We drove to Vancouver and spent the night at a friends house.  Once arriving Orlund was upset he hadn’t thought about taking half of Wednesday off so we could spend some actual time visiting! Oh well. We had a wonderful visit and a good sleep. The girls stayed here at the house with Orlund’s mom watching them ~ she unfortunately didn’t get a good sleep! (teething Olivia). I guess right after we pulled out of view, while I was tearing up, Joy turned to Grandma and said “everybody happy! Joy happy, Grandma happy..” she then stretched Olivia’s face into a ‘smile’ “Baby Olivia happy too”. lol.

Thursday morning Orlund and I headed in for our appointment. We stopped for a breakfast at White spot. Yummy. Weird without kids, quiet. Then jumped into the van and headed to the hospital. We arrived an hour early! Yup. Gotta beat that Vancouver traffic! (better early than late, and since we are used to traveling with kids~ if they had of been with us we would have JUST made it.lol). We looked through their gift shop after checking in, there was a REALLY cute baby blanket, unfortunately the price wasn’t so cute. No purchase from us.

Finally we got to go in and have the ultrasound. Orlund got to come in right away, and we got to watch the entire ultrasound on a big screen TV. The technician pointed out what all it was we were looking at (I pretty much new). Got to see the two parts of the brain and all the fun little parts you don’t notice on a regular ultrasound. Then came the question “do you know what you are having?” “Nope”"Do you want to know??”…lets just say there was a lot of discussion going on. We found out!! We are having a………………….lol. yes I’m going to make you wait a bit longer! I’ll post a pic later revealing the gender. After she was done getting all the measurements etc she had to go clear it all with a Doctor and make sure she had gotten all the shots she needed. After a wait that seemed to take forever (5minutes) she returned and said we were done. “Baby does have a 2 vessel umbilical cord, but otherwise is completely healthy”. “What about the cyst on the Placenta?” I asked, I hadn’t even seen her look at the placenta. “the placenta? let me see” she looks back through our paper work. Apparently my Dr misinformed me, Baby had some cysts on the spongy thing in the brain (it’s between the two halves and makes spinal/brain fluid). However the cysts were GONE

Then we had an hour and half wait until our ‘Genetic counseling’. We went to the cafeteria and paid way to much for some, not overly exciting food. But it filled us up. It was close to the time we were to head upstairs (figured we’d just go early). Upstairs we went. Apparently they make you wait an hour so that they have time to get the results. So we figured we would be waiting about 1/2 hour. Well that time came and went. Orlund and I read all the information they had on the walls (about genetics etc). Interesting, but not that interesting. I finally decided I was to tired to just sit there, so I took a snooze. I had just gotten into a good deep sleep when the counselors came in. She asked me if I was okay… lol.. what else is a pregnant woman who for once doesn’t have kids with her supposed to do while waiting an hour and a half? NAP.

We went into the room with the two counselors (one was in training). Boy do they ever beat around the bush! Sure if there was a major complication it would have been perfect. However as we found out, Baby is good. First we talked about the umbilical cord (as the two things are NOT related at all). Orlund asked the question on both our minds “so what could happen to our baby? what does it mean?” Apparently the only thing that could happen is we could have a small baby….although by the measurements on the ultrasound we have a big baby ~ so they aren’t worried.

Then we came to the cysts. Apparently these cysts are common (same as the cord), and it is common for them to come and go, so we will get another ultrasound around 32weeks to see if they are back. The only reason they are even looking at them again (or looked at them again) is because there were two ‘markers’ even if unrelated. We asked the same question about what the cysts could mean. Apparently they can be an indication of a very serious genetic disease. One that they didn’t tell us exactly what it is. However usually if a baby has this disease then they will have other issues, ie~ missing limbs, brain issues, heart issues etc. And our baby only has the cysts. They also said that we could have an Amnio (forget how to spell the full name) if we wished to know 100%, and we could have it performed RIGHT THEN! I luckily know a bit about Amnio’s. There is a 1 in 200 chance of miscarriage, and we would need to spend another night in Vancouver. I said no. I have Faith that God has taken care of this and so there is nothing to worry about. Orlund wanted me to make the decision as he was worried I’d worry and wonder about it the rest of our pregnancy ~ I wont. I said NO, so he told the ladies “we wouldn’t do anything about it anyway, so unless there is a VERY good reason, such as the doctors need to know for delivery or shortly after, then there is no point putting our baby at risk”. The Lady that was training the other said that was a good way to put it, if you wouldn’t do anything anyway why bother.

So with that we were done. On our way out of town we swung by Ikea and hit up the kids section to see if we could find a ‘treat’ for the girls. Unfortunately that stop brought us right into rush hour traffic. THAT is the reason I wouldn’t want to live in Vancouver! It took us well over an hour to go a very short distance! We stopped by Orlund’s Aunt’s house to pick up two bed frames for the girls. THANK YOU! And then headed home with a very full van.

We arrived late at night, Thanked Orlund’s mom and dad and headed to bed.
So glad to be home, but even more so THANKFUL to Jesus for our healthy baby #3.

Thank you for your prayers and I’ll be sure to upload that picture soon

I have been (just slightly) stressing over our upcoming holiday. Trying to figure out what to pack, and trying to make it as light of a load as possible! I thought I would wait until Thursday to pack, however strongly feel I need to pack NOW. Don’t know if it’s the pregnancy, or God whispering, but I’m going to listen either way! So tomorrow, I’m going to pack most my clothes that I plan to take (other than the clothes I still need for this week), along with kids toys, movies and some of their clothes. I may have the boys for a few extra hours, or an entire extra day this week that is completely unexpected so perhaps I do need to pack now and stay on top of this just in case!
My belly is growing at a very quick rate! I can’t believe it!! Orlund took some pictures of me standing (ones that were later deleted, so I didn’t stand pretty) and WOW talk about looking pregnant already! I’m hoping Wednesday at my Doctors apt I’ll get to hear the little heart beat! (14weeks!).Well, during all this stressing, We did take some time out to have some fun! Check out Orlund’s latest blog entry for one picture. And here is another (not the best quality, but still fun to take!).

Hovering over Mommy! OH What fun!!

While Orlund works on something mysterious downstairs I figured I might as well get to updating the blog. I have a bunch of pictures to post, however I can’t find the cable thingy to download from my camera to the computer. But here are a few snips of our life as of late;

~ Olivia got a cold the day after her 1st birthday. She still has it. The Friday after her birthday she had her 1year shots, two weeks later she had measles bumps as a reaction. We had a bunch of sleepless nights.

~ The week leading up to Olivia’s birthday she started nursing more, adding back in her 10am feeding.And still didn’t sleep through the night with 2-5 feedings.

~ The Thursday night BEFORE her shots she was up all night screaming. She couldn’t breathe due to a stuffy nose. At 4am we realized she was hungry as she hadn’t eaten all night. She couldn’t lay down to nurse, so we gave her the bottle.

~ Olivia didn’t go back to breastfeeding after that…. I was NOT expecting that sudden stop. Shed a bunch of tears. Orlund couldn’t understand why I was upset by this as even I had said she was old enough to wean. It was just so sudden, especially after she’d started nursing again. I felt like a special time with my baby was over, she’s growing up. It takes a bit to get used to.

~ Joy also got the cold the same day Olivia did. And she still has it. She also got Croup in there….fun… She’s over the Croup but still has a bad cough.

~Last night Joy didn’t sleep. So neither did the rest of us.

~ We’ve been looking at all the things around the house we want to do. It’s extensive! But this year we hope to tear down our old fence (on one side of the house) and put a new one up. Put mulch down in the back where Orlund had a garden last year (this will give room for the kids toys that isn’t on the grass). And install a ‘lattice’ like contraption on our back cement wall and plant some vines to crawl up them. I think that will be all we can afford this year. But it’ll make a HUGE difference around here!

~ Our neighbors trimmed our front Junipers (I think that’s what they are called). Completely cleans up the front of the house!

~ A bunch of people I know just had babies. I know a whole bunch more that are pregnant. Sigh. I held a -almost- week old today, he was so adorable! The same weight as Joy was, but 2″ shorter. So cute!

~ Joy is pretty much Potty trained. I say pretty much as she still wears a diaper at nap/bed times but otherwise she’s doing great! Even played at Grandma’s today and didn’t have any accidents. I told her if she goes until her Birthday (1 week away) without accidents then she can go to Sunday School with her friend “Ky”.

~ Joy is obsessed with her friend Ky. She talks none stop about Ky. “Ky nap?”"Ky nummies?” “Ky go outside?” etc etc. it’s cute. However whenever we actually get together with Ky Joy just stares at her and is shy! Unless we are at Ky’s house, then Kylie bosses her around and Joy is happy to play along.

~ Joy is getting better and better all the time with her language. She’s saying words I didn’t even realize she knew, and picking up words wonderfully. Sure she still seems behind other kids her age, but she’s doing GREAT.

~ I have a book (like a binder but not, forget what they are called) that is full of my “to do’s and goals” for the year. I have each month written out. Of course I’ve fallen behind, but I’m doing alright. I finished Olivia’s cross stitch and bought the frame today to finish it off completely.

~I also have another book that has other lists in it. Part is organizing for a trip we plan to take to visit our Grandparents, and the other part is organizing for Joy’s Birthday party. The first part isn’t very big yet, just dates and people to contact etc. Joy’s part is big. I have people to invite, time, what to feed everyone, and that sort of stuff. I have grocery lists, cleaning lists, organizing lists, decorating, and general prep work lists. I like my lists. And I’m getting them checked off wonderfully! I have the goodie bags all purchased, and any groceries I could prepurchase purchased, cleaning is on schedule. I actually got ahead on the cleaning, then I noticed and somehow fell a bit behind now….Oh well, it’ll all get done. I plan to have it all done by Thursday, so Friday can be decorating and any outdoor chores (we will be in the back yard). Then her party is Saturday morning, so before the party I don’t want to be running around, I want to be getting the girls dressed, hair done etc. I’m looking forward to it.

~ Have I rambled enough? Once I find my camera/computer cord I’ll upload some pics of Olivia’s birthday. Promise.

Oh I think Orlund is done the ‘mysterious’ business (think perhaps its to do with Mother’s day? Just a thought.). I’m going to go now and spend time with him! God Bless!

One of my girlfriends makes headbands and hair clips for little girls, she is VERY talented! She asked Orlund to take some pictures for her to show off some of the products. She asked for a few pictures to be taken with Joy wearing the headbands. She has a daughter, same age as Olivia, however wanted to show it off on an older child (with lots of hair). Tonight while Orlund took the pictures of Joy I thought it’d be fun to put a headband on Olivia, sure enough, she’s just so cute! So Orlund snapped a few shots of her as well. Here is a shot we both fell in love with!

Hi. I have a new post…I’ve even started writing it…I want to post it…

However I have some Christmas shopping to do (Christmas in January with my family as Mom is home! YIPEE).
I still have to finish Olivia’s Christmas gift (just hand stitching)
And a house to get clean…………along with finishing Joy’s Scrapbook….

But I promise ~ I will post soon!

For now I leave you with a cute picture of my littlest squirt.

Okay, so it’s been months and months since we were camping. I can’t remember anymore what happened on what day.

Orlund’s parents came out and spent a couple nights in the lot next to use (slept in their van). It was nice for a change, and we got good visiting time in.

Cozy from the rain

sleeping soundly

Orlund enjoyed taking pictures of Joy and all her fun adventures. As well as the girls fun with Grandpa and Grandma Norstrom.

my "teenager"

Big helper

The nights were cool, however the days got much warmer. It rained some and the sun shone bright otherwise. It was a splendid trip that we truly enjoyed! Can’t wait for next yer!

Cozy tent

I have 3 other photo’s I wanted to add, however after trying 5 times I’m giving up….

Well Hello there! I’m getting back to our Camping trip.

So Day 3 camping. We decided to just stick around the camp ground.  We wandered over to a walking path and followed it to a beautiful sunny spot. I layed out on the picnic table to soak up the sun. It sure felt nice!

Just above where I was laying was a big tree which housed a hawk (or falcon) nest. Orlund took pictures while I relaxed in the sunshine.

Joy explored the ‘woods’ around the picnic table area, Orlund enjoyed taking pictures of her too.

Olivia sat up for the very first time unassisted on the picnic table. Very exciting! She sat for maybe 20 seconds, just long enough for me to realize what she was doing, call Orlund and him to look before she tipped over into my arms. She really just wants to get going so we ‘attempted’ walking. Can’t wait till Olivia and Joy can play together.

All in All it was a beautiful day.

I have two wonderful daughters. They are both happy girls who love to smile…..until we decide to take them to Walmart to get some portraits done. Olivia pooped as soon as we arrived, so while I took her to the washroom Orlund got Joy to do some poses. Those pictures turned out cute. Olivia and I returned so we tried a few pictures with the both of them… Joy didn’t want to sit and look pretty, and Olivia wanted to eat. Joy climbed out of the photo’s and we tried a few of  just Olivia. Nope. Olivia wanted to eat now. So I nursed her, then we took a few shots of me holding her and the session was over. Neither kid wanted to be there anymore. I was surprised at how few of shots the lady actually took I would have been snapping away to get those rare quick little smiles. It was hard to chose which picture we wanted to use, we wanted to use one of both the girls. There were 3 good ones. And they weren’t great. But we picked one and ordered it. So now? Now we have decided to make our own studio here at the house. So when the kids are happy and looking oh so cute we can run down stairs and take a bunch of pictures. So my day didn’t go how I’d planned, but not to bad.