Seth Charlie Williamson

Thoughts from week one: 

This week, every time I had a thought of significance, or not...sometimes they are just things that actually stood out in the blur of week one, I wrote it down.  Some are epiphanies...some are sleep-deprived rants. 

* I really wanted to experience labour during the day for once.  Just one time! Not for me.  

* there's my handsome, stressed out husband, trying to get some work done after midnight, while we wait.  I'm bored. Can't sleep.  

* why do they have to decorate delivery rooms with pictures of nursing mothers? Guilt-trip!  Or in case I forget why I'm here...? 

* Waiting. 

* I have NEVER had a labour that fast or that painful.  I wondered if I could handle something like that.  Apparently the answer is yes.  

* I always claim I'm not one of those ladies who screams in labour.  This time, I was.  And I squeezed Tyler's hand so hard he asked (politely) if I could ease up.  All stereotypical. 

* small baby = easy recovery

* so handsome!!

* he latched!  That's never happened before.

* meeting his siblings!

 * all of these IVs and blood pressure checks blew my veins.  Looks brutal!

* Sunday morning loafers

* thanks to the miracle of night sweats, the swelling is slowly going down!  Hallelujah, I have almost real legs again!

* discovering you have a mold problem when your baby is 1 week old...not fun.  

*best buddy cousins

* how about a bow tie as big as your face...?

* I'm not producing milk.  My baby is so dehydrated that he has orange urate crystals in his diaper and hasn't had a bowel movement in 5 days.  Yet again I switch to formula.  Thank heavens he will actually sleep now though.  

It's been an exhausting and exhilarating first week.  I can't believe this tiny person is finally here.  I can't believe I'm doing this again.  I can't believe I love another little person this much.  

Back-to-School

We're into October now, and the kids are well into school.  Starting a new school in a new city is always a challenge, but I'm pretty pleased with how things are going so far.  The kids all have great teachers this year and Lucy has quickly made new friends in her class.  Max is always a bit slower to make friends, but seems to enjoy the company of some of his classmates.  He had a few issues the first few weeks of school with his seat-mate, Xander, but the teacher has since moved him and things are better.  Logan has started preschool this year, although he barely met the cut-off for kindergarten. We decided to wait the year so he could be a bigger kindergartener rather than the smallest.  Plus, none of the kids in his primary class were starting this year and we didn't want him to be way ahead of his friends at church.  He's loving going to preschool at TLC and it's good for him to get out and do something that's just his.  I was thinking it would give me some time to myself too, especially with a new baby coming, but the morning isn't quite long enough to get much done before I have to pick him up.  It is a nice break, but it also takes coordinating.

Within the first few weeks of school, Mitford had 'Spirit Week' which included Crazy Hair Day, Fancy Day, and Western-wear Day.  The kids had fun dressing up that week, and it was slightly easier to get them going in the mornings.  

We've also made it through Picture Day for all 3 kids, and all chose to be fancy this year.  Not sure why, but the pictures look good.  

The biggest adjustment to back to school has been the time it starts.  The kids catch the bus at 7:40am.  In Kingston, school didn't start until 9:15am, so the kids didn't need to be up until 8:00 and we had plenty of time to get ready and walk to school.  Now the alarm goes off at 6:50am and it's a panic rush to get them out the door on time.  It is nice that they're home before 3:00 in the afternoon, because it gives us time to do stuff before dinner and bedtime, but it's still an adjustment.  We're almost 6 weeks in and we're still struggling.  

Lucy is also claiming that grade 4 is a lot harder and isn't really enjoying Math this year.  It hunk this is the first time it's actually taken her some effort, and she's not used to that.  And Max seems to have memory failure every day.  I ask him what he did at school and every day he says, "I don't remember."  I think it's a boy thing...