Our somewhat successful family photos

I say somewhat because the family photo with all of us turned out poorly, and for some reason I looked like ultimate crap in all of them! But here are a few that I think are pretty good! We went to Officer's Row, because I love the big tree logs at the fort for a background!

this and that

Lately we have been busy putting in our garden, growing veggies from seeds, and playing with friends!

Chris built 2 raised beds, and a compost ( I have been pestering Chris for quite a while for this, and so I am pretty excited!)

Now we just have to plant the vegetables and wait for them to grow, really happy that Mira's first foods will be from our own garden!

April branch showers and smiley Mira

Our poor Volvo was struck by a limb from our Pine trees during a wind storm, luckily no one was harmed, and now the car is back to it's original condition!

Here is the tree ....kind of scary during the storm, I thought it could come through the house, and I ran with the kids to the next room, but we were all okay
Here is Mira in her new Bumboo seat, she obviously loves it!

Can you tell them apart?!

I had to take the tiger-blanket photo of Mira to match the photo of Addie when she was a wee-little one! But can you tell them apart? It is funny how much they look alike, I am not sure if all new baby siblings have this issue or not, but it's amusing atleast! Daddy couldn't tell the difference (hehe) Okay, do you give up? Mira is the photo on the left (=

Multi-Tasking to a new Level

The last 3 months have been not quite as hard as I thought they were going to be, so that is a plus, but I am still in my sweats and it is nearly 3pm...this has been a regular occurrence for me these last few months! So in effort to get some structure, routine and quality control, I am going to make a list of how I can efficiently raise the bar and still have time for myself:

1. Blow dry hair while brushing teeth

2. Feed baby while: reading books to Addie, making/eating/cleaning up dinner; pretty much I have been accustomed to only having one arm and can do most things.

3. pick up remote or other objects with my foot.

4. put Addie down for nap while rocking baby on my lap to try and get her to be quiet so Addie will fall asleep

5. Brush hair while putting on clothing

6. Put on make-up while eating breakfast

7. clean house while playing hide n seek with Addie

8. Go for a walk to get exercise and entertain Addie andMira (and save planet by not driving)

9. Have Addie help me make dinner- she is good at cutting up mushrooms with a plastic knife and "painting" squash

10. Knitting baby blanket while nursing Mira

art/cooking with Addie

Getting babies to nap at once!!!!

Will add more to this list as new and more challenging multi-tasks come my way.....

The Exciting Months of December and January

Addie's 2nd Bday

Mira giving us the finger, such sass!

Dancing with the Stars: featuring Chris and Addie

Such a sweet pea!

How could you not love this little angel!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, December and January were absolutely wonderful! We celebrated: the birth of our 2nd Daughter, Christmas with family, Addie's 2nd Birthday and a long-awaited trip to England.

That is it in a nutshell but here are a few more in depth details about these momentous occasions:

Mira was born via c-section on Dec. 9th 2009- weighing 5 lbs 15 oz, and 19 inches long. She was 3 weeks early and so she was small but just amazing!

She is our little "Mira-cle", because of complications with my uterus- but child and mother are both in perfect health, thank goodness for amazing doctors, nurses, and anaesthesiologists (I was heavily drugged (ketamine) during the operation, and apparently I was planning on taking the medical team to Tahiti and Stonehenge- so glad I wasn't aware of the reality of what was happening on the operating table) .

We were only in hospital for about 3 days and was glad to go home to the rest of the family! Addie has been such a good big sister and loves to give kisses and put shoes on the baby. I hope we don't go through the phase of "can we take baby back to the hospital" because it is going so well currently!

Addie's birthday was an absolute success: we had a horse-riding party hosted by my friend Heather Tyrell who is a horse trainer here in Vancouver. The party was so much fun and the kids seemed to enjoy the horse rides! Addie thanks everyone for the wonderful presents and for coming to help her celebrate her 2nd birthday!

January 20th we left for England and returned home on the 3rd of feb. This trip went by really quickly, but we were able to get a lot in! We visited Aunt Tina and Keith, Cousin Hazel, Mike and Nicolas, Nan and Grandad, brother Peter, sister Heather, Mum, and Graham, 2nd cousin James, great cousin Kenny, and good friends! We traveled from Reading to Manchester to Gainsborough and back to Reading....wish we had just a bit more time because there were still people we didn't get to see. Hopefully we will be back in about 1.5 years....

Nan and Grandad's 60th anniversary party was so special, and we are grateful that we were able to attend. Addie danced the night away as she does at gatherings!

Well, this post will have to do for now- more pictures to come!

xxx

Early Contractions

Last weekend, on Halloween, I had to go to Labor and Delivery at SW Hospital, very scary because I am only 32 weeks.....contractions were 2 minutes apart and this was going on for about an hour and prior for another 2 hours I was having contractions only about 10 minutes apart! I received some medicine and an IV and luckily I haven't had any problems for a week now! I wouldn't mind this baby coming early but not this early!! Let's just hope the baby can hold on for about another month!!

Otherwise, taking things a bit more laid back- not fretting as much about keeping house clean and leaving guilty feelings behind while I lay around on couch (=

Chris has been very helpful and took Monday off, but his schedule at work has been full on, including working on weekends! Well, it looks like more easy crock pot meals are in the works.

Addie is great, she has been taking it easy with me and enjoying watching "toons" while we snuggle on the couch.

Although, we aren't quite ready for baby's arrival, we are very excited to welcome new baby and have even more love and snuggles to go around!