Ho ho ho....

Tis the season!
..to wrestle with Christmas lights, wade through a sea of people at the mall and try desperately to keep what is real about this season close to my heart.
It's not about the sights, sounds or smell.
It's about family.
It's about a baby born in a smelly manger all those years ago.
It's about the man that baby grew up to be.
The only man who could take on all my sin so I could have a relationship not only with him but with the father.
You may have seen this on facebook:
Greatest man in history, named Jesus, had no servants, yet they called him Master. Had no degree, yet they called him Teacher. Had no medicines, yet they called him Healer. He had no army, yet kings feared Him. He won no military battles, yet he conquered the world. He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him. He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today. Re-post if you believe with your heart.....Merry CHRISTmas!

I posted it...did you?

and now for some pictures...
The kids trimming the tree.
Most of the ornaments are 3feet high..all the way around!





Then last night we were baking/decorating shortbread cookies....

One month in...

A new "normal" is beginning to emerge.
One with a little less sleep and a lot more laundry that's for sure!
But I think we are all adjusting pretty well.
Giggles still is a little confused as to why I can't feed the baby juice and Mr.D loves to smother Punky with kisses.
Lots and lots of kisses.
Hard to imagine what life was like before Punky joined our little family but she defiantly has found her place in all of our hearts.
It's only been a month but it has been a busy one!
At her one week well baby check the family doctor though that he heard a "click" in her right hip so we took her to see a pediatric specialist for a consultation. He didn't hear anything so next week we are taking her for an ultrasound.
I'm not worried.
God has her covered and we are believing that she is totally fine!!
we also have already faced our first breast feeding issues (dang thrush!!) too and on the mend.
So, that's where I have been... How has life been with you?

my adventure with 4 has started

Our newest Addition "Punky"!

(a little late I know but life with 4 can be a little daunting to say the least!)

As most of you know I had been dealing with braxton hicks on and off since Thanksgiving and had done 1 trip to labor and delivery for a non-stress test and the very next day (which was my birthday) I was back thinking that "this was it!"
We were wrong...they sent me home as we weren't progressing fast enough for them to keep me.
Actually, she said that I had a "cranky uterus" so, we went home.
The contractions continued but they didn't really have a pattern and they defiantly weren't doing anything to convince me that we were having this baby any time soon.
Fast forward to the 5th of November.
My dear friend came over for coffee and unfortunately "shared" the stomach flu with my entire family unbeknownst to me at the time.
Mr.D promptly started getting sick late Friday night so I was thankful that baby hadn't arrived yet as I didn't want to deal with a sick baby as well.
Thankfully he is such a trooper and he got over it pretty quick!
Saturday went by with me cleaning like a crazy woman then I crashed and had a really long nap.
Guess my body knew before I did what was coming next!
Early Sunday afternoon we were back at labor and deliver to get "checked"
My back hurt so bad I was convinced that I was in labor and found out that I was in "early labor" and just like last time I wasn't progressing fast enough so they sent me home and told me to nap and get some rest.
They said my back was hurting because baby was "sunny side up" and to get on all fours and the baby would turn. I was dilated 1.5 cm and 60% effaced at the time so I went home.
Frustrated but I knew that my doctor's appointment was the next day and the doctor was going to strip my membranes and get the "show on the road" so I went home and napped. Got a good one in too until the phone ran!
It was my mil calling to tell me that Giggles was throwing up and wanted her momma so, I grabbed some ginger ale from the grocery store and headed over to get her.
Stepped out of my van and promptly threw up in their rock garden.
Great! Just great eh!
So, Giggles and I headed home to get some rest.
She was such a trooper and only got sick two more times and then she was totally fine.
I, on the other hand was a blubbering mess.
We ended up heading to bed at 6:45 for the night but I spent most of that time running back and forth to the washroom.
Add to the fact that Giggles is sleeping on the floor in my room and I have to navigate around her to get to the washroom too each and every time I need to get in there.
I was starting to feel like I was disturbing the entire world! :teehee
Around 1:00 I got a hankering for some apple juice.
The things you want when you are sick!
So, I went and got a nice cold glass of apple juice and had 1 sip and it bounced.
Then I wanted an ice cube.
Tried that and it bounced.
You know you are really really sick when you are sitting on the toilet and throwing up in a pail your in trouble.
Around 1:10 I had a HUGE contraction that sucked the very wind out of you and you know that you are in really really big trouble!
I headed to the computer and pulled up the contraction monitor.
I timed 4 contractions.
They were 1 1/2 minutes long and 3 minutes apart.
Time to go!
And of course, I felt like I had to go pee so I went to the washroom and felt a "pop" and knew that my water had broken and it was time to get to the hospital.
Waddled upstairs, flicked on the light in our closet and told my hubby "time to go!"
Which woke him up in a hurry.
I got dressed went all the way downstairs to the basement to tell my oldest she needed to come up and watch Giggles as we were going to the hospital.
Grabbed my coat and the hospital bag and told my dh I would wait for him in the van. :teehee
We left the house around 1:30ish. Hubby ran every red light and it's a good thing we did!
Once we got to the hospital they put me in a wheelchair and took me up to labor and delivery.
The contractions were intense and like a wave one after another after another. The porter wheeled me into the elevator and all I kept thinking was "not again...no, not again!!" (Giggles was born in the elevator)
Once I was out I felt a little better!
they wheeled me into the "assessment" room and I looked at the nurse and told her that I felt like I needed to push so they took me straight to delivery.
I remember looking at the clock and it read 1:50 when we got in there.
I got up on the bed and they checked me.
I was 9.5 cm and ready to go.
Pushed for 9 minutes and she was out!
She was 8lbs. 2oz and 19 inches long and a head of gorgeous brown hair.
Where that came from is beyond me.
My babies are usually bald! She has lighter blue eyes too which was a surprise along with the fact we were thinking that she was actually a he!
My fastest delivery yet! (thankfully she is my last...or the next one would be a home birth!)
No time for meds....again!
Of course because she was born so fast her face was quite bruised and the capillaries in her eyes popped leaving the whites completley but almost 8 days later she is looking less and less bruised.
She still has some bruising but not like she did in the beginning.
I can not wait to see what she looks like with her normal coloring but that might be a little while longer.
This was her at 6 days old so you can see how much her face is healing.
And now my adventure with 4 has started...some days we get NOTHING done but I think in a few weeks time we will get back to normal.
**fingerscrossed**

**twiddles thumbs**

I have been hiding.
I will admit that.
Sitting here waiting for our baby to make his/her grand arrival can be a little frustrating.
Okay, okay...a lot frustrating!
Feeling like I am living my life on hold is a little more than I can bare some days but God is helping me thru it.
I might not like it but at least I am learning how to get through it.
Trying to memorize how it feels when baby rolls and kicks so down the road I will be able to remember what it felt like.
Almost 39 weeks and honestly, I believed baby would be here sooner.
Which is probably part of my problem.
When you are expecting early and you don't get it it's easy to feel like your a "labor failure" but I know that the next time I go to the hospital it will be for real and I will leave with a baby in my arms!
The little ones are getting anxious too and it's hard to imagine that my due date is in 10 days!!
10 days.
Almost to single digits... Shesh, where did the time go?

37 weeks and holding...

I'm just done.
so done.
I want this baby NOW!!

guess who's back!

Ouch!
"service not available"
Apparently blogspot is unimpressed with my shoddy attendance record too..
I haven't forgotten you...at least not Intentionally.
But I am sure your not interested in excuses.
Just hurry up and get to the good stuff right?
Yeah, I thought so too.
Well seeing as my last post *cough* was in August I guess I should have quite a bit to share so, grab a coffee and settle in.
This might take awhile.
August wasn't quite the warm month we had hoped or expected it to be but it was memorable.
Nightly we were got to experience God's awesome display of power with beautiful thunderstorm.
Watching the lightning streak across the sky and waiting to hear that boom has always been exciting to me.
If I wasn't such a chicken I am sure I would be a storm chaser but for now I will just enjoy watching the show from the comfort of home. Those nightly storms brought with it a ton of rain. So, the few warm days where the temperature was above 30 we either had to bathe ourselves in bug repellent or hide in the house as we were plagued with hoards of blood sucking mosquitoes which made going outside unbearable for a good week.
August also saw the arrival of a funky pregnancy rash all over my growing baby bump.
It wasn't itchy, but it sure wasn't attractive!
So, off to the medi center I went where I was assured my pretty little rash was either viral (something I caught from my children) or an allergic reaction so I was sent off for blood work.
Needless to say I never did hear any results so I wasn't too concerned until I saw my obgyn who sent me for a bile acid test to check for cholestasis. Did I mention that there is only 1 place in town where you can get such test taken.
So off to the university hospital I go to get this test taken.
Considering the nurse at the office told me there was no prep work I assumed that I could just go there, get the blood test taken and go home. Apparently I was the lucky one because I am the only one from my clinic who got sent home for not fasting for 8 hours.
Not cool to do to a very pregnant woman!
The stress you feel when you can't take a test you know is important for your baby is horrific to comprehend.
And yes, that was me sobbing my eyes out in the parking lot and now you know why!
And the worse thing to tell me is what you are testing me for.
Google on a good day is a great thing.
Google when you wonder what the heck is going on with your baby is not.
The fear is overwhelming but thankfully God was with me every step of the way.
The rash disappeared and the test results came back normal.
I also had to do the dreaded gestational diabetes test in August too.
For those of you who don't know what this test is let me share!
They give you what looks like orange pop with 100% more sugar in it then normal pop.
You have 5 minutes to drink the entire thing and then they make you sit in the waiting room for an hour, take your blood and then send you home.
I Flunked the first time.
How do you flunk a blood test!!
So, on Mr.D's first day of kindergarten I was trapped in a lab doing the 2 hour test.
Lucky for me I passed that one and dogged another common pregnancy complication.

The coolness of September was a relief because at least we knew the bugs would get killed off with the early morning frost.
September ushered us all into a new phase of our lives.
One that I had hoped I had entered gracefully but I will admit, there were more than my share of tears.
Some in secret.
Some down right ugly that could not be contained and I am sure brought a little embarrassment to my family.
Two of my three children are now in school.
Do you have any idea how weird that is to say?
Niffy Nunu began her "high school career" and entered Grade 10 **sob**and with that came a flurry of expensive back to school necessities and expenses that sucked the breath out of these ol lungs.
For example...why does my daughter need a $140.00 calculator for math?
Especially when she needed a new calculator last year for math?
Does this one fold laundry? teleport her to her classroom so she will never be late for class ever again?
Umm... no. Just sucked $140 out of my bank account and that didn't even cover school fee's.
Granted, there were more expensive calculators to be purchased but luckily they weren't on the "required materials list"
As soon as there is a school picture, I will post a school picture but blondie locks forgot to bring home her picture form so, she didn't get pictures and we aren't sure when re-takes are so I might have to take matters into my own hands.
My precious 5 year old Mr.D entered kindergarten. **sob**
I wasn't the only one who took this hard.
Giggles was an emotional mess the first two weeks of school.
Clinging to my leg every morning she would sob her eyes out for her brother and I would have to scoop her up in my arms and carry her to the van. Her blanket and her lion that have long been forgotten have re-surfaced and she refuses to go anywhere without them now. Broke my heart to see her so distraught so, we got busy and got plugged in and are now going to bible study Tuesday mornings and play group Thursday mornings to help with the transition and to keep her from missing her big brother.
Seeing that child growing in her faith and getting such a heart for God has had such an impact on me.
One that is impossible to describe.
To have faith like a child is so precious to see.
She asks for God to come and play with her, tells me that Jesus lives in her heart and you can hear her singing
"Jesus loves on me me me me me"
"Jesus loves on me me me me me"
(and not sung to "Jesus loves me either" at least five times a day.
An all consuming fire of faith in a 3 year old!

School has proven to be interesting for both Big Daddy and I along with Noah.
It's hard hearing your son tell you that he "didn't play with anyone" during recess but I know that he has friends.
When I drop him off in the morning there are always children crowding around him wanting him to come and play so it's hard to know for sure.
Now we just have to figure out how to help him with what appears to be the "kindergarten bully".
A kid in his class who feels it's his responsibility to tell our little guy who he can and can not play with.
Befriends our son, has one "get together" then decides that he has voting rights in what our little guy does.
Really?
Already? **unhappy sigh**
Where do this kids come from?
We are also experiencing the "back to school catch every bug around phase too".
So far he has missed 1 full week of school because he has been down with cough/strep throat/ear infection and pink eye.
All at the same time.
All during the same week.
**sigh**
Giggles managed to snag the ear infection and the pink eye while I got the ear infection.
Honestly!
Here's his first school picture.


So far October has been busy.
Sick children and a baby ready to arrive any day have kept me quite busy.
As of today I am 36 weeks pregnant and just ready to be done.
Since thanksgiving I have been experiencing Braxton hicks contractions mixed in with a few real ones.
So yes, this has been going on for a week now.
Every.single.day.
Just enough to make me wonder if baby is on his way sooner that his expected arrival date.
I want to see this baby and snuggle him in my arms.
I want to kiss those sweet little baby toes and smell that sweet baby scent in his hair.
And no, we don't know for sure it this one is a boy or not but hopefully we will know soon!!
According to one of the kindergarten mommies "you have this look on your face" and "you have dropped" so we shall see how much longer this one will bake.
Seeing as this is our last baby I am trying to enjoy what is left of it while storing the good memories somewhere deep in my mind but I will be honest with you.
Maternity pants are for the birds.
You can't keep them up even with a bella band and I just want to get back to the skinnier version of me!
Honestly, I am pretty much ready.
The clothing I want to pack in my hospital bag is in the washer, the car seat is by the front door and the diaper bag is packed and tucked away by the front door.
Towels are on the seats in both the truck and the van so should my water break while I am sitting the seats won't get trashed.
Nesting has become almost my new hobby for me but at least the house is getting clean.
I doubt the baby will care if my linen closet is clean remains to be seen but for today it is bugging me.
So we all know I am going to be tearing that apart and re-organizing it before the day is done.
As I finish this Giggles is coloring at the table and the baby has the hiccups.

Life is good and always an adventure!

we have critters!

.. the creepy crawly kind.
and yes, I am actually okay with having them live in my house.
Seriously.
No screaming for big daddy to come and squash them!!
Having a saltwater tank in an exercise in patience.
It takes awhile for the chemical levels to finally behave and do what they are supposed to but we have finally gone thru both our ammonia spike and our nitrite spike which means that we are actually able to host creatures in our tank!!
The first to arrive were our emerald green crab
Whom I have nick named "Mister crabs".
He's pretty hard to catch actually.
Loves to hide in the rocks so I am actually pretty lucky to have snapped this one of him.

we have snails ...

and hermit crabs...

We also have a cute scooter blenny who apparently is a little camera shy


and a funky shrimp

We also have our first piece of coral....a hammer head.
This is what "he" looks like when the light is turned off in the tank.

but it sure looks nice when the light is on!

And nemo..well two.
Who are nameless for now...

this is what our tank looks like now.

the base rock is starting to show signs that it is becoming "live rock" as there are tiny speckles of purple which means that it is growing coralline algae starting to show up.
Really exciting to watch!
This is definitely a great hobby to get into!