Weekend in Whistler

My 40th birthday is in August and my sisters and I were trying to figure out the perfect getaway. Well, you can never go wrong with Whistler! It's less than three hours away and offers something for everyone. I had three priorities for this trip (other than not parenting anyone): Peak Suspension Bridge, hiking Train Wreck Trail and eating good food. 

Sister's Getaway

I don't get away often without Gary (maybe every 3 years?!) and this weekend my sisters and I all went away together.  We went to Harrison Hotsprings which is relatively close and suits our personalities; outdoorsy and relaxing.  It's hard to get away because all of us work (three full time) and I work almost every single weekend.  Throw into the mix toddlers, newborns, pregnancy, breastfeeding, working husbands and ya, it gets a bit tricky!

{Below is a picture of me setting up the timer for the shot above. My sisters love making fun of me for taking pictures so often but I think they appreciate it.}

We did a hike, hung out in the adult only pool, went out to eat, walked and enjoyed some beer and wine.

It's easy to be together in that we all get each other and we can say what we think to each other.  We're all in the same place (married, young kids, live in the lower mainland, working etc) which makes for many things to talk about candidly.

We are all  quite close in age as all 5 of us were born in 8 years!  I'd say one of the biggest differences is just in our intro/extrovertedness.  We've got the extremes and I'm in the middle.  

{Youngest to oldest.  Jackie is 7 months pregnant.}

My dad came by Saturday night to join us for dinner and talk about his big upcoming trip.  I won't share too much about it, but you can ask me in person.  However, I will say that he has done some specialized training in a capsule in the pool learning what to do if his plane crashes in the water.  Who knew you could do that? 

Thanks for dinner, dad!  It is pretty interesting when people find out that we are his 5 daughters.  It seems like a lot when you see us together.

I know that some people do not have siblings.  Some have lost siblings.  Some people have difficult relationships with their siblings.  Some people live far away from their siblings.  I am thankful that I have these girls/young women/ladies in my life (even if Jan turns on the light at 7 am and wakes us all up).

{From Jackie's camera; I win! I jumped the highest.}

 It was always very important to my mom that we did not hold grudges and that we had a positive relationships with one another by being full of grace and working through things.  She had 5 brothers and no sisters so I think she was a little envious that we had so many sisters :)  I think she'd be happy to see that we choose to hang out together.  Sometimes.

Our next time away will probably be my 40th (oh my) in 4.5 years.   

Hope you had a great weekend.  It's incredibly beautiful out there.

 I need a nap.  

Love, Louise

Whistler 2013

Two years ago, my whole family went to Whistler for 3 days and it was awesome!  When Joanne suggested it again months and months ago, we were so in!! Although we are leaving in 24 hours (YIKES!!!) for the airport, we were so glad to fit this trip in.  A HUMONGOUS thank you to dad and Joanne for this Whistler getaway.  It is a wonderful stress free way to hang out as family.  We LOVE it. 

Whistler is just so `us'.  I hope that sometime in the next year, Gary and I can come here just the two of us.    As much as I love my kids and doing almost everything with them, I do need a break once in a while. Oh man, how are we going to do the next 3 weeks?! I can see why people bring a nanny along on holidays:)

We spent the past three days hiking, swimming, and eating. Loved it.  The kids probably did the water slide about 100 times.   All three of our kids LOVE the water.

{Joanne's daughter Annelise had a baby girl to add to the ever growing number of babies!}

Below is a video of Nya going down the waterslide.  She's a bit worried in the dark but then once we're out, she's a happy little girl!

Oh boy, I'm realizing that all of our photos are iPhone and GoPro ones...must get the real camera out on holidays!  It's just a bit trickier when our hands are already pretty full!!

{I know there are a lot of pictures of Nya and I together, she is pretty much attached to me now.  This is good as I don't have to chase after her but wow, my right arm is going to fall off.}

Here's one more video Gary put together of the water slide...

All right.  I've got to finish packing.  I feel like how I did the morning before Gary and I got married. Nervous excitement.  Can't say I like this feeling.   All my nervousness is kid related.  Please let them not be super overtired and CRAZY.  Please let them stay healthy and safe.  Please let them sleep.  Oh how I wish I had a glass of wine right now...

All right team.  The next time I post, we will be in the Philippines!!!!

Love, Team Chapman

Road Trip and Summery Cuteness

EEK!!! My countdown says 19 days until holidays!!  I'm so giddy!  We are going to Whistler for several nights with my whole family before we go straight to the Philippines. 

 How am I feeling about our big trip?  The only thing I am nervous about is Nya on the airplane.  She likes to move.  All the time.  Does not sit still. Hopefully everyone is okay with that at 3am?  Oh boy.  It would've been better with her at 6 months OR at 2 years of age.  I will expect the worst and we'll see what happens.  It's not like it's just a 6 hour flight...it's 16 hours.   I still have at least two weeks worth of work and I'm working soooooooooooooo hard to finish as early as possible so that I have time to figure out what we need and how many suitcases (and their sizes) and all that jazz.   I already spent way too many hours figuring out a bathing suit for myself :)   If only I had time to work out to actually look how I want to in it...oh well...one week of working out should do it right?! ha.  

I think I'm just so happy to be doing something different.  At dinner every night we talk about the best and worst part of the day.  The best part of my day the other day?  That I had a full cup of coffee. You know, while it was still warm.  That just tells you how extremely boring my life is at the moment.  

This past weekend, my sisters and I (and Nya!), loaded into a mini van and headed to Vancouver Island for my aunt's funeral.  My oma (from Alberta) was on our ferry so it was great to spend some time with her.  

It was not very relaxing as Nya is on the move.  I actually didn't get to `enjoy' the memorial very much as she was over tired and loud.  We just climbed up and down stairs while I tried to hear what was going on.  I was glad to be able to go though and to support my uncle and his kids.  

Apparently auntie Jackie carries a clown nose in her purse?  Why did I take Nya?  Well, Gary had a ball hockey tourney for Kai and already had to take Koen.  Also, I really don't want to mess up breastfeeding with her as I really want to be doing it on our trip.  I'm thinking that will be the only thing to get her to sleep on the plane. 

All of us on the ferry.

We had a few minutes to visit my other oma in her home.  It was such a short visit, I wish it could've been longer.  You can see that my sister Trish is very pregnant.  We get back from our trip the day that she is due.  I'm really hoping to be able to make it there for the delivery as support and photographer.  

And now, for some photos of my cutie pies!! I really want a good picture of them to hang up in our home.  I actually really like this product and want to order a large one of them (they have a 50% off promo right now).  Unfortunately, I'm not sure that we got `the one' that I want of the three of them but it might just have to do!  

I hope you are having a lovely week!!
Love, Louise

Run For The Cure 2012

It was a beautiful day to Run For the Cure in Abbotsford.  All of my sisters, brother-in-laws and nieces and nephews were able to be there.  It's an important day for me to remember and honour my mom and to also run for the future.  You know, my sisters, nieces, and my baby Nya.  I guess I should say that I know breast cancer can also affect men, but ya, women are way more at risk.   I have been doing this run for probably 12 years. This year my goal was to run under 40 minutes.  I didn't know how long it would actually take me so that's why I gave myself a super attainable goal:)  I did it in 32:53.  Not bad!  I wasn't pushing myself, just slow and steady.  Seriously though, these extra 20lbs make it way harder to run.  Hoping they are gone by next year:)  And, because it matters to my family, for those that ran, the order was: Gary, Trish, Jan and then me:)  

Thank you to everyone who supported our team, `Greta's Girls'.  Maria's friend Tessa joined our team and all together we raised about $1300.00.  

Koen ran to the finish line 4 times, that is his favourite part.  I was actually moving quickly here even though it looks like I'm not going to make it:)  Kai ran/walked the 5km's with Uncle Tyler.

Terrible picture of Nya but it was cold.  Her pink toque is so cute:)  Thanks to Tessa for holding her during the walk.   Do you realize how cute babies are in hoodies?!  Very cute.

A little breastfeeding before the run..makes things a bit more comfortable:)  On that note, Nya has been a terrible breastfeeder the past two weeks.  Only good at night. Oh well, no choice, still love it and we're going to make it work!  Besides, it is good to help decrease your chances of breast cancer. 

My family.  Love these kiddos!!!

The team!  I thought we had everyone but noticed that Steve is missing from the picture.  Hard to get everyone together at once!  Looking forward to seeing all the babies walking the track next year:) Soooooo cute!

There's a picture of Steve (and Trish and Hannah).

On the topic of breast cancer, if you had the option to have genetic testing done to see if you had the breast cancer gene, would you?  

4 Months Old

My little baby is 4 months old.  Tomorrow she will get her immunizations so we'll see how big she is but I think she is just 14lbs.  She is still long and lean.  We are coming off of a 5 day nursing strike.  My boys never did anything like that so it was a bit stressful.  She would only breastfeed when she was super sleepy and she would bite me continuously.  Like, many, many times in a row.  However, little miss does not take a bottle so we made it work.  And today, dare I say, she has started breastfeeding normally again.  I'm pretty sure it was hormonal changes as my hair is really starting to fall out etc.

She is so, so, so easy going.  The only time she is upset is when we are driving.  She is a giggling machine.  I love, love, loooooooooooooooooooooooove the giggles!!!  She wakes up laughing...what a great sound to hear:)  Happy, happy girl.

This weekend we had a wedding in Coal Harbour and being that Little Miss does not take a bottle, we had to bring a babysitter with us:)  The boys went to grandma's and I hired my sister for the day.  She spend time walking around Robson, Stanley Park and Starbucks etc so that I could just feed Nya one time for maybe 10 minutes.  What a little monkey.   A cute monkey.  Apparently she was super well behaved and I'm not surprised.  Thank you Auntie Jackie!

Today we babysat Hannah for a bit.  She makes Nya look so small!  Hannah loved seeing Nya and pretty much tried to put everything in her mouth. It will be so fun to see all the babies being buddies when they are three or so:)

{Hannah}

Koen's skin is starting to get better on his torso.  His arm and legs are still not great.  So, I'm thinking/hoping/praying that by November he should be pretty good.   Maybe. At least the weather is now cooler!

{Koen loves his bubbi more than anything in the world.  He always rubs the ear under his nose:)}
The boys continue to love and miss each other every day.  When they came home from grandma and grandpa's on Saturday they were craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazy.  That, my friends, is why we do not give them sugar.   Here's a typical picture of them.  They love to `set the scene' and then have us take a picture of them:)

I should add that they wanted to hire a photographer for this.  They paid 11 cents.  Then, they put on a show that cost 11 cents to watch.  Win win.

School is going well for Kai.  The one place I notice a change is his reading.  He read `The Giving Tree' by Shel Silverstein to me last night.  He just couldn't get `straightening'.  It's very fun to see him reading to his siblings too.

On Sunday we went to my sisters church as baby Georgia got baptized.  Our family took up two pews:)

Time to go for a bike ride with Koen.  He feels like such a big boy with his training wheels and it works well if I'm pushing Nya in the stroller alongside him.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!!

Love, Louise

Yay For Summer

My beautiful family.

Below is an outtake from trying to get a photo of our family. Then you can see that even if your family is crazy, a good photo is possible:) The main culprit of craziness/refusing to behave? Koen Chapman. Grrrrrr...he is SO frustrating. We had our extended family session yesterday which Gary and I did. So stressful with our own kids involved but overall I think we got some good ones...which I will get to edit once I finish work photos first:)

The five babies...mine's #4:) The oldest two are a week apart and then the three youngest are about 6 weeks apart between each one.

My sisters and the babes. I actually did email a photo into Global so we'll see if they do a follow up:)

{It's so interesting to me to look at all these babies and know how they all were born. Like, 4 natural births (one being a VBAC), one C-section, 2 had vacuum deliveries, only one overdue?, one induced, all 5 had midwives, 3 had OB's as well, small range of lbs from 7lbs 7 oz to 8lbs 8oz, four had 90th + percentile heads, all 5 breastfed:) The funniest thing is when we have a play date and one baby cries, almost all of us have letdown...you know, we all start leaking:)}

I am so, so, so thankful to have Gary home for the summer. Why?

1. I can exercise in the morning while it's cool. I'm on week 3 of running and I've lost 3lbs. `Only' 14 more to go. I'm actually enjoying the running and it's getting better:)

2. I can work during the day. I do love photography and I may have taken too much on for July but August will be a bit slower so that will be good:)

3. Non stop help!!! Two parents for three kids. I love it. Nya is a pretty easy baby but ya, there are days when she doesn't nap and she poops 10 million times. Days when we are sweating and having to hold her for hours or she screams (when she gets overtired, so difficult to help her get to sleep). However, the evenings are lovely so I will not complain!! Usually in bed by 9pm and then just up once or twice!

If you are jealous of the teacher summers off, please note that the salaries are not fabulous and that's why we need another income. Also, there is a lot of extracurricular volunteering and work at home that happens. So ya, there is the other side to it:)

Okay, Nya is napping so I'm supposed to be working....off I go! Oh, and to any of you that are following the running program, please let me know how it's going in the comments below!!

Have an excellent week!!

Love, Louise

My Sister

I've been given permission to share that my sister Maria is back in the hospital. In her previous pregnancy, she had post partum hypertension which landed her in critical care 10 days after Kenzie was born. Due to that, she was closely monitored throughout this entire pregnancy. Unfortunately, 9 days after Georgia was born, Maria's blood pressure spiked and she was admitted on Monday. She is still there.

{One hour after Georgia was born}

She needs another person with her when she is there (on the maternity ward) because she is not able to take care of Georgia with the drugs that she is on. The nurses are not allowed to watch Georgia because it is Maria that is the patient. Maria wants Georgia there for bonding and also breastfeeding. Fortunately Kris is on paternity leave so he can take care of the 3 other kids. Family has been chipping in and helping out where they can. I would just ask that you please think of her in your thoughts/prayers as she really wants to get home to be with her family again.

Thanks!

Louise

Sunday with Sisters

On Sunday we went out to Mission for Jack's baptism. Jan and Doug's church is pretty small so when my sisters and our families all came, the population of kids in the church probably doubled:) When we are together, I really realize how crazy it is that we all have babies. Well, Maria's will be coming sometime this week:) My prediction? A 8lb 14oz boy.

{Jackie, Isaac and Tyler}

{Trish and Hannah}

{Maria 39 weeks pregnant with two of her three girls; Kenzie and Ani}

{Jan, Doug, Sami and Jack}

After the baptism, we had lunch at Jan and Doug's place and the kids played and pigged out. It was great. I love hanging out with my family. You would think we'd be sick of each other after yesterday but we still had our weekly play date this morning:)

Then, after Sunday's lunch, I had my first photo session in 7 weeks! It went well and I'm looking forward to editing them! I have a feeling my turnaround time (usually one week) will double now. It was great because we had the session in Mission so I just fed Nya and then Gary took all three kids geocaching at the same park.

Kai Bear loves pictures with his baby sister. We actually call her `baby sister' a lot. Here is her cute Sunday outfit. I bought it at a garage sale and the total outfit was $6.00.

I know I'm ridiculous but isn't it cute? Yup, jeggings. I think babies can do that. And the white dress? Oh man, it's so cute and I'm sad it will only fit her a few more weeks...

Okay, now some funny comments from the boys:

Kai (out of nowhere): Mommy, when are you going to help me find the perfect wife?

Koen (after teaching him not to step on insects): Mommy, I just high fived an ant! Do you think that's a nice thing to do?

Koen: Baby sister's dress is marvelous! (Who says marvelous? So funny).