Surgery is finally over and done with!!!!!

After waiting 14 months since we saw the surgeon, last week Jaclyn finally had her hernia surgery at Children's in Vancouver. Kevin and I took her down early in the morning and after all the prep work and talks she was in for surgery at 7:45am to finally fix her hernia that she was born with. The surgery took about 45 min and after two doses of morphine, 2 orange popsicles and alot of crying later (all from Jaclyn btw but I wasn't far myself watching her as she was in pain) we were finally able to move her from recovery and get out of there at about 11am. She was such a trooper and did an amazing job. I was so proud of her!!! She was pretty much a write-off for the rest of Thursday and all day Friday and finally by Saturday she was up and moving around on her own and starting to eat again and play. She is now back to her normal self and we are just waiting for her tummy to heal completely, which the surgeon said may take awhile, so she finally will have a "belly button like Mommy" as Jaclyn like to point out :)

On another note everything else here at home is great. Makayla is growing like a weed (6 1/2 months old already). She rolls over both ways and sit on her own completely now. She is very active and moves around lots. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before she learns to crawl or atleast scoot herself across the room. She is also starting to talk and "blab" away to herself which is quite interesting to listen to. Jaclyn is starting to love her even more now that they can sort of play with each other and before we know it those two are going to be joined at the hip getting into all kinds of mischief!!!

Jaclyn's hernia the day before surgery

The night of her surgery with the big bandage on

A few days later when we were able to take off her bandage for the first time

Slowly starting to heal

Jaclyn laying around

Makayla hanging out playing toys

Sisterly love at its finest!!!

Jaclyn's first movie ....

Two weeks ago I took Jaclyn to her first movie. We went and saw Alvin and the Chipmunks The Squeakual. It was such a cute movie, I'm really glad we chose that one. Jaclyn had a blast sharing popcorn and pop and just being in a theatre and was quite and sat there the whole time except for one potty break. She wasn't a fan of the previews though cuz they were to loud for her but that was it. There were no booster seats at this theatre and Jaclyn doesn't have enough weight to her to keep the chair down when she sits all the way back in it so needless to say I had to hold her seat down with one of my hands the whole time ... well let me tell you, I never thought I'd have feeling in my hand and arm again after that .. lol. So worth it though!!! I think this might be something we go and do together every couple months or so if there is a good movie playing.
She is also becoming quite the little artist. We got her a desk and easel for Christmas and an art/craft box and she also got another big art center thing also and she loves it. She can sit there in her room forever and paint and colour and stuff ... it's really great and am glad she's enjoying it so much.
We had Makayla's 4 month shots last week (a month late) and everything is good with her. She is just a tiny pipsqueak though and is barely in the 50th percentile for her age (Jaclyn had about 4 pounds on her at this age) but that's ok, she can be my little pipsqueak for as long as she wants :) She also has started rolling over and loves it. She is so proud of herself, it's really cute!!
Well that's all for now .....

My baby girl at 5 months

Jaclyn doing some art work

Some of her paintings so far .....

Rocking out in Makayla's room putting on a little show for her :)

Happy New Year

2010 already ... where did the time go?!?! We all had a great Christmas over here, busy but good. We had Christmas on the Tolsma side a week early and the kids all loved it. It was quite crazy with 11 kids opening up presents plus all the adults but it was great to see how happy they all were when they opened their presents. We then had a quiet Christmas morning at our house with just us and the girls. Jaclyn loved being able to open her and Makayla's presents (might be the only time she'll be able to do that). We got Jaclyn her own desk and easel for her room and she loves it. She'll sit in there forever and draw and colour!!! Then for lunch and the afternoon on Christmas we spent it with Jim's Mom's side of the family and then headed out to Chilliwack to spend the rest of the weekend. We woke up Boxing Day and just pretended it was Christmas again and did gifts and a turkey dinner etc. with Mom, Dad, Kevin and Drew. It was a great time and the girls loved spending time and visiting with Nana and Papa "with Rocky" (as Jaclyn refers to them) and their Uncle Kevin and Uncle Drew who they don't get to see to much of. All in all we had a great Christmas this year and look forward to next year already.

Jaclyn and Makayla are growing like weeds. Makayla is going to be 5 months already next week .. where the time goes I have no idea ... and Jaclyn is a very interesting 3 year old. The things she does and comes up with just crack me up .. I never know what to expect from her. She is still a big help with Makayla and loves having a little sister. She can't wait for Makayla to get a little bit bigger so she can actually play with her.

Who knows what 2010 is going to bring us this year .. we are hoping for Jaclyn to finally have her surgery this year and other than that we'll just see what it's going to bring our way!!

Big smiles

Totally oblivious to the bow on her head

Jaclyn's Christmas reindeer ears

Jaclyn hamming it up like only she can

Santa baby

The girls' first Christmas together