August, September and some October!

I'm looking at these pictures that I'm going to post on on here, thinking where did summer go?!  These photos feel like they were taken so long ago, its almost a blur!  It has been a busy summer!  Although most days I feel like we should be getting out and doing something, looking at these photos, I guess we did!

  

In August, Carl gave notice at his job and had a new job lined up to start September 1st.  He is working for a smaller company doing property development (his last job had him doing more property management).  It's a month in and Carl is finding the job to be much more enjoyable then his previous one and we like the fact that he gets home a few minutes earlier!  We decided it might be nice to have some time together as a family and since vacation time is scarce, Carl gave his notice one week early so we could have a week off as a family!  We went camping with my parents and then headed up to Whistler to visit Carl's parents!

camping in style

Hannah LOVES going for walks ,especially walks with Grandpa!

Hannah's first smore!

Grandma and James

Family hike in Whistler

Hannah, getting some meds from the nebulizer for her breathing while fighting a cold :( 

James and Mamo

As you saw in the picture above, Hannah ended up getting a cold and we decided to use the nebulizer for her breathing again.  We went back to the paediatrician who said that now, maybe it is asthma! Since then, Hannah was sick again but we didn't have to use any breathing aids…So maybe its not asthma?!  We will see the paediatrician again in November and might be able to get some testing done. 

At the end of August and the end of our week of vacation, we celebrated Carls birthday!  But it wasn't just any birthday, it was his 30th birthday!!!  I surprised him with a train ride for him and his friend Alasdair, from Vancouver to Seattle to watch a Seattle Mariners game.  Alasdairs's fiancé and I drove down to Seattle and met the guys there!

In September, Carl not only started a new job but he started another Thursday night class.  He's been taking one course a semester for the past year at BCIT.  Usually Hannah sleeps over at her Grandma and Grandpa's every Thursday night but they were away for the first 3 weeks of September, which meant I was home alone with both kids allllll day long!  We made the best of it!

 

In the photo above, Hannah is holding a timbit from Tom Hortons.  When she gets a special treat or something new, she likes to hold it for a verrrry long time before she eats it.  This timbit lasted a good half hour or more, getting a ride on the swing and a couple slides before it was devoured!  Hannah was recently introduced to her very own Starbucks drink (steamed milk), although we were going to get it "to go", she walked straight to a table, pulled out a chair, put her "coffee" on the table, climbed into the chair and began chatting away, sipping her drink occasionally.  She's already a pro at "going for coffee" and can be quite the little chatterbox when she wants to be (now if only we could understand her…).

We recently celebrated Hannah's second birthday!  I can't believe how much having kids makes time fly by even faster!  We had a great time gathering to celebrate Hannah's birthday, James dedication and welcoming everyone to our new home!

Hannah riding her new bike!

Just yesterday, on Hannah's actual birthday, we had a little party with 7 of Hannah's friends (missing cousin Avery in this photo). It was a little hectic but lots of fun!

As for our Mr. James, he will be 5months old on Saturday!  Although he still isn't sleeping great at night, he's napping well and has overall been a more content baby these last few months.  I recently noticed that his ribs seems to stick out a bit, especially on one side.  When I asked the naturopath if this was normal, she said no and recommended that we see a chiropractor.  So tomorrow, James has his first chiropractor appointment?!  Hopefully it goes well and its nothing more serious than an alignment issue.  James is getting stronger each day and is drooling like crazy!  I have a feeling he is teething already.

So thats been life these last few months for us!  We are looking forward to another trip to Vancouver in these upcoming weeks to house sit for Carl's cousin again but other than that, I guess our next big thing to prepare for is Christmas!!!

Busy Times!

As you can see, it's been awhile since I've written.  Life has been busy, some days I feel like I haven't had time to get anything done yet I haven't done anything besides kept myself and 2 children alive!  Who knew that that would take so much time (insert hysterical laugh here)?!

It's amazing how fast time has flown by!  Our little James will be 3months old on the 11th!

During the last 3 months, James has had the opportunity to meet most of his Great Grandparents!

He also met his 2 uncle's that he had yet to meet

And unfortunately we said good bye to another uncle.  Uncle Dan has moved to Dawson Creek for work. We miss him already!

James has started smiling and laughing, he loves sucking on his hands when he can get them to his mouth but he still won't take a soother or a bottle!  He loves to eat and is already more than half of Hannah's weight, weighing in at 14 pounds!

Hannah loves her baby brother.  She did a few trial bites and pinches on him within the first few weeks but once she learned that that was not acceptable, she stopped and gives hugs and kisses instead!  She loves to play with James,

watches him sleep,

she tries to feed him,

and she loves to snuggle with him!

So what else have we been up to you ask?  During the July long weekend we spent a few nights in Vancouver house sitting for Carl's cousin.  We spent time just walking around, did a bit of shopping and took the kids to the aquarium!  It was a much needed relaxing weekend!

We also went on our first camping trip of the season!  If it weren't for my parents air conditioned trailer and their assistance, I'm not sure we would have attempted camping this year!  We stayed local and just went to a campground in Fort Langley.  Hannah enjoyed her toys and the swimming pool and James enjoyed the air conditioning

In July we visited a paediatrician for Hannah to see if we could figure out why she had to be hospitalized so much over the winter.  The doctor is hopeful that it is not asthma and was instead just caused by Hannah's small air ways.  Although we won't know until this fall if that truly is the case, we were encouraged to know that we are likely in the clear!  To celebrate, Hannah had her first very own ice cream cone!

We recently managed to get out to the zoo with Hannah's cousin Avery.  Both girls had a fun time walking around and checking out the animals!  

During all this, we also took possession of our new townhouse

and moved!  We officially got the keys on June 30th and moved in the following weekend.  I'd be lying if I said it wasn't stressful but after a month of being here, we are starting to feel settled.  We'd still like to find a few pieces of furniture and Carl is going to begin his journey as a "handy man" by building a storage unit in the garage!  Overall, we are really enjoying the place!  Here is Hannah in her new tub :)

Baby Boy Funk

Well what do ya know, my predictions were right - we bought a house and had a baby the next day!  Even though I had been predicting for awhile that I would have the baby on Mother's Day, I didn't actually think it would happen!  Baby boy Funk (still no name), was born on May 11th at 11:42pm weighing 8lbs 8oz.

  

Are you ready for the labour details :)  Skip this part if it's TMI (to much information).

On Saturday night I crawled into bed around 9:30pm, looking for a good nights rest seeing how I had been up since 4:30am that morning (pregnancy insomnia).  I had been having a few contractions for the past day or so that seemed to be getting a bit more frequent and a bit more painful but they were still hit and miss and only coming maybe twice an hour.  As I was lying in bed, I was praying for the baby and that the delivery would go smoothly and then I started having another contraction except this time, I felt a pop and a massive gush of water!  I sort of expected it to stop but when it didn’t, I called for Carl.  My dilemma was, do I stay put and soak the mattress or make a run for it and soak the carpet?!  Luckily, due to our quick action (after a moment of shock for Carl), we salvaged both the mattress and the carpet…But Carl’s pillow that was in-between my legs for support went in the garbage J

When my water broke, my initial reaction was disappointment.  I was so looking forward to at least one more sleep before the baby came!  As well, with my water breaking, it meant we needed to go to the hospital right away so I could be monitored.  Apparently only 10-15% of women’s water breaks and when it does happen, they are at a higher risk of fever and infection.  Even though my water broke with Hannah, I was hoping that it wouldn’t happen this time round.  I feared that I would go through what I went through with Hannah again and would end up in a C-section again.  Our initial plan was to try a natural birth, mostly so that my recovery period would easier (especially when caring for 2 kids!).

I called my mom who came over to look after Hannah, and we were off to the hospital!  Even though it had only been an hour since my water broke, I had soaked through a towel and several pads, as the water just kept coming!  I stuck a hand towel in my pants for the car ride to the hospital and on a last impulse, grabbed another full size towel to sit on.  And good thing I did, because by the time we reached the hospital, I was soaking through that.  I imagine it was somewhat funny seeing me waddle into the hospital holding a towel in-between my legs!

Sometimes, after your water breaks, if contractions haven’t started you get sent home for up to 24 hours.  In my case, because contractions had started and because I was attempting a natural birth 19months after a C-section, they admitted us.  From about midnight Saturday night until late Sunday night, is kind of a blur.  I managed for as long I could without pain medication but then opted for some morphine.  I think with the morphine we were able to get a bit of sleep but I remember drifting in and out, off and on throughout most of it.  When the morphine wasn’t enough, I opted for the laughing gas, which was a fun ride!  Apparently I kept asking Carl about food – maybe I was hungry since I hadn’t eaten in over 24hours.  I would say “Would you like half a grape fruit?” and a few minutes later say, “oh, never mind, I know, we aren’t at home”.  Then later I said “we only have 3 whole wheat buns!...Oh but that’s ok, we aren’t at home.”  And again, “would you like an orange?”.  These are all things we had at home that I knew needed to be used up soon before they went bad.  I think Carl’s favorite was when I said with a somewhat accusing tone “did you put your dishes in the dishwasher?”.

It must have been around 10pm when I was finally dilated to 10cm!  I think I was in denial that I actually did it!  I remember at one point, thinking the doctor was actually lying to me about my progression because I was convinced that I would end up with a C-section.  With Hannah, I only got to 4cm within about the same length of time.  Now that I was at 10cm, it was time to wait for the urge to push!  I wasn’t sure if I was actually feeling this urge or not but the doctor said, if I wanted to start pushing I could…so what the heck, we went for it!

After an hour and a half of pushing, the doctor suggested we use a “Kiwi” or a vacuum type suction cup to assist the baby with his appearance.   This is when things really got moving.  Up until this point, I felt I was laboring really well, I was breathing through contractions, the drugs were doing their things, I was calm and in control!  And then the baby started really coming!  I thought I was prepared for labor, I thought the drugs would take away the pain, I didn’t think I would scream, I didn’t think I would swear or grab at Carl’s shirt to hold on for dear life…I was wrong!  I was appalled at the pain I felt and after birth I actually felt quite deceived and (excuse my language), pissed off that I just went through what I did.  Luckily after some time, this feeling has subsided.

Carl was amazed by the whole experience.  Baby came out looking a little still and blue but soon enough he let out his first cry.  I was still a little in shock at what just happened to have any more emotion than that.  Baby was born at 11:42pm on Mothers Day (and Hannah was born at 11:52pm on Thanksgiving!).  We stayed one extra night at the hospital and came home on Tuesday afternoon.  We are adjusting well and Hannah is loving her little brother!  Even though labor wasn’t what I thought it would be, I’m glad we did it because recovery has been so much quicker!  

Skin to skin with Daddy

Uncle Dan

Visiting with Grandma

Hugs for Daddy

Grandma in her glory

First family photos!

First Bath

Mamo and her grandbabies

Snuggles with Grandpa

Going home

As for a name, I think we have narrowed it down to two - now to see who will make the compromise to accept the other persons name…Stay tuned :)