I sat down to blog today during nap time, and I struggled pretty hard knowing what to write about. One of my goals that I set around my thirtieth birthday was to amp up my blog, and I feel like I’ve tanked. Its not worse than it was, but I don’t feel like its much better. I was being so intentional about being better, but its been hard to maintain for a number of reasons. Lots of it has to do with LOTS of wonderful things happening and me not making extra time to really pour over the blog. The BEST reasons to let the blog slide, but its hard getting back into it.

The last few days have been a bit tough on me, and my mind is super distracted. Today, as I sat on my bed, trying to figure out what to write about, all I could think about was my own issues. Wavy sat next to me on the bed and flapped, giggled, cooed, and pooped up a storm, which helped me get out of my head a little bit, but did not help me blog.

When Cher messaged that she was done work for the day, we made a quick plan for her to come over for the afternoon. Which. Was. Perfect.

I happily closed up the laptop and anticipated a visit with a human being other than my own brain.

We visited the afternoon away, which helped my mental health immensely. Waverly slept on her for a good couple of hours, but she eventually made her way back to meeeee!!

She is SO munchy!! Even though she’s sick, she’s such a delight!!!

I’m so thankful for my people. My husband, my kids, my friends. I really never realized how many people we had until recently, and I’m constantly overwhelmed by them and how loving they are. Today was a day where I did less giving and more getting, and while that feels kind of bad, I know there are days where it goes the other way, so I’m trying to shake that little bit of guilt off. THANK YOU, people of my life, for being in it!!! You are NEEDED and APPRECIATED and LOVED by meeeee! 💜

Yup. We’re there. Wavy is officially sick. She just has a cold, but she is feeling it!! She didn’t sleep very well last night, though in her case, a “bad” night is waking up twice, which really isn’t bad at all. But she was struggling to drink her milk or to find any comfort or peace. She is so snorty and weepy, poor dear.

So as you can picture, its not been her best day. The morning was spent holding her dozy self, and having her positive lose her mind the moment I’d set her down. I know, I know, then hold her! Right? These months where all she wants is to be held are such precious months! Don’t wish them away! I assure you I’m not!

But sometimes one has to set their baby down to keep someone else alive. Wavy just doesn’t seem to believe me. But thats cool. We rolled with it. The kids, in turn, have been in ultra-helpful modes, helping their siblings get food, find toys, etc. Dekker even knows hot to use our baby Keurig thing and can make bottles for Wavy. He and Rowan even tag teamed and unpacked the dishwasher for me without being asked. I love that kind of thing.

But eventually, some things had to get done. I got Wavy goooood and asleep first.

I did some dishes and got the other kids lunch going. Her sleep didn’t last long, though. She woke up pretty quickly and began pooping like a crazy person. She was crying a bit but I figured I’d let her finish that business up, then change her and feed her and she’d be all cozy and settled. When I went to do that, however, she peed on EVERYTHING. I wasn’t particularly thrilled with her decision, but she was even less impressed.

Yup, it was a “new jammies” kind of pee situation.

I sat with her and fed her for a bit, and she settled just fine. It was time to tuck her siblings down for naps, however, and I hesitantly set her back down. (I feel the need to clarify that I NEVER leave her unassisted here on the recliner. Its only if its going to be really fast or if someone is with her. In this case, Dekker stood with her.)

When I came back to her, she was wide awake and gorgeous!!! My gosh, I’m just taken aback by her constantly!

She was so bright eyed and happy, cooing away and responding to my voice. Her smiles have been getting more and more intentional over the last week or so, and there is just nothing like seeing that look on her face, when she sees me, and her eyes light up and she gives me a big, delicious smile!! She is just SO sweet! Even considering how much pee she soaked into my living room rug.

Very shortly after these pictures were taken, she started a biiig cry that could not be satisfied. She wouldn’t drink more milk, her diaper was dry (obviously) and no amount of patting and bouncing would quiet her. Finally, I burrito wrapped her and lay her down in her bed. She fussed (not cried) for maybe five minutes before cashing right out. This girly knows what she needs.

Now that thats taken care of, the littles are napping, and the big is legoing, I am going to put my feet up and rest a bit. My cold is out in full swing, and its pretty ruthless.

Here I was, hoping to make a drive in to the city for the inaugural pumpkin spice latte of the season, but there’s just no way. Maybe another day. Today is a “kleenex stuffed in your nose all day” kind of day.

It feels like fall today, for so many reasons. If you’re around where I am, some of them are probably pretty obvious.

Reason number one is that its grey and windy and rainy out. The temps and lights are low. It just looks like fall.

Reason number two is that we officially clicked the furnace on. I’m hoping we’ll look back at this and laugh in a week or two when its nice and hot and the AC is blasting again, but for today, the heat is on, and the long sleeved jammies are out in full swing. I’m pretty ok with this one, though. I like cozy.

Reason number three is the bummiest outtiest one, for sure. The cold is spreading. Waverly started coughing last night, and I legitimately developed a plugged nose just this afternoon.

Feels like a soup day, and an early to bed day. I was awake from 1:30am aaaaall the way until maybe 5:30 this morning :/ I’m sure thats not helping my weird, grey mood either. The afternoon spent with my mom was a high point, obviously!! Now, excuse my short post, but the baby is crying, and she always wins.

We had a lovely last day with our company today, though I admit it was yet another suuuper slow, uneventful day. Our sickies are still sick, and I hate to say it, but even Wavy has done her little share of coughing today. 😩 We need to keep praying! She’s just too little to be sick. She is NOT allowed to fever, either! Keep it together, Wavy! And sickies – keep it to yourselves!!

Bradys parents spent the day here, starting with waffle brunch.

The day was incredibly chill, with easy food and quiet conversation. I feel like you guys might think we didn’t have a good time, because we have virtually no stories, but we just rested in each other’s company and caught up on life. Going to the playground, biking, going for a drive in the bus, etc. will have to wait for our next visit! The weather and the sickies just weren’t having it this time.

They left shortly after supper, and the kids wound down for bedtime by watching a few music videos and snuggling on the couch. Everyone went to bed happy! Except Waverly, who has been twitching up a storm for the last several hours, and can’t seem to settle :/ Another sign that she might be feeling under the weather. Wish us luck! Hopefully she’s like her siblings and sleeps through her sicknesses. Her sleep closest resembles Dekker’s sleep patterns, and if you’ve been around that long, you know how amazing it would be if she took after him this way!

Sleep deep, all! The work week begins tomorrow!!!

Our two sickies are still sick, but thankfully, our company is Brady’s parents, and they’re willing to roll with some lazy days with us. Solly is a bit better off than yesterday, and Brady is a bit worse, but everyone was fine and moving on with the day.

Thankfully, everyone else is still sickness-free!! Stay that way, guys! 🤞

This little burrito slept pretty well, and we all woke up feeling rested, at least, which counts for a lot.

Brady’s parents showed up mid-morning and we spent a nice, quiet, relaxed day together. Some kids napped, some kids legoed, we all opened some presents and did LOTS of talking. It was nice to all just be low key together, mostly just watching the kids and their antics.

We brought in Pizza Hut for supper so no one had to cook (and also because $5 $5 $5) and everyone ate really well. I love not having to fight with the kids to make them eat. What a relief!

Everyone went to bed fairly happy, and none of us adults are too far behind. Is it this grey weather making us all so tired? Maybe its just general life stuff 🤷 Who knows, but we’re feeling pretty beat over here, and I don’t think we’re the only ones!

Tomorrow, we have one more day all together before our guests will head home once again. It will very likely be more of the same. I know everyone is itching to go outside and play, so we may try and sneak some of that in there, but we’ll have to see what our feverish toddler can handle. Would be a lovely way to close off the weekend ❤️

We’ve managed to get through the summer without much more than a sniffly nose here and there, and I am SO thankful for that! We’ve had a super busy summer, and its been truly great. I feel like we’ve been running the entire time, though I know we’ve had downtime in there, too. Sickness would’ve messed everything up. Can’t have that! Thank you, Lord!!

Over the last week or two, I’ve developed a pretty consistent sore throat, but it hasn’t turned into anything. I’m quite certain its the smoke in the air irritating it, which is a relief for me! When Brady started to develop a sore throat, too, we wrote it off as the same as mine, but sadly, it seems to be worse than mine. He’s living on cold meds, throwing back vitamins like there’s no tomorrow, and using that gross nose squirty thing to relieve sinus pressure. Suuuuucks.

Last night, Brady went down to the kitchen to get us a snack and Solly started crying for him. Brady ducked in on him, and the poor little dude was all hot and bothered. Brady gave him some meds for his fever and snuggled him calm. It helped for the moment, but it wasn’t our last visit with him in the night. Because of his choppy night, the others had a similarly choppy night. No one else is fevered or sick yet, but I imagine its coming :/ At least we’re getting it out of the way before school starts, I guess!

At least Wavy slept well! I’ll take an eight hour stretch from the baby any day!!! Wavy for the win!

Solly had a rocky start to the morning, refusing breakfast and crying pretty constantly. Thats a tricky thing when you’ve got a baby, too! But we made it through, and once his siblings stepped in, all was well.

Of all times for sickness to come, we have company coming this weekend. So what was going to be a decently chill weekend anyway has become a suuuper low key weekend, haha!

If you think of us, please pray that sickness stays with those who currently have it, without spreading. Not that anyone is more important than anyone else, but Waverly can’t have a fever just yet. Wish us luck!

At my last doctors appointment, we talked a bit about my mood and mental health, and it was advised that I make time for myself once in a while. This isn’t a foreign thing in our home already, and I’m SO grateful for my husband who gives me little breaks as often as I want/need them. I hesitate so much to write about these types of things because I NEVER want to sound like I’m not over the moon level thankful for my kids! But some days, wooooowee! A breather is just needed!

These days have been wonderful for so many reasons – birthdays, family gatherings, balloons, suppers out, etc – but I am SO wiped out! I forget that, while I feel completely normal, I did have a baby somewhat recently, and there are parts of me that aren’t fully “back to normal.” Sometimes, things catch up to me.

Yesterday, I needed a break. Brady took the kids out to play for a bit so I could lay in bed and watch some YouTube. Wavy, however, wasn’t having it that afternoon, and I had finally gotten her settled. She was sleeping on my bed. So, what the heck, a break with the baby still counted.

But within minutes of going outside, Laela completely lost it and was fighting and screaming and just generally struggling. She is going through such a tough stage right now, poor little dear. So after ample warnings and effort made on Brady’s part, he sent her inside. Which made send for her, but as you’d expect, she brought her tearful self upstairs to me and Wavy. She was so shaken up, but was also very understanding of why she was inside. I invited her to come up on the bed and watch with me. I was just watching makeup tutorials anyway. So, a break with the girlies was still a good break.

You guessed it. It wasn’t long before the whole group piled back into the house and pretty much immediately came up the stairs to see where the girls were. There was no other way to spin it. This was no longer a break. It was a party of six!

Maybe I should take that back. One can have a break with people around, right? Especially when its their favorite people. And they were SO chill, just laying on the bed, watching makeup videos, followed by some family vloggers. We kind of accidentally phased out tv for the kids over the last year, so they were somewhat mesmerized.

I love my break breakers SO much 💕 Might just have to stick with breaks out of the house for when I really need them 😉

Last night, we took the fam to Montana’s. Being that it was Tuesday, the balloon man was there, and it was “kids eat free” night. You guys know about that, right? If you watch the balloon man’s Facebook page, it tells you which location he’s going to be at each week. It was a bit of a last minute plan, but we made a couple of quick calls and coerced my mom and Jerilee to join us.

Unfortunately, we had a pretty big oops and I had to drive home to retrieve the diaper bag. By the time I got back to the restaurant, the balloons had already been made. The kids were SO happy and having SO much fun.

The group had waited for me, so we ordered right away and food came out pretty fast. The servers were calling Dekker by name, and I picked up on the fact that they knew it was his birthday. Now you guys probably know, but Montana’s puts on a big to-do with birthdays, with the monstrous hat and cowbell and all that. We’ve had birthdays at Montana’s before, but with Dekker struggling so hard with loud noises and overstimulation in the past, we’ve never tipped the staff off to the birthdays. True story, when I found out they knew this time around, I felt pretty nervous. Yet my Dekker is SO much different than my Dekker two years ago. So I rolled with it. And it happened.

And he survived!! No one cried or panicked. Not even the baby! They sang and clapped and whooped and he sat very still with a big smile on his face. We took pictures and videos and made a big fuss over him. And he liked it! I NEVER would’ve thought he’d be able to handle such a situation, but of course, he’s grown and changed and is a totally different guy!

At his first birthday, we couldn’t even sing him “Happy Birthday” without him crying and panicking.

What a long way he’s come <3

I couldn’t be more proud of this little guy.

I know, I know, two birthday posts in a row. I can’t help it! He just amazes me.

Guys.

I have a seven year old.

I can’t even believe it.

My very first baby – the one who made me a mommy – is seven. Peek back at his birth story if you’re interested. I wasn’t as long winded back in those days 😉 Though it appears the pictures from that post are almost all broken. Ah well. Can’t win them all.

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times. Its been a BIG year. In some ways, Dekker has changed immensely, and in others, he looks exactly the same as he did one year ago.

One year ago, he was turning six, and his broken mommy and daddy couldn’t pull it together and make him a party. There was just no way. Grief was too deep. My amazing mom took initiative, confirmed a couple of things with us, and made a party at her house. We all played in the backyard, roasted hot dogs over the fire, ate cake, and opened presents. Balloons were tied to the deck, even. Over and over, Dekker gushed that it was the best day of his life. He knew how hard we were struggling, and while I know he genuinely LOVED his party, I also think he was so enthusiastic to somehow reassure our aching hearts that he was content and felt loved. He still talks about that party to this day as a happy time for him.

In the last year, he’s crushed grade one, lost a couple of teeth, has braved up in terms of really any kind of appointment, and has learned way better how to play with others. Especially the little ones! He LOVES the young ones, and is so patient with them. His heart is soft and warm. When he was younger, we had a pretty hard time with how sensitive he was to everything. I remember telling myself that, one day, his sensitivity was going to be a WONDERFUL quality, not one that limited him. And folks, we’re there. He is just one of the very best people I know, and its SO exciting watching him slowly grow into himself and find his feet. I fear he already looks like a teenager…

Dekker Thomas, I love you from the bottom of my heart aaaaall the way to the top. I love your silliness and your confidence. I love your sweetness and your softness. I love your love for your family, and your wonder towards new things. I love your willingness and your work ethic. I love your contentedness and your peacefulness. I love when you color and when you sing along to music in the van. I love your kisses and your tolerance of my gently squashing you with hugs. I love your jokes and when you read.

You. Are. Amazing. Don’t be too grown up too fast!

On Friday afternoon, I took Wavy to the doctor for our six week check up. We’re actually 6.5 weeks out, but our appointment days have always been on Fridays, so we’re sticking with that. She and I got there a little bit early, and I got to have a little chat with one of the receptionists who we’ve known for years, back from the previous clinic Dr. Guselle worked in. She hadn’t had a chance to see Wavy yet, and was super lovely and interested in her. We sat and waited for only a few minutes, but the little miss took it upon herself to fart and grunt like crazy in the quiet waiting room. In case you couldn’t already tell what she was up to, she kind of wears her emotions on her sleeve…

We were called back pretty quickly, and the girl who usually calls us back was there this time. She hadn’t been around for our two week check, and was SO excited to see Wavy! She just gushed and baby talked and couldn’t seem to get enough of her. She did confirm, however, that Wavy stunk, haha! I changed her diaper quickly and then we weighed her. She has gained just over two pounds in the last four weeks. She’s now 10 lbs 5 oz! That is almost as big as Dekker and Solly at birth, lol! She’s still so dainty, but her chins are working hard. I’m so smitten.

When we were walked back to our room, the girl who came along with us just hung around and chatted for a bit. We talked about her experience having her son, and some of the tough stuff she came across, and how we could relate on a handful of levels. It went on probably longer than it felt, but suddenly there was a knock on the door. It was Dr. Khatra, ready for our appointment, and we had just been doddling. He was in no rush, though. She commented to him how pretty Wavy was, and he jumped right in and went on and on about how she had been pretty right from the start 🙂 He’s not wrong. I ducked back out of the room for a second to get weighed and such. That all looked fine, and Wavy and I made our way back to our appointment.

It was a really good one, honestly. I like Dr. Khatra. He’s comfortable and knowledgeable, and I can tell he’s really implementing what Dr. Guselle is teaching, because the little things that I’ve always really liked about her are showing up in him as well. We talked about a lot of things. I’ve had a lot of low days this summer, and this is the first time I’ve gone into this type of appointment without a confident answer to the inevitable questions about postpartum depression. Its so hard to know whether my feelings have been based on having Wavy or just life circumstance. He gave me some advice on where to start and what I could be doing to help my body level out naturally, and see where that takes me. That was the big question for me today. My iron is up, I’m sleeping enough to function, and my mood is at the very least ok, and I’m working on a new plan for that.

Wavy was next, and she also passed all the test with flying colors. Not “tests,” obviously, but just everything. She’s eating great and growing great. She’s nice and alert, sleeping well, has the right reflexes, with a straight aligned body. At one point, Dr. Khatra commented “She’s just so perfect, she doesn’t even need me. Aw. I feel kind of left out…” He’s sweet to her. She stayed very still for her exam, only flinching a bit with the cold stethoscope. She’s lovely.

We talked about another appointment, vaccines, etc., and then closed off the appointment with the dreaded pelvic exam. I got myself all prepped and as you’d expect, as soon as I was less than dressed and laying on the exam table, Wavy started crying. Dr. Khatra, as well as the lovely girl from before, came back in. She held and bounced Wavy while Dr. Khatra checked everything over and gave me the all clear. Everything is healed and happy! Woot for me!

I always love to see Dr. Guselle. She will never be replaced. I may just keel the day she retires, which I hope will not be aaaaanytime soon. But I felt really good at this appointment. Really comfortable. Like they really like Waverly, and are happy to have us. Not everyone can say their doctor compliments their baby’s beautiful bright blue eyes, or says they’re happy to see the whole group once in a while, or that their staff smell their baby’s hair, or that you can shoot the breeze about life for a bit without feeling like you’re setting their day back. And the fact that we all came out healthy doesn’t hurt either.