Hong Kong & Singapore

We made the trip around the other side of the world to Sal and Julianne's wedding in Singapore. 20 hours flying time. It was grueling both going there and coming back. It just isn't right to be couped up on a plane that long. The trip from Toronto to Hong Kong was 16 hours. That is the 12 longest flight in the world and it felt like it. On the way back it took us 3 different planes and 30 hours of travel time to make it back.

However, in between those plane trips and the 4 different places we stayed at it was a great trip and got a chance to see places that I am sure we didn't think we would. Hong Kong was just an amazing place and it was great to spend time with Sal & Juls in Singapore and especially being part of the wedding. The weather was great. A couple of points of rain but over all it was HOT! We kept ourselves busy and made sure we spent the time to see the things we wanted to.

We missed the kids horribly and we are so fortunate that we were able to Skype with them so much and just loved seeing them. The 12 hour time difference made it tough but at least we didn't have to change our clocks!! The kids had an amazing time with their Grammy, Mick, Auntie Aisling, Auntie Anna, Auntie Sue and Auntie Nead, along with all their cousins. They had power packed days and just had a blast. We are so fortunate that everyone in London was able to take the time to look after them. That being said, they didn't just look after them, they fully entertained them! That is a whole different class of work effort! Their Aaji and Aaja even made a trip from Brampton to London to see them. Either way we are glad to have them now home with us.

Pictures of the trip have been posted at: www.brelan.ca/2010_hk_singapore

December...

A lot of time has past since our last post. It is hard to recall everything that has happened. I will try and recall from the start. This will be the December post, then will do a Birthday post, and then maybe an "Our Life" post... not quite sure what that means...

December... The big thing that happened in December is Quinn was in the hospital. Sadly, this is what we remember. It is hard to recall the fun we had in the Dominican...

Ronin's first plane ride, having fun with Nead mosi...

Quinn pushing Ronin around the resort

Fun on the beach...

Slides & fun in the pool....

The group shot...

It is hard to recall the kids visit with Santa...

Or Christmas....

We remember that our little princess was very very sick and in the hospital leading up to Christmas and we didn't know if she would be out in time for Christmas. Luckily she was able to get out but we had a nurse coming to the house for the next approximately 2 weeks. That process didn't go as well as we wanted and Brenda still had to take Quinn to the hospital more than a few times. She had a total of 6 IV sites used and every single time it didn't last as long as it should have.

We were all so scared for Quinn when she was in the hospital. It was an unbelievable amount of fear. No one can imagine the feelings unless you have had a child go through it. The part that makes it so tough is that she can't tell us if she is feeling better, if something hurts, if she is feeling worse.... We slept in the hospital and Brenda and I saw each other for only about 2 hours each day just in passing, because Ronin was also not feeling well. We were actually so lucky that the doctor that was on call decided to send her to the hospital and we are lucky that we live in Brampton because of all the people that travel to India they do blood cultures routinely. That blood culture possibly saved Quinn's life. Quinny was such a trooper in the hospital, she let them take her temperature, she tolerated being confined to a little cage and also not being able to leave her room because she was in quarantine. It was truly unbelievable how well she tolerated everything.

We did the best we could and the moment Quinn walked out the doors of the hospital to go home, it made us feel like this was going to be ok. We really can't recall the last time she was that truly happy.....

The superficial thing that we were pretty sad about was that this was Ronin's first Christmas and it was December 22nd and we didn't even have a tree up... We rushed to get them to see Santa, to get the decorations up and to make it more of a merry place!

We really didn't have time to get them all the presents we wanted but we made the most of it. Luckily they are loved so much by their grand parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. They really got spoiled and loved every minute of it!

We had specific cute outfits for both the kids but sadly we couldn't put Quinn's on because nothing would fit over the IV stuff. Again, we just did the best we could and think they both had a great time. It is funny that we say making Christmas special is superficial because we sadly were reminded of what is truly important. All we wanted, and continue to want is Quinn to be healthy. We saw many families making a big deal about Christmas and working so hard to get everything just right. Many people say they know what is truly important but unless you have what is truly important in jeopardy, there is no way you can appreciate the things that matter. Anyways, this isn't a forum for us to pass judgement on the world. Back to Christmas... We had every thought that Ronin would love Santa and Quinn would be suspicious of him.... As you can see by the picture above, we got that one wrong. Quinn was great with Santa and was so excited to see him, and Ronin was... well, a little mama's boy. However, he braved it and went to see Santa too. We think Ronin had a great 1st Christmas... despite the look they have on their faces below..

For New Years, we had Pat and Mike over and put the kids to bed and had a New Years pajama party at our house. Lots of fun. We played some Wii, had a lot of laughs, good food, and rang in the new year.

That is December... Oops almost forgot the fact that Quinn gave Brenda a nice shiner!!!! There are no Peas with that Black Eye!!