father-son moment

Conversation between Noah and Jamie:

N: (sitting on Jamie's lap, pointing at the laptop screen) Dada! Dada!
J: That's not Dada, that's Jose Canseco. *laughs* (quotes from Liar, Liar) I'M JOSE CANSECO! I'M JOSE CANSECO!

Me: (laughs then decides to blog about it)

belly

I've found lately that if I walk for long periods of time my lower belly tightens up - almost like when you get a running cramp. Not sure if it's Braxton Hicks or what, but eventually it passes so I just keep walking through it.
I think in general I am just out of shape so that probably doesn't help.

needs and wants

I need/want to blog about my trip to Chicago but right now I need/want a nap more.
So perhaps tonight I will blog.

week 27 and feeling it!

I am feeling this pregnancy to the max!
My belly feels very tight these days and I get out of breath a lot faster than I used to. I'm starting to feel the baby pushing everything up so that it's often uncomfortable if I'm slouching (I totally just corrected my posture and now I feel much better).
I also experienced my first Braxton Hicks on our way home from Chicago. It was while we were eating dinner at a restaurant and all of a sudden I felt sharp pains on my right side. Noah was sitting on my lap facing me pushing his foot into my side and I started saying, "Ow! Ow! Ow!" Jamie took Noah but the pains continued for a few more seconds but then stopped.
During this pregnancy I've often thought more about this baby coming "early" (not premie, but maybe a week or two earlier) whereas with Noah I just knew I would outlast my due date (and was TOTALLY content with that). This time around I'd be thrilled if this baby showed up a week or two early (but not earlier than that as we're moving at the end of June!!!).
So my prediction is that this little guy will show up the week before I am due (maybe not exactly a week, but sometime in that week before), even though my official guess is 3 days past my due date.
We'll see!

finicky

There is a huge difference between a soup bowl and a cereal bowl.
I am very particular about the bowl I eat cereal in. It must be deep and have high sides so I can pour a gigantic serving of whatever cereal I happen to be eating that day.
This morning there were no cereal bowls left as they were all sitting in the sink or on the counter (because we suck at doing dishes) so I ventured into soup-bowl land. You know the kind. It's flat and almost a plate, but is slightly curved enough to warrant the label "bowl". And it was horrible. I couldn't pour a large enough bowl and then getting out those last few Cheerios was ridiculous.

Note to self: Just suck it up and wash the cereal bowl instead of going for the soup bowl if you want an enjoyable cereal experience.

27 weeks

random thoughts to get out of my brain before I sleep tonight

On Monday I leave for Chicago for 4 days with Jamie and Noah.
We are driving down with our friend Eric and our other friends (Graham and Jen and their son Elijah) are driving down in their car as well. The women and children will be staying with our mutual friends Mel & Uche and their daughter Zoe. Mel is pregnant with her second and we are due within days of each other! The guys are staying in a hotel.
And believe it or not, the wives actually suggested this arrangement.
Um, did we take our crazy pills that day?
But I think it'll be fun and crazy and chaotic and wonderful to hang out with 2 other Moms I love and respect and we'll all be there for each other.
Shoot...I need to pack still.

And speaking of packing, the next few months of my life are all about packing.
Packing for Chicago.
Packing for Waterloo (to live there for 2 months).
Packing our apartment up as we move out at the end of May.
Storing our stuff in garages (?) while we wait to move into our house at the end of June.
Unpacking our stuff in our new home.

And amidst all of that I will continue to be more and more pregnant and the weather will continue to get warmer and warmer (hotter?!).
And hopefully this baby waits until we're moved and settled (somewhat).
And hopefully my ankles don't swell too much (they will).
And hopefully I get more sleep tonight than I did last night.

love

Can I just say (why yes I can! It's my blog afterall!) that I absolutely LOVE this warmer weather we've been having!?!?!?
MAN!
It's great. I wore capris and a t-shirt outside. And it was glorious.
And I had to buy new sunglasses because my old ones are crooked. But they look exactly the same so...no loss I guess. Except from my bank account (thank goodness for cheap sunglasses!).

blood work results

We were out all afternoon but when we got in tonight we had a message from our midwife, Heather. She said that they got the report back from the lab and my glucose levels are completely normal! Hooray!!!
She also said my iron levels are low. Boo. But not a surprise. So I'm on Palafer tablets for now and hopefully that will kick up my iron count to a more normal level.

But all in all, I'm THRILLED not to have GD and I don't mind taking iron supplements. As long as I can get my iron up, then I can still have a home birth! Yippee! Happy 26 weeks! :D

26 weeks

no news...at all.

So I did the blood work for gestational diabetes and iron levels. It was really busy in the lab at first but cleared out within an hour and since I was there for 2.5 hours...well, I guess I had some nice "me" time. I listened to some pregnancy podcasts and tried to read a book I brought, but the sugar from the pop was making it hard for me to focus on the words (I THINK that may have happened last time too).
I went to my midwife appointment hoping to hear good things, but they hadn't received the results of the test yet! Phooey. So I wait.
The night of the test this little guy was so active that he actually kept me awake! Oi vey that was a rough night.
Other than that, things have been going well. I have gained about 11 pounds I think which is pretty good although when I tried on some of my summery clothes (shorts and capris) I was saddened to find that one pair of capris that I heavily relied on last pregnancy is just a tad too tight - especially in the love handle area. :( I knew I was getting wider, but I didn't realize it was enough to affect how clothes fit me. Oh well.
Not much to say - it was a short midwife appointment and everything seems fine.
Oh and I did notice today that one of the times they took blood from me at the lab the lady really bruised me up! I had blood taken 3 times but 3 different people and the one time blood was taken from my left arm I noticed it was a bit more painful than the other times but didn't think much of it. Well today it's all green and blue and bruisey! Oh well.
I think that's it for now.

home, sweet home.

I'm so thrilled. We finally found a place. A HOUSE. (Renting, not buying). But still, a HOUSE. With a big backyard. And laundry. And A/C. And Central Vac. And new carpets, hardwood floors and a dishwasher! It will be so nice to live in a house. I can't even begin to find words for how amazing it is that all of this came together.
Some thoughts:
- we can have BBQs! (Er, with our imaginary bbq at this point).
- I feel somewhat sad because to Noah it won't be "home" for a little while. And that makes me sad for him. He just won't get it for awhile, although I'm sure he'll be thrilled to have stairs to tromp up and down. And a backyard. THRILLED.
- I keep thinking about having a home birth and what it will look like in our new home. It will definitely be different to not have everything on the same level.
- having a garage will be amazing in the winter
- I want new couches (I want, I want, I want)
- I think I could like gardening. And maybe even be good at it?
- My heart soars when I think about this blessing - especially to Noah and our little unborn guy
- I have never paid utilities before (it's always been included in my rent price). This will be interesting.

GDD

Tomorrow morning I'm going in to the medical lab to get tested for gestational diabetes. I'm supposed to fast for 12 hours before so that means no late night snacking for me (which is probably a good habit to start!). I'll go in when the lab opens and apparently I'm "done" 2 hours after I arrive. In one sense it could be nice to "get away" and have some time to myself but in another sense, I'm not really sure what to do/bring to keep myself occupied.
I certainly hope my blood sugar levels are normal - or at least within the normal range! Oh and they'll also check to make sure my iron levels are in the normal range as well or else it's iron supplements for me again. (Yuck)
So hopefully the results will be back by my midwife appointment on Thursday and I can find out what the deal is.

25 weeks

strange dream

WHOA...I just had a nap this afternoon and had the strangest dream.
I dreamed I was at home and ran into the next room to show Jamie the baby's movements in my belly. I realized when I pressed on a part of my stomach I could feel something REALLY hard and then I saw a hand pressed against my belly. And then a foot. And then the hand started to grab and I thought it was going to come through my stomach. And then it looked like the hand DID come through my belly. But then I blinked and thought, I must be imagining things.
It was sooo strange.
Oh and the baby's foot was HUGE! Like the size of Noah's foot (toddler size 6.5!) and I thought, Oh no...this baby really IS going to be HUGE!!!
I woke up a bit groggy and thought, why do I feel strange? Did I have a weird dream? And it took about 10 minutes and then all of a sudden my dream just came flooding back to me!
Crazy weird!

hermit

With the onset of winter 2.0 I have zero desire to venture outside.
I have no fruit in the house but I'm making due with what we have (fruit juice, applesauce, veggies) because I don't want to get all bundled up and I don't want to get Noah all bundled up and trudge up and down the stairs. Plus being preggers it's starting to get REALLY difficult to carry Noah in the state I'm in up and down 3 flights of stairs.
So it is 1:04pm on Tuesday and I am still in my pajamas.
I may have a wee nap while Noah sleeps now but what I'd really like is a good novel to curl up with and read.
Anyone have any suggestions?

a wee update

Well I seem to have grown quite a bit in the last couple days.
I FEEL bigger, that's for sure. I've felt more kicks (or punches or head butts...not exactly sure what they are) to the cervix than I remember feeling with Noah, that's for sure. I just feel this baby so much lower than I did, although I'm definitely feeling tightness in my ribcage, that's for sure.
I will have to go for my gestational diabetes test in the next week or two and I'm hoping for the best, though my eating habits don't reflect that at all. Eep!
Not too much else is new in pregnancy-land.
We did some house hunting today and saw a bunch of houses for rent. We really liked a couple of them and will hopefully move forward with those. Somehow we always move when I'm extremely pregnant. It's my ticket to getting out of lifting heavy things. Haha...
It would be SO NICE to live in a house, have our own backyard and be able to do my own laundry in my own house...but for now I will just dream and imagine little Noah and his brother running around and causing a ruckus in our home-to-be. :)
It's also interesting to picture myself giving birth in any of these houses. I'm not so sure we'd tell the home owners that that is the plan...but that's definitely the plan! :) We're so sneaky.

24 weeks

thoughts...

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
Jeremiah 17:9

I've often thought of myself as a fairly non-judgmental person. I generally accept people and like them upon first meeting them.
But if there's one thing I've learned upon becoming a Mom it's that I am still preoccupied with comparing myself (and my kids!) to others. It's something that makes me feel sad because my head knows and reasons with my heart that each child and each parent is different, made uniquely wonderful. Yet my heart taunts back either end of the spectrum: I do it better than them OR They do it better than me (or other similar statements).
Sometimes it's a conscious thought and other times I don't even realize I'm thinking it.
The former happened today as I sat in the food court at the mall and watched a mother yell at her 5 (?) year old son to sit still and eat his food. But this wasn't enough, she continued to belittle him (I couldn't hear exactly what she was saying) until he was almost in tears.
It broke my heart, made me angry and also convicted me.
I don't know her circumstance or what her day had been like thus far...but that didn't stop the thoughts from flowing in a heated discussion between head and heart...

Then again, I'm sure other Moms watched me feed french fries to my 17 month old son and tisked away at me thinking all I feed my son is junk and how could I do that? But...no one may have noticed at all!

sick

I'm 24 weeks today and have come down with my 19th bazillion cold since the start of this pregnancy. Ugh. I'm so sick of being sick.
I watched videos of Noah's first 5 days alive...man oh man...how quickly we forget those early days, weeks, and months. It's amazing! I said last night to a friend that I am not ready for those days again. I mean, I'm very excited to meet this little guy, but the lack of sleep, the crazy hormones...oi vey. The spit up! :p
But it's all worth it. It really and truly is. :)

Ti...a drink with jam and bread

I wish I could have been there...