My Baby is One Year Old

My baby boy turned one year old last week. I am so proud of him. He is the most joyful little guy I've ever had the pleasure to meet and I get to be his mommy!

I haven't been updating as much as I'd like to but I've been busy with mommy-ing my three beautiful children. So excuse the tardiness of my postings.




We had a John Deere themed one year old birthday party, complete with balloons (which Tanner loved), decorations and a lovely cake made by a local baker.






I set up themed food for his party as well. A veggie patch, sandwiches for the farmers, haystacks made out of Rice Krispie squares (both of which Claire & Grandpa made for Tanners party), gummy worms, cookies/tractor tires, goldfish for the fishin' hole, and lemonade.



















But the most important were the people who celebrated with us. We had both sets of grandparents at Tanners 1st birthday party as well as some of his little buddies and their siblings.
























I think Tanner had a great time! Thank you to everyone who came out to make his day extra special!


Happy first birthday little buddy. We love you to the moon and back. xoxoxo

Pulling to a Stand

As of last week sometime (I'm getting bad with dates), Tanner started pulling himself up to a standing position on anything and everything. He uses the laundry baskets, big toys, his push hippo, the couches, chairs and even mommy. (I think that last one is his favourite.)

He's crawling up a storm and is really fast. He will follow me around the house wherever I'm going and seek out objects he can pull up on (or things to unplug - time to baby proof everything again!).

He also got two more teeth this wee, one top left and one bottom left, bringing his count to 7 teeth at 7 months old. He also bites like a shark if you check his teeth. Yup, normal.

My baby is getting so big and growing up. I'm big proud and a little but saddened that he will not be my infant for much longer. However, I take some solace in knowing that he will be my baby forever. XX

Months Four, Five, Six & Seven! (The last quarter of a year..)

It has been a busy few months? A busy spring? Summer? I'm just bad at updating lately.
I spend my days trying to keep the littles fed and watered, enough to quell the two year old crying and whining, so that I can have a minute to use the bathroom, or do other normal things which I have forgotten are actually normal things. Then I stay up late watching tv or reading into the middle of the night for some "me time", which just causes me to lose more sleep and be tired again in the wee morning hours that my toddlers deem necessary to wake up (and then wake the rest of the house up as well). Don't they know that genetically they should also be night owls? I'm wondering if this stuff skips a generation and they're actually morning people, who take instead after their grandma. I'm guessing it's payback from my own childhood. That has got to be it!

Our littlest Smeltz turned four months, then five, then six and seven months! Where is the time going? He has gotten quite big (really big) and started doing all kinds of new things in the last few months.

At four months old we celebrated Tanners first Easter at Grandma & Grandpas house. The kids all got chocolate and toys, and were quite spoiled. Grandma & Grandpa gave the kids clothes and toys from their recent trip to Australia. (We still have Easter candy three months later...)

Five months and he was crawling! (What?!) He did this bear love where he would get up onto all fours like a little bear and try to move forward. Then he tried being an inchworm, but it was really slow. So finally he devised a plan to move like a seal, using his arms like a seal would use their flippers, to push himself up and then violently throw himself forwards. He got really quite fast at it and it's still his quickest way to move around, although now at seven months he has strayed to crawl in the normal hand to knee alternation.

At five months, we visited Grandma & Grandpa at the lake for the May long weekend. We also got a visit at the beginning of June from Grannie & Grampa, so it was a month full of grandparents and cuddles for our little guy. Which I know he loved, because he never stopped smiling.

He had his six month vaccinations on June 20th and he is a big boy! He weighed 21lbs 6.5oz (97th %) and he was 26.5" long (50th %). His height to weight measurement was off of the charts at well over 100%. I'm certain he will slim out once he starts moving around more. There's a reason his nickname is Tank.

We now are giving him baby oatmeal and trying out new foods. He has had orange, peach, banana, blueberry, raspberry, strawberry, bread, bagel, chicken, cheerios, fries, cake, icing and marshmallows. (Notice how that list went from fruit to junk food? It's because of camping season. We do not give him junk much at all really.) At first he didn't seem to enjoy eating solids as he pushed them out of his mouth with his tongue when using a spoon. We tried his mesh baby feeder and that went over well, but it was nearly impossible to clean, so we just started giving him tiny bits of foods we were eating, along with baby cereal and finger foods like cheerios.

He also went camping for the first time last month, over Father's Day weekend June 13-15, and seemed to really enjoy it. We went camping again in July, out to Banff and that's when he got all of the sugary foods. It was his uncles birthday.

He also went to the Drumheller Dinosaur Museum for the first time on June 19th. And he played at the splash park all by himself on July 16th. (He kept crawling towards the cement pad and the water from the blanket, which was about ten feet away. I kept bringing him back but he was very determined so I let him explore and I'm certain there were other moms there who we're wondering who in heck would let a baby play alone at the splash park. But he loved it.)

At some point in the last few weeks, he has also started manoeuvring himself from crawling to sitting to crawling again, so he's now fully mobile and is ninja fast. He also has a grip on anything he can get his hands onto and does not let go. Overall his disposition has never changed and he is still the. Happiest baby I've ever seen. I only hope that he will stay this way throughout toddlerhood. For my own sanity really.

We love him beyond words and are so very thankful to have him in our lives. I can't believe how close he is now to 8 months old. That's 3/4 of a year already! It seems like he was just born and should be tiny, but he's 23lbs & 27" (as of today) and a healthy big guy. I can't remember what life was like before he arrived, but it feels like he has always been here.

I will add pictures as soon as I find the time! (So when he is in university perhaps...) or you can check out my Facebook page for up to date photos.

My baby's growing up too fast

Tanner has grown so much and is doing great. At one month old he had his first smile (at mommy) and has been smiling ever since. He is a very happy baby and has an easy going personality. Thank goodness we lucked out, as I can't begin to imagine a fussy baby on top of caring for twin two year olds!

Tanner also lifted his head and turned it side to side during tummy time on Jan 12th. And then shortly after on Jan 16th started grabbing onto mommy's clothes, his blankets, and anything within his reach.

He also rolled over from his tummy to back (two times) on Jan 26th! I thought this was way too early being that he wasn't even two months old but he did it more than once. He's working on rolling from back to front now at nearly three months old and is almost there but his arm keeps getting in his way.

He started following people with his head and followed Daddy for the first time by turning his head back and forth on Feb 2nd, just shy of two months old.

Two months:
The day Tanner turned two months old he started saying "agoo", and has since brought in a bunch of new sounds as he is discovering his voice. It's really sweet to listen to him "talk" to us while making eye contact.

He moved to size 6m sleepers and size 2 diapers at two months also. I'm wondering if he will be a big guy or will slow down at some point. He may catch up to Hayden and Claire in size faster than I'd anticipated. Then it'll look like we have triplets.

Tanner giggled for the first time at Claire (jumping up and landing on her bum on the couch cushion and saying ribbit like a frog) on Feb 10th. Claire adores her little brother and is always wanting to touch, hug and kiss him. She also likes to feed him his milk whenever she can.

The discovery of his hands was really cute. He would sit staring at his hand and moving it around trying to figure out what it was. I remember C&H doing the same, but that seems like a lifetime ago to me now.

Shortly after discovering his hands, Tanner started reaching out to touch his teddy bears face and now tries to touch every toy we put in front of him. He has even started pulling my hair and he has a strong grasp!

He has amazed us most though by pushing to stand on his feet while sitting down. He loves to stand up and smile at us. I remember Hayden standing up early but seem to recall it being more like three or four months old not two months! I certainly hope he doesn't walk super early! I'm hoping to keep my baby a baby for as long as possible.



Tanner at two months old

Handy Mommy

I'm always on the look out for quality used toys and baby stuff for my kids.

Its rare to find things in perfect condition but I've found that sometimes I can modify used stuff or repair it myself, and if it fails, I'm not out much money anyway.

Tonight I decided to repair two Fisher-Price used toys that I recently acquired.

The first was an Ocean Wonders Fisher-Price infant bouncy seat that I bought for $5. Date stamp on the back says it's from 2002, so it's no wonder I have never seen it previously. It has a water component to it on the arch piece and of course the problem was that it was nearly out of water (I guess so after 12 years!) and it didn't work properly without water inside to move the fish around.

My thought was that I could open it up and find a rubber plug to open so I could refill the water. No such luck. I opened it all up and it was sealed up (water) tight.
I figured if I could drill a hole, I could get water inside and worst case I'd wreck the toy, but for $5 I didn't really care. I drilled a small hole near the bottom of the plastic piece holding the water (note: if I were to do this again I'd drill the hole at the top of the case and not the bottom where the water will always be sitting..)

Then I held it under the kitchen tap with a slow water flow until the toy was full. Then I added silicone to cover the hole. (Make sure to dry the place you're putting the silicone, I didn't the first time and had to wipe it all off and try again).

I screwed it back together and put it back onto the bouncy seat. (It leaked water the first time I attempted this but after wiping off the water and re-siliconing it, it held the second time).

Voila $5 good as new bouncy seat with something for my little guy to look at. It lights up and blows bubbles which spin the little starfish. (Our other bouncy seats have nothing interesting to look at and are basically just really expensive chairs.)

I figured that had gone really well so I decided to do the same thing to our Ocean Wonders Crib toy as well. Every mom in the last few years knows this toy. (It's dated 2007 on the back but I've seen them everywhere.) Only problem is they too are always only half full of water whenever I've seen one for sale, so they still work but just look terrible.

I opened the case up and took off the back. Drilled a hole (in the top this time), ran water into it, and siliconed it back up.

Good as new. And my newborn son can enjoy this crib mobile for months to come. I also love that it has a remote so I can control it from outside of his room (assuming it fits onto his crib).

So there you have it. The tools I used were: a drill with a small bit, a screwdriver and a silicone gun.
Two repaired toys and it cost me only a couple of bucks and a few minutes of my evening. If I can do these repairs with two 2 year olds running around like mad people and a newborn, while making supper and baking cookies, then I'm pretty sure anyone can do this too.

Take that Handy Manny!

One month old + two one-year olds

Today, I have a one month old little newborn peanut and two little mischievous one year olds.

















(Okay, so my twins will be two years old next week, but until then, they're still one.)

Tanner has been here a month. It blows my mind that a month has come and gone already since the day of his birth. I feel like it was last week that we were in the hospital waiting for our baby to arrive.

He's been working on lifting his head, he follows you with his eyes and just today followed his daddy with his head. He looks at whoever is talking and his grip is like steel.

As of Friday he weighed 9lbs14oz, just over his birth weight. We struggled at first to get his weight back up but we are doing great now and he will be growing like a weed from here on out.

I love him more and more every minute that I get to spend with him. I feel so very blessed that he chose me as his mommy.

Watching my three babies grow is the best feeling in the world. <3

My task today is to take one month pictures of Tanner on the big boy camera (which Phil isn't allowed to touch without supervision). I liked having a picture of Claire & Hayden each month to compare and to look back at. I don't have a quilt from my mom yet so I'll be using one I made instead.



Tanner at one month old

We left for the hospital at 7am on December 4th, 2013 for an 8am induction appointment. It was a cold and icy morning.


Once we arrived at the new South Health Campus, we were given a room in triage and my belly was hooked up to a fetal heart rate monitor and contraction toco discs. The heart rate monitor had trouble picking up baby's rates consistently enough to get a baseline reading. Mostly, because baby was very active and moving every few seconds. Contractions were also a few minutes apart but irregular. After nearly five hours on the tocos the OB, Dr. Kenny, finally got a good enough reading that I was allowed to leave and get some lunch. Phil and I went to the hospital marketplace together and I bought a pair of fuzzy slippers from the hospital gift shop on our way back up to the 7th floor.

We waited again in triage, as there were no rooms yet available for delivery. At 8pm the new OB, Dr. Zakarias sent us for an ultrasound to check on baby's positioning and fluid levels. All looked great. Then since we were not able to get cervadil (since we couldn't be admitted until we had a delivery room) we had an unmedicated option instead and the OB inserted a Foley Balloon to help dilate from 1cm, which I was currently, to 3/4cms. I also got an IV of fluids and was started on antibiotics. The nurses moved us around midnight to a room in an unused hallway of the maternity ward so that we could get some sleep in a quiet area.

I slept for what seemed a long time, only to wake and see it had only been an hour. It was 1am. I got up to go to the bathroom and the foley balloon had already done its job and had fallen out. I called the nurse and we were quickly moved to a delivery room. Room 11 at the very end of the hallway.

At 3am I was given a pitocin drip and the OB inserted a heart rate monitor directly into the top of baby's head and our water broke in a trickle. I was 3cms. Contractions began to get regular and stronger from here. Our back up doula, Heather, a arrived. We waited.

Our original doula, Tracey, arrived around 5am. The progress of dilation and waiting for baby's head to drop was slow moving. Contractions were regular and strong. Baby's heart rate still took small dips during contractions and I was given an Amniotic Infusion (tube to insert warmed water back into the uterus for cushioning) just as a precaution in case the cord was being squashed somewhere. It also helped to clear out the miconium from the fluids.

After 11 hours of unmedicated labour and numerous comments from nurses and doctors of how I was doing amazing at pain control, I was given the option of taking an epidural or being knocked out if a c-section was needed. Baby's heart rate was still dipping and they were beginning to worry that my uterus might get injured and hemorrhage if we laboured too long with the strong contractions. With an epi in place I was also prepped just in case we needed an emergency c-section. I finally could relax a little bit.

By 4pm that same day, I was about 5cms dilated and baby was beginning to drop. The OB on shift, Dr. Feyhe, said she would give us another hour and if we'd made no progress, would recommend a c-section. The game was on to get get baby to turn and drop. Our doula was instrumental in getting baby to turn using different positions. At 5pm the OB was called to a surgery and we had an extra hour to make progress.

The OB returned just after 6pm to check our progress and it was good news. There had been a change and baby had dropped a bit more and was in position for birth. I was now 6cms dilated. Good news!

Then the epidural wore off. The needle had pulled out of my back, just in time to feel a completely unmedicated drop of baby into my pelvis (no natural pain suppressors were in my system at his point either due to having had the epi). I felt baby move into the birth canal and felt the head and shoulders move with each contraction. The shoulders semes to get stuck on the right side of my pelvis as baby was being pushed down. It was incredible pain (the only way I can describe it) and all I had was my breathing to get me through it. Phil and our midwife Tracey were a big help. Baby was low and I felt like I needed to push. The anaesthesiologist was called and it suddenly seemed like hours passed waiting through contractions.

Shift change at 7pm and our fourth OB, Dr. Wilson, was just coming on, as what seemed like ten nurses ran around our room prepping for birth. The anaesthesiologist finally arrived after 45 minutes of amazing pain and tried to give me Fentanyl meds by syringe via the tube. He quickly discovered that the tube wasn't hooked to my back and then left to get his stuff to put it back in. Finally he returned and set everything back up as I sat on the edge of the bed, holding into Phil and I could feel baby's head, ready to push.

After a long day of craziness, the birth was a beautiful experience and I stopped to just be in the moment. I was told to push and then to wait when baby's head emerged. I held off on pushing and all I could think about was how wonderful this moment was. I pushed four times and felt the pressure release. I knew baby had been born. The shortest and best part of the entire day.

Phil looked at baby and then at me as the whole room went quiet, and he said "You were right. It's a boy!" The baby's cry was amazing music to my ears. Then the nurses got to work tending to baby in the panda warmer. As soon as they were done they brought him to me and put him on my chest for skin to skin cuddles.


He had an apgar score of 9. He weighed 9lbs 12 oz and measured 53.5cms/21.06" long. His head measured 39.5cms. A big healthy boy.


I was up and out of bed right away and even got to take a shower within hours of giving birth. Our first night was full of cluster feeding and nurses checking in on us. Phil slept on the window seat.


The next day, we named our son Tanner Felix (after my grandfather). We waited to have blood tests done and his minor tongue tie clipped. We spent just over 24 hours cuddling with him in the hospital before heading home, after midnight, in -30c weather.


Each moment I've spent with my new little guy I fall deeper in love with him. I'd worried before he was born, that I may not bond with him as I'd bonded with our twins, or that he'd somehow he'd take away from their lives. Now I understand what second time parents must feel when bringing home a new baby. You never share love, it truly only multiplies.





I am so very thankful that our littles have siblings, since I never did. While I am in no hurry, I get to watch the three of them grow up and bond to each other. I'm already amazed.

With the addition of the Littlest Smeltz, our family is now complete.
xoxoxo

Tick Tock...

Tomorrow we are officially 40 weeks pregnant. While I am excited, I am also beginning to feel like this baby is never going to arrive and I'll be kicking it out just in time for kindergarten.

Even with how much I love being pregnant, love my belly, love feeling someone alive inside of my tummy wiggling around, love pondering the miracle of life, and even though I am a bit sad that this will be our last baby, I am ready. Did you hear me baby? I. am. ready. And so are you. I'd like my body back now please.

My mom arrived at our house on Wednesday and today is Sunday (Grey Cup Sunday to be precise). We've been waiting four entire days now for something to happen. My water to break, contractions to begin, baby to drop. Nothing. Four days really feels like forever when all you're doing is waiting.

I've tried everything I can think of to get baby to come out, some of which were suggested by friends. Also drinking loads of raspberry leaf tea, walking as much as I can (I even walked around the grocery store two days ago for nearly two hours), shovelling the deck, running after one year old twins, playing outside in the snow, sitting hunched over on the floor with them playing, colouring. Nada. No dice. Baby doesn't seem to get my hints.

Baby is stubborn. Like its mommy. And like its daddy. Great.

I feel baby kicking me often from the inside and I think, "just use that energy to come out!" It seems as though my body may not know what to do. Maybe I'm lacking those special hormones which signal for things to get moving along. Or possibly baby is waaay too comfy in there. I've tried poking my belly, pushing down to create less space and even issuing an evacuation order.





Come on baby lets get this party started. Each day you stay inside of my tummy is another day you are growing larger and we all know you are large enough now. I'm already packing away all of our newborn clothing and am afraid you will not fit into the massive amounts of newborn diapers we've bought for you. You could practically walk out on your own if you stay much longer..

The ultrasound we had done nearly a week ago said that baby was measuring 9lbs 5-6oz. I certainly hope that was wrong and that baby will be more along the lines of 8lbs something, but the longer we have to wait the more I'm sure this baby is going to be huge. If you've seen my husbands head size, that's a very terrifying thought..

Tomorrow is also our 40 week OB appointment. I plan to ask them to strip my membranes this time in the hopes of starting immediate labour. The 38 & 39 week appointments I'd turned it down. (Beginning to think that might've been a mistake, but at the time I didn't quite want to go directly into labour - just in case.)

I've been feeling so very beyond exhausted this week, more than I've ever been in my life. I am out of breath all the time and I can't get comfortable in any position - which is perplexing to me, since in my first pregnancy my belly was much larger and carried nearly 13lbs of kids in it at once...

I'm normally a mover and get stuff done but I can barely manage to do anything without feeling like I've run a race. I'm sleeping in as much as I can. (Thank you to my mom and husband for watching my babies so I can rest.) I'm napping in the afternoons and going to bed early. All of which is not leaving me feeling rested, but hoping that if labour ever freaking begins, I'll have enough energy to get by.

Our OB has told us that they normally induce between 41+1 & 31+3 days. That would put us for an induction between Dec 3rd (my father-in-law's birthday) & Dec 5th. I refuse to wait that much longer! That's a whole mother week! But, I have zero choice in this matter and all I can do is hope that baby continues to stay healthy and think positive thoughts for labour which must be coming soon.. Right? Please??

Waiting for Baby

As of two days ago, I am the most pregnant I have ever been, having delivered our twins at 38+2. Today I am 38+4 with our littlest Smeltz.

At week 36, I noticed I suddenly had pregnancy symptoms (up until then I was relatively normal). I started to have to pee all of the time and started waking at night. I also had no urge to sleep and was often awake until 2am. I had a surge of energy and got a large amount of baby tasks completed, along with wrapping Christmas gifts and writing out all of our Christmas cards. I was having trouble breathing for a few weeks, which I'd attributed to being anemic (and on iron) this pregnancy.

At week 37, I developed muscle pain in the left side of my buttocks. It began to hurt to walk anywhere for even short distances. I found that stretching and warm baths helped if only temporarily.

Now at in week 38 (or the 39th week of gestation - depending on how you count it), I've noticed that it helps to push on the back of my left hip while walking and the pain lessens, though it is still ridiculously difficult to walk and I've become extremely slow. My waddle is very pronounced this pregnancy. I laughed out loud at myself last night, as I noticed I must resemble a giant penguin.

I've also noticed a huge decline in energy! (And my energy levels are normally higher than average.) I'm way beyond exhausted after even doing just small tasks. Yet at the same time I can't get comfortable in any position enough to rest. The good part is I haven't had trouble breathing for over a week now and even though our OB tells me that baby hasn't dropped, I'm feeling like something has changed. Apparently in second pregnancies the baby doesn't normally drop until you're in labour. So I'll take comfort in that, and hope for the best. At least I know that baby is head down and hopefully that will help once labour does begin.
Above (left) is my twin belly from week 37 & on the right my 38 week singleton belly. I am still measuring way ahead even with one baby living in my tummy but you can see a rather large difference in size. I had my twins over a week after the left pic was taken.

I've been wondering a lot lately how I ever did this while pregnancy thing with a twin belly?! How did I not have all of these symptoms? All I ever had with them was hip pain (same side) around week 32 (which quickly went away magically on it's own) and numbing of my hands from excess fluids from week 30 until after their birth. Otherwise my twin pregnancy seemed much easier towards the end of my third trimester. Perhaps because I didn't have two one year olds to chase after..

Oh how I miss lying in bed watching the food channel eating KD and mashed potatoes brought me by my husband. For now I just try to stay relatively comfortable while trying to keep our toddlers on their schedule as to not upturn their routines, and wait for baby to give me a sign that it's time to be born.

My mom and my husband have been a huge help with caring for our kids lately and for that I am thankful. I know that now I can not do it alone (even though I'm stubborn and still think I can). I'm too tired to really do much with my littles lately and I feel a bit guilty for that, but I know that sometime soon I'll be back to colouring on the floor and running outside with them.

I'm doing my best to enjoy my last pregnancy belly. To cherish every movement inside of my tummy and the wonder and amazement of creating a life. On one hand, I don't want this part of my life to be over. It seems so final. Our last newborn baby. My last birth experience.

On the other hand, I'm excited to meet our baby. To see them healthy and screaming. To see what/who it is after waiting nearly this entire calendar year in anticipation. To look into their eyes and meet our child. A person I grew inside of my body, from a single cell. We get to take them home (this blows my mind) and care for and teach them. To reclaim my own body (eventually). To know that our little family is finally complete.

And now we wait...