Baby Brooke is one month old!

Wow I cannot believe that I am already doing Brooke's one month update. Even crazier is that Bennett's next update is his ONE YEAR! {Cue sobbing here} Time seriously flies when you are having fun.

Brooke is such a sweet baby. She is already showing a little personality and Bennett has started to really enjoy having her around. Even this morning I caught him squishing his face up against hers and smiling. She is very good at sighing/grunting and knows how to burp...well. It makes me laugh because she always looks so sweet and innocent {and is usually in something pink}, then lets out a huge burp. Also, because she can't smile yet, her grunting and sighing always makes her seem really put out by the world. It's hilarious.

I already love her so much and really can't imagine our family without her. Considering we did not plan to have her, I still can't believe how perfect it feels now she is here!

Weight: 8.4 lbs

Routine: She is still in that newborn routine where she sleeps alot and really only wakes to feed. Her sleeping is good but she is alot more alert then Bennett was at night. I still can usually get her right back to bed after milk but sometimes that requires some extra cuddle time :) I am hoping she will start sleeping through the night early like Bennett did around 10 weeks.

Eating: She is CRAZY for milk. This little piglet not only loves milk but gulps it back every time she drinks it as if she hasn't eaten in days. She actually gulps so fast that she chokes every feed. It was worrying at first but lets face it, it's not like she is going to choke to death on liquid. So I just sit her upright and wait for it to make it's way down. The plus side is that her feeds are done so quickly {which is nice at night!}.

Milestones: Obviously there aren't many of these at 4 weeks old but she is definitely getting more alert about the world around her. I am hoping she will crack a smile soon, I can't wait for it to light up her lovely little face!

This picture cracks me up! She looks like a cross eyed alien baby :)

     

Bennett at the petting zoo!

We live in a new community called Legacy. I actually really like it so far and know it will be lovely when its all done.

A couple Saturdays ago, the developer put on a big block party to encourage people to check us out. They had a petting zoo which Bennett got to go in. He loved it! The baby pigs were adorable and defo my favourite! Bennett, on the other hand, seemed to be much more interested in the baby chicks. It was so cute to see his little chubby hand reaching out to touch them.

Here are a few pictures from the day :) xxx

Bennett is 11 months!

I can't believe he is already so close to a year old!! It makes me sad but I think back to how much we have done over his first year and I feel better. This last month was fun to see how fast he is starting to pick things up. I feel like we show him something and he starts to understand almost instantly now!

The other day my sister showed him how to walk along with his walker. As soon as she showed him, he was off! I couldn't believe it! Using the walker seems to be helping his leg strength as he is trying to stand alone for small periods of time {and giving me a heart attack while he teeters there haha}.

Also the other big event for him is that he is now a big brother! He has taken to the roll very well :) I am so happy I didn't wait until he was older to give him a sibling because I don't think my nerves could have taken it! Even now I am always so worried that he is upset with me or doesn't like his new sis. This is purely my own worries though because so far {other than some mild acting up} he seems to be fine with her. They don't have alot of interaction yet but I think this is mainly because she can't do much {in other words, to him...she is boring haha}. What makes me think I am just crazy is that we have caught him smiling at her randomly throughout the day many times. Plus now he has started to understand kisses and the other day he crawled over to her and gave her a big wet one right on the lips!

Photo by Gingersnap Photography

So here are his 11 mth stats and pictures. I also included some from his "early" birthday that we did while my Mum was here from England. My friend Anna Rita made him an AMAZING Peppa Pig cake and one night while my family was all together, we sang to him and let him get messy!

Weight: 22 lbs 11 oz~ this is actually an accurate weight! My Mum and I took both babies to get weighed while she was here.

Routine: He still sleeps right smack dab in between us in our bed. Well with the exception of "Granny sleepovers" when he sleeps with my Mum during her visits. The funny thing is that now I am not pregnant I feel like I have this new found wealth of room. So while he is still little, we don't mind. Maybe he will be sleeping on his own by the time his second birthday rolls around ;)

Eating: Pretty much the same as last month.

Milestones: Climbing the stairs all the way to the top by himself! Walking with his walker toy and understanding kisses :) Oh and his teeth are really coming in now.

These are his 11 month pictures! :) xxxx

Brooke Hartley Mele

We had our baby girl! Brooke Hartley Mele was born Sept 13 at 11:16 pm weighing 6'6. She is absolutely adorable and we love her so much!

So far she is as good as Bennett was.....maybe slightly better behaved ;) She sleeps alot and is mainly content when she is awake. It is difficult having two babies under one years old but she is making it so enjoyable!

Now she is finally here we are going  to enjoy her first few weeks and get ready to celebrate Bennett's first birthday!!!!! xxxx

37 Weeks!

I have officially gotten to the 37 week mark. Last pregnancy with Bennett, I went at 37 weeks on the dot, so I am officially in an uncharted territory of pregnancy!

I had my cerclage out last Tuesday and immediately dilated. On Saturday, they decided to bring me into hospital to see if I had progressed and help out if needed. Nothing new was happening so we decided to keep this little girl in a tiny bit longer. My cat was also sick and needed vet attention. Plus I was EXHAUSTED that day, so I was glad not to have to go through labor that night ;)

So now I am booked in today to outline a game plan. They are a little apprehensive about letting me go naturally into labor as it was super duper quick with Bennett {it usually is with cervical incompetency}. So my OB is considering induction to avoid a public delivery {yes she actually said that...which scared me immensely!! haha}. We'll see though, I am ready to go if needed.

Anyways, here is the update for 37 weeks!

How far along? 37 weeks

Total weight gain: 16 lbs {I lost a lb this week weirdly enough!}

Maternity clothes? Nothing new

Stretch marks? The same ones as my last update....a couple at my side and the HUGE one from Bennett and baby girl which they both decided to focus all efforts on! Wah.

    Sleep: Not good, although I am sure night feeds wont make it any better ;)

Best moment this week: Putting all her clothes away and ready for use. It is becoming very real that I will shortly have two little blobs to squeeze and kiss all day!

Miss anything? Everything

Food cravings: SWEETS!!!!!

Anything making you queasy or sick? Onions and garlic 

Gender: Little GIRL :)

Labour signs: Nothing noticable. Lots of Braxton hicks.

Belly button in or out?  In!  

Wedding rings on or off: On

Happy or moody most of the time: Happy 

Looking forward to: Meeting little miss.

                     

10 months!

Bennett has officially passed the 10 month mark. I can't believe how close our little blob is to one years old. I also can't believe that before he turns one, he will have a little sister joining him! It's crazy!

This month was a good one. He has officially started growing three teeth! His top two and his bottom right. I think he is going to look so cute when his top ones initially come in because right now they are quite far apart. I know other teeth will push them together but how sweet will a gap look for a while?!

He also is 100% crawling! It's adorable seeing him make his way around the house. All the cats seem to take more interest in him now he is at their level. The other night I opened the door to let them out and looked around to see Bennett crawling amongst them towards the front door! Being the cat lover I am, I pretty much had a cuteness melt down. Cat's and babies crawling towards you....what more could you want?! haha.

He is still so sweet and full of character. Not a day has gone by yet where we don't just look at him in amazement. At least once a day we are both gushing over him and telling the other one how unbelievable he is while simultaneously kissing his big squishy cheeks :)

So here are his updates 10 month stats:

Weight: 22 lbs {total guess...the scale is still over at my sisters house! haha. I will weigh him when I am over there next and update if my guess was off}. Being 9 mths pregnant, he actually feels like 50 lbs but I know that's just my tired body ;)

Routine: He still sleeps with Mummy and Daddy every night but now he also includes his Peppa Pig in the party. So we are a little squished to say the least but I have decided to stop forcing him into his crib. Hopefully he will naturally get more used to it, especially when he is sharing his room with his little sis. For now, we just nap him in his crib when we can and enjoy waking up to our little messy haired blob every morning.

They are both fast asleep here....with Peppa pig peeking out from in between them. 

Eating: Formula 5 times a day and solids 2-3 times a day. He is definitely losing interest in his milk and getting more curious about his solids. He tries a little of everything and seems to like all of it so far.

Sizes: 12 Month and 12-18 month 

Milestones: Crawling and teeth!! Yay! I was getting a little worried that he didn't have any interest in crawling...or any teeth. So I was quite pleased this month haha.


These are his 10 month pictures, he is in his pajamas because this is post bath time ;)

Our new {to us} dresser!

I decided recently that now baby # 2 is close, I need to get a better system started for clothes. I am using the closet in the nursery {which they will be sharing soon} currently for Bennett's clothes and all the clothes that are ready for baby girl are in the spare bedroom. It's OK but you go through clothes so quickly with a baby that I find closets are useless. Plus you can't hang little vests and stuff like that with ease.

So we decided to get a dresser for them to share. I like the idea of having designated drawers for everything and its so much easier to just grab something from them. Plus after I have folded the laundry, I can just shove them in the drawers instead of finding a hanger and trying to get them in order on the rack.

So here is the dresser we picked up off Kijiji. It's an old antique wood dresser that is tall and thin {perfect for little rooms}. I loved it immediately but was not so keen on the colour, so Ryan agreed to give it a spruce up with fresh paint and new hardware!

Here is the before...

Here is the after....

I am in LOVE with it and now want one for my own bedroom! It is so vintage and even has skeleton key locks that lock every single draw. Eventually when the babies split bedrooms, this will probably go with baby girl. I can imagine her keeping her pretty key in her jewelry box. Good job Ryan/Daddy! xxx

33 Weeks!

I thought it was about time I did a baby girl bump update. I haven't done one to date but it's so much different being pregnant for the second time around. You already have a cute little squish face to occupy your time morning until night. We are getting really excited as the reality is setting in that we will be parents to two little blobs soon!

As you can tell from the title, I am 33 weeks pregnant. It's been a weird pregnancy....it went really fast at first and now I am just SO DONE with being pregnant that its dragged....considerably. I am just trying to enjoy these last few weeks with Bennett as an only child. He is such a baby still that I can't imagine having a second one to look after but everything always works out for the best. I actually cannot wait to see how he reacts to this new baby. I am pretty sure he is going to love her TOO MUCH. He has this tendency to over react when babies are around....even though he is still a baby himself haha. Anyways, as promised, here are the stats for 33 weeks!

How far along? 33 weeks

Total weight gain: 16 lbs 

Maternity clothes? I just have a few that I used for Bennett's pregnancy. I didn't really get a chance to not wear them as I got pregnant so quickly again. I cannot wait to wear normal person clothes!

Stretch marks? Waaaah. I dont even want to talk about this but in the nature of sharing, I suppose I must. Over the entire course of my last pregnancy I got one stretchmark...ONE PEOPLE. I still have a ways to go with this one and baby girl has already made my one stretchmark double in size and given me three more. They are small right now and in pretty inconspicuous areas. Still though, it is sad to see them forming knowing they could get worst. I am buttering up about 5 times a day now....lets hope it helps!

    Sleep: Better if I didn't have a baby boy that ended up in our bed every night! Between him and her...there is limited space to say the least ;)

Best moment this week: We saw a little girl this week while we were at the park with Bennett and she looked like our child could potentially look like. It was so weird to imagine us as a family of four. We both got really excited!

Miss anything? Not feeling uncomfortable when I eat. I actually lost weight at my last appt just because I always feel so full.

Food cravings: SWEETS!!!!!

Anything making you queasy or sick? Onions and garlic {which was the same with Bennett}. I actually think I may forever be turned off these two things. 

Gender: Little GIRL :)

Labour signs: None yet!

Belly button in or out?  In!  

Wedding rings on or off: On

Happy or moody most of the time: Happy BUT very ready to meet this little bub

Looking forward to: Seeing what this little girl looks like! Now I know what features Bennett picked up from both of us, I am curious to see if she will be a little girl verision of him. She could favour me and have blue eyes.....who knows?! So exciting!!

33 Weeks!



and just for comparison...the only other picture I have taken this pregnancy.....

31 Weeks!

You can read my {almost 33 week} bump update with Bennett here

Have a good week! xxx

Bennett's new hat :)

 

August 2, 2014: Our 2 year anniversary!

We have officially been married two years!

This year we tried to keep it low key as we just have built a fence, done hardwood and put down grass {new homes can be expensive!}. So we dropped the little bub off at Ryan's parents and went for dinner and a movie. Dinner ended up being food court because we did not time the movie well at all. That was ok though, there is no rule saying anniversary's have to be expensive sit down dinners! ;)

We agreed no presents {can you believe I haven't even looked up the rule for a two year anniversary present?!} but Ryan did pick me up some roses. I was actually with him when he did this but isn't that what married life is all about?! haha. He has told me he will be buying me roses every year, so at least he didn't forget!

You can see his roses from last year here

We also tried to get a picture in tradition of taking one every year. KEY WORD is tried....

   

It just wasn't a good day for pictures! Maybe next year we will actually {FINALLY} take a nice shot of all of us on August 2nd {if I am not pregnant and actually have some energy haha}. For now, this is what we get :) xxx

Aug 2, 2012

Aug 2, 2013

Aug 2, 2014