New Life, New Love

It’s been 5 whole months since I’ve updated this blog because I now have a 5 month old baby! What a major life change! Everyone says it’s the hardest but most rewarding thing you will ever do, and as cliche as it is, it’s true! I’ve never been more exhausted in my life while feeling my heart so full at the same time. This is our Rockwell Don at 5 months old!

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He is so smiley, he loves to play and giggle and have his naked time (I swear he’ll be a nudist when he grows up)! He was 10 days overdue and I had to be induced because he just had no interest in coming out, he hadn’t dropped, no dilation – he was at home sweet home in there! Those last couple weeks I was totally miserable! So big, so uncomfortable, so irritable – just a real pleasure to be around!

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He was finally born on November 14, 2016 after 11 hours of labour and 25 minutes of pushing (not bad!) at 8lbs 10oz and 21 inches. He was strong and healthy with ten fingers, ten toes, two eyes and a nose as my husband would say! The first couple nights home were a real challenge, I was not prepared for the constant waking, but he was overall a great sleeper and eater.

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I am an enormous control freak and love a good schedule and routine, the first three months were probably the hardest of my life. You can plan and organize all you want but  ultimately your baby is going to do what they want in those early days. I shed lots of tears but also lots of smiles!

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He’s experienced a lot of firsts these last few months, 1st Christmas, plane ride, Easter, laugh, first trip to the driving range, bath, swimming lesson and the list goes on and on!

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Christmas in Osoyoos

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First shots (more upsetting for me than him!), first Valentine’s Day, first purees, first roll overs and first toys. We love going for walks when it’s nice out, swimming, meeting friends for coffee and having breakfast together as a family.

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I’d say our biggest challenge has been naps, god damn it those naps! He’s a social boy and doesn’t seem to want to miss out so getting long naps out of him has been a major struggle, naps are my everest and I will conquer them! Although there is so much advice and information out there, there is also a ton of judgement and ideas that may not work for my baby and my family. Realizing that not one size fits all babies is hard for me, if I work at something I expect it to start working for me too! Some days I feel so frustrated and drained but then Rockwell will see me and smile and it makes it all worth it. It’s so nice to have friends having babies at the same time who can commiserate or come up with new ideas and plans, support is so vital! It’s crazy to me that he is 5 months already and he has changed so much. I have to remind myself to enjoy all these baby times and milestones because one day I’ll wake up and he’ll be in junior high and way too cool for me!

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He’s so cute I could die!

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Family Time

Since Ryan and I are trying to make the most of the time we have with Mickey and we don’t know how long that will be, we decided to do a family photo shoot of the three of us. Whenever we want beautiful pictures we know to immediately go to Sarah of Starseed Photography. We did them at the dog park because it is Mickey’s absolute favourite place to go, if you even whisper the words he’s at the back door ready to go. We were so lucky with the weather, it was really gloomy the few days prior but the sky gave us sun on this morning. It was cold though! These pictures are very special to us but I wanted to share a few of our favourites on my blog. My make up was done by my super talented sister Gillian from Make Up by Gillian ML.

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The most handsome prince!

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Fam Jam!

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I think this one above we will have enlarged.

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His face cracks me up in this picture!

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I’m really into my hair cut and colour right now but I HATE my bangs, I wish I didn’t cut them again and left well enough alone.

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Constant smothering!

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My favourite face.

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Jeans: Express

Boots: Target

Jacket: Roxy, similar here

Sweater: Zara

Mitts & Scarf: Beaver Canoe for Target

Lots of love to everyone’s families, especially all those fur babies! Have a wonderful weekend and stay warm.

Our Little Mickey

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ImageAnyone who knows me at all or reads this blog knows that I am 100% prime time in love with our dog, Mickey. He is a 4 year old boxer that we have had since a puppy, walked in our wedding and is just a joy to be around and have in our family. We just got the heartbreaking news yesterday that Mickey has terminal lymphoma. We are devastated. We have decided to treat it with steroids in an attempt to put it into remission and prolong his life. We did some research into our options, talked to our vet and thought long and hard and decided not to go the chemo route. He has been on steroids before for other issues and he responded well, so we are hoping for the best.

I think the hardest part for me right now is that he is so young, and knowing we’ll have to say goodbye so much sooner than we ever imagined.

I couldn’t even dream of having a better dog. He is so sweet, loyal, hilarious and unique. He knows when I need a cuddle and loves to go on runs. I would always say to him that he is an “actual angel” and now I really do think that’s true.

When we first saw pictures of his litter he was one of very few of his brothers and sisters that was looking at the camera. Without even meeting him in person we knew he was the one. He was the runt of his litter and his face was just the cutest thing we had ever seen.

We want to spend his remaining days loving him and trying to give back even a little of the immense amount of joy he has given us. He is just overall a good dog, we couldn’t have wished for anything more. He is my snuggler, my comedian, my workout buddy and my daily joy. I must have done something amazing in my previous life to get Mickey in this life. My hope now is that when it is his time to go he knows how much he is loved and how much happiness he brought to our lives everyday.

“He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.” – unknown

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