Brrrrrr...it's Halloween

I know we've experienced this kind of freezing Halloween before and I know it's not the last time it will snow...but I'm still annoyed! Why????? Why does there have to be snow on Halloween??? Especially when my kids are clearly going on a safari...you just don't look for Zebras or Lions or Giraffes in the snow! I think we lucked out though and got a few to visit for the day:

 

p.s. aren't you proud of me? I took this picture BEFORE the rush of Halloween started!! I sure one upped myself from last year.

Teeth?

It's just been one of those weeks...the kind that have me exhausted and barely hanging onto sanity. Maybe wondering what I've gotten myself into. And the sad part of it all is that there's nothing really concrete to blame it on other than a perpetually cranky baby. That's enough though right? I think there will be a light at the end of this teething baby tunnel...and I'm pretty sure it will be a three year old. And maybe that's why I'm barely hanging onto my sanity, because THREE seems so far away!! hahaha. I KNOW there are great and wonderful stages between 7 months and 3 years, but right now I'm stuck in the deep never ending stage called 'teething'. Anyway, I'm not all doom and gloom...in fact I do have time to enjoy life...and make cookies...and laugh at my sweet older girls as they share the spatula and lick from it every last morsel of icing. LOVE.

Summer's over

So it's official...that beautiful thing called summer is over. And I'm pretty sure no one checked with me to see if I was ok with that. And I'm not. I LOVE the long days where the sun never seems to set; I love the windows open, the neighbourhood kids running in and out of my yard; I love the smell of barbecues fired up, and fact that the TV is mostly ignored. I just love it all. And although there are great things to love about winter...I still just miss summer.

And so here is the last picture I'm sure I'll have this year of the girls on trampoline and their staticky hair...because soon it will be taken down and put away until next year. And soon I will forget how cute they were this summer. But for now I have this: 

Outtakes

I was going through pictures from the last few months tonight...getting rid of ones I clearly would and SHOULD never use for any reason. And then I realized that I HAD a reason. A really great one. Blackmail. And there you have it, some of us are more photogenic than others (i.e.  every other picture of mine is a great outtake, however I had to go all the way back to 2005 to find that gem of Ben). And that's the way it is. 

Scary Scary Paige

So we decorated for Halloween today. The kids got dressed into costumes to mark the occasion...not this years costumes though. I asked Paige to show me a scary face while showing off her fall leaves. And here's what I got:

Apparently she didn't want to be scared by her own scary face. So I asked her to make a pirate face...and here she is again. "Arrrrr":

We're still working on her camera faces...but boy oh boy is she sure cute! And maybe a little dramatic. 

That Face

See that face? That's the face of a child who says "I'm NEVER going to let you figure me out!" That's the face of a child who slept like an Angel for 6 months of her life...and then one day decided it was time to wake up and scream for hours on end in the middle of the night. It's the face of a child who did that for almost 2 weeks straight...and then slept through the night again for another two weeks, only to start it all over again. It's the face of a child who's so deeply loved that only she (and her sisters) could get away with that kind of stuff...but just barely. It's the face of a child who's momma is desperately hoping to get some sleep tonight, and who would like some answers! But I hear those are hard to come by...so I guess we'll just wait. Because this won't last forever! But one lesson I've learned...NEVER ever brag about how great your baby sleeps, because that's when they won't. So I'm wondering if the opposite is true? Can I say that she's a terrible sleeper and hope she gives that bad habit up? I hope so.

Common Knowledge

You don't have to tell me...because I already know:

They're just beautiful.

And fun.

And silly.

And crazy.

And all mine.

Today

So Cait had her surgery today....and everything went perfectly! We woke up at the crack of dawn...literally, and headed up to the Children's Hospital. They asked us a million questions...had us dress her in the striped hospital pj's and took us into the operating area. We then met with the anesthetist who discussed her role...which really is they only part of the whole thing I was worried about (too many Grey's Anatomy episodes where people didn't wake up from Anesthetic I guess).  

And then the Anesthetist said "I'll take your baby from here".

And so I handed my sweet little baby over...

and watched as the team of doctors walked with her down the hall and into the operating room.

Without me

WOW.

That is not something my heart was prepared for.

A tear or two (or a million) may have slipped down my cheek as I bravely walked out of that room. 

Seriously, I was not at all prepared for that!

But Ben, the ever brave husband he is, took charge and forced me to come with him to the cafeteria to grab breakfast. And then before we knew it we our surgeon walked into the waiting room with a big thumbs up!! Such a relief. He did ask us a few questions about her breathing and coughing because apparently she had some difficulties with both while under...and they had a bit of a hard time controlling it. UHHHHH...what?? But he quickly reassured us that she was ok now. NOW. As in 'she wasn't before'?? Who knows, they were all very calm and professional about it. So I'll just have to be too. And really, it's the NOW that counts. So that's it, we now have to wait a few months to see if the procedure was as successful as we hoped.

I'm hopeful.

Anyway, last night before we put that tired baby of mine to bed I thought "I NEED one last picture of her" I NEEDED that picture like I've never needed a picture before (mom jitters). And so here it is. Way past bedtime, under the orange glare of the kitchen lights, super grainy, in her loving dads arms, and just exactly as I want to remember her at this age. Sweet as always.

Three things

I'm grateful for the following three things:

Well, and my husband too (I'm seriously more grateful for him than I can even express). But he wasn't around when I was taking pictures. These pictures aren't even really amazing, but I was just playing around with my new lens and had three semi willing participants. Three little girls that are deeply loved and cherished. 

We've got a date!

So we finally have a surgery date for this Darling little babe! She's going to have the 'sting proceudre' also known as the 'deflux' on October 9th.

One week.

I just got off the phone with a nurse from pre-op and we discussed things a little bit. When we met with our nephrologist he immediately knew she needed to see a urologist. He said that nephrologists are like the 'engineers' and 'urologist' are like the plumbers...the guys who actually fix the problem. So he ran into the hall, and 5 minutes later showed up with a urologist straight out of surgery. He looked at her chart and within a minute said "she needs surgery, and she needs it within the month".

Yikes!

Nothing like a doctor's urgency to freak a mom out a bit!! But we know she's ok and that she's going to be ok!!

So now we're just sitting back...thinking about possibly isolating our family from the world to make sure she doesn't get sick before her surgery. We're trying not to watch any doctor's shows that may unnecessarily freak us out. And we're just trying to pretend like it's no big deal.

 Because it really isn't.

I mean this surgery will save her kidney and prevent further damage, so that's a big deal. But as far as surgery's go, this one's pretty minor! Anyway...that's the deal. It's all new to me though...and I'm just the tiniest (maybe a bit more) nervous about it all. That's my job though right?