Immun-not-izations?

Alas, all of this week I have been feeling like I should be calling the hospital to ask them something, or check on something, but I really don't have a great reason... Piper has had a nasty cough for over a month now, and now her nose is running somethin' fierce, but otherwise, all it well. She is eating, drinking, playing, growing just fine. I feel like the nurses would give me that "why are you calling us?" tone... So I haven't called.

Well, today, we went to get Pipers shots (late due to the measles outbreak while she was at BBCH... long story), which included measles and chicken pox. I got the awesome nurse I got last time (there are some really great ones out there!) and she ran through some of the "cautions" with me, and one was "does your child have a weakened immune system" due to something or other... and "has your child received blood or blood products in the last 12 months", both of which were a "ummm... yeah".

So the nurse wasn't exactly sure what to do with that, but quickly got on the phone with hematology at BCCH and was talking to our nurse over there discussing whether or not Piper should get this shot, la-la-la. They decided they needed to talk with the hematologist before they moved ahead, just for the unknown factor.

So, here we go for a little more waiting, but it's all for the best, really. It might just be us waiting for a little while longer until she gets those shots. And as usual, the nurse said "keep her away from people who are sick, especially with those illnesses". Yeah, I do my best.

So far Piper has shown such a good resilience to being in this world of sick people. But this residual cough that hasn't gone away is a bit tiresome. This might be her condition for now, that things just linger and don't get better when they really should. I am sure ready for them to get better, but I suppose it's not up to me.

Just last night, I was staring at her in awe just because I can't actually believe that there is anything wrong with her. It doesn't make sense. But there are tiny components I'll never be able to see that are amiss and not quite as they should be... and there is nothing I can do about it. Well, as the nurse pointed out yesterday, continuing to breastfeed Piper is the best defence I can offer her. So I secretly celebrate that small victory, and do feel as though I am doing something; something that no doctor can prescribe, and I only I can do.

Well, I guess this is just the latest update on wee little Piper. She has her next cardio/heme appointment in Oct/Nov sometime and we'll see how that goes. Otherwise, she is happy toddler, doing all the things she should: saying "no" to everything, running around like a crazy thing, climbing and falling and really starting to understand what is going on. She continues to be a delight.

Full-blown toddler.

Yes, Piper is officially a toddler. In so many ways. Yikes:

• she toddles around all over the places
• the talks to herself or tries talking to you
• she can eat on her own pretty well
• you can tell her to do something (simple) and she can do it (sometimes)
• she really enjoys playing
• she can tell you what she wants
• she is constantly recovering from a massive wipe-out with a nice bruise.

I officially like this age. She has started to demonstrate some "will", but so far, has been pretty good. I still think I've got it pretty lucky with an easy baby.

Piper is loving to dress up right now. Anything she can put on her head, or wear (anything. Including my underwear) she'll put it on. She is really trying to dress herself, too. This time, I wrapped this pashmina around her, thinking she would just kinda shake it off, but she toddled around with it loving it!

Lots of new sounds, and able to mimic some of the ones we do. She'll often now say something like "gankoo" after we give her something. Getting close! Yesterday Matt asked where her pants where and she put up two arms and said something like "go-no". Don't know! How cute.
Still a very happy eater
She will play independantly for a long time in her sandbox, and now has now figured out how to get out of there and get to where she wants to be!
Loves the dirt. It is a bit of a struggle keeping some things planted. We have a special pot of dirt she can just dig in. She loves it. Just pulls up clumps and lets it all drain through her fingers. Then does it again.

Like this. Tossing mud balls. Very fun.

Chomping on a drumstick, gravy everywhere, but so good. On beach days, you're allowed to do anything.

Her love of books has not waned at all. She'll start her day off with a story, and end it that way. She'll often bring a book to bed with her for a nap and look at the pictures for a while before tipping herself over to go to sleep.

Her love of the cat continues to be infinite. The cat is getting better with her, too. I think Piper has grasped the word "gentle", which is good. They are on much better terms. And Piper likes to drop some of her food to Foos... yeah. Real fun.

16 teeth total on this shark-baby. That last set of K-9's were a challenge, but they are all through. For whatever reason, all of Piper's teeth came early, but I feel like we might be done for a while (please Lord!). She has had some much better nights this last week, so maybe she is almost done teething for a while. I don't dare to hope.

And here was her first Laser sailboat ride. She liked most of it. She either wanted to sit right in the bottom, or have me help her stand on the bow. Hmmm... She does have to cutest lifejacket though, and she loves just wearing that around the house.

Health wise, Piper is a superstar. The last week+ she has been working on a bit of a cough and runny nose, but it never got too bad and she seemed to be able to fight it pretty well. It never turned into anything the hospital staff were telling us it might.

We were at hematology yesterday for a check-up and they thought everything looked ok. We never did get her white blood cells levels back in time, but I figured, if they haven't called me, it means that it was the same normal low, of something below zero. I am ok with zero. She has been fine with zero. What is the big deal? Maybe she is just gonna stay there.

The hematologist did mention that this should wear off in a couple months or maybe a year. When it doesn't, then they start looking into something else. I feel like this is her normal... but maybe normal isn't so good? We'll cross that bridge when we get there.

For now, we have a perfectly happy baby, and from the outside, her health is perfect. Her scar is healing up really well (the nurses in cardiology yesterday called it a zipper! So perfect!), and she is wearing those SPF shirts all the time and sunscreen. If she is happy, so am I.

Our favourite place on earth.

We made our annual Long Beach trip this year in June, which was the greatest idea we've had in a long time! It was not crowded at all, there were no crazy kids around, and the general feel of the place was not in the pumped-up summer mode yet. We might have to do that again.

It certainly helped that we had great weather, which is kinda a crap-shoot with our west coast, but we did ok!We found with a baby/toddler (left with a baby, came back with a toddler), we certainly were a little more run ragged and we experienced our favourite place in a new way. We found the same thing last year, but Piper was only a few months old, so this year, we could go a little faster and longer at things.

I am always amazed that we can make this trip (at least) once and year and everytime it is different. Like:

1. We got a beach front campsite (unheard of in the summer)

2. We almost lost our campsite (arrived late, forgot to check in the morning after)

3. Went to the "blowhole" (kinda dangerous, but came back alive!)

4. Had our first real "budget trip": spent under $350!!!

5. I finally got to use a wet suit in the water! (Thanks Harry/Dad)

6. Tried surfing with the two of us on a board

7. Went to church on the Sunday we were there (cute Anglican church, with about 8 people)

That is all I can think for now, but it was great, and new and fresh:) We spent most of our time cruising the beach, putting Piper in her rain suit and boots so she could scoot around and get really dirty, and eating. It was awesome.
Piper was a pretty good camper, though I can't express enough (that will be punny in one second!) how glad I was that Piper is still breastfeeding. I actually can't imagine doing that trip with a baby who needs a bottle. This way, Piper just slept between Matt and I when she needed me, I was right there. Sleeping in a tent was a little different for her, so some nights she needed to nurse more than others, but she was quickly getting the hang of living in a tent.

Funny story: for her naps, she would fall asleep somehow (either played out, or just cranky) and we could lay her down in her stroller and she could sleep for almost 2 hours. So the second day, we got her to sleep and then we quickly both jumped into our wetsuits (anyone who has put on a wetsuit knows that term is not quite appropriate) and headed down to the water with the stroller with sleeping babe.

We could skim board for a while, nice and close, check in on her now and then. She has always been a big fan of white noise, so the constant whoosh, whoosh of the waves was awesome!

Then we ventured out into the waves ourselves. Yes, we did leave our sleeping baby in the surf. The beach was so unpopulated, and we could see her the whole time. I am sure it is not he epitome of good parenting, but we tried it out, had our fun and came back to rescue our baby once the crows thought her little boots looked tasty.

Holidays will never quite be the same. But we still loved it. We got a little more tired, and technically we left a day early, but it was worth it. We had our fun, ate all our food and saw and did most things we wanted to.

I asked Matt at some point during the visit if he ever imagined that he would be taking his baby to Long Beach, after all the years he had been there as a child. He said he had never even fathomed it. And really, none of this journey we could have ever thought up in our wildest dreams. But wild it is, no?

Alas, we are glad to be home, and unpacked though still sorta recovering from the mess... And now we are officially a camping family! We most certainly need a bigger tent (as romantic as it is sleeping with your toddler in bed, she really does wiggle around and might have done much better in her playpen), but not a bigger car yet. Who knows what our next Long Beach trip will look like! I don't even both guessing because I know whatever happens, I will be blown away.

ps. On a side note, Hematology called and asked us to get some blood work done on Piper, just to keep checking her levels, and they came back as her neutrophils being lower than 0.1. Not all that strange to us, but we had the cardiologist-on-call and remind us specifically that if Piper shows any sign of infection, to bring her in right away. (Another reason to keep breastfeeding this baby! Breast milk provides antibodies that she can't get anywhere else, and since she has no bacteria fighters, I will keep providing those for her, as long as she'll take it)

The hematology nurse called a little later to remind us to not use Tylenol if we can help it, as it could mask a possible fever that Piper might have, and thus let any infection get further than it should. Bummer. I can see Piper's 13th tooth coming in. One of them nasty K9 teeth... not looking forward to it.

But so far, Piper seems more than ok, it is just the same constant monitoring we've always been doing, since day 1. She is eating well, drinking well and in a general normal mood.

I think Heme will call us to book a check-up appointment soon, maybe for next week. I'll let you know if there is anything new or interesting :) Have a great weekend!

What a weekend.

We love our long weekends. May, being a month-long party for us, is no exception. My parents were in town and so we all decided to head over to Mayne Island to visit my sister and her family. What a great idea! A nice, secluded island full of nature and wildlife and quiet living. An entire weekend of slow days, mother nature and catching up and calming down. Sounds pretty nice, no?

Well, it turns out a good portion of the GVRD also thought that sounded like a lovely way to spend a weekend.

So on Sunday morning (after shirking our church duties), we headed to the ferry, thinking to walk on, only to find out there was NO parking at all. Not in the long term lot, nor in the lot down the road (the big gravel lot that is never full. Yeah, it was packed).

Ok... so we drove on. It doesn't sound all the dramatic but it kinda was. We got some of the last tickets to even get on that boat (the next was at 6pm) and we dashed on board, safe and sound.

This is Piper's second ferry ride, and she wasn't a big fan of the wind, but enjoyed all the faces. She is always making friends everywhere she goes.

Then we finally got to Mayne and we really did spend a good portion of the weekend relaxing and soaking up all that was around us. My sister and hubby (plus 2 nieces) live on a great piece of land about 5 minutes away from the "village"/main drag of the island. My sister had just planted her garden, so we got a tour of that and all the girls got good and dirty (even our oldest niece in her pretty "poofy" dress that only ever came off for bedtime). But a little roughage never hurt anyone.

Here is #1 niece teaching Piper to read (as any almost-three-year-old, she already knows everything).
Our other niece and Piper are only 2 months apart and are always pretty close in size. In a stroller, they sure look like they could be twins. Not a fun idea.
We all went to visit the lighthouse. Such awesome weather. Yes, and an opportunity for a photo op. Even the dog got in. Piper dipped her toes in the ocean (with help from Daddy) and I don't even think anyone got hurt on those rocks (covered in barnacles).
Piper spent most of the weekend outside. Of course, we forgot her sun-hat, but her hood was up most of the time. But she did get a healthy amount of sun. She really seemed to love it outside, especially watching her cousins. Oh, and we even saw a seal!
Piper is so close to walking. We are right on the cusp of a big life change coming up. Even this weekend, she took more steps on her own. The kind when she is walking purely to get herself to where she wants to go, not to impress anyone or put on a show. I know once we get to the walking part there is no turning back, so I am enjoying these last moments of my little bum-scooter.
We camped that night, as a family. We thought it would be a good experiment to try tenting with a baby near a house that we could bail in, if the night went terribly bad. But it was acutally ok. Matt had built a little nest for Piper beside our bed, but she wiggles so much in the night she ended up way past our heads, with her face on the bare tent floor and wall. We promptly brought her into our big nest and we all did much better. Piper is still breast-feeding, so it is always easier to nurse in bed with a baby right there. All in all, a good experiment. I think she thought it was the funniest thing to wake up with Mom and Dad right there. She could stick her little fingers right up our noses. A lovely way to wake up.

As our ferry home left at around 8, we thought to get there early to be sure to get on. So we bathed all the girls in the tub and stuck them all in their respective jammies. They were all so stinkin' cute in the tub together. Yes, good fodder for the wedding slide-show.
You can see Piper's scar healing up nicely. The top is looking better all the time, as there is no more scab or anything. We've got a scar cream we're putting on, though I might need to get a new vitamin E, as the stuff I put on her gave her a rash. Dang. She is less sensitive about you touching it, too, which helps when we are trying to put stuff on there, but this summer she is going to be wearing UV shirts all summer (if not all year) long. The doctors said to keep her scar out of the sun as it will burn easier and stay dark. So if you see Piper with long sleeves under what should be a summer top, that is why... She will thank me when she's older.

Alas, our ferry home was 100% booked. We had to wait until THE very last minute and we were actually the second to last car on the boat... and then the last car off of the boat. What a journey. Yikes. We thought we'd spend another night over (which, really, would have been great fun! minus the lack of clean underwear), but we are glad the ferry could squeeze us in.

Thanks for the squeeze, Mrs. Queen of Nanaimo. We really appreciated it.

We got home at around 10pm and all crashed right away. Now, it is just unto uncovering the house from the mess of the weekend. I know my kitchen is somewhere hidden under all of that mess. And the laundry machine might be running for a while.

All worth it. What a weekend indeed.

Big Birthday: Bonk + Bash!

Ok. It's happened. Over and done with. Piper is now one year old.

Big sigh.

But what a day/week/month/year!

Piper's actual birthday was really great. Matt ended up having the day off, so we could all spend it as a family. That was so special. She might not have a first birthday like that again.

She had some birthday pancakes with yogourt for brekkie (big fan, it seems) and made a good mess. I snuck some sweet potato in them pancakes and they were quite yummy! Nice and sweet and a nice warm colour.

And at some point, Matt brought his little Laser sailboat out and was setting it up for fun, and we realized that maybe we should keep it up for the party on Saturday. That ended up being the best idea ever! The kids loved it! And it was a great conversation piece, to boot.

The rest of the day was pretty low key. Piper had a massive wipe out on the drive way, which gave her a nice scrape right in the middle of her forehead, but nothing to mark off the year with a good bump. She survived.

We chilled the rest of the day, got some work done and then went out to dinner with friends in the evening.

Turning one wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. There were a few times when I looked at the clock and thought "this time last year we were...". It was pretty amazing thinking about time time last year. So much has changed, so much has been learnt and so much has happened! Who could have ever thought we'd have a year like this.

Wow.

And then onto our party on Saturday! If you didn't know, we all have birthday's within a few days of each other (Piper May 13, Frances May 16, Matt May 19), so we just tossed all the parties together. Though, really, the party was really for Piper. Not nearly as many people would have showed up just for us. She is a pretty special girl.

She had a special dress that her aunty bought for her while she was having her surgery and I had been saving it for just such a special day. (I like to think that) Piper's favourite colour is orange, so it suited well. We love lots of colour. Even though she slept through a good portion of the party, it was still great.

Lots of food, friends, some family and an all around grand ol' time. I am so glad we chose to celebrate in a loose, come-and-go-as-you-please sort of way as we got to actually visit with a good number of our guests, which I don't think we would have got to do if it had a shorter timeframe. We had people show up just before 11am, and the last people left just after 12am.

Yeah. Good long partaaay! We loved it. I think I'll buy more burgers next year.

I made approximatly 1 zillion cupcakes and they all disappeared, so that was a success. And I didn't take any pictures of them. As it happens, I totally forgot to take pictures until about 6pm. Yeah. And I sometimes call myself a photographer. Gah. Ain't that always how it goes?

Then it was onto the weekend.

Oh- time travel back to Friday! Totally forgot to say that Matt and I went on our birthday date! We went to an awesome concert to see David Gray in Vancouver and we had such a good time. I couldn't stop smiling for hours and hours after. It was a whirlwind day, but so worth it. I am glad we opted out of gifts this year and just acted like a young, dating couple (no, we didn't act like teenagers. Too tired). Did I say it was awesome already? Well, it was so stinkin' awesome! We've got to do that more often. Maybe not on the same night as the Stars on Ice, as parking was a whopping $23. Not cool.

Here is a family picture of us, taken on Sunday, my birthday. I am now officially 25. Yes, I know that makes me sound like a baby, but oh well. So far, I like the number.
Check out that bump! And she is pushing through the world's biggest molar, too, so she was pretty cranky and really clingy and really soother-bound. That night was really rough. Oh! And then got her shots the next day. Oh my. The day after that, she actually slept all day on me. She spent at least 80% of her awake time of the day in the sling and the rest, we spent on the couch, napping. I have never seen her like that. I did manage to finish my book (finally completed the Twilight series. Yikes. Bane of my existence! Took forever to get through that last one, but I am now done. And I am slightly underwhelmed. Sorry Twilight-ers).
Special cuddle times. Few and far between. But I savour them all.

So, where exactly will we be next year? This year has brought so many changes and surprises, I really don't even dare to dream what this next year will hold. I can be certain that the adventure-o-meter will be way up there. But only time will tell.

Happy birthday family. I am so blessed to call you mine.

And here is a little compilation of Piper from 10-12 months. I had a lot of fun with this one. I don't think I will be making these movies every 2 months... but we'll see. Enjoy :)

Almost One.

As I am sitting here, I can vividly remember where I was exactly this time last year. So vivid. So clear and yet so foggy.

I was deep in the labour process and really, really feeling it. For some reason, I feel so much more overwhelmed about this idea now. I am just blown away by what one can go through to get that little baby home. I was so focused on breathing and breathing and breathing... there was no time to actually think about what was really happening. It was just survival, until the next contraction.

In that fog, I remember one idea that kept me focused was seeing myself pushing our bright green stroller down the street with a baby finally in it. I pictured that stroller often, whenever I could. For some reason that really helped. The things that get you through.

And oh the things you don't know.

This time last year we were hours away from our baby girl, seeing her perfect little head and squinty eyes and long yellow fingernails. This time last year all of strength was being drawn to my belly and my brain as I felt wave after wave of my future approaching. She was so close, right there, just waiting for that perfect moment.

"Mom, you're not ready yet. I'm not ready yet, ok? Just a bit longer. Almost there. I can't wait to meet you".

Almost a year ago we had no idea what was coming. All the joy, mystery, exhaustion and bliss; all the confusion, worries and tests; all the moments of realization of what the rest of our lives would hold. How can one person, in one moment, alter the rest of all of your moments? None of my moments will ever be the same.

By having labour and delivery be such an emotional moment is almost like God's way of tattooing his love on us somehow. We couldn't possibly forget, even though the memories ebb and alter somewhat, we never truly forget what bringing our baby into the world was like. We went through so much to have this little person in our lives, and yet we still love that itty-bitty person to pieces. It is just an itty-bitty taste of the love that Christ has for us. So much pain and emotion for such a rich blessing. I get the gist of what God's love means. Just a taste, mind you.

So I send out all the love a mother can have for her child and I pour it out on my baby. My brave little baby girl who can't possibly be one year old! What a journey, in a mere 365 days, we've discovered so much already. What will tomorrow hold? What will the next 365 days hold? What will you teach me? How will you challenge me? Who will you help me become?

There is so much adventure out there and I want to have so many more adventures with you. One day at a time. I can't wait for tomorrow. I eagerly await every day I get to spend being your Mommy. What a gift.

I finally made a short little video about Piper's heart surgery. It's not much, but I know I always like looking at moving photos to get a real feel for what things were like.

Wow. So glad we can move on.

Tickity-boo.

Do I dare say that everything looks good? I just might!

As I was in the change room at the Gap yesterday, mid-way through a pants change, I got a call from BCCH. It was our lovely cardiology nurse telling us that Piper's last check up looked great, that the infection should just keep getting better and that any wheezing she has should just be monitored by us in case it gets worse (which it hasn't). She then said that the cardiologist wouldn't need to see us again until November sometime! Ta-da! That is that.

That seems so odd to me, but so good at the same time. I mean, at our last visit, we were dealing face to face with the surgeon (such a cool dude, by the way) and he felt really great about how Piper was doing, and now, with her repair, there is not too much to worry about. How crazy is that? I really do think the worst is over!

Yes, we will still have to have periodic check ups (and we'll most likely have a hematology check up in between there), but really, they are just for maintenance and record keeping. Wow. Officially done.

Piper's scar is healing up, slowly but surely. She just has a tiny scab from where it bled before and it is almost gone. Then we can begin some scar treatment.

Anyways, long time coming, but here is an example of the other little issue Piper HAD with her heart (no longer!). It was called a Double Outlet Right Ventricle, which, from what I understand, it effects both of the hearts "outlets" (aorta and pulmonary artery), as they both come over the right ventricle instead of the aorta coming out of the left ventricle and the pulmonary artery coming out of the right. The surgeon told us that they were kinda "stacked", and over the hole in her heart, and they should really be going in the proper direction. Anyways, as with all heart surgery, it was just a quick little extra patch over the pulmonary artery to make it a bit bigger and then the patch that closed the hole in her heart just had to be kinda scooted around that aorta so that is always arises out of the left side.

It doesn't make a big difference for us, but I figure I should document this anyways.

Yet again, I just stand in awe at how crazy all of this is. Piper's heart is still so tiny, and they can fix all of that, just as easy as anything.

I forget, too, how common heart surgery is in little kids. It is such an intricate organ, it is even more amazing how many times it gets made right first shot! But I am just so glad for all the smart, brilliant people who are able, gifted and available to fix babies hearts, and in particular, my baby's heart.

We are so glad to have that part of the journey behind us, though it is part of what makes us us. We wouldn't trade it for anything. This is all part of Piper's story.

And Mother's day was lovely. Last weekend was one of the most relaxing weekends in recent history. Lots of lounging about, walks, food, chatting and friends. I felt really refreshed after it all. I did get some lovely flowers (lily of the valley- May's flower) and we all had a really great day celebrating and loving Mom's (even though neither of us could see our Mom's).

A lot of the day I thought of how I was last year Mother's day...

I am so glad I am not that pregnant right now. This was just before our date for "cervical ripening". Gahhh... Doesn't that sound special. I wanted a baby so bad for Mother's day last year... we were so close. Only 10 days overdue. We spent the day skipping church, finishing reading The Hobbit (outloud- Matt did most of it) at Crescent Beach and then we went to Home Depot and bought a garden hose. Ahhh... when life was simple. Hobbits and hoses.

Still, as chaotic and colorful as this new life is, I love it in a way that I can't quite put words to. Most mothers can probably relate. And again, wouldn't trade this for anything. This is part of my story.

And here is a picture of Piper, because I know that is what you are really here looking for: