The week in pictures

It's Friday again which means that it's time for a day off; This week has been a very busy week and we're all pretty tired. Laura, Gracie & Phoebe are on fine form; Phoebe now weighs 10lbs 9oz which is fantastic and she is starting to go much longer at night which is brilliant. One night this week she slept for 7 hours straight and followed it with another 6 hours - we're hoping that sleeping through the night will come soon! The weather here is absolutely glorious so we're enjoying getting out to our local parks and today we're off to the beach! We're just 2 weeks away from Laura's 29th birthday also which we're very excited about at this end; Gracie loves singing happy birthday! Photos....

Gracie basking in the hot sun in our Garden...

Cup of tea?

Phoebe lost her head going down the slide!

A pre game BBQ before watching the church softball team...

No words needed...

Gracie on her trike...

Our little 'kiwi'

Girls in spots...

One of our favorite outfits when Gracie was a baby was a beautiful red dress that Brent & Anna gave us - it's finally warm enough for Phoebe to wear it so below is a photo of Phoebe wearing it, and a picture of Gracie wearing it back in 2007!

The spotty girls!

Phoebe - 22/5/09

Gracie 13/01/07

Lazy Holiday Weekend!

This weekend we had a visit from Mike (our old vicar in Auckland) as he was passing through Vancouver on his way back from London; We had a great time catching up on the news from St Paul's, reminiscing about our time there, and Mike and I had an interesting car journey with 2 ladies we met in a hotel which led us a very nice lake here in Langley (longish story!)

While I was collecting Mike from Vancouver, Laura took Gracie and Phoebe to the water park which is just a couple of minutes walk from our house... Gracie had great fun there until she collided with an 11 year old boy, sending her flying up into the air and landing flat on her face in the water. She tore her nose apart and cut her lip... Apparently there was a lot of blood spurting out and when we returned from Vancouver it really looked like she'd had been given a facial by Edward Scissor Hands - she wasn't put off though and we returned to the park yesterday for more fun in the sun.

Today has been a public holiday so we went to Fort Langley for their annual Victoria Day Parade which was a total blast; It was everything you could hope for from a North American parade including a motorcycle display, marching bands galore, square dancers and the obligatory person dressed up in an animal costume! We went with our friends Cal & Darla and their 2 girls - it was a great morning.

Mike and I on our mystery tour!

Having fun at the water park

Gracie's war wounds... they looked a lot worse the day before!

Fun on the swings

Phoebe sleeping through all the fun!

A picnic with Cal & Darla and co

Gracie watching the parade... she had such a great time

Cal and Denaya

Not sure who this guy was meant to be... William Wallace?

What's been going on?

Yeah, it's been a long time since we've blogged; Life has been pretty busy as you can imagine with a toddler and a newborn baby in the house. Phoebe will be 4 months old on Monday although her corrected age is almost 3 weeks...

She is doing so well. She had her final MRI scan last Friday and the results came back completely clear which is amazing, and the nurse commented on how rare it is to come across a baby born as young as Phoebe with no side effects of prematurity - she really is such a miracle. She weighed in last Friday at 9lbs, although we think she's had a growth spurt this week so goodness knows how big she is now!

We're all doing well considering the sleep depravation and looking forward to the holiday we were going to have when Laura went into labour (we had planned to go to Whistler for a week when we first arrived). We don't have any time booked off yet, and no idea where to go but we'll hope to go somewhere soon.

Here are a few photos of the girls.

Comb over!

Gracie at the Vancouver Aquarium

Happy 'Birthday' Phoebe!

Believe it or not, today (18th April) is Phoebe's actual due-date! It seems a little surreal to think that she has actually been with us for over 3 months now (click here for the beginning of the story). She's continuing to do amazingly and yesterday was finally given the all-clear from the eye doctor, saying that her eyes are in perfect order. We're thoroughly grateful for this as I'm sure she will be when she's old enough to appreciate them! She's still not poo-ing enough so please keep praying that her bowels would loosen big time!

This week has been a busy and fun week; It started last Saturday night with the arrival of Granny (Paul's mum) from the UK. Gracie had the time of her life on Easter morning with eggs galore laid outside the house by our landlord Marcel - she spent the morning gathering and eating, and we spent the rest of the day dealing with a girl who only wanted to eat chocolate!

We've had a great fun week seeing some of the sights, relaxing at home and having interesting chats with interesting people... The first chat was with the Google Street View driver who was photographing our street (we proceeded to follow him once he was done to ensure our google fame). Our second interesting chat was with Gordon the Cowboy Poet this morning...

'Oooooooh'

Granny arriving into Vancouver

Grannies first cuddle with Phoebe

Gracie's Easter egg hunt

'If only I was just a little bit smaller'

'Why is she in my carseat?'

Mum chatting with the Google man!

Bath time!

Cuter and Cuter...

We have survived our first week back at home with Phoebe although we're pretty tired. Phoebe has had a busy social calendar; She's had plenty of people dropping by to meet her; She attended her first cluster on Saturday, and her first stations of the cross last night!

We've no idea what she weighs anymore, but she'll be going to the doctor tomorrow to get weighed so we'll be able to give you a little more info then. Her bowel movements are better than they were, but she is still straining and her belly button has a hernia as a result.

Gracie is a lot of fun at the moment - she's keeping us entertained everyday with her little anecdotal comments that she has obviously picked up from us. Laura is shattered, as every newborn mother is and I'm plodding along (also tired, but don't dare say it in public for fear of being hit by women).

On Saturday my mum will arrive for 9 days which we are looking forward to hugely; Gracie is already very excited about going to the airport to pick her up. Here are a few photos from the last week.

Spring has sprung!

Soooooo tiny!

Finding her thumb

Gracie and her Canadian friends Denaya & Alyshia getting ready for a sleep over

A new rhythm...

We've had 3 nights at home with Phoebe now, and although we're progressively getting more tired, Phoebe is becoming more settled and is adjusting to the quiet life. She has made some progress in the bowel dept which is good news, although she still needs to do an almighty poop to really clear her tummy. The community nurse popped in yesterday and weighed her and she is continuing to put on weight which is excellent - yesterday morning she was weighing 6lbs 5oz so we can hazard a guess that she'll be 6.6 or 6.7 today. Gracie continues to dote on her and tonight they had their first bath together. Here are a few more photos to add to the collection!

Phoebe having her first bath at home in the kitchen sink!

Lovely cuddles with daddy

Gracie getting creative

Sleeping like a baby... Literally

More Lord...

Gracie and Phoebe bathing together

Our two smiling girls...

Update from Home!

It's so nice to be at home for our second morning without having to worry about a visit to the hospital; Gracie has adjusted so nicely to having Phoebe at home, and is being such a wonderful big sister... We even found her lying in her cot yesterday morning with her (well actually on top of her, and it was VERY lucky that I found her!).

Laura and I are enjoying the freedom that having a child at home brings (in comparison to having one in hospital). I took Gracie to church yesterday morning and Laura spent the morning at home with Phoebe which she absolutely loved.

Phoebe is in a lot of discomfort and would love some more prayer... She's not done a poo since coming home which is obviously very painful for her as she is blocked up... If this doesn't sort itself naturally, I'll be having to hold a laxative pill up her bottom until it does(which believe me I don't want to do). This has been an ongoing problem for quite a while now, but we've not really had to experience the reality and see just how uncomfortable she is pretty much all day long.

She also has some reflux which is causing her some pain... It's mild which is good, but you can see that she's not happy about it. Like I said it would be great to pray for these as she has already been through so much.

Home sweet home!

Together at last

We've been praying, hoping, waiting, longing, dreaming, talking, blogging about this day and it has finally come. This morning Phoebe came home to us from Abbotsford hospital weighing 6lbs 2oz (2 days earlier than we had expected) . She is our living miracle, evidence of God's rich blessing on us, a testimony to his faithfulness, and we are so thankful that we finally start this chapter of our journey together as a family.

God has been remarkable throughout this hard season, and we've been so blessed by the people that have surrounded us to support and encourage us, pray for us, love us, feed us, house us, move us and just be all round great friends and family. We also owe a huge debt of thanks to all of the medical staff who have supported Phoebe over the past 11 weeks - you have all been incredible.

Just to show that God is interested in the details as well as the big stuff, Phoebe was released us on the same day our 1 month parking permit expired, saving us the extortionate parking fees for Sunday and Monday (Exactly the same thing happened when she left Vancouver)!!!

We're loving having Phoebe at home with us, and it feels like we can finally start life here in Canada together. We've got a long way to go with our little Phoebe, but at this stage we're just happy to be together.

Phoebe in her carseat

Home at last

Gracie and Phoebe watching TV together!