Ultrasound

We had another ultrasound today, and everything is fine with the baby. We finally know the sex of the baby after waiting what seems like forever. I'm feeling a little mean today though so I'm not telling what it is. You'll have to phone us or wait another 10 weeks to find out. I didn't get any pictures from this ultrasound because the baby was positioned with it's feet up by it's head so the pictures all would have been a mess of random limbs. Baby was measuring exactly average for size, which really doesn't surprise me, because Sara measured exactly average as well until I was into 34 weeks then she all of a sudden grew like crazy. But at least I can still hope for a small baby this time.

Our Weekend

We have had very busy weekend. It started with Hannah's sportball lessons with Dan on Saturday morning. Me and Sara decided to tag along as we were going to stop at home depot on the way home in order to pick up paint for Hannah and Sara's bedroom. Well of course as much fun as Hannah was having playing sportball Sara was not happy to sit and watch so we left the gym to wander around the rec center, possibly stopping at the library. Unfortunately we never made it to the library because I was unfortunate enough to fall down a set of horrible scary looking concrete stairs. It was a rather nasty fall too, as I was holding Sara in one arm and the railing with the other hand. I fell forward, which means that I fell forward and into the railing, as I wasn't letting go of the railing for anything. Unfortunately though without another free hand to catch myself my forward momentum continued to propel me forwards and downwards. So I was forced to let go of the railing as I continued my trip down the stairs in a very awkward backwards sideways somersault. Anybody who has ever fallen while carrying a child knows that absolutely no attempt can be made to save oneself any pain as all effort is being put into stopping your child from cracking their head on the horrible scary not rounded stairs. So while I may have managed this trip down the stairs without any injury to myself had I been by myself, I have to console myself with the knowledge that by some amazing miracle I did make it down the stairs without injuring Sara.

What amazes me about this whole experience though, and perhaps the reason why I have decided to post about it, is the absolute indifference that other people showed to our plight. There is one person in particular who I am wishing at least three weeks of bad karma on. This is the person who passed us on the stairs just moments before I fell. This man actually continued on his way exiting the building while I was still laying at the bottom of the stairs trying to figure out if I was going to pass out from the incredible pain coming from the back of my head. I heard two sounds as I assessed my situation, Sara crying, and the click of the door at the top of the stairs opening. Some people may of course excuse this guy's behavior with the assumption that he wasn't aware that I fell down the stairs, but I have to dismiss this as I let out a small audible yell as I began to fall, and there is no way a pregnant women and a toddler gracefully fall down a set of stairs without making a sound, and come on, the toddler was screaming. So anyways I have to wonder how it is that anyone could possibly ignore a pregnant lady carrying a toddler who has just fallen down the stairs, I always thought that the image of motherhood was supposed to evoke the utmost generosity in people. So anyways enough about that guy there was a nice woman with a child of her own coming from the other direction who stopped to ask if I was okay, and so I hope she has a really good three weeks, and for the other half a dozen people who looked right at me sitting at the bottom of the stairs with a screaming toddler and didn't stop I wish them two weeks of bad karma.

Just to reassure everybody I did go to a medicenter mostly because my head hurt like you wouldn't believe and well I am pregnant and I did roll down a set of concrete stairs. Of course I later discovered that the reason my head hurt so bad was because I had hit it not in one place but three, and I just couldn't narrow down the sources of pain until the main one started to subside. So I have two goose eggs on the back of my head and a bruise above my one eye. and of course more bruises then I care to count going from my shins all the way up to my head. But hey Sara doesn't have any!

After this whole excursion we decided not to attempt to paint the kid's room on Saturday and instead finished organizing our basement after the kids went to bed Saturday evening. But Sunday we felt a little at a loss as what to do with ourselves so we went to home depot and picked out the paint for the kids room anyways, and I am glad to say that it is over half way done. Hopefully we will have it finished tonight and the kids back in their room by Tuesday night.

Swimming Lessons

Hannah started her swimming lessons on Wednesday and she seemed to really enjoy them. I have to say that I do not envy the instructor for a class of 6 three year olds. There was a few moments where he a little difficulty keeping one or two from wandering off. Hannah enjoyed the splashing and floating on a kick board and can't wait to go back next week. Me and Sara paid to go to the Parent and tot swim time which was available during Hannah's lessons so we got to go swimming as well, and Sara really enjoyed swimming, although she seems to have no concept of her own safety. She ducked her own head more times then I can count, first when she was using the kick board in the shallow water, and then when she was walking in the deep water. The whole outing was a success anyways and we will definitely continue to take advantage of the parent and tot swim time during Hannah's lessons.

Christmas Summary

I know Christmas was a month ago, but I can't help but feel that it is important enough to warrant a post even if it is ridiculously late. We started our Christmas holidays by traveling to Edson to relax for a few days and then celebrate Christmas. It was of course enjoyable with lots of good food. Hannah had a blast as she got into the Christmas spirit, she enjoyed Papa's lights and took great offense when the blowup figures weren't turned on. She decorated cookies and of course was ecstatic with the phone call she received from Santa on Christmas eve. Sara was a little more mellow about the whole Christmas thing, mostly wanting to play with other people's toys rather then open her own presents but she enjoyed torturing her cousins, looking for cars out the window and riding on her dump truck that she got for Christmas.

We then traveled on to Saskatoon where we spent the rest of our holidays celebrating two more Christmases and New Years. Once again we really enjoyed ourselves in Saskatoon. Hannah really enjoyed playing with her two aunts and well opening more presents. Sara continued torturing her cousin, and her two aunts. Me and Dan got to play lots of board games which always puts us in a good mood so the whole visit was a success.

We headed home on New's Year day and spent the next two weeks relaxing after our vacation.

What a night ..

I went to check on Sara-lyn last night around 11:00pm and discovered that she was having a really difficult time breathing. I have never heard anything sounds so horrible before, she was wheezing with every breath and when she would try to make any kind of noise it would just come out as gasp. So we called health link and they listened to her, and told us to take her to the Alberta Children's hospital because it was probably croup and because she was having such a difficult time breathing they would want to give her something. So off we went at midnight to the childrens.

The health link nurse was right about it being croup and the triage nurse gave her some corticosteroids and gave us a bunch of papers on what to do with a child with croup. We then waited in a little room for just about two hours to see the Doctor who gave us some corticosteroids to take home and gave her some ibuprofen for her fever which had been slowly going up since we arrived at the hospital.

The poor girl is still sick this morning, although at least she can breath today, so I guess we will be taking it easy for the next week until this clears up.

Hannah's Artwork

Happy Birthday Hannah

Christmas Naughty or Nice List

Christmas Naughty or Nice List

You are on the The Nice List
After checking the North Pole database we found you had :

2,402 nice entries
198 naughty entries

Check your name on the Christmas Naughty or Nice List at JokesUnlimited.com

Christmas Spirit

We're getting into the christmas spirit at our house, what is everybody else doing?

Gingerbread house

Tree Decorating

And off to the Zoolights

Ultrasound

We had our 18 week ultrasound on Monday. And baby is doing great. We saw the babies heart, and spine, hands and feet. Got some great pictures, a few you can actually see the babies nose, and chin. It was a pretty routine ultrasound I'd have to say, Dan came with me, so that was nice for him to get to see the baby, he kind of misses out because he doesn't get to hear the heartbeat during my monthly trips to Doctor. I'm still waiting to see my OB to find out what I can expect for delivery of this baby, seeing how Sara got stuck. My family Doctor has already said she thinks I will need a c-section but I'm still holding out hope that the OB will be a little more relaxed about it. Anyways my next appointment is early December so hopefully I see the OB shortly after that.

Happy Halloween

My daughter is amazing

I have often thought that Sara is above average in her ability to manipulate things, For example she has been stacking blocks long before most other kids her age, and she builds lego towers that are as high as she can reach. I have up to this point thought that her ability to do this is because she watches Hannah and so she thinks to do things sooner then other kids who don't have somebody to copy. But today I am convinced that Sara is just amazing. She ate her whole breakfast this morning with a spoon. I think this is absolutely amazing for a 16 month old. We have been giving her cereal with milk in it for about a month now, And up until today she has always eaten with her hands, which is kind of messy, but today she ate every bite in her bowl and then seconds with her spoon. Dan saw her using the spoon yesterday but I didn't see it, so I didn't understand how good she was actually at it, but the whole bowl of cereal including milk, and she only spilled a few drops. Now I would like to believe that this means she will always eat with a spoon from now on, but as I have a three year old who still occasionally decides that her hands work better, I know better.

playdate

well I just hosted my first play date since moving, and I have to say it went better then I thought it would. I was a little worried that with it being so open on the main floor, that with 15 kids and 6 adults that the noise would be a little overwhelming. But it actually worked out well as the kids spent most of their time in the playroom, and I moved the rug and some toys out to the living room for the babies. With the food on the island it was actually a really efficient layout for entertaining. I think though if it had been any bigger I would have had to open up the upstairs to send some of the bigger kids up there, which actually isn't a problem for me, the biggest issue is the kids getting around the gates as we keep gates permanently installed at both the top and bottom of our main set of stairs. Well anyways it went well, Hannah and Sara both had a good time, and once again I get to enjoy other people's baked goods for a few days, hmmm .... brownies, and cupcakes.

Our announcement!

Well, I figure I will finally make it official and tell the whole world our news.

We're pregnant!

I think we might have actually told most people already but for those of you who didn't find out in person, I apologize, but we have actually been pretty low key about this pregnancy only telling people in the last few weeks, and in most cases we have only told people we have actually seen in person. But anways on with the details. We are 13 weeks pregnant now, and happy to be out of the first trimester. I heard the heart beat a fews ago at my 11 week appointment, it was 160 bpm. So far this pregnancy has been absolutely miserable and has been more then enough to convince me that this will be our last pregnancy. I have been suffering from really bad morning sickness which seeing how I have two other children to look after I have been heavily medicating in order to be able to function. Unfortunately the side effect of the medication is drowsiness, which leaves me in kind of a constant daze. But I have hope that the morning sickness will end soon and then I can start feeling normal again, at least until I start being the size of a house. I am actually showing very little with this pregnancy with Sara I was in maternity pants by 8 weeks, I just started wearing maternity pants the other day, and to be honest it was more of a lack of clean laundry then anything else. I will admit they are more comfortable, so I will probably stick with them, I do have a few pairs of regular pants that were still fitting fine. hmm... what else to say, we are planning on finding out the sex of this one so wait for the post in about 5 weeks. Hopefully the baby will cooperate and we can get a good look.

Potty training

Well I think I can safely say without jinxing it that Hannah is finally potty trained. Well at least pee trained. She has been doing so good with going to the potty for pee. Although she has a habit of waiting until the absolute last minute to say anything, so she ends up just standing there with her legs crossed saying she has to go to the potty. It is actually quite comical. Unfortunately poop hasn't been going so well, and to be honest I am at a loss as to what to do next. I have done a lot of reading on potty training recently and the general consensus is that poop training is easier because 1. kids poop on a regular schedule, and 2. most kids have visible cues such as squatting in a corner that they are pooping. Well I think after doing this and watching her like a hawk for two weeks I can safely say 1. Hannah has absolutely no schedule, and 2. She has absolutely no visible cues. She could be going poop at absolutely any moment of the day, and the only sign is the smell. So anyways seeing how I never know for sure when she has to go I am completely reliant on her telling me honestly whether or not she has too, and well that isn't going so well. At the moment I am actually attempting to bribe her with icecream if she goes on the potty. Well anyways that is my current frustration.

Doctors appointments

I took the kids to our family doctor the other day just for a quick checkup, and well nothing is wrong with them, but it was interesting to find out that both Hannah and Sara weigh exactly 11.9 kg (27 lbs). Hannah is 90 cm tall, and Sara 81 cm.

Moved in!

Okay we moved into our new house over a month ago, but better a post late then never. The move went off without a hitch. (At least a month later I can't remember any) Thanks everybody for all your help. We are really enjoying out new house. Hannah loves the park that is so close, and our company is enjoying the fact that we actually have a spare bedroom. The kids are doing well sharing a room, in fact since we moved here, Sara has started sleeping through the night. Before we moved she was waking up at least twice and I was giving her water one time and some milk the second. The open floor plan and high ceilings means that everything tends to echo, so there are not too many parts of the house that are actually quit when the kids are awake anyways. I love having a dishwasher. I don't know how I survived so long without one, seriously I think I have already forgotten how to wash dishes. But my tetris skills have probably improved. It is great being so close to a superstore here, I never realized how much time I wasted driving to and from the grocery store at our old house, but it is great having both a Sobeys and Superstore so close. I haven't really had too many opportunities to take full advantage of our 4 piece en suite, I'm afraid the tub is probably feeling a little neglected since we moved in. But I do have visions of one day actually relaxing in our huge soaker tub. Well anyways that pretty much sums up our life in our new house.

back from our vacation

we're back from a week long camping trip at little bear lake. It was great to get a chance to visit with family and the kids had a great time playing at the beach, and going boating. Well Hannah really enjoyed the boating anyways, Sara fell asleep. Hannah was actually pretty unwilling to go into the water mostly because it was too cold, but nothing could turn Sara away, she ventured in every chance she got. The only problem we have now is that every time we drive by a lake Hannah decides she wants to go play at the beach. And funnily enough Calgary is full of little lakes. I showed Sara how to pick blueberries on our last day, and as we were packing up, she sat in a blueberry patch just munching away. Perhaps I will post a few pictures when I track down our camera.

Since we got back I have been slowly packing, unfortunately it is going slower then I would like, thankfully next week I will have a some help looking after the kids. I got around to getting our utilities switched today, and if anybody wants to hear a long rant about incompetent people just ask me about that. But for now lets just say it took two hours, and not because I was on hold the whole time, and I still have to phone back in a couple days to confirm that the gas will be hooked up for sure. We're debating whether or not we should switch to Telus when we move, because it is cheaper and we can get a plan that is a little more attuned to what we need, but unfortunately we have had some very back experiences with Telus in the past, so if anybody is currently using Telus and can give us their opinion on the service, please do leave a comment. In particular we are wondering about their internet service and the new tv programing they are offering. (we are currently using shaw for everything).