12th Day of Christmas

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For a little boy who squeeks when he sleeps, shoots things out of his body at warp speed, and loves to be snuggled, who is growing so fast some clothes he’ll just wear once if we’re lucky. 

And we are lucky - so lucky - to have been blessed with this big beautiful boy (11lbs11oz at his 4 week apt!).  This Christmas is going to be one for the books -- and you know what?  I did get Toblerone shortbreads afterall this year (my mom made them for me!) and I low and behold I did wrap my gifts with pretty bags and matching ribbon. 

This concludes my 12 days of Christmas Thankful postings -- I'm esp. thankful for automatic postings as many of these were done in the Christmas miracle few snippets I have had here and there vs. doing one per day.

This will be my last post for a while as we are off to enjoy the Holiday - Merry Christmas to all!

11th Day of Christmas

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Thankful for family that has been there in spades to support me.  Who will come over and hold the baby while I shower/sleep/catch my breath.  For the waiting room FULL of family after he was born.  When I got wheeled from the delivery area to the recovery area the nurses warned me that there was “A LOT of people out there” – and there was – they were all there, it was great. 

10th Day of Christmas

Pin It Now! Thankful for the little things that make me happy

Hersheys Kisses in Chocolate Mint and Candy Cane Flavours

Reindeer Corn

Studio Calico

Parking for people with babies!

JJ Cole Bundle me carseat cover

9th Day of Christmas

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Thankful for the Benster - who has been my constant companion and such a good pet with the new babe -

What Ben must be thinking......
"mmm lunch" (kidding)

8th day of Christmas

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For a husband who is learning how to be a parent the same way I am.  That he is trying to work less and be present more.  I know it is so hard for him but I can see that he is trying and that really matters a lot.  That he put J down in his crib by himself for a nap, took him while I have a nap or run to get groceries.  That they are getting to know eachother. 

7th Day of Christmas

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Thankful for our neighbours who when I got home from the hospital had delivered a bit beautiful boquet of blue mums.  For me – the new mom and who we can gather with as families to celebrate Christmas together. 

6th Day of Christmas

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For “aunties” that are technically friends but whose ties are stronger than blood.  Jonah will always know these ladies to be his aunties – we may not be related by blood but we are family. 

5th Day of Christmas

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For Lindsay who was the first of us to become a mommy – now that we are mommies together she is there in little ways – texting me with little notes of encouragement and advice. I wish we lived closer but love how we are connected. 

4th Day of Christmas

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Thankful for J’s Auntie Em who gave him two Christmas books – so thoughtful and sweet – esp since one had a Ben in it!     

3rd day of Christmas

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Thankful for  Kathryn who gave Jonah his “Love you Forever” book and who smiles a million miles wide when she holds him and doesn’t get mad when he pees on her couch.

Also thankful for this Kissed Baby sling - I had to return the other sling b/c J thought it was the equivalent of a torture device - he much prefers this one and it buys me a few hours every morning hands free. 

2nd day of Christmas

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Thankful for Whitney who got Jonah his own pillow with his name on it, in the same colour as his room, she has gotten one for each of the girls’ babes so far.  Of course she would do something so thoughtful – she has always been that way. 

12 days of thankful - day one

Pin It Now! I love Christmas – Christmas music, Christmas lights, Christmas cookies – but this year has been a bit different – I realized that Christmas is almost here and I got worried I’ve just about missed it because life has been such a whirlwind since J’s arrival.

We had a big day yesterday – I took Jonah by myself to Toronto to meet his Auntie’s and have a girls afternoon Christmas get together….we do it every year and this year it was amazing – and we did it, just the two of us our first time out together and we made it there on time with all of the things we needed and he was a great boy in the car. . When we were downtown I saw the CN Tower all lit up for Christmas and got so excited. We listened to the Christmas station on Satellite Radio the entire time – and I started thinking about this Christmas, how it IS so special for us – so different than any other Christmas – and I realized that even though I don’t have time for a tree this year and won’t bake toblerone shortbreads or wrap the gifts in fancy paper with matching ribbon that this is one of the best Chirstmases we’ve had, that our lives are so full. That there is so much to be thankful for…..

Like this little boy who was born 4 days earlier than J - and J ended up being born on Hudson's due date. That they will always have that story that binds them. That his mommy and I can get together and take pictures of them together holding hands acting like besties the same way we used to get together when we were 13 years old and take posed pictures of our friends. That she is a great mom – a total natural. I knew she would be – she’s always loved babies, but it made me so proud to see her in her element, almost took my breath away – such a special person and an inspiration to me.

I'll be back tomorrow with more! 

Our new life

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We are settling in as a family of 3 (plus Ben) - we've had our moments of adjustment but overall things are going great and now that he's here I can't imagine our lives any other way. 

I had expected that it may take me a few days to bond with the baby once he got here and I don't know if it's because we had some compications during his delivery but the moment I saw him I thought he was the most beautiful creature I'd ever laid eyes on and my heart just grew a special place for him. 

Things are SO different now.  We used to just pick up early on weekends and zip out and about all over town - today we made it out of the house by 1pm and that felt like a big win.  Then once we got to the mall all I could think was "this place is so LOUD" "this place is so BUSY" - and then just trolled for other people with babies to see how old thier babies looked. 

I've been out a few times without him and every time I go out I want to go up to people and tell them "I have a baby - he's at home" - particularly if I see someone with a baby - I just want to shout "I have a baby too!" 

I have never been more thankful for
Grocery Delivery
Walmart Photo delivery
Baby Oxi Clean
The Miracle Blanket

I am also very excited for this: 
NKOTBSB
So dorky I know but am totally going to try to get tickets! 

My best moment - 11.15.10 - 3:34pm

Pin It Now! He's here!  After what felt like an eternity of being pregnant and a bit of a rough delivery we welcomed Jonah Gray into the world on Monday November 15th at 3:34.  He's happy and healthy and adjusting well to his new environment.

We chose the name Jonah ages ago and kept from most as a surprise - Jonah means Dove in hebrew which is my mom's maiden name and Gray was K's Grandpa so he has a name that is meaningful - I love that. 

We are tired but adjusting well as a family - we just love him to bits. 

I knew to expect the long nights and tiredness but what I did not expect was that I'd be so in love I just wouldn't care. 

He's the best!
xoxo

D Day

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Today is my due date!  Although doesn't look like Baby boy is quite ready to join us just yet (well it LOOKS like it but it doesn't seem like he will hee hee). 

 In some ways the past 10 months have crawled and in other ways they've flown by. I am now at the point where I am feeling like every minute is an hour - I know in the grand scheme of things waiting another week or two is NOT a big deal and I just keep trying to picture this big beautiful baby that's waiting to come out (and judging by the size of my belly he's a big one) - but to be honest - it's getting tough! My ribs and abdomen feel like they are being torn a part each time I laugh or sneeze - I guess am just physically running out of room for this little guy but at the same time I keep reminding myself that once he is here the time will literally just FLY - that in the same time it took for him to grow inside of me he'll be 10 months old! At Christmas time he'll be almost 6 weeks and by my Birthday he'll be 4 months old.
So in the meantime I have been keeping busy by doing some scrapbooking pages - haven't printed the pics yet so they are only partially done - I figure once he's here I'll have tons to print so will wait and do a big print run all at once.
Have also been doing some last minute shopping - today we got a baby sling - I was overwhelmed with the Babies R Us selection and lack of help so we went to a little boutique near us and I got great service and decided on this one by Blue Celery - I like it becuase you can use it as a baby sling (just using one of the loops) or a full on hands free wrap. I practiced in the store on a doll - I'm sure it's a little more complicated when it's a real baby ;)

I have also developed a really wicked knowledge of all things pop culture and could talk for about 30 minutes straight about Portia on Ellen vs. Portia on Oprah and Ricky Martin finally coming out and Sister Wives on TLC.  As much as it has been such a treat to be off work with literally nothing to do but cook, clean and watch TV the last four weeks I do feel like I'm losing a bit of perspective on reality so am ready for this baby to get here...but at the same time I know that this month of pure indulgence will probably really never happen again for me so I definitley am thankful for it (also the fact that I have mid day bouts of narcolepsy have made being home with zero responsibilities very convenient!).  I can only imagine these last few weeks of pregancy when you have other little ones to care for - I'm sure it must be extra tough! 

This pillow from Etsy took forever to get here but now that it's in the nursery I think it really ties things together!  I also love the Manhattan print on the wall - NYC is a special place for K&I - it's where we got engaged and then also went on our honeymoon so I'm happy I was able to work it into the babies room. 

 Look at all these cute stuffies!  Ben totally thinks the squeekie ones are for him.....eek

K's mom gave me this duck on the left for my baby shower - it was his when he was a baby -- the crazy part is the duck on the right is mine from when I was a baby!  Such a small world !

Well that's all for today - hopefully I'll be back sooner than later with a Baby update!
xoxo

A baby is such a good excuse for a party

Pin It Now! there is this nice feeling of community that comes with having a baby.  i've been fortunate enough to have two showers in the last few weeks - one a few weeks ago with the girls from work hosted by my friend Rima and one hosted by my mom for family and friends this past weekend. At both we were so spoiled  - but the nicest thing about the showers was all of the visiting that took place with all of the ladies in my life.  i have gone on before about how fortunate i am to have the group of friends that i have but it's so true

these pics make me laugh because although I know how big I am I kind of don't really realize until I see pics like this - ha ha!  Bumpalicious!  I can remember back when I was first preggo trying on the foam belly at Gap Maternity and doing a ridiculous dance for Kirk and my Mom in it thinking "there is NO WAY I'll ever get THIS BIG" ...hmmm, I was wrong ;)

For hostess gifts for both i gave the hostesses necklaces from Luxe Designs - they are a great Canadian company that my neighbour told me about.  On my friend Rima's from work I put her parents names plus words that describe her to me and on my Mom and Aunt's I put their grand kids/great niece and nephew's names plus our baby's name on a charm for them to open once the baby is born.  The designers go to the One of A Kind show every year and I'm planning on going this year with my mom and the new babe (might be a bit aggressive since it's literally weeks after he's due to arrive but we go every year so I definitley want to try to make it there).  If I go I'll for sure order one! 

My friend Meag and I are due a few days a part - both expecting boys so obviously we expect them to be best friends too! 

I think it's really kind how people tell me that I look the exact same except for my belly but pics like this are proof that this is not the case - chubby cheekies! 

 The grade school gang - so crazy and nice how long we've all been friends, love these girls:

 Maya was a great helper during the gifts - I was dying laughing b/c with almost every gift she would lift it above her head and spin for everyone to see and also exclaim VERY loudly "OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH SOOOOO CUUUUUUUUUUUUTEEEEEEEE" about almost everything including a set of nail clippers with a picture of a bear on them.  ha ha.  she's so funny/cute. 

The world's most delicious cake - we had it upside down for the first little while and were all trying to figure out the design -- then Maya came by and said "oh that's a cute carriage with a baby bottle" and we realized.  ha ha. 

So the showers have been had and I've made a decent amount of freezer meals.  I'd say we are just about ready for this little guy to arrive!

xoxo

Freezer dinners

Pin It Now! I've been off work for one whole week and I have to admit the first day or so was SO STRANGE - to go from the same routine every day for almost 6 years to knowing I won't be back for about a year felt awkward at first. 

Throughout the week I found my groove and got some good cooking done for when baby gets here.

I made this Martha Stewart lentil soup and froze a bunch of it in individual mason jars and then this Giada marinara sauce with turkey meatballs - we had it for dinner on Thurs night and it was delish.

Up Monday is this Italian wedding soup also from Giada - I mix it up a bit and put pastina pasta instead of the egg in the broth and then spinach instead of escarole but this is a yummy freezer dinner. 

I'm still on the hunt for more good freez-able meals that we can heat up easily once the baby gets here so holla back if you know of any ;) -- my offical due date is 3 weeks today so geting close! 

have a great day - xoxo

Tour De Nursery

Pin It Now! i can't believe i only have one week of work left until i start my  mat leave - the past few weeks have been bittersweet....i am so excited about what's to come but the thought of not being at the job that i have been going to every day for the past 6 +years seems so strange and as much as i know i will love my mat leave i will also miss my job and all the people that i work with. 

the things that i won't miss are how sore my back has gotten sitting all day at my desk or the intense pain that has started radiating through my wrists by mid day - physically i think my body is starting to tell me to wind it down.  i think mother nature is also having a say in my repertoire these days....I'm up every 2 hrs to pee which was kind of annoying at first but now I'm just kind of used to it and my schedule has just started to shift to be one where i am just not sleeping through the night....hence the really early morning blogging.

not to say that I'm not enjoying pregnancy - obviously the end goal will be worth it but there are a few other things that i love about it - pull up pants for one....those have come in super handy the last few weeks and although i do look forward to wearing normal clothes again the elastic waist band is a pretty clever invention that i will miss.  People are SO nice too, that's another big plus - I have started to get a lot of people asking if they can touch the belly and honestly I don't mind. 

onto the baby's room:

we started this project AGES ago - back when my belly was smaller than a small country (see visual reference above ;))  - it seemed aggressive at the time but it took a lot of time for a lot of of what we'd chosen to arrive so it was a good move.
once we decided to abandon our original "baby/lamb" theme and just go for things we liked the process went a lot smoother

 this is the view from the door - we did bean board and kept the colour pallet neutral (inspired by Joanna ;)) - it was Kirk's idea to go almost to the ceiling with the bean board....i wasn't sold at first but love the way it turned out.

 this is the view from the opposite corner.  that pompom cluster is one of my fave. things in the room.  we got it from etsy and k. helped me hang -- ideally i would have liked directly above the baby's crib but wasn't sure that was the smartest idea in case one fell down. 

(ben is really starting to wonder what's going on)  

view of the change table

crib view with baby's cozy quilt and matching pillow 

Etsy finds:

Quilt - Modern Myrtle

Prints - Farouche

Owl - BWinks

Pom Poms - Fiesta Pom Pom

Alphabet Print - InkTreePress

The Power of Print

Pin It Now! have you seen this ad campaign about print magazine? i love it 
it is clearly an effort by publishers to promote the print medium over the online world but i really like the message. 
don't get me wrong - i love the internet.  i love to shop, connect, browse online. 
but there is something more relaxed about print.

as the internet continues to explode there is something so nice about sitting down with a coffee and a magazine.

latley i've been travelling with hardcopies of Travel and Leisure (even though we have NO trips planned it's fun to read about all the places we may some day go), relaxing with Real Simple and getting recipe ideas from Everyday Food

the internet is still my "go to" quick fix for last minute ideas for dinner etc. but i think there is something to be said about the real deal.

i have been keeping my scrap on (ha!) by participating in some challenges lately like this one over at the Studio Calico blog:

and this one from Crate Paper

i am loving the way these challenges get me to just pick up my supplies and go for it.
have a great day
xoxo

This is What Summer Looks Like

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I don't normally do 2 page layouts but when I got these fab pics from Nicole i combined them with a few of my own and it was just too many to do only one page

we have a fun weekend lined up - can't believe it's one of the last of the summer already!
have a great day
xoxo

Sleepy Saturday Morning

Pin It Now! we were supposed to go up north this weekend but because i had a busy week at work and am heading out west on my last business trip before mat leave early Mon am we decided to stay home and i am relishing in this low key saturday morning (i'll take 'em when i can).

rignt now am blogging in bed, watching he's just not that into you and laughing at lines like "so i also have a magical name - it's brother phoenix east horse"

here is recent page i made of the benster. speaking of ben - he too is enjoying his lazy saturday. he decided to take over my snoggle pillow (aka best preggo invention of all time - thanks meags!) and he's curled up in it in bed ha! makes me laugh.

we get baby's furniture delivered today - so excited!

have a great day
xoxo

b is for boy!

Pin It Now! at first we thought for sure we'd find out if we were having a girl or a boy. then i spoke to a few people who hadn't and wasn't as convinced. in the end we did find out and my gut was right - i knew we were expecting a boy.

in retrospect i'm so glad we did find out for sure - for me this entire pregnancy has finally sunk in but for the longest time i was in a bit of denial so for me knowing has been a great way to be able to bond with the baby and i can't imagine at this point not knowing.

i can't wait to meet our little man and see him for the first time. there is so much i'm looking forward to about becoming a mom.

here are baby's first layouts:
from the first ultrasound -


this is the day we found out he's a boy - he's pseudo waving to us in the top shot - so funny!

and is it just me or is this the world's hottest summer!? Try to stay cool today have a great day xoxo

Right now

Pin It Now! i am

loving: banana nut cheerios and raspberries

wondering: how i can stay on top of arranging photos and printing on a regular basis (hard for me now as i don't have a set "system" but i know will be even harder once the baby gets here)

waiting: for so many etsy purchases to arrive for baby's room i feel like i may burst.

nervous: for one more work trip far away (am going to make someone come with me b/c can't bear the thought of going by myself)

here are some old projects that i haven't shared yet:

my first 5km run (i was SO proud!)

This pic below is one of my fave's - we took it on our last day in Vancouver - the city skyline is in the back. We had to climb up a huge hill in a park to get to this point - at the time I wondered why i was so winded - now I know -- i was pregnant!

Just a simple page of my two little sweetie pies - these two crack me up

Gearing up for a night of trashy TV thanks to the Bachelor Pad! are you going to tune in?

Nesting

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I think i am in full fledged nesting mode - this morning I was up at 5am and HAD to steam mop the entire floor (even though it had been done yesterday), then i had to clean under the sink, i felt like Magda from Something about Mary

....I also made these magnolia bakery cupcakes today for my cousins who are coming over shortly for lunch.

i had tried them once before and didn't think they were as moist as they should be so this time around I added a vanilla snack pack to the recipe and i think it did the trick! the icing was a bit runny - too much milk i think, next time i'll put in less or do a blend of butter and shortening to stiffen it up a bit (thanks J for that suggestion!)

the humidity has finally broke here so i think we are going to be able to enjoy lunch outside!

have a great day

xoxo

why i create

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sometimes i forget why i create. i look at a layout after i'm done with it and i think it just looks like poop and i want to rip it up and start again.

do you ever do that? i do it with photos of myself too. most times i see myself in a picture i instantly decide i don't like it and want to delete it from the camera. then when i go back to my past photos i think -my hair looked pretty like that or those jeans looked goooood. but at the time i NEVER think that!

what i remember about the past are the good things like how it was so fun when we used to go for 2 hr lunches every day in high school and buy a latte and a bagel every day for lunch and how when we were in university how what i was going to wear to the bar that night was a really critical decision in my day. or just sitting and talking for hours. about nothing. about everything.

when i look to the future i do the same thing, i anticipate all the good that will come like how it will be so fun when we all have kids and can all do holidays together or how it will be so great when we dont' have to work 12 hr days and we can go on vacations to faraway places.

when i think about the now i always have something pressing that i'm worried about ....so that's one of the reasons i create.

it helps me focus on the now and appreciate it. and that's really why i scrapbook.

sometimes i get so overwhelmed by all the stuff.

by all the people that are SO good

by the thought that i'll never get it all down on paper

but i won't

there's just no way - life is too full for that

life is too busy for that and life also too big for pieces of paper

but in the pieces of paper i can show pieces of my life

and that's why i create.

Nursery plans

Pin It Now! When we found out we were expecting one of the first things we did was decide what room would be the baby's room and then get beanboard almost to the ceiling. I'm glad we did it so long ago becuase it still smells a bit woody in the room and it's been a few months!


We also got the closet done in that room to have drawers and low hanging space becuase it's not a huge room and we didn't want to have to get tons of furniture.

We painted the beanboard white and the upper trim (about a foot or so) cream and ordered a simple white crib and dresser. Essentially what we had created for ourselves was a blank slate - we did all of these before we knew it was a boy (even though I knew!) but this way we have a gender neutral nursery that we'll be able to use again.

Then we decided to go shopping for bedding and other "decor stuff" for the room. There were all these "baby bed in a bag kits" and although I don't know much (yet) I was pretty sure you didn't need a giant duvet for a baby (i checked with my neighbour and i was right). Then whenever we would go into baby stores to ask what we would need the clerk asked us what our "theme" was. I panicked a bit (b/c we clearly didn't have a theme) and told our our theme was "baby" (ha - i thought this was very clever....I don't think the lady in the store agreed) but then felt silly becuase i realized i should have said "Ducks" or "Airplanes' or something.... as we went to more and more stores i felt more pressure to do a "theme" - boats, construction, whales, lambs, themes were everywhere.....we settled on lambs - b/c it matched the rest of our nursery (creams, whites, browns) but i was never really sold on the lambs. K. liked them the most out of the stuff we saw so I went with it but when we got them home i just felt these particular lambs were a bit fugly. I like lambs normally and no offence to those that do love lambs but I just couldn't picture myself spending that much time in a room with an animal drawing that I would be constantly critiquing (I could just picture myself up at 3am nursing the baby staring at the lambs thinking I KNOW could draw a better lamb!)

then i stumbled upon this site and i realized that baby doesn't really = boring, and it doesn't really need to be all about the baby either - heck i'll be spending a lot of time in there too and frankly he won't even really remember what it looked like. Once I had that revelation I became a lot more "into" the baby's room.


so without further ado here is what the baby's room WILL have:

This cute owl from Etsy
this cute print inspired from this nursery post

this manhattan poster and this brooklyn poster from 3 potato 4 (i ordered these a while ago but felt it was kind of mean to put something in the babies room that he wouldn't really love - but then i realized who am i kidding myself, just b/c the kid wont' be able to read the prints doesn't mean he won't like the colors and frankly i doubt having a picture of a monkey on the wall would have made him any happier anyway)

a custom quilt from this lovely shop on etsy (in turquoise, grey, white, yellow and a bit of orange)

and then i'm planning on moving some of the prints i already have scattered around into the baby's room (again not "baby" prints but they'll work).

so that is that - i'll update with a tour de nursery once we get rolling.

on a seperate note i can't beleive i've got just 3 months to go!

AC Goodies

Pin It Now! I have been bad at documenting my craftiness latley but I have been getting my scrap on pretty regularly these days.

Here is a little project I made using the AC Dear Lizzy line:

Wanted to capture all the foods I'm craving wtih this pregnancy:

Finally this pic of my girlfriends - I have scrapped this one before (or one very similar b/c we got about 500 in this "shoot" haha) but it's one of my all time faves!

Have a fabulous day!