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}