Dear Greta: 4 Months

Dear Greta,

You are now 4 months! It seems like I was writing your 3 month letter just yesterday so time is flying by and you are growing so fast.  You had a busy last month as Oma & Opa came to visit you for 10 days.  It was a great time for them to visit as you began to smile a lot more.  Unfortunately you continued to have some evening fussy time and cried all evening and won't take a bottle the first time they got to babysit you!

Your Stats:

• weight: 10 lbs 7 oz
• length: 21 1/2 inches 

About You:

You are finally starting to look like Mommy! As your cheeks get chubbier you are beginning to look like I did as a baby. You still look like Daddy too but it is so nice to finally see a bit of me!  You are starting to get a more consistent sleeping schedule - yay! You go to bed around 8:30 - 9 in the evening and sleep until 3:30 - 4 when you need to eat so much better than the previous every 2 hour wakings.  

Things you like:

• You smile every time we whistle or click our tongues
• Rattles and anything that make noise

Your cousin Rayden loves you so much! Everytime we visit he wants to hold you and lie down beside you - he can't wait until you can play with him.  You attended your first wedding for Auntie Melanie and Uncle Joe this month.  You got a little cranky during speeches but did good otherwise.

Auntie Sarah hosted a "Sip & See" for you this past month and many people came out to meet you and bring your gifts.  You got so many nice clothes and plenty of books which we look forward to reading to you as you grow!

You change everyday and reach new milestones so quickly! The months keep flying by and I enjoy my time watching you grow.

Love,

Mommy, Daddy and Milka

Dear Greta: 3 Months

Dear Greta,

I have been contemplating writing you a monthly letter since you were born.  I had considered creating an e-mail account to which I'd send this letter for you to read when your older but was unsure if it would potentially get deleted overtime. I have thought I would physically write you a letter that you could hold when your older and cherish the art of letter writing but in the end I have decided to write it here so I can add photos and because you are the center of our Pretty Prairie Life. {also I believe that there is a way I can turn these posts into a book one day in the future}

Today you are 3 months old! You have been home with us now for almost 2 months and you are now starting to experience many of your firsts.  Since you were born early, your development is tracked by your adjusted age.  Your adjusted age is 3 weeks (because you are 13 weeks old but born 10 weeks early). You are starting to notice more of your environment and tracking us with your eyes, you are starting to give us little smiles and you are getting stronger and bigger each and everyday.

Your Stats: {we just visited the public health nurse the other day to see how well your growing and she was so amazed!}

• weight: 8lbs 9oz
• length: 20 1/4  inches

About You:

Just like from the day you were born you look so much like your daddy!  But, as you begin to gain and grow your cheeks are getting chubbier you are starting to look a bit like mommy! You definitely have mommy nose.  When you are tired or upset your "stork bites" on your nose, forehead and eyelids become more prominent but are beginning to fade and you have a birth mark on the back of your head.  Your hair is starting to darken from its original blonde and your blue eyes eyes melt our hearts everyday!  Your sleep schedule is not yet consistent - sometimes you sleep for 5 hours at a time and others you have lots of gas and don't sleep well. We are trying to figure it out and hope that we all start getting more sleep in the coming weeks.  You sleep well during the day when you take naps in your bouncy chair.

Things you like:  

• Your favorite spot is on Daddy or mine's chest - especially when you need to sleep.
• You like when I read "Everywhere Babies" & "Big Bear, Little Bear" to you - your eyes light up at the sound of my voice.
• You listen to Jewel's "Lullaby" album to help you go to sleep.
• Your love sitting in your bouncy chair while mommy bakes in the afternoons.
• You actually enjoy tummy time and I think you would sleep great at night on your tummy - but that is against "doctors orders"          

We are so proud of how well you are growing.  You are full of life and strength!  We cannot wait to see you continue to grow and make gains over the coming months.  This next month is going to be exciting for you as you finally get to meet Oma & Opa Krause face-to-face rather than just over Skype as they are coming to visit you from Germany!  It will be an excellent visit for them as I'm sure they will see lots of changes happen in the two short weeks they will be here.

We love you, Greta and you fill everyday with such joy!

Love,

Mommy, Daddy and Milka

Hello September!

September, my favourite month and the beginning of the loveliest season -  FALL!  Over the last week we have been experiencing record high temperatures for the month of August (everyday above 30 C) and I am hoping that the weather will begin to cool as I'm not a big fan of the heat.  I'm my happiest in a sweater and scarf, some boots and sipping a pumpkin spice latte.  We were married in September as I didn't want to sweat in my gown, and because September in my favorite month not only because of the change in temperature and colors but because I always thought of it is more of the "new year" than January,  I always think that September is a time for new beginnings and changes.

Last September, I had begun my masters program and it truly one of the best first weeks of school during my university career! As much as I love the daily cuddles with Greta and seeing her begin many of her firsts - I do miss the class that I became apart of so fast and enjoyed the company of everyday.  I am lucky that although I am not with them daily this year they still include me as one of their peers and love Greta too! But now I embark on a new beginning.

This September, is the season I will cherish becoming a better mother rather than better student - where I will have sleepless nights cuddling my sweet girl instead of writing papers or cramming for exams, where my lesson in normal development will come from watching Greta grow and interact with her environment rather than from a textbook, and where finding balance will involve finding time to have a shower rather than making time for family and friends amongst endless deadlines and due date {or find the time to write a blog post...as Greta is sleeping on my chest as I write this}.

Next September, I will be a mother AND a student, which will bring about more challenges than I know I can predict.  It will be a season where I believe I will encounter the biggest changes of all.  So for now I will embrace my time as just a mother, as I know the things I learn this year will be more than I will ever learn in the classroom and will help be become the me I'm suppose to be.

Happy September.

Due Date!

Today, was the day Greta was "predicted" to arrive! Which makes her a term baby today.  As rough as the first 2 months of her life have been on our family emotionally - I'm not sure I would change it.  It has taught me how much strength I have to deal with difficult situations and many other things about myself but mostly I wouldn't change it because I have gotten to spend two more months than most parents do with their baby.  We are lucky that she was strong and was able to come home from the hospital after just over a month so that not all of those 2 months were spend in the atmosphere of the hospital.  I cherish every cuddle, every kiss and each moment with my girl in the comfort of our home.

I am excited to see her progress now that she is term.  She should slowly start to reach the milestones that other newborns do - and I am most excited to have her smile, a smile that I know is not gas but a true smile! Now the exciting time of watching her continue to grow begins!

 

New look!

I've done a few changes to the blog as I wanted a more streamlined and simple look.  I really am not that great at the customization of the blog using HTML but I think I figured it out?! Let me know what you think and if you have any tips on customization, I really want to change up the header but not sure how to do it.

Have a great day. Be back with some updates and posts soon!

Settling into being home

Greta has been home for over two weeks now!  I thought by now we would have been settled into a routine, but she seems to be a very different baby than I knew in the hospital.  In the hospital, I would frequently ask the nurses if it was normal for her not to cry a lot and they would say don't worry - she does!  Well now that we are home - I know she does!  She is a lot fussier, whether it's the change in environment or routine, I'm unsure.  But, I am not going to complain because she is HERE with us so I will deal with it all and take it in stride.

I am so thankful for my husband.  He has been amazing at night, helping out and even taking care of her while letting me sleep.  Soon harvest will start and he won't be around as much so I will soon have to do it on my own - so I hope we get into a routine soon!

Greta is growing fast - and I feel we are starting to see her personality.  She is my sweet girl and the love I have for her is indescribable! She changes everyday and every morning I look into her eyes - I fall even more in love with this precious gift.  She is so strong and makes me want to be a better person, mom and is teaching me more about myself each day.  I can't wait for her to grow - but while I wait I will enjoy our daily cuddles, her smell, her tiny hands and feet because it all reminds me of the pure bliss I feel having her in our lives.

I'll leave you with some sweet photos I took for her birth announcements

Day 38

So it has been over a month since I posted last {wow - it seems like that went fast}.  As much as I thought I would have time to write about this experience - it just hasn't happened.  My daily routine has become getting up at 6am to pump (which means I'd also been up at 12am and 3am - if I didn't sleep though the alarm), going back for a little snooze time 730 when we get up, have breakfast and I call in to see how Greta did overnight.  Then I do some things around the house like a load of laundry or something in the nursery before having a shower and pumping again at 9.  I then pack up for day and head to the hospital to be with our girl.  If, Matt comes in with me that day we generally leave later and I have time to do more things around the house. I stay with Greta until 5 or 6 then head home for the evening.  I am usually beat and have to admit that we don't generally have very good suppers if any at all - especially when it's hot in the house.

It has been quite the month but have to say that Greta generally had good days - which we know we are lucky to experience. She has had days where she is tired but no major setbacks in her progress.  Which means that we hope this routine will soon end and we will start a new one that will generally involve being in our own home. 

 

 

 

Hopefully we have this sweet face at home by next week.  I know again it will be busy and I will not post frequently but hope to be back to share Greta's nursery and other experiences of her being home.  In the interim you can follow me on Instagram {@prettyprairie} to see Greta photos and stay updated.

Hope to be back soon!

Day 12

Today, is the twelfth day that Greta has been in the hospital.  The first 10 days were spent in the NICU and yesterday (because we have been waiting for a bed for a week!) she finally was transferred to the Intermediate Care Nursery.  This is a step down unit as she does not require as much one on one care (yay! progress!).  It is much calmer on this unit, less beeping of monitors as many of the babies here don't require them anymore.  I am more relaxed and I feel Greta is too.  The only downfall is that there seems to be less room around her isolette and the chairs are far less comfy to spend the hours I do with her skin-to-skin.  Our next mission is to see if she will nurse or take a bottle so that we can get her off tube feeds and one step closer to home!

I'm starting to recover from my C-section and able to a bit more so during the times I'm not with Greta, I'm working on preparing her nursery for her arrival home...on and the rest of my time is spent pumping.  I am a slave to my alarm and the breast pump every.two.hours!  Ugh, I would so much rather be awoken by my sweet girl and cuddle her instead of the constant hum of the pump.  It's funny, I've read other "baby/mommy" blog and their constant obsessions with pumping or breastfeeding. Now I see where they're coming from, you want to provide the best nutrients for your little one and can come obsessed.  But, at the same time I grew up a farmgirl on a dairy farm and I definitely feel like a dairy cow hooked up to a machine at 2am (is that a bad analogy?)! haha!

It's been a while: school, pregnancy and a baby!

I started this blog as an outlet to share some of what was going on in my life, and then I got busy with school and had not time to write.  A lot has happened in the last 10 months since I last posted.

School was going great.  I absolutely fell in love with Occupational Therapy and my classmates were amazing - I love the relationships I have formed with this group of people.  September to November was full of school assignments, exams and learning so much information.  Then November and December I got to put that knowledge to use as I complete my first stretch of fieldwork at a local hospital.  It was a great experience and I was so happy to have found my groove and then get a good Christmas holiday in Germany with my in-laws.

Then, 24 hours before the wheels were to go up on the plane that would fly us to Germany, it donned on me - I had been so busy with school/fieldwork that I hadn't realized that I was late (yep - that kinda late).  So, just a few hours before we prepared to fly to Germany (the time in Germany and the flight is enough for a post of it's own!), I'm taking a pregnancy test and finding out that we are expecting! That was one Christmas present I tell ya! We were surprised (which is a whole other story about being told I would have trouble getting pregnant..) and ecstatic!  But, I was also confused - I had one more year of my Masters to complete, what was I to do?  The pregnancy couldn't have been better timed as 9 months meant that I could fully complete my first year; finishing my second fieldwork at the end of June, having July off and baby would arrive in August. I would take the next year a maternity leave and go back with another class to finish my second year.  After meeting with the Dean, when we started tell people it all fell into place.  My classmates were all supportive - threw us a baby shower and were happy to have an honourary OT by the way!

Everything was perfect ... and then ... four weeks into my eight week fieldwork, I woke up in the middle of the night with what I thought was terrible, terrible heartburn, but after over an hour of pain and no relief we headed to the ER.  I was quickly diagnosed with HELLP syndrome - and told that the only treatment for HELLP was to deliver baby as it was her placenta that was causing my symptoms.  So, there I was 30 weeks pregnant, facing the reality that I was one, not going to have the natural birth I had anticipated as I was told c-section was our best option and two, going to be the mother to a preemie born at 30 weeks and would be spending up to the next 10-12 week in the NICU/hospital with our baby girl.

We were able to hold off delivery for two days, allowing me to receive steroids that would help the baby's lungs develop quicker and prepare for life outside the womb. 

Then on June 5th, 2013 at 7:01pm out little miracle Greta Elyse Krause arrived into our lives weighing 2lbs 9oz - and changed our lives in the blink of an eye.

This blog will now be an outlet for me to share out experience of parenthood, the NICU and raising our baby girl. So follow along and watch our little girl grow and become the strong little, feisty girl we know she'll become.  Our pretty prairie life is about to become a lot more interesting!

Saskatoons!

Hey Y'all!

 

It's the end of my third week of school, and it's been keeping me super busy.  Busy working on assignments and papers that blogging has taken the back burner, sorry!  I am really enjoying school, I have an amazing group of classmates and have really enjoyed getting to know them and making new friendships.  I am definately super happy with my decision to enter this field, almost everyday for the last few weeks I've had a "OT's do that?!? Wow!" moments.  There are so much diversity in this program and I enjoy learning it all.

 

We have been talking a lot about culture and cultural awareness, due to the diversity of the clientele we will meet.  As part of this week had a cultural potluck, where we were to bring food that were culturally meaningful to us.  As I mostly identify myself as a Canadian I decided I would take something they felt was quintessentially "Canadian Prairie's" -- a saskatoon pie! Mmmm..have you had saskatoon's?!? Best berry ever and add it to a pie -- be still my heart, get me my fat pants it's chowtime! LOL. It was nice to take a break from the books and hit the kitchen, which is my happy place! 

 

But, it's back to the books again today.  So I'll leave you with a little saskatoon food porn, in the form of a pie, galette and turnovers.  Feast your eyes my friends and if you like follow me on Instagram @prettyprairie!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy weekend.

 

xoxo

lyrics

So I'm a HUGE country music fan and I know a lot of people out there are not. Lots of people think that country music is the stereotypical stuff of beer drink, wife leaving and truck driving songs. Yes, they exist and I like some of those too. But, there are some that come along that have great lyrics that really stick with you. Currently I am loving the song, "Glass" by Thompson Square. Here is my favorite part:

I've had the song on repeat, go check it out!  What is your favorite genre of music? Do you like country music?

Hoping for the perfect fit.

I am about to embark on my journey of returning to school. I have been prepared for the fact that I would return to school to complete my Masters, but I wasn't prepared fully for it to be in the particular field I will begin my studies in, in just a few weeks.

You see, for the last 10 years, since I graduated high school {mind blown - time flies!} I've been preparing for, immersed myself in and urned passionately to become a Physical Therapist. That has been the career I have dreamed of.  Now, I guess fate - or life - had another plan for me. It seemed no matter how many times I had applied, how many course I had redone, or how many years I had waited for this program to become a Masters rather than a Bachelors degree the stars never seem to align.  So this past year after 5 applications, 3 interviews, 5 years of school, 3 or 4 retaken classes to improve grades and being waitlisted once - I gave up.  Well maybe not gave up, but I surcame to fate.  In addition to applying for Physical Therapy, I also applied to another department in the Medical Rehabilitation Faculty: Occupational Therapy.  Luck would have it, I applied, had an interview and got accepted!

Now, over the last couple months since accepting the offer, I have to admit that I have not been elated - to say the least. I have hummed and hawed, over and over again.  I have cried, I have been angry and I have wonder how I could just give up on a ten-year dream and move on.  Moving on is hard, especially from a dream that I have told every soul I have met and talk about all the time. How am I going to face people? What are people going to think? These questions have continually crossed my mind.

Then after talking with friends - and of course my mother - I realized, that many peoples lives changes paths.  No one is going to hold it against me that even though my Dream/Future Plans in the high school yearbook states Physical Therapy and I am not on that path. Newsflash - half the peoples lives are nowhere near what they had planned.  My problem was that I had planned my life so fully around one idea/concept/dream that I never gave anything else a chance. Plus, for those of you who know the fields, Physical Therapy (PT) and Occupational Therapy (OT) are similar and also have differences - and maybe the differences and ideas that set OT apart from PT are where I will excel.

That is why I am hoping that this choice is the perfect fit. You see my main focus on PT was because I love learning about the body, and in particular how it works {hence my degree in Human Movement} but I also wanted to help individuals restore movement to continue with tasks. Now in PT I would be doing this by using exercise, soft-tissue techniques and other health care related modalities to help recover from injury.  Now with OT, I will be trying to restore movement to complete tasks, but be going about it using different methods, some similar with exercise, tissue work - but the part that I think has helped me realize that this may be the perfect fit, is that I will get to use some creativity - bring in some arts and crafts ideas and brainstorm different ways to approach the tasks at had. In the end, physical therapy would have left me doing just that a lot of physical work that may be hard on my body in years to come, but with occupational therapy I can use all of my body: physically, mentally and creatively. 

So I'm putting on my creative hat, using my love and passion for the human body and keeping my will to help others regain their lives - and letting fate take its course as I begin my journey this August - hoping I have found the niche to excel my career!

So tell me: Have you stayed on course and never gave up? Have you flip-flopped careers, life paths? Do you believe fate has a way of getting you on track? I would love to hear your experiences and ideas!

Happy Friday.



wow, it's August!

Wow. It's been a month since I blogged, and what a month it was!

Africa, was ah-mazing. Best experience of my life. I hope to share the details and some photos from the trip but things are in full swing around here with harvest. I quit my job before we left for Africa in order to prepare myself for school, but I am working this August on the farm with my husband. It has (and will continue) to be busy until we get the crop off.

Just stopping by to say, "Hi!"

Also sitting on the combine, gives me a great perspective of the prairies I love - so I have been "clicking and driving"! Here are some photos I have snapped while on the big machine.

Enjoy!

Hope to be back soon with some Africa photos and stories!

summer water

It's summer and it's hot.  So we need to keep cool and hydrated - and as much as I would love to enjoy a nice cold Pimm's everytime I needed to "wet my whistle" it's not that hydrating and frankly the hangovers aren't as easy to recover from a they used to be!

So I found myself something that's similar and refreshing. Simply: I infused water with mint, cucumber and lemons - and man is it tasty!

Just cut up your lemons, and cucumber and add about 10-12 mint leaves to the water, let it sit for 12-24 hours and ENJOY!

What's your favorite summer drink?



desk DIY

When I found out that I was going back to school this fall - I immediately knew one of the first things I needed to get working on was creating a nice office space. I needed to make a space that would make me happy to spend hours and hours studying in {err...that "studying" is what I dread!}. 

First order of buisness would need to be a desk. You see, I have had the same desk in my possession since I was 12 {so not that long.....lol} and it was not very functional; in fact throughout my undergrad it was a nice dumping ground corner display space in my little apartments bedroom and the dining room table ended up as my "desk".  So when I got thinking about a functional desk for me I knew I needed a large, wide "table" like space to fulfill my study needs.  While searching online and purusing pinterest I found this World Market beauty! Problem: they don't ship to Canada. Well not actually that big of a problem I could have got it shipped to the border pickup and went and got it but when I did a little more research I found this building plan.  After showing it to my husband we decided we he would follow the plans and build it ourselves himself.

In the end we adjusted a few measurements, made the desk higher and wider, and ended up with some a little different than either of the original inspirations but I absolutely LOVE it! I am so happy to have a handy husband who was patient as I changed my mind a few several times along the way.

After it was built - it was my DIY turn.  I had really wanted the desk to have a rustic/weathered feel to it and had read on pinterest {of course where else!?} that if you let steel wool sit in vinegar for 24-36 hours you could "ebonize" or "weather" wood. So I gave it a shot. After testing it on sample pieces, I found that it was a lot more "weathered" than I would like. So after further research - I prepped the wood with steeped tea - let it dry and then applied the vinegar-steel wool mixture. Turned out perfect!

Finished it off with some Tung Oil to seal it and voila! I have my dream desk for far less than it would have been to purchase.

Next I hope to recover the chair, create some shelving, add a chalk/cork board and add a little more style to this office!

So what do you think? If you want some tips further on the construction, staining or finishing process feel free to leave a comment or send me a mail!


 

so it begins...

{pretty corner of my desk}

I'm still a few months from the beginning of school and I am already busy with "school-related" stress.  Paperwork and more paperwork has been on my plate, from filling out applications for a student loan to providing my immunization records to my faculty, then add on the prep for our honeymoon, finishing up my last couple weeks of work and trying to keep our home in order I am nearing the end of my sanity - and it's only just begun. Yikes! Thank goodness we have Africa to look forward too for a bit of R&R before it begins again.

My hubby and I have been busy prepping my office for an ideal study area and we DIY'ed a desk.  It turned out really, really great - I'm so happy and I love that I am writing my blog from it today {much better than on the couch on the little coffee table. 

Stay tuned, I'm working on a post to show you the process and reveal the desk! If you follow me over on Instagram you have already seen it.

Have a happy weekend!



Honeymoon Talk!

I'm writing this post to you sitting on my patio soaking up the rays of +30 celcius sun and listening to some Florence + the machine {love}!  We will be leaving for our honeymoon {squeal; I've been waiting for this since last September} in Kenya and Tanzania in just over a month!!  I am currently in preparation mode, thinking of what I need to purchase, pack, double check etc etc.

  Sitting here with bead of sweat dripping from my brow {hyperhydrosis much?!} I am realizing I also need to prepare for the HEAT. I am NOT a heat lover, well not unless I'm near a pool/beach/lake and sipping a fancy cold cocktail.  It has me thinking and probably you as well, "why are you going to Africa then? silly girl!"  Well the answer to that is that even though I don't like heat, I like adventure! Add spending 2 solid weeks of no work, potentially seeing the most amazing landscapes and animals EVER all with my best friend, husband and co-adventurer - I'll suffer in the heat because the experience will be worth it. 

Guess Africa may have not been the most romantic choice for "honeymoon destination" as I don't think romantic involves the constant scent of bug spray, potentially having delusion from malaria medication, chances of lion attacks and probably being sweaty, smelly and dirty while driving across the Savannah on a jeep.  But I guess I look at it - that we said for better, for worse why not test him out on some of "the worse" early on ;)  Plus we can share our "romantic" time while in Zanzibar where I will be sipping those said cocktails on the beach, so we get the best of both worlds with this adventure!

How did you spend your honeymoon? Did you take one, or not?  So many of my previous co-workers, family member and people I talked to said they never took a honeymoon. After hearing that my husband and I made a promise that we would take one within the first year - and we would make it memorable no matter what it took.  Well we have made good on that promise, and although we now have a dwindling bank account we will have memories we hope to share and talk about for a lifetime!

via 

Caution: Changes Ahead

I am currently working on "beautifying" the blog.  I don't have Photoshop but am currently trying to figure out how to use Paint.net.  I've been wanting to work the title image a bit but am having a hard time figuring out "layers". You may see a few changes over the next little bit - hopefully for the better!

Yay for Thursday - it's almost the weekend! My husband and I are planning on working on a little DIY home decor I hope to share with you soon.

Our Little Diva

I purchased my first DSLR a little while back and am currently learning how to use it before we head to Africa in July.  We had a beautiful scene at the beach while at the lake this weekend so we got Milka to sit for a little photoshoot.

This diva loves the camera and steals out hearts!

xoxo

Kelli



Weekend Update

This weekend was a long weekend for us in Canada, and as has been the tradition for the last 5 or so years we headed to the Whiteshell to friend's of our cabin to enjoy a little getaway.

As most May longs it turned out the weather was a little unpredictable. Saturday started off rainy so our day was inside consisting of chatting, pictionary and of course I enjoyed a few Pimm's and Ceasars.  We lucked out that it clear off into the evening and were able to enjoy a colorful sunset on "the rock".

Sunday turned out to be a lovely day and we relaxed on the beach, went for a hike and just enjoyed the sunshine and peacefulness of the lake.

and we were graced with this beautiful sunset

Times sure have changed from the first few years we made this trip - where we partied till the sun came up.  The addition of children {or in our case, dogs!} and the ages inching closer to 30 and beyond - it's more a family-friendly weekend.  Meaning today I am nursing a sunburn, not a 3 day long hangover and am not sure whether to celebrate or mourn the loss of my 20's.

Do you have a tradition that has continued for years but you have noticed begining to change with the changes of life?

Have a great week! I hope to blog more as I have been a bit silent!

xoxo

Kelli