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Friday 4 August 2017

Blake's 3 Month Update



People weren't lying when they said "enjoy your baby while they're young because they grow up so fast". I can't believe we've already been Blake's parents for 3 months, it's gone by so fast. She's grown so much since she was born, it's crazy.




When Blake was born, she weighed 6lbs 5oz and even dipped below 6lbs for a few days. She was so tiny. She now weighs about 12-13lbs (I'm guessing) and her facial features have changed so much. She has big bluish-grey eyes (which will probably change to brown at some point) and a little bit of brown fuzzy hair on her head. She has much chubbier cheeks and thicker thighs which make her look so much cuter. She's now wearing size 6 month sleepers which is crazy and made me so sad to pack up all of her newborn and 0-3 month clothing.

She's going through her 3rd leap (according to the Wonder Weeks app) and I'm pretty sure she's started teething. Blake is such a good, happy baby, but over the past few days she's seemed a bit crankier and is always chewing her hands (sometimes 2 hands at the same time). I've tried breast milk popsicles, teething rings, and a munch mitt. So far, she hasn't really figured out how to use them, but chewing on her hands and pacifier have seemed to help a bit. I wish there was more I could do to help her, but I guess it's just a phase she has to go through.

Blake drinks breast milk exclusively and I'm really proud to have been able to provide her with that liquid gold. I'm hoping to be able to feed her only breastmilk (plus solids when she's 6 months old) until she's a year old. I exclusively pump milk (I don't directly nurse her) and it's been pretty challenging but it's been much easier for both of us than direct nursing; I just hope that I can commit to the demanding schedule for a while longer. It's my goal to have enough of a freezer stash to get her to 1 year, even if that means I stop pumping well before she hits 1 year.




We've joined a local group called "Mommy Connections" which has allowed me to get a good workout in each week, try out new programs around the city, and also bring Blake with me so we can socialize with other moms and babies. So far, Blake has pretty much slept through all of the classes, but she's still young and will probably become more interested and involved as she gets older.

She's learned to do so many new things like:

  • cooing
  • crying longer and louder
  • grasp toys 
  • smile
  • giggle
  • play in her jolly jumper
Blake loves:
  • her pacifier
  • milk
  • bath time
  • walks
  • swimming at the pool
I love watching her grow and learn new things, but I really wish time would slow down so I could enjoy my little baby for a little longer <3













Sunday 21 May 2017

Welcome Baby Blake: Labour and Delivery Story

My beautiful little girl, Blake Lea Noseworthy, entered this world (pretty quickly) on May 1, 2017 at 5:00pm. She weighed 6lbs 5oz and measured 51cm long. She's much smaller than I imagined she would be, but after going through labour and delivery, I'm glad she wasn't any bigger...lol. Everyone thought she would be at least 8lbs, and maybe she would have been if she was born at 40 weeks, but she came 1 week and 5 days early.

At 37 weeks, I was beginning to get tired of being pregnant and the anticipation of meeting my little baby was killing me. I couldn't wait to hold her in my arms. I was getting so huge and everything was starting to hurt, especially after she dropped in my stomach. I was still working, but by the end of week 37 I had to call it quits. I was in so much pain and could barely walk without limping due to a really sore pelvis. It was getting so uncomfortable to lay down or even sit at this point and I was really wishing I wasn't pregnant anymore. Andrew was still working in Labrador when I experienced my first sign of labour (losing the mucus plug), and a few people advised me that he should probably come home ASAP because I could give birth any day, really. Andrew was supposed to come home on May 9, but came home on April 26 instead and thank god he did!!!

A week and 2 days later (38 weeks + 2 days) I went into labour. We had just gotten home from Andrew's parents house and I had some cramps on the drive home. When I got home I was bouncing around on my exercise ball and talking on the phone with my best friend, Jessica (who now shares a birthday with Blake!) and I experienced what I now know were contractions around 12am. At the time, I had no idea that they were contractions as a lot of people said my entire stomach would clench and contract and I would 100% know that I was in labour when it happened, but mine didn't do that. They just felt like pretty intense period cramps that would come and go every so often. When they started getting more regular and more intense, I asked Andrew to write down the times I was feeling them and how long they would last. After about 3 hours, they were about 5 minutes apart and lasted 1 minute each. This went on for an hour. I called the case room and told them and they said to come in right now. So we threw all of our bags in the car and drove to the hospital.

At around 4am, I was 3-4cm dilated when I got there and they gave me morphine and gravol to help with the contraction pain. I don't think that helped much, but I was able to use my breathing techniques I learnt in prenatal yoga to help get through each contraction (I would HIGHLY recommend prenatal yoga to anyone who's pregnant because that's what got me through labour, for sure). After about 5-ish hours of contractions, I fell asleep and when I woke up after a 2 hour nap, I was out of labour. My contractions had stopped altogether for several hours and because I was no longer in active labour, they were going to send me home. I was so disappointed because I really thought I was having a baby soon. Andrew and I were going to get ready and pack up, but then the nurse said that they wanted to see if my cervix had changed before they sent me home. Fortunately, I had dilated to 5cm so they decided to keep me for 24hrs to monitor me and see if labour would start up again before sending me home.

The nurse unhooked my IV and told me to get up and get some toast and walk around for a bit. 5 minutes after I had gotten up and put some bread in the toaster, my water broke and contractions started again stronger than ever. I was now dilating quickly...too quickly to get an epidural, much to my dismay. I had asked for an epidural at around 6cm and they said I should have lots of time before they needed to bring in the anesthesiologist. But about an hour later I was 8cm, then 9.5cm and before I knew it they were telling me it was time to push... and that it was obviously too late now for an epidural. I pushed 6 times in 10 minutes and she was out. It was the most painful thing I've ever been through especially since I could feel it all, but because it was such a short amount of time it was bearable.

Andrew, his sister Jennifer, and I all bawled like babies. It was such an emotional moment holding her for the first time, especially after 9 months of carrying her around in my stomach. She was the most precious thing I had ever seen and I couldn't believe she was finally here. We had an hour of skin to skin before they took her and cleaned her up.

Normally, I think babies just like wrinkly old men when they're born, but when it's your own, you can't help but think they're the most precious thing you've ever seen. I can't wait to journey through motherhood and go through all of the new experiences having a baby brings. I know it's not going to be easy as I've already seen in these first 3 weeks of her life, but I know all of the sleepless nights spent changing dirty diapers, soothing and feeding, and countless hours pumping breast milk are all worth it for this beautiful little girl.

I'm going to try and post weekly updates, but it might be hard with a newborn... I'll do my best, lol.


The day she was born <3
Our first picture together (excuse how haggard I look...)
Andrew's first time holding Blake (also his first time ever holding a baby)
Little cutie <3
Proud Daddy with his baby girl

Just before leaving the hospital to go home

Ready to go home!
All snug in her car seat, ready to go home from the hospital

Friday 31 March 2017

Maternity Photo Shoot + We are ENGAGED!!!

So this past week has been absolutely crazy!! There has been so much excitement in our lives that it's hard to process it all, but I've never been so happy in my life. There are still so many exciting things happening in the near future and I can't wait to experience it all!

Andrew has been flying back and forth Labrador for work every 3 weeks which means we don't get to see each other as much as we used to, so when he is on his week off there tends to be so much excitement. This past week that he was home, we were busy everyday with doctor's appointments to check on the baby, date nights, prepping for the maternity photo shoot (which was postponed 3 times due to stupid Newfoundland weather), and then... our ENGAGEMENT!!!

We've been together for almost 6 years, so I don't think it was a huge surprise to most people that we finally got engaged but it's still so crazy to believe that we are actually going to get married. It was so amazing to see how many people were so happy for us and congratulated us on our engagement. It's all so overwhelming (in a good way!!) especially with a baby on the way in 6 weeks but I wouldn't have it any other way. We live life flying by the seats of our pants and we're okay with that :)

For anyone in the the St. John's and surrounding areas looking for an engagement/maternity/newborn photographer, I would highly recommend booking Christy Kirkland. I had originally seen her work through Facebook. A lot of my Facebook friends were always liking and sharing her photos and as soon as I found out I was pregnant I was like "I need to have her photograph our newborn" so I booked her asap. Then I saw that she had the option to add-on maternity photos to my newborn package for a pretty reasonable price so that's what we did and I couldn't be happier with the way they turned out. Originally, they were only intended to be maternity photos, but we literally got engaged that Friday (the day of our shoot) so last minute we made it an engagement AND maternity shoot. Christy made us feel so comfortable which was awesome because posing for photos is not always such a comfortable thing. She had them edited and sent back to me within 5 days, I couldn't believe how quickly she had them done. Highly recommend Christy!! For anyone interested, you can contact Christy via Facebook (Christy Kirkland Photography - Newborn & Baby Portraiture).

Also, for anyone interested, I had a spray tan done by Sayer at Color Me Bronze Spray Tanning and Makeup Studio. She has a studio on Elizabeth Ave but also offers tans out of her home studio in Airport Heights, as well. She was excellent and made me feel very comfortable. Due to this crazy NL weather we've been having and with Andrew's work schedule, I had to change my maternity shoot dates several times which meant I also had to change my spray tan dates and Sayer was very accommodating. She even did a free touch up on my hands and face since I had to move the shoot date one last time after I had already gotten my spray tan. I would highly recommend Sayer for anyone looking to get a spray tan done for any occasion :) You can reach her via Facebook as well (Color Me Bronze Spray Tanning and Makeup Studio).

Make up, hair, and flower crown were all done by me :)
Dress is from Pink Blush Maternity
Bracelet is from Alex and Ani
Necklace is from Michael Kors

Now, here are the photos from our maternity/engagement shoot taken in Portugal Cove, NL:














Thanks for taking the time to read my blog, I hope you enjoyed this post!!



Saturday 4 March 2017

Pregnancy Update: 30 Weeks

Today marks 30 weeks of pregnancy! Which means only 70 more days until my due date!! It feels like time is flying, but at the same time it feels like I've been pregnant forever. Andrew being away for work helps time go by a little faster because I'm always counting down the days until he's home and trying to keep busy while he's gone.

So far, I've had a pretty easy pregnancy (knock on wood it stays that way). I've had a few issues with lower back pain but I've managed to keep it under control by having prenatal massages every two weeks, chiropractor visits every 3 weeks, and going to a weekly prenatal yoga class. I would highly recommend anyone who's pregnant in St. John's to take Bobby Bessey's prenatal yoga class at Shakti Yoga on Torbay Road. She's a doula on top of being a yoga teacher and most of her clients/students are able to give birth without an epidural or any other drugs. I'm totally getting an epidural if I can help it, but it's nice to know that the breathing and birthing techniques she teaches in class will help make things a lot less difficult during delivery.

I haven't really experienced any sickness since the first trimester (hopefully it stays that way till the end) and my bi-weekly visits to the doctor have confirmed that the baby and I are very healthy and everything is going as planned, so far. I have another doctor appointment this Monday, and hopefully she'll be able to tell me how much the baby weighs and maybe give me an approximate birth weight. I'm thinking she's probably around 3lbs as that's the average baby weight at this stage in pregnancy. I'm hoping she's not anymore than 8lbs but apparently Andrew was around 9.5lbs so who knows... I guess as long as she's healthy, that's all that really matters.

We did a 3D ultrasound at UC Baby a little over a week ago, and it was so cool to see how much she's changed since the last ultrasound back in December. She totally looks like Andrew to me and a lot of people agree she looks like him as well. I have a feeling she's going to come out looking a lot like him lol. I find that girls typically look a lot more like their fathers than their mothers, but that could just be a coincidence.

Since I only have a little over 2 months left until D-Day, I really need to start thinking about my birth plan, and packing my hospital bag. The doctor said she could technically come at anytime (hopefully, she waits until at least 38 weeks!!) so I really need to prepare myself. I'm just hoping Andrew will be home when she comes so that I don't end up having to take a cab to the hospital (jk I'll probably call an ambulance if it comes down to it).

I can't wait for her to come, we are beyond excited to finally become parents and it will be so much fun to have a baby during the summer time :)

Here's my 30 week bump pic--I haven't taken one in weeks since Andrew hasn't been here to take the pictures for me, but shout out to my friend Chantal for taking my 30 week bump pic today :)



I think she looks just like her Daddy when he was a baby, chubby cheeks and all :)

Stay tuned for pictures of her nursery, I want to add a few finishing touches before I post pictures, but so far I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.




Tuesday 31 January 2017

Pregnancy Update: 25 Weeks

Today I had my 25 week check-up and so far everything looks great. The baby's heartbeat is perfect, she moves a lot, and had the hiccups during the ultrasound today (so cute!). I also found out I don't have gestational diabetes (thank god!! chocolate is my weakness), iron levels are perfect and blood pressure, blood counts and whatever else the doctor checks are all on point.

Since this is my first time ever being pregnant, I never know what to expect during the process, and I'm always scared to death that something might go wrong with me or, especially, the baby. Each time I have a check up, she reassures me that everything is going really well which is awesome. Hopefully, this pregnancy continues to go smoothly...and quickly.

I'll be 26 weeks on Saturday, then it's only 2 more weeks and I'll be entering the third and final trimester!! Looking back, time does seem like it's gone by pretty fast, but 14.5 weeks still seems like a long ways away.

Andrew went away to work in Labrador this past Sunday for the next 3 weeks :( which means he wasn't able to attend today's doctor appointment (it's the first one he's ever missed) so my doctor was nice enough to do an ultrasound and let me take a video so I could send it to him. I was so excited to see her on the screen moving around and hiccuping. She's grown so much since the last ultrasound <3

I can't wait to meet her and see what she looks like, because at this point we have no idea what she will look like. I have a feeling she might be Andrew's twin, because so many girls I know are born looking more like their fathers, but we'll see when the time comes. 102 days and counting...





Sunday 8 January 2017

New Years Resolutions 2017

2016 was such an amazing year. We travelled a lot, my best friend got married, and we found out that we are expecting a baby girl! If 2017 is as good a year as 2016, then it's going to be a really good one :) And of course, the baby is due this year so that automatically makes it an amazing year!!

I'm basically only making a full blog post about my New Years Resolutions so that I can hold myself accountable throughout the year. I want to achieve at least 80% of my list by the end of the year. I have a little list on my phone that has all of my resolutions for 2016 that I wrote last year and I didn't achieve very many of them :/

I also think it's interesting to see what other people's resolutions are for the year and see how they want to change and become a better person, so maybe someone wants to know what mine are :)

1. Be the Best Mother I Can Possibly Be: This is a very broad one because I'm not exactly sure what that entails yet... I know becoming a mom is a huge change and things will probably get really hard and frustrating but I want to go into this with a positive attitude and embrace every hardship parenting throws at me. I'm so lucky to have a supportive partner who I'm sure will keep me sane through all of it and I honestly can't wait to experience it all.

2. Get Rid of Things I Don't Need: This is a huge one for me. I've been trying to declutter for what seems like forever but I think 2017 needs to be the year I actually get serious about it. Especially with a baby on the way because she's going to have a lot of stuff so I need to make room for all of that.

3. Travel More: Over the past few years Andrew and I have gone on about 2 vacations a year and that's something I want to keep doing even after having a baby. We were supposed to do a cruise on December 28 but obviously with Zika virus going around in the caribbean we had to change our plans. Hopefully we'll be able to do a small trip with the baby soon after she's born and then possibly go on a bigger trip towards the end of the year. There are so many places we want to see...

4. Spend Less Money: I've always been the type that just goes and buys what I want whenever I feel like it and I end up wasting money buying things I don't need and sometimes never even use. I want to start putting more thought into what I buy and giving myself at least 24 hours to think about whether or not I really need it in my life before I purchase it.

5. Waste Less Food: This is a huge one. We waste so much food in our house, fruits and vegetables usually. I used to buy a ton of fresh produce at Costco because it's a lot cheaper but there would be so much of it that half of it would go in the garbage so I wasn't really saving money. I'm going to put in a bigger effort to only buy smaller quantities of food and not buy anymore till it's all used up. Even if that means more frequent trips to the grocery store.

6. Read More Books: Reading used to be something I really used to enjoy but now I find I don't have much time to do it. I end up choosing to watch TV or go on my iPad instead but I want to set a good example for my daughter and stress the importance of reading. I'm going to try and read one book a month. That seems like a lot to me since I haven't picked up a book probably since my University days but I think it's definitely achievable and necessary.

7. Stretch for 15 Minutes per Day: Since becoming pregnant, I've experienced significant back pain and discomfort in my neck and shoulders. Stretching is so important for your health, pregnant or not and I need to make a conscious effort to integrate it into my daily routine.

8. Weigh 140lbs by the End of the Year: This was a resolution from last year and I was so close to reaching it, but then I got pregnant and losing weight obviously wasn't my main focus anymore. I think its definitely an achieveable goal for 2017 because I haven't put on too much weight during this pregnancy. I'm hoping a lot of it will come off immediately after birth, and I plan on going back to having a personal trainer since I've already paid for the sessions. Im also going to keep going to the gym for as long as I can before the baby is born.

9. Save $5000 by the End of the Year: Last year I didn't put away anywhere near that amount. And that's mostly due to frivolous spending. I'd really love to have $5000 in my TFSA by the end of 2017, it would make me feel more accomplished for sure. And there's no reason I shouldn't be able to do that.

10. Write at Least One Blog Post per Week: Blogging is something I enjoy doing because I love to share aspects of my life with friends and family as well as strangers who enjoy the same interests as me. Blogging provides an outlet for me to talk about things I love and also acts like a journal for me to go back and read through and see what events and changes have taken place in my life.

11. Drink 3L of Water per Day: I started doing this last summer when I was at the peak of losing weight. I found it hard at first but it became a part of my routine. After I got pregnant I found I wasn't drinking as much water because I wasn't as focused on losing weight. Water consumption is so much more important when pregnant because your body as well as the baby need to stay hydrated. So far, I've been pretty good with drinking 3L of water everyday, I just need my fancy Starbucks tumbler on hand at all times so I don't forget to drink it lol. Writing down how many mL of water I've had on a white board on my fridge also helps me achieve my daily water intake goal.



I hope everyone creates their own resolutions and puts their best effort in to ensure they meet their goals by the end of the year. Cheers to you and cheers to a very happy and prosperous 2017!!



Wednesday 4 January 2017

Pregnancy Update: 21 Weeks and Gender Reveal

Happy New Year!! I can't believe 2017 is already here! In just 4 and half months we will be welcoming our first child in to the world!

I know it's been way too long since I last wrote a blog post, but things have been super hectic over the holidays with my sister visiting from Wyoming, as well as work and family events.

But, we received some exciting news! We are having a baby girl!!! I was ecstatic and so surprised because I was 99.9% sure that we were having a boy. Obviously, I would have been over the moon with either outcome, but the thought of having a little girl to dress up and be best friends with was even more exciting. Andrew is super happy and excited and we both can't wait to do up her nursery and buy tons of PINK EVERYTHING!

We found out the gender on December 22 at the Janeway, and then later that day we decided to go to UC Baby juuuust to be sure :) Both ultrasound technicians told us it was a girl so we took that as a sign that we were probably having a girl LOL. We waited until Christmas Day to announce it to our parents in person and to everyone else via Facebook. It was so hard to keep it in because I know they really wanted to know. For our gender reveal to our parents, we bought them each an ornament that says "It's a girl" with her due date May 2017. We wrapped it in blue tissue paper (to be extra sneaky) and put it in a little box with the ultrasound picture and blue and pink bows. We filmed them all opening the boxes and their reactions were priceless :)

On another note, we found out that we are actually further along than what we thought (by 5 extra days!). I haven't even taken a 20 week bump picture and we are actually at 21 weeks. It will be 22 weeks on Saturday, so I think I'll just forget about taking a 20 week picture (since it would't be accurate anyways!) and just post my 22 week picture in a separate blog post.

P.S. I've also been feeling her moving around for about a week now. At first, I was unsure of how it would feel and if I was even feeling it. It's hard to describe because the movements are so subtle but I guess it's almost like gas bubbles haha. After feeling it every day for a week I was certain that it was the baby moving. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to feel her move from the outside yet, but hopefully that will happen soon because I know Andrew is getting anxious (and maybe a bit jealous, lol) that he can't feel her move yet.

Here are my ultrasound pictures and I've also included Week 18 since I haven't posted it on here yet: