Hard to believe....

that our son is 5 months old!!!

Few 4 month favorites!

Ezra and I goofing around :)

Ezra's Uncle Matt and Auntie Sarah (my bestfriend) are over in Africa doing missions work for 8 months. They left two days after Ezra was born and therefore haven't met him yet. We are super excited for them to get back in May!

These are some little stuffy toys that they sent for Ezra for Christmas! He loves them...we keep them in his crib and they entertain him while he waits for me to get him in the morning :)

This beautiful outfit was a baby gift from the Kern's...I love it!

A fun Valentine's photo shoot!

This picture makes me laugh....he was chillin watching the hockey game with Steve and just his posture and impression is like ....don't bug me! :)

Ezra continues to bring love and laughter to our home! He is such a happy baby and we are blessed by him!!

My New Adventure: Kicks off tomorrow night!

Why I chose Arbonne:

On August 27, 2009, my husband and I welcomed our beautiful son, Ezra James, into our home. We were overwhelmed with the responsibility that God had given us as Ezra was placed in our arms. As I looked at Ezra, I had a sense of peace of the decision that we had made that I would remain at home to raise Ezra. However, both Steve and I have come to the realization that even though we had a sense of peace, in order to have the financial freedom that we both want for our family, I needed to consider going back to work.

Enter December 26, 2009 and my cousin (and now business partner), Brandy Jones. Brandy wanted to drop some product off of her new business for me to try. Brandy had this radiant glow about her when she came over and started to describe her new business venture. I became excited because Brandy was excited. Brandy has a little girl that is two months older than Ezra and Brandy is super excited to have found an opportunity that is family driven and will allow her to stay at home with Avery.

Four days later, after using the Arbonne’s NutriMinc RE9 kit, my skin felt completely different. I could not believe my eyes and neither could Steve. I was sold right there. But I was not sure if I was really interested in the business. I had many different excuses that may sound familiar to you: I am too busy, I don’t have enough time; I do not know anything about skin care; I do not want to host in-home presentations; I am not a salesperson; What if I fail? Yet, I knew that I loved Arbonne’s products, and the freedom that the business provided was something that Steve and I had been searching for. We believed that Arbonne would be a fantastic fit for our family. It would provide the solution that we were looking for; it would allow me to continue to stay at home with Ezra. Rita Davenport, Arbonne President, says: “one of the greatest things about Arbonne is that it brings mommies and daddies home to their babies”.

Arbonne is the most amazing company to be a part of because it gives you every single tool you need to be successful, from incredible products to the most supportive leaders. Arbonne is very family-oriented and I enjoy the fact that many of the other individuals involved with Arbonne are very positive and driven. I also believe that the company itself is well positioned. It addresses a growing demand from health conscious consumers to be educated not only on what they are putting into their bodies, but what they put ON as well. Arbonne offers a pure, safe, and beneficial product line for baby, teens, and men and women of all ages.

As I sit here writing why I chose Arbonne, I have allowed myself to dream. Once I realized that I just needed to have the courage to accept this amazing gift that Brandy had presented before me, it would allow me to dream, and dream BIG. And I am thrilled that Arbonne is going to help my dreams become a reality. I am excited that I am able to stay at home with Ezra, potentially achieve financial freedom, but I also get to help many others along the way. One of the biggest rewards of an Arbonne business is helping family, friends and even strangers change their lives for the better.

God has blessed me with an amazing and supportive husband; a healthy and happy son; a beautiful and warm home; and now an amazing business with wonderful and encouraging business partners. I am excited to continue to dream BIG.

At four months old....

Hard to believe that Ezra is four months old already!  We celebrated his four month birthday by going to Church in his "big boy carseat" (yup - camo!) and it was super nice out that we took him skidooing in the afternoon.  

That evening we watched on of the Junior Hockey games on tv.

Ezra slept basically the whole time while we were out - he LOVED it!!!

Ezra can now roll over to one side (mostly his left side), he has found his feet and likes to pull them up to his face (very flexiable!), likes to make silly faces and copy our silly faces.  He is a fantastic sleeper (11 hours) at night and is starting to have more fun awake times.  Our son blesses us!

These are a few of my favourite....

We had such a fantastic month with Ezra.  Here are some of my favourite pictures during his "three months"

Christmas Morning

Chillin with Dad on Christmas Eve

Sitting in his high chair for the first time!  We love our high chair and our small group blessed us by it!!!

Bare bum and tummy time - the best of both worlds for him :)

His bumboo seat - he likes it much better now that I have a tray to put toys on.

Ezra's Christmas Photo - taken at 3 months old!

Our Medical Story

A friend of mine detailed the birth of her son and I thought that it was such a great idea!  I'm hoping that I can remember most of everything that happened and will also let you know of the post-baby medical "crisis" that happened, as many of you have inquired on it.  

August 26, 2009...Steve was so very tired and decided to go to bed early (10:00pm).  This isn't like him as I had usually been in bed before him this month, but I had this BURST of energy so I had set beds up, cleaned and sat down to scrapbook.  At 11:00pm (I know, cuz CSI had just finished)...I was trying to figure out some girl thank you cards and was like "crap, I'm peeing my pants".  I waddled with my knees together to the bathroom and thought...weird!  When I finished there, I figured I would call my bff Sarah (who is a premmie nurse) and talk to her about it (thank goodness for her - she got called many, MANY times!!!).  As I was walking to get to the phone, I felt some more liquid leak.  I had always envisioned that if my water broke it would be a great big gush - it wasn't...just a steady leak.  I got on the phone with Sarah who was very excitedly telling me that I should probably head to the hospital.  By then it was 11:30 - so off I went to the bedroom wondering how I would tell my very tired husband that he was about to become even more tired :).  Steve's response to the "we should head to the hospital" was "are you serious".  We took our time getting ready and arrived at the Lloyd hospital at 1:00am on the 27th.  By the time that we had arrived my membranes had fully ruptured but still no contractions.  A nurse did an exam and said that I was 3 centimetres dilated.  We were in for a long night.  Steve went to a lounge to sleep and I climbed into their bed for some napping as well.  

August 27, 2009

My first real contraction hit at 4:47.  I remember thinking...thank goodness that I know I'm not brave enough to be dealing with this without an epidural.  Dr. DuPloee arrived at 9:00 and determined that I wasn't in active labour and placed me on a drip.  By noon I was very ready for the epidural so amazing Dr. Cavanagh become my knight :).  By 5:00 I was fully dilated and was wheeled into the delivery room by 5:15.  The epidural worked so well, that I couldn't feel a thing...nor could I move my legs, so Steve had to left and transfer me to the other bed.  Steve also got very good at telling me when to push (I couldn't feel anything) because our nurse was very distracted working on other things.  By 6:00 I could feel everything!  I pushed hard until 8:00 when I was toast and in wayyyy to much pain.  They finally decided to call Dr. DuPloee at that time, who came in and took one look and called the specialist Dr. Abe (I'm shortening his name because I can't spell it).  Dr. Abe came in and said that the baby was "stuck" and I could have a c-section or forceps.  We went with forceps assistant and Ezra was born at 9:05pm.  I was exhausted and just wanted to sleep.  

As I look back at that, Steve and I made a few mistakes....we should have asked for pain medication as soon as the epidural wore off.  We should have asked for the doctor to be called way sooner.  And we should have opted for the c-section.  I had no desire to have my new son with me...I hurt to much.  So the nurses kept Ezra with them at the desk while I tried my best to "recover".  

August 29 - we were discharged and sent home.

Brief summary of the medical horror that we went through starts now:

I ended up getting massive infection and my stitching all came open.  Dr. Abe informed me that the best option for me would be to have surgery to restitch the wounds (NOTE: THIS IS NOT THE BEST OPTION).  I went into the surgery believing that I would come out fine.  Instead, I came out worse.  After three hospital stays, morphine drips for pain management, and multiple weeks on antibiotics due to always having infection, I was sent to Edmonton to a specialist up there because Dr. Abe had stated that "there wasn't anything wrong with me, he's the best, and that he had spent enough time on me and was done dealing with me".  Thank goodness for a family physician who know that this wasn't right. 

September 19 - I was wheeled into the OR at the Grey Nun's hospital and met Dr. Brown (who is becoming my knight as well!).  I asked him to pretend that I was his daughter and to fix me.  When I woke back up, I felt considerably better.  We were informed that the first surgery in Lloyd should never have happened.  Infection had been stitched into me (so I would have always had infection), my skin and muscles had been pulled so tight (so I would have always been in pain - thus probably resulting in me always being on pain med), and sexual intercourse would not have been possible.  They had undone the stitching and gluing, and left the wounds open to heal on their own.  I was informed at that time, that I would have another 6 weeks min recover.

November 16 - we had a follow up appointment in Edmonton with Dr Brown.  Who after examination, informed Steve and I that a third surgery is required.  There is so much scar tissue that they need to do more repairs so that Steve and I can even try for more children.  We have also been informed that if we are able to conceive that delivery has to be by c-section.  We went home with very heavy hearts.  We are currently awaiting a phone call to tell us when the next surgery will happen.  

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Many of you knew that I had complications afterwards.  We have prayed many, many, times over my health; we have great assurance and trust in the two specialists in Edmonton that are now looking after me (Dr. Brown will also be our future physician for deliveries).  

We are blessed with a healthy son though!  That is a precious gift!  Thank you for your many thoughts and prayers for us!

December brings a month of review

As I sit down to try and catch up on our blog, I'm overwhelmed by how very busy December and 2009 we had.  We had so many blessings and a few sad moments but are blessed by everything that God brought to our eyes and hearts this past year.  We can only hope that you were blessed as well.  

January 2009 - Steve and I travelled to California for two hunting conventions.  We also had the opportunity to visit with many of our hunting friends (thank you to the many that opened up their home to us).  It was a fantastic two weeks and so nice to get away.

February 2009 - We celebrated our second anniversary.  We spent a weekend in Abbotsford with my parents and brother and wife, where we went skiing at Whistler.  After arriving back into Edmonton, we drove to Banff and spent a delightful few nights at a beautiful bed and breakfast.  

March 2009 - Our RTM home was moved out to our land.  This was such an exciting day for us!  Things started to become very real once the house was on top of our basement.

April - We celebrated Easter with both sides of our family.  Our Lloyd house was also back up on the market and we were frustrated as it didn't seem like we were having any success.  

May - I took a weekend and flew out to Abbotsford to spend time with my bff Sarah Kaminski.  Sarah and her husband are currently in Africa (have been since beginning of September), so this was a last weekend for just the two of us to hang out.  I miss her but she is blessing many and spreading God's love to many over there!

June - We sold our house!! YEAH!!!

July - Our most chaotic month of 2009.  I directed a week at Southridge Camp (yuppers at 8.5 months pregnant).  Steve took a week to go on a fishing trip on the west coast and then he headed on a bike trip with a group of men from our Church to go to Vegas at the end of July.  Oh yes, we celebrated our birthday's and moved to our "piece of heaven on earth" on July 18th.  We were super excited to finally be out there!  

August - Once Steve got back home from his bike trip on August 9, I banned him from going anywhere.  We were anticipating the arrival of our baby and I was getting tired of being large.  Although as I look back at our pictures - I didn't look that large and I did truly feel fantastic being pregnant!  Our bundle of boy arrived on August 27 at 9:08 after a hard delivery.  Ezra James weighed in at 8 pounds 7.5 ounces and was 22 inches long.  He is our life :)

September - Quickload Adventures got into full swing.  We were blessed by our family and friends hugely in September as I spent close to a month in the hospital from complications (more on that later).  We had made the decision to house and feed the hunters (I know - insane!), so grateful for my mom who came and did the cooking and for Steve's mom who came and did the cleaning.  Ezra and I finally came home from the hospital on September 22.

October - God called our amazing friend, Dale McCaw, home.  We miss him!  And as time continues to go by I miss him more.  Ezra missed out on knowing one of the greatest men to walk on this earth!  We have a picture of Dale in the nursery and I plan on letting Ezra realize how just wonderful and special his "Uncle Dale" was.

November - Steve tried to get the "big buck" but had no success.  We had a follow up appointment with our specialist in Edmonton and was informed that another surgery will need to take place on me :( (Again, more on this later).  

December - Christmas!  We had a wonderful holiday season surrounded by so many family and friends!  We are blessed by a healthy son (and also blessed that he will go to bed wherever!), we are blessed by a beautiful home, we are blessed by a strong marriage that is standing together, and we are blessed by the fact that God shows his face to us in many different ways.  We are also blessed by the many doctor's in Edmonton that are continuing to "work" on me to get me to the ultimate health that we are longing for.  

As I finish writing this, 2009 was a whirl wind for us!  It had to many highs and yet so many lows, but we are excited about 2010.  

Happy New Year our family and friends!