Goodbye Winter!!! And my free time...

I'm feeling pretty horrible about my lack of blogging and keeping up with things.  Life is incredibly busy with three kids.  I see other moms with 3+ kids and wonder how they do it because I can barely keep up with kids, work, and housework.  Thankfully, I have a great husband that helps out a lot!  I always hoped that Kian would be a laid back easy kid...I've heard that a lot about the third child. So far, he does not fall into this category.  Kian has a milk intolerance which made him a very unhappy baby, but once I eliminated milk products from my diet, he improved.  Kian will not take a pacifier, he chews and then chokes on a bottle, and he insists upon being held, standing up 90% of the time.  The kid has lungs, and when he is not happy, he screams like he is in utter pain!  And when Kian is cooperating, Neala is up to her typical shenanigans.  Needless to say, I am not very productive these days and therefore, don't get to blog as often as I would like.

Although Kian isn't the easiest baby, he has a smile that goes from ear to ear and loves to giggle at his silly brother and sister.  He is a little roly poly and loves to roll all over the place.  He might not like a pacifier, but he loves his fingers!!!  And man can this kid talk already!  His favorite pastime is yelling at his mommy.

Since I last wrote, we thankfully got rid of all of our snow!  Yippee!!!  It was a very long, snowy winter for us in Saskatoon this year.  We had a couple of feet of snow in the backyard, but probably over 5 feet of snow in the front yard that had accumulated and packed down from shovelling the driveway.


Snow accumulation in the front yard (as of end of March)

 So, when it's cold and snowy out and you have an infant, what do you do???  We finally took this opportunity to visit the dinosaurs at the University of Saskatchewan.  It's a very small exhibit, but very cool!

Brogan and Neala with the triceratops

We had a pretty lame St. Patrick's day, but had a good time dressing up the kids.

The McHugh Leprechauns!

We had a very busy April...full of visitors and travels.  Casey had two business trips sandwiched between visits from Nonny (Casey's mom) and her friend Wendy and Grandpa (my dad) and his girlfriend Jan.  Nonny was here for Easter.  We had a blast coloring eggs and bundled up the kids (and Nonny and Wendy) to visit the Saskatoon Zoo on Easter Sunday.  It was cold, but the animals were active.  It was nice getting outside for the day as the weather turned cold again for the remainder of Nonny's visit.  By the time Grandpa and Jan came to visit, the melt was on!  But there was still a ton of snow on the ground for our visit to Wanuskewin Heritage Park which Brogan deemed the most boring day ever.  We also headed down to the weir to look for pelicans, but it was too early.  It is so nice to have family visit.  Saskatoon might not be the most exciting place to visit (particularly when it is covered in snow), but it results in lots of quality time!!!

 

Finished Products

Kian's First Easter

Mommy and Neala taking a breather at the zoo (snow is up to the bench)

Happy Easter!!!

Boomtown Museum with Nonny

At the weir looking for pelicans

Neala and Grandpa

The snow finally left us in May, and we got to enjoy some spring like weather.  The kids are finally enjoying swinging!  Brogan can now swing all by himself, and Neala swings like a big girl thanks to babysitter Megan.  (She would never swing for us!)

Neala swings!!!

Brogan swings and makes faces!

Neala checking out the tulips at the Forestry Farm

Also in May, Brogan started outdoor soccer for his third season.  He absolutely loves soccer and gets better and better the more he plays.   We have been fortunate to have great teams and wonderful coaches every season!  The kids are doing great dribbling the ball down the field and even passing to each other to score goals.  Tomorrow wraps up the outdoor season and the countdown begins for indoor soccer to start in October.

Brogan attacking the goal

Medals and ball caps all around!

Neala recently had her first haircut at a salon...what a big girl!!!  We are still trying to get all of her hair caught up, but she FINALLY has hair to cut!!!  (Proud Mom!)  She thought getting her hair cut was very cool and sat very still in the big chair.

Beautiful Neala!

We traveled back to Missouri in June...a little earlier than planned to attend Casey's grandmother's funeral.  It was great seeing the McHugh clan but wish it was under better circumstances.  The funeral allowed me and the kids an extra week in St. Louis.  Casey went back to Saskatoon for a few days before heading back to Missouri for our originally scheduled departure.  But before Casey left, we got to catch a Cardinals game!  It was a great game...beautiful weather, a winner, Molina replica warm up jerseys for the kids, and a fireworks show after the game.  We made trips to Suson Park, the St. Louis Zoo, Botanical Gardens, and Grants Farm (with a ton of family!).  It was a very busy fun filled week!  And then we were on to Nevada, MO to spend a week with Casey's family and celebrate the wedding of Casey's sister Robin to Dustin Campbell.  It was a special time for Kian as well as we had him baptized while we were back in Nevada.  The cousins always have a blast together running around the farm and swimming in Nonny's pool. They also got to play at Nonny's preschool...Neala was in HEAVEN!!! All three kids must have had a blast because it was a quiet, sleepy drive back to St. Louis to catch our flight home to Saskatoon.

The kids at Suson Park

Caught on camera...Brogan and Neala holding hands at the zoo!!!

The zoo pooped Kian out!

Mommy and Neala on the carousel at Grants Farm

Daddy wearing Kian at Grants Farm

Brogan volunteered for a rat race at Animal Encounters at Grants Farm...he was part of the race course

Neala's purple snow cone tongue at Grants Farm

Brogan and Noah (Jan's grandson) taking a camel ride at Grants Farm

Casey and the cousins (and their frog friend) enjoying Nonny's pool

Neala and Sydney were flower girls at the wedding in Eureka Springs

Padraic and Casey walked Robin down the aisle

Introducing Robin and Dustin Campbell!!!

Kian's Baptism

Kindergarten is wrapping up for Brogan this week.  I'm surprisingly emotional about it.  I can't believe my first baby will be moving on to Grade 1 next year!!!  Time just goes by so fast!  Brogan had his Kindergarten program last week where they sang several songs about the colors of the rainbow.  He absolutely loves school and being around all of his friends.  Summertime might be rough on him.  I can already hear him telling me how boring everything is!

All 66 of the Silverspring Kindergartners (3 classes)

Brogan and his teacher Ms. Totland

 Our summer adventures start almost as soon as school gets out.  My mom comes for a visit before Scott arrives for a week long adventure through the Canadian Rockies.  Southern Alberta is currently experiencing severe flooding, so we are hoping for the best on our trip.  Brogan has several summer camps planned and as for Neala and Kian...I see lots of days at the spray parks in our future.  I hope to find the time to blog about what is sure to be another lovely Canadian summer!

Welcome Kian Charles McHugh!!!

On January 24th at 12:26pm, we welcomed our first Canadian, second son, and third child Kian Charles McHugh.  We knew he was going to be a big boy, but Brogan still had him beat out on birth weight.  Kian was 9 pounds 4 ounces and 21-1/4 inches long.  (For a refresher, Brogan weighed 9 pounds 15 ounces and was 22 inches long.  Neala was 8 pounds 1 ounce and 20-1/4 inches long.)  I had a very uneventful pregnancy until the very end.  I was sick the 2 weeks prior to Kian's arrival and still had a bit of a cough going into delivery (which is not something you want to have when recovering from a c-section!).  Kian was definitely running out of room at the end.  One night, he was particularly active and put so much pressure on my stomach that he made me throw up.  It was not pleasant.  But, all the unpleasantness made me very happy and excited about his arrival!

At this point, maybe I should issue a disclaimer.  Kian was delivered via planned c-section (my third section) and I like to go into details.  If you don't like details, skip ahead!  I was very nervous about my third c-section...this was my first real experience with the Canadian health care system (besides normal check ups), the risk goes up with every section, and my spinal with Neala was not very effective.  I saw my family doctor for prenatal care throughout my pregnancy and met with an OB twice before my surgery (though not the OB that actually delivered Kian...long story).  I had three ultrasounds (had to talk the doctor into the third one...though it wasn't hard).  A week before my section, I had a pre-assessment clinic at the hospital where I met with a nurse and an anethesiologist resident who talked me through the section.  It was actually very informative and really put me at ease especially with the concerns about pain during the surgery.  We reported to the hospital at 9:30am for an 11:30am section.  We had to wait a long time which actually worked out to our benefit as we were able to settle on a name for our new little man.  I walked myself to the surgery room in my lovely gown and booties.  Casey could not be in the room while I got my spinal and catheter, but was called as soon as they were ready for surgery.  (In Wichita, Casey was present for my epidural and spinal, so this was new to me.)  The spinal was AWESOME...no pain at all during the surgery.  During the entire procedure, I kept hearing the doctors and nurses talking about how big the baby was.  Kian was so big that they had to use the vacuum for assistance.  And his head was so big that the vacuum kept popping off spraying blood everywhere.  Of course, I didn't see this as the drape was up, but I got to hear all about it and saw evidence on one of the doctor's scrubs.  (I invisioned a scene from a Quentin Tarantino movie.)  I did hemorrage a bit as my uterus didn't want to start contracting after delivery...the OB resident referred to this as a "lazy uterus".  So I told Casey that my uterus is retiring as it is old and busted.  So to give my uterus a kick start, I got to put a lovely pill in my cheek and after 20 minutes, I got to swallow the pill.  Have you ever tried swallowing a cotton ball after not having anything to drink for over 12 hours???  That's what it felt like.  They were nice enough to give me some ice cubes to help the pill go down.  When Kian was delivered, the neo-natal doctors took him into a separate room to check him out and he was brought back to meet mom and dad a few minutes later.  Casey and Kian got to go to a recovery room while they moved me to a stretcher.  The three of us hung out in recovery for about 2 hours while my spinal wore off.  This is where they weighed him.  The OB resident was very anxious to hear how much Kian weighed as I think he might have been one of her biggest babies.  Then we were moved to our PRIVATE post-partum room where we stayed the rest of our stay.  So thankful that I didn't have to share a room with potentially 3 other new moms and babies!!!  Unfortunately, the private room accomodations for Casey were not so great...he got a foam mat to sleep on.  But when you're tired, you can really sleep about anywhere.  He never complained...what a good guy!

Pain management after a c-section in Canada is WAY different than in the States. I'm accustomed to regular doses of Tylenol #3...you know the good stuff with the Codeine? Here, I was given only Tylenol and Naproxen after my spinal wore off. To be honest, the pain was manageable. Would I have felt better on the T#3? Absolutely!

My mom brought Brogan and Neala to the hospital to meet Kian Thursday night.  UTTER CHAOS!!!  They were totally thrilled with their new brother, but a little out of control in the hospital room.  Brogan was not nearly as traumatized by the addition to the family this time around.  He likes holding Kian but only for short periods of time.  Neala loves her baby brother too...maybe a little too much.  She calls him "her baby"...very possessive!  And likes playing with all of his gadgets which annoys me to no end. 

We got to come home from the hospital on Saturday afternoon...so nice to be home!!!  But of course the emotions kicked in.  It's so hard to not be able to do the things that you are used to doing.  Brogan is pretty self-sufficient, but not being able to tend to Neala the way I was just days ago has been very hard.  And I think it's a bit hard on her too as she's reverted back to wanting a binky all day and has been very irrational and emotional.  I'm ready to be pain free and good as new!  And it didn't take long for me to figure out that three kids is going to take some getting used to!  The days fly by and I can't seem to get anything done. (Note that this is being posted a week after Kian was born!)  I am so thankful to have my mom here to help as I have no idea how I would be doing this on my own!

We wanted to get Kian circumcised, but they don't do circumcisions in the hospital.  Instead, we had to take him to one of the doctors at our family doctor's practice.  Since I knew when baby was arriving, I got to make the appointment ahead of time and get it done as soon as possible...Kian was 6 days old.  Circumcisions aren't covered by health care here, so this was one of the few things that we had to pay for, but our US health insurance should cover the majority of the cost. 

The social health care has been nice on the pocket book.  (I know that we pay for it with taxes...not truly "free".) We had good insurance in the States, but it still cost quite a bit to have a baby.  We have figured the following as our total expenses after filing with our US insurance:
Private Hospital Room:  $60
Parking at the Hospital:  $50
Circumcision:  ~$20
Total Cost: $130

So, now to what everyone really wants to see...pictures!!!

Getting ready to go to the hospital...Leann longing for coffee and maybe just a little mascara

Kian's first photo

 

Kian offering peace to the world

This is the face mommy sees every 2-3 hours

 

Siblings

MeMa and her new grandson

Neala is so excited to be a big sister!!!

Neala and "her baby"

The new party of five

Grumpy old man

All dressed up to come home from the hospital

Look at all that blond hair!!!

Mommy and Daddy need a bigger bed!!!

All bundled up ready for the outing to get circumcised...it was a very cold day!

I'm one week old!!!

 

Happy 2nd Birthday Neala!



We celebrated Neala's 2nd birthday a day early since Casey was leaving to go out of town on a business trip on her birthday (what a bad daddy!).  Neala has been very excited about her birthday...telling everyone that she is going to be 3.  Already wanting to be older than she really is and I'm not ready for that!

 

Seeing as I am 9 months pregnant, I was not up for a huge party, but wanted to make the day special.  We invited our friends, the Dechkas, to join us at the Fun Factory so our kids could play together.  Izzy and Brogan are best buds and Neala and Lil are finally getting to a stage where they play well together, although I think Neala might scare Lil a bit!  Casey was left in charge of running around after the four of them...what a great guy!!!  Maybe there was some guilt there leaving his baby girl on her birthday.

 

Brogan and Neala going down the rolly slide

Crazy Mirror!!!

Ball Fight!!!

Casey and Neala peeking up at Brogan and Izzy

Trapped!

Brogan too!!!

 

This girl is CRAZY flexible!  And she eventually made it up there!

 

Slushy Cheers to Neala's Birthday!

After the Fun Factory, we had a birthday dinner at our house followed by cake and presents.  Neala, of course, had to get naked ("naken" in her vocabulary).  It's her new "thing" and it is very hard to get clothes on her once she takes them off.  There is usually kicking and screaming involved.  Thankfully, she only gets "naken" at home...so far.  Neala enjoyed her cake, but not as much as her 1st birthday.  And she loves opening presents now!!!  She had a great birthday party!

Neala's cake...she loved the balloons

My silly, silly girl and her cake

Only minor frosting coverage this year, but the frosting stained her skin a bit

Neala loves her backpack from MeMa and PePa!

The bathtub Care Bear was also quite popular

Neala modeling the dress that she got from the Dechkas (Brogan was helping)

 

I have to admit that I am not looking forward to 2.  Neala is very stubborn and has to do things her way.  She is so irrational at times, and there is no talking her down.  It's like she turned 2 and the "terrible" switch got flipped. (I'm really hoping it's just because she misses her daddy!)  But she is still very sweet and cuddly which makes up for all the terrible two tantrums.  I think she's going to have a tough time coping with the addition to the family in a couple weeks, but maybe she will surprise me...