My webspace is such a pain. It doesn't tell you when it's full. Instead, it pretends to upload things (the file name will appear in the list). So frustrating. I deleted 2005, but that's still not enough. I'll have to take out 2006 too. I don't have time right now, so who knows when that'll happen. There's some pics there now, about half, most from the early part of 08.

Working on getting the pics from 2008 up. Sad that a whole year was negelcted. My webspace is kind of a pain, so we'll see what happens. Blogger isn't showing the 2008/2009 tabs (for me anyways) yet either. There is nothing in 2009 yet, so don't bother looking. Might get to those before 2011. :P

Ok, it's been a long time. I know. I'm busy.

Wes had that 6 month check, and he was only 17 1/2lbs. Katie was a shocking 27lbs, so I guess it might take him longer than we thought to catch up to her. Wes is now 9 months old, and looking very fat. He "crawls" in this weird way, but he gets where he wants. He pushes with one foot while holding his other leg in the air. His tummy never leaves the ground. He got three new teeth a few weeks ago.

Serena had her 5th birthday. My mom was in town that week by coincidence, so she got a sushi dinner. We also went back to the butterfly conservatory. She had a tea party of all things with a couple of her school friends. Her favourite present was a remote controlled tarantula. She's a weird kid. She's learned how to read, and likes to do so, but needs prodding to try new books. She'll be in SK in the fall with the same M/W ever other Friday configuration as this year.

Katie is still a terror. If she doesn't get her way there are lots of fits. She has asked to use the toilet a few times, but hasn't actually done anything while there. Darn. She has been horribly traumatized by Mike's mowing of "her flowers" - the dandelions.

Bri is kind of huge. It's hard to beleive she's going to be in grade 3 next year. We've just found out she'll be in the 3/4 split (thank god). But she won't be in the same class as her best friend anymore. She did another 3 days at the enrichment center and this time I got a report back saying they love her and would be happy to have her back again next year.

All the girls just finished a set of swimming lessons. Katie loves the pool now, but isn't all that interested in the lessons part. She's signed up to do a transition from parent and tot to just tot. Considering she wigged every time the last instructor got anywhere near her, I'm not holding my breath. Serena passed her Salamader (3rd try) and will be doing Sunfish. Salamander + Sunfish = Swim Kids 1, it's just for the younger group. Bri passed SK2 on her second try and will be moving up to SK3. I think 4 will probably be the level I want them to pass before they can opt out of lessons. I still want to take some of my own.

I am still doing hot yoga once or twice a week and enjoying that. I finished my Stats class and did suprisingly well. I'm in a holding pattern again now as I wait to see if I can switch majors (from arts to science, still psychology). It's nice to have the summer off anyways. I signed on to help lead Brianna's Brownie troup in the fall as well, because I'm not busy enough. Otherwise, they would have shut down and that would have been lousy.

Mike is mostly finished with the major house stuff, he does have to redo the old roof but is now kicking himself for waiting for the actual summer weather to arrive.

testing to see if Rob broke my website again.

Bri went and turned 8, which I do not appreciate. She had a tie dye party that seemed to go well, especially since Jenn came and did teacher-y weirdness with the kids while I ran around getting everything totally set up/cleaned up. Bri had wanted an ice cream cake since Katie had one, and she was so excited to eat it, she blew out the candles before we'd even finished singing. She got some money for her birthday and wanted to go to Chapters and get some books. With some prodding we got her out of the 5-7 section (many of her fav series' are there) and into the 8-11. She's just started her first book that she can't possibly read in one sitting. It's Inkheart, which is supposed to be good. I haven't read it yet, but she says it is.

Wesley is soooooo fat. He's wearing some 9 month clothes now. We'll find out how fat he really is Monday, but we suspect over 20lbs. He's happily eating fruit for lunch now, with veggies for dinner and cereal at bedtime. I'd like to move the cereal to the morning, but there's no time for that while school's in.

It's March Break and we have been doing some March Breaky stuff. We went to the butterfly place to eat bugs (small amounts of bugs, but bugs) and tonight we're going swimming. Yesterday it was nice out, so we went to the park - but today it is snowing!

*watching show about praying mantises that opens with the allusion they will eat you*
Me: Praying mantises won't eat you.
Bri: Wouldn't they though? Wouldn't they if they had the chance?

Haha, it was just the way she said it. Won't somebody think of the children?

Wesley is a big fat baby who loves food. He finished off his box of rice cereal and moved on to oats, which he doesn't seem to like as much. He also tried sweet potatoes the same day (24th) and loves those. Today is a new veggie day...probably squash. He has a second tooth that is almost through but not quite.

Big news is we're allowed to move into our addition any time now. Just working on getting some carpet down and doors on the bedrooms. Hopefully we'll all have new rooms this weekend.

I think this is the longest I have gone between blog posts. I have to get better at that, as this is primarily a means to keep memories for me. Before the kids all grow up and I forget everything.

Things have been very busy, between the house and my school stuff. I don't really seem to get a lot of free moments where I am not holding a baby, cooking or doing laundry. There's a lot of laundry. The good news is, the house is soooooo close to move in ready. That will make a dramatic difference in our day to day lives.

Brianna got three more badges at Brownies, one for cooking, dancing and taking care of a pet. She is really enjoying that group. She is also still enjoying her dance class very much. I'm glad to see she hasn't picked up my bad trait of "if I suck at this, I'm just not going to do it". For Christmas, she got a present from Santa she didn't think she was allowed to have (a DS game, she wasn't previously allowed to use my DS) and she just said "Here mom, I'm not allowed to play this, so you can." No tantrum. I'm pretty sure I would have thrown a tantrum. I haven't heard any more about gifted opportunities for her this year, but I am going to speak to her teacher/VP very soon about that.

Serena had a report card, and while she claims to hate school, she is doing quite well there. The teacher says she likes to play in the "house" area the most. She is also still doing dance and likes it. Her energy is hard to control though, I think she may be better suited to something else, but I'm kind of aprehensive to put her in martial arts. ;) For Christmas Serena got a robotic bug which she thinks is the best thing ever.

Katie is getting more verbal, and says very funny things. Our favourite is "I can't like it!" She still wants to dance, but has to wait until Sept. Swimming lessons are probably still out as in December she refused to get anywhere near a pool. She is the little mommy and likes to help take care of Wesley. I don't think she's grown in the past year, she is still so tiny. Katie loves her giant makka pakka she got for Christmas, as well as the talking Upsy Daisy.

Wesley, obviously, has changed the most. He is growing so quickly. He is now 16lbs. He caught a cold from his sisters and ended up visiting the hospital for nebulizer treatments for RSV. He's all better now. He can roll in both directions, though he doesn't do it often. He reaches for stuff, but almost exclusively with his right arm. He loves rice cereal and just grew himself a tooth today. He is just the happiest little baby, him.

I know I have mumbled something about pictures repeatedly, and I'm sure it'll happen eventually. Maybe after I finish this stupid math class.

Wesley is the fattest baby ever. I'm not basing this on anything scientific, merely on looks. He hasn't been weighed since he was six weeks. But he's pudgy. He had his shots and hardly complained. Katie didn't complain much either. Serena went all drama queen though and complained for three days.

Bri got another Brownie badge for cooking. Even though she burnt it. Heh.

Bri got a report card (she gets three, but Serena only gets two so I'll get hers later) and I had parent teacher interviews in the twlight zone today. Bri's wasn't, we knew she is both a genius and a jerk. She apparently makes snide comments now when other kids get the answers wrong. Which is not cool, but I can't help laughing. Her teacher said she has started looking into the enrichment stuff again, but that's the VPs job, and due to some upheaval in the school office right now it looks like that might have gotten shelved for right this second. She'll bring it up again in the new year. Serena, on the other hand, what the hell. Her teacher probably thinks I'm some sort of hardass that doesn't tolerate less than military precision. The whole time she went on and on about how awesome Serena is, always doing what she's supposed to be doing and paying attention and helping others and is the world's most dependable kid. And I'm like are there two Serena's in this class? Am I being Punk'd? I come home and she's hanging from the ceiling fan screaming and throwing little people at her sisters. She's good for everyone but me and then people think she's so hard done by. Evil kid.

Katie is becoming a tiny diva. She regulary demands chocolate, coffee and shopping.

As usual, I meant to come here and post about something weeks ago and am just now getting around to it.

Wes had a six week appt wherein he was 11lbs 9oz. He is a very fat baby. He's sleeping through the night more often than not now, which is excellent. I am sleepy. He gets his first set of shots (and Katie and Serena for good measure) tomorrow. Mainly because I pitched a fit about calling over a week in advance for an appointment anytime during an entire week's span and was told I still couldn't have one. Hello, what's the point of having a doctor if I can't see her?

Bri did her badge testing at Brownies and got a badge for rock collecting. She was in the parade this weekend with them as well. I didn't go watch because it was pouring rain and I'm mean like that.

Serena went to her first birthday party and apparently had fun.

Katie is talking more. Her favourite thing is to go shopping. The best thing she says right now is she calls her detangling spray "my hairpoo". Heh. She also informed me yesterday "No Baby K! Katie!" So I guess she doesn't want to be a baby anymore.

I have the pics all scanned in now, I just have to code them. There's some more than the ones I put on Facebook, but it could still be awhile.

A week and a half ago, I took Wes in for a 4 week appt. They don't usually do those things, but they wanted to get the hearing test done. He hears just fine, and was 10lbs 2oz. We have the disharge appt this week, then it's on to our new family doctor, who last I heard was booking appointments into 2010.

Bri also had Brownie enrollment which was cute. She took it very seriously and practiced the stuff she had to recite even though it was written down in front of her. She is really enjoying Brownies and the leaders are really good again. She made a bird feeder last week. Next week is badge testing.

I know everyone wants more pictures of everyone, and I have two rolls of film to scan and put up. Wes is starting to settle into more of a schedule and allowing me to put him down more, so I may actually manage to do that before next year. We did take the kids for professional pics, but they were all uncooperative and they didn't turn out so hot.

The house is continuing. Mike has done a good chunk of the drywall and we hope to be moved in before Christmas. We'll see.

Wes had his two week check up on Weds. He's doing just fine, up to 9lbs 1oz. He couldn't do the hearing test though, as it requires the baby to be quiet and still (ie sleeping) and he wasn't.

The older kids love school, and dance. Bri is enjoying Brownies as well.

Hooray, I finally had a baby! Wesley Michael decided to show up at 2:31am on Sept 17. He was 8lbs 8oz and 20.5" long, our biggest yet. So far he's a very good baby and the girls are just all over him. They all want to feed him, and Katie is very interested in making sure he is ok. We went out today, and Mike was just going to walk Katie to the door and come back for the baby, but Katie wouldn't go until he got Wes out too. She was afraid we were going to leave him in the car. The birth went well, I'll put the full birth story down next, so don't read it if you're squeamish. Other than that, kids are still going to school and the house is still being built.


I started having sporadic contractions on the morning of the 16th. It felt a whole lot like when I had Katie, so I was quite certain that the baby was coming that evening. I went to meet the teacher night and finished my laundry and stuff. At 9pm I decided to start timing my contractions. They were five minutes apart, so I decided to page Michelle because of my history of fast labours. She got here at 10, and I was 4cm dilated, so we count that as the start of active labour. My contractions kept up at 4-5min apart for the next couple hours. They were definitely contractions, but they weren’t that painful. I wasn’t able to walk through them, but I could still talk through them. At about 12:30am (so it’s now the 17th) she checked me again, and I was 5cm, stretchable to 6. Which was kind of disappointing. We decided that since it was late, we’d go ahead and break my waters. I’m sure he still would have come before morning, even if we hadn’t, but it probably would have taken 2-3 more hours. For another hour or so my contractions got more intense. I think I pushed for half an hour, Mike thinks it was more like 10 minutes – I’ll ask the midwife when she gets here (forgot to ask). Anyways, I found my bed to be very uncomfortable for baby having, it is just too squishy. Michelle sent me to the bathroom to try pushing on the toilet a couple times because I had a small lip of cervix left. I didn’t really like that much either, but I did it. I decided to try lying down, sort of on my side. Two or three more pushes and his head was out. I remember Katie’s head being much easier and hurting less – but Mike says I remember things nicer than they were, so who knows. His head is of a normal size, but it’s probably bigger than Katie’s was. Then everyone went a little nutso, and they yanked my legs back. Carole (the second midwife) apologized for pushing on my stomach later, but I don’t remember her doing that. I remember Michelle reaching in, and me being like WTF? And none too happy about it. Apparently he attempted to be born both shoulders at once, and there was concern he’d get stuck. He popped out pretty quick with the yanking, but showed his displeasure by pooping immediately. Wesley Michael was born at home at 2:31am Sept 17. He was a ginormous 8lbs 8oz and 20.5” long.

Post-partum wise, I had no tearing, which I think is amazing considering his size and preferred method of exit. I did however have a bit of a hemmorhage again, which sucked (did check this with the midwife, it was 700mL, which was less than with Serena). This time I got two shots of oxytocin and uterine massage, hooray. I narrowly avoided an IV. It was decided that my bladder was in the way of my uterus shrinking because after I went to the bathroom I stopped bleeding.

Wes has hair, but it’s not as dark or abundant as Katie’s was. We’ll see what it looks like after a bath. I think he will have blue eyes like the girls, his eyes don’t look the way Katie’s did. IMO, he doesn’t currently look anything like any of them either. The midwives think he looks like Mike, but I’m not sure of that. All Mike’s baby pictures are unfortunately packed too, so I can’t even go look. The girls are quite enamoured with him, Serena especially. They are all dying to hold and feed him. Katie gave him kisses and named all his body parts.

No, there's no baby yet. I'm now overdue which is kind of weird. But whatever, the baby will come when it comes.

Bri has had almost two weeks of school now. She's happy with her class. Meet the teacher night is Tues, so maybe I'll get to go to that and see what's up.

Serena had her first day and said it was really great. She starts her regular schedule of every other day and alternate fridays tomorrow. She hates that she doesn't get to go everyday, at least so far. That may change. Her teacher said she was really eager to do the "school" type activities and seemed disappointed when they did free play stuff.

They started dance yesterday. Both are in the tap/jazz combo class again. Serena's class is only two, so she better stick with it this year! Katie really wants to dance, but she has to wait. There will be a mom and toddler class starting up in October that we are going to sign up for.

Bri's Brownies starts Weds night, and that pretty much fills us up for extra curriculars for this year. The nice thing is if next year Serena wants to do Sparks, it's at the same time as Brownies in the same place.

Back to school starts Tuesday. Bri starts grade 2 that day, but Serena doesn't start going until the 10th. She has meet the teacher on the 3rd though, which she's looking forward to. I haven't seen the kindergarten rooms at this school, so I'm looking forward to it too.

They finished their swimming lessons last week as well. Neither of them passed, I didn't expect them to. Bri missed two classes, which didn't help. Bri got just over half the requirements for Swim Kids 2, it'll still probably take two more classes to pass because she'll need the first one as a refresher in the spring. No more swimming until then as we'll be too busy with Brownies and Dance. Serena only had four deficiencies, so she might pass next time. I have a choice whether to put her in Salamander again or Swim Kids 1, the difference being age groups. I'll probably keep her with the younger kids, but it's nice to have the option for scheduling purposes.

Katie turned two last weekend and got her usual third kid crappy party, ha. Mike's mom and Fred were here, so at least she had guests this year. She had cupcakes that looked like frogs. I got her some toys from a show she likes (unfortunately, it's like Teletubbies - I love the Brits, but their children's programming is horrible) and she hasn't put them down all week. She's starting to talk a lot more now, which is making life easier.

I've got 2 weeks left until my due date. My midwife is quite convinced this won't be another due date baby, but I have too much to do between now and then, so it had better be. ;)