games parents play

When I was pregnant, I thought I missed drinking. Not that I've been much of a party animal these past few years - okay, for about a decade - but whatever. When you can't drink for 9 months, you kind of look forward to cutting loose again.

In the past few weeks I've said a number of times that I'd like to sit down with a bottle of wine or a case of beer and just get drunk - and so far nobody has taken me up on the offer. Did they think I was joking? Or, maybe I was just fooling myself because with Christmas and kids at home for the holidays and a new baby and all of that - there wasn't really a good opportunity. But goodness knows with these -40 temperatures being trapped in the house with four kids for days and weeks on end could drive anyone to drink.

But this week - an opportunity. A good solid excuse to have a drink or twelve. My sister-in-law turned 30. Right in the middle of the week - my husband is home because he works the next day, the kids are all in bed by 8, why the heck not put on my snow boots and my winter coat and pack a bottle of wine in the diaper bag and my baby in the Snugli and walk right across the backyard to her house, and have a few drinks? Why NOT? So, I did.

It was a successful night of drinking - I drank some beer and a whole bottle of wine and didn't get home until four in the morning. The baby is usually up around 4 so it didn't seem to disrupt his schedule at all, but I can tell you I wasn't feeling fine when the alarm went off at 8. I managed to get the kids up and off to school and a pot of coffee made to avoid a hangover.

So the weekend rolls around and we decide that since nobody was hung over, maybe that was just a warm-up, and we should try to have a proper birthday celebration. One where the adults significantly outnumber the babies, maybe. So yesterday afternoon we remembered how to make Jell-o shooters and bought a case of beer and a bottle of wine, and dusted off the old game of Pass-Out. We invited my sister and brother in law over to our house, and attempted to play.

FINALLY, a game that FORBIDS me to play with my children!!

NOT intended for use with alcoholic beverages? How fun would that be?

When I was in University, I had the most awesome roommate. She arrived on a train from Ontario in the middle of the night, with a giant blue trunk full of clothes and a game of Pass-Out. On any given weekend night - and maybe sometimes on weekdays, we'd bring out the game and get a case of beer or and by the time we'd traveled around the board a time or two - we were feeling pretty darned good. Of course, that was usually just to get primed up to go out to a party or bar somewhere and have an actual good time. But when you're over 30 with kids and minimal opportunities to drink, let alone leave the house - the game IS the good time.

a few cans of beer and a mighty stack of empty jello shooters

Anyway - we finished off the Jello shooters, made a few trips around the board, finished the beer, moved on to the wine - laughed, cried, massacred tongue-twisters, started forgetting whose turn it was, or what direction we were playing in - and then realized morning was going to come to early for all of us, and the sitter needed to get home, so we shut it down just after midnight. It was fun, we'll have to do it again sometime - but its just soooo much work to have that much fun. So tired.

The sad truth about baby clothes

So I'm doing laundry again (still?) today and of course, I have to put some more of the baby's newborn clothes away because he's grown out of them. That is the tragedy of newborn baby clothes, they make them so cute but they have such a short life cycle, rarely surviving for three wearings. It goes something like this:

Wearing 1 - the outfit doesn't quite fit, though it looks about the right size, when you put it on and the baby kicks, his legs get lost and jammed up in the pant legs somehow and you're forever straightening them so the feet stay in the feet-parts.

Wearing 2 - the outfit fits perfectly! WOOOO HOOO! Within three seconds, the baby will spit up all over the outfit, and you'll have to change him and put it back in the wash.

Wearing 3 - the outfit appears to fit perfectly, until the baby stretches his legs and you notice he can't straighten them completely because it tightens up around the neck and his toes are absolutely crammed into the feet. And you think, he's a baby, how often is he stretched out anyway? He can keep his knees bent! But after three different people say "oh, looks like this outfit is getting a little small!" you realize you're just fooling yourself.

With that, I'm packing away some of my favorite little baby boy clothes, and it's breaking my heart. The only consolation is bringing out some of the equally cute 3-6 month stuff that is starting to fit him, even though he's just barely a month and a half old by my count. Hopefully he gets a few more wearings out of those ones.

It's undeniable, he's growing. But the trade off is he's smiling, and paying attention to things around him, and he's learning to bat at his toys and grab things to shove in his mouth, he's making interesting noises and attempting to mirror our facial expressions. I just love to see him learning to do stuff like that.

Baby at one month old

I can't believe he's a month old - well, almost 5 weeks by now I guess. Seems like only yesterday we brought him home from the hospital, and right away it felt like he's always been here - you'd think the girls always had a baby brother.

First days

Bringing home baby - he slept for the 2 hour drive

the girls couldn't wait to meet him

When you're sure you're going to keep something,
you can cut the tags off - so we did!

hanging out with Cecily

People often ask if its different having a boy - after three girls, I would haved guessed it is. Parts of him are different, that is for sure. But he hasn't peed on me or at me even once yet, which was the difference that concerned me most going into this. I've noticed he likes to be dirty and stinky more than the girls ever did. He'll often drift off to sleep happily 2 seconds after filling a diaper and would happily stay that way forever if I'd let him. Otherwise, he's quite a bit like any other of my babies - he just has a different wardrobe.

People see him and say he's getting so big and he's changed so much. That kind of makes me sad because he just got here and he's already growing up too fast. I don't notice as much because I am with him all the time - and when you're literally watching someone grow, you don't see it happening. I just know whenever I get another load of laundry out of the wash that some of his little clothes won't fit him by the next load of wash. I hate that because he has cute clothes and it seems like such a waste to put them away already.

Growing

Seems like he's getting so big, until you put him beside his cousin
who is only two months older - they grow SO fast.

I know for sure that at 2 weeks old (Christmas Eve) he was already over 9 pounds, which is pretty good for a little guy who was less than eight pounds when we left the hospital. He's so alert, and curious about everything - when he's awake he's always looking around. He's getting used to having his sisters in his face all the time, and having his head constantly patted and kissed. He doesn't always break their hearts anymore by crying as soon as they try to hold him - he's getting used to that feeling like he could be dropped at any second and will actually let the bigger girls hold him for quite awhile and I can get a few things done.

heartbreakingly sad baby

Since the day he was born he's known how to make his bottom lip shiver so that he looks completely heartbroken. He started doing that whenever we got near him with a cold, wet wipe at a diaper change (and who can blame him?) and it was everything I could to do keep from running out and buying a wipes-warmer for him. The only thing holding me back was the knowledge that he's a winter baby, in Manitoba - and at some point for sure I'm going to have to use wipes that are practically frozen after being left in the van. And I think that could probably kill a child who is used to a pre-warmed wipe on his most sensitive parts. I used soft washcloths and warm water for the first week or two of his life, until he gradually got used to the shock of the wet wipes. Poor little guy.

He's so strong already, from the beginning he was pushing against us when we held him and it wasn't too long - maybe two weeks, before he was able to get his head back far enough to look up and around.

hi Dad!

Christmas day - 2 weeks old

By Christmas he was holding his head up really well when he was on his tummy, and now he can't stand having his head tucked in at all unless he wants to sleep - he pushes his whole back away so he can look around at everything around him. With three older sisters around, I think he's going to snap his neck trying to keep track of all of them. Annique especially has a habit of being up in his face and then disappearing in the blink of an eye, and he will twist his neck around trying to see where she went.

Where'd she go??

smiling at his sisters

Also thrilling for his sisters, he's starting to smile at them a little bit. Annique is constantly reporting on his status when they're hanging out - Baby happy, baby smiling, baby CRYING, mom baby NOT HAPPY!! MOOOOMMM!! BABY CRYING! Yes, I know. I can hear him. But she just wants me to know. Sometimes I can't get to him right away and sometimes I don't get there on purpose because I love seeing how she handles the situation - if he's in the bouncer, she bounces him gently. Sometimes she pats his head or back, or sings to him softly or tries to shove a pacifier in his mouth. Sometimes it works, and she announces "BABY HAPPY NOW MOM!"


Annique loves being the big sister when she's always been the little sister - she likes that her big sisters are gone at school all day, and now she figures she's the one in charge. When they get home, she meets them at the door to remind them to be quiet when he's sleeping. I had some worries about her being jealous but she's just been thrilled with him right from the start. It seems the older girls are actually having a bit more trouble - they remind me now and then that I am always holding the baby and anything that doesn't get done is blamed on him. Like, I didn't cut their toenails, because I am *always* holding the baby. Fortunately with Christmas holidays and a few bad weather days - they've been able to spend a lot of time at home and I can spend more of my time with them that way. And cut their toenails, of course. And put nail polish on them for good measure.

there goes December

It's been a busy couple of weeks for our family - and Evan's already a month old. Where does the time go? December is always crazy like this but with a new baby I always want to slow down time just a little and stay at home - but there's no such luck with Christmas around the corner!

There was lots of rushing around the week or so before Christmas - the kids had their Christmas concert at school, the wind-up for their dance class and annual Santa day. The temperature dropped to -40 some days and the last thing I wanted to do was haul my new baby around town - but you can't miss this stuff! My greatest fear was that school would be canceled and I'd have all four kids home on a weekday before I'm ready - and of course that happened, too. Twice.

December 2008

Decorating the Christmas tree

Santa day!
Christmas concert

Writing letters to Santa

Baking cookies for Santa

Reading the Christmas Story by the tree on Christmas eve

Christmas Day

Getting to Christmas was pretty hectic, but Christmas itself was pretty quiet. We didn't go anywhere -Christmas came to our house and didn't stay overnight, so it was just perfect. We opened presents and visited with family all day, I cooked a turkey and my mom and sister did everything else for supper - I relaxed, held my baby and sipped coffee most of the day.

This is Annique's crazy spiral train set at a brief moment where it is staying together and Annique is not shrieking because its not broken. It only breaks apart if you drive a train over the spiral part. Or walk anywhere within fifty feet of it. We finally resorted to duct tape. Thanks, Santa for the spiral train. We love the spiral train! Next year, Annique would like something sturdier, like maybe a house of cards.

Madeleine got a little pink Samsung camera for Christmas, and as you can see, she's quite thrilled with it. And actually - so am I! Its not an expensive camera but she's only seven, and all of the kids' cameras were almost as expensive, except then you're paying to have Hannah Montana's face on the camera - not to get decent pictures. This one was less than $80, is really easy enough for a seven year old to use, and she's been taking fantastic pictures with it. Plus, its PINK. She's a budding photo-journalist and documentary film-maker. I love seeing all of the different the things she takes pictures of and the commentary on her little videos - its fascinating to see the world through the eyes of my seven-year old.

We invited my sister in law and her family to come over and play Guitar Hero with us. At some point in the evening - about two seconds after I took this picture, I realized - it looks like a freaking DAYCARE in here. Where the heck did all these kids come from? My goodness, seven kids is a lot to have in one room. Only three went home with their parents. The other four are mine!

New Year's Day

For New Year's, we had a break from the cold snap and had a nice snowstorm instead. The snow stopped early New Year's day and we decided to brave the roads and head out to the lake. This is the first time I've been out there in the winter - and I can't wait to go back. My aunt and uncle have the wood stove going in their cabin, all of the boards off the windows, and its just as nice and cozy in the winter as it is in the summer. The kids played in the snow out on the lake, the men went ice-fishing - and we just sat around and relaxed with the baby.

The girls playing in the snow on the lake

the snow on the lake was too deep for Annique so she stayed in the yard

Staying warm inside by the fire

a birth story

So the night after I was up all night wondering if I was in labor, I actually did get up at 2 am and was in actual labor. You'd think the fourth time around I'd have things pretty well figured out, but I still sat around for an hour or so trying to decide if it was the real thing or not, and timed the contractions which were coming every 10 minutes, give or take a few - and annoyingly enough - not going away. I did a few things around the house, finished up laundry, put a few things away, made the bed downstairs for my mother in law, who would have to come and stay with my kids if we left. And by about 3:30 in the morning, I figured maybe I should wake up my husband so he could call his mother to come over, and we could get on the road. I phoned the hospital to make sure they knew we were coming - told the nurse my contractions were consistently 10 minutes apart and it was my fourth baby, and she said we'd better get on the road then. So, okay - we will.

I remember that in the last 10 minutes or so before we left, I was doing something so stupid as dusting the baseboards on my husband's side of the bed, because we had just finished painting the spare room earlier that night

Earlier that night...

- and even though I made the bed in there, I thought maybe my mother in law would rather sleep in our bed where the paint fumes weren't quite so thick. And when I switched on the light on his side of the bed, I was suddenly mortified by the thickness of the dust on the baseboards.

With all that important stuff taken care of - we hit the road with bags packed at about 4 am. I came back into the house three times looking for the little notepad where I'd been keeping track of contractions for the past few hours, it also had a bunch of important phone numbers and the list of baby names I'd narrowed down - I managed to misplace it sometime in the five minutes before we left the house and it didn't show up until two weeks after we got home.

The drive to the hospital was uneventful - I kept timing the contractions and found another notebook to write them down. They stayed a nice comfortable 10 minutes apart, the weather and the roads were good, so I wasn't worried. We arrived at the hospital around 6 am, they hooked me up to the monitors for a half hour or so - and I only had one contraction the whole time. I decided to walk around for awhile to see if I could get things going again, then went back to the room and fell asleep for an hour or so until my doctor came in to see me - and basically kicked us out! She said she had a bunch of patients being induced and delivering today and would be really busy, and couldn't do anything for me. Which was fine because I don't want her to 'do' anything for me, except catch my baby when he's ready to come out.

She wanted us to stay in town and check back in later or if things started to progress a bit more. That was good news for me because I can't imagine anything more boring than laboring in a hospital all day long, and I certainly didn't want them to speed things up for me. So, we checked out. I asked the nurse at the desk if it was okay if I ate - she said I could even have pizza and beer if I liked. Well, I would have liked, but it was still several hours until noon, so I didn't. I did hit Tim Horton's on the way out of the hospital, though.

We went straight to the mall where I had a big plate of french toast and coffee for breakfast, then we wandered around there for awhile, then went to Canadian Tire where I started to get pretty uncomfortable and had to find a place to sit while Serge wandered the aisles looking for stuff for the old truck he's fixing up. I don't think it was being in labor, but just the fact that its BOOOOORING - I needed to sit.

After that we went to Home Depot and got a screaming deal on a light for the girls' new room and a wireless doorbell, found parts for our vacuum cleaner and scoped out the deals on real Christmas trees. Then we went to Winners where I really started to feel tired and awful - but we had to pick up a few things at Wal-Mart before finally returning to the hospital at about 4 pm.

So, aside from an hour or so napping in the hospital that morning, I'd been up and in labor for 12 hours by that time, and walking all over the place for most of it. The hospital hooked me up to the monitors again, and my contractions weren't any closer than they were that morning. I told them I needed to get a room there, or I'd find one in a hotel because I needed a rest. They decided they had room to admit me this time.

I realized again that my contractions slowed down a lot when I stopped moving, so I spent the next few hours walking the halls and bouncing on one of those exercise balls - trying to get things moving so I could get an epidural and then get some rest. I had a nice long, warm bath and around 7 I was getting uncomfortable enough with the contractions that I wouldn't be able to sleep if I tried - so I finally asked for the epidural - then crawled into bed and slept on and off for the next few hours. Serge had a recliner in the room and he managed to get a little bit of sleep, too. He had bought a couple of DVD movies to watch but we couldn't get them to work on the little TV in the room - but did discover that the TV was hooked up so we weren't bored.

Happy with an epidural - about 3 hours to go

In the meantime it seems my doctor was delivering babies all over the place - but not mine. Nobody wanted my labor to progress until all these other babies were delivered, and I was more than happy not to be messed with or pushed along. Finally, the doctor had the last c-section done at past eleven or something, then she wanted to break my water and get me started on pitocin so she wouldn't be up all night waiting for me to deliver. It seemed to take forever, and they kept upping the dose on the pitocin - and being surprised when my contractions didn't seem to get any closer together. They kept asking if I felt pressure or anything - and actually - I didn't. I'd sort of lie and say I did just to keep them interested. Yeah, like they were going to call it a night and go home or something. I knew I'd have the baby sooner or later but I was getting bored waiting.

I was just starting to stress a little about what would happen if things didn't start moving - when they checked me and said I was at 9 cm and started dismantling the bed. The doctor came along and said I was ready to push - and she was ready, and I could push any time now. I asked her if I'm supposed to wait for a contraction. She said - well, yes. Cue Jeopardy theme music, because my contractions were *still* 5+ minutes apart, so we have this nurse and doctor waiting around at the end of the bed waiting for me to announce that I am having a contraction, so we can get this show on the road.

The long-awaited contraction finally hits, and so I got down to business with the pushing, etc. which I didn't expect to take long - it was just one or two long pushes, stopping only because she told me to stop (so I told Serge to get the camera, yes seriously, and yes, NOW...) and by the time he reached the camera and had it turned on...Evan arrived!

Hearing him cry for the first time

Helloo, baby!

He was born at 2: in the morning - and it was almost 4 am by the time we were all able to get to sleep. Evan was exhausted from being born, so he slept the rest of the night and woke up sometime after they brought me breakfast in the morning. Then I was finally able to get him out and dressed and take a good look at him - took a few (hundred) pictures. He spent most of his first day sleeping in the big recliner with his dad.

naked, cold and angry about it

warm and happy with clothes on

He clawed his face up the first night,
so then I made sure his hands were covered

soooooooo tired

nothing to do at 4 in the morning

except, update my blog, I guess. I keep waking up in the middle of the night thinking, I must be up for a reason. So I wait around for a couple of hours, put in a load of laundry, read a book, watch TV or whatever until it feels close enough to morning that it must be safe to go back to bed.

I really don't want to go into labor in the middle of the night - I did it once and it wasn't my favorite way to go about it. Mostly I hate to wake up when I am sleeping - I like to sleep. In the day I can figure out if I really should be thinking about going anywhere. At night, I just worry that I'll go back to sleep when we should be getting on the road - and end up having a home-birth or something.

It's weird to sit around waiting for your whole life to change. Things won't be the same ever again in a few days, or whenever this happens. Lots of people have babies and are so anxious for them to arrive but at this point, I just like every day we have where things get to stay the same as they've always been. I know those days are numbered, and we have the rest of our lives to enjoy what comes after. Of course I'm looking forward to finding out who he is and I know after he's born I'll be unable to imagine this life we have right now, without him in it. That's how it always goes. And then, I'll be wanting to stop time again because I know they grow up way too fast and I'll want to enjoy every minute of having a little baby. Unless he likes to scream a lot or something...

Anyway, its all going to happen whenever and however it happens, today, tomorrow - next week in the end, its just a day on the calendar. And right now, I just want a few more of those. And more sleep. I really should go back to sleep.

Hmm, I think this belly makes my face look fat. From this angle, anyway.

Wiggles weekend

It should have been much, much worse. What were we thinking, bringing a 3 year old and two 2 year olds out for a weekend of fun? Fun for WHO? It seemed like a good idea 2 months ago when I bought the tickets, but as the weekend loomed - I started to wonder if we'd regret it.

However, Saturday rolled around and we packed the van up with kids and luggage, snacks and DVD's, and hit the road. It was a 3 hour uneventful drive to Regina, the worst behavior on the way there was Annique and her refusal to sleep, instead she gazed out the window. I tried not to think about what that would mean for the rest of the day, and just enjoyed the peace and quiet.

First stop was some sort of Fun-O-Rama type place where kids can run wild and free for hours and nobody lets them out without their mom, so its all good. Best four bucks I ever spent in my life, I think. We met a bunch of girlfriends and their kids, and had coffee and visited while the kids wore themselves out on the play structure thing. It took me a while to get over the fact that my child was very likely to be out of my sight for long periods of time, but the point is for the adults to sit and watch, and the kids to play.

One moment where I knew where she was - the ball pit

We went straight from the play place to the concert, there was barely time to feed the kids so we gave them each a chicken finger to eat in the van. Great parenting! Annique was still clutching hers when we went into the concert but fortunately the security there knew better than to seize chicken from an overtired 2 year old.


The concert was short and sweet - a good time had by all. My three year old nephew really enjoyed it the most - he was dancing and singing and having a really good time. My younger nephew was quite a bit more reserved, but he didn't really hate it or anything. Annique recognized a lot of the songs, was happy to see Dorothy, and loved the dancers who were often looking like ballerinas or princesses - two of her favorite things. I took a few video clips of the concert and NOW she wants to watch them non-stop. With great enthusiasm. WIGGLES!! LOOK, mom - WIGGLES, again!

Gee, do you think its safe to let the kids run here?

From the concert we headed back to the hotel, and hauled all three kids and suitcases and lifejackets and whatnot into the lobby, only to find out that the POOL IS CLOSED. They immediately offered to call and find us a spot at another hotel - I think one look at the kids and they knew we wouldn't be staying in a hotel without a pool. Or, maybe they didn't WANT us there if they didn't have a pool. The second hotel had a pool and waterslide so we settled in there, ordered pizza, and took the kids swimming while we waited for it to be delivered.

My nephew approving of the hotel room

The rooms had two queen beds with four fluffy pillows on each. My sister and I plotted to each have a queen bed all to ourselves - we had a portable crib....


a Thomas the Tank ready-bed...


and a playpen, but my youngest nephew was having *none* of that. So my sister didn't get a bed all to herself, but the rest of us did.

The next day was just unbelievably warm for an April day - we did a little bit of shopping and then met my friend and her two daughters to go to the park to let the kids run off some energy before the drive home. It was so hot, there was nothing to do but take off our shoes and socks, roll up our sleeves and our pants, and soak up the sun. I even got a little sunburn on my face.




It was just a wonderful way to finish the weekend - and all that sunshine and fresh air left no doubt that the three of them would sleep all the way home.





And they did. THE END.

Spring on the prairies

So, this was the tail end of March - we had an evening nice enough that we decided to go for a walk with the kids. I took one million pictures and scrapped a page when I got home:

There? Isn't that nice? Almost worth suffering through the weeks on end of ridiculous ass-freezing cold in February. Its been a miserable winter that way - not even a lot of snow for the kids to play in, I think it really snowed twice in November and early December, and then was just so cold that it never melted. Finally - spring is around the corner!!! Right???!?!


SO, the next day.......




......you know it snowed like crazy. Big, heavy snow, and endless piles of it. I couldn't believe it. And of course, I was driving in it because even if it only snows three times in a winter, with my luck I'd have to get caught driving in it. Thank goodness it wasn't far - I was only driving in and around town but still feared for my life while heading down the treacherous valley hill and I slid over the end of a sharp corner and almost into something that could have been a shrub or a pile of steel, for all I could tell with the thick coating of snow covering it.

I bought a snowplow for my husband's quad for his birthday and it actually plowed a bit of snow back in November but since then of course its been sitting in the garage, parked in the way so that I have no choice but to dent the van doors and bruise my shins a few times a week trying to get in and out. But that's all worthwhile now because my husband plowed the driveway THREE TIMES that day. I went out and took some fabulous crazy snowfall pictures, and of course they were the best photos I've ever taken, because I promptly deleted them off my camera. But I do have the video, so its not a total loss.