last of september

Our trip to Vancouver is booked (October 13 - November 1), flights to China are booked, and Steve arrived safe and sound in Beijing and is settling in to our new apartment on floor 17 of the Oriental Plaza's Centennial Heights tower in the heart of the city. (Where, I might add, there is a Starbucks outside our front door and a themed mall - whatever that means - that commands 130,000 square metres of the city's space just beyond... youch!) Hendrik climbed out of his crib for the first time today, rode his tricycle by himself for the first time today and I, in the last few days, have dusted off my forgotten-for-four-weeks book (A Visit From the Goon Squad) and figured out how to read while breastfeeding - hurrah! There must be other news, but since I'm sleep deprived (Alana is scoring low-ish marks in that dept.) and Alana needs to eat and Hendrik might be crawling headfirst out of his crib at this very moment, I'll just leave you with some pics. But first, a big happy birthday to my momsy!

skyping with dad! thank gooooodness for skype...

stories on skype... love!

armchair washers on a beautiful september day

another bfm steal - riding bowie the horse

the last week and a half...

The past week (and a half) has been crazy busy, and here's why:

- We moved out of our apartment, in leg one of our journey from Gatineau to Beijing. Packing up for a six-month move - and tidying and cleaning our apartment for tenants - always involves more effort and more time and more attention to more detail than you initially think it does. Thankfully, we'd been slowly organizing here and there and this and that for a while, so really, it could have been worse. But still, it was mucho - thinking of how the kidlets will grow and what they will need and what we have space for. Can we travel with just one bag each? How many books can we bring? Will it all fit in the car? Steve packed up three bags, and between me and the little ones we have just two bags, for now. That includes clothes, books, toys, diapers, some food, shoes... and more? Ouf. Our most productive times were when they were both sleeping which was when I needed to sleep and rest and eat and shower, so I personally felt like I was in overdrive, especially on Friday morning - departure day.

- We had to fit errands and appointments and busy-busy things into the packing and organizing that dominated the week. Example of busy-busy: I went to Costco to buy eye patches for Hendrik on Monday (with both kids in tow, Hendrik in the backpack and Alana in the stroller) and it turns out they didn't have enough. Order and return demain, they said, so I did. Tuesday I pick them up and then on Wednesday at Hendrik's eye appointment we got the good news that both eyes are of equal strength and we could .... stop the patching. Sooooo I returned to Costco on Thursday to return said eye patches (eight boxes) and drop off a prescription. They couldn't fill the prescription so told me to come back the following day to pick it up. Ak! That makes four Costco trips in five days... right? Four? Yes. Too many. Anyways, I also had a three-weeks-too-early follow up appointment with my ob/gyn on Wednesday, and they all ogled over Alana and recommended Gravol for Hendrik for the flight to China, and that's about it. The lists lists lists of things to do don't seem to be diminishing now that we're in Bowmanille, but at least we're out of Gatineau and that leaves us with one less set of things to think about.

- Hendrik is slowly recovering from injury, one that I could have blogged about 10 days ago but haven't found the time (read above). Last Saturday he tweaked his ankle/leg going down a steep slide with Steve, and refused to walk on it; he was clearly quite uncomfortable, and after some debate and indecision - hospital or no hospital? - Steve took him in. His x-ray showed no breaks, so the verdict is, since he's still limping and didn't bear weight or walk on it until Thursday, that he has a fractured growth plate. Sounds serious, but since I haven't had time to google it or look into it, I'm trying not to worry too much. I've talked to my dad, Steve took Hendrik to physio a few times, and it seems as though it will just need time to heal. If it's not significantly better by the time we're in Vancouver, we'll take him back in to have things looked at. Until then, advice is to limit jumping and running (which he's not doing anyways) and keep his activitiy levels low; done and done.

- Okay this note has nothing to do with busy-ness but is just a serious irritation: Transport Canada rules state that I cannot fly with two kids under two... ah-nnoying! How am I supposed to get out to Vancouver? Plans there, are, for the moment, foiled. And I was on my way to booking a flight last night - good thing Bob and Marg spotted that rule. Uggghhh....

- We had a busy weekend - good busy - with Erin and Fred in town for Marg's 60th birthday. It was a surprise and there was a surprise dinner and then a surprise get-together at Barb's after and there were TWO CAKES! That's my kind of birthday weekend. Happy belated Grandma B - it was an awesome weekend!

- Over the weekend Steve and I were (sort of) busy organizing his bags, trying to max out on weight and use up all available space in the three 70 pound bags he's allowed with his Air Canada Elite Status. The end of that story is a sad one; he left yesterday at noon, and it was a teary goodbye. I'll miss him, but I know how much he'll miss Hendrik and Alana, and that makes me more sad than missing him  myself. I'm so glad that I can be here with Bob and Marg and get some help with the babes, and that I'll get the same out in Vancouver with my parents. Now I just need to figure out how to get there....

As far as my busy-rant goes, that's about it. Alana is doing really well; she's eating well and sleeping well and is in general, a very very good-natured babe. It looks like she might be getting into a bit of a schedule during the day (eating every 3 - 3 1/2 hours) and was up just once in the night last night, going four hours between feeds (YAY!). This translates into a bit more sleep for me, which is much needed. Hendrik is having a great time with G-ma and G-pa B, and has found new toys - a calculator ("do some cal-cu-lating" he says), binoculars (a gift from Chris and Carla) and Steve and Erin's old Fisher Price farm set. He's still into doing jobs ("more jobs" he says, after dinner) and cleaning up. We're still doing the cloth diaper thing and still loving it, but there have been a few hiccups that still need sorting. It's felt very much like fall here - will Beijing's warm weather hang around much longer? Probably not. Summer is over and fall is upon us, and that's fine; I do like the four seasons, even though summer gets the gold. I'm sure there's more to write about, but I've got to get some pictures up; for now, that's a wrap!

birth experience #2

It's about time I write about the birth experience, no? Before the small memories and moments fade away and all I can really remember is how awfully painful it was. To note: this is as much, if not more, for me as it is for you; if you're not interested in reading about labour and delivery, skip this one! I also have to blog about how and why we named Alana Alana, but one thing at a time... So! Here goes...

On Saturday, September 1st, with 40 weeks plus three days of pregnancy having come and gone, Steve and I pulled out the early ultrasounds I had done in Italy, thinking that perhaps the due date I'd been given was off. Of course we know/knew that the due date is an approximation (Hendrik just happened to be right on time) but it still got us wondering - could the date be off? A week off? I pulled out my favourite pregnancy guidebook (purchased in Japan) and found that dating by ultrasound is more accurate than by the first day of the last period... but still, the ultrasounds stayed out; I'd take them to my next doctor's appointment on Wednesday. And so the day went by; we went to Freddie and Shanti's in the afternoon, had beef and rice for dinner and gave Hendrik his bath, and wondered wondered when baby sister would come. I had a few small twinges late in the day, but thought nothing of them; they weren't contractions and they weren't anything like the Braxton-Hicks I'd felt before. We went to bed around mmmm maybe 10:30, and this is when it all really started. Steve was still awake (I think?) when I shot up to sitting, cartoon-style; did my water just break? Something had just happened, but I wasn't sure what. So we got up and fussed a bit and called triage to explain, and they thought it best if we came in for an assessment. There were no regular contractions, but if my water had indeed broken, then, depending on who-knows-what, they might need to keep me at the hospital. We called Freddie and Shanti at 11:10 and they were over within minutes. Off we went to the the Ottawa General, both of us wondering... is this it? Is it happening? Eeeeek!

And the answer to that question was yes... and no. We had a bit of a deja vu, sitting in a room that was almost identical to the one we waited in prior to Hendrik's arrival, and we couldn't believe that we were back there again ready to (hopefully) welcome baby #2 into the world. So we waited and waited, and talked to nurses and then a few doctors, and it came down to this: with no regular contractions and minimal dilation, it might be best to wait it out at home. Or, as the doctor put it so nonchalantly, "Go home! Get some rest, sleep a bit. Then, you know, come back say... ooh, after lunch. Have a nice meal, and then come back when you're feeling ready." Hendrik came pretty quickly, so Steve and I took his advice with a grain of salt, knowing that we probably wouldn't even make it to breakfast. But whatever... it was the middle of the night and we both felt better about resting and waiting at home as opposed to the ghastly cramped labour lounge (pfffft - lounge) that we waited in the last time we (/I) did this childbirth thing.

So we were home around 2am and both got in bed. I lasted mmmm not so very long in there as my contractions started getting worse and worse and closer and closer together - it was out in the living room for me. Steve managed to catch a few zzzzs before I woke him up around 4:45; I'd been timing things and it was all getting too painful and condensed to seem like a trip back to the hospital should wait too much longer. So we called - bless their early-rising hearts - Zella and Elspeth, and Elspeth was over here by 5:15ish... it was all going down! Crikes.

We were admitted at 6:45 and had a few fabulous nurses with us in the room as I progressed through early labour. When we arrived - or was it the very first time we arrived at the hospital? - I was asked about pain relief, and I stuck with the same plan I had with Hendrik: I wasn't completely opposed to the epidural, but I wanted to try to do it without. Ouf... why?! It was as if I completely forgot that there was an option to take away the crazy intense pain that I felt for what seemed like a bazillion hours of labour; I shook, I puked, I made crazy ridiculous sounds and screams and screeches... oh, man, it was intense. I did ask for the nitrous oxide which helped a bit, but man... if there's a next time to all of this I need to seriously reconsider pain medication. Anyways, eventually they figured that my water hadn't completely broken, so they needed to help me out (um, yes) and rupture membranes for me BUT... since it seemed like that might mean an imminent delivery, they wanted to wait until a senior doc was available to attend the birth. AND all of the senior docs were tied up in the OR, so we had to wait. And wait. And wait. Finally, the resident got the go-ahead to rupture, and after that things happened fast. I wanted to push, so I did. And this part (like much of the rest of it) is blurry; I remember nurses and people scurrying around and a frenzy-flurry of activity and people and people telling me to slow down and stop pushing, and then Steve telling me to slow down and stop pushing but I couldn't! I had to push, and three minutes later at 8:58 am our dear babe was born (without a senior doc in attendance). I have to say that my first emotion post-delivery was shock; the labour was so intense and crazy for me (was it just the pain? not sure) that I couldn't take Alana right away... I needed a minute. Steve cut the cord (I have no memory of this) and then I took her on me; "my baby!" I said, with such tenderness and relief - that she was healthy, that labour was over - to have her here with me, with us.

After the rest of it all we both had a look at the placenta and the attached bag - man, that thing is crrrrazy. It's kind of enormous, and the bag that was attached to it still? Also crazy. It was home to our baby for a total of 283 days. After Alana was weighed and cleaned, we were left alone in the room, and it was lovely. We talked to Hendrik on the phone a few times, and then were moved to a semi-private room where there were little teeny pockets of peace and quiet, and I was able to get a bit of rest once Steve went home for lunch. Some of the highs and lows from the two days we spent in the hospital:

Highs:

• Hendrik and Steve and Grandma and Grandpa coming to visit everyday; I really really really missed seeing and hugging and holding and hanging out with Hendrik, and it was so good to see him every day.
• some of the nurses... 
• getting flowers from Hendrik and Daddy: "Dear Mommy and Alana, So happy to have you join our family!! Love Daddy and Hendrik" - melt my heart!
• moving into a private room for night #2
• having visitors: Steve, Grandma and Grandpa B, and Zella and Elspeth
• feeling beyond happy, beyond lucky, beyond blessed to have two healthy kids and a wonderful husband as my family... and,
• leaving the hospital as a family of four....

Lows

• cluster feeding
• noisy, bad neighbors in the semi-private room
• some of the nurses... (eg: while I'm feeding Alana, but crying because I'm so tired - says a student nurse, "Let me take her, I'll just give her a bottle at the nursing station. I can take her right now if you like." - !!!)
• cluster feeding cluster feeding cluster feeding

And then we were all home together! Marg and Bob stayed for a week, and that was amazing - to not have to think about cooking or housework or anything other than taking care of Alana and spending time with Hendrik. He had a great time hanging out with Elspeth on the morning Alana was born - reading stories, watching polar bear videos and eating Shreddies (these are the highlights, relayed by my cousin Elspeth). I do have to note that we put Hendrik to bed in a cloth diaper for the very first time on the night that my labour started; so she was in for a bit of a surprise when he woke up with an unconventional nappy on. (She put a disposable on backwards in the morning, so maybe it didn't really phase her that he was wearing a reusable pocket diaper. She, in her mid-twenties, is, understandably, not well versed in diapers.) And that's about it! Alana is closing in on three weeks old now, and is doing really well - eating, peeing, pooping, sleeping, and not fussing too too much. And that leaves us all a bit sleep deprived, and living in a different world... we're a family of four! And life is gooooood.... 

up-date

Some of the funny/cute things Hendrik has said in the past few days:

After a trip to Costco: "That was fun!"; and to his fussy baby sister: "What's the matter? It's okaaay."

pretending to talk on the phone:
Hendrik: "Hi. Oh, hi."
Me: "Who are you talking to?"
Hendrik: "Aunt. Aunt likes salad."

Later, on the phone: "Hi my name is Heather." (giggle) "Heather is mommmy..."

So yeah, he's pretty much the cutest ever. The not listening that is testing our patience does not fall under this cute umbrella, but since he's a toddler and since life as he knew it has seriously changed, we're trying to be a bit (more) flexible and understanding. But this is what I think about when he doesn't listen: the three of us (me + kiddies) out in Beijing in a busy busy place and the potential consequences of him not listening. It freaks me out, so we're working on it. Like potty training, it's an in-progress deal. Unfortunately we're not as far down the line as we were before baby sister arrived, but that's understandable, and really, he's doing an amazing job. I stopped by the Extraordinary Baby Shoppe this morning to buy a pair of Super Undies (to see if the pull-up by myself thing and the feeling wet combo might help - as an alternative to disposable pull-ups) and on my way out heard a mom asking about training pants for her four year old. So yeah, Hendrik is golden.

I've been asking Hendrik if he wanted to go to a playgroup this morning ("to play with other kiddies," he says), and he was into it... so I corralled both kids and we headed for an Ontario Early Years Centre playgroup at Mothercraft, only to be turned away. I have been way less emotional this time around (with Alana) but for some ridiculous reason I wanted to cry when we walked in the door and they told us that it was full. Ouf... So on we went to run errands: the baby shop and MEC - and it was successful; no one had any meltdowns (Alana tried). I had to feed Alana in the first store, which again, was awkward, but worked. Breastfeeding a newborn is intense... every 2-3 hours, around the clock? The bod is feeling it, but feeling a bit better now that we're 12 days in.

And lastly here - I've gotta run, as it's been 2 hours and the babe sounds hungry (again) - Beijing plans are coming together. Steve's flight is booked for next Monday (the 24th), and we're planning on heading to Bowmanville in a week. So we have a week to organize and pack and get our apartment ready for renters ... do-able, I hope. I'm hoping that we'll join Steve a month or so later, after a few weeks in both Bowmanville and some time in Vancouver; those plans are yet to come together, as we have to get the little miss a passport and the whole lot of us need visas and blah blah blah. Here, a few ah-dorable pictures from earlier today. Time to feed!

feeding baby timmy... so so so so cute!

yesterday, at 13 days old

my loves!

short and sweet... again

Hendrik hiding his crayon and having us guess where it is... love!

I don't think I've said anything about his hospital bracelet! We recognized a nurse that helped me with Hendrik, and she made him this Big Brother bracelet and it hasn't come off... he loves it! Proud little duder...

This is going to have to be another short one - there was no nap today for anyone, and I'm fading fast. I've survived the last two days without grandparents... somehow! Okay okay so it hasn't been too bad. I made it through the first grocery store trip with two kids (one was sleeping, the other was well-behaved) and dinner has made it to the table both nights. No one is starving, Steve and I are both a bit sleep deprived (Alana was up for FOUR HOURS STRAIGHT on Tuesday night BUT surprised us with a solid night last night - up just twice and back to sleep fairly quickly) and Hendrik is somehow coping with less attention (though I feel like we're doing a good job on the sustained attention front). He even held his baby sister today, for the first time! Melt your heart adorable it was. Anyways, a few pics from the last couple of days, and I'm out!

yesterday afternoon; I convinced Hendrik to play cards with the tiger while I fed Alana

Hendrik holding his baby sister for the first time!

a shortie

Hendrik has a new favourite book: the 20th Century Children's Book Treasury, a livre that was neglected until the morning Hendrik's baby sister arrived. My cousin Elspeth was here looking after him (we called her at 5:00 am to please ask please come over as soon as you can - yipes) and she must have cracked the cover. New faves are Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Freight Train and I Am a Bunny (which I love).

Alana is a week old today! It feels like she's been here longer. We hit up Brewer Park this morning (which was crawling with kids - crawling) and then did a loop or two of the Landsdowne Farmers Market; everyone had lunch (including the lil' miss - my first in-public out-of-the-house breastfeed... it was a success, yay) and it was home for a no-nap... woops. Well, let me clarify: Hendrik didn't have his nap, but Steve and I and Alana did; he went for ice cream with Grams and Gramps - not a bad trade-off I'd say. And I got out for a walk by myself - a walk and a nap? Thanks to the help chez nous... we'll see if I can squeeze some of that action in this coming week with just the four of us around. (The four of us!)

sporting Jordans and a new hoodie... solid gifts! | Hendrik's truck stack

six days in...

three days old

We're closing in on a week here as a family of four, and life is good. Things have been so so so different than the first time around with Hendrik, and I couldn't be more thankful; I'm talking eating and sleeping. And pooping. We know now that newborn Hendrik, the poor gaffer, wasn't getting any food from me (despite hour-long feeding sessions - ugh) and in turn didn't turn to sleep for any comfort... he was hungry! Alana, on the other hand, is getting lots to eat; at her first doctor's appointment on Thursday morning we found that she'd already surpassed her birth weight, something that doesn't often happen until the two-week (ish) mark - !! I feel more confident feeding her, and am experiencing less uncomfortableness... another blessing! She's waking up twice, maybe three times a night, and has been pretty good about going back to sleep post-meal. She isn't fussy, and doesn't cry much... so my fingers are crossed that this goodness continues. Crossed crossed crossed...

A huge part of this success is the presence of Grandma and Grandpa B - something my mom did for us with Hendrik; they're cooking, helping with Hendrik and mucho mucho more... how do we do this without them? Come Monday we'll see. At least Steve has quite a bit (full?) flexibility with training right now - if I feel mired in kiddy he'll stay home. Or, really, I think I can make it through a three-hour training stretch with both of them. Like I said, Alana is a dream... it's just those terrible two things that Hendrik pulls out every now and then (daily) that will prove to be a challenge.

Anyways! I'm feeling good and recovering well from what felt like the craziest delivery ever (blog on that to come). I survived a walk around the block with both kidlets (so did they), thanks to the Ergo carrier and a mostly obedient boy. There was one point when he was under my arm kicking and flailing as I ported him home because he refused to listen - something he's practicing on a regular basis. Taxing, it was. And we made it out to the park yesterday - with Grandma - and had a blast (Alana slept). There was another mom there with a six-week old who feeds every one and a half hours (!! - her baby was a little tank) - I really really reallllly hope that Alana continues on this vein, feeding every 3-4 hours, and too, that I can keep up with her.

We've had so many well wishes, and it's been great to hear from so many people - via facebook, email, snail mail etc. One of the first questions is how Hendrik is reacting to a new focus of attention in the house, and the answer is fairly well. He's not jealous really, just indifferent. Every now and then he'll go and give her a kiss or pay her some attention, but questions or comments about his baby sister (directed to him) are just blown over and/or often ignored. So ? Grandma and Grandpa are the real hit - I'm wondering if he'll try and sneak in the car and go home with them... They've been to the park, the grocery store (he loves sitting in the cart, especially if it's a FIRE truck cart), and have been reading, doing jobs and playing around here... fun fun. Sooo yeah! I'm hoping I can get around to writing about the whole labour and delivery thing soon, before I forget. Because I had forgotten how horrible that part was - at one point I asked the nurse if nurses that don't have kids decide against having children after seeing crazy labours and hearing/seeing scream and screeches of pain, and she said that personally, it made her want kids even more. Sure, the painful horrible part that they see (if their patient, like me, decides for whatever crazy reason to pass on the epidural) isn't all that pleasant or encouraging, but the part afterwards, when baby is here and with mom and dad, is so special that the previous is (almost) erased. Sigh... life is beautiful!

she's here!

We are beyond blessed...

Alana Lindsay Brinkman arrived on Sunday, September 2nd at 8:58 am - weighing in at 8 lbs 3 oz (and near 21 inches by our rough measure) - and everyone is doing well; we're happy and healthy and home! Since I'm a little short on sleep, I'll keep this, well, short. Some pics, a vid, and much more to come....

first family of four pic!