Back from vacation

We are back from our trip to Toronto with great news! Olivia is not going to require any surgery! This is great news. Dr Clark said at this point, Mother Nature will do just as good of a job as surgery would, so why bother putting her through all of that for the same results.

Other then that, we had a great vacation. The drive was surprising not that long. I mean, we did do over 3300 km's round trip; however, it didn't feel that long. The first night, we stopped at the Four Points by Sheriton in Quebec City. It was a beautiful hotel; however, I felt that the room's furniture was a little over size for the room itself.

That morning we went downstairs to the restaurant, Le Dijon and we had a great breakfast. Afterwards, we trucked all day to Belleville On. It was approx a 6hr drive from Quebec, but with Olivia having to eat every 3 hours or so, it made it a little longer then that. Olivia was the greatest in the car. She never really fussed or anything. She mostly slept all the time!

Our last stop before Olivia's appt was in Ajax at Allison's uncles place. It was great spending a few days there. We didn't have to rush anywhere, just kinda sat back & enjoyed the pool. The first night, he heated the pool up to 92F. It was awesome! Just like in a hot tub!

Our drive to the Hospital itself was an interesting drive. On the 401, it was really smooth; however, we were suggested that we should get on Avenue Rd and simply follow that until we to the Hospital as Avenue Rd transforms into University Avenue.

I thought "no problem!". Well, little did I know that the transformation isn't the smoothest! At one point, you have to turn left at an intersection that actually continues to Avenue Rd. Well, instead, we went straight throught & ended up in a residential area. We did a couple of turns & I decided that we needed to get some directions. I pulled up to a stop sign & there was a couple walking along. Allison asked them where University Rd was & it turns out that the people we asked where from Nova Scotia; however they where also familiar with the Sick Kids Hospital as their grand child had been operated on a few times already.

Anyways, they pointed us in the right direction & we were off again! Overall, it took us approx 20 minutes from Ajax to Avenue Rd, but it took us approx 1hr and 15 minutes to go from Avenue Rd & 401 to the Hospital. That was crazy! Talk about going nowhere fast!

We had planned on going to Niagara Falls on Thursday; however, Olivia decided that she wanted to sleep in (for the first time since Monday morning) and also she was going to have a big lunch. It usually takes her about 1hr to eat, but that day, she stretched it out to 2hrs. So, that put us back a couple of hours and everyone suggested that traffic was going to be horrible so we should just hang out there! So we did!

While we were up in Ontario, my cousin had her baby! It was almost perfect timing. So, we simply modified our trip home & headed back to Belleville to meet our newest family member. They named him Rayden and he was born at 10lbs 3/4oz! Certainly not a little fellaw, but he seemed tiny compared to Olivia....

To finish off our trip, we left Belleville and drove as far as Drummondville, Quebec. We stayed the night in a Quality Suites which we felt was a better hotel then the Four Points was.

When we got up on Saturday, I quickly calculated what we had left to do as far as time in order to get home & made the decision to simply go all the way & finish the drive. So, we got on the road & kept on driving until Olivia was hungry. We'd stop to eat and then get right back on the road and keep on going.

Overall, we had a blast. It was fun to see & we did get to see lots of stuff. It would have been better if we could have stayed downtown Toronto longer, but I think we are going to plan for something like that next time. They would like to see her again in May for a check up. So, we'll have to plan another vacation - maybe - and do it all over again!

'til next time!

*Cough*Cough*

Well, that was a fun week! I wish I could say that we actually went to Toronto, but we had another type of adventure instead!

As we put Olivia to bed on Saturday night, she started to fuss a little. After a few minutes, Allison went in & just as she leaned over to check on her, Olivia vomitted in her bed! Well, that was only the start!

To put a long story short, every 20minutes, Olivia was sick. We ended up going to the hospital around 11pm on Saturday night & they admitted her for the day. She was sick until they where able to get an IV into her. It was horrible. She was screaming because she had nothing left in her. She was basically dry heaving & all she was bringing up was bile! Poor girl! There was nothing we could do!

They decided to keep for for 2 days (Sunday & we left late Monday afternoon).

You'd think that the adventure would be done there! Nope, not at all! Once we got home, Allison wasn't quite feeling well, but we passed it off to not having slept at all on Saturday night & also not having had a good night sleep on Sunday night.

Shortly after we got home, Allison was sick! Not a good start to the week because shortly afterwards, I was sick!

We ended up being out of commission until Tuesday night for Allison & Wednesday for me! It was truly horrible. We are not 100% sure, but we can only assume that we had a GASTRO virus going around because my sister-in-law was sick, her fiance as well and my father-in-law was sick too!

I can certainly tell you that it's not a fun trip spending almost 12 hrs in the bathroom sick like a dog!

Everything has been postponed to next week. So we are going to be doing the same adventure as last time. Spending a week on the road, stoping in Quebec the first night and spending some time with family on our way! We are also going to see our friends Colin & Heidi at Niagara Falls! It's going to be a blast!

So, again, I'll try to post from the road as much as I can.

'til next time!

New Adventure

Well, I'm on vacation!

That's right! We are leaving for Toronto on Sunday Morning - bright & early! Keep your eyes open because I'll be snapping some pics with my camera phone & posting them to my flickr account.

Also, whenever I can get a connection, I'll try to post an update of how the trip is going & where we are so far in our journey!

Stay tuned!

Simpson's The MOVIE!

OMG! I can't wait!

Allison & I have a date tonight & we're going to go & see the Simpson's! I can't wait!

Firstly, we haven't been to a movie in about 10 or so months. I can't even remember what the last movie we saw together was. I can't wait & I hope that we can get some tickets! I think I may have to stop by & pre-purchase some tickets - just to make sure that we can get in!

I just checked online & so far, there seems to be some space available! This movie is going to rock! I hope Allison doesn't mind some absent minded laughter!

On another note, we have our referral to go & visit Toronto Sick Kids. We will be going up on August 22. We haven't decided if we are going to drive or fly up. Flying would be much quicker; however, I think driving would be more fun because we can come & go as we please once we get there! We have lots of family in the area as well that I would love to visit. My aunt Yolande & my cuzin's are in Belleville - a couple of hours away & Colin is in London - which is a couple of hours past. Allison also has family out there that we can always crash at! At least we wouldn't be stuck.

I truly hope that the Dr Clark gives us a good diagnosis! What I mean is that I'm hoping for a no surgery option. I think Olivia will be able to strenghten that arm on her own & that it will continue to heal.

Well, that's all that's new for now!

'til next time!

Anything new wtih you?

Well, not a whole lot is happening on my side of things, but Olivia is pretty busy. She now has a tooth, she's sitting up, rolling over..... what's next - walking i think! LOL

She's also eating - actually self-feeding. She grabs the spoon & puts it into her mouth & everything! It's really awesome to see! We where a little worried that because of her left arm, she would be a little late in the rolling over & stuff, but she's right on time. Everyone is really pleased with her progress.

It's hard to beleive, and I'm sure that I say this every month, but it's already been 6mths. WOW!!!! I can't beleive how fast it's really going by! We are also waiting to hear from a neurologist from Halifax who is going to evaluate Olivia & suggest if we still have to go to Toronto or not.

We are pretty much hoping that the answer is no, but you never know & we are prepared to do what it takes in order to make sure that she has functionality of her arm.

Talking about functionality, we had some company this weekend. Our friends from St-Leonard where down & we had them over on Friday & Saturday. It was fun. I wasn't able to stick around too much unfortunetly because we had 4 fire calls - 2 grass fires - in a very short period of time.

I'm certainly not complaining. I got to drive our Tanker truck at the 2 grass fires. That truck is old & really needs to be replaced, but it's supposed to be done soon.

Zoe, their daughter is growing up really fast! She now has a baby brother who is 10 days older then Olivia & he's a little monster. He eats like there's no tomorrow.

Well, i think it's time to hit the road... gonna head home & get ready for training tonight!

'til next time!

The wait it OVER!!!

Not me, not this time! AGAIN!

Well, I didn't get a phone call yesterday noon! I was a little pissed yesterday & needless to say, I didn't get any work done at all.

The job went to 2 relatively new guys - Jeff Pike & Marty McDonald. They both recently graduated from FF school and I'm *sort of* happy for them.

As you can imagine, I wish it was me there instead of them, but the Chief did say that there was going to be 3 more jobs posted between now & 2008. So, it's just a matter of days/weeks/months before I get a job...

What else is new....

Not a whole lot! Olivia is doing well. We visited our pediatrician and she is sending her for some test. She detected a small heart murmur and also a floppy trachea. So Olivia got xrays & will also get an ECG done shortly. The Dr said that there's nothing to worry about, so I'm not worrying too much, but it's always on my mind!

Her arm isn't getting any better! So, the Physio Dr started the referral process to send us to the Toronto Hospital for Sick Kids. We are truly hoping that it doesn't come to that; however, we are prepared to do what it takes in order to give Olivia the best life possible.

Not a whole lot else happening right now! Work has slowed down... So, there's probably going to be a month or so that's going to be a little tight - just going to have to tighten the belt a little! LOL

Well, that's about it for now!

'til the next time!