Summer Lovin'

We had an awesome summer! No work and all play, wish I could do this every summer! Sophie is such a great baby and has no problem getting hauled everywhere and being so good. We have been to Utah twice and a couple trips to Whitefish this summer. She's a great camper and easy going no matter what we are doing! We love our Sophie!

Swan Lake, Montana

Hanging out with Dad!

Poor Rico is in for a life of torment! He's so good to her!

Sophie loves to swim! She dips her face in the water,

splashes around and cries when we have to get out!

She's our favorite little girl!

Now fall is here and we are already missing summer. Sophie's Aunts are busy in school and working, Daine is harvesting, and so far we have been keeping busy too. I'm definitely not looking forward to winter and trying to entertain this busy little girl! I'm dreaming of a nice fall complete with sweater weather, colorful leaves, and no wind! Wishful thinking!

Okay- I'm so new to this blogging stuff and I really don't get anything. It takes my pictures forever to load, I have no idea why sometimes the font is underlined in blue and I can't do anything fancy. Since I never post, I probably won't improve much! Any advice is appreciated!

Julie Loves Mike

Julie and Mike got married! It was way back in June and it was a beautiful day! Everything was so perfect: the dress, the hair, the flowers and they were so happy! We love having someone new in our family and especially having them living here in Raymond.

Already straightening him out!

Sophie Bean!

It was a beautiful day!

Sophie Bean

We have been up to a whole lot of nothing lately! We've spent too much time in the house having rainy day pajama days! It's been fun, but I am ready for some summer sun and having lots of fun with my time off work! Daine has finished seeding and it surprisingly wasn't too terrible of a time. Calving season was long and tiring, so it's nice that he has had it a bit easier and even a day or two off of work (gasp!).

We went up to Calgary for my sister's Rugby provincials and Sophie stayed in her first hotel! Hopefully she will have better hotel experiences as this one was spent on the floor! She's such a dreamy baby and has been sleeping through the night since she was 2 months old! Honestly she is the right baby for me!

Sophie had her much needed first hair cut! She just needed the edges rounded off a bit and she was so good! AJ came and did a family hair day and Soph didn't want to miss out of the fun! Thanks AJ!

Sophie got all bundled up for a bonfire. We haven't had many of these yet, but hopefully the summer will bring some cool evenings out by the fire.

It's always a surprise when Aunt Jackie babysits. I've started doing some exercise (slowly started) and Jackie has been more than helpful to watch Soph. She was supposed to be in bed when I got home and I came home to a naked baby and them laughing and playing! This wasn't the first and I'm sure won't be the last time that Aunt Jac spoils Soph.

Sophie can fall asleep everywhere! She has so much energy and when she's tired she crashes!

We've been going to a baby and me class at the Parent Link Center in Raymond. I was hesitant to go at first because I thought it was kind of hippy and weird, but seriously it has been so much fun! I go once a week and visit with moms that have their first baby all around Sophie's age. Some of the husbands call it our "support group", and Daine has jumped all over that! He loves to hear what we talked about that day and he gets such a kick out of it. I love getting out of the house and seeing all of our friends. We also go to an infant massage class once a week at the Parent Link Center and I have really enjoyed that. I'm not very consistent to give Sophie a massage, but she likes it and it is fun to do that with her.

Pretty hard to believe that my baby is 4 months old not and she is growing up so fast. She is rolling from front to back and making all kinds of noise. She'll be sitting in no time and I'm afraid moving not long after that. We are loving every minute!

Blessing Day

So it has only been a couple months since Sophie's blessing (or my last post), but it is a rainy day, Daine is off quading, and Sophie is sleeping. I definitely jumped on the blogging bandwagon and so far I haven't been too committed and can't make any promises for the future, but for today, here is the blessing day in a nutshell!

Sophie was blessed on April 24, which was Easter Sunday. We were so lucky that all of her aunts and uncles and grandparents were able to attend, as well as several other family members! It was a great day and we definitely had tones of support! Daine played it cool like he had it all under control, until we were heading for church and he started to get a bit nervous. It was cute to see him so excited and he felt pretty special to give Sophie a blessing. Of course he did an awesome job!

Not Sophie's best, but this captures Daine completely! What a goof!

I'm sure this is an age-old question, but really, why are mom's never in pictures?!

And of course she's crying..

Daine got the best of Nat in a whipped cream fight! This was only the beginning!

Daine and Dalin snoozin together!

This picture is the story of Sophie's life. Constantly being smothered by her Aunt's! She loves them though, and they make the best babysitters!

Waiting for Spring

We are sick of waiting for spring! This is that time of year I wish I lived somewhere where your tulips bloomed early and your grass looked green. Below is a picture of my double flowering plum on Monday, the first day of Spring. It's bright pink and is covered in blossoms, unless of course spring doesn't come until July (last year), then this baby just doesn't blossom at all! Here's to hoping I get to see this beauty soon!

For now we will just stay inside all bundled up...waiting!

Sleepy Sundays

Sundays seem to be very exhausting lately. Maybe because it's the only day of the week I actually have a schedule, maybe it has been the extra meeting here or there and trying to co-ordinate feedings and help from a busy dad. Praise the heavens for 1:00 church and save our souls if I ever have a baby on a year with 9:00!

Sophie's Grandpa Tollestrup loves her very much. They share their middle names and he lights up when she gives him a little smile! He seldom gets to cuddle her with Aunts and Grandma around, but when he sneaks her away, they both enjoy every minute! These pictures were the same Sunday...must have been one of those extra Sleepy Sundays!

This was after getting home from our first Sunday...wore Sophie right out!

Photo Shoot

Sophie had her first real photo shoot at 2 wks old! She wasn't all that excited about it and we had a hard time keeping her asleep and positioned. Daine proved to be the baby whisperer a few times, but she let us know when she'd had enough! Big shout out to Mandy Baker Photography...she was patient and so much fun!

At 3 wks old Sophie weighed 7lbs. 14oz. and was starting to get the cutest little rolls on her legs! She was focusing on things around her and getting lots of love from her parents and family!

Sophie Rae

So February 9th was awhile ago, but I have been too busy loving and cuddling my little baby. I had someone tell me that the World will be waiting for us when we're ready, and I took full advantage of that! I guess I can say that I am loving being a mom! We are still laughing our way through a lot of things, not as many crying our way through things, and life is so good!

February 9th started off a little crazy. At 6:00am I told Daine I think today is the day. We were lying in bed laughing at random things and it got to the point where we were laughing at anything. About every 5 minutes I would get cramping and Daine would try to get me to laugh really hard during those, which worked and made us laugh harder. Daine got up and left for work and I got up and started doing last minute cleaning, packing treats and snacks for the long day ahead! Daine came home about an hour later and was completely crazy saying we needed to go NOW! I was determined not to get sent home from the hospital, so I was taking my time. The cramping was consistently every 5 minutes, but getting stronger and lasting longer. Daine was starting to panic as I was deciding to get in the shower and completely get ready.

We went into Lethbridge around noon, swung through the Burger King Drive-thru (yummy...I know) and headed to the Regional. We got there, carried all of our bags up to the Delivery Suite and announced we were going to have our baby! I was sure this was it! They hooked me up to the monitors and my contractions got shy and went away, I was checked and at 3cm. The nurse was like...these are going to be WAY worse, you're not even in labor, come back Monday (my induction date) or if your water breaks (this was Wednesday!). Well we got to the elevator and I started crying, I was so disappointed that we were getting sent home, and upset because this cramping was really starting to hurt!

So back home to Raymond. At home my contractions were fairly intense. We spent an hour at home and finally my mom came over to help pass the time. When she walked in and saw me puking and completely drenched from sweat she was like...uh you should go, NOW. So we got to the car and headed for Raymond Hospital because I didn't want to get turned away from the Regional again. After passing cars in the school zone and blowing a few stop signs, we got there at 3:30 and I was 8 cm. Minutes later I was 10 cm, they broke my water and it was show time. After a very long time and several unpleasantries, Sophie Rae was born at 5:30. She weighed in at a dainty 6 pounds and was 18 inches long. Her hair was out of control and she was wide-eyed and very alert.

Fresh!

Delivering in Raymond was a dream. I owe Dr. Steed big time, Dr. Smith showed up too, and the nurses in Raymond are the best (I'm slightly biased)! Honestly it was so nice to have the people I know and trust there.

Relaxing in the hospital.

Love her!

We felt like celebrities the next few days (yes, we got to stay as long as we wanted), and enjoyed the TLC.

Coming home. Definite rookies, the bundle-me is upside down! Ha!

We are definitely rookie parents and are learning new things everyday. We appreciate our families, fairly sure we couldn't have done this without them! And of course we love our Sophie!

Hurry Up and Wait...

I have been meaning to start a blog for awhile now, but never had anything exciting to blog about...(kids)! Well that is all about to change, hopefully soon.

My due date was February 5, but on December 22 my Dr. told me there was no way I would make it to term. She said my body couldn't support the pregnancy much longer and to expect our little one anytime. Of course we were anxious, excited, and waiting on every twinge. Weekly ultrasounds, appointments and nothing happening! Here we are 6 weeks later waiting for our shy little baby to make an appearance!

Through all of this, we went from having a boy, to a girl. One perk of the frequent ultrasounds was confirmation of the gender and a little time to get some shopping in. We were shocked and probably the loudest couple in the Regional Hospital that day. I was digging through our report in the packed elevator on the way up to Labour and Delivery and asked Daine to look at the report.

I said "what does that say?"

He quickly glanced and said "XX". I'm sure by the shock on my face he said "What does that mean?"

I said "girl"!

He started yelling in the elevator "are you kidding me?!" and people were laughing and we were laughing and going crazy.

We were so set on the fact that our first baby was a boy that this came as quite a surprise and honestly we weren't sure how to feel about the change. Daine is convinced he is destined to have all girls and has asked me a few times how many I'm willing to have to try for his little farming buddy/sidekick. For now we'll start with a baby girl and cross our fingers for a boy sooner than later!

For today, we'll just keep waiting and hope this baby comes soon. Induction is scheduled for February 14, which seems like an eternity away right now, but I know life will happen and we'll have to hit the ground running! We are so excited for this change in our lives and couldn't be happier!

Anyways, hopefully I can be consistent with my blogging and keep family updated through my ramblings and stories.

I was looking for a picture to upload and this was the most recent picture of us. Pretty sad it was last June! We'll have to work on that!