Summer has arrived...

...at least according to the calendar! The longest day of the year passed just under a week ago. On June 21st the sun rose at 5:21 am and set at 9:53 pm. That's more that 16 hours of sunlight. That means that it's light out when Mike gets up for work, and light out when he goes to bed. And there is usually only one feeding for Rebecca during the whole day when I look outside and it's dark. I had forgotten how much longer the days are here in Canada. Abilene gets about 2 hours per day less sunlight than we do here.

On another note, Jesse has pinkeye! From where...I have no idea. So far none of the rest of us have been afflicted thankfully. He's also learned a few new words...he can saw truck (which sounds more like "cruck"); he also asks for blueberries on his cereal every morning and for his yogurt at night; he can say balloon too; and when he doesn't know the word for something but wants it, he asks for "some". Brenda has also been teaching him some signs for a few words. He can sign for "food" and "drink", although I'm not sure if he knows what they actually are or if he's just copying what we do. Either way, he's one sharp cookie!

Rebecca still just does baby things...eat, sleep, dirty diapers...I can't believe she's 6 weeks old already. The other day I'm sure she smiled right at me while I was singing her a song.

Other than that, not much else is new out our way.

Rebecca can get a job!

That's right, Rebecca can now legally get a job in the United States...well at least she can 16 years from now. We just got her Social Security card in the mail. Now we are just waiting for her birth certificate...

Mike and I are officially Albertans. We have switched our car insurance over (I sure do miss Saskatchewan's premiums!) and our licenses too. We still have a couple of addresses to switch over, and our provincial health. It's so frustrating that SGI wouldn't insure us while we are in Texas. It's such a hassle, and very expensive, to switch everything over. I guess I should just be grateful that Alberta is willing to insure us.

We had lots of company over the weekend. Dad and my Grandma and Grandpa Severson came out to pick up my mom. They arrived Friday afternoon and had to head home on Sunday. It was a short, but very nice visit. It's kinda lonely now that everyone is gone, and Brenda & John are back to work. I think Jesse is missing them too (plus he's just cranky because he's getting 2 more teeth).

Well, I should go. Both children are down for naps and I have some bills to pay.

Rebecca meets her other Grandma

Angie, Eoin and Mom arrived safe and sound on Sunday night. Mom is staying here with us at John and Brenda's. She's enjoying cuddling with Rebecca and chasing Jesse around. Today we are planning on getting together with Angie and Eoin for a bit at the mall. Other than that, there's not much new here.

Rebecca has a belly button!

That's right...no more umbilical cord stump. It fell off one day before she was three weeks old. I'm glad to finally be rid of that. I hate having to clean (and look at) it. That's about all that's new with Rebecca.

Jesse on the other hand, has learned to say a few new things since we have gotten here. He does pretty good at saying "Grandma" (and gets very sad when she leaves). The one that really cracks me up is when he goes around the house calling Tim (one of the puppies). And, when he hears Tim barking, he will sometimes say, "Tim...shhh." He sure does keep us entertained!

Mike bought his first pair of work boots this week, and actually is wearing them for the first time today. Yesterday he didn't have to go to work because of all the rain we got here. On the radio they said that there was an estimated 10 million dollars of damage within the city from the storm on Tuesday night. So, instead of work yesterday he got to go and ride along with Dan, hauling gravel for the afternoon. Brenda and I went shopping with Rebecca, while John stayed home with a napping Jesse.

As for me, I am feeling pretty good these days. I still can't believe that I just had a baby three weeks ago, and major abdominal surgery too. I did stub my toe this morning, and suspect that it may be broken. I can't really bend it, and it's sticking out at an odd angle. Not to mention the fact that it hurts really bad. I think we managed to get the swelling under control pretty well - Brenda stuck an ice pack on it within a couple minutes of it happening, and propped my foot up. Unfortunately, there is a little boy running around that has no idea how much it hurts when he steps on my foot.

Anyway, I should go. I really just came upstairs to get a recipe off the internet to make some muffins.

Life in Calgary

Well, we have been here in Calgary for just over a week. Mike is working as a framer (yes, that's right, not farmer) in Okotoks for the summer. He gets up at 5:30 to get ready for work and is home around 6 on a good night, sometimes later. He will have a pretty good tan by the end of the summer - at least his arms from the elbow down! He's enjoying the work; getting to try something new, but the heights kind of scare him. I suppose you just have to get used to it.

As for me, Brenda and John have both gone back to work, so I am home alone with the two kiddos. Jesse gets really sad when Brenda leaves for work. He sure has fun playing with her. The majority of my time is spent with Rebecca. She's doing great. She sleeps pretty well at night, but likes to take her time eating which means I am up for more than an hour at a time most nights. We have also discovered that she is a real cuddler. She loves to be held and snuggled all the time. It's nice (since Jesse is not a cuddler at all), but it also makes life challenging. I am looking forward to my mom visiting, since I am sure she will be willing to hold Rebecca all day long. Then maybe I can actually get some stuff done or even better yet - take a nap without the baby! I feel great (other than being tired), and actually can't believe that I had a c-section 2 1/2 weeks ago. Such a change from my experience with Jesse. It's actually really hard not to just do everything I want to, like carrying Jesse around (I admit, I do pick him up occasionally).

Well, that's about it...not much else happening out this way. We celebrated Dan's birthday yesterday afternoon, which was a lot of fun. I'll keep you posted if anything exciting happens.

Safe and Sound in Calgary

Well, we have arrived safe and sound in Calgary. The drive took 4 days, but we all made it here in one piece. For those of you who are interested, here is the tale of our journey.

Day 1 (Wednesday) - Abilene, TX to Clayton, NM
Rebecca turned 1 week old today, and we set off on our journey northward. We left Abilene around 11 am. Months ago, I had prepared a schedule for us of places to stop and hotels etc. I had done this up with the thought that I would still be pregnant (the schedule had us only stopping twice a day for meals...not every two hours for feeding!) So, on day one we were supposed to travel 642 miles to Colorado Springs. Needless to say, between leaving 3 hours later than scheduled, having to stop every two hours for me to walk (to prevent blood clots) and feeding Rebecca, we didn't make it to Colorado Springs. We did make it out of Texas and into New Mexico though. We stopped to eat our packed lunch at a small park by the lake. Jesse had fun running around and throwing rocks into the water. The ducks and geese thought it was food and came rushing over. Some baby geese wandered over, and the mama and papa geese hissed at Mike and Jesse before herding their young away. We stopped in Clayton, NM for the night - at the same hotel we stayed at on our way down. It was 11 pm before everyone was in bed and asleep. Rebecca woke up around 2ish, hungry. She ate for over an hour. Then she woke up at 5:30 to eat again. This time Jesse also woke up and climbed into bed with Mike. Jesse laid there contently, talking to himself and snuggling with Mike. Around 6 everyone was up, getting showered and packing up. We managed to eat breakfast and leave shortly after 8.


Day 2 - Clayton, NM to Wheatland, WY
We managed to put a good 3 hours in this morning while both kids slept in the van. We traveled slowly through New Mexico where they are still working on twinning the highway. As we entered Colorado and drove through the hills on the southern border, we reminisced of driving down to Abilene pulling the trailer, and how nice it was to actually go the speed limit this time through (which is a wonderful 75 mph on the interstate). We stopped for lunch in Pueblo, CO at a McDonalds so Jesse could play in the PlayPlace while I fed Rebecca. When she was done and we were getting ready to eat our packed lunch, Mike pulled out the Cool-a-tron, and noticed that all our food was warm, really warm. He had plugged it in backwards, on the heat setting. I found it extremely humourous. Mike didn't at the time, but I'm sure he will someday. So, we picked through the food and threw out our yogurt, mayo, turkey meat, and milk (which had started to separate or curdle or something!) Then Mike and Jesse went to Wal-Mart (which just happened to be in the same parking lot) and bought some food to replace what we had lost. I sat and fed Rebecca again. Then we ate in this big grassy area beside the parking lot (Colorado grass is so nice). Rebecca ate once more (she's a hungry girl) and had another dirty diaper (third one since we had stopped), and we were off again. We drove through Denver. Traffic wasn't too bad, but still not fun. It took at least an hour to get through the city. At some points, the interstate had 6 lanes each way, and traffic still came to a stop. We were glad to get out of there and stopped in Lafayette for a supper break. Jesse was spinning in circles in the parking lot and fell, scraping his face all up. Our second night we got a hotel in Wheatland, WY (same city we stayed at on the way down, different hotel). Jesse and Mike had a blast down at the pool while I got Rebecca ready to bed. We had a fairly good night, and got up around 6. We were on the road again by 8 which felt good.

Day 3 - Wheatland, WY to Great Falls, MT
Today was a long day. Jesse did fairly well considering this was his third day stuck in his car seat. We stopped in Kasey, WY for lunch at a rest area. Jesse got to run around in the pet exercise area with Mike while I once again fed Rebecca. After Kasey we drove to Billings, MT where we decided to stop again at McDonalds. Jesse had fun at the PlayPlace, I fed the baby, got my "lunch" to go (it was around 5 before I got to eat it), and we were on the road again. We really wanted to get to Great Falls since it would make the next day a lot shorter. Jesse cried for over an hour on the way to Great Falls. We kept expecting he would fall asleep since he was really tired. As we drove, Jesse started making this strained face like he was trying really hard to poop. We thought he was constipated since he hadn't had a lot of fruits and veggies in the past couple of days. Anyway, he probably strained for 10-15 minutes. When we got to the hotel, Mike went to change Jesse's diaper. It was really full, and Jesse was definitely not constipated. He had pooped just fine, and boy did it smell. As Mike described it "the smell burned my eyes." We took it out to the dumpster, but our hotel room still smelled until morning.

Day 4 - Great Falls, MT to Calgary, AB
We got on the road fairly early again today, around 8. We were at the border by 10ish and maybe waited in line for 20-30 minutes. When we got to the window, we breezed through questioning and were on our way. That was a huge relief for me, since Rebecca doesn't have a birth certificate yet. We stopped in Lethbridge for lunch at a park by the lake. Mike and Jesse got to play at the playground (Mike commented today that he feels like a single parent the past couple of days). We ate down by the lake. Jesse had fun watching and chasing the birds. It was a great place to stop and nice weather too. Jesse fell in the parking lot and scraped up his knee, but recovered fairly quickly. I was changing Rebecca before we left, and had just gotten her diaper off and her all cleaned up when she started peeing. At it wasn't just a little pee either. It went everywhere, all up her back and in her hair (she was on a slight incline). So, she got a baby wipe bath and a new set of clothes. At least when little girls pee, it doesn't spray all over you! We arrived in Calgary around 4, and at John and Brenda's by 4:30. Jesse finally got to run around and chase the puppies. Rebecca got loved on by her grandparents. Mike won't have to drink any more energy drinks. And I can finally stop wearing my compression socks!

We are glad to be here and look forward to settling in to a routine over the next couple of days. I will try to do a better job of keeping everyone updated on what's happening out here.

Rebecca Grace

I can't believe it's taken me this long to write a post...but I guess I have had my hands full the past 5 days. My delivery went very well (much better than last time) and my recovery has also been much easier so far. I was discharged from the hospital after two nights, and we even went out to Benjamin for church on Sunday. Everyone there was excited to see Rebecca, and Jesse and I (we haven't been out for the past two weeks).

We are settling into life here at home..and plan on leaving on Wednesday or Thursday for Canada. Rebecca has been sleeping pretty well at night. I don't know if this is because of the painkillers I was taking and they just made her sleepy, or if she will just be one of those babies that likes to sleep. Either way, I don't expect it to last very long! We are slowly getting the hang of nursing. I thought that it would be easy this time, because I had already done it once with Jesse - I had a year's experience. But, I forgot to remember that Rebecca has no experience, and she has to learn how to eat. That seems so silly to say, but it really is true. Babies are born with some instinct on how to nurse, but they still have to learn how to latch on right and to be patient...sometimes it takes a while for the milk to get there! Anyway, I think we are getting the hang of things now. Yesterday I was ready to quit...sure she wouldn't be able to figure it out. Then I was reminded by Mike that she was only 5 days old, and with Jesse we were just taking him home from the hospital at 5 days old and we struggled with nursing for a good week after that. So, with that in mind, we will continue to try with renewed patience. She has only lost around 10 oz (Jesse dropped almost a pound in the same amount of time), so we aren't really concerned yet.

Some of you may be wondering why there aren't a lot of videos of Rebecca on the Dropshots site...that's mostly because all the seems to do is eat and sleep. I could take a video of her sleeping if anyone out there would like me to...and as far as taking a video of me feeding her, I think that's best left off camera!

So, there you have it. I am feeling great and we have a beautiful little girl.