One of the very first calls we made after the excitement died down a bit in the birth unit was to Austin to let him know his baby sister had arrived. The conversation went a little like this:

"Austin, it's Mommy. Guess what? You have a new baby sister!"

"A baby sister? Mommy I'm Spiderman!"
(So you can totally see that my boy got it. lol)

We were finally moved from the birth unit to the maternity room mid afternoon Friday. Melanie kept us a little longer down on the 3rd floor so that we would get a private room and I was very happy about that! I felt like a million bucks and could move around easily. Gordon and I were both so excited and were spending time soaking in our new addition, but something just felt like it was missing. We both kept talking about how Austin was going to react and feel about his new sister.

Not too much later, Garnet brought our boy in to meet his sister. He opened the door to my room and ran straight to me with open arms. I sat him next to me on the bed and introduced him to Amelia. At that moment the experience felt complete. Our whole family was finally together.



Austin meets Pink for the first time.



It's been 22 days since Amelia came home. Every morning Austin greets her by climbing up onto my bed, getting right in her face and saying " Good morning sweet heart! Hi sweetie!" He hugs and kisses her and, when we're not looking, tries to pick her up. So far he is very much in love with her and tells everyone he sees that he's a big brother. I hope this continues!!!

It is so much fun to watch him interact with her. Who knew he would be right that baby was a girl?

And Baby makes four!

After a week and a half of false labour, I woke up at 3:20am on Friday June 3rd with more cramps. At first I thought that they were the same as I had been having, but suddenly they became very sharp. I got G up to help me into the tub hoping that the hot water would make me more comfortable. The contractions started getting a bit stronger and closer together so at 5am and I asked G to get up again (I had sent him back to bed after I got in the tub, thinking that nothing would be happening anytime soon). G got the bags in the car and I called my Mom. At 5:30amI called our friend Kelly and asked if Austin could come to her place early...as in as soon as we could get there and thankfully she said yes. We arrived at her place by 6am and left our still sleeping boy with our friend and headed to the IWK.

I made G stop the car twice on the way into the city. I was so nauseous...apparently that is a sure sign that I was in transition... I have no idea how far apart my contractions were, I just knew they were pretty strong and very close together. G started stopping at red lights when we got off the highway and I was pretty sure that if he kept that up, our baby was going to be born in the backseat of our car. 

Much to my delight we finally arrived at the IWK. As G helped me out of the car, I had another contraction and he had to help me into the hospital. We left the car in 20 minute parking (our camera and bags stayed behind too), and as the Security guard held the door open, G helped me into the admissions area. Suddenly I had another contraction and for the first time in my life, I managed to do a perfect full squat. Oh how my yoga instructor would have been proud! G signed the papers because I couldn't. And it was at that moment that I realized that my contractions weren't 5 minutes apart. They were coming one right after another and my back felt like it was going to split in half.
We were seen in early labour and assessment for all of two minutes. Baby was coming fast and we were ushered to birth room 9...where I immediately asked for the man with the needle. I have never experienced such back pain in my life. I couldn't focus on anything else and the gas was making me sick to my stomach. It was shift change and I am so grateful that Melanie was my nurse that morning. She saw the Anesthesiologist walking by and ran out and grabbed him. He got the medicine in and about 30 seconds later I needed to push. It was just about 8am.

G was a great coach and Melanie was so encouraging. The epi took away my back pain and I was focused on getting my baby out. After a tense few minutes where I pushed the resident and then apologized profusely (She was going at me with a needle at the very moment I needed to push and I didn't want her to get the baby...) our baby came out in one push. The doctors barely caught her!

At 9:09am our sweet Amelia Helen Leah Boutilier was born.

About 20 minutes old...G had to go get the camera from the car

I can hardly believe that I have a daughter. After Austin was born I just figured that I would have all boys. Her delivery was very clear and a blur all at the same time. I was able to hold her after they cut the cord and she was just moments old. I am so grateful for those first moments. It was amazing to breath her in and count her tiny fingers and toes. I fell in love in that incredibly special way that I could never truly find the words to explain. It's that feeling that you would give the world and your life to protect your child would know and understand.

Welcome to the world sweet baby girl!

Nesting in my kitchen

My blood pressure is up and I'm not allowed to go to work anymore. I did bring some stuff home to work on in the meantime. But after months out of the kitchen and little to no interest in exploring new foods I made a triumphant return last night. Mommy verdict is that it was all good!

I was up, it was raining and I was intrigued by making my own lemonade ever since my follow preggo cousin Laura called me to rave about her latest craving. On the way home from dinner last night I stopped at the store and picked up organic raspberries and fresh lemons. Once Austin was in bed, I put on my apron and started looking for my necessary tools. I found my sieve, measuring spoons and cups and my favorite Paula Dean wooden spoon. I made the simple syrup and crushed raspberries into the pitcher. While the syrup cooled, I started squeezing the lemons. I bleached my shirt in the process and decided that one of those wooden citrus reamers will be a must have addition to my collection of tools. Once the syrup was cooled I added that to the pitcher. The colour was really quite something! The raspberries were this very intense pink and then the lemon juice turned it this gorgeous shade that I wanted to paint on my walls! In the end it looks like this:

"Ahh refweshing!"- Austin 

You can find the recipe on the blog My Baking Addiction . (I have to say this blog is pretty darn good and I can't wait to try the cherry mojitos...)

While I was putting together the lemonade I also made these:

I slightly overcooked them so they are lacking that fudgy texture that should be found in the perfect brownie but oh how close I came! Next time I will take a few pictures as I make them. The eggs and sugar are whipped together until they turn into this really gorgeous thick pale yellow combination. I folded in the chocolate and butter mixture (I used 3oz of 70% dark chocolate instead of 2.5oz) and once that was all done I folded in the flour mixture. Up to that point I was convinced I had done something wrong. The mixture was yellow with brown flecks and not the deep chocolate colour that I was expecting. As I folded in the flour, magic happened....seriously! The batter turned deep brown and was super thick. I poured it into a pan and hoped that despite the thunder and lightning the power wouldn't go out and ruin my latest creation. Luckily it didn't and I was able to bake them. I'll bake them 5-7 minutes less next time and they will be perfect.

This recipe is from Simply Sweeter another great blog!

Now what to make tonight??