Starting to Jump

I swear to you he was having a good time jumping before I started filming.

T.V. in the Kitchen

Claire`s new thing is watching T.V. (or the laptop rather) as she has her bedtime snack. Well lately she`s also been hard to get going in the mornings so Daddy bribed her by bringing the laptop for breakfast too. Jacob even liked watching.

So we are adding a T.V. in the kitchen to our wish list when we build our dream home...someday...one day!

Bravery Beads

The Bravery Bead project is for children in selected programs at Sick Kids. This program allows each child to collect a different bead for each procedure or event while visiting the hospital. The collection of beads represents the child’s unique and personal journey through treatment.

I finally got a chance to put Jacob`s bravery beads together. Here they are laid out on the floor. As you can see, it`s quite long.

The beads represent the following:

15 Bloodwork / Special Poke
1 Cardiac Catheter
1 CCU Admission
2 Central Line / PORT / PICC Line Insertions
1 Central Line / PORT / PICC Line Rejection
10 Dressing Changes / Bandage Removals
1 Emergency / Ambulance Ride
10 Infusions (Morphine Pain Control)
1 Inpatient Admission
2 Intubation / Extubation
4 IV Starts
2 NPO (Nothing Passes Orally)
1 Pacemaker
1 Satellite visit / Move Up / Transfer to Community Hospital
2 Surgeries
2 Sutures / Staples Inserted / Suture Care
2 Sutures / Staples Removed
8 Tests & Scans
1 TPN (IV nutrition)
1 Transfusion
1 Transition Step-Down
5 Tube Insertion / Catheter / Chest / NG / GTube / NP
7 Tube / Removal / Catheter / Chest / Drains / NG / Gtube / VAC / NP / Wires Out
2 WOW / Special Accomplishment / Recognition
225 Blood Thinner Injections

That`s over 300 beads!! This doesn`t even include the prep work he received at Markham-Stouffville hospital where he was transported from to Sick Kids or the at-home nursing care he received a week and a half after he was out of hospital.

To memorialize this for Jacob, I put them in a shadow box. The centre red beads are all of the blood thinner injections I gave him at home. They will be a constant reminder, along with his scars, of his brave journey in life.

He is truly our little miracle.

He can continue to collect these as he will continue to have appointments with the hospital however I think I want to close these off and say we are good!

Laughing Baby

We haven`t posted many videos of Jacob yet so here`s one!

5 Month Milestone

Jacob is 5 months old today - Wow! The greatest achievement Jacob has made this past month is improving his blood clot from his heart surgery. Giving him needles twice a day since the beginning of December has been very hard. We're so happy he is doing so much better! Over the past month he continues to work on his gross motor skills. He has yet to roll over or sit up well on his own but he is getting there. He gets stronger everyday and is putting on the pounds. Here is his new monthly photo:

His hair has gotten so long that it's falling over to the side now as compared to last month. I think he needs a hair cut but Daddy doesn't agree. Here are some other cute shots:


He looks like he's dancing in this one.

He's pretty easy going and has been talking, smiling and laughing a lot more.

He is ready for solids. Only 4 more weeks to go. I can't wait!

And the slideshow from months past:

Not a Repeat

Nope - he hasn't slept through the night again the past 2 days. It was a 1 time wonder, boohoo for me. Now that he is going to bed earlier (since we can put down at 7 as we no longer have to wait to give him his shots), he is now waking up 2 times at night to feed!! So he'll sleep from about 7:30 to midnight, get up for a feeding, then sleep till about 4 or 5am and then get up for a quick snack and will go back down till 6:30-7am. My sleepbook says he's textbook. I like that he goes down earlier but getting up twice is not fun for me!

Slept through the Night

Jacob slept through the night! I put him down at 7pm and he didn't wake up until 5am! I kept getting up to check on him and eventually went to pump some milk at 4am and am wondering if he heard me doing that so he woke up. Let's hope it's a repeat!!
Here he is all cheerful the next day.

Swimming Lessons

Claire is starting swimming lessons again today. She's really excited about it because she wants to be like her cousin Ryan who also takes swimming lessons. When we were at the Disney store, we bought her a little mermaid bag and towel.

She's not happy with her swimsuit though. She told me it was too tight and wants a new one.

We'll have to check with Daddy though since he's really picky about how much skin she can show.

She did really well at her first lesson. When we got to the pool she wanted to go in right away but we had to wait until her class started. The water was warm and I was impressed that the teacher actually tried to keep the group together and had a structured lesson, i.e. telling us what to do with the kids and singing songs. Last time we signed up they just let us do whatever we wanted with them in the pool.

Anyway, so far so good. Claire is also very happy that there are no sharks in the pool. Her older brother jokingly told her there would be. I was not impressed by him!

225

Just look at all of the needles we went through. I worked it out and since he was put on his blood thinners, he received 225 injections alone!

Our Sick Kids

We had a busy day today. Both Claire and Jacob had their follow-up appointments at Sicks Kids. They both had ultrasounds and clinic appointments. Claire was scheduled for the morning and Jacob in the afternoon so we spent the entire day there. The day went by quickly and the kids were in great moods. In summary, all things are pointing in the right direction for both of them. Claire's ultrasound showed no signs of tumor growth and Jacob's ultrasound showed that his blood clot has reduced in size so we no longer need to give him the blood thinner injections - Yippee!!!! Here are some photos as we waited for their ultrasounds. I dressed them in their Lil brother and Big Sister shirts.

Both of the kids have had a few ultrasounds before - Claire with about 6 or 7 as she's been going every 3 months since she was 1 for her hemihypertrophy and Jacob has had a few since his heart surgery at 3 weeks old.

Jacob was getting a little worried about it.

And then big sister Claire gave him some reassurance that everything would be OK.

These are our sick kids and we love them!

Love is all we need to get by.

Problem Solved?

We figured out the problem with the potty...it's not a princess potty so that's why Claire can't use it. She found a solution though - stickers!

She decorated the whole thing.

Now it's ready to use, right Claire?

NO!

Almost Like the Real Disney?

Since Grandma, Grandpa, uncle Marc, auntie Joanne, Ryan and Adam are at Disney World on vacation and we couldn't go, we took our kids to the Disney store today!! Hey, what they don't know won't hurt them!! We got Claire a princess camera and some t-shirts. Here she is posing in some. Her tinkerbell shirt.

Her rapunzel shirt.

In between changes, Claire had me explain what vacation meant. I told her and I think she realized what she was missing and that Ryan and Adam were going to the big princess castle.

Hey boys, if you're reading, let's not tell Claire about the princess castle, OK?

Potty Tales

We took a trip to the mall today to pick up a potty for Claire. We thought she would be potty trained by now but she just isn't very interested in using the toilet. So we thought we would try a little potty that she could use in her bedroom - since this is where she likes to do her business. It was funny because when I asked her where she wanted me to put it she told me in the corner which is where she usually goes. We had her try it out but....nothing! She did make a comment that the seat was really soft.

Although she didn't use it to go to the washroom tonight she did enjoy lugging it around the house and taking the soft seat on and off to wear it as a mask or hat. It was hilarious I wish I got a photo. And when I was putting Jacob to bed she carried her potty in and said she wanted to try going in his room - ofcourse, let's stink up your brother's room - only Miss Claire!

Not sure if this is going to work. I should have known because when Anthony was in line paying for it, I asked Claire if she was going to use it and she flat out said No!

Oh well, it was only $15. I hope Jacob doesn't mind pink!

Some New Toys

Jacob woke-up this morning to some new toys. It was like Christmas for him. First he tried the exersaucer. I think he was shocked that he was in standing position all by himself.

At first he seemed overwhelmed by all the gadgets attached to it and then became mesmerized by the rollers.

Claire too couldn't help herself. Jacob was not impressed she was touching his toys.

When I put Jacob back to nap I found Miss Claire trying to climb into it! I told her not to and when I came back she had someone else in it.

She made me take a close-up.

Later in the afternoon we pulled something else new out - the jolly jumper. He seemed a bit timid to be "floating" by himself so I stood behind him and that made him feel better.

It will take some getting used to but we know he'll love it in time.

I was thinking how great it is for babies - everyday is something new!

My March Break

My March Break has been crazy!! Claire has been home sick with Jacob and I since last Thursday. My extra set of hands (aka Isaac) has been away all week so it's been 2 to 1 all week for me as Daddy is at work. Well, it hasn't been too bad because both Jacob and Claire have been sleeping well during the day. Anyway, after being stuck in the house all week, I decided that we would venture outside to our driveway. Here's a first for Jacob - in his snowsuit and in the stroller without the car seat! He looks like a big sack of potatoes.

Claire had fun in her Dora car.

Things can get pretty boring fairly quickly hanging in our driveway (as we know the state of our back yard is not child-friendly) so I decided that I would test Claire out on walking to the park. Surprisingly, Claire was very cooperative and she pushed her Dora car the whole way by herself!!

A photo of the 2 kids when we got to the park.

I was a little worried about Claire going on the climber, but she had no problems going up and down by herself. Here she is climbing up.

Waving from the top.

And coming down the slide.

We then hit the swings. I even gave Jacob a try. He didn't seem very excited but that's probably because I hardly pushed his swing.

For kicks, a photo of Claire's first time on the swings about 2 years earlier.

And this is her now!

And then there were 2!

Jacob ended up falling asleep as we walked home. I just put him in the crib like this.

New Stats

We took Jacob to the doctors this morning for his 4 month check up. He is up 3 lbs and is now 14 lbs and grown 5cm and is now 62 cm!

Claire also came since she had a fever today and she was very clear to the secretary that we were here for Jacob and not her.

When we walked into the examination room she told us yet again that the shots were for Jacob and that Jacob would do great and he did just that! A little crying but he soon calmed down afterwards.

Hi Grandma & Grandpa!

Bet you can't find cute kids like this in Florida!

Don't Mess with the Big Guy

Hey Claire, what do you got there?

Can I have some?

Just one bite?

Alright, you don't want to share? I'll just pull your ear.

How about a smack on the face?

Next time read my shirt and you'll think twice about not sharing with me!

Mommy, I don't think I want to play with Jacob anymore.