Merry Christmas!!

We have been busy around here. Very busy! I had a good head start on shopping and cards before Jack was due, but then he came and we got even busier. It took forever to finish the cards (I sent out 73 this year!) with the thank-you's, photos of the kids, birth announcements, etc. I was lucky to have help from Kerry with the last of the wrapping (THANKS!!!) and now I am packing for heading to Mom and Dad's.

Jack is doing awesome! Such a great little guy. He is an AWESOME sleeper at night — now in his cradle (in our room) for the most part. We go to bed lately at about 11, after giving him one last change/feed at 10, and he has been sleeping until 5:30 or 6 sometimes. Woo! Feels awesome getting a huge stretch of sleep! He is smirking, looking around a lot more, even "talking" to his toys sometimes on his bouncy chair. I am excited for the family to see him tomorrow! He has changed a lot :D

Ben is growing like a weed. Size 5 pants are needed soon! He is having fun at school, spelling his name ("B's" are all over the house!) and singing Christmas songs! It's great to see him learning. He can sing most of the alphabet song now, too! Was never interested in this before..

Daisy is such a smarty pants. She knows some colours already, picking up on everything we say and tries to say so many things, even putting 2 and 3 words together. So exciting to see this again! She recently had her first hair cut, too – thanks Cat! She sat still in the chair all by herself, got a cute little bob and bangs. Bye bye mullet!

As much as they are at each others throats a lot of the time, they have their moments of getting along and I savour those LOL! Bribing works ;)

Have a great Christmas!!

Jack's Birth Story!

Unlike the births of Ben & Daisy, labour didn't start on it's own with Jack, despite having two membrane sweeps, walking, going on the elliptical multiple times a day, etc. I was scheduled to be induced the morning of November 21st (Saturday) and was hoping I would wake up with contractions. Morning came, nothing. So we got ready, Mom was going to stay with the kids at home, and we headed to the hospital.

I had SUCH butterflies, it was ridiculous. I was more nervous this time around than with Ben! Nervous knowing that I was going to be in pain very soon, unsure of how long it was going to be (no guarantees that it was going to be faster!), worried that it wouldn't start right away and I would be sent home.. all these thoughts were buzzing around in my head. My only bit of peace was knowing that my doctor would be there, to do the induction, and he knew of my history with Daisy especially, and probably wouldn't send me home.

They gave me a bed (didn't get sent home, they weren't busy!) to check me out, assess me to see if I was having contractions (I wasn't) and I was about 3cm. So Dr. H came in at 8:30 and gave me a double dose of gel to get the contractions going. And it worked! Within 15 mins I was feeling them, totally manageable at this point, and thankfully my nurse said that I was not to go home LOL! Phew!

Contractions were coming, Jack's heart rate was between 136 and 140 at this point..

It was very calm in the maternity ward, not busy at all. We got to walk down and pick our deliver room! Number 3 it was :) Got settled in, Mike went to put my CD on that Kerry made (THANK YOU!) and wouldn't you know it, I burned it wrong. Damn it! Mike knew how important this CD was to me so he whipped home and re-burned it for me and was back within 45 mins! What a guy! While he was gone, my contractions picked up FAST. I even called home to find out if he had left yet, they went from 6 to 5 to 3 mins apart (lasting about min) in about 10 mins. The nurses continued to check on me, check on baby, confirm that I was having good contractions (!!) and told me that Dr. H would be in to break my water sometime after 12.

Uh-oh. I knew what that meant. As soon as my waters break, it's baby time not long after. With Daisy, when I was checked at 5cm, the Dr. accidentally broke my water and I went to 10 cm in 10 mins. She was born very soon afterwards! So Dr. H came in at 12:45, and I said that if he was going to break my water that he couldn't go anywhere far! Scrubs on, they waited for a contraction to break it and sure enough, they were back to back to back. Not even 10 seconds in between.

I was in such a trance like state, trying to focus on my breathing, not hyperventilating, staying calm (especially with the wee break I got in between them) that I could just hear them around me. Mike was commending me for doing such an awesome job, my nurse was counting for me as I counted with her in my head, assuring me that once I got to the peak they would get better and less & less paint (it worked!) and then I had to push.

I don't think I pushed for more than 10 mins and his head was out, cord wrapped around him (just like the others), one more push and Jack was in the world at 1:28pm! Less than 5 hours labour!

He was perfect.. looked exactly like his big sister, then his brother, then he looked like Jack! So cute, pink, healthy. 8lbs, 7.5 ounces, 21.25" long.

A very overwhelming, awesome, memorable experience :)

And his birth song?! One Day Like This by Elbow!

Jack Alexander!!

Will post a birth story when I get a chance, but here he is!

Jack Alexander
Born November 21st, 1:28pm
8lbs 7.5 oz, 21.25" long

(And absolutely perfect!)

Still waiting...

Once again, I am consistent at being late with my babies and we are still waiting for Jack! I go for an induction on Saturday morning, which if he is born that day he will be 8 days late. Ben was 10, Daisy was 6.. I was hoping for less or even on time!

Halloween Fun!

We had a great halloween this year! It was so much fun to have Ben involved with what he wanted to be (he picked his costume in March and stuck to his *ahem* guns! It was based on Ralphie from A Christmas Story.. a family favourite movie here!). Daisy's costume was picked for her because it was just too cute — and nice and warm! Looking forward to the day when she can tell me what she wants to be. At the rate she is growing, I think next year she will have an opinion!

Mike took them trick-or-treating as I wasn't sure if I would be able to waddle around.. not without suffering the next day! He had a lot of fun with them, getting lots of smiles from the neighbors on their costumes. Every house that Ben knocked at he said "Trick or treating!" and even went on and on about how cute his sister was, she is the cutest chicken ever, etc.

Can't wait for next year! Will be a family of five :)

My bulked up sparkly cowboy & chubby chicken.. gotta keep warm!

I asked Ben if he would put his arm around Daisy.. she didn't want him to.

She REALLY didn't want him to!

What a cute little chicken!

Taken a couple days before, for his pre-school party. He LOVES his costume :)

Happy 19 months!

Daisy is 19 months today! She is such a bundle of love and ridiculously happy most of the time! She squeals with delight when she sees cats, loves her Pinky, is such a good helper to me, showing more and more independence every day.. I just know she is going to be a GREAT big sister!!

Pumpkins!

Tonight was pumpkin carving night! Ben was super duper excited, ate all his dinner & a special Halloween treat cupcake, and helped draw faces on a couple. Definitely the first year for him to be so involved, helping me cut with his safety knife. Daisy was quite content to have a pumpkin & a washable marker!

They were bouncing around like monkeys, didn't have time to play
with any settings on my camera! At least they weren't fighting :)

Voila! The gang of pumpkins.. Ben drew faces on the big one at the back (left) and the back right one. Since we had 5 white pumpkins from our garden, we did a "family"! The back middle is Mike, front row is Daisy, Ben, Jack and then me.. that is how I feel at the end of most days LOL!

Sleepy heads

I love checking on the kids when we go to bed, see what kind of shenanigans they have gotten in to :) Limbs out of crib, hanging off of bed, how many stuffed animals they have snuck in..

Ben snuck in the GIANT Mumble (from Happy Feet). My sister gave that to him three years ago, and he still loves it. Lately, he wants to sleep with it.

Pardon the shadow.. was trying to be quick (and sneaky!) as she is a bit more sensitive to the camera sounds & flash than Ben. You can tell Daisy loves her stuffed toys as well...

Sideways. But I love the hand on Spiderman. Sadly, right now Teddy (top right) is MIA in the house. SOMEWHERE. We have looked everywhere. I am heartbroken for him as this is his FAVOURITE. Has had it forever, but he is being really good, considering. I hope we find him!

Faces

Since Ben started pre-school, not even a month ago, his creativity has gone through the roof! I mean, if you know the kid, you know he has QUITE the imagination. But it has never been put to paper, so to speak. Anyways, since being in "school" he draws happy faces EVERYWHERE. On the truck in the morning when it's covered in dew, the window (by breathing on it to make it foggy!), the magna-doodle, you name it.

Here are a few :)

This one he named, Happy Boy in a Cave.

He now adds mustaches, like this one. Sometimes they even get eyebrows!

I love how he makes the eyes so wide-set. And the nose at the top!
He said this one is frustrated.

Pre-school Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

This morning we met up with Ben's pre-school for their first field trip — to the pumpkin patch! The weather was great, lots of pumpkins & the ground was DRY! Ben got to pick one out, as big as he could carry. Limited it to one, as we have SEVEN from our garden. Lots of carving this year!

Snack time in the tee-pee's!

Mmm.. timbits & apple juice!

The class!

Arrrrgh! A Pirate Party!

Saturday was Ben's 4th birthday party — A pirate party! We had a lot of fun.. the kids were so well behaved (still in shock at how smoothly it all went!). I can only hope for more parties like this in the future!

Goodie bags.. full of booty :)

We picked up this awesome paper pirate ship at Papyrus when we were in Seattle. So fun!

Pirate cupcakes!

All the kids sat so nicely at the table, eating lunch.

Lighting candles on cake.. you can kinda see how round I am :P

Argh! The pirate cake!

I don't know what she was doing/saying, but the look on her face is priceless.

Gift-opening pics are boring, but this one made me laugh.
A pirate lover has got to have a pirate raincoat!