We left for Edmonton this morning around 10:30. It would have been sooner but the night wasn’t great, and we were pretty bleary eyed. That is how we prefer to roll on our road trips, though. We leave when we’re all up, feeling decent, and have had time to load up without feeling super rushed.

We had bought each kid a mini magnadoodle toy to play with on the trip. They were tucked into their car seats, which went over well when we loaded them into the van. For about five seconds. I won’t lie. Rowan screamed for about two hours ish. He’s in that tough spot where he can’t say too much, and can’t quite keep up, but desperately wants to! He is also in the middle of the backseat, so he has to rely on his siblings to give him the toys and stuff that he wants. So he screams and reaches and no one knows what he wants. Meanwhile, we can’t communicate well with anyone in the back because he’s screaming so loud! It was a pretty interesting first leg of the trip, to say the least. Dekker and Laela are more used to long rides in the van, but Rowan is not a seasoned road tripper at all. It was a LOUD couple of hours.

Roughly halfway through, Rowan dosed off and we had some nice peaceful driving time, but it didn’t last too terribly long. He was in better shape when he woke up, but still pretty high pitched and shrieky. It was an adventure, but all things considered, it actually went pretty well! Solly slept most of the time, Laela was totally happy, Dekker was a bit bored but handled himself very well, and Brady and I could hold hands and listen to music and sip coffee. It was nice.

We got to our hotel an hour after check in and our room wasn’t ready! We were a bit surprised, but I said we could definitely occupy ourselves for a bit if that was easier. We had forgotten a couple of little things and knew we’d have to hit Superstore or Walmart this evening anyway. But instead, they just moved us around, into the exact same style of room.

We got all of the kids up into the room, and I got on feeding the now incredibly sad baby boy. Brady headed to the van to bring in our stuff. Judge if you must, but it is AMAZING how much stuff you bring when you go on a trip with four kids! I guess maybe its just us, but we had a GOOD laugh when Brady couldn’t fit the baggage cart through the door!

Can we at least get credit for being somewhat organized??

We took some time and set the room up. I’ve got to say, if this trip goes well, we have found our Edmonton hotel!! We are paying a very reasonable price to stay here. The big kids are tucked away in the bedroom with a queen bed and just enough room for a playpen…

And Brady and I are sleeping in the king bed in the main area! That is all there is to the room really. No couch or sitting area, but our massive bed doubles as a couch and makes for great cuddle time!!

We went out for supper nearby at McDonalds. Rowan specifically was super overdone so we needed to be somewhere where he could be loud. And he took advantage of it! Haha! When we got home, we got some crackers and cookies and watched some Netflix in our bed before sending them all off to bed. It was SUCH a nice evening!! Of course they’re all still wide awake and giggling like crazy, as we suspected. They’ll eventually fall asleep, right??

Solly is sleeping in the big closet nearby, and we’re thinking we’ll cuddle in and call it a night ourselves soon. We are SO TIRED!! But it was a great first day 🙂 Hopefully tomorrow, we’ll make it to the zoo, or something of the sort. With coffee. And then some more coffee. I’m not expecting to get too terribly much sleep, but I think even two potentially rough nights would be worth the fun we’re going to have!

I’m in a bit of denial about my new age, so we’ll just blow past that and talk about how I spent my birthday!

Solly was VERY eager to be the first to wish me a happy birthday, so he made a point to keep Brady and I up for a solid 2.5-3 hours in the night. How loving. I woke up in the worst shape sickness-wise than I’ve been in this time around. You know when your throat is so tight that, if you move your neck the wrong way, you cough and choke and feel somewhat miserable? That was me. I had no voice, and very little hope for a pleasant day.

I was pleased, however, to hear from lots of my friends and family this morning via text, Facebook, email, phone, etc. Its always special to feel celebrated! Kim actually drove to Starbucks and got me a white chocolate mocha, which was sooo warm on my throat! I felt very loved by all.

My dad’s side of the family is having a reunion in the city this weekend, and we had committed to spending this Saturday with everyone, but we had finally decided that it just wasn’t going to work out with me being in such crappy shape. But as the morning wore on, I was able to find a bit of my voice, and get moving around a bit better. We cancelled our cancellation, and put Rowan down for a nap right away. We rested up a bit in the afternoon, and when Rowan finally woke up somewhere between 3:30 and 4:00, we got everyone dressed and shipped off to the reunion.

We had a really really nice time at the reunion!! We met at my cousin’s acreage, so there was lots of room to run and play, and within minutes, Dekker had taken off with a few of the kids! Laela had also gone, but I thought it was very out of character for Deks to just run along and play with new people so easily! It wasn’t long before he was jumping on the trampoline and having an absolute heyday! Laela was right in there with everyone else, playing on the swings and the slide, and chatting it up with everyone. One of my cousins picked her an apple off of a tree, and while she said she didn’t think it tasted very good, she ate the whole thing. And I mean the WHOLE thing, core and all! Lol! Couldn’t have been that bad, Laela!

After a pretty hilarious attempt at a whole group picture, lots of visiting, and supper, they pulled out a birthday cake for me! Everyone sang and I was even given a few gifts 🙂 It was a really lovely time. Dekker asked me later “Mommy, did you just love your surprise birthday party?” I definitely did 😉 It was a nice evening to catch up with family that I rarely see, and to introduce my kids to the relatives they’d never met.

We’re home now, the kids are down and quiet, and Brady and I are packing madly! We are suckers for punishment, and are heading out to Edmonton tomorrow! We found a hotel that would actually take our group at a reasonable price, and we made some plans to hit Ikea, do some south common shopping, and hopefully the zoo! I am SO excited to go on a little trip with the family, finally pick up some of the furniture we’ve been eyeing online since before we bought our house, and spend some time away, just because. We LOVE to be in our house, and in our town, and I don’t feel the need to escape like I used to feel in our last house. But changing up the scenery, just to be together as a family, is such a treat. I wish we weren’t all sick going into it, but today proved that we’re well enough, and getting better. Mornings are hard, but noses are drying, and again, a change of scenery can be somewhat healing.

Taking the time to write this has given me a nice break from working, haha, so off I go!

Rain or shine, snot or cough, I was really excited for physio today! Since I last saw my physiotherapist, I’ve gone off pretty much all of my medications, except for the occasional headache I still get, which I take Tylenol for. She gave me so much information, and she and Dr. Guselle both made me feel very empowered and encouraged. With those things in mind, and some serious miracles, I am feeling considerably better!

Brady had finished his house earlier than expected, so instead of him meeting me at the appointment and hanging with the kids in the van, he came home and tapped me out, so I got ready and headed out on my own. Our little outing last night was a nice save for my cabin fever, but this was pretty refreshing as well.

I started with physio, where she was super surprised that I had gone off of everything! She gave me a lot more information and we made another plan of exercises and things to think about. She is so low stress, and is SO optimistic. In one instance, I had to do something with my legs individually, and I could tell my right leg was shaky. I commented “I hate my right leg, it gives me so much grief.” She turned me around and reminded me that I shouldn’t hate any part of me, but that my leg gave me problems because before, there was no plan. She reassured me that I will be able to function WELL down the road without insane leg or pelvic pain. I left feeling very encouraged, and like I am very capable of finding improvement sooner than later.

After physio, I headed to Walmart to buy some snacks and treats for a little trip the fam and I are hoping to take soon. I succumbed to the pressure of the cosmetics counter as well and managed to walk away with a few beauty products as well. Those things, a grocery or two, and new water bottles for Brady and I were all I needed, and I was done fairly quickly. I knew my errands seemed to end too soon, and as I type this now, I’m realizing I completely skipped Starbucks!!! Blast!

Still avery successful, encouraging outing, I’d say. I’ll see my physiotherapy again in two weeks, and we’ll keep moving from there, but I’m feeling very positive and hopeful that I can be in considerably less pain at least very soon. Now to kick this cold….

There may be hope for us at last! Some of us have seen small improvements in our health today!

I woke up without the full body ache, so that was a fun surprise, and I felt much more chipper because of it!

Dekker is still snotty, but not half as bad as yesterday. He’s pretty cheerful through it too. He even asked to vacuum the dining room yesterday, so I think the worst of it is over.

Laela is my kid who handles sickness like a champ, so while she is JUST as snotty, and her bum is now raw and rashy thanks to her sick poops, she is happy go lucky like always. She’s definitely still sick though.

Rowan slept until 1:00pm. As in from the night. I’m not even kidding. Actually, it was a bit later than that. It was around 1:20 that I finally went in and lulled him awake. He’s still snotty and tearful, same as yesterday.

Solly is feeling his cold now too. While he’s still completely bright eyed and clear, his throat is driving him crazy. But he has slept well throughout the day today, so I have hope!

Miraculously, Brady continues to be well. We’re all feeling a little bit cabin fevery so we may tempt fate and venture out this evening. We’ll see. I’m not sure I’m that ballsy. But I just washed my hair, which happens almost never, and I feel like I’ve washed the sickness right off! Haha! Yay hygiene!

I’m feeling optimistic that at least some of our weekend plans will work out 🙂 Woot! Keep praying!!

This is the time in the afternoon that I usually blog in, if it all works out. Rowan is napping, and Solly is dozing in his bouncy chair. The two big kids are eating lunch, and on sick days, they are eating in front of the tv. So I am hands-free. Dishes are done, house is fairly tidy, and I can sit. Woot!

As I’ve been saying, we have some stuff coming up this weekend, and I was really hoping to spend this week getting organized and excited. However, my brain isn’t working especially well these days. Just ask Brady. I can barely form a sentence correctly on the first try. Its sad. But I think we have a plan!

Praise the Lord, Brady is still healthy! I really really hope he stays that way, because he is an incredible help around here (See, I first wrote that Brady is an incredible house. I’m that good.) We chatted over lunch, and we made little plans-ish about when to do laundry, and how to get organized in a few ways. I can be making lists also. Most importantly though, I really need to keep doing what I’m doing and lay low. As I’ve said far too many times in the last few days, we NEED to get better!

I’m going to keep this post short, so I can start listing a little bit. Oh! And I should eat lunch. Haha! Always so much to do! I’m sure I’m not the only person who forgets to eat once in a while, lol!

We’ll keep today’s post short and sick. I mean sweet.

I figure, when I’m tired of hearing myself complain about feeling sick, you guys probably are. I’ve gone from a painful, illness ridden pregnancy into a very difficult and painful recovery, and now, less than a week into feeling somewhat well again, I have a cold. And I’ve taken you guys along with me! I work hard not to be a downer, but the struggle is real.

Today was the day of the cold where my body ached like there was no tomorrow. My legs felt like they were going to fall off if I moved them, or even if I stayed still. My back and head were also feeling it. I’m SO thankful that my two older kids stay relatively chipper throughout the day. You wouldn’t know they were sick if you didn’t see their red chapped faces. Rowan woke up super hard, had about an hour of happy time, and then was ready for bed. Like more than ready. As in I mentioned “bed” and he toddled off to his room. I followed him when he didn’t resurface, and he was sitting beside his crib, waiting for me. Solly spent the majority of the day sleeping, like yesterday. He’s not snotty, but when he cries, his voice is so hoarse. Thanks to all of his mucus, he’s also having trouble getting his milk to stay down. Poor kid is suffering.

Soooo that’s all you get. Haha! I don’t want to talk about being sick anymore, but that’s pretty much all I have to share today. Wish us luck! We NEED to be better by the weekend!

Remember how I said the the kids were super tired from church and being out in the afternoon yesterday? They were kind of irritable. I was in pain. We were all trying hard, but it was a bit iffy for the rest of the day.

This morning, it was all explained. 5/6 of us are sick. SICK. Rowan had been up in the night, which never happens anymore. As in it he’s been sleeping thru the night for maybe six months. Last night, he woke up bawling around 2:00am. I went to him and tried to snuggle him. He wouldn’t lean into me. I brought him some water but he wouldn’t drink. I went to hand him his cuddly blanket and it was soaked. Weather it was saliva, tears, whatever, it was soaked from corner to corner. I got him a fresh blanket, and then he leaned in and cuddled. I lay him down and he slept for the rest of the night.

I got the kids up pretty late, because I woke up feeling like total trash. So did Solly. When we did finally drag ourselves out of bed, Laela and Dekker were awake and both seemed pretty cheerful. Rowan was still out, so we left him in there and got breakfast on the table while Solly dozed off in the bouncy chair.

The next few hours were spent wiping noses. Thats it. Well, wait. Thats not true. We painted nails.

These were the happiest snot faucets in this world, haha!, however briefly. They were pretty much zombies at this point so they easily sat still and weren’t too fidgety.

Why isn’t Rowan participating? Besides the fact that he’s one year old and would NOT have sat for it, he was sleeping. Still. He slept until 1:00pm. No lie. When he did finally wake up, he seemed somewhat refreshed. I offered him a banana and he agreed to get out of bed.

He ate maybe half of the plate worth of food, so not too much, but he drank a good amount, and wanted to go play. He was a snot faucet like his siblings, so I made my first ever attempt with him to combat the snot-in-hair predicament with a ponytail. How have I waited so long?!?!

He’s still a little wispy, but very very cute.

He was good to go until around 3:00. He started to get really hard to figure out, when he’s usually a pretty clear communicator. I asked him if he wanted to go to sleep, and he burst out crying and came at me, arms up and waving. So I put him to bed and he slept until 4:45, when Brady finally woke him up in hopes that he’d still sleep at night. I know, I know, never wake a sleeping baby. But we’re doing our best here.

The only picture I have of Solly is a selfie of he and I.

This is what he looked like pretty much all day. He slept pretty much non-stop, and when he did wake up, he would cry and cry and screech, obviously very uncomfortable and unhappy.

This all just came on us last night/this morning. If you’d like to pray for us, PLEASE DO! Brady still feels 100%, and we hope and pray he stays that way! We have an important weekend coming up as well, so we would really love to be better before then! So I say again, pray and root for us, if you’d like to. I feel like we all carry certain anxiety about illness at this point, remembering that awful six weeks of illness earlier in the year. Don’t even want to go there. *shivers*

We FINALLY made it to church this morning! We’ve been waiting and wanting to go for a while now, and there is always a reason not to. Some are valid and some are not. But it was honestly SO nice to go back and see everyone and just be in that environment again. People were so happy to meet Solly, and everyone was very gracious and understanding about us not being in attendance for a while. Many people related back to the times when they took breaks from church because their lives were just too chaotic and busy. It felt really nice to have people understand and not judge. A lovely group we have at our church.

After church, we went to my parents house for a wiener roast with the whole gang. It was nice to be out in the sun, roasting hot dogs over the fire, while the kids played and sweated and had fun. A ways into it, Laela asked to come inside, so Solly and I went with her. The rest of the group followed soon after, and the little nappers woke up soon after that as well. Eventually Netflix was turned on so everyone could have a brain break.

We left around 3:30. We often spend the whole day, but since we did church for the first time in quite a while, the kids were very tired, and my body was feeling it! I’ve been off of my crazy med regimen for a few days now, but that doesn’t mean I’m pain free. And by the time we left, I was feeling it.

I’m so thankful for the supportive husband that I have, because right now, I’m regrouping. He has all of the kids in the living room, and I’m upstairs in bed. As soon as I got home, I came up here, closed the door, and made my changes. I took Tylenol, first and foremost. Definitely not a failure, or even a drawback, but my body needs some outside help. I took my bra off, and let my hair down. Nothing tight right now. And I’m laying in bed in that butterfly position that I mentioned a day or two ago. Trying to be as relaxed and released as possible. Not because I’m in excruciating pain, but because I don’t want to be. And hey, its a good excuse to day blog!

Since Solly has been born, I’ve been taking medication pretty much constantly to keep my pain under control. Its not a secret. Sometimes, even on medication, its been very out of control. Its not been easy being in pain for so long. I’ve tried a handful of times to change my doses up, or spread them out a little bit, but after a few hours, I’m usually paying dearly for my attempt. The days that I tried to make changes, I spent the evenings laying flat on my back in bed, waiting for my codeine to kick in. But those days were important, because I needed to know where my pain levels were sitting. I’ve felt so much anxiety about taking so many pills, and not knowing when to stop, but not feeling brave enough to try to ween off, and having fear about being in pain again. Like I said, its hard to be in pain for so long. I know my pain is nothing compared to what others go through, but I have definitely been struggling.

I had my physio appointment on Monday, and I saw Dr. Guselle on Thursday. Both appointments were very encouraging in several ways. Neither doctor was pushy about going off of my meds, but both were very hopeful that I could be off of them soon, and that this wouldn’t have to be something that worsened over time. There is a lot to say about those appointments, but it would get all jumbled up on a blog post, so just trust me. I feel very hopeful, for lots of reasons.

So I did a ballsy thing yesterday. I didn’t take anything. No pills. Zero. All. Day. I didn’t tell anyone.

I know. It wasn’t the smartest move. If it went back, I would be in ROUGH shape. It would take a LONG time to get back on track. But you guys have to understand. I am SO fed up with all of this garbage. My doctor and physiotherapist made me feel invincible. Probably more invincible that I should have felt, but so be it. I went for it.

I had moments of pain throughout the day, but when those moments came, I took stock of my body, and relaxed the muscles that I had tensed up unnecessarily. I also do a lot of swaying back and fourth, just in another effort to loosen up a bit. If nothing else, they would distract me momentarily, and I would keep being busy.

To round the day up, I would say that while it was not the most comfortable I’ve ever been, it was a VERY reasonable day. Reasonable enough that I didn’t take any pills today either!

Ok, thats a lie. Hold on. I took Tylenol first thing this morning because I woke up with a headache. I could tell that I had clenched my teeth through the night, which I think is probably because my body is still in pain and a bit stressed out. But I went from 27 pills per day to the two I took this morning! I call that a HUGE success! And you guys probably do too, because you won’t have to hear me weep and wail about it as much anymore, lol! Woot!

Thank you Lord for freeing me of this ridiculous life-changing pain! You certainly know just how much I can take!

All this week, I was anticipating Thursday, because I was eager to talk to my doctor. Its always nice to have the all-clear postpartum for me, to hear that Solly is thriving, and to just catch back up in general. Since that was all yesterday, I didn’t have too much on my plate for today. The one event on the calendar was a Bachelorette date with Jerilee in the evening. That is always a really lovely, low key date filled with trashy tv, visiting, and good food. I never have to prep much of anything in advance, and I never feel like my house needs to look perfect or anything. Jerilee is family, and she always will be. So my plan was to putter a little bit in the day, with no big goals at all, and then have Jerilee over in the evening.

First thing in the morning, I got a text from a friend saying she would be in town today to pick a few things up, and wondered if I would be up for a visit. I accepted happily right away! I love hanging out with her and her son, and we see each other so rarely. It was pretty perfect timing. We talked times, and figured we’d see each other around 11:00am. Probably about five minutes after we had discussed this, I got yet another text from another friend asking if I would mind a quick morning coffee date. Of course not! I would LOVE that!! So I threw my hair up in a ponytail and began my day with awesome anticipation for it all to play out!

Kim dropped by with Ellijah while my kids were still having breakfast. We drank lattes and she fed Solly his bottle. It was really nice. Kim and I usually text quite a bit throughout the day, but with her husband currently on holidays, they’re busier, and we’ve heard and seen less of each other than usual. It was really nice to get some time this morning.

When she headed home to be with her family, I hung with the kids and chopped some veggies and ran a neglected load of laundry through a second time (which will need a third run, thanks to my continued neglect) while I waited for Nicole to arrive. She came right on time, with her son in tow. Once again, we had a really nice visit! I don’t see them too terribly often, as we live a decent ways apart, but I was SO happy she reached out and got in touch today! She carried Solly around for me while I got lunch set up, which was a life saver because he was somewhat out of sorts. He often has a bit of a growly spell in the early afternoon, so the extra pair of hands was really really nice! They headed out mid-afternoon, and the house seemed to get very quiet. But then Rowan got up from his nap and everything was loud again 😉

Brady was expecting today to run long and to have to work for sure a half day this Saturday, but we were pleasantly surprised when he finished EARLY today!!! Granted, he went to a chiro appointment and to Home Depot on his way home, so he still arrived home at a fairly normal time, but I’m so happy he won’t need to go to work tomorrow 😀 Woot! He came home late afternoon, and by that time, the kids were in fairly rough shape. Brady sent me upstairs to take a rest, both from the kids, and to do an exercise or two recommended to me by my physiotherapist. Ladies, apparently laying on your back with your legs in a butterfly position is pretty much magical for our bodies! So do that! Anyway, I took my break, and then came down to help with supper.

The kids ate at the table while I fed Solly in the living room a few feet away. Unfortunately, it was a rough time for Laela especially, and she was eventually plucked from the table and put to bed early. Dekker and Rowan were doing a bit better, so at least Dekker seemed to feel pretty great about “staying up a bit,” even though he wasn’t actually staying up late at all. Jerilee arrived between the Laela being put to bed and the boys going down, so Laela missed her this time :/ Oh well, there will be other Bachelorette dates. The boys went down without a fuss, right on time, which is also a treat,.

We had big delicious tuna melt bagels for supper, and salted caramel cupcakes. My gosh, I could have eaten fifteen more of those. Except even right now, I can tell I’m completely stuffed, still. So delicious tho!

It is officially late enough that I’d rather be sleeping than blogging, so off I go! Tomorrow I’ll be ducking out briefly in the afternoon for a coffee and shopping date with Kim, but thats all thats on the docket! However, that can change at the drop of a text 😉 It was a really really nice day today! Thank you, friends, for making the effort to come over and be in our lives! I love you all SO MUCH.