10 Weeks Old

Things around here have been busy but good. Busy taking care of 3 kids, getting ready for Kai's birthday party, editing a million pictures and getting ready for another wedding this weekend!

I'm working quite a bit July/August because I have Gary home. That way, I will be able to take it much slower when he goes back to work. And besides, he makes every single dinner. Yup, and a good one at that. Tonight he even made a peach and cherry pie for dessert. I know I'm spoiled in that department.

I woke up this morning to Nya giggling away in her crib. How cute is that?! I'm not going to talk about the bottle situation again until it is successful but I think we are getting closer.

I have committed to the following three things:

1. Exercising 3 days a week for a minimum of 20 minutes. I'm currently on week 5 of 6 of my running program and able to run about 25 minutes straight! I am not playing football this fall which is sad but it just doesn't work very well for our family. Especially since Kai is in school full time, we will want Saturdays to be family days.

2. Using 3 cloth diapers per day. It's really an environmental thing, and if I have them, I should probably use them. The main reason I don't like to? This sounds terrible but then she can't wear her cute clothes.

3. Only accept 5 sessions per month. I am currently booked until the end of October!

I think the best investment we made was our trampoline. Seriously, the kids use it for a minimum of 1 hour per day. I love it.

I'm starting to research our trip to SE Asia for next summer. We are for sure going to the Philippines and trying to figure out where else we will go. Malaysia? Thailand? Indonesia? We will only go once in our lives so we want to make it worthwhile. We plan on going for one month. I know it's a bit crazy to take three kids, one being just one years old, but we want to do multiple international trips with our kids so we might as well start now. We will be visiting our friends in the Philippines which we are really looking forward to! If anyone has any recommendations/connections, please let me know!

Have a great week.

Love, Louise

Green Lake

We had a quick 3 day vacation to Green Lake (my dad has a house there). The boys loved the water, the sand, playing baseball, the quad, and eating snacks:) I do love how `easy' it is to go there...all the comforts of home (except internet and tv which is good/bad!!).

{The boys did go swimming}

Nya traveled very well both ways, but man, she did not want to nap. This has been the way she's been acting the last month...maybe 45 minutes naps. Then, we have to hold her for another 10 minutes and she'll go back to sleep. Let's be honest, it's usually Gary that does because I don't have the patience:) At least the nights are still good!! We are still sticking to trying to get her to take a bottle. Tonight it took 2 hours for her to take 3.5oz. I feel so mean but I don't know what to do. She never has a good latch on the bottle. She just chews on the bottle's nipple and swallows what comes out drop by drop. Anyone else have a baby that did that? I am two seconds away from giving up. The ONLY reason I care is for weddings where someone other than Gary will have to try to give her a bottle.

{The boys loved roasting hot dogs and marshmallows!}

{Nya is starting to grab on to toys!}

{The very same arbour where we said our `I Do's}

I remember on our honeymoon, Gary and I ran into a woman who was there (at the spa and resort) by herself. She said that every year she left her kids and husband for a few days and went to the spa. In my head, I couldn't believe it. Why would someone WANT to leave their husband and kids to vacation by themselves? I so get it now. Except, I would probably take Gary. Probably. Love my kids, but man, I NEED A BREAK!!!

{And today Koen started riding a bike with training wheels. We're not cool enough to have a run bike. We should but ya...}

Okay, better head to bed. Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Love, Louise

PS I ran 22 minutes straight!! Go me!!

2 Months Old

Wow, time has flown. Nya had her shots today:( She cried and screamed in pain which I've never heard from her before. I had a few tears of my own. However, I know it's better than her getting really sick later on.

{You should see the CUTEST purple vintage carriage that I have for her 6 month photo session! It will be on our GC Photography site sometime next week for a one year old session that I had, but ya, I love purple!}

She is growing so well!!

Length: 24" (97th percentile)

Weight: 12lbs (75-90th percentile)

Head: 40.5" (90th percentile)

She is so full of smiles and starting to make some really cute sounds. Somehow I haven't really been taking as many pictures of her lately. I have a feeling that once she's sitting up I'll take a ton more:)

Her personality is evident already. She is relaxed and easy going. She is not a big eater and you could hold her off for an extra hour or two if you wanted to (the boys would NEVER go longer than 2-3 hours). I hope she doesn't turn into a picky eater though, that would never work in this house!! Talking about milk, she spits up all the time. 24/7 her shirt is wet. She just wears a bib constantly and we do a lot of laundry:)

Koen took 2 weeks to learn how to use a bottle and Nya is on to week 3 at least. We do it every day and after an hour she takes it (when she's falling asleep from the exhaustion of fighting it!). Either she's stubborn or she just can't figure it out. Either way, if it doesn't end up working, I'll just have to get my babysitter to take her to me so I can breastfeed her while Gary does family portraits or something.

And, I'm nervous to say this, but YAHOO, she started sleeping through the night!!! Kai was 6 months and Koen was 18 months but Ms. Nya has started doing it this last week. I give her her last feed somewhere between 6-9pm and then she sleeps til about 5 am (I feed her then and she goes back to sleep for another 3-4 hours). Today she slept til 6am so after I fed her, I put her back to sleep and I got to work for a couple of hours. It's so interesting because I've done nothing different with any of the kids and they are all so different. I am very well rested which makes me a much nicer mommy:)

The boys love her and we all refer to her as `babes'. Koen thinks she is the cutest and Kai likes to make her smile. They don't spend a lot of time with her but they do love when she is awake. They also like to introduce her to everyone we meet:)

I am totally recovered from my C-section and have been running for 3 weeks now. I feel good and just have a solid 15lbs to lose. I'm not in a big rush but it isn't fun running with the extra weight. Oh, and I wouldn't mind finally having one wardrobe and not 3 different ones (maternity, in between and normal size).

Well, babes is wanting to eat now so I better go. I just have to say that I am so incredibly thankful for my baby girl. I love her to pieces and I love that I have a daughter. I am so thankful that she is healthy and growing so well. She adds a touch sweetness to this family which makes me smile.

Have a great day.

Love, Louise

Aquarium

Today we went to the aquarium. Who knew that it was insanely busy in the summertime? Yikes. Maybe it was even busier because it was raining? Whatever the case, we will never go during peak season again! Now, not to say that it was't good, it was, but not ideal. And besides, you can't use your coupons during July/August:)

{I wasn't going to include this picture but this is Kai's fake sad face that he pulls out all the time. Not sure if you can see the huge goose egg on his forehead...he was sleeping on the floor and kicked the bunk bed ladder and it fell on his face while he was sleeping. So scary for him!}

And, as much as I want to believe that it doesn't matter that we have three kids, one being a newborn, we can still do what we used to...well...things are different and it's a little more work and a little less fun on day trips (and based on the photos...just fewer photos when managing three kids). Nya screaming during the Beluga show and while stuck in downtown traffic were definitely not highlights. Why can't one of my kids take a soother?

However, I love the ocean and I love all of the marine life. I have amazing memories growing up fishing and exploring tide pools every summer. I have my scuba diving license and just love, love, love the ocean (Kai's name means `ocean' in Hawaiian). I have a degree in Biology and taught it for years too. So ya, I love seeing my kids touch sea anemone's and stand in awe of a huge octopus. Kai giggled with glee during the dolphin show and Koen loved seeing clown fish. They had a great day which makes me happy.

And, this is random but I do feel a little disconnected from the boys. I don't like that feeling. I think it's that they are just more independent these days and like hanging out with each other. Gary is able to take care of them a lot more these days as he is around. My attention is often on Nya. It's a bit sad that they are growing up and don't need me as much anymore. I mean, it's nice, but I'm not their world:)

Finally, Koen is our entertainment when in the van. He spends every car trip asking us all a whole bunch of questions; what makes you sad? What makes you happy? What's your favourite snack? What embarrasses you? etc. And, you have to have an answer for everything and everyone has to answer. I'll admit that it does make the time go faster!

Tomorrow Nya gets her 2 months immunizations. I'm hoping not to cry. I'll have a two month update on our bottle refuser (takes an hour to take it) tomorrow.

Love, Louise

Lower Falls

On Tuesday we `hiked' Lower Falls at Golden Ears. We had a nice early start as it was going to be pretty warm. I am a very organized/prepared type person and I'm finding that it's taking us longer to get as organized as I would like. I would rather get out of the house quickly then to spend an extra 20 minutes to make sure everything is all good to go. So, we had done this trail a few years ago with a jogging stroller so I thought we could do that again. Definitely not. We had to ditch the stroller in the bushes after 10 minutes and Gary ran back to the van to get the Ergo. We didn't have a backpack to carry our snacks and water so we only made it half way to the falls. And really, that's fine. More about the journey than the destination:) The BOYS love running in the trails and climbing giant rocks etc.

{Trying to teach Kai, a leftie, how to skip rocks}

I actually breastfed Nya in the Ergo while hiking because I didn't want to stop moving and get attacked by mosquitoes. Now that's a calorie burn! Talking about calorie burn, I ran 20 minutes yesterday! Go me! I thought I had lost 3 lbs so far but we realized our digital scale is broken. I've lost nothing. Oh well, at least I'm getting more fit?!

Last night Gary took the boys to his parents house so that they could all sleep in the tent trailer and I think they had a good time. I took Nya shopping and we enjoyed a nice quiet morning before heading to my sisters house for our weekly play date.

I have come the realization that 3 kids (one being a newborn and one being Koen)+ me working 20 hours a week = life is a lot busier. Leah, don't read this, but I'm thinking that I'm not sure that I can play football this fall. The idea of being gone for at least 4 hours on a Saturday (and driving into Vancouver) and then a practice during the week in Vancouver is a bit overwhelming. I do need to do something but maybe something not on a Saturday and less time consuming. We will see....

Looking forward to dinner with friends tonight and then a wedding tomorrow!! I'm going to shoot about 1.5 hours tomorrow:) My first full wedding is in 2 weeks and Nya has to take a bottle by then. I will say that yesterday I got her to take 3oz in a Tommee Tippee bottle in 15 minutes (well, it took 13 minutes to get her to want to take it and then just 2 minutes to down it)!! Let's hope that this is the new normal. Apparently you have to walk around with her while you feed her?!

Have a good night.

Love, Louise

Milk Savers

**Heads up that this is all about breastfeeding **

My friend told me about this today and I went out and bought one to try. It is so awesome in the sense that it saves milk that would otherwise just end up in a breast pad. I used it three times today. When I was nursing on one side, I used this on the other. I just got 1 oz each time, but still, then it wasn't wasted. Normally I only use one pair of breastpads per day so I'm not a big leaker so I wasn't sure how much I would get. Also, I'm thinking it would increase your supply because it allows the other side to flow a bit more so it would increase how much you made.

The downside is that it is not discrete and you could not wear it out in public but it works well at home. I'm thinking it would also stretch out your bra from wearing it during a feed. Finally, it is expensive ($29.95 from TJ Kiddies). However, I'm a fan and would definitely recommend it!! Wish I had it when I was breastfeeding Kai and Koen as I leaked WAY more with them.

By the way, Nya is 8 weeks old today and beautiful. Maybe it's because I'm her momma, but seriously, aren't her eyes so adorable?

Yay For Summer

My beautiful family.

Below is an outtake from trying to get a photo of our family. Then you can see that even if your family is crazy, a good photo is possible:) The main culprit of craziness/refusing to behave? Koen Chapman. Grrrrrr...he is SO frustrating. We had our extended family session yesterday which Gary and I did. So stressful with our own kids involved but overall I think we got some good ones...which I will get to edit once I finish work photos first:)

The five babies...mine's #4:) The oldest two are a week apart and then the three youngest are about 6 weeks apart between each one.

My sisters and the babes. I actually did email a photo into Global so we'll see if they do a follow up:)

{It's so interesting to me to look at all these babies and know how they all were born. Like, 4 natural births (one being a VBAC), one C-section, 2 had vacuum deliveries, only one overdue?, one induced, all 5 had midwives, 3 had OB's as well, small range of lbs from 7lbs 7 oz to 8lbs 8oz, four had 90th + percentile heads, all 5 breastfed:) The funniest thing is when we have a play date and one baby cries, almost all of us have letdown...you know, we all start leaking:)}

I am so, so, so thankful to have Gary home for the summer. Why?

1. I can exercise in the morning while it's cool. I'm on week 3 of running and I've lost 3lbs. `Only' 14 more to go. I'm actually enjoying the running and it's getting better:)

2. I can work during the day. I do love photography and I may have taken too much on for July but August will be a bit slower so that will be good:)

3. Non stop help!!! Two parents for three kids. I love it. Nya is a pretty easy baby but ya, there are days when she doesn't nap and she poops 10 million times. Days when we are sweating and having to hold her for hours or she screams (when she gets overtired, so difficult to help her get to sleep). However, the evenings are lovely so I will not complain!! Usually in bed by 9pm and then just up once or twice!

If you are jealous of the teacher summers off, please note that the salaries are not fabulous and that's why we need another income. Also, there is a lot of extracurricular volunteering and work at home that happens. So ya, there is the other side to it:)

Okay, Nya is napping so I'm supposed to be working....off I go! Oh, and to any of you that are following the running program, please let me know how it's going in the comments below!!

Have an excellent week!!

Love, Louise

Smiles

Lots to smile about around here!

1. Boys at soccer camp every morning makes my life so dreamy! They are having a blast and I get some me and Nya time.

2. My sister Maria came home from the hospital today with strict instructions to take it easy. That was a great answer to prayer!

3. Nya looks just like baby Kai. See below.

4. We finalized our will at the lawyers yesterday. It was something we have put off for about 5 years out of sheer procrastination. I won the bid on a will kit a few weeks back ($220, so I saved about $150!) and we finally did it. Feels good.

5. I'm on week 2 of running and it feels good!! I'm just drinking about 10 glasses of water on the days I run and that seems to keep the headaches away.

6. I may have gone shopping and bought some shirts that actually fit and look somewhat flattering. Got them at H+M this morning:)

7. NYA WENT TO SLEEP AT 8:30PM AND ONLY WOKE UP AT 3:30AM AND THEN WAS UP AT 7:30AM FOR THE DAY. YAHOO. BEST NIGHT EVER.

{her cute outfit today}

8. Nya is now smiling and laughing and cooing and it's soooooo cute. Love my kids. And my husband.

9. Thankful that my husband has the patience to spend one hour a day on bottle training. She's not getting any better but she does take some in the end when she's tired enough. Not ideal.

Have a great day!!

Love, Louise

My Sister

I've been given permission to share that my sister Maria is back in the hospital. In her previous pregnancy, she had post partum hypertension which landed her in critical care 10 days after Kenzie was born. Due to that, she was closely monitored throughout this entire pregnancy. Unfortunately, 9 days after Georgia was born, Maria's blood pressure spiked and she was admitted on Monday. She is still there.

{One hour after Georgia was born}

She needs another person with her when she is there (on the maternity ward) because she is not able to take care of Georgia with the drugs that she is on. The nurses are not allowed to watch Georgia because it is Maria that is the patient. Maria wants Georgia there for bonding and also breastfeeding. Fortunately Kris is on paternity leave so he can take care of the 3 other kids. Family has been chipping in and helping out where they can. I would just ask that you please think of her in your thoughts/prayers as she really wants to get home to be with her family again.

Thanks!

Louise

CUTE

Nya is 7 weeks old today. I woke her up because she was having too long of a nap before bedtime and she was sooooo unusually sleepy. So, I called over my `assistant' and got a quick picture of her sleeping. The blanket and headband are supposed to be for when her eyes are open (I may have ordered them off etsy) but they look cute here too. I'll have to get some pictures of her smiling and giggling, it's pretty cute:)

PS Someone could make a lot of money as a `Bottle Whisperer'. Seriously. It takes about 45 minutes for her to take 2 ounces from a bottle that Gary gives her. Anyone know if there's an amazing bottle out there that makes it easier? We've been using the Born Free ones. Oh well, we're not giving up and will continue doing this every single day.

Soccer Camp

The boys are at soccer camp this week! It's put on by our church and it's a huge event. Gary is coaching grade 4's, Kai is in the youngest group and Koen gets to attend mini camp because Gary is coaching. The boys loved it. Koen is only going 3 days because I wasn't sure how he would do going every day. I should have signed him up for the whole week!

{CUTENESS!}

I loved just having one little kid at home!! I was able to work for 2 hours, go shopping and go for a walk. Yahoo! Miss Nya will nap if in her car seat (in car or going for a walk) but not in her bed. I'm trying to break this habit but at the same time, I don't want to take the time now to do it or I don't get any `free' time. And, at night, I have a feeling she would sleep through the night if she wasn't a super pooper. Man, that kid's digestive system does not stop.

Hope you are having a great day. I'm loving the sunshine in the morning and evening when it's cooler. During the day, I'm not really enjoying the sweatfest. Should probably put the air conditioner in...

Love, Louise

PS Gary is currently giving Nya a bottle and it's not working. Stresses me out so much. I wish I could just feed her but we need to do this every day or she won't learn to take it. And, I need to go back to wedding work in less than a month!

Complainy Pants

**Warning: kind of a complainy post**

I'm tired. And sweaty. And oh so tired. Nya was up at 4:30am for the day. Today Gary photographed a wedding without me:( We've done about 50 of them together so it's strange not to be with him. And to be honest, it's hard to give up `control' of the day. I did one hour of the girls getting ready this morning and it's good that I wasn't gone longer because our super baby was a super fussy baby. Nothing like calling home and hearing your baby screaming. My poor baby is so off today, hope she's okay!

I'm glad I didn't do the wedding though. I would've been so tired and so dehydrated. I start back with full wedding days in August.

Sadly, we did not have a fun time at home today. I can't really take them all to the water park or the beach with Nya right now, especially with me being so tired. If the boys aren't occupied with an activity, they are beating each other up which makes for a long day. Oh well, we made it. Everyone is fed and bathed and just about ready for bed. Gary won't be home until much later.

On days like this, I wish I had my mom to help me out. Oh well, we made it.

And seriously, how long do I have to wear maternity clothes and yoga pants? So frustrating to have 20 extra pounds that aren't going anywhere.

And, to end on a good note. We had a quick visit with my friend Tessa this week. She is wonderful. And unique. And brilliant. We met when we went to an orientation day at UBC and found out we would be living on the same floor. That was, what, 16 years ago? Yikes, we are OLD! I wish we could see each other more often but for now, we'll just follow each other's blogs:)

{With our girls!}

Hope you had a good day!

Love, Louise

PS Anyone know why my posts are so wonky..some paragraphs spaced, some not?

Canada Day Long Weekend

Oh man, I've realized our summer is going to be a little less fun this year. It's really just about settling in as a family and doing some day trips. I am so thankful for all I have but at the same time, I do wish that it was a bit more adventurous. It will come, I know. That's just the reality of 3 kids with one being 6 weeks old.

The boys love being with `little sister' (that's seriously what we call her all day) when she is awake, and so far, they have been very gentle with her. She is so consistent with her 3 hour schedule. Eat, change, awake for a total of one hour, back to sleep. Her baby acne is gone and she is way more alert.

In our Canada Day clothes. Koen wasn't so excited about Canada Day:) He was over his flu but still really tired. As always, we went to McLeod Park in Langley to celebrate and see Bobs & Lolo. Unfortunately their show was at 6pm which was way too late for our kids (Koen needs to be asleep by 6:30pm unless you want a monster on your hands) so it was all good until about 15 minutes into their concert. We did end up leaving half way through as Koen was a major grumpapotomous.

Before the concert though, we went on a few rides with Ani and Izzy...

I think a lot of our summer will be me hanging out with Nya and Gary doing activities with the boys. Last night I had my first night out and SHE TOOK A BOTTLE. You don't know the stress of this (well, you might!) as it took a good 2 weeks to get Koen to take one. So, I left right before a feed with a freezer stocked full of milk and several bottles to try. She took two bottles while I was gone (for just 2.5 hours). We need to keep this up because I'm going to be gone for full days in August (for weddings). Anyway, MAJOR celebration here.

I feel like I really worked hard taking care of the kids and house for 6 weeks while Gary finished work and now I need some time to recover from that. It didn't help that the weather was terrible so it was a lot harder entertaining the kids. To people who have parents that volunteer to come and help them for days on end, be so thankful, that's all I can say! In regards to relaxing, part of that is reading! I read `The Art of Hearing Heartbeats' (so good!) and I'm almost done `Two Kisses for Maddy'.

Gary took the boys berry picking at Krause farms. I stayed home with Nya as I wasn't about to pick strawberries with her in the bjorn. I will probably go with them when we pick raspberries! Gary never takes pictures of our family unless I ask him too so I'm thinking there will be a bunch of activities not documented this summer.

And, I'm starting training for a 5km run. It's such a slow start but I know it's a healthy way for me to do it. Gary is gone all day today so I started yesterday instead. It was super easy with a walk, then run, then repeat. I did the first bit with Kai and then brought him home. Unfortunately, I get really bad headaches from exercise. Usually when I sweat a lot so not sure why it happened yesterday as there was no sweating. I'm assuming it was dehydration and I'll just have to really, really hydrate myself next time. Hope you all started ALI, TERRI, MARIA, and ASHLEY (and maybe HALEY?) !!! The program is in a tab at the top of the blog for your convenience:)

Yes, we are bathing her in her room because it's the only room with heat! I refuse to turn on the heat in July.

Well, Gary is gone all day to a lighting seminar so I better get going....

Hope you had a great long weekend!

Love, Louise

Baby Georgia!

Phew, finally I can breathe a sigh of relief!!! Maria had her baby girl and she is here safe and sound. Yahoo! Maria was induced on Friday (due to pre-eclampsia last time) and baby was born on Saturday (day before her due date) at 6:30pm. I don' t think she'd want me to share many details but it did go well considering she was induced and then ended up having to use oxytocin as well. That brings her family to four beautiful girls aged 6 and under:)

We were all doing shifts taking care of the girls and so that was a good thing in the sense that I didn't worry about Maria so much while she was in labour...we were all too busy taking care of her kids and our own little babies. Thank goodness Gary was home to watch our boys and that little Miss Nya likes the bjorn.

So, here is little miss Georgia Maria. AND, this may sound familiar but Maria has had two 9.5lb babies and this one? 7lbs 11oz! However, all these babies seem to have big heads:) Another 37cm head, just like Jack and Nya. You should've seen the molding and overlapping of the plates in her skull to get out, pretty cool!

Here she is, just one hour old...

{Maria, Kris and midwives}