Madison Lynn Rawson

And then there were four! Our family has expanded, two boys and now two girls! We had a little girl - Madison Lynn Rawson on November 27, 7 pounds 11 ounces, 20 1/2 long. After just about having an emergency c-section Madison decided to come naturally and do things her way!
I finally have my girl! Needless to say since she's came home she's been dressed in pink! I really hope she's a girly girl or she's going to not like me for dressing her up for the first couple years of her life! Madison already has Chris wrapped around her finger, she's a daddy's girl! Zander isn't too sure what to think of her yet - he finally held her for the first time the other day, otherwise he's just been giving her a kiss and a quick pat on the head and off he goes! Zander is starting to get jealous - he wants to cuddle with me when I feed Madison and he is waking up lots in the night - but then so is Madison - basically if I get an hour of sleep at a time I am very lucky! Zander turns 2 today! We are having his birthday party tomorrow with swimming and pizza and of course lots of cousins!
I feel very blessed to have a healthy son and a healthy daughter and look forward to the adventures we will share!

bragging

So I just have to do a little bit of bragging about Zander. Yesterday he surprised me at Grandma and Grandpa Mutlow's house. When it was time to go I told him to go put on his shoes, thinking that he would bring them to me to put on for him, well when he came back he had his shoes on! It was his first time putting them on all by himself! So since yesterday afternoon he has done it many times and most of the times manages to get them on the right feet although if they are on wrong and I tell him that he will take them off and put them on right! To make his accomplishment seem a little less huge he is putting on dawgs, but they do have the back straps on, so to me, his mommy, this is huge! To keep up the bragging Zander also started to climb a tree yesterday. The cat was climbing it so Zander went right after him and got up a couple feet and then heard noises coming from the shop and started yelling "monster" and fell out of the tree! And of course here I am trying to get through the trees to get him and my tummy can barely fit:) Anyway I am sure that in the days to come he will continue to try to climb that tree and will give me many more scares!
Yesterday was halloween and we had gorgeous weather! We went out trick-or-treating with Grandma and Kaitlyn, Zander was a puppy and Kaitlyn a witch. We walked a lot and by the time we were done I was very tired and yet Zander still had lots of energy and he walked to whole time - to be a kid again!
I find lately that I am beginning to really stop and cherish my time with Zander, I think it's because I know that soon it won't be just the 2 of us and I've grown fond of it being just the 2 of us. Zander is very much a cuddler and a mommy suck and I have to say that I kind of enjoy it, it's nice when he runs into my arms or cuddles right into me. I feel guilty thinking that soon there will be a new baby and Zander won't get so much of my time, I worry about how he'll respond to the baby and hope that I am able to still make sure to make time for just the 2 of us. His big thing now is "Mommy's turn" which means a variety of things to him, like if Chris sits in My chair at the table Zander responds with "Mommy's turn" and wants Chris out. If Chris tries to put Zanders jacket on it's "Mommy's turn", his other favorite is "My Mommy" which he says a lot to Chris and then of course Chris thinks it's funny to say back "My Mommy" and then Zander gets mad!
So I'm praying for the best with the new baby and hoping Zander loves it automatically (I know probably won't happen) and that Zander will know that no matter what I'll always be "Zander's Mommy".

Today is an exciting day - we are going to a pumpkin carving party at my parents house and all the close cousins will be there so it is sure to be very noisey, messy and lots of fun!
I'm on 34 weeks of pregnancy now and ready for it to be done! We are trying to get things ready around the house, my mom has been helping me clean cupboards and closets, she is much better at throwing away things then I am - I'm a pack rat! Zander's room is starting to come together, hopefully by the end of this week we will only have the flooring left to do! It's amazing how things seem to be happening so fast! The doctor told me that I should be getting my bag packed as he seems to think the baby could come anytime or the baby might wait until December! I hate not knowing and constantly waiting! I'm definitley as big as a house. Zander loves to talk to my belly, especially to yell "wake up" and then to tell me the reason the baby is hiding in my tummy is because it's "scared". That's still his favorite word - everything is "scary".
Zander gave us quite a scare himself the other night. He was bouncing on the trampoline and landed funny and knocked his breath out and couldn't move his neck. So after a very fast ride to the hospital the nurses decide to put a hard neck brace on him until the doctor arrived, well of course they didn't have one that fit him right and then there were 4 nurses in there and he was so overwhelmed that he was just screaming, and of course screaming my name! so they finally put a soft brace on him and let me hold him. The doctor said he just got some bruising on his neck and tail bone and would be fine so that was a relief! What a horrible experience though! Zander is now sure that he does not want to go back to the doctor, although that hasn't changed him to be more careful, he still climbs on everything and runs everywhere.
But I better go - got to get ready to carve pumpkins! hope everyone has a happy halloween!

Harvest over

So I'm happy to report that harvest in now done! It only took a little over a month but for me that seemed to drag on forever! Zander is very happy to have his daddy back and Chris is slowly getting Zander to like him again. I'm afraid he became a very big mommy suck, partly my fault though as I allowed Zander to sleep in our bed when Chris was gone, so of course it is now a bad habit to try and break!
We have been having the most beautiful weather lately and have been taken advantage of it going outside every chance we get and wearing our shorts a couple more times before winter. Zanders new favorite thing is to go "exploring" with Kaitlyn. That means tramping through the trees, somehow they even manage to squeeze through out liliac bushes which results in quite a few scratches and bruises but that doesn't seem to phase them. We have also began decorating for halloween, and Zander has learned some new words "spooky", "pumpkin" and his favorite "scared", when he is scared he wants me to pick him up and carry him - this usually happens when we are outside walking and he gets pretty heavy and my stomach has started to get in the way!
With harvest over Chris is starting the focus on "projects" around the house. tonight he started ripping out drywall on what will be Zanders new bedroom. I am very happy to see it started as I have begun to get anxious about all of things left to do and me at 31 weeks and of course the high blood pressure and swelling has already began so I can see it being a very happy last 2 months!
For right now though we're just trying to enjoy the weather and spend quality time with Zander as I'm sure his nose is going to be a little out of joint when the new baby arrives. When I ask him if he wants to be a big brother he firmly responds "no, baby" but I'm sure he'll grow to love the baby as much as he does now when it's in my tummy and it kicks him and he gives it kisses!

September 2, 2008

Well as I'm sure many people already know my sister Melanie passed away on August 18, 2008. This is my first time having to deal with a loved ones death and I'm not sure I'm handling it too well. It all still seems so unreal and at times I don't believe it actually happened - it's like that week in August was all a dream. I have been having dreams about Mel lately where it all ends up being a joke and she's not really dead I then wake Chris up and ask him. I have to say the week right after was the easiest as there was so much to do that I just kept myself busy. Now everything just seems to drag on - Chris has started swathing so he is gone most days until dark so it's just Zander and me. Zander has been amazing through all of this, he did get clingy but that is exactly what I needed. Everyday in the morning as I change his diaper he plays with an angel statue that I have and he gives it kisses and says "morning auntie melanie" the part that breaks my heart is knowing that Zander probably won't remember his Auntie Melanie and that our new baby will never know her. One comfort I have is that the morning that she passed away we got to see her and Zander got one last play in with her. Thanks to everyone for their kind words and support during this very difficult time. Please continue to pray for us and please pray for a quick harvest so I can have my Chris back with me.

almost 20 months old!

Well Zander is almost 20 months old now! Just the other day he went for his 18 month shots (yes I know 2 months behind but we had to cancel them before as they were on the day I had my kidney stone removed). So I found out that he only weighs 29 pounds 13 ounces - I was sure he would be over 30 pounds! The worst part was the needles - after the first one he knew what was coming and he tried to hit, kick and bite the nurse! Although he only cried for a couple of minutes and by the time we left he was singing "ring around the rosie"! This time he did get a fever from the needles and all he really wanted to do yesterday was cuddle, which was okay with me! We spent the long weekend in Edmonton with my parents and Kaitlyn. We went to the water park for 2 days! Needless to say both kids were tired out and slept well. Now we are looking towards harvest and hoping to get started soon so it can be over soon - I count down the days when we will get to see Chris for more than 5 minutes a day, and I know Zander doesn't like having his daddy gone.

July 26, 2008

Things here are going good. With all the hot weather we've been having we've been getting lots of use out of our hot tub (we've converted it into a pool for the summer), Zander goes in it about everyday which is nice as it tires him out for bed time. We went for an ultrasound on friday. I wanted to know the sex of the baby and Chris wasn't sure if he wanted to know but the baby decided for us - it was turned so they couldn't tell anything! Oh well surprises are always better. We still won't know a due date until we talk to the doctor and that's what I'm most concerned about, I'm trying to get all my hours in at work for maternity leave and it makes for late nights! While the ultrasound was going on Zander kept saying "Ouch, hurt" he was so afraid the lady was hurting me! And then the baby waved to us and Zander waved back and said "baby", I don't think he quite knows what's going on but he enjoys when the baby kicks him and loves to give my tummy kisses!

A long 2 weeks

Well this time I can't report that it's been an uneventful two weeks I'm afraid. We decided to go nowhere for the long weekend which turned out to be the right choice as we wouldn't have been able to go anywhere!On Tuesday I started having terrible pains and so Wednesday night Chris took me to the hospital and they thought I might have a kidney stone, we were very lucky and got into saskatoon the next day for an ultrasound and they found the stone (we also got to see the baby! And now I can rest easy knowing it's not twins!) I was rushed to surgery and by night time the pain was gone! Wow I didn't think a small stone could cause so much pain - I would have to compare it to child birth, not quite as bad but just about. And I have to say I loved the spinal tap, it was so much better than an epideral, no pain, no feeling and I got to watch the surgery! I almost think the whole experience was worse for Chris as he was the one freaking out and waiting in the waiting room for news on the baby and me (they were concerned about a miscarriage but the baby is doing great) Thankfully with family so close Zander stayed at my parents house and then had Uncle Dwayne come and take care of him one night. When we were home again when Zander woke up in the morning and I went to get him he just looked at me and said "papa" he didn't want me, he wanted his papa. So I know he didn't mind the time away:)
so the next eventful hospital experience happened a couple days later only this time it was Zander we were taking in. He got a mosquito bite on his eye and when he woke up his eye was swollen shut - apparently he is allergic to mosquito bites! So after about 4 days he was finally able to see out of his eye, Chris called him "slugger" and my dad called him "bug eye" And then after all of this Chris gets the flu - I think the stress finally got to him! But I am happy to report that we are all feeling well now and are looking forward to some uneventful days!

Summer time

Well I'm happy to say that it finally feels like summer is here! It's nice to have some warm weather! Things here have been pretty uneventful which I am enjoying. Basically our day consists of going outside, coming in to eat and nap and then going back outside! Oh and I'm happy to report that we now have a fence! On fathers day my parents and Kaitlyn spent the whole day here and we got the fence done in a day! I'm not sure it's the fathers day that Chris or my dad had in mind but I am very grateful to them. Zander has taken to walking around the fence trying to find a break in it to find a way out - he reminds my of our old horse:) With the nice weather Zander has been out lots in our hot tub (which we have to turn down quite a bit so I can still enjoy it) he loves the water and especially loves it when someone splashes him, what an odd kid! Zander learnt the word "honey" from Auntie Melissa and has taken to calling me that when he wants to hear me laugh. It still amazes me everyday how much kids pick up on, Zander will now go and get me his clothes from his room when I ask him to, he is practising giving his doll a bottle, and he finally is saying "grandma" instead of "mama". He has between 11-12 teeth and still doesn't want to eat meat - we might have a vegetarian on our hands! Zanders newest "job" is to help me wash the dishes and by helping I mean getting water everywhere! As soon as he sees me turning the kitchen sink on he moves a chair beside me and gets right in there - so if we ever get a working dishwasher I'm not sure what Zander will do:) I'm in my fourth month of pregnancy and still "enjoying" morning sickness - hopefully it ends soon! Zander the little mimic likes to imitate me as I have morning sickness and then he laughs and laughs, which in a way helps because I usually end up laughing at him - you got to love kids!

Already May

Wow I can't believe it's already May 3! I've been pretty lax in keeping this updated - it's been over a month. April has been a pretty crazy month for us. As I'm sure most of you already know I am expecting again, so once again begins the morning sickness - or as I like to call it the all day and night sickness! My wish is that it only goes on for the first 3 months - so hopefully only a month left to go! Zander has been amazing during all of this he goes up to my tummy and says "baby" and gives it kisses. The worst thing so far I have found is the constant tiredness - I'm going to bed the sametime Zander does and I'm still tired. Zander still continues to be an outside boy and so after his nap we're usually outside until Chris comes home from work. This has made me realize that we desperately need a fence as Zander loves the shop and quite often takes off in that direction - especially if he hears a forklift and then he goes yelling "ride"! Zander still continues to talk constantly and is starting to put sentences together. One of his favorite things to say now is "Hello, Love you, Bye" and then he'll go and hide around a corner and laugh! He also delights in yelling "Krystle" when he's in another room and then laughs when I yell back "Mommy!" April was a month of basically staying close to home, lots of trips were made to Rosetown to visit Grandma and Grandpa Rawson and Great Grandma Tyson who is in the hospital. Zander delights in visiting the hospital and loves to give Grandma Tyson kisses and quite often tries to crawl into bed with her! There has been lots of coffee mornings and mornings where we have looked out the window to snow and then rain the next day. Zander does not enjoy the days he is not let outside. He has gotten very good at crawling up and down the stairs and knows if he pulls hard enough on the gate he will get it open. He enjoys standing at the top of the stairs and throwing all the shoes down and then crawling after them and putting them on! Yesterday when we were outside walking he would go straight for any puddle (Chris has taught him how to splash) and then Zander's big trick yesterday was sitting down in the middle of the puddle! Needless to say I only let that happen once and then after changing muddy clothes and diaper i tried to steer him away from the puddles! All in all things are busy now but I know that with another baby things will only get crazier and I am looking forward to it! Hopefully seeding will start soon and be done with soon, as that is not a time I'm looking forward to. I hope everyone had a good and safe April and good luck in May!

Easter

We survived easter! This year we decided that we would host the Rawson family on Saturday and then the Epp family on Sunday, so it was a pretty busy weekend but lots of fun! On Saturday Aidan and Zander got to play together, and then on Sunday Zander got to play with Christian, Emma, Matthew, Dara, Luna and Kaitlyn! So there were alot of kids in the house on Sunday. I was very impressed on how much room we had, I wasn't sure our house was going to hold all 15 of us but it did well - thank goodness for the new kitchen! We all had a great time and it was wonderful to get together, although I still have lots of chocolate left over which I'm not to happy about:) Zander still continues to run everywhere and with the nice weather he is enjoying our front deck. Just today he popped his fifth tooth which he's been working on since christmas! Starting tomorrow Chris is going back to working normal hours (8-5) and I'll be working nights so we'll see how that goes - although I should be able to get a lot of work done in the office by myself.

Well it's been close to a month now since I last wrote so I figured it was about time. Things have been fairly busy - currently Chris is working from 6am to 2:30 pm and then I'm working 2:30pm to 6:00pm, so we're pretty busy and don't get to see each other much as Chris goes to bed quite early. Our only other option was day care though and as the closest is in Rosetown this works better, and besides I love being around Zander all day and miss him for the 3.5 hours I'm away! Zander is running around now - one day he just took off walking and now he doesn't crawl at all anymore! He especially loves to walk in the snow and loves to be outside! We take him sledding on Grandma and Grandpa Epp's hill and he loves it! He is constantly talking and his new favorite words are "puppy" and "no no no", he is also very good at shaking his head no. He loves to mimic and you have to be very careful what you say around him as you never know which word he is going to pick up next! His new favorite song is "the wheels on the bus" which annoys Chris to no end :) Zander has become quite the mommy suck lately, and has taken to yelling "mommy" whenever he wants my attention which is usually for no reason. His new trick is climbing onto kitchen chairs - the other day he did it and then said "tada" he was so proud of himself, he thinks he is a big boy. Last weekend we went to Edmonton with my parents and Kaitlyn and saw my sister Nicole, Neil and Kash and we all went to the water park. Zander wasn't all that interested in the wave pool, he really enjoyed one waterslide but his favorite thing was just to walk up and down all the stairs! Zander really loved Kash and loved giving him hugs and kisses, I've never seen him act that way towards another kid, it was very cute but Kash got sick of it fast! All in all it was a great weekend but I don't think we'll be going away any where for quite sometime as Chris does not enjoy Zander sleeping with us :)

home again

Well we survived our trip to Disneyland! When planning the trip we had big ideas of going to Legoland and Catalina Island, but it was a different story once we were down there. All the tours are 12 hours and Zander sitting on a bus for 4 hours everyday that wasn't going to happen! So instead we took it easy and just went to disneyland for 8 days and then spend the other days hanging by the pool, and shopping! I really enjoyed the shopping part of the trip and once again spent way to much money on Zander at the outlet mall - he will be very well dressed this summer! Zander really enjoyed disneyland, it was so different from last year when he slept through everything! His favorite rides were pinochino and pirates of the caribeane - infact on the last day when you drop 20 feet in the dark he would put his arms up in the air! (which of course scared me a little and I made sure to hang on tight!) He was fascinated by the characters, his favorite was chip and dale, we saw them at a character breakfast we went to and he cuddled with them and gave them kisses and really enjoyed biting their noses! They were great they probably spent 10 minutes just with him! Zander didn't care for the princesses this time, I think it was because they didn't have fuzzy faces he could pet! Zander was great on the plane rides, the only time he got mad was when we wouldn't let him down to crawl:)
We are all very happy to be home, 2 weeks is a long time, especially when Zander would only sleep if he was in bed with us - a habit we are now breaking! It was nice to go to sunny warm weather but it was really nice to feel the cold, although after seeing the huge snowbank that is behind our van I'm not to sure I'm still enjoying the snow! Hope everyone is doing well.

January 21, 2008

The countdown is on for our trip! Only 6 more sleeps until we head off to Disneyland! We are going with my parents and Kaitlyn again. Last night Zander took off walking! He just all of a sudden walked from me to my mom! Chris was extremely lucky and got it on video just before the battery died! :) For the past couple weeks Zander has been taking 1 or 2 steps inbetween people but last night was the first time he took 7 steps and then he kept wanting to walk and he would walk the whole length of the hallway! My little baby is growing up - I guess I have to start calling him my little boy! Chris and I were both trying not to push walking before Disneyland as it is going to be quite a pain Zander trying to walk with so many people - I have a feeling we'll be going back to the hotel alot! Our kitchen is finally done (minus a few paint touchups) it looks amazing, better then I ever would have imagined. Not too much new with us Chris and I both have colds and are hoping to be better before our trip, Zander constantly has a runny nose which I'm guessing is due to teething, hopefully he'll pop another tooth before the trip.