Cherry Picking

So here we are at the August long weekend. Nearly five months have gone by since Lacey arrived, I have no idea how that happened!

Lacey is developing a sense of humor. She laughs and squeals when we airplane her above us. She rolls around with surprising ease and she fully supports her own head. She sucks on her toes, she can't be trusted on her own on any kind of raised surface, and she continues to sleep through the night. She loves when we go outside-- there are so many interesting things to see!

Jeff cleaning off a cherry bush.

This weekend, at the suggestion of our friends,  Jeff and Gwen, we went on a cherry picking adventure to Saskatoon Farm,  between Okotoks and De Winton. We picked a few Saskatoon berries,  but mainly sour cherries.

Lacey and dad, cherry picking.

We arrived at the farm quite a bit later than we intended. Lacey had a mega meltdown when we tried to feed her before we left, and the normal ten minute task took forty minutes to accomplish-- and even so, she barely ate anything. We were worried she was going to be a grump on the farm. But no, after a thirty minute cat nap in the car, she was her regular sunshiny self.

Lacey helping with the cherry picking.

Lacey's dexterity is getting much better, so she was grabbing at leaves and branches while we were picking fruit from the bushes. She also has an iron grip, so a few of the bushes may have lost some leaves.

We also got a few Saskatoon berries, but we were at the end of the Saskatoon season, so there was slim pickings.

The haul!

 We got a pretty good haul! We could have picked more, but we didn't think we could eat any more than half of a bucket.

There were lots of families picking berries today, and we figured it would be even more fun when Lacey is older, and she can pick her own bucket. Apparently this is the last picking weekend of the season. So we'll have to wait for another year.

Newborn Photos and 3 Months

When Lacey was two weeks old, we did a newborn photo session. At first we weren't sure if we wanted to do one, but both Tom and I are very glad that we took the time to do it. It's only been three months since Lacey was born, but already it's hard to imagine that she was so very very little.

We did our photos with the lovely Jackie Ho, from Life Unscripted Photography. Jackie and I don't know each other too well, but she lives about a block away from my parents, and we used to wait at the same bus stop every morning to catch the bus to school. She is good friends with another friend of mine, and I always see her beautiful photos coming up in my Facebook newsfeed. I think she did a great job at capturing us, and Lacey! Here are a handful of my favourites.

In three months, it's hard to reconcile this tiny scrunched up newborn face with the chubby one that we're so familiar with now!

It's true what everyone says -- they grow so fast!

Crafters

Something about babies brings out the craftiness in people. One of the wonderful things about having a baby is that many of our friends and family have given us beautiful homemade gifts. I thought I would show off some of the thoughtful things people have made for Lacey. As you can see below, Lacey is surprised and delighted by all these gifts!

First of all, Lacey now has a lifetime supply of blankets and quilts. She is such a lucky girl! She will have quilts and afghans to last her entire childhood. I look forward to telling her about each and every one of them, and the person who made them for her when she's old enough to understand.

Crocheted blanket - Great Auntie Joan

Knitted blanket - Gwen

Winnie the Pooh quilt - Great Auntie June

Turquoise and grey quilt - Great Auntie Wendy

Vintage Snoopy quilt - Kim

I love that each design is so unique to each individual who made them. I can't believe how many people in our lives are so talented! I had no idea some of these people made made these kinds of things!

Personalized cross-stitch - Auntie Ashley

Knitted dolls - Great Aunt June

Knitted Baby Uggs - Great Auntie June

Knitted Love Bunny - Corina

My mom had also saved some of the clothing that my grandma had knitted for us, and we received some knitted toques and coats for Lacey as well. We've really appreciated all of the amazing gifts for Lacey. Thanks so much, everyone1

Here Fishy, Fishy!

One of the things I worried about while pregnant was how I would find time to do things for myself. I knew it would be hard once we had Lacey, but I was determined that I would carve out some me-time every once in a while to do things that I like to do.

Last week a set some time aside so I could make some cupcakes for a BBQ that one of my co-workers was hosting. The time had to be carefully allotted, and I made the cupcakes in parts. My plan was to make fish cupcakes, I drew out the design below:

Then I made the cupcakes in parts. I made the fins out of melted chocolate during the week while my parents were around to watch Lacey. I made the cupcakes and frosting later in the week with the help of Jill. And I decorated the cupcakes the day of the BBQ. Here is what the finished product looked like:

Pretty awesome, right? I love it when a design comes together!

So Tom and I loaded ourselves in the car, along with Lacey and all the cupcakes, and headed to the BBQ. Our host popped them into his fridge, and we had a chance to visit with co-workers that I hadn't seen in nine weeks! It was awesome! And then I asked our host if he could pull the cupcakes out of the fridge. 

And he did...

But he dropped the container!

There was full cupcake destruction! You guys, this is my worst nightmare! Of all the cupcakes and cakes I have made before, I have always been afraid that I would drop them before they made it to their destination! There was not a single fish left intact. They were all smushed and unrecognizable. I should have taken a picture of the destruction.

The kids still ate them, but I don't think they had any idea of what they were. And when I say the kids "ate" them, I mean that they sucked the frosting off them, and left soggy cakes everywhere.

Our host felt awful, it was clearly an accident. But it still makes me a little sad when I think about them. Poor little fishies!

The Longest Shortest Six Weeks of My Life

Little Lacey is six weeks old today-- they have been the longest shortest six weeks of my life.

On one hand, the days (and especially the sleepless nights) crawl by so very, very slowly. But on the other hand, looking back, it's hard to believe that six weeks have already gone by! They have flown by! This year of maternity leave is going to be gone in no time at all.

Lacey has packed a lots of firsts into the last six weeks. She's spent time with grandmas and grandpas.

She had her first Easter dinner. Her first walk in a stroller. Her first trip to the doctor. She has met her aunties and uncles, her cousins, her mom and dad's friends, and some baby friends of her own! She seems to understand the difference between night and day. She had her first bath at home.

 She has found her lungs and can shriek up a storm. Last week, she shed her first tears (because she was hungry, and mom made her wait an extra five minutes so she could finish her own breakfast). She's wished her Auntie Ashley a happy birthday!

Lacey is packing on the pounds and gaining weight. She's on the brink of moving from newborn diapers to size 1. When she looks at us, she can actual focus on us now. Sometimes she gives us a little half smile-- but we're still waiting for that first elusive (on purpose smile).

Sleep smile!

One-eyed milk drunkard.

Of course, it hasn't been all rainbows and lollipops. The last six weeks have been really, really hard. , In the last weeks of my pregnancy, I can't tell you how many times people told me how tired I was going to be. Without exaggeration, probably every other person I talked to told me about how tired I was going to be, and I kind of wanted to punch them in the face. Yes, I am very tired. But it's a kind of tired that you can't really imagine until you experience it yourself. There are never enough hours in the day to get things done, and both Tom and I have a terrible time sleeping, because Lacey LOUDLY cries and fusses in her sleep for hours during the night. You get up to check on her, and her eyes are closed-- she is fast asleep, but she is fussing loudly about something.  Every day, I hope she'll grow out of her fussing-in-her-sleep phase, ASAP. But I'm sure when she does, she will develop some new patience-trying phase. There are days when the sound of a baby wailing grates on your nerves, and you feel like you're going crazy. There have plenty of days when I've had a good cry, and have leaned hard on friends and family to reassure me that I'm doing okay.

But then you look at this little face, and it's easy to shut out all the things that are hard.

Or you see these little feet waving at you, and you realize that they are so cute, you must eat them immediately (and then you discover sock toe-jam in them)!

Miss Serious.

Yes, it has definitely been the longest shortest six weeks of my life.

What in the Actual Hell!?

Tom and I are a couple that BBQ year-round. Living in a condo, we have a little balcony that holds our BBQ, and it never gets snow or ice on it. It's actually very convenient. Five days ago we BBQ'd some Vietnamese pork meatballs, and last night, Tom was about to BBQ to some salmon, when he opened the BBQ lid and found this:

A nest!?

GROSS!

What kind of nest? We suspect it is a squirrel nest. I had seen a squirrel on our balcony yesterday, and a friend had mentioned seeing one the day before running back and forth when she was visiting.

Thankfully, there was nothing in the nest-- it was just straw and grass. But clearly, someone has been very busy over the last few days! I don't know what we would have done if there had been babies in it! I cringe to think about it.

Needless to say, dinner was very delayed last night, as we cranked up the heat in the BBQ in an effort to disinfect the inside.

Lacey Frances Greig

The last nine days have been an absolute shock to my system! I had my weekly prenatal appointment on the morning of March 1, and for the rest of the day, the baby was acting like a maniac in my belly. She was kicking, squirming, rolling, and making life generally uncomfortable. This wasn't particularly unusual, she spent a lot of time kicking and stretching. I had spent the last five days either in bed, or laid out on the couch trying to get over a case of the flu, and I had told Tom how worried I was that I might go into labour while still sick. As Tom and I were getting ready for bed, we were laughing as we watched her little limbs flailing around in my belly. 15 minutes later, my water broke. I had a rush of adrenaline as I realized, this is really happening, and Tom and I were off to the hospital.

Lacey was born on March 2 at 8:36am. She was a whopping 7lbs 8oz-- which seems pretty big to me, considering she was ten days early! It turns out labour sort of suppresses all the other things going on in your body-- I didn't even really notice my flu symptoms at the time. After Lacey was born, I had some complications, so we spent an extra night in the hospital-- but we have since headed home, and are settling in. Figuring each other out, you might say.

Tom and I are both run down, but we love our little girl and our little family. There have been plenty of emotional ups and downs as we both try to get some rest, and figure out what works best for us. We are both still trying to shake a cough, the last remaining symptom from the flu with both had Family and friends have been amazing, offering support, food (thank God for all the food!) and some incredibly thoughtful gifts.

We are happy to report that Lacey is thriving! She's back to her birth weight already (usually you'd want an infant to be back to their birth weight after two weeks), and really only fusses when she's hungry.  I'm sure this will change as she continues to grow, but for now, we are thankful that she has a sweet temperament.

Thank you, everyone, for your well wishes and messages! I am trying my best to respond to them all, but time is at a premium these days.

Amanda & Tom