He's Here!!

Amidst all the chaos in our lives . . .

Has come this blessing . . .

William Isaiah Wayne was born on Monday, August 19 at 2 in the morning.  He came after a mere 2 hours of labour.  I say mere because it was short - not easy!  In some ways it was much more difficult than some of my longer labours, but that's a story to have over tea :)  There were no complications and the doctors and nurses were so good and did everything I wanted.    So right now we're packing up our house, we're missing TR who is at the acreage every waking minute to get our house ready, we're having lots of meltdowns and tears (thankfully it's mostly the kids - so far my emotions have been fairly stable), we're adjusting to a new baby while having our lives totally changed.  We're so thankful that Granny (TR's Mom) has been here to help us.  I've been able to rest lots and recover from birthing my sweet babe.

William got to go to our acreage already!  We went when he was 2 days old for Papa's birthday celebration.

He is such a sweet babe and we all love him like crazy!!  Ben is so happy to have a brother and my girls always want to hold him and kiss him. 

Looking back on previous bellies :)

 I love to look back and remember my previous pregnancies - especially now when I am anticipating the end of this pregnancy!  In the above picture I am pregnant with Benjamin.  This photo was taken about a month before he was born. (I can't find the picture of when I was pregnant with Chloe)

Here I am pregnant with Kara - about 2 weeks before she was born

And here I am just recently with #4 :)

Soon I will be able to look back and reminisce about my pregnancy with this babe . . . but for now I remain pregnant.  This is officially the longest I have ever been pregnant.  Not exactly the record a Mom hopes to make!  But I am patiently waiting and confidant that God knows my babes birthday and the right time for her/him to be born.  And just because I know that Leanne loves baby toes, here is one last picture to leave you with :)

Benjamin's sweet baby toes *sigh*

We're Chewing 'Till Our Jaws Hurt

Life is a little like a whirlwind right now. 

Have we bitten off more than we can chew? 

Yes.

Yes.

Yes!!

But what can we do?  We're already on a roll and so we just keep going, giving thanks everyday for the many people in our life who are helping us through this part of our journey.  So what's all going on?

1. Our baby's due date has come and gone.  Not that I'm surprised - but it does mean that any day we will get to meet him/her!!!

2. We have about 2.5 weeks to be out of our current house.  That includes packing it up and cleaning it.

3. Our new house has proven to be in worse shape than first expected and TR goes back and forth about whether it is even worth fixing.  At this point he is doing his best to fix it and we will be moving out there - but it is taking longer than expected.

4. We had hoped that TR's brother would be coming up to help with the house and at the last minute he had to change plans and couldn't come.  As much as we understand it does mean that we're not sure now whether we'll be able to get it liveable in time.

5. I am trying to garden.  Thankfully I have had so much help.  Yesterday my sister brought me 3 buckets of raspberries that her, my Mom and my niece picked for us!  What an incredible gift of love that was.  They took time out of their busyness and picked for me.  Most of the time I walk out of my garden as quickly as I walked in because the sight of it so overgrown and uncared for makes me feel awful.  I did manage to pick some rhubarb the other day and freeze it.  This morning I picked some beans and I intend to throw them in my dehydrator. 

And I am tired.  This week I can especially feel my energy levels dropping rapidly every day.  The baby is getting ready and my body is feeling it.  I can hardly believe that in 2 weeks we will be saying goodbye to this house where my children have lived their whole lives (except for Chloe - she was 3 months when we moved in).  A little sad - but I am also very excited about the adventure!  God has answered the prayer of my heart and while it has been hard, I am also incredibly thankful and excited about what He has in store for our family! 

Exploring our acreage with our new workhorse :)