Nursery Pictures

You can see on the bookshelves hanging on the wall that we still have to putty a few of the holes and cover up with paint, but that's where they are going to stay. You can see on the bookshelf with the word "Sweetie" on top, that's where the light saying 'Lights Out' is sitting (beside the Curious George book that was our first baby present, from Kerri).

Yesterday we went out shopping and I bought a really cute lamp that has a blue shade with yellow stars on it, and the base of the lamp is a yellow moon and a yellow star. I'll have to take a picture. We also bought a small white ceiling fan for the room, it was pretty cheap, so just instead of a light we decided to get a fan.

Pictures, pictures and more pictures

Here I am, at 31 weeks + 5 days. I definitely have gained in all parts of my body and not just my stomach. My legs have taken a beating, but I'm not too worried about that since I'll be running again in the winter/spring.

I love my belly now (except when it gets in the way of things) but I feel it, rub it, touch it all the time. I love figuring out where the baby is, in what position he or she is in. I don't even mind people touching my stomach! Last night I had about 4 different peopel touching it, and I was proud of it instead of ashamed of it. It's wonderful.

And I had a dream that we had an ultrasound (most likely because I do have an u/s scheduled for Thursday of this week) and we decided to find out the sex and it was a boy. So, there you have it. It's really just as good as at the actual ultrasound.

TGIF

It was a really cute table top lamp, it's cylindrical and the shade is an off whiteish colour with the "Lights Out" words sticking out, all over the shade. It's SO cute. And it fits perfectly on the shelf of the bookshelves that Ricky put up last night. I would take a picture, but we can't find the battery charger and of course the batteries for our camera are dead. I will be searching for it this weekend, so hopefully pictures will follow after the weekend. So, the nursery is almost done. Well, all the furniture is in, the shelves are up, so now it's just decorating time, which is the easy/fun part so I'm not stressed anymore.

Dare I say I've gotten my energy back? I feel pretty good these days, and I get about 7 hours sleep a night (only waking up to pee but I fall asleep pretty quickly afterwards), and I'm not really tired until it's bed time. I hope it lasts.

Weekend plans include a movie tonight (Jeff and I NEVER go see movies, but I want to see the new movie I think it's called The Departed), a twins sale that's taking place tomorrow (Carrie is part of the multiple birth association so she gets first dibs at the sales, and she's bringing me tomorrow!) so I can look and see what's for sale and maybe buy a few things, then I'm taking Ethan and Isabelle for the day/over-night because it's Carrie and Rob's anniversary, then an early start over to Grandma's so the boys (err men) can help Ricky clean out the garage and then dinner with friends Sunday night.

We never made it to Saunders Farm last weekend, so I'll see what the weather is like tomorrow and maybe take the kids, or go to the pumpkin patch.... looking after kids is a great way to keep active.

3 choices

My mom (compulsive shopper) just called me (she wouldn't tell me from what store) and asked:

Which saying do you like better?

Now I lay me down to sleep
Lights Out
Quiet Please

I chose Lights Out, because
a) Now I lay me down to sleep was the prayer the little blonde girl said to her goldfish (or bird, whatever) as she buried him in the movie Poltergeist, so that poem always gives me the creeps
b) It won't be quiet when the baby is going to sleep, I don't want to have a baby that only sleeps when it's completely quiet, so it's not appropriate

So 'Lights Out' it is

I have no idea what it's written on, or what it is but my mom is coming over tonight so I will find out then!

Fingers and toes

Our baby's foot or hand is right above my bellybutton at this moment. I can feel the bumps. My stomach was rather alien looking last night, with the baby moving this much if you look at my stomach - you can just see it move in all these weird directions. And my stomach is HARD. Last time I had a stomach, it was squishy like the pillsbury dough boy but now it's hard.

I had a dream last night that I wasn't pregnant (not sure if I already had the baby, or if I just wasn't pregnant) and I kept feeling my stomach and remembering what it felt like to run your hand straight down your stomach and not like it's going over a basketball.

I'm wearing jeans today, sure it's not Friday, but we don't really have a dress code here and I was in a jeans mood. I love wearing jeans and love how pregnant women look in jeans.

Normally I dread the cold weather, but when I heard it was going down to 1 degree tonight, I gotta say I was a tad excited.

My parents are coming over to help us hang a few things and change some light fixtures, so I'm going to make lobster alfredo (using fresh lobster yum!) and invited Carrie, Rob and the twins over too (cause my sister would KILL me if we had lobster of any sort without having her over). I picked up some of those mini ice cream sandwiches for the kids and they are the PERFECT size, I can get my ice cream fix and I think they are only about 90 calories.

Just a few things...

I love heavenly hash icecream.

Last night I only woke up TWICE to go pee, that's definitely a record for me.

The swelling in my hands that I thought was going to stay until I had the baby is gone and my wedding rings are back on.

7 more weeks of work left.

I had another boy dream last night.

I wish my Dad was coming to visit me soon.

I've already drank a liter and a half of water and it's only 8am.

Also, is there any correlation but the actions of the baby inside the womb versus outside? Both Tammy and Nadia have been asked to monitor/journal the movements of their babies (Tammy is on high risk b/c she's having twins, and Nadia is on high risk becuase, well I've posted about that before) to make sure the baby kicks ten times a day. Well, i know I'm not high risk, but this baby moves ALL THE TIME. The majority of the time at work, I'm sitting down, and it's constantly moving. Then when I finally settle down at night time, for the first hour or so I'm in bed, again - constant moving! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE feeling the baby move but does this mean I'm in for a highly active baby? Again, I would rather an active baby then a sedentary one, I just wonder if his or her personality is already showing through....

31 weeks....!

Long weekends always screw me up, I thought it was Monday so thought tomorrow I was 31 weeks, but it's today. 9 weeks left to go.

What's happening with mommy to be?

Things are beginning to get tight in there, and heartburn and indigestion are common. Eat small meals more often and drink lots of water. You may have developed the pregnant "waddle"—that happens because pregnancy softens the ligaments in your pelvis, allowing your hips to spread to make room for the baby. Don’t worry, you won’t walk like a duck forever

I definitely do not have a pregnancy waddle yet, thank god. For sure things are tight in there, my meals are smaller (although more frequent now), and my heartburn is actually going away rather than being more common!

What's happening with baby?

Baby knows your voice. Singing to him, talking to him, and telling him all about the world he’ll be joining soon is a great way for you and your partner to bond with the baby—and each other! His fingernails have grown and he may even need a manicure after he's born.

Ah-ha!

I was getting confused reading my different baby books about the length of the baby at this stage in my pregnancy.

My day by day journal reported around 12 inches, and my pregnancy week by week book and my online sites said the baby was about 17 inches, so I was always confused. But, if I were to pay closer attention, I would have realized in the day by day journal it refers to the crown to rump length and the other ones must be referring to the full length.

It just clicked yesterday. I could blame it on the baby brain, but I think I'll chalk it up to reading too fast.

I can really start to feel the weight in my stomach now, if I get up too quickly or lean forward too much I can just feel this weight in the front that I've never had before.

It's amazing how quickly I get winded now, this morning the fire alarm was going off at work and when we could get back into the building, the elevator wasn't working so I walked up the 6 floors (which I must note, I walked up all the time before I got pregnant and for the first 5 or 6 months) and I was out of breath by the time I got to the top.

For the longest time, all the people I know who had a baby recently were all late (couple days, a week etc...) but now all I've been hearing is babies coming early. Alexis was just telling me that Grant was 3 weeks early (which I probably knew at the time, but have since forgotten), which would mean about 6 weeks away for me... crazy! So, just to be prepared, we have a deadline to have the house all ready in a month (which is an easy goal, we don't have much left to do) just in case the little guy decides to make an early appearance. I know it's not likely, but I'd rather be prepared than not.

(I've found a boy's name I LOVE but Jeff isn't going for it because of a stupid football player's name... Payton... I love it!!)

*Giggles*

I LOVE the nursery! Jeff went golfing (insert joke here) so I came home and started finishing putting things together, moving the furniture back (paint is dry!) and it's so cute. I put the cutsie clothes in the drawers, I put all the blankets/crib sheets etc away and it's so exciting! I just need to put pictures up, get my mom to finish some canvasses, get the mattress cover for the crib so I can make up the crib and dare I say we are ready to go?

The guest room looks pretty snazzy too. The espresso furniture looks beautiful, the paint is gorgeus and as soon as I find some art to put on the wall, it's ready for visitors. I love my house - maybe I don't want to move?

But for now, I'm on a break so I am checking out mls.ca think I'm crazy yet?

It's 9 am...

On a Saturday morning and already: the molding in the nursery is painted, the window frame and closet frame are painted, the baseboards in the second bathroom are done, the curtains are hung in the kitchen and the nursery, breakfast has been eaten, laundry has been done and now I'm off to pick up some more paint, some new knobs for the dresser, my pants (which were hemmed by my wonderful mother), and then off to Saunders farm with Carrie/Rob/Ethan/Isabelle and Rob's parents... it's a beautiful day and I need to get outside!

I swear, it's me

Every hockey game I go to, they lose. I think I will impose a self-ban on myself to not go to any more this season.

It was a great time though, we got quite a few looks as we would get up from our seats and walk out, three mucho pregnant women. The two other girls look fantastic! Monique is due November 5th (this is her 3rd child) and Tammy is due November 30th (she's having twins). None of us have found out the sex and we are all having pretty wonderful pregnancies. It's really funny to hear other people's birthing plans (epidural vs no epidural, thoughts on C-sections, circumcision etc...), I never think my ideas are right and theirs are wrong, it's just really interesting to hear another opinion when I am so sure of my idea on certain things. Like, if we have a boy (I don't want to be cocky and say when we have a boy) we are getting him circumcized. Without a doubt. Lots of people think it's cosmetic surgery and they are pretty anti-circumcision but for various reasons (the last few being that my brother in law's dad had to get circumcized last month when he was 60, and Jeff knows someone who had to get it done when they were 21, and my friend from work has two boys who have both had infections on and off..) we have decided to have it done. So it's not funny but just interesting to hear people explain why they won't have it done. But, like I said, it's not like I think everyone should, I just know it's the right decision for us.

And the epidural? Yes please.

What's happening with the baby:

Good news — at this point your baby's lungs and digestive tract are nearly mature, meaning she'll do much better in the event of premature birth. Researchers also believe your baby can actually see now, in utero, but no one knows exactly how much she can make out. She's also becoming more cramped in your uterus and less able to move so freely, although when she does move, you're sure to notice it.

Call into Dr's office...

I have this weird numbing-almost-pins and needles type feeling at the top of my stomach and while I'm quite sure it's probably normal, the bottom line is I don't know because I've never felt it before. I put a call into my dr's office and hopefully will hear back from them soon.

It's been happening since yesterday morning and I decided to give it 24 hours before making a call...

Update: It's normal, I'm crazy.

Another dose of reality?

I had a VERY vivid dream last night about the baby. It was a boy, we named him Payton. The dream seemed to last so long, I can remember him being in the car seat and I kept going to check on him. I remember holding him and putting him to bed. It was crazy. I was a little bit sad when I woke up and realized it was just a dream. He was perfect. Just when I'm trying to convince myself not to get my hopes up for any particular sex, I have this dream. I will try and think girl thoughts all day today.

So last night Carrie, my mom and I went to Babies R Us. Mom took E&I and went off to play in the store while Carrie helped me register. It's done. I'm happy. It was a good idea to go with someone who's been through it, I would have never thought to get a humidifier. (I remember the humidifier we had in our room when I was kid, I used to love the smell! It had orange plastic on it...)

We also went to Winners and I was looking at all the newborn/first year baby stuff. It's unbelievable how fricking cute baby clothes are. I didn't buy anything, because I have enough generic clothing, and I know once we know the sex I'll want to pick up either some boy clothes or girl things so I practiced restraint. Then at Home Outfitters I got this star pillow with little blue gems on it, it's almost the exact colour of the room (well, it's the same tone just darker) and it was on sale for 7.50, so really, how could I say no? Found cute white sheers for the nursery, so now I just have to get the faux wood blinds (there's nothing in there now) and I'm all set. Well, far from it but it just seemed like the appropriate thing to say.

Normally, if I need to prepare for something I overshop and buy way too much and end up not using half of what I bought. It's taken me 31 years but I think now I finally realized that if I need something later on, I can pick it up then, I don't need to have everything right now. So, I didn't go overboard on the registry, plus I still have to go through a few boxes of stuff that Carrie gave me to see what I have and then I can figure out what I need.

I had posted yesterday about how great my house looks painted but apparently I didn't. It looks great. We are having a few issues with the ceiling fan so I think it's coming down and we are going to get a new one (the stupid string pully thing snaps off, it can be snapped back on but it shouldn't snap off in the first place). It seems that with everything we do to the house to improve it, it results in a to-do list that's longer than before we started. Like the guest room, it wasn't painted so we just kind of threw a bed, TV and dresser in there. But now that it's painted and looks fabulous, I had to buy a new night side table, we have to paint the dresser and get new knobs for it and I have to get something to hang on the wall to make it look cosy. The second bathroom simply needed the paint, but I have to hang everything back up (and maybe paint the medicine cabinet the same colour of the wall so it doesn't stick out, but Jeff likes it like that so stay tuned for who wins the battle). The nursery molding needs a final coat of paint now that it's up and a few places on the baseboard and frame for the window and closet need to be painted.

I am loving the oatmeal baked apple muffins they have downstairs. I'd actually rather have it then a chocolate chip muffin, and those who know me, know that I rarely pass up chocolate :)

We went out for dinner after registering last night, and I know I talk about them enough as it is, but I can't say enough just how fricking great my sister's kids are at a restaurant! Besides Isabelle biting Ethan on the cheek (not out of anger, but she kissed him on the cheek and then it turned into a bite) but Ethan looked at us and said - it's ok, I'm allright now. I could just squeeze both of them until someone finally told me to let them go.

Oh and yay....

I'm going to the Sens vs Maple Leafs hockey game tomorrow night! Rob got tickets and had another work/party/function thing to go to so Carrie called me and asked (Jeff was a tad jealous)

There is 4 of us going and 3 of us are pregnant... I think it'll be quite funny and I'll try and remember to take pictures :)

No more HE talk....

My sources were wrong, there is NO baby detergent that's High Efficiency.

Apparently I can use just less of the regular baby detergent (Yum Ivory Snow!) and put the extra rinse cycle on when I was his or her clothes. So bonus, I don't use as much detergent and I get baby smelling beautiful clothes.

I was getting borderline obsessive about this stupid detergent, so that's one thing I can cross off my list.

Speaking of lists, it seems the more work I get done around the house, the longer my to do list gets? The paint looks phenomenal, it's amazing what a coat of paint can do! But I just added 11 things to my to-do list because of it! I wish I could take the two weeks I'm planning on taking before teh baby comes off NOW instead of then, so I could quickly get my house into order, it's in a stage of disarray right now. Thank goodness for 3 day weekends :)

30 weeks!

Wow. The ten week countdown begins now! It's funny, I always have the due date in my head (which is a Thursday, I never even knew what day of the week my due date was on) and a constant ticker, under the assumption that the baby is going to come on my due date. It rarely enters my mind that this baby could come two weeks before and up to two weeks after my due date. So really, it could be 8 weeks or it could be 12!

I'm just getting really excited to meet this baby. What does he look like, how big is he? Will he be snuggly, what will his cry sound like? I'M SO EXCITED.

I always sleep so much better the nights I have aquafit. I find the pool so relaxing and for weeks like this where I always seem to be hot, it brings my body temperature down a few notches so I can cozy up under my blankets.

I can't wait to go home tonight and see all the work that has been done on the house!

Yay!

Nad and Sean went to register yesterday at Babies R Us and there was Ivory Baby HE detergent!

6.5 hours...

Until I can go to sleep.

Last night, I had probably 10 naps. In between each nap, I was awake for about 1/2 hour. The last time I looked at the clock it was almost midnight. I'm sure I would briefly fall asleep but then wake up again.

It was horrible.

I know I will be tempted, but I won't nap after work. I will go pick up some yummy Italian cold cuts for Ricky, my mom and the painter who is spending the day at our house tomorrow. Pick up a bottle of cognac for the painter (we always pay them in alcohol), pick up a few bottles of red wine for them to drink throughout the day (Italians LOVE their red wine, especially while they are working). Then I will come home, eat some leftover roast and asparagus, get the guest room ready to be painted tomorrow (read: clean out closet and move all furniture to the middle of the room), go to Ikea and return the drawers I bought yesterday (they just aren't going to work) , pick up Nad and then go to aquafit. THEN I will be able to take a nice hot shower when I get home, clean all that icky chlorine off of me (my skin is dry enough as it is) and then get into bed and hopefully convince my husband to snuggle with me for a bit.

For now, work.

Oooowwwwww

My freaking back. It hurts. I just tried to lie down for a bit and I can't get comfortable on either side, so I'll just stay out of my bed (although it's been a super busy weekend so I'd love to still be there). My stomach isn't doing so hot today (is it possible to get morning sickness in the middle of your 7th month?) so I'm just drinking lots of water and just finished a cherry popsicle.

I went to Walmart, Loblaws, Ikea and Shoppers all before 11 this morning. I was on a roll. Among my purchases:
- Adorable crib sheet I couldn't pass up (I know Kaethe, you told me not to but I couldn't resist)
- Pampers Swaddlers (it felt really, really strange to buy diapers)
- Curtain rod to finally hang the curtains in my kitchen (was waiting for the end piece to be in stock at Ikea again)
- collapsable drawers to put in the change table (not sure if this is the solution or not, but worth a try)
- Two espresso-finished book case type thing from Loblaws (all their furniture was on sale, this was regular $129 on sale for $49, how could I say no?) which will be fantastic for the office

Jeff finished almost all the painting today for the furniture and the moulding for the nursery. Mom and Ricky are coming over for dinner and helping me place the furniture in the nursery and because I STILL cant' find HE detergent (scent-free OR children's stuff) I will give her another load of laundry to do with the Ivory Snow. I went to 5 different places this weekend looking for the damn detergent. If I find it (which I know it's out there) you can believe I'm stocking up! Aren't most people buying the front loaders now? I don't understand why there isn't more a selection of the HE detergents......

AND, I am no longer Auntie Kiki to Isabelle, spent a few hours with everyone yesterday (we all showed up at mom and rick's for a few hours - Carrie, Rob (E & I), Nadia, Sean, me and Jeff) and Isabelle called me Auntie Christy repeatedly. I love hearing my real name but I will miss Kiki... at least I have Ethan still saying it.

Ahhhhhh

Ok, so all plans went out the window last night. Jeff and I went out for dinner because I was craving chicken fingers, we went home, watched Kidnapped and I was in bed by 8:30 and asleep seconds afterwards (for the record, I TRIED to read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child) and slept just about straight through till 6. I got up probably only 5 times during the night, which is not very often for me, so I feel rested today, I feel fantastic.

It's Friday!

Sleepy eyes....

I look tired today. I'm not really, I just look it. But with a bit of make up I don't look like I'm still asleep :)

We biked to Kaethe and Peter's for dinner last night (yum) and I was having girl thoughts yesterday, but then when I saw Justen I just had the same feeling I've had for the past 7 months, that it's a boy. Damn he's cute. He's at such a great age, he's just about 7 months and he's making little noises, squirmy as heck and full of smiles.

Re: bike ride. It's funny how my stomach sometimes gets in the way now. And I get winded now, which I NEVER used to get before, even when I was running up to 20km. I'm not used to it and I can't wait to get right back into things in the winter. I always prided myself on being in shape and my blood pressure would never go up, I'd never be out of breath and I could go for hours. Now I have to realize that things are different and I just can't do it the same anymore.

I'm off shopping tonight, Jeff is going to a pre-season Sens game (asked me if I wanted to go, but I politely declined) so I'm off to look for crib bedding and a few odds and ends for the nursery. I can't WAIT till the border goes up so I can go to town on decorating.

**Edit** Was just invited to Lisa's for drinks with the girls tonight, so a quick shopping trip after work and then I'll go to Lisa's. See what I mean about having plans every night of the week? Oh well, may as well do it all now before the baby comes :) Jeff and I are VERY much looking forward to our lives changing and staying home more....

So happy...

I think I've finally broken through my issues with weight gain and this pregnancy. I've really taken what Jeff says to heart, that all that's important is this baby and that s/he is growing in a healthy environment.

Went out for my monthly reunion with the gang from my old work, it's funny, they started talking about work and I had this huge wave of relief come over me that I no longer worked there, it's always re-assuring to know you made the right decision.

It's Wednesday, only two more days left till the weekend. Today is going to go by super fast and then it will be tomorrow :) I think we may head up to the cottage with the newlyweds this weekend, provided we get some stuff done around the house because the painter is coming on Tuesday (SO excited, the upstairs has all the pictures taken down, huge patch holes everywhere and it's just been waiting to get painted).

I have some fantastic ideas for the nursery, and once the border goes up (same day the house gets painted) then I can finally get to work on it.

*********************************************************************************

Ok, for all you pregnant-and-know-the-sex and those of you who have had a baby, was this chart accurate?

As legend would have it, the Chinese Gender Chart was buried in a royal tomb over 700 years ago. Recently discovered, the chart has been used to predict the gender of an unborn child based on the mother's age and month of conception.

Simply find the age of the mother at the time of conception on the chart below and then follow across to the month the baby was conceived to find the predicted gender. Although this chart is said to have a success rate of over 90 percent, keep in mind that this is solely for entertainment purposes. Enjoy!





















(for me it says a girl)

Wowsers....

The baby is nearly 3 lbs! Here's a little excerpt from babyzone.com

What’s Happening with Your Baby?

Her growth has begun to slow down now, but she will still gain approximately four pounds between now and birth. If she were born now, she would be almost three pounds and able to breathe, but might tire easily and need assistance. Her little eyes are sensitive to light. Keep that baby cooking! You’re getting there!

29 weeks...

That means only 11 left to go. Plus or minus 2.

- I'm feeling good.
- Still must finish the nursery
- We are both SO excited
- Very happy with Lisa and Kaethe's idea for a Friday night baby shower/potluck with yummy food and fun drinks
- Hope that Nadia will be on board with joint shower for family members (will take the attention off me, which I'm SO happy about)
- Only 10 more weeks of work left, give or take a few days
- The baby is moving non-stop, a constant reminder that there's a miracle inside me
- My friends are so generous and we've gotten SO much stuff already for this baby
- I'm going to be a MOM soon!
- Jeff is going to be a DAD soon!

A few more pictures

Can you tell that I find black suits me best?

Off to aquafit - toodles!

And the results are in....

And I'm nowhere near having gestational diabetes!

The baby's heart rate is nice and strong, he or she is active as heck and I'm a healthy healhty lady.

Ultrasound at 32 weeks (October 19th, just to make sure my placenta has moved out of the way) and my next appt with my obs. the same day. Then the bi-weekly appts start.

It's a tad freaky when they start listing symptoms saying "if this happens, go to the hospital at Labour and Delivery". My blood pressure is slightly higher than usual, but I normally have really really low blood pressure so it's not that it's high, just higher I always take my blood pressure when I go to the gym so he said if I notice it over 150/90 (which would normally be accompanied by swollen ankles) to go to the hospital. Today it measured at 123/80 so he still said I'm fine. Also, the glucose test they do every time I have an appt also checks for proteins in the urine (another sign of high blood pressure) and I have none. So I'm good.

I'm healthy, happy and I have a big old baby growing inside me. Does life get any better than this?

Monday, yet again.

Here we are, the start of another week. Overall I guess I had a pretty good weekend, dinner with Lisa, Kaethe and Jeff on Friday night (Yum, Thai!), Saturday just chilled out, did a few odds and ends around the house and then went to Nad and Sean's for a yummy dinner, lots of talking and a few games (we LOVE playing games when we get together).

Nadia is joining aquafit with us, so I'm super excited. Her nursery for Sofia is so adorable, it looks fantastic! They laid down gorgeus dark hardwood floors, the walls are painted a light purple and she has beautiful curtains and adorable little girl's clothes already hanging in the closet, I recognized a cute sun dress I had bought for Maya, I think it's so great how all the kids clothes are making the rounds through all the neices and nephews (Grant to Ethan, Isabelle to Maya, Maya to Sofia and who knows where we will be getting ours from?). So who cares if I apay $30 for an outfit, more than one kid is going to wear it!

Sunday we spent the morning cleaning up the nursery, so all that's left in there is actual baby stuff (rather than some of my pre-pregnancy clothes, shoes and other things we were keeping in storage). Jeff put together the closet organizers and I think they are going to do the job just perfectly. We kind of put the furniture where we thought it may go, but I think I may rely on my mom's advice to help finalize it, she has a good eye for that kind of stuff. I've heard you shouldn't put the crib on an outside wall, but the outside wall is the best place for us to put it, and we think that they may have said that with older houses, but it's a new house so I'm sure the outside wall isn't cold. When winter comes, we'll try and see if one wall is colder than the other.

Sunday afternoon Jeff and I went and did some errands around the city, at the top of our list to find laundry detergent for kids. My sister LOVES the Ivory Snow (it smells JUST like baby) but we have the front load washers, which use the he (High efficiency) detergent and there is no kids laundry detergent in he! Argh. There is a scent-free dermatalogist recommended one, but it doesn't smell like anything (yes, I know, scent-free). So I'm going to have to google away today and try and find a HE ivory snow type detergent. My mom picked up two boxes of baby clothes (newborn and up to 6 months) from Carrie and is going to wash them and hang them on the line (there's NOTHING like clothes that have been hung to dry on the line, they smell so yummy) for me. There is a box of boy's stuff, and a box of girl's so we'll be set no matter what comes out.

Last night Jeff made his speciality chili, Kaethe Peter Jaeda and Justen came over, we had a great visit (all h3ll broke loose as they were leaving because Jaeda realized she really did want to watch Cinderella over Dora (her earlier choice)) and Justen was freaking cute as ever, a tad fussy but they think his teeth may be coming in). Kaethe had made a delicious apple crisp, and around 9ish I was off to bed.

Today, my monthly appt at 10:45 with the results of my glucose test, hopefully hear the little guy's heartbeat and then after this I think my appts start every 2 weeks...

I've written much too much, it's not just a pregnancy journal it's all all-purpose journal, don't feel obligated to read it :)

Oh, and two more possible names for a boy: Lucas (Luke) and Hayden. Jacob and Max are outsies. Possible middle names: Charles, Jonathon and Reid.

Pictures?

I've been told I have to post pictures, that's the only reason these are up here!

The side view of me looks funny cause this shirt kind of sticks out at the bottom rather than going down straight.

I can see the weight gain in my face, which I'm not concerned with but it reminds me of when I was fat, so it makes me a little sad.

And like I knew it would...

Our short boy name list has been scrapped.

Back to the drawing board.

Could it be...?

Last night, I had my first ever dream that this baby was a girl. In the dream, labour was a breeze and in less then a few minutes I had a new baby girl in my arms. I remember telling everyone who came in to the room that I couldn't believe it was a girl - they had told me it was going to be a boy (this part of course is not true, no one has told me it's a boy) and we were just so not prepared for a girl.

It's funny, I'm so utterly convinced it's a boy that I never have any thoughts about what it would be like to have a girl. But really, it's a 50/50 chance. They say that about 70% of the time when the mother has a gut feeling about the sex of the baby, it's right. But who is they and how did they come up with that statistic? So today I'm all confused, my mind is racing about the simple fact that we don't know if it's a girl or boy and now this new possibility has entered my head, I can't stop thinking about it.

Other than that, I love my husband. He's truly the best out there, he knows me so well. He's been so incredibly wonderful during this pregnancy, he treats me like a queen, and just always puts the biggest smile on my face.

A conversation we had last night:

Me: My fingers still hurt (background: I was making sugared almonds for our salad and when taking them out of the pan, one of them stuck to my finger and b/c of the hot sugar is burnt really, really bad)
Jeff: Is there anything I can do?
Me: I think ice cream will make it better
Jeff: Do you want to go to Dairy Queen
Me: (After a two second pause) No
Me: But that was very nice of you to offer (DQ is nowhere near our house)
Jeff: I knew you were going to say no anyways.

See, that's how well he knows me.

And it's Friday, which makes me happy. I think I slept on and off for 9 hours last night, these days it doesn't seem to matter, come 3 oclock I could have a nap! It's funny, they say you start getting tired again during your third trimester, and I swear it's only been this week that I feel I could sleep for days on end. Again, who is they? but I assume they know more than I do.

This weekend? Dinner with Nadia and Sean tomorrow night and so far those are the only plans. I know, we haven't had only ONE plan for a weekend in ages! I think we are going to finish patching the walls to get ready to be painted (next week), finish the closet in the nursery. Arrange the nursery, choose fabric for the curtains (that Nadia has agreed to make for me!) and maybe make a trip to Babies R Us. I still haven't decided if I want to register or not. I would (obviously) rather not, but I have people from out of town asking where I'm registered and friends of the family etc... so it would be easy for THEM if I was registered. But we have all the big things, so it would be mainly for bedding, blankets, nightshirts (onesies is apparently the word?) and just all small stuff. So it seems kind of pointless but I'll run it by Carrie and see what she thinks. I guess I could always register for a highchair, I know I don't need one for a while, but if I'm registering I may as well.

I just had the most tasty oatmeal with baked apple muffin

I'll have a little dose of reality with a few tears on the side...

After about 7 phone calls this morning, I was informed that indeed the hospital had received my blood work results so my 10am appt was a go! Went to admitting, got a shiny new hospital card and confirmed that Jeff would make any medical decisions if I was unable to and went to the childbirth center.

Whoa. There were seriously pregnant women there, walking around (trying to induce labour?), husbands on their cell phones calling parents saying "Trish is in labour now, her water broke at 4am...", babies being wheeled around in the clear plastic basinettes all swaddled with their pink or blue bonnets on with their little noses and hands near their faces, a few babies crying, new moms walking in the hallway (this helped to mentally make a list of items to pack in my hospital bag), and the best was a proud new daddy sitting with us in the waiting room cradling his new daughter, Sara-Anne. After about 10 minutes, he slowly got up and put his precious new baby in the basinette ever so carefully. He even made a "I hope I'm doing this right" face as he did it, and then smiled at us (I said congrats, she's beautiful) and walked back to see the new mom. I looked at Jeff, and god bless his heart his eyes were all red and welled up.

We just sat there, in awe, thinking that in another few months, this would be us. I wasn't scared, I was excited, I wasn't thinking oh no, I was thinking yipeee. And after seeing the new dad make the "I hope I'm doing this right face" just reassured me that no new parent knows what they are doing. We all have little bits of info, suggestions, advice, maybe first hand experience. But really when it's YOURS, it's all different. It's your first, so no matter what your experience or knowledge you are really starting out on your own.....

Then, we went and met with a nurse, gave her some more details (they asked for the name of the baby-to-be's pediatrician, something I've never thought about...?) gave only Jeff's name to be allowed in the delivery room (no one else needs to be there, this is special for my husband and I), got a needle in my butt and that was it.

We signed up for a tour of the hospital on November 11th, I can't wait!

When I was 13 weeks pregnant

I just found this picture on my camera and never
had downloaded it. Jeff's brother got married this spring (Michael and Olivia are on their honeymoon in New Zealand right now!) and I was 13 weeks pregnant (and apparently the wine was REALLY good!)

Trying to remember

What it was like to be skinny.....

Annoyed yet again....

I think I've posted a few times about my issues with some of the staff at the places I have visited so far through this pregnancy. When I went to get an ultrasound I had to deal with a complete biatch (not the technician, the lady working reception), then I got totally confused a few times when leaving my obs office (information overload and things not explained clearly). It's like they think I've done this before so I know when and where I have to do everything. You know what? I don't. This is my first time.

So, last time I had my obs appt, I was given a few blood requisition forms. Once was for the glucose, one for rhogam and one to check my level of antibodies. So today, I get the glucose and accompanying blood work done.

I just get a phone call from the Queensway Carleton reminding me of my appt tomorrow morning (rhogam shot). I say yes, I will be there. They ask if I've had any blood work done lately. I say yes, this morning actually. They say oh - did you have them fax us the information. WHAT? How was I supposed to know to do that? When they gave me the forms they never said anything about making sure I got something done in time so they could get the info at the hospital - am I supposed to be a mind reader? She asked me if I knew the number for where I got the blood work done, of course I didn't so I said I'd call her back. I looked it up online (hence why I'm here) and called back and I get "Can I call you back, there are about 5 lines flashing here".

Ugh. Jeff's bringing home pizza, bless his little heart.

**Update** She called back, told me my dr's office should have told me about the timing of the blood tests and was actually quite nice. So i got all worked up for no reason. I'm having a big glass of freezing cold water and thoroughy enjoying it, and hoping it brings down my internal temp :)

28 weeks today...

12 more to go!

it's funny how I just always think that it's exactly that far away, when the chances of me actually having the baby in exactly 12 weeks is only 11% (that's what they say the percentage is of having the baby on the actual due date)

It's crazy to think that Hope and Bryan has their little Ethan at just 26 weeks - besides the obvious (2 month stay at the hospital, needing to know that everything was going to be OK and the not knowing and not being able to take your new son home..) I just can't imagine how NOT prepared they would be, in so many ways! But he's the cutest thing ever now, so alls well that ends well.

Glucose Test...

So I took the glucose test this morning, the drink was nasty. I think the majority of the reason why is because I can't stand carbonated drinks, so it made it really hard to drink. But I drank it all, sat for an hour and then had my blood done.

My right arm, the vein was really deep down so she tried to get it and it hurt like a biatch so I told her to stop. She looked at my left and voila, a big blue vein just sitting there. Why wouldn't they check the other arm as soon as she saw how deep the vein in the right arm was? Ugh.

Will hear the results at my next dr's appt on Monday, and I should get my requisition form for my ultrasound at 32 weeks to make sure my placenta has moved out of the way.

Boy Names

I *think* we may have come up with a few boy names that we both like and are definite possibilities:

Jacob
Max

I personally like Max better than Jacob (but I really like Jacob too), but Jeff's friends (which I may add, we NEVER see) have a boy named Max. They just moved to Toronto, so it's even less of an issue but all Jeff's friends know this couple so he feels a little strange naming it the same.

I don't want a really unique name, I like a good strong name for a boy... it's so bloody hard!

AND Jeff put the crib and change table together this weekend, I got all weird butterflies in my stomach when I actually saw the assembled crib in the nursery. Like it kind of hit me. Holy shit - there is going to be a BABY sleeping in their soon. OUR baby. So now we just have to figure out where everything goes. Ricky is putting the moulding in this week and then we'll start decorating. I was checking out crib bedding online and found some really cute crib sheets so I'll slowly start picking up some of that.

Last night I got into bed at 7:30pm (it's great being pregnant!) and the end of Father of the Bride II was on, so I cried cause mom and daughter were having babies at the same time, and when the daughter's husband came out and announced it was a boy, it made me so happy that we had made the decision to keep the sex a surprise - I can just picture Jeff going out to announce it to whomever is there - we have a "blank". (I still am completely convinced it's a boy, so Peter says I'm setting the stage for it being a girl).

Then Cheaper by the Dozen came on, I watched the first 10 minutes, then flicked it off (so I could read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child which I am LOVING) but because of the few minutes I caught of it, I dreamt that I got pregnant three times, so there were three babies inside of me but all due at different times. And I was upset because I would be pregnant for Kate and LJ's wedding...

Mondays....

I knew it, I shouldn't have come to work today. I always feel the best when I first wake up in the morning, and it's slowly going downhill. Considering it's only 7:43am, I know I'm in for a bad day.

I was up half the night coughing, it's like I have a tickle in my throat that just won't go away. Woke up at 2am and last looked at the clock at 5am, when I finally fell asleep sitting up, so when I woke up at quarter to 6 my neck was painfully sore.

Apparently there is a cold/cough/fever/flu thing going around and I think this weekend was only the intro, the rest will be following shortly. I took Tylenol Saturday night to fall asleep, and I may have to do the same tonight.

The baby has stopped doing sumersaults and now is back to kicking, last night I lay in bed for a good 20 minutes just watching my stomach, a little alien-ish if you ask me, seeing your stomach move like that, but amazing just the same :)

Weekend in bed....

1pm on Friday and my nose starts running, my eyes start watering.

It's only the start, it gets worse and by night time I feel like Ive been hit by a MAC truck and since then I've been in bed, we went out for a few hours yesterday afternoon and then back home to bed. I honestly don't know how women who are placed on bed rest keep their sanity. I was doing my best to stay in bed yesterday morning but by 8am I was going stir crazy.

I slept pretty well last night, from about 9 - 7 but I woke up a dozen times and each time it takes me quite a bit to get back to sleep. I feel a bit better today, so I think another day of rest will do me just fine.

The worst part about it is, if it was raining all weekend I wouldn't have a problem with being a shut-in, but it's beautiful outside. Today may involve a long walk in the woods, lunch on a patio and some family and friend visits. But now, rice krispies as I didn't eat dinner last night.

I love my husband....

He just called to wish me a Happy Pregnant Woman's Boxing Day

And he brought me home a trashy mag last night (one of my fave treats!) and a KitKat chocolate bar that we split :)

FRIDAY!

There are few things I indulge on, especially when it comes to this baby. Actually, let me correct myself: I haven't actually bought anything for the baby yet. I am the second last one out of family to have kids (Nadia will follow 2 weeks later), and I have close friends who have had children too so I've been quite spoiled with getting second hand stuff which I am absoloutely grateful for. I only had to buy a closet organizer for the nursery (oh wait, then I guess I lied in the first sentence) and everything else has been given to us. I have bags of girl clothes and boy clothes, there will be a few things I will have to buy but for the majority it's already there.

I kind of started to ramble there and forgot where I was going with this. Oh yes, indulging. For those of you who know me, you will know I'm super scared and worried about losing this weight after the baby. One of my closest friends is getting married on June 30th so that's my 'goal' date. Also, I love to run. I've run a couple half marathons and it's the only 'sport' that I ever really, truly enjoyed. I tried running when I got pregnant, but my body just didn't agree with it. So it's been put on hold. I can't WAIT to start again once this baby is here. At Boomerang (on Bank St.) they have a running club, where new moms (and their babies, in strollers) meet outside the church (where Kaethe and Peter got married) and then all go for a run together. So we asked around and one of the ladies there said she has tried out a few running strollers (and she's an avid runner) and this one is the best. So here it is, the one thing I plan on indulging in. I'm actually going to check it out this weekend and then keep my eye on it in case it goes on sale.

http://www.bobtrailers.com/strollers/revolution.php

Ha, quite the big lead up for something not so exciting to anyone but me probably.

It's Friday, the weather is supposed to be beautiful this weekend and we plan on taking FULL advantage of it.

Just a few more, loving my family today.

Totally not pregnancy related...

Well, maybe I feel like I am missing my family more because I'm sad they won't be around when the baby comes?

My dad, Arlene and my little beautiful sister who live in Edmonton.

Happy Pregnant Women's Day

I really wish I could remember everything I wanted to say at once... I heard on the radio this morning that it's Pregnant Women Day, no worries, I immediately informed Jeff :)

So Happy Pregnant Women's Day to all you love preggos out there :)

The 14th.....

Almost forgot!

My due date is 3 months from today!

That's approximately 13 weeks, which means 13 more aquafit classes, 39 trips to the gym, 13 Saturdays, 13 weekends, 13 episodes of Prison Break... I figure I can stop now, I think you catch my drift :)

I've forgotten

How much I love yogurt with granola - it's now my favourite mid morning snack. I eat breakfast around 6:30, so come 9-9:30, my stomach is a-rumbling!

Last night, as I promised, I relaxed. I stayed at work late to finish up a few things, went to Mom and Ricky's to pick up something mom had bought me, and went home. Just sat and talked with Jeff for an hour and then made dinner (chili and corn YUM) - after cleaning the kitchen, I got into bed around 7 and just stayed there till I fell asleep around 9.

It was the first time during this pregnancy that my back hurt. It was the top part of my back and I'm not sure what it was from, but the only comfy place for me to be was in bed with about 8 pillows behind me/to the side of me - placed perfectly so that I was super comfy and in heaven.

Woke up bright and early (actually, it wasn't bright, it was still dark) around 4:30 so after just lying there and thinking about absoloutely everything (I'm a big thinker and have a million things racing through my mind at any given point in time) for a bit, I got up, got ready and came to work nice and early.

I'm going to miss my long showers and getting ready in the morning (I love my morning ritual)

Oh!

I've hit the stage where my skin, hair and nails are all PERFECT!

I can't believe my skin, I normally have rosacea (mildly) so I get blotchy with red patches (although some people swear they love it on me, makes me look healthy) but those red patches have gone away.... pure joy.

Can I go back to sleep now?

I'm caught in a vicious cycle. I get tired around 3pm but by the time I get home, I have so much energy that I go go go until around 10 - hit the sack, am dead tired the next morning (I wake up at 6) (due to my night of naps strung together, not a solid sleep) and it just keeps going!

BUT, this does mean that I've been making it to the gym which is always a bonus. I don't do much mind you, the elliptical or the treadmill (read: no weights) but it gets my heart rate up a bit and burns a couple hundred calories. Last night I was on the treadmill with an incline of 4.0 and I started to get twingey cramps in my stomach, so I put it down to 1.0 and just kept walking and I felt normal again.

Did some groceries (was out of carrots and celery!), made a yummy comfort food dinner (Jeff is at home sick since Monday with a chest cold/body aches/pounding head etc) - Chicken A La King and it was delicious.

Today, I'm tired. Like, really tired. The string of naps throughout the night is just not cutting it anymore. Maybe I need to nap in the afternoon? I always feel so much worse when I wake up from a nap that I avoid them like the plague. Maybe instead of doing a million things every night I will just relax and take it easy every third night.

Lying down on the couch while watching TV isn't cutting it for me either. We did a quick re-arrangement of furniture in the basement and now I have my own comfy-ass chair that's awesome for my back, and an ottoman of sorts to elevate my feet. I was in heaven while watching House last night.

I'm wearing a hand-me down pair of mat pants today (really nice, all different shades of grey stripes (including black), flare pants but I don't like the way it shapes my belly - good thing I didn't spend money on them. But, I do have a credit note at Motherhood so I may take a wander over there after work tonight (then I PROMISE I'm going home to relax).

(Can't wait for Jeff to get better. 1/ for the obvious reason, I don't like my husband being sick and 2/ so he can put the crib and change table together! But that's the selfish part of me talking)

Aquafit...

Started last night and I really enjoyed it! Besides my chlorine skin that I quickly scrubbed away as soon as I got home, it was fantastic. It feels so much better to move like that in the water than on the elliptical. The baby was moving like crazy all night last night, every time I woke up (which was OFTEN because I drank a liter of water before bed) I swear you could see the covers moving because he or she was kicking so much.

It was nice to see other pregnant ladies, and it brought me back to reality, knowing that I'm not the biggest pregnant woman out there. There were a few that were not as far along as me, and bigger, so I felt better. And today I feel really really good, my skin is good, my hair is good, my clothes look wonderful (thank you Julie and Jennifer) and I feel happily beautiful pregnant. It doesn't happen often, so I tend to hold onto the days that it does.

27 weeks today! 13 more to go! God, that scares me.

The nursery...

Is almost there! Ok, far from it but last night we got the crib and Jeff is going to put it and the change table together this week. I'm so excited so I can arrange the furniture and figure out where everything is going to go. Then the moulding will go up hopefully next week, and then we can start with the stencilling and hanging the pictures/stars and moons and then washing all the baby clothes we have.

Oh yeah, darn, I forgot I have to clean out the closet. I took all my pre-pregnancy clothes out of my room, put them in the closet in the nursery. I have to find a new home for them (to the guest room?) - it's actually quite sick the amount of clothes I have, and I even went through and gave 7 bags to the women's shelter.

I start aqua-fit tonight, and it sounds silly but I hope we don't go underwater. I am an avid swimmer and have been my whole life (was lucky enough to grow up with a pool), but I find swimming in indoor pools takes a toll on my hair - they put SO much chlorine in those pools my hair gets brittle and just overall horrible.

I have to call my obs. office today. I have 3 requisition forms they gave me at my last appointment. 1 is for the rhogam shot (for Sept 20th) and I'm pretty sure I know which form is for that one. The other one is for my glucose shot and I don't even know what the other one is for. I think just regular bloodwork? And I remember the nurse telling me I had to call ahead to make sure the clinic had ____ for one of them (my glucose shot?). I wish I would have cleared it up while I was there, but they gave me a million forms and were talking about so many things - now I have all the forms in front of me and can call them and get it straightened out.

I love kids....

So, as we know from yesterday's post, I had the kids overnight. I took 'em around 1, we went to grandma's house and had our nap, got up, got into our snazzy new clothes (there were so many sales yesterday, I went into Please Mum and got the cutest camaflouge skirt for Isabelle and a little racing jacket for Ethan) and went to the surprise party. My sister has done an amazing job at raising her children. They sit at the table while eating, not running around like all the other kids, they use their napkins to wash their face and hands and they don't scream and cry and all that nonsense.

We left around 8, went home, we cleaned up (brushed our teeth, washed our face etc) and then got into our king sized bed. I love nighttimes with them, they say the most adorable things while we re-hash all we have done that day, they ask all kinds of questions about the baby (they know he or she will make his or her appearance when the snow comes) and they are all cuddly and snuggly.

I left them in the king sized bed and I went into the guest room into our old queen bed (which now seems so small) then at 6:30 I heard footsteps coming towards my door and Ethan just looked, smiled and said "hi". Now we are watching Dora and going to take a bath shortly.

I love Saturday mornings....

Even though I'm always up at the crack of dawn, today I did something I haven't done in months, maybe years. I stayed in bed. For 2.5 hours. I read, I talked on the phone, I checked the weather network (yes, we are one of those horrible TV lovers who have a TV in their bedroom) and then I watched 'Vanished' from Monday night (it was PVR'd).

Then I got up, had some Rice Krispies, threw on a laundry and came here to check a few things.

I'm having a great morning so far.

I think I'll head into my mom's to see how the garage sale is going (It's the Ottawa South Garage Sale today), then quickly head over to Bayshore to wander and maybe buy a few things (I want a pair of black maternity dress pants for the surprise party I'm going to tonight).

I'm happy, I feel good, I look good, I love my belly and I love the little bean who's constantly kicking and moving (and he responds when Jeff talks or sings into my belly!). Yesterday at work, I spoke to three different doctors (who I work with) who all said they see blue in my future. I become more and more convinced every day that it's a boy. So I am checking out the baby name book again, there are a few names that tickle my fancy but I have to wait till my husband is home to see what his take is on them.

This two lb munchkin inside me is becoming more and more real every day. I talk to him, I sing to him (only when I'm alone), I think about him & us every day and how much our life is going to change come December and I get tears in my eyes becuase I am so excited. I love him or her. No matter what he looks like, no matter if he sleeps well or not, I am just going to love this baby to death.

I love my husband....

Jeff left this morning for a golf weekend in Tremblant with the boys. Although I will be happy when he comes back on Sunday, I am looking forward to a "me" weekend.

I got in the car this morning to come to work and there was an Annie Lennox song "Little Bird" playing in the car. I was so excited, thinking it was on the radio. But then I looked at the stereo and saw that it was on CD. So I flipped to the next song and it was another Annie Lennox song.... I ejected the CD and saw that my wonderful husband had made me an Annie Lennox CD. I had mentioned a few months ago that I couldn't find her CD and I was bummed, cause I loved it.

He's the best.

I think I'm a horribe person...

Ok, so we all know I seriously struggle with weight gain during this pregnancy. Today, I think I look perfectly pregnant. The jeans I'm wearing make me look great and the T-shirt perfectly conforms to my belly, making it look like a cute little preggo belly. I want to show everyone what I look like today. (Must remember to take picture tonight, but by the night time I never look as good as in the morning, but anyways, this isnt the point). The point is, when I'm feeling fat and ugly and just have the pregnancy-ugs, I often find myself reading blogs about people who are struggling to get pregnant, reading about their desperation to get pregnant and know they would slap me silly if they heard me complaining about a 20 lbs weight gain.

Then I realize how (#*&$(&#$ lucky I am to have a 26 week old baby inside my stomach and so far this pregnancy has gone perfectly as planned.

I use other people's nightmares to my advantage, how horrible is that?

I don't know... I just don't know if this is a normal way of thinking, I think I'd like to find other ways to get me out of my slump than compare myself to others less fortunate than me.

I'm a what???

So, I need new bras. I know this isn't a fun post but seriously, I do. I didn't realize your RIBCAGE grows! Mine are uncomfortable now, so off I go tonight to shop. And it's not fun cause I'm not looking in La Senza for cute, pretty, sexy ones. I'm looking for support and comfort. I got measured, and although not willing to post what size I am now, it's bigger than I was even when I was at my highest weight! They shrank quite a bit when I lost all that weight but now I'm back up and bigger. And I don't think there is any slowing down in the near future. I just about died when the lady told me what size I am now (ok, it's a 40D, I've NEVER been a D and never been a 40!)

Last night mom and Rick came over for dinner, we measured the nursery for moulding, chose colours for the rooms we are getting painted (probably within the next 2 weeks!) and had a big discussion on how we are going to renovate the basement. We are going to get an architect in (a friend of Ricky's) because drain pipes etc need to be moved, and he will hopefully give us some good ideas. I think the plan is to start renovations in the spring, hopefully when the bebe, me and my mom are in Vancouver. Currently, half the baesment is finished (our TV room) and the other half is unfinished and is storage/laundry. We are going to make a den/office/guest room, a TV room, a laundry room and a bathroom down there. And when we re-did the bathroom this year, we saved the counter/sink from the ensuite so now we have it for the basement bathroom.

This is all if we don't find a new house within the next couple of months :)

Ouchies!

Jeff and I just went for a power walk around the neighbourhood and my hands and feet are so swollen! If I just hold my hands up ove rmy head I can feel them draining out. I used to get this feeling in the 30+ degree weather when training for my half marathon.....

I think I'm going to take a cold shower and hop into bed (and maybe watch the season premiere of House!)

xo

26 weeks today....

I've been pregnant for 1/2 year!

Last night we had a huge BBQ and it was alot of fun, I told Jeff I wouldn't be entertaining that amount of people in one night again until after the baby was born, and he completely understood. I love doing it, but really, was on my feet cooking/getting read/serving/cleaning etc for 7 hours and by the end I was exhausted. My feet were swollen, I was hot as a (can't think how to end this analogy) and I was just beat. In bed by 9pm and asleep shortly afterwards.

Lyne and Dwight brought our change table, Julie brought more maternity clothes, and I got tips and pieces of advice throughout the night, which always makes me happy :)

Lyne told me that trying to reason with an overtired child was like trying to reason with a drunk, and we both know the latter never works. Lyne and Dwight have a beautiful 7 year old daughter, Sienna and you can tell that they've always spoken to her and treated her as an adult because she acts so mature for her age. You can have these amazing conversations with her. I find it's the same with Carly's Emma, she's only 7 or 8 and yet you would think you were talking to a 16 year old. I think so much of it has to do with the way they are spoken to (spoken to as an adult as opposed to a child).

I should have taken a picture of all the children last night, they were all so adorable and for the most part... really, really good.

So far, only Julie, Lisa, my mom and grandmother think I'm having a girl, everyone else is convinced (as we are) that it's a boy. Grace and Isabelle (2 three year olds) also think it's a girl but the rest of the 'kids' also say boy when asked.

Still no boy's names yet....will start a search on my lunch hour. Now for some oatmeal.

Nursery (so far)

So it's still completely bare, but the walls are painted. We are putting up a chair railing (2 inches thick) in between the two colours, to break it up a bit.

I don't know if the exact colour comes through in these pictures, but I love love love the blue colour "Serenity" by Benjamin Moore and when the room is transformed into the twinkle twinkle little star theme, it's going to look awesome!

I am in love...

With our new king sized bed. I have SO much room, I now sleep with a body pillow in front of me, a pillow behind me (so I dont roll over onto my back) and two pillows under my head... I am in heaven.



Behind our bed is somewhat boring, we don't have a headboard and Jeff won't let me hang a picture above our bed cause he'd always be afraid it would fall on his head. He's so cute :)

The green in the sheets is a completely different colour green then the walls, but for some strange reason, it works. It just makes me want to go crawl back into it :)

Lonnng weekend

I wish every weekend was a long weekend, it just seems we get SO much done when we have 3 days off instead of 2. The baby's room? Painted. I LOVE it! Just waiting for Ricky to put up the moulding next week, then the crib, change table and glider will be moved in. Looks like our deadline of October 1st (for having the nursery done) will be met.

Jeff told me yesterday he had his first feelings that it may be a girl. I was shocked. Since the day we found out we were pregnant we both thought it was a boy. I just know it is. I think it's because we had Isabelle over last weekend for a sleepover and they bonded a bit, he loves and adores her so when we spend time alone with her he loves the idea of having a daughter. Then we were at the grocery store last night (yes, grocery store on a Saturday night) and there a young boy helping his dad take some bags to the dumpster and we talked about a boy is the dad's helper and a little girl is a mom's helper. But, it's daddy's little girl and mommy's little boy. I love thinking about raising a child, I rarely think past the point of having a baby and realize we are going to have a 5 year old, a child starting school, a teenager, someone asking us for keys to the car... it's crazy and we are SO excited.

Tomorrow we are having a BBQ (started off as 4 people with 2 kids and now it's 12 adults and kids) so we are cleaning the house from top to bottom, and that always includes some type of re-ogranization, re-hanging pictures, moving stuff around yada yada. Then a trip to Costco (we are having ribs tomorrow) and back to the grocery store so I can get everything I need (I'm making a brie and onion appetizer, lemon meringue pie, and someting chocolate) - everything else will be easy those are the only thing I have to concentrate on. We are hoping to make it to a movie tonight but I doubt that's going to happen cause it's already 11:40 :)

Neurologically speaking...

I'm A-OK. Ha, did I ever fool him! :)

So we bought the king sized bed, I'm so excited. And it works out well, my friend Lisa is moving into the neighbourhood tomorrow and she has rented a 10 cube foot van, so we are going to borrow it to pick up the bed. Otherwise, we'd have to drive it on top of the van and that didn't seem like the best option to me.

We picked up a roller for the stucco ceiling in the babe's room and we are going to paint this weekend. We were going to start Friday night, but now the bed moving will take place then (and we are taking our existing queen in the spare room, lending it to Lisa and moving the queen sized bed in our bedroom into the spare room). We may as well do it all while we have the truck. We are also giving her a single bed cause we were just going to toss it anyways, we have 4 beds (soon to be 5) for a 3 bedroom house.

The baby is kicking all.the.time I mean it, as soon as I sit down for longer than 5 minutes this baby is doing ninja chops inside my stomach! Apparently it will eventually slow down as the baby will have less room to move around, and I know I will miss it when it's gone.

2 people yesterday told us we were nuts for not finding out the sex. But, how excited will YOU be when you get the call "we had a .....!"

Tonight is a girl's night out on Elgin street for some dinner and drinks. Anne is visiting from Vancouver... I'm looking forward to it!

Ebay

I just made my first bid EVER on ebay. I bid on two maternity T shirts. They are super cute - from Belly Incorporated and only $4 Cdn for each one - and the seller will ship them in a legal sized envelope so to minimize shipping costs. I normally would never order clothes, but it's only a T-shirt and hey, if it doesn't fit or look right, I'm only out about $15.00.




And really, I would rather my first buy off e-bay be small... I just feel more comfortable with it. But if all works out OK, watch out ebay :)

Wow...

The baby weighs 2 lbs and is 14 inches long. That's incredible to me. But, from the strength of his kicks, I can believe it.

Just this morning Jeff told me how much I move when I sleep now, I didn't use to before. It's because I just can't get comfortable anymore when I'm sleeping. And it's not just because I'm big, it's that I like sleeping on my back. But, you're not supposed to so every time I wake up during the night (which unfortunately is quite a lot) I'm always on my back, so I have to turn on my side. What a pain.

BUT, tonight we are going to look at the king sized bed. SO excited. SO SO SO excited. The only down side is we have a ton of beautiful sheets and duvet covers for our queen sized bed. Now I'm starting at ground zero again and have to build up my beddings for the king sized. I was at Ikea the other day and saw a beautiful duvet cover and sheets and they are damn cheap there. I don't think they are above a 200 thread count, but I'll probably get them anyways.

The sheets that go with it are a plain dark red and I think it will look perfect with our dark brown furniture and olive green walls. I also have to get a king sized quilt now. I will probably hit up Winners and/or Home Sense... my last two duvets I got were down filled, but they get flat after a while so I think I'm going to go for the old school polyester filled - I like when they are big and fluffy.

Ok, so maybe this was completely not pregnancy related, but in a weird way it all ties in.

Looking back at the pictures I posted of me last week, I look HUGE! I actually look bigger than I do today. It totally depends on what I wear. Yesterday I think I looked 8 months pregnant (although, aren't we all our own critics) and today I look just 5 or 6, which thankfully I am.

Tonight after looking at the bed, we have to head to Rona to pick up some more paint so J can finish off the bookcases and I'm going to pick out paint for the stairwell, hallway, guest bedroom and second bathroom upstairs. Not sure if I mentioned it, but we are hiring someone to paint so my only job is picking the colours, which really is the only fun part about painting. Yippeee! I love having a step-father who's a tradesperson and Italian because he knows someone who does everything you ever need done in a house.

25 weeks today....

Last night Jeff finished one of the book cases and it looks fantastic (thanks J, you're the best!). We're using an oil based paint so I can't paint, I just supervise :) We've also decided we are going to hire someone to paint the stairwell, spare bedroom & second bathroom. We want to get it done before the baby comes, and so the only way I see it getting done is to hire someone. I can't wait!

I have an appt with the neurologist tomorrow morning to figure out why I'm getting this horrendous headaches. Of course, they have subsided since the first trimester but I've still gotten quite a few. I thought the appt was Thursday, but it's tomorrow, good thing I checked last night. My memory has been failing quite a bit these days so I'm happy to have remembered.

I had a big long talk with my compensatory advisor regarding maternity leave and she gave me some good tips. The best? Exhaust my sick leave and personal days the days leading up to my due date and only start actual maternity leave the day the baby is born. You have to go back to work (well, you can no longer receive EI) exactly 52 weeks from the day the baby is born. So if I were to leave Dec 1st (which I was planning on) then EI would be cut off Dec 1st. But if I use my sick leave (I have about 12 days) and some personal days, family related days etc, I can take up to 4 weeks off before the baby is due without going on maternity leave. I really want to work as long as I possibly can, I don't see myself leaving at all before Dec 1, but I've also never been 9 months pregnant before so my mind may change. I must say, I'm pretty happy I got into the gov't before we decided to get pregnant, we could have easily survived on EI only but the top up will be really nice to sack away for a rainy day. *mental note - call John, our financial planner*

Good god, good thing I don't live in the States or else I would have already gone broke from shopping at Pottery Barn Kids - they have THE most adorable stuff for a nursery. I've set myself a limit that I won't go over for this nursery, and so much stuff we are getting second hand so I do have a little bit of room to play with. But I have to keep reminding myself, it's a NURSERY. The baby will grow out of it in 2 years time, so don't spend millions of dollars. It's just that baby stuff is so darn cute.

The quilt I want is on this page

http://ww2.potterybarnkids.com/index.cfm?cid=romnurtwk&area=rms&age=

and I want to stencil "twinkle twinkle little star" like they have on the wall. Those are teh colours of my room though - yellow, blue and green.

I won't go overboard, I won't go overboard. If I say it enough times, maybe it will come true.

I will miss you weekend!

Even though my weekend was none too exciting, I will miss it. Friday night I went out with some friends, kept score of their volleyball game (I had been having a bit of cramping/stretching during the day so I thought it best to stay on the sidelines rather than play) and then went out for a bite to eat. Saturday I got up early, went to Benjamin Moore to choose the paint for the nursery (then Ricky will go get his discount and pick it up for me) and it's this lovely blue/aqua colour called Serenity. It matches beautifullly with the yellow that's already there, so we are going to keep the bottom half yellow, put a chair rail (moulding) up and then do aqua at the top and the ceiling. Kaethe called and said she has sun, moon and stars stamps from Pottery Barn for Kids that she'd happily lend me, which is great, I had been looking at Michael's earlier for stamps. After Benjamin Moore, we went to Ikea and I picked up a closet organizer that I'm super excited about, it has 12 drawers and it goes in the bottom half of the closet so we can use the existing rod that's already up in there to hang up clothes too.

I started to empty out the soon to be nursery, all my pre-pregnancy clothes are in there so I have to shuffle them to the guest room. We are planning on painting this weekend... I really hope we get around to it. With long weekends you never know what springs up at the last minute.

My mom bought a cute what-we-thought-was-a-dinosaur-but-was-realy-a-giraffe from Ikea cause it's the perfect shade of aqua blue we are paining the room in. Even Isabelle thought it was a dinosaur, so I'm sticking with that. Saturday afternoon Jeff went golfing, so I picked Isabelle up, did a bit of shopping, went to visit Grandma and Nono... then took her home, we got into our jammies, got into my bed, watched some TV and had a sleepover. She talks about the baby all the time, and her last words before falling asleep here "the dinosaur is for the baby". Breakfast on Sunday morning, quick trip to Babies R Us, a quick visit with Kaethe and Peter then home again where I cleaned a whole bunch, changed all sheets towels etc and got ready for another Monday. Jeff BBQd some mean steaks last night, topped with a salad and brocolli, it was a delicious Sunday night din din.

How was that for a boring post?

My best news from the weekend... we are buying a king sized bed! For those of you who sleep well with your partner, you may not understand the excitement, but Jeff and I have been sleeping in separate rooms for I'd say the majority of this pregnancy - we don't sleep well together when I'm NOT pregnant, so now it's only even more so. So, with a king sized bed we can happily sleep and not be touched by our significant other (he can touch me all he wants when I'm not sleeping, but when it's time to sleep, it's time to sleep! Good thing we both feel that way).

I'm tickled pink.

Whoops...

I wasn't finished, but hit publish by accident.

The rest of the day was very blah, just feeling emotional and tired and.. well, you pregnant ladies know what I'm talking about. Then I went out to dinner with the ex-Winfund girls (at the Keg, yummy), had a great time and my woes were forgotten! I was going to cancel, but very glad that I didn't.

I went shopping at Thyme the other day and once again, just not happy with their clothes. They fit funny - frumpy I would say. Maybe my body type is just really awkward or something (I was a perfect size 8 before I got pregnant) but I don't know, they fold in all the wrong places and they just don't fit right. I did find one sweater (ribbed zip-up) that I know I will wear practically every day, so I think I have to get it in another colour. I think I'll head back to my trusty Motherhood for pants (I got 3 or 4 pairs for the summer and they fit amazing!) and they are cheaper too, which is always good seeing as I always end up buying too much. I think I need to buy a few pieces of clothing for the gym too, I have been wearing my regular clothes up until now but the pants are feeling a tad snug and I just think going forward I'd be more comfortable in actual maternity work out clothes.

Well, it's Friday and I'm smiling!

I'm glad yesterday is over!

I had a really emotional day yesterday, one of those days where you freak out over the silliest things that you really shouldn't waste longer than 5 minutes thinking about? That was me, yesterday. It was the colour of the baby's room, I went over colours for a few hours, tried to reason each and every decision - when I finally had to realize that it's just the colour of the damn nursery! I didn't put that much thought into painting our own bedroom. Looking back, it was a total pregnant-out of my mind-emotional thing, but at the time I was stressing.

We had a dr's appt yesterday morning, baby's heartbeat is 144 (another clue to it being a boy?) and the measurement from my belly button to above the pubic bone is 24 cm which is right on track (Can't remember the name of it) so I'm happy about that. I got requisitions for my glucose test, and two other blood tests... and Jeff dropped off his blood test results for the doctor as he's AB+ and I'm A- so I need to get a shot at 28 weeks and at time of delivery due to the difference in rhesus factors. So all in all, it was a good appt. I will need to get another ultrasound at 32 weeks because I have a low lying placenta and they want to make sure it's moved. On one hand, I'm happy to have another ultrasound, to see the baby again, but on the other hand, I would like to have as few ultrasounds as possible. I guess 2 won't cause any harm :)

Hump Day!

Heartburn was all but gone yesterday, but sleep didn't come like I thought it would. Unfortunately, we are making great use out of the spare bedroom because I almost need a whole bed to myself to place the pillows appropriately to make myself somewhat comfortable. I don't know what it's going to be like at 8 and 9 months, but for now I have discovered how to be comfortable and it involves 3 pillows and a body pillow. It's pure bliss, but still doesn't allow sleep to come easily.

I've been eating so well the past few weeks, last night I indulged in some rainbow sorbet and damn was it ever good, just the touch of sweet I needed after dinner.

I'm somewhat happy that it's almost fall, I am wearing a long sleeved shirt today and I feel much skinnier then when I wear sleeveless or short sleeve shirts, I think some of my fat gain has gone into my arms, they are definitely not as thin as they used to be, so covering them up makes me feel better :)

First potential purchase for the nursery

This is the rug I want for the nursery! I think I'm going to stencil "twinkle twinkle little star" as a border around the top of the wall and I think this would match it nicely. We are kind of going around a Nursery Rhyme theme and my mom made two really sweet canvas things to hang over the crib, one says Sweet Dreams and the other says Good Night Sleep Tight and they are done in blues, with some glitter and a yellow wood moon and star. I will have to take pictures of them, I wish I had gotten the artistic bone from my mom!

Fire in my throat...

Ok, so maybe I didn't get morning sickness, but I did have a headache that lasted 37 days and now I have heartburn. And it's bad. I never had heartburn or acid reflux or anything of the sort until I got pregnant and I think it's making up for it all at once.

I ate mini wheats for breakfast (with skim milk), I ate carrots and 6 perogies at lunch (that I had made at home myself) with some low fat sour cream, I had a peach, a nectarine and a container of vanilla yogurt and a sandwich on 12 grain bread last night (lettuce, turkey, mustard) for dinner. And I don't know what exactly it wsa (I guess the perogies), were in my throat all night. It burns. Then I would get this horrible pain in my chest, like someone was pressing on it, that happened about every 5 minutes for a couple of hours.

The result? No sleep. I had only gotten a few hours sleep the night before, so I was EXHAUSTED and figured as soon as my head hit the pillow I would be out, but I wasn't lucky enough for that. I tossed and turned, had to try and fall asleep sitting up so the heartburn wouldn't get any worse. I fell asleep finally at some point, but woke up every hour.

I felt better this morning, steered away from my Mini Wheats and had plain oatmeal with a banana and voila - Mr Heartburn is back. I'm eating cantaloupe now and drinking a crapload of water, we'll see if that helps.

I have been taking Rolaids and Tums, but only 4 a day. Carrie said she took Zantac so I am going to wander down to the pharmacy at lunch and see what the pharmacist says about taking it while pregnant.

24 weeks today! 16 weeks left, that's INSANE!

Pictures...

Holy jumping am I ever big already... not surprised though. It's hard when you see all these beautiful pregnant ladies with just the perfect bump. I am constantly reminded that I'm still healthy and that I have to take care of the growing baby inside of me, but the weight gain is hard, I have to admit it.

Anyways, might as well show pictures of the freak show! I also had to add a picture of the cutest little boy in the whole world - Justen! He came on our trip to PEI with us and he was just the happiest baby, you just want to hug and squeeze him (and maybe throw him against the wall he's so cute but apparently that scares the parents when I say that)

Thank goodness it's Friday

It's not that it's been a bad week, I am just really looking forward to the weekend. Not for any real reason, and maybe that's the exact reason! We have no plans, did you hear me? No plans. I think for the first time this summer (the worst part is, I'm not exagerating) we have no plans. I think Jeff will be passing on Steve's birthday plans tomorrow night, if not, we will be going out for drinks but that's it. Normally, our weekends are filled with 4 or 5 "things" to do, but not this one!

Tonight is Jeff's poker night. I am either going to a) go shopping or b) sand down the furniture I mentioned in my previous post. Tomorrow is priming and painting the furniture (going to do it in the garage with the doors open so don't worry about the paint fumes mom!), helping Jeff clean out the basement and hanging up a clothes line (finally!). Then Sunday, hanging the new armoire in our bathroom (it's a beautiful espresso brown to match the cupboards I painted in the winter, for before/after pictures go to http://missusg.blogspot.com/ and just scroll down on the page) and going to Home Depot to choose paint for the stairwell, upstairs hallway, guest room and second bathroom. LOTS of painting to do before the guppy comes, not sure how much will get done but I'm hoping all of it :)

Wow, this post was not at all pregnancy related. Um, feeling great today! I'm wearing a cute new maternity top from the Gap and for those of you who know me, having a new outfit always makes for a very happy Christy.

Until Monday....

xo

23 weeks and counting....

Ok, so it's actually 23 + 2 days, but who's counting?

I haven't felt very bloggerish lately, nothing really new to report. The baby is constantly moving, so I am constantly smiling. I went into Babies R Us last night and got scared. There are rows and rows and rows of... stuff. What do I need? What's necessary? I bet there's a list somewhere of must haves for when the baby comes. I know, I have the best resources (my mom, my sister (who had twins), my two closest friends) who I can call up on a dime (and often do) and they will re-assure me, but that's who I am. I get freaked out, stressed, and I just need someone to calm me down, it always works out in the end.

I do know I want a bumbo chair though

http://www.getreadyforbaby.com/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=279

Justen loves it and so does Tao... so I think it may go on the baby registry.

Told you not much was new. I slept so-so last night, brutal dreams (as per the norm). Last volleyball game tonight unless we make it to the championships, but I've been having alot of cramping as of late so I may just sit on the sidelines. I'll see how I feel closer to the game.

There WAS something exciting that I forgot to post about!

This baby moves... all the time! The first real kick (when I knew it was an actual kick) came the first night of our vacation. It happened twice. Then during the week it slowly started happening more and more. As soon as I get into bed and lie down, bam, the baby wakes up. I love it. I just sit there and smile, and sometimes even cry. It's amazing.

A week to the day that I first felt it, I told Jeff to put his hand on my stomach and he felt it too! He wasn't sure if he did or not, or if it was just my breathing, but his eyes lit up as soon as it kicked so I know he felt it.

Now if I lie on my back when the baby is awake, you can actually see my stomach move from the kicking. Wowsers, I could do that all day. Now that I'm sitting down for 7 hours a day at work, the baby is wide awake during the day and is moving all the time. Then he or she sleeps until I go to bed and then it's wakey wakey time.

I'm now researching strollers, I think I may sign up for a month's subscription for consumer reports. That site is great, I got a few articles on what to look for when searching for a stroller, there are just way too many strollers out there. And I'm looking for a Chariot for when I start running again :)

It's baaaaaaaack....

My headache that is. It came on around noon and lasted until .... wait, I still have it. I took 3 Tylenol in the past 24 hours, I'm not really willing to take anymore, so I will just have to deal.

I haven't experienced any mood swings since I've gotten pregnant (I even checked with Jeff to make sure) until this past weekend. I didn't want to talk to anyone, see anyone, and of course we had 4 things to do that involved friends and family, so I apologize to anyone for my grumpiness.

I'm feeling a bit better today, but now the headache's here, so I'm just not my normal self. I want to be in bed watching a movie, and I never want to be in bed watching a movie so that should tell you something! I watched 2 movies this weekend, normally I watch 2 a year, so I know something is up.

They have the CUTEST outfits at Loblaws of all places that are on sale. Outfits for regular $20 on sale for $2.99, it's insane! That's definitely a 'pro' to finding out the sex of the baby, you can shop in advance.

The plans for the nursery are coming along swimmingly. We have the colours picked out (a green for the walls and a blue for the ceiling and the top last foot of the walls, so it's kind of like grass and sky), I've finally decided on what to do with the closet, we are getting this fabulous closet organizer from Ikea, so that reduces the need for another dresser in the nursery. My mom is giving us her gliding chair for the nursery (and I think we are getting a friend's glider for the basement), today at lunch I'm going to look for sheets for the single bed and I'm going to ask Julie is I can paint the change table white to match the crib (which we need to pick up from my sister) and then the book cases need to be painted white and that's it! I'm hoping to paint this weekend, so far we have no plans so I'm keeping my fingers crossed it stays that way.

Once I start listing what needs to be done (and the above is just for the baby's room, I haven't begun to list what needs to be done in the rest of the house!), I realize that 4 months is just around the corner.

T - 4 months

My due date is 4 months away today. That scares me.

Vacation was wonderful, I love taking two weeks. I find with one week, I just start to get relaxed and then I'm back at work. We had incredible weather.

I'm now big. Like, getting really big. I know that's what being pregnant entails, but wow.

I just e-mailed my compensatory advisor and she won't meet with me until 6 weeks before I leave on mat leave! I want to know my options for paying into my pension while I am off so we can figure out our budget for the year (ha, those who know me knows budget is not part of my normal vocabulary), but I just want to know what my options are and what we are going to do. Oh well, I'm going to respond asking if I could meet earlier and see what she says. I printed some stuff off from the treasury board too so I'll try and read my way through that and e-mail her with any questions.

I'm hot these days. Like my body temperature is high and I'm always warm.

I wish I had something more exciting to write about seeing as I was gone for 2 weeks, but I have a pile of work to get to.....