It's Winter Time Again!

Well, this past year proved to be too chaotic to blog! It was a whirlwind of a year ... a big blur that I can hardly make heads or tails of!

My little guy is not so little any more. He's 3, and has just potty trained this past week. It took a lot of gummy worms, but it was worth it! He is not quite poop trained, but we're getting there.

My little girl is almost one. I can't believe how fast time flies when you're busy busy busy! She weighs just under 21 lbs, and is such a lightweight compared to Keagan. She was sick for the first time this past week ... puking and everything. Poor little thing. I gave her 1/2 a Gravol suppository, and she seems to be much better today.

I started back at work again on November 12th. It was so hard to return back as my previous FTE (0.7), especially since Annabelle still seems so little, and she refuses to take a bottle (yup, she's still breastfeeding). So, I dropped my FTE down to 0.6, and while it's still hard to be away from the kids for two shifts in a row, it's more manageable. It's still super hard to commute, though, so I am making changes to try to work closer to home. I enrolled in the Oncology program at Georgian, hoping to get a head-start for a job in the new cancer centre at RVH. I am also thinking of applying to the oncology unit at Sick Kids, but haven't made the move yet to call the manager.

Anyway, I'm out for tonight. Here's hoping I'll be blogging finer details instead of broad updates from now on!

Fun ... and the Sun!

Today Keagan had his little friend, Levi, over for the morning. It was so cute watching them play together! At one point when I went to the washroom, I heard Levi calling, "Keagan's mom, where are you?" Wow. I can't believe that I am now a child's mom...you know, when other kids don't refer to you as yourself, but as someone's mom. So weird. I remember doing that as a kid, and thinking my friend's mom was just the juice pourer old lady in the background. Well, that's me now!

We were able to get outside today as the weather was beautiful and sunny. It's amazing how much little boys can eat after playing so hard. I served "green juice" with lunch. Keagan can't get enough of this stuff. Green juice is a smoothie combination of apple juice, a banana, and a big handful of spinach. It tastes great!

This past Monday to Tuesday, Bekka came over for the first time in almost 6 weeks. She helped me paint Annabelle's room a pretty colour called "Silverberry." That's a nice name for purple. I am so proud to have a purple room for my little girl! I can't wait to arrange the furniture in there.

Anyway ... my bed calls. I am so tired! And will be up again in about 3 hours. Good night!

Whew ... Music Again!

The past few days have been tough for me. Exhaustion set in, and everything came to a head. Like a big zit, it popped (yum!). So, things are feeling normal again. Actually a bit better. I have my music back on my iTunes folder, thanks to my dear hubby. It's funny how everything feels better when there's a soundtrack in the background.

Now I'm listening to some upbeat Natasha Bedingfield, and even writing seems to come easier. I can hear a toddler whining somewhere in the distance, but it is muffled by the music.

Discharged

Annabelle's last midwife appointment was yesterday as midwives discharge the babies born through their practice at around 6 weeks (she will be 7 weeks tomorrow). She was 10 lbs 13 oz and 21.7 inches long (55 cm). This means she is up 2 3/4 lbs and 2 inches since she was born. She has been gaining 1 ounce/day, which is pretty standard for healthy babies. (Keagan was 12 lbs and 22.5 inches at 6 weeks.)

She is a very sweet and content little girl, but she is higher maintenance than Keagan was as a baby. She eats every 1 1/2 - 3 hours during the day (3-5 hours at night). Keagan ate every 3 hours on the dot, and was sleeping 6 hour stretches at night by 2 months (although this didn't last forever). Annabelle likes to be cuddled a lot, and will cry and pout if there is no one in her sight.

The handy thing about having a two-year-old around is that he can replace the soother ("soover"), and even his face will brighten up her previous misery of having nobody around to entertain her. The only problem is that those two-year-old fingers often end up in her eyes.

February Gloom ...

We are getting the the point where we're really ready for winter to be over. Actually, I'm pretty sure we reached that point quite a while ago. It's hard to let your two-year-old run off steam when you have a newborn, as we are stuck indoors most of the time. I'm really looking forward to being able to just throw on a pair of shoes, open up the double stroller, and venture out to the park on our street.

I've also discovered that, with the addition of another child, there really aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done. I used to be able to clean my house from top to bottom, make supper, do laundry, play with Keagan, and fart around a bit, all in one day. Now, I'm lucky if I can get one chore done. It doesn't help that Annabelle is attached to my boob a lot of the time ... and I now have two diapers to change (we've been trying to get Keagan warmed up to the potty for the past four months) ... two bodies to bundle up when going out ... two to load up into the van and into a shopping cart ... one whines while the other cries. And all of this on very little sleep!

Enough complaining ....

This past Sunday was Valentine's Day. I whipped up a chocolate cake (from a box) the night before, and told Keagan we were going to have "I Love You" cake the next day. On Sunday, I dressed the babies in red, and iced the cake with hot pink icing (that's what happens when you add red food colouring to white icing ... although I was hoping for red, I didn't want to add the whole bottle of food colouring).

Keagan wanted to eat that cake so badly that right after this picture was taken, he sent Annabelle into a faceplant on the carpet so he could dig into it.

He has a sweet tooth, just like his mom and dad.

Back At It!

After a two-year hiatus, I decided to step back into the blogging world. This time, my goal is to keep a record of my kids' growing years, and keep our families informed with what we're up to! What better time than the addition of a new family member? Annabelle Marie was born December 31st, 2009, making her the 4th Kostrey in our little clan. Keagan Asher has been our sidekick since November 23rd, 2007, and with some regret, I stopped blogging around the same time.

Without further ado ... welcome to our blog!