Saturday, December 14, 2013

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!



We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy 2014!!

Nolan, Katalijn, Carice, Zora, Fertile and Murphy

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Visitors and photos!

Time for an update :) It's been a bit quiet here on the blog, but that's because we had some visitors! First my mom came for a whirlwind visit. She got in on a Saturday and left again on Thursday. So a short trip, but definitely worth while!
During that week we also had our last visit to the midwife and we're officially discharged! A little weird after spending so much time with them. We are very thankful for all the help and support they provided. Would absolutely do it again! In our discharge package was a copy of all the notes they took during our visits, and every time it said: doing well! Both for baby and me. It showed how smooth everything went. And truthfully, are still going! Carice is doing really well, and that makes that we are doing well too. She has put on a good amount of weight (4 lbs/almost 2kg at her 6.5 week check up), as well as 3.5"/9 cm in length since birth. She's also sleeping very well. A normal night is a 7 hr stretch, then a feed, and then another 4 hrs. Yes, no complaining here ;) She sometimes sleeps during the day, and sometimes she doesn't. Right now she's awake, but totally capable of entertaining herself with staring at toys. Carice has also learned how to smile, and yesterday almost broke out in giggles! She's been able to roll over from back to front since week three, so tummy time either is cut short because she rolls over, or she simply falls asleep. Not much success there!

But all in all we couldn't be happier with her, and how she is doing so well. 

A few days after my mom left, my brother was here for a short visit as well. It was nice to see him, and I think he enjoyed spending time with Carice as well. As a proud uncle!

And in other news... We decided to buy a second car. We were totally ok with one car while I was taking the bus to work. But right now it shows how much easier it is with two cars. If all goes well, I should get it next week! Bright red and standard, just like my old cavalier :)
Also, we had our first dump of snow last night. 25 cm of the white stuff, and the world looked absolutely wonderful! The wind has picked up a bit now, so a lot of the trees have lost the snow, but it's still pretty out! I wonder if it stays or not... We still have to put our Christmas lights up, which might be a little tricky with the snow...

Below is a selection of photos. I guess most of them are self explanatory...


















And here some really nice pictures taken by my brother:












Monday, November 4, 2013

Carice the grower and Zora the runner

As the title said, Carice is growing like a weed! She's put on a significantly amount of weight and is also growing in length. So no complaints there! She is still sleeping and feeding well. Sure there are times that she's a little fussy, but all in all we are doing really, really well.
Now I just need to learn that I really should try to catch a nap while she's sleeping during the day. But there are so many things to do, and I have a hard time sitting still! However, I'm getting better at that too and will nap a few times a week, depending on how well the night went :)

Nolan and I are doing well too. Nolan is really back into running (and I'm itching to get back at it!) and has found a great running partner in Zora. We've waited for her to be a year old before we took her out running, even though she's known as the bullet among her dog friends since she's always running with the other dogs. She's the fastest one out there. She also loves, LOVES running when we take her out in the woods, she we figured she'd be a good fit for running. And it's true, she loves it! Especially on the trails, which coincidentally is also where we like to run! So a good match made in runners heaven!

I also started attending strollersize, which really is just going for a walk with other moms. A great way to get out and meet other people. Never thought I'd be in to that! But it's fun.
We also have had several visitors, which is great. And we're getting a special one next week!
I convinced my mom to come and spend a few days with us to meet her grand daughter in real life! Sure, they are coming for Christmas, but I couldn't really wait that long to make the introductions. I'm pretty excited, and I have a feeling she is too!

We also had a photo shoot done last week by our friend Claudette, who also did our wedding pictures. Hopefully we'll be able to post the results soon.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Indian Summer

We've been experiencing a real Indian Summer the past few weeks. The weather has been absolutely stunning, and we've been able to go outside every single day with Carice. The colours are past their peak now, and although definitely beautiful, in this area not the best fall for colours (at least, what I have seen of it!).

Carice is growing like a weed! She drinks well (and I have more than enough supply), and she is definitely getting bigger. She is also more awake during the day and very alert. Still pretty easy going, and a better sleeper at night. I wake up 2-3 times to feed her, but she normally goes straight back to sleep, which is nice. But with her more awake during the day, there's not a lot of chances for me to nap :)
Nolan is back to work today as well. It was really nice for all of us to be home the past couple of weeks, but I guess it's back to reality now!

And of course a few more pictures...





Proud grandparents



Enjoying the spectacular weather


Of course, beschuit met muisjes!!


And our other children:

 Zora sleeps in her crate at night, and this is how she prefers to sleep... Weird dog!




Friday, October 4, 2013

Welcome Carice Ann MacAfee!

As most of you know by now, our daughter Carice made her grande entrance into this world on September 29th, 2013!

The weekend started fairly normal, although I was a bit more tired on Saturday. Maybe I should add that I went for a massage the day before, and she told me that she didn't want to massage my feet too much, since there's an old wife's tale that says it can induce your labour. I didn't really believe in it, so she massaged my feet a bit, and it felt very relaxing!
However I felt good enough on Saturday not to cancel Nolan's parents, who came up to celebrate Nolan's birthday the day before. We even went out for lunch, and everything was great.
I did ask Nolan to install the car seat, just in case. We also decided to watch a DVD we had borrowed from the midwife about 'Bringing Baby Home', so at least we had a bit of an idea what to do with a newborn!

At 8 o'clock or so, I decided to go to bed early, and then hopefully a good night sleep would help me feel refreshed again.
Well, that sleep didn't last long. My contractions started around 9:30 pm, and around 11:30 pm the midwife told us we'd better get to the hospital soon!
We were there around midnight, and Carice was born at 1:09 am. So all in all less than 4 hours later. She was in a hurry!

She weighed 6 lbs, 2 oz (2778 grams) and was 18.5" (47 cm).  A very decent weight for being three weeks early.  Both our midwives and Nolan did an amazing job helping me through this, which was awesome.
It just all happened to fast, and so sudden. I was supposed to work for another week, and then enjoy two weeks off before my due date!
However, she is absolutely perfect and is making our lives very easy. She sleeps quite a bit, she eats like a champ, and soils her diapers like a champ as well!
Our midwife appointment yesterday confirmed what we had suspected, she surpassed her birth weight by two ounces already!

So all in all, we are doing really, really well. I've been out on a few short walks (the weather is absolutely stunning this week, no wonder she wanted to come out!), and I feel good. Nolan and I are both wondering when the set-back will happen!
The animals are adapting really well too. The cats don't really care too much and Zora is mainly very curious. She finds it strange I spent so much more time upstairs, and that there is this creature that's making a different noise. But she's adapting very well, and it will be only a matter of a short time before she recognizes Carice as part of the family.

Below are some pictures, since that's of course more interesting than me blabbing on!


'I have a question'






Really, that fish was this big!






Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Home stretch!

We're a month away from my due date, and it's surely coming up quickly! In general I still feel pretty good, although definitely more tired (especially after a day in the office I'm wiped) and for the first time ever I'm suffering from heart burn! I still walk Zora at least once a day (Nolan is walking her the other times) and in general that goes well too, although I can tell I'm slowing down a little bit and there is also definitely more pressure on my bladder ;)

My parents were here for a visit as well last week, which was nice. But I realized we didn't take any pictures (I think they did, but I don't have any), so there is no real evidence they were here! But they had a good time, were happy to see me pregnant and participate in some of the pre-baby activities.

One of those activities as the baby shower! Ann and JoAnn were so kind to host and organize the shower and I have to admit, I felt pretty overwhelmed! This child of us has some pretty amazing people awaiting its arrival!
Some awesome cupcakes! And tasty too.


My mom, Nancy and Marie Anick

JoAnn, Debby and my mom

Kate measuring my belly as part of one of the games

For some reason people wanted to take pictures of me and my belly :)

Ann and I

Suzanne, Erin, Ann Marie, JoAnn and Debby

Sooo spoiled!

Kate, Suzanne, Erin and Ann Marie

More gifts!

It was a great evening and it's amazing to have such great friends! 

Then last week one evening I all of a sudden felt overwhelmed thinking about everything we still had to do. Both at home and at work. So we made a list of the things we had to do at home, and this past weekend we focussed on getting the last things for the baby and putting the nursery together.
We also went to the hospital to pre-register. Funny story, when we got there we told the lady at the reception we wanted to register. She asked what for, so we said delivery. And her eyes turned large asking if I was in labour right now? So apparently there is a difference between registering and pre-registering! We all got a good laugh out of it!

So I think we now have all the basics (and a whole lot more, especially clothes!), and I feel more relaxed about it now. 

Some pictures of our nursery (and some of the stuff we have):

Before we started cleaning things up.

Some of the beautiful blankets Nancy made us.

Nolan posing with one of the outfits.




And just some shots of the nursery.



And here some shots of Nolan trying out his parenting skills with Zora:

She's so spoiled! However, she's normally not allowed on the couch :)

And then she created this new habit of sleeping underneath her mat when sleeping in her crate (still her favourite place to sleep):

Yep, there's a dog underneath there!

And then finally, a less than flattering picture of my belly, taken this morning: