Archive | December 2010

New Years Eve

Well the first day of the new “regime” has gone over rather well… we are already seeing a lot more wet diapers, she is still not sure about this whole no soother thing but we are doing as much nursing as we can. I am already excited about the wet diaper results, now if we can just get her weight to bounce up with the banana/breastmilk mixture!! Ken is  going to weigh her on his own so I don’t start obsessing and I am just going to do the very best I can.

Hanging with Big Brother Gavin

We have a new “toy” for Echo, Babies R Us had a 50% off sale on their Ocean Wonders swing – the version that is compact. So instead of paying 100.00 for a swing we spent around 60. She was rather impressed from the start. Not only does it swing, have her sitting somewhat upright and have a fish for her to look at it also does music with water sounds AND vibration. Our other swing was 6+ yrs old and dying so this is a wonderful addition to the clutter in our home.

New swing

Since it is New Years Eve we decided to do our usual – friends over with their computers. This year not nearly so many people could come, so we are able to have everyone upstairs. Just our family (minus Zander) and Ted and Sean.

Computers at the ready

I am even letting the kids stay up as late as they can… barring bad behaviour. They are already  being spoiled with candy canes and Wii!!

Trinity's wiimote had no batteries but she still "won"

I have started the post Christmas cleaning, but only enough to uncover our kitchen table from the festivities, I am still hoping to do some posed pictures in front of our tree before we tear it down, and the kids love their Christmas wall and counter top so I won’t be taking that apart until later next week. The next big thing to plan is Chinese New Years (we are trying to celebrate it each year – this will be our second year) and then the twins and Emanuel’s combined birthdays. There has been a rumour of a cake being made at Grandma and Grandpa’s house for the birthday party! I am excited to see what will come of that.

I have to say this year has been rough and frustrating at times, but there have been good moments as well – like Echo’s birth, this new old van, having the twins registered officially for homeschooling… In fact, I think it is safe to say 2010 is ending on a high note. After all we are all of relatively good health, together and mobile. Next year can only get better!

Now to go and ring in the New Year with 3 very hyper active children and a slightly fussy baby. Thank goodness Ken is home to help out! Happy New Years everyone!

Shots, Breastfeeding, Shopping and Motherly Worries

So with the combined effort of both Ken and his folks (aka Nana and Baba) we are the proud owners of a 1996 Nissan van that now is completely road worthy… Ken just had to stay overnight at my mom’s and have some random piece fabricated by local welders. Hey at least the kids and I got a pizza party in the livingroom out of it (thanks to Ken leaving behind cash on his desk that was not set for something specific!). There are a few quirks to our new old van as is to be expected with any vehicle, especially one over 10 years old, but we are NOT complaining.

Pizza Party (Zander)

We managed a trip out after Mike picked up Zander and Ken got back with Echo and Emanuel after shots. Shots went rather well… Emanuel didn’t cry, Echo calmed down quickly, she was told she was cute… now comes the less “good” – she has NOT gained any weight since the last time. Now what has me happy is she hasn’t LOST any either. And in the span of time she has started rolling from front to back, been trying to sit on her own, loves to “stand” with us holding her hands and is constantly moving and kicking, smiling and cooing. So we have accomplished something – we have MAINTAINED while she has become progressively more active and has had a cold/flu off and on since November. Of course I took my worries and my concerns and called the best reference I have – the local LaLeche League. I got a lovely breastfeeding mom names Emily who was willing to listen, discuss and even went through some of her literature and called me back. We have a new game plan –  today instead of rice cereal we mixed bananas and breastmilk to work on moisture getting into her AND weight on her adorable little frame. Apparently things like bananas and avocado are great for that (I don’t know enough about avocado to pick one and our family LIVES on bananas). The nurses also told Ken how ADORABLE Echo is and how lovely, she was smiling and chatting AND even did some giggling so our little one put on a great show! I am also going to substitute the breast for the binky. Instead of soothing with the soother whenever possible we will try and get a sip or two in, it has worked pretty well tonight and given me some hope. I am learning more and more about breastfeeding and feeling more and more supported in my wish NOT to use formula! It is terrific! I am hoping I can make it to a LaLeche League meeting in January in our area.

We went out with the 4 remaining children today (as I mentioned above) and stopped at Walmart. We used our gift card we got this Christmas (thanks Fydo and Kristen!!) and got a new Wii game – Epic Mickey. Ken has all the games he wants right now with his WoW account and all so it was my choice. (the other option was a baby swing but none were on sale)

Shopping as a family

New game

And then as a treat we got some Babybel Gouda cheese. We rarely buy anything other than cheddar so this is somewhat of a delicacy.

Yum!

So tomorrow is New Years Eve… we plan on having a few people over for games but with the kids and the cold… well we are staying indoors. We tend not to make a big fuss about New Years, though this year we will let the kids stay up later… not sure if they will make it to midnight though.

Now I have a new sewing project I am working on until I get some more patterns Ken is working on, and I have a ton to do over the weekend so back to work I go! Thank goodness Ken is home and the shots are over. Now I can focus on my new game plan and on getting my family in order for facing 2011.

Full belly, clean bottom, time to snuggle with Daddy (soother due to Tylenol given for shots... here's hoping tonight we work on our new plan!)

Silly Nervous Mommy

I promise to blog more tomorrow but tonight I am nervous about the shots Echo and Emanuel are going to have tomorrow afternoon. I hate having to put them through it though I know it is for the best. Ken is going to take them and I am keeping the other 3 here at home. First off it is flu season and all 5 kids in the waiting room is just more chances of us getting sick AGAIN… second Ken is the designated holder anyway and I do the crying and third – I know Echo is a petite little pixie I don’t need a lecture from the nurse who does not know our family history and that ALL of our children and ourselves were thing like this through infancy. Ken deals with it easier than I do as I tend to take everything VERY personally. Silly me I am nervous about tomorrow’s weigh in even though she is finishing her twice a day cereal with gusto now! So tomorrow a better post – promise!!

Our little rebel asleep for the moment

This entry was posted on 29/12/2010, in Uncategorized. 2 Comments