When it rains...

An afternoon at Hemlock Ravine

Oh my. I'm not sure how to begin to sum up the ridiculousness that has been the last month and a bit in a blog post, so perhaps I won't even really try.  You kind of expect your first - oh, I don't know - six weeks or so, of your life with a newborn to be hectic, but lovely.  Slowing down a bit to match your infant's schedule, readjusting to all the changes of a brand new family, basking in the miracle that is life... etc etc.  The stars, it would seem, were not aligning for this rather idyllic sounding entry into life as a family of four.  In fact, I can't remember the last time so many stressful things all piled themselves on top of each other.  We've got the usual culprits: sickness (we spent the better part of two days hanging out with Linden in the emergency room a few weeks ago... not for an emergency, per se, but because he was having such trouble breathing.  Diagnosis: broncialitis), and deadlines (Clark has some unforeseen and very poorly timed deadlines at school that he has been working like a maniac to accomplish before the new year).

"Oh my!  Life is so very difficult on the outside!"

 The biggest stresser, however, materialized a month ago, when we found out with some certainty that we were going to have to move.  ASAP.  Move?  Move? " How is that even possible", you ask?  I have been wondering the same thing myself.  The problem is not with our place (oh, how I love this place, and this neighbourhood - it breaks my heart to be leaving it), but rather with the imminent demolishing of the warehouse directly across the street from us, followed immediately by the construction of an extensive condominium complex with underground parking.  And how is this construction to begin?  Two straight months of jack-hammering, Mon-Fri, 7am-5pm.  Obviously an unlivable situation when I'm home all day with one or two kids.
You can not imagine the stress that followed that announcement.  Trying to find a place to live (not freaking easy this time of year, with the restrictions that go along with a one-car family of four with literally no money), budgeting for a move we can't afford, submitting a rental application (almost as stressful as applying for a job!), negotiating for a mid-month move, directly before Christmas.... you get the picture.  At this point, we have a place to live and a moving date - the trick will be how in the world we're going to actually get this place packed up and then unpacked again in the next week and a bit.  It is next to impossible for me to get anything done during the day, as I seem to have birthed a child who will not sleep unless he is being worn and/or walked.  But I have been slowly chipping away, and culling as I go... hopefully it will all come together at some point soon.

Anyway, enough with all that.  This was not intended as a blog post to gripe and make everyone feel sorry for us, but rather to share some pictures and stories from some of the nicer moments in the last month.  Because there have been plenty of those, as well.  Besides, we have had much help, and will have more to come (thank-you to everyone!  You know who you are!) Here are a ridiculous amount of photos.  Enjoy!

EARLY DAYS:

Juniper helps Kelly (our midwife) with a post-natal check-up.

First bath!  (Like his older sister, Linden love the bath)

Juniper, doing a sudoku on the toilet.( Incidentally, the current report is that she hasn't pooped in her diaper for 2 weeks!)

Juniper LOVES holding Linden.

My beautiful babies

The massive fat rolls have begun!

We've had loads of VISITORS:

Auntie Zsofi

"Deb" and Yvon

Josh and Martha (who now have a beautiful baby of their own, named "Freyja")

Christie and Beatrice

Grandpa and Grandma

Pat and Liz

Brad

The gang, out fir dinner at Mezza

Claire

Faye

 HALLOW'EN!

Our little wizard (I knew there was a reason to hang onto that fabric for so many years!)

With her pals, Mickey Bella and Firefighter Patrick

Emptying the seeds...

... drawing the design...

... and the finished pumpkin!

Wait... where did that third pumpkin come from?

MORE RECENT

Linden enjoys a snack, at Hemlock Ravine

Three new mamas - round 2!  You'd think we planned that timing! (wish I was wearing my ring sling)

The boys, chillin'.  (l-r: Aven, Ewan and Linden)

Here they are again, older and wiser (l-r: Ewan, Aven, Linden)

 

Yes, I know - there are a lot of these shots.  But look - they're both smiling!

Go team!

Now there's a smile!

"Oh hi.  Am I not ridiculously cute in this sweater vest?"

Warm weather, following a large snow dump.  Check out my first real pair of homemade overalls!

Four best friends (Isabella, Juniper, Patrick, Calla)

Seriously, look how large this child is.  6 week stats: 12lb, 12 oz; 59.5 cm

"Yup.  Just chillin' with my big sis"

A lovely walk along Frog Pond.  We brought our own frog.

AND FINALLY... (tell me you don't see the similarities!)

Baby Tara....

... and baby Linden

Linden James Richards

Linden, sucking his thumb, on day 2!

It's been a good five days since we embarked on life as a family of four - high time I got my act together and did a "welcome to the world" blog post for little Linden! I was debating what sorts of things I should actually post about; how many pictures I should actually add… and decided to go heavy on the pictures; light on the post.  But I'm always happy to talk details with anyone who's interested, so if you feel like chatting, let me know!

So, the (very) condensed version of events are as such:  for anyone who read the last blog post, you already know that my water broke at 3:30am on Thursday morning.  Thus began a VERY different labour and delivery than I had with Juniper. Throughout all of Thursday during the day, I had only sporadic contractions, and started to worry about being induced if the labour didn't actually pick up on it's own.  As such, it turned into an incredibly difficult and exhausting day - from both a physical, and (particularly) from a mental perspective.  But, when Juniper fell asleep that evening, and I laid down myself to try and rest, the labour did indeed start back up of it's own accord, and Linden arrived in the world at 3:03am on Friday morning, Oct. 14. 

Mid-labour, very shortly after getting to the birth unit at the hospital

This being child #2, I had really and truly expected a faster, easier labour and delivery.  That seems to be the norm from everything I had read, and most people I had talked to (except, for the record, my mother, who claimed that each subsequent birth was longer and harder than the last for her).  Without going into  details, I assure that neither labour OR delivery was faster or easier than the first time around. Also, I was denied the homebirth I had hoped for (due, once again, to kinks with the IWK midwifery program), and my midwife (the ONE midwife in operation in the HRM right now), was not on call for the birth itself.   But, in the end, the doctor I ended up with was just lovely (as was our nurse), and, - most importantly - I was able to delivery a whopping 9lb, 10oz baby without any sort of narcotics, interventions, or (miraculously) any tearing or stitches.  So I shall not complain.  Instead, I'll bask in the afterglow of feeling incredibly lucky, and more than a little warrior-esque :)

Proof!

 

Very shortly after Linden was born. Hmmm... if I recall, I was VERY exhausted, and VERY happy to have him on the outside.

We stayed our requisite 6 hours at the hospital,  waited for our midwife to come back on call in the morning to pop in for a visit, then we went home to a VERY excited Juniper.  I wish I'd had a camera at the ready for when we pulled up, because she had the door open and her boots on before we had even stopped the car, and was running outside to meet her"new baby brother", with a HUGE smile on her face. As you might expect, she LOVES Linden, and it is all we can do to keep her from smothering him with kisses and hugs.

Juniper holds Linden for the first time

A seasoned pro. Linden doesn't seem to mind.

Seriously, look how long this boy is!  22'' at birth.

As you might expect, we've all been spending the last 5 days just trying to adjust to life with a newborn. This is something that's unfortunately been particularly difficult for me this time around... apart from all the after-birth healing that has to happen (much more painful this time than it was with Juniper), I also got hit with that stomach bug that Juniper and Clark had before I went into labour.  It's as though my body was just waiting for me to give birth before it let the virus settle in. I mean, that is better than being sick as I went into labour, but seriously, how unfair is it to have the flu right after giving birth?

On the positive side of things, my mom is here helping, which, of course, feels completely essential at this point (especially at 6am, which is when Juniper has recently decided is the best time to get up for breakfast).  Also, I am on the mend from both the flu and the after-birth stuff, so things are looking rosier all around.  I have an appointment in an hour with my naturopath, to try and immuno-boost this whole family, and that will be my second foray outside the house since I've been home (the first being to take Linden back to the hospital on day #2 or a hearing test and a PKU).  I'm actually looking forward to the fresh air and the change of scenery. 

Just back from our trip to the hospital on day 2, before the flu hit me.

So far, Linden seems to be a very content little baby, except when he's getting his diaper changed.  For whatever reason, he finds this VERY offensive.  But Clark is trying to find Linden's musical preferences, which will hopefully placate him at the very least (so far, "Ocean Sounds" and "Pedro the Lion" are front runners.  Obviously he has an eclectic ear).  He is a nursing machine, and a champion pooper and pee-er (he's alerady managed to pee on his own head), and he is very, very patient with his older sister. He's also very, very handsome, if I do say so myself.  And with that, I'll leave you with a bunch of pictures, and a little video to round things off.

The Waiting Game

It is Thursday afternoon, Oct. 13.  I was officially due four days ago, and I had suspicions that the full moon on Tuesday night might have coaxed this baby out.  Apparently not.  It has actually been kind of a rough last few weeks... if only because this house has been sick, sick, sick.  We each got a cold, to start things off.  Then, just as that was abating, Juniper got some weird virus (or something), that had her vomiting, feverish and very lethargic, finished off by a nice post-viral body rash.  Then, when it was clear that she was over that, two mornings ago, Clark came down with a stomach bug.  He seems to be over it today, thank goodness.

Luckily, we've had a whole host of people to help out - we had arranged to have this potential labour period covered so that there was always someone on call to take care of Juniper when the time came.  Theresa was here for much of last week, then Faye came down, and she left this morning, to be replaced by my mother this afternoon.

So where does that leave us today, you ask?  Actually, I think I can say that I am officially "in labour", to some extent.  "What?", you ask - "in labour and doing a blog post?" Well, my water broke last night at 3:30am, and I started having pretty regular contractions, and I thought for sure I was on the fast track to having a nice day-time baby today.  It was really quite ideal timing - Juniper at daycare, my mom on her way, and our midwife on call.  But then the contractions petered off to sporadic, and this is where I've stayed all day long.  So it it is still a waiting game, but a very different one than it was when I started this blog post last night.  I'm currently just trying to not let morale dip too low - resting, walking keeping busy.  Thus, the blog post.

Speaking of keeping busy, this has been the theme the last week or so - here are some pics from all the things we (and particularly I), have been doing as the countdown began. 

1. Hang-outs! 

This was actually from at least a few weeks ago, but cute enough to add:

Andrea and Dinesh and Faye were all here for Thanksgiving Monday:

2. Getting pampered:

Theresa spent days and days cooking us delicious food to put in the freezer:

3. Taking "artsy" shadow belly shots:

4. Being ridiculously industrious.  As industrious as one can be while mostly sitting down and puttering around the house, that is.  Seriously, you wouldn't believe the quantity of things I have created in the last week or so.  Here's a sampling:

Bagels.  I have had no interest in preparing food lately, except bagels.

A peaked cap for Juniper (I had looked for one all over and couldn't find one, so opted to try making it instead):

Housecoat.  Again, I just couldn't find one, so I scrounged together all the bits of flannelette that I had, and made what ended up being "Juniper's Amazing Technicolour Housecoat":

A ring sling for Honey: it's way cuter with Juniper wearing it, but I'm sure I'll have more of those pictures in blog posts to come.

A celestial-themed mobile for the new baby:

Footed leggings for the new baby:

And finally - why not include a random video?  I had wanted to add subtitles for those of you who aren't used to Juniper's toddler talk, but it proved a little bit too much of a learning curve for my current state of mind.  Happy deciphering!  And stay tuned - I can guarantee it won't be long now before a new little being will have arrived into the world.

Videos, please!

 

Juniper rings the gong at Windhorse Farm

At the end of the last post, I promised there would some videos coming soon.  Obviously "soon" is a relative term these days.  I am currently over 38 weeks pregnant (!), and congratulating myself for doing even small tasks in my day-to-day.  Juniper, however, is on high gear all the time, growing up at lightning speeds.  She says just about anything she wants these days, sometimes pausing to formulate her sentence just so, or to search for just the right word.  In fact, the other day, in a very teenage-like fashion, I went into her room when I thought she was waking up from a nap, and she turned to me, said  "don't wake me up, mama", and proceeded to nap for another 45 minutes!

Anyway, I have put together a couple of videos from the last few months, and I'll throw in a few pictures as well.  Who knows - this may or may not be the last post before bambino #2!

Faye and Brent come to visit:

This is what happens when you visit Alana and Ian: you get to wear a tiara and eat cake before supper. Life doesn't get much better than that:

All dressed up at Ben and Sarah's wedding:

Juniper helps her dad blow out the *makeshift* birthday candles on his cake...

.... and then proceeds to lick her plate completely clean (it was an ice cream cake, after all)

I love this shot:  How Juniper was sleeping when I went in to check on her the other night!

And finally, the videos.  The first one is a little montage called "step class" - apparently, Juniper has decided to follow in her mother's footsteps.  She definitely has the moves, and the creative devotion to it. I really should have hired her to sub my classes after I got too pregnant to teach!

And then this is just a smattering of a bunch of stuff I haven't yet posted: