MAMA BEAR BOX APRIL REVIEW
In April I received my first Mama Bear Box and you guys, it was so sweet. I subscribed for three months, so I'm already eagerly checking the mailbox daily in hopes that the May box will arrive lols.
You select the gender and age range so it's customized to your babe and the best thing is- there are treats for you as well! Another amazing thing about these boxes is that for every box sold, $2 goes to the Joy Smith Foundation, which is a Canadian foundation that is fighting human trafficking!
In April I received my first Mama Bear Box and you guys, it was so sweet. I subscribed for three months, so I'm already eagerly checking the mailbox daily in hopes that the May box will arrive lols.
You select the gender and age range so it's customized to your babe and the best thing is- there are treats for you as well! Another amazing thing about these boxes is that for every box sold, $2 goes to the Joy Smith Foundation, which is a Canadian foundation that is fighting human trafficking!
Here's what came in my April box:
1. Dinosaur Rattle by Petitloulou- I love the design of this rattle and Luca loves it too! I'm all about those cute, trendy toys that aren't bright and made of plastic, ha.
2. Tee by Everly After Creations- Ok, this is my new favourite shirt of Luca's. How stinking cute is that leather pocket! It's a bit tight on the arms for him but maybe that's cuz my boy is a chunky monkey lols. It looks so cute on him and I want to dress him in it errrrday.
3. Baby Body Butter by Duckish- I just opened this one yesterday and applied it to Luca, post bath. His skin definitely felt soft and smooth. It didn't really have a scent to it, which probably most ppl would love but you know me, I'm all about that scent, ha.
4. Dirty Girl Face Mask- I actually haven't used this one but I'm gonna tonight. I love masks so I'm definitely excited to see how it leaves my skin feeling!
I would definitely say this box is worth it and would make a beautiful gift for a mama or mama to be! And ps. use the code mbb10 to save 10%!
XO,
laura
PREGNANCY POST (ROUND 2) // 4 MONTH BUMP UPDATE
Okay so here we go again with these bump updates! This pregnancy has been completely different than my last but I'm sure it has to do with the fact that I'm chasing a little lion around all day so I don't have time to soak it all in but thus is life!
Okay so here we go again with these bump updates! This pregnancy has been completely different than my last but I'm sure it has to do with the fact that I'm chasing a little lion around all day so I don't have time to soak it all in but thus is life!
How far along are you?
Just over 16 weeks! Baby is due in October and man this pregnancy is moving along QUICKLYYYY...which I imagine must be quite common for second time mamas.
How big is baby?
Baby is the size of a dill pickle...just over 4.5 inches long! When I first found out I was pregnant, this little babe was just a tiny tomato seed!!! Pregnancy always make me marvel at how amazing God is.
I have a feeling this babe is going to keep us on our toes! At our appointment last week baby was moving all over the place making it hard for our doctor to time its sweet heartbeat! It finally paused and we got the reading of 150 bpm.
Feeling:
I'm feeling pretty good! The first trimester was pretty rough with constant nausea, a bout of the flu, and lots of exhaustion. Thankfully the little Lion sleeps like an angel and I get full night's sleep and a nap if I need it, ha.
I've been feeling the occasional movement and kick and that has been so amazing. Those movements (and my growing baby) keep reminding me that I'm carrying a baby, which is easy to forget when you have a 10 month old ha.
Food love:
Hmmmm I want chocolate all the time but that is not new at all. I don't think I've had any specific cravings yet but I'm looking forward to them!
Food hate:
Again, this time around I wanted nothing to do with cheesy esque things in the first trimester. Now, I'm pretty good except for this one butternut squash crockpot we made. I HATED IT despite James, my international student and Auntie Coco loving it! Luca was on my side though, ha.
Exercise:
I've been doing some prenatal stretching/pilates/yoga videos and they have been great. Also trying to get out for walks! Sadly because of my weak pelvic floor (TMI I KNOW), I can't go running but I'm trying to do some power walks and hopefully we'll get that fixed postpartum.
This pregnancy I started out 10-ish lbs heavier than I was when I got pregnant with Luca. I'm really hoping to gain between 25-35 lbs (I gained 45 with Luca!) BUT I'm not going to beat myself up about it. So far I've gained about 5 lbs.
Below is a photo of me pregnant with Luca on the left at 14.5 weeks and with #2 at 16 weeks. Funny how the belly has POPPED so quickly!
Clothing:
Hello maternity jeans! #noshame Why would I wear anything else? (Oh, except for my joggers and lulus ha)
What I'm looking forward to:
I go back to work in just over a week and I'm excited to get back in the swing of things! I know it will be an adjustment without being with my baby all day but hey, we'll get to do it all again come October! Also excited for the ultrasound in a few weeks....BOY OR GIRL !!! weeeee!
XO,
laura
WE'RE HAVING ANOTHER BABY!
We are beyond excited to welcome another baby and give Luca a sibling. If this baby arrives on its due date (like Luca did!) then they will be a little less than 16 months apart! It's wild and crazy and they will be a little bit closer than I had originally planned but hey, it's all going to work out just fine :) (at least that's what I keep telling myself....ps. so thankful we have a lot of family and amazing friends in town!)
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of e.p.t.. All opinions are 100% mine.
James, Luca and myself are thrilled to announce that baby Liira #2 will be making his/her debut this fall!
We are beyond excited to welcome another baby and give Luca a sibling. If this baby arrives on its due date (like Luca did!) then they will be a little less than 16 months apart! It's wild and crazy and they will be a little bit closer than I had originally planned but hey, it's all going to work out just fine :) (at least that's what I keep telling myself....ps. so thankful we have a lot of family and amazing friends in town!)
It was so crazy testing this time around. As you may remember with Luca, it took about 6 months to conceive him and I tested negative after negative. This time around my cycle was a bit out of whack and I was on day 45 so I decided to test. So early morning I tested and was clearly a bit tired because I thought it was negative and put in the trash can. I go and tell James we're not pregnant then think, "Oh my gosh, I'm supposed to wait a few minutes, I should really go check again." So I pull it out of the trash and there you go, a faint positive line!!!!!
I actually found out SUPER early.... 3 weeks 2 days to be exact! So thankful for pregnancy tests like e.p.t. that detect pregnancy 5 days sooner and are 99% accurate!
FYI- if you live in the states you can pick up e.p.t. from Walmart, Wallgreens or RiteAid. I just ordered mine from Amazon, which is the best because who knows who you could run into while buying a pregnancy test lols!
I cannot wait to see Luca become a big brother. I know not to have crazy expectations as he's still a baby himself BUT he's just such a loving little guy. I know in his time, he is going to be such a loving and caring big brother and I can't wait to watch it unfold! I'm kinda hoping for another boy so him and Luca can be besties (and because we have all the boy stuff already lols). Obviously, I would be completely thrilled with whatever the sex is! Oh and incase you're wondering, we are definitely finding out and this time I'm hoping to do a fun gender reveal.
I'll be heading back to work a month early, which I'm actually pretty excited about. My bosses have been so encouraging and supportive. So thankful to work in a place that is in support of families!
Baby is due early October. It's going to be so different to have a fall baby (Luca was born in mid-June!) but I'm already imagining newborn snuggles while I sip a pumpkin spice latte lols. It's also going to be pretty interesting being super preggo in the summer. I'll probably try to squeeze in lots of lake swims to cool my huge preggo self down, ha.
Can't wait to meet this baby bunny! It's already going by so quickly. I'll be back soon with a more detailed bump update. (Yes, I'm planning on doing these this pregnancy!)
And mama's with two under two, give me alllll your tips please and thank you!
XOXO,
Laura
LUCA THE LION // 9 MONTH UPDATE
Our little bubba is growing up so quickly! I can't believe how much of a little boy he is...no longer looking like a baby....it's so sad but this month has been my favourite yet! He's so interactive and plays so well independently. It's so fun discovering what makes him laugh, oh man this is such a fun age!
LUCA AT NINE MONTHS
Our little bubba is growing up so quickly! I can't believe how much of a little boy he is...no longer looking like a baby....it's so sad but this month has been my favourite yet! He's so interactive and plays so well independently. It's so fun discovering what makes him laugh, oh man this is such a fun age!
Here's the Lion's 9 month update:
WEIGHT: 21.5 lbs
My little man likes to EAT! So much that he jumped from the 50th percentile in weight to the 75th!
HEIGHT: 28.5 inches
He's getting taller!
WEARS: He's pretty much mostly in 12 month clothing. Honestly I haven't purchased anything brand new for him recently because I've been going to Thistle & Wren and finding the cutest things! I love consignment. If you're local to Victoria, I highly suggest checking them out (they're located in Fernwood square!)
SLEEPS: Thankfully last month's early wake ups are long gone (hoping this sticks for a looong time). My little Lion has been sleeping SO WELL! Daylight savings turned out to be amazing as he now goes down at 7:30pm, which allows us to actually do things in the evening, yay! And he's been sleeping straight through until 7-7:30. It's honestly been a dream. I think he maybe got up once this past month? And all James had to do was change his diaper and he went back to sleep.
Naps have been going pretty well too. Sometime he resists the morning nap, but usually he'll go about an hour and then for 1.5-2 hours in the afternoon. I'm thinking of getting him some blackout blinds soon because it's been getting brighter and brighter. Please let me know mamas if you have any recommendations!
EATS: Little man eats everything! We feed him a mix of purees and finger foods. Sometimes he's not so good at the chewing part...hoping he gets a few more teeth soon because I'm sure that will help him be more efficient and not give mama a heart attack when he swallows things whole!!!
PLAYS: It's so fun watching this little man explore! We had to hcore baby proof our house because he was getting into absolutely everything! His favourite thing to do is chase Coco, our cat around the house. He thinks she's the best thing ever and she is the annoyed older sister...thankfully she hasn't tried to scratch him but she is so not interested in him lols. He's inch-worming everywhere! We have hardwood so I think it's a bit harder to crawl on. He's also pulling himself up on everything (including his crib when he's refusing a nap lols) and even is starting to walk on his walker! AHHH please stop growing so quickly little lion!
HIGHS: Oh man, so many highs! But I think him giving me kisses is my favourite thing in the world right now. They're open mouth and pretty slobbery but I'll take them whenever I can get them!
LOWS: Getting the flu SUCKED. Oh my gosh, it knocked James and myself out for days. Thankfully Luca only got it in poop format and he wasn't mad at all. Oh ya, it was sooo much fun changing poopsplosions when you feel like poop :/
PARENTING: We simply just love being parents to this little guy. James and him have such a little bond, it's soo sweet. James will be taking care of Luca on Mondays when I go back to work in May and he's soo excited about it. #presh
POSTPARTUM: Well after being sick and pretty run down for the past month, I'm excited to get back on the exercise train! I'll be doing mostly running/walking outside and some videos in my house. We're trying to save some $$ so we cancelled our gym memberships.
WHAT I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO: In April we have two little getaways before I go back to work in May! First a quick family trip to our new family cabin on Pender Island...SOOO EXCITED! And then mama gets to go away for a spa trip to Whistler to celebrate my bestie Rachel turning 30!! So excited to get these fun things in before going back to work!!
I'll be back soon with a 10 month update because that's only a couple weeks away lols.
Love ya!
Laura
LUCA THE LION // 8 MONTH UPDATE
Okay, I am completely ONE month behind...lols. He'll actually be 9 months tomorrow!! I have all the 9 month info, fresh in my mind and I'll be getting that post out soon but I'll do my best to try to remember last month, ha!
LUCA AT EIGHT MONTHS
Okay, I am completely ONE month behind...lols. He'll actually be 9 months tomorrow!! I have all the 9 month info, fresh in my mind and I'll be getting that post out soon but I'll do my best to try to remember last month, ha!
Here's the Lion's 8 month update:
WEIGHT: 20 lbs
We just had him weighed this week at the doctor and he was 21.5 lbs! So I'm going to guess he was around 20 at 8 months.
HEIGHT: 28 inches
My little baby is no longer a little baby :(
WEARS: Size 9, or 12 month clothes!
SLEEPS: Ohhh at 8 months, I'd say he went through a bit of a regression. It wasn't terrible but he started waking up at about 5am. We also had international students staying with us, so we felt a bit bad about doing our normal CIO method....thankfully it's resolved and he's gone back to sleeping 6:30-6:30...PS...I'm sooo excited about the time change this weekend!! Really hoping he'll go to 7:30-7:30!!!
EATS: He loves, loves, loves food. Seriously, it is his favourite thing. He still feeds from me but real food is his deal. He'll eat whatever we give him, it's amazing!
HIGHS: Oh gosh, I'm trying to remember last month, but my mind is such a blur, ha sorry! Oh, his separation anxiety calmed down, so that was amazing! I went away at the end of January and James took care of him and he did so well! We also got to go to our church's couple's retreat and my mom had him...other than waking up at 4 am for a quick diaper change, he did amazing!
LOWS: The waking up at 5am (one day it was 4:30am) was super wearing on me! That was definitely not my favourite part but thankfully he's over that for now!
Sorry for the short update, just wanted to get this out before he turns 9 months old tomorrow!! But I'll be back soon with his 9 month update!
XOXO!
Laura