Happy New Year everyone!

We had a nice quiet New Year's eve with just the three of us, flipping through the Barrie, New York, Toronto and Niagara Falls broadcasts of the countdown, and Lauren was wide awake to welcome in 2007.  I think it was the first time in years that Rita and I didn't either go out or have people over, but it was nice just having the three of us and a new beginning.

New Year's day wasn't so quiet!  We had my parents (Nanny and Grandpa Bear) and my brothers and their significant others (Uncle Tom and Aunt Christina, Uncle Joe and Christina) over for our family Christmas.  Now, with me being the runt on my side, I figured I would get a big turkey, and the best I could find was about 13kg.  For those of you who don't know your conversions, that's a 32 lbs turkey!  It was massive!  Rita and I forgot to take it out of the freezer when we were supposed to, and ended up having to thaw it in the kitchen sink for at least a day.  It barely fit into a roasting pan, and we had to take a rack out of our over just to get the bird in.  But once that was done, it went very well!  It cooked for about 6-7 hours, and came out DELICIOUS!  But if you want to see a picture of the bird before it got cooked, look in the photo section.  Sorry Judy, I know you're quite the photographer, but I neglected to take a pic AFTER it was cooked.  Sorry to let you down!  :-)  But we all had a great time, and everyone who came was amazed at Lauren's progress.

Speaking of which, Lauren is closing in on 11 lbs, and her feeds are going up yet again to accomodate her growth.  I remember back in the hospital when she was getting maybe 40mls of milk.  She's upto 130mls!  Quite the appetite, just like Dad (don't know if that's good or bad). 

Her g-tube became irritated, and when Rita went to adjust it, some puss and blood came out.  And naturally, it had to happen on the day I was going to Macmaster to get her prescriptions refilled, and I was almost there when Rita called me with the news.  And no offense to the medical staff who might be reading this, but it seemed everyone was on vacation!  Rita made some phone calls, and we were able to take Lauren to see her pediatrician, Dr. Burger, who has his office right down our street.  Rita adjusted the t-bar which prevents the g-tube from going further into her stomach, and Dr. Burger prescribed some antibiotics and  the g-tube  site is looking so much better.   I have to laugh, because Lauren was just finishing up her antibiotics for the staph in her trach (staph is a type of bacteria), and Rita and I were glad that is was one less medication...well...here we go again!

But in all, things are going quite well.  We are constantly developing our routines around the house, and the nursing staff  has been a great help in that it allows Rita and myself to do things around the house that need to get done, but know that Lauren is being taken care of.  And the overnight staff we have, well, let me tell you I sleep soundly! 

So, have a peep at the pictures, have yourselves a wonderful day, and as always, thank you for your continued support, love, thoughts and prayers.