That boy has rocked my world in the best way possible. My goodness he is difficult at times, but he is mine and I love him something fierce. As I sit here and type this he is currently jumping in his bed singing “hello out there, we’re on the air! It’s hockey night tonight!” in an effort to avoid sleep for as long as possible (it is 10pm), and all I can do is laugh at the hilarity of life with a toddler. In true Mommy fashion, I can only think of how perfect he is. I cannot wait to see him as a big brother to baby “Boulder” (his name of choice, likely not going on the birth certificate).

Last Friday was my first official day of Maternity Leave, so Archer and I celebrated with a jammie day and some pictures. I thought I would do so much more documenting of this pregnancy, but as it turns out pregnancy with a toddler is no joke. So in a last ditch effort to have some pictures of Archer and the boulder bump, I set up my tripod and we had a mini maternity-self portrait-lifestyle session.

And in the spirit of keeping it real, he peed on my bed in the middle of it (hence the 2 different pairs of undies).

Archer plays with Play Doh at daycare all the time but I have been hesitant to bring it out at home. I have issues with messes sometimes, and when colours get combined and squished together a little piece of me dies inside. But, gotta live life on the edge sometimes. It has become an afternoon favourite while I prep dinner, sometimes I participate. As you can see, my snake-making skills are still intact.

See ya Play Doh, Dad’s home.

Just before Easter we had a little rain and all Archer wanted to do was jump in muddy puddles. Of course we did not have proper muddy puddle attire ready, so we put in a request to the Easter Bunny for some rain gear. With or without proper waterproof footwear, Archer was jumping in those muddy puddles, and even though there was only one jumpable muddy puddle in the drive way, he jumped it dry.

Truck shopping with Dad, of course Archer had to test drive each car in the show room. Multiple times. Although in his defence, this truck shopping thing was quite the process and he was probably bored of talking about it (oh, maybe that was me…)

Archer is quickly growing out of his naps… He has gone from needing a 2 hour afternoon nap or he might kill somebody, to not going to bed until 10pm if he sleeps a blink. Great timing, right? Don’t worry pal, we aren’t about to have another baby or anything…. When I do have to wake him up from a nap he usually goes from happy to grumpy in about 30 seconds and then tries to avoid all contact. These will likely be our last set of nap time pictures, aside from the couch cat-naps. Stop growing up please.

and this is where things take a turn…

And FINALLY, after years of living on both ends of the country, my big brother and his beautiful family made their way home. Our first Sunday dinner with all 4 of us siblings and our kids was perfect. And since I am about to add another boy to this growing family, be prepared to see lots of pictures of Neely, because little girls are awesome, especially this one. See ya around, boys.

Hope you’re having a great week!

B

When Eric originally brought up the idea of taking in a conference in Denver, my immediate thought was “skiing! mountains! beer! hiking! oh the pictures I can take!”. And then we got pregnant (obviously a good thing), and my tag-along trip to Denver looked more like “relaxing in the hotel room! shopping! eating! relaxing in the hotel room!”.

I thought I might take a stab at some street photography, but as it turns out I have no desire to approach strangers on the street and take their pictures, nor do I have an eye for urban landscapes (can’t win them all!). But I did bust out my big girl camera on Day 3 and take some obligatory travel photos of the sights. Denver is a really cool city, very trendy, rustic urban, with an adventurous feel. I explored it on my own (between snacks and naps, of course) while Eric was in his conference, although we did get one afternoon together to explore a bit.

Larimer Square and LoDo

The Tattered Cover  – one of the oldest privately owned book stores left

Union Station  and The Crawford Hotel

The Source

The State Capitol

And a ridiculously huge breakfast at Sam’s No.3 Diner

A couple of bonus iPhone shots

A HUGE bonus of this trip was getting to meet up with 2 of my friends who live in the area. I met Jennifer (Website | Facebook) and Melissa (Facebook) through a Facebook group last year as we all encouraged each other through our 365’s. This group has become a bit of a second home; a group of friends who I have never met in person, yet talk to daily. Our group started as a photography challenge and evolved into some amazing friendships, a place to share our personal lives without judgement, and participate in some daily hilarity, all while encouraging each other on our own photography journeys. I am so lucky to have been able to spend a few hours with these two women in person, and it was amazing to see how easily we could talk and interact without actually having met before! Of course, we spent our time testing out and talking gear, taking head shots, and documenting our time together (thanks to a few friendly strangers). Both of these women are extremely talented photographers, check out some of their work – it is seriously awesome. The internet is a pretty amazing thing.

(Photos courtesy of Melissa Walkup)

In true mother’s fashion, by Day 4 I was so ready to get home to see Archer. We flew home on a Friday, and arrived just in time to pick him up and bring him home for bed time. He was so excited to see us! I don’t think I will ever forget that. I had an irrational fear of him either not missing me at all, or forgetting about me completely, but apparently we have made more of an impression on him than I thought because he was just as happy to see us as we were to see him. We spent the rest of the weekend hanging out, skating, and catching up on some much-needed play time.

Reunited and it feels so good.

The reward

And although my human tripod needs a few more pointers, I am so glad he picked up my camera for this; playing trains on Mummy’s belly (oh my heart!).

Thanks for stopping in.

B

A Day In The Life is something I have wanted to do with Archer for a long time. There are so many things about him right now that I want to remember, and since our world is about to be rocked (in the best way!) by his first sibling, I thought this would be a good time to do it. These images are by no means award-winning, nor are they a reflection of my most creative work, but they are us, and they are perfect. I have also been playing lately with some filmy edits, which I am not sold on, but I think they bring a nice little touch to these snaps of our daily life. Plus, I live life on the edge.

Also, this post is picture heavy, so please be patient while it loads, it may be slow!

Enough rambling.

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February 29, 2016.

It is not often that I am awake before Archer on a day we are spending at home. I really enjoy when he comes into our bed in the mornings to wake me up, but by 8:15 I couldn’t sleep any longer and my body was begging to be moved. A nice slow wake up in bed gave me the time to prepare for doing a Day In The Life project, which I thought would be special since it was February 29th, a bonus day, which by chance I had off work and could be at home.

8:46am: Mornin’.

9:09am: Patiently waiting for that little bum to stir.

9:23am: Oh hello.

9:27am: Decisions, decisions.

9:31am: Does anyone else feel like this face perfectly describes their morning?

9:41am: Some toons to get us moving (and a bribe to eat breakfast).

A little heart in my cereal <3

Coffe + lemon water is morning perfection.

10:45am: Someone got a little muddy outside.

10:50am: Responsibility.

Oops.

11:10am: Dressed and ready to go.

11:37am: Who knew the library was closed on Mondays?! So disappointed.

11:55am: Home to some fun mail.

12:09pm: “I want to paint”

12:32pm: After approximately 3.5 minutes of painting, we are ready to have a bath.

1:21pm: Peeking undies at lunch.

1:29: A quick game of hockey.

1:38pm: It was a really quick game. On to trains.

1:46pm: Time for a nap!

2:11pm: Someone has trouble staying in bed…

4:06pm: Time to get everyone moving again

4:29pm: A snack that will almost definitely ruin your dinner.

5:21pm: Giving me a hand in the kitchen. And just like his mama, starting dinner prep with some tunes.

5:42pm: Some hockey while we wait.

6:00pm: Daddy’s home!

7:27pm: Slowing down and building with Dad before bed time.

8:17pm: No day would be complete without a meltdown (which is apparently very amusing for Dad!)

8:35pm: Taking care of our teeth and getting in our jim-jams.

10:41pm: Our turn to head to bed. Goodnight world.

Anybody else’s toddler know how to give wicked stink eye? I thought I could get some cute pictures of him playing hide-and-seek, but no.

“No, you put that camera down Mummy” were his exact words. Photographers Child Syndrome is a real thing, I know, but I didn’t think this battle would start so soon.

But I can be sneaky…

Hopefully this was the last of the snow for the year! Archer loves to shovel snow, and he had some fun helping Nanny and Dad. I will put these pictures aside for when he is 16 and complaining about shovelling the sidewalks.

A night on the town for us and a sleep over and Grandma + Papa’s for the little dude. Although I couldn’t partake in any of the shenanigans I had some fun of my own at the concert. The Trews put on an awesome acoustic show!

And finally, another weekend finished with a nap on the couch while we cleaned up and got ourselves packed for Denver. Lucky little dude gets to sleep through the Sunday chaos. Relaxing Sundays do not exist in our world!

Thanks for stopping by. During this week I also completed a Day In The Life while home with Archer for a day, so stay tuned for that post!

B.

Our days as a family of 3 are quickly running out. Although we are all very excited for the new addition to our little nest, I am trying to soak up as much one-on-one time with Archer as I possibly can. I have been working less hours, a change that has come at a great time for me, both physically and emotionally. When I found out we were pregnant I immediately thought of all of all of the opportunities to get in front of the camera with Archer and my belly, but here we are only 8 weeks away and I have very few. These might not include my belly as the focus, but these moments with my little man are so important to me right now, infinitely more important than any belly shots. These are a much more fitting representation of our life right now: Archer having a few quiet moments before the dinner rush/witching hour and me, home from work for 10 minutes and already in my pyjamas.

Saturday mornings are my absolute favourite moments of the week. There are no alarms to wake us up and we usually get a few minutes of cuddles and play time in bed before we make breakfast. On this particular Saturday, I was up at 7:30, waiting for Archer to make his entrance as he usually does. When 8:00 rolled around and he hadn’t woken up yet and I couldn’t get back to sleep (thanks motherhood), I got up and grabbed my camera so I was ready when he finally did wake. At 9:00 I finally went into Archer’s room to make sure he was still alive and woke him up (at this point I was extremely bored and had already scanned every form of social media on my phone an unhealthy amount).

#twinning

Stair races to the potty.

Archer is always eager to help Daddy with whatever project he has going on (he’s a “really useful engine”). He did have some trouble understanding why Eric’s shirt had no sleeves, and has since been asking about the mysterious Sleeve Monster…

And no weekend would be complete without a skate, this time with our BFF Zach. It was Archer’s first day of skating on his own, and he went the length of the ice without anyones help. I only took, like, 12 videos and 30 pictures….

Zach-attack

And because everyone worked really hard and tried their best skating, we finished the afternoon with some donuts.

Thanks for stopping by!

B

HAPPY LEAP DAY!

How cool is it to get a bonus day! It doesn’t come often, so Archer and I are spending it a special way: by documenting it completely. I have been toying with the idea of doing a “Day In The Life” project for a while, and I knew I wanted to do one with Archer before the next little guy arrives, and today was the perfect day! So stay tuned for that blog post in a few weeks!

As for the seventh week of the year, it was spent like many others. But between all of the mundane moments, we all have a story to tell and memories to share.

Archer received some sport shorts from Meme for the spring, and immediately thought they were hockey pants and there was no telling him otherwise! He was so excited to wear them after we washed them, and that excitement did not wear off for a number of days. With it being winter, shorts are not really a viable clothing option (despite Archer’s insistence that “they are hockey PANTS mummy!”) so on they went over his pants.

And there they remained for a few days.

We love when Daddy is home on Fridays to hang out with us for one extra day. In the midst of trying to finish up a few projects around the house, Archer had a project for Daddy too. Thomas and his friends run out of batteries weekly because someone likes to drive them into the wall and let them run there for the night.

Thank you Daddy!

Oh, and James too Daddy.

Back in business.

And just in case you thought we might have gone a week without some skating pictures…

I have to laugh at these pictures. Archer, being a two year old, sometimes just wants to go sit on the ice and watch all of the big kids skate. Eric, being a man, does not quite understand how this is fun or, more importantly, productive. He thinks he is teaching Archer all of these big lessons on hard work and trying his best, and while I stand back and watch I see a completely different story. Archer is slowly teaching his Daddy some lessons on patience and letting go, on having fun and how to not take things so seriously. Sometimes time “wasted” is the time best spent.

(That being said, these pictures looks like a much more serious moment than they actually were. And it must be a little frustrating to carry a 35lb child around the ice while bent over. My seat is pretty cushy from the sidelines)

I hope you are spending your “extra” day doing something special.

B