I'm Baaaaaack!!

Holy crappers has it been a crazy week! Christmas was great, albeit hectic. I was exhausted and not feeling well (I had contractions starting on the 23rd that didn't let up until yesterday evening) but it was really an enjoyable few days.

We arrived at my mom's on Christmas Eve and Jamie's dad, stepmom and brother got there later that day. It was really nice to have them around. And even though they were there, we still had alot less people than usual and although I missed everyone else who wasn't there, it was nice to have a more quiet holiday than we usually do.

The 3 of us were spoiled rotten on Christmas. We all got a ton of stuff (I actually got all but 1 thing off my wish list), but we did our share of spoiling too. Our moms loved the gifts we got them, and that was a huge relief to me. We got Jamie's mom a grandmother's ring that she will be able to add to, and we got my mom a necklace with little boy and girl charms of all her grandchildren. Hopefully she will have room to add to that because only 1 of the 4 of us are done having kids (1 hasn't even started yet) and it's already pretty full.

Addy was spoiled even moreso than I thought she would be. And I was actually incredibly surprised at how well-behaved she was. She didn't get crabby or whiney or anything less than happy and excited the entire day, and it was alot for such a little girl to have to take in. She unwrapped her stocking with me, but after that she kind of lost interest in anything except playing with the paper and Grandma's stocking stuffers.

Boxing Day was spent at Jamie's mom's and the spoiling continued there. Although that day Addy wasn't quite as happy. The lack of sleep caught up to her, I think, plus she started teething again so she was feverish and vomiting alot. Which is still happening today, so I'm hoping that clears up soon and the tooth hurries up and arrives.

Her and I went to see the doctor yesterday. Her because she's constipated and prune juice is not helping, me because of the contractions and some bloody show I had on Monday. She got a prescription and I was told everything was fine with me until they did the pee dip. Although my blood pressure is fine, there was a lot of protein (between 3+ and 4+) so I got sent to the hospital for lots of labwork. No bedrest, though, so that's a relief. I am trying to come to terms with the idea that I am most likely going to have to have a c-section, though. But we will see how the labwork comes back and what my OB has to say about it all when the doctor from here talks to him.

The Vegreville hospital called this morning to book my ultrasound that the OB wanted to send me for. That was just to see if we're okay to go ahead with the VBAC, so I don't know, he may end up cancelling it. It's for January 31st which is about 2.5 weeks before my due date, so if we do have to go ahead with a section because of this protein, who knows, I may already have had the baby by then.

Almost Christmas

Well, we are only 2 sleeps away from Christmas now, and I am finally getting into the Christmas spirit. And I'm almost ready for the day too! lol We've been working on cleaning the house today because it's a huge mess and I hate coming home to a dirty house. Plus, when we come home we'll be bringing all of our Christmas gifts, so that alone will create a mess.

This will probably be my last blog entry until after Christmas. Tomorrow at around lunchtime we're going to head out to my mom's and won't be back until the morning of Boxing Day, and we're planning on spending that day at Jamie's mom's.

We had our washing machine looked at and the seal on the pump is what's leaking. The guy said if we had our washer and dryer in the basement with a drain close by, we could have kept using it that way for years, but because it's upstairs (and on my hardwood no less) with no drain, we can't use it until it gets fixed. Which could be tomorrow (which would be awesome!) but it likely won't be until the new year. So Jamie is at Gary and Verna's right now doing a load of our laundry so we have clothes to pack, and the rest I guess I shall bring to my mom's and get done tomorrow afternoon. As if I don't have enough stuff to haul over there already. Oh well.

I finally got a memory card for my digital camera. It only took a year. I really wanted to get one before Christmas so we can get some good quality pictures of Addy's first Christmas and then we'll also have it for in the hospital when the new baby is born. When Addy was born, we had to use the lowest resolution and the pictures suck. I have some that I took on the old camera, but I underestimated how many pictures we would want to take, so we didn't have enough film. But you live and learn, I suppose.

Well, I guess I should get back to my cleaning. I want everthing to be done today, so tomorrow morning all we have to worry about is getting ourselves ready and doing our last minute packing like toothbrushes and stuff.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Washing Machine Woes

I've always noticed when washing pillows, or if I set the washer to do a 2nd rinse that sometimes it will leak a bit. The drainpipe thingie on the basement floor will also sometimes back up, but nothing serious and that's the only times it's happened.

On Monday, though, Jamie put his insulated work coveralls in the wash and it leaked on the floor. He pulled out the machine and underneath my hardwood had some water damage but nothing much, so we didn't think much of it.

Today I was downstairs wrapping presents and just on my way up the stairs. The washer and dryer are basically directly above the doorway at the bottom of the stairs. As I was walking through there, I got dripped on. I looked up (the basement is only partially finished so there the ceiling is open) and see lots of water and damage to the plywood of the floor. I almost had a panic attack.

So my washer is, and has been, leaking for some time. Jamie called a guy in town to come look at it tomorrow. He figures it's the pump, but will know more when he comes to check it out. I can deal with it being the pump. I can't deal with "Sorry, your washing machine is a piece of crap." And what really chokes me up is this isn't even the new washer we bought when we moved it. That one wasn't as high-end of a model as my mom's, so when she moved and was leaving hers, we switched ours out with hers. It's only about a year older but if I had just stuck with my perfectly good washing machine, I wouldn't have a malfunctioning washer screwing me over right now.

Yaaaaaay!!

It's finally Friday! WOOHOO!!!! I have been waiting for this day all week. Although this morning it still feels like any other day of the week because Jamie is sleeping. But not for long, sucker! lol

Apparently we are going to go out tonight. There's going to be a hypnotist at the bar and Jamie wants to go, so I am being a good wife and tagging along. I hate the bar. I hate sitting there with a bunch of drunk people, struggling to breath through all the cigarette smoke and still put on a happy face even though when I am there I am anything but. But I'm going, so I guess I better just suck it up. I can admit, it will be nice to get out without the baby, but I'd rather be going anywhere but there.

Last night I talked to the lovely Tammy from motherhood about booking a photography appointment for the new baby to get some newborn shots taken. I am so incredibly excited for it! And doing that made it seem so real that there really is a baby on the way and that soon we will have a new addition to our little family. So lets just hope that the baby is cooperative with the date we booked.

This afternoon I plan on Jamie and I finishing all the gift wrapping and then doing some visiting to deliver presents. And I would like to start tidying up the house. Tomorrow will be a busy day. We have haircuts booked in the morning in Veg and then have to do some grocery shopping (would you believe I haven't been grocery shopping in at least 3 months?) and pick up some last minute things for Christmas. So I'm not sure that come Sunday we will feel like having to do all the housework in one day.

I can't believe Christmas is so close. We have the weekend and then Monday we head out to my mom's. Now that it's only a few days away, I am starting to feel little twinges of excitement, but for the most part I still pretty much feel like The Grinch. Although I am excited to make my gingerbread house at my mom's. All the other grown-ups are being buttheads and not doing one, so it will just be Richard and me...And if that husband of mine thinks he gets to help decorate my house, he has another thing coming. lol

I am feeling overwhelmed at the amount of laundry I have to get done in the next 2 and a half days. I suppose I don't really have all that much to get washed, but I have a small mountain of clean stuff to be folded and put away. I guess I better get off to it.

Ooooops!

Duh, I'm a big dope! I told about my appointment and the ultrasound thing twice. It's official, I have completely lost my mind.

One More Sleep!!

Only one more sleep until Jamie is done work for the week and our weekend can officially begin. I could not be more thankful! lol

Actually, we had a pretty good night last night. Addy fell asleep kind of late but that had to do with getting home past our usual supper time because of my doctor's appointment. She had a bit of a difficult time falling asleep, but once she did she stayed sleeping until close to 11:00pm. Which doesn't seem like much, but after the last couple of nights, that in itself was huge. So when she woke up she had a bottle and went right back to sleep until just before 8:00am! If it weren't for the baby living on my bladder, I would have gotten a full night's sleep. lol

She seems to be feeling much better today, so I am really happy about that. Her cough was pretty yucky this morning still, but I haven't heard her coughing since before her morning nap, so I think she is on the road to recovery. And I feel awesome because I got to get some good sleep last night. I was alot later falling asleep that I wanted to be, but that was because one of my favorite movies was on tv and once I started watching it I couldn't turn it off.

So my appointment went good yesterday. Everything still looks great with the baby and with my blood pressure. I go back in 2 weeks, and at that time I should have an ultrasound scheduled for between 4-6 weeks from now. He told me that if we're going to attempt a VBAC that he needs to be sure that the baby is in the right position and isn't too big and that my placenta is out of the way. So it will be nice to get to "see" the baby again, but I'm nervous because there will be alot riding on what we find out that day. Plus, I am so dead against finding out the sex of the baby and Jamie really wants to. I keep thinking it'll be just my luck that those little legs will be spread wiiiiiiiide open and there will be no secrets. But my fingers are crossed that by that time (I'll be somewhere between 35 and 37 weeks) it will be too squishy in there to see any little bits. And I am going to hold my ground and not let Jamie find out. He is convinced he could keep it secret, but he is such a horrible secret keeper and I know he would tell other people and it would just end up next to impossible for someone to not slip up, even if it wasn't him.

Actually, I think it's kind of funny that this time I feel so strongly against finding out. With Addy, I was back and forth for awhile, but once we were there I just had to know, and I can't imagine how I would have gotten through the pregnancy and the bazillions of biophysical profiles (ultrasounds to check on the baby and fluid for those who don't know what that is) and not have found out. Of course, the whole time I was expecting a boy, but that's beside the point. There was no mystery behind it. And this time, I am so excited to not find out until he or she comes out into the world. I can't wait to have that special surprise. And I'm not tempted at all to find out beforehand.

I finally got my Christmas cards done today. All but one are ready for the mail, and that one is just waiting on being addressed. That's actually alot more of a stress reliever than I thought. I'm hoping that while Addy has her afternoon nap today I can get downstairs and get the rest of the gifts wrapped, and then other than delivering them everything will be done. But if not today, it'll get done tomorrow afternoon. And maybe once all that is done, I will feel less anti-Christmas and more excited for the day.

A New Belly Shot

Here are a couple of baby belly pictures. They were taken at 31 weeks and 1 day gestation. I seriously cannot imagine getting any bigger than I am now, but I know it's going to happen. Here's hoping my poor body can handle it and that when I do go for my ultrasound that they don't find 2 little bundles of joy in there!

Is it really only Wednesday?

This has been such a long week and it's only half over. I am so ready for it to be done. Jamie has 2 more shifts and then he is off until January 2nd and I am so thankful for that. I am burning out. Addy is over 10 months old and I honestly can count on one hand how many times I have gotten to have a little break from mommy-hood. And each of those times was only for a couple of hours, and have not occurred since early summer.

Right now Addy is in her crib shrieking like a lunatic because she doesn't want to go to sleep. I don't know why she struggles and fights so much. If someone let me have a nice warm bath, a warm drink and then tucked me into a nice snuggly bed, I would be out like a light. You wouldn't hear a single argument from me. Not her.

I am praying for a good night tonight. The night before last she was up 5 times before morning. Last night, she didn't let me get to sleep until about 1am and that was after I gave up and brought her to my bed. And it is not a restful sleep with her in bed on a good night, but last night she was still up quite frequently so that made it even worse. At about 6am I finally put her back to her bed because she seemed alot better and I needed to get some restful sleep. She slept then until 10am, but I can't even count how many times she was up crying in those 4 hours.

So I am just exhausted and if I don't get a good (or at least decent) night's sleep tonight, I think I might just die. I am trying to be understanding of her because I know she isn't feeling well, but at the same time, she's had her motrin so the tired, crabby part of me is just ticked off that she won't go to sleep.

On a more positive note, we had another doctor's appointment today. Everything looks good and I am going to be going for another ultrasound in 4-6 weeks to make sure we're good to go ahead with the VBAC. My fingers are crossed that it goes well, and that we walk out of there not knowing the sex of the baby. I don't want to find out, and I don't want Jamie to be told and then end up ruining the surprise for me. I love my husband, but he cannot keep a secret.

Time For A Vent Session

I have 2 options right now, I can either throw my version of a tantrum (which would entail lots of things getting either broken, damaged and/or ending up on the floor, more screaming than I care to admit to and the stupid moron dog I have locked outside getting beaten) or I can vent here.

Today has been a difficult day. Addy was up so many times last night and my sleep was so interrupted that by the time morning rolled around, I already knew I was not going to be a happy person. Then Addy's bad night continued on to a bad day. She was whiney and fussy and crabby all day long.

Joey has been even more infuriating today than he usually is. He has always, always, always been a difficult dog. If I wasn't such a firm believer in following out your committment when you take on a pet he would have been long gone about a week after we got him.

So poor Addy has a hell of a time falling asleep tonight because she has a nasty cough and it's obvious she isn't feeling well and she wakes up crying about an hour ago. So I go into her room to find a crib full of barf. I don't do barf. I can handle spit up, I can handle poop, I can handle anything but barf. And not only is her bed and bedding covered in it, she is covered in it. So I take her out, get her cleaned up, get the crib stripped and the grossness into the laundry hamper and I take Addy into the living room to try to calm her down and get her comfortable.

When I finally get her to a point where I think she can fall back to sleep, I go into her room and what do I find? I find Joey, the sheet half pulled out of the hamper and a big hole chewed into it. This is the second time he has done this. And he couldn't chew holes in any of the old dayhome sheets I have that don't properly fit the crib. Noooooooo, he chews holes in the good sheets. The pretty ones. The ones that match the freaking nursery. So now I only have one good sheet left, it doesn't match the nursery, it isn't overly pretty and it's one from the dayhome so it is well used, to say the least. So now I get to go shopping for more crib bedding which infuriates me even more because I was planning on moving Addy to a toddler bed in a few months and getting the new baby his/her own bedding so I have to buy Addy new sheets that will get used for only a couple of months. And that's if the dog doesn't chew those ones up too.

I am getting to the point with this dog that I have no patience. I am mad at him all the time, even when he is actually being good, because even if he's good for the time being, there is something he has done in the recent past that has me pissed off at him. I am so mad at him right now I am shaking. I am so frustrated I could cry. I don't know what to do with this dog. He just never learns. He really needs obedience training but I just don't have the time for that.

And don't even get me started on Casper. I disappear for 1 hour for a stupid, measly bath and the little shit pees 3 times in the house. 3 times! I'm pregnant, even if I drank 10 litres of water in 2 minutes I couldn't pee 3 times in an hour. And I let the stupid dogs out to pee before I got in the tub so he shouldn't have had to pee at all.

AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

It Feels Like A Monday

Last night was a rough night. Addy was up 5 times. Yep, count 'em, 5 times. I am just at a loss as to what to do. Our sleep plan is working great as far as getting her into bed at naptime and in the evening at a good time and her self soothing herself to sleep, but it seems that whenever we seem to be making progress with how often she is waking up in the night, it all goes to the crapper and we go back to where we were before (or, in the case of last night, worse than where we were before). I am absolutely exhausted today.

Addy woke up this morning about the time Jamie got home from his night shift and he gave her a bottle so I didn't have to get up. She was happy enough with the bottle for about 20-30 minutes, but then started to fuss. I told Jamie to turn off the monitor so the noise didn't keep him up when I got up with her, which he did, but then I thought, "Just a couple more minutes," and I fell back asleep for like 40 minutes while she was in her room pissed off. Bad Mommy.

I need to get the Christmas cards done and in the mail today. And I really don't have that many to do, it's just a matter of getting my ass in gear and taking a half hour or an hour, but I just haven't been in the Christmas-y spirit for the last little while. All the anticipation for the day has gotten to me and now I am just sick of all the preparations and everything and want to be done with it. And I don't think I've ever felt this way before. I'm especially surprised by it because it's Addy's first Christmas and I thought I'd be more into it this year than usual. I guess the problem is I've also been looking forward to it for longer than usual. Now I just feel like the grinch.

Blah Blah Blah

I don't have anything interesting to say today. Not that I'm overly interesting any other day, but today I'm definitely not.

Jamie is back working close to home, and he is on nights this week so he was home for the day. I wish the bugger would have slept, but he didn't. Unless you count an hour long nap at about 4:00pm, which I do not. He is going to be one tired man tonight at work. And I feel especially bad because when Addy got up this morning I made him get up with her because I figured I could sleep in and he'd take her for the morning, and then he would be able to sleep all afternoon. Which he could have, but he did not. Oh well, his fault, not mine.

I just smashed my head against the chair rail in Addy's room and ouchies! Unplugging her fibre-optic angel my mom bought her. Why the damn angel does not have a switch, I do not know. So while trying to unplug it (and wouldn't you know it the outlet is behind the dresser), I smash the top of my head on the chair rail. But from the sounds of it, she's sleeping now. It's a little early, but she was tired and I am done for the day, so it works. Now if only I could get the kitchen to clean itself and put away supper, and the bottles to magically become clean.

I see the doctor again on Wednesday, so we'll see how that goes. I've been bad about remembering to take my heartburn pill, but the pain has stayed away so that's good at least. I need to get back into the habit of taking it before bed. I think my body has begun the long journey to labor, but I won't share those details with all of you. We'll just wait and see what my doctor has to say.

Good-bye, Weekend!

It turned out to be a surprisingly enjoyable weekend, although I can't honestly say I'm 100% recovered from my bug.

Saturday we did a small, small amount of shopping in the city, before going over to my in-law's place. We had a little visit, got ready to go out and left for the ballet. Addy wasn't the best girl for her Grandma (poor teething baby), but I think Velvet enjoyed her evening with her anyways.

We went out to dinner at Chianti's and just barely made it from there to the Jubilee in time for the ballet. We were seconds from missing the first act, but we made it and the 3 of us enjoyed in immensely (although it was sweltering hot in there).

We spent the night in the city because we were all tired and didn't feel like a long car ride home. Plus, the idea of waking a sleeping baby in the midst of teething was not exactly appealing.

This morning we had a big breakfast at Jamie and Velvet's (or I guess I should say Addy, Mom and Jamie did...I was still not feeling very well) and then hit the road. We stopped in Veg at Walmart to do a bit of shopping and were home by mid-afternoon.

Jamie goes on nights this week, but Friday is their last day before they go on break for Christmas. Addy and I will have him all to ourselves until January 2nd.

Speaking of Christmas, it's only 9 days away. I am no longer enjoying the anticipation. It seems like there has been a ton more work that usual this year, and I am just ready for the day to come already. I'm looking forward to spending this Christmas at my mom's and not having to play the part of the hostess. Jamie, Velvet and Richard are coming out too, so that will be nice, and it sounds like Charlie might be there too, which would be great.

Tomorrow I will be 31 weeks into this pregnancy. 9 weeks from my due date, although I have a feeling this baby will be arriving before then. I am beginning to feel very done with this pregnancy. That may be due to the rough week I have had, or it may just be that I have basically been pregnant for a year and a half and want to not be pregnant for awhile. Each time a stranger (or someone who just doesn't know) says to me "Well it won't be very long now!" I groan inside (or sometimes aloud). I feel very large. This baby belly of mine is protruding like crazy. My poor body is definitely feeling the strain of the pregnancy. Is it done yet?

Just My Friggin' Luck

So, things had been going surpringly well around here lately. No sickness (which is a big thing around here), no real stress (other than the usual holiday stress), just relaxing and enjoying things going well.

Wednesday night when I went to bed I was feeling a little queasy but I didn't think anything of it. I just rolled over and went to sleep. But at 5:30am I wake up with this incredible pressure in my chest and the odd stabbing pain right around the diapragm area. I tried to ignore it and go back to sleep and was actually successful for awhile, but then the queasiness came back and all of a sudden out of nowhere, full on stomach flu. Yuckies.

So at about 11am I decided to go up to the hospital because I was still having the chest pains. My mom came over to watch Addy and I went up. The chest pains got chalked up to just being related to the tummy woes and all the lovely cramping, but I was so dehydrated I had to spend the entire day in the ER on that stupid uncomfortable bed/stretcher thingie hooked up to an IV. And I forgot to tell the nurse that I'm allergic to the medical tape so now I have a big ugly rash all over my arm everywhere the tape was touching. And I developed a fever while I was there. Well, technically, I already had it seeing as my normal body temperature is around 34-35C and it was 36.something when I got there, but by the afternoon it was up in the high 38C range.

Today I feel alot better, although definitely not fully recovered. But now Addy has a nasty fever and is not feeling well. She also has a bit of a bum rash, so at this point I'm just going to assume teething. I just really hope she doesn't get what I have/had because she's so tiny I'm sure she'd end up in the hospital.

The ballet is tomorrow and although I think I should be fine to go, I'm a little concerned with my girlie. She is supposed to go to her grandparents' house but if she's sick and not feeling well I don't know how I feel about leaving her in a strange environment with people she isn't overly familiar with.

Growing Impatient

For these last few weeks, I have been able to keep my mind off the excitement and impatience of the baby coming by concentrating on Christmas. I have been quite successful at it, actually. But now that the shopping is done, the wrapping of presents is almost completely finished, the baking is done and the decorating is done, I don't have anything to concentrate on except counting down the days. And counting down the days to Christmas isn't nearly as exciting as counting down the days until my due date.

I can't wait to meet this little baby, see if it's a brother or a sister for Addy, to cuddle him/her and see what kind of personality it will have. I know of a few mommas who have either just had babies or are about to, and seeing them is making me so incredibly excited (and impatient, very impatient) for my time to come to have this little one.

I woke up this morning able to breathe and with a very differently shaped belly. I'm pretty sure the baby has dropped already. Seems very early to me for the baby to drop (I'm only in week 30) but I feel so much more comfortable so I'm not going to complain.

Last night Addy was again only up once! She was sleeping by 7:00pm and slept right through until 6:00am. There were a couple of times when I heard her cry out and fuss in her sleep and I thought she might wake up, but she didn't. When she woke up at 6:00am she had her bottle and went right back to sleep until 9:00am so I am a very well rested momma today. Which is good because I was a slacker yesterday and my kitchen is a mess and I'll need my energy to make it look habitable again.

Jamie thinks he might be home tomorrow night. They're moving their equipment to a new site (the one close to home) and they're starting to take everything down tonight. Which means that at some point tomorrow he should be working at the new site and will get to come home after his shift. Yay!

Aaaah, sleep!

Last night Addy only got up once. Once! I couldn't believe it. She was sleeping by 6:45pm, and she was up at 12:30am, and then not again until 8:00am. I'm almost scared to say it and jinx myself, but I think we are finally on the road to sleeping through the night again! There have been a few nights lately where she has only been getting up twice, and the very odd one where she's only getting up once, so I guess we will see how it goes tonight. My fingers are crossed that she won't get up at all, but I don't know if I should expect that. She usually sleeps from between 6:30-7:00pm until 8:00-8:30am (with her awakenings, of course) but that seems like an awfully long time to me for a baby to go with nothing to eat. I would be happy with a consistent 1 awakening per night so I know she isn't in there with a hungry tummy.

I got so much done yesterday I can't even believe it. Laundry galore, cleaning and lots of baking. I also made rice krispie squares and it has been not so easy to stay away from them. lol

Today I have about 2 loads of laundry to do, and 1 still from yesterday to fold. I also have to take out the garbage, package up a Christmas parcel to mail and I still need to add the chocolate layer to my nanaimo bars and that is it on my to do list. Lots of free time to play with Addy, maybe wrap some presents, but that is it.

It's Monday! *groans*

Actually, although I usually hate Mondays, today is not so bad. Jamie is back to work but everything seems to be going smoothly. The house is clean (and decorated for Christmas, I might add), Addy is napping after a very happy morning and those aren't always found in an abundance around here, I am feeling pretty good today and the sun is shining! I love winter, and I think it's so pretty when it snows, but sometimes you just need some sunshine.

I do not know where this weekend went. Which is surprising because it was actually less busy than usual, but it seemed to just fly by. I had my prenatal on Friday, and that evening we had dinner at my mom's for my brother's birthday. Saturday was spent finishing Christmas shopping. That was not exactly a picnic, but I was by myself so that helped to speed things along a bit. Yesterday we cleaned and decorated the house, went to the community Christmas concert and had my mom over for dinner. And at 6pm when Addy went to bed, I was ready to join her, but I didn't want to be up for the day at 3am.

Today I am vowing to stay caught up with the laundry (my hubby got me caught up on Saturday...Woohoo Jamie!), and I think I am going to make nanaimo bars and if I really feel ambitious, I might make a batch of Tollhouse Cookies too. Yum! And then that will be the finish of my Christmas baking.

Another Weekend Here Already

Yesterday I had my second prenatal appointment with my ob/gyn. It went extremely well. Everything looks good and he doesn't foresee me having any problems with my blood pressure seeing as I'm almost 30 weeks along and haven't had any signs show up to indicate that there could be trouble. And I now get to go have a prenatal every 2 weeks instead of once a month, so I guess things really are progressing along.

Today was not as fun of a day. We went out for breakfast and then I headed to Veg to finish up my Christmas shopping. I was in a very busy, crazy Walmart for at least 2 hours trying to find everything I needed. By the time I got home I was tired, cranky and just plain miserable. I don't even know how I'm not in bed right now. But I'm done. Until next year anyways.

Tomorrow we're finally going to decorate the house for Christmas. I am very excited about that. And the community Christmas concert is also tomorrow afternoon. Savannah and Alicia are in it and asked if we would come watch so we'll be going to that too. As long as Addy doesn't have a change in schedule tomorrow, it shouldn't interfere with her afternoon naptime, so that's good news.

Monday morning Jamie is back to work but it's his last week in Camrose until spring, so we're both thrilled about that. The only downside is that when he is on nights, he's going to have to sleep through the daily household noise. And we got new blinds in our bedroom that don't keep the light out very well, so he'll have to deal with that too. But he will be home at some point every day, and that's the most important thing. I imagine it will be a big adjustment for me having him home during the week but once we get into a routine, it will be great.

Welcome back, Braxton Hicks!

Yes, my lovely friend Braxton Hicks has returned to my life yet again. This morning I have been plagued with BH contractions. Not as bad as I know they will get, but bad enough that I still know they are there. However, after experiencing real labor (and back labor at that) I know these are nothing compared to what I am hoping to be able go through, so I shall smile, suck it up and hope that in a few short weeks they turn into the real thing and I get to push this baby out!

It is naptime once again at our house and I am vowing to never mess up our sleep plan again! Addy has been having a tough time getting back to the point where she was at before the weekend when she was putting herself to sleep so easily. Although, last night I decided to be tough momma with the bottle, and when she woke up at 11pm I tried getting her to go back to sleep without it. I wasn't successful at that, but once I did give her it and then put her back to bed, she slept straight through till 5am, and I think the only reason she woke up then was because she heard me get up to pee. But not having that middle of the night awakening was such a treat!

Tomorrow morning my hubby will be home! I can't wait. And then he only has one more week in Camrose and he will be working close to home again, and will be home every night (or day, depending on his shift). So that is very exciting.

Today is my baby brother's 19th birthday! I find it hard to believe he is that age already. I know I've grown up, but I don't know when all these other people did. I hope you have a happy birthday, Charlie Man!

Happy Humpday!

Only 2 more sleeps until Jamie comes home!! This is only the second day without him here but it feels like forever. I am definitely aware I am in my 3rd trimester because I have had to go back to napping in the afternoons in the last week. It seems I had just gotten past the point after Addy was born of having to still nap (still as in from the 3rd trimester with her) when I got pregnant again and was in that lovely phase of exhaustion that comes along with the 1st trimester. Oh well, at least I got that little break in the 2nd one, right?

So yesterday Addy stood all on her own. She was digging through a drawer and pulled out something especially interesting. So interesting, that she felt the need to let go of the drawer and use both hands to check it out. She stood there totally balanced for a good 10-15 seconds before she just plopped down on her bum, like it had been no big deal. It seems as though every time I turn around she is doing something new that she couldn't do the day before. It's really exciting to watch her grow and develop and learn new things, but at the same time it does make me really sad because it seems like it was just a couple of weeks ago that she was born. Sometimes I just don't understand where the time has gone and how she has transformed from this newborn who didn't do anything but eat, sleep and poop to this little girl that she is today. And this is only the beginning. I'm only going to be shocked more.

Right now I am struggling with her to get her back on the sleep plan. She did so great last week with putting herself to sleep on her own, but after the hellacious weekend we had, she is having troubles again. It's taking her alot longer to fall asleep and I'm not entirely sure if she is just overtired or if she is choosing to fight it again. The only good thing that seems to have come of it this week is the fact that once she does fall asleep at naptime, the naps tend to be longer than they were last week, so that's good. She's still getting up way too much in the night, though. Once before I have gone to bed, once in the middle of the night and once in the early morning. I could understand the early morning wakening because that's about 12 hours after bedtime and it makes sense that she would be hungry (assuming, however, she weren't waking up to eat 2 other times in between), but the other 2 are just flabbergasting me. What happened to my baby who slept through the night since 4 weeks that she is getting up 3 times in the night now? I am so desperate to get this worked out and get her sleeping through the night again because I am becoming increasingly aware of my approaching due date and I know that I will be up with the new baby every 3 hours for feedings and if Addy is also waking up 3 times in the night, I don't know how I will cope.

*Yawn*

This past weekend was insane. Jamie always ends up with a long weekend at this job because if he's coming off nights, he's home for the weekend Friday morning, and if he's going onto nights, he doesn't go to work until Monday night. And it is really starting to take a toll on me.

Saturday was his birthday and he really wanted to go to the waterpark at West Ed. Normally I wouldn't have been thrilled with the idea what with it being so close to Christmas and me being so pregnant (who wants to get in a bathing suit when you're this pregnant?), but it was his birthday and it was what he wanted to do instead of getting a gift from me (although it didn't end up happening that way) and I figured I could take the opportunity to get some more Christmas shopping done, so I agreed.

We shopped and shopped and shopped. And we only spend about an hour in the water park because it was freezing in there. The air, the showers, the pools...All icey cold. Not great for a baby. And to top it off, I was so cold when we headed back to the change rooms that I decided to skip the ice shower and I ended up with a red, itchy, incredibly painful rash from head to toe that is only now going away.

And by the time we got out of the mall, we were both exhausted and it was starting to rain, so we decided we'd just spend the night at Jamie's dad's place. We stopped at Walmart to pick up toothbrushes for the 3 of us and pj's for Addy and by the time we got out of there the ice fog had set in, so we knew we had made the right choice to stay.

I was supposed to go to Veg on Sunday and get a birthday present for Jamie from Addy and groceries to do the big family birthday dinner that night, but we figured we might as well do the grocery shopping ay Stupidstore. Still had to stop at Walmart in Veg, though, to get the gift from Addy, but somehow I got coerced into getting Jamie his aquarium, which was supposed to be his Christmas present. But oh well.

Then lots of company for dinner that night (my kitchen has still not fully recovered) and we went over to the firehall for a bit because the food drive was also that night. Which, by the way, created a whole other mess at our house because when I asked Jamie to get the stuff ready for when they came past our house, he said they don't come down our street. Which they do (and I knew that) and they came down our street first, so in the rush to get the stuff for the food bank together, an entire bottle of olive oil got spilt on the kitchen floor.

Yesterday is kind of a blur. We had to go back to Veg because we forgot to buy formula for Addy, and of course Jamie had to get fish for his aquarium. And the afternoon was spent in bed sleeping by all.

Is it Friday yet because I need another weekend to recuperate from this one?

I was supposed to have a prenatal in Viking tomorrow but Jamie really wants to go to them, and he obviously can't tomorrow, so I rescheduled it for Friday afternoon. Which I'm glad I did because I am way too tired to make the trip by myself and have the joy of figuring out what to do with Addy while my belly is poked and prodded.

I am now in my 29th week. Only another 76 days to go, which is starting to stress me out. I made up my list of the things we need to buy for this baby, which is really quite short seeing as we have practically everything baby-related from Addy. I just keep thinking, though, that I could have this baby in as little as 8 weeks, which scares the hell out of me. I am not ready.

Come next Monday, the pregnancy will be 3/4 of the way done. But I am also not ready for that. I know the last 10 weeks will be tough. Christmas should distract me from it, but once that's over, I will still have, at the very least, 5 more weeks to go (8 till my due date) and I know they will be long and uncomfortable, but at least Jamie will be home every night.