mmmmmm, I love sushi!

mmmmmm, I love sushi!
Originally uploaded by the five mckays

I had intented on waiting for Ryland to turn 6 months before introducing solids, but once more I learn that parenting has very little to do with *my* plans!!!!!! Ryland's been sitting up for a while now, has his teeth and has been very interested in what we're doing every meal time. I actually can't eat with him on my lap anymore as he pulls my hand towards his mouth, and then the other night he started bouncing in his exersaucer, reaching his body towards the table and making very pronounced chewing motions with his mouth!!! I AM READY, MOM!!!!!!! So last night I pulled him up onto my lap, and he dive-bombed the avocado roll I was eating!!!! I doubt he got too much into his stomach, but it sure was fun watching him explore it - though I think it's time to get him his own high chair as I don't want to have to shower after every meal!!!!

Ryland is five months

and in colour!
Originally uploaded by the five mckays

I took a few photos of Ryland the other day, on his official 5 month day - I can't believe that he's not such a little baby anymore. He's now sitting on his own, so expressive and engaged with toys around him, LOVES his big sisters and has lots of laughs for them, he's working very hard on his fourth tooth and he continues to be a very mellow guy!!!!!! There's more photos on our flickr account.

growing up too fast!

Today we were at a friend's house for dinner, and I watched Ryland as he rolled onto his front, lifted himself up onto his elbows, wiggled forward a bit to grab some ribbon, and then rolled back over onto his back to play with that ribbon! And he rolled back and forth a few more times - he's getting so big!

Tiegan has been attending a bike camp all week, and today she showed off how she can ride all by herself for a few moments at a time - amazing, as long as she keeps looking forward!!!! She also demonstrated a few spectacular falls, luckily on the grass in the churchyard across the street!

And Kea is at yet another sleepover tonight - that girl is so independent, I find myself missing her often!

Some days, I just wish time would slow down a little.

Well, we've been home for a couple of days now and are starting to settle into our home routine. The girls are definitely a little jet-lagged, so get us up at gawd-awful early hours, and then are kind of cranky all day because they're not getting enough sleep. Very charming, really. Yesterday we visited with a bunch of friends, and today we got a co-op car to drive around and do a bunch of errands. Including buying flats of raspberries, which I'm now busy washing and getting ready to jam! And in between washing raspberries, I uploaded just a few photos from our trip to Ottawa!!!!

Meghan called us this afternoon to report things are going well with Cameron. They seem to have figured out how to get him to sleep for 2 hour chunks, so that is a vast improvement from the many sleepless nights they've enjoyed! It turns out he likes to be tightly swaddled before being put down - let's all cross our fingers that this trick works again tonight!

Right now I can hear Ryland laughing hysterically upstairs while the girls perform tricks. There can be no sweeter sound than that of a baby laughing from his belly!!!! I think I need to go upstairs to enjoy my family for a bit, before returning to the never-ending pile of raspberries!!!!!

home sweet home!

Just a quick post to let you all know that we've made it home safe and sound - Jamie was there with flowers in hand, and although it was very hard to leave everyone in Ottawa (especially sweet little Cameron!), we're very happy to be back!!!

I'll upload photos soon - for now I'm going to go cuddle with my hubby!!!!

Update....

I just came from a visit to the hospital, where everyone is doing fabulously well! I guess they had a bit of a rough night, with Cameron coughing up and throwing up all sorts of lovely guck. Meg and Ian found it a bit nerve-wracking, and of course did not get much sleep, but the nurses assured them that this was all very normal post c-section as it was not squeezed out of him during the birth. And now that he's gotten rid of all that, he seems VERY interested in nursing and it looks like he and Meg are figuring it all out together! And it looks like they'll be heading home tomorrow at 10am, which they're all looking forward to!!!! More photos soon, he's such a sweetie!!!!

Cameron, half a day old!

Cameron, half a day old!
Originally uploaded by the five mckays

Here's a photo of the newest family member, taken earlier today. What an absolute cutie!!!! With a tonne of black hair on his head! Meg is doing really well - walking about, taking showers and looking fabulous for having just given birth. Everyone's figuring each other out and bonding well - the next step will be to get Cameron interested in nursing, but I guess coming out as big as he did he can stand to take a day or two to do that!!!!!

I have to say, it's so much fun to be an auntie like this - a brand new baby to snuggle and enjoy, without all of the messy, painful, sleepless after-birth stuff!!!!!!

Meet Cameron Brian Nolan

Meg and Cameron
Originally uploaded by the five mckays

So, baby boy Nolan was delivered tonight by c-section at around 8pm. He was a whopping 10lbs, 4oz and has a head full of black hair. Meg is doing well, Ian is a gushing new dad and everyone is absolutely ecstatic!!!! I'll post more photos as I get them, for now I"m collapsing exhausted into bed with my three kidlets!!!!

No baby yet.....

I woke up this morning to Meg's news relayed to me via Wayne, so hopefully I have it all right - it sounds like they checked her at 2am and she was 2cm dilated so they did not place more cervitol on. Instead they broke her waters and started her on a pictocin drip at which point the contractions got really intense really quickly so she got an epidural, and now they're waiting to see if she's dilating any more. Hopefully she's able to rest up this morning, and I"m going to go in during the afternoon to hang out. Hopefully I'll have exciting news soon!!!!!!

still waiting

So I went to see Meg at the hospital tonight, where they're still waiting for her to go into labour. They placed cervitol (sp?!) on her cervix at 2 pm, and about an hour later she started experiencing irregular mild contractions and lower back ache. They will check her cervix once more at 2am and apply more cervitol then.

I guess Meg's blood pressure was a bit high and she had protein in her urine, so they've decided to keep her at the hospital to observe her for potential toxemia, but so far she looks good. Just bored and a little antsy!!!! I brought them a portable DVD player, so hopefully that helps them while away the hours?!!! And now I'm off to bed for hopefully a good night sleep before going back in to witness an amazing birth!!!!!!

Well, it's dinner time and still no real labour. She's staying overnight in the hospital, and I will keep you posted! It's GOT to be soon now!

and it begins.....

Today was the official day for Meg's induction. And so, of course, when she got up to pee at 4am, her waters broke!!!! No word yet re: contractions, but it's definitely a good sign that we'll have a new baby in the family soon!!!!

Photos....

goofy smile
Originally uploaded by the five mckays

Well, we can't seem to figure out how to download photos from my camera onto Wayne's computer, so for now I thought I'd upload photos from Wayn'es camera onto our flickr account, just to give y'all a snippet of what we've been up to. And to give you a glimpse of all the changes in Ryland - he now has 3 teeth and is working on his 4th, he sits on his own for short periods and he is VERY interested in food, trying to drag my fork towards him instead of to my mouth! I'm trying to hold off on solids for as long as I can, but I don't know if I"ll last until 6 months!!!!! He's growing up too fast!

On Hold

I've been out of the blogging loop for a bit now, sorry for the long silence.

I'm still in Ottawa, with all three kids, waiting for the arrival of Meg's baby. We were told by her doctor's that they would be surprised to see her go past 38 weeks, due to how much amniotic fluid she had and also by the big size of her baby. We are now at 8 days over her due date. Apparently the baby did not receive the same memo that we all did. I now have extreme empathy for all of you during the days leading up to Ryland's birth!!!!

I've booked two separate tickets home and cancelled them. As much as I desperately miss my husband, and the help of the kids' father, and as much as I want to be in my own home, I could not board that plane without witnessing the birth and helping out for the first few days afterwards. Especially after waiting for 3 weeks!

So, I'll try to update the blog a little more regularly, and hopefully soon I'll be able to tell you some exciting news!!!!! Induction starts on Saturday!