on Being Pregnant the third time around...

Another weekend has passed, and it was pretty eventful and non-eventful at the same time.  I had a busy work shift on Saturday, followed by a busy late afternoon outing with the kids, followed by a nice evening scrapbooking, organizing, and then relaxing with Dave.  Today we had the kids outside bright and early before it got too crazy hot, went to church, all enjoyed naps after lunch, and now the kids and Dave are cozied up watching a movie.  I’ll go snap a picture:

I’ve been feeling really pregnant this weekend.   Obviously, I’ve been pregnant for a while, but with 2 little kids there isn’t too much time to dwell on it.  Well, it seems trimester 3 hit and I find myself having a hard time doing certain things I forgot about entirely.

-        Washing the dishes in the sink.  My stomach is just in the way.  I have to turn my body to the side or sort of bend my knees and hunch over.  Likewise, lifting and switching and sorting laundry is one of those uncomfortable tasks.

-        Putting on pants, socks, shoes, and painting toe- nails.  Space is running out....

-        Cleaning up toys at the end of the day.  All the bending and standing makes me feel like I could go into labor.  I have reverted to 3 tried and true methods.  1. Use the broom to sweep all the toys to the corner,  then put them all away.  2. Kick the toys across the room at the corner, then put them away.  3. “Daaaaaaaave.....”

-        Physical activity beyond the usual (mopping, lifting, walking quickly) gets these INTENSE super strong, breath-taking Braxton hicks contractions started very easily.

-        Snuggling with my babies.  It’s hard to cozy up to read a book to them.  They want to sit on my lap, and are sort of out 6 inches without comfy back support.   Janna has taken to trying to mount the top of the baby bump in order to snuggle in closer.   It is quite funny and painful.

Poor Janna has no idea what is about to rock her world in a few months.  When I make “baby in belly” references, she usually just lifts up her shirt??  Jesse on the other hand is very excited about his new sister.  He keeps asking when she is going to “pop” and be here.  I’ve resorted to talking about the leaves on the tree (fall time), and after Halloween.   He keeps asking if we can “go to Halloween.”  I have this fear that after trick-or-treating, he is going to arrive home expecting a new little person, and be totally disgusted and disappointed that she has yet to arrive.  Jesse is quite gentle around my belly and if he pokes or bumps into me, he leans over to it and gently rubs it saying, “ Oh, sorry, baby.  I didn’t mean to.  You’re fine.”  He also randomly tells me that the baby is crying and will give it a little kiss or pat.

The other thing that has HIT me the past week is all the comments on being pregnant.  I guess I’m at that point where there is no mistaking me as anything other than pregnant, and the question “ When are you due?”  And “This your first?” comes up a ton.  Especially at work.  When it was my first, I found the responses to be big smiles, tons of advice, and tons of questions.  With my second it was like, “Congrats. You’ll be busy! Do you know if it is a boy or girl?”  With this baby, the responses are like,          “Are you crazy?”  “Wow, you’re brave,”  “When will you stop?”  and today at church one of the ushers said, “I think you two do a little too much celebrating (wink). ”   It’s funny, cause none of the reactions phase me at all.  Dave and I couldn’t be more excited and thankful to add another precious life to the Vance clan.

Katie and her BF Justin were commenting on my recent belly boom last night, and I felt the need to show Justin some pics of how HUGE I got with Jesse.   SO I pulled up the pics I had about a week before Jesse came along.  Please look at these and feel free to laugh at how unnaturally round I am!  I sure did. 

So,  I then dug out some pics of me with Janna.  This is just a few days before she arrived.   I was quite a bit smaller, and 10 pounds lighter!  

This inspired me to compare my belly now with shots from both babies, and I dug through my pregnancy journal to compare weight and inches.  And it would appear that baby 3 is tracking much closer to Jesse (8pounder) than Janna (5).  Yikes!  I feel like my body can’t carry more than an 8 pound baby, and it makes me a tad nervous.   Last night, after making these connections, Dave and I sat down to watch the first episode of the second season of Friday Night Lights together.  It began with a child-birth.  I was like, “Dave... I just don’t wanna see and hear this right now.....”   Anyways, that’s all I will ramble about for now.  I need to feed my children!  Thanks for reading! I’m out.   

YIKES

This face just about sums up how I feel about my day went today. Yikes.

I was really hoping for an easy going, slow moving day at home.  Dave has been away on business since Wednesday night, and after picking him up late last night from a car rental place (and thus getting to bed 2 hours later) I was a bit groggy today.  Dave had to take off first thing to hit up the end of his staff retreat, and so on top of being tired, I was car-less.  Do any of you moms feel the same doom when you know you have no wheels for the day?

Anyways, the projectile barf started from Jesse at breakfast time after promptly eating a bit of egg, banana and PB toast.  Gross.  Dave was just on his way out the door, and kindly cleaned up the floor, table, chairs before bolting for work.   I bathed Jesse and got him set up on the couch with a bowl while Janna screamed in anger over being left to eat breakfast by herself, and perhaps the smell?  This is a good shot of how Jesse spent most of the morning... snuggled on mommy sweating while claiming he was cold and holding his tummy preparing for the next possible on-slaught.

Lucky for me, as I have often mentioned, my kids like to be different from each other.  Janna took the role of happy silly girl for the day- and here she is all dressed up.  She did this all herself and it's like the costumes inspire giddiness in her.  She ran around as fast as her little legs could go grinning and giggling in her very bohemian(???) get up.    

Jesse started to show some life later in the morning, and we even ventured into the front yard to get some fresh air for an hour before lunch.  Jesse downed some fresh biscuit at lunch, and I thought maybe we were in the clear.  I had cancelled a lunch date with a friend due to the sickie and was feeling like maybe he was fine, but then the action from the other ended erupted.  I won't expand on this, but let's just say Bath #2 for the day was a non-negotiable absolute.  Janna joined me in the bathroom for this one, and got into loads of trouble by climbing into Jesse's old potty, slipping on wet spots, trying to scrub the toilet for me, and yelling at Jesse for no apparent reason, " YaAAA Ga Goo Esss Jess.. BUMMMMM... Aahhhhh"

Anyways, my nap time break was certainly filled to the brim with disinfecting and cleaning and laundry, and I was quite happy when Dave returned home early at 3!  We kept the kids fairly happy until bed time, and I am crossing my fingers they sleep well tonight, and the rest of us evade this bug!

Thanks for reading.  2 days in a row... I'm on a roll!

Bring on September

Some of you may hate me for saying this, but it feels like the summer is over here at the Vance house!   Dave is at a meeting in Guelph today, has a staff retreat tomorrow, and then is back to school full days on Monday.  Momma is back to flyin’ solo with the kids.    

Can I just say, I love Fall time!  I really enjoyed school growing up, so this time was full of glee as I picked out new binders and jeans, prepared material for the cheerleading team and anticipated a new year.  Having been out of school for 10 years now (and university 6), I still revel in the cooler weather and make the most of September.  I usually purchase a new notebook and a few pens to record some new goals new budget, new schedule, new ideas.  It excites me right down to the core.  With the kids there are lots of fun things to plan and prepare- and I had fun pulling out and going through all Janna’s fall clothes and reorganizing all her storage bins.  

I was quite impressed with Dave’s commitment to daily blogging over the summer, and it has inspired me to try and keep on top of blogging better this coming year.   I have no plans of blogging everyday- but am going to try to at least post a few times per week.   Not huge posts, but hopefully the smaller moments that might otherwise be forgotten.  This plan may fail entirely... we’ll see....

So, for my post today, I just want to comment on how cute Janna is.  I feel like she got bashed a bit over the summer blog for her up and down disposition that seemed to fall hard and heavy out of nowhere. Lol.  Ok, she can be quite the diva lately, however, this morning she spent a good 30 minutes entertaining herself with her PJ shorts.  She discovered many ways to wear them on her head and had fun running around and bashing into things not being able to see!  So funny...

She just loves to accessorize this girl!  Last night as she was helping me organize all her clothes (another passion she seems to have adopted lately), and she came across a bunch of knitted hats for the up-coming winter.  She tried about 4 of them on, and clearly decided the red one was her favorite.  She wore it to bed last night, and woke up with it on her head this morning insisting on wearing it for breakfast. 

 Another exciting thing this morning was that Jesse made it through the night dry!  He has been potty trained for a year now- but not night trained.  We tried for a week or so putting him in undies for the night,  but he could not seem to make it 12 hours and would wake me up in the middle of the night needing to pee.   After seeking out some advice from other people, I tried putting him on the flush last night around 11 right before I went to bed.  He barely woke up when I took him to the bathroom, peed, and went right back to sleep- waking up totally dry this morning!  He was so proud of himself.  Every night when putting him to bed he’s been telling me,     “Mom- I will try not to pee.  I will really try.”  Here is he is doing some play dough this morning.  Obviously, very proud of himself

What we did today! SImple as that.

Well, Dave was a bit stressed out that he didn’t have anything to blog about today! As most of you may know, he has been trying to blog everyday this summer.  http://apartment1004.blogspot.ca   I’m not sure how he came to that conclusion.  He went into work this morning, took a bike ride this afternoon, hung out with the fam for dinner, and is now off to worship team practice.  However- I told him I would blog about the uneventful day and so he needn’t worry about it!

This morning, Dave headed off to school to get some September prep work done.  We had the Mamens over for a playdate bright and early, and Sarah, Tryne and Soren arrived with smiles at 8:30.  It was an overcast wet feeling morning, so a good one to spend inside with friends.  Sarah has to be one of my best friends in Ottawa.  Her kids are about the same age as mine, and while Jesse and Tryne don’t always see eye to eye, a good part of the playdate is about the momma’s anyways!  It’s so nice to have another adult to chat with while keeping an eye on the kids.  Sarah is a pretty awesome, friend, too.    She is genuine, fun, and relaxed.  She is a GREAT cook, and AMAZING baker.  She always brings me gluten filled delicacies that are amazing.  I remember each set of things she has made, particularly the best chocolate cookies I have ever had.  I ate almost a dozen of them in one sitting and went into labor with Janna that same night!   Sarah and her husband Chris are also inspirational in the things they tackle with their 1 and (almost) 3 year old.  They hike, ski, run races, climb mountains, all with kids in tow.  In fact, they are going camping in NY this weekend, and outside of Ottawa next weekend.  Chris is taking Tryne on a 2 day canoeing trip with his very athletic brothers and dad over the labor day weekend, as well.  They are fearless, and I love it!

After our friends took off,  I took the kids out front to play.  Sure enough, the second we stepped out of the door it started to rain.  It was pretty light and warm, and so I thought, “whatever- we will play in the rain.”  Janna didn’t seem to even notice it, and went about her favorite activity of locating the neighbors bike helmets, which are always littered somewhere across the lawns, and buckling them up.  Jesse decided that after 5 minutes on his bike it was too rainy and he wanted to go in.  Janna was having a great time so I pressed on 5 more minutes before Jesse really started to melt down to take them in.  Well, poor Janna was DEVESTATED.  She sobbed and sobbed and called out “mama,” through tears and frustrated swats to the air.

I set Jesse up with his magnet game and set about making some lunch.  I found this at toys-r-us on sale for 8 bucks.  This has been the BEST activity for Jesse.  He asks to play this at least once a day and will sit down making all the faces by himself for a good 20-30 minutes at a time.  Sometimes twice a day.  I know all kids like different toys- but if you are looking for a fun thing to occupy a 3 year old- this has been incredible for Jesse.  

While Jesse happily arranged his faces, Janna cried at me a lot.  I feel like she is a bit of a different kid over the past couple months.  SO much fussier and up and down than before.  I’m not sure if it’s just her age and stage or something more.  The docs have been keeping a close eye on her weight as she dropped from the third percentile off the charts around 9 months.   She was making tiny gains here and there, but this week we found out she LOST over a pound this past month.  She eats like a champ and has no developmental delays,  so has been referred onto a pediatrician who will hopefully get some blood work done that would test for celiac.  I really want to take her off gluten to see if there is any noticeable difference- but an individual needs to be on it for a month before a blood test reads accurate.   SO, for now I keep feeding her bread every morning feeling very guilty that it may be causing her stomach pain every day.   I would feel bad if one of my kids got this and not the other!  We’ll see.  She has been cutting many teeth the past few months, which always throws her into a bit of a loop, so could just be that as well.   

Is she happy or sad??? She doesn't even know these days...

After lunch was downed, I decided to take the kids upstairs for a change of scenery. It’s amazing how a different room can brighten spirits.  And sure enough my kids were in much better moods. However- I noticed a bit of a dust build up and toy pile up, and decided to do some cleaning.  I have been getting Jesse more involved with contributing around the house- so enlisted his help.  I want all of my kids to end up as capable individuals in the kitchen and in household chores.  He was not too keen on helping out, but when he realized it wasn’t a choice- he was a superstar helper.  On the other hand, Janna was all too keen to help mama when she heard the clean up song and saw us get to work.  Her contributions involved using clean laundry out of drawers to “dust” random things, pulling bedding off and into random areas of the room, and dumping toys out of bins and into new ones.   It took us about one hour to get 15 minutes worth of work done, but it pulled us through to nap time.

This summer, I have been trying to take the kids nap time to genuinely relax.  During the school year, I usually have cleaning up to do and supper prep, and random other important things.  However- with Dave’s help there is more time and hands available when the kids are up to tackle those things.  So, I spent today doing a very quick clean up, sleeping for 30 minutes, sending a few emails, and reading a book with a cup of tea.   Dave arrived home from work and he relaxed for a while, then took off for an hour long bike ride.

Dave had  a goal at the start of the summer to put back on about 15 pounds of the 20 he lost during the school year.   I have been very supportive as he was a few pounds lighter than me 5 weeks ago.  So, I have been baking lots for him, keeping lots of high protein stuff around for breakfast and lunches, and making sure there is lots of meat at supper.  I have even bought junk like chips for him to snack on in the evening instead of my preferred hummus or fruit based snacks.   It seems, all my work has paid off, and he is up 10 pounds!  Passing my ever gaining baby weight by 3 pounds. Woot!  However- I think he has realized the tendency his weight has to clump on his stomach- hence the biking J

When the kids woke up, Dave hung out with them while I prepared another pretty high fat dense supper.  I found an alfredo sauce that was extra buttery and creamy and got to work on a pasta dish.  I made a few omissions to make it more kid-friendly- at the expense of taste in my opinion.  However- I HATE when I sit down for dinner and the kids don’t like what has been made.  It is so frustrating. Don’t you find?  Tonight, I was sure they would be just fine with it- but they both started crying and fussing after trying a bite.  Seriously?  I was even more frustrated that I had tried to alter the recipe for them and they didn’t like it.  I had no energy to get up and make them something else (a habit we try very hard not to succumb to), but no energy to fight with them to eat it.  So, we just let them fuss as we enjoyed ours.  Half way through the meal, Jesse noticed that Janna’s pasta was larger than his.  I had given her some gluten-free penne noodles to match Dave, and Jesse and I were using up some leftover wheat spagettini noodles.  Jesse told me he wanted the “big boy” noodles.  SO, I switched their bowls.  Well- you’d think it was different food.  They both lapped up their new noodle shape (same sauce) with a good amount of enthusiasm.  Oh children...sometimes I just don’t understand you.

Dave gave the kids a quick bath while I did some mopping and cleaning up and then had to take off early for his practice.  This has brought me to this point.  I put on a movie for Jesse, and Janna is wandering around making a mess, and I am just not even worrying about it.   Bed time soon!

Another day with it’s sweet and sour moments.   Wouldn’t trade it for anything!    Thanks for reading! I’m out.

The terrible 2's are a comin'!

Its another morning home with the kids while Dave is at work.  I think this will be the time I find to blog as Dave is still going strong in the evenings every night.   Janna has been put down for an early nap (well- she has dropped her morning nap, but was being such a crazy diva, she needed some quiet time)

I find Janna is starting to enter the terrible 2’s a bit early.  I found Jesse to be the exact same way at 18months.  It’s a hard age because they have such strong little personalities developing, but are still fairly limited in communication and motor skills.  I actually found 2 years old much easier than 1.  Janna is pretty independent, and wants what she wants!  When she gets frustrated she balls her little fists together and will scream.  Or, she will wave her arms frantically in the air while scowling.  She has taken to hitting me when she is frustrated, and will even bite Jesse once in a while.  I always worried about Jesse getting jealous of Janna, but it seems that maybe I overcompensated?  Janna has this jealous streak that has appeared the last month, and if Jesse and I are cuddling or hugging, she runs over and will try to PUSH him out of the way as she screams and tries to climb on me.    Janna is the same way with Dave.  As soon as he lays down on the floor to play with Jesse, she runs right over and tries to wedge her way in between them.  Yesterday at dinner, she burst into sobbing tears when Dave leaned over and gave Jesse a big kiss.  Even with all the moments of tears and frustration, I just love my little girl.  She is pretty sweet and funny all the same, and I can’t imagine life without her.

Jesse is sitting beside me doing some cutting and playdough, and talking my ear off.  Three years old is such a wonderful age, and we are very excited to be taking Jesse to his first movie theater experience tonight.   I’m sure Dave will blog about it later http://apartment1004.blogspot.com

Jesse and I spent some time this morning looking through pictures.  I dug out some of my baby pictures and he was totally enthralled with them.  So, I thought I would post a few of me during the 1-2 year old stage for fun.  Well, that’s all for now.  I better go get Janna.  Fingers crossed she is in a bit better of spirits after some down time.  Thanks for reading!  I’m out. 

A quiet morning at home

Well, it’s  a sunny day- but the kids and I are staying in and puttering around the house all morning.  Dave is off to work, he is putting in one work day per week to keep his head in the school game and get some September prep work done.  Jesse is watching some TV , while I have just finished cooking some strawberry shortcakes for Dave.  Janna has been wandering around the house trying to be useful.  She helped me unload the dishwasher, and begged me to wear an apron after seeing me put mine on.  She has proudly been sporting a tiny Christmas one I found, and has been at work washing things.  She got into the wipes and has been scrubbing the floors, Jesse’s legs, my arms, and her nose all morning with a few wipes I let her hold onto.  What a little girl!  This morning when we found her in her crib she had managed to pull a few teething rings out of a basket that must have been within her reach, and was wearing one on each arm like little bracelets. SO cute.

I feel uncertain what to blog about today.  As some of you know, Dave is now keeping a daily blog of our summer adventures- and I feel like he has covered a lot of ground! http://apartment1004.blogspot.ca     I find it very interesting to see what he decides to write about  the end of the day.  And then reading his perspective on some events, is even funnier.  I sort of want to write my own blog on the same topic each day at the same time as him, to see how different our accounts would be!

Anyways, the first week of summer has treated us quite wonderfully.  I find that we are trying to find the right balance of family fun, time together, catching up with friends, being useful, helpful, and productive people, and also taking the time to rest.   So many things to balance this special time off, with!

That’s all for now.  I just wanted to touch base.  Thanks for reading, I’m out. 

JUNE BABY!

I’ve been putting off updating my blog for a while, now.  June has just been such an overwhelming and hectic month that I feel a bit daunted by the task.  So- in an attempt to catch up on our lives, I am going with some point form, zero transitioning, no editing sorta update style.  Here are some highlights from the month!

I took a trip home with the kids to buy a new van from my dad in Fredericton.  The kids traveled like angels, and it was good for Dave to have  week sans bebes and wife to get caught up on his marking.   It was a super short and sweet trip- but the kids got in some nice time with all the grands- and it was a nice change of pace before the chaos of “end of year activities” began.  “Vinnie” has been great to us so far.  He is a 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan with stow-n-go.   Although he’s a bit of a boat- he feels pretty smooth and comfy to drive.  There is o much more room for everyone!  Especially when Aunt katie travels with us.  No longer is she running out of break squished between the kids car seats.  She has her own entire back row of seats to stretch out on!

Fathers Day came and went!  Kids made some cute crafts for Dave.  He, unfortunately, had to mark all day.  However- he got a break in to hang out with us as the park and splash pad for a while.  I can’t believe this is his 4^th (some would argue 5^th) fathers day!

Jesse and I finished up our preschool year.  The kids did a great end of the year concert and all received their diplomas with enthusiasm in front of a packed room FILLED with family.  I have had the week off this week before jumping into summer camps next week, and I think I really needed it!  We had Jesse’s birthday party last week- and I feel like he was on a perma sugar and present high that he is finally starting to come off of.  It was so much fun watching him “get” all the elements of his own birthday and sharing in all the childlike excitement. 

Janna finished up her last day at Erin’s day care for the summer.  What a change from the beginning of the year until now.  I used to have to sort of pry her off me and hand her over.  The last few weeks she jumps down, and runs in.  And she has clung to Erin for a few seconds at pick up time.   It’s such a great feeling to leave your baby with someone they obviously adore and you trust so much.  If anyone in Barrhaven is looking for a home day care- I believe she may still have a few spots open.  Janna will be heading back to Erin’s for 6 weeks in the fall before I go on my mat leave, but for now she gets to spend lotsa time with Daddy.  She had a really bad 4 or 5 day teething streak that had me pulling my hair out with all her crying, and drooling, and biting, and rashing.  But, the worst seems over- so until next time....

Daddy Dave is done the school year!!!  He pushed through what felt like a month of extreme marking, and so many nights out for this and that school related thing.  He was asked to give the graduation speech by the grade 12’s, and did a fantastic job.  Now, the hard working man gets a chance to sit back and relax for a while!  He has had the past 2 days off, and I think he needs a few more to get into the rest groove.

I feel like a bit of a new person have Dave around so much.  Having help with the kids and house, and someone to share the joys and pains of everyday child rearing with- is such a welcome experience!  It’s also just super duper awesome to “catch up” with Dave. Having time to relax or DO stuff together- especially in the evenings- is just plain nice.   We’ve been catching up on the last season of 24 this week, had friends over for dinner, been out to a friends for lunch and a swim today.  AND we have a date night tomorrow to our friends, Stevie and Didi, “Johnson family concert at the Gladstone theatre.

Ok.  So that’s about all I shall mumble on about for now. Oh!  I should mention that I had my morphology ultrasound last week- and baby 3 appears to be a healthy happy GIRL!  I’m very excited.  We all are. Ok! So that’s all, for real.  Thanks for reading all of you wonderful people. I’m out!