Willa {one month}

Willa turned one month old last week. It's been a pretty smooth first month. Willa is, dare I say, an easy baby. Of course, after having a reflux baby and having a baby with colic, any baby without those is easy, haha! She does love (and want to be) being held, but is also perfectly content being worn in her wrap. She is sleeping what I would consider well, as she only wakes to eat, then goes back to sleep. Speaking of sleep, why does EVERYONE want to talk about it with a mother of a newborn?! Honestly, unless you are offering to come help so I can sleep, don't ask about it! It's just annoying. 

Willa started smiling at 2.5 weeks old. And boy is she a smiler. She doesn't hold back and loves to smile for people. But honestly, I've also caught her smiling at a pillow on the couch when I was holding her, so...

Willa gets fussy when she needs to poop or burp, but once it's out, she is happy again. Of course, she has also gotten good at massive blowouts. The amount of poop that comes out of her at one time is impressive. She even did it all over the changing table in the middle of a diaper change one time. It was rather funny...mostly because the kids were freaking out about it.  

I am not sure exactly how big Willa is. At almost 3 weeks, she was 7lbs, 13oz and 21.5 inches long. She is starting to fit in her 0-3 months clothes. She still fits in most her newborn as well. And she has been wearing size 1 diapers from the beginning, just because I have never really done newborn size for any of my kids. Also, I went back and looked and Isla weighed 10.5 pounds at one month!!! What?!? Willa is definitely nowhere near that. She's my little peanut apparently. 

Willa gets lots of love from everyone in the family. Callum has finally come around to her being here and "pets" her...he calls it that and literally pets her head, haha! But I'll take it since he is actually acknowledging her presence and being nice about it. Isla and Connor both love to hold her. But Isla wins the award as most helpful, as she is always willing to lend a helping hand with baby Willa when I need it. 

We are definitely loving having this smily little girl around. 

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Snow Day

We headed up to the snow on Sunday to take Callum skiing for the first time. It was a reward for him hitting a potty training goal. He's been wanting to go "skating" (as he calls it) for a while now. The plan was for Callum to have a two hour lesson, then all of us to go play in the snow. Well, the lesson didn't go exactly as planned. Callum was so excited to go skating, the whole way up the hill. But, then things went downhill. He didn't want his boots on. They finally got the boots on, then he refused to put the skis on. And he never put the skis on. The instructor tried playing with the skis with Callum to warm him up to them, but he just wouldn't do it. So, after about 45 minutes, we put the poor instructor out of his misery and went to play in the snow as a family down the road. 

It was a beautiful day for snow play. Hot out, actually. The kids had fun. Callum lost a boot and refused to put it back on, just playing in his sock...for well over an hour. It was that hot out! Isla was mad that the hills weren't larger for sledding. Apparently she is a bit of a dare devil, or at least thinks she is one! Connor played and dug in the snow. And baby Willa, she just slept. She even slept when I pulled her out of her carrier to take her picture. She only woke when Ian set her in the snow. Girl was out. And she was by far the easiest child on snow day...haha! But she slept the whole way to the snow, nursed, then slept the whole time at the snow. Then nursed again and slept the whole way home again. She obviously found her first time to the snow quite impressive ;)

Even if Callum's ski lesson didn't go anywhere near as planned, I am glad he got to do it. Now he at least knows what it involves...tight boots that he does not like. And we can try again next year. 

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Willa's first bath

This was SO TWO WEEKS AGO, but life and such got in the way and I want to keep trudging along at documenting, so here I am. Willa had her first bath at two weeks old, on March 7th. They don't give baths in the hospital anymore and then we had to wait for her stump to fall off, then I had to order a baby bath, so you know, it all took time!

I saw this bath seat contraption that you can use on the counter and the water just drains back into the sink. I thought it was cool and went for it. It is cool and super easy to use. Willa has been comfortable and has yet to cry for a single bath. She cries when I undress her, but as soon as I put her in the seat and start putting water on her, she is happy as can be. So, I would call it a success. And given that I've had babies in the past that hated the bath, its a nice change. It's also a nice change to just plop a chair on the counter and easily give a bath...I'm going to start singing praises to this contraption like I have been about the velcro saddlers that are magic and my husband is going to accuse me of being paid by the company again! But it's a pretty cool little chair.

In conclusion, this was Willa's first bath. It happened at two weeks old. Isla repeatedly asked me why I was waiting so long to bath her. Willa enjoyed her first bath (and every bath since).

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Connor's Big Weekend

Connor had quite the weekend this past weekend. First up was his pinewood car derby. He got fourth place, which I thought was totally respectable given he mostly made his car himself and it was his first time. He was not impressed with fourth place because he didn't get a trophy. Also, some of the vehicles that people made were legit. Like I am pretty sure Pinterest or something was used as inspiration and I'm still not fully sure how some of the creations were made just out of a piece of wood, but what do I know?!

Next up, Connor had a performance with his band "Storm". It was a band created through a music program he just did. The band is formed and practices for eight weeks, then performs. He was on keyboard. His band is performing again this next weekend, then will be done. He really enjoyed himself and said he would like to do it again. Music has become something Connor has had a lot of interest in recently, so this was perfect for him to do. 

We watched four of the bands (out of 38!) and the level of ability was all over the place. Two of the bands were teenagers and they were really good. The other two were younger kids. Though one kid seemed like he was being tortured up on stage, everyone else seemed to enjoy themselves. And it was fun seeing Connor up on a stage in a big theatre. 

It's fun to watch my kids do things they enjoy and are interested in. I want them to experiment with all different things, to learn what they really enjoy and then spend their time doing what they enjoy.

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Willa {one week}

In her first week of life, Willa has managed to accomplish going to a lot of places. Something about being the fourth child and life going on, or something like that. She has gone to Target, Winco, the kids school, the coffee shop and more. 

So far she is a pretty chill baby. She enjoys being held and cuddled. She does not enjoy when she needs to poop. But once it's out, she is fine again. Willa seems to be taking to a pacifier nicely and that makes me happy. I associate pacifiers with sleep because my best sleeper was the only baby that took a pacifier. Willa seems most awake first thing in the morning...which generally begins sometime in the five o'clock hour. Yawn. But the nights have not been bad, so I really shouldn't complain. Willa also enjoys staring at light, whether it be from a lightbulb or a window.  

Connor and Isla are smitten with Willa and both enjoy holding her. Callum, not so much. But he is coming around. As for me, I am loving having a baby around again. Those newborn cuddles are just the best!

Also, I went back and looked at Callum at one week and couldn't believe the resemblance. And here I thought Willa didn't really look like any of the other three.

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40 weeks 5 days

I know I already had the baby, but I still want to document the end of my pregnancy, to perhaps remind myself just how miserable I was. I made Ian take these pictures when I knew for sure that I would be going in to have the baby. I was 40 weeks, 5 days. I had Willa the next day, at 40 weeks, 6 days...squeaking in just before 41 weeks. 

You guys, I was fully convinced this baby was coming early. Because of that, my last weeks of pregnancy was m-i-s-e-r-a-b-l-e. Exactly two weeks before Willa was born, I was actually convinced I was having the baby. I had non-painful contractions consistently for a couple hours. Because of this, I packed my hospital bag, laid out clothes for the kids for the next day, wrote down the kids school schedule, made their lunches...and then NOTHING HAPPENED. It was such a disappointment. But it also made me think that labor had to be happening soon. I spent a week constantly making sure everything was ready for the kids in case I went into labor. It was exhausting. The midwife even told me at my 39 week appointment that she thought I wouldn't make it to my next appointment. 

Honestly, after I hit 40 weeks, my attitude got better. I think I realized the baby had to come out sooner or later and that it would happen soon. Of course, going in for an appointment at 40 weeks, 4 days and having the office staff say, "We didn't think you were going to show up. We thought for sure you would have had your baby by now" felt like quite the blow. But leaving that appointment with an induction day for the next day put a spring in my step. That was about all that put a spring in my step though because my 10 minute appointment turned into a 2 hour appointment after they decided to monitor the baby and check it's fluid levels, etc. But still, I knew an end was in sight. 

On Wednesday, the day these photos were taken, I excitedly packed everything into my hospital bag. All my toiletries, everything. After I called about my induction at noon and was told they were full and to call back again at 5pm, I felt a little discouraged. I remember telling my friend at ballet that if I have to unpack my toiletries, I will be so bummed. Thankfully, that never happened thanks to some random doctor who I never even met that said, "You are post due. It's time for that baby to come out!" Thank you, THANK YOU random doctor! 

And the rest is history. 

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