Well we've made it to 3 months with our little Bentley! It was a little harder to get a picture this time because when I lay her down she just loves to kick those legs of hers. It's actually pretty adorable!
She is continually growing and still the cutest thing ever to me. Lately she's started talking a lot...we will lay her in her crib for a nap and she will babble for a good while until she eventually falls asleep. She definitely recognizes her parents and gives us smiles often - especially when her dad gets home from work! I've taken her for a few walks since the weather's starting to get nice and I can't say she loves her stroller or car seat like she used to, but she's slowly getting more used to it. We love to visit people and it's so nice to have so many friends nearby to hang out with! Her grandparents are also so fun to see and we make sure we visit with both of them often, and they sure help me out with Bentley. Bentley also got to see her great Grandma and Grandpa Nielson this Easter as they had come to Calgary to visit. We had a great time eating turkey dinner and socializing with the whole family (although Jeff wasn't feeling well so he had to miss out on the fun...).
We find it pretty funny when we put Bentley on her tummy because she will lift her legs and head simultaneously and do the "superman." She wears herself out quickly though and wants to lay on her back, but I make sure I give her plenty of tummy time in a day to strengthen her muscles. She gets pretty close to rolling over but not there yet!
We made a visit to the dental office I worked at and everyone just loved Bentley (although she would cry whenever someone besides me held her). It was weird going back to the office, but fun to see everybody. As much as I love the staff, I can't say I miss working. I'm definitely a born stay at home mommy! I also got some x-rays taken while I was there and unfortunately I need a filling, but it was sure fun to be in the patient's chair rather than the assistant's chair!!
I have so much fun hanging out with Bentley each day, snuggling with her, and reading her books. It's so easy to take a million pictures of her, but I'm trying to take more with other people or me in it as well! There's always hard days with Bentley, but overall she is a very happy girl.
Bentley is now 2 months old...although this post is a little bit late. I can't believe how much she's growing! She's got some super cute rolls now and a nice double chin. We love this cute thing to pieces!
So the 2 month mark means it's time for Bentley to get her first shots. I was terrified for this day as I never want to see Bentley crying in pain! I made sure Jeff came with us, but it turned out to be a lot easier than I had expected. She got 3 needles in her legs and definitely cried after every one, but it didn't take her long to settle down afterwards. I fed her right away and then she fell asleep. She acted very different in the next few days, but it was actually kind of nice because she was so cuddly. She had a bit of a fever and slept a whole lot. She's now back to her usual, bubbly self again.
Well now that Bentley is another month older we've noticed a lot more personality. She can now recognize our voices and smiles a lot when we talk to her! She loves to kick her legs, especially when we change her diaper, and she's getting stronger and better at holding her head up. We've tried to sleep Bentley in her bassinet in our room, but unfortunately it just isn't soft enough for her! I swear she could tell if we put a pea underneath her mattress...what a little princess. She loves our bed and her crib, so we've started sleeping her there and sometimes on the couch (shhh don't tell!). Needless to say we make sure she is very safe! I think it will be a good thing because we won't have to transition her to the crib. She already loves it! She is a great sleeper most of the time. For a while she was sleeping 6-8 hours in the nighttime which was absolute bliss...but now we seem to be going backwards. Let's just say every night is unpredictable!
I love being her mom and I get excited to see her smile at me after a nap, or try to eat my face when I kiss her on the cheek (haha). I think she is the most beautiful girl ever, and I can't wait to experience the next phases of her life with her!
It's official, Jeff and I are building a house! We've been looking around at houses ever since we discovered I was pregnant, and now that our little girl has arrived, our 2 bedroom apartment is getting tighter. We can definitely live in it and be okay for a while, but once Bentley can walk it will just be too small. It's been certain for months that we were building but we didn't feel like going too public with it. Now that our hole is dug and our studio selections are made, it seems more official and exciting!
Our house is located in Legacy, which is in the very south of Calgary, off Macleod Trail and right beside Walden. It backs on a pond with a nice path where we can have daily walks. I've been very nervous about this location and the whole idea of building a house bigger than we have furniture for, but lately I've been getting more and more excited about it. I think the hardest part is leaving the ward and the friends I've made, and also my daily routine. I love 130th Ave and Deerfoot, but I will learn to love new things. It will hopefully be the place where we stay for most of our lives, and I'm feeling good about that. It still makes me super nervous, but I feel like that's pretty normal.
Well, it's a big year for us...from having a baby to building a house, not to mention buying a business! It's been hectic trying to get to all these meetings with a baby and sleep deprivation. We've been a bit overwhelmed! I have to say I wasn't really enjoying the process of building a house until I got to the design studio...the fun stuff! I had a blast choosing our floors, counter tops, cabinets, etc...it's going to be really cool to see it all put together. It's tough to see the numbers rack up (as everything seems to be an upgrade!), but we are almost done, and then we will just watch our house being built. So far the hole is dug, but it's due to be finished around November...(who knows when the actual date will be). We aren't in a rush to move, but we are very excited! Bentley's a lucky girl, and I'm excited to finally be able to have a baby's room for her seperate from the study. I took a couple of pictures so that I could remember Bentley's first room and how we managed to fit everything in. It actually worked out pretty good. I have to say I will definitely miss this small but cozy place when we move!
On Sunday March 9, Jeff gave Bentley a beautiful blessing at church. It was really nice to hear so many great things that Bentley has in store for her life. We were blessed to have lots of family there to support us and then join us for dinner later that day.
On the morning of her blessing, Bentley was so sleepy and it took some effort to wake her up! When she finally awoke, we got her bathed, fed, and dressed. My mom had bought her a beautiful white blessing dress and even crocheted a headband and some little booties for her. She looked adorable! She did really well in church and slept through all of sacrament, including the blessing. Lately she's been lasting the full 3 hours of church without eating, so it lets me still participate in my calling as the primary pianist. The presidency helps me watch her if she wakes up, but overall she's been pretty good so far. Kathy Ronald was amazing on her blessing day, as she had written out her blessing for me! It had completely slipped my mind to do that, so it was just the sweetest thing for her to think of it and do that for me.
Later that day we had a dinner with everybody. We weren't planning on doing a huge dinner at the church, but when we realized how many people we had just in our immediate family it kind of turned out that way. My mom and I had made some chicken lasagnas, apple crisp, and skor bar desserts earlier that week so we would be ready. Cindy had the caesar salad and buns ready for us, and my siblings also contributed. It was fun to get everyone together and socialize, as well as show off our little girl. Cindy had bought Bentley a "party dress" for the dinner portion. That's what happens with 2 very kind and stylish grandmas! She looked very cute and it turned out to be quite necessary because Bentley had spit up all over her first dress!
The day went well and we had a good time. Thanks to everyone that helped!
Bentley is officially one month old and she has sure given us a run for our money. It's been a tough month, but it's pretty amazing how attached we are to our sweet Bentley! She's got quite the spunky personality and we seem to know her pretty well now.
I've decided to take a picture every month of Bentley beside this ladybug so that I can see how much she's grown in comparison to it. I'll also give an update of what's new in the world of Bentley, and ours. So here goes for her 1 month mark...
Bentley loves to eat and will suck on anything that comes her way. It makes for a very quick feed (probably about 10 minutes), because she gulps it down and swallows every time. She'll also take a bottle and soother no problem. I was worried for a while because she'd also spit up quite a bit after drinking too much! That seems to be getting better though and she keeps it down for the most part. It's definitely a better problem than worrying about her not eating enough! We took her to her 1 week appointment and she wasn't only back to her birth weight, but passed it. My good little eater! She also loves to have baths. She hates to be cold so when we undress her she'll give us a good scream, but once we pour warm water on her she settles down and just loves it! She looks so adorable all naked and wet, and has a ton of hair to wash. Her parents love giving her baths :). Jeff says that she's just like her mom because she hates being cold. When she sleeps, she has a furry blanket that she seems to love, and she also loves body heat. She'll sleep way longer on someone than in her bassinet...which can be a little annoying. However, since it's our first baby, we don't mind cuddling with her on our chest for hours! Lately we've found that she loves music. It may just be a coincidence, but we had a playlist going and she seemed to cry whenever it was quiet in between the songs!
Well now for the things Bentley doesn't like...she hates nighttime (and so do we!). Every time the night comes, I pretty much dread it. When people tell you that you don't get any sleep with a baby, it's completely true! Jeff has been amazing in letting me get a nap in around 8pm to midnight (with a feed somewhere inbetween). I don't mind waking up to feed Bentley too much if she would go right back to sleep, but that's not what happens. She's at her most fussy time in the night, so we have to bounce her constantly. She isn't a fan of her swing, but LOVES the up and down bouncy motion. Her dad has a pretty good system of getting her to go back to sleep which I appreciate greatly! There have been a few times when Bentley slept for 5 hours straight...those were amazing times.
I know Bentley is very young but she seems to be pretty social already and loves attention. She loves when her grandparents come to visit and gets very spoiled by them! Jeff and I have also been spoiled by them, as well as our siblings and our ward. We really appreciate all the meals that were brought to us and all the help we received...especially when I got mastitis and Jeff had the stomach flu at the same time! It was a rough few days and we were lucky to have help.
We are so happy to have such a good little baby. We feel very blessed. The first time we left her with someone to babysit, we missed her so much and couldn't wait to pick her up after only 4 hours! Well I guess that was more just me that felt that way...I'm pretty attached :).
So I asked my sister, Jocelyn, if she would be so kind as to take some photos of Bentley for me and she agreed (thank you!). So the following photos are from her little photo shoot. She was wide awake and happy for this...which doesn't happen very often especially when she's naked or wearing next to nothing. So I think we've got a little model on our hands!
Wow! That pretty much sums up the whole experience of bringing Bentley into this world. What an extremely hard but amazing experience! Here's how it all happened:
So my due date was January 23 and that morning I started feeling my first contractions. I wasn't sure if they were Braxton Hicks or the real thing, so I started timing them and let Jeff know that it could be today so he was ready to come home from work right away. I told some of my friends and family, but the contractions didn't seem to be regular. I was quite disappointed and started walking laps around the apartment and up and down the stairs. I really wanted this baby to come, as I was super sick of being pregnant! That night came and I was so disappointed that it didn't happen, but I went to bed for the night. However, I was only laying in bed for an hour before I started feeling more contractions and this time stronger and more regular. I told Jeff and we weren't sure if it was the real thing or not and if we should go to the hospital. Jeff pulled out the contraction timer app on my phone and started timing them for me. Sure enough, they were 5 minutes apart and 1 minute long. We grabbed our last minute things in a rush and headed down the highway. I was glad we decided to go because it was getting more painful the whole ride there, and Jeff had his excuse to speed. I had decided to deliver at the High River hospital because of it's impressive reputation, and experiences from family and friends. We got to High River in 15 minutes! A new record!
We checked in at the hospital at 1 in the morning. Everyone was thrilled to have us, as they were all bored, waiting for someone to help. They checked me right away and I was 4cm dilated. The pain wouldn't have been so bad but I had back labor and so the pain in my back was super intense. I hung in there for 2 hours until I was 6cm and then decided to take the epidural. I didn't know this at the time, but Jeff could hear the staff trying to get ahold of the anesthesiologist and apparently he wasn't picking up. After an hour and a half of waiting (although it seemed much longer), he finally arrived. I've never been happier to see someone walk into the room more in my life! It was super hard to stay still through the contractions as he gave me the epidural, but I managed to do it. I remember him telling me this part will hurt, but feeling nothing he was doing...only the contractions. I have to say epidurals are the most amazing things in the whole entire world. I finally felt relief and since it was the middle of the night, Jeff and I were actually able to get some sleep! The next few hours...well more like 8 hours were a waiting game and we got served some breakfast and lunch (super delicious!). They checked me at 8cm and then at almost 10. Although it was slow, I was continually making progress and the baby was happy the whole time.
Finally around 3:30pm I started feeling more pain and the urge to push. This part was a lot more painful than I had anticipated with an epidural, but all I was focused on was getting the baby out! Whatever I could do to make it quicker I would, so I didn't stop to cry or scream, I just breathed through it and kept going. It went really smoothly and everyone was shocked at how much progress each push made. They told me she had lots of hair as she was coming out, which made me very excited! I knew the moment when the head was crowning (as it was not fun!) and then apparently her hand came out with her head as well. When they put her on me, she had her hands posed around her face so perfectly, it was pretty hilarious! She was born at 4:30pm, after an hour of pushing, on January 24. What a relief!! I can't describe this moment in writing as it was so powerful and spiritual. I was balling and Jeff was also crying, which is a rare thing to see. I got to hold my little baby girl for the first time! She was so beautiful. The doctor finished up with the rest of the delivery which all went very smoothly, and Jeff cut the umbilical cord. Our baby was 8 pounds 4 ounces...quite a big baby! Somehow I pushed her out without needing any stitches (yay!). Jeff didn't know this beforehand, and thank goodness I didn't know it, but he was a 10 pound baby, so that must be where the big baby came from.
Well, what a day! From the time we arrived at the hospital to the time she was born was 15 hours. We had a hard time picking a name, so we waited until the next morning to settle on one of the two we had in mind. After getting to know her personality, she didn't seem to be just a sweet little thing, but had some spunk. And then we remembered how she posed immediately after being born...our little diva. So we picked Bentley Grace Ady, which now I know is completely right for her. Both sets of parents had been waiting all day for the news and were sitting in the waiting room already when she was born. We moved to the postpartum room, and let them come in to see her. I remember telling them I might just have one baby, as I never wanted to do that again! But then I look at my baby girl and just forget it all...
We stayed at the hospital for about 2 and a half days, and then decided to go home. The staff didn't rush us to leave at all and I enjoyed the whole experience at the High River hospital so much. My nurse, Lindsay, was my favorite person ever! She was so friendly, helpful, and talked with us about anything and everything. I would call her in whenever I needed her, even if I just had a stupid question. I got free meals, which was always my favorite part. Who ever said hospital food is bad? I thought it was pretty delicious! We also had a really fun and sweet lady come in and give Bentley her first bath. It was so fun to see her get all cleaned up, although she cried through most of it. I felt so welcome there that I got emotional at just the thought of leaving the hospital. It's kind of weird, but I was also sad to leave the whole experience behind me. I will never have a first baby again! As hard as it was, it was so perfect in so many ways. Although I didn't want to go, I knew Jeff was getting restless and tired of sleeping on a cot. Since I had the breastfeeding down, as Bentley latched on right away, I figured there was no reason to stay. So we left on the Sunday after having her on Friday. Here's a picture of Dr.Woodley who delivered the baby and my favorite person Lindsay, and also some of Bentley's bath pictures...
It was a strange feeling to leave the hospital with a baby. We now had this big (but adorable) responsibility! We put Bentley in her car seat and said our goodbyes (in tears may I add). The drive home was very weird because we didn't hear a peep from Bentley and I kept wondering if she was alive! Turns out she just loves her car seat and falls asleep whenever we put her in it. We stopped to pick up some sushi on the way home since I was finally allowed to eat it!! Then we brought Bentley to our apartment and welcomed her home! :)
