Beautiful!

Oh, how excited was I, a few years back, when they announced that there was to be a Calgary temple built? Super excited.

Now fast forward to this year and the temple is finished! From the end of September to last week the temple had an open house for anybody and everybody of any faith, age, race, etc to be able to walk through the building and see just what an amazing place it is. Shawn and I went up on a Saturday to go to this beautiful building and I just loved it! I have only been through one other temple so I was so excited to see this one. The theme of this temple was wheat, to represent the land around it, and it was so gorgeous inside and out. We were pleased to see a lot of non-members in the tours (I think we have Mitt Romney to thank for peaking curiosity among people lately) because this gives them a chance to see inside the temple and ask all the questions they may have.

There were loooong lines and lots of waiting but that's our fault for going on a saturday evening. But on the plus side, we got Olive Garden before hand, got cookies afterwards and got to see this beautiful building:

Um can someone get married in here ASAP so we can go visit this place again? Please?

Love these guys.

I know they say you aren't supposed to have favorites but I kind think this is my favorite. ;)

Oh How I Have Missed You...

Finally, after a 4.5 month wait and wait and wait my Macbook has finally been fixed and returned home.

There are so many reasons why I am so happy about this but my two main ones are for picture keeping and blog updating.

As nice as an iPad is there is something to be said about having a legit keyboard and an USB port. As well, I noticed that unfortunately you cannot upload pictures onto Blogger from an iPad and typing up a blog post is quite difficult.

Not gonna lie, my Macbook picked a pretty horrible time to die; right before Brock's arrival. I was pretty ticked, I must say, but I am just so happy to have her home that I forgive her for making me about 20 posts behind and now have have, literally, 1000 pictures to go through. 

Ahhh it's good for it to be home. Now, excuse me I have some blog posts to catch up on and pictures to sort. 

xx

Reason 2918 Why...

This lil guy has been a lil stinker the last 10 days when it comes to sleeping at night.

Think, waking up every hour or two just to scream.

You can guess that I am exhausted. Shawn is exhausted. Brock is exhausted.

We are all exhausted.

 

 

It seemed to get a bit better Friday night. Three whole hours in a row!

But then Saturday night; back to the every hour or two.

Needless to say, we didn't really get to 9 am church but I did get to the last hour of church.

 

I was soooo tired but I knew I had to make 3 dozen cookies for a Youth Fireside later that night.

Then I came home to 3 dozen no-bake cookies. Shawn had made them for me so I could nap.

Just reason 2918 why I love this man.



Tres Meses

It's so hard to believe that it's been three months since Brock came into our lives!

He is growing so fast so quickly, I love it and hate it all at once. I love how he is getting so good at grabbing at toys, holding key rings and gnawing on his fist but it's scary how quickly they grow.

The other night I was laying on the bed playing with Brock and started thinking, "soon he'll be crawling, then walking, then talking, then in preschool, then in school-school and then it will be high school and then he will be graduated and be on a mission and then he will find a girl and get married and go to school and then next thing I will be a grandmother and be middle-aged! OMG"

Yep, my mind can run away with itself sometimes eh? My newborn may have just graduated into an infant but in my mind I am already picturing his wedding. Time to slow down and just love every moment with my lil guy. When else will I be able to give 100% attention to a baby other than this first year with Brock. After that, I will be back at work and then I will have two kids and then back to work and then three kids and... See how it runs away with itself?

But man am I loving being Canadian lately because it gives me a whole year to stay at home and snuggle with this guy.

I just love his facial expressions. His face is so expressive and the things he does with his eyebrows slay me. He can go from a smile to a pout to a laugh to a cry within 30 seconds. He is such a good baby, definitely can be fussy, but so easy to settle down. He is quite the Houdini as well, try as I might to wrap him so tightly (he sleeps so much better swaddled) I will find him awake at the end of his nap with his arm out, usually sucking on his fist.

So cute.

I about died when he grabbed the toy hanging about him the first time. And when he rolled on his side. He's getting so big! (that will be a recurrent theme in my blogs; my disbelief/awe/love/dislike for him growing up) Thank goodness he hasn't completely rolled over cause I don't think I am ready for that. It's gonna happen soon though.

Just like the majority of babies he has a severe dislike for legit tummy time, there is a veryslight window to get a photo of his push-up skills before he breaks down and starts wailing... Note that he is about a half-second away of that here, thus the beginning of a pout.

Here is an example of one time that I missed that window.

Did I mention he is getting HUGE?

A mini sumo wrestler in training, no?

He officially graduated from the 0-3 mos clothes to the 3-6 mos clothes a week ago but to be honest, he prob should have switched a lil' earlier but I resisted. My baby is getting so big! (see? it's a theme)

Apparently we need to have a talk about not using his size to bully other kids, Brock gave a lefty to poor skinny Reid ;)

But seriously, he might be a lil too young for playdates right now but don't tell that to Naomi and I.



He loves being outside but not so much for photos, "Please no photos!"

He gets that from his father.

We are just in love with Brock. And he is in love with us. And his hands.

His favorite is when he gets his hands on us. :)

We have just loved these last three months getting to know each other and we know that this is just the beginning of a beautiful life together...

Ooooh I Love Pictures (especially of my two fav boys)

My good friend Danielle Ducharme is one of those ridiculously overly-talented kind of people. I would 'hate' her if I didn't love her so much just because it's just not fair some people get just soooo much talent ;)

 When she drove down from Calgary to visit us when Brock was just a few days old, Danielle did a impromptu photo shoot (thus the reason Shawn is wearing sweats) and the results are just lovely. Can you believe this is her hobby?!?! Thank-you so much for these pictures, can't wait to put them up in our house!

Ooooh how precious is he?

You can tell Brock loves his dad... Look at him just stare at Shawn

Determined...

 

Growing up we were only close to two of our cousins due to the rest of them living on the opposite side of the country. Because of that I have always wanted my kids to know their cousins, aunts and uncles. I just love how close Shawn was to all his extended family; they saw each other all the time. That's my dream.

 

I just love how we live only 3 blocks from Shawn's brother and sister-in-law and three awesome lil nephews. Maybe we can start a Taber Bevans clan/mafia/gang :)

 

Since on the Wyght side of cousins there are only two grandkids so far, Tamara and I are determined that our kids will be tight (and I am equally determined that Brock will know his Bevans cousins just as well) sooo we were so happy to have Tamara and Kash make the loooooong drive up to hang out.

 

Yep, Kash and Brock are already tight.

Love sisters!

 

Baby Shower Bliss

Fun lil story; Naomi and I met 4 years ago through married friends. We were the only single gals of the group so we hit up YSA activities and became friends. Then around two years ago I got married, and six months later Naomi did. Naomi moved to Taber with her husband and six months later so did we. Then I got pregnant and sure enough, 4 weeks later so did Naomi. So now we have lil Brock and Reid only 4 weeks (exactly) apart in age. So to be efficient, the ladies in our ward (at church) threw a baby shower for both of us together!

 

I thought it was so sweet of them just to offer to throw us a joint baby shower. We had only been in the ward for a few months and didn't really know many people that well yet but you would never know that by seeing the shower they threw and the women that showed up. Brock and I felt so special and so loved. Naomi and I were just blown away by the shower. Lonna and Janelle were the ladies who threw the shower and you could just see all the effort they put in the shower. I loved it!

 

"Shower Brock and Reid with gifts"

raindrops, clouds and umbrellas decorated the house

just a snippet of the guests who showed up.. it was an open house so ladies came and went throughout the night. It was so cute to see double of everything... Double decorations, double gifts. People were sooo sweet and kind and Naomi and I can't wait to dress Reid and Brock in their matching outfits.

 

There were actually three of us due within six weeks

Laura and Phoebe; Me and Brock; Naomi and Reid

Baby Party!

Originally I didn't want any baby shower (long story) but man am I glad we had a double one; it was soo pretty and so fun. Yep we do love our ward!



My Days

This is what my days look like lately....

 

 

 Bliss....

and of course a lil poop or a lot of it...

Lucky Me

I am slightly over-the-top in love with my lil guy.

He's pretty much perfect.

I really thought I would miss work, but SURPRISE I don't. At all. At all, at all.

And since we are getting biweekly lil cheques from the government E.I.(?) for me to stay at home with our lil Mr. Magoo, I still feel like I am contributing financially so I have zero guilt about me not working. Score!

Nine weeks into motherhood and I feel like I am completely settled in to the role. It's pretty ideal actually. I get all day to cuddle, snuggle, feed, burp, rock and bounce my lil baby boy and yes sometimes he is fussy and screams and cries for no apparant reason but I don't mind. I can't help but think how lucky I am and how short and special this time is.

In three weeks he'll officially be considered an "infant" and not the lil "newborn" he is now.

I think I might cry. Seeing him grow and develop is exciting and terrifying all at once. 

Some new things on the Brock front:

-He's really discovered his hands lately and he will just shove as much of them as he can into his mouth and just happily gnaw/such on them.

-He has officially transitioned from the thousands of small poops a day to the one MASSIVE blowout every other day; awesome for his lil bum that was raw from so  many poops before but not so awesome for his poor lil cute clothes that are just taking a poop beating now.

-He's starting to fall asleep by himself at night. I will wrap him in a tight lil bundle, give him his soother and lay him on our awesomely soft carpet in the living room and he will just look around for a bit before losing out to sleep.

-For some reason he has taken to blowing lil bubbles all the time. Straight. He is getting drooly too. He is waaaay too young to start teething so I don't know why he is doing that.

-He looooves his swing and so do I.

-He is babbling sooo much and smiling. And the occasional giggles. Melts my heart for sure...

Ooops the lil guy is waking up. Time for  more baby cuddles!

xoxo

Jailbait?

After going over our cell phone minutes two months in a row, Shawn and I were considering getting a home phone for the first time. Then Shaw called and offered a sweet home phone promotion deal and we went for it (I think the guy had been hearing alot of 'no's' because he was shocked and got really excited when I said yes).

I have had the phone for almost two weeks and although I have made calls on it, I had yet to hear the old-fashioned briiiing briiiiing. I say old-fashioned because this is one old phone, I got it for $2 from a second-hand store and it's legit from my childhood. This big ol' tan phone with no caller I.D. and it's definitely not cord-less so it's now a permanent fixture on our counter. But still no calls; perhaps the habit of calling my cell phone was too much for people. Until yesterday...

I was cleaning up the kitchen when I heard it, the first call on our home phone! I was so excited (don't ask me why) and as I went to get it I was wondering who it would be.... Tamara? Shawn? Maybe Chloe?????

Wrong.

First thing I heard when I picked up the phone was,
"Will you accept a collect call...."

"Weird", I was thinking. I haven't heard a collect call in YEARS, probably ten. With cell phones collect calls have kind of gone the way of the Dodo bird.

Then, it continued,
"..from an inmate from the Lethbridge Correctional Facility... phone call will be recorded... client/attorney privilege applies...."



Ummmmmm what?

So my first call is from an inmate? and I have to pay to speak with them? $2.80 for the first minute and $0.50 for each minute afterwards?! No thanks.

Not sure if it was a wrong number or if we got a recycled number that has ties to criminals who will be calling all the time.

This could be interesting.

P.S. I finally got my first non-criminal phone call this morning... I am quite loving this whole landline thing again but it's gonna take some used to using my landline and not my cell...

Learning On The Job

Nobody can really prepare you for being a mom. They try, and I appreciate all the advice and tips, but some things you have to learn on the job. Being a mom is one of them.

Things I have learned since we have been blessed with such a perfect baby:

-Babies go through insane amount of diapers in the first bit. INSANE.

-Dinners being brought to you the first week post-baby are lifesavers.

-Episiotomies suck. Period. Not sure which pain was worse, childbirth or healing from the episiotomy.

-I love this lil man.

-There are so many types of soothers and so many differing opinions on when or even whether or not to give your kid a soother (we caved after 2 weeks and he still nurses fine)

-Nursing hurts- Brock is a trooper and does his best but man it hurt. I would have to spend 10 minutes each time talking myself into it before latching him. Thank goodness it's great now.

-White noise really helps calm a fussy baby.

-I can do surprisingly well on 5 hrs sleep: I don't mind waking up as long as he goes back to sleep after. It's when he won't go back to bed after nursing that I lose my marbles; it's only happened alot three nights and they were dark nights.

-I don't nap well during the day so the whole "sleep when he sleeps" is no help.

-Shawn naps really well anytime.

-There are soooo many reasons a baby can be crying.

-Babies grow sooo fast! How is Brock 12 lbs already?

-Shawn and I adjusted really well to having a baby.

-Muslin blankets are a MUST in summer.
-If you choose not to circumcise your baby, don't attempt to pull back the foreskin. It doesn't retract and won't for years. Who knew?

-Heat rash happens. And it's not whooping cough. (I say this because I was bawling one day thinking he had the onset of whooping cough. Lil paranoid. His 'fever' was from the heat and he got heat rash)

-Google is a mom`s best friend.

-Swings are a close second. LOVE my swing.

-Volunteering in an orphange was a bit help to me. After having 15 screaming and crying kids, having ONE screaming or crying kid is sooo much easier. Unless it`s the middle of the night and he won`t go back to bed. Marbles lost.

-Baby faces have sooo much expression.

-Buy clothes on kijiji. They grow so fast that it`s pointless to spend $15 on an outfit he will wear once.

-A bassinet is a must. Can`t imagine having him in a crib right away. Maybe the next one.

-Time goes by so fast.

-`Happiest Baby on the Block` is a great book.

-Nursing pillows: fantastic.

-Paranoia increases once your baby is born.
-Nothing better than having your baby fall asleep on your chest while laying down... Heaven.

-I absolutely, completely am so happy to be a mom and just love my lil family so much.

-Utilize your family and friends. Having someone come visit for two hours and hold Brock so I could shower or clean or just lay down and rest my back have been life-savers.

-New babies are extremely portable! If they have been fed, changed, etc. they are quite content to follow you whereever you wanna go.

-Everybody loves babies. If you wanna make friends from strangers. Have a baby.

-Breastfeeding burns A LOT of calories. Thanks for burning all my fudgicle calories!

-I am one of those moms that think their kid is the cutest, smartest, best, sweetest, etc baby ever (because he is) and will be taking thousands of photos to prove it.

See why I think Brock is the cutest thing ever

I still have A LOT to learn and am so thankful they start out so basic. But I think we are doing pretty good and honestly I am just so smitten with Brock that it makes it worth it to be perpetually sleep deprived. Love him. Love Shawn. Love my family and friends.

I am so blessed.

Brock's Baby Blessing

Despite some stress planning the blessing/ getting the families together and the threat of rain, Brock's baby blessing went so lovely. Having to juggle many different schedules we decided to hold it July 1st at 5 p.m, instead of at church, so we could accomodate the most people coming and we ended up having quite a few people over.

We were just thrilled to have so many friends and family make time in their busy lives to come. We had family come from Arizona, Washington, Oregon and B.C. and we were just so greatful and excited to see them all. The whole thing turned out near perfect and we couldn't have pulled it off without the help from the women on both sides of the family. Thanks to all our family and friends who ended up being able to make it!
xoxo

The whole crew...
I love having a backyard that's plenty big enough to have a crew this big roam around.
We just loved having Shawn's family up and my family visit. Tamara, my sister, drove up
from Portland for less then 24 hrs just to be there!

Family shot!

The lil man of the hour!
What a gassy lil man he is too, Shawn said that the whole
time Brock was getting blessed he was letting out one toot
after another... Ha ha

Beautiful Baby Brock

First off, let me explain the lack of posts lately.
a) having a newborn
b) computer dying 3 days before Brock was born, can't upload pictures on an iPad and typing is much too much effort on one
c) family visits and vacations
If it was just one, maybe I could have soldiered on but all three combined are kinda the perfect storm to prevent blogging.

But my mum has lent me her computer for a bit so I am back and soooo behind!

Let's start with the fun stuff. When I was 40 weeks pregnant a co-worker forwarded me a casting call for newborns. Shauna McColl Photography was wanting newborns 10 days or less to be models and in return she would do a free photoshoot and luck had it that Brock was born in the perfect time frame and Brock got his first experience of a photo shoot (I already have family pictures booked for October). Shauna was sooooo amazing with Brock, you could just tell that she had extensive experience with babies and she just loooooves them. Brock was a lil turkey during the 4 hr shoot and decided that this was the four hours he would fight to stay awake despite sleeping the majority of other times but thanks to Shauna's patience and talent we got some adorable pictures!

One of my favs. So sweet and precious...
She tried to have him have both hands on his stomach but our lil boy likes
sleeping with his hand on his face and he wouldn't put it down.
After 40 minutes, she gave up and I love the result.

I just love this one! We found this old school Tonka truck at a garage sale
and I just loved the idea of this photo and luckily Shauna agreed and it
turned out sooooo awesome. LOVE.

I love this photo just because it shows his lil personality
when he wakes up he raises his arms up and stretches, every
time! It's adorable!

In the end, I just love them and can't wait to put some up on our walls!

We have a cute lil guy and what can I say? I am sooo in love with him and a lil obsessed with him and all his lil quirks.

And thanks so much Shauna!

Game Changer

I was so sure that I would go until Friday June 15th that when I woke up in the early morning June 13th with sporadic contractions, I was convinced they were Braxton Hicks. I got up at 4 am, had a bath to help with the contractions and then went back to bed after only having two the whole hour I was in there. Shawn didn't really want to go to work but I was convince this was nothing so I sent him on his way and I tried to go back to bed.

Oops.

By 6:30 am I started to suspect that this might be labor.

By 8 am I was pretty sure this was labor, but maybe just the beginning. I was having contractions every 3-8 minutes while trying to pack a hospital bag (did pretty good for not really paying attention due to contractions) so I had my sister-in-law drive me halfway to meet my

9:30 am I was at the hospital still not 100% sure I was in legit full  labor, so I told Shawn not to leave work until I knew. I just knew that I did not want to miss getting an epidural so I wanted to get checked out just in case. My doctor then showed up, checked me, said I was 4 cm dilated and then "POP"! He decided he might as well break my water since he was down there to get the ball rolling.

All righty then... time to call Shawn.

The whole next 5 hrs when by smoothly. I got an epidural right away, and Shawn and I just hung out till I was ready to push. May I just mention how much I loooove epidurals? Just like that the pain is gone and you are able to relax and wait to push. It did end up wearing off a bit but man it was still great.

Feeling great thanks to Mr. Epidural

The problem came when after 2 hrs of pushing, I hadn't felt the baby move at all. Turns out the lil turkey had his head tilted a great way to make it harder to get him out. I kept asking my nurse if he had moved much and she kept saying "a lil bit" with the expression on her face that let you know that he really hadn't moved that much at all. At 2.5 hrs my doctor offered to use forceps but they made me nervous so I opted for oxytocin instead but by 3 hrs I was so beat I was begging for the forceps. Dr Davey showed up 10 minutes later, did some magic with the forceps and after blacking out for a lil bit from the pain we had a beautiful bouncing baby boy with the BIGGEST hands and feet you've ever. The first two things I thought was: "Good he's breathing", "how many fingers and toes does he have, his hands are HUGE!". He was sooooo swollen at first, poor lil guy went through just as much as I did but bless Dr. Davey's heart, Brock did not have a mark on his face two hours later from the forceps.

3.25 hrs and one forcep delivery later, Brock's head still looked mighty fine

Big baby with a big head- 37 cm

Proud new daddy; he admitted later once Brock's swelling came down
that he thought he was funny looking at first!

I look rough, feel rough but man this kid is cute!

Grandma was chomping at the bit to meet him..

Yep, no restful visit for Aunt Chelsey!
She was working when we came to her floor...
She did the checks and initial baby bath.

My step-dad checking out his new grand-son

Grandparents take 2

Heston checking out his new cousin

First (rough) family photo

Dr. Davey: wouldn't trust any other Dr. to take forceps to my baby's head..