.

Sleep and other thiings...

2011-11-01T17:17:00.000-04:00

Sadly sleep is getting more and more difficult as this pregnancy progresses. I didn't really have this problem until the very end of pregnancy with Jack but this baby has me up all hours of the night to eat. I don't know how it's possible for me to be dropping pounds with the amount of food that I eat but alas it's happening. I can't get comfortable, then I finally do and only 2 hours later I wake up starving. I've resorted to leaving snacks and drinks beside the bed for easy access lol.

We also got the confirmed dates for our fetal echo and anatomy ultrasound, which are in the first week of December. We're very excited and nervous (I'm always nervous about ultrasounds) and hoping this baby decides to cooperate so we can find out if s/he is a girl or boy for sure. Woop!

I've been perusing various baby sites for some time now figuring out what we will need for either gender as well as any big ticket stuff (which isn't much in that regard, just a double stroller which I've found and the booster carseat for when baby passes 21 lbs and can't go in the infant seat anymore). We still have a bunch of girl clothes since we were told Zachary was a girl until 33 weeks and we have tons of boy stuff though we will need some sleepers for both genders since Jack was a pukey kid in the beginning and some things just had to be tossed. I'm just excited to get shopping with a known gender in mind :)

Don't forget to vote in the poll above :)

Weekly Update and Names

2011-10-28T13:51:00.000-04:00

Only four people know the names we have chosen and I'm finding it really really hard not to tell people at this point. I haven't broken yet (the additional people only know because we discussed it as soon as I knew I was pregnant) but we love these names so much that it's hard not to want to share them. My main issue with sharing is that sometimes people decide that it's important to tell you that they don't like a name you've chosen for whatever reason (maybe they think you're still deciding and want input, who knows). I don't want people saying...really? that's what you chose? It of course wouldn't make us change our mind, it's our kid so yeah we get to name him/her but it's still disheartening because now I will forever know that that person doesn't like my kids name...and usually it ends up being someone close...which stinks. Ah well, I digress.

Maybe the names will be spilled early, maybe we'll just wait until the gender is announced. Only time will tell!

In the meantime, here is another weekly update:

How far along? 13 weeks 6 Days (my due date has been moved to April 29th as far as I know)
Total weight gain/loss: Down 5
Maternity clothes? I had to switch to maternity pants at 7 weeks because the pressure from bloating was just unbearable. Not bloated anymore but I can't wear regular pants anymore.
Stretch marks? None.
Sleep Sleeping okay lately but waking up in the middle of the night STARVING is not making me feel well rested
Best moment this week Ultrasound with a squirmy upside down baby, who is healthy :)
Movement Started feeling flutters when I lie down this week
Food cravings Gummy worms, MILK, reeses peanut butter cups (thank goodness halloween is around the corner)
Gender Unknown at the moment, we'll find out early december and you will find out at Christmas
Labor Signs None
Belly Button in or out? In
What I miss Sleeping through the night without having to wake up for food
What I am looking forward to The 18-20week ultrasound in 5-7 weeks
Milestones Heard heartbeat on doppler @ home :)

What's your guess?

2011-10-27T12:53:00.001-04:00

So I asked this on facebook a while back but I'm going to make a poll here so that it's easier for me to keep track of. It looks like our due date may be moved up a week to April 29th so we'll know in 5-7 weeks (as long as baby is cooperative) if this little is a girl or boy.

Here's the results of all the old wives tales I could find:

Prediction #1: My age at time of conception + month of conception = even or odd
Take my age which was 25 and the month of conception (which is the 8th month for us). Result = GIRL (even = girl, odd = boy)

Prediction #2: Heart Rate
This theory states that if your baby's heart rate is 140 beats per minute and above, you would be having a girl. If the heart rate is under 140 beats per minute, then you would be having a boy.
Baby's Heartrate = 167-170 = GIRL

Prediction #3: Time to conceive
Short time to conceive = GIRL

Prediction #4: Sleeping position
I sleep on my right side = GIRL

Prediction #5: Moodiness
I hate to admit it but I am definitely moody...it's crazy = GIRL

Prediction #6: Morning Sickness
I have been nauseated this entire time and spent the first few weeks running to the bathroom sick = GIRL

Prediction #7: Food Cravings
I've been craving candy and sweets = GIRL

Prediction #8: The ring test
Tie a ring to a piece of string and dangle it above your stomach (if it swings side to side then it's girl, if it swings in a circle then it's a boy) - mine went side to side all 4 times I did it over the past four weeks = GIRL

So all of them say GIRL but most of them said girl for Jack too. My guess is Girl and Matt is also guessing Girl (he said boy for Jack). This pregnancy is so different and feels way different so who knows if that means anything.

Alrighty, the fun part...what's your guess? There should be a poll at the top of the page so submit your vote there :)

Much Love

The 12 Week Ultrasound

2011-10-25T20:52:00.000-04:00

Went for the 12 week IPS/NT ultrasound today and all was good with the jumping baby in there. The baby is currently upside down and measuring ahead of the original ultrasound dates so my due date may change by a week or so but I won't know if they'll change it till I see my OB again. Nevertheless all is well, baby looks great, and is wiggling around like crazy.

I cannot wait until the big ultrasound so we can find out the gender of this baby...it's driving me crazy walking into baby stores and not being able to buy anything (tough I have bought a couple gender neutral things) that I love. For a girl we would have a bit to buy and even for a boy we could use a couple new sleepers since jack was a spit-up baby and as such some things had to be trashed from the early days so I just want to be able to go to a store and know for sure so I can grab some things and get started on this nursery. Only 7 weeks at most though (maybe less if the due date changes!) so that's good :P

Here is a pic of our upside down child (takes after big brother already since his preference is to be upside down most of the time):

and a quick pic of Jack from a week or so ago :)

Much Love

Houston we have names!

2011-10-13T14:34:00.000-04:00

Haha, that's a sneaky title up there...because yes we have *the* name picked for both a girl and a boy but we won't be sharing what it is until Christmas when we will also share with all of you what the sex of the baby is. You get to be patient :P

In the meantime I'm going to start doing these again...it's been neat looking back at them from my pregnancy with Jack and comparing the differences so I want to have the same things to look back at for this peanut too. Oh yes, until further notice this little shall be referred to as "peanut".

How far along? 11 weeks 0 Days
Total weight gain/loss: Not up or down at this point
Maternity clothes? I had to switch to maternity pants at 7 weeks because the pressure from bloating was just unbearable. Not bloated anymore but I can't wear regular pants anymore.
Stretch marks? None.
Sleep Not too bad actually, which is good since I'm always tired.
Best moment this week Hearing the heartbeat and having Jack rub and kiss my stomach when we ask him where the baby is.
Movement None, too early.
Food cravings Gummy worms, MILK, reeses peanut butter cups (thank goodness halloween is around the corner)
Gender Unknown at the moment, we'll find out early december and you will find out at Christmas
Labor Signs None
Belly Button in or out? In
What I miss My desire to eat food...still nauseous and have to force myself to eat (which of course I do) but besides the candy I'm not wanting to eat...and gummy worms+chocolate is not a suitable meal lol.
What I am looking forward to The 12 week ultrasound on Oct. 25
Milestones Heard heartbeat on doppler @ home :)

Much Love!

Is anyone still here?

2011-10-11T22:54:00.000-04:00

Wow. Okay. So summer happened and updating the blog didn't. We do have some very exciting news to share on here though (most of you know this already anyways). We are expecting another tiny person to join our household come April (well May 3rd but we all know I'm delivering in April if past deliveries/inductions are any indication). Spring is very quickly becoming a busy month for birthdays in this house. I'm currently 10w5d along and my next ultrasound is scheduled for 2 weeks from today, it's all very exciting. So far I've had every symptom there is, and while the horrible nausea and all day sickness is slowly getting better it's still not fun. It seems to be clearing up and hopefully will be a thing of the past once we push past the first trimester.

Jack has changed quite a bit since the last update (it has been 6 months lol). He's now running, not walking, everywhere. Constantly moving, throwing balls, making noise, babbling away (sometimes I can understand what he's saying but most of the time it's just jibberish...he's getting there), and testing us. He's getting into trouble and he knows very well what he's not supposed to do but that doesn't mean he listens...he will just look at you, smile knowingly, and go do it anyways. He does come to me after and "say" sorry with a kiss but still, we'll have to work on this listening thing. He loves being outdoors, which means I'll have to come up with a lot of fun indoor activities for us when the snow comes since being outdoors all the time really won't be an option. He also loves "reading" books and if we go to do dishes or something around the house and leave him in the playroom he will just pick a book, sit on either the couch or the floor, and flip through the pages and babble while looking at the pictures. It's pretty cute. He's also seemed to realize when a book is upside-down now and will fix it before continuing to read which is pretty neat since he taught that to himself. We haven't started potty training or anything but we have brought out a potty so he can get used to the idea of it and he does use the potty every night before he goes to bed and gets really excited about it. He's not at a point during the day where he understands that he is going potty in his diaper and could communicate so we'll just keep up with the at night routine until he's at that point and then the full on potty training begins. Oh joy! It would be nice to have him out of diapers before the next little arrives and we start all over again lol.

I don't have anything else to share at the moment so I'll just catch you up with some pictures from the spring/summer/early fall (be prepared...there are A LOT)...

Before his first haircut...

After the haircut :)

Much Love.

Slow down.

2011-04-18T12:23:00.000-04:00

Time seems to be flying around here and I can't believe it has been over two months since we posted! Jack has been one for 2 days, and it's so bittersweet. On one hand I want him to stay little forever, but at the same time it's so exciting to watch him explore this big world and grow and learn every day.

Jack is now crawling around everywhere (not army crawling either!) and is crazy fast. He is pulling himself to stand up and walking around with the help of our furniture and his toys. He has 10 (soon to be 12) teeth including 4 molars....which is not a fun process. He eats anything and everything (except pureed foods) and has made the switch from formula to milk, which he LOVES. He babbles A LOT and most of the time he sounds so serious when doing so...like what he is saying is so important that you have to listen. He can throw a good temper tantrum (if you can call those good), likes to turn the light switch off when you leave a room, waves hello and goodbye, claps his hands, and most importantly...is generally a very happy boy.

I take a lot of pictures which most of you see on facebook but have managed to put together a little slideshow from Jack's first year...I hope the next year goes by a little slower than this one did...time sure flies when you're having fun :) To view the slideshow go here: http://www.bittersweet-photography.com/?p=3076

Much Love

Oh my goodness!

2011-02-07T16:19:00.000-05:00

Well it's certainly been a while since we've posted! In all the excitement of moving and report card writing we got a little behind in our corner of the web. We're here now though, so don't worry!

Things have been pretty crazy. We moved to a new house, Matt started and finished (yay!!!) writing report cards for his class (that is A LOT of work...I have a whole new respect for teachers), Jack has weekly swimming lessons and is now army crawling EVERYWHERE, and of course he is attracted to anything and everything he's not supposed to get into. It's fun.

There are a lot of things happening in February that I'm very excited about. I'm teaching a baby posing workshop for newborn photographers at the end of the month with my photography pal Kelly. I've started taking a photo-a-day of Jack for February and will be sharing those images on my business blog (http://www.bittersweet-photography.com) shortly so be sure to check there (they are posted on facebook at the moment if you're friends with me :))! I get some visit time with my favourite twins (Liv and Gab) and last but certainly not least I get to photograph my first couple newborns in my very own studio! Yay!

Thanks for reading to the end, I'm sure we'll have more to share shortly and in the meantime here are some pictures of our tiny boy...

Much Love.

Picture extravaganza!

2011-01-12T11:14:00.000-05:00

Remember those pictures I promised? Here they are!

Much Love.

Time flies...

2011-01-08T23:26:00.001-05:00

There is so much going on around here it's just pure craziness. We've started packing since there are only 3 weeks until we move, and I have 8 to-do lists on the go...I'm sure there are duplicate items on each but it's still insane. I remember why I hate moving and we've only just started, but I know it's worth it since we'll have double the space AND be right across the street from Matt's work so he can walk (seriously, mapquest said it's 23 seconds) and come home for lunch sometimes. Also, I get a studio space...which will be awesome since I'll finally be able to use a bunch of the props I've collected but not been able to bring to my clients home because there just isn't room. We also aren't searching/deciding on where to hold Jack's first birthday party anymore since we'll be able to do it ourselves (yay!).

I can't believe Jack is almost 9 months old already, he's getting so big and I'm really noticing the changes on a daily basis. Sometimes he wakes up from a nap looking older! He's getting very close to crawling but seems quite happy just rolling himself around so who knows when he'll acquire that skill (and I'll be fine if he waits a little longer if it means I don't have to chase him quite yet lol). He also started swimming lessons with Daddy today and it was SO wonderful to watch. He splashed and chatted almost the whole time and didn't cry at all...though that wasn't very surprising since he would live in the bathtub if we let him. We're only allowed to take pictures on one of the days (week 5) so I'll be taking advantage of that and posting tons that day :)

Since I have a session to prep for tomorrow I will go, but I'll come back during the week to share a bunch of pictures with you :)

Much Love.

PS - I'm holding a contest on my business site and would love if you could go and vote over there (it's quick and easy, all you have to do is select a picture and hit vote!) - http://www.bittersweet-photography.com/?p=2786 Thanks!

Number 100

2010-12-31T17:12:00.002-05:00

Oh wow, apparently we've posted 100 posts as of now! I'm pretty sure most of those have been profound thoughts and observations made by me, but I think Nik had some small part in getting to that awesome number. Anyway, we have a house now. Yep.

Really it's another rental, but it's certainly a large step up from where we're finishing out our time now. The Newmarket house is great, and I love our landlords, but the space has been a consistent issue for months. Now, with Christmas finished and so much new stuff to keep Jack busy, we have run out of room. My Spider-Man room has been hit by a landmine for all intents and purposes, and the only real organization exists in my filing cabinet. Of course, the amount of papers not in that filing cabinet that should be there is copious, but that's neither here nor there. So this new place happens to be DIRECTLY ACROSS from the school where I hope to be working for the rest of the year. As far as I know, I'm teaching grade 3 until June (wicked) but that's a whole other thing and I don't want to get into that now.

The new place is a palace comparatively. Where we're coming from has a single floor with 3 bedrooms, a single bathroom and no garage or other storage space. New Place (henceforth, this is what it will be known as) has 2 large floors, easily doubling what we have now. Plus, there's an unfinished basement that is perfect for storing all those things that are in haphazard places around the house. Like the bed frame in with the washer or the Christmas decorations in our bedroom closet. The backyard is small, but definitely manageable, while the garage will easily hold our car, as well as a bunch of other stuff. We can't wait to get in there, which happens on the last weekend in January - 4 weeks from now. It's a huge deal.

Of course, this last post of the year would be hugely lacking if I didn't mention the Jackness that's happening right now. He's gotten the better part of a Fisher Price toy aisle in our house now, and he loves it! He's so, SO close to crawling, and he's even said 'mama' a couple of times. Not too long until he says 'dada' I think. I'm very excited for that. I promise I'll be back soon to talk about Jack, Nikki and our awesone life together. And to be clear, I don't use that adjective lightly. My life is awesome on so many different levels. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Christmas Eve

2010-12-24T10:44:00.003-05:00

Oh boy, it's Jack's first Christmas Eve! We both woke up this morning with huge smiles on our faces - me because I knew how cool today would be for him, and him because he's a happy boy. But the point is that this will be his first exposure to the Christmas Eve tradition with Nikki's side of the family. Already he's scored some neat toys and a collection of books from his Nana and Papa, and there's more to come later tonight at Old Grandma's. I feel the holidays of the past few years have been not so much of a let-down, but certainly not as exciting as I had hoped. This year has been different though, in that I don't need to be excited for myself, but I'm pumped for Jack. His reactions and interactions are what I'm focusing on, and it's been great.

He's getting so close to crawling now too. He's a pro at rolling to get where he wants to go, and he often performs the motions of crawling with his arms and legs, but he stops short of actually moving across the floor. It's coming soon though, which is amazing.

Finally, I assume anybody reading this already knows, but Nikki and I are engaged. Our anniversary is on December 18th, a solid week before Christmas, so we've gotten into the habit of exchanging gifts on that day for both occasions. This year, I decided to stop screwing around and give her the ring. It's exciting and - so far as I know - expected. I always believed that we didn't need an official ceremony and all of that to declare that we're partners for life, but I do think it will be cool and another good chance for all of our friends and family to get together. And Jack can play a role too. Anyway, Merry Christmas to all of you. We'll talk again soon. And look for pictures of Jack on Facebook, keychains, mantles, walls, etc.

Job Well Done

2010-12-20T16:52:00.008-05:00

Knowing how disappointed we were that he had eaten our last 2 cupcakes Norman decided to make things right, in the form of COOKIES! He made chocolate chunk cookies from scratch and they were fabulous...he did need a little help because all of our bowls (and even the ingredients!) were bigger than him but it was a nice gesture.

Don't worry Norman, we forgive you :)

Much Love

Really Norman?...Really?!

2010-12-19T12:32:00.001-05:00

We woke up the other day and found our beloved Norman in a very compromising situation. You see we had made some cupcakes for a staff holiday party at Matt's school and he brought 2 home with him. Wouldn't you know it, Norman ate them both! We were shocked, he was embarrassed - though cheerful.

Norman, you may want to consider laying off the chocolate for a while...

Much Love

Norman and Friends

2010-12-18T15:23:00.000-05:00

Norman found some north pole friends in our house today. They sing christmas carols so Norman joined in on the fun - he sure is enjoying himself in our house.

Much Love.

A Relaxing Day for Norman

2010-12-17T09:52:00.000-05:00

Today we found Norman going through our movies deciding what he wanted to watch. He thought about it for a while before finally deciding on his favourite...for obvious reasons...

Much Love

Thanks Norman :)

2010-12-16T08:17:00.000-05:00

When we woke up today we found Norman decorating our tree. He's pretty sure that it needs a few more ornaments so he decided to put them on himself - he did pretty good and I'll have to get a picture of the tree before next week.

Much Love.

Meet Norman.

2010-12-15T14:01:00.009-05:00

Christmas is only 10 days away. TEN. Thankfully I'm done Christmas shopping and everything is wrapped and under the tree. Jack still enjoys looking at the lights when they are on. Loki has decided her new "spot" is squished under the tree between all the presents...sometimes I hear her playing with the tinsel but she's pretty good most of the time and the tree is still in it's upright position. We also have a new friend from the North Pole who's been visiting for a few days now. Santa sent him to keep an eye on Jack and make sure he's behaving. He reports back to Santa each night and shows up in the morning in a new "situation" in our house. Jack doesn't really notice him yet but it will be fun to have him around as he gets older. He told us in his letter that he was a little late this year because he was on vacation but next year he plans on arriving on December 1st so he can spend more with us before heading back to the North pole on Christmas eve. Our elf's name is Norman and over the next 9 days I'll be document our time with him :)

Meet Norman...

Today we found him tasting Jack's formula...verdict is still out on the taste :P

Much Love.

Sigh.

2010-12-14T23:54:00.003-05:00

Things are going well and I don't have too much to say right this very minute so I'll just leave you with a couple pictures of two of my favourite girlies and then my little man in the snow :)

Much Love.

He's grown....

2010-12-09T01:05:00.003-05:00

One of the first questions I get asked when talking to someone (concerning Jack) is "How is he sleeping?"...when I answer (and a lot of the time I almost feel bad answering because I know we're lucky) that he sleeps 13 hours at night I always get different variations on how that means he's a good baby. Now, I'm not in any way saying that he's not a good baby, he really is great, but I just don't get how to a lot of people "sleep" is the determining factor on what makes a baby "good". I mean really...would you really call a baby "bad"?? But I digress.

Today Jack was cranky, whiney, and generally not himself. He has a fever, really red cheeks, and you can tell he's sad. Which in turn, makes us sad. I know it'll pass and his fever has already started to come down (I keep checking it) but I don't like when I can't really do anything for him and he can't tell me exactly what he wants. Hopefully he's feeling better for the Herdman Christmas Party on Saturday. We are very excited to go, and take lots of pictures this time!

Anywho, I should get back to work but wanted to share a comparison shot with you all...there is another one of these coming but I haven't gotten to it yet :P

Here is Jack at 3 weeks old in the teacup:

And here he is again a 7 months in the teacup (I have one with the red hat too but can't find it right now...must be on a card I haven't transferred yet):

He's grown a little (see his two top teeth poking out too?!) :P

Much Love.

Jack's visit with Santa

2010-12-04T09:30:00.000-05:00

So we went to visit Santa and get our picture done last night (and get Jack a new winter coat and shoes). They have this thing in Newmarket where if you pre-purchase your Santa picture or a package you get a fast pass to see Santa, essentially skipping the line. I was all for that knowing I wanted a happy baby on Santa's lap. So we went and did our shopping first since Santa was eating dinner. Jack LOVED looking at everyone in the mall, checking out the lights - clothes - toys...everything. Once we went back to visit Santa there was a bit of a line...not huge but not small. We went to the fast pass section where there was only 1 person ahead of us - awesome. Now, people in the bigger line weren't too thrilled but between the fast pass people about 2 people from the other line would go. It worked out for us since Matt teaches the kids that we went in front of. Anywho - Jack LOVED Santa. He played with the fur on his sleeves, looked up at him with a big smile, and seemed to have a wonderful time! We got our picture in the first shot and that was that. It was a great first year with Santa and we're crossing our fingers that next year goes similarly...we shall see lol.

I can't wait until Christmas :)

Much Love,
Nicole

All caught up....pic heavy

2010-12-02T14:49:00.000-05:00

I can't believe I'm saying this but *I AM CAUGHT UP!*. That's right. Now I get to have me time again lol - yeah...right. I finally tackled my to-do's and the insane amount of editing I had so now it's time to jump into the christmas prep! Our tree went up on Nov.21 while we watched the Santa Claus parade. We had fun and Jack LOVED looking at the lights - I'll have to get a picture to show you...watch for it in later posts (now that I actually have time to post lol). Right at this very moment I'm editing some pics I took of Jack recently (and not so recently) and putting together our holiday card...we'll see if that happens or not or you all end up with surprise digital copies :P I'm aiming for a print one though! (It's the thought that counts right?)

Other than the craziness of the (very quickly) approaching holidays there really isn't too much happening around here. Jack still has his 5 teeth, though #6 looks like it will make an appearance soon enough. He loves his food, though he definitely prefers to feed himself whole foods rather than having purees from a spoon. Some of his favourite things are: toast, avocado, banana, shredded cheese, and broccoli. He loves pretty much everything he tries but those are going to be staples around here it seems.

Now my favourite part of all these post...sharing the pictures! This post is quite pic heavy since I'm catching up so I hope you enjoy it...

Jack prefers to sleep sideways in his crib...

Tummy time...

Bath Time

Relax time with Daddy

In his Jumperoo

Told you he loves avocado...

Something was quite shocking outside the car...

Jack loves giving us kisses, it's pretty darn cute.

I love his blue eyes.

and his smiles.

seriously. he has incredible eyelashes, i am jealous.

He makes one darn cute teddy bear, this one will be a canvas in our living room.

his chubby hands and feet are adorable too.

He's getting ready for the holidays.

i love this one.

And a question for all the parents out there...

What kinds of things should go into a baby's stocking for Christmas?

I'm having trouble coming up with ideas.

Much Love.

Teething is fun.

2010-11-19T16:22:00.001-05:00

See that title up there? It is a lie. Sorry. Teething is not fun, at all. Lucky for us it seems to last about a week and then we have our happy baby back, and a few days later - teeth! Jack got his first tooth on October 24 and the second came 2 days later. We noticed that he's been extra fussy for the past few days and didn't want to drink his bottle (regardless of the temperature) so we were pretty sure teeth were on the way. This time around didn't take nearly as long as the first 2 teeth though, his top tooth popped through today and looks like the other top front tooth will follow very soon. I can't believe how big he is getting already!

He loves story time and playtime and definitely LOVES mealtimes - mainly the part of it that involves his veggies/fruit. He's starting to actually play with more of his toys, investigating them and seeing what each thing does and loves making the music start on his little train.

One of the best things he's started doing lately is giving hugs and kisses. I won't lie here, I love it too - even if it means I end up covered in drool because he hasn't grasped that he should/can close his mouth when kissing. He doesn't do it all the time but it's one of those moments I want to freeze forever. He grabs you and pulls you in nuzzling himself into you until you reciprocate the hug. Then after he smiles, opens his mouth (this part I can do without lol) and dives in for a kiss. He doesn't bite or anything. I need to get a video of it...it's adorable lol.

I have to get back to work, so I leave you with this video of Jack...he's ready for Christmas :)

Much Love.

Notice anything new?

2010-11-15T13:43:00.004-05:00

I'm slowly crossing things off the insane to-do list and am definitely looking forward to relaxing a little bit. During one of my "breaks" I put together a holiday blog header for above and we decided that we'd like to change the name of the blog. Matt came up with Baby Steps and we thought it was perfect since it so perfectly summarizes this new adventure with Jack.

Since things will slow down around here by the end of the week that means I'll have much more time to post and update you all on Jack's adventures...and post a lot more pictures. None for today, but I do have a rolling video :)

Enjoy!

Much Love.

Crazy.

2010-11-10T22:05:00.000-05:00

I have never been so busy in my life. It's insane. I have an insane amount of sessions to edit (I will be cutting back on the number of sessions a month, especially in fall, from now on) and Jack has been sick so it's been a stressfilled house. Thankfully Jack has adjusted to the time change but his morning nap seems to be horrible lately...it used to be 2.5 to 3 hours and now it's lucky if he's down for 45 minutes. That would be fine except he's clearly still tired and very cranky, not sure what to do about that yet - hopefully it's just because he doesn't feel great (not that that is good or anything). We shall see, I definitely miss the long nap - I could get so much done!

I'm excited to be able to relax, very soon I hope. Once I get these sessions edited things will slow down. I have a few sessions on the books for November but because September and October were so crazy I made sure to only take a couple so I could recover. Don't worry, I still LOVE my job...really how could you not when it means you get to see "tiny humans" all the time :)

My Christmas shopping is nearly complete...and lists are made. Now I just have a few things to get and hopefully that means I don't have to enter a mall (except to do the "traditional" Santa photo - I so wish I booked with you for that Kel!) during the holiday craziness. I may offer a Santa day next year though, didn't work out this year but I did sent a letter to the jolly old fellow asking if he'd be willing to come for a day next year so we'll see what he says. I'll keep you posted ;)

This year marks the start of all kinds of traditions (both old and new) for the holiday season. I am SO excited. I'll be much more diligent about posting on here once things slow down in a week or so...I can't wait! In the meantime, here are a TON of images I wanted to share (taken between September and now). Enjoy!

Jack still enjoys eating time...

The girlies are still gorgeous as ever and we miss them terribly!

Jack loves playing with Great Gramma

I don't think I could love this boy any more than I already do...

A fun outtake from a family session I did :)

Jack LOVES his toys...a lot.

Grandma and Grandpa had a half birthday party for Jack, with a half cake too!

He loved the leafs jersey he got too, clearly there was no option of liking another team lol

Jack thinking about strategies for the leafs to start winning again...

He fits in our little family perfectly.

Jack loves playing with his daddy

AND last but not least, he was mighty cute for his first Halloween...

Much Love.

2010-11-03T22:30:00.003-04:00

I'm having so much fun with Jack. I can't say it any plainer than that. The boy has totally taken over my life and made me really tired generally, but it's in such a good way. I go through every day when I'm at work thinking about how excited I am to see him when I get home, and that excitement builds to a fever pitch when I'm a couple minutes from pulling in to the driveway. It's such a cool feeling because I know that - if he's awake - he will give me the biggest smile when I yell out to greet him.

It's amazing how he's grown into himself too. I often spend a good 5 or 10 minutes changing his diaper so I can just play around and stare at him (in alternating periods of course). Watching him develop his dexterity is so cool, knowing that a couple months ago he could do little more with his hands than flail them around wildly. Now he does things like grab at my face and pull on my nose, and puts his pacifier in his mouth when he can reach it. And the laugh.... man, I don't even know how to describe it. When he is genuinely happy, which is frequent, he giggles like a pro. I always try to get him giggling when he's in a playful mood by grabbing him and swinging him down towards the ground and kissing his cheeks, which he seems to love. Or I just throw him above me and hope for the best. No, I don't just drop him, why would you even think that.

Anyway, lots of stuff is happening right now at work and in all these other areas of my life, but nothing comes close to being as important as Jack and Nikki. I've always had a good life, but what I have now is more than that. It's spectacular.

Updates and some new pictures :)

2010-10-30T00:11:00.011-04:00

Well, October is just about over now - I can't believe it. October is always a roller coaster of emotions for us but this year was different in so many ways. Jack helped immensely, even on his teething days, and always put a smile on our faces. So I must thank him for that...really though, how could you not smile at this?

Told you.

I know we haven't updated this blog in quite some time and while Matt doesn't really have an excuse I have been in crazy photographer mode between shooting, editing, and proofing with clients. I currently have 18 sessions to edit and proof and a few November shoots to get done too...these are the crazy days for a lot of photographers before this slow down at Christmas and the start of the new year. I am looking forward to relaxing and being able to focus on taking Jack's pictures again...and edit them in a reasonable time frame rather than 6 weeks later lol.

Here is Jack's opinion of the amount of work I have to get done...

That was also the look on my face when I finished writing the longest to-do list I've ever had.

This weekend is Jack's first Halloween so even though I have a zillion things to do (even 1 session on Halloween itself...darn rain making me reschedule things) we are going to go to a pumpkin patch, take some cute pictures, and spend some family time together. I can't wait and I will absolutely find time to post some pictures on here and update you all on our fun filled weekend. One thing on my to-do list is to regularly update the blog so hopefully I can manage 2 posts a week!

So what's new with Jack...well...he has 2 teeth! His two bottom teeth have popped through and he is now the happiest baby since he's no longer in pain. It's quite wonderful...

Could you spot the teeth? Getting a picture of them was no easy task!

We have also started doing some Baby Led Weaning, basically meaning we give him real food rather than pureed stuff so he can feed himself and learn to chew and swallow rather than just swallow. So far, he LOVES it. He had broccoli for lunch and avocado for dinner today and gobbled them up - I don't know how much of it he actually eats but that's ok - his main source of nutrients is his bottle for the first year. That said, he does LOVE his purees so I haven't taken them away yet. We're still figuring all this out :)

He ate all the broccoli before I grabbed the camera.

Other than that there isn't much that's new, I did post a Birth to 6 Month video of Jack on facebook but I suppose I should link to it here since not everyone has facebook...so here's the lovely video:

And last but not least...here is a sneak peek of Jack in his costume - I'm hoping for better light tomorrow to get some good ones...we'll see!

Cutest dragon I've ever seen :)

Much Love.

A piece of my heart left with you...

2010-10-06T20:42:00.000-04:00

Four years ago today we said hello to our first little boy, and four years ago tomorrow we said goodbye. That seems like such a long time, it seems like it should be enough time to be okay with everything, or enough time to not be reminded of him every single day, but it's not. When Zachary passed away he took a piece of my heart with him, one that I will never get back.

You never do recover from the loss of a child. Back when Zachary passed away quite a few people said that to me, and at the time the thought of recovery was something I didn't even want to think about. With time though comes understanding and while the original statement is absolutely true, I've tried to figure out what recovery means in this situation. If it means that I go back to being the person I was before Zachary, then no, I will never recover. You can't hold your child in your arms as he takes his last breath and not be a different person after. Watching your hopes and dreams drift away, and pain and sadness fill your heart. It hurts, a lot - and the pain will always be there. A piece of me is missing but I'd rather feel the pain than forget. Life goes on regardless and the pain remains, though it's not as razor sharp as before. So recovered? No. Changed? Yes.

I can't imagine where I would be if not for some of the amazing friends and family that showed us so much love when we needed it most. Equally devastated family who opened up their doors (and basements) to house us when we couldn't bear to be at home just yet, friends who dropped everything that night we called to tell them and came over to talk, family and friends who made us laugh, cried with us, and just listened. To each and every one of you, thank you.

Today will be hard, and I'm so grateful that we have Jack to put some smiles on our faces and help us face the day regardless of how prepared we may be for it. To anyone out there who is remembering our handsome little man, sending us love and support, thank you. I just ask that today you give your kids a little extra love and savour each moment you get to spend with them. Extra hugs and kisses never hurt anyone :)

To Zachary, I miss you more than words can say. Wish you were here. Love, mommy.

Much Love

Look closely and you can see the cheeky smile on Jack's face as he was talking to his big brother's teddy. I cried tears that were both happy and sad. It was a bittersweet moment.

Photo Credit: http://www.kellygemmell.com/ - thank you so much Kel :)

Special Moment

2010-09-27T00:23:00.004-04:00

This weekend I got to be on the other side of the camera and it was awesome. I was a bit apprehensive going in only because even though I photograph people on a very regular basis I wasn't exactly sure what to do...thankfully I have an incredible photographer friend named Kelly (http://www.kellygemmell.com) who managed to capture some really special moments for us.

It's coming up to October and as most of you know that's a very reflective month for us. Our first little man was born, and passed away due to a heart condition at the beginning of October 2006. I wanted to include him in our photos somehow and when I was going through the things we have of his I knew exactly how I wanted it done. So when we arrived for our session today I mentioned the idea and off we went. Kel and I set up the picnic scene and she captured what is quite possibly my favourite image...a moment that I will never forget...Jack having a picnic with Zachary's teddy. While she was snapping Jack was talking away to the bear, smiling and chatting, I hid it well but I was definitely crying.

Kelly thank you SO much for capturing that incredible moment for us. It means so much to Matt and I to have a photo that includes both our boys together in some way and this is exactly what I wanted. You did an amazing job and made being on the other side of the camera a great experience. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

And now...the image that made me cry the second I saw it:

Much Love

It's been a while...I know...

2010-09-22T21:00:00.000-04:00

Wow. It's been a crazy couple months and I think I'm just now getting caught up. Not too much is new, Jack enjoyed his first Canada Day spending some time with Grandma&Grandpa while Matt and I got to go out for our first date night since baby - we saw ECLIPSE! I enjoyed it, Matt made fun of it....a good night was had by all :)

The next few days were spend packing/preparing for our week long adventure at the cottage. Besides the excruciating heat the cottage did not disappoint! It was awesome, and I have some ridiculous amount of pics to show for it...I won't post them all, just a few favs...

I can't believe how quickly summer flew by after that...I don't even remember a lot of the details but it was fun! Now that fall is here, it's busy photography season (time for all those family photos for the holidays!) but I intend on keeping this site up to date as well...we'll say we took a summer hiatus this year :)

Anywho, hope your summers were fun too and just so you can compare...here is a recent (taken yesterday) photo of Jack - he's getting big!

Much Love

2010-06-27T23:11:00.003-04:00

I don't really have that much to say that everyone doesn't know already. Jack's gotten so big and he's making all these awesome little coos and gurgles. I'm having so much fun just sitting with him and talking, or playing around with him. He's doing a lot more now than just sleeping, which is great because, frankly, he was kind of boring before. I mean I get that his whole motivation was a one-two, sleep-eat kind of thing, but that's no excuse for being so predictable. Seriously though, everything is just a little bit more fun now, especially because every day he is closer to approaching some kind of milestone. He holds his head up almost exclusively on his own now, something that was impossible for him to do a few weeks ago. And the smiling thing has been worth every bout of howling and extremely dirty diapers, because I can honestly say with a whole lot of confidence that he smiles at ME. That's a huge thing for me.
I think one of the things I've noticed most about myself in regards to Jack is that I'm a lot more confident in my abilities to look after him. I handle him a lot easier and know that he's not going to break. Actually, Nikki doesn't know this, but sometimes I bend a limb in awkward positions and just keep pushing it until just before the point where it would snap. Just to see how far he can go. Except that thing I just said is a lie. I'm sorry. So I play with him and I know the things to do if he is crying, and I'm okay with letting him cry himself to sleep sometimes because I know he's been taken care of in every way possible. I dunno, it's hard to explain for me. I was never scared of being alone with him, but I kind of was. Nikki is so good at handling babies in general and him in particular, that I always just followed her example whenever I could. I initially thought that I would pale in comparison to her and the things that she did to take care of him, but I've gotten better with that I think. I'm okay with being with Jack for a bit by myself, because I know I can feed him, change him, comfort him and play with him just fine. I guess I've grown in that way.

i love him.

2010-06-21T13:55:00.005-04:00

When we decided to start trying again last year I was excited, we both were, but I was also nervous because I never knew if I could love a new baby as much as I loved Zachary. We had so many ideas of the type of baby that he would have been, and the things he would accomplish but we never experienced any of it and because of that he would always remain the perfect baby - regardless of if he would have ended up screaming 24 hours a day for the first year of life...we would never know. While I had come to terms with all of that I was still fearful that maybe this new baby wouldn't "measure up" - what if he/she was colicky and just screamed all the time? Would I be resentful? angry? There were so many things running through my head. I couldn't replace Zachary (nor did I ever want to) and I didn't want this new child to feel like they weren't as important as their older brother (because we would never ever not tell them about Zachary). It was hard, but I knew I would still love this new baby.

Fast forward to 9.5 weeks ago...I knew I loved the tiny boy. I loved him just as much as I loved his brother - no question. I was still scared, but for different reasons now, health reasons. I can say all this now because we're past that, WAY past that. When Jack was born things happened VERY similarly to what happened when Zachary was born (far to similarly if you ask me). Delivery was fine, though his heartrate dipped a bit at one point during labour because his cord was around his neck) and he screamed when he came out - all good. He scored fantastically on his APGAR's (9 and 9) but then he started grunting and the nurses didn't like that - they called the NICU who came down to take a look. I wasn't worried at this point because he looked great, and honestly, I was in a daze (and could barely see because of all the tears I was trying to hold back...not sure why now that I think about it). And then it happened...they took him way. I told Matt to go with him, and then it was just me - everyone was gone (though my nurse kept coming in and out to check on me) and it was just like it had been with Zachary. I broke down. I was terrified that they missed something on an ultrasound, or the echo, and that he wasn't going to be okay after all. I couldn't lose another baby. Time passed (incredibly slowly I might add) and with each passing minute my stress level rose...nobody was coming to update me. I thought someone would at least tell me something, and the fact that they hadn't maybe meant that there wasn't time because things were getting worse. My mind jumped to a million scenarios, all of them bad. After an hour and a half my epidural was allowed to come out and I could go to the NICU, so off I went...when I was wheeled in Matt came over (and he was happy as can be, which helped, but I think I still yelled at him (nicely) for not updating me once or even telling the family in the waiting room that he was born) and told me what was up. He was fine. That didn't stop me from quietly gasping when I was him in his bed. He looked exactly like his brother, wires, IV, the difference being that he was on CPAP instead of actual Oxygen - though to me it all looks the same. I almost broke down again, but I let Matt explain first and then I calmed down. He was fine - he would be fine, that was all I needed but it was still hard. The week that followed was long and trying. He would overcome one obstacle only to be pushed back by something else. It was even more frustrating that we didn't know when he would be coming home...then he failed that damn carseat test and had to wait an extra day. Overall it was a rough week. But I still loved him.

Fast forward to 2 weeks ago...mommy-hood had been bliss for the first 6-7ish weeks, he truly was an incredible baby. He slept and ate pretty much all the time (in 4 hour stretches) and life was good. Then something happened. Gas happened. Not sure why but it started affecting him very negatively at this point and he just couldn't get to sleep because when we put him down he would either throw up and wake himself up and then scream because his tummy hurt or he would just scream and continuously bring his knees to his chest until he farted 10 times and stunk up our room - at this point he would continue screaming because now he didn't want to sleep anymore. It sucked, but I still loved him.

Fast forward to today...the tiny boy is finally starting to feel better (though drooling and chewing like crazy (mostly on his hands or arms but he chews on peoples shoulders when available). We switched him to a gentlease formula and it has made an incredible difference in him. He still burps like a champ, and farts on occasion, but it's nothing like before - and he doesn't scream bloody murder like he did either. That said, there are days when this sweet tiny boy is FAR from sweet (though still tiny). He screams, yells, is not calm down-able, and leaves both his daddy and me sitting clueless wondering what else we can possibly do. I'm not going to pretend that those days don't exist, though most other people never see him like that (he hides it well) and don't believe us when we say it happens. Those days, however, are few and far between (thank goodness). All of that said, he is still fantastic. He is cooing, smiling, and melting our hearts more and more with each passing day.

My fears of not loving him as much are gone. They are both my boys, and I love them equally and always will.

For now, I leave you with this video of the tiny boy...he's pretty darn cute if you ask me!

Much Love

Funny Quote of the Day

2010-06-09T18:07:00.002-04:00

"So tell me again why we shouldn't hit him?" - Matt

Out of context it sounds pretty bad but I should explain that he meant tapping him on the back while burping Jack. Regardless, we both laughed hysterically.

Also, here is a picture of Jack and I...Oh how I love him :)

Much Love

Tuesday in the Crib

2010-06-08T21:49:00.001-04:00

Yep, he's cute...and he knows it.

Much Love

incredible.

2010-06-05T02:04:00.002-04:00

I'm sitting here running on 3 hours of sleep with a messy house an aching back and a to-do list 2 pages long - and I am overjoyed because none of it matters. The last 7 weeks have been the most incredible days and nights I've ever experienced...of course there were bad days, long days (and nights), and trying times but I wouldn't change it for the world. Jack is quite simply, amazing. I know that must sound cliche coming from his mom but I just can't get over how quickly this one little person has entered and taken over our lives (in a good way!). He is everything we ever wanted and more and right now I am just trying to soak up all his "littleness" before it goes away. He is growing so quickly and each and every day is different and new. He started cooing this week and it's adorable, he's also started giving us real smiles (not gas) and let me tell you that when I walk into his room to get him from a nap and he smiles at me it melts my heart (and it certainly makes up for the screaming fits while he was sick lol). I just can't believe he's mine, there are so many dreams we have for him but really I just want him to take it slow - be a kid, and experience life in the happiest way possible. Most of all, we want him to know that we love him - more than he could ever know - and we will always be here for him. The End.

Now for some cuteness...

Much Love

Tuesday in the Crib

2010-06-03T13:37:00.004-04:00

So I'm going to make this a weekly thing - I know it's late this week but but Jack was sick this week so all plans went out the window...he seems to be doing better now so a big yay for that! Now back to this "in the crib" business...I'm going to (or Matt will) take a picture of Jack in his crib every Tuesday for the foreseeable future, I think it will be fun to put them side by side at the end of the year and see how much he's growing :)

So yeah, Random Tuesday in the Crib will now be a regular feature, enjoy!

Here are 2 snaps that Matt took today, ignore the no makeup/terrible hair lol - it was a long day yesterday and this was quite early this morning :P

Much Love

The first 6 weeks...

2010-06-01T16:45:00.001-04:00

We are almost at week 7 of Jack being here with us so we put together some of the videos we've taken (there are A LOT) for all of you to see...

Much Love

Little boy + cold = :(

2010-05-30T20:20:00.002-04:00

Jack has had a cold for the past few days, he seems to be getting over it now but it stinks that there is nothing we can really do for him. Doc says just to let it run it's course, so besides sucking his nose out with a babyvac (thanks Kelly!!) we are just giving him extra snuggles and kisses.

Even with all of that he's still being cute...

Much Love

Random Tuesday in the Crib...

2010-05-25T21:40:00.002-04:00

So when we went in Jack's room briefly this is how we found him...

Normally he is swaddled but he seems to wiggle out quite well.

Much Love

2010-05-24T20:52:00.004-04:00

Clearly, I haven't been making an effort to write in this myself very often. I have a couple excuses though; first, people who read this probably also have Facebook accounts, and likely follow any Jack-related hijinx on there. Second, I've been kind of busy! Some of you reading this know exactly what having a child is like, and some of you don't. Let me tell you though, the difference before and after that inevitable, crazy event (birth) is like night and day. You know how people often link very specific, often horrific events, as a marker of things that came before and after? I'm talking about things like before the World Wars and after, pre-September 11th and post-September 11th. Anyway, now I see things that happened and will eventually happen in a similar fashion - I call it 'Before Jack's Birth' and 'After Jack's Birth'.

It's been over a month since Jack arrived, and things have been more different for me since then than they have been at any other point in my life. I mean, it's not like I was addicted to heroin and partying every night before he came, but the mindset and day-to-day living are drastically different. And this is not in a bad way, oh no. It's at the point now where I'm having a tough time imagining being at this point in my life and not having Jack around. Even though, for the longest time, I was adamant that I wanted to have a steady job and more than half a house to live in before having a child, I can't imagine what would be going on right now without Jack here with us. I always hoped my kids would never have to put up with me as a 'semi-employed individual', as I like to call myself, but I don't mind it at all anymore. He's motivation for me to get that contract with nice, cushy perks and benefits. And on those days I don't work for whatever reason, I'm not too upset that I get to stay home with a little guy who finds just about everything to be new and exciting.

As you all know from Nikki's posts, things are fantastic with us. I find myself constantly enjoying my time with Jack, while simultaneously looking forward to what happens in the future. Right now, I'm pretty excited that he'll soon be able to hold his head up all by himself. And I figure that if I'm excited about something as simple as that, then I have a lot to look forward to.

Jack rolls over!

2010-05-23T21:12:00.002-04:00

He did this 3 times today, and while it may have been a fluke we're just glad we got it on video :)

Much Love

Meeting Grannie!

2010-05-17T21:39:00.003-04:00

So I love comparison shots, and of course when I found this old image of Grannie & Me when I was born I had to put it beside the image of Grannie & Jack this past weekend...I still think he looks quite a bit like me (but with bits of Matt here and there lol)...Of to meet Papoo (Matt's grandfather) tomorrow :)

Much Love

Happy Birthday Aunt Christy!

2010-05-10T10:43:00.005-04:00

Jack wanted to do something special for his Aunt Christy's birthday so we helped him with a video...here it is!

Plus, a video showing that he signed the birthday card himself (kind of) :)

Much Love

So what do you think?

2010-05-05T12:09:00.003-04:00

I am constantly told that Jack looks like me, while Matt is told he looks like Matt...we find it amusing because we both think he looks like a combination of the two of us (which makes sense really lol). Anywho, time to pull out the old baby pics and make comparisons that way...

This is Matt on the left, Jack in the middle, and me on the right...so who do you think he looks more like?

Much Love

Has it really been 2 weeks?!?

2010-04-30T21:26:00.003-04:00

I can't believe how quickly time has gone by since we had Jack. He's already 2 weeks old and while we are still getting to know him it is going wonderfully. He's everything I imagined and more...I wouldn't change a thing!

Jack's been doing awesome, he basically just sleeps - eats - and poops but when he is awake he's very amusing to watch and interact with. I seriously could watch him all day long.

Anywho, we have a VERY busy weekend ahead with Jack meeting a bunch of new (and old) people so off to bed we go!

Enjoy these pics...I do!

the many faces of Jack...there are more faces but I haven't gotten them yet...

and one from my mini-session with Matt/Jack today...I love them so much...

Much Love

And he's home!

2010-04-24T20:59:00.004-04:00

So today was a somewhat nerve-wracking day...until 3:15pm at least. All we have been waiting on for the last 2 days was for Jack to pass his car seat test. They do this test on preemies to make sure that don't have apnea spells or stop breathing while sitting in their carseats as it is not a great position for them to be in when they are so little. The test basically involves the baby sitting in the carseat for 90 minutes with the monitors on making sure that they don't desat.

Jack failed this test the first time we took it so we had to wait 48 hours for him to do it again. He passed with flying colours this time around so we got to finally bring him home today! It's been a wonderful afternoon and we are excited to start this adventure :)

Here is a video Matt took of Jack coming home...it's pretty quick, and Matt is loud but oh well...

Much Love

Already a week old!

2010-04-23T15:24:00.003-04:00

I can't believe I/we have a one week old. He's spent the first week in the hospital but time still managed to fly by (no we don't have a coming home update yet). He's eating really well and we're headed there soon to give him a nice bath (hopefully it's a nice bath at least and not a screaming fit, we shall see) and some more food. He seems to be developing a nice schedule so we'll see if that sticks when it's finally time to take him home (here's hoping!). Anywho, keep those fingers and toes crossed that he can come home soon.

HAPPY ONE WEEK BUD, we love you!

Much Love

Good riddance to tubes...

2010-04-22T14:26:00.004-04:00

Jack is doing great and we're hoping we'll be able to take him home soon...again we will update everyone when we know anything so please please please don't call and ask. I promise when we know so will you. They took the low flow air off today so we made sure to take a couple pics without it. Apparently we have a very alert baby, but it's okay because he doesn't really cry unless he wants something, he just likes to see what's going on around him. Anywho, new pics...

Much Love

The perfect day for sunglasses...

2010-04-20T15:14:00.004-04:00

Just wanted to post a few new pics from today (plus some others). Jack is under the UV lights to clear up the jaundice and it seems to be working so far. He is pretty cute in his little sunglasses if I do say so myself. He's eating like a champ so hopefully he keeps that up and starts gaining weight rather than losing it. We're at the hospital every 3 hours to feed him and cuddle so don't be offended if we don't message/call/or whatever you back - he's priority one.

Also, when we know more about his discharge day we will let you all know, you have to be just as patient as we have to be...I know, it stinks.

Anywho, I promised a couple pics so here goes...

Much Love

Jack is here!

2010-04-19T20:59:00.003-04:00

Jack arrived on Friday, April 16, 2010 at 2:23pm. He weighed 5lb 12oz and was 19.5 inches long. He's doing great and we can't wait to get him home :)

Much Love

Update #7

2010-04-12T22:18:00.004-04:00

How far along 35 weeks 5 days
Total weight gain/loss I've gained 14 pounds total...down one from last week but it's okay cause my ankles have returned so i just lost water weight lol
Maternity clothes? I have no regular people clothes that fit - it stinks
Stretch marks? Ugh
Sleep Still normal, just getting more of it, which seems necessary based on the little bit I/we will get soon enough lol
Best moment since last update Being released from the hospital (it was SO boring)
Movement TONS
Food cravings milk, water, chicken wings, butter tarts, ice cream
Gender BOY!
Baby Size (based on height of fundus) Measuring 1 week ahead (36w at 35) (and the ultrasound said 6 pounds last week)
Labor Signs None
Belly Button in or out? Innie.
What I miss sleeping on my back...
What I am looking forward to Having Jack!
Weekly Wisdom I have no wisdom at this point...too tired to think lol

Medical Update: Saw my OB on Monday and my blood pressure has gone up a little bit but not much ...I will go for an NST (non-stress test) again this thurs. I'm ready for this baby to be out...I know, it's a touch early (one week from full term at 37 weeks) but he's measuring BIG and ultrasound showed that he is good and ready. We'll see what happens Thurs!

Much Love

A fun survey...

2010-04-10T19:51:00.005-04:00

Last night while I was bored on bedrest, I perused a few other pregnancy blogs that I usually read. While on one, I found this pregnancy survey on a reader’s blog and thought it would be fun to do since we are nearing the end of this pregnancy.

Hopefully you find it equally interesting…

How did you find out you were pregnant? By taking a home pregnancy test, of course :)

What kind of Pregnancy test did you take? Clearblue

How many? Just one

What were your 1st symptoms? Tiredness and Nausea (fun!)

Who did you tell first? Matt

Who was with you when you found out? Matt

My 1st reaction: Big smile, very excited :)

Was your baby planned? Yes

When was the baby conceived? The dates say my birthday...

How far were you when you found out? 4 weeks (technically 2 but doctors add 2 weeks...it's complicated and you'll know what I mean one day...)

How did your parents react? Super excited.

Due Date: May 14, 2010

Do you know the sex? A fabulous little boy

Any names? Jack...we have a middle name but we aren't sharing

Any Ultrasounds? One dating ultrasound (8 weeks). One NT ultrasound (at 12 weeks). Two at 18 weeks (anatomy ultrasound and fetal echo), one at 28 weeks (the 3D one!), biophysical profile ultrasound at 35 weeks.

Have you heard the heart beat? Of course we have! We hear it at every appointment and I never tire of it.

Who do you think it will look like? No clue...I hope he has traits of both of us.

Will the baby have siblings? A big brother (Zachary) watching over him and hopefully younger siblings in time.

Have you felt the baby move? He moves all of the time. Best. Feeling. In. The. World.

Did you have morning sickness? Ugh, yes. It sucks and is really ALL DAY sickness, forget this morning crap.

Did you have any cravings? McDonalds for a while, ice cream, Mr.Sub, Egg salad sandwiches, orange juice like crazy, crackers...the list goes on

Did you have any mood swings? Of course...poor matt.

Are you a high risk pregnancy? Yes (because of everything with Zachary and the blood pressure issues before) and then we added Gestational Diabetes to the mix...fun!

Any complications? Blood pressure has been on the rise so it looks like we'll be induced soonish.

Formula or Breastfeeding? We're (I'm) going to try breastfeeding to save some cash and b/c it's good for Jack...we'll see how things go!

Have you bought anything for the baby yet? A few things here and there...we have a lot leftover from Zachary and we are getting gifts from people often which is lovely :)

When did you start to show? Around 16 weeks or so...Matt thinks earlier but I think I just looked "large" then.

How long could you wear your regular clothes? Regular pants were replaced EARLY around 7 weeks (it was more for comfort than anything since I felt bloated) and shirts were replaced around 22 weeks (only because I was waiting for a coupon to use at the maternity store to be valid lol...at that point i only had 2 shirts that fit...)

Will you keep the baby’s clothes? yep, until we are done having kids but i still want to keep a few things here and there.

Home or Hospital? Hospital. I feel much more comfortable knowing that if something happens I am in the right place and they can take care of it right away.

Natural or Medicated birth? Oh I will almost definitely be getting an epidural again...

Who will be in the delivery room with you? Matt :)

Do you think you will need a C-section? I hope not but you never ever know.

Will you cry when you hold the baby for the 1st time? Probably.

What’s the 1st thing you might say to the baby? Who knows...hi?

Will you let anyone video tape the birth? No, no video - but pictures (not of the action) would be awesome though I think we'll end up *attempting* to take them ourselves lol

Are you excited? Yes...this kind of seems like a dumb question to me.

Who will help you with the baby after the birth? Matt. I definitely know I want the first day back from the hospital to be just the two of us, visitors can come any time after that first day (and visitors are more than welcome at the hospital lol). I just want a day that we can focus just on Jack and start getting to know him ourselves :)

What is your favorite thing about being pregnant? Feeling the baby move. I love it!

What is the worst thing about being pregnant? Where should I start? Feeling large, morning sickness, frequent (and I mean ALL THE TIME) bathroom trips, pregnancy brain, and I’ll stop there - things aren't pretty after that lol.

What’s one thing you miss doing since being pregnant? Being able to take medication when I'm sick...

Any days you wish you were not pregnant? Nope.

Are you ready for a baby? Ready as we'll ever be!

Do you have insurance? Yes. OHIP covers almost everything though (Oh how I love being Canadian)

How many kids do you want? We’ll see how this one goes. Ideally I'd like one of each but would like 3...we shall see

Do you talk to the baby? Yep, and so does Matt...a lot :)

Do you still feel attractive? Sometimes yes, lots of times no...lol depends on the day

Have you had your baby shower yet? We had one with friends, thanks to W&D for hosting and I think another is being planned for after Jack arrives :)

Do you like kids? Love them.

How far along are you now? 35 weeks 2 days

The time is coming!

Much Love :)

I'm baaaaack!

2010-04-10T18:59:00.002-04:00

So the past few days have been fun! Went for the NST on Thursday and low and behold my pressure was not where they wanted it to be so I was admitted to the hospital. Let me tell you, hospitals are BORING! Without Matts company I think I would have gone insane...

They sent me for a biophysical profile on Friday morning to check on Jack - who is doing wonderfully and got 8/8 (aka perfect scores!). They are even estimating his weight at 6 pounds already! My gut feeling is that we will be having him on or by next weekend so keep your eyes peeled...I could be wrong though.

With meds my blood pressure has been stabilized and now we wait, I see my OB on Monday and then will be sent for another NST so we'll see what happens. Wish us luck!

Much Love

Update #6 - plus pics of the girls :)

2010-04-06T20:07:00.003-04:00

How far along 34 weeks 4 days
Total weight gain/loss I've gained 15 pounds total...some of that is water weight now though...damn feet and ankles
Maternity clothes? I have no regular people clothes that fit - it stinks
Stretch marks? Ugh
Sleep Still normal, just getting more of it, which seems necessary based on the little bit I/we will get soon enough lol
Best moment since last update Nursery is DONE! We're ready :)
Movement TONS
Food cravings yogurt, fruit, guacamole, milk, toblerone (thanks mom...), waffles
Gender BOY!
Baby Size (based on height of fundus) Measuring 1 week ahead (35w at 34)
Labor Signs None
Belly Button in or out? Innie.
What I miss Being able to put socks on period...they are too constricting for my GIANT feet lol...not even crocs fit anymore...I'm down to flip flops.
What I am looking forward to Having Jack!
Weekly Wisdom I have no wisdom at this point...too tired to think lol
Milestones Nursery done...again awesome!

Medical Update: Saw my OB on Monday and my blood pressure has risen (which is what happened last time at this point) so I've been put on meds, sent for bloodwork, and will go for an NST (non-stress test) this thurs. Then an ultrasound in a week and a half, and regular monitoring...LOTS of appointments but it's good cause she's keeping a VERY close eye on me. She also mentioned that we will NOT be going past 38 weeks so Jack will be an April baby! I'm excited but just taking it easy, I'd like him to cook a little longer still...

Lastly, I got to FINALLY see the girlies and Les recently for a brief but wonderful visit so I have some pics to share! Enjoy, the next baby pics on this blog will be Jack...can't wait :)

Much Love

The long awaited pics of Jack's room...

2010-04-05T19:39:00.001-04:00

So we have officially FINISHED the nursery (short of throwing away a garbage bag with the old fan in it) and I even took pics! I love it (and apparently so does Loki since she spends most of her time in there)...so, what do you think?

The dresser/shelves/glider...

Detailed look at the shelves...

The closet (I know it will not stay this organized lol)...

The crib (with handmade skirt) and handmade robot paintings...

Much Love!

Spider-Blog

2010-04-05T16:24:00.003-04:00

Clearly, I'm experimenting with cool names for my entries. So far, this is eerily the most appropriate, for obvious reasons.
I'm psyched! I can't wait to meet Jack. I can't believe there's so little time left either, considering that this countdown clock won't likely go all the way to zero. It's happening soon. It was a weird feeling this weekend knowing that this is the very last holiday weekend where we can do pretty much whatever we want. By which I mean just lazing around and seeing bits of family. But starting this Thanksgiving, holidays will be crazy I'm thinking. We have four sets of grandparents for Jack to see, more great-grandparents, aunts/uncles and tons of people that aren't any blood relation but are no less family. And there are certain things I'd like to do on these holidays, like the dinner we did last Thanksgiving with friends. That was so much fun, and it could only be cooler when Jack is here. I want that to continue. And I want him to see as much as his extended family as often as possible. That's not likely ever going to be an issue, outside of the fact that I may simply get sick and tired of seeing certain people **cough** Natalie **cough**.

Fear still sets in sometimes, but it's not really any more than fear of getting pooped on. You know, the not-so-serious stuff. I'm not too afraid in the general sense because I see how Nikki gets along with babies and young kids, I know how I do it and I feel that sort of sets the tone for how we'll interact with Jack. I'm not thinking it will be a cakewalk - far from it. But I think we can do it, I think we can raise him to be a good person and have good morals and all of that stuff. But I do think of that stuff a lot, the idea that maybe we'll accidentally really screw him up and make this maladjusted, evil terror of a person. But hey, fingers crossed for that not to happen!

Thirty Days...

2010-03-31T22:35:00.010-04:00

Every so often I calculate how many days are actually left in this pregnancy with Jack...it's been a while since the last count though so I figured today was as good a day as any (the countdown above is not accurate since we have to take two weeks off). Guess what...we only have THIRTY days left, I can't believe it. I'm not worried or anything like that, most of the things on "the list" have been finished already and we just have a couple last minute things to do, but still...30 days does not seem like a long time.

Here is our updated list of things to do:

~~1. Empty out desk in living room so we can store it at Matt's moms (not enough room here with baby things taking over)~~
~~2. Paint 2 ikea shelves (normally I wouldn't do this but they only had light blue left when we went and I didn't want to drive out for nothing so paint we shall)~~
~~3. Pre-wash baby clothes that haven't been done yet (I did all the onesies/sleepers before the bbq but have to wash all the stuff we've been given still)~~
4. Scrub bathroom (will likely convince Matt to do this one...I did it last time :P) and organize cupboards
5. Re-organize kitchen cupboards (they are a mish-mash of everything at this point...it would be nice to have some kind of organizational system other than "this fits here so here it shall go")
~~6. Paint J A C K letters for nursery and do second coat on picture frames :)~~
7. "Hire" dad to install new ceiling fan in Jack's room (this is actually in the works and will be done on Saturday)
8. Get Matt to put up re-painted shelves in Jack's room so I can put the decor on them
9. Install car seat base in car and get it checked
10. Pack hospital bags (one for me (with snacks + juice for Matt) and one for Jack)

Bonus: ~~TAKE PICTURES OF JACK'S ROOM~~ + (maybe) some pregnancy pics

The pregnancy pics are becoming less and less of a maybe but it seems they will have to be done SOON...like this weekend - I'm hoping to take pics of the FINISHED nursery on Monday or Tuesday (this is a hint for someone to remind me during those days so I do it lol).

We're almost there folks!

Much Love

So apparantly Jack likes to make me look like a fool...

2010-03-29T23:06:00.002-04:00

Alrighty, so today was an off day. It just didn't "feel" right (I don't know any other way to describe it). To start with I had crazy swollen fingers (which was new as of this morning) and ankles to the point where there was a thought of actually cutting my ring off...luckily I didn't have to. Then I just felt kinda ill all day and noticed that Jack wasn't really moving around when he normally does. I'm not one to panic so I went about the day and just kept a close eye on movement...by the time Matt came home I had only felt Jack twice (again, not normal) so I decided to have some juice and lay down and do some kick counting - hoping the juice would wake him up. It didn't. Now I was concerned...so I called the hospital and they told me to come in for a non-stress test (basically they monitor the baby's heart rate, my blood pressure, baby movement, and contractions). Off we went.

Well it turns out Jack is as much of a joke-ster as Matt because as soon as we were hooked up to the monitors he started kicking away...and not little kicks either, we both watched as he tried to kick the monitors right off. His heart rate was perfect and fluctuating exactly how it should be, there was TONS of movement, NO contractions (wasn't expecting any), and my blood pressure was a touch high at the beginning (likely due to stress) but was fine the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th time they did it (even lower than my normal). All in all, I feel that Jack wanted to make me look like a fool...but it's okay. We are all very relaxed now and the on-call OB even said that if the same thing happens again don't second guess myself and always come in -- which made me feel better.

Anywho...that was our excitement for the evening :)

Much Love

What we learned on our Hospital Tour

2010-03-25T22:09:00.003-04:00

So as most of you know we went on our hospital tour a couple weeks ago. It was neat to get to see everything and learn how things work when the big "show" starts. You would think that having worked there for 4 months I would already know a bunch (and some aspects I did) but for the most part I learned just as much as Matt.

Anywho, here are the key things (for visitors) we learned about Southlake (I'm pretty sure these are relatively standard but who knows, we don't want to be in trouble at the hospital b/c we didn't pass along the info):

1. They have a no latex policy due to allergies/etc
2. Visiting hours are 2:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
3. Only two visitors are permitted at one time (and it's adults only)
4. If you're sick, stay home
5. Don't use your cell phone in the hospital, it interferes with equipment

That's what we learned that applies to visitors, we learned a bunch more info for us :)

OH, and they keep up for a minimum 24 hours but stay after that depends on health and status of both Jack and I. We'll see what happens!

Much Love

PS - don't forget to go two posts down to let us know when you think Jack will arrive. if you don't want to or know how to comment just let me know on facebook or email :)

OH and some pics of Abbey and Kaelin from a recent visit...

Update #5

2010-03-24T20:10:00.002-04:00

How far along 32 weeks 5 days

Total weight gain/loss I've gained 12 pounds total...right on track :)
Maternity clothes? Yep, all kinds...I have no regular people clothes that fit
Stretch marks? Lots of cream being applied to avoid them...
Sleep Actually better the past couple weeks but I imagine that won't be the case for long
Best moment since last update Getting the nursery almost complete + the shower :)
Movement TONS, less kicking though since he's running out of room, LOTS of rolling
Food cravings MILK, apples, carrots, eggs, sweets (which I'm not supposed to have), cupcakes
Gender BOY!
Baby Size (based on height of fundus) Still measuring 2 weeks ahead (34w at 32)
Labor Signs None, I have braxton hicks regularly but those don't really mean anything and aren't painful, just annoying really
Belly Button in or out? Innie.
What I miss Being able to put socks on without being out of breath and/or having to take a break halfway through (sounds pathetic, I know)
What I am looking forward to Having the nursery 100% complete :)
Weekly Wisdom Don't leave things till to late in the pregnancy...it takes forever to accomplish tasks at this point lol
Milestones We're almost at 33 weeks now! Only 4 more weeks till I'm FULL term...and likely 5 till I'm induced.

That's all for today but be sure to post a comment on the post below this to let us know when you think Jack will arrive! :)

Much Love

So when do YOU think Jack will arrive?

2010-03-22T20:05:00.006-04:00

Time is flying by around us and there are only 5.5 more weeks left...all is well on the medical front according to my OB so things are right on track, though we are still measuring 2 weeks ahead.

SO, now for some fun! We want to know what you all think so here is a poll to see when you think Jack will arrive. Whoever is the most accurate gets some extra snuggles with Jack :)

Just copy the following into the comments section with your answers:

Your Name:
Date you think Jack will arrive:
Time you think Jack will arrive:
Weight (in pounds/ounces) you think Jack will be:

That's all, we can't wait to see what you all think!

Much Love

The things left to do

2010-03-21T20:59:00.006-04:00

Okay...so we only have 6ish weeks left...that's right, 6! It's crazy, and Matt and I both talk about how crazy it is each and every day. It's also very exciting though. I still have numerous lists floating about but most of them are either completed or have 85% of them done. It's all good.

Here is my list for the things that need to get done before Jack arrives:

1. Empty out desk in living room so we can store it at Matt's moms (not enough room here with baby things taking over)
~~2. Paint 2 ikea shelves (normally I wouldn't do this but they only had light blue left when we went and I didn't want to drive out for nothing so paint we shall)~~
~~3. Pre-wash baby clothes that haven't been done yet (I did all the onesies/sleepers before the bbq but have to wash all the stuff we've been given still)~~
4. Scrub bathroom (will likely convince Matt to do this one...I did it last time :P) and organize cupboards
5. Re-organize kitchen cupboards (they are a mish-mash of everything at this point...it would be nice to have some kind of organizational system other than "this fits here so here it shall go")
~~6. Paint J A C K letters for nursery and do second coat on picture frames :)~~
7. "Hire" dad to install new ceiling fan and dimmer switch in Jack's room (this is actually in the works and will be done in 2 weeks)
~~8. Get Matt to put up re-painted shelves in Jack's room so I can put the decor on them~~
9. Install car seat base in car and get it checked
10. Pack hospital bags (one for me (with snacks + juice for Matt) ~~and one for Jack)~~

Bonus: TAKE PICTURES OF JACK'S ROOM + (maybe) some pregnancy pics

That's it! Only 10 things left to do and a maybe. Well I guess it's time to get started :P

Much Love

Dear Jack...

2010-03-12T12:38:00.006-05:00

I can't believe it, we are already 31 weeks into this pregnancy with you! That means there is only 7ish more weeks until we meet you! I know normally people are pregnant for 40 weeks but you're measuring large and mommy has gestational diabetes so we get to meet you a bit early :)

This pregnancy has gone by so quickly and I really thought that it would slow down and feel like time is standing still by this time, but I was wrong. If anything time is going faster! Daddy and I are so excited to meet you little man. To see you for the first time in real life (though the 3D ultrasound was pretty neat), touch you, kiss you, and hold you.

I must say that I was really shocked when we went for our ultrasound (a while ago now) and found out that you were a boy. I really really thought you were a girl, but that's ok, because I can't imagine you any other way now. I wouldn't change you for the world.

We've been putting the finishing touches on your room (which Loki seems very excited about since she spends 90% percent of her time in there) and getting last minute things together, it's all very exciting :)

I just want you to know how much I love you and how much I mean that when I say those words. No word of a lie, you are always on my mind. You have no idea how much happiness I feel when you roll about and use my organs as your personal punching bags. It makes me smile each time and it’s definitely my favorite part of being pregnant.

There are a million things that I want for you, but I won’t get ahead of myself just yet. Just know that your mommy and daddy love you so much and we always will.

I love you

Mommy
xox

PS - Here's a sneak peek at someone waiting for you in your nursery :)

Sigh of relief :)

2010-03-09T14:02:00.002-05:00

So today was the (mildly dreaded) anesthesiologist appointment to see if I am actually eligible for an epidural. My appointment was at 11:30 but they were running behind so I didn't get to see the guy until 1:15pm. That's ok though, he was really nice, went over my history (just like every other doctor/nurse/etc that I see) and then checked my scar and such to see what the likelihood of the epidural was. As it turns out, I am able to have my epidural (which I know I will want) but it was close...if my incision/scarring had been just a bit longer then I would have been out of luck. Lucky me!!

Anywho, that's my excitement for the morning. Though I must say that if one more random person tells me that I should try and do it drug free because I'll be so proud of myself (these typically aren't people I know, just people I strike up conversation with while waiting forever and a day for appointments) I might hit them, lol. Probably not, but I would really like to :) Labour is painful, and yes, back in the day everyone did it without drugs, but that doesn't mean that I can't take advantage of the medical advances we have now. I think I'll just be pretty darn proud of myself for having a kid and personally I don't care how it gets accomplished. My goal is a healthy baby, other than that, I have no birth plan. I'm not going to get a gold medal for making myself go through the pain so please stop telling me the best way to do this. I'm not saying that people who do go the drug free way are wrong, not at all, but it's just not for me. Each and every person is different and the best way to give birth is different for each woman. So let's not push our opinions on everyone else :) (okay, vent over lol).

So that's all for now, we have our hospital tour tonight which we are quite excited about, though that means we're getting closer and closer. Only 7.5ish weeks now! Crazy.

Much Love

Update #4

2010-02-26T16:47:00.003-05:00

How far along 29 weeks

Total weight gain/loss I've gained 8 pounds total...right on track :)
Maternity clothes? Yep, all kinds...I have no regular people clothes that fit
Stretch marks? Lots of cream being applied to avoid them...
Sleep It's getting more and more difficult now to find a comfortable position
Best moment since last update Most definitely seeing our little guy in 3D!
Movement TONS
Food cravings Yogurt, Apples, Bagels, Pudding, MILK
Gender BOY!
Labor Signs None, I have braxton hicks regularly but those don't really mean anything and aren't painful, just annoying really
Belly Button in or out? Innie.
What I miss Sleeping on my back
What I am looking forward to Our shower and then Les' visit!
Weekly Wisdom Gestational diabetes is not the end of the world...but it is really annoying when you find out you only failed the darn test by 0.1
Milestones We're at 29 weeks now! Only 8 more weeks till I'm FULL term...and likely 9 till I'm induced...ahhhh!

That's all for today :)

Much Love

Looks like we may lose 14 days off our countdown...Eeeek!

2010-02-25T14:29:00.002-05:00

Soooooo I found out today that I have gestational diabetes (which from here on out I will call GD). I must say that Matt having diabetes has made this somewhat of a non-issue for me. I am headed to an appointment at the diabetes clinic here tomorrow and will go over diet and exercise and a meal plan. I'll have to start testing my sugar regularly and will likely go for 1-2 more ultrasounds to monitor Jack's size (since it is likely that he will have a high birthweight and he is already measuring a bit big). My blood pressure has been fine but is a bit on the high side so between that and the GD I will likely be induced around 38 weeks (and since you are considered full term after 37 weeks, Jack wouldn't be a preemie). Yes, that's right...we just lost 14 days from our countdown!

Luckily I ordered pretty much all the nursery stuff this past week (thanks again Les for housing bits and pieces of it) and we just have to go to Ikea to grab a couple things and the nursery will be DONE! (and then I'll share some pictures)

Anywho, other than that things are looking good. I feel fine and Jack is moving about as usual. I do have an appointment to see an anesthesiologist in 2 weeks to discuss if I will actually be able to get an epidural because of the surgery I had in June so let's all cross our fingers that I will get that lovely pain relief :)

Much Love

Well today was....fun?

2010-02-23T19:17:00.005-05:00

So today I had to go for my Rh shot since I am part of the small percentage of people with Rh negative blood...I have to get this shot with every pregnancy because if the baby is Rh positive then complications could/would arise if our blood mixes during delivery. Now if Matt is Rh negative then I wouldn't have to get the shot because 2 negative parents don't make a positive baby (HAHAHAHA), however we will never know (and I could be getting needles for nothing) because Matt's doctors won't tell him...don't get me started on this one. So anyways...I got a needle, but not before waiting a good hour at the hospital to get it.

I was then told that I needed to do another glucose tolerance test, but a longer one this time. I went this past Friday for it but I "failed" because my levels were too high (I failed the first test with Zachary too but passed the second one so let's hope that happens this time too). So they gave me a requisition to do the 2 hour test. I went to the lab across the street and got very angry (I didn't show it though, yay me!) when the girl told me I couldn't do it because she wanted to go for lunch at 12:30 (it was 10:45) and the test takes two hours. She told me to just go to another lab because she couldn't push her lunch by 15 minutes. ANYWAYS, I walked to the other lab down the street (word of advice...crocs + winter = bad) and started the test. Basically they draw blood at the beginning, give you an orange pop type drink that you have to finish in 5 minutes, then draw blood 1 hour after you finish drinking, and then more blood after another hour and that's it. You'd think with what I just described that I would have been poked 3 times...but OHHHH no...I apparently have deep veins which are not conducive to having blood drawn, fun. Luckily needles don't bother me or I probably would have passed out a zillion times today (at least that's what the lab tech's all said after consecutively trying to extract my blood one at a time...I felt like a test patient at nursing school lol). So in total I was poked 14 times, my arms make me look like a drug addict, and I couldn't bend my arms because of the amount of cotton balls they taped to them lol. It was quite a sight to see.

Then I came home and rewarded myself with some Swiss Chalet and a nap...that was the fun part of the day :)

Well...that's all...I'll find out the results later this week so lets all cross our fingers that I don't have gestational diabetes.

Much Love

Our 3D Experience

2010-02-20T19:46:00.004-05:00

I know, I know...our updates have been less than stellar lately. Honestly I think that is a good thing...it means nothing is going badly and we just have nothing new to report. That said we had the most wonderful 3D ultrasound this past Tuesday and since everyone keeps asking about it I thought I'd share some details :)

So, this was not a "routine" ultrasound and was not diagnostic or medical in any way. It's not necessary but it was something we did with Zachary so we wanted to do it with his brother too. We went to UCBaby in Barrie and got to watch Jack move around, suck his thumb (and toes), kick, smile, and even a small yawn. We watched for about 45 minutes and the entire session was taped onto a DVD that we can watch at home. We also got some crazy amount of pics on a CD (seriously, like 84 pictures) to view and share and a couple printed pics. It is a really neat expirience and as long as they still offer them we will probably do this with each of our kids. We loved being able to see our little bean and guess who he looks more like...at the moment he is looking A LOT like his big brother (based on the 3D ultrasounds alone). Of course we all get to meet him not too long from now (only 9-12 weeks left!!). We can't wait.

And now...Some 3D pictures!

Much Love

Matt's Log Number ?

2010-02-17T21:28:00.002-05:00

I don't know how many of these I've done at this point....maybe we'll pretend this is number 15. Just want to quickly say that today I saw Jack a little clearer than ever before, albeit on a TV screen. It was so cool and exactly what I wanted to see. The little guy was kicking and rolling and smiling and sucking his thumb. He also has a thing for hiding his face with his feet. I've tried to do that a couple times since coming home, but it doesn't seem to have that same hilarious look. I can't wait for everyone to see him. I can't wait to actually meet him.

Tomorrow!!

2010-02-16T22:00:00.000-05:00

Sooo tomorrow is 3D ultrasound day, we are VERY excited! I have been counting down to this since our 20 week ultrasound just before Christmas (figuring if I break things down to look forward to it wouldn't feel like time is going slowly)...let me tell you - TIME IS FLYING. There is still so much to do and we are just about 28 weeks along now. I'm glad it's going quickly though, we can't wait to meet this little guy (who has taken to kicking the crap out of my insides lately).

We will be posting a bunch of ultrasound pics tomorrow (and maybe a video if I can figure it out).

Much Love

I miss summer...

2010-02-11T19:21:00.003-05:00

I'm very quickly getting tired of the snow and the darkness. I miss the summer sun (not for tanning) because of the beautiful images and fun times that come along with it :)

I know these images are LONG overdue (July 2009 overdue) but I did some of them tonight (figuring that if I don't they will never get done because baby images will take precedence).

ALSO, our 3D ultrasound has been moved to the 17th instead of the 20th, less than a week till we see the little man's face!!

Enjoy :)

Much Love

An update just because it's been a while...

2010-02-09T20:07:00.006-05:00

Soooo I know it's been a while...but honestly, nothing is new! Sleep is getting increasingly difficult lately and other than that I've just been organizing like crazy and *attempting* to get things sorted nursery wise. Now before you mention it I realize I haven't been doing those weekly updates...not much was changing week to week so I'm going to do those monthly or bi-weekly (depending on my mood lol).

Now I will share some pictures...they aren't recent (by any stretch of the imagination) but are images I stumbled upon last night in one of my searches for old images. The first batch are images from when Brianna was visiting this past summer, we made cookies (and they were utterly fantastic) and then went out and took some pics in the field *I love my field*. The last image is from 2 summers ago with Abbey and Kaelin - it's similar to ones I've shown before but something about it just jumped out at me...enjoy!

I can't believe that in only 13 more weeks (well anytime between 10 and 13 weeks) it will be Jack's images, video, and stories that we will be sharing. I can't wait for him to make his debut!

Much Love

Only 100 more days...

2010-02-03T19:03:00.005-05:00

Wow. Time is flying by! I know I keep saying that (and it is unlikely that I will stop) but it's true. There are only 100 days left until I am 40 weeks pregnant and since I don't think I will get that far there may be less! Again, wow.

Thank you to everyone who commented or emailed me regarding things they had to have for their newborn, it was very helpful :)

100 days...I feel like the rush is on. We’ve got to get the nursery done (though this is coming along and I can't wait to share pics!), clean our house and organize everything (ugh), purchase everything we need, pack 3 bags for the hospital (one for me, one for jack, and one for matt - we added this last bag which will essentially be tons of snacks/juice so matt doesn't have to leave the room for food (which happened with Zachary)), along with a number of other things. The panic is setting in!

Whew. Deep breath. 100 days… ready.set.GO!

**PS - here is a picture Gabi and Livi posing with Jack, big thanks to Les for the pics**

Much Love!

Advice needed :)

2010-02-02T11:37:00.003-05:00

So I've been slowly compiling list after list of both things that need to get done around the house before Jack comes as well as what we need to get still. It seems a touch overwhelming but since I have at least 11.5 weeks to accomplish these things it's really not so bad.

One of the things on my list is actually to ask all you people out there a question or two, so I figured it would be easy to cross that off this way...

Here goes:

1. What are a few things you couldn't live without when you had a newborn?
2. How many onesies and sleepers in each size would you recommend?

Can't wait to hear your answers!

Much Love,
Nicole

**PS - Only 2.5 weeks until the 3D ultrasound!

Dear Jack...

2010-01-29T22:00:00.000-05:00

Wow. Can you believe it has already been 25 weeks, it feels like it's flown by! I remember seeing you on the ultrasound when you just looked like a tiny bean like it was yesterday. I guess the old saying is really true, time flies when you're having fun!

I must say that as each day passes I get more and more excited (which I never thought possible) to meet you. I know Daddy is excited too and while your kitty cat Loki has no idea what's going on she does snuggle by you every so often so we'll say she's excited too. We can't wait to see you and hold you and see life through your eyes - because things always seem so much more wonderful from a child's point of view. I hope you will be happy, no matter what you decide to do, I just want you to be happy.

I think about you all the time (probably because you kick me all the time, but that's ok). I always wonder if you'll look more like daddy or me, or just a big mix of both of us. I wonder what your favourite things to do will be, will you like spider-man? and will you enjoy having your picture taken? I wonder what you will want to be when you grow up. Everything is a mystery right now, but not for long. Only 15 short weeks until we get to meet you...though only 12 more until we are full term.

I love all the time I get to feel you move around but my favourite part of the day is right before bed, you get super wiggly and you, me, and daddy just sit and talk and feel you move. It's magical and the look on your daddy's face could make me well up with tears each and every time he feels you. Speaking of your dad, I just wanted to tell you how amazing he is. I’m sure you’ll figure that on your own when you finally get to meet him. You know, I really lucked out with finding such a great guy. I won't get all mushy, but just know that you have an amazing dad. He does everything in his power to make sure that I’m happy and I know that it will increase so much with you. He's so excited and so proud to be your dad.

I do have one request little man...I need you to do one thing for me when you do decide to join us out here. I just want you to take your time. You only get to be little for so long and I want you to enjoy every minute of it. So jump in all the puddles and swing on all the swings. Don't be afraid to get dirty (I don't mind, that's what laundry machines are for anyways)and just enjoy the little things in life. Don't grow up too quickly because it will go by fast enough I’m sure.

I love you. I always will.

Mommy
xox

Matt's Log Number 5

2010-01-28T19:40:00.003-05:00

I'm scared of kindergartners. I swear that's not even totally a lie - but maybe an exaggeration. Some of the kids I deal with through the course of any given week, in one of the seven projects I'm working on right now, are absolutely fantastic. Regardless of age, they are helpful, thoughtful, personable and relatable. I can build excellent relationships with so many of them in a brief time period. This isn't me stroking my own ego, it's the truth - I am so often able to get to know a lot about the kids I'm working with, to both our benefits. These are the ones who reinforce the fact that I am in the right profession.

Then there's the other type of kid, the one I'm more afraid of. The type that seem to think the world is their plaything, that they can do whatever to whomever just because they want to. Clearly many adults are the same way, but I don't have as much interaction with the grown-ups as I do with the young'uns. Anyway, these kids make me scared for a variety of reasons: I think, how can there be such awesome extremes between kids, why do they think this is okay, things like that. Things that as a teacher and an adult make me reason to myself, 'no, of course that's not appropriate'. But I think the biggest reason these kids scare me is because they can make me feel powerless and ineffective. Again, not blowing my own horn here, but I'm confident in my abilities as a teacher. But sometimes I feel that I've built up this great collection of behaviour management strategies, and I pull as many tricks out of the hat as I can remember with a group, and nothing seems to penetrate. Doesn't matter if I count down or single out students or reinforce positive behaviour - I just end up feeling frustrated and the kids keep doing whatever negative or disruptive behaviour they're engaged in. I hate that feeling of powerlessness, the fact that I can't reach them for whatever reason, or the fact that no matter how I try to relate to them, they want none of it.

Let's be clear, some of the highlights for me in the last year and a half have been centered around my relationships with troubled kids. I have been so lucky to be able to build relaionships with certain kids over a longer period of time, I've seen them grow and open up and drop masks and show me they're incredible kids. Having the opportunity to see things like this makes me want to teach even more. And I'm not saying that some kids are good and others are bad, I don't believe that at all. There are no bad kids as far as I'm concerned. No, my whole point here actually ties back to Jack. I know, you were all thinking this had nothing to do with the main purpose of this blog at all - fooled you. I want to raise Jack in the best possible way, and I want to have that good relationship with him like I do with students, but magnified by a million. I am so scared of being one of those parents who have nothing but the best intentions, but for whatever reason end up being misguided or unreasonable. If I had to blanket statement this whole post, the statement would be: I want Jack to be a good person. So when I deal with certain kids, I always think about if Jack will ever act like so-and-so. Sometimes it's in a good way; other times, it freaks me right the hell out.

I know there are so many other things to be concerned about, and I know that Nikki and I are both decent people. I know that we can raise kids who have decent values, strong character, all that stuff. But I'm afraid of screwing up, to put it bluntly. Can you imagine how much more straightforward this entry would have been if I'd said that last bit right at the beginning? Ha, made you read dozens of extra lines of text! And by the by, I challenge every last one of you who reads this post to let me know. I don't care what you write, even if it's just your name, or perhaps a hilarious inside joke that will only confuse everybody else but me. If everyone says something, I promise I will never bug any of you again, up to and including January
31st.

A message from Livi

2010-01-21T22:09:00.006-05:00

'.,/ooop0m\ medbmv vs

[-[p,knu

(+ lots of kisses - quite drooly ones)

And her video...

Much Love!

A message from Gabi :)

2010-01-21T21:55:00.009-05:00

I mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm,,,,,,,,,,,,,,o ui s

HB SX.

XOX

And her video...

Livi will submit her entry tomorrow :)

Much Love!

Weekly Update #3

2010-01-20T11:43:00.003-05:00

How far along? 23 weeks 5 Days
Total weight gain/loss Down a pound from last week...Doctor isn't concerned (and I'm kinda glad lol, baby is growing just as he should so I'm pretty sure it's not affecting him, and I eat A LOT)
Maternity clothes? Yep, all kinds...I have no regular people clothes that fit :( (odd with wieght loss lol)
Stretch marks? One that is sneaking up but isn't an angry red yet...lots of cream being applied to avoid them.
Sleep Not well the last 2 days but I think I'm just excited for my NY visit :)
Best moment this week I'm certain it will be my visit in NY starting tomorrow!
Movement TONS
Food cravings Yogurt, Apples, Bagels, Swiss Chalet, Egg Salad Sandwiches
Gender BOY!
Labor Signs None
Belly Button in or out? Innie.
What I miss Being able to see my feet :P
What I am looking forward to Our 3D ultrasound on Feb.20th (and Jack's birth so I can take pictures of him)
Weekly Wisdom Always bring snacks with you everywhere, never know when hunger will strike!
Milestones The end of the second trimester!

That's all for today...I will have lots of pictures (and some video) to share on my return home...or maybe while I'm still there!)

Much Love

The List...

2010-01-17T20:37:00.003-05:00

Oh the joys of working from home...it has allowed me to take the time to create list after list after list (seriously they are everywhere!) of what I need to get, find, purchase, ask for, pack, etc...and with the number of people wanting a phone call/email/message (via email or text) when we are in *real* labour growing and growing it appears I will need a list for that too. It's okay though, I like lists, it helps me feel organized even when I am no where close :P

SO, here I am...putting out the call. I'm leaving this up to you folks now so nobody can be mad if they wanted info and didn't get it. I am off the hook! (insert giddy squeal here):

**If you want to be notified when we are in actual labour and Jack has decided to make his grand entrance then either comment here or send me an email with your info (be it email or cell number) so that I can just send a mass text**

Our parents are automatically on the call list so if any of you read this you don't have to worry about this list business :)

Also, we are slowly but surely getting this nursery put together and I will be sharing pics of it soon enough. Other than that not much is new, I'm headed to NY on Thursday to visit my lovely family on that side of the border (can't wait!) so be ready for twin overload lol.

Alrighty...time to go...I need some sleep.

Much Love!

Testing Testing 1-2-3

2010-01-13T20:29:00.005-05:00

So we sold our old video camera (not that it was bad but we wanted something simple and easy so we can share videos (mostly of Jack) online) and replaced it with a lovely flip. It's SO simple, and so far I love it. Best of all, we didn't have to spend money to get it because the old camera covered the cost :) Win-win!

I just wanted to test how easy it is to share a video on here so when Jack comes we'll be able to share his big accomplishments (and just random moments) with you!

Alrighty, just a very short clip of Loki, ignore the intolerable voice (and yes I realize cats cannot speak and therefore she would not have been able to say hi)...

Much Love (and I hope to have a video or two to share of the twins when I come back from a visit next week)!

Weekly update :)

2010-01-12T22:13:00.004-05:00

So I promised I would do these weekly so do them I shall.

On a side note...I love my job :) Today was my first session back from the xmas break and it was a newborn. She was so sweet and photographing her made me even more excited to be able to photograph Jack when he arrives and have the ability to capture his "newness". His teeny toes, and fingers, and lips, and well -- him! I cannot wait and having a zillion ideas swimming in my head for these images, woo! (Be sure to visit the website: http://www.bittersweet-photography.com to see the sneak peek of little E tomorrow and comment on the post, I love comments :) )

Alrighty, back to regularly scheduled programming...

How far along? 22 weeks 4 Days
Total weight gain/loss Up 8.5 pounds total.
Maternity clothes? Still only wearing the pants, I have one shirt that fits (which means LOTS of laundry or making other shirts stretch beyond what is acceptable for shirts to stretch). I will be getting shirts this sunday when my coupon becomes valid...who buys things without a coupon? :P
Stretch marks? One that is sneaking but isn't an angry red yet...lots of cream being applied to avoid them.
Sleep Not too bad actually, which is good since I'm always tired.
Best moment this week There is definitely a dance party going on in there.
Movement TONS, and we have both felt kicks on the outside now :)
Food cravings Mr.Sub, Milk, Orange Juice, Water, Bagels
Gender BOY!
Labor Signs None
Belly Button in or out? Innie.
What I miss My ability to remember things consistently.
What I am looking forward to Our 3D ultrasound on Feb.20th (and Jack's birth so I can take pictures of him)
Weekly Wisdom Call the hospital regarding birthing unit tours well in advance (our hospital was almost full for when we wanted to go, luckily we got in)
Milestones Kicking felt on the outside, so I know I'm not crazy lol

Oh, and a picture...It's my bestest friend Taylor's birthday tomorrow so HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAYLOR! Here's our most recent trip to the cottage, next time we go there will be a baby with us!

Much Love!

Not much is new but you do get a picture of Loki :)

2010-01-09T17:48:00.004-05:00

This week I've been on the hunt for crib bedding. It's not going so well but I *think* I may have found something that will work :) There is still so much to do and have lists written EVERYWHERE (I am a big fan of lists) and a lot of them overlap but oh well. It should ensure that everything get done before this little man arrives...at least I hope so!

That's another thing...you'd think that 17.5 weeks is a long time but since 22.5 weeks have flown by this quickly I'm beginning to think that these next couple months will be gone soon and before we know we'll have a little person taking over our house and our lives (which I really can't wait for but I just need to get a couple things done first lol). Not to mention that I have a feeling I will be delivering a week or two early (actually I kinda hope I do) so we're losing weeks already!

For now I will leave you with a picture of Loki, she was "guarding" the nursery this morning and the sun made her look so very pretty, I just had to snap a pic. She pretty much spends all of her time either on "her" orange chair or in the nursery. She very much enjoys hanging out underneath the crib (since she can no longer get in it...muahahaha). Ah well, poor kitty has no idea what is about to happen...

Much Love

Matt's Log Number 4

2010-01-08T23:02:00.002-05:00

I just really wanted to say that I've felt Jack. But we're going to Tarantino this post so you can all come on this journey with me, so let's go back. I started asking Nikki in the first month when I would be able to feel the baby move, and she kept on telling me later, or soon, or some variation. So I patiently waited, content with going to the appointments and finding out that he was developing just like every baby should. Then it got to the point where even that wasn't enough though - I needed more! So I kept asking, and getting the same responses from Nikki. Over the past several weeks, however, it's gotten much more annoying from my perspective. I would ask how Nik was feeling, and she would say that Jack was rolling around, or pushing and moving...but she could only feel it on the inside.
Okay, so I was fine with that for a couple days, but then it seemed as if both of them were mocking me. Every day I would be told that Jack was rolling up a storm, or dancing around, and I was sure that they were in on this together, planning to really make a show of it when I wasn't around. Sometimes, I even wondered if Nikki was just lying to me so she could have this whole situation all to herself! So finally, FINALLY!, a could nights ago we were laying in bed and Nik said that he was moving a lot that day, and she had felt him kick from the outside (just to be clear, Jack didn't kick Nikki from the outside, she just felt that kick that came from the inside on the outside because her hand was on the outside when he kicked inside). Anyway, she suggested I feel for him because he might do it again. After a minute, he kicked right under my hand! So now I can finally be included in this whole thing, rather than being the odd man out. It feels great to be part of the team now. And on a serious note to close, that moment was one of the more surreal and fantastic ones in this pregnancy. I cannot wait to feel him kick me again.

Some changes...in case you didn`t notice already...

2010-01-07T16:05:00.002-05:00

Sooo I`m sure you`ve noticed the (rather obvious) blog design change. I`m much happier with this one because it means BIGGER PICTURES, always a plus. I was getting sick of the teeny tiny ones on the old template.

Other than that not much is new. I`m still sick, which is getting more and more irritating every day. We`ve also done the big room switcheroo (but I haven`t taken pictures yet since there is still lots to do) so Jack officially has the big room. We`ve also been feeling some kicking, which is a really neat feeling. I`ve felt this for quite a while now but never on the outside of my stomach so it`s neat to be able to share it with Matt.

Alrighty, I need to eat (again...) but I`d love to know what you guys think of the new layout!

Much Love

The post with the pictures

2010-01-04T22:29:00.005-05:00

Holiday pictures that is...I got around to going through them and there really aren't a lot (something I will definitely make up for next year with Bean!)...that's how I justify it at least.

Anywho, some pics...nothing overly momentus but just some special people in our lives :)

Much Love

(I'm contemplating transferring everything on this blog to a new blog with bigger pictures...I hate how small they are here....thoughts?)

Updates

2010-01-04T15:15:00.001-05:00

Ok, so I'm going to try and do these every week, we'll see how that goes...and eventually I will post a picture when I feel more baby bumpish and less "large" lol...

How far along? 21 weeks 3 Days
Total weight gain/loss Up 6.5 pounds total. Odd with the amount of MacDonald's I've eaten...
Maternity clothes? I'm wearing the pants but no shirts yet...I only have 2 shirts remaining that fit so a trip to the mall is inevitable.
Stretch marks? No new ones...just remnants of the ones from Zachary.
Sleep Getting more and more difficult since I seem to want to sleep on my back and I'm not allowed :(
Best moment this week Some serious movement going on with Jack, he's kicking and rolling up a storm!
Movement Seriously moving like crazy though Matt hasn't felt it yet...soon!
Food cravings Mr.Sub, Chicken Nuggets, Ice Cream
Gender BOY!
Labor Signs None
Belly Button in or out? Innie. Didn't pop out last time so I'm not expecting it to this time either.
What I miss My ability to remember things consistently.
What I am looking forward to Our 3D ultrasound on Feb.20th!
Weekly Wisdom I have no wisdom...I am sick and thus my brain is not working at the moment :(
Milestones We are past the halfway point!!

Much Love!

Matt's Log Number 3

2010-01-02T18:22:00.003-05:00

I just want to say that I called it. I absolutely called it when I told anybody who would listen that Nikki would crack and let the name become public. I always knew it, but many people were sceptical. I understand that people wanted to side with Nikki for various reasons, but really, there is no way that this could have been resolved any other way. And the wacky thing of it all is that I didn't even have to do anything. I didn't push or pressure or anything like that - it was Nikki who slipped all on her own. I'd be lying if I said I'm not impressed or amused, but I so AM. I always wanted people to know the name, especially after we finally settled on what that name would be. The more I say it, the more I feel that this little guy is mine. He's not just a bump, or even a Bean. He's Jack!

The Big Switch

2009-12-30T08:56:00.002-05:00

Matt and I recently decided that we will be switching rooms with Jack. He will get the big room and we will get the teeny tiny spare room since all we do is sleep in our bedroom and he will likely play, etc. It will be a big project getting everything set up but I'm excited...though not TOO excited to have a teeny room lol.

So some serious nesting instincts kicked in last night and I switched over the closets already, looks like today all furniture will be moved and then decor of the nursery can commence. Woo! I will post some pics along the way but not today. Too much to do :)

Alrighty, off to clean/organize....and go through copious amounts of christmas pictures before Crystal arrives for her visit!

Much Love

The official NAME announcement...

2009-12-26T21:11:00.002-05:00

Okay, so I had PROMISED myself that we wouldn't be sharing the name but since I slipped on Christmas Day with Matt's sister we decided to share it with everyone else too...

So here it is...the big announcement...this is the ONLY name we could agree on so if we have another boy in the future we will have a problem lol.

Anywho...we can't wait for you all to meet:

BABY JACK!

Much Love

We are HALFWAY!

2009-12-25T20:20:00.003-05:00

First of all...MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone! I hope it was absolutely fabulous and that Santa was good to you all :)

Other big news...today is the day that we are "officially" halfway through this pregnancy with Bean. I put officially in quotes because I honestly believe (and hope!) that I don't have to go all the way to 40 weeks, and plan on doing everything in my power to induce myself (if doctors don't) at 37.5-38 weeks. Not earlier though :)

I really cannot believe we are already halfway through. It is CRAZY exciting and I cannot wait until May.

Well off to enjoy family and fun!

Much Love

Holiday Time!

2009-12-22T16:36:00.005-05:00

Things are going swimmingly at the moment :) We had the Herdman Family Christmas this past Saturday which was wonderful and this week will be filled with visiting each side of the family. It`s a busy busy week but lots of fun too.

We also had a doc`s appt today which went very well. Blood pressure is good, baby heartrate is good, no chromosome abnormalities (results from previous blood word and the NT ultrasound), no heart abnormalities (results from echo last week), and Bean is a BOY. All things we knew but the official reports came back with those results so it was nice to hear again. Everything is NORMAL...again a wonderful word.

Next...everyone keeps asking what the name we chose is...and Matt things I will break down and tell. I don`t think so.

Alrighty...some pics from recently...

First, this one is Gabi from the beginning of Dec (I found it last night and realized I hadn`t posted it)

Santa had a wardrobe malfunction...

Grannie gave Santa a kiss...

Four Cousins

and...the girlies with Santa :)

Much Love

Happy Holidays!

2009-12-20T12:38:00.003-05:00

Soooo since we slacked off and didn't do christmas cards this year (I swear next year we will) we put together an elf yourself video instead...hope you enjoy it!

Much Love

Who wants to laugh...

2009-12-19T11:53:00.002-05:00

Nothing exciting, just prepping for the Herdman Family Christmas gathering today but I came across this image today and laughed hysterically. You see back in Grade 2 our school did lip-synching concerts and me along with 2 friends were persuaded by our moms to do "Walk Like an Egyptian."

This is the result...

So this is my friend Crystal T (who I'm still best friends with), another Crystal (who I haven't talked to since high school), and Me.

Hope that made you smile today!

Much Love

(Also, I should note that Bean is jumping around at the moment since I'm laughing so hard at this picture)

My favourite "ultrasound" thus far...

2009-12-18T09:39:00.001-05:00

Now that I've caught up on sleep let me tell you all about yesterday...

I'll skip the parts where I was nervous all day and short with Matt when he got home and just wanted to get this done :)

So we went into the hospital and checked in. Then sat down and waited for what seemed like an eternity until we were called back by a nurse to see the cardiologist. Let me tell you, this doctor was the nicest person I have ever encountered in the medical world. He had what I can only describe as the best bedside manner possible. It was clear that he had read all of the information about us beforehand (which most doctors don't and then get embarrassed after asking if this is our first), answered any questions at all, and walked us through the entire echo as he did it. He told us that only once has he ever seen a mother have more than one child diagnosed with HLHS in his large number of years in the medical profession (and this is what he deals with since he is a paediatric cardiologist). That was comforting in itself because hearing from someone who's sole focus is the heart say that seemed to mean more than when an OB says "the chances aren't really that high".

Now I've had 3 ultrasounds so far in this pregnancy with bean (a dating ultrasound at 8 weeks, the NT ultrasound at 12 weeks, and the most recent anatomy ultrasound at 18 weeks) and I'm not saying they weren't good, because they were, but all of the techs seemed so secretive. I understand that ultrasound technicians are not able to diagnose anything so therefore can't really reveal anything about the baby but that doesn't mean they can't talk to you. Not to mention that Matt was never allowed in until the end of the ultrasound and it was almost like it was a chore to bring him in (not to me, to the techs). Well anyways, this echo was SO different. He talked with us (asked us what we do, how the holidays are, told us about himself and his kids, etc) while going through the echo and showing us what each and every little thing was and even started by asking if we wanted to know the gender (which I wasn't expecting as I thought this would focus solely on the heart, which mostly it did but because when he put the wand on at the beginning he was near the legs he figured he'd take a peek and see for us). We said absolutely as we weren't able to get a 100% answer at our previous ultrasound, so he poked around for a bit but Bean was being shy so he said we'll go back and hopefully we'll have a more cooperative baby. So onto the heart. As soon as he saw it he pointed to the screen and said "Well this is the right ventricle and this is the left, no HLHS here!" I was thrilled, Matt was thrilled, the doctor was thrilled. It was a happy happy room to be in :) Of course he went through the entire heart with a "fine toothed comb" showing us the heartrate, the blood flow, the aorta, everything and concluded by saying "that is a perfectly normal healthy heart, couldn't look any better." Again we were thrilled. He then went back to the legs and Bean was no longer shy because we saw what could only be boy parts, VERY CLEARLY lol. Then he closed his legs again and that was that. I can honestly say this was the best ultrasound I have ever had and I wish that all ultrasounds in the future would be with a doctor as amazing as this cardiologist but I know they probably won't. Oh well, at least we got it once :)

So in conclusion...Bean is a boy who has the healthiest heart imaginable and is quite active.

Also, I feel I should address that name Matt told you all below...that is absolutely NOT what we are naming our child lol...not even close...and you all get to wait until Bean decides to come in May to find out.

Much Love

(Ps - HAPPY 5 YEARS MATTY!)

Matt's Log Number 2

2009-12-17T19:21:00.003-05:00

Hello good log-readers. Nikki's sleeping right now, and I can understand why. She tells me she couldn't sleep last night because of today, and I get that. Today was always going to be sort of a make it or break it scenario. Even with that ultrasound a couple days ago, there was a chance the heart might be improperly formed. There was a chance of any number of other things too. I don't know, even hearing from everybody else that things were looking fantastic, it didn't hold much weight until today's super-ultrasound.

Bean has all four chambers of a very strong, very healthy heart. Thank God. I was shaking in the waiting room before we went in, and I knew it was because I was nervous since I had only had two sips of coffee by that point. It was crazy. Bean is healthy and moving around all over the place and having the time of his life in there. And Bean is pretty definitively a boy too, which makes me smile every time I write or say or even think it. Again, I would love to have a little girl too, but knowing that I'll probably be sitting here with a son in 6 months has me giddy as hell. I think of the relationship I have with my Dad and can't wait to make that same relationship with Bean.

This kid is going to be so cool! He's going to be so loved and be around so many different people and be so spoiled by me. I'm thinking hockey jerseys and Spider-Man masks on him. And I know Nikki may be a little upset with me for this, but I don't care. I need to let everyone know what Bean's REAL name is going to be. When he enters this world next year, we will all be calling him...............drum roll............................................................................................................................................................................................................. Smythe. Don't tell Nikki I told you!

Big Day Numero 2

2009-12-16T21:18:00.002-05:00

So tomorrow (at 4pm) is our fetal echo to check Bean's heart in full detail. I'm a bit nervous but since we saw all 4 chambers of the heart at the ultrasound on Monday that has put me more at ease. Once that is done we will speak to the cardiologist and get results right away, no waiting - which is VERY nice or else I would be stressed until the next doc's appt. Then it's our anniversamas (anniversary and christmas put together) on Friday :)

We have decided on our boy name, which ended up not being either of the 2 we were deciding between. All of you get to wait until the baby is born to find out the name...all part of our fun!

Alrighty, here is one of the ultrasound pics from Monday...

Much Love

It's a....................................

2009-12-14T18:38:00.002-05:00

.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................BOY!

Or at least they *think* so...couldn't give us a definite boy/girl answer but they are pretty sure that they saw some boy parts :P

We also saw all four chambers of the heart (which was what made me well up a bit because with Zack we never saw that since his heart didn't form properly) and little hands and feet, fingers and toes :) It really was a great ultrasound and knowing that the four chambers are there means when we go for our fetal echo on Thursday the likelihood of Bean having HLHS is pretty much non-existant.

I'll share new ultrasound photos in a couple of days but in the meantime just be glad that we didn`t make you all wait till Christmas to find out the gender :P

Much Love

Today is the big day!

2009-12-11T16:41:00.004-05:00

Can you believe there are only 11 days until Christmas! It's craziness. What's crazier is that I still have 95% of my shopping to do...I think most of it will be done at the bank :)

So as most of you know, today is ultrasound day! I'm 18 weeks and 3 days along and both excited and nervous. This is a BIG week because of today, Thursday (our fetal echo to check Bean's heart), and Friday is our anniversary :)

We hope to find out the gender of the baby today, but who knows how cooperative little bean will be. Regardless of if we find out, we aren't sure if we will be announcing it quite yet...so you MAY have to wait until Christmas - at least you have fair warning :P

Well I'm off, have to mentally prepare myself to drink some ridiculous amount of water and then not go to the bathroom...not an easy task at this point lol.

Much Love!

I may regret this...

2009-12-09T16:02:00.004-05:00

ONLY 4.5 more days until the ultrasound! I am a bit excited if you cant tell.

In other news...I was scanning a whole ton of old prints today (a project I am working on) and decided that I am going to share some baby/kid pictures of both me and Matt. Then once bean arrives you can decide who s/he most resembles :)

This is Matt...in the hospital

Me (Nikki)...don't ask why I'm wearing blue, I don't know :P

Matt, around 7-8 months

Me (Nikki) again...

That's all I've got, for now...

Much Love

.

Sleep and other thiings...

Weekly Update and Names

What's your guess?

The 12 Week Ultrasound

Houston we have names!

Is anyone still here?

Slow down.

Oh my goodness!

Picture extravaganza!

Time flies...

Number 100

Christmas Eve

Job Well Done

Really Norman?...Really?!

Norman and Friends

A Relaxing Day for Norman

Thanks Norman :)

Meet Norman.

Sigh.

He's grown....

Jack's visit with Santa

All caught up....*pic heavy*

Teething is fun.

Notice anything new?

Crazy.

Updates and some new pictures :)

A piece of my heart left with you...

Special Moment

It's been a while...I know...

i love him.

Funny Quote of the Day

Tuesday in the Crib

incredible.

Tuesday in the Crib

The first 6 weeks...

Little boy + cold = :(

Random Tuesday in the Crib...

Jack rolls over!

Meeting Grannie!

Happy Birthday Aunt Christy!

So what do you think?

Has it really been 2 weeks?!?

And he's home!

Already a week old!

Good riddance to tubes...

The perfect day for sunglasses...

Jack is here!

Update #7

A fun survey...

I'm baaaaack!

Update #6 - plus pics of the girls :)

The long awaited pics of Jack's room...

Spider-Blog

Thirty Days...

So apparantly Jack likes to make me look like a fool...

What we learned on our Hospital Tour

Update #5

So when do YOU think Jack will arrive?

The things left to do

Dear Jack...

Sigh of relief :)

Update #4

Looks like we may lose 14 days off our countdown...Eeeek!

Well today was....fun?

Our 3D Experience

Matt's Log Number ?

Tomorrow!!

I miss summer...

An update just because it's been a while...

Only 100 more days...

Advice needed :)

Dear Jack...

Matt's Log Number 5

A message from Livi

A message from Gabi :)

Weekly Update #3

The List...

Testing Testing 1-2-3

Weekly update :)

All caught up....pic heavy