Thankful Thursday - 254 & Lately

My last few posts have been more focus posts, so they've missed a lot of the day to day. 

*Heads up, there are some pictures in here of me and my belly. They're tasteful, but do show some skin*

This week I am thankful for...

1. New Local Library. The Clayton Rec Centre is half-open, but the library is available to us now! Emilia and I went last Thursday while Dom was at preschool to register for a library card and pick out a few books. It's been so nice having this new rotation of books in the house this week! The kids spend a lot more time sitting down reading by themselves, together, and of course pestering us to read to them. The favourite this week is the Frozen Storybook Collection. 

A rare moment as I cook dinner with all three quiet on the couch. I think I had an audiobook playing in the background - sometime I'll have it with complete silence maybe... One can dream :)

2. Photographer Husband. I reluctantly asked Dave to take a few pictures of me that were "just for me" with my belly. I was a little nervous, but it was fun, and the pictures way exceeded my expectations! They made me feel confident and beautiful, which helps when I physically feel exhausted and uncomfortable. "Just for me" clearly means share on the blog... Haha

Sorry, you may not have been expecting so much skin...Oh well! My blog, and you were warned! :)

3. Paying it forward. When I was due with Dom, I got a gift basket from some people at work and it included all sorts of postpartum supplies that I did not even know I needed. I decided to pay it forward for Aly & Ashleigh, and finally got their gift baskets to them this week! It includes: a crochet baby blanket (all the 2021 Gerber babies will have matching patterns with different colours), a cozy crochet bear toque, breast pads, Lanolin, Bum Bum Balm, epsom salts, stool softeners, Mother's Milk Tea, homemade lactation bites, and a "Hello Baby" book. Plus it all came in a handy little rubbermaid! (Thank you Costco!). Gift baskets are my favorite kinds of gifts to give and often receive as well. I love putting thought into them and always take far too long putting them together and perfecting everything. Hi, I'm an Enneagram 1, and I am a perfectionist. 

4. Offers of "bubble" childcare. Scott offered to watch the kids for us one evening and we went out to Camp Beer Company. Was the most normal we've felt since summer, and it was so nice! I got a Starbucks to enjoy, and bought some snacks at the brewery :). Then Mom texted and asked if she could take the kids from 4-7 yesterday evening. Um... yes! We had chili for dinner, and went to the new Duke's Ice Cream shop in Clayton with Scott & Ashleigh. I have been having a really hard time lately with feeling pulled in a thousand different directions, not having the energy to get things done around the house, for the kids, for myself, etc. I feel completely overwhelmed much of the time and then end up really uncomfortable on the couch, or not eating/drinking enough during the day. So these breaks from the big kids are SO welcome. 

5. Women's Prayer Night. Our church organized a Zoom evening for "moms in the thick of it" and I signed up. A gift bag showed up the day before with goodies to enjoy during the call. I love our church. I opened it up and inside I found: 6 DELICIOUS macarons made by Desiree (@sweet.little.bakeshop), a homemade nanaimo bar from a lady in the church (honestly probably the best nanaimo bar I've ever had), some tea, aged cheddar and gouda cheese, and a mini bottle of red wine. Remember me saying I loved gift baskets? This falls under that category and I could not have been happier. What a thoughtful thing to do for all these moms who have been struggling to keep it together the last year, and are burnt out and rarely find time to do things for themselves. The prayer evening was really lovely too, and it felt good to see some of the faces I haven't seen in a year, and to connect with some new people. 

Bonus points for very moderate wine consumption (for obvious reasons), and having leftovers for the next day or two!

6. Dom sometimes understands where my limits are. He came down during quiet time on Tuesday, which happens almost daily, and I don't fight it anymore. I was JUST sitting down to enjoy a cup of tea, a cookie, and open up a book I got for ME at the library. I laid out clear boundaries, saying, "You are welcome to be down here, but it's Mommy's quiet time, and he can sit quietly with me, or do any of the following activities: x, y, z. Oh, and no snack until 2:30". He managed to do just that, giving me almost 2 more hours of quiet time to read my book. The next day he also let me close my eyes for 30 minutes. This boy really understands and enjoys independent play. Can someone please remind me how we accomplished this so that Emilia can be the same? It's been a major struggle for me with her needing me all. the. time. 

Practicing math with Daddy on the cash register (calculator). They're both so proud <3

7. Online games. Jeff, Adam, Dave and I have played Colonist (Settlers of Catan) online twice now. It's pretty well done! We Zoom call while we do it so we can chat still. This past week, I just happened to pull out a surprise win at the end! I very rarely win Settlers, and was low threat the whole time until the last two rounds when I stole longest road, built a settlement, and bought a development card with a victory point. BAM!

8. Tuesdays. I may mention Tuesdays every week for a while, but after 4 years of parenting, these are the one bit of time I have consistently with NO CHILDREN (except the one kicking me and sucking the life out of me from the inside). This week I spent time sitting on the couch relaxing and reading, sitting in the sun and getting a sunburn, tidying a little bit, pulling out some newborn clothes, and juuuuuuust doing me. The rest of the afternoon was a bust and I ended up in tears and taking a nap at 6:30 pm, but the morning still counts!

9. A new (to us) glider chair. We tossed our old lazboy recliner chair last year, and now just have an old wooden rocking chair in the nursery from when I was a kid. My newborn nighttime routine involves me feeding the baby in the nursery, so I wanted something a bit more comfortable. Mom sent me a link to a Facebook Marketplace listing for a second-hand glider chair and we picked it up yesterday for $70. 

10. A new (to us) baby swing. A lady from church borrowed our infant carseat for a few weeks, and when she returned it this week she offered us a baby swing. It's more compact than our old one, so we accepted. We figure if we don't use it maybe my parents want it or something. Well... it's dead silent when it's on! Soooo ya. That's a keeper! :)

One more thing. Happy Birthday Benny! Mr. Benedict turns one today :) We celebrated with a trip to the dog park!

The Birthday pup didn't make the cut for the photo apparently haha.

32 Weeks (POLLY POCKET ADVENTURE PLAYSET) - 3.0: Feb 16-22

I wanted a picture with a different shirt on. Then this week I got all sorts of pictures taken haha. 32 weeks is golden time for belly photos! For me at least. Before I get TOO scary big and the belly still looks cute. 

• I rediscovered this blog post I wrote over 4 years ago and laughed at the truth of it. #20 got me again today haha! "You Know You're Pregnant When..."
  https://reneekimber.blogspot.com/2016/11/you-know-youre-pregnant-when.html
• Anywhere from 6-10 weeks to go! Hoping closer to 6 than 10... but also really wanting to enjoy my new nephews/nieces before this baby comes, so maybe 8 weeks is okay :)
• Baby is 3.5-4lb already! 
• Our family is doing a baby pool, guessing birth dates, weight and sex of baby for the ones due in the next 2 months. Guesses for my baby have them weighing in between 8-9 lb (except one 9lb 2 oz guess), and it's leaning more boy than girl, with nobody so far guessing I'll go overdue. Thank you for that! My guess put baby as a boy at 8lb 0oz, coming April 6 (one week early). 
• My support belt from Adam & Aly came on Thursday, and I've been wearing it every day since. The SI belt I have from the midwives is great for keeping my hips from splaying and hurting, but this one takes a lot of pressure off that area anyway by providing some support. I didn't realize at first how much it was helping until I took it off the first time. Whew!
• It may be because of this belt, but I've noticed the rib pain and heart burn picking up this week. I expect it's because baby is lifted up towards that area instead of just falling out of me haha. Hmm... sore pelvic floor/pelvis/hips? Or heart burn and ribs spreading apart? There's a trade off here, just not sure which to pick!
• Workouts are every 2-3 days right now. I just don't have it in me, and it ends up hurting/draining me more than helping/energizing sometimes which is too bad. If I walk the dog it is a 30-45 minute walk usually, but much shorter than my usual walk with him. I guess I'm just that much slower now haha! I find regular tasks just take twice as long as they "should" (in my mind) so that's been leading to some stress and frustration for myself not being able to accomplish everything I need to in a day. I haven't quite figured out where to cut back yet, but we do need to cut back. Dave has been a great help, so that's not the answer!
• I am definitely more hormonal/emotional these days than baseline Renee. The exact same thing happened in both previous pregnancies around now. I'm typically quite logical, objective, and thoughtful as opposed to emotional, irrational and reactive. Alas, the combination of third trimester discomfort, hormones, pandemic, and general life with two kids and a dog is enough to do it for me! Haha. When Dave sees me being randomly emotional or frustrated about something and says, "You okay?" I just reply, "Yup. Baseline." This is just where I'm at much of the time! Just going to be uncomfortable for a while haha. No need to worry!
• Everywhere I go (which isn't very many places this time around), people comment on the belly. Something about my smaller frame and the way it's all just right there in the belly and so round. Lots of "basketball" comments of course haha. Also lots of sympathetic smiles from other moms haha. A nice man actually offered to help me unload my cart at the till at Costco the other day! Good man! Mom was there to help me instead, but I appreciated the offer. 
• David is useful this week. I'm at the point now when (especially if I'm wearing a belt) I need help with my socks and shoes/boots. 
• This week I asked Dave if he could take some pictures of me. We did our official maternity/family photos outside on Wednesday, and then upon further reflection, I decided I wanted to try get some more intimate photos, just for me. While they were intended to be just for me, I'm so proud of how they turned out. I feel empowered, beautiful, feminine, tasteful, and surprisingly pinterest-y in some of them. I really want to share them in their own blog post, but I'm not sure how much of my community wants to see them... Anyway, here's a sneak peek, because people reading these posts know what to expect haha!

There's that basketball belly you all comment on haha!

I got my bellybutton pierced when I was like 15 I think. I've had the piercing taken out for 4+ years (since Dom's pregnancy), but of course the scar is still there. It looks SO off centre here which always happens and is kind of funny. It's because baby is chilling along my left side, pulling my belly/skin over that way. 

I love the way the blue shirt, blue on the blankets, blue wall, and blue door on the canvas go together. Fun fact. That canvas is a picture that Dave took when we were in Mykonos back in 2014 on a Mediterranean cruise. He had this one and a picture from Venice printed on a big canvas, and we have both hanging in our house still... 6.5 years later!

Thankful Thursday - 253 (FAMILY PHOTOS!)

Different version of Thankful Thursday today! Essentially just a photo dump of our impromptu family/maternity photos from yesterday!!

Yesterday I worked from 7-1, and then suddenly decided to see if we could get Scott to come help us out with some family photos. It was the last nice day for the foreseeable future, and I am 32 weeks pregnant, which is when we did our shoots with the other two pregnancies! I went in with very low expectations, because A. It was cold outside, B. Kids, C. It was last minute. Somehow we managed to get the kids dressed, cut David's hair, do my hair, curl Emilia's hair, and keep happy faces on! At 4:30 Scott came over, and we were outside for about 45 minutes. At first the kids were a little grouchy, but that soon wore off and they were wild. My hope (not even expectation) was that we could get one half-decent photo with all 5 of us, knowing that two kids and a dog in a picture are a lot of variables. We ended up with a few nice ones of all 5 of us, and lots of fun shots of just us and the kids, a couple of just us, and lots of just the kids! So glad it all worked out! And thanks to Scott for coming over last minute to help out!

Sorry (not sorry) about all the repetitive photos. It's hard to choose when they all have their own charm! 

I don't even care that Dom's not smiling, we got a picture with all of us including the dog looking at the camera!

This was Dom's face for the first few minutes. We're all trying to cheer him up haha 

Dave went to take the dog inside and the kids got silly and started running circles around me. Scott just kept shooting :) Emilia was such a ham the whole time <3

Admiring my firstborn <3

CURLS!

This was a wild segment. My intention was to get a nice photo of the 4 of us together, but the kids had other plans haha. I honestly like this way better than a perfectly posed photo! This is real life, real laughter!

I have almost this exact photo from each pregnancy and I have the other two framed beside my desk, so this will join them when I get around to it!

Our photo helper :)

I kept this one because you can really see the colour of his eyes (if you zoom in...). They are blue, but they are so blue/green/grey. They are just like Dave's. Now if you go find a picture of Emilia you'll see how they differ! Hers are also blue, but like the pure blue you think of when you think of blue eyes. I didn't know I could have two kids with different kinds of blue eyes! <3. I guess David's bb alleles are two different kinds of b!

I feel like he's aged so much in the last 5 months. Hard to believe.

They always pretend these community garden plots are a zoo and each "pen" has a different animal in it

What even is this cheesy smile?!

I pushed my look trying to get one last shot of me with each kid on our own. Neither of them were into it haha

I know that was way too many photos for a blog post, but I like them and have a hard time choosing (and I also have a history of photo hoarding, so it makes sense :)).