Second Time Around....

I can't sleep, which seems to be the norm lately. I am exhausted and go to bed early, only to find myself tossing and turning and not able to get comfortable. Does this mean something?? I hope so!!

On my mind lately has been the question of how I would do things differently the second time around. During my sleepless nights, I have rambled on about this with my poor, dear husband who either falls asleep on me as I ramble on, or tells me not to worry and apologizes that he is just to tired to stay awake--I should be the one apologizing to him!

Another question that has kept me up is how on earth do I know or will I know if I am in labour? So I have been reading, and re-reading and pondering and asking friends and family. I guess I feel a little more prepared.....

Back to how I would do things differently I compiled a mental list that I will share and then I can look back on it and see how out to lunch I was or how accurate I was! :o)

1.) I am not stressing about how this baby makes it's arrival. It is in God's hands and if I can go through with the VBAC I will, but if it has to be another C-section, so be it. This was a huge thing for me to deal with when I had to have an emergency C-section with Zech. I was so prepared for the natural birth that after the c-section I found it really hard to bond and even come to terms that I had to have a c-section. It was nobody's fault, we were losing him and I wasn't even in full blown labour, but I still felt really jipped. It is hard to explain, unless you have been there, but of course in the end we were just blessed that our little man was here, safe and sound and that we did not lose him. Nothing worse than being monitored and hearing your child's heart beat decrease and keep decreasing! So I just keep praying about it and ask God for His Will to be done and to give me peace with whatever happens.

2.) Breast feeding is another huge thing on my mind. I breast fed (sort of) with Zech for 6 months. That was a miracle in itself as medically I could not breastfeed. The first two weeks were horrible, not only was I recovering from surgury, but I had a child who wanted to be fed 24/7 it seemed. Finally after an exhausting stint for 5 hours in the wee hours of the morning, I broke down and could not do it anymore. We finally got in the car and bought some formula. Zech was starving, literally he was starving as I didn't have enough milk! He drank so much formula and actually slept, it was another miracle. So after having the nurses come out, and all sorts of people giving me advice, I got in with the best lactation consultant here in Edmonton and she ran a series of tests on me. In the end, I was not producing enough of the Lactaid hormone and would never be able to fully breastfeed Zech. I still breastfed him, but he had to be supplemented after every feeding. It was really difficult because so many people were constantly giving me their opinions and said that Zech would be confused going from breast to bottle, but he never was and the lactation consultant said that that is just a myth. Then you get the comments like "whoever doesn't breastfeed is committing child abuse"! If these people only knew! This time around, I am not going to stress, if it happens great, if not I now know what to do.

3.) Enjoy the newborn phase! I really want to make a conscious effort to enjoy the newborn phase. With Zech due to all of the problems we had and all of his health concerns, I don't really remember the first three months of his life and have very few pictures to even document it. It is quite sad, but it was a difficult time and we were just trying to get through. So hopefully this time around, I can get lots of pictures and relax and enjoy the new baby phase!

4.) Not co-sleep! After the c-section the nurses and doctors acutally recommended that we sleep with Zech in our bed. It was alright because I could hardly move, but I really don't think I would ever do it again. This time the baby's bed will be in our room for the first little bit, and then into the nursery. Just a personal preference and something that we both feel more comfortable with (we'll see how we make out with this).

5.) Get a scheduled routine going as early as possible. Again with Zech, due to all of the health issues, that was not even a concern or an option. Just getting through each day was enough, but hopefully with number 2 we can set up a schedule right away and that will make it so much easier for me and even for Zech. (we hope)!

6.) Not get so stressed and worry so much! I really want to be a good Christian parent to my kids. Parenting is definitely the most stressful job in the whole wide world, but also the most rewarding. It is the one job where I really do not want to screw anything up, so yes I worry a lot. I hope that I can seek God more and just rely on His grace and mercy and provision to do the best that I possibly can.


That is what I have come up with so far. It will be interesting to see how everything unfolds. The one thing I know the second time around is that sometimes the things that we say we are never going to do, become an essential part of our parenting (i.e. I said I would never give my kids a soother, and Zech was a junkie---but it saved us during his many hospital trips, his early teething and during our travels).

GrEIGHTful!

I wish I could say I am grateful for the weather, but I looked out the window and saw SNOW! AHhhh. When is it going to end!!

Anyways, this week I am grateful for:

1. Naps!!! Zech was back on schedule, sleeping so much better at night and napping again. So I napped whenever he did, what a nice thing to be able to do! I hope he continues to nap for a while longer yet! :o)

2. An amazing husband that is a jack of all trades. I did something pretty stupid (blame it on the baby brains) this past week! I locked us out of the house. Yup I closed the door and didn't grab the keys. So we couldn't drive anywhere and we couldn't get in the house. THis is not the first time I did it......the first time John had to get a ladder and climb through the window that we had left open. But this time there was not a single window open, and we couldn't pick the lock, so John had to kick the door in--not soooo good! The great thing though, is that he knows how to fix things and he did and you can't tell that anything happened. :o) (he wasn't too impressed with me, but he still loves me!!)

3. A finished project for the babies room (I will post pictures soon).

4. An amazing Mother's Day and the best husband and little boy in the whole wide world. I got to sleep in, was served breakfast in bed, went to church where my little man made me a nice Mother's Day card at Sunday School and then we had an amazing brunch at the Euro Cafe in West Ed. (John made reservations). In the afternoon we all had a nap and it was such a great day! Oh and I got a really nice Scrapbooking book and the biggest ELMO card there was!

5. The Bible!

6. An awesome afternoon with my husband--just the two of us! Zech goes to a dayhome every Wednesday for half a day and we took advantage of this day and spent it on "us". We went for lunch, did some shopping and just spent the whole afternoon together like we were dating! Tomorrow Zech goes again, but we won't get the chance to have a date afternoon due to work (for John) and appointments galore!

7. Hearing our babies heart beat and knowing that with each passing week we are getting closer and closer to welcoming this little bundle of joy into our lives.

8. Great free tutorials for Digital Scrapbooking! I finally figured out how to make my own collage in PSE and yes it was so easy, I kind of feel a little embarrased stating how long it took me to figure this out! :o)

Three things

So there were three things that I wanted to accomplish with Zech before Baby G #2 arrived. They were to:

1. Get rid of the Soother.

2. Get Zech in a big bed.

3. Get Zech potty trained.

I have succeeded in the first two, which actually happened quite fast and without any huge problems. The Soother I feared would be extremely difficult, but it happened rather coincidentally. John went to work a few months ago and took the diaper bag in the van with him. All of the soothers were in the bag and I was putting him down, frantically running around trying to find one, but couldn't. So we did our normal routine and then I said good-night to him. A couple of hours later I went in to check on him and he sat up and asked for his "num nums" and I just told him that I couldn't find it. No big deal, he went back to sleep and we went with the "lost" num nums ever since. ALthough at one time I had to tell him that we gave his num nums to his friend Rachel and he seemed ok with that.

The big bed happened over night too. He fell out of his crib and that was the end of that. We didn't even know he could climb over the rails of the crib. We don't actually have him in the "big bed" yet, we just took the rail off of his crib for now. Potty Training-----AHHHHHH! It's a nightmare. I have tried a few times and ended up going through all of his big boy underwear just in the morning. He won't walk around with no underwear and always asks for his diaper. So this is not going too well. I decided that I won't push it yet. He is getting a little better, he tells me he has to go pee pee after he already peed, so hey that's a start. I just want to get him potty trained before the fall so that I can enroll him in pre-school.

The Trampoline

We bought this trampoline almost a year ago when John was working at the new LD in Westbank. It was a brand new store and the door crasher specials for the grand opening included a 13 foot trampoline with a net for an amazingly cheap price. We managed to get our hands on the LAST one.

So a few weeks ago, John decided that we should set it up. We have a tiny yard, so the thing takes up pretty much the whole yard, but what a great toy to have. Zech absolutely LOVES IT!!! I don't think we have ever seen him go so nuts before. He just screams, squeals and laughs non-stop. We can't get him off of it and it really is a great way to burn off some of the endless amounts of energy he always seems to have. We will have to enjoy it while we can, as it will have to come down soon.

The one thing we did not count on when we set up the trampoline, was having the whole neighbourhood come and ask to jump. It started with a couple of kids coming and ringing the doorbell. We didn't feel comfortable letting them on without the parents permission, so John nicely told them that they would have to get their parents to come over and talk to us and give permission. We really don't have the money to pay for a law suit!. The next night after we had just put Zech down, the doorbell rings and there is banging on the door and 5 other kids show up asking to jump. I was a little upset that they came so late and were so loud, but John talked to them and told them that we need parents consent. The next day, we come home and the kids are watching us to see when we leave and when we return, so 10 min. after we get home, we get yet another knock, but this time the kid is with an adult. So John talks with the "uncle" (they lied and told us it was his Dad, but then later we found out it wasn't) and told him that we don't want to be sued if anything happens and that if we are on the trampoline, the kids could come over and jump, but never when we are not around.

By this time we put a lock on the trampoline. A bit later in the day, we get yet another knock on the door and three kids were asking to jump, so finally with the parents consent John grabbed Zech and they jumped. Well it didn't last long and the kids were really rough and one kid in particular was purposely bouncing Zech around and trying to knock him down after we asked him a few times to stop. John just grabbed Zech off and let the older kids jump a bit. They got called home and you know that not one kid thanked us or showed any sort of appreciation for the fact that we let them jump. Where are the manners now days?

Of course the next day, we get home from work and walk through the gate. Zech wants to jump so John stays outside with him, while I make supper. All of a sudden a herd of about 4-5 kids come running and screaming through the parking lot, "can we jump, can we jump". We politely told them "no" that it will not happen anymore because they are just too rough with Zech and after all it is his trampoline. So thankfully there have been no more kids asking to jump. Zech enjoys it, but we will have to take it down here soon. One day we will have a big enough yard that we can set it up and not have to worry about the whole neighbourhood wanting to jump--God willing.

36 Weeks

(this picture was taken at 34 weeks)

I guess it is high time that I do a little pregnancy update--more for my records rather than to bore you! :o)

Well, what can I say other than I am so ready for the baby to come and I am also so blessed that we have made it this far without any serious complications. My blood pressure was quite low last week (a pleasant surprise) and my weight gain didn't really change--yay because it has been all fluid and puffiness for a while--depressing!

I still continue to have appointments once a week. I also got all of my paperwork, so when I go into labour I am ready to go to the hospital. I was also instructed as to when I should head to the hospital. Due to the c-section with Zech, I am a little more high risk and they will want to monitor me early on when the contractions start. The baby's head is down and it is sitting really low (I think).

We had another ultra sound last Thursday just to ensure everything was going well and that my amniotic fluid levels were good and my placenta was still good and viable. Everything checked out perfectly and the baby is right on par growth wise, so we were so relieved. I had decided though that at this ultra sound, we were going to find out the sex for sure. John knew (and yes I sort of had an idea based on what they had told him from our first ultra sound at 19 weeks), but we decided not to tell anyone, because they were not 100% sure and we had heard of so many cases where they were wrong. So ultra sound number 2, I wanted to know for sure.

So I asked and well it is going to have to be a surprise, not only for you, but for us too!! We have been told two different things now based on the two ultra sounds!! Plus they weren't able to 100% tell at this second one either (alhtough it was a little more accurate) due to the position of the baby and the size. Too funny! So it is kind of going to be a secret in the end for us too! This may explain all of the dreams I have been having about delivering the baby and the doctor's telling me the sex and me being completely shocked and asking them to re-check! Irregardless of the sex, we will be so excited and blessed to welcome number 2 into our family!

GrEIGHTful!

Wow, can you believe that I am actually going to post my grateful list on Sunday! I know it has been a while, but I will post something briefly!

This week I am grateful for:

1.) That I am off work for another year and can get a few projects completed (hopefully) before our little Baby G #2 arrives!

2.) For another ultra sound and for the reassurance that this little one is healthy and absolutley perfect and that I am healthy and there are no internal complications! Praise the Lord for this technology that offers such incredible peace of mind.

3.) Our little boy who has been extremely difficult lately, but still brings so much joy and laughter to our home!

4.) My amazing husband who has not been on an easy journey these past few months. I don't know what I would have done and would do if he was/is not in my life. He has had to pick up so much slack around the house, keeping me organized and sane and helping with our little boy, all while trying to complete his schooling and working. What an amazing, incredible man I have!!

5.) A good church that has a great Sunday School program that Zech loves!

6.) The Bible and the incredible power and wisdom it offers.

7.) Flip flops--they are the only shoes I can fit into these days!

8.) A nice vacation to Banff.

Remembering Gramps!

Today was my Grandpa's funeral. It was a nice celebration of his life and the man he was and will always be in our hearts. Taking a two and a half year old to the funeral was not such a great idea, but we made it through with only a few incidents.

I am thankful for all the memories I do have of Grandpa. Once a week for 8 years I was over at my grandparents place after school to have supper and then go to piano lessons. Gramps was often the designated driver--even though we could have walked. He also spent countless hours on the farm helping out and was our ally when potatoe season rolled around. He had the dirty, difficult job of being on the harvester with my sister and I, and he would speak up and help us out when things were going too rough. We needed him as our spokesperson! :o)

Even when he was in the home and the dimentia set in, he was such a soft, kind, compassionate man. You never saw a mean streak in him--ever! We could still always joke with him and he would joke back. One of the last visits we had with him, John brought the video camera and just set it up. We were watching it a few weeks ago and I am so thankful that John recorded the small amount that he did. Zech was crazy and almost pushed poor Gramps right out of his rocker, but Gramps seemed to enjoy the company and was quite intrigued by our little boy.

So Gramps (or Great Papa--as Zech calls him) you will be dearly missed and always remembered!