Fri-Yay!!!

I thought September went by fast, but wow, October went by just as fast!! Soo crazy!!!

I got back some of our family pictures and I am soo in love!! 

Tomorrow marks an exciting day!! I get to go see my biggest man crush - Luke Bryan. I know I have been to see him how many times, but his concerts are the best and I really do love that man! 

Basically I am leaving after gymnastics, picking up my sister and we are heading to Detroit. My sister has a meet and greet with Dustin Lynch, so I am not sure what time we have to be there for, but I doubt we will get much shopping time in! Then we are staying over at my Cindy and my Dad's in Windsor so we don't have to drive 2 hours home that late at night. This will be my first night leaving Em, which I was on the fence with, but M convinced me they would all be fine and she sleeps through the night anyways for the most part. 

We have to leave by 8:30/9 in the morning so I can be home before 11:30 because we have a family baptism to attend by 1. So it is going to be a busy weekend, but it will be a nice break for me at least.

Unfortunately I have caught Noah's cold, M has caught it and it looks like Emilya has caught it! Fun times! 

Yesterday Emilya had her hearing aid fitting. It went well, she wasn't upset with it in at all, it's just really tricky to get it in her little ear! The other thing I notice is how big it looks on her tiny ears right now. We have a few issues to work out with it, but we have great support, so I'm sure we will do fine with it. It's going to take some getting used to for all of us. We also need to try to create a schedule for her right now on when she will wear it. The ultimate goal will be all the time, but as we are introducing it, they reccomended creating a schedule so she can get used to it. 

So there you have it, the weekend is here and I am excited!! Hope everyone has a great weekend!! 

So What Wednesday

So What if... It's Thursday now instead of Wednesday. My days sometimes all seem like one. 

So What if... I wiped right out, flat on my back while playing soccer with Noah in the basement. Needless to say the ball didn't end up going far when I ran to kick it and wiped out instead. It is a LONG way down for this tall mama! Suprisingly the only thing that really hurt was my ribs. 

So What if... I can't keep socks on my toddler. He at least keeps his pants on... Right?

So What if... Sometimes I have a hard time taking my kid seriously... I mean - look at him...

So What if... Our nights of eating supper together as a family are done as the busy season for the business is here. It's become very clear that Noah cannot eat supper at 6 and then go to bed by 7:30. It just doesn't work.

So What if... We moved the kids bedtimes up a bit, the kids are now in the tub by 7 and heading upstairs by 7:30 instead of 8. It's at least the goal we work towards, although sometimes it fails. 

So What if... Since putting Noah in gymnastics, he has made my living room a circuit for jumping and tumbling. It does really drive me crazy.mi hate kids jumping on furniture! 

So What if... My kids had a 3 hour nap yesterday and this is what I did.... And yet I wonder why my house won't clean itself. I'm blaming the cold. 

So What if... I ended up catching Noah's cold. It's pretty minor, and more of just a pain in the ass... But it sucks!! I hate being sick! 

So What if... It snowed a bit last night. It was dark out, so I am pretending the dog didn't come in with it on her. 

So What if... Noah has his last Music in Motion class today and I am torn on signing him up for another 6 weeks, even though we have made great strides, I'm not sure what he gets from it, aside from social interaction, but we get that with other activities. He still insists on me being in the class with him, so part of me wants to keep going until he is comfortable with me not being in the room with him. We will see! I keep reminding myself that he is only 2!! 

So What if... One of these shoes was missing for a full month and we searched high and low, wasting way too much time looking for it and accomishing nothing and on Monday I spotted it just lying on the floor under Em's jumper. It had been under the curtain. I hate losing things. But I sleep better now, knowing it is found!! 

So What if... Emilya HATES avocado, it's not like anyone else in the house likes it either. I used to make Noah really tough it out and try things for 3 days in a row, but I really didn't care about avocado! I actually felt bad for her! I did make her try it for 2 days though. I made Noah try it and he told me it tasted like "carrot tops" - yummy? He didn't like it either. It must have been really horrible for Em, because I mixed it with banana, forgetting she also doesn't like banana anymore. Poor kid. 

Weekend Rewind

This weekend was totally one of those weekends where nothing went as planned. It was almost like a special challenge for me to learn how to accept these kind of things, which you would think I would be good at by now with kids. But I am not! Kids sure do have a way of changing your plans, as do other circumstances and we just need to learn to roll with the punches.

Friday night was low key. I can't actually remember doing anything in particular, aside from hitting up the hot tub!! Oh I tried a new recipe for supper - it was a Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta dish. I found it on Facebook. It was alright, but nothing fantastic! 

Saturday I decided last minute to hit up a parent sale. However, it took special planning because M's truck is getting fixed, so he had a work truck home. I didn't want to take the kids, but Noah also had gymnastics at 10:30. So I left at 8:45 in the work truck to be at the sale for 9 when it started. I found a few shirts for Em and a pair of leather Mocs. I decided to hit up the grocery store to stock up on chicken breasts that were on sale and headed home. It was on my way home that I realized I lost my sunglasses while at the sale! I made it home just in time to put the chicken in the fridge and hop in the flex to goto gymnastics. 

After gymnastics we grabbed lunch and I decided to have Mike stop at the sale so I could run in and see if I could find my sunglasses!! Sure enough they were at the first table I thought of!! I felt soo relieved!! I hate losing things!! 

During naptime, M and I searched for a missing shoe of Emilya's, of course it is a Parker and Posie shoe - my fave and she's only wore them a few times. We have one, but not the other! Soo frustrating and we didn't find it!! 

We decided a soak in the hot tub on a beautiful fall day would suffice while both kids napped and then I had a nap myself! After supper it was pure shenanigans from these two! 

Once they were in bed, I updated my android box and then watch Me Before You! I loved the book and   believe it or not, I actually liked the book better! The movie was good though!! I bought the book sequel but have not started it yet! 

M ended up getting a fire call for a car on fire, so I ended up waiting up for him to get home after midnight. I don't sleep well if I know he is at a fire call, medicals, sure, but fires no. Emilya decided to have a horrible nights sleep. It was soo rough. We are pretty sure her top front teeth are bugging her. 

So Sunday's mornings plans went out the window. We were planning on hitting up the pumpkin patch as soon as it opened, but instead we let Em sleep. She didn't get up until almost 11, so we left by 11, there by 11:30 and Noah had a blast. Em enjoyed the train ride and watching her brother, but there really wasn't much for her at this age obviously. Noah had a blast with the air pillow, pirate ships jungle gym, slides, the bike track, bouncy castle and seeing the animals. 

 

 

 

It was just about lunch, the food line ups were crazy long, so we opted to go get our pumpkins and head home. And this is when shit hit the fan! I wanted to get a few pics of the kids, like I always do. Noah was having no part of it and when he would, Em wouldn't. Noah was having one melt down after the other because he was hungry and Em was starting to get hungry too. So we ended up with one pumpkin (instead of 4), 2 screaming kids and 2 adults done with the day. 

We came home, had lunch, got Noah in bed and then got ready to goto a funeral visitation. The babysitter came, yes, it actually worked this time and I left him with our sitter!! Yay!! The visitation was soo busy, we got home about 10 minutes after Noah woke up and he was not a fan that we weren't home. He got over it once we got home, and didn't want the babysitter to leave! Stinker! Em had fallen asleep at the visitation, so we let her sleep a bit longer at home as well. 

Once she woke up, we took both kids outside and I was determined to get a picture of the two of them! Our photographer wasn't able to get one during our family photos, and well the pumpkin patch was a fail, so I was going to make this happen! And I did and I love it! 

 

 

We had homemade pizza for supper, played and called it night for the kids. Emilya was being a stinker to get down, likely because of her teeth. So once we got her down, we went to bed by 10! Such a long day!

These next few days are likely going to be long for this mama, since M has training with the fire department both nights 7-11, so we might see him for an hour? 

Emilya's Birth Story

On April 5th, 2016, I woke up at about 6:30, had a quick shower, kissed Noah goodbye before we packed up the truck and drove an hour to the hospital, knowing we were bringing our baby into the world that day!

I was a bit nervous, but mostly excited and happy that everything was going as planned! This delivery was going to be soo much better than my last.

We arrived at the hospital for 8 AM, and sat in a waiting room until almost 9 AM! They finally brought me back to the recovery room, where I would get settled and ready for my C-section. My blood pressure wasn't too bad, just borderline as it had been. They listened to the baby after I got changed into my gown, put my IV in (got it on the second attempt). My sister came in to see me and wish my well, and to put in her guess.

I had a line up of people coming in to see me, the anesthesiologist and team, my OB, various med students, a study group, etc. I agreed to doing a study for the spinal, which was just testing out a special chair to rest your head on, so that took about 15 minutes prior to my surgery.

My Mom and Dad came in just before I was about to get wheeled into the OR, wished me the best and then I was wheeled into the COLD operating room. M got himself all dressed in his OR wear.

This is probably when my nerves picked up. I got up on the table as they were getting the room set up. I remember feeling like I was in a busy city, with people moving all around me doing their own thing and here I was just sitting and watching it go down, not that I was actually watching them, it was just that feeling that overcame me. The respiratory therapist introduced herself, she was very friendly and told me she would walk me through the whole process as it went down. My nurse was also great. I began to shake, as the room was crazy cold, so they did manage to drape a heated blanket on me. 

When it came time for the spinal, I almost felt like crying I was so nervous. The RT stood right in front of me and talked me through it, along with the anesethiologist and my nurse. They gave me a shot to numb the area first, which felt like an intense bee sting, but I breathed through it and was fine. Up next was the spinal and the pressure from this was pretty uncomfortable and I hated how long it took, even though it really wasn't that long, but the needle has to stay in for so long as they inject it. I was starting to get dizzy and just remember them all counting down from 5 for me, telling me it would be done after the 5 seconds, which was good because I really wasn't feeling well. I just felt really nauseous, hot and dizzy. They helped me lay right down and worked on getting me a cold cloth, it wasn't very cold, but wet, so it helped. 

I was instantly numb and feeling a bit better after lying down. Next thing I knew the drapes were up around me, they got me all prepped and the doctor was in. They did the dreaded ice cube test, and I couldn't feel it. This was the part I was most nervous about because I felt my incision with Noah. The doctor did a scrape test on my belly before cutting me open to help ease my mind and I couldn't feel it.

Mike came in shortly after all decked out in his OR wear. The hat was a funny touch. Next thing I knew the nausea hit me like crazy. I was sure I was going to vomit. The anesethiologist gave me a drug in my IV to help with nausea and ended up giving me extra to help. I was also given an actual cold cloth. I was much more comfortable now. 

M and I were silent at first, as I felt various pressures and movement, the doctor was telling us when he could see the legs, that baby was in deed very breach, he then told me I was about to experience labor and pushed hard on my upper abdomen trying to push the baby down, however Emilya was quite content. I could then hear mumbled cries of her inside me and the doctor saying "come here you" and he pulled her out screaming. He held her around the screen for us to see, announcing it was a GIRL and then cut the cord. I'm pretty sure my eyes welled with tears right then after seeing her! We had a baby girl!!! I was on cloud 9!

  

M went with her to get cleaned up, weighed and checked over, while they finished putting me back together. The doctor guessed she would be 7lbs, 3 oz and I replied with "really? Her brother was 7.1" Mike came in shortly after and said she weighed 8lbs 3 oz! She was just screaming away and was hungry. She was born hungry and mad. The doctor said she had no intentions of coming out soon. She was quite comfortable up in my ribs!

M sat down with Emilya while they stitched me up and we discussed her name. We had it down to 2 names and the middle name was easy. We both said Emilya right away. Emilya just screamed away and was not a happy camper.

 They wheeled me over to recovery and I was finally able to hold my sweet baby girl and she calmed right down.

She was literally looking to eat but first things first, I had to get checked on first and M was going to go out to tell my family the news. The nurse was nice enough to let them all come in so I could see the reactions. It was perfect. My parents and my sister all came in to meet her quickly. The nurse checked my incision before allowing me to start nursing and little miss knew exactly what she was doing and nursed like a champ right away. M and I worked on texting out the news and calling our list. I was in recovery for about and hour or two, it went by fast. 

What I will say is that being reunited with my baby right away was such an amazing experience and really created an amazing bond. My eyes swelled with tears several times because I was just on cloud nine! A real dream come true and the fact that everything went soo smoothly was just a blessing. Holding this baby girl and getting skin on skin time and just seeing her, touching her and snuggling her was just the best. I really had no clue what I was missing out on with Noah, but I really do feel jipped after experiencing it with Em, even though with his birth it as medically necessary. 

The pain wasn't too bad and then we went over to the post-partum section where my family reunited with us and got in some snuggles. The morphine added into my spinal was really starting to kick in and I was soo crazy itchy. It was the worst, although the likely better than the pain.

This day was just simply amazing, we ended up with great nurses, our own room, and was just a really great experience. I can't think of one thing that didn't go smoothly. 

Mikes parents came up with Noah at supper time. Noah wanted to see his sister right away without hesitation. He was right all along insisting it was a girl! He crawled up in bed with me for a snuggle before holding and meeting his sister for the first time. Such an incredible moment and it didn't disappoint! We took our first family picture:

I was up and walking after dinner and just felt pretty good overall. My meds were switched over to just Tylenol and Advil and that was managing it quite well. Our first night went as to be expected. Emilya slept with me for most of the night and switched to Mike in the morning. 

Emilya had been coughing up fluid, still clearing out after the birth and ended up having a coughing spell where she couldn't breath. Luckily a nurse was near by and ran her down to the resuscitation room because she was turning blue. Luckily by the time she got her down there Emilya cleared it cough, but as you can imagine everytime she coughed now, we were freaked out. We tried not to call a nurse everytime it happened again, but we saw just how quickly it could go wrong.

We had a few visitors throughout the day, but we kept it to mostly family, with the exception for a few close friends. Overall I felt great and my blood pressure was stable without the need for meds! Another huge relief!

Night number two was rough, but we at least knew to expect the 2nd night syndrome. Emilya just wanted to be held all night, I couldn't get comfortable at all, and well I think most of our sleep happened in the morning.  

We got the all clear that we could go home if we wanted to or stay another night. I really just wanted to get home, sleep in my own bed, snuggle with Noah and start our life as a family of 4! Emilya's cough had started to clear as well, so we were comfortable with that idea.

So we had a little nap while they got all the paper work done. Emilya saw the pediatrician, had her hearing test and was cleared to leave as well.

Right as we were waiting for the porter to come, her ultrasound was available for her sacral dimple. The pediatrician was sure it was closed, but wanted an ultrasound done to be sure. We were told we would have to come back, but our nurse worked her magic and got it done before we left - literally.  

All packed up and ready to go! 

Weekend Rewind

Mid-October? How?? Geez time flies when you are having fun!!

Friday night was pretty uneventful - as in I cannot remember what we did, but if I had to guess we hung out at home and didn't do a whole lot! Oh and I did not sleep well at all!!

Saturday morning Noah woke up at 6 and he didn't sleep the best either. So we knew gymnastics was bound to be a joke, but he didn't do horrible for his tired state. Em's nap schedule has been off lately, so tandem napping did not happen. M ended up going to the fire hall to help out with something, so I didn't get much accomplished at all. 

We had family pictures at 5:30 and I had everyone's outfits all laid out and as I was getting myself ready, we discovered someone's outfit didn't fit well. Needless to say the 21 Day Fix is coming back to Casa Vance. It took M too one to find himself a new outfit that matched, so we made due. It was a beautiful evening and the photos went well. I won't say great, because let's face it, Noah is 2 and wanted to do what 2 years old do - run around and not stay still for a picture, so we will see what we end up with! We tried to get a pic of the two of them together and well it was big giant fail, just when we would get Noah to co-operate, Em wouldn't and vice versa. So we have some work to do with
that. 

We didn't get finished until just before 7,  so we grabbed food on the way home and ate it on the road. When we got home we put the kids right to bed!! Pretty sure I was in bed before 10! 

Sunday morning M had the firemans breakfast, which meant solo morning with the kids for me. We did goto the breakfast for a bit and Noah ate breakfast like a champ! 

Although coming home was meltdown central for them both- fun times! Mike was supposed be home by 12, so I could get my stuff done, but that didn't happen either. So I made it to town to get groceries eventually and home just in time to head out to my sisters for dinner!!

 

My Dad and C were down for dinner, so we enjoyed a nice family dinner before we had to head home for bath time. We refused to have another late night with the kids and Emilya was getting grumpy anyways - tired girl! 

So this weekend was not overly productive on the home front, but we did get family pics done, so that was one important thing accomplished at least! 

We have another busy week ahead. Yesterday we had play group, today I have the homeschool teacher coming, Wednesday is library, Thursday Noah had his Music in Motion class and Em has her appointment to get her hearing aid, Thursday night I have "book club" and Friday is nothing so far! 

Hope everyone had a safe weekend!! 

Happy Friday

And just like that it is Friday! Have I mentioned I love short work weeks... Obviously they aren't short for me, because I'm home everyday with the kids, but it means a break is coming sooner!

We have had a busy week and today was supposed to be a play date that ended up being postponed, which actually works out well for us to just have a slow day! 

We are making progress in the Music in Motion class. Noah is much more comfortable in the class, he didn't ask to leave at all this week. I still end up coming in the room with him, but I don't have to participate. 

I will also note the best improvement EVER falls on Emilya's part with rocking car rides!!! She is doing soo much better!!! She will fuss a bit, but it's not everytime or the whole ride anymore!! 

Yesterday I took the kids to their first concert- The Wiggles! I am glad I brought M's Mom along to help out because I couldn't imagine trying to get snacks and bathroom breaks with two kids on my own! But the show was amazing and the kids did fantastic. Emilya LOVED it just as much as Noah did!! The best part for me as watching the kids throughly enjoy themselves!! Noah also gave me a
run for my money on the popcorn!! He loves popcorn just like his mama!! If he wasnt up and dancing... Then he was doing this:

It was a great day!! 

Tomorrow we have family photos - fingers crossed the kids co-operate!! I have yet to figure out our outfits!! 

Thanksgiving Weekend Rewind

I can hardly believe Thanksgiving has come and went already, it seemed to be early this year. We did have a pretty good weekend though.

Thanksgiving leaves us feeling not only very thankful for all that we have, but also soo very blessed. Our minds can't help but to travel back to when we were trying for a baby and going through IVF. Thanksgiving marks our very first IVF cycle that failed. We can remember that pain like it was yesterday. It's hard waiting for something you want so badly, so having Emilya be apart of our family this year is just another blessing, something we weren't sure was possible and now we have 2 beautiful babies. Thanksgiving is just a reminder that hope will see us through, along with the help of family and close friends and some amazing doctors in this case. 

Friday M surprised us and was home early. We finished watching the ball game together and then headed to the park with the kids! Emilya was LOVING the swing! The rest of our evening was uneventful. After the kids were in bed I ended up having a few of the girls over for a bonfire. It was such a perfect fall night for a fire. Hopefully it won't be the last. 

Saturday morning was gymnastics. Noah did really well again, this is such a great class for him and I
love that it is his and Daddy's thing they do together. Em and I love watching. After gymnastics I hit up Walmart while M grabbed us all lunch. On the way home I stopped at the local baby store and picked up the cutest headbands - I know more headbands?? Is there such a thing as too many? I just think the top knot bands will be helpful with Em's hearing aid when she gets it! 

Saturday was spent doing laundry, tidying up the basement and just general chores and lots of family time! We let Noah dress himself after gymnastics since the weather is cooler and shirts are no longer warm enough. Come to mention it, we actually turned our heat on. 

Sunday morning I made apple crisp for Thanksgiving and actually this was my new recipe of the week. My usual recipe hasn't been working lately and I like a nice crispy top, so I followed this recipe and it was great!! I ended up doubling it, because I made a big pan of it, but you bet I will make it again!!

  

PIN

After naptime we got the kids ready to go to our family dinner. We failed at getting family pic and I am not going to tell you how many pictures we took trying to get a pic of them both smiling...but here are a few of what we did get:

 

 

 

Clearly we have some work to do before our family photos this weekend!! 

Little man wanted a pic all by himself:

 

We had a great time visiting with my side of the family. Noah obviously had a blast playing with the cousins, but Emilya was a little grumpy, over tired and was not loving how loud it was. We headed home around 7:30, listening to the ball game on the way home and then watching the rest of it when we got home and got the kids in bed. It was a great game and put us into the next round!! Go Blue Jays go!! 

 

Monday morning I worked on Emilya's drawers, as we are now transitioning her completely upstairs, which means her changing area in the mudroom is leaving. M and I are trying to come up with a new plan for the mudroom as far as layout and making best use of the space. One thing we have decided is that we will be building a closet, the wardrobe idea just doesn't work for a family.

 M and Noah went to the farm to get the pump and came home with the kobota. Apparently Daddy had a hard time saying "No" to Noah, so we had one happy little boy! The boys closed the pool together. 

 

I enjoyed a soak in the hot tub when the kids went down for a nap and when I came inside M went out to cut the grass. M's parents ended up coming home from the lake early and popped over, so we planned a last minute dinner with them at the farm. Emilya had a nice long nap! When she woke up we all packed into the kobota and by all, I mean Gracie too and headed over. 

 

We had a nice dinner and visit and came home just in time for the kids to have a bath together. M took Noah up to bed while I fed Emilya and then we put her down. 

We have a busy week ahead of us! Today Em gets her 6 months shots, tomorrow we have songs and stories at the library, Thursday we have his Music in Motion class and that afternoon we have tickets to go see The Wiggles and Friday we have a play date planned. I think it is going to fun week!!