B is for … baby, boy, blue

A teenaged boy asked where he could buy a sympathy card because he wanted to give one to Fraser (my newborn).  His reason: he only has one sister, but poor Fraser has three older sisters.  I suppose a sympathy card could be warranted at times when the girls fight over who gets to hold their little brother.  When they dress him up as a princess or make him their dolly, maybe I’ll give him a sympathy card myself.

Sitting with Daddy.

Needless to say, having a boy is still new to me.  While I was hoping for a boy (for the first time, I must say), I was still surprised to look down and discover we’d actually had one.  With a newborn, it certainly makes very little difference whether it’s a boy or girl, but as he gets older, I’m sure male tendencies will come out.

Four girls giving Fraser his first bath.

By the fourth child, I’ve gotten rather lax in some areas.   Outfits are worn for days at a time until there’s some obvious staining/smell attached to them.  Baby’s first bath happened in a blue Rubbermaid container.  Baby visited my grade 1er’s class to be poked and prodded by a bunch of germ-infested children.

And here are a few more “Bs” to add to the title.  Breastfeeding… constantly right now.  Baby brain… from lack of sleep.   Fraser is going through a growth spurt right now and I’m more than ready for it to end, as it’s left me rather exhausted.  He had just gotten into a pretty good night-time sleeping habit when he upped his eating (and pooping… sorry if that falls under the category “Too much information.”) and lowered his sleeping times.  Hopefully there’s a return to good sleeping soon.

I think Fraser has the most interesting stories associated with him so far.  Not only was he

John celebrated Fraser's one-week anniversary by buying a piece of carrot cake (the size of Fraser's head) from Safeway.

“delivered” by nurses in the maternity ward, but I also had to have my rings ground off because my finger swelled up rather rapidly in a few hours at night (presumably from not drinking enough water while breastfeeding??).  Since it was at night time, I waited until the morning to go to the walk-in-clinic at Brentwood Mall only to be told they didn’t have the equipment to remove rings so I was sent to the Walmart on Grandview only to be told it was Superstore that has the walk-in clinic (which isn’t far away, but I had a newborn and a 2 1/2 year-old with me).  Upon arriving at Superstore, I was told the walk-in-clinic didn’t open until 10, so I ended up driving back to one near my house and was given a two-hour wait time.  Because of the receptionist’s incompetence, I actually waited three hours before the doctor could help me.  By this time, I was just relieved to get the rings off and didn’t dwell on the fact that it was my engagement and wedding rings being wrecked.

The girls are developing their relationships with Fraser.  Victoria seems to have a good rapport with Fraser.  She snuggles him right up to her and he usually falls asleep or is at least content for her.  Bethany always loves to hold Fraser and give him a good morning snuggle and another one when she gets home from school.  She likes to “fetch” him when he wakes up as well.  Meghan alternates between wanting to hold the baby or touch the baby to wanting to (gently) kick at him and send him away.

All curled up with his blanket.

Waiting…

It seems like I’ve spent a lot of time lately staring at the calendar counting down the days left until my due date.  And while I keep thinking it’s sooo far away, we’re down to eight days now.  Unfortunately, if the past is any indication, I’ll be starting a new countdown once I reach that: ten days until induction.

Although I can’t help feeling somewhat impatient, I’m busy enough that the time has been flying by.  I’ve fallen into a weekly routine with Meghan and Victoria: Mondays are for Strong Start; Tuesdays “we” do laundry” and Wednesdays “we” clean up; Thursdays we go to circle time at the library; and Fridays we go to the hospital for a check-up.  The girls sometimes ask if we can go to Strong Start extra times, but I prefer to keep it to once a week because we don’t get lunch until late and Meghan’s rather cranky and difficult while she gets her last premolar!  (On an aside, I’m so glad she’s getting it before Baby comes because I’ll be tired enough without any extra crankiness to deal with.)

I’ve been enjoying little moments with the girls, which would be easier to show you with pictures, but I don’t tend to take pictures of these things.  This week’s have included: Bethany reading to her two sisters, one on either side of her.  Meghan running up to Bethany after school, hugging her and saying, “I love you.”  Victoria sitting with Meghan in the bathroom with Meghan sitting on the toilet while Victoria “reads” to her.  Victoria, massive belly because she has twin bears under her nightie, getting checked out by “Dr. Bethany” and “Nurse Meghan”… then having a c-section and getting stitched up.

Spring is coming and each time I notice something to prove that, I’m happy.  We’ve seen some flowers on the way to school and the rhododendruns out front have a few pink petals showing.  Magnolia buds have appeared, and the girls like to feel how soft they are.  Today we saw birds flitting back and forth from a tree, probably making a nest.  I’m ready for sunshine and flowers and rain puddles without being cold and letting the kids play outside more often.

Now I’ve had this sitting here for a couple of days because I wanted to add some pictures so I don’t bore you with only my writing, but I’m no closer to getting pictures on than I was two days ago.  Maybe I’ll put up a few pictures on their own post if I ever get around to it.

My Monkey

A visit to the capital

Our Remembrance Day weekend was spent in Victoria with a bag of mixed weather and lots to do.

We parked the car at the Native parking lot five minutes out of Tsawwassen ferry terminal and arrived with less than ten minutes to spare to catch the ferry.  We enjoyed the breakfast buffet aboard the Coastal Celebration’s 10:00 sailing with lots of eggs, sausage, potatoes, French toast, fruit, yogourt and granola, toast, hot chocolate and so on!  With a window table, the girls were able to enjoy the seagulls soar beside the ferry, and John was able to watch the passing ferries.

Believe it or not, prior to the trip, the girls were most looking forward to riding on a double-decker bus (“upper-decker bus” as they most frequently call it).   So, we waited for two buses to leave before getting top front seats on the third bus.  The bus driver was very friendly and had the girls press the stop buttons and count the seats before leaving the terminal.  She also wanted a rendition of The Wheels On the Bus, but Bee wasn’t all that interested in accommodating her for more than a few lines.

"Upper-decker" bus!

Once we arrived in downtown Victoria, we had a small snack before heading to Miniature World.  The girls and a certain male enjoyed playing with the train in one of the first exhibits, where most of our time was spent.  After a “walk through history” miniature-style, we walked to our accommodations, The Admiral Inn, and dropped off our luggage.

WWII airplanes.

Some of us had pre-dinner naps before heading to the Spaghetti Factory, which is somewhat of a tradition for us (Eating at The Old Spaghetti Factory, not the naps).  After being filled with sourdough bread, soup and salad, spaghetti, lasagna, manicotti and spumoni ice cream, we headed back to our rooms to put the kids to bed.

In the morning, after continental breakfast (which the girls always love), we headed out to the Remembrance Day parade and ceremony in front of the parliament buildings.  It had started to rain a little bit and from what I could hear, there was a hold up while w

Queen Victoria statue in front of the legislature buildings.

aiting for the Right Honourable Somebody-er-other.  The long moments of silence gave me a chance to think about two things–verses, actually, from the Bible–”Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends,” and “…when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son.”  I always think about these verses on Remembrance Day because I can’t help thinking about Someone who was willing to die for His enemies while I’m thinking of those who gave their lives, or are willing to give their lives, for their “friends”.

Meghan ended up falling asleep and we left before the end of the ceremony to get some lunch and figure out where my folks were, as they were meeting us.  I heartily recommend avoiding the Royal BC Museum’s cafe.  The food was lame; the service was lame; the prices were lame.  We did, however, enjoy watching two IMAX films: one about beavers and one about orphaned elephants and orangutans.  After seeing how much the girls enjoyed the IMAX experience, I thought it would be fun to take them to the Omnimax.  Maybe someday I’ll actually be brave enough to do that.   After telling you about the weather in the first sentence of this post, I’ll just add that it was incredibly windy yet sunny that afternoon.

Motivating factor for our walk? For one of us anyway!

The following day, the girls went off with my family to their hotel for a swim while John and I went for a walk.  The rain held off for the most part, so we enjoyed a walk out to and along the Ogden Point breakwater.  While on the breakwater, we met some tourists, who used me as a nature-expert and photographer much to John’s amusement.  We stopped for hot chocolates at a cafe at the start of the breakwater.  Unfortunately, the hot chocolates were only somewhat warm and overpriced.  I won’t complain though because they had whipped cream on top.

The rest of the day was taken up with menial things like meals and a ferry ride.  When I was childless, I enjoyed ferry rides, don’t get me wrong… Now they’re more of a torture sentence while I entertain or at least supervise three children in an enclosed space while enduring other people’s children.  Can you tell I never aspired to be a teacher or daycare worker?  I have to say, after an hour in the play area on the ferry, I started to fervently hope that my next baby isn’t a boy.

Pumpkins!

I started the day carrying one backpack, but I slowly collected three before putting one back in the car.

The last few months have left me feeling tired and sick in the evenings—my time to write these blog posts.  I won’t be ambitious, trying to write all the posts I’ve started either on the computer or in my mind; I’ll stick to today!

This morning we loaded up the (station) wagon with people and headed to a pumpkin patch, where we met Bessie-Bee’s class for a field trip.  A neighbour and my sister-in-law and her son came along with us… And we had a bit of an adventure finding the place.  Next field trip, I’m google mapping the location as the teacher’s map left a lot to be desired.  Either that, or I should remember to put the Greater Vancouver mapbook back in the car as the maps of Kamloops and the interior don’t really help out too much in these situations.

Anyway, we arrived at the pumpkin patch on time and with time to spare since the busses were late.  I’m certain the children all had fun, although the younger ones were lagging by about 1 o’clock.  As an adult, I found we were being herded like sheep, rushed along and rarely stopped to take any pictures I would have

We love pumpkins!

normally taken.  We also missed out on the corn maze, which I know my girls were looking forward to since I had told them about it beforehand. 

The children started out the day with lunch in giant tipis.  We sat outside on a bench since there wasn’t any room left in the tipi.  After lunch, we looked at the animals: an assortment of farm animals including emus, chickens, ducks, ponies, goats, donkeys, and rabbits.  About this time, it started to feel like a beautiful summer’s day, which was gorgeous, but a little warm for “fall wear”.  I won’t complain as I love warm autumn days.

Big Bunny.Ride 'em cowgirls.

Next, the children were able to run around a small area with wooden animals that they could interact with. Cows to “milk”, tractors to “drive” and wooden cutouts to stand behind.  I couldn’t help thinking that this was a snap-happy zone more than anything, but perhaps I’m jaded by a society that’s more interested in taking a photo than enjoying the moment (I’m guilty of this too sometimes). 

The woods were our penultimate stop (You can thank my father-in-law for that word).  A lot of work went into setting up different themed areas in the woods with wooden figures, gnomes, and pumpkins.  It reminded me of our visit to The Enchanted Forest in Revelstoke in a much smaller scale.  As we filed through the woods in somewhat of a “tour guide” fashion, the kids pointed out different animals and characters they recognized. 

As it was getting late, we had to skip the gold panning and corn maze and go straight to the pumpkin-picking!  For some reason, this is a favourite of the girls.  I was somewhat disappointed by the small state of all the pumpkins, but I’m sure the girls loved them more for being small.

We all had a good day, with no major mishaps and beautiful weather.  I would have enjoyed myself a little more if we were able to go at our own pace and spend more time at areas of greater interest.  Maybe someone with a type-A personality runs the farm.   Now I just have to convince the girls to wait until Halloween to carve the pumpkins or they’ll be rotten long before it ever comes!

Can we get another one please??

June Bugs

Last week Grandma was visiting and we had a full, busy week with a class field trip to the Children’s Festival on Granville Island, a day off, a couple of shopping expeditions, a ton of baking, sewing a dress, and a parade followed by a picnic at Confederation park.

Farfalle- Italian for "butterflies"; also the name of the show she watched.

The Children’s Festival was fun for the kids, but not a place I’d willingly choose to go to on my own. Paying five dollars each when not all of us participated in the activities seems like a rip off and there are lines everywhere. The girls’ favourite station was face painting, which Bee talked about before the field trip and afterwards. Thankfully it only rained for an hour or so while Bee enjoyed a show about butterflies. Mom, TT, May-May and I holed up at the Kids’ Market since we weren’t prepared for rain (read t-shirts and sweaters with no umbrellas). We enjoyed window shopping at a toddler’s pace, particularly at the shop with puppets.

The day's theme was "butterflies".

On Bee’s day off, we took it easy for the morning since the girls were tired from their field trip the previous day. In the afternoon, we took the girls swimming, one of their favourite activities. We were enjoying ourselves until the power went out due to a bit of a thunderstorm.  The lights took 20 minutes to come back on, so we had to wait at the side of the swimming pool in our bathing suits (my theory is that bathing suits belong in the water and mad dashes are required when out of the water! ).

Burnaby’s Hat’s Off Day parade went well.  If you want a critique of the parade, my only complaint is that there were some awfully large gaps between groups (over a block long in one case), causing the parade to take longer than it needed to last.  The girls’ booty bag was filled with reusable water bottles, candy, balloons, helium balloons, and tons of pamphlets.  They added to their bag after walking up Hastings Street.  We picked up a Vancity reusable bag, wasted 10 minutes in a line-up to see if our “key” (received during the parade) opened the door to prizes, and the girls got RCMP kids’ packages (three tattoos, two big stickers and a colouring book in a little bag).  We then headed to Confederation Park for a picnic of egg sandwiches, 6-layer dip, veggies and cupcakes for dessert.  The girls enjoyed the waterpark (a bit cold, they told me) and then the playground before heading home.

May-may didn't mind the cold as much as the other two did.Love this picture of May-may!Love this picture of May-may!Love this picture of May-may!

Lately, with the un-rainy weather (I say that because I’m not a huge fan of hot weather), we’ve enjoyed time outside in the “front yard”.  The girls play with sidewalk chalk, pick stuff for salads (fallen flowers, sticks, leaves, pinecones, etc.), play with balls, “bikes”, or skipping ropes.  Bee and I enjoy playing “soccer” with each other; she’s turning out to be pretty good at it when she’s not goofing off.  The funny thing is, there’s a boy from Bee’s class who lives above and beside us, and a lot of the time he’ll come to his window or patio and talk (loudly!) to us.  “What are you doing?  I’m washing my toy house.  Want to see my cat?”  He’s a cute little guy. 

Love this picture of May-may!

Bee wanted in on the “matching sisters” photos.

Matching outfits, one purchased used. Taking a picture break.

Bee’s quite the little “teacher”/”mother” or some such thing.  She’s always helping the other kids with work or to find something or to keep organized.  Today she helped a classmate’s older brother find his mom.  Can you tell that she has a mother who needs a lot of help?   I’m only slightly scatter-brained when I’m sleep deprived. 

The rest of June is filling up quickly as well.  Bee’s class has plans for sports day and a school picnic that they want parents to be involved in, and we have two little June Bugs with birthdays eleven calendar days apart. I’d like to make their birthdays special, but June is already going by so quickly that I’m afraid those days will come before I’m ready for them. 

P.s.  I just realized that I never took a picture of TT’s dress, so you’ll just have to wait, Steph.

Overnight on Saltspring

En Route to Salt Spring Island.

Our first camping trip of the season is now a distant memory, but it definitely whet our appetite for more . . . perhaps without any rain.  Or if the rain must come, it would be nice to have a tarp or two.  We’ve planned our summer camping trip tentatively for Quadra Island with our canoe, so we have something to look foward to enjoying as soon as John’s manager approves the request for time off.

We started our trip with the buffet aboard the Spirit of Vancouver Island en route to Swartz Bay, where we just managed to catch the ferry to Salt Spring.  The sun was beating down on us, and I would have pulled out the sunscreen if the ferry ride was longer.  Upon disembarking, we headed to Ruckle Park amidst the “Are we almost there?” and “How much further?”s.  (Did I really do that as a child?  How annoying!)  I could understand the excitement, however, and tried to be patient with my impatient children. 

Site number one, all set up and ready for use.

After a few minutes of contemplation, we chose spot number one, tucked away in the forest for privacy’s sake.  Site number 1 boasted a raised wooden platform to set our tent up on.  Unfortunately, TT managed to fall and scrape her thigh on said raised wooden platform.  The scrapes must have hurt because she had a good cry, and it looked quite painful; however, in typical childish manner, she forgot all about it 5 minutes later.

We spent most of the day relaxing and walking along the coast, made up of bluffs and

TT, deer scarer, insect killer.

slabs of rock with pockets of tidal pools.  There were tons of sea anenome and starfish.  We also saw some deer along the trails, who didn’t seem to mind humans too much until TT started singing “I’m the king of the castle, you’re the silly rascals!”  For some reason, that scared them away rather quickly.  We ended the day with a post-supper, pre-bedtime walk to enjoy the sunshine. 

It took awhile for the girls to settle down because they were excited, but once they were asleep, they slept through the night except for a

potty break for TT (We totally forgot to grab her little potty that we meant to bring).  The disturbance woke up May-May of course (Little Monkey’s latest nickname, and her name for herself), who crawled up between our mattresses and fell asleep again. 

It's not bedtime yet!

Notice I said the girls slept through the night?  Around 4am, the rain started and didn’t really stop.  We ate our breakfast in the tent before taking it down because, as I eluded to earlier, we had no tarps and we almost didn’t put the fly over the tent.

Before heading to my folks’ house, we enjoyed an hour or so at Piper’s Lagoon in Nanaimo.  We walked along the beach, to the top of the hill and across to the other side of the lagoon.  The girls were good little hikers and May-May was the only one who needed a lift back to the car.

Breakfast in the tent.

p.s.  Let me know if you’re visiting the park and I’ll give you an overview of the

outhouses since TT had potty issues and I’m quite sure we saw the inside of the outhouses 25 times during the course of less than 24 hours.  Bee can tell you an exciting story that she remembers best about camping.  We definitely need to go on another trip!

Girls at Piper's Lagoon