I think the entire family has at some point in the past week come down with this cold. But I woke up feeling it finally this morning and Trinity is still a bit of a mess. With Echo not peeing as much as I would like I figured it was time to call the local LaLeche League. You call the main number for the city and it gives you a local number to call of a mom who is trained to give breastfeeding advice. I have done this before with Trinity when trying to face down the paediatrician who was in love with formula. I have never had a bad experience with the call line and today’s call followed that positive pattern.

I got a mom named Nancy who not only was a breastfeeding advocate BUT also had homeschooled her children up to grade 9. She was supportive, willing to chat and absolutely full of information. We ran down her “symptoms”… peeing less (and it smelling a little more but we put that at maybe my diet too – smell wise), not gained much weight in the past few weeks, and a concern about her fluid intake. What we also noted was her soft spot is not sunken, she is ACTIVE ACTIVE ACTIVE, making eye contact and sleeping and awake still much the same. Oh and the big thing – an over 1 inch length growth spurt in the same amount of time. What the consultant told me is… first off babies grow at their own rate, charts can be limiting and a source of unneeded worry, second she is NOT failing to thrive with how active she is (a baby failing to thrive is lethargic, won’t make eye contact and acts very concerned all the time – not like our bubbly and happy baby)… AND the large length growth is terrific and where the majority of her energy and nutrients are going to go.

Add to all that her stuffy nose we are constantly cleaning out and my finally feeling ill and we figure that I picked the wrong week to micromanage. Oh and with the urine comparison – well it could also be us used to too much peeing after all I was over producing and she probably taking in too much that she could not use… so maybe what we are looking at is equalling out. The actual amount of pee at a time is a lot smaller than I thought (tablespoons!). So I ended my rather lengthy call feeling lifted up not only in regards to breastfeeding but to homeschooling as well!

Sleepy Echo

Ken managed to get a hold of our mechanic… he has the transmission in but it is not shifting gears quite right yet. The hope is that when we call him or he calls us on Monday it is for us to come in and get the van. I have shopping to do! Christmas is right around the corner and I so badly want to be done my presents.

Tomorrow is the first Sunday in Advent and is at 10 am instead of our usual 11. Without the van it is just Ken and the boys heading out, but with Trinity and my being sick it is for the best. Ken is going to take the pink camera and get the kids singing at the front on video. That is a bit of a kicker for me – Emanuel’s first time at the front singing… BUT I will see it in video and share it with you all as well!

Wearing a snuggly sweatsuit for her sicky day

We had Ted over last night and into today. It is great to have someone ELSE in the house to chat with, share jokes and what has been going on lately with. It is going to be so weird when we move in the spring and are over an hour away from Ted. He currently does not have a car… we figure he will just have to follow us! He and Ken ran out this evening so Ted could but a DSlite. He got the blue and black version which Ken is now coveting – after all MINE is bubblegum pink.

Late night gaming

The stocking for my nephew is awaiting the last few components! But the bones are basically there! I am very happy with it so far, it has green on the toe and heel instead of red and the backstitched lines are the opposite to Quinn’s (except the top horizontal ones).

Stocking to date

I have started a small project that is a gift for one of our friends as well tonight. Not much to look at yet, but it should be a quick stitch.

Hard to tell what it is just yet!

Now if I could just get the last of the ornaments on the tree and Ken the rest of the lights fixed. Our living room is still full of half emptied boxes and such that need to be cleared out, I would LOVE to start the week with a tidy kitchen and living room… and a van but I have to sit and trust on that one. Since Ken was able to get a pretty good answer on the vehicle I am going to be very careful to NOT dwell on it tomorrow and just keep positive and put all this excess energy into stitching and baking!

Zander, Gavin and Trinity... another sneak peek

So we got a sneak peek of our Christmas photos and I am beyond happy. I will share two today and then more after we get our cd.

Ken and the big kids (Zander left)

Our princess

I got an early Christmas present today… Ken managed to make the 3 day Michaels sale and get me my Hello Kitty Cricut cartridge… not to wait on the money to get my Cricut!! But it was this specific cartridge that I wanted and now… I have it! Trinity was almost as excited as I am… after all it is KITTIES!

Hello Kitty

The twins completed their human body trace outs with the 5 senses labelled. It was fun to sound the words out and then discuss what we use to do that. I did it with each boy on his own… I find that for a lot of the finishing of projects it is necessary.

Zander and his body

I have been working on my barrettes and headbands tonight. Ted is over so Ken and he have been hanging out chatting about electronics and life in general. I have to say I miss having girls around to hang out with. Makes me miss college.

Trinity Modelling

New bows!

Check out the new bow instructions.

So tomorrow we are home again. Ken is going to drive out to see the mechanic so the kids and I will hang out at home and make cookies, crafts and messes… the best way to spend a Saturday stuck indoors!

Big eyed baby girl

Another two day entry… yesterday was a busy one… the battery on mom’s car decided it hated winter, Ken and the idea of starting period so our early morning jump plan (thank you anyway Nathan) was a no go… this knocked out a series of events we had set up for the day – all around Ken doing stuff OUTSIDE of the house. Haircut, bottles to the depot, taking advantage of a sale at Michaels, all not done. Thankfully we were able to catch Chris and Chris before they headed back home out of town for the evening and they stopped by so (he)Chris could drive Ken to Canadian Tire to pick up a new battery. On the up side it now starts like a dream!

Last night we dress the whole family up in their fancy clothes and had our favourite professional photographer over for a session. I have to say from just looking on his camera screen, the best of all the pictures has to be of Miss Trinity. I cannot wait until we get our cd… he had some great ideas of fun poses and had TONS of patience with the questions the boys had AND Trinity’s original playing shy.

Trinity in her dress

We have coloured our human bodies – life sized tracings of each of the kids so that tomorrow we can label where the sense are – ie seeing eyes. Of course there has been more worksheet work, now if I could just get us out and about to take advantage of our Leisure pass so that we can expand what we are doing I will be a happy camper.

Colouring bodies (Gavin yellow)

Most of my spare time has been spent working on decorating our tree and hunting down our Christmas decorations. The friends’ party is on the 18th of the month so I want to get as much done NOW so I can focus on baking and gifts. We have our Perler bead Advent calendar and the mini tree just for the kids that have to be set up, and I found a rubbermaid tub FULL of Christmas craft supplies. The plan tomorrow morning is to open up the tub and let them use their imaginations. Should be interesting.

Kids' Christmas corner

The weather has actually warmed up a bit around here! -2 Celsius as a high is so much better than -20! I am hoping the kids can get out in the snow tomorrow while Ken is FINALLY able to run out and get his errands done. We have to pick up the twins’ snow pants tomorrow, Ken sourced out nice affordable ones at Superstore. And with the sale of another of my Kijiji ads I can buy a set of the kids’ traditional Christmas pj’s. We always start Christmas day with new jammies.

I am seeing the end of the cross hatching on my nephew’s stocking, and the heel and toe are stitched and ready for outlining. That leaves the name and the actual design portion, I am hoping the weekend will be long enough to complete it. After all mom is the one who is going to finish it off so we can give it to him as a gift from us both!

Stocking to date

I have found some more ribbon instructions and am looking forward to spending some of tonight with the hot glue gun and my imagination. I really need to find a place other than Michaels to buy my ribbon, they just do not have the colour selection I am looking for in the 3/8ths gauge.

So for 2 days not much to share BUT I am remaining hopeful that our vehicle issues are coming to a close. No word from the mechanic tonight BUT he does do work on Fridays and Saturdays AND I have talked to a couple people about my Monday appointment. Pain in the bum but I am desperate NOT to reschedule. Gotta get these things OFF my list! Wish me luck.

Big brother Zander