I think that I am almost caught up on blogging (ha, not even close! I have yet to blog about Coles shower etc...there is always next week!). However I am now off to get ready for a party tonight, I can't wait and I better get myself prepared while all the boys are preoccupied with other things like sleeping....shhhhhhhh ;)

Tomorrow is Christmas Decorating Day at our home...

I will be back with pictures to post of that glorious event!

:: Quiet Times ::

:: Although our home is mostly filled with one particular boy running around and having a gay 'ol time...last night we did have some nice quiet time, and here are the pictures to prove it ::

:: Apparently after dinner last night Jacob decided he wanted to go for a walk...In Daddy's shoes :) ::

:: Boy, this kid can sure make us laugh! ::

:: To our surprise he could actually walk in them!?!?!? ::

:: Auntie Marilyn's Pinwheels ::

:: Last night I wanted to start my baking for Christmas so I thought I would try my Auntie Marilyn's Pinwheels...I have never made them just always enjoyed them at family functions ::

:: Here is the recipe, just in case you want to try them too....they are so yummy! ::

In a small bowl combine:

1/4 cup butter (room temp)

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. cayenne (I added more like a 1/2 tsp)

1/2 tsp. paprika

In large bowl combine:

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

2 tsp. sugar

3/4 cup grated cheese

1 tbsp. parsley

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 cup vegetable shortening

2/3 cup milk

Mix all dry ingredients together then with a pastry cutter (or fork as I don't own a pastry cutter) cut in shortening. Make a well and pour in the milk. Stir in the milk until all of the flour has been absorbed.

Split dough into half and put the first half on a well floured...it's quite moist dough so it needs to really be well floured and kneed 3 or 4 times. Roll out into aprox. 10x14 square (if you can) by about a 1/4 inch thick.

Stir your butter mixture well and take half of it and spread it over your rolled out dough. Then just roll it up. It does not have to be perfect, mine was less than perfect and they still turned out fabby!

Slice roll into 1/4 inch thick pieces - I used a serrated knife to do this as the dough was quite soft, I may suggest that you let it chill for an hour or so before cutting it.

Line the pinwheels up on your favorite baking sheet and toss them in the oven for 10-15 minutes @ 425 degrees.

{Follow the above steps for the remainder of the dough and butter}

This recipe yields 50 pinwheels.

:: Here is my little kitchen helper...Paul & Jacob were out playing so Cole ended up helping me in the kitchen :) ::

:: This Morning ::

:: I'd rather be decorating for Christmas but I am off this morning to brave the elements and run a bunch of errands with the boys...sound like fun? Not so much, I think I have 8 stops to make....pray for me ;) ::

:: Brothers ::

:: I've got my brother's amazing camera again so I couldn't resist the chance to take some shots of our boys today ::

:: Jacob ~ 17.5 Months Old ::






:: Cole ~ 2.5 Weeks Old ::

:: Oh what fun they will have together, oh what joy we find in them, oh I can't wait to see what God has in store for each of them...::

:: Cole - Week 2 ::

:: Sorry these pictures are such bad quality - I'm not sure what I did wrong but at any rate here are a few of the newest little lad in our family ::

:: So the other day...::

:: It was Jacob's nap time and so I take him up to his room and give him his sippy cup, tuck him in and proceed to go downstairs to feed Cole ::

:: I heard Jacob cry for a little while and then it stopped so I figured he had fallen asleep - this is what I found when I went to check on him ::

:: This is a strange angle but the door is to the right of the picture, I actually couldn't fit through the door as he was right up against it so these pictures were taken with my hand reaching behind the door -- too funny! ::

:: This is the mess he made of his nicely folded laundry that was on top of his dresser ::

:: As you can see his face was also snuggled right into his clean laundry, like father like son, both of them love the smell of fresh laundry! ::

:: Product I Love ::

:: I know, I know, I haven't been around here much; but what do you expect I have a 2 week old and a 17 month old?!?!? I actually would have been on here more often (just to take a break from my everyday stuff) but I am borrowing my parents camera and while I am I have to go to their place to download the pictures and then send them to myself....so it's not that I'm not documenting our lives on "film" but it's just not handy to download the pictures and thus I have not blogged - who wants to read my blog without pictures to go along??? ::

:: Anyway - I do have pictures to post but I will do that later tonight, right now I want to tell you about a product I LOVE ::

:: As much as I don't like cleaning, I love having a clean house. Well this product makes the whole experience of cleaning that much better. Now, I grew up in a house in which Pine-Sol was used for cleaning floors, washrooms etc. and as I have grown up and am now responsible for my own house I too have adapted using Pine-Sol however I have changed the tradition slightly...I use the Pine-Sol brand but it's Lavender scented. And I LOVE it! It smells similar to the smell of the spa, lavender mixed with eucalyptus and it is heavenly...Paul says it's strong, well yes it is, but it's also a cleaner and a very strong one at that ::

:: So there is my product review - go out and try it. I found mine at Zellers (truth be known, my mom found it for me a Zellers), every time I looked for it at the grocery store or Wal-mart I found an empty shelf. So I'm obviously not the only one that has come to love this new traditional cleaner :) ::

:: It's the purple one in the middle ::

:: Welcome Cole Robert ::

:: Well after many days of being a Mama of two boys I figured I should post something about this little one that has been given to us by the Lord ::

:: How he came into the world ::

Well, I woke up early on Thursday (Nov.1st) with a funny feeling and that funny feeling made me feel uneasy...I did not have any desire to have this child on my bathroom floor. So we called my Auntie Teri and she arrived to take care of Jacob while we went into the hospital.

We got to the hospital, got checked and the nurse said I was 2-3 cm dilated and not effaced at all. Okay so how does that change from Wednesday morning when I went to the doctors and she said that I was easily 4 cm and 80% effaced. So I asked for the doctor to come and check me, well the nurse was not pleased -- she said "Well I checked you" and I said that I wanted the doctors opinion. So Dr. Mahunga came and checked me and said that I was about 4 cm and partially effaced, so she said let me just strip your membranes...well she did that and my water broke. Now that REALLY ticked off the nurse as there was only one bed left in the ward and that was going to the girl beside me.

Since I wanted to give birth @ SMH I decide to go home and labour at home instead of in the hospital. So we leave and go to Ricky's for breakfast with my brother and my parents. I started having contractions every 5-6 minutes for about 2 hours and then we went for a walk and they increased to 2-3 minutes apart however there was no pain with any of them. We relax at my parents place and I continue to pace throughout the house to try and keep labour going. Meanwhile, Jacob is at our place playing with my Aunt and enjoying his day not knowing that any of this was going on.

At around 4:30 my contractions stopped completely. I was very frustrated as I just wanted it to progress, at the same time I was a little worried about the baby knowing that my water was broken and there is chance of infection. So I call the hospital and they say to come in and get checked out. We arrive at the hospital around 5:30 and get admitted into triage. The nurse calls the doctor and she comes to check me and I'm 5 cm and 80% effaced...so I'm not leaving the hospital. Thankfully I arrived when I did as I got the last bed for the night.

However, I may have had a room but I didn't have a nurse and until I had a nurse I couldn't go to the room. We waited almost 2 hours until we met my nurse, Darlene and got checked into the hospital. Once I was settled into my room I walked the hallways with my Doula, Rayann and the contractions started to come back on their own (every 6-7 minutes). When I got stopped in the hall by Dr. Mahunga and she sent me back to my room as she wanted to break my second water and get this show on the road.

At 8:30 pm or there abouts, she came in and broke my water and off I went to walk the halls again. Well I barely made it to the end of the hallway and I felt like I needed to push...so back to the room as I didn't trust the pressure I was feeling. The nurse checked me around 9:00 pm and said I was still 5 cm. I stayed on my bed for the next hour and a half as my contractions were coming ever 40 seconds and lasting for 4-5 minutes. They didn't even give me time to recover and there was another contraction starting. Finally I got a break and headed into the shower - oh, sweet relief! I spent the better portion of an hour and a half in the shower until the nurse ordered me to come out as the doctor wanted to check me. So back to the bed to have the doctor check the baby and me and I was 7 cm - YaY!

As soon as I could I headed back into the shower but this time I didn't use the exercise ball -- I wanted gravity to take over so this baby could come out...the sooner the better! I was in the shower for a half hour and then the nurse pulled me out to monitor the baby and check my vitals at this time I asked for some Fentenol (aka: Drugs) I got the drugs about a half hour later and they helped to just take the edge off of the contractions. While I was on the bed the doctor came in and checked me and I was fully dilated. So she asked me to push on my next contraction, I did and she confirmed it "it's showtime" YEE HAW! The only sucky thing was that I only got one shot of Fentenol as they couldn't give me anymore since I was fully dilated!

So out comes that crazy table covered with plastic wrap to ensure the instruments stay serialized. Everyone who wanted to be in the room to experience this was called in and the doctor told me to push on my next contraction, and as I did she said "yep, we sure are ready!"

So comes the pushing part, we were nearing midnight and I really, really wanted to have this baby on November 1st so my pushes had some power behind them as I time was of the essence! So comes the time to push, first push the head comes out and apparently the umbilical cord was over his head like a continuation of his spine...but thankfully it wasn't around his neck. Then the second push the doctor gingerly tugged on his neck (this killed my mom to see this) and ever so gently with my next push he was out.

It was a great feeling to have the birth over with, but an even greater feeling to see him, feel him and know that my little boy was here. And unlike with Jacob he didn't have to be toted over to the table right away which meant that Paul was able to cut the cord. They let him stay on my chest for a good minute - which I just savoured, Jacob was whisked away so quickly I didn't get to revel in his beauty until 10 minutes or so after he was born.

I have to say that it was a really great birth experience. However I don't think I couldn't have done it without Paul. He can just say one thing to me and it's the right thing and I know I can go on. He doesn't touch me in the wrong place, he doesn't talk too much, he doesn't talk too little...he's just perfect and as much as I'm thankful to have my 2 sons I am SO thankful to have such an amazing husband that is by my side walking through and doing life with me.