Happy Birthday Sarah!!!!

Today is Sarah's actual Birthday. We had decided because of the timing of her surgery that we would have her party early so today is going to be a quiet day for everyone as we are still catching up on some much needed sleep. Sarah is still recovering extremely well but she does get tired so we are trying to keep her quiet.

Mommy thought that she still had to have a present on her Birthday so we popped over to WalMart and got this cute little car - Sarah really liked it and was using it even before it came out of the box.

She seemed to like it even better when it was out of the box and Mommy assembled it.

We also bought a small cake to have for desert tonight. Sarah felt that the cake should have been a little closer.

Sarah was much happier when the cake was on her tray - not to worry - she did share with Mommy and Daddy.

We're Home

We arrived home from Sick Kids Hospital today in the early afternoon. Sarah's surgery went very well on Tuesday. I was able to take her right into the operating room as she was upset and didn't want us to leave her. The operation was suppose to last anywhere between 3 to 4 hours. After 3 hours the operating room sent a message that the operation was going slowly but well - it ultimately lasted 5 hours. I can tell you that it was a very tiring 5 hours. The Sick Kids Hospital lived up to it's reputation about being all about the kids. The recovering room had us come in as soon as she woke up as she was upset and crying that Mommy and Daddy were not there. They let me hold her right away and she didn't want to let go so they let me carry her up to her room. The nursing staff is so compassionate and helpful. Sarah has recovered very well - the doctors and nurses were all very pleased on how well she was doing. We did end up staying an extra day as Sarah wasn't eating and drinking enough to go home. We had taken a hotel room but one parent is allowed to stay overnight in the room at the hospital - they have a cot built in for parents in the room. I stayed all night the first night - it was a long night for me as the staff comes in every hour to check the equipment and Sarah wanted to be held a lot while she slept. Having the hotel room was a blessing as it allowed Wes to get some sleep and I went back in the early afternoon to have a nap and have a shower. Wes stayed the 2nd night so I could catch up on some sleep but the 3rd night the hotel was booked so I stayed again and Wes went home on the GO train. Uncle Kevin offered to drive in to pick Wes up but visiting hours were only until 8:00pm and Wes wanted to stay later to help me out if Sarah had a difficult night - fortunately she didn't. Daddy came back early the next morning with the car. Again the staff at Sick Kids was wonderful. They were very pleased with Sarah's progress but before they discharged her they wanted to make sure Mommy and Daddy were comfortable with her post operative care. The nursing staff would help you with anything and always tried to be supportive and encouraging. I wanted to make sure I could bath her okay at home and the nurse popped in to make sure the bath was going okay and if I needed any help. They have arranged for Home Care to help us out and we have to go back in 10 days for more follow-up appointments. Sarah will need a 2nd surgery in 6 to 8 weeks. This was a very stressful and tiring time for all of us but we are so thankful that Sarah is doing so well - now it's time for everyone to try and catch up on some much needed sleep.

Sarah's Birthday Party

Sarah had a great Birthday Party. The gifts started to arrive early. Uncle Kevin came over at 8:00am to start assembling Sarah's present from Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Kevin, Aunt Heather and Gavin. Sarah supervised the assembly very closely.

Here Sarah asked Uncle Kevin for detailed analysis of the slide and it's construction.The first test slide.

More discussions with Uncle Kevin.

And final approval - the new slide is a hit!

Sarah had to have a nap in the afternoon so she would be fresh for the party so everyone arrived later in the day. Daddy got Sarah a special Happy Birthday balloon which she loved.

Here, Bear and Millie are patiently awaiting the arrival of the guests.Uncle Greg arrived and performed his magic tricks for the Birthday Girl.

Sarah just loves playing with Kiley and they had a great time playing with some of her new toys.
It was a beautiful day which was very lucky for us since we had a full house of people at the party. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

Sarah, Aerilyn and Kiley seemed to really enjoy playing on Sarah's new slide

Sarah was very interested in Uncle Kevin's car shirt.

She even let Uncle Kevin help her with her dinner.

Aerilyn and Kiley were a big help when it came time to open Sarah's gifts.

Here Sarah is demonstrating how to work the book Auntie Nancy got her.

Sarah got lots of wonderful and beautiful gifts - a big thank you to everyone.

Sarah just loves her cars and Mommy was so happy to find a cake with a car on it that wasn't so boyish looking - mostly to make Daddy happy but still, this was a really cute cake.

Sarah got an early start on the cake before the lighting of the candle.

After all the festivities, everyone was able to just relax.

Thanks again to everyone for the making the day so special for Sarah.

Tomorrow we are heading into Toronto to spend the night so we don't have to travel on the day of Sarah's surgery. We will try and keep everyone posted on how Sarah is doing.

Surgery Date

We have a surgery date for Sarah and it is this Tuesday - August 4th at 11:30am at Sick Children's Hospital in Toronto. We are planning on traveling down on the Monday and staying over night at a hotel. The hospital has been very good at calling us and trying to tell us what to expect on the day of the surgery - the latest information we have is that Sarah will be in the hospital between 5 to 7 days. Once this surgery is done she will have to have a second surgery 2 to 3 weeks after the first surgery but I expect we won't know that date until this surgery is completed. We will be able to stay with Sarah the entire time and one parent can stay overnight in the room which has made us feel so much better since we haven't left her with anyone since we got her in March. We are expecting the surgery to be very hard on Mommy and Daddy - not that Sarah is going to enjoy it but Sick Kids are known for making it as easy as possible for the kids. The good part is that she most likely will not have any memory of it when she gets older.

Since Sarah may still be in the hospital and not feeling the greatest we decided to have her birthday party tomorrow so I'll post some pictures of the party before we leave for Toronto.

Catching Up

It's been a little while since my last posting and people have been asking when I will get to updating the blog - so here I am - delinquent but here. This post is going to be a bit of a mishmash of pictures.

Here is Sarah all dressed up to go to my work for her first visit - it took us a while to get ourselves organized for the visit so we were much later going than I wanted. Sarah had a great visit and really enjoyed running around the office - unfortunately I was not coordinated enough to take pictures while I was there - luckily Wes had taken this picture before we left. Once again everyone at work was so excited and supportive and a special thanks to Bev and Antonella for the gifts for Sarah - she has really been enjoying them.Sarah still loves building her towers and was especially proud of this one. Daddy had to help lift her up to complete the construction but she did all the stacking herself. Very talented little girl.

Sarah has acquired a couple more stuffed friends - doggie and monkey - they were acquired on a visit to the Hallmark store when getting Daddy's Father's Day card and she just had to have them. They have been joining us on several outings - yes all three of them and on some naps and night-time sleeps - it can get a little crowed in the crib at times, but Sarah has no problem sharing. Sarah is very much like her Daddy and is a little groggy first thing in the morning - that is until she has had a chance to read the paper. Sarah and Daddy get the paper together in the morning although it is a race to see who actually gets to it first - Sarah got the paper first on this day - Pink Kitty likes to read the paper along with Sarah.

Daddy and Sarah have an agreement - Sarah gets the car pages and Daddy gets the sports pages. As you can see - Sarah has already found the car page - it's going to be a good morning.

The Town of Whitby had a Community Day where they had all the Town and Regional Services together to show what they do and had some fun activities as well. It was held at the Fire Department Headquarters and Sarah got to pose on the antique Fire Truck.

Daddy's Platoon Chief was working that day and made sure Sarah got a Fire Hat which she gladly posed for a picture. It's a little hard to see but it says Fire Chief on the hat - that would make Sarah Daddy's boss - seems rather appropriate.

Since Uncle Greg is a Durham Regional Police Officer, Sarah had to get a picture in a police car.Here she is showing her Uncle Greg her best - "Okay, your going to get a ticket for that" face - you may want to notice that Pink Kitty is riding along as Sarah's partner for the day.
We have been taking advantage of our seasonal passes for the Zoo and Sarah really seems to enjoy it more each time we go.

Although the deer does have to wait for Sarah to point out passing cars and trucks on the road - here she make sure Daddy takes notice.

I guess Sarah thought Daddy needed lots of help this day as she helps him push the stroller onto the next animals who need feeding.

Sarah is getting better at trying to feed the animals each time we go - here she is once again helping Daddy feed the donkey.

Wes's cousin Angie got married this summer in England and had a family Garden reception when they got back. It was held at a Community Centre in Brooklin and it had a small playground outside. Wes's cousin's daughter Kiley took a shine to Sarah and they became best friends. It was so nice to see Sarah feel so comfortable with her and Kiley was just wonderful with Sarah. Kiley was so sweet with Sarah and was so attentive and looked after her like a mother hen.

Kiley had to lift Sarah up onto the teeter totter - not a small feet considering Kiley is not a whole lot bigger than Sarah.

It's a bit noisy but I just had to try and get a video of Kiley helping Sarah on the slide. Sarah just loves slides but this slide was a bit bigger than what she was used to so Kiley and Sarah worked out a great system which basically was all about Sarah. You really get to see how well Kiley looked after Sarah and how Sarah waits for her help - just so sweet.

Congratulations Angie and Matt - it was beautiful reception and we had a wonderful time.

To finish up the catch-up posting, Sarah and I went out to dinner tonight with a very close friend, Nancy. Daddy was busy working nights so we thought it was a great time to visit with Nancy. We had a great meal and lots of fun.

Sarah has her birthday party planned for next Saturday so it won't be too long until our next posting.

Happy Canada's Day

Happy Canada's Day Everyone,

We celebrated by heading out to the Oshawa Petting Zoo. This is a nice little zoo that is really close to us and Grandma joined us for some afternoon fun. Before you even go in there are some baby ducks and chicks that you can feed and actually stand in the pen. Sarah just wanted to point instead of going in.

Once we were in there were these cute ring tailed animals - I can't remember most of the names of the animals that we saw but these guys were really cute and very gentle. Sarah wasn't that keen on feeding them directly but if you dropped the food in between the wires they were very good at sticking their little hands through and fishing it out which Sarah seemed to really enjoy. There was a mother with her baby - she was very bossy about who was first in line.

Then it was off to the ducks - Sarah wasn't interested in the direct feeding of the animals but loved to look at them and direct Daddy, Mommy and Grandma to feed them on her behalf.

Sarah got a little braver with the sheep and she was able to throw the popcorn through the fence. The sheep started to get a little crazy as more and more joined in for some popcorn.

It wasn't a large zoo but it was very clean and spread out and for us it was the perfect size - they even have a little picnic area that would be great to bring lunch. Grandma was in charge of the popcorn and Sarah had to remind her to pass it over. Sarah liked to get the popcorn out of the bag then give it to Daddy to feed the animals.

With a lot of coaxing Sarah finally was brave enough to try petting the donkey - and the donkey seemed to enjoy it too.
Then it was off to see the pigs - we ended up coming along the side of their pen where there was only one pig - it wasn't long before there was two then a third one came trotting along to see what was going on. They were kind of funny the way they seemed to trot on over thinking they were possibly missing out on something.

Grandma seemed to like the goats the most. Here she is feeding the billy goat but it was the female that Grandma thought was the prettiest. The billy goat was very excited to get some popcorn and would climb up on the fence - Sarah was a little pooped out by this time and opted for the stroller but had no problem directing Grandma in the dishing out of the popcorn.When we got back to the entrance area we were lucky enough to be there at the time they were bottle feeding the baby sheep and Sarah got to help feed them.

The calves got to have bottles as well and Sarah was front and centre for that as well.

She did step aside and let another little boy have a turn but I guess she felt he needed a bit of help and since she was now experienced - who else better to help out.

Once we were back at the entrance Sarah felt a bit more confident to get into the pen with the baby chicks and ducks while Daddy found out about the season passes. Grandma was still supplying the popcorn and keeping watch over some of the more pushy baby ducks.

What better way to finish off the afternoon at the zoo than with an ice cream cone -Grandma bought all of us an ice cream and Sarah really enjoyed her's - well actually it was Daddy's as they were a little big but as you can see - Sarah took it over for a while before Daddy was allowed to finish it off.
This was a perfect sized zoo for us and I think we are going to enjoy going back again.