Hannah says "I'm Home!"

One more night

The doctor decided to keep her in the hospital for one more night - one more dose of antibiotics. She is eating well and just bored - can't wait to get back to school, it's going on three weeks now with our vacation included.

Home tomorrow I'm sure.

Feeling better

Hannah is feeling much better this morning - she ate a whole muffin, which is more than she has eaten in a week. I talked to the doctor and he said she looks better, the fever is gone, and they will keep her in for another night - so she can receive one more dose of antibiotics and more fluids.

She is now very chatty, which is a great sign - we just visited this morning, read a book, watched a movie and rested.

Looks like she is on the mend. Yippee!

Ja-mai-can-me very angry....

Hannah wasn't feeling any better this morning so Dana took her to the ER, they decided to admit her, they took several blood tests, and is now getting an iv for fluids. The blood culture is looking for Salmonella in the blood. This test takes at least 48 hours, so we just found out she will be in the hospital until at least Tuesday, which we told Hannah tonight and she looked just crushed, poor kid.

To be honest, I am relieved she is in the hospital, at least they can get her some fluids and give her the antibiotics intravenously, I know Dana is the same way - it's comforting to have someone checking her out every hour.

Dana is spending the night with her and hopefully she'll bounce back tomorrow after a top-up of fluids. Also - thanks to everyone for helping us out lately, it means a lot to have so much help!

Hannah

Our Dr. called us this afternoon to let us know it's Salmonella food poisoning, which is the likely culprit - at least until tomorrow when the definitive tests come in.

She is now on antibiotics which should clear things up. We are relieved that we now know what it is and that she is taking something to make her feel better.

I also learned that the vaccine I was going to get the kids probably wouldn't have prevented Salmonella either, a little less guilt.

Hopefully she will be feeling better by the weekend!

Charlotte Glencross

I spent the weekend in Fredericton where I attended a ceremony honouring my aunt "Chooch" and recognizing her fundamental efforts in the opening of an arts centre in a historic school building. The memorial was inspirational. Chooch was so well known throughout her community and had contributed so much to the art community specifically. It was amazing to hear friends, colleagues and politicians speak about someone I wish I had known better. We had a chance to visit with my uncle in their home the following day and it was sad and wonderful to see her art and art tools throughout the house. I was so moved by her love of animals, her sense of environmental obligation, her commitment to helping others and her obvious passion for the arts that was so evident in her home. I came home wanting to be a better person. You can read about the Arts Centre and her contribution at this link (click Centre News on the left).

Update and More...

Thanks to everyone for their help this past week giving Dana a hand while Hannah is still at home sick. We are waiting results to see what she has, possibly a parasite or some other nasty bug, she has eaten a whole 3 or 4 Saltines since Saturday and we are trying to get a lot of fluid into her, although her body doesn't like it. The doctor said we must keep her hydrated, so it's a fight to get her to keep her drinking fluids. Poor little peanut.

I am kicking myself for not getting the kids that oral vaccine for traveller's diarrhea, although it isn't determined that's what it is. So if you are planning a trip south, do it just in case!

Everyone else is fine, so we know it's not a virus now. Check out this nice write up on Jack's team on the Markham Hockey website. (you might have to click on the words READ MORE on the far right...)

Bye!

Another Pic

Here's a photo of the winning team, just after the big win.

Jack is far left back row.

On another note, Hannah has been home sick for a few days now, high fever and a stomach bug - poor kid is miserable. We are just hoping its an isolated incident - and it's not going to spread....I think I got one of those masks for sanding and paining in my stocking, I think I may just wear it around the house....

CHAMPIONS!

What a game! Jack's team was down 7-4 at the start of the third period and they won it 10-9 in Overtime!! They beat a very tough team from Thornhill. What an exciting game!

Off to the Championship Game!

Jack's hockey team was in a tournament while we were away, they won all their games, so it was the semi-finals today, which Jack played in and they won! So he and his team are in the championship game this afternoon in Thornhill. It's a huge tournament with over 20 teams and our team has made it to the finals - they won 8-7 this morning in a very close game. Dana is away in Fredericton, she will be missed at the game - GO JACK!

We LOVED it!!

I don't want to irritate anyone with how amazing a time we had, but we really could want for nothing!

Jason out-did himself with his research and found us paradise at a price we could afford and willing to take a family of five (surprisingly, few places will without making you book two rooms!)






Things were included that I would have fully expected to pay extra for: snorkeling, glass-bottom boat rides, banana boat rides, a full water slide park with "Pirate Island", drinks and drinks!




Then there were things that we knew about in advance that we just couldn't have imagined better! The "Kids Kamp" was divided into age groups and each of our kids was in a different group. I envisioned a church basement type set-up with arts & crafts tables. Actually, each age group had multiple rooms to themselves with theatres and games, they took them on boat rides, built volcanoes, tie-dyes, magic shows, baking with Cookie Monster, exercises with Elmo, dancing with Zoe, limbo games with Ernie & Bert! You could take the kids anytime from 9am-6pm or do what we did and check the schedule of events and sign them in and out for the activities they wanted. The people were absolutely amazing! Hannah and Jack made lots of new friends and Henry was a big hit with the ladies who ran his program - his answer to everything was "Yeah Mon!"




Then there were things that were just so over the top we couldn't believe it - self-serve slurpies, popcorn and ice cream ALL DAY EVERY DAY!










And the cherry on top - the kids got to go into the cockpit of the airplane for their first plane ride!
We didn't get a drop of rain, no one got sick or hurt, we felt completely filled-up. Nothing was missing. At one point, Jason & I were lying on the beach and all 3 kids were at an activity and a waiter & waitress came up to us and offered us ice-water. I just looked at them stunned. It seemed like too much! The service was unbelievable. The island was gorgeous.

The photos are in no particular order, sorry.

Henry's Joke...

Knock Knock..
Who's there?
Jamaica.
Jamaica Who?
Ja-mai-ca-me verrryy happpy.

I remembered to pack an extra pair of contact lenses this time...In Halifax when Dana came with me to the skating event I was working on, I left my contact lenses in solution in a glass in the bathroom, because I had forgotten my contacts case....when I went in the bathroom in the morning to put my contacts in - the glass was empty. I asked Dana if she dumped it down the sink. No she hadn't. She drank it...contact solution and my contacts! Yummy.

Found!

It has been so mild here that most of the snow has melted - and on the way home from school yesterday Jack found a $20 bill....not bad. I remember finding a $1 bill once the same way and boy was I excited, but 20? I guess with inflation, maybe they are equal.

Christmas recap (a little late)

Have I really not posted any photos from Christmas? The beauty of the blog is that everything is current and fresh, but now that the kids are back at school (yippee) I can catch up!

Jason reading The Night Before Christmas

Christmas morning surprises
Enjoying Nan & Han's piano recital

A nice visit with Papa!

New TV

So Scott Baio has a new reality show where he's trying to figure out why he's 45 and never been married...he just had to ask me! He never met me & my friend Jennifer when we were 12! We used to play in an old car on blocks and drive on dates with Chachi. I wasn't the photographer I am now and thought that if I took a picture of the tv, I would tell Jennifer that I had actually met Scott Baio! Too bad you could see the whole tv in the picture, otherwise, I'm sure I could have convinced her!