RIBEIRO

We had a wonderful time in Kelowna celebrating Christmas with our family. We haven't downloaded all our pictures so there will be more to come. As Keith often reminds me, we really are blessed to have so much in our lives and we can't forget that. Over Christmas we celebrated my Mom and Grandma's Birthdays, many different family dinners, skiing and Christmas of course! An update since my last entry. Jonas was put on antibiotics for 10 days for the pneumonia, well on Dec 23 his body broke out in a rash that we diagnosed as roseola. On Christmas day he was the ugliest cutest boy ever! The poor guy had it from head to toe but it seems to be clearing up quickly which is nice. So then on the 27th he had a temperature of 39.5, add on dehydration and limited eating over the last 2 days, a few phone calls to all our medical people in our life and we ended up at Children's Hospital Emerg where he was diagnosed with a throat infection and fever. So we are hunkering down

Just a little update on our little man.....after a wonderful evening at Children's Hospital emerg....over three hours of waiting....and a chest x-ray.....Jonas has pneumonia! It really sounds worse than what I'd like to believe it is. I took him in only because of his irregular breathing and weird cough and tadaaa! So now we're on a 10 day course of AB. His cough is already gone and is breathing is pretty much normal and although he is more irritable, you'd never know that he is "sick". This too shall pass. I like to think that we have a pretty healthy boy but I truly believe that him being born with Group B Strep and a wet lung have definitely influenced his health in some negative ways. There were times over the summer where I would take him to the Dr. for "lung" type issues and was told it was nothing but finally at the hospital on Monday night I was affirmed of my concerns! Not saying he's had pneumonia his whole life but they did ta

Happy Birthday Mommy! What an exciting time - fun parties, a train ride through Stanley Park, a big shiny tree with presents underneath and wow! Snow! Now it's Christmas! Hooray!!!

n I think everyone can say that December 25th is coming waaayyyy to quickly! The weeks fly by and all of a sudden we're on a countdown til Christmas. The end of November we celebrated Keith's Birthday and held a big Kitimat Christmas bash. We have many friends that live down here who are previous Kitimatians and we try to get together as a whole group a few times a year. December has also held many activities. We had a great friend of ours, Debbie, come for a visit from Kitimat and we only wished she could have stayed longer! Yes Deb...you've made our blog! Since Jonas has come into our lives, we've also tried to create many traditions...yes I like to be a traditionalist....surprise! Well one of our Christmas traditions has included going to the Stanley Park Christmas light show with the Pereira's. I'm not sure if the adults love it more than the kids? We've also celebrated my 30th Birthday this past week...yikes.....I'm admitting it! We'v

We've spent alot of November indoors as the rain has not stopped since Halloween! At least it feels like that. Some of our highlights this month have included Jonas and Daddy riding the train at our local mall. Jonas thought it was pretty great...his eyes lighting up when the train was tooting it's horn! Over the last 3-4 weeks Jonas has also changed his temperment, becoming shy around those who he doesn't see very often. It's cute but a bit odd as he hasn't shown this until now. He is also repeating many words and can actually count to 9, with some help of course! He is LOVING books and would be happy to read his favorites over and over and over, loves wrestling and has taken the word "thank you" to the next level...thanking us whether we're giving him something or if he's giving us something! I had this past week off and enjoyed alot of time, just the two of us. One of our activites included baking muffins. Jonas seemed to love the whole

Another month is gone before we know it! In the last 2 weeks Jonas has decided to become shy with many of our friends. It's a bit weird as he's usually quite easy going but we've been getting some extra cuddle time from Jonas, because of it! He's also becoming quite the walker, almost preferring it now to crawling. It's still quite odd to turn around and there's this little body bobbing around! Keith was shocked the other night when he went into his room and brought a book into our room that he wanted us to read to him! Our baby is growing up! We're realizing more and more how important it is to have real conversations with him as he really does understand what we are saying. I'm trying to remind myself not to take these moments for granted as he really is growing up right before our eyes. He went out on his first trick or treat Halloween. We joined our great friends, the Pereira's, trick or treating in their neighborhood. It was great beca

It sounds cliche but time sure flies! We've been keeping busy as usual with work, play dates and a trip to Kelowna for Thanksgiving. These photos are from our Kelowna trip and include a photo where Auntie Andrea whipped a tattoo on Jonas before Mommy new what was going on! Hence the red leaf ( Canadian flag) tattoo in these pictures. We've tried to start some traditions which include going to the local pumpkin patch in Kelowna on Thanksgiving weekend. Jonas really loved the tractor. The week prior to Thanksgiving, Jonas decided to start walking and he's just getting faster and faster! Although if he really wants to go fast, he'll crawl still. He's also becoming quite a parrot, copying many words that he hears.

The African Children's Choir Gala Jasmine and Jonas sharing a moment Jonas cheering for the Canucks....although he cheers for the zamboni even more! Olivia and Jonas sharing a bowl of blueberries....yum...yum... Well, first of all, thank you to all who volunteered to watch Jonas for us! In the end if all worked out and Keith and I were able to go to the African Children's Choir Gala at the Hotel Vancouver downtown! It was fabulous...Keith and I looked like we were going to a wedding on a Tuesday night! ( thank you Erin for watching Jonas!) The entertainment was fabulous and more importantly they raised alot of money for a new school for the choir back in Africa. There were many big names there including Bob Geldof who was honoured for his work with Africa, Beth Nielson Chapman and Paul Rodgers to name a few. Bob Geldof gave an amazing speech that really makes my day to day complaints so minimal. There is so much more we should be doing for these children and its crazy

Where do I start....I really wish I was putting more effort into this lately. I feel like I'm connecting with all of you when I write more frequently, thank you again for reading/keeping in touch with us through our blog! My thoughts lately.....I really wish we lived close to family and I'm wishing we lived in a bigger place( I've been hooked on mls for weeks now!) They sound like selfish wishes. Yes, I should be satisfied with where we live because there are many who live in alot smaller home. But in terms of the family wish, well....I'm always telling our friends who live close to family, how lucky they are. I really wish we lived closer to my parents or my sister. At present, we've been given tickets to a FABULOUS event and I'm stuck with childcare issues. This is where family comes in....sigh. There's a saying in our family, " You chose your life"....and I have to believe there are reasons we are here and not living elsewhere. Okay,

As summer winds down we have been even more amazed at the progress Jonas has made not only letting us know what's going on in his sweet head, but actually verbalizing it to us. He has repeated several words back to us like 'tetch' (stretch), 'fich' (fix), 'duck', 'quack', 'moo', something like E-I-E-I-O (Old MacDonald's farm song). When hungry he now gestures to his mouth - sign language we have been trying to learn and teach each other. Oh yeah, we also discovered a way to get veggies in him - conceal small pieces of lettuce, peppers, peas, corn or carrots in a flat bread wrap with a bit of chicken or ground beef and voila! He has also learned to hold it with both hands and chomp down on it like a man. Jonas still prefers to crawl - often as fast as we can walk. We know one day he will run from us so we will cherish this time for now. We have made bath time one of "Dad's" things - something Jonas and I both enjoy.

We have had such a nice summer but I'm thinking it's coming to an end. This weekend has been very cold and rainy with the leaves coming down, all signs of fall! I do love fall though. I love the start of new programs, new beginnings, even more so than what New Year's is to alot of people. Anyways.......back to our wonderful summer, as you saw from our entries, we've been busy. We've been able to spend alot of time this summer, including the last two weekends, with Cara, Nuno and Olivia. The picture above is of Olivia and Jonas enjoying Yaletown together. Even though they live in Victoria, we make a real effort to see eachother quite often and we're very thankful for our friendship. Jonas' vocabulary is expanding constantly, his latest words include "close the door" and "go outside". It's amazing that he can put 2 or 3 words together! I'm not sure if this is normal.....probably, and I'm just an over excited parent thinking her

As you can see from the lack of entries lately.....life at the Ribeiro household is a little busier these days! Yes, I'm back at work, three days a week, but it's very busy! From getting up at 6 am, getting Jonas ready and out the door by 7....working....then picking up...dinner...bath....and bed, for Jonas that is, and then trying to be productive in the evening but so desperatley wanting to be in bed by 8pm! It's exhausting even writing it! Jonas is really turning into a little boy and it's very exciting to watch him take his world in! He's now walking if you hold his hand but as soon as you let go, he's on the ground! He's also very big at pointing out what he wants, loves to blow kisses and wave, say hello, play with jumbo lego and he loves to dance as soon as he hears any music. We've even caught him singing to music. When he's focusing on something he puckers his lips..not sure if he gets that from Keith or myself! He also loves to drink his

August has seen some new beginnings...back to work, a new schedule, a new sitter and a potentially new bedtime! Jonas and I flew to Kelowna the first week of August to spend my last week of maternity leave with family, including my parents! Then my parents came back to Burnaby with me and watched Jonas for my first week back at work after 13 months off! Yikes. It was sooooo great having Mom and Dad here so I could just focus on getting myself back on a work schedule. Come tomorrow it's a whole new schedule! I love being at home but I also love being at work....tough to do both.

Since May, I feel like we've been away more than we've been here. We added up the plane rides and Jonas has been on 12 plane rides since he's been born and the majority of those have been since end of May! We recently came back from Kitimat for a wedding for close friends of ours Cara and Nuno. We were able to stay with other GREAT friends Rico and Christine who put up with us for the 9 days we were there! All three of us were in the wedding, although originally Jonas was suppose to go down the aisle in a wagon and he ended up walking up with us. Jonas had his first sleep over without Mom or Dad there! The days leading up to the wedding were quite hectic and friends and family were so great and helped babysit, etc. On the night before the wedding our fabulous girlfriend Anita even took him for the night! Thank you Anita, it helped so much! We are so lucky to have such great friends. We have some very close friends that still live in Kitimat and we loved being able to spend

I heard that Birthdays were fun but no one ever told me they would be this fun. Hi everyone...it's Jonas, and I had the best First Birthday ever! Friday was my actual special day and Mommy took me to Kits Beach to meet up with my gal pal Anna and her Mommy ( Jelena) for the morning. On the way home we stopped to buy balloons and I started putting things together! All morning I kept hearing this special song "Happy Birthday", well I saw the balloons and put two and two together and realized it was for me! I LOVE balloons. When Daddy came home we had a BBQ with some of my special friends. Oh ya....I LOVE BIRTHDAY CAKE too! I ate a whole cupcake all by myself! Lot's of people wanted to sing to me on the phone/skype! When I woke up on Saturday, Auntie Drea and Uncle Ryan were at my house ( they live in Kelowna)! They came just to visit me...okay, maybe Mommy and Daddy too! We went swimming at the wading pool in the hot hot sun. I love splashing in the water. Then in the e

Today our baby turned one...one! There are little moments in my life that I have to pause and memorize the moment and last night was one. It was 10pm and I was just finishing making a fabulous birthday cake for Jonas and I kept thinking "I can't believe he's ours and we don't need to give him back!" Keith and I still are in awe that we have our little guy in our lives! A year ago tonight we were sitting in the INC at Children's Hospital holding our new little baby and now he's crawling up the stairs! Yes, that was his new trick he showed us today! Ithink he secretly practices when we're not around and then when he feels like it he decides to show us his new skills which he's already mastered! Thank you God for what a wonderful first year we've had!

On our way back from Portugal, we spent 2 days with Keith's sister and family in Toronto. This was the first time the cousins were able to meet. We made sure to take some pictures. Say cheese! We hadn't been in Toronto for almost 2 years and it was nice to catch up. Thanks for the hospitality!

Since we've been home it's been hot, hot, hot! Despite runny noses, a mild eye infection and a bad cough, we have been able to enjoy some summer days with friends in the pool! The kids had such a great time. Thanks friends :)

Hello everyone! I wanted to tell you some of my stories from our adventures to Portugal. Daddy and Mommy had told me I would be going on a plane ride but I didn't realize they meant 3 plane rides! Yikes! The first ride to Toronto, I was a charming little fella and entertained all my surrounding people with lot's of laughs, clapping and peek-a-boo. But then came the second plane ride to San Miguel (Portugal) and that's a whole different story! Mommy and Daddy tried to help me fall asleep but PEOPLE...I need my own space, really. I can only sleep on their laps for so long and then I really do need to have my own place to sleep. Well, that wasn't happening and because I couldn't sleep, I wasn't going to let anyone else sleep around me! I remember hearing a comment from my Mommy that we weren't making any friends on this flight. By the time we arrived at Avousi and Avausi's house in Terceira, I think many days had past ( 36 hours ). My body was a bi

WOW....where have we been. It's been over a month since I've updated and we have been busy! I'll split this up into a few posts. Around the 20th of May I left the boys for 5 days and went off to Honolulu for a work convention! Yes, you can have a work convention in Hawaii and still go even if you're on maternity leave! Lucky me! I had a wonderful time and tried to take in the beach as much as possible. However, while I was living it up, Keith was dealing with more serious issues. Not only was Keith having to deal with a baby who generally refuses to drink milk from a bottle but Jonas became ill with the stomach flu and all the symptoms that come along with that! Jonas became so sick that on Friday night around midnight, they took a trip to Children's Hospital Emerg. Keith had really been looking forward to doing various activities with Jonas, this obviously didn't happen. By the time I came home, Jonas had lost a full pound and Keith was starting to fe

WOW! Our baby is 10 months old.... How nice to celebrate Mother's Day and celebrate his Birthday at the same time. I haven't given an update yet on what Jonas is up to these days and we had a major milestone occur 2 weeks ago.....he started crawling FORWARDS! You may wonder why we're so excited but when you've watched him crawl backwards and get so frustrated it's very nice to see the forwards movement! He has become very efficient with his crawling but still hasn't explored the whole house. We're slowly baby proofing as he begins to notice "non-baby" items. He has also now has 3 teeth ( #61 for all you dental people!) and eats alsmost everything you and I do, minus the absolute no no's! We are also sleeping through the night...YIPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! Finally after 10 plus months of having to get up in the night, I have now rediscovered the art of sleeping. Our normal routine is bedtime around 7 pm and wake up around 6:45 am. My matern

The title of this post doesn't seem to express everything that I feel. I am so thankful, overwhelmed and in love with our beautiful son and what he has brought to our lives. I am so thankful that we get to take him to the park, take him for walks, show him airplanes in the sky and the flowers on the ground. I am so thankful that I can dance with him in our living room, watch him laugh and discover his fingers and his toes and kiss his little nose. I am so thankful that God gave chose us to be his parents and I don't want to ever take this job for granted. "For you created my inmost being: you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made." Psalm 139:13-14