hello munchkin.

The jaundice is slowly but surely leaving her ... but it seems to dwell in her eye whites. For a while there, they were a flourescent yellow...a little frightening. She's up to 8 lbs 9 ounces now and her cheeks are really starting to fill out.

What a good little baby, I cannot sing her praises enough :)

*blush*

Picture it. My living room. Yesterday.

There I was sitting in my well used recliner ... (well used since pregnancy and breast feeding) I was watching Ellen...a feat in and of itself, as the girl child was playing by her lonesome, and the boy child was outside helping his daddy-o with some farming chores.

Ellen happened to have a young guest who was a champion guitar hero player ( for those who don't know, Guitar Hero is a Nintendo game that has become a VERY popular pastime for some people....we don't have any video games as of yet in this household, and I'm gonna try to keep it that way for as loooong as possible...anywho) This boy was playing incredibly fast and my eyes were wide with amazement.

I had been having a slow day, hadn't yet got dressed, and was still sporting my fuzzy blue housecoat and pink slippers. Oh and a nursing bra...of course.

So there I sat wide eyed and with my incredible multi-tasking abilities I was preparing to feed Eden. I checked my wrist for my 'feeding bracelet' (a reminder as to which breast she fed from last....I have no ability to recall such information...my brain is fried from 3 pregnancies..) I whipped open the clasp on my bra and let 'er all hang out...you know, cause it's my house...and I was multi-tasking. No need to hid her under a bushel..no, I'm gonna let 'er shine.

Anyway, I wasn't absolutely positive that I had switched the bracelet to the proper wrist...so I went ahead and groped myself...to feel for fullness....(again, home alone...no need to be careful..)

Here's where it gets good. The music from the tv got louder, the boy was playing a heavy metal type song .. dee del lee del leeeeeeeee...waaaaaaa..... it was wailing and screaming out the speakers and there I was with my hands full (ahem) so I didn't bother turning it down.

Gabriel came waltzing into the living room and I said 'oh hi bud...where's your dad?'

A voice very different from The Hubs piped up a foot behind me, and said 'Oh no, it's just me Leanne, .....WHOOOO, So sorry, so sorry, so sorry... oh ..ummm... uhhh''

It's was Dwight's uncle... his truck driving, macho, gruffy, old(er) uncle. And he'd seen. It. All.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a real prude when it comes to feeding, but I do like to cover up when other men are around...any other men..... And here was a man who'd try his darndest to never witness such an event as a momma nursing her babe, and he'd gotten an eye full...darn near got his eye poked out really...(my girls have grown, to say the least...ahem.)

Just picture what the poor guy saw. A tired momma, sitting in her la-z-boy, with her old housecoat flung open, exposing not only her legs, but her tired boobs... Her hands feeling and groping her girls, while the heavy metal music blasted from the tv set. My eye makeup had not been removed from the previous day and my raccoon eyes and matted hair were dy-no-mite.

What a sight to behold.

Then came the uncomfortable conversation after the viewing.... I kinda wished he'd just ran for the door screaming. But, no. He had to try to make it better by attempting a regular conversation. It was ... delightful. ack.

Some pictures of the little ones...

Oma and the twins.... (Ava on right, Eden on left)

Eden and Ava (Eden is the yellow one ... :) ( in case you're wondering, Ava is my brothers daughter, born 3 weeks earlier..)

Miss Munchkin

I'm having wayyyy too much fun with her. When she's not eating, sleeping or pooping.

Eden Evangeline

8 lbs 2 oz

January 13, 9 pm.

Can't wait to share all the details....you'll have to gimme a little while though...the feedings, siblings and lack of sleep are weighing in, I'll up in superior blogging form soon :)

Hope you're all well,

Leanne.

BIRTH-day!!!

Well, well, well, ... where to begin.

The last week has brought some good and bad days and in the end we have a BIRTHday now scheduled.

Starting last week I began getting VERY puffy (hands, feet, and face) and when I saw the Dr. my BP was steadily rising. My readings were 140's / 90's ... and in this pregnancy so far I've been in the 120's/ 70's. So that signalled a red flag to my Dr, and I was sent to the hospital for a Non-Stress Test. (can I just say those are quite possibly thee most boring tests known to woman?) Anyway, everything came back good except the BP, so they had me come back again on Wednesday, and again yesterday.

Wenesday readings were 150's / 100's (151/107.. and higher) so they decided to put me on BP meds to try to bring it down... These little pills really knocked me for a loop, and I was down and out within an hour of taking them. They are similar to percoset, or valium to anyone familiar with what those drugs feel like. I was OUT! Thankfully my mom was here, as Dwight was away in TO at a meeting for 3 days!! I was totally thinking he was going to miss the birth...

Back to the hospital on Friday and my BP reading were still in the 140's / 90's so the Dr's weren't happy with that AND protein is now spilling in my urine. They threatened to take the baby out then and there, but allowed me a day's grace and the induction is scheduled for tomorrow!!!! Yup, Sunday January the 13th.

I am sooo nervous and excited, but thought of labour has got my palms all sweaty and butterflies in my stomach. I'm praying it's quick and the the epidural takes well! Please pray for me!!!!!

I'll be posting again with a good story and some beautiful pics sometime in the very near future!!

Already... the desire for sun...

Stunning sunset at the cottage beach

I've been shuffling through some pictures today and there are certain ones that are making my retinas burn with envy......envy of the warmer months gone by. Already I'm hit with the blatant desire for those moments to come again, I didn't' think the craving would hit me so early this year, what with a momentous occasion soon to arrive, but still I see these photos and Gaaaa.... I'm wishing away the snowing and blowing far far away.

My kids have already built the snowmen, slid the sleds, tasted the snow and drank gallons of hot cocoa, .. so perhaps we could be granted an early spring?? Like maybe next week?

Anyway, here are some of those impossibly delicious photos of warmer days gone by....hope they liven that little spark of desire in your stomach too.

Ashlyn dipping her toesies in the cool cottage lake water

Spring Celebrations ~ Victoria Day Weekend, on the farm

The Garden of 2007 in its beginnings...oh the possibilities..

My nephew Owen and his papa, meandering their way to the vineyard

Gabriel popping a red nugget of squishy, tomatoey goodness in his mouth, straight from the garden.

Big, leafy hostas....freshly chipped.

The girls, on pasture. A beautiful time of year.

The lake at Pinehurst....what glorious summer days those were, spent with the kids and the ladies ... picnic tables, egg salad sandwiches, and sun tan lotion.... bliss.

The wedding of 2007, my little man in tails with his princess, cousin Jada.

The seasons of a swing set..

It first arrived in summer, making fast friends with our 2 toddlers. Big momma sat her pregnant fanny in those chairs, whiling away the hours as the chillun ran up and down the ladder, sparking each other with the electricity from the plastic bump slide. (Oh, to sit in those chairs again, with a babe on my lap and corn husking to be done....)

My son learned to climb a ladder this past summer, my daughter learned to spin in a swing. Both very momentous childhood moments.

Here it sits in Autumn. Surrounded by a crunchy blanket of fallen maple leaves. Rubber boots plowed their way to the play set, running back and forth from the silo to the slide, using the ladder as 'home free'. Another childhood game learned by it's side...

Sadie the dog now knew this was a place to find her little friends, and would come running at the sound of laughter...

Alone, but for the snow perched upon it's rooftop, the playset seldom feels the warm bottoms of my children or the grasp of their tiny hands. The chairs now sit frozen and empty, waiting for my girth to reside in them again.

I see you lonely out there dear swing set... We're in here, waiting...waiting for that first thaw, those crocus and daffodils, and the muck that shall adorn your lovely green slide... And our first spring together shall bring a new face and new tiny hands to grasp your ropes.

Till then....we'll while away the hours inside..