Busy, Busy Weekend

And the boys did great! I'll start off by saying that. We went on Ethan's first road trip, our first trip as a family of four, to go to my mom's for the weekend. We celebrated my Grandma's 80th birthday and it was wonderful to see all of the family!

Braden and Jay sang happy birthday to GG and she looked so beautiful! She had all three of her great-grandbabies there!

It was really special to see GG meet Ethan for the first time, he was wide awake at the party!

And that little Abby is such a ham!

Not only is my little Abbykins a ham...she is such a little beauty and a daddy's girl at 7 months!
 

I love seeing my brother as a dad. He's such a wonderful daddy to Abigail and an amazing uncle to my boys!

 Uncle Steve even got in on some Ethan snuggling action!

And Auntie Jess got some Ethan lovin' too! She's been dying to meet him and I'm so glad we finally all got together and that the weather cooperated!

Speaking of Auntie Jess, she threw us a "Meet Ethan" party on Sunday! In Canada, at least where I'm from, we don't typically have baby showers for every baby, only our first...but I really wanted my Edmonton friends to be able to meet Ethan, so it was really nice to have a "shower" for him - thanks again, so much, Jess!

It was so great to see my girlfriends and all their babies! That's one of my forever besties Natalie and her little boy Reid. He's only 6.5 weeks older than Ethan! That's the part that is the hardest for me living at the farm - the most bittersweet part of my life - is being away from my girlfriends and their babies, and Ben & Jess too, especially since they've had Abigail. Sure, I've made friends here and they have kids my kid's age...but it's just not the same. I wouldn't trade my life on the farm for anything, it's just very bittersweet sometimes!

The spread was amazing! And just check out these adorable whale cookies!! They were so cute I didn't want to eat them...but then I got over it and did!


Thank you again, my beautiful girls, for this awesome party! And Ben too...he did a lot and I know that! And just a few more pictures from the festivities...


None of my candid pictures from the party worked at all - but thank you Natalie, Keri, Katie, Marjorie, Mom, & Mrs. N for coming as well! I loved seeing all the babies together (Abby was the only girl) and missed everyone who couldn't make it!

And, for my friends who love Friends...a little humor featuring Reid & Ethan!

Babies, Babies, Babies

I swear, you guys...if I wasn't pregnant and due in 5ish weeks...I'd be aching for a baby right now! Melissa just had her 2nd baby girl and there's too many others in the blogosphere to even mention on here that have welcomed newborns in the last few weeks and/or are due in the next few weeks. I also have a few babies in my life and I got to see them all this week. Ladies...start your ovaries!

First up was Blake. He just turned 7 weeks old (what!?) but he was 6.5 weeks when these pics were taken. He's so alert and was fascinated by his play mat and the musical star, just like Braden was at that age! Jay used to call it "baby TV"!

Next we headed to Ben & Jess's and we got to visit Abby! She's now 5.5 months old and is loving her solid foods! I just love how expressive her little hands are in some of these photos.

Oh I love her and wished they all lived closer! My best friend Natalie had her 2nd baby on August 31 and I got to meet Reid Andrew, 3 weeks old!

 

I love that picture of big sister Sophia loving on her new baby brother! Makes me REALLY excited to meet Squishy in the next 5-6 weeks or so!

Are there lots of babies in your life right now too?

P.S. Pretty please keep voting for us, we're still in the top 50...but barely! Okay...I'll stop shamelessly asking now and rely on you to remember now every day! ;)
 

Big Brother Boot Camp

A lot of people having been asking me lately "is Braden excited about being a big brother?" and "so what does Braden think of the baby?" Well, Braden is only 2.5 but he's a smart little guy. He loves his little baby cousins Abby & Blake and he does know that there is a growing baby in my tummy. What he doesn't know, which would be impossible to explain to him at his age, is that one day, in about 11 weeks or so (ACK!) the baby will come out of my tummy, mommy will disappear for a day or two [insert tears here], and then mommy will come home with this baby. And then we'll keep it. And then it will have mommy's (almost) undivided attention for quite some period of time! Braden has never had seperation anxiety from me or really shown any signs of jealousy towards me spending time with other (especially younger) children. But, I guess we'll see!

In the meantime, Abby has provided us with almost 2 weeks worth of Big Brother Boot Camp in 2 separate visits! Jess was so amazingly patient with Braden, I really appreciated that. In training Braden is learning

• Not to slam doors
• To be quiet when baby is sleeping (even to this day when I tell him to be quite he responds "Baby Abby is sleepin'!")
• To be gentle
• Not to pick up babies - also no hitting, kicking, etc even if babies are kicking their legs around!

I'm sure there's much much much more things that we need to address...but he'll learn soon enough! Abby reeeeeeeeeally makes me want a girl, but then Blake reeeeeeeeeeeeally wants me to have another little baby boy! Braden was so gentle and sweet when he met Blake at the hospital, I can't wait for him to be a big brother!

Here's a video I took of Abby & Braden when Jess & Abby were here staying with us a month ago. Braden and I taught her how to imitate us, didn't happen to catch it again on camera, but I just love the way he interacts with her. he really is a sweet little boy!

Aaaaand one more for those of you whose ovaries are aching for a baby girl!

Also, I'm 29 weeks pregnant today...and I only have 2 more shifts left...and I will be done work on Wednesday morning...and I am SO happy! Braden's been under the weather which means extra snuggles for me...and I ain't complainin'!

A Taste of 2 Kids

As I mentioned yesterday, I got to have Abby while Ben and Jess went back to Edmonton. Mom was there to help, so I put Braden to bed and she put Abby to bed. They both go down at about the same time. But I played with Abby before her bath time and then Braden and I gave her a bath. It's given me a little preview of what Braden will be like as a big brother, and I'm liking what I'm seeing. He just absolutely adores her, and she, him. Braden likes helping out with Abby more than I anticipated he would. He really wanted to have tub time with her, but I told him that he already had his bath and that it was her turn, then I asked if he wanted to help and he was all game for that!

There's definitely a lot for Braden to learn with his Big Brother training. How to be gentle and careful around a baby, not to slam doors, to try and whisper and speak quietly while babies are napping. BUT, I'm hoping that with the very forgiving newborn stage of infant sleep...our baby will learn to sleep with baby elephants running around the house (literally) and that he/she will be an excellent car seat sleeper! Braden was very patient and very good when Abby was fussing in her car seat on the ride home. We got to steal Jess & Abby for the whole week, as Ben is working in Calgary, by the way! Braden would say "it's okay, Baby Abby! It's okay!" And he'd pull on her car seat toy so it would play music for her.

I can't wait to see Braden as a Big Brother! I think he'll do really really well, and he's getting used to Mommy holding and playing with another baby. He's never been jealous or shown any separation anxiety with me...but clearly at the end of a long day...he does have his moments!

I took the two kiddos to town by myself the other day to give Jess some nap time, you should have seen the weird looks that I got being almost 25 weeks pregnant, carrying a 3 month old in a bucket car seat with a 2.5 year old at my side! Hehe, she's not mine! She's my brother's! But it's giving me confidence that yes, indeed, I will be able to be a mother of 2. Will it be easy, probably not, but I know I will be able to do it. No turning back now, anyway!

Another Visit with GG

Braden and I finally got to see Ben, Jess, & Baby Abby again! We haven't seen them since they came to visit May long weekend! We went to my mom's place and had a really nice visit with her whole family. We got to visit GG and Uncle Steve, it was wonderful to see everyone again. Braden started calling my brother "Auntie Ben". I don't know why, he used to call him "Unca Den" clear as a bell...but suddenly uncles are now aunties too! Ben tried so hard to teach him otherwise, but all of his attempts went like this:

Ben: UNCLE!
Braden: Ben!
Ben: UNCLE!
Braden: Ben!
Ben: Braden, say "Please, Uncle Ben!"
Braden: Please, Auntie Ben!

But they really do have a great bond, they're kindred spirits I think! Same birthdays, both lefties...look-a-likes as kids! Then we got to take the great-grand babies to visit GG.

 
Those little kids just light up the room and GG's eyes and smile! It's so wonderful to see the bonds forming with all of them. Then later that night Jess and Ben went back to Edmonton for a bit and I had this little beauty all to myself! Well, Mom was there to help too of course!

She is SO pretty, isn't she?! And Braden really loved being outside as much as he could! Also, when did he turn into this "kid"? This little man? Sheesh!

More on those two beautiful kids to come!

Cousin Lovin'

This long weekend has been great so far! Ben, Jess, and Abby made their first road trip together to come see us for the weekend. They spent 2 nights and Abby did wonderful! She slept the whole car ride here and back home. Braden wouldn't stop talking about Baby Abby coming to visit, and he absolutely adored her!





He oh, so gently crawled in next to her, pointed up at the musical star, tried to give her toys, read her the books on the play gym. Heart officially melted. And then he disappeared to return to me like this:

We have been soother-free for over 3 months, he hasn't even mentioned it at all, but we gave Abby a few of his newborn soothers to use and he found them!

Then this was the look I got when I told him to give it back to baby Abby and that he doesn't use one anymore!

I tell ya...these kids are just amazing! Then we went over to the farm for a bit to celebrate Marchella's 5th birthday, so Braden got to see all EIGHT of his cousins in one day!






Sometimes Braden gets sick of being around a lot of people and would rather spend time with the tractors!




A great weekend spent with the cousins! Also, a little potty training update - for the last 2 days Braden has told us "go pee potty" and has not had one accident! He was very happy and proud to show Uncle Ben that he could pee on the potty, wash his hands with his Elmo soap, and get a potty treat. I could not be a more proud mama of how well Braden has adapted to potty training!