The story of how 2 became 4 ...

I am realizing that my blog will not be very interesting to men ... menh ...

I have always been fascinated by how people have come about having their families. Easy road, hard road, long road, complicated road, etc. Maybe it is because our story is a bit more complicated than most, and I like to hear success stories of other people in similar situations.

I was never 'regular' as a teen, and I always had a nagging suspicion that having children may not come easily to me. When Graham and I decided to start a family, I was very proactive and got referred to a specialist right away because I knew we needed some extra help. Thus began our journey of charting, timing, medication, injections, blah blah blah. Long story short ... it was well over a year and 4 cycles of fertility meds later that Julie was created. One fateful Father's Day in 2008 changed our lives forever!! We had a procedure done that day called IUI (you can look it up yourself ... I don't need to get into it here :) and it WORKED!!

Prior to becoming pregnant, it was very difficult to see everyone around me fall pregnant so easily. It seemed that most women I knew became pregnant just by sniffing their partners. Not fair! There are people who have endured MUCH more difficult times than us ... and I am SO thrilled to hear when they get happy endings!

When Julie was just over 1, Graham and I had 'the talk'. What were we going to do? We knew we wanted another child. Do we get referred to a specialist right away again, just in case it takes many months before things happen again? Yep, let's do that. So, while waiting for my specialist appointment (it takes weeks!) I decided to pay really close attention to my body, to see if it would give me any clues as to what was happening. A great book - Taking Charge of your Fertility - is a super read for any woman to better understand her body and all the little clues it gives you throughout each part of a normal cycle. You should check it out! Well, I picked up on a few indications that something was 'happening' and didn't want any possible missed opportunities ...

Slap me sideways, it was a SUCCESS!! I was flabbergasted, astonished, amazed ... that I was now one of those women that became pregnant on the FIRST try!! I was so proud of my body for working properly :) I was filled with disbelief until our first ultrasound at 6 weeks confirmed that there was indeed a little person in there. You often hear that people who have trouble with their first baby sometimes have an easier time the second time around, like your body works out it's kinks or something.

Then reality set in. Ummm, Graham, do you realize we will have 2 children under the age of 2? Lord help us!! Then along came little Wesley, and yes, our lives became crazy, but a good crazy, and we wouldn't change a thing! (Well, I might tame Julie's temperament a bit, but that's another story ...) Graham is very content with 2 kids. I (think) I am too ...

Apparently people think that having one girl and one boy defines the 'perfect' family. A rather weird concept if you ask me. I don't know how to respond to that. I'm pretty sure our family would've been just as perfect had we been given another girl. And I know other perfect families that have all boys. Whatever you're given, you make perfect. It's as simple as that. And be grateful!! Even though sometimes you think you're insane for whatever you've gotten yourself into :)

That's our story ... tell me yours!

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I'm a blogger!

Am I really doing this? Blogging?? Never would I have imagined this as something I would attempt. But, lately, my good friend Amber (look ... I even linked to your blog!!) has been changing my mind. Most of you know I'm generally a shy person, so sharing my feelings/experiences with the world seems a little odd and embarassing, but I have realized from Amber that this is a great way of preserving memories ... seems that everyone's lives are so crazy busy these days, that the little special moments get lost in the shuffle. So, here I am, starting a family journal I guess, and I will be able to look back on it in the future and smile.

Where do I start? In the present. It seems way too overwhelming to blog the past. Maybe I'll throw in memories here and there, but for now, we'll start with today. Who knows, maybe this whole thing will only last a week. We'll see.

What's happening these days?

Wesley. He's almost 3 months old. 3 MONTHS! Time is flying by. It hasn't been without it's fair amount of challenges, but still I am shocked at the speed this mat leave is racing. He was fussy in the beginning. I'm pretty sure he was hungry. Our whole feeding situation has been stressful and VERY time consuming, but I'm hoping it's finally getting sorted out. He's happier now (obviously by his pic :) It's amazing to have a son. It was weird in the beginning, after being used to raising a daughter, but he's pretty easy to love, and a wonderful addition to our little family.

Julie. She's 2! She's beautiful :) She gives me at least 30 mini heart attacks each day. Fearless. I often wonder WWSD? (What would supernanny do? ... obviously) Discipline has been a struggle for me, partly because Julie doesn't listen, and I'm having a tough time deciding the 'right' way to go about doing things. Right now, we seem to be flying by the seat of our pants, but I think we need to lay down more established guidelines. She makes us laugh so often, kids do hilarious things. Today she had her baby with her at dinner, and was feeding her baby peas and letting her have sips of chocolate milk. The other day we were over at our neighbours house getting a tour, and Julie walked into the room I was in, dragging their (declawed) cat in a tight headlock behind her. Whoops!

Our life is crazy. Busy. We definitely didn't think we would end up having children this close in age ... it certainly has its challenges, but it's also great. Being a parent is so much fun (most of the time...). So looking forward to watching our kids grow.

This hasn't been so bad, didn't take me long to write all this. Now I feel like I have lots of things to talk about, but I will save them for little posts here and there. If I last, that is. Still feels weird to have a journal that everyone can look at. Maybe Amber will be the only one to read it, maybe Robbyn too, while she's procrastinating from school stuff.