Sophie's Birth Story

Sophie arrived on Friday January 22 at 11:39pm weighing 8lbs 13.5oz.

After over 3 weeks of prodromal labour, I finally had some "show" on Thursday night at around 11:30 (just as Conan was starting) and told Dave this is it, I'll be in labour in no time. He didn't believe me and was convinced that I'd end up being enduced the following Friday (I've never gone into labour on my own, always induced). Parker woke up so Dave went to crawl into bed with him and I started getting fairly strong contractions every 15-20 minutes that increased in strength and frequency until they were about 4-6 minutes apart by 530am. I told Dave I'd have another shower and then we'd call the m/w and my MIL but by the time I got outo f the shower, they slowed down until they pretty much petered out. I was very disappointed as I thought for sure it was it, contractions were real and very strong, lots of bloody show, etc. So I sent Dave to work and went on with my day.

By 9am they picked up again but were still far apart. I called Dave to come home at aroud 3 because they were getting closer together and were quite strong and I was having a hard time getting through them and taking care of Parker. By 5pm they were 5-6 minutes apart so i went upstairs to get some rest when they started to get really irregular from 4 minutes to 15 minutes apart. Grr! By this point I was feeling very frustrated and worried because I knew the baby would be born the next day and I had no sleep and would probably have another night of no sleep so I called my m/w to talk about options. She came over around 830pm and said I could do a few things... she could check me and if I was 4 or more we could go to the hospital and have my waters broken to get going or I could go to the hospital to have some pain meds and sleeping aids or I could just go with it and see what happens. I asked her to check me and I was a very stretchy 4cms and baby was station -2 and had a decision to make. Being that my goal was to avoid an induction, I decided to stay away from the hospital as I didnt want any interventions. Instead I decided on taking a few gravol and a glass of wine in the tub to slow down labour so I could get some sleep.

She left at 9:50pm and within 5 minutes of her leaving I had a big contraction and thought... hmmm... maybe I shouldn't have taken that gravol. Parker woke up so Dave went in to lay with him and I had a shower. IN the shower I had 5 very strong contractions and came out and instantly had two more with an urge to push. Woke up Ally to lay down with Parker and told Dave it was time to go NOW. We left the house at 10:40 and I fought hard to breathe through the contractions and urges to push. My m/w had a room ready for me when we got there and she checked me, I was 10 cms with no cervical lip (had that issue with my previous births and was a huge worry for me this pregnancy). I cried I was so happy that my body was doing this and that I didn't "need" medication like the other times to cope with fighting the urge to push for up to two hours.

Sophie was born within 40 minutes of arriving at the hospital and it was just beautiful. I instantly fell in love with my daughter and although it sounds weird, I fell in love with what my body was capable of and the whole birth. It was perfect.

But... then I started to hemmorhage really badly and it got scary. An OB was called in to manually check my uterus for clots and remove them and I was worked on for about 1.5 hours to try to stem the bleeding. They would get it under control with oxytocin, some other meds (can't remember the name) and massaging but then it would start up again. And just as the OB was getting worried, it all stopped and didn't return!

My recovery has been very easy though and I attribute that to a natural labour and delivery without augmentation or pain meds. Adjusting to life with a newborn has been easier than I thought although Parker has been having a hard time sharing momma and specifically momma's milk.

Sophie is an absolute blessing.. she's so calm and breastfeeding has been going great. I couldn't be happier and more content with my life than I am right now. She has completed our family and I'm just in absolute love!

Now that life is slowly returning to normal again...

I love Christmas and New Year and look forward to it all year long but man, it really wears me out! This year even more so but I think that's from a combination of being 9 months pregnant and dealing with financial stresses.

But it was nice... every Christmas Eve we go to my MILs with the rest of the family and have appies and open up our gifts. This year was a little bit somber as my FIL passed away in August but it was nice nonetheless.

Then Christmas morning my MIL and youngest SIL came over for brunch and to watch the kids open the gifts. Normally we do it ourselves but as I said earlier my FIL passed away and I think it was nice for MIL and SIL to be with family. Plus Dave and I plus the kids loved having them here.

Usually we have a big brunch as we don't eat again until dinner and it has always consisted of pancakes, eggs, bacon and hashbrowns. But I got tired of all the dishes so this year I did a hashbrown casserole using this recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/hash-brown-casserole-ii/detail.aspx and I also wanted to try Kate's (Jon and Kate plus 8) Christmas Sticky Buns (http://gosselinsfanclub.blogspot.com/2009/01/kates-recipes.html) as I had watched a rerun a few weeks before and they looked SO good!

First I made the sticky buns which was really easy as the recipe called for refridgerated bisquit dough. The only problem I had with the ingredients is that it's impossible to find the Grands size that it called for so I used the regular sized country bisquit dough. I'm not sure about the recipe or maybe I did something wrong but my smoke alarms started going off because I forgot to put a pan underneath to catch all the drippings. Oops! When it's done, y ou're supposed to turn it over onto a plate and pull it apart. Well... that didn't work as the top was very done but the bottom was still raw. Grr!! But we salvaged what we could and it was yummy. I don't think I'll make it again though.

Then I made the hashbrown casserole and omg.. that was sooooo good. Next time I'll use less butter though as it was pretty greasy. Very heavy too but that's okay since it was our only meal until dinner. I will definitely use this recipe again but next year I'll prepare it the night before so I can pop it in the oven when we wake up.

The kids had a blast opening up their gifts, they both got spoiled of course. Parker was cute because he really didn't get that he was allowed to rip the wrapping paper. He'd rip a little piece off and then look at us like he was doing something naughty. Because we're now living off just my husband's income as I'm now on Maternity Leave (I won't even go into the details of why I'm not getting EI for mat leave as it's just one big headache!!) we decided to do mostly handmade gifts. Which I love doing!

Here's a few pics of the kids and their mamma-made gifts:

I made this framed photograph for Ally using alphabet photography. I have been seeing these online everywhere but they're so expensive so I did it myself. Parker and I went for walk one day and took pictures of objects that looked like letters to spell out PEACE. I printed them off at walmart in the mini-size for less than a dollar for all 5 letters and bought a cheapo frame for $4 and matted it myself (read: taped the photos onto black cardstock). Not too bad if i do say so myself! I also made two PEACE framed photos for my SILS (bigger size though) and one for Dave's uncle with his surname.

In addition to the silk playscarves I posted about earlier, Ally and I made a set of wool felted balls for Parker. I took lots of pics of the process so I'll do a seperate entry about that. He loves them and best of all when he throws them, they're soft so they won't break or hurt anything!

The above is of a handmade gift but not by me. These adorable knit hats are from http://www.etsy.com/shop/mymarketstall. I absolutely love this shop and have boughten from her several times and plan to again in the future. Last year I bought Parker the eggplant hat and this year Ally got a chocolate dipped strawberry hat and I bought the cutest smallest green apple hat for the new baby. You'll have to wait for pics of that one though!

In addition to these, I also made homemade chai tea kits for my MIL and Dave's aunt (AIL?) and a tea cosy for the both of them along with some yummy baking. I had plans on doing more homemade gifts but then I realized that I'm too knackered for that! Even though I'm not working right now and in theory have lots of time on my hands, I really don't. So I think next year I'll get started a little earlier!

Simple Pleasures

Life has been a little blah lately and while it's easiest to wallow in my own misery (well, maybe not quite misery) I don't really want to. So instead I try to think of all the things I'm thankful, esp the simple things. After writing out a list of all my simple pleasures, it's hard to stay feeling blah.

• Parker slept in his own bed all night long until 6:30. This is huge as he usually sneaks in our room about 1am and isn't the coziest to sleep with (he loves to head butt in his sleep).
• A glass of half frozen milk with a splash of vanilla.
• A few hours of snow, enough to play in before it melted.
• After days of cloud, the sun peeked out for a very short while.
• An organized playroom and kitchen.
• My husband reaching over and rubbing my belly in the middle of the night.
• Vanilla ice cream with fruit pieces and fruit juice on top.
• Although I really needed a nap, I loved having peace and quiet to read a magazine while Parker napped today.

So it's not that many but even just these few pleasures made my day less blah. :)

34 weeks pregnant

I haven't taken a picture of me once yet during this pregnancy. Seeing as I'm getting close to the finish line, I thought I should get on that!

This is me at 34.1 weeks. I'm carrying so much higher than the last two but because baby is posterior (what is it with my kids liking this position best?!) my belly looks odd. It's a big ball on the top half that stops at my belly button and takes a huge dip on teh lower part. With Parker the nurses were able to tell he was posterior just by looking at my belly when I was laying down.

I *heart* playdough!

Playdough is a huge hit with my toddler and to be honest, I love the stuff too. I find it's very therapeutic to squish in my hands, very destressing! I make playdough about every two to four weeks and I really can't figure out why people bother buying the stuff when it's SO simple to make!

Here's some of my favourite recipes for homemade playdough:

Basic no-cook Playdough
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
4 tsp. cream of tartar (you can find this in the bulk section)
4 tsp. oil
2 cups boiling water.

Mix dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Add oil and boiling water and mix until combined. Turn over onto counter and knead together, careful though as it may still be hot. You can add more flour if needed.

You can add a few drops of food colouring or even a package or two of unprepared Kool-aid for some colour (the kool-aid also adds a yummy scent). Add a few drops of your favourite essential oil to make it smell good or add glitter, sand, etc for texture. My favourite add in for playdough in the winter is to leave it white but add some silver glitter and some mint extract.

For toys, I have in our bucket some rolling pins, small dull knives, a muffin tin, cookie cutters, scissors (although Parker is still a little young for scissors), popsicle sticks, sea shells, twigs, small rocks, etc.

Go ahead, make up a batch today for both you and your little ones. I promise you'll have just as much as they will!

Dyeing Play Silks with Kool-aid

Remember that sickly sweet drink we used to have as children, kool-aid? You know, the stuff we'd never in a million years serve to our own children nowadays? Well, turns out there's a use to the stuff! Besides making the yummiest smelling playdough, you can dye protein fabrics and wools with it! I had ordered some 30x30 Habotai Silk Scarves (http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/1741-AA.shtml?lnav=scarves_silk.html) as playsilks for the toddler's Christmas gift. But who wants to play with boring all white scarves? Yeah, me either! But I wanted something less toxic and less expensive than most of the dyes available but still wanted bright vibrant colours. Enter KOOL-AID!

First off, you're probably wondering what play silks are aren't you? Well, they are only one of the world's most open ended toy ever! They're fabulous scarves that encourages use of imagination and creativity. I've seen children use them as a peek-a-boo prop (my toddler's fave right now), a cape, a sling for their dolls, a dress, to build a fort, use a blue one for the ocean or green one for a pasture for farm animals, etc. The possibilities are endless! I really encourage you to go out and make your own playsilks or purchase a set and just sit back and watch your children play.

There are so many tutorials available online on how to dye using kool-aid that I didn't know where to begin. I decided on trying out this one: http://stashjunkiecrochetblog.blogspot.com/2007/08/kool-aid-dying-playsilks-tutorial.html.

Here's some pics showing how we dyed 4 scarves (I plan on making two more: yellow and blue but ran out of mason jars):

This is what the Habotai scarf looked like fresh from the mail. Kinda boring, huh?

While you're getting everything ready, soak all your scarves in a big bowl (I'm using the insert of our crockpot) with warm tap water and a few tablespoons of vinegar. It should sit for about half hour.

In a big mason jar (the tutorial I used suggested using old spaghetti jars even) put in 1.5 cups of hot water with a tablespoon of vinegar. Add in 4 or 5 packages of kool-aid in each jar. I used 4 mason jars so I ended up with 4 different coloured scarves in the end. Make sure it's mixed well.

In a large pot, bring a few inches of water to a simmer. Place one silk scarf in each mason jar and mix well. Place as many jars as you can fit in the pot. The tutorial I used never said how long to let it sit but I'd say about 20 minutes is good, just make sure you come back and stir often to ensure an even distribution of colour.

After about 20 minutes, you'll notice that the coloured water in the jars has began to really fade. In lighter colours (such as the green) it may even take on a milky colour when the dye has been absorbed. When this happens, remove the jars (careful, they're hot) from the pot and empty in the sink. You need to rinse them and here's what surprised me: I was expecting excess dye to run out and thought it was going to take forever to rinse (for those of you who have coloured your hair and spent forever rinsing out the colour, that's what I was thinking). But that's not what it was like at all! It was so easy to rinse, no colour came out at all! Here's a green one finished:
Here's all four of them finished and ready to be hung out to dry (notice how enthusiastic the teenager looks):

What I learned from this:

~ 5 packets of kool-aid probably wasn't needed. I could have gotten away with 3 I'm thinking.

~ The mason jars were great but a little small. Next time I'd use something bigger so the scarf doesn't have to be bunched up. Or maybe more solution even. They all came out slightly mottled (the green and purple especially) but I think it looks great anyways!

~ Kool-aid stains everything. My light coloured countertops have splatters of red and orange all over them from me being sloppy. Oops!

~ And finally, I learned that dyeing is really fun and if I was a knitter I'd definitely try my hand at dyeing some yarn.

Well if that isn't procrastination at it's best!

I really wanted to keep up with this blog. Really. I've just been busy. I'd go to write in a new entry and then the baby would wake up (who's now a toddler, btw) and then I'd try again later but the teenager would need my help or have some teen drama to share with me. Then I returned back to work and in all honesty... I forgot. If you could see me now, you'd see that I'm hanging my head in shame.

But I'm back. For today and hopefully for tomorrow and the following week etc but no promises! :)

Just a quick update on life around here...
I'm pregnant AGAIN and am due in two months! Eeep! The husband and I have been TTC for a while but then I decided to return to work full time (or rather the finances decided for us) so we put that on hold. But less than a week after I returned to work, I found out I was already pregnant! This pregnancy has been nothing short of perfect. I feel amazing, my body didn't try to reject this babe like it did all the other times. I'm absolutely happy, couldn't ask for a better final pregnancy. I do still have worries about life when the babe arrives. Hmmm, he or she will be joining: a high maintenance 20 month old, moody and impossible 13 going on 20 year old and me and the husband who both don't cope well with change or little sleep.

The teenager started highschool this year. Yeah, that's been ummmm... FUN! I still think an 8th grader is too young for highschool. I just hope and pray that handles highschool and the experiences that come along with it better than I did. Is it too late to consider homeschool for her? ;)

The toddler is a typical toddler, busy busy busy! I love it! He's starting to talk, runs around EVERYWHERE and is just in awe with exploring the world around him. It's so fun to be a mom of a toddler!

Not much new with the husband. The business keeps doing better and better which is good although now he's talking about opening up another business. *sigh* I'm hoping that one stays a pipe dream for now.

Anyhoo.. that's our life in a nutshell!