Kicks and Giggles

While the weather continues to be gross and I become confused as to what month we are in (the calendar says almost May, but looking out the window says November) we have been spending too much time inside.  Here is Chloe, participating in some of her favourite activities

colouring (the crayon box is now mutilated)

looking at books and getting into stuff.  She will also pick a book and walk up to one of us to read it to her.  It is really cute until you have read “Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you see” 12 times in 1 hour.  I have many of her books memorized and found myself reciting one of them the other night while I was trying to go to sleep.  Not helpful.

Saying hi to the baby.  She loves to do this and often plays with my stomach.  She has figured out how to find it no matter how many layers I am wearing.

It seems to be nicer today (although I thought I saw some snow at lunch time) and if it is nice enough I think we will go to the park when Chloe wakes up from her nap.  It has been a long time and Chloe is begging to go outside.

Also, When did she get so tall?    She can reach everything.  She is definitely taking after the taller members of her gene pool.

For the last couple weeks, I have been getting “paranoid” according to Brian.  I completely feel like I am not even a little bit ready for this baby to come.  By this point in my pregnancy with Chloe, I could have given birth and it would not have mattered because everything was ready.  This time, that is very much not the case.  I am starting to get a little anxious about it and so this morning I went through the closet in Chloe’s room and started sorting some things out.  I dug out all the blankets and went through them.  I was pleased to discover that even though I took out all the pink and purple ones I still have a fair amount.  I have absolutely no store-bought blankets that are not pink, but I am not concerned as I never used any store-bought blankets with Chloe at all.  I really liked my homemade blankets for her and so I did buy some material to make a couple boy ones.  I am almost done those.  I do have to make some burp cloths as most of Chloe’s were girly coloured.  (Yes, I know he won’t care what the cloth that I use to wipe his spit up looks like, but I do.)  I also got out all the bottles, nipples, milk storage containers, the soothers and my pump and washed them up.  I went through the clothes that I have bought him and was pleased to discover that although I have almost nothing for over 3 months, I am good for the first little bit.  I threw my nursing cover and the extra mattress pad in the wash and found what was left of Chloe’s newborn diapers.  I can’t believe she was ever that small!  After all that, I am feeling a little better, but still feel like I have a lot to do.

The bedroom is not even close to finished.  I have to take my nursing pillow to the dry cleaners.  I have to empty out the spare dresser and bring it upstairs so that I have somewhere to put Chloe’s clothes in her new room.  We are also waiting for a crib that will not be here until the baby comes as my parents are bringing it down for us.  They were able to acquire a crib that converts to a toddler bed for us, which is nice as I didn’t want to have to buy a new crib for Chloe, but I was rather wary of putting her in a twin bed at such a young age.  I have to buy diapers and one or two more crib sheets.

The biggest deal is the bedroom.  Once we get that done, I am sure that I will feel better, but there is  still a lot to do and less than two months left until it absolutely has to be done.  I would like it to air out a bit after we paint as well.  Anyway, Chloe is awake now, so I should go grab her and maybe see if I can get some more stuff done!

I talked to my sister today and she complained that I didn’t have a new post, so here goes.  I had my first appointment with the ob/gyn today.  I really like my ob/gyn.  She said everything was good and that all my measurements are good, even though I have lost a bit of weight in the last month.  She also gave Chloe a sticker, which I think she liked.  I also bought a mic today for my computer.  My old one was broken and so I was unable to call my parents.  We both have webcams and Skype so we call regularly so Chloe can say hi and my parents can see her and talk to her.  It is really nice because then she is able to recognize them when they visit even though she doesn’t get to actually see them very often. 

In other news, although the cloth diapers were going really well, I have temporarily switched back to disposables.  Chloe has the weirdest looking rash I have ever seen.  It looks like a mix between a pimple and a blister.  Not good, so I have put her back in disposables and am putting cream on.  With the type of cloth that I chose, you are not supposed to use creams.  Anyway, the rash seems to be disappearing and I am currently rewashing all her diapers and am going to rinse them a couple times.  I am thinking that maybe I am not getting all the detergent out when I wash them and she is reacting to that.

I am also starting to feel better.  The ligament pains have lessened quite a bit.  They are still there, but they are not constant so that is nice.  I am pretty sure the baby has dropped already and so sitting in certain positions can be uncomfortable and he likes to kick in places that hurt, but over the pain I was in a few weeks ago, I’ll take it!

I was under the impression that spring was here, but we got snow yesterday.  Not only did we get snow, but it was pretty much a white out blizzard last night.  Fortunately it is pretty much all melted already, but I am still unimpressed by the snow.  Anyhow, I think that is all for now. 

And, cause I know people love pictures,

Chloe in the Tupperware drawer.  Her newest thing is opening all the drawers.  The other day, she got her arm stuck in the pot drawer, so she tends to leave that one alone, but she is a big fan of the bread drawer.  If I don’t catch her, she will go in and grab a piece of bread and eat it.

Despite a bad bout of colds over here, Chloe and I have gone outside almost every day this week.  She absolutely loves being outside.  She stands at the door and tries to open it and when anyone goes out for anything (usually Brian leaving for work in the morning and after lunch) she tries to join them.  She also has started reaching her arm up so I can put a jacket/sweater on as soon as she sees me grab it.  After only a day or two she has also learned to keep her hat on, which makes me happy, since the first time we went out this spring she took the hat off and threw it on the ground every time I put it on her head, (which I did every time she threw it on the ground).  It was a vicious cycle but I think she figured out that she was not going to win this one. 

The one she has won so far is the shoe issue.  She will not wear shoes!  I have tried almost every kind that I can think of and every kind I have access to.  She will not wear them.  She will only wear Robeez.  Last week she went to church (and nursery) barefoot, as I did not have any robeez that matched her dress and the second I put her sandals on she started to cry.  I tried to get her to walk in them and she looked at me, cried, and sat down trying to pull them off.  For now I don’t mind.  The Robeez are healthier for her developing feet anyway, but come any kind of rain or snow, we will be in trouble.  Hopefully by that time, she will understand that if she wants to go outside she has to put on some other kind of shoe.  If not, we may lose a lot of splashing opportunities and other fun outside activities, which would be sad for both her and me.  (I love taking her outside.  She sleeps so much better.  Most kids do.  I only wish I had done it more last summer, when she would have stayed on the blanket and played with toys and I wouldn’t have had to chase her around the yard).

Anyway, here are some pics of her playing in our yard.  (We are sadly lacking in outdoor toys at this point.  I am hoping to hit up a few garage sales this summer and get us a better selection).

All dressed up for church.

Walking to the park with Daddy.

And we finished it off with homemade blizzards and a movie after Chloe went to bed!

Well, it looks like spring is finally here.  (I am hoping that I am not jinxing it by typing this).  There are birds out, the weather is nice and most of the snow is melted.  Today, Chloe and I went for a walk to the grocery store because I wanted to barbecue tonight and we needed some stuff.  On the way home, we stopped at the park.  It was Chloe’s first time and she seemed to have fun!  We will definitely be going again.

Playing on the Swing

Already starting to climb up the slide

Walking on the rocks

Ready to go down the slide

75.  That is how many days are left until our baby boy will be born.  Because I have gestational diabetes, they will not let me go overdue.  (I know this due to Chloe).  With Chloe they induced me a week early.  This time I am going to ask them to let me go to my due date at least, which will put his birthday on June 17 unless I go into labour early (which would be nice, but is not expected).  I know it is kinda sad that I am already counting down, as I still have 2 1/2 months to go, but I am not a big fan of being pregnant.  I am sore, I am tired, I am having trouble sleeping (which I didn’t have with Chloe), and I am practically living in the bathroom.  Also, my house is a disaster because I am so tired and sore that what little energy I have tends to go towards looking (read chasing) after Chloe.  I am also tired of being so big and of wearing maternity clothes.  I would love to pull on a pair of jeans with a button and zipper and a nice normal top.

I know that there are people who would love to have these issues as it would mean they were pregnant.  After I lost our first one, I felt like that every time I heard a pregnant woman complaining about her aches and pains.  I also know that this is very likely the last time I will be pregnant, so I am trying to enjoy it and not be too complainy (I know that is not a word, but I don’t care at this point)  but it is really hard. 

There are things I enjoy.  I love the feeling of our little boy moving inside of me.  I love shopping and preparing for his arrival.  I love when Chloe plays with my belly.  I also love the fact that it means we are having a new little person join our family. 

So, I will keep counting down, knowing that every day brings us closer to meeting our little boy and when he comes out, I know that I will look at him and think that every issue that I am dealing with is 100% totally and completely worth it!

A while back I posted pictures of our new kitchen, with its disastrous floor.  Well, I am happy to announce that yesterday and today a man was here installing our new floor!  No longer do I have cracks in between the tiles that hold all the goop they possibly can and that are next to impossible to clean.  Here are some pictures of my new floor.

and the stairs.

As for other news from our house, there is nothing too exciting.  Chloe is getting into everything and extremely energetic.  The new baby is very active and likes to kick parts of my body that I didn’t know existed.  He is also riding a lot lower than Chloe did and is therefore a lot heavier and putting me through a lot more pain.  I had ligament pains with Chloe and I thought they were bad, but they were nothing compared to this one.  At least with Chloe they went away.  This time they are almost constant.  One advantage of him being lower is that I am having less heartburn which is nice.  Up until a few weeks ago I was taking like 10 tums a day.  The cloth diapers are still going well and we are slowly but surely making progress on Chloe’s big girl room.  After figuring out that she was cold and putting her back into warm sleepers, Chloe is sleeping all night again, which is nice.  Anyway, I think that is all for now, so I will leave you with a couple pictures of Chloe.