birth announcement

one thing i've always been excited about when my babies are born is designing their birth announcements :)

so much fun!

with this little guy i was also pretty excited about taking his newborn pics

unfortunately he was not so excited lol

i got a few, but he was just not a happy camper that day

he was pretty much awake for 4 straight hours

on the up side, his days and nights are pretty much straightened out now :)

i did get one shot which was perfect for the birth announcement i had in mind for him

i haven't got them printed yet, but hopefully soon!

let me know if you would like one sent your way :)

(also, message me your address if i don't have it)

Asher Dai Sonifrank

as most of you probably know, our beautiful baby boy is here!!!

Asher Dai was born at 5:27 am, September 30, 2013

he was 7 lbs. 13 oz, and 19.5 in. long

he is absolutely as sweet as can be!

Monday morning at 1:30am i woke up not feeling very well

i laid in bed for a bit and realized i might be having contractions

so i got up and puttered around the house a bit waiting to see if they were regular 

after about an hour and a half i was pretty sure i was going into labor

so at 3:00 i woke dave up and we got things together to go to the hospital

and called a friend to come to the house to be w/ Brighton for the rest of the night

we got to the hospital at 4:05

i was 6/7 cm dialated

they called the doctor

i'm not sure what time he got there, but about the time he did my contractions began to become super intense...and of course that's about the time that the nurse wanted to put an IV in my hand

she tried once and missed the vein

needless to say, i didn't let her try again lol

i figured if i seriously needed an IV they could put it in when that time came

plus, i had to push! this baby was coming out whether they were ready or not

i think i may be making a name for myself w/ the doctors here in Red Lake

the baby doctor didn't make it in time for the birth

and the doctor that was there was delivering my baby and calling for the nurses to bring his tray of tools at the same time :)

so i've heard that it gets easier w/ each baby

it may get faster, but i'm pretty sure this birth was even more painful than Brighton's

there was one point at the very end where i just had to scream...i didn't scream when Brighton was born

i would just like to say that natural childbirth may be amazing in that God did design a woman's body to bring new life into this world, but it is also the most awful thing i have ever experienced.

it makes me seriously wonder whether or not i want to have anymore kiddos.

i know i do, but i dread the thought of giving birth to another baby.

on another note, i am very thankful for nitrous oxide!

it doesn't do any good before it gets to the pushing part, but at that point it does take a bit of the edge off!

i started pushing at 5:22

my water broke at 5:25

Asher was born at 5:27

he is perfect in every way

and he's happy!!!

i can't even describe what a blessing it is to have a happy baby

i just want to eat him up all day long

after six months of bouncing a fussy baby when Brighton was born, Asher feels like a dream :)

around 8:00 Molly brought Brighton in to meet her new little brother

she was pretty unsure about him

she went over to him and gave him a kiss 

then she held him for about half a minute

and then she was done

basically wouldn't acknowledge that he was there lol

now that we're home and she's on her own turf, she is doing really good w/ him

she mostly does her own thing, 

but every now and then wants to give him a kiss

and brings his soother over for him when he fusses

newborn // brodie bernard

4 days young

and o so sweet!

it has been so fun to be pregnant alongside my good friend kerri!

we were both expecting little boys

and now i can hardly wait for my little bundle to get here!

she was due 3 weeks before me

and 4 days after this little guy was born, i got to take his newborn pics :)

congrats on a perfect little boy kyle and kerri!!!

and thanks so much for letting me capture that o so sweet newborn stage :)

iphone pics from the year so far

excuse the quality of the following pics

neither dave nor i are so hot at taking pics w/ the phone lol

some people's iphone pics are amazing

don't know how they do it

but ours sure aren't!

nonetheless, our phone has captured a few moments over this past year that i want to share :)

dave and i back in january when we found out we were pregnant w/ baby #2!

Bump and her lovely bag of stinky diapers lol

crazy morning hair

somebody tried to drink dad's coffee lol

ready for church

blowing snot bubbles

too cool for school w/ dad's safety glasses

1st ever happy meal

mmmmmm.....strawberries!

evening at the park

daddy and his little girly

Costa Rica w/ Bump #1 and Bump #2

little ears just a hurtin' from the changing air pressure

airplane ride @ Norseman Days in Red Lake

Brighton loved the rides at the fair this year

taking a family picture in the ferris wheel

we have this amazing tradition that we started this summer

every sunday morning we go on a family walk up to Tim Horton's for breakfast

i think dave and i would both say it's one of our favorite parts of the week

relaxing, refreshing, fun, and yummy!

and just this week Dave officially became a Canadian citizen!!!

my 2 Canadians :)

end of pregnancy musings

at the end of this month Bump will be 21 months old

and at the end of this month

or at the beginning of next month

she will be able to kiss her baby brother's belly instead of my belly ;)

she's been fun w/ this new baby thing

she knows his name

she holds things up to my belly for him such as her soother, food, etc.

several times throughout the day she asks to give kisses and hugs to the baby

i'm curious if she'll connect the dots when he actually arrives

this pregnancy has been different than the last one

this pregnancy i was able to keep active for the first 2 trimesters but the 3rd trimester has been a bit tougher. 

i'm tired. 

my back and belly have started hurting. 

and pushing a stroller up hills w/ a 24 lb. toddler about does me in!

my last pregnancy i didn't do a whole lot for the first 2 trimesters

but was able to go to the gym several times a week during the last trimester

"running" on an elliptical and doing the stationary bikes were perfect exercise those last couple of months.

now that i have a toddler, the gym isn't really an option

and just getting out is a lot more work than it use to be! 

right around 27 weeks i started having ligament pain in my lower abdomen so i had to stop running

crazy that 10 weeks ago i ran 21 km and now i can't even run 1!

the plus side is that i'm not nearly as hungry as i was the first 2 trimesters

and i'm enjoying just taking a break and just letting my body rest for a while

another difference this pregnancy is that i've been having braxton hicks

they sure are annoying!

the other day i had them most of the evening and i was starting to wonder if i was going into labor

thankfully i wasn't

i'm pretty sure at 4 weeks early they would have choppered me out to another hospital

i also feel like i've been more hungry this pregnancy

and my craving unfortunately is SUGAR!!!

i could probably eat cinnamon toast crunch all day long lol

so far i've put on 6 more lbs. than i did w/ Bump

kind of a bummer...but such is life

i feel like it's just been a bit harder to be disciplined this pregnancy

mostly because my days revolve around Brighton and not just myself

it's much easier to just get out and go when you don't have a little one in tow!

who knows what will happen when i have 2 little boogers to chase around and not just 1!

this baby is carrying bigger and lower than Brighton did

i'm sure some of that has to do w/ the fact that my stomach muscles are already stretched out now

Brighton was so tight in my belly that her leg bones were super bowed for the first year of her life

she also kicked me in the ribs ALOT

super painful!

this little guy is being much kinder :)

this Friday i will be 37 weeks along

so he could come anytime!

but i'm not counting on it lol

Brighton was 4 days overdue

i've always found this stage in pregnancy to be a bit weird

basically you have a whole month where the baby could come anytime

3 weeks "early"

2 weeks "late"

who knows :)

i think they mostly just come whenever they're ready

and some just need to incubate a bit longer than others :)