Dey and Dee's Updates

Merry Christmas! Chestita Koleda!

2008-12-24T11:21:00.000-08:00

In honour of my Bulgarian family, most of whom do not have facebook, I will post some pictures from the last season for them to see! :) Blessings to everyone at this special time of year!

Gymnastics at the YMCA

Building the deck - Daddy and his helpers

Pineridge Hollow - October 2008

Thanksgiving Dinner with our close friends

Little mommy Esther with baby Elijah

In costumes for the Harvest Party in the Church

The Pirate

Superman Girl

Typical fun times with Chicho and Uncle

Esther's 3rd birthday - Celebrating with Family

Counting her candles

Momma's girl

Father and Son in the basement workshop

Esther's 3rd birthday - Celebrating with friends

Presents!

Making dessert 'pizza'

The birthday girl fell asleep at the birthday table!

First snow Winter 2008

Esther in the front yard

Simeon in the back yard

Art time

Music class with Daddy

Chicken on a bone!

Grandpa's visit November 2008

Decorating the Christmas tree

Downhill sliding

Simeon's 5th birthday

Buzz Light Year cake - made with love by Mom and decorated by Dad

Party with friends

I'm sorry that I cannot add spring and summer pictures right now. :) Unless you go to facebook to see them!

A new computer - and FINALLY some pictures!

2008-03-08T23:30:00.000-08:00

We'll start with Simeon and Luke's 4th birthday party - Glo Bowling!Just a few of the friendsWhose beautiful child is this? ;)Though it has been a mighty cold winter in Winnipeg, we've tried to get outside whenever possible!Esther kept asking to 'ride the big horsies'!A free trolley ride down well-lit Portage Ave (with free hot chocolate and even some carols!)Frosty! This was at a private home which has over 10000 Christmas lights/displays and a small train you can ride around their property. People often say that Winnipeg is the Christmas capital of Canada!

Christmas Eve Dinner (Sermi - a Bulgarian tradition)

Oh the anticipation!Don't you think Joyska makes a great Santa?These games have been well used already!New Jammies!Cuddles with Chicho before bedChristmas morning - The tradition of reading Luke 2 in bed together continues in the next generation!
Unfortunately, Google/Blogger is giving me trouble so the rest of the pictures will have to come later. Sorry Mom!

Loved and Adored and Today He's 4!!!

2007-12-13T23:52:00.000-08:00

Oh how could it be that my firstborn is such a big boy already! What memories come rushing in!

Like when I called Deyan into the bathroom during the 1 minute wait for the results of our first pregnancy test so we could see the results together (even though the line showed up almost immediately). And when we phoned our families and close friends that night to announce that 'we' were pregnant because we couldn't wait to share the good news! And how happy I was not to feel sick by the time my first midwifery appointment happened, only to be gently reminded by Beckie that pregnancy nausea sometimes doesn't set in until the 6th week or so. And how true that was! And how relieved I was to hear his heartbeat for the first time after crying to Beckie about feeling that I was ruining my child by eating nothing but fast food (which was the one of the only things I could eat during my 8 weeks of nausea/vomiting). And then there was of course the 'twin' scare! (not scared of having twins, just scared of how that would affect my prenatal and birth care) Coming home early from the lake to catch a glimpse of only 1 healthy little baby swimming around. Then the exhiliration of feeling the first flutter of baby movement only moments after I had assisted another woman through the birth of her first child. And Deyan feeling that first kick a couple of days later. Continuing to grow bigger and bigger until everyone thought I would burst! The heartburn, pelvic pain and pressure, wrist pain, practice contractions, and other pregnancy discomforts which made me very anxious to get this person on the outside! And then that day arrived! If you want to share in those memories, go to http://www.birthrootsdoulas.com/birth_stories2.htm and look for Dee's Birth Story.

Since then, it's been quite an adventure! Simeon is a 'frequent flyer' having travelled back and forth to the Maritimes 4 times, once to Ohio, and once to Bulgaria! Not to mention the road trips around Manitoba and the long one this summer through the States, Toronto, and all the way to New Brunswick! He's lived in 2 cozy homes, is surrounded by awesome friends (big and small) and remains incredibly connected to his family around the globe.

Words to describe him - sensitive (towards others and towards himself), thoughtful (caring), intelligent (he's reading and doing sudokus), inquisitive (oh the questions!), deep thinker(but what does it MEAN), organized (not necessarily tidy though), easy-going (you can take him anywhere anytime), friendly, outgoing, musical (you should hear the tunes he can carry and his dance moves can't be beat!), creative, theatrical, strong (let's just say I don't dare wrestle with him), handsome (well what do you expect with the momtchilov genes), great memory, funny...and I could go on!

A few favorite quotes - "Mommy, I made a big hippo! Actually, I think it's a rhino." (said after going poop on the potty at 1 1/2) "Esther's a girl so she has an angina" (I have many more anatomy quotes, but they are a bit too riske to put on a blog! Did I mention he's inquisitive and a deep thinker???)

Ok, to be honest I'm quite sick at the moment and my brain is not functioning very well so I think that's all I can write right now. Here are a couple of pictures though!

We love you Simba! xoHis first art project (He cried later because he felt like he ruined it when he tried to use a sponge to paint with. I hope he doesn't take after me in art!)A beach day A bike day This is one of the sudoku puzzles he's been able to do since this spring.The birthday boy!We gave him tinkertoys for his birthday. Not sure who was having more fun Sim or his dad!

My baby turns 2...

2007-11-06T23:26:00.000-08:00

I wish I could reminisce about the last 2 years - the journey of mothering a daughter. But alas, sleep is calling my name so I will simply say that I am in awe how quickly the time has flown. Wasn't it just yesterday that I was complaining of joint pain and wanting this baby to be born already? Surely it was but a moment ago that I caught my first glimpse of the beautiful girl I had hoped and dreamed of. Now she is running with the big boys, talking as much as them (even using big words like 'actually' and 'I think maybe'), singing and dancing like a champ, using a vivid ima gi nation, wearing big girl panties, mothering her own little brood of dolls, teddy bears, and friends' pets or children younger than her. I love her to pieces and realized toni ght that I don't tell her enough. So as I nursed her to sleep (yes, she in that way I guess she's still my baby) I caressed her hair an d re minded h er how special she is to me and how much I love her and enjoy being her mom. Sure, she can be a determined little monkey sometimes! I hope I will have the grace and patience to raise her to be a strong leader, yet full of compassion and grace. So, here she is - our little princess...

Daddy's girl

Brother-Sister-Love

Pretty in every color!

Her first french braids

Ah...sleep

Always wanting to share kisses and cuddles

Um, is this me or her? (I have an identical picture from my 2nd birthday)

Proving she can have her cake and eat it too!

Riding a pony alone at 19 months!

Little miss independent!

Did I mention she LOVES animals???She loves her friends - though most of them are boys :)

Fun in the tub

And she's hot!

xo Essie xo
May there be many more years of blessings!

The Flinstones

2007-11-01T22:30:00.000-07:00

Ok, I've officially given up on keeping this up to date. But for Mom (Ionka) I will post some pictures. These ones are from the Harvest Party - October 31, 2007.

Saber-toothed tiger and Dino?

BamBam and Pebbles!

Notice Simba (lion) and Larryboy have now become the sabertoothed tiger and Dino!

Fred and WilmaDon't they look the part?

Man, my boy is ripped!

Using his BAMBAM strength!Then there is the animal lover of the family...I don't think kids were really this cute in the stone-age :)

Our whirlwind summer!

2007-08-31T08:28:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy and full summer and we've all enjoyed it tremendously! I apologize (especially to Mom H) for not updating this blog more frequently! I've sort of gotten caught up with myspace and facebook (which is where alot of my pictures are). I will try to recap here with photos of some of the special moments.

First off was Deyan's mom coming to visit us for a few weeks. It was so great to have her here and both kids bonded with her yet again.

Baba's treats!

Trying out the new Kitchen Aid (my 30th birthday present)

Fun at the wading pool

During her visit, we spent a great weekend at Lake of the Woods
with our dear friends the Rademakers and PoetkersMomma's little girlDada's boyMitch and Tyler sharing a moment?Tyler and Amy sharing some hammock loveWhat a view!My little GypsyDid I mention we have great friends?LukesterSwimming in the cold lake! (with lots of help from lifejackets, mom and noodles)The sandbox they builtCutie pie!Boat ride! Best BudsFriends for lifeAround the campfireOur froggy friend
Deyan and I also had our first getaway with out the kids in St. Malo
put put went the paddleboat
We stayed at a gorgeous bed and breakfast called Nestin on Lakeview

St. Malo Reservoir
We biked for a couple of hours in the provincial park

I guess that's enough for now. Next post will have pictures of the Ethridge family vacation in Toronto!

Not sure about Hanz and Franz...but Mitch is here to pump (beat beat) me up!

2007-07-05T21:24:00.000-07:00

So, I finally decided it was time to start getting my butt into gear (literally)! I asked my brother-in-law Mitch (www.mypt.ca) to give me a consultation. Truth is, he offered awhile ago but I wasn't ready yet. But my high-speed breastfeeding metabolism is slowing down and combined with my lack of physical activity and free eating...it's starting to show!

Yesterday was my first session. The hardest part honestly was getting up at 7am! It was a good core workout, but combined with lots of explanation didn't feel too hard at the time. I felt it in my abs and lower back when I went to bed and this morning, but I was impressed that it wasn't too bad. This morning we did lower body and I'm feeling it! Muscle soreness and fatigue. I took a 1 1/2 hour nap this afternoon and slept deeply! The cool thing is that although we haven't even discussed nutrition yet I noticed today that I am more motivated to pay attention to the food I'm eating.

So, wish me luck on this journey! It will hopefully become a lifestyle for me.

In other news...Deyan and I are going on our first overnight retreat (since before the kids were born)! We have a nice bed and breakfast to go to. I will hopefully take some pics and post them when we return. Pray that Ionka and the kids have fun together and don't miss us too much!

I will also post some pictures of our time at Lake of the Woods last weekend. For now I need to get some rest and be ready for tomorrow's upper body workout! :)

contests are fun!

2007-07-04T10:22:00.000-07:00

I love baby slings! Click here if you would like to enter your name for a draw that could win you an incredibly nifty sling to help carry your baby -- sponsored by this company.

If your baby is all grown up, slings make AWESOME shower gifts! :)

THE JACKET

2007-06-03T14:55:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, there was a very cute little girl, 4 years old, with long brown curly hair. She owned a snazzy little jean jacket from Thrifty's. That girl soon had a brother and eventually it was his turn to wear the jacket. Not long afterwards, another brother came and then 3 sisters, one after the other. Each took their turn wearing the jean jacket. It must have shrunk over time because it was no longer worn on a 4 year old but instead it fit the children when they were much younger!

Well, the first little girl grew up and moved away from home and got married. Near the end of her first pregnancy, some of her friends had a blessing party for her to welcome her into the journey of motherhood. Though her mother lived far away and couldn't participate in a physical way, she decided to send her daughter a special gift. The jacket. Her daughter beamed with pride as she opened the package and shared the jacket's history with her friends. Her son, born only a few days later, would be the 7th child and the 2nd generation to wear this jacket. It fit him by 6 months old (he was a big kid)! He now has a sister of his own who proudly wears her little jean jacket!

ps - I have pictures of me wearing this jacket as a child, so if I find them (or Emma, maybe you can scan one and send it to me) I'll post one!

It's a picnic!

2007-06-03T13:44:00.000-07:00

Pass the news along!

32 and sunny on May 9th!

2007-05-14T10:52:00.000-07:00

Auntie Joyska!

She fell asleep in the car and her hat slowly drifted over her face!

Simeon Elliot and Isaac having a snack

Isaac Esther and Simeon in the pool!

Cute summer dress!

Sim Esther and Isaac

Chalk time!

He came! :) ...and he went! :(

2007-04-30T23:36:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't been blogging. Lots going on these days and the computer is shared with too many people! It always seems like the moments (which are few and far between) when I'm free to sit at the computer without kids hangin' off me or supper needing to be made or something, someone else is using it! Oh well, such is life.

One of the things that's been happening is my dad was here for a visit! He left this morning. :( It was an amazing week with him. Probably the best visit I can remember. I don't know if it's the season/stage of life we're in or just that he's been here a few times so I felt more relaxed and less of a tour guide or what. Either way, I'm so glad he could come at the last minute and spend some time hanging out with all of us. It felt like we had a good balance of family time, work stuff and time with friends. One of the reasons for his trip was to help us establish a business that we are newly involved in with him. Although we seem to be babystepping along, I felt very refreshed and encouraged in the process! Some important questions got answered and his excitement and passion sure is contagious! :)

Sharing a smoothie mustache!
I think he read this book to Esther at least a dozen times throughout the week!!!

Grandpa and Simeon at Moxie's

Esther giving Grandpa eyes at the YMCA

Another visitor has graced us with her presence! Joyska! Her and my dad had some good diet coke/diet pepsi wars. It's always so much fun to have her around. And I felt so blessed to have a home to share with so many people! At least for 1 night. My cousin was also in Winnipeg for something work related, but unfortunately we didn't get to see her. But we are happy that Joyska's here for a few more days!!!Besides that, Tyler celebrated his 25th birthday last week. We had a fun celebration at Moxie's. He has grown into an awesome man and we're so happy to have his friendship. It's also very fun for me to participate as the big sister celebrating his relationship to a beautiful woman, who also happens to be my friend! :) Since the rest of our family lives so far away, I feel very privileged in this role! And Esther sure loves "AMY"!

Tyler and Sim watchin' the kite
Amy and Esther at Assiniboine Park

Simeon and Amy at Appleby's

The kids are well. Nothing really to report on them. They are loving the spring/summer weather we've been having. We get outside lots and Simeon always wants to play with the neighbors! We did have a little scare with a runaway baby the other day, but I won't share that story unless I get permission. For now let's just say that a backyard fence is our next priority! We do get out to a park quite often, most recently to fly a kite. Simeon (who's favorite movie is currently Mary Poppins) sings all the way there: "Let's go fly a kite..."Esther in her Hawaiian dress with Champ - the Armbruster's dog
Fun with Lillian

Deyan and I are well. Birth Roots just leased our first home away from home which is very exciting! We have quite a bit of work to do to make it the way we want it, but it's going to be awesome when it's finished. We're hoping to be up and running by the end of May! There is so much potential for us now, though it is a big (and somewhat scary) step! I am still not incredibly involved, but trying to help out when and where I can. Deyan's job continues to go well. Some of the guys he supervises were here today to so some stuff in our house. I could tell they have a lot of respect for him, which is nice to see.

PS - Happy 3rd Birthday today Isaac! We love you buddy! :)

Hope you all are enjoying life! Have a wonderful 1st day of May (my favorite month)!

Caring Friends

2007-04-09T21:30:00.000-07:00

In case you hadn't heard yet, we're sick. Actually, Deyan and Tyler are healthy. Simeon is slowly recovering from a case of bronchitis. He's not coughing nearly as much, though he still sounds awful when he does! He's on his 5th day of antibiotics and his fever is gone. Esther has a sinus infection and is also on her 5th day of meds. She's still very congested and her nose is running constantly. She's had a touch of fever last night and tonight and is acting more clingy and whiny than she was earlier in the week. I am on drugs for bronchitis but I also seem to have either a sinus infection or the flu. I'm very congested and am just now getting some relief for muscle aches and pains and fever/chills, etc.

Needless to say, it's been a difficult Easter weekend. Of course we are so thankful for all that we do have. I hate to complain about trivial, minor health issues when there are far bigger problems in the world. I have to say though that I can't ever remember feeling this sick, except maybe in Bulgaria 2 summers ago. That was pretty bad too.

Anyways, being physically down always makes me homesick for my family. Who else do you call when you've reached your limit? Who else besides my mother would I allow within 50 feet of my house for fear of them 'catching' whatever we have? (sorry mom) There's only so much food Deyan can prepare meals with in our fridge and cupboards. The sheets need to be stripped and washed with the rest of the laundry to try to clean out the germs. We've run out of juice and fruit (our vitamin C stock) and milk but with stores closed on for the holidays and Deyan back to work today, I wasn't really able to pack up 2 sick kids and drag them out to get groceries. I'd thought of calling one of my dear friends to lend us a hand, but it's so hard to ask for help when you know they are all so 'full' with their own young families! I did manage to swallow my pride and ask Jocelyn if she might be able to buy us some juice and milk. Not only did she graciously agree, but she also brought soup and muffins and other meal ingredients to warm my heart and my tummy! Of course kindness totally runs in their family as I also woke up this morning to a jar of soup, a loaf of bread and a bag of cookies care package sent from Lillian (Joc's mom). I wonder if they realize that their generosity not only filled a physical need in our family, but it also helped with the disappointment I'd been feeling about missing all the Easter celebrations.

It is good to be loved.

Thank you God for great friends who pray and serve and give. Help me to be a great friend in return.

Thank all of you who've been praying and helping in so many ways! We love you and hope to be able to see you on the other side of this...sooner rather than later! ;)

What we've been up to...

2007-04-01T23:19:00.000-07:00

Definitely not blogging! haha. Actually, it's been busy, but when is it ever not? There is probably lots I haven't filled you all in on, but then the thought of playing catch up is rather overwhelming to me so I think I'll try to summarize.
I've decided to take a 'leave of absence' from everything I possibly could in my life and just spend some quality time hanging out with my kids. They are growing up way too quickly and the stress of things I'm involved in (which I still love) was taking away too much from giving fully to my family. Of course family has always been a priority for me but so often 'stuff' gets in the way of being the woman/wife/mother I want to be. So, difficult though the process has been, I think it's a good thing in the end. Now, if I can just learn to REALLY let go (emotionally) and to capitalize on this extra time, I'll be laughing! I am trying to teach myself some piano and Tyler's graciously teaching me a bit of guitar and I'm enjoying both of those.
The kids are doing great. Simeon is really into stickers. They are a great motivational tool! He loves helping me make his bed or make supper or fold laundry. He's actually pretty good at alot of this stuff. I guess it's his detail oriented personality! His other passion these days (which goes along with stickers most of the time) is learning to read. He is forever asking me "what does that say mom?" and asking me how to spell words and making up his own spelling of words he knows, etc. With the exception of some short and long vowel confusion and thinking the "wuh" sound comes from a "y", he's got most of the basic phonics down pat! It's funny how he's always been so interested in letters and sounds. I'm excited for when he can really read - it will open up a whole new world for him! In the meantime, he still loves to 'read' books to himself (outloud), telling the story so beautifully! His coordination is also improving as I've noticed he colors more in the lines now and his printing/tracing is more accurate. Poor guy - this must be related to his personality as well but he gets a bit frustrated when his 'lines' don't look as straight as he would like or when his circle touches something he wasn't intending it to. I just keep telling him he's doing great and that those little things don't matter at all - just keep trying!
Esther is her funny/silly self. Her communication is improving daily (even though I'm horrible at teaching her new signs!). She's starting to put more words together to form short sentences (ex: night night dada or siminon's socks? or bonk head stairs!). She's also switched from calling Simeon 'bubby" (aka brother) to Siminon. It's cute, but I miss some of those first words and I thought for sure Sim's nickname would stick! I'm glad she's talking clearly because she sure lets her desires be known in a forceful way! One day she stood in front of the fridge and said "gogurt" (yogurt) for 20 minutes because she'd found an empt yogurt container in the cupboard and decided she wanted some. We didn't have any, but that didn't deter her! It did drive me crazy though! Otherwise, she's developped quite the strongwill which can be challenging at times. Her and Sim get along brilliantly most of the time, but occasionally they purposely seem to bug each other. I guess that's pretty normal among siblings. I love watching them play little games together. I especially love it when they get up in the morning and play upstairs while I'm still 'waking up'. They both copy each other often which is funny when it's cute, not so much when it's disobedience! What else with her...she still loves books and of course babies. She is not set on one particular doll or teddy, but she tends to pick one that she likes for the day and takes it with her everywhere (usually a doll). She also loves real babies, but thinks they're all named Elliot (our friend's little guy). She also thinks she's a 'big girl' now and tries to go down the stairs on her bum instead of backwards. (hence the "bonk head stairs" sentence) She LOVES to go out - in the porch, in the car, outside, you name it. If she's whiny, all I have to say is "we're going to go out Esther" and she runs to the door and says, "jacket? suze?" When it's warm I let them both play in the porch. Ah, I love our house.

Dey is still enjoying his job. He's making his first batch of wine as we speak - should be ready sometime next week. He seems to be busy with more social engagements than me these days - now that's new! :) But he still enjoys a quiet evening at home with a good snack and a movie.

Tyler still hasn't started work yet (and this cold week ahead is notgood in that regard) but he's getting quite skilled in his music and it's great to have his help while he's here (with kids, house stuff, errands, etc.) It's fun to watch my siblings enter new seasons in their lives. Hard to believe they're all growing up! It is so great to have little pieces of them here, even if it is for short visits! (We miss you Jordan and Courtney!)Lastly, we bought a family membership at the YMCA! I've only had the opportunity to do a few workouts myself - still have to coordinate the childcare to make that happen more frequently. But I take the kids there several times/week. Our Y has some great preschool drop-in programs and both kids love going. They've also started swimming 'lessons' (parent and tot class) and I'm amazed at how much progress a few weeks can make! Especially considering the class is designed to get young kids accustomed to water by singing songs, splashing, etc. Not alot of 'skills' taught at this stage. "Fearless Esther" can float on her own holding a noodle, goes down the little slide, goes completely underwater without flinching, puts her face in when asked, kicks on her back and front, etc. Simeon was quite timid in the beginning, wanting to simply sit on the stairs for the whole time. Now he will put his head underwater voluntarily, jump in holding only one hand, kick on his back and front, etc. They both LOVE to go, so I hope they will continue like this to be ready for summer swimming!

I guess that's all for now. Have a wonderful Spring week! :)

Growing Up!

2007-03-22T11:58:00.000-07:00

My BIG 3 year old boy had a sleepover at his friends' house last night - without mommy! He didn't cry for me (though he says he missed me), he was a good listener and slept as well as he does at home. And of course he had lots of fun!!! Apparently they played alot of "David and Goliath"! Esther was disappointed not to see Sim when she woke up this morning, but boy did she get excited when he came home! Lots of kisses and hugs for "Bubbie" (brother).

Fun with Friends!

2007-03-14T14:40:00.000-07:00

I haven't had a chance to write about our weekend away with our dear friends Jocelyn and Sherwood and their sweet boys Isaiah and Luke. I've been busy helping a mom bring her new son into the world...but here's the scoop!

Some time ago (I think I was pregnant with Esther) we went to the country to spend an evening with these friends. We had a great dinner and played a fun game of Settlers after our kids went to sleep. They lived out there at the time and we were planning to pack Sim up and put him in the carseat around midnight for our drive home when an INCREDIBLE summer storm hit! I've never seen wind like that or heard the rain falling so intensely! And the thunder and lightning - it was as if the whole sky was lit up for hours on end! We decided it would be very unsafe to drive home so we stayed the night! We ended up having an awesome weekend relaxing together while our kids were hanging out...sort of (they were only 1 and 2!) We've often talked about this great weekend together and when the opportunity arose, we were invited back - but this time it was for a winter getaway!

Our boys are older now and have a great time playing together. Esther tries to keep up with them and they tolerate her...mostly! We share great food, have great conversations, play fun games, get some fresh air, learn from each other's parenting challenges, etc. I am so grateful for friends who are like family in a province where I have very little actual family! Thank you Armbrusters for your hospitality and your welcoming hearts! :)

2007-03-08T15:09:00.000-08:00

Tag, you're it!

So here's a fun TAG game:

Instructions are as follows:

1. Go into your archive.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.

Here's mine:

In fact, last night I had alot of contractions and even had the "nesting urge"!

Written on Nov 4th - 2 days before Esther was born! Boy was I ready for her to come out!

Now it's your turn! Don't forget to post your sentence in my comments too! :)

Anatomy 101

2007-03-02T08:10:00.000-08:00

Simeon is very curious about body parts these days, particularly the ones we don't see as often! A few weeks ago he asked me what was on Esther's bum. After several moments of confusion, I realized he was wondering why she looked different than he did. I've always had full intention to use proper terms when talking to my kids about their bodies, so I told him what it was. The rest of the conversation went something like this:

Sim - "When I was a baby, did I have an angina too?"
Me (laughing at his pronunciation) - "No, Simeon, you're a boy like daddy and Esther is a girl, like mommy."
Sim - "But when Esther gets bigger she'll have a penis like me, right?"

I tried explaining things as best I could, but I wasn't convinced he understood. Oh well, he's only 3 after all! There is plenty of time, especially if we keep these lines of communication open and not make a big deal about conversations like this.

Fast forward to last week. I had a friend here for lunch with her 3 year old daughter. (*name changed to protect her identity*) The 2 kids were having such a cute conversation as they ate. Anytime I tried to interpret for them, Simeon would say, "Mom, I'm just talking to *Sally." Sally's mom and I were listening in every so often, remarking how great it was that our kids are now old enough to chat with each other. The next thing we knew, this is what we heard:

Sim - "You have a bagina?" (he's getting better at his pronunciation!)
Sally - "What?"
Sim - "You have a bagina, right?"
Sally - "I'm Sally!"
Sim - "But you're a girl so you have a bagina and I'm a boy so I have a..."
Me - "Yes, Simeon you're a boy and Sally's a girl."

So, other than thinking this is really funny, how do I avoid more embarassing situations? Yesterday he started making up a story about "Esther going to the doctor when she was born so she could get a bagina". He frequently reminds Deyan or I that we are a boy/girl and what parts we have! He has also discovered more parts on himself and is asking what they are called! I know it's pretty normal for kids to be curious, but he seems quite fascinated! Any advice? :)

PS - I had to switch my blog to the new format. It doesn't affect anything, but if you subscribe to my blog, you'll probably have to resubscribe or something.

Brothers Rock!

2007-02-28T14:47:00.000-08:00

At least that's what Esther would say. She is totally in love with her 'bu-bruh'! But I happen to have 2 very cool brothers myself which is what this post is about!

Monday evening I was teaching a prenatal class and arriving home ~ 10pm when lo and behold who met me at my front door but my brother Tyler! The little bugger decided to move back (which he'd been pondering) without telling us! As this exciting news began to sink in, around the corner walked my other brother Jordan! He drove here all the way from NB with Tyler to spend a week with us! How fun is that!

Yes, being the oldest of 8 siblings has lots of perks! I didn't always appreciate my brothers like I do now, but I hope that Simeon and Esther's current strong relationship continues to grow.

Speaking of the munchkins, they sure are happy to see their uncles! I was surprised that Esther remembered Tyler so well (he's been gone for 3 months already)! She has also quickly warmed up to Jordan. Simeon is having lots of fun wrestling with the big boys. He and Jordan are headed outside this afternoon to play in the snow! They were also happy to receive a new box of books from Nana and Papa and some treats from the USA!

Well, I have lots of other things to blog about, but since my last post was SO long, I'll leave you with a short one for now! :)

TGIF!

2007-02-16T23:36:00.000-08:00

I really appreciate weekends now that Deyan is working full time again. To give you a better picture of why, I thought I'd share a bit of my day with you all. *warning - it's a bit long*

Challenge #1: Wake Up
Esther hasn't been sleeping well this week (though last night was a bit better) and Simeon has also been climbing into our bed in the wee hours of the morning lately. Since Deyan needs to be up early for work and 4 in a double bed just doesn't work very well, he ends up going to sleep in the spare room leaving me between the 2 kids for the rest of the night. So although it was 8am, cranky kids crying for me to ge up and get them some breakfast just wasn't nearly inspiring enough to drag my butt out of bed. My pillow and duvet were very inviting at that moment.
Solution: "Go watch Baby Einstein and I'll be downstairs in a minute."

Challenge #2: "I can't find the Baby Einstein movie, Mom. I looked everywhere so you'll have to find it."
Solution: Get up. Find movie (in the VCR) and put it on while I prepare breakfast.

Challenge #3: Get Ready for the Day
Eliminating all extras (such as putting dishes away, throwing in a load of laundry, etc.) this boils down to 3 basic steps:

First Step- Eat Breakfast
This one usually goes smoothly, unless Sim's cereal bowls aren't clean or we've run out of mini wheats or milk. Even then he's pretty flexible in the mornings since this is his favorite meal of the day and we often have several cereal varieties on hand. On a good day he doesn't even mind a different bowl, he just won't be able to sip his leftover milk. Esther eats 'mush' so that's easy and I eat whatever I have time for whenever I remember to!

Second Step - Get Dressed
For me, it boils down to which 2 pairs of jeans I will wear and which sweater will be either the most comfortable or the warmest depending on the situation. Nothing fancy, but at least my clothes are clean! I usually get dressed last so as not to soil them during the rest of the steps.
Esther has lots of cute outfits, but getting her to sit still long enough to put them on is the hard part!
Simeon is pretty easy going about what he wears usually, but he's very distracted and I usually have to tell him several times to do each step.
Here is an example of what this step often looks like: "Simeon, take your jammies off and go pee on the potty." After some zipper help, the jammies come off. "Simeon, sit down and go pee!" "I don't want to go pee on the potty!" "You need to go pee because we're going out." Meanwhile I have Esther pinned to the floor trying to do up her diaper. Sim is whining and dancing around the bathroom. "I don't have any pee in my penis." "Simeon, sit down and try to go pee please so I can get you dressed." I manage to get an undershirt on E. S seems to be done on the potty and is dancing and singing naked around the room. "Simeon, did you dump your pee in the toilet? Good, please sit down and put your underwear on." E now has pants and socks on and is running and hiding in the closet. S has his underwear on his head, still singing away. "Simeon, I'm going to count to 3 and I want those underwear to be on you by the time I'm done! 1...2..." I find E and attempt to pull her shirt over her head while she throws herself on the ground in protest, often banging her head in the process. "...3!" "They're on Mommy!" "Great, next comes your pants." E is now sitting on the floor saying "koks". I glance over to see she has taken her socks off. While I'm putting them back on her, S is climbing all over me. "You be Goliath, Mommy, and I'll be David." He knocks me on the head. "Fall over now Mommy, I defeat you!" After performing a quick mock death, I resume the dressing ritual. By now I'm ready for a nap...

Third Step - Washing/Grooming
My teeth get brushed every morning. Everything else is bonus! Ok, so maybe that's an exaggeration. I usually brush my hair (rarely style it) and the kids faces get washed. Sometimes I even find time to style Esther's hair!
By now it's nearly noon... (just kidding)

Solution to challenge #3: Pajamas and cozy slippers are the best! Open to other suggestions here...

Challenge #4: Leaving the House
This may not sound like much of a challenge, so feel free to drop by anytime and see firsthand how difficult it really is. Especially good days are the mornings where we have to be somewhere at a scheduled time. Thankfully, today was more relaxed since we didn't need to be anywhere until lunch time and it was only -10 outside instead of the usual -50 which would require several extra layers of clothing! My plan was still to leave much earlier to avoid messing up Esther's nap...ya...so...guess who still fell asleep in the car?
Solution: Stay home forever, or at least until the kids are old enough to drive!
Real Solution: Take a deep breath and throw all 'plans' out the car window, and just go with the flow.

The rest of the day went well for the most part. We ran a couple of errands, visited a friend for lunch and spent the afternoon there.

Challenge #5: Naps
As I mentioned Esther fell asleep for 20 minutes in the car in the morning. She normally sleeps 2-3 hours in the afternoon. However, when we left my friend's house ~ 3:15pm, she fell asleep quickly and slept all the way home. Sim on the other hand was up late last night and early this morning. He doesn't nap anymore, unless we're in the car in the late afternoon. But I really didn't want him to nap today because that would mean he would be up late again tonight.
Solution: Engage him in conversation until we got home.

Challenge #6: Conversations with a 3 year old
"Mom, what's the name of that movie where the boy is in the toilet?" "I think it's called Flushed Away Sim." "Oh. What's the boy's name?" "I don't know, do you know his name?" "I don't know, you better ask me!" (I think he means you need to tell me.) "I don't know his name Sim, sorry." "You know Mom, you better ask me!" (Repeat the last 2 lines over and over again.)
Solution: Sim - "Well, maybe I will ask Daddy." Me - "Yes, please do!"
Cute Note: He is a great conversationalist and I love how his vocabulary is expanding every day. When answering one of his many questions today he responded with, "Hmmm, that's very interesting."

Challenge #7: Back Home to the Chaos
So, due to challenges 3 and 4, I left the house in quite a mess and I didn't prepare anything for supper.
Solution: Thankfully, Dey wasn't starving after work and helped me throw together some scrambled eggs and hashbrowns. Leave the messy house and start fresh tomorrow.

Challenge #8: Bedtime
Deyan went out for the evening so I had the privilege of putting both monkeys to bed. This is basically a repeat of challenge 3 (minus breakfast) with a few extras.
Solution: A rubber mallot comes in handy!
Real Solution: Just kidding, but a stiff drink usually works well! hahaha

Challenge #9: Power Struggles
When we first moved into our house, I noticed Simeon often changed his mind about things. I was told this was a normal reaction to change and that as he settled in it would stop. And it did. Well, the indecisiveness has recently returned with a vengence and is associated with HUGE fits! It seems that whenever there is a choice involved, he switches back and forth until I get fed up and make the decision for him and then he throws a fit. Tonight it was about the bedtime story. I offered him 2 books and he chose 1. I put the 2nd one back and he changed his mind. I knew what was coming so I got down to eye level with him and explained that we weren't going to play this game and that he had 1 more chance to make a final decision on which book we would read tonight and that was the end of it. So he chose his book, I put the other one back and he proceeded to scream and cry that he wanted the 1st one, etc. I don't think I handled it well (sore voice, hand, bottom, you get the idea) but after a few deep breaths, I managed to find some control.
Solution: Don't let the tears and screams get to me. Once I've made the decision, don't argue with him about it anymore. In fact, it's best not to talk to him at all until he calms down. This one is really hard on my nerves!
Cute Note: We did read the story and he went to bed quite peacefully. He was especially happy when Esther was 'tucked in' beside him for prayer time. Those 2 love each other so much and it's beautiful to watch their relationship grow. Esther shows Sim lots of compassion when he's upset!

Challenge #10: Esther's Mishap
After Sim was settled down for the night, E and I came downstairs to tidy up a bit before her bedtime. I was trying to load the dishwasher (which she loves to 'help' with) but she was getting fussy and asking for something (which I later realized was yogurt) on the counter. When I didn't understand her at first, she threw herself back in frustration, hitting her head on the cupboard, at the same moment that I was closing the dishwasher. The bonk knocked her forward and her lip caught the edge of the dishwasher door. Poor little thing.
Solution: Fed her some yogurt and put her to bed!

Well, that was the extent of my day. I ended it with a bag of mini eggs and a LOST episode I had missed. Now all I need is some sleep. Well, maybe that's not ALL I need, but it is a good start! :)

The way it is...

2007-02-02T21:48:00.000-08:00

I'm getting old
My supper's cold
Sometimes I miss having a baby to hold
I need more time for Deyan to behold
Too often these days my son hears me scold

My 1 year old is much too bold
There are too many baskets of laundry to fold

Another pizza dough waits to be rolled?
The crumbs on my floor are beginning to mold

I'm seeking a treasure more lasting than gold

O God help my heart to soften and mould
With a love that I know can't be bought or sold

There's hope in this treasure more lasting than gold

I'll sweep up the crumbs before they all mold
Tonight we'll have take out, no dough to be rolled
Thank God for clean clothes that I still need to fold
Esther's testing is learning - I'm glad she is bold

One on one time with Sim seems to lessen my scold
We're planning a date for us both to behold
Maybe someday there'll be one more baby to hold
For now I'm content, tho my supper's still cold

I'll take life moment by moment...at 30 years old!
For now my story is all told!

Ok, so I'm no Dr. Seuss! These are some of the joys and challenges I'm faced with lately. Perspective helps. Don't know if any of my random rhymes make sense to you, but I hope you can laugh with me, cause I really need a good laugh right now! :)

My Little Organizer

2007-01-19T16:13:00.000-08:00

Those of you who haven't had the privilege of spending alot of time with Simeon, might not know this about his personality. He is organizer supreme! From the time he could sit up, he's always enjoyed placing things around him in an orderly fashion. A great example was yesterday when we arrived home with some groceries and I decided it was high time I cleaned my fridge and reorganized my pantry. Simeon was a great helper, as you can see! Now if only I could get him to translate these organization skills into cleaning up his toys! :)

These are some of the things he worked on while I washed the shelves and drawers of the fridge.
When putting the apples back into the fruit drawer, he was very distraught that there were only 8 of them because they didn't line up nicely! He kept looking for another apple, and finally had to settle on an orange to be the 9th! It then took a bit of convincing that we still needed to add the lemons and the other orange because that was messing up his little system!

ps - To contrast, Esther's nickname is often "Esther the Messter"! She seems to take great pleasure in frustrating her brother while he lines things up and she creates chaos!

Communication with a 14 month old

2007-01-10T00:00:00.000-08:00

Yes, our little Esther has gotten quite communicative lately which is very exciting, and sometimes confusing! :) For example:

BAA ba means baby
bababa means sheep
baba means Deyan's mom
bapbap said with a finger bouncing in the air means hop hop (bunny)
bawbaw means chicken
baw means Bob
baboy means LarryBoy
bu-bye means good bye
bruh means brother or her friend Bryce
bir means Big Bird
bebo means belly button
boo means peekaboo
ba means bath (but when it's repeated....well, you get the idea!)

And then there's:
"moon" which sometimes sounds like "boon" (balloon) or "moo" (cow)

"dada" when drawn out lovingly means "daddy", said slightly faster while walking by the pantry means "cracker", but when said very quickly accompanied by an opening and closing hand means "quack quack" (duck or pretty much any bird for that matter)
Then again, this 'duck' sign also means to nurse, but she has her own way of expressing this desire clearly!

The sign for "teeth" is also the sign for "eat", "drink", "beaver" and if you're not careful can sometimes be confused with the sign for "nose" or for "pig"!

"this" and "please" sound the same. Thankfully they have different signs, although the 'please' sign is similar to the 'zebra' one.

Elephants, horses and cars all make the same sound. So do lions, tigers and bears (oh my!) (and sometimes hippos)
Crocodiles and seals have the same 'clapping' sign.
Gorillas "thump thump" and elephants "stomp stomp" but at least they each have their own sign!
She sticks her tongue out for dog and frog, but the first is accompanied with panting.

One of my favorites is her infamous "bum wiggle" which is her way of showing the most affection she can lavish on a person! Out of context, however, she will often do this same motion when talking about 'penguins'.

She does have some very clear words which are sometimes accompanied with appropriate signage in case I'm not sure! A few examples are: "mama", "teeth", "book", "Elmo", "poop", "nana" (which either means banana or my mom), "hat" (sometimes mixed up with "hi" as if talking on the phone), "night-night". Yes is "ah" said with a big open mouth and sometimes a nod of her head (which also means giraffe). Of course "no" is understood even though she doesn't say it - she sure is clear about something she doesn't want!

As you can imagine, this is very fun and yet can be so confusing at times! Her brother is often a good interpreter! She loves books these days and her favorite one is definitely "Pajama Time" by Sandra Boynton, although "Goodnight Moon" by Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd is a close second. Everytime we read the Boynton one, she fills in the 'pajama time' phrase on each page. It sounds so cute and is getting clearer every day!

Funny, but I often think that Esther is more 'babyish' than Simeon was at this age. (not that I mind - I like keeping her little as long as possible!) But I do seem to remember Sim being able to speak alot more, learn letters and colors, etc. and Esther seems far off from all of those things. But now that I'm writing all of these down, I'm realizing that Esther 'talks' alot more than I thought! I guess I just don't always give the time and attention to notice! :(

And the good news is....

2007-01-04T23:06:00.000-08:00

HE GOT THE JOB!!!

Deyan is now the newest project manager with Inner City Renovation! It is a great opportunity and we are very grateful for all the prayers! We are very exited! He starts Monday and it's a big job so you can pray for grace during the learning curve! :)

Happy New Year!

2007-01-01T23:30:00.000-08:00

I am feeling a bit out of the blogging world at the moment. I would like to share some 2006 Christmas and New Year's Eve memories and hopefully will in the next few days. In the meantime, I wish you all a very happy 2007!

ps - Pray for Deyan tomorrow morning. He has an important job interview. Thanks! :)

Season's Greetings from our family to yours!

2006-12-24T15:29:00.000-08:00

Hee Hee Hee Look Who's 3!!!

2006-12-13T23:50:00.000-08:00

Can you believe it was 3 years ago that I pushed this little monkey out into the world? And boy did I push! :) Life as we knew it would change forever. Simeon has brought so much more laughter to our home. I can't imagine not having him around!

Happy Birthday Simba! We love you VERY much! xo

Pictures Worth Posting

2006-12-12T10:36:00.000-08:00

Tyler made Esther's 1st birthday cake and Simeon helped Courtney and I decorate it!

Esther signing for 'more' cake! :)
And then there was the party...more cake!...and ice cream...
And presents! She loves her babies!
Mama's precious girl

Fun times in the snow! With the beautiful weather we took the kids tobogganing (yes, there is a hill in Winnipeg...even if it is an old garbage dump!) We piled all 4 of us on this sled and sped down the hill! Weeeeeee! The kids loved it since Deyan and I took the brunt of snow flying in our faces!
Helping Dada shovel all that snow!
Before the snow (and her knee injury) there was fun in the park with Auntie Courtney!
Christmas time!

Construction of the Gingerbread house begins...

Who's eating all the candies anyway?

The finished product - an architectural masterpiece!

More pictures of the Christmas tree and Simeon's birthday to come as the week progresses! :)

It's beginning to look alot like....

2006-12-03T16:22:00.000-08:00

Ah yes, winter has arrived in Winnipeg this week! Snow is falling and blowing and it is COLD! But, I'm not complaining since we've had a great autumn and we have a cozy home to keep warm in!

I am excited about the Christmas season starting! I love playing Christmas music and we've started decorating the house a bit. Simeon can sing the 12 bugs of Christmas (a Max Lucado version of the 12 days of Christmas) from start to finish and in tune! Esther dances along. We have LED lights up in our porch. We're drinking eggnog (with the occasional shot of coconut rum) and hot chocolate. We bought a cheap chocolate advent calender for the kids and a gingerbread house kit. We've even started a bit of shopping! I'm hoping to start on some baking this week, and the parties have already begun! Simeon is excited about his 3rd birthday coming in a couple of weeks "and then it's Jesus' birthday!" He told Santa at the mall that he would like a treehouse for Christmas and so would B-Esther. (Deyan has talked to him about building one next spring - I guess he can't wait!)

It is always a challenge to be away from my family, especially during the holiday season. Christmas growing up had its challenging times, but I have many happy memories of family and friends and Maritime hospitality and celebrations. This is Deyan and my 6th Christmas together and we've gone to Saint John all but 2 years (one of them being right after Simeon's birth and we didn't really celebrate Christmas much that year since we were all consumed with him and I went home in January anyway). So I would expect this to be a difficult time for me, but somehow this year it doesn't seem too hard yet. Maybe it's the novelty of our new house, or the fact that I have 2 children of my own to create special traditions with, or that I've had alot of time with some of my family recently. Or maybe it's God's grace. Or maybe it just hasn't hit me yet!!! We won't go there...

So, what's been new around here...

Deyan finished his landscaping job and is now looking for work in his field. No luck yet so pray for us in that department! I'm still working, but December is supposed to be a month off for me so we'll see how that goes.

My brother Tyler went back east to spend Christmas in Saint John. I don't think he'll ever miss that! We're not sure what his plans are, but we may see him back this way sometime in the New Year! (no pressure, bro!) One week after he left, my sister Courtney hopped on a plane and headed home as well. Poor thing had quite a journey, but she's back safe and sound. It was so great to have them both here for the time we had them and they are missed already!

Simeon is wearing underwear, but we still have some potty stuff to work through. It's getting better, little by little though. He's a smart little cookie and when we take the time to really figure out what he's thinking, he makes alot of sense! Sometimes I find life with 2 toddlers quite challenging, especially when they are defiant. But I try to remind myself that parenting is a journey and I can't expect that I nor my kids will get it all right all the time. I sure am grateful for the supports I have!

Esther is pretty funny these days. She loves her babies and her books and her tupperware. She's starting to say a few more words and do more signs. For the past week she tells me every time she needs to go 'poop'. So we go to the potty and she does her thing, all proud of herself. It sure is nice to have 1 kid out of poopy diapers! Just didn't expect it to be Esther first! Anyway, no pressure or anything, next week she may change her mind again and go back to diapers! She's also a tough little cookie, unlike her brother. It's funny, but if they hurt themselves, Esther is soothed much quicker than Simeon who goes on and on about his 'owie' forever it seems!

Well, that's all the news for now. I will try to update more often over the holidays, but I don't want to make any promises that I can't keep! :) I will post some pictures soon though!

FUN FUN LOOK WHO'S 1!!!

2006-11-06T00:17:00.000-08:00

(holding her new baby from Nana and Papa)

Yes, our beautiful little Esther is already one year old! Where does the time go? She is such a delight to all of us! One of my favorite things about her is the little 'bum wiggle' she does when she is showing her affection. It's hard to describe, but very cute to see and feel! You'll recognize it if you ever win her love enough for this special cuddle! I must admit it makes me happy that I get most of the wiggles!
Anyways, enough about that! Esther is starting to talk a bit more, but isn't into doing baby signs as much as Simeon was at her age. She likes doing all the animal ones, but not the ones that help her communicate her needs to me! Oh well, it's mostly my fault for not spending enough time teaching her. Simeon was quick to learn that screaming and whining doesn't get him very far. Esther, on the other hand, knows I usually respond quickest when she screams and whines! Oh, how I need to work on my parenting skills! Thank God for grace!!!!
I would love to post more, but I need to get some sleep before the birthday girl wakes me up...yet again...

Happy Birthday Esther Iova! We love you SO MUCH little bumbo!

Beautiful Weather!

2006-10-28T22:28:00.000-07:00

The kids and I have been getting out as much as possible while the nice weather holds!

I'm ba-ack!!!..................Did you miss me? ;)

2006-10-17T22:58:00.000-07:00

Ah yes, thank you faithful blog readers for not giving up on me comletely! It has been one h*ll of a month or 2 trying to get anything done and unfortunately blogging seems to always be at the bottom of my list! By 1am (the time when I am settled enough for some free time) I am way too bushed for the computer! Anyways, I'll try to catch you up on what's been going on around here!

Somewhere towards the end of August my sister Courtney moved in with us! She came just in time to help with the big move. Her plan was to hang out with her niece and nephew, study with me towards doula/midwifery stuff and to hook up with Sanctuary House of Prayer. She had done all of those things well and for the most part really enjoyed them. She's also had a rollercoaster of a time and has made many difficult decisions over the past month or two, but she's a trooper! We've been so blessed to have her around! She will be going back home to SJ sometime around the end of November and returning here in March for a little while. I was hoping to snag her to spend Christmas with us (we won't be going back east this year) but Christmas in the maritimes with our huge family was just too hard for her to give up! :) Really, I can't blame her. For now she is living with friends of ours, Andy and Beckie, who just live up the street! She still spends most of her free time at our house and eats most of her meals with us which is nice.

Deyan and I celebrated our 5th anniversary on Sept 1st by going to "Jazz on the Rooftop" at the WAG (Winnipeg Art Gallery for you non-Manitobans). I have to admit that I was a bit nervous as we drove up and got in line to enter the building. I mean, surely after 5 years of marriage Dey would understand that going to an art gallery is NOT my idea of a good time. In fact, I am usually bored to tears. I just don't generally 'get' visual art. (I hope I'm not offending all you amazing artists out there!) Anyways, Deyan's sly smile told me that he did have something else up his sleeve and we really enjoyed dinner on the roof, although the inclement weather had us all inside for the jazz show! It was fun and nice to do something different than "dinner and a movie".

That weekend we headed out to the Lake of the Woods yet again. Our dear friends had graciously invited us to spend another weekend at their cabin and we were very grateful! We had incredible weather and it was again so special to hang out with family and friends!

We came home with keys to our new house! Tyler moved in for the first couple of nights and then he took off to work on a reserve in northern Ontario. (He and Dey have been doing landscaping all summer and Ty had an opportunity to do it out there and make some extra cash.) Once Tyler left, Deyan moved in and slowly over the course of that first week we would pack bins and bring them over and unpack them. It was nice to have the option to stay at our old apartment for a couple of extra weeks, but living between 2 places was really tough! I'd finally had enough by Sunday so Mitch helped us move all the beds and dressers and we all slept here for our first night! It was very exciting. The rest of the month of September was busy getting settled in the midst of normal life (which means neither of our work stopped, the kids still had basic needs to be met, etc.).

Simeon now has his own 'big boy bed' and he really likes it. Of all of us, I think he has struggled most with the transition. He loves his new house and room and everything, but whenever he's feeling upset he asks if he can go home...to the other house. I took him over there to see it empty but he just thought it looked like a fun place to play! His disobedience (including tantrums) has increased and it's been difficult for me to be consistent with discipline in the midst of everything. But I think he has turned a corner and is on the up again. We also decided to work on potty training in the midst of this. (I know, not the best timing, but he was showing so many 'ready' signs!) He does pretty good for the most part, as long as I stay on top of him, and he definitely loves his Bob the Builder underwear!

Esther is a hoot! Her biggest adjustment was learning how to go up and down stairs since we now have 2 levels! Our plan was to get a gate, but by the time we got one, she was a pro! In fact, I have to remind her how to go down backwards because she would much rather hold onto the railings and walk down! Ah yes, walking! Unlike her big brother who walked ~ 14-15 months, Esther began taking the odd step at 9+ months and by 10 months was able to walk across a room. Now at 11 months she runs quite steadily and can almost catch up to her brother! ;) It is pretty cute to see such a little person walking everywhere and a bit sad for me to see how quickly she's growing up! She's also starting to talk and sign more. I think her favorite word is "Hiiiiieee" which she says with much excitement whenever she sees her auntie Courtney or when waking up and seeing her big brother! She's pretty friendly to other kids on the street too! She still LOVES babies/dolls and books and 'talks' to them or about them all the time. Her biggest struggle with transition seems to be a sleep schedule (or lack thereof). It could also be new teeth coming in or the cold she's just getting over. It's so hard to tell with babies. But her newest pattern is to go to bed around midnight and if we don't need to go anywhere in the morning, she would sleep until 11am or so! Anytime I try to get her to bed earlier, she ends up waking up after 1/2 an hour thinking it was a nap and/or wakes up every 2 hours or so through the night! So, for now I'd rather her just stay up late with us and go to bed when we go to bed. At least then she'll usually sleep good 4-6 hour stretches!

Deyan is still working outside (and it's getting really cold!) but he has a job interview today with an architectural firm. Please pray that it goes well! We aren't worried, but a secure job would be helpful now that fall is here and we have house bills and student loans to repay! He has worked hard evenings and weekends on our own yard and it is starting to look decent! We have less trees and a cool fence in the front that he and Tyler and my dad built together!

I continue to be busy with Birth Roots. We've just hired new people and I think that brings us to a team of 15! Several of us have recently had new babies (and there are still more to come) which means a bit more of a workload for me, but I think I will be able to manage. The kids are now going to a friend's home daycare 2 mornings/week which is helping me stay more on top of things. I've also joined a new Midwifery Mentoring Group 1 morning/week. I really didn't want to add more to my plate, but this was not something I was willing to pass up. It is a group started by my midwife/friend Beckie and it is really focused on how we can serve Jesus and the poor through midwifery. I am excited about the possibilities and hope to be able to give more time to this in the future.

Tyler is still living with us. He took 2 trips to northern Ontario and now he's back working with Deyan. The landscaping season is coming to a close and his plan is to stick around with us for a bit and head back east sometime towards the end of November. He's a Christmas fanatic and I'm not sure if he would ever miss one at home! He's not sure what his plans are after that. He may stay there, come back here, or go somewhere further west to work. Either way it's been fun to have him around these past 7 months or so!

Well, October came with the arrival of my dad! I almost didn't recognize him with his long hair! I can't express how awesome it was to have him here for a week. The kids fell in love with him all over again (which of course is now difficult with him gone). He was able to help Dey with some projects around the house too. And we had a huge Thanksgiving dinner together! That is one thing I am loving about this house - we can have company again! For dinner we had: the 4 of us, my dad, Courtney, Tyler, Mitch and the Falk family of...almost...4! I haven't made a full out turkey dinner before and it turned out pretty good in the end...even if there were a few mishaps (like the turkey still being a bit frozen when I was trying to stuff it and the oven mysteriously turning off part way through cooking which I didn't notice until I basted the bird an hour or so later...etc.). In addition to turkey we had Ang's very creamy potato dish, squash, dressing, turnip casserole, a bean medley and gravy. It was delicious! Tyler, the pumpkin king, made us some pumpking smoothies and pumpkin pies. I also made tykvanik (a Bulgarian pumpkin pastry) and we had enjoyed pumpkin cheesecake the night before so I think we'd had our fill of gourd's by day's end! I have more to say about my dad's visit, but I think I'll save it for another post.

Thanks again for your patience! I will try to update more frequently now! :)

5 years ago...

2006-09-01T00:30:00.000-07:00

It was raining in Rothesay New Brunswick but the Son was beaming in my heart! :) Nothing could wipe the smile off my face as I walked down the aisle to meet my handsome groom. We had the most beautiful yet simple ceremony to seal our devotion to each other and to commit ourselves to God as the centre of our lives. Our wedding bands remind us daily of these vows.

So far it has been an awesome journey! Deyan is a gracious and loving husband, who continues to teach me about humility, accountability, teachability, surrendering, etc. He is also a great dad to our kiddies. We've had our share of minor spats, but by God's grace we continue to love each other more and more.

For those of you who know the '3-5 year' story, if we'd followed that plan, we would barely be dating or engaged right now!!! :) I can't even imagine it. Life is WAY better with 2 (ok, so now it's even better with 4!)

Happy Anniversary, Babe! I love you so much and look forward to many more years together!

Gender Differences

2006-08-26T13:30:00.000-07:00

Esther is now 9+ months old. She is crawling and walking around furniture, standing unassisted and has occasionally taken a step on her own. She has 4 teeth, weighs 19 1/2lbs, likes to eat everything we're eating but also likes to spit food and water from her mouth. She is beginning to use her voice and her signs more and is really enjoying books, especially about animals. She has followed her older brother's development (other than his exceptional weight gain and her hair lightening) almost exactly.

However, there are a few exceptions...

She LOVES babies. I mean goes crazy over them. There could 20 toys between her and her prey (the infant) and she will push them aside with a vengence to get to that baby. She also loves dolls. We didn't have any (only stuffed animals) because Simeon wasn't into them at all. Thankfully a client I was visiting was intrigued by Esther's enthusiasm over one of their dolls and gave it to her. She adores her 'baby'. Her affection consists of kissing, licking, talking to, dragging around by the hair, slapping on the face, dropping on the floor, banging the head numerous times on the floor...okay, so we're still working on the gentle thing! It sounds mean, but she really is showing love with all these things.

Another thing she has taken to doing lately is putting clothing (or dishtowels, or anything cotton for that matter) on her head to look 'pretty'. She's constantly trying to 'dress' herself.

At this age, Simeon's favortie game was for me to build a tower while he recklessly knocked it over. His motto for everything seemed to be 'Destroy and Conquer!"

I guess I wasn't expecting my kids to play so differently at such an early eage. So much for the gender nurturing thing. Mine seem to come by it naturally! Or maybe Esther just wears too much pink! :)

Toddler Philosophy

2006-08-26T12:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Simeon, Esther and I were playing on my bed. At one point Sim puts his arm around us and whispers what I thought was 'I love you'. So I replied, "We love you too Simeon!" He then sat down and said with much enthusiasm, "I just love you guys SO much!" My heart melted. I don't think he's ever said "I love you" spontaneously before. And he said it with true emotion behind it.

Then my bubble burst as he paused and said, "Well, I do not love Mama and BSter (otherwise known as Baby Esther), I just love Dada." I smiled and told him that of course he loves Daddy but he can also love Mommy and Esther. His response: "No, I cannot love Mommy and BSter, I can only love Daddy. I cannot love you both all together at the same time."

I guess I should be happy that he is using complex thinking skills, but I will need to help retrain his philosophy on love! :)

Fun Fun Fun!

2006-08-19T11:23:00.000-07:00

Well, although things have been crazy with all the house stuff, we are managing to do a few fun things while summer lasts! Simeon and I made a cake and a card and decorated a bit for Deyan's 28th birthday on August 11th! Unfortunately, we only had 25 candles! :)

We took in 2 Folklarama shows. For you non-'peggers, Folklarama is a very fun annual festival of cultures. There are over 40 pavilions set up all over the city over the course of 2 weeks, each representing a different culture/place. They serve authentic food and present some form of entertainment relative to them. In the past years we have attended the Spanish and Japanese pavilions. We usually go for Deyan's birthday since it always falls during the festival! This year was no exception. We went to Cuba for this special occasion. We had to stand in line for over an hour, but it was well worth it! The food was delicious and the latin dancing was very fun and energetic! They told a 'story' with their music and dance that was very comical and made fun (in a good way) of their own chaotic culture. I wondered how the kids would do, being up so late (since we missed the first show) but they loved it! Simeon is quite the little dancer! :) This week we did Brazil. The food was ok, but the show was great! Lots of rhythm and crazy flips! They were doing something called Capoeira which is a combination of dance, music, acrobatics and martial arts created centuries ago by the slaves and natives. Very cool! Once again, we stood in a long line and didn't even get a seat inside, but the kids did great! Everyone commented on what musical children we have, especially watching Simeon's moves! :)Since we parked so far away, Deyan and Simeon took the 'new and improved' exhibition scooter!

This week I also took the kids to Peak of the Market's family fun day. Everything was free (with a donation made to Cancer Care) and we had a blast! A friend came along with her kids and parents too. It was nice to get out of the house and enjoy some sunshine again!
A few of the highlights were: all we could eat corn on the cob and perogies and popcorn, sun bracelet, tour of the warehouse, and...

Ambulance tour with coloring book and stickers

Petting ZooChicks and their parents
Chinchilla - A lady was walking around with this little creature on her purple fuzzy hat. Simeon asked her if he could have it on his hat!
Bunnies!

This calf looks so big next to my babies!

Inflatable bouncers - so fun!
This slide was quite a climb and quite a rush! Good thing my kids love adventure! (By the way, it is so fast that all our pictures are of us at the bottom!)

I think Simeon's highlight was his first pony ride! Can his smile get any bigger! He is growing up so fast!

Done - Finally!!!

2006-08-19T09:59:00.000-07:00

Thank you Jesus - everything has gone through! Woohoo! Now comes the fun stuff - picking out appliances and furniture and stuff...and the not so fun stuff - packing and cleaning and unpacking.

Rochelle - congrats on your house! As for the number 8, (which generally means new beginnings) here are a few more little tidbits: We bought the house at the beginning of August (8th month) when Esther was still 8 months old. We also take possession on September 1st, which happens to be our 5th wedding anniversary! God is good.

Thanks for your prayers and support guys! I may be calling on some of you Winnipeger's to help me out in the next few weeks! :)

Waiting Sucks!

2006-08-13T23:39:00.000-07:00

So, here's the scoop on the house. Everything is moving along, quite smooth actually. We have been approved for the grant which was one of the hassles we were worried would take along time. Now we are just waiting for mortgage approval. We have a mortgage broker who's been excellent at getting things done as quickly as he has control over. The lendor has approved us, but we are still waiting on final word from the mortgage insurance people. It would seem that they have approved us, but they wanted to do an appraisal on the house before confirming anything. This, unfortunately, has been a long and drawn-out process. I really believe everything is going to fall into place - hopefully by tomorrow - but the uncertainty is agonizing!

In the meantime, I've slowly begun to get organized and start packing. I've even had a friend offer to come by weekly to help me while my kids are at the babysitter's! Anyways, I'll try to update as soon as we get the final word!

Water Babies

2006-08-01T22:10:00.000-07:00

Simeon and Isaac Esther, Molly and Bryce
(the newest Birth Roots babies)

Well, since I can't seem to get on the ball and start packing, I thought I'd post some more fun pictures. We've had a really hot sunny summer in Winnipeg so far and we've tried to make the most of it by spending alot of time near water! The beach, swimming pools of friends, the wading pool at our park, and even sprinklers! The kids are both little fish. Simeon can now swim just holding onto a noodle. Esther purposefully puts her face in the water for fun. I think we'll do some swimming lessons in the fall after we're all settled into our new place.

Signed, Sealed and Delivered! ....almost ;)

2006-07-29T14:38:00.000-07:00

What a week it has been! It seems that God has just dropped a house into our lap!

For those of you who don't know, we've been househunting this summer. We have outgrown our quaint little apartment (which has been awesome for the past 5 years) and feel like now is the time for us to purchase our first home. The timing is right considering Deyan's schooling, but the market is INSANE!

So, after looking at over 20 homes, we were feeling kind of discouraged. There wasn't really anything decent in our price range. There were a couple we were interested in, but they had some drawbacks so we didn't end up putting in an offer. We basically decided last week that our best bet was to buy a North End Housing Renewal house. The deal with those homes is they are either renovated or brand new. The government then pays a grant to qualified home buyers worth 10% of the down payment and takes out a silent mortgage on a portion of the house over the course of 10 years. As a 1st time home owner and one who falls within the right income bracket, we qualify! In the end, our down payment is covered and roughly half the house is paid for us! The only downside at this time was that there were no homes available and the new ones wouldn't be ready until mid-December. We weren't sure if we were willing to wait that long, but we knew in the long run it would be worth it. Back to this week...

Tuesday morning I dropped the kids at a babysitter's and went to some appointments. Deyan and Tyler left for work but it began to rain so they ended up coming home and taking the day off (they do landscaping outside). Since I wasn't home, they decided to grab a bite to eat and drive around the neighborhood looking at all the properties where the new homes were being built. They didn't any lots that looked promising until Tyler noticed a For Sale sign on a house with a North End Renewal Housing sign on it! They wrote down the address and came home to find out what the deal was.

Wednesday morning our real estate agent informed us that the house was indeed for sale, but it wasn't officially listed yet. (this meant no one else knew about it so we had first dibs) We made an appointment to see it that evening. We loved it and asked our architect friend to come back with us to check everything out. He approved as well. We told our agent we were interested in putting in an offer but we still had to work out some financing issues.

If anyone knows what a crazy house market is like, you would know that unless you have a letter of pre-approval, most vendors won't even look at your offer. This was particularly true with this type of home. The problem was that our situation is unique with me being self-employed, partially on mat-leave, and Deyan just graduating. Our income on paper doesn't give an accurate picture of what we could and soon will make. The bank, of course, doesn't really look at that though and pretty much brushed us aside. We had tried someone else and they didn't even return our phone calls! So Wednesday evening we contacted a mortgage broker that had been referred to us by a friend. We filled out an application and Thursday morning he sent us a letter of pre-approval! We met with him Thursday evening to discuss our options and then met with our agent to sign an offer to purchase. They accepted our offer Friday morning!

So, barring anything going wonky with our mortgage approval or grant approval, we will be moving into a completely renovated home on September 1st! This home has new insulation and a new energy efficient furnace, all new plumbing, electrical, roof, windows, flooring, kitchen and bathroom, hot water tank, paint, etc. The foundation has been resealed and restabilized. It comes with a new washer, dryer, fridge, stove and dehumidifer (which we choose within a budget). It is bigger than the brand new homes and is ready now. It is also $10,000 cheaper than everything else we were interested in plus the grant! If I didn't know any better, I would say that it was a great coincidence that the boys found it! But I'm giving Jesus the credit for this one! :) He always takes care of us.

I wish I could post some pictures, but since it was never officially listed, there are none available! :) Maybe if we go in to see it again and take measurements we'll snap a few photos. Oh! I almost forgot that it has a front porch - one of my dreams! It is a closed porch, which isn't my first preference, but still! :) There isn't much of a yard at this point, but there is potential for next spring. Please pray that everything continues to fall into place and that we can get all the packing done in time!

Found a House!!!!

2006-07-27T09:54:00.000-07:00

Please pray for us! We have found exactly the house we need at this time for the right price and with the right conditions. We are trying to put in an offer today and need some prayer coverage - especially that our finances will be approved and that the house doesn't sell out from under us!!!

I'll try to post pictures and info as soon as I can.

Thanks!

Pictures from the Lake

2006-07-13T12:25:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful time at Lake of the Woods a couple of weekends ago. I'm finally getting a chance to post some photos! We are always very grateful to John and Violet for inviting us! And it's always so much fun to hang out with Jocelyn and her family!

Do you see the deer? Simeon did!

Fishing boat ride
Ionka and Esther Iova

The little swimmer!

Tyler and Deyan did some daring cliff jumping

Uncle Tyler and Simba

John even let Simeon drive the big boat!

Nice boat, eh?

Ionka and Violet

Chillin' in the hammocks

Jocelyn picnicing among the boys and the little queen!

Breakfast together!

Sim loved being all by himself on the boat!

Swimmer boy thought the lake water was very cold! But he hung in there!

The float plane dock is always very exciting!

Baba and her babies in the beautiful cabin!

8 months ago...

2006-07-06T23:48:00.000-07:00

...I was curled up in bed with my brand new baby girl, thanking God for a fast and uncomplicated birth with perfect timing, gazing at her beauty, overwhelmed with gratitude that I was no longer pregnant...you get the drift! :)

Yes, our sweet little Esther turned 8 months old at 8:04am today. She no longer weighs 8lbs 8oz, though. At her last weigh-in 6 weeks ago she was on her way to 18lbs! 8 is the number signifying 'new beginnings'. Hmmm I wonder if this will be the month we buy our first home!!! :) There have been alot of other prophetic things surrounding her young life for sure!

Esther is such a playful, happy, patient baby. Sure, she has her moments, but generally she gives us plenty to smile about! Simeon and her are really starting to play together more. No one can make Esther laugh like her brother and vice-versa. This is so rewarding - especially during the tough moments when he's sitting on her head! Now, if I could just get her back to a better sleeping pattern at night...

Anyways, I know people always brag about their kids on-line, so I won't bore you anymore. But I am so proud of my babies and wanted to share my joy with all of you! :)

Let's Go to the Ex, oh Baby!

2006-06-29T22:58:00.000-07:00

We're back! It's been a busy couple of weeks! So, first things first! We made a last minute decision to take the kids to the Red River Exhibition - on opening day! It was really fun and actually didn't cost anything to bring them. I think we were supposed to buy ride tickets for Simeon, but they just kept letting us get on with our bracelets. Anyways, we had great fun (even though Esther was sick). Sim is just like his mother - he loves the big rides! :) He had no fear. The big slide was the one I was most worried about, and if you can tell in his picture, he seemed pretty nervous! But as soon as he got to the bottom he started crying to go back down it!

Esther, meanwhile was content as long as she was in mommy's arms. She'd had an unexplained fever for 2 days and we assumed it was another UTI. We jumped the gun and started antibiotics right away while waiting for the urine test results (to avoid the horrible sickness she experienced last time and to prevent kidney damage). Anyone who knows me knows that's not like me to resort to drugs so quickly! Anyway, her fever broke that night after the Ex and 2 days later she broke out in a rash all over her body. So, no infection, of course - just Roseola (baby measles)! I should have known - she's at the perfect age for it. Oh well! We stopped the meds and she was back to her happy self within a couple of days. Thank you God! She is beginning to use some baby sign-language these days which is very cute and helpful for me! She is also creeping everywhere which means we have to keep a close eye on her! She can get herself stuck in alot of funny places in our little apartment! And then there's her big brother to watch out for...

Well, Baba took the kids home from the Ex at bedtime and left Deyan, Tyler and I to play! It was fun to have a few hours to feel like kids again - riding scary rides, eating fair food, etc. Deyan even won an electric scooter by ringing a duck! He was pretty happy with new toy! He spent a couple of hours the next morning spicing it up to make it sturdier. He took both kids for rides on it. I was about to take their pictures, when Tyler took it for a spin and accidentally drove it into a groove which snapped the handle off! Bummer! Deyan is hoping he can get it welded back together. Don't worry, Tyler's okay! :)

Fun in the Sun!

2006-06-03T23:43:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy week around here! We are enjoying the beautiful weather as much as possible while the guys are without work and Ionka is visiting.

Last Saturday we went garage sale hunting in a nice neighbourhood and came home with Simeon's first tricycle! He was VERY excited about it and we only had to pay $5! (Deyan was also excited about his purchase of a wine kit!)

We spent the rest of our Saturday doing some house organizing and watching episodes from the first season of "Lost" (our new favorite evening past-time). Sunday was also busy as we went to Danielle and Ryan's farm to celebrate one of Sim's friends, Reuben's 2nd birthday! We don't have any pictures but it was lots of fun seeing the horses (including a new foal) and kittens and tractor as well as running around outside, playing ball and eating yummy food! The only downside was Tyler bringing home a couple of wood ticks! He was NOT impressed! (Come to think of it, neither were we at 3am when he came in to our room to ask us how to get rid of them! Heehee)

Personally, I've been very busy this week with business meetings, teaching, prenatal visits, church meetings, etc. I've been out every evening for as long as I can remember!

Thursday was Deyan's Convocation. It was pretty boring, but I was SO proud of him that I went, kids in tow, to sit through the hours of blah blah just so I could hear his name announced and watch him receive his diploma. Unfortunately, the portable DVD player I had brought for Sim ran out of batteries and the only plug-in available made the stage not visible for me. Oh well. I did watch Dey walk to the front and I did cheer very loudly when they said his name! :) He says that as hard as he worked, this degree is just as much mine for all the sacrifices I've been willing to make for him along the way. What a guy! Did I mention he brought home a dozen rozes for me the other day...just because? I am so thankful to have such a wonderful husband who really loves me with all his heart. And I am SO GLAD IT'S FINALLY OVER!!! Dey's mom and Tyler came along as well. Ionka is very proud of her son! Tyler also deserves a huge congratulations because he just graduated from the University of New Brunswick with a bachelor's of business administration this spring. He missed his convocation because he was here with us (not that he really minded - the pomp and circumstance that is) so we were able to celebrate his achievements as well. We all went to eat at a nice German restaurant. Yummy schnitzel!

Yesterday we decided to go to the beach! We had some things to get organized so we didn't end up going until almost suppertime. But it was so hot that it worked out perfectly. It was Esther's first time and she loved it! Simeon had fun of course, once he remembered everything! It was nice to go on a weekday evening when it was so quiet at Bird's Hill Park!

Today I had a birth to go to. Baba helped Dada with the kiddies. It wasn't too long and we were still able to go to Bryce's Welcome to the World party. Simeon and Isaac had so much fun together! I am exhausted now and still have a full weekend/week ahead of me! If I haven't seen you or talked to you in awhile - now you know why! :) In other news, Deyan is applying in person for a steel construction job on Monday. Now would be the time for him to get a job so please pray!

Oh, I almost forgot! Esther cut her first 2 teeth this week! She did pretty well with them. She is having lots of fun making new noises these days, trying new foods, learning some signs/words. So fun! One of her favorite things to do is still the jolly jumper - and boy can she get air!

What to say...

2006-05-26T23:57:00.000-07:00

I always think of so many things throughout the week that I want to post on my blog and then when I finally get a chance to sit down and write something, I am speechless! Maybe some pictures will jog my memory...

For my birthday we made a trip to Gimli. Unfortunately it was cold and rainy so it was hard to appreciate the atmosphere! Deyan had told Simeon, however, that we were going to see the "Big Viking". He was very excited (thinking somehow it would be connected to Veggie Tales) and was rather disappointed that this statue was "the Viking".

He was very happy to play on the beach though! It was fun to watch Dada and Uncle Tyler 'skipping' stones in the lake. And we all enjoyed our fish and chips for lunch! We took a nice scenic drive home - saw lots of pelicans! Stopped for ice cream, had supper and birthday cake, went to housegroup and had more birthday cake...ya, not a great day to be on a diet!

Baba arrived on Friday and we spent most of Saturday together at the Forks. (Notice how there are rarely any pictures of me? This is because I'm always taking them! And when Deyan takes any, he seems to prefer the scenery around us so we all end up as small as ants!)

Since the moment Baba arrived, Simeon has been asking her to take him to the water to swim with his hippo. You see, last summer we spent a month in Bulgaria including a week on the Black Sea shore where Sim really enjoyed the waves! So, since it's not quite beach weather here, we decided to go to PanAm pool for a swim with the kids! They both really enjoyed it. Simeon took a couple of tumbles underwater but got up and kept going! I hope that means he'll be a good swimmer - no fear! :)

We also went to the Pancake House for lunch. Sim, Baba and I were spent and nearly falling asleep at the table. But not Esther! She was her happy, energetic self! :) She is sitting really well now (still topples sometimes) and LOVES to eat! She gets so excited when she sees me bringing the plate and spoon! Her favorite so far is definitely the sweet potato.

Well, I think I will go to bed now. The architectural job didn't work out for Deyan for the summer, but there is promise for the fall. He and Tyler still need jobs so please pray for that. My work is picking up now too. Good thing Baba is here to help with the kiddies! :)

Sorry for the Silence!

2006-05-17T19:40:00.000-07:00

Yes, it has been awhile. I would say that I've been really busy...which I have...sort of! But I do have the boys around all the time to help, so it's probably more an issue of fighting for our turn on the computer! :)

So, not much is new around here...at least not very exciting! Esther is all better! Hooray! Please continue to pray that it was just a random infection and that all the other tests come back negative. She is rolling around, creeping backwards, and sitting up (mostly unassisted). She is 'talking' more these days, in a deep voice which is pretty funny. She even said, "mama" on mother's day! Her uncle and brother seem to be able to get the best giggles out of her too! We've given her a few tastes of solid food which she surprisingly wasn't very into. She's not super keen on banana and avacado, likes rice (her first taste of thai food -haha), and squash. I'm not being totally diligent right now (she is just over 6 months old) but I'm also not doing the 'wait 5 days before trying new foods'. We don't have any food allergies and so far I'm only feeding her easy-to-digest stuff so I'm not worried.

Tyler is still jobless, but he has been having lots of fun hanging out with us, especially Deyan...the other jobless one! We've been enjoying the downtime and showing Ty around the city a bit. We went to our favorite Thai restaurant for Mother's Day and took the kids to the zoo yesterday. We hope he finds a job he likes and sticks around for awhile, but he may get sick of us and move to Alberta to join the boom there instead. :) We'll keep you posted!

Deyan had a job interview on Monday with a great architectural firm. They are not currently looking for students to hire, however they were impressed with Dey and may still consider him for a position as an 'experienced' technician. It would be a steep learning curve for him, but would offer a great opportunity to gain some experience and work towards his certification as an architect. It might not be the most fun job for him because he probably won't be able to do alot of design work. It would be more related to technical drafting. But he's still excited about it. It would bring a bit of security for us in the next season as we hope to buy a home soon!

I'm getting busier with work stuff, especially with all the new babies joining our own group! It's a busy season for Birth Roots and there's always lots to do! I didn't mention it, but Tara and Richard named their little boy Bryce (the cute one in the picture below). I'm having fun with the kids, Sanctuary House of Prayer, mother's day, birthday, etc.

Simeon is cute as always. He has learned the art of stalling, which is not so fun for us! He has a whole little bedtime routine which I don't mind too much. But once he's in bed, I would expect him to settle down and instead I hear things like: "I need tigger and junior and bob tomato and blankies...etc. (all said one at a time). I've gotten smarter and started putting everything in his little bed at once and when he asks just telling him they're all there! So now he says, "I need to go poo!" Ah yes, the potty training is still not really happening. All I have to say about that is "whatever". So we've tried getting him out and sitting him on the potty to ENCOURAGE the potty training when he asks to go poo. This however also ENCOURAGEs the stalling! He ends up just sitting there and goofing off until we put him back to bed 15 minutes later. And he won't poo that night at all so I know it was just a trick! Little monkey. The other new thing he is doing is negotiating. This isn't something he has been taught so it's pretty interesting to watch! We'll feed him supper and tell him he needs to finish x amount of bites before he can be all done (or get dessert). Usually it's 5, depending on the situation. So the other day he says, "No, I eat 1 bite." I replied, "No Sim, you need to eat 5 bites if you want ice cream." To which he answered, "2 bites?" I had to laugh and let him get away with only 4!

Other than that...Deyan's mom arrives in 2 days! We will be blessed to have her with us for 2 months. She hasn't met Esther yet and Simeon has been missing her so it should be lots of fun!

Pictures

2006-04-27T23:51:00.000-07:00

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...

2006-04-25T21:16:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-04-21T14:27:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-04-21T14:05:00.000-07:00

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...

2006-04-21T12:11:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-18T22:22:00.000-07:00

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...!!!

2006-04-14T23:07:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-08T22:30:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-04-05T15:34:00.000-07:00

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!

The New Me

2006-03-25T22:22:00.000-08:00

Okay, okay, so you've all been driving me crazy with wanting to see the new hair cut! This is the only picture I have, so I hope you like it! :) I am still experimenting with how to make it look nice!
I couldn't resist adding this picture. Aren't they sweet?

Umm, what else is new...I'm going to Kansas City! Woohoo! I am so excited to get away for a few days, to have some special time just with Esther (Simeon is staying home with Deyan), to do a road trip with friends (Jason and Yvonne, Shane and Kristi - I LOVE road trips!), to visit Joyska, to spend some time at IHOP (international house of prayer). Hooray! Pray for safe travelling, no problems at the border, peace on Simeon (I've never left him for more than 1 night and he will be spending lots of time with different friends), strength for Deyan (especially since he'll still be working hard on school stuff) and grace for Esther to be in the car all that time (14 hours there and back) - Not to mention the rest of us who will be with her! :) Well, I have lots to do to get ready (we leave in 4 days or so!) but I think instead I'll just go to bed!

I'm It!

2006-03-25T12:14:00.000-08:00

Well, I have now been tagged twice by Kristi and Beckie, so I guess I should get on with it!

FOUR JOBS I'VE HAD:
1. Data Entry/Receptionist/Packer for a victorian linen home party company
2. Administrative assistant at a Senior's entertainment centre
3. Cargiver for a young woman with ALS (and also her daughter's nanny)
4. Doula!

FOUR MOVIES/SHOWS I'VE BEEN ADDICTED TO:
...well, I don't really watch much tv, but when I get onto one...
1. Olympics (every 2 years - summer and winter, but mostly winter)
2. Survivor/Apprentice/Without a Trace (used to be my thursdays)
3. Prison Break/24 (now it's my mondays!)
4. the Waltons and Little House on the Prairie (when I used to babysit for someone who had cable!)

FOUR PLACES I'VE LIVED:
1. Saint John/Rothesay/Quispamsis NB
2. Toronto (Mississauga, Etobicoke, etc.) Ontario
3. Anaheim California/La Mision Mexico
4. Winnipeg Manitoba

FOUR COUNTRIES I WOULD LIKE TO VISIT:
1. New Zealand
2. Cuba
3. Israel
4. Bulgaria

FOUR POPULAR FALSE ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT ME:
1. I'm quiet
2. I'm confident
3. I'm a patient mom
4. I hate Winnipeg

FOUR PEOPLE I LOOK LIKE:
1. My mom
2. My kids
3. Some of my siblings (Katie, Tyler, Madalyn)
4. Megan Follows

FOUR THINGS (I HOPE) TO DO BEFORE I DIE:
1. travel more
2. have another baby
3. learn to play guitar and keyboard
4. become a midwife

PEOPLE I TAG NEXT:
1. My blogging siblings (Katie, Jordan, Courtney)
2. Rochelle (are you there???)
3. Joni
4. Megan

Simeon's cuteness

2006-03-15T22:55:00.000-08:00

Not much is new around here. My legs are healing - slower than I would like! The kids are cute as ever, and still occasionally hard to handle. But overall I feel like things are getting better. We still have rough moments, but we also have lots of fun together. I love our little family.

Last night, before putting Simeon to bed, I asked him if he wanted some yogurt. (He usually eats plain Balkan yogurt so I had already put some in a bowl for him.) He said "yesh" and then proceeded to open the fridge. I told him to hop up in his chair, that I had some ready for him. He then grabs a different container of yogurt (which happened to be Yoplait creamy) and says, "No mom, Yoplait creamy, yum yum yum!" I laughed, remembering the commercial from our 2 weeks of Olympic watching. The kid has a great memory! As he ate his yogurt, he recited the commercial, something like this: "I want more! Ladies! Sorry, don't know what over me." Then he says, "Mom, Yoplait creamy best yogurt I ever have?" Oh the power of advertising!

A couple of weeks ago, before I decided to stop potty training, I noticed Sim needing to go poo. We spent a good half hour in the bathroom, him sitting on the potty and me sitting beside him on the bathroom floor talking to Joyska on the phone. Finally, he says, "All done!" I am very excited for him and as he stands up and turns around I say, "Look, Simeon! What's in the potty?" With great exuberation he replies, "I made a hippo!" I tried not to laugh too hard and again repeated, "But what did you, my big boy, do in the potty?" To which he replied, "Not a hippo, a rhino!" All I can say is, ouch!

Sim and Esther are really starting to play more. Sim has always been fascinated with his sister, but usually gets overcome with emotion and squeezes her in his intensity! Lately he makes sure she is apart of everything and that he knows where she is at all times. Like at nap time, if I want to go lie down with him, he will say, "And momma, and simeon and baby esther all together". Or if he suddenly notices she's not around he gets very worried, "where's baby?". When I tell him she's sleeping, he needs to go and check on her just to make sure. And when he goes to bed, he always has to kiss her goodnight. I hope this wonderful big brother trend continues! Esther, on the other hand, is usually quite nervous around him (rightfully so). I try not to react every time I hear her squeak, because sometimes Sim hasn't even touched her! She's just whining in anticipation as she sees him coming closer! She does love to smile at him though. She especially seems to enjoy riding in the car with him. She sits beside him, facing him, and stares lovingly at him the entire time she's awake. I think she likes that he can hold her hand, but because he's buckled in he can't reach her face! :)

By the way, Joni, the picture of me is pre-haircut. I'm still working on adjusting to the new do!

CRASH! BANG! BOOM!

2006-03-08T21:45:00.000-08:00

Oh what a week it's been - and it's only Wednesday! God please help me! I think the lead up to this week was my very busy schedule at the end of last week. But I was doing okay for the most part until Sunday. I had a very good and very difficult time at church. No need to get into it, but I left with a feeling of frustration and emptiness. I then proceeded to have a challenging afternoon/evening with the kids, particularly Simeon. Again, I won't get into it, but let's just say that after the 4th time of him peeing outside a diaper, usually on something that belonged to Esther (toy mat, bouncy chair, etc.), I lost it! I did not like the mother I saw myself being at that moment. Sim and I worked things out and after putting them to bed I was exhausted, physically and emotionally. I called my good friend Trish (mother of 5 young children) and asked her if I could pop in for a visit the next day. I went to bed with some hope in my heart.

Monday morning I first went to the church to do some aerobics with other moms. We had fun and worked hard! I packed the kids up to go, and proceeded to fall down a flight of stairs head first, carrying Esther. Thankfully, Simeon was behind me, not in front of me when I fell so he was uninvolved. Thankfully, Esther was buckled in securely in her well-padded carseat and I managed to hold it straight in the air so that she didn't flip over. All she experienced was a thud when it hit the floor and that produced quite a scare in her! I, on the other hand, was hurt pretty bad. Things could have been much worse, but my legs are pretty scraped/cut/burned and bruised. My knees are especially banged up and my right knee and ankle are pretty sore and swollen. I can now put more weight on my right foot, which hopefully means it isn't sprained! Anyways, as the adrenaline and scare of seriously injuring my child began to wear off, and my physical pain began to kick in, the tears began to flow. All someone had to do was look at me and I would begin to sob. I spent some time alone in the bathroom getting my legs bandaged up, thanks to Lil and Joc who took care of my kids for me. Some other moms helped carry my stuff out to the car for me and Jeff got me an ice pack. So, slightly recovered I headed to Lorette for a hair appointment.

A word of advice: don't get your hair cut when you are emotionally unstable! Okay, so it isn't too bad, but it is definitely going to take some getting used to. I told her to go ahead and cut it short, I needed a change. And she did! I think I will really like it as I get used to how to take care of it, but my first impression was, "Ah! What have I done!"

Well, my day does get better from here. I arrived at Trish's house ~ 3pm. I was so ready to sit down and have an honest heart to heart, and hopefully receive some wisdom and encouragement. Realizing that in order to be home before dark (they live in the country) I would have to leave in 1-2 hours, I decided to stay the night. Dey had an exam the next day so I knew he would be out late studying anyway. What a relief. It is so great to have friends who you can be completely honest and vulnerable with and know that they love you and will not judge you. They will speak the truth to you in love and not just give you pat answers. And they will sometimes just listen. So, after many tears and laughter, I went to sleep in a soft bed, still in alot of pain (from the fall) but more at peace.

As I drove home the next day, I remembered that I was co-leading the Breathe (mom's group) session on Wednesday. The topic? "The Emotional Landscape of Motherhood" Hello! Not sure if it was God preparing me or the enemy testing me, but it sure was humbling. We did have a great session, though, in my opinion, and it felt good to be able to share my recent adventures on this journey of motherhood. And nice to know that other moms have been there or are also there right now. The best part was finding God in the picture and realizing that my identity needs to be in Him. Reading His word sure does put things into perspective.

So, there is a piece in my life right now! Pray that my legs heal quickly because it isn't easy staying on top of my kids and house in an injured state! Thanks to Jodi who came over this afternoon and brought me food and helped me with some laundry! Please also pray for my mom who has been barely able to walk since the beginning of January due to inflammation in her knee joints. She is having a very painful procedure done tomorrow to hopefully help the situation. Thanks!

Turin 2006 is finished!

2006-02-26T22:51:00.000-08:00

Yes, the Winter Olympics are over. What will I do with my days now? No more snow and ice sports to watch. No more Canadians to cheer for. No more anthems to sing. Well, it sure has been a fun 2 weeks, but such good things must come to an end. I'm sure my family will appreciate a bit more attention! I have to admit that I do really love the Olympics. Especially the winter ones. I love the spirit of the games and I am very patriotic. I love hearing the stories of triumph from the athletes. Most of them have to overcome such great adversity to get to where they are. It makes me want to strive to be the best at everything I put my hand to. If they can be the best in the world at their sport, what can I do? I may not be able to skate at 120km/hr, but I can make a mean Thai dinner! :)

So, I now have all kinds of time on my hands yet again! It feels weird to not have the TV on tonight. I may go through some withdrawl! It will be good for me, though, since I generally don't watch much TV. I knew it was getting bad because Simeon was reciting all the commercials by heart! "Rayomax windows and doors" "Torino 2006 the Olympic Winter Games on CBC" "There's no better friend than the one I've got... (MTS)" "No one sells real estate like Remax" and the list goes on! It was cute, but kind of scary at the same time. Amazing how well advertising works! Maybe Birth Roots should do a TV ad! We could get a nice pregnant model to act out a labour/birth scene, her losing her mind, her partner passing out, her mother yelling at the nurses, and enter the doula - the superhero! Well, it could be funny and would probably generate some business! Ok, my thoughts are just rambling like crazy now. Time to end this post! :)

I will attach some more Christmas photos, this time with some of the family! I will begin with my siblings. Hmmm...this could take some explaining for some of you! To make it as brief as possible, let's just say that I am an only child of my 2 parents, but I have 2 brothers and 6 sisters! From my Mom's side are Tyler (23), Jordan (21), Courtney (17), Madalyn (14), and Emma (11). From my Dad's side are Emily (20), Katie (16), and Marli (14). I feel so blessed to have such a rich family! Here they are!

Emma dressed up for her school play as an Oompa-Loompa

Tyler and Madalyn Christmas morning

Katie and Courtney (they are not sisters to each other, but great friends and only 7 months apart in age!)

Marli and her Grandma (Marli and Madalyn were born within 3 days of each other and are the best of friends!)

Emily and Jordan (they are not siblings to each other either, and only 3 months apart in age) But blood or no blood, they sure do act like brother and sister!

Two is Better than One

2006-02-09T08:20:00.000-08:00

Well, I wish I had more time for blogging! But man oh man is life busy with 2 kids! I've heard it said that having a child will change your life forever. In some ways, I agree. I mean, having Simeon made for some adjustments in my life, but not as many as I would have thought. After all, I took him with me anywhere I wanted to go and just incoporated him into my life. So I think that if there were changes, they were mostly on an emotional level. I love being a mom!

Anyways, since Esther was born, I have found that statement to be truer than ever. All of a sudden, life seems more complicated. Going to the store because I ran out of milk has now become a big deal. Is it really worth it to get both kids dressed in their winter gear, buckled into their car seats, drive to the store, take them inside and put them in a cart, buy the milk, put them back in their car seats, drive them home, bring them both into the house, and undress them? Especially when half-way through one of them gets hungry or needs a sudden diaper change, or just has a melt-down? Most times I decide to do without the milk (or whatever I need) until Deyan gets home. In fact, it seems like my day revolves around making food, feeding/eating, cleaning up meal mess, changing diapers and getting dressed, then maybe throwing in a load of laundry before it's time for the next meal! I have been assured that it does get easier. Sometimes I just want to pack the diaper bag and take both kids out of the house so I don't have to deal with the daily chores! At least Simeon is happier when he's with other kids and therefore doesn't ask me if he can watch a video all day long!

Of course it isn't all bad or crazy. I have great kids that I love to pieces. Simeon brings me so much joy. He is at a very fun age and is learning so many new things all the time. He can now say his full name as well as his sister's full name. And he can spell his first name. He can sing the alphabet and count to 20 in English, 10 in Bulgarian. He recognizes all his letters and numbers 1-10. His language is getting clearer every day (thankfully!) and his abstract thinking and sentence structure is growing. We have alot of fun wrestling, playing play-doh, coloring, and "helping" mommy. He loves his sister SO much and tries so hard to be gentle with her. Esther is beautiful and her smile warms me up inside. She is very content most of the time to lie on her back and bat at her toys or bounce in her jolly jumper. She sucks her thumb which is so cute. And she listens for my voice and watches my every move, cranking her head to see if I am still in sight! She is an excellent sleeper at night (last night sleeping from 11-8:15am without so much as a stir) and takes several naps during the day. She usually cooperates and naps at the same time as Simeon so that I can get a rest too! Unlike her brother, it does not hurt to breastfeed her and she usually doesn't cry in the car. She also loves her brother and smiles at him frequently, except when he is squeezing the life out of her!

So, although life is much busier and sometimes even overwhelming, I wouldn't trade my babies for anything. I know things could be easier, if we had chosen to space our kids more or waited until after Deyan was done school or if we lived closer to family, but I am very happy with the life we have chosen/God has blessed us with. And although now is definitely not the time, I will gladly welcome another member to add to our family's chaos a few years down the road! :)

The Roys

2006-01-30T10:22:00.001-08:00

Michelle Joy Esther

Michelle Dee Olivia Joy Esther

Here are a couple of pics of my good friends! Unfortunately, Brittany and Denis were not there the day I took these photos! And Melissa, of course, is still in the Philippines - though coming home in a few weeks - a trained midwife! I wish I had taken more pictures of friends in Saint John. But I did get some family shots. I will post them too in the coming days when I can spare a minute! :)

Christmas Pics

2006-01-15T19:29:00.000-08:00

Christmas Morning

Dragon Queen

Happy 2nd Birthday Simeon!

Christmas Day - Imagination Exploration!

Our Beautiful Little Christmas Baby!

No time to write these days! Sorry! But as promised, here are a few Christmas pics. Notice that these are ONLY pictures of me and the kids! I will post some Maritime family shots sometime soon as well! In the meantime, enjoy gazing upon my gorgeous children!!! :)

In Loving Memory

2006-01-03T21:11:00.000-08:00

Sonia Lavictoire

September 17, 1972 - January 1, 2006

It is with incredible sorrow that we let you know that Sonia Lavictoire passed away in a tragic car accident on January 1st, 2006.

Sonia was a mother, loving partner, wonderful friend, doula, childbirth educator, La Leche League Leader and aspiring midwife. She was an incredible presence in the lives of all who were blessed to know her.

She leaves her husband Bairn Mooney and her beautiful children Everett and Oliver, ages 11 and 9. She is also survived by her parents Louise and Andy Lavictoire, brother Simon (Michelle), nephew Samuel, parents-in law Gail and Walter Mooney, as well as a large circle of loving friends. She was very close with her family and friends, and we are all stunned and devastated by her tragic death.

Sonia was an incredible person and we are grateful for the time we had with her.

Sonia's funeral will be held at Gilbart's Funeral Home on 309 Eveline St in Selkirk at 3PM on Friday, January 6th. Her obituary will be in the Winnipeg Free Press on Thursday January 5th.

Sonia’s friends have established a trust fund for her children’s education. Her family would also like to honour Sonia’s commitment to education and support for childbearing women by establishing a fund to be used for low-income mothers in her name. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation either to the Everett and Oliver Lavictoire Trust, or to the Sonia Lavictoire Memorial Trust at any branch of the Assiniboine Credit Union.

We are also gathering mementos of Sonia's work with birthing families for display at her funeral and to compile into a memory book for her children. If you have any photos or memories of Sonia that you would like to share, please email them to us at info@birthrootsdoulas.com Memories will also be posted in the forthcoming days at www.birthrootsdoulas.com/sonia.htm

Sonia, we love and miss you very much.

Tara Laba, Deanna Momtchilov, and Julia Allen

Birth Roots Doula Collective

Sad News

2006-01-02T17:30:00.000-08:00

Today I received some very difficult news. A very dear friend of mine, Sonia Lavictoire, passed away last night in a car accident. She was a beautiful person, full of joy, and one of the most caring people I have ever met. She was not only a close friend, but also one of my doula partners who was involved in both my children's journeys into this world. We will miss her terribly. Please pray for her family as she leaves behind a great husband and 2 young boys. I can't even begin to imagine how they will cope with this awful tragedy.

We're Back!

2006-01-02T17:25:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone!

We are back in Winnipeg! The trip home was smooth, but for a couple of unexpected delays which meant spending the New Year transition in the air! The kids were great, as usual. It was a very difficult goodbye, especially for me, but it had its highlights as well. At the airport, Simeon stood on the opposite side of the glass, after going through security, and waved very excitedly to all the family who had come to say goodbye. He was so full of joy (of course not fully understanding that we wouldn't see them again for a long time) that I think it brought them alot of comfort. He is such an incredible little guy and we are so proud of him. Anyways, we had an awesome time over the past 6 weeks and we hope and pray we will get to see our East Coast family/friends again really soon!

Deyan and I were reminiscing last night and discussing how grateful we are for...everything! We are blessed with 2 healthy, beautiful children who bring us an incredible amount of joy! We are envelopped in a great support system. We have awesome families (spread all over the world unfortunately) who shower us with love. We have so many friends who give so much of themselves and make us feel welcome wherever we are. We have never lacked anything we needed, even with Deyan in full-time school and me being self-employed. For instance, since Simeon was born, we have only had to buy one article of clothing (a used snowsuit last winter) for either him or Esther! And anyone who knows us knows how well-dressed our kids are! There are so many more things I can think of, but I will leave it at that for now.

So, to all of you, thank you! You enrich our lives in so many ways and we are happy to have each one of you be apart of our family!

Many blessings be yours in 2006! :)

PS - Will post pics as soon as we download them.

Season's Greetings!

2005-12-27T22:31:00.000-08:00

I am not saying that to be politically correct, but because I wasn't able to get on the computer until now, the week between Christmas and New Year's. I have no problem with different greetings such as Happy Holidays or Happy Hannukah or whatever as well. I just don't think people should be regulating what other people say about a holiday that has been around for a very long time! So Merry belated Christmas!!! :) We have had a wonderful time and I will gladly post some pictures and stories soon. For now, I hope you all had a nice weekend and that you have a great week. We'll be back in Winnipeg late on Saturday night. It will be a mixed goodbye for sure so think and pray for us! :)

Get a free ipod!

2005-12-23T18:26:00.000-08:00

Click on the linck and follow the basik instructions. It doesn't take much and the reward is quite something.

http://ipods.freepay.com/?r=19548531

Parties and Pagents

2005-12-20T18:36:00.000-08:00

'Tis the season! Deyan arrived around midnight on Tuesday (Simeon's birthday). It was SO great to see him again! He was amazed at Esther's changes, of course. Simeon was sleeping but was very cute with him when he woke up in the morning. Unfortunately, we had all just begun our rounds of antibiotics and Sim definitely wasn't feeling better yet. We had a birthday party for him on Wednesday night, and it was fun, but the poor guy just wasn't himself. Thankfully, he is now back to being so happy and cute! Esther is still a bit snuffly, but otherwise ok and my ear has finally stopped hurting.

So, we hung out for a couple of days and allowed Dey to recoup after a hard last few weeks of school. We did get out to see the Chronicles of Narnia which was cool. I even left Esther at home for the first time! She did great, as I knew she would. Saturday we spent the day shopping. Crazy! Saturday night we went to a Christmas party at our friends' house from church. They invite everyone over 16 from the church over every year and they feed us a scrumptuous feast! Salmon and meatballs and chicken au vin and lasagne and salads and rolls and rice and ham and cheeseballs, etc. Everything is homemade and delicious! Then they top it off with wonderful desserts like trifle, cheesecake, mocha freeze, etc. They really do go above and beyond. I have a picture of their ENORMOUS tree which I will post later when I figure out how to get them off Dey's camera onto my parent's computer.

Sunday evening we had the Sunday School Christmas play. It was very cute, though I didn't know alot of the kids that were in it! I guess that happens when you move away. The kids you know grow up and new people come to the church and voila! Last night was my youngest sister's school play. They did a great job of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Emma was an Oompa Lumpa - pretty cute.

I know it sounds super busy here, but it really isn't too bad. We hope to see some more people soon because as Christmas near, the busyness will definitely pick up! Missing you Winnipeger's, but enjoying the mild weather here! :)

Sick...Yuk!

2005-12-13T18:37:00.000-08:00

Well, I was finally able to get Simeon and I to a Dr. last night. Poor little guy! He's been trying so hard to be happy but it's been a difficult 5 days! Well, no wonder. It turns out he has strep throat and 2 ear infections! His tonsils are really swollen which is making him cough and gag all the time too. His fever is pretty low-grade, but it is still there. Since Thursday morning all the has eaten is a few bites of yogurt, a couple of chocolates, and 1/2 muffin. He is nursing more though, which has been interesting! I didn't mind tandem nursing when he only did it first thing in the morning and at nap time. But now that it's more often, between him and Esther I feel like I constantly have someone attached! Oh well, I'm glad it's bringing him some comfort. He is also cutting his 2 year molars, which can't be fun!!!

So it turns out that I also have an ear infection. I've never had one before and it sure has been painful! Sim and I are both on antibiotics so pray we don't get any yeast/thrush infections! Esther also has a touch of strep and ear infections, but I'm not going to put her on antibiotics unless I need to. She seems to be her happy self, and I know she's getting lots of antibodies in my milk. She seems to have her days and nights mixed up which really sucks. She still sleeps a 6-8 hour stretch every night, but she stays awake until 3 or 4am before she does it! I think if she does it again tonight, then I'm going to keep her awake all day tomorrow! I know...good luck with that! ;) Oh yeah, we had her weighed last night at the Dr.'s. So, at 5 weeks old she is 12lbs already!!!

Today is Simeon's 2nd birthday! He doesn't know, though, and doesn't seem to care (being sick and all). Deyan flies in tonight (YAY!!!) so we are going to have his party and celebration tomorrow anyways. Hopefully he'll be feeling better by then.

Pray for safe travels for Dey!

5 Generations!

2005-12-11T19:30:00.000-08:00

Esther with her Great-Great Grandmother Walsh

Nanny celebrated her 90th birthday 4 days before Esther was born!

Me (28) My Mom (45) My Nanny (65) My Great Nanny (90)

Esther (5 weeks)

My great grandmother (Nellie) had 14 children. She is a very strong woman and continues to amaze us all at her stamina! I recently learned that she had alot of her babies at home and that she even assisted the local midwife with some of the births in her neighborhood when she was young! Some of her ancestors were also midwives, which is cool.

My grandmother (Joyce) is her second-born. She had children, my mom (Kelly) being the oldest. My mom had 6 kids and I am the oldest. I was also the first grandchild and great-grandchild. Simeon is the first great-great grandchild and Esther is the first great-great granddaughter!

Quick update

2005-12-10T13:03:00.000-08:00

Well, it has been a busy few days visiting friends! I stayed at my Dad's house all week. Simeon has lots of fun with Grandpa, especially lighting the fire in their woodstove. He used to like their cat too, but they are on bad terms at the moment! :) He has definitely warmed up to Grandma and auntie Marli and Emily as well. Auntie Katie just came home on the weekend so we haven't gotten to spend any time with her yet, but I know Sim will have no problems connecting with her. My sister Emily cut my hair for me. Shhhh! Don't tell Deyan - it's a surprise! :) I really like it.

I went to Fredericton to visit my really good friends Matt and Chrissie and their kids. It is amazing how we can go an entire year without any communication (even though we are super close - Chrissie and their oldest daughter Molly were in my wedding) and then see each other and pick up exactly as if we had never been separated! Relationships like that don't come a dime a dozen, that's for sure. I had a wonderful time hanging out with them as a family and then being there for their housechurch Christmas party. We had a fun Yankee swap that included prophetic words for each other. So cool. I even got to see some other old friends who were there as well. The only bummer of our time there was that Simeon came down with a fever and wasn't himself (hoping it's not the pox!!!). He is still not well, but seems to be much better during the day. He coughs alot at night and his fever gets pretty high then too. Esther hasn't been sleeping that great at night either so I am getting very tired! Trying to catch up during the day, though.

Yesterday we came back to Saint John and went to lunch at our friend Linda's house. She is a gourmet cook and always makes us unbelievably delicious food. The coffee and homemade Bailey's was great too! :)
Today we are going to visit my grandparents. My great-grandmother is down from the Mirimachi visiting for the weekend. I will hopefully take some pictures of all of us with her. 5 generations doesn't happen very often!

That's about all for now. Did I mention that my 4 week old daughter is now rolling over? How crazy is that!!! She honestly looks and acts about 3 months old already. I know I keep saying this, but she really is growing up very fast!!! And she sure is cute! :) She has won everyone's heart over, that's for sure. She is super cuddly. If only she wasn't such a night owl! She is a very content baby and hardly ever fusses or cries. But lately she wants to be awake until 2, 3 or even 4am!!! Not good for my nerves and emotions, that's for sure! Pray that I am a patient mother in those times!

Love to all of you! :)

The story behind the story...finally!

2005-12-07T00:21:00.000-08:00

Well, some of you have been anxiously waiting...I know! :) Here are some little tidbits about little Esther which I think are pretty neat!

As most of you know, thanks to my complaints, this wasn't an easy pregnancy for me. But besides the excitement of bringing forth a new life and a new member to our family, I sensed there was more to this birth. I have been going through a pretty dry time in my spiritual life and somehow I felt that I wasn't the only one. This often happens to me where I experience things not just personally but also as an intercessor or representative of others either in the church or in the city, etc. Sorry if you don't understand all of this, but it's too much to explain in one post! :) Different friends at different times were praying over me and the baby within and would say things like, "I think this pregnancy/birth/baby is a picture of what is going on in the church right now." I agreed. Someone also said, "I keep hearing the words - name her well." This was interesting because just that week Deyan and I had been talking about names and I felt like, girl or boy, we really needed to decide on a strong name and none of the ones we were thinking of were fitting at all.
Fast forward a bit to 6 weeks or so before due time. I had been asking Simeon throughout my pregnancy what kind of baby we were having and he would never answer me. All of a sudden he started saying, "Girl baby!" So I jokingly asked him what we should call her and he said, "Esther." I thought it was cute, that he must be thinking of his Veggie Tales or something. But as the days and weeks progressed, every time I would ask him he would say the same thing! Dey and I started thinking more seriously about the name and began to really like it! Needless to say, we weren't surprised when a girl popped out and we knew exactly what to call her!

Esther means "star", but more importantly is her story in the Bible. First of all, she is the only female to have a book named after her! You can read about it in the Old Testament. But the jest of the story is that she was chosen as Queen of Persia (after 1 year of primping and preparation) out of all the women in the kingdom. She was a jew (unbeknownst to the court), a minority and not very well-liked people group at the time. She saved an entire generation by stepping out in courage and doing something that could have caused her death. She also relied on God for everything and had many people fasting and praying for her. There are many parallels I can draw to the here and now, but they would be better explained in person. Read the story and see what you think! Either way, I know that my Esther is destined to be a strong woman who will follow God and be a leader in her generation!
Her middle name is Iova which means "God will establish."

Then there is the timing of her birth. I had been praying and trying to go into labour for 3 weeks with no success. Our church was going to be having its 10th annivserary celebration and I was hoping to participate, with a newborn in tow, not still pregnant! But God had other plans and they were perfect. I had an incredible woman's breakfast on the Saturday morning and again received confirmation that this birth was not just going to be a physical act, but would release something in me personally, especially related to the prophetic. There is more detail to this story, but again would be better shared in person.

That night I went to church and danced my heart out in an awesome worship/celebration service. Simeon did too! I was not surprised to go home with regular contractions! Oh, and Saturday was the official day of the church's 10th anniversary. Esther was born on Sunday morning, the first day of a new beginning for our church. She weighed 8lbs 8oz, was born after 8 minutes of active pushing (which would have been much faster if she didn't have her hand up by her head) and emerged at 8:04am. Notice all the 8's? The number 8 means "new beginnings". Neat, eh?

I have definitely felt a difference since her birth in my own spritual life. Like there is new life coming out of me and I am excited about it. And the more people I talk to, the more I find they are experiencing some of the same things...at the same time! So, although I don't want to read too much into it all, I truly believe there is something significant about all of this and I can't wait to see it unfolding. There may be more to the story that I have forgotten, but I think I'll leave it at that for now. Esther sure is special and a wonderful addition to our lives! And we are grateful for her big prophetic brother too! :)

Prayer Requests

2005-12-02T18:09:00.000-08:00

I have had incredible back pain all week long. It is concentrated on the left side, right under my ribs in the middle of my back. It is an unusual place for me to experience back problems and nothing that I have been doing so far helps! I've tried the chiropractor and massage as well as heat and Robax. I can't afford any more special treatments so I need God to heal me!

I just got a call from a friend of mine who has 2 little ones. They have both had the chicken pox a few years ago, but her daughter just broke out in them for a second time! Problem is, I was visiting them this week when she would have been contagious. I wouldn't be too upset if Simeon got them, but I would hate for Esther to get them at this young age. And really, it is pretty bad timing for either of them to get sick over Christmas! Especially with all the visiting we would like to do! I'm not sure what to do as far as seeing people and knowing whether or not the kids are contagious. Any advice? Please pray for protection!

Pictures

2005-12-01T10:50:00.000-08:00

Uncle Jordan
Sleepy, Chubby Little Girl!
Simeon dancing at church
Alert and smiling lots!

I'm not sure how much Esther weighs now, but at 2 weeks old she was already 9lbs 12oz! She is definitely growing fast...too fast for me! I wish she would stay little just a little longer. She is very strong and can hold her head up for a long time. She is very content and smiles all the time for us! We love her to pieces!

Things I appreciate...

2005-12-01T10:10:00.000-08:00

Homemade tea buscuits and strawberry jam and other yummy goodies.

Warm weather - not only temperatures above zero, but in the double digits! Today the high is plus 12 degrees Celcius!

Simeon loving his sister - he always wants to share what he is doing with her. Like if he's coloring, he says, "Baby hold the pink marker?" and puts it in her hand and laughs. He really thinks she's great.

A fun church community here. My dad's church is known as a party church because there are so many spontaneous get togethers and everyone just loves hanging out together. They also have a vibrant youth/young adult crowd who are totally passionate and inspiring.

My brother and his Christmas cheer.

Lots of "aunties" who want to hang out with my kids. Not to mention the many grandparents. It does make it possible to catch extra sleep!

A wonderful sleeper for a newborn. Esther sleeps at least one 5 hour stretch every night, nurses, and goes back to sleep for 2-3 hour stretches. For 3 weeks old, I can't complain! If only she would go to sleep a bit earlier! :)

Sharing chocolate. Boy, if I don't put on a ton of weight while I'm here it will be a miracle!

Veggie Tales - okay, so this is Simeon's favorite thing, but it sure can give me a break sometimes!

Running into old friends anytime I go out. Being in the Maritimes sure is a social time!

These are in no particular order, by the way. I'm sure there are many more, but I need to go and attend to the little ones! :) Have a great December 1st everyone!

One week later...

2005-11-28T18:55:00.000-08:00

Well, not much to report! We are enjoying our time here. So far it has been pretty laid back. Everyone is either at work or school during the weekdays so the kids and I just hang out at home. But it's really nice not to have any of the usual household responsibilites. I don't mind pitching in with cooking, laundry, etc., but it's different than having to do it all!

The Christmas season has begun. My brother Tyler is Mr. Christmas himself and he has already gotten some of the decorations put out around the house and some of the lights up. Saturday he took the kids and I downtown to hear some of the music at the 69th Empty Stocking Fund production. It's always neat to listen to the children's choirs. Simeon and Esther both got in the spotlight and had close-ups on TV! I guess they were just too cute! That night we went to the Santa Claus parade. Sim loved that! Then back to my dad's house for hot chocolate and goodies. Church was great on Sunday and we had a delicious potluck afterwards. What a smorgasboard of food! So, that's all we've been up to. Haven't done much visiting, other than at church and my grandparents have come over to see us. But knowing how things are here, I'm sure my schedule will get busy soon enough! :)

Exhaustion and Turbulence

2005-11-22T23:11:00.000-08:00

We're here! Esther and I arrived in warm, windy, wet Saint John this afternoon. Esther was an excellent traveller, and basically slept the entire time, waking up briefly to eat 2x. She didn't seem to have any problems with her ears. She even slept through the worst turbulence I've ever experienced! The last half of the flight between Montreal and SJ was AWFUL! I was sitting next to someone who had a cat with her. The poor cat was not enjoying the flight and eventually pooped in his little carry bag. It was a horrible smell. Then the guy across the aisle from us was puking because of the ups and downs. I was trying to nurse but it was very difficult to keep Essie latched on when I was barely able to hold on to the seat myself! Crazy! Anyways, glad to be here. Simeon wasn't as excited to see me as I'd thought, but I could tell he was definitely relieved that I was here! He was happy to see his "baby" again too. Will write more once I've had some sleep. Did I mention that I have only had a few hours in the last couple of days? Good night! :)

Safe Travels

2005-11-20T23:02:00.000-08:00

Please pray for Simeon and Courtney tomorrow morning as they travel to Saint John! It will be exciting for Sim, I'm sure. We have been preparing him for the trip, often talking about how he will be going on the airplane with Auntie Courtney to go visit Nana and the rest of the family. He seems happy, but I'm sure it will be a shock to him when neither Deyan or I get on the plane with him! I'm not even going to go to the airport - probably more for my benefit than his! He's never gone anywhere overnight without me before! Thankfully, Esther and I will be arriving the following afternoon! I will miss him, but I'm sure he'll be okay. I'll let you know how it went! :)

Courtney Gracious

2005-11-15T17:45:00.000-08:00

Auntie Courtney

Joyska and the kiddies!

Chicho Mitcho

My sister is here! Courtney arrived on Saturday to meet her new niece and help me out for a few days. She actually took a week off school...her graduating year to do this! What a servant, eh? It is great to have her here, and not just for her help! ;) Simeon is enjoying playing with his Auntie. I hope they get really well reacquainted since he will be flying alone with her to Saint John on Monday. I will be flying the next day with Esther. Sim is pretty smart and I think he has finally figured out what "airplanes" mean - people come and go on them and you don't see them for a really long time. He cried the last time his Baba left on the airplane. I just hope he doesn't think that when he gets on the plane he will be leaving us for a long time! So pray for him! He will be excited to see his Nana, Grandpa, and all the Aunties and Uncles. He has never gone overnight some where without me, though, although I've left him at home with Deyan a few times for births and stuff. Anyways, I just hope he is peaceful! :)

More Pics of the Prould Big Brother!

2005-11-10T17:20:00.000-08:00

Simeon is really enjoying his sister so far. He is excellent with her, although a bit rough with his affections sometimes! I am feeling pretty good, though I still have my tough moments. I guess I should expect it since I am only on my 5th day postpartum! Still planning to write the story behind the story - it really is quite fascinating. Including all the details about the number 8! :)

The Story

2005-11-08T09:49:00.000-08:00

Well, for those of you who are curious...here is Esther's birth story as I remember it...

On my way home from church on Saturday night (where I happened to do a little bit of dancing - more on that later), I noticed I was having contractions. They weren't really strong, but were regular. I was hoping it meant something, but as you've heard, I was feeling pretty discouraged by then that this baby didn't want to come too soon, so I didn't get very excited. We came home and I nursed Simeon, hoping that would help things along! Dey and I sat down to watch a movie. Throughout the entire movie I had contractions every 4 minutes that lasted at least 60 seconds. They felt like a lot of pressure, but I was able to cope really well without too much effort. I had an incling that this might be it, but was afraid to say so. After the movie finished, we decided to set up our birth pool, just in case. By the time all that was done it was almost 2am so we went to bed.

My contractions continued all night and I dozed off a couple of times, but didn't really get any sleep. Deyan got a couple of hours though. Simeon woke up unexpectedly at 4:15am to say that he had pooped! This was very unusual. Deyan was changing him in the bathroom and I stood outside the door because I needed to pee! I noticed a bit of fluid leaking and wondered if maybe my water was breaking. But like all things with this labour/pregnancy, nothing was very obvious. The leaking stopped and I waited for a few stronger contractions before deciding to call my midwife. She said she would come over. Simeon went right back to sleep. I still was wondering if this was "it" or not, so I didn't call my doulas right away. But after a few more contractions, I though, what the heck. So I called Ang and Tara first and told both of them they didn't need to rush or anything. Then I asked Tara to call Sonia and Julia. Yes, I had a great support team! I also called my mom to let her know and get her and my Saint John friends and family praying.

Cara (my midwife) arrived at 5:15am. I think by then I was pretty sure it was labour. Within a few minutes my contractions were coming every 2-3 minutes and I definitely needed to breathe through them! I also called Yvonne, Joyska and Violet to get some Winnipeg prayer support! :) Ang arrived and her and Deyan took turns putting pressure on my back/hips during contractions. Dey was also filling the pool at this time and I was anxious to get in! It was finally ready by ~ 6:15am and it felt wonderful! Tara and Julia arrived at some point and everyone found things to do. After an hour in the pool, I decided to get up to the bathroom. The contractions were very strong by now and I was needing to vocalize through each one. I had 3 really tough ones in the bathroom and was beginning to wonder if I would be able to get out of there! I was feeling lots of pressure so I asked Cara to check my progress. I was nervous and told her not to tell me if I would be discouraged! She said I was doing great, 6cm, 100% and that the cervix was nice very soft and strechy. I was okay with this, but was also remembering Simeon's labour when things took a really long time after 6cm! I really hoped things would be different this time because these contractions were getting very unbearable! I stayed on my bed for a bit longer, barely holding on. I felt hot and nauseous and in hindsight would have to say that was transition. I had Julia massaging my feet, Ang putting pressure on my back and a cool cloth on my head, Tara bringing me water to drink, and Deyan holding my hand! Could I ask for better support, eh? We feel so blessed! I'm not sure how anyone can do it on their own!
I decided to get back in the pool to see if things would feel better. I had one contraction on the way and felt alot of pressure! Then I had another one just as I got into the pool, but before I could get down into the water. Again, the pressure was really strong and I said so. I was finally able to kneel down into the water and the next contraction I felt my body pushing. I felt some burning at first and wondered if maybe it was too soon so I held back a bit. But the next contraction came and my body did the pushing. I said, "the baby's coming" as I felt her head move down right away! By the way, this was at about 7:55am. Simeon had just woken up (a miracle in itself that he had slept through all the commotion to that point!) and Dey was in the bedroom with him getting him dressed. He brought him out and sat in a chair in the living room. I heard him tell Sim that mommy was having a baby. I felt so peaceful, knowing he was with Dey and he sounded so calm and relaxed. I continued vocalizing as I felt this baby's head come out, turn, each shoulder release, and then her body emerge into the water at 8:04am! I stood up and turned around so I could take her and sit back down with her. Deyan brought Simeon right over to meet her and he was very excited! Actually, he may have been more excited about seeing a pool in our living room, but oh well! He started telling the baby about his favorite Veggie Tales. So cute. I looked down to confirm what he knew already, that we had a little girl baby! Poor Sonia missed the birth, but she arrived a few minutes later and was really helpful when I was having all the afterpains!

Anyways, there is much more to tell, but all I'll say for now is how grateful we are to God. We feel that everything was perfect and we couldn't have asked for better timing. And we are so thankful for all the support we have, both at the birth and from our community here in Winnipeg. Not having family close can be tough, but we feel so loved and cared for!

Well, Esther just woke up so I should go. I will tell more about the story behind the story when I get a chance...which may not be for awhile yet! :)

It's a girl!!!

2005-11-06T16:43:00.000-08:00

We proudly welcome Esther Iova into our family, born at home at 8:04 this morning. She is beautiful! She weighs 8lbs 8oz (3800g) and is 21 1/4" long (54cm). Mom and babe are doing great. Dad is a bit tired, but thrilled, and big brother Simeon is absolutely enamored with his little sister! More details to follow soon, I'm sure, but for now, here a couple of pictures! :)

Sweeping and Hoping!

2005-11-04T16:57:00.000-08:00

So, today my midwife came over and did a "stretch and sweep". She said my body is definitely ready, it's just a matter of labour starting! I'm hoping that she "stirred the pot" enough to get things moving along a bit. I feel very ready. In fact, last night I had alot of contractions and even had the "nesting urge"! Some people get an incredible burst of energy before labour begins and want to do funny things, usually related to house cleaning. I never had this with Simeon. But sure enough, even though I was having regular contractions, I had a sudden desire to sweep all the floors in my house, at 11:30pm! I had a hard time going to sleep, so I took a hot bath and had a pretty restless night. But woke up yet again not in labour, unfortunately. Oh well, at least my floors are nice and clean! I may still get down on my hands and knees and scrub them. That might do it! It also might get this baby to be in a more forward position, which would be great. My doulas helped with that by doing a technique called the "diaphramatic release" this afternoon. So, I think I've done everything possible and now I just have to let go and let God! This baby will come when he/she is good and ready. Maybe I'll be posting again later as labour begins, or maybe not. Well, at least I get to participate in the first event of our church's 10th anniversary this weekend. Tonight is a "meet and greet" coffee time where we get to see some of our former pastoral staff. It will be fun, I'm sure, and since I may miss the rest of the weekend, I'm looking forward to it.

So, keep praying! :)

Potty Breakthrough!

2005-11-01T08:43:00.000-08:00

This morning, while I was doing my dishes, Simeon was playing on the floor and gave me a funny look. I asked him what was up and he said, "potty?" I was a bit skeptical, but decided to take him to the potty.

To give you some background, he has been peeing on the potty or toilet, off and on, since he was 6 months old. I'm not super consistent, but he definitely knows how to release his bladder when I ask him to. More recently, we can sometimes go all day with a dry diaper if I keep on top of him and take him to the potty every hour or so. He does not tell me when he needs to go, so I figure that's the next step. As for pooping, well, he used to go no problem on the pot, but lately he much prefers to go in his diaper. If I notice it happening and invite him to the bathroom, he just says no and/or holds it in. So I'm not pushing it. Yesterday he started to go in his diaper so I took him quickly to the potty. He sat there for over 1/2 an hour, singing and talking, but never did finish the job.

So, back to this morning. I stripped him down and sat beside him on the bathroom floor. He proceeded to talk and sing to me for at least 1/2 an hour. I was really trying to be patient since it was his initiation to go. I asked him a few times if he was all done, but he kept saying, "poop, potty". So I waited. He peed but still didn't want to get up. I was beginning to get concerned he would get cold, being naked and all, but again, decided to just be patient. After all, maybe he just really wanted some one-on-one attention. At one point I left him for a few minutes to go finsh a couple of things in the kitchen. I thought maybe if he had some privacy he could go. But he called me back, so back I went.

FINALLY, he stopped talking and singing, put his concentration into it and pooped! He was so proud of himself as he stood up and said, "Treat! Treat!" You see, he knows there is a connection with potty success and treats, but is a bit confused at what a treat is. He kept pointing to his poop and saying "treat!" Anyways, I gave him a chocolate and we did the whole flushing ritual. It was very exciting.

So, I know he's only 22 months and I don't have huge expectations, but it was encouraging none the less! He hasn't asked to use the potty since, and I've been too busy blogging to take him there! ;) Oh well, we'll start fresh again after lunch.

Pictures At Last!

2005-10-29T21:02:00.000-07:00

Well, as promised, here are the pregnant photos taken a couple of days ago.

It has been an up and down week for me. Tuesday was a pretty rough day. I think I was the worst mother ever to Simeon that day! I was in alot of pain (I have a pinched nerve resulting from the baby sitting in a certain position in my pelvis) and was having difficulty walking or doing anything for that matter. Sim seemed to know something was up and decided to push every button...literally. He is really challenging our authority these days and it is so difficult to be consisitent with the amount of energy I have! Deyan's mom has been here, which has been awesome. She has really helped me get the house ready for this baby. But, bless her, she is such a softy with her grandson! Anyways, I had an emotional breakdown on Tuesday and called Deyan at school in the early evening to ask him to come home. I think reality was setting in on how difficult parenting can be at times and I'm realizing that I'm about to have 2, not just 1 child to raise! It's an exciting but sometimes scary thought, as I lost my patience how many times with Simeon that day? Thankfully he is so forgiving!

Wednesday night/Thursday morning I thought for sure my labour had started. But it petered out in the afternoon and hasn't picked up to the same intensity since. Poor Ionka had to leave on the plane today without getting to meet her newest grandchild! She will be back in the spring, however, and we will share the news as soon as there is any!

Friday, my midwife came over to check on things. Remember how I said last week that I had shrunk? Well, this week I'm right back up to 35cm again! And Cara seems to think it's all baby. Not exactly what I want to hear at this point. I mean, I know the baby needs to continue to grow and be healthy, but I was really hoping for a less than 9lber this time! Oh well, I guess we'll have to just wait and see. But please come soon baby so you're not TOO big! Everything is healthy, though. So continue to send those "Come out baby" thoughts and prayers my way! :)

Labyrinths

2005-10-22T23:09:00.000-07:00

I walked my first labyrinth today! I am doing a workshop this weekend through Birthing From Within at St. Benedicts Retreat Centre. It's been really fun so far. And today we had the opportunity to walk the labyrinth. This is often done as a spiritual practice, usually some form of contemplative prayer. Our goal today was to meditate on a question that we had to come up with the night before revolving around being mentors in birth. It couldn't be a yes or no question, had to be in the present tense, and the answer couldn't be found in a book or anything. There's more to it, but I won't get into it all here.

Anyways, I actually had 2 questions. The first one was: How am I expanding? This question arises from letting go of my own ideals of birth and being willing to be open to other ideas. The second question was: How am I free? This one resonates very strongly in me, as it relates to the need for approval, or as some people call it, the fear of man.

So, I was first to pass the threshold and enter the labyrinth. If you don't know much about these, you should look them up. They are very interesting. They are not a maze. There is only one way in and one way out. You can't really tell where you are on your journey and at certain points it feels like you are very close to the centre, then all of a sudden you're on the outer edge again. The only thing you can do is put one foot in front of the other and just keep walking. At the beginning of my walk today, I just kept repeating my questions over and over to myself. Nothing more was really coming to me. Definitely no answers or profound revelations. In fact, I found myself often distracted by trying not to step in all the goose poop! :) So, I EVENTUALLY made it to the centre, paused for a moment, and began to make my way out. It really does throw you for a bit of a loop and you sometimes wonder if you'll ever get there!

Anyways, on my way out, a light went off in my head. I realized that my 2 questions were actually quite connected! How can I possibly expand my ideas about birth (or anything really) if I am caught up in what other people think of me? The only way I can expand is if I am free! If I begin to let the truth sink in that the only person I should be worried about pleasing is God, then the rest will fall into place. I'm not sure if I can explain this so properly, but it really was a revelation for me! And the neat thing was, that as I began to understand it, I noticed my pace quickened. Not sure why, but it was definitely noticeable. I've never been much of a meditative or contemplative person, but I really enjoyed this entire process.

On a side note, I learned about "laborinths", basically the relationships that can be drawn between labyrinths and labour/birth. For example, not knowing how long things are going to take, just taking one step at a time, thinking you're close and discovering you're only 2 cm dilated, even being distracted by all the poop that's around! I think I may start incorporating this tool into my prenatal classes, after I refine it a bit in my mind!

That's all for now. I have one more day in this workshop so I better get some sleep now. Still having lots of prelabour stuff and the pressure is quite unbearable at times. I think the baby is posterior which may be why I'm experiencing so many "practice" contractions that start and stop every evening. And if he/she would just get in a better position, maybe my pelvis and sciatic nerve wouldn't hurt so much! Oh well, hopefully soon! :)

Blessings

2005-10-20T22:58:00.000-07:00

Today was a nice day. Two of my dear friends, Jocelyn and Ang, came over with their boys to bless me before the birth. They showed up with flowers and a vase, Starbucks drinks and treats, gave me a footbath/massage and a hand massage, and then prayed over me, the baby, the upcoming birth, and our family. It was very sweet. It was funny, too, because we seemed to have a red and black theme going (flowers and vase, what I was wearing, Joc was wearing, Ang was wearing and the birth ball). Guess you had to be there.

It's also so much fun to watch our guys interacting with each other. Jocelyn's oldest son, Isaiah, is the oldest of all of them at 2 3/4. Then there is her 2nd son, Luke, 10 months younger, who happens to be 1 day older than Simeon (22 months). Ang's son, Isaac, is the youngest by 4 1/2 months. They are all starting to talk and watching them play together is neat. A bit crazy at times, but still lots of fun!

Anyways, I was tired and hoping to catch a nap with Simeon, but I think my caramel macchiato had me too wired to sleep. Oh well, Sim ended up having a very short nap so it wouldn't have mattered.

I saw my midwife this afternoon. I told her about all the "prelabour" stuff I had last weekend, but that I also knew it could still be awhile. Baby sounds good and all my vitals are good. I don't even have any swelling, which is kind of nice! She seemed to think the baby had dropped by the new shape of my belly. I also thought this, especially with the increase in pressure I was feeling. Right now (today) the baby is facing my tummy, which is not good since I really don't want to experience "back labour". So, although he/she is still moving lots, I will make more of a conscious effort to spend time on my hands and knees to encourage a better position. Oh, and apparently I'm shrinking! Last week, my uterus was measuring 35cm (at 36+ weeks) and this week it only measured 30cm! This usually happens as the baby shifts position and moves down, but it can also mean low fluid levels. But I'm drinking lots, so hopefully this is not the case. And hopefully all of this points to a smaller baby this time! (Simeon weighed 9lbs 2oz!)

Speaking of Sim, have I mentioned that he is convinced the baby is a girl? He tells me everyday that it's a girl baby and her name is Esther. So...I know he's into Veggie Tales and all, and it could be that's where he picked up the name, but it's odd that he's stuck with it for so long and not chosen another name or sex. He is known to be rather prophetic! And Esther's not a bad name, really. Oh well, we'll see soon enough! It would help if we felt strongly about a name for either sex, since we're still so undecided!

Julia, I will hopefully post a few pregnancy pics in the next few days!

The Arrival

2005-10-15T21:48:00.000-07:00

No, not the baby (I wish) and not my mother-in-law (at least not until midnight tonight), but my birth pool has arrived! Yay! This is what it looks like. I've been anxiously awaiting this for some time now and was beginning to get a bit nervous that it wouldn't get here in time. Well, it's here, and now we have to figure out how to set it up and where! Our place is not very big so it's not like we can get it ready and put it in a room somewhere until the birth. There is no such room. We may set it up and fill it for a "practice" run, though. It would be nice to get in some water, even just to feel buoyant for awhile! And I'm sure Simeon would be pretty excited to take a swim in his living room! So, now that it's here, I'm sure one of two things will happen:

a) All of the prelabour stuff I've been feeling the past couple of days will intensify and I will go into labour tonight, knowing the pool is available.
or
b) Knowing the pool is here, my mind and body will relax and I won't go into labour for another few weeks!

Personally, I'm hoping for option A!

Let's see what else is new...I had a sleepover party with some girlfriends at the church last night. It was really fun! We ate lots, played games, got to know a few new faces, and watched a movie. Okay, so the movie wasn't awesome or anything, but it was still a great time. The only downside to the event was the air mattress I had borrowed had a slow leak. Waking up at 5:30am because my hip bone was embedded into the hardwood floors didn't feel too good. I actually got up and pumped the mattress up again! But by 9am it was flat all over. Oh well, it's not like I'm sleeping that great these days anyway! Deyan and Simeon had some fun times together at home too.

My MIL is arriving tonight for a couple of weeks. This was an unexpected visit, but a definite answer to prayers. My mom was supposed to come here in November for a few weeks and it fell through last minute. I was a bit apprehensive about how I was going to find the energy to do all the preparations I needed to do before the birth, and find the postpartum support for afterwards. Well, with Ionka here, I'm sure we will get lots done and hopefully she will even get to meet her grandchild before she goes back to the Ukraine!

That's all for now, I guess. I still don't have any new pregnancy pics or even recent shots of Simeon. I've got to steal Dey's camera one of these days when I know he won't need it at school!
Keep checking often for baby news! Hopefully it will be sooner rather than later! :)

Neeeeed....sleeeeep.....

2005-10-07T10:30:00.000-07:00

Rough night last night. I'm having a hard enough time sleeping at night due to pregnancy discomfort. Then add Simeon into the mix and I don't even know why I bother. Normally, he sleeps through the night until ~ 6-7am when he joins us in bed, nurses, and goes back to sleep until ~ 8-8:30. Occasionally he will wake up at some point through the night, but I tell him it's still night time and that he needs to lie back down and go to sleep. He may protest for a minute or two, but generally he is cooperative.

After yesterday, I'm beginning to think someone is slipping him some chocolate covered espresso beans or something. He refused to nap, which is highly unusual and really didn't even seem tired until 6 that evening. So he did go to bed a bit earlier (~7pm) than his usual 8pm, but I figured he was making up for the lack of nap. Then at 2am he woke up and for reasons unbeknownst to me, I pulled him into bed with us. I don't think I was fully conscious since I had finally just fallen to sleep myself around 1am. So he nursed, and then began to talk and sing as if it were morning. I was surprised, but figured this would only last for a few minutes before he fell back asleep. The last time I noticed the clock it was 4:45 and he was still awake! He especially wanted to cuddle, which I love to do, but again, it's not helpful when I'm trying to sleep and I have him snuggling up to me (which usually involves head banging and feet kicking my stomach) and the baby doing somersaults inside. I kept pushing Simeon over to Deyan's side of the bed, which would work for a little while. Anyways, I think he eventually fell back asleep ~ 5. This is when I was trying desperately to get all the Veggie Tales songs out of my head! Did I mention how much he LOVES those veggies? Well, he shows no signs of fatigue today. I, on the other hand, am dragging my feet even more than usual and my mothering patience is very thin at the moment! I need some grace!!!

Jordan McSnordan

2005-09-30T13:43:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned a few times that my little brother is here with us for a visit. Although he's not so little anymore! Having him here is making me realize more and more how grown up he has become. He just returned from spending 3 months in Mozambique, Africa, doing a mission school. Talking to him about his experiences there and seeing some of his pictures reaffirm to me that whether he realizes it or not, this has permanently impacted his life (in a good way!).

Now, I was almost 8 years old when Jordan was born. Actually, it was his birth that set me on the path I am now on to become a midwife. He was born at home and I was there to see it. I remember visiting my mom's midwife throughout her pregnancy and then seeing her at the birth and in my heart I knew that's what I wanted to do when I grew up.

Growing up, we had our share of sibling stuff, I'm sure, but mostly I remember him being one of the easiest to get along with. He was always very sensitive (still is) and helpful. Even now I am so grateful for his servant's heart that does without asking. It sure has been nice to have him here these last weeks of my pregnancy to help with Simeon and household stuff. I wish he could stay! He loves God very much and wants to please Him. He is a good example to me of humility too. He has no problems owning up to his mistakes, something I often find difficult!

Anyways, we sure are loving spending time with him one on one. It's fun to rediscover your siblings as you all become adults. And Simeon is going to have to go through family separation yet again when he leaves...which totally sucks. He is having lots of fun with Uncle Jodin (as he calls him). Who knows, maybe we'll be able to convince him to come back again soon and stay even longer! Winnipeg isn't such a bad place to live after all. I'm sure the Guse's would love that since they have also adopted him into their family! :)

Oh, and for all you eligible bachelorettes out there, he is a great catch! See for yourself! :)

Pregnancy Musings

2005-09-24T14:13:00.000-07:00

This pregnancy has been challenging. I remember having a tough time with Simeon too, but this one seems much more painful right now. Sleeping is becoming increasingly difficult with a combination of leg cramps and restless leg syndrome, heartburn, and the most intense - pelvic pain. I'm also very short of breath and sometimes during the day I can't stand or I start feeling like I'm going to pass out. My iron is a bit low so hopefully as I take stuff to improve it I will feel a bit better. I only have 5 or 6 weeks to go and I am really looking forward to having a newborn again! I actually love that stage. Maybe it's because I'm so happy not to be pregnant any more! I'm looking forward to this little one's birth too. I know, it sounds crazy, but Simeon's birth was a very positive experience for me. Yes, it hurt and it was exhausting, but I remember feeling so loved and cared for and the excitement of meeting my firstborn son was overwhelming! I hope everything goes just as smoothly this time (ideally it will be a bit quicker too!). We used a blown-up fishy pool last time but this time Birth Roots is going to have a real deal heated birth tub. It's a bit deeper which will be nice. But what will my doulas do without having to boil water all day! :) I will also miss Beckie's presence (my midwife who is in the Philippines right now). Anyways, pray that things get a bit easier over the next few weeks. Deyan is getting really busy with school again and with house maintenance, meals, Simeon, and teaching classes, it's hard to function when I'm this uncomfortable! My brother Jordan is here visiting and he has been a great help. We will definitely miss him when he goes! :(

Pictures!

2005-09-21T23:40:00.000-07:00

Deyan's brother Delyan (12 years) and sister Yoana (11 months) with Simeon
Deyan, Simeon and I in Old Neseber at the Black Sea
Family chilling out at Baba and Dyado's house
The cutest boy!
Baba and Dyado in their backyard with Simeon

Most of our beach pictures aren't on the computer yet, but these are a few to get you started!

Thanks for your patience!

2005-09-18T16:37:00.000-07:00

Okay, sorry it's been so long since I've posted anything. It has taken awhile to settle back down into life here in Winnipeg. And there just aren't as many exciting stories to tell from back here! :)

So, for those of you wondering what happened those last days in BG...here it is. On August 31st, our expected day of departure, we loaded up our stuff very early in the morning, said an emotional goodbye to Dey's grandparents, and drove with his uncle to the airport in Sofia. He stayed to help us check in our bags and then left us to visit a bit with Deyan's dad who had met us there. So we chatted with him for awhile and then joined the masses (literally) trying to go through security. We finally made it through (we had 2 carry-on bags, a laptop, and Simeon's backpack carrier) and lined up to go through passport control. I started hearing them calling our flight for boarding. Simeon was on my back and starting to get tired since he'd been up so early. Deyan handed the police our 3 Canadian passports. The guy looked at them, smiled, and began a conversation with Deyan in Bulgarian. Now let me backtrack a bit...

When we arrived in the country at the beginning of the month, Deyan also had given the police our 3 Canadian passports. But the police, recognizing he was Bulgarian, asked for his BG passport as well. The problem was, it was expired, but they still wanted it. They gave Deyan heck for awhile about "you can travel anywhere in the world on your Canadian passport but when you come back to your own country you need to travel with your BG passport...blah,blah,blah" and issued him a warning that he needed to renew it while we were there. This was in Deyan's plan anyways so we weren't concerned, considering we had a whole month. What I didn't realize at the time was that they didn't stamp his Canadian passport upon entry, only his invalid BG passport! So, Deyan tried diligently over the course of our month there to renew his passport. It was a beauracratic nightmare! He kept hitting wall after wall and needing to fill out this paperwork and that paperwork and waiting each time. By the time he finally had finished all the prep work and had everything he needed to apply for a new passport, we only had a few days left in the country. We knew we wouldn't get it in time and decided it was best to renew it from Canada. Of course we expected that since the police had issued us a warning at the beginning of the month, we may need to pay a fine, but I (being a Canadian) just assumed that we could talk our way out of this since we really had tried our hardest! So, back to the 31st...

I couldn't understand the conversation Dey was having with the police, but I could tell we were going to have trouble. By now I was hearing "final boarding call, all passengers should now be on board" over the loud speaker for our flight to Vienna. I was just coming down with the flu and feeling pretty miserable physically. After several minutes of intensity, (I had previously told Deyan to bring out the drama if anyone gave us a hard time about his passport) I noticed the guy separate our passports and tickets. Deyan, exasperated, said to me,"you and Simeon fly today I guess and I don't until we get this figured out." My eyes filled up with tears immediately and I just kept saying, "No, I can't! It's impossible!" I knew that being 7 months pregnant and sick to boot, I couldn't handle Simeon and all our luggage by myself on 3 flights with layovers and everything. Dey knew it too, but we were stuck. We were now hearing our names being called over the loudspeaker to board the plane! They called the airline rep over and she told us she would postpone all our flights. So they removed our checked luggage from the plane and that was that! I still didn't realize all that was happening still and was feeling pretty emotional. I just sat down with Simeon and tried to keep him happy. Thankfully, Deyan's dad hadn't left the airport yet and had seen all the commotion. So we got a couple of taxis and headed back to his place. The airline told us that the earliest they could fly us out was the 3rd. They reserved our seats from TO to Wpg, and encouraged us that seats would open up for our other 2 flights. Deyan and his dad spent that day figuring out his BG passport. We had to spend some extra money, but we were able to get it done within 2 days. Oh, ya, so the deal was that because he had entered the country on a BG passport, he couldn't leave on a CDN one. Period. Deyan had tried hard to get the guy to sympathize with him considering his pregnant wife and toddler, but the guy said his hands were tied.

Anyways, we spent the next several days at his dad's house. I got very sick and by that first night ended up in the hospital with some respiratory difficulties. But that's another story for another day! Let's just say that for someone who doesn't like going to hospitals in my own country, it was a big step for me to decide I need to go to one there! And alot of my fears about it came true! But whatever, it's all good now. I did end up on a bunch of meds and in retrospect I was really thankful that I wasn't on the plane flying over the ocean by myself and unable to breathe!

So, the 3rd came and went with no flights available. We were then told that they probably couldn't fly us out until the 13th! They said that every day the flights were overbooked by at least 30 seats! It was very frustrating, but we totally appreciated all the prayers! We phoned again on the 4th at noon, and they told us they could get us as far as Vienna. By then, I was ready to just go and sit in the airport until a seat opened up! Dey of course was nervous about this because Vienna is expensive and if we didn't get on a flight, what would we do? The flight was leaving Sofia at 3:30pm so we decided to at least go to the airport here and see if anything opened up last minute. Sure enough, just before we left at 1pm, we phoned again and they had found us seats all the way home! Yay! I was so relieved! We actually ended up with the same police officer at passport control and he smiled as he checked everything over. I didn't care anymore, I just wanted out! And God's favour must have been with us because we not only got seats together, but we even got the bulkhead on the long flight! This was crucial for my comfort with a big belly and all! It also meant they gave us a bed for Simeon to sleep in on this flight which was great.

Well, there you have it. I wish I could say the flights were uneventful, but the adventure continued as our layovers were extremely short and we were constantly running to catch the next flight in time. I was exhausted by the time we got home and hoping all the stress wouldn't put me into premature labour! Anyways, we made it and we're all recovered! I can't remember how to post pictures, but I will figure it out and post some soon...I promise! :)

We're Home!!!

2005-09-05T01:52:00.000-07:00

Exhausted, but in one piece. We will rest and catch up as soon as possible. Thank you so much for all the prayers. It has been a long but miraculous day and we are so grateful and relieved to be home.

Please Pray!!!!

2005-09-03T10:05:00.000-07:00

This will have to be a quick update, sorry for the delay. We are still in Bulgaria! We were supposed to fly out on Wednesday but had difficulties with Deyan's passport. It's a complicated story which I will have to share later. They wanted me, 7 months pregnant and sick, to fly home alone with Simeon, a busy 20 month old toddler, while Dey sorted out his passport. We told them this was impossible so they postponed all of our flights. Deyan's passport issue is now resolved, but they have no flights out of the country! At first they told us we could fly today (the 3rd), but there are no seats available. They said that they can get us as far as Vienna tomorrow, but that's it. The earliest they forsee getting us home is the 13th!!!! Of course this is completely unreasonable and we are working hard to get things sorted out. But we REALLY need some prayer coverage. We're okay, so don't worry. We are currently staying with Deyan's father in Sofia. They are doing everything possible to make us comfortable and we really appreciate it.

On a different note, I have been very ill with the flu and haven't been able to get out of bed for a couple of days (hence the lack of updates). I am on a bunch of meds and slowly recovering, but please pray for health for me and the baby and that no one else gets sick.

One thing I have to mention is how grateful I am for Deyan. He is an incredible husband and has been such a great shepherd of our family through this situation. Under the circumstances, I know that he has alot of stress to deal with. But he has remained peaceful and comforting to us at all times and is not allowing his stress to overcome him. We had our 4th anniversary on September1st, and I spent it sick in bed while he cared for Simeon. But I just wanted to honor him for all that he is doing right now.

Anyways, that's all I can write for now. This sure will make for some great stories to tell...if we ever get home! :) It has been a great month and I hate that the end is turning so sour. The bureaucracy here makes me never want to come back!

To summarize the prayer requests:
We need seats to open up so we can fly home as soon as possible.
Health for all of us.
As of today, we have been here for 30 days. Staying any longer in this country requires a visa which we do not have. We're not sure how this is going to play out so pray that things go smoothly with that.
Peace for us and for our worrying families back home!

Thank you all! I will try to update you again as soon as possible.

The end is in sight!

2005-08-30T11:20:00.000-07:00

Well, today is our last day in the old country. Mitch left us on Saturday afternoon to spend a couple of days in Sofia, visiting his dad and stuff. Mom (Ionka) left early Monday morning and met Mitch at the airport. They both flew home that day, she to the Ukraine and he back to Winnipeg. Deyan and I have been laying low. I have actually been especially taking it easy since I haven't been feeling 100% these past few days. It's no big deal, but you can pray that I am okay for the trip back. I'm really not looking forward to being on an airplane again for long hours in a confined space. I am quite uncomfortable at this stage in my pregnancy. Simeon is still coughing, by the way, but only in the mornings or after his nap. I'm finding it sad to think of uprooting him again from family he has grown to love. This part of our lives is very difficult for me. I hate being separated from loved ones, and I especially hate it when I think of him. He is so friendly and outgoing and attaches easily to people who show him love. I really hope he doesn't lose this from all the coming and going we do with family.

Things I will miss about Bulgaria:
family - they really so great
food - no pesticides fresh tomatoes (even better than garden tomatoes from home, can't explain why) and other veggies (peppers, cucumbers, eggplant, etc.), peaches right off the tree in the backyard, figs from the neighbor's tree, watermelon (less than $1 each) picked that day, fresh milk and bread without any preservatives or anything (it literally goes bad/stale within a day or two), feta in abundance, things you can't get in Canada (different pastries, meats, etc.)
prices - going out to a nice restaurant and spending less than $15 for a full course meal, clothing (which I didn't buy due to my current size/situation), medicine, alcohol (okay, so it's not like we drink alot or anything, but did I mention that beer is sold at the corner store in 2.5L bottles for less than $2 - the same price for a 2L bottle of Coke here?)
culture/heritage - there is such a richness here when you think of the deep history and roots. This country was already hundreds of years old before Canada was ever "discovered". It's also kind of fun to see cars and horse drawn wagons on the same street together.
weather - lots of sun, very little rain
walking - no one drives around here, unless you are going to a different city or something. The downtown is totally set up for pedestrians.
no mosquitos! - okay, so there are alot of flies which are also very annoying, but at least they don't bite!
the language - Bulgarian sounds really cool and I've enjoyed learning more this trip. Simeon is learning quite a few words too and can count to ten in Bulgarian which is very cute!
restaurants - I love the style of patios and courtyards. I also like that there are small cafe's EVERYWHERE you go downtown with umbrellas to sit in the shade and take a rest and grab a drink or ice cream after all the walking!
ice cream - speaking of...it's kind of cool how they serve it here. It is in a cooler, but each individual flavour is shaped and decorated like a beautiful cake! I should take a picture because it's kind of hard to explain.

Things I won't miss:
beauracracy - everything is SO difficult here! People are generally not very helpful, maybe in part because they don't make any money to speak of!
sidewalks - public space is not very well kept around here. Sidwalks have big holes or tiles sticking up (impossible in North America or the city would be CONSTANTLY sued), people park wherever they want, and block sidewalks all the time.
beds - they don't make double/queen/king mattresses here, although they do have frames for them. For instance, the bed Dey and I sleep in has a king size headboard, footboard and frame, but it has 2 single mattresses side by side. It gets annoying having the space in the middle.
bathrooms - most home washrooms here are set up with a showerhead, a toilet and a sink all in the same room. The floor has a drain in it. At first it's kind of quaint, but going to the bathroom after someone else has showered and the floor is all wet gets tiresome for me.
no high chair or carseat - Poor Sim is going to have quite the readjustment when we get back to Winnipeg and he has to sit still to eat and while driving in the car!

Okay, that's probably good for now. I should get back to the house and continue packing. We leave the house around 5am tomorrow (31st) to drive to Sofia to catch an 8:30am flight. We arrive back in Winnipeg around 6:30pm on Wednesday, the 31st. This will be 2:30am for us, so hopefully we'll go straight to bed and get some sleep! Please pray for a safe and relaxing trip!

Ups and Downs

2005-08-26T11:00:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been a full week, but not too busy. Let's see where to begin...

On Monday, Deyan had his 3rd wisdom tooth removed. It was the simplest extraction which didn't even require surgery and only cost $20! As soon as the freezing wore off, he was fine and was able to eat supper and everything that night.

Tuesday, we had a visit in the evening from a second cousin of Deyan. His name is Delian and he is only a few months younger than Dey. He and his brother grew up close to Dey and Mitch. He is now married and has a baby one year younger than Simeon. He came with his wife, baby and mother, who is Ionka's first cousin. It was a nice visit. I learned a few more BG customs too. Whenever you have something to celebrate, people bring chocolates. Like, if it's your birthday, you are expected to buy chocolates and serve them to everyone you see that day. And if you have a baby, it's the same thing. Kind of opposite of the North American idea that when you have something to celebrate, everyone else brings you stuff, eh? But they do also always bring gifts for Simeon. Poor kid, it almost always involves interesting clothing, which is nice, and treats. I feel bad, but I can't let him have chocolate all the time and everyone seems to want to feed it to him! I have relaxed a bit and allowed him much more than I usually would, realizing we're on vacation, but I hope he doesn't go through withdrawl when we get back to Winnipeg! :)

Wednesday, we had more company for lunch. Ionka's cousin, Bonka, who she is very close to, came with her grandaughter Simona (this is Antoine's daughter, who you'll remember also met us at the airport when we arrived). She is 11 years old and very sweet. I felt bad for Mom because she had a plan to make a specific chicken dish for lunch, but at the last minute couldn't find the main ingredient. She is a great cook and I know she wanted to make a really nice lunch. She asked for my help about half an hour before they were due to arrive, and the only thing that came to mind was my favorite honey/curry chicken. Well, it saved the day and everyone really liked it. Whew!
That afternoon, Deyan had his 4th tooth removed. This one was the worst and boy was it a doozy! The surgery was traumatic both physically and emotionally. They had to shave off bone and all kinds of crazy stuff. And for the first time, Dey's face swelled up like a balloon! Poor guy. He is recovering, but it's still very swollen and he has a hard time eating.

Thursday afternoon Bonka invited us to go downtown with herself, her husband and Simona. We shopped a bit and sat in a cafe for a nice dessert. Then Deyan went home to rest while the rest of us continued walking around and shopping here and there. The downtowns are cool in this country because they are all blocked off and only available to pedestrians. Anyways, Kaleko Stuyan (Kaleko is kind of a special name for uncle I think) is a nut for kids so he spent the whole day just chasing Simeon around. Simeon of course was loving this! They later took us to a really nice little restaurant for supper. I love the restaurants here. Most of them have patios and/or courtyards. This one had a nice courtyard with a fountain in the middle and a small slide off to the side for Sim to play on. The food was excellent too, and still so cheap! Anyways, it was a nice time and we felt very spoiled!

Today (Friday), Vuicho is coming with his son Mitko who is back from visiting his sister in France. They will spend the day with us and then Vuina, his wife, will join us for the evening. We are going out to a nice restaurant for supper to celebrate a bunch of things. Deyan's grandparents had their 50th anniversary this year, his grandmother just had her 70th birthday this summer, and there are of course the other birthdays and Simeon's arrival, etc. It was going to be a big party with extended family, but Dey's grandparents felt too overwhelmed with this idea and decided to just do immediate family. We will also go tomorrow morning for a family portrait. I hope Dey's face isn't quite so swollen by then! :)

Well, that's the update. I titled this ups and downs because at times I've had an emotional week. Sometimes I am so ready to just come home, and other days I really don't want to leave. I guess that's normal. If you want to pray for us, I woke up with a sore throat and Simeon has developped a cough over the past few days. To be honest, I'm more stressed about how everyone else responds to his cough than I am about the cough itself. Everyone gets really uptight about kids getting sick here! And then comes all the advice (keep him dressed warm, don't let him sit on the floor, don't let him eat anything cold, etc.) and eventually I feel completely incompetent! Anyways, I'm also feeling a bit blimpish these days. Somehow I feel much bigger with this pregnancy. I know, you're all wondering how that's possible since everyone thought I was SO huge last time. Well, last time I really didn't feel extra big, but this time I do. I really hope this baby isn't any bigger than Sim was! I will be happy when the pregnancy is over, though. I'm pretty uncomfortable, especially at night.

Okay, enough complaining. Hope you all are well and we'll see some of you soon!

PS - Emma/Maddie/Marli - Simona's grandparents are wanting to send her to Canada next summer for a month to work on her English. They would love to have her live with a family and then have one or two girls her age come to stay with her for a month in exchange. It would be a great opportunity if you guys are interested! I'll talk more about it with you when I get back.

PPS - Jordan, welcome to Winnipeg! Can't wait to see you in a few days! Hope you have fun with the Guse's and that you recover quickly from jet lag and culture shock!

Fear of the Evil Cross Breeze!!!

2005-08-22T14:00:00.000-07:00

I don't know if this is common in other eastern European countries, but Bulgarians have an incredible nervousness about the cross breeze. They are seriously quite paranoid about it! It started the first few days we were here when I kept noticing Vuicho or Baba closing windows and/or doors so that there was only ever 1 open in a room. The temperature outside was quite warm, and I personally enjoy a nice breeze in the house. It was explained to me that "cross breezes" is how people get sick and everyone is so worried about Simeon catching a cold or something. It's almost laughable. I told them that we sleep with our window open at home and a fan blowing on us (at least until we got the air conditioner). I don't think they really believed me.

And you know, I've noticed this phenomenon extends into other areas. No one ever feeds their children anything cold from the fridge until they are quite old. Little did they know we'd been giving Simeon frozen fruit popsicles since he was 7 months old! Hee hee! They are also always checking to make sure Simeon is warm enough, is dry, etc. I understand their concerns, but I guess I'm just a bit more laid back about all that. I mean, when the temperatue outside is above 20 degrees, and he wants to run around in a diaper, I figure it's great! Less laundry for me! :)

Today Dey, Sim and I went for a walk to pick up our new glasses. I'm still getting used to mine, which are quite unique. Dey says when we get back to Winnipeg I should get a funky haircut and go buy a new wardrobe and just go with a whole new look! :) We'll see... Anyways, while we were walking, I noticed babies in strollers, wrapped in thick blankets. I mean, I realize that I'm pregnant and therefore warmer than most, but honestly, it's at least 25 degrees outside! Just a funny thing about the culture here I guess.

I forgot to mention a couple of things in my last post. One thing I have gotten really spoiled with in Winnipeg is the lack of smoking. I have to say that it is much better this trip than the last time we were here, but there are still alot of smokers around and they don't seem to care too much where they blow their smoke! Yuk! It sounds like Europe is beginning to follow the trend of no smoking, but it will definitely take awhile to change things here as it is very ingrained in the culture. The other thing that I just don't get here is how people can eat food with so much oil/grease so often and still be so skinny! There really are very few overweight people around, except for older grandmotherly types. It's odd to me.

Well, that's all for today. I should be home napping with Simeon, but wasn't feeling too tired. Maybe I'll go give it a whirl, though, since he keeps me hopping when he wakes up! Have a great day! :)