Wow, its been a while

Time has been flying by and I can't believe its been almost 2 months since my last post! Life has been crazy busy, but good. I will try to give an overview of the past 2 months.

We moved at the beginning of October. I think I had mentioned in a previous post that 2 days before Joshua was born, we found out our landlords had sold the house we were living in. We found a place to live and have settled in quite nicely, though we still have quite a bit in storage. I look forward to the day when I am able to unpack all my things...it will be like Christmas! We have been in transition for a year and a half and I definately look forward to settling.

Joshua is now 3 months old and growing like crazy! He weighed in last week at a whopping 15 lbs - over doubling is birth weight in 3 months! He is growing and changing so much every day and I am loving watching the growing interaction between he and Ali. She can make him laugh and they already have so much fun together. Joshua is such a happy little man. He gives smiles and giggles very freely and seems to thoroughly enjoy people and life.

Ali is growing and changing every day too. I can't believe that in just a few weeks I will have a 2 year old! It seems like she learns a couple new words every day and her favorites she repeats over and over. Currently her favorite words are "Adi" (Ali), "Adia" (Auntie Andrea), "Osh" (Josh), and "Apple" (Apple Juice). Another new development with Ali is we are potty training! For months she has been really interested: pointing to the potty and saying please, even going a few times; everytime she went to the bathroom she would point at her diaper and say "oh oh". I put it off for a bit with having a newborn and moving, so we finally started 2 weeks ago. She definately had her good and bad days, but it feels like she is really catching on and taking ownership of it! It feels like we are through the worst part...hopefully. The last few days her accidents have all been on her way to the potty, usually right in front of it. And she now hates waking up from either her nap or night with a dirty diaper. She cries until its off and she has her panties on!

Nate and I are doing well too. This weeks marks 1 1/2 years of Nate being at Central. We really feel like he has found his sweet spot! And it does my heart so much good to see my husband loving what he is doing! As for me, I continue to love being a stay at home mom. This fall I have also started leading worship at our church once a month. I am really enjoying it.

I think that pretty much sums up our life currently. Here are some pic of our growing family.

Photoshoot

We had some professional pictures taken by Scott Pankratz at Paramount Portraits when Joshua was a week old. Here are some of our favorites.

6 1/2 Weeks

I can't believe Joshua is 6 1/2 weeks already. The time certainly flies!

We are all doing good. We are adjusting well. For the first month of his life, Joshua had a lot of trouble falling asleep on his own for naps, which resulted in a very over-tired boy. But last week we finally figured it out...we both figured out what he needs to go down well for naps! He had a whole week of amazing sleeps, then a few days of funkiness, due to being out and a growth spurt and today it feels like we are back on track!

Sleep during the night has been awesome! Starting last week as well, he was waking up only once in a 12 hour stretch for a feed! This week we had a few nights of twice, due to a growth spurt, but we are back down to 1!

And he is growing like crazy! On Tuesday he weighed in at 11lbs 5.5oz - gaining 15 oz in 10 days. He is in the 75th - 90th percentile for most of his measurements!

Natalie is LOVING her little brother! She often tries to play with him or do what he is doing. If he is laying on the floor, she tries to be exactly like him. Isn't it supposed to be the other way around? :) It is so cute to watch! And she has started to make him smile this week, which has been really fun to see. I love seeing the kids interact with each other.

And I am continuing to heal. I was sent for an ultrasound yesterday, as my bleeding came back after being gone for a week. Because of the complications I had, they want to make sure there is nothing still in me. I just got a call from my midwife that everything looks normal! Praise the Lord!

In other news, we are moving at the end of this month. We are not sure where to yet, but our landlords sold the house we are currently living in, so we have to get out. Its not as sudden as it sounds; we have known since Joshua was born. But we are still looking, so you can also pray that we find somewhere to go.

I think that sums up what life has been like over the past few weeks. Here are some pictures of what we have been up to.

Ali trying to be like JoshuaJoshua and his friend Callie - she is just about 5 weeks older than him, though he is catching up fast! And he looks half asleep cuz he just woke up from a napOur smiley boyJoshua sporting his new toque
Natalie and my fortMy precious kidsI love her hand in the pocket

Blind Bay

Last week we made a spur of the moment decision that we needed a vacation. So Tuesday evening, we packed up the kids and trekked out to Blind Bay to join my parents, sister and her boyfriend for a few days of relaxing. I love the Shuswaps...we have been vacationing there since before I was born.

The week before we arrived there was a huge lightening storm which started 17 fires in the Interior and Blind Bay was one of them. We could constantly see the smoke and at times, even the flames. But that didn't stop us from having a great time!Wednesday was spent on the boat...this was Ali's first time on a motor boat. The idea was fun for her, but once we actually got moving, she wasn't impressed that she had to sit still! Though she did love watching the "bubbles" from the wake. And LOVED watching Nate wakeboard. And loved watching the boys tube, though she was quite upset when Daddy would fall off. She was so concerned for him...she has such a soft heart (and she was crazy overtired)! Oh and she loved going on the tube with Daddy! Josh also enjoyed the boat and slept most of the time!

If you look closely, you can see Ali's arms spread holding onto the handles

Thursday we spent on the beach, chilling out. Ali loved all the rocks she could throw in the water and loved playing with Daddy and Gramps.Friday morning we arrived home and Friday afternoon Nate took off for a weekend away with the Middle School Youth! So the kids and I were alone and it actually went really smoothly. I definitely felt all the prayers people were praying for me.

Joshua's bed: a drawer
Our big boy, weighing in today at 10 lbs 6 1/2 oz.

Where Does the Time Go?

I apologize for my lack of blogging these last 2 1/2 weeks! Life has been busy and full of adjustments! Thank you for waiting patiently for me to give you an update. For those of you anxious to hear "the story", I will do my best to give the details.

I guess it all started on Thursday. I went to my midwife for my 40 week appointment. She checked me and found that I was 1cm dilated, but she could easily stretch me to 3-4cm. My cervix was nice and thin. She stripped my membranes and I headed home. On the drive home I started feeling really crampy. Then contractions started. Things felt like they were progressing, so I had Nate stay home with me in the afternoon. Thursday evening my contractions were consistently 10 min apart. We headed to bed thinking we would be heading to the hospital shortly, but my contractions died down and I actually got a good night sleep!

Friday things started up again, but nothing consistent. Contractions continued all day and Friday evening they were about 5 min apart. Again we headed to bed, thinking and hoping for things to happen. Things died down once again until about 2 am, when I was awakened with hard contractions, every 2-5 min apart. I also started bleeding. Just after 3am we called the midwife and headed in to the hospital. And wouldn't you know it, as soon as we arrived at the hospital, the contractions spaced themselves out to 10-15 min. I was about 4 cm dilated. After spending 2 hours at the hospital, we decided to head back to my parents and try and get some sleep. (Ali was at my parents, as we were delivering in Abbotsford. There was no point heading back to Chilliwack)

I was able to sleep for about an hour. Inconsistent contractions continued throughout the morning. We attempted to get things consistent by walking, doing squats, jumping jacks, etc, but it didn't help! Just after lunch contractions FINALLY started evening out. They were 7-10 min apart all afternoon and around supper time moved down to 5-7 min apart. My midwife came over around 8pm to check me. I was 6cm dilated, and "very ripe". At 10pm we headed to the hospital for the second time that day, as my contractions were 3-5 min apart, to find that I was still only 6cm.

I spent much time in the shower and walking the hallways. At 2am my midwife checked my again and I was 6-7cm dilated (though Nate thinks I was still only 6, but she didn't want to tell me that after 8hours, I was still at the same, so she said 7...who knows?). I was so frustrated that I had not progressed at all, seemingly in the last 8 hours! Finally at 3:10am, they broke my water. 3 contractions later, I was pushing and Joshua arrived within the hour.

And then it got interesting...a couple hours after Joshua was born, I was still have crazy hard contractions and I started hemorrhaging and clotting. They gave me a shot of drugs to try and stop it. Then they had me get up to try and go to the bathroom, thinking that would help, except I passed out. They got me back into bed and hooked me up to an IV with more drugs. I was then given laughing gas and had both my midwife and doctor scrape me out to try and get rid of all the clots. I lost 1 1/2 IV bags full of blood (1500ml, I am told) and my hemoglobin levels dropped from 140 to 94. I didn't get a blood transfusion because my hemoglobin levels started so high. But needless to say, I was left very week and tired. Nate says that part was worse than the labor. For me it was a very out of body experience, for which I am thankful.

So, these last 2 weeks have been a slow recovery for me and my iron levels are still not back up to where they should be. Nathan took his 2 weeks of vacation time, so was able to be home with the kids and I and he was such a huge help. He wouldn't let me do almost anything! :) And we were very blessed with people bringing us meals so we didn't have to think about it.

We have all been adjusting and doing well. Thankfully my milk was not affected by my loss of blood and Joshua is gaining weight like a champ! He was 7lbs 4 oz when he was born and lost about 5% - so went down to about 6lbs 13oz. 2 days later he was back up to 7lbs 3oz. At his 1 week appointment he was 7lbs 13 1/2oz and this last Tuesday he was up to 8lbs 12 1/2oz!

Ali LOVES her little brother, though struggles a bit with learning how to play with him. She wants him to play and dance with her and she doesn't understand why he can't. She took a few days to adjust to the shift of attention, and she has been doing so good since, especially with Nate being back at work this week. I am so proud of her!

Here are some pics of our family and the last 2 weeks.

Joshua and his bud Josiah, born 10 days apart

And here are some cute pictures of the many sleeping positions of Natalie...

ITS A BOY!

Joshua Nathan Toews was born Sunday, August 2 @ 4:14am. He is 7 lbs 4oz and 20 1/2" long. Baby is doing good. I had some complications, but am now on the road to recovery. I will try and post some pictures and more info in the next few days.

40 Weeks 1 Day...and No Baby

My due date has come and gone and still we wait...

This heat is crazy! I'm hoping to go into labor tonight for a few reasons: 1) I'm ready to meet this little munchkin and 2) I am not sure I can handle the 47 degrees tomorrow is supposed to be (with humidity) with no AC!

38 Weeks & 2 Days, Pool Fun and Goodbyes

I said I would post a picture a few weeks ago of my "growth", so here it is. I am 38 weeks and 2 days prego, and very ready to meet Baby Toews #2. The bags are all packed, car seat is in the car and now we wait...

With the weather being so lovely lately, we have been able to spend a lot of time outside. We bought a pool for Ali last summer and she LOVES it! The other day (which happened to be overcast and gross), I had to go into the backyard to check something. I left the door open from the house and came around the corner to find Natalie fully clothed in her pool (which was filled with water from the rain)! The really funny part is I did the same thing in the bathtub when I was her age! I wish I would have gotten a picture. But here is a pic of Ali enjoying her pool. She moved her chair in there so she would have somewhere to relax! :)

And Goodbyes...Nate's Uncle's Mom, who has been part of Nate's family for his entire life, went to be with Jesus this morning. She was an amazing woman and will be truly missed. Adina, thank you for all the memories, prayers for us and the blessing you have been to us. We will miss you.