Our boy is a week old tonight! It's gone by very quickly, but at the same time, it feels as if this little creature has been here for a lot longer already! All 5 of us are absolutely ga-ga for this sleepy little sweetheart. He's pretty dozy, dozy and not the worlds' greatest eater: a week in and he's only 7 lbs 6 oz. We're hoping this week will be better than last! Nursing takes a good hour, and we've been having to wake him up to get some milk into this little guy! (hardest thing EVER to do in the middle of the night when you just want to sleep) Difficulties aside, we are just truly enjoying our little blessing! We can't stop staring at him! :)

Loving on his baby brother after he missed him all week! Grandma said he was asking about his baby brother Ian every day while at her place.

Grandpa meets Ian


Catching some rays to help get over some jaundice

My big helper: Possibly a future midwife?

My sweet sweet little man

Our big helper at it again!

Opa and Nana's enjoying their "last" grandchild.

(unless Ann and Matt change their minds and decide to have another! hehe)

Opa meets Ian

Brooke getting some cuddles in on her day home from SK.

It's a boy!

Introducing....

Ian Nathaniel Huisman

October 18 @ 3:26

8 lbs 21 inches

Our 'lil man, fresh out of the oven.

Ian's name means "God is gracious" and indeed, He is!

It's a.... boy!!! I was so shocked, I really, truly, honestly thought we were having a girl! Not that I'm disappointed. I wouldn't trade him for all the girls in the world: and really, I was secretly hoping for a boy. As was Derek. Although perhaps not so secretly: in his words to the midwife, just a few hours before Ian arrived: "We'll be happy with whatever we have" and in the same breath: "But a boy would be nice." :)

Our secondary midwife, Rhea.

Our primary midwife, Sarah. Awesome Burlington midwives!

Round that up to an 8!

Proud poppa of 4! Couldn't have made it through without him there. :)

It was a quick labour/delivery, but very very very intense. To sum it up quickly: Light contractions started at 8, went away by 10. They were back at 11pm, we were at the hospital just after midnight, and he was born 3 hours later! Crazy painful, intense, but WHAT a reward at the end! Wowsaz.

My peeps! (and perhaps the noisiest hospital visitors!)

Big, big sister Brooke

One of my favourite pics: can't you just see this big, big, big sister just a beaming!!!

Guess who's a big brother now!

Home! Was so glad I was able to come home to sleep. (although sleep proved somewhat elusive...) No private rooms available at the hospital: a ward with 3 neighbours: not so bad, quiet babies and all. BUT they had noisy visitors ALLLL day long: very annoying!

Our lovely neighbour Margaret who stayed with our big kiddos in the middle of the night!

Me and my babies! No chance to get a family pic of the 6 (!!!!) of us together yet!

We got home from the hospital just in time to let the kids say hi and goodnight to Ian.

Micah really wanted to hold "my baby bother" and was quite interested in touching and holding him (and beeping his nose.)

My 3 boys! Aren't they handsome?

Chillin' on Grandma's lap

Sleeping lots during the day today... too bad that wasn't the case last night. To sum it up, this sleep-deprived Momma wasn't good and asleep til 4 am!

More pictures another time! The girls are home from school now and are having some Ian-time. Micah's gone to Grandma's for the rest of the week, so things are relatively quiet around here. Relatively. :) Feeding time!

Come and visit us: we'd love to show off the newest Huisman. :)

September!

Grandma and Grandpa came over on Saturday and we made lots of yummmy applesauce. The girls were great helpers.

Working hard

They also brough a big boy bed for Micah!

Our trip to African Lion Safari. This was our favourite part: the elephant show! These guys could play basketball, soccer, paint, do handstands, all kinds of neat stuff! It's the only show Micah sat still for and was completely mesmerized.

We pretty much had the whole park to ourselves in the morning: a PD day Monday!

Train ride!

Fireman Micah

My tree hugger

My little shadow

Me & baby! (around 35 weeks)

Rollerblades, kneepads, elbowpads, wristguards = $3 garage sale steal!
They're Geneva's size but Brooke put on 3 pairs of socks and gave them a spin. Not bad! (no injuries to report as of yet!)

This girls' a natural skater

Just for fun...

Well, just over 6 weeks left to go, and we're purty eager to find out who this little guppy is! :)

I've never done this before for any of our kids, but I'm curious to know what people think, so here's a bit of a poll...
When do you think this babe will arrive? Boy or girl? How big?


Some stats to keep in mind...


I'm due Oct 28
Geneva: 1 day late, 8 lbs 9 oz
Brooke: 5.5 weeks early, 5 lbs 13 oz
Micah: 2.5 weeks early, 7 lbs 11 oz


Leave a comment... Whoever's closest wins a prize! K, I haven't actually thought of what a good prize is... but I'll come up with something! :)

Camping again! (and a baby belly shot)

At the end of August we headed to Paradise Valley Campground for 3 nights. A GREAT trip! We had visitors every day since we decided to camp close to Wyoming (Derek's family and friend Joel and family) which was awesome. The kids were happy and soooo good, and it just was a lot of fun!

Fun with glow sticks. Can you tell who this is?

Cousins (and other creatures)

Practicing for having a new brother or sister in a month or so!

Happy Camper boys!

We opted for a cabin so I wouldn't have to sleep on the floor... and ended up sleeping on the floor. :) Ah well. The beds were triple bunk which the kids thought was AMAZING! It was really nice to have a cabin though, especially when it started to rain. AND the fact that we could block the windows off: the kids slept in til past 8 every morning! Unheard of!!! (Especially compared to our last trip when we saw everyone up by 6 every morning)

G took her camera to the beach

me = 31 years

babes = 31 weeks

I'm 33 wks now, just 7 more to go! (Give or take a few weeks I guess) Who knows this little babe will arrive on time like big sis Geneva or be early like big bro Micah or super early like big sis Brooke!