Nutty Weekend

So this weekend was a weekend I don't need to re-live. It rained the entire time, the kids were NUTS - like "Where can I return them" nuts. I love them to death, of course would never return them for real ( ha!), but really, I think I was having another nice postpartum hormone flush, because I was basically in tears all morning Sunday. Very little sleep for two nights adds to that too... Then we are having a terrible time the the girls and sleeping. Gillian is up EVERY night at one point, usually 1:30 am screaming and lost, and needs to be straightened out in bed and re-tucked in. It wakes Abby up, so she starts to cry and so on. Then Gillian is up and yelling at the baby gate at the door EVERY morning between 4:30 - 5:00 am. This of course wakes Abby up, who joins her in her chorus of "let me out, I want milk!!". Madison, the newborn is almost sleeping better than those two at this point which is sad. So I went out on Saturday, and bought an alarm clock for the girls room. New rule is that they aren't allowed to come out until 6:00 am. Right now that means lots of screaming between 5:00 and 6:00 am, but we need to stick to our guns and be consistent for them to start to understand. When they do, be it in a week or in a month, the time will change to 6:30. Gillian, has more trouble understanding the concept, but we just need to keep repeating ourselves for her to get it.

As for the baby, she is an angel! So far so good, at 11 days old she is a wonderful little baby! (I'm knocking on wood right now...) She feeds really really well, and perhaps I feel it's so good because I had such trouble with Gillian (I think she was tongue tied enough to cause problems) , so the fact that I'm not in excruciating pain from sores and blocked ducts is a miracle! She sleeps well, seems to be rather consistent, and only cries when she is read to eat. But hey, it all may change at any moment, so I'm really enjoying it and making sure I don't take it for granted!

Abigail LOVES her new baby sister - can't get enough of her!

Gillian, looking very tired, stops for the camera!

Abby is very proud to hold her (luckily she didn't pee!)

Nana loves to hold Madison also!

Thankfully it's Monday, kids are at daycare so that gives me a little time to recoup from the weekend and hopefully plan a better weekend to come. It really is my fault for not organizing things for us to do, and on a rainy weekend it's deadly! I slept pretty well last night, don't ask me the stats as I don't remember how long/how often I was up. All I know is that I feel relatively rested and ready to face the day!

First Photo Shoot!

I set up the studio yesterday, and set out today to do Madison's first photo shoot! She was a little difficult to get to sleep, took a good couple of hours to get her asleep enough to pose her, and still she resisted in her slumber. Still I got some really cute shots and hope to get a few more tomorrow, if I have the energy! It's tough work being the Mom and the photographer all at once!

Here are the highlights so far:

Thought I'd try a little texture on these two and loved how they turned out!

I just love little feet!!

Sisters

Sisters, originally uploaded by Christine - AbbyG.

Just a quick post of this photo I took of the three girls. I think this is the beginning of an amazing relationship between the three! I can't wait to see what life has in store for them... fun, heartache, mischievousness, and adventure!

Getting used to it again...

Sleepless nights, sore bobbies, on demand feeding, and did I mention sleepless nights...?? Actually it's all fun and all worth it, Madison is a cute, adorable hugable little girl! She feeds well and really does sleep well, all she does so far. But really at 5 days old what do you expect! Abby and Gillian just adore her, and want to be with her ALL the time. Abby wants to hold her and gets mad at me when I put her down for a nap in her bed. Gillian is very gentle with her, will give her hugs and loves to hold her, but is content playing on her own most of the time. Eric is doing a fantastic job of taking care of the girls, making our meals and supporting me as we get through these first few weeks, unfortunately he has to go back to work in September... so back to reality after that! Here is a shot I just took:

We can't really decide/figure out who she looks like. Abby and Gilly were so distinctly Eric, but Madison is much different. Who do you think she looks like the most?

I have my studio all set up for some photos today, I hope to post some nice ones tonight... other than that, nothing else on the agenda today! Just chillin' with baby!

Our Daughter is Born!

She arrived on Thursday August 20th, at 5:23 after (thankfully) a few short hours of labour. Luckily we were smarter this time and decided to go to the hospital a little earlier! Contractions started at 5:00 am, but subsided around 7:00 am, so I thought it was a false start at first. But around noon, they started back up again, light, manageable, but still regular - every 6 min or so. Around 1:30 - 2:00 pm, they were getting slightly closer together - 5 min 30 sec, and a little stronger, so Eric suggested that we head into the hospital. Of course I thought - too early, but I'll entertain him and we'll go and they'll tell us to go home. We arrived at the hospital at about 3:00 pm, and sitting at the triage desk was Heather, the nurse we had when we delivered Abigail - who in fact was the person who delivered her, because our Dr was not exactly in the room when she came out... we had fun catching up chatting while they monitored me. The resident came in and checked me to see how far along I was, and to every ones surprise, I was between 7-8 cm. So I was admitted at about 3:45, and as soon as we went to the L & D room, it really started to pick up. The Dr came, broke my water around 5:15, and then came Madison Elizabeth, at 5:23 cord wrapped around her neck -twice. But thankfully the Dr had it all under control and she was fine. Here are her first few images from the hospital:

Did I check anything off...

Not really. I kept busy yesterday, but not with anything on my list. I proofed more pics from my friend's maternity shoot, got tired so had a nap. Then went shopping at St. Laurent with my friend - didn't buy anything, but it was nice to be in air conditioning! Then came home, went for another walk with Eric and Bender. Then picked up the girls. Unfortunately, all that walking and staying up didn't induce labour. I had more contractions, but not the full on what I was hoping for. But, at least I was having contractions again, so today I'm going for two longish walks with the dog. It's cooler outside and hopefully the bugs aren't too bad. I'd also like to stop by the Chelsea flower shop to get some nice flowers, I have a little "project" in mind! But for now, the dalia's are blooming and beautiful right now. They are my favourite flowers in the garden after tulips. Actually tulips and dalia's are equal, and luckily they bloom at totally different times!

This is called: "Dalia after the rain"

Keeping Busy

August 17th and now officially 4 days late. I was 3 days late having Gillian, but right on the nose with Abby, so I guess this one is just waiting for the perfect moment to come. It's really hard not to sit here 24 hours a day and think about how I want more than anything to start labour, and meet this little girl. But I do, and it's probably stressing me out. Eric is now at home, and we get daily calls from everyone wondering if I've started yet. Trust me at this point, everyone will know if it starts!! I've been pretty good at keeping busy, but now the pain of baby's legs pushing my ribs outwards is getting to be a bit much and it's hard to walk because of where the baby's head is. So as much as I have a million things I'd like to do, just the act of sitting here at my desk to write hurts! But the only way to keep my mind off of things is to keep busy, so here is the to do list for the rest of the week.

1. File. I bought a new filing cabinet last week, built it this weekend, now I need to file.
2. Go for walks with Bender - hope the intense heat dies down a little... we are both very slow!
3. Design the birth announcement, I'm determined to send them out this time, it's the last time and I'm hoping to get a cute shot of the three girls after the baby is born.
4. Scrapbook, I'm so way behind it doesn't matter where I start!
5. Get my health card renewed - yuck. It means having to make myself look half decent, going to the SAAQ office, waiting for an hour, and getting the photo taken. Not high on my to do list, but I think I'd rather do it without a screaming newborn than with!
6. Get passport photos taken and renew my passport. Perhaps 5 & 6 will be done together - tomorrow.
7. Design business cards - got to do this because people are starting to ask for them.
8. Blog...
9. Sleep....
10. Bake a cake - I have a craving.
11. Keep taking pictures, it's hard when you are in so much pain and can't move!
12. Burn/Backup my images...I think my hard drive is getting full!

So there you go, I think that is plenty to keep me busy until the weekend, at which time I'll have to see the Dr again, who will then probably send me for an ultrasound and book me for induction. Not my first choice of going into labour, but what must be done, must be done!

A few parting shots from today, before heading off to bed...

night night!!

A Refresing Update!!

I decided to update my blog. Considering I'm still pregnant, now 2 days overdue (if you consider my due date as Aug 12th) awaiting baby to start her journey, I needed something to do. Well, I'm not exactly short of things to do, I have quite an extensive list, that would probably take weeks to get through, but this was one on that list, so I did it!! I found photography centric blog templates from: Our Blogger Templates and decided to upgrade. The advantage of this template is that it's much wider and allows you to post much larger photos. I can also put an image background, which I happen to like and in general I find it looks so much more polished. I also upgraded my photography blog: http://christinedenisphotography.blogspot.com/ (Please comment and tell me what you think!!)

Don't you just love the huge photos!! Probably too big for some screen resolutions, but works on mine!

The story behind the photos: I went for a walk with Bender, trying to induce labour by walking in the 35 degree heat... but instead was just eaten alive by mosquitoes! Each time I'd stop to take a photo, they would find me and attack! So needless to say, I didn't take too many and had to change my route.

Maybe I'll hit the road again...off to walk the dog!

Did I say I would update this...

Well clearly I was lying to you all! I am not sure what has happened over the past couple of days to take up all of my time, it certainly isn't labour and delivery since I'm still sitting here, with a huge tight belly, ribs being pushed out from the inside and a foot kicking me. I think it's just that I don't move very fast, so anything takes time!

So just to cover my butt, here is a photo of my beautiful baby girl who turned 4 last week. Here she is celebrating in the garden with her PJs on:



And for all you curious folks out there, who have been hounding me for a photo of myself here it goes....

Terrible I know, I should have done it when I actually had had a shower and brushed my hair, but that happens so rarely when someone else is around to be able to take my photo... so alas, this is what I have. Maybe if I haven't delivered by the weekend I'll do it properly!

Like Jem did for our shoot last week, check out my work blog:

http://christinedenisphotography.blogspot.com/

If I could only look that good...

night! :)

A funny Video to share

I found this through a blog I follow regularly and it made me laugh:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0

What a GREAT way to kick of a wedding ceremony!! There is no reason why you shouldn't be different!

I am still here...

I haven't gone into labour yet! And, I realize I haven't posted in ages!! I had a surprisingly busy week with Dr's appoitments, Abby's birthday and a maternity shoot, so I decided not to post all week. I have the day to myself tomorrow, and other than some business to take care of, I'll have the entire day to play, as well as go for a long walk with Bender to try and induce labour - ha!

So stay tuned for a more interesting post, full of photos and fun!!

Christine