Phone Call

Yesterday I got a phone call from the doctor's office. No one likes getting the dreaded message asking you to call the doctor, especially when you are pregnant.

The first thing that went through my mind was that I had gestational diabetes as I just went for the test last week. The second thought was that I was happy I had an extra big piece of cake at an office baby shower the day before because it may be my last for the next 3 months.....

The good news is I do not have diabetes. The bad news is I am anemic. At first I was relieved. I can still eat cake and all the other sweets that I love. As I continue to listen to the receptionist she started talking about taking an iron pill. You mean on top of the prenatal pills?? She also mentioned that a very common side effect of taking these pills is constipation. Great.

So off I go to the pharmacy to pick up my iron pills. The pharmacist asks me how many I want and I tell him 3 months worth. Surely I won't have to take them after the baby is born... He tells me I am best to stick with 1 month as many people have "GI issues" aka constipation. OK, now that is the second time I have been forewarned of the good times that accompany these little pills. I purchase 1 month and am on my way. Not before being told to take the pills with orange juice, not with dairy, on an empty stomach, but maybe not in the morning because of said "GI issues". Could this get any more complicated?

So the three of us walked down to Superstore last night to purchase Orange juice with a side of prune juice. One to help absorb the iron and one to counteract the side effects of the iron.

Let the fun begin!

Dreams

They say that having crazy odd dreams while pregnant is normal and quite common. I had no idea what that meant until this pregnancy. I don't remember dreaming about the baby once while pregnant with Grady but this go around is a whole other story.

My first dream was a few days before I took the pregnancy test. I don't remember the specifics but I do remember that we had a baby boy and his name was Graham. My first instinct was Graham??? Not that there is anything wrong with the name - but where did it come from and how did it end up the name of my dream son? James has a friend named Graham so it is not a name we had ever considered or even discussed. Odd.

I have since then dreamt a few more times about the gender of the baby - both male and female. They say a mother's instinct is pretty good about guessing the sex of the baby. My intuition obviously can't make up its mind!

So that brings us to a dream I had this past weekend. During said dream, I left the house and when I came back James announced that the baby was born while I was out. As nice as it would be to have the baby be born while I was no where in the vicinity, I am pretty sure that is not giong to happen in reality. James announced that we had a girl. I went rushing over to check the 'evidence' and turn to James and told him it was a boy. My intuition is obviously still working on making up its mind.

So far I have been all over the map with how I think our family will look in 3 short months ::gasp:: With Grady I didn't really have a strong feeling either way until about 20 weeks when I decided we were havinga boy. That was it. Didn't waiver at all. I had the odd thought that it could be a girl but the boy feeling was just so strong. James was so sure he started buying blue. Well, one blanket. But it was still risky and I told him to keep the receipt. Just in case. This was coming from the same guy that blurted out 'its a girl' as I showed him the pee stick at 7am on a Sunday morning nearly 3 years ago.

At about 12 weeks I was thought we were having a girl. Just a gut feeling. Even though I know genetically that we are predisposed to having boys. We cannot find a girl born into James side of the family. On the other hand, we can only go back three generations. But in those 3 generations the boys win 6-0. I just had a hunch. Last weekend my instincts started shifting back to boy and that is where we sit at the moment. When asked this weekend what James thought we were having, he responded boy with no hesitation. Is he so sure that it is a boy that he will start buying blue again? We'll find out soon enough!

So until October, I'll let my thoughts wander back and forth between pink and blue and imagining what our completed family will look like!

I am curious to know what all of you think - I'll put up a baby pool (like I did with Grady) when our due date gets closer......

99

Per the ticker above... we are approximately 99 days away from meeting DJ. We have officially entered the double digit countdown!

That is 99 days of sleeping through the night, 99 days of being a family of only 3, 99 days of the single stroller, and 99 days of anticipation. It will be here before we know it. Hopefully in less than 99 days.

BFFs

I met my BFF* Deena when I was 5 years old. It was the first day of kindergarden and she was in my class. I was playing blocks with my friend Jenny and Deena polielty asked if she could join us. We of course said yes as she was wearing really cute shoes. Just kidding. About the shoes anyhow.

That is how our friendship started nearly 26 years ago. At the ripe 'ol age of just about 31, I have been BFFs with Deena for 84% of my life. Wow.

That is not to say it has always been peachy and we have loved each other everyday since the very moment we met. We were friends though the pre-teen and teen years. Of course there was drama. There were fights, tears, gossiping, backstabbing, boyfriend stealing, tattle taling and more. But we survived it. We passed the test of friend ship with flying colors.

On the better days, there was giggling, sleepovers, gossiping, hugs, story telling, listening, advice giving, sharing, talking, and silence. That is the great thing about a friendship that lasts the test of time. They are not your friends, they are your family.

Deena and I met our husbands within a month of each other, got married within a year of each other, we started our families the same year, and this next babe will be a mere 5 months younger than Deena's daughter born in June. We are going through life together and learning as we go. Just like we have over the past 26 years.



Now to the point of the post, Deena and her family were driving through town last week and stopped in to stay the night with us. Although we talk on the phone several times a week, it is few and far between that we get our families together to 'play'. And play we did.

Grady was eating supper when Deena appeared on our doorstep with Lucia. Grady looked over and started yelling 'baby, baby' and wanted out of his chair to see who was here. Willis was shy at first but warmed up quickly when within minutes Grady was offering to share his trucks and cars with Willis. From this point on there was lots of screaming (mostly from Grady!), jumping on the bed, playing, sharing, and laughing.

I imagine that this is how Deena and I's friendship would have started if we were boys... much louder! Watching these 2 little boys play together so nicely just melted my heart. My son and my BFFs son playing and having fun together - it doesn't get much better than that!

Unfortunately the night had to end and both boys went to bed dreaming of the next time they would get to play together....
*Best friend forever

Calaway Park

After contemplating it several times of the past few weeks, we finally made it to Calaway Park on Sunday morning. I am happy to report it was a huge success!! I was going in with quite low expectations as Grady was grumpy and we were arriving at the park later than we had hoped given Grady's 1pm nap time.

Upon arrival one of the first rides we walked by was these old fashioned cars that of course Grady wanted to stop and look at being that he is obbsessed with anything with wheels these days.... So we got in the short line to wait our turn. Grady's excitement almost immediately turned to 'no car, no car' and the start of a potential meltdown. Had I been by myself I would have removed myself from the line and tried a different one, but James and Grandma insisted we give it a try. So we boarded our orange car with a screaming 2 year old. Even the ride operator gave us a second look thinking are you sure you want to go on this ride? Grady fussed through most of it and just as it was about to end he started playing with the steering wheel and shouting' more! more!'. So we went on the ride again and he loved it! He would have gone on a third time if we hadn't insisted that there were other rides he may like.


Here is a picture of Grady on his first ride. Notice the car is blue and not orange and he is not crying. It was taken the second time around!


Next up was the carousel. We know from experience that Grady is not fond of the carasoul as they have one at Heritage Park and Nana takes Grady there weekly and refused to go on it. After the experience we had on the first ride we thought maybe the same thing would happen on this one. We strategically picked a bench that was right behind horses that grandma and Dad rode. Grady even pointed at the third horse and called it 'Grady's horse'. So I stood beside him and held him on the horse. All was fine until the horse started moving..... Grady and I propmtly returned to the bench to watch the horses from a safe distance.

By the end of the second time around the carousel Grady sat briefly on a horse while it was moving. So we saw some progress!

By far one of the favorite rides he went on was the Baja Buggies. Don't be fooled, these dune buggies don't just circle around the track smoothly, they bounced up and down! While previewing the ride to see if it was age appropriate, we were unsure how Grady would do. He was really excited watching so we decided to give it a try. I decided to sit this one out as it looked a little bouncy for this pregnant mama! For the first ride, Grady and James sat together in the back and for the other 4 times he rode in the front all by himself!

We actually had a big melt down at this ride because we couldn't just keep riding over and over like some of the other rides. A line was starting to form as the park got busier by the minute. Grady stood in line and cried. And cried. And cried some more. How do you explain to a 2 year old that he only had to wait less than five minutes for his next turn? We pulled him away from the ride kicking and screaming eventually because he didn't want to leave!

Here we are riding the ballon ride which was quite lame after being in the Baja Buggies. I enjoyed it. Don't know if I can say the same for Grady!

After a few more rides on the Baja Buggies, Makka* decided it was time to stop for lunch as it didn't look like we were going to make it home anytime soon. We shared a hot dog and fries. I ate most of the fries and Grady ate most of the hotdog.

* Translation: Makka means Grandma in Grady talk. We are not sure why Grady is choosing to call Grandma 'Makka' but it is so darn cute!

We were heading to ride the train when we spotted the ball pit. I can not put into words how much Grady loved this ball pit. I'll let the picture do the talking.

We spent the next 30 minutes watching Grady run around the outside of the pit, put balls in the bullseye, and roll in the pit full of balls! As gross as the ball pits are known to be, I just didn't have the heart to say no. Could you say no to that face?

Again we had to pull him out of the balls kicking and screaming. We went straight to the car and missed the train ride all together as now it was way past nap time and we still had to get home.

I was so great to watch the excitment in Grady's eyes and seeing his smiling face. It was so so worth the trip! You can guarantee we will be making it back to Calaway Park again this summer!

3D/4D Ultrasound!

This morning we headed over to Ultrasound Preview for our last ultrasound. Here is our sweet little DJ!

DJ was quite camera shy and held both arms up through the majority of the ultrasound

And more arms...

An arm with a yawn....

And finally a great view of our baby's face...

Technology is amazing isn't it!

The visit started out a little rough with Grady whining and not cooperating at all. It was Nana who figured out he thought he was at the doctor. He has been twice in the past month due to ear infections and his routine 2 year check up and was not happy at either visit. The technician was wearing a white lab coat that I guess Grady thought meant doctor. She even offered to take off her lab coat but it didn't help.

Grandma offered to stay outside with Grady and switch with Nana part way through the ultrasound as I was starting to freak out that he was going to cry through the whole thing. Grady stayed outside the room with Grandma for a bit, then Nana for a bit and then peeked into the room to see what all the commotion was about. Since we were the only ones there, the tech let us keep the door open so it wasn't so confined. Grady finally settled in on the floor with Grandma's purse and behaved for the rest of the ultrasound. What a relief that was for him to finally settle down!

Some interesting facts about the ultrasound:

• Baby measured 15.5 cm from head to butt
• Baby's heart beat was 125 bpm, which 56% means a boy. Apparently heartrates only indicate the sex of the baby 56% of the time... so not exactly scientific! Over 143 means girl, under means boy. Only time will tell if it is right!
• Baby is currently breach but at this stage of the game DJ could shift and move.

And similar to after other ultrasounds, I came out thinking it is a boy. The tech said he/him twice and then added she/her after the fact. I like to think that 'he' is the natural term to use when referring to baby as that is what I call it as well, but at the end of the ultrasound Nana asked if she could tell the gender of the baby and she said she thought so.

During the ultrasound I asked her if most people find out the sex of the baby when they come in and she said that is generally what people come in for. So we were the minority. She said because we didn't want to know she would just avoid the area. She asked us one more time at the end if we were sure we didn't want to find out the gender and I piped up quickly that we were sure. James said nothing. I thought maybe he had changed his mind as the grandma's really wanted to know. But James assured me that he did not want to know.

I was really happy with the ultrasound itself, the pictures, and 30 minute video that we walked away with.

So we walked away with the pictures of our sweet babe and still guessing about the gender of the baby. I love the anticipation of DJ's arrival and finally finding out the sex and calling baby by name. I can't wait until October!

24 Weeks!

This week is a good week because DJ has reached viability! This means that if DJ were born now she/he would have a good chance of survival. Don't get the wrong idea though DJ... we want you in there for at least another 14 weeks!

I am feeling the baby kick more and more these days. It still is nothing compared to what I felt with Grady, but maybe that will change as DJ gets bigger and stronger. Baby Center says that baby is about 12" (more than half its births length) and weighs about a pound. So not much meat on baby's bones yet!

The good new is that James felt his first kick! It took a few attempts of me saying 'did you feel that?' and James responded 'no'. Then he would say 'was that one?' and I would say 'no'. After about a week of attempting he got his first feel of DJ last night. I remember that with Grady, James felt his first kick the night Aunty Bo and Uncle Dave's got married - Feb 29 - at 22 weeks. So this is about 2 weeks later and likely due to the placenta location.

The other interesting thing I read was that my uterus is the size of a soccer ball right now. A soccer ball?? That is big! I don't think I look that big but I have been getting many more comments in the last week or so.... so maybe that means I have 'popped'....

We have a doctor's appointment this week where I will more than likely be asked to go and the the diabetes test. I am not worried about having diabetes... but I am not going to lie that it would not be fun to give up all my sugary sweets. Believe me there have been a lot of treats!

I am most looking forward to our ultrasound coming up this weekend. I promise you there will be pictures posted after!

The Big Boy Bed

It has been about 2 weeks since we did the big switch to a big boy bed and I think it is safe to say we have success!

Despite all the trials and tribulations we have had with Grady and his sleep (or lack thereof) we have always been lucky that he went to bed great. After sleep training that is. The first night in the big boy bed was no different.

We had been introducing him to the bed with is sporting bedding and getting him excited to sleep in it some day soon. We read books in this bed, we played in this bed, we giggled in the bed, now it was time to sleep in the this bed.

We brushed his teeth, got him into his PJs, and read his bedtime books just like every other night but instead of laying him in the crib, we tucked him into bed, turned off the lights and left the room.

Then we waited impatiently by the monitor to see if and how much Grady was going to cry. We were prepared. We shut the door tight expecting the worse. Prepared to listen to him cry and have him fall asleep behind the door, in the closet, or beside the bed. We waited. And waited. And waited. Not a peep. Not even a sound. He just went to sleep.

The whole transition hasn't been without hiccups. There may have been an incident when he somehow managed to get his door open and ended up at the top of the stairs sucking his thumb and holding his blanket. There may have been another incident that we forgot to turn the monitor on and found a 2 year old yelling at the door to open when we went to get him.

There is nothing like hearing your son is awake and you go up to get him and he is standing right behind the door saying 'door open' in his just woke up little voice. Just melts my heart.

Overall, the young man has done fantastic and we are so proud of him!

Happy Canada Day!

2009:


2010:

How is it possible the same shirt still fits??