Goodness gracious. A whole week with no blog! It's very time consuming, and I watched TV instead of blogging for my free evening this week haha. No regrets.
No blog doesn't mean no activity around here. Here's what we've been up to the last week.
I posted last Saturday because Eva was 6 months, but in the afternoon Emilia needed some connection time, so she came upstairs with me and I put some makeup on her. Just a little eye shadow and some lip gloss, but she felt special :)
Sunday my mom came and hung out with the kids so Dave and I could go to church. Kerriann's youngest two, Emmett & Blake were being baptized and I wanted to be there for that. Tomorrow Eva and Phoebe are being baptized too, so we'll be back again!
Isla was wayyy too cute holding the baptism bowl! It made me want to ask Dom and/or Emilia to hold it for Eva. Not sure that's going to happen... We'll see.
After church and quiet time we were off to the pumpkin patch again for Greg & Liz Holmes' (our realtors) annual pumpkin patch event at Hazelmere. It was wet, but we had fun!
Dom just asked the whole time to go back to the tent to get more snacks
Dad and Dom went back to the van with the pumpkins, and Emilia really wanted to go see the animals. She didn't want to touch them, but we did watch the goats eat for a minute.
Eva just staring into space the entire time
Found the real reason they went back to the van. Goody bags had been opened!
Pouring rain
Definitely called for a bath when we got home! Love this sitting stage!!!
On Monday Ashleigh & Phoebe came for a mid day visit, and while Ash & Dom played some Snakes & Ladders, Phoebe and I had some bonding time. It's so hard to get to know your nephews and nieces when you're constantly dealing with your own littles! In the afternoon Kirsten invited us over for dinner. We were just packing up to go on a family walk to the park so they joined us. It was a beautiful Fall afternoon!
I have so many pictures of this sleeping girl lately since she has her "quiet time" in our bed. We have to wake her up every single time.
Had to wake this one too! She wanted to sleep right through the visit!
These two were laughing so hard they both had tears in their eyes. That'll get the endorphins going!
I couldn't wait to get a nicer photo of Emilia because another mom at the park kindly let me know Eva was eating bark mulch so I had to run and intervene haha. Oops!
On Monday evening I had my online Postpartum support group again (which I'm loving by the way). I think everyone who's had a baby and is struggling at all in any way (so everyone?) should reach out to Pacific Postpartum Support Services. Free support! Text/call support, and these groups. I'm connected with 4 moms in the lower mainland plus our facilitator. It's great therapy, and we discuss our self-care plan for the week. I realized I was feeling super burnt out and way too busy, so I took out my calendar and scheduled myself in for a "night off" on Tuesday. I told Dave to leave me alone, and I sat on the couch and watched TV and didn't talk to anyone.
Things have been extra busy lately with work, too because we have our big annual event on November 5. No such thing as maternity leave hours the next couple weeks!
So yes. Wednesday... Eva started eating more baby led weaning foods, Emilia got ahold of my phone camera, and then Dave and I went to the Kindergarten Open House at the kids' school. It was informative, and nice to get a tour. We feel really good about our huge decision to send our kids to private school. It's a major lifestyle choice because it. is. not. cheap. Good golly...
Now Emilia takes the camera
Fun seeing what a 3 year old takes pictures of. Imagine all of these, but many more objects, and 8 versions of each photo. Including the inside of the toilet...
So many random memories came back as I got a tour of my old Middle School!
Thursday the kids had preschool and marched in holding hands. They really don't need me anymore. I love it. While they were at school, I took Eva to her 6 month check up at the Dr. and to get her immunization and flu shot. I also got a flu shot, and booked the rest of the family in. She did great, and she's doing awesome. She's 95th percentile for height, and 50th for weight. Long and lean little lady!
Happily downing her bottle. After her appointment we only had an hour and a half before school pick up, so we ran some errands and then visited Mom who was home on her lunch break.
Preschool. Is. Exhausting!
Thursday evening we hosted our first small group since March 2020! I remember March 11, 2020, also hosting small groups, discussing the NHL being shut down due to this COVID-19 thing, and wondering if we were going to get to go to church on the 14th. Spoiler alert... we weren't! That was the start of it. What a journey.
Friday was just a home day. Not much happened. Again, Eva's started more baby led weaning foods, so she's had banana, whole strawberry, end of a sourdough loaf, boiled egg, roasted sweet potato, roasted zucchini... I don't remember what else. It's really hard for me. Way harder than it should be. It's so messy. I just don't have the time or energy to clean up the mess! She's happy though, and it will probably help with future picky eating; for her and D&E. Emilia actually tried some boiled egg after watching Eva eat it, which has NEVER happened before.
Oh and in the evening, the kids reminded us that Fridays are dessert day, which we'd completely forgotten about! We didn't have any food in the house, and still had to walk the dog, so we went on a family walk all the way up to the gas station to pick out some dessert and walked back. It's probably the longest walk we've done with all 6 of us. It also was dark by the time we got home and almost bed time. We made it with no meltdowns, and little complaining. Things are getting easier with these kids! Eva fussed a bit, but I just carried her for the last stretch which was a-okay with me.
I have to lock the dog in the basement or else he'll steal all her food. As you can see much of it ends up on the floor. *Eye twitches*
This is the aftermath of the kids playing for an hour in their room. Our new organization and cleaning has made a huge difference in their play and their cleanliness!
Smooooooothy Road...
This morning Scott & Ash invited us out to the dog park, so I took Dom & Emilia while Eva napped. The kids had a quick quiet time that started late because they were playing so nicely. Emilia told me she didn't want to nap, so I laid out a bunch of books for her in our bed so she could just read for a while and rest. I came back to get her, and she hadn't even touched the books, didn't get in the blankets, and just passed out hard on our bed haha.
These kids are at a fun age. Tons of work, but also get way more return these days!
How's that "not napping" going, Emilia?
This evening I was cutting a loaf of sourdough and it was going quite well! Nice even, thin slices. I cut the whole loaf, and then decided to try get one more slice off one of the butt ends. I set up, pushed to slice, and my super sharp bread knife slipped and gashed my index finger on my right hand. Right away I knew it wasn't good. We got some pressure on it, and took a look. Super clean cut. I texted Amy (sorry, Amy!), and she said it will need stitches. Dang it! I've never had to get stitches other than having babies, so I didn't know what the next step was, but she pointed me to Urgent Care. Glad she told me and I didn't have to go to the hospital for something so "minor". Anyway, I drove myself out there and missed dinner at home. All in all I was only out for an hour and a half though, which was much quicker than I was expecting. The nurse and doctor at Urgent Care were awesome. I wasn't expecting people to be so kind and friendly. I was expecting more clinical than anything. At one point there were 4 of us in the waiting room, and all 4 of us had cut our fingers with knives that evening. Don't know what's going on! Haha
I got 3 stiches in my finger. Now I have to somehow not get it wet, while trying to do household stuff, make lunch for family tomorrow, get the kids ready for church, get myself ready for church, have Eva baptized, go to the bathroom, etc. etc. Good thing I have Dave to help! Not that that helps with me going to the bathroom (just concerned about hand washing haha). Annoying!!
I'll spare you the gory photos. This is our nice makeshift treatment from home. Apparently we need to restock the first aid kit... We went to get it, and it was filled with random toiletries from some trip we went on or something. Real smart, Renee... Good thinking ahead! NOT! :)
