Our adorable children.

I've given myself the challenge to try to take equal amounts of photos of each of the kids. It's so easy to get caught up with the newborns and forget to photograph the constantly changing older children. Naomi will actually chant her name after a photo until you show her the picture you just took of her. It's kind of funny.

Anyway here is a photo of our little man flexing his muscles.

Our little camera hog. She loves to be in front of the camera, and smile for it. I just love her cheesy smile.

Aric's sister Casey came for a visit last week. It was nice to  have here. I know that Naomi was glad to have someone pay so much attention to her. She loved having someone read to her while mom was otherwise busy with Sylas. Went to the park one day, as that is pretty much her favorite place to go. Here she is on the way to the park hand-in-hand with Auntie Casey.

Of course we cannot go to the park without playing on the swings.

Here we are happy to be laying with bubbles.

Doing some exploring on our own.

Enjoying the big swings

On Sunday afternoon we took a short walk in the Millcreek ravine in hopes of getting some family photos done. Aric taught her to throw rocks in the creek.  It was hard to get her to pose for pictures after that. She just wanted to play.

 Our attempts at family photos. The best one you see at the top of our page.

 Auntie Casey and the Gnomster. 

 Casey and Sylas (looking so handsome)

It was a nice treat to have Casey visit. I think she was little sad the night she flew in, as it was raining, and really not different from her Seattle home. But it cleared up nicely over night and we had nice weather the whole time he was here. We took in the farmers market on the Saturday and enjoyed a nice walk down Whyte Avenue. Casey I need your email address so I can send you all the pictures of the you and the kids. Thanks again for coming.

Not much is happening in our lives. We are still applying for every job Aric sees these days. There is one in Beaumont that he has applied for. One of his co-workers kids goes to that school, so she said she will go and put in a good word for hm. That is in the Blackgold  district that he spent a couple of months working in last year, so had a great reference from that district. That would be wonderful. Please remember to keep us in you prayers so we can find a job asap and plan out what we will be doing in the future.

We love you all and love to hear from you.

Lots of changes.

Our beautiful Naomi.

Just lounging around.

Wow, where does one start on a month of so many changes. I guess we will start with the most obvious one.
I'm no longer fat.
Sylas Alexander Wutzke was born to us on the evening of Thursday April 26, 2012. Yes, yet another shared birthday in the Harker family. The cousin that he will celebrate his birthday with is Benson Bateman, who turned 5 this year.
We really weren't anticipating that they would share would a birthday, as I went into labor the day before. We were trying for a VBAC (vaginal birth after c-section) this time. I started to feel mild contractions around 2:30 Wednesday afternoon, and by the time Aric got home around 4:30, there was no question that these were real. By about 6:45 we called up Chelsea and asked her to come over and stay with Naomi for the night as were going to be heading to the hospital. She got there in time to watch vomit everything up that I had had for lunch. Now there was nothing left in my system.
We got to the hospital around 8 that night with contractions about every 3-5 minutes and lasting around 1-1.5 minutes long.We went into emergency admitting was closed for the night. They took me upstairs to check me out. I laid around for a few hours at about 1 cm. They had offered me some morphine with graval to help with the pain. Well that caused the ice chips that I had been munching on and the last little bit of anything in the stomach to come up. I do not remember the last time I threw up that much. I think it was around 11pm that they decided to admit to the hospital even though I was still only at 1cm. They wanted to be able to monitor me since I'd had a c-section with Naomi. So they took me to the anti-partum ward (whatever that is). All I knew is that the bed was softer than the rock I had been laying on. We spent the night there very uncomfortable. Aric was in a recliner and I was contracting all night about every 5 minutes. In the morning (around 11 I would guess) they took me to labor and delivery as I had finally dilated to 2cm. WOW! They offered me an epidural which I gladly accepted, and I said goodbye to the feeling in my legs for the next 6-7 hours. Ha ha ha I love that feeling. Finally after no progression, they decided to break my water hoping that would start the show. I dilated to 3cm!!! And then stayed there. Finally we discussed c-section. They just didn't wan to see me labor any longer with no progress. My doctor had discussed with me earlier the risk of laboring after a previous c-section. The risk being that the old scar in the uterus could start to open up and cause problems for the baby, possibly ending in losing the baby.
Well at this point we decided to c-section it up! Lets get this over with. So Sylas was born to us at 5:57 pm by c-section. After the surgery, when I was in the recovery area, one of the doctors came and discussed the surgery with me. He told us that when they went in, they saw that the uterus scar was in fact starting to open. We have now been told that I am not allowed to labor again. We will be c-section from now on! I guess for the next child we can choose their birthday, and make it a unique on in the family.
So that is the story of Sylas. He is cute, adorable, whatever you want to say. We love him to bits. So far we have been blessed with 2 fairly mild infants. We are grateful for this.


Just about to be cut open.


Big boy... that translates to be 9lbs. 13oz


Proud momma (tired momma)


Breaking out of jail (hospital) a day early.


Just waking up from one of my many naps.


Looking so handsome.


Ahhhh.


Naomi is/will learn that she is not the one and only anymore, and that there is enough love and attention from mom and dad to go around. She likes to help us put by getting his chewy when he is upset, or even if he is not. She loves to give him kisses, plug his nose, poke his eyes and even cover him with whatever she can find. I guess this is normal.


Naomi learning to feed her baby.


Sharing her baby's bottle with Sylas. What a nice sister.


Bonding time.


More bonding.


Pretending to be a big girl. It's just for fun right now in her mind.


Still loving multiple hats on her head


Showing off her teeth brushing skills.


Well we found last week that Aric's contract will be ending at the end of this year. But have no fear we are applying for almost every job. He has an interview via Skype tomorrow afternoon for a french immersion job in Airdrie... the same elementary school I went to as a matter of fact. That would be weird to go back there I think. But kind of fun too. I could reconnect with old friends. Wish him luck as he preps for the interview. He said that had a really good feeling about Airdrie when applied. He applied one of the other elementary schools there too. The school that Chelsea attended.




Well yesterday was Mothers Day. We had an absolutely gorgeous day to celebrate it. I think it was supposed to get up to 26 degrees. It was hot. We decided that we were going to go the park and have a picnic, and let Naomi run around and play on the swings. We don't get out much these days unless daddy is with us, or we get invited to go with someone else. The reason we don't get out much is that I'm not allowed to lift Naomi for 6 weeks after the c-section. That means I can't put her in shopping carts, and most definitely can't lift her to put her in a swing. It's hard on both of us to have this restriction. I'm trying really hard to follow this counsel. I have to admit that there are times that I've had to break this in order for her to get in the car so we can make an appointment. Anyway went to the park yesterday. Naomi just lights up when we mention the park or swings. This summer should be pretty fun with her.


Mothers day she insisted on putting her winter boots and fuzzy jacket on in the house. She was making me hot just watching her.


Who could ask for anything else on Mothers Day. They are so cute.