July Odds & Ends

Sep 18, 2015

July has been pretty well documented, but I do have some odds and ends photos that I want to share. 

First, a few photos we snapped just hours before Shark Bait was born... The last photo of Man Cub as "the baby", the girls- anxious to meet their new baby, and our family of 5 before we became 6. 




I don't know who snapped this photo of KJ snuggling Shark Bait, but I love it! I was not good about taking pictures while she was here. What few I have were snapped on my phone. It never even occurred to me to get a photo of her and I together in the delivery room. 


A few days after Shark Bait was born, I snapped this photo of Beebs snuggling her new baby brother. She instructed me to send it to her best friend Christian and dictated a message to send along with it. After sending the message, she told me she couldn't go play with friends anymore. They would have to come to her house so she didn't have to leave Shark Bait. 


Beebs accompanied us to Shark Bait's first doctors appointment to check his bilirubin levels. His levels were great and we were excited to know that we no longer needed to worry. 


My wee ones enjoyed KJ cuddles before she headed back home. 



Man Cub found a pair of the girls play glasses and came running around the corner wearing them with a huge grin on his face and yelled "hello-oh!"


I took tons of photos of Shark Bait... how could I not!? He's so darn cute and changes so much with each passing day.








Shark Bait has never been the big eater that my other three were as babies. He is far more interested in sleeping than eating, so in the early days especially, I spent a fair amount of time pumping. Beebs was quite fascinated by my pump and one day decided to give it a try. Thank goodness my phone was close at hand. That girl cracks me up! 


Knowing that Bruce was going to be home on paternity leave for almost two and a half weeks, we borrowed his brother's old school Nintendo. I was super disappointed to find that their copy of Super Mario Bros 3 didn't work, but luckily I was able to find a new (to use!) copy at GameStop. We enjoyed many hours of Mario Bros and Dr Mario during Shark Bait's first weeks of life. 


I spent the majority of my time in those final weeks of July just snuggling my sweet new baby boy. And sometimes Man Cub would stop moving long enough to join us. 


Just two days after declaring she could not go to friends houses anymore to play, Beebs was invited to swim with her friend Lacey. She quickly threw her declaration out the window and happily left Shark Bait to go have fun swimming. Love these two cute girls!


Before we sent her back home, Bruce decided to introduce KJ to her first ever giant soft pretzel. Can you believe she had never had one before!? Luckily, we were able to find a place that serves them. Not quite stadium style (nothing beats a stadium soft pretzel) but this was good enough and I think KJ liked it! 


Five days after Shark Bait's arrival I happened to be online and found the curio cabinet of my dreams on a buy/sell group. It was an amazing price and was exactly what I had been looking for to house our collection of Disney Precious Moments. I immediately claimed it via email and then sent Bruce to go pick it up. I was not going to risk it being sold out from under me. Did I mention it was the perfect cabinet?? So, at 5 days postpartum, I assisted with rearranging my living room. Is postpartum nesting a real thing? I am still giddy every time I walk into the living room and see the cabinet all lit up. 



At six days old, Shark Bait had his very first bath. I declined having him bathed in the hospital, so this was literally the very first time he'd been washed up. I couldn't get a good picture of him, but I promise he liked it a lot more than this photo makes it appear! We went with the swaddle bath method, so he was tightly wrapped up until just before we took this photo. He has since taken many baths and tubby time is definitely one of his favourite activities. 


It took him a few days, but Man Cub finally warmed up to Shark Bait enough to want a turn holding him. It lasted about 3 seconds and I barely had time to get a photo. A few days later, Man Cub decided he really liked holding Shark Bait because it gave him something (someone!) new to drive his cars on. 



We took Shark Bait down to Bruce's grandma's house one afternoon so she could get some snuggles. What a blessed little boy to have a great grandma who lives so close and loves him so much!


My mum sent us a care package that included our favourite donuts from the little grocery store in her neighborhood. 2 Oreo donuts, just for me! She also sent some english candy and a few pairs of booties she had knit for Shark Bait. The green and black ones are my favourite... that's right! She knit skull and crossbones into them! 



We took Shark Bait for his first visit to the police station. Everyone just loved him. While we were there, the wee ones stayed busy drawing pictures while some of Bruce's coworkers held the baby. Beebs drew our first official family portrait and I just love it. It now hangs on the bulletin board at the station for all those police officers to enjoy. 


We had a visit from Beebs' best friend (and future husband... they want to get married in Hawaii and then live there. Man Cub can live with them, since he loves Hawaii. Beebs assures me she will take good care of him. I don't think she quite understands that as she grows bigger, he'll grow bigger too!) Love this photo of Christian holding his future brother in law. 


Sometimes I still cannot believe I have four children, but then again, I can't remember what life was like without them. I love how much they all love each other (most of the time!) Having Shark Bait join our family really hasn't been a big adjustment for any of us. He slipped right in, like he's always been here. 


When we arrived home from our day trip up to Prescott, there was a package on our front porch containing a beautiful blanket, made by my friend Michael Ann. It is one of Shark Bait's favourite blankets to snuggle up with. It is almost a guarantee that he'll fall right to sleep once he's wrapped up in his Ms Mike blanket. 



 Beebs has been working hard on perfecting her wink. She's not quite there, but I love her watching all her attempts. Like this one, in which she looks rather piratey.


At the end of July, we took the wee ones to a local pool that has a fun zero entry area for little ones to play in and an awesome water slide for the bigger wee ones. And Bruce. For the most part, Shark Bait and I stayed in the shade, but just before we left, I decided to dip his toes in the pool. He did not like. My favourite part of our trip to the pool- teaching Man Cub to show his muscles. How had we never taught him that before!?




July was a hot, hot month, and Man Cub was suffering from massive cabin fever. On several occasions, I found the back patio door cracked open with Man Cub out back, playing in the sand. Notice his red face? It really was too hot to be outside, but we couldn't stop him. We'd bring him back in and he'd take the next opportunity to sneak back out. So grateful the temps are finally lowering and Man Cub can run around outside a little more often. That boy needs his play time. 


July ended with Bruce introducing his newest little sports fan to some game or another. I can't remember what they all sat down to watch, but it was super cute to see my three favourite guys, lounging on the couch enjoying a game together. I am sure there will be many more of these moments in the years to come. 

1 comment:

  1. Ahh! I loved this post so much! I am sooooo grateful that I got to experience Shark Bait's first week of life. I love that I got to be there when you got your curio cabinet too. I am glad you weren't the one pushing those couches around with Bruce!

    I sure do love your family!

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