Had my six week check up...

...how many women hate going to the OB? There is always a wait time, it is uncomfortable and annoying..and many more unpleasant words...


...today was my six week check up since having Coltan. The appointment was at 9:40am, I wasn't given a room until 11:15 am, was weighed and then I sat in a room waiting until 11:35 am to see the OB for 8 minutes. Good times...

...well that is my vent about the office. Before I left my house though, I stated to my husband that I would be making an appointment to "finalize" that our fourth child was our last child. He says to me, "Are you sure about that?"





...am I sure about that? Let's see, we have been married for 9 years and have four boys. Obviously, he is not able to produce girls (yes I blame him and scientifically I can!) and we only have a four bedroom house and six person vehicle. So, unless he plans on getting a bigger house, which would require us selling the current one (not in this market!!!), getting a new vehicle which would also require getting rid of a current one (I hate car shopping) and can GUARANTEE that we would have girl...this is not happening.





...and it is not like the thought has not crossed my mind. When I graduated from high school 15 years ago (YIKES) I stated in the yearbook that I wanted 5 kids. (I also stated that this would happen before I was 30!) Keep in mind, it was 1994, I was 18 years old and it was pretty easy to make those statements when being a parent was such a foreign concept at the time.





...For the most part, having all boys has made having four kids a bit simpler. The clothes last a long time because they are handed down from kid to kid and they can share a room with no problems. The toys stay the same (cars, balls and legos) and they all like to rough house together. If we had a girl in the mix, I may have a different opinion about having four.





...Also, being pregnant is pretty easy for me. With the exception of the annoyingingly high blood pressure and the gestational diabetes, I have to admit, I like being pregnant. I don't get morning sickness, no weird cravings and the clothes are kind of cute. You get to look good while being curvy. But for financial reasons, plus the fact that I am already 33 years old, I will be doing a permanent procedure so I do not have to think about the possibility of making my yearbook predicition come true.





...and now reality sets in. No more babies. This is it. This will be the smallest one your boys will ever be. They only get bigger from here. Kind of sad, don't you think? I looked at about 10-12 pregnant women in the office today and was jealous of every one of them. Crazy huh?





...After you have the baby, everything just kind of hangs there. I kept comparing myself to these women in the waiting room. All of them looked so cute. Then there was me. I'm wearing a Nike workout shirt and matching shorts because nothing normal fits. I have rolls in so many places that I lose count and my glow is gone. My official weight according to my dr's scale: 179lbs.... YUCK!





...so here we are, July 28th, 2009 @ 179lbs. One of the main reasons to write about this is so I can actually stick to the goal. I have no excuses. Yes, I have four kids. Yes, I have a full-time job. Yes, I am tired. None of these excuses are reasons not to lose the weight. Do I really want to look like I just had Coltan for the next 10 years? No.





..so hold me to it. Here we go. What will I do? How will I start? Eating better, exercising...YES! YES!





...My goal: 140lbs by Thanksgiving. Completely attainable. Basically 10 lbs a month or 2.5 lbs a week. Anyone joining me?

Baby Boy #4 is 6 weeks old...how did I get here?

...on June 12th, 2009 I gave birth to my fourth beautiful baby boy Coltan. Who knew that I would be a married mother of four boys? For anyone who knew me before I got married, they never would have thought this. Even my parents thought I would probably just have a career, no kids.


....and now, after 9 years of marriage, I have four boys. Ethan turned 8 on July 19th, Tristan turned 5 on June 23rd and Ronan turned 2 on July 9th.


...but let's back up a bit..




...maybe I should start at the beginning...


My life change on May 10th, 1999. That is the day that I found Christopher Charles Cook in the Hotmail Personal Ads. Yes, I will say it. I found him while looking through the personals!


And why was I in there? On the outside, I seemed like an extremely personable, social and happy person. Inside, I was extremely disappointed with where I was in life. I was 23, living at home for the summer to go back to school in the fall, working with a maintenance crew on our local golf course and working as a waitress.


Yet, just two years prior I was working for the newspaper covering the golf course as a recent journalism graduate from SAIT.


Literally, I felt like I was going no where. I had no relationship prospects, most of my friends were married, had kids or were in steady relationships at least. Even my sisters were. How sad is it when you are the oldest and you can't have a decent relationship?


So I started browsing online. It was a joke really. The ads were funny. Even my mom thought so. There were guys looking for short term relationships, long term relationships...just some real weirdos. It was good for a laugh. Then I came across this "hang-out" ad. A guy in Arizona, saying he was new to the area and was looking for someone to hang out with. I was intrigued by his smile and his ad so I sent him an email, even though I was no where near Arizona.


I gave him the cheezy line of "..so I have never done this before but thought I would drop you a line..." Obviously it was true (not that he knew that) and he ended being the first and ONLY ad that I ever responded to!


Within one week, we were emailing eachother five times a day. I would come home for lunch from the golf course just to check my email. At first, it was nothing romantic. It was just intriguing to get to know each other. So different from other people I knew. I felt a connection just emailing him and getting to know him through this non-conventional way.


11 days after the first email was the first phone call and less than a week after the first phone call, he booked a plane ticket to Canada to meet me. For him, this was risky. Me, not so much. Why do I say that considering I am the girl? Well, he was flying to another country to meet a girl he still had not seen a picture of! A little crazy on his part. Luckily, I am not too hard on the eyes, so people tell me.


But, I will never forget why he said he did this. "I have missed out on too many opportunities in my life and I was not about to miss another."


How could I not fall in love with him?


He arrived at the Edmonton International Airport on June 16th, 1999 at 3:15 pm. I had never been more nervous in my life than waiting in that terminal for him to walk through those doors. And don't worry, by then, he had seen a pic of me! I was wearing a light and airy spaghetti strapped sundress with small purple flowers (courtesy of my friend Nicole) and nervously pacing, heart racing as the doors kept opening and still no Chris.


Then, out walks this clean shaven, blond haired, blue-eyed All American guy, wearing jean shorts and a light green polo shirt. We locked eyes and I knew from that moment he was the guy I was going to marry.


One year and one day later on June 17th, 2000 we were married in my hometown of Whitecourt, Alberta.


But that was the past...that was how we started...how are we doing now? That is what this blog is all about. How do we handle four boys? How do we handle two jobs? How do we handle each other's opposing personalities? Let me tell you, it is not easy, but we do it.


Currently, it is July 27th, 2009..nine years later...four kids later...four moves later.... what does our future hold?