On the road to expansion: Half way there.

They say "Time flies when you're having fun."

I say "Even though time flies, It's not always as fun as all that!"

That said... Looking back on the passed 20 weeks, it felt longer while it was happening. But now that it's done, it went by in a flash! Could be that I was so sick during my 1st trimester that the days just mashed into one and when I recovered I had so much catching up to do, that I just zipped through the time in a constant preoccupied buzz! WOW! that sounded almost as confusing as Bilbo's speech at his 111th birthday!

If none of that makes sense, it's because my brain, these days, is like the mascot for Ellen's 12 days of giveaways this year... A HOT MESS! lol I'm all over the place, but nowhere, really, my husband and kids drive me unusually nuts and I'm emotionally erratic! I worry sometimes that I won't have enough time to get everything done that I set out to achieve before this baby arrives. It doesn't really help that I'm expanding at a ridiculous rate and it's taking a toll on my energy levels. I feel as if I'm a duck already, and I'm only halfway!

As for baby, he (yes! it's a boy!) is so active! I started feeling flutters when I was in my 17th week. The kids are so super excited and now they can see him moving around too :) It's made Gabriel much more aware of the fact that there is a little brother in mummy's belly now that he can see the movement.

The new 'thing' is for me to lie down and pull up my shirt to expose my belly, so they can see the movement, poke and 'kiss' him, do raspberries on my belly and hug him! They also like to share what they are eating with him so I have to eat it so he can taste it. lol Not always ideal... since I'm afraid of catching their bugs/viruses and even more grossed out about eating their leftovers/ gooey, sticky finger stuff! I do it anyway just because it makes them really happy. I find it strange that they don't want to share with each other but they share with him without blinking.

Taking pics, as I said I would, to show my progress, is not happening at all. I'm never really up for saying cheese and rarely dressed for it ;) To be fair... I've not been taking much pics of anything at all.

With all the things coming up in the next few months i.e Christmas and New year, Micaela's birthday, Gabriel's birthday, [possibly] some pre-wedding events for Marsha, trying to get Oumie here and hopefully getting one or more steps closer to obtaining a driving licence *fingers crossed big time on that one*... I hope it keeps me sufficiently occupied to pass the rest of the time in a flash too! 

Little monsters.



How cute are they?

Halloween this year was definately more fussed about in our household than previous years. The kids were all excited about their costumes, which is not normally the case.


Minnie mouse bat.

Princess bride

They never want to wear costumes and I am normally the one fighting to get them into it! The girls were so excited that they could wear them to school.

Gabriel wore his costume all day and had to be coaxed out of it for meals (to prevent spills on them before going out).

Go Batman!!

Going to the cousins for dinner and 'trick or treating' was a definate highlight. They had a blast going around their cousins neighbourhood and spending the evening with them and as a bonus... It's aunty Marsha's birthday!!



AWWW!!!

Aunty Michelle bring up the rear :)



Somewhat spooked by the decorations hehe



The girls wanted to 'fly solo'.

On the road to expansion: The first 3 months.

Everyone knows we wanted a big family so it should not come as a surprise to anyone when we tell them:



RESULT: POSITVE!!!

 On my Mother-in-law's 70th birthday, we make the amazing discovery :) As it is still very early and there is sooooo much else going on, we decided to stew in our little secret for a while. That didn't last very long. 2 weeks later, and I can hardly move because I'm nauseous as sin! Every day becomes an uphill stuggle with hunger, nausea, endless amounts of food issues, exhaustion from it all and from 3 very active youngsters who are all still very dependant on their mom. The battle zone: our house. The biggest victim (other than myself): Michael, who has now become mummy, i.e, nurse, entertainer, educator, vacuumer, mopper, cleaner, laundry guy, feeder, babysitter, cook, referee, disciplinarian, dresser, must do bedtime, bathtime, storytime, wake-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night time, on top of all his usual daddy, school and working AND must now deal with a cranky, hormonal, miserable, lunatic, pukey-feeling wife! Poor guy!! Well... he weathered the storm and came out of it not too badly beaten up. hehe!



1 month - unaware and feeling fine.




2 months - feeling pukey and already showing!

















Due to not being particularly happy with how I was feeling and looking, there is no 3month bellyshot. Since I feel much better now(but now looking all that great lol), I will definately make an effort to take the appropriate pics as this pregnancy progresses.

Though there is no belly shot of me, take a look inside me at 3months :)


Photo debut of our 4th little angel <3

 


The girls are super excited about the new arrival and ask multiple times a day when the new baby is coming, check how much my belly has grown and want to talk "things that we have to/are going to do when the baby comes".

Oh! For the love of Doctors

As much as I am thankful for most of the medical Doctors that have crossed my path in the passed few years, I am so very tired of seeing them! I have been in more doctors' offices in the last 3 years than I have in the first 30 years of my life. It has become such a frustrating thing to me and I am seriously reaching breaking point. Whether it is for myself or for the kids, it all just makes me antsy.

Of course, Micaela's ordeal was the most traumatic, simply in that it dealt with heart issues. But that doesn't mean that the mosquito alergic reactions with the girls wasn't as bad.



Reation to mosquito bites that left her with a popeye arm and 10 days of antibiotics!



Then there was the little incident with Gabriel and the poisonous mushroom that just frazzled and fizzled away all my leftover patience and nerves.



Ring pop for the 2 slices of pizza he ate and kept down :)

 And what do you know?... Here comes Old Man Winter bringing with him gifts of the common cold, seasonal flu, red hot fevers, sore throats, hurting ears, stuffy noses, coughs and sneezes. Humidifiers and thermometers, Tylenol and Advil, Eucalyptus oils and saline washes, honey tea and chicken soups! It's only the tip of the iceberg! My little germ-mongers who won't share anything but will pass on the germs without hesitation, are just ready and waiting to accept these gifts with open arms.

So, I brace myself and prepare, not just for the cold weather approaching but also the sleepless nights and sick babies, medicine bag in hand, humidifiers and chicken stocks ready and say, "Bring it on!!!

A summer divided.

 Now that Micaela's procedure is done, we can get to the fun part of this summer. Mummy's here, the kids are geared to go and Mike is off to hit the books (once again). We have a trip to Great Wolf Lodge behind us. That was fun. Also, a week at the trailer. That too was fun. The visit with my mum is going really well. The kids are totally enjoying having her here. And so am I!!! :)

Swimming lessons :)



Checking out the old fire house.





Sight seeing at an old settlers village...







Demetri's ice-cream shoppe...YUMMM!





Off to the beach! woohoo!!



Peek-a-boo in the tent.

Michael and I have actually managed to get in a few dates, and even a weekend away at the trailer! I'm not gonna lie... as much as I missed the kids, I didn't really miss them! hehe It was the first time we went away without the kids and it was glorious. He had alot of reading to do and so was away most of the time and that left me with nothing but my own company. I discovered that I'm a pretty cool person to hang out with!





Going to chill by the camp fire :) hehe 





Our 7th anniversary date at the Pillar and Post in Niagara-on-the-lake.

All in all, not much happened after Micaela's procedure except some quality time with Oumie and the family. I think everyone was sort of just very happy that the op was all behind us and our princess was fine!









I need an 'easy button'.

It's official... I suck at keeping any kind of diary, journal, blog, etc. I thought it would be so easy, because I   spend so much time in front of this laptop and the 3 blogs I follow are all good and the bloggers make it seem such a simple thing to do. So why am I so bad at it? I'm computer literate and though I dont have a creative bone in my body, there's not much to think about... it's all on the screen in front of me. All I have to do is click!

What is it that makes one good at these kinds of activities? I clearly don't have 'it'. I had a good giggle at myself today ... it took me a while before I found the "new post" button  to even start this whining session!!! 

I still feel like I want to do it, though. I'm going to give it another go. I will have to do a post-dated catchup first and then try to keep it up. Also see about adding some pics, videos and fancying it up some. Yup, that's the plan. All I have to do is follow through :)

Off to exploring the blogging world I go!!!

Oh look! I figured out how to add pictures!

A hole is filled...

Micaela is a superstar!!! This week has been exhausting... emotionally, mentally, physically DRAINING!!! But Thank God! Its all over! The ASD is no more.

Being all shy in her special pyjamas



Oumie and mummy waiting with her to see the doc before she goes in.





I'm dressed up to take her in... she fell asleep waiting.



 A 24mm closure device was used to close a 22mm hole. She was in the operataring room for an hour and 40minutes.

... and then to recovery. mooch, the monkey stayed with her while she slept and dad was whispering sweet nothings to her to cheer her up :) 

She ate few freezies and crackers and later had some soup. She had no nausea and the I.V.T was removed. The pressure bandages came off, she had to walk. On her first attempt, she had started bleeding. the nurse applied some pressure and she had to lie down for a bit more. She bouced back from that and only 7 hours after the procedure she is ready to go home.



MY SUPERSTAR!!!



Pre-cath clinic

Today Micaela had her pre cath prep at Hospital for Sick Children. What an experience! What a star my little girl is proving to be! She is so brave and her courage is inspiring :) We had a very early day and from the onset she was pleasant and cooperative. She was shy (as she always is) about greeting people but I think it is just the stand-offish-to-everybody-way that we know and love (NOT) about her.

All the way from check-in, to bloodwork, to x-ray, an ecg and back to meet and greet with the nurses, doctors and other AMAZING members of the team we will cross paths with in the next few days. She took her camera with her and took pics of every exciting thing she experienced. She is so super excited to go back and the staff prepped her, and us, really well.

Having her ECG...

Getting all the info about tomorrow from one of the amazing nurses...

Practicing to breathe with the 'sleepytime' mask

It turned out to be not as scary as I had thought it would be but it is only the first day. In a nutshell... so far, REAL good! Now, to dig tremendously deep and make it through the biggest part... the actual cardiac catheterization. God bless and keep my baby safe and give me the strength to be there for her.

So it begins :)

Well, now that I think I have the time to do this... let's see how it goes! With so much happening in my life, and me getting older and more forgetful (hehe!), It's about time to try and keep track of all the fun and craziness. Wish me good luck!!