week eighteen

in a matter of a few days we will (fingers crossed) know what variety of baby will be joining our family.  i'm hardly excited.  part of it is the finding out bit.  but mostly it's because we get to see the baby again.  here in alberta we only get two ultrasounds and that's it, unless of course it's deemed medically necessary.  i've only found two places here that do non-diagnostic ultrasounds, otherwise make an appointment and please bring your doctor's requisition.  if it turns out that baby isn't cooperative in showing us it's girl or boy parts then we may consider going to one of the non-diagnostic places.  they'll do a scan and if we still can't see anything we get to go back for another scan at no charge within four weeks.  we're not bringing liam to the appointment because it's about an hour long.  definitely won't be able to keep him entertained that long in a doctor's office.  this is where they do all the important screening to make sure everything is a-okay.  and i'm sure it is.

so what's new this week?

how far along?  eighteen weeks

total weight gain: up 1.5 lbs. and feeling really good.

maternity clothes? yup and proud of it.  however i'm really disappointed in old navy.  they have a crap maternity section here and i can't order any maternity clothes online...they don't have that section on the canadian website and the us site won't ship here.  WTF?

stretch marks?  zero

sleep:  horrible and lack there of.  i can't get myself comfortable and it appears my new wake up time is 3 am again.  maybe my body is preparing me for the lack of sleep to come??

best moment this week: it's been everyday this week.  i've loved loved loved being at home with liam.  we've had a wicked week.  playing, singing, going to the zoo, a little shopping and even making some cupcakes.  it's going to be hard to work solid for the next three months.  

miss anything?  no not this week 

movement:  totally.  baby is a mover and shaker at night.  rolling around, moving from side to side. 

food cravings:  still all about the chocolate soy and the fruit.  dear lord the fruit.  we go to the grocery store at least twice a week just to get more fruit.  it's not just me.  liam is making a pretty big dent in it too. 

anything making your queasy or sick:  not really this week.  but i'm pretty sure that i still don't want fish in the house.  doesn't turn my stomach but it's just completely unappetizing.  

gender:  hope to know on tuesday!!!  

labour signs:  not for a while yet

symptoms:  still have nasty heartburn.  sciatic pain is better this week, yoga has really helped.  a new symptom has presented itself.  i've got a wicked rash on the palm of my left hand.  it's itchier than shit and nothing seems to help.  apparently 1/3 of pregnant women develop this kind of rash due to the crazy hormones floating around, they call it PUPPP.  hurray for pregnancy and hormones!

belly button in or out?  in

wedding rings on or off?  wedding and engagement rings on

happy or moody most of the time?  the lack of sleep has made me a little moody this week.  the husband has put on a brave face.  and i've done my best to appear pleasant, but sometimes it just didn't happen.  

looking forward to: duh ... our ultrasound of course.  also a really short work week, only three days and then weekend again.  we have a lot of family things happening next weekend for easter.


ps
have you voted on baby's flavour yet?  go here to make it count.

why a midwife?

via

for this pregnancy we were lucky enough to get in with a midwife.  it's difficult here because our provincial health care covers the cost and they are usually fully booked.  when i was pregnant with liam i waited until after i had my initial doctors appointment to confirm the pregnancy.  big mistake.  i was pretty much laughed at because i was so late in contacting them.  i was almost 10 weeks.  basically i was told that you should contact every midwife practice as soon as you pee on a stick.  so this time round that's exactly what i did.  well i waited until boxing day, but i did fill out online client intake forms for every midwife clinic in our city.  a week and a half later we were accepted into birth partnership midwifery care.  i was so happy and excited.  this is not say that i would've been destroyed if we went through low risk maternity for my second pregnancy.  they were great and i had fantastic care.  i just prefer to have a midwife.

i've been asked a few times why i decided on going with midwives instead of a team of doctors.  my first reason was based on the fact that i would know the people involved in my care and at the delivery of our baby.  when i was pregnant with liam i saw a team of seven female doctors at one of the low risk maternity clinics in our city.  this was fine.  seven isn't a lot of people and i was actually able to see a few of them more than once.  but when it came time to deliver and make some important decisions i wasn't sure who i was talking to.  at then end of my pregnancy (37 weeks) i became hypertensive.  apparently not uncommon in first pregnancies.  but my blood pressure was high enough to be alarming and the threat of induction was made.  throughout the course of that week i was given pros and cons, some told me we should induce right away, some said we could wait a few days or even a week.  it was hard to keep everything straight and difficult to make the "right" decision for my health and the health of our baby.  in the end induction wasn't needed ... just a good rimming of the cervix.  (very painful but definitely worth it) labour started all on it's own and liam was born happy and healthy.  my blood pressure dropped immediately after birth and all was well in our little world.  but going to back to my first reason for choosing a midwife, we had no idea who the doctor was that delivered liam.  i had never seen her before and she wasn't part of low risk maternity ... just part of the larger clinic.

my second reason for choosing midwives is the type of care that i will and have already received.  i feel like this pregnancy is more of a celebration, even when i go in for my monthly appointments it's just a happier, more relaxed environment.  i also love the fact that i can call my midwives at any point if i have questions or concerns.  this has been really good during this second pregnancy as we had some issues early on.  they weren't annoyed with my questions, they provided support and answers.  booked me in for tests right away to be sure.  as opposed to just being told to make an appointment by a receptionist.

my third reason is related to the image above.  when i was pregnant with liam it was my goal to have a natural, pain medication free labour and delivery.  i was very lucky that we were able to do this.  especially since i went hypertensive.  even though i was in the hospital, my sister in law (who happens to be an L&D nurse as well as a trained midwife) was there to help and assist in my labour and delivery of our baby and to make sure that there wasn't going to be anything offered that wasn't absolutely medically necessary.  i believe that i don't need a manager in my pregnancy, or delivery.  i need assistance.  my body actually knows what to do.  but don't get me wrong.  i feel that there are absolutely times when medical intervention is needed (say a 24-40 hour labour, or baby/mommy is in trouble, etc).  otherwise, women have been having babies successfully for thousands and thousands of years. and for me, i realize that i'm lucky to be one who didn't need any interventions.

finally i wanted to explore the possibility of a home birth.  now i'm totally uncertain on this.  but i want to learn as much as i can about the pros and cons so that we can make an informed decision.  and i do mean we.  the husband has just as much say about a home birth as i do.  my labour was fairly fast with liam, seven hours total.  from first contraction to baby.  this is why home birth is appealing.  what happens if we can't make it to the hospital in time?  but then there's the question, what if something goes wrong and we need to get to the hospital?  the good news is our midwife clinic runs a session that we have to attend once i hit 36 weeks.  it goes through everything we need to know about birthing at home, in the hospital or at a birth centre.  honestly i think this will just be a wait and see kind of decision.

in the end i know that we have and we will make the right decision.  i'm really happy we have a midwife for this pregnancy and would absolutely recommend this type of prenatal care to everyone and anyone.

what flavour?

in honour of our ultrasound next week i though a poll might be in order.  i'm fairly confident in my opinion of what baby 2's gender will be.  in fact i'll be totally surprised if baby's not what i think.  rob thinks this is hilarious.  either way, it truly doesn't matter what we have so long as there are ten fingers, ten toes and a two thumbs up for a healthy baby.  

but i'm curious ... what do you think?  boy?  or girl?

What flavour is baby?
	Boy
	Girl
pollcode.com free polls

seventeen weeks

it's starting to hit me just how fast this pregnancy seems to be moving along.  almost half way there and in a little over a week we may know what flavour of baby we're having.  no more bri-ster for liam.  an actual sister or brother.  we had an eventful week.  our new house is finally started!!!  we got the permit issues all sorted out and they broke ground yesterday.  we are now the proud owners of a hole in the ground.  the house feels real now.  not just a bunch of signed papers and selection appointments.  we have our fingers crossed that we'll be in by early september.

how far along?  seventeen weeks, one day

total weight gain: hit 146 lbs. this week, up a total of 12 lbs., i feel like my belly is so much bigger this time around, but i weigh a lot less at this point in my pregnancy then i did with liam.  guess every pregnancy is different.

maternity clothes? it's official.  non-maternity pants no longer fit.  at first i was sad about this.  but then i realized that it's for a good cause ... i'm growin' a baby!  i had my first "fat" day last weekend and put the last of my pre-pregnancy pants away to avoid future self loathing.

stretch marks?  nada, never got any with liam either.

sleep:  it's been off and on this week.  i think it might have something to do with trying to get things done at work.  haven't been able to turn off my brain at night.

best moment this week: as soon as it turned to friday!!  bring on spring break.  a full week off at home with liam.  time to have some mama and farf fun and relax.  oh ya and had a midwife appointment and heard baby's strong fast heart beat, 150 bmp.

miss anything?  i was so wanted a giant glass bottle of red wine.  a sort of celebration for finishing report cards and toast to only having one more round to go.  i settled for ginger ale.  it just wasn't the same. 

movement:  yup, but can't feel it consistently.  more so at night i get fluttery feelings.  

food cravings:  still all about the chocolate soy.  fruit, fruit and more fruit.  i can't get enough and now it doesn't seem to be anything in particular.  bananas, apples, cantaloupe, kiwi, strawberries.  i'll take it all.

anything making your queasy or sick: still off fish.  i think this might be the theme for this pregnancy.  no fish here. although sushi seems to be okay ... the pretend non-raw fish kind.  

gender:  unknown, only a week to go.  can't wait until april 3rd.

labour signs:  not for a while yet

symptoms:  heart burn.  but i've got zantac to help me through and a giant bottle of tums in my purse.  i'm also getting some pretty wicked sciatic pain on my left side.  it was so-so with liam, but it actually woke me up last week.

belly button in or out?  in

wedding rings on or off?  wedding and engagement rings on

happy or moody most of the time?  generally happy all week.  i think that's a product of the upcoming vacation.  why wouldn't i be happy?!?!  

looking forward to: spending the week with liam and our ultrasound on the third.

happy saturday!!

twenty months

liam turned twenty months on saturday.  yup st. patty's day and a month birthday.  we actually don't celebrate each month but it's nice to go back and see what's new each month.  he keeps changing so fast i often feel like i can't keep up.  or that if i blink i'll miss something and he'll suddenly be twenty years old!  in four short months he'll be two.  a for real toddler.  how did that happen?

liam at twenty months is a busy guy.  over the course of the last month his words are growing exponentially.  it seems like there's a new word every day and he's starting to put two words together.  "mommy no," "mo peez," and "mommy baby" are all favourites.  he also speaks with great intent to both of us.  it's always something deeply important, complete with head nods and shoulder shrugs.  liam has become little mr. independent.  don't help me mom.  i can do it myself.  this unfortunately has lead to some serious melt downs.  did you know that we can walk to the car and be perfectly happy and giggling all the way.  but don't you dare try to put him in the car.  he wants to do that himself too.  cue screaming, tears and super rigid guy.  ever try to strap a 2 x 4 into a car seat?  you get the idea.  all i can do is laugh.  sometimes i feel bad, but really it is kinda' funny.

on a related note, the tantrums.  oh the tantrums.  we haven't even hit two and they've started.  liam is also not one to shy away from a performance either.  it's complete with body flopping, feet kicking, rolling around, screaming and many many tears.  sometimes it's hard being almost two.

some of my favourite moments over the last month have been our saturday mornings.  liam wakes up around 7:30/8ish.  one of us will go get him and bring him into bed for snuggles.  he's such a snuggler ... when he wants to be.  snuggles are followed with going through his and our body parts.  of course he is the one pointing everything out and it inevitably ends up with one of his fingers up our nose or in our eye.  totally doesn't matter.  i wouldn't change these moments for anything.

he claps and says "YAY" whenever he hears applause.  so funny when the hockey game is on.  we can tell he's already a devoted flames fan.  loves playing with animal puzzles and absolutely anything car related.  this kid is definitely like his daddy.  he wheels his dump truck, with lightening mcqueen and mater in the back, all around the house saying "vroom vroom, beep beep".  then he'll call out "daddy!  bus bus bus".  and the two of them take off having races around the kitchen table.  it melts my heart to see them play like this.

we've finally graduated out of most of his 12 month clothing, a few t-shirts and jammies are kicking around.  otherwise it's 12-18 month and a few 18-24 month pieces.  he's just not a big guy.  he's wearing size 5 shoes and i'm so looking forward to getting him some rad dude sandals for summer.  i'm excited for this next month because we'll hopefully be able tell him if he's getting a new brother or sister.

liam you are the best part of my day and i love you love you love you!!

steppin out: party time

it's been awhile since i've done a steppin' out and i thought it fitting since i did my first one roughly a year ago.  we've officially started our birthday party season.  we kicked it off last weekend with a fourth birthday princess party extravaganza.  this weekend was a one-two combined birthday.  and we've still got two more parties over the next two weekends!  to tell the truth i don't mind all the birthdays and parties.  in fact i've been secretly looking forward to them because i get to see all my awesome friends and there's cake.  who wouldn't be excited for cake?

best cake ever!!  looks great and tasted even better.  did i mention it's homemade?  or that it's red velvet? de-freakin'-licious.

pretty sure everyone had a blast, i know liam did.  he was asleep as soon as we hit the road.  all the partying and cake eating wore him right out.  thanks for a great sunday guys.  happy first birthday tristan and happy second birthday levi!  wishing you both a year full of crazy adventures.

linking up with mandy and harper

forgetful fifteen, sweet sixteen

things have been crazy around here!  and i mean crazy.  daylight savings has thrown us for a loop.  liam has been crying when going to bed the last few nights.  i miss our quiet happy bedtimes.  i've also been really busy with work.  there are only a few times a year that this happens and it's always for the same reason.  report cards.  basically i spend about 16 hours calculating and in-putting marks and then coming up with creative comments that let parents know just how their child is doing.  multiply this by 120 and it gets a little overwhelming.  i'm happy to say that i'm almost done and things will get back to normal in a few days.  but with all this craziness i actually forgot to do a bump picture at fifteen weeks.  really.  i totally. completely. forgot.  i had the post ready last friday, just no picture to go with.  oh well.  can't get them all right?

we'll just combine fifteen and sixteen weeks together and call it even.  here's week fifteen's update ...

fifteen weeks: sadly no photo

how far along?  fifteen weeks

total weight gain: no weight change this week.  still the same.  

maternity clothes? starting to look in my closet and feel like i have nothing to wear.  my wardrobe choices are very depressing, nothing but t-shirts and jeans.  perhaps a trip to the mall??  then again perhaps not.

stretch marks?  nada

sleep:  still waking up around 3 am.  it's getting pretty annoying ... and now it's happening almost every night.  

best moment this week: yoga and i booked our 18 week ultrasound, april 3 we'll get to find out what flavour our new family member is going to be.  it's going to be a long four weeks. 

miss anything?  all of my non-pregnant clothes.  i'd just gotten to the point where i loved everything in my closet.  oh well.  next year right.  oh ya, and i miss sleep.

movement:  yup.  felt baby move when i was lying down on tuesday night.  at first i wasn't sure, but then i felt it across my entire abdomen.  gas can't do that.  

food cravings:  chocolate soy milk, veggies and dip, cantaloupe, any flavour of yogurt and chocolate mini eggs (thanks cadbury)

anything making your queasy or sick: still off fish, anything from the sea at this point.  good thing we're landlocked. 

gender:  unknown, hopefully baby will give us a show in a few weeks!!

labour signs:  not for a while yet

symptoms:  heartburn, heartburn and more heartburn.  but, i was at costco and they have a costco size version of zantac.  praise everything!!!  95 tablets of heartburn relief.

belly button in or out?  in

wedding rings on or off?  wedding and engagement rings on

happy or moody most of the time?  moody, but the sad kind of moody.  more emotional really.  i've been crying at news stories, commercials, tv shows, you name it.  i'm a crier by nature, but this is a little ridiculous.

looking forward to: the weekend and hanging out with my guys.  and feeling more of baby moving around.

how far along?  sixteen weeks

total weight gain: up 3 lbs, guess we made up for last week?  grow baby grow.

maternity clothes? after last weeks closet pity party i started getting creative with my clothes.  i have quite a few flowy tops and some blazers.  i've started wearing those and now that the weather is getting better i'm wearing fun flats instead of boots all the time.

stretch marks?  nada

sleep:  getting better.  i've been waking up to pee but then go back to sleep.  still going to be early though, the day just wipes me out. 

best moment this week: nothing to do with pregnancy, but liam has started pointing to himself and saying "mommy" and then to his belly and saying "baby".  so freakin' cute.  i just die.

miss anything?  not really.  can't think of anything.

movement:  yup, a lot butterflies in my tummy feelings.  

food cravings:  chocolate soy milk, grapes, white tea raspberry gingerale, cantaloupe, coconut flavoured yogurt and biggest craving has been for chocolate cheerios.  those things taste amazing!  i'd eat them for every meal if i could.

anything making your queasy or sick: no fish.  well canned tuna seems to be okay, but otherwise keep the sea creatures away.

gender:  unknown two and a half weeks and we'll know!!

labour signs:  not for a while yet

symptoms:  heartburn (always worse after eating chocolate), siatic pain has also set in.  boo to this.

belly button in or out?  in

wedding rings on or off?  wedding and engagement rings on

happy or moody most of the time?  moody and happy.  i would say an equal combination of both.  i happened to watch kony 2012 this week and bawled my eyes out.  then again i'm bawling my eyes out during commercials.

looking forward to: 18 week ultrasound and telling liam if he's getting a sister or brother.

what's in a name?

well a lot if you ask me.  thinking and agreeing on names is hard for the husband and i.  and this is due to the fact that i'm a teacher.  don't judge.  but really it's hard to name your child the same name and a kid you've taught that may have been a total jerk.  i know that my child will not be anything like the jerky one, but it's the association.  also, because i'm a teacher i think of every possible mean thing that kids could say about a name we choose.  believe me i've heard them all.  the husband thinks this is hilarious.  sometimes he looks at me and says "seriously who would come up with that?"  my response is always "you'd be surprised."

maybe i'm so concerned with names because as a kid i was always teased because my name was so different and i was the only one with a "weird" name.  i think this is why i often just go by my initials now as an adult (mj ... which stands for mari-jane).  i love my name now for its uniqueness but as a kid it was torture.  because i had the initials mj, i would get "hey michael jackson", "does that stand for michael jordan?"  and some others that weren't that pleasant.  hindsight, i wish i were as proud of my name then as i am now.  it's unique and so am i.  this is something i hope we will instill in both of our children.  for liam i don't think it will be a problem.  in fact i think it'll be the complete opposite.  we thought we were being unique with his name.  turns so did many other parents who had baby boys in 2010 in alberta.  liam will be faced with the possibility of multiple people with the same name in his future classes.

which brings us to our current dilemma.  coming up with names for baby 2.  i think we've pretty much settled on two contenders if it's a girl.  but we cannot decide or agree on a boys name.  we didn't find out liam was a boy until he popped out.  we went into labour and delivery with a name for each gender.  we also didn't share our name choices with family or friends.  reason being we didn't want to hear "oh that's an interesting name" or "really, you're going to name them that?"  we prefer that people keep their opinions to themselves and just say how beautiful our baby is ... even if they don't approve of the name.  we hope our children love their names, who they are and grow to be.

via

fourteen

how far along?  fourteen weeks, 3 days

total weight gain: up 1 lbs. this week.  total of 5 lbs. gain

maternity clothes? i've started wearing a few comfy cozy leggings.  but otherwise same as last week. 

stretch marks?  nada

sleep:  i'm restless.  not sure why??  but i'll get one really good night of sleep and then two or three crappy nights.  damn this waking up at 3 am!! 

best moment this week: because the nausea is finally gone i registered and went to my first prenatal yoga.  it felt soooooo good.  so happy for this.  i've been feeling like a super slug for the last three months.  

miss anything?  not really this week, other than sleep.  i miss sleep.

movement:  i don't think so ... but i can't be sure.  is it gas?  or is it baby?

food cravings:  chocolate soy milk.  i've gone through four litres in six days.  and egg salad sandwiches are a still a major favourite.

anything making your queasy or sick: fish.  even the thought of it turns my stomach!

gender:  unknown, still a few weeks away

labour signs:  not for a while yet

symptoms:  nausea be gone!  i knew this day would come, thank goodness it has.  in it's place the heartburn is a ragin'.  with liam i got through the majority of my pregnancy without heartburn, it didn't show up until the very end.  this one though, it started right away.  thank god for tums and zantac.

belly button in or out?  in

wedding rings on or off?  wedding and engagement rings on

happy or moody most of the time?  this week has been a little of both.  and there have been some tears.  

looking forward to: not having to go back to work at the end of june.  i'm a teacher, summer off and then twelve months of maternity leave!  boo-ya-ca-sha.

linked up with my pregnancy journal over at the 

happenings of the harper household this week

happy birthday blog!

one year ago today i ventured into the blog world.  i knew absolutely nothing about blogging.  just that i wanted somewhere to record our life happenings and share with family and friends.  i had no idea what i was in for.  i have come across some amazing people with some amazing blogs.  who knew that there were so many other moms with similar stories and experiences.  i wasn't doing this alone ... there were others like me out there.  the past year has brought many things to our family.  change has been a big part of it and will be a continuing theme for 2012.  i am so stoked about what this blog has become for me, it's an outlet.  it's a journal.  it's a forum.  it's a place to vent.  and most of of all it's a record of our life as a family of three.  and in a few months we will be four.

i would like to say thanks to all of you who read and follow along with us.  i have never had the intention of growing the blog.  in fact i remember when i first saw that i had a reader that i didn't know.  you mean someone likes what i'm posting??  cool.  i appreciate all of your warm hearted comments, well-wishes and encouragements.  i hope you'll all stick around, because i'm sure that there are many more dreams to be lived.

i was sure what i (or if i) wanted to do to celebrate this occasion.  i thought i could do a giveaway ... naw, i've never done one before why start now?  so instead i came up with sharing my favourite posts from the last year.  these are just a few of my absolute fav's.

x-treme mountain mommas

snowy daze

what's in my diaper bag?

saturday ski bums

friday's five: baby bookworm

30 photos

stroller's and butterflies

my sunshine

do you have any favourites?  i'd love for you to share.  we wish you a happy weekend.  it's gonna be a low key one for us.  full of playtime, naps and silliness.