Christmas Letter

2011 started up with me in my last month of pregnancy with sweet Mr. Finn. We were lucky enough to finally meet Quinlan when Rolly and Robyn came for a visit mid January. Unfortunately it was only a couple of days but we had a blast with them. Then on 31 Jan Finn was born. He was only 8 lbs 2 oz which was a nice change. I was able to control my gestational diabetes by diet and exercise. Marjorie and Jerry took care of Logan while I was in the hospital with Finn. I was out of the hospital within 2 days of my c-section. Then Paul's Mom came for a 10 day visit to help us out. Logan loved the extra attention. We even squeezed in a trip to whistler so Paul could ski a couple of days and a mini-holiday. Was wonderful. The day after Mom left, my Dad arrived. We had him out to help for 3 weeks which was also a blessing. The first night Dad was there we almost burnt the house down. Logan's dora chair was placed next to the gas fireplace and the heat from the pilot light was hot enough to make it smolder. Thank goodness Finn woke me up to eat and I smelled it. Starting one month after Finn was born I started having what was later diagnosed as Gall Bladder Attacks. Pretty much a month after each one. It was hell. I was able to have surgery Sept 6 to remove my Gall Bladder. The spring was busy with Finn and Logan and preparing for my friend Gillian's wedding in May. It was a beautiful wedding. I also started extreme couponing in May and love love it. I was always a sale/bargain hunter but now combining that with sales is awesome and my stock pile is growing. Then from there we flew to Manitoba for Lynne and Dino's wedding and had a great time visiting family as I hadn't been there for a year and a half. Then we were home till the end of July and then flew to Ontario to visit Paul's family and go to George & Julia's wedding in Ottawa. We had a 2 week visit with Pauls family and then we stopped for another 2 week visit in Manitoba. That visit ended with a wonderful hotel stay with Rolly, Robyn and Quinlan in the city and tinkertown and a night at Lynne & Dinos. I came home the day Paul left for a 5 day adventure training kayaking trip to BCs broken islands. He kayaked over 100 kms that week and had a blast. That week I found out that my boss wanted to post me to Ottawa to a higher priority position. He said that Paul would be posted too so we said that it would be alright. This made things very chaotic for us as we were still in limbo with Pauls job since September 2010. I went to work de-hoarding. I donated 7 truckloads of stuff to the thrift store. We finally got our house on the market in October and late October we finally received Pauls posting message. I had received mine in the beginning of september. We flew to Ottawa for our house hunting trip 9-18 October. Mom H came down to help us with the kids for the first 3 days of house hunting. We couldn't have done it without her. They are also taking care of Tikka for us while we were trying to sell our house. We found a nice house that is unfortunately more money then we wanted to spend but such is life. We have accepted a conditional offer on our house in courtenay but that is only set to close 31 jan. Hopefully everything will work out with that. We left BC on the 2nd of Dec eastbound for Ottawa driving 2 vehicles. I flew Dad out so we would have a third driver and it is working well since Finn sleeps during the day and wants to be up all night nursing. Not too restful for me. Paul has received his trade transfer to ATIS technician. Aerospace telecommunications and information systems. He leaves us for Kingston on the 5 of January for 6-12 months of training. I guess I'll have to learn to cook asap!!! Logan has been in Aboriginal Headstart since April 2011. It was a great free program in Courtenay. It was wonderful for him to have exposure to our people. Then this september he was in the 4 year old program and once again loved it. We were very sad to leave all of his friends and the wonderful teachers. There is a program in Ottawa but he will most likely go right into Junior Kindergarten. Finn has been growing like a weed. He is currently 23 pounds but is soooo solid. He has been crawling since the end of october. He is super fast and very curious and for the most part very very happy. Finn was a devil for Halloween and Logan was thomas the tank during the day and buzz lightyear for trick or treating. His smile can light up a room. Logan continues to be the very best big brother that I could ever ask for. They have been great dealing with me stressed out over the move and sometimes lacking alot of patience. I hope to get better!!! We are ever thankful for the blessings in our life and family when we get to see them!!! We had quite the eventful drive east including losing a tire on the trailer, frozen windshield washer fluid, trailer bending its axel and having to call salvage metal to pick up boat and trailer, and a flat on my car! But we made it! Our new address is 4068 Canyon Walk drive, Gloucester, Ontario K1V-1W4. Phone: 613-455-6389. email: rae_lynn@hotmail.com and blog: raelynn77.blogspot.com
Love: Rae-Lynn, Paul, Logan, Finn, Tikka and Bear.