The Newest Gilbert

*I wrote this post the day after I had baby, but wanted to add some pictures, so here it is, a week later!*

I'm a bad mom, and someday my boys will probably feel slighted by the fact that I'm about to prove just how bad a mom I am, but they'll get over it! You see, I'm going to record the birth story of our third little bundle of joy, but I didn't do it for either of the boys. Sadly, we didn't have a laptop at the time either of them were born, so I couldn't do it at the hospital, and it was just something I never got around to. Like I said, bad mom. So, here goes.

I was due July 4th, but, in true Thornhill/Gilbert style, baby was late. Which worked out ok, because it meant I could go to Calgary on the 6th and see Wicked (which was phenomenal, by the way!) On the 7th, I had another appointment with the doc. He checked and I was only 2 to 3 ish. So, he stripped my membranes again and booked my induction for the following Monday. The next day was a relatively quiet day, no signs of labour or anything, so I prepared for another weekend of pregnancy, knowing it would be the last before I got to meet our little girl.

Friday night I went to bed quite late (around 1am) because James was working and I always have a hard time sleeping when hes gone. I actually fell into quite a deep sleep, something that hadn't happened for a few weeks! Then, at exactly 4:02 am, I was rudely awoken with one killer contraction. They continued every 8 to 10 minutes for the two hours. Just before 6am, I called my friend Jessica who was going to drive me to the hospital and help out in the delivery room and told her it was time. On our way into town, I called James, who was catching a couple of hours of sleep between working until 3 am and his baseball game which he had to be at the diamond by 8am for. I felt SO bad waking him up, but figure this was definitely it. We got to the hospital, they hooked me up to the monitor, I had 2 contractions and that was it. I was cranky, to say the least!! (Ok, cranky doesn't even begin to express how frustrated I was!) Not only had the contractions stopped after almost 3 hours, but the nurse who checked me told me I was still hard and only 1 cm dialated. When I told her the last 3 times the doc had checked me, he said I was soft and had progressed to 3, she totally bit my head off and told me that wasn't possible. I was not a happy camper.

The doc on call told them to have me come back around 4pm to be checked again and see if I had made any progress. So I went on with my day. We took the boys to the candy parade in Coaldale and spent most of the afternoon at their kids carnival. I had maybe 5 contractions all day, but had an intense pressure in my rear ALL day. I wasn't going to go to the hospital because I figured there was no point. I wasn't having conistent contractions, I was just uncomfortable. James, however, talked me into it. So back we went. They hooked me up to the monitor and baby was less than co-operative. It took almost an hour to get 10 good minutes of tracking. Again, I was less than happy. The nurse checked me again, and I had progressed to 4cm. I was sure they were going to send me home, but after she talked to the doctor, he said they were going to keep me. I had started having more regular contractions again after she had checked me and was really hoping they wouldn't stop again!

They moved me to a delivery suite and I told the nurse that, while I knew it was too early, as soon as I could, I would like an epidural. Let me pause to say that I am not one of those women who can do birth naturally. I think those women are amazing. My body won't relax enough to progress without an epidural. It sounds crazy, but its true. The nurse told me ok, but that out of the 4 women that had asked for an epidural that day, only 1 had actually gotten it because they had been so busy in emerg that the anaesthesiologist hadn't made it in time for any of the others. I almost cried right there. She left to go do some paperwork and James gave me a blessing while we were alone. Shortly after that, she came back and said I was in luck. Both the OB/GYN on call and the anaesthesiologist had just come to the desk and she told them I'd like an epidural. They had to go the OR quickly and then they'd be back for me! Again, I almost cried. So, around quarter to eight, I got an epidural and then the doc broke my water. At 8:21, with 2 1/2 pushes (the cord was wrapped around her neck quite tightly, so I had to stop mid push so they could cut it), baby was born. Then things got dicey.

Apparently, my cord was never properly attatched to the placenta, so very few nutrients were actually getting to the baby while she was in utero. The nurse told us that it was a miracle she was here at all, let alone here at a somewhat normal weight and relatively healthy. NICU was called in to assess her. Her vitals were all really good, but her colouring was horrible. She was white. Pure white. Also, the cord not attaching properly made delivering the placenta impossible. It was stuck inside and I was hemorraging. I was rushed to the ER while NICU took care of baby. At this point, I finally cried. A lot.

While I was in surgery, things got figured out with baby and she and James were moved to the room where I was going to be staying. (I should also pause to mention that James' Dad was rushed to the ER earlier that morning and was still there awaiting some test results, so James spent his time running between both of us! His Dad was released, although whether or not he should have been is still up for debate!) Just before 11, I was brought into the room. I guess the doctor had come and talked to James to tell him things went well with the surgery and that there shouldn't be any further complications. What a day!

I'm happy to report that we are all doing much better today, although I still feel really groggy from the anastetic. And we now have a darling little girl in our family!

Jumping on the bandwagon

Everyone is doing all these great, random lists. And yes, they usually do them on Tuesday, but I'm in the mood to do one now, and, to be completely honest, I probably won't remember come Tuesday! So here it is!

1. I'm so done being pregnant. This is a new feeling to me. With both boys, I had only started feeling human about a month before they arrived and I didn't have any braxton hicks or anything. I still feel nauseous and have been having major braxton hicks for almost 5 weeks now. I'm done.

2. I really admire people who run, but I really don't understand them.

3. While I'm physically completely ready to have this baby, my house is not even remotely ready.

4. I usually look forward to July 1st, but after everything with Mom happened, that changed. Now this year Grandma's not around and I'm really not looking forward to it. Add to that the fact that everyone from my moms side of the family is supposed to be coming to spend a large part of the day at my completely disasterous, still under renovations, trying to get ready for baby house and I'm actually dreading the first. Boo.

5. I have not wanted to eat actual food for days. Just give me ice cream, freezies and ice cold water!

6. My little 4 year old is driving me mental. He does not listen and absolutely no consequence phases him for more than 5 seconds. He has major screaming/kicking/throwing thing tantrums when a consequence is given and then does the same thing a few minutes/hours later. No amount of positive reinforcement helps either. I really am at a loss. Short of beating him, I've got nothing!

7. I love the sun. Don't want it to stop all summer!

8. I REALLY want a bag for my lawn mower! 3/4 of an acre is way too much to rake and I hate the look of piles of grass everywhere. Sadly, that will have to wait until we're done spending money on renos.

9. Every day I spend in our house now makes me want to build our new house even more. Can't wait til I don't have to try and combine my style, James' style and Dad's style. They're all SO different and its REALLY frustrating!

10. I have an awesome husband. He may not always express himself well and sometimes he says some REALLY stupid things, but he has a huge heart and would do anything to help people. And sometimes he can be really sweet.

Catch Up #6: Everything Else!

Ok, so this post is a mish mosh of many of the other things I wanted to post about, but didn't get around to it! Sorry if its really hard to follow my ramblings!

First off, yummy food! Quite a while ago, Rhonda posted about a desert she made (sorry, I'm way to lazy to track down her recipe right now!!) I took a few liberties with it and changed some things to make some delicious caramel peach napoleons! Oh, they were divine!

They were really easy too! Bake some puff pastry that has a little bit of melted butter spread on it and some sugar sprinkled on it. After it cools, top with whipped cream and caramelized peaches. (While your pastry is baking, caramelize peaches with some brown sugar and butter in a skillet.) Top with another piece of pastry, sprinkle with icing sugar and drizzle with caramel sauce. Enjoy!

Next topic of discussion: a sewing project. I was in Great Falls quite a while ago looking at one of my favorite stores (Ross) and I found a super cute dress for only $5!! However, because I'm tall, their short dresses are never long enough! I decided, though, that it would make a super cute maternity top with a few alterations.

Before:

Front view (yes, I am aware at how painfully hideous my bathroom is!)

Side ViewAfter

Front Side

What do you think?

Finally, TJ got to play a little bit of soccer this year and he loved it! They didn't have a team for his age, but they did a week long camp. It was quite hilarous to watch him. Sometimes, he was right in there, but often he was off in his own little world! His "coach" Coach Spike, was great and TJ was really sad when it was all done! They held it in the ice arena and now any time we drive by, he talks about his soccer camp!

They played a game at the end of every day. In this one, Coach Spike was "Shrek" and he had all the soccer stuff. They kids had to get it from him while he was sleeping, but when he woke up, they had to freeze, no matter what he did! TJ was pretty awesome at staying frozen! Spike was hanging cones on his fingers and ears and TJ didn't even budge!

Off in la la land.

Catch Up #5: Manda's Grad

It took a while and a lot of work, but Manda FINALLY finished her schooling! She is now working to get her apprentice hours and I'm super proud of her! The school held a banquet and cermony for the class and their families. It was a great night out. Sadly, Dad was REALLY sick, so he wasn't able to make it, so Jessica Tatlow took his place. Way to go Manda!

Catch Up #4: TJ's Birthday

My little man turned 4 this year! It has gone SO quickly! He is a little obsessed with Angry Birds, so we decided to have an Angry Birds party!

Really, I wanted to keep things pretty simple, so I got some decoration ideas from here . They turned out super cute and the kids loved them!

I took a bunch of boxes and used them as bricks, ect and the kids tossed balls at them to knock the pig balloons off. They loved it, but I forgot to take pictures! I also forgot to take pictures of the pig pinata we made. It was the toughest pinata EVER!! Not to make, but to break! The kids were hilarious, though. They kept encouraging each other and all started chanting "Kill the pig" over and over! I couldn't find black balloons, so I used the black bird template as treat bags. I also took some foam easter eggs, feathers, googly eyes and other assorted crafty stuff and the kids made their own birds. (Again, no pictures. I kind of suck at remembering to take pictures!)I made cupcakes for desert and, I must tell you, I was SUPER lazy when it came to the cupcakes! I wanted to make birds to go on top, but had no desire to take the time to make them out of fondant. And I knew the kids wouldn't like the taste of them. So, while at the local bulk store gathering ideas, I found individually wrapped rice krispie squares 10 for $1.99. I know its ridiculously easy to make rice krispie squares, but with all the renos and feeling so sick and life, ect. I was looking for ANYTHING to make it easier! So with some rice krispie squares, an egg cookie cutter and some dipping chocolate, I made these...TJ and his friends loved them....And so did Myles the next day, when he found the left overs the next day!!

Catch Up #3: Easter

Easter was fun, but VERY busy!

On the 16th, we did Easter dinner with my Mom (I forgot my camera, so I don't have any pictures!) On the Friday before Easter, we did Easter dinner with the rest of my family at Amanda's place. We had a little egg hunt for the kids and they loved it!

Saturday was the town's Easter Egg Hunt, which TJ loved. (Myles and Adi were both napping, so TJ gathered treats for everybody) It was a really nice day out, so there were lots of people there! TJ was kind of sad he didn't get a "special" plastic egg, but got over it the more he filled up his basket!

Sunday morning, the bunny brought our baskets while we were at church and they boys were VERY excited. We tried SO many times to get Myles to stand for a picture with TJ and their baskets, and there was no luck at all!

Later on Sunday, we went to Trevor and Cheri's for dinner with the Gilbert's. It was a beautiful day and the kids had fun playing outside!

Catch Up Post #2 : Great Falls

*Catch up posts in no particular order!*

Over a year ago, James and I were invited by some great friends of ours to go on a week long trip to the Domincan Republic. We've never been on a honeymoon (we spent our wedding night in our apartment and I went to work the day after!) and haven't been on a trip just the two of us since we went to James' mission reunion two months after we were married. Needless to say, we were REALLY looking forward to it! Sadly, life happened, James decided to go back to school and the stars were against us. We ended up having to use the money we'd saved for the trip to live. We managed to take a very little bit and go to Great Falls for the weekend. It was fun, but cold! Still, it was a nice, welcome break!

Here we are, about to head off! (James really NEVER smiles in pictures)

Just testing out the bed! The ceiling was a little low, so I had to crouch!

Catch Up #1: Valentine's Day

* Catch up posts are in no particular order!*

Yep, you read that right! I'm going WAY back to February to write about Valentine's Day. With James going back to school this year, money was tight. I knew this would be tough for James, as his love language is definitely gifts! I told him I didn't want any gifts, I just wanted a romantic night, just him and I. Imagine my suprise when I found out we were double dating with good friends of ours. The men set up a series of stops, each of which had a clue leading to the next stop, some goodies and a present for each of us. The final stop was dinner and then a movie. It was very fun, but not terribly romantic. Oh well! Definitely gets an A for effort!

Jessica showing off one of the clues.

Some of the loot.

Umm, some of the gifts were a little questionable!! ;)

FINALLY!!

I FINALLY got James to take his computer and my memory card into the shop and figure out why they didn't like each other! And its fixed! SO, now I've got a HUGE pile of pics to upload, sort through, and maybe try (again) to figure out this photoshop thing so they don't look quite so awful. Or I may just skip that step (I'm getting stressed out just thinking about it!) and go right to catching up on my posting! Hopefully, you'll be inundated with posts from me soon!!

I'm Dumb

Ok, so I wrote a whole post, then published it without realizing I did it on my Whitehead Family blog (which no one ever reads or writes on!) So, if you want to read it, check it out here. Someday, I hope to get my brain back!

Green & Pink

This year, we kept things pretty simple for St. Patty's Day. I usually love to have things all decorated, have a bunch of kiddos & moms over for a green lunch and go all out, but not this year! Too much going on already and no house to do it in. However, TJ did get to make his very first leprechan trap. I know a lot of moms hate the things, but it was the first time in a long time that TJ and I got to spend some special time together. (More on that in an upcoming post!) TJ loved it! Sometimes, he's not really in the mood to be crafty, but on Wednesday, he was in a super crafty mood!

Here he is just as we started...

Very intently glitter-gluing his box!

Proudly showing off his finished product. (I asked him to say cheese, and his leprechan "track" was saying cheese!)

The next morning, he saw a trail leading from the window to his trap and he was SO excited! Sadly, no leprechan, but he did score a couple of treats!*SIDENOTE: Does your kid have an article of clothing he/she won't take off? TJ LIVES in those superman jammies. To the point that I've had to cut off the feet b/c they were so worn out! He'll wear them under clothes or over them. We've even had to go into his room while he's sleeping to take them off because they were SO stinky!!*

St. Patty's Day was a lucky day for us in an completely non-green way as well. We had our checkup with the OB/GYN and we actually got to see him! He was called away the last 3 times I had an appointment! Not only did we get to see him, but we got to find out if we were having a boy or girl. No matter how much I said I'd be excited to have a boy, I was REALLY hoping for a girl this time! And, I'm happy to say, my wish was granted! I FINALLY get to think pink and ruffles and frou frou!! Yay!

Blessing or a Curse?

You may or may not know this about me, but I LOVE to read. I love reading pretty much anything, from autobiographies and how-to's to historical novels, even the occasional slightly trashy romance novel. (Nothing too trashy, just an easy, mushy read!) Although I love to read, I don't buy many books and here's why.

1. I'm cheap/poor and books are expensive!
2. I have nowhere to keep the books and I hate dusting! In order for me to keep a book, it has to be something I LOVE and will read repeatedly or a book I'll use over and over, like a reference book.

So, knowing this, my Dad was super awesome enough to buy me one of these for Christmas...

image from here

Its a Kobo e-reader and I love mine! There's only one problem. When I read a book, I get REALLY into it! Often, I can't put them down, even if its not an amazing book! I just kind of lose track of time. And then I ignore my life and its just no good!

This problem didn't occur nearly as often when I had to drive into the library in Lethbridge (the Raymond one doesn't have great selection!). Now, however, its happening too frequently! In the last week, I've read Pride & Prejudice, a mystery by Agatha Christie & a trashy romance. My house is still relatively clean and my kids are getting fed, but not too much more is happening! Granted, I was really sick this past week, so I wouldn't have done much else anyway, but really!

Mediocrity

I've been feeling super blah lately. I know a lot of it has been the weather and not feeling good, but usually I can get over those things. Recently, though, I just can't get past it and its driving me crazy! So while I've been sitting home being cranky, I've also been thinking. Scary, I know! I've been feeling like my life is stagnant. Like I'm at a stand still. I'm doing a ton of stuff, but not accomplishing much! This sounds really silly and conceited, but I'm used to being really good at everything I do. I'm more than a little OCD and a major perfectionist, so not giving something my best really bugs me. And lately, between feeling so sick and being so busy, I don't have the time or energy to put into things to make them as good as I want them. So, instead of being satisfied by what I do, it just turns out mediocre. And that is throwing me for a major loop. And making me extra cranky. So, the logical part of me says, somethings got to go. Problem is what. Honestly, I don't know, but I'm working on it! In the meantime, I'm learning to kind of be less cranky about mediocrity!

WA HOO!!!

If you know me at all, you know I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE (I could go on) theatre, especially musicals. There was a period in my life where I literally eat, drank, breathed, slept, ect theatre and, if I didn't have my kiddos, I'd be that way still!! (That kind of made it sound like my kids are in my way. Let me make it quite clear that I would not trade my kids for the world and I do not regret at all the decision I made to have a family instead of a career!) I have had many opportunities to see/be in shows, but most of the professional shows I've got to see haven't been my absolute favorites.

One of my FAVORTIE shows is Wicked. I can't even begin to explain how much I love it. Everything. The music, the costumes, everything!! So when I heard they were coming to Calgary, I knew no matter what I would be there. And this past week, I officially bought my tickets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I don't know that I can put in enough exclamation marks to express my excitment adequately!)

There is a catch, though. My tickets are for July 6. I'm due July 4. I may be a little crazy!

First

Ok, so I've been trying to figure out photoshop for over a month now and still can't get it, so I'm temporarily giving up and you just get to deal with my crappy pictures! Myles had his first birthday last month and we had some family for a little party. Due to renos, our house was not anywhere near ready to hold that many people, so we used the church. It was lots of fun. He got spoiled, of course! The only bad part was that I made Cafe Rio pork salad for dinner, but found out about 2 hours before the party that the roaster I was cooking everything in wasn't working. Awesome, right? So, we ended up eating quite a bit later than anticpated, but everyone was really great about it (even if I did have a bit of a breakdown in the kitchen!). So here are the pics. Enjoy (at least as much as you can with my poor photography skills and even worse photoshop skills!)

The invitations.



The tables all set up. (I have a pretty big family!)

A close up of the tables.

The banner.

The cups.

The centerpieces.

I made crayons for the kids treat bags. The first batch, I was trying to do shapes with cookie cutters and tinfoil, but it was not a great success! So second batch I went with mini muffin tins!

The cupcakes.

Myles eating his cake! He was actually really funny. He was really dainty and hardly got dirty at all, which is very un-Myles!

Well, there you go. Finally.

As a side note, has anyone had problems with blogger not letting you move photos around. I click on the picture to move and try to drag it down and the screen won't scroll. VERY frustrating and time consuming!!