Australia

We've been back for just over a week so I thought it was about time I wrote about our trip to Australia!  We left December 30 and were in the air for new years!  Our prayers were answered in that there were empty seats on the plane, meaning that not only did we all get to sit together but we got seats for Hannah and Avery as well!  Although that helped, I'm not sure that any of us got much sleep during the 15 hours we were in the air but the girls slept a bit and did very well!  We arrived in Sydney in the morning where we met Ryan, Alanna and Cody!  It was already hot outside!  We checked into our hotel where the cousins started bonding!

We took it easy on day one, went for food and had a nap!  During our 3 days in Sydney, we went to the same place for breakfast every morning!  Not only did we really enjoy it, but it was the only place we could really find.  It seems that a lot of restraints in the area we were staying either had weird hours or weren't open during the holiday season.

The clan walking for breakfast

Our favorite breakfast place!

Day 2 in Sydney we ventured to the Opera house, saw the harbour bridge and walked along the waterfront.

During our final day in Sydney we went to the Torongo zoo where we got a nice view of the city including the opera house and harbour bridge.

That night for dinner we decided pizza in the hotel sounded like a good idea for dinner!

Mamo and Papa with all their grandkids!

Hannah practicing her standing

Then, it was off to New Castle where Ryan, Alanna and Cody live!  We took the train which took about 3 hours!

Once in New Castle we got set up in our accommodations, we stayed at a family friends house about a 5 minute walk away from Red Head beach!  Our first morning there, before even changing out of our jammies, Carl, Hannah and I went to check out the beach!

We loved spending time at the beach!

21 weeks pregnant 

Although we would have loved to spend more time at the beach, Hannah ended up catching a cold and we had to spend a day at the hospital :(  It seems that whenever she gets sick, she gets short of breath.  We brought a puffer but it wasn't doing enough so we decided to take her in and we're glad we did!  Although she is to young to diagnose it, it's looking like she may have asthma.  So for a few days we stayed away from the water and did other things…Like tried the famous Australian meat pies!  Yum!

We also ventured to Black Butt Reserve to pet some koalas!

And we got the opportunity to see some wild kangaroos!  We pet them too!

 

Our final night was spent eating pizza with friends, overlooking the beach.

 

Two weeks flew by and next thing we knew it was time for the long dreaded flight home!  It wasn't great but we survived!  And when we got home, it was family nap time!

Overall, it was a great trip!  We wish we could have brought the sun and its warmth home with us!

Christmas 2013

Well let me just start by saying we hope you had a very Merry Christmas!  We had a great Christmas season!  Since we were all so very sick last year at Christmas, it made me appreciate being healthy this year!  We started celebrating Christmas back in November with Christmas parties and during the month of December, had something going on every weekend.  It was actually very nice how all the family events ended up being spread out and on different days.  In early December I won VIP tickets from work for the Santa Claus Parade in Vancouver!  We got seated on bleachers and were served snacks and hot chocolate as we waited for Santa's arrival. 

Grandma and Grandpa Funk got Hannah and her cousin Avery matching shirts for Christmas!  At the Rempel family Christmas it was fun to see them interacting with one another!

 

Hannah also spent time with her second cousin Elizabeth, at the Balback family gathering!

 

We spent Christmas Eve at my parents house and opened presents there on Christmas morning!  Hannah got a little spoiled!  Although she wasn't too interested in opening the presents, she likes playing with them!

But her favorite toy is still my cell phone!

 

And although she gets to see my parents 3 dogs every week, her favorite dog is my brothers Golden Retriever, Poppy.  Poppy gets lot's of love from Hannah!

 

Here is Hannah eyeing up the Christmas goodies!

 

We had a lot of late nights and our routine was thrown off for a few nights but Hannah did really well!  She's sleeping great, even though she's cutting 3 molar's.  She's started saying bye-bye and waving, blowing kisses and loves to "find her belly button".  She is starting to stand on her own so we don't think it will be long before she is walking! 

One Christmas gift that we received this year was finding out the gender of our new baby!  I found out before Carl, so I bought a few gender specific outfits and gave them to Carl as a Christmas gift on Christmas eve!  Here is our little boy!

 

So last night we packed up our Christmas decorations (had to make room for all of Hannah's new toys) and are now in packing mode!  We head off to Australia on Monday with Carl's family!  We are really looking forward to spending time with his family...The 15 hour plane ride with Hannah, not so much!  Prayers for sleep, safety, health and fun are appreciated :)

Wishing everyone many blessing in 2014!

Hospitals, Halloween, the Zoo and More!

Well, October and November have flown by and although I'm not surprised, it's hard to believe that Christmas is only a month away!  Last year at Christmas, our whole family was quite sick.  I'm hoping that the sickness we encountered in October this year, is all we are dealt this season!  Hannah had a cold for about 2 days and on the third evening we noticed she was short of breath.  We decided to take her to the hospital and it was a good thing we did!  We ended up having to spend 2 nights in the hospital, with Hannah on oxygen and getting a nebulizer every 4 hours.  They figured she had bronchialitis and a touch of pneumonia.  We took her home and gave her antibiotics for 9 days.  The day after we stopped the antibiotics, she woke us up at 4am in the short of breath again.  It was back to the hospital where we stayed another night!

We ended up borrowing a nebulizer from a friend so we could give Hannah a mask at home for the following 2 weeks.  She is doing much better now.  The doctors aren't sure if it was just a bad bout of bronchialitis, if its allergies or if it could be asthma.  Really, only time will tell!  Since we were in the hospital over Halloween, I decided to dress Hannah up in her costume just for fun :)

She wasn't to sure about it and thought that it looked better on Daddy!

A few weekends ago we headed out to Seattle to spend the weekend there with some friends!  Hannah and Carl went straight for the tv in our hotel room!

We took Hannah to the zoo in Seattle where she enjoyed watching the elephants!

I've been to Seattle before but somehow I missed the "Gum Wall" when I was there last!  It's basically a wall, where everybody sticks their chewed gum!....Interesting....

And just this past weekend we had a quick visit from Hannah's second cousin Esme.  They both enjoy giving hugs right now, so it was pretty cute to see them interact!

After a year and a bit, Carl is still enjoying his job and has taken on a temporary position as the property manager for his company's rental buildings.  His bosses would like him to understand all aspects of the company.  Although he enjoys the learning he finds this position busy and misses the development side of things.  Tomorrow he has his final class at BCIT for the year (yayyy!) but he starts back one night a week again in January (boooo!).

And finally, our big news is that in May of 2014, Hannah is going to be a big sister!

I'm about 15 weeks pregnant and glad to be out of the first trimester - it was tiring!  I'm feeling much better now and have more energy lately.  This past weekend we put up our Christmas tree and have gotten into the Christmas spirit!  Looking forward to some good family times in the month to come!

Happy Birthday Hannah!

I didn't think I would have the time to write a blog this month but plans have changed and I have the day off today with a bit of spare time!  Carl and I had booked a few days off work as we were planning to go away on a "before Leah goes back to work trip" (even though I started 2 weeks ago) however, Carl had to get back to work today and I still had the day off!  So Hannah and I have been enjoying a relaxing day!  As for the trip that we were going to go on, due to lack of planning we ended up just going to Whistler for the weekend!  We had a nice relaxing time!

During the past month, I started back at work and have just completed my training.  Tomorrow I start at my new branch in Brookswood.  Although the last 2 weeks weren't normal weeks, we got a glimpse of what life is going to look like with both of us working!  Let's just say there were a lot of nights when I was in bed shortly after Hannah!

On October 6th we celebrated Hannah's first birthday with success!  We all had a great time and appreciate those who came out to celebrate!  Hannah had lot's of fun being around everyone she knew. Although I had made her a special "health smart" cake, she ended up not eating any of the cake, but instead ate all the high sugar fondant icing that I used to decorate the cake!  We weren't sure if she would sleep much that night but to our surprise (and joy), she did!

Here are a few of my favorite photos from her birthday!

 

The following Tuesday, on October 8th we celebrated Hannah's actual birthday!

So at 12 months, Hannah is already requesting that she get her own iPhone.  For now, she will have to settle with borrowing Mommy's!

Well, I'm going to cut this short to see if I can squeeze in a nap before Hannah wakes up from hers!

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Loved August, Enjoying September, Dreading October!

Hannah has been napping for almost 2 hours which hasn't happened in awhile so I thought I'd jump on the computer and see what I could accomplish during the remainder of her nap!  Here we go...

August was a jam packed month for us and we had lot's of fun!  Needless to say, it flew by!  We counted down the days until Carl had a whole week off in which we drove up to Scotch Creek.  On the way, we stopped in Kamloops to visit some very important people!  Here is Hannah with Great Grandma!

Our week at Scotch Creek was spent relaxing...Somewhat...

...Let's just say that vacation with a baby is well, different!  Hannah had a hard time sleeping at night in a new place which meant mommy and daddy didn't sleep much either!  Our days revolved around Hannah's eating and napping schedule which surprisingly doesn't leave much time for much else!  Is it bad to say that sometimes I miss the baby-less days?  

One Sunday we decided to check out the PNE.  We weren't sure if Hannah would be interested in the animals or not, but as it turns out, she gets very excited about horses!

In August, Hannah also attended her first wedding!  

Just this past weekend we took off to Deception Pass to do some camping with my parents!  It was nice being able to sleep in their trailer as opposed to our tent!  We really enjoyed our time and weren't ready to come home.  I really wish we were able to get more camping in this summer...I'll be more organized next year and make reservations!

During the past month Hannah has pulled herself up to standing in the bath tub (it seems to be the only place she can get a good grip!).  She has finally started shaking her head "yes" (we've seen a lot of "no's" recently!), and she started clapping!  Something else she's started doing is dancing when she hears music.  Almost every night, Hannah and Daddy have a dance party and on occasion it will turn into a family dance party ;) 

We were given the little piano below and Hannah will hit the keys and dance along to the music.  When the music stops, she will hit the keys again and start bopping some more!

 

She has continued to poop on the potty which is probably my favorite trick she does ;)  I can only hope and pray that it continues!

It's hard to believe but our little girl is just one month away from turning 1!

In adult news, it's also hard to believe that we have been back in BC for a year!  It's almost Carl's one year anniversary at work and to celebrate, they are sending him back to school!  Today is actually his first day of class. Every Tuesday evening he will be attending BCIT to gain a better understanding of the construction aspect of his job.  If this goes well, he may sign up for another class next semester too.  It will be good for him but Hannah and I will miss him, as he leaves before we get up and will get home likely after we are in bed! 

And now for the dreaded October...As of October 1st, I will be saying bye-bye to Scotiabank and hello to Coast Capital Credit Union!  I have recently been asked to take a full time position where my main focus will be investments.  The exciting part is that the position is in Brookswood, is about 10minutes from our house and 2minutes from my parents house (Hmmm, maybe I'll do lunch at their house!).  The sad, terrible, heart breaking and almost unbearable part is that I have to leave my baby girl.  I am having a hard time even thinking about it (so prayer is appreciated).  My position is Tuesday to Saturday so Carl will look after Hannah on Saturday, I'll take her Monday and may parents will look after her on Fridays.  This means that Tuesday-Thursday she will be in the care of another.  We have some options that we are prayerfully considering (and again, appreciate extra prayer).  

Needless to say, starting in October I think our lives will be very busy!  I envision us with no social lives, haha!  I apologize in advance if my blog posts slow down :)  As for now, I'm hoping September goes by slowly!

With all that said (or written), my baby girl is now awake and it's time to get dinner started!