I’ve been looking forward to Friday and Saturday all week, so when Brady was done work early and home around 1:00, my fun began! I visited with Brady for a little while before going upstairs and hiding out in our en suite. It is officially organized and beautiful and USEABLE! I’ve been slowly getting it there, and finally settling in, which has reopened my love for makeup once again. So I took my time, and got nice and done up for my afternoon. I tried out my new foundation, liner, mascara, and liquid lipstick that I got for my birthday, which was really exciting! I know not everyone cares about makeup, but it felt really fun to wear all new products, and have them all be pretty much perfect. Win!

Once I was ready, I headed to Costco in search of new pillows. Thank you all for the tips about the cooling pillows! I purchased two for Brady and I, and we are SO looking forward to trying them out! They feel pretty perfect initially, so we’ll see how the night goes! After Costco, I drove to my waxing place and got my eyebrows waxed. I always go to the same girl, whom I really really like, but I had betrayed her in July, when I was at the point of desperation and she was on holidays. So I went to another girl for my legs, but I only trust Jenn with my eyebrows 😉 So that was a nice little visit in my mid-day outing. Left feeling fresh, as always.

I drove to the mall nearby to pick up a handful of things. I made the mistake, however, of ducking into London Drugs first. They carry a small section of a makeup brand that I like, but since its not super common yet, they’re behind in getting the products that the states have. I’ve been waiting for a few products to make their way over here, so I check every time I’m near a location. And today, I was shocked to see that small section of the cosmetics department had exploded, and there was now an entire aisle, both sides, FILLED with their products!! Sooo I accidentally bought more makeup. Whoops.

After my impulsive makeup purchase, I ventured to buy what I actually came for. Pear cider, and some appies from M&M – mozza sticks, wings, and deep fried pickles. Mmmmm…

I made a few other quick stops before heading home. I hadn’t been home too terribly long before Jerilee arrived for – you guessed it! – Bachelorette night! The season ended a week or two ago but we’re behind!! So tonight was our night to watch the finale! We made our appies, along with a margherita pizza, and sat down to watch. We made it through three of the four episodes before it was just about midnight and we called it. “The Men Tell All” will have to wait.

All things considered, it was SUCH a fun day! And tomorrow will be super fun too, but I’ll tell you all about that then 😉 For now, I’m happy to dwell on today. Good friends, good food, good day <3

But not dish brushes, ironically.

I have a long list of things that should get done today, and if not today, very soon. Basics include dishes, laundry, and floors. Like I talked about yesterday, we have these lovely, enormous laundry machines that will make things go nice and quick, but we also have a TON of laundry to do, so that job feels large. Floors are just dirty like usual, but since Dekker has embraced vacuuming the way he has, I’ve really taken a liking to clean floors, haha! Now when they’re dirty, I notice more. Crumbs stuck to my feet are NOT appreciated. So I have to get floors done. And dishes, because bottles stink.

Kim and I are celebrating our birthdays this Saturday, and she’s going to come over in the day so we can get all made up and dolled up together. This has been the motivator that I need to get the en suite set up. I am thoroughly enjoying that, to be honest, but its really hard to do any of it when I’m home with the kids. They are far too interested in all of the shiny pretty products I have in there, and inviting them up there with me would just be begging for it. For the most part, the en suite has to wait. Also in anticipation of our date, I need to wash my makeup brushes.

With the tidying of the en suite comes the annoyance with our room still being the mess that it is. We have a great dresser set now that I’m really happy with, but it needs to be painted. We actually have a lot of things that need painting, but again, that feels like a bit of a huge job to just start. I’m hoping to keep medicine cabinet ish things in the top dresser drawer, but since the dressers aren’t ready, we have boxes of medicine just sitting in our room. It seems like one job just stirs up another. Eek!

I was planning on making some calls to family today, and also to schedule a few little appointments in the near future, but I haven’t done that either. I haven’t done my physio exercises since my last appointment, either. Come to think of all the things I had to do today, I haven’t eaten yet either. Whoops…

So what have I accomplished today, you ask? I did dishes, and I washed my brushes. I’ve fed my kids, changed their diapers, played with them, and read them books. I’ve held Solly almost all day. Every time I set him down, he either wakes up on his own or someone chooses that exact moment to throw a magnadoodle at the laminate, and that wakes him up.

“Well, Hailey, why aren’t you working on that list now??”

Because there is a lot on my mind that I’ve been researching over the last couple of days, and thats what I’m currently doing, rather than sweeping, sorting clothes, cleaning out my fridge, etc. But I’ll tell you more about that all down the road 😉 Until then, I’ll just sweat over the long list of things I have to do, and then discarding it onto our island for later. #motivated #lies #ibegoogling

I think almost everyone can relate to the relief and comfort of arriving home after a time away. The food is better, the bed is better, having your own space is better than sharing, etc. I hope I’m not alone in this, because I LOVE coming home, even if I’ve had a complete blast wherever we were. This time has been a new experience for me, though. Not only am I happy to come home, but I’m THRILLED to come home to this home! I know I mentioned it yesterday, but I hadn’t appreciated my house to its full extent yet. Now I have, and I am just reminded how blessed I am to have this place for our family.

Our tub was just beckoning to me from the moment we walked into the house. Once the kids were all down, we made popcorn and had a soak. On the note of the kids going down, though, everyone slept so much better!!!!! It was such a relief. I knew they were wiped out from hardly sleeping the previous two nights, but Dekker napped on the drive until 6:00pm!! I didn’t have high expectations for deep sleeps, but the three big kids were down beautifully. Solly also went down very well, and he slept nice long chunks, only waking up once around 2:30am for a bottle. He woke up for the day around 8:30!

We have had a very relaxed morning. I got Dekker and Laela breakfast, and I drank a latte and rocked Solly while the two kids played in the living room. Rowan slept until around noon, no word of a lie. He woke up, ate, and went back down to bed. Not because I didn’t want to see him, but he was just a weepy, tearful mess that I could not seem to get under control. When I asked him if he wanted to sleep, he immediately lay his head on me and said “ya.” So he’s tucked in, Solly is sleeping up in his cradle, and the kids are having a brain break, watching some Octonauts.

Why else do I appreciate this house so much? I am very thankful for my enormous laundry machines. Not only do we produce a ton of laundry on a regular basis, but we seem to accumulate WAY more in a much shorter time span when we’re away. Aaaaand we bought an unreasonable amount of bedding at IKEA that will need to be washed before we actually use it. Thats a LOT of laundry, but these machines hold twice as much in one load as our old machines, so that helps. On that note, if anyone knows where to get really nice pillows that don’t break the bank, please let me know! We have a new blanket coming, we bought new sheets and a new duvet cover and pillowcases, and we even bought a new headboard. These tired old flat pillows need to be replaced!

That laundry can happen another day. Today is a lazy, recover, home day. I’ll adult again tomorrow.

We came home! Our second night was almost as rocky as the first, but we all got at least a little bit more sleep this time around, and felt more ready for the day to begin when it began!

Brady and I got ready for the day before getting the kids up, and then I wrangled them onto the bed to contain them, and they had a really special, sweet breakfast while watching some Netflix. While they were corralled, Brady packed and got everything ready to go! It was really efficient and smooth, and we were out of there an hour before checkout.

We all went down to the lobby together with the baggage cart overflowing with our stuff, and then Brady decided to pull the van up to the hotel rather than try and drag everything and everyone across the rocky parking lot. In those minutes, I was so proud of the kids. I had all four in the lobby, and they were just so very pleasant. Dekker inspected the baggage cart and talked to me about how he’d park it once Brady had unloaded it. “Its got secure wheels, and I’m a pretty big boy, so I’d ‘afer (prefer) to park it myself.” Some of the people also waiting in the lobby smiled sweetly at him, and I made a point to smile at them when they glanced over at me. It was so sweet to see him taking responsibility for a job. Laela sat beside me, and I had Rowan on my lap. Solly lay in his bucket wide awake nearby. They were all on great behaviour. When Brady did arrive, it took some time to load the van properly, so the three big kids helped me find all of the garbage we’ve accumulated in the van, and we took a walk to throw it away. When we got back, the van was ready, and we headed off!

Ikea was the mainest goal (yup, its a thing) of this trip, so we’ve really been anticipating it! The only reason we waited until the last day was because some of the things we were going to buy wouldn’t fit in our van, and we didn’t want to strap them to the roof and then leave them out in the parking lot overnight. So it had to be today. We were a little bit nervous going into the long shop, with Rowan having been so shrieky the day before, and the kids running on a fraction of the sleep they usually get for two nights in a row now, but we were SO pleasantly surprised!!! Rowan did SO well! WAY better than anticipated! He loved all of the lights and fans, and spent most of the shop staring and pointing up at the ceiling. We had a few different cart setups, but when they weren’t working, we put Rowan in the seat in a regular cart, and I wore Solly in the ergo. The big kids walked, as they often prefer. With that setup, we had a GREAT shop! I am so thankful that the kitchen event was on when we ordered our kitchen, because we had a nice big gift card to work with. We definitely still spent a pretty penny, but we walked out of Ikea with a headboard, a bed frame, an absurd amount of sheet sets and duvet covers, a couple of replacement door fronts, a missed drawer pull, a vanity chair, and a few other small things. But it felt so good to get a few pieces for around our house that we’ve been eyeballing for so long. Once we get all of our ducks in a row over here, our upstairs will be pretty close to done! Eek! The whole shop felt very successful, and I was so proud of our kids. Brady left us waiting at the doors to go get the van, so we could once again load up at the door rather than dragging our overfilled carts across the parking lot. A really nice employee had suggested Brady pull up the van, and I made a comment about how he could take the big kids, and I could hang back with the little ones, just because I was feeling a bit aware of how much space we were taking up. He laughed at asked which kids were the big ones. I had never really thought of that in that way! I pointed to Solly and Ro and said “Well these ones are smaller than these ones…Kind of.” I looked at Laela and pointed out that she and Ro were pretty much the same size. We had a laugh, and he hung out and told me stories about his grandchildren until Brady arrived. After forever, we got the big stuff strapped to the roof of the van, and we left Ikea. A quick stop for lunch and we finally left Edmonton.

It was the perfect drive home. Three of the four kids were asleep before we were out of the city. No screaming to get them there, either. Rowan had screamed and screamed on the way to Edmonton until he finally fell asleep. He was asleep before we even left the Ikea parking lot today! It was SO refreshing to have them nap at the beginning of the drove. We listened to good music and got excited about house stuff. Though it was funny to realize how thematic our road trips have been in the past! In the last few years, when Brady and I road trip, we almost always discuss baby names (we’ve named most of our kids on road trips) and we usually buy dvds or seasons of our favorite shows off of Amazon on our drive home. I don’t know why, but those things just usually happen. However, we didn’t buy any movies, and we are so very NOT pregnant right now, haha! So no one to name! Also, we always discuss dreams of what our house will be like when its built. And its finally built!! Our life is just so very rich.

Things got a bit nuts towards the end of the trip. Laela was very tired, and was crying and asking for things incoherently from her car seat. Poor little miss. But all is well now. We have made it home, everyone is in bed, our bath is run and our bed is looking SO comfy! Road trips are so fun, and I am SO pleased that we are able to take them, but coming home is always nice. And coming home to THIS home is just decadent.

Tomorrow, unpacking and laundry begins. Wish me luck!!!

Today was all of wonderful and fun and huge and exhausting and hard. We did alright in the night, but of course no one got enough sleep, as tends to happen on fun family getaways. We picked up breakfast and headed to the zoo for the day. Rowan was shrieking VERY early in the game, and we discovered he had just cut an eye tooth. Thats three in total, so while number three is cutting, he’s also working hard on number four. One kid screaming fairly consistently obviously sets the others on edge, so it wasn’t exactly smooth. But we rolled with it, and at least Dekker and Laela were excited about going to the zoo! Behold! Far too many pictures of the day!

Dekker: Look! I can walk like Rowan!

Rowan was completely riveted by the emu, of all things. Probably because he could see them. I think everything up to this point was enclosed behind a concrete barrier, and the more we pulled him out and put him back into the stroller, the more he screamed.

Laela: Hi, Chickaletta!

Dekker: Why doesn’t the bunny use soap and water when he cleans hisself?

This beauty and I watched Brady and the big kids take on the carousel.

Don’t worry, he got his chance 😉

Maybe it doesn’t look like it, but he had a total riot on there!! Win!

Solly had a bit of a breakdown towards the end of our time at the zoo, and the rest of the kids followed suit. That was how we ended up not seeing the last ten exhibits and just heading to the van. All four kids fell asleep right away, so Brady and I drove aimlessly while they slept. When they did wake up, we drove to West Edmonton Mall for my birthday presents! Brady pushed the double stroller alongside me while I perused some of my favorite stores, and after a lot of Rowan’s shrieks and everyone’s tears and quite the run around trying to ask for assistance in stores, I came out of it was a beautiful haul of new makeup! I’m SO excited to play with all of the new products! Eek! Thanks, hubs.

The rest of the evening was a continuation of the gong show that the day became, and we definitely didn’t get the nice snuggle and snack break with them that we had yesterday evening :/ Which is too bad, because we really enjoyed it!! But it was just not in the cards for us today.

Now that the kids are down, Brady and I are trying to figure out supper. We were both so wiped out from the day that we weren’t hungry. And frankly, trying to eat while the kids are in the state that they were in never works. We just placed a call in to Red Robin, and I cannot wait for the next 15-25 minutes to pass so we can get our supper on! Woot!

All things in, it was a really good day 🙂 We are very tired, but I’m so glad we went to the zoo, so glad we shopped, and SO glad for Red Robin!

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!