Happy Valentine's Day Eddie!

The Pinterest geek Valentine I created for my husband.

I love Pinterest and husband... so why not combine the two :)

new address

Dear friends,

I have changed my email address again:

--

Meg Yu

I Hate Bugs!

Cali got a prize for her reading at school, good for her bad for Connor and me.  This is what she got:

It's a tricky little bug that she throws up and sticks to the walls and ceiling.  This is what I woke up to in my room this morning, giving me a heart attack.  Connor will not go into a room where this bug is because it has fallen on him at least twice.  He freaks out.  

Here's to yet another toy I won't miss.

Tonight

Tonight during scripture study Lexi pulls a tiny lunch kit off her shelf.  Quietly she says to herself, "Oh good my secret spy kit" quickly followed by, "Shoot I said that out loud!"

Best scripture study in a while!

All I Can Say is...

... that Connor is so lucky that he is the third kid. May I say that I am a lot more mellow than I was when Cali was 2.

Isn't he the cutest little Batman?  I can't believe he is 12 pounds already.  
What a chunk!

Connor attacked Bemme yesterday.  If you can see in the photo above Bemme has scratches on his face and head from Connor.  It looks like he was attacked by Catwoman!  I will be more diligent in keeping Connor's claws as short as possible.

While I was getting the girls ready for school Connor dumped an entire box of Cheerios on the table.  

I have been teaching the Beehives lately to focus on the positives in the life... so here goes.  There was also an open jug of milk on the table that did not get dumped.  He had taken the lid off and was thinking something but didn't follow through with it.  I am grateful the milk was not spilt. I also discovered that our microwave has a keypad lock (this will be in use regularly).  Two positives to focus on today.

Let the terrible twos begin!

The Zoo and Other Things

I have finally found a friend like me who hates being at home!  Every day the kids have off school we find a place to go, last Friday was the zoo.

Connor was not impressed when other kids climbed the stairs on "his" play structure.  As far as he was concerned no one should be playing at the park but him.  I wish you could see his face in the picture a little better, he has the "angry Tucky" face on.  Oh, if looks could kill!

The "Angry Tucky" face in full force. 

The crew all together!  We had nine kids in total that day.  We rock!

Everyone was beat after a long hot day at the zoo and all wanted a ride back to the van.  Here is Michelle pushing 8 kids on her Croozer.  See if you can spot them all!

 Before Nyin-Nyin left on Saturday we went fro dim sum and she bought the kids Chinese outfits.  They all looked so cute dressed up for church on Sunday. Thank you Nyin-Nyin!

Anyway the kids are all in bed and I need to head there too.  Didn't much sleep last night, Bemme was up with tummy pain.  (I had better cut back on the spicy food.)  Good night! 

Chinese Food

Ed's Mom is visiting, so I took her to T and T market.  Connor loves to look at all the live seafood that he lovingly refers to as "fish".  Due to his interest Nyin-nyin thought it would be a great idea to buy a fish for supper.  She asked me to pick one out while she did a bit more shopping.

Won-Ton at the fish market.  

As I watched the fish swim around I felt that I should choose the fish that was a strong swimmer, then I felt bad thinking that he shouldn't be the one to die, he had a good life ahead of him.  Maybe I should choose the one with a missing eye hanging out in the corner, because he looked depressed.  Then maybe the missing eye and the lack of movement meant he was unwell and wouldn't be healthy for us to eat.  So I decided to not choose a fish and leave it up to Nyin-nyin.  

When she returned she was clearly unhappy that I had not chosen a fish.  She took the initiative and had Connor point at the fish that should die.  (I later told him that he made the fish die,  I know I am scarring my young children.)  The worker climbed up and caught the fish in net, then threw him on the table and whacked him with a hammer on the head.  The fish's sad body was then placed on a scale, where it became active once again.  The worker seeing the activity then threw the fish at the wall and then he hit the floor. Do you see why I couldn't choose the fish?  (On a side note another shopper was quite entertained by my facial expressions during this experience.) 

The fish continued to flip and flop during the rest of the trip, each time scaring the pants off me.  I am not used to things in the shopping cart dancing besides Lexi. 

      

Lexi and the Moon Cake.

Nyin-nyin bought moon cakes.  I had the girls try them:

girls: What does it taste like?

me: The moon

girls: What is made out of?

me: The moon

Lexi: The moon tastes a-gusting. (Lexinese for disgusting.)

Cali: Do you want my moon cake Mommy?

me: I am not going to taste it! You said it tastes gross!  Why don't you give it to your Uncle Darryl?

Cali: Oh Uncle Darryl, we have something special for you!
Lexi:  Oh Uncle Darryl!!! Do you want to taste the most delicious cake ever!?!?!?

(Oh, the weather has turned around and the girls are now complaining about the heat.)

Summer, Winter, or Fall?

Snow already, can you believe it?

I took this photo this morning of the girls on their way to school.  It started snowing yesterday morning and it hasn't stopped.  The girls are confused about what season it is considering we were using the AC on Sunday.  Good news is all the bugs that they hate so much are gone.  Cali got 5 mosquito bites on Saturday!  Poor girl, those things LOVE Chinese food!

My poor trees were not ready for the weather and are looking quite sad.  I fear that I might lose a few branches.  I am hoping that they will be resilient, and will bounce back next week when it is forecasted to be 20 degrees.

On the train at Heritage Park!

On Saturday we went to Heritage Park where Cali and I both got a bit heat stroke. Kind of crazy, huh?  Well living in this climate certainly keeps you on your toes.  The kids had a great time and were beat by the time we made it home.  Heritage Park is great place to take your kids for the day. I think it is one of the city's best kept secrets!  We ended buying a pass that day and plan to go again in a couple of weeks.  (Hopefully the snow will be gone by then!)

Umpa Lumpa!

Yesterday I had had enough of Won Ton's Umpa Lumpa hairdo (see above) and I took him to my friend Lara for his first REAL haircut.

He was a little nervous as you can see, but he did really well and Lara did a great job of moving her scissors with his little head looking all around.  I will have to get a photo of the new haircut and post it here later.  Anyway that's about it from here!  

Won Ton's Birthday and the First Day of School!

Won Ton turned 2 on Saturday.  It's hard to believe how fast times flies!  We stayed at home ate hot dogs and played outside with Luke, Livie and Sophie. A good time was had by all!

During the party Ed and Gary installed a beautiful light fixture in the living room.  (Floor lamps and kids don't mix, nice try though.) So I am very happy, I have been hoping and asking since we moved in 8 years ago for this light, the timing was just never right until now.

Connor's Siperman cake was awesome, it even had Doc Oc! 

On Tuesday Ed and Cali went back to school.  Cali's first day of grade 2! We were quite excited about her teachers this year, we have heard nothing but good things about them.
It's great living in a small as I work with her teacher's sister-in-law and Cali took piano lessons and played ringette with her daughter.

Cali did a great job on her sign... hopefully the spelling improves a bit this year.

Lexi's first day of Kindergarten was on Thursday, it went very well.  She told me that she didn't want me to leave. However she did not react when I told her, I had to leave and walked away.  Once the day was over she told me that Kindergarten was lots of fun, but she was tired and didn't want to go the next day.  I made her go this morning and she had another wonderful day!

I love this photo as it captures the essence of Lexi.

 

Lexington Atucky

  Oh she drives me crazy, and her love her so much at the same time.  I am so glad that she is part of our family no one makes me laugh like she does, or makes me as angry.  No one taught me as much about being a parent as she has, especially the lesson of choose your battles.  I am told that she is just like me... that can't be all bad can it?

  Tonight I was soaking my feet in the tub when she walked in and proceeded to have a poop.  Yes, it was on the toilet so that should make me somewhat happy, but boy it was stinky and I wanted some relaxation time.

This is how it went down:

Me:  Lexi, I was hoping to soak my feet without the odour of feces.

Lexi:  Fifis? What's fifis?

                                                         Oh she makes me laugh!

How we are doing

I realized that it had been too long in-between posts.  Was I really that busy once I returned to work?  Maybe. Anyway I hope that my children forgive me in the fact that I lost a year or two of records,  I will try to be better this year.

So after you have a baby people keep asking how you are doing?", so I am going to answer that question in the this post.

WE ARE DOING SIMPLY WONDERFUL!

Honestly life couldn't be much better, and here's why:

- I am off work for the next year with pay, this is great as I love being home with my family, and I also love having a little extra money.

- Ed finished his last course to have 6 years of education which will increase his monthly salary.  He has been working on this for the past 8 years, taking courses here and there when found time and now he is DONE!!!  I also have to brag and state that he received an A+ in his final course and a 97% on his final exam.  Great job Eddie!!! So no more courses unless something unforeseen arises in our life.

- Cali is going into grade two and turing eight in the spring so I busily planning her baptism.  I am so excited about it.  Just look at my pinterest boards and you can tell!

- Lexi is starting kindergarten full time in two weeks!  Hooray!  As much as I love her I think that our time apart and the discipline will do her some good.

- Connor is just the sweetest little boy I could hope for.  He is also blond and has green eyes and looks just like his Dad.  He is the "California Ed" as our neighbour Josh calls him.

- Bemme is just a sweet baby like his older sisters and brother before him.

- Mom is here to help for three more weeks.

What else could I want?

A New Yu

On August 11 at 6:26am we welcomed a new Yu into our little family weighing in at 7lbs 5oz and 20.5 inches long.  We love you Bemme!

My contractions were regular and strong so I had Ed take me to the hospital the night before to be checked.  Somewhere between home and the hospital the contractions slowed down and weakened, however the Doctor on call took pity on me being a mother of four herself and she kept me.

I was also really lucky that night that my friend Rachel was working and she assigned me the best nurse on shift.  Renee was an awesome nurse and good person to chat with during the night.

I didn't realize that I had become so swollen over the past few months, so I was shocked when it took six tries and four nurses to get my IV.  Once they got the antibiotics going I had to wait three hours then they tried breaking my water.  (That worked like a charm last time and got Won Ton out in 20 minutes!)  This time it wasn't enough, after two hours of nothing they started the oxytocin drip.  That did the trick this time and had baby Bemme in my arms a couple of hours later.

The only complication was that this little turkey had his cord wrapped around his ankle, his heart rate dropped to 50 while I was pushing.  However thanks to my excellent nurse Renee, Dr. Hudson, and my great pushing skills we had him out in no time with no ill effects.

Another great delivery thanks to nitrous oxide, my nurse told that I was the happiest labouring woman she had ever seen :) Also as an added bonus for not having an epidural I was allowed to shower in L&D.  Best push present ever!!!

This little boy is certainly adored by his big sisters and brother!

          

Five-osis... sigh

So I told Cali at 8:05 that she had to get dressed quick because we have to leave by 8:20.  In the meantime I get the wagon ready feed Connor and get Lexi breakfast.  When I check in on Cali at 8:15 she is still in her pajamas sitting on her bed!  So I had to quickly dress her, brush her teeth, wash her face and brush her hair (my brush broke in her hair it was that tangled!)  Then she got her coat on, while I packed the other two kids up.  I had to put her boots on for her and we made it out the door by 8:23.  Pretty good, huh?  

Then when we got to school I crouched down to talk to her about why I was frustrated and she was too busy flirting with some boys to take me seriously; little turkey.  I do love her and I know that her pokey-ness is most likely a curse given to me by my mother.

Seriously though!  Sigh... five and school stress me out!

Hope you had a better morning then I did.

Newborn Photos

Connor and I went to visit Sarah last week.  She just sent me a little preview; I can't wait to see the rest!

Cali just walked in the door and informed me that she not only has one loose tooth but two!  I cried... doesn't she know that she is NOT allowed to grow up so fast!

Cali's First Day of School

I know, I know... I didn't tell many people I was pregnant... I was so nervous just because of the statistics so I only told people on a need to know basis.

Anyway baby Connor decided to come on the most inconvenient day... the first day of school.  I was glad for him to come but sad that I missed Cali's first day of Kindergarten.  Luckily Mom and Dad were here and took over for me.  Here are some pictures of the day.  Cali was so excited to be a big sister again that she didn't even seem sad that I wasn't there for her big day.

Cali eating her breakfast before her big day.

Papa pulling Cali and Lexi to school.

Cali has arrived at school.

Cali sitting at her desk.

Cali already hard at work at school.

Cali absolutely loves kindergarten.  I had registered her in half days since I thought she would miss us at home with all the changes this year.  After two days of school she told me that she wanted to stay for the full day so I know that she is adjusting well!  I am so happy for her, it sounds like she is making new friends and really likes her teachers.

 

Another Yu

Connor in his giant carseat.

After two weeks of contractions and two false alarms (all which was incredibly annoying) baby Connor decided to enter the world on Thursday, August 30th 2012.

One week prior I was having contractions five minutes apart for 4 hours and Ed and I left for the hospital when we got halfway there they stopped so we turned around and went home. Four hours later they started again so I figured we should head again to the hospital... then once we got to Calgary they stopped again. Since we made it all that way I figured we should get checked... only 3 centimeters... not good enough. We headed home.

One week later I was having contractions again which started at 1am and were five minutes apart. So we waited until 6am and left for the hospital... then when we were about 15 minutes outside the city they stopped again, arg! Anyway close enough we decided to go in anyway. Once I got to triage they did start again but they were only seven minutes apart... I was sure they were going to send me home again. The triage nurse told me that third babies tend to cause this confusion, that made me feel better. I had never had this confusion before with the girls! The doctor that was on was really nice and even though I was only 4 centimeters she decided to keep me. I started to cry with this news since I was so exhausted from the random contractions from the previous two weeks. Needless to say I had not been sleeping well. She recommended that I walk for an hour and try to get the contractions going again. So I took her advice to extreme and ran the stairs.

I had the contractions really going by the time I got back to the delivery room. Again the doctor checked me and I was only 4 centimeters, no change. When she suggested breaking my water I was completely on board. I was willing to do whatever I could to get this baby out and fast, I was ready! So she broke my water at 11:15am and Connor was out by 11:43am with two pushes. It was quick just the way I wanted it. I have any kind of medication with the girls but I found the transition too fast this time and when Andrea our nurse offered the gas I took it! I was awesome! It's great because you can still feel everything, it's just that you don't care. I am so glad that I took it because the cord was wrapped around his neck so I had to stop pushing in order to give them time to unwrap it. I had the same experience with Lexi but at that time without any drugs I wasn't able to stop. Luckily she was okay but I was happy that this time I had no problem stopping when required.

Since he came so fast he had a lot of bruising on his face and both of his eyes were red... poor little monkey. He was just fine although he has out done both of his sisters. Cali had meconium and Lexi had the cord around her neck and Connor had both. His initial Apgar score was 9 so despite everything he was perfect. Connor weighed 7 lbs 1oz and was 20 inches long. He is such a great feeder that he only lost 6% of birth weight. Although it felt like a long wait until he arrived It feels like he has always been part of our family.

Connor with his big sister Cali.

old posts from way back

I found some of Meg's old posts from her website before we got married. Here are some of her blog entries..

 May 2006 approx 1:06 am 

Here are some random questions...
why do you think that all my favourite love songs are about breaking up? Why do you think that my visa is taking so long? How do I manage to lose so much hair but still have a ton on my head? How have I managed to stay sick since February? How could you possibly manage to forget someone wearing a monkey costume? Is this all some part of a greater plan that I am not aware of?

Here was Ed's(my) comment to the above question:

I have no answers... 
Some random answers to your random questions. I’m am not entirely certain why your favourite love songs are break-up songs…I do have to say though that most of my song-writing time has come after a break-up…Songs like “my dry-erase board” and “the friends song” hmmm…I’m glad a take a bit of a break before I write them though…sometimes it can get quite bitter… About your visa…I’m not sure why it is taking so long….but I don’t mind though…I quite like your virtual company…so if it takes a little longer for you to cross that world and explore the outback, it’s totally fine with me… Now should I mention spelling again…I wouldn’t want you to think that I’m so hard-nosed about it…but sometimes mixing up words can get a gal into trouble…lol….I think you mean “lose” but I could be wrong…You sure do have a lot of hair…but I like it. Monkeys are social animals…playful, fun, and easy to forget…I don’t remember the name of the last monkey I met…but ….one thing at a time… I don’t know too much about plans…I think I’ve heard of one…but I’m not sure if I know every detail... So here are my comments to you…I hope you enjoy… P.S. I tried to be funny…maybe it didn’t work…how embarrassing…

 below is February 2006 blog entry 

Okay, I have never blogged before but here goes... It's not late but I did so much today that it feels like 2 am... So my beloved Hedwig was involved in a little fender bender about two months ago. So I had to take her to the plastic surgeon for a bum lift. In the mean time I had to drive a rental car. It was a cheap little Hyndai, automatic of course and with summer tires. I couldn't figure out how to start it the other day, and while I was driving I kept grabbing the gearshift and stamping the floor with my left foot. Anyway I had to drive this stupid little car into Calary today for my physical for my Australian visa. There was a ton of snow so I was very cautious on the highway. Before I left I had said a prayer for safety and to arrive on time. So as I was driving down the highway there was a snowblower in front of me and everyone slammed on their brakes as I pumped my brakes I lost control and spun a 360 in the middle of the highway and landed facing the right direction in the ditch. I was so blessed! It was pretty early in the morning so there were a lot of cars on the higheway going to work. It was a miracle that I didn't even get a scratch! I continued driving and made it on time for my physcical at which I avoided a violation. All the doctor did was check my reflexes, blood pressure, and my abdomen. I shaved my legs for nothing. Seriously all in all I had a lucky day! The best was that while I was driving back home the body shop called and told me that I could pick up my car in 15 minutes. I could have cried I was so happy to see my little Hedwig VonSanchez again! I love my Jetta! So I dropped the rental car off at Enterprise none were the wiser to my incident this morning! So it looks like I am now that much closer to going to Australia!

I am so excited!!!

I can't wait! I hear the open house is slated for August!

Found Another Cute Video to Share

Heber J. Grant

I love these videos!