Families, traditions, and holidays

“Oh oh oh oh oh! Try everything!”

Home Free’s cover of the song from Zooptopia pumps through my speakers for the countless time this week. I’m pretty sure I sing this in my sleep now.
My hot morning coffee is about to become my cold afternoon coffee. Maybe if I stick an ice cube in I could convince myself I wanted iced coffee all along.
I still have Christmas decorations that need put away and a tent we got as a present hiding under my coffee table because I haven’t wanted to go out in the cold to reorganize our storage closet. But thats really the only evidence left from Christmas.
So that means it’s the perfect time to discuss holidays right?

“Uh, Kimberly? It’s almost February.”

I know, I know, but there was actually a reason for why I wanted to post about these all together. This year we did something new. Let me explain…

Holidays are synonymous with family for me. I grew up with only 2 sibling but lots of cousins that we are very close with. We had noisy, loud holiday dinners with lots of food. And I loved them! As we all grew up and grew larger in numbers things changed, but it was still one large family gathering. Then I married the Hubster and my family grew even bigger, and it is so awesome.

Balancing holidays did become a little bit harder though. And as we had kids, it became even harder. Some of family members involve a lot of driving to go see, some are close by, and we tried so hard to be at as many different holiday gatherings as we could.

We loved it but, want to know a secret?

It all became a little exhausting. Now, I am not saying seeing the family isn’t worth the effort. I don’t believe that at all! I love our loud noisy families and will continue to enjoy going over there even if it means coming home wiped out. Its fun being in the midst of chaos, seeing people you maybe haven’t seen in a while, reliving old family traditions.

It was the old traditions that got us thinking though. We are our own little family, and our kids are (hopefully) going to have fond memories of our holidays we spent together. The thing was, we didn’t really have any just our little family traditions. We were so worried family would miss out having the kids at their parties we kind of put our own little holidays to the side. And again, there is nothing wrong with the kids going to all their grandparent’s for Christmas, but we were missing out on making memories with our kids.

We sat down and did a lot of discussing. We didn’t want to just stop going to family, but we knew we needed to make a change. We decide to make this a low key year. Specifically, we chose to stay home and have our own Thanksgiving dinner just us this year. We had never, in the 4 years we had been married, had our own Thanksgiving. This was something that bothered the Hubster and so, we told family as they invited us to dinner, “Thank you but this year we’re staying home.”

I’m not going to lie, it did feel a little weird and we might have come across as a bit selfish, but guys, it was absolutely wonderful! All of our favourite dishes were on the menu, I roasted my first turkey, Little Man helped me make pie, and when dinner ran a bit late we just spent more time together playing with the kids and dancing to music. I might have also snap chatted my sister, who was having her first Thanksgiving with her new Hubby.

 

 

Next year we will be back at family’s for Thanksgiving dinner and we will love that too. It might be a year or two before we do a private Thanksgiving again, but we will do it again. Thanksgiving- heck, any holiday really- is about being together with family. But, in our case at least, we kind of forgot that once you get married you become your own family. And that little family is just as important to have memories and moments for too.

Which is also what led us to declare Christmas Day as officially “ours”. Meaning, quite simply that unless we are going to church, Christmas will be spent at home, just us. Oh yes, there will still be plenty of time before and after that we will go to the Papas and Nana’s and Gigi’s to celebrate with them. But this gives us one day to set up our traditions and spend time together.

The boy’s ‘First Christmas’ ornaments

A rare, but well loved, pre-Christmas snow

Christmas morning

our traditional Christmas dinner- SUSHi!

As I mentioned at the beginning, I come from a big family. Family is very important to me and will continue to be, but I am learning that there is nothing wrong with setting aside time for your little family, to create brand new traditions (like our traditional Christmas dinner of homemade sushi), to take a little breather if you need it. If you are newly married, or maybe you’re going to have your first holiday season with your kid, by all means go to Great Grandpa Fred’s and to your husband’s parents, go make memories with old family as a new family. But don’t forget to make a little time in there for you guys too. Make traditions with your husband that are different from what you did as kids, pass on things you guys used to do to your kids so they can have those memories too. Celebrate with all the family and celebrate with just your family. 🙂

 

 

And my coffee is officially cold now 😛

 

New year, new blog?

Over the next couple of week I hope to get the blog updated with photos and stories from the holidays. And Ari and I will be uploading more ipsy videos, never you fear! But the pensiveness that falls on me at the end of an old year and the start of a new got me thinking.
I started this blog for one reason, for me. That sounds super selfish but it is true. It gives me a place to post my photos, give you my opinions, and even show off my amateur chef skills. Yes, I have dreamed that perhaps the blog would take off in such a way I could make a little extra income for my family, but at the very core of it, I knew I needed to want to do this even if it just stayed in a virtual corner somewhere. I have enjoyed doing this so much, and I have some fun ideas for 2017, but I realized something was missing. Something I had unintentionally left off.

Openness and honesty.

No, I am not saying I have been lying to you guys and making up stories to fill my pages in with. If you look at my old post though you might notice I tend to skip and glaze over anything negative. There are a few reason I haven’t really shared them before:

a) Let’s be honest, they aren’t always fun to talk about
b) I am aware that there are people that have had it a lot worse.
Which leads to…
c) I don’t want people to think I am searching for sympathy or trying to play the victim.
And finally..
d) I try to find the positive spin in everything that goes “bad”. So, it is only natural that it is the positive stuff I choose to share with you.

I have been very blessed in my life and I enjoyed sharing that, and will continue to share the good time with you all, but my life isn’t peaches and cream. I don’t want someone reading this blog to think I am some sort of mystical unicorn mom blogger. Because I am not!

My house is almost never fully clean, I burn many a meal or forget to start a meal in time, my kids have meltdowns and tempers, my husband and I don’t always agree, etc…
Life is hard and there are struggles. BUT, it those difficulties have brought us to where we are now. There is nothing wrong with  wanting you to see the good times, to celebrate them (and yes, they will still be the main focus of my stories) but I also want to be able to open up and share the hard stuff to.

So as the blog continues into the new year and I continue to share with you all, I can only hope that there is a new level of openness and realness shared with you all 🙂

Happy 2017 everyone! Here to an adventurous new year!

 

Pumpkin patch and Zoo (pic heavy)

In the spirit of catching the blog up I’m sharing the photos from the birthday celebrations for Little Man.

Hard to believe he is three now! It does NOT feel like its been long enough. Its so much fun to see him growing up and becoming more little kid and less toddler/baby. Though, I’m not going to lie, looking through old photos I sometimes really miss his baby stages.

But more then anything I’ve loved seeing him step up into the role of big brother. He handled Bro-Bro coming into our lives so much better then we imagined. Yes, we have still had some meltdowns and adjustments to make (and we’ve had to explain why its not okay to perch on top of our little brother, haha), but he loves his little bro so much and enjoys helping however he can with him.

So for his third birthday we decided to of go the big party and keep things mellow (a theme you will see throughout the holiday season this year.) We went to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins and then, later that week, we met up with Aunty Ani and checked out the zoo!

 

The pumpkin patch

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We have one patch that we have gone to every year since we have been married, save one I think. Its a big patch on a little island not too far from town. The pumpkins are a bit more expensive then say a supermarket, but they make up for it in the experience. train rides, hayrides, petting zoos, and pumpkin cannons. The pumpkin cannon are probably our favourite.

The plan had been to meet up with family at the patch but, we got stuck in a massive line waiting for the ferry. So after waiting for 30 minutes to finally cross the river, we showed up in time to say ‘Hi, bye!” to everyone before they left. One quick train ride with the cousins was managed to be squeaked in which was nice.

A quick bite to eat (Can you say pulled pork nachos? Ohhh yeah!) and then we hopped on a tractor ride down to the patch. Where, of course, Bro-Bro proceeded to spit up all over my entire right side. Way to look glamorous huh? 😛

In the end we found two pumpkins, got completely covered in mud (and spit up) and had a great time!

 

The Zoo

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Next it was on to the zoo! Now this didn’t go quite like planned either. We ended up getting a late start. Which on the good side meant it wasn’t really that crowded, but we ended up staying right up to closing and we weren’t able to see everything. Just means we have to go back sooner 😉

 

about halfway through we realized the zoo was going to close in 5 minutes. We also realized we hadn’t seen anybody in a good 10 minutes. We had the whole place to ourselves pretty much. Let me tell you, a slightly deserted zoo is a bit eery feeling! We kept making jurassic park jokes on our way out, haha!

 

Unfortunately, due to the near deserted state of the zoo, all the restaurants were closed. So we headed into town to attempt to find somewhere to eat. And after a few wrong turns and several google map searches we finally chose Pizzicato

 

I scarfed my food down before I even thought about taking a photo, but guys, it was soo good! Definitely somewhere we would go to again. I recommend their panini with caesar salad. Those croutons! Everything was cooked well, and the ingredients tasted nice and fresh. My only complaint would be there wasn’t a ton of seating space, but the food made up for the campiness of everyone plus a car seat carrier.

If you’re still with us after all the photos, thanks for stopping by! Also, I noticed a lack of food posts by me recently, so let me know what kind of recipes you would like to see and I will see about remedying the food gap.

 

The Tale of Two Camps – pic heavy

Quick update: Here on the blog I use nicknames for both my husband and the boys. Its just a personal preference of mine as the boys are too small to really have a say on whether or not they want to have a big presence on here or if they want their real names being used all the time. My oldest has gone by ‘Little Man’ since day one and our newest addition was going by ‘Baby E’. However, as he gets older the baby part will eventually not fit, so we are going with a new nickname that Little Man came up with, ‘Bro Bro’

And with that we now return to our regularly scheduled program…

Camping. I love it! Even as a youngster, camping has always been something I enjoy. The outdoors, the fresh air, what’1s not to love? And its been fun going from tag-a-long camper with my parents, to planning camping trips (and meals) as a wife, to introducing it to my kids. Now we took Little Man on his first camping trip when he was pretty young and Bro-Bro has been no exception.

I’ve been told by some people that we are crazy for taking our newborn camping, or that they are impressed that we survived. And in many ways I don’t blame them, camping with a infant is not easy but it is doable. And in the long run I think it can be pretty helpful. We never take them before their two weeks appointment at the bare minimum. Though we waited until both boys were at least a month old before any of our camp trips. (There is so much adjustment in those first couple weeks adding anything on top of that, for us at least, is overwhelming.) The benefit of going when they are so little is, as they get older, it isn’t a huge adjustment for them or for you. They’ve done it before so you both can feel like old hands at it.

Taking a baby camping involves a lot of new things to pack (and a lot more to pack then you probably ever have before lol. More on that in a later post) for them and for mommy and daddy. BUT- they aren’t old enough to run off or worry about them falling into the fire. So, in a way, it give you a chance to adjust to the new camping member before you have to worry about where they’ve disappeared to, or what they are up to. Maybe it is just me, but I feel more prepared for camping with my toddler because I got used to camping with him when he was just a wee babe in arms.

Now, for our adventures!

Camp #1 – Detroit Lake

This was our first of our ‘camping with two’ adventures. We met up with Hubster’s sister and her hubby at Detroit Lake. A beautiful reservoir with a large campground and fishing access that both Hubster and I had been to before but never together (it had also been several years since either one of us had gone back) Not to mention, while a bit of a drive, it was still close enough to home if Bro-Bro didn’t handle it well we could go back relatively easy.

And both the boys did a great job! They behaved quite well. What didn’t behave however was the weather. What was supposed to be 70’s,  with mild sprinkling on the last day, turned into a mini monsoon! Thankfully I packed lots of layers though somehow both mine and Hubster’s rain coats got left behind, Eek!

We showed up late Friday night, set up, ate dinner and headed off to bed after a long fireside chat. No rain yet, but by the next morning it was becoming obvious we were going to need to set up tarps and keep the fire stoked all day.

trying to keep the eating area/ kitchen dry

this is how bloggers help set up the tarps

Little man also got his first try of a real honest to goodness, camp roasted s’more.

First bites

Helping carry more firewood

Needless to say- they were a huge hit! And he truly could have cared less about the rain. he had a great time playing in the dirt mud and splashing through the puddles as we huddled under shelter and played phase 10 and watch as our campground tried to flood. The guys did attempt to go out on the boat and do some fishing, but as the rain storm got even stronger that was soon abandoned.

at least someone was warm

We also opted to head in to town and eat dinner there for a little warmth. The place may have looked like a bit of a dive, but the food was amazing! Hubster has deemed it his favourite pizza ever.

The guys snuck out super early the next morning and went to fish under the bridge. (They only caught one fish and had to let it go) Us girls stayed back with the kids and slept in, but even though it had finally stopped raining everything was soggy. Not to mention our tent floor had leaked during the night and soaked Hubster’s last pair of pants. He was, quite understandably, a bit cranky and miserable. So we voted that instead of trying to cook breakfast at the campground, we would retreat to Hubster’s sister’s place. It was closer then our house and we were able to cook up giant breakfast burritos and hot coffee and get everyone in a happier mood. Mini monsoon or not, we really did have a good time and the boys did great. On to the next adventure!

Camp #2 – South Twin Lake

This was the campground I remember going to the most as a kid. We used to go every year for my dad’s birthday. Eventually through the years though that tapered off, but my dad started taking about wanting to revive it. Only this time we’d rent out one of the big cabins for the whole family to stay in.

The main lodge/restaurant

Most of the family was able to come for this inaugural trip. My little sister (who is temporarily out of state with work/school stuffs) was able to get the time off to come but, sadly, our older sister wasn’t 😦

The cabin’s were quite comfy and rustically charming. They kept us all warm and dry (which since it ended up snowing one day, I am very grateful for!) and it was nice being able to cook big meals for everyone in a real, albeit small, kitchen.

cocoa

let it snow

And guys! We caught so many fish! We estimated somewhere between 45-50 total from everyone, all three days. We only kept a few, but everyone there caught a least one fish. (except the boys who weren’t quite old enough to fish, though Little Man helped Papa row the boat)

admiring the catch

Oh, and speaking of boats, Little Man got his first ride in Papa’s boat. He looked adorable in his lifejacket (or boat-coat as he calls them) It squished his pudgy cheeks even bigger! LOL

He was really nervous at first and I thought he was going to freak out as the boat started rocking a bit, but he settled down and was soon trying to take the oars and do his own thing. He also keeps asking to wear his ‘boat-coat’ now that we are back home.

“I’m coming Papa!”

s’mores

And we had s’mores again, but these were no ordinary s’mores. No sir! I gourmet-ed them up. Firstly (and I still can’t believe this) I found marshmallows that were actually safe for my family. If you remember a few posts back I mentioned my family suffers from a plethora of food allergies. Among them- Corn. Which has made marshmallows a no-go for quite some time as they are almost all made with corn syrup and corn starch. But I found a brand that is gluten/corn free and is sold in local stores!  Dandies not only are safe for the family, but they are so much better then a basic marshmallow. Which truthfully I don’t like the normal ones, but the dandies I could eat straight from the bag all day everyday. They are probably the only kind of marshmallow I will buy ever again.

We also used the ghirardelli squares in the mint, caramel, and dark chocolate flavors. Fancy flavors plus they are already the perfect s’more size. Holy s’mores Batman! These had to be the best s’more ever! Try it if you don’t believe me 😉

I also got head down to the lake and take lots of early morning foggy photos. I love this time of year and foggy mornings are just the best way to start a Autumn day.

This is probably my favourite photo I got

It was a great way to wrap up our camping trips for the year. We didn’t put in for tags so no hunting this year. Thats a little bit of a rougher, more rugged camping experience and one we knew would be a bit too much with a two month old.

What places did you go camping this year? Or is there somewhere you’ve always wanted to go?

I hope you had fun looking through the photos and I really hope you let me know if you try ghirardellis s’mores and dandies marshmallows. Also we need a name for these- I’m thinking s’mores ultimate?

Family fair time outing

Hey there! I’m back to posting. Last time I was on here I was packing the last of my stuff into a hospital bag and waiting for Baby E’s arrival. Well, he took his sweet time (Went over due date and had to be induced) but he is here and now I get to announce the name behind the initial.

Baby E = Ethan!

(Now that he is here I’m probably going to switch the blog nicknames for the boys, but I’m still working on that. I’ll get back to your guys.)

He was born about two weeks ago and he has been growing, sleeping (he is currently snuggled up beside me as I write this), and making us all smile. Little man is absolutely loving his little ‘brudder’ and is constantly covering him in hugs and kisses.

And we’ve all really enjoyed the past two weeks of family bonding, but we’ve been feeling a bit cooped up and the Hubster decided to surprise us today and take everyone on a family adventure. Baby E’s first big outing!

But since it was his first big outing we knew we had to keep it fairly close to home, and it just so happened the State Fair was going on this week. Still a bit of a drive but no where as long as some of the other options we were considering. Plus, Little Man got to see all the farm animals. which pretty much made his day.

 

It was a bit toasty but we had a such a great time. Stopped for ice cream, Little man and Hubster rode the merry-go-round, and Baby E slept the whole time.

 

I had to take a photo of the chicken coop for my mother. She sings a happy chicken song to her chickens, and she would own this chicken coop in a heartbeat. 🙂

Also, there was a tank full of salmon, and while we were admiring them, I overheard someone telling his family that if you let salmon grow for long enough they turn into sturgeon. o_0 Haha! I don’t think thats how it works.

 

Such a great day and felt so nice to get out of the houses. Now that Baby E is here we are hoping to have more adventures and more blog posts. Obviously there is still a lot to on our plates and lots of sleep to catch up on, but keep tuning in! Thanks for stopping by 🙂

What to expect when you’re prepping

Its getting so close now! We will soon be welcoming Baby E into the world and holding him in our arms. I can’t wait to see him and his brother interact for the first time. No matter what else is going on, the last few weeks can fly by and drag at a snail’s pace all at the same time, and it always feels like there is something else you need to do. Something else you need to remember. As I finish getting myself packed and ready I thought I would share a few thoughts and share what I am packing in my hospital bag, etc.

First and foremost:

Breathe….. This is my second kid, and while I feel more prepared for this one, it is still an overwhelming and nerve racking time. Search any pregnancy prep ideas and you will have hundreds of different lists. What to pack, what NOT to pack, and what you have to do for labor. There are a lot of good tips in those articles, but they’re also not you. What works for one person won’t always work for you and that is ok.

How did you pick your doctor? For Baby E this was an easy answer, we just went with the same doctor that delivered Kyler. However for the first round I had no idea where to look. I hadn’t been living in the area for very long, only about a year. My former doctor was 3 hrs away and I will admit I had been horrible and hadn’t found a primary care doctor yet. And there was a LOT of prenatal and birth care options in the area. Hopefully, unlike me, you already have a primary care office so I suggest starting there. See who they recommend, and which hospitals they work with. We added me to my husband’s doctor’s office and they gave us a nice list of suggested centers and hospitals.

The next thing to decide was what kind of labor we wanted. Obviously if you want a home birth you will be looking at different care then someone that wants to go to the hospital. Finding a OBGYN/midwife that works with your preferred labor plan is a big must. Yes, a lot of things can change when labor actually starts, but if you and your provider agree on a lot of the same ideas you won’t have to fight for what you need, and you will have a much more pleasant experience for your monthly/weekly check ups.

For us we knew we wanted to do a birth center. We wanted the convenience of the hospital care if something went wrong, but the privacy a center offers. Once we had all that figure out narrowing in on our doctor was easy, and I have been very happy with her (obviously, since we are going back for round two)

Also many midwiferies, birth centers, and hospitals offer tours. Take them. Learn what you can about the area, the staff, parking, and which entrances (if any) close at certain times.  And ask any questions you have, no matter how silly you might think they are.

Birth plan?

Haha, seriously though its true! I do believe making one is a good idea, but also don’t expect the baby or your body to follow the plan. I feel the biggest reason to make a birth plan is to get you, your spouse, and your care provider on the same page.

Keep it simple. Again this is pretty much to get everyone on the same page so when you go into labor you aren’t trying to field questions at the same time. It also allows your provider to know the basics of what you’re wanting (Epidural vs none, who you want in the room, if you plan to breastfeed or not, etc) and allows you to focus on the actual labor. Depending on where you go they might have an actual birth plan print out for you to fill out, which is a great option.

Also when you are making your birth plan just remind yourself this is best case scenario and if things change thats okay. Whats important is that you and baby are healthy. With little man the plan was to go drug free if possible, but after 20+ hrs of labor and minimal progress I was given pitocin to help speed things up. I ended up laboring for an other several hours and never reached a full dilation when my doctor announced we needed to get him out. Did it go like we had wanted? No, but in the end I got to hold my happy, healthy, little bundle of chubs and that was what mattered.

Epidural or not? This is something everyone will have an opinion on, with tons of research to back up why you should or shouldn’t. Here is the thing, I know many women that had babies with and many women that had babies without one. What works for one woman, or one pregnancy, doesn’t guarantee its what will work for you. I’m going to say that a lot. It really should be pregnancy’s motto. Just like how everyone will experience pregnancy differently, labor and what you need/want will vary based on each person.

Go ahead and do your research, talk to your care provider, talk to family or friends and decide whats going to be best for you. You know you’ll need one? Then go for it. Want to try without? Do it. (Quick note here though: If you decide to go without an epidural but want it as plan b, make sure your doctor and spouse know this! I know a lady who originally didn’t want one. Then part way through delivery she changed her mind. However, she and her husband had discussed the fact she wasn’t going to get one. So he kept her from getting one. He thought he was helping her stick to her plan, but needless to say next time they went in he knew, if she asked for one she wanted it.)

What ever you choose, know you have made a good choice. I still have no idea why people feel they need to make other women feel inferior for their differences in labor. You are a super woman however you choose to it!

Same goes for C-sections. Remember the unofficial pregnancy motto? However you have your kid, in the end your are still a mother. There is no right or wrong way. And if anyone tries to make you feel you didn’t do it “right” just look at your kid and smile. You know the truth, you did it and you did how you needed to. There is no shame in getting a c-section and you’re not less of a mom for needing one. Even if it feels like things are spinning out of control, or you end up with everything going exactly opposite of how you hoped, you still did it and that is that. Please don’t ever feel you “didn’t do it right” or have to still earn something because you had a c-section vs vaginal birth. You have a kid. You’re a mommy. You earned it.

What about hospital bags? What do I pack? Ask what your care provider provides. Also ask yourself what you really need. There are the obvious basics (some of which is provided for you) and I am a firm believer of not bringing a bunch of stuff you don’t need with you. You’re not going to want to deal with a bunch of stuff on your way to the hospital nor will you want a bunch of bags to tote out to the car with the baby.

Here are a few of the items my birth center provide:
-Diapers for baby
-Postpartum care (padsicles, those glorious mesh panties, etc)
-Water bottle
-Daddy snack pack and meal card
-baby cap and blanket/swaddle 

(They also provided little hotel sized shampoos and soaps, but my hair is such a monster I struggle with using anyone else shampoos.)

Since all that is provided I have left them out of our bags to save space. Here is a photo of what I have packed for us. Please forgive the blurry photo. I snapped this on my phone while trying to head out the door for my Dr’s appointment.

What is pictured:
-Change of clothes for me, Hubster, Little Man, and going home outfit for Baby E
-Pajamas for the guys
-Maternity bras
-Toys, and snacks for Little Man
-Pull-ups and wipes
-Snacks for me and Hubster
-Spare change for vending machine
-Wallet with insurance cards and ID
-Toiletries
-Skin care and basic make-up

Whats not pictured:
– Cellphones/chargers
-Little Man’s favourite stuffed animal and blanket in case he has to spend the night somewhere besides home
-Car seat

 

We did pack a bit more this time around. Some of it due to having three people instead of two, and some of it just stuff I wished I had last time. Just trying to keep things to the basics. If for some reason we have to stay longer Hubster can always head back to our place and grab some stuff. So just like the birth plan we try to keep things as simple as possible.

 

Padsicles?? Mesh panties? Yup, and they are as glamorous as they sound. Trust me though, you will be very grateful for them. I won’t go into too much detail about them here just because you can find them all over Google and Pinterest. Just don’t feel bad about taking what they have to offer home with you. They are there for a reason and they want you to take them.

 

How have you prepared Little Man? This is my first time prepping a kid for a future sibling and I am no expert. We’ve talked to him about “baby brudder” and he has a few baby cousins which he has been able to interact with and hold. Thankfully he really seems to love babies, even rubbing their backs and trying got comfort them when they’re crying.

We know we will still have meltdowns to face, but he does seem pretty excited about the prospect of having his own baby to bring home. (We will see how long that lasts, ha!) Hubster and I have also discussed plans on one of us taking him, without Baby E, for diaper runs and such. Not long trips, no, but they will give him alone time with either mommy and daddy. We also plan on using his love of helping and getting him involved with the baby where ever we can.

During the actual labor we have plans for him to stay with either his Auntie and Uncle or Nana and Papa. All people he has stayed for long periods of time before, which will help ease any anxiety that mommy and daddy aren’t there. As much as possible we are just trying to maintain his routine. For his sanity and ours.

Do you have any labor tips? Just like the padsicles there are a lot of birth and delivery stories out there. Reading them can give you a lot of insight to what you could expect. They are chalk full of lots of different points of view and tips.

Otherwise I’d say the biggest tip I haven’t seen talked about to much is the shakes. Not the ‘oh I have a baby!’ kind either. I’m talking you getting a case of the shivers. Right after taking Little Man over to be weighed and measured I started shaking uncontrollably. They piled me up with blankets and told me I was okay, but after all the complications I had I admit I was sure something was wrong with me. My nurses assured me it was completely normal, and once I settled down and my brain was a bit clearer I realized how normal it was. I mean after all your body is going through a lot, it only makes sense you’d have side effects from the hormonal changes. It was just something I had not even considered beforehand and in the midst of labor brain fog it freaked me out. Consider this your heads up so you don’t have to freak out like I did. 😛

Final tips? Do your research and be confident in the choices you, and your provider have made. Every person, pregnancy, and delivery is different (told you I’d say it a lot) In the end what matters is you and your baby is safe and healthy.

Also there is no shame in stocking up on paper plates for afterwards. Having one less chore to worry about is huge. And who wants to wash dishes when there is a baby to snuggle 😉

Whew! This is my longest post yet! Thanks for sticking with me. Let me know what you think and feel free to post any other tips you’d add or what else you’d include in your bag. Thanks!

 

Hello!

We are still here!

If you follow my blog at all you’ve probably noticed I am a bit awful at updating regularly. I could blame it on all the things we are doing this year, and that would explain most of it, but I am also a pro procrastinator. And I am sharing the laptop with a online college student and school trumps blog. lol

But I have been sitting on the phone on hold for over three hours and figured, ‘Hey, what better time to do a quick update right?’ (And whatever happened to the option of leaving a call back number?? This hold music is terrible…)

I know last time I posted I mention we had a lot going on that I couldn’t talk about as it hadn’t been finalized yet. Well its been finalized, just not how we thought it would be…

For the past 5 years the Hubster has been trying and applying for one job. Every time a position opened he entered, and every time he got so close but in the end was turned away. You can imagine after 5 years of this it got very discouraging and, for me, it was hard to see the disappointment after every rejection. We sat down and talked about it this year when the position was opened up again. Hubster wanted to try again but I was hesitant. We finally agreed that this would be his last time, the final hurrah if you will. If he got it, great but if not we would shut that door for the last time and be done trying.

Well this time he was offered the position! The job would move us 3 hours away from where we are now, and until he signed the paperwork we decided to keep it under wraps. Really glad we did, because for some unknown reason we got an email saying the job offer had been rescinded and they appreciated his efforts but wouldn’t be going forward anymore. So instead of announcing on here that we were moving, like we thought we would be, suddenly the big announcement was gone. Made it a little harder to want to blog about that.

A lot of good has come out of all this though. Hubster has really pushed himself at the job he has now and has been kicking butt and taking names. I think having the possibility of a career change eliminated has really helped him settle in and go for it. He actually won a get-a-way recently to the coast (Which I hope to be posting photos of here shortly.) We had a nice break and Little Man LOVED the beach.

We also have hit the final stages of prep work for Baby E, been able to see cousins graduating, and my Sister-in-law’s wedding is coming up in just a few weeks! Lot of prep work and lots of showers and parties to attend 🙂

Sadly I forgot to take photos for most of these events but here are a few from the showers:

My baby shower, which my Sis-in-law did a fabulous job on. The cutest ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ party ever! She had everyone wearing gold paper crowns and the shower game involved passing around gifts as she read the story aloud.

 

The wedding shower was an other absolutely fantastic theme. We did an “Up” inspired theme as one of the couple’s favourite sayings is, “Adventure is out there!” Our Aunt did the decorating and as per her usual, she really nailed it! I got to help a little by making the hot air balloon center pieces (Let me know if you guys want a tutorial on that!) But she did the rest and it was so cute!

 

As you can tell from these photos I married into a crafty and creative family 🙂 I really wish I had remembered to snap more photos cause they really did such a great job at both parties. These photos really don’t do near enough justice.

So thats pretty much what we’ve been up to, with a lot more to prepare for in the next few weeks 🙂 All very exciting and very busy. I promise to try to be a little better at updating the blog, but a big thank you to everyone that is still following me regardless of the gaps. 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer is officially here!

Its more cake!

And a rather short post today I am afraid. We have a lot going on which I can’t talk about yet because we aren’t sure whats happening so its kind of a blog and dash post. I do hope you will forgive me.

Now, onwards to cake!

Last month the Hubster had his birthday, and as I have stated before I am fairly familiar with cakes. Here is the thing though, Hubster isn’t really a cake fan. Neither one of us is necessarily a big sweet person, but he doesn’t even like the more savory cakes.

Normally I would just make him a pie or a giant cookie, but we were having a picnic at the park and cake is much easier to serve in that setting so he requested I make a cake. I knew this cake was going to have to be pretty special both in flavor and decoration while still being easy enough to make while 6 month pregnant.

Decoration plans were easy enough. He has always been a huge nautical person. Boats, beaches, lighthouses, you name it. He even wanted to get an octopus tattoo at one point. So I asked him to print off a reference photo for me to use while free handing my piping later on. By the way, do you have any idea how hard it is to have the person you are trying to surprise print off the very thing you are planning on surprising them with? We don’t have a printer here and I needed a copy so I tried telling him it was for my sister. He bought it until the day of the party. So close.

Decorations were now planned but what to do about flavor? He loves lemon things but last lemon cake he said was too sweet. I decided in order to combat the sweetness I was going to add alcohol (Either baking genius or desperation, you be the judge.) Just like that Mike’s Hard Lemonade Cake was born. We got an awesome filling made with 4 different local berries to put in-between the layers. Even Mr-not-a-cake-fan liked it! Hooray!

Are you ready for the recipe?

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Mike’s Hard Lemonade cake

• 1 box Duncan Hines white cake mix
• 1/4 c oil
• 3 large egg whites
• 1 Mike’s Hard Lemonade (I got the regular flavor but the different flavors would make some awesome cakes)

 

Prepare cake mix as per instructions on back of box. Mixing the mix, eggs, oil, only substitute the Mike’s in place of the 1 cup water. Then just bake according to the instructions on back.

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That is it, really! Super simple and tasted great. The cake mix saved a lot of time too. Also I would highly suggest keeping with the Duncan Hines. I am sure it would work with other brands but I have not personally tried it. Also Duncan Hines comes out a better tasting more consistent cake from my experiences. 🙂

All I did was slap some of my mom’s secret buttercreme frosting on top, free handed an octopus attacking a ship over that (reference photo really helped there)

 

I’d also like to point out after all that  piping you will feel like you have the grip strength of Hercules

All in all, Hubster loved his cake, everyone gobbled it up (and this preggo lady really didn’t need extra cake laying around the house so yay for that!)

Success!

 

baby bird says, “ahhhhh!”

Trial by Cake

“You have been baked,

You have been frosted,

  and you have been found wanting!” 

 

You could say my life has been a journey of cake. I wasn’t very old when my mother started taking classes at our local Jo-anns. She became a certified instructor and made countless wedding, birthday, graduation cakes and the like. I spent a lot of time with my sisters watching from a safe distance as these sugary masterpieces were assembled. It still amazes me the amount of stuff you can make out of sugar, shortening, and some flour.

Fast forward a few years I got my first job working for Wal-Mart. Started out in the deli, but it didn’t take long for them to find out I was writing ‘Happy Birthday’ on cakes for customers after bakery hours and ask me to move over. Better hours, less grease and the airbrush machine, how could a girl say no? Plus, I went home smelling like icing instead of fried chicken, really no way I was turning that down.

A couple years ago Wal-Mart and I parted ways. As much as I DON’T miss Wal-Mart I do miss my cake decorating days, and the airbrush. I was the airbrush queen! I got to make some amazing cakes and make some really good friends.

The Hubster doesn’t really like cake, so with the exception of slapping icing over top of a birthday cake, there hasn’t been a lot of chances to do any decorating. Well I decided I needed an other go at making a cake (and an excuse to buy decorating tools 😉  ) so I volunteered to make the birthday cakes for my Nephew and Niece’s birthday party. Rules were an orange robot cake and a gluten free princess cake. Other then that I was given free reign. I sat down, planned, plotted, and strategized.

Now, during my Wal-Mart days I was very familiar with what I liked to call the Cake Fairy. Not an evil fairy per-say, just super mischievous. He is a bit like Puck from ‘Midsummer Night Dream’. Messing around with things just because he can, shaking things up, making your roses melt…. Well, apparently he missed me and decided he needed to make up for the 3 years I had been absent.

Saturday was the party so I had planned to get all my shopping done by Friday. That way I could get the cakes baked and the icing made so Saturday all I would have to do is decorate. Well Friday came around and I hadn’t been able to go shopping yet, but I still (thought) had plenty of time to go after Little Man woke up from his nap. Little Man woke up and we bundled up and headed to Bi-mart, our first stop. Had to grab icing ingredients and my Jeep was running low on oil. That is a really  weird combination to put up on the cash register, motor oil and powdered sugar. But so far so good, first stop done! I had to get gas then on to Michael’s for the cake pans.

After filling up at the gas station I went to turn my key and…..nothing. Trying really hard to suppress my panic I tried again, still nothing. I was going to need a tow truck as I was stuck smack dab in the middle of the gas station. Turned out my phone battery was dying and the gas station wasn’t too far from our house, and Hubster needed to come get the Little Man as the tow truck wasn’t going to have space for all of us, so he came down to call for the tow truck. We managed to push my car out off to the side so I wasn’t blocking business anymore (its really hard to steer without power steering BTW) but by this time its getting dark and raining. We waited for two hours in the parking lot waiting for the tow truck. With a two year old that is not optimal. Little Man did really well considering the circumstances but it was easy to see his patience was wearing thin. We were also running the risk of Michael’s closing before we got there and I NEEDED those cake pans. Finally the gas station owner told us we could leave the Jeep there overnight if needed and we decided to try again in the morning. We called the tow truck company and told them the plan and started to take off. Just as we pulled out of the station the long awaited tow truck pulled in. Turning around as fast as legally allowed we headed back to meet up with the tow truck driver and he was able to jump the solenoid and the Jeep was running! Hopping in I headed off to Gigi’s, with Hubster in hot pursuit, to leave the car there so we could fix it later (apartment complexes tend to frown on pulling your car apart in the parking lot 😛 ) and then raced to Michael’s so I could grab the cake pans. Made it 30 minutes before they closed! The rest of the night/early morning progressed fairly non eventfully and I was able to catch a short nap before Saturday morning.

Saturday morning decorating started well, Hubster got Little Man up and kept him out of my hair and he even volunteered to get breakfast so I wouldn’t have to. He set Little Man up on the couch with pillows, blankets, and ‘The Heffalump Movie’ and headed off. I was only mixing colours so it wasn’t hard to keep an eye on him. Heading back in to the kitchen to grab the next colour, I was only gone for not a minute when Little Man comes walking into the kitchen with something clutched in his hand. “Here.” He said, dropping my OnGuard essential oil blend bottle into my hand. How he got it I do not know, what he did I do not know, but I can see its all over his face and, horrified, I realise I’m pretty sure he drank some. I can’t tell how much, there is still over half a bottle in the vial but I’m not taking any chances. I call the poison control while washing off Little mans face and hands and trying to get him to drink water. The lady on the other side of the line assures me that I have taken the right steps and based on how much liquid is in the bottle he will be just fine. Hubster walks into to find me still on the phone trying to calm down our now very soaked and very powerfully scented child. Onguard has clove and cinnamon in it and he smelled of it all day. So did our house. Thankfully he had no other side effects and my oils have been moved to a much much higher shelf.

After all that fiasco the rest of the decorating went extremely  well and we got ready to go. Only now it was pouring buckets and buckets outside. We needed to keep the cakes as dry as possible so Hubster stood guard by the back hatch to open it as I brought the cakes down one at a time and ran them out to the car as fast as I could. Took about three trips total but they all got to the car without colours running or getting raindrop marks on them! And as stressful as the drive over was the cakes made it without any problems. I blabbed poor Hubster’s ear off about anything and everything in an attempt to remain calm. It didn’t work. We did joke about how there was no way I couldn’t write a blog post about this, car problems, being stranded, and poison control all for cake.

Finally got the cake delivered and finished up the final touches. The kids loved the cakes which really made it all worth it and at the end of the day we headed home happy and tired 🙂  (and in Little Man’s case still smelling of OnGuard)

The orange robot cake…

…and the gluten-free Princess cake. For not having decorated in the past three years I’m pretty happy with how they came out. The smiles on the kid’s faces was still my favourite part. 🙂

 

Also its amazing how much smoother the ride is without cakes in the back of the car.

Little tips and tricks

One of the biggest things that happens once you announce your pregnancy is people pop out of the wood work to give you tips, tricks, and advice.  From surviving morning sickness to the best way to endure labor. I have, as every pregnant women has, been given great tips and some really bizarre ones. I really wish I kept a list from my first pregnancy because I was told some really hilarious ones. 😀

I recently pulled/sprained my meniscus muscle in my knee which has left me sitting around with my knee perched upon a stack of pillows. (Seriously, my knee is getting quite the royal treatment here.) And since I have a little free time on my hands while perched here I figured I’d share some of my tips with you. I promise to try to keep them all serious and leave the bizarre ones for a later post.

 

Gin – Gins

via/ Amazon

I’m not planning on giving too many morning sickness cures because truthfully, you’ve probably heard them all already. Not to mention every person and pregnancy is unique and what works for one person doesn’t always work for an other and it can feel a little frustrating and overwhelming trying to work through them all to figure out what is best for you. That being said the one I will take about is this one. I had a really hard pregnancy with my first and while not as bad, this baby is definitely doing its best to make its little presence know in the form of the all too glorious morning sickness.

My aunt sent me these hard gin-gin candies in a surprise preggo package and they have really been a tummy saver. And they aren’t too overpoweringly ginger, which is great since I find most ginger candy too strong.

 

OGX – strength + body bamboo shampoo and conditioner

via/ Ulta

Along with morning sickness I must lament, pregnancy does not give me the beautiful healthy locks it gives a lot of people. Apparently I’m one of the lucky few that gets the totally opposite, lol. Now that I know this it isn’t that big of a deal, but I will admit in round one when my hair started falling out and being generally just unhealthy, I freaked out! This time when it started I just decided it was time for a new shampoo. Now props do have to go to the hubster on this one. I had found a shampoo that I wanted to try that was supposed to target hair shedding/breaking and was made with a bamboo formula, but it was pretty expensive. When we headed in to check it out hubster found these. Almost the same exact formula as the break-your-budget-shampoo, but for a third the price! And it has really worked too. Been using it it for about a month now and my hair feels so much healthier and I no longer have scary amounts of fall out overtime I brush. (and yay for cleaner drains)

 

Candles

via/ clip art

A really basic thing that we all have hiding somewhere in our house, but when your nose goes on the fritz these can really help combat it all. My StepMom-in-Law gave me an essential oil candle for Christmas. Let me tell you my kitchen never smelt so good. Bonus: they also make some great ambience. If you happen to have a Marshalls, TJ Maxx, or any store along those lines near by they are great place to find some amazing flavors- scents. My son has gotten used to being able to help me smell the candles before purchasing so now whenever we walk by the candle aisle he starts shouting, “Nose? Nose mommy?” I’m beginning to think he likes candle shopping even more then I do. 🙂

 

What to Expect When You’re Expecting

via/ Amazon

No, not the book you got from your doctor (Though you should read that too) I’m talking about the movie. It’s about 5 different woman and their very different journeys to mommy hood, and tons of good laughs on the way.  They even spotlight the daddys too which I love because it means I’m more likely to convince the hubster to watch it with me. Its a great movie to pop in and munch away on that treat you’ve been craving all day. Pickles anyone?

 

 

Personal time

via/ stockphoto

Whether its relaxing in a not-too-hot bath, reading a book, doing a puzzle, even baking a special treat. Whatever it is, having one thing you really enjoy doing that you can escape to do can really lift your spirits.  I have a very active toddler and a hubster in the middle of his bachelor degree so getting a mini mom-cation isn’t always the easiest. But giving myself even an hour after little man has gone down, to allow me to pamper myself has really helped my sanity. Pregnancy, while a rewarding time, isn’t always the easiest time. Your body goes through a lot of changes and your emotions tag along for the ride. Top that off with any sickies you catch, work, school, kids, just life in general it can take its toll. Take some time and just be kind to yourself, doing something you love. 🙂 And there are a lot of options out there to choose from, go pick a couple and pamper yourself tonight. Heck! even if you’re not pregnant take some time and give yourself a treat 🙂

 

Rock that Bump!

Somewhere in between all the crazy advice you are given, the random people coming up to you out of the blue and touching your bump (what is with that by the way??) and just living the life of a pregnant woman, it can be a struggle. People telling what you should weight, how you should be feeling, why you are lucky to be experiencing A B and C, and why you are so unlucky to not be experiencing D E and F. It can feel a bit like you are on display for any total stranger to comment upon. And that doesn’t even go into the inner struggles you may be facing: Body image struggles, pregnancy complications, work struggles, etc. What you are doing is amazing and so are you, even if you don’t always feel that way. My biggest piece of advice I would give to anyone who is, or hopes to be pregnant someday is: Surround yourself with positive people and rock that bump! Own this time and remember you’re pretty incredible 🙂

Also don’t be afraid to tell strangers not to touch the belly, cause thats just weird.