I had just entered my third trimester the last time I wrote a pregnancy post. I wanted to get one more in, to recap the last couple months, before baby arrives!

I talked about due date confusion before... And I'll admit after siding with the later date myself, I was starting to waiver to the week earlier as I'm eager to meet this baby! But, after a follow up ultrasound last month, my doctor, who was going by September 28, officially switched my due date to October 5. Two ultrasound reports, months apart, indicated the estimated date of October 5, so she made the executive decision to go with that date.

That makes me 37 weeks and 4 days. Full term!

Changes?
- Weight gain: 32 lb
- Stretch marks: none!

Signs of Labour?
- Mild, irregular contractions
- About 3 cm dilated at my last appointment, woo!

Craving?
{ & snacks I can't stop eating }

- APPLES!
 > Apple pecan spinach salad with goat cheese
 > Apples with goat cheese and pecans or walnuts
 > Apples with cheddar cheese
 > Apples with almond butter

Happy Friday Friends! xo

Halle Kay turned 17 months old yesterday!
Here's a look back at some stages and phases from the past month courtesy of my iPhone :)
You can find previous monthly updates here.

I already shared the above photo on my Instagram and Facebook but I couldn't not include it here. Halle and Loki have had the best bond from day one! As she has grown bigger their friendship has evolved and they kind of play together now. She'll throw his toy or she'll erupt in giggles as they chase each other around the house. Sometimes they get on each others nerves but most days their evening ends with a few snuggles like this. I have been trying to snap a good photo for a while but she always catches on and moves or stands up. I love this one so much because she is hamming it up with that big smile! And I never want to forget how she sits in between Loki's legs like this.

This is a continuation from last month as she is still loving finding small spaces to crawl and climb inside :)

{ Another share from IG } This is a hamper I keep our vacuum hose and attachments in. One day she  figured out how to crawl inside and, of course, had to climb out to get baby dolly to join her :)

She has been all about trying on our shoes when they are left out for her to get at them. It's really cute watching  her determination and patience (or sometimes lack of patience) trying to keep her balance and put her feet in. She has also been trying to put on her own socks and shoes lately. I love her independent spirit!

While I get ready she plays with various bathroom treasures.
This day she chose my shower cap and put in on all by herself!

We don't usually keep the play yard out and setup. It was left in laundry room folded up when Halle noticed it one day and would not leave it alone. So I set it up in our living room and for about a week she was obsessed with playing in it! There was a point where I kept it in our bedroom and put her in it occasionally while I grabbed a shower. She was never fussy over it then, but for some reason it was new and exciting in the living room. I'll admit it was helpful at times for this pregnant mama to relax and sit down. The photo above captures the short lived stage where she enjoyed being cooped up and one morning had her bottle inside while snuggling up with her dolly :)

We recently set up and put out some of our baby gear so that Halle can get used to seeing it before baby sister arrives. As soon as she noticed the swings new spot in our living room, she climbed right in! Luckily it has a 25 lb limit and she is weighing in at just over 22 these days. But look how huge she is in it! I can't believe we will have an itty bitty newborn in there in the next couple weeks! And although Halle has moved on from the swing now, I'm sure she will be all over it again once there is a baby inside!

This is one of those parenting adventures where you choose to look back and laugh. So I thought I’d share :)

Back in August we planned a one night stay at a resort in Canmore which is about an hour drive from us. We booked a pet friendly resort so that we could bring Loki. You might call that mistake / thing-we-would-have-done-differently #1…

Yes, dogs are allowed in the rooms but they cannot be left in the room alone. Understandable? Sure. Convenient? Yes, if you plan on taking advantage of all the outdoor activities a place like Canmore has to offer. But when you are a couple with a toddler, who both want to do things like take her to the pool and explore the hotel, instead of taking turns sitting
in the room with your dog, the whole pet friendly pros list start turning in to cons…

Like no backyard for your dog to easily run in and go to the bathroom, but on leash walks to the exit instead. Like an excited large dog who won’t pitch and scrambles to the door when anyone walks down the hall. Like a dog who is used to being allowed on the furniture but is told to stay down. Needless to say, Loki was not loving his first stay in a hotel.

Since check-in hadn’t been until 4:00 PM we timed our drive to arrive then. We had debated going earlier in the day to hang out but with Halle’s nap in the middle of the afternoon we figured letting her sleep was best and we’d have the next day to explore after check out at 11:00 AM.

Luckily, the hotel room was more of a condo suite with its own kitchen. We decided to pick up some groceries so we could BBQ and hang out at the hotel for the night. After all we only had a quick stay at the resort. It seemed like Matthew and I both had this hope for the trip to be a relaxing, little getaway as a family to just hang out in a beautiful place… But
our dreamy vision was slowly fading.

We attempted a walk around the resort area that evening but I couldn’t go very far. I hadn’t mentioned it in my bump updates, but this pregnancy I had what the doctor assessed to be weight bearing issues. This made me off balance and unable to put normal pressure on my left foot, making it hard to walk. It was uncomfortable and really painful at times, but mostly inconvenient as it lasted about a month. (Thankfully my foot is finally feeling better even though from my hips down is still a bit wonky…)
 
So there was that issue, preventing me from doing what tourists usually do a lot of: walking.
 
But the evening wasn’t all that bad. Matthew brought Halle to the pool and I was able to book a massage at the hotel spa for the next morning before check out...

Then bedtime happened. Or didn’t happen. Halle, who was already up late after a non-typical day, did not want to settle in her playpen. We let her stay up late, since we were on “vacation” and all, but I think we both would have enjoyed some alone time. There were some tears but eventually she settled sometime after 11 PM. I tried to stay up and hang out with Matthew for a bit but this pregnant mama was dropping tired. I quietly crawled in bed, since Halle was sleeping in the same room as us. Maybe 15 minutes later, she must have hit the sides of the pack and play, as she moves a lot in her sleep, and was startled and popped up crying. Of course, “whyyy?” crossed my mind… (Am I coming off as a major complainer in this post? :/) …but I quickly pulled her in to bed with me to attempt a quick transition back to sleep. Which seemed to work but only temporarily. It was one of those nights where she constantly woke up from moving and being next to me in an unfamiliar space and it was a terrible sleep for the both of us. I was needing the massage more than ever.

What I thought would be a relaxing next morning turned in to a tired and cranky rushed one. Matthew had spent the night sleeping on the couch in the living area, probably afraid to come in the bedroom. There was no room in the bed for him with all the toddler flailing anyway. I tried to soak up every bit of sleep I could before having to get up to shower and pack before heading to the spa. And sitting down for a cooked breakfast didn’t happen as I thought it would as I rushed to get ready and Matthew had double duty of cooking and supervising Halle in a non-baby proof hotel room.

I arrived at the spa with enough time to fill out my form and change, but too late to take in the bonuses of the relaxation room, bummer. And my massage was only a half hour, which was all they had available on such short notice, and of course that went by in a blink! But hey, I’ll take what I can get!! I had to rush out of there anyways to help Matthew get out of the room and make check-out on time.

Despite the rush, I’m feeling refreshed as I walk back to our hotel room. Until I open the door to see Matthew looking absolutely defeated in the arm chair at the back of the room…

How was his morning? Oh, Halle cried since I left, refused to eat breakfast, ran around getting in to everything possible and put Matthew’s phone in the dishwasher.

Yes, the dishwasher. How, you might ask? Well, as  I tried not to laugh, and to be empathetic for daddy’s hard hour… He explained he gave Halle his iPhone in attempt to occupy her while he cleaned up the kitchen. As he was loading the dishwasher she must have dropped his phone inside before he started it, without noticing. Then, after turning the room upside down to find his phone he decided to stop the cycle and open the door to find a soapy, soaked phone. Oops!

ALL of the photos we had from the day before were on his phone… The only one I snapped is of Halle sleeping, how ironic. Ha!

But there was no time to dwell on that… cause it was minutes to 11:00 and we had to pull the truck around to load up our bags and make check out. We were just a little late which turned out to not matter at all since the hotel had made the mistake of registering us for three more nights! So you’re saying the rush was totally unnecessary? Yes. Yes, it was.

Again, on to the next thing, let’s turn this day & vaca around, right?

We leave the resort behind with the intention to do a little exploring in Banff for the afternoon. We wanted to check out some locations for a trip in December when Matthew’s sister and her husband come to visit.

Not long in to the drive, Halle passed out cold. It was naptime and she was seriously overtired. It worked out for us to have a little drive by hotel tour. But then we found ourselves saying screw it let’s just head back while she’s asleep. We grabbed some lunch for the road, only to have our sleepy girl wake up as we hit the highway…

Despite the extended stay in the car seat and restlessness, she only cried here and there as we bribed her with timbits along the way ;)

We pulled back in to our driveway laughing as we realized our trip had lasted almost exactly 24 hours to the minute! Not at all what we had planned, but all you can do is laugh and pat ourselves on the back for trying!

Needless to say, we both decided any future quick trips to the Rockies will be daytrips only. No need for expensive hotels and wasted time in them...

And as for our December roadie, we’ll be getting a dog sitter ;)