Friday Favorites

I feel like this week went by far too quickly. It was my week off and I swear I blinked and it was gone. Its back to work Monday, but it will be nice to have a family weekend together! We are limited in the weekends we have left as a family of 3, so I want to make sure we enjoy every one of them.

For my Friday favorites this week, I am just going to share some of my favorite moments from this week. (Most of them can be seen on my Instagram here)

ONE:

We found Mr. Elephant! He was lost for 3 days and I have to say, nap times were kind of a nightmare! For 3 days, Palmer went with no nap! It made for one cranky toddler and one tired mama! I'm hoping this isn't a sign of things to come and this little girl will continue to cherish nap time as much as I do!

TWO
I took Palmer down to the River Bottom on Tuesday to let her run around and explore and I loved it as much as she did. She got to run around and explore and I caught some cute photos of her! Check out the rest here.

THREE

Palmer's little friend Scarlett came over the other day for a few hours and it was seriously the cutest thing ever to watch.  Once Palmer warmed up to sharing and S warmed up to a different environment, the giggles didn't stop. They played "grocery shopping" and animals. They pretended to be dogs and panted and barked at each other. They ran and ran and ran. Then, I found them like this. Melt my heart. It was so sweet!

FOUR

I took Palmer to the library yesterday. I wanted to pick up a few books for myself and Palmer chose 2 movies. I had actually never spent a lot of time in the children's section, but they have puzzles and games and computers for kids to use. Palmer was loving the computer games. It was the first time she's ever used a computer and she was glued. We chose a sesame street game and an animal sound game. She loved it. This will be a great place to go on rainy or snowy days!

FIVE
Both of our neighbours have kids and we often refer to them as "the boys" so Palmer is always interested to know what "the boys" are doing. Yesterday, I caught her peeking through the fence holes, checking up on the kids. Its funny, because she sees these boys every day and has still not been able to speak to them. She talks non stop to us, the day home, her little girl friends, but both sets of neighbour boys try to talk to her and she is a mute! Oh well, maybe thats a good thing??

Happy Weekend to you all and Happy Father's Day to all the dad's out there!

Pictures From Our Tuesday Morning

Yesterday Palmer and I headed down to the river bottom. It was such a beautiful day and I thought it was a great chance to take some pictures of my little. With only a few short months left of her being an only child, I wanted to capture Palmer, who she is now. Seriously, these photos are spot on. 

Curious.

Inquisitive.

Care-free.

Fun-loving. 

Happy.

Bump-Date: 21 Weeks

Half way there! I cannot believe it! The time is just flying by and baby will be here before we even know it! (and I totally had a 20 week update ready to go but I missed taking and uploading a photo until late)

HOW FAR ALONG: 21 weeks (on Friday June 12) 

ABOUT BABY:  Baby is the size of a pomegranate at 12.7 ounces and is measuring about 10.5 inches long.

SLEEP: Sleep is much improved. I am usually sleeping through the night, otherwise only waking once to pee. I am feeling much more rested these days, which means I am eager to start working on the nursery while I have the energy!

SICK OR QUEASY: None! Yay! I've not had any bad symptoms at all as of late! 

MOVEMENT: There is a lot of it, and every once in awhile, I feel a kick on the outside. It's been hard to catch though, so Mitch and Palmer still have yet to feel baby move!

CRAVINGS: Fruit. All the fruit. Like some fresh, cold oranges. So delicious. I am loving that it is warm out and fruit is fresh. And watermelon. Yes please! I have to say, our trip to Costco today was filled with fruit! So yummy!

MATERNITY CLOTHES: Still not yet, but I am getting to the point of having to. I picked up 3 maxi dresses this past week, hoping they will last me until the end of this pregnancy. They aren't maternity ones though, so we will see how long they actually last!

BEST MOMENT: The ultrasound we had today! It really makes it that much more real seeing that little babe inside! We took Palmer with us so she could see the baby too. I had told her earlier in the week we were going to see the baby Friday so she was getting pretty excited! It was so special to have her and Mitch there with me to see! I know she is going to be the best big sister!

Pics From The Weekend and A BFF Giveaway!

Although I worked all weekend long, the weather was so beautiful that it totally made up for it!!! I was able to get home at 3:30 each day and enjoy a few hours of heat and sunshine with Palmer! 

Really, we didn't do too much of anything but run though the sprinklers, enjoy picnic dinners, and indulge in a slurpee, but it was fabulous!

And, if you didn't know, today is National Best Friend Day, so I have teamed up with some of by best blogging friends to bring you a fabulous giveaway! 

Click the link below to enter for your chance to win for you and your bestie!

Happy Monday, everyone!

National BFF Day Giveaway!

Wives Tales Gender Prediction Fun

Just for fun, I thought I would try out some of these old Wives Tales to predict the gender of Baby Lowe #2.

FETAL HEART RATE

They say you will have a girl if the baby's heart rate is higher than 140bpm, and a boy if it is less.

Predicted GIRL

RING SWING

Tie your wedding ring to a piece of string and hold it about 12 inches over your belly. If it swings in a circle, its a boy, and if it goes back and forth, its a girl. (There are conflicting theories to this one, some say it this way and some say it opposite. I went with this one because it was the first one I read)

Predicted BOY

CHINESE GENDER CALENDAR

Predicted BOY

MORNING SICKNESS
If you are having little to mild morning sickness, its predicted you are having a boy. Severe morning sickness means a girl.

This one was tricky for me to answer. My nausea was worse than it was last pregnancy, however, I would not call is severe.

Predicted BOY

CARRYING HIGH VS LOW

The old wives tales says that if you are carrying high, you are having a girl. If you are carrying low, it's a boy.

This one was hard for me to tell, but I think it's low?!

Predicted BOY

PREFERRED SLEEPING SIDE

If you usually sleep on your left side, they say you'll have a boy, and if on your right, a girl

Predicted BOY

CRAVINGS

They say sweet and fruity cravings mean a girl and salty cravings mean a boy. 

I definitely have a sweet craving. The odd time I'll really want some chips, but its mostly fruit and sugar candies!

Predicted GIRL

SKIN CONDITION

They say a girl will steal your beauty, so if you're breaking out more its a girl. If your skin is smooth and "glowing" it will be a boy.

I haven't broken out at all, and my skin is pretty smooth for the most part during this pregnancy.

Predicted BOY

NECKLACE OVER HAND TEST

Take a necklace with a pendant on it and hang it over your hand, palm up. This test is suppose to show the genders of all your children. If it swings in a circle, it means girl, and in a line (up and down, side to side or diagonal) it means boy. 

Mine started off in a circle (for first born Palmer) and ended swinging diagonally (new baby)

Predicted BOY

So, according to all these old wives tales, I am having a boy. I guess we will find out soon enough!
I have my guess, but I'm going to keep that quite for awhile.
What do you think I am having??

Waterton Weekend Recap (in photos)

This past weekend, we headed to the mountains. About 1.5 hours away is the most beautiful place around, Waterton Lakes National Park. I cannot believe that I have lived this close for over a decade and this was my first time ever going there. We had weekend full of beautiful landscape, crisp mountain air and camping. 

I can't wait to go back when the weather is a little warmer and we can enjoy the water and boats too!

We arrived early Friday afternoon and got the trailer all set up and got lunch ready. Palmer loved playing in the grass full of dandelions and chasing the  "dofer dofer's" (gophers). 

this is my favorite photo of the whole weekend, or maybe ever!

Later in the afternoon we headed up to Red Rock Canyon. It was beautiful. It was the perfect hike for Palmer to walk along to and the scenery was stunning. We then made our way to Blackiston Falls, another beautiful view. It started to rain just at the end of our 3km hike so we headed back to the trailer for supper.

It was chilly in the evenings and there were no fire pits at the campsite, which was a bummer, but there was a Provincial fire ban anyways, so we played cards inside.

Saturday we woke up to a bit of rain, but that didn't stop us. Mitch and Palmer went to the nearby park while I helped to pack up a picnic, and we made our way up to Cameron Lake. Along the way we spotted a bear. Palmer was hoping she would see a bear while we were there! 

Cameron Lake was nothing short of stunning. The views were breathtaking! We definitely need to come back here when the weather warms up and they have the paddle and row boats out on the lake. We did a short hike around the lake and headed back down the mountain.

We stopped by a waterfall in town for our picnic and we had a little visitor while we ate, a chipmunk, waiting for the crumbs to fall. He came up right beside us, not shy at all. 

We walked around downtown a bit. Its a very small town, only about 2 streets downtown, but the 3 of us rented a Surrey bike for an hour and made a tour around the streets and near the lake. Palmer thought the bike was funny, and she enjoyed sitting up in the front!

Saturday evening, after supper, Palmer enjoyed a s'more (and so did I) and we started to wind things down for the night. 

We packed everything up Sunday morning, and got ready to go home. I think we will be back again a time or two this summer. It'll be so much fun when the weather is a little warmer in the mountains, and Palmer can splash in the water!