Winter Walk in Bowring Park

The weather here has been a little chilly lately (still mild compared to other provinces - but cold for Newfoundland), however, we've had some nice sunny days. This past Saturday was a beautiful sunny day so we decided that we needed to get out and take advantage of it. We hadn't left the house in a week as all 3 of us were smothered with the flu and poor Blake was sick for the second time in a month. Needless to say, we all had cabin fever and are just so used to being on the go that we really needed to go for a walk and enjoy some fresh air.

Bowring Park was packed full of people that afternoon, but that's no surprise because thats where everyone flocks to on any nice, sunny day of the year. I wanted to start making outfit posts again as it's been over a year since I've made one, so I had Andrew take a few snaps. I would have loved to take Blake out and show off our matching toques (I'm actually obsessed with matching our outfits - its one of the many exciting things about having a little girl) but it was a little too cold.

I can't wait for the spring so I can do more posts/photos with Blake. She'll be one on May 1 (which is actually so crazy to think about) which means she will probably be walking and it will be so fun to go on walks in the park with her. But in the mean time, we will enjoy the winter and hopefully do more winter-y activities before the snow is gone. I'd like to try snowshoeing and pull Blake along in the little sled we bought her, and maybe bundle her up in her snowsuit and play in the snow. She's growing up so fast, so I always try to remind myself to enjoy every little moment and make the most of each day (even if its freezing out and we are limited on what we can do).

Also, if anyone is in the market for a good stroller, I highly recommend investing in a Mountain Buggy Urban Jungle. I'm sure I've talked about it in a blog post before, but we've been using it for almost 9 months now and its endured literally every type of terrain (it did very well on a sandy beach in the Bahamas). Most recently, on our walk we went down a super steep, slippery path that was basically ice on top of hard packed snow with lots of ruts and the Mountain Buggy held up perfectly. People probably thought we were insane for bringing a stroller down an icy path but it worked great.

Hat: CC
Coat: Michael Kors
Sweater: Ardene (I absolutely love this sweater and it was super cheap!)
Jeans: Guess (new fave jeans, super stretchy!!)
Sunglasses: Ray-Ban

Stroller: Mountain Buggy Urban Jungle

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

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

Baby Bump Week 16

I think this is the longest amount of time I've went without making a post, but I've been sick with a cold all week. It really sucks not being able to take any medications, but it's what's best for the baby so I just have to suck it up. I feel like I've been sick a lot this pregnancy but I guess that's what comes with pregnancy :/ Breathe-right strips and vick's have been my best friend lately lol.

Regardless of being sick or not, I had to force myself to get dressed and put some make up on to take these pictures or I knew I would regret not having them. But as soon as I was done taking the pics I jumped right back into my onesie and parked myself on the couch for the rest of the day.

Anyways, enough about me being sick. Here are my Week 16 Baby Bump Pictures:

The Bump has certainly grown a lot compared to the last 3 bump pics I've taken!!It's starting to actually look like I'm pregnant, and not just fat haha. However, it is still pretty easy to cover up the fact that I'm pregnant by wearing certain clothes.

We have our monthly doctor's appointment on Monday, so I'm pretty excited to see the baby again and make sure everything is still going smoothly.

Hope everyone has a great weekend! :)

Baby Bump Week 14: Entering the Second Trimester

This week is a very exciting one for us! Week 14 marks the end of the first trimester and the start of the second trimester. Apparently the second trimester is the "easiest" one of the three. I had a bit of a hard time with the first trimester and experienced a lot of morning/all-day sickness, loss of appetite, and mood swings. It was definitely hard to go through that while also trying to hide the fact that I'm pregnant from friends and co-workers.

The second trimester is also when the risk of miscarriage decreases dramatically and will continue to decrease until the birth of the baby. So it's safe to say that I can finally get excited for the rest of this pregnancy, as it should (hopefully) be smooth sailing from here until the baby's born.

Since reaching this point, we felt comfortable announcing to everyone on Facebook that we are expecting. It was such a relief to be able to talk freely about it with friends and co-workers, especially since the news is too exciting to keep to myself. Here's the photo we used to announce it on Facebook:

We took this photo in Bowring Park a couple of weeks ago. An older man asked us if we were making an ad for Starbucks (LOL)

I decided that I wanted to take bi-weekly baby bump pictures so that I could look back on them and see how much I've grown. It's also a fun way to show my friends and family how much the baby and I have grown. Everyone gets so excited when I send them the pictures :) I bought these milestone signs from an Etsy shop called "PearlPearDesigns". They came in the form of a downloadable file, so I got them printed off at Staples then purchased a frame from Michael's so I could change them out each time I took a bump picture. Anyways, here is my small collection of baby bump pictures (starting at Week 10): 

Only 180 more days until the due date (May 20, 2017). I'm so excited to meet our little bundle of joy!!! :)