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. 

A Visit From Uncle T

When Shark Bait was 12 days old, Uncle T came for a visit. I had been sending all of my family an insane amount of Shark Bait photos since his arrival and T decided he just couldn't wait until September to come meet his newest nephew. He called me on July 19th and asked if he could come visit and the next day he had his tickets purchased. 

The beginning of T's visit started out a little rough. His plane came in rather late on Saturday the 25th, so he decided to rent a car rather than have Bruce or I go pick him up. By the time he arrived at our house it was after midnight. Bruce and I had gone to bed (parents of a newborn- we could hardly keep our eyes open past 10pm!) I had turned on the ringer of my phone and told T to just call when he arrived. Well, around 2am, I woke up to nurse the baby and I panicked when I realized how late it was. I checked my phone and I had missed numerous calls from T as well as several texts. Come to find out, though I had turned my ringer on, my children had turned down the volume, so my phone was completely silent. Had I left it on vibrate, I would likely have heard that... but no. T ended up going to a nearby hotel for the night, thus starting his visit out on quite an expensive note. Postpartum hormones had me an emotional wreck over it. I was about in tears every time I thought about missing his calls. 

By 10am Sunday morning, T has made it to our house and he just shrugged off the inconvenience of having to go get a hotel room. He said the biscuits and gravy breakfast was worth it. He had to work every day that he was here, but we still managed to have tons of fun. T is my brother who love, love, loves games- specifically strategy games. He brought several with him knowing that Bruce was off work, so we spent every evening learning and enjoying new games. He introduced us to Machi Koro, Sushi Go and Splendor while here in July, and a few other new ones when he came back for Shark Bait's blessing a few weeks ago. 

While T was here, he hardly put Shark Bait down. The two of them just adore each other. Shark Bait slept blissfully in T's arms and T did everything from work to playing games to eating all while snuggling Shark Bait. 

The Monday that Uncle T was here, we had a big unofficial ward activity to mark the end of summer- the giant slip and slide. T came with us and snuggled Shark Bait while the girls enjoyed going down the slip and slide and Man Cub ran around in the grass. 

The Saturday before T left, we decided to take the wee ones out to do something fun. Since it was hotter than sin outside, we opted for indoors and air conditioned. We headed to Cabela's where we got to see the fish being fed- super fun. The kiddos also tried out camping cot bunk beds which they thought were awesome, tried out the shooting range and of course, looked at all the big stuffed animals.  After Cabela's, T treated us all to some Cold Stone ice cream, then we let the kiddos run through the nearby splash pad for a few minutes before we headed home.

It was so much fun having Uncle T come to visit. I always enjoy the chance to spend time with T and my wee ones just adore him. I love that he and Shark Bait already have such a special connection and I hope it continues as Shark Bait grows.

Shark Bait | Two Months

It happened again. Shark Bait went and turned one month older on Sunday. He is such a calm, sweet little baby. He sleeps a lot still, but when he is awake he just smiles and coos. It is still very rare to hear him cry, so when he does cry, my heart about breaks. He is no longer a curled up little ball of a newborn. He loves to stretch out, kick his legs and wave his arms around. He doesn't quite realize that he controls his limbs yet, but he loves to move them around.

Shark Bait's second month of life was an exciting one. He went on his first, second, third and fourth plane rides, all the way from Phoenix, Arizona to Hilo, Hawaii where he was lulled to sleep each night by the sounds of mynah birds, coqui frogs and rain showers. He also met a lot of extended family when aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins came to visit for his blessing over Labour Day weekend. Despite the busy month and all the changes to his schedule with each big event, Shark Bait continues to be the happiest little guy I know.

Shark Bait's First Getaway

After Shark Bait's arrival, Bruce had two and a half weeks off work for paternity leave. Since our summer consisted of staying right here in the steaming hot valley as I was too far along to do any traveling, we decided we had to make the most of his time off. We toyed with the idea of an overnight stay somewhere cold (relatively speaking, of course!), but ultimately decided to do a one day trip to Prescott. We knew we'd have cooler temps and there is a great little lake up there where the girls could try fishing, plus they recently opened a Panera Bread in Prescott and I was dying for a Panera soufflé. All around win!

We loaded up the car early on a Friday morning and began the drive north. The drive to Prescott is about as pretty as it gets here in the desert. I love saguaro cacti and the drive is full of them. Our first stop when we arrived in town was Panera where we all enjoyed our favourite breakfast treats. Once we had eaten our fill, we headed to Lynx Lake where we unloaded all our gear, both baby and fishing, and set out to find a spot. We ended up at a little sandbar where Man Cub could dig in the dirt and throw rocks in the lake while Bruce taught the girls to fish. No one caught anything, but they all had fun. Beebs was especially good at casting off. After about an hour of fishing, we packed everything up and went for an easy little hike through the forest. It was green and beautiful and I really enjoyed the chance to stretch my legs and get in a little light exercise. Shark Bait was a dream through it all. He was peaceful and content when awake but spent much of our time in Prescott fast asleep.

After fishing we headed into the downtown area to walk around a few of the little shops. We stopped at the candy store to stock up on our favourite tropical flavoured salt water taffy and at a little western store so Bruce could buy a picture he'd had his eye on for quite some time. We spent a good amount of time sitting inside a little ice cream shop so Man Cub could watch the toy train that ran around a track up near the ceiling of the shop. We wandered the pretty courthouse square and enjoyed the shade of the gigantic old trees that surround the area. Dinner at The Office, one of our Prescott favourites, finished off the day. We loaded everyone back into the car and headed home.

As we approached the valley, we decided to make one final stop at a well known pie shop in Black Canyon City. We bought an apple pie for the family, which Bruce ended up eating practically by himself, and a slice of pecan for me. Then we drove the final stretch of our drive, arriving home just in time for bed.

It was really nice to take a day of Bruce's time off to run away. We were desperately in need of some time outdoors to enjoy some fresh air and sunshine after weeks and weeks of being cooped up inside. And Shark Bait was a dream to travel with, making our first getaway as a family of six a huge success.

See Claire Run Again

Today was my first post baby run. It was scary. I've been telling Bruce for a good two weeks now that "tomorrow I'm going to get up early to run". But every time it was tomorrow and time to go run, I would find a reason not to. I was terrified.

My journey to becoming a "runner" (and I am still hesitant to call myself that, even after completing two half marathons) was slow and painful. When I started, I could barely run for 3 minutes before I had to stop and walk to catch my breath. It took me one full month of training to be able to run a mile without stopping. It took another two months before I could run two miles. Slow and painful. But 6.5 months after I laced up my running shoes for the first time, I ran my first half marathon. It was exhilarating to cross that finish line and realize I had accomplished such a huge feat. 3 months later I ran my second half marathon and that one felt even better. I had not only learned to run, but I had learned to love running. And then I found out I was pregnant. The morning after completing my second half marathon, I saw two pink lines and while excited, I knew that morning sickness was not far behind.

I managed to go for three runs while pregnant. The first was just a few weeks into my pregnancy. I made it 6 miles and it felt great. I was hopeful that I could continue running throughout the pregnancy. Then I got really, really sick and running was no where near an option. When I started to feel better, I decided to try again. On two occasions I went out for short 1 mile runs and found them to be too difficult. By that point my belly was heavy enough that it just wasn't comfortable and I didn't enjoy it. I decided I needed to give up running until after the baby was born but I knew the consequence of this would be that I would have to start from scratch.

After putting it off for several weeks, this morning I tied up my running shoes and found the Mormon Channel app on my phone. I told myself that I only had to go 1 mile and that it was ok for me to stop and walk every few minutes to ease myself back into things. I was beyond ecstatic when not only did I run the entire mile, but I did it at an 11:30 pace, which is exactly what my pace was before getting pregnant. I couldn't go further than a mile, but the fact that I finished one mile non-stop at a good (for me!) pace was huge. I can still run. I didn't lose as much of my running ability as I thought I would. And I enjoyed it! It wasn't easy, but it was fun. I got to listen to a conference talk and push my mind and body to do something I didn't think I was capable of anymore. It felt amazing.

I know it will be quite some time before I am ready for another half marathon and that is ok. I am just so excited that I am still able to run and I look forward to many more peaceful morning runs in the months to come.