More Pictures

I thought I'd post a few more pictures from the last couple days before I headed off to bed...

All bundled up and ready to come home from the hospital. She got this little pink rattle bear along with a flower arrangement from some friends. Aidan made sure she had it with her all the time.

Aidan was very excited that we were finally going home. He had been hanging around waiting for the past 2 hours and was getting quite impatient

When we got home Keira hung out in her lounger and Aidan gave her her pink teddy, her special teddy and also loaned her his special kitty and purple teddy which was very sweet

Getting her diaper changed on the change table

All wrapped up sleeping

Grandma and Keira

Me and Keira

Aidan and Keira - after this he didn't want to take another picture. He really doesn't like it when she cries, I think he feels bad for her

Sleeping again - this is what she does all day :)

On Saturday we went out for a picnic dinner and she looked so cute in her stroller

Such a funny look on her face

Cutest sleeper ever - my grandparents sent me some money and I got her this sleeper - I love it!
Sitting in her boppy in her crib

Just looking around

The Story

I know Michael posted the details on Facebook, but I'll put them here as well.

Wednesday morning I was so excited for it finally to be the day that I woke up extra early because I couldn't sleep. I waited for the clock to say 7:15 so I could call Labour and Delivery and tried to figure out how to phrase what I was going to say so that it would be a statement that I was coming in, rather than a question of whether I could or not. When I did call, they said they were too busy and couldn't accomodate me and that I could call back at 11:30 if I wanted. That was very disappointing and I kind of felt like if they were too busy then, chances were unlikely there would all of a sudden be a spot for me at 11:30. Aidan was also upset that the doctors were busy because he had plans to go to Shaun's house!

11:30 finally came and I called back only to learn that they were still busy - and filling up. I tried to elicit a little sympathy from the nurse I was talking to by saying that I was already 10 days over and my first was 10 pounds 2 ounces and I really didn't want a repeat of that and I really really wanted to go in and get this done! She was very sympathetic but there was only so much she could do. She offered to take my numbers and said if a bed opened up she would call me and if I hadn't heard from her by 4, to give her a call.

By then I was thoroughly depressed because I was sure I was going to have to wait another day, so I lay down on the bed and fell asleep. Aidan came and crawled in with me and fell asleep too but by then I was awake so I got up and had some lunch. Then the phone rang and it was Labour and Delivery saying they had a bed free!!!

That was at 3:00, and by 3:45 we were through patient registration, signed in at Labour and Delivery and in our room monitoring the baby's heart rate. The bed was sooo uncomfortable, but I had to lie there for half an hour to monitor the baby's heart rate, then I was allowed to get up, but as soon as my doctor got there to give me the gel, I was going to have to be back on the bed again for another hour. I had meant to take a picture of myself when I was really really pregnant but kept forgetting, so the plan was to take the picture right before I got changed into the hospital gown, but then we couldn't find the camera and the nurse came back in, so in the end, we still never got that picture!

My doctor arrived and gave me the gel at about 5:20 and then I got all hooked up to the monitors again. The contractions only took about 10 minutes to start and from there we were off and running. It seemed like when they started they were only about 2 minutes apart at the most and never really got much farther apart than that. By the end of the hour I was in a lot of pain, and the bed wasn't helping, so we tried out the shower. There was a birthing ball in the shower and it was the most awesome thing ever - it really helped to separate, relax and take pressure off of my hip joints which made the contractions a whole lot easier to deal with. The only bad thing about it was that it was so big, you couldn't position it without covering the drain, so about every 3 contractions I had to stand up, move the ball and let the accumulated water drain out. Even with that though, the shower was really great. I basically just sat on the ball and tried to breathe through the contractions while Michael held the shower head on me. We must have been in there for a good 40 minutes but it was getting a little sauna-like in the bathroom so we got out and I decided that it was time for some morphine - this was about 7pm.

I had to get back on that bed but thankfully they didn't have to hook me up to the monitors again. I got the morphine and the laughing gas at the same time and while I still think the gas doesn't do anything, it gave me something else to do to help control my breathing and distract me which was good. Almost immediately I started to feel like pushing but since everything was moving so fast and it wasn't a strong urge I waited for a couple contractions before getting Michael to go tell the nurses. They came to check me over and we asked about an epidural, but the anethestist (I have no idea how to spell that) was tied up with an operation for the next 45 minutes and there was another lady that was 'in line' before me - and then I heard them say that I probably wouldn't last that long. I tried to ask them to clarify - I wouldn't last 45 minutes or wouldn't last 45 minutes plus however long it took him with the other lady but I don't remember getting or hearing a straight answer. Either way it was getting pretty close - by 8:00 I started heavy pushing and by 8:13 she was born! Right near the end Michael and the nurses were trying to encourage me by getting me to push and then they started saying 'Okay! 1 last push!' but they said it like 3 times. Maybe that was when she got a little stuck, but I did that one last push 3 or 4 times.

Finally she was out and I remember lying there sort of bracing myself for the next contraction and next push and it was the best feeling ever to be able to relax and realize I was done. Her official stats are born at 8:13pm, weight - 9 pounds 10 oz (4365 g), length - 51cm, head circumference - 34cm, chest circumference - 37cm, dark brown almost black hair, dark blue eyes, bruised face, super dry skin, 10 fingers and 10 toes :) I asked to hold her right away so as soon as she was all cleaned up and wrapped up they gave her to me and she looked like she was rooting around so I fed her and she did a very good job. We had to wait in the delivery room for about an hour while they cleaned us both up, monitored us and got a room ready on the maternity side. Since it was getting close to 8:30, we asked if it was okay that Aidan come to the delivery room to visit and they said it was fine, so we called and Theresa brought him down to meet Keira. He had already been in bed, but looked very excited and proud when he walked in to meet his new sister. He climbed up on the bed and held her a little, stroked her face and looked at her, but didn't say much. Since then he's started referring to her as my baby - he'll say 'My baby cry for no reason every day' and has been very sweet to her, making sure she always has a teddy (or 3 or 4) to cuddle with all the time. I didn't think I would have much trouble with him, but I'm really happy that he's adjusting so well to having her around.

We thought she looked exactly like Aidan when she was born, but now that I've looked at baby pictures of Aidan and she's a couple days old I'm not so sure anymore. It may have just been the dark hair and super red face - and the fact that they're brother and sister. So far things have been going very well. In the hospital if I wanted to get any sleep at all I had to cuddle her through the night so I was a little worried that when we came home she wouldn't sleep by herself, but she did very well last night. She's been feeding about every 2 hours which is really hard to get used to but at least she hasn't been cluster feeding too much because that would drive me crazy! I am feeling really really good - I'm very surprised at how good I'm feeling especially because I remember how I felt after having Aidan.

My mom arrived on Thursday and Michael flew out for Wing's wedding on Friday, the same day I got home from the hospital. I was hoping to be home Thursday afternoon before Michael left, but Friday was fine too. It's nice having my mom here and I'm looking forward to Michael being home tomorrow. He's bringing BC Lions stuff for all of us including Keira - I'm sure she will be the cutest little BC Lions fan!

Today Aidan and my mom are going to the circus! Aidan is very excited and I'm sure he will have a wonderful time. He is really enjoying having his Mama here and spending time with her so it will be a special treat for them to go together. I'll post pictures of their circus adventure soon - along with more pictures of Keira :)

Pictures

I've been trying to get this post done all day and I keep getting sidetracked with other things - like Keira :) So for today I'll just post some pictures.

Right after she was born, being weighed in kilograms and pounds

After she was weighed, checked over and wrapped up I got to hold her

This is a little later on in our room. You can see the purple on her face, it was pretty bruised

Lying in her little 'tank' on the baby cart

Michael and Keira

Michael and Keira again

He looks so proud here :)

Me and Keira

Me and Keira again. I know I look weird here, but I honestly felt really good - maybe it's the after effects of the morphine and the fact that it was about midnight and I'm not used to staying up so late - especially after having a baby :)

Keira up close

Me holding Keira

Keira's first bath - having her hair washed

Rinsing her hair

She was really not impressed with it!

Still not enjoying herself at all

Getting a little more used to what's going on

Overall she was not a big fan! She just wanted to get out. Hopefully she starts to like bath time a little bit more because if she doesn't that will not be a fun time for either of us!

Almost done bath time

Once again I look all doped up but I felt fine...maybe I was still high from the morphine...

Keira's first football game. It was a Toronto Montreal game but if she had been born a week earlier her first game could have been a BC Lions game which Michael would have been very happy with

Michael's totally done with me taking pictures of him :)

So I'll just take close ups of Keira

Her soother is the superman logo in pink and says Superbaby on top. Very cute.

I'll try to post more tomorrow but for now, enjoy the pictures :)

The Day

I'm getting pretty excited about tomorrow - or rather, tomorrow evening. I'm not looking forward to going through labour at all, but I am looking forward to finally getting this baby out! Aidan said he wanted to come to the hospital with us rather than going to Shaun's house. I'm not really sure how to explain to a 3 year old why he can't come - I just said it takes a long time and it's really hard and it would be boring for him. He's been doing good lately, but yesterday he peed his pants in the middle of the living room - just stood there, held his shirt up and went - and a couple days before that he woke me up because he had peed his pants. Both incidents were very strange because he hasn't had a problem in regards to being potty trained in months. Hopefully this is not a sign of things to come. I have heard of older kids wanting to be babies again, maybe to get attention, and wanting to wear diapers and regressing - like bedwetting etc. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Mine and Aidan's bags have been packed for about 2 weeks now, just sitting on the counter in the unlikely event that something were to happen, but today Michael and I were rushing around getting stuff done like we're going on a big trip or something. I made a list of everything I needed to do - might have been smarter to make it a couple days ago - and actually got everything done except 1. I hate cleaning bathrooms so much! But at least the kitchen is clean and the laundry is done and put away and the dishwasher is clean.

I guess I should get to bed soon. I'm calling the hospital at 7:15 and hopefully leaving the house right after I call. Aidan doesn't let me sleep in too much, but we have definitely been sleeping in later than we used to when I was working, so tomorrow will be an early morning! Michael's got a big text message ready to be sent out to everyone whose cell numbers we have and once we're/he's home there are also a couple of emails that will be sent out as well. I'm not sure when I'll be able to update this blog next, but I'll try to get pictures up as soon as possible :)

Almost There

This morning I took Aidan out for a special breakfast together before Hagatha comes. At first he didn't want to go, but then he was very excited about having strawberries and whipped cream on some pancakes :)

After that we went grocery shopping and stopped at the library. Last night I had told Aidan he could stay up late as long as he had a nap today and boy did he need one! He was not happy about it, and kept telling me (between grumpy fits and yawns) that he wasn't tired, but once he went down, he slept for 3 hours! He doesn't nap very often, but when he does, he naps for quite awhile and it's a nice break.

Maybe it's nesting but I got a lot done today - all things that needed to be done though. Hopefully today and tomorrow I can get ahead a little on the household chores. Only 2 more sleeps until Hagatha comes. Aidan's still counting down the days and this morning I figured I better tell him that she's not going to be here when he gets up in the morning, he might not even get to see her that day. It's a good thing I did because from his expression I think he was expecting her to be in her crib that morning :) I think having his very first sleepover with a friend will go a long ways towards making that up.

Well, I should go finish doing the wash - that's got to be one of my least favourite things to do!

41 Weeks

Officially 1 week over today - and really getting tired of people who keep saying 'Oh it might happen any day now!' It will not, because that would be too easy. I had some bad cramps for most of today which wasn't fun.

We got invited out to the park and I was tempted to say no because I was feeling gross, but then I realized I could either sit at home and do nothing or I could sit outside at the park and do nothing, so we went and it was really good. Aidan had fun running around with the other 2 little boys that were there - it was so cute to watch them trying to play baseball together. Aidan - who until recently used to try to throw the ball with the hand that had the glove on it - was telling the other little boy which hand to hold the ball in to throw it and not to use the glove to throw the ball.

Well - that's about it for today. It was another really nice hot day but with a breeze, so you don't really realize how hot it is.

Lying

Today's big issue with Aidan was lying. A couple days ago I found a gum package with a couple pieces missing, but he assured me that it wasn't him. Today Michael caught him with gum in his mouth - Michael got up, heard a door close and Aidan appears in the kitchen doorway looking innocent and trying to give Michael a hug to distract him. Nice. So after a stern talking to and some time in his room etc. I thought the issue was dealt with, at least for today. Not so. Later on I caught him snacking on his candy apple after he had told me 4 or 5 times he wasn't eating it. This is literally less than 2 hours after the big talk with Michael. So more long talks, time outs in bedroom etc. and he's in bed early. Hopefully this time he actually understands what a lie is and why we are so upset. It's difficult to raise your child with the values you want him to end up with and to continually remain consistent in your parenting. For the most part I think Aidan's doing pretty good, but then we come up against one of these big issues once in awhile and it's frustrating.

Today we headed out to the Street Performer's Festival and it was honestly quite a disappointment. There were 3 or 4 main areas where a performer would be doing their thing and a big crowd gathered around but from what I could see, none of the performers were really all that great. Maybe I'm too picky...we did stop down near the end and watch some skateboarders do some jumps but it was just a bunch of guys doing/attempting to do the same thing over and over so we left after a little while. I told Aidan I'd buy him 1 treat - a sno-cone, mini donuts or a candy apple and he chose candy apple. I think we were walking around for maybe 45 minutes or an hour but I was so exhausted when we got home I lay down for like 2 hours.

There's not really much else going on. I'm experiencing a severe lack of motivation in regards to regular household chores and one look at the kitchen would support that. Maybe at least by Monday I can get it all cleaned up so that I don't go into the hospital with a messy house. I know it's not the most or even second most important thing but I hate going away and leaving a messy house! I took out the baby monitor to set it up and discovered it was broken, so I went out and bought a new one. Then I thought I wonder if I could get one through freecycle - and I did! It's even a nice one in good condition which is a bonus. So nice to save a little money here and there.

Some knob at the Festival said to me 'By any chance are you pregnant?' and I said 'Ha' and called Michael over which made the knob leave.

Day 5

I'm beginning to wonder if she's ever going to come out...

My doctor had 4 women in labour this afternoon so she told me she hoped I didn't go into labour as well. Michael made the mistake of suggesting that the labour and delivery ward might be too busy on the 25th to induce me and I might have to wait. Let me assure you that that is not going to happen. Hopefully it does not come to that but I am going to do everything in my power to be induced on the 25th!

All three of us trooped down to the doctor's office this afternoon. It was nice that Michael came along and got to meet Dr. Kali in her office as opposed to in the hospital while I'm in labour. While we were waiting there was another family that came in with a teeny tiny baby that they said was a couple weeks old. She was so cute and small. Sadly my baby's birthweight will probably be double her size.

I was planning to go to the Street Performer's Festival today, but forgot to check when it started, so we're going to go tomorrow afternoon. Aidan's excited to go to the 'party in the street' and hopefully we have lots of fun.

There is a new little gopher in our backyard. I haven't seen the big fat one for awhile, this new one is smaller and has darker fur. This afternoon it was sitting on our porch so I called Aidan and we watched it for about 5 minutes while it sat there, scratched it's head, licked it's leg and looked around. Then it backed up into some pop cans and made a loud noise knocking them over which Aidan thought was just hilarious. For Christmas he got some puppets, one of which is a gopher, so he's been carrying around his little gopher lately and told me that he's named it Hagafa :)

Baby Blanket

Today I spent literally the whole day making this:
I think it turned out pretty cute, but while I was cutting the fringe on the side I realized that I made it wrong. I think I was supposed to sew it so that all the squares were bordered by fringe - but I think I like it better this way. Aidan had a receiving blanket in this pattern with a blue background, I've seen it with pink, blue, green and yellow backgrounds. It's got little ladybugs and bees and is quite possibly the cutest baby material I've seen. When I bought it all they had was green and pink, so the back is the green.

One of the biggest adjustments with this new house is getting used to garbage day. Seriously - we keep missing it! Right after we moved in I figured out what day garbage day was by watching the garbage truck go by. The next week we remembered and they took everything we put out which was nice. Last week after Michael forgot to put it out and by the time I got up it was too late. This week I forgot to remind Michael so when I woke up at 7, I quickly got up and hustled out there to see if I could catch the truck. I was hurriedly tying bags up and stuffing them in the garbage can because I could hear the garbage truck and it sounded pretty close, but as I rounded the corner and came down the driveway I noticed that none of our neighbours had their garbage left at the end of the driveway. As I stood there I saw the garbage truck backing up (thank goodness we live on a dead end service road!) and he saw me and stopped to take my bags which was very nice.

Tomorrow I have another doctor's appointment and then Aidan and I are going to stop by the Street Performer's Festival. I really meant to take him to the park today but I just cannot summon up the motivation to sit in the backyard let alone actually go for a walk. It's very sad. Michael says it's because I'm so pregnant which is nice of him because I kind of think it's just because I'm lazy.

Aidan's starting to count down the days until Hagatha arrives and his Mama comes to visit. I think he's quite anxious for Hagatha to come because he seems quite upset that she's not here yet. So as of today, it's 6 sleeps until Hagatha comes and 7 until Mama comes. Then Michael leaves the next day for his buddies wedding down in Vancouver (Michelle - no, we never heard back from that eBay guy but it's too bad because we totally could have delivered that movie when Michael's down in Vancouver! :D ) but he's back 2 days later - probably with BC Lions stuff for everyone.

Still Here

This is a picture from our local paper of what some of the streets looked like last night. We had a huge storm last night, it was crazy. It started around 9pm with a little rain, thunder and frequent lightning that lit up the sky. Soon the rain started coming down harder and harder and the wind blew it in sheets across the road. We watched for awhile at our front window and it was incredible. Our house faces 100th street which is the main street and we watched the cars driving by slower and slower as the rain came down harder and harder because they were just hydroplaning. Pretty crazy.

I kept going in to check on Aidan but he slept through the whole thing and didn't remember any of it. As the rain was pelting down Michael remembered that he had taken a drainage extension off and so he ran outside to find it and put it back on. He was outside literally no more than 2 minutes and when he came back in he was so wet he had to change shirts and I got him a towel so he wouldn't drip on the floor. Thankfully we never lost power, but about a third of the city was down for at least an hour. Michael went and checked the basement and said it looked okay, we didn't have any water coming in or anything but there were houses and some businesses that were flooded - the water was up to 6ft deep in some areas! There was also a storage building over in one of our industrial parks that was picked up by the wind, blown over a fence and smashed against the road. The winds were up to 83 km/h and gusting to 120 km/h according to the GP airport and with all that going on, amazingly there were no reports in injuries.

Pat had told us he was heading down to Edmonton last night so Michael gave him a call to make sure he was alright only to find that he hadn't left yet, but was floating down his street, the water was so deep. There were other people who grabbed tubes or just waded through the water and there was one report of a business owner operating a motorboat in the streets of the south end of the city, trying to check on his business! There were reportedly 7,947 lightning strikes over a 12 hour period in Grande Prairie and area which suprisingly didn't result in any wildfires. It was a pretty amazing show!

I decided that I was tired of posting without pictures, so I got Aidan to draw some pictures on his chalkboard. Last week I was sitting on the couch watching tv when I looked over at his chalkboard and noticed that there were vague potato like objects with sticks coming out of them, so I asked him what he was drawing and it turned out to be a picture of me and him. Very cool that he's starting to try to draw people. This picture below is (from left to right, starting with the very small potato-person) Hagatha, Michael and me. I started out with arms and no legs, and Michael and Hagatha had no arms. Maybe I should have left it like that but I asked him if we had arms and he added legs for me and arms for Michael and Hagatha.

This picture, from left to right again, is me, Aidan and Michael. I suggested he add some hair, so that's what is on top of our heads. I neglected to ask about arms, so I guess all we've got are legs. He says that we are all 'super tall'.

He draws himself like I would imagine most preschoolers would draw a person - a head and then legs and arms sprouting out of the head, but when he draws me, he always draws this really huge thin almost oval and puts the eyes on top of each other, like in the first drawing. It's very strange. Michael thinks Aidan's people look like avocados, and they sort of do. He is very proud of his drawings which is very good, he concentrates very hard and if a mouth or eye or arm or leg isn't exactly the way it needs to be he has to erase and redo it. After he erased this drawing he drew a picture of me upside down and told me I was jumping on a trampoline :)

Today was my non-stress test at the hospital and it went good I guess. Aidan came along and brought the mini-dvd player and a Transformer show (he's obsessed with Transformers lately) and sat and watched his show while Hagatha's heart rate was monitored. They had a little curtained off corner with a reclining chair that I could sit in and that was nice to sit back and relax rather than have to lie down on a bed. Probably cuts down on bed linen as well.

There's not really anything else going on even though I wish there was. I guess the longer nothing happens the more likely something is going to happen but it feels to me like nothing is going to happen until I get induced. Aidan asked me why she wasn't out already and suggested that we ask her once she finally makes her appearance. Every day I get up and think 'Maybe it will happen today!' and then the day ends and nothing. So, maybe tomorrow...

Monkeybutts and Libbit Libbit's

Michael and Aidan have developed quite a repertoire of names to call each other. Aidan has always been Stinker, but now they call each other Monkeybutt, Libbit Libbit, Goofhead and others which I can't think of right now. A typical conversation would go something like this, depending on who started it:
Michael: You're a Monkeybutt!
Aidan: No, you Monkeybutt Daddy.
Michael: No, you are.
Aidan: I see a Monkeybutt, his name Daddy!
Michael: The only Monkeybutt I see is named Aidan.
Aidan: No, you is Daddy

Etcetera. Aidan's getting better at beating Michael to the punch, but it's funny to watch them. Up until today he has refused to call me a Monkeybutt. I'm not sure what Michael said to him but he came and found me and said 'Guess what Mommy! You a Monkeybutt!' and that was funny. He always takes my side which Michael thinks is lame but I think it's sweet.

He's getting very anxious to go over to Shaun's house and have his sleepover, but says he's not that interested in Hagatha coming. A couple days ago we started reminding him that we're not going to call her Hagatha once she's born and so once in awhile we call her by her real name because I don't want him to be too confused or upset that we're not calling her Hagatha. We've explained to him that we used to call him Herbie, so he wanted to call her Herbie when she was born but we said no. He's also decided - for reasons known only to him - that since she's late, he can't be her brother. He's also not excited about her coming because she will cry lots and then he thinks that because she's crying that will make him cry - and he doesn't want to hear her cry, he said he would have to use earplugs. It's pretty funny the things he comes up with.

Thankfully the weather has cooled off quite a bit. It's still warm and summery, but not stifling hot. It makes it easier to get stuff done around the house - I'm actually thinking of attempting to bake muffins tomorrow. Maybe right before we go out because that stove really heats the house up. Especially since the locking feature got stuck and we had to wrench the door open. Now it won't close properly which really sucks. Michael said he was going to fix it so hopefully he can do that one of these days.

Tomorrow I've got a non-stress test at the hospital to monitor the baby's heart rate for half an hour. I imagine that should be quite fun, especially with Aidan tagging along :)

Day One

I'm not sure why but I really honestly expected that I would go into labour by myself around my due date. Technically this is my due date and until I'm 5 days overdue I guess it could still be considered 'around', but I really really want this to be done and over with! I did have some contractions yesterday, but they weren't really defined, I couldn't really feel them come and go. The most depressing part is that the longer she waits to come out the bigger she's going to be and I really want a little baby! I know that maybe it sounds selfish, but I want a normal sized baby - 7 1/2 or 8 pounds, not a massive one.

Anyways. Maybe I'll feel better tomorrow. I'm definitely more tired lately than I used to be. After the effort of getting breakfast on and having a shower I have to lie down and usually end up falling asleep for 15 or 20 minutes, and then in the afternoon around 2 I have to lie down again and usually end up falling asleep then as well.

After I had Aidan I remember being so amazed that I could wait so long in between going to the bathroom. It's one of my most vivid memories from the days after he was born :) That and being totally okay that I got three 3 hour sections of sleep in a night and feeling rested.

Yayyyyy!!!

We just rented out our room downstairs!!! I'm very excited about that. I think it's going to work out very well. It's a girl, which is a bonus - plus she doesn't party or smoke or drink, she's going to be going to school and have 2 part time jobs which is also great because she'll hardly be here so we don't have to worry too much about noise level. And, the other great thing is she wants the weird area/room rather than the normal room that we've been showing to people. There are 3 'rooms' downstairs: The normal room, the hole and then this other area that is sort of half divided into a place for a bed and then a sitting area or something like that. The hole was used for a computer room and has no window and I think it's about as wide as a king bed and has really awful wallpaper on it - it's kind of funny.

I've been a little concerned about the lack of response to our ad about the room but having it all settled - especially before the baby comes is really awesome. Once we make it through 3-mortgage-payment-August we'll be doing great - maybe we can even think about starting some renovations and painting!!

Still nothing on the baby front - but I bought Newborn size diapers while I was out grocery shopping and they are so cute!! I'm all set now - I've got diapers, wipes, creams and lotions, bags packed - all we need is the baby - and sooner rather than later!

Due Date

Well, today's my due date but there's still been nothing - not even a Braxton-Hicks contraction. Thankfully the heat has backed off a little but I think it might take a couple days for the house to lose all the excess heat it absorbed over the past week. We've got ceiling fans in 3 of the rooms though and they help, especially the one in the kitchen.

Aidan says today is a nice summer day. It's so funny when he comes up with such adult phrases. The other day we were waiting for Michael to come back with the truck to bring our bottles away and I said it was taking a long time and Aidan says Daddy will be here any minute. Usually he's very talkative, but yesterday while his friends were over he almost never stopped talking! There's not much doubt whose personality he inherited :)

Right now he's just finishing off his sandwich and then we're going to head out and buy some blueberries. Save On is having their 'Great Blueberry Event' so I'm going to get a couple flats and try to get one in the freezer today or tomorrow. I think behind watermelon, blueberries might be my favourite summer fruit.

OH MY GOODNESS!!!

Can someone tell me why, why I volunteered to look after 3 kids today? In this extreme heat with 1 day left before my due date??? Thankfully it's just Aidan, Shaun and Ashley but still...

Heat Wave

Lately it's been super super hot here. I think it started mid last week but every day seems to be hotter than the last. Yesterday we peaked at 34C from 4pm-7pm but it felt like 38C for a couple hours (according to the weather network). Fortunately Michael put the air conditioner in our bedroom so at least we can hang out there once everyone is awake, but the rest of the house is like an oven. We still don't have any curtains in the kitchen but I've hung some flat sheets and a large piece of fabric over the brackets at the top and that seems to help a little. The downstairs is a little cooler, but I really hope that it starts cooling off soon! Both yesterday and today there was/is supposed to be a 40% chance of thundershowers in the afternoon which should hopefully start knocking these temperatures down a little. There was nothing yesterday, but there were a bunch of dark clouds in the sky last night, so I'm crossing my fingers for today.

Yesterday we borrowed a truck and took all our cans and bottles to the recycling depot. All the engineers that Michael works with have their own company truck and it's very nice to be able to borrow a truck usually whenever we want. After that we dropped Aidan off at the Wee Care Drop In Center where I still have a few hours left on my punch card and went out for dinner at the Keg. Everywhere you go in Grande Prairie you get bad service because there is such a shortage of employees, and you know to expect it, but it's still really annoying. So of course we had bad service at the Keg, but I overheard her telling another table that it was her very first night serving which was a little different.

Today we've invited Aidan's friend Shaun and his sisters Ashley and Emily over for the afternoon so that their parents can hang out by themselves. I hope it works out for them to come over, I think Aidan's been missing hanging out with his friends. Ashley is 5 and Shaun just turned 4 in May, and then Emily will be 1 in August. Aidan likes 'Shaun's baby' very much which is kind of cute, he's always saying she's very nice.

Nothing Yet

If I had any lingering doubts that this pregnancy was very different than my first, they would now be long gone. I have actually lost weight. I've heard that near the end some women lose weight which is completely normal - so I'm not worried - but I am amazed. With Aidan I just blew up like a big water balloon but that's not the case this time which is awesome. My doctor estimates the baby is about 8 pounds right now. Anything under 9 1/2 pounds is fine with me - well, I know I don't really have a choice in the matter, but if I did...anything under 9 1/2 pounds would be great. Somehow I thought I wouldn't have any more appointments between now and having the baby, but I've been booked for a non-stress test at the hospital, another doctor's appointment, plus my induction - July 25th. All the appointments are after my due date and my doctor thinks that things will move along and I won't need to be induced - we'll see what happens.

Aidan's last day of daycamp is tomorrow. He's had a really good time and enjoyed himself a lot. I think the girls running it are doing it as part of their college schooling, they're really good with the kids and the kids seem to love them too. They've gone to the park nearby, made crafts, played outside, used a Spiderman slip and slide and little wading pool and take time each day for a nutritious snack. I've also enjoyed having a little time to myself to either run some errands around town, do some shopping, pick up around the house or just relax at home. Yesterday I went shopping and picked up some activity books for Aidan and I to do together. While I'm home with Aidan I want to start making some crafts a couple times a week as well as help him get a head start on letters, numbers and phonics. We'll see how it goes but I want to make sure that we definitely do something just me and him together every day, especially after the baby comes.

Today in the mail I got a note and gift from my grandparents. My grandmother sent me a little bib that she made when she was just a girl as well as some money for us to buy something for the baby. The bib is really cute and has a little bear and says 'As Hungry As A Bear'. I thought it was really sweet of her to send that :)

Gopher

We've had no luck finding a renter for our basement so far, but it seems like our backyard came with a previous tenant. Michael and I were undecided as to what it was - he thought it was a beaver and I thought it was a cat - but after getting a better look at it and taking some pictures we have discovered that it is a gopher. A really big fat gopher.

If you see him from the front he looks like a beaver (at our old house there was a beaver that hung out behind the sheds by the church) but if you see him from the back he has a short tail like a cat and since he's so fat, it was kind of confusing for awhile. He seems to really like the clover and spends a lot of time sitting and rolling around in it. Not really rolling, maybe wallowing is a better word. Or maybe it just looks that way because his feet are so short and his belly is so big. So far he hasn't been agressive at all and if we come outside he hightails it either around the corner of the shed or to his little hiding spot between the concrete blocks of the porch and the outside house wall where he can just fit in vertically and then he hangs out there until we leave. One day he hid down there and I looked down on him and he was just sitting there looking up, like if he ignored me and was really still I wouldn't notice him or something, it was pretty funny. Michael's mowing the lawn today and hopefully that will help us discover his hole which we will then wet down. According to Fish and Wildlife that's the best way to deter him from coming back. He hasn't been aggressive yet, but I'd feel better about Aidan playing in the backyard if there wasn't a random gopher hanging around!

Busy Saturday

It is really amazing how much you can get done in a single day! For the past 3 weekends I've been putting in some long Saturday's trying to get our house unpacked and all set up. I know there's no big hurry, but I also know that I am way more motivated to get it all done before the baby comes than afterwards. This Saturday I organized the garage (I didn't really mean to, I was just in there looking for some stuff and then was on a roll), finished unpacking Aidan's room and re-organized it, cleaned out Hagatha's room, dragged the crib and rocking chair in the house and put them together. Today I've been working on the kitchen a little bit more and I'm hoping that by the end of the week we can be totally and fully unpacked which would be so awesome. There's not really that much more to do, a little in the kitchen, a couple boxes in the living room and some in the bedroom, but I don't want boxes hanging around for the next 6 months. It's definitely feeling a lot more like home which is a good feeling. I did take pictures of Aidan and Hagatha's rooms, but I must have been really tired because a lot of them are blurry - sorry.


Aidan's closet. I moved half of my old wood shelf in there so that he could reach his pants and shorts and underwear and socks by himself and he was very pleased with that. I bought that wood shelf up here, I think, my first year of PRBI. It was $20 and although cheap and cheaply made, is still around :)

I'm not sure why he insisted on posing like this in all the pictures - he's holding his little lizard up in front of his face. This is his toy corner where he spends most of his time. Books, race cars, superman figures, blocks, tools - every time we clean up his room I try to weed out some toys but it's almost impossible!

There's his Brother Bear banner over the window until I can make some curtains, and for now we aren't having any problems with it. It used to be up on his wall at the old house but he found it very scary for some reason, every night we were in there 2 or 3 times telling him 'It's just a picture!' so I finally took it down. For some reason I thought his train table wouldn't fit in his room - maybe because there were boxes everywhere at first. Thankfully it does, but we haven't set up a train track yet. I was not looking forward to explaining to him why we had to sell the train table, somehow I don't think it would have gone over that well!

This is Hagatha's room. It looks like we're expecting a boy because the walls are blue and the crib bedding is blue as well. We'll get around to painting later, it's not that important right now. And my mom made the matching crib bumper, blanket and sheet (as well as lots more sheets) for Aidan before he was born. It's so cute - light blue with little green birds flying around on it - and still in great shape. Change table and corner shelf thing. I can't get it to stop leaning, but again, it's super old so I guess it's doing the best it can. My parents bought it from Ikea when I was a kid and I hauled it up here and it's moved around with us since we lived in our apartment. I'm excited to try that little lounger in the corner. Someone gave it to us and it vibrates and everything. Hopefully she loves it as much as Aidan loved his little lounger.

Mini-movie posters from Piglet's Big Movie. I'm horrible at decorating! Before Aidan was born I got this mobile and the huge poster from Michael's theater and put them up in Aidan's room.

There's the big poster and the cradle. Aidan's been pretty good about passing down 'his' stuff (like that green backpack hanging on the closet door) to Hagatha. Or rather, I should say he's been pretty good about the idea. Hopefully that trend continues once she actually arrives!

So tomorrow's Monday and I'm not going to work! We are going to be pretty busy though. Aidan has daycamp in the morning, then we have a doctor's appointment and have to go grocery shopping, pay some speeding tickets and stop in at the lawyer's office to clear up why we're paying property tax twice! It's like they're trying to make it as confusing as possible with the stupid property tax - one lawyer figures it out one way, we're told we owe so much, the other lawyer figures it out the other way, first lawyer calls us to say we owe $2000 more to them, we freak out, go pay it, and then the bank (acting on first lawyer's initial paperwork) withdraws the mortgage amount plus 1/12th the property tax! Hopefully it won't be too painful to clear it up.