Eric got played

Vanessa just played her Daddy. She started crying at 9:45 which is really unusual so he went to check on her. It's really windy so I think that's what woke her. That and the 3 1/2 hour nap today doesn't help. She played inconsolable so he brought her to see me. She turned the tears off and wanted to play. Sneaky! I played one on her and asked her to walk me up to bed and she went pretty willingly. I'm blogging from my bedroom for the first time. I'm loving this laptop situation. This pregnancy thing has it's advantages. Vanessa insists on holding my hand in the stairs for my benefit. When I get up from the couch it takes me a little while to straighten my back. Vanessa asked me if I wanted her to kiss it better. I asked what she was going to kiss and she said, "Your leg." She has been complaining a lot lately that her leg hurts. Ohh the sympathy pains. :-)

fun news

Things are going OK. Baby is growing. At least I hope that's why I can't stand up straight and I waddle a lot. Two months and counting...

We've had a pretty good week. Eric's been pretty busy and Vanessa and I needed to get out. I took her to McDonald's for some fun and food. She makes friends so easily. It's really nice to see. She was in the play area with a 6 year old having a grand old time. We arrived there around 6 pm and much to my surprise she came up to me at 7:15 and said, "It's time to go." in a happy tone. I've never picked up my stuff so fast to leave. I was just dreading telling her it was time leave.

Life is going to be dramatically different around here. Not only will the addition of a second girl but we're ending our car free life. We've learned a lot about living without a car like taking the bus can make some trips easier. Eric has learned that he can cut his bus time in at least half by using google instead of the rtl site and makes it a viable way. He also enjoys riding to work when there's no snow on the ground. I have found I can manage with less as Vanessa grows up. We've taken many fun bus trips and we will continue to due so. We also love our bike trips. It gave me some time to exercise, Vanessa got fresh air and often some sleep.

Having said all of this, the extra bundle of joy makes us change our strategy. The baby won't be biking with us until next summer. Bumming rides from friends and family is more complicated with two children and car seats and I'm starting to feel like we're imposing. We have lots of friends that aren't busing distance who will be home. All this makes me feel a little trapped so we're buying a car. Actually, we're looking at a used mini-van just like my parents. We're so excited.

Another fun note is that Vanessa is into puzzles these days. We got a whole bunch from an friend of ours and she can do them one after another. She needs some encouragement but she's catching on fast. It's awesome. We're finding more things to do together that involve sitting quietly. She now likes to draw/colour occasionally. We made and mailed thank you cards. She coloured the cards and put stamps on the envelopes. To bad they were decorative so I bought bigger envelopes to be able to insert hers and some pictures. For the people locally they're here waiting to be delivered. I'm beginning to think that two girls is manageable for me.

Nice Week-end

We're making the last decisions on our bathroom. We picked it out at the store on Thursday to have it shipped on Saturday. We went to pay for it all and their system went down down. Since we had not had dinner and Vanessa was with us, we asked them if we could pay tomorrow morning. They agreed. I went home and took some measurements. It looks like the door wasn't going to fit or the linen closet so when we went back in the morning they were happy to take it off our order. Looks like Eric's going to have to make custom shelving.

We had all the big stuff shipped off to the loft. On Saturday Eric went to the loft to meet the truck. Before he left I told him they were going to drop off our stuff first or last. Luck was on our side and we got our stuff before 9 am. Yippy! For insurance reasons they do not deliver inside. Eric had moved all of the small stuff in by himself and as luck would have it Ronald showed up to set up for his "Industrial Jam" so they helped each other out. Eric made it back in time to take Vanessa to swimming.

Eric took Joel to the car show. They go every year and have a good time. Eric drooled and picked out the car that would make the most sense for our lifestyle but not our budget. He'd like a Dodge Grand Caravan with all the bells and whistles. He enjoyed all the antique cars and the concept cars. I got to see lots of fun pictures. I was lucky he wasn't gone for long and Vanessa napped for most of it.

Last night I called Christine and asked if she would take Vanessa today. She agreed. She had been generously offering for quite some time now and I've been managing well. Today I'm taking it really easy and trying to get over a cold. What a luxury to only worry about me for a day. Eric is curling most of the day and I'm sure Vanessa is having a great time.

Pregnancy Update

It's still very surreal being pregnant. I thought that doing this for the second time it would sink in a little more. It's a huge change in our lives like with Vanessa. This time around is completely different. Food wise I can eat anything I want with no aversions which is fun but I am completely craving junk food. This baby will come out wanting McDonald's but I hope that she has a varied pallet like her big sister. Baby's tests show she's healthy but I've put on more weight than with Vanessa. Two ob appointments ago my doctor wasn't too worried but she said, "You should cut out the cheese." as I was walking away from her office in reference to my weight. Hun? How about the Big Macs that goes with the cheese? Very strange comment.

This baby has evicted us from our office. We've put our office in the living room. It's now a real corner office but without the view. At least the mess is getting smaller and smaller. Since the laz-y-boy has been moved up to the babies room, our living room actually looks bigger despite its new dual purpose. Once the surfaces are cleared off I might actually post some pictures. We're thrilled with the reorganization. It's nice to have the computer in the middle of the home.

I find that my back is very fragile and my energy level is low. I don't remember feeling this way with Vanessa however I didn't have the demands of a young child the first time. I spent all day sitting on my butt at work and I came home and had a nap while Eric made dinner. Now those were the days!

A little on Vanessa. I remember when she turned 6 months our world had changed dramatically. She started eating solid foods which she loved and she napped twice a day. Until then she was a fantastic sleeper at night but wouldn't nap on her own. She only napped laying on me or in a wrap. Around Christmas time this year we've had a new change in our daily lives which is just as dramatic. (sorry not potty trained yet) She now plays on her own! It's a combination of her age, new independence and the fact that we gave her her own playroom in the basement. Her toys are mostly in one place. It's her own little bit of the house. Her room is too small for toys so she has only stuffed animals and books there. The basement has everything else. She drags people down there to play with her. That's also new. She instigates games now. It's not the adults always wondering what to play with her. Lately she's been asking us to play cars with her. I was shocked when she sat down and finished a whole puzzle with me. She can almost do a whole puzzle on her own. She's growing up fast and I'm thinking that I might be able to handle two kids at once. It's not all roses thought. This new independence has brought it's share of meltdowns. My sweet little girl that I could bring anywhere now doesn't like going anywhere. I fight her most mornings to go to playgroup and then have to fight her to leave. She can't seem to see that where we're going, where ever that may, be could possible be better than where she is now. She is still sweet and easy going for the most part.

Our little one is full of words and expressions. I'm going to try and get them down on the net. She said: "that's a close one" when she put her bagel on the plate. "Bother it" which I think is "don't bother with it".

Icing on the cake was today she opened the bathroom door while her dad was peeing. She said,"You don't pee standing up. You have to sit down. Like I told you." I couldn't stop laughing.

I'm not sure how much Vanessa is aware that she's going to have a little sister. I keep interjecting it into the conversation. The other day she walked into the very empty room and told me it was the baby's room which was accurate. She's just processing in all the information. I have little doubt that she'll make a great sister. It's going to be an exciting spring.

whirlwind

Friday, Eric came home early and I went to the car rental agency to rent a car for the week-end. We had lots of things we wanted to do this week-end. I came back and picked up Eric and Vanessa and we headed off to buy Eric a pair of winter boots. I was fearing the worst. Stock is so low at this time of year for winter gear that I thought we'd be looking all night. We went to one store and he bought some there. Yippy! I also bought myself a pair of sunglasses that I love with Christmas money. I'm so proud I found something just for me.

We went out for dinner and then to Indigo. I got to check out bathroom books while Vanessa and Eric played with Thomas the Tank train set. By then I was exhausted so we went home after a stop at the grocery store. I rested in the car while they picked up some food.

Saturday morning was busy. We got up and had pancakes. Vanessa loves her Saturday pancakes. I think it's mostly the ritual of making them with Daddy and putting maple syrup on them that she loves since she rarely finishes one pancake.

We went off to Home Depot to look at bathroom/bedroom materials. I went armed with lots of lists and measurements for us and some snacks for Vanessa. We were there for two hours and made lots of great decisions. We came home with paint for the baby's room and paint for our room. That went so well that we were hopeful and went to the tile store with Vanessa. That didn't go as well since she was loose in the store and there were lots of fun things to touch and feel and walk on. We had one meltdown which looked exactly like another child's behavior. It must be the store. We did find tile that we both loved for the bathroom floor. That was amazing since I had no idea what I wanted for the floor when we went in.

We headed over to McDonald's so Vanessa could spend time with her friends. It was a great lunch. They all played well together but had very little to eat. Vanessa did however walk out of the play area holding the hand of a 15month old. The two of them were found at the outside door. Vanessa told Eric that they were going for a walk.

We dropped Vanessa off at her "New" Grandma's house with a her favorite movie, Cars in case she got restless. Unfortunately, she saw it and wanted to watch it the minute we got there. We went off to another tile store. This tile store had the bathtub surround tile that I wanted but nothing for the floor. We bought the tile we liked and are thrilled. We went back to the other store and bought the floor tile and called it a day.

When we were picking up Vanessa, we were told that she actually asked for both of us. I picked her up and she wouldn't let go. She was pretty warm too so I knew something was up. We got home and took her temperature. It was over 103 but she had no other symptoms. We gave her some Tylenol and it came down to a manageable 101. I was happy with that but still not sure what she had. I posted her status on Facebook and Corey responded that it could be her molars coming in. Sure enough I looked at her gums and they were white. Funny how she never mentioned this even when prompted. After another dose of Tylenol we put her down for a good night sleep. She slept well but woke up a little early. Her temperature was still 101 but she had much better spirits so we decided to head off to Chateau Montebello as planned for brunch. It was a 50th birthday week-end for Ronald and we were going up to surprise him. We put in the DVD player for Vanessa, stopped off for hot chocolate and coffee and off we went. We switched it up a little and she watched the Curious George movie with headsets. Amazing invention which allows us to listen to our music and enjoy the drive.

We did surprise Ronald and had a great brunch. Vanessa was pretty good. I was asked what I did for her to behave so well. I told them she was born that way. Ohh and she was given everything she asked for and had the attention of many adults.

We had a lovely meal and went for a walk. We had planned to go inner tubing but it closed to early. I didn't bring Vanessa's new skates because her patience were running thin last night and she still had a fever. Pamela went skating with Mary-Jane. Vanessa quickly decided that was fun and wanted to try it out. We bit the bullet and rented skates for Vanessa. That was a great idea. She was a pro!

Above are pictures Vanessa took with her camera. Make sure you check out the one with the cool effect.

Vanessa had to be dragged off the ice so we could return the skates and make our way back home. We had a nice quite drive home and dinner before we all went to be really early. What a nice day.

Vanessa's fever is pretty much gone today. Yesterday she developed a rash on her torso which is a mystery to me but it doesn't seem to bother her. We'll have to check it out tomorrow and make sure it's gone. We've also had two days with really long naps. That makes everyone happy!

Major Renovation

I can't believe we're actually going to do it. Little by little.

1. paint the baby's room. I've been madly reallocating everything in our office. Some of it went to the garbage, some went to a second hand store, some of it is in a box for later but most of it was recycled. So much that the recycle truck didn't pick it all up. Hmph.

2. Move our bed and whatever else from our room fits into the baby's room.

3. Build a walk-in closet in our room and enlarge the bathroom. Eric's reward will be a "TV" in the bedroom.

4. Paint our bedroom. We haven't painted it yet. The paint they used was a horrible job with plain white. I'm still not sure what colour I'll go with.

5. Move back into our bedroom.

6. Buy everything for the bathroom. Hopefully before Feb 1st when we have to apply for the tax credit.

6. Redo our bathroom

7. Set up the babies room.

8. Welcome our new baby girl.

I would be happy if we got to step 5 before the baby arrives. Two out of three rooms done in 2 months. That would be fantastic. I've got it all planned in my head.

The baby's room is going to be a beige with vinyl stickers to liven it up. The assortment of stickers is overwhelming. Some glow in the dark others are chalkboards and the others come in every colour of the rainbow. You can even send in pictures to make as Vinyl art. Good thing it's an easy job. I think I'll get settled into the room with the baby and then choose.

The baby's ETA is March 25th. What a time crunch and I'm not much help to Eric. I can feed him while he works. I better make all of his favorites!

I should have posted earlier...

The end of the trip went well. Vanessa only got into major trouble twice. We were not impressed, to say the least, when she purposefully dumped a coffee press on the new couch on the boat or the circles she drew on the sheets. We both loved being there with the grandparents but the close quarters got to both of us. I had a breakdown and asked my parents to take Vanessa away for the morning. Vanessa was thrilled to go out for a ride and to go swimming on the beach. She loves the waves and the sand. She was impressed with herself when she put the shells on the bottom and filled it with sand to turn it over and find them on the top.

We had fun walking through Stuart, eating ice cream and playing at the park. It's so much fun trying new ice cream parlours. I had Key Lime ice cream and it was delicious. I'm so excited to be able to try and make my own flavours.

Our last day we went to Costco and West Palm Beach Mall to buy some last minute gifts that couldn't be found at home and went to a Haggen Das ice cream parlour. Yum some more. This was a huge mall. I wish I had the energy to check out more of the stores. This baby's going to come out craving ice cream. My mom and I separated since I was going to sit down and share my ice cream with Vanessa. We had some more time to kill so I walked Vanessa down the mall and found a shoe store. She went into the store and pulled out the whitest high heeled. I found some very sweet Mary-Janes that were nice leather. I bought them and went to meet my parents. My mom had picked out the same shoes in this huge mall and thought they'd be nice and sent my dad to find me so I could buy them. LOL.

The both of our flights home were delayed by a short time. Vanessa only ran off on me in the airport once. Thank goodness for some nice lady who offered to help me out and watch Vanessa while I gather our things after security. She put on her shoes with her. I was really grateful to her. It took nothing out of her day but it meant the world to me.

Vanessa stayed awake until the car ride home at 2:20 in the morning. We were happy to be home in the Christmas spirit.