A Month of Milestones

Its seems as though since the New Year Brooklynn has been making changes left, right and center. Whether it's from trying new food, to riding on her daddy's shoulder and crawling she is just changing and coming into her own so much. I love it.

So because I treat my blog like a journal I have to record these little and BIG events for us to look back on.

• Dec 26th, 2009 Brooklynn officially traveled internationally to the USA
• Dec 28th, 2009 She landed in Jamaica and spent 8 days there
• went to daycare for the first time
• starting eating whole bananas
• now loves yogurt,watermelon, pineapple and even had a teeny tiny sip of a strawberry daiquiri, (she got pretty excited and I knew she didn't need anymore than that)
• went down water slides
• went in the ocean
• played in the sand
• slept in bed with mommy and daddy quite a few times (only because we had a king size at the resort), and went right back to her crib when we got home
• loves to play with toys, learned to push buttons and bang things on hard surfaces to make music
• loves to mimic us, "da-da, ma-ma, goo-ga (good girl) are too name the most popular
• officially became a crawler on Jan 12
• is now crawling everywhere and feels totally empowered by it
• started to make strange a little, basically she ALWAYS wants me, or dad but mostly me (bitter sweet)
• likes to play with Max, or pull his hair
• sleeps on her tummy
• sits up in the crib when shes crying
• started waving good-bye finally !

Her Mom and Dad are very proud of her accomplishments and find just as much joy and happiness in them as she does.

Not so loved firsts:

• Jan 11, got really sick, first time vomiting from sickness
• had a febrile seizure
• went to children's hospital
• rode in an ambulance
• first IV
• all in all the worst scare we've ever had
• likes to spit her food out (at me)

We had to wake her up and try getting her to eat something, so she had some banana and water. Having her able to look at us and make eye contact was an over joyous moment! See her little boot? Thats where they gave her an IV after they tried to poke her hand with no success.

Her little body is busy reseting it's self. I guess the convulsions and the brain activity from a seizure is almost equilvalent to her running a marathon. She was wiped after.

I'm actually exhausted right now but can't sleep. This has been a long day for our family and the stress, emotions and anxiety of it all have just worn me out.
Brooklynn came down with a fever this afternoon and it escalated so quickly that she was rushed to the Children's Hospital in an ambulance. I was on the phone with Calgary Health Link after she had thrown up a few times, and she became very lethargic and almost unconscious. It was only minutes after that she went into convulsions and was having a febrile seizure. The nurse on health link transferred me to 911, and then that's when they dispatched paramedics.
It was so scary for Jason and I to see our baby girl like this. She wasn't able to look at us, or notice her surroundings, she didn't respond to our voices and was having trouble breathing, she was even starting to go blue in the face when the ambulance arrived.
Jason and I just kept praying the whole way, and watched our little girl get hooked up to some tubes and oxygen and lay there on a stretcher looking lifeless. This was the hardest thing I have ever had to witness and another hard thing was seeing my husband so upset too. I have to admit that I think I can now count on two fingers the amount of times I've seen my husband shed tears, this being the second. You really feel like you cross over in moments like this to greater fulfill your roll as a parent. You experience feelings and emotions that you aren't so familiar with but know they come from the love you have for your child. I kept wishing the whole time that I could take on the pain and sickness she was going through, that she could be spared from this whole ordeal and feel normal again.

I know trials like this in our lives help us understand how our Heavenly Father must feel and I'm grateful to be able to turn to him and have a husband who turns to him too. I'm so grateful for blessings and the priesthood and prayer. I know without a doubt that as scary as this was, we were so blessed to have the ambulance come as soon as they did, and normally when you call Health link you can be on hold for over 30 minutes. We got through in 30 seconds! I've never gotten through to a nurse that fast, and it was a great thing that we did.

I'm happy we were able to come home tonight, I don't know what I would do if anything more terrifying happened to her and I wasn't able to prevent it. She is my everything, and whole purpose to my life now. I love her beyond my own comprehension.
I'd like to thank our family members for all their support today. My sister Jenn was luckily there when I was on the phone to 911 and even helped carry Brooklynn to the ambulance. I know my family and Jason's family kept us in their prayers, and I'm glad Jason's parent's were able to come straight to the hospital to show their love and support. It means so much to us.

Happy New Year

I hope everyone enjoyed their Holidays, we sure did. I've been brainstorming some noble goals that I would like the set for 2010 but have failed to solidify anything as of yet... There's always the obvious ones like losing weight, getting in shape, develop talents etc.. and I would like to improve in those areas for sure, but I'm trying to think of something unique, beneficial and rewarding. I'll keep you posted on that...

2009 in a Glimpse:

- prepared for the arrival of our first child most of February and March
- officially went on maternity leave March 28, 2009 and spent my last and final day @ Medialogic (HALLELUJAAAAAAAAAAH!)
- Amanda moved to the Hamlet spot from Ottawa in February and has been here since
- had a beautiful baby shower, hosted by my sisters and Lindsay
- welcomed Brooklynn Mary Lee into our lives April 14th @ 10:43am
- had all my family here to visit and attend Brooklynn's blessing
- have enjoyed learning the roped of motherhood ever since
- went to the cabin in July
- had fun wake boarding and tubing with friends and family
- Jason lit his legs on fire (2nd degree burns)
- flew home in August to visit my family in Ottawa with Brooklynn
- discovered that flying solo with a baby is a lot of work
- went to Montreal with my family
- really enjoyed spending time and relaxing with them
- while I was there Jason ran a 10km marathon with his sister Megan and his time was just over an hour!
- in August the three of us went to Invermere for a little family vacation at Nana and Papa's love nest
- Jason started school at Mount Royal University in September
- Halloween and thanksgiving were great times with family and I remember them being an insanely busy time of the year...
- Christmas came really fast and left even quicker
- boxing day we flew out to Houston to embarke on a vacation in Jamaica with Jason's family (17ppl) this was QUITE the journey getting there, and even more so for Megan's family but it was a great get-a-way for us all and we made many wonderful memories
- we celebrated the New Year as Beaches Boscobel Resort and watched a time capsule video that Jason's family made in 1999, and made another to watch in 10 years
- went horse back riding in the ocean
- snorkeling (saw two sting rays, a flounder and a puffer fish)
- climbed Dunns River Falls
- and went tubing down a river

Those are just some highlights, Jamaica will be in it's own official post soon.

I must say a lot happened in 2009 and it was a memorable year for us, I'm looking forward to 2010, we have a new nephew on the way near the end of March and look forward to meeting him and any other excitement coming our way :)

Happy New Year :)