Four is More

So all the time people ask me "How is it havin four children?" The honest answer is that it is a real blessing and a real challange. At the beginning it was rough but now finally (Isaac will be two months in a week) we are finding our groove or rather I am. Isaac like to be held most of the time (and I think it is best for young babies to be in arms most of the time), so I find my baby carriers invaluable. He takes several naps a day on my back this way. Sometimes Isaac is fussy and can even cry (when he and Samuel cry at the same time- that is hard) but he more then makes up for it all the times he snuggles into me or smiles at me:).

All this does not mean we do not have times of chaos. Like the time I was nursing Isaac on the couch and Josiah comes running into say that Samue had poop on his bare butt and was n my bed. I had to leave Isaac sreaming on the couch while I put Samuel in the tub. Of course, this only happens when Tim is gone, which he is a lot. Usually though things are calmer and are getting easier. I can usually get supper made and on the table by 6pm. The house is reasonably clean and we do school most days. Most nights I even do a French lesson. Most days I feel happy and well rested. I would say that four children are doable if you are flexible, lean on God and have a sense of homour!

One thing that cracks me up is complete strangers asking me, quite often too, "Do you think you will have any more children?" I say "Perhaps!" I truly believe that children are a huge blessing, many are great! Sadly our culture does not usually agree but whatever. I think societal norms are something to be questioned and challanged not blindly follwed, something I have been thinking about a lot lately. Perhaps later I will share some thoughts but for now I am off to bed. Days are always better when I get enough sleep at night.

Growing and growing...

Mr. Chunky Monkey, ie. Isaac, is getting bigger everyday. Now at 5 weeks he weighs 13 pounds. He spends most of his day nursing (of course, growing rolls is serious business!), sleeping, and being held. He is awake more often lately and a few weeks ago he began smiling. So precious are the baby smiles. He does not like to be put down much so he is usually in my arms or on my back in a carrier. I also like it this way as they are only small and cuddly for so short a time, plus I also think babes belong with their mamas :)
OK, enough talking- take a look at this cute guy :)

Skating

We decided to try and all go skating. I was not sure how it would go with the two little ones but it actually worked out well. Centenniel park has a very nice, free skating location. A large pond that the park clears complete with a little heated cabin at the side. It was nice to get out in the fresh air and sunshine. Isaac slept the whole time bundled in a lot of blankets. Josiah and Annah still need a lot of practice skating but they are slowly getting it. It was a fun time :) Here are some pics.













What outdoor winter activities do you like to do? Since it is finally snowing here I think next time we will try sledding.

The Free Birth of Isaac

Two weeks ago I gave birth to my precious, third son, Isaac Stephen. Here is his birth story for those who are interested.

I guess it all began nine months ago when God blessed us with the conception of a new life. Fast forward to January 2012. By now I felt huge and was ready to be done being pregnant. I had a very healthy pregnancy and a very active baby who kept me up late at night with all his kicks. With this pregnancy I had done all my own prenatel care (I did this with Samuel too), in which I focused on good nutrition and exercise. Tim and I also planned on a quiet homebirth with just our family and one close friend present. By January I had everything ready: all the baby diapers and clothes folded, my sling hanging up and a few basic birthing supplies stashed in a drawer.

On Friday evening I had some contractions come every 30 min and stay like that but then when I went to bed they petered out. The whole weekend was like this- off again and on again. I was tired of getting hopeful only to discover it was not the real thing so I made some plans for the next few days to distract me.

Then on Thursday morning (Jan 5) I woke up at 5am. At first I thought, "Here we go again with the 'false' labour." But 30 minutes later things were getting so intense I had to get up and walk around so then I knew it was the real deal. I called my friend, Emily, who was coming to the birth to give her a head's up since she lives 2 1/2 hours away and I have fast labours. The next little while was quite peaceful as the house was quiet and dark. I lit a candle and walked and swayed through the waves (this is what I called the contractions as it more aptly discribed how they felt like to me). It was a time I could tune into my body and baby as it went through the remarkable process of birth.

After awhile Samuel (1yrs old) woke up early since I was no longer in bed beside him. I then woke up my husband, Tim, to watch Sam so I could focus on the birth. Emily also showed up and sat quietly in the background. The waves continued to last about a minute and came every 7 to 8 minutes. When things would get a bit intense I would breathe and slowly walk around while focusing on being in the beautiful presence of Jesus. It would be just Him, me and the baby.

By 9am Josiah (5yrs) and Annah (4yrs) were awake and things got noisy and bright. I could tell the waves were not being effective as I focused more off the birth and more onto everything else going on. Labour kind of stalled (as I have seen it do many times in distracted mamas) so I knew I needed to get refocusd. Tim put Samuel down for a nap then took the two older ones to a freind's house. As soon as Tim pulled back into the driveway "Boom" things started happening fast.

I started having waves very strong, intense and close together. After several of those my water broke and I felt the baby move down. At this point I decided to get into the birth pool Tim had set up for me in the living room. The water did not seem to help a lot as I had a few more powerful waves. At the same time I could feel the baby making his way though the birth canel.

He made his way down very quickly. All at the same time I could feel the burning as his head stretched my perineaum but also the amazing feel as I cupped his emerging head in my hand. And then his head was out and I heard him make a little noise. At this point I was in the pool, kneeling down (like the classic kneeling proposal position). Tim sat quietly in front of my watching it all and Emily was off to the side filming it. But in the moment for me it was just an incredibly intimate time of just me and my baby as he emerged into the world. After a short pause I felt his shoulders rotate and then all of him slipped into the water. I sat back and lifted him up onto my chest. I was the first one to touch and hold him (I found out later it was only about 10 minutes from the time Tim got home till Isaac was born at 10am).

It was a magical moment, relief it was over but such a joy at holding my new baby in my arms. After a few indignant yells my new son immediatley started looking to nurse. Once he latched himself on and he stayed at my breast suckling for the next hour. He was perfect in every way and I had to thank God for him. I was surprised at how thick the vernix on him was, more then any of my other children had at birth.

We relaxed in the pool for awhile, getting to know each other. After about 25 minutes the placenta came out with minimal bleeding. At this point I decided to get out of the pool and get into bed. Tim took a few minutes to hold his new son. After we got settled in bed Isaac fell asleep (and he basically slept the next week away). Samuel woke up and was more interested in the still attached placenta then the baby (we cut the cord after three hours). Tim picked up the older two and they were very excited to meet Isaac. They all crowded in the bed to see him.

All in all it was a pretty easy birth but a very empowering experience. I spent the next 5 days in bed focusing on bonding with my new baby. He is a great nurser, cuddler and sleeper. I recovered from birth very fast (I only had one tiny tear that healed quickly). The next day when we weighed him, Isaac was 8 1/2 lbs and 20 inches. AS I write this, Isaac is now two weeks old and snuggled up in my lap nursing. I am very blessed.

Here are a few pics. In the last two he is only a few minutes old.

All is calm...

It is unusually queit here this morning. Josiah is at a birthday party (Tim is with him). Annah is wrapping me some Christmas presents (for next year :)And Samuel is building a tower with the mega blocks.

When I downloaded the pictures from our camera I was surprised to see that there were 145 pictures on the chip when I knew I had only took a few pics since last time I deleted the camera chip. Then I remembered yesterday I let Annah take some pics witht the camera and I guess she really got into it. She took pics of various items and people. Here are a few samples of her photography : )


We had a nice Christmas. This year we deliberatly planned to have a quieter Christmas since we did not know if baby #4 would show up during this time or not (obviously did not :). While I like lots of people and holiday bustle around Christmas it worked out nicer then I thought. The children had a great time too. Here are some photos of them opeing their gifts Christmas morining.



Overall it was a very enjoyable Christmas. I hope all of you did too!

On another note sometimes this past week or two I feel like people are regarding me a ticking bomb ready to go off or something :) Even if they do not ask, the unspoken question is "No baby yet?" Nope, no baby yet :)= All along I have not been sure of the exact dates since due to breastfeeding my cycle was not regular when I conceived. All along I have known it would be Dec or Jan and at this point looks like it could be Jan. 2012 is a good year, right? Anyway aside from being a little impatient, I am feeling really well. Not even any swollen feet or backache, just sore ribs where the baby likes to kick me. This could possibly be my most active baby yet. Any guesses as to whether it is a girl or boy? I will certainly let everyone know when he/she makes their debut. No worries, it will happen!

Getting ready for Christmas...

Over the past week I have done some Christmas things with the chidren. They are really into the whole Christmas thing. Here are the two oldest- very proud of the tree they helped decorate.

They were so enthused they decorated their room too!

I had a Christmas party for the children and had some of their friends over. One thing we did was dress up and act out the nativity story. Here are all the "wise men" trying to give baby Jesus their gifts. One even brought a stuffed kangaroo as a gift!

Some of the children who came who dressed up to act out the story of the birth of baby Jesus. It was very funny to watch them act it all out. I think though that their favourite part was getting all dressed up.

All the children decorated cookies. Here are Josiah and his friend Drake, with their decorated cookies. (That is not blood on Josiah's forehead. A few hours earlier Tim took him for a haircut and he came home with red gel on his bangs).

The children decorated this gingerbread house. In past years I have made the gingerbread myself but this year I am trying to take it easier because of the upcoming baby so I bought this one :)

Everyday they make me or their dad christmas cards and gifts. The funny thing is that they want us to have them right away not on Christmas day. They also like to make things to mail their Grandmas.

I am getting excited about the upcoming birth of our fourth baby. He or she should make their appearance sometime this month or in the beginning of Jan. I am doing very well but starting to feel very ready to meet this little one :)

Getting into the Christmas spirit...

So today we finally started gettting into the whole Christmas thing. I have friends that decorated at the begining of November but I prefer to wait till December to start. So today we started by making some Christmas cookies which the children throughly enjoyed doing.






Now this weekend I think we will get a tree :)