Happy Birthday Maren!

Well, it appears that baby #2 was a bit impatient ( 9 weeks impatient) to enter this lovely world.
Maren Laurie Perry was born on November 27. She weighed 3 lbs 8 oz and is absolutely beautiful.
I'm really impressed with how the whole situation was handled... we live in a very small town, so when the doctor realized that Maren needed to be born he called in a team from Vancouver to take care of her as soon as she made her appearance. They were amazing. They swooped in made sure she was stable and had her ready to be air lifted in an incredibly short amount of time. I was unfortunately not able to go with her because I didn't have a superstar team from Vancouver swooping in to get me ready... (Ok, I'm still upset that I couldn't go with her, but I'm here now).
So, the basic update in a few words:
She is really doing great. She's off morphine, and today she was taken off the ventilator. So far she's breathing room air (still with tubes up her nose, but its a zillion times better then a ventilator) and hasn't needed any oxygen. If her oxygen levels stay good for a week she will be ventilator free for good (barring any craziness that I won't even say could happen because it won't).
We could be here until her original due date (Jan 30th) so it could be a long haul... I'm choosing to believe that it won't take that long. I'm thinking she'll want to be home for Christmas :)
Darryl and Nyla and Darryl's mom got here today. I can't describe how great it is to have them here now.
I can't remember everything I wanted to update on.
I'm doing well. I'm very tired and completely overwhelmed most of the time, but I'm happy to have our little family together at least for a little while. I'm hoping that I'll stop bursting into tears at the drop of a hat... it does get annoying.
Thanks to all of our great family and friends who have been hugely supportive. We love you! (I still owe most of you a phone call. Soon I promise).
Sorry this is a bit scatterbrained. I only have a few minutes online.
I'll update again (hopefully with pics) when I can.

Now I remember what I wanted to write about

3 of Nyla's favorite buddies. Casper (light colored one) is the one she loves to ride.


Kisses for Casper. She doesn't even mind pokey whiskers... she says that its just like kissing Daddy :)

I forgot to mention Halloween!
Nyla picked her own costume (Kitty), but unbeknownst to us had no intention of actually wearing it. She decided that the costume was her buddy... it went everywhere with us for a few days (yes, she even slept with it).
I wasn't going to force her to wear it (I can imagine it would be traumatic to be forced to wear your buddy), I mentioned to her that if she wore her costume all the kitties she saw would think she was a kitty too... WELL that was all it took. She wore the costume and put on a very convincing performance (complete with cleaning her fur and meowing a super cute screeeeechy meow.
She loved trick or treating too. We only went to a handful of houses but once she realized that they would give her candy she'd march right up to the door and start banging on it for all she was worth. If they didn't answer fast enough she'd start yelling "HELLOOOOOOO!", if they still didn't answer she'd attempt to just walk in.
She started thanking them with 'kitty talk' (screechy thank you meows). Yeah, she had a great time.

Now, in other news...
I'm not sure how many people have heard of the sour gas line bombings happening here. I'm not usually that shocked about extreme stupidity (thanks to reality television extreme stupidity is now considered entertainment after all), but in this case I'm blown away (notice the clever pun).
The mad bomber said in a handwritten letter (oh yes, he's obviously a genius) he's upset about Encana drilling for sour gas in the area because its dangerous stuff. I can understand that. I'm not to thrilled about it either, but instead of doing something useful or... smart, he has decided to try to blow the lines and kill us all. SWEET. Good thinking there big fella! That won't come back and bite you in the ass at all...
Canada's anti-terrorism unit is here investigating. I'm hopeful that the guy I saw with the tinfoil hat is NOT Canada's anti-terrorism unit's 'Alpha Team' ... fingers crossed everybody!
There's been a lot of talk about what this guy's punishment should be. I find myself conflicted. I'm usually quite peace loving, but in this situation I'd gladly beat the hell out of the guy myself. WATCH OUT CRAZY MAN these fists of fury are coming after YOU! I wonder if he looks anything like a moose... it is hunting season after all...
Anyway, that's enough ranting for now.

Winter has arrived

We had our first official stick around snow last week.
When Nyla woke up I told her there was a special surprise for her outside. For the rest of my life I will remember the look on her face when she saw the snow outside. It's usually a huge production to get this kid to eat, but she scarfed her breakfast and we spent the entire day out in the snow. It is now firmly planted in my memory as one of the greatest days of all time.
I've heard the quote "The first fall of snow is not only an event, but a magical event". I don't know who said it but its definitely true.

I love that she loves nature and animals and all the great things in the world. I love that she gets excited about going on adventures and 'treasure' hunts with me, (usually our treasures consist of rocks and sticks and goofy things like that). I love that even though she got a coolio wagon for her birthday her favorite mode of transportation is the wheelbarrow. I love that she does the 'pirate face' just to make us laugh. I love that she is stubborn and hard headed, but also gentle and incredibly sweet.
She is definitely easy to love.

I am now officially in the last trimester of pregnancy. We're moving the office downstairs to make room for the newest little one.
I'm barely ever online anymore I'm trying to decide whether I should just get rid of the internet. Dial up sucks... but it does make it easier to stay in touch with people since I LOATHE the phone... I really am not a phone person. I feel like its a conversation half in the shadows because you talk, but are engaged in a zillion other things. I don't really know how to explain it...
I think writing is a much better way of really communicating with people until I can see them in person.
What was the point of all this rambling????... ah yes, so I think I'll keep the internet connected at least for a while. I'll even work on the frequency of my communication :)
I really do need to make more of an effort... I do know how terrible I am at keeping in touch, and I do feel awful.

I promised Christy a picture of the llamas (she finds them creepy :) I think the haunted barn is creepier then the llamas. (Ok, so its not haunted, its just creepy).

I've promised to post pictures of myself in all my pregnant glory... I will do this sometime even though the thought of seeing my prego ass in print makes me want to cry.

Ah, I almost forgot. We're heading to edmonton next weekish (what day is it today????) I'm incredibly excited about catching up with the lovely Hannah Shears, and hopefully with Vicky and her family as well. I'll post pics after the trip.

I could ramble some more but instead I'm going to go make some peppermint tea and go to bed. Building a human is hard work...