12 in 2014

My blogging year has been terrible, but in real life it was great! Dwija's link up is the perfect opportunity for me to quickly recap all that I've missed updating here on the blog. So here we go! 2014 at a glance:

 January was pretty low key. We enjoyed one week of cool weather and we wore long sleeves and pants and went for walks outside. It was glorious. 

In February we revealed to the world that were having another boy! I also entered into the final year of my twenties. 

March was an exciting and busy month. We travelled to visit family in Ontario, where we got our fill of winter weather! Although it was so much fun to spend time with everyone, it was not so fun when we got hit by an awful stomach flu that made the rounds. It was such a horrible feeling just sitting around and waiting for the next person to start puking. When we got back, we celebrated William turning two!

In April Shane turned 30 and I threw him a surprise party.  I was also hugely pregnant and feeling a bit uncomfortable. Right after Shane's birthday we were sent to Miami for a special ultrasound to see if the baby had what my doctor thought looked like a pretty serious heart condition. Long story short, his heart looked beautiful and it ended up being a whole lot of worry and heart ache over nothing which we were so, so grateful for. Easter came and I was never so happy to be with my family, since I thought I was going to have to leave them to go have the baby in Canada. So it ended up being a month filled with stress, and then intense relief and happiness. And it was all magnified by my lovely pregnancy hormones.

May brought the arrival of our sweet Gus! Labour wasn't extremely horrible, he was (is) such a dream baby, but I did have to deal with my usual retained placenta which was an extra pain this time. Living on an island, I think the doctors here are extra paranoid, and so I was subjected to a D&C, weekly appointments, and a whole lot of discomfort and medical bills only to have the placenta come out on its own two months later. It was not fun and definitely cast a cloud on those newborn days. Felicity also turned five this month! She was such a sweetheart and enjoyed the day even though Daddy had to work and Mommy really couldn't do very much to make her day special.

This photo represents what June was about: four small people having fun and loving each other but all needing to be taken care of. By me. We were busy but I can't say what we really did! Except Gus got baptised, and Felicity's Godmother came to visit for a week. It was fun showing her the island, although I was limited in my abilities to do all the activities.

In July Maria turned 7! She enjoyed her day thoroughly as always, with frozen yogurt, the park, watching Frozen, and ice cream cones (she had her cake the day before at her Frozen party). The girls went to Bible camp for a week, which they LOVED. Then we took four young children on the plane (so tiring but they were so good!) to NB to visit my family, which also ran over into.....

August! It was a crazy, busy, chaotic, and fun time, with a whole lot of people, including 14 kids under 7, all staying under one roof. There was a lot of running around outside, fighting over the two swings, putting on plays, swimming, drinking beer (adults only!), shopping, bonfiring, baby holding, cooking, hiking, and bubble blowing,  Two weeks just wasn't long enough! When we came back we celebrated our 8th anniversary with a fun little date of playing tennis and going out for dinner.

In September I was having a bit of a hard time and so my lovely mother came to the rescue! She flew down and spent three weeks with us. It was so nice to have her around, spending quality time with the kids and showing her the island. We even had a girls night out, and I managed to start school with the kids. It was so hard to say goodbye to her.

In October this boy gave me a scare when he split his head open while playing on the bed. Thankfully he was ok and was the sweetest, toughest little kid, not even flinching while he was poked and prodded with needles. Shane, Gus and I escaped to Texas for five days for a wedding. We had a lot of fun, but it was so hard leaving the other kids I'm not sure its worth it and don't know when or if I'll commit to doing it again!

November was filled with the ordinary exciting stuff like Gus starting to eat real food, starting to crawl, and pull himself up (crazy child!). We enjoyed cooler weather, and maybe started to like Cayman a bit more since we could actually spend time outside (without pouring with sweat!).

December has been busy! We started off the month running - Shane and I in the Cayman Islands Marathon relay (quarter marathon each), and the girls in the kids run. We had so much fun that the next week we ran in the Jingle Bell run 5k. I was so proud of the girls who ran the entire way - even little Felicity! Then there was lots of crafting, baking, planning, and getting excited about Christmas! Christmas with these kids just gets better and better each year. The bonus this year is that Shane is taking two weeks off so we've really been able to relax and enjoy family time, including lots of beach trips. snorkelling with the girls, and dates with Daddy.

All in all its been an exciting year and we are so grateful for all of our many blessings! Here's to a great 2015!

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7 Quick Takes

A huge obstacle in blogging these days is time: I just don't have enough of it, or else I'm not good at managing it. But since I have a rare moment when lunch is made, the dishes are done, and no one is demanding anything of me, I'm back joining Jen!

1. Its been a busy week. If you were to ask what we've done, I can't say that much except the usual! I guess that's just life with four little kids?

2. I have officially potty trained my third kid! Yay for only having one in diapers! He was so good and it was so much easier than I expected. By the third day he was telling me he had to go and hasn't looked back!

3.   Guess who finally started talking in full sentences? Yup this guy! It really is the cutest thing to hear everything he's thinking and I absolutely love this age.

4. This guy turned 6 months and all of the sudden started sitting up completely on his own, and creeping forward. Its so cliché but... they certainly do grow up so fast!

Oh and he started eating real food!

5. I know everyone who is starting to experience winter will hate me for this but, we had a few cool days here this week and it was the best. We played outside and didn't sweat. I might really like this place if we had a bit more of that!

6. I'm a little late on this, but I have to share Halloween/ All Saints cuteness:


 

Susan, Lucy, Peter, and a Train Engineer




 

We shuffled the costumes slightly to get: St. Elizabeth of Hungary, St. George, and St. Barbara


 

7. The real awesomeness of course was in a little Salt and Pepper:

It was my first time dressing up and going out in...I don't know...10 years?

Of course I'm a little late in posting this... didn't quite get it finished in that little window of quiet time... so here I am Saturday morning in my almost quiet house (the three big kids are at rugby) finishing it up!

So it has been awhile......

Aaaand it's been four months and I should probably just kill this blog, but I love looking back at the old posts and reliving the memories so I think I am going to keep on plugging along!

  An update on life here: Gus is FOUR months! The time has flown! He is absolutely the cutest and best baby. Did I say that about all my babies? I can't quite remember, but he is honestly the friendliest thing, smiling all the time. If he starts to fuss, all it takes most of the time is to have someone near him and he is happy! He sleeps straight through the night these days, going down around 7 or 8 and waking around 6. I have no complaints. I love him. Haha.

He's actually three months in this picture but you get the idea

William is two. Enough said. Haha really he is not bad but he keeps me busy! He is constantly testing the limits, trying to be big like the girls. BUT he is as cute as ever, loves to play any kind of sport or do puzzles. He is talking quite a bit FINALLY! I love two year olds, but they are crazy! At least this one is!

  The girls are getting so old! Felicity is five and is growing up! She loves (home)school and is really turning out to be an eager learner, which I did not expect. Maria is SEVEN. Crazy. But I love seven! So eager to do things with me (actually both girls are), and she is capable of actually helping me, and is still little enough to love doing it! She can also to do crafts on her own, following all the instructions and cleaning up after herself, which is amazing!

We started school a little late this year, but so far it is going well! Both girls are enthusiastic (so far), which is always nice! My mom has been here for the past couple weeks to help me, so we'll see how I do with occupying William and taking care of Gus while teaching the girls when she leaves.....

  Hopefully it won't be four months till I write again! I'm sure no one is out there reading this anymore but I have to start somewhere!

He's here!

Introducing Augustine John Westin, born May 5 at 1:01 pm, weighing in at 9lbs 7oz.
   Labour was quicker than my others (at 4.5 hours, compared to around 8 for the others). I was induced (just with the gel) at 8:30, and by 11 I was having fairly strong contractions about 2 minutes apart. After about another hour they were getting very strong and I told the midwife I was probably getting close. She checked me and I was 5-6 cm, but she said she could feel the baby's right there ready to come out. I had told her that with the other kids I dilated from 7 to 10 cm in about 5 minutes so she went ahead and called my OB to come and break my water. By the time he got there, about 8 contractions later, I was 9 cm. He broke my water, I was ready to push, and after a couple pushes, he was out!
   This makes it all sound very smooth and easy, but believe me, it was hard work! I am super grateful that everything went as it should and there were no complications, except for the placenta of course ( I have a history of retained placenta). This time, my OB worked on it for 40 minutes (very pleasant...) and out it came! He thought it was all there, but apparently it wasn't and a few days later I had to have a D&C to remove it, and now we are hoping its all out but my OB still isn't sure! So annoying, but I am glad that I've had no complications during pregnancy, labour or delivery. This placenta problem is annoying, but at least Gus is out and its not affecting him!
  The kids are smitten with him, and all love to take turns holding him. William is the absolute cutest with him. Each morning he is so excited when he hears that he is awake, and runs in to see him. He is constantly asking to hold him, and every time he does he asks me to take a picture of him. Melts my heart every time.

I've been busy adjusting to life with four kids, getting in newborn snuggles, changing diapers, and feeding that baby! In between I try to fit in feeding the rest of the family, homeschooling, and getting some sleep, but its been tough!

A little belly pic update.....

37 weeks

39.5 weeks

40 weeks!!!

So we've made it to your due date, Baby! Here's to hoping that you'll be emerging sometime in the very near future, although I'm not getting my hopes up too far! I may be pregnant forever. At least then I wouldn't have to go through labour! Ha.
   My next post will hopefully be announcing the wee one's arrival! Because no one wants to see me at 41 weeks....

34 weeks

 

As the world's lamest blogger, I thought the least I could do was to post a bump update every now and then, if only just for my own sake, since I love looking back at previous pregnancies to compare. So here I am at 34 weeks with my preggo pal and sister. We are due within two days of each other. The bets are being taken on who will have their baby first. I'm guessing she will. 

 

 

I'm actually 36 weeks today, but haven't had a picture taken so I thought this is better than nothing?

28 Weeks

     28 weeks with Baby #4! We've made it to the third trimester! I'm already huge...are there really 12 (14) weeks left?!

26 Weeks!

Here is photographic evidence of me at 26 weeks with Baby #4!

 We are so excited to meet you little baby. The girls are going to love you and take care of you. Felicity is dying to hold you, and Maria has big diaper changing plans:) William doesn't really know you are coming yet, but I know he is going to love you and be such a good big brother! You are so active inside of me, it makes me wonder what kind of personality and temperament you are going to have. I know the time will come to meet you soon enough, so I am going to try to enjoy and savour this time where I have you all to myself:)
                                                                          Love,
                                                                              Mommy

7 Quick Takes

I'm back and I'm joining Jen!

1. The weather has been amazing here lately. And by amazing I mean 72 degrees, with a cool breeze and rain. I absolutely love it. I've been able to wear pants without dying of heat.

2.

 

This little girl read her first words this week! She was so proud of herself and is absolutely loving school.

 

 

3. This baby and I have made it to 26 weeks, but I have no photo to show! I must get better at documenting this pregnancy.

 

4.

 

William and his cousin are the cutest. They are a year apart and love each other. We are so blessed to have him living next door!

 

5. Speaking of living next door, my sister and I have started swapping kids for an hour a day and it has been amazing! It is so nice to have an hour to do whatever you want. Alone.

 

6. I have been spending my hour swimming laps, which is so unnatural for me since I am really not a great lover of swimming, but its great exercise! And I figured I should take advantage of having a pool that is prefect for laps, plus it is much easier than running on this pregnant body. So it is working out great, except that I hate every second of it.

 

7. 

 

We went paddle boarding last weekend and Maria did so well! She balanced, steered, and handled the big paddle all by herself. I, on the other hand, was terrified and fell off. My excuse was that its harder to balance when pregnant?