In Case You're Wondering

Hi from the land of diapers, round-the-clock feedings, and my four walls!! I have just a few minutes before my little "master" will need to eat again. So, I'm going to try to peck out a few words to let you know how we're doing.

Huh, I hardly know where to start. It seems like I've crammed 3 months of living into the last week and a half. Maybe that's because I've spent so little time sleeping. :-)

The first days/week were rough in some ways. My milk was slow to come in so the poor little girl was quite hungry and nursed for hours on end, it seemed but still wasn't content. Neither Keith nor I got much sleep those nights!! The good news is, I didn't really get that stressed out or anxious about it. And for me that's what you'd call a major miracle!! By Tuesday night, I did sorta lose it though and then (finally!) Keith and I spent some time really praying about my milk coming in. When we were done praying, I fed Hannah and, wouldn't you know it, I had more milk than any other time! After that, she would nurse and then was contented. And I think once my milk came in she slept for about 36 hours, only waking up to eat. :-)

A day or two later, I was getting very sore, um, well, you know. Keith prayed about that too and since then, it's gotten much, much better. So, we were starting to get the idea that God really is listening and caring about our lives!! So, when I started to not have enough milk again this weekend, I knew what we needed to do! We prayed some more, and now I seem to have LOTS. I'm just so thankful for our wonderful, compassionate, and personal God! Nothing is too big or too little to bring to Him!! Last night Keith read a story of Jesus healing a blind man. And Jesus asked the man, "What do you want me to do?" Huh? Seems like sort of a no-brainer, right? But Jesus obviously wanted him to ask. So we were discussing why Jesus wants us to ask Him for things. I think one reason is so that we can give Him the glory when He answers - and we know for sure that HE did it, and it wasn't a coincidence. Also, I think it helps us to be humble when we have to acknowlege our needs. What do you think? Why does God want us to ASK??

In other news... The boys seem to be really happy with their sister. I see some small signs of us all "adjusting" here and there, but nothing too major yet. I think it really helps that we have lots of help, so I'm not stressed out and I can give the boys my attention. I didn't mention this before on here - I think I was afraid it wouldn't work out... But, it did, and we have a wonderful young lady named Anita N. (Michael and Connnie's daughter, in case you know them) here helping us out for several weeks. She's doing a great job - cleaning, laundry, getting meals on, helping with the boys, etc., etc. I called her Cinderella today! But, I'm not the wicked step-mother because I do tell her she can stop and she just keeps going. :-) She's been a huge blessing. It's so wonderful in the morning when I think Hannah is going to sleep longer and the boys are up, I send them downstairs to get Anita to feed them breakfast, and I go back to bed!!

I guess that's all for now. I'll try to post a few pictures to keep Rachel happy. Oh, one more thing. Here's a typical converstaion with Josiah right now...

Me: "What's the baby's name?"
Josiah: "Two!"
Me: "It's Hannah."
Josiah (emphatically): "Hannah Baby!"

The much anticipated photos

Since all of the adoring fans are SCREAMING for pics, here you go. Ain't she sweet?

If you haven't figured it out yet....

....it's a girl! Hannah Joy arrived at 11:37, she weighed 9 lbs 3 ozs, and was 20 1/2 inches long. I have too many things to do right now (like get back to the hospital and see my DAUGHTER) to give you lots of gory details about the labour and delivery. I can tell you that Jenni's labour was 5ish hours, with the first 3 hours being rather light. Although far be it from me to suggest any woman's LABOUR is LIGHT. She pushed for six minutes.

Oh, and she has red hair!! Imagine. Two redheads out of four kids.

Keith, for the SIX of us. (THAT sounds strange.)


Woo Hoo!

An 8000-Word Essay (A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words)

1 & 2 - Elise took some "Christmas" pictures for us.
3 - The boys in their "Christmas Duds". Isn't Josiah's vest cute?!? Rachel got it for him at her Special High Class Place for Good Deals! And isn't it cool that the boys' bubble gum matches Caleb's shirt?
4 - The Magic Apple Machine that inspired Keith to do a bunch of work for me. (Available at Lee Valley. Think I could get a commission?)
5 - My new pendant. Ain't it purty??
6 & 7 - The bedroom carpet - before and after. Now I want to figure out a way to make the blue chair turn red. And there will be baseboard before the winter is over - I hope.
8 - Caleb's black eye. It got just a little worse, but didn't last too long.

Josiah is Two!!

Where has the time gone?? Josiah is Mr. Talkative these days. He's venturing into 3 - 5 word sentences which never ceases to amaze me when I hear it. I can't remember for sure, but I think he's our best talker so far. He's really a barrel of fun these days. He understands and communicates so much and he's been really happy most of the time. He can be a real tease/show-off. I'm not always sure when we're supposed to laugh. I can hear my Mom's words so clearly regarding my little brother, "Don't laugh at him when he shows off!". But many times he's truly funny and not being naughty.

I still haven't adjusted to the reality of having a birthday to celebrate on New Year's Eve. But we managed. It's a good thing I simplified the cake, though!! (See previous "I'm Free" post). We ended up having a pizza supper with the grandparents, Jeff and Wendy's kids (Jeff's were off celebrating their anniversary) and Derek, Elise, and Scotty.

Josiah was quite impressed with the Happy Birthday song as you can see in the second picture. It was a fun evening. And after the kids were in bed, Keith and I watched "The Nativity Story" and went to bed around 12:30.

38 Weeks - And What That Means For Me

* I'm officially as big as a barn. The Dr. said today that I'm measuring 41 cm and she keeps muttering ominously about "big baby". Oh yay!

* One day I'll feel great physically and emotionally and have lots of energy, and then the next day I'm tired, uncomfortable and grumpy. I never know what's coming! My poor family!

* Sleep is a Precious Commodity!!!! I'm thankful that I can get comfortable, but the challenge is I can't breathe well. I don't know if I'm still fighting a bit of cold or if it's all just pregnancy related congestion. Either way, it's annoying. But, I'm finding some ways to cope.

* On a similar note, I spend a lot of time in bed! I'm trying to get all the rest I can right now.

* Night-time "rest" involves 2 - 4 trips to the bathroom.

* My feet and legs are swelling, but my hands are pretty good. I'm still wearing my ring and that's never happened before!

* I get to spend lots of time in the Dr. office. It took two hours today. :-(

* I'm in full-blown nesting mode. Any extra time/energy is going into cleaning, organizing, getting baby stuff ready, crossing things off my to-do list, etc.

* I'm ready for this to be over!!! And really excited about the new baby we're waiting for!