Thankful Thursday - 241

This week I am thankful for...

1. Dominic's school picture. We have never gotten studio photos taken of our family or our kids because well... Dave takes good pictures, and studios aren't real life. HOWEVER, I couldn't resist buying Dom's first preschool photo! Such a classic Dom face. A little unsure, cheeky, sideways smile <3. He's so big! Almost 4!

2. Zoom with the grandparents. Yup... we're at that point again. It's like April, minus the long, warm, sunny days. COVID restrictions have came down so there is no socializing inside homes or outside with groups outside of your immediate household. In April we managed by seeing Scott and Ashleigh a few times per week, drinking lots of beer, and going for socially-distant visits with the grandparents eventually. This time around things are a little less floofy. No beer for me (worth it for the baby, but I still miss wine and beer sometimes!), no grandparent visits inside or outside, no babysitters, etc. etc. We have seen Scott and Ash a couple times still - we figure Dom is with her at preschool anyway. None of us are seeing anyone else. I'm okay with any restrictions they put on us (I'd be okay with even stricter ones and a full lockdown) if it means there's a chance we can get together on some level for Christmas... 

Best way to kill the last 15-20 minutes before bedtime!

Remembered this shirt the other day and realized I have missed so many opportunities to wear it the last 8 months! Now I've almost missed the opportunity for good as my belly is pushing the limits on it!

3. Ultrasound. Speaking of my belly, I had my "big" ultrasound today! The ole anatomy scan! I'll share more about it in my 20 week post, but I think everything is going well in there! They didn't outright say everything was perfect, but they didn't indicate otherwise either. I hate that about ultrasounds - the tech can't tell you anything!! After seeing baby on the ultrasound and hearing a little bit about them, I'm now changing my guess from girl to boy! 

We got a nice profile shot this time around because baby was head up, butt down. (You can flip any time now baby!). Below are Dom and Emilia's scans respectively for comparison. I think this one looks like a mix of the two... less chubby than Dom, but a bit bulkier than Emilia. We'll see what the midwife says at my appointment next week!

Dominic - his head was way way down but they managed to get an okay profile.

Emilia - so uncooperative at the ultrasound! Her head was also way way down. 

4. I won an Instagram giveaway! I never ever expect to win things and very rarely enter giveaways, but I entered this one because it supports local companies and because why not. I won this giveaway and will be getting... a mascara, a soother clip, a coco oat bath soak, a cinnamon lipbalm, a car decal, a Christmas ornament, 6 homemade macarons (made by Desiree!), and a matching sweater for Emilia and I! I can't wait to share it all when it gets here! :)

@sweetlittle.bakeshop

@mks.creations

@stylebykarlen

@westcoastniknaks

@beanbernes

19 Weeks (VIEWFINDER) - 3.0: Nov 17-23

 

• Baby is as big as a viewfinder. WTF is a viewfinder? Ahhh yes... good times!

• Translation: baby is 6" long and about half a pound!
• I am starting to feel really pregnant now. I have been having some of the aches and pains reminding me of last pregnancy, but hopefully being in better shape will keep some of these things at bay for a while longer!
• 19 weeks and 6 days we saw baby's kicks from the outside! We probably could have before too, but I didn't think to check. It's crazy that this is our third time going through this and it's still so strange and exciting.
• Lots of movement every day, usually in the evening when I sit down with my orange juice and small bowl of ice cream (no shame). 
• My nose is so stuffy much of the time! I can't sleep unless I'm on my back because of it. Luckily that's still possible.
• I have my anatomy scan (mid-way ultrasound) on November 26. Looking forward to seeing this baby, making more gender predictions, and confirming that everything is going well in there. 

"Oh Christmas Tree"

So last year was November 27 or 28 when we got a Christmas tree from "Oh Christmas Tree Farm", and that was by far the earliest we'd ever gotten a tree and decorated for Christmas. This year we made it to November 21 haha... It was sort of a spur of the moment thing, but we went "with" (at the same time as) my parents and Scott & Ashleigh to get trees Saturday afternoon. It still pains me to spend this much money on a tree every year, but I like the non-uniformity of it, and the process of finding the right one. 

Gone are the days of a nice smile from Dominic haha!

The tree farm was really busy, but I'd say 75-80% of people were wearing masks, even outdoors. We wore ours until we were all on our own out in the trees. (I had also brought a homemade mocha... sometimes I forget that I can't eat and drink when I'm wearing a mask). 

Me and my little mama's girl. She's clung to me more now with this pandemic and lockdown.

Me doing the classic, "Look like you like each other!"

I had to mark our tree with my scarf because I kept losing it.

Then we come home and get to decorate! Every other year, I've decorated while the kids are sleeping, but this year we brought out the stuff, I opened up the kid-friendly decorations, and sat back to let them at it. Hard to watch 4 ornaments go on the same branch, but over all it was really sweet to watch and they took their job very seriously. I actually left the vast majority of their ornaments placed, and just moved a few to avoid the whole 4 to a branch thing. 

I'm typically a person who likes a pretty tree, so don't expect too many lasting homemade decorations to stick around, but who knows!

This kept them busy for probably close to an hour. Then they sat there and played with the ornaments - reading the little books, spinning the balls, pretending the animals are talking, etc. 

These little books have been around since I was little. I remember reading them at Christmas time.

After they were done, I put a show on (they chose Lego Star Wars... very festive...), and I pulled out the "fancy" and breakable ornaments and did the top of the tree. They understand the boundaries and don't try to mess with the tree and my nice ornaments. They just play with the ones they put up, and know that the ornaments stay ON THE TREE!

In David's family growing up they had a tradition of rotating which kid got to put the star up every year. This is the first year we've had a star, and that means it's Dom's turn!

I got my stockings hung up on our mantle, and we moved the toy shelf out of the living room. It looks like a grown ups living room! It feels so cozy and I'm happy I'll have it set up for at least another month :)

(Ignore the big blue rubbermaid bucket...)

The last 4 years of Christmas Tree Family Photos!

2017

2018

2019

2020

Apparently I never shop. This jacket has lasted me 3 years, and I still only wear this one and the one from the 2017 photo haha! Also Dave still has the same toque since 2017 (and before). See! You don't have to buy new clothes every year! 

Thankful Thursday - 240 & Lately (NHL Star/Christmas Lights/Preschool Tynehead Trip)

 This week I am thankful for...

1. Productivity. I feel like my energy has been excellent lately. I've been cooking well, doing a 30 minute workout + often a walk with Sherlock every single day for the last 3+ weeks, I've gotten some random organization/nesting done (I just now realize that may be what's happening haha). Today we cleaned out Dom's closet, moved his dresser in there, and cleaned up his room. We organized some toys and made sure we have room for the inevitable toys he will receive in the next month and a half for Christmas and his birthday. 

Nothing to do with productivity - maybe quite the opposite... Cute though! :)

We're going to get rid of the TV stand (it is moved to where his dresser was). Anyone want an IKEA TV stand?...

Dom and I spent some quality time playing with his reusable sticker pages. These are awesome. He worked on the grocery store page, and I did the fire station. I am pretty proud of my work haha!

(Looking for a toddler Christmas gift? Recommend! It was from my mom though, so I have no idea where it's from...)

2. A successful work event. Our biggest event of the year (last year we raised $542,000) was this past weekend. Of course, we had to pivot as it's usually a reception with 3-400 people and wine and appetizers. That's not possible right now, and things clamped down just a few days prior to the event even further. We planned a virtual reception. Keynote speakers Shane Doan and his sister Leighann (Doan) Reimer shared their life story over a Zoom interview. Then after the event I got to join the VIP Zoom chat with Shane & Leighann and a few key VIP guests. Dave joined the chat and got to talk to Shane for a few minutes after some of the others left. I think that moment may have made his month! Our kids were bonkers during the VIP call though which was a little embarrassing, but mostly funny. Shane apparently loved it... I was worried everyone would be annoyed by the distractions (just visual as we were muted). Such is life with two little kids and a dog! I can't share our total revenue yet as we haven't announced publicly, but the event went better than we expected for a 2020 COVID virtual event!

This is Shane answering Dave's question, "Who was your favorite and least favorite Canuck to play against?" His answers were... favorite: Sedins. Least favorite: Burrows... followed by Bieksa and Kesler. :)

3. Christmas decorations. We definitely don't normally decorate quite this early... But it's 2020 and the lights make me happy haha! We haven't done full decor yet, but have some lights up outside and in the house, and a garland on the mantle. The kids love it, it feels cozy, and it makes me not so upset about this quarantine business!

Checking out the garland

This outfit... has been worn so many times! By Dom at 1 year, Emilia at 7 months, 19 months and now at 2.5! Haha Dom only fit it the one time... Emilia still squeezes in. 

I'm excited to start some Christmas traditions this year! We're doing an advent calendar with activities or something every day (may be very very simple... like "eat a Christmas cookie" or "watch a Christmas movie"), and we're actually doing gifts this year for the first time. I have no idea what our family Christmas will look like this year with my family and Dave's, but at least I can confidently plan for the 4 of us!

My beloved snowman. These black circles and orange nose are the originals from like 6-7 years ago when I first did this in our old basement suite on the fridge :) I still call it my fridge snowman every time even though it's on the pantry. 

4. Foreseeing the TP shortage 2.0. A couple weeks ago I was at Costco and I had a feeling... I noticed a disproportionate number of people had TP in their cart, and while I knew we still had TP at home, I figured I should pick up a pack just in case. Well I went this week and bam! No toilet paper at Costco! Learning how to survive this pandemic haha!

5. Preschool Field Trip. This week Tuesday there was no preschool, but we were invited to join the daycare class on a field trip to Tynehead. Dom and Emilia were both SO excited to go to Tynehead with all Dom's friends. Emilia stuck with me the whole time, but after a few minutes, Dom was off leading the pack and gallavanting with some of his friends from preschool. He has a few besties that he gravitates towards for sure. So cute to see him in his own independent environment. There happened to be a wind warning that morning, and about halfway into the walk it started getting dangerous and made us slightly nervous haha. We all made it out though! (Came home to a power outage unfortunately). Dave came along too, and brought his camera so we got a few real pictures! Careful not to show other kids' faces, here are some from the walk.

Watching salmon from the first bridge (there were actually still a few stragglers that were still alive), while Dom goofs around with his little buddy.

Emilia marched almost the whole way while singing the Imperial March. She kept saying, "Me singing Lego Star Wars!"

Dun. Dun. Dun. Dundundun. Dundundunnnnnn...

Can tell we've been to Tynehead before. There he goes leading the pack

Love seeing how much he's grown socially in the last 2 months!

Dun. Dun. Dun. Dundundun. Dundundunnnnn...

Dom talks about this friend all the time. He even "introduced" him to me at preschool one day, and they both waved goodbye to me as I left. Cute! "That's my mom! Wave bye!"