Cute Bath Pictures and Update on Pat

There's nothing I love more than a fresh-out-of-the-bath baby... all clean and soft and smelling like shampoo and baby lotion. LOVE it!

What I don't particularly love is giving the baths themselves, but luckily I married someone who likes to give kids and babies baths, so that worked out really well!

Nathan just loves his bathtime! This was a rare moment when he was actually in the tub by himself. Jesse and Brett seldom pass up an opportunity to strip down and jump in as soon as they hear the water running.

So, for Pat's update... most of you know that she was readmitted to the hospital on September 18. She has had two more smaller surgeries: first, to remove tissue from her mouth that was dead and infected, and second, to insert a feeding tube into her stomach. Overall she has been doing okay, but she's had a lot of ups and downs. We're not sure when she will be going home. I guess we're just trying to get through one day at a time. If anyone would like to write a letter or send a card or email, that would really help to cheer her up.

I'm off to bed now as I've been fighting a cold this week and have been feeling quite under-rested.. oh, and it's a PD Day tomorrow to boot. At least I won't have to get up at 6:30 to make lunches.

Nathan at Seven Months

I realize that Nathan is now eight months old, but since he turned seven months in Alberta, I have a little catching up to do. At seven months, Nathan got his first 2 teeth, started eating huge amounts of solids, and realized how much he loves the sound of his own voice (baba, dada, mama, nana - all those great baby babbles).

Here are some pictures of Nathan on our Alberta vacation:

This is where we docked to go biscuiting and wake boarding in Waterton Lake. I love the confused look on his face.


Nathan loved the boat rides on Waterton Lake when we visited the Stewart's cabin. The motor put him to sleep in about 2.5 seconds.


Just hangin' out with Aunt Marie


Nathan & Nathan - Scott's good friend from Edmonton.


Nathan & Scott at West Edmonton Mall where we took the kids Mini Golfing.


Fast asleep after the hike up Bear's Hump in Waterton on Scott's back.


Nathan & cousin Tycee


Nathan in the old red high chair at Grandma & Grandpa Jensen's.


Everyone should have a big brother like Brett. He takes such good care of his "little Nathan" as he likes to call him.


Nathan & Buddy (the Stewart's dog)


Nathan & Great Grandma Jensen


Nathan & Great Grandpa Jensen


This picture was taken by one of our kids - they all love to take pictures with the digital camera. This one turned out pretty good, but now I can't remember who it was that took it.



All ready for the 3 day drive home in the van... He doesn't look too impressed, but he was SO good! He cut his first tooth the day we got home and we didn't even know he was teething!


This was taken before our trip - when the Fitzners visited us here in London. But I just love this picture of Jayna and Nathan together.

Pat Is Home Now

Many of you know already, but Pat was discharged from the hospital on Thursday afternoon and has been home since then. She still has the feeding tube, and she and Bill have learned how to do the feeding on their own now. She is doing well, but is very tired, as she hasn't been able to get a lot of sleep. We are looking forward to seeing her on Thursday when they come up to meet with the surgeon.

All in all, her recovery is coming along fairly well, and she continues to have a great attitude and positive outlook towards the future. We hope things will continue to go well, and thank you again to those who have sent their well wishes to Pat. They are very much appreciated.

Sweet Soccer Girl

Samantha played soccer this summer for the first time and loved it! I noticed that her skills really improved by the end of the season, and we had a lot of fun going to her games and practices twice a week. Unfortunately, we missed the end-of-season tournament, as we were on vacation in Alberta.

Being a first time soccer Mom, I learned that soccer teams have different sizes of jerseys, but the smaller sizes get picked first. Unfortunately, we were a couple of minutes late for the very first practice and there were only large sizes left. It didn't help that Samantha was by far the smallest player on her coed team. As you can see, Samantha's jersey was more like a dress.


I can't get over how brown the grass was in July. It was nice and green when we got back from our trip, but for a long while there was very little green grass anywhere in London.


It was great when Scott could come to the games. He made things more exciting by sitting in his lawn chair and yelling out, "GO NUMBER SIX!!!" the whole time. Samantha would roll her eyes or pretend not to hear, but really she loved it.


This picture was taken on July 26 (Jordana & Gibb's 5 year wedding Anniversary). We baby-sat Jayna after soccer so they could go on a date.

Update On Pat

The past week has been quite busy as we are all trying to spend every spare moment at the hospital with Pat. Kim and Karri are still here, and it has been wonderful to have them here (I'm sure Pat would agree!) Karri is staying overnight with Pat this evening and then she flies back to Lethbridge on Monday night. Kim flies home on Wednesday morning.

Pat is progressing well. She is still quite sore and has a lot of pain - in her right shoulder especially - but the doctors and nurses are pleased with how her recovery is going. She was in high spirits when we were there today, and we had a nice visit together. She can't talk yet, but she uses simple hand signs and writes on her whiteboard and we can communicate quite well that way.

She has a smaller "trach" tube in now, which allows her to talk a little bit (one word at a time, with quite a bit of effort). Hopefully by Tuesday they will remove that tube as well, and she will be done with almost everything but the feeding tube (her IV came out yesterday). There are even talks of her going home on Wednesday if she continues to heal and progress until then.

Today she told us that the best things in her life are her children, their mates, and her "10 chubby grandchildren". I'm assuming by chubby, she was referring mostly to Nathan.... :) Our children have been asking about Nana everyday and wondering when they will get to see her again. She is such a fabulous mother and grandmother and we look forward to spending more time with her when she's feeling up to it. We love you, Nana!

Pat's Surgery

Many of you know that Scott's Mom underwent a 12 hour surgery yesterday to remove cancer from her mouth and jaw (very similar to the surgery she had in January of 2006). They had to replace a big portion of her lower jaw and some of her upper jaw as well. Scott was able to spend most of the day yesterday at the hospital with his Dad, and we saw Pat briefly for a few minutes last night in the recovery room. She was able to respond to conversation last night by nodding and smiling on the left side. The surgery went well, and she is recovering fine.

Scott and I are just getting ready to drop our kids off at a friend's house and go see her again now. She will be in the hospital for at least 2 weeks, maybe 3. Karri & Kim are both flying out for a week to spend time with her in the hospital. I will post more updates as time goes on. Until then, if you want to send any cards or emails, you can send them to me and I will pass them along to Pat. We appreciate everyone's prayers and support and hope that she will recover from this surgery as well as she did last time.

Back to School

It's hard to believe it's that time of year again! I don't know why but September sneaked up on me way too fast this year. We had such a wonderful summer, and I really am sad to see the kids go back to school. Although, I am looking forward to getting back into a routine and maybe a cleaner house too (a girl can always dream, right??)

Samantha started school yesterday. She is in Grade 2 at Kensal Park. Her teacher is Mme Dayton. According to Samantha, Mme Dayton is only substituting for the first week of school. I didn't want to make a big deal of this in front of Samantha, but in my opinion, having a substitute on the first day is not a good thing! I'm trying to be easy-going about this and so far I have resisted the urge to call the school and demand an explanation... We'll see what happens after the first week I guess. She is in a split Grade 2-3 class and has a few friends in her class that she knows from previous years, so that's good. I made the decision to send her on the bus the first day instead of drive her like most parents do, and I'm glad we did it that way because there were no tears shed at the bus stop, which is HUGE for Samantha on the first day!

Brett went to a half day of SK (Senior Kindergarten) yesterday. His teacher, Mme Komaromi, was Samantha's SK teacher two years ago, and she is super sweet. Kensal Park underwent some renovations this summer, and Brett's classroom is one of the brand new ones. It's really nice, and only a couple of doors down from Samantha's class. Brett doesn't go back until Monday, after which he will go every other day, all day. He will ride the bus with Samantha. Brett, the ever-so-studious student, came home yesterday and immediately sat down to do his "homework". After that he spent most of the rest of the day studying his Agenda and asking me how many more days until he can go back to school.

Jesse starts school tomorrow. He is in JK (Junior Kindergarten) at Westmount School, which is very close to our house. We walked over this morning for a Lemonade Party where he could meet his teacher and classmates, find his hook, do some activities and crafts, and enjoy some cookies and lemonade. Jesse's teacher is Mrs. Panopoulos, who taught Brett last year. She is wonderful and we are so thrilled to have her teach Jesse this year. It's hard to believe that Jesse is actually starting school. He's very excited and I'm sure he'll do fine, but it's hard for me to see him start at such a young age (after all, he's only three!) He will go Monday to Friday, every morning from 8:53 - 11:23 AM. Why they can't start at a normal time - say 9:00 AM - is beyond me. But the bell rings at 8:53 sharp!

Once I get my head around three different school schedules for three kids, I'm sure we'll get into some sort of routine. Right now I'm just lamenting the loss of the good old summer days when I could roll out of bed around 8:00 AM and make pancakes in my pj's. Oh well, I guess all good things must come to and end...