Introducing...

Toby Robert Bell - Born 2nd July 2013 - Weight 3.465kg - Length - 52.5cm

 First cuddles with Dad -

 Sleeping a lot!!

 Even with all the visitors - First cuddles with Nanna

 And Pa (Where the middle name came from)

 Aunty Alice

 Aunty Maddy

 Cousin Mac-

 Cousin Jackson-

 More sleeping...

 We knew we were in good hands with Hayden's buddies doing all the baby checks etc.

 First bath - Which he loved!

 Mary and Flynn -

 Campbell -

 Lucy -

 Chillin' with Dad watching a movie

 The day we went home got to hang out with Aunty Simone...

 Then the next day we were back in hospital...

 Long toes!

 Cuddles with Cousin Jayme

 ...and Aunty Lisa and Nan - they didn't eat soup the whole time they visited!

 Bath time with Nan...

 Finally back home (again) - Got to play dress ups!

 Nan looked after us for a whole week!

 Thanks for visiting Brodie and Rhi!!

 This is Hayden's sister Courtney holding Toby, and Hayden is holding Evelyn, Courtney's little girl who was due a day after me but came on the 21st June - making it a week and a half between them:)

 ...and this morning...he has grown so much already! Starting to get cute chubby cheeks!

Toby is definitely the dream baby - he loves sleeping! ...and he loves his own little routine - especially tummy time exercises with Dad in the mornings.

Finding joy in the journey...

But 9 months is SUCH a long time!

 It all started with the Waiting, Hayden and I didn't want to delay having Children so started trying for a baby pretty much as soon as we were married. When you think you should fall pregnant in the first month, believe me 8 months is a trial, with lots of tears and fears and talk of "what if we never have our own children?" of course looking back now we know it's just the average amount of time it takes a couple to conceive, but when you are in the moment it's hard, and sad and frightening, especially when lots of other people fall pregnant straight away!

 Finally you're late but you hold off for AGES before weeing on the stick, just incase you're wrong...again. But turns out I wasn't... and the best bit is, when you wee on the stick and look up the dates you are already like 5-6 weeks pregnant!

 Everything was pretty easy at this stage... "I feel fine, can't even tell i'm pregnant" Then at seven weeks it hit me, the woozy feeling. I'm not a spew kinda person, don't think anything's come up that way since I was a kid, so I never threw up with morning sickness, it was more like being car sick all the time! Except for when I was sleeping, the only way I would feel better was by eating something. So boy did I pack on the kilos! Which meant lot's of people probably guessed I was preggas before we were telling, one weekend Mum and Cathy came to visit, and i'm pretty sure they cottoned on because it was fast Sunday and I wasn't fasting (which is weird for me) and I felt rotten all weekend. They were very gracious about pretending everything was normal.

 Finally at twelve weeks (to the day) it stopped, like a switch, and no more morning sickness... the body is amazing and weird! Also at twelve weeks we got to see our little baby on the screen. Hayden nicknamed the baby 'bouncing jumping jelly bean' cause literally it was putting on a show for us, leaping all over the place, it was funny to watch, especially as baby was so tiny I couldn't feel a thing.

 We held off till 14 weeks to tell anyone because, well it coincided with Christmas :) So what better Christmas present to give the family then a new addition. Now I was feeling better it was the perfect time for Hayden and I to head off on a baby moon.

 I'm pretty sure I had a belly from about 10 weeks (mainly fat due to morning sickness eating) So it didn't take long for the me to order some maternity clothes online...

 At 20 weeks we headed in for another scan, baby was MUCH bigger now, but still pretty active! We both wanted to find out what we were having, and I had no inkling until the night before the scan when I dreamt it was a boy and we were both so happy, so then I woke up the morning of the scan thinking oh no what if it's a girl i'll be disappointed now, turns out the dream was spot on and we were expecting a baby boy!

 Which gave me the license to go and buy something little and blue:)

 We got our pram pretty early, but it was nice to buy something, as most of the bigger things we have are hand me downs from Simone. (which has saved us heaps of money, so thanks!) But pram shopping together was exciting - We settled on the Phil & Ted Dot.

 I can't believe my belly was ever this little! Me at 21 weeks...

 Same outfit at 25 weeks...

Last trip to the temple, and last chance to squeeze into my temple dress - 27 weeks...

 30 Weeks

 Which looks bigger than this shot - 33 weeks

 35 weeks - hiding my belly but you get the whole balloon effect! Seriously I got weighed in at my 36 week appointment and you don't want to know how much weight i've put on this pregnancy!!  Embarrassment plus! I blame it on the swelling I suddenly experienced at the start of that week, I was very sad that I had to remove my wedding/engagement rings.

 That's the last belly pic i've taken, i'll have to get some this week (38) so stay tuned, i'll also show you what became of Hayden's study in preparation for the baby...here is a sneak peak...Thanks mum for the awesome feeding chair!

Now we are very close to the due date, but I feel this little boy isn't in a hurry, i'm not uncomfortable at all apart from a sore bum/hips at night, but i've had that aching for weeks and weeks now, so no hints that this little fella is coming anytime soon. It's going to be strange when he actually does! Such a life changing thing, if you think about it too much you can really start to freak out!

Stop.

p.s any good boy names? our short list is still quite long! Don't feel any closer to choosing, the pressure is on!

Is anyone out there?

Ok so I know that not posting for ages and THEN posting a Lame 'Easter was months ago, we went to Dunalley, here are some pictures' post is a poor effort, but seriously no comments? Even from you Jessica? I always comment on your blog! anyhow...let's see if my creative brilliance gets some comments

I made a skirt

 This is a Toni pattern, and yes Carmen helped... a lot...but hey, I did some sewing, that's a big effort! I also bought some new boots to match, yipee...

 Don't recognise this fatty at all, I guess that's what being 33 weeks pregnant does to you! What's with the puffy face and arms? come on!

We moved Hayden's study downstairs to make room for the Nursery, i'll post some before and after shots soon.
Au revoir

Easter day trip...

Easter Tuesday we decided to take a drive south to have a look at the fire devastated Dunalley.

On the way I couldn't believe how wide spread the fire was, it was huge, taking out hills and hills of trees. It really was amazing to see which homes survived and which ones didn't, like direct neighbours with one house gone and the other one untouched. 

 We continued a little further south to check out the tessellated pavement...

I loved seeing the new bright green on the burnt trees, and the beautiful blue water backdrop!

The things you do for love...

When your husband wants to go to Nitro Circus for his birthday...you go...despite the fact that watching flat peak hat, tat covered, low shorts, pulled up socks, chunky shoed sk8ta boys that remind you of annoying twelvies doing fully sick tricks on their dirt bikes and bmx bikes isn't really top on your 'to do' list.

Well this random massive green shirt guy loved it... maybe cause he could see!

I have to admit some of the tricks were pretty cool, especially the guy that had broken his leg twice, both times attempting a trick on his bmx, and this was his next attempt... and he landed it! Overall I would say it wasn't the best way to spend $60 (each.) But Hayden loved it, and so did Hallie, so it was all worth it...just to see the joy on their faces.

Wanna see what it looks like? (The joy I mean) Here it is...The love of my life after his birthday steak...

Happy Birthday Hayds! Patrick Dempsey aint got nothin' on you!

Something to prove...

What happens when you let something that was supposed to prove for 30min, rise overnight... (when I left it it was taking up about 1/3 of the thermie and the thermie lid was sitting on top...it's a monster!)