Lists....

Lists....a lot of them. They are sorted into categories of various types. Anything from preparing our house for a new baby (ie nesting), baby gear, mat leave preparations etc.

Here are some of the items on my list so far.

Exhibit A- Baby Gear

1. Birthing pool from With Child as well as the birth kit to go with it.

2. Some new born diapers for the first 2 weeks (we will continue on with cloth diapers after the meconium). 

3. A second hard car seat (preferably the maxi-cosi or peg-perego one as these ones will adapt with our stroller).

Exhibit B-Essentials

 1. Ergo carrier

2. Newborn girl outfit (if it's a girl)

3. A cute little hat like this one

4. Newborn boy outfit (it it's a boy)

5. 2 natural rubber soothers

Exhibit C- Postpartum

1. A cute bikini top like this one from OldNavy to labor in.

2. Flowy postpartum and breastfeeding friendly tops.

3. Postpartum tummy sucker of some sort (some Spanx would also do).

I'm sure this list will continue to grow, however when we had Wren, I quickly found that there are many baby items on the market (ok like seriously 90% of them) that you don't need. Some are definitely nice and may be even essential to different families but we found that we like to keep it simple. 

We have baby items still from Wren (ie. breast pump, bath tub, stroller, bassinet, girly blankets, dresser/change table cloth diapers etc.) that we found very useful and are not disposable so we will be using them for the second baby. This makes the planning process for second baby much less stressful and much more affordable. 

I like to check things off of lists but I am resisting until we at least find out the sex of the baby. Which we will be announcing mid-May. 

We are welcoming guesses however, because that's always a fun part.

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I've been considering doing a baby registry for this next baby because if people would like to welcome this baby with a gift, it would be nice if they were items that we didn't already have and/or would be helpful to us. What are your thoughts on a baby registry. Is it a do or a don't? If we make one, is it rude to direct people to that registry? Any thoughts would be super helpful!

Circle Farm Tour

When my mother in law was out to visit over Easter, we decided to go on the Abbotsford Circle Farm Tour 
This is something that Lane and I have always known about but have never actually done.

Essentially the Circle Farm Tour is a self-guided tour through different towns in the Fraser Valley. It takes you to local farms, markets, and other neat little shops. It's a great way to meet with local farmers and to discover what is in your own little town!

We had the best day ever discovering new little farms and re-enjoying the places we've already been (Birchwood Dairy's, Clayburn Candy Store etc).

 Discovering some animals. By the end of the day, Wren had lots of new animal sounds down.

Next stop- Birchwood Dairy's where we enjoyed some delicious ice cream and ran in the sunshine.

We went to Brambles for lunch (by the way, if you live in the area, has the best food ever). And yes we had ice cream from Birchwood Dairy's as our starter.

 

Brambles Bistro is located within a nursery so we took a yonder around the place after our bellies were full.

 

This place was a little bee farm (or a shop rather) filled with honey good including Meed, honey sweetened chocolate, 100's of flavours of honey etc.

 

Old Clayburn Store was our last stop for the day. It has the rarest of candies and treats there (including these 'funny' sodas above). Kind of makes you feel like a little kid again when you walk in there. Was the perfect end to our perfect day.

Wren approved of her watermelon lollipop.


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I realized after uploading these photos that there were zero pictures of me and very few of Lane or Terry. I definitely need to get better at organizing my photo taking so I can re-create the event more thoroughly.

Health Challenge

My mother-in-law came for almost a week and it was super great to have her here. Post and pics of that to come....
Something she said has stayed with me however. Or rather it's something she's done. She's cut out all sugar, coffee (she is mostly a tea drinker anyways), and most of her breads and dairy. It's been a few months of this now and she's noticed huge differences that she didn't even expect.
1. She had some numbness in her arms at times. This has completely subsided.
2. She's lost excess weight in areas she didn't except (back, thighs etc).
3. She sleeps way better!

I'm pretty sure we can all agree that we know enough to say that sugar isn't great for us, but do we really understand the consequences when we see dramatic changes like these just from simply cutting it out.
Just like any habit we may have, the first week is the hardest, and my mother in law can definitely vouch for that. She said it was so hard to consciously not reach for candy, chocolate, bread, or even coffee (which is always best with sugar in it). After that first week, she felt her cravings subside and the improvements began....


Because I'm pregnant right now, I would like to start out small. My addiction is coffee, especially when I'm pregnant. But I have cut it out before and noticed tremendous changes to my body right away. So this is my challenge, make it through 7 days without coffee because I know after 7 days the craving for it will be much more acute making it easier to keep drinking green tea.

This is my go to favourite green tea.

I found this little piece about green tea that made me turn the kettle on. http://www.womenshealthmag.com/beauty/foods-for-healthy-skin-3 


Join me and start your own health challenge this week. Do you need to drink more water? Cut back on sugar? Cut out coffee? Eat more veggies? Cut back on bread?