I am slowly going crazy....

What is it about girls' clothes that makes me deliriously happy? I honestly feel like a 7 year old at Toys R Us. I want to buy EVERYTHING! I'm not kidding. Then I feel guilty, like Nate's clothes suddenly aren't as fun? I'm not sure how to handle that. I already feel guilty enough about turning his world upside down, then I have to reassure myself that a sibling is one of the best gifts we can give him. I know it's gonna be rough for the first little while but I think he'll adapt. He's not clingy or jealous when other kids are around so I think that works in our favour. We're doing our part in terms of his socialization, I think daycare has worked wonders for him. And I think that still sending him twice a week when I'm off is important. I know I've talked about this before but this is only my opinion. Obviously different parents have different parenting styles. At this age, routine is so important to them. We always try to have a consistent bedtime as well, occasionally he stays up later but only when we're with family or something, even then, he's not up much later then usual. He goes to bed around 7:30pm and sleeps until 7:15am - 8:00am. We also have a fan on in his room to drown out the noise. Sometimes if we let him stay up later then he sleeps in a bit, which is nice on weekends. I know this next child is not going to be the same as him. Every kid is different. But we know what we want in terms of how and where she sleeps so I'm confident that we can stick to our guns and hopefully this next child can be just as great as sleeper. Sleep is so important for parents too, otherwise you're stressed out and impatient. Can you imagine being sleep deprived with two kids at home? It's not even like I can always sleep when the baby sleeps because Nate will be home too and he only naps once a day - again, I know I'll be grateful for those days he goes to daycare.

So back to the clothes...Our good friends Jay and Jen are giving (lending? we can give them back after lol, I know we haven't discussed that part) us their daughter Sophie's clothes. I can't wait!! Sophie is always very well dressed! I don't really want to buy too much until I see what's there. Sophie was born in December and this baby will be born in July so I know that I can buy some summer dresses. I've attached a couple of photos. I couldn't resist!

These are from Old Navy and Gap. I want to vomit with excitement. I should probably steer clear of the mall until I calm down a bit. But honestly, can you see where I'm coming from?

So I talked to Rye about telling you guys the first name we have chosen for our daughter. He says I'm allowed to share! If you don't like it, I don't care. We can't please everyone. Keep in mind that Rye is choosing the middle name, he's already put 'feelers' out there so we'll have to see what happens. One I don't like at all, another I like a lot. Time will tell. So the name I've chosen is 'Violet'! Two things had me hooked. 1) I don't know anyone with this name (besides Violet Affleck, which is where I got it from) and 2) It's not on any 'Top 100' name list. Rye doesn't like "Vi" for short, he thinks it sounds like an 80 year old lady, and I get where he's coming from but I know that once we have her and if we do call her 'Vi', then we'll just think of our daughter and not an old lady, hopefully anyways! We also had Ellie, Grace and Ruby on the list. I'm off Ruby. I like Ellie and Grace but Grace is way too common. I'd like Rye to choose his Mom's name (she passed away when he was young) but he's not sure it "goes" with Violet.

So that's it for today guys! Hope everyone is enjoying their Friday.

Happy Weekend! Anyone have any good plans? We're going to Jay & Jen's for dinner Saturday then hopefully watching the gold medal game on Sunday! I plan on making a roast chicken in the crockpot for Sunday's dinner. Let's talk recipes next blog!

GO CANADA!!!!!!!!!!!

Drum roll please....

Well, I am pleased to announce that we're having a girl! Seriously shocking. I could barely hold back the tears!! 3D ultrasounds are really cool, I wish we had had one with Nate now too. If you're considering it I highly recommend it, even if you're not considering it, you need to do it. I've attached some pics below. She was super cute, sucking her thumb and had her hands at her face most of the time. She looked really cozy in there :) Now I can shop!!!!!! YESSSS!!!! AND I got Rye to agree on the name! The deal was that he got to choose the middle name, which is fine by me!

Reunited and it feeeeels sooo good!

Okay so I know I'm an asshole. I haven't posted in forever and people are starting to get antsy. I owe you, my loyal readers, an apology. Usually I write during the day while I'm at work, LOL, and we've been crazy busy lately. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE being busy at work, the guilt is just starting to eat away at me. So I'm back. I will do better, I promise!!

First things first, we have a 3D/4D ultrasound booked for tomorrow morning!!!!!!! So unless the baby is REALLY uncooperative we should definitely know the sex. They pretty much guarantee it! I'm so excited! It's at 9:30am at BabyView in Pickering. I'll blog about it right away. I honestly don't care what we're having. I just need to know. I actually caved and bought these adorable hair clips off True Cuddles, they're an awesome website for kids items. Every Monday they have a item they sell at a deep discounted price. So the hair clips were such a great deal, I couldn't resist. I figure if we're having a boy then I'll just give them away and if not then *squeal*!!! I had to stop myself from buying these adorable leg huggers yesterday. Of course when I looked to Meg for support, she wasn't that much help and commented on how cute and what a great price they were! I feel like I'm just not destined to have a girl, I guess because I have 3 brothers. I told this to my Mom and she understood. It took her until the 4th try to get me! But saying that, perhaps Ryan's three half-sisters offsets my three brothers? Wishful thinking maybe? I think I'll be shocked if it's a girl. That being said, every cousin/brother of mine (except for my cousin Heather who has 1 child, and we're still waiting to hear about what Phil and Cheryl are having), has a boy and a girl! So weird. Sooooo excited!!!! Thankfully the appointment is in the morning, I don't think I could wait all day!

Has anyone been watching the Olympics? We're into it. I'm SO far behind on my regular tv shows because of it. I still have to watch: two desperate housewives, brothers and sisters, heroes season finale, a couple general hospitals (I was two weeks behind so I finally caved and just read the write-ups online because no way will I have time to watch them all), the amazing race, and private practice, I think that's it? Lost is on tonight, so is Idol and of course Hockey! So I guess Rye and I will watch hockey then Lost afterwards, gonna be another late night! Of course then it means I'll be behind on Idol! Do you think I watch too much tv? It's exhausting really. Thankfully we have PVR. I couldn't live without it.

Baby gear!! There are a couple big purchases we'll need to buy before the baby comes 1) a double stroller, I thought long and hard about this one, is it really necessary? But Nate will only be 2 when this baby is born so it makes sense. After a lot of research, I've decided on the Baby Trend Sit 'N Stand LX Stand-On Tandem Stroller, I think this would suit Nate and the new baby perfectly (it takes a infant car seat) and it's not ridiculously expensive like a lot of strollers are. 2) We need to buy Nate a twin bed and a new dresser. I'm waiting to see if we'll be moving until we make those purchases. I think we're pretty much good for the other large items. Maybe I would want a new baby carrier but that requires some research! We already have a baby bjorn but I think a sling would be nice. I'm concerned about being home with 2 kids and this would enable me to be mobile. If we're having a girl then I would probably want new crib bedding and obviously I would want to do her room up super girly. We should really start stocking up on diapers too. It never hurts to have them! It feels weird to not have bought anything yet but I think after tomorrow I might go a little crazy!

So until tomorrow my friends! Wish us luck!

Look who's 18!

Yet it still feels wrong!

To Doula or Not to Doula

Okay so a lot to write about today.

First off, we had our 19 week ultrasound yesterday. Rye was unable to attend because of work so I was flying solo. It's a really long ultrasound because they have to take a lot of measurements, not good for the bladder! The technician was really nice and gave me 3 pictures of the baby, free of charge, without me even asking her! She couldn't tell the sex of the baby because she couldn't get a clear picture, but she thinks that my doctor might send me back in a week or two because she couldn't get a good picture for the radiologist. She told me that everything was fine with the baby, I'm a bit skeptical only because I don't know how much the technicians can really tell you. But I'm not going to stress over it until I hear from my doctor. I have an appointment next Thursday anyways.

My friend Sarah called me last week and asked if I wanted a doula, my response was yah definitely but they're expensive (around $1000), she said that this one was free, they need to volunteer to get their certificate. So I called and Melissa is her name. We had a brief talk and she explained that July was too far away and she was looking for someone who was giving birth sooner but she said that if June rolled around and she needed more experience then she would keep me in mind. So then she called me last night and said that she was thinking about it, she's really passionate about pregnancy, and she wants to be our doula. We chatted for a bit and she said the next step was for me to talk to my husband then we would meet in person and go from there. You're probably wondering what a doula is?

A doula, by definition, are trained professionals who provide non-medical support to a woman or couple before, during, and after labour. A doula is different than a midwife, a midwife is like a doctor but more involved in the birthing process, they provide prenatal care and deliver the baby (unless you need a c-section, in which case a doctor would have to perform) and provide postpartum care along with breastfeeding support. So I would have both a doctor and a doula. In cases with a doctor, they really just come in to deliver the baby and placenta anyways so if you're looking to a doctor for support you're out of luck!

A little more in depth about the role of a doula...

We would meet with Melissa a few times before the birth to discuss what to expect in labour and Ryan's role in the birth, a doula is not there to "take over", she's there to support us and to help him support me. She would also help us write a birth plan (A written description of what the expectant parents would like to include and what they'd like to avoid for labor and the birth of their child). She would be available to us 24/7 for the 2 weeks up to my due date, if we need to talk or whatever.

During labour, Melissa would help me to be as comfortable as I can be, through the use of relaxations techniques, suggestions for laboring positions, massage, and emotional support. She would encourage Rye's role and also support him in terms of reminding him to eat etc.

After the birth, she would stay with us for 2 hours to help with breastfeeding to ensure the baby is getting a proper latch. I believe most doulas would also make a home visit or two afterwards as well but Melissa and I didn't get that far in our conversation.

So what are the benefits of having a doula?

- Reduces a woman's likelihood of having pain medications and other interventions if that's what the mother wants
- Increases her satisfaction with her birth
- Increases her chances for spontaneous birth
- Helps her feel better about her partner, her baby and her experience
- Helps fathers interact more during labor and birth
- Enhances breastfeeding success
- Creates better maternal-infant interaction
- Leads to less postpartum depression, anxiety, and greater self-esteem
- Leads to greater satisfaction with the birth experience

My main two reasons for wanting a doula are 1) breastfeeding support and 2) labour support - to make a long story short when I was in labour with Nate, once we got to the hospital, about 2 hours after my water broke, my contractions were 1-2 minutes apart and I couldn't recover between them so I had to get the epidural very early on, epidurals slow down labour and I wasn't dilating so they had to put me on pitocin (sp??) to speed up the process and 28 1/2 hours later Nate was born. So ideally this time, I would like to hold off on the epidural for as long as possible. A doula would REALLY help with that.

The hubby is skeptical, I understand his point of view. He doesn't want a stranger there and thinks that it should just be us during the birth. Obviously she would not be a stranger because we would meet with her a few times beforehand. I think he just needs more information. I've spoken with a few ladies on the baby centre message boards and they said their hubbies reacted the same way but were on board once they met with the doula and understood their role. So I'm hoping things will click once we meet with Melissa. I've really enjoyed speaking with her on the phone and I think Rye will come around.

I have to say thanks to Sarah for hooking us up! I'm hoping everything works out!

Did any of you use a Doula for your birth?? Comment and let me know, we need all the advice we can get!!

Feeling kinda Monday!

Whew! What a weekend! Lots to talk about! Should be a good blog today. I'll leave the talk about how I drool even without a cold for tomorrow's blog for my homie Sarah Brown! Let's get to it!

So friday night was fairly low key. I cleaned the bathroom, getting ready for our Superbowl party, then I went to bed around 9:30ish. I've been SO exhausted lately. I don't remember being this tired with Nate. The second trimester is 'supposed' to be the best in terms of how you feel but this baby is totally kicking my ass right now. I can barely get through the day without a nap :( What does this say for my third trimester? It can't be good lol.

On Saturday afternoon we took Naters to get his first haircut! OMG what a difference. I didn't think they would really take much off but after seeing the end result I felt like such an idiot, why didn't we do it sooner?? They were awesome at http://www.littletotshairshop.com/, we highly recommend it. Nate surprised us and was a real trooper! He just didn't want to wear the apron, can't say I really blame him, it did look like it was choking him a bit, but that's alright. We just had to entertain him with a few cars and trucks and he was set! The lady even busted out the razor to clean up the back because he was being so good! I was so proud of our little man and had to hold back a few tears, we'll blame it on the pregnancy hormones!

After Nate's haircut we took him to Pop & Gigi's for the night and headed down to Big Daddy's Crab Shack and Oyster Bar for Giulia's Birthday. We had a great time, it's not often that Rye and I get out without the little man. It was so nice to have a great meal. I had steak and shrimp and Rye just had steak, he doesn't like seafood, I can't even get him to try a shrimp, so annoying! Giulia's family was so nice and her brother is hilarious! Is it too much to say I love that guy? LOL I would definitely hang out with him again. At one point I had to choke back my water so I didn't spit it out all over the table, resulting in a coughing fit which obviously led to pissing myself a bit. Oh the joys of pregnancy.

Sunday was a very busy day! I woke up around 8:30am to immediately vacuum and mop the floors, it really needed to be done but I was waiting until closer to Sunday so I didn't have to do it twice, makes sense. We got all of our grocery shopping done then we were off to Pop and Gigi's to pick up our little man! Once we got home we had tons of prepping and cooking to do! On our menu was: homemade lasagna, a veggie tray, honey garlic meatballs, salad, buns, buffalo chicken wontons (all homemade), and a sundae bar - definitely my favourite lol. We had a choice of chocolate and vanilla ice cream with either caramel or chocolate sauce topped with reeses pieces, oreos, whipped cream and a cherry! Mmmmm. It was a great night! Obviously we were ecstatic that the Saints won! Nate and Gavin got some BFF time in, it was so cute to watch them together, Gav kept feeding Nate, so funny! I'm so happy they got to spend some time together, we really don't do it enough. By the time everyone left it was around 10:30pm, let me tell you, Monday morning came WAY too soon. Rye took the day off today and I'm so jealous! He did get up with Nate and let me sleep in a bit so I can't complain too much. I wonder what he'll make us for dinner? Hmmmm...

In baby news, tomorrow's the big day. Our ultrasound is at 11:00am. I cannot wait. I REALLY hope baby cooperates. I'm so excited. The baby has been so active lately and I am loving it, I can't wait to see all those little arms and legs waving around on the screen. I'm gonna post a blog as soon as I get back from my appointment tomorrow so I'll be sure to let everyone know if it's a boy or a girl! If we can find out that is, because that's not always the case. Wish us luck!

Hope everyone has a great Monday and the week flies by so we can enjoy a 3-Day weekend! YAY!

xo

*** HURRICANE WARNING ***

Be advised! Hurricane WHODAT is making landfall, bringing Shockey waves and strong Brees with Hartley any chance of survival. Has already blown migrating Cardinals off course and sunk a Viking ship! Headed for Miami at this time ... stay tuned for more forecast updates

Blah!

Can you believe this adorable little human belongs to me! Aren't we lucky! I took this picture at Daddy's ball hockey game last night. Props to Uncle Phil and Auntie Cheryl for the hat! I absolutely love it. Ball hockey was...fun....sorta. Nate was content to play with his Thomas and eat some snacks for the first period and that was that. The boy loves to walk. So we walked. All in all it was a good night but I didn't really see much of the game. They won 9-4 I believe?

What's everyone got planned for this weekend? It's a busy one for us. #1 on my list is sleep in! We've had a few late nights this week and I am totally dragging my ass at work today. I was fine all morning, then I ate lunch, you know how it is. I want to close my eyes but I have a cold and I know it won't be pretty if I fall asleep. I am really not an attractive sleeper right now, hello snoring and drool! Hence why Rye has slept on the couch the last 2 nights. So saturday Nate is going to his Pop & Gigi's for the night and we're heading down to 'Big Daddy's Crab Shack and Oyster Bar' for our friend Giulia's 30th Birthday dinner! Has anyone been there? It'll be our first time. Rye doesn't eat seafood but they have other stuff anyways. I'm really excited because I love going out for dinner and being pregnant and sober, food is the one thing I can indulge in! Steak and shrimp Mmmmm. Sunday is the Superbowl and we're having a few friends over so we have to prepare the food and house for that.

Nate REALLY needs a haircut. We were going to get his Aunt Amy to cut his hair on New Years but everyone was sick so we didn't end up going to Haliburton. It's gotten to the point where pretty much everyone makes fun of his hair. It's quite long on the side and he has a lot of it in the back, it's hard to explain, basically the kid needs help. I'm hoping we can fit that in this weekend. Looks like we're gonna have to take him to a kid's haircutting place. I found this place http://www.littletotshairshop.com/ so maybe we'll check it out. I'll be sure to get some pics since this will be his first time! Wish us luck!

I know this blog is seriously sucking today. I've hit a wall. All I want to do is nap. I'm so sorry guys. I just don't have it in me. Time to throw in the towel.

Comment below and give me more things to write about so tomorrow's post doesn't suck as much as this one does!

Oh and I've said it before but I can easily name 15 of you that I know are reading and aren't 'followers' so please become one, the first step is admitting it!

A breakthrough

Hey All!

Well I'm seriously tired today. My boss gave us last minute Leaf's tickets, just a case of me being in the right place at the right time so of course we had to go. Thankfully Pop was available to babysit! We had a great time and our seats were AH-mazing!!! 8th row from the ice in the corner behind N.J.'s net so we got to see lots of action. AND they won! Woohoo! Rye wanted to watch the season premiere of Lost when we got home, 2 hour season premiere I should add and I couldn't resist. So today we are paying the price. If you're in the mood for a little bit of mind f*ckery, Lost is the place to go. I can't even begin to imagine how those writers do it but it is seriously awesome. I won't spoil anything here for those that haven't watched it yet but holy crap!!!!

Nate had a breakthrough at day care today!!! Rose (our day care provider or DCP for short) called to let me know that Nate ate a chicken nugget! This is HUGE. The kid doesn't eat ANY meat at all. It's not that he doesn't like it, he just refuses to try anything. Yet he has no problem trying a piece of my nanaimo bar, I don't understand how he knows the difference! Rose said they were cracking open a bottle of champagne so you can imagine how big of a deal this is for us all.

His diet consists of:
85% fruit
9% bread, waffles and crackers
5% yogurt and fruitsations
0.5% cheese (only on grilled cheese or plain cheese sandwiches, never straight up)
0.5% french fries

We've had quite the battle when it comes to his eating habits. I will say it's the one thing we/him really struggle with. We do give him options but he won't even look at them. The other day, I made pigs in a blanket, I just did a quarter of a hot dog in the one I made for him and he wouldn't touch it! Yet when I gave him a straight up crescent roll he was all over it! So frustrating!!! He used to eat veggies, hot dogs and kraft dinner but he just up and stopped one day. Rose has gotten him to eat pasta with white sauce and chicken noodle soup, both of which he won't eat for us. So you can imagine our delight when we got the call about the chicken nugget! I was SO happy. He's the only child at daycare that doesn't eat the regular food that they make, and they are Italian so you know they're making some good stuff! Pretty much every day he eats bread, cheese and either a yogurt or a pudding. They change up the way they serve it to him but always the same combination. Obviously he also gets fruit and snacks throughout the day as well. I'm praying this is the start of him branching out. But I know not to get my hopes up.

It's funny how much the little things matter in life. This milestone of Nate's has made us so happy and proud. I seriously almost cried tears of joy. A direct quote from my husband "Remind me to call Rose a God next time I see her!" What milestone of your loved one's has brought joy to your life? Share with us in the comment section below!

18 Weeks!

So I am officially 18 weeks today. Chugging along quite nicely! 1 week until we can hopefully find out the sex! The suspense is killing me. I need to know. And I need to know soon. I've been feeling the baby tons lately! I love it! It's truly amazing. I keep telling myself I really need to take it all in because this may be the last time I'm pregnant, which also seems weird to be done with such a huge part of your life? But that's neither here nor there now since we don't know what the future holds. Although Rye's insisting that if this one's a girl he's going for the snip snip. We'll see. Obviously money is a huge factor but having Nate makes me want a bunch of kids. It could also be how he is though, I suppose if he was high maintenance then it might change my mind. Let's just get through this next one and we'll go from there :)

Yesterday I had some time on my hands and I discovered that if you go to "Next Blog" at the top of the page, don't even think of doing it now haha, you go to random people's blogs. I stumbled upon a couple who had quintuplets (that's 5 babies just so we're clear), the Mother blogged about it all, still does and I found it absolutely captivating. I could never imagine. She HAD to gain a minimum of 75 lbs, preferably 100lbs. Resulting in her having to eat 5000 calories at day! 5000!!!!! The only thing that ticked me off was that the farthest I could go back on her blog was when she was around 15 weeks so I have no idea how they conceived 5 kids. Keep in mind that pregnancy is 40 weeks, a baby is considered 'full term' at 37 weeks. Their goal was to make it to 34 weeks but that didn't happen. They made it to 30 weeks and 5 days. All the babies survived but not without hiccups, it was a long journey in the NICU but they are now around 19 months and all doing great. It was really interesting to read about their story. They were so brave during the pregnancy and after the birth, I don't know if I could have that kind of strength. If you're interested their blog is here http://howellquints.blogspot.com.

Big Tings happening tonight! Lost is back for their 6th and final season. I would tell you to tune in but if you haven't watched the previous 5 seasons you will have no clue as to what's going on. Watch it on DVD. I guarantee you will be hooked. Also, after a busy weekend in Leaf's Nation, Giguere and Phaneuf will make make their debuts tonight. I have no idea what the hubby is gonna do! I guess we'll be flipping back and forth!

For the Mom's and Mom's to be out there. Another great website for baby/kid stuff is infomommy.com, every week they post which stores in ontario have diapers, wipes, formula etc on sale. I've been finding it very helpful lately.

Which websites do you frequent? Comment below and let us know!

Just another manic Monday...

Good Morning everyone!

I thought I should write a weekend/Monday morning blog since not everyone watched the Grammy's.

What did everyone do this weekend? We got a lot of cleaning done. So happy about that. It was much needed. Attached are a couple of pictures of Nate helping Daddy clean out the fridge.



As you can see Nate was very helpful. We had a great weekend as usual. Sunday evening always comes too soon. Lots of events this weekend to look forward to. Our friend Giulia's 30th Birthday celebration on Saturday, Nate's Pop and Gigi are taking him for the night so Mommy and Daddy have the whole evening to ourselves, I might have to actually let Rye touch me! haha. Then Sunday is the Superbowl! Go Saints!

It's starting to hit me that I'm actually pregnant and we're actually going to have two kids. I'm getting nervous. I think because Nate is so well behaved it really scares me that this one will not be. But at the same time, it comes down to nature vs nurture. I really believe that Nate is the way he is because we as parents have had a hand in it. I do think it's him as well. So maybe like 60% Nate, 40% us or maybe even 50/50. I think we've made a lot of right choices with how we've raised him so far and seeing the way he is everyday just confirms that. I just hope we can keep it up! I'm very interested to see how he is affected by having a sibling but again, I think it's in the way we handle it and I believe we can continue on the right track. Remember parents, you are in charge!

We've decided we're going to get a twin bed for Naters. I'm super excited to pick one out for him. I hope he likes it! I also hope it won't be that much of an adjustment for him but we'll just have to wait and see. I'm concerned about him getting out of bed in the middle of the night but I think we'll just put a baby gate on his door.

I have to give a shout out to my friend Giulia. Not only is she one of the sweetest and nicest people I know, she is totally inspiring. She's blogging about her goal to run a marathon in a year, if you have a second please check out her blog here Fat Girls can run too!...my marathon journey. It's highly entertaining and if you're in the market to lose some pounds or to just get healthy, I hope it will inspire you too.

That's all for today peeps! Happy Monday!

xo