Almost there...

Koen has been thinking about the Easter story a lot over the past 2 days.
1.  Koen (looking out of the window before stepping outside): We have to look out for Judas!
2.  Koen (praying): Dear God, please help mommy's mom to come alive again.  Amen.  (very sweet!)

{Nya looks very similar to me at this age in this picture.  However, I often find her looking like Kai.  We will see!  Regardless, she is so happy and cute.}

Nya has a top tooth coming through.  So far, we have not noticed much of a change in her but if it's anything like round one of teething, this could be a terrible spring break! Well, at least we know what to do now.  Natural homeopathic type stuff in the day and advil at night!  She is adorable.  She is a handful.  As long as she is moving she is happy.  Go, go, gooooooo!!  She's cruising furniture right now but not walking on her own yet.

Kai is lovely.  I look at him and can't believe how huge he is.  Heavy. Solid.  Mature.  Where's my cute little toddler?  I think he will be a wonderful husband one day.  I know, weird thought, but I really do!  Here is an excerpt from one page of his skate shaped journal entry on skating lessons with his class:

When I read `I was joyful that my mom and my sister and my brother Koen came', it made me smile and tear up a bit.  I never know how much to be there for field trips as it's often hard dragging along his siblings and I don't want to smother him but apparently for now, he likes it!  So, I will continue when I can.  I also love how he spelled `used to' as `yousto'.  Makes sense!

The countdown to spring break is on!!!  We are going to the island to celebrate my oma's 90th birthday (my mom's mom) and then continuing on to Ucluelet/Tofino.  We stay in Ucluelet becuase it's about 1/4 the price for a nice suite for our whole family.  We can make our own meals then too.   We don't usually do any excursions but this time we are going to the aquarium there AND going on a whale and sea lion watching tour.  Growing up, we had our own boat and did that every spring break (and fishing every summer in Bamfield) so I have great memories of it.  Hopefully the kids love it!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and hopefully the sun comes out!!
Love,
Louise

Cuteness Overload

Just went looking for a bathing suit for Nya.  Dudes, size 12-18 month girl bathing suits are way too cute!!  I probably should get her a full UV protected suit but the two pieces are sooooooooooooooo adorable!.  That is all.

{And because he is cute too.  Koen is OBSESSED with his letter poems.  Today they did `T' so he had to lay all of the other ones out, in order, right when he got home.} 

The Weekend

Oh man, all iPhone photos again.  Boo.  Oh well, Spring Break is soon enough and we'll have our cameras out hopefully!  The countdown is on and we are looking forward to some family time.  Well, to be honest, I wouldn't mind a few hours AWAY from my family but as long as we are doing something fun it'll be good:)  On Sunday I went out of the house for an hour and the best part was sitting in the van in the mall parking lot, eating a Purdy's ice cream bar.  So ridiculous but I sooooooo needed a break from `momming'.  

So, spent some lame money on our van this weekend.  I think that is the one place I get bitter about putting money into.  Vehicles.  They are just so expensive, especially since gas is CRAZY expensive.   Had to replace the battery (good job, Gary) and the rim on one of the tires.  We have a lot of construction going on which may have led Gary to drive over a curb in the dark.  Anyway, all fixed up.

I love that Nya just eats what we do.  She's still our smallest eater but she will try most things.  She is a lot more like Koen than Kai at this age.  Louder, more monkeyish and into everything, great pincer grasp, worse sleeper etc.

The boys put the trampoline together this weekend.  This will probably be the last year that Kai will want to use it as it's not super huge.

The boys love it and I love that they have another way to get out all of their physical energy instead of just playing hockey in the basement or wrestling around Nya.

Below the boys are watching Adam Loewen playing in the Team Canada vs Team USA game.  I taught him Biology 12 years back so it's pretty cool to see how well he is doing.  Anyway, this is the conversation:

Me: Kai, I taught Adam years ago.

Kai (eyes wide): YOU taught him how to play?!!!!

Below you can see that nothing stands in Nya's way.  She'll crawl over anything/anyone.

Below is the brochure for a campaign that the school is doing right now.  They are building a new primary campus which will be attached to the middle school.   Our Kai Bear is the boy in the photo.

Kai did tell the photographer that his mom could have done it too (I have done photos for their campaigns in the past).

Gary and I taught a photography class on Saturday night.  It's always a bit hectic as I had to be out of the house by 6:30pm.  That meant getting Koen and Nya down and running out the door.  They had moved the room we were in so I was a little scattered but by 7pm we were good to go!  We raised $750.00.  We had hoped for a bit more but three people had to cancel last minute.  Oh well, every bit counts and we were able to donate it all yesterday.  Big thanks to my sister Maria for babysitting.  

This morning was one of the best feelings.  While Nya napped, I went downstairs and rode our (super crappy) bike for half an hour while watching tv.  Felt soooooo good!!  Usually I can never exercise in the day because I'm working but I am completely caught up photography wise.  I am LOVING my self imposed restrictions.  One session/week and none on holidays.  I worked hard so I could have this week off to get caught up on house stuff, taxes (tried to be `cool' online but ended up doing the old paper version, I LOVE getting out my calculator and all that jazz) , trip prep etc.

In other news, my thyroid levels are currently in the NORMAL RANGE!!!   This is very exciting.  Last time it took 1.5 years to stabilize and be off meds etc.  This time, just 5 months.  I'm hoping to stay in the right range.  My body is still weak and tired but now I can start exercising more.  I do have to get this sinus infection dealt with still...it's been going on for far too long.

Also, we went to another church on Sunday to check it out and see if it's a fit for us.  This might not sound like a big deal but to me it is!  I went to the same church for 26 years and then went to Gary's (our) church for the next 8 years.  They have started a church plant (new church in a community closer to ours) so we checked it out.  This is a big decision to be made as we love our current church/friends/community etc.  Such a great building, great kids program, small group etc. However, our current church is very large.  There's something nice about being in a smaller church where you get to know everyone a lot better.  More of a family feel.  Also, because it's closer it is easier to invite people to.   Change can be good.  We will see what we do.

Anyway, better get going on to life around here.  Tonight for dinner I am making sweet and sour pork (YUM!!!) and then once the kids are in bed, my friends are coming over for the Bachelor finale!  Looking forward to just hanging out with a glass of wine:)

Louise

Our Trip Update and Other Stuff!

Eek!! I booked our last flight today.  Do you know how many different flights we have?  We have 7 flights (or just 5 if you don't include stopovers).  Ya.  I have not taken the best deal on each flight as I would rather have the most direct routes and/or leaving at good times.  Except for our first 16 hour flight  (one stopover) when we leave at 2:40am:)  That is the only part of our trip that I am nervous about...just getting through the airports okay and Nya on the plane.  

I have hotels/guest houses booked for the Thailand portion.  Haven't started thinking about WHAT things were are doing yet but I'm assuming a trek and the elephant conservation and YUMMY food every day.  The Philippines portion I'm not so worried about as our friends live there so they are the experts!  

I bought a travel crib for Nya!!  It's a Phil & Ted's that I bought second hand for half the price of a regular one. I bought it at Once Upon A Child.  I had checked craigslist but they went so quickly.  It was still $100.00 but I figure we will get a few years worth of use out of it AND I can sell it for close to that when we do decide to sell AND I know other people would like to borrow it.   I have sold her jumperoo and other baby items so I have a `fund' that I can use:)  

The reason I like it is that it is so light (just 7lbs!) and it has a mesh cover to keep out bugs. After dragging around a huge playpen throughout Mexico, this will be much better!  We plan on using it next summer when we go camping in Oregon.  

We will be `practicing' with it over Spring Break.  Eek!  Spring Break is almost here.  Love it.  Love having something to look forward to.  It involves two small trips and painting our bedroom:)

Another step done: everyone has their updated passports!  Now we just all need to get our Hep A vaccinations and I'm going to make sure Koen and Nya have their up to date immunizations before we go as well.     

These frogs sit on our stove.  They are the frogs my dad bought my mom when he proposed to her.  I should probably ask him the full story but I like looking at them when I'm baking in the kitchen.  Baking is when I feel closest to my mom.  Especially today as I made boterkoek using her boterkoek pans.  

If you are interested in EC, it's pretty amazing.  Nya has been using the toilet for about 6 weeks now. I haven't changed a dirty diaper in 2 weeks. She only uses 2 diapers in 24 hours.  One at night and one in the day.  Isn't that amazing?  I only put her on the toilet 3 times a day for about 1 minute each time.  The only time it worked just 50% of the time was when she was teething.  Her digestive system was off and she was miserable.  My friend joked that I am one of `those' moms and it's true.  I seriously just like it for the minimal environmental impact.  We do have cloth diapers too but they don't fit well under her leggings so we don't use them all the time.  If you've never tried it, I might sound crazy, but it is really easy.  Easier than changing diapers!

Kai has participated in Friday Night Basketball for the last 6 months or so.   It has been good but I don't love having it on Friday nights.  It makes our nights rushed and we basically have dinner together and then off Gary and Kai go.  It is a great program though and Kai has learned a lot.  He is a hard worker.  We will not be registering him in it for the next season.  Instead, we are looking into ball hockey as that is his one major passion and has been for about a year now. 

Gary and I are teaching a photography class this weekend.  We have 17 people signed up which means we will be able to donate $850.00 to the school.  Likely we will chip in the last $150 ourselves as I want to be able to give $1000.00.  It is being matched until March 12th, so really, it's like giving $2000:)

All  right, better get lunch on the table here!

Love, Louise

What Would You Do With A $150.00 Date?

Pretty last minute, Gary and I were given a pair of Canucks tickets for last nights game!   Such a nice gift!  I considered letting Kai go but it would've just been too late for him and I know he would've been a mess for the rest of the week.  So, Gary and I decided to have a nice date!

**The next two paragraphs are just boring processing of what NOT to do**

Very exciting, but first I just need to vent/process a poor decision that we made.  I wish I had more time to make a better decision.  Gary's parents were able to come watch the boys and they are super easy to put to bed.  Nya, on the other hand, needs to feed around 6 pm and then go to sleep.  It is the one time I def. feed her to sleep.  So, being that I assumed it would take longer to get down to the game, we were going to leave around 5:30pm so we decided to take her with us.  I assumed that she would nap on the way. I assumed she would feed in the van before we went to the game.  I hoped she would fall asleep in the Ergo.  Wow. So wrong.  Looking back, we should've stayed home until 6 pm, put her to bed, and then left.  It only took us one hour to get from our front door to our seats.

She loved the loud noise, the music (she clapped), the loud guy behind us etc.  However, there was also a point in which she spit up on the guys jacket in front of us.  I was mortified.  M.O.R.T.I.F.I.E.D. Thankfully his wife was super okay with it and thought Nya was adorable.  There was the whole walking around trying to find a quiet place to breastfeed.  I ended up breastfeeding her in the Ergo while standing in the bathroom stall for 10 minutes.  After the first period, she was not happy.  So, not a very great date with Nya along.  I have learned a lot.  It has also freaked me out about the 16 hour flight to SE Asia!!  I need to find which drugs will make her sleep!!  The better option would've been to arrive 5 minutes late to the game.  OR, I really need to put in the work to get her to take a bottle every day.  Regardless, I'm so thankful for the tickets.  It was the second hockey game I've ever been to and it was fun to go and do something different.

*********

One of my thoughts as I looked around was `Oh my goodness, each person has paid $70 to who knows what for a ticket.   So my question for you is the following:

'If you were given $150.00 for a date, and had to spend it all,  what would you do?' 

Go.  Everyone has to answer.  Just kidding :)  But I'm curious!!!

Mama!

Today she started saying `mama'!  Twenty seconds in, she says it.  Twenty one seconds in, I look like I'm going to cry.  Apparently I kiss her a lot.

Three Kids Are Expensive

It took me having three kids but now I spend money I wouldn't have before.  On coffee and wine.

Quick Five

1.  After a ridonculous night with Nya on Monday (I went to bed at 11:30pm per usual) and she woke up at 1:19am and was up until 5am!!!!!  She then went back to sleep for 2 hours.  So ya, 4 hours sleep for me. Terrible.  It was because she was sounding pretty croup-ish/barking like a seal.  I have a feeling she has the same sorta respiratory system as Koen.  They just get colds bad. They last forever.  Last night I tried this with her (we had used it for Kai) and I loved it.  Can't say what her night would've been without it, but man, no barking.  It's homeopathic and all natural ingredients.  Sounds good to me!

2.  Usually for me to lose weight, it's a simple A+B=C.  Excercise + Healthy Eating = weight loss and fitness.  Well, I feel like it's now very complicated.  Like a quadratic equation.  The small issues are breastfeeding, a busted jaw (can't eat raw veggies unless I want even more pain), a chronic sinus infection causing fatigue and congestion (3 months!), and time.  The big issue is an autoimmune disease that creates havoc on my hormones/body/thyroid etc.    I'm weak.  I'm sore walking up stairs.  I'm still doing quite well in comparison to last time but man, I want my normal body back.  I think I need a fitness routine which involves minimal cardio and I don't know....my muscle are weak.  I'm thinking yoga would be good.   Anyway, just frustrated.  Thinking it's time to get in shape but not sure how to approach it with all of these variables.  I've got 10 lbs that really need to go to be healthy and fit comfortably in my clothes.  I want to be able to whip out a 5km run and feel fine afterwards.    

3.  Gary and I are doing a fundraiser to raise money for Surrey Christian School as they are building a new primary campus.  For two more weeks, the donations are being matched by an anonymous donor so I really want to donate $1000.00 (and therefore it would really be $2000.00) through this workshop we are putting on.  We have 20 spots and so far 11 are taken.  If you know anyone who would like to get to know their DSLR a bit better, please send them my way!  It may be time to put it on my personal fb page which isn't my favourite thing to do...

4.  I go to a Mom's Group at our church once a week.  Child care for the kids!  Time to drink a coffee and talk with other momma's.  Love it.  We are doing `Grace Based Parenting' and although it's not earth shattering, there's always something to get out of it.  Love that time, once a week, when I get some me time during the day without the kiddos.

5. One of the things my mom gave us before she died was a recipe book with all our favourite recipes. Gary and I have great memories with various food and are planning on making our own little Chapman cookbook for the kids to have.    The problem is taking pictures of these meals (I want a lot of pictures in it!) as once the food is on the table, it's go time!  So ya, that is our plan.  Our goal.  Thirty recipes.  I think I'll just make it via shutterfly or blurb or something.  We'll see.  Maybe we'll have a new edition every few years:)  

All right, time to get to work!  

Love,

Louise

Nine Months

Wow.  This month was by far the wildest in regards to developments.  She is now sitting, rolling, pulling herself to standing (and then holding on with just one hand!), crawling and starting to furniture cruise.   And here I thought she wouldn't be walking before she was one...I was very wrong!  She is also the proud recipient of two teeth.  I'm thinking she is just a petite 18lbs. 

{Not a `good' picture but such a cute one!}

She loves:
-to chase her brothers
-to play with DVD's
-to try to get ahold of the remote and iPhone
-to try to stand up holding on to everything
-being held
-going for walks
-trying to rip your face apart with her ever sharp nails
-dogs, as long as they don't touch her
-wrestling
-BATHTIME.  Totally her favourite activity ever.  She LOVES the water.
-putting every single thing in her mouth
-to chat.  Dada, Hi-der (sounds like `hi there'), Lubda (we interpret it as `Love Ya')
-to shriek

{View from the Ergo.  Love the Ergo.}

She does not love:
-food (the boys were soothed and comforted and bribed with food, what the heck will I do with her?  Hopefully she likes stickers or something????). She does love rice cereal and yogurt but will only eat about 1/2 to one cup of food per meal.
-sleep.  Still gets up at least 2x per night.  Goes to bed by 7 pm though.  Two naps per day.
-looking at people (she never looks at their eyes, totally a Gary trait!!).  So hard to get her looking at the camera and I KNOW how to get kids to look.
-breastfeeding (still doing it though, not sure she can take a bottle..not trying)
-getting into her car seat (once in, she is okay)


She is on her 7th cold.  Seriously.  This reminds me so much of Koen, just sick all winter long.  She handles it okay and we just use the humidifier which helps.

I still put her on the toilet about 3 times a day.  Usually she will poop first thing in the morning and the other times she just pees.  Sometimes, when she's in one of her `moods' she refuses to sit on it so I don't make her at all.

Happy Nine Months Baby Girl!!  We love you.

A lot.

Nya Cutie Pants

I'm supposed to be working as Nya is napping but I just wanted to share some pictures of her:)  These were taken with the new camera in early morning/low light at ISO 1000.  That is a pretty high ISO and I wanted to see how much noise (graininess) there was...I'm impressed!  

{She got stuck under the chair.  I'm nervous for the day that she discovers the stairs to go to our upstairs.  We don't have a gate for that.  So far we are childproofed and she is pretty safe on the main floor.}

 I have changed my attitude about her not sleeping well at night.  My friend Tessa just said a few things about savouring those late night snuggle/feeds and it's good to hear.  It has gotten better (maybe up once or twice but then up for the day around 5:30am).  I'm taking this time to just hold her and love her and comfort her.  This won't last much longer as in just a few months she will likely stop breastfeeding.  And then, when she's big like her brothers, I'm thinking she'll be too busy for hugs.  She's not a cuddly girl.  At all.  So for now, I'll take our 12:30am and/or 3:30am dates and enjoy her cuddles as she holds my hand and rubs my arm and falls back to sleep while I feed her.  

Toesies.  Her baby toe lays on it's side like mine does.  If that makes sense.

Um, seriously, her eyes?!!  I can't imagine what she'd look like with hair:)

Each kid has LOVED standing at our ottoman full of toys and it has taught each of them to walk as they move from one side of it to the other. 

Below is a picture of `the teeth' for all my Nerd friends.

I hope you are having a great week. I should get back to work before Nya Cutie Pants wakes up.
Love, Louise
PS Crazy thing is that she plays cars.  Like, doesn't eat them but pushes  them around!! She's not even 9 months old. So crazy.  You can see it here.