One week

One Week.

Dear Annika,

It’s hard to believe that you have only been in our lives for one week.  There are days when it feels like you have been here forever, and days when it still feels like you are brand new.  You are doing amazing well, you like your sleep – we are still sometimes confused on day and night, but you’re a happy baby so we let that slide lol.  You can sleep through anything right now (and I hope it stays that way), I can vacuum right underneath your cradle and you don’t even stir, and your sister will scream and play while you sleep and you just keep on sleeping.  Breastfeeding is going okay so far, we had our first projectile vomit experience tonight and that was kind of gross, but I forgive you lol.

Stats:

Weight 6lbs 13oz – we still aren’t back up to our birth weight yet so we have another Doctor’s appointment next week.

Length: 50cm (19.6in)

When Nora was born, I didn’t realize how much I could love another human being, and I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to love someone else as much as that.  But now that you are here, I know that it is definitely possible to do.  And I love the two of you with all my heart.

Love Mommy

Annika Elizabeth Michelle - Newborn

Mommy – 3 days postpartum

Snuggling with my two girls

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

5 For Five

 Linking up for 5 for Five again - with Jen   and Jessica

1.       Blog at least 4 times this week. – I managed to squeak in that fourth post on Saturday night from the hospital lol.

2.      Not stray from our meal plan – for the most part we stayed right on track – except for Saturday but I had an excuse for that lol.

3.      Drink at least 2 cups of water per day – I’ve been doing awesome with my water intake the past week.  Even been keeping up with it so far this week as well.

4.      Keep the house clean – we did really well with this one,, as we actually had a house showing on Saturday morning and another on yesterday morning.

5.      Do 1 or 2 crafts this week – Didn’t get any crafting done AT all this week.

So this week’s goals need to be easy for me, I’m still mostly recovering from Baby Girl’s arrival on Saturday.

1.       Keep house clean still.  We have an open house on the weekend and with two kids, I want to stay on top things right from the get-go.

2.      Do newborn photos – we have our picture appointment on Wednesday afternoon and I’m hoping that all will go smoothly with it lol.

3.      Blog 3 times – I’m going easy on myself – I’m already technically a day late with this post, but like I said, I’m going easy on myself, I have a 3 day old baby.

4.      Do Blog Design for KayDee Crafts.  That shouldn’t take too long, in fact, I can probably do that one night (while Lady A is wide awake at 3am and doesn’t want to sleep lol).

5.      Clean out purse.  My purse is jam packed full of crap from when we shoved everything in it to go to the hospital on Sunday.  And I can’t find anything in it lol.  So I want to clean it out, I may also switch up purses for the next little bit.  Nora pretty much has the run of the diaper bag, so I need a place to put some stuff for Annika because she doesn’t really need a full diaper bag.  All I need for her is diapers and wipes right now lol.   And a few changes of outfits lol.

Well, on that note – I must run – a certain little lady needs a diaper change and a feeding.  Here’s hoping she sleeps through the night tonight!!

Crazy Saturday

Today was not your typical day.
Not.
At.
All.
It started early for me. I woke up at my usual 5am for a quick bathroom break (one of those preggo perks lol). And as I crawled back into bed to try to get at least another hour or so of sleep, I felt it. A real contraction. Not just a Braxton Hicks but a real ow that hurts contraction. I promptly ignored it and went back to sleep lol. And woke up 10 minutes later from another one. I didn't want to get my hopes up so I downloaded a free contraction timing app and timed it. Went back to sleep. Woke up with the next one, timed it and went back to sleep. At 6:15 - my alarm went off. We had a house showing scheduled for 11:30 this morning so I had lots to do. I woke up, and started to clean the upstairs rooms. By 8am, everyone was up and my contractions were worse. By 9am I was on all fours on the bedroom floor trying to rock through my contractions. We called the hospital. They said come get checked out. We left at 10am. Got to the hospital at 10:30. The nurse in triage checked me and I was at 9cm already. 9. Wtf people. That's insane to me. After my next contraction she wheeled me down to a delivery room, Paul (thank goodness) was back from parking the car at this point. Hopped up on the bed. Had a wicked contraction and I told the nurse that I was starting to feel the urge to push. She said go ahead and push if you need to. So I pushed and my water broke. I pushed again and her head appeared. I pushed again and her head crowned. And one more push and she was out!!! My water broke at 11:02 and she was born at 11:08am.
I'm still kind of in shock with how quickly things progressed.
Presenting to you: Annika Elizabeth Michelle!!!
6lbs 15oz




Big sister meeting Annika and giving her an owl stuffy.




Just after she was born 😄




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Fab Friday!

Fab Friday

Linking up with the Lovely Laura for some Fab Friday Fun!!

-       My Mom is back in town!  YAHOO

-       We have a showing for our house tomorrow morning, I’m pretty excited about this.  It’s our first showing, so we are madly cleaning today but everything will be done by tomorrow morning lol.

-       Mom and I went for a pedicure this afternoon – it was SO relaxing and felt amazing.  I’m also semi-hoping that maybe the foot massage part of it will help speed up labour lol.

-       I’ve been having contractions all week – yes some people would say this isn’t fab – but I’m hoping this means labour will be happening VERY soon.  * Fingers Crossed *

-       My Dad might be coming out here next week too!  Which is awesome.

-       Only 45 days until we move.  EEEEEEE.   We had our planning meeting earlier this week and booked the move and everything.  I can’t really believe how fast things are happening.  But I’m beyond excited to be heading back “home”

-       My sister and I are starting a new blog/shop together – stay tuned for more information about it.

Happy Friday to everyone

So What Wednesday!!

 

Linking up with Shannon for So What Wednesday again!

SO WHAT…

-    if I didn’t post yesterday, I had no words – I’m still very saddened by what happened in Boston Monday afternoon. We had a friend who was running in the marathon – thankfully she finished earlier and was already gone when everything happened.  But we also have a friend who was in the hotel across the street with her little girl – they are safe.  I still am in shock that something like that happened.

-    If I worry about what life will be like for Nora and Baby A when they get older.  The world we live in is changing day by day (and yes, that is from a musical – 5 points if you can name it). 

-    If my Momma is coming out to visit again.  She has business nearby next week so she’s coming out this week to help out.  Hopefully Baby A will be co-operative and arrive while she is here.  But knowing my luck, Baby A will be stubborn just like the rest of us lol.

-    If I keep dreaming of the things I want to buy when we move, and we’re moving into a smaller house and we actually need to downsize…

-    If we are going to buy Nora a toddler bed and not a twin size bed – she is SO small and she doesn’t take up any room, with downsizing to a smaller house and Nora and Baby A having to share a room, it makes so much sense to me.

-    If I don’t do much during the day anymore.  I’m so close to being at the end of my pregnancy (10 days to the “new” due date), and I’m so tired all of the time lol.  Running around after Nora takes a lot of energy.

-    If I joke about trying to bottle up my child’s energy so I can sell it.  Seriously, if someone could figure out how to do that – they would make SO much money lol.

-    If I’ve been eating Apple Toaster Strudels for breakfast everyday and the fact that I didn’t have any left this morning almost made me cry… I blame it on hormones lol.

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!!  Hope you all have a wonderful hump day !!!

5 For Five Monday!

 Linking up for 5 for Five again - with Jen   and Jessica

1.       Clean cabinet under sink in kitchen – it was cleaned, I think hubby may have ruined the extreme cleanliness of it this weekend, but it was still done.

2.      Clean all tables/surfaces in basement area – check mark!

3.      Pack Nora’s bag for when I have the baby – I’m giving this one pink because the stuff is in a pile, it’s just not packed in a bag yet lol.

4.      Stay up to date with my dayplanner – and colour coded too YAHOO

5.      Organize TV cabinet – it looks nice!

So not too shabby on last week’s goals – 4.5/5 ain’t too bad lol. 

Onto this week’s loverly goals:

1.       Blog at least 4 times this week.  Last week was awesome, I blogged Monday to Friday and then took the weekend off, I was super proud of myself so I would like to try to keep it up.

2.      Not stray from our meal plan.  I’ve been doing really well with meal planning and keeping on budget for groceries so I would like to be able to stay on track with our meals.

3.      Drink at least 2 cups of water per day (and by cup, I mean the cup with my initials on it that I use to drink water, it holds approx. 16 ounces of water I believe).

4.      Keep the house clean – on the off chance that we have some showings – the house has to be in tip top shape.  Because yes, our house is officially listed now.

5.      Do 1 or 2 crafts this week, I’ve been in a creative funk lately and I think I may help it go away by actually taking time to go do some crafts in my now clean basement lol.

I’m hoping that most of these will be accomplished this week… and maybe there might even be a post about a new baby??  But I’m not holding my breath about that.  With all the due date confusion, who knows when she’s going to arrive, all I know is that I hope it’s soon and that it’s not during Paul’s exams (which are on Friday, Monday and Wednesday lol).  Nothing like some Great Planning on our part lol.

Happy Monday!!

Fab Friday!

 

Fab Friday!

This week has been a very tumultuous week.  Lots of ups and downs, but as it is Fab Friday – I’m going to focus on the ups.

-       We have a place to live at our new destination.  (this one is both an up and down – it’s smaller than what we were expecting to receive – BUT it is a place to live and it’s only for 18 months – we can make things work).

-       Our house is officially listed.  They came and took pictures for the mls.ca website yesterday and the sign is supposed to be going on our lawn today!!

-       Nora has used the potty twice this week.  Once she asked to use it – once I asked her if she needed to go.  So slowly, we are working on this whole potty training business (but still not pushing it lol).

-       I went for a manicure yesterday.  I had a groupon for a shellac mani and so far I LOVE it.  If you follow me on Instagram (KarenEAnne) you probably saw a picture of it.  It’s a light pink colour called Cake Pop.  Very fitting for me lol.

-       I have a sno cone maker.  It’s a manual one, but still.  It shaves the ice, you add syrup and it’s delicious.  Ice has been a huge pregnancy craving for me and as I get closer and closer to the end – I want it more and more.  I’m eating one right now, and it’s only 10:30am. 

-       Paul had his last class of his UnderGrad career this morning.  I am BEYOND proud of him for all of the work he has done for the past 4 years.  It’s been hard but it has been SO worth it.

-       My Mom is coming out next Wednesday to help with Baby and Nora… assuming Baby A makes her arrival in the near future lol.

-       All of my Records of Employment are now officially in at Service Canada.  I was kind of freaking out earlier this month about this.  I have been on Maternity leave since March 10.  In Canada we get a full year of mat leave and we get paid for it (it’s awesome, I know a lot of other countries don’t have mat leave for that long).  Anyways, they couldn’t do anything with my file because I worked 3 part time jobs to get my 600 qualifying hours and because 2 of my employers had not yet filed my ROE’s, they wouldn’t do anything – so I’ve been getting NO money for the past month, which tightens our purse strings a bit.  We aren’t broke by any means, it’s just frustrating – BUT now they are all in so I should get some money soon and back pay * Fingers Crossed *.

-       My house looks beautiful.  And it makes me afraid to do anything lol, but I love how organized things are now.  You should see my basement lol.

And that is it for my Fabulous Friday – go on and check everyone else’s Fab Fridays out too!!

SHINE

SHINE DANCE COMPETITION

So this past weekend it was a BIG weekend for my dance students.  They were competing in the big competition that comes here once a year from Toronto.  This year was a weird year for us though.  Because of the amount of hours they dance during the week, most dances were put into the “competitive level 2” category.  Which they definitely were not ready for.  There were some dances that competed against other studios who obviously had FAR more training and technique than we did but we held our own and I am BEYOND proud of how well they all did.

Here is how we did:

Wanna Be Startin’ Something Jazz Solo – High Gold

Jackson 5 Medley Jazz Duet – Gold

Beat It Jazz Duet – High Gold

Steel Dream Group Contemporary – Gold

Incantation Intermediate Jazz – Gold

Eleanor Rigby Intermediate Contemporary – Gold

AND my Intermediate dancers got a special Judges Award for Best Dramatic Performance for their dancing in Eleanor Rigby.  I am so proud of them, and the judges said the choreo and costumes were a great fit – so I was super proud of myself too lol.

Since I can’t really post pictures of my students on my blog without their permission, the only photo I can post from the weekend is of my and my co-teacher Alicia – she took over for me when I started my maternity leave in the middle of March.  This is us posing with the Judges Award

So What Wednesday

Linking up this week for So What Wednesday!

So What…

-    if I’m writing this post on a Tuesday not a Wednesday, I’m trying to blog more and stay on top of things

-    if I’ve been eating 2-3 homemade sno cones per day, I’m at the end of my pregnancy, it’s really just ice right??

-    If I’m panicking about our move, and selling the house, and Paul’s graduation, and having this baby – that’s a lot to throw at a person in a 6-8 week time period.

-    If my child has been taking either REALLY long morning naps or a short morning nap and a longer afternoon nap every day.  I’m not going to complain about this, I can actually get things done.

-    If I’m super happy to be done teaching right now, it’s not that I don’t like the kids, I just don’t enjoy the drama that goes with everything and really, I’ve been having major pains in my hips, back and stomach and it’s hard to move.

-    If I’ve complained more this pregnancy.  I’m not used to feeling like this and it’s really hard for me.  I try not to be too much of a Debbie Downer, but I do really feel like I have been lately.  I’m trying to be positive, it’s just hard.

-    If I get frustrated when people say one thing and then do another.  We have a couple sets of “couple” friends that have been doing that lately and it’s really starting to get frustrating.  I honestly don’t care what you decide to do, but don’t moan and complain and say life is so hard/rough/you don’t have time and then turn around and be like, oh, we’re ready for our move and to list our house today… aren’t you?  No I’m not.  I’m 9 months preggo with a 21 month old, it takes some time.

-    If I’m SUPER EXCITED that my Mom will be back here in a weeks time.  And that there is a teensy chance my Dad might come out for a visit once Baby A arrives too. 

-    If I’m happy that someone else’s parents aren’t coming until graduation (although it was offered last night – I said no immediately, that would add far too much stress lol).

-    If when I cleaned out the basement, I realized I have approx. 4 rubbermaids of craft projects that are either “on the go” or needing to be started… that’s okay, right?

Hope you all have a WONDERFUL HUMP DAY!!!