Welcome Baby Buster

Born today at about 1pm.

8 pounds 15 ounces.

22 inches long.

Melita and Baby Boy (still choosing the perfect name) are doing great.  Cody is excited to be a Dad again and Savannah is still deciding what she thinks of it all :)

hello world

Baby Mabel Margaret.

Born Thursday 26 May at 11:21pm. Weighed 3.5 kg (7 pounds, 12 ounces), and 53cms (20.5 inches) long.

we're still trying to figure out who she looks most like, but we love her more than words can say.

3 days to go

our due date is May 28, so only 3 days to go till we'll be parents...

I've been having contractions since Friday night, and Saturday we really thought we were headed to the hospital. but no. still waiting. and that's ok with me.

on Sunday I made Bryce (and Coop and McKenzie) pose with me for some last belly shots. they're mostly silly, but it was fun. we took them in the baby's new room which now has baseboards, trim and paint! today it's getting the last coat of paint and the wallpaper, then comes the fun part - decorating!

38 weeks...

well it's slowly starting to sink in and I am happy to report that I think I can feel a niggling nesting instinct coming on...

I took some photos yesterday. I woke up at 4am thinking this baby could seriously come at any time now. I had been pinning maternity photo inspiration here and intended to hire someone to take some real photos, out in a field or something equally as charming. but, time is running out. and fast. so I snapped some of my own. it was fun. I'll make Bryce take some with me this weekend too - stay tuned :)

we have another renovation filled weekend ahead of us. last weekend we got drywall in the bedrooms, but the electricians are STILL working on the lighting... they blew up our microwave the other day, and none of the lights in the kitchen currently work (nope, we're not renovating the kitchen, yet) and they can't figure out why?

we got our internal doors, and are just about ready for paint. Yay! and wallpaper double yay! I'm hoping by this time next week, we'll be putting together baby furniture :)

hope you have a wonderful weekend!

kisses

Test Baby

Last week Bryce and I had a loan of Savannah while her mum and dad had a night out. we survived. as did she. thank goodness :)

we spent most of the night snuggling her - she's a real sweetie.

baby girl or baby boy?

I am officially on maternity leave. I have been since Monday, but worked most of Monday and Tuesday... not that I had to, I just hate leaving things unfinished. not working is hard. it's hard to just turn off. does anyone else have this issue?

or maybe I'm in denial? that in 3 weeks I will be a mum... most mums-to-be at this point, have everything all set and they are in the cooking mode. stocking up the freezer with meals for once baby is here. the baby room is fully decorated, and they are just waiting for the day to come as quickly as possible... that. is. not. me.

the baby room is missing drywall, baseboards, window trim etc - let alone ready for setting up the crib. I'm not freaking out about it either. although most people I tell about it (my Dr included) are. I figure the baby won't know where s/he is sleeping for a while now - and will be sleeping in our room anyway.

my girlfriends threw me a baby shower on the weekend (Thank you Hannah!) after much resistance from me... am I the only one not into baby showers? I came home with a great stash of goodies from a baby bath, a diaper genie, toys, bottles and other essentials and when I brought them in the house I thought - where am I going to put all this? as if I should put it away for when baby comes - but then it hit me, I need to get this all in a place where I can use them. and soon.

with that, I went online and bought the baby car seat, which is pretty much the only thing you must have to be able to leave the hospital. it arrived yesterday. I tried it on for size, carried it in front of a mirror. to see if I looked like a real mum. I just look like someone posing as a mum (with a basketball up my shirt)...

so, this week I have been online window shopping for baby goodness to get me in the mood. since we are opting for surprise baby, I can't really buy too much (plus I have nowhere to store it at this point) so I created myself some pinterest boards to keep track of where I can find everything that I love.

here are a few of my favourite things :) and you can find them all either here, here or here

the view from here

35 weeks today.

welcome Savannah Reese

Born Tuesday 8 March at 12:18pm, at about 7.5 pounds. I finally got to meet baby Savannah last night, and she is such a little cutie. Basically a little clone of her dad (but way cuter), she has these amazingly long dark eyelashes, tiny long fingers and seems to be a happy little girl.

Melita is tired but so happy to be home with their little bundle of joy. Cody is the total doting dad, and it's pretty sweet to watch him with her :)

we're so happy for the 3 of you.

kisses and hugs

I'm not the only one with a baby bump...

since she hasn't mentioned it on here (that I can recall), I'm going to spill the beans and let you know that Melita and Cody are having a baby.

Today!

they were officially due on Saturday but with no signs of labour, today they're in the hospital where they're making it all happen :) here's probably the last photo of them as non-parents that I took last night at dinner. (sorry about the crappy iphone photo...)

so cross your fingers and send good thoughts their way :)

7 months

I always thought that having a baby would be quite the drawn out ordeal, but it seems like time is just flying by for me. every few weeks I look in the mirror and think woah, who is that!? - watching my body change is really the most surprising thing for me. I mean I knew I'd get bigger, but there are days when it feels like I wake up and overnight my belly has popped out again...

I am sleeping really well, and feeling really good - so I am thankful for that. the baby has become really active these days and this morning it felt like s/he was having a little punching session.

bryce and I are starting birthing lessons next week, so maybe that's when I'll start freaking out a little more...

:)

baby room

even though I am 6.5 months pregnant, and boy does it show... the whole idea that we are going to have a baby is still so surreal for me - is that normal? my sister keeps asking me if I've started buying for the baby yet, but I'm afraid that every time I look at clothes or baby stuff, it just doesn't feel like it's time yet. not that I'm a particularly superstitious person, I guess I just don't want to jinx anything...

what I can wrap my head around though is the baby room, and this I am totally into. we have decided to convert the office into the baby's room so that we'll still be able to have a spare bedroom for guests.

since we've come to love our vintage wallpaper in our place we're going to do one wall in this great orla keily and leave the rest of the walls white.

we're splurging on this bed... I have loved it since I saw it years ago in Dwell or some other designer magazine. I love how beautiful yet practical it is - it goes from baby to toddler up to a 10 year old, which is how I like to justify it. I am also going to buy it second hand, so really it's a bargain!

the downside, as my very practical friend Olivia pointed out to me, is that this bed needs round/ oval sheets, which limits the selection. but I am going to make some, since I couldn't find any that I really like anyway - why do people think that pink and blue and pastel are the only colours when it comes to babies? and Bryce will be happy I am finally putting my great sewing machine to good use!

I found these bibs on etsy which you must admit are just the cutest things ever

when I saw the 3 of them laid together like this I knew that this mustard and gray colour palette is exactly what I wanted. not too boyish and not too girlish and not too pastel'ish :) so this is my inspiration for the sheets, bumper and pillow case.and look how well the mustard colour goes with pink
and blue :)

my next bit of inspiration came from this gorgeous crochet blanket and I have been making one since about the time I fell pregnant (so I guess technically Louise, I have made a start on things...)

as far as furniture in the room we'll need a feeding chair, and Jonathan Adler just happens to be having a sale... remember this guy?

well there's also this guy too, both would be perfect in my book. although I suspect this one might be a little more practical as a feeding chair, since there are arms to rest the baby's head and my arm. I really don't know much about feeding chairs - what am I supposed to look for? will it get messy? I think this rug is the perfect cheery yellow to brighten up the room, and with a name like Betty, how could it be wrong?

we'll need some sort of changing table, and although stokke has a matching change table that goes from a change table to a desk we decided that it would be a bit matchy matchy so we're just going to pop a changing pad on a cute rustic white dresser that we already have.

I found this great idea and thought it would be a great way to hang some of the uber cute baby clothes which would add some colour to the room. kind of like a practical mobile above the change table.

and then this is another idea that I thought was pretty cool (again practical decoration) and I was thinking I could have cute pictures and photos in the different frames.

I'm sure there will be more as we go, but as soon as we start renovating I'll post pictures of how it's turning out.

you can see it all in one place and all the links on my pinterest here

bump envy?

Yesterday it was time to go shopping for some new maternity items... I rotate between 2 pairs of jeans and try to mix up the tops & jackets I have, but it's bad enough that I feel like a fatty let alone a frumpy fatty...

Bryce, being the patient husband stood outside while I squeezed myself into some new comfy options. and then he got bored. I guess. and decided to see what it feels like to be pregnant...

for those of you who have never entered a maternity store (which was me until a few months ago) they have these fake bellies that you can use to try clothes on over the top of to see how long they'll fit you for...

here's Bryce test driving the bump...

the pair of us looked so ridiculous I had to snap a shot - the sales woman must have wondered what we were doing in there....

6 months

today is the 24 week mark for our pregnancy and so far so good.

I've learned a lot about all sorts of things from the strange things your body does once you're pregnant to the way people treat you when they see your bump - like they just come up and touch you... seriously...

I must admit I've been pretty lucky with this whole pregnancy thing, I didn't get morning sickness (so far), and our baby seems to be growing nicely.

baby started out as this little lima bean

date: 12 October 2010 (7 weeks)

length: 6cm (2.3inches) long

then s/he started to look a bit more like a baby in week 13

date: 23 November (week 13)

length: 15cm (5.9 inches)

amazing how much they develop so quickly
we found out s/he has all of their little fingers from this shot (well at least on one hand) :)
the day we had this photo taken baby was not very cooperative, so the photo didn't turn out great, but for a minute s/he looked right at us and I swear mouthed the first word. mumma! I swear! :)

date: 10 January (week 20)

length: 21cm (8.2 inches)

at week 21 we found out that baby has my nose... and that everything looks to be in order.

date: 18 January (week 21)

length: ?

isn't technology amazing!?

first comes love, then comes marriage

then comes baby...

well not necessarily in that order for us, but 2010 was a big year for Bryce and I and expect that 2011 will be even bigger...

As you know we got engaged in October 2009.

A funny story about a romantic weekend spent in a cute little cabin in the redwoods. we hiked, took long walks on the beach, watched the sunset together -

it was really a perfect weekend. I had no clue that he had plans to ask me, but apparently he was stressing about it the whole weekend, but couldn't bring himself to do it...

we got home sunday evening, unpacked the car and sat and watched a movie. as we were getting ready for bed, I was clearing dishes in the kitchen, Bryce walked into the kitchen and hugged me in front of the refrigerator and said 'will you marry me?' I said 'yes, of course I will' and instantly teared up. then he said 'am I standing in dog pee???'

little McKenzie was about 5 months old at that point and still in the trying stages of potty training... talk about romantic proposals! :)

we went back and forth on the whole wedding planning thing. we wanted a rustic cabin type thing, and then we wanted to do it in europe, and then my colleague inspired us a little and eloped... but we didn't think we could pull that off without upsetting our family.

basically wedding planning is hard, and so we just kept putting it off. it's so easy to get wrapped up in the whole let's get awesome invites, cool cake toppers and blow a big chunk of cash on one day, but when push came to shove we just couldn't commit to a wedding. instead we'd just cringe when we got the daily question of 'how's the wedding planning going?'

being over the 'ideal baby making age' we knew that having a baby was something we wanted to do in the near future so we started 'trying' in April and figured what will be will be. we stopped worrying about the wedding and started on 'project baby'. let me just say that making a baby is not as easy as they make it sound in high school... but, it's definitely fun :)

by the first week in September we got our first positive test result. i had to check twice to make sure. Bryce nearly fell over when I told him (incidentally he was standing in the kitchen where he'd proposed) - it was definitely a moment I won't forget :)

being pregnant and not married didn't really bother us since we are not the traditional type but the daily question would come up and we still were no closer to an answer of when we were getting married... we were just overjoyed to be pregnant and enjoying our wonderful secret gift (and praying that nothing would go wrong...)

October 25 is the anniversary of when we met, it is also the anniversary of when we got engaged and we'd talked about doing it on that date but as it was fast approaching didn't think we could give people such short notice... so again we put it off... procrastination is a wonderful thing!

pregnancy seemed to be agreeing with me, the only noticeable difference was that I was more tired than usual and my breasts were growing like crazy... Then one morning while I was lying in bed I looked down and noticed a little bump - it just seemed to pop up out of nowhere. not that I am one of those people blessed with a gorgeous flat tummy, but when I'm laying down it's usually flat enough :) this then led to visions of me shopping for a maternity wedding dress.

so about a week before our anniversary we decided to just do it! we made an appointment at City Hall, booked a room at a nearby hotel, took personal days at work and told a few of our friends and family. all we needed now were the outfits.

after a horrendous 10 hours in the mall the Saturday before we had the dress, the suit, the shoes and were all set. I bought my dress and they were able to do overnight alterations on it.

On Monday 25th October we tied the knot and it was honestly the most perfect day. the weather leading up to the day had been rain, rain and more rain and for those of you who know San Francisco it can be downright chilly on the best of days. that Monday the sun shone from a beautiful clear blue sky.

we picked Bryce's mum (Cathy) up from the airport on our way to San Francisco, checked into our hotel and then walked over to pick up the marriage license from City Hall. there were lots of people getting married that Monday.

Melita picked up flowers on the way

and helped me get ready

while the boys went for drinks

here's the marriage guide we got when we got the licence - all sorts of good information in there from sexually transmitted diseases, to taking folate, dealing with abusive relationships etc... (I kid you not)

I told you my breasts were growing... (I am 10 weeks pregnant here)

and we were off to City Hall to get married

but someone forgot their photo id... I mean I had pockets in my dress too, but totally forgot it, along with my video camera - I was just trying to be on time, which those who know me does not come naturally... luckily our hotel was a quick run through the park to get to - thank you Ini for doing the dash :)

once all the official stuff was taken care of we had to wait our turn. we'd never set foot in San Francisco's City Hall but it is the most beautiful building.

we got to choose where we were married, so we chose the rotunda (which you can see at the top of the stairs here)

and we're up. the judge that married us was really lovely with her gorgeous silvery hair, and soft spoken tone. she made it really special.

I love this shot of everyone taking photos

and videos of us...

and then we both said we do

thank you Christina for taking our photos

these two are the funniest captures

as Bryce landed the pin from his flowers went straight into his skin...

me with Bryce's mum - coolest mother-in-law a gal could ask for :)

Hannah was photographers assistant

these doors were really cool - we didn't even notice them on the way there

this is my fave

back at the hotel - I thought this one was fun since I am now married to an American boy ;)

then we headed off a local restaurant for an early dinner

yum

(can you tell I am paranoid about my breasts here...)

it really was the perfect way to get married!

later that night when we left the city we took this shot of city hall all lit up in orange for the Giants who were playing in the World Series