The deaf shall hear

I can finally hear again - and the doctor confirmed today that the ear infection is gone!  Yay!

This also means that I don't have to go see a specialist :)

Very good news!

Whistler

When we thought that our visas were going to take 5-8 months to process, we decided we would go away for a night somewhere.  We had planned to do this before the baby was born, but because there was a possibility that I would go into pre-term labor we didn't want to go out of town unless it was necessary, so we never went.

Then our visas went through! haha, so we are very happy about that, but decided not to go away for a night, since there's so much else to do right now, instead we decided to go away for a day.

Conor realized that he's NEVER been to Whistler before, and I've just gone once, in high school.  So yesterday we left Finn at home with the Sweeneys, brought Elle to my moms for the day, and headed on the highway.

It was a beautiful drive up!  We had actually almost decided not to go because it was supposed to rain, and there was an event (Tough Mudder) going on, so we didn't know if it would be crazy up there or what.

I am SOO glad we decided to go.  It was BEAUTIFUL up there.  No rain, just sunshine!  We went to Whistler Village, walked around a bit, had some lunch (served by an Aussie girl!) and walked around some more.

Sooo many tadpoles!

Weird! There were a lot of these little nests/cacoons all over the trees

Then we went for a little walk on the trail that goes around Lost Lake. Because we left Abby around 10, and needed to be back for the kids bedtimes, we didn't stay much longer.  We drove down to quickly check out the Olympic Park (and got to see some of the Tough Mudder competition), and then kept driving.

On the way up we had seen a "spot of interest" for some waterfalls. So we stopped on the way, it was a 10 minute walk or so to the falls, and it was amazing.  I love the sound of waterfalls :)

Then we stopped in Squamish for a quick bite, picked up Elle (she had fun at Grandmas!  She was all smiles when we first got there but then melted down because she was tired and she wanted to go home haha!), and came home.

Finnian had fun without us, he probably didn't even realize we were gone!  It was a nice day - it would have been nice to be able to go away for a night, but this was a good consolation prize :)

Check lists

I love making lists - and checking things off even more!

Today I checked off "book temporary accommodation in Melbourne".

The place was a little bit more expensive than I wanted, but it's right next to the suburb we want to rent in, so that will save us a lot of time when going to look at places.

Now I just have to line up a rental car or van. If we get a van we will be spending more, but we won't need any help getting our suitcases from the airport at 9am on a Wednesday morning. But if someone is able to help us, we will just rent a car.

Then I have to get some travel insurance for a week or so. I'm actually not even sure if we will qualify for any though, because to get it from BC you have to be a resident (which we no longer will be) and you have to be covered under MSP ( the Canadian public healthcare, which we ALSO will no longer be).

And to get it from Australia you probably have to BE there when you get it, but it won't be "travel" anymore!! Haha - anyways, if I can just find some cheap travel stuff from here then I will, and we will enroll in Medicare in Aus ASAP.

After that, we will be all set on that end.

From this end I need to cancel our bank accounts (well just one for now), our cell phone, MSP, notify the revenue agency that we are moving away, sell our car... and pack!

I'm sure more stuff will be added to the list daily (and checked off), but so far so good!

Facebook Pictures

I added some pictures to a new facebook album which I will update with pictures from Canada until we leave.... check out the right sidebar "June - July (last days in Canada)" to see the pictures.

I got a call today that I have a specialist appointment for the ear-nose-throat guy.  I'm praying that this will all clear up and that I won't actually have to see him... especially because I made the error of looking him up on "rateyourmd" and he does NOT sound like a very pleasant guy, OR good doctor!  Whoops!

Sometimes I feel like my ear IS clearing up a bit, that I can maybe hear a bit better, but I don't really know if it is or not... it might just be that I'm getting used to being partially deaf.


Today was such a nice day, Finn was outside most of it which is nice for all of us!  Then when he does come in, he's tired out and just wants to play by himself quietly.

After dinner we headed out to Marble Slab in Langley, there was a fundraiser for my friends family (the one who passed away from ALS)... it was a perfect day for it too, I definitely wouldn't have gone today if it wasn't so nice out!

Happy First Day of Summer!

Round Two

I'm on round 2 of antibiotics for my ear infection.

I went back to the walk-in clinic today and my ear is still mildly inflamed... and I still can't hear (not full deafness, just muffled).  The doctor gave me a prescription for ear drop antibiotics this time and some nasal spray and said to come back in a week and if it still wasn't resolved he would send me to a specialist.

That kind of freaked me out, because specialist book VERY far in advance here.  When I told the doctor that I was moving out of the country in 4 weeks he said he would send me to Chilliwack because the doctor there is usually only booked 10 days in advance, and he went ahead and ordered the appointment now so that there will only be a few days wait time IF I have to go after I see him again next week.

Keep praying!  I just want this to clear up and not have to go to a specialist!

We are narrowing down temp. accomodations in Melbourne, and looking into car rentals... and having heart attacks over how much this is all going to cost us!

Luckily our flights are paid for.  So now we just have to pay (with not much in the bank account as it is) temp rental accomodations, car rental (and eventually purchasing something), once we find a place we'll have to pay probably a month ahead as well as damage deposit (called a "bond" there), furnishings for an entire house (beds, cribs, tables, couches, chairs, kitchen stuff, bath stuff)... okay, I don't want to talk about this anymore!

Countdown

It's officially less than ONE MONTH now until we go!

Our schedule is quickly filling up, as is my junk pile! haha.  I feel good though with my "packing" (more like, organizing and purging) right now.  I had a lot of odds and ends (especially baby stuff), so I've sold some already, given some away for free, and brought some to MCC... this will continue until the day we leave, I'm sure!

Some things are causing me MUCH frustration right now though!

I had a cold a couple weeks ago (which feels like I still have though because allergies kicked in right afterwards!) - but I got a plugged ear in the process.  I left it for a few days hoping it would go away on it's own, but it didn't.  I assumed it was just a wax buildup so last Tuesday I went into the walk in clinic (because my doctor couldn't see me until the 27th!), and it turns out it was an ear infection.  So I got antibiotics (and a nice afternoon off from the kids while waiting for the doctor and my prescription!) and it is STILL blocked 5 days later!  I feel like I'm walking around in a bubble, it's making me very grumpy.  There is SOME hope though, because this morning I kind of felt it loosening a couple times right after I woke up, so I hope it clears up soon.  I go in again on Tuesday either way, and we'll see what happens.

Actually this is something you could pray about, because I have bad sinuses as it is, which makes flying very painful at times, especially if there's some condition to make it worse than it normally is... I really really want this to be cleared up before we go!  That might sound dramatic, but when I was looking up home remedies to help with plugged ears, numerous people complained of their ears being plugged for weeks and I don't think I can handle that right now!

The other thing is "super-cop" - he will NOT leave Elle alone for 5 minutes and it's driving me crazy!  I had hoped that him having a couple of areas in the house to himself would help (the music room, and his bedroom), but it's not really working.  He's occasionally takes a toy from her hand, but that's not even the big issue, because normally a stern warning will make him give the toy back to her and share... but he's always got to be RIGHT near her.

He will be driving a tractor toy, one he KNOWS that she wants, and I'll tell him to drive it on the other side of the room so that she doesn't try to take it from him, but then he will drive it RIGHT UP TO HER, and drive around her, as close as he can (over her fingers!) and then rub against her, sometimes pushing her or almost pushing her over in the process... he just can't stay away from her and it's making me want to pull my hair out!

Ugh - I had almost 20 minutes of peace the other day when he asked if he could play with her toys in her crib... he doesn't know how to get out, so he played quietly in there, she played in the other room, and I got some packing/organizing done!

1 step forward, 3 steps back

It seems like my "to do" list is ever expanding!

Everytime I cross one thing off my list, I follow up by adding another three.  BUT it will get done, and I'm happy if I can cross one thing off my list each day!

Last night and this morning I actually got a great start on organizing things.  If we were bringing everything we own with us I would probably be a bit less stress out (and my wallet would be a lot lighter, not that's it's heavy anyways!), but we aren't.  We are storing some things here again.  Basically just pictures and keepsakes, and files (taxes, etc).  Otherwise I am bringing more personal things this time around than I did our other moves, since this one is more long term.  I am bringing our wedding album and Finn's 1st year album that I made... but those are quite small.  Their bracelets from the hospital and baptism candles (for example) will stay here for now.

I started on a list of their toys and books that I definitely want to bring with us.  A lot of things will stay here, but there are some things that are sentimental, or things that I just know they will enjoy and won't take up too much space, so that they have things for the flights and for the nights getting through jet-lag!

We booked our flights the other day.  We fly out of Vancouver on the afternoon of the 16th, and arrive in Melbourne Wednesday Morning (their time).

I had really wanted to fly either direct to Melbourne, or with a layover in Sydney, but that didn't work out.  It was either lay over in LA or China... so we chose LA.  I'm NOT looking forward to that, I hate LAX, we just have bad memories there... but one lesson learned is to always always, especially with kids, go for longer layovers over shorter ones.  You might think that long layovers are a pain, but nothing is worse than missing your flight!  And actually now that I really think about it, it's probably best to have the SHORT flight first and then the LONG one.  Because if you don't get any sleep on the long one and then you have to deal with a layover and still get on another flight, it's extra tiring.  It's tiring no matter what, but I'm telling myself that this is our best option! haha

Now we just need to book some temp accomodation for when we arrive, and rent a car or a van or something.  The rest is just packing now.

Elle - 11 months old

Eeek!! She's almost 1 year old.  I can't believe it.  It's all going so fast, can we please slow things down a little??

Just a few short days after she turns 1 we will be carting her off and moving to Australia... okay, lets not think about that right now...

This last month has been so fun!  Elle is such a little character, and I seriously cannot wait to see what kind of little person she starts turning into!

Let's start with the basics:

Eating:  She is an absolute pig.  She will eat anything!  If you remember last month she started enjoying being spoon fed... and while she still enjoys the FOOD that I feed her on a spoon, she wants to do it HERSELF, which I don't enjoy (enjoy cleaning up after, that is)... so I'm trying to work on foods that aren't mushy just to avoid this headache!  She has also learned how to eat off a fork by herself, and she is BEYOND proud about it.  If you put something on a fork and then hand the fork to her, she starts grinning (and it's the cuttest grin I have ever seen in my life, with her two little teeth showing at the bottom and the crinkles around her eyes!) and giggling... she'll take the fork and very gently navigate it into her mouth and then hand the fork back to you for more!

So most foods I just put small pieces on her plate and she'll pick them up and eat them.  But foods that are solid but still hard to grasp (potatoes, banana) I now put smaller bits on a fork and let her feed herself that way.  Today at lunch was the funnest.  I would put a bit of banana on a fork, Elle would do her grin&giggle thing, eat it, and then she would hand the fork to Finn, who would give it back to me and we would do it all over again!  Finn loved it, he loves when Elle laughs, especially when he is the one making her laugh.  It eventually turned into Finn putting the banana on the fork and giving it to Elle, so I hardly had to do anything!

Oh, and I've been trying to get her to drink real milk, but it's not taking off as well as it did with Finn.  If I give her a sippy cup she just chews the end instead of drinking it, and if I put it in the bottle I think she doesn't like it cold.  BUT I don't really want to start warming it up for her, because that's just another habit to break later, so we'll see.  I'm not really in a rush, just want to save some $$$ on formula.

Sleeping: So good, soo sooo good.  Other than her still waking up at least once, but 90% of the time twice, in the night for the bottle, she is a great little sleeper.  I'm almost completely out of the "swaddling" dilemma.  Right now I do still swaddle her when I put her in bed, but she gets out right away... but I think she likes that, starting off swaddled, getting out of it, and then getting herself settled to sleep.  Most of the time I have to go in at least once after I initially put her down, she's usually sitting up or standing at the crib so I lay her down, give her the soother and then put her blankie over her.  I love seeing how she settles herself down, she prefers to be a little onto her left side, and I put one corner of the blanket up over her back and shoulder and the other corner in her hands, she likes to hold it, and sometimes rub it on her face!

It goes like that for nap times (two naps still, morning and afternoon) and bedtime... after her bottle in the night she sometimes takes a bit longer to settle.  I think it's  me though, and not her, if this makes sense.  When I put her to bed for nap or night I go into the other room, and if she does start crying, I let her cry a bit to wear her out or see if she'll get down by herself... so I usually will only have to go in once or twice to give her the soother and lay her down.  BUT when it's after a bottle at night, and I'm right next to her, I can hear the crying louder, so I get up and lay her down right away instead of letting her cry a bit.

There are times when she just is not settling, so I will re-swaddle her, and even though she gets herself out right away, that normally does the trick.

Talking:  Guess it's sort of time to start this development journal.  She has been "saying" mama, dada and baba for awhile... but "dada" has really taken off in the last week or so.  And I think she's really starting to associate it with Conor.  If we say 'say dada', she will often look for Conor and then say it.  BUT now that we've been making her do this trick more often, she then will just say "dadadadada" over and over again.  Today after her nap we were playing in the mirror and I told her to say "mama" and she did!  I gave her a big clap and tried again, and she responded "dada" with a big grin! haha

haha, funny face

Personality:  Oh boy she is just so fun and cute.  She loves playing peek-a-boo (we have a blanket that divides our bedroom and the "living area" we have downstairs and she always makes a bee-line right for it to cover it over her head until we say "where's Elle"), when Finn runs into the room (she's always loved that though), being tickled, when I sing "I got a pickle, I got a pickle, I got a pickle hey hey hey hey"... I have to get a video soon of this before this phase passes, but she has the funniest grin sometimes.  The one I was talking about earlier with the feeding and the fork, she scrunches her face soo small and gets wrinkles by her eyes, like an old lady grinning without her dentures!

sitting in a teddy chair that her daddy made!

This next month is going to be CRAZ-AY!!  But I'm looking forward to it, and can't wait to see how else Elle will change and develop!

Visa GRANTED!!!

Last week we finally received an email saying that the Immigration Department in Australia had received our application and that it was awaiting a case officer.

At the end of the email it said that there was a high volume of applications at this time and that processing would be about 5-8 MONTHS!

We started freaking out.  Okay, Conor doesn't freak out... I freaked out!  It's not that I'm itching to get away from here, but we have no income right now, we want to settle down, Conor was supposed to start working July 30th... 5-8 months is a long ways away.

There was an option of writing to request urgent processing, so the registrar at Conor's workplace did that and last night, as an extra special anniversary gift, we received an email from the Immigration office saying that our visas have been granted!!!!

Tomorrow we will be booking our flights, likely for July 16th... less than 5 weeks away.

I'm all over the map right now.  I'm so happy that it's gone through and that we can really start planning our final weeks here and getting organized, I'm excited to get our own place and settle down, I'm excited to see all of our friends from when we were there before and making new friends.... but I'm so sad and scared too!  We are really really going to miss our families.  Not just for the help that they've given to us, but just because they are family!  It will be sad that Finn and Elle won't get to see their grandparents and aunts and uncles... I should stop writing right now before I start crying!

Anyways, this is all bitter-sweet.  Thank you for any prayers you may have said regarding our visas... and please keep praying.  That the next weeks go smoothly, and that I can keep it together!

Happy Anniversary!

6 years ago today Conor and I got married!!

We've since lived in Australia and Italy...

...and had 2 beautiful children!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY CONOR!!

A good nights sleep

Last night Elle went to bed just after 730 and didn't wake up at all until 630am!!

She's generally a good sleeper... She basically falls asleep on her own and then wakes up a couple times for some milk, but she's had a cold so the last few nights she's been up before I go to bed, crying and sad, and then a little harder to get back to sleep after her night feedings.

I really really needed a good nights sleep! It's been a rough couple days: bad weather (although yesterday was okay, we got out for a walk), colds, "super-cop". But last night was a really good night so I feel more equipped to handle the issues today!

Dan & Amy's Wedding - Picture Edition :)

Like I said before, I really took very few pictures of the wedding ceremony... I got a couple from the reception place though.  Anyways, here are some that I downloaded from a couple of people off facebook (with their permission!)

Oh, and for anyone that knows my brother and doesn't have him on facebook, he changed his name to Forest a few months ago.  So they are the Forests :)

The following pictures were taken by one of Amy's friends, Sarah Dorrian.

The guestbook table

In the basket were wedding favors of wildflower seeds.
On the package it reads:
"In the beginning, God gave humanity two simple tasks: care for the Earth and make babies.  We'll get started on the making babies part, while you plant these seeds!"

Everyone awaiting the Bride!

I loved the music at the wedding!

The "stage".  This was after the wedding.  They had it set up with Amy stuff on one side and Dan stuff on the other side with the guys and girls on their respective sides.  And then during the signing of the registry the wedding party re-arranged all of the furniture so that it was all mixed together,

The aisle

(Conor made that star!)

I LOVED Amy's wedding dress... I kinda wish I could get married again (to Conor, of course!) and steal her dress! haha

The Wedding Cake

The groomsmen (minus Kevin, he was off to the left)

The following pictures are from my Aunt Cathy, taken by her son David Stobbe.

During the open mic - Tyson and Dan doing Dan's clap-song thing.
Kinda weird, but also awesome!

The stage after the ceremony, wedding cake waiting to be cut!

The groomsmen (minus Conor, hiding behind Greg!)

Awww, I love Amy's cute little wave to Dan!

The vows.  They wrote their own.  It was a mixture of serious and silly... VERY Dan-and-Amy

This was probably when Megan (the officiant) started talking about Amy's ex-boyfriends. haha... it's okay though, she didn't go "too far" with it.

You may now kiss the bride!

The newlyweds.  Mr and Mrs Forest

Signing the registery

Now here are a few of my pics.

Finn and I

Elle hanging out!

Finn having his snack after

Elle was exhausted and fell asleep on me!  She has never fallen asleep like this :)

The evening reception.  Tents outside

Food and photobooth in the heritage house

My nephew enjoying the games on the tables

Last but not least, a few photos from my sister-in-law Erin.

My mom with almost all of her grandchildren.  My brothers youngest one went home mid-day.

Me and my giggling daughter!

Family Photo - one of the kids always had their hands in their mouth! haha