Oh yeah...

It's been a while since i've been online - what with holidays and all...

but we're having another Boy!

Oh man...two boys....Lord Help us!

Good Day, and welcome to week 20

Good day, 'eh?

Here i am, 20 weeks in to this pregnancy.  That's halfway, assuming this little ninja baby stays in until 40 weeks. 
What to report?  not much.  Life is pretty regular around here... get up, feed Chewie, get Chewie to the sitter - go to work...work...come home from work...feed Chewie...play...get the little dude to bed... then relax maybe? sometimes??

It's different, this second pregnancy.  The first time i had lots of time to think about the changes going on in my body, i was really on this "What week" pregnant i was... This time, not so much.  In fact, if it weren't for Roz, my midwife, telling me last week that i was at 19 weeks and one day, i would have had NO idea that i was almost halfway.  So, thanks Roz! 

I'm not noticing as much movement as i did with Chewie, but that could be partly because i'm more distracted.  Or it could be that 20 weeks is still pretty early.  I do feel the fluttery kicks every now and then... and last weekend - when B-rad was out for the night, i was pretty sure that Artoo was having a party in there... he/she has not been that active since, and B-rad STILL has not felt the kicking. 

When we found out we were pregnant with Chewie, B-rad said he didn't want to find out the sex of the baby, he wanted to be surprised.  So, i agreed - knowing that if i found out and he didn't, i would somehow let it slip and would ruin it for him. 

But this time, i said it's my turn.  We are finding out. 
:)

And so this Thursday afternoon we have our 20 week ultrasound - to do things like check the position of my placenta (to see if it's low or not) and to measure... and to HOPEFULLY find out the gender of this little Artoo.

SQUEE!

Both B-rad and i have very strong "Girl" feelings.  I admit, i thought Chewie was a girl - more so i think i HOPED he was a girl, but felt deep down he'd be a boy... but this time, i say "She" all the time, and i just think "Girl". 

Don't get me wrong, a little Baby Burrito would be just as welcome and loved as a little Baby Taco... but it would be nice to have the complete set.  The salt and pepper shakers.

If you'll look on the right at the top of the page, you'll see i have craftily devised some kind of Blog-poll where YOU the READER can take a guess.  Even though the ultrasound is Thursday afternoon, i will leave it open until Friday - mostly because B-rad, Chewie and i are going on a 10 hour road trip to Winnipeg...

HAVE WE GONE MAD!! OH EM GEE!?!?!

should be good times.

so, go and vote!  :)

Two Years Old!

Dear Chewie,

Two years ago, my life changed in such an amazing and drastic way.  You came into our lives early.   It was scary.  But you were brave, and strong, and oh so very tiny.  Not even 5 lbs, i thought you were the tiniest most perfect creature i'd ever seen.

When you were finally able to be in my arms, i couldn't believe that your dad and i created you... Everything about you was so small.  None of the clothes fit you, we had to fold the newborn diapers up just so they'd stay on your tiny little bum.

Slowly yet quickly, in a bizarre time vortex of long days and fast days - you were a year old.  Everything you did was a new and amazing discovery.  Your development was fascinating to watch.  To be a witness to you learning about the world around you has brought so much meaning to my life.

Crawling, teething, walking, teething, talking,...teething; you made your way from Babyhood to Toddler-hood, bringing with it it's own set of challenges and joys.  Babyproofing as we went, you learned about this environment called your home.  As you grew, i remained positive that you were still the most beautiful Toddler out there.  

My darling son, this week you took the leap and moved from my adorable toddler - to my little boy.  My big boy who, when asked how BIG you are, proudly proclaims: "I'mmmmmmmmm TWOOOOOOO!"  Two years old! 

You are imaginative and creative, and when i watch you playing with your toys i can't believe you were so tiny once.  You have this little toy phone, and you pick it up to call "Gamma" or "Lalex", sometimes i hear you in the other room:

"Hi gamma, wha you doin? Okay, yeah.  Uh huh. Kay. Bye!"

You love your puzzles and no longer need any help with any of the pieces.  You can do it by yourself.  Even though you like it when Mama or Daddy helps you.

You love your "Buzz Yighyear" and you love to play cars... you'll drive the cars across the floor then park them in their 'house', a little wooden box.

This age is so magical.  Everything is exciting!  You love to go in the car, you like to hold our hands as we walk, you like to help me sweep the floor - even if you're just making more of a mess with your little broom.

At daycare you watch a lot of TV.  I know because you know every single character on TreeHouse.  While you do enjoying watching shows, some of your favourites right now are: "He-Man", and "Ni Hao, Kai Lan" but your all time favourite show is "Blue's Clues" - even better when you can watch it in our bed.  How many times have you said: "Mama! Boos Coos Bed!" in the past few months?  i can't even begin to count.

Not only are you developing your own personality - a stubborn one who will only do things on his terms (your grandpa and your dad will say: I wonder where he gets that from?) but you have a wonderful sense of humour, one that says; All Boy.   Nothing is funnier than a fart, or the word "bum"... nothing is more hilarious than the same joke - over and over and over and over and over and over and over.  But to hear you laugh, i am willing to play the same joke over and over and over and over and over and over and over.

Your laugh lights up my whole day.


Your favourite books are:

"The Spooky Old Tree"

"Grumpy Bird"

and

"Hop on Pop"

And story time isn't just for bedtime anymore.  We'll sit on the couch and read story after story, sometimes you help when you know the words, other times you just sit and listen.  Book after book, we read.  I'm so happy you love books.  I know the places they will take you if you nurture that love.

There is nothing in this world that's better than when you run up to hug me and say: "I love you, Mama"  There are no sweeter words in this or any other language.

Chewie, you keep growing up a little more each day. The little baby i knew is gone and in his place - an inquisitive, happy little boy who keeps me on my toes.  I love you so much, and when you are cranky or having an off day - i try to remember that little babe i held that day 2 years ago.  All too soon you will be a big boy who's too cool to hug and cuddle his mama.  So, let's go read a book and cuddle in bed, and cherish it while we can.

Happy 2nd birthday, little boy.  Love you, love you, love you.  A million times and more.

Love,
Mama

Chewie Update

On the OTHER baby front, Chewie is becoming quite a handful.  Every day its a new battle as he gains more and more independence.  

Diaper changes are a struggle, unless it's his idea and he comes and tells you that he pooped.  Getting down on the floor to change him is getting trickier, and on the times when it's NOT his idea to be changed and he fights it, he does a lot of kicking - getting me in the baby belly every time.

He's really interested in the potty, he likes to follow us in there - and he likes to flush the toilet and watch as we wash our hands.  However, he has absolutely no desire to sit on it himself, or on his own little potty... I can tell that he's getting closer to the training stage, but i'm wary of pushing him.  He runs away to hide when he poops, and when he HASN'T told us that he pooped he becomes very  possessive of his diaper.  He doesn't want to be changed, he says: MY DIAPER!! NOO! MY DIAPER!! - and frankly, some days i swear i would let him sit in it if he didn't have such sensitive skin and was so prone to diaper rash. 

Not sure how we'll tackle this... very gently, i suppose.  I keep thinking it would be so lovely to only have one baby in diapers at a time, but then i think that i'd just get him trained, the baby would come and he'd revert back to square one.  So many people i know had this happen to them.  Is it worth the fight now, when he doesn't seem to be ready yet - just to do it all over again in a few months?  Also, once i have the baby, i'll be at home every day and will be able to get him on a schedule or program.  Any thoughts?

He's discovered that mama's pee-pee and daddy's pee-pee don't look the same and  we've started trying to explain different genders to him. 

He says "Good Boy, Mama!" when i help him with his puzzles... and i try to correct him with Good Girl and say Daddy and Chewie are boys, Mama is a girl.  He'll get it eventually.

Other fun things include random temper tantrums.  I know he's learning to express himself, but if he could hurry up and figure out what he wants, we'd be such a happier home.

Do you want cereal, Chewie?

NOOOOO

Do you want tost?

NOOOOO

Do you want yogurt?

NOOOOO

Do you want a banana?

NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!......i want cereal.

Every morning.  Only who knows what he wants... he certainly doesn't ...until after 10 minutes of naming random food in the house.

He also has decided that he wants to sleep in Mama's bed at night.  This happened ONCE a few weeks ago when he had a super high fever, and now he wakes up at 1 am and says: MY Mama's BED!!!  le sigh.

But it's not all bad.  He really is mostly a happy little boy.  He loves to laugh and giggle... and he LOVES running.  He runs around the living room... he runs around the backyard, he runs in circles, he runs in straight lines...

he likes kisses, he likes to cuddle when he's tired.

He's a little parrot, so we're finally having to start watching what we say... last week when my brother was in town he was standing near Uncle Rico and Daddy, when Daddy said: Fuck yeah!  and sure enough, a little squeaky baby voice repeated: Fuck yeah!  

and yesterday when i dropped something on my foot i shouted: Dammit!  

sure enough, a little squeaky baby voice repeated: Dammit!

every day is a new adventure... somedays i wonder what we were thinking having a second... but most days i think of how exciting it will be for Chewie to have a little brother or sister. 

Artoo - update

Holy Cow.  I'm almost 20 weeks into this thing!  That's halfway!  Realistically, if i'm early again - i'm already OVER the halfway point... freaky.... so much to do....

There hasn't been much in the way of spotting lately... but then there hasn't been much in the way of Teh Sex either.  Poor B-rad.  My next Ultrasound is on the 15th, hopefully we'll get some answers...to the questions...and also to the sex.  of the baby. 

My friend asked about the weight loss that i mentioned in this post... she wanted to know what i was doing.  In all honesty, i have no idea.  i was fairly surprised when Roz said the scale went down.  

All i can come up with is in my first trimester i was so tired i was in bed some nights by 7:30 - eliminating that pesky bedtime snack.  This is something i'm trying to continue with.  And also, this go 'round - i just don't find myself being that hungry.  Not that i'm off any foods right now - thankfully.  With Chewie i couldn't eat anything with Curry....which made me very sad.  And also B-rad very sad, because that meant we couldn't order from Nutana Cafe and have their Curry Doug Special... delish.  No problems with Curry this time though.  

I don't know, i just don't get hungry.  In my first pregnancy i would be hungry ALL the TIME!  and it was like a switch...fine, fine, fine, fine...STARVING! This pregnancy i have to remind myself to eat some days.  That's an odd, odd thing for me.

i likes me some fud.

Oh, and another thing... Sketchers Shape Ups!  They effin' kick ass!  I wear them every day, at first it was tricky, but now i hardly even notice.  And the result of these amazing shoes??  My ass is tighter that it's ever been.... EVER... Like, i have a little bit of a bum!  not just a flat pancake butt anymore!  and that little roll under my bra, ladies - you know what i'm talking about - it's going away!! It makes me want to throw away every pair of shoes i own and ONLY wear these babies.  

What else? oh, okay - here's something... i have extremely sore...nipples.  OMG TMI!?

GAH! It's awful!  Some days they just ache and ache and i feel like crying, and all i can do is hug my chest and hope that it stops.  That phase can end, ANY TIME NOW!!

Artoo is kicking, a bit here and there.  Still haven't been able to feel it on the outside yet, but i'm pretty sure i saw my stomach move the other night, so now i will have to make B-rad sit next to me with his hand on my belly...waiting.

Almost TWO!

As Chewie gets ever closer to his second birthday (WHHHAAAT!?!? I KNOW!!) i'm discovering this wonderful little personality wrapped in a cuddly little screaming tantrum.  He can be very chatty and once he warms up to you, he'll likely talk your ear off - or pick up a calculator, or remote control, or MP3 player, or monitor and call you on the phone...even if you're standing right there.

"Hi Gamma, Hi!! Hi Gamma! What you doing dere? Okay bye!"  Adore..a..bull...

He likes to sing along to the songs on the radio.  Last night he was singing along to Iron Maiden, even though he didn't know the words he'd just sort of sing the same sound at the end of each line.  One of his faves to sing right now is "Let it Be" by the Beatles... so cute.  if the little turkey would let me film it, i'd post it.  too effin' cute.

Every day there's a new bunch of words, new expressions, he's like a little parrot.  The other day we were in the grocery store and we were walking past the deli, as we were making our way to the produce section, some guy came up to the deli counter and said: "Do you have any more garlic coil?"

Which prompted Chewie to say: "Garlic COIL!  Garlic COIL!!" all through the fruits and vegetables.

He's pretty hilarious, and his most fun game is to play on the "bed!".... 

"MAMA! BED!! COME ON!!"  and so we climb the stairs and he hightails it to our bed and jumps on top and pulls the blanket over his head and giggles like crazy.  then: "Daddy!! come fiiiiiiinnnne US!" and then it's "Mama! Dark!! Come on, Mama!!" and i have to hid under the blanket while daddy makes his way up the stairs to 'fiiiiiiiiinnnne us'. 

He's not the best at hiding, which makes it extra hilarious for us.  He could have 3/4 of his body outside the blanket, but he's where it's DARK!... and of course, the squealing and the giggling as daddy get's close but doesn't quite find us...until...

"FOUND YOU!!!" and then Chewie rolls around and giggles and laughs and pulls daddy down onto the bed and suddenly all three of us are hiding in the dark and Chewie is trying to stiffle his excited laughter...

good times.

Ladies and Gentlemen - I give you: Artoo

Well, there the little pumpkin is, in all his/her glory!  Our newest little peanut, who we've named for Interweb purposes, Artoo.  Artoo and Chewie... you'd think we were big Star Wars fans.

Anyway, currently i'm at about 16 weeks and a few days - give or take.  I don't know why, but with this pregnancy, it feels like it's taking FOREVER!! i remember with Chewie how the time seemed to just fly by.  But not this time.  Four months in and i'm already ready to meet this little squirmy critter.

I am mostly blaming the time lag on Chewie, haha.  On top of being tired/pregnant, chasing after an almost 2 year old doesn't help.

I've been feeling pretty good, apart from the tired thing, although one morning this week i inexplicably threw up in the kitchen sink while Chewie at his shreddies.  Don't know why, don't know where it came from, but i felt just fine afterwards.  Hm.

B-rad and i were able to secure a midwife this go 'round.  And so far i've met with her twice and am so happy that i'm her very capable hands.  Dr. X - the same doc i had with Chewie, is just too busy to give me the care i need.  With Roz (my lovely British midwife) i never feel like i'm inconveniencing her with any questions.  She answers all of them, no matter how silly they may be. I met with her today, actually - and we went over my ultrasound results.  At this last ultrasound i was pretty upset that i couldn't see what was going on.  B-rad said he could see Artoo moving around and stuff, but when it was my turn to see and the technician turned the screen my way, all i got was still images.  I wanted to see the squirming.  i think i will mention something next time.


ANYWHO - One fun thing is a 'spot' on the top of my uterus, which may or may not be a fibroid of some kind.  It could be nothing, OR it could be something.  Too soon to tell, so we have to wait for the next ultrasound.

She says i'm doing really well, all my stats are good, my tests results are good... i'm even losing weight! (in a healthy way!) Yay me!!

I also got to hear the little heart beat today...swish/swish/swish/swish.  Apparently, the swishing sound is actually the pulse in the CORD!  Then, badum badum badum... the HEART!! soooo coool....

As far as birthing, we're going to try for a home birth in water - assuming everything goes well and i make it to 36 weeks.  Only 20 more to go.  B-rad may actually be able to Catch the baby!! that'd be cool. 


There have been a two spotting moments in this pregnancy...but both times have been after...uh...y'know, the sexy times?  So when i spoke to Roz about it today, she had a few ideas.  One could be that both times it would have been generally around the time when i WOULD have gotten my period... another idea is that my cervix may be irritated by the sex, which can cause a bit of spotting, or another possibility could be a low placenta.  In all cases, the moral of the story was the same: It's too early to tell right now, we will know more at your next ultrasound (which is in about 4 weeks)...  in the meantime, we've been advised to lay off the sexy times...  :( 

it MUST be a girl.  giving me stress already, etc. etc.  lol