Five Years Ago today

I woke up in the hospital (having spent the day before there on bed rest) and reminded the nurse that I wasn't able to eat the breakfast they had brought me what with the imminent c-section I had been emergency scheduled for two days before. Looking back I should have just eaten it, since the Peanut didn't make her grand entrance until after 9pm.

I had waddled on my extremely swollen feet with my super bloated belly, back, arms and hands) for my final maternity appointment and the high blood pressure (along with the extreme water retention) I had when she did the basic check up routine alarmed the Doctor enough that she took it again 10 minutes later (in the hopes that it had just been raised because of the physical activity of walking to the office) to make sure. When it was still high after the wait, she called the specialist who booked me an appointment for later that day where I was told that I had preclampsia, the baby was too big for me to safely deliver and I was headed to the hospital for a day of bed rest followed by an emergency C-section to take place some time the day after.

So I was told I could go in at 9 and then 10 and I had my fingers crossed that I wouldn't be going in until my Mom arrived. I needn't have worried since each slot I was put in throughout the day (5 times between noon and 7pm) was pushed back and my Mom and Grandma arrived in more than enough time.

When it was finally my turn, the husband was led off to change into scrubs and I was wheeled into the prenatal ward where I promptly threw up into a cardboard boat (you know, the kind french fries are served in at the high school cafeteria).

In the operating room I sat up on the table, hunched over while they tried and failed (what with the extra 25lb of water I'd been carrying around) a few excruciatingly painful times to give me the spinal. The Specialist (who was amazing) helped by holding me down while they jabbed the needle into my nerves a few more times before they hit the right spot and the lower half of my body went numb. Interesting side note: the room the Peanut was born in was in the Movie Look who's talking. To this day I will watch that show just to catch a glimpse of the dated pink flower wall paper that decorates that room in Lion's Gate Hospital.

The Husband came in and before I knew it they made the incision.
They dropped the curtain and I got my first look at the Peanut, "It's a girl! here's your baby!" the Dr said.

I took in her little old man face (I don't care what anyone says all new born babies have it; it's the scrunched up slightly bloated from swimming in fluid for 9 months about to cry from the indignity of being forced out of a nice warm safe place face), the shock of hair (there was so so so much of it) and tiny button nose and greeted her with the first thought that came to mind "Oh, there you are!"

She cried, I cried, the husband shed a few manly tears and they weighed her (8lb 5oz), measured her 20" and poked her in the heel to test her blood. Then I got to hold her as I was wheeled into a recovery room where the husband and I nixed all the names we'd short listed for her (River and Clara were the top two) all of which just didn't suit her; while we marveled at how perfect and beautiful our daughter was.

We finally landed on the perfect name when I suggested a name that just seemed to have been made for the Peanut and then, just like that 5 years just seemed to fly by.

She's grown into a simply beautiful little soul. She's smart and funny and creative and (along with her sister the Jelly Bean) the best thing I ever made. She makes me laugh, cry and sometimes so frustrated I wonder what I was thinking when we decided to start a family, but only sometimes. She also makes me bust with pride every single day.

So, five years ago today I stepped into motherhood; the Peanut was born and our lives changed, it's been one sweet ride.

Family, Owls and Kilns

Our time spent with the Husband's Dad during on our trip had some pretty amazing highlights. The Peanut had a blast plying with her cousins, is still talking about it and asking for sleep overs. This time around we were able to get a little extra playtime in with them which included (those are gasps and squeals of joy you are hearing) not one but two orange kittens.

There was also a family BBQ with family that (in the nearly 20 years I've been with the husband) I hadn't met as well as family that we hadn't seen much of since the last family wedding. We had a great time and a fantastic visit.

On a play date visit with the husband's cousin's family we were introduced to the family of owls who had taken up residence in our cousin's yard. The young ones have been named Hoot and Holler and they put on a pretty good show for me when I brought out my camera.

One of the best parts of our stay with the Father in Law is that he lives just down the road from the Reids who were in the Fine Arts program with me at Red Deer College. If you've followed my 5 question series you may remember that I featured Auvery two years ago. It's still one of my favourite features not least because I love the eclectic quality of her work. Where Auvery's work is as fun and full of ideas as she is Joe's work has a quiet strength to it that also mirror's his personality. My current favourite series of his, are the ceramic thermos that is used as the profile picture on their studio's facebook page.

Joe and Auvery are currently in the process of building a wood fired kiln just outside of their converted barn studio. We slipped down the road for a little visit and a studio tour. I'll be honest and say that I have some pretty extreme studio envy; their space is amazing as is their work. They also have a website and blog that you should totally visit.

Since our set of dinnerware has been slowly breaking piece by piece over the last few years I'm planning on starting a new collection. I'm hoping to buy a setting or a piece of a setting here and there and since I'm not to bothered about getting matchy matchy I'll be buying from Joe and Auvery.

and in completely unrelated news: yesterday was the deadline for entering the Melissa and Doug draw. Since we obviously didn't hit the 200 facebook fan mark (I'm in the process of emailing my contact with them) I'd like to still do a draw from all the entries I did get; including the extra entries I promised those who entered before the original draw date and send one of my sun catcher's to the winner. I'll post a little about that in the next few days.

Not my Forte

So when Melissa and Doug approached me about doing a giveaway I was thrilled. The sand toys they wanted to promote with the giveaway are; like all Melissa and Doug toys, awesome. I could totally see the Peanut putting all of them through their play paces. When they made receiving 200 new likes on their facebook page a requirement of the giveaway I thought I'd give it my best shot. So I wrote the post. I tweeted about it, and posted links on some social networks that I follow and I contacted some blogs that list giveaways in the hopes of driving the required number of entrants to my giveaway post and then; despite my footwork things kind of fizzled. So I rallied and tried again, I extended the deadline and tried corralling more entries but again; fizzle.

Right now the number of required entries is well below Melissa and Doug's required 200 which leads me to think that the whole giveaway thing isn't really one of my strengths. Either that or my readership doesn't quite fit with the Melissa and Doug target audience. I'll be doing a final little push for more entries today and I'll get in touch with my contact at Melissa and Doug with my entries on Tuesday. So if you haven't already entered please do so now, pass the link along, spread the word!

Dinos Galore

Some of my favourite photos from the Royal Tyrell Museum.



Our second leg of the trip was spent with the Husband's Dad. The highlights from that portion to follow soon.

Now I really hate to harp on this but I'm still looking for entries on the Seaside Sidekick Giveaway If you know anyone who loves to play in the sand, send them over! Deadline for this fantastic contest is on Monday night.

A Thousand Words

Air and Oil Edition:

First Stop

Before I start: the Melissa and Doug Seaside Giveaway has been extended. If you haven't entered there's still time, if you know someone who loves playing in the sand tell them about it too! It's an awesome prize pack and I'd love to gift one of you with it!


Because our families all live in the same area our trips are always split into three separate parts: The husband's Mom (aka my other Mother), the husband's Dad and my parents. This trip was brought to us by the Husband's Mom's boss (still following?) The trip was originally supposed to be for her to fly out and see us but things didn't work out for many reasons and her boss offered to have us fly out instead. So, we started our trip with Grandma. Other than a chance to have some prime Ma time and introduce the Jelly Bean to her Grandma we shopped and ate and enjoyed a little side trip into the Bad Lands of Alberta for a little Dinosaur time for the Peanut.

The house my other Mother lives in is one of the oldest in the city she lives in. It's haunted, and chock full of paintings, woodcut prints, and plants. I love staying there. Of course every place the husband's Mom has ever lived in has had a similar feel to it. The woman knows how to create a homey atmosphere.


On the way to Drumheller we took a secondary highway that took us by a stretch of wind farm. The juxtaposition between the almost lazy spin of ll the windmills and the bobbing up and down of the oil pumps dotted along the fields on the way was too much to pass up and I took some photographs along the way. I'll post some of those later this week.

The Royal Tyrell Museum was a huge hit for the Peanut. She was in state of bliss for days afterwards and she still talks about the Dire Wolf and Mammoth exhibits as well as the T-Rex and Triceratops exhibit that we visited first.

All in all the first part of our trip couldn't have been better.

And it ends.

The vacation. It never seems long enough.

We're unpacking, getting settled and starting some new routines and I'll be posting some recaps of our trip complete with extreme weather and prehistoric ocean creatures but not at the same time.

From the looks of things the giveaway that I posted about before we left isn't up to near enough entries to qualify for a prize from Melissa and Doug. I'm contemplating adding an extension on the deadline (I'll post an update to this tomorrow) to see if we can't add a few more entries because I'd very much love to be able to give one of those gift packs to one of you. If you haven't entered, please, please do! If you have, tell your friends and family about it and send them on over the more the merrier after all.