Happy baby

Someone is just learning to laugh and giggle. Makes up for the screeching and screaming that usually comes later on.

Christmas fam jam!

Here's the only pic I took from our family party at my brother's house. Tons of food, tons of presents for the kids (it was mayhem!) And tons of fun playing our annual steal gift game.

Merry Christmas 2013!

Merry Christmas! Today we celebrated the holiday as a family of 4. We woke up around 10 (yes, we've somehow trained our kids to sleep in,) had a yummy breakfast of chocolate croissants, breakfast quiche and bacon and then opened our presents. It was a very nice Christmas morning and I felt very lucky and blessed to celebrate with my own little family. I spent the rest of the day cooking; braised lamb shoulder, roasted yams and brussel sprouts with kale and bacon. Dinner was deeleecious!

Tomorrow we will celebrate with my extended family at my brother's house. Another Christmas tradition which I am happy to be able to share. Since I was a kid Ive always celebrated with my aunts, uncles and cousins and as our family grows with new babies and becomes smaller with the passing of others, its a blessing that we are able to continue this tradition and pass it onto our kids.

I hope everyone had a very happy holiday and were able to spend it with the ones you love. It really is all you need.

Progress

Here's an updated photo of mine, Susie's and Sally's kids at my annual holiday baking party (just missing Saadia who couldnt make it this year.) I dont know how we managed to time the birth of our kids together like this but maybe knowing each other for so long syncs your biological clocks just like living together syncs your periods.

Whatever the reason, I'm so glad to still have these ladies in my life. Our kids will grow up knowing the true meaning of friendship.

Family pic 2013

Look for this photo in your Christmas cards to come (if I can ever get around to doing my Christmas cards that is!)

2 months old!

As of yesterday, my #2 is officially 2 months old. Went for a dr check up yesterday(and the first set of shots!) And weigh in was at a whopping 9 lbs 11 oz and 54 cm long. This girl can eat! Its nice to have a baby that's eating and growing well after my problems with Marley the first time around. Although Miss Sunday didnt do so well with her first shots, there was alot more crying and even the open mouthed "silent" scream which was oh so sad.

Happy 2 months baby girl!

Sisters?

Here are two photos, guess which is which? Its easier to see their similarities this way thats for sure.

Getting ready for the holidays

This year was a bit more difficult with two kids but I still managed to get the Christmas tree up and our stockings hung. Our tree is a hand me down from Gerwyn's mom and reminds me of the tree we used to have as kids. However after spending an hour trying to string the lights on properly, I definitely see the value in getting the prelit tree for next year.

But for now, this one still puts us in the holiday spirit!

Loungin'

5 weeks old

Sunday is now 7lbs! She recently gained 2lbs in 2 weeks and to me, looks so different from when she was born. Fuller cheeks, more chins and less hair. If I didnt know she was my baby, I might confuse her for an old Asian man.

My little cupcake

This is Sunday modelling her new hat that her aunt Nancy knitted her, a cute cupcake for my little cupcake.

First pair of shoes!

This is Sunday wearing her first pair of shoes. The first of many to come I'm sure but at least these arent hand me downs.

Bring on the cold weather

Here  is a pic of Marley all bundled up for preschool. We recently bought her a new pair of snow pants as well so we're ready for the Canadian winter to hit!

Halloween 2013!

This year was the first year Marley really understood the concept of trick or treating. I was hoping to get away with reusing last year's cupcake costume but someone insisted on being a princess (thanks to tita sally for providing the costume for her birthday!)

At the daycare dropoff, I walked into a room full of princesses (glad to see peer pressure starts at an early age,) and Marley joined all of her fellow princesses for a danceathon.

During trick or treating, I wondered how I would be able to pry most of the candy away from her. While she was going from house to house with daddy, I managed to rifle through her bag and pick out the stuff I didnt want her to eat. I ended up giving it to a couple of older kids I saw trick or treating on the street. When we got home, we separated all of her candy into appropriate food groups (chocolate, chips and crap we didnt want) and I convinced Marls she only wanted to eat a rice krispy square. I've since removed all of her chocolate bars and hidden them away. Hoping to eat them all before she notices, heh heh heh. Gotta love free candy!!!

Sunday's Arrival

Now that I've had a few weeks to recover, I thought I would recap Sunday's birth story before I forget!

At 37 weeks, I went in for my usual OB check up to find out her growth rate hsd slowed. She went from being in the 40th percentile to the 5th and my dr was concerned there was an issue with my placenta so he recommended an induction for that weekend. We were to call in on the Sunday to find out what time to come in.

If you've never gone for a scheduled induction its much like ordering your own baby. You call in and pick what time you'd like to deliver. I chose 1pm so we'd have some time to relax.

Once we went in, we were put in a back room ( which smelled so old and musty!) and were told to wait as they were very busy. An hour later a nurse came in to take my vitals. She pointed out that my blood pressure seemed high and said she would take it again to double check. I was also asked to provide a urine sample. I was reading a magazine at that time and she suggested I put the magazine away and get some rest. I shouldve taken that as a sign of things to come.

Within a few minutes we were told we were moving rooms and were assigned a few more nurses. Once we got into the new room (which was much more spacious with no musty smell), we were overwhelmed with an entire team of doctors and nurses who all started inserting tubes into my arms. It turned out that my blood pressure was climbing past 200 and there was protein in my urine, both signs of something called HELLP syndrome. My placenta was basically deteriorating in my body and started releasing toxins that was overwhelming my liver. I was likely to have a stroke due to my blood pressure if they could not get it down quickly and so they had to start high dosages of meds through IV in addition to monitoring my pressure through my artery. The anesthetist was also checking my back for the epidural and I also had to get a catheter to monitor my urine output. I felt like a pin cushion.

Unfortunately the meds made me extremely ill and my liver was causing such extreme pain in my chest I started to throw up while they were inserting my epidural. I was already at 3cm so the Ob was hoping he could deliver the baby naturally without a csection. Once all the bp meds were in they started the oxytocin in order to progress labour. All of this excitement started around 3pm. By 6pm, I was only 5 cm dilated. By 8:30, I had only progressed another cm but luckily the epidural took away the chest pain and although I could still feel contractions, they were a walk in the park compared to the liver pain.

At that point Gerwyn realized our parking had well past expired so he went down to move the car. I was feeling stronger contractions by then so asked him to send in the nurse to check on his way out. When she came in to check, I had progressed to 10 cm within the last 15 mins and was ready to push. They quickly called Gerwyn back from the parking lot and all of a sudden, the team of drs and nurses were back in my room telling me to push. Gerwyn got back just in time to grab my leg and with 4 or 5 pushes, my tiny girl was out. I still felt so nauseous from all of the meds I started throwing up again. I barely remember them putting her on my chest.

It was a whirlwind of activity again as they closely monitored my blood pressure and added more meds to the mix. I ended up staying in that room (pretty much attached to the bed) for 3 days. I finally had all of the tubes removed after day 3 and was able to go to the bathroom all by myself. I felt so free! Unfortunately it was short lived as I still needed to stay in the hospital another 3 days to monitor all of my vitals. Luckily during the whole ordeal, Miss Sunday was perfectly fine and passed all of her tests. She was sucking back formula and happy as a clam while hamunee took care of her.

I admit, the experience of being hospitalized was awful. It was the first time in my life I have ever been really really sick (near death even!) but the staff at Mt. Sinai were very reassuring and made me feel like I would be taken care of. They never told me how serious it was until afterwards and during the scary parts were very calm and supportive. I was very lucky to have gone into the hospital that day and am thankful to have been in their care.

I'll be on the road to recovery for awhile but am already feeling much better and am slowly being weaned off all my meds! The saying about having your health really is true, without it, I felt pretty hopeless and I will definitely remember not to take it for granted.

Now that its been almost 3 weeks, ive had sufficient time to bond with my newest daughter, make up for lost time with my oldest daughter (I cant believe she's a big sister now, she used to be my baby!) and remember what life is like with a newborn (The lack of sleep, explosive poos, and sore boobs!)

Time to enjoy maternity leave! Who wants a cupcake?

Sleepy time

Caught someone napping while on the job... I don't blame him though, who wouldnt want to cuddle next to this?

Soup

While recovering at home, I've been eating a lot of soup. First the Korean seaweed soup and today I made my own chicken and vegetable soup to change things up.

The only problem is that I find myself starving within a couple of hours!  Its funny because I feel like if I ate the same chicken and vegetables but not in a soup I would be very full. Once you throw it into a broth, I'm still so hungry!

Introducing...

Miss Sunday Anesse Lee Begonia! Born on Sunday October 13, 2013 at 9:01 pm.

It was a Thanksgiving weekend and a Sunday we'll never forget!

Early delivery

At this week's OB check up we found out that the baby's weight is not increasing as it should so my dr decided that this weekend would be D day. Its kind of nice knowing exactly which day you will deliver but seeing as how that only gave us 4 days to prepare instead of the 2 weeks we thought we had, its also been a bit stressful.

Dug out the carseat and just have to finish packing my bag and cleaning. This Thanksgiving we'll be welcoming a 5lb addition to the fam. Will have to save my turkey dinner for another time!

Sully's birthday party

Today we celebrated Sully's 3rd birthday at Lula Lounge for brunch and salsa! There was a live band playing and a big dancefloor so all the kids got to burn off all their sugar induced hyperactivity by chasing each other and dancing. What a great idea! Marley loved the cake and was so happy when she got to bring a balloon home. Thanks for the great party Sully!

Jen and Justin's wedding!

Here's a pic from their festivities back in June.

Progress!

This is a photo of Marley watching a movie on the iPad (Tangled, her fave!) while eating dessert in her underwear. Its significant for the following reasons:
1. She has the attention span to watch an entire movie! (Movie theatre here we come!)
2. She ate her entire dinner! (A bowl full of quinoa and chicken cacciatore, but only after I pulled out dessert and showed her what she could have if she finished. Peach cobbler with pumpkin ice cream, yum!)
3. She's finally able to wear big girl underwear for hours at a time with no accidents! We've even been successful with #2 in the actual toilet!

Making progress...

High tea in Niagara on the Lake

Today I met up with some old university friends Kim and Trish and Saadia for high tea and spa treatments at the Prince of Wales Hotel. Its been a long time since I've had a girls day to myself and after being cooped up with Marley indoors the day before, I really needed the break!

The weather was nice so we were able to take a walk along the strip after. I was so full after our tea I definitely needed the exercise. What a great outing with some very good friends!

Rainy days

Its been raining all day today. We decided to take a short walk to get eggs so we all suited up in rainboots and umbrellas for our walk. Unfortunately Marls seemed more excited about getting dressed in her gear and much less excited once she actually got outside.

6 more weeks to go!

Just realized I havent taken any photos of this pregnancy, I guess 2nd child syndrome is already kicking in. Here's one of me today at just over 34 weeks. Not much longer to go....

Sous chef

I once read that kids are more inclined to eat something they helped make so lately I've started to get Marley's help in the kitchen. She actually loves cooking and I love sharing the experience with her. We started with pancakes where she mixes the batter and tops the blueberries and tonight progressed to mini pizzas and apple turnovers. She loved putting her toppings on her pizza and I even got her to eat a few pieces of broccoli in the process!

Cant wait until she can make entire meals for US for a change!!

Happy 3rd birthday Marley!

Today we celebrated Marley's 3rd birthday. This was the first birthday where she actually understood what was going on. She looked forward to it all week and asked every day if it was "chocolate cake" day. She had so much fun she even missed her usual nap! By the end of the night, when we recapped the evening at bedtime, her highlights were wearing her pretty dress, eating chocolate cake and donuts and seeing all of her friends.

Time flies!

Look at this tiny baby. Hard to believe she will be 3 on Saturday.  Even harder to believe another tiny baby will be here in just over a month! Aieeeeeee!

Trip to the cne!

Here is a collage of pics from our first visit to the cne! Of course marley's favourite parts were the food, farm and holding hands with her bf Jacen.

Family photo from Spring!

Now that ive finally figured out how to blog from my phone im catching up on some old pics. Here's a family photo from a few months back in Spring.

Surprise visit from Tita Jessica!

Last weekend we enjoyed a surprise visit from Gerwyn's baby sister from New York. Although she has been to Toronto many times, it has always been with family and never as a tourist. This time we made sure to show her all of our favourites: kensington, queen west, cne, and gerrard st.

We pigged out on kimchi tacos, tiny toms, chinese, brunch and bbq! It was a great visit and we look forward to our next visit together!

New haircut!

While tita jess was here, we had her use her professional hair stylist skills to finally give someone a much needed haircut! And I squeezed in a bangs trim too.

Jaina's baptism

Yesterday we celebrated Jaina's baptism at St. Pascal's church followed by a huge buffet dinner at Frankie Tomatto's. Jaina was very cooperative and barely cried at all! Marley enjoyed the opportunity to play with her friends, wear her fancy dress and eat plenty of dessert!

Time to set another place at the table!

Guess who's coming to dinner?

Expected date of arrival: October 26th, 2013

The best dance move ever...