4 Years Ago...

This weekend (on Canada Day) our first baby girl, Ceili will be 4 years old. I can't believe how fast the past 4 years have gone by. When I think about the day she was born, I realise how much I have changed since I became "Mommy" to someone. I don't know what life would be like if I was not a mother, I would probably be bored and unfulfilled. I have never felt such a strong love and attachment to anyone or anything. She a very special little piece of me. Every day I feel a sense of pride because I created a beautiful, smart little human being with a heart as big as she is! She makes me laugh and helps me see the world differently- through a child's innocent eyes. I have my daughters to thank for these gifts and I definitely will never forget that! Thank you and Happy 4th Birthday my little Ceili- Bean!

Plus Boots Makes 5!

We had been looking at the local rescues and humane society for a dog for a while. We had decided that we wouldn't get a new dog until after we got home from Cuba. Well, we started a serious search a few weeks ago and met our perfect match on Monday evening!

He was found with his mom and brothers and sisters at an indian reserve and his mother was quite sick. She had no food or water and was basically whithering away to feed her pups. Him and his siblings were put into a foster home in the city while their mom was in another because she needed special care for her mastitis and wounds. He was the last of the litter left and he melted our hearts! He kissed and played with Ceili and we knew he was the one! He came with the name Sebastian, but we thought it was too long. Last night on our walk around the neighborhood, Ceili said "I want to call him Boots". He does happen to have light brown spots on his feet and legs. So we think this will be his name.

I'm so happy that our little girls have a dog to call their own. I remember having such a special bond with my dog as a child. He was my little buddy even when I was being teased at school and felt like I had no one else to hang out with. He was always there for me.

He is only 10 weeks old now, so he's still in the puppy phase with the chewing things, hyper moments and he's not housetrained (I think we should buy stocks in paper towel and cleaning wipes!). It seems like complete chaos in our house right now while we adjust, but I know it will get easier and he will fit right in here!

The Thompsons Go to Cuba!

We made it to Cuba and home safely...barely!

Our flights there were quite good, Ceili enjoyed the movies and TV on the plane and all of the snacks and toys I packed for her. Abbey alternated between nursing and sleeping most of the time with an explosive poop here and there but it wasn't so bad. I even got to watch the movie "The Help" which was an excellent one!

Cuba was beautiful. It was +30 on average and the humidity was between 85-100% every day. We spent most of our mornings on the beach which was only a few steps from our hotel room (awesome!) and in the afternoon we had a siesta and normally went to the pool. Abbey didn't enjoy the sand at the beach so much. Nursing isn't so easy when there are granules of sand in your mouth and your big sister runs by and sand flies into your face! I think Abbey's favorite part were the siestas in the air conditioned hotel room. Ceili couldn't get enough of the beach, I think every kid would love to spend all day making sand castles and playing in the warm ocean. All of us except for Abbey got a bit of a sunburn and a tan and now we're peeling like snakes.

We hired a guide, Michael to take us into town for a day trip. He took us to the zoo in town, a market, the crocodile farm and a few shops that the Cubans shop at. It was really sad to see the lack of choice they have for food, clothes and items for their homes. For example, one store we stopped at had a few large cans of tomatoes, some beer and pop and the rest was bare shelves. It really makes you appreciate what we have here and how much money we have compared to them. We were glad that we brought the stroller and carseat to give away to someone there after we saw the lack of baby products in the stores. We gave the stroller to a man that worked at the pizza restaurant at our resort that had two girls almost the exact same ages as our girls. The carseat was given to a lady that worked at the Asian restaurant and was due to have her baby girl in mid-June. She just adored Abbey and would pick her up and snuggle her whenever she had the chance.

Matt went out on a deep sea fishing trip on his own one morning. I told him that he had to go because I know he has always wanted to. He had a fantastic time. They speared a stingray that was about 5' across! Little did they realise, the stingray was pregnant and as it lay on the boat it gave birth to a bunch of babies. All of the babies survived and were put back into the ocean. The mama was enough food for a bunch of them at the marina to share, so I think they were pretty happy. I was mad at Matt when I found out that he killed a mama stingray, but I guess how were they to know?

We also went to a beautiful beach called Pilar Beach one morning. The water was such a beautiful aqua color and sand was so fine and white. I thought it was terrible that we had to pay $2 for a lounge chair, but we had an amazing time there. There were tons on angel fish which appeared when Abbey spit up in the water! There were also gar fish that swam all around us and they must have been around a foot long each. The water was so clear, you could see everything!

Our flight home was far too exciting for my liking. We were supposed to fly from Cuba to Toronto. We ended up flying from Cuba to Miami and landing. At one point I looked out of my window and said to Matt "Why are we so

low....are we even flying or are we on the ground?" I could see a city's lights right out my window. Not really below us, but more beside us. Finally after about 30 minutes of me wondering what was going on, the captain comes onto the speaker and tells us what is going on. They were flying so low because there was a cabin pressure problem on the plane and they were trying to fix it. If they would have gone much higher we would have been low on oxygen and the masks would have popped out of the ceiling. Needless to say, they couldn't fix it so they had to get rid of fuel by flying in circles and we finally landed in Miami about an hour later. I really felt lucky to be alive. If those pilots didn't know what they were doing, we wouldn't be here today! We ended up sitting on the tarmac for almost 2 hours while they figured out what they were doing then had to go through customs, get our bags and line up to get our hotel info. It was complete chaos and we finally got into our hotel room at 4:30am. We had to get up and get to the airport again before noon because our plane to Toronto left at 1:30pm. Our last plane ride from Toronto home was uneventful, thankfully and I am not overly excited to fly again in the near future!