Happy Birthday(s)!

To two of my nieces.



First up, Amelia, whose party we attended on Sunday, but whose actual birthday was yesterday. Happy 2nd Birthday, Melster!

Next up, Emma! Who is SIX years old today, Oh My Goodness! Can't believe it. Simply can't.

How is this sweet little doe-eyed, giggly, brown-haired girl SIX?

It can't be true.

Happy Birthday, anyways!

Love, Auntie Sarah

Isaac

I thought about using this picture of my nephew Isaac for the I <3 Faces "Blue" photo challenge, but I really wanted to use the one I did of Deklan wearing his blue booties.

This picture is too cute not to post, though.

Isn't Isaac a love? He's 9 weeks old, and just too cute and cuddly and chunky!

Tyler and his Grandpa

My husband and his Grandpa, sharing a conversation yesterday at Amelia's birthday party.

I just love this picture. Tyler has a very close relationship with his paternal Grandparents, and at family gatherings I can often find him sitting with Grandpa, talking about anything and everything. I see a lot of Grandpa in my husband- his good work ethic, sense of humour, they even look alike!

"Blue" Photo Challenge

Two newborn babies are laying next to each other in a nursery.
One looks at the other, and says "I'm a baby girl." The other baby asks "How do you know?" "Well, that lady that was holding me earlier said I was her beautiful baby girl, that's how."
Not to be outdone, the other baby says "Yeah, well, I'm a baby boy!"
"How do you know?" the baby girl asks.
The other baby pulls off it's blanket and says "Look! Blue booties!"

I got the idea for this picture from the joke, so I thought I'd put that in the post, too! Deklan's Great-Aunt Sheila knitted those little blue booties for him, and they just barely fit him, so I had to get some pictures of him wearing them before they didn't fit anymore.

This is an entry into the "I heart faces" photo challenge for week 38, which is "Blue"!
And what's more blue than a baby boy. Blue and boys go together like pink and girls.

Be sure to check out the other pictures in this weeks photo challenge, I'm sure they'll be amazing! I'm going to go start browsing right now, dude!

A first!

First smirk caught on camera!

He's saying, "What up, my peeps?"

I haven't been able to capture his completely smiling face on camera yet, but I'll be patient.
It'll happen soon enough. He was mostly cranky throughout our mini photo shoot yesterday, but at one point he cheered up enough that he actually wanted to smile at Mommy! Then, it was right back to Mr Grumpus.

I loooove Mr Grumpus. He's so cute when he cries.

Sleep

YAWWWWWWN!

Is awesome.

Especially when you've been without it for a while.

I had a terrible night Tuesday... one of those nights that you lay in bed awake for no discernible reason. I'm normally asleep by 11:00 p.m, I saw 11... and 12... and 13... I mean, 1:00. And 2:00. And 4:00. And 7:00. And 8:00.

Was it because Deklan was screaming? No.... he was a perfect baby, he only woke up at 2:00 and 7:00 to nurse. Was it because I had lots on my mind? No.... it was totally blank, except for the occasional "Why am I not I sleeping?"

It was frustrating, to say the least.

Wednesday morning was my last midwife appointment, and because I was so ridiculous tired, I was afraid to drive myself. They say that when you're sleep deprived, you may as well be drunk behind the wheel. So, my sister Linda came with me to be my chauffeur.

She helped me do my grocery shopping after my appointment, and I went to have a visit at Mom's for a while. I started to perk up around 4:00, though I still felt like my brain was half disengaged.

When I got home, at 4:30, I nursed the baby and gave him to Tyler so I could go have a nap. I stumbled my way up the stairs, and sank in to bed. And couldn't fall asleep.

Me: Seriously? Seriously???

So I came back downstairs, and checked my email. I wasn't going to lay in bed awake again.

I was really worried when we all went to bed that evening. I've been fighting a cold, and I didn't want to get sick again because I couldn't sleep, of all things.

But, not to worry. I think I was out as soon as Deklan was. My good baby only woke me up twice between midnight and 7:00, too. I also got a bonus hour after he was done nursing at 7:00.

So, I'm feeling much better! Sleep is wonderful, man.

My chunky monkey

Weighs 10 lbs 6.5 oz!

Is 22 inches long!

Remember, he was only 7 lbs 1 oz, and 19 3/4 inches long at birth.

In less than six weeks, that's a pretty huge gain I'd say!

He smiled at Granny today (after he puked on her... ha!) and also at our midwife. It was our last appointment today... so I was a little sad. I'll miss the midwives. I'm definitely going back to them next time, God willing there is a next time of course.

"Completely Candid" Photo Challenge

I just recently stumbled upon the "I Heart Faces" blog, while blog surfing on a rainy afternoon... I've always loved photography, and it's only been a few years since I bought my first camera and starting taking pictures of my family and friends.



I love looking at other people's photos, to get inspiration and to learn from them, so the "I Heart Faces" blog is absolutely perfect to help me develop my photography skills!

This is my entry for the "Completely Candid" photo challenge.

I'm so nervous! Haha! This is my first ever entry, so I'm feeling a bit squirrely. Here I go.

This is a photo of my youngest brother Christopher, who, while still in my Mommy's belly, became an Uncle. My oldest nephew is 7 months older than him. Christopher is now an Uncle to 18 children, and since we're a closely knit family, he has contact with many of them at least once every week! He's so relaxed with babies, he can pick them up, put them down, hold them, change them, feed them, anything.

He's holding my nephew Wesley in this picture, who is 6 months old. I think this picture is so candid because it shows how gentle Christopher is with the babies, holding Wesley like an expert, making sure his hood isn't covering his face so he can see what's happening on the deck.

Hey, my peeps, make sure you go check out the other pictures on the "I Heart Faces" website, they are so good! They will definitely make you want to pick up your camera and start snapping.

5 weeks old!

Cute, cuddly, and roly poly!

He's close to 10 lbs, almost 22 inches long, and is starting to smile regularly at Mommy!

I'll find out exactly what he weighs this Wednesday at his 6 week checkup. So exciting!

Just because.

It's Elena's Birthday!

Elena is the the girl with the funky glasses in the above picture.

She's my little sister who shared a room with Linda and I when she was a ickle baby.
She's the one that would be standing, diaper-less, in her crib in the morning, with poop plastered everywhere - her face, the wall, the bars of her crib.... blech. She would be grinning like mad, and hold her hands up to be picked up. Uh, nuh.... We would carry her outside by her foot and spray her off with the hose.

Just kidding on that last part. The rest was pure fact.

Poop painting and all, she was so loved, and is so loved still.
Although, I'm very glad she outgrew that particular aspect of her creativity.

Happy Golden Birthday, Elena, hope it's a good one!

Four Weeks & 1 Day Old

And so very, very beautiful.

Four weeks old!

Deklan, chillin' out after his bath this morning.

My baby is four weeks old today! It's craziness!
He's only been in my arms and out of my belly for four weeks, but already it feels like he's always been here. My life has changed so much in a month, and I don't ever want to go back to the way it was before. Not that my life was terrible then, but now it is so much better.

Deklan and Daddy napping together on the couch.

Since I haven't posted anything in a while, I decided to give you salivating vimmens a bunch of pictures to ooh and ahh over. I apologize for the lack of posts lately, I was sick and tired and busy and tired and had no batteries in my camera and was tired, too.

Ducky, rapping his fingers on his knee, telling me to hurry up and snap that picture!

Deklan has changed so much in four weeks! I wonder what the next four weeks will bring.

Almost ready to smile! Almost!

He is much more alert, now, and is starting to go longer and longer between naps than he did before. He is so close to smiling, I can feel it! I can't wait to see a great big toothless grin directed at me.

At the campsite last Monday... hanging out with Granny!

More pictures tomorrow, I promise!

September 1st

The past three days were quite busy for my little family.
Saturday we spent visiting, taking Deklan to see his Great-Aunt Sheila and Uncle Ed, Great-Grandma and Grandpa, and then finally to Grandma and Grandpa's to see Tyler's family. Well, most of Tyler's family. Three of them were missing because they had other plans.

Sunday, my Mom and sisters threw a baby shower for me, a HUGE party that had a grand total of 53 people attending! Granted, most of them were my immediate family and progeny, but still. Fifty Three. That's buck.
It was a beautiful shower, filled with lots of laughter and love. It was great to catch up with people that I haven't seen in ages!

Yesterday, we had a pig roast to go to, hosted by our employers. It was a lot of fun taking Deklan to see all the peeps at work. He was definitely the most popular person there! Uncle Wayne had to share him, he couldn't quite be the baby hog that he usually is. German Girl (aka Petra) held him for quite a long time... her boyfriend back in Germany wants to have babies, and I think Deklan has convinced her that it's a good idea. I did have to threaten to drop kick her in the teeth, though, because she said she should just skip pregnancy and childbirth and take my baby home with her. That's a big nay-nay. It was a lot of work, growing and birthing him.... I'm not willing to give him up.

It was fun seeing everybody, but I think Ducky is tired of visiting. He had a cranky night last night, probably the crankiest since he was born. Mommy is tired, too, and we won't be going anywhere anytime soon. Until next time.