Around this time last year, we were on our way to Nashville with the twins and Everest was still all cozy up in my belly. Now look at him! He’s 8 months old, is crawling and toddling around the furniture, and if you scroll down a few photos, you’ll see his first little tooth. Where on earth has the time gone?!?
We’ve sort of made a little tradition of taking a road trip together each fall. Two years ago, we did Chicago, last year we did Nashville, and this year… is still to be determined. We haven’t decided yet if we’re brave enough to venture out with the three kids while Everest is so small. One thing is for certain, whether we decide to be adventurous or not though – we recently got all the kids new car seats – so they’ll definitely be both comfy and safe! Up until Everest was about 6 months, we were using one of the twins old bucket car seats and probably the biggest issue I had with it was how darn heavy that seat was! I dreaded lugging it even from the car to the house because it was that hard to carry.
When we got our Graco SnugRide SnugLock 35 DLX infant car seat for him and I used it for the first time, its light weight design was the first featureI loved about it! No more sore arms and aching back. Phew!
My second most favourite feature about this car seat is that the button to adjust the handle is located right in the middle of the handle. This may sound silly but in the past with our old car seats, I had to push buttons on both sides of the seat at the same time to adjust the handle which was always so inconvenient and nearly impossible when the seat was in its base in the car, so this feature was a total game changer for me. As for some other awesome features, it features SnugLock™ technology, making it super easy to install in just three easy steps. All you have to do is buckle or attach UAS, remove the slack and then close the SnugLock arm! it makes a loud clicking sound to reassure you that it’s installed properly. This is a great feature to help grandparents or friends who may be driving my kids around and aren’t as familiar with carseats to know they’ve installed it safely. The seat also came with removable support cushions that add extra support for the head and neck of smaller babies. And of course, because I’m picky like this, it had to be pretty and sleek, which it definitely is!
Graco is currently running a promotion until the end of the year where they are offering an extra car seat base with the purchase of any SnugRide SnugLockinfant car seat. So if you or someone you know is in the market for a new car seat, go here for details on this promo! Thanks so much for reading!
This past weekend our family vacationed for 4 days at Sherkston Shores Beach Resort in Sherkston, Ontario. The twins have declared it their favourite beach vacation to date and Ron and I are in agreement. If we hadn’t driven the 2 hours ourselves, we would have never known we were so close to home. It had that tropical beach resort feel and once we were there, we didn’t have to leave the resort at all. Everything you need is right on site including a grocery mart, cafe (with the best iced coffee! yesss please!) and a Boston Pizza for that night you’re so wiped from swimming all day and can’t muster up the energy to even fire up the BBQ.
The little cottage we stayed in was so cozy! It was completely updated and so clean and had everything we needed. We didn’t have to worry about bringing dishes, sheets, towels etc., That was a relief! And the twins were obsessed with their bunking arrangement….mostly because they had a T.V. in their room!!
During the daytime, we took advantage of the on site pools, splashpads, skateboard park, minigolf etc., that we had unlimited access to. And every evening after supper, we would go down to the beach with a blanket, throw rocks in the water and play in the waves. We rented a golf cart to get around the resort and this was hands down the twins favourite part of the trip. They thought it was the coolest thing and loved “helping” Ron drive.
This 4 day getaway was the absolute best end to our summer and we began planning our next trip back to Sherkston Shores before we even left the resort!
I haven’t done a favourites post in a long time so thought I was due for one! I just wanted to share a few of my current favourite baby items that I genuinely love and use on a regular basis.They are all items I would highly recommend to every new mama out there. I’ll also be sharing some #mamalogues throughout the post from my very own journey through motherhood thus far.
This post is shared in partnership with Philips Avent. Product choices and opinions are my own.
Philips Avent Baby Bottles – For the most part Everest has been exclusively breast fed since day 1 but being a wedding photographer, I have had to leave him for 9-10 hour days from 3 months onwards. Finding the right bottle for him while I’m gone these long hours was so important to me as we’ve tried different ones in the past and he’s fussy with different nipples and such. We love the Philips Avent bottle as it has a nipple that resembles the natural form and feel of the breast. Everest seems to really like it as well and it’s made it easy for him to switch between breast and bottle feeding. This is so reassuring on my mama heart to know that I can leave him and he’ll be fine for food while I’m gone. My mom gave him 3 bottles without a problem the first time I was away! And even though I know he’s fine now when I’m gone, it’s always the best feeling in the world to come home for snuggles after so many hours a part from him. I remember after my first wedding, he was sleeping so soundly when I got home but I picked him up to snuggle because I missed him so much. Just so thankful we have found a bottle that he takes without any issues.
Wild Bird Modal Sling– Baby wearing has always been something I’ve been passionate about and I wanted to be able to do it more with the twins but it was always tricky to do so with two of them. So this time around I am LOVING it and after trying several different types of baby carriers with Everest, the sling is something we both love the best. I find it so comfy and supportive to wear and Everest loves being worn on the side where he can look around and also snuggle in for a nap when he wants to instead of being snug against my chest. This sling is the Carmine Modal. The Modal material is so so soft!!! I highly recommend.
Fawn Design Diaper Bag – I’ve gone through several different diaper bags since the twins were born and this is by far my FAVE!! It might be on the pricier side but worth every penny in my opinion. I don’t mind investing in things that I know I will love and get so much use out of and this was one of those items. I love that it’s a backpack because with three kids, I NEED my hands/arms free. It’s such a pretty and chic bag and I always have people who aren’t even moms asking me where I got it from! (It can totally be used just as a purse/backpack.)
Gathre Change Mat – We are huge fans of the company Gathre in our home. We have a different mat in almost every room and this is another item that is SO worth the cost. They are such great quality and so easy to clean too. We use them for everything. Crafting, beach days, at the park, in the backyard, for Everest to roll around on in the living room and of course as a change mat for on the go. This one is the admiral color and I absolutely love it.
Our Little Arrows Soother Clip: I love that this clip is not only so handy for not losing Everest’s soother 10 times a day but that it also doubles as a teether. It’s honestly his favourite teething item right now. He loves chewing on the silicone balls. The marble balls and wood combo is my fave!
Thanks so much for reading guys! Watch my video below for a more detailed description of why I love each product!
The twins love helping with Everest whenever they have the chance. Unless it’s throwing out a poopy diaper…than they fight over who has to do it! But they were so excited when we asked them to help us bath him a few weeks back and I had to grab my camera and document it of course.
We just love this natural coconut bath by Baby Be Mine. It’s formulated with only organic and natural ingredients and I loved using it for baths during pregnancy and now with little Everest as well. It’s amazing!
It seems surreal some days that we finally have a precious newborn in our arms. We are just so grateful and over the moon in love with this beautiful gift. Our sweet sweet, Everest.
If it had been according to our own plans, we would have had 4 children earth side by now – our twins along with a two year old (gender unknown) and also a 7 month old – our baby girl Paisley. But life doesn’t always go the way we hope it will and as hard as it was to suffer two painful losses over the past few years, I can’t imagine life without our son Everest in it, whom we otherwise might not have had the chance to know.
In the hours leading up to our daughter Paisley’s birth last March, I was such an emotional mess and had decided I did not want anymore children. But as soon as she was born, as soon as I laid eyes on our sweet girl, so wonderfully and perfectly made, everything changed. Ron and I both knew that we wanted to try and have another baby as soon as possible. We wanted a big family and it was such a strong desire placed on both of our hearts, more now than ever before.
But the hardest part in moving forward after we had had time to grieve, was not knowing what lay ahead for us. Combatting the fear of losing again was what I battled on a daily basis from the moment we began to try for another baby. Even though I had made the decision to trust the Lord with the future of our family, I had to continually re-surrender it all back to Him. I had to just wake up each day through this pregnancy and make the conscious decision over and over again to give all my fear and anxiety back to Jesus. And yes, we were blessed almost immediately with conceiving another baby and we’re so thankful for that. But I think about this often… what if the next chapter in our story had gone differently? The reality is that we could have still been trying today or maybe for another 5 years, or what if we had lost again? And again? Would we still be trusting and praising Jesus through it all? Yes, I absolutely believe we would. And that isn’t to say we wouldn’t have been upset and heartbroken had that been the case. But God used our daughter Paisley to teach us so much during that difficult season….We discovered ourselves what it truly meant to trust and be joyful when to this broken world, there wouldn’t have seemed like a reason to be. We both gained an entirely new perspective on life and what it means to be parents. We saw complete strangers question their faith and friends and family come to know Him better. And we have learned to own our story. The good parts and the bad.
I have learned to now stop and remind myself when I’m walking through a difficult season, that I will get through it with the Lord on my side. That He will hold us up when it’s too much to handle on our own and that we will come out of it stronger. And although I miss my daughter dearly each and every day and wish we had gotten the chance to know her, I’ve truly become grateful for that season in our life. For the way God changed us and used our loss for His glory.
So here we are today, with three beautiful boys and I can’t imagine it any other way. Everest Isaiah has brought so much joy and healing to our hearts. He is such a precious gift from the Lord and we thank Jesus for him every day. I often just stare at him and can’t believe He is ours.
So now onto the birth story of our sweet little man… My induction date was set for Tuesday, February 6th. I had requested an induction as we just wanted this baby boy healthy and earth side as soon as we possibly could. So my OB scheduled me in for 38 weeks. It was great to be able to put a date on the calendar that we could all count down to.
But the thing with induction, is that they give you a date but no time so you have to be ready anytime between 7 am and midnight with the odd chance that you may get pushed until the next day if they are too busy. Well apparently it was a BUSY day, because I didn’t get my call until 10 pm at night. The twins were disappointed as they had been waiting all day long for their sibling to arrive and had to go to bed not knowing when he’d be here. But we were happy to get the call before we went to bed and headed across the city to the hospital, ready for a long night ahead.
By the time we got settled in the room with our nurse, ready to begin the process, it was just around 11:30 pm. The resident on call began by breaking my water and gave me the option of starting the oxytocin as well or waiting it out a bit. We opted to start as I was just wanting things to move along as fast as possible by that point. I began to feel the contractions within an hour or so and athough the pain wasn’t all that bad at first, we ordered the epidural so I could get comfy and try and rest a bit through the night. It’s funny how every pregnancy and birthing experience is so different. I just assumed my induction experience would be pretty similar to my past ones but I felt different side effects this time with the epidural. I felt pretty nauseous until my nurse got me some gravol and got extremely itchy at one point through the night as well, it felt like my entire body was on fire. I’d never experienced any of these side effects with past epidurals. Other than that, it seemed to do it’s job and I was able to sleep for short periods of time. Although I was really just too excited to sleep much at all. During an induction, they check to see how dilated you are about every 2 hours. At around 5:45 my night nurse checked me for the last time before she switched shifts and I was approximately 5 cm. We assumed it would be a while before I was ready to birth. But after resting for another hour or so, right as our morning nurse was checking in at 7 am, I began to feel intense pressure as if I needed to push ASAP. I told the nurse what I was feeling and she agreed to check. Sure enough, I was fully dilated. She ran to get the OB and prep everything and it wasn’t long before I started to push. After about 30 minutes (what seemed to me like 3 hours) Everest Isaiah Young was born at 8:05 a.m., weighing exactly 8 lbs. They laid him on my chest right away and Ron and I just looked at each other and cried and cried. It felt completely surreal that we finally had our baby boy in our arms. All 8 lbs of him. We were in love.
My mom brought the twins to the hospital later that morning to meet their baby brother, the moment I had been looking forward to most. To say they were excited to meet this baby they had been talking to in my belly for months is an understatement. They had been counting down the days for what seemed like forever and it was finally here.
Since everything had gone smoothly and as planned, we were able to take Everest home that evening and by 8 p.m. we were all snuggled up in our living room, loving on our sweet boy. Below is some video footage of the boys meeting him for the first time. I cry every time I watch it. God is so, so good.
