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!!

The kids at the Santa Clause Parade!

Here are the McLean girls and Quinn at the Santa Clause Parade.

This is picture of Quinn sleeping on the subway home. Santa puckered her out.

Santa Clause Parade!

This has now become an annual event for us to go down to the Toronto Santa Clause Parade. This is the 3rd year that we have gone and obviously the first year for Quinn. This yearly tradition was because of the McLean family in London. Dan and Nicole started bringing their family down and we decided we would join them. It makes for some interesting events every year. Always a lot of fun.

This year we bundled Quinn up with 2 pairs of pants, 2 shirts, a jacket and a hat. We also had a snowsuit as a back up. We left the house nice and early and got to the subway station about 2 hours or so before the parade and there already was a line up for the subway starting. We maneuvered the stroller down various hallways and areas to find the necessary ramps/elevators. Then got on the subway and we were off. It was Quinn's first subway ride and she maintained the same face that she usually gets when she is in an elevator or for that fact seeing anything new.... "What the heck have you two got me into this time". We had a strange guy sit right next to us which is pretty much the status quo when you are on the subway for longer than about 3 stops.

We got to our stop, made our way off and surprisingly it wasn't as crazy as we thought it would be. It was definitely busy but not that bad, probably because it was still 1.5 hrs from the start of the parade. We met the McLean's, headed up to street level and got our spots. Several people crossed the road and not sure if Brenda had a big sign on her but they always tried to get through where she was standing and use the stroller for support. Not sure what people are thinking when they do stupid things like that. Finally after a mild body check to some old guy we cut the passage off. Quinn was enjoying looking at all the people and we know she was really happy that her parents bundled her up.

The parade was great, lots of candy and chocolate being thrown out, we had a great spot right near the Tim Horton's. Lots of great floats. Quinn slept for a lot of the parade but we managed to keep her in the spirit as in the picture below.

The parade was way too long. It totalled almost 2.5 hours. With kids that is about 1 hour too long. The weather was great. Past years have really pushed our fortitude on making it an annual event but this year it was sunny and only a bit cold but not bad at all. Quinn slept for a lot of it and then when Santa finally made his appearance we tried to get her up but she was way too tired as you can see by the family photo below. Once Santa is past you it is time to head home. We got on the elevator, back down to the subway and back home. All in all a great day out for Quinn's first Santa Clause Parade.