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| Today I have completed 29 years on this earth and am starting on my 30th year. Thinking about turning 30 isn't as strange as it was when I was 19 thinking about turning 20. I'm not really sure why. Maybe because at 19 20 held so many unknowns, marriage, job, children? I had never even been on a date at 19! 20 was grown up stuff... Now having lived through my 20s I've begun my life as an adult and 30 really just holds more of the same, perhaps 40 will be a little scarier as my children will be entering their teens but if Nathan and I encourage and help build a good foundation now even the teen years will be survivable. So what of today. The day started out with a walk in the woods with some great ladies and their children. We had received a nice new blanket of snow this morning before our walk so the trees were covered in a layer of snow, it was absolutely beautiful. And the snow crunched under our feet, I just love that sound! Part of me wants to believe that that was my gift from God. The remainder of the day was pretty quiet. When Nathan got home we went out to dinner. We went to this lovely little seafood restaurant called Baker's Cove. The food was really good and the service was excellent, so friendly. Afterwards we came home and had some ice cream then it was time to put the kids to bed. As for gifts Zechariah gave me a rest from cleaning up his clothes, every day during his nap time instead of napping he plays and pulls all of his clothes out of his dresser, he didn't do that today :) and Hannah rolled from her back to her tummy! Tomorrow Nathan is making me breakfast, we're having belgian waffles with blueberry sauce, yum! And then my mom is making me dinner, honey garlic chicken, roasted potatoes and beans and sponge cake with strawberries and whipped cream for dessert, yum again! Now it's off to bed 'cause I am so tired... | | |
| This week has been CRAZY! Zechariah got himself out of his crib with the help of a stuffed bear, no problem we just won't put the bear in his crib with him again. But that night he got himself stuck straddling the top of the crib bars without the help of anything! So we took his mattress out of the crib and put it on the floor. Well now that he is no longer confined to his crib he doesn't seem to want to sleep anymore. We close his door so that he has to stay in his room by at night he gets so scared. Nathan has been sleeping in his room on the floor beside his mattress in a sleeping bag for the last two nights. Last night was the best night so far, he didn't wake up 'til 5:30 am. I went out today and purchased a night light for his room, I really hope that helps. Another first this week: drawing on the walls and furniture with blue permanent marker. While I was feeding Hannah upstairs Zechariah was downstairs, when I finished nursing and went downstairs boy what a surprise! I was able to get it off the windows with no problem, most of the furniture was also easy with a magic eraser but the walls will need to be painted, and for the couch we have some Eco bleach stuff that Nathan's mom says will work but we must scrub gently. Final first: Nathan had to pull the van over while driving home from bible study last night to discipline Zechariah. He took off his shoes and threw one at Hannah's car seat, thankfully not hitting her. This two children business is hard work! I did a bunch of canning this week, mostly while the kiddie napped (or played quietly inhis room in Zechariah's case). I did 'gherkins' and dill pickles and peaches and beets, I even managed to get a few beets frm my garden! I still plan to do applesauce but I'm going to wait 'til later in the season. We're going to Muskoka this weekend to a lodge for a family wedding. I think it'll be a lot of fun. Zechariah will enjoy running around and if they're still available going out in a paddle boat or canoe. We're leaving tomorrow and coming back Sunday. We're all looking forward to it :) | | |
| While doing her checkup on Hannah, Minke would hear something in her stethoscope that she thought might be a murmur but she wasn't too sure. Finally after yesterday's checkup she couldn't get rid of the feeling that it just didn't seem right so she had me bring Hannah to the clinic so the other midwives could have a listen. They too thought it didn't quite sound like a murmur. So Minke called a pediatrician at the hospital children's outpatient area and asked if he would check it out. So we headed off to the hospital. They did some tests. They got a chest x-ray (so disconcerting, they had me hold her while they took the x-rays and they gave me a vest and something to put on my hands and they went and hid behind a wall while Hannah laid stretched out in nothing but a diaper) and he listened to her heart. He said he heard what sounded more like a clicking than a whooshing (whooshing would mean murmur). He thought it could potentially be a bicuspid aortic valve (basically having 2 aortic valves instead of the normal 3). But he couldn't be sure, I guess he couldn't determine anything from the ECG or x-ray so he called a colleague in London and talked with her about it. Then set up an appt for us for this morning to go there and have an Echo something or other done. This is the most common way to diagnose the condition. There's a good chance that there's nothing wrong but they just want to make sure. I'm thankful for our healthcare here in Canada and our healthcare providers! I would be more than happy to discover that there's nothing but I won't feel like my time was wasted, Hannah is worth the precaution. | | |
| My baby girl was born Aug 14! I started getting contractions around 1 am Sunday morning. I just let Nathan sleep while I timed them and couldn't sleep myself. I did get a little sleep between them, but not much. Finally at 5 am I got out of bed and busied myself doing other things, I made muffins and got stuff ready to go to service. Standing made my contractions more intense. When Nathan woke up I told him I was having contractions, he was a little upset with me for not telling him when he had come to bed (which was coincidentally right around the time they started). Anyway we went to worship then came home for lunch. I couldn't eat lunch. I had no idea if I should call the midwife or not 'cause I was told to call when contractions were 5 mins apart and 1 min long. They hardly ever lasted for more than 50 secs but they were about 3 and 1/2 mins apart. So I called. Minke wasn't available and neither was backup so I had to call Cheryl. She came and checked to see how far along I was. She couldn't really tell but I think it was about 5 or 6 cm. We went to the hospital, they hooked me up to a monitor (heavy and super cumbersome), and an IV. We got there around 3 pm. I started to feel ready for pushing around 6:30ish. Minke showed up shortly after the pushing started, I was thankful to have her there. Pushing was extremely difficult and painful. I wanted to give up a couple of times. But I soldiered on. Eventually they told me I probably had another 30 mins of pushing to go and that seemed like an eternity to me. However, after the next contraction I had pushed out the head. The midwives were not ready, they hadn't put on their gloves or anything. They had to stop me. And at 7:20 pm she was born. It was the weirdest feeling ever, this wiggly, slimy, something just falling out of me. It was also a relief. They put her on me and we got to snuggle a little, she left me a little present on my belly (meconium) too. After the afterbirth we weren't quite finished 'cause on her way out one of her arms flailed wildly and left me with some tearing that had to be stitched up, ouch. While they stitched me they weighed her and did all the things they do to babies when they're born, minus the eye drops 'cause I said no to that. She weighed 9 lbs 5 oz and was 22 1/4" long, big girl. Super healthy! We're so happy to have her home with us now. And surprisingly Zechariah has accepted her and hasn't been too jealous. | | |
| I was watching Dave and the Giant Pickle today with Zechariah which is a Veggie Tales movie based on the story of David and Goliath. It got me to thinking about how much faith David had. Often times when we read stories from the OT they indicate that God told them to do something ie the story of Joshua leading the israelites around Jericho, God told them exactly what to do, they did it and everything went just as God had said it would. But God didn't tell David to fight Goliath or that he would win. David just knew that that was the right thing to do and he trusted that God would deliver Israel, somehow. I thought about that for a while. I concluded that I don't have that same faith. When I think of bible stories I think those were special times and God doesn't help us in those ways anymore. I do believe in miracles even today I just believe in them on a much smaller scale. Whenever somebody mentions God doing something in their life I feel skeptical of what they claim. I'm not sure why I have made such a separation between today and bible times but I have. I decided to read more about David, when Samuel is told to go to Jesse's house and anoint one of his sons God says "Man looks at the outward appearance, but the lord looks at the heart." after Samuel thought the next king would be Jesse's eldest son, referring of course to the eventual choosing of David. David a man whose heart is recognized by God still wasn't perfect. Later on as king he sleeps with another man's wife then when he finds out that she is pregnant he has the man return home gets him drunk and hopes he'll sleep with his wife to cover up what he did. When he refuses to do so he has him killed. But still he is referred to as a man after God's heart in the long run. So given all my imperfections I can still be after God's heart and that pleases him. It's not about being perfect it's about seeking him, hopefully as you seek him more the closer to perfection you'll get though. But the object is seeking him. So I will try to be less skeptical of how God intervenes, I'll trust him to help me when what I'm engaging in is within his will. | | |
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