The Unknown- Bowel Management

When it comes to having a child with Spina Bifida there are a lot of unknowns. A couple of months ago Oliver started  having rough nights, that consisted of scream for 6 plus hours in the night. It didn't matter what Josh or I did to try to calm him down, he would just keep on screaming. It wasn't just a cry, he screamed at the top of his lungs. Like his was in discomfort or pain. I felt so bad for him and so helpless as a mom. I was willing to hold him all night if that was what would help him calm down so he could sleep. At first we thought it was teething but I just felt that it was more then that. He popped two teeth before Christmas and he was a bit restless in the night but it was nothing compared this. When ever Oliver is a bit off you always wonder if it's a shunt malfunction. But he wasn't having any of the shunt malfunction symptoms other then irritable/ screaming. He also was only like this at night, as he was pretty much him self in the day, other then he was tired from our rough nights.  I felt like a walking zombie in the days with getting no sleep. We took one day at a time.  When I would talk to other moms about our situation they would say 'teething is rough'. I would think to myself this is way worse then teething. I'd take a teething baby any day over this. I always had a feeling it was bowel related. Oliver has been taking a stool soften since 9 months and we have slowly had to up his dose with the more solids he was eating. We were told that he needs to be having a bowel movement every day. Which he still was but there was the odd time that he wouldn't (once in two weeks).  We have him a suppository the one night when he didn't have a bowel movement. As soon as the suppository worked, he slept the whole night. Right then I knew for sure it was bowel related. I then started talking to other SB parents about bowel management. I was told it's a lot of trial and error to see what works for your child. So we upped Oliver dose of stool softened. This seems to be doing the  trick. He is sleeping through the night again. I wish we thought about trying this sooner. I feel at times that I know so little but we are trying to learn new things to help Oliver.

Family Day 2017

We had a great family day as a family. We attending the university family day activities, which were a lot of fun. We went for a cool walk/bike ride while looking for a geocache. We were glad to have an extra day to spend as a family.

Happy 9th Anniversary!

9 years, 3 earthly children, 1 heavenly child, 5 addresses, 4 vehicles and countless memories made on our many adventures.

I love you because...

- you love me even though I have imperfections

- you actually put effort into me

- you are always willing to give

- you always make me feel that I am worth something

- you take care of our family

- you help me smile when I'm struggling

- you are simply you

Thanks for teaching me to make life happy no matter what. Life's to be enjoyed. I'm so blessed to have you by my side and to enjoy this journey together. Happy 9th Anniversary! Love you always.

It's also our heavenly child's due date day. You would have been two years old today. We miss you a tone. See you soon. Love you!- Kayla

I can never laugh at Kayla's choices... because I was one of them! haha. Happy Anniversary to my best friend!! Crazy how time flies. I can't believe you have already put up with me for 9 straight years. Congrats! Luv you lots. Thanks for being amazing!!!- Josh

St Patrick's Day 2017

I'm lucky to be called mom by these three crazies. We had an amazing St Patrick's Day! We all had fun wearing green, decorating shamrock cookies and taking part in St Patrick Day Activities. I love celebrating my birthday with my little family. I love seeing how excited Lincoln and Lacey get that there is another birthday in our family.

Running Club 2017

Lincoln was so excited to be starting running club today. He started watching the kids run over two years ago and now he can finally participate! There was over 200 kids taking part in this awesome program, which is a school record. They are starting our with 0.5 of a mile and by they end of running club they will have ran a total 42 kms (a marathon).

Valentine's 2017

For Valentine's this year we started celebrating the ones we love on February 1st. We did this by putting a heart on each others bedroom door each day, telling them why we love them. Lincoln and Lacey were so excited to wake up each each morning  to read one of their hearts and why Josh and I love them.

Lincoln had fun at school handing his cards to all his friends in his grade one class and couldn't wait to get home to looking at call his cards he received. I loved his card holder he made this year.

Lacey had loves of fun with her friends at our Valentine's day home party. She was pretty excited to have so many cards from her friends too.

Then for Valentine's Day dinner, we had a fun family Valentine's dinner with heart pizza, sparkling juice in fancy glasses (vine glasses, it was Lincoln and Lacey request) and decorating Valentine cookies for desert. It was a fun special dinner spent with the ones we love.

Rock and Mineral Show

We attended the Rock & Mineral Show, Lincoln sure enjoyed him self! He's been into rocks for sometime now and loves adding rocks to his collection.