For him.

     It's been a while since my last post, but there have been some thoughts going through my mind a lot recently that I feel that I need to put out there. These thoughts are deep, passionate, and full of truth and I feel that not only do I need to write these thoughts down so that I can look back on them, but I need to write them so that everyone can take a small glimpse into what I believe is my perfect fairytale.

     Brad and I have been together for six years come September. We have moved homes five times, fought battles together that no one would ever dream of fighting, shared two beautiul children and have finally settled into what we hope will be our forever home where we will raise our family and build our own story. We have slayed demons that almost overtook our lives, and embraced angels that now look down on us from above and keep us safe. We have seen death, and we have seen life. We have embraced all the good, and all the bad and have come out stronger than we could ever imagine. Now, this post is not for me to brag, but rather for me to explain why I feel like I am the luckiest girl in the world and why I am so blessed.

     Brad is my own personal prince charming. He has all of the qualities I could ever dream of. He is kind, giving, humorous, and above all- he is the most amazing father I could've ever chosen for my children.

    Now, to go in a little deeper I will start with the fact that Brad works seven days a week to support his family and so that I have the luxury of staying home to raise our children and give us all that we could ever possibly need. He makes me laugh. Oh boy, does he ever make me laugh. I've never had anyone who could make me smile the way he does. He looks at me with the most earnest eyes. You know, the ones that look right to the pit of your soul. The ones that even on the cloudiest of days where I feel low as dirt, can lift my spirits. The ones that love me. From my head to my toes. 

     He has plans. He has dreams. Every day he has another thing he wants to work on, another goal he's working towards. He aims for the stars and always looks at the big picture. He's logical. He always manages to talk some sense in to me when no one else can. Makes me see the bigger picture- and I love the big picture. Especially when it's so large and full of color.

     He's faithful and loyal. He knows where he stands and he won't be swayed. Temptation is everywhere. We all know that, and yet he only has eyes for me. Nothing could ever make a woman feel more important. More special.

     I can't help but wonder somethimes, why me? What is it that makes me worthy of a man like this? Sure, he doesn't clean the house and couldn't wash his laundry if his life depended on it, but he's his own type of perfect. The kind of perfect that I know I am unworthy of, but so graciously accept. He is my best friend. He's seen sides of me that no one should see and yet still tells me how much he loves me, how lucky HE thinks he is.

     Truth is, I have the type of man every woman strives to achieve. A man whom I know I don't deserve but am so blessed to have. One whom I will love every day, be thankful for every day, and one that I will never let go. I owe him everything and will spend the rest of my life making him feel at least half as blessed as I am.

So, this Father's Day and every other day I pray that you all look at all of your blessings and hold them close to your heart. You only live once. Build your own fairytale.

New Year, New Us!

     Well, it's already the middle of Janurary and our family is already busy as can be! New year brings new adventures, new goals, new habits- and we can't wait! Christmas left this family in chaos as we all are trying to recouperate from costs, getting back into routine, and finding space to jam all the goodies we all recieved! Despite all this craziness, our family is doing fabulous and are as strong as ever and with this blogs beautiful new design, I am so excited to share all of our craziness with you!

     To start off this rather large update, we have started our basement development! With the framing, plumbing, and electrical completed we are in the somewhat homestretch! I am not going to lie, what excites me more than the completion is getting all Carter's little toys out of my livingroom! If any of you don't already know this- stepping on kids toys is almost the most painful experience you will ever have. No lie. Those meme's that you come across in the humor section of pinterest about how stepping on lego makes you want to go postal, they are no joke.

     We are also bringing home our new puppy at the end of the month! Call me crazy, but I did cave and let Brad get his Rottwieler puppy that he had been talking about for months (OK, maybe I really wanted him too). His name is Reggie and we are so beyond excited to bring him into our family! Him and Carter are going to be best friends and I suppose now we have a good reason to have our 8000 square foot backyard!

     To add to all of this chaos, I have also started my own company through the amazing IT WORKS! family! I officially sell all IT WORKS! products and I couldn't be any happier. I sell everything from anti-stress vitamins to the famous wraps that detox and help your body break down fat cells to shrink, tighten and tone your body (seriously- these things are a-ma-zing! My mommy tummy is gone after a full treatment of four wraps!). Feel free to contact me about any of our awesome products or visit my business site (www.bodybytawny.itworksca.com).

     To top all of this off, our family is making the transition into healthier living! We are starting with healthier meal prep, along with aiming to be more active. I feel like our family had slipped into a not so good routine of relying on processed goods and caffine to keep it going. Not good when you're trying to raise healthy kids who would rather run around outside than sit in front of a t.v screen. So please be prepared for me to share this new journey with you as well!

Happy New Year everyone!

     

     

Adjusting Just Fine!

     Ok, so I have finally decided to scrape my life together and write a new post as so much has happened in the past couple weeks that I can hardly keep my days straight! In my defense, I have had a half written post on my computer here for the past two weeks but just never got around to publishing it. I am not a complete failure over here. I swear.

     Charlie is now two and a half weeks old and I am already feeling nostalgic. She is starting to be awake for longer periods of time, and you can tell she is slowly starting to become more aware of the things that are going on around her. What happened to my little ball of hair that just slept and looked like a priceless piece of treasure? She's already grown so much! I do have to admit though, I make the most tolerant, well behaved babies on planet earth! Charlie has a slight infection in her eyes that cause them to seal shut with pus and STILL is the most angelic little creature. I am so beyond blessed to have had a baby that sleeps so well throughout the night, tolerates her overly loving big brother, and has barely made an unhappy squeal since she has been born! I am grateful beyond words. 

     Carter is loving his new role as "Big Brother". He has been so helpful (as helpful as a 20 month old toddler can be I mean). He loves to cuddle his little sister and help with diaper changes and lotion massages. I once again have to express how blessed I am as I know that I just as easily could've had a son that rejected the transition into brotherhood and instead was given a understanding, loving angel that lives to please. We have had a total of two tantrums that have lasted over an hour, but considering we have had Charlie home for almost three weeks- I have to say we are doing fairly well!

     I have to say that my post-partum recovery this time around has been a different experience than my recovery from having Carter. I suppose I can blame this on the fact that I didn't spend a week in the hospital after Charlie was born and didn't have a million nurses telling me to go sleep while they took care of my child. Oh and the fact that I have been hauling around a toddler like a human locomotive. I have been sore, tired, and even more sore- but I am slowly starting to get my energy back and am getting more and more eager to start my journey into becoming a more healthy version of my pre-pregnancy self now that I can't blame my laziness and over-eating on a child growing inside my uterus.

     I was very lucky to spend a couple days with my Grandma and Auntie over the Halloween weekend. Carter absolutely loved having the extra playmates and I always enjoy the adult company and conversation. I have to say that the thought of nasty weather and unfriendly roads keeping my family away has me a bit on the disappointed side, but there is always the anticipation of spring to keep me going! I just need to start taking advantage of the other mothers in my neighborhood to help me keep my sanity. Oh and for Carter, I have taken on the responsibility of doing some after school care for two young girls that live across the street. I am excited for Carter to start learning some good social skills and believe that it will help him learn how to act with Charlie when she grows to be a bit more demanding of my time. All in all, we're soaking up any type of social activity we can while winter starts to set in!

     Well, time to go on with my day! Carter needs some mommy son time while Charlie is napping and I am going to take advantage while I still have the energy!  Till next time!

Charlie Isabel Pollock

Today we welcomed the newest member of our family, Charlie Isabel! She weighed in at 8lbs 13oz, which the nurses joke is too bad because it would sound a lot cooler if we could say she weighed 4 kilos, which is true. 

This delivery was such a different experience than the one I had with Carter. It was so fast, which made it so much more intense. This little angel meant business! We arrived at the hospital this morning at 10:30 am and she was born a very short couple hours later at 12:47 pm! Luckily, Brad warned the nurses that I dilate fast and they were quite, um, prepared for her delivery. Well, the ones that delivered her were anyways. The doctor didn't arrive till after she did! With no medications and a couple quick pushes our little angel was here, leaving us all a little shell shocked due to how fast she made her way into this world. 

With both of us doing extremely well and healthy, they are telling me I will be able to take her home tomorrow morning. Which makes me quite happy because I miss my little Carter so much it hurts. Brad left to go pick him up from his Nannie's and spend the night at home with him. Brad is super excited to have the chance to have the night alone with him, and I am quite excited to see how he deals with the diaper changes he's going to have to do after his Nannie has been feeding him blueberries all day! 

Well, that is the big news for today! I really should get some rest while little Charlie is sleeping. Thank you all for your prayers and well wishes! I will be in touch!

Still Waiting!

     I know I am a bit late, but we hope everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving! Nothing better than a day to reflect on all of our blessings and stuff our faces with no remorse. Who doesn't like a day dedicated to food and family? Although we didn't have a big fancy dinner this year, hubby did take the entire weekend off work to spend with Carter and I, which was just as nice (maybe even a little bit better) as a big fat turkey being put in front of my very pregnant self!

     We are still anxiously awaiting the arrival of our little girl. With my due date only six days away we are finding ourselves jumping at every movement and sign of discomfort that I encounter. Unfortunately, she has decided to hold out on us. This is very irritating for me, as I am a slight bit of a mess when it comes to making sure I am prepared for whatever is thrown my way. I will never forget the way I felt when I brought Carter home after spending a week in the NICU and my house was a mess, so this time I am dedicated to making sure my house is going to be in tip top shape for when we go in so I don't have to worry about it after pushing a human out of my body. I am more than happy to admit that I am a slight bit of a control freak.

     Carters Nannie, Great-Grandma, him and I all went to the mall yesterday for something to waste our day on and we ended up picking up the last of all we will need for when baby arrives, including a swing for the baby and a very nice play kitchen for Carter to play with as a present for becoming a new big brother. I am hoping it manages to keep him entertained for even a little while after the baby comes so I am able to wrap my head around being a mother to TWO kidlets! Thank you Nannie Kari and Grandma Gisela for spoiling us! 
     
     Honestly, having this baby is the only thing that is really consuming our lives at this moment so I am sorry that I have nothing else exciting to tell you all, but we are hoping that VERY soon we will have more to share with you (FINGERS CROSSED!)!

Have an awesome weekend everyone!

     

MY FIRST POST! HOW EXCITING!

     I have been having a difficult time thinking of what to write for my first post. There is just so much that has been going on in our family for the past couple months that I truly don't know where to start. With the excitement of buying our first home, to having our second baby, there is just so much going on around here. But I need to start somewhere I suppose.

   

     With my due date only two weeks away I have been finding myself trying very hard to both keep busy, as well as get as much rest that is possible with Carter running around. I actually think that I could wash all of the baby clothes and organize the nursery one more time before I will finally be satisfied and be able to focus on something different, but Carter got bored with that task around three months ago when I started all of this nesting shenanigans... I just can't win!

     We had decided months ago that we had wanted to deliver our little girl at the Foothills Medical Center rather than the Peter Lougheed which I am now kicking myself for as I have now been informed that the second child can come like, one million times faster than the first. And with us living over an hour away from the hospital, I find my anxiety creeping up into the back of my throat whenever I think about the fact that I could go into labour at any moment now. So, I have my hospital bag packed and by the door, Carter's overnight bag packed, and three different people on call for babysitting our little mister while we once again venture off into the craziness that people call childbirth. Can you say obsessive much? No, I just am trying very hard to be prepared for something that you can never fully be prepared for. 

     On another note, I am very happy to announce that we are fully settled into our new home with everything now in its place and we are already making improvements! A couple months ago we got our backyard landscaped (which was one of the best things we have ever spent any money on), and we are planning on finishing our garage this winter for Brad to park his baby in. It's all coming along quite nicely which excites Brad and I more than we can express. 

     We've also made some awesome friends on our block which is so refreshing as we have never really had the opportunity to create any worthwhile relationships with any of our previous neighbors. I am particularily happy with the fact that we pretty much live on what my mother in-law likes to call "Sesame Street", which gives Carter the opportunity to play with all of the kids, and I get to have some nice time with the other mothers on our street. It is so nice to be able to associate with other women that are on the same page as I am. I found it extremely difficult when Carter was younger and all I wanted to do was have friends that had kids so they at least had some understanding of what my life was actually like. I now have this, and I feel so blessed.

     Well, our lives are pretty simmered at the moment as we prepare for baby to come so I don't really have much more to write about. I feel rather happy with this being my first post and I hope that I will be able to continue to find exciting and joyful things to share with you all once our newest member of our family arrives.

Till next time!