Dad

My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.

- Jim Valvano

A father is something that you can't explain. Its the unconditional love. Its the one on one time. Its the being able to play around. Its about the adventure. Its about the trust. I seriously think there is a reason God gave us a mother and a father. Kids need both. You need your Mom for comfort, for love. You need your Dad to be rock solid. 

This is my Grandpa. 

Today my mom is travelling to the island to say Goodbye to her Dad. And I can't imagine how hard that would be. 

I will always remember him as the Grandpa we had sleepovers at. The Grandpa who took us for walks at the beach, who explained his artwork to us, who showed us how he painted. 

So my heart is with my mom. As she says her Goodbyes to her Dad, her great amazing Dad who we all love so much. 

 

Moments

 We don't remember days; we remember moments.   Pavese, Cesare
Moments in time. Moments that take your breathe away. I can recall a few. The first kiss with my boyfriend who is now my husband, the time he proposed to me on the beach in white rock, the morning when I woke up a and realized I was getting married and the excitement that flew through my body. The feeling of walking down the aisle and seeing him standing there smiling. When I told him I was pregnant and the look on his face. The quietness in the surgery room and then when the surgeons voice erupted "ITS A BOY!" 


That moment is the one that stands out the most. The pure joy, the bond that you can't even start to explain. The look on your husbands face and the proud moment when he holds him for the first time.

Its a weird thing knowing when your baby will make its entrance into the world. Its going to be a strange feeling to go to bed on Monday night and know that in a couple hours that baby will be in our arms. To know that we will get to add another moment to our belts. Another moment that will be permanently etched into our hearts.

I have been asked so many times what I think this baby is, or what I want it to be. And seriously, we have had such a struggle this pregnancy that I am just so happy this baby is coming! And that either way, it was God's plan all along.

The other day I went into my doctors appointment. I giddily explained how the last ultrasound had went and that the calcifications were GONE! Completely! That the specialist couldn't find them anywhere. My doctor looked at me and was like "Well did you tell them of course they are gone, that we have been praying for this baby."

So completely true. We have been praying. Praying hard. We have had support and prayer from more people than I could possibly imagine. And God performs miracles. And this baby that will be here in 6 days, is a miracle. And I can't wait to look into its eyes and say I love you and welcome to the family, we have been waiting for you :)

T minus 4 weeks

4 weeks until we will be a family of FOUR!
Oh my goodness how crazy is that. It feels different moving on up to having two kids, not that having one doesn't feel like a family... but having two feels like we are have a FAMILY!

I am getting excited to meet this baby, although, I am quite content to wait these final weeks, taking the time to spend it with my Boston. Going for walks, cuddled up reading books and having conversations like we do. Because I know his little world is going to be rocked soon, and I want to take every last waking minute to be with just him.

Over the last week my Bestie came and took some maternity photos for me. Let me begin by saying the day went totally sideways. Boston decided to protest his nap and sign songs, read books and play in his crib for two hours. Then it rained, then it poured!!! I was ready to cancel. But my nails were done, my hair was ready and I was dressed. Also, Michele had driven from across town after packing up two kids and DAMMIT we were going to make it work!!
So she talked me into getting some pictures just the two of us, and then doing some family shots later, because lets face it, the minute that baby is born, we are going to want new ones.

So here are some of my favourites. Michele, you are incredibly talented at what you do. I mean amazing! I love you lots!

http://www.michelesarahphotography.com/

coming soon

I am SO excited.
Do you think maybe this might be to much on my plate? A new baby and new chicks?

Regardless. We are getting our new chicks pretty soon!

Hip Hop

Holidays are always chaos for us. We had 4 easter dinners to go to and Brian was working easter weekend, which meant I had to do two solo! It was insane, when your 34 weeks preggo and tired, but manageable with my parents helping.
This would be our last family holiday just the three of us, so I wanted to make it special for Boston. Last easter, he didn't even know really what was going on...he could only crawl to his basket.

Last Easter 

But here are some pictures of our weekend.

our easter egg trail from his room to his basket. He loved this!!

Arly is always there.. watching... waiting....

every kid needs a toothbrush in their easter basket!!

And we walk.....

So I had one of those nights last night. The night when you wonder is this for real happening? Isn't my toddler supposed to be sleeping the nights by now? And then anxiety kicks in and I realize I have a new born on the way and pretty sure I will be saying goodbye to sleep entirely.
Boston was scared, not sure why, if he had a nightmare or something but he was scared. Normally, I let him cry and say its time to go to bed. But this time, I asked him if he was scared and he looked at me. I told him it was time to go to bed and he started freaking out.
So then I caved, and I do not normally cave. I grabbed my baby, I grabbed some blankets and went into the new babies room. I cuddled up on the chair, the moon was so bright it lit up the room and we snuggled. Instantly, his little breaths slowed  down and he feel into a comfortable sleep. I sat there with my soon to be "Big brother" and feel asleep too and it was nice.
As crappy as it is to wake up during the night, sometimes you need to enjoy these moments while you still have them, because in a blink of an eye he won't be needing me anymore and I will take it all while I have it.

Boston woke up fully charged and ready to go. And so go we did. For an hour and a half around the property. We walked, we played in bushes. We climbed on tractors, we walked through mud, we saw the ducks, we had our own conversations and it was awesome.
Tonight- roasting hot dogs by the fire. His first one yet. I am so excited.

God is Good

We have had a rough last year. Between Brian battling it out in the construction world, training to become a firefighter, reno'ing a house so we could sell it, dealing with renting, being pregnant and sick, getting bad news about our pregnancy, moving twice, all while trying to hold down two careers and raise a toddler seemed a little hard to handle. Actually it seemed like our life was in complete utter chaos.

But now a couple things happened.

We moved. To a place we finally feel like is home. Sure there is lots, and lots of work to do. But it feels like home. Write now as I type this I can hear the frogs croaking away. Its bliss. And once my parents start to build there home it will be even better. The other day I got a text from my dad and it read.

"When Boston wakes up can I take him for a walk around the property?"

As soon as Boston woke up we got changed and put him boots and coat on and he ran out to go see "Papa." For an hour or more I could see them wandering aimlessly around the property, driving the tractor, digging holes and playing in trucks. It melted my heart. This is why we made this decision. Its a different way of living thats for sure, but isn't it how its supposed to be? Everyone living together, everyone helping each other and living like a true family. I think so, actually I know so. Boston is sure one lucky little boy to be living were he can throw rocks in the pound, listen to the frogs, drive tractors and play with his grandparents.

Brian is now settling into his new career as a firefighter and LOVING it. This still feels slightly like a dream as it has been such a process. The other day we had a date night ON a monday! How great that was. Its a different schedule thats for sure, but its awesome to have him around more.

And the best news of all.  Today at our final ultrasound before this baby makes its debut, the calcifications were completely GONE! She couldn't find even a trace that they even exhisted. How great is that? The last 8 months have really put things into perspective for me. Pregnancy isn't something that you can take for granted. Things happen. Even just being able to get pregnant should be a miracle. I am so very grateful that our lil baby is healthy and happy and a whopping 4lbs and 2 onz already! So excited to meet this little miracle.

So in conclusion. God is good. Life is full of trials, but life is also full of many blessings. You need to be able to look around and notice the good in your life, because we very often get focused on what we still want or need and forget to notice all the good in every day.