our lately…

Published on by kristenperreault1 Comment

To say that we have been busy lately would be an understatement and I know that it’s only going to get worse.  We haven’t necessarily been running around like crazy going here or going there but the list of to do’s and responsibilities that have added up lately and the amount of time that we have to complete them in just doesn’t match up…

My coping method you ask??  Ignoring the list and relishing in a little bit of this from time to time…

Afternoon snuggles and stories with Daddy…

A little boy that can ask for certain books by name- Go Dog Go is one of the favorites right now :)

Random duplo pieces everywhere you look.  Yes, they hurt like heck if you step on them but the joy that comes from playing with them makes up for it.  Besides, he calls them his “poopy cars” (ie people cars) and if that doesn’t at least make you smile I don’t know what will…

The opportunity to spend some time as a family, just the three of us and take random self portraits that aren’t great are cherished all the same.  I told him to squish in for this next photo and he poked his head in between ours and just kept saying “squish, squish!” over and over again…

Animals that are still wearing blue sweaters but that are healing, puppies that only wish they were small enough to join us on the bed and little boys (and Daddies) that love them both…

It’s been a long last few weeks with Daddies away at conferences, sick kitties to take care of and now sick little boys to mend as well; but with a few naps, a few early bedtimes, and a whole bunch of to-do’s ignored we are managing… Heck we’re thriving and making memories in the meantime :)

Jay is 20 months old today and time is flying by…  Honestly what I am truly grateful for lately is that we have taken the time to slow down, to enjoy each other’s company and to live more in the moment.  Yes, the floors are dirty and there is fur pretty much everywhere you look around the house (editor’s note: The fur’s omnipresence is a matter of opinion), the laundry isn’t near being done and regardless of what room you are in you can find something that hasn’t been put away- dishes, a toy, a car, a suitcase from the trip.  No, this isn’t the type of house that I was raised in but it’s the house that I have come to love because while I used to wait around for everything to be perfect I realized that I have everything I need and then some, and what could be more perfect than that?

Happy Tuesday to all of you, may it be so perfectly unperfect…

baby number #2 update

Published on by kristenperreault2 Comments

I haven’t mentioned much about my growing bump in a while so I figured that I should give a little update…

Last Saturday we hit the 30 week mark; which means that I have about 10 weeks left until we get to meet this little guy.  Yes, you read correctly we have almost hit the single digits- which is SO hard to believe in my opinion.  I know that I have said this before but this pregnancy is really flying by!  I had a doctors appointment yesterday and our doctor said that everything is looking great- that his heartbeat was strong and that he was about 3 pounds.  At this point, I will see the doctor every two weeks which will continue through the beginning of October when I start going every week.

As for how I am feeling, I can’t really complain at all.  I am pretty blessed with great pregnancies (knock on wood) so other than the usual third tri-mester stuff things are great!  I have been taking naps every once in awhile in the afternoon while Jay sleeps; because I have been more tired than usual.  I am also be a little short of breath while holding Jay (when I do, I have both boys squishing my lungs/diaphragm which isn’t really fun).  This cuts into our dancing time which is a shame but we have been dancing on our own too (I have a cute video of Jay that I need to share soon).  My sciatic nerve bothers me from time to time and I have a few contractions here and there but mostly I get an ache or a pain when I try to do something I shouldn’t (move or pick up something heavy) or when I move to fast.  Honestly, even with the watermelon sized belly I forget occasionally that I am pregnant…

I am pretty much in full on nesting mode at this point; however, this doesn’t differ a whole lot from my normal personality so… I am not sure that it should really be called nesting.  Most of our “baby preparations” are going into Jay’s big boy room since we are keeping the nursery the same for this little guy and plan on moving Jay to a new room.  Once I get everything settled in there for him I plan on washing and pulling out all of our tiny little clothes, I am sure that they will all look huge compared to the stuff I put on Jay, and getting that settled in the nursery.  My project list is long (what else is new) but there are only a few things that I really, really want to finish before he gets here- like his baby blanket.  I will keep you posted on how that goes :)

I guess that is about it for now.  I will try to be better about the updates and I promise to be really good about photo updates when he actually arrives.  I CAN’T wait to get some photos of him and some photos of him and Jay, they are going to be such sweet brothers!!

And because every post is better with a picture- here is one of the three of us from our Canada trip (yes, I am still working on those photos- I have just been a little busy lately).  I know that we aren’t in focus (don’t blame the stand in photographer my camera is not easy to use- especially when you are trying to get a toddler to look) but it is the best photo that I have of the growing bump and the scenery around us is great, don’t you think?

home…

Published on by kristenperreault2 Comments

After a week long visit to the vets office (two of them actually) Dolce is home.  To make a long story short (or as short as possible and still have it make sense) we took Dolce in to our vets office a week ago last Monday because he wasn’t eating, drinking or acting himself.  They ran a few tests, let me take him home and told me that they would call me with the results.  I got a call the next day to bring him back in because they thought he had an issue with his liver.  They wanted to start him on some IV fluids and see if they could fix the problem.  As it turns out it wasn’t that simple… After ultrasounds and further testing they realized that he had a stones in his gallbladder and an obstruction in his common bile duct (most basically meaning he couldn’t get rid of waste and therefore had stopped taking anything in).  The stones and the obstruction meant that he needed to have surgery and that we needed to take him to another animal hospital where they could better help him.  He did have surgery last Friday.  They took out the majority of the stones that they could, rerouted his bile duct directly to his small intestine and closed him up after putting in a feeding tube.  It was touch and go over the weekend regarding his recovery- he had two blood transfusions after the surgery because of his low levels but he is now back on track (or at least on his way there).  I picked him up from the surgeons office yesterday where I received a bag full of his medications, the special food that he is on and instructions on how to feed him through his feeding tube.

Dolce is still on the mend and not completely back to himself (who can blame him after major surgery) but at least now he is home.  We will need to continue feeding him through the feeding tube until he starts eating on his own and giving him his medications but he is home and on his way to a full recovery which is the important part.  The whole family (furry children included) were really excited to see him when we arrived home; I am pretty sure Piper would have jumped on to the bed to join him if we would have let her…

Wish me luck with all of the medical stuff (it is not my forte AT ALL) and luck managing all three animals plus Jay on my own for the rest of the week- Jamie is at his yearly staff conference for the week (yup- it’s horrible timing).  Needless to say, it will be an interesting week- especially since one of the instructions that I was given was to not let Dolce jump.  Seriously- no jumping??  He’s a cat people…

Here’s a couple photos of him settling back in last night…

He has a "sweater" on to cover the feeding tube a bit and hold it close to his body- that's what the blue thing is.
Piper greeting Dolce after his return home.

sick kitty…

Published on by kristenperreault4 Comments

We have a sick kitty at our house… one that needed to be taken to the vet on Tuesday and while we hoped that he would be able to come home tonight that isn’t the case.  They will need to do further testing and an ultrasound to rule out other things and get him on his way to recovery.  So, if you are so inclined to pray for furry children, Dolce could use a few prayers and I think that we could too.  My heart has been pretty heavy the last few days and while he, Dolce, drives me nuts from time to time I can’t wait to have him come home.

The other animals are kind of lost right now without him, Bella especially (his pound kitty sister).  She keeps wandering around looking for him and meowing- it’s really sad…  Jay has noticed that something is up but isn’t quite sure and I am honestly glad that he is too young to understand.  He has however, been hamming it up the best he can to keep our spirits up.  Yesterday, aside from being a dancing fool he kept his crown (a pipe cleaner crown that I made to entertain him on the plane) on all day and hammed it up for the camera with his shades…

By the way, I am still working on Canada photos and will post soon as soon as I can :)

a little bragging

Published on by kristenperreault5 Comments

I just wanted to take a minute and say how proud I am of my little cousin, Devon.  First of all let me clarify “little” with “younger”; Devon is by no means little anymore, in fact he towers over me standing at over 6 feet tall now.  Regardless, this post is not to discuss height, mine or his, but rather the fact that he was just signed with Prince George Cougars!!!!  For those of you non-hockey fans (ie- non Canadians) the Cougars are a WHL (Western Hockey League) team which is one step down from the NHL (the NFL equivalent again for those of you that are still clueless).  He is 16 years old and has just signed with a semi-pro team- yup, he’s a stud! Congrats Devon; we are super proud of you!!!

Here’s a few photographs from a recent Cougars pre-season game, courtesy of my Mom’s boyfriend.  Unfortunately, although the game was played while we were in Canada, it was a little to far for a day trip with Jay so we didn’t get to see him play.  However, if he signs with the NHL you can bet that I will be at the next game within driving distance to see him play!

not a super great photo, especially because of the plexiglass, but you can see his name on his jersey and you get the general point
a view without the helmet

celebrating

Published on by kristenperreault4 Comments

Jamie, Jay and I had the pleasure of celebrating this wonderful lady, my maternal Grandma, while on our trip last week to Canada.  Being able to celebrate her 85th birthday, a little early, was the reason for the our trip last week and boy, oh boy was it worth it!  We had a wonderful visit, enjoyed the cooler weather that the mountains had to offer and celebrated with this amazing lady. Love you Grandma and wouldn’t have missed it for the world; we only wish we could do it more often…

p.s. for my regular readers, I promise we have not fallen off the face of the earth and that I hope to begin posting regularly again soon :)

jammies…

Published on by kristenperreault2 Comments

Lately it feels as though Jay is growing up before my eyes.  Each and every time I look at him I see more of a little boy and less of my little baby… I know that this is going to happen but this has a way of playing with my already surging pregnancy emotions if you know what I mean.  So lately I have loved most things that remind me that he’s still my little baby and his footy pajamas are no exception.  They bring me back to his tiny days… the days when he wasn’t running all around the house, the days where he couldn’t speak three word sentences to me and the days in which he had no opinions on the cup he drank his juice from…

They are precious but then again so is he :)

breakfast

Published on by kristenperreault1 Comment

Our mornings usually look something like this…

Jay getting up and being changed

Jay walking to the kitchen and asking for his juice (which he may or may not specify to be in his “neen”- Lightening McQueen- cup)

Jay helping me to put a waffle in the toaster and pushing the button for it to start

choosing his fork after I give him a few color choices- btw, he his favorite is the pink one ;)

feeding Piper (his morning chore)

playing a bit with cars- if there’s time before the toaster beeps

announcing to me that the toaster has beeped as if I didn’t hear it myself- “beep, beep Mommy, beep, beep”

then breakfast- he eats and I eat…  He concentrates really hard on using his fork all by himself, I marvel at how fast he is growing up…  I tickle his toes from beneath his tray, he giggles and pulls them away from me…   We smile at each other but don’t say much… it’s perfect and wonderful; not a wonder it’s the most important meal of the day…

his excited face as of late, it's precious and I love it ;)

 

it’s been a while…

Published on by kristenperreault2 Comments

Honestly, I feel like it has been so long since I have sat down to write a proper blog post and it probably has been.  However, don’t get your hopes up too much- I am not writing one today either… Just wanted to check in, say that we are still here and that I promise after I get my act together, rap up some of the projects that I have been working on and possibly finish going through some of the dozens of photos that I have been neglecting we will be back.

Until then, enjoy this photo of Jay Bird at the splash pad a few weeks ago.  Doesn’t he look like such a big boy??  He has so many “tricks” up his sleeves these days and has been such a ham!  Love that kid :)