And Then There Were 4

 It has been one month since the birth of our little girl.  Life with two little ones is certainly busy!  Some days go by in the blink of an eye, really this whole month has been a blur!  Our days start with diapers, bottles, cuddles from a very adoring big brother (and some days temper tantrums from said adoring brother... ahh the "terrible twos").. By the time we are all ready for the day it seems like it is nap time.  When nap is over, we start the routine over again, and then its time for bed! (for the kiddies and me, this whole mother of two thing is exhausting!)  As hectic as our days are, I wouldn't change a thing (well maybe I would add a maid to the mix, because really who has time to clean?!?)

There are some days that I am completely overwhelmed by how lucky I am.  I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful little family.  Our little boy has adjusting amazingly well, and we are all in love with our newest addition.  I am sure in the future I will have many many posts with both of my little loves, but this one is for my little snuggle buggy :)
 

our little girl with the bunny her big brother gave her at the hospital

The headband really is too big for her, but it is just too darn cute :)

this is one of my favorites!

not feeling the crazy head band, but she is still cute while she screams haha

love her :)

Play Date madness!!

When we moved here we knew absolutely no one.  It was completely overwhelming being in a new country, alone and pregnant.  In previous posts I have talked about a wonderful group of moms that I have found that have really been my saving grace.  Through this mom's group, I met another mom who I have a lot in common with.  Well, right off the bat, Holly is also pregnant, and due just 5 weeks after I am.  She also has a little girl, that is just a month older than Gray.  Gray and Ava get along so incredibly well, and have a blast together every time we get together, while Holly and I chit chat.  Gray and I look forward to our play dates with Holly and Ava :)  I brought my camera along with me to our play date today hoping to get some cute pictures of Holly, Ava, and Holly's adorable baby bump, but as soon as I took out my camera Gray and Ava (well mostly Ava ;)... ) took over the show.  What a pair of goobers :)

Little Picassos Play Date

As soon I as knew we were moving to Canada, I knew that I needed to find a mommy group to join. I knew that sitting in the house day in and day out with me and Gray just staring at each other would lead to no good, he would get bored with me pretty shortly, and I would just go insane with no adult interaction. Shortly after we arrived I started my search and quickly found an amazing group of moms. The Oakville Mom's Meet up group keeps us busy with a few activities a week, Gray love to "play kids" and I LOVE the interaction with other moms :)

Today we went to a play date called "Little Picassos." The mom hosting it did a wonderful job setting stations all over the yard with paints, crayons, markers, and chalk. She even had a station for painting with feet!! (I have to say, Karen, you are MUCH more organized that I am!) As I was gathering the supplies we would need last night, I thought "what a great opportunity to get some shots of the kids being creative and just having a blast!" Unfortunatly, being just about 8 months pregnant, and chasing a 2 year old around is not the best recipe for taking a bunch of pictures. I did get a few of the kids playing, maybe next time I will be able to get more :)

A day at the Zoo

As many of you know, we recently moved to Canada. While everyone at home is enjoying 80/90 degree perfect beach weather, we are still in the 60s and 70s (not that I am really complaining about that, being almost 7 months pregnant I really do not want the 90 degree weather!)..but along with the cooler temperatures, it has been raining, a lot. In the past week, I believe we have only had one sunny day, the rest have been cool and rainy. So when I checked the forecast for this past weekend, and saw that saturday was supposed to be 74 and sunny, I emailed my husband at work right away and said that we HAD to do something outside, as our two year old son and myself have been trapped in the house for a week! We decided on the Toronto zoo. So on Saturday morning, as soon as our son woke up, we all got ready, loaded in the car and made the hour long trek to the zoo! When we left the house it was cold and rainy (no where on the forecast were they calling for rain) but we decided that we didn't care, we were going!
Thankfully the light rain and cooler temperatures did seem to keep most of the large crowds, and by the afternoon the sun was shining and it actually turned out to be a beautiful day! We did not realize how large the Toronto Zoo is, but it really is very very large. Walked all day, and our poor son did not quite make it the whole day, he ended up napping in his stroller as my husband and I checked out the zoo. We got around to seeing most of it, but as I said earlier, I am almost 7 months pregnant, so after 5 hours of walking, I was getting cranky and was just ready to go home. We will definitely be going back while we are living here, but I think we will wait until our family of 3 has turned into a family of 4.

Carter is here!!!

Kelli and I have been great friends since the 7th grade.. we met on the bus and the rest was history. We did everything together thoughout middle and high school. Every weekend we were either at her house or my house. We went on family vacations together and everything, our poor families for having to deal with us as a constant pair for so many years! As the years have gone on life has taken us on different paths, Kelli moved to Florida for a few years, I missed her tons but we still stayed close. She FINALLY moved back to NJ, I was SO excited to have my friend back!! And about a year later I found out that I had to move to Canada, I tried to talk Kelli into coming with me, but she has two things holding her back. Her wonderful boyfriend Tony, and her ADORABLE son Carter... Just take a look at this kid, and you will quickly see why she was not willing to just up and leave to go to another country with me :) The minute I found out Kelli was pregnant I was beyond ecstatic... and this little man is exactly why!

Gray is two!

It has been a very long time since my last post.. life has been busy to say the least. I have had to put my photography on hold for some big changes happening in our lives. For starters we are expecting our second little one in august! (and we think life is busy now, HA).. and the biggest change.. we have moved to Canada. My husbands career has taken us away from our families and friends, and placed us 35 minutes from Toronto.
With all of that being said, I just had to write a post about another important event in our lives. Our little man, Gray, is now two years old! How did this happen already? I still remember very clearly the day I found out I was pregnant with him, and my husband laughing at me for taking a pregnancy test at 5:30am haha. I jumped on the bed, woke him up to tell him the good news, and I believe his exact words to me were "Richelle, its 5:30, its too early to be pregnant" haha. Then I blinked and he was born, before I knew it he was sitting up on his own, crawling, giving hugs and kisses, walking, and talking! And now, he is two years old! Where did the past two years go?? We are so proud of the little man that he is becoming, saying please and thank you, giving everyone hugs and kisses, and today he even put HIMSELF in time out for hitting before I even had to tell him to go there! This little guy is the reason I even bought my camera and decided to throw myself into photography, he is also my reason for living :)