The newest boy in our family

Yesterday we were able to introduce yet another beautiful little boy into our growing family!

My brother Jon, and his wife Shanelles' little guy was born exactly 1 week early yesterday at 2 p.m. His name is Levi Joel and boy o boy, he is precious! He weighed 8 lbs 6 oz and has got a good pair of lungs on him! Shanelle was hoping for a home birth, but the midwives had 3 other births yesterday so she had to go to owen sound to deliver. The hospital was very strict about how many people they allow in the birthing unit, so I ended up sitting in the waiting room the whole time, but it was so exciting to finally hear the news that my nephew was here! Congrats jon and shanelle, you guys are truly blessed!

My sister Kristina did their birth photography and got some beautiful shots! I'll definately be having her for my next birth! Here are a few of the pics she got.

Pickles and ice cream anyone?!

Ok, so before you get too excited, im NOT pregnant! lol. I'll leave that up to my sisters for now! Pickles and Ice Cream Doula Services is the name we have finally chosen for our doula business! we (my mom and I) are pretty excited! I spent most of yesterday morning desigining/ordering busniess cards! I can hardly wait until they arrive so we can start handing them out and hopefully get some clients!





As for our fam, we're doing well. Julian had his 23 bday a few days ago , so we spent the day down in the city with his siblings. We dont get to see them much, but when we do its always a lot of fun!


Allistair is learning to read! He blows me away with how fast he can learn thing! He definately did not inherit my brain. I've been working alot with him on his reading and writing and he can now read short sentences with 3-4 letter words.


Zeke is such a little stinker. He was sick for about 3 weeks with a nasty cold, but now that he's feeling better, he's back to his old self, bullying Allistair around constantly lol. Hes about 1/2 the size of Allistiar but he sure shows him who's boss lol.


Anyways, I just thought i'd give a little update on whats been going on with us, thanks for reading! heres a little video of Allistair singing Hey Jonah for you to enjoy! :D


http://youtu.be/5qYbY3Q6ymQ

dreaming of spring

Although the weather isnt exaclty "garden ready" yet...that doesnt stop me and Allistair from planning for the warmth! Yea, it may be a bit early yet, but we couldnt help ourselves! we went out today and got some vegetable seeds so we can get a head start on our veggie garden that we are doing together :) I told Allistair to pick out a few of his fav vegetables that he'll want for our garden, so he chose carrots, cauliflower, lettuce, and cucumbers, (i chose the green onions!)
Im ridiculously lucky to have a 3 year old who absoluetly loves to eat fresh raw veggies every day. Most often he chooses them over other foods! we are both looking forward to being able to transplant them into our garden this summer and having fresh food that we grew! I am having so much fun teaching him all the different things, and he loves to learn so its a win win for both of us! :D



yea....might have to wait a little longer to plant outside!



our lovely selection!



my little man has a green thumb just like me! He was having a great time dropping the seeds in, but left the dirty part (making holes in the soil) to me!



the boys loved watching the soil expand when the water went in



planting the seeds!

Trying to achieve...

As many of you know, I have always had one thing i've always wanted to become 'when i grow up' :0) My dream has always been to become a midwife, and 2 years ago, my sister let me be her doula (supporting birth partner) for the birth of my precious little niece. After those 12 hours of labor, I knew without a doubt that it was what I was meant to do!
For the past 3 -4 years , I have been reading everything I could get my hands on regarding midwives/doulas and now I am finally taking the steps to become a doula! I have decided to take my certification course through DONA, an international doula service that is very well known. I am currently in the process of doing the rest of the required reading and within the next few weeks/month I hope to apply for the certification. Once I get the cert. package, I have 2 years to complete the course, which requires attending birth classes, breastfeeding classes, attending at least 3 births as a doula, and filling out LOTS of papers! I havent been this excited about something since the days I found out I was pregnant with my sons! I am currently trying to convince my mom to take the course with me! She always says how much she would love to do it, and I think it would be awesome to have her as a partner!
Anyways, just wanted to share that bit of exciting news!

P.S. Ezekiel is now starting to say lots of words! hes such a sweet little boy! and Allistiar is learning how to spell! hes way too smart for his own good!

i love the smell of fall in the air

This has been a hard month. Alot of things have come up, that i wont mention on here, but it has been encouraging to see God working everything out, even in the darkest of times. Mark and Lauren came up unexpectedly to be with the family, so it was great to have them here for a week, and just be able to spend time together. Allistiar stuck to mark like glue! I love seeing them play together.

Julian will find out the results of the election tomorrow (monday) night , we are optimistic about him getting in so it will be exciting to hear the news. He also is trying out for the police auxillary, as he hopes to eventually become a police officer. *I hope he gets that! guys in uniform are smokin! especially when they get to have a gun!! haha *

As for me, ive been feeling pretty discouraged about a lot of things lately, but especially this month. Its good to have great friends and family standing behind me. A verse that has been very encouraging to me lately has been Romans 8 35-39
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.



Elliot was not a fan of being half buried in leaves.




mark and i have always had a close relationship, i loved having him here!

the 2 sunshines of my life <3

Well it seems its that time again, to update the old blog. I seem to get kind of lost in everything happening around me and forget that everyone doesnt just automatically creep my facebook page to keep up with whats going on in our lives ;-) but here i am! we have had a busy few weeks it seems, julians been working alot at the mall an hr away from here so by mid week i feel as tho i have barely seen him. the boys are growing like weeds, Ezekiel took 3 steps last night! he will be 1 in a week, but he really has done everything in his power to NOT walk up until now! Allistair is hilarious, the conversations we have sound like something between 2 adults, not a mom and a 3 yr old. For those of you who havent heard, julian is running for councillor of hanover this year, im so proud of him for doing something hes' always wanted! he has a meeting on wed. and will have 2 minutes to talk, and then gets questions asked and has to answer them so be praying for him if you think of it as he's pretty nervous. hes an excellent speaker though so im sure he'll do great. the votes will go out in october so im keeping fingers crossed for him. we've been hearing a lot of positive things about him getting in, so now we just wait.

as for myself, nothing is really new. i guess as a mom its my job to just keep up with what everyone else in my family is doing! thats alright though, i love just watching the boys learning new things and grow, its what life is all about :)

here is my sis and me at our cousins wedding.


we took allistair to wonderland a few weeks ago, he LOVED it, although he was sitll much too small for most of the rides, he did enjoy a few of the little ones in the kiddie land! hes not too impressed with getitng his pic done in this pic, but he did cheer up! haha

1+2= 3

Yesterday Allistair turned 3!

It seems like just yesterday i was pregnant with him, getting anxious to meet my baby, and now hes turning into such a big boy! he had a big party with all his little friends! there were about 12 2/3 yr olds running around so it was very hectic, but much fun! we finger painted outside and chased bubbles, then came in for fire truck cake and ice cream, and of course, presents!

I thank the Lord everyday for giving me the chance to be a mom, there really is nothing greater! Allistiar, you are such a kind , polite little one, you have made my life everything ive hope it could be, and i will always love you! happy birthday sweetheart!