Monday, June 27, 2011

Saturday, June 18

Tash Wiebe called in the morning and brought us some food from market. She also got to meet Rachel. She also took Sam for a few hours to the African Showcase which included, much to Sam's delight, some African drumming. And it was her birthday!



Mom did a whole bunch of laundry, I think Dad ran some errands, and Dave and I rested. We also sent out the "Rachel is here" e-mail and received lots of welcoming e-mails in return. We also talked with Donny and Marika briefly which was nice. (The night before we had talked to Tim and Janice and Dave called his family, but we couldn't get a hold of Donny and Marika.)



Barb came to visit to see how Rachel was doing and Dave and I took afternoon naps when Rachel did, even though she slept fairly well the first night. (From what I remember she was only up every couple of hours and she didn't have any long wakeful periods.)



Auntie Elena, from New Mom's, came to meet Rachel and brought us some super yummy cinnamon buns. That night we ordered pizza for supper.



Dave and I went to bed early, and Sam stayed up to play with Oma and Opa and had a complete blast! At least from what we can see in the pictures, it looks like Sam had a complete blast :) And it even looks like Opa let Sam take some pictures with his camera!


Catching up -- once again

Well, I do have an excuse that I just had a baby 10 days ago... But once again I am woefully behind on blogging. I'm going to try and blog what I remember about each day. Fortunately we have a lot of pictures to remind me of what happened each day. Anyways, we'll see how far I get...

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Rachel's Birth-day!



So yesterday was an eventful day! We had a midwife appointment at 2:30 and our midwife did a sweep of my membranes and gave me the recipe for a "go into labour" cocktail. It contained lovely things like castor oil and actual lovely things like apricot juice and verbena oil. I took it at 4pm with the understanding that we MIGHT get to meet our baby before midnight.

I was tired so went down for a nap around 4:40. At 5:21pm my water broke, waking me up. I yelled for Dave and then my mom and then left the bedroom to go find them. Dave was changing Sam and Mom was in the shower. I started to have contractions almost right away and they were long and intense. Dave was trying to make the bed and I really needed to lie down so he just gave up and I lay on the fitted sheet (which was flat-ish on the bed but not attached to it!) and the plastic tablecloth.

The contractions got very intense very quickly and I didn't know how I was going to make it through hours of this. Then I asked Dave to check if he could see the head and he could! I felt enormous relief at the thought of that and then with the next contraction the head came out and then Dave said, "The shoulders are out!" and it was over. Rachel Katie KC was born at 5:33pm, just a scant 12 minutes after my water broke -- which once again, was our first sign of labour.



My mom came in almost right away to help out and our midwife, and student midwife, arrived about seven minutes after Rachel was born. My dad got to hold her when she was just 19 minutes old which was amazing. He cried and Sam spent the rest of the night mocking him for it :) However, there were no photographers on hand when my mom or dad first got to hold Rachel so we have no pictures of them holding Rachel that first evening.



A couple of things I want to remember about Rachel's birthday:

1) Barb and Tracy gave me an awesome bed bath so I didn't have to take an actual bath (which I HATE!) or get up to have a shower. It was lovely!

2) Sam drew a picture (in his sibling book) of Baby Rachel and he made two blue circles which were "crying" and Baby Rachel was crying because "there is a mosquito in her room."

3) When Sam came to, officially, meet Rachel after we had decided on her name and she was dressed in clothes, as opposed to wrapped in a towel, we said, "Sam, this is your new sister, Rachel." Sam then asked, "Where is the other baby?" and we said, "What other baby?" and Sam replied, "The towel Baby." When he first saw Rachel she was wrapped in a towel so Sam was understandably, a little confused!



4) When Dave was taking pictures of Rachel and Sam, Sam wanted to hold Rachel's hand. Unfortunately in the pictures it looks like he might be about to hit her or pat her head, but in reality he's trying to hold her hand.

5) In passing me an open bottle of red Gatorade, Dave spilled a little bit and so on the plastic tablecloth there was birth mess on the bottom and Gatorade mess on the top. And also on me too! It was a little sticky :) Who knew a little bit of Gatorade could make such a HUGE mess?!?!?



6) Rachel peed through her sleeper, or got some other mess on it, so at 3am we changed her into the second outfit of her life. Of course we went with super-pink and Dave even let me put the owl sleeper on her, which was my choice for a girl sleeper on the day our ultrasound confirmed we were having a girl :)



Well I did actually start to write this post on Saturday, June 18 but I didn't get it finished until Monday, June 27. However I'm going to leave the post date as is because at least I tried to get it up in a timely fashion and I did make a pretty good start on it :)

So that was Rachel's birthday as seen from my point of view.

Friday, June 17, 2011

Yoga and Rides!

Sam did not sleep well Wednesday night. He woke up at 3:30 and Dave dealt with him. He woke up again at 4:30 freaking out because a mosquito was buzzing around him. I got the mosquito, tucked him back in and 20 minutes later he was upset again because of another mosquito. Dave and I brought him to bed with us. Sam fell asleep at about 5:30 or so, holding my hand. It was very sweet.

However, the child takes up a lot of room and we only have a double bed. Dave got some interesting "back massages" and I was probably protected from the worst of them by Knut's pillow. Anyways, we all slept until 9. Then I showered and got ready and did some yoga! I have pretty darn good balance for someone who is 40 weeks and 3 days pregnant, hey?



And just for interest's sake, here is Dave displaying his awesome balance too!



So Mom, Dad, Sam and I headed to West Edmonton Mall to take Sam on the rides at Galaxyland. He wanted to go with Oma on all the rides so it was pretty easy for me! He went on the vehicle ride three times -- once on the firetruck and twice on the motorcycles.





Then he and Oma went on the train and then he wanted to ride the horses so he went on the merry-go-round twice -- once with Oma and once with Opa. By then he was EXHAUSTED and it was time to leave. He also walked A TON and so fell asleep in the car on the way home.

Wednesday

In the interests of documenting life these days, here's what we did on Wednesday.

Dave was on campus all day, I had some energy in the morning so I did (most of) the breakfast dishes and made banana muffins. Mom gave Sam a bath. Dad went to MEC to exchange his shoes. We headed out to Wild Earth Cafe for lunch. That was fun. But it was FREEZING out so instead of going to the library afterward like we had planned, we ended up just heading home. Sam and I had naps and Mom and Dad went grocery shopping.

We had fish and rice pilaf and green beans and AWESOME salad for supper. Vancouver lost the Stanley Cup in Game 7. I was sad. Knut did not arrive. I was sadder. Mom gave me a nice back massage. I was a little happier after that.

We made a plan for Thursday so that if Knut did not arrive at least the day would have a more positive feel. Wednesday was a grey, blah day of waiting and I was in a bad mood by the end of it. Thursday was better. Thankfully.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

(March), June, July, August, September

As I may, or may not, have mentioned, the five of us in New Mom's who have been able to meet regularly for almost two years now were all pregnant at the same time. Sheri has had her baby and the rest of us are still waiting. I wanted a picture of all of us because it has been sooooo fun to share pregnancy together. Last week at New Mom's we were finally all together and were able to take pictures. Thanks to Sheri for sending them to me because my camera batteries died and getting pictures on my camera didn't work. So here we are all lined up in order of due date (and I don't quite know how Sam got in there!):

Me-June, Elena-July, Marcia-August, Jenelle-September

And here we are with Sheri and Baby Tevan, who was born on
March 29. We'll keep adding the babies as they arrive!

I love you New Mom's people and can't wait to share this next stage of our journey together. And I want to add that from our original New Mom's group we also have another mom who gave birth in March and one who is due in October and one in November so we just keep growing and growing!

Monday, June 13, 2011

Due date

So what did we DUE today? Ha ha ha!

Well Dave had a (very) early eye appointment so Teresa (thank you soooo much!!!) came over at 6:30am to hang out while Sam slept, so Dave and I could go. We sat in the first waiting room for over an hour which was stressful and reduced me to tears a few times. Then finally Dave was called in for the eye exam and then transferred to a doctor's cubicle. Unfortunately by that time I had to go, and just our luck, Dave was done and out of there five minutes later. Turned out I could have waited but I didn't know that :( sigh...

So I came home and Dave headed to campus for his meeting with Eleni. Which turned out to be canceled. So Sam and I got ready at home and Dave headed to the Kinsmen Centre to take Sam to his swimming lesson. Thankfully I just had to be the chauffeur and photographer. Some of the best shots I got were on video and since I still haven't successfully uploaded a video to this blog from our new camera I'm not going to even try. Sorry. But here are some pictures:




Then we headed to Shopper's to fill Dave's prescription and they were having an awesome sale on diapers so we stocked up for our time in Saskatchewan this summer. Then we came home and had lunch, and I went down for a nap. So did Sam. I woke up in time for my parents arrival.

Mom and Dad decided that they couldn't wait by the phone any longer for a call that Knut was on his/her way so they just came today. I say "YAY!!!" We had potato salad, BBQ sausage, fried mushrooms and steamed asparagus for supper. It was soooo yummy! The only unfortunate thing about supper was that Sam started spitting and got a time out. However it was kind of funny because when I went to get him from his time out, he announced, "I spit!" and I said, "What happened then?" and he said, "I got a time out." and I said, "Was that a good idea or a bad idea to spit?" and he declared, "Bad idea." This child seems to be getting the concept :)

After supper we sang Happy Birthday to Mom since it was her birthday and all, and as soon as we finished Sam said, "Now we eat cake!" but we had no cake. So Sam and Opa went to Safeway and got a cheesecake sampler which rocked! It was sooooo good! Then Sam had a sugar high and I had a sugar crash and am off to bed.

By the way, today is Knut's due date but he/she hasn't gotten the message as of yet. We'll see what tonight brings... Or doesn't bring as the case may be!

Sunday, June 12, 2011

40 weeks!

So I think I'm a little confused about timing :) I have been doing my weekly posts on Sundays but I don't think my actual due date is until tomorrow. Sigh. It must be pregnancy brain! Of course, the 10 week ultrasound said my due date was this past Friday but I've always thought it was tomorrow. Of course, due dates mean nothing to Knut and he/she is the one who gets to decide, ultimately.

Anyways, here are Knut and I at 40 weeks (according to my brain). We are definitely ready for this little one to be born so we'll see how soon he/she is ready!



And here is all Knut. And just for interest's sake, also all Sam at the same time. I think I am a little bigger with Knut but I guess it's a little hard to tell. I measure almost four feet around which is a little scary! And if you really care, here is the post I put up on Sam's due date, before we knew he was Sam.


All Knut! All Sam!

To distract ourselves today we went to IHOP (International House of Pancakes) for brunch. We had to wait almost 45 minutes for a table but it was good food and Sam ate a ton so it was worth it. We were thinking of heading out to the Aviation Museum afterward but we (read:I) was too tired so we decided to skip it. We came home and all had naps instead, which I think was a good decision.

So we'll see what kind of posting the next few days brings. I'm sorry this blog has been a little "When is Knut coming?" focused but that's our life right now so at least it's honest!

Saturday, June 11, 2011

At least...

... I have pretty flowers to look at while we're waiting...

Friday, June 10, 2011

Waiting...

...waiting and more waiting. That's what has been happening around here. Yesterday we ordered pictures from our session with Heather at Muse Photography. You can check out our particular session here under April 28, 2011, titled "New Life." We had such a good time with Heather and highly recommend her if you're looking for professional pictures in Edmonton.

Then, because our awesome house cleaner, Teresa, was cleaning (Have I mentioned that we LOVE Teresa?!?!?), I took Sam to Cafe O Play. He played for two hours straight, I ate a bagel and read my book. It was a good time. The only bad thing about that place is that Sam pretty much throws a fit every time it's time to leave.

Then we came home, Sam ate lunch and went down for a nap and I took the time to read outside in the sun. I didn't know how many more chances I'll get to do that! Dave grilled hamburgers and veggies for supper and they were SOOOOOO good. Then the City came and cleaned out our drains because a tree root was growing in them and backing up our system. Then Dave had the lovely (or not!) job of cleaning all the crap (some of it literal) off the grate downstairs.

Today we had an appointment with Barb and Tracey, her student. Barb is so confident that Knut will be coming soon that we didn't even schedule an appointment for next week :) Yay!!! Then we stopped at Tim Horton's, washed the car and dropped Sam off at Sheri and Naden's. Dave's eye appointment went well (we were there about an hour) and he got the all-clear from his surgeon. Double Yay!!! No more sleeping with the eye patch and no more trying to remember drops four times a day.

Sam played with Naden for a little after I got there and then we came home and he had a nap and I went outside to read again. Maybe for the last time in a loooong while??? We shall see... Tonight we had supper, watched a bit of the Canucks-Bruins game and went outside to mow the lawn and blow bubbles. We met our next door neighbours. They seem really nice and have two girls -- one older than Sam and one younger than Sam. It seems crazy that this was the first time we were meeting them.

I did dishes, Sam served "cake" (also known as "cars") to us all and Dave played guitar. And in the background the hockey game went on. Our laundry is mostly caught up, our list of things to do is pretty much done, our dishes are under control, and we are waiting. Waiting. WAITING. For Knut to come. Anytime now, sweet baby, anytime now...

Wednesday, June 08, 2011

Today...

... has been a low-key day. Dave stayed home from work today which was nice. I didn't sleep all that well last night so I was really tired today. I may have been having contractions today but it's hard to tell. They might just be overly enthusiastic Braxton-Hicks :)

We all got clean today -- both Dave and I showered and Sam had a bath and all our dishes got done and so did all the laundry, despite the drain backing up a bit. Now I just need to fold and put away the last load of laundry and finish off supper dishes.

I have been really really really tired today so I had a nap and even though it's only 8pm, I'm ready to head to bed. And Vancouver is losing Game 4 (3-0 at the end of the second period) so I may just do that once I finish a few more things. It's been a tiring day for me today. And Sam has had a lot of playtime at home which has been nice for him after a few days of not having much time at home.

Tuesday, June 07, 2011

Sam's busy day

On Monday Sam had a busy and eventful day. Daddy stayed home in the morning and so we went to swimming lessons. At this point it is easier for me to have someone else get Sam ready for swimming and for me to just be in the pool with him. Thankfully Dave has been able to come for a couple of weeks now. Sam was very cooperative in the pool, kicking while wear arm flotation things, jumping off the side of the pool, and just generally participating well. That has not always been the case this session, unfortunately.





After swimming we dropped Dave off at work. Since his office is quiet this week we thought it might be a good time for Sam to visit and see where Daddy spends a lot of his time. Sam LOVED being at Daddy's desk. According to him, he typed, Skyped with Oma and had "his ears in" (wore headphones). All of Sam's hard work is evidenced in the picture below.



After leaving Daddy's office, we went to the library. Sam was especially excited about being on the train and seeing the fish. We also picked out some new books for Sam, including a couple of new French ones. Dave picked up a French book for Sam last week and Sam has been LOVING it. I don't think my choices were that great but hey! I don't speak all that much French so at least I tried :) It was hard to get a good picture of Sam on the train so the best one is below -- more for documenting that we were there than that it's the world's best picture :)


After all that excitement it was home for lunch and nap. And both Sam and Mommy needed the break!

Monday, June 06, 2011

39 weeks and 1 day

Today I am 39 weeks and 1 day. The end is in sight. We are really ready for Knut to come. We can't wait to meet him/her and have him/her become a more integral part of our family. Our lists of things to do before Knut is born are pretty much finished, barring a few minor things. I am getting a little tired of being pregnant and am getting ready to be done. I wouldn't have said that last week but this week I'm ready.

Since both Dave and I feel like Knut will be born at night (because Sam was!), every night when I go to bed I ask myself, "Is this it?" It feels like every morning when we wake up with no extra-wombal baby then we have to get through another day. Oh well. Knut is still active within my belly and we will get to see him/her soon enough. As I said to Dave the other day, "Each day without Knut being born is one more day closer to him/her being born." It's a little confusing but it keeps us going!

Sunday, June 05, 2011

Fun with second-cousins!

So this morning my cousin, Krista, called and we spontaneously decided to go there for lunch today. Sam had a BLAST playing outside and it was great to get a chance to visit with Krista and Craig before Knut arrives!


Riding with Parker on his toy quad.


Trying out the quad on his own.


Fun times in the sandbox.


Me enjoying a lemon flavoured Perrier. Yum!