It's My Life: September 2006

I have waited so long for this season. Fall and Spring are my favorites especially Fall I absolutely love it when the leaves start changing and falling to the ground and all the rain...oh I'm in heaven. Here in the Okanagan the summers I feel can be somewhat unbearable especially during a pregnancy...ouch it was a scorcher. I'm so glad it's over. Even though most of the time I was on bedrest we were still able to have a lot of fun and visits throughout the summer. It all started with my sister coming out to tend to my every need which was awesome but then I missed her a gazillion times more when she left and I'm still having Jenna withdrawal.

Then my parents came out to help us prepare for the arrival of our baby and lucky then the baby was able to see their grandparents before they left. We did a lot of fun things. We played mini golf at Loco Landing and then toured the SS Sicamous and then had a picnic by the water (no mosquito's bugging us I might add) and then had icecream at tickleberry's.

It was sad to see them go but it was good that at least they got to meet their new grandson and have some good quality time with Emily and Carter.

After they left we tried getting used to life with a new baby and then Justin's sister came to visit. While Auntie Shannon was here we had Gramma Vonn out of the nursing home everyday to visit the kids as well which was really nice for her and the kids and good bonding time for her and the baby. That was pretty special also because we haven't seen Shannon since our wedding and she's busy moving to Boston so who knows when we'll be able to see her next. Thank goodness the baby made his way to the world in time for Shannon's visit also. It was too short but every minute was spent visiting and catching up. While she was here she helped my husband with his new hobby of home decorating and helped him actually did all the set up of Justin's new Debbie Travis shelves. It was pretty cute she had the kids helping with measuring.

Right after Auntie Shannon left we had another special visit from Grandpa Harold and Gramma Paulette. We had a birthday party for Harold because he is turning the big 60 actually today or maybe it was yesterday ahhh man I always forget the birthdays and I feel bad because the birthday's we tend to forget are the ones who remember the most. Happy Birthday Grandpa WE LOVE YOU!! While they were here visiting we had a nice German meal one night and a Russian meal the next. It was so yummy but oh did poor little Cohen suffer from me eating onions. It was hard seeing them go because we knew that was the last of family for a little while and it's so hard to say goodbye and not see family as frequent as we wish we could.

Last weekend we had our friends Kristin and Eric over for a Chinese Potluck. It was yummy. Kristin brought a few dishes and I attempted to make salad rolls with rice paper. Not knowing how to do the rice paper properly I stuck a bunch of paper in boiling water and they came out all gluey...NOT GOOD. So as my little lunchbox needed to be fed again I was unable to finish my dinner project so my dear Kristin and hubby finished and found that you have to use cold water to get it to work properly. I was so out of it from not sleeping..heck I"m still out of it..,.but anyways I forgot the pork chops were sitting on the bbq and let's just say I figured out a way to make my own pork jerky...yummy yummy yuk. After they finished all the rice papers we got down to eating and man was it scrumptious. Now I just have to figure out how to make my own fish sauce and we're good to go. The next day we took some time to have family time. Emily helped me back a Strawberry Apple pie and a Ravioli dish that is to die for...(now I'm hungry again) and Carter played some mindless video games with his dad and Cohen just slept in the kitchen which in his own little baby way that's spending quality time with us.

Now we have no company and are left with a quiet weekend. We are preparing to go back to Saskatoon for Thanksgiving weekend. Unfortunately we're only there for the long weekend. I wish we could stay longer since it's been over a year since we've been home. But I guess a weekend is better than no weekend.

Tonight we went to McD's to celebrate the release of Justin's article which will be in the Sys Admin magazine on shelves Oct. 1st so if you want to check it out just stop in at McNally and take a peek. I'm so proud of him and I can't wait to see the article officially printed. I have no understanding of technology whatsoever but I love the article. Tomorrow we are planning on checking out the Bizarre Bazarre here in Naramata...it's a big town yard sale at the community church. Hopefully we can find ourselves a good bargain.

Well I think my baby might be ready for another feeding and then hopefully bed because boy do I need some sleep. This is an example of just how out of it I am. Well at McD's Material Girl by Madonna came on the speakers and I totally invisioned myself dancing on the counters in sequence frills and tutu's and when I snapped out of my daydream and found myself dancing in my chair...yup a little coocoo indeed.

Here's one last picture of the baby. He's gotten so big at 1mth he's now 10lbs. I guess my frequent nursing is really paying off.

Justin's holidays were over on Tuesday and back to work he went. I was so sad when he left I actually cried liked a little baby. I just had so much fun with him around and he is my main support that when he went back I just felt lost. It was a sad day on Tuesday because Justin went back to work Emily went back to school and Carter decided to fill my day with trial after trial after trial. He discovered how to climb walls with his bare feet and swing off the fridge doors and climb cupboards and wash floors with buckets of water. It took me a few days a lot of advice from people around me and we finally found a comfortable way to deal with his behaviour troubles. It turned out that Carter was worried that we were going to love the baby more than him and he did not like the fact that I had to feed Cohen all the time. So during the feedings Carter gets something special out to play with and we sit down together so he can have some attention just like Cohen. It is not perfected yet but it is coming. Both kids are slowing starting to find their place. Carter is improving his behaviour slowly every day and Emily is improving her attitude slowly everyday also. My nerves are also slowly improving however my sleep deprivation is not. Baby Cohen is now 2wks old and he is still such a good baby. Life has been busy but I love it. I am just so anxious to be completely healed up and get back to my normal everyday activities. As I've already discovered getting organized is challenging with three kids. It seems that as soon as we have something to do, get ready for or go everything happens all at once. We've got Cohen pooping or feeding, Carter pooping or getting into mischief and Emily needing to get off to school or somewhere. I'm trying to find tricks to organize myself better and prepare for things in sequence instead of all at once. I better get some rest while Cohen is sleeping and the family is in Penticton shopping. I will post some pictures of all the company we have had out and our adventures with everyone. Justins dad and stepmom are here visiting right now and we have a lot of pictures of the little birthday party we had for Grandpa who is turning the big 60 in a couple weeks. But for now here are some more pictures of week number two with Baby Cohen.