Baby Sister!

Maklin got one more present for his birthday -- and it was a doozy!!  At 9:23pm - on his actual birthday - Maklin got a baby sister!!  [I've got a year or two to figure out how I'm going to best manage that one!]

Maeyer Eloise Klaassen came into the world fast and furious!  First contraction was between 7:30-7:40pm ... and she was born at 9:23pm ... 5 minutes after we arrived at the hospital!

I was on the phone with my Grandma just prior to the first contraction, and had commented on how the day was almost over and so I thought we were in the clear of them having to share a birthday.  I figured that even if I went into labour that evening that the baby would arrive sometime the following day.  My Grandma said, "not if you have a labour like any of mine."  Well -- I had to call her back a few hours later to let her know that in between our phone conversations -- I'd had a baby girl!!

I give Justin a hard time sometimes for driving my car like a race-car ... but I'm pretty thankful for that this time around.  My contractions started at 3 minutes apart, and once my water broke (after the 3rd or 4th contraction) I knew we needed to get going.  Justin's Mom (thank-you!!) was over right away to stay with Maklin, and we headed out the door (having to stop and breathe through 3 contractions from the time I was putting my shoes on to us pulling out of the garage).  The hospital is ~35 minutes away; 10 minutes into the drive I told Justin I was scared ... scared because I already felt like I wanted to push.  By the time we were nearing the hospital I was literally screaming, "don't push" over and over to get through each contraction (ya right!!).

When we pulled up outside the hospital, Justin flagged down a security guard, they got me in a wheelchair and he ran me inside.  The guard just kept telling me not to push!!  I asked him how he thought I should do that and he very sternly told me, "just don't push!!"  HA!  Because it was after-hours, we had to go through emerg ... the guard wheeled me up to the front of the triage line; the nurse looked at me, picked up the phone and said "no time for paperwork, we've got a woman here who needs to get up to delivery right now."

I won't go into the very brief, but intense, delivery details, but essentially we got into the room, the charge nurse said we were a go, and Mae was half-way out before the Dr. even made it in the room.  Quite the entrance!!  The car was still parked in the 15 minute passenger drop-off zone!! I remember Justin saying to me, "it's out Devo, it's out!"  My response, "what's out?!"  At that point I was seriously in some kind of out-of-body experience, and was so excited that at that point the baby's head was there already (I had to push for 3 hours with Mak) ... I was SHOCKED when Justin said, "No Devo ... the baby's out ... it's a girl!!!"  For some reason in all the excitement I hadn't noticed the addition of the baby crying.

I barely caught this moment with my phone ... I looked up to see Mae with her arms stretched out looking  adoringly at her Dadda ... precious.

 Other than a wee bit of suction and her face being bruised up a bit from her dramatic entrance, she's perfect.

Proud Dad!

And her name?  Mayer was one of the top-runners when we were pregnant with Maklin, but I wasn't nearly as sold on it as Justin was.  This time around, we thought we were set on a girl name, and Mayer was back on the list for a potential boy name.  Somehow we ended up talking about using Mayer for a girl, and switched.  We spelled it Maeyer after "Mae" (my Grandma's middle name - gee I really hope that IS how it's spelled, I don't think I ever double checked even!).  As well, the name Mae reminds Justin and I both of friends from Japan, and therefore Japan, and the huge influence that culture has had on Justin, and now myself.  Finally, Eloise - a variation of "Louise" - after my Mom (her middle name).

birthday boy!

We didn't have a birthday 'party' for Maklin per se.  We didn't know what our world would look like at this time with a baby coming.

Maklin was still spoiled and celebrated though!  My baby's TWO!!!  Friends came over a few different nights with gifts; I think Maklin was starting to anticipate getting a present after having his bath!!

Today, we had brunch with Lulu & Bubba, had healthy cake, opened presents, and went for a long walk.

Happy Birthday little man ... hard to believe you're two years old!  You amaze us each and every day as your vocabulary grows and as you continue to surprise us and challenge us (and yourself) with your development.  We pledge to do our best to continue to stay ahead of you and provide you with the tools and opportunities to stretch yourself!!  Love you Monkey!!

baby belly

Sneak Peak at a few shots from our maternity shoot done at 38+ weeks (a gift from my dear cousin Audrey).

Family of 4

Check out the belly shadow ...

Going for a 70s vibe ...

Many thanks to Niki Vogel for taking the time to meet with us on Thanksgiving and put together this keepsake, and for making the experience so relaxed and fun in the process.

I Wear My Sunglasses at ...

Breakfast.

"Too bright. Yun [sun] too bright!" is a phrase I've been hearing a lot at breakfast.

So:

No Nap

Maklin had a party in his room instead of nap time today:

To put things in perspective ... this is CHAOS for Maklin's room!  He's a pretty orderly dude.

Later in the afternoon, snack time looked like this:

Tank-U

I had a lot to be thankful for this year.

Most especially, my family.  My wee man who is conscientious about saying, 'Tank-U' ... my wonderful husband, and a new babe we're so looking forward to meeting.

Thanksgiving weekend was pretty chill.

We hung out and looked out the window:

We raked leaves:

We PLAYED in the leaves:

We carefully observed the swarms of "itchy-butts" (Maklin's pronunciation of ladybugs) in the leaves:

We had a wonderful thanksgiving meal with all the trimmings, topped off with turkey/avocado/cranberry grilled cheese sandwiches around a fire.  The meals were so delicious and enjoyable ... we forgot pictures.

We had an awesome time doing a maternity photo shoot with Niki Vogel -- preview photos coming soon!!!  [Audrey -- you are such a blessing.  Thank-you for this gift!!]

And we cleaned and purged stuff out of our house to make room for a very small baby with a seemingly large amount of stuff!!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Ars Longa, Vita Brevis

One of my 'projects' before this baby shows up:  a kids' (well, right now kid's) art gallery wall - this way I can rotate in art pieces I want to keep and/or have up for a while.

In the past week, I facilitated Maklin making most of this art, we bought the frames, framed everything, mapped it out, washed the wall, and hung them.  [And I only get to check one thing off my list for all that.]

The hallway from the front door to the back has much more character now!

leaves

OR "up to my armpits in alligators" (Justin)