Memorial day at the Lake

We spent Memorial Day weekend at the Lake with most of the Barker/Brown fam. The kids had a great time running around and getting lot's of fresh air from morning till night. 

Austin, Ellie, Samuel being pulled by Uncle Adam

Daddy helping Samuel roast Marshmellows for his first smore, he was really ready for bed but didn't want to miss out.

See how stunned he was



After his smore he got a second wind and played us worship songs on his ukele for a long time before we all got a little tired of the drizzling rain and headed in to bed.

 It was a short trip we got down there around 330 on Saturday and left directly after breakfast to get Zach back for work on Monday afternoon. I am so thankful to my family who allowed me to put my feet up and rest while Mom and Karissa took care of food and Zach and Adam chased the kiddos. Zach even got to go through a whole evening of bedtime battles. I usually face those all alone, it was great to have a break.

Our precious baby!!!!

I haven't posted about this because I really wanted to be past all of the uncertainty before making large announcements. Then time kind of got away from me. We are expecting baby #3 and are very excited about it. When I figured it out I was only 4.5 weeks along. I was so exhausted I was falling asleep during the kids' afternoon naps. Zach would tell you, I don't nap. It feels like a huge waste of time (when I am not pregnant :) I had taken a test a week before and it was negative so I was starting to wonder what was wrong with me. I was dragging so much. So a week later I took another test not expecting any other result. But it was positive. I wasn't able to get an appointment for an ultrasound to date the pregnancy for another 2 weeks so by that time I was 6.5 weeks along. I really expected to be farther along considering how tired I was.

12 weeks

 

15 weeks

I was throwing up for 22 weeks. After that I started to feel somewhat human again. I have definetly been more drained this time around but I guess considering the fact that I have two others and Zach was gone for so much of the hard time that is to be expected.

Due to Zach working in Portland and us not really knowing when his time off would be it was fairly difficult to schedule the next ultrasound. Appointments were about 2 weeks out and we didn't know for sure from day to day where he would be. I really wanted Zach to be there for the appointment, although it was really hard for me to wait ....and wait....and wait. So finally when he was officially home and we had a fairly steady schedule we were able to schedule the long awaited appointment. By then we were 26 weeks and 3 days along.

Zach had predicted at the beginning of the pregnancy that it was a girl but changed his mind half way through.

 

 

 Daddy was right. Baby #3 is going to be a boy. We are so excited. Samuel thinks it is great that there were be more boys than girls. Ellie thinks she has a baby growing in her tummy too.

32 weeks 1 day

Since Zach was gone for so long and we didn't know what we were having we didn't do a lot to prepare for the baby until Zach got home. When I found out that we were having a boy I could finally wrap my mind around how things were going to be arranged around here and I went into nesting overdrive.

We have been getting a lot of projects done that had been pushed off for a long time. I started cleaning and organizing a room at a time and am slowly making progress having to work around the bouts of pure exhaustion. We have gotten a lot accomplished but I have so much more that I want done before this baby comes. I would like to be done with my list a few weeks before the due date and really just be able to poor any extra time and energy into special times with Samuel & Ellie before adding this new little one to our family.

30!?!?!?!?! continued

Well after my honey got out of bed we headed to Anthony's on the waterfront for lunch. That is my favorite restaurant. I never liked seafood before going there. Now I crave fish but no matter where I have had fish still none compare to Anthony's.

Then I went to my moms where the I was met with tons of questions about when we were going to eat my cake which were shushed by mom. Apparently that was supposed to be a surprise. The kids and I spent the rest of the day and evening there since Zach was working.

I love my family. Thank you all for making me feel so special on my birthday.

30!?!?!?!?!

Well today I turn 30. Kind of weird but strangely it is no longer as old as I used to think it was. To start out my day, mom came and took the kids before they could wake me up this morning, so I could sleep until almost 10am before I started to feel like I was wasting my day in bed. It was wonderful. After showering I came out to a bouquet of balloons

a bouquet of flowers, Lindt Chocolate

a box of pastries

and a note from my hubbie who got home from work last night at 4am.

So here I sit enjoying an amazingly silent house, although I am missing the kids, I am still savoring the silence. I have a glass of juice and a pastry and am wondering what we will be doing next. So far, this is a great birthday.  Oh man the baby is loving this breakfast.

Portland

After finishing his training for his new job he was asked to go down to Portland to help out for a few days. A few days turned into 3 months and 5 days. These happened to be the worst 3 months of my pregnancy. He went down for 5 days and was off for 3 so he would spend 4-6 hours driving home each time he had his off days. We tried very hard to protect those days. We focused lot's of time on family time, daddy/child time and date time. Due to our shifted priorities and limited time things around the house were put on an indefinite hold.

This was a trip we took up to white rock for the best fish and chips around. And then a visit to an ice cream place that was also amazing. The owner makes all his own ice cream trying out all sorts of new flavors. We had funfetti cake icecream. mmmmmm.. He sang Italian songs with great enthusiasm while serving us.

We got a little nervous at one point when Samuel rode so far ahead of us he could no longer hear us over the rumble of his wheels on the pier. He disappeared into the crowd and out of sight. But can you just picture me 5 months pregnant trying to chase him down. Zach had to go after him.

On the last week of March Zach was a little fed up with having to leave us all the time. So I decided that we would just have to come with him. We hadn't done it so far because we weren't sure if we could manage with the whole family in one room. Since I was getting towards the end of the hardest part of the pregnancy and was starting to see traces of my energy return I was willing to try. We decided at 930 one night and left first thing in the morning the next day. We took two cars in case it didn't work and so I would have the freedom to come and go with the kids during the day.
We checked into our hotel that night, fed the kids and put them and Zach to bed. I tried sitting outside and reading a book but the kids kept getting out of bed. After that first day we settled into a pretty workable routine though.
Zach left for work around midnight. The kids and I got up 8am and went up in our jammies to eat breakfast. Then we would head out for our adventure of the day. We would come home around 3pm when Zach would get home or earlier for naps, he would shower and pack a lunch while I made dinner in our microwave then we would have somewhat early dinner with him. When he headed to bed the kids and I would go up to the pool and play for an hour or so before coming back down to get ready for bed in the bathroom. Then we would sit in the hallway and read stories before bed.

After I got the kids down I tried to sit in the hall and read but quite often got a text asking for help from Zach within a half hour. I started watching movies with my headphones on the laptop sitting on the bed. By the end of our week and a half down there we had the whole routine running smoothly.
Ellie slept in the closet cutout in her playpen and Samuel was under the window on a cot we had brought with us.

Our hotel was in the industrial sector but with all of the many highways we were exactly 9 minutes drive from the Portland Children's Museum and the Zoo. My friend Jen moved about an hour from Portland a couple of years ago so they came down on one of our first days and met us at the Children's Museum. We were able to share a family membership with them. We each would have paid $29 for the day. Instead we paid $45 for Each of us and our 2 kids.

The museum was awesome and it became one of our favorite places to go on our daily adventures. The kids were safely entertained and I could rest and watch as I was still really dragging with that first trimester exhaustion.

On the day daddy was off of work we went to the Zoo. It was a little rainy but it rained every single day we were there so that wasn't going to stop us.

I think there was something seriously wrong with this bear. It would walk forward about 6 feet and then walk backward to the spot he started out at. He did this the entire time we were watching him, and that was a little while since it was pouring rain and we were waiting for it to stop before exiting our cover.

I am thinking I would rather neither of my kids encounter any of these bears. Not even the smallest.

At the very beginning of April Zach came home and said "well I guess today was my last day down here, we go home tomorrow." So we packed up the hotel and left the next day. We have since gone through a number of schedules with this new job. We are finally settled into a somewhat routine even though it is a little more difficult than some others I could think of. It is stable and we get to see daddy, so we will thank God for a stable job and a daddy who works so hard to let mommy stay home with the kiddos.

The Sickies

We spent a lot of this winter fighting the sickies. Partly due to my immune system being down during pregnancy and also due to the kids being exposed to other kids a lot more at preschool, basketball and mops.

This was one particularly pathetic session. We spent a good 10 days looking like this lethargic heap.

Mining or Cleaning the Car

It sure looks like the kids were mining not hanging out in the trunk. Yes the trunk was open the whole time they were in there and daddy was there to supervise while he was cleaning mommy's car.

They just love being wherever daddy is.

February Batch Cook

My good friend April and I did another Batch cook in February. We did Marinara Sauce, Broccoli and Cheese stuffed meatloaf and Chicken Parmigiana. We made enough to participate in the bellingham freezer divas meal exchange. (https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/freezerdivas)

This has been a great way to stock our freezer with a variety of meals although my supply is quickly running low as I have not had the energy to participate in the last few months.

4YR Old Basketball

This was a fun energy outlet for the winter months. I am not sure if Samuel is aggressive enough or competitive enough for Basketball. We shall see. He is only 4 after all. It was pretty fun to watch the little guys try and learn the game.

Dribbling certainly did not come naturally but he was a lot better at it by the end of the season.

Ellianna really wanted to get in there and play too but she settled for being Samuel's cheerleader.

Preschool Library Field Trip

Samuel's preschool class took a field trip to the library. Miss Taina was our tour guide. we have known her for a long time as she done the toddler story times every since the first time we went.
They got to go into the back of the library and see how all of the books get processed. Samuel even signed up for his very own library card. I think his card was definitely the highlight of his trip.

Coffee???

Seeing my hubby take the time out to get down on Ellianna's level and really give her his full attention goes a long way towards filling my love tank. Ellianna thrives so much on daddy's attention and she behaves so much better when that tank has been filled for her as well.

Daddy gets climbed on a lot by our little munchkins. They seem to think he is their indoor climbing toy.

Samuel's First Car

Samuel's Auntie Brenda and Uncle Jared, who are also his Godparents, bought Samuel his first car. A Ferrari that is 1/7th the size of the real deal don't you know. Due to the size of this car it has been made into an outside only toy. Samuel loved driving it. He got pretty good at it too. He only crashed into the curb at full speed one time. Unfortunately it cracked his bumper but thankfully the airbags did not deploy and his car was not totalled. It did make him much more cautious as he approached the curb in the future. Due to the fact that he is an uninsured driver his cracked bumper will remain a reminder to him. Maybe he can learn all of his lessons on this car and not on our car 12 years from now.
Uncle Jared may have to help him pick a more reasonable car when the time comes as they have helped him set his sights a little high. Thank you for making this little boy very happy.

Christmas

I am way behind on my blogging so I thought I would attempt to catch up just a little. So here we are in December. We spent Christmas various places. We started Christmas on Christmas Eve with the Barkers at Grandma's house.
Barker Grandchildren. The number is growing quickly. Levi (2) Ellianna (2) Samuel (4) Parker (3m) Claira (2m) Austin (4)
These two beautiful babies were the newest additions to the family in 2010. Parker belongs to Karissa and Adam. Claira belongs to Kelsie and Jamin.

Christmas day is normally our family time. Daddy was having to leave to work in Portland so we had Christmas morning together before the kids and I went to Victoria with Grandma and Papa Scott.
We opened out stockings, had breakfast together, got dressed and then opened a few more presents.

Both of the kids were excited about Ellie's doctor kit and they have spent a lot of time since then playing with the set. They are always checking each other or me.

This was a small set that we bought at the last minute for Ellie. Turns out it was one of her favorites. She was constantly looking in her mirror and putting on her lipstick not to mention putting it on others.
That evening we were at Grandma King's house for the extended King get together.

In Victoria it was a really small crowd at Grandma's house. Just Grandma King, Jillian, Michael, Lukas, Auntie Joe, my parents, me and the kids. Uncle Warren was there for a few minutes but he was fighting the flu and ended up in bed.

Boxing day we visited at Auntie Heathers for a few hours before heading over to Auntie Joye's for the extended Scott get together.

The next day we spent a couple of hours at Jared and Brenda's house celebrating with the immediate Scotts.

The kids with Uncle Jared

The whole family except for Zach and Owen's Family

That was our Christmas in a nutshell.