Finally Friday

Although this week has flown by, I have really missed Jamie so I am really happy it's finally the end of the week. Plus, I'm pretty excited for this weekend too.

Addy's new sleep plan has been going really well. Today was the first time in a couple of days that I had to go into her room while trying to get her to go down for her nap. I blame that on us sleeping in a half an hour later than usual and then me pushing the nap back that extra 30 minutes. I think we should have just stuck with the usual 10:30am naptime, but oh well. She's sleeping now.

I have determined that we need to buy a new baby gate. Seeing as Addy has been hating being confined to the playpen while I get stuff done (and when I'm too tired to chase her around the house), yesterday I started putting her in her room to play and putting the baby gate up in the door. But then this morning while I was tidying the kitchen I heard her grunting and groaning and getting frustrated, so I go to peek in on her and the little butt is climbing the gate. How in the world a nine-month-old baby can climb a freakin' baby gate, I do not know, but she can. So it's time to invest in a different gate that she can't climb. Hopefully we can find something.

Today there is lots of laundry to be washed, folded and put away, so that should keep me pretty busy. Plus I need to bake Jamie's birthday cake too. Hopefully I can keep Addy occupied long enough to get it all done. Maybe I should go get the other baby gate from downstairs and double them up, then she shouldn't be able to try to climb out.

Big Changes

There are have been some incredible changes around here this week. As I mentioned before, we started the empathic sleep teaching technique and I have tweaked our sleep plan and it is going so well. Addy is going down easily in her crib with very little crying and fussing. Now we just have to work on lengthening her naps and getting her sleeping through the night again. I think, though, that that'll come with time as she gets used to being back in her own bed at every nap and each night and relearns how to self-soothe and put herself to sleep.

Another big change is my expanding belly. It seems to me that it is getting bigger every day. I can barely get my winter boots on, not because my feet are swollen but because I can barely bend over to pull them on. I may be back to runners soon. This baby is also very active and I am always getting kicks but they are usually always directed at my ribs or my bladder, so it's very rare that you can feel them from the outside with your hand or see them.

My nesting has also kicked in hardcore. I notice something being dirty or think "I haven't cleaned or organized that in awhile," and I can't not do it. It will just eat away at me until I get it done. And I have been baking and actually cooking every day, which is unusual for me.

I won't be going to visit Jamie this week at work. It's been snowing like crazy there and he doesn't want me coming down if the roads might be crappy, so no visit this week. That's maybe a good thing, though, seeing as we're working really hard on the sleep plan and I don't want to jeopardize our progress with a night away from home.

A Lovely Weekend

This weekend was surprisingly un-busy. Usually we don't stop all weekend, so this was a nice change. We did a little shopping, got some stuff done around the house, went swimming today, but for the most part we just enjoyed having a lazy weekend and I think we all needed it. Especially because next weekend will be hectic. It's Jamie's birthday so I'll have a big family dinner to take care of, I'll have to have the house clean, we'll have to do his shopping for the work week (and possibly finish up the Christmas shopping that weekend too) and it's Christmas decorating time. It will be busy for sure.

As I said, we went swimming today and Addy loved it! We've taken her swimming a few times before and she's always enjoyed it, but never as much as today. She was splashing around, trying to blow bubbles in the water (not to mention drink the water...lol) and moving around like crazy. It was alot of fun to watch her enjoy herself so much.

Well, I have been complaining about Addy's sleep issues for some time now, and knowing it was time to do something about it, I checked out Darcie French's ebook on Empathic Sleep Teaching. I really love the principles it teaches. I find that letting Addy cry it out is too aggressive of an approach that is detrimental to her, but always comforting her and basically parenting her to sleep is way, way, way too passive. This method lets you comfort baby, but still teach him/her to self-soothe and fall asleep on their own. So I read through the book and we now have a sleep plan that we are working on and it's been really good. Only one difficult bedtime so far. The one problem we have with her, though, is the parenting her to a drowsy state. Jamie not as much, but it seems that whenever I'm around, the horns come out and she refuses to be calm and relax like she needs to. But we'll get there. She is still waking up in the night sometimes, but not all the time and not nearly as often as she had been (knock on wood). Hopefully we'll get past that in the next few weeks (days would be ideal, but I'm not going to be naive about it).

Jamie has sold the Cavalier. I am sooooooooo happy! That thing has been sitting and sitting and sitting ever since we got the Fusion (which was the beginning of August...Ugh!), but that was mainly because he has been lazy about advertising it. I made him fliers to put up close to a month ago (at least) and he finally put them up about a week ago and I also posted it on Facebook and Kijiji as well and now it has a buyer. Finally! Tomorrow it will go to its new home. Jamie is being kind of a baby about it, but I guess that's just a guy thing, being attached to their cars. Although, I don't understand how having a shiny new car doesn't make the imaginary man pain of selling the old car go away, but apparently it doesn't.

Anyways, I'm off to enjoy the rest of the evening with Jamie because bright and early tomorrow morning (actually, it won't be bright yet, but it will certainly be early) he's off to work for the week. Bye for now.

Bored and lonely...

As Addy becomes more independant and wants to play and discover things on her own, I am becoming more lonely. I'm not able to play with her, and being this pregnant I just don't have the energy (or the back) to chase her around all day. Which makes for a loooooooong day because she is not usually happy to play in her jolly jumper, exersaucer or playpen.

I suppose it doesn't help that I'm stuck home alone all day. And to make that worse, I don't really like going anywhere. It's a pain in the ass to pack up all of Addy's things, get her in the car and go to someone else's house that is even less Addy-proof than my own. I see my mom most days at lunch, but other than that it's just the baby and me. Jamie is gone during the weeks, his mom once in awhile comes to visit but she usually just wants to take Addy for a walk so I don't get much adult interaction there.

I have to say, I really am hating living in this town. I don't really know anyone here and I kinda feel like the people I do know never think to include me. Just because I have a baby and am pregnant, doesn't mean I don't still like to go out. No, I can't drink, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy the company of others. Yes, I have a baby but I am still the same person I always was, I am just also a mom. It really ticks me off that people don't seem to get that. I guess all I'm saying is it would be nice to live somewhere where there were people I have things in common with and who aren't just looking for another drinking buddy.

And it'd be nice to have my husband home more often than just on the weekends. Only a few more weeks, I guess.

Thank goodness for moms!

Today was a rather hellish day. The dogs (mainly Joey, but the other 2 are not blameless) and the cat have been monsters, tearing around the house and driving me nuts. Addy is still feeling yucky from teething so she was challenging today, either wanting to be held or else crawling around on the floor getting into anything and everything.

Late this morning I decided to bake muffins for Mom and I to have for dessert after our lunch. I preheated the oven and made the muffins but when I opened the oven door to put the muffins in, smoke came billowing out. It turns out that when Jamie was refilling the flour cannister on the weekend and had spilt more of the flour than went into the container, he also somehow managed to get some into the oven and it was burning and smoking and just plain nasty. So I spent about an hour with the kitchen window open turning the house into an igloo and getting up and waving the teatowel under the smoke detector (at least I know it works good) every 5 minutes.

Then there was the matter of my doctor's appointment. I haven't gone anywhere in the truck after the big snowfall on the weekend. So 15 minutes before I have to be at the clinic, I go out, start the truck, get Addy into her carseat and start looking for the snow/ice scraper. Only it is nowhere to be found (I also should mention that I wore my runners so my feet were wet and freezing after 2 minutes out there and I had to come in and squeeze my soggy and swollen feet into my winter boots.

So no scraper. I had to wait almost 20 minutes for the ice to loosen up enough that I could use my bank card to scrape it off. This was, of course, after I had to knock all the snow off the windshield by hand because the wipers were frozen solid.

So I was late for my appointment. And when I got there my blood pressure was up (which was no surprise) but I also had some protein in my urine, so off to the lab I was sent.

Fortunately my mom came over after work, brought supper and watched Addy for a couple of hours for me. I was able to go to the post office, the bank, the store and the lab all without a baby to contend with, and then I came home to a clean kitchen, laundry in the washer and the opportunity to have a nice, long soak in the tub. She even bathed Addy for me before she left.

So now even though I had a hellish day, I feel much better thanks to my mom!

Today is my pity party...

This morning I'm not so sure that I agree with the name of my blog. Life is seeming more miserable than wonderful. Addy is either sick or teething again and I am well aware that I have entered into my third trimester.

Pregnancy really is a cruel thing. You have your first trimester and you're sick, you're exhausted, you're an emotional roller coaster and about a million other things I won't go into (if you've been pregnant, you know, if you haven't been, my continuing could quite possibly keep it that way...lol). But then your second trimester rolls around and you feel great. Those annoying early pregnancy symptoms disappear and you have energy again, you feel great and it really is a nice time.

Enter third trimester. IT SUCKS!! I have another 13 weeks to go and already I can't breath (although the good news is that the baby likes to be in my rib cage so much that perhaps that means we won't have the struggle with him/her in the crib like we do Addy...It already likes the bars). And I just feel rotten. Achey, tired, heartburn, the sciatica has returned...

Okay, I'll stop the pity party.

I was bad last night. I brought Addy into my bed. Bedtime was more hellish than usual and with the teething I just knew she would be up alot in the night (and I was right) and the idea of getting out of bed to go to her room every half an hour was not appealing. But of course today I regret it because I know that come bedtime tonight she is going to be really pissy when I put her in her crib and she'll cry and whine and throw a tantrum because she thinks (or maybe knows is the better choice of words) that Mommy will bring her into her bed.

Is it Friday yet?

I need a break!

This weekend was loooooooooong. It's only 8:00pm and I am ready for bed. Yesterday we spent the entire day shopping in the city. We were out of the house by 9:00am and not back until about 9:00pm. Today wasn't as busy and I did get to sleep in, but it still drained me.

Addy is becoming, it seems, increasingly difficult in the evenings. She is crabby and it's very obvious she's tired, but she fights it and refuses to sleep or even play in her crib. I'm hoping really badly that we gets her sleep issues straightened out before this new baby is here because I don't know how I will deal with a baby who is a monster at bedtime and naptime (and is up 1-2 times a night at least) and deal with a newborn. Not happening.

Anyways, I'm off to maybe sneak into bed or at least get a rest in.

Is it the weekend yet??

Today sucks. I feel yucky. Not enough sleep last night (Addy is lucky she's so cute), the drive home from Camrose this morning and some bug are ruining my day. Fortunately Jamie thinks he might be home as early as 6:30pm so that won't be so bad. Better than 8:30 or 9:00 anyways.

I almost had a heart attack this afternoon. I had gotten my glucose screening done earlier in the week (you know, the test that indicates whether or not I have gestational diabetes) and today the doctor's office phoned. Thankfully they just wanted to know if I had had any prenatal bloodwork done this time around (which I have not, so I imagine I'll be getting another lab req at my next appointment...Yay me...Bleagh) but as soon as I saw the number on the call display I thought "Oh crap!" But false alarm. I've dodged that bullet for the time being. I could handle the whole diabetes thing if it were diet and exercise controlled, but if I had to take insulin...That I could not deal with. And I was already told that if anything goes "wrong" this pregnancy (ie high blood pressure, baby gets to big, gestational diabetes, etc) then I have to have a c-section and I don't want a c-section so I will not be happy if my results come back abnormal. I so badly do not want one a section that I will cry if they tell me I have to have one. Those women who schedule c-sections because they are afraid of the pain of labor are nuts. I had 12 hours of labor and a c-section, the c-section is way worse.

Anyways, I'm babbling again.

I wish it would snow this afternoon. Then I would be happy. I want some snow already! And not just a little bit, I want lots. It's ugly and grey and everything looks dead outside. Maybe I'll go dig out the Christmas decorations and start decorating the house...That would make me feel better. Is it too early to turn the outdoor lights on?

Catch-up

Apparently I am not a very good blogger. I have been doing updates in my pregnancy journal, which really is more a journal while I am pregnant because it isn't just about the pregnancy, but I shall try to update here too.

Anyways, this has been a fairly busy week. I am now 26 weeks and 2 days along with this baby. So as you can imagine, I am tired, I have heartburn, my hips, legs and back are killing me, I am dealing with sciatica, I have to pee what seems like every 5 minutes because there is a baby on my bladder and I have hormones with a capital H, but I am loving it. With my last pregnancy, I just felt rotten all the time because of my blood pressure troubles, but this time it has been totally different. Yes I am dealing with those "normal" pregnancy symptoms, but those are to be expected and are fairly easily dealt with. I am getting to experience a healthy pregnancy and am able to enjoy all the wonderful parts of it without them being overshadowed by something very serious, scary and just plain sucky.

Okay, I got side-tracked. Busy week. Jamie is working away again so I am home alone with Addy. Because of Remembrance Day, Jamie didn't go to work until Tuesday morning. I don't even remember Tuesday, to be honest, other than I had to go do my glucose tolerance screening. Yoi. For anyone who has done that, you remember the orange drink. I remembered the orange drink. As I took my first sip of it I though to myself "Hmmm, this isn't as bad as I remember." I got through the first 1/4 of it fairly easily, and then I also remembered thinking the same thing as I had started last time. IT IS THAT BAD! It is gross and sweet and so thick it is like syrup. Yuck. Anyways, I got through it, they took the blood and now I get to wait and see if everything is normal or if I have to go back and drink more of the nastiness.

Yesterday the dumbass by-law officer showed up over Jamie's stupid car. Yes, the plate is off it, yes, I will get it back on. Now go annoy some other person. But nooooooo. So I got to deal with that crap all afternoon. And to top matters off, just as he showed up Addy was dozing off for a nap and I so badly needed a nap but he had to show up, screw up my only opportunity to sleep and ruin my afternoon. So by the time we had to go to Veg I was tired and annoyed and crabby and it was not pleasant for anyone around me.

Today we're going to see Jamie. I need to get away and have some help. Everyone always says "If you need help just call," but it isn't the same as having your husband. So I am glad we're going for our visit.

Tomorrow I get to clean the house. It's neat and tidy, but when Jamie is home it goes to hell (sorry, hunny!) so I like to have it as clean as I possibly can before he comes home because then come next week there is less to do to make it presentable again.

Saturday is my momma's birthday! Her, Val and I are going to spend the day Christmas shopping in the city and then meet up with Jamie and Addy for supper at the Olive Garden. Yummy.

Speaking of Addy, I hear her babbling away, so naptime is officially over. I'm off for now.