- My Thoughts -

Adorable Giveaways

2012-02-04T14:24:00.001-08:00

Thought I'd share some super cute giveaways that are happening over at this website.

Pink Romper

Aqua Romper

Lace Leggings

Pink Bloomers

Cutest headbands in the world

50$ shopping spree

If I don't win, someone I know should.

Love

2012-01-25T14:44:00.000-08:00

I just love these two.

She's gained a few tricks in the past week. One of them is opening her mouth as wide as she can on cue. It's weird but of course we think it's adorable.

Smudgy Bear. It's her new nickname.

Remember back when I said Marlowe has lots of patience for Evanie? Not anymore.

Practicing sitting together. Evanie is Marlowe's biggest encourager.

Priorities Shmiorities

2012-01-22T07:42:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Marlowe and I were out running errands and I bought myself an organic raspberry lemonade to drink. Yummy!

It is very rare for me to buy a drink as a treat (If I buy a treat, it is chocolate.) (I also bought myself chocolate.) but I felt I was particularly worthy yesterday for no real reason and so, drink in hand, I proceeded to back out of my parking space. I shoulder checked first one way and then the other and realized there was a giant brute of a truck torpedoing my way.

Now I was never even close to an accident; I'd only backed about 2.5 inches before shoulder checking but the thought went through my head that I was very glad I checked both ways or I would have become a smudge on some over-sized tire.

My next thought was: "Gee, I'm so glad I didn't get slammed by that truck because I would totally have spilled my drink all over the car. I can't imagine how much work it would have taken to clean it all up! Pheewf!"

Uuuuummm.....right. Lucky break there. Good thing we avoided a sticky spill.

And also an inconvenient decapitation.

Or potential death.

OR MAYBE THE DEATH OF MY SLEEPING INFANT IN THE BACK WHICH WOULD HAVE BEEN MOST VULNERABLE IN A REAR ENDING!

Seriously, what is wrong with me? I thought of a sticky dashboard before the life of my precious child?

I blame Obama.

Sweet Dreams

2012-01-17T14:03:00.000-08:00

This is what's been goin' down in this house. You think a sleeping infant is the most natural thing in the world until you have one who resists it like the plague. And then you find out that there is such a thing as a trained Sleep Expert and you think two things:
1-there must be loooooooots of babies that hate sleeping and
2-this Sleep Expert might be an actual angel.

When I heard about our local sleep consultant I initially just called her to ask what her professional opinion was on how much crying is ok. But instead of having an adult conversation about my child, I burst into tears on the phone and couldn't have any conversation at all.

So she told me her story. About her baby who wouldn't sleep. About how hard it was on her as a mother and a person. About how hard it was on their marriage. And about how she worked with a sleep expert herself with her baby. And about how beautifully it all turned out. And finally, what she could do for Marlowe.

So I told Justin and he said she sounded like Jesus and we hired her.

We are currently on day 2 of sleep training with a Sleep Expert and Justin is very tired (he's taken the night shift) and Marlowe slept for 2 hours this morning in her bed for the first time in weeks and I have lots and lots of hope.
Stay tuned...

Creepy? Or Cute?

2011-12-13T13:23:00.000-08:00

Just in case anyone was wondering, RB is still very much a part of this family.

He sleeps with Evanie every night and enjoys some quality time with the family on a regular basis. He has learned to grab his own toys but is still working on sitting on his own. He and Marlowe practice their gross motor skills together.

He may be a little behind developmentally given that he is old enough to wear a suit yet can't sit on his own....but it's too soon to tell for sure. He is regularly breastfed so his immune system is off the charts, never a sneeze or a sniffle.

Truly a face only a mother could love.

Just in case you were wondering...

Dollars and Sense

2011-11-28T07:34:00.000-08:00

Evanie has an excellent vocabulary for such a smidgen of a person but regardless, she makes up a good 40% of what comes out of her mouth. Maybe more than that. The first part of a sentence is what she actually wants to say and the last half is pure gibberish. I think she thinks this is what everyone does.

It'll be something like this: Mama, I go see daddy at work-er aflather tipoijs smooga. And we can bring him treats-er a stabitt plaber flibberly.

I think I'm most confused by the addition of "er" at the end of a perfectly good word.

But then I remember how often I say things like, "nappy napperton, chubby chubs, slobbery slobberton, roly roller..." ...hmmm... hmmmm..... yeaaah, maybe her gibberish is a learned behaviour now that I think of it.

Moving on.

The other evening Justin had just come home from work and Evanie was bombarding him with stories of her day. In her excitement, her conversation turned into complete gibberish, no English whatsoever.

Justin: "Evanie, you're not making any sense."

Evanie: "I have no sense?"

Justin: "Exactly, you have no sense!"

With that Evanie sped out of the room and we forgot about her. Five minutes later she reappeared with a handful of $20s and declared, "Daddy, now I have cents!"

Silly, silly girl.

And in case you're wondering why she had access to a handful of $20s...Justin and I have always used the envelope system for budgeting and apparently this has not been lost on Evanie. She knew exactly where to find the cash. It has since found a much higher home.

The Bathrobe

2011-11-26T14:09:00.000-08:00

Justin and I are not highly motivated types. We talk about things a loooooong time before we ever get around to doing anything.

I sometimes get annoyed by us and I'm sure others get annoyed a lot. But as I get older and wiser (and older....and older...) I'm beginning to see value in it; to embrace it. Not ALL of it - for instance being late is hardly a valuable habit - but relaxing together, wasting time together can be a good thing.

I feel we're surrounded by a mentality that often preaches, "Busyness makes you valuable!"

Yeeaaaahh.....I don't think so. It makes you tired and grouchy.

A friend of mine said that at a certain point in their evening, anything that hasn't been accomplished WON'T be accomplished because they make relaxing together a priority.

In the first 3 1/2 months of our new family of 4, our evenings were largely chaos. Many were spent endlessly bouncing a crying Marlowe and training a grouchy Evanie and calming a weeping mommy. (poor Justin) There were virtually no moments of time to waste together as a couple. And you know what we found? We fought. We constantly misunderstood each other. We frequently went to bed grouchy and too tired to work it out and I began to realize that "wasting time" together is actually a high priority.

Today I read this excerpt from The Book of Idle Pleasures (thanks, Tianna!):

The Bathrobe

"There is no more apt uniform of sloth than the bathrobe. Merely owning one is a sign of hope. A signal of slovenly intent. Bathrobes accompany the state of doing nothing, but what are you actually doing when you're doing nothing? Thinking, that's what you're doing. Society fears the population with time to think. Populations like that have been known to change things. This is why the bathrobe is the true uniform of revolution. In some far distant point in the future, women and men will marvel at the day the seats of global power were finally overwhelmed - by an army of people in bathrobes."

I want to personally give each of you permission to waste time today. Don your bathrobe, put your gnarly, calloused heels up on the coffee table, and twiddle your thumbs.

And this week?

Say "no" to one thing.

Drop one (maybe a tiny one) ball.

Take one nap.

We'll be better for it.

Momma Said There'd be Days Like These...

2011-11-16T13:46:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Evanie was overtired, over hungry, and just plain whiny. We were trying to have lunch and eeeeeeverything was wrong.

Wrong glass.

Wrong food.

Wrong seat.

Wrong spoon.

Wrong drink.

(Are you thinking about chopsticks now because 'wrong' is starting to look like a Chinese word? Me too.)

I kept getting after her - you know the drill: "Eat your food. Stop whining. Water is good for you. You're not using a fancy glass this time. Take a bite. It's yummy. Stop whining. Can you ask nicely. Please use your manners. Stop whining...please stop whining....please....for the love....stop....whining...etc."

Suddenly the whining turned to sobbing. She put her hands over her face and cried, "Mommy, I NEED something. I need something...make feel me better!"

Well said. Some days we just need something to make feel us better.

So I held her on my lap and fed her until her tummy was full and a smile found its way back onto her sticky little face.

And we both felt better.

Let Me Guess, We're About to go Over a Huge Waterfall....

2011-11-13T16:52:00.000-08:00

This has been harder than I thought it would be.

Mothering two.

I'm quite ashamed to admit it because practically everyone I know has more than two children and they sing and smile and are out and about and make it all look so easy while in this house the transition has not been easy. Many days I've felt quite certain I'm not cut out to be a mother...kind of late for this revelation, I know.

But seriously. Holy. Cow.

My delightful little two year old hit the Terrible Twos right on schedule...about a week before Marlowe joined us (screaming). I'm sure much of it has had to do with the four sharp molars slicing through her gums but still, most days my patience ran out long before the day was over.

My 4 month old has been mostly a mystery to me. She has this obsessive need to suck but refuses anything 'mainstream.' She blazes her own trail, this one. No soothers will do but mom's hairy trucker arm, that is something TASTY! I am currently sporting 3 hickeys from my baby.

Did you just say "gross?" I'm not gonna argue with you.

She won't fall asleep in the swing but she'll doze in the bumbo. She hates swaddling but likes getting her diaper changed. She gets frustrated with toys but likes playing with blankets. Her favorite thing is a good conversation. Especially with her big sister who has no respect for personal space and gets so close while talking that they both end up cross eyed.

Sleep has been a bigger issue in the past few months than ever before. Evanie has always been a good sleeper except when she's teething and then it's madness. So little sleeping, so much crying!

Marlowe's sleeping has improved dramatically but it has been tough going up to now. For the first 5 weeks of her life I rarely got more than maybe 2 to 4 hours a night. When her tummy issues resolved she immediately got better at night and about 80% of nights she now will sleep somewhere around 9-12 hours which is totally awesome. Naps have been another issue entirely. Up until a week ago, I spent many hours putting her to sleep over and over again. We tried just having her cry it out but this kid can go indefinitely so it was way outside of my comfort zone and I ended up just holding and bouncing and bouncing and bouncing until I literally put my back out.

Anyway, the summation of all this moaning is that now, 4 months into having two girls I finally feel like I've come up for a breath of air and we're all going to make it. We have half a molar left with Evanie so she is napping and waking only once or twice at night. And Marlowe has had at least 7 (not consecutive) days of decent naps which means we've had a few dinners on time and I've cleaned my house once. We pretty much don't leave the house but I'm willing to make that sacrifice for now to create some good sleeping habits.

I've taken up crafting in my many days at home. Maybe someday I'll post a few pictures of stuff I've been working on.

Oh...and I have no pictures...

2 Months

2011-10-01T12:01:00.000-07:00

No time to write and she won't be two months forever. In fact she's already 2 1/2. So here are some pictures!

And for fun...some of these pictures are Evanie at 2 months and some are Marlowe....they don't look at all the same to me, what's your opinion?

There is something about babies that just makes you wanna squish 'em!!

Firsts

2011-09-19T08:41:00.000-07:00

First shower. She loved it!

First time in the bumbo (2 weeks ago)...kept her happy for 20 minutes which was the longest she'd ever been happy outside of someone's arms. We've had longer stretches since but that was a record at the time.

First time falling asleep without being bounced. I actually shed a tear.

First time using scissors. Marlowe's fine motor skills are off the charts!

Ok ok I'm lying....this is Evanie's first. But you knew that. This kept her busy and dead silent for nearly an hour. I don't think she even breathed the entire time!

A Flibbertajibbit

2011-09-12T16:30:00.000-07:00

Evanie is in quite the testing stage. Her current theory seems to be that everything that comes out of mom's mouth must be tested. She's gone through explosive, tantrum-y stages but this one is quite silent and determined. A perpetual state of "oh yeah? Make me."

Oh I will child. BRING it!

But thankfully the days are also liberally peppered with heart breaking sweetness to keep the insanity at bay. She is a passionate singer and dancer. Nearly every day begins with, "mommy I need a skirt (sounds more like skyit), I wan ta dance mommy!"

And then there is all the love she gives little Marlowe. She is smitten with her little sister and constantly planting huge slobbery kisses all over her head. She bounces her in her bouncy chair, rocks her in her carseat, and praises her constantly for anything from smiling to just moving her arms.

Phrases we hear a lot are:
"Good job baby girl! (sounds more like gee-al)
You did it Marlowe -bear! (Her nickname)
HI squirmy legs!
Marlowe you crazy gee-al!
Ow baby ow. You have scratchy hands!
It's ok. It's ok baby gee-al. You need some milk? Ok!"

First bath together!

All of these come out in screechy pitches only dogs can hear, usually about 2 millimeters from Marlowe's eye ball! I love it. Oddly enough, so does Marlowe. She smiles more consistently for Evanie then anyone else!

Look at the identical mouths in this pictures.

She is also loves to jump/bounce everywhere and is as distract-able as a puppy. I always think of the words from The Sound of Music: "A flibbertajibbit, a will of a whisp, a clown..." She recently watched a hula show and has a current obsession with leis.

Yesterday Evanie was on a time out for some misdemeanor and at the end I went through the customary, "can you tell me why you're on time out." Her answer went something like this, "Don't turn the swing annnnnd.... bonk the......um.....don't....um...it means I love you....cuz I really do...here is my lei...."

I think she really learned that one.

These overalls used to be Justin's!

I was going to update on Marlowe too but she and I have been duking it out for nearly two hours. I put her to sleep, put her down, she wakes up, I put her to sleep....repeat endlessly.

Another day I will update. When she sleeps. This morning that feels like it will actually be another lifetime.

2011-09-12T10:27:00.000-07:00

Two days post partum I was laying on my stomach playing a game with Evanie and I thought to myself, "THIS is the BEST thing about no longer being pregnant!" She's onto a serious game kick and has been asking daily for me to play with her but it was SO uncomfortable to be on the floor while pregnant-so it felt like Christmas to get down, lay on my belly, and play a kids game.
Later that day I took a nap and laid flat on my back to sleep and again thought, "THIS is the BEST thing about no longer being pregnant." No more mountain of pillows, just beautiful sleep.
I found this thought going through my head multiple times in the week after Marlowe was born so I decided to compile a list of things I love about not being pregnant anymore.

First and foremost is the baby. It is SO amazing to finally, finally hold this baby that you've been thinking of for 9 months. To finally meet, name, and hold your baby is A-MAZ-ING!
Laying on your belly. SO nice.
Laying on your back!
Hugging your husband! You fit again!
No more heartburn. One day you have it, the next day you don't.
No more midnight trips to the bathroom!
Pregnancy mask starts fading.
You can sit up, twist at the waist, bend over.....awesome!
Breathing normally. No more panting just from getting off the couch.

There are more but these are my personal favorite. Oh and there's a whole separate list of symptoms that are less G rated and more just nasty and no one really wants to hear about.

Except that now you're a little bit curious! Don't be such a sicko.

Later: I forgot a biggie......being skiiiiiinnnnnnyyyy!! It totally doesn't matter that I have an entire person worth of extra skin swinging from my ribs to my knees-I still feel skinny. I'm always a little confused how I can be "SO SKINNY" and still not fit into my pre-pregnancy clothes....weird...

Virus Alert

2011-08-23T15:07:00.000-07:00

So CW 4.0 is facing a few minor glitches in the system. A small virus of sorts was introduced to the system in late July and recovery time is longer than initially expected due to fatigue. However, in the mean time I leave you with some pictures...

Modeling their new headbands.

Here's how you smile!

And a SMILE!!

Whispering sister secrets.

Tummy time!

Also the diaper bag that I want is on Ebay again. This time I MUST WIN IT!

Announcing.....!!

2011-07-22T13:09:00.001-07:00

....the arrival of our new baby girl:

Marlowe Grace
Born July 17 at 4:12am.
Weighed 7 lbs 15 ozs.
21 inches long
Beautiful and healthy

3 days old

My sister and Grace made the midnight journey from Burlington/Bellingham WA to be at the birth as they both did to be at Evanie's birth. Marlowe beat their arrival by about 30 minutes but I'm so thankful they came and spent the first day with us.

Second day, cuddles with my girls.

Third day, more cuddles. We're going to keep this tradition alive to infinity.

Sister chats. Evanie loooooooves her sister.

The only "just been born" picture we got of Marlowe on our camera is the one with Diana and Grace. Due to the speed of Marlowe's entry into the world, taking pictures was not front and center on anyone's mind and all hands present were quite busy. I'll write more about her arrival in another post. Today, I just want everyone to know that she is here!

Hair NO More

2011-07-02T15:08:00.000-07:00

I'm a hairy girl.

It's a sad but true fact of my life. During pregnancy this transforms into Saskwatch like hair growth. It just grows. And grows. And because I already feel obese and stretched and anything but feminine, I don't keep up with it as well as I should. It's shameful. So in the past 3 weeks I've gotten my upper lip sugared (with a free coupon) and my eyebrows threaded for $5.

My mantra is "DOWN with the facial hair!"

The sugaring was a fun experience. I mean about as fun as one can make the experience of yanking out hair by the roots. There was music and the lights were dimmed and a fountain. The fountain actually made Evanie pee her pants but...can't have it all easy now can we. It hurt but then she packed this nasty green mud on my lip and it was cool and soothing and took away almost all of that tell tale glowing red that screams, "Hey I'm a woman but I grow hair on my lip like some sort of freak!" Not a bad experience overall.

But sadly I'll never go back because it would have been $30 without the coupon and I can't justify it when it's something I CAN do myself at home. Even if it sucks.

My eyebrows were the next battle to be won and again, I just didn't want to do it myself. My eyes water and I never do as good a job on the left as the right because it just hurts more and I get them uneven and have these crazy pelts for eyebrows so it takes long and I have to trim them and I usually trim them too short and look like I've been weed-whacked for a couple of weeks after.

Enter Grunhilda.

I was told a local East Indian woman threads eyebrows for $5 so I called her up and went to meet her the very same day. The procedure took place in her home in a comfy black chair, some Bollywood soap opera playing quietly in the background. Her English was broken but good and we bonded over the fact that we were expecting babies within a week of each other. (She was WAY smaller than myself just FYI.)

On the table were cotton balls, tissues, a string, and a small scissors. Not too threatening. I laid back and relaxed.....only to be attacked in the face with a razor!!! Imagine a tiny lawn mower zipping back and forth over your face-THAT'S what it felt like! I was sure she was just randomly cutting me with a razor blade but I was too worried about my eyes getting sliced to even dare open and confirm that she was a mad woman with knives! So instead I practiced my birthing breathing and tried to imagine I was sunning on a beach somewhere with ripped abs.

After slicing my face repeatedly from my cheekbones to my hairline on the right side of my face (I know I'm hairy but seriously, my eyebrows do NOT go up to my hairline!) she said I could open my eyes and sit up. As soon as I sat up, a stream of wet literally poured down my face and my first thought was "I'm BLEEDING!!" but in fact, my tears had just pooled in my eye sockets and went cascading to the floor when introduced to gravity.

She showed me a mirror and I was shocked and surprised to find both that my face was unscathed AND she had uncovered the nicest little eyebrow my face had ever seen. It was amazing! But my delight was quickly destroyed when I realized that this sexy little eyebrow was being chased by a badger-like eyebrow on the left and I was going to have to go back under the "knife" or look like a mutant.

Not my eyebrows, but aren't they pretty?

Repeat on the left what happened on the right. I survived. And my eyebrows looked/look amazing!!

She then asked if I would like my upper lip done as well and I quickly assured her that I had just gotten them done but began stammering because she just stood there looking at my lips with this pity written on her face. It went like this:

"And now I do your lips too?"

"Oh no no no, I just got them done a week ago so they're fine. Thanks....I mean...well maybe there's the odd hair that needs to be....er.....I should, I'll clean this up at home.....I guess, yeah, they probably need some uh....but...."

"I do it. For you it is free."

"Oh. Um. Er. Thanks. Yes. Er." (I TOLD you I'm like a Saskwatch!)

So she razored, I mean threaded my upper lip as well. Thank the Lord Almighty I had just had the main patch harvested and there were only a few stragglers to clean up.

Again she went from my nose to my chin....was that really necessary?

Then she stepped back and I saw her eyes begin the "roam about" on my body and she offered, " I also do arms and more..."

I clutched my hairy arms and ran away. Away from the cotton balls and the tiny little scissors and the harmless looking little thread.

But sadly, I'll go back. Because it was only $5 and she was really good and I lived. I'll just have myself a little pre-threading drink next time.

Also not my abs. But aren't they pretty too!

On the Verge

2011-06-28T10:10:00.001-07:00

I feel that I am right on the verge of becoming a more diligent blogger. I can feel it; it's going to happen. (It's either that or gas, but SOMETHING is coming!)
My reasons for this optimism are as follows:

I have lots of nonsensical things to share with the world at large. Because we all know that the (entire) world at large goes charging to my humble blog at each new update.

I have energy for the first time since last November and I am accomplishing things at a high rate of speed around here which means that any day now I will run out of things to do, fix myself a cup of tea, and become a proper blogger. Or have a baby....

I am planning to purchase a new camera that will make it easy for me to take decent pictures and this is going to inspire me to be that mom I've always dreamed I'd be. You know the ones, they create AMAZING homes with $2.50 and a tin can, plan spectacular birthday parties using nothing but bread crumbs and tissue paper, take fabulous photos of each precious moment with their impeccably dressed, adorable children, have devotions at 5am, are stylishly dressed in every season without ever going into a store, are slim and tan...you know the types. That will be me soon and I will then post it all on a well maintained blog with handcrafted giveaways every third day just to make the "world at large" feel gross about themselves.

I have about 8 posts circulating in my head at this very moment. All with pictures and stupendous wit. They're going to make you pee with laughter. (Hey don't mock, I do daycare and whilst tuning out the noise I have imaginary conversations with adults and plan blog posts. A mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do!)

Daycare is about to end for the summer and I'm certain I will accomplish 2 years worth of projects in those two months. Or have a baby....

I just feel it ok. I have a feeling. I feel it. Stop being skeptics.

Stay tuned for the new me. We'll call it CW 4.0.

P.S. What exactly does the world "at large" mean?

P.S. I don't have my (life changing) camera yet, hence no pictures. Plus I haven't put on make up or done my hair or actually gotten properly dressed yet. I'm not discouraged, CW 4.0 is right around the corner!!

Lost in Translation

2011-06-25T12:27:00.000-07:00

Funny conversation between myself, Evanie, and her friend, a 4 yr old E:

Evanie: Mama ah-wanna-eata-soooooup.

Me: You want soup for lunch?

E: No she said she wants shoes.

Me: I don't think she wants to eat shoes.

E: Evanie do you want to eat shoes?

Evanie: Ya ah-waaaanna-eata-soooup!

E: Do you mean MY shoes?

Evanie: Ya!

E: (very worried) Carolyn she says she wants to eat my shoes!! I don't want her to eat them!

Me: I'm certain she won't eat your shoes.

E: Evanie do you want to TAKE my shoes?

Evanie: Ya!

E: Now she wants to TAKE my shoes! I don't want her to take my shoes. They're my NEW shoes!

Me: This is getting out of hand.

In all fairness to the poor 4 year old, Evanie DOES try to claim everything of hers because she thinks the 4 year old is THE standard in all things interesting and cool. So it is completely in character for Evanie to claim and demand her clothes, her food, her toys, and her barrettes. But in this particular instance, I think there may have been a bit of a mistake.

34 Weeks

2011-06-12T14:23:00.000-07:00

I have been pregnant for 34 weeks- might be a good time to put out an update about it. My poor second born is already getting the shaft and it's not even finished baking.

I'm already pre-frustrated at the fact that it will have the typical second born baby book. The empty one. I sincerely don't WANT that to happen, I just know it will. I've heard they make "baby book" calendars...does anyone happen to know of a good one? It opens up a slight possibility of baby #2 getting the odd event or milestone recorded. I'm open to any and all suggestions!

So here are the preggo stats at 34 weeks in:

cravings -nada, but I've lost the will to say no to sugar and chocolate
energy - finally finally back at 7 months. I kiss the makers of Innate Iron!
heartburn - an ol' buddy
headaches, sciatica, pinched nerves, wheat sensitivities, or nose bleeds - NONE!
leggings - my daily uniform
current pillow count - four
watermelon jokes count - only 1!! (my 'oh so funny' sisters don't count)
bathroom trips - about 50% when compared to my first pregnancy! Thank you so much little peanut!
sleep - meh....
movement - crazy! Easily twice as much as Evanie. And strong! Little stinker makes me gasp.
weight - 19 lbs and counting
Braxton Hicks - constantly since 20 weeks
vivid, awkward dreams - 100s. So not cool.

Things I've done to prepare for this birth and this baby.....well....writing this post is pretty much step one. Nice.

Actually, now that I think of it, this week I've tried to stop gritting my teeth through the Braxton hicks and breathe and relax instead. That's a step. And I've been reading a book of birth stories to get me into the right head/heart space. So I guess this post is Step 3! Yay, look how prepared I am!

I even have a slightly out of focus 34 week picture.

I'm not the pregnant person I once thought I would be. I always imagined I'd have this ethereal glow, I'd be incredibly in tune with my body and my unborn, and I'd feel fully feminine and maternal.

But this is not my experience.

I find myself viewing my pregnancies as something to cross off 280ish days on the calendar. I wish I were more "glowing" and "ripe with life" but I just don't feel that way. I'm very grateful, it is 100% miraculous, and I genuinely anticipate meeting the precious life God is forming....and that's as ethereal as I get.

With Evanie I was afraid I would be as detached from my child as my pregnancy but that fear was obliterated in powerful tsunami of love for my little girl the instant she was born and I held her wet little body close. So I'm not concerned this time. I'm eager to meet this person who is going to so thoroughly imbed itself in my heart, I will become its mother in a single instant. I can't wait.

Moon Catcher

2011-05-09T21:01:00.001-07:00

Remember when your parents were superhuman and capable of anything? They knew all the answers and were never wrong. I've just realized that right now, in Evanie's eyes, I'M the superhero.

Some day she'll be shocked to realize that I'm human and frail and chronically wrong and gave birth to her in my 20s and truly had no idea what I was doing. Just like everyone else.

But for now, there are no limits to what I can do and to what I know.

Today we were out for a walk and the following conversation happened. Evanie was in the stroller, her neck craning towards the sky, her little hands cupped as high as she could reach.

E: "The moon Mommy! I see the moon!"

Me: "Sure enough, you found it."

E: "I catch it mommy. Here moon. Coooome. I catch you!"

Me: "I'm not sure if this is going to work out like you think..."

E: "I can't reach it."

Me: "That's because it's way way high in the sky, Evanie. I'm pretty sure only God can reach it."

E: "Mommy do it? Mommy reach it!! Ok?"

You see? She thinks I could just get a little step stool and pull down the moon for a cuddle! What an adventure you have as a kid...and you never really realize it until you're not a kid...

Easter

2011-04-25T13:04:00.000-07:00

When my current course is over (and it almost is), I will resurface. For now, monthly pictures of this cute little girl are all I can do.

She was having a hard time looking at the camera because of the sun. We're not used to the sun in these here parts!

Poor little watering eyes.

Tired princess, playing with mommy's jewelery.

This is post nap, let the Easter hunt begin! She had no idea what we meant by "easter party" but she was SO excited.

Every time she spotted an egg it was more exciting than the last one!

I love the little mouth in this picture.

This picture progression make it look like she spotted this easily but let me tell you, that is not the case. And I'm one of those 'super fun' moms that can hardly keep from stepping in to point out hidden presents and correct childish crafts and make everything as grown up and neat as possible! It was all I could do to just keep encouraging her to keep looking rather than diving for it myself.

Trying out the chalk....or colors as she calls them. She could hardly believe that we were letting her draw on something other than paper!

Little test run with the watering can! She carried that with her for the rest of the afternoon!

If all the squeals and smiles were any indication, I'd say our Family Easter Party was a success. Certainly better than Christmas when nothing happened.

Squeak Squeaker, Squeak Squeakin'

2011-03-20T09:49:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago Justin and I planned to go on our biannual date night and had to cancel because I had a raging fever. Sucky.

Then he got it.

Then Evanie got it.

So we rescheduled our date for this weekend because, "if we're only going twice a year, we're going to be HEALTHY and we're going to LOVE IT! And who stays sick longer than two weeks? Nobody. We'll be totally healthy by then!"

Before we had fully recovered we got some swollen, sore throat thingy which went away pretty quickly for me and lingered for him. So out of sympathy for him, I got a sinus infection.

Now those demons usually last a minimum of 3 weeks for me so I went out and begged a pharmacist for a homeopathic remedy that was effective and safe for pregnancy.

He gave me this and I AM A BELIEVER!

My sinus infection whimpered and died in 24 hours.

So I got up this Friday morning delighted....with a littttttttle tiny sore throat.

Friday evening it was full on laryngitis.

Out of stubbornness and desperation, we kept our Saturday date plans even though I literally had zero voice. Not even a squeak. After Evanie was already with the babysitters and we were driving to dinner Justin asked if we were being silly and should we just cancel again.

I gave him a thumbs down, then a thumbs up, then a thumbs sideways.

Loosely translated this means,"NO we shouldn't cancel!! It'll be great! Orrr...sort of great....hopefully...."

So we went and the food was a DELIGHT and our server was AWESOME annnnnnd we pretty much didn't talk at all. We did communicate, Justin is highly skilled at my caveman sign-language attempts and reads lips well. Although it was the quietest date we've ever been on, I'm SO glad we went.

Makes me realize how much more I talk than Justin....and how much of it isn't important.

At one point in the evening, someone we couldn't see shrieked out the loudest, squawkiest female laugh I'd ever heard and Justin and I, because we're horribly immature, nearly died laughing.

Which is really quite pathetic because we really almost DIED laughing. First of all, I had a completely silent laugh and Justin was all high pitched and hoarse due to coughing for the past two weeks, and then we both lapsed into major coughing fits and had to dive for our water to help us swallow all the phlegm we hacked up! Can't really spit that in your napkin at a restaurant.

My only consolation is that dozens of people we know are dealing with the same back to back sicknesses this spring. Otherwise I would be tearing out my hair....because, you know, that's a good solution....

What to do....

2011-02-28T20:28:00.000-08:00

...when your sweet 19 month old starts using your "mom voice" and your "mom sayings" against you!?

I hear a lot of very loud, angry "NO's!!!!" out of her so we've been working on turning that monster into a sweet "no thank you." And there is measurable success. I have no desire to squash (all) her opinions and I don't mind if she voices her say but it does matter to me that she is polite and kind. Howevvvvvvveeeerrrrr......our "no thank you" practices have turned into something like this:

Me: Evanie, time to go potty.

Evanie: No hanks.

......

Me: Ok Evanie, two more bites and then you're all done.

Evanie: No hanks.

.......

Me: Evanie, 1 more minute and then it's naptime.

Evanie: No hanks.

Awesome. I have to admit, at this point I pretty much have to turn away to hide my smile every time but still...what a stinker!

Tonight she pulled out a new one on me. She's turned into a show watching fiend since I started my final online course because I often have the TV babysit for me. (By often I mean 1 or 2 shows in a day) I don't feel guilty because it's a short term situation and only used when I must, but I'm wondering if I need to find a new system. It's quickly turning every day into one big long-

Evanie: "Show peas mama?"
Me: "Nope, no more shows today!"
Evanie: "Show PEASSSS MAMA!"
Me: "No Evanie, we're all done with shows."
Evanie: "SHOW! SHOW! SHOW! SHOW!!"

Repeat scenario 700 times.

So anyway, we were going through this tonight right before bedtime and instead of throwing the "show fit" she put her little hands on either side of my chin (like I do to her), and very calmly and matter-of-factly said:

Evanie: "Yisten...yisten...yisten mama. Yisten. Show."
Me: "Um, are you seriously telling me to 'listen'?"
Evanie: "Ya. Yisten. Show."
Me: "Unreal..............the answer is still no."

She had the serious face, the raised eyebrows, the no nonsense tone- all of it. I was a little scared.

Thankfully, although Evanie spends most of every day pretending to be a big girl, far bigger than I am ready for her to be....she still sometimes lets me hold her and cuddle her and rub her back and kiss her about 74 times a day. And I've clearly taught her to be a regular kiss dispenser because she now has a routine where she kisses me on each cheek, the chin, the forehead, the lips, and then the nose. I just love it!

Here is my big girl. We were out getting groceries and because I'm a fun mom (or because I feel guilty for being anything BUT a fun mom between daycare, school, and pregnancy!) we stopped a bought a balloon. And because she asked the lady so nicely, we got it for free!

We also found new fuzzy slippers for $3 to keep her toes warm on this winter that wants to last forever.

P.S. I cannot take good pictures, much less great pictures and I'm sorry. It is partially me and partially the camera and I don't know how to upgrade either of us!

I Like Her

2011-02-21T08:09:00.000-08:00

She's a somewhat uncooperative nut but I just love her.

Untitled from Carolyn Wiebe on Vimeo.

Between doing nearly fulltime daycare and a recent housesitting/childcare week, it has been well over two weeks since Justin and I had a day to spend with just Evanie so this weekend was a real treat. She ignored her toys and followed us around and "helped" with everything. She loves to carry folded laundry for mama, empty the silverware from the dishwasher, ask daddy "what's that?" about everything he touches, vacuum beside me (she has her own plastic vac....best $.99 I ever spent!!), hold the dustpan for mama, throw away random carpet fuzzies in the "dabidge" , and sample everything I chop while making dinner.

She also delights in sitting ON my feet whenever I'm working in the kitchen. I can't decide if I'm more annoyed or more thrilled, it's a good mix of both. How many people love you so much that they'd rather sit on your feet all afternoon then go play with their 8 boxes of toys!?

After bathtime on Saturday evening we introduced her to the vice that is McDonalds icecream cone. She was SO excited! (And I was up with a killer stomach ache for hours. Dam dairy!) And although she's not much of a cuddler I got so many kisses and hugs and cuddles this weekend that I know she enjoyed having mom and dad to herself for 2 days! This morning she woke up with a fever at 5am and who can resist a tiny little voice asking, " 'ay down, mommy an' daddy?" So we cuddled some more!

True Love

2011-02-16T08:15:00.000-08:00

So you may recall my post a while back about Evanie's deep and profound attachment to the RBC mascot, RB. I'm sure you haven't forgotten since I onlyupdate this thing every other month....

Every time we go into the bank she is so unbelievably excited to be surrounded on all sides by his picture that all the bank employees are aware of her little passion. (They all SAY they think it's cute but I'm probably the mom who brings in "that weird little girl who likes RB.")

A few weeks back I got a call from our local bank asking if I was the mother of the little girl who loved RB. I proudly answered yes and they said if I brought her to the bank, they have something they'd like to give her. And so we did. And as soon as we walked in ladies in heels came clicking out of the woodworks, squealing like little school girls. They were all so excited to present to Evanie, RBC's new stuffy, RB!!

Evanie's initial response was shell shock but as soon as they pulled that little guy out of his box she went nuts. Much squealing and many kisses...

And now, he is her playmate, her sleeping buddy, her dance partner, and the one toy that she actually thinks is capable of human activities. This morning she was trying to get a ball from beneath her bed and she couldn't reach it so she said, "RB get it," and shoved him underneath. Such a quirky little girl!

Down dog

2011-01-10T12:55:00.000-08:00

I've been hearing such positive things about yoga lately that I decided I'd ease my way back into being active with some prenatal yoga.

One library stop later and I was armed for the task. This morning I stuck in the dvd and was doing my best to keep my shaky legs rooted and my chest lifted. My mind was relaxed, my breathing slow and steady, and my eyes closed.....when the corner of a dvd case came slamming down onto my skull!! My eyes flew open to meet a guilty pair of baby blues about 2 inches from my face and a relaxed yoga session quickly turned into a contortionist dance as I stormed around trying to ease the throbbing cranium!

So my word of advice is this: no matter how much you love your toddler, even if you'd give your life for theirs in a heartbeat, NEVER do the down dog with your eyes closed if this toddler is awake and on the loose! It is a lose lose situation in every way!

Testing....testing....1...2....3...

2011-01-08T20:50:00.000-08:00

Hello? Is this thing on?

Soooo.....um....Happy Thanksgiving? Merry Christmas and a Happy New year? Where do you start when it's been so long?

I ask myself what on earth I've been doing every day that I can't fit the odd update or picture into my schedule and I'm not really sure of the answer. I'm tempted to think I'm a professional time "mismanager" but I'll just brush past that thought as quickly as possible.

Phewf. Close one.

To be honest, I sat on the couch for a large portion of December and am truly very behind in pretty much everything. Christmas Eve came and not only was there no baking or goodies, there were no groceries and no presents. Surprisingly we found a bag of chips which we never have on hand (I think an angel dropped them off) and made some killer nachos for our Christmas Eve dinner. And for our Christmas breakfast we turned our last pieces of stale bread into french toast. I can't pretend it was "killer" as we realized we had about 1 TB of syrup between the three of us and as it turns out, dry bread kinda makes dry french toast....but I have the privilege of being married to the finest man I know and he was so grateful and encouraging that I dare say we enjoyed our dry, syrup-less, french toast!

And despite having not bought a single gift for any of us, even Christmas morning was a pleasure. Evanie had a new baby doll given to her by a friend and between this and having both parents to play with and a pajama dance party, her Christmas was a smash hit!

Now as to WHY I sat on the couch all of Dec. 2010....this is the best of all. I was sick. But not just any sickness, morning sickness!! YAY for a new little baby! And like a good little baby it stopped making me sick on Christmas Eve! So although the material items were a bit lacking on Christmas day, the excitement and delight of feeling healthy and carrying a little bitty baby were all the Christmas spirit needed!

I am currently 11 weeks along, feeling much much better, due on July 24, and on Wednesday we heard a healthy little heartbeat for the first time! We're very excited! I think even Evanie is excited; every time she notices the little bump (code for: my stomach sagging over my waistband!) she pats it and says, "hi baby!" So cute!!

So happy new year to all and here is to a wonderful 2011!

Some decorating fun for you. Sorry about the poor lighting in our living room! Password as always is > evanie <

Untitled from Carolyn Wiebe on Vimeo.

RB- Arbie- R'bee

2010-11-03T07:22:00.000-07:00

Evanie has developed a few intense loves lately and while some of them make sense, others are a little....unique. Like RB. She loves/delights in/is obsessed with the little character on all the Royal Bank ads and promotions.

This little guy right here makes her all shriek-y and jittery! Every time she sees him on a poster, brochure, website, or bill her whole body lights up and she shrieks "RB!!" as if she was greeting a long lost friend! So the other morning I pulled up a picture of him online and used our web-cam to snap a few pictures of her expression every time I flipped to the picture of him.

What better way to start your day off on the right foot than with some quality time with RB!

What? Where did he go?

THERE he is!!!

And again!

And again!!

Please don't be afraid of the scary eyeball peeking out from behind Evanie's bed head! It's just me. I was using Evanie to screen my own bed head and forgot to duck behind on one picture!

On Pooping...

2010-09-15T13:04:00.001-07:00

Yes that's right- a post about pooping. Don't worry...this has nothing to do with adult excreta.

We are nearing the one year anniversary of successful cloth diapering. I know, yay!- right? And guess how many loads of reeking diapers I have washed in the past 12 months - A MILLION! Not a word of a lie. One freaking million diapers. (To my sisters, shush, I am NOT a drama queen!)

To hear hard core cloth diapering advocates describe it- cloth diapering consists of snuggling your darling baby's precious skin in the incredible softness of organic, unbleached, triple spun, hand woven, elf stitched, thirsty layers of hemp fibers which wick away unwanted wetness, smell like lavender, and never leak on mom, the bed, clothes, the special blankie, on floor model playpens in a department store.... (What? Who said that?) And if there are any deposits of solids, simply flip the flushable liner into your shiny porcelain toilet, and flush away. And if there are ever times that mom forgets to put in the flushable liner, cheerily lift the solids out of the layers of unbleached hemp, and flush as usual.

Well perhaps I missed some sort of baby poop memo but as it turns out, my darling daughter (and she is darling- I'm not being sarcastic about this!) does not so much "deposit solids" as she does "sh** with reckless abandon!" The said "lifting of the solids" looks a lot more like holding your breath for 15 minutes while scraping poop and violated green peppers from a desperately-needs-to-be-bleached hemp diaper!

Sigh. For those of you who are cloth diapering and loving it, I apologize for being a downer. And for those who are thinking about it, don't let me discourage you. It's totally do-able. But when someone says, "Oh it's every bit as easy as disposables once you're used to it,"-kick them in the shins for lying! How can it be just as easy as wrapping it up and throwing it in the garbage!? The only diapering option as easy as disposable is- DISPOSABLES!

That being said, it's not nearly as disgusting or difficult as our mother's generation. I know this because I clearly remember the old style of cloth diapering. Having 8 younger siblings (for those of you who did not know this, quick, sit down. ....oh and I also have 2 older siblings...) has given me plenty of diaper changing opportunities. The last few babies were in disposables but my mom, bless her wonderful heart, went the cloth option for most of us. Here's a fun fact for you: did you know that the old style cloth diapers (5x2 feet of fabric) are actually not bulky enough to be wrung out in an old fashioned wringer washer. True story. There's a bunching technique that has to be applied in order to wring water out of the fabric. See, my generation doesn't know essentials like this!

Where was I?.....Oh yes, it's not as hard as it used to be. 80% of the time it's just a basic flip it into the washer procedure. 20% of the time, it inspires all manner of profanities. The smell alone is almost enough to make me throw up my hands. It makes my eyes water even if I'm plugging my nose! But it is true that they can be quite simple, very cute, and of course- wait for it- good for the environment! It's just that, on any given day the diapers either need to be washed, need to be hung up to dry, or need to be folded and put away. (Or need to be thrown, kit and caboodle, into the nearest I QUIT garbage can!) A solid year of thinking about dirty diapers every day is a lot of thinking about dirty diapers. Think of all the brain space and to do list slots that will open up when she's potty trained!! I'll be able to solve crimes, unlock medical mysteries, and spell words without spell check!

I'm sure I could rant on for many more paragraphs but as it turns out, I have a load of clean diapers waiting to be hung up. This is not a lie. It is in fact, this load that inspired me to quickly sit and spew this into cyber space!

How about something happier...like this sweet picture:

This is one of the many beautiful pictures the wonderful Heidi took of my sweet little girl/pooper. If you want to see all of them you can go to Evanie's site for the rest. (Her name is the password.)

Also, Steph, if you read this blog and you're still planning on cloth diapering, all of what I just wrote is a funny joke. It's actually easy and fun and smells like lavender. :)

There Was Screaming...

2010-08-10T14:31:00.000-07:00

* Braids were made possible by my baby girl's amazing amounts of GLORIOUS hair!!

Happy Birthday Evanie Josephine!

2010-08-05T11:00:00.000-07:00

EVANIE IS ONE!!

I'm not even going to say how I can't believe how fast the year has gone and how it was just yesterday that she was tiny and floppy and newborn. I'm not going to say it.

Actually I can't even write that without completely choking up so it's more like: I CAN'T BELIEEEEVE mmmbbmmfmfbb GOOOOONNEEE phmmmmgg *hiccup* my BAABBBEEEE eeeevvmmmm WAAAAAAA!

Oh dear.

What I'm trying to say is that my little Evanie is 1 year old and this is awesome even though it makes my life flash before my eyes and I'm already weeping in part over her wedding day. I'm afraid the future will come zooming in and steal my little munchkin (or troll, depends on the hour) from her crib. I guess this should be my continual reminder to make each moment count.

I would love to be all "tech-savvy-mother-who-finds-the-time-to-make-a-meaningful-photo-montage-or-sweet-video-for-the-baby-I-love-most-in-the-world" (while also decorating M. Stewert-esque cupcakes and handcrafting eco friendly gifts and goodie bags!) to post here for you all to see but as it turns out, I'm not that mother. She's actually quite lucky to have gotten a cake -because she's one, she doesn't care.

However, as much as she neither knows or cares that she just reached a whole year old (...or to put it in another 4 yr olds words, "she's not zero anymore!"), Justin and I care so we celebrated the day by taking her to a petting zoo and ended it with cake and icecream and good friends. And balloons. Which I think were the highlight. Or maybe it was her Nana flying all the way out from Saskatchistan to be here. That was definitely OUR highlight.

Allow me to give you another of my riveting Evanie updates and end it with a lot (I already know I'm going to overdue it so you may as well prepare for it) pictures of the big day. I do have about 200 of the event.

Evanie seems to have 'grown up' a lot in the last month. She's looking and acting more like a little girl than a baby every day. At one year Evanie is enthusiastic, cheerful, energetic, determined, loud, social, funny, hungry, and busy. She also hits, screams, manipulates, and pinches...but that part is a secret.

She loves fruit, the water, her daddy, her blanket, visitors, strangers, babies, and balls. But I do think her greatest loves are holding our hands and walking, dogs of all shapes and sizes, and her mom. In that order. Multiple times a day she scoots her little bum over to me, grabs my thumbs, says "gak gak gak (walk)," and bolts for the stairs. She loves nothing more than for me to walk her down the road to the neighbors dogs. I don't think she'd ever need food or sleep if we stood out there all day and let the dogs lick us! However, as much as she loves to "gak" with our help, she's gone from taking 3-5 steps on her own to absolutely refusing a single step. I have no idea what that's about.

She just got her seventh tooth... and it's crooked. She's 28.5 inches tall and weighs 17.2 lbs. She signs, blows kisses, counts (it's the cutest thing ever...she has no idea what she's doing...), and says I love nana, daddy, mama, puppies, and garlic. Yes, she says I love garlic. Her dad taught her that. She's also trying to mimic other words and has made up an entirely new language of her own.

She has her dad's 'insta-tan' abilities, a few hours in the sun and she has a bathing suit tan. She also has his internal thermostat which means that at night, I'm the only one in the house who uses a blanket. She is almost constantly happy, smiles so big it brings tears to my eyes....and still rarely laughs. Last night she actually belly laughed and it may have been the first time. She hates her carseat and loves her stroller. She hates formula and loves cows milk. She still nurses twice a day but honestly, I don't know if she'd even notice if I quit cold turkey-she doesn't ask for it or care anymore. She's way more excited about cups with straws and solid food. She loves iced chai....shhhh....don't tell anyone I give sips of caffeine to a one year old. Don't worry, it's not a habit. Now when I have my chai I put milk over ice for her and she sips it with a straw; as long as I don't let her first taste what I'm drinking she never knows the difference.

When I'm working in the kitchen she's constantly there, pulling herself up on my legs, hugging my feet, and singing her "mama" song. I love it. It's incredibly inconvenient because every step I take she just repositions and pulls herself up again but I love it anyway.

Actually that's kind of what all parenting is like, incredibly inconvenient but I love it!

And now....700 pictures:

All ready to go....clearly bursting with excitement.

What better way to begin than with a little sheep riding...or mutton busting as I believe it's called. That's right, I'm from Montana. We do this (on real sheep) with our kids for fun there.

Daddy is teaching her how to pet the animals. There were signs on every pen saying "Caution, animals may bite" but we ignored them. I mean what kind of animal would bite a tiny baby girl anyway?!

Seriously, if I liked animals, I would have to have a long eared rabbit! SO cute! And floppy!

I love her baby softness!

Loooooook......how can baby animals be so CUTE!

Evanie was very unsure about this bully!

So we fed the smaller ones.

Our non walking "gak-er."

I took a moment to just bless all of Farmer John's animals. It felt like the thing to do.

As you can see, the wart hog was not exactly her favorite...

...but who can blame her. It's ridiculously ugly!

Justin noted our postures and expressions in these pictures. You'd think we were related or something....

She actually fed a few animals!! Without losing fingers!

A little unsure of the squeaking guinea pig...

Trying it out...

Annnnd going in for a giant open mouthed kiss!

The classic, "OOOOO-oooooooo!"

Awwww....seriously kids and baby animals are just precious together! Look at her little hands holding the guinea pig!

Checking out some of her new toys. She did not like Auntie Sally but when she got her the purple car she warmed up a bit. You can see her checking out aunt Sally, wondering if she deserves a second chance!

Why wait for a piece of cake when you can dive into the whole thing!?

I think she liked it!

You are not allowed to hate me for my 'many pictures all in a row' technique. It's my blog and I can do what I want. Also I don't know what I'm doing so this dictates the "rules" of lame picture posting.

Hair Ball

2010-07-22T09:28:00.000-07:00

So one of my most embarrassing mom moments yet happened the other day in the grocery store. And it was all because of a misunderstanding that I never got the chance to rectify. Somewhere out there is a sweet grandmother who thinks I'm Momzilla.

Evanie and I were strolling along, minding our own business....actually, I was minding my own business. Evanie was shrieking at everyone she saw. Because of said shrieking, a lovely grandmotherly little woman came over and started talking to Evanie and me. Naturally, within about 30 seconds she was animatedly talking about her own grand-daughter who was the same age and she was so excited to see her again, etc, etc. In response I asked, "So, does she live here?" -and suddenly everything got awkward. The grandma gave me a rather confused look and responded with an almost apologetic, "I uh...well, I guess not as much as her...but a little...."

What? How does that make sense?

Because of her awkwardness and the odd answer to my question I suddenly felt awkward and didn't know how to respond to the misunderstanding so we just basically stammered out some, "er...I have to buy some butter, er, goodbye" and both scuttled opposite directions.

As I trolley-ed my way from one aisle to the next I tried to figure out what went wrong and what she thought I said when I noticed that I was absentmindedly running my fingers through Evanie's hair. I saw her cute little ponytails and was horrified to realize this lady thought I was trying to figure out if her grandbaby had hair! "So, does she have HAIR? Does YOUR grandbaby have as much hair as MY baby? Because MY baby has LOTS of hair. Have you noticed her PONYTAILS? This is really the only reason I HAD a child. I'd be ashamed if I had a baby with any LESS HAIR!"

Ugh! I feel like a jerk but really, I'm a nice person! I wish I could tell her that. I can just envision the conversation she had with her daughter about the snooty jerk she met in the grocery store.

Oh well...at least God knows I'm nice.

When all else fails....pictures....

2010-06-23T14:55:00.000-07:00

The giant houseboat we lived on for a few days.

Our fearless captain. (Evanie, not Papa)

In order to be fair she let others help her from time to time...

...but she was the main one in charge.

New toy from her Nana and Papa.

It provides endless delight!

Bath-time on the boat.

Nap-time on the boat. It was basically like a large cupboard! :)

We took the opportunity to get off and stretch our legs....once....

It was raining which intrigued Evanie.

The catch of the day. Actually the only catch of the whole trip!

Elijah and Evanie were big help when it came to transporting gear on and off the boat.

And here's a shot of the guitar Justin made...being played by his dad here.

And by his brother here....

Pretty fine piece of work!

9 Months

2010-04-27T19:02:00.000-07:00

Well, little Evanie Josephine has officially been outside the womb as long as she was inside; she hit the 9 month mark! Before I know it we'll be celebrating her first year!

You know, it's almost shocking to me how consuming these little people are. Not a single day has gone by since that little pink line showed up on my pregnancy test that she hasn't taken up brain space and time. My entire life is currently invested in this little two foot package. I don't mind it, in fact I love it and I know she'll be grown up before I'm ready, it's just a bit staggering when I think of what a life hog she is! :)

So at nine months, here's what's going on in her life.

We've lived to see 4 teeth arrive. I found teething to be ridiculously stressful. Way too much crying and not nearly enough sleep for either of us but praise God, the Chiclets have appeared. And they really do look like chiclets. She has a significant gap between her top front teeth which I find quite endearing but for her sake I hope the adult ones come in without the 1/8 inch of gum in between them! :)
She says dada, mama, papa, and bye bye. Actually she loves to yell "dada" at the top of her lungs.
She's loud. Everything she does is loud. She loves shrieking and babbling at the top of her lungs. On nice days I have to set her outside on the deck just so I can think above her over the top happiness.
She thinks her farts are funny. This she gets from her dad.
She weighed in at 15lbs 2 oz which is surprising to me because she still nurses 4-5 times a day and has 2-3 meals and snacks on everything I eat. This is also from her dad.
She is 26.5 inches tall. I think she has a bit of 'runt' in her.

Getting measured. Note the nervous stance as she's pressed against the wall.

She's begun the bum scoot. It's slow and painful at this point but it has revolutionized her way of life because now, instead of screaming frantically when her toys are out of reach, she can get them herself! Yay! She'll still shriek if the girl I babysit is here because she knows the little one will fetch her toys for her. Mom...not so much.
Still no rolling. And she is terribly offended if we roll her over against her will.
She claps her hands, dances to music, wiggles her head on command, stomps her feet, and shows us how "big" she is. And has recently begun stingily giving out kisses.
She can sign "more" which is AWESOME because now she doesn't have to go into hysterics between each bite! Seriously, baby signs is a genius idea!
She just started walking along furniture and loves holding our hands to walk around the house.
She LOVES her dad and she LOVES the girl I babysit.
She has boundless enthusiasm for everything in life, especially food....and mostly nursing.
Currently I only change maybe 2 poopy diapers a week because she goes regularly on the toilet. Usually after her second nap. Which is awesome.
She continues to be the most indecisive baby. She sucked her thumb regularly for about a month and then quite cold turkey. Now she's back to the on again, off again with the pacifier. If I give it to her she chucks it across the room but if I leave it in her crib she usually ends up with it in her mouth by morning.
80% of the time she goes to bed like a champ. 20% of the time she screams and screams and rages about it. Same percentages apply to sleeping through the night.
She is ridiculously social which is awesome for an aspiring hermit of a mother because she shrieks at people to get their attention which invariably leads them to talk to me.
She is usually 110% happy and brightens each day - but when she is grumpy, she is also 110% grumpy.
She loves to smile huge, face splitting grins; which in turn, makes people around her smile!

As a result of the bum scoot...things are no longer as safe as they were a few days ago.

Dump it out...

Spread it around...

"Mom, can I chew on this?"

Yelling for Dad from Carolyn Wiebe on Vimeo.

The Scoot from Carolyn Wiebe on Vimeo.

I know mothers everywhere have a special spot in their hearts for their kids but I have to say; this little bitty kid has a really special spot in my heart!

A Tiny Soap Box

2010-04-07T14:50:00.000-07:00

I'd say one of the hardest parts of being a parent is the requirement to suddenly know everything. I need to be a nutritionist, a lactation consultant, a dermatologist, an environmental geologist, fluent in sign language, an allergy specialist, a nurse, an insomniac (for extra study time), a psychiatrist, a sleep therapist...the list goes on. (And then they want us to be "yummy mummies" too, give me a break!) Sometimes I wish I lived in "the olden days" where a person was allowed to know very little. If you were a corn farmer than you knew all the ins and outs of corn and that was your field but no one expected you to also know about cotton or tobacco or global economics or allergies or the price of tea on China.

But I live in today. And in the Age of Information if I DON'T educate myself then I'm a sitting duck for blindly following all of the latest fads and fashions...right over the next cliff. There are a plethora of experts out there vying for my undying allegiance and I am unwilling to sit at their feet and swallow each word they spoon feed me.

I don't like being told what to do, I never have. If someone says jump all I want to do is sit and this hasn't changed now that I'm a mother. Now when I get my embossed list of "2010 new rules for raising your child" I have to look everything up for myself because I know that the 2011 list will be entirely different and this makes me feel responsible for figuring out my own way for my own family. You know what I'm talking about: bottle feeding is best/ breastfeeding is best, sleep on their tummies/ sleep on their backs, feed 5 minutes on each side/ oops that doesn't work, this drug is safe/ this drug causes cancer... It's frustrating to stay on top of the latest scientific finds, even doctors can't stay on top of ALL of it.

So on this note and at the risk of stepping on a toe or two, I'm recommending some books. If you're a person who is concerned about the vaccination controversy I'd recommend that part of your reading and research include these two books.

I am hardly an extremist, I don't have an agenda, I do not hate doctors, and I'm not going to picket or chain myself to a tree; I just found these books to be informative and if there is anyone reading this blog who is looking for information, you may benefit from these books.

Lots of the vaccination information on both sides is radical and hysterical and I'm not interested in the 'foaming at the mouth' opinions. These books aren't necessarily for or against vaccination but both encourage a common sense approach. Jenny McCarthy has also written her personal story called Louder Than Words which is my next read. And the best thing about these books is that you can get them for free at your local library.

And one quick photo of the little miss eating her Easter treats. And no, I didn't feed her chocolate. I'm a nutritionist/dietitian/allergy specialist, remember?

Rude Rude Rude

2010-02-18T08:00:00.000-08:00

It used to be that rude people made me want to cry.

Actually lets be honest, rude people make me want to cry. Sometimes in fact, I get watery eyes for real.

However, now that I'm not 7 (or 26) anymore, sometimes they tip me past the "I really feel like crying right now" stage and straight into "I am going to scratch your eyes and then kick you in the shins" stage. I just don't understand why people choose to be such horrible humans sometimes.

Let me quickly interject that I actually don't meet many rude people in my life. I'd say most people are very nice but the few that aren't really deserve a good eye scratching.

A particularly upsetting one to me is the rude driver. Occasionally a person gets stuck behind you who would rather be in front of you and their solution is to driverightontopofyouuntilitdrivesyoucrazy! Why? Why do people do this? It's DANGEROUS! I'll admit I'm a lead foot, I truly enjoy speeding (I could actually call it a simple pleasure in my life), but I don't try to run people off the road!

I recently had the pleasure of driving in front of Rammy Rob and didn't drive my car off the road fast enough for him so he shot past me in the right lane just as I was moving right to let him by! He could have KILLED us! Not only was I furious because of his rudeness but mother bear was ready to jump down his throat for endangering my baby! I might have actually prayed that God would get him stopped by a cop. Believe it or not, about 5 minutes later not one but TWO cops showed up but sadly, they were already busy with two other speeders. Probably Rammy's inlaws!

I also shook my fist and yelled but he (or she actually now that I think of it) had tinted windows so I have no idea if my vicious threatening had any impact or not. I like to think it made Rammy cry.

I can understand impatience, I am sometimes impatient too. But not on the road. Not where impatience can lead to death and mayhem.

On this cheery thought...I've run out of steam...

Pictures

2010-02-16T08:00:00.000-08:00

A friend of ours who does fantastic photos had a quick photo shoot with Evanie a few weeks ago. You can sample some of them here.

Funny kid...

2010-02-15T11:55:00.000-08:00

Untitled from Carolyn Wiebe on Vimeo.

Evie Update

2010-02-15T10:50:00.000-08:00

I was talking to the mother of a cute 6 month old girl the other day and I thought, wow, her baby is so big. Then later I was holding Evanie and I realized that actually the two were pretty much exactly the same size. In my head she's still my tiny baby but in reality, she's my 14lb 11oz almost 7 month old little girl!

I really have enjoyed every moment, (except the sick moments when I can't help but worry a little) even most of the night-time moments, and have tried to soak up this time but it's still going by too quickly!

I'll be honest, I want another one. Who would like to be pregnant for me?

Some updates on the munchkin:

She takes a bottle. I was shocked, SHOCKED, that she took it first try because she's always hated soothers. What a nice surprise! I bought this nifty little hand pump and suddenly, Justin and I can plan a date!! I'm actually very excited about it!
We're having troubles with starting solids. The day she hit 6 months old she tripled her appetite so we've doubled her feedings and tried out solids. I've been grinding and pureeing like Martha Stewart! She loves them but her poor little baby system is struggling.
She pees on the toilet! It's not foolproof but it is the cutest thing! And no I'm not potty training her, just getting an early start to hopefully keep it from being such an intimidating transition later on.
She hasn't rolled once since she started sitting. Not once.
Justin has been practicing "dada" with her for several days and now she says it constantly.
She also fake coughs which I think is funny and adorable every single time and Justin says is "terrible, just TERRIBLE!"
Thank goodness so far she doesn't seem to have inherited my distaste (some might call it fear) for water. She loves both showers and baths and doesn't mind getting it all over her face. I cringe just watching.

For all the extra eating she's doing she's slowed her weight gain a little. I like to think it's all going to the brain.
We've quickly realized that she's got the long torso, short leg syndrome. This was a joint effort by both her stubby legged parentals.
She likes to cross those stubby legs at the ankles when she sits.
She growls.
She hisses.
Every now and then she makes girlie sounds. But this is rare.
She chews on EVERYTHING but her item of choice is strings. Strings on my hoodies, on her booties, on scarves...my shoe laces. If you notice I smell like saliva please tell me.
No teeth yet. Just a big gummy smile. And occasionally a big gummy scream...as the following pictures illustrate.

DON'T take my picture, get me OUT of here!

Nobooooddddyyy looooooves me!

Even her grouchy faces make me want to kiss her!

Out With a...Fizzle...

2010-01-14T13:30:00.000-08:00

What an anticlimactic way to end a blogging year....silence.

Don't worry, I have excuses. Like H1N1. It sucked. Evanie got an ear infection as a result and that was honestly probably the most horrible 24 hours I've ever spent. My poor poor screaming baby. At 1am on the second night of screaming I lost my wits entirely saying I was either going to take her in to the hospital for morphine or jump off the balcony with Evanie. Justin rescued both of us even though he had a soaring fever and rocked her until she finally fell asleep and then Praise God, when she woke up in the morning it was finally gone!

Also I've rediscovered a reading addiction. I actually counted it up the other day and I think I've read 28 books since Evanie's birth. Most of these books were aimed at 17 year old readers. I feel a little silly about this. And a little bit excited to start the next one. It's gotten to the point where I actually have to hide my books from Justin because I feel guilty. Especially when he comes home after work to no dinner and me in my pajamas, breakfast crumbs still scattered across the counter....

...that was an exaggeration.

Lets see, what else, oh yes, bronchiolitis. Evanie got it. And we were away for Christmas. And I've started babysitting a 2 1/2 yr old.

I think that's all of my excuses.

Not to worry, 2010 will, I'm sure, be filled with sporadic updates and stacks of pictures of the little munchkin. There are too many relatives who live far away....wait...make that ALL of our relatives live far enough away that there is currently no danger of me scrapping this blog altogether. The Grandmas and Nanas would rise in revolt and we wouldn't want that.

And on that note....

See how proud she is of her newest trick? She hit 5 months at Christmas and decided it was time to grow up so she started sitting.

And another one. I wonder if she'll always have a little crooked smile...

She also just started sucking her thumb and makes farting noises with her mouth. Not blowing raspberries, actual farting noises. Justin practiced with her and she mimicked him. I know, it's lovely.

Happy 2010!

...so little time...

2009-11-25T22:17:00.000-08:00

We're leaving tomorrow to join my family in Washington for Thanksgiving so I have no time for writing, only time for pictures.

Since Grandma from the states gets to see Evanie this weekend, these pictures are for Grandma from Canada...Nana...

This was her very first highchair experience. She looks a little puny in here!

...not that she minded...she felt very grown up.

Nice cross-eyed look!

Here she's hanging out with her great grandma.

Blowing bubbles at Papa.

First hair cut.

And now a few of her first apple...

She love love loved this apple!

She shrieked like we were pulling her hair if we tried to take it away!

Do you see that tiny pigtail she's sporting?

Happy American Thanksgiving Nana.

Evanie and Aiden

2009-11-03T09:00:00.000-08:00

Evanie's second cousin, Aiden (and his mum) has been spending the weekend here with us. This morning Aiden heard her talking in her crib and went in to greet her. He was excited that she was smiling at him so when I got her up he thought she might be fun to play with. Unfortunately he discovered her imagination wasn't quite up to speed with his and she wasn't quite as fun as he'd hoped! But he DID try to teach her how to spell his name and clap like a "big kid!"

As I'm sure you hoped, I took more than the recommended allotment of pictures of this event.

Initial eager anticipation on Aiden's part. Little does he know...

Sleepy little learner...

Waking up is hard...

This was "how to spell my name," she didn't get it but she thought he was cute...

...and funny...

Since spelling didn't go so well he thought he'd teach her to clap...

He was excited when she grabbed his fingers...

She gave it all she had...

"Auntie Carolyn, she's not opening her hands...like this..." :)

Aiden and Evanie from Carolyn Wiebe on Vimeo.

So now I have to have more kids...because that was pretty cute.

October

2009-10-29T11:58:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted any Evanie news or pictures on here for a few weeks *gasp* so here's a quick photo update.

The month of October from Carolyn Wiebe on Vimeo.

Learning to blow bubbles from Carolyn Wiebe on Vimeo.

She's a very vocal baby; often I'm alerted to her nap being over because I hear her lecturing the stuffed animals in her crib. (Yes, that's right, there are stuffed animals in her crib. Come on, she can't even roll over yet, the most dangerous item in her crib is her own fingers which routinely jab her in the eyes.) When I go in she's usually in there chewing on her blanket and fist. There are few things more fun then hearing her little shriek of delight when she sees my face!!

She's still a very good baby, even though she's no longer sleeping through the night every night. I'm not sure why but now she likes to have a meal around 4 most nights. My motto with her is "Everything is Normal."

She is a pretty good napper although she doesn't like falling asleep without me there. She's getting better at it though. The pacifier is again her enemy and she gags and sputters and howls if we give it to her. I might actually stop trying this time. Things that DO put her to sleep are: sleeping in my bed with me - the vacuum - skyping.

Things she hates: hats, her car seat, me sneezing, having her arms restricted, and apparently her uncle Luke. :) (just kidding, but last night she cried every time she looked at him.)

She smiles almost constantly when you interact with her. She loves music. She has the most amazing hair. So amazing I generally put hats or head bands on her to cover it up in public!:) On one side she's got a natural mullet and on the other side she has a fantastic Jewish sidelock display. And a small section on the crown of her head likes to stand straight up as some of the pictures show! It's exasperating and delightful at the same time!:)

To sum up, I am loving being her mom.

Epidemic of 2009

2009-10-21T13:00:00.000-07:00

I have grave news. H1N1 has officially reached The Hundred Acre Woods!

The WHO (World Health Organization) released the report yesterday, October 20. As of yet there has been no fatalities but the outlook is bleak; the official status is a level 3 threat.

Currently Eeyore is the main concern as his constant state of depression makes his immune system much more susceptible to succumbing to this dread flu.

Understandably Piglet is in quarantine until further notice...

More To Love

2009-10-15T08:27:00.000-07:00

I know that it's been a solid year since I've posted anything other than baby/Justin related items....but I feel I should just take a moment and talk about Costco.

I love Costco. I do. I really love Costco. There are dozens of reasons why...and they all come in bulk for an incredible price! I don't shop at Costco often because the nearest one is about 45 minutes away but when I get the chance to go; I fall in love all over again.

How much do I love it...let me count the ways...

It's clean. I love that it is always clean. They don't even have germs. And if there is ever a spill or a mess or restocking happening; they tape it off like a crime scene, complete with guards! This is how seriously they take it and I am ever so grateful! None of this repulsive digging through the milk gallons to find the one with the least amount of smelly milk dripping from it. They are clean and dry thank you very much.

I love that the aisle are wide. I know that we live in a fast paced society and most of us need to just chill (blah blah) already but come on! These grocery stores with the 2 foot aisles are an abomination! I've nearly chewed my bottom lip off while being stuck behind Thrifty Jane as she deliberates between the 685 types of tea. "Hmmm...should I go for the sale or Presidents Choice...sale....or Presidents choice.....$.10 difference...should I splurge...lets give it a sniff...hmmm....Presidents Choice........sale......" MOVE OVER AND LET ME PASS GOSHDARNIT WOMAN! I've never said that, I just think it, tears of frustration stinging my eyes!

And I love, it goes without saying, the samples. I'm never going to buy the items so I always feel a measure of guilt as I sample every one but you know what- they offer so I'll never refuse. Besides, it sometimes saves us money because I won't have to buy something to eat since I went racing out the door (fast paced society) and forgot to pack a lunch.

I love that the employees are tidy and oddly, clean. It must be in the Policies and Procedures Manual...must shower within 4 hours of starting work. I'm not kidding, if you've never noticed, pay attention next time. They're always clean. And they have nice hair. Also not kidding. (Oddly enough...so do their customers.)

I love that the cashiers are fast. Seriously, I've never ever ever gotten the cashier who wants to stand and talk about her cats while holding a bag of oats. You know the kind, you can't make eye contact while they're talking because you're staring at their hands, willing them to just "swipe the bar code while you talk....just swipe the bar code...come on hands....move across the scanner...." Nope, not at Costco...those ladies can talk and move in one motion and they get it done in record time! It's amazing.

I love it that their products are almost always the best. I mean you can just count on it. I did buy a huge set of pens, pencils, and markers once that are....well, not amazing exactly. But luckily all 130 only cost about $2 so I'm still ahead of the game.

Which brings me to...the prices. I love the prices. Did you know you can buy 6 boxes of Arm and Hammer baking soda for like, $7? I mean, you're saving about $7 and you'll have some left over to pass on to your grandkids. Why buy one mustard when you can get THREE for less? Same with pickles, and razors, and garbage bags! Their pack of garbage bags lasted us for THREE YEARS!

I even kinda love it that they have those 'guards' deep in discussion at the exit who put the little slash on the receipt. I don't have the slightest clue what on earth they're doing because they don't even look at the receipt or the cart but it makes the experience complete for me. It's like the bow on top of a present.

A huge present. With three of everything shrink wrapped into individual packages. For less.

D Day

2009-10-07T00:00:00.000-07:00

So I've been told that post-pregnancy/delivery, you forget all the discomfort and you're ready to jump in with both feet and do it again. I can't say that this is the case for me. I AM ready to jump in and do it again (not NOW...but sometime) but it's not because I've forgotten a thing; it's just because it's worth it.

I will say however, that time has softened my memory's edges when it comes to the actual labor and in hindsight I can almost see it as beautiful. My friend Grace described it as "the most beautiful and horrible" experience which about sums it up and because the outcome, the grand finale, is this tiny person who is incredibly precious to me; it tips the whole experience toward the "beautiful."

I am incredibly thankful for how Evanie's birth played out! I have no regrets and while it wasn't "fun" exactly, I can look back with a real sense of peace. At the risk of being cliche, the most vivid part of the entire ordeal for me is the moment she was in my arms. It always makes me cry when I revisit it in my mind. I hope it always does. I remember feeling she was much more solid than I was expecting for some reason and her slippery little body seemed molded in the fetal position. I remember her big dark eyes looking up at me and her dark hair plastered in curls against her scalp. I remember she already had that sweet newborn smell. It was almost too overwhelming to take in, (I actually felt on the brink of hysteria in that first minute) that this teeny tiny individual was actually in my arms and had actually come from inside of me and was actually ours forever!

The entire ordeal was quite long, somewhere around the 38 hour mark but active labor, labor that was relentless and effective, was more just the last 12 hours. I'd had lots of Braxton Hicks for several months but the Tuesday before she was born we had company overnight and while we were watching a movie I had several 'different' contractions that scared me because I was absolutely NOT going to go in labor while being hostess. So I told Justin, took a hot shower, begged God not to do this to me, told my uterus in no uncertain terms that it was to calm down, and went to bed.

The next day, Wednesday, our company left around noon and I flew into a frenzy washing all bedding, dusting, scrubbing floors, and making everything baby ready. Then I ran up and down the stairs and sat down and willed the contractions back. ...Nothing... I was tense, I was worried, I was stressed, and I was 8 days overdue. In defeat I went to bed for a nap and cried and prayed and finally gave all my frustrations to God and told Him "Fine, You decide when this baby will come. I've had it, NOTHING induces labor!" -and I dozed off....and woke up 15 minutes later to a contraction. I dozed again...same thing. This went on all evening, they weren't hard, just longer and a bit more serious than any previous contractions, but most importantly, they were regular which I'd never had before. By the end of the evening I began to dare to hope this could finally be it. I called the midwife, I called my sister Diana...I didn't call my friend, Grace. Sorry Grace.

That night I slept about two hours and then rocketed awake with a contraction. The rest of the night I dozed off and on and was awake for the sunrise. The contractions were completely bearable when I was awake but not as much when I'd doze off so I finally gave up sleeping. They spaced out more as morning came which was discouraging so Justin and I went for a beautiful early morning walk!

Thursday continued exactly the same, the contractions kept coming reasonably regularly but never increased their intensity unless I fell asleep and then I couldn't deal with them as well. Diana and Grace showed up and we basically just hung out all day with regular pauses for contractions. The weather was crazy, it started sunny and clear and in the afternoon we were buried in thick smoke from a BC forest fire which then turned into a lightening storm. I spent hours bouncing on the exercise ball watching the turmoil outside. It was kind of surreal.

Ali, the wonderful midwife, came to our house late in the afternoon and we discovered I was all of two measly centimeters dilated. Poo. So I had a membrane sweep (eeyouch) and a yummy castor oil cocktail and tried another short nap.

Scrumtious...castor and verbena oil ...

Almost immediately things got harder and closer together. I called Ali and she decided to come back and spend the night at our place. Night came, everyone went to bed and I basically repeated the previous night except that things were harder and closer and I was more exhausted. I spent a lot of time in the shower and in the tub. Around 4ish I woke everyone up because they were about 3 minutes apart and I was discouraged and didn't want to be alone. They set up the pool and Oh my goodness did that ever feel good!! I wanted to lay down and sleep in it!

The next few hours blur together for me. I remember it was important to me that the sports bra and bathing suit bottom matched. I remember the room was mostly dark and everyone was in there with me. I know that family was called (up until then I didn't want anyone to know I was in labor in case it was "false" labor) and my excellent birthing team slipped off at times to shower and eat breakfast. I know after every contraction a glass with cold lemonade and a straw appeared in front of me. I also know that from Thursday afternoon until her birth, I burped after every single contraction. Yes, what a lady.

I dozed between contractions which made them feel only seconds apart and was aware that things were getting harder and harder. Which strangely, was encouraging to me because I kept thinking, "this is REALLY it, I'm getting somewhere, I'm really having a baby!" At some point Ali checked me again and Praise the Lord, I was fully dilated.

After that things went really fast. I was suddenly aware that I needed to push NOW and it freaked me out. Diana told me to hold my breath while pushing, Justin and Diana held my hands (I was afraid I was going to break Diana's hand because it was so much smaller than Justin's), my water broke, I pushed, and out she came. It was nearly that fast. I remember thinking, "Ah, so THIS is the 'ring of fire'!" and the next push it was over and suddenly I was sitting and holding a tiny baby and there were blankets and towels and everyone was crying. Except Ali who was a blur of motion, expertly checking us over and making sure everyone was ok. I kept asking Justin if we had a boy or a girl until I realized I was the one holding the baby and I was the one who needed to check and then a fresh wave of tears came streaming down when I realized I was holding my little Evanie.

Minutes after....

Daddy's first hold...

Somewhere shortly after a second midwife showed up and things are fuzzy again because I drifted in and out of sleep. I had the best nap as they stitched me up in fact! It was heavenly! After feeding Evanie and sleeping, I was told it was time to get up and pee but my body didn't cooperate and I passed out twice when I tried to get up. I didn't know I passed out, I was just so tired and kept having these awesome sleeps but then I woke up to worried faces hovering over me saying "You're fine, you're ok, you're doing good" and I wanted to console them and started saying "I'm fine, I'm ok, I'm doing great." But then after all the "you're fine, I'm fine, we're all just fine" I messed it up and brought the worry back into Justin's eyes by asking in an overly cheerful voice, "what's the static buzzing sound?" Apparently only my superwoman ears could hear that. Oops. So they brought out the catheter, so fun, and started feeding me regularly and I drank glass after glass of orange juice! It tasted like heaven.

I really don't think I could have done it without Justin, Ali, Grace, and Diana. They were the perfect people to have with me. Justin was my pillar of strength, his presence felt as solid as granite and made me feel that I could really do this. Ali was the genius, the specialist, the safety. Grace has been my friend for 700 years and has the ability to make me laugh in the hardest of situations and helped keep those wonderful, pain killing endorphins flowing. She also took pictures throughout the day, pictures I'm so thankful for. Diana was my acting doula throughout the pregnancy and delivery. She coached me when I needed it and helped me relax. There was so much calm and so much encouragement the entire time I almost feel they carried me through it and I am so grateful for each of these wonderful people!

And now I am the lucky mother of this little girl who smiles easily and sucks her (whole) fist and mimics when we blow bubbles and endures 264 kisses daily. And let me tell you, she's worth every contraction, every castor oil burp, every day over due, and even every (uncomfortable) moment of pregnancy.

And FYI, 9 out of 10 moments of pregnancy are uncomfortable. I remember it well!

Top to bottom: Ali, the midwife at the birth, Sharyn, the midwife who did almost all my prenatal but couldn't be at the birth, me, and the star of it all, Evanie.

Evanie and Sharyn's first meeting.

2 Months

2009-09-29T19:00:00.000-07:00

I must apologize for abusing modern technology so terribly. We have invented some fantastic things in the past century and it's a shame that just anyone - meaning me - is allowed to handle them. If you're annoyed enough you may pay for me to take Photography for Dummies, Holding Your Video Camera Still, and How to Not Attempt Baby Talk While Filming!

2 month slide show from Carolyn Wiebe on Vimeo.

2months old from Carolyn Wiebe on Vimeo.

I have been asked to write about Evanie's birth and I'll hopefully get to that this week.

Anniversaries and Milestones

2009-09-29T11:50:00.000-07:00

September 24th marked 2 months old for Evanie and 4 years married for Justin and I. Big month.

Justin and I met in New Zealand in October, 2003 and spent three months together at Bibleschool every day but rarely had an actual conversation. I was probably in the lowest spot of my life to date having brilliantly adopted an eating disorder in efforts to lose weight. Why on earth he was ever attracted to me as a depressed shell of a person is nothing short of a miracle. To further complicate it, I didn't figure it out until a ridiculously long time later.

A quick summary of our 1 year friendship includes us moving to different continents, me dating someone else for 2 foolish months, and tons and tons of emails that, over the course of the year went from casual friends to...well, something more. Emails which my mom begged me to forward to her and then she proceeded to forward to my dad and all my sisters without my permission. Through this my parents got to know him and both practically claimed Justin as a son in law from the beginning, nearly 2 years before they ever met him.

When Justin finally moved back to the same continent (not country though) he came to visit and, long story short, 8 months and 24 days later, we got married. On July 28, 2005 Justin surprised me by showing up in Montana late at night and setting up a beautiful candlelit sanctuary in the middle of the night in the middle of the woods...sorta. He'd set up over 30 candles on the rock walls of a lookout with a view of the city below us! It was stunning. Then he got down on his knee and pulled out a beautiful diamond ring that he'd designed and worked with a jeweler to make himself! He took my breath away!

During the 8 dating months we put a LOT of miles/kilometers on our vehicles and saw each other in short, passionate (not THAT kind of passionate) visits which were wonderful and awful at the same time. (Awful because of the goodbyes.) It was quick but not necessarily simple and involved 7,940 border crossings, 1 crooked lawyer, 2 "entry denied" from Canada, 1 lie to an immigration officer(worst mistake ever!), 4 separate visa's, and 1,000s of dollars. I've probably told 3 lies in my life and I chose to tell one of them to an immigration officer. It's a federal offense with a 5 year prison sentence; kinda like shooting a cop! Basically, never do it.

These past four years have been full of change and the best of my life to date! Together we've lived in 2 different provinces, 4 different houses, had multiple jobs, made spectacular friends, traveled to Australia, taken many road trips, eaten double our combined weight in icecream, bought a house, and had a beautiful baby! Being married to Justin is better than I'd ever dared to hope marriage could be. I am profoundly blessed as a wife and mother.

Overdue

2009-09-26T16:50:00.000-07:00

evanie at 6 weeks from Carolyn Wiebe on Vimeo.

...Forgot to post this...3 weeks ago. Sorry grandmas! The password is: evanie.

Sneeze

2009-09-14T07:09:00.000-07:00

My smiley little girl in the morning.
Sorry about the mindless commentary and the poorly lit room. I'm sure this will be a cherished video by Evanie when she's older as it seems I caught her "working on something." Ooops.

Milk on Your Face...a Big Disgrace...

2009-09-10T21:04:00.001-07:00

I sing the above line to Evanie at least once a day.

A few nights ago I was setting up for Evanie's evening bath and then decided she was just too tired and it was too late and I should skip it. So instead Justin washed her little face and hands and snuggled her into a clean sleeper and blanket and handed her to me for her last feed.

I gently cradled her sleepy little head close to me...and proceeded to have an explosive milk let down that first choked her and secondly sprayed milk all over her face when she pulled off gasping for air!

Like a good mother I responded by laughing hysterically and then calling Justin to come over and take pictures. Justin and I found it so funny to see her clean little face all covered in milk and she seemed to want in on the joke and laid there smiling and making amused little grunting sounds! SOOO close to laughing.

Initially she was a little offended...

...but she quickly took her cue from us and decided it was the funniest thing that had happened all day!

Milk face!

Cute little baby profile. This is the bald side of her head...she literally has twice this amount on the other side!

Totally content in her dad's lap.

She spends a lot of time gazing adoringly at her dad.

...and she finds him very witty...

She's such a pleasant little person to have around. Every day is Christmas in this house!

Beary Cute

2009-08-26T10:04:00.000-07:00

My title sounds like it should be in a "Taste of Home" magazine where everything is "Egg"tastic and a"bun"dant.

But seriously...seriously...this is cuter than any teddy bear you can buy in the store.

I will narrate her expressions:

"Where am I? What am I wearing? Are you sure I look cute in this?"

"Aww gee thanks...I guess it is kinda cute if I do say so myself!"

"Oop...and now I have to poo." (I didn't MEAN to catch he poo face, it was an accident!)

"Did you seriously just take a picture of that?" (It actually looks like she's saying "I'm going to punch you in the face!" Which is something she would have picked up from her aunt Grace. Good going, Grace.)

"Get it OUT of my FAAAACE!"

1 Month Old

2009-08-25T21:35:00.000-07:00

Highlights:

Evanie hit the one month mark yesterday.
Today at her weigh in she'd reached 9 lbs! Little porky! That's 1 whole pound since last week!
She graduated from her newborn diapers to size 1 in a day. One day they fit, the next day they didn't!
She's just started a tiny bit of cooing! So sweet!
She smiles a lot- more at women than at men but she's started smiling at Justin too!
She and her dad have a great time together. He does most of her baths and she looks at him adoringly during all of it! It's pretty precious to watch.
She has a temper. When she wants to be picked up and NOW she doesn't cry. She screams. There's a night and day difference. It's almost funny and a little bit scary.
She doesn't like her feet or arms swaddled so we swaddle her tummy. Sometimes if she's already asleep or super close to it we can swaddle her arms but often that wakes her and she demands to be freed.
She sleeps through the night 2-4 times a week and if she wakes up, it's only once. I can't express my gratitude enough! She's actually a really good sleeper and frequently (but certainly not always) falls asleep on her own in her crib.
She's not a "cuddler" so far. Sad for me. When she's sleepy her favorite position to be held in on her back lying straight out in front of us with her feet in our belly. It's practically a magic position.

I could go on and on because I find every little detail about her totally fascinating. Fancy that! But I will stop with that and leave you with a picture or two:

...or five...

This is what happens to her swaddles.

Napping with dad...only Evanie woke up at the sound of the camera turning on.

Bright little morning face! Little fuzz head.

Little gangster toque!

She didn't find it quite as cute as we did.

More to come...

For the Miller Side

2009-08-05T11:15:00.000-07:00

Since not many of the Miller's have gotten to see her in person, here's a little video clip to make her a little more real.

Impossibly Kissable

2009-07-30T08:30:00.000-07:00

These are pictures taken by her Nana and Poppa. Justin stuck her in their bed in the mornings while they were here. Looks like they didn't mind.

She came fully edible.

Settling in for a family nap.

So Worth The Wait!

2009-07-30T08:22:00.000-07:00

Evanie Josephine

Born July 24 at 7:20am
Weighing 7lbs 8ozs

She was so peaceful and alert.

Absolutely precious.

First bath at 1 day old.

Meeting Nana and Poppa at 2 days old.

Losin' it a Little

2009-07-22T13:54:00.000-07:00

So I scrubbed my kitchen floor today... As I suspected, it hadn't gotten dirty yet from the scrubbing I gave it two days ago. Whoever started the rumor that this is the secret to going into labor was playing a cruel joke on all crazed pregnant ladies.

And even though I know this...I persist...

"I Carried a Watermelon"

2009-07-17T07:32:00.000-07:00

39 Weeks

So if I could give any advice to first time pregnant ladies it's this: Don't buy watermelon while pregnant. If you're like me and it's the ONLY thing in the world that you actually WANT to eat, ask your husband to purchase it for you.

Why? Because there are too many ridiculous people loose in this world.

About two weeks ago I bought a watermelon and as I approached the counter the cashier started shrieking with laughter and yelling, "Look, TWINS!" Hardy har lady. It was too hilarious to keep to herself so she shouted out to the next cashier and the other people in line who, to their credit, all looked horrified and unamused.

Then as she was (oh so slowly) ringing up my purchases she warned me not to be lifting heavy items while pregnant to which I responded that I wasn't to which she responded by pointing at the watermelon. OH give me a break? It's like, 4LBs! And it's not going to jump into the cart on it's own!

Fast forward to yesterday, same scenario (look, I NEED watermelon), different store. Again the cashier starts making jokes about me trying to smuggle a free one under my shirt, Chortle Chortle. Again, very funny.

The lovely gray haired woman in front of me in line took the opportunity of my cornered status (well after my purchase was made) to tell me it's "all about being relaxed" and showed me some clever trick you can do with your fingers that proves your body is relaxed and relayed how she just sat and did this for a day and a half and "viola" out came her daughter. I gritted my teeth from making some snide comment about not doing things 1800s style and tried to squeeze my 'watermelon smuggling' body past her cart. Unfortunately I'm not the fastest on my feet these days so she kept pace with me and continued her steady stream of advice out into the parking lot. I don't have a clue what she said because I was too focused on holding my watermelon and biting my tongue.

Then, to heap insult to injury, upon arriving home, I had the watermelon jammed between my foot and the door while finding my keys and before I could react it rolled out of the bag, onto the porch, bounced down the steps, into the carport, and began rolling towards the road. I chased it, none to nimbly and managed to corner it right before it reached the road. Then I pregnant plie squatted to hoist it up and angrily carried it into the house.

The moral? No more watermelons until after the baby. Stick to grapes and strawberries.

Like these! We picked these on Tuesday and oh my goodness, are they delicious!

Ticker Schmicker

2009-07-14T08:37:00.001-07:00

My pregnancy ticker says the same thing today as it did yesterday! I don't know why it was a day early but I have to say, I'm glad it's staying the same and not proclaiming either "Yay, the baby is here" or counting days overdue. From here on out, every day is the due date!

And speaking of tickers, I obliterated the one on Facebook. Great casualty, I know. I've had people point out to me that it's never on track but every time I checked it, it was. This morning it said I was 37 weeks and 6 days....then it suddenly changed its mind and decided I was 41 weeks and 4 days. You know, you just gotta do everything yourself these days. So the truth is...

Today is the due date.

Today is the day that a doctor pulled out of a hat and tacked on my chart in order to torture me. I'm supposed to go into labor....TODAY. Now every day that I continue being pregnant, I'm "over"due, I'm doing it wrong, I'm late, I'm not progressing as I should, I'm over-baking the baby, I'm slow, I'm behind, and I'm getting slightly more irrational. Even though I know that it's just a date on the calendar and practically meaningless, I can't help but pin some hopes on July 14th.

Which, according to my calculations...is probably actually, in all honesty, according to the information they give us and my memory of October's activities.....earlier than it should be. But only by a few days.

I'm going to start a campaign for making due Weeks. It would be so much kinder to the mothers.

And PS. ...It would be unwise to call and ask if I'm in labor because I'M NOT!

Overwhelmed

2009-07-07T21:20:00.000-07:00

It seems in these last week, I am easily overwhelmed. I haven't actually cried too many times but I've been on the verge multiple times a day.

Yesterday I realized that if newborns really go through 13 diapers a day than I have about 1 1/2 days of diapers on hand. I was actually completely thrilled at the prospect of going out and buying some but all the thrill went screaming down the aisle when I got to the store and was faced with a wall of diapers.

It probably took 5 minutes just to locate the sizes on the packages, I felt completely inadequate because I had no idea what "scooters" and "swaddlers" stood for. I'd thought I was figuring it out when Justin pointed out I was holding Pull Ups! That's all it took for MotherHood to came crashing down around my feet and I straight panicked. Actual panic, fear, insecurity...all the "I can't do this" feelings in the world came roaring in. Over diapers.

When I did discover "N" for newborn, the problem didn't disappear because then there were about 8 choices, with umbilical cut out, the green choice, organic cotten, blow-out safe, cheaper, more expensive, 36 in a pack, 40 in a pack...WHAT THE HECK IS THE RIGHT ONE!?!?! And for real, $30 for 5 or 6 days of diapers?? Is this reality??? Let me tell you, we did not budget for this.

So anyway, I might have had just a few wee tears right there in Walmart. Justin is very patient with me...somehow diaper options wasn't quite as traumatic for him as it was for me so he was the strong shoulder while I melted down.

Am I normal?

Lie if you have to.

37 Weeks

2009-06-26T22:15:00.000-07:00

This is a mark I've been waiting for. The all important "your baby can no longer be born prematurely" week! I'm not a worrying person and have been very at peace throughout this pregnancy but I have to say, reaching this point still makes me want to leap for joy.

Who am I kidding...as if I could leap...

If you're wondering what I'm thinking about....I'm wondering if Edward will ever give in and let Bella become a vampire. For real....that's what I've been thinking about for the past three days! I should just break my own rules and read the next book....

Right before my 37 week prenatal.

I've been thinking about how comfortable I am with having an open blog once the baby comes... It's not like I consider it dangerous or irresponsible but I feel some "mama bearishness" in me and I think I'm more comfortable knowing who all can peek into our lives when there's someone so tiny to consider.

So, on that note, this will soon become one of those slightly annoying "friends only" blogs. Please feel free to add yourself and I'm sorry if you'll have to sign in each time; if you're like me it's a Big Inconvenience but...?

I am unashamedly overly protective already. Which means my kids will probably start sneaking out at night earlier then the ones with the relaxed parents! How pleasant.

35 Weeks

2009-06-25T22:04:00.000-07:00

Updating is such a simple thing but I cannot seem to stay on top of it. It's not that I hate blogging, it's just that it's never ever on the top of my list and it's the first thing I skip when something needs to be skipped. I'm determined to get a little better at it because when the Awesomest Baby Wiebe shows up, its little life needs to be documented regularly for the pack of aunties, uncles, cousins, and grandparents out there!

By the way, if you're reading this and you have a child; then your child is clearly the "awesomest" as well, I have full intentions of being biased toward my own children and support you doing the same for yours!:)

So here's a couple of shots from week 35 even though that's 2 weeks ago. 2 Weeks, I'm finding out, is practically a year in the last few weeks of pregnancy.

I think it's funny that I look bigger or smaller depending on which side of me the camera is.

These pictures were taken at a B&B. We had a gift certificate so we decided to cash in while we were still ahead of the diaper and throw up stage. Funny though, we forgot to think about dinner and were too unmotivated to leave and buy something so we nearly starved. By the time morning came around I was ready to start chewing on the bedposts for some nourishment!

I'm not sure why the smug look but check out my bellybutton. I thought all pregnant bellybuttons became "outies" but mine has pretty much gone flat! Much more so than in this picture even. It's extremely sensitive and would you believe my luck, I got a misquito bite directly on my poor little (actually it's not little at all anymore) bellybutton. I really feel that this was unnecessary!

And can I just say for the record that I think tiny, tiny newborn items are heartbreakingly precious!? I can't stop taking them out of the drawers and just holding them. My mind can't quite wrap itself around the thought of a tiny, tiny newborn child fitting inside them. My mind can't, but my heart can.

A Plethora

2009-05-18T18:13:00.000-07:00

I have a random assortment of unflattering baby bump photos to inundate you with.

Without further ado...

30 Weeks...getting ready for some yardwork. Right around here I think my iron plummeted and I was miserable but yay for supplements, I'm feeling better.

31ish weeks. My first and probably only attempt at taking my own picture. I just thought I really "stuck out" that day so I wanted a picture.

Another one....a little blurry I know but look at the baby!!!

32 weeks. I had just gotten up from my nap and my mouth is full of food. Always the making of a flattering photo.

Now I know you're wondering, who's cool nursery are you standing in! IT'S OURS!!! We worked on it all weekend and I love it! It's vibrant and fun. I'm too hungry to sort through our many pictures to adequately do a "nursery post" right now but I will very very soon. My head is hiding the cute wall art and of course my roundness is hiding everything else but you can kinda see a little tiny bit.

More pictures to come very soon...

Practicing My Authority

2009-05-12T07:08:00.000-07:00

I clean a few houses once a week and at one of the houses there lives a little dog. I suspect that the dog may in fact, hold the mortgage, and is allowing the humans to live with it but I have no proof of this. It's a white, curly haired dog of unknown sex (unknown to me) named Sam and to be perfectly honest, the kind of dog I usually tolerate. I'm not a pet person, dog or cat, and this likely stems from the fact that, although we had an abundance of pets growing up, we were used to loving them while sizing up their hindquarters because many of them were destined for the dinner table sooner or later. I remember being told to go to the freezer for 5 lbs of meat, "and make sure it's Daisy, not Bossy, because Daisy needs to be used first."

So "pets" have a very distinct place in my heart and it's hardly elevated but for all you pet owners and lovers, I have no problem with you lavishly loving your four footed friends. I think perhaps that part of my heart just hasn't developed yet. I say "yet" because somehow this little Sam dog has inspired just a hint of amused affection from me. It's often just him and me as we clean and he's become quite knowledgeable on subjects such as toilet cleaning and dusting. He usually plants himself squarely in my path and watches intently for the entire 2 cleaning hours. It's amusing, it's cute, and it's company...so I can't help but like him. Plus he acts like I'm ripping his heart out when I leave which makes me feel quite nice!

Last Friday I stepped outside to shake the rugs and he raced into the yard to pee on the flowers and chew on the grass. The usual routine. Only when I said it was time to come back in, he looked me square in the eye and bolted for the open road!! I had faith he'd come back so I kept yelling....and he kept running! Across parking lots, down onto sidewalks, right beside the main street! I panicked! How do you convince a dog, especially one that's not yours, to "COME BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!"

So I slipped on my shoes and ran/waddled after Sam alternately ordering and pleading with him to come. I don't bother even brushing my hair on cleaning days so if you imagine bed head and flipflops topped by a pregnant belly...that was me. Everyone who drove by was giving me sympathetic smiles and groaning at the thought of this frazzled, out of control pregnant woman, attempting to be a mom.

Eventually Sam decided he felt like going home and raced past me, back to the house. I pretended to be all sweet and happy in order not to scare him away again, until the door closed. THEN he was in trouble. Don't worry, I didn't beat him. As silly as it felt I actually gave him a terrible tongue lashing, outlining the troubled he'd caused, how panicked I felt, how much he'd abused my affection, and how close he was to being sold to the traveling fruit pickers. I then told him in no uncertain terms that he had a "time out" for the duration of my cleaning and actually made him sit in the corner. And believe it or not, this dog cowered and moped and sulked and sat in that corner for 45 minutes!!

He did stand up a few times and with a snap of my fingers and a "SAM!"- his little butt sat right back down. When I again opened the door to shake some rugs, he didn't even twitch! It was actually pathetic enough that gosh darn it, I couldn't hate him.

I feel this proves I'm ready to be a mom! My kids will be so well behaved! Of course, they will probably run out on the road a few times first with me screaming behind them but I'm optimistic!

(Yes Heidi, this was your cute Sam and your pregnant housecleaner...I wouldn't really have sold him to the fruit pickers. Afterall, I don't speak french.)

The 275 Day Stomach Ache

2009-04-30T17:09:00.000-07:00

Did any of you other pregnant ladies out there deal with frequent, almost constant stomach upsets. From the very beginning there's nearly always been something. Heartburn, regular stomach aches, feeling really full when I'm not, and every version of stomach upset? I really feel it's uncalled for and want it to go away. Any tips?

Whale of a Tale

2009-04-29T08:21:00.000-07:00

I've joined "power-fit" at the local pool.

For those of you who know me, you might be aware that I have no love for water. I love the beach for the sake of the sun and the sand, but I dislike the water. I'm 26 and have yet to learn to swim although Justin has been patiently teaching me a little each summer.

Basically I'm at the point that if Justin is right beside me with a large flotation device and the water is calm and no one else is watching, I can swim in short stretches but I am under such high stress though that I cannot relax and have myself beyond worn out in about 1 minute. There is so much panting and puffing and spluttering and wide eyed concentration that it's stressful just to watch.

The worst of it is that should a boat be on the water or should the wind kick up a tiny wave; it's the end for me. As in the end of my life. Seriously. As soon as water hits my face I lose all presence of mind, forget entirely everything except "PANIC" and I sink like a stone. More than once Justin has had to grab my head and not only haul me out of the water but actually hold me up and shove the floatie underneath me or I would drown. DROWN people.

That's usually the end of the swimming lesson as I cling to the floatie and cry big salty tears. You think I'm exaggerating but I'm not. I can't keep it together when there's water in my face.

...And now I'm in a water aerobics class. My reasons for joining were: it was reasonably priced, if I pay for it it's motivation to exercise regularly, it's easier on my stretching aching muscles, and regular exercise causes lots of aches and pains for me right now. Besides...if you look like a whale...

As exercise goes, I think it's great for me. I'm tired, I'm sore, mission accomplished. As for fun, not so much. I stubbornly refuse to go to the deep end because it turns out that when you're exercising in the water you sometimes get water in your face and well...we know how that goes. As it is, when I get splashed, even though I'm only to my shoulders in water I have to stop and talk myself through it!

So if any of you feel like doing jumping jacks in the water twice a week with a pregnant lady, call me up.

28 Weeks

2009-04-21T08:27:00.000-07:00

I know...I go weeks without an update and then post three times in one morning. You'll just have to deal with it.
These photos were taken 2 days ago so they're about as current as you can get. I actually had no idea I looked so pregnant until I uploaded these photos!

Look, my grumpy face and my happy face look the same ok. I'm really bursting with happiness here!

Can I just say "God bless maternity pants!"

Look how pregnant I am!

We're destined to have the smartest kids ever.

As you can see from the intelligence evidenced in these photos.

Moving Day

2009-04-21T08:03:00.001-07:00

Justin and I are in our house! Our very own house. I had intended to document the moving day and post pictures but between my dislike for picture taking and the sheer number of things to do, almost no pictures were taken!
Thanks to fantastic friends our move was reasonably painless and quite fun. Friday was The Big Clean. Nobody was exempt from duty. We left the entire lower 2 1/2 feet of all our walls for Danai to clean.

She wasn't as speedy as we would have liked...

...but the cuteness factor got her off easy.
Actually this was her second job. Her first had been "dusting the kitchen cupboards" but she promptly and thoroughly plucked the entire duster and stored its mangled feathers in a drawer... so we reassigned her.

We had a large pizza dinner in the evening with everyone sitting around on an odd assortment of lawn chairs and bar stools and then we set up "camp" in the livingroom, watched an old classic -The Scarlett Pimpernel- and had a group slumber party.

Everyone at our very finest in the morning.

I feel I should be allowed to explain my ridiculous victory/peace/I'm a dork hand sign. In the previous picture, Tianna had whipped out the same V fingers and I, as a true friend, informed her of just how silly I thought she was! To further drive my point home, I then posed as she did. Only afterwards did we realize that she had made the V fingers a second too late and it was not captured on camera, whereas mine in fact, was. So basically, I'm not a dork, Tianna is.

Back to moving day...

Breakfast was a huge pancake and eggs spread thanks to Justin and Brad's excellent skills.
By lunch time, every scrap we owned was moved from the old house to the new.

A huge, huge thank you to all of you who helped us move! Not only did you cut our work load down to a mere fraction, but you made it a very fun weekend!

Justin and I are pretty settled and unpacked and are loving it! Stop by and visit...we'd love to have you!

24 Weeks

2009-04-21T07:04:00.000-07:00

Ok...so I'm dreadfully behind in updating life. I'm currently at 28 weeks and my last pregnancy photo says 23...oops. In my defense, since the last picture we've moved (yay!), I've been down to WA for a visit, Justin has been to Saskatchestan, ball has started, and school has started. So not only have I not been getting around to posting pictures of the baby bump, I haven't been taking the pictures either. Quite a few week-stones (yes I just came up with that) have been missed. This is likely an omen of what is to come with my childrens photos and scrapbooks and baby books...and school lunches and clean underwear and healthy meals.

I truly am one of those people who is not photogenic. If it's a group photo, I can relax enough to sometimes look normal. But these shots of JUST me are a somewhat different story. Is anyone else like that? Plus, as exciting as the baby bump is; I do find it a bit awkward taking pictures of me gaining weight. I know that afterwards I'll appreciate it.

In this particular photo op Justin took about 18 pictures and this is me beginning to voice my disapproval as he gleefully kept snapping more.

23 Weeks

2009-03-26T22:50:00.000-07:00

I find it very difficult to pose for these shots? Did anyone else feel this way about documenting the growth progress or is it just me?

Yeah, this look about says it all.

Wearin' it proudly.

22 Weeks

2009-03-26T22:45:00.000-07:00

I'm quite behind. This photo was taken 3 weeks ago and I'm wearing the same shirt as I type and finding it significantly smaller on me. In this case, that is a good thing...

Pee-dom

2009-03-20T15:07:00.001-07:00

So last night I got up and peed 3 times. And I still have 4 months to go! I'm SO not ok with this.

Week 20 and sort of 21

2009-03-16T22:57:00.000-07:00

The past weeks have flown by without me documenting my growing girth so here are a few random shots. They're all I have for weeks 20 and 21.

I "needed" grapenuts so I here I am Sunday evening, grinding and toasting!

You can kinda see the expansion in this one...which could of course it could be due to that massive piece of Cream puff cake that I'm shoveling down but that's hardly the point. And ps. you should make this recipe. It's delicious!

People keep telling me that I'm showing but they tack "but surely you haven't gained any weight!" I am here to tell you that that is garbage.

If I haven't gained any weight then why the frick are my clothes so uncomfortable!? Seriously. I've had a few meltdowns in the past week because I stand in front of my closet and see nothing but "tight," "short," and "won't go past my hips," ...so if you see me wearing Justin's sweats and t-shirts, wisely don't say a word. I'm still squeezing into a few regular pants but the baby kicks and kicks when I wear them so I can't help but feel like I'm squishing it! I intend to mosey in to town this week to find just one pair of pants that are black, stretchy, and can be worn with anything. Surely, surely they exist somewhere in my size.

Speaking of my size. I have very kindly been lent and given a number of maternity items for which I am very grateful...but this maternity body so far doesn't seem to made for maternity clothes. What is with that? Everything either slides down or creeps up...all the better to expose those parts of me that have expanded significantly to make room for baby and its aquatic home. Actually, I'm not sure why the derier is expanding, there's no baby in there as far as I know.

I'm thinking that maternity wear from days gone by don't look so bad.

Imagine how comfy this would be...minus the collar. You could hide a full grown person under there! Actually several, one in each sleeve!

I Needa Spaace

2009-03-08T15:49:00.000-07:00

I guess this is why we're buying a new house... I took this picture yesterday while doing homework; check out THIS relaxing little abode.

Take note that the (very comfy...thanks Dustin and Christy) brown chair is in fact in the center of the living-room. About two feet in front of the TV. We can't even get to the loveseat behind it. or the sliding door behind the loveseat. Laundry, guitar, napping husband...all pretty much on top of each other.

Zoom out a little further and we have a bag of clothes that don't fit, a baby toy that has no place to go, and homework on the kitchen table. It's not the end of the world to have a child in a small space but I am SO thankful that we have the opportunity to move into something larger before accumulating baby paraphernalia!

By the by, want to know what my husband is doing today at this very minute?

Week 19

2009-02-25T08:39:00.001-08:00

Finally week 19. I think 18 weeks was officially 2 1/2 weeks long and let me tell you, I was SICK of it by the time it finally ended!

I'm irritated that in all these pictures I just look washed out and tired. I'm not. I feel great. I LOOK like I have cancer but I promise that I don't!

It's the abominable long hair. I hate it. Why don't I cut it?

I dreamed last night that I was taking care of two little boys (Angella I don't know if you pop in here on occasion but they were your sons I was babysitting) and they both went to the bathroom on the floor and I had to clean it up and I couldn't stop washing my hands. I woke up holding my hands in the air, afraid to touch the blankets and woke up Justin to tell him I wasn't ready to have children if they were going to be pooping children.
Is it too late for that decision?

Whoa...!

2009-02-12T21:39:00.000-08:00

Um...ya'll...we just bought a house.
I guess having a first child wasn't life changing enough for us!

Update February 18: Pictures of said house.

So this is the outside. The first thing to catch your eye will be the salmon/strawberry milk color of the outside. Yes. We don't like it either. We're thinking a brown or a tan....any suggestions?
The second thing you'll notice is that the front "yard" looks a bit more like rocks and shrubs. I'm thinking if the bushes end up nice this summer we could just find a more welcoming ground cover for this plot. Justin wants to rip it up and plant grass and trees but I can't imagine trying to mow around that little square. I suppose we'll just have to fight about it.

Here is the view from the backyard. This deck is mostly solid but may need some repairing in the next year or so. I never actually got to walk back here so I'm quite curious what all is back there. I think behind the lattice work there's storage for garden tools etc. but I'm not sure.

Again, this needs some not gray paint.

This is our back yard. It's fenced which is nice but we do lose quite a bit of the yard to that hill. I'm thinking eventually of some retaining walls and perhaps raised gardening....I dunno. I think the "thing" is a gazebo of some sort with a fire pit. I'm assuming it will stay with us as it looked fairly cemented into the dirt so...how about a July barbecue?

This is the livingroom. Quite a bit of space and very bright. See that dead head on the wall? Yeah I wrassl'd it down and killed it myself. Like it?

Here is where I will learn the art of "how to disguise beans as meat so that Justin will love them." Renovating is years down the road but the kitchen will probably be one of the first things. It's perfectly, wonderfully suitable and I am delighted to make it ours but eventually it may change a bit. It has no real dining-room as this extension off the bar serves as the table so I think we'd like to change it up a bit, perhaps knock down a small wall (you can just barely see it as a tan strip on the far right of the picture) to open it up a bit more to the livingroom. But anyway, look at all the cupboards and drawers! Yay! Everything will fit!

The "non-dining room" area.

This is the master bedroom. None of the (5) bedrooms are large and none have an en-suite but this one has two (TWO!!!) closets so it's the official master bedroom! I am SO excited about the two closets. Not because I mind sharing with Justin at all but the SPACE! Oh the luxurious space! Not to mention then I won't have to feel guilty that I'm taking up 3/4 of the closet!

As I mentioned it has 5 bedrooms which is just excessive but this one they were using as an office and I actually think it IS an office so I don't know why it was called a bedroom. It only has a very narrow closet and leads out to what we're calling the "smoking" balcony (note the first picture) so really, it's an office. However, it will quickly turn into BABY'S room!!!! This is simply because it is the only other room on the same floor as our own and I hardly feel comfortable sticking the baby in the basement alone. Like I'll hear it there!

THIS bedroom.....needs paint. Not loving the bluey-gold. This will actually be Justin's workroom and he cannot wait to get in there and make it just that! I'm excited for him to have a space to work in. It's hard to sand and saw and paint and laquer on the kitchen table and the couch! Here is where I'm sure he'll spend a great deal of his time and he and I are both so thankful for this extra space! There are two other rooms without pictures.

So there you have it....Wiebe-ville.
Oh dear...that is an UNpleasant title.

THE BABEEEE!!

2009-02-11T09:01:00.000-08:00

Allow me to introduce you to....Baby Wiebe!
Something happened when we got to see our baby chillin' out in my womb. Some parental switch was flicked on and suddenly our baby seems so very real. As I'm washing tiny little (second hand...they were a good deal!!) onsies and sleepers I go completely mushy thinking about how very soon there's going to be little tiny arms, legs, and a wrinkly little bum filling up (or swimming in) these outfits! I cannot wait to hold whoever he or she is! I'm even completely thrilled at the thought of cleaning up its precious little poops!

Look at that darling little profile!! It appears not to have limbs but we're hoping for the best!

Aaawwww looooook.....a hand!! It looked like it was sucking its thumb! It was so relaxed, legs crossed, thumb in the mouth...proof that Justin and I made it. Both of us have been "low motility" since conception as our friends and family can (and will) emphatically attest to!

This picture is my favorite. I'm completely smitten by the fact that our baby has toes. Forget a head, forget the torso.....IT HAS TOES!!

Annnnnd....well....this almost convinces me that aliens DO abduct humans for experiments. In fact, the ultrasound tech called it our alien picture! Not to worry though, the large black hole in its head is actually a GOOD thing because it means it has a brain! Phewf.

I'm slowly becoming more aware of kicks inside me. Every time we get tears and celebrate! I hope I'm not one of those parents that dissolves into tears every time our child gurgles or burps but I probably will be.
I think we may have actually settled on a boy's and a girl's name. It may change in the next 5 months but for now we think we're sure. It's so much fun picking names though that we may stumble upon something we like better by the time we actually find out if we're naming a boy or a girl.
That's all the updates on the baby for now. I missed the 18 wk photo op so I'll be skipping straight to 19 weeks for the next belly update. I'm a tiny bit impatient for it to grow but I should bite my tongue because when the day comes that I can no longer tie my shoes I'm probably going to be shaking my fist at naive 19 week Carolyn.

17 weeks

2009-02-08T10:25:00.001-08:00

I originally thought this was an 18 week picture but my due date has been moved to July 14 because baby Wiebe showed up a little small in the sonogram. According to my own calculations, this is a more accurate date so I'm content with it. Although I do feel as if I've been at 18 weeks for a long long time!

This is me trying to suck it in....it's getting harder and harder.

....aaaannnnd pushing it out!! See, there could be twins in there!

The Kicker

2009-02-02T17:54:00.000-08:00

It kicked!! Our baby kicked! Or more accurately, I FELT the baby kick. It was amazing....and a little creepy. I can't seem to wrap my brain around the fact that there's a real human, a somebody who is not me, sharing my body. And kicking me from inside! Unbelievable! Is it this incredible every pregnancy or is the first an experience like no other?

16 weeks

Due...and Overdue...

2009-01-13T08:49:00.000-08:00

So I'm about 14 weeks overdue with this blog announcement:

I didn't believe the first one so we drove to town and bought two more. They kept saying the same thing!

There's a mix of shock, terror, joy, and disbelief on my face. (I also look like I have energy, right now I can't remember what that feels like.) I pretty much just looked at these little bits of evidence all day and got nothing else done.
Sometime next summer, around July 3rd, we're going to have a tiny person in this house. A very tiny person, and we're going to have to keep it happy and alive! You'd think that having 10 siblings, 8 of which are younger, I would feel calm and prepared for this but let me assure you, I do NOT.
For those of you who have been bugging me to post "cute belly" pictures let me assure you that a pregnant belly begins as a muffin top. At least for me. And there is nothing remotely cute about a muffin top.

I was going to post a picture of an actual human muffin top but they were all too disgusting. This gives you a visual of what things are looking like here though. No pictures until I look more Pregnant than Plump. Or at the very least Pregnant AND Plump.

Some things that have changed in life:

I don't sleep well.
I don't love peanut butter anymore and that makes me sad.
I HATE the smell of laundry and dish soap. HATE it. My rabid smell sensors have tamed a bit but I still loathe those smells.
I sneeze twice a day, every day. Have you ever heard of a mother who is allergic to her baby? 'Cuz I think I am. It's the most bizarre thing.
I am lazy and unmotivated and I blame the baby.
My back is insanely itchy! It makes me crazy! It feels like I have a personal hive of ants living on my back! I've armed myself with 3 kinds of belly balms and a dry skin brush. It's helping.
I can eat 3 large pieces of pizza and 3 or 4 whole waffles in a sitting. This is roughly 75% more than I can usually fit into my stomach.
I want jalapenos and banana peppers every day. We have none.
I could drink 2 quarts of fruit juice every single day.
I love pajamas. And the couch. My baby is going to come out diabetic at this rate.
I have no functional lobes in my brain. I thought "mommy brain" was a hoax but the joke is on me. I even confronted my employer (which happens to be my pastor) about a paycheck I was missing and when asked to bring in all my paystubs of the last 3 months; I found the paystub of the check I was "missing!" I have no memory of receiving or cashing it. That was humiliating.
My jeans are tight.
My shirts are tight. And short.
My underwear are tight.
For the first time in my life, I actually need a brassiere. This I don't mind so much but I'm finding I don't know how to dress for this "problem."
I literally pee 784 times a day.
I actually get too hot when I sleep. I've never ever ever gotten too hot in the winter. Ever.
I pant all the time. I can't sit and talk at the same time without getting completely out of breath.

I'm sure there's more but I'm also sure that anyone who's had kids could pretty much write the same list.

On a somewhat different note: I assist and teach 2 preschool classes, twice a week and "It's time to see if Mrs. W's belly has grown" is becoming a regular part of our circle time. In fact, if we forget, the kids remind us! Yesterday the other teacher, Mrs E, put her head down to my stomach and told Jr to keep growing because all his friends at preschool want to meet him.

Mrs. E: "Do you think the baby can hear me?"
Kids: "Giggle giggle. NO, that's silly. Giggle"
Gavin: "You have to yell in her mouth so the baby can hear!"

You can imagine, I didn't let them try.

Headed....nowhere....

2009-01-09T14:35:00.000-08:00

It's these kinds of things our mothers warn us about..."If you keep twisting your head around while I'm brushing your hair, it's likely to come unscrewed altogether!"

People are always joking about how they`d lose their heads if they weren`t screwed on tight...for my sister Connie, it`s no laughing matter.

The Rest of The Story

2009-01-06T10:31:00.000-08:00

My apologies to all of you who have tenderer hearts than myself...

Actually, funny story, Justin discovered this one morning when I was feeling particularly ill and he came upstairs to wake me and let me know the mouse hunt was over. Without even opening my eyes or really waking up I feebly begged him to get me some water and a cracker. Less than a minute later he was back with my requests but in my somewhat irrational state of mind I thought he was bringing me the mouse and trying to put it in my hands. I literally levitated, horizontally, off the bed while ordering him to "Get that THING away from me!!"

My poor husband.

Mouse Update

2008-12-11T08:22:00.000-08:00

Shortly after my first post the mouse reappeared...roughly 5 times. I even took pictures...and video footage.

It has no sense of propriety, obviously.

We have purchased a few um, "rodent eradicating devices" and are set to teach it some lessons in boundaries.

I Do Not Like Them In a House!!!

2008-12-10T15:27:00.000-08:00

There's a mouse in MY HOUSE!! There's a MOUSE in my house!!!
I just saw it here....

and here...

and here!!

The disease infested little hairball had the nerve to EXPLORE MY KITCHEN while I sat here on the couch doing my homework!! Oh its days are numbered let me tell you!!! I have no "Stuart Little sympathies" to inhibit the havoc I will wreak on its rapidly shortening life!

I have no real fear of mice, just a firm loathing. It may have something to do with growing up on a farm where we had mice, frogs, snakes, salamanders, mink, dogs, cats, flying squirrels, birds, wood ducks, goats, pigs, sheep, horses, bears, ferrets, and deer inside at various times. Ok so the bear didn't come inside, only onto the porch. Turns out my brave husband on the other hand, is perhaps a little more...nervous about the prospect of running into the rodent.

The question is: WHY do I have a mouse! I'm very clean, my floor has no crumbs, I do not leave garbage strewn about, I do not deserve a mouse!!!

Yes it IS all about deserving!

(Some of) My Sisters

2008-12-03T12:38:00.000-08:00

Aren't they pretty! This picture is missing Diana and Constance and myself but I don't have any of all of us...

2008-11-19T20:27:00.000-08:00

Guess what guess what guess WHAT!? As of 3 weeks ago, I am the proud and happy owner...actually renter...of none other than *drum roll* a washer and dryer!!
That's right, for the first time in our married life, we have a real washer and dryer in our house!! No more laundromats, no more going to the gas station for coins, and no more dealing with other people's sunflower seeds and band-aids floating amongst my underthings!! It feels like I already had my Christmas in October!
Within an hour of installation I'd begun washing everything we own and since then, nothing has escaped my new passion. Even the couch pillows were stripped of their dusty covers and found themselves washed to a brand new shade of....whatever color they are. Tan? Bone? Off white?
Anyway. Not only do we have this luxury in our very laps, but they are completely new, front loading, stackable, and High efficiency! Our laundry hasn't been this clean or smelled this nice in three years. Apparently the 25 minute agitation at the laundromat doesn't actually do a sufficient job.

Justin and I are quite happy with our new place. We dream of owning our own place some day but are very content to be where we're currently at. Over the next few months we hope to acquire a few helpful items like a pantry and a bookshelf and a vacuum which will improve the situation even more. I will post some pictures...but first I have to clean.

We are Telus, Who Don't Do Anything...

2008-10-13T22:26:00.000-07:00

...We just sta-ay home and lie around. And if you a-sk us to do anything. We'll just te-ell you.....We don't do ANYTHING!

That's a song by the way.

For those of you who have tried to reach us via telephone and heard a mechanical voice claiming our number has been disconnected...I am sorry. I am sorry we have such a lame phone service.

Here's what's going on:
Before we moved in August I set it up to have our phone forwarded to an automatic voicemail for the month of September saying, "so sorry, we cannot come to the phone right now because we're on Vancouver Island, please call back in October."
Basically:
September 1-disconnect at old address, forward to voicemail.
October 1-discontinue voicemail, connect at new location.
Sounds ridiculously simple for a phone company; especially since they gave me those options, advised me on what would be easiest, and repeated all the details back perfectly on the phone.

It's been more like this:
September 1-Drink coffee
September 5-completely disconnect phone, charge enormous contract violation fees.
September 5-12- sit on arses. Drink coffee. Ignore angry customer's pleas.
September 13-realize mistake, hook up voice mail. Charge misc. fees.
September 22-confirm new location and connection days. Customer is mildly impressed.
September 28- disconnect voice mail and internet contract. Charge more fees.
October 1-miss connection day. Drink coffee. Frustrated customer can't call because she has no phone.
October 2-7-make promises. Break promises. Ignore increasingly irate customer's pleas.
October 8-fail to show up at customer's house as scheduled. Blame Canada Post. (for real)
October 9- reschedule connection for October 16. Do not advise customer. Make excuses.
October 10- Get dumped by furious customer. Drink coffee.

This is where we're currently at. I've switched to Shaw and if they pull through will have internet on Tuesday and a phone and probably a new number next Friday.
Until then...carrier pigeons.

Old Married Folks

2008-10-11T15:50:00.000-07:00

We just (...ok three weeks "just") passed our 3 year anniversary! Three years!! I know that's peanuts to many of you but it seems like a big number to us! It still feels so new and great! Isn't it supposed to be that by three years the polish wears off of your shiny new marriage? Maybe we're doing it wrong but I think I prefer it this way!

For my entire life pre-marriage, I was one of its worst critics and wanted nothing to do with it. My parents were sure I was hopeless and destined to be the "bun on the head, horn rimmed glasses, spinster librarian" of the family.

And then I met Justin, fell crazy in love, cut off the bun on my head (that part is actually true), and joined the "other side!" We found out later that before we'd ever gone on a first date, both of us felt absolutely certain that we were meant to marry each other!

We dated for almost 7 months, were engaged for less than 2, and have now been married for 3! Having three years of marriage beneath my belt, I've discovered it to be far different than I'd construed. For instance, I thought that 'marriage' meant 'dull.' No more romance, no more adventure, no more fun. Because I was so certain this was fact, I vowed that I would do whatever it took to keep it as exciting and romantic as the very first week. "Watch me!"

I'm happy to admit, I was officially wrong on both accounts. It is not dull and it cannot stay as new as the first week because while "new" is good, "deep" is so much better. The past three years have been filled with more fun and adventure then the previous 23. (dude, I'm old.) And since we've been married I've laughed...a lot. Way more than when we were dating! I actually didn't know he was so funny and fun until after I married him!

For our anniversary we decided it would be wisest to skip going out for dinner, make something scrumptious at home together, and then go out for coffee or icecream and explore some of the beach areas in Qualicum. Part 1 of our plan worked well and we surprised even ourselves at the meal we were able to whip up with only two burners and two pieces of cookware.

Yeeaah....so it looked more impressive in real life. And tasted de-lish!

Part 2 didn't even work out even a little bit because the skies opened up and drenched the island all day and all night.

So we played scrabble. I wonder what word he has in mind here!

And ate icecream! Mmmm...icecream. If I was marooned on a forgotten island and could take only one thing with me; I would take icecream. I mean, Justin.

...actually who am I kidding, I'd take icecream! :)

We're HERE!!

2008-09-02T08:02:00.000-07:00

The day that we thought might never come is finally here! We moved entirely out of our old place, loaded up a months worth of luggage into our horrid car, and made our way over the mountains and through the woods to the Summit School of Guitar Building and Repair. What kind of adventures await!?

Adventure #1:
Accommodations are provided by the school; we were told we'll be staying in a hotel suite for a month. How perfect does that sound? I pictured lounging in front of a large screen TV watching mindless shows, fluffy white hotel towels, little soaps and shampoos, a handy little "maid please clean" sign that would produce fresh sheets and towels, a sparkling bathroom with a large mirror, and a cute little kitchen with a compact fridge and stove that would make food prep seem like playing house. I planned on taking baths every morning, having room service and house keeping at my finger tips, reading and cooking up little herbal potions in my spare time, and getting to know the friendly people at the front desk. Nooooot quiiiite....

For starters, there is no front desk. There's a fishery smokehouse. You go inside and holler for "service" from Tita. Service is a key and a "someone will be by in the next day or two to pick up the things left behind by the last resident." The things left behind ended up being three grocery bags of used shampoos, brown sugar, opened pasta, a condom...not a word of a lie. We didn't wait for someone to come by, we took the liberty of chucking it all.

Secondly, everyone has a different definition of "clean" and the standard of clean in this room is dirtier than my house has ever had a chance to get. We're too grossed out to go barefoot in the place so we've been wearing our shoes inside. So the first 2 1/2 hours of moving in consisted of us rolling up our sleeves and scrubbing.

So excited about it!

This is our room service/maid please clean:

Yes, that hairball was there when we got here. Our complimentary hairball!

Our fluffy white towels...hey, I'm just glad they smell clean!

My big bathroom...

And sparkly mirror...

Our compact stove...very very compact! And those are the only cookware in this place!

And not so compact fridge next to the not so widescreen TV.

And our garbage can the size of my thumb.

For dinner we had pancakes and eggs...and wine...and a $15 cheesecake to celebrate Justin's school and my birthday.

It was delicious but I felt a little ill afterwards!
Oh, and just because I'm excited about it, I have to share some pictures of my lovely new purse, given to my by Sally and Grace!

Isn't it cute?! I've quickly fallen in love with it. Is it just me or do you find that as soon as you upgrade your purse, the old one becomes completely despicable!

As a side note, it's quite amusing what ends up being packed in your car when you try to move out of your home and pack for a trip at the same time. For instance, we packed my mother-in-law's jeans..why? I have no idea. A pair of shoes that were supposed to be thrown out made it along and a never opened package of tea towels from our wedding shower 3 years ago. A friend's salad tongs. Hehe, sorry Tianna.

Despite the filthy abode, our enthusiasm is untamed and as I sit and write this, Justin is about 2 hours in to his first day at school! He was up 2 hours early thinking about the perfect name for his guitar and so nervous and excited I nearly had to sit on him to keep him from going to school 35 minutes before class started!

What Lies Ahead

2008-08-25T15:03:00.000-07:00

I realize I haven't updated much....or at all...through this summer. Oops.
I'm happy to say I've been too busy having fun - oh, and doing some work. By way of excuse, let me share with you what the following week and the month of September holds.
Ever since I met Justin back in October 2003, he has stated that his dream is to build guitars. He loves fine, artistic work (have you heard about my ring?) and he loves guitars - it's a perfect match! From the beginning he's had one luthier school in mind and for the past 3 years and 9 months, we've planned together that some day, when I'm finished school and before we have children, we'll move over to Vancouver Island so he can take the course.
Recently he's been making me a longboard and began to experiment with some very fine, detailed design work he's seen in his guitar books. I'll post pictures when he's finished. The result is twofold: he's even more excited about building guitars and he's beginning to think he may not need to take a full 12 month course. He's incredibly talented, meticulous, and patient when it comes to woodwork; he just needs some direction in crafting a musical instrument.
All this to say that one evening as we were discussing his schooling and how long the course is and how badly the grandparents want little Wiebe Jrs. running around; we realized I have exactly 1 month in between my summer and winter jobs. The next day we called the school to see if there was any openings for the month of September. It was already June; September was full. Two weeks later they called us back to say they'd had a cancellation and were we interested?!!!! Were we ever!
Since then we've decided to also move out of our little place in favor of a new suite. Complete with, get this, a washer and dryer!! Not even kidding, a real washer a dryer! And a dishwasher! And a new fridge and stove!! I`m so excited it`s hard not to wet myself!

Six days from now we are returning our keys to the landlord and heading to the island! This day has been looked forward to for so many years, I can`t believe it`s this close! In the month of September, Justin will build his first guitar!
So this is one of the reasons blogging has been de-prioritized.

The windy city...

2008-07-29T09:39:00.000-07:00

Has anyone watched that old old Calamity Jane musical from ages ago? At one point in the movie they burst into an energetic tap dance singing routine about "goin' down to the windy city" which was Chicago if I remember right. Anyway, that song keeps going through my head when I look at these pictures.
We don't live in a particularly windy place but in the two years we've lived here we've had a few massive wind storms. Like, power out and roofs flying off houses and trees uprooting all over the place, smashing through cars and houses, and our garbage can lid disappearing, never to be seen again- kind of massive windstorms.
In the first picture it wasn't even the big storm and I was actually afraid of being blown off the mountain. I'm not holding on to the post and my headband just to be cool, I'm holding on to keep from flying off!

Check this out. Someone's tree went down and the root system neatly picked up the yard and peeled it back like and orange!

For the surfing nuts this looks somewhat like a wave and provides a beautiful photo op of being inside the barrel...sort of.

Look at that...he's totally surfing in his mind!

Apparently the owner came out as they were enjoying his mess of a yard and he was decidedly unexcited about both the yard and the hooligans on his yard! I have to admit, I can't help but be on his side just a little. This does NOT look like an easy fix.

Some great Stuff and Some not so Great Stuff.

2008-07-01T15:49:00.000-07:00

So about a week ago I had some lovely friends come to visit. I'd been looking forward to their arrival for about 100 years and had great plans of going to the beach and barbecuing and staying up late. As it turns out, I unfortunately, was both very sick and had very bad cramps. What a blessing! And the weather was cloudy, gray, drizzly, and downright cold. But as good friends do, they curled up in blankets with my miserable self and watched movies and played Bible trivia.

We, of course, stayed up late every night and on one of them, it was after midnight and I was the last person getting ready for bed. The house was dark other than our bedroom and as I was discarding my clothes and preparing to turn off the light, I was horrified to look up and see hands holding a camera right up against my window. Of course as soon as I looked at it, the person I couldn't see in the blackness jerked it back and it disappeared.

I've always thought that if I ever saw anything outside my window at night that I would scream bloody murder but I was surprised at how unbelieving my brain was. I thought it was a prank, a mirage, a reflection...anything but some creep taking pictures through my window in the dead of night! I checked the livingroom to make sure the girls were there and Sally was sitting bolt upright looking out the window. Only when she informed me that there was a man in our yard did I actually panic, wake up Justin, and go racing outside. In hindsight I realize I should have waited for Justin before I tore out to attack a full grown man in my pajamas but at the time I wasn't so much rational as I was TICKED.

Unfortunately we didn't catch him and only Sally saw him and his only identification was that he has gray hair. Seeing as how this is the retirement capital, it could be anyone, so it leaves us with this sick suspicion of every neighbor we see.

Whats really disturbing is that our place and certainly our bedroom window are pretty tucked out of sight so it doesn't seem likely that it was a spur of the moment intrusion by someone wandering around at midnight with a camera. You kinda have to know where to look to find our bedroom. How many times has he been out there under cover in the darkness!?

As disturbing as it is we can't be paranoid so other than being religious about closing our blinds, life goes on. We called the police, we lock our doors....our house is easy to break into...

On a much much better note - the rest of the weekend...

These are my lovely friends curled up with the ailing.

I'm aware of how I look thank you very much.

For old time's sake we went to Walmart (before I got hit with a tanker) and got a highlighting kit; it's funny that they trust me with their hair when in times past it hasn't always been....er.....fully successful. Sometimes 'mahogany' isn't so much a lustrous brown with reddish undertones as it is just fire engine red with purple undertones....anyway.

5 hours later....we're ready for the bleach...it's nearly 1 in the morning!

OH yes, speaking of hair, note that there is some pink in my hair! I've been wanting to do that for years and just never did. Now that I finally did it I was attacked by some wicked cold sores and refused to take pictures so by the time this was taken, it was mostly faded out. Durn. I liked it while it lasted though, i was smashing! :)

In order for it to not be a 100% lame weekend we did go to a cliff jumping site.

He looks like a fairy who flew up to kiss the hills!

Since I'm not so much of a swimmer and not so much of a jumper offer of cliffs...I read. Off the charts coolness!

This is my polly pocket, Grace.

Do as I say or I swear, I'll squish your head!

We girls went out for drinks and were interrupted by a random guy who came up and high fived us and proceeded to chat aimlessly.

Undoubtedly because he saw this irresistible pose!

Or this one! Nice chin Grace!

Despite the weather, the cramps and general malaise, the interrupting strangers and the peeping toms...we had fun. This is what friends are for and I love them!

Lotsa pictures

2008-06-07T19:58:00.000-07:00

I've been informed that it is not in fact, conceited to post pictures of your own mug on your blog, but it IS conceited to leave only that particular post on your blog for weeks on end. Wha.....?? I was just giving everyone ample opportunity to gaze upon the pair of us and say ooooohhh....
Ok fine, I'll post NEW pictures!:)
At the end of April Justin and I went to a Miller family reunion in WA at my sister's house. I have two sisters that live on a tiny 8x8 mile island of the coast of WA. Its an excellent place to visit and vacation but takes a special patience to live on because your entire life revolves around ferry schedules. That includes marriages, funerals, and births. Pretty much you can only die at 9:45 or 10:30 or 2:30.
But that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about how much fun we had. My parents and 5 siblings came up from Wyoming, one sister came from TN, two brothers and their families from MT, and Justin and I from BC. We all stayed at various "cabins" (flat screen TV, sleeps 6, on the beach type of cabins!) within a mile or two of my sister's place and spent three days eating and playing and partying! ....As one parties with their baby nieces and nephews and parents, you know, croquet and chocolate milk.
So I'll walk you through it with some photos.
This was taken on our way while killing time on the ferry. We may not be photographers but I have to say, I'm pretty sure this photo rivals Dustin and Christy's expertise. I think it really brings out my natural beauty!
This is why we're married, we're very compatible.After horsing around with self portraits, a kindly woman offered to take a picture of the two of us so we put on our "normal" faces and smiled for the camera.

This picture is mom and dad opening their wedding attire and finding out they have 1 hour until the party! We surprised my parents with a late 30th anniversary celebration. My sister Diana put tons of effort into it, ordering my mom a beautiful white dress and sewing a classy vest for my dad. She organized a photo album that we all put together online and had wedding cakes made and a party planned...all while keeping 5 children in line and homeschooling!
After indulging in some truly delicious chocolate cake we went outside for family pictures. It hasn't gotten any less "gong-showish" as we've aged. There's still never a single picture that has everyone looking at the camera and the little ones are always a blur of movement. I guess you might say it captures it the way it is. I haven't gotten any of the entire family pictures, these are just ones that we snapped with our little camera.

All the girls- L-R in the back: Debi, Kimberly, Krystal, Janette, Mom, Serena, Whitney, Diana, Myself ....Serena and Whit are the brave women who married my brothers!

L-R Cherie, Remi, Constance, Lindey
This is the youngest of my sisters and three nieces. The fourth niece got away.

And this is Kaitlynn making her getaway, she wasn't so into the pictures.

The sisters: Debi, Krystal, Mom, Kimberly, Diana, Constance, Me, Janette
This would be all of us doing the "Trevor smile." Very attractive. Yes, I'm afraid we ARE making fun of my down's syndrome brother. My family's joking around is a bit sacrilegious at times. And this would be the original "Trevor smile" and why it's so funny to us. It's not his real smile, it's the smile that comes out when he's posing for the camera. Has anyone seen that episode on Friends of Chandler posing for his engagement photo....it's a similar phenomenon with Trev.
Big brother Don is giving Trevor the rules, "don't smile for the camera."
All the guys. Great posing guys! What exactly does "look at the camera" mean to you?
Ok this one is a little better. What do you mean it's blurry! So it turns out I'm NOT good at taking pictures! Sheesh, give me a break already!
L-R Josh, Donny, Justin, Dad (and Trev) Nathan, and Matt. (Justin and Matt are the inlaws)

The Ma and Pa. Mom never got a white wedding dress so we were pretty excited to get one for her anniversary!
The whole family. I stole this picture from my sister`s blog who has better details and better pictures. You should read it.
Aunt Connie and little Myles.

Aunt Kimmy and Lindey.Aunt me and....oh wait...he's not my nephew. Me and Trev. He's mad because I'm not letting him take the picture.
Uncle Justin and Myles. Myles is the sweetest, best natured baby ever!
Over the weekend we took a hike and a picnic along the beach!
...looks like we're taking over the island...
She looks like a little island flower!
About 30 seconds after the photo was snapped he tripped and his tuna sandwich landed face down in the sand!

We collected rocks and found sea creatures...

Anyone who was anyone climbed the log...

Kaitlynn talked to us about log climbing safety...

We ate mermaid popcorn straight off the beach...it's dried seaweed

Josh ate worms...

Janette dreamt about boooooyyyyyssss.....

All in all...we had a wonderful time! The islands, while perhaps inconvenient to live on, are stunningly picturesque!

Krystal wanted a shot with her and the nephews and nieces....good luck!
I like these pictures because they capture the constant movement at our get-togethers! It's actually getting better as most of us are old enough to wipe our own bums now but that pretty much means it's gone from Straight Insanity to Mostly Chaos. It's a step up.

Photo Shoot

2008-05-14T07:43:00.000-07:00

At the risk of appearing very conceited....here are some pictures our very good friends Dustin and Christy took of Justin and I. They do some great great work! If you don't believe me, go check out their site!

Sick, not the weird kissy lips.
So not attracted right now, you have no idea.

Get them away from me!

Ok fine, you want a weird kiss, you get a weird kiss.

Annnd we're done.

Just kidding, actually I love you very much.

Anal-ness

2008-04-29T22:22:00.000-07:00

Have you ever watched a movie or read a story or perhaps watched a Youtube.com incident of embarrassingly anal people? I'm sure we've all heard a story somewhere of some self centered person making a complete fool of themselves in the interest of protecting their rights or their pride or their money or... their shiny new red Dodge Charger. And, not to pick on the rich, often the stories are of the rich and/or famous (or the wanna-be's) with their ATM hearts and credit card brittle personalities.
Like each of you I'm aware that these people exist. I have just not had many (if any) personal clashes with them....until yesterday. It was all so ridiculous I wasn't sure whether to be angry or to find it one of the funniest things in the world. So actually, I did both. Laughed and got mad, that is.
Justin and I were on the ferry from WA islands to WA mainland. The ferry announced our destination and asked us all to return to our vehicles so we roused from our naps and hustled down the stairs to the parked car. As we emerged from the stairwell we were "greeted" by Ms. DON'T TOUCH MY DODGE CHARGER!! She was parked directly in front of the stairwell, door open, leaning out of her car, glaring at every single person that walked by and barking, "PLEASE, don't touch the CAR!"
Geez lady, freak out already. What do you think we're going to do, kick it on our way by. Dump our leftover coffee on the hood. Bounce a basketball off of it? We were WALKING TO OUR CAR, not vandalizing the place! Seriously...every single person that was getting off on that side of the ferry got to hear, "DON'T touch the car! PLEASE DON'T touch the car. Don't touch the CAR!!" in a steady nauseating stream. And every one of us reacted the same, we just looked at her. It was so ridiculous and uncalled for that no one had any response other then to pause 1 or 2 seconds in confusion, shrug, and walk away.
And of course, as she's daring any of us to breathe in her air, there's a dog jumping up and down in the back seat. Yeah that's right, barking up a storm, pawing the seats, and jumping up on the windows. I guess you gotta pick your ulcers don't you!
I got in our car in a huff, a very unnecessary huff really, her attitude shouldn't dictate mine but I kinda let it. And as I'm gritting my teeth and dreaming up scathing retorts, a very old, very unassuming little couple ambled past.
The little gray haired woman decided she wanted to drive so she squeezed between their vehicle and El Snabbios to get to the driver's side, steading herself all the way with her hands firmly planted on the hood of the shiny red wonder.
I saw smoke coming from behind the dash.
Then the elderly, unassuming woman decided she didn't want to drive afterall...so she slowly squeezed back through the narrow opening, hands all over the car.
Snobbio couldn't take it anymore and exploded from her car. "DON'T touch the car! PLEASE TAKE YOUR HANDS OFF MY CAR!!"
And old people, you gotta love 'em. They're so unruffled. They looked at her as if she was very interesting and just carried on. They traded positions, using the car for balance all the way as if they were completely oblivious to the frantic woman sprouting gray hairs a few feet away from them.
We all know with absolute, documented certainty that her car will depreciate. A rock will hit it. Birds will poop on it. Random things will scratch it. It WILL happen. And it will end up being just another old car. But for a while in its glory days, it will serve to age and stress one poor woman. It almost makes me feel sorry for her. Thats a lot of wasted energy!

What goes through your mind late at night...

2008-04-22T22:03:00.000-07:00

I've always had a dream of finding an abandoned child. I know thats almost creepy. What kind of sick person hopes a child will be abandoned? Let me hasten to say that I don't hope children are abandoned but because I know they are...I want to be one of the people that finds one. I used to fall asleep as a kid imagining what it would be like and where I'd find the baby and the very calm and wise way I would handle the situation. So calm and wise in fact that everyone would think I was obviously the proper person to take care of this child...even if I may have been only 8. And I'd come up with names and imagine being the youngest mother....yeah, anyway. Moving on.

So recently I was laying...lying...? Laying? I think it's Lying....anyway...

So recently I was lying in bed, mostly asleep. Justin was fast asleep beside me and I was in that 'in-between stage' when it feels like you're awake and you wish you could just fall asleep and then you roll over and it wakes you and you realize that your body was sleeping. Only your silly brain thinks it's awake.

So as I'm drifting off, all of a sudden, I heard a baby crying! Not even kidding, I heard a baby! It sounded like it was right outside my window or maybe closer to the garden spot, not desperately crying- softly crying. My heart was pounding before my eyes even had a chance to pop open. Of course as the adrenaline rushed toward my brain and it began functioning properly I quickly came to the realization that what I was imagining was perfectly impossible, ludicrous, not actually happening. I laid there blinking in the dark for what seemed like a full minute (but was probably about .7 of a second) trying to place this "cry" that sounded less and less like a baby and more and more like....Justin's nose whistling...!?

Yep, that's what it was. My own dear husband had a whinish sort of snore going on and my foggy brain had heard it as a baby's cry. And all in a matter of about 5 seconds I had already heard, rescued, named, and raised it. What a let down! I actually felt disappointed and almost shot a little glare at the offending nose. I didn't actually, I just said "almost." What I actually did was give him a little helpful prodding so he'd turn over. ...and then I pretended it really had been a baby and revisited my childhood 'abandoned baby' scenario. In a more grown up fashion. I'm 25 now...they really WOULD let me keep the baby!