Spring is here...

Ahhh, it finally feels like Spring!!! The weather has been beautiful the last couple of days and we are spending lots of time outside. I have been waiting for Spring to arrive for a while now and i'm so excited about it.

My brother came for a visit this past weekend and it was so great to see him again! My dad, my brother and Gabby all have birthdays in April and all within one week! We had a yummy greek dinner(thanks to dad!) on Saturday night and then some birthday cake for all of them.My mom and I and the kids went for a nice walk and to the park on Saturday morning. It was a beautiful sunny day! The girls are loving being outside these days. It was still a little chilly in the morning that day, so they are in their warm coats. Marty pretty much slept the whole time in the stroller.Gabby has been going on the potty sometimes!! We haven't really been potty training yet because of just having the new baby and she didn't seem ready. But, she sees Megan going on the potty and she wants to do whatever Meggie does!! Now she even asks to go pee-pee and takes off her pants.
We had an early Easter dinner with Jeff's parents and some other relatives on Sunday night. The kids had an easter egg hunt when we got there. They had a blast!! We are having a bunch of friends over this coming Saturday night for another easter egg hunt and a BBQ. The kids are going to have so much fun. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures!Marty is still doing great! I can not get over what a good baby he is. He still only wakes up once at night and it's usually about 4-5am. My last feed at night is 10pm, so I think that's pretty good! I do look forward to the day when he sleeps right throught the night though! He's getting big and now is growing out of his smallest sleepers. He will be 2 months next week. He is such a smiley little boy, he will smile for anyone, anytime...even in the middle of the night!!I tried to get some pictures last week with all 3 kids...it is a little tough to get a good picture with all of them looking at the camera. Gabby is usually the one that doesn't sit still long enough to get a decent picture, here are just a few of them...My parents left today to go to Saskatchewan for a week to visit my sister and family and Jeff's parents are leaving soon to go to Portland for the weekend. That means we have no family around this year for Easter. Jeff has a four day weekend, which I am excited about! I think he wants to get some projects done around the house. We also have church on Friday and then Sunday. I can't wait for the girls to wear their new Easter dresses on Sunday!! Maybe we will actually try and get a good family picture together. I don't think we even have one of all 5 of us yet.

I hope that you all have a blessed Easter weekend and remember the true reason for this holiday and the incredible hope we have in Jesus!

Party time!!

We've had a busy week! We have gone to 3 kid's birthday parties this past week. The first one was Saturday morning, the next Sunday afternoon and the third was last night. The parties were lots of fun with lots of chaos, as there were little kids everywhere!! The next birthday will be Gabby's in April!! I can't believe she is almost 2 already. They do grow up so fast.
I'm so glad that spring has finally arrived!! We don't have any snow left in our backyard now, but we still have a little bit in the front. Yesterday the girls played in the backyard for a couple of hours and they loved it! It's so nice to finally see some sunshine:) Although, I just read that we are possibly getting some more snow this weekend...not happy about that:(Nicole and I and our boys...only 8 days apart!!

Megan has her first professional haircut this past week. My mom stayed home with the 2 little ones and Megs and I went to the hairdresser. It's a kids haircut place called Beaners. The kids get to sit in a little jeep or a quad to get their haircut. Oh, and they get to watch a movie and Meggie thought that was pretty great! She sat so sit and did great getting her haircut and it looks so cute. It's angled like mine is, with her hair a little bit longer in the front than the back. She also chose to have some ribbons put in by the hairdresser!Jeff is running in a race on Sunday morning. Jeff and 4 other people are running a 1/2 marathon relay. Jeff has never really run before...so we will see how it goes! He has ran around our neighborhood a few times this week and he's been working out. What a crazy guy! Oh, and you should see his runners...they are held together with duct tape!!! He doesn't want to spend the money on new runners since this is kind of a one time thing. I want to go watch him run, but I'll have to see how things go because I'll have all 3 kids by myself.
We have a new interm pastor at our church and he is awesome!! He has a young family with kids similar is age to ours. He is so encouraging and we are so thankful to have him at our church. My dad was telling me that the attendance last Sunday was way up and there were 12 little kids in Megan's children's church class last Sunday. We have been praying that more young families would come to the church!! God is so good.
Marty is doing great and continues to be such a happy and content baby!! He's still sleeping great and only gets up once at night, usually between 3-4am and he's going to bed around 10pm. We have given him a few bottles this past week just to see if he would take it (since Gabby never did and I didn't have any freedom). Well, he took it no problem, so I will try to pump and give him a bottle every once in awhile to make sure he gets used to it. He is such a blessing to us!!!

My parents took the girls swimming this week and they had a blast!! Megan and Gabby both love the water. We haven't taken them swimming in a while, except for Meggie's lessons. Megan was even brave enough to put her face in the water!! I was so proud of her. Gabby went under a few times as well by accident and she did fine.
That's all I can remember about this past week...I hope you all have a great weekend!

Our weekend!!

We had a very fun and busy weekend at the coast!! My cousin Kirsten got married on Saturday and it was such a beautiful wedding. I was so blessed to be a part of their special day. The ceremony was so honoring to God and to Malcolm and Kirsten. Kirsten was one of the most beautiful brides I have ever seen...she was stunning!! We love you both and pray that God will bless your marriage always.Meggie all ready to watch aunty Kirsten come down the aisle!

The reception was at another church and it was also great! We were able to leave the girls with Rob and Leanne and we only took Marty along. It was such a treat to not have to entertain the girls and just be able to enjoy the reception. I was excited to see my brother and to introduce him to our little Marty! Marty was great during the whole day, he pretty much slept it away. At the reception, I got to meet a few of my blogging friends, Kelly and Kristal! It was great to finally meet them in person. I already felt like I knew them because of reading their blogs. It was really fun!!
Uncle Loren got to meet Marty for the first time!!

The trip went really well. The kids did pretty good on the trip down, Gabby got a little frustrated towards the end because she was tired of being in her carseat. I don't blame her! Marty pretty much slept the whole way, we just stopped once to feed him. Megan was happy as a clam playing her games on the laptop!Marty meeting his great-grandma for the first time!

Rob and Leanne were such great hosts to us this weekend. Leanne always had such wonderful meals for us, we were totally spoiled there! They watched the kids while we went to the rehearsal dinner and again during the wedding reception. We are so thankful for them!! We had lots of great visiting time together too. The girls had a blast playing with their kids and they already miss them.
The kids playing "log ride" on the stairs.

We went to their church on Sunday morning before we headed home. The trip home was pretty good. It was snowing quite a bit, but the van does great in winter conditions. At one point, all 3 of the kids were sleeping and we enjoyed the quiet time!

Our whole family has managed to pick up a little cold:( The girls and Marty have runny noses and Jeff and I feel the cold coming on with our sore throats. I guess it's better that we all get it at once and get it over with. I took Marty to the doctor yesterday for his one month check up. I can't believe he is one month old already...I can't imagine life without him!! He weighed 10 lbs
1 oz. He is in the 75th percentile. He is still such a good eater and sleeper. Last night I fed him at 10pm and he didn't wake up until 3:40am!!! What a good boy.

We have a busy weekend coming up. We have a birthday party on Saturday morning and another birthday party on Sunday afternoon. I was invited to another birthday for some friends of mine on Saturday also, but I think it will be too much. Both of the parties are for Megan and Gabby's friends and there are going to be lots of kids!! It should be fun.

I better get going and figure out something to make for dinner!

Our family of 5...

We have been adjusting well to being a family of 5!! Sometimes I can't believe we have 3 kids, but it's going really well. Marty is such a good baby and we love him to pieces!! The girls are totally in love with him and can not get enough of him. Megan often asks in the mornings if she can go wake him up so she can see him!
Marty has been getting up to feed only once at night for over a week now. I am loving that!! I feed him about 10pm and then he gets up to feed between 2-3am and then again between 6-7am. I usually go back to sleep then for a little bit if I can. He is such a content and happy baby!! He still sleeps a lot in the day, so he's pretty easy right now.We had a playdate on Tuesday and Marty got to meet his new friend! My friend had a baby boy a week before Marty was born. We get together every week for playdates and so these boys will be good buddies! It was nice to finally get out of the house and be with friends again. We were home for about a week after Marty was born and I could tell the girls (and me) were getting a little house bound! Jeff's mom has offered to take the girls every Monday for the whole day...what a treat for me. This past Monday, I went grocery shopping with just Marty and of course he slept the whole time. It was SO easy having only one child!! I totally forgot what that was like. Then Marty and I had a 2 hour nap together, it was wonderful:)We have been SO blessed by our many friends and family who have brought us meals over the last 2 weeks! I didn't have to cook one dinner in over a week and a half...we are SO thankful to all of you!!We are SO looking forward to next weekend when we get to celebrate with Kirsten and Malcolm as they get married!! I just think they are such an incredible couple and we feel blessed to be able to share this special day with them! I'm a little nervous to travel with 3 littles ones, but it's only 3 hours or so to get there. We are staying at our friends place and they also have 3 kids, so it will be a house full!! It will be great to see them again and our girls love to play with their girls.

That's all for now...

Welcome to the world baby Marty!

Well, I'm not pregnant anymore!!! We had our beautiful baby boy Martin Jeffrey on Tuesday, February 17th.Here's the story...I had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday morning and my doctor stripped my membranes again(3rd time) and she was very aggressive. It was a little uncomfortable, but tolerable. I went home and was feeling a little crampy and later in the afternoon I started having contractions, but again they were not painful. I sat down to watch Oprah about 4pm and the contractions were becoming more regular and starting to be more uncomfortable. Jeff came home from work and I told him we probably shouldn't go to his parents for dinner because I was having contractions. It was Jeff's dad birthday and we were supposed to go over to their place for dinner. I called Jeff's mom and asked if maybe she could bring the dinner over to our place and then if we needed to go to the hospital she could stay with the girls. They were kind enough to do this for us! I called the hospital to ask when I should come in because I was strep B positive and needed to have IV antibiotics. The nurse said we should probably come in soon and be assessed. Mom and dad got to our place around 5ish and my contractions were quite painful by this time. We didn't even get to enjoy the yummy birthday dinner because we left for the hospital about 5:30pm.
The contractions were very painful on the way to the hospital and I really had to breath through them. We got the hospital just before 6pm and they put me directly into a birthing room. They hooked me up to the monitors and my contractions were about 3-4 minutes apart. They checked me and I was 8 cm dilated!!!!! I couldn't believe it. When I went to the hospital with the girls I was only 2-3 cm dilated and I kind of expected the same thing this time. The nurses asked what I would like for pain relief and I said I wanted to go into the shower. They looked surprised by my answer! They let me go into the shower after I got my antibiotics and I was in there for about 1/2 hour and when I came out my doctor broke my water and then I was fully dilated. I pushed for about 20 minutes and he was out! He was born at 7:38pm. He weighed 8 lbs 1 oz and was 20 inches long. I couldn't believe how quick everything happened...but I was so thankful it was quick! He was perfect and they put him on my chest right away. We are so in love with him!! I only have a couple stitches because his hand was up by his face when he came out, but I am recovering very quickly! We came home on Thursday at dinner time and his sisters were SO excited to meet him!! The girls were not able to come to the hospital because it's RSV season and no children can come to the maternity ward:( I missed the girls so much!
He is breastfeeding like a champ! He latched on right away and he loves to eat!! The health nurse came yesterday to check him over and he has already surpassed his birth weight and now weighs 8 lbs 3 oz!! He's waking up twice at night, usually about 1am and 4am. We have had him in our room since we came home, but last night he was so noisy that I put him in his crib and then I slept much better.
We are adjusting fairly well to being a family of 5!! I still can't believe I have 3 kids!! Jeff has been home since we had him, but he goes back to work tomorrow. Jeff's mom is going to come over tomorrow to help me out and I'm so thankful for that! Megan and Gabby love to hold and talk to their baby brother. I love watching them with him!This is Marty at 6 days old...Megan was holding him and talking to him and he smiled at her. I don't know if it was gas, but she would keep talking to him and he smiled over and over. So cute!!We are SO in love with our son and I'm so thankful that he's finally here:)

Come on out baby boy!!

Well, tomorrow is my official due date and we are still waiting. I was at the doctor's today and I am still only 2 cm dilated and my cervix has not thinned yet:( It was kind of disappointing because I was hoping that things were progressing. She stripped my membranes again today to try and get things going...so we will see what happens. I have another appointment on Tuesday and I'm hoping we have him before then. My doctor said we will talk about being induced at the next appointment. I SO don't want to be induced!! Our little boy has been really active the last week or so, I think he wants out of there!!I have been trying to keep myself and the girls busy, so that I don't think about still being pregnant. I have been cleaning the house like a mad women to try and get everything in order before the baby comes. We have had a few playdates this week and we went out for coffee with my dad yesterday. I'm enjoying the distractions!Having fun at her friends birthday party at the bowling alley!!I asked Meggie the other day when the baby was going to come out and she said "next year!!"...I was not thrilled about that!! Megan has been getting up SO early lately, no matter what time we put her bed at night. The girls usually go down between 7 and 7:30pm and Megs has been getting up before 6am!!! I am not a morning person and I find this very difficult and she has also been waking up Gabby in the process and Gabby is not a happy girl when she doesn't get enough sleep! I'm hoping we get into some kind of routine where Megs sleeps in longer and doesn't wake up Gabby and then everyone will be happy!! Maybe it's wishful thinking...I have been getting tons of phone calls this last week from friends and family asking how things are going and if anything is happening with the baby. I am SO thankful for my friends and family...I am SO blessed!! One of my friends even had the girls over for a playdate today while I went to my doctor's appointment.
Megan and I went to her friends birthday party last Sunday at the bowling alley. Megan had never been bowling before, except with our plastic bowling pins at home. She loved it!! It was so cute to watch a bunch of 3-4 year olds bowling. After the bowling, they all got a little lunch there and of course some birthday cake!! We will definitely have to take her there again.

I thought her little feet in bowling shoes was just the cutest thing!!!Anyways, I should get going...but please pray that our little man comes soon!!! We so want to meet him!!

Still waiting...

So....I'm still pregnant!! Now I am almost 39 weeks pregnant. I have another doctor's appointment tomorrow to see if I'm dilated or progressing at all. I'm interested to see if anything is happening. On Tuesday night, I woke up at 2:30am and was up for about 3 hours having contractions every 5-8 minutes, but not painful. I couldn't fall back to sleep because I kept watching the clock to see how far apart they were. Anyways, after about 3 hours they were gone and nothing happened for the rest of the day. I am feeling very uncomfortable and tired now. I have a lot of pelvic pressure and getting up from sitting hurts so much these days:(
I took Megan to her last swimming lesson Wednesday morning. My mom and dad came along and my mom took Gabby swimming and she LOVED it!! That girl loves the water. She even went on the slide and happened to go under the water. Megan was not being very cooperative with the swimming teacher this week and I'm not sure why. She didn't want to go into the water in the "cold" pool when they were supposed to. I had to talk her into it a few times!Here is Megs doing her starfish...Gabby and grandma hanging out in the pool!We are pretty much over our colds now. It was pretty nasty with the cough and snotty noses and lasted almost 2 weeks. I still am a little congested and Jeff managed to get away with only a sore throat! Lucky guy! We were pretty much stuck at home while being sick and I'm happy to be able to get out of the house now...since I'll probably be stuck at home again for a while after the baby is born.
I feel like I am nesting a little bit these days. I got lots of laundry done today, made bread and cookies. Yesterday, I vacuumed the house and cleaned out the van...just trying to get everything in order before the big day. On the weekend, I cleaned out some closets and it felt good to get things done.

I'm off to bed to read for a bit and hopefully have a good sleep! Good night...