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

October Fun

September didn't bring to much over here with us. The first part of the month I was pretty much just getting used to having 2 kids instead of 1 and getting us all settled back at home after being up in Chilliwack for close to 6 weeks I think it was. I started daycare again about half way through the month and that has being going really good. Jaclyn loves having the kids here to play with again and it's nice that they entertain her while I'm doing things around the house and looking after Makayla.

October has come and gone already too. I took the girls to the pumpkin patch one afternoon and they had a blast. It's definitely something I want to continue to do with them every year, it never gets old. I can hardly wait till Makayla's old enough to run around there and I can just let the 2 of them run wild.

Jaclyn is now finally potty trained. It is such a huge relief and Jaclyn loves wearing her big girl panties everyday and it's a huge ordeal in the morning when she gets to pick out which pair she is going to wear that day. Makayla is growing like a weed too. I can't believe that she is going to be 3 months old aready tomorrow (Nov 13) time sure is flying by. She is on bottles completely now, talks, smiles and coos up a storm for us and she sleeps right through the night and has been for a few weeks now. I sure am blessed in that department ... the girls must know how cranky their Mom gets without much sleep .. lol

Jaclyn turned 3 last Friday, I can't believe it!!!! She is no longer my baby girl and has turned into my big girl before my very eyes. It's so hard to believe that she is going to be starting preschool already next year. Seems like just yesterday I was in the hospital having her.

Well that's about it for now and I promise to keep the blog updated more often :)

Jaclyn and Makayla

Big smiles at 2 months old

Jaclyn at the pumpkin patch

My two lil pumpkins in a field of little pumpkins

Makayla and Oreo

The 2 cutest chickens ever all dressed up on Halloween

Our family :)

Makayla Joy Tolsma

MY SISTER IS FINALLY HERE!!!!!!!!!
First things first, now that my sister is here I am going to be sharing a blog page with her and my Mom has decided that she is going to start writing it in her words instead of like it's coming from me cuz it might start to get confusing .... so here we go the start of our new blog:

Well, Makayla Joy Tolsma is finally here. After being 3 days overdue Jim and I and everyone else thought that she was never going to show her pretty little face. She was born on Aug 13, 2009 at 8:10 am weighing in at 8lbs 5oz. Contractions started about 5:30am, Mom and I called Jim and headed to the hospital at about 7am and and 8:10am she was here. It all happened so fast that I did the whole thing naturally as there was no time to even consider giving me any drugs and poor Jim tried to get there as quickly as he could but ended up being about 10 minutes late. Man, people weren't kidding when they said your second one comes alot quicker than the first!!!! Makayla was born healthy as can be and other than some minor problems with me not clotting properly we both did very well and were able to go home the next morning. Jaclyn is a very proud big sister and is loving every minute of it. She is a big help when it comes to giving her a bottle, bath and changing Makayla and you can see the way that Makayla looks at Jaclyn that she already adores and looks up to her big sister!!!

Right when Jim got to the hospital

Sisters together for the first time

My beautiful family just as we were leaving the hospital

Baby girl

My two beauties :)

Crescent Bar and Houseboating

July was a busy month full of vacations!! In the beginning of July we went to Crescent Bar in Eastern Washington with the Tolsma side. I had a blast playing in the sun and swimming with my cousins all day long for the week. While we were there we watched some fireworks one night, went to the waterslides one day, rented a boat and borrowed a jet ski and spent days just relaxing by the pool and on the beach. I had so much fun at the waterslides and even went down all the big ones by myself ... I'm definitely not scared of the water!!! I can't wait till vacation time comes around next year again!!!! Here are just a few pics from vacation.

Heading back from the waterslides with Nathalie and Shannon

Swimming at the waterslides

Going on the jet ski with Dad

Boat ride with Mom

Later on in July Nana and Papa Beldam took me houseboating with them for the week. It was my special vacation without Mom and Dad. I had a blast there. We had birthday parties on top of the boats, did lots of swimming and hot tubing and played lots in the sand and rocks on the beach. I'm so happy that Nana and Papa took me even though Mom and Dad couldn't make it, it was a great trip and I can't wait to go again.

So as you can see my July was pretty busy and full of vacations. Mom didn't think I was ever going to get out of vacation mode!!!

Farmer's Day parade/carnival

This last weekend was the Farmer's Day parade/market/carnival in Lynden. In the morning Mom and I went to the parade with a bunch of my cousins and I saw lots of cool tractors, horses, marching bands and other parade things. Afterwards we went for a walk in downtown Lynden where they had a bunch of stands set up and some games to play. We had lunch down there and just walked around and checked everything out. Then later on that afternoon/early evening Dad, Mom and I went to the carnival at the fairgrounds where I got to go on lots of rides and play carnival games. Finally, we went with Uncle Derek, Auntie Shelli and Austin to the demolition derby. It was really loud at times but I loved watching all the cars smash into each other. Austin and I cheered like crazy for the drivers. We even saw a car get on fire it was hit so many times and saw a truck do such a big burnout at the burnout show that is back tires burst into flames too ... it was really cool!!!


Going for a train ride downtown

Nat, Landon, Shannon and me at an attempt of a group shot

Milking a pretend cow ... Mom was so proud of me .. lol

Going on some rides with Austin

Helicopter ride

Playing some carnival games