now & then pics...3 months & birth

summer fun

another month flyin' by...

to our delight this is the smiley face we see very often through the day now! (no fan of the heat & humidity we've been experiencing she is still smiling alot) her smiles are still somewhat tricky to capture with the camera but sheer joy to see up close :)

so it seems she's as happy with us as we are with her! yeah!

Sasha had a few firsts in the past two weeks...the BBQ fundraiser at Nat Bailey for David; a fabulous weekend at the Vancouver Folk Fest; and her first mommy & me group at the community health nurse office. She's never been around so many babies at once!

Seeing so many little girls of all ages at the folk fest had me spending a lot of time imagining what it will be like every year as Sasha grows. I wonder if we'll see her running around with little fairy wings in the next few years? And as we watched Che and a girl flirting while playing soccer (which was soooooooo fun to watch!) I wondered when the flirting will begin for Sasha...and if we'd be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of it! ;)

On the health front...she'll be on the anibiotics for at least another 6 months. That is when we are scheduled to see the urologist again and poor Sasha will have to redo a couple of the tests we did while in hospital. Her reflux problem is quite severe and he figures there is about a 50% chance of her outgrowing it without any further problems or damage to the kidneys. So for now it is a wait and see time...and we stay optimistic that she will not get another infection. Our glass is half full on this as we feel she is a strong and stubborn young girl...and she is perfectly healthy at this point which is the good news :)

pics below (the last you'll see of the tye dye outfit...just one of many she has outgrown now!):
-visiting Brit pool and finally being held by Stephanie...always confident we were having a girl and by far the most eager of the life guards to meet Sasha! (though everyone had their turn holding her too...she loves being passed around for cuddle time at Brit!)
- sing song time with Granma
- center of attention with Granpa & Granma Liz
- a couple of adorable sleeping pics, play time on the mat and sittin up in the chair
- at the fundraiser she met our neighbourhood superstar organizer Jim and checked out her first baseball game with daddy
- the folk fest was a great weekend where I got too much sun one day (I totally put on sunscreen...just not enough it seems!), and we spent most of our time in the shade after that! smiles for daddy and another great family pic. and then there is Sasha with Elizabeth...an adorable 8 year old who couldn't get enough of holding babies...I think she held every baby on the hill where we sat!
too cute :)

week 11 & 12 pics

aunties & fire & bears...oh my!

the past couple of weeks since Sasha's release from Children's Hospital have been very exciting!

after a few days of simple chillin' at home we were back out and about. we've had a few visits at home and the weekend that Tania was with us was a whirlwind 4 days!

I had my first 'horrible mom' moment when I forgot to bring a bottle with me when I picked her up at the airport. Poor Sasha had to wait 'til we got home when she was so hungry. And I forgot her soother...not that it is overly effective - but it does work now and then. Once we were home, and she was filling her tummy, she seemed to forgive me. :)

Canada Day was a busy day. I was MC'ing an event at Kensington community center (where I'm a board member & on the program committee) and Tania hung out in the shade with Sasha enjoying the show. It was quite the diverse event with lots of impressive talent of all ages...showing off the programs we have available of course! Not to mention the arts & crafts, pottery, fun & games, BBQ and lots of cake - next years should be even better ;)
(I know...shameless plug!) And while we played in the park, Mark got some uninterrupted World Cup watching time and then joined us for the last little while.

I was letting him lounge as he had agreed to be the 'designated parent' for the whole evening so I could celebrate my birthday with our amigos. I took advantage of being able to drink sangria while not worrying as Sasha is bottle fed. The other positive (I have to focus on the positives of not being able to breast feed) is that Mark gets to be a partner in feeding her, and he really enjoys this! (except maybe at 3 am...teehee!)

So the evening consisted of us hanging with friends in the backyard on a beautiful night, eating great food and sharing many laughs - the backyard BBQ gathering is one of my ultimate favorite things! And thanks to our firemaster Carl we were able to burn all of the crazy amounts of rose wood we had too...practical and fun! :)

After a day of taking it easy and strolling the Drive, we headed for Port Moody to walk the dykes we have heard so much about...only we took a wrong turn somewhere. We ended up on this gravel road which we followed a while before we came across a baby bear! He jumped back into the woods before we were able to get over the shock and get our cameras out for a pic...but the thrill was still there - we had seen a cub! How cool!

We recovered our wits and kept going along...until we saw signs - "Danger! Open mining area" - What?!! I don't think we're going in the right direction! Mining pits don't rank high on my list of nice places to go for a walk...so we turned around. We decided to check out another park we had passed on the way to nowhere.

Then we came around a corner and saw not one, but two cubs playing on the road! Cameras ready we both got some pics before they jumped back in the woods. Then we heard rustling in the bushes and one of them came barging out again...clearly being chased by its sibling...how cute! After they disappeared again we decided to move along before mama bear came out! Then at the entrance of the next park...we saw another bear! Amazing!...but we decided that since we were with Sasha...and had lunch with us...this probably wasn't the safest place to be.

So then we made our way to a third park with lots of trails...and surrounded by homes so we would be safe! Then we got lost and ended up coming out at the farthest end from where we parked...well...we certainly got our exercise that day putting our 'winnebago' stroller to the test on the trails! :)

It took a couple of days to recover from Tania's visit (always super full of action!) and I actually napped with Sasha one afternoon for the first time since she was born! In the past week she has added the occasional giggle to her repertoire which is just too sweet! We laughed so hard the first time she laughed out loud that we startled her and she started crying...awww...most endearing moment yet.

An update on her health: she has been on antibiotics since released, and it looks like she might be on them a while yet. As long as she doesn't develop another infection she should be fine. She has pretty bad reflux in both kidneys and this is something they used to automatically perform surgery on to rectify. Thankfully now they keep little ones on antibiotics to prevent infections developing while their bodies grow out of the reflux problem. Apparently 90% of babies outgrow it without further problems. (If they repeatedly develop infections than surgery becomes a real option.) However, she caught one of the 3 super bugs responsible for 10% of urine infections...instead of the E Coli responsible for the other 90% 'easy to treat' infections...so I will only feel good about this when she is actually healed from it all!

We have an appointment with the urologist in a week and a 1/2 so I'll update her progress then. As long as she continues to be happy and healthy it is likely all is good...and she is certainly healthy right now. Having no trouble packin' on the ounces...in 10 weeks she has grown from 7 lbs 12 oz...to 12 lbs 7 oz!

We're rounding out this weekend with Sashas' first political fundraiser tonight - a BBQ and baseball game at Nat Bailey for our friend (and MLA) David Chudnovsky. And tomorrow we'll watch the World Cup final with Granpa and Granma Liz. A fun and social weekend once again!

What's in store for the next couple of weeks? Well...the folk fest for sure (can't wait!)...maybe some strawberry pickin'...definetly more walkin'...

Below are pictures from the past two weeks:
finally caught a smile! check out those dimples!; a couple more for the "comfy?" category (fast becoming my favorite); Sasha with Aunty Karli, Aunty Julie and Aunty Tania; Sasha the centre of attention...and loving it!; the bears; me, Sasha and Tania on a trail; firemaster Carl; lunch at Grandview Park; Sasha around the home - sleeping, smirking, hangin' with a toy...and crying (like most babies she is not always happy); with Granpa; with Tania at Kensingtons' Canada Day event; bathtime with Dad; burping at sunset; and pretty in pink...just one of many cute dresses!

week 9 & 10 pics