Picton Family Reunion

This weekend was the Picton Family Reunion. Wes's family gets together in September every year at his Mother's and Poppie's farm in Picton. It's a nice time to visit and catch up on what everyone has being doing the past year. Wes's family was looking forward to meeting Sarah - some of them - for the first time - Wes's family is spread out so with the distance they don't get together as often as they would like.

Sarah has been a couple of times now to the farm and although she was a bit afraid of the horses at first - this weekend all she wanted to do was pet the horses - here she is petting her horse Princess.

She was a bit unhappy about Pink Kitty riding Princess - Sarah actually did do a quick - Daddy assisted - ride on Sue but unfortunately I didn't have the camera with me at the time - guess we will have to get the photographic evidence next trip.

Sarah's favourite is still, of course, the barn cat.
We arrived on Friday - some of Wes's family came on Friday as well and the rest came on Saturday. There were several small kids for Sarah to play with which was great - Sarah seemed to be quite comfortable playing with them. Here she is on Friday playing with Tashiana who was very excited to meet Sarah and even gave her a lovely little grey teddy.Friday was a busy day - Poppy makes a great fire for the evening - Sarah was a bit nervous at first about the fire but she was also very tired so we didn't get to stay too late to watch much of the fire.

The program for the weekend is very relaxed - there is lots for everyone to do and we have lots of time for visiting - the only requirement is that we eat all the food or Paul doesn't allow us to leave on Sunday, LOL - and there is a lot of food.

Paul has a beautiful antique Mustang and Sarah was not going to be left out of any car activity. She had to get her picture taken in the car while the men were tinkering with the engine. As you can see - she had the celebrity look going for her and seemed quite comfortable behind the wheel.

Everyone had lots of time to mull around and visit and Sarah kept herself busy exploring different areas of the farm.
Sarah felt okay about letting Pink Kitty ride the statue horse and cow on the front lawn.
It was a very busy weekend for Sarah. She checked out some flowers with her Uncle David.Exploring the front garden.

A little swing in the hammock.

Playing skip rope with Daddy.
The guys got together for a bit of barn basket ball - not something you would see very often.

Sarah wanted to go looking for the horse out back to pet once again but I guess all the day's activities finally caught up and - well you can see Daddy had to bring her back without the horses.
Ultimately, Sunday arrived and then it was time to say our good-byes for another year.

Here's the whole gang, except for the photographers - there were a couple who aren't in the picture.

Another successful Annual Reunion - Sarah had this much fun.

See everyone next year!

Time to Catch up Again

Time really seems to fly by so fast these days. We have been very busy with doctor appointments and nursing visits following Sarah's surgery. Sarah is doing extremely well and the doctor seems to be very pleased with her progress. Sarah seems to be tolerating the nursing visits okay - luckily the doctor and the nurse don't take Sarah's less than happy greeting personally.

Our neighbour is very excited about Sarah and is always bringing her yummy things to eat. Here is a picture of one of her most generous visits - Sarah just loves all the treats she brings.

She was so excited when Sarah agreed to sit on her knee for this cute picture.

We also made another trip to visit Wes's Mom in Picton at the farm. Sarah did manage to pet two of the horses eventually but the sun was in the wrong direction and we missed the photo op. but here she is with Daddy visiting her horse Princess.

Grandma has a statue of a horse on her front lawn and Sarah seems to like petting this one more - here she is showing Pink Kitty the nice - non-moving, smaller horse.

Sarah still seems to like Grandma's and Poppies barn cat the most - she even let Sarah pet her this time, but she did have to be persistent in chasing her for a while.
Poppy was away fishing on this visit but Sarah did pose for this lovely photo with Grandma.

Grandma's friend, Florence made this beautiful quilt for Sarah - thanks Florence and Ernie - I know Sarah will treasure it for many years to come.

We have a home care nurse come in twice a week to help with Sarah's post-operative care - on this visit the nurse left Sarah a pair of gloves so she got out her stethoscope and posed with her most serious future doctor face she could come up with.

Sarah and I were also invited to a Fireman's Brunch at the Fire Hall one Sunday. They put on a big delicious spread and Sarah was not shy with eating her breakfast that morning. Afterwards we posed with Daddy's crew and Platoon Chief. Sarah has visited the fire hall a number of times and is quite familiar with Daddy's crew now.

Daddy's Captain's wife, Polly was also invited to Brunch and Sarah took quite a shine to her right away and posed for a nice picture with Polly.Sarah really had a great time at the Fire Hall.

Today Mommy had to get her hair cut and Sarah needed her first bang trim - we weren't to sure if she would be interested or allow it but the hair dresser was flexible so we gave it a try. Grandma came along to help keep Sarah occupied while Mommy had her hair cut. Here is Sarah thinking about it while Mommy gets her hair done and she tries out the chair and it's kind of a before picture.

The hairdresser Laura was really great - she not only had to convince Sarah to trim her bangs but she had to hit a moving target and she had to temporarily give up her necklace in the process.

After Mommy and Sarah were beautified - Grandma, Mommy and Sarah went out for a celebratory lunch at Wendys - as you can see the finished bang trimming turned out great.Tomorrow, Mommy, Grandma and Sarah have to go to Sick Kids to see the surgeon again - hopefully we will be able to get a date for Sarah's second surgery. Also, this weekend is Wes's Annual Family Reunion in Picton so I should be able to update more frequently than I have been.

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.