Sparrow Wings

I know I abandoned this blog a long time ago. I just realized today, though, that I should put a link here to my new blog, Sparrow Wings. I'll be posting more about sewing and projects, and a little less about life, but it will still give a glimpse into our lives.


Hope to see you there!

Dresses

When I was fabric shopping much earlier this year, I found a beautiful light purple fabric with sparkles on it. I knew I had to buy it and make something for Chloe or I would forever regret it. Then Jane came along, and the project had to wait.

After about a month of slowly sewing away, I have finished! Here I present 2 summer dresses for two pretty girls, with great twirly skirts.

And no, I did not use a pattern, I just made it up.

30! And funny (not real) word of the day!

I am 30 today. Wow. That's all, really.

This morning, Kara said "Its the humungest!" I don't even remember what she was talking about, but it was the biggest, but apparently extra big or something....

In the (neighbour's) garden

Having fun next door. They really do have a beautiful garden - perfect for pics of our beautiful girls!

Two weeks

Jane was 2 weeks old yesterday. Hard to believe its been so short a time, as I can't imagine life without her around any more.

Grandma Rose hosted a shower for Jane on Saturday. It was nice. Jane got a lot of cute clothes, but also some really useful stuff, so thanks to everyone who came!

Life is progressing. Jane is starting to settle in, though her "night time" seems to start around 7pm and end at 4am, so I've been going to bed by 9pm most nights, which really doesn't give me much free time once Chloe and Kara have gone to bed (8pm is bed time for them). Mind you, I'm pretty beat by then, so going to bed early isn't a bad thing sleep-wise.

The only other thing to say is that right now I hate laundry. We still generate as much as we used to, plus Jane's stuff added in, but no time to fold it right now. Today I finally got to putting away all my maternity clothes, and pulling out all my pre-pregnancy clothes (though most of my pants are still a little too small). I can finally stop living in 1 pair of pants and 4 shirts. Yay!

funny things said this week

Kara: "Jane has stopped crying."
Mark: "Yes, she has stopped crying! Don't worry, its only temporary."


Chloe: "I don't want to hold Jane. I don't want to catch her hiccups."


Chloe: "Something is stinky."
Danielle: "Its Jane. She made baby bum noise. Baby bum noise is stinky."
Chloe: "No, its stinkier than that."

Pictures!

Things are going well. I'm tired, but adjusting. I think the same can be said for the girls. I know its odd for Kara that she is no longer the youngest. Its also hard for me. Two weeks ago, even though I was massively pregnant, it wasn't hard for me to lift Kara. Now she seems very big and heavy.

Now for pictures :)

This is Jane:

 This is Kara:

 And this is Chloe:

Jane Marian Nicholson

Our baby is finally here. Jane Marian Nicholson arrived on Sunday March 18 at 4:10am. She was 8lb1oz and 21.5in long.


Now for the crazy story...

Jane was due on Tuesday the 13th. Since both Chloe and Kara arrived by their due-dates, Mark and I were rather anxious when Jane still wasn't here on Thursday. On Friday I looked up ways to induce labour naturally, as I was tired of being pregnant, and wanted to avoid chemical induction from being really overdue. The first suggestion I found that I wanted (was willing) to try was to go for long walks. So Kara and I walked to Chloe's school to pick her up on Friday afternoon, and then I went for 2 walks on Saturday. I also was intrigued by maternity acupressure, which says there are certain pressure points that can help the baby get into the right position and start labour. I worked on a few of these points through the day on Saturday. And the last thing I figure that ensured Jane coming on Sunday was us telling Aaron that we would give him a ride to church.

Around 2:20am, I woke up with a mild contraction, got up, went to the bathroom, and went back to bed. I fell back asleep. I woke up again right at 3am to another contraction. I went to the bathroom, got a drink, and waited to see what would happen. Based on my labours with Chloe & Kara, I figured I would have about 30min to an hour before I would need to wake Mark. However, by 3:15am my contractions were only 2 minutes apart. I went to the bathroom again because I needed to, and somehow I just couldn't get up to wake Mark. Eventually Mark woke up because of the sounds I was making (I was in lots of pain), and he knew that it was serious. He came in to the bathroom and said "Why didn't you wake me?!?!" to which I think I replied "I don't know!" He called my mom, then I called the answering service for the midwife while Mark went to the bathroom. Mark answered the phone when the midwife called and she said "Get to the hospital right now." So Mark tried to get me ready, but he had to find someone to stay with the girls first (they were both awake by then), since it was going to be at least another 30 minutes before my mom arrived. In the 5 minutes Mark took to find a neighbour, everything changed.

When Mark got back with Greg, he said "Lets go." I remember yelling at one point to something he said, "I can't!" I told him that I needed to push, and that we weren't going to make it to the hospital, and that he needed to call the midwife and tell her as much. The midwife called back, and said "I'll be there. If I don't make it in time, catch the baby in a towel, and start drying her off." Within 5 minutes of that phone call, I felt Jane's head crowning. By this time, Greg had called his wife Crystal over to take his place, and she was in the bathroom with me. Mark came in just in time to catch Jane in the towel Crystal was holding, with me telling him when I was pushing and how close to out Jane was, since he needed to know what I was doing/feeling. I think it took maximum 15 minutes of pushing from when I first felt it was time until Jane was all the way out.

Within 2 minutes of Jane being out of me, the midwife showed up, and thankfully took over. She cut the umbilical cord and wrapped Jane in a towel. Mark took Jane to meet her sisters (and my mom, who had arrived very shortly before that) while the midwife made sure I was doing okay. I was definitely in mild shock, with some shaking. But Mark got me some blankets, a drink and a muffin, and then I felt a bit better, though I was still cold. But my blood pressure was okay when the midwife checked it. The midwife then checked Jane thoroughly to make sure everything was right, and also weighed and measured her.

So, I woke up in full labour at 3am, and Jane was born 1hr10min later. I had her in the bathroom, and Mark caught her in a towel. My neighbour Crystal was a huge help. The after-birth check-ups with the midwife took about an hour. At that point Mark and I got a few minutes alone with Jane, which is when we got to decide that Jane would indeed be her name. Then I tried to feed Jane (it mostly worked), and then I got to nap while the girls watched some TV. Mark and Grandma tried to get them to go back to bed a few times, but they never did fall back asleep.

Around 9am, my mom took Chloe and Kara back to her place in Abbotsford, and we got peace and quiet for the rest of the day. I am still amazed at how fast my labour was, and everything else that happened yesterday. I am so grateful for both my mom and Crystal, and so proud of Mark for being so awesome a husband and dad.

Everything is going very well today, though I am very tired and need to rest a lot. The girls are back home, and its a lot louder, which is both nice and, well, loud. They are so enamoured with Jane, and Chloe keeps asking to hold Jane. However, I know it will take a lot of adjustment for them, especially Kara. She's not the 'baby' anymore, and I know its going to be weird for her to not have all of my attention when Chloe is at school.

Now begins a week of all of us at home, as Chloe is on Spring Break, and Mark is taking a week off work. The timing actually works out very nicely that way.

Anyway, I think that's all for now. I'll post some pictures of Jane once I get them off the camera and onto my computer.

Oops (aka lots of updates)

So, its been 2 months since I've posted here. Not good.
MANY things have happened since then. Lets see where we get ;)

Peppers!

We are growing peppers on our kitchen window sill (inside). We've had one "crop" of a few peppers already, and a second is growing.

Daddy's DS

Mark's DS is a favorite toy for both our girls. They like to play Chrono Trigger WITH daddy, or either Pictochat or Scribblenauts by themselves.

Kara's Birthday

Kara is 3! Her birthday was March 10, though we had her party on March 3 just in case the baby decided to come early. (It didn't.) Here's some pictures from her party.

Playtime

So, there was the teachers' strike last week. That meant Chloe was home for a few days. The girls had a lot of fun playing different things, like finger painting and "princesses". Oh, and spinning around in new pretty dresses from Grandma Rose. (Thanks Grandma!)

Tooth Fairy

Chloe lost her third tooth last week. She pulled it out herself, even. She was so excited to get "a whole dollar!", which she spent on a pack of orange tic-tacs. It was funny, because the tic-tacs could fit through the hole left by the missing tooth.

What's Next?

Well, at this point, we're waiting for baby. My due date is technically today. We'll see what happens though. I sure would like to be done though. Chloe has Spring Break next week, which will make things interesting. Other than that, life goes on. Hopefully it won't take me 2 months to get back here again.

2 months

So, in theory, I have 2 months to go until the baby arrives. The due date is March 13.

I have a ton of things I need to do, but at the same time, I want to relax and take it easy, so not much is getting done.

We are mostly back into the routine of school, which got totally thrown off over the Christmas break. It will be interesting to see what our new routine (or lack of one) will be when the baby arrives.

We have been enjoying our various Christmas presents. The girls are really loving the wooden train pieces they got from us & my mom. We are building new tracks every few days for them to play with, and Chloe has been building simpler tracks too. Its a lot of fun.

Christmas 2011

Here are some pictures from our Christmas this year.

Mark made me a mallet:

Chloe showing off their new train set, and Kara looking confused:

 Chloe super excited about her Belle doll, and Kara opening her Cinderella:

Kara hugging her new owl:

Kara's new pajamas:

At Rose & Barry's house, opening gifts:

Waiting for Santa:

Santa arrives:

Pictures on Santa's lap:

My Christmas Make-its

So, for Christmas this year, I made (sewed) 9 presents.

The first was a pillow for Mark's Mom. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture.

The second was 7 owls, each one of different fabric, for Chloe, Kara, Ava, Emma, Aayla, Kyson and my sister Alie. Here's a photo of all 7:

And these are the ones for Kara (on the left) and Chloe:

The last thing I made was a semi-joke gift for Mark, because he loves candy corn so much:

Lots of work went into these projects, but I am super pleased with how they turned out. I'm taking a break from sewing for a week or two, then I'm going to try making myself a new purse.

Uh-oh

I think Kara heard our friend Aayla saying "uh-oh spaghetti-o's".

She in turn changed it to "Uh-oh, forgety-o's!" So cute coming from a 2 year old.

Halloween Photos

So, I haven't been here in a while. Thing is, I've been busy. I've made a ton of headbands the last few weeks (well, 5, and I'll post about those later). Here are pictures of Halloween stuff, so you guys can see how cute our girls are :)

This year, Chloe was a flower fairy, and Kara was an owl. I made both of the costumes, and they were both super pleased!

On Halloween, we went to a kids' party at our church, and then out for a tiny bit of trick or treating.

Cookies! We made Halloween cookies a few weeks ago, and these are my mummy cookies. They were cute AND yummy. I will definitely be making these again next year.

Our pumpkins! (Sitting on the dining room table.) We carved the 3 small ones (left to right: Bob the Tomato, a sad clown, a starry night). The big pumpkin was carved by a dad at Chloe's school, and is apparently a Vampire.

Crazy

Life around here is crazy right now.

Chloe has settled into school, but Kara misses her a lot. Mark just started his 4th week working at Kodak, and its been a tough three days. Being pregnant has really thrown everything for a loop - I don't want to eat then have to NOW, I'm tired, I'm crying too much, and there are some days that I just don't want to do anything. My body definitely likes me less this time around.

On top of that, we're headed out of town tomorrow to see my friend Coral. She lives in Trail. That's a minimum 9 hour drive. Its going to be worth it, but I know we will be SO tired when we get home.

Chair thief

Kara is a chair thief. I get out of my computer chair to do (insert thing here) and when I come back, she's in it, with a HUGE grin on her face.

Five

Of the other kind.

That's right. I'm pregnant. Come March of next year, we will no longer be a family of four, but FIVE. The baby's due date is March 13, a whole 3 days after Kara turns 3. I must be a crazy mom, but I'm actually hoping the baby is late, just so they don't share a birthday.

So, to add to the craziness of current life (Mark working at home, Chloe starting school soon) I am extra tired, always snackish (but not often truly hungry), somewhat nauseous and dealing with silly hormones. Fun times :P

Birthday Party

So, its a bit late, but here are some pictures from Chloe's party on Sunday. We all had a great time!

Chloe's flower pot cake:

Left to right - Avery, Ava, Kara, Ruby, Chloe, Aimie:

Super excited about a present:

And very happy to get a Tinkerbell art set:

Grandma pushing Kara:

3 cousins on swings, in matching dresses: