Sophie got her bucket and headed for the raspberry bushes.  She had raspberries to eat!

She helped put berries in aunties basket but most were either green or smashed.  It wasn’t long before she was done picking raspberries and wanted to go see what Finley was doing.  She looks so small in these pictures.

The reward for all of her hard work was to enjoy handfuls of the berries picked.

We had a great time picking raspberries and I look forward to making some jam once we are settled into the new house.

Today we were going to try and squeeze in some blueberry picking but most of the farms had already closed so instead we went blackberry picking.

Once we got to the blackberry bushes I realized that blackberry picking is not really for kids.  Thankfully there was a playground near by and Nama’s soda to keep them occupied.

While we were all out in the hot sun Benji was fed and resting in the car.

Once Jennifer had picked a bowl full of blackberries Sophie and Declan sat down and started eating.  I love this picture because every time I would ask them to smile Declan would look at the camera and Sophie would look at Declan and smile.  I think she is just happy to have him pay attention to her again.

We kept picking and these two kept eating.  They still look innocent in these pictures…

It wasn’t until a little bit later we realized they weren’t just eating the berries but also smashing them with their hands.

Oh these two they are going to give us a run for our money as they get older.  They are quite the pair.

She didn’t mind putting on a life jacket and then climbing into a floaty and just relaxing in the sun.

Since we were already down south we decided to head west with Megan, Josh and Elsie and spend a night at Ocean Shores.  It turned into quite an eventful trip full of laughs.

We had initially booked two rooms, a studio for them and a 1 bedroom suite for us.  We got all checked in and headed to our separate rooms to get settled before getting dinner.  Megan and Josh surprised us shortly afterwards with a knock on the door and all of their stuff.  Turns out their room was triple booked!

We all got a laugh about it especially considering our two rooms were the last available when Josh booked them a few days prior.  Josh headed to the office to figure out what they were going to do while we all hung out with the kids.

It gets figured out that Megan and Josh are going to be moving to a hotel down the street so Josh heads off with the employee and the other person who was booked into the already booked room.  Shortly after we hear fire trucks.  Turns out the hotel they were going to be staying at had a fire and people had to be moved into the rooms set aside for Josh and the other lady.

Thankfully we had a large room so they ended up staying with us.  It turned into 4 adults and 3 kids in a one room hotel suite.  Although Josh and Megan were stuck with a very uncomfortable sofa bed which resulted in them sleeping on the floor, we made the situation work.

The next day we decided to head to the beach for some play time and a walk.  The weather did not cooperate and was actually really windy and cold.  After snapping a few pictures and taking a quick walk we were ready to head to lunch and then figure out what to do with the rest of the day since the beach was out.

Megan came up with the brilliant idea of heading to Shelton to see Auntie Dort before heading home.  It has been a year and a half since we have seen her which is just far too long.

We had a great visit and look forward to another visit with her very soon.  Sophie especially loved all of the candies she could reach on the table and all of the “toys” on her coffee table to play with.  Check out our last visit to Auntie Dort which includes a video of her with Sophie.  Oh my goodness Sophie was little.

Although our weekend didn’t turn out completely as planned it was so much better in the end.  Not only did we get to spend time with family and have our first trip as a family of four but we also got to introduce Auntie Dort to Benji.

With your first everything is new and therefore a challenge.  But with your second you are a ‘pro’ at the basics and failing miserably at juggling two kids, one of which is a toddler.

We were fortunate to have Sean’s mom down for a few days after Ben was born and then his dad and step mom here for a few days as well.  That mixed with Sean being home for a week and my family 30 minutes away, the first few weeks were not too bad.  But once our ‘helpers’ went back to their daily life it has been an adjustment to balance our time with both kids.

Sean is super dad taking on much more with Sophie so that I can focus on Benji, this was all while recovering from heart surgery.  Once Sean went back to work I had to figure out what our days were going to look like.  In the beginning there was a lot of Caillou being watched so that I could try and get something done besides just making it to 5:00 when Sean got home from work.

One thing is for sure during that time, Sophie adores her little brother.

As is the case with my sisters and I if we are tired or hungry all bets are off.  If you combine either of those things with me holding or feeding Benji then there is chaos in the Payne household.

This is what I like to call 2 minutes with a toddler!

There have been many moments where I just wanted to go in another room and cry.  When I have a colicky baby and a toddler that is going crazy I get worked up and overwhelmed.  During these moments of pure frustration and anger and I am not proud to say that Sophie has been on the receiving end of that frustration.  I have to remind myself that she isn’t doing these things on purpose that she is a toddler who had my complete attention for 22 months and now she has to share me with Benji who requires much more of my attention right now.  She is adjusting.

But here we are 6 1/2 weeks into it and things are so much better.  We are getting into a routine and slowly things are getting easier, you find things that work and you go with that until it doesn’t work any more.  Every day is different and I know our new normal will set it soon.  For now we are taking lots of walks and watching insane amounts of Caillou.

Life is crazy at times right now but I wouldn’t trade it for the world because it means we have Benji here and I couldn’t be happier.

From the first class until the last she went from shy and not wanting to participate to being the star of the class, especially when it came to galloping.  One of her favourite parts of dance class besides picking out a pretty dress to wear was the scarves.

Here is a video from the last class of her dancing around with her scarf.  For the first few weeks all she did was wrap the scarf around her neck when we got to this part of class.  This usually left the other moms laughing that she would rather accessorize than dance.  But she got the hang of it and really had fun with it by the end.

I am looking forward to finding another class to sign Sophie up for.  Maybe ballet this time.

We couldn’t be happier to have him here.

Hopefully over the next few weeks I can get back into the swing of blogging because there has been some really exciting things happening around here.

Life has been really busy the last few weeks but I will attempt to update you on where we are at with our little mister.

My due date has been changed to July 21st which puts me that much closer to having a home birth.  After meeting with our midwife last week and going over my pregnancy with Sophie we discussed the absolute earliest we could give birth and still have a home birth.

Our goal date is June 28th and based on the position of the baby I am keeping my fingers crossed that we make it until then.  He would need to go nearly a week later than Sophie did so in reality I am preparing for his arrival to be as early as June 23rd.

The funny thing about babies is that unless you are having a scheduled c-section they come when they feel like it.  So he could surprise us and arrive closer to his due date.  Because we have a lot going on in the next month I would much rather be all prepared for an early arrival rather than be surprised and not ready like we were with Sophie.

Everything is healthy with our little man, strong heart beat and measuring right on track. I am getting really excited for him to arrive and I know I keep saying this but it really is going to be here before we know it.

We are now at midwives appointments every 2 weeks and so my mom is going to come to my appointment with me on Tuesday instead of Sean.  I am excited for her to hear the heartbeat and meet one of our midwives since my mom will be there for the delivery.

I have been pretty neglectful of belly pictures this pregnancy and I didn’t realize it had been 5 weeks since my last one.  So here is my 30 week belly.

And here I am with Sophie.  I really wished I would have kept doing them from the side, it is so much easier to see how big my belly is that way.

Pregnancy Highlights:

Sophie cracks me up all the time lately but especially at the zoo today.  Multiple times while we were walking around she would stand by the glass and turn to me and say cheese.  Each time it happened I wasn’t even holding the camera, but she made it very clear she wanted to have her picture taken.  And when you end up with cuteness like this how can you not take her picture.

She was so funny that people around her were laughing every time she would do it.

When we were at the zoo a few weeks ago I was convinced she would go crazy over the penguins, considering how much she loves Happy Feet.  But she didn’t seem to be too interested in them.

Today was another story, she went crazy the second she saw them swimming around.  I don’t think the camera or video’s really captures how excited she was to see these penguins.

I am looking forward to exploring the zoo with Sophie all summer long.  We had a great time.

Last weekend we decided to head out for a little hike with Megan and Josh and baby Elsie.  Uncle Josh wanted to try out his new backpacking carrier so Sophie was the first recipient of a ride.

Sophie did really well in the backpack considering she was in it for about 2 hours.

We made it to the waterfall with a bit more climbing than we expected and took a bit of a rest so that Megan could feed Elsie.

Sean took over after the waterfall so that the two of them could go running through the woods picking flowers.  Look at that look on Sophie’s face, she was having a blast with Sean.  How cute are they?

It was great to get out in the fresh air and go for a hike.  Hopefully with the weather getting nicer we can do this more often.

]]> http://www.seanandkimberlypayne.com/thepaynes/2012/04/hiking-with-the-baby/feed/ 0 http://www.seanandkimberlypayne.com/thepaynes/2012/04/zoo/ http://www.seanandkimberlypayne.com/thepaynes/2012/04/zoo/#comments Fri, 20 Apr 2012 20:04:00 +0000 Kimberly Payne http://www.seanandkimberlypayne.com/thepaynes/?p=2185 Continue reading →]]> A few weeks ago the weather was beautiful so we headed to the zoo with my sisters, niece and nephews and one of my sisters friends and her two boys.  I just had a feeling that Sophie would love all the animals especially after how she reacted at the Biodome in Montreal.

Somehow I didn’t take any pictures but I did get an incredible cute video of Finley walking with Sophie to show her the donkey’s and then walking with her to the park.

Finley really loves Sophie and I think you can see that in this video.  They are so cute together.

Since we live so close to the zoo I hope there are more afternoons spent looking at the animals with.  Possibly taking pictures next time.