Improvement on eczema

Protopic. Exlixir of the gods, if you ask me. The first time I ever heard of Protopic was in a book about a new mom who was losing her marbles due to her colicky eczema-laden child. They had tried everything. And their kid was allergic to anything edible. At one point in the book she lists about 3 things that the kid can eat without going into a full body rash. Poor woman.

My second encounter with Protopic was when Chance had a pretty bad rash on top of his foot. The doctor gave us a sample of Protopic, a tiny tube that looked like toothpaste for a Barbie doll. I was skeptical. How was this tiny eensy bit of cream going to fix my son's raging red oozing foot? It did.

After dealing with Karin's eczema in her elbows for 4 months, I went in and asked for the Protopic. This stuff is Amazing (capital "A"). Tell your friends with rashy kids.

Day Zero. Poor little baby.

24 hours and two applications later.

48 hours and 4 applications later.

Day 4...almost gone!

So now it's about 2 weeks later and there is a small pink spot but it is all healed over and she can be left unsupervised in short sleeves or even shirtless without ripping her skin open with her sharp little fingernails. That's nice.

Cleaning out the stroller...

I was cleaning out the stroller and found a paper stuffed in one of the pockets. It was an interview conducted by Cam with Chance and the Pawsey children while Aimee and I were out running together.

How many kids do you want?
Payton - "One."
Em - "Five. Three girls, two boys."
Chance - "Six. Seven girls, three boys."
Noah - "Ten. Five boys, five girls."

What do you want to be?
Payton - "Dang?"
Em - "I want five babies."
Chance - "Fireman."
Noah - "Policeman."

What would you like to do one day?
Payton - "Dang?"
Em - "Ride an elephant."
Chance - "Turn into a dragon."
Noah - no answer.

What sport do you want to play?
Payton - no answer.
Em - "Ride an elephant."
Chance - "Be a spaceman."
Noah - "Baseball."

New Favorite Photos

It was absolutely gorgeous this weekend and we took full advantage of it. Saturday we walked and ran 11 km and Sunday covered 14 km. Stopped for parks and photo shoots in leaf piles. Next weekend if it is nice would like to tackle walking all the way around the Glenmore Reservoir (15 km).

Fall Colours

View of Downtown Calgary.

Every colour you could imagine!!

Rockyview General Hospital, where both Karin and Chance were born.

Fall foliage.

Altadore Bridge crossing the Elbow River. We run across this bridge every weekend.

Streets of Altadore.

We took advantage of some nice weather this weekend (FINALLY!!) and got out for long walks every day. The leaves have really exploded into colours over the last week or two.

Starting to Play Together...

I snuck this picture the other day while the kids were playing together. Chance was showing Karin all of his trucks and letting her hold some of them.

Visitors from Nova Scotia

Cuties!

Karin was in love with Lynne's necklace.

Happy, happy, happy!

Karin and Dylan became fast friends.

This was about as good as we could get for a group shot.

Our good friends the Drovers came for a visit all the way from Halifax. The last time I saw them was a year ago, both Lynne and I were pregnant. It was great introducing our kids...their son Dylan is just 1 month younger than Karin. Calgary weather was unco-operative during their visit, however, it was cold and rainy nearly the whole time they were here. We had a great time taking walks and shopping around downtown, as well as had a big breakfast party & some nice meals once the kids went to bed. Unfortunately everyone got colds all at the same time, but I think it made it easier having everyone sick -- just took it easy some nights.

Oh Holy Yum!

Cranberry-Apple Poached Pears

I had some leftover cranberry sauce, and ripe pears. Voila!

2 ripe pears, peeled but stem left intact

1/3 can whole berry cranberry sauce

1 1/2 cups apple juice

1 T brown sugar

1/2 t cinnamon

Whisk together cranberry sauce, apple juice, sugar and cinnamon in a small sauce pot. Bring to a gentle boil and put pairs (lay them down on their sides, sauce may not cover fruit). Put on pot lid, simmer for 10-15 minutes. Occasionally turn pears so that the sauce colours them evenly (otherwise the part sticking out of the sauce will be yellow, and the part in the sauce will be pink...which, actually might look kind of cool. It's your call.) Remove pears and set aside on a plate to cool. Meanwhile simmer remaining sauce until it's reduced by about half and thickened up enough to spoon up. When pears are cool enough to handle, slice the bottoms off using a sharp paring knife. I snipped through the stem with a pair of kitchen shears. This allows the pears to sit up straight on the serving plate. Pour warm sauce over pears, coating them and forming a nice pool of sauce on the bottom of the bowl or plate. Drizzle with a little heavy cream if you like. Or melted chocolate. Or both. :)

Baby Gates

This is so not cool.

Locked up in my own home!!

What did I do to deserve this?? Oh well, maybe I'll go tip the garbage can in the kitchen. I like to keep Mom on her toes.

8 month wrap up

Well, Karin has really been growing up these days. She is pulling up on chairs, legs, etc. as much as she can and is definitely starting to explore the house. She has now discovered that if she moves her hands and legs faster, she can get somewhere in a hurry. Like...for instance, to that remote control on the floor...or the X Box cords poking out of the bookshelf. She doesn't like sitting still for long. It's a miracle we got this month's picture taken at all.

She popped out 3 teeth in about 48 hours last week. She was a bit grumpy, but wouldn't we all be?

Food wise, she has entered a new realm: I've been whizzing up mostly what we're eating for dinner in the food processor. The girl loves potatoes and veggies. And meat. And yogurt. And fish. And cereal. And juice and water from a cup, just like Chance.

Tomorrow she gets her "6 month" shots. We are a bit behind schedule, partly due to vacation and partly due to backlogs in the public health offices. They must have had staff cuts or something, as now they are booking immunizations about 5 weeks in advance. I'm not sure whether they will allow the shots tomorrow or not, as she seems to have come down with a bit of diarrhea in the last 24 hours. At first I wasn't sure if it was just due to all the extra food lately, but tonight was clearly not very healthy. She's happy though, and no fever or vomitting. Likely we'll be going on a repetitive diet of baby cereal and bananas, apples and yogurt for a few days.

Grandparent & Great-Grandparent Group Shots, Summer 2010

With Great Grandma Marie at her new care home in Paradise Hill, Sk.

When Chance was a baby we took him all the way to La Ronge, Sk. to meet her.

She hasn't seen him since, and was amazed at how he had changed.

Karin's Great Grandma Marie was so happy to finally meet her.


With Grandma and Grandpa Demmans at their farm near Meadow Lake, Sk.

With Gramma Jo and Grampa Phil at their cabin at Manitou Beach, Sk.

Quickly becoming friends...

Chance and Karin are very quickly forming a bond, it is heartwarming to see. She brightens up so much when she sees him and strains to touch him when he is near. She loves rubbing his head (buzz cut). They have been having baths together these days and he has made a game out of stealing the toys from her and letting her steal the toys back. Sometimes he gets a little mean though and deliberately dumps water on her head.

Milestone for Chance -- he has mastered running around the

merry-go-round by himself and then hopping on (and off).

Milestone for Karin -- elephant walking and pulling up.

Splish Splash

"Relaxing spa treatment?"

Miss La-Dee-Da

Karin thoroughly enjoyed her tin tub days at the cabin while we were on vacation. It was just the right height for her to grip the edge and haul herself up to standing. This was done every time water was poured over her head, usually with spitting and eyelashes fluttering. She also liked to chew on the edge of the tub, which was cute to no end, however I never seemed to capture it on camera. She'd always poke her head up and grin.

Click here for Chance's tub time adventures as a baby.