The Book Thief

It would seem that I am on a roll! Here's to my second post of the day!!!

I recently finished reading 'The Book Thief' written by: Markus Zusak. As far back as I can remember, and I'm talking like elementary school, I have had a certain obsession fondness for reading books and stories about World War II. I'm really not sure why this particular topic and setting appeals to me so much, but I continue to be drawn to it even all these years later. I have to admit that I bought this book a couple of years ago and started it, but for some reason, life got in my way and the book ended up neglected and unfinished on my bookshelf. It wasn't until my younger sister asked put this book on her Christmas wish list and my mom went to the movie that I remembered that I even owned it! Poor book. So, I went into the office and rummaged around my very unorganized bookshelf and retrieved it. And so, for the second time, I started reading 'The Book Thief'.

I found the book to have a unique style of writing. The book is narrated by 'Death' who is recounting the story of a young girl in Nazi Germany. The main character, Liesel, is faced with the death of loved ones, a new home, new family and new friends, learning to read and write, adjusting to life during the war and overcoming many obstacles. I especially enjoyed how the story focuses on the trials and hardships faced by non-Jewish Germans (while still bringing to light the horrendous atrocities suffered by the Jewish populations) as this is a perspective that is told less frequently. I felt like the author did a great of creating and developing such lovable characters and giving enough back story on each of them that by the end of the book, I felt like I knew them and loved them as much as Liesel did.

It truly is a powerful and heart wrenching book and I would highly recommend it to everyone looking for a good read.

Five Months!!!

And finally, to catch us up to the present, a post on my little man's fifth month. And what a month it was!

5 months - 14 pounds, 11 ounces

The first thing we did was to celebrate Rhett's first Christmas. It was so much fun to dress him up in cute outfits and buy him presents and stocking stuffers (which was obviously more for our enjoyment than his). And boy oh boy! Who knew a baby could be so spoiled!! I guess that is what happens when he is so loved by friends and family! How blessed we truly are.

We also had the opportunity to spend a day with close friends of ours. We had so much fun skating, stuffing our faces with Chinese food, watching the kids play and interact and then playing Pictionary together once the babies had gone to bed. Christmas is good for that. It gives you a reason/excuse to spend time with those you love, stay up late, have too much fun (if there is such a thing), and eat more than you know you should.

Little fish in a great big ocean...or swimming pool.

A few weeks ago, our really good friends were in Lethbridge for the day so we decided to have a swim date. Bryan and I were excited but also a little unsure of how it would unfold as this would be Rhett's very first time swimming!!! Rhett absolutely loves bath time, so naturally we assumed that he would be fine with swimming, but you never know. The last thing we wanted was to have him freak out and be traumatized or something like that.

We went out and bought some swim diapers, and made sure that the swim trunks we had fit him and then we met up with our friends (had a delicious brunch first) and headed to Nicholas Sheran pool.

We had so much fun (although Rhett doesn't look overly impressed in these pictures). We spent probably about an hour in the kiddy pool which had nice lukewarm water in it so we didn't have to worry about Rhett being too cold. At first he did seem overwhelmed by all the noise and people but eventually he would kick his legs and splash his arms and we even got some smiles out of him! I missed the boat on signing up for an infant swimming class in the winter session, but I am definitely going to try to get us into something come spring. I really want Rhett to be comfortable in the water and know how to swim as Bryan and I feel that this is a very important life skill. So for now, we will just have to make a few more trips to the pool on our own!

Four Months

As promised, here is a summary of Rhett's fourth month, to help get me caught up to where we are now!

4 months - 13 pounds, 8 ounces

I think month four was probably one of the busiest months we've had! It sure felt like it at least. Shopping, visits from friends and family and road trips to Grandma and Grandpa Bullocks for Christmas!

It started off with a new addition to the family...my older sister had just given birth to her fourth child, a darling little girl named Maea! I was so excited back in the spring when my sister announced that she was expecting. I had always thought that it would be so fun to have babies close together, but was never certain that it would actually happen! It is going to be so fun to watch Rhett and Maea grow up together, hopefully as good friends! When my sister went home from the hospital, her husband was unable to get off work so I packed up Rhett and we went to help my sister out for the first few days. I truly cherish the time I was able to spend helping out my sister and getting to know my new little niece!

Moving along...as we were in the middle of the Christmas season, I of course was busy decorating my house, listening to Christmas music and subtly trying to pass on my love for Christmas to my 4 month old baby! :)

Newborn Photo Shoot

In my continued attempt to catch up on the last 5 months, I have decided to rewind again and share some of my mom's AMAZING photography skills as she was kind enough to dedicate her time to do some newborn pictures of Rhett! I offered my skills as her assistant in the photo shoot and we had a fun time arranging props and posing Rhett.

(Obviously she was well compensated with plenty of snuggles from her newest grand baby)!!

Bella felt left out, so she decided that she needed to have her own photo shoot!! :) 

The First 3 Months

Wow! It is amazing how fast time can pass. Tomorrow, my sweet baby boy will be 5 months old! WHAT?!?!?! What the heck happened to my tiny newborn baby??? Well, I guess there is no time like the present to write a little something about the first 3 months (I figure I'll tackle months 4 and 5 another day).

From day one, Rhett was very alert. He always had wide open eyes, taking in everything around him. One of the comments that we heard many times from people was how little he resembled a newborn, that he just looked like a little boy. Another popular comment was how expressive his face was! I would have to agree.

He was, and still is a very happy, calm baby. We have been so lucky to be blessed with such a good little boy. I can probably only count on one hand the number of times that he has cried for more than a few minutes and for no apparent reason. I learned quickly, that if he was crying or fussy, he was letting me know that he was hungry, tired, bored or gassy.

And then there were three...

Well, four if you include Bella ;)

On August 23rd, 2013 our lives changed forever. I suppose our lives were changed months before that, when I first found out that I was pregnant, but I'll save that story for another day. For now, here is the story of the birth of our sweet little boy, Rhett David.

**Warning - I have not been shy about being detailed in this story as I did not want to forget anything.**

I had gone for my regular weekly check up with my doctor, Dr. Koegler, on Wednesday, August 21^st. At this point I was four days overdue (my due date according to the ultrasound was set for August 17^th). Dr. Koegler checked me and I was not dilated yet and had still only been having irregular Braxton hicks contractions. Since Dr. Koegler was taking a week of holidays that Friday, we decided that it would be best to book me in for an induction on Thursday, August 22^nd.  I was overcome with various feelings. On one hand, I was excited at the idea of no longer being pregnant and uncomfortable as well as knowing that I was finally going to get to meet my son. On the other hand, I was very nervous. Knowing exactly when you are going to have your baby and having the night to get everything in order was just a weird feeling. Like we were getting ready to go on a planned vacation, except in this case, we were going to the hospital to have a baby. I called Bryan to tell him the news. After absorbing the news, we were both very excited to finally get to meet our son, hold him and love him.

Welcome Back - Attempt Number Two

Well, here I go again! After almost 3 years of neglect, I am going to take another stab at this whole blogging thing! Back when I first started this blog, I had just discovered the fabulous and ENORMOUS world of blogging. Although I did not expect that my blog would amount to much, I still put pressure on myself to write posts that were interesting and eloquent or to attempt DIY projects and post step by step instructions as well as before and after photos. I was reading blog after blog that had countless followers due to the creativity each blog possessed. I felt overwhelmed. Eventually, I gave up because I convinced myself that I had nothing worth writing about.

Fast forward two and a half years. A lot has changed in my life. I am still not convinced that I am a great writer and that anyone, other than myself, would take the time to read what I have to say, but I am starting to realize the value of having my own blog. This realization comes in the form of my sweet baby boy and my desire to document his life and life with him. No pressure. No expectations. Just a place for me to record memories that maybe one day will be read by my children, grandchildren and so on.

So, even though I have a lot of catching up to do...challenge accepted!