.at 33 weeks, with the treb twins.

.at thirty three weeks.

::i officially look like i have two babies in there. sure, i am a little small for twins, but i take my shirt off and - whoa!
::the babies are lying in the worst possible positioning, breach + transverse. which basically means i'll be delivering via c-section if twin a doesn't turn around for me. not ideal.

::the heartburn, people! seriously, i've been put on a prescription for it. lying down, sitting up, walking, talking, breathing...it's always present.

:the twiners are chubby little monkeys. 3 weeks ago, they weighed in at 4lbs and 4.3 lbs [70th/80th weight percentile at the time!].

::i hardly wear pants anymore. be warned if you come to my house unexpectedly.

::i am craving caffeine of any sort. probably because i'm hardly sleeping at night, however.

::we bought an extra car seat, crib mattresses, cleaned out the bookshelf in the nursery and filled it with baby trinkets and have washed all of jack's newborn clothes. hurray!

::we also bought jack a "hello, brother" gift from the twins. it's this beautiful wooden pirate fort and i think he'll love it. everything is "piiir" [aka. jack's version of pirate] right now.

::my back feels like it's about to break in half some days. it's not great.
::and twin b loves to continually grind and roll into my ribs, which is something i never felt with jack. and....not great.
::my partner and i officially opened up our online children's boutique www.shoptheskinny.ca and it is going so awesome! such a happy and exciting time for us and i can't wait to see what the future holds!

::we just celebrated my sister and new brother-in-law wed. and it was beautiful. i even stayed till closing time!

::my pantry is about to get a cleaning.
::i basically only have 1 month left to go. whoo hoo!!
::i was lucky enough to spend one rainy & stormy night with the beautiful jessica from beautiful.simple.life.photography out at the lake. she's the one who captured all these gorgeous images [it's all her! i just showed up!] of me and my twin babies and i seriously have a little cry every time i look at them. i will cherish them forever. thank you so much, jessica xx

for those of you who don't think in terms of weeks...this means i'm now about 8.5 months pregnant!

.2013 in review & a happy new year.

"as the world makes a countdown to the new year, may you be wise enough to count only the blessings you have been showered with, the friends you have made, and the joys you've received in the past year" --author unknown

while i completely missed the deadline to get out my annual christmas cards this year [sorry friends!], minted helped me creatively come up with a way to say 'cheers' [and a 2013 recap] with something completely different - happy new year cards!!

brilliant, if you ask me!

and while i probably should have posted this last week when i received them giving you enough time to order your own, i really wanted to share what an incredible product minted created for us. the paper is top notch. the customer service is even more incredible. and it was so easy to use, with super fast shipping. bonus!

i know i'll be creating all my cards in the future with minted and highly recommend! stay tuned for a valentines day edition created by jack :). it's really adorable.

i also didn't want to miss the opportunity to wish you all a very happy new year from my family to yours. we expect big things for 2014, and i can't wait for the fresh start a new year brings.

*i've partnered with minted and affiliate links have been used, however all opinions are my own and i genuinely really like their products!

.thankful.

just wanted to pop in and wish everyone a very happy [canadian] thanksgiving! i know i'm already down one turkey dinner, with 3 more looming before me, which i am both incredibly thankful and incredibly excited for. things just don't get much better than a houseful of loving family and a belly full of turkey. 

in saying that, today i sit here thinking of this exact time last year. i was 10 months pregnant, over due by a 5 days and just ready to meet our sweet, jack. he, in his usual fashion, was late to the party and although we were surrounded by family i remember thinking we were missing one vital piece of that puzzle. our boy. 

now, this thanksgiving, he is here. and almost a year old! goodness! but everything feels so damn right. and so damn great. and i, for one, am so damn happy and thankful for all of it. each and every day i thank god for that little beautiful boy and all the joy he brings me. for my beautiful husband. for my beautiful family. for my beautiful friends. for it all. 

i hope you get to spend a few minutes being thankful for something that brings joy to your life. something that makes life beautiful.

xoe

*photo's by jessica leigh photography

.family photos - jessica leigh photography.

a while back my mother mentioned that she would very much like to get some recent family photo's done. i think the last set we took was from a sears portrait studio, a gift from my 11 year-old sister and my 13 year-old self to our mother for mother's day [oh, and they were un-real!], so needless to say i was totally on board with the idea! i was also 5 months pregnant at the time, so we waited till the little man was born before scheduling in a session. my mother found a great deal online and booked a fairly new photographer, named jessica from jessica leigh photography, and i have to admit at first i was a little skeptical. being the photographer lover that i am, i pride myself on knowing not only good, but great photographers in the edmonton area. i have given out countless recommendations to friends, have annoyed the crap out of my husband with our own bookings, and have gotten to know a handful of amazing photographers [and dare i call them now friends?!]. 

i have booked with arguably the best in the city for our wedding and engagement pictures [andrea from pink sugar photography]. i have tried out a few up and coming new photographers [erin from project life photography & paula from paula scherr photography] and adored both our sessions. i've done the labor session with arisa from mad bee photography that i will undoubtably cherish for the rest of my life. and i have been left speechless at the amazing eye, quality and creativity from a photographer who just has 'it' in every way [meg from els photography].

my point being - i wondered if we were we wasting our time with this newbie?

well friends i have to admit, we were left with some pretty damn good shots! yay! and i was so happy with the results, we booked my dad in on the action too with a session just for him! jessica was a pleasure to work with [such a sweetie!] and i say if you're in the market for some family photo's at a pretty decent price point [only because she's relatively new! so hurry!], i would def look into booking! thanks again jessica! the people over at fancy napkin wish you all the best in your new business adventure and can't wait for our next session!

here's just a little sampling of a few fav's from both sessions...

on another photography note [well, sort of!] have you voted for my little family for the h&m fashion family contest? it's still running till the 10th and you can vote daily! we're currently floating between 2nd & 3rd and could use all the help we can muster! we would totally appreciate the support and thank you x a million in advance [for you american friends, you need to use a canadian postal code to enter - t5t 1n2 - works just fine:)]

xo

*all photo's by jessica leigh photography