she's a drug free baby now! :)

hooray!!!!!

after our follow up with the urologist on tuesday, Sasha has officially been given the okay to go off the anti-biotics. she is drug free for two days now :)

though she will still be considered at a higher risk for reinfection until about 3 years old, she is doing fantastic and it appears that the deflux procedure in march did it's magic. we will have another follow up with Dr. Ashfar next year, and the year after...but as long as she doesn't get another urine or kidney infection they should be pretty routine visits.

Mark had the day off to join us at the hospital for her ultrasound and appointment...and it was the first beautiful day we have both been off together since I went back to work. did we relax? heck no...outside chore day!

here is Sasha in our knee high grass and weed lawn...before i spent over 3 1/2 hours pulling weeds and pushmowing the grass! and Mark tackled our insanely large rose bushes and blackberry bushes...and given the scratches he received it's hard to say who really won that battle - Mark or the bushes? I say Mark won :)

anyways...we're close to achieving my goal of removing all clutter both in and out of the house before my bday...and having our friends (whoever isn't gone for the long weekend) over for a backyard bbq party!! yay!

lots to celebrate this year - love and health of my daughter, wonderful hubby and step-son, great family and friends, gonna start the job share soon (six months of stability, and then it will be reviewed to see if it is really working for everyone...which I have no doubts about) and sooooooo much to look forward to this summer - feelin' buckets of gratitude right now!!!!!!

Next update will likely be 1st week of july...workin' alot before then; have my bbq day; and for canada day I'll be emcee at Kensington community centre again for another fun day of music and games showing off the best our centre has to offer ;)

happy first day of summer everyone!

here is a pic of Che experimenting with the chopper bikes (custom bikes that really pose a challenge for riders) at the commercial drive car free festival on sunday; the kids playing with lego; and Sasha who doesn't look so little in her stroller anymore!

almost on her own 2 feet :)

we're slowly finding our new groove now that I'm back at work. however, the Saturday mornings I used to find time to update the blog are now spent serving the public at Britannia. (my first day back I had perma grin as I was so happy to be around my coworkers again...and happy to say that I'm still lovin' it back at Brit...especially my Friday lunches with Mary, Brenda and Leslie!)

I can say that I am really enjoying the balance of the part time work and having lots and lots of time with Sasha too! Mark has had to adjust to spending many more hours with Sasha as most of my shifts are evenings and weekends when he is home. We are soooooo very grateful to have Granma Penny and Granpa Alec fill in on the days we cannot be home with her...so for the moment she has always been surrounded with family :)

The challenge lies in being an auxiliary with no regular schedule...it is proving very difficult to find child care for a 1 year old on an on-call basis. The options seem to increase with age. I potentially might be doing a job share soon which would provide much needed stability...and something I can actually budget around...don't know when so gettin' by on what i can get for now.

Though I'm so happy to still have so much time with Sasha, from june 6-10 I had a break from mommyhood to attend the BC Recreation and Parks Association (BCRPA) symposium which was held at sun peaks resort. it didn't turn out to be too sunny, but there were enough periods with no rain that we were able to get in some nice long walks every day.

Though I work at Brit, my hat at the symposium was that of 2nd VP on the Kensington Community Association board of directors. It was such a great experience! I met wonderful folks from around BC, and other association board members and park board workers from around Vancouver. I also loved reconnecting with some people I haven't seen since i worked at Dunbar.

yes, I missed Sasha lots (first time we've been a part for more than about 10 hours since she was born!) and hoped I didn't miss her first steps on her own two feet...but I have to say having a road trip with Virginia and Celia, four full days of learning, socializing, walking in fresh fresh air (though the pesky mosquitoes got us good the further up the hill we went!), and even a bit of uninterrupted sleep every night...that was a super fantastic time for Kathy! ;)

Did I mention I missed Mark too? well I did...and we had dinner at our local pub on the night i came back for a simple celebration of our 7 years married...and still lovin' our life together. awwwww

as for Sasha's progress: she is able to stand, bend over to pick stuff up without holding on to anything and walking pretty well holding onto a finger now...she will soon be running on her own two feet!; she has some curly hair on the back of her head; 2 molars are in now, with two more just poking through, as well as a new tooth on the top and bottom in the front (a total of 9 teeth out !);

she continues to learn new signs and gestures to communicate (boy does she ever know how to let you know when she disagrees with you! screech!) and clearly understands a wide array of words and phrases; she is confident and determined;

she is stacking some blocks and putting things back into containers (she can also put lids onto a variety of containers), and she is able to put some shapes into the right holes; she can turn the radio on and off so she can boogie when she wants to;

she is a total playground keener climbing on anything she can, sliding down the slide and of coarse still loving the swings; she can climb up onto the chair and couch, and is able to climb down from just about everything on her own (like the bed) so not so worried about her falling anymore...for now!; and she is able to go up and down stairs on her own.

she finally has a food she's not keen on...green beans. but other than that she still eats anything put before her with gusto...especially blueberries!

next Tuesday Sasha finally has her follow up tests and appointment with the urologist...so I will write with an update on her progress from her deflux procedure...and hopefully she will be able to go off the antibiotics too!

this weekend is our first family weekend since I've been back to work...and we're really lookin' forward to the Commercial Drive Car Free Festival on sunday! yippee!! :)

Sasha has no fear...literally just power crawled onto this bush like it was grass. And here she shows her zipper skills.