After much debating, we chose to drive to Halifax overnight. A 16 hour drive with a new baby and 2 kids with car sickness sensitivities is not something to undertake during the day... how many activities do you know that can safely occupy 2 kids if they can't focus on anything inside the car for more than 5 min without beginning to complain of carsickness?
All in all, I think the overnight experiment went well. Ok, so the plan for parents to get extra sleep the afternoon before leaving didn't work out, the girls were so excited to start on this journey they stayed up until 1 am, and of course, at each stop to feed Aiden they both woke up...
But, we had no complaints of car sickness, and only one 2 hour period of over-hyper, restless strapped-in kids. Parents survived mighty well as well - a 4 hour layover in Meductic certainly helped there.
So, we are here and recovering. The girls have already discovered friends and a trampoline in the back yard where we are staying so are not too interested in catching up on lost sleep or routine, Dad has slept all night and a lot of all day to catch up on sleep, and it'd better be Mommy's turn tonight and tomorrow, though somehow she doubts that will happen as she'd like it to...
Friday, July 27, 2012
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Tests and Doctors
One of our goals for our time here was to get Jasmin retested for food sensitivities. Five doctors and 4 pokes later, we finally got one done today! We don't get the results for a week or two, making the grand total of this project about 6 weeks. It went something like this:
Mommy learns from her own doctor that a retest is possible, but we decide that we'd like to avoid having medical records for Jasmin scattered between 3 doctor offices in the city. So she passes up this opportunity to have the test ordered. Bad move in retrospect.
We sign up with a new pediatrician, and have to wait a few weeks for an appointment. Unfortunately she "doesn't believe in that stuff" and has never heard of the specific test we are requesting. Instead, she books a request for allergy testing and a dermatologist appointment.
We try to book an appointment with the doctor who originally got us the test done 2 years ago. The earliest date we can get is after we have left for Halifax.
NiNi ferrets out another, nearer naturopath able to do the test. He is more than willing, but can't get enough blood for his test from Jasmin's finger (without poking 10 times or so!). He is apologetic and goes far out of his way to arrange for a colleague to draw blood.
And finally today we get the blood draw done! It takes a bit longer than expected, and two pokes since Jasmin has "dainty princess veins" as the doctor observes. But, success!
Now we wait to get the results. Jasmin has been eating normally for about a week for this test. She has done really well, but we are starting to see the effects of eating the foods she must be still sensitive to. We are hoping the list is much shorter this time though!
Tomorrow is the allergy testing. Curious to see if anything shows up, though I don't expect anything will. And then, hopefully we are done with doctors and tests for a good long while!
Mommy learns from her own doctor that a retest is possible, but we decide that we'd like to avoid having medical records for Jasmin scattered between 3 doctor offices in the city. So she passes up this opportunity to have the test ordered. Bad move in retrospect.
We sign up with a new pediatrician, and have to wait a few weeks for an appointment. Unfortunately she "doesn't believe in that stuff" and has never heard of the specific test we are requesting. Instead, she books a request for allergy testing and a dermatologist appointment.
We try to book an appointment with the doctor who originally got us the test done 2 years ago. The earliest date we can get is after we have left for Halifax.
NiNi ferrets out another, nearer naturopath able to do the test. He is more than willing, but can't get enough blood for his test from Jasmin's finger (without poking 10 times or so!). He is apologetic and goes far out of his way to arrange for a colleague to draw blood.
And finally today we get the blood draw done! It takes a bit longer than expected, and two pokes since Jasmin has "dainty princess veins" as the doctor observes. But, success!
Now we wait to get the results. Jasmin has been eating normally for about a week for this test. She has done really well, but we are starting to see the effects of eating the foods she must be still sensitive to. We are hoping the list is much shorter this time though!
Tomorrow is the allergy testing. Curious to see if anything shows up, though I don't expect anything will. And then, hopefully we are done with doctors and tests for a good long while!
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
The Plague
There has been a full house here recently. Four more from Edmonton, 6 from Toronto, and us 5 from Bangkok. Seventeen people. Not a good time for a very contagious tummy bug to be in the house. Thankfully it is an acute 24 hour bug - especially since each person who got it basically slept the whole 24 hours! And it was God's grace that we only got it one at a time... what with 5 little kids in the house.
Grace, Aiden, and Mommy are the only ones to escape so far. We thought we were clear of it, but this morning Jasmin opted to stay home from VBS saying she feels sick....
Grace, Aiden, and Mommy are the only ones to escape so far. We thought we were clear of it, but this morning Jasmin opted to stay home from VBS saying she feels sick....
Friday, July 06, 2012
Canada Day Weekend
Not much red and white for us for Canada Day weekend, but we sure celebrated: our celebrations began on Friday and lasted until Monday! This was made all the more special as Grace and Jasmin had their cousins from Edmonton to enjoy it all with.
Friday we played in the backyard with the sprinkler. What began as a relatively tame run through the sprinkler and filling of containers broke out into a full fledged water flight!
Saturday we were at Brewer Park for the afternoon for a party: a celebration of all the May and June birthdays, but especially Jasmin's. Here we got to play in the sand, climb on the playground, and play in the water works. The girls had friends over to enjoy it all with them.
 |
| Jasmin in and on her presents |
 |
| Ina considering the disappearing gysers |
 |
| Cupcake birthday cake |
 |
| In line for the main attaction... |
 |
| ...the water slide! |
Sunday afternoon we celebrated Canada Day at Petrie Island. There were lots of booths and different Canada Day activities to do, but since the face painting started at $8 a face, we found our own piece of beach to enjoy in our own way.
 |
| Sand play |
Notice Grace in this picture... is it any wonder that her doctor commented on how much sand she had in her ears when we went a few days later?
 |
| Picnic Supper |
And on Monday, we went to the Museum of Civilization for the afternoon. All the girls enjoyed it, but their attention spans were all very different. Grace could have spent an extra hour or so just in the children's museum - she was being quite thorough with each exibit's activities!
 |
| Cousins painting in the construction zone |
 |
| Grace making a cartoon flip book |
 |
| Jasmin with her princess crown she made |
 |
| Grace listening to an audio tour |
 |
| Construction worker Grace |
 |
| Jasmin making music |
Is it any surprize that Tuesday onwards we have been lazing around at home, sleeping late and enjoying non-picnic meals? Unfortunately, a few too many of this household are battling a tummy bug this week too. But we did have a great weekend...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)