Happy Hallowe'en!!

Happy Hallowe'en Everyone!! 

Our adorable little puppy

I dressed as Kitty. In order to make sure I "got" her essence, I had to sit in a box. 

Kitty dressed as Peanut. She actually liked the onesie. Weirdo. 

Trust me. It was delicious. 

Boo!!


P.S. I'm honoured to be nominated again for the Circle of Moms Top 25, this time for the Top 25 Canadian Mom Blogs. 
Head on over and vote for the ol' blog if you are so inclined. It's much appreciated! 

3 Months!

At 3 months Peanut:

~ weighs about 14.6 lbs

~ is 27 inches long

~ Favourite word is still "ah-goo"followed closely by "goy-ah-goy"

~ No longer sleeps very well

~ Loves to be sung to (currently the Beatles), to chew on his hands, and to grab his adorable little feetsies

~ Still dislikes Tummy Time, but can be tricked into it

~ HATES falling asleep

~ Started to giggle, but promptly forgot, so now he coughs instead. So cute. 

~ Grabs onto everything in his path 

~Throws up on every outfit as soon as we put him in it

~ Grows in cute-ness every day. 

xoxo

"MomSense": A Book Review

When I was contacted about reviewing MomSense: A Common-Sense Guide to Confident Mothering by Jean Blackmer, I must admit my interest was piqued. After all, it seemed like perfect timing. It came right at the time where I was beginning to question my abilities as a mother. After the initial shock of having a newborn baby to take care of, I felt like I got into the swing of things pretty easily. But it seems it was a false sense of security. Things that used to work wonders don't work at all now. Sleep is no longer something Peanut is all that interested in. He cries for no reason now. At least not any reason that is apparent to us. I was definitely losing confidence that I am doing this mommy thing right. So, it was with interest that I picked up MomSense and started to read. 

Right from the start I could tell that it would be an easy read. And thank goodness, because it's hard to find the time to squeeze in any reading between diapers, nursing, cleaning up puke (so much puke!) and attempting to keep the house in some sort of incredibly messy order. The book has a great, natural flow, and it's pretty funny. I definitely had a few moments where I laughed aloud. Which is awesome because a sense of humour is necessary for being a mom. 
I enjoyed the fact that this isn't a "how-to" guide for mothering. As mothers, we get enough people, books, media, etc. telling us what to do, how to mother, what we are doing wrong. MomSense is all about listening to what your common sense and your intuition tell you. And that is a refreshing reminder; that we know what the heck we are doing if we just listen to our instincts. Another thing I liked was the section on "Practicing your Momsense". There are 8 "senses" she explores: a sense of patience, respect, consistency, perspective, self-control, calm, joy and love. Each little chapter gives you ideas on how to practice these "senses", which I think are essential for being a great parent. 
Jean is the publishing manager for MOPS International. I must admit I had never heard of MOPS before this book. MOPS is a community that offers support, encouragement and resources for moms. It is also a faith-based group, and the book does address the role of faith in a mother's life as well. This is an honest review, and so I feel the need to disclose that I would not classify myself as a very religious person, and was a little wary about whether or not I would connect with this aspect of the book. I also struggled with whether or not to address this issue in the review, as I feel faith is a very personal issue. However, I feel that it was an intrinsic part of the book, and to write an honest review, I had to address it. And, in keeping with the honesty, it is definitely something that I have been examining for myself lately. The chapter on "Sensing Something Greater" starts out like this:
"Becoming a mother opens up a new window in a woman's mind and heart. Maybe it's that cute cherubic face smiling up at her, or the overwhelming feeling of love and a sense of responsibility, that lead a mom to experience a newfound longing for God in her life."
And you know what? For me that has been so true. In fact, it's a discussion that I had with Hubby a couple of weeks ago. Becoming a parent does make you re-examine the spiritual side of yourself, whether that be God, or whatever higher power you believe in. At least it has for us. And so it was interesting to have a book that talks about that aspect of parenthood, and how it all fits.
All in all, I really enjoyed the book. It is the perfect balance of reminders of what it takes to be a good parent without telling you what you NEED to do, think or say. I think it's a great read not only for new mothers, but for experienced ones as well. It did give me more confidence in myself as a mother, and that when I am questioning if I am doing it right, to trust my MomSense. 
Please note (in the interest of honesty, and legality!): I was given a copy of MomSense for this review, however all opinions are my own. I was not financially compensated in any way for this review. Thanks!

Images by Frost Giveaway Winner!!

Ok, here we go!! The winner of the photoshoot from Images by Frost is...

Comment #11: Jennifer!!! 
Congratulations Jennifer! Send me an email at upmommycreek (at) gmail (dot) com to claim the prize. 
Thanks so much for entering everyone! 

Essential Baby Items: The Exercise Ball

So, this edition of Essential Baby Items features an item that most people hate (or maybe just me?), since it is associated with exercise. However, this item is probably the most revered thing in our household at the moment; the exercise ball. 

The ball of magic (ours is 55cm)

I originally purchased this ball as a tool for labour. However, things didn't exactly go as planned. Rephrase; things went totally opposite of what we planned. In any case, I didn't really labour at home, so it never really got used. It came with an exercise DVD, so I suppose I could use it for that... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Anyway, we quickly discovered that this giant red thing that looks so tacky in our basement is actually a baby tamer. That's right folks; it soothes the screaming babe. Bounce on the ball while holding Peanut and he instantly goes quiet. Bounce long enough, and he might just fall asleep. Most often we just bounce him to the point where he sits and gremlins. 
(That's right. I used gremlin as a verb. 
To gremlin: the act of scowling grumpily while making grunting sounds while you breathe, often peppered with frequent dramatic sighs of displeasure)
I had heard all these wonder stories about swings and bouncy chairs. Sure, he likes them well enough, but if he's in a mood, there is no way he will tolerate those things. Putting him in one when he is upset just makes him scream more. The exercise ball has magic powers. It's like a forcefield of calmness surrounds it. 
In the beginning, only Hubby could use the magic ball, due to my c-section recovery. Now we both can, but Hubby is the pro. He even forgets sometimes and instead of sitting on the couch after the baby has gone for a nap he sits on the ball and bounces. And then I laugh. Poor Hubby. 
The ball is so powerful, that it is only matched by one other strategy, which is the walk/bounce/sway combo accompanied by Mommy or Daddy singing Bob Marley's "3 Little Birds" in an endless loop. That one works every time. 
This Essential Baby Item is a cheap one, and a sanity-saver. I think I paid about $12 for it. If you are still pregnant, then it's a great investment for coping with labour AND for baby-bouncing afterwards. And who knows, maybe one day I will also put in that pesky DVD it comes with and use it for it's intended purpose to shed some baby weight...pfffffft. Right. 

More Business of Being Born

So, I just heard some very exciting news. Well, I think it's very exciting, and so I want to share. 
Check out the trailer for the new 4 part series being released:

I loved "The Business of Being Born", and I'm super interested to see the rest of this series. More info on the series is at http://www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com

Our Baby Photos

I'd like you to meet someone special. Her name is Kinga and she is a genius with a camera. She runs Images By Frost. Check out her website to see some fabulous eye candy. 
 Hubby met her while in Thailand, and when the time came to choose a wedding photographer, he mentioned Kinga. We took a look at her website and fell in love with her photos. Even though she isn't from our city, we booked her anyway. She is awesome. 
We did our engagement session with her 

Our wedding

Our "Trash the Dress" in Banff

And finally, our baby photos. I love them so much!! I know every mom thinks this...but I have the cutest baby in the whole wide world! 

So, when I asked Kinga if I could post the photos on my blog, not only did she say yes, but she also offered an insane giveaway! 

Please Note: This Giveaway is now closed!!

She is giving away a FREE Kiddo photography session (a $399 value!!), which includes:

- One hour creative photography session

- Private online gallery with your images

- Complimentary 8x10 Fine Art Print

- Memories to last a lifetime :)

Soooo awesome! A little disclaimer: Kinga is in Edmonton, so in order to claim the prize, you have to be in, or willing to travel to, Edmonton.

To enter:

• Leave a comment below and tell us how old your kiddo is (or how old you kiddos are...) and "like" Images By Frost on Facebook (those ones are mandatory to enter, folks).
  
  
  
  

  For bonus entries, leave a comment below if you:
  
  1. Follow Images by Frost on Twitter 
  and/or
  2. Re-tweet the following message on Twitter
  "Win a FREE kidd-o session with @ImagesbyFrost at http://twe.ly/kesb"
  and/or
  3. Share this giveaway on Facebook

As always, you don't have to like or follow me, but if you like what you see around here, feel free to show some love :)

 The giveaway will be open until Friday, October 21 at 6:00pm MST. One winner will be chosen randomly from the comments posted using Random.org

Good luck!! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canucks!
Wishing you a wonderful weekend full of love, peace, happiness and deliciousness. 

Things That Make Me Happy Today...

Walking around in the comfiest shoes in the world. 

Wearing my wedding AND engagement rings. (see this previous post for why it's a big deal). It's like getting engaged all over again! 

Pic courtesy for The Pioneer Woman. She's a much better photographer than me...

Knowing that in a few hours I am going to devour this. And most likely lick the plate. Don't judge. 

Makeover Alert!

So, you may have noticed that things look a little different around here. I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I wanted to attempt to makeover the ol' blog. For the record: I did not, in fact, make it over. I found someone to do it for me. Someone who is much more talented than I. Someone who (most likely) did not have to spend 3 hours trying to get some page element to move over 1/3 of an inch to the right. Who is this genius, you may ask?! Why, it's Kim at 733 Blog Design! (insert applause here) 
What do you think of the new digs?
I did, however, do the photos in the banner. Well, and by "do the photos" I mean I arranged them and Hubby actually took them. So pretty much, I "did" them. Anyway, that was a fiasco in itself. To be honest, it is so incredibly difficult to take decent photos with crap lighting, but we tried to make it work. The fiasco part was the addition of Kitty. Why would I think that anything involving Kitty would go smoothly? We had a sheet hung so you couldn't see our insanely blinding orange wall (see photo in the sidebar for photographic evidence...the other walls opposite of these lovely orange beauties are red...I still can't believe we never painted when we moved in. Sigh.). Well, Kitty refused to stand on the sheet. She really wanted to be BEHIND the sheet though. And she also wanted to attack it, and "surprise" us by jumping out and attacking us. Except we weren't surprised at all, because she is a cat behind a white sheet. And she didn't jump out at all, because the sheet was too long. So basically, she just moved the sheet forward, and then got her claw caught in it and couldn't move. So she sat there with her paw stuck in the sheet and purred for like 7 minutes. 
Please excuse the quality of the photos...we didn't have time for things like "focusing". We were too busy being baffled.

Everything is A.O.K.

Things take a turn...

Surprise!!

She sat here for 7 mins. Purring. 

End result. 

Did I mention she is really pretty? 

Touchnote Giveaway

So, there is a new app out there called Touchnote. It's a pretty cool concept, actually. You upload a photo, and then it sends the photo as a postcard. Like by snail mail. A real, old school postcard. I think this is sort of genius, simply because I can think of a ton of cool ways to use it. For instance, when you travel you can send postcards of your own photos instantly, no need to head to the cheesy souvenir shop for the standard tourist fare. All those cool Instagram photos? Send 'em! 

(ok, I have to admit something here...I don't have an iPhone. 

In fact, I don't have a phone that can take pictures, or download apps. 

Is it sad that I want an iPhone just for the Instagram thingy?!

Those photos are so awesome...better than my camera sometimes. 

I am slightly jealous)

It could be a really good option for birth announcements too. I also think it would be awesome to send my brother a postcard of something stupid that I saw that reminded me of him. Such as this:

Aww...Buster. 

Sort of like when he text-to-landlines my house and the creepy robot voice gives me unsettling messages. 


I used it to send postcards of Peanut to Hubby and the Grandparents. It's cool because you get to write a message on the back, and so I thought it would be cute to send it to them from Peanut ( "Dear Daddy, ah-goo!' You know, that sorta thing). They, of course, loved it. Grandparents and parents are suckers for that sorta cheesy thing. 


You can't argue with the price. It only costs $1.49 per postcard. So basically, they print it out and mail it for you anywhere in the world for $1.49. That's cheaper than postage in some cases! I was pretty impressed with the quality, as well. The photo quality was bang-on and it's sort of a glossy, plasticy sort of paper, so it's not going to get trashed in the mail. Ours was a little bent at the edges, but that's sort of the charm of postcards. 


You can use the website to send them if you are like me and don't have a cool phone, or you can use their app for iPhone or Android. Also, it looks like they will be adding a Facebook option soon...


Want to try it out? The first 20 readers to send an email to mums (at) touchnote.com get free credits!