Cohen is Two!

Earlier this month my sweet little Cohen turned two and boy has he hit two right on the nose! Cohen has always been a very easy going and pleasant little boy but he is showing a whole new side of his personality lately. Suddenly he's independent, strong willed, temperamental, demanding, clingy, stubborn and all around the exact definition of terrible two! I can't help but laugh at the pout of his lips as he repeats his new favourite word over and over again- "No, no no!" It certainly is interesting to have a new two year old in the house.

Here are some things I'd like to remember about Cohen at this stage:

1. He is starting to really stand up for himself and won't take anything from Marshal. He may be small but he is mighty, in fact he is even a little bit crazy when it comes to tackling and wrestling with his big brother. He is starting to be more of an instigator and is seriously the toughest little guy I know!
2. Cohen LOVES his stuffies. He is attached to a number of stuffies that he cannot sleep without, including: Curious George (his favourite which he can certainly not sleep without!), Woody, the Sleep Sheep, Snowy the dog and soft toys of Mater and Lightning McQueen. He also has a couple teddy bears and a few other friends that he sometimes likes to have in his crib too. 
3. Cohen is especially obsessed with Curious George and his blankie. It's so funny because Marshal has no serious attachment to any specific toy, but Cohen cannot live without his George and blankie. Sometimes it drives me quite crazy because he has to bring them wherever he goes, the breakfast table, when we go out, to friend's homes, church, tumble time, you name it George is there!
4. He loves Woody and Buzz, and I'm not sure why. I think he's only seen Toy Story once or twice and I just recently went out and bought Toy Story 2, but he is just obsessed with Woody and Buzz and says their names so cute- Dee Dee Dow (Woody Doll) and Bah (Buzz.) He has a couple different versions of these toys and is always so funny when playing with them. He really gets into it and Woody and Buzz do the funniest things. 
5. Cohen is having a language explosion. For a long time he didn't say a thing, even though I'm certain he knew a lot of words, but lately he's been testing out more and more words on a daily basis. Some of his words to date are: Turte (turtle), pie, want, more, mine, no, two, arr (meaning Mater), boy, brah (brother), peese (please), waar (water), baby, Novah, mama, daddy, me, car, cuk cuk (truck), bike, bus, nola (granola), andy (candy) and much more!
6. Cohen loves his baby sister and always likes to give her things, like a car or a granola bar, and hugs and kisses. He can say her name but will say it very rarely and only with a lot of persuasion. 
7. Cohen loves to play with his Daddy and Marshal. He is definitely a real boy and loves to be outside going on adventures with Dad and his big brother. He loves to wrestle, run, jump on the trampoline, swing, slide you name it!
8. Cohen is a very easy going little boy. As I said earlier he has a very chill personality and when he's not being "2" he is a complete joy. He is loving, kind, cute and sweet. Loves to talk, snuggle, read stories and play. 
9. Cohen is obsessed with cars. He is especially fond of Mater from Disney's Cars, but he also loves any car he can get his hot little hands on!
10. He is the master sound maker! Cars, trains, trucks, planes you name it he has a sound for it that in most cases is incredibly accurate! So cute!

Here are a few photos from Cohen's actual birthday which was spent in Sechelt.

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   I love my little CoCo cutie!
   
   
   
   
   
   

The Great End of Summer Adventure

For the Labour Day weekend we decided (very last minute I might add) to embark on a great end of summer adventure. Dan's sister and her family were headed to Waterton to camp for a few nights and we decided to join them so that the kids could spend some time with their cousins.

Camping is no easy undertaking and with a newborn it was even more of a feat, but I am really glad that we packed up our life (at least that's what it looked like) into the van and made the drive to Waterton for the weekend. We spent two nights at beautiful Waterton townsite and had a marvelous and mostly relaxing weekend. 

It was wonderful to slip away from the business and noise of the city and settle into the quiet and comfort that only nature can provide. I had been feeling a need to get away all summer long and this short camping trip was just what I needed. It was wonderful to get away and spend some quality time together as a family.

The weekend was simple and sweet. We arrived Saturday evening, set up camp and prepared for the weekend. Our boys were simply in Heaven from the moment we arrived. Their little faces were just lit up with joy to be free to ride their bikes, roam about and play as they wanted.

The main activities for the weekend included bikes rides, a hike up the Bear's Hump mountain, sitting by the lake and of course smores.

The boys slept in the tent while Novah and I stayed in the van to keep warmer and not wake the boys throughout the night with Novah's night time feedings. I was amazed at how well Novah did, it was as though she were at peace being outside. She seemed to enjoy the trip just as much as the boys did. 

Here are some pictures to document our trip.

Cohen trying to ride the strider. 

Hiking with Daddy.

Removing the dust and rocks from his shoes. We made several stops to repeat this process. 

Cute cousins.

Novah had an easy hike.

Our not so little family.

Everybody at the top.

Some of the amazing views at the top of Bears Hump.

At the lake.

Cute little Cohen.

Playing with rocks.

These two were in rock paradise.

Checking on his baby sister.

Building sandcastles with Auntie Sarah

Boys and rocks, need I say more.

Enjoying the beauty.

Me and Marshal.

A wonderful way to end the summer.

Jordan

6 Weeks With Novah

NOTE: I should have posted this 1.5 weeks ago! As Novah is now nearing 8 weeks old!

Well I don't know where the time has gone but Novah is already 6 weeks old!

Novah has brought nothing but joy to our lives in these past 6 weeks. She is a wonderful, easy going baby who we are all in love with. I can't get enough of her, Dan can't get enough of her and her brothers are simply smitten as well. She is truly the perfect addition to our family and we are so thrilled to have her.

The past 6 weeks have been filled with some ups and downs, but overall it has been amazing. I had forgotten how simply lovely it is to have a newborn baby. Novah was so tiny and sweet when she was born and she has already started to change so much. It happens much too fast- those first 6 weeks (I guess that's why people keep having more.) I can't believe that she is now smiling at us and her little cheeks are starting to fill out. She's trying to hold her head up and looking around like crazy trying to take it all in. The newborn sleepers that were far too large when she was only days old are now starting to tighten and will soon have to be packed away. Lots has happened in the past 6 weeks- we've traveled to Edmonton, visited with family, gone to the movies, eaten out for dinner, spent a day at the amusement park, hiked to the top of a mountain and even braved camping. This little lady has had quite a life full of adventure already. And best of all she has been easy to care for and pleasant through all of it.

Novah has already started to have a beautiful effect on our family. Things are still wild and crazy around here but we all get a little bit gaga for our baby. Marshal comes into our room each morning to snuggle her, whispering, "Hi pretty Novah," as he pats her soft hair, Cohen loves to lay his head on her and say "Baby, baby," over and over again with a cute little sigh every time he says it. Dan is taken in with her sweetness and I know he is in love with his precious little girl and I can't get enough baby snuggles, and wish I could hold her more often than I do!

Novah is simply the sweetest little girl and I'm trying to hang on to as many baby moments as I can. They just grow too darn fast. I love my little girl and her soft personality already. She is peaceful and calm, attentive and alert. She loves being outside and looking around at nature. She loves to be snuggled up close to mom in the carrier. She is definitely a third child as she seems happiest when the room is full and noisy and she is around to join in the fun. She doesn't like when we leave here alone in a room but would rather be amongst the action. She can sleep through anything- vacuuming, cleaning, even a little accidental tackle from her brothers. She is always happy, except when in the bath and there are cold wipes on her bottom. Even her cry is soft and sweet and makes me love her that much more.

I am so in love with my beautiful daughter. I know that she has lots to teach me. I pray that I can be a good and loving mother to her. I can't wait for what the next 6 weeks have in store for us!

Novah at 9 days old. Photos by Everglow Photography.

Life With Three

Well I am proud to report that I have successfully survived the first 6 weeks with three kids. It has been a whirlwind of activity since Novah was born and it seems that the weeks have passed in the blink of an eye.

We were fortunate to have a plethora of visitors during the past month. It made for a bit of a hectic month and was a little bit stressful for me at moments (with all the after delivery hormones, lack of sleep, adjusting to life with a newborn etc.) but all in all I was happy to have so much help and to share our exciting new addition with our extended family. We had both Dan's parents come from Ontario and stay with us followed by my sister and her husband from Utah come. We had some fun adventures while our guests were here (which I hope to get to in another post,) but it was mostly wonderful not to have to manage all three kids on my own as well as my household. I will confess I don't know if I would have survived the first month on my own so I am most grateful for all the family support.

An now more about life with three. 

Many people told me life with three would be considerably harder than life with two. Needless to say I was somewhat terrified, especially since my three are so close together! Its hard to imagine managing the lives of three very needy little people. I had little hope of ever leaving my house, cleaning up or doing anything besides breastfeed and break up toddler/preschooler fights all day long. However 6 weeks into it and I am happy to report that life with three ain't all that bad, in fact I might even say that I am enjoying it. And I may even regret saying this, but I feel that three isn't really any harder than two! 

I am definitely blessed to have an easy baby. Novah is so pleasant (so far,) nurses like champ, sleeps through anything and doesn't really have much to complain about ever. Her brothers adore her, have shown zero signs of hostility or jealousy towards her, and are usually happy to play with each other when I'm busy nursing. In fact I feel that my biggest challenge at the moment is dealing with the power struggles between Marshal and Cohen each day- which were in full swing before Novah was born and are not related to her presence. Novah hasn't made life any harder, just busier and a bit more tiring. 

Right now I can honestly say that I am loving my life, feeling great (no longer being pregnant has worked magic for my state of happiness,) enjoying motherhood and loving my kids. I couldn't be happier with my current calling in life. I feel privileged to be a mother and to have three beautiful children. They of course bring challenges and there are aspects of my life that are suffering at the moment (such as the tidiness of my house, the laundry piles and the presence of dinner on the table each night) but I am trying to enjoy as many moments as I can, making memories and building a foundation for the future with my children. There are only so many baby snuggles, toddler hugs an preschooler conversations that I will have and I am learning how to enjoy more of these moments and focus less on other aspects of my life. 

I love my children and am so happy that I have three of them. Life with three couldn't be better!

My three babies, Novah just 9 days old.
Picture by Everglow Photography

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Novah's Birth Story

Well I am thrilled to announce that my baby girl has finally arrived! I couldn't be more ecstatic to announce her arrival into the world on Wednesday July 24 at 12:06 am.

Novah Elle Fuller weighed 6lbs 8 ounces and measured 19.25 inches. 

Here is the story of her arrival into the world.

I started to have contractions on Monday July 22 in the morning. Here's the thing about my contractions they are never very consistent and don't typically progress on their own. None the less as I continued to have them throughout the day I decided I should try to help them keep going so that there may be a chance they would turn into something a little more like real labour. They picked up around dinner time and we decided to take a little walk around the neighbourhood. The walk definitely helped and they were coming more regularly and stronger as we walked. However almost immediately as we got home and stopped walking the contractions slowed right back down.

We got the kids to bed and I told Dan I really wanted to keep on walking to try to help get things going again. So my folks came over and Dan and I headed to the Chinook Center to walk the night away. We did 2 and a half laps of the mall, which seems absolutely endless when you're waddling like I was, and by that point my contractions were stronger and more consistent again so we decided to go to the hospital and see if anything was happening.

As expected when we got to the hospital and they hooked me up to the heart rate and contraction monitor pretty much everything stopped. I was only 2cm so after about and hour they sent us home.

The next day was my due date, July 23rd, and I had an ultrasound booked because I had been measuring small during the last couple months of my pregnancy. Dan stayed home that day (as by the time we had gotten home from the hospital and to bed the night before it was about 3am) so we slept in what we could, and then got ready to go for the ultrasound at the TRW building at Foothills Hospital. My dad came over to watch the boys and we headed out.

At the ultrasound things went quite quickly and after the technician left and then came back to get some more measurements I suspected that the doctor might be a bit concerned about something. When she brought him in he explained that the fluid levels around the baby were low, and baby was on the small side indicating the placenta wasn't doing the best job anymore. He gave us a printed copy of our report and told us to go straight to the Rockyview Hospital to have the doctor from my group of doctors check me to make a decision about induction that day. He had already called the hospital to let them know we were on the way. He said he felt it would be best to induce me and wished us luck that the doctors on the other side would agree! At this point I wanted to jump up and hug the doctor, as you know from all my complaining lately I was SO done with being pregnant, him telling me that he hoped/suspected they would induce me was literally the best news in the world! I seriously wanted to jump for joy!

So we left one hospital to head for another, letting Grandpa know what was up and that we may be gone a little bit longer. When we got to the Rockyview things were a bit busy in triage so we had to wait for then to set up a room for us elsewhere. Once we finally got in I was once again hooked up to the monitors. It took awhile for us to be seen as I guess there were other people a little but priority to us, like the gal who came into the other half of the room I was in who's water had broken like 2 weeks before her due date, lucky gal! In any case the doctor finally saw me and said she thought induction would be appropriate. I was about 2-3cm so she said they would break my water. However because of the low fluid levels and baby's heart rate which had some decells she wanted the Ob. Gyn. to see me in case it was necessary to bring them into my case. At this point I sent Dan home to collect our bags as it seemed that we would be spending the night in the hospital after all! He went and returned before I finally saw some resident doctors who thought that they might try inducing me with the balloon, not at all what I wanted to hear. The nurse also seemed to think this was a bad idea and not long after my doctor came back and said they absolutely did not have to use the balloon. She said I was dilated enough and would easily be able to break my water. Finally after about 3.5 hours in triage I was admitted!

Immediately after I was admitted the doctor came to break my water. This was at 6:40pm. My contractions picked up almost instantly as I had been having them all day on and off. Once my water was broken they started to come much more frequently and started getting stronger. After labouring for about 2 hours with contractions now 3-4 minutes apart I decided it was time to get the epidural. Why sweat the pain when you can relax and rest in comfort? I may be a wuss when it comes to pain, but for me I wouldn't want to labour any other way. It makes the whole experience almost enjoyable, if it's ok to say that about giving birth. Instead of screaming in agony and using my death grip on Dan every 3 minutes once the epidural kicked in I was able to sit back, close my eyes for a bit and even play battleship with the hubby while waiting for the magic to happen.

When I got the epidural at 9ish they also put me on the oxytocin. My body had been doing pretty well on its own but I was still only 3-4 cm and they wanted to get the baby out sooner than later to prevent any possible complications. Things seemed fine but every once in awhile her heart rate would decelerate. The oxytocin had it's effect almost instantly, my contractions picked up to every 1-2 minutes and around 10:30 I was 7cm. An hour later I started feeling some insane pressure and I knew it was baby time! I told the nurse I was having pressure she checked me and baby's head was right there. She asked how long I pushed last time and I told her 8 minutes so she called the doctor right away and they came in to set up and got ready to deliver. Everything happened pretty quick and I think I was ready to push around 11:50pm. It took a few more pushes than my second delivery did, but it still happened really quickly and painlessly. Before I knew it I had a baby girl in my arms at 12:06am!

As soon as I felt her coming into the world my body was filled with relief. I always experience this sensation of relief when my babies are born. I don't know how to explain it other than it feels like my body is giving a long sigh and suddenly feels so much better. I know that may seem strange but I immediately felt so good once my little girl was on the outside.

I held her for awhile before they took her to do the routine check up and it was just as magical a feeling as I had with my first two babies. It is so incredible to hold a tiny little human in your arms and know that they grew and lived inside of you for 9 whole months. It was so amazing to see this sweet little baby girl and know that she is mine. There are no real words to describe how it feels. It is what it is and incredible is the only word that comes even close to explaining what "it" is.

I feel so blessed to have had an easy and quick delivery and even more blessed to have a precious baby girl to love and to hold and to cherish for the rest of my life.

Welcome to the world sweet Novah!

Jordan

Getting Real About How I Feel

Well it's time to get real. I feel like I need a moment to share how I'm really feeling right now, not for sympathy, not for attention but just because I need to get it off my chest (I'm already feeling better as I start to write this!)

I'm sure this is the case for many of you fellow bloggers out there, but I think that we often put up a front on our blogs (or maybe I'm the only one.) It might not be because we want people to think we're perfect (though that would be lovely) but that we just don't want anyone to see our dirt. It's ok I know you all have some dirt to sweep under the rug, so do I.

I prefer to post about the positive things in my life because I'd like to look back and remember the happy things rather than all the depressing moments. That and I'm also a little bit overly dramatic when I get upset and down in the dumps, let me tell you things turn very dramatic very quickly, but for the moment that I am there that drama seems a total reality and it isn't until I start to calm down a little bit that I realize I am really over exaggerating. Ok run on sentence. The point is I don't like posting when I feel down because I know an hour later I'll feel ok.

And that brings me to now. I just really need to write about how incredibly done I am. I have definitely been on an emotional roller coaster ride with this pregnancy and let me tell you the end has been by far the worst. I am the most easily depressed, irritated, annoyed, and super sensitive person I have ever met. It's highly annoying. I can safely say that this pregnancy has really gotten the best of me and I am really at the end of my rope. I know I know, there's nothing I can do about it and I just have to wait it out but seriously can a girl cut a break?! I would give anything to not be pregnant anymore and I haven't even reached my due date yet!!!! And I most certainly will be overdue again!!!!! I'm constantly aching, I can barely walk (add to that the fact the I fell down the stairs yesterday and now have bruises on my hips/bottom,) the pressure on my pelvic floor is almost more than I can bear (and baby isn't even dropped fully!) I pretty much have two pairs on pants that fit me now- oh and they are both spandex, my shirts are barely covering the belly these days, my feet and hands are so fat and swollen, this heat is killing me slowly, I am exhausted every moment of the day from attempting to do things around the house and keep up with my insanely busy kids, also why is it that there seems to be more chores than ever to do? I have to go to weekly doctors appointments when they just listen to baby's heartbeat and tell you exactly how many weeks/days you are and that you're almost there! As if I'm not keeping track of how many days are left of this torture lady!!

And you know what is the most annoying- people are constantly asking me how I'm feeling and I have to smile and pretend like I feel great and I'm so happy being pregnant and 40 lbs heavier than I normally am! Because no one actually wants to hear how a 35+ week pregnant woman feels! What I'd really like to say it this:

• I feel like a fat cow who can barely move without shooting severe pain through my entire body
• I'm tired of having to pee every 20 minutes and feeling like I'm going to pee my pants all day long
• I feel like I have a giant tumour unbalancing my body
• I'm tired of waddling like a duck and people staring at me like I should be able to walk differently
• I feel like I'm about to die because I just can't take it anymore
• I feel like I'm going to be pregnant forever and that this will never end
• I feel like this is the worst form of torture a person could possibly have to endure 

Ok I should stop now before you all think I'm a horrible person. I know I should be grateful I can take part in the miracle of life, and really I am I'm just DONE with pregnancy!

Ok one last thing before I sign outta here, something that is also completely beyond me but leaves me feeling incredibly depressed-  my body's inability to go into labour. Having been induced with both my previous pregnancies I feel pretty certain that I will yet again be undergoing another induction. Argh it's just so frustrating, I wish the doctor would just give me a date already because I'm ready to know when this will all be over. I'm so jealous of all you women out there who can go into labour naturally, and seriously prying that maybe this time it will happen on it's own. A girl can dream right.

Ok now that you all know how grumpy I am right now, I'm off. Let me tell you I feel a whole heck of a lot better now!

Jordan