I just put an old lady's maxi pad through the wash and all I can think is this is my life...

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Monday, October 31, 2011

Lullaby

When my sweet baby girl is fussy I like to sing this song to her:

http://sweetandlovelythings.tumblr.com/post/157287244/outcamethesun-via-taiintedluhv
And occasionally I throw in this song for good measure:



This is my life!

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Parenting is tough.

Some things that I have realized during my first few days as a mother:

- Anyone who tells you that you forget about the pain of labour once you see your baby is a liar;
- Parenting standards are set up to either a) make you feel like a failure; or b) keep the population at a minimum by lowering the amount of children a woman wants to have;
- A new Mom requires 24 hour support from someone. My hat goes off to anyone who has done it alone.
- Beds, toilets and rocking chairs are not made for post partum Mama's - they're so damn low I dread having to pee/get out of bed/etc;
- Sanity is more important than following all the "rules" - if giving Elodie a sookie helps everyone sleep, than I am all for it;
- Breastfeeding makes you feel like your failing your baby, especially when the milk comes in and it's nearly impossible for the babe to latch onto the XL softball you once thought of as a boob. The peace of mind that came with bottle feeding and knowing that Elle was getting as much milk as she needed was worth the guilt I felt for not breastfeeding;
- As impossible as it sounds, your boobs will be more painful than the torn c-section incision in your stomach once the milk comes in;
- Once your baby arrives, the nursing staff at the hospital pretty much leaves you to fend for yourself. Or at least this was the case for me. And locating your "wonderful" OB/GYN will start to resemble a very difficult game of Where's Waldo;
- But, no matter how much pain your in, how much of a failure you feel like, or how exhausted you are, watching your baby sleeping makes you fall in love all over again. Turkey Butt and I literally stare at her for hours and marvel at how lucky we are and how in the world did we make such a beautiful baby!




This is my life!

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Your first breath, took ours away


Our beautiful baby girl was born at 10:55pm on October the 18th. She arrived via an unplanned c-section after 24 hours of labour, 1 hour of pushing and a sideways baby who wouldn't drop the last few inches. Elodie is the most beautiful, perfect little bundle of joy and Turkey Butt and I cannot get over how in love with her we are. With her Daddy's pouty upper lip and her Mommy's little nose - she's truly a miracle! This is my magical, wonderful, glorious, exciting, fulfilling life!

Friday, October 14, 2011

Funny Thing About Friendship

So, I have this friend... whom I've never met. Her name is Lisa and she lives on the opposite side of the continent from me - in a different country. Somehow, this doesn't stop me from considering her a friend of mine. One might even go so far as to say that I consider her a confidant. I guess that's the funny thing about the blog world. You pour open your heart and soul into your blog posts, and random strangers read them. But not only do they read them, they laugh with you, or cry with you, or offer you support. They can relate to struggles and triumphs in your life. Each time you post, you welcome them into your home for a cup of coffee and some girl talk. It's quite lovely really! I can only hope that someday I circumstances will put Lisa and I in the same place, at the same time and we can really sit down for a hot drink and some girl talk. Until then I am confident in the fact that she'll always be out there in blog land, waiting to offer a shoulder to cry on or to laugh along with me when I do something silly.

This is my life!

Nesting.

Nesting instinct refers to an instinct or urge in pregnant animals (including humans) to prepare a home for the upcoming newborn.

Yesterday I read a lot on the subject of nesting. No wonder, considering that yesterday the thought of getting off the couch to pee seemed overwhelming yesterday. I really had nothing to do to pass the time except look up random pregnancy facts/expectations on the internet. I even told Turkey Butt about the nesting concept and we both had a good laugh about how I most definitely was NOT nesting.

Now let's jump ahead to about 10pm last night. Turkey Butt is asleep in bed and I am in the living room updating the photos in all of our frames to wedding pictures. While watching Season 4 of Dexter. While creating a frame wall in the living room. While writing comments in our wedding photo album. While filling out as much of Little Miss Elle's baby book as I can considering she hasn't arrived yet.

Yup, I went to bed shortly after 2am thinking perhaps I was nesting, though it was probably a random burst of energy due to the two large glasses of iced tea I'd had post-9pm. But then I woke up this morning with a strong urge to put away our clean clothes. Side note: They've been clean since Sunday AM and have been sitting in the laundry hamper, not folded, since. Anyways, I only got a little discouraged when I rolled out of bed to find that Turkey Butt had dumped the whole basket onto the floor with our dirty clothes (Why Turkey Butt? Why?). By discouraged I mean I ate 4 chocolate chip cookies and caught up on life in blog world. But now, after making myself another tall glass of iced tea, I am ready to put the clothes away. And make my bed. And put away the clean dishes that have been air drying in the sink all week. And bag up the extra winter baby clothes that have been handed down to me (to be taken to a consignment shop). And. And. And. And.

.... I might just be nesting.


http://fran-japani.blogspot.com/

This is my life.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Homemade Christmas Gifts

I love making homemade gifts for the family and friends on my list! This year I am trying to get a head start on my creating, what with the baby's imminent arrival. The only downside to the crafting, when I like my gifts so much that I want to keep them... Sigh! This is my life!

The Difference A Year Can Make

One year ago today...
- We were still enjoying the secret that was our first pregnancy
- I enjoyed a turkey dinner at my grandparents house
- Turkey Butt was at work
-We were hosting a HUGE turkey dinner the following day at the cottage
- I arrived home and noticed I was spotting blood
- I called Turkey Butt up in a fit of tears saying, "I think something is wrong with Bun!"
- I called my Mama, let her in on our pregnancy secret, then told her the problem
- She called my sister to take me to the ER
- Turkey Butt met us at the ER
- We were there for hours before someone confirmed the worst, I was miscarrying our precious little Bun...

Today...
- Turkey Butt has to work
- We have no turkey dinner plans this year
- Turkey Butt and I are now an old married couple (a whole week and two days)
- Oh, and I am 37 weeks pregnant with Pumpkin!

It's amazing the difference a year can make! We will never ever forget our precious Bun, or the heartaache we shared over losing her/him. That being said, if we hadn't lost Bun we'd never have had Pumpkin. We are so madly in love with the baby girl that I am growing inside of me right now - I couldn't imagine my life without her. It's such a tricky situation - but I just have to believe that everything happens for a reason and it only made us stronger and more in love!

Happy Turkey Day to my fellow Canadians! This is my life!

Sunday, October 9, 2011

It's All In The Details.

It may or may not be apparent to those reading this blog, but I am a details person. To me, everything has to be planned down to the most minor detail and everything has to go perfectly according to plan. Now this doesn't mean that I'm a neat and tidy person, just ask my hubby. In fact, I live quite happily in a minor degree of clutter and chaos - but everything is exactly where I need it to be. Therefore, when the afore mentionned hubby goes on a cleaning spree (a.k.a. out of sight, out of mind) it drives me crazy til I can get things happily messy again. Now take all this into account and then add to it the fact that I just planned my wedding, while quite pregnant. As you can imagine, I had a minor bridezilla moment before we went to the Hall to decorate the night before my wedding. Something along the lines of, "If you're coming to the Hall then you have to know that I'm the boss so you have to do as I say and if you don't I'll cry!"

Luckily everything turned out just exactly as I'd planned and we got so many compliments on all of it. Now I wanted to share some of those minor details with you!

We bought a couple old doors and hinged them together as a backdrop. The wedding was supposed to be outside but the doors worked well inside too.
This was my sister's perfect idea! Two old crates that had washed up on the beach, piled on top of each other as a signing table.

We spray painted pumpkins and ghords black and white and used washi tape to put monogram on it.

Might be hard to see, but the pumpkins in front of the fence to the left say "THANKS"
Sticking with the black and white theme.
This was a last minute detail I found on Pinterest.
We used Mason jars with candles or photos in them. As well as other random items (like this snow globe) as our centrepieces.
Mason jars filled with markers on our Guestbook table.
Our dessert table/candy bar. The groom's cake stand & cupcake stand are white with black polka dots. All the plates are black & white and were found at a used cloting store. We had black & white treat bags by the candy so guests could take some home with them!
I found this black and white frame on the side of the road during town clean up week. Nothing better than FREE.
To the left we had photos of my Grampie and Turkey Butt's Nanny - both of whom passed away almost three years to the day before our wedding day. The sign says, wish you were here. The dresser drawer was another free roadside find and made a great place to put cards and gifts. The right side of the table is Guestbook stuff.
Found this photo in a mason jar idea on Pinterest. The Mr. and Mrs. were Etsy finds.
My amazing best friend Aye wrapped all these lights around the beams and my sister's boyfriend hung all the lanterns.
Our beverage area. More paper lanterns. "Candy" names for each of the drinks (i.e. peach juice and sparkling water was called Fuzzy Peaches).
Well folks, thanks for bearing with me through more wedding photos. I'm sure this won't be the end of them either. After planning for something for over a year, it's nice to drag it out as long as I can :) This is my life.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Wedding Readings


I previously shared with you my reading for the wedding, here. Now, I wanted to share with you the beautiful readings that my husband and maid of honour/sister did!

Turkey Butt's reading (he wrote it himself and could barely choke it out because of the tears):

Promises are easily kept when they are made with love.
So when I say that I promise to love you forever,
that is one that will be easy to keep because
I promise to love you forever.



Aych's reading (a poem she found that perfectly fit the occasion):

Her laugh was their first step down the aisle.
His hand would be her's to hold forever.
His forever was as simple as her smile.
He said she was what was missing.
She said instantly she knew.
She was a question to be answered.
And his answer was, 'I do!'

This is my life!

Our perfect wedding!

Mama & Elle

Mama, Elle, Aych


Diddy & Aych - I cried watching this from the top of the stairs


Diddy, Elle - Giving me away


Diddy, Elle


Diddy, Elle, Turkey Butt, Bee


Nanny, Elle, Grampie


Missy Moo


Missy Moo, Aunt Aye, Cee


Papa-in-law, Elle, Turkey Butt, Mama-in-law


Papa-in-law, Mama-in-law, Elle, Turkey Butt


Turkey Butt with his proud parents


Missy Moo, Elle

These are some of the photos from my wedding to Turkey Butt that hadn't made it to Facebook! I'm saving these to give as gifts, though it's unlikely the people I am gifting them to will read my blog. Of course, the ones who would read my blog, yo know who you are, will be surprised by a photo gift that they haven't seen anywhere! This is my life!

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Mrs. Turkey Butt

This past Saturday I married the love of my life in the most perfect little country wedding ever! Now the honeymoon is over and we're back to reality but I still can't stop smiling at him and calling him my husband :) What a perfect rainy day! This is my life!

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