Money Monday

Monday, Wednesday...it's all the same when you are a SAHM! haha. My days are so busy. Mondays is recovering from the weekend (Sunday is always a busy day with church in the morning and then we are also going to an adult education night in the evenings) plus we have swim lessons. I also feel a strong need to get my house clean since I work Tuesday and I just feel like I have to start that day with a clean house. And then hubby had a board meeting at the church in the evening. Tuesday was work and my mom was out of town that day so I had to bring the boys to the dayhome so that always makes my day longer too. So that's all to say that my Money Monday update is happening on a Wednesday! But it's basically the end of the month and we have spent $305 on groceries, so $5 over. Not too bad. That is $45 less than our normal budget and we were going over that budget most months so I can't really complain. However, we are out of food. I mean nothing in the house out of food. We have meat (due to our giant Costco stock up at the beginning of the month) but other than a little bit of lettuce, half a galloon of milk and some carrots, we have nothing else. Which makes me think that while $300 is possible, I think I would rather do $350 and actually end the month with some food! But I feel really good that we did it! 

So here is my meal plan for the week:

Sunday:
Dinner @ church 

Monday:
B: waffles
L: sandwiches
D: leftovers

Tuesday:
B: waffles (we had a lot leftover...)
L: at the dayhome
D: spaghetti & sauce

Wednesday:
B: eggs & toast
L: pita pizzas
D: Chicken with ravioli & alfredo sauce

Thursday:
B: Oatmeal
L: McDonalds with my mom
D: Soup & buns

Friday:
B: Pancakes
L: leftovers
D: Chicken Pot Pie 

Saturday:
B: Ikea
D: Steak with Baked Potatoes 

Wordless Wednesday

I absolutely love watching my boys play together. I'm ignoring the fact that 2 minutes after I took this picture, Z took the turtle lid and dropped it on Baby K's head...

Money Tuesday? Oops!

So I missed my Money Monday update. I had a crazy busy day. Poor Baby K is teething (cutting 2 front teeth AND a molar!) so a lot of my day was spent cuddling and comforting him. 
I am actually feeling pretty good about my budget this month. It will be down to the wire but I'm confident we can make it. So far, as of yesterday (Oct. 21), I have spent $255 on groceries. That leaves me with $45 for next week. $15 of that will automatically be milk but that still gives me $30 for some fruits and veggies. I can easily work with that. 

So here is my weekly meal plan: 

Sunday:
Pizza at church :) 

Monday:
B: apple muffins
L: mac & cheese (tired, pregnant mama - don't judge me!)
D: Lasagna

Tuesday:
B: Oatmeal
L: whatever my mom feeds them. I used to leave out food but then realized she just did her own thing anyways
D: Crockpot Cheesy Chicken Broccoli 

Wednesday:
B: Toast & Eggs
L: out with a friend
D: Beef Stroganoff 

Thursday:
B: Cereal/Muffins
L: Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
D: Leftovers

Friday:
B: Oatmeal
L: Pita Pizzas
D: Perogies & Sausage

Saturday:
Brunch: Bacon & Eggs
D: Leftovers

Fall is here!

Well like it or not, fall is officially here. I do love the fresh smell of crisp fall weather, the changing leaves and of course my kids LOVE being able to jump in the leaves. We went out to my parents house this past weekend (Canadian Thanksgiving) and they spent at least an hour outside jumping in the leaves. So much fun!

Bum Genius Diaper Review

Alright, I know ya'll have been waiting - here is my long overdue review for Bum Genius diapers.
In case you don't know the backstory behind the diapers, I will quickly fill you in. I bought a different brand (see my review here) but just was really disappointed in them but was loving cloth diapering. I didn't want to give up but I knew I couldn't handle the leaks from my previous diapers. My sister used Bum Genius and offered to let me use hers when I went for a week long visit. I had only 2 leaks in that entire week (compared to an average of 2 leaks/day with my previous brand) so that quickly made up my mind. However, I had a hard time convincing hubby I needed a whole new diaper stash so I went and found some used. I know for some people that gives them the squeemies but for me, I figure the first thing my kid is going to do is poop in it so why does it matter? So I bought a set of Bum Genius 3.0 diapers (they actually don't sell them anymore but my sister's were 4.0 and I found them very similar). The one thing that I did do was buy velcro. I went back and forth on that, but I had found a couple brand new Bum Genius 4.0's at a garage sale and they were velcro and I fell in love with them. They were so quick and easy and I just felt that I could get a perfect fit with them while the snaps were limited. So I had a set of 30 Bum Genius diapers and I don't think I could ever go back. I can probably count on one hand the number of leaks I have had with them and most of those are because we forgot to change his bum and went out somewhere. Here is shot of the diapers in action :

So here is my review on a scale of 1-5 for Bum Genius Pocket 4.0/3.0 cloth diapers.

These are the criteria: absorbency, cost, overall fit, laundry, the cute factor, the company’s customer service, and Dad-Friendliness.

Absorbency: 5 stars - no leaks! They are amazing for that. The insert can be adjusted depending on what snap setting the diaper is at which I think really helps for absorbancy - plus you can double up at the front for a boy or the back for a girl which helps! 

Cost: 3 stars - they are definitely not the cheapest diaper out there, they are actually twice the price (if you are buying brand new) of my old diapers but they do hold up well so you can probably get a pretty decent resell value

Overall Fit: 4 stars - the velcro really helps with this. I did have a couple leaks when I was using my sister's which are snaps but because that was only a week, it's hard to really say what the reason was for the leaks. The legs also fit really well and I really liked that they had extra PUL on the front so that helped with leaks

Laundry: 4 stars - these are easy to launder, both the cover and the inserts can be placed in the dryer and they are super easy to stuff

The Cute Factor: 3.5 stars - they are pretty cute but there a lot cuter patterns and fabrics out there but still, a little green butt is a lot cuter than a disposable diapered butt! 

Customer Service: I honestly can't answer this one since I bought them used. 

Dad-Friendliness: 5 stars - super easy, you set the size snaps once and you don't need to do it again until your baby outgrows that size. The inserts are super easy to stuff and they also fall out really easy when you are separating them for the wash. And the velcro is pretty much the easiest thing ever to put on - just like a disposable. 

Total Review: 4 stars - If they were a little cheaper, they would get 5 stars! 

Money Mondays!

Well I can't say my goal for meal planning and budgeting has been a huge success. I've made a meal plan...have we stuck to it? Well, not completely. One of the problems I've been facing is that we are so incredibly busy right now that I just don't have time to actually make a meal but I don't think about that until the day of. So even though I have something on the menu, if I don't make it in the morning, I end up being out or just swarmed by grumpy kids at 5 p.m. and not have time to make it. Plus another issue that has been coming up is my picky tastes! There is a really good reason for this - I am pregnant! So while that is a whole other thing (see exhaustion, nausea, exhaustion...) it also means that I am having extreme food aversions. So Monday rolled around and I had Red Pepper & Sweet Potato Soup on the menu and seriously, even just opening the container of soup made me want to throw up...so there went that and I had to quickly substitute a meal. Thankfully I had just gone to a soup exchange so I had a bunch of soup in my freezer! My cravings have also affected our budget. A couple nights ago, I absolutely had to have ruffle chips with ranch dip and chocolate milk. And my amazing husband went out and bought that for me...but there was $10 out of our grocery budget. Oops! So for this month, I have spent $200 on groceries. Not great, not bad. We have $100 left for the next two weeks, however we have tons of meat so I only need to buy fruits and veggies and milk. I know I can do it. 
So my meal plan for this week will be using food that we already have! 

Sunday:
Thanksgiving Dinner 

Monday:
B: Bacon & Eggs
L: Sandwiches
D: Pasta stirfry with Italian Sausage

Tuesday: 
B: Oatmeal
L: Leftovers
D: Hamburgers w/ Sweet Potato Fries

Wednesday:
B: Cereal
L: kids are at the dayhome
D: Spaghetti Squash with meat sauce

Thursday:
B: Toast & Eggs
L: McDonald's with my mom
D: leftovers - hubby works late

Friday:
B: Oatmeal
L: Meat, cheese and veggies
D: Sandwiches - hubby is on his own with the kids

Saturday:
Hubby is on his own all day and enjoys the chance to be spontaneous with the meals! However I have some soup frozen in the freezer if he decides he doesn't want to experiment 

Money Monday

Oh man, its Monday already. That means I have to suck it up and admit to the world (or at least the 6 people who read this blog regularly!) that I am not good at budgeting and meal planning. Even if it's on my list. Actually sometimes I think it's harder if it's on my list. But I'm determined to try. So even though this is really embarrassing - as of October 7, I have spent $159 on groceries. Not $75. There are two reasons (excuses, cough, cough) for this. One being that we came home from vacation on October 2 so I immediately had to go grocery shopping and I did so good, $72 and I felt like my fridge was full. But then we went to Costco. I have such a love/hate relationship with Costco. I feel like we cannot walk into that store without immediately spending $100. On the other hand, such great deals! We had a $120 gift card to Costco (which means we technically have spent $279 on food!! Oops) and I really wanted to stock up on meat. I tend to buy smaller packages of meat or the cheaper meats (chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts) and since we had this gift card, I just really wanted to buy meat for a change, we so often have no meat in the house and I've been planning to do a big freezer cook soon so I knew I would need meat. So I sucked up my plans to spent only $75 per week and spent $207 at Costco, thankfully the gift card helped but that does mean that it's only October 7 and I have only $141 left for the 3 1/2 weeks. But I am determined that I will stick to it, even if it means not being able to buy anything but milk the last week! We do have enough food in the house right now that I really think other than fruit, veggies and milk we shouldn't have to buy too much. So that's my story of basically completely failing at my attempts to spend only $75/week but in all honestly, after making my commitment, I realized that I prefer to do most of my shopping in the beginning of the month, making a larger bill up front and then just buying the perishables the rest of the month so maybe I should go back to just a monthly amount. I guess I will see how I do this month and if it's still not working, I might need to push myself to do the weekly thing. 

So here is my meal plan for this week: 

Sunday: 
D:Ravioli with Chicken, Garlic Break & Caesar Salad
Monday:
B: cereal - kids have a Dr. appointment at 8 a.m. and we need to be fast!
L: Pasta with veggies
D: Leftovers - hubby away
Tuesday: 
B: Oatmeal 
L: Egg Salad sandwiches on fresh bread - I work  Tuesdays so I need to have these prepared in advance for my mom to give to the kids
D: Red Pepper & Sweet Potato Soup
Wednesday:
B: Toast & Eggs
L: Pita Pizzas
D: Lasagna
Thursday: 
B: cereal - I have bible study early so once again, we need a quick meal!
L: McDonalds with my mom - Thursday tradition :) 
D: leftovers - hubby away
Friday: 
B: Oatmeal
L: veggies, crackers, meat & cheese
D: Tomato Soup & Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Saturday:
B: Pancakes & Bacon
L: leftovers
D: Perogies with sausage & peppers

And because it is just amazing, here is my recipe for Red Pepper & Sweet Potato Soup. A friend gave it to me so I have no idea where it is from. Oh and this picture is a triple batch. The recipes does not make this much soup! I was participating in a soup swap this week so I needed a lot of soup! Oh and on that note, I highly recommend food swaps. I've participated in a couple and have loved it. You get together with a group of friends and you all make a bunch of one type of food. So for the soup swap, I made 4 meals of soup and then traded the other 3 with my friends and got 3 different types of soup back. Such a great way to fill your freezer but not have to make a million different meals. 

Red Pepper and Sweet Potato Soup

2 red bell peppers, seeded and chopped
1 ½ lbs sweet potato, cubed (I used one really big sweet potato)
1 onion, roughly chopped
2 large cloves garlic, roughly chopped
5 cups vegetable stock
1 ¼ cups dry white wine (didn’t have any so I used apple juice)
Tabasco sauce, to taste
salt & freshly ground pepper

 Put first 6 ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil.  Simmer for 30 minutes.  Remove from heat and puree in a food processor, blender or using a hand blender.  Add some salt & pepper and a dash of Tabasco sauce.  Serve.

Oops sorry blog

I have about a dozen half started posts that I haven't had a chance to finish. My life is insane. It's starting to slow down so I'm hoping in the next couple days I can breathe and actually post something again! To everyone who actually still checks this blog - thanks and sorry for the lack of activity! 
Also, I haven't forgotten my budgeting and meal plans commitment for October but we went on vacation and didn't return until Wednesday so I will be starting on Monday! :)

Budgeting, etc.

We are not great with budgeting. We are not bad either but we can do better. 
We have no debt (minus a mortgage), a decent amount of savings but we over-spend every single month. I don't know if it's that our budget is unreasonable or we just don't care. I think it's the latter. We never spend more than we make but we also don't put that much into savings each month.
 I am now officially off maternity leave, no more EI for me. My job at the church came in at the perfect time because we only had about a 2 week gap of just one income but the job is only 15-20 hour/week, not 40. That does make a big difference. Not having to pay child care helps but it is still a reduce in my income. We spent the last year surviving on my EI which is pretty similar to what I make now, but now that we know this is a permanent situation, we cannot just survive and put nothing away into savings.

I think our biggest expense is groceries, we don't eat out a lot (maybe twice a month) but I also am horrible at meal planning which means we all to often run out and buy just what we need for a single meal which is definitely not the most economical. 

My goal for October is to meal plan EVERY SINGLE MEAL for the month. I'm going to go with 5 meals a week, one for going out or going to my parents and one being leftovers. I also want to plan breakfasts and lunches so my kids don't eat PB&J 4 days a week (it happens all too often!). 

I also want to try to keep my grocery budget at $75/week. That's $300/month. This is strictly food. 

I know some people put cleaning supplies, toilet paper, paper towels, etc under the grocery budget but I know we overspend on food not toilet paper so I am going to focus solely on cutting my food costs.

 Every Sunday night I am going to make the meal plan and every Monday I am going to go grocery shopping. I will then post my menu and grocery receipts here to keep me accountable! Wish me luck!

Too busy to breathe, let alone blog

Remember how I said I just got a job as the Children's Director at my church? Well kick-off is this Sunday which means I had less than 2 weeks from starting my job to the biggest event in my position. It's been a little crazy. Plus I watch a little boy twice a week and days that he is there, I get nothing done.
It's been a long two weeks. 

The truth about marriage

I just want to quickly encourage people to read this story: The True Story of a Seven Year Marriage. 

This article made me cry. It is beautifully written and so incredibly true. 

Marriage is something wonderful but not always magical. It's not always about passion and feeling "in love". It's about commitment and family and some days, it's about simply saying I will not give up. It's about acknowledging that you can always find your way back if you try hard enough. 

What a beautiful and encouraging truth. 

Overwhelmed

Today was an overwhelming day. Twice a week I watch a little guy, he's 20 months old and adorable and mischievous and such a sweetheart. However, he is an extra munchkin in the house. An extra loud crazy active munchkin. I love watching him because he plays so well with both my boys, it's great to have the extra income and I know it relieves stress from his parents because he's so happy here. But, I'm tired. It's a lot of work. My house is a disaster after the 3 boys get done with it. My kitchen is crazy. And I never know what to feed them. And someone is always poopy, hungry and/or getting into trouble.

It makes me really wonder if I want another kid. I mean I know I do but can I handle it? Will my house ever be clean again? Will I ever be clean again (I wonder as I look down at my spit up and banana smeared clothes)?

I had a whole post planned on camping with munchkins (which we did this past week - so much fun!) but I'm too tired so instead you can all read about how I'm tired :)

On the plus side, I can announce that I just got a new job! Because that's going to help with the exhaustion right? :) I am now the Director of Children's Ministry at my church! Woot, woot. So excited. This is like my dream job. It's super flexible, it's administration based, it's working with kids and its in an environment that I love (my home church). I work one day a week in the office, my mom will come in and watch the kids for me and if she's not able to, my old dayhome (who is amazing!) will watch the boys for me. I then have to work 3 hours on Sunday (but I'm already there every week anyways so no hardship for me) and then 4 hours at home. Pretty much ideal. I'm pretty excited about it. I start next week! Wish me luck!

Tushie Tuq Cloth Diapers - My Review

I didn't do cloth with my first, I sort of wanted to when I saw my sister doing them but Hubby wasn't really interested and I planned on going back to work so I knew I would probably have to switch back to disposables then any ways so we just didn't. However when Baby K arrived, I had watched my sister successfully cloth diaper two kids and I just felt like it was something I wanted to do, however I was scared of that large initial purchase. 

My sister uses Bum Genius 4.0 snaps and highly recommended them, however the price tag scared me. She told me her sister in law used this Canadian brand called Tushie Tuq's and they were much more reasonable. No kidding - they were 15 diapers, 1 wet bag and 1 diaper sprayer for $160! 

However, I could not find a single review of these diapers that weren't on their website. I'm always hesitant to move forward with buying something when I can't find a review but I knew my sister had heard good things so I decided the cost investment wasn't huge. I figured that was about 6 months of disposable diapers so I figured I had to commit for at least 6 months. 

They comes in this minky material, so soft and cuddly. They are pocket diapers so super easy to use. I prepped the diapers according to the instructions and off we went on our cloth diaper adventure! 

Look how adorable he looks in his new cozy diapers! I loved the look of them, I was a little disappointed at the lack of cute designs but the colors were adorable and they let you pick whatever colors you want so I got green, blue and white. They also had a pumpkin color and a cranberry but they both looked more on the girl side so I stayed with the more boy-ish colors, however they are pretty neutral so I knew if I did end up having a girl, I could easily use them. 

My adventure started off exciting and then dampered pretty quickly. The leaks. Oh man the leaks. It was so frustrating for me to be changing clothes with EVERY SINGLE DIAPER CHANGE. I looked online and saw that I should be using special detergent so I went and bought new detergent, stripped the diapers and then washed my inserts about a million times. That sort of helped but I was still getting leaks every day, often several times a day. I figured out if I changed him every hour and a half and double stuffed at naps, we were usually okay. However that is a lot of bum changes and I felt like I couldn't go out in cloth because I would be constantly changing him or dealing with leaks. 

It was such a disheartening experience for me, I talked to my sister who said her sister in law wasn't dealing with this problem so I can't blame the diapers completely, my son is obviously a heavy wetter. He went through a stage where he even leaked through disposables.

I went to visit my sister about 3 months in and decided to not bring any diapers because she had a bunch of hers available because both her kids were now out of diapers and this was a good opportunity for me to try a different brand. She had the Bum Genius 4.0 snaps. I immediately loved the top of the diaper where they have a bit of the outside material in the inside to prevent leaks and I liked the insert, it felt more absorbent and you could snap it into a smaller size and then it was doubled up on the front or back (depending on the gender, for a boy I obviously put the doubled up end in the front). I used these for the week I was visiting and only had 2 leaks! Amazing. 

Needless to say, I immediately started looking into a new diaper stash! I actually ended up switching to velcro instead of snaps because I do think part of my problem was a fit issue with snaps. I will do a review on my new diapers soon! (Bum Genius Velcro) but as a spoiler - I love them! 

So here is my review on a scale of 1-5 for Tushie Tuq cloth diapers.

These are the criteria: absorbency, cost, overall fit, laundry, the cute factor, the company’s customer service, and Dad-Friendliness.

Absorbency: 2 stars - too many leaks, I think the inserts are the problem more than anything, one day I might try my Bum Genius inserts with the diaper to see if that makes a different

Cost: 4 stars, these are really well-priced and the bundle is a great purchase, we love our diaper sprayer and I use the wet bag constantly

Overall Fit: 2 stars - the leg russets seem to be a little loose and the insert isn't really designed to be on the smallest size so I had a lot of issues with the insert riding up when I had it on the smallest size and then causing leaks from the tummy

Laundry: 4 stars - these are easy to launder, both the cover and the inserts can be placed in the dryer and they are super easy to stuff

The Cute Factor: 4 stars - they look adorable! I love the minky material, the only thing stopping them from 5 stars is that they only have solid colors, no cute patterns

Customer Service: 5 stars - they are easy to work with, it's a small Canadian company which I love. One of my diapers had an issue with a snap and they immediately mailed me out a new one, no questions. 

Dad-Friendliness: 5 stars - my hubby was worried when I wanted to switch to cloth but these are just so easy. You just stuff them and put them on like a disposable and since you can set the snaps in place before hand, you don't need to worry about doing that each time. Taking them off is just as easy, all we need to do is remove the inserts before throwing into the pail. The diaper sprayer makes poop removal super easy too! 

Total Review: 2.5 stars - they are a great company, easy to use but the leak factor just brings them down too much. 

DIY Workbench

I love pinterest and I especially love the DIY and Kids section of pinterest - especially when they coincide. I found an adorable little workbench over a year ago and had it in the back of my mind as a gift for Z and when I showed Hubby my idea, he loved it and immediately decided to start building it. It turned out perfectly! All it took was some scrap wood, a bit of peg board, some peg board clips and some paint.

Z LOVES it! He constantly wants to go into the garage and play with his new tools. We figured this cost us around $8 (we already had everything but the peg board clips). Can't really complain about this! 

Elmo Birthday Party

So Z turned three last month and this was a big deal for everyone. It was a big deal to me because three seems a lot older, he was old enough to have a preference and old enough to really understand what was going on. Plus last year I was on bed rest so his second birthday just wasn't that exciting!
It was really exciting for Z because he knew this was a party all for him! We told him about 6 weeks in advance that he was having a birthday and he was allowed to pick the theme! He immediately requested batman. I was really surprised but figured if that's what he wanted, well then he can have batman so I started looking on pinterest and finding ideas on batman parties. Well two days later, he switches to Dinosaurs. Next was fire trucks. Finally he said he wanted Elmo. That one really made sense to me because he loves Elmo! So I gave him a week and when that was still his choice, I told him it was official and I was going to go buy the invitations. Thankfully Target has officially come to Canada so I was able to go Target and find some adorable invitations and decorations. The final thing was the cake, we are cheap so I knew I was going to make the cake but I also really wanted to have a decorated cake for Z so I once again went to pinterest and got some ideas there and then we started. My husband is the OCD arty person in the family and I'm the baker so I made the cake and he decorated, I think it was a huge success! I don't think Z has ever been so excited about anything!

Day in the life

So I haven't updated my blog in well...almost a year. One reason is because we didn't have a computer, just an iPad and I absolutely hate typing on an iPad but another reason is that I am busy with my two little munchkins. Life is not necessarily slower these days but a little more controllable. Baby K is in a pretty decent routine, he (usually) naps for an hour and a half in the morning and then two hours in the afternoon which usually allows me to get some stuff down, which is good because when he is awake - nothing gets done. He was my angel baby, so quiet and content and just perfect. And while he's certainly not a bad baby now, he's just nowhere near as quiet and content. All he does is move. Constantly. Up and down. He finds one thing, destroys it and then moves on to the next. I had forgotten how crazy this stage was. How loud this stage was! Baby K is so happy until you take something away from him or you stop him from doing what he wants to be doing and then oh man, he could shatter windows! Z is three now (how did that happen!) and I find myself just loving this age. He is independent but still a little boy. He loves to read, play with lego and playmobile and loves his brother. He finally has a good vocabulary where I can understand most of what he is saying and have full conversations with him. I just love this age.
Something I've noticed lately on blogs is moms doing "A Day in My Life" which I think is kind of a fun read and shows how crazy the life of a stay at home mom can be! I apologize in advance for the lengthy posts but my days are pretty full!
So here is a day in my life:

5:45 a.m. Baby K wakes up, Hubby and I argue over whose turn it is to feed him, this time it's mine so I crawl out of bed, get a bottle ready, feed him and pray he goes back to sleep - success!
6:20 a.m. Z is up. We have a Gro Clock which turns into a sun when it's time to get up and while it works beautifully, I'm pretty sure Z sits in bed and stares at it waiting for it to turn since he always runs into our room at exactly 6:20 which is what it is currently set for, oh well, better than 5:30!
6:30 a.m. Set up the playmobile knights for Z to play with while I have my morning coffee. This has been his new obsession, we got them about two weeks ago and he plays with them every spare moment.
7:00 a.m. Breakfast for Z - toast, watermelon and yogurt. Baby K wakes up. Bum change, change him out of pajamas and downstairs we go. Baby K decides he is starving so breakfast for him as well. I get to use my new yummy pouches! Baby K refuses to let me spoon feed him which really limits me because he won't eat oatmeal, yogurt, applesauce.... I feel like breakfast is always toast for him so I bought a 6 pack of reusable pouches from yummy pouches and put some greek yogurt in it for him - success! He happily slurped out the whole thing of yogurt! He will happily eat finger foods so he had cheerios and watermelon as well.
7:30 a.m. Run a load of laundry. The whole family has been sick so clean sheets are a must! I have to take the cloth diapers out that I did the night before and put them on the drying rack...hopefully I will get the folded today but if not, well that is why I have 30 cloth diapers! I can go several days without folding them and still be okay!

8:00 a.m. Hubby is off to work, the boys love saying goodbye and waving at the window. I pour my second cup of coffee while Z is back playing with the knights and Baby K has discovered my Tupperware drawer.
8:30 a.m. Clean up breakfast dishes, make the kids beds with the spare set of sheets
9:00 a.m. Baby K goes down for a nap (I trip on the knights which are set up on the stairs - due to a baby gate, Z feels this is the safest place for his knights from K), he lets out a loud squack going down (he has skipped morning nap the last two days) making me think this is a lost cause but surprisingly enough by the time I get to the basement he is quiet!

9:15 a.m. Switch the bedding over, get Z settled in the basement with some toys while I work out for twenty minutes
9:45 a.m. Breakfast for me - Peanut Butter Banana Green Smoothie. Snack for Z (seriously this kid is a bottomless pit) - bowl of blueberries, two cookie crackers (thankfully my kid thinks that is what a cookie is) and a sippy cup of my smoothie.

Recipe:

 1 cup spinach, 2 cubes frozen yogurt (you could also just put in a couple tablespoons of plain yogurt but I love it when it's frozen because it just makes the smoothie a little thicker), one banana, 2 tbsp natural peanut butter, 1 cup milk

10:00 a.m. I let Z watch a cartoon while I take a shower...have to get back in because I realized I didn't shave my legs and it's going to be hot today!
10:30 a.m. Z is playing with a sticker book so I am quickly making a couple fruit/veggie blends for Baby K to eat out of his new yummy pouch! Kale, Apple, Banana is my first try - hopefully Baby K likes it! I used to buy the pouches from Baby Gourmet which are fantastic but at $1.25 (on sale!)/pouch, it's a little pricey but he loved the Kale, Apple, Banana one they had so I'm hoping to replicate it!
10:40 a.m. Baby K wakes up..I'm in the middle of steaming Kale so I quickly grab him and give him a bottle in his high chair (first time doing that and he actually managed to do it himself!) and try to finish cooking. I manage to make 6 pouches of Kale, Avocado, Banana and Apple. However, due to the fact that I had an 11 month old either attached to my leg or hip, my kitchen got a little disastrous.

11:15 a.m. Realize I told my mom I would be at her house (half hour away) before noon. Oops! Quickly pack a bag, change Baby K, and try to remember everything I would need for an afternoon out of the house. Correction, pack 2 bags!
11:35 a.m. Out the door! Only 5 minutes late.
12:00-8:00 p.m. Grandma Grandpa's house. Several hours of trying to keep the kids quiet while my niece tried to sleep, did some gardening (my parents live on an acreage so we planted a garden there), hung out with my brother and sister in law who were visiting, and lots of chasing the kids around the house. Z took a nap but Baby K didn't fall asleep until 4 so I only let him sleep an hour.
8:00 p.m. Baby K fell asleep in the car, transfer him to bed. Z wants to play knights with daddy for a bit, since he took a 2 1/2 hour nap at G&G's house, I let him.
8:30 p.m. Z to bed
8:45 p.m. Z comes downstairs and I send him back to bed and I start on the dishes. To all the mom's who empty the dishwasher first thing in the morning and keep the kitchen clean all day. Wow and Kudos. I give up all day and then tackle a giant mess in the evening. But it's kinda my quiet time. I turn on Star Trek Voyager and just do the dishes and enjoy the peace.
9:30 p.m. Put up my extra booster seat since I have an extra kid in the house tomorrow and get my coffee maker ready for tomorrow.
9:35 p.m. Watch an episode of Torchwood with the hubby and then bedtime for me!

Catch Up of October Photo Challenge

I actually did take a picture every day in October, but didn't get around to blogging them - welcome to life with two kids! But here is a glimpse of our life

Birth Story

I love hearing birth stories. I think it's so interesting how it seems like every woman and every pregnancy has a completely different birth story. In some ways, Baby K's birth story isn't that different from Z's but it's also completely different. I have an irritable uterus so I get contractions pretty much constantly starting from my third trimester on. Which makes it extremely difficult to tell whether or not I'm in labour. As such, I went to the hospital an embarrassing number of times during my pregnancy with Baby K. I went several times with Z as well but I definitely beat that number with Baby K. I think it was 5 times at least. However, the big difference was that with Z, I went three times leading up to his birth (Friday morning, Friday night and Saturday and he was born on Saturday) while with Baby K, I went twice in July, once in August and then twice in September (the 2nd time being when I was finally in labour). But in the end, that just doesn't matter. Thursday, September 20 seemed like any other day. Unlike with Z, I wasn't in labour all night, waking up feeling like this must be it. I went to the Ladies Morning Out group that I joined at our church and I was having contractions during the session, but that doesn't really make me panic or think I'm in labour - that's just my norm. They were more painful, I was having a hard time concentrating on the lesson, but they weren't super close, only like 10-15 minutes apart. That's the other thing that was really different, with Z, my contractions started at 3-5 mins apart so I was expecting that as well. I was even joking about the contractions with some of the ladies at the bible study that day and I went home thinking it would still be awhile. It was only 2 days before my due date (coincidently, I had Z two days early) so I was starting to pay more attention to my contractions but I was so sure I would be late since I had felt like I had been pregnant forever. I got home and put Z down for his nap and hubby came home for lunch. He even asked me at lunch if I thought he should stay home but I said no, I didn't want him to miss any work for a false alarm and I was determined that I will only go in when I'm sure. I called my sister when he left and we chatted and I still was having contractions but they were still 10ish minutes apart and I didn't feel like they were super regular so I told her I wasn't going to go in. But as soon as I hung up with her, they started getting closer together and were getting more intense as well. I decided to call hubby and get his opinion, he thought we should go in so he came home from work and I called my parents to have them pick up Z.
We got to the hospital around 4:30 p.m. and checked in, a process I'm VERY familiar with. I got to the assessment room and the nurse checked me and decided that I was not in labour. A fact that made me want to cry. But then she said that I had a labour feel to me and she thought I was going to go very soon so instead of sending me home, she wanted me to go for an hour long walk to see if that would kick me into high gear. So we walked to the mall, got some food in case I was in labour and wouldn't be allowed to eat and then walked back to the hospital. I couldn't tell if I was having more contractions or what because the steady walking was making me cramp so consistently that I couldn't tell what was contractions and what was just cramps so I had no idea what was happening. I got back to the assessment room and the nurse said I was still 3 cm dilated and I would probably be going home but she had to check with the doctor, I didn't recognize the name but she said it would be awhile because he was in surgery. I was starting to have really painful contractions at that point and about 3 minutes apart so I was not happy with that news. Right when I was having a really painful contraction, my doctor came in which made me so happy because she knows my history and I just really like her. Apparently she had just started her shift and heard I was there so she came to see me. She checked me and said I was 3 cm so I thought for sure I was going home since the nurse had basically discharged me already. Then she asked what type of pain medication I was planning during labour so I said epidural but I thought she was just asking but then she turned to the nurse and said lets arrange that for her. Hubby and I just looked at her in confusion and I asked if that meant I was in labour. She said that I was close to a 4 (which is when they admit you) and with how painful my contractions were, she wasn't going to send me home. Hallelujah! So they got me set up in a delivery room and started an IV. I thought they had started me on Oxytocin because my contractions got so intense after that but apparently it was just fluids. I had to wait a bit for the epidural but oh man, it was worth the wait. It was about 7 p.m. by the time I got admitted to a delivery room. At about 8:30 p.m. I was just at 4 cm and not progressing so they decided to break my water. That took a bit of work but eventually she was able to. I felt like things were going really slowly, they checked me at 10:45 and I was at 5 cm. But after that, it started to get really painful. I had an epidural but the contractions were getting super intense and I felt like they were just constant. I told the nurse how much it hurt and she ordered me a top up of my epidural but unfortunately we ended up not having time for that. She checked me at 11:00 and I was almost 6 cm and then it just went from there. My epidural wasn't able to keep up with how fast I was progressing, every time she checked I was further along and feeling the need to push. At 11:20 I was 10 cm and ready to push and with just 2 intense pushes, my beautiful little boy was born at 11:25 p.m. on Thursday, September 20 weighing 7 lbs 15 oz.
I was able to hold him immediately, something I was not able to do with Z and we were able to start nursing in the delivery room. He had a great latch and nursed for twenty minutes before we needed to move to the recovery room. I was feeling great and Baby K just seemed so quiet and content. We nursed again and then he fell asleep in my arms. I wasn't able to sleep but I was on such a high, that I didn't feel tired at all. I sent hubby home and just waited for morning. My doctor came in and said I was doing great and asked if I wanted to go home that day or if I wanted to spend a night. Remembering how poorly both Z and I slept in the hospital, I said I would go home as soon as possible. She discharged me and I just had to wait for baby K to be seen by the paediatrician and at 9 a.m. I was sitting at home.
Life is good.

October photo challenge

Day 2: Z decided he needed some reading materials with his afternoon snack

Day 3: Lemon loaf!

Day 4: Mike surprised me with this beautiful Sapphire ring which is the new baby's birthstone

October goal

I don't usually jump on bandwagons but I love the idea of taking a picture daily during October and sharing it. I think it will encourage me to take more pictures and to blog more.
Yesterday we took the boys to Starbucks so I could get a pumpkin spice latte and because Z was being so whiny and we thought a walk would do him good. However we got caught in this crazy windstorm which scared him and he got dust in his eyes so he wasn't overly thrilled but after hiding out in Superstore for half an hour, it calmed down and we were treated to a beautiful fall day. I love the colors and the leaves and just the crispness of the air.