Life interrupting life

Every now and then life interrupts a wonderful routine I've got going.

Life just interrupted my life for a month but I'm back.

Sort of.

I'm couch crashing with the girls at my mom's. Actually it's the three of us in my old bedroom, which really isn't too bad. Except when we all need to be sleeping. And one of us (not going to name name) keeps waking up and crying because she's hungry or the other one (again no names) wakes up crying "Mommy mommy mommy. Sooooooooooooooooo." Finding her "soo" (pacifier) and going back to sleep.

Waiting for US Immigration to return my passport and visa so I can go home to New Jersey. Immigrating has been a super fun adventure involving thousands of dollars, multiple copies of every certificate ever issued to me (I think they even asked for my grade 4 report card), two trips to Montreal (thank god they didn't route me through Vancouver) and showing my junk to some lady I've never met before. (yes, I just called what's in my pants my junk, I'm kinda worried about what using any other term for it would do to my blog's SEO. I don't want people finding my blog by searching strange combinations of things I normally blog about and my junk.)

Fortunately it will be over soon.
This afternoon I'm heading to pick up my passport and visa from the DHL depot. I could have them take it to the local DHL depot for free, but to have it delivered to my house would cost an extra $15. Whatever. I have my license. I can do the delivery company's job for them if it means I get my stuff back faster.

Being here means we're out our usual forms of entertainment - like hanging out at the local Ikea and eating meatballs till we puke. We brought the media server we keep in the playroom up here as an easy way to transport all the kids movies. In true toddler fashion though, we've only watched one. Over and over and over and over. She gets credit for wanting to watch Bolt. I think if I had to watch the Little Mermaid this many times I would be making crab for dinner and telling her it was Sebastian.

My Baby is One Today

She's One.
Where did the time go?
A year ago Baby D was born at home. First blizzard of the year, the midwife got stuck behind a snow plow on the way over here and didn't quite make it on time.
A year ago Baby D was born into her father's hands.

A year previous, when T was born, she was a hospital birth. Everything about the way a hospital birth is set up is designed to make the laboring woman feel like she can't do this on her own. I left that experience feeling like I couldn't do the one thing my body was designed to do. Despite giving birth at a boutique hospital, I felt like nobody genuinely cared about the well being of me and my baby.
I felt like I was in a Monty Python Sketch hooked up to the machine that goes *PING*. Except it wasn't funny. At all.


So when D was born at home, in our own bed, caught by her father it was the most healing thing I could have experienced. It got a little less peaceful and intimate when the Cop and EMT arrived from when my Husband called 911. Aside from my own birth, I'm fairly certain that's the first time I've met anyone, let alone two men, whilst completely naked. The midwife arrived, spoon fed me ice cream while I nursed baby D for the first time. She helped me into the shower, helped my husband throw away the linens. She stuck around for a little bit to make sure I ate, and told me to spend the day relaxing in bed with the new little one.

T had spent the day with her Grandpa. She returned home at 9am, about 5 hours after her sister was born. When I brought the baby out of the bedroom to meet her, T got a HUGE smile on her face and she signed "baby." She loved her instantly.

These two are going to be the best of friends. I love them both so much.
Happy birthday little one!

Why I'm a bad blogger

I thought I'd share with you what I normally look like when I blog. This might give you insight into why I don't blog nearly as much as I'd like.



I sneak everything into nap time. This little sweetheart, however, often needs to be held during her naps. She struggles to fall asleep - unless we're in the car.


(she's in my lap on a pillow in this picture)

So what have I been up to otherwise?
Well we're Home right now. Home for me is Ottawa. As much as we've made a home in New Jersey, if you ask me where I call home it's Ottawa. I hope one day the rest of my family will be able to say the same thing. Unfortunately there are certain obligations that keep us in New Jersey.



We took the girls to Park Safari. It's about a 3 hour drive from Ottawa. They have a safari where you drive around a route and look at all kinds of animals. Huge signs say "don't feed the zebras, they bite" but they were the only ones interested in the food we bought at the entrance.
We didn't feed the zebras but other people weren't as paranoid as I was.


Zebras don't eat babies do they?

We all had so much fun and T is still talking about the "seebas"

A little about me a little about you

One of my favorite blogs Luv in the Mommyhood has posted "a little about me and a little about you!"
I'll bite. Here are my answers. Want to join in? Take the first word of each line and fill in the rest! Post it on your blog and come back and link me!

Making: plans tons and tons of plans
Cooking: nothing, I'm on clear fluids today
Drinking: vitamin water
Reading: blogs online
Wanting: a new macbook pro
Looking: at the toddler trying to put markers up her nose
Playing: Dr Mario
Wasting: time, I could be doing something productive
Sewing: my autumn collection
Wishing: money grew on trees
Enjoying: watching the baby learn to crawl
Waiting: For a package from Canada
Liking: my issue of Ottobre, I want a subscription!
Wondering: Why babies grow up so fast.
Loving: My family
Hoping: That timing works out with my friend's baby and me going to visit
Marvelling: at T standing in front of the tv naming and signing things she sees
Needing: A nap
Smelling: Febreeze
Wearing: PJs
Following: www.twitter.com/curation_nation
Noticing: The lack of humidity - as shown by the lack of tight curls in T's hair
Knowing: Time is fleating
Thinking: about two craft swaps I'm in
Bookmarking: some patterns I want to try
Opening: A new vitamin water
Giggling: At the girls blowing raspberries and giggling at each other.
Feeling: Apprehensive

Almost 7 months ALREADY?

(Dahlia at 6 weeks)


Where does the time go?

I'm writing up Dahlia's story. I've tried to keep it as everyone friendly as possible, but if you don't want to read about a birth skip this post. It is photo heavy at the end. So if you want to look at photos and skip the story just scroll down.

Here's Dahlia's story...
Back in the beginning of December I was exhausted. Extremely pregnant as well as being mom to a 13 month old who's seconds away from walking. (She held off until her sister was born. Then she took off) I had some serious prodomal labor for weeks. Things would seem like they were progressing but then they would stop abruptly. On Tuesday Dec 8th I was feeling hopeful that things were moving in the right direction, but chasing T around was exhausting and there was no way I'd be able to really let myself surrender to labor with her there. We asked my father in law to take her for the day. My husband stayed home and we tried to get things go by walking and bouncing on the birth ball. It seemed like things were going well but they'd keep stalling and I was losing my morale.
From about midnight to 2am I chatted online with a few friends. They really REALLY helped. Because of all the false starts I wasn't sure that this was "it". They convinced me that even if it wasn't it, I was doing great. Soaking in the tub felt SO fabulous. By 3am my contractions were only 8-12 minutes apart. (For the uninitiated they tell you to go to the hospital when they're 4 minutes apart for 1 hour and lasting 1 minute each) Labor with T lasted 30 hours so I figured we were in for the long haul.
At 3:30 I called the midwife. I lied. I said my contractions were 6 minutes apart. We were on the phone for 8 minutes with no contraction. Right as we were going to hang up I had a contraction, I'd been groaning through them for about an hour at this point. She heard me and said "I'll be right there!"
I got out of the bathtub and walked to the bedroom. I don't think it took too long. But I had 3 contractions on the way! (from 8 minutes apart to two minutes apart in 30 feet) My fabulous husband started the air pump to blow up the pool. I wanted a water birth.
That pump was incredible.
I know, you probably don't hear people gushing about air pumps very often.
The noise it made was great. When a contraction would come on I would match the pitch of the pump with my groans. On the one or two occasions I started groaning at a higher pitch it quickly turned into a panicked scream.
Only a couple contractions after our arrival in the bedroom my water broke. I was beyond words at this point but managed to yelp a little "help" and a towel showed up on the floor. With a little help I climbed into the bed and got on my hands and knees.
The very next contractions something strange happened.
I started to push.
I didn't have any control over this. The contraction started to get intense (I wasn't getting a break between them at this point) and my body shuddered and I felt like I was standing beside myself trying to convince myself that I couldn't push, the midwife was on the way and we needed to wait for her. Afterwards I shuttered and came back into my body. I reached down to see if my accidental pushing was effective. It was. I could feel the top of her head.
This time I wasn't able to yelp.
Another wave came on and I found myself standing looking at myself thinking "what is this nutcase doing??"
Fortunately this time my husband looked up from the pool inflation and realized that things were a bit further along than he'd thought. He came around in time to see her head emerge.
What he did next I find amusing. Even in the moment I almost laughed at him.
He looks me in the eye and says "Kath, the baby's coming."
As if I didn't know.
He grabs the phone and dials 911 - since the midwife still isn't here. They transfer him to the wrong dispatch, who proceeds to try to give him the phone number for the right one. He hung up and dialed 911 again. Fortunately this time they sent him to the right people. By the time he was actually speaking to someone he was also holding Dahlia wrapped in a towel.

It didn't take long for an EMT and a Police officer to arrive. The EMT didn't have everything he needed. He radioed in to have someone bring something and I asked him what he needed and directed him to the dresser, where I had all the supplies laid out. (We planned a home birth) He was shocked and quite happy to find everything he needed right there.
While he checked Dahlia out I got my cellphone out and called the midwife and called a friend. (Note: I'm still on my hands and knees afraid to move because Dahlia is still attached)

The midwife arrived shortly thereafter. She helped me get into a better position, where I could hold the baby. The EMT announced that we should pack up and head to the hospital now. We politely declined. "But you just had a baby??!!" "Yeah... but I'm not injured or sick? There's no emergency?" "Ok.. umm.. sign this?"


It was a perfect experience. It was completely peaceful. Her birth was a moment I shared with only my husband. It was empowering, it was thrilling and it was perfect. It wasn't until he called 911 that things went nuts.

It wasn't how we planned but I wouldn't change a thing.
Later that day she was captured on Skype by her grandma.


A week later:



At 1 month


At 2 months


At 3 months


At 4 months


At 5 months


At 6 months


At almost 7 months on a skype call with my mom