He's Here!

Of course, now I feel like writing up a storm, but that might take longer and result in an even later post. So, here's a quick update for any still wondering. I am working on another post with lots of pictures between feedings and naps though that might not appear for a day or two depending on how things start adjusting at home.

After almost 3 hours of labour, we welcomed our youngest - a 22¼ inch long, 9lb, 8oz little boy on Sunday November 8th at 6:18am. I woke up around 3:30 Sunday morning, and figured that we might actually be finally going into 'real' labour by 4ish. We got to the hospital at 5am, and just over an hour later we got to meet our youngest son!

And now we're at home where we'll be figuring out how things function with four kids. The adventures of life!

Another Week Passed

Baby Dearest,

I thought you might be interested in an update on things out here in the real world. After all this time, and rushing about lately, I believe everything is finally ready for you to come!

When you arrive you will have a lovely name of your very own. Daddy and Mama spent many many hours looking for just the right one, but we found it and we can't wait to introduce you to everyone with it. The hospital bags and the overnight things for your siblings are all packed. Thanksgiving has come and gone, so you won't have to share your birthday with one of the funnest family holidays we have.

Mama has even gotten things on the to-do list done that have been waiting for months and months. The pantry is neat and tidy, I did a whole pile of mending the other day and your siblings helped me put the garden away for winter today, so the yard even looks nice. I should vacuum the house again, but raking the leaves on the patio this afternoon made me wish later that I'd skipped that job, and now I'm procrastinating a little when it comes to the vacuum.

Daddy keeps predicting that you'll come any day, and I'm beginning to wish he was right - you're getting awfully big you know, and I would love to lie down on my tummy again one of these days. Besides, you're probably close to 9½ lbs now and even Emma was barely bigger than that!

Well, tomorrow is meeting which means I should get some sleep soon. Wouldn't you like to meet everyone at meeting? They too, are all eagerly waiting to finally see you. So Little One, you are allowed to come now - the sooner the better as far as I'm concerned. Thank you for being such a compliant baby and waiting 'till the middle of the month like I instructed earlier. Your big brother asks for you every single morning - he already loves you so much. I can't wait to see his face when he finally gets to hold you!

Daddy, Dolly, PC and Emma send their love and like me, they can barely wait to meet you. Daddy even found a verse just for you, so I'll included it here as well!

"Come; for all things are now ready."
Luke 14:17

Lots of love,
~ Mama

Just in case you're wondering...

Junior has not arrived.

Despite Sir's daily predictions of a delivery 'before the week is out', we have not had to make any quick trips to the hospital. I have had a few Braxton Hicks contractions here and there, but they're random and usually it takes me a while to realize that's what just happened.

Sir tells me I'm just in denial... and maybe I am, but there's still more than enough that I need to get done right now that makes sooner labour rather impractical. And I like practicality. (Baby... I hope you heard that!)

Besides, the 'official' due date isn't until November 8th... and the 'revised' one which is probably more accurate anyway, isn't until October 27th. And October 27th is still almost two weeks away. (Again, Baby.... were you listening?!)

I am making a little progress in the getting ready department though. We have a girls name chosen... now just to finalize one for a boy. I have found, washed and mostly packed some baby clothes for the hospital. I have lists of things to pack for everyone else although I've only gotten to packing a few things from the list for me so far.

And that's about all for now. So I will be going - I need to be rounding up my gang so we can leave for meeting in a few minutes anyway.

Victory

Sometimes its the little battles that make parenting so trying or rewarding. Well, I guess to be more accurate - usually its the little battles that make parenting so trying or rewarding.

Today was a victory for me. Yes, a small one, but a victory nevertheless. Emma ate her lunch. Yesterday she didn't want her baked potato, sliced ham or green beans that we all had at lunch time. She stalled, and found creative ways to make things 'disappear', she fussed and protested and did not eat her lunch. Even when PC and Dolly were getting ice cream or cake for dessert, she would not swallow her pride and start swallowing her lunch.

So, she had it for supper last night while the rest of us had soup and hot bread. Emma fussed and wailed and pushed her plate away over and over, but would not eat more than the two or three bites I finally fed her. And after over an hour, I took her food away again and she went to bed.

This morning I forgot about the plate in the fridge and gave all the kids a cookie as we rushed out to the car to take Sir to the skytrain station, but I remembered as I was serving up their waffles for breakfast when we got back and exchanged Emma's waffle for her twice rejected former meal. Which she again refused to eat. Yes, she suffered her way through another couple bites, but would not just eat her food preferring rather to fuss and complain and generally resent this new cruel treatment from her mama. She waited for me to get busy doing something else and then abandoned her plate at the table still unfinished.

While the rest of us had cheese sandwiches this afternoon, Emma was faced with her yesterday's lunch again. She had to have been getting hungry, and it was agony for her to watch the rest of us eat one of her favorite foods. So, after much fussing and complaining and weeping and wailing, she tucked in her lip and ate her lunch. Just like that. Then she had a cheese sandwich like the rest of us.

I was so glad she finally ate. If I gave in, I knew the problem would only get worse. Emma is by far our most strong willed child (so far), and though she may be the most challenging to train, I have a feeling that being successful with her will be the most rewarding. As the children's hymn tells us, "Each victory will help you some other to win;" we must keep in mind the theme of that very hymn, "Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through!"

Calendar Space

Dear Jumbo,
The doctor says you're a big strong healthy baby - 7lbs already! She also says that the middle to end of October is more probable for your arrival than the early November date we already have.

This is fine, but since I am the Mama, let me set down some rules: My calendar is booked until the 13th. You are allowed to come anytime after that though. Besides, if you come before that, you might not get a name... and Mama won't have time to get a hospital bag packed (this is important because all the baby clothes are stowed away out in the shed). Life will be much more comfortable for all of us if you give me time to get ready for you.

Dolly, PC and Emma are all looking forward to meeting you, as are Daddy and I, and we'd all like to see you before the month is over! Just be patient, grow slowly for a week or two, and don't kick me too much.

Love Always,
~ Mama

"Peter and James in a Fishboat!"

Today marked the 1 month anniversary of Sir starting a new job. It was also the day the kids and I decided to drop in on him at work to say 'hi'. Ok, it wasn't exactly 'dropping in', he knew we were coming and had even given us loads of advice on how to get there the best way. You see, Sir's commute is between 75 and 90 minutes one way, and to get there he takes the bus to the skytrain, the skytrain to the seabus, and then walks the last block or so from the seabus to his office building. So, when the kids and I were going to come visit him, we drove to the skytrain and did transit from there.

Today was the first day I went anywhere on the public transit system by myself. All the other times (if you don't count the greyhound bus ride from California to Manitoba 10 years ago) I've always had Sir to do the worrying and organizing. I started out planning on giving ourselves an hour and a half to get there hoping to meet Sir for lunch around 12:30ish. Only, we didn't actually leave the house until 11 and then we had to stop for gas so we could get to the skytrain station which is about 15 minutes from home.

Once we got to the skytrain, found a parking spot, paid for parking, unloaded into the double stroller and figured out how to get from the parking lot into the station, I'm sure we'd wasted a lot more time. In fact, I think my clock said 11:41 or something like that. The first order of business, I thought was to find the elevator so we could get up to the platform. We walked right past it and tried going to the one that was being used only for the test train side of the station. After an employee kindly pointed us back to the right elevator, we scurried off and up to the platform only to discover I had no idea where I was supposed to 'validate' my transit ticket.

There was a train ready to go when we got up to the platform, and we walked its length twice looking for some place to validate our ticket before finally deciding that maybe we should have checked the first level. So, we took the elevator back down to the main floor and walked its length twice. We found the ticket machines where you can buy a ticket, but they didn't have any directions on validating one. So, then I figured it would be wise to ask for help, but there weren't any employees around just then and we ended up waiting in line at the snack shop to ask the cashier. She smiled and pointed at a long line of blue boxes behind me next to the elevator - I felt like an idiot, but smiled back an scurried off to one of the boxes that I'd absentmindedly chalked up as recycle bins. By this time at least 5 trains had left the station and I believe they run about 3 minutes apart. We validated our ticket, took the elevator up to the platform and then had to wait a good 5 minutes before a 'not in service' test train left and a in-use train pulled in.

Waiting for the SeaBus

Through all of this, all three of the kids were being exceptionally good and we found a nice spot on the skytrain that fit the stroller without too much fuss. The next leg of the journey was the 40 minute skytrain ride from one end of the line to the other with me explaining how many more stops we had left to go each time we pulled in and out of a station - but the kids loved it. When we got off the skytrain we headed toward the seabus dock except the elevator from the train platform to the seabus was broken. Sir had warned me about this, and I had decided to just fold up the stroller and take the escalator. I was in the process of unloading the kids and was about to fold the stroller when a man asked me if I could use some help. I was glad to accept. I gave him my stroller, grabbed my three kids and went down the escalator - just like that. We thanked the stranger, loaded up into the stroller again and headed on toward the seabus - into a crowd of people coming the opposite direction. They were the passengers of the seabus that was by that time now returning to the quay with a load of people going the way we were headed. So, we waited the remaining 10 minutes for the next seabus to arrive, and had no trouble getting on and finding a seat.

The other SeaBus going the opposite direction

Sir called me on the cell phone just after we'd gotten off the seabus on the North shore to see how we were doing. It was already 1:15 and he'd expected us between 12:30 and 1. Then was the short walk up the steep hill to Sir's office building, up the elevator to his floor and then finding the right office - we were finally there by almost 1:30. Sir let us in, we met some of his co-workers and then left to grab some lunch to eat in the park, just below his office building, overlooking the river. It was nice to see Sir in the middle of the day and the kids loved being able to eat lunch with Daddy. Finally he had to go back to work, I washed the kids up, we all said goodbye, and then I let them play for a few minutes while I packed up the stroller and figured we had a couple minutes to spare before we needed to head back to the seabus.

Except, just as I was planning on heading back to the seabus, a regular train thundered by (on the other side of a fence) next to the park and PC raced off to watch it. There had already been two other trains that had gone by and he'd watched them as well, but he couldn't hear me calling him back and by the time I went and got him, and got all the kids back to the stroller, we'd missed our seabus and had to wait for the next one. It was 3:15 when we got on the seabus, and started our backtracking. Up the escalator - no trouble there, to the skytrain where we got on a newer model train that seemed less stroller friendly so we got off at the next station and waited for the right train to come along two trains later. The kids were still being good despite being so late for naps already. Emma fell asleep in the stroller on the skytrain ride home, and Dolly reclined in the other stroller seat while PC bounced between his seat and my lap and the window the whole way back to our starting station. Between explaining how many more stops there were till we would get off, I read a book I'd brought along and probably got 5 or 6 pages read which was nice.

Sleepy Baby

By the time we got home it was quarter to 5 and I put the kids down for a late nap. Sir would be working late, and so supper would be late as well. Emma never went back to sleep, but I had to wake the other two up eventually. After Sir got home and the kids were ready for bed, they went in to say goodnight to him. I came in as he was saying good night to PC and heard him say, "Thank you for coming to see me at work today, did you have fun?" PC nodded and cuddled closer in response and Sir continued, "What was your favorite part of the day? What part was the most fun?" PC sat up beaming and said, "Peter and James in the Fishboat!"

Sir and I looked at each other slightly puzzled and then it dawned on us that PC thought he'd actually met Peter and James - from the bible story - at Daddy's work today. One of his co-workers was a fellow Hungarian named Peter and the leader of Sir's division was named James.