to a sensitive vagus response; this could trigger a seizure.  Additionally, the neurologist mentioned that it is important to determine since it would be much more serious to overlook a heart problem than it is for a child to have continued seizures.  It sounds as though the procedure is actually quite quick and non-invasive and can be done in their office but I am just so aggravated that this all could have been done at one time while she was sedated and oblivious.  I mean, it isnʻt as though she is going to complacently lie on an exam table and allow them to ultrasound her heart! In the mean time, we just monitor.  We have her 12 month shots in 2 weeks and I am pretty sure the unexpected pain from that will trigger her to breath hold and seize so I will keep you updated on that.  In the mean time, I do my best to prevent injuries that most toddlers are prone to...a hard feat with my little daredevil.  This morning I caught her standing on Dayton's back while he was lying on the floor.  The travertine floor of course! Thank you for all of your calls, emails and texts.  Your support and concern has been greatly appreciated.

Addleyʻs Update

Addley is a year old now.  She is the sweetest little thing, loves attention, hugging, playing, laughing and following around her siblings.  Of the three children, she is the dare devil...the one with little to no fear to try anything she might see her brother or sister doing.  She was the earliest to walk independently at 10 months and since then there has been no stopping her.  With that independence and fearlessness comes plenty of opportunity for bumps and bruises.  Since she was about 6 months old we discovered that when she gets hurt she holds her breath when she cries.  At first we didnʻt know what was happening, but in retrospect I can see all the signs now.  There are different types of breath holding spells and I am by no means an expert in any of them, but it appears that Addleyʻs are the most rare type (and the most severe).  She experiences a combination of cyanotic and pallid spells that (unfortunately) trigger seizures.  Scott and I refer to them as "episodes" because at this point we have not been given a medical diagnosis or term to apply to them.  She experiences about 2 per month and all have resulted in varying degrees of seizures. (meaning how long they last or how long it takes for her to recover fully)  We finally got a neurological evaluation and the dr. agrees that they are breath holding spells of a severe form due to the seizures that they trigger.  They are not the common ones that people hear about in children who hold their breath during temper tantrums.  These are entirely reflexive and she has no control over them.  They do not happen every time she is hurt nor can we predict when a hurt happens if she will have a full blown episode.  Consequently, we have been scheduled for an EEG (to rule out a seizure disorder, which the dr seems confident it is not) and an EKG to determine if there are any abnormal rhythms in her heart that might be triggering the seizures during these injuries.  I have not blogged about this intentionally...mostly because I havenʻt had any answers to give to all the questions from friends and family, but also because Iʻve been in denial and hoping they would just go away.  From what Iʻve been told and read, children grow out of these episodes as late as the age of 6! Her tests are scheduled for Wednesday August 4th.  We both apologize if we have forgotten to give anyone updates regarding Addleyʻs episodes - at this point we have no answers.  Unfortunately, the test results will not be reviewed with us until our next appointment with the neurologist on September 8th.  I will try and keep you all updated as information is available.  

Kauai Part 2 Of Many

I'm not sure why, but each time we go somewhere I like to take pictures of the hotel rooms....and I like to take them as soon as we enter the room because they never quite look the same again.  We stayed in Princeville, which is on the northern side of the island.  Here is a picture of our room:

This was the view from our room.  The windows and screens slid all the way open.  I was a little nervous of the kids being up on the window bench because there was nothing to prevent them from ending up in the cliffs below.  I loved that you could lie in bed and feel like you were outside.

This was our bathroom.  Most fascinating to me was the privacy switch which fogged the window up.  How do those work?  

Here is a shot from inside the resort bar.  It had a huge outdoor space overlooking the Hanalei Bay.

This is the view from inside of the main dining area.

This is the bar/lounge.  

One of the many secret little outdoor spaces around the resort.

This was taken from the outdoor dining area.

Kauai 2010 Part 1 Of Many

As some of you know, we recently went on a 5 day trip to Kauai.  It is the third island that I've seen now and is by far the most beautiful.  I love how each of the islands has its own unique characteristics.  Kauai was more laid back and peaceful.  For those of you wondering, yes we had all 3 kids with us!  I know....kids and peaceful don't really go together do they?  Despite being surrounded by vacationers, it felt more low key and less busy than Maui or even home.  We apparently missed out on seeing Jennifer Anniston and Adam Sandler. Oh, and someone from Survivor got married while we were there.  Instead I spent a bit of time on a lounge chair and "talked story" (as the locals would say) with some folks from LA and another couple from NY.  Both sets were in the filming industry - the one lady worked behind the camera and the other guy was a real live actor.  Funny, the people you meet...turns out they had 2 girls the same age as Dayton and Saige.  They left their kids at home, and while they commented several times on how cute and well behaved mine were, I'm quite sure they weren't missing their own.  This trip we decided to take Miss Katie (our 2 day a week nanny - also known as my 2 day a week get your sanity in check to deal with the other 5 days).  It was great to have the extra hands and the kids loved having her there - it meant more time in the pool and at the beach.  I'm blessed to have her.  She loves the kids as if they were her own and my kids love them as much as they love me...perhaps even more on some days!  She has endless energy and patience and it was nice to be able to spend some alone time with Scott.  We had a couples massage at the Spa, went out for dinner and drinks to watch the sun setting and even went on part of the Na Pali Coast hike.  Okay, before I get too lost in my stories (which just might take me a year to complete!) let me get a few pictures posted.  Stay tuned (but not too tuned) for more...

Conversations With A 4 Year Old

Entertaining to say the least.  Sometimes frustrating.  Complex.  Can I say scary too?  Since sometimes they include questions I'm just not ready to answer.  I really need to do a better job of writing these things down because one day I won't be able to remember all of them and I really want the kids to be able to laugh about it and share it with their own families.

It's only 8am here and this is how it went...

Dayton was sticking his hands in the back of my hair (I recently got almost 5 inches of hair cut off)... "Mom, I don't see your special eyes."  "Oh they're there dear...they are magic so you can't see them."  "But mom, I don't feel them either."  "Do your special eyes only come out when I'm doing something bad?"  I'm still laughing about it.  I wonder how long I can get away with having these special eyes.

Dayton was making himself waffles this morning and offered to make some for me too.  I had already poured a bowl of cereal so I told him if I was still hungry after finishing that I would let him know.  He said, "Eat your cereal and if you're still hungry then remember in your mind I will make two waffles." "Don't freeget (forget) okay mom?"  "Remember that in your mind."  "If you don't know, your mind is in your forehead."

Mother's Day 2010

Some people think that Mother's Day is a day to celebrate family...spending time with those you love, honoring thy mother, making special trinkets to be saved for years yet to come, recognizing how special the role of "mama" is, a special meal or whatnot.  I like to celebrate mine alone.  Every day is "Mother's Day".  To me, every normal day is a day to celebrate with loved ones.  My children tell me they love me every single day...they also tell me why.  That alone is plenty reason to make me feel special in my job...caretaker, nurturer, nurse, doctor, teacher and all other shoes I often find myself wearing.  (some more comfortable than others)  So, I like to celebrate by taking time to myself...not to reflect on my strengths and weaknesses as a mother, nor to think about my children....time to just do things for me to recharge my batteries.  And that is exactly what I did this year.  I started the day off with crepes on the beach....my toes in the sand, the morning sun on my back, the salt breeze against my face...pure bliss.  I took my camera and spent 3 hours capturing the beauty around me.  4 hours of peace and quiet.  Then I went home and "celebrated" with my loved ones.  Scott had spent some time with the kids making me a card.  Each of them put their footprint on paper and colored it in and then drew one special thing.  Dayton drew a heart and printed the word "heart" under it.  Saige drew a picture of me.  It will be a card that I will treasure, that I will look at when I'm old and think "wow, where did all the years go?"

I recall making gifts and cards for my own mother when I was younger.  I'm pretty sure she kept most things - I wonder what she thinks of when she looks at all those memories and years gone by.  I hope that she always felt loved by her children the way I feel loved by mine.  I'd like to think that she is proud of who I've become and where I've gone in my life yet also feel proud of herself for bringing me into this world, loving me, guiding me, teaching me..for I am today, a mother.  And while I am learning as I go, I take all that great wisdom she shared with me to be the best mother that I can be.  I am thankful for her role in my life and all that she has given me and taught me.