Merry Christmas

Introducing Nadia Elise - 5 months later

I've been hesitant to start blogging again, our daily life is rather chaotic these days and time to sit and write and post pictures is hard to come by. And yet I miss this place to jot down thoughts and the happenings of life and I'm going to attempt to start again.  Pick up where I left off and see how it goes.  A lot has happened since my last post, June 27th.  At that time I was pregnant and wondering if God was giving us a boy or a girl.

And now, we have a happy 5 month old daughter.  On July 11, 2013, we welcomed Nadia Elise into our home.  7lbs, 11 oz of joy.  And it was beautiful.  Although it was a scheduled c-section it was my first one that I entered the operating room at peace.  And thankful for doctors and hospitals.  C-sections my friends, are not so pleasant and has taken me years to accept.  I'm in a good place now and Drew and I made the most of it.  I spent a lot of my first weeks simply resting and holding my little girl.   My neighbors had been worried for me, over and over I heard "how are you going to do it, with a c-section and four kids?", and then they witnessed something that to them was rare.  For 8 weeks they saw people coming and going, dropping off meals and picking up kids for playdates.  My Mom was here every day for the first two weeks and after that we had a mothers helper come in two days a week and my Mom continued to pitch in on the off days. Mobility is something you lose after a c-section and its a huge deal when you can finally walk to the park with your children on your own!  Thankfully, our friends have a daughter who's in highschool and she was a huge help, walking kids to the park, chasing after them outside and helping with lifting laundry baskets and so much more.  The older kids pitched in and though it may not have been a summer of beaches and splash pads it was a summer that as a family we had to work together for mom and baby.  And it was beautiful.

And because of all this help I was able to recovery, with no complications.  And blessed to be reminded of what a wonderful family and church community we have, one I so often take for granted. My one neighbor said to me "you just don't see that anymore, that is how it used to be".  

And now here we are, 5 months later.  School is in full swing and we've just entered Christmas break, Kaylin is in to grade 1 and Jacob is off to Kindergarten a few days a week.  Baby number 4 is often plopped down in the middle of the chaos, happy and busy trying to add her own noise to the crowd.

And now I present you with some pictures of newborn Nadia (she is 5 months old at the time I post this! later this week I'll post updated pictures but for now, we enjoy the memories of a newborn caught on camera by my good friend Tamsen at  Creative Clicks Photography.  (Tamsen these pictures are beautiful and I'm so thankful for them!).

Keeping it Real

And after months of silence I felt the urge to write.  And as I sit here I hardly know where to begin.  I've been encouraged by friends, some through e-mail to pick up again and resume blogging.  In a world where social media allows us to show the image of "perfect" parenting, of mothering I've been seeing a lot of lonely moms, discouraged moms.  Moms who feel like they are just barely keeping up with the task of teaching little ones, running households and working on marriage.  And these Moms, they're tired, exhausted and somehow have been convinced that motherhood is meant to look different.

The truth?  Its never as easy as it looks. On Sunday's our family probably looks pretty well put-together.  The clothes are nice and matching, hair is done and faces are scrubbed.  The truth?  During the week is a different story, Maddie's pants rarely match her shirt these days, the battle is far too fierce and I have decided to save my energy for other battles that will be waged.  She's 2.5, its the battle age.  Kaylins hair?  I do it once a day, I've stopped trying to fix it a dozen times. She pulls it out and puts in hairbands that she loves and I think look ridiculous, I've learned to let it go.  Jacob's sporting a buzz cut, because its just another way of simplifying life.  And my garden, after 3.5 years is finally starting to look more garden and less jungle. My laundry room is rather jail-like with a constant pile of clothes waiting to be cleaned and folded.  There is always a basket of clothing waiting to be put away.  And once a week the kids dressers look tidy, it lasts about an hour before someone is rummaging through it (ahem...Maddie).

There are finger prints smudged over every counter and window in my house.  A plant was pushed over 2 days ago and this morning I was reminded by the small pile of dirt that I really should clean it up.  The image I'm sharing is far from pinterest worthy, but its truth.  This stage? Its beautiful, its fun and at times I want to scream and run for the hills.  Its exhausting.   Dear fellow-moms, its okay, we soldier on.  Parenting in our different ways, mothering in the way that we are called to mother, differently and yet somewhat the same. Its not the end of the world to look in your backyard and realize that one child left their undergarments in a heap in order to jump on the trampoline naked (ahem...Maddie), its okay that there is a freezie wrapper wedged behind the couch rather than placed appropriately in the garbage.  Ants?  Just apart of life when you have littles dropping crumbs at the table and making spills.  You see, we're teaching and we're learning at the same time.  

2 years ago I wrote this post, about organizing my work and finishing for the most part, 10 things before 10 a.m.  A friend asked me recently if I still accomplished this.  2 years later we have one extra 2 year old and a very pregnant Mama and the answer is no.  My new title to that post would be "10 things before 10 p.m.".  I do still recommend the 10 things before 10a.m., its a wonderful way for Moms with one or two kids, preschool age to get into a routine, to prioritize.  I've shared it with many moms who have told me that it works well for them, others have tried and said not so much.  We're different, and anything that I share on this blog are things that have worked for me.  As our families change and perhaps grow,  we have to adapt and once we figure out one thing that works well a wrench is thrown in the mix. A sick child, school, pregnancy, a husband whose working long days. 

In approx. 2 weeks time, the Lord willing, we look forwarding to meeting the newest member of our family.  And life will take us around a corner.  My husband calls these road changes "hiccups".  A time when life may not run smoothly but it will continue, the running of the household will not look the same as we adjust to a new baby and slowly we'll figure it out, together as a family.

Until next time friends, and for now a few of the most recent "imports" from my camera....all from March.  Keeping it real....

Boy or Girl? We Will Wait and See

***note - ramblings of a pregnant women and pictures completely unrelated ***

The house is quiet, with the songs of lullabies floating from Kaylin's room.  She's our non-sleeper and we've (thankfully) discovered that quiet music does the trick.  The trouble is that the music is so peaceful that while I tidy and put away the traces of the little ones all I really want to do is light a candle and close my eyes.  

It was a beautiful day today, I had an ultrasound, and knowing it would be the long one my parents stepped in and moved in for a few hours..  Which removed all my stress of dropping/picking kids up.  

Seeing the little arms waving around and the little heartbeat pumping puts my mind at ease and I feel comforted, prepared for whatever lies ahead.  Healthy babies, healthy pregnancy is not something we take for granted.  As I sat and waited, for a long time with a very full bladder....ahem, I saw many children being wheeled in and out of rooms.  Hospitals always give me a pair of different eyes.  Seeing parents who live that life, seeing kids patiently waiting, obvious to the viewer that this is not their first time.  Then there are those of us who are in for regular appointments and we wait.  I've noticed that the waiting in a hospital seems a bit more peaceful, as though we're all on the same page.  Knowing that there are simply higher priorities than the regular ones and seeing one young Mom cradling a newborn, waiting her turn made me thankful.  Thankful that if it was me, or one of mine in need of an emergency procedure/check-up that they would find the time, they would make the time to see to it.  And so I waited and cheerfully lamented to another soonish-to-be-Mom about having pregnant ladies fill up bladders, which does create the perfect trampoline for rather active unborn babes, stick them in a waiting room and make them wait for over an hour.  Its rather torturous actually :) 

And then it was my turn and it went well.  Although the technician's never say too much, I got some great views of the baby.  Him/her, we'll find out in 4 months and the waiting this time seems harder than the others.  We decided to not find out, we didn't find out with any of the others and fell head over heels in love with that moment.  Its not for everyone and I get that, but it is for us.  And the waiting, the hours, the weeks, heck - the months leading up to it all roll into that one moment.  A moment when all preconceived notions of wishing for a boy, or wishing for a girl are completely washed away in a land of silliness, because this perfect baby cradled into my arms is exactly who he/she was born to be.  And that moment is something I've clung to the last two c-sections, that moment which gave me such focus and determination to make the best of something that I really wished wasn't necessary. 

And watching the screen today was powerful, something that never grows old.  The little kicks and "dancing" which are slowly and steadily getting stronger, though much more relaxed than our last one. A reminder that children are so very different, even in the beginning.  And I find myself content and happy and excited to slowly watch our next stage of life begin.

The older two have many questions this pregnancy, Jacob with his "I can lean on your tummy, thats okay but standing on your tummy would be bad". "A boy" Kaylin informed me, is what she's asked for.  Simply, "because".  "Because boys like boy things and they don't like my things....".  And sure enough we have a 2 year old who's currently obsessed with whatever her big sister is doing.  I secretly love and adore this, although I fear my almost 6 year old does not see the beauty in it. 

Sometimes the fuzzy pictures really are the best

As for me, I'll continue to crochet my way through a blue blanket and then a pink one.  I'll prepare two little piles of clothes, one with shades of pink the other with shades of blue.

And with that rather random post about baby ultrasounds and really, baby wonderfulness in general I need to prepare our home for a soon-to-be 6 year old.  Cause really, when "you turn 6 its like, the best birthday year ever". 

Adios friends!

    Cuddling with the newest baby in our friends group. 

Cold days of Winter

Its been wickedly cold the past few days and I always find it a struggle when getting out with the kids becomes difficult.  Its interesting to me how when one is forced to stay in a house the walls slowly start to close in, the rooms definitely become smaller, the atmosphere more tense.  Its also interesting to me how once you get out of the house for a morning with the kids, the rooms appear to have stretched back to their normal size and life continues.

Winter, I know is hard for moms with young ones at home.  As they get older the kids become a bit more resilient to the cold and find that the joy in skating or playing with snow much worth the effort of getting ready.  They seem okay with frozen red noses and icy cheeks. But when they are young, winter becomes a chore. Bundling the littles up in their winter protection gear takes time and the time they are willing to stay outside seems much shorter than the effort to GET outside. 

Yes, January and February are difficult.  The days of throwing sandals on the kids and racing to the park for 45 minutes to escape the confinement of the house feels like years ago.  The joy of kicking kids outside to play and run around while you clean the house seems almost a forgotten luxury. 

A few weeks ago the kids and I packed up and meet with cousins and aunts to play at an indoor playground.  In which all I could think is, this place was an oasis for us Moms in the midst of winter.  I also have discovered that these places take competitor's coupons, which is a huge score as I can never find a coupon for the actual location that is most convenient to meet.

The feeling of I'm-stuck-in-the-house-I'm-going-to-scream feeling is not unusual and so I'm going to share a few of my go-to activities when the days get cold.

• Crafts/painting - I pour a coffee or tea, Kaylin cranks the kids favorite music (Steve Green - Hide 'em in your Heart).  If you don't have crafts on hand, find old magazines and let the kids go nuts with scissors, hand them a glue stick and some paper.  Their favorite magazines to cut?  Home decorating/food magazines.
• Movie - curl up WITH the kids on that day that is particularly cold and draining and pop some popcorn.
• Playdoh.  We love playdoh in our house and I always give the kids dull butter knives to practice cutting with, kids scissors too.  Great way to help their fine motor skills.  Great recipe HERE.  I've used this and loved it, although if your playdoh is a bit sticky you simply have to knead some more flour into the dough. 
• Build a fort in the playroom/bedroom, turn off the lights and hand them flashlights.
• Have your own story time - the kids bring piles of books and we lay on our bed and read.
• Send them to their rooms and set the timer.  Individual playtime is not always welcomed right away but ALWAYS within the first 5 minutes they find something.  Knowing they're not allowed out until the timer goes off works wonders (and you - YOU find a book and read for a a bit).  
• Bake - it takes 2x longer but the kids love it and its always fun watching them "steal" the chocolate chips out of the bag thinking you don't see.
• Splurge and go to an indoor playground.  Find coupons or see if the place your going takes coupons from their competitors.  WagJag can be an awesome place to find deals for indoor playgrounds!
• Make hot chocolate in "fancy" tea cups and add marshmallows.
• Invite another Mom over for a playdate.
• Library days - a favorite weekly outing in our home, much worth the effort of packing up kids.
• Lego - we pour the bucket on the kitchen table and build cities, towers, cars, everything.  

These are just a few of my go-to activities, I would love to hear more! And now for some pictures of summer - long ago:)

Beach days with cousins

Parks and pretend tractors

Ice-cream...

She's not quite so innocent looking anymore!

Until next time!

Back to Life

Hi friends!  I'm happy to say that we've hit the second part of pregnancy and life seems to be getting back together.  As I told hubby on Sunday, "I'm BAAACCCK".  He raised his eyebrows and gave me a we''ll see kinda look.  Life at home has been forced to hit a bit of  standstill the past 10 weeks, and in that time only the necessities of children-raising were being focused on, and the laundry.  And that not quite as effective as normal.  Meaning there was an awful lot of baskets that never even made it back into the drawers folded....

Now that the morning coffee has been brought back into my life and my breakfasts and lunches stay where they ought to, life can more ahead at full steam. I've come to appreciate how energy and food have such an impact on our lives.

The first thing to change was to set the kids right, our conversation yesterday morning went something like this.

Our alarm had yet to go off and I was in the midst of the "it canNOT be morning yet, I just fell asleep, poor me," stage and there were two kids standing beside me.  The third was not, simply because we have yet been brave enough to move that little girl to a big bed.  These days I'm all about confinement:) 

"I'm hungry, I want breakfast, NOW" they demanded.

I jumped out of bed, said "Absolutely NOT, Mommy is BACK and you guys go to your rooms, get dressed and wait patiently for me to call you.  And I will call you when Mommy is ready to have three hungry animals stampede into my kitchen...."

And they did, and it was a very beautiful moment when Drew looked at me and smiled.  He didn't have to say it, I knew....Mommy is back and life will go on as usual.

And the past 10 weeks of life standing-still, we're good with that.  In the big scheme of things its only a short time and it will happen again, post-baby.  The trick is knowing when it has come to and end and knowing when to gear back up and re-appear into this life of motherhood, full steam ahead.

I'll be back later this week, but for now I have a house (and kids and dog) that needs to be put back in order:) 

And now for two pictures, brought to you by iphone.  I'm in love....oh and we're renovating our basement, Drew has a very serious helper who is determined to start work in the near future.

Family News and a Recipe

Family pictures make me laugh.  My Mom took this one of us on Christmas Eve, I was reminded that procrastinating is never a good thing and well, getting a family picture done on the Eve before Christmas is a sure way to not hand out Christmas cards (grin).  

And when I look at this picture I'm reminded that by the time we need to think about family pictures for a Christmas card in 2013 there will be another baby in our family.  July 2013, DV, we will be welcoming baby number 4 into our family.  The kids reactions were quite hilarious.  Kaylin jumping up and down, running to gather all her dolls to practice holding a baby, Jacob nodding and staring at my tummy very thoughtfully, and Maddie.  She shrugged her shoulders, said "o-tay" and walked away. 

We've hit the second trimester and I'm thankful that, although the nausea remains I'm no longer as sick as I was.  I'm also thankful that the kids always let me catch a 20 minute nap at some point in the day. 

And now a recipe... 

A friend introduced me to a new chili recipe, which is by far one of the best that I have ever made/had. Its made my list of good dinners to pass on to other families.  I add some fresh rolls and some baking.  I've had good reviews from this recipe and although I don't have pictures (the last three times I made it I forgot) I'm sharing it. 

Ladle me Red (from the Looneyspoons recipe collection)

1 1/2 lbs of extra lean ground beef ( I use 2lbs usually)
2tsp of minced garlic
1 cup each of diced celery, green bell pepper and red onion *note1*
1 1/2 tbsp of chili powder
1 1/2 tsp EACH of ground cumin, and dried oregano
1 tsp of ground coriander
1/2 tsp of black pepper
1 can of (19oz/540ml) diced tomato undrained (you can use a large can if you want)
1 can (14oz/398ml) tomato sauce (I prefer low sodium)
1 cup of beef broth (again low sodium)
1/4 cup chopped celery leaves 
1 tbsp of hickory flavored bbq sauce (or whatever bbq sauce you have on hand)
1 can of kidney beans, drained and rinsed (19oz/540ml)
1 can of beans in tomato sauce 
3 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro (I skip this - our family does not love the taste of coriander)
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice (if I don't have it in the house I skip this as well)
2 tsp of liquid honey

* Cook beef and garlic in a large, deep, non stick skillet or pot over medium-high heat until beef is no longer pink. Stir in the celery, onion and green pepper. Cook and stir for about 3 minutes, or until veggies start to soften

* Stir in chili powder, cumin, oregano, coriander and black pepper. Add undrained tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef broth, celery leaves, and bbq sauce. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 20minutes, stirring occasionally

*Add beans and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in cilantro, lime juice and honey. Serve hot.


Enjoy your weekend all! 

Christmas Recap

And just like that its 2013.  It always surprises me how quickly the holidays come and go.  Christmas parties and family gatherings make the days fun and go by so quickly.  And this holiday it was good, the kids had few meltdowns, it was easier packing them and going, and they're finally getting the whole sleeping-in thing after a late night.  Drew was home for the time between Christmas and New Year's and we enjoyed every moment.  Its wonderful to have a break from routine, to just wing the days and see where they take us.  And as much as I loved that time, I'm thankful that we're getting back into routine.

Our Christmas celebrations start early with a birthday, Maddie turned 2 on the 20th. 

And birthday celebrate we did, I worry that Christmas will overcome her birthday so we made effort to decorate the house with balloons and set her day aside and it was fun.  We keep the second birthdays pretty low key, Grandparents stop by for cupcakes and coffee and some of my nieces and nephews came over the next day to help us finish those cupcakes.  And this little girl was on cloud 9, having the attention to herself.  Dolls became the unexpected theme this year and she has been busy dressing, cuddling and hugging those little people.  The best part?  How excited Kaylin and Jacob made the day, they spoiled her and loved her and that my friends, is one of the best parts of motherhood.  Seeing your children come together and celebrate each other. 

And then it was Christmas.  We bounced from house to house that week from one family event to another and were energized by being surrounded by friends and family. It was wonderful watching the kids get to know their cousins/second cousins and watching them play together?  Awesome!   Our own family Christmas is pretty low-key, we buy a few gifts for the kids and spend the morning together.  Drew gifted me with an iphone, which I am loving.  

And this is how we looked by the end of the holidays!  

I'll be back later this week with a recipe and some exciting news, but right now I'm off to the library to bring home stacks of books for winter reading!