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Follow us on our journey through the last few months of pregnancy and our first days with our baby boy (due 2/15/11)

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Welcome cousin, Braelyn!

Welcome to the world, Braelyn Leigh Bruinsma!
Cousin Braelyn was born 5/26/11 at 8:49 MST.
She was 6lbs 12 oz and 20" long.
Oliver can't wait to meet his cousin in Colorado! :)

I could get used to this!


Tomorrow is Memorial Day, so I have a three day weekend (yippee!), and I'm realizing just how much I'm going to love staying at home with my little man next year.
We've done errands (Target, Sam's Club, Walmart) and I love seeing him look up at all the pretty colors - he always manages to wake up right before we go into a store.
We've napped - on couches, Oliver in his crib, in chairs, in bed, and during the DVR replay of DWTS.
We've walked - in stroller and in backpack, in the woods and on the road.
We've played - on the gym, in the Bumbo, on the pillow (as above), on my lap, and on Stella.
We've even watched some TV. I put the tennis on (French Open) to check some scores, and guess who was FASCINATED by the red clay. Yes, the apple doesn't fall far. And I did tell Ben, who responded with some comment like "obviously!"
He has even let me shower both days, and cut up veggies for this week's salad. We're starting to figure schedules out a little better, although walking the dog at 5pm used to be okay, when it's 97 degrees at 5pm, we have to adjust.
Hope everyone has a great day off tomorrow! :)

Friday, May 27, 2011

Milestones

Oliver had just woken up from a nap, and we had a little bit more tummy time... with the assistance of a pillow and blanket (to minimize the Stella hair in the mouth situation) and look what we got on film! :)

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

I love...

I love our little family...

And our bigger family...


...and this little guy (and his belly)

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Babies cry.

Dear employees of Jason's Deli,
I know that this might go against your years of child development and advanced psychology experience, but babies cry sometimes.
Thanks,
Julie Porter

Yesterday, I was at Jason's Deli with my mother-in-law, Oliver, friend Jennifer, her husband Chris, and their 2-year old, Alexus. Ollie had been sleeping, then woke up when our friends arrived. After about 10 minutes of staring at his cougar date, he got fussy. I got up and was walking him around behind your salad bar when two (2) of your exemplary employees decided to butt in.

Employee 1: "My friend's baby has colic too."

Too? No. He's just cranky. Probably upset that it's 23 degrees in your restaurant. He wants to sleep, but is afraid to miss something. He might be crying because you're up in his grill.

Employee 2: "Awww he's teething, that's the worst!"

Well, no, genius, he's 12 weeks old.

When he stopped crying and went to sleep, I wanted to say "told you so" or stick my tongue out. But I didn't. Because that's not what moms do.

Friday, May 13, 2011

Little man...

We are starting to figure out our schedule a bit more these days, and are usually in bed asleep by around 9ish. We've woken up twice nightly all week, which made for a fun week at work (especially at field day today - yippee.)

Stella LOVES Oliver... even though the jury is still out on how he feels sometimes.
Her favorite thing is to lick his hands, head, and face (right after he spits up, yum!)


Oliver has QUITE the personality....aside from this "Mum, enough with that camera..." picture (above). I've learned that he has a temper, especially when he's hungry. When he's tired he does what we like to call the plank. He straightens his back out while he yells and the only way to calm him down (think straight jacket) is to hold him tight.

This little boy has completely stolen my heart. Blue eyes, Beiber combover, slobbery chin and all.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

My First Mother's Day...

This is the smile that makes me LOVE being a mum.


Happy Mother's Day to my mom, my step-mom, my grandmom and all the other fab moms out there :) Also, shout out to my cousins/step-sisters/friends who will become moms in 2011!

We had a lovely day today, although the weather wasn't ideal. We slept until 7:30, little man ate, we walked Stella and headed to brunch at Panera with Ben's mom. I got a chocolate chip bagel with cream cheese and a Chai Tea Latte (mmmmmm.) Afterwards, we headed to my favorite place on that side of town - Target. Where I splurged on two dresses (that actually fit!) for Amie's graduation and Daphne's wedding. I exchanged the adorable striped outfit Ben bought for a larger one, and got some other cute baby clothes - his first pair of overalls!

My amazing husband had left me two cards, the outfit, and a gift certificate for a massage in the dresser drawer - what a sweetie. Can't wait for the massage in a few weeks!

We played, we napped, we skyped with Ben, my mom, my dad, we walked Stella... all in all, a lovely day if you ask me! I used to love weekends. Now, I think that's an understatement. I'm obsessed with them. Here's to making it through another 5-day work week.....



"When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child." ~Sophia Loren, Women and Beauty

“If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands?” - Milton Berle

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Oliver's First Date.

Today, Oliver, Stella and I went across town to visit Lauren, Meredith and Micah Merkle. Meredith (born last September) was the first baby Oliver has played with, and Micah was the first cat Stella has seen up close! Here are some pictures from our afternoon:

Oliver wasn't a charmer... we showed up (he slept in the car for 30 minutes) and began spitting up everywhere. Nice first impression, eh? Then, after I changed his onesie (as you can see in the photos, he's wearing two different outfits) he managed a HUGE poop. I guess he wanted to see what Meredith's room and changing table looked like!

Stella and Micah had a fun time chasing each other around... Micah wanted to keep his eye on her at all times, and Stella wanted to sniff him. Luckily, he's declawed (front claws) so I wasn't too concerned with the potential damage.

All in all, a successful meeting!

Off to bed, Mother's Day tomorrow - hoping to start it off with a good trail run :)