Pictures
It's a boy! The picture doesn't do him justice - he's so cute! Still nameless! :)
Tyler and Mitch at Appleby's celebrating Ty's 24th birthday!
My sick little girl who keeps falling asleep at odd times while sitting in the Bumbo. Poor lil' thing! It turns out, by the way, that she does have a urinary tract infection. She's now on antibiotics and we're hoping to see an improvement soon! Please continue to pray for her. (and us - the exhausted parents!)
Update on my life...
The grad dinner was nice. It was fun to get dressed up and have a night to ourselves. The food was pretty good and there was lots of it! I was disappointed with the dance (or lack thereof) but otherwise had fun. We stopped in at the afterparty at a club downtown. It was in a beautiful building that used to be a bank. But I realized again how much I dislike the atmosphere in bars. We didn't stay long, besides it was too loud in there to talk to anyone! Poor Esther (or should I say poor Julia and Tyler) didn't do so well. She took her bottle without too much fuss, but she was pretty miserable all evening. I'm beginning to be quite concerned about her. She hasn't been herself in 2 weeks. She never smiles anymore and has become quite lethargic. I will wait for the urine sample results (yes, we finally got a few drops in to be tested) and then go from there I guess. Please pray for her (and me - it's been such a long time to go with a clingy baby who also isn't sleeping well).
Saturday we took Tyler for some Nucci's gelati. Yum! And spent the rest of the day/evening relaxing as much as possible. I woke up Sunday morning to a phone call from Tara's husband. The baby was on the way! This consumed me all day Sunday and Monday. It was a very long and difficult labour for all of us (mostly for Tara of course!). I've been a doula now for nearly 7 years and I've attended somewhere between 1 and 200 births, but this was different. I was an emotional wreck! Now I understand why we tell our clients that, although a mom/sister is a great support for you in labour, it really is important to have someone objective there as well. There were moments throughout the process that I just wanted them to do a cesarean and relieve her already! It's hard to explain. I'm just so glad I wasn't her only support! Tara, on the other hand, was amazing and triumphantly birthed a precious little baby.
So I missed the releasing of Sanctuary House of Prayer from WCV and poor Tyler had to spend most of his champagne birthday watching the kids (with Mercy's help). We plan to take him out to dinner to celebrate tomorrow instead. I think that's all for now!
Blessings and Babies!
Last night we had a wonderful Mother Blessing for my dear friend Tara. She is due any time now to have her first baby and we are all so excited for her! Isn't she beautiful?
Speaking of babies...the Birth Roots family continues to expand! By the time Esther's first birthday rolls around, there will have been 5 new babies added to our mix! I guess being in the doula/baby business must rub off on us! :) There are now 12 children and 4 expected amongst us! Whew! It's very fun!
Tonight's the night!
Tonight Deyan and I are going out to celebrate his graduation! We are going to a fancy dinner/dance with his faculty. All I can say is that at $45/plate, it better be good food! Today I'm going out to buy some needed accessories to wear with my fancy dress. I'm also getting my make-up done (since I rarely wear it and don't really have any to speak of). I even polished my jewelry and did my finger and toe nails all perdy! Now if only I can get my hair to look nice, and I'll be all set! (Rochelle, why don't you live closer!)
Please pray for little Esther. She hasn't been herself for the past 2 weeks and came down with a low-grade fever on Wednesday. We still wonder if it might just be teething. The doctor checked her out yesterday and said her ears and throat and everything are all fine. He did mention the possibility of a bladder infection and suggested I get a urine sample. So I went to the lab and they handed me one of those little cups and basically told me to just go home and figure it out. Ya, right. I've tried twice now, with each episode taking 2 hours, to get her to pee in this stupid container. She's 5 months old for crying out loud! And she doesn't pee out like a boy, if you know what I mean. Anyways, I didn't catch any pee (although I did get soaked both times) and I'm sure by now the 'sterile' container is contaminated. Apparently they are supposed to do some sort of baggie thing, but the lady at the lab said she didn't have that. So, I guess we're just going to have to pray her better! My friend Julia (who just graduated with a bachelor's degree in midwifery - way to go!) is going to take care of my little peanut tonight while we're out. Pray that she takes a bottle easily and doesn't miss mommy too much! My brother Tyler will also be here hangin' out with Simba.
On a happy note, Esther now weighs 16lbs and is 26 1/2" long! And apparently I'm still losing weight on this breastfeeding diet. (which basically means I eat everything in sight and then nurse Esther and she drinks all the calories!)
I know a boy...
I have a friend, who I recently met, while visiting family in Saint John. He's a really nice guy, and he just paid me a very nice tribute on his blog www.adamcobrien.blogspot.com! Although I met him for the first time only a few months ago, I've known about him since he was very young. You see, his dad was my family doctor (a great one at that) and every time I went for a visit, I saw his kids' pictures on his wall. I always thought they were nice looking kids. So now it is very fun to get to know one of them! Adam, I wish you all the best in your journey with God! See you sometime soon! :)
AAAHHH
Last night I had the unique privilege to indulge myself at a spa with Tara and Julia. It was wonderful! I rarely get that kind of opportunity and I soaked it up! I highly recommend the Urban Oasis Spa. They really pamper you and make you feel like a queen! It was so nice to relax after all the craziness that's been going on lately.
On another happy note, my brother arrives tomorrow morning! I've been sort of keeping it under wraps (not really), but Tyler is moving here and we are so excited! He will be staying with us, in our little abode, but it will be so fun to have him. If you know of any jobs for him in Winnipeg, let me know! For those Manitobans reading this, you will really enjoy getting to know him.
And yes, Deyan FINALLY hands in his final assignment tomorrow. It looks amazing. I am so proud of all the hard work he has put into his schooling. I hope it's worth it all!
That's all for now! Got to go sit with my hubby and celebrate with a nice glass of wine! :)
We're...almost...done...!!!
Did you ever notice that when you've been pushing through something and you see the end is about to come, you often lose the grace to keep going? That's how I feel lately about Deyan's schooling. It's been 3 long years, and this last term has been especially tough it seems. It could be because I now have 2 children on my own most of the time. Or it could be that Deyan's assignments have been more gruelling than ever or under a tighter time restriction. Regardless, this week has just done me in it seems. It doesn't help that the kids and I were sick and that Esther hasn't slept well in over a week (I hope it's just a teething issue) so I'm exhausted. My schedule has also really picked up for some reason so I've been very busy. My housework falls behind which stresses me out more as we live in chaos and don't get to eat nice meals (no clean dishes, no time to cook, etc.). There are also so many things I would like to or feel the need to do right now and yet I'm so tired of trying to arrange babysitting all the time or alternatively taking my kids here there and everywhere and messing up their nap and bedtime routines. I'm just done! So, if I feel this way, I can only imagine how Deyan must feel! He has missed many nights of sleep, putting in long hours to finish well. Below is a picture of his final model that he built for his studio project. Pretty awesome, eh? Yes, so the celebration begins next week. Wednesday he hands in his final assignment and Friday is the fancy graduation dinner/dance. It will be fun to get dressed up and go out and relax together. So please pray that we can hang in there for a few more days! The countdown has begun...
Dear Blogging Friends
Okay, so now that EVERYONE has a blog (at least half my family + friends!) I have found it very difficult to keep on top of reading them all! I really am interested in your lives and your poetry and your spiritual journeys, etc. So, when I a spare minute, I check to see if you've posted anything new. As you can imagine, this is very time consuming and boring when I get there and have nothing to read! :) Well, I remembered that there was this great tool for people like me with lots of friends!!! It's called bloglines.com and it allows you to subscribe to all your favorite blogs. Then you just have to check one spot to see if any of them have posted! It makes my life way easier and gives me more time to actually read all of them because I'm not aimlessly checking each and every blog. Anyways, just thought some of you might want to give it a try as well. Email me if you have questions. Thanks Yvonne
for helping me with this!
We're Back!
So much to say...so little time! So, here in point form is my journey to Kansas City:
- Sleepover at Yvonne and Jason's Wednesday night
- Pick up Shane and Kristi
- Leave at 2:30am Thursday and arrive in KC at 4:30pm - Esther did awesome!
- Listen to CD's on the way and realize that I'm going to get wrecked by God this weekend
- Walk into the prayer room where worship and prayer has been continuing for 24 hours/day for nearly 7 YEARS! Need I say more? What an atmosphere!
- Go out for all-you-can-eat pizza and hang out with Joyska
- Back to the prayer room for a bit and then to Joyska's house to sleep (which just happens to be across the parking lot!)
- Friday morning in the prayer room while Esther napped
- Lunch and shopping at Town Centre and Walmart
- Personal prophetic room
- Encounter God Service - Yvonne got to sing a song from her CD live!
- McDonalds (yuck!)
- Back to the prayer room - Misty Edwards was leading a set from 10pm-12am (she is my age, has devoted her life to the prayer room and spends 12 hours/day in there)
- Sleep
- Talk to my boys on the phone - I missed them!
- Prayer room during Esther's short nap
- Hang out with Joyska
- Lunch and shopping at the Plaza, enjoying the sunshine and 24 degrees!
- Hang out with Joyska and her roomies and Kristi & Shane
- Color my hair
- Encounter God Service - another awesome time!
- Back to Joyska's for pizza and lots of laughs as well as intense discussion!
- Put Esther to bed and head over to the prayer room at 1:30am - I love the beauty of this!
- Miss an extra hour of sleep as time skips forward
- Pack, Higher Grounds smoothie (Starbucks-like cafe attached to the prayer room), pictures
- Church service - Got to hear Mike Bickle while Joyska's arm nearly broke carrying Esther around!
- Lunch at Chipotle's - Yum!
- Goodbye's and on the road again in the rain
- 2 hours in and a nearly fatal accident, but for the grace of God
- Shaking, drive to a hotel for the night
- Steak dinner - yum!
- Deep discussions and eventually sleep
- Continental breakfast and back on the road again!
- A sunny but very long drive home! (Esther again did great)
Well, that's the Reader's Digest version. If you want the goods, you'll have to talk to me directly! :) Thank you to my friends who took me along! Thank you to Joyska who hosted me and the baby! Thank you to my friends who took good care of Simeon! God is good!
It's a boy! The picture doesn't do him justice - he's so cute! Still nameless! :)
Tyler and Mitch at Appleby's celebrating Ty's 24th birthday!
My sick little girl who keeps falling asleep at odd times while sitting in the Bumbo. Poor lil' thing! It turns out, by the way, that she does have a urinary tract infection. She's now on antibiotics and we're hoping to see an improvement soon! Please continue to pray for her. (and us - the exhausted parents!)
