Introducing. . . . .Troy Lander Wilson!

This post is LONG overdue, but I finally have a moment, between the girls and Troy, packing and being back and forth between camp and our new home in Steinbach. But I am just as excited about it anyway :) We are so pleased to present our newest (and last) little one! Troy Lander Wilson Born on April 24th at 9:46pm. He weighed 7lbs 1oz and was measured as 20.5 inches long (although the public health nurse who came and saw him a week later measured him at 19.5 inches, so someone's measuring tape is off) This day he was born was the day I had picked and hoped for because our two oldest girls had gone to Brandon on Sunday with Grama and Papa Wilson to stay until the baby was born and I wanted so much for them to have a couple of days with Grama and Papa at the farm, but we wanted the baby to arrive soon enough that we would be able to be home by Friday to be a part of the board staff retreat, where members of the Red Rock board come for meetings and we really wanted to be there for our last one. So I prayed and hoped for Tuesday the 24th in the evening. God was so good to us because that is exactly what happened :) Here is a little summary of my labour story. We had headed into Steinbach on the saturday before my due date and were staying with Trevor's sister, April and her husband Terry's place until the baby arrived. We were very thankful to have been able to stay with them :) On Sunday we took our kids to the zoo and met Grama and Papa Wilson there and after supper at Mongo's (definately a favorite restaurant) Chloe and Natasha took off to the farm with Grama and Papa and Trev, Shiloh and I headed back to Steinbach to wait for our little munchkin. The morning of his birth day was an ordinary day, except that April and I planned a lot of EXTRA walking to see if that would help kick start my labour. We went into town, ran some errands (literally, lol). Then in the afternoon, Trev and I had planned to go to our friends house for supper, so Shiloh and I walked over there. Trev met us there, then went out to run some errands. I began having braxton hicks. They'd been painful for about a month already, so I just assumed that that's all this was, except they weren't stopping and started getting even more painful. So I called Trev and when he got back we headed to the hospital. At the hospital I laboured for almost 5 hours then in one big push our little man entered the world! All through my pregnancy, I suspected that he was a boy, but fully expected to have a girl, given our track record with girls :) So when I asked and the nurse told me 'It's a boy!' I was still surprised and really excited too!! The best was some reactions of family and friends to the fact that we had a boy! Ha ha!! We were so blessed to have so many visitors come to meet our little man and share in our joy. Because he was born so late in the evening, our girls did not drive in from Brandon that night. We called them, but my mother-in-law was unable to wake them up to hear the news! So, we were so excited for them to come the next day and meet their new little brother! They had made cards for him and Grama took them shopping for him. They were so excited and loved meeting him! I loved watching them meet him :) He is one lucky guy to have THREE doting older sisters! Shortly after he was born we noticed that he was pretty jittery, more so than the typical startle reflexes, so they checked his glucose levels and found them to be very low. So immediately they put us on a nursing every two hours schedule to get his levels up to normal. The problem was, he was not interested in latching or nursing. So we resorted to syringe feeding him formula. His levels yo-yo'd for two days afterwards, all the while slowly creeping upwards, which was a good thing, but still taking a LONG time to get there. His little feet were black and blue from all the poking to check his levels. Finally, his levels were up and stable long enough that we could go home on Friday, but still feeding him every two to three hours. By this time I had pumped and was able to give him my milk instead of formula, which, once that happened his levels got better much quicker and I was so thankful for that! But still had to feed him via syringe and fingers. (Where he sucks and a little hose attached to a syringe on my finger). It was a lot of work, and I continued to attempt to get him to nurse as well. Two days of being home and feeding him this way was tiring, especially when my three girls needed me as well and his feedings took so long. On the Sunday, after arriving home, a longtime friend of ours and camps was here organizing the infirmary for spring and summer. She is a nurse at the NICU at Childrens and has been for over 22 years. So I asked her if she could help Troy and I figure out this nursing thing. And she did! And he did!! And since then he's become such a pro, that I haven't had to pump or anything for him!! Now he is three weeks old and growing like crazy! He doesn't seem so small anymore and he is doing much better with focusing his eyes and listening for his sisters. He is such a laid back guy, loud noises hardly faze him. He goes to sleep best when there is a lot of noise from his sisters, lol! We have been travelling a lot, back and forth to Steinbach readying our new house for our big move on the 26th and he has done amazingly well with all the travelling as well. So that's our story, and now for the best part. . . . .pictures!!! Please forgive the blurriness of some pictures, these are ones taken with my iPhone. I left my camera in Steinbach This is me just after arriving at the hospital

Here is our little man shortly after being born and with Daddy!

Shiloh meeting him for the first time

I don't have pics of Chloe or Natasha with him on my iPhone, so when I get those I will post them too. Here is our little man just before going home. My sister bought this outfit and I love that the onsies actually fit and aren't too wide or anything! Yay for Carter's!!

Here is one of Goober holding Troy once we had gotten home

And then just today I got a picture of him at three weeks and two days old <3

Now, I can't wait to get a full family picture done of all 6 of us!!

Maternity Pics!!

You have no idea how excited I am about this post!! I love photo shoots and when a baby belly is involved. . . . . there just are no words :) My friend Nancy is a photographer (and a REALLY great one too!) and we planned this shoot almost right away when I found out I was pregnant again.
It was a lot of fun and she took a bunch of just the girls too. So here are the pics. I hope you enjoy :) And just so you know, we don't know what we are having!
Our first born, Chloe. She is our sweet, caring, responsible, sensitive, athletic and adventurous one. And she loves her bear!


And Goober (aka Natasha) She is our little monkey, funny, mischievious, can make anyone laugh, the artist and imaginator and our tidiest one despite managing to lose her special puppy numerous times (this is puppy number 2)!


And now Shiloh, she is our silly little one, she is an outdoorsie girl to the core, goofy, a BIG Daddy's Girl, loves anything that goes VROOM!, has a huge attachment to her big sisters, is very sweet and sensitive and VERY busy! She has her "Sofie" the unicorn which she is extremely attached to. (and which we are very careful to keep an eye on so she doesn't get lost, lol)


Also, here's one of the three of them together

Now for the rest, we did some family pics, some with just the girls and I and some just the two of us. Hope you like them :)











This is one of my faves!!

Now with just three weeks to go, I think my next post will probably include our newest addition!

Precious Moments

As I was working on a project this morning, the girls called me over to take a picture of them and I saw the sweetest thing of them all cuddled up together on the couch :) These are moments I live for!

Moving Day And A Super Cool Experience!

So in a post about a month ago, I shared the really tough decision we made to move away from camp. Originally our tentative moving date was for the end of July. But now that Trev has a job (Praise the Lord!!) it works out best for us to leave sooner. Our current move date is May 26. With everything bumped up, reality is hitting a little harder that we won't be experiencing another summer here, or staff camp, or fall, or beautiful winters. . . . . . . and it is not easy. We have loved our time here, and learned and grown so much. As of now 90% of our married life memories are here and it is a little intimidating to begin a whole new kind of life somewhere else. Having said that, there is also the excitement of a new adventure, a very different way of life, being involved in a church and our girls going to public school. We will always look back so fondly of our time here but also move forwards with anticipation, a little nervous at the unknown, but still going confidently to where we believe God is leading us :)

Okay, so now, for the SUPER COOL EXPERIENCE! I was just outside with the girls before their typical rest time and Trev finds us and tells us we need to come and see something really cool. I immediately try to rack my brain as to what it could be, but came no where close!
The girls were in awe of what they saw. These pictures shows what that was :)


Yes that is a real baby bear that was born this winter! Our friend Greg (he is holding the bear) saw this poor baby running along the highway on his way back here to work and realised this baby must have no mother to be alone like that. So he picked him up (after chasing him two miles). They put the bear in our dog's kennel (much to Copper's chagrin) and fed him a little food that he devoured. So now it's just finding out what this bears fate will be. It is a cool once in a lifetime experience that could only happen in the bush! I am so glad we are still here to experience it!!
And last but not least. . . . Trev and I at the Jets game! It was so cool to have that experience! Being in the arena, hearing the crowds, smelling the scents, paying thru the nose for a package of licorice and the excitement, anticipation, disappointing plays! It was so great!! We loved it!! If it were possible we would totally go again and take our two older girls as well :) I have fond memories of going to Jets games with my dad and I would love for our girls to have that experience too! Maybe one day in the future :) For now, here's us waiting for the game to start.

A Slight Mishap

So, my hardworking hubby has been really helpful with getting stuff ready for Mother/Daughter camp next weekend. Today he built some frames for us that we want to use on the shelves. I was just going to paint them, but in the end we decided it would be quickest and easiest if he used trim paint (I was just going to use craft paint). So he took it back to the shop and within minutes I get a call from him saying he needs a new shirt because the paint can exploded on him, all over him and the floor to be exact. So I was just about to send one out with Chloe to him when he burst thru the door (pretty ticked, mind you) and I just couldn't help but laugh. He tried not to laugh and stay mad but I managed to get a picture of him with a smile. Keep in mind he already threw out his shirt because it was completely covered.

What happened was the paint can on the shelf he grabbed had not been closed properly and he just grabbed it and started to shake it to stir it up. . . . .and the rest is history.
I totally appreciate what he goes thru to help out :) He's THE BEST and I love him like crazy!!!

One More Thing

I forgot to add one adorable picture to my last post. Shiloh and her friend Mia were in the process of getting ready for bed when they decided to get into Shiloh's bed and settle down for the night! It's just toooo cute!!

Big Changes Are Coming Our Way

It's been 6 months since my last post! I thought I'd be better at this, ha ha! Oh well, we have been busy with homeschool, this pregnancy and just life in general. It's hard to believe Chloe and Natasha have had their birthday's, Christmas has come and gone, we're in the New Year and now February is just around the corner!! This fall/winter has been great though! We added two new families to the camp staff in Sept. and one couple just had a baby in Decemeber! Now we are anticipating another new little one in the next week or so. Then comes our baby in April! Where did the time go? The next few months are also going to fly by. We have some exciting things coming up! For example, GOING TO A JETS GAME!!!! Trev and I won tickets at my brother's wedding social, WOO HOO!! This is probably the biggest Valentine's date we'll have, ever!! We are so excited about it! And at the end of February I have maternity pics and a date with my amazing photographer friend Nancy. We have been friends for 13 years now! WOW!
Then Trev and I celebrate our 9th(!!!) anniversary and a month later our baby is due and then we're back into the whirlwind of spring and summer at camp.
This summer is going to be very different for us though. . . . .thru much prayer and deliberation, we have decided we will be leaving camp at the end of July. It breaks my heart to say this and yet we also believe it is the right choice for our family and are looking forwards to beginning this new chapter in our lives. Trev and I have spent all but 14 months of our married life here at camp. All of our children will have been born while living here, it is so beautiful here and we love camp so much!
But we know God has someone in mind to take on the Maintenance Manager position.
We know that God will take care of us and guide us thru this HUGE transition for our family.
If you think about it we have a few prayer requests as we prepare for all this to happen.
1. A job for Trev - we are exploring a couple of options but don't have anything set yet
2. A place to live - we are looking into short-term rental at the moment until we can get a mortgage
3. Chloe and Natasha will be attending public school. It will be a whole new normal for all of us with them is school.
Thank you! We really appreciate your prayers with this!

Now, just to catch up on a few pics over the past few months
Here the girls are ready for trick or treating (although Chloe was sick and stayed home with me)

and a bit of a photo shoot the next day


One of the Pursuit students has such a natural gift in photography, so she did some family pics for us




One of Shiloh's favorite things to do "cucker" are she calls it :)

Chloe and I had a 'Date Night'! It was so much fun to spend time one on one with her!!

Chloe and Anika wanted a Rapunzel birthday party, so we did just that with a cake tower and all!! They danced, played games and had a really good time!



The girls just love tractors!! Shiloh did NOT want to come off :)

Shiloh has discovered she can climb to the top of the couch and flick the lights on and off

We had friends out for tubesliding and fondue just after Christmas and the kids had a BLAST!! Even Shiloh loved going down again and again!



We had the Wilson Christmas out here at camp. Here's all the cousins and all the cousins with Grama and Papa Wilson



Us setting up our tree. It was Chloe's year to put the star on top


Well I think that just about catches us up on everything. Hopefully I get around to doing this much sooner, ha ha!