MOTHER'S DAY GIFT GUIDE

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It's time to show your mama some love! I'm especially excited for mother's day this year and I may have been sending some not so subtle hints to my hubby for the past few weeks, ha!

Here are a few products that I think any mama would enjoy...

1. Soap (made on Vancouver Island!)  //  2. Mama Bear Bracelet  //  3. Mom Life Tee  //  4. Mama Bear Mug (just ordered this one for myself lols)  //  5. Dream bag  //  6. Floral Notebook  //  7. Tassel Keychain  //  8. Perfume (this one is on my gift list lols)

Happy Monday everybody!

XO,
laura

PREGNANCY POST (ROUND 2) // 4 MONTH BUMP UPDATE

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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

LUCA THE LION // 8 MONTH UPDATE

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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

MAMA + SON PHOTOSHOOT

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Have you seen the movie Lion? I saw it this weekend and OH MY HEART...bring kleenex because you will be crying multiple times throughout it! It's a heart wrenching (but also happy story) about a little boy who gets lost in India. So many things stood out to me in the movie (Nicole Kidman's monologue about adoption, was one for the books) but a huge thing that I couldn't stop thinking about was the relationship between the little boy and his mom....such incredible, beautiful love that still haunted the son 25 years later (PS. Find out more about the movie and how you can help street children in India here). 

I know I can only speak out of my own experience but man, there is something so treasured between a mama + son. This little guy has completely captured my heart in the best of ways and I'm so thankful that my friend and amazing photographer Rachael captured mine and Luca's relationship so beautifully! I will treasure these photos forever!!!!

Thank you Rachael so much for capturing these precious moments!!! If you're local to Victoria and looking for a photographer, I HIGHLY recommend Rachael...so professional, lovely and friendly! You will love her!

Outfit details:

Mama- Top (Joe Fresh last season but here's a similar one on sale!), Jeans (Citizens of Humanity a few years back but here's a similar pair)
Baby Boy- Top (Target), Jeans (Oshkosh B'Gosh consigned from Thistle & Wren), Shoes (Joe Fresh, sold out but you can still get the navy ones on sale!)

XO,
Laura

LUCA THE LION // 6 MONTHS OLD

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LUCA AT SIX MONTHS

OH my goodness. We made it to half a year. We have a little boy who is SIX months old and sits up by himself!!! He's no longer a little bitty baby...he's turning into a little boy!! But he's still my little lion.

WEIGHT: 17.7 lbs
He's getting up there! Last month I used our home scale which overestimates a bit, so he probably gained just under a lb this month. I thought he would be waaaay heavier because he started solids but nope, still in the 17lb range! He's still on the 50th percentile for weight and height so he's trucking along well!

HEIGHT: 26.5 inches
He grew a half inch this month. When I nurse him, he feels SO long! Can't imagine what he'll be at 9 months!

WEARS: I've finally started to put him in 6-12 month clothing. I haven't packed up all the 3-6 month clothing yet, but I must because it's waaay too small! I'm on the hunt for plain white onesies but I can't find them anywhere. I bought him this bear suit and it's the cutest. Ahh, the Gap has some seriously cute things right now...like this sweater (which is on sale too!) and these Mickey pants!

SLEEPS: This month Luca's sleeping has been amazing! Most nights he goes down between 6:30-7 and sleeps straight until 7 the next morning. I know, it may change when he cuts a tooth or gets sick but I'm just going to declare that it will stay this way ;) And ps. I still wake up in the middle of the night to check on him/go pee!
We finally got a video baby monitor where we can see him at night and it is the best! We used to use my ipad and then connect it to one of our phone's. It worked great but you couldn't see the video at night and I had to keep my phone in our room (we're really trying to not use our phones at night and not have them in the bedroom!) A couple weeks ago Luca started rolling over in his sleep and I got soo freaked out and convinced James we needed a video monitor. It's been so great though! I would find myself checking on him in the middle of the night and sometimes opening his door would wake him up (oops!) Now all I need to do is turn the monitor screen on and I can stare at his sweet sleeping face. #best

Naps are going really well! I'm learning more and more that he's not an on the go type of napper. He's actually a bit of a diva when it comes to sleep...white noise, sleep sack, warm room, space to spread out...lols. 

EATS: And this month we started solids!!! Luca has been more than ready for awhile now so we started at 5.5 months and you guys, he is such a champ eater. He chews and hasn't gagged once! And HE FREAKING LOVES FOOD. For reals. He gets sooo mad when we can't feed him fast enough, it's hilarious. We started him on roasted yam puree and he loved it. He's tried pureed broccoli as well as a bunch of love child organic pouches. He did not like scrambled eggs so instead of giving eggs straight up, I mixed some with bananas, cooked it on a frying pan and voila, he loved it.

HIGHS: Awe, so many highs. Him meeting Santa and SMILING! His first food. Instantly stopping crying when mama holds him (oh my heart.)

LOWS: Breakfast the other day...mama didn't have her coffee and couldn't feed him fast enough resulting in screaming baby and one cranky mama.

PARENTING: Parenting has been good. James and I just finished season 1 of Parenthood and it feels like we're learning something every episode, HA. James had some time off earlier this month and it was so nice to just hang out at home as a family. He's so good with Luca and can put him down for a nap better than I can!! I was able to get out of the house a few times on my own during the day and it was glorious!

POSTPARTUM: Let's just say, Christmas baking is not the best diet...we'll talk postpartum exercise and diet next month ha! Oh, but I did start going to physio to work on my core, and since I started their exercises, my back has been so much better!

WHAT I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO: CHRISTMAS!!!!

Can't believe the next update will be in 2017!!!!

XO,
Laura