Catching up

Man, life has been busy lately! I just haven't had the energy or time to sit down and blog, so you are getting a big long catch up post today.

Almost two weeks ago, Gabe and I took an unexpected trip back to Ontario. My dad's wife passed away unexpectedly, so I wanted to be there for the funeral and to be with my dad. That meant buying a ticket on Sunday and leaving on Tuesday. Luckily, Amelia was still in the day home, so she was able to stay home with Brian (he was teaching in the mornings). They had fun together, and I got to spend some time with my family. Gabe did great on the flights- so much easier than traveling with a toddler!

Our plane home was a Disney plane

This weekend, we were in Edmonton for one of our nieces birthday parties. It was at a park near their house, and Amelia had fun playing in the sand with a shovel. Forget playing with the other kids ;) She did love playing with poppa and her cousins later that day though. She kept asking where the kids went (meaning her cousins). We also went to see Brian's grandma while we were in town too.

It's been hot and smoky here lately because of the forest fires in BC, but we are trying to get outside as much as we can.

I mentioned it on IG, but a couple weeks ago Brian put up lights in our backyard for me. There is a house that I walk by that had some up, and I kept mentioning it to Brian. He's a swell guy and figured it all out and hung them for me. Love them! We also got a new patio furniture set this year that has a couch and two chairs, so we are loving our backyard. 

Tell me: what's new with you?

Body & mind after baby V2: one month update

I did these posts with Amelia, and I've actually gone back to read them a couple times since then. I know they aren't for everyone, so please feel free to skip them. Here are the posts with Amelia:
One month
Three months
Six months
Nine months 
Twelve months

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Body update

Four days post partum

12 days post partum

One month post partum

With this pregnancy, I gained around 35lbs just like I did with Amelia. I, in no way, thought that the weight would just fall off of me (it didn't with Amelia), but man is this stage so, so hard. Not only do you now have these massive breasts, you also have this saggy and soft tummy, along with wider hips that don't fit into any of your clothes. I'm trying to remember that it's only been over 4 weeks since I had Gabe, and that it will take time and effort for the weight to come off. 

I'm sitting about 16lbs heavier than pre-pregnancy, which I'm sure is all in my breasts ;) I have a check up in two weeks, so once I'm cleared I will ease back into working out. As tired as I am, I am looking forward to the workouts because I actually miss it and they make me feel like me. Until then, it will be walks with Harley and bouncing a 10lb baby.

With Amelia, I had night sweats which I luckily haven't had this time! So glad for that. I also feel like my recovery went a lot quicker this time thanks to an easier delivery. 

Mind update 

Overall, I think I have adjusted fairly well to having two kids. If you ask me right now how it's going, I will say fairly well which is in large part to Amelia being in the day home full time and Brian only working half days for the month of July. Both of those have been huge! I will admit that I am kind of nervous to be home with both kids full time starting in September. Ask me then how I'm doing ;)

There have definitely been some tears from me and rough days (ie: yesterday when Gabe was wide awake from 4-6am and Amelia woke up at 4:45am), but I think that's normal. I still feel like I have no idea how I can be in multiple places at once (meaning both kids need me) or how I can do a lot of things while holding Gabe and helping Amelia. I need to learn to allow myself some grace and realize that I can't do everything anymore and will need help. Brian has been a huge help of course- from doing bedtime with Amelia, to making dinner, to taking Gabe so I can have time to myself. I couldn't do it without him! 

Tell me: for those of you with more than one child, what was the hardest part for you? Or what do you still find the hardest? Any tips for me?

{amelia}: two and a half years old

I haven't done an update on Amelia since her second birthday, and she's changed so much lately, so I figured it was time. 

I don't even know where to start, so let's see. The biggest change that the last six months is that she became a big sister! We tried talking about us having another baby while I was pregnant as much as we could, but we never really knew if she understood us. When Gabriel arrived, she instantly loved him and is always asking where he is and if he's okay when he's crying. She always wants to give him kisses too. I'm sure things may change once he starts taking her toys, so I'm enjoying it for now. 

The other biggest change in her is that she is talking so much! She put words together in sentences fairly well and even knows words that we didn't know she did (ie: robots). There are times that we don't understand what she is saying, but it's getting better. She can easily name different types of animals without help and pictures in books. She's also good at remembering something we told her. 

Her favourite things include: going to the park, blowing bubbles, colouring with chalk, painting, going to Ga Ga's (aka Erica our dayhome lady) house, playing in the sprinkler, farting (she thinks it's hilarious!), and eating snacks. 

She's still sleeping in her crib, but her big girl room is all set up for her. We plan on moving her in August/September, and hopefully it goes well as she sleeps so well in her crib. Speaking of sleep, she's still a pretty good sleeper. She goes to bed anywhere between 7:30-8pm and is up between 6:30-7am. She takes an hour nap at Erica's house or a 2-3 hour nap if she is at home. 

The other big thing we plan on doing this summer/fall is potty training. She hasn't shown a big interest in it at home, but has gone a few times on the potty at Erica's house. We need her tricks! Speaking of potty- she's had poop issues for a while now (meaning she won't go for days and says it hurts), so we have been going to medical appointments to see if we can figure it out. As terrible as the bloodwork and ultrasound appointments were (they both came back clear), hopefully we can get to the bottom of it. 

Amelia is still a very strong willed kid, which is very hard to parent at times. We've started giving her a five minute warning if we have to leave, change what we are doing, put her to bed, etc and it's been very helpful. Most times, she won't even make it the five minutes, and will instead ask to do what we said within a minute or two (ie: going to take a bath). We've also started to give her time outs if she starts getting an attitude with us (ie: we ask her to eat her dinner and she will scream no) or not listening. It doesn't always work, and usually ends in more tears, so then her and I have a talk and get her calmed down. After that, she is usually better.

She has recently got three of her molars and just waiting on the last one to come in. Luckily they haven't seemed to bother her too much. We've also been able to get her to let us brush her teeth- it just took letting her do it first and then we go back in to do a better job. 

This is a random thing, but she no longer sits in her high chair. She kept fighting it and saying she wanted to sit on the big chair (aka our regular chairs), so we let her. It's gone fairly well with only one spill off of them so far. 

She wears either 2T or 3T clothing, and size 6 shoes. Speaking shoes, we finally got her to give up her beloved shoe boots! Thank goodness as they were getting too small. Even better, she has 4 or 5 pairs of shoes that she will finally wear!

Scenes from the weekend

Happy Monday everyone! Not sure if anyone noticed, but I totally posted Gabe's one month update early last week. I had it in my head that he turned a month on Wednesday for some reason- I apparently need more sleep ;)

Let's rewind to last week:

On Thursday night, it was so hot out, so Amelia and I met our neighbours at the splash park in our neighbourhood after dinner. Even though she didn't go right through the water this time, she loved it!  Even better that it's super close to our house.

On Friday, Amelia went to the dayhome, so I took Harley for a walk in the morning. Later in the day, I went to run some errands (ie: get gas) and realized that I left my wallet at home. Seriously losing my brain these days. Neither of us felt like cooking, so I ran out to get some dinner. Amelia apparently couldn't hang for the 10 minute drive ;)

On Saturday, Brian took Amelia to her first movie in the morning. She came home and kept talking about the popcorn and watching the big tv! Brian said she did fairly well- wanted to leave around the hour mark, so they packed up and stopped to get me some popcorn to bring home. When they were waiting for it, she asked what they were doing and then wanted to go back in. She made it to the end of the movie, but did get a little antsy. While they were at the movie, I took Harley for a walk and hung out around the house with Gabe.

That night, we made homemade pizzas (well, on flat breads. We aren't that ambitious!), which Amelia loved doing. After she was in bed, we sat outside and took advantage of the lights that Brian put up earlier in the day. I saw a house that had similar ones on my walk and Brian did it for me :)
 

On Sunday, we had a pretty quiet day. I took Amelia to the park in the morning and then we pretty much hung out at home for the rest of the day. Brian got groceries and I did some laundry. 

Tell me: how was your weekend?

{gabriel}: one month

Blanket from Eevoudig Simple Unique

One whole month has already passed and I have no idea where the heck the time went! I'm sure I will say that every month too! 

Weight/length: 9lbs 11.5oz! This doesn't surprise me because this boy LOVES to eat. Not sure about his length as he has his next check up at the doctors in two weeks.

Hair/eyes: Gabe's hair is still very blonde and eyes are still very blue. We have a feeling that they will stay that way and not go dark brown like Brian's.

Diapers/clothes: we moved him up into size 1 diapers last week as we were running low on the newborn ones and he kept having blowouts up the back and they were looking a little tight on his legs. I bought a box of the Kirkland brand diapers, and they seem to be working well so far (we also use Pampers Swaddlers).

He is still mainly wearing newborn clothes, but they are starting to get way too small especially his sleepers. Started to mix in 0-3 month clothes.

Loves:

• to eat
• being rocked/constantly moving
• his swing
• being swaddled

Hates:

• being hungry (zero patience when he wants to eat!)
• having a wet bum

Eating: no real pattern to his eating as I breastfeed him on demand. He sure LOVES to eat though. We had to supplement him for the first day at home because my milk hadn't come in yet, but once it did, we stopped the formula. I've been pumping once a day and we have been giving him a bottle a day in the hopes he will keep taking them and we won't have the issues we had with Amelia. 

Sleeping: No real pattern here except he is either usually really awake in the morning or later evening. He sleeps quite a bit during the day especially if we go out for a walk or have to run errands. He usually wakes up around 1:30-2:30am and then again around 5-5:30am to eat and will fall back asleep each time. Except for the 5am when he wants to be cuddled, so that's usually what happens. He did give me an almost six hour stretch of sleep the other night which was wonderful!

{baby d 2.0}: newborn pictures

When Gabe was almost two weeks old, we had newborn pictures done by Agata of AW Photography.  She came to our house and Amelia actually cooperated for them unlike the maternity ones! She was actually quite funny- telling us she was a princess and doing these ballerina moves. Gotta love her!

Thanks Agata for being patient and capturing our family!