rally in victoria

Yeepa! Sasha and I ended up going to Victoria after all!

Anita and I experienced the adventure of ferry line ups with hungry kids and getting around on board (the old ferries) with strollers...fun workout! ;)

We lucked out for the day as it was a sunny and mild, and thanks to Anita and Robi we received a wonderful walking tour of parts of Victoria, including a lovely stroll along the ocean front!

With spending time with Anita & Charlie, making new friends with Robi & Owen (trying to hold Sasha's hand in this pic...awwww) and Paula, a good turnout for the rally, lovely weather and rejuvenating fun of lots of walking and talking...well it couldn't have been more of a fabulous day :)

Here's a picture taken at the legislature, and below a few other fave pics from the day: rally prep on the ferry over; Sasha & Charlie in the car and playing on the ferry home; Sasha & Owen making mischief at the coffee shop; all the kids fell asleep by the end of the afternoon stroll...and here's Sasha flaked out; and the crocus flowers already blooming...lovely!

deflux for the reflux

Sasha, Mark and myself have all been sicky to some degree this past week...runny noses are now almost subsided...the fog is starting to clear...

Sasha has been booked for the deflux procedure on March 14th. If all goes well she'll be off the antibiotics and on the road to reflux recovery within a month of the procedure! yeah :)

In the past week tooth number 3 & 4 have finally cut through and are quite visible now. Soon her two front teeth will be in full view. (hey, when do they sing "all i want for xmas is my 2 front teeth"?)

Sasha is going to attend her first rally on Tuesday in defence of child care. Though it would be great to go to the large one in Victoria, we're going to hang with Gilly and Merlin at the rally in Vancouver at city hall. First time Gilly and I really hung out was many years ago on a journey for another rally at the legislature...seems there's much need for showing a collective voice to make a point in our 'democracy'! Good times ;)

Seriously...when it comes to child care I know countless families who have had a struggle to find quality, affordable and convenient choices when it comes to care for their children. Many folks don't have the financial resources to stay home or hire a nanny, or the extended family network to provide a lot of choice.

It may be great to get that $100 a month, but in my mind it makes far more sense for our tax dollars to be invested in providing a universal child care system. Who can afford the care they need on this money?! (and we're taxed on something we pay with our taxes?!!)

The people who commit themselves to taking care of our children also deserve to be paid respectably for their work...especially as we know that the first handful of years are the most important stage of our development! There should be quality training for those who seek to care for kids as their profession, and standards parents can rely on.

And most importantly - every child deserves a healthy start in life. Research has proven how important the first few years really are. Since our society is not structured around a 9-5 world anymore, there needs to be flexible options for families to provide the best care for their kids.

Enough of my soapboxing...but please contact your local MLA, MP, and city councilor and share your story. Everyone knows someone with a nightmare child care ordeal...let's help provide the structure necessary for a generation who finally won't have this stress...hopefully our kids! (not our grandkids!) We benefited from a generation who invested in a universal public education system (though there is a lot of room for improvement here...but that's another soapbox for another day...) and now it's our turn to help shape the continued effort to improve our society. Isn't that what an educated, wealthy and compassionate society does?

If you want more information on what's happening with child care advocacy, research or government policy, and what you can do to make a difference, I highly recommend you check out one of the following links:

Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada - www.childcareadvocacy.ca
Coalition of Child Care Advocates BC - www.cccabc.bc.ca
First Call BC Child & Youth Advocacy Coalition - www.firstcallbc.org
BCGEU Child Care Campaign - www.bcgeu.ca/campaigns/child_care
-this site is loaded with materials and links to help you take action

Here's a couple more pics of my cutie who keeps me inspired to stay active and informed...

9 months & "she's thriving!"

so says our lovely pediatrician :)

We have decided to book Sasha for the deflux procedure after much thought about it. It has been highly recommended and the risks seem very minimal for the amazing outcome of getting her off antibiotics and enabling her body to outgrow the problem without further complications. (well a much larger chance of it anyway!)

Dr. Hailey was absolutely thrilled with Sasha's development (she declared "she's thriving" with enthusiasm!) and is confident the procedure will benefit her greatly. She has grown in length...two inches in the past month (now 30 inches long)!! Her weight continues to hover around 22 lbs and overall her health is fantastic.

She also seems to be quite the overachiever. Dr. H says she is anywhere from 3 weeks to a couple of months ahead of "normal" in all stages of development so far, though girls typically speed through these stages faster than boys. She is a stubborn problem solver so this probably helps too! (my daughter stubborn?! teehee)

Now that she has actually begun cruising I'd actually be happy if she'd slow down a bit in her development! LOL ;)

here are just a few more pics to tide you over 'til the next update...in cahoots with Merlin cruising around the table, showing off at home (above) and clever thing has figured out how to open the tupperware drawer! (time to get on that baby proofing!)