2009 In Review

To copy B..

January:

Her speech starts to grow from random words here and there to sentences. Life would never be the same or quiet again.

February:

Still mourning the loss of our wee babe, but started to feel better about TTC again

March:

After a previous summer of hating the swings, Tash re-discovers a love for swinging.
April:

We decided to take the plunge and say 'screw it' if we had a December baby. After 5m of TTC since our loss, I finally saw 2 lines again and told Owen we were getting an early Christmas gift.

May:

We started potty training Tash, which resulted in great success. Which frankly surprised me. It was Owen who decided it was time, I was more hesistant.

June:


Pregancy Hormones were a bit nutso as I had Boudoir Images done by Brandy of Fresh Sugar while 14w pg! Was fun, exciting and I wish I could do it again. hah

July:

Teared up at my 18w u/s and learned we were having another girl. I was very excited that N was going to have a little sister!

August:

Breathed a bit easier when I reached the 'magical' 24w milestone and my cervix was still cooperating.

September:

Tasha becomes fully 'trained' in that she now will poop on the potty. Just in time to have a small break from diapers before her little sister arrives.

October:

Natasha's imagination takes hold and she starts having more interactive play with her Little People and other toys.

November:

34w pregnant and my cervix was still holding up. Big sigh of relief.

December:


Natasha became a Big Sister! I had a very unplanned, unexpected home birth bc her little sister was in such a rush to get here and I was in denial that she was coming into the world so quickly.

Bunny Chronicles

Seven Days Old:


I need to find a spot in the house with better lighting then on the kitchen table in front of the picture window. hah

Wordless Wednesday

Breastfeeding and Formula

After Tash was born, I retained tissue, which screwed with my milk supply. It took about 8d to come in and then when it did, I was not producing much before it dried up.

During this pregnancy, I told Owen and friends that I wanted to *try* breastfeeding. I will honestly say I never was for or against one form of feeding. I felt if it worked out, it worked out, if it did not, then that was fine too. Tash was on formula for the first 10m of her life and she turned out fine, so I have no strong feelings really one way or the other when it comes to how my child receives her nutrients.

So 12 days ago Kate was born. She as not BF immediately bc I gave birth to her at home and the EMS were more concerned with checking vitals, making sure she was warm enough to go outside and getting us both to the hospital. It was probably an hour before I tried to feed her. The first 24hrs we had a great latch, but then between leaving the hospital and getting home it went to crap. I saw the PHN x3 (former midwife) and she helped me out, but my nipples were so sore/bruised that I switched to pumping to give them a break and to heal.

Of course pumping does not help with supply increase as well for some as it does for others. Once I 'healed' I tried a few more times but even with the correct latch BF'n just makes me cringe. I do not enjoy it at all. K flails, her hands get in the way, she won't open her mouth all the time, so getting the correct latch means taking her off and on several times. Little Miss would prefer to just chomp down. I followed the tips of the PHN, nipple to nose, wait for her mouth to open wide but the little "brat" will stare at my nipple or hours and then as soon as I move her head or my boob *chomp*. gah!

So, because I was not feeling invested one way or the other, or have strong feelings one way or the other, it was perhaps not hard for me to feed her Formula, like I said Tash did just fine. However, I am not quite ready to give up yet and have been pumping every 3hrs for the last 12 days. I'm not sure how long I'll keep it up, I get about 1 bottle a day (5oz) so she gets 1 bottle a day of BM, which for me is better then none at all.

Dr. F gave me a prescription for Motillium, but it's not working wonders. When we saw him again this week he told me to up from 4 a day to 6. He was also super nice about it all. Saying some women get an excess of supply while other women never get that much. On the same note, some women just can't pump enough milk, but breastfeed fine. There are other things out there to help increase supply, but like I said, I'm not sure how far I want to go.

Anyway, the key thing is a)Kate is happy and nourished (she is now over her birth weight 8lbs 3.5oz!) and I'm happy. And that is all that matters. I'm okay with my decision and so is Owen.

I promise I'll post some more photos soon. I was going to upload some today but a pint size 3 yr old is on my pc today playing "music" so it will have to wait until she's in bed.

So I can Find it later when it's Important

Birth - Thursday December 17th - 8lbs .5oz
Sunday, December 20th - 7lbs 5oz (4 days old)
Wednesday, December 23rd - 7lbs 13oz (7 days old)
Monday, December 28th - 8lbs 3oz (12 days old)

Kate Noelle's Birth Story

I'll start out by saying, I never expected a labour like I had with Kate. When Dr. Eckwalanga heard about my labour/delivery with Natasha, she said it was fairly fast for a 'first timer' and I may have a low threshold. Dr. Spence who delivered Tash told me I had a fast delivery and for the next pregnancy I should camp out in the parking lot. Even Owen suggested I may have a fast delivery. Me? I laughed them all off and said I doubted I'd have a fast labour. So now I get to eat those words.

On Dec. 16th (my due date) I stayed up until 1am chatting with a friend. My famous last words to her at 1am when I said I better go to bed were "Watch me go into labour tonight on like 2hrs sleep" hah

3am I woke up to a contraction. I poked Owen and said "Mmm I think I had a contraction" to which he said "Was it?" and while I thought about it for a bit longer, he went back to sleep and I tried to do the same. I figured this would be like my labour with Tash, I'd have one contraction every hour for the next several hours before anything 'serious' started to happen. How wrong I was.

I had 3 contractions between 3 and 3.30am before I had to get out of bed because I could not lay there. I was still in denial though and while tracking my contractions on my Touch (contraction ap) I rocked in the glider in our room breathing in and out. My contractions 'quickly' went from 12m apart to 10 to 5-6m apart, all the while letting Owen continue to sleep, blissfully unaware. I just felt I had more 'time' and later thought the app was wrong, and my contractions could not be that close together.

At one point I got up and made some toast, had something to drink and organized my labour bag and overnight bag. It was at around 7.30am I decided perhaps I should wake up Owen. He got up, saw how close my contractions were together and decided he better call our friend B to come watch Tash.

While we waited for her, my contractions continued to get closer together. I was having a bit more trouble breathing through them and getting annoyed that Owen kept leaving me alone between them. He later told me he was checking the clock on the stove and getting a bit nervous as they were one to two minutes apart.

I'm not sure on the exact time, but before B arrived I started feeling the urg to push. After about the 3rd contraction of having this 'feeling' I told Owen "Would it scare you if I said I want to push?" and then said "I think you need to call 911, I don't think we will make it to the hospital". At that point I knew there was no way I could sit down in the truck for 15-20m with how close my contractions were.

Owen called 911, explained the situation, and while he was on the phone with them B showed up. At this point my hands/arms were starting to feel numb and tingly. I think this was a result of trying to control my breathing through the contractions and being unsuccessful.

After B brought Em in and went back to her car I went to the bathroom to pee. The 911 operator asked O if my water had broken and within seconds of her asking, it did when I went to get off the flush. At that point I got off the flush and knew I could no longer not push. I raced upstairs to our bedroom and as I was laying there, EMS showed up and the Paramedics walked into our bedroom just as K was crowning. Also at this point, the Fire Department showed up as well. hah Both of who told Owen they were super happy that EMS beat them here.

Within 30 secs of the paramedics showing up, Kate Noelle was born at 8.42am. :0) I believe it was 2 or 3 pushes. A huge difference from N's birth, which was 46m of pushing!

After they checked K out and made sure she was ok, I was put on the stretcher and we went to the hospital. Now, I may have laboured and delivered K without meds, however I'm the biggest baby otherwise. I was in a huge amount of pain on the way to PLC because I had not delivered my placenta, so my uterus was contracting like crazy and I would almost say it was more painful then labour. Seriously.

We made it to the hospital in about 20m where I was taken to a Labour & Delivery suite. I delivered the placenta, asked to look at it and then had 2 doctors and 3 nurses check it out. The doctor pushed on my uterus, which hurt like a mo fo and then unfortunately, I had to get stitched up. :0( I tore exactly how I did with Tash. I don't think there was anyway to avoid it given K's delivery. Maybe if I'd had a midwife who was massaging as she crowned/came out, but that was not an option.

Finally the stitching, poking, prodding, uterus pressing was over and I was taken to my room where I was only harassed about peeing. :p I do not remember them being so obsessed with it last time. Last time after I delivered Tash, they were asking me every 5m it seemed if I had pooped yet. hah

It's been almost 10 days and looking back on her birth I'm having trouble believing how my labour went. It's seems surreal. I know it definitely happened, it just seems unbelievable that she came as fast as she did and I was in such denial as to how close my contractions were. Everyone keeps saying "for the next one.." hah

Sneak Peek

The Fabulous Ms Brandy of Fresh Sugar was here on Wednesday for our 4th session together. She won't be editing my session for a few days (silly holidays! :p) but she teased me with a sneak peek yesterday;

Luckily the little miss did not pee on B's new wool blanket. B has not found out how to wash it yet, so pee or poop might have been a problem. And since K had not pooped in 3 days at that point, she was a ticking time bomb. haha Needless to say she got her captures on the blanket and we got K off. She did not leave with all her blankets clean though, K did pee on one of them.

The whole session went really well. I was super worried that K was not going to sleep at all. She woke around 10.30am (B was coming by at 11:30)and where normally she'd just fall back to sleep after a feed, of course that morning she did not. "Luckily" due to a mis-communication between B's Husband and the babysitter, she was about 20m late arriving and K fell asleep about 5m before she got here. She was so cooperative that after only 30m B said she had a complete session. :D She stayed for 2hrs though getting more pics. I can't wait to see the rest of the photos from the session!

Kate Noelle

20.8", 8lbs .5oz, Miss Kate came rushing into the world at 8.42am on Thursday December 17th.

The adrenline rush of having a wee babe at home again as been replaced with fatigue. Also, now that I'm home and have had time to think about the events of that morning and I can't believe how things went. Seriously, just insane.

At some point in the next few days or weeks (ha!) I need to merge the two blogs, which is going to be a pain to re-add everyone but I'll deal. I'll also write up a more complete birth story.

Almost there...

I had what I hope is my last doctor appointment this morning. Everything checked out fine minus the fact that I went from measuring 39w last week to measuring 36/37w today. The Doctor shadowing Dr. E was concerned, but then after she and Dr. E got feeling around they just concluded that her head is down really low. It would probably explain why I've been 'crampy' over the last few days.

She offered me a Stretch & Sweep but I turned it down again. If I have to go in on Monday again I'll let her do one then. She booked an induction for the 24th but I do not plan to need it. And if that day creeps up on me, I'll be discussing things with Dr. E about putting it off a bit longer. I'd rather be the full 2w overdue before any intervention happens. Induction is not something I want and will do what I can to avoid it happening.

I do not want to commit to anything, but I think little miss will make an arrival by the weekend. I still have Dec. 18th stuck in my head for some reason....

The Fabulous Brandy

Brandy of Fresh Sugar Photography met up with me about a month ago for our 3rd and almost last session for this yr. I say that and I feel so vain, but really I'm not having my photos done every quarter. :p Each time has been for an event of sort - boudoir, family, prenatal and we still have one left, the most exciting one Newborn is soon, if little miss decides to make an appearance anytime soon.

Anywho, a few of my faves from the session. I'm sitting here today trying to decide on what print size to get. I'm thinking 11x14 and then 2 photos on either side 8x10. 2 of Tasha when she was newborn and then 9m/1yr and then the other side would be the same of this wee babe. I need to measure the wall in the living room (planning for it above the chair to see if that works. If it's too small for the space, then I need to bump it up. I just lack the brain power today to figure it out.

The first two are the ones I want prints of. The first one for an arrangement leading up the stairs, the 2nd one for in the living room. Oh and I have to say I'm so happy I wore this dress, loved all the pictures pretty much of me wearing it.

Company Christmas Party

This year, because the party was not at Lake Louise, the kid's party was on a different day, so for the first time in 4 yrs (N was 2w old at the first party!) we were able to attend the Christmas party with Tash instead of the hotel sitter.

It was held at a Golf Club in the South and there were crafts, sleigh rides (too cold for us!), cupcake/cookie decorating and of course a visit from Santa and presents.

The meeting of Santa did not go as well as it did at the mall unfortunately. As soon as Santa walked in and sat in his chair Tash freaked out and started crying. She then spent the next 30-40m snuggled into my lap scared? When it was her turn to see Santa Owen took her up and she started screaming for me, so I went over as well. She calmed down when Santa gave her a give, but there was no way I was putting my child on his lap for a photo, free or not.

The somewhat funny part of the whole thing, was later when we asked what she thought of Santa, she said "He has presents!" in this sort of hushed voice. hah

No picture with Santa, but my little girl is finally starting to let me take her photo, so I did manage to get a few of her in front of the HUGE tree they had there. I could not get her in the right spot to avoid the blow out of lighting on the side of her face, but meh, this is me taking Brandy's advice and not trying to be such a perfectionist with memory 'snapshots' of my little girl. :0)

She Can't possibly be my Child.

I'll say it, I hate the cold, the snow, the ice. If I had the choice I'd not leave the house from November until May/June when it was warm again. If I had the money I'd move somewhere that let was nice year round.

Sooo when Owen went outside this morning to shovel the walkway and around the truck after the 'blizzard', she declared she wanted to go out too. Umm are you kidding me?? So I humoured her, put on her GAP Warmest snowpants, jacket, hat, mitts and boots and stood in the entryway watching her for a good 10m waiting for her to start to cry that it was too cold. :P Umm yeah she didn't. She stayed out there for the whole hour it took Owen to shovel the snow.

She was still super warm when I took off the snow gear, minus her hands, which getting a bit chilly.

I took all these photos inside the house or standing in the front door, no way I was going out there in the cold. :p

All suited up for the outside

Smile sweetie. haha

No more photos mommy, that's enough!

I make a snowball daddy!

What? We are not going in the Truck??

Ooo what's this??

Snow throwing

38 weeks

I had a nice reprieve last week by not having to go (she was soo over-booked it was ridiculous) but was back in again today. All is well. I'm holding at 63kg, I'm measuring 'exactly' for 38w, her heart rate was 140bpm, a bit lower then normal.

Anywho, I was in and out in an hour, which was great. I don't think I've ever seen the waiting room so empty. She wants to check my cervix at next weeks appointment and offered to do a stretch and sweep but I declined. And come next week I may say no to the cervix check. Telling me I'm 1-2cm dilated or not at all does not matter much to me, since I could be 2cm right now and may very well have been for a while now.

I'm excited to meet her, not really impatient though to go in to labour, I still have 2w min. left to enjoy being a mom of 1.

Santa.

The last place I went to be in December is at the mall. Instead of waiting another week and going when we could go mid week, I decided to go today and get N's Santa picture done. Now in years past it's never went over well. We always end up with a photo of her with the deer in headlights look just before full out crying happens.

This year I tried to work up the whole idea of Santa, how he was going to bring her presents and showed pictures, cartoons etc. Each time though she'd tell me "no Daddy brings gifts" (which makes me laugh since I do all the gift buying) or that she did not want to see Santa. /sigh

We got there around 11 and the line up was not too bad, I think we got to Santa in about 30m? What is nice about Chinook is that there are 3 elves in an area that has a tv playing cartoons/movies and puzzles to amuse your kids. So she spent the whole time there playing while I stood in line.

This yr, as a change in her usually demeanor she did not freak as soon as she saw Santa, but would not go near him, so Owen picked her up and sat down with her. You can sit with your child at MM, but at Chinook you can actually be in the picture.

Anywho, she was not too pleased to even be sitting on Owen's lap, and the first picture we got was a bit of a scowl which started to turn into a freak out. I saw it coming, reached in my pocket and pulled out the bribery, the Candy Cane. :p She calmed down right away and we were able to get our first non crying/deer in headlights Santa picture! Yay!

Oh and the woman that was distracting her to look at the camera was really good too. She straightened her pants, I fixed her socks and her hair. I wished we'd adjusted her dress a bit but oh well. I was so worried she was going to cry that we were working fast at fixing her outfit. heh

The out-take:

This is what we typically get. heh

GBS Positive

My test came back positive. Oddly enough with Tash I was negative. Weird. No big deal, I'll just have some drug via an IV when I go into labour. She said they could give me a 'dose' then lock? the IV so it was not attached to my arm and I could still move around.

Not much new, she's moving around like crazy, I've lost 4lbs again, went from 64kg to 62kg. Starting to wonder what is up with that? She does not seem too concerned. She asked if I was leaking any fluid and I said no, so we'll just chalk it up to there being a lot less treats in the house over the past week. :P

Baby dropped on Tuesday and the difference is amazing. I do not feel so big anymore, getting around is a lot easier, as well as sleep positions. Now if I did not have to pee so much with her resting on my bladder I'd be all set. Surprisingly I feel like I've gotten a lot of my energy back as well.

Her room is 100% ready (minus some storage baskets) and we moved N's carseat to behind the driver's seat last weekend. now we just need to install the bucket. We should do that this weekend I guess, since Owen and the Dr. seem determined I'm going early. I'm determined she is going to be at least 1w overdue so maybe she'll do a compromise for us and come somewhere in the middle? heh

I put in for my maternity leave at GAP on Sunday. Was a bit sad about it actually. I know some shifts I've complained about, but I really do enjoy working there and the ppl that I work with. Well most of them. :p

Oh I just thought of something I have not done, pre-washed her new diapers that I bought, although I do have time on those, as we will use disposables the first couple of weeks.

GBS Testing

yay! Umm yeah..so I got this swab done today. I feel like I've had way too much feeling, and fingers/objects up that area. Granted this was not 'in' and was fast but I guess I feel like some test subject with all the trans-vaginal u/s's and manual checks that even the smallest thing in that area bothers me.

I waited almost 2hrs today to get in to see her today. It was not verbally announced, but the doctor she shares the office with was giving H1N1 shots today and instead of the usual 2 doctors in, they had in all 3 and were using 1 of her exam rooms so she was down to 2, which slowed things down drastically. After I finally got into an exam room Tasha decided she had to pee. oiy!

Anywho, everything seems normal, blood pressure low but I guess that's normal for me. I'm slightly amused though that the 2 lbs I'd lost last time had now come back. I went from 60 to 63kg. Ahh well such is life, it came on, it will come off. I did get one shocker, the NP was typing in my blood pressure on my chart and says "So you are having a c-section?". I'm sure my eyes bugged out when she asked and I was like "Huh?? Umm not to my knowledge??" She then laughed and said "oh there is nothing here saying you are, I just ask bc you should have a GBS today and if you are having one, we won't need to do it"

gah! yeah never start a conversation with "So you are having a c/s?" to a pregnant woman.

The other thing that sort of bugged me was when I was joking with Dr. E about Christmas dinner in the hospital and she says "Oh don't worry we will start soon doing things to encourage labour." Since she was behind, I did not get time to ask her to elaborate on what she meant exactly by that? I don't care how long it takes for me to go into labour, I'd rather just let nature take it's course TBH.

The other interesting bit of information was that when I mentioned my retained tissue thing, she said I could have had a 2nd lobe and if so it would have been very easy to miss that a 'piece' was missing. I'm not sure if having that happen once (if it was a 2nd lobe) would mean it would happen again, and we did not get a chance to talk about any measures we could take (an u/s before I left), so I'll have to ask next week. S

She did offer me a script for Motillium before I left the hospital and would make sure I saw an LC. I appreciate the pro-activeness and having the 'script but am really hoping the only reason why I have milk issues with Tasha was the tissue.

Too early..

for a Christmas theme on the blog? heh

34 weeks or close enough

I looked in the mirror tonight and thought to myself "How did I get this pregnant?" and then I thought "God, how am I even pregnant?" I don't know why I asked myself those questions..it just for a moment felt so ... strange to be pregnant.

Funny that it felt weird or like I shouldn't be pregnant when I'm at a stage in my pregnancy where it's obvious I am pregnant and very noticeable. I feel movements all the time, heartburn, reflux, awkwardness to move around, get up, lay down...

PKS*

I will be the first to admit I'm not pro photographer. I am more familiar with how to use my DSLR now, but 99% of the captures I get are pure coincidence or luck. I will be the first to admit however that I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to photos of my child. My husband will be the 2nd to admit it as well. He and my poor daughter have endured many a photo "session" while I've tried to obtain "the" perfect capture of her. This has resulted in not only my child but my husband growing weary of my taking their photo, which means when I really want to take a good shot, neither is cooperative at all. hah

The 'coined' term that the pros use is PKS - Photographer's Kid Syndrome. My kid has definitely acquired it. When my photographer was here last week taking my pre-natal photos and I was complaining about Tasha's hate of my camera (she did really well at ignoring B back in July as well during our family session), she encouraged me to set my DSLR aside and just use my point and shoot for gtg's, bdays, special events etc. Not to get so wrapped up in finding that perfect capture, but instead to capture the moments and not care if there was blur or it was not composed perfectly etc.

So, this morning I tried my best to do this. I still spent probably an hour taking these photos, but I was not as persistant or frustrated when I did not get the 'perfect' capture. I can't deny though, that when her little sister shows up, I'll be happy to have an immobile subject again. hah

Anywho, here are some pics of her in her costume;







And this is how most of my captures of her look:

Wordless Wednesday a day late

The Cliff Notes

• H1N1 - we talked about this. She said it's highly recommended pregnant women get the vacination. I told her my wait and see approach and she was ok with that. She said she's been seen a lot of women in the triage that have been diagnosed with H1N1 and a few have been admitted to the ICU, but she was not pushy about my choice to wait and see. She said regardless, she was not recommending any of her pg patients get it now as the risk of waiting in line for 4-6hrs+ was greater in her opinion then not getting it right away.

• I've lost some weight. I was 62kg at my apt 2w ago and am now an even 60kg. I asked what I weighed when I first went in at 5w and was surprised to hear it was 50kg. I'm not complaining by any means, I'm just surprised I started out at around 110lbs. I thought I was more bc I was sure I'd ot lost any weight after my m/c.

• Baby is now head down! yay! About a week ago when I was snuggled up with Owen and it felt like she did a complete somersault. I guess I was right. :0)

• I mentioned my labour with Tasha, how active labour started around 2.30 and she was born at 7.46pm with 46m of pushing. Dr. E mentioned it was a bit fast for a first timer and that I may have a low threshold. It came up bc I mentioned a friend of my husband's. She went 9d overdue then last week from first contraction to last push it was only 4hrs and he said to me that he bet I was that fast this time. LOL he also thinks I'm going into labour early as well, so I'm taking my husband's medical opinions with a grain of salt. :P

• She did not do the GBS test like she said she would at the last visit, she said she would next time. She also mentioned she thought I might go into labour a bit early. Hence why she wants to do the test a bit earlier then normal.
  

Indulge Me.

• Reflux & Heartburn - you can go away anytime now. The heartburn is not as bad as it was, as in I'm not passing back and forth in tears waiting for the Zantac, milk, ginger ale, peppermint candy to take hold (yes it was bad enough that I tried all the recommended remedies at once hah). It's just a persistent annoyance, not enough to want me to take a Zantac, just enough to be a pain.

• Peeing myself when I cough/laugh to hard - Each time it happens I keep wondering if it's actually pee or if I'm leaking fluid, which then kind of grosses me out.

• Exhaustion - I'm always tired. I don't think there is a time when I'm not. No matter how much sleep I get, I'm still tired. The ironic/funny part of it, is that once she is born, I won't ge any more sleep for a while, even though I can sleep in whatever position. lol

• Equilibrium - I no longer have it and it sucks. I am very tipsy and a lot of times once I lay down on the sofa or get cozy with owen, he has to help me get back up again. I'm too bottom heavy. Squatting, kneeling, bending over, picking stuff up off the floor = not going to happen.

So nothing to crazy horrible, just a few little annoyances that I felt the need to get out.

Wild Imagination

In the past month or so Tasha's imagination has really taken a firm hold in her daily fun. She's doing a ton of really cute things right now that I thought I should document so I would not forget.

"Bun Bun" & Rae Search and Rescue - She will hide Rae, then run back to Bun bun and start freaking out saying "Where's Rae Bun Bun?? On no!! Where did he go!!" Her pleas of where he went to are so realistic that one day while in the kitchen I thought she was in real distress. I went upstairs to be told I had to find Rae!! lol. Found him in the bathroom, to which she jumped up and down with happiness and exclaimed "We found him Bun Bun we found him!". lol She plays this game daily in various ways, it's really cute.

"Super Bun Bun" - Kleenex, paper towel, stray fabric scraps, whatever she can find she puts on Bun Bun's shoulders and flies him around the room exclaiming "Super Bunny!! You are Super Bunny Bun Bun"

"Pirate Bun Bun" - This is a new one. I have this silver bracelet, thin band, and it clasps together at a heart. She discovered last night that the heart made a great patch and put it over Bun Bun's head and the heart over one eye and said "Arggh I'm a pirate". Owen and I cracked up laughing LOL

Finally, she will play hide and seek with Bun Bun and Rae. This is where she covers Bun Bun's eyes, keeps her eyes open, counts to 10 while Owen or myself "hide" Rae. She gets really frustrated if you re-hide Rae while one of us covers her eyes. :p

Head in the Sand.

When I was pregnant with Tasha, I was not overly involved in any parenting type message boards. I read WB, but was not a huge contributor to the community. So, I think due in part to not reading a million questions other pregnant women asked about pregnancy/labour and not doing any research myself, I really had no idea what to expect or what was going to happen.

I had no birth plan, did not ask for delayed cord clamping, did not think to bank the cord blood, immediate chest to chest and breastfed as soon as the baby was born...None of it. This time though, I've been on 3 boards for the entire pregancy so have been over-powered with information.

At the same time though, I've not really taken it to heart or read anymore then I did the first time. I've just taken on the attitude that everything went really well with my 1st pregnancy, things will go well this time. Hopefully. I think there is such a thing as being over-prepared. There are a few things this time I will want done differently but really not much.

It may sound silly but I'm keeping the blinders on until that first 'real' contraction and then will worry about it all then. heh

I think it's Done..

I think being the key word. I need to get a couple of Closetmaid Fabric Baskets for storage of her socks and such, but all the major stuff is done, with the final big purchase being made yesterday, at IKEA. I finally found my plain white heavy weight curtains. Of course they are a mile too long and I'll probably never hem them up, but I'm simply just happy to have found them. In hindsight I could have put the curtain rod up higher, giving the appearance of a much taller window then there really is, but it's not happening now.

My design inspiration came from two places for her room was a quilt set on Pottery Barn Kids called "Penelope" and the other inspiration was a photo I saw on Flickr that used this exact same wall scheme. I loved it, and while I imagine my room is smaller then what she had to work with, I figured the room would still get enough light and not be dark and dreary if I used light/white accents for the walls and the pale colour blocks would not make it seem so closed in, being such a dark rich brown.

I am very happy with the results! The only thing I'd change is I'd have a white crib and a white dresser vs the Cherry stained one. My husband however did not share my feelings on selling a perfectly good crib and buying new for what will probably be our last child. He also forbade me to paint it, so Cherry it stayed, as well as the change table. When I move her to a twin bed I'll be buying white then, which is really more practical then a new crib since she will be in it a lot longer.



I thought I could use the Penelope Quilt set I had bought last fall, but even though I never got to use it, it still held too many memories for me. So instead I ended up purchasing a new quilt from one of my favourite Etsy Sellers. She does beautiful work! (she also made the rag quilt for me that is drapped over the crib)

I've posted it before in a previous entry, but for her fitted crib sheets and Receiving Blankets, I used flannel fabric by Sandi Henderson and made them all to coordinate with the Rag Quilt that Heather did for me. :0)



My next "ohhh this is perfect for her room" were these Flowers by Umbra. Super easy to put up! Apparently an intern designed them and they liked them so much the put them in to production. :0)


Other artwork in her room are these various sized canvas photos that are part of the Penelope bedding set. Took me a while to find a layout I liked, but I finally got them hung.


Her closet organizer. I used an Extend-It one for N's closet and while it was cheap (under $100) it is not what I'd call super sturdy and bc of the dimensions of both their closets, I lose about 2'-3' of extra space I could be using to hang clothes. When you work retail and it's a kid's store, space is a premium when it comes to closets. :p Anywho, this one was more, but it fits and holds a ton of stuff. I also bought 2 rods that we drilled holes in the wide tower and the opposite wall to add more hanging space.


Annndd my final purchase the completed the room, my plain white curtains that I've been trying to find for months and months! I wanted a heavier weight to block out the sun in the summer and keep the cold a bit at bay in the winter. I had not "planned" on getting sheer ones as well, but they looked awesome together in the showroom so I splurged. :p They are about a mile too long and while each set included the 'easy' iron on hemming, I can't see myself doing it anytime soon. So for now I just have a lot of excess 'puddling' on the floor. heh


All I have left to buy are. I want 3 for her change table for socks and such. Then dare I say it after over a year in progress, her room will be complete. Just another 2 months of waiting for her to make her appearance to enjoy it. :0) I painted it the main brown colour when I found out I was pregnant last summer, I took a guess on the pink square, which I would have made Orange if we had a boy either then or were going to now.


Supplies/Where it all came from:
Paint: It's all Benjamin Moore - Main Wall Colour - Rockies Brown, Squares (Aprox. 2.2') - Lemon Drops, Pink Ruffle, Blue Marguerite, Wales Green.

Bedding: Rag Quilts - Hungry Caterpillar & one on draped over the crib - - Heather of A La Mode Fabric as well as the Toddler Quilt in her crib.

Fitted Sheets/Receiving Blankets - Made by me, fabric is flannel by Sandi Henderson - Vintage Cherries, Vintage Stripey, Vintage Breeze Dots, Big Blooms, Medallion Bloom. I bought some of it online and some at my local fabric store. It's been d/c'd (she has a new fabric palette out now) so it is a bit harder to still find.

Wall Art: White plastic wall flowers are by Umbra. I bought mine at local store called "Paper Roots" but you can find them online through Umbra, as well as a few other stores. I think Restoration Hardware carries them as well. They come in White, Fushia and Black. the Bird Canvases were part of the Penelope Quilt set lot I bought off of ebay. I've not seen them on Pottery Barn Kids in a while though, may be discountined.

Curtains & Curtain Rod: IKEA! The Heavier weight White ones that have a slight pattern on them are called Anita and the Sheer ones are called Alvine Rund. The rod is Lummig.

Random: Change pad - TRU, Crib/Change table - TRU before Tash was born. Closet Organizer is by Debbie Travis. We purchased it at Canadian Tire when it went on for 40% off a few weeks ago. For the Wide Tower, Narrow Tower and 2 wide shelf packs, it came in under $200. I also bought hanging rods by Rubbermaid while we were there. We had to drill holes in the Wide Tower and opposite wall, but it allowed for a lot more hanging room.

31w

I had my first doctor's appointment in almost 3w yesterday. Due to the lovely snow and crappy road conditions, it took me an hour and a half to get there. I did not have to worry about a wait though, since everyone else was late showing up for their AM apt as well, so my wait time was only about 5m.

Baby's heartbeat is a strong 155bpm, she was 1.3kg (a little over 3lbs) at the last u/s, and she's still breech. Dr. E thought she was at my last appointment, which was confirmed at my ultrasound. She's not worried yet, and neither am I. She said at 35w if she still felt breech she'd schedule an u/s for me and we'd discuss then my 'options'. I'm fine with my options, as long as it does not involve an epidural. :p

She also learned from my bloodwork a few weeks ago that I do indeed have low iron levels so wrote me a 'script for that. I'm also measuring 1w ahead, so I'm catching up, I think I was a big bigger then that a few weeks ago. Baby's weight is also in the 50 percentile. Oh and my weight is 62.5kg. heh This is the most I have ever weighed. I did not go over 130lbs when I was pg with Tash, but I think I started out at a lower weight then I did this time.

I actually think she may have turned/moved a bit in the last 24hrs because her strong movements have changed. So I'm not sure if she's changed from kicking with her feet and now is using her hands, or what. For now I'm not going to worry about it. I have no idea if Tash was breech at this point in that pregnancy. I find being High Risk and seeing an OB vs a Doctor at a Low Risk Clinic you tend to get info overload. Dr. E discusses everything with me and keeps me so in the loops that sometimes I feel I may have too much information.

Brandy of Fresh Sugar is coming by this weekend. This will be our 3rd visit from her this year. The first to be Boudoir Photos, then our Family Session and now Maternity. I'm excited to see her again, but nervous as well. No idea what I'm going to wear and a bit nervous that my house is not that nice. All her clients seem to have such "designer" homes.

I'm still debating on some nude ones. I did a couple when I was pregnant with Tasha, and was thinking I might do a couple this time. I asked Owen if he wanted to do some and he was 'if you want'. hah He's such a great help.

Wordless Wednesday

2.5 months to go...

and I'm starting to get anxious/excited. I'm wondering if it's because I've seen her so much due to the many ultrasounds, but I'm getting super excited to meet her. Two and a half months seems so far away!

And it's not in a "I don't think I can be pregnant a moment longer" kind of anxious/excited. So far, this pregnancy has went wonderfully. Some bad heartburn in the early weeks of T2, but other then that, no really bad aches/pains/morning sickness etc.

I've worked really hard on her room, bought her some lovely outfits, made a lot of things - receiving blankets, fitted crib sheets...that I'm just really excited I think to start using it. I'm also really curious about what she will look like, how Tasha will interact with her..how it will change our family dynamic. It's getting sooo close to her due date, I don't know where the time has gone. :0)

I'm not anxious for the sleep deprivation, Tash has slept through the night for a really long time, so adjusting to a couple hours here and there won't be fun, but meeting her and discovering her little personality is definitely worth it all. :0)

More Wall Art.

I feel a tiny bit guilty that I've been able to actually put stuff on jellybean's walls. Poor Tash has been in her room for almost 2 yrs now and all I've managed to get up is a wall decal. Next I need to find some white curtains and pick up a curtain rod. I'd also like to find a mobile (pin wheel or felt) to hang over the change table to give her something to look at when we change her. :0) I've seen some cute ones on Etsy and part of me is thinking I could easily make one as well. It just depends on my energy/motivation. hah

Once I get the curtain rod hung, curtains up, find a mobile and get her closet Rods up, her room should be complete and ready for her arrival. :0)

30 Weeks!

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.

:0D

Wordless Wednesday

The final peice to the puzzle..

Almost 2 weeks ago, during a frustrating moment when Tasha was asking for a diaper because she had to poop, but telling me "no mommy no poop" and then proceded to poop in like two seconds after I put it on, I finally said "No more diapers at bedtime!"

It's been a long time since she potty trained (I think we started back in June? I'd have to check, maybe July?) and the accidents have been few. All that we had left was night training, which I had been avoiding. Anywho, I finally told Owen, it's time!

The first night was very unsuccessful. I went in that morning to a very very wet bed. Luckily, we had purchased a mattress protector some time ago. Night #2, we cut out liquids at around 6pm, woke her up at 11 to pee, which did not go over well, she just stared at Owen like "WTF?" and did not pee. She did though, wake up 4xs though throughout the night to pee. Each time she did, she came into our room and woke up one of us to take her back to bed.

Night 3 did not go as well. Her sheets were wet the following morning, then she had about a week? of dry mornings before one night I went to check on her before I went to bed and she was not only wet, but had pooped in her panties. :0( I changed her, her sheets and went to bed.

Soo since all this, she finally finally pooped on the potty for the first time since the first month of potty training. Which is what started the night training to begin with. I knew she could do it, it was just going to take a bit of encouragement.

Now it did not happen 'quickly'. She was prancing and I knew she had to poop but she wanted a diaper. I told her they were 'all gone, no more'. Then she asked for her potty frog, then the toilet and I'll admit there was crying involved (her not me, haha) but finally 45m later she pooped on the potty, jumped up and cheered through her tears and then asked to be wiped. hah

Since then she's pooped 2xs for owen (no accidents either) and then yesterday she woke up from her nap, pooped and then came and told us. Of course we did not believe her because she has such problems sitting and pooping, but when Owen went to check, she had. I'm hoping that it's a sign that she is 100% trained. :0)

3.9cm

I seem to have a crazy cervix. I went for ultrasound #7 on Friday and it's actually lengthened again. The last u/s it was 3.7cm and this time it was 3.9cm. :0) The good news is, at the end of all the tests/scans when I met with the doctor he said he did not see a need for another u/s (I was told I'd keep having them until 32w) and was going to fax the results to my doctor and let her decide. I realllyyy hope she's in agreement with him. I'm out of the 'real' danger zone (at 29w she has an 85% survival rate with a very low chance of complications/problems) and to be honest, I'm a bit tired of all the trans-vaginal ultrasounds and Owen having to take time off work for them all.

This time when I went in I had a student, and while I will be the first one to say that everyone has to learn on someone, this is the one time I would have preferred it not be me. At the last u/s she was soo defined, I got to see eyelids, hair on her head, her face looked so perfect...this time, because the radiologist was a student, it was taking her quite some time to get measurements and find things.

She did not give us the "baby tour" (Owen was out in the reception area with Tash last time) and I swear she used a whole bottle of gel on my belly. You can really tell the ones that have been doing it for a while when the are super neat with the gel and you do not end up with it from boob to vagina when they are done. :p All in all, I spent 1.5hrs on my back while she tried to get measurements and poked at the baby to try and get her to breath. In the end she brought in the tech who was 'watching' her and she checked things out and then they did the trans-vaginal. So in the end Owen did not get to really see anything. He was with me for the 12w one and I think he went in for one after the 18w (he did not go to that one), but baby just did not look the same.

I know he will get to see her plenty once she's born, I was just to amazed at how developed she's become over the past few weeks alone that I wanted him to see that too.

My back was killing me by the time they were done and then on top of that, because she would not take a breath whenever they checked, I then had to go into the consult room, have the heart monitor paddles put on and sit there for 20m while they watched her to make sure all was ok. I was told she is not breathing regularly, but should take a breath every 30m or so to help tone those muscles once she leaves the womb.

Hopefully this is the last one. I told Owen yesterday when we left that baby girl is probably going to go 2 weeks past due just to spite us all. :P

29w. :0)

Houston...we have poop.

She came upstairs while I was cleaning and was prancing around. I figured she just had to pee, but when we went into the bathroom and she got on the flush she started to cry, a sure sign that she had to poop. So for the next 30m it was a bit of a battle of wills. First she wanted "bun bun", then her froggy potty, asked for a diaper (I told her they were all gone, that we had none left), then asked for her "fishy panties" and then I finally convinced her to sit down if I read to her a story - Max and Ruby.

After reading most of the story, some back rubs and re-assurance, she pooped! There were tears involved (I really do not think it was hard/constipation, I think she's just learning how to poop sitting down) but as soon as she pooped she bolted up off the potty, arms in the air Rocky style and cheered "YAYYY!! I pooped!!! YAAAAYYYYYYYYY!!!" and I cheered with her, hugged her and praised her. Then she freaked about being wiped. hah

I rewarded her, 6 jellybeans, which is what we've been promising for weeks if she pooped on the potty. Then we called Owen and told him the good news. :0) While talking to him she informed him she "pooped on the potty and had 6 Jellybeans daddy, SIX!"

I also asked about the wake ups last night and he said each time he went in her room she had already peed, she just wanted him to tuck her back into bed. :0)

Clean sheets.

So yesterday morning I went in and she was sleeping in pee. :0( I can not say I'm all that surprised though, since it was kind of a spur of the moment decision to eliminate the diaper for bedtime. We did not limit liquids in the evening nor did we wake her up when we went to bed to see if she would pee.

Last night we cut off liquids at 6pm, allowed her about an inch or two of milk at story time (she always gets milk at bedtime and we are not prepared to cut it out yet - always seems as parents that we are trying to wean something eh?), and then at 10pm when Owen and I went to bed, he went in, woke her up and put her on the potty. She sat there for about 2 seconds, stood up and stared at him with these sad little eyes like "WTF?" and he felt bad for her so he put her back in bed.

Not sure about the exact times, but she came into our room 2xs last night, the 2nd time I think was around 4.30 bc even I got up to pee. hah I checked this morning and her sheets are dry and her potty is full, so I'm guessing each time she came in, it was to get help finding her potty, even though we had her lights on (she has a dimmer switch, so they were dimmed).

This morning, I love my husband a lot, as he's the one that go up each time.

Time to end diapers

Soo...it's time for night training. The first few weeks of potty training N would poop w/o a problem in the potty. Owen and I both were like great! This is awesome! We'd both heard how hard it is usually for your kid to poop on the potty. Anyway, I'm not sure what happened but she suddenly stopped. Since we were working on the whole fear of Flush thing, and peeing in public thing, we just let it drop and figured it was just a 'phase'. ha! 5m? later she still holds it and waits for bedtime for her diaper before she will poop.

We've tried a ton of things:

- Bribery - stickers, 5 WHOLE jellybeans Tash if you poop on the potty!
- Sitting her on it at bedtime before stories, after stories - she grunts and groans and says "no poop mommy/daddy"
- Putting a diaper on her and having her sit on the potty
- Praising her on what a big girl she was and how all her friends pooped on the potty. (I know horrible)

And numerous other things. Last night, within like 5 secs of the diaper going on, after I had her sit on the potty before & after stories, she pooped in the diaper. I will admit that frustration hit. I changed her diaper and said "Ok sweetie, this is it, your last diaper". Then I left her room.

Owen was working last night so I called him up, almost in tears (stupid pregnancy hormones) and told him "That's it, no more diapers for Tash at bedtime".

I vaguely recall at some point in the middle of the night her coming to our bedroom and Owen saying "Do you have to potty?" so I'm not sure if she did, I've not checked yet this morning or if she was cold or what. I did leave the light on in her room, but dimmed, so I'm hoping the urge to pee with her panties on woke her up, but I'm have expecting to go in there this morning to find a wet bed. We woke her up when we went to bed and put her on the potty, but she did not have to pee. She had just peed though 2hrs before after I'd read her stories.

Let's home diaper elimination helps with the pooping.

Random but not so Random.

Ever try and do something that you want to look completely random, but it seems like it would be more random if you'd not tried so hard? Or in your effort for it to be random, it turned out completely the opposite? It's funny how trying to be random is hard then just placing things together.

This afternoon I decided to take the plunge and finally put up the White Flowers by Umbra. I bought them a month or so ago after seeing them over on Dooce's blog and thinking how nicely they'd "pop" against jellybean's chocolate brown walls.

The thing that worried me about putting them up was that they are attached to the wall by what looks just like a thumb tack. Sooo once in place, if it's not where you wanted it to be, you'd be left with a tiny pinhole in your wall. In all the painting I've done in this house, I've filled a lot of holes, so it's the last thing I wanted to do on her freshly painted (as of january of this yr) walls.

So I dug out my trusty painters tape and began sticking flowers on the wall. Stick a couple on, step back, change one size for another, stick a couple more, move this one, move that one. Even once all 25 were up and I started to stick the tacks in the wall I moved them a bit.

So they are up and I *think* I'm happy with how they look. I was actually pretty proud of them and really do like how the white pops against the chocolate brown. But then Owen came home and I showed him and he was all "Meh". He doesn't hate them, doesn't love them, is just meh on the whole thing. He's really not into the whole decorate the nursery thing, so I'll cut him some slack. :P

I'm not sure what I'll do next. I need to hang her growth chart and I still have curtains to hang and the PBK Penelope canvases I have...I was also thinking of making a mobile from felt for over the change table..I'm not sure. I need to pick up some baskets for storage as well for the change table.

I want her room to be simple, yet have a bit of "Wow" factor to it when you see it. Like I've mentioned before, I never got to decorate Tasha's room before she was born and now that I'm doing jellybean's, I'm sort of sad I did not get a chance to do N's, even though we moved 6m later, and knew we would be, so it would have been a bit of a waste.

27w

Not the best photo, but it's been since 23w I think, since the last one I took.

So far everything is going smoothly, no aches/pains or anything worth complaining about. I'm feeling huge though. I ordered some more maternity jeans for fall, but they've not shown up in he mailbox yet. I wish they'd hurry up, I'm having trouble finding not only pants, but tops that fit over my belly. I've been living in stretchy capris.

I'm still working 1-2 shifts a week at GAP and have now added to my plate photography classes twice a week. When I registered for them, I was not pregnant and had been TTC for 5m and sort of a bit down in thinking it would probably take another 5m. If I'd known I was going to learn I was pg 3w after I registered, I may not have signed up for 2 classes a week.

Ladybug Transfer