Last Day

Today is my last day at my current job. Not just for maternity leave but forever. I accepted a year long contract that I started Sept 14, 2009 while a former co-worker from my accounting firm days was on maternity leave. At first I was hesitant about accepting a contract, but it actually turned out really well. It gave me the chance to 'try out' the whole working mom thing. Would I like it? Would I prefer to be at home? After 54 weeks, I think I have some answers.

Do I like working? I like using my brain and having adult conversations through out the day so in some respects I do like working. Don't get me wrong, there are countless reasons why I don't like working but overall the actual work is OK. I worked hard to get my CA designation and I hate to see it go to waste. So I would like to keep my fingers in it whether that be volunteering, working full-time, or working part-time.

Would I prefer to stay at home? Yes. Most days I would prefer to lay around the house in my PJs with Grady. Going to the park, the mall, for play dates, and all the other fun things that come with entertaining a 2 year old. I also know there are days that your child just will not cooperate and you just want to go back to bed. It was those days that I was happy to be going to work :) Our weekends are full of fun times but there just isn't enough time in the weekend to do all the fun stuff and the errands. On the other hand, there were mornings where I couldn't wait to get to my desk and drink my coffee and check my emails without a 2 year old sitting on top of me or trying to close the computer!

Where does this leave me in terms of going back to work after baby number 2? I think over the past year I have decided I would like to work in some capacity. Is that full time? Not ideally. I found juggling being a parent and a full-time employee hard to say the least. There was never enough time in the day to work 8 hours plus commute, make supper, play, bath, bedtime, adult TV time, and cleaning. Guess which one took the hit...... Our house is a disaster most days. At 9:00pm, when Grady finally went to sleep, I just couldn't motivate myself to do anything other than lay on the couch and catch up on my TV watching. I suppose being pregnant could have played a part in it as I was pregnant for most of the year I was at work.

Because of the lack of energy and late bedtime all the errands got pushed to the weekends. So any shopping, groceries, returns, etc all had to be worked into the 2 day weekends which were already filled with fun things that we didn't get to do all week. We had play dates, music classes, gym classes, dinners at Nana's, trips to calaway park, trips to the science center and the list goes on and on. So again, the errands and such take a back seat for family time. Which is exactly the way it should be, but still difficult to watch the 'to-do' list grow and grow with very few items being ticked off. Again being pregnant added extra items to this already long list in preparation for DJs arrival.

I think I would like to work 3 or 4 days. I like to think that this mix will allow me to enjoy the best of both worlds. A few days of work, a day or 2 of errands, and a family fun filled weekend. I could be completely wrong and the moms who work 3 days have a whole other set of issues. The first one I think of is daycare. Now you have to find a part-time daycare/dayhome that you like. And that is just the beginning...

As hard as it is for a planner like me, I have to wait and see how I feel in a year, what jobs are out there, and what our situation is. But overall, the working/daycare experience was a positive one for us.

With that being said, I am beyond thrilled to be off for another year! Let the play dates begin!

Before starting this post, I read the post I wrote after completing one week of work back in September 2009. I'd like to re-address some of the points I made and see what has changed.


Before - Grady still cries when James drops him off at daycare
After - Grady is still not eager about going to 'Suzy's house'. There aren't tears every drop off (from what I am told) but there are still tears.

Before - Grady has been getting up in the night a few times a week (I hope due to teething)
After - After about 9 months of sleeping through the night, Grady is getting up once a night again about 75% of the time. Maybe it is the new bed? We still haven't figured this one out.

Before - I have to pay $20 a day to park at work
After - I still pay to park. Not quite that much as I got a monthly pass. But still more than I'd like to.

Before - Getting up before 6am
After - Believe it or not, Grady is starting to sleep in more. We haven't gotten up before 6am in quite some time. I am literally knocking on wood.

Before - I miss seeing Grady all day
After - I still miss Grady during the day, not all day, but I think of him often or look at his pictures around my office. Nothing beats that little voice at the end of each day saying 'hi, hi mommy'

Before - Not enough time in the evening to catch up on housework
After - Still not enough time in the evening to catch up on housework

Before - not enough time to exercise
After - I started walking at lunch with my co workers. The goal was 3 times per week. Sometimes it was 2 times, sometimes 4. It all evened out.


Before - No time to make dinner
After - Plan, Plan plan!! I pre-made dinners, and always knew what were having before I got home from work. Even if it was just chicken fingers and kraft dinner!


Before - I have to go to bed before 10 to make sure I am not a zombie the next day
After - Learning to function on less sleep. We go to bed at 11pm, get up at 6am and right now one of us gets up and sleeps with Grady for an hour or so. I think we are sleeping less than we did at this time last year. And will probably less in a short month!


So now on to anther new normal. For a month. Then we move on to the new new normal with DJ. With kids I have learned that nothing ever stays the same for long!

35/35

I read a lot of blogs. Like 30. Some of them I know IRL (in real life) and others I have found over the past 2 years. James thinks it is strange to read about the lives of people you don't know... I think it is cool to follow someones life, especially if they are good writers. Most of the blogs I read are about pregnancy and motherhood but I read each one for a different reason. It could be that our kids are the same age, we are due the same month, they make me laugh, or some even have made me cry. Whatever the reason, I enjoy reading them.

What is the point you ask and how does this relate to my 35th week of pregnancy with DJ? From reading all these blogs I have learned that when you reach the 35th week you only have 35 days left (7days x 5 weeks). There is a little piece of trivia for you!

On to the not so exciting news of last weeks doctor appointment.

1. The baby is still head down. Yeah!

2. I have all my doctor appt's booked into November which means I should be able to see my regular doctor each and every time.

3. I found out my doctor is on call October 26th. Believe it or not, no one guessed that day in the baby pool. That is the day I am now hoping for. I did not like the doctor who delivered Grady. I didn't really know it at the time but as I remembered things over the next few days I didn't like her bed side manner. I love my doctor and would love for her to deliver DJ!

4. This was the first time that I didn't even sit down before they called my name to go back to the room. I show up on time at the earliest, so this was still not early. With that being said, I still sat in the room for nearly 30 minutes. I read a book on labor. Bad decision. I may have reached that point where I should no longer think/talk about labor. Ouch.

I told you nothing exciting happened!

Just for fun, here is a comparison with me at 35 weeks pregnant with DJ on the left and Grady on the right. I purposely put on the same shirt.

Some observations:

1. My hair is longer this go around. Finally, since I have been growing it since April and no one can tell. All i want to do is put my hair in a pony tail. That isn't asking too much... is it??

2. I look to be carrying higher in the picture with Grady which means girl. Wrong. Or maybe it means boy this time because I am lower.

3. I look more basketball-ish with Grady. I mean like there is a basketball under my shirt. I appear more round this time which means girl.

4. I don't look as old as I feel compared to last time. Not sure if that makes sense, but I sometimes feel like I have aged 10 years since Grady was born.

So there you have it - Week 35 in a nutshell!

Big Boy Room

I have wanted to do a post on Grady's big boy room for a while but pictures just don't do it justice. The walls were painted in April, Grady has been sleeping on a mattress on the floor since June and his furniture was delivered in August after months of waiting. Although it is not 100% completed, it is slowly getting there.

We opted to paint the nursery yellow when we were pregnant with Grady since we chose not to find out what we were having. So... it made more sense to move Grady into a new room and 'boy it up' rather than painting the nursery another gender neutral color. So now that you have the background, on to the photos!

We were trying to go with a sports theme but we ended up with a little of everything. Here is Grady's bed.

Notice that although the bed is a kids bed, Grady needs a step stool to get in and out of it. I find that some what odd. With that said, he is really good about using the stool and has yet to fall of it. I ordered his bedding on line from an American company - so it has no hockey on it. I tried to add some of the Canadian sport to his room with the body pillow. So far it has been great for me and my pregnant belly as I have been sleeping in his bed often with our recent sleeping problems. More to come on this later..... I'd also like to add something to the wall adjacent to the bed. It is just so big that I have to figure out how to fill it.

I like how this corner turned out. In case you are wondering, we did paint 2 different colors in the room, both Disney colors that I can't remember the names of. We bought the height thing recently and have only measured him once. The picture on the lighter colored wall is a cross stitch from Auntie Bo. She did such a great job and we are so happy with how the frame matches perfectly with his wall. What a great keepsake!

On the dresser you will find a 'Grady' plate that he got from my friend Carmen on his first birthday, 'Grady' spelt in chinese letters that I bought at a Christmas fair the year he was born, a picture of him and his cousin Madison, and 2 piggy banks.

In this corner, we have a huge elmo decal that doesn't really tie into the sports theme but it was too cute to pass up. Besides, Grady loved elmo at the time we bought it and we said goodnight to elmo every night. Eventually we'll replace him with some sort of sport item as well.

I love the 9 cube shelves that I picked up at Zellers. We also bought one for the basement. What a great way to store toys and still look presentable. I may have to purchase a third for DJs room as well....

I missed one whole wall but I just couldn't get it at the right angle.... It really does look much better in real life but the pictures will have to do for now.

The only issue we are having is Grady is not sleeping well in his big boy bed. It was fine when it was a mattress on the ground but since we (meaning James) put the bed together, we rarely get a full nights sleep. I am paranoid to let him cry like we have done in the past because I am scared that he will try to get out of bed and fall. So as of now, if Grady wakes up in the night either James or I goes in and lays with him until he (usually both) fall asleep. Then we creep back into our own bed when we can. It has been a long month. We only have about a month before we have a new born back in our life and crappy sleep. We want to make the most of this time but I tell you sleeping with a 2 year old is not fun. We have talked about letting him cry this weekend... but we'll see how that plays out.

Keep your fingers crossed for us that Grady will start sleeping though the night again before the baby comes!

Stats.

Being the accountant that I am... I have summarized the baby pool to see where we stand so far. There are still a few people I am waiting for guesses from.....

• The biggest question asked to expectant moms is 'do you know what you are having?'. If I was relying on the results of the responses so far I would have to say it is split 9 votes a piece. On Grady's baby pool the overwhelming majority was boy and of course they were right! So I thought this would give me some insight. As of today it has not.

• The majority think that DJ is going to be in the 7 pound range (78%). Only 1 guess is below 7 pounds and 3 guesses over 8 pounds. Thank you for not thinking my baby will be as big as I was when I was born..... Don't know how you did it Mom :)

• As for dates, 40% of the guessers think that DJ will arrive between October 24th and 27th. I am not sure that it matters that James, Grady, and I are 3 out of those 7 guesses! Here's to hoping DJ arrives in October!

So that is where we stand thus far. I am hoping that some late guesses will roll in to settle the boy/girl tie. Although I must admit that the majority of people I talk to think boy. They have me so convinced that I even wanted to readdress boy names with James this weekend. Just in case.

If you want to add in your guess, click the orange and white expectnet button at the top right of the blog!

Another Stage - 2010

Here is our annual picture at Heritage Park. For those of you who don't know, James' family grew up going to Heritage Park as they lived very near by, then 20 years later we had our wedding reception at Heritage Park. Needless to say Heritage Park has a special place in both of our hearts. We hope that we can pass this along to our children by visiting the park at least once a year and showing the kids where their parents got married. I may shed a few tears if they ever decide to tear down/renovate the Wainwright Hotel, where the reception was actually held.....

So here is the picture. All 3.8 of us!

Again, for those of you who don't know, it rained on our wedding day. When I say it rained, I mean it poured rain non stop from sun up to sun down. We have very few outdoor pictures. Like 4. These photos were all taken on this balcony right where we are standing. To this day they are my favorite wedding photos.

To see some of the older photos of years past... see this post and this post.

For comparison... here we are in 2009.


Can't wait to take DJ with us next year... outside of the belly that is!

DJ's Baby Pool!

It is time to officially make your guess.

Will DJ be a boy or a girl? How much will (s)he weigh? When will DJ arrive?

Head over to expectnet.com, in the top left corner under baby name enter 'babydj2010' and guess away! Or just click on the Expect Net button on the right hand side fo the blog which will bring you right to the guessing.

Background Info:

• James was late and weighed 6 pounds 13 ounces
• I was over 2 weeks late and weighed 9 pounds 4 ounces
• Grady was 8 days early and weighed 7 pounds 2 ounces

Can't wait to see what you guess!!

33 Weeks

I had a doctor's appoint last week and thankfully it pretty uneventful. The doctor did confirm that the baby is head down now and that it is very unlikely that the baby would switch back to a breech position... YEAH! I did have that second or two where I remembered where the baby would come out now that he/she is head down and quickly pushed that thought out of my head for another 6-8 weeks!! I am just happy to hopefully not have a c-section.

About a week ago I started feeling DJ hiccuping. This was a major clue that baby had turned as they are very low in my belly. Very similar to Grady I feel all the kicks on the right side of my belly and the hiccups slightly to the left. The doctor even mentioned that on second (and subsequent) births the baby can take longer to turn because it has more room as the uterus is generally bigger. With that said, I was measuring right on at 33 weeks. I feel smaller this time (believe it or not) but the photos don't lie... I am essentially the same size as last time.

Another interesting moment was when she was feeling my belly for baby location and whatever else they are looking for and she hit one spot where I actually jumped and said it hurt. She said it was the bum. She asked if it felt tender when she wasn't touching it and I said no. She didn't really elaborate on why it was tender. I figure she pushed the baby's butt's right onto one of my organs.... Just call me Dr. Christy!

Last piece of info from the appointment is that the heart rate was quite low compared to last visit at 120bpm. It was 135 last time. I don't think either baby has ever had a heart rate this low. She said it was in the normal range of 110 to 160 and wasn't concerned but would check my chart for history to be sure. It started at 150, then 140, 140, 135, and finally 120. She essentially said I was just trending downwards and that if DJ is active that it wasn't a concern. DJ was kicking while she was checking the heart rate and she asked if baby was active. Stupid me thought that she could tell from the change in heart rate... turns out DJ was kicking the doppler. So maybe you shouldn't call me Dr. Christy quite yet!

All in all it was a regular appointment. With a shorter wait I might add. only 15 minutes compared to 45. Score.

5 Years!

From this...

To this...


In five short years.
Throw in this....
And this...


It has been busy.
Happy 5th Anniversary James!

My Favorite Ice Cream Shoppe

This past Friday we were deciding what to do with the evening. The sun was shining.... The forecast for the long weekend was horrible.... So the debate was should we go to the park like we do every other night or head out for ice cream cones at My Favorite Ice Cream Shoppe. I'll let the picture tell you what we decided!

Grady had chocolate chip cookie dough, James had cinnamon bun, and I had coconut. All three were very tasty. This was Grady's first official ice cream cone as he isn't overly big on ice cream in a bowl or with cake so we never thought he would enjoy it as much as he did. He insisted on tasting all 3 and I think he liked cinnamon bun the best!

They also had one of the old school horses where you drop a quarter in and you can ride the horse. This was also a hit.

If you look closely at the picture you can see his lips are covered in ice cream.

I foresee many ice cream cones in summers to come!

32 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 32 Weeks

Size of baby: over 19 inches long and weighs just over 3 pounds.

Maternity Clothes: Ummmm. Yes.

Gender: Boy..... or Girl.

Movement: After complaining that I never felt this baby move and waiting until well after 20 weeks to get some good kick, DJ has recently taken up karate in my ute. I would go so far to say as this baby is more active than Grady. Not only do I get kicks, I get full on body movements dragging across my tummy. DJ is still most active after 8pm and into the late hours of the evening. If I wake up in the middle of the night I am almost certain to feel a few jabs from the babe. I love the constant reminders that I am carrying around our baby! Even at 3am....

Sleep: What sleep? Between my growing belly and me being a stomach sleeper usually, sleep is not great. Throw in a toddler that has gone back to getting up 1-3 times a night and not much sleeping is happening at our house. I joke that it takes 5 minutes for me to just roll over. I take the blankets off, remove pillow from between legs, roll over, replace pillows, and finally replace blankets. It is a process.

Symptoms: I don't really have symptoms. I hate my iron pills that have made me feel more bloated than I knew possible. But not sure that really counts.

What I miss: Carrying Grady. I just can't carry him around anymore with the extra weight of baby and added weight of said toddler, it is just too much. He knows most of the time to ask Daddy for 'up please'.

Cravings: None. Well besides the sweets I always crave - pregnant or not!

Best Moment this week: Seeing Grady kiss and hug the baby, aka my belly. We even sang twinkle twinkle to baby one night before bed. Yesterday he even carried around upsy daisy (from In the Night Garden) and pretended to change its diaper. He then put her in his booster chair and strapped her in and fed he crackers. Maybe Grady will be a great helper and big brother after all!

What I am looking forward to: My doctor's appt on Wednesday. I can't wait to hear whether the doctor thinks DJ is head down. After this appointment we start going every 2 weeks. Some people hate this stage... I love it. From getting weighed to hearing the heart beat - I love the appointments. Except the wait of course!

This week was a bit of an eye opener. James' friend (and MC at our wedding) and his girlfriend were due with a baby the week before us... guess who had a baby last weekend at 32 weeks... you get the picture. From what we understand, the baby is doing very well for being born so prematurely and is already breathing on his own at 4 pounds, 4 ounces. What was really cool was to see pictures of him and see what a perfect little newborn he is. At 32 weeks they really are little humans and I have one taking up residence in my tummy for the next 8ish weeks.

Happy Sunday!

Family Photos

For Mother's Day my brother and I teamed up and arranged for us to have family pictures done for my Mom. She has hinted that she would like them and we thought it was about time that we she had them. In steps Lindsay Rae Photography. We met with Lindsay mid week and in one short hour she was able to take some great photos of our family.

This is my favorite group shot.

I love how the look on my mom's face is pure happiness as she looks onto her children and her grand children.

Lindsay captured our individual little family of 3 (soon to be 4)....

...and my brother and his daughter Madison.

She took pictures of the kids together.

And apart.

I couldn't resist posting this picture of Grady. Now that we are sucking our thumb in full force again, I think it is very appropriate!

I am so lucky and proud to belong to this family!

Our SK Vacation

We just got back from an 8 day vacation visiting our friends and family in Saskatchewan! We were way overdue for a trip back to visit my parents as we have not been all the way home since Christmas.

We flew into Saskatoon last Friday night and spent the weekend with my friend Sara and her family. And sadly enough, I don't have a single picture to show for it.

Grady spent the weekend with Grandma at his uncle's house so James and I could attend Alynne's wedding child-free!

Congrats Alynne and Mark! I counted a total of 4 pictures taken at the wedding and this is the best one I had. Very sad I know.

We also had a play date Sunday morning with Willis, Lucia, and Aiden. As always the boys had a blast. Again, I took no pictures. Shame on me.

Before we left Saskatoon for PA on Sunday evening, Auntie Kolby stopped by for a visit. She made a lasting impression on young Grady as he talked about her frequently throughout our trip!

Uncle James' condo is not quite finished yet which means a little boys heaven full of dirt piles, tractors, rocks etc. He didn't waste any time getting out his trucks and crawling into the dirt.

We arrived at my mom's house Sunday evening. Grandma kept him busy and was often waiting for us when we got up in the morning.

First things first, Grady had to get acquainted with her dog, Layla. It went OK. Grady insisted on getting carried around in the beginning and then got comfortable with her until she handed out kisses. Then Mr. Grady would get annoyed and whine. But all in all they were buddies.

We made pizza subs. This was a huge hit as Grady started eating the topping off his sub before it was even cooked. Go figure!

Next up we got to have a long visit with Grady's cousin Madison that even included sleep overs! Considering Madison is a 5 year old girl into Justin Beiber and Hannah Montana, the kids got along great. I loved watching the 2 kids play. Grady was her little side kick who wanted to do everything Madsion did... Can you tell?
There were lots of trips to the park across the street from Grandma and Grandpa's.


And Grady even walked Layla. Notice James is not far behind. James loved Layla more than Grady did! There are dogs in the our distant future I am sure.

We also made 2 trips to my mom's trailer at the lake. Since Grady loves to get dirty he was all over it!


Grandma and her grand kids at the lake in front of the trailer. The bench is pink. I am guessing Madison helped pick the color. Can you tell how happy she is to have them together?

After Grady napped. Yes, Grady even napped at the trailer. We headed to the beach for a quick swim. Grady wanted his life jacket on the second Madison put hers on.

He even waded in the water on his own yelling 'self, self'.

We made a trip over to my Dad's to swim. Grady has not been in a pool since Hawaii and I was hoping he liked it a bit better.

It was a hot day and my Dad keeps the pool warm. Very warm. I can say with certainty that he liked to jump off the edge.

I am not so sure he actually enjoyed staying in the pool.


Grady played cars with Grandpa Lorne at the little table that my Dad's Dad made years ago. He only fell off the bench once.

We also made 2 trips to 2 different parks while we visited.


We ended the week with a playdate. Here are Willis, Koen, and Grady. They are 3 of the 5 members of the little boys club. Little Lucia was there to but she has no other members in the little girl club. We'll see which club DJ joins soon....

Although I know I have missed a lot of what we did over the past week, it should show you that we kept very busy. We missed a few naps, had a few meltdowns, threw a few toys... but all in all we had a great vacation and can't wait to do it again as a family of 4!