Josie's 1st Xmas Tree!

Yesterday we headed out to a friend's tree farm to pick out our family Christmas tree. It's of course extra special this year as it's Joséphine's first Christmas!

That's our tree in behind us!

After manly cutting the tree down, the man of the house manly carries it back to the car.  Like a man.  Manly.

No need to comment on how cute this is!!

There are also horses on the farm.  Josie met her first large mammal!  I should mention that she slept through this entire experience.  Ingrate.

 

We did realize that her arm looks like a carrot.  She only tried to eat our baby once or twice ;)

 

 Back at home...

 Finished!

And then Josie hung up her 1st Christmas ornament.  Thank you Grandma West!

 

 

Merry Christmas everyone!
XOXOXO
Sarah, Rémi, Joséphine & Maggie

Grandma and Grandpa West's visit!

My parents were able to visit right away after Josie came home - only two days later!  Remi and I had thought that we wanted a week home en famille before welcoming any house guests, but Mom and Dad were a Godsend!   Mom was instrumental in keeping up with dishes, making sure I got fed and changing baby bum, and Dad was able to sneak in a few home renos (notably a new kitchen tap!!).  AND they got lots of new baby cuddles :)

 

 

 We also fit in a walk or two :)  And had great weather!

 Daddy's little specimen...

 

Luckily Grandma was around to help us with our first bath at home (thanks again for the tub, Carol!).  Josie...  hated it.  You can see the contempt in her eyes below.  Bath time has gotten a lot less painful and is now Papa-Josette bonding time :)

 

 More cuddlies.

 

Lots of Papa cuddles!

Rosie also took every chance to be with Josie!

 Proud Grandpa :)

 And Grandma!

 Rémi even fit in time for some glamour shots!

 

 And some wine tasting ;)

 We were able to fit in Thanksgiving dinner as well.  Yum yum!

Another walk.  LOOK!  My dad is walking!!  Happily strolling with his granddaughter :)

 

 We had an afternoon out by the campfire too.  Thanks to Aunt Kristin for the hat and blanket!

 One more glamour shot!  The leaf was my dad's idea.

Mom wanted some family photos on the sofa.  I'm not sure what's happening here...  Baby trophy?  Toss the baby?  Or maybe she just pooped?

 Looking forward to more visits - thanks for coming out, Grandma and Grandpa!

First day home

We came home from the hospital on a Sunday evening and Maggie came home on Monday morning.  This is probably the most attention she's paid to Josie since she came home!

 These are just a few photos from our first day home.

Cuddles with daddy (melt my heart!).

Reading already!!  And posed on Rémi's baby blanket.

 Cuddles on her first quilt - thank you Grandma West!

 Out for our first walk!

 Sleeping beauty :)

Joséphine's Birth Blurb

As most of you know, we welcomed Josie into the world October 17 at 4:23 am.  I thought I would share a bit of her birth story, very briefly, and then show a few pictures from the hospital.

Joséphine made us wait.  At 10 days past her estimated due date I was induced at Abbotsford Regional Hospital.  We were sent home for the afternoon but came back around 6 PM.  I was 5 cm dilated at this point and so was admitted.  I laboured for 6 1/2 hrs on my feet at the bedside without any medications (we were trying to do a 100% natural birth) with a lot of help from both Rémi (most amazing husband ever) and our doula, Amanda.  I would strongly recommend anyone giving birth think about hiring a doula - we couldn't have done it without her.  At this point, I was still not fully dilated and I accepted some pain relief to allow me to rest during contractions.  After about 2 hrs of this, I was still not fully dilated!  I accepted an epidural and we all slept for 2 more hours.  The doctor was hoping that taking away my urge to push would take the pressure off and allow my cervix to finish dilating.  Unfortunately, I was still at 9 1/2 cm after 2 hours and we decided as a team that it would be best if I had a C-section.  Joséphine was born less than 45 minute later!  Weighing in at 7 lbs, 7 ounces and measuring 50 cm, our little monkey was born!

Here are a few pictures from our hospital stay.

We look a bit goofy in this photo but it's literally an hour after Josie was born, so here we are sharing it with the world ;)

 We were all exhausted!

 New baby face!

 Papa!!

 She's so much bigger now. It's incredible!!

 Peak-a-boo!!

 We MADE her!!

 Snug as a bug :)

More to come!
S