2009 - Our Year in Review

Now that I am married and have a family, I keep thinking every year that I should write a Christmas letter.  It hasn't happened yet.  In fact, this year, I didn't even make a Christmas card!
However, 2009 has been a pretty eventful year for us.  So, if I had written a Christmas letter, here's what might have been in it.
In January, we enjoyed a visit with my brother Josh and his fiancee Suzanne.  While they were here, we celebrated Christmas together up in Banff, threw them a bridal shower, and celebrated my mom's birthday.  A week or so after they left, I began feeling inexplicably nauseous.  After a few days of no other symptoms besides nausea, I realized that I was not coming down with the stomach flu that the rest of my family had had prior to Christmas and sent my husband for a pregnancy test.  Sure enough, we discovered, to our surprise, that our second little one was on the way!  We had hoped to have our kids pretty close together, so we were very excited with this news. 
In February, we celebrated Cole's first birthday.  We had a party with family and a couple of friends, and I made him a monkey cake.  Cole enjoyed digging into his little teddy cake that his daddy decorated for him.  He was such a mess at the end that he had to have a bath in the sink!  Although my maternity leave was over, we had decided before having kids that, if at all possible, we wanted for me to be able to stay at home with them.  I've always wanted to be a stay at home mom, and we both felt that it was important for us to raise them ourselves as much as possible.  So I applied for a year of unpaid leave from my job and began doing adoption and foster care home assessments on contract for a private agency.  This allows me to set my own hours, so for the most part, I'm only away from home when Jeff is home to take care of the boys, and I do my paperwork from home.  I've always enjoyed doing home assessments, although I have found finding the time to type them challenging with a toddler around!
In April, I also took a very part-time, temporary job at our church, leading the children's ministry.  In addition to recruiting and organizing volunteers, my job involved teaching the grade school class on Sunday mornings.  I'll admit, I was a bit intimidated.  In the past, I've only worked with the little ones - toddlers and preschoolers.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that I really enjoyed working with the older kids.  I enjoyed being able to have more in depth conversations with them, and see when they were really grasping what we were teaching. 
In June, Jeff, Cole and I took a trip down to Seattle to visit Josh and Suzanne, and my mom's family.  Mom came with us too.  We drove down, and Cole did great on the trip.  It helped to have an extra person along to entertain him.  We had a great time visiting with Josh and Suzanne, seeing the sights of Seattle, seeing where they planned to get married, and visiting mom's family.  We were there for Father's Day and had a barbeque at my aunt and uncles house, with my Grandpa and Grandma.  It was really special to be able to introduce Cole to his only living great-grandparents. 
In July, Jeff's brother Lawrence and his wife and son visited us.  We enjoyed having them here.  Cole liked having his older cousin here to play with.
In August, Josh and Suzanne got married.  Unfortunately, we had to miss the wedding, as it was only 2 1/2 weeks before Zach was due, and we didn't feel it would be safe to travel that far, especially out of the country, that close to his due date.  Given how quickly he arrived, that was probably a good decision!  I was very sad to miss the wedding, but got to see pictures and it looks like it was a beautiful day. 
On Labor Day weekend, we went out to Rowley and Drumheller for a Hansen/Ells family reunion.  We were a little nervous about going so close to my due date, but I really didn't want to miss it, so we took the chance.  We had a great time at the big family dinner in Rowley and brunch in Drumheller on Sunday. 
On Monday morning, Labor Day, I woke up around 5 am to use the bathroom.  When I went back to bed, I started having contractions and couldn't go back to sleep, so I got up to walk around and see if they would subside.  At 7, I decided it was probably time to wake Jeff up and head to the hospital.  We made it there with 20 minutes to spare and Zachary Arthur Lawrence Franklin was born at 8:34 am, after 3 very quick hours of labor.  A lot of women hate me for that! :)  Cutting it so close, I did the entire labor and delivery drug and intervention free, which was what I had really wanted.  Zachary weighed 7 lbs. 8 oz, and was 19 1/2 inches long.  We think he is going to have red hair, but right now, he's pretty bald, so it's hard to tell!  He was healthy from the start and continues to do very well.  My mom stayed with us for a few days after Zach was born to help out.  It was wonderful to have an extra set of hands to help out as we adjusted to having two children.  Cole has done very well with the adjustment and is a very affectionate and helpful big brother.  But, like any toddler would, he has moments of jealousy.  His current opinion is "Mama is Cole's and baby is dada's!" 
In October, Jeff's parents came out to visit for a couple of weeks.  We enjoyed having them here for Thanksgiving.  Cole warmed up to his grandparents quite quickly and really enjoyed the extra attention and playmates.  Unfortunately, the end of their visit was a bit marred by Cole's first bout with croup!  A couple of weeks after they were here, we found out that Jeff's dad needed open heart surgery.  In November, he had quadruple bypass surgery.  We are very thankful that he came through the surgery well and is recovering. 
In November, my dad turned 60.  We celebrated with a big family party, with over 50 people there!  The food was great and it was fun to hear everyone's memories of Dad!  We partied the whole weekend through, with a birthday party for my brother, who share's Dad's birthday, on Friday night, a party for all the November birthdays at the Danish Canadian Club on Saturday morning, and a baby shower for my cousin Chandelle and her little boy Gabe on Sunday.  It was so fun to see so much of our family on the weekend!
And that brings us to December, which of course, brings us to Christmas.  I have already posted about a lot of our events this month, so I won't bother recapping them.

All in all, it has been a wonderful year.  Our boys are a constant source of joy.  They are both so happy and are simply amazing.  Cole is learning new words and skills every day and makes me laugh all the time with the things he comes out with.  And Zach is so content and smiley and has the sweetest little giggle.  I could go on and on about them, so I will save that for another post!  For the most part, we have been healthy this year.  We've had a few stomach bugs and colds this fall, and the aforementioned croup, but are thankful that there has been nothing more serious.  I have been having problems with my gallbladder since Zach was born and apparently have numerous gallstones.  So I will likely be having surgery this coming year sometime to have that removed. 

We already have several things to look forward to in 2010.  Cole will celebrate his second birthday in February.  I've already started planning his party!  We have a new niece joining our family in April and another niece or nephew in May.  We are hoping to go visit Jeff's family in Thunder Bay in June.  And we are looking forward to another family wedding when my cousin Justin gets married in August.  I will continue to do the home assessments and may start providing care for 2 kids in March.  And we're very excited to see what else the year holds for us!

I was going to add pictures, but this post has already gotten very long, so I will do a separate post of our year in pictures!
We wish you all the best in 2010!!

Christmas Fun

As I'm sure it has for most of you, it has been a busy week in the Franklin house!  After a week of very chilly temperatures - I think down to about -37 with the windchill - the weather finally decided to warm up last weekend, and so we decided we'd better take advantage of it!  So, last Friday evening, we headed out to Airdrie to go to the Festival of Lights. We enjoyed looking at the light displays, riding the little train, and drinking warm chocolate. (It wasn't quite hot!)  Cole enjoyed running through the snow!  We also enjoyed visiting with our friends Scott and Gina and their kids.  On Saturday, we joined my parents and niece and nephew at Heritage Park for their Christmas Past celebration.  We didn't have too long there, but had time to take a ride in a horse drawn carriage and explore the park a little bit.  We will have to go back in the summer, as Jeff has never been there before.  Cole enjoyed climbing the snowdrifts while we waited in line for the carriage ride.  Although I could happily go without snow, it is fun to watch Cole enjoy it. 

At the Festival of Lights

Heritage Park

We spent the next few days baking, doing last minute shopping, and cleaning in preparation for Christmas, and Jeff's birthday, which is Christmas Eve.  I made three pans of fudge this year, and they all turned out perfect, which I am pretty darn proud of!  My arm hurt for a couple of days afterwards from all that beating!
Since Jeff had the day off on his birthday this year, I decided to throw him a brunch party rather than trying to get people down here in the evening on Christmas Eve - something we're often not that successful with.
We made crepes and ham and eggs and had about 20 people here for brunch.  Not a bad turnout!  We had a great time visiting with family and friends, some of whom we don't get to see as often as we'd like.  After that, it was off to the Christmas Eve service at church.  Then we went to deliver some of that home-made fudge to our neighbors, then home to get the boys to bed and wrap their Christmas presents.  Nothing like leaving that to the last minute!  They couldn't go under the tree until then anyways though, because we have a very curious toddler who thinks brightly colored paper is an invitation for him to start tearing away!

Jeff's birthday party

I've tried to start a few traditions as a family.  Our boys both got new pyjamas on Christmas Eve, to wear that night.  Zach's First Christmas PJ's came from his Grandma and Grandpa Hansen.  The boys also got Christmas books from them, which we read at bedtime.  I think that's another tradition I'm going to start, as we want to make sure our boys know what Christmas is really all about.  Christmas morning was delightful, watching Cole's excitement as he opened his stocking and his presents.  We had a quiet Christmas morning, with just our family here.  Jeff's parents joined us on Skype, to watch the boys open their presents, since they can't be here in person. Then in the afternoon, we headed over to my sister's house for dinner with my family.  We had a wonderful dinner and the boys got spoiled by their grandparents and aunties and uncles.  Cole had a great time playing with his cousins, and Zach enjoyed the attention as well.  We missed my brother and his wife, but got to talk to them on the phone.  Cole is enjoying playing with all his new toys, and is playing with his Little People racetrack with his dad as I type.  Zach will love his in a few months!  I am enjoying my Christmas present as well, which I got a month early, a new Canon DSLR camera. 
All in all, we had a wonderful Christmas!  After spending several years without my family here at Christmas, while they were in Africa and I was here, I treasure each Christmas we get to spend together all the more.  And now that I have children of my own, and they have cousins to play with, it is even more special to be able to be together at Christmas time.  The only shadow is that Jeff's family is not able to be with us too.  But one of these years, we will head down there for Christmas. 

Christmas morning

Reflections on becoming a mom

Those that know me, even a little bit, probably know that I have always wanted to be a mom.  My mom tells me that even when I was tiny, I talked about it!  However, those that know me well, also know that there was a time when I thought that might never be in the cards for me.
When I was 21, in my third year of university, my body started acting strange.  I won't go into too much detail, for the sake of any male readers I might have, but things that were supposed to be happening, just suddenly, stopped happening.  After months of doctor's visits and research on the internet, I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome.  Basically, that means that my ovaries do not work the way they are supposed to, so I don't ovulate regularly, or sometimes, at all.  It also meant that it could be very difficult or even impossible for me to get pregnant.  Although I was not married or trying to have a baby at the time, this was a huge blow to me.  I was devastated at the possibility of being infertile.  I was angry, hurt, disappointed, you name it.  Although I didn't know for sure that I would not be able to conceive, I think I grieved as if it were a certainty.  I was angry with God.  I felt like he had given me the desire to become a mom, and then, in an instant, ripped it all away from me. 
Over the next eight years, I struggled to accept the possibility that I would never get pregnant with my own child.  During this time, I did a practicum for university at a private adoption agency, and then, a few years later, began working in adoptions through Children's Services.  Although I'd always been aware of adoption - I had friends who were adopted or whose families had adopted children - this was the first time that I actually seriously considered it as a way to build a family; the first time I considered it as an option for myself.  While working in Children's Services, I fell in love with many of the children I worked with and placed in adoptive families.  Their stories both broke my heart and inspired me.  And over time, I began to accept that maybe I didn't have to give birth to be a mom.  Maybe there were children out there who needed me as a mother, and maybe that was God's plan for me.
Of course, during all this, I still wasn't married, so I was missing a very important ingredient for having a child biologically anyways!  In December 2005, Jeff and I started dating. The first night we started dating, I told him that I may never be able to have children.  His response was that if we couldn't, we'd adopt.  I think I knew right then that he was "the one."  One month later, my body started showing signs that things were starting to work again!  Those first couple of months were very painful and stressful, but by the time we got married in May 2007, everything seemed to be back to normal.  Still, I was afraid to dare to hope that I might be able to get pregnant.  It had been so long that I'd feared, even convinced myself, that I never would.  We started trying right away, but were prepared for a long wait.  When I got a positive pregnancy test just over a month after we got pregnant, I was still afraid to believe it, to hope that it was actually happening.  Although the nausea soon made it very apparent that I was indeed pregnant, it took most of the pregnancy, maybe until delivery, before the reality that this was really happening for me, set in.   I spent more time than I should have worrying that something would go wrong, that this wasn't really happening.  But on February 14, 2008, God's greatest gift to us arrived in a tiny, 5 lb. 3 oz package.  It's fitting that he arrived on a day that is a celebration of love!  And just 18 1/2 months later, on September 7, 2009, God gave us an equally wonderful and incredible gift, in the birth of our second baby boy.
Although I wanted to be a mom for as long as I could remember, I had never imagined how much love I would have for my little boys, and how much I would love being a mother!  I feel like I have been blessed beyond measure, and definitely beyond what I deserve!  We believe that our boys are miracles and are gifts from God.  Their names reflect this - Cole's second middle name is Matthew, which means "gift from God."  Zachary's name means "God remembers."  Despite all those years when I battled with Him, thinking he had forgotten about me, He never did.
I believe that God has a plan for everything that happens in our lives.  I don't completely understand why he allowed me to battle with the possibility of infertility for 8 years, but I have a few ideas.  I think that it made me more compassionate and understanding in my job.  I definitely know that it gave me a greater appreciation for my children!  And it opened my eyes and my heart to to the idea of building my family through adoption.  Although we are thrilled to be able to have children biologically, the desire to provide a family for children who need one is still heavy on my heart.  Perhaps one day, we will be able to do that.

Trimming the tree

We finally got our tree up this past weekend.  Cole wasn't feeling great, so wasn't all that interested in helping to decorate it, but on Sunday, he finally got in on some of the action.  Of course, now that he's feeling better, he's very interested in rearranging all the ornaments!!

Every year, I get each of the kids a special ornament (well, that's my plan anyways, this is only my 2nd year having kids at Christmas!)  This year, Cole got a Winnie the Pooh ornament, because he loves Pooh. Here he is hanging it on the tree. 

Helping daddy put the angel on the tree.

"Fixing" mommy's beads.

My littlest Christmas angel.  He loves looking at the lights on the tree!

Christmas cookies!

I love Christmas!  I love pretty much everything about it, except for trying to find a parking spot at the mall!  But my favorite thing about Christmas is family.  I love to do family activities at Christmas, like baking cookies, looking at Christmas lights, and of course, putting up the tree.  I have been so excited for this Christmas because Cole is now old enough to start enjoying some of those activities too.  We made our first batch of Christmas cookies together on Friday night.  We made shortbread cookies, and Cole loved it!  He was so excited to cut out the cookies!  Every time he cut one out, he said "Yay!"  He didn't quite get that you only cut out the cookies once, so some cookies have two or three shapes to them. :)  And more sprinkles ended up on the cookie sheet, floor, and in Cole's mouth, than on the cookies.  But it was wonderful!  Cole keeps asking to make "kissies" (his word for cookies) and "push" -because that's what I told him to do when he put the cookie cutters in.  So, we'll probably be making a few more batches.  Which is good, because we've just about finished these ones up already, and Christmas is still 13 days away!

No, mom did not brush my hair this morning!                      

Sorry the pictures are out of order!  I'm still figuring this stuff out!

In the blink of an eye...

I'm Becky, and this is my blog. I've been thinking about starting one for awhile, and figured December is a good time to start.  There should be lots to post about and I'll definitely have plenty of pictures to post.In fact., my blog should maybe come with a warning lable: If you do not enjoy looking at numerous pictures of insanely cute kids, don't read this blog!  I tend to maybe go a little overboard on pictures of my kids.  But I come by it honestly!

Four and a half years ago, I celebrated my 29th birthday.  It was a little depressing.  I was entering the last year of my 20s and was still as single as can be.  Those that know me know how much I always wanted to be a mom, and approaching the ripe old age of 30 still single made me sure it was never going to happen.  But when we least expect it, God steps in.  Three months later, I met Jeff.  By the time I turned 30, I was engaged and planning a wedding.  By my 31st birthday, I was married and had just found out we were expecting our first baby.  And now four and a half short years later, here I sit, my 22 month old son down for a nap and my 3 month old sleeping in my arms as I type.  When I turned 29, I never would have expected this would be my life in such a short time.  But in the blink of an eye, everything changed, and I could not be happier.  Life is crazy sometimes, okay, most of the time, but it's the life I always wanted.