23 weeks~!

I know this is a few days late. We actually have been kinda busy. The weather here has been beautiful! Which is so nice, except i can anticipate the heat being an issue this summer! Here is my photo for this week, and man does my face look fat-bleh I guess I better start watching what I eat!

One of my good freinds went "public" as in on facebook today about her pregnancy. I am so excited for them. they had a misscarriage alst year & had been having some trouble since. I had prayed a baby would bless them! They are due Nov 21st, our little ones will only be 3 months apart! Sadly she lived 2 hrs away & plans on evetually movign even further. Luckily her family is from my city so we will still be able to stay in touch.


On to the ever popular Q&A
How far along? 23 weeks

Total Weight Gain? Saw the DR on Tuesday, up 5lbs in 3 weeks (gulp!) For a total of 9 lbs! Now I am not complaining, I expect to gain weight & I know 9lbs is good at this point, however I am hopign the 5 lbs in 3 weeks is a fluke thing!

Maternity Clothes? I seriously need more very soon. I am actually outgrowing maternity clothes. I will also need some summer bottoms very very soon!

Stretch Marks? Still about 4 the same as before, on the bottom of the bump.

Sleep? Tons, besdies waking to pee I am sleeping a lot. I am so tired.

Best Moment this week? Hearing everythign was perfect from the OB & listening to Baby Bear's heartbeat again!

Movement? Stronger & more then ever. Les still hasn't felt the Bear, the baby must be shy!

Food Cravings? Slurpees, olives, fruit juices

Gender? I am still really thinking boy. I may secretly be hoping girl tho!

Labour Signs? None!

Belly Button? Really shallow & flattening out.

I miss the most? Wine, cocktails, travelling. I would love a weekend away!

What am I looking forward to the most? Finishing the nursery, getting ready for the showers~!

Milestones? Feeling more movement everyday.

Renewing our Wedding Vows & a few pics

On Sunday we renewed our wedding vows. Our Bishop came from London and held a mass where over 200 couples celebrated "special" anniversaries, such as your 1st, 10th, 25th, 50th, 60th and any after that. There was a couple celebrating their 72nd anniversary! It was nice to profess our love & commitment, especially with Little Bear on the way. Our actual anniversary is May 31st. We hoped to get away, but with me being on bedrest, that probably won't happen. We will do something special around here I am sure tho!

Here is a quick picture we took before going to a fundraiser on Friday night. It was nice to dress up a bit & get out. Obviously I sat the whole night, but it was still a great outing. We went with DHs co-workers, I met them all for the first time, which was nice.

Everything is good pregnancy wise. I am continuing to grow, the stretch marks have multiplied, depsite all the lotions & potions! I am really feeling that this little one is a boy this week. I have been helping getting the invites fo the shower together, as I am stuck at home I might as well be useful. They turned out so cute! They will be in the mail next week. I am a very guilty registry stalker & was so excited to see that my bedding, mobile & wall decals were all purchased! The nursery is pretty much set now, we just need a few things we plan on buying (bookshelf, table & mattress). The glider is also being given as a gift. The shower is in 6 weeks & I am getting pretty edxcited for it!

One last pictures to end off today's ratehr random blog. Again its me & calvin cat. Notice I am in bed with my snoggle & laptop and Calvy is perched right on my bump. This is his favourite place. He actually sleep on the snoggle all curled up around the bump. I hope he likes the baby as much when he or she is on the outside!

22 weeks!

I was 22 weeks on Wednesday, its hard to believe! ugh my hair look awful in that photo! I really need a salon trip, but until my sick benefits starting coming in we are on a pretty tight budget.

How far along? 22 weeks

Total Weight gain? I don't know for sure, I am thinkign another 3-5 lbs!

Maternity Clothes? Oh yeah! I think I am starting to outgrow some of these!

Stretch Marks? They are multiplying. Blech! I have about 4 on the undeside of my bump. I also have one dark vein on my belly.

Sleep? I wake up to pee way too much & I am starting to have insomnia. Still have afternoons naps tho.

Best Moment this week? Feeling a kick from the outside!

Movement? Lots. Baby Bear is really active late at night, I have felt a few kicks from the outside. S/he is still not willing to let Les feel them.

Food Cravings? Pasta & slushies.

Gender? Ugh I have no idea! I think maybe boy?

Labour Signs? None, we can keep it that way for about 15 weeks.

Belly Button? Its defninetly flattening out, not all the way yet tho!

What I miss the most? Freedom ( cus of the bedrest!)

What am I looking forward to the most? Seeing what my baby looks like!

Milestones? Feeling kicks & flips from the outside, up near my belly button!

A letter

Dear Baby Bear,

Momma is so excited to have you growing inside me. Do you liek the stories that me & daddy read to you? I will try to get some new ones in case you are getting bored. I spend so much time thinking about you, wondering what you look like, whether you are a Logan or a Lexi, it doesn't matter to us, we love you so much already. I am sure you will look much more like daddy, I think he has very strong traits, hopefully you get your momma's patience!

We have been very busy getting your nursery ready. It is turning out so nice, we hope you like it. This nursery will be used not only for you but for any other bears that come after you! I promise that in a few years we will make a special room just for you. Daddy has worked so hard in there making it special, we promise it will be ready for when you come home.

I love to feel you move in there. You have been moving a lot more lately. Please get a little stronger & less shy & let your daddy feel you soon! While I love that I have something special to share with you, your daddy is just so excited about it. I have even been dreaming about you, about all of the fun things we will do as a family. We are buying a new camera before you come just so that we can capture every moment of you.

We love you so much already Baby Bear, more then we knew possible. 17 more weeks or so until we meet you, please stay nice comfy in there until then. We will keep getting this world ready for you.

I love you so,
Momma Bear

21 weeks

Wow! I can't believe I am 21 weeks today! That is so exciting! Todays belly pic looks higher & rounder to me.

My little Baby Bear is the size of a banana this week! Actually that doesn't seem very big, however compared to the poppyseed s/he started outh as I guess it is! I can hardly imagine that in just 4 months or so this little one will be out here with us!


On to the weekly Q&A

How far along? 21 weeks
Total Weight gain? Don't own a scale (thank God!) As of last appt 4lbs
Maternity Clothes? For months now, I have now also moved on to maternity panties & up another bra size (seriously)
Stretch Marks? I just discovered one in the last two days, on the bottom of my bump, lovely.
Sleep? Not great, not terrible, 4-5 hr stretches at night & usually an afternoon nap.
Best Moment this week? Curling up with my kitty on my bump
Movement? Still lots but nothing to be felt from the outside.
Food Cravings? Vanilla cake & twizzlers
Gender? Today I think its a boy, still ever chaging.
Labour Signs? None, we can keep it that way for about 16 weeks.
Belly Button? Still in!
What I miss the most? wine, girls nights out, walks
What am I lookign forward to the most? Shopping for baby clothes.
Milestones? Not sure? My leaking boobs, sure lets say that.

My Boring Days...

I haven't written in a bit so I thought I would talk about how exciting my days are. Since starting the nursery we have moved a larger TV into our bedroom, this has really helped my comfort level. Before I would park myself at the kitchen table or on the couch. While these are semi comfy spots the back support isn't great. Now with the new TV/DVD player set-up I have taken to making myself comfy in bed. Using 2 king size pillows, my snoogle & a memory foam pillow I comfortably prop myself up, with my feet elevated on the bottom part of my snoogle. Laptop, in place (on my lap) and phone& remote within reaching distance this is how I spend a lot of my time. It works great.

I don't actually watch a ton of TV, its usually on for background noise. The laptop is my saviour, I am totally addicted to both the bump & blogs. Not only my blog but others. I have very receantly taken to one in particular, that has led to many tears & admiration for a very strong man with a beautiful daughter. If your interested check it out http://www.mattlogelin.com

My kitty Calvin certainly loves having me home as well as my new set up. His days are spent curled up with me, he is certainly a momma's boy. He has really taken to cur one or around my belly, Little Bear moves liek crazy when he does this, I wonder if he can sense the little movements inside me. This is him perched on my lap, his paws lovingly curled aroound my bump. We love to snuggle.

Clothing is becoming an issue. I have a small collection of presentable clothes, I hate to waste these on days in bed with my cat. I usually stay in jammies (a clean pair each day). I only have a VERY limited number of these that still fit, often "fit" means belly partially exposed. Well, with my inability to do laundry these simetimes all end up dirty. So I was forced this week (as seen in this picture) to resort to wearing Les' t-shirts with on a good day a pair of my sweats that I still fit in, or on a bad day, a pair of his shorts/boxers, its hot.

Happy Easter!!

We had a wonderful Easter Holiday today. Les & I got up extra early as mass was an hour early, plus we knew it would be extra crowded so we got there half an hour early. I commented that next year we will be extra rushed trying to get a little one all ready as well. After church we went to my mom's for lunch, it was delicious! We got to visit with family, I brought my camera & somehow forgot to take pictures! Mom got me maternity underwear, LOL I DO need it tho! We had our traditional afternoon movie, which we do every holiday.

After all the guests left mom came back to our house & did some cleanign for me! I have the best mom! Its been hard with me beign on modified rest, I really can't do a lot of household things. Les has been helpign a lot, but its hard with him workign fulltime & well he's a boy they have a totally different standard then us ladies do! Mom has been comign every Sunday & doing the dusting, floors, bathrooms & helping with a few loads of laundry. Seriously I am not sure what conditions I would be living in otherwise!

Les is at work tonight so I had a quiet night in with my kitty. I spent a lot of last night scrapbooking so I decided to turn my attention tonight to a new crafty activity. I made this super adorable no sew Tutu. It is for one of two little princesses we have in our lives. I have to make one more for the other sweet little sister, I just know they will love them! I also plan on makign a little baby size one, just in case our Baby Bear is a Lexi! If not it will make a wonderful gift, who wouldn't love this!? My next feat it to tackle making those sweet little bows to match!



We have so much to be thankful for this Easter! Just this time last year we were gettign ready to close on our home & were in the hoem stretch of wedding planning. Today we are getting ready to welcome a baby, it still seems surreal. We thank God everyday for all of these blessings.

20 weeks!

Today I am 20 weeks! baby Bear is the size of a cantaloupe! We are officially half way there! My belly hasn't changed since last week! Maybe a hit a little plateau, which would be great! I still love the belly tho!

I am going to start a weekly pregnancy questionare as a few other bloggers I follow do.

How far along? 20 weeks today!
Total weight gain? 4 lbs
Maternity Clothes? Absolutely! I wear pre-pregnancy jammies & panties still tho!
Stretch marks? None yet! I will keep slathering the lotions!
Sleep? If I am lucky 4hr stretches, between my bladder, my back & sciatica its not pretty
Best Moment this week? Our "big" ultrasound, seeing Little bear & knowing all is well
Movement? Tons that I feel, feels like a rustling super low still. Les can't feel it yet tho.
Food Cravings? Lemonade, fruit, salads
Gender? Today I think girl, two days ago I was sure it was a boy.
Labour Signs?Nope thank God! Cervix is nice & long!
Belly Button? Still in!
What I miss the most? Wine, wonderful white wine!
What I am looking forward to the most? Working on the nursery!
Milestones? Reaching the half way mark!

Ultrasound & Appt

Today I had my "big" ultrasound & saw Dr.J. The ultrasound went great. Its amazing to see the differences in the weeks from before. Everything was perfect with the baby, he or she measures exactly perfect for dates, weighing in at 11 ounces!! Babe was very squirmy & dancing around on the screen for us. The technician was wonderful & explaiend everything to me, she was very reassuring. The heartbeat was 142 beats per minute. My placena attached in a U-shape it is anterior & posterior and along my right uterine wall, this is why we can't feel hom or her from the outside yet! Hopefully soon tho & I am content to be feeling it myself for now.

They had to do a transvaginal ultrasound again to measure my cervix (which is long at 3.4cm!) and to check the placenta. Baby Bear's head was sitting right on my cervix AGAIN (this probably explains all the pressue I have been feeling). The tech asked me to puch down on my lower belly to move the little head & it was pretty neat to see that work! The cervix has migrated a bit, to 2.3cm from teh cervix (previously 1mm and then 1.5cm), however this still consdierd to be low-lying (up to 5cm). With the amount of bleeding i have had & the most receant episode beign less then a week ago Dr.J wants me to reamin off work, on modified restricitons until delivery. Which is fine with me. I will do anything for this baby. I will have another ultrasound in 3rd tri to determine if I need a scheduled c-section or can have a vaginal delivery. I am just going to pray about it & leave it in God's hands.

We discussed a few other things at the appointment. My Down Syndrome screening results came back, the risk is 1:100 000, which is excellent. I have also been experiencing a racing pulse, it was 121 when they took my blood pressure today. He said as long as I am not experiencing chest pain with it, which I am not it is probably just a normal side effect of pregnancy. We takled about my tailbone & sciatica pain & he recommeded a chirocpractor, who I will be calling tomorrow. He is still following me every three weeks, as a high risk pregnancy but he defiently put me at ease about things! My uterus is measuring 20 and I gained (gulp) 4lbs~in 3 weeks! However this is the only weight I have gained thus far and so I will really try to keep it down a bit!

I can't help but hope the 2nd half of this pregnancy goes by as quickly as the first. While I am genuinely enjoying being pregnant, I am also so eager to meet this little. I am very excited about all of the milestones we will reach between now & then tho, so I wouldn't really want to skip anything! I love being team green. We have so much fun going back & forth between if our Little Bear is a he or a she, a Logan or Alexia. In less then 20 weeks we will know!

We have furniture!!

I am so excited! We decided on out nursery furniture & we have it!! We were going to go with a new line from BRU, however when it came it DH was very unhappy with the quality. We decided to go with a set we found a costco. I think the price was reasonable and the quality is amazing! Its a very solid would, it took 3 guys to carry the dresser upstairs! We are so greatful to my mom (grandma D) for buying the crib, and my ILs, (Lola & Lolo) for buying the change table combo unit. The colour of the set is called chocolate, its not as dark as an espresso but not as red as a cherry finish. I still need to find a small side table for besdie the glider, which we are getting as a gift. I would also like some type of bookshelf.

This is a picture of the dresser/changer combo. There is a wooden tray that secures in the back to hold the change pad. Les still has to put that on. And of course the change pad etc we are waiting for the shower. Notice the beautiful lamp I got as an early shower gift from my great grandma, Little Bears great-great grandma.

This is a side angle shot of the crib. You can see the beautiful detailing on the headboard & foot board. as well as the slight curve on the side part.

Here is a front on shot of the crib. It turns into a toddler bed, daybed & then a full bed later on. This set will be Little Bears forever. I am so excited to get the bedding & get it more put together, but I will have to wait!

I am undecided about how to put the furniture in the room. I think once the rocker comes I may have a better idea. We also have a friend who has offered to do some custom artwork for the baby's room, which I am very excited about. As of now everything is kind of on a stand still. We will be watching for matresses to go on sale, otherwise I am waiting until the shower to get anything else.

Work

I have spent my entire day in my PJs, mostly in bed. This is not a common occurance, even tho I have been off work, but today I am suffering from some terrible bug.

I spent sometime on the phone with one of my besties, a friend who I am also lucky enough to work with. She was filling me in on soem the new occurances at the hospital in my 3 week absence. This made me realize something. I love what I do, I really do. I am very blessed to take part in such an amazing moment in the lives of these families. I work as a registered nurse in our local family birthing centre, I work both post partum and labour & delivery. Its a wonderful happy place. However as much as I love it, its hard. Working in a world with 150 other women can be trying, we all tend to have strong personalities. We also do shift work, being part-time these shifts vary from day to day, we can flip from nights to days with only 24 hrs in between, physically this is very demanding.

My friend is considering leaving our area, this makes me sad, because I love working with her, of course we were friends first & always will be despite being coworkers or not, its just like a bonus. She is finding the job just as demanding and in addition ,they have a little one & are planning on addign to the family in the next year or so, they find child care very difficult, financially she has had to pick up extra shifts in other areas to help out. This has really got me thinking about out plans for me returning to work after Baby Bear comes.

I am totally the kind of women who had thrive as a stay at home mom. I love cooking, baking, crafts, outings, etc. Sadly this is not a possibility for us. Financially we both have to work. However me being off has financially cut our budget back some. I think it has helped me to see that I can definetly work part-time, and at least be home a good chunk of time with Baby Bear. Also thankfully, we live in Canada so I will have a whole year off before I even face this prospect. I think by being part-time I can work my scheduel & shifts around Les' master schedule in a way that we will not require outside childcare, besides my mom. Eventually we plan on putting baby bear in a montessori type preschool by ideally s/he will be at least 2 or 3 before then.

Obviously this is one of those things I will just continue to pray about & leave in God's hands. I know it will all work out. I had an amazing childhood & know that my mom being hoem with us had a lot to do with this. I hope that I can find the right balance between home & work and give my child wonderful memories as well.

19 weeks!

Wow~19 weeks today! Baby Bear ist he size of a mango, which leaves me wondering why I'm the size of a watermelong, but eh whatever! This last week, actually I think it happened over night on Monday I seemed to have popped again! Much higher & rounder then last week! I really do like how I look pregnant, I think my belly is great. However it still upsets me a bit when people say I am huge or make it sound like its something I can control, I eat healthy, and do my best, so oh well! I can't believe I am almost half way there, and Baby Bear & I had a little talk, he or she is coming between 37 & 38 weeks, so if you count that then I am half way! LOL This baby is movign so much now! I love it! Its still REALLY low in my belly but definetly baby. It can't be felt from teh outside yet, soon I hope, Les is so excited to feel it.

Tuesday is the "big" ultrasound. I am totally losing my nerve & SO tempted to find out what this peanut is! I MUST stay strong! I have always dreamed of a delivery room reveal & really want that still! Besdies I won't be able to resist shopping the way I have so far if I knew & I really want to wait until at least after my first shower before I do any shopping. I have been tempted to pick up a few things here or there but am trying really hard not too! LOL Although I have decided I am buying my own diaper bag & have found a few online i really like, so for now that is keeping my shopping occurpied!

We have officially registered! I think we are pretty much done with it as well! It went very well, it helped that I had looked online a lot before we actually went & for the most part knew what we were pickign out. I really struggled with the bottles tho, I ended up registering for some of the born free & some of the Dr.Brown's, hopefully Baby likes one of them. I also registered for 4 different kinds of pacifiers, I am bound & determined for this child to take a paci! Although I plan on motly breastfeeding & hope to do so exclusively for the first few weeks i do want the flexibility of bottlefeeding as well & plan to introduce a bottle between 4 & 6 weeks so we need to be prepared.

Before I got pregnant, even before we started trying I useed to say to Les "I want a baby" I still find myself saying that soemtimes. He just laughs at me. I still can't believe how blessed we are, and that we are going to be parents. I'll be honest, some days it scares the scrap out of me. Most of the time I am just thrilled about it tho! I have dreamed forever about being a mom & I am so happy its comign true. I just hope I can be everything this baby deserves.