My dear sweet Dekker Thomas turned FIVE today! I remember the day Dekker was born very fondly, and so vividly, in fact, that it feels like it was much much more recent than five whole years ago.

This morning, we went to Dekkers room, threw the lights on, and sang Happy Birthday to Dekker. He was all glowy and happy and excited, while Rowan was flat on his face across their bedroom, out cold. No amount of singing or birthday excitement could wake him, so we hauled Dekker out and left Rowan in slumber. Laela and Solly were up too, and we all sat in the living room while Dekker opened his gifts.

We took a bit of time to open up his lego and dump it out from its little bags, and he even built a car.

We asked what he’d like for his birthday breakfast, and he requested pancakes. So pancakes it was! However, the little punk only ate one measly pancake, as he was far too interested in getting back to his lego. Can’t blame the kid.

We all got ready for the day and drove to a nearby town for a DQ ice cream cake, and then headed to my parents house. We made it in time for lunch, where we had macaroni and chicken fingers. The cake came out afterwards, and we celebrated Caity and Dekker’s birthdays, since my sister’s was two days ago.

Since we had all jumped the gun and gave Caitlin her presents earlier, Dekker opened his gifts after lunch. He picked a couple to play with, and the afternoon went on to be filled with games, Mario Kart, and going for walks. I wish I had a picture of Deks walking hand in hand with Auntie Grace!! It was really sweet. While we walked, Brady lounged with Solly.

For those wondering, today was worse than yesterday, but better than the day before. So we’ll take it. He’s still incredibly unsettled and a bit fussy, but he napped a bit better today, and threw up less. Maybe the little bits of medication are starting to kick in! Fingers crossed!

We all had a yummy light supper before heading home. Now the kids are bathed and in bed, and I’m about to head back to my parents to hang out with everyone for just a little bit longer. While we love having this house, and we feel SO at home even just living in town, we sure miss the later evenings with everyone once the kids go to bed. So it’ll be nice for me to head back, and I believe Stef is coming out here to play vids with Brady for a bit, which is really nice.

All in all, it was a lovely day with family today. It was SO good to celebrate my sister, and my very first baby.

Dekker, you are a spectacular man. I can’t wait to see how this next year goes for you. I’m looking forward to your confidence growing and you really finding yourself. I’m excited to see you learn and grow in school, and to meet all of your new friends. You are such an incredible part of our family. I love you, Dekker boy, through thick and thin.

** Before I write about the day, thank you to those who showed concern and love to our precious Solly boy yesterday. We were SO discouraged and distraught and at a loss. Solly didn’t drink anymore after his big barf, but somehow, he slept through until 6am!! Today has been a far better day, so keep the prayers coming! We need more days like today.

We hosted a waffle brunch at our house today, and while our house wasn’t all tidy and “guest ready,” it was definitely family ready 🙂 Everyone arrived around noon, and we broke out our new waffle iron. We have one from Walmart that works fine, but it takes a really long time, and we SO desire to have people over for weekend brunches a lot in the future, so we bought a new one. A double waffle maker! It is enormous and commercial and hilarious but MAN does it pump out good waffles! I am super happy with the purchase, and thanks to it, we could make three waffles at a time. Everyone was seated with (or had already consumed) a waffle within a half hour. We had just a few basic toppings and my mom brought a big bowl of sliced up peaches. It was a super nice time. We love being local and being able to finally host a little bit at our place. It is really homey.

With life being as busy as its been recently, Brady and I haven’t managed to get to the city to buy Dekker’s birthday present. I mentioned to my sisters and my mom that I needed to duck in to pick up a couple of things today, and we decided to all go together. So once lunch was over and everyone was heading back to my parents, Brady and I got the kids dressed (they were still in their jammies, lol) and I got ready for our girls date.

The four of us piled into my moms car and started at Starbucks. We moved on to Lululemon, where I picked up a pair of pants that I was having hemmed, and I accidentally bought a pair of shorts as well. Whoops! We ducked into Sephora next, since all three of them were born in August, and if you have a Sephora account, you get a free birthday gift. I got mine on our Edmonton trip a few weeks ago, but these ladies were all behind. We hit Walmart last to grab birthday gifts for Dekker, and a handful of other things for a couple of us.

We headed home after that, and my dad immediately ducked out to go pick up some pizza for supper. We feasted on Pizza Hut for supper, and then we took our kidlets home. Yesterday had been fun, but the kids were SHOT being up so late. Tonight, while still being past their bedtime, it was earlier and more doable.

Now, a soak and a snack await me. Tomorrow is our last day with Caity and Stef here, and we’re celebrating Caity and Dekker’s birthdays! Her birthday was on Friday, and Dekker’s is tomorrow. How insane is it that Deks is five, all of a sudden??? That totally snuck up on me! It should be a lovely day 🙂 High hopes!

Sleep deep, all!

We spent most of the day putting together and tidying up for my dad’s 60th birthday party. It was nicely under control and organized, in my opinion. Pies were being baked, the backyard was cleaned up with tables and chairs set out, lemonade was being made, the list goes on. In case I forget to say it, it was a really nice party 🙂 We had to leave early (the kids were completely shot) but the visiting and food was great, and I think he really enjoyed it.

I ducked out in the afternoon for a little while to take Solly into the doctor. I had booked an appointment with Dr. Guselle at 3:45, and I have been anticipating getting to talk to her about Rowan’s history and my suspicions with Solly. I got into the appointment pretty quickly, and it wasn’t long before the student doctor came in. We almost always see a student first, since thats the way this clinic works. So I chatted with her about Solly and I’ll be the first one to say I was (and still am) incredibly frustrated with how it all went.

As I predicted, her responses to my concerns were along the lines of “Oh but he’s so cute and happy, and he’s definitely growing. You’re fine, aren’t you, little guy?” I was SO angry. I told her the things that happened with Rowan, and the similarities that I’m seeing in Solly. She didn’t seem to find any merit in what I was saying. Finally I said “I agree, he’s drinking and gaining and growing, but doesn’t the quality of life matter?” And she shrugged me off. “Well…..” That was all I got before she went back to her point. Finally she said “I mean if you just want him on medicine, I can give you a prescription to test…” On one hand, I was happy to be able to have a script for a reflux medication, but that comment just rubbed me the wrong way. Its not as though I came to the appointment just looking to put my baby on medication, just for kicks. I was SO angry.

And best of all, then she printed off the script and sent me on my way. I did not see my doctor. Not even for a second.

I loaded Solly up, took him to the van, and had a good solid cry. Then I cried for most of the drive home. I stopped at the pharmacy to fill the script, and then cried once again on the way to my parents house. I gathered myself up and did fine for the rest of the evening. Being with the whole group was conveniently distracting, but as I now sit in bed while Brady tries to feed our screaming, red, starving baby, I’m having trouble keeping myself level. Its as though the anger that I worked so hard to roll off has somehow found a way to roll back on.

And as I finished that last sentence, this happened.

Yup. Solly barfed while Brady was feeding him beside me. Projectile like I have never seen it. We sat him up right away and I held him while he wretched and arched and vomited over and over again. I am confident he lost basically every bit of milk we got into him.

So if anyone who prays would like to throw one or two our way, we would greatly appreciate it. Solly is upset, and his parents are feeling pretty discouraged. Something has got to give, and its can’t be Solly’s comfort or quality of life. God be with us.

After another pretty decent night (thank you, Solly!) Brady went to work and I took the kids over to my parents. Not only are Simon and his family still living there, but my sister and her husband are out for a visit! So the place was bustling, both with people and excitement about the newcomers.

We ate and played and ate and played and had a really nice day. Except for one small, loud problem.

Today was a really really hard day for Solly. He went back and forth between crying and sleeping most of the day. He would hardly drink any milk. He would gag and scream and choke and scream and really impress on us his feelings about the day. I’m not sure if he was just out of his element, or if my suspicions are correct and he has reflux. Either way, but the late afternoon, I was struggling with the whole thing. I made a call to Dr. Guselle’s office and was given an appointment for tomorrow. What a pleasant surprise! I thought for sure they would give me a date two weeks down the road, and I would rather just leave a message for her to call me. But nope. It would appear that the receptionist agrees with me that babies should eat. YES! So while I’m really looking forward to seeing my siblings more in the coming days, I’m really anticipating Solly’s appointment tomorrow afternoon!

I am very blessed to have loving family around who is happy to walk laps with Solly while he cries seemingly endlessly. Sometimes its hard to admit the need for help, but we definitely all do. Or, I do, anyway. I should just speak for me. It was a good day to need help, because there were many willing hands nearby.

Can’t wait to see you guys all tomorrow!!

One thing I neglected to mention yesterday is that I have a little bit of concern surrounding Solly. Nothing big and scary, but I’m suspicious that he has reflux like Rowan did. While this is obviously a fairly small problem to many people, it was really really difficult for us. If you remember, Ro was perpetually hungry, but would scream when we would offer him a bottle. He hated his bottle. Solly still takes his bottle fine, but he is doing a lot of the things that Rowan did leading up to us discovering that he had reflux. He eats big feedings in the night but really doesn’t care for eating in the day. An ounce or two here or there is enough. If I get four into him, I’m a serious champion. Sometimes he waits far too long between feedings, and I know he is SO hungry, but he is too upset and wailing and for the life of me, I cannot get him to drink. So he falls asleep and wakes up even angrier than the last time. Its been really hard for the last little while.

I mentioned it at his doctors appointment and got pretty much exactly the answer I expected. “Well, look at him. He’s huge. So he’s clearly thriving. I wouldn’t worry about it.” People said that about Rowan too. I agree, priority one is baby’s growth, so I’m thrilled that everyone is growing, but I also believe that quality of life counts for something, and if any of my kids are consistently uncomfortable or in any kind of pain, I want to try to remedy it.

I was going to call the doctors office and make an appointment with (or at least least a message for) Dr. Guselle, but I decided to call on Dr. Mike first. Solly was definitely due for an adjustment, and maybe it would help. There is SO much merit to baby chiro, I kind of swear by it, so even if it didn’t clear up our issue, I still think it is worth it to bring the babies once in a while.

We got an appointment for just after 4pm, and met Brady there. He hung out with the big kids while I took Solly in on my own. He sat in his bucket and cooed at me while we waited for Dr. Mike. When he did arrive, we had a short visit and discussed what was going on with Solly, and then he got to work.

I’ll be honest and say that was a LONG treatment. He is so sweet to my kids, and I loved seeing him unconsciously kiss Solly’s head during his adjustment. A number of times, he’d pass Solly to me to prop against myself, check his little back, and take him back for another little tweak. Solly didn’t fuss or get upset. It was as though he just understood how badly he needed the treatment.

There is obviously no guarantee that this adjustment will fix his hypothetical reflux, nor the one we’ll book next week to follow up, but Dr. Mike did say that he wasn’t surprised that he wasn’t settling nicely these days. He said there was one spot in Solly’s upper back that just had no movement whatsoever. Now, he’s all loosened up and wiggly, and we’ll just see how the days go. Here’s hoping there is some improvement!

He slept an eight hour stretch last night, and woke up with the thunder than physically shook our roof. Let’s vote for another eight hour stretch, shall we?

The only thing on our schedule today was shots. I had gone into the day thinking they were around noon, since most or all of our doctors appointments are usually between 12:00 and 1:00. When I actually checked the schedule, however, it was at 3:00! So we took our time in the morning. At one point, when Solly was ready for a bottle, I asked Dekker if he would hold him while I made the bottle, and he was really happy to! When I brought the bottle over, I took a risk and asked if he wanted to feed Solly.

“No sanks.” Fine, no big deal.
“Me! I will!” called Laela from the other couch. She plunked herself in the centre of the couch and waited patiently. I grabbed a blanket to raise up Solly’s head a bit on her leg, and set her up. And she fed him his bottle completely successfully!

This is more impressive than average, because Solly had very recently drank a decent sized feeding, and this was an attempt to give him a bit of a top up. She definitely stabbed him down his throat a handful of times, but always followed it up with “Oops, take a second, try again!” and she’d take the bottle out of his mouth, drip a few good drops onto his face, and start over. It was pretty adorable.

It was right around that time that a good good friend from high school/camp/youth/years ago informed me that she was nearby and asked if she could drop by for a visit! Knowing it would be a super short visit with our appointment coming up, she drove out to spend a half hour with us. It was so unexpected, and I’m SO sad we didn’t get a longer visit in, but it was such a treat to see her. I’m of course kicking myself in the butt for not taking any pictures together! Bah! What were we thinking???

I left the house around 2:20 and we made it with a few minutes to spare before we were called in to the boys’ appointment. Rowan and Solly were both up for a couple of shots, and we brought the whole crew! I was actually super surprised at how well behaved Dekker and Laela were in the appointment. Nothing beyond a little talking out of turn 🙂 which I’m pretty sure is quite minimal.

Rowan went first. He is 34″ tall and 26 lbs. If I remember correctly, he was in the 85%. He had three shots this time around, as we were doing some topping up from previous being behind. He had two poked in one arm, and he didn’t even flinch. He did NOT appreciate the last one, but he recovered nice and quick. The original plan was for Brady to take the three out to the van afterwards, but they seemed to be in good shape, so we decided they could all stay. However, after Ro’s shots, the nurse had a few things to fill out and the big kids started to get a tad impatient, so we switched back and decided to take them out to the van. Instantly, Dekker and Laela were upset, but the promise of fruit bars in the van made it all better.

Solly was next in line for shots. He was 25″ tall, 15 lbs 5 oz, and his head was 42.5 cms around, putting him at or above the 97% for everything! She actually went back and remeasured his head, not believing that her number was accurate. Solly had two needle pokes and an oral vaccine today, and while he took the oral one VERY well, he was NOT a fan of the pokes. He cried and turned bright red. But after some good bum patting and a soother, he recovered and even showed off some of his handsome smiles.

I was last on the docket. I didn’t even know I was on it, but sure enough, I had my postpartum depression screening today, as well as a run down of basic baby care. I always laugh a little bit at that part, but I understand that its something they have to tell everyone. I passed my test, but had to laugh at it a little bit. Don’t get me wrong, I do NOT think PPD is funny or something to make fun of, but some of the questions are silly.

I have felt sad or miserable
__ Yes, most of the time
__ Yes, quite often
__ Not very often
__ No, not at all

Call me crazy, but anyone who is NEVER sad is lying. I answered honestly and was still in the “safe zone.”I told her pretty straight forward that there is definitely stress in our life, and I find myself anxious often enough, but so very little of that anxiety is based around my kids. They are the “normal” part of my life. I feel very blessed to be able to say those things, and I remind myself of these things are on the hard days. We’re all doing our best.

When we got out of our appointment, I headed back to the waiting area through the many hallways, and I ran into our favorite nurse at the clinic. She is the same lady who brings us back into Dr. Guselle appointments, and shoes such a loving interest in our kids. She stopped to visit and get a good look at Solly, and as usual, was SO complimentary of our family. She said how much she loves to see us all come through there. “Your family is just so…light.” I had to laugh. I told her I’m kind of aware of us, and I feel like some people must just cringe when we come to the back all together, but she reassured me of the exact opposite. “We love to see full families come through here!” I thanked her for being so encouraging and understanding, and for not judging us. She told me how lucky our kids are to have the big group of siblings that they have, and that made me happy. Its certainly not the only way to have kids, and I don’t look down on people who stop at one child at all, but I am very happy with our decision to have multiple. And I LOVE that our whole clan is welcome at the clinic, and not looked on as a bother.

I left our appointments feeling uplifted and encouraged, which isn’t always the case after meeting with public health. I brought Solly back to my vanfull of family, and Brady and the kids had gone to Tims and picked me up an Iced Capp while we were still at the doctors. Yum! Especially yummy on a day as hot as today!

We had a nice drive home, the honey chicken I started this morning was ready to go, and Jerilee is on her way over to start watching Bachelor in Paradise. What a fun day all around! Who would have thought I’d enjoy vaccination day this much?! A relaxed morning turned into a visit in the afternoon to a VERY encouraging, fun, informative appointment, and now for a girls night 🙂 I think Brady is going to sit this season out, so he’ll potentially finish the painting up! Yay!

I hope everyone else felt some uplifting today. We all could use some!

I have a few staple pieces of clothing from Lululemon. Not tons, but a couple. I have basic black capris, and then black and pants and another pair of capris, both of which are high waisted. They are SO comfy, hold in a bit of “extra,” they translate nicely to my pregnant body, and then back to my not-pregnant body, whichever shape that happens to be. It changes constantly. They are incredible bottoms. WELL worth the money.

However, I’m VERY gun shy to buy more. I’ve been wanting a grey pair for a couple of years, no lie, but haven’t bit the bullet, because its a lot of money!! But recently, I discovered PURPLE ones! I instantly wanted them. But that seemed pretty impulsive, so I talked myself out of it. However, I quickly realized that they would be a totally practical purchase for me! (Stay with me here.) Most of my sweaters, hoodies, tunics, etc. are grey or black. I could definitely wear black with grey leggings, but grey on grey is slightly less…acceptable? Its considerably more like a sweatsuit. You know what I mean. Sure, I have  sweater or two that will NOT go with purple leggings, but the majority of them would go very well with purple!! Woot!

Upon this discovery, I set out to find some. I’ll spare you all of the details but I actually jumped through a few hoops to get them, but in the end, I have a beautiful pair in my hands!

They are unreasonably comfortable! They are actually better than what I was considering ordering online. They are cotton, rather than luon. I’m totally happy with luon, my other pairs are luon, but these are softer.

I had already been in the city once today, but I drove in a second time to bring them in for hemming. They are now living at Lulu, and I miss them a little. I combatted my emotions by ducking into the mall and spending the last shred of my birthday money. I think I need to do a separate post on all of the fun purchases I’ve made recently, but for today, its just the pants 🙂 Any interest in that?

Now we save our pretty new leggings to anticipate fall, and put a positive spin on the cold weather to come.

I’ve found myself wanting more for this silly blogthing that I’ve started. I won’t get into too much detail on the subject, though, as I could go ON and ON. But I’ve been wracking my brain about whether to make some changes, which changes to make, how seriously I want to take it, and how much work I want to put into it, or if I should just call it. There is a LOT to think about!

I obviously don’t know enough about the internet, because I was under the impression that I could legally buy my website name, and the whole annual fee thing would be done. I would just own it. Apparently that’s not actually a thing, and I can’t do it unless I have my own server?? Which I clearly do not. When I learned this charming bit of information, I transitioned my blog from being hosted by WordPress to Bluehost. I was having to upgrade and upgrade some more with WordPress, as my allotted amount of space was filling quickly. Bluehost offered unlimited space for a slightly better price than my limited space at WordPress, so we jumped at it. If you’ve been around long enough to remember the whole debacle, it was a big mess switching over, and we’ve sort of had little issues all along the way.

Now this silly issue of the rotated pictures has been going on for several months. Not for everyone, but for a good group of people. It is virtually impossible for me to fix it, as the pictures show up properly for me. If they were askew on my screen, of course I would rotate them! Yesterday, I FINALLY found the developers contact information, and I emailed them. Lucky for me, I got a response today.

Unlucky for me, the theme that I’m using (the basic blue and white background/template) is retired. While it can still run and be active, there are no more updates or bug fixes. Therefore, basically, it is what it is. This is incredibly frustrating for me, as I sit here, dreaming about trying to make my blog be more. I can do so many things to make it better than what I do now, but I can’t walk away from a post knowing that the pictures are going to be awry and feel good about that!

With all of this new information, I’ve spent the better part of the last few hours perusing new templates. This blog is clearly in need of a facelift, but its up to me to decide just how drastic that needs to be, and I truly don’t know how far to take it yet. Just the template, but leave the content the same? Just an eye lift, but no botox? Just Patrick Dempsey, or full on Renee Zellweger? I don’t know how drastic to go here. And I don’t like ANY of the templates!!! I want something so simple and clean looking, but everything I see that matches that criteria just looks plain, and basic. I think there is a difference between simple and basic, don’t you? Can’t someone just design one for me?? Or teach me?! I have ideas, but know so little on the subject.

I wouldn’t be so frustrated, but I want to do well at this. I feel like, while I love writing, I don’t do it well enough. I’m sure a lot of you can see what I mean. I don’t even proofread! And I really should. Sometimes I read back and just cringe. But I can change that. I can proofread. I can make post layouts. I can pour more time into my posts to make them interesting. But I cannot guarantee that the pictures are going to come out the correct orientation, and that is driving me bonkers! I haven’t taken pride in my work, or at least not enough, and I want to change that. For you guys, and for me.

I don’t know if I’ll make changes tonight, or in a week, in a month, or never. But if something comes up looking super different, and very glitchy, be gentle and patient with me! I’m sure trying over here.

You know those errands that you just never get to? For one reason or another, there are places that just seem impossible to go to and accomplish goals at! In my life, if something isn’t readily available at Walmart, Superstore, or Costco, I’m probably not going to get there. Today was a day that we took a list of all of those places and got those things done! Or at least tried to. We were fairly successful.

First, however, we had to document the cute kids. Because they make everything better, and far more interesting.

***** I am SO frustrated with the pictures being rotated all of the time!! Last time this was an issue, it was browser specific, and now I’m hearing that everyone is seeing them askew. I have a message in to the theme developer, but if I don’t hear anything soon, the face of my blog will be changing soon to make this issue better. If it helps, I think that the pictures show up straight if you click on them. I don’t know for sure, since the pictures show up properly on my screen. I’m trying, guys, I promise.

Believe me, this was the most “normal” picture I got of Dekker! He is sooo cheesy in pictures right now, haha!

Great looking bug bite, hey? Yes, she’s taking Benadryl. And yes, its going down. Slowly. As she would say, “me eye ees buggin’ me.”

And yes, I’ll admit that this isn’t a picture from the morning, but I’m not sure where the one I took went, so this is his picture from Costco, covered in cookie.

And this kid. Seriously, Solly, could you be any cuter??

We hit up lots of places today. Some were our “easy” stops, like Costco and Walmart, but we did Carters for underwear, McQuarries for coffee syrup (can you believe that buying a pump for your bottle costs $8?!?!), and Lululemon for me to spend some birthday money. They didn’t have what I wanted, though, so back to the drawing board. I wanted to spend the rest of my birthday money at Sephora, so we all went to the mall and had New York Fries for lunch.

I should add in here that Solly puked on me while I wore him in the ergo, and then he fell asleep instantly. So there was no way I was taking him out to clean myself off. Thanks for that, Solly.

We got home before supper and had a relaxed evening, but the kids were pretty ready for bed early, as no one had napped really at all. So they’re in bed, and after this, Brady and I are back to painting!! We didn’t get as much done last night, as Brady sliced himself open with a screwdriver… Hopefully tonight will be slightly more successful! Wish us luck!

My mom and I made plans to spend a chunk of today together. I had invited her for lunch and the afternoon, but as she realized her schedule, we agreed to meet after lunch. As luck would have it, things happened quicker this morning than anticipated, and I got to have her over when I had originally invited her for! Eleven o’clock is a good time of the day 🙂

We had a truly lovely day together. I have missed my mom so much recently, as our schedules never seem to match up. Trust me, I know many people see their mom less than I see mine, but that doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to want to see her more. We have a wonderful friendship, she and I. Our relationship has gone through its stages of change, from when I graduated, to when I was engaged, to now being married, and lots of stages in between. She will always be my mommy, and I will always be one of her babies, but we are friends. And I love that.

So much has changed even just around our house that she hasn’t seen, so I toured her around my en suite, showed her the few Ikea things we bought that are set up, and our garage FILLED with furniture and whatever else that is getting painted. We talked about this summer, recapped events that have happened, and planned a bit for those to come. I shared with her some ambitions I have, some that are new and some that are growing from ambition buds I’ve had for a while. Aw. That sounds cute. Ambition buds. I like those. They sound less ominous, somehow. Why is ambition so scary?? The buds aren’t!

We had a yummy lunch together, and visited while she rocked Solly to sleep. It was such a nice time together. Like really really good friends catching up.

I’m SO grateful for you, mom. Thank you for coming, and for being in my home with my family. We sure do love you around here ♥