The Daily Hailey

Firstly, I know I mentioned I was going to put up a photo post of Dekker’s birthday, but I forgot to steal the pictures from my mom today (oops!) so its gonna have to wait until another day. Instead, pictures of pickling will have to do.

My parents hit up the farmers market first thing in the morning and bought three 20 lbs bags of pickling cucumbers. They also picked up some extra dill, and hit up a grocery store for pickling salt. We met them at their place around 10:00am and started getting prepped. My mom and I had both sterilized our jars the night before, so that was one less thing to fuss over. Once lunch had come, we had only filled eight jars. It felt like we hadn’t accomplished anything, and I was a bit discouraged.

Until it was pointed out that the jars had their dill, garlic, and bay leaves already stuffed, and 2/3 bags of pickles were washed and ready. All the prep work was done! We just needed to fill the jars with the cucumbers, make the brine, and put it all together! So I gave up on being bummed out and destroyed our lunch of corn on the cob, mashed potatoes from our garden, and chicken fingers. Sooo good! No one else was thrilled with the corn so the rest came home with me. Yum!

The boys cleaned up lunch so mom and I could get going on the rest of the pickling. We stuffed jars and washed the last bag of cucumbers, and put two batched of brine on the stove. As soon as one batch was ready, we’d pour its contents into 7-10 jars, depending on the batch, and go again. It was a really good system. My mom said it so well the other day. She and I don’t like to fuss with complicated things, so we use an easy recipe and easy method. And lucky for us, it produces delicious pickles! I can’t wait!

All together, we came out with 56 jars!!! I can’t believe we have to wait six weeks to try them, but I’m willing. Sooo delicious, and I just can’t wait. Dekker loves pickles too, and I have no doubt Laela will enjoy the taste, or at least the novelty of them. We used them for teething with Dekker when he was a baby. He’s not a baby anymore. Yikes. When did that happen??

My parents had evening plans so we piled out around 5:00 and headed home. Dekker was very sad to leave and showed us that opinion for the rest of the night. It was sad, but I don’t blame him. It was a really fun last few days. Brady gifted me the evening and took care of the kids, as he had been doing all day already, so I could rest and not have to deal with the fatigue and attitudes. It was great. By the end of the evening, the whole family was cuddled in bed with me, Laela having her milk and Dekker in my arms, watching some YouTube videos. Yes, we were watching “movies” but it was comfy and quiet and non-confrontational. It was perfect.

Now, Brady is out picking up the supper we ordered to carry out. Sadly, our one town restaurant stopped serving my favorite thing on the menu 🙁 So I am sucking it up and having a BLT instead. Definitely a healthier option, but with considerably less cheese and sauce involved. Sad. The tub is running and the kids are sleeping on their way out relatively quiet gonna quiet down eventually. It was a great, full, tiring day. I can’t wait to not surface once tomorrow and to just take a load off from the fun and crazy. I plan to spend a lot of time watching Dekker play basketball. And thats it.

Picture show!

 

On that note, I think my food is close to being home and I am done waiting. Time to eat! Sleep tight, all!

How incredible was today?!?! Our today was awesome 😀 If you’ve somehow missed it, Dekker turned three whole years old yesterday, so we celebrated with my parents this evening. But first, I’ll do a quick recap of the rest of the day, and slightly before.

Last night, I got a call from the town inspector who we spoke to two years about building our deck. The guy was pretty unreasonable and just not our favorite person. Anyway, he called last night to ask if we ended up building our deck. I told him yes, to which he responded with a “Hmmm, I didn’t get a call to come inspect it…” He then informed me that he was going to drop by the next day to inspect it. I told him I wouldn’t be home, and he said that was fine. Unfortunately, I had no plans to be gone. So I called my mom and asked if I could come be at her place in order to totally avoid the inspector. She said yes. Yay!

So first thing in the morning, I fed the kids and packed the diaper bag, and took them over to my moms in their sweats/jammies. It was a bit cool today, so that was perfect. We had a great morning playing with grandma, and she even made Dekker a lunch of his favorite things: grilled cheese sandwiches and french fries. After we ate, we all headed back to my house, as we had planned a family birthday party in the evening.

The kids napped at a relatively normal time, and mom and I did the dishes and tidied up the dining room. Then we went outside and played in the garden a bit. We dug up the first carrots of the summer, which were still a big small but completely delicious! We brought in a bunch for supper. We saved the rest of the harvesting for the evening when the boys would be around.

Once everyone had arrived home for the evening, we cracked out the food and began the painfully easy process of preparing a supper that we knew Dekker would absolutely love. Mac and cheese. I’m not even kidding. With Deks not really wanting to sit at the table through meals, I knew he’d sit for macaroni. So we made that, as well as some yummy battered fish, and the garden carrots. Right before everything was ready, I remembered that weeks ago, Dekker had made one simple request for his birthday dinner. “Detter wants juice, please.” So juice he should have! I made a pitcher of powdered iced tea, since I had forgotten about it and hadn’t planned anything fancier. But I can assure you all, my Dekker Thomas LOVED his supper! He had two helpings of macaroni, ate most of his fish, and probably ate more carrots before supper than during, but it still counts. Two or three cups of juice down, too. He was so happy 🙂 It made me happy.

He loved his cake too, and did a great job of blowing out his candles too. He ate most of his piece of cake (all the parts with icing) and then was off to play toys. We gave him his gifts next. The big hit was the basketball hoop from Grandma and Grandpa. We set it up and he played and played and played for a solid 45 minutes. And guys, he is surprisingly good! He got a lot of practice in at Caity and Stef’s in Winnipeg, and it shows. He got lots of baskets, and we all celebrated each one. Literally, we all sat and watched him play the entire time. I’ll do a photo post tomorrow when I’m more organized 🙂 But seriously, he was sooo happy! In the years past, he would cry if too much attention was on him, but he had an absolute riot today.

Bedtime was really, really sad. Poor Dekker didn’t want today to end. But we did our best to have tons of tickles and laughing and running and bouncing along the way. When it was finally time, he prayed with Brady, and went down well. Us adults went outside to check the rest of the garden afterwards and were met with beautiful results. We dug up one potato plant and found 17 potatoes!!!!! The corn is still a week or two away, but its about 8′ tall, so its looking incredible. Also, tomorrow, my mom and I are pickling, and we found 7 really tall shoots (chutes?) of volunteer dill, so at least something in our pickles will come from our garden, even if its not the cucumbers. We pulled out the bean plants that are finished for the year, and made some plans to weed out the carrots to give them a bit more space to get a bit bigger. The garden looks pretty awesome. We’re excited for it to keep doing its thing and then to be able to eat from it!

My parents left after the garden dig, and we went back inside to check on the kids. That was a while ago. They’ve been down for over an hour, and it would appear neither is tired enough for bed. Laela is shuffling all around her crib, wreaking havoc and tearing the ties off of her bumper pads (thanks, girly) and Dekker will not stop talking!!! Basketball, puppies, cake, trucks, grandma and grandpa, and the list keeps going. I keep thinking “We should go in there and shut that down.” and maybe we will try again soon. But I LOVE that they’re both still so revved up on the day that they can’t sleep! Its adorable. They are adorable.

What an incredible day today has been 🙂 I hope all birthdays are like this one. Happy birthday party, Dekker.

Three years ago, I delivered my firstborn. My son, Dekker Thomas. I feel that these years have whipped by, as everyone told me they would, and it seems that each year goes faster. Didn’t we just have his second birthday party? His life began as an incredibly low key, and, dare I say, easy delivery. It has flourished since then, as our boy has learned and grown and become more of his own person. He feels BIG, no matter what emotion. Yes, when he is scared, he is SCARED. When he’s disappointed, he is really DISAPPOINTED. But when he is happy, he is THRILLED and DELIGHTED and INCREDIBLE! I love that about him. I know everyone doesn’t always get to see the happy side of him, and maybe they see more of the fear. But trust me when I tell you that Dekker is a pure and complete delight. When I prayed for a baby four years ago, he is EXACTLY what I wanted! God is good. 

So is Dekker. I adore you, my son. I couldn’t be happier that you were born, those three years ago. Here’s to many, many more! *proud mommy lifts juice box* Happy birthday, my love.

It rained and thundered overnight and was just wet and cool in the morning. It was pretty great actually. The kids were in good shape upon waking up, and it seems some of my first trimester fatigue is passing. I’m still a bit nervous to stop taking my barfy med before bed, though. I might give myself a couple more weeks just in case. I hate being nauseous. Plus, the last time I missed one, I didn’t feel sick as much as I felt ridiculously sluggish in the morning. So I’ll keep on that until I’m feeling really rested, and then see what happens.

All of that aside, I want to talk about something I may or may not talk about a lot over the coming months. I have a friend who just had her second baby, a girl, a couple of weeks ago. She used to read everyday, so sorry if you’re reading this and its weird!!! *fast wave in your general direction* Anyway, she delivered her baby when she was just shy of 27 weeks pregnant. While The little sweetie is thriving and doing surprisingly well, my heart breaks for her daily. I think of them daily. I have a sticky note up on my bathroom mirror with their family’s names on it, so I think to pray for them every time I’m in there. And I’m pregnant, so thats a lot. I know I’m just twelve weeks in, but I think about labor a lot. I try not to, because I know worrying helps no one. And I know that, as crazy as Laela’s birth was, it was uncomplicated and resulted in a very healthy baby and a physically healthy mom. Still working on the rest of me though 😉 Anyway, while the enormous size of my kids has sort of been a novelty, almost like bragging rights, I am scared that they will get bigger. I don’t know how much bigger I can deliver! If you’ve ever met me, I’m not an especially large person. I know the human body can do wonderful and crazy things, one of which was allowing my narrow frame to deliver a 10 lbs 10 oz baby. I know I can do it again. But it something I think of, and if I’m totally honest, I fear it a little.

But then my girlfriend goes and delivers this tiny little baby, all 2 lbs 4 oz of her. And it just breaks my heart to think of that! I ave always felt so safe once my babies are born. They aren’t really that fragile, if they get sick, I don’t have to worry too much, stuff like that. Honestly, they both had decent neck control the day they were born. I’m so sad that my friend and her family can’t have the same level of comfort that I have. Though I am confident that God will use that incredible NICU team to keep their baby safe and strong, I am incredibly thankful for my massive, sturdy, endurababies. What a gift those huge kids are to me! 

This is just me trying to find positives and motivators, and things to be thankful for. And if I don’t get my massive, full term baby, and instead am given a tiny micro preemie fighting to keep their lungs open with each breath, I know I have a solid girlfriend who can relate to me and help me and comfort me. 

I am so, sooo taken care of. God really surrounds you with the right people at the right times. I only wish I could be a help to her. Or anyone who needs help. I hope everyone knows they can always ask me, whether they know me well (or at all) or not. Because I will sure try.

When I woke up this morning, I felt incredibly refreshed. I have felt incredibly tired the last few (or fifty-ish) mornings, but I think any mother can relate to waking up to your body being ready to wake up, rather than to squawking, angry kids who apparently needed you two minutes ago. Don’t get me wrong. I expect to wake up 360 mornings a year like that, and I am happy to wake up and serve my children. But it is sooo nice when you’re not needed immediately and you can wake up slowly. Right? Anyone else? Hopefully I don’t sound like a terrible person here…

I woke up to a beautifully cooled off house, with my fan blowing on me, and nice outside noises coming in through the windows. It was almost sad to close up all the windows, but necessary in order to keep the house cool. Plus, as many of you in Saskatchewan would know, we were on severe thunderstorm/tornado watch today. Of course, our town in particular didn’t see a single drop of rain, but there are still a few hours left in the day. I could go for a good storm. 

I had a really good day with the kids. Laela is getting better and better at eating solid food, so she had bananas and peanut butter bread and Cheerios and carrots and all kinds of nummy things with us today. She’s a cutie pie. Dekker did great too, and was really nice and cuddly. While he is still adjusting to Laela’s mobility and not having everything to himself, we just remind him to be polite to Laela, and he is. He gives kisses and feeds her Cheerios, and even offered her his firetruck at one point. So we’re getting there!

Brady had a rocky start to his work day, but it all went really smoothly and he got out of there a bit sooner than he expected, which was great. He picked some groceries up for us before coming home. We had chicken strips and potatoes for supper, with our one fresh garden cucumber. Delicious. Once the kids went to bed, we watched the finale of the Next Great Baker. I won’t expand on it, since I know I would spoil the surprise for at least one friend, but we did that, anyway. Soon, we’ll be in a cool bath with hopefully a delicious snack. I really feel like chocolate pudding tonight. And not like a pudding cup. Goooood pudding. So I may just whip up some instant stuff before the bath, and hopefully that will do the trick. 

I hope you guys had as great and comfy of a day as I did! Sleep deep!

Time to rest your sleepy head…

Does anyone else have the Sleepy Baby pop-up book? Its a gooder.

Our day wasn’t riveting, to be honest. I bought a set of baby monitors off a woman for $15 so I can bring a set to my parents house and friends houses where my kids need to nap. We’ve just been looking for an extra set for cheap, and now we have them. That was probably our “event” of the day, and not a whole lot else. I wanted to be ambitious, but it just didn’t play out.

It seems like, since I’ve been able to be public about our pregnancy, my body has decided it can really really feel pregnant now. Today was the first time in the last twelve weeks that I have gagged my way through diaper changes. Gagged. They were sooo gross today, for some reason. I hope the next couple of weeks give me some relief from that!

Laela wouldn’t nap this afternoon so she and I talked to Bradys mom on the phone for a while. Once we were done on the phone, Laela ate an entire banana, and drank some milk before Brady got home. He came bearing an enormous box of my earl grey kcups, courtesy of Amazon. And Twinings. Delish.

After supper, we went downstairs for about an hour to play and read. but Laela would have none of it. She was sooo loud and fussy, and obviously tired. We distracted her and played with her until it was time for her last bottle of the day. And she fell asleep drinking it, all cuddled up with me in the recliner. It was awesome. I didn’t have the nerve to wake her. I even carried her upstairs, like a bit ‘ole baby.

She’s not too fond of being carried like that anymore 🙁 Good thing my newer model is on order! 😉

Once both littles were safely tucked away, I went outside to check the garden. We have our first uber-cucumber, and our corn grew beards!!

I can’t wait for the rest of the garden to produce and to be able to finally enjoy the harvest!!

All in, this lazy day was really exactly what I needed after being so busy the last week, and so stressed out the week before. A quiet day with the kidlets. I love my kids.

I was planning on staying home and having a lazy jammie day with the family, and I did that for the morning. Until the crazy realization came to me that Dekker turns three in four days!!!!! My goodness! Crazy, right? I have almost all of his presents together, but was hoping for one more thing. So Brady suggested I take the afternoon to myself and go to the city to accomplish some of the stuff we need done. Since I was actually getting dressed and partially put together, we took my first belly pic.

Ugh. I don’t know whats up with my phone but all of a sudden, the pictures are tiny and crappy quality, and I didn’t change a thing! What the heck?!?!

I went to a bunch of different places, looking for a few specific things for both Laela and Dekker, and was moderately successful. i can honestly say that Target is a bust. I was sooo hoping for good things when they came here, but I really just wasn’t impressed with anything I saw there. But I had a bit of success at Walmart, and Superstore. I bought myself some maternity clothes at Old Navy, since they finally got some new jeans. I haven’t been able to find my size the last few times I’ve looked, but the mat jeans shelf was stocked well, and I found exactly what I was looking for, plus some tank tops on a really good sale. Win! I bought some groceries, but of course forgot apples, which are a daily requirement around here. But I got pretty much everything else. I stopped at Costco on my way home and grabbed all our essentials, plus sleepers, because how could I not?, and then headed home.

I was pretty tired upon arrival, but the kids were just getting up and were pretty cute and low key. I lay on the couch, and Dekker pulled up a chair and brushed Laelas hair while she drank her bottle. It was completely adorable.

He’s pretty focused, as you can see. It was so cute! And yes, he is in a diaper and rubber boots. He’s funny that way.

We ate perogies and wings for supper, and spend the last hourish downstairs. The kidlets were tired and really acting that way, so we turned on the end of a movie and cuddled. It was nice and quiet and low key. I loved it.

The littles were good and tucked in just shortly after 7:30, and now Brady and I are going through our evening routine. I blog, he makes his lunch, we run a bath, etc. Usually we check and water the garden but it rained quite a bit yesterday and has been spitting on and off all day, so I think we’re good for tonight. Tomorrow will be the quiet day I was planning on having today, and I’m really looking forward to it. I know some people would be bored to be me, but I love our quiet days and our low-stress activities. Especially now when I’m low on energy and have been feeling so dizzy. These are the days to take a load off.

It was so nice to finally be able to share our news with everyone yesterday, and the response on Facebook was overwhelming and just plain awesome! I love that other people, some who I’ve known personally for years, and some just from a distance, are totally psyched and in celebration over our third child 🙂 I know we are sure pleased!

Can I be flat out honest with you guys? Brady and I were more nervous to share this time.  For one reason or another, we were scared that lots of people would be less happy for us. I was immediately hurt when some responses weren’t as loving as I’d hoped, or as excited as I thought they should be, but I had to come down from there as fast as I could, because you know what? I’m excited!!! Like, really really excited! So is Brady! Is this is our baby! No one elses. Ours 🙂 And Gods, obviously, since he’s allowed us to be pregnant and carry the responsibility. All I’m trying to say in this is not that I’m disappointed, but that I had to realize that I put a lot of importance on something that isn’t the end all and be all. Everyones opinions don’t matter. Its hard, being a people pleaser, to think that way, because I want people to feel like I feel, and to be happy when I’m happy. Doesn’t everyone want approval, deep down inside? I’d say so! But life moves on. And we are thrilled out of our skin that I am carrying another baby!!!

So many of you were enormous supports through our last pregnancy, I can’t wait until the day comes closer and we can start guessing about baby’s gender and wager on the birth weight and all that fun stuff! Guys, I really really thought I’d know for sure what I was having this time, since my first two pregnancies were sooo opposite, but I have no idea!!! I have some factors that lean certain ways so I think I’ll post about them soon, just for fun, and see if you guys care to wager any guesses. Maybe you know more of those games/wives tales than I do 🙂 But I’m really looking forward to going through another pregnancy on here! I promise, I won’t just focus on that, since its not everyones cup of tea, but as I’m sure you can guess, its kind of a huge part of our lives! Thanks for being excited with us.

*** For those of you reading this, thinking Brady probably hates it when I say WE are pregnant, he doesn’t. He did play a role in this whole thing, obviously, so he is indeed expecting a baby to be born into our lives! Just in a considerably less dramatic and physically painful way, haha! Lucky guy!

The belly is starting, and will likely make its first appearance on here very soon 🙂 Happy 12 weeks, baby Jim!!!

But I’m somewhere in that zoooone!
I’m done being a downer. The last week or so has been incredibly emotionally charged. Any of you who have talked with me know my reasons, and have backed me beautifully. Those of you (you know who you are) have met a great need. I needed that backup and those listening ears. You will be happy to know, if you don’t already, that I am done. I am content. I have peace.
Now that I have it, I want everyone to know our incredible news! We are growing our family of four into five!!!!! In that case, I am BOTH elated and gassy 🙂 whoops! Brady and I couldn’t be happier to be adding another munchkin to our bundle of super adorable children. The kids are excited too!
Well ok, maybe Laela has no idea. But Dekker does! Since the day we told him about our baby, he has requested a “nunner Laela.” So a girl, I guess, is what he means. I love how much he loves his sister. He’s also dubbed the baby as Baby Jim, so that will be the nickname until official names are chosen.
For the details, I’ll be twelve weeks on Sunday, due date March 2, 2015. I’m incredibly light headed and a bit unsettled in the tummy but not too sick. No complaints really at all. Just waiting 🙂 and waiting. I’m sooo glad we’re almost through the first trimester!!!!!
So, behold our news 🙂 I’m so happy to share it with all of you guys!

Can’t wait to meet you, Baby Jim!!!

All of my siblings are out visiting right now, and I finally got to spend some time with them! I brought the kids over for the afternoon and Brady came after work. And it was completely awesome! We just visited when Simon and Grace and the boys were over, so Dekker remembers them pretty well. And he remembered Caity and Stef from being out there just the other week, so he was right in his element. 

Burgers were barbecued while the kids played baseball outside with the uncles. Dekker was soaked in sweat and fit in wonderfully. It does my mommy heart good to see him warming up to people, and let me tell you, my family gets really loud when we’re all together! So the fact that he can get right in there and enjoy himself is pretty exciting. Go Dekker go!!!

After an enormous supper, the nephews went down for night. It was definitely bedtime for our kids too, but we wanted to visit just a little bit longer. Plus, Laela had a late nap, so we new we could afford the time. We had some ice cream and sat around the living room, visiting, while Dekker climbed behind the couch, underneath our legs, and mooched extra dessert. It was a good evening.

It was sad to leave, but we’re going back tomorrow for the day. Looking forward to a bit more family time before everyone goes their respective ten hours away :/ Love you, family!