LOVE OVER FEAR

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My heart is heavy tonight. As you probably know, six men died and 19 were shot in my country last night. They were shot because they were muslim and it breaks my heart because I have been naive to believe that that kinda thing would never happen north of the border in safe ol' Canada.

Like most of the world, I am extremely saddened by Trump's decision to ban immigrants from 7 nations along with stopping refugees. I know, I know NOTHING about politics and I'm no expert on terrorism but all I can think of when I think of this decision is that it was made out of FEAR. And it makes me nervous that a lot of ppl down south are going to be making decisions from a fear based mentality.

In my experience, it's hard to love when you're filled with fear. 

"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." -1 John 4:18

I can't even begin to imagine those being turned around at the border. Those whose homes have been destroyed, those whose loved ones have been killed, those who are escaping real war. 

For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ 
-Matthew 25:42-45

It's a scary world out there but choosing fear will only give people a very narrow view of life. Choosing fear places labels on people....REAL PEOPLE with REAL stories and REAL hearts.

My prayer right now is that we would choose LOVE over FEAR....it may be the harder choice, but oh, it's the better choice.

xo, laura

LUCA THE LION // 7 MONTH UPDATE

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LUCA AT SEVEN MONTHS

And just like that, our baby is seven months. Seven months and becoming such a little BOY! I held a 7lb baby the other day and just about died of cuteness overload...and to think Luca was once 7lbs...(!!!!!!!) (I wrote half of this earlier this month but then time got away from me...so some of my answers may be a bit dated!!)
Here's the Lion's 7 month update:

WEIGHT: 18.7 lbs
Our next doctor's appointment isn't until he's 9 months so I'm guessing on our home scale. I think he's around 18-19lbs...he's getting up there!!

HEIGHT: 27 inches
Another half inch....getting so BIG!

WEARS: He's mostly in size 6-12 or 9 month clothing. I found some simple white onesies from Carters...bought him 12 month size because he's growing so fast! 

SLEEPS: He's still sleeping so great! (ASIDE FROM TEETHING, which i will get into next month!!!) I thought things were changing because a few nights around Christmas time he woke up at 12am & 4am...I was like NOOOOOOOO...but thankfully it was only for a couple days and he's back to sleeping pretty much 6:30pm-6:30am straight. He's super sensitive to noise though, so James and I have to be sooo quiet when we're going to bed!! Any tips on having a baby that's super noise sensitive? We have loud white noise but he still wakes up if we have ppl over at night.

We're loosely following the 2-3-4 method for naps. It basically means he goes down for the first nap 2 hours after he wakes up, the third nap 3 hours after he wakes up and down for the night 4 hours after he wakes up. It usually works for us but sometimes he's showing me signs that he needs to go down earlier (rubbing eyes, yawning). We've officially cut the third nap and it's worked very well for us...(aside from the time we go to Adore at 6pm..then I try to get him to take a 3rd nap)!

EATS: He is still LOOOVING food. He breastfeeds 4x a day and then eats 3 meals and sometimes a snack too. I still have him mostly on purees but every morning I give him banana pancakes (2 eggs + one banana mixed and made into pancakes...that batch lasts us a couple days), I'll probably start giving him some more non-puree food but choking scares me!! But I have to remind myself, he is a great eater and is able to chew. Any tips on transitioning to real foods?

HIGHS: Baby's first Christmas was definitely extra special. We had a nice & slow December and it was so fun. He's at a great stage right now where he sits on his own and doesn't move much, I know it won't last long but it's nice to see him play for a long time without being worried he's going to crawl into the fireplace, ha. PS. send me your baby proofing tips!!

Another high is the relationship between Luca & our cat, Coco. (not to be confused with Auntie Coco aka Courtney). Let's just say, Coco is not the easiest cat to get along with. She loves James and I and that's pretty much it. She is super sassy to everyone that comes into our house and isn't afraid to claw you if you try to pet her (how dare you!) She scratched Luca when he was two months old so I have kept them pretty separated. In the past couple months Coco has just stopped caring about Luca which has been great but over the past month Luca started noticing Coco. He loves her and the craziest thing has happened....she has been so sweet with him!!! She hasn't once tried to scratch him and she has even given him a little kiss on the nose a couple times. That has been such a huge relief!

LOWS: He started to go through a bit of separation anxiety. My mom was looking after him and he wouldn't stop crying or go down for bed...which is crazy unusual because he loves my mom and usually goes down soo easy. My Wonder Weeks app told me that around 29-30 weeks (which is exactly where he was at that time) babies start to learn that mom can walk away from them. How sad!!! And I heard somewhere that they start freaking out because they don't know when mom is going to come back. It gave me a bit anxiety because as much as I love being a mom, I also love going out and having other people able to soothe and put down my baby. I know it's just a phase and it will pass but I'm stressing a bit because I'm going away (without Luca!!) at the end of the month!

PARENTING: I go away tomorrow for the night, so James has Luca and he is pumped. He's not worried at all, which makes me relaxed. We are big believers in co-parenting around here! Luca needs both mom and dad.....and for the record, we both change those dirty diapers :)

POSTPARTUM: I cut out sweets for the first 21 days and I saw a my weight go down to the lowest it's been since having Luca! Still not where I want to go but I'm celebrating the small steps :) 

WHAT I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO: Our first night away from Luca together at our church's couples retreat next month!! Also seeing the photos my friend Rachael took of us today!

Only 4.5 more months and this little bubba will be ONE YEAR OLD!! AHHHHHH

XO,
Laura

SAN DIEGO

Last fall we went on our first (international) vacation as a family of three! Because of this unfortunate/fortunate experience we had some United air credit to spend. We wanted to go somewhere that was 1. not too expensive to get to 2. warmish 3. fun. San Diego fit the bill on all three of those!

We stayed in a super cute air bnb in the Hillcrest area. We paid a little more but it was so worth it to have a kitchen and living room instead of a one room hotel room. We stayed in the bedroom and Luca slept very well in the hallway closet...lols. I'm planning on doing a couple posts soon about travelling with a baby (we picked up lots of tips!!) 

I was surprised at how much we fit into our trip!

Here's what we did:
Day 1- Travel
Day 2- Explore Hillcrest on foot. Breakfast at Hash House A Go Go...walked to Trader Joes!

Day 3- DISNEYLAND! Call us crazy but we rented a car and left at the crack of dawn to do Disney. It was soooo much fun and very exhausting. Got IN&OUT for the drive home!! Luca was such a champ and I'll share tips soon on doing Disney with a baby!

Day 4- Coronado Beach....a must see!! Tacos Perla (best tacos I've ever had!!!)
 

Day 5- La Jolla...an overcast day but James went in the ocean...only guy without a wetsuit, ha. Church that night at C3 San Diego.

Day 6- Coffee at Communal Coffee (seriously so good, wish we got to it more than once!) Shopping at Fashion Valley, IN&OUT!

Day 7- Coffee at Cafe Bassam (wouldn't go again), San Diego Zoo (must see!), walk through the park, dinner at Hash House (wouldn't go there for dinner again, only for breakfast!)
 

Day 8- Travel

Luca was a complete champ on the trip! He was almost 5 months old and it was the perfect time to travel. He still napped on the go, hadn't started solids yet but could sit on our laps and be entertained pretty easily!

Ahhh looking through these pictures definitely has me longing for SUMMER...oh warm sun, I miss you.

XO,
laura

5 GOAL SETTING TIPS

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Is January going by slowly or is it just me??? Probably just me, and probably due to the fact that I've cut out sweets until the 21st....how is it only the 11th? It should be the 20th by now :p

I guess the good thing about January going by slowly is that I have lots of time to work on my goal setting! 

If you've been around here for a little while, you'll know that I usually do one word for the year. One word to sum up who you want to be or what you want to do. I do have my one word and I plan on posting more on that next week BUT because I'm an OCD type A planner, I also set goals!

I love New Year Resolutions/goals...even though sometimes I don't meet them all, it's a great time to reflect on the previous year and focus on what you want to achieve this year. 

Here are some tips that help me reach them goals!

1. BE SPECIFIC

Ahh I'm soo guilty of making these lofty goals like "be in the best shape ever" and then never reaching them. The problem is that the goal is to broad. Instead of making your goal to "be in the best shape ever", make it more specific like, "go to the gym 3x a week". A specific goal is way more attainable!

2. MAKE ACTION STEPS

My #1 strength according to Strengthsfinder (which I 100% recommend doing if you haven't yet!!) is activator. Therefore, I am ALL about action steps. Action steps are what you do to take your dream to reality! You want to run the TC 10km this year? Your first action step would be sign up for the race then find a running program on Runkeeper etc etc. You want to master contouring? An action step would be going to Sephora to find a colour that's good for your face. Action steps make the goal happen!

3. WRITE IT DOWN + TELL SOMEONE

Okay, so this step is actually two steps but it's one in the same! Writing it down makes it feel REAL. I love the fact that my agenda has a bucket list for 2017...I jotted down a bunch of things and I can easily flip to it to remind myself of what I want to achieve.
Telling someone is also a GREAT way to help you reach that goal. Your friend/sibling/spouse/etc can help keep you accountable and encourage you to not quit!

4. CHECK IN

Check in on your goals weekly, and monthly. Tracking your progress will help you get to that finish line!! When I ran that half marathon a few years back, I would always check at the end of the week to see how many kms I did because I needed to rack them up to reach my goal.

5. CELEBRATE THE SMALL STEPS FORWARD

Every step matters and deserves to be celebrated! It could be something like buying a new pair of jeans when you reach the halfway point to your fitness goal or going to your favourite restaurant when you finish that course. I'm all about rewarding, ha. 

I also want to touch on not shaming yourself if you don't reach a certain goal. DON'T DO IT! Shame is the worst motivator. Don't be discouraged if you aren't meeting your goal, instead take some time to look at your life/schedule and plan out some steps to move you forward!

YOU GOT THIS!

What are your goals for 2017?

XO,
laura

CARROT GINGER TURMERIC SLOW COOKER SOUP

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Well we're just over a week into the new year and I haven't had any cookies. That my friends is a big deal. I've been trying to cut out sweets and eat a bit healthier this month and it's going pretty well. Anyone else with me here?

The tricky thing for me is finding healthy recipes that are easy and not soo expensive and this soup hits both of those...oh and it's also delicious! I've made this soup multiple times in the past few months and it's always a hit.

The prep takes less than 15 minutes and your slow cooker does the rest of the work. When it's done cooking, all you need to do is blend and then you're good to go!

CARROT GINGER TURMERIC SLOW COOKER SOUP

serves 6

Ingredients:

• 8 Carrots peeled and chopped
• 1 Onion, chopped
• Juice of 1 Orange
• 1 can of Coconut Milk
• 1 carton Chicken Broth
• 1 tsp Turmeric
• 1 tsp Minced Ginger
• A bit of salt + pepper if desired

Directions:

1. Prep veggies then put all ingredients into slow cooker.
2. Cook for 8 hours.
3. Blend until smooth.
4. Enjoy!
    

Happy Monday!

xo,
laura