I’m not very good at keeping track of details these days so I’ve decided to keep a little list on my phone of daily events that I want to include in my blog, in an effort to remember. I suppose I still need to remember to put them on my list but its just a new idea. I’ll see how it works. But it worked today anyway!

Brady was expecting this entire week to be slammed busy but lucky for us, he tends to underestimate himself, and worked so fast that he didn’t need to go to work today! I hope I can speak for my whole family when I say we have an AMAZING day!

While nice, quiet family time is always great, I have started to feel a little stir crazy within my four walls. So we all went to the city today to get a few things done that had piled up over the last week or two. Nothing too crazy at all, luckily. Just a nice list of places to go, and if we didn’t get to all of them, nothing would suffer or be put out.

Sigh. My phone just died. No list. But it’ll come back soon so hopefully this post won’t be too haphazard.

We started at Dollarama and Brady just ran in for crackers, a drain plug, and vinegar. We use the vinegar to clean our tub. Right now, I’m taking a soak every evening and in order to help my body heal up in the best way possible, we spray it down with vinegar every night and then rinse it out. I think this is the cleanest its ever been! And at Dollarama, the vinegar comes in a 4L jug for $2. WIN!

After Dollarama we hit up Preston Crossing. We hauled both of our kids into a cart and dragged them through Walmart for three things. Three things that we didn’t find, that is. Thanks for nothing, Walmart. We headed to the other chunk of box stores and stocked up on Thank You cards. I never wrote any thank you cards after we had Dekker and I always felt guilty about that. So I bought a whole heap of them at Michaels and am definitely planning on diligently handing them out to anyone and everyone who has helped us, hospital staff included. Reeeaaally hoping I haven’t forgotten anyone on my list!! But if I just don’t get there, no judging please!

At that point, we realized we all needed to eat something, so we hit a nearby Wendys for some quick lunch. I have to say, it was probably the worst experience I’ve ever had at Wendys. Ok, is this complicated? I order the chicken strips combo, and change my side from fries to cheese nachos. I know, healthy right? But its delicious. I waited at a table with the kids while Brady ordered and brought the food back. It took forever. When he did make it back to the table, he said they had made my nachos chilli cheese (even though he specifically asked for “just cheese”) and they had also tried to convince him to swap out my chicken strips for nuggets because they strips took longer to prepare. That mistake has been made before and I do not like the nuggets one bit. So he waited for the strips and they were quite undercooked. By that point I just didn’t want to keep getting after them. So I ate nachos for lunch 🙂 Delicious, and better than nothing. The highlight of Wendys was my beautiful little girl, milk drunk.

Such a sweetie pie.

A recent decision that Brady and I made was to bite the bullet and buy a strap to help hold Dekker’s glasses up. I really haven’t wanted to, not for any particular reason really, except that his glasses adjusted correctly stay on his face where they should! But the principle of that is less important that my sons vision. So we had asked about one at Walmart and they recommended the place on Broadway called Saskatoon Vision Centre. And that guy was incredible!!! We will most certainly go back there again. A man with a serious pirate moustache helped us out, and actually taught us a few things about Dekker’s glasses that we didn’t know, and about patching. He was a great resource and sold us a great, super inconspicuous strap for $9. We put it on Dekker at our next stop and without even tightening it too much, those glasses absolutely stay put! I’m so relieved 🙂

I felt like we had already been to a lot of places at this point, but we had actually accomplished very little of what we came out to do. So we drove downtown and parked underground at Midtown Mall. We killed a bit of time there looking for boots. I still have $50 of birthday money and I really want cute boots!!! Getting into the mall was where our embarrassment began.

The sit and stand stroller. Sigh. That thing is a monster. The only aspect of it that is “compact” is the fact that it fits beautifully in the trunk of our Mazda3. It fits better than our original single stroller. But when I finally figured out how to open it, the thing was a good mile long. I had a heck of time jimmying the baby seat to make it click on, and then Dekker. Poor, poor Dekker. He was sitting on the little seat but he couldn’t find a comfortable position and ended up basically hanging by his crotch. It was actually hysterical, and took us an awkward amount of time to get both of our kids situated. And after all of that, there was nowhere to stow our enormous diaper bag. Brady and I were laughed so hard, I was almost peeing my pants. First time parents, apparently. For whatever reason, we were horribly embarrassed of our enormous stroller. We barely fit in the elevator!! I don’t know how people get used to the double stroller concept. Anyone?? And who puts the baby way the heck on the far end and the toddler who is used to looking out front facing back?!

Our big plan had been to finish at the mall and then drive to the upper section of the parking lot, return some stuff at Babies r Us, and then let them validate our parking from the whole mall visit. Grand plan, right? Sigh. We accidentally paid leaving the mall. Of all things. But the return went uneventfully so I guess thats a plus. (PS: Ashley, Brady said he saw you there, rocking the exact same stroller that I’m so choked about! How do you use that thing?!?!)

We drove a couple of blocks over to our jeweller. Second embarrassment of the day was bringing two children who had JUST pooped and stank to high Heaven into a nice office where people talk about gold and diamonds and spend lots of money. Either way, we picked up my family ring, with our new Laela strand 🙂 I LOVE it!

I couldn’t get a much clearer picture, unfortunately, but you get the idea. Dekker’s strand is yellow gold and Laela’s is rose gold, or red gold if you’re a jeweller who actually knows what they’re talking about. We’ll see if future kids will all have different colors or we’ll stick with yellow for boys and pink for girls. Any opinions out there?

Finally, we made our very last stop at Costco. Both bebs were sleeping so I just ran in on my own and picked up a Christmas present for Dekker. After finding it a week or two before Laela was born, then having Laela and being home for a bit, I wasn’t sure there would be any left, but we got him a sweet little ramp and eighteen Hot Wheels cars! I guess I’m counting on Dekker still loving “zoom zooms” at Christmas as much as he does now! I paid a really good price and ran back out to the car to both of my kids sleeping in the backseat. Lucky for me, Dekker didn’t see his present 🙂

Tsk. Look at those lips!

The kidlets slept the whole way home. We each took one and changed a bum upon arrival, and Dekker went down for a nap. Sadly for him, he thought he was down for night and was sooo sad to be woken up for supper. Had we known, maybe we would have left him, but its not uncommon to have a later nap and eats around 7pm. Well, he cried and cried. EVentually he calmed down and ate some crackers and cheese and grapes. But it was still pretty touch and go. When he got down from the table, he took a small spill and it was really quite downhill from there. Brady did great with him though, and tickled the crying away. Of course as soon as the tickles stopped, he would cry again. Very mixed emotions. But it worked, and Dekker went down just a little bit earlier than normal, without too many tears after Brady left. Now, of course, he’s “woooooing” away in his crib, but at least he’s happy.

Miss Laela is not. She is eating and eating and eating, but she is sooo gassy, poor little girl. We have a pretty good handle on it, and are doing all the things we know to do to help her get some relief, but its not a fun time. I’m sure we’re not the only ones who have experiences gassy babies. Dekker was the same. Hopefully she’ll have a better night tonight. Hopefully we all will.

Can’t WAIT to see my brother, sister in law, and two sweet little nephews tomorrow!!!

 

 

 

I’ve been spending the days at home with my kids and my mom. Its been so wonderful having the help and the love and all the support. Meals, groceries, and baby gifts have been added bonuses. However, today our friend Willa came out for the day to give my mom some extra time to get the house ready for my brother and sister in law, who are visiting this weekend.

We had SUCH a nice day, if I can speak for the group. She brought us meals for basically the entire day, did all the dishes, fed Laela most of her bottles, played toys in the basement with Dekker while I sat and piddled away on my phone, and she even took on both my kids first thing in the morning when Dekker had his first poo-smearing experience. Yup. That happened. I took pictures but I’m pretty sure I’d lose readers if I posted them. It was such a relaxing day of visiting and getting a couple of things done.

When we were waiting (and waiting, and waiting) for Laela to arrive, I stress-tidied, and prepared every possible thing I could think of. So there really aren’t tons of jobs around my house waiting to be done. I’m sure that once all the help wears off, I’ll find myself up to my elbows in dust, mould, and broken appliances, but at the moment I feel like my home is under control. Yay!

Brady arrived home around 5:45pm with the news that he had worked his BUTT off, and has tomorrow off!!! I’m so looking forward to tomorrow. Croissants and coffee in bed 🙂 I miss that. Feels like its been forever! And then possibly a trip into Saskatoon for a couple of things. Luckily I still make lists.

Willa left us a delicious supper of honey garlic chicken, veggies, and quinoa. Everyone loved it, Dekker included, which is saying something!!! He’s not a picky eater really, but new food is sometimes a toss-up. But when its yummy, its yummy!

At the end of the day, we got Dekker in the tub and finally washed the poop out of his hair. Once in the bath, he was thrilled to play and splash. Brady had to drag him crying out of the then-freezing bath when it was bedtime. Who would have ever seen that coming?! He eventually came into our room and jumped on the bed for a while, and he is now in bed. Instead of blogging earlier, I chatted on the phone with my sister for a couple hours. Felt a bit like it was in person, which I like. In the span of time that I was on the phone, Laela and Brady took a nap (haha) and now Laela bean has been fed and is fast asleep, and we are running a tub and getting snacks together. First attempt at having a soak together since baby girl was born!!!

I am so looking forward to getting out of the house tomorrow! Not for long, but for a couple of errands anyway. And fresh air.

Nope. Fall-aparty. Thats how I feel this evening. I haven’t had a noticeable “blue day” since Laela was born, but this evening, I truly feel blue. I had a big hairy-scary meltdown and I feel like the red around my eyes will likely never go down. It will, but it doesn’t seem like it.

Not long ago, a good ways into my meltdown, I took my own advice from a recent post and held my baby girl. She had been fussing a bit and I was feeling very weak. I couldn’t get her to stop crying. Her cries don’t bother me much at all, to be honest. They’re such little squeaks. But of course, instinct tells us to make them stop. I agree with instinct for the most part, but not always the rush. I know Laela will be fine if she cries a little. So I just held her across me horizontally and rocked her. Barely. And she was quiet. I rocked her back and forth for probably fifteen minutes, and she slowly dozed off. She was so comfy, her hand all tucked away in my cleavage, her squishy lips just barely open. She was gorgeous. I bawled. I finally got myself together enough to get up and use the washroom, which I had needed to take care of several hours before already. Setting her down, I broke down crying again. As I said, today is a blue one.

That being said, this is really all you guys are gonna get this evening. Except for a few sugar shots of Laela. Helps me feel better!

Sleep in heavenly peace.

 

The word “still” in this title doesn’t actually make sense. Laela has only been with us for 8 days, yet her peace blows me away constantly throughout every day. One thing that I think I can attribute this to is her age. She is still new enough that her biggest cry is still so tiny. Her wails are more like little honks, and they are so adorable, I have to convince myself to go make them stop. They are such lovely little sounds, they don’t bug me in the slightest. They remind me of when she freshly came out and was honking away, and I didn’t really try to make her stop. I wanted the safety in hearing her cry. I wanted her to cry all the crud out of her pipes that needed to come out. To me, the sound was comforting. Maybe I won’t always feel that way, but I did that today, and I still do today.

She is also a very calm baby in the way of being alone. Even with as much help as I have, my kids have both had times of needing to wait for me while I deal with the other.  Laela is so relaxed. I can lay her in our mamaroo, in the U-pillow, or even in her cradle, and she’ll wait. Sometimes she fusses, sure. But rarely do I have to hear her full out crying before I can go get her again. She doesn’t seem to have a panic mode yet at all. I STRONGLY advise anyone who feels like they could use a little more peace to come over and hold her. It will do the soul some good.

Once again, I will brag up her sleep. I know I can’t count on it forever, but my little girl is sleeping beautifully. Last night, we had a very hard time getting a burp out of her, and she was up on and off until about midnight, with a tummy ache. Finally, at about 12:15am, she heaved an enormous burp on me, slumped, and it was all over. She woke up for food again at 3:30am, and went back to sleep without question. After that, she woke shortly after 7:00am. Looking at it now, I guess thats only three hour stretches. Its no five hour stretch, or twelve like we got from Dekker, but I’m not stupid. I don’t expect those things! I could not be happier with my little one waking so little! Brady and I both wake feeling quite rested, which is so much more than I could have asked for from our newborn daughter. After Laela’s wake up at 7:00am, she had a big burp and poop. I changed her bum and tried to play off the situation well and put her back down to bed. As soon as I lay her down, she opened her big dark blue eyes and stuck out her lower lip. Well that was over before it started. I plunked her down on my chest and lay with her in bed until about 9:30am!!! She slept and I caught up on some of my YouTube videos that I’ve missed over the last week and a half. It was so relaxing! My mom came mid-morning like she’s offered to do the last couple of days and the upcoming ones as well. I invited her to come hang out with us while Dekker slept in, so we cuddled up and chatted in the dim light before getting up and facing the world. It was a great morning! I’m floored that Laela sleeps so soundly and gives her parents some nice stretches at really appropriate times.

As for the rest of the day, we relaxed today! No real jobs, or tasks to accomplish. Dekker struggled pretty hard yesterday evening, and I felt like a quiet, normal day was what he needed most. So we sat downstairs and watched a movie. He played quietly and stopped to watch when music would play. That was really it. And it paid off!!! He didn’t freak during diaper changes, and for the first time in a week or two, he didn’t fight his patch! He’s gotten so much worse with it recently, to a point when Brady and I both have to pin him down to get it on. Today, there was no issue. I mean, he cried once it was on, but thats it. SUCH a big boy, I’m so proud of him! He was disappointed at nap time but not miserable. I was relieved. He’s finally settling back into our routine. Our routine that will likely change again very soon!

For my last side note of tonights post, for months now I’ve been regretting not saving these entries. Not that they’re all glorious and interesting, but they are a summary of my life, and my family. Wouldn’t it be cool for my kids to be able to read back one day if they wanted?! Maybe not, but I’m thinking I should have kept record. Lucky me, I think I finally came up with a way to do it!!! It will take a decent amount of time to do it, as I’ll have to save the entries one at a time, and there are over 450 now. But the question is, this is just saving the entries. Would you guys print them off and make binders? Or would you just leave them as files on an external hard drive? The format I’ve found to save them is imperfect as well. It doesn’t have the heading and it has a few lines overlapping that say things like “You’re viewers may sometimes see advertisements  in this space…” and I can’t get rid of that kind of stuff. Do I keep searching for a more “perfect” look or just save them this way? Help! I am not tech savvy at all and would love some opinions on the way you guys would do it!

Cookie dough and a bath tub. I have to get out of this nightly snacking habit. Or I should at the very least stop telling people about it…

Laela Hazel was born one week ago. I just need to brag her up a bit, if no one minds. If you do mind, you probably haven’t met her. Or you just shouldn’t read this blog, because I am incredibly proud of my kids!

Brady was back at work today, so last night I did all the Laela jobs on my own. Feeding and diapers. Not a huge deal at all, and I think a lot of moms do those things on their own, but Brady is always more than happy to help out. He did a full night for me just the other day! But last night was INCREDIBLE! Laela bean had a nice wakeful evening and had her last feed around 10:30pm before we tucked her all in and turned out the lights on that side of our room. We went about our regular bedtime routine of a bath and some Netflix, and then went to bed. She slept until 1:40am, which I thought was a nice stretch for such a young little girl! I fed her then, and it seemed to take forever, if I’m being honest. But as I sat in bed, I realized that was the best way to eat! Dekker had been such a bottle monster and no matter which nipples we used in his bottles, he would get his milk way too fast and then throw it all up. Laela drinks steadily and just has her one little burp halfway through the bottle. So if it takes her a bit longer to drink them, so be it!! No, I’m not trying to compare my kids or pick favorites, but Dekker’s projectile vomiting was actually a huge challenge for us. The fact that Laela doesn’t vomit down my back into my pants every single day is just a nice bonus 🙂

So back to the point, Laela dozed and drank consistently for a good while, but I couldn’t get a burp out of her. We worked at it for a while, and our midnight feeding became about an hour long. But she wasn’t fussing or demanding at all. Just peaceful. So we hung out and waited and eventually got our burps! Which resulted in a pretty sick case of the hiccups. I just held her until they were gone, then put her in her cradle and went back to bed. I was quite awake afterwards and was laying in bed, replaying her crazy delivery as I so often do. Ten minutes after she went down, I heard her yawn. I cannot believe that she will already fall asleep from being awake!!! So pumped!

I got to sleep pretty soon after that I think. I felt so awake but I sure wasn’t up for hours at all! I was awakened by Laela once again for food at 6:00am!!! SUCH a beautiful stretch of sleep! This feeding and diaper change was awesome, being completed in 25 minutes, getting both burps out, all her milk drank, and her diaper changed. She was back to sleep before 6:30am and didn’t wake up for the day until 8:15-ish. When she did wake up, I went and got her from her cradle and as soon as I lifted her, she burped, farted, and had a BIG tummy gurgle. Poor dear!! I could tell she had a tummy ache, so I brought her to my bed and lay her on me, tummy to tummy. we lay all cuddled up for close to an hour before I put her back in her bed (completely asleep) and put on clothes and deodorant in preparation for my mom and Willa to come for the day.

This was a VERY long way of saying that Laela really only woke up to eat twice last night!!! And neither time did she stare at me with her big wakeful eyes. She would watch me calmly and relaxedly, and when she was just coming near the end of her bottle, she’d get nice and sleepy and nod off. And burping her seems to only really calm her further. Love that!

My last update on Laela is that she lost her belly cord stump today! It actually really freaked me out. I don’t remember Dekker losing his especially vividly. I almost wonder if Brady found it off instead of me. I can’t picture it at all! But first thing in the morning, the cord was fully sealed on. The next diaper change it was hanging by a thread and there was blood through her sleeper, and all over the inside. Having the grandmas over for the day, I missed the next two diaper changes. But I could see her cord through the little gaps in her jammies and it just freaked me out. I was scared it would hurt her making that final break. But when I finally went for her next diaper change, I found the nasty little stump floating around in there, completely detached all on its own 🙂 FREEDOM!!

Even her belly button is dainty.

Sorry to those of you that don’t want to see it. I know, its a little bloody, but I was so relieved, I had to take a picture!

So all things considered, today was great. No, I wasn’t on my own. I had TONS of help. Willa brought me a pumpkin spice latte this morning, my mom brought lunch, and my friend from church brought me meals for the week, put together by herself and a couple of my other friends. I feel sooo doted on!

All because of my Laela.

 

We finally got ourselves to church again! We missed the last few weeks, on purpose, to be honest. I wanted to avoid the questions of well-meaning people who inquired about how soon I thought I might deliver, because I knew I would cry. So today, less than a week after her birth, we brought Laela to church and introduced her all around!

Our church is lovely, and called our family up to the front, welcomed Laela, and celebrated her first visit to church by giving her a rose and praying for her. It was really lovely, and she didn’t flinch when everyone clapped for her. Yay Laela!

Since she was somewhat anticipated by many, we ended up staying at church until after 1pm, visiting with people, recounting the story of her delivery, and passing her around. I think I can safely speak for my family and say that we felt very loved and singled out. I’ve always said this with Dekker, and it appears that the feeling carries over to Laela as well, but I feel sooo blessed when people take interest in our family, even if there is no relation or even any real concrete friendship. So again, I thank each and every one of you who wrote me a message, comment, or even just liked our birth announcement status on Facebook. The support is overwhelming.

Miss Laela did incredible all morning and by the time we got home, it was well after 1pm, and Laela was sooo hungry! She ate a really good sized meal and then napped the afternoon away, as did Dekker. The rest of us sat back and watched a few episodes of “Lie to Me” on Netflix. I dozed a bit but other than that, we just relaxed. It was a really great morning and afternoon out, doing what we would normally do. Yay for normalcy!

For a quick little update, since some of you have asked, I’m feeling a decent amount better than I was the other day. I have been super achey and my hips/lower back/pelvis somehow hurt to the touch. I didn’t remember that feeling with Dekker but I realized yesterday that I was much more diligent with taking pain meds last time. So I got on a schedule and wrote it all out and have been keeping on top of it. Today felt sooo much better! I don’t feel worse for wear at all this evening. I can definitely tell when I miss meds though, so I need to be reminded constantly. Maybe I should set phone alarms… Either way, my pain is much better! However, (sorry for those who don’t want this much information) I’m at the fun stage where I think my stitches are starting to dissolve and work themselves out. That is not a comfortable feeling and can actually be kind of pokey. I’m looking forward to recovery being over, thats for sure! I said after Dekker’s birth that recovery is harder than labor and delivery, and I think its true in most cases. Not so much for me this last time, but who even remembers, right? 😉

Bath time. And supper in the bath 🙂 Dekker was pretty hands on all day today, and when we came home and all he wanted to do was play and be comfy in his own house, we didn’t want to restrict him to play upstairs in the dining room. So we’re eating now that he is down. Laela is sleeping for now as well. So we’re breaking out the chicken lemon rice soup given to us by a friend this morning (told you it wouldn’t last long!!) and the rest of the wine that we had to toast Laela’s arrival home.

Cheers!

I generally prefer to look at our family as though we’ve been a family of four for a solid mine months now. But its nice to finally be able to show off our newest member!

So today, Brady and I took both of our offspring out to the city to run a couple of errands and see a friend. And we lived to tell about it!!!

We did ok overnight, with Laela only waking twice during out actual sleep time. Yes, she went down pretty late and we were up decently early, but still! So we felt relatively rested! I, however, was in complete agony with my body. My hips and lower back absolutely suck, not to put too fine a point on it. I almost collapsed once, just getting out of bed to get Laela out of her cradle in the morning. Finding this super unnerving, I took quite a while getting up and getting ready, but it seemed that once my body was warmed up, I did ok. Not sure whats going on, but I know with my recovery after Dekker’s birth, I was much more diligent in taking my medication for pain relief than I’ve been this time around. Time to make a schedule, it seems.

We got Dekker up and fed, and were out the door by shortly after 10am, which amazed me! We’re never awake by then, but I suppose life with two kids makes things different. I have to say, my family looked amazing today!

They are all so gorgeous!

Dekker was thrilled to be able to sit beside Laela in the backseat. She just slept, no questions asked, but he was enthralled with her. I was curious to see if he would respond that way, or be angry that she was right close to him. He is definitely warming up, touching her hands, and just being generally excited when she’s around.

While we were driving towards Saskatoon, we were slowed for a decently long time for highway construction, and I was bombarded by yet another scary aspect of Laela’s birth. For those who don’t know, I’ve actually struggled pretty hard with her birth story. I toss up between it being incredible and unexpected and empowering, or it being completely traumatizing and making me not ever want to deliver another baby. I’m not being dramatic. It was truly terrifying, and I keep going back and seeing more and more details that scare me. For instance, had we had our rush to Saskatoon in the daytime or the evening, we would have hit the inevitable highway construction. It would have easily added those five minutes to our drive, and we wouldn’t have made it into the hospital. Those things still make my heart shake. My rational side says we could have done it! What did the doctors even do that we wouldn’t have done?! She just came out! I didn’t do anything! But it would have been even scarier. I don’t know. I go back and forth on all of this. Just trying to be honest. The drive in reminded of these things, and it reminded me to keep level. Its true that we could have lost those silly five minutes anywhere, but we didn’t. God was in control.

When we arrived in Saskatoon, we hit up our jeweller first. I dropped off my family ring to have Laela’s strand added to it. Honestly, it feels like I left there without my pants. I always wear it, and now I feel funny. But apparently they have a little lull and we should be able to get it back mid next week!

After that errand, we went to get Dekker’s glasses adjusted. Being extra clumsy and a two year old in general, he smacks into a lot of things and just has to get them adjusted once in a while. The nose pads were super far away from each other and the glasses were barely staying on his nose. My mom had taken him in for an adjustment while we were in the hospital but as so often happens, they needed another adjustment to get them just right. The people working there recognized Dekker and were very excited to ask about Laela. My kids are stars. Dekker did wonderfully! The woman doing his glasses was very thorough which I appreciated 100%, but that meant removing and repositioning his glasses multiple times. Deks got frustrated with it partway through but since it wasn’t very populated in there at all, I just said that if she could handle the noise, I’d rather she adjusted them to her hearts content so they could be as perfect as possible. So yes, Dekker had a meltdown or two, but every time she would ask him if she could put them back on him, he would quiet down and lean forward for her. I was so proud!

Those were the only errands we had planned, not knowing how the day wold play out, so we picked up lunch and coffee and headed to our friend Hailey’s house. We visited the afternoon away, quite literally. We have been a cross between immobile and in the hospital for quite a while now, and Brady and I both feel like we’re losing touch with our friends 🙁 I know some of it is to be expected, and will come back, but we hate it. So we caught up finally! Fun new things happened there. Firstly, Dekker LOVES her dog! Moxie actually licked Dekker’s face a few times and he squealed with delight and chased her around. It was crazy, and not something I ever saw coming!! Dekker also kissed Laela for the first time ever! He is sooo nice, and is very generous with kisses when it comes to family, but he’s been understandably shy of her. But he had given Brady a kiss, and then came over to give me on. Laela was on my lap and we all suggested he give Laela a kiss. He barely hesitated before bending down and kissing her. Right on her eyeball. I laughed, and we all praised him up. I think I was the only one who actually saw that he had kissed her eye 😉 But he noticed. Because a couple of minutes later, without being asked at all, he came back over and kissed her little lips. I LOVED that.

We left around 5:30, which is crazy but we were really enjoying each others company. But the ride home was the BEST!

Two sleeping babies. Quiet, breathing deep, content.

Since getting home, we’ve done quite little, which I think is completely fair. We are tired, but content as well. Our trip out was successful. I’m not sure how great I’ll be at doing these trips on my own right away here, but I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it.

The last thing I want to write about tonight is Dekker. He is sooo much older, all of a sudden! Brady was changing his diaper before bed, and that is always their time. Brady gets Dekker ready for bed, brings him to be for some cuddles and playtime, and then brings him to his room, prays with him, and tucks him in. Those boys adore each other. Sadly, Dekker has begun fighting bedtime and therefore, their calm quiet time together sometimes is more difficult than enjoyable. This evening was one of those times. Dekker was throwing an absolute tantrum, and disobeying Brady left, right, and centre. He WOULD NOT cooperate and they were both getting really mad. Not very often, but occasionally, I’ll go in and give them both a break from each other. Like this evening. Dekker’s behavior didn’t improve at all when I traded Brady out, but I was going to deal with it for a much shorter period of time, and I don’t have to deal with it on a nightly basis, which makes that short stint of screaming a bit easier. I arrived at the diaper change after the diaper but in time to put on his jammies. And I observed something very shocking to me. Dekker is so big! I pulled his pants on, and had to really work to get them over his bum. I couldn’t just yank on an ankle anymore. I really had to pull him around, since he was in a laying down position. I say him up to put his shirt on and realized just how worked up he had gotten. He was absolutely sweating. I stroked his hair back in an effort get it off his sticky, tear stained face, and realized how strong his shoulders are, and how grown up his face has become. It floored me. I put his shirt on and gave him his blanket. I picked him up to bring him to Brady for nighttime cuddles in our room, and my goodness! I may as well have been lifting Brady. He is mondo, my boy. I had no idea. Once in our room, on our bed, Dekker lay down between our pillows, so we lay on either side of him and tucked him into his blanket. Brady went to go rescue Laela at once point and Dekker and I talked about the ducks on his blanket. He said so many things. So I asked him about his day, and he went on and on, telling stories that I couldn’t understand. I held his hands, and they were so big. His fingernails were wider. Everything changed on me! When he finally went to bed, Brady and I could hear him chatting away. We listened closer, and we could tell by the inflections in his voice, that he was telling a story. We heard all three of his car sounds over and over again. Must have been a high speed police chase or something cool like that. Either way, he certainly is ready to be a big brother to his sister. I love him so much, and only realized today just how much I missed him.

I love my kids. They are the best kids of all the kids.

 

 

 

Did everyone else realize it was Friday? Because I didn’t! My week with Brady at home has gone by waaay too fast! We thought we were going to be out of the hospital on Tuesday, and were even cleared to go on Monday already! But ended up staying longer due to Laela’s jaundice, which actually might have been missed had we gone home on Monday. So while it all adds up, and it was good that we stayed, for everyone involved. But sad that we had so few days at home. Thats life, I suppose.

Lucky for me, I have my mom nearby! She has already been bringing us meals and I know she is willing to come any and all days that I need a hand in the near future. I also feel more blessed every day knowing that we have so many people around who want to be involved and help out in whatever way we need. God is good, and I know we’re taken care of.

As for everyone around here, we’re all doing pretty well.

Brady has fallen into “new daddy role” smoothly, just like last time. He continually says how much more comfortable he feels this time around. I suppose that happens with each child, and I’m glad he’s so confident. He is also the most involved and helpful man you’ll ever meet. He is more than happy to take Laela off my hands if I need to be hands-free for a moment, or to pass her over to me if he needs to go rescue Dekker from the general terrors that befall him, such as his ride on toy getting hung up on another toy, a picture falling off the fridge, etc. There is a decent amount of drama around here and he handles it pretty well in stride.

Dekker is adjusting to Laela’s presence better than I thought! His first night was really hard, but he has gotten much more used to it since then. He now waves at Laela, says her name a lot (“Lala!”), touches her hands and feet, offers her toys, etc. He still won’t kiss her or sit too close, but as soon as he’s out of his high chair, he’s on the hunt for her. When he finds her, he points and squeals sooo loudly in excitement. And she just sleeps like there’s no noise. You’d think she’s been hearing his shrieks for a while now. So all in all, Dekker is still shy but quite enamoured with her.

Laela is settling in very well. Her two nights here have been amazingly better than our nights in the hospital. We were up only three times last night! She knows she’s home, and that makes me very happy. She’s not eating quite as much as I’d like, but all I know is my tank son who guzzled like mad immediately. She is still eating more than what all the charts say she should eat so I’m trying not to put much thought into it at all. Her diapers are as they should be. She’s still in the babymoon stage of sleeping almost constantly. We look forward to her wakeful times. She has great expressions. Her hair is sooo smooth and long, already on her neck a little. Overall, Laela seems to be in great health. She and I will need to hit up the chiropractor sooner than later though, as she has a pretty serious side preference, even more than Dekker did, and while we’re doing our best to force her one way or the other over here, she is strong enough to lay her head back exactly where she wants it. With that, something crazy that we’ve noticed is that her dexterity is incredible! She is still “newborn awkward” and flails around a lot, but more than a few times, she grabs her bottle and actually holds it for around ten seconds before she gives out. But she has great aim! Oh, and she almost rolled today. Got all the way over on one side. Crazy stuff.

I’m not feeling the best I’ve felt yet, but I’m doing ok. I’ve felt surprisingly good after all of this, probably on the biggest adrenaline high of my life. I think today is the day I’ve started to come off of it. My limbs all ache like I was in a car accident. While the bruises on my legs (from squeezing them so tight while laboring in the car) are healed up and faded, my muscles are now suffering pretty horribly. My neck and back are sooo tight and my pelvis is, of course, in rough shape as well. Because why wouldn’t it be? I really do think I’m just coming off of things, but at the same time, as soon as I’m comfortable with the idea of having my body cracked a bit, I’m heading to get things put back into place! Besides my random body pain today, I’m pretty well the same. No big complaints, besides the obvious discomforts that come from delivering a baby. Nothing I can’t handle.

So the family is doing fine 🙂 Thanks to all who ask and have wished us well. Tomorrow we will go to Saskatoon to run a few errands as a family of four, and we’re really looking forward to it! I wish I had planned further ahead though. I want to write out cards to the people who cared for us during our stay in the hospital. Especially the doctor who delivered us! That poor man, haha! I wish we could write apology notes to all the other women laboring silently in the Labor and Delivery Ward. But the doctors and nurses will have to do. I guess that won’t all be tomorrow. But sometime soon anyway.

Bathtime for me! And a snack. Sigh. Getting out of the night snack habit is going to be a tough one. Because at this point, I’m thinking tonights snack will either be a white chocolate macadamia nut cookie, a piece of pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting, or barbecue Pringles. Yup, we have all those things. We’re in trouble, basically.

Good night, all!

I was thinking I would make this something of a “first day at home” post, but we were home yesterday already, so does it even count?? Who knows. I figured that, instead, I’d opt for a photo post of the last day or so.

Before that though, my parents brought supper over tonight and stayed for the evening. Brady and I had bought a bottle of bubbly and once Dekker was in bed and Laela was asleep in Bradys arms, we did a toast to the new little life that has joined our family. It was so touching to all say a prayer for her and wish her well. Somehow, it left me feeling nostalgic for the last couple of days, so thanks to that – the photo post! Already, little memories built since Laela has arrived.

First, an older picture –

This was supposed to show how Dekker and I sleep the same sometimes. I had to add it in here before I showed you something kind of sweet 🙂

Apparently Laela and I sleep the same too! I like it 🙂

Ok, the end of the random photo post! I promise, they won’t all be so random and informationless, but I like photo posts and I like my kids.

My LAST comment for the day is to thank everyone who has commented on here, or on Facebook, or sent me a private message in the last little while. I have not responded to any of you, and while I feel pretty guilty about it already, I know I can’t catch up and might just leave it for a bit longer. I’m sorry. But WOW do we appreciate every prayer, positive thought, compliment, and well wish that has been passed on to us. As I said earlier, so many of you I didn’t know even read my blog! Thank you for all the love and support. And sorry to those of you who are pregnant and super grossed our or terrified to give birth now. I don’t claim to have any expertise in the area but if anyone has questions or comparisons they’re curious about, feel free to ask anything! If people really want to know both sides of the coin, maybe I’ll do a post on it!

This whole thing got jumbled now, but I’m not even going to reread it because I think I want it all in here. Just won’t be eloquent. Overlook that kind of thing for the next little while, if you can.

Sleep tight, all!

The much-requested post is here!!! I started writing out Laela’s birth story almost immediately once we arrived home. I am bursting with details and excitement to share her story with so many of you who are interested! But first…

My whole family feels so loved by my blog readers. Sooo many people came out of the woodwork in the last couple of weeks, saying they read regularly and were anticipating her birth. The frustrating part of writing a blog is not getting to know who reads. On another hand though, I think its good. I write how I want and don’t try to make it any specific way for any specific group of readers. But seriously, I was completely floored that so many of you take an interest in our lives. We truly feel loved over here.

So, without further ado, here’s Laela’s birth story. It is terribly long and starts back on induction day, but I want it all on record for me so thats what you’re getting. Enjoy!

 

We were sooo pleased the morning of September 29^th when we received “the call” at 8:04am. We were eight days overdue, and tentatively booked for an induction that Sunday morning, but, being that the hospital has been suffering with some overcrowding, we were fully expecting to be bumped at least one day if not two. But that didn’t have to be the case! We called my parents, who immediately got in their car and headed over to be with Dekker when he woke up, so that we could head out as soon as possible.

We were on the highway by 9am. Our bags were packed and we were optimistic! We recounted my labor with Dekker, reminiscing about how we got Cervidil and I was having contractions within 20 minutes. Plus, people say your second baby tends to come faster than the first. I was in active labor with Dekker for eight hours only, so we were optimistic that we would have our baby girl in our arms by mid-afternoon to early evening. We grabbed some breakfast at Tim Hortons before actually making our way to the hospital. What was the rush? Oh right! We were going to have our baby!!!

Upon arrival, we went straight to the Fetal Assessment doors and let ourselves up to the antepartum ward, as we had always been told to do. It is sooo convenient to be able to bypass emergency and go straight to baby land. We were put in a room that we shared with another couple, also working on delivering their second kid. Our side of the room was amazingly small, and there wasn’t even anywhere for Brady to sit except the end of my bed. Not ideal, but nothing would kill our mood. We didn’t have to wait too terribly long before we met the resident and a nurse or two. They were all completely lovely women, which helps every situation. They monitored the baby and my uterus for a while and once they were confident that everyone was strong enough, they gave me the talk about Cervidil, I signed a form, and it was time to be induced. I have never felt SO ready for something! The resident inserted the Cervidil and I was completely relieved! My cervical checks during my last pregnancy were excruciating, and this was so much better. Clearly, I was more relaxed and comfortable in the situation I was in.  Once it was in, I was stuck on monitors for one hour, off for one hour, and back on for twenty minutes. That was the plan, anyway.

Nothing happened. Not a blessed thing. So little happened, in fact, that they kept me hooked up longer at the end, trying to get babys heart rate to accelerate more. They weren’t happy with it, and I agreed that I wanted to make sure she was in perfect health before anything else happened. After four apple juices, she was moving a bunch more and they were finally happy with her. And then they said “Well, you’re good to go home then!” I was so surprised! That was not even close to an option with Dekker! But that was a different situation, where my water had already broken, so leaving wasn’t possible. But I had forgotten that its actually the norm to have Cervidil put in and go home for the night. They did offer that we could all stay if we desired, but Brady wouldn’t be allowed to stay after visiting hours if I wasn’t in active labor yet. We all agreed that nothing was happening and we’d just go home. They gave us a 24 hour pass, a phone number to call, and sent us packing. We were sooo discouraged.

To help get over my disappointment, Brady and I grabbed some Starbucks and went for a walk down by the river. Plus, walking can help bring on labor right? My body was absolutely aching but we walked a decent distance before finding a bench and taking a break. We had to decide what to do for night. Leave Dekker at my parents place? Bring him home? Stay the night at my parents? If I didn’t go into labor overnight, why should they have to do an extra night with a two year old? This is all where my head was, anyway. We called my mom, discussed everything, hung up, talked, called again, and finally came to the conclusion that we’d leave him there. My parents were more than thrilled to have him and we just couldn’t know how the evening was going to go. We also asked my parents if they would then have supper like normal with Dekker while we went on a date. They were happy to give us that, so we did. We hit Chianti for the first time in a year and a half. It was delicious.

We spent the evening at my parents’ place so we could see Deks for a few hours before he went to bed. It was nice to see him so happy in his environment. Brady even got to tuck him in, which are some of their best times together. So basically, the evening played out the best possible way it could have. We stayed and visited a little bit after Dekker went down, but headed home relatively quickly so I could blog about the day and wind down in the tub.

Once at home, I blogged and asked for prayers that tomorrow would then be the day for baby girl to be born. My doctor would be on call and we would have gotten a nice quiet evening, just Brady and I, right before her arrival. Sounded ideal. Once the blog was up, we made nachos and hopped in the tub for a soak. We probably got in around 11:30pm.

 

Start the clock.

 

11:45pm – Out of the blue, contractions came on full force. Every two minutes, I would have a very short but VERY significant contraction. They were maybe ten or fifteen seconds long, but impossible to speak through. I had to focus on my breathing. Within the first few, I was requiring Brady to press on my lower back and help me stay calm. Yes, this was literally minutes into “labor.”

12:00am – I called the number I had been given and asked if I should come in. The woman on the phone wasn’t too concerned and suggested I wait another half hour. She was hung up on the fact that the contractions were so short. Yet, in our four minute phone call, I had multiple contractions. She finally said “If it would help you feel better, sure, start coming soon. Worst case scenario, it slows down and you turn around.” Once we hung up, Brady and I sort of hemmed and hawed about what to do, but I was doing worse and worse. The drive would be miserable at best. We were worried that something had gone wrong with the Cervidil. Hypertension is the main side effect of this particular form of induction and I was scared that my body wasn’t reacting in a safe manor. We decided to leave as soon as we could. However, contractions every two minutes made getting up and ready a challenge. I got out of the tub and sat on the step. Contraction. Made it to the bed. Contraction. Threw on a tshirt. Contraction. And so on. In about twenty-ish minutes after the phone call, Brady had repacked all the things we had pulled out of the suitcase for the night, hauled everything outside again, put a garbage bag on my seat in case my water broke (our “worst case scenario” in the moment) and helped me through every contraction he was present for. I just took forever to get dressed and actually get out the door.

12:25am – We FINALLY got on the road. I won’t sugarcoat. That was the worst car ride of my life. I didn’t say a thing for the first chunk of it. I labored very quietly with Dekker, never moaning or crying, and I knew I could do it again. Just keep it together. From my town to the next closest one is 12 kms. Six minutes. I had three contractions. I kept count for a while, trying to convince myself that they weren’t as close together as I thought. But they were. Twenty more kilometers and ten contractions later, we were in the next town. It was so scary.  I stopped counting and just breathed. And moaned. I was sooo embarrassed.

We finally made it to Saskatoon and I started to kind of lose my cool. You know those women in movies who scream and swear their way through labor who you kind of just want to punch? I usually want to punch them, anyway. I became one. At the point where we were about five or six minutes from the hospital, I lost my cool. I screamed. I’m proud to say I only cursed once or twice, but I lost it. Mostly, I just screamed high and loud. And long. Poor Brady. I apologized over and over, and he assured me I just needed to do what I needed to do. So I kept screaming. I couldn’t help it. Seriously, if I could have stopped, I would have. But I couldn’t. I say again, I was so scared.

1:15am – The hospital!!! Brady had sped like a madman to get us there, and we arrived safely at the Fetal Assessment doors, as planned. We got to them as I was gearing up for probably my biggest and ugliest contraction yet. And the sliding glass doors were locked. A tiny sign stated that they would be reopened at 6am. Again, I lost it. We started banging on the doors like crazy people. We saw one doctor poke his head around the corner, and quickly duck back behind. Jerk. We were furious. Then that insane contraction came on. The only relief I was finding was being able to just let lose and scream, and also to sit. Brady tried desperately to support me, but we were panicking and terrified. He squatted and tried to let me sit on his lap and press on my back while I screamed and thrashed. Finally, a young woman timidly started coming down the hall, watching us. Brady started yelling “We need help!” and FINALLY!!!… she came running.

1:17am – She let us in, and Brady immediately told her I was in horrible labor and she needed to do something. Poor woman. She worked the night shift in a clerical position and had been debating whether to call security or let us in. She got us an elevator and said she would make sure we got to the fourth floor ok. Upon arrival, I had another mad contraction and plunked down on Bradys knee for my horrible screaming contraction. In a flash, four women were in the elevator with a wheelchair. The second I stopped screaming, they heaved me off of Brady, put me in the chair, and sprinted.

I get really weepy recapping these next few moments. I’m not even sharing this with you guys out loud, and I think I’d be in much worse shape if I were. Just please understand how scary the last hour-ish of my life had been. I was a complete mess, completely out of control of my body, and I was terrified that something horrible was happening. Little did I know…

I was wheeled into a delivery room and was told that I needed to get out of the wheelchair and get on the bed. I got out of the chair and made it to the bed. Somehow they had taken my pants from me. Go figure. I remember lots of choppy bits and pieces from the next few seconds. Brady insisting I needed something for my pain as soon as possible. People saying there was no time. How did they know that? Apparently the grunts in my screams were sure signs. Again, pain medication, pleeeaaase! Nope, no time. BULLSHIT! A wonderful nurse was beside me the entire time, holding my hand and telling me what we needed to do. I begged her for meds and she looked me right in the eye with so much love and said “I know you want that, but there’s no time. We’re just gonna have your baby!” Well I looked her right back in her eyes and screamed at her that she was lying to me. Full blown irrationality. I yelled “I know you want me to go natural but you don’t understand! I know you can give me something!!!” She just took it and held onto me with a death grip while I bawled and panicked.

Finally a doctor surfaced. He immediately examined me, searching for my Cervidil. Again, choppy memory. Did you find it? Are we sure its still in there? Check again! It was mayhem. Lots of screaming. The doctor tried once again to find the Cervidil that “did nothing” so few hours ago. Instead, my water burst with a vengeance, soaking the doctor, the resident, and at least two nurses. I heard a collective “Woah!” from everyone in the room. In this instance, the doctor whipped around to reach for gloves. There hadn’t been any time up to that point. Still screaming. The one brief second he was turned, the nurse holding my hand shouted, “The head is coming out!” I wasn’t pushing. Dr. Whoever whipped around and caught her head with his bare hands. Everyone yelled at me for just one solid push. Just one!

1:22am – Laela Hazel was born. Squawking and pink, she was laid on my chest, right onto Bradys band tshirt that he had grabbed in a panic from the closet less than one hour before. That was the last time I remember screaming, but what I said was along the lines of “Why do people do this on purpose?!” People laughed. Everything got super light hearted, and I apologized profusely for how I had acted and the things I had said. Somehow, that got more laughs. They left Laela on me for quite a while, and I tried to comprehend what had just happened. There’s a lot. Let’s recap.

11:45pm – labor started

12:25am – on the highway

1:15am – arrived at the hospital

1:17am – in the hospital

1:22am – delivered my daughter, au natural, by complete surprise!

Had that hesitant woman not let us into the hospital, we would have delivered Laela ourselves, on the stairs, directly in front of the hospital. If we had doddled anywhere for five minutes only, we would have had her in the car. While everything felt out of control, clearly Gods hand was in it.

For her official stats, Laela was 9lbs 10oz, and 21.5” tall. Her head size was 37.5cm and her chest was 36cm. She has super dark fuzzy hair, and lots of it. She cried out all her mucus with her unbelievably small cry before we even got to postpartum. Everything checked out. We didn’t hear her APGAR scores but we were sent up to recovery without any concerns.

In amongst all the chaos and panic, cord cutting was not offered to Brady, but we don’t feel too disappointed about that. It was truly the last thing on our minds. While delivery was rushed and scary, it turned out to be complication-free and healthy. Laela did have her hand up by her face and thanks to that, I tore a bit more than I would have otherwise. But that is SUCH a small thing in the big picture. We have her now, and she is safe.

Miss Laela, I could not be happier that you’re here! Your birth was a complete whirlwind and I admit that I was scared the entire time, but that does not make me feel any less love for you. Already you have pushed me to do things I never thought I could! I absolutely adore you! Never forget it.