Enjoying

This week I am on my own with Everly during the day. Jason is working at the office. I will be enjoying a lot of randomness, and probably a few moments of wanting to just sit down and cry. Everly and I are just going to have some fun this week, and try to relax.

The house work may or may not get done - - I already scrubbed the kitchen, living room, and entry way floors - - and there may be toys exploded every where. I am trying to not care. I am trying to just enjoy being a Mom this week. Its something I kind of feel robbed of.

I wish I had taken more time to just soak in the fact that I had become a Mom when Everly made her grand entrance. I wish I had said no to people, and said no to going places.  I wish we had just stayed at home and cuddled with her more. I feel I was robbed of her being a newborn, and just getting to enjoy that moment that passes in the blink of an eye.

Forgive me while I enjoy the cuddles, smiles, cries of joy and sadness, and so much more from my little girl. This week Everly has my whole attention.

The juggling of things will figure itself out this week.

I have a 7 month old.

She's pretty amazing.

Wow.

Trying to...

Stand! Everly has recently started to try and pull herself up on things. Basically any surface she can grab. She hasn't figured it out just yet. Thankfully we did put her crib down to the lower level before she started doing this. If she is anything like her Mom and Aunties, she will flip over the edge of that railing eventually. We'd rather it be much later when she has a bit more control of what she is doing. Guess we have some more baby proofing to do.

First Certificate

Everly got her first certificate on Friday. She completed her swimming lessons. We had a great experience with her swimming lessons. We highly recommend the ones at Surrey Sports and Leisure. We even have Everly signed up for lessons again in August, mostly because its a great way for all of us to get into the pool and out of the heat.  If anyone wants to join in look into it, we're doing the evening lessons.

The lessons for the youngsters include a lot of singing, and activities to just get them used to the water, if you are brave enough they teach you how to get your little one used to putting their face under the water too. It was also nice to learn some water safety things too.

Day Trips

We were able to get into two mini day trips recently, thanks to Jason have a stretch off from work with how his schedule worked recently. It was a nice change from just staying around home.

Friends of ours were camping out at Cultus Lake and we asked if it would be okay for us to join them for a bit of one of their days out there. We headed out after Everly's morning nap, we were not sure how she would do for napping when out there so we wanted to get one decent nap in. We arrived to their camp site after 1pm. It was hot that day but not too bad since their camp site was nice and shaded by all the trees. Their oldest son was having a great time playing in his splash pool they brought. I love how care free he is, he was just enjoying splashing in the water and didn't mind at all that he was getting his feet and legs covered in dirt and mud.

We brought the packnplay with us, to give Everly somewhere to play. She is at the fun phase of anything and everything that makes it into her hands will go into her mouth. At one point, our friends oldest joined her in the there. Its great seeing a friendship start this early. He has always been so kind towards her, towards all kids really.

A bunch of us went for a walk down to the lake, some braved the water (there is a swimmers itch warning currently) and the rest of us relaxed in the shade. It was not that busy out on the lake, probably because it was a work day. Everly and her buddy both fell asleep in their strollers and had their afternoon naps in their strollers.

A round or two of Monopoly Deal (aka the marriage wrecker) was played, and dinner made over a fire was enjoyed with of course some s'mores to wrap it all up. It was great to visit with friends, and just get away from home even just for a little bit. This day trip just makes us look forward to taking Everly camping in the future so much more, next summer for sure!
That evening we ended up staying up late waiting for confirmation that we could go to Anvil for the day to visit. We got word late, but we were happy that it all worked out. We rushed to finish rounding up what we'd need for leaving in the morning so that we could get a few extra minutes of sleep as we needed to get out to Lions Bay by 8am. Everly was a trooper getting woken up earlier than normal and packed into her car seat. Thankfully she did get a little bit more sleep on the drive out there but not much, she loves to watch what is going on around her. We made one pit stop to grab coffee and timbits to bring with us to the island. We were enlightened to the fact that Timmy's has 10cup travel packs of coffee when one was brought to us after Everly arrived... those things are awesome!!!

This was her first time on a smaller, faster boat. We put her in her little life jacket for safety of course. She enjoyed the ride over, held tight in her Dad's arms. Again I found myself thankful for our cheap jogger stroller, we brought it with us again to Anvil and it came in handy taking munchkin and her stuff around.

It was great to see a bunch of the campers I have gotten to know over the past two summers of being a part of camp 4 at Anvil, several remembered I had been pregnant last summer and were excited to see Everly. Everly was not alone, there were 2 other munchkins who are up at the camp for the whole week. It was great to meet the other two little ones.

Jason was happy to get to play some sports and relax. I always just love being at Anvil, it is my home away from home. We took Everly down to the beach and she got to go in the ocean again, this time we actually got photos. She was not impressed when a wave crashed up near her and splashed her in the face, but rocks are apparently yummy. There was a staff soccer game, we enjoyed watching on the side lines.

We may have found a sippy cup that Everly likes. Our friends let us a try one of theirs that they use with their little girl after being on the hunt for one themselves and being told about this one. Its pretty neat, since it has a weighted straw the goes with the liquid. Everly wanted to just chew on the straw at first, but eventually figured it out. With practice we may have a little girl who can use a sippy cup that has a straw soon.

The boat ride back was bumpy, not the worst I have ever had, but bumpy. To the point where other passengers asked if it be possible to slow down for Everly. She was grumpy not because of the bumps but because she was tired. She ended up falling asleep! It used to be that we'd take the bumpiest roads to get her to fall asleep, seems its possible still for that trick to work.

Had a bit of an adventure during the drive home. The vehicle in front of us hit something metal, sadly we were not able to swerve and miss it, we ended up hitting it too. Both vehicles ended up on the side of the highway with flat tires. We were concerned that the rim may have been damaged too, and we saw liquid gush out the bottom of the car too when we pulled over and got out to look. We are thankful that there is construction going on because it meant safety vehicles were driving the road and we quickly had a truck parked behind us with arrows flashing. We called BCAA and had them change the tire for us. We weren't sure if we'd be able to drive the car back, but the BCAA worker was certain it was just the AC having liquid go on the ground which is normal on hot days. We had originally called my parents to come grab me and Everly, and then changed that plan to getting Jason's brother to grab us because he was working just a bit down the highway. Thankfully we were able to drive ourselves home. Some how during all that craziness Everly kept on sleeping, she didn't wake up until we were getting back in the car to drive slowly home.

It was a fun filled two days. We had a great time hanging out with friends. Definitely need to do more day trips or mini adventures to places... any suggestions?

Everly Update

I took Everly to her appointment this afternoon. After my Facebook update about being nervous I had a few people send words of encouragement, and an offer to come with that I didn't see until it was too late... thank you for the offer.

After updating the doctor on what is going on, and a bit of a check up on Everly, we discussed what the next steps could be.

The doctor would like us to try another medication to see if it helps. A Barium Swallow Test is also being scheduled. The test is the last resort to check if she does have any abnormalities to her digestive system. It is invasive for a little one as it does require imaging and that means radiation exposure. Yes, it's slight but the doctor likes to avoid this if the medication works, for obvious reasons.

We are still deciding what steps we want to take. Prayer is appreciated, thank you to those who sent words of support and encouragement our way.

Swimming Lessons

Everly started her swimming lessons yesterday. We signed her up for Parent & Tot lessons over a month ago because we were worried that the class would fill up. We had originally planned on signing her up for lessons in August as well but we have recently changed our minds as it will be the same as what we are doing now with her. Instead we do plan to go swimming a lot at the pool! The prices are reasonable for lessons, and for regular admittance. There are even value swim times where its only $3.75 to get in!

We do have a full class of about 9+ little ones depending on how many show up for the class that day. The girls are outnumbered there are 3 girls, and depending on how many show up as many as 9 boys in the class. I was really nervous yesterday for the very first lesson as I just was not sure what to expect. I relaxed almost instantly when I saw who was going to be leading the class, I recognized the person right away. I was certain that her instructor was a former camper of mine from Anvil. Sure enough at the end of the lesson I was able to confirm this, for whatever reason this just makes me feel even better about the lessons as I know she has a huge heart for little ones.

We decided to do this as mostly a Daddy and daughter bonding time, so Jason will be doing most if not all of the lessons with her right now. I'll probably do them next year with her. They do a lot of games in that 30 minute times, games that you would think aren't really teaching them anything but really they are.

They are learning to enter the water when they are instructed to by their parents, how to kick, how to blow bubbles, and so much more.

Jason and I had agreed a long time ago that we wanted our kids to start swimming lessons as soon as possible, we both feel that learning water safety and how to swim are really important. We want our kids to have the ability to swim if ever needed. We also want them to enjoy playing in the water and not have a fear of it. 6 months almost seems like the perfect age to start as Everly is so willing to try different things, but she does still let us know if she does not like something.

It seems we have a water loving baby on our hands, which didn't surprise us with how much she splashes in the tub at bath time. Even the instructor commented on how much she seems to enjoy playing in the pool. She kicks like a little froggy. Today, the instructor had the parents put a rubber ducky in the water and get their kids to swim to it. Everly really enjoyed this game, and caught on very quickly.

We're looking forward to all of her lessons, and its already proven to be a great excuse to go to the pool and cool off with the hot weather this week.

Visiting the Zoo

A bunch of us decided to get together and go to the zoo this morning. We are very thankful that a friend of ours was able to get us a coupon to go in with free admission for one person with one paid admission. Much more reasonable than paying for two adults, the prices at the zoo are a little ridiculous. We paid less to go to the Honolulu Zoo and it is much bigger with way more animals, however that being said, the Great Vancouver zoo is more of a conservatory which is something you do have to remind yourself about when you go.  Probably won't be going again until we either have an Aquarium membership and can get a discount, or we get another coupon.

I was looking forward to going, as I had not been to the zoo since I was in elementary school. I believe it was Jason's first time there, and it definitely was Everly's first time going. We all met up bright and early inside the front entrance. There were 4 sets of families, all toting strollers and diaper bags. We were a sight to be seen. For some reason the scene of all the dad's in a row with their kids, and strollers from the movie "What to Expect When You're Expecting" kept coming to mind. It was a smart choice to go for right when the zoo opened as it was not overly busy, and there was lots of parking still. At one point Jason and I found ourselves asking "where is everyone else?" as it never seemed busy, but by the time we left after 12:30pm, the parking lot was getting full and there was a line up to get in.

Everly usually goes down for a nap at the time we decided to meet up. She fought her nap for most of the morning, too much going on around her. I don't blame her either for wanting to see what is going on. I have a feeling I have a little one who will end up dropping to one nap earlier than most. We tried everything to get her to sleep, and then we repeated the process again. Finally she surrendered to her need for sleep, and zonked out in the stroller just after 11am. She did get to see a good chunk of the animals and reptiles at the zoo.

It was great seeing the reactions of our friend's kids. Kids always seem to have such a love for animals. Their excitement always makes outings like this worth while! I love having such a close group of friends with little ones, who will grow up together and make many memories like this together.

Jason's highlight of the day was getting to see a bit of the falcon show at the end, we were about to leave when we saw it was going on. It was amazing to see how fast a falcon can fly, and how quick they are to try and catch their prey.

We headed home after a little over 3 hours of being there. Happy with our little visit.

Now to master transferring a sleeping baby back into her car seat.