Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Photo Card

Banner Of Joy Christmas
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Friday, November 4, 2011

Preparing for Winter

It's that time of year again where I study the forecast for the upcoming weekends to figure out just how many 'nice' weekends we have left before old man winter sets in. Looking at our forecast here, our weekends are limited. This weekend looks to be the best with sun and temps in the mid 60's so its game on for fall cleaning!
I've searched the internet for a fall cleaning list and haven't found a complete one, so here is our personal list:


  1. Check the attic for leaks
  2. Check the caulking and weather seals around doors and windows
  3. Rake leaves...again
  4. Mow the yard - hopefully this will be the last time!
  5. Clean gutters
  6. Clean grill
  7. Clean and store patio furniture
  8. Wash and wax van
  9. Drain and store water hoses
  10. Hang Christmas lights - no we won't be turning them on until after Thanksgiving, but its better to hang them now than when its 30* degrees!
  11. Wash window - I hate this one!
  12. Clean out and behind fridge
  13. Defrost deep freezer
  14. Wash all bedding, rotate and flip mattress 
  15. Clean all trashcans 
  16. Scrub baseboards and walls - another task I dislike 
  17. Clean large toys like the exersaucer and highchair outside
  18. Clean fish tank
  19. Deep clean each room - I highly doubt that this will happen in each room over the weekend! 
  20. Declutter all closets 

Yeah, looking at this impressive list, fall cleaning will probably go through next week as well. Though I love a good challenge and geared up for our fall cleaning weekend. I've made meals in advanced, got a frozen pizza for dinner one night so cooking shouldn't be an issue. I'm ready to wake up early and go to bed exhausted, but I love the feeling of a clean house! 


Thursday, November 3, 2011

Pumpkin Muffins and Christmas Music

Today it has been cold and rainy, so the babies and I have stayed warmly inside our lil' home listening to Christmas music (yes, I know its early) and making dinner (crock pot chicken tortilla soup) and pumpkin muffins for Thanksgiving. I got the pumpkin muffin recipe from The Pioneer Woman. I ended up making tripling it to make 3 dozen. In one dozen I added raisins like she suggested, but in the other two, in went mini chocolate  chips! Benjamin and I sampled one and yum! However, they are not as good as these pumpkin cupcakes that I made a few weeks ago from The Joy of Baking. The Pioneer Woman's pumpkin muffins you couldn't taste the pumpkin flavor as much! Oh well, they still taste good and once they are frosted with cinnamon cream cheese icing, they will be delicious.

I should have taken a picture of the muffins before they went in the freezer, or the sight of our kitchen after Meredith numbed on a strawberry while Benjamin and I baked! It only took 4 hours to make 3 dozen muffins!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Family of 5!

Let the chaos continue! Baby 3.0 is due March 9, 2012. We are a little scared, a little nervous, and a bit calm about it all. I mean, really 3 babies in 27 months...how hard can it be? It has to be easier than when they will be 14, 15, and 16 years-old!

With this little one, we are not going to find out the sex until the big day. It's one of those surprises in life that I want to be able to experience. It took a bit of convincing the husband, but he finally agreed. Just like he finally agreed to paint Meredith's room yellow! He has learned that "what the pregnant lady wants, the pregnant lady gets!" The plan is to move Meredith into Benjamin's room since (hopefully) they will both be sleeping through the night and put baby in Meredith's room. That's the plan anyway. Until it backfires, like our last plan of putting Benjamin in a twin bed so we wouldn't have to buy a 3rd crib! That lasted a week, until I was so exhausted of only getting 3-4 hours a sleep at night that I gave in and put him in his crib. He is obviously not ready and really that is fine with me, I am not going to rush them to grow up just because their is a new baby! Plus Alan found a crib that is the exact same as Benjamin's for sale for $89 it was the floor sample, so for $89 I'll take it!

I hope to get better with this blog, because it will be interesting to see how working from home with 3 babies in 27 months will go! And before I go, here are some pictures of my babies getting bigger each day!



Monday, April 4, 2011

Loving the Smiles :)

Baby girl is flashin that cute smile!



And Brother helping a busy mama out, though he doesn't look too excited!





Saturday, April 2, 2011

Under Construction

Blog redesign! Check back for a new and improved blog!

Thanks!

Confessions and Secrets

Confession #1 I have been horrible about blogging. My computer crashed and burned. Now I have a new computer which has inspired me to work harder on this blog (not really sure why). I really want to document the stories of our life since it seems to be flying by way too fast.

Confession #2 I am a horrible speller. You would think since I write articles my spelling (and sometimes grammar) would be close to perfect. ha. thank you spell check....and when that fails, Google is awesome with trying to figure out what you are trying to spell.


Secret #1 I also want to start another blog about fitness/health. Its such a broad field and I really want to narrow it down to something health fitness related and I want to make money from it. This means I have to have readers and such, which to have readers I have to have interesting content. hummmm.....lots of brainstorming to do.

Until next time (of which I promise will be sooner rather than later) take care!

Friday, March 4, 2011

Double the Love

That is what life with two is like. Of course, there is double the work, double the amount of dirty diapers and tears, but with that comes double the happiness, love and joy. Benjamin has taken to this new addition fairly well. He gives her kisses and helps hold her bottle for .2 seconds until he sees something else that is more entertaining that a newborn.

Both babies came down with RSV and that was a challenge. Meredith was the one the Dr. was most concerned about since she was so little. So we did everything to keep her out of the hospital. That meant no sleep for me for two days, round the clock nursing so she didn't get dehydrated and lots and lots of suctioning her nose out. We logged many hours in the bathroom with the shower running to help with the congestion. Benjamin was a trooper. He didn't feel well and had to share his mama with his sister. Somehow we managed to get through it and both recovered just fine and without having to go to the ER.

We are back to our normal days of organized chaos with a few temper tantrums thrown in for good measure. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Water bottle, courtesy of big bro


Monday, January 31, 2011

Meredith Grace Vaesa

The night before her birthday, we couldn't sleep. I was so excited and a little nervous about what the next day would bring. 4am on Jan. 10, 2011 came pretty quickly and we got up and dressed and to the hospital at 5am. Blood work was done, I got hooked up to monitors (monitors showed I was having contractions, which I didn't feel!) IV started, papers filled out, Dr. L came in to tell us the plan, Alan got gowned up and it was time to go.

waiting to go back to the OR
Back in the OR I got the spinal (which didn't hurt near as bad as I thought) and then I started to go numb, which is a good thing when you are going to be cut open! After the spinal, Alan came back and sat by my head. I got sick a couple of times, the doctors and nurses were great and were joking around with us. A few tugs and pulls and out she came. They held her up over the curtain and I smiled and Alan went pale. They had to give him oxygen and take him out of the OR! They came back to tell me that dad is doing better!
She's here!
 Meredith Grace Vaesa weighed in at 6lbs, 8oz and 20 1/4 inches long. Benjamin weighed in at 7lbs 90z and 20 inches, so she is a bit smaller.
6lbs 8oz 20 1/4 inches long

Mama, meet your daughter.
After spending about 2 hours in recovery (had to wait until I could wiggle my toes) and being able to breastfeed, we headed up to the mother and baby unit. Family came in, I was in a daze, the pain pills were too much and made me sick.
Alan feeling better

Bonding in recovery.


She has dark blue eyes.

 By the second day I was feeling much better and we got my pain meds under control, which made life much better.

 Alan spent the first night with me, and then I stayed by myself after that first night so Alan could take Benjamin home and sleep in their own beds. Alan and Benjamin came and visited every day and the nurses loved him! He didn't think much of his lil sis at first, much more interested in the buttons and other cool hospital equipment! On Thursday both the pediatrician and my doctor gave us the green light to go home, discharge papers were filled out and we were home around noon.


So far things have been a chaotic, fun mess! Three days after being home I came down with the stomach bug; throwing up isn't fun after a c-section. Then it made its way around to Benjamin, Alan, my sisters and my dad. Thankfully Meredith and my mom were spared the sickness. After we recovered from the flu, Alan had to go to Canada for work. We couldn't have made it without our family helping us out, we are truly grateful and not sure we could ever pay you back for everything you all have done!

Taking care of two babies is a little crazy, the hardest part was not picking up Benjamin for 2 weeks, which I had to break the rule a few times when Alan came down with the stomach bug. Meredith and I have both been back to the doctor and we are doing great. She left the hospital weighing 6lbs and is now back up to birth weight. I am about 5lbs away from my pre pregnancy weight and the incision is healing.

Meredith seems to be a little more laid back than Benjamin, or it could be that we as second time parents are more relaxed. Not sure. She eats about every 3 hours and sleeps really well for a newborn. There have been plenty of days of me being awake for 22 hours at a time, but those are getting further apart. Last night at 3 weeks old, she slept from midnight till 4am and then fell back asleep at 5:30am and slept until 9am. I can't complain. Of course, Benjamin was running a fever so I was up with him. I guess that's the thing with more than one child, if its not one, it the other! Oh well, I love my little life and all the craziness that goes with it!

It's all worth it. 

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Time for Baby!

Its the night before our lil lady arrives. It feels like Christmas Eve. I'm excited. Nervous. Excited. A little queasy. A little at ease. And ready to meet this lil kick boxer! Scheduled c-sections make you feel like this. Tomorrow is a good day for a birthday!