2014: The Craziest Year Ever

This year was one of my hardest and best all at once. Leigh and I made so many sacrifices to get where we want to be. We had big plans at the beginning of the year to get ahead financially and get our own place. My goal was in our own place by Christmas. Of course, I had NO idea what this year would hold and that our future apartment wasn't even built yet.

At the end of January, I finally took note of the weekly ad that was coming in the mail for an apartment in my hometown called "Cedar Downs". I really didn't think they were anything special LOOKING from the ad, I knew they had lots of features but the kitchen cabinets looked a weird colour and that threw me off. So one day Leigh and I went down to look out the show suites (little to my knowledge there were multiple show suites) and fell in love with them. Especially after finding out there's an option for white cabinets. Swoon!

We bought our apartment on Feburary 12, 2014. 5 years to the day after getting engaged. We bought a two bedroom, two bathroom on the top floor. Now to wait a year. I planned to work as much as possible and get a ton of new clients. Again, no idea what life had in store for us.

Being a hair model for a wedding show - found I was pregnant later that night.  

On March 1st, I went with my sister to be a "hair model" for a wedding show. I felt like crap all day and even mentioned to her that I thought something was up. However, I really didn't think I would be pregnant. Later that night I mentioned to Leigh that something was up and he suggested we grab a pregnancy test. Even after two of those I couldn't believe I was pregnant. You can read the full blog post here.

We announced our baby with a photo that my mom took that I LOVE and will get framed for our apartment. Once the secret was out, it started to become really real that we were going to have a baby!
I started documenting my pregnancy on the blog. I went from this:

to this:

So, instead of 2014 being the year of super successful business lady trainer, it ended up being the year of the super pregnant trainer who can barely make it up the stairs. Awesome. I decided to make the best of the situation and took a course so I could be a Pre-and Post Natal Fitness Specialist.

In June, we had a gender reveal party to find out if we were having a boy or girl. That was probably one of the most fun days ever and I will never forget that feeling of finding out I was getting my dream of having a little girl!

The summer was spent being pregnant. Seriously though, it kinda feels like that's all I did. I was hot and uncomfortable and couldn't wait for our daughter to get here.

We celebrated with a shower with family and one with my girlfriends (which I'm just now realizing I never blogged)

I got maternity pictures done by our family photographer, Carol-Ann.

I celebrated my 30th birthday (and due date!) while still pregnant.

Before I knew it, I was 6 days overdue and getting induced and bam, what I'd waited for ALLLL year was happening! And she was here!

The last two months have been a crazy whirlwind of beautiful, amazing moments and a lot of pain and frustration mixed in between. I have so much to say about having a baby and that will come.
We celebrated Arianna's first Christmas with our families and it was wonderful. Of course Arianna got spoiled rotten. More on Christmas coming soon too.

In just a few hours, it will be 2015 and the thing we've waited for all year (aside from Arianna) will be FINALLY here: moving into our own place!

I was talking to my mom the other day about this year. It's been super hard in some ways, having everything up in the air and not being settled in our own place while having a baby. But it taught me so many important lessons and because of the sacrifices we've made we've accomplished an insane amount in one year. My mom always says "pain before pleasure or pleasure before pain". Meaning if you do the hard stuff first, you can enjoy it later. But if you just ride things out without doing hard stuff you will have pain later. This was a year of pain that I am so grateful for looking back. Thankfully we have had soooo much support from our family and friends, especially our parents. We couldn't have survived this year without them.
2015 will be a year to enjoy. Not perfect, never perfect, but I think we will be enjoying everything we've worked so hard for. All the times we drove past our future home, we will finally be there our little family of four. The baby will cry and the dog will bark, and I probably won't be as domestic as I hope I will be, but we will finally all be home together and I cannot wait.

Arianna {One Month}

I would say that I can't believe it's already a month but that's not how I feel, it felt really LONG! I kept thinking if I can make it to a month it'll be so much easier. And I was right. We are finally getting into the swing of things and loving it!

The first few days after she was born she seemed so fussy. In my logical brain, I wonder if my low amniotic fluid really was due to the placenta not working and she wasn't getting the nutrients. Once my milk came in, she was like a different baby. She also cried when being changed and she's totally stopped that. It must be such a shock for babies to come into the real world!

She makes these little noises all the time and they're so frigging cute. They sound like a little mouse, I call them her princess noises.

Stats: 9lbs 5oz (up 1 lb 2 oz from birth)
Length: 22inches (up 2 inches from birth)

Feeding: My  milk came in quickly but wasn't enough for her off the bat. She didn't gain weight quickly enough in the first week, and she howled after eating from still being hungry which broke my heart. I have been breastfeeding/pumping and giving her a bit of formula at night. I worked hard at getting my milk supply up and we are going to try cutting out the formula now that I think I'm making enough. I could write a whole post on breastfeeding and I probably will soon.

Milestones: She is sooo aware now, she loves looking around and makes the cutest expressions. My favourite is her scrunched eyebrow look, it's exactly one of my facial expressions (although I now have lines there from too much scrunching). She can also hold her head up for a looong time, whether she's on her tummy or in someones arms! She's super curious about everything, I took her to Chapters yesterday and she was not interested in being in the stroller so I picked her up and she was looking around at everything! She smiles all the time now and it's so adorable.

Size: She still fits in her newborn clothes, but just barely. I put her in 0-3 months now because she has more room to move around. She's also in Size 1 diapers.  I absolutely adore dressing her up, I know she's a baby not a doll but...she's my little doll and I love putting cute little outfits on her. Even her little sleepers are so cute. I love it all!

Likes: Eating (Drinking?), being held, laying on Daddy's chest, pretty much hanging out on Mama's all day, sleeping on her tummy (we don't let her for long as it's not recommended but she will instantly go to sleep on her tummy, go figure), music, Christmas lights, being swaddled, having baths with me (I get in the bath and Leigh hands her to me, she absolutely loves it!), she also loves having time with her Nanna (Leigh's mom) and Grandma (mine) and both her Grandpas.

Dislikes: being hungry. This girl wakes up starving pretty much every time she naps/sleeps.

Sleep: She had night and day completely reversed and just wanted to party all night. We are happily getting her turned around after a few weeks of being just sliiightly tired. We are slowly trying to get her to sleep in her basinett after a month of just doing whatever worked at the time. She's not a very deep sleeper but we are working on that!

Postpartum: I feel quite a bit back to normal, down about 25lbs but still have a ways to go. I got the all clear to start slowly working out again! I'm not worried about my weight but at the same time, pretty much none of my clothes fit, but that's mostly to do with my boobs. Which look pretty great haha so I don't mind too much. Stretchy clothes all winter for this girl! I am still feeling so grateful that I was able to have a vaginal birth, it would have been so much harder to care for Arianna while recovering from a c-section, I give major props to anyone that had to do that!

All in all we are absolutely loving our daughter, I can't believe she's really ours. It's mind blowing that it was her in my belly all along. Our whole family is pretty smitten with her, and we are over the moon that we will be getting a girl cousin in April. My brother and his wife are finally having a girl after 2 boys. Matching outfits will be happening.

We are also sooo excited for Arianna's first Christmas, even though she is too little to do anything, it will still be really special for us.

Arianna's Birth Story

Arianna is now two whole weeks old and I've finally gotten around to finishing up this post! It was a lot of details to remember and I'm not entirely sure it even makes sense but here goes!

Friday, October 31st
I spent the first half of the day kind of hoping I wouldn't go into labour and have the baby on Halloween. I rested until about noon, and then ran around doing last minute things. I went to Costco and walked around the the mall. Leigh and I went out to the Keg for one last date night (we had a few of those, but this was actual the last pre-baby date night) and Leigh went to sleep fairly early.
I had a 41 week appointment at the hospital for an ultrasound and non stress test on Saturday November 1st. It was one day before I would be 41 weeks, and I thought about changing it but I went by my usual "everything happens for a reason" mantra. That night, I stayed up late making sure we had everything packed and ready for the hospital. I was honestly going to bring my bags to the hospital but we decided not to leave them in the car and if we needed them we'd just get someone to bring them. I think I knew deep down I wouldn't be going home from the hospital that day.
We got to the hospital at 11 and had the ultrasound first. The tech sent me up to labour and delivery with an envelope. They hooked me up to the nonstress test and at some point, a nurse came in and said your midwife wants to talk to you. I knew at this point that something was up. I wasn't worried that anything was wrong with the baby but I kinda just knew that they would want to speed this up now. I had been doing research on induction for months, and knew that the hormones they induced you with (Oxytocin)  often ended up in a c-section because they cause strong, painful contractions that can put the baby in distress. If the baby's heart rate gets too low, they will do a c-section right away.
The midwife came and said that my amniotic fluid was a little bit low and she was recommending an induction. The hospital was on a diversion meaning they were turning people away so she was going to talk to the OB on staff and see what they thought. The OB came in and said that she recommended induction as well but that I could probably come back tomorrow. A few minutes later she came in and said actually we'd prefer to induce you today and we will do an inpatient induction. Which basically means you aren't going home unless you have the baby. Most people get given prostaglandin which is a gel they insert and they rest for an hour and are monitored and then go home until something happens. I had to stay in the hospital, in the assessment room with 3 other people because the hospital was so full.
They gave me the gel at 330, and I instantly felt horrible. It burned so bad, it upset my stomach, I felt hot and sweaty and it made my contractions stronger. I got through the hour and once I was able to get up and move around I felt a lot better. We hung around the hospital, walked around, I even got to leave labour and delivery and go to the cafeteria. I started to get stronger contractions at this time, which was probably around 9pm.
At 11pm, we were moved to a huge birthing room, which was awesome. Except there were no windows which felt really weird because I literally did not leave this room for 36 hours. What happened after this is a little bit fuzzy timewise. I was having a lot of contractions and I was hooked up to a fetal monitor every few hours.

Sunday, November 2nd
At 1 in the morning, my fetal monitor started beeping, I don't remember what happened if the baby's heart rate dipped low first or if it just went off the screen but I suspect that somehow the monitor had slipped off the baby. Regardless, I called for my nurse who came running in with that "code blue" kind of look on her face. She stayed very calm and got me back on the monitor but I could tell she was concerned. They decided to keep me on the monitor non stop rather than just checking on the baby every hour or so. I was also hooked up to an IV for fluid in case that caused the blip in her heart rate. That was an event in itself as I was shaking from the little episode so I ended up with two busted veins and blood everywhere before they got the IV in a 3rd vein that worked.
The funny thing was is that they were concerned that her heart rate was so high but from 10pm - 2am was ALWAYS her super active time when she would kick the crap out of me and this made me not really worry about it. Around 2am, sure enough her heart rate went way down and they were concerned it was getting too close to low. Again, I felt like she always calmed down so much and barely moved in my belly at that time like she was a super deep sleeper. Maybe this was just my way of making myself feel better but I honestly wasn't worried.
My contractions were so strong at this point and I'd been having them for several hours. I decided to ask for a morphine shot so I could sleep and rest. Remember, I wanted to do this all naturally. It was a hard decision to make but I really did get rest and sleep in between contractions and I think in the end it made a difference.
At some point, I think around 6 or 7am  a new OB came in and checked me and I was 1.5cm dilated. It felt somewhat promising but after that much time, I thought more would happen. This doctor was amazing and I really trusted him. The midwives told me that they trust him completely and I could too. He gave me another dose of prostaglandin and a membrane sweep and said that he would only use Oxytocin as a last resort because it has almost a 50% chance of ending in a c-section.
I went all day with painful contractions every few minutes (but still not considered active labour because of the whole pesky dilation thing) and started to use a bit of gas to breathe through them which helped a lot. It didn't take away the pain but it helped me manage it.
Around 1pm my water started breaking slowly. It was hard to tell but as it was happening with each contraction I was pretty much sure that was it and the nurses tested it and confirmed it was. Around 7pm the OB came in around then and checked me again. I was now 2 whole cm dilated. I wanted to cry. Why wasn't my body reacting to the gel? I was so frustrated. He recommended that we start Oxytocin. Even though it was exactly what I didn't want, my midwives told me this doctor was amazing and I could trust him. I said go for it. I already had the IV for the fluids so they just had to add it to the IV. They assured me that they monitored it closely and I'd have a nurse with me 24/7. They also upped the doses very slowly to make sure the baby was okay at all times.
I asked for another shot of morphine to help with the pain of the oxytocin. The nurse told me that people rarely can handle oxytocin without an epidural but I wanted to try. I'm not sure how long I lasted but this was another blurry time for me. There was absolutely no way I could handle that pain until labour and then still have energy to push.
I knew it was the right decision to get the epidural. The baby was doing great and she needed me to be strong for her. They administered the epidural and I was incredibly drowsy and relatively low pain until the early hours of the morning.
I also need to add that my mom and Leigh stayed with me pretty much the whole time, only leaving to grab food or drinks (which I wasn't allowed anymore, that sucked) or quickly run errands. Leigh slept in a chair that kinda reclined out and my mom made a bed in the birthing tub. Yup, that happened. Everyone that came in laughed, it was kind of genius actually.

Monday, November 3rd
At 6am, the same OB came and checked me. I was only 3cm after almost 12 hours of oxytocin. Not good. He said he would come back and check me in two hours and if I wasn't 4 cm he said he would have to recommend a c-section, based on the low fluid, baby's little blip the night before, and the fact that my water had been broken for awhile now.
My contractions were getting painful again even with the epidural. It was manageable but I really had to breathe deeply through each one. They were very close together now. I asked the nurse if she thought I was in active labour and she said I think it's safe to say you are. Now I just had to hope I was dilated.
Around 8am, my midwives came. One midwife and one student midwife. I was so excited that there was going to be a student because midwives are so high demand, it made me happy one was going to be there for my birth. They checked me (both, since the student was learning all these things) and they excitedly said that I was 6cm. I seriously cried. This meant that I would probably not have to get a c-section unless things stalled again.
Side note: I was on oxytocin right up until delivery. They normally go up to a level 20, and because the baby was doing totally fine they had to keep upping it until I was at a level 28. It's crazy to me that the one drug I didn't want I ended up with a crazy high dose of it.
The midwives left to go do paperwork. I fell asleep for a few minutes and woke up with an incredibly intense pressure in my pelvis. I asked the nurse what was happening and she said that was a good thing I was probably progressing further. The midwives came back around 930 and said I was now 9cm, and they thought I was almost 10cm.
I was soo happy this was finally happening the way I wanted it to. In my mind I wasn't in the clear until I had her in my arms, but I knew that if I came this far I should be able to deliver her.
Because I was still able to move my legs quite a bit and had a lot of sensation despite the epidural, they set me up on a birthing stool in the hospital bed with a bar to start pushing. I don't even know how to describe pushing the baby out but it was the craziest thing I've EVER done. Leigh was such an amazing coach, he talked me through the whole thing and kept me motivated. The midwives kept complimenting me on how good I was doing at pushing. It went by so fast, it felt like I was pushing for 5 minutes but really it was about 2 hours. After awhile pushing on the stool, they laid me back down on the bed. I kept my eyes closed the entire time. I already can't remember the pain but I remember what it felt like, if that makes sense.

She came out at 1145 and the midwives announced "Here's your baby!" and placed her on my chest. I finally opened my eyes and looked at her. She was so beautiful and she was already wailing as if to say "I wasn't ready to leave my nice warm home yet!". . I couldn't stop staring at her. I don't think I spoke for the entire time she was on my chest. After the umbilical cord stopped pulsing (to deliver last minute nutrients and iron to the baby) they cut the cord and took her to be weighed ect. She weighed 8lb 2oz and was 20.4 inches long.

I took my gross hospital gown off and put on my nightgown right away. The nurses laughed at me but I'd been in hospital gowns for 2 days and I was done.

Leigh got to hold his daughter for the first time, after 41 weeks of me carrying her.

My mom came in to see her, shortly followed by Leigh's mom and dad and my sister. My dad came by later on the way home from work to see his brand new grandaughter and birthday buddy.
The rest of the day flew by with visitors, resting, and staring at our new baby.

We got released from the hospital around 2pm the next day. We were both doing great and couldn't wait to get home. Especially poor Leigh after 3 nights of sleeping in a hospital chair.

All in all, I ended up having to face all these choices I never wanted to have to make, but each one I made I knew it was the right decision. It was the first time I'd have to practice mother's instinct, and it worked out well that I followed my gut. I don't regret any of the decisions I made. I'm so thankful I didn't have to have a c-section, even though I had to have various drugs to get her here, I ended up with the exact birth experience I wanted. Giving birth to our daughter was probably the most amazing experience of my life. I still can't believe I did that and she's really, really, here after all this time. So worth the wait!

She's Here!!!

Miss Arianna Maria Evans arrived this morning (sharing a birthday with her Grandpa Mark) at 11:45am, weighing 8.2 lbs and 20.4 inches long. We are in love with our daughter and can't wait to take her home!

Bump Love {40 Weeks}

Baby is the Size of a Jackfruit!

So crazy to even type that, even though I FEEL 40 weeks pregnant. Actually I feel like 100 weeks pregnant.

*I will be honest, I am kind of over bumpdates but I really wanted to document this week of pregnancy at least part of the way through since I have made it to 40 weeks (and 5 days, currently).

*Every day I feel closer and closer to labour, more intense contractions (still not regular and not intense enough to be the real thing) more pelvic pressure, nausea, ect. I just have no idea when it will actually start.

*I'm oddly pretty calm about being past my due date. According to my midwife, I'm not "overdue" until 41 weeks, which I will be on Sunday. Tomorrow, (Saturday) I have to go to the hospital for a nonstress test and utrasound to make sure she's still doing good in there. Which I'm sure she is, if her dance parties are any indication. I do have my moments of "OMG when is this going to happen" and "I'm so done" but I kinda keep trucking along.

*I am having to think about if/when I want to be induced, which is not fun. My midwife recommends that I don't go past 10 days overdue which brings us to about November 5th. I am slightly comforted knowing that the baby's position makes induction likely to be successful. Trying not to think too much about for now.

*Staying busy while resting has been my daily plan for the past few weeks. The reason being, I can't just sit around and do nothing because I will go insane, BUT I have to make sure I rest, because at any moment I can go into labour and then it may be hard to rest if I'm in pain. I need to be rested for that event!

*I have been doing pretty good in the last week or so. I admit I was a bit disappointed that she didn't come on my birthday weekend but I still had a lot of fun and I'm kinda glad because it seems like she's going to be a November baby now and she'll get her own birthday weekend!

*Every night for the past 4 nights, I've had contractions/cramps/pain until about 2 in the morning when I usually fall asleep. Then I wake up with nothing. So weird. I figure it's my body preparing. It does make it hard to get a good nights sleep though, so I've been going back to bed after Leigh goes to work to sleep for a few more hours. The baby is much less active in the early am which makes it easier to sleep. I'm afraid she may be a night owl like her mama because she's super active from around 9pm - 1 or 2am!

*Every single day at least 5 people ask me when I'm due and then proceed to look shocked when I tell them I was due last Sunday. A lot of people have told me I'm not even that big which makes me laugh because I feel like a giant turtle. I got really lucky in the "swollen" department so far. I haven't puffed up at all, at least with water weight :-P Shoes still fit and everything!

*I was bored the other night so I unpacked the baby's hospital bag and repacked it just so I could see all of her little clothes and hats and headbands. Which I may have overpacked. They're so tiny, who cares how many outfits she has!

*I just want to say thank you to everyone who has read my bumpvdates the whole time because I'm sure they got pretty boring especially recently! I'm sure once she is here I'll be so glad I documented this time in my life.

*That's all for now, I'm off to run some errands and get some last minute things organized just in case I do go into labour tonight (pretty pretty please!)


Happy Halloween!

Birthday Weekend!

I have had a full birthday weekend celebration! A little different than years past but still had tons of fun.

We kicked it off on Thursday night with pedicures. I got a gift certificate for my baby shower and I finally used it! J and Nicky came with me and we made a girls night of it. I got them to put shellac on my toes so that it lasted a bit longer since I doubt I'll have time for pedicures soon!

Friday I finished off my work week and went on maternity leave. I was super exhausted so I ended up resting most of the day. My body was so sore. As usual I go a bit stir crazy so I popped out for some errands and decided to stop by the pub where my friends were watching the game. This is where I found out that one of my friends (Mark) was working on a movie set with Jesse Metcalfe.

He's the one on the left.

As in Christopher Ewing from Dallas. Also from Desperate Housewives and John Tucker Must Die. His girlfriend Alicia offered to take me to the movie set to meet him. I seriously just about died of excitement I'm not a huge celebrity person but I love his acting on Dallas. Anyways, so we got to go meet him! And have "lunch" on the movie set even though it was the middle of the night. Sadly I cannot post the pic of him and I until the movie comes out because he's in his movie costume. But it happened, and it was awesome. What a way to kick off the birthday weekend! I got home at like 1:30 in the morning and felt like quite the preggo party animal.

Saturday, I had a date planned with my mom but she got hit with a 24 hour crazy flu so Leigh was my hero and took me on the date I had planned with my mom. We went to Chipotle for lunch, visited Chapters, and then the most amazing new bakery called the Sweet Bake Shop.

Leigh bought me some macarons (Cinnamon Roll and Caramel Apple, both amazing) and a red velvet cupcake. This place was the cutest. After our downtown day date we were pretty tired so we just relaxed ad watched a movie.

Sunday, my actual birthday,, I slept WAY in. Like almost noon. I had made plans with Nicky to go to the mall but we ended up going for breakfast first which was delicious. Nicky also gave me Hunter boot socks for my birthday. I kind of love going to the mall on my birthday because I usually buy myself a present lol. I got a really cute sweatshirt tunic thing that fits me with the belly but I will try to save it for post baby. I also got a Christmas bath and body works candle.

By the time we were done at the mall, I went home and rested for a little bit and then we went for dinner with my parents and my brother and nephews. My parents gave me new Hunter boots for my birthday! I don't think I posted about this but my pink Hunters are actually cracked, both of them! So sad. Leigh is going to fix them for me but I'm not sure how long they will last. I wear rainboots like half of the year!

After dinner and cake, we went home and relaxed and watched our Sunday night shows. It was perfect...except for no sign of my birthday present aka my baby!! I suppose she'll show up one of these days!

Tonight we have a family dinner with Leigh's family for my birthday. I know I'm spoiled rotten. And we're ordering Chinese food, because apparently that works for sending women into labour! Haha, probably not but I'll give it a shot!

Bump Love {39 Weeks}

Baby Is the Size of A Watermelon!

*Once again, this post is a day late, and I'm now today 40 weeks pregnant. And it's also my 30th birthday.

*This week I accepted that my baby will probably not make an early appearance before my birthday/due date and now I have to accept she's officially going to be late. Darn.

*I stayed super busy all week and today I'm so tired. I have been resting lots. A few times I did a bit too much and got really tired. I have been sleeping wayy in since it takes forever to fall asleep.

*Symptoms: Heartburn, sore EVERYTHING. My legs feel like lead.

*I had a midwife appointment Tuesday, everything is looking great. My body hasn't really started the labour process other than the baby already being very low and snug in my pelvis, which is a good thing. Blood pressure and heart beat are all good on our end! I have another one this Tuesday.

*I have been staying busy to keep my mind off things, but also resting/sleeping a lot. Lots of couch time with my Kobo and netflix.

*I was saying to Leigh last night that I have really enjoyed the last few weeks. It felt like a vacation before the baby comes. Of course I am super uncomfortable but I have done so many fun things and spent time with friends and family. It's just been a really nice time in my life.

*I may or may not have picked out a personalised Christmas stocking for the baby. We just have to you know actually meet her and name her before I order it.

*As of Friday morning, I am officially (reluctantly) on mat leave. I would have worked right up until going into labour but my clients were like um no how about you rest now and we will see you in January. That's how much I love my job! I know I will love being with my baby but I'm so glad my job will be such a great fit for my new mom life.

*I also miss working out, like REAL workouts. I've walked and done weights but I feel weak and tired, not strong and fit so looking forward to working my way back to that. Starting out nice and slow of course, with walking with my carrier or baby stroller!

*That's pretty much it for this week! Hopefully the next baby update I have for you guys is a BABY update instead of a preggo update!

DIY Glider Makeover

For the record, I pretty much did nothing with this project other than actually buying the chair and fabric. I took the cushions off and my wonderful mother in law offered to recover them for me. We were trying to figure out how to best paint the chair and my uncle offered to do it. There are much more in detail instructions on Pinterest, such as this easy one or this one which requires sewing.
When I first found out I was pregnant, I knew I wouldn't have a nursery to set up right away. Since then our date for move in for our apartment has been moved back till March, so baby will be about 5 months old when we move in. I may not have mentioned it on here, but my sister in law is also pregnant with her and my brother's 3rd baby, due in April. So exciting!! She mentioned to me about re-doing a glider chair and showed me the before and after pics from the Pinterest tutorials and I was totally sold on the idea.
I have never thought about gliders before, I really thought they were just for rocking babies to sleep, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to have one for a space to feed the baby comfortably. I also thought it would be great to have in her room as she got older to read to her, ect.
So I started looking on Craigslist and picked one up for $40, including an ottoman. I actually forgot to take a picture of it before I took it apart, I did have one but it was on the phone that I lost a few months ago.

So this is a stock photo of what my ottoman looked like before, this is I think the exact one.

Nice and all, but definitely not the look I was going for, except I couldn't figure out what that was. I wanted to pick nursery colours before I picked fabric. I was looking for something gray and neutral and couldn't find anything, finally I came across this turquoise fabric and realised it would be perfect.  Turquoise goes with so many colours and would fit perfectly with the other colours I wanted to use. Once I had this idea in my head I could totally picture what her room would look like! 

This is the after:

Bunny just gifted to baby from Nana Julie (Leigh's mom) and Auntie Claire

For now it's going to sit in our little sitting area in our suite, which will be the perfect place to feed the baby while having access to my kobo and Netflix! I have to send a huge thanks to my mother in law and uncle and also my Mom for picking it up and bringing it back :-)

Bump Love {38 Weeks}

Baby is the Size of a Pumpkin!

*This post is officially super, super late. I am now 39 weeks and the baby is now the size of a watermelon. I will try to have my 39 weeks post up before my due date.

*This post could also be titled "Random End of Pregnancy Thoughts"

*I am due in one week, which is also my 30th birthday. I would really, really, like my baby for my birthday. That is all.

*Remember when I said I wasn't going to wear real pants? For some reason I decided to wear my maternity jeans one last time. It was horrible.

*Every time Leigh and I go anywhere, to the store, to a restaurant, out for coffee, I wonder if it's our last outing before we are a party of 3. I have so loved being pregnant, but I am ready for this little girl to join our family. I keep wondering when it's going to happen, where it's going to happen. Will I get to call Leigh at work or will he be with me? Will it be the middle of the night or the middle of the day? Will it progress quickly or be calm and slow?

*I still need to blog about my second baby shower! That post will be coming in a few days, I promise!

*There is a mile long list of things that are supposed to help induce labour naturally. I feel very skeptical about this list. I think you go into labour when the baby is ready and when your body is ready. Which makes me wonder how the body decides, exactly? I picture the baby pulling some kind of escape latch when she's ready to enter the world. The only thing I'm really doing is walking, sitting on an exercise ball and taking "Mother's Cordial" which is a disgusting tincture that I got from my midwife.

*I finally feel like I have everything ready for the baby. Car seat installed, stroller, baby swing, bouncy chair, glider chair, basinette. Everything is all in place, thanks to our amazing family and friends! It's amazing how I started out months and months ago with this long list wondering how I was going to pull it all together but honestly, we were so blessed to have been given and lent a lot of things we needed. Everything is all set up and I just can't wait to put it all to good use!

*My personality is to assume that everything is going to be a challenge and then I'm usually pleasantly surprised and that has totally applied to pregnancy. I researched the different phases and symptoms and everything was totally manageable. HOWEVER, I did not expect that I would have contractions all the time. From 37 weeks on (a whole like 10 days, which feels like a decade) I have had worse and worse contractions every day. They hurt (but are manageable) but they mean NOTHING. I'm not in labour, I don't know when I will be in labour, these contractions are just for fun. Well actually, they're kind of for practice but still. I always thought contractions = labour. Nope. You can be doubled over in the pharmacy and not be able to breathe and still not be in labour.

*Main pregnancy symptoms this week have included dragon lady heartburn, sore back, sore pelvis, tired legs, and oddly a lot of nausea. Definitely feels different than the past 9+ months lately so I'm going to take this as a good sign.

*Everyone is anxiously awaiting me going into labour so I have to be careful that I don't get everyone too excited when it's not happening yet. Anytime I call a friend or family member they sound so hopeful on the other line.

*The baby had dropped even lower yesterday when I woke up, which I didn't think was possible. Also hoping that's a good sign.

*I will leave you now with something happy. This weekend I insisted Leigh take me to Krause Berry Farms for Pumpkin Waffles. So worth it. Here is a picture of a very happy pregnant lady.

Waiting for Baby

Random headless bump photo from this week. 

Last week I started to go a little bit crazy. Time felt like it stopped, I was trying to spend time resting but it kinda backfired and started making me feel like I was losing my mind. The last few weeks of pregnancy are no joke. Luckily I have some amazing people in my life taking care of me and pretty much spoiling me rotten.

This week has been a lot more fun. I made sure to book myself up with lots of fun activities. This is what I've been up to lately:

 I also bought a few things off buy/sell/swap sites off Facebook, which I totally recommend. I got a baby tub for $10 and they sell for $40 at baby stores. Last weekend my mom and I went shopping for last minute baby things. I needed random things like a few bottles and some things for my hospital bag. Afterwards we went for a girls lunch.

My mom also took me to see Alexander and the Terrible,  Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day which was a cute family movie with a little bit of adult humour thrown in.

I've been going for lunch with friends  every day this week, which has been really fun. I even had an impromptu lunch date with Leigh this week, at one of our favourite places, Lunch Doctor in Pitt Meadows.

I got treated to another movie this week by Nicky, we saw This Is Where I Leave You, which was funny and sad but somehow I managed to keep the tears in, because I hate crying in public places.

image via Pinterest, love this idea for baby's room

I have always loved Chapters but I have found myself going there almost every day lately. First of all, it literally calms my body and mind. I don't know why but as soon as I go in there I feel happy. I have also kind of discovered children's books, and I am obsessed. They are so beautiful and sweet and I want to buy them all for my daughter. Thankfully I have a little time to build her up a library before she starts reading and even being read to. I've started a wish list for her on Chapters so I can keep track of what books I want to get her!

I've been reading like crazy, The Rosie Effect (Sequel to the Rosie Project), Shopaholic to the Stars, and currently Charlie's Glass Slippers (modern day Cinderella story, yes please). It's really been keeping my mind occupied while my body rests, which is important. I am very concious of not exhausting my body because I really have no idea when I will go into labour and I might need my energy. Reading helps.

So does watching lovely fall TV! I have been watching a lot of pilots for new shows. So far, I love A-Z starring Cristin Milioti from How I Met Your mother (love her!) as well as Marry Me. I think my favourite new show would have to be Jane the Virgin. Sounds kind of bizzare but I can't wait to see what happens and I think it's a well done show!



I made this quiche earlier this week, using J's homemade pie crust. It was amazing.

Last night I got together with J and Nicky and we watched Frozen. I know, it's shocking, both Nicky and I hadn't seen it yet.  It was really cute! I wonder what the next Disney Phenomenon will be.

This weekend we will be keeping busy doing fun things, because I'm sure this baby is going to show up when we least expect it. Oh, and 38 week bumpdate will be up tomorrow.

Bump Love {37 Weeks}

Baby is the Size of a Giant Baby (Also a Winter Melon)

*I have total nap hair in the above picture.

*I'm currently at 37 weeks and 6 days and I am currently starting to understand why pregnant women who reach the start of full term look like they want to kill someone. Being this pregnant kind of sucks.  EVERYTHING hurts. My entire lower body feels like I did the craziest workout yesterday, except I didn't, I just maybe walked for an hour which I've been doing every day even though it hurts so bad. All of the pain is manageable but it's getting annoying.

*The other part of being this pregnant is that every day is like a year. Seriously. Time that has flown by so fast is now pretty much stopped. The fact that I'm due in a little over two weeks means nothing to me because that is decades away.

*I am trying to keep busy but I get exhausted pretty easily. I have been reading like crazy because at least it keeps my mind occupied and my body resting.

*I am having lots of little signs that labour is "coming soon" all of which mean nothing to me because if they are not happening in regular intervals and getting stronger and more frequent, it means I'm not having the baby today (or this "year") and that sucks. Don't get me wrong though, I am happy to let her cook as long as she needs to!

*I am still working a little bit, and it's keeping me sane. I have such a better day if I go to work for a bit in the morning!

*My mom and I had a girls day today, we went to Babies R Us and Target and Walmart and got all the little things I need, it was super fun! We went for lunch after and even stopped by to check on our apartment building. So I pretty much have everything I need but I don't feel ready. I'm pretty my first reaction to going into labour is going to be "Nope, not ready!" despite the fact I've been waiting for it for months.

*I checked in with the midwife on Friday, baby is in a perfect position, measuring right on time and I haven't gotten any fatter. All good news! Next week I will get "checked" for progress so that should be interesting.

*As you can see from the above picture, I was not kidding about not wearing real pants. Literally leggings every day, hoodies even though they can't be zipped up, and comfy sweatshirts including one of Leigh's that I stole. I love being comfortable when I'm so UNcomfortable from the inside out.

*This feels like the most boring pregnancy update yet. Sorry guys! I'm kinda just done and ready to meet our daughter!

Maternity Photos by Carol-Ann!

About a month ago, I met up with my very favourite photographer, Carol-Ann for our EIGHTH photoshoot! She has been my photographer for engagement, wedding, boudoir, business, you name it! I cannot WAIT to have her take family photos next year! She literally sent me the link like five minutes ago and I couldn't wait to share! Here are some of my favourites so far in no particular order!

My mama joined in for a few pics, she is loving that her baby girl is having a baby girl!

Ahhh I love them!! I was just telling Carol-Ann that I can't wait to finally have our own home where we can hang all our beautiful photos that she has taken! Thank you Carol-Ann for another amazing photo session and for always making me feel like a supermodel!