Where to begin to fill you in on the last month?! It’s been a blur of events. A blissful, happy blur.
It hasn’t quite felt real.
I found myself thinking about that quote from high school English class: “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” It just seems like life is different now but not much has really changed.
Our new reality is starting to settle in though and I’m really wanting to document these memories... before the little moments are lost to my mom-brain fog ;)
I also have an ongoing list of blog ideas that I’d really love to make time to write. Truth is I actually have a lot of “down” time, thanks to nursing, that I could turn in to blogging time, thanks to smartphones. But sleep deprivation makes it hard to get in to a writing groove sometimes...
As for now, here’s a look back at the month of May aka best month ever ;)
Matthew’s Mom arrived at the start of the month. He was working his last set of work away before baby’s arrival. It was such a relief to have her there! As soon as he left for work I started having cramps. Since both girls came a little early I was definitely anxious and nervous the aches and pains could be early labour. Matthew ended up taking some “family days” shortly after which got him home a couple days earlier than expected. It relieved us both of worry to know we wouldn’t have to scramble if he was away (again) if I went in to labour.
However, a whole week and a half was to follow making due day a real waiting game. It seemed like everyone expected me to go early. I had to remind myself that pregnancy doesn’t have an expiry date, it’s simply an estimated arrival ;) ...and this date had been the most questionable for us this time around since I didn’t have an early ultrasound. It also made us probably the most prepared this time around for labour. Which I am certainly grateful for!
We spent those days leading up to baby time celebrating all sorts of other special moments!
The following weekend, Matthew’s dad arrived. (And so did the warm, spring weather - finally!) We booked a Mother’s Day brunch reservation for all of us. It was really nice to have Matthew home and spend the holiday with my MIL in town. Little did I know, we would have more to celebrate that day!
We had been at the mall the day before. I had seen a cute necklace at a pop-up shop that I mentioned to his mom. Matthew had run out later that day so I thought she might have said something to him to swing back and get it as a gift... (Matthew has actually never bought me jewelry so I’m not sure why I thought this... ) but, as he and the girls presented me with a small gift bag that’s what crossed my mind. As I pulled out a much fancier People’s Jewellers box I knew it wasn’t the necklace. Of course the other thing crossing my mind almost seemed too good to be true! I was thrown off, and so was he, because his idea didn’t really go as planned... yet it seemed true to our not-always-to-plan style, so it was great ;)
Halle had been ‘in’ on the gift. She was so excited for me to open it! What kid isn’t excited about presents?! She was supposed to help ask the question. Me being me, asked the girls if they wanted to help me open it. Autumn being Autumn, kind of took over and pulled it out of the bag, not knowing what was in that little box. This left Matthew standing watching the chaos of the moment and lead to me opening the box. “Are you serious?” I asked... I knew it but couldn’t believe it. And Halle promptly shouted it’s “a wedding ring!” And Matthew asked me to marry him! We hugged and kissed and it was a happy, messy blur of a moment with two giddy girls telling us we’re going to get married!
All of which clued Nanny (Matthew’s Mom) in on what was happening. She had casually started unloading the dishwasher ha because I had suggested to the girls we sit at the table to open the gift... oops! And Poppy was sitting on the couch... hence yet another reason why my gift took me by surprise! And them too, obviously! I guess Matthew just wanted to surprise us all ;)
Anyway, it was a great moment that completely took my mind off the baby waiting game and labour nerves! It also gave us some wonderful news to share with family who would be calling on FaceTime for Mother’s Day wishes. It really made the day extra special!
The ring had to be resized to fit my finger so I was sad not to wear it out that day. We had enjoyed a lovely brunch and it was this sort of unreal sense of happiness and content.
The celebrations continued as we celebrated Matthew’s mom’s birthday that Thursday. It was her 60th and I wish we could have thrown a bigger party. But with baby yet to arrive and all of her family back home it just wasn’t realistic. She certainly wasn’t complaining to spend the day with her grandkids though! We celebrated with take out Chinese food for supper and birthday cake.
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Of course we wondered if baby would share her special day but it turns out he wanted a day of his own! Later that night I awoke with more frequent and intense contractions. I got in the shower around 3:30am in case this was ‘go’ time. An hour later we checked in to the hospital. Then, at 12:54pm on May 18, Jordan John was born! We were overjoyed to meet our baby BOY!
I’ll be sharing his birth story (+ photos) in detail soon. I’m thankful to have documented both girls (here & here) so I can reflect on the details as the years go by. I will say, my labour and delivery was another positive experience and the gender surprise made it all the better!
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We spent the rest of the month soaking up family time. Matthew’s parents helped us with some backyard projects, served us home cooked meals and spoiled our girls with lots of fun! We had Autumn’s ballet recital and enjoyed some outings as a family of 5 to the lake and the zoo.
As slow as the month seemed to start, reflecting back, it flew by! I’m grateful for all we celebrated and will share more stories very soon.
Thanks for reading XO
