Spring is (finally) here!

Here are some pictures of our latest adventures.

We went to a friend's wedding on May 10. Here is the rest of my family all dressed up. Bronwen was in high spirits that day...

The reception was fun and a nice date for Brian and I! (even if I had to sneak out for an hour to put the kids to bed)

The May long weekend started off with a beautiful Friday. I went with a friend of mine and her daughter on an adventure with the kids. We did a hike on a toddler-friendly riverside trail first...

And stopped for snacks. John- "must.pick.up.cheerios"

Bronwen, without her hair in her eyes... a rare thing.

The girls spent a long time throwing rocks into the river.. endless entertainment!

Bronwen is a really active kid, she loves to run, climb, and explore in general.

3 in a car! (maybe not ideal, but we made it work)

A detour up Signal Hill on the way home while the kids napped

And then, the next day was also beautiful weather... so, we ate our Saturday morning breakfast a little more quickly than usual and got out the door to enjoy the weather. Here is the view from the trail. Newfoundland is SUCH a beautiful place.

Selfie! (each with a kid on our back :)

There are a lot of icebergs in the area right now! Here is one in Torbay.

And we were on a hunt to find this one, finally we could see it from Pouch Cove.

Rubee the faithful family-mobile

There you have it! The rest of the long weekend was very foggy and wet, so I'm glad we took full advantage of the sunshine.

A Hospital Stay

Our little man gave us quite the scare last week. After a very minor cold, he woke up from a nap on Thursday afternoon wheezing audibly. He had been his usual cheery self all afternoon, even swiping our pastor's sandwich off the table when we went for lunch earlier that day. Still happy, John played and ate supper with us. But as the evening went on John got progressively worse and when he woke up in distress at around 8 30 pm, we knew it was time to take him to the hospital. I wasn't panicking at all then.. but maybe I should have been? No, I drove calmly the 5 minutes to the local children's hospital, parked in staff parking, and carried my wheezy little boy across the parking lot in his car seat. The cold air seemed to help him a little bit. Brian stayed home with Bronwen. 

However, when we got inside the toasty hospital, things got worse fast. John was deemed in 'severe respiratory distress' in the ER and they wasted no time getting him inside immediately. His little feet were ice cold and he was working so very hard to breathe. His blood oxygen levels (Sp02 for you medical types) never dropped which is a sign that he was able to still keep up with the demands of his body, thankfully, but our little man was seriously ill. His heart rate went up to 260 and the doctors were worried that he was entering SVT (supraventricular tachycardia, a seriously abnormal heart rhythm that is far too fast). They determined that it was just because his little body under so much stress, however. He also had a very high fever and there was concern over possible sepsis (bacterial infection in the blood). After 3 epinephrine masks, IV steroids and antibiotics, monitors of all types, a chest and neck xray and lots of blood tests, John finally settled down. Thankfully, as the doctors were getting ready to send him to the pediatric ICU if he didn't improve. To make a long story short, we spent two nights at the hospital in an isolation room on the medicine floor, and it was determined that he had a severe case of croup- a viral infection of the upper airways and trachea that happens to small children. In adults, the same virus would probably look like like a bad cold- but in the tiny airways of babies, the symptoms are much worse. And very scary. Babies can get sick very quickly. 

It's been a stressful weekend and I'm so glad that John is on the mend. He is doing much better now and only has a snotty nose and a bit of a cough. Babies also recover very quickly! Always one for dramatic flair, John is also popping two teeth through on top of all of this. And big sister is working on her two year molars... oh my.

I think that I'm still processing the whole ordeal.... it was quite something to be on the receiving end of emergency care rather than one of the nurses in the thick of it. And then having your own child be so sick makes for one emotional and scared mama. 

Here are some pictures from our ordeal. I had Brian's phone with me and not much else to do besides watch and wait.. hence our stay is fairly well documented...

in the ER after all the dust had settled. Heart rate still the high end of normal

finally sleeping.. he was so exhausted after all that work to breathe

little man and lots of equipment. IV splinted on in his little antecubital (inside of elbow) since his hands are too chubby!

the next morning.. not very happy. John slept most of the day in between feedings

poor lil guy

perking up a little bit.. eyes puffy from the IV fluids

chewing on a bun to try and keep him happy

finally asleep after a fussy few hours

my delicious dinner that Brian delivered.. friends from church had him and Bronwen over for supper

sunset.. view from the window

snuggles

watching TV.. for a couple minutes at least

sleeping again

keeping an eye on his oxygen levels

starting to get back to normal on Saturday morning.. wanting to grab everything

well enough to play with some toys. This was just after a finger prick hence all the blood on the pink box.. I let the nurse know so it could be thoroughly sanitized after we left!

we got the go-ahead to go home! much happier and time to get dressed 

all ready to be picked up.. still a little pale!

Very glad I grabbed his favourite red polka dot blanket on the way out the door..

I am very thankful for the support of friends and family... we felt so loved! From phone calls and emails to visits and dinners. One friend brought me a tea and cookies and sat with me in the dark while I tried to get John to sleep (and when he finally fell asleep) on Friday night. The friends who fed my husband and daughter a delicious meal and packed me up some to go. Others who altered their work schedule on Friday morning to look after Bronwen. A casserole and bag of cookies brought to our door Saturday afternoon. Tim Hortons coffee and Timbits on Monday. A lunch hour visit from another friend. Opening the front door to find cupcakes and a fruit tray on our front porch. Even offers to clean my house! (which it probably does need, but I think I'll use that person's offer for babysitting instead). Thanks everyone. Life lived in community is better, richer, and how it was meant to be. I only hope we can bless others the same way we have been blessed in the past few days.

I have new eyes for those parents with chronically ill children.. I cannot imagine having to spend days on end with your child in the hospital, waiting on tests, undergoing scary procedures, trying to make sense of what is going on and what can be done to make things better. I am very thankful that despite these little bumps in the road, our kids are healthy and hearty! You can never take health for granted.

Also, I am very glad that both our kids are up to date in their vaccines. This is a very hot topic right now and there have been outbreaks in Canada which should not be happening. I don't feel up to a debate, but I just want to say this- I feel that it's extremely important to vaccinate your child. While I was in the hospital with John, one of the first things I was asked- triage nurse, ER doctor, pediatricians, is "Is your child up to date in his vaccines?" I can't imagine having to say, "Actually, no, I thought it was better that we skipped them," or, "No, I decided to change up the schedule based on my own personal research." There is a lot of research that goes in to these things and keeping our children healthy, I really do not believe it is just a big conspiracy by drug companies. Looking back on our experience, it just wouldn't make sense- "I'm here because I need your help in making my seriously ill child better-- but by the way, I don't think that those vaccines are any good." That's all I have to say on the topic right now.. but maybe I'll write more later!

Off to tend to the waking wee ones... thanks for reading!

A Homemade Life- Part 2

This is a continuation from my first post on this topic found here. 

When Brian and I got married, and despite the fact that I was working full time, we still managed to fall into somewhat traditional roles around the house. Due to me working shift work with a sporadic and changing schedule, I was often home during the week and able to do things around the house. I had time for things like cooking and baking, and I had an eager audience to practice on! Brian came home hungry and I was able to make a nice dinner for us to enjoy together- so much more fun than just cooking for yourself. I baked for our lunches, started to make bread from scratch, made granola for breakfast... and it all continued from there. Brian usually cooked for us on the weekends and we still do that now.

The groceries that I bought changed as well. Almost everything can be made at home! For example...

Salad dressing- there is a reason why those dressings keep so long on the grocery store shelves! You can make many different dressings with olive oil, vinegar, fresh herbs, maybe some mustard, and spices. Here are some examples. Delicious homemade dressing goes very nicely with greens from our garden in the summer.

Bread- Fresh, homemade bread is one of the simple pleasures of life. We very, very rarely buy storebought bread- the exception being hamburger or sausage buns.  I have tried making those too- it's just usually a last minute meal for us and there's no time to make buns. But I love homemade bread for a few reasons- it's healthy, it's fun and satisfying to make, its so much cheaper- but most importantly, it tastes amazing!
Making bread from scratch with yeast, kneading it and shaping it into loaves doesn't take as long as you might think. And the only ingredients are flour, water, yeast and salt. It takes about 4 hours including baking time, so a morning or afternoon at home is all you need- and most of that time is hands off! We usually make bread most Saturdays, and slice and freeze it right away for fresh toast and sandwiches all week. Since homemade bread has no preservatives, its best to eat it within the first couple of days, or freeze it right away. We buy flour from Costco in 10 kg bags for about $8.

Homemade falafel (deep fried chickpeas) on a homemade pita bread

Tortillas, pitas, naan- any type of flatbread- Also very easy to make! And much cheaper.. there are all sorts of recipes and they also taste delicious.

Bagels- On the topic of bread, homemade bagels are amazingly good. They are quite time consuming, but well worth it. I have tried the ones from this book and they were delicious.

Granola- I have a classic recipe and it's a quick and healthy way to start the day. There are all sorts of granola variations, depending on how sweet, crunchy, or clumpy you like your granola. We tend to go for mildly sweet, goldenly toasted, and minimally clumpy in our house. It's nice not to have to buy storebought cereal.

Yogurt- I was given a yogurt maker a couple of years ago and have given it a lot of use! I'm not making yogurt as much these days though, maybe once or twice a month... we discovered the plain Liberte yogurt at Costco was almost the same price as buying the equivalent amount of milk and turning it into yogurt. Milk in NL is expensive, $4.25 for a 2 L carton. Maybe I'll make more yogurt again when we live somewhere else.

Baking- the possibilities are endless! Mmmmm. I usually have a couple of types of baking in the house at all times. We keep it in the freezer for freshness and to slow down our consumption.

Granola bars and other snacks- I have tried granola bars a few times, and haven't quite perfected a recipe, but we aren't buying this stuff either.. too much packaging and not cheap either. When our kids are old enough to need packed lunches I'll probably experiment with this again.

Sandwich meat- Brian likes to have meat on his sandwiches, and after a while of buying deli meat every week we decided to try our hand at making sandwich meat at home-- success! We just buy a large cut of meat, for example a beef roast, and then have it for dinner one night. The leftovers get sliced thinly and put in the freezer, all ready for sandwiches! Delicious hearty meat, without all those nitrates, and a lot cheaper too- $3-4 per pound instead of $2 or more per 100g.

Crackers- This is something we just started recently. Who knew crackers were so easy to make! This is my favourite recipe right now.

Beer- Brian has been brewing his own beer for a while now, using grains, hops, yeast... all sorts of interesting combinations and the results have been great! I'm not much of a beer drinker, but even I can tell that he's getting pretty good at it.

I think there's more, but that's what comes to mind off the top of my head. A theme seems to be keeping to a budget, while not sacrificing taste- two things that are important for this graduate student household.

Next up.. why making all this stuff from scratch makes it easier to feed your little ones! Stay tuned for Part 3.

Brown butter toasted steel cut oats with roasted pears... Good Friday breakfast treat!

Our dinner guests... Easter Sunday 2014 (it was a potluck, we din't make all that food! :)

A Homemade Life- Part 1

Something that I have really enjoyed doing since Brian and I got married is learning more about cooking and baking. Or more specifically, developing a love for all sorts of homemade goodness and learning how to make many things from scratch.It's become one of my favourite hobbies, and also something necessary to keep our family well-fed, healthy, and happy!

I did cook a little before we were married. But it wasn't quite the same. Looking back, the first time that I really had to cook for myself was during my high school summer job at a provincial park in Northern Ontario. We were at least an hour drive from any sort of grocery store, and I didn't have a car. So if I managed to catch a ride to town on my day off, that's when I got groceries. I usually stocked up on quite a few boxed and canned items as I wasn't sure when I would next be in town. Looking back, I'm not exactly sure what I ate those two summers... a lot of instant oatmeal and canned veges? Definitely a lot of peanut butter and jam for my lunches in the front gatehouse. Supplemented by things cooked over the campfire, and some moose. Probably not the most nutritious experience! 

My next cooking adventure was during my time at Western. First year was taken care of by residence dining hall, along with instant oatmeal for my early clinical mornings. The dining hall wasn't open before 7, so I would make instant oatmeal in a paper cup in the dark so as not to wake my roommate, and eat it at the bus stop waiting for my transportation to the hospital. These days, I find instant oatmeal tastes horrible.. but I'm spoiled now with the real stuff cooked on the stove every morning.Claus's love oatmeal! 

The rest of my university years were spent living with dear friends in the Pink Flamingo, our student house. There were a lot of baked potatoes with ketchup in the microwave, frozen veges, and bread with peanut butter and jam. And granola bars. Or pancakes, thanks to Aunt Jemima. I used to ask Lindi if she wanted me to make her pancakes... I liked making them, and pancakes were a great snack anytime. Supplemented by weekly student dinners at my church's young adults group, always with leftovers to take home- what a treat that was! 

here we are, way back then....

Then I moved to BC, and lived with my great-aunt and uncle- and they ate well. Really well. Fresh salads before every meal! Blueberries and delicious yogurt for dessert every night! Multigrain bread from a local bakery! It was a real treat. Living in BC was a contrast to how I had eaten in university. This was due in large part to my aunt who is an excellent cook, with many years of homemaking under her belt. Though, I do remember thinking that everyone in Victoria seemed to eat a lot better... as all the nurses took whole avocados out of their cooler bags at lunch break. Fresh, delicious food seemed to be everywhere.

And, I met a man who cooked amazing omelettes, whipped up cookies on a whim, and made cooking a hobby and a joy. We always laugh now at how I used to make him pancakes.... slapping them with the spatula to make them 'cook faster'. My patient future husband never said a thing but now I know he must have been cringing inside! Good thing that didn't scare him off ;)

to be continued...

the early days... this was 6 years ago now!

Spring Day at the Park!

Well, almost all of our snow is melted and it's starting to feel like spring. What a feeling- I think that we forgot what it was like to feel the warm sun on our faces! One of the things that I really like about Newfoundland is because the weather can be so awful here, when the weather is nice its really nice and we appreciate it a lot! 

Love this little guy! 8 months old today

Just sitting on this bench. In my red snowsuit. Yup.

Bronwen loves the playground. Last summer she was a bit nervous to set foot on it, but this year she's all over it!

Wheee!

Found a friend.

Maybe I can try this way?

The first time Bronwen went to the top of the slide, I was all ready to catch her but before I knew it she was going down herself.. no fear!

I will make circles with my mittened hands...

Mr Blue Eyes!

All fun and games until it's time to go home...