This is me focusing on some cute little positives! I’m feeling a touch overwhelmed about a few things, and I’m having a hard time looking past them. Yet I have SUCH a great little bundle of kiddos, and I have a picture of each and every one of them from this morning! That does not always happen, so I figure its worth sharing 🙂
This little one is at that totally endearing (albeit messy) stage where she’d rather smile than drink milk. She’s so happy and cute, yet every time she smiles, milk pours out of her mouth all over her. So thats fun, and not smelly at all. Its ok. Its completely worth the mess.
This kid’s bedhead game is STRONG!
Then there is this one, who should really never wear clothes when he eats. Today is was yogurt. Thankfully, this morning, I was lazy enough that I didn’t put a shirt on him. It worked out.
And then there are these. Hear me when I say I was SO disappointed when it was time to send him to school. I just wanted them to finish their book!! But they’re both anticipating reading the end of it together after school.
That last one doesn’t happen too often, but this particular instance was totally polite and complaint-free! Win!!
I love these kids. Even if I complain about them from time to time, or I share struggles with you, I hope you all know I would NEVER trade my life or the people in it for anything!!! I feel so fortunate.
My goodness, why does “three months” feel so significant all of a sudden? Waverly has been earthside for three months today, yet I can honestly tell you I scan back through her labour and delivery pictures almost every single day. I am SO fortunate to have that day captured in photos! I wish I had them for the previous children’s birth days, but I very much hope to have them taken for any future children we have. They’re just amazing! If you want to scan back through them like I like to, they’re all here on her birth story post 🙂
In the last week or two, I’ve noticed this specific picture. Yes, its a pivotal picture with her coming out of my womb and into the world, but I only just noticed my hands reaching out for her. I was just so so ready. I had abandoned holding up my legs, or Brady’s hand, or whatever I was doing. I wanted her!! And I have her. Finally.
Today was picture day for the little miss!
Wavy just keeps getting better and better! Though she has always been a total peach, she continues to floor me on the daily. Developmentally, she likes her little baby gym toy. She’s only smacked the toys hanging in front of her once or twice, but she spins the toys on the sides of it lots. She smiles all the time, and she laughs now! It takes a bit of work, but not too much. Tickling, little startles, bouncing her gently on a bed, etc. are all acceptable ways to make her giggle. Its SO fun! Just today, I was hugging her, and I squeezed her a little and I nibbled under her chin, and OH did she laugh! It was awesome!!
I should say, she’s beefed up enough that you can kind of squeeze her now! We weighed her a week or two ago, and she was 13 lbs 3 oz, but today when I weighed her she was 12 lbs 14 oz. So let’s just say she’s about 13 lbs. She rocks 3 month clothes, though the sleepers are a bit tight, height wise. She’s still consistently drinking 4 oz bottles, though occasionally she requires an extra ounce if its bee a good while.
Her drop in weight can easily be explained by her cold this month. She had a super little one right as school started, but only recently did it turn into that first yucky cold where babies can drink milk and breathe at the same time. Poor poor dear. We pulled out our trusty snot sucker last night and helped her breathe again. While she was NOT a fan, she handled it better than I would’ve, and was SO relieved! She slept way better after that, though to touch on her sleep quickly, she is a GREAT sleeper!! She gets up once a night, but has slept through more than a handful of times. Last night, she slept from 7:30pm to right around 5:00am. We cleared her nose, fed her, and put her back down, and she slept until just before 11:00am!!! And the night before, she slept all the way through. Sooooo she loves her sleep. We’re hopeful for her to really ace her nights once she’s not sick anymore. Wish her (and us) luck on that! Because we’d all love to sleep through the night again, and I’d love to touch fewer boogers in a day.
Her routine still isn’t really set. I feel like we’ve gotten less hung up on the new baby’s routine with each consecutive newborn. Some days, she goes to bed SO late because she’s just too pooped too late into the afternoon, and only wakes up at 7:00! The last few days, she’s been going down around 7:30, and has actually been sleeping nice and long after that! The 7:30 bedtime is our ideal, so hopefully it kicks around after the cold takes a hike! 🤞 She’s still little enough that routine isn’t a big deal, so if we have somewhere to be, we can wake her and go, and it doesn’t really mess anything or anyone up. She’s pretty user friendly. I can say that maybe the one thing we do that counts as a “routine” would be that we feed her when she gets up rather than every time she goes down for sleep. We obviously feed her before she goes down for night, but not as much before naps. We would never put her down hungry, obviously. It works out really nicely that way 🙂
She cried through her bath today, as usual, but she had to be all fresh and clean for her photo shoot! 😍
Ugh. I love her so much.
She is beautiful and interactive and pleasant and bright eyed and soft and warm and content and peaceful and a little opinionated from time to time 😉 She is a total answer to prayer, and she has brought healing in ways I didn’t expect she would, to myself, my family, and to others. Its been so exciting to watch her doing God’s work already, and I can’t wait to see the other ways He’s going to use her!
Yesterday marked two months since I turned 30. I’d love to say that I’m loving it, but its been a weird time of transition. I’m still hoping I actually get some of that written out of these days but I honestly haven’t been able to nail it down yet. I know I feel iffy, and unsettled, but I can’t quite put my finger on the “why.” I’m working on it.
A friend mentioned to me right around my birthday that I should make a “30 life lessons” post, like so many people do on YouTube. At the time, I felt so crappy about my birthday that I put it out of my mind, but its crept back in recently, and I started my list. I’ve got it assembled now, so I figured I’d share it. My list for me! You don’t have to agree with any of it 🙂 I promise. Here they are!!
1. People are rarely trying to offend you. Oftentimes, people just say the wrong thing. I know I’ve done it. Give them the benefit of the doubt. If they are truly trying to offend you, you probably don’t need to be talking to them in the first place.
2. Its ok to be bored. Learn how to handle it. Better yet, teach your kids to learn how to handle it!
3. Honey mustard is the new ranch. Its delicious on everything! Except ranch is still delicious.
4. Grief will never leave once its there. It’ll change, and it’ll become more “normal,” but it’ll never fully leave. So make room for it, and continue living.
5. Take the risk and reach out to people you don’t know very well. They may think you’re a weirdo, or they may really need you. (This shoot was SUCH a gift to me. For reference, Cher and I did NOT know each other at this point in time!)
Cher Andrea
6. Taking care of yourself is nothing to be ashamed of. You can’t pour from an empty cup!
7. You don’t have to solve other people’s problems when they share them with you. They’re not expecting you to. Just listen. Witness their life.
8. When you have a cold, splurge on the Puffs tissues with lotion. They’ll save you from a flaky nose.
9. Don’t “wish” you could play with your style. Just do it. Even just once. Or many more times than just once…
10. If the whole house is quiet, put your feet up and rest. Doctors orders.
11. Winter tires are worth the extra money! Doesn’t hurt if your tire shop is the cats pyjamas either.
12. Vulnerability is GREAT, even when it doesn’t feel like it.
13. Pop music is also great. Embrace some of those guilty pleasure songs!
14. God WILL give you more than you can handle, but he won’t give you more than HE can handle, so if you have Him, you’re set.
15. Don’t wait for every detail to be perfectly aligned before starting something. Just start it! If its meant to be, it’ll all piece together.
16. Primer. Powder. Setting spray. Seriously, folks, take the time to set your makeup.
17. Stick to your convictions, even when it feels lonely.
18. STOP ALL THE COMPARING!! Giving someone value doesn’t devalue you. Believing someone else is beautiful doesn’t make you ugly. Pulling someone down will not lift you higher!
19. Find comfortable underwear and don’t compromise. Wedgies are for children in bathing suits on the beach.
20. Open the windows when it rains. Its the most cleansing sound and smell in the world!!
21. If you really want something communicated, be direct. Be straightforward. Don’t expect people to read your mind.
22. Have some form of baked good in the freezer so you’re ready for company at a moments notice.
23. Being afraid of something doesn’t necessarily mean you shouldn’t do it. Oftentimes, quite the contrary.
24. Be intentional when you make decisions, even the unpopular ones. Put real thought into them. If someone questions you, be confident and honest in your answers. But don’t be hard headed. You can be intentional and confident and still be wrong. Not everyone has to agree.
25. Don’t EVER say (or write/type) something about someone that you wouldn’t say directly to their face.
26. Have your “favorites” in order. Favourite color, food, movie, etc. They’re GREAT conversation starters with kids 🙂
27. Our plans are not our own. They’re just placeholders for whats actually going to happen. So plan away if it helps you feel better in the moment, but expect them to change. (Hahaha! Remember when we had a tiny car? Plans CHANGE!)
28. Have a good fitting hoodie and pair of jeans in your wardrobe at all times, no matter the season.
29. The people around you may receive love differently than you do. Learn how that looks and do those things! Not everyone wants a hug, but some people only want a hug.
30. Motivation comes and goes, but self discipline is something we ALL have, ALL the time. Utilize it.
Whew! Putting those together took real thought and work! I felt like I could tag a post I’ve written that would relate to each and every one of these, but seriously, who would go back and read all 30 posts?! While I’m feeling a tad identity-crisisy since my birthday, I’m trying to remember that its not about what I’ve done, or what I haven’t done, but about who I am at this point that truly matters. And while I’m not in any way all that, I think I’ve learned a lot in the last thirty years, and I can safely say I like myself more than I did ten years ago. I don’t care to relive my teen years, or my 20s really, so I guess its time to make my thirties awesomer! Please wish me luck, friends!
I can’t decide whether I’m surprised that Laela is already five, or that she’s not already a teenager. I’ll get back to you on that. As per usual, you can re-read her birth story here, if you want. She was my craziest, scariest, life changiest delivery ever, and it couldn’t suit her better! Of course it was her who was born like that.
Its been a FULL year! She’s changed so much, but not at all, really. She’s still delicate and playful and soft and silly and all the yummy things in between.
We spent the morning of Laela’s birthday at the zoo, just like we did for her first birthday.
It was a bit cold, and some of our group couldn’t make it, but it was still lovely and fun! The bears, monkeys, and wolves were the highlights! Post zoo trip, we went home for naps, and our guests rejoined us for a supper of perogies and sausage. We were hoping to attend our local fall supper, but most of the kids were completely trashed from the morning out in the cold, and it was better to keep things warm and at home.
Laela got an amazing haul of gifts. Sticker books, bath toys, paints and smelly markers, with more to open tomorrow. Brady and I got her a couple of pretty rings and a comfy sweater that I only wish came in my size!
In Laela’s five year old honour, Cher took some pictures of her the other day. The goal at the time was to show of a cute toque pattern that I had tweaked to make into a kids size, but in my opinion, it turned into a beautiful shoot to celebrate my first daughter, my Laela Hazel. I think I’m going to save those for a different post, because they’re just WAY too beautiful to be snuck in here at the end of post thats already filled with so many pretty pictures, but I’ll leave you with one that just happens to be on theme.
Laela. You are FIVE. You are both SO grown up and still SO little. My heart laughs with yours and hurts with yours. We are cut from the same cloth, my dear. I pray that you always love Jesus, and share him with everyone through that fiery personality of yours. Stay silly, stay warm, and stay honest, even when it sucks. Keep singing and dancing and writing those nice notes you always write. Thank you for being such a bright light in our family. I waited for my Laela for about twelve years, and you are the exact right girl for the name!
Happy fifth birthday, Miss Laela. I love you all the way to Heaven.
As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I got taken on a date! Woot!
Guys, I said a handful of times that we have to take a nice picture in the daylight, but we forgot once again. I think our most recent nice selfie is from a year ago, and while we both look really nice in it, we had just lost our second baby that year and all I see is my sad eyes. I’ve got to get a better one, but tonight, I forgot. Whoops! Maybe next time!
We started at the theatre. We were hoping to go to that nice new theatre across the city again but Mamma Mia 2 was playing at the cheap seats! So we did that instead. It was cute 🙂 I legitimately teared up through the last song in the movie, and then there was a hilarious encore number with the entire cast, somewhat separate from the movie itself, which I THOROUGHLY enjoyed!!! Was such a good ending!
After the movie, we headed for supper. It was kind of out of order, but we’re old and didn’t want to go to the later show. It didn’t matter. Boston Pizza always tastes good!!! We enjoyed tropical chicken pizza (my favorite) and I had long island iced tea. It sounds so dumb, but I forgot they existed this summer, and I SO enjoy them! The season is all wrong, but I had to get one in at least!! Was SO yummy!
We made it home sometime after 10:00 to a quiet house and our lovely friend walking our twitchy baby through the house. It is wrong that I was secretly relieved that she was still up??
We fed her and tucked in for the night shortly after getting home, and Wavy gave us a solid seven hour stretch of sleep! We woke up feeling pretty refreshed, and dove into our productive day! We’re getting a few things sorted out for Laela’s birthday tomorrow, getting Dekker ready for a party he’s invited to today, and we’re kicking off some electrical in the basement! Go us!!
I hope your Saturday is as productive as ours!! I kid. I actually hope you’re all having a solidly lazy Saturday. Either or is good 😉
Today’s post is a bit of a mixed bag from the last two days 🙂 I have the cutest little office assistant with me, so I’ll keep it short and sweet, like her.
Brady took Dekker to the eye doctor yesterday. Its become their little date. Dekker had the eye drops at his last appointment, so we anticipated this appointment would be nice and quick. While Dekker was super cooperative, they could tell his eyes had worsened.
So, in went the drops, and Dekker belly laughed through them. If you’ve known Dekker a long time, you know how HUGE that is! He handled it, and he and Brady went down to the cafeteria to pass the time with some treats.
Sure enough, they left the hospital with a new prescription. His vision itself isn’t worse, but the shape of his eyes have changed, making his astigmatism worse. So he’ll be getting new glasses soon! Thank the Lord for the “Kids See Free” program at Superstore!
Laela and Dekker were both at school today, but Brady was home! So he and I and the three little ones ran into the city for some errands.
We shopped Superstore, Costco, got a bday gift for a party Dekker is going to this weekend, as well as a bday gift for Laela. I can’t BELIEVE she’s almost five!!! I also got my side shave redone. It was very productive. Though I had to take a picture of this and have a brief ten second rant about it.
Ok. I get it. Sometimes people pump gas on the wrong side because the lines at Costco are long. I understand that. Its ok. And both of these vehicles are technically in the lines. But with the nozzles sticking out like that, it would’ve been very close for us to try and drive out in between them. The man standing there made it impossible. GAH!!! Pet peeve alert!! I’m done now. Its probably our own fault for driving a bus anyway.
When we got back to down, we hit the post office and picked up FOUR parcels!!! I love when everything finally shows up! Lol! In it came Laela’s other birthday present, a little dress for her, some socks, and a couple of different sizes of jeans for me. I’ll pick what fits best and send the rest back. I also discovered the empty magnetic palettes at Sephora were on sale for 50% off the other day, so I bought two to organize all my ColourPop loose shadows and singles I’ve gotten through my sample bags. Yay for having all that in one (or two) places finally! Only one more parcel coming in the mail at this point 🙂 And you guys will definitely know about it when it comes!
Its been a fun couple of days, and likely this evening will also be fun! I’ve been recently informed that I’m going on a date! Yay! I haven’t been as diligent with Operation Hailey and Brady Hang Out as I should be, and I’m thankful Brady made this one happen. Its amazing how intentional we need to be about getting ONE night out a month, but I think its a healthy, reasonable goal. Just have to make it happen! Its happening tonight, and I’m thankful for it 🙂 Friday niiiiight!!
I’m pretty self aware when I post photos of our days that don’t include every kid. I’ve often thrown a disclaimer in there, that I love all of my kids the same and all that jazz, but there are stages where its just harder to get them in photos! Dekker went through that a while back, for quite some time, and I felt SO guilty that he wasn’t in many pictures. But he was too busy running around, or specifically said he didn’t want to be, or just wore awkward fake smiles. Whatever the reason, there are reasons, so it happens.
Maybe you’ve noticed, or you haven’t, but Ro is very much in that stage! He never stops, or he’ll put on a grouchy face when he sees me try to take a picture of him. I can get pictures of him, but they’re phoney and not what I want. And clearly not what he wants. Most of the time.
So when he was having it today, I had to post about him! Just so you guys can see his happy face once in a while at least!
These were dance moves. I can’t tell you what or why, but he was super happy and super hyper!
This is Rowan’s recent photo face. If he’s not grumpy in a photo, he’s usually sticking his tongue out. But MAN is he cute!!
I’m so glad to have some funny, happy, recent pictures of him! I hope you’re glad, too, and didn’t just completely forget that he existed! My phone has officially lost him in my “People” photo folder. Whoops! Hopefully this helps!
I’m all for living in the moment, and enjoying each day as I’m given! The day to day is pretty mundane sometime, but I really love my life! However, I like having fun things to anticipate, too! Don’t we all?
October is coming! Brady’s schedule is pretty full with work, but we’ve taken some great steps in our basement project, so I’m hoping we get a lot more done there soon! I haven’t spoken to Brady in detail yet, so I won’t say anything ballsy yet, but I’m excited to set a goal of how much we can aim to complete by the end of October! (I should post pictures soon and show you guys around the basement at this point…) Brady is working through Thanksgiving this year, which is sad, so no big plans for that weekend. Also in October is Bradys birthday! Woot! Birthdays are always fun, right? (Wrong. They are not. Not always.) And then October closes off with Halloween, obviously. We SO enjoy that day, dressing the kids up and going to our friends houses! We’ll have FIVE to dress this year!! I kind of want to put Wavy in some sort of 80s workout gear, with the little sweatbands and leotard, haha! Somehow I just picture her fro making that look SO funny! But we’ll see 🙂 Its a fun day to dress up and laugh at each other.
November holds hopefully a retreat for me!! A friend brought it to my attention today that the annual ladies craft retreat is coming up soon! I went once when I won free admission and, my goodness, it was SO FUN! I knew all of ONE person there, and was kind of nervous about being on my own, but it was such a fun group of women, with such a relaxed vibe, and SUCH good food. I loved it! I wanted to go last year, but we were in the midst of our “hiatus from income” and we couldn’t swing it. This year we’re going to make it happen, and I’m SO stoked! I can’t wait to get a bunch of crocheting for Christmas done!
To branch off of that, Christmas closes out the year in December, and I’m just so stoked. I’ve begun my shopping, and am literally waiting for six packages to come in the mail! I have my list of people written down, with ideas beside almost all of the names. I’m still stumped for a couple, so if anyone cares to brainstorm with me this early, I’d jump at having someone to bounce ideas off of! I’m so looking forward to being set for gifts early in the game so I can just soak up the Christmas vibes, stress free, in December!
What are you guys looking forward to in the coming months? Any fun trips planned? Any occasions beyond Christmas that you’re excited about? Waiting for any new products or music to come out? I’m so ready for Hickory Farms to be back in the malls! Last year I waited too long and missed out on my pineapple honey mustard completely!!! I’m in withdrawal, guys. Mustard withdrawal. Its a real problem…
I know there will be plenty of mornings like this in the coming year, but its still such a novelty to have the little boys on their own! We do have Waverly, obviously, but she’s super sleepy still, and isn’t exactly involved in the play yet 😉
Rowan has picked up one of Laela’s games, where she just plunks herself down somewhere and asked him to bring her all kinds of things. But they’re very specific things that he has to hunt for. So Ro tried this with Solly this morning, and it was SO FUNNY! He would spout of some vague description of one of our infinite number of Hot Wheels cars, and Solly would diligently toddle over to the ottoman, grab a stuffed toy off the top, and present it to a frustrated Rowan.
Over. And over. And over again.
It was amazing.
Rowan took to the comfort of his toy phone, in true teenager style. Though he lamented that the menu button didn’t work anymore.
He lived, and they played well. They’d sneak off to one of the bedrooms and I’d find them looking down heat registers with flashlights. They’d have “sleepovers” in the pantry. They’d race cars across the living room. The list went on. It was so fun to watch them learn to play together! I realized at one point that these two boys are two and three. I’m supposed to hate these ages, right?? Sure, they have their moments, but truly, today the best word for them is FUN!!!
Eventually little miss sleepy face woke up and joined us.
She lay on the floor and flapped for a while, but it wasn’t long before she was wailing for milk and her bed. Such a short little visit with her, but I’ll take what I can get!
These days with just the young ones are so special! With where Rowan’s birthday falls, he’s actually going to be home for another two years before he can enter kindergarten! So these kids will be in my view for a good stretch of time still! I’m so thankful for that.
Thanks to September, we are down and out with colds over here. Again. I didn’t catch the last one, thank goodness, and I hope very much to not catch this one either!
Not everyone is sick yet. Dekker is a bit more emotional than usual, so I can tell he’s feeling a little bit under the weather. Laela has been snotty and coughy for the last two or three days. She actually slept in this morning, and only woke up for breakfast after everyone else was done. Thankfully, today wasn’t a school day for her. Rowan isn’t sick yet! Though he’s looking a bit droopy. Solly is hopefully on the way out of this one, but he’s had it rough. So much snot, tons of coughing, and a persistent diaper rash. Poor dude. Wavy is a bit congested, and while she’s SO sleepy, she doesn’t sleep well. So, its all pretty standard sick kid stuff.
Besides them, Brady is feeling it pretty decently, but his colds usually move pretty quick. I feel a bit extra for him, though, because he just kicked his last illness maybe a week ago. We think he randomly had Hand Foot and Mouth, because he had a BRUTAL sore throat that felt like knives for a good handful of days, but came with virtually no other symptoms. It reached the point where he felt at a total loss, and couldn’t enjoy any food or drink anymore at all. But it finally lifted, and now he has a cold. Which feels considerably better than HFMD, but is still annoying.
I’ve had some colds throughout the last while, but less than usual, I’d say. Especially considering its the beginning of the school year, and thats the time for everyone to be sick! I may be jinxing everything now, but whatever. I realized yesterday that I’ve been sick WAY LESS since I started getting my nails done!
If you haven’t been around for long, I have always been a nail biter. I had gotten my habit fairly under control, that is, until we started losing our babies. When we conceived our fifth baby for the third time (Oy…) my anxiety beat out my self control, and I chewed my hands like crazy! I chewed my nails and the skin around them until I couldn’t use my fingers anymore. It was impossible to ever get them wet, because they would puff up just the smallest amount and would hurt SO BADLY. That meant I couldn’t wash my hands, my hair, myself, my kids, our dishes, our house, etc. It was out of control. I got gel nails not because I think they’re pretty (though they definitely are!) but to save my poor hands from myself. And guys, it has helped immensely. I’m not perfect, and I still pull at the skin around my thumbs sometimes. Hangnails still get me in trouble sometimes, but with the thicker, rounded gel nails, its harder for me to pick at my skin. While vastly unsatisfying, its helpful, and I’m thankful.
Only just recently have I realized that the lack of biting my fingers has probably saved me from illness!! I can’t believe it took me so long to put that together because I say it to my kids every single day! “Get that out of your mouth, please!” Time after time after time. “You’ll get sick! You’ll put germs into your mouth!” Who am I that I’ve missed this lesson for myself??
Now that I’ve written this all out, I’ll probably get sick, haha! But hey, its been a less ill year, and at least some of that credit goes to my nails being well protected. I’m going to back that all up over the next few days with tons of hand washing, tons of lotion (to combat the dry hands that I’ll inevitably pick at,) and Lysol wipes on EVERYTHING! I know they’re not the most natural option, but they’re efficient and effective.
