It’s Been a While!

It feel as if life has been speeding by lately! Our days seem long and full, but somehow, the weeks seem to be going by faster than I realize. This year I’ve really enjoyed paying attention to every small part of nature’s changes, and fall has been such a beautiful time for our family. Last year, October was a busy and stressful month. Arden had just underwent major surgery (gtube placement, fundoplication, LADD procedure & appendectomy all in one), and our days were filled with the some big bumps in our hospital journey. This year, we’re so grateful to be enjoying a quiet October at home. We’ve enjoyed decorating, dressing up, cooking great meals, and spending as much time outdoors as Arden tolerates! It’s been a while since I’ve given an all-around update, and I thought now would be a great time to fill everyone in!

Here’s a quick update on what our family has been up to in the past few weeks!

Planting Trees:

We got some amazing trees from Riverside Greenhouses, so Brodi has been planting them around our yard. We’re so excited to have more decorative trees, but deciding where to put them has been harder than anticipated! Brodi has been working hard to get our yard ready for winter time, putting away summer items, harvesting and tilling up our garden area. This year was the first year that we had a ground garden in addition to the two raised beds that we had the past couple years. It turned out really awesome and I can’t wait to see what we grow next year!

Making a Path to Our Fire Pit:

A couple years ago, Brodi and I spent an afternoon collecting these gorgeous flat rocks with the intent to use them for a landscaping project later on. It’s taken a few years, but we finally put them to good use! Brodi used them to create a gorgeous walking path through the woods from our lawn to our fire pit. He also planted creeping thyme amongst the rock path so that we’ll hopefully have a beautiful creeping vine along the ground next year as well. 

Enjoying Fall:

We have had such a beautiful fall! It’s so nice that the temperature has been nice enough for us to spend a little bit of time outside with Arden. We will often take him outside during his 15 minute off-vent trials, and it’s a great time for our family to experience a little bit of outdoor freedom. Arden’s secretions sometimes get quite thick in the cold, so we have to be aware of that, and make sure that we don’t see any signs of distress when we have him outside. This fall he has really enjoyed playing with the leaves and looking for our cats outside. Despite the cats’ best hunting efforts, we still have a lot of beautiful birds hanging around our bird feeder, and Arden loves watching the chickadees flitting around for snacks. 

Arden’s Appointments:

On October 20th, we’re heading down to Edmonton for Arden’s appointments with his pediatrician and orthopaedic surgeon on October 21*. Both visits will be check-ups. We are not expecting many changes, but both doctors need to assess how Arden is doing lately. (We think he’s doing great!)

{ *October 21st is also a very big day for a very wonderful little girl in our area who will be undergoing her nephrectomy. Wear green to support Paizley! }

Following these October visits, we will hopefully not have to head back to Edmonton until the end of November when Arden will see the ophthalmologist and receive an MRI of his lumbar spine.

Arden’s Development:

Arden is doing SO well with his ASL signs. He now knows: more, eat, on, sleep, bed, medicine, suction, thank-you, poop (haha), I love you, dad, and play. Arden also knows many of his body parts, and can point to them when you ask him where they are. So far he knows: head, hair, eye, nose, arm, leg (right and left with reminders), toes, belly, and bum. Arden pays attention to everything around him, and loves to copy new things that he sees. He especially loves the silly ideas his grandpas come up with! Grandpa Lockhart has taught him to do a “moose call,” where he will hold a cup to his mouth and make an echoey squawk sound, and Grandpa Reid has taught him to “boogey boogey,” where he puts his hands to the sides of his head and waves his fingers like a

Arden still does not yet crawl/walk, but he has found many ways to scoot around and let us know what he wants to play with. It’s amazing how much mischief he can get into in a small space! 

At the end of September we increased Arden’s off-vent times to 15 minutes 3-4 times per day, and he’s been doing wonderful with that! During his off-vent trials, we usually use that time to go for a backyard walk outside, or he loves going “zoom zoom” in his walker…which we have a rope attached to so that he can be pulled around the house (haha). If you ask Arden if he wants to go “zoom zoom,” he will point to his walker and motion his hands like a steering wheel.

Arden has not said any words yet, but with his cuff down during all awake hours, he is definitely learning to control his voice! Like most small children, he has been babbling away as if everyone understands this mysterious baby language he is speaking.

Reading:

I was reading The Winter Rose, the second book in The Tea Rose Series by Jennifer Donnelly. However, I’m terrible for reading multiple books at once. I also have a few mental health books on the go, and I’ve been really into a novel called Call Me Zelda by Erika Robuck. I’m almost finished it, and I’ll likely go back to The Winter Rose afterwards. I am a huge fan of historical fiction novels, because they always pique my interest with a story, and then later I look for the facts. It’s often a great way to get me researching and learning about different people in history. 

Getting Ready for Halloween:

Arden and I have been dressing up a lot lately! I figure Halloween is a whole season, and since I’m home with Arden, he has been subjected to multiple pumpkin costumes and photoshoots! As a child, my mom always decorated our home for every season, and I’m so excited to bring that magic into Arden’s world! 

These seasonal changes and holidays have reminded me of my creative energies in other areas, and I’ve recently been experimenting with a lot of fun makeup. It’s a great way for me to bring a little bit of art into every day! 

New Winter Tires:

This Saturday Brodi got new winter tires put on our Honda Odyssey (van). We take the van with us when we go to Edmonton, or anywhere as a family. It fits the three of us, plus our caregiver, and all of Arden’s supplies and all of our luggage! Pheww. Anyways, we wanted to feel safe traveling this winter, and the best way to do that is to have good tires for the snowy and icy months. 

Hockey Season is Back:

Brodi is a huge Edmonton Oilers fan, so we always watch them play on game nights. Even Arden gets in on the fun, and loves to sit with Brodi and clap and cheer! It’s a great way to have something to look forward to as the days are getting shorter. It’s already so dark out in the evenings here, and we know that soon it’ll be dark by supper time!

I hope you enjoyed our little life update, and we hope you’re all enjoying your fall!

XO, Rayel