NEW ME!!

FAMILIES FIRST
I have a wonderful seasoned mom-visitor who comes once a week to talk about child development and improving core family relationships. We also do crafts from time to time (something I prefer over those hard hitting questions)!
Today with Families First we talked about positive parenting; praising vs nagging. Hmm...I'm pretty sure I've done my share of nagging! Somehow, as a perfectionist, it has become easier to let people know what they've been doing wrong rather than praising what they've already done right. This is definitely something I need to work on as nobody loves and wants to spend time with a negative Nelly! Aaand I now realize how destructive and unproductive to a little persons ego, growth, and development it can be!
We also talked about family values and I received some homework for Ike and I to do this week (never was a fan of homework!). A while back Ike and I made a collage of some of OUR more important values that we want to instill in our children. Today I had to choose two that I thought we need to improve upon and we must answer a barrage of deep thinking questions and come up with a plan. The two that I chose were 'Having Fun Family Time' and 'Relationship With God'. I chose these two because I know that sometimes we get caught up in TV, me time, chores, etc... and we forget to stop and make memories as a family. For the same reasons mentioned earlier I have also been finding it difficult to make time to build on my relationship with God. It really shouldn't be this hard to make time for Him which is why it is something I want to work on so as to be a solid example for my children.

WISDOM TIDBIT
A book I read recently (thank you American Mom) talked about being 'the new normal'. It's a tough adjustment to make, going from doing what I want to doing what my children want and need! The author talked about how so many parents need to find themselves again after they've had children when really this is who they are now...THIS is the new normal...THIS is the new me! There is no need for a search-party!

Spoiled Sonya!

This year we celebrated Sonya for St. Patty's day! Aunty Vickie and my mom put on a beautiful baby shower for her! Family and friends showed up eager to meet her and spoil her with wonderful gifts, despite the looming blizzard. Luckily for most of us our husbands drove us there...unlucky for them, they were banished to the basement! A great time was had by all except for Sonya who decided to have a 'moody I only want daddy day'! Despite her grouchy-ness she received tons of very cute clothes...several pairs of shoes (just what every girl NEEDS)...fun books...a couple of playmats...a couple of exersaucers...AND a rocking horse that neighs and gallops and shakes its head and tail!! After opening all of these lovely gifts we indulged in sandwiches, pickles, and veggies...then dug into the desserts! Mmm...angelfood cake, fruit, whip cream, cookies, and brownies! So wonderful!

Sonya

What's this...a post?! Yes! Sonya is currently napping which gives me a few minutes to speed blog!
There are a handful of you out there who have been checking my blog and requesting her birth story...so here's the quick version. :)
On Jan. 3rd I had a routine Dr. appointment just before noon where she accidentally broke my water doing a cervix check. Oops! We got ourselves (well actually me) cleaned up and hurried to the hospital! Good thing Ike was with me and that I am a 'planner' who had everything we needed in the van already!  At the hospital I laboured for 30 hours and even with the help? of pitocin (a drug to help induce labour/contractions) I remained stuck at 6cm. At 7pm on Jan. 4th my Dr. and a surgeon gave me my options and I nearly in tears (after being cut off from my epidural due to complications) quickly begged them to hurry up and cut me open and end the pain!  At 8:21pm we found out that our baby was a girl!  She was born just in time too as infection had begun to set in, in my uterus.  Both Sonya and I had to be put on antibiotics for several days but we did really well and had no issues with our health! We did however spend nearly a week in the hospital because Sonya lost too much weight after birth and her breathing had them slightly concerned.  It was kind of nice having the extra days there because I was well taken care of by the nurses, I didn't have to cook, and I didn't have to over exert myself which helped with the healing from surgery!  We were very happy though to finally be released on Jan. 9th...it was soooo nice to be at home where it was calm and quiet!
Ever since that day we've been doing awesome!  She has been growing like crazy and is one super strong kiddo!  Recently we've been getting between 5 and 6 uninterrupted hours of sleep at night which makes up for the need to be fed every 1-2 hours and snuggled all day!

I LOVE MY MINI ME!!!

Meal Marathon!

I do NOT like thinking up meals and then cooking them when I am tired....And I do Not like constantly eating chicken fingers and fries for dinner!  Therefore I spent lots of time searching website after website for the best tips, advice, and recipes for freezer meals and then I spent ALOT of time planning out the shopping list, the slicing and dicing, and the instruction lists! (Not like I don't have the time to do this!)

I managed to come up with 28 freezer meals--2 of which my mother in law is so kind to make for me (her specialties of course...Enchiladas and my favorite mexican beef stew of some sort)--On Sunday Ike and I managed to pump out 21 of the 28 planned freezer meals!  I feel so much better knowing that we will have great and easy meals to eat after the babe is born! 

Of course the first thing we decided to attack were the onions...Ike and I chopped and cried over probably about 8lbs of onions for various meals!  As you can see, giant freezer ziploc bags are my new best friend!  Each bag is a meal destined for the slowcooker!

Must have chicken!

And hamburger for Shepherd's Pie and Chili and Soup...oh and there was also more raw hamburger for meatballs.  Can't forget about the potatoes which were mashed up for the Shepherd's Pie.  Oh man I'm getting hungry just thinking about all this goodness in my freezer!

Shepherd's Pie, Scalloped Potatoes, Chili, Chicken Pot Pie, Greek Chicken & Potatoes, Pulled Pork, various Soups, and the list goes on!

I can't believe we actually managed this...if this works out as well as I hope it may become a regular thing around here!

I should also mention that on saturday night our hot water tank experienced a break down and we didn't get it fixed until sunday evening....We boiled water in our kettle numerous times just so we could wash our hands and some dishes during our meal making marathon!  Oy, talk about a disaster zone!

God is Awesome!

I apologize for not posting an update sooner!  Soooo....a few days after my infection/pre-term labour scare I had an appointment with MY doctor.  She said everything was great and that baby is healthy and still measuring big!  Thank you God!  Then I asked her if the other doctor had talked to her about my visit to urgent care...She said he had and she couldn't understand why he had made such a diagnosis because all of my urine tests (including the one done that day) came back negative for infection!  WHAT?!  Oh my goodness I was taking antibiotics and fearing for my baby's health for nothing!  Jackie and I have concluded that God works super fast miracles instead of being too angry at the other doctor!!

The bonus to this is that I am done work but still taking it easy and resting more! :)

Momma kitty news...

Momma is doing much better!  She had spent the whole weekend at the vet so they could keep an eye on her and give her IV fluids (because she wasn't eating or drinking).  The vet figured that it was pancreatitis and that just runs its own course.  They did give her a pill to help with her nausea and make her hungry which really helped!  She came home on Monday....VERY tired and angry at being caged up and apart from us and home!  She slept most of the week and just today has been showing more signs of returning to her old self.  Very happy to have my silly Siamese back!

THANK YOU TO ALL FOR PRAYING!!!

Update and a Couple of Prayer Requests!

Yay we are down to the single digit weekly countdown!  8 more weeks to go (I'm praying for at least 6 more!)

This last Tuesday I noticed that I was having alot of Braxton Hicks contractions...I figured that maybe I had been overdoing it and the truth is that I had done too much that day (I guess being stubborn does have some downfalls).  So I took it much easier the next day...in fact I spent half of my shift at work (at the restaurant) sitting on a stool watching everybody else work!  When I got home I took a nap!  We had planned on going grocery shopping that evening when Ike would get home from work while Claudia went trick or treating with her friends.  It didn't quite work out as planned...I had still been having too many contractions and was quite uncomfortable so instead of heading to Superstore we headed to the Urgent Care Clinic (basically Winkler's version of a walk-in clinic).  There I saw a very young but very nice doctor!  They discovered that I had a bladder infection which is irritating my uterus and causing the contractions.  He also said that this is in fact very serious as it can lead to pre-term labour!  I just about started crying!  This baby is not nearly ready to come out!  He checked the baby's heart rate which was good! He also (ahem) checked my cervix (sooo uncomfortable!) which is still closed! Praise the Lord!!!  Then he gave me a prescription for the infection and sent me to the hospital for a non-stress test.  At the hospital the maternity nurses (such sweet ladies!!) hooked me up to a fetal monitor which measured the baby's heart rate (Ike recorded the sound of the heartbeat on his phone, at the suggestion of the nurses) and it measured the contractions.  I could watch on the machine when a contraction was coming and going (I could feel them too!)...Apparently I was having more than I thought!  I had about a dozen in the hour that I was hooked up!  Everything I read says that 3 in an hour is enough to be concerned about!!  Yikes!  At the end of the test the nurse talked to the doctor who had seen me and she came back and let me know that he wanted to follow up with me the next morning...She also gave me a stern talking to about taking it easy and resting MORE! (sigh...very difficult for an independent go-getter/Baldwin).  That evening when we got back home I went to tell my boss/great friend about the day and we sadly decided that I would officially be done work as of that day!  So far I feel the same or maybe a bit better which is ok...The doctor said that if it gets worse or more painful or if I have a fever to go directly to Emergency, and that they will be keeping a closer eye one me from now on.  

Prayer Request #1~ Baby stays in! Infection goes away!

Thursday morning my kitty decides to get sick and is puking everywhere almost non-stop!  We decided to take her to the vet to get checked out (I had my follow up appointment that morning anyhow).  They couldn't find anything seriously wrong with her just possibilities like bad food or treats, irritated pancreas, or swallowed foreign object.  They gave her fluids and an anti-nausea pill and let me take her home to keep an eye on her.  She seemed happier but tired and weak like a kid who had been puking all night.  The vet asked that I call around noon the next day to give an update so I did....She hadn't eaten or drank anything and was pretty lethargic all day...she also started to puke again that morning.  I brought her back in to the vet and they kept her there all day doing x-rays and blood work.  Which all came back normal BUT the vet said that soft foreign objects don't show up on x-rays very well so there's still that possibility and she would keep her overnight and give her IV fluids since she wasn't eating.  Waiting now for them to call with any updates.  I miss my kitty!

Prayer Request #2~ Heal my kitty!

(I am so overly emotional lately that this would just be too much for me to lose her now!)

Busy Weekend!

We had a really great but busy weekend!  On Saturday we attended my good friend Ghislaine's wedding!  It was beautiful!  They decided on an outdoor wedding at a place called Evergreen Village (basically a done up farm yard on the 59Hwy) and lucky for them...they were blessed with gorgeous weather!  Unfortunately they had one major snafu...The justice of the peace they had hired showed up an hour late for the ceremony!  She claimed to have gotten majorly lost...hmmm maybe figure out ahead of time where you're going!  The bride did need some make-up touch ups, obviously, but all went well after the jp showed up!

Ghislaine & I

Chantal (my friend since kindergarten and G's older sister) / Ghislaine / My prego self / Marjolaine (G's twin sister)

Then on Sunday we spent the day at my mom & dad's to celebrate mom's birthday as well as mine!  We surprised my mom with a kindle from all of us kids (special thanks to Auntie for the help)....It definitely made her day!  I got some great loot too and strawberry shortcake for dessert just like I had requested...Mmmmm!!  

Just before dinner mom dragged us outside to take pictures of the grandkids and of course she snapped this one of the one on the way. 

Ike and I and "Mistletoe 27w5d)"