I always feel a bit “off” when Brady works a Saturday. This is the day he should be home. Trust me, I know not everyone has the luxury of having their husband home on weekends, or in evenings, or to have flexible schedules. I know this. I am also THRILLED that he has work to go to! But, I’ll admit, I miss him. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.

Saturday’s when Brady is gone can go lots of different ways, and with the weeks playing out how they have been recently, I was feeling quite apprehensive about today. Not that I don’t want to spend another day with my kids, but this is a day that I almost always have someone to tag team with, and today, I don’t. However, the morning has been really nice so far!

The kids are in happy moods. They ate breakfast well, and are now occupied with colouring, duplo, cars, etc. I know there is no promise that the entire day will go this way, but its a good kick off! I’ll take it!

Over breakfast, I was daydreaming about going to the lake, and I mentioned it to the kids. I said, as soon as its less snowy and more springy, we should drive to the lake on a Saturday. Even if its too cold to swim (which it will be for a WHILE) we could play on the playground. The entire group broke out into smiles and they started reminiscing.

Their favourite things included the playground, sticky buns, the big rock, walking, ice cream, chicken nuggets in the shape of dinosaurs, and the Dekker special – the fact that its so calm. The kids remembered playing on the big slides, digging holes in the beach, and Rowan’s friend, Emma, who played with him for such a long time one afternoon last summer. She hauled him in and out of swings, pushed him, and walked hand in hand with him from structure to structure. My goodness, they were a cute pair!

After ALL the reminiscing, I told the kids about the longer trip we have planned there for this summer. Our ONE “vacation” we’re taking. I told them we were going for a little bit longer than a week, and they all gasped. I told them it would be over my birthday, which brought up questions of desserts and treats we may or may not have. I told them that my parents would be joining us for a chunk of it, which just made it that much better. I told them, best of all, the new baby would be with us. Every piece of information had them squealing louder and louder.

I was excited for our lake trip before today, but it was SO great for me to see the kids so amped about it, too! I’m realizing I haven’t taken an itty bitty baby to the lake before, so the fun of some minimal research and more daydreaming has begun! Yet, as I start thinking that far ahead, I remember how many wonderful things I have coming up to look forward to! And also, how quickly plans can change, beyond anyone’s control. So, we shall see what happens when.

But I’m excited, and will continue to be until I’m told otherwise. Summer is coming, baby!!

As I mentioned, I’ve spent a little time at the salon/spa over the last two days. If only I had snuck in a massage or something, I’d be golden! 😉 But I’ll take what I can get!

Wednesday night was a leg wax and nails. I won’t share a picture of my freshly waxed legs, though as usual, they’re great, haha! My nails are SO nice and fresh and short like I like them. I have to laugh a little, because I was SO drawn to this particular tealy green color, I couldn’t shake it off, and I realized after the fact just how “St. Pats” they are, haha! But hey, I like them a lot! Its possible they’re already a little beat up, though. #momlife

Then yesterday, my mom drove me to my hair appointment. She was going in for a shorty grocery shop anyway, and this way the van could stay home with Brady to get the kids after school. We had a quick lunch date and ate our FIRST watermelon taste, thanks to Safeway. It was SO good!

Then I proceeded to spend four-ish hours at the salon getting my hair done. My always-lovely hair girl stayed LATE to get my look done. I am SO thankful for that sacrifice because WOW did it turn out!!!

Do you like my artistic picture, where my hair is hiding the dishes stacked up behind me? Yup, it was intentional. But I am LOVING this color! I requested a particular coral shade and she mixed it up for me out of all kinds of different things. It is bang on! I’m not sure if it reminds me more of cotton candy or watermelon or ice cream, or maybe bubble gum? But I love it!

Partway through my hair (after the bleaching of the roots and the removal of the pink but before the coral happened) Brady and the kids showed up to sneak in a MUCH needed haircut for Dekker. Thank goodness, it was a bit later in the day and many of the stylists had already cleared out for the day, so the kids all picked chairs to sit in and Dekker finally got his look refreshed.

It was a long time coming, haha! He told me right away “Now I won’t get as sweaty when I play outside!”

And now, today, this is what we’ve got.

SNOW and wind like craaazy! The weather is bananas, and not even somewhat spring-like. Maybe these wild winds will take he snow away with it.

The last couple of days have been super busy and fun! I know I’m being a jerk by not including pictures, but in case you didn’t catch it, its much later than I usually post!

Brady was home today, so I took that as my opportunity to get my hair redone for the first time in a few months. I was at the salon for four hours, and had a TOTAL blast! Brady brought the kids after school pickup and Dekker got a much needed haircut. I drank a big Starbucks drink and chatted the afternoon away with the friends I’ve made at my salon over the last 5 years. It was so relaxing, and I LOVE my new hair color! Also I love Dekker’s new hair. And my fresh nails. And my legs being waxed, but you don’t need a picture of those. I loved having lunch with my mom in the city before I headed to my appointment, and eating my first few bites of watermelon of the year!

This evening, I enjoyed music practice for this coming Sunday with Brady and Carrie, and now I’m really enjoying laying in my bed, listening to the wind.

I’m going to hold onto these positives as hard as I can, knowing that the wind is blowing to bring in a hefty amount of snow overnight and tomorrow, which I don’t expect I’ll enjoy quite as much. Take what you can get, right? A couple days of pampering were much appreciated!

Its so wonderful to have the help of a friend around here once in a while! I am beside myself with gratefulness for all the willingness people have showed me, and the love they have poured into my family. These weeks have been tricky, and I’m not sure where I’d be if not for the help of so many wonderful people coming into my home and helping in one way or another!

Today was one of those days where I had the help of a friend. She came early enough so I could bring Dekker to school on my own. She read story after story after story all morning while I made a few calls and crossed a few things off of my “to figure out” list. It was pretty close to a meltdown-free morning, but when Solly lay on the floor, so tired and hungry, while I tried to put lunch together, she carried him around, picked up toys, and talked with him. Things like that go such a long way!

We all had some lunch together, and the kids all went down for naps beautifully. Its been about an hour now, and call me greedy, but I’m hoping to push for two!! Seems ballsy for the older kids, and they may wake before then, but we’ll see. They all seemed good and ready when they went down 🙂 YES! I love when that happens!

My loving friend has bowed out for the day and headed home, but made a HUGE difference! I got some daunting things crossed off my list, and I have some energy for the afternoon rather than feeling ragged and overdone by noon. And I know the kids really enjoyed having a fresh audience, story teller, and friend around, as well.

But before I put the reserved energy to use, I’m putting my feet up in bed for a little bit. My chocolate covered raisins that are not-so-secretly stashed beside my bed are calling…

I really don’t want to harp, but today has been a whole lot like the last couple of weeks that I thought we were maaybe coming out of. A very rough start in the morning leading to a complete flop of a nap time, regardless of how tired the kids are. It does not bode will for the evening :/ On top of that, I wrote a few reminders on sticky notes to make certain decisions today and WOW there are just so many! Decisions are hard, even if they’re easy decisions, or quick things to just look into and figure out. I do not feel top notch for it today.

So instead, something funny!

Lol! I’m having a hard time being positive, but I admit I enjoyed this earlier this morning! Brady has those Apple air pods, and he has them programmed to skip tracks in whatever he’s listening to by tapping one or the other a certain number of times. And today, he smacked himself in the head, on purpose (which is a funny mental picture already) and it skipped his track. It was a good moment of laughter in the morning that I needed.

Hope this gave you a giggle, at least. And I hope you have a relaxed evening ahead like I do. And a day with help tomorrow, like I do! I’m so fortunate to have all and who I have. I shouldn’t let a bummer day get me too far down.

At least I haven’t smacked myself over the head. So far.

Thanks to the amazing people who put into our lives and helped with our kids this week, time has flown by yet again! The hard weeks tend to be the slow ones, and we have had a couple of ROUGH weeks i a row, but so many beautiful people have offered to help, without my asking, and it has helped tremendously! So thank you, friends, for all your care and love! Even just looking at the weeks to come, I have lots of help lined up, along with a handful of fun things to look forward to that. I’m hopeful that time will keep moving right along, and that I’ll enjoy the fast-moving days. That way, I can avoid wishing time away, yet it might not feel like quite the eternity that is has up to this point. I’m so thankful for what and who I have 💕

Size Comparison: As usual, the baby’s size is variable. I just read online that her size is compared to a cantaloupe, but I just can’t picture the baby as a ball. So my app likens baby’s size to that of an eggplant or a GI Joe. Last week said a Barbie, so I guess a GI Joe is a bit bigger than a Barbie?? Beats me! What I can say, though, is that apparently this last week was a big one for Bambina, weight wise. While I haven’t had an ultrasound for 2.5 weeks to confirm, according to my app, baby gained about a quarter of a pound this week!!! She’s theoretically 1.25 – 1.5 lbs now!! CRAZY! 

Appointments: I had an appointment with my new student doctor on Friday. I am happy to report that he is really loving his job, specifically the prenatal side of things. Its always good when your student doctor is gung ho to work with you, right? He was thorough in his questions, very positive, and knowledgable when I had questions. He was pretty relaxed with me, almost a bit too much, but I think that was just a personality thing, and I’d rather have him comfortable than uncomfortable and stiff. He was quick to print out my previous ultrasound report for my, too. Towards the end, when he went to bring Dr. Guselle in, he had clearly relayed back to her our entire conversation, and she confirmed everything had been done right and well. Notable things in the appointment were that my blood pressure is still nice and low, my weight is still doing what its supposed to and I’ve gained a little, baby is growing at the “normal” rate and had a good strong heart rate, and I’m coping well with my anxiety and nerves. Everything appears to in order.

How am I feeling emotionally: My general anxiety has been amped these last weeks, but mostly about other things. Still, its not great. Regarding my pregnancy, I don’t anticipate its going to ever just be gone. My fears rise more than I care to admit, but they do. I can’t imagine how I’d keep moving if we lost her now, or ever… But I feel some peace, suddenly, knowing that its completely out of my hands. Everything that can be monitored from here on earth seems to be in order. If she dies, she will. While I HATE that I  can’t protect her anymore than I already am, its just simply what we’re dealing with in our life. Its not up to me. That both relaxes and infuriates me. I really, really hope she lives. 

How am I feeling physically: I’m feeling ok, actually! According to the apps, I’m actually supposed to be feeling a lot worse than I am! I do have reflux, but its managed. I have a sore lower back, but thats not uncommon, and is also helped along with my soaks and physio. As for my pelvic stuff, as I mentioned a while back, my physio is really paying off and making a significant difference! I have less pain these days than I have in a long time, though the sore days really take their toll on me now that I’m not as used to them! Haha! This morning has been a weird one, where I’m not in very much pain at all, but everything is very loose! Like VERY! Every time I shift, my pelvis cracks and pops, but so far my pubic bone hasn’t separated today, and THAT is the one that REALLY hurts!! Lets hope the day continues this way!

Wish Lish/Purchases: As you know, I have wish lists, and they keep growing!! Jerilee and I finally booked our annual girls trip to Edmonton, so hopefully I’ll get to knock a few things off that list while we’re there! Maaaybe the diaper bag I’ve been wanting for literal years. Maaaybe the few little articles I keep staring at from Old Navy. Maaaybe decorations for the baby party. Maaaybe another pair of Gap maternity jeans. We’ll have to see, haha! I feel like that list just spend all of my fun money…

Pictures: Cher and I got to this month of pictures on Friday, so this is what I’m looking like, give or take a few days 😉 I’m not actually always this strange…

Who am I kidding? Its not that uncommon actually. But here are some normal ones for the normal folks.

And this was the part where I tickled Laela until she peed. My bad.

How are the kids feeling: Dekker’s face is usually stuffed into my belly, talking to the baby. Most of the time, I don’t even hear what he’s saying, but I really love when he does it! The kids biggest concern about her arrival, recently, is where she will sit at the table. Just wait until we have to pick a place for her in the van!! I see that starting a brawl.

Getting to know the baby: I like to think Bambina and I are pretty in sync. As I sit here and think about her, I’m realizing I haven’t felt her move much, or at all, today. As I ponder it, she gives me a swift kick in the belly thats so strong, I see it out of the corner of my eye. But thats it. No more since I kept typing. She stops moving when really anything changes. But she tends to give me a little boot when I’m thinking of her. Like she’s thinking of me, too. Maybe there’s already that mutual love there. I know she has mine!

The BEST part of being pregnant: I think one of the BEST parts of being pregnant is being able to insist on a soak in the tub every night. I can justify it, because my body really does need it. I can feel a huge difference the morning after a night where I skipped the bath. Its very beneficial to me, and in turn, for my family who I need to function for! So I LOVE needing a bath every single night. Sure, throw some bubbles or a bath bomb in there. An exfoliating body scrub? Sure, why not make it a full pampering session! It helps with your bathtub also rocks. 

Favourite thing: Since I’ve already listed my bathtub as my favorite thing on here, I’m going with my coffee creamer! This seems like a small thing, but since Bambina has allowed me to have coffee again, I am SUCH a fan of my double double creamer! 

I know, its not good for you, but its delicious, and a one stop shop for a yummy creamy, sweet coffee. I don’t promise it makes your coffee taste like a Tim Hortons double double, but its pretty smooth! I highly recommend this stuff! Be warned, though, if Superstore has a sale, this stuff is GONE! And its possible we were the ones to buy it all! Its so yummy! Highly recommend, 10/10.

This week is beautifully filled with activities, including seeing some friends, helping at preschool, having some help in the house, getting my wax, nails, and hair ALL done, and all kinds of other things. I anticipate it moving quickly and being fun! Thats the goal. Now if today’s snow would just quit already, and spring could actually make it through, I’d be aaaaall the way happy! Bike ride requests. All. Day. Long.

I took some pictures of the kids this morning, all put together and adorable and ready for church. In each kid, I noticed some changes here and there that I figured I’d lump into a post and highlight. Along with a new photo, of course 🙂

 

Dekker has become SO artistic! He spent his free time between getting ready and leaving for church colouring! He pulls out pictures he brought home from school and adds to them. “Wouldn’t this look even better with a rainbow border?” he often asks. He takes great pride in what he creates.

Laela is SO grown up these days! So many things about her are changing, but today, she looked like a teenager! Yes, she is wearing makeup, and yes, I let her wear it to church. And no, I’m not worried about it 😉 She likes to play makeup with me, plain and simple. Its playing, and having fun, and something fun to do together! But seriously, in this photo, she’s deadly, and I know we’re in trouble. She has a good mix of teenager Laela and four year old Laela still, don’t worry.

Rowan has been a tough cookie these last few weeks, but he is growing and changing in some wonderful ways also. Change is always hard, right? Ro is SO clear, SO aware, and learning SO much from his siblings! He’s also started cooperating well with me putting his hair in a ponytail, and now that he is comfortable that way, he spills his milk less, concentrates harder on pictures or toys, and he LOVES reading/listening to stories! Be ready, if you come over to play (with the kids or Brady and I, you will be asked to read story after story after story….) And for those of you nay-sayers, yes, we have offered Rowan haircuts, and he has politely declined each one 😉 Its not just what we want. He wants his hair long as well.

As I’ve been saying, now that Solly’s bowels are healing, he is a whole new man! With his newfound confidence, he is getting hurt a lot! I love that he’s brave, but YIKES he’s a mess these days, haha! You can’t see it in this picture, but he’s got a good blue bruise on his right cheek and a partial shiner from when he was trying to climb between a chair and the front window and wiped out, smacking his cheek hard on the window sill. Whatcha gonna do?? He’s finally comfortable, he’s making up for lost time!

They were all looking and being super cute at church this morning, minus the coffees being held hostage. Sigh.

Brady and I could’ve really used those coffees, haha! We snagged sips here and there, but for the most part, the boys hauled them around. Solly even figured out how to unlock the safety on Brady’s mug. Shoot. They’re lucky they’re so cute!

This weekend has felt short, but there is a good week to come! Another series post to come tomorrow 🙂 I can’t believe that the Mondays keep rolling in and the weeks keep rolling on. Just surreal.

Remember the other day, I showed you that picture of what our dining room looks like now?

Pretty nice, hey? Yet that suspicious empty spot behind the loveseat was waiting for something. Not that empty space is bad, and needs to be filled, but filling it was the whole reason for the reorganize! Now, thanks to a friend making a sale, and two other friends willing to bend their backs for us, its finally filled how we pictures from the moment we moved here!

Thank goodness the move itself lined up with the kids lunch time!

I’ll tell you right now, listening to a piano being moved is kind of nerve wracking, lol! But regardless of the sounds made, the piano was moved successfully, with no broken bones, walls, floors, or pianos! Our somewhat musical family is SO ready to have a piano added to our repertoire of instruments! There are still some holes to fill, but so much of our music centres around a piano and guitar, so its amazing to finally have both!

The kids are super stoked about it too, and have spent some time testing it out. Dekker is already asking about chords and how to play. Rowan’s goal is to play every key. Things like that 🙂 I hope this just adds to their love of music and their natural abilities. We can already see their awareness of rhythm and their love of singing. I hope it grows and grows!

Its been SUCH an exciting Saturday! I hope you’ve all had something to anticipate this weekend as well 🙂 And thank you SO much, guys, and your lovely wives, for giving us your time and muscles this morning! Its all a bit of a “dream come true” moment over here.

This morning has been SO nice. Once again, our loving neighbour has scooped up a few of our kids for some special time at her house. Laela and Rowan are spending the morning there, making cookies. Our kids just love it over there, so I know they’re happy and very well cared for. Its SUCH a relief having people in our loves who are not only willing and happy to put into our kids, but whose values and expectations are similar to ours. I can know (or hope) that the kids will follow our house rules at their house, too. Its comforting for me.

With Dekker at school, and Laela and Ro away, its just me and Solly together at home. This NEVER happens! Solly is a bit hot and cold this morning, but since its just he and I, I figured we could play in his favourite place.

Upstairs, in my room, and my bathroom.

I’m not even kidding.

I had plans to do some reorganizing in my en suite, but I figured pulling ALL my products out likely wasn’t the smartest move. So rather, we washed my makeup brushes. It had been a while. We turned on some music and Solly played with the bottles of bubble bath, body wash, etc. beside the tub while I washed brushes. It was a SUPER cute morning with him!

I’m clearly blogging now, but don’t worry, he is not neglected. He is getting free rein of my bedroom, shaking with my secret stash of chocolate covered raisins, playing with Jamin and Theo’s stuffed toys, dragging laundry around, hiding from me in the closet, making faces in the mirror, climbing on and off the bed, and he is still pretty stuck on those bottles on the tub. He is joyfully occupied, and we are talking lots 🙂 Its been so fun to have him to myself and play with him one on one.

I have an appointment this afternoon that was pretty poorly scheduled, but was all I could get, and once again, the troops have been called in to make sure everyone will be taken care of at the right times. I’d spell it all out in detail here but it makes my head dizzy so I’m not even sure I could explain it correctly. Regardless, its all arranged, which would likely not be the case if I had all the kids together this morning 🙂 I’d likely have to wait until nap time to be able to clear my head, but that wouldn’t leave me enough time to actually make a plan for this afternoon! Eek! Thank goodness for loving, understanding people. You all know who you are, and I am SO grateful for your willingness to help us. It truly takes a village, and I just LOVE ours!!

Perhaps I’ll get some dishes done before the two middles come home. Or I’ll sit still…..

The mom takes her jeans off, crawls into bed, and eats leftover pizza! Right? Thats the social standard, I think…

Seriously though, the three kids are down for quiet time after an almost scream-free lunch, and I’m taking a load off in my room, too. While things are not exactly smooth around here, a few small successes seem to have reminded the kids that they can still have privileges and special things. The days can be fun! And when it doesn’t work out that way, they seem a bit more accepting of their punishments. So, somewhere in the last few days, maaaybe some things are sinking in?? Maybe.

I haven’t had a chance to talk about it yet, but we did some purges around our house recently in an effort to occupy the kids and give them a specific thing to focus on, and they turned out so well! The first was a bit of a toy purge. Now we have TONS of toys all packed up in the garage that no one has missed for 2+ years, so when the basement is done, we’ll do a big sort and decide between keep vs donate vs sell, but for right now, the kids have an ottoman full of toys, a tub of duplo, a tub of lego, a tub of links, and lots and lots of books. They are very satisfied with their toys, and I like our simple system. However, since Christmas and Rowan’s birthday rolled by, the ottoman is overflowing. So the kids and I emptied it out and sorted through it. I didn’t have big goal to throw everything away or anything. Just the obviously broken toys, toys with missing pieces, anything that had tape on it, etc. needed to go. The kids were shockingly on board and chose to get rid of so much!!! Our ottoman now looks like this 🙂

Yes, it WILL get mixed up in there, but at least we know it WILL close, which is the main thing. Floating around the bottom of that ottoman was about half of our duplo, and the bottom of the duplo bin contained almost all of our links, so the reorganize was a HUGE success, and our kids are happily building again! They were so proud of their hard work 🙂

The next day, Brady and I started making plans for our dining room. We are planning to add something to it soon (You can’t know until it shows up! I’m crossing my fingers and toes!) and it needed to be moved around to make space. We weren’t sure where everything would go because we had such a nice layout! I wish I had a “before” picture but I have little to no foresight, so I don’t. But I was suddenly struck with an awesome idea, and I have to say, it turned out SO nicely!!

The reality is that, once we add our mystery thing, we’ll lose more space, so extending the table will leave our dining area a little squishy. But really, if we’re growing the table for a big waffle brunch or something, we’re likely all comfortable enough around each other to be close 😉 And secondly, when our basement is finished, our tv will move downstairs, and the sitting area can shrink up just a bit, so eventually the dining area will be spacious again. I don’t even care, though. I’m SO amped for this set up! It should’ve always been this way, withe the coffee bar off the counter, and the bookshelves along that long wall. Makes SO much more sense and looks SO much nicer.

There are still lots of jobs I’d really love to get done, and I love how excited the kids get to be part of them! Moving the bedrooms around was a big hit, too. I just tend to get discouraged when SO MUCH rests on the basement getting done, because I feel like I’m often just moving messes to new locations because their forever location doesn’t exist yet. Does that make sense? But little by little, we’re getting there!

Small victories in BIG times of life.