Three weeks...

Wow, our little Jude dude is already three weeks old. It certainly feels a lot longer, perhaps because it has been a rather long three weeks of trying to adjust, new routines, sickness, pain, frustration, tears, sleepless nights, amazement in how incredible God's handy work is, feelings of being completely and utterly overwhelmed, wrestling with God's voice versus the Devil. I think that about sums things up.

I hate having c-sections. This time around I spent almost the first two weeks sleeping on the couch in a weird upright position as I couldn't get comfortable in our bed. It was horrible.

I wish I was Supermom(is there such an super heroine--there should be and she would certainly be my favourite). You can't lift for 6 weeks, drive for 4 weeks and you are supposed to rest and take it easy. That may work for your first child, but not so much for number 3.

Why doesn't our medical system provide new moms with nurses like they do in Holland (the nurses come to your home for like a week and help out with anything and everything), or in Korea all new mothers who had to have c-sections get a special hospital room where they have to stay for 2 weeks. Their families (spouses) can stay with them, and basically take care of them for 2 weeks while they are forced to rest and do nothing but take care of themselves and their new little one(s)?

I wish I had a maid right now! It drives me nuts that I have to 'let' things go a bit.

I am having one of those days, for no particular reason. I seem to have them a bit lately. The biggest thing is feeling so completely and utterly overwhelmed and like the worst mother in the whole entire world. Thankfully John has the month off and has been amazing, as usual. He has a lot of his plate though too. It seems everything is falling into place for him at lightning speed and I know he is feeling a bit overwhelmed. I like to let him sleep at night because he has to get up and take Zech to school, but he is up every time with me, changing diapers, getting bottles, you name it. I do have an amazing husband and have no idea how on earth I would do this without him!!

Jude is a pretty content baby. We are slowly getting his days and nights turned around. He sleeps a lot during the day and sleeps a lot period. I don't think I have ever had an infant sleep like he does--I just wish it were more during the night. He eats like you would not believe and after 11 days was up to 9 lbs. 5 oz. Pretty darn good!

Zech started school and has to be up by 6:30 am every morning. Right now he gets up with daddy and thinks that is the best thing. He asks every morning if daddy is going to wake him up. He is transitioning, but not to say it has been smooth, as we have had our issues.

Genesis has been sick and up every single night three, to four times a night. Before she was really sick, she would get up every time she heard Jude get up and come into our room. She would want to help feed him or just lie beside me as I fed him. We finally had to put a gate up on her door as we never knew when she would come in, but now we have to get up and go to her as she screams out. Erghh! I know that she is dealing with the new transition too. We are struggling with her naps, and did I mention she uses her cough when she wants attention as well. Not only that, she has become a hypochondriac. We have noticed that she has all sorts of owies every time she feels like she isn't getting the attention she wants. She is a great help though and truly is like a little mother. I know it will take time.

So this is our life in a nut shell right now. I am super exhausted, overwhelmed, dealing with the hormones and the constant tears that seem to come upon me at ridiculous times (especially since I am not a public crier). None the less I am blessed beyond as I get to be the Mom of these three incredible kids. I take this job seriously, humbly and graciously! God is good and I have such an amazing family.

(such a horrible family picture that we had to take for some family members surprise anniversary book---yes my eyes are puffy and I converted it to black and white so you couldn't see how blotchy my face looks (it was one of those days), but it is imperfect us)

Love this picture of my three angels!

Welcome sweet baby Jude!

I have been trying to get a blog posted about the newest, sweetest addition to our family. It seems time is a thing that I really don't have much of these days.

Our little boy arrived September 2nd (as scheduled) at 10:26 am. Not much of a 'birth story' here as it was a scheduled c-section. However, he is here and we are absolutely ecstatic.

Name: Jude Daniel Gooch
Weight: 8 lbs. 13 oz.
Length: 20.5 inches long

The kids absolutely adore him and smother him in hugs and kisses. We are adjusting and getting used to being a family of five, not to say that we haven't had our challenges.

Not Sure how old, the box spring had mold and I lost in a fight with a dog.

I am entering to win a new mattress from this awesome blog I love. I really don't know how old this mattress is. My hubby got it before we were even married. We had a King size mattress handed down, but kept this one just in case. Good thing as the King size got mold, along with the box spring that was supposed to be with this one.

Also before we were even married, this mattress also got into a fight with a dog and lost as you see in the picture (the nice hole circled in green). We are using plywood for the box spring now and we are hoping that it will hold up for a bit yet so we can save for or win a new one.

I would love to win the Tempur-pedic mattress right now as it would be heavenly after having another c-section in a couple days!

Here's hoping, you can vote for ours on the blog! :o)

One Thousand Gifts

It has been a while since I posted one of these. I am still counting and have so much to be grateful for! I am also counting down the days until our newest little 'Gooch' arrives! Only 5 more days and we will meet this little miracle.

We have been busy this past month. The move went so extremely well, we were both amazed at how 'good' God truly is. He was always one step ahead of us every inch of the way. It was truly incredible. We still have had little glitches here and there, but that is to be expected. We still have a lot to get organized as well, but I am learning to let go and just focus on what we have accomplished and what really is important (hard for me as I have this 'nesting' thing going on full bore!).

So over the past few weeks, we have had so much to count:

81. Safe travels and perfect weather for our move.



82. Affordable hotel rooms, when we needed it most.

83. A nice, new place to call home for the year. It is quaint, but nice and affordable for us. Not to mention the neighbourhood is really nice and quiet.

84. Finding a doctor, in the most bizarre, God orchestrated way.

85. Family outings and the love these two have for the outdoors, the beaches, the mountains, and just exploring!



86. A husband who keeps me sane or my sanity in check!



87. Amazing sermons.

88. Reconnecting with friends!

89. Meeting new additions to the family and seeing family we haven't seen in a while.

90. Baby bellies! :o)



91. Seeing my nephews and of course my dear sister again!

92. Knowing that I have a year off with these three. I love being at home with my sweet hearts!



93. Hanging with our friends from Regina in Canmore! We are beyond blessed to have the Paille's in our lives. So many fun times with this family and we are so grateful for the ways they helped us out!

94. A backyard (even if it's small) and the trampoline! They love it and could spend hours on it!

C is for Cookie - long overdue post

I have had this sitting in the 'draft' for a while now and just needed to format and post some pictures. So here it is, our little Princesses birthday!

The theme for Gigi's birthday was Cookie Monster. One of her favourite songs is "C is for Cookie" and she belts it out. It is so cute! She also loves the Cookie Monster Alphabet DVD that we bought and will sing the Alphabet along with Cookie.

I thought I would share a few things that we did for her party, and there were definitely a few things that I would have done differently. Oh well, live and learn.

I made two different types of Cookie Monster cupcakes due to allergies. Genesis is allergic to eggs and I thought it would be challenging to come up with a cake that had no eggs. I almost went out and bought an ice-cream cake. However my friend found this chocolate cake recipe that did not have eggs. I was a little nervous, as most chocolate cakes I have made by scratch are dry, but these turned out amazing! I will share the recipe.

I made 12 eggless chocolate cupcakes and used Oreo's (they don't have eggs in them either) and then I made 12 white cupcakes and used Chips Ahoy cookies. I used buttercream icing and blue gel to make it blue. I also bought the bulk, long unsweetened coconut and used the food gel on it as well to dye it blue. The coconut with the buttercream was really nice! For the eyes I bought white chocolate 'circles' and black icing for the pupils. I had to experiment with the cupcakes to find the best technique. I actually cut a slit in the cupcakes for the cookie, stuck the cookie in and then iced around it. It seemed to work the best.

For the gift bags I found the brown paper gift bags at the dollar store. I made labels that read:

Genesis's birthday is brought to you by the letter G and the number 2. Thanks for celebrating with us (found this on a website).

I also bought bubbles for the gift bags and put new labels on them that read "B is for Bubbles". I re-did all of the water bottle labels as well. They read, "W is for Water, as refreshing as can be."

I made cookies and had the kids decorate cookies when they arrived. I also gave Cookie cutters in their goodie bags and I wanted to do 'cookies in a jar' for each guest, but I ran out of time and ended up loading them up with pre-packaged cookies and candy (something I would have changed).

We found a Cookie Monster pull-string pinata at Bulk Barn on sale. I also filled a jar of cookies and had all of the adults and older kids make their guess. At the end the closest guess took home the jar of cookies.

We ended up having the party inside, rather than outside at the park. It was a little cramped, but we survived. It would have been much easier outside! I know that Genesis had a great time and was so excited for her Cookie Monster birthday and that made everything so worth while. I will admit that I had fun doing the different things and making the cupcakes as well, even though it was pretty time consuming. I am on the look-out for ideas for Zech's birthday now! :o)

Here are a few photos:



Recipe:

Chocolate Snacking Cake

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

3 tbsp cocoa

1 tsp each baking powder and baking soda

½ tsp salt

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 tbsp white vinegar

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup warm water

· In mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients; mix thoroughly.

· Add liquid ingredients

· Stir with whisk until blended

· Pour into lightly greased 8 inch square cake pan

· Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes or until tester comes out clean

We've moved!

It has been a while since I posted because we have been without internet for two weeks now, and without a phone as well. It wasn't a bad thing to be without the internet for this long---kind of a technology cleanse! However, it is a little more stressful when you have just moved, are still trying to get things sorted and settled and need to look something up. John put unlimited web browsing on his phone so we could at least check emails,search addresses, etc. But it is pretty hard on the phone. None the less we have our internet and phone access now--yay (I really missed pinning too--hee)!

The move went well. We were both amazed at how smoothly it went and how God orchestrated so many incredible things and just really took care of us. We are where we are supposed to be for now and that is so evident. We are slowly getting settled and back into a routine. No, we have not unpacked everything and it will be a slow process. We try to do the unpacking, and getting settled business in the mornings and then take the kids to the mountains, beaches, etc. in the afternoon. They love the mountains and the beaches and get to go nuts. Zech also loves having a backyard that he has free reign (although very small) in. Every day he is outside with his swords and lego guns checking things out, getting the bad guys and the bad bugs too! It is nice that he can go out on his own and I don't have to worry and can see him from the kitchen. He is also the loudest kid in this block, so we find ourselves having to tell him to tone his outside voice down a little bit. He is all boy!

I will post pictures and more updates soon.

One Thousand Gifts

So much to be grateful for! I am blessed beyond and seem to forget this more often than I should!

On and on I count, and it seems this week has been so much easier. A break through perhaps, I don't know.... but whatever it is let's hope it stays!

61. My last day of work for just over a year!

62. Well wishes and lunch with some great colleagues!

63. Meeting my friends newest addition, spending time at their acreage and watching our kids play and interact together. Seeing my kids go nuts over the tractor and wagon ride, the animals on the acreage, and their garden! They really want a 'farm' and that is definitely a dream of ours--to one day have an acreage!

64. Birthday pedicure. My gift from John and the kids was a pedicure--that is all that I really, really wanted. It has been 5 years since the last one! I was falling asleep in the chair, it was so nice!

65. Knowing that God always provides for us, watches over us and loves us more than I can possibly imagine!

66. Countdowns and excitement as we embark on a new journey.

67. Knowing that in a few more weeks, we will have our third little monkey with us, in our arms!
(pray that I find a doctor in Calgary though--lately I feel like I am switching countries not 'provinces')

68. Great friends who are willing to help out for this move and take our kids for us while we get everything packed, loaded and sorted.

69. Fun in the park, just the 4 of us.

70. Watching my wonderful husband with our kids and feeling so incredibly blessed for how involved, interactive and silly he is with our kids. They simply adore him and he gets the best giggles from those two!

71. Feeling in awe how everything has really come together. God is so good!

72. Listening to the cousins talk on the phone and how excited they are to be able to see each other more often and 'live' closer to one another.

73. Letting go and letting my kids help me clean. I gave then each a sponge and a pail of water to clean the cupboards out. The whole pail of water was gone by the time they finished, but they loved helping and I just let them be and praised their work!

74. Singing songs with my angels and hearing them sing their new 'made' up songs too!

75. The RCMP Heritage museum with my two bundles of energy (we were giving Daddy some 'quiet' study time).

76. Prayers from my little ones and hearing how they pray for one another.

77. Walks.

78. Ice-cream.

79. Confirmation from the Lord on areas that have been difficult, that I have questioned and wondered about.

80. New friends.