Today was a full day of errands! I haven’t attempted a full errand day is quite some time, with all the discomfort I’ve been having. But today called for things to be done, so they were done to the best of my ability.

I let Dekker sleep until I heard him start making sound, so I think I got him around 11:30 this morning. I got him all dressed and fed, and we left. We hit Tims right off the hop for an iced capp, since it was warm at that point. Then I headed to pick up a Lifeproof case that I purchased off someone from Kijiji. I’m actually super excited about it. He used it for a while before he upgraded to a iPhone5, so it looks perfect. Instead of spending $90 plus tax, I spent $50. We went from there to OTV where I purchased a few cords to charge my phone in my car, and where I can hook it up to listen to music if I don’t have Bluetooth turned on. If you don’t already go there for all your techy needs, start. Sooo affordable! I got three cords and paid less than $15. Shout out for Reid as my salesman of choice!

We still needed to make an appearance at the Medical Arts Building to get Dekkers special bum cream, but they were adamant that it would not be concocted until 3pm, even though they received the prescription fax yesterday. Weird, but the tube says it takes a full day to create the compound cream so I guess it makes sense. However, I didn’t have a whole lot more to do on that side of the city, so I decided to bite the bullet and just do a bit more backtracking than I usually do. Therefore, I headed across the river and did some shopping for treats, some Dollarama for Dekker, and some groceries. I’m really eager to recreate this delicious shrimp dish our friends made for us the other night, so I hit up Superstore for shrimp, the specific Kraft dressing, green onions, and plum tomatoes. Do you think I could find anything?! The shrimp was supposed to be medium shrimp but I could only find large, jumbo, or gigantico (which I assume is even bigger?) so I grabbed large. Wouldn’t you? I found the dressing. WIN! They were completely sold out of green onions, which seemed a little strange, and there were no plum tomatoes. So I kicked myself in the face, bought the two items that did exist, and made the most of it. Dekker loved the ramp down to the parkade, so we absolutely raced to the bottom, him squealing loudly the entire time 🙂 Yes, people stared, but we were having a blast and I figured putting my son in that situation made me a good mom. Sue me.

Strangely enough, after Superstore, we drove back across the river, got Dekker’s special bum cream, and then sat in the backseat together having our afternoon snacks. After our Cheerios and cashews were decently dented, we again crossed the river and went in search of Brady and the house he was working on. I got to tour around and check out the new floorplan, which I always like.

While heading to the restaurant for dinner, Dekker was pretty much melting down. That boy was sooo tired! But he finally fell asleep, and we sat in the car for an extra little while before waking him and taking him into the restaurant. Poor dude. But chicken fingers and fries really perked him up! Broadway Cafe makes great french fries. Weirdly enough, I was sooo hungry for their weirdo mushroom and gravy hamburger. *shrugs* I never order a burger! But it was super delicious and I’m still full.

We are now home. Our car survived the terrible roads in our town, luckily. I’m surprised we haven’t lost a tire or anything. Yet. Also, more news of yet another robbery in one of the homes, and this one in broad daylight. I’m less and less excited to be living here these days. I know petty crime happens everywhere, but there has been more in the last month than there has been in the last almost four years we have lived here. Not impressed.

On a positive note…

On that note, have a good sleep.

Today was a pretty full day, but being that its approaching the end of the day, I still feel great! I feel relaxed. My day was busy but with lots of good things.

I woke Dekker shortly after 10am, to save his bum from some grief, and because we were going to spend some time with my mom in the afternoon. He and I had breakfast together, and while I was trying to photograph the huge amount of banana on his face, I got a couple good ones 🙂

We headed out straight after we ate so we could get to moms at a good time and help make lunch.

Our afternoon was great. Just as it became time for lunch to be made and a few errands to be run, Dekker needed a nap. So baby went down, fish went in the oven, veggies and fruit were chopped, and laundry went into the washer. We finished up a movie mom had started earlier and just relaxed. Dekker slept away the afternoon.

He finally woke up just as Brady called to say he had forgotten his wallet in the console of my car and needed it to pick up pizza for our evening movie date with friends. So I got Dekkers diaper changed (already better than yesterday even without the new prescription) and we raced out to bring Brady his wallet. We had a relaxed drive home and I really didn’t do much when we arrived. Our friends are loving and forgiving of messes 🙂 so the toys stayed spread out and the few dishes stayed on the counter. Life goes on. They even brought a delicious strawberry crisp for dessert. The biggest surprise was the gifts. Our small group of friends from church got together and made us a HUGE variety of meals and muffins, etc. just because I have been feeling so crappy and they want us to have good food when I’m not feeling up to cooking. I feel so very blessed to have friends like them. Not sure how to properly thank people like that for such unexpected (but welcomed!) help. I love you guys!

Supper was delicious and we watched Pitch Perfect, which is always awesome. The kids played together well for the first time ever 🙂 Dekker is sooo shy of other kids, but he did really well having another little one around sharing his toys. I was proud 🙂

Lastly, just a funny random discovery of the day – Dekker knows his belly! We haven’t really pumped into him where his nose and ears are, things like that. But I mentioned a while ago that he’s started lifting his shirt and patting/rubbing his belly. Today I was laying on the floor showing my mom my baby bump, and when she touched it, Dekker came up and lifted his shirt to have his belly touched. We started asking him where his belly is, and he knew! And was super proud of it 🙂 I love him.

What a fabulous day. I feel like it might take some time to wind down from. But tomorrow will be a busy day in the city! Best get rested!

I mention once in a while that Dekker gets diaper rash. It really is the one downfall of how much he sleeps. Not only does he sit in a dirty diaper longer than most kids, but he’s in that fun stage where almost every single diaper is poopy. Not a fun stage at all, but I guess I’d rather have him pooping up a storm than not pooping! However, he has had this one persistent rash that we can’t get away from.

While Dekker has always slept more than the average baby, and now the average toddler, that has amped up like crazy over the last week or so. He slept from 8:30 last night until 1:00 this afternoon. I know, it was nuts. He pooped four times today. His redness on his bum is very familiar to us. We know what it looks like when the red is just waiting to turn into yeast. So we’ve been actively using his prescription yeast cream to avoid it. However, we are only allowed to use that cream a couple of times a day, and we like one to be at night, so after having used it a couple of times already, I left it and used a ton of really think zinc-based cream on his most recent diaper. Yeast. Everywhere. Sooo discouraging. Plus, the yeast cream has always made his diaper changes go from shaking, panic-filled, wailing events, to normal changes. But even with this cream the last day or two, he just screams when I change him. So, we opted for the doctor.

I know some people think we go to the doctor too much, and thats fine. You come change my kids diaper then. It really is awful, and I’m going on instinct here. We got to our favorite walk-in and thank the Lord, there was no one in the waiting room. We got in right away and saw a doctor that looked shockingly similar to David Schwimmer. He was very attentive, listened very well, and prescribed a compound cream made of yeast cream, something anti-bacterial, and something to just calm the redness and irritation. Brady will pick it up tomorrow and hopefully we can kick this rash in the butt. Literally, and gently. While we were there, we also asked him to double check that potential ear infection from a couple of weeks back. He said both ears look completely clear! I was so relieved, and sooo proud of Dekker! He didn’t cry when the doctor checked his bum or his ears. He sat perfectly still and just waited patiently. I love my son. He is a total trooper. I was so glad we went to the doctor and saw who we saw. And I’m really looking forward to that new cream tomorrow! Wow, how being a mom changes you, haha!

Sidenote: Noticed this when we arrived home. Beware, anyone who comes over!

This is going to be a fairly scattered post but for some reason I have a lot to say today, so please forgive me in advance.

I was driving home from Saskatoon this evening, trying to jot out tonights post in my head, and I started having my car-cry. Does anyone else cry in their car? I know, it sounds pathetic and ridiculous, but my car has become a very safe place for me to get my feelings out. It began for me last year when I was really struggling with anxiety. Without being too personal in such a public place, those months of trying for baby #2 were numerous, and each one more difficult than the last. I know that idea will be lost of some people, but if you’ve ever tried for a baby, whether for one month, or one year, or ten years, every fricking period is hell. Every day its late is worse. Such a difficult time. While I mourned every month that we didn’t conceive, I would do my best to hold it together at home. But in the safety of my car, I cried thousands of tears. My girl Stella (our Mazda) knows a lot about me and how easy it is for me to cry. I think a lot of it comes from “genetics” (thanks mom 😉 ) but lots of it is thanks to last year.

While we are happily and healthily carrying our second child now, sadly 2012 left me feeling like a different person, and I’m not sure I love her reaction to life sometimes. But we’re working on it. I see quite a few changes that are making me happy. For instance, a great harmony in the music I’m listening to can cause me to cry a little. Or today, getting excited about having another child made me cry. I like that I can cry. I think its healthy.

What sparked my cry today was thinking about yesterday, spending time with out friends. You know how weepy people (like me) can be brought to tears by things like that perfect baby smell? Dekker didn’t carry that smell very long at all. Honestly, for more of his babyhood, his fuzzy head and soft little neck smelled of spoiled milk and vomit. And being that he ended up being formula fed, he smelled a bit like dog food. Our friends from last night have a four month old who throws up often as well, very similar to Dekker. He had a good barf last night all over his daddys arms, so I scooped baby up to give Nolan a chance to wipe up. I held baby boy, cuddled into his neck, and as instinct would have it, took a BIG whiff of his neck. He smelled EXACTLY like Dekker. To me, he smelled like the perfect new baby. Reminiscing about that in my car today brought me to tears. I cannot wait to have another baby in my house. And in FOUR WEEKS we will be halfway there!!! That brought on another waterfall of tears. Four weeks. I have been making a conscious effort to not wish these weeks away. I have a husband, and a very precious little 1.5 year old to pay attention to and make memories with. I would kick myself in the butt if I just hemmed and hawed until our second baby came. But four weeks to the halfway point it crazy! Time is going faster than I thought!

As I was tearing up in my car, I took a glance back at Dekker and what did I find? My weirdo son, chewing at his feet, desperately trying to remove his shoes. I burst out laughing and so did he. He is exactly the passenger I needed today 🙂 I can’t NOT add some pictures of him…

As an aside, I figured I’d do a quick little update on the pregnancy itself. I was 16 weeks yesterday. I guess the baby is hypothetically the size of a turnip this week. His/her eyes are on the front of their face (YAY!) and baby will develop fingerprints in the next week or so. Very exciting! As for me, I’m sticking my meal planning very well, and staying as hydrated as possible, but after having my blood pressure show up as 89/56 this afternoon, I’m feeling a little frustrated. I’ve known the entire time that my dizziness and fainting are related to my blood pressure but every check shows up 110/70-ish, so I’ve questioned myself. But apparently its fighting pretty hard to be really low, so I’m not sure what else I can do! Eating well three meals a day plus snacks, and drinks. What gives?! Other than that, I’m happy and looking forward to the weeks to come! Lots going on that I’m anticipating to be awesome! And I finally have a bump that none of you can deny exists!! Proof?

Cha-ching!

It really was a great day. Please don’t think that my car-weeping makes me pathetic or unstable. Its a great place for me and keeps me healthy and happy. I didn’t spend my day crying. I spent my morning with my boys at home, the afternoon with my parents playing cards and eating soup and snacks, and the evening getting groceries and listening to music. I’m completely happy.

Cleared residential roads would make me even happier though… Just sayin’.

Before I actually talk about the date we went on today, I’ll again apologize for an after-midnight post. Forgive me please. Apparently I live to craaaaazy of a social life. Don’t worry, I really don’t usually.

I’d also like to quickly recap Friday, since I blogged in the morning about the ridiculous dreams I had that I believed caused me to wake up sweating, crying, and contracting. I was feeling kind of antsy, and as if I should maybe be around people that day, to help shake off the stupid dreams from that morning. I felt completely relieved when my sister called and invited me to join her and my mom for the afternoon. It was Caity’s last day in town, so I was thrilled to come visit for a bit. We had pulled pork on buns for supper before Brady, Dekker and I brought her to the airport. We saw her through security and then went and settled down by the windows to watch the planes come in and out. Dekker waved politely at all the nice reflective people wearing earmuffs on the tarmac  but no one saw. Sad, I know. Because he was sooo adorable. What we really did like was we actually caught a glimpse of Caitlin walking past the windows of the walkway onto the plane. We waved like mad and she saw us! We blew some kisses and she continued onto the plane. We waited until her plane took off as well, getting right up to the big window and waving. Her texts later confirmed that she saw us then too 🙂 So when you see the crazy people waving at the airport, know that sometimes it totally pays off.

As for this morning, turns out I really am having braxton hicks contractions. They woke me up again this morning. Isn’t this way too early for them to be showing themselves?! Not impressed. Contractions aside though, we went on a family date with our friends, Hailey and Nolan and their two boys. This has been planned for a couple of weeks now, and I think I can safely say we’ve all been really looking forward to it!. We met at the pool for the busiest family swim any of us had ever witnessed. It was kind of nuts and hard to settle in. Dekker was pretty nervous most of the time there, but warmed up towards the end. It was just pretty chaotic, but it makes sense 🙂 No big deal. Just a different scene than going in the middle of a weekday. But we did that for a good hour and then headed back to their place for the afternoon and evening. I have to say that everything we ate was fabulous! Once we were all relaxed and settled in and Dekker was napping, we sat down in the kitchen and absolutely wolfed down this great shrimp dish they made. Brady was pretty upfront about not being a huge fan of shrimp, and said he’d just snag one or two off my plate maybe. After eating most of my helping, we got a few more scoops and devoured those as well. Guys, that was incredible. And mom, you’ll LOVE it! I’ll make it for you one day soon 🙂 We really just chatted the rest of the day away, from the couches to the kitchen, from drinks to steak and barbecued veggies. We ate SO much! Dekker ate half a steak!!! No lie. And veggies on top of that. And a great whipped cheesecake filled with berries for dessert. Seriously friends, we raved about the food all the way home! We would happily eat that exact same meal at your place again. No word of a lie.

After dinner we dragged our food-overloaded bodies downstairs. Dekker was the happiest I’d seen him all day, surrounded by new toys! He was completely occupied for the next good hour while we all sat on the floor and talked and the guys took turns playing Mario Galaxy. The day was so relaxed but something about a pool seems to make a person extra tired, doesn’t it? We were all wiped out completely, fading really fast. We finally hauled ourselves out the door shortly after 11pm. But its hard to leave when you’re having such a good time! For being relatively new friends (as in friends who actually see each other…) it feels like we’ve known them forever.

SUCH a great date night! Might be hard to top. Our turn next, I guess, haha!

If you’ve ever heard that women sometimes get extra crazy dreams when they’re pregnant, they are telling the truth! Its a very real thing. When I was pregnant with Dekker, I had regular dreams of misplacing my baby after it was born and having no one seem to think it was an issue. No one would help me locate my baby! They were awful. I haven’t had a lot of extreme dreams yet this time around, but I sure did last night. The first thing I wanted to do when I woke up was write it out a bit. Luckily, some dreams get a little foggy once they’ve been gone for a little while, but I’ll give you the gist.

First of all, in real life, I woke up at 6:45am to someone driving away and honking a little song with their car horn. Thanks. I was kind of miffed, but tried pretty hard to go back to sleep. It took a little time, but it was as soon as I fell back to sleep that the dreams started. My first one, I don’t remember why, but someone was really talking down to my mom. I walked in on her balled up underneath a table, crying, while someone was just laying into her. I immediately jumped in to back her up, but was ‘corrected’ by the person yelling, who just yelled more at my mom to control her daughter. Instead, I sat beside her and bawled while this person kept yelling. Even in the dream, I was thinking “Wake up! Wake up!” And couldn’t. It was really awful. I hate feeling so helpless.

Then I think I lulled awake a little bit, just enough to know I had a really weird, crampy stomach ache, and fell back to sleep into a different dream. This one had a lot more people involved. Some current friends and family, friends from years ago, high school teachers, everyone. We were in some kind of situation that looked like maybe we had all stayed the weekend somewhere and were trying to pack up and be organized. Somehow, I ended up with this graph/list I was supposed to fill in about what was where and when. I tried so hard to make it really clear and perfect, but the boxes and spaces were so tiny that no matter how hard I tried, I would get mixed up and start writing things in the wrong boxes and basically just mess the whole thing up. It became one of those situations that happens in real life sometimes where everyone is looking over your shoulder and telling you what to do and throwing out ideas, to the point where there is really no hope in ever getting it done. Doesn’t that make everything so much worse?! Am I the only person that knows that! Anyway, I was forced over and over to erase it all and start again. But then I’d need to write more info than what would fit in the box, and someone would say “Just draw a line and write it somewhere else on the page” but that would get all tangled with everything else and it was just sooooo frustrating! Everyone was getting really mad because we apparently couldn’t leave until I got this right. Like a child learning a lesson. I finally left the room for a minute and found someone to plead with to help me finish. And she said something like “Well, it doesn’t have to be messy. Just draw a line!” Grrrrr!!! It was infuriating and I couldn’t wake up from it! The packing and listing had begun in what seemed to be the afternoon, and during all the hustle and bustle, I saw a clock that said 11pm.

The dream was never resolved. I woke up  sweaty and crying, and to that awful crampy stomach ache again, and this time made sure I stayed awake. What makes this morning even more scary is that I’m pretty sure those weird crampy stomach aches I had between those dreams and for a little while after were braxton hicks contractions. It is much to early for those.

I feel nervous and tired today. Not an ideal morning at all.

Today was the one day this week with nothing scheduled, so my body chose to have another crappy day. While I appreciate that I haven’t had to be very sick at all when we’re having company or when we are company, I could deal with a day off of everything, sickness included.

I wasn’t super faint or barfy or anything, just a bit dizzy and generally off. Just the kind of day that everyone has once in a while. Its just so very different than my pregnancy with Dekker, it throws me for a bit of a loop! People truly aren’t kidding when they say every pregnancy is different. They can be polar opposites!

So I accomplished virtually nothing. I forgot to eat breakfast but when Dekker got up at about noon-ish, I ate my breakfast with him. I didn’t do any dishes or any tidying, and I don’t even remember putting on deodorant. Also, since we’ve been trying to meal plan, I realized that I hadn’t worked in our weekly Subway date, so I texted Brady and he agreed that subs for supper would be great. No prep for me.

But I thought I’d describe to you guys the best part of my day. I may have in the past but it seems to change every night. I used to joke that I would force my children to snuggle with me every day, and I never had to fight for it! Dekker snuggles are the best. So here’s a breakdown of the order of events on bedtime cuddles with Dekker.

Dekker lays on my chest, chewing the corner of his blanket, and watching Brady filling up his humidifier from our bathtub tap.
The second Brady leaves, Dekker perks up and gets his playful, mischievous look.
Dekker takes his forehead and presses it against the bridge of my nose as hard as he possibly can.
I shake my head around and he laughs and laughs. And we play again. And again. Until it hurts.
I turn my head away so he slips a little, and I take the opportunity to kiss him and nibble him all up.
He finds the corner of his blanket again and offers me the corner to chew.
I chomp the corner a couple of times to humor him.
Dekker puts his index finger in his mouth and really gums it up.
He rubs his wet finger all over my face trying to put it in my mouth to “share.” So generous.
I laugh uncontrollably, to a point where he’s almost sliding off of my. I desperately try to keep him on me.
Dekker takes a rest and lays his head down on my chest, facing me.
I hum “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” I stop humming.
He looks up and starts humming to me, so I hum the song again.
We play the nose/forehead game until Brady came back and took baby to bed.

And somehow, now I felt better.

My sister came over tonight! I so rarely get to see her, being that we live a good 8 hours apart. But she’s out for a visit and came over for the evening. It was so good to be together 🙂

We served, as per usual, honey chicken for dinner with a big green salad. We watched a movie in the basement while we ate and while Dekker slept. He woke up with about a half hour of the movie left, but it was time for him to get up, so we paused the movie and got some food into Deks before heading back down to finish the movie.

This kid is getting funnier and funnier by the day! I have never seen him show off the way he did tonight! He started with squats. I can just picture it in my head right now and my side still hurts from laughing so much. He’d just stand in a squat and wait for everyones approval. From there, it went to standing on one foot, into lunges, and into spinning. I have never seen him do almost all of those things. Ever. He was in rare form. He often takes time to warm up to people but he picks up on Auntie’s love immediately and they got along famously. Warm heart.

We kept him up a little later because he was so happy and playful, and then he had a goooood wail when it was bedtime, and he hasn’t made a sound since Brady walked into his bedroom. It was time. Shortly after, Caity headed back to my parents house, where shes staying. It was so nice having her around, but luckily we’ll still see her for sure once more before she leaves. But its better to focus on the great time we all had together this evening I think.

Guess what! Tomorrow is my day of no plans. I wonder if, after being pretty busy for the last few days, if I’m going to feel relieved or completely bored and fidgety. Maybe I’ll make Caity’s granola recipe…

I know I promised to blog every day, but I’m still up from yesterday so it counts right? I love these nights! When we have friends over for supper, put Dekker down and have tea in the living room, and all of a sudden, its midnight. To me, that is a testament of really good, comfortable friendships. Not always having to be moving and busy. Just comfort in being together, and even being quiet once in a while. It was a good night for friends.

Brady and I are rarely this social in a week. We have been out and about every night this week and with the exception of Thursday, we will be for the rest of it as well! I thoroughly enjoy it 🙂 It has taken us a while to become people who love to entertain and host at our house, but I really love it now. I always wanted this role, but knowing I live so far away from everyone makes me very aware that people have to go quite out of their way to be with us. So we’ve held off inviting people over for that reason alone, which is silly. An invitation can’t hurt! I mean, people can’t always make it, and if they never want to, then they’re not people we need to pursue this way. Right? Long story short, we love having people over. Anytime. Please come over.

Our guests tonight are such relaxed guests. We can leaves toys strewn all over, and serve simple meals. Today was spaghetti and meat sauce, caesar salad, and garlic bread. Really easy, but they were happy to have it! And they brought chocolate cream pie!!! It was a really good night.

Looking forward to having my sister over tomorrow for supper as well. Poor Caity, we still haven’t decided what to feed you!!!

Dekker and I went to hang out with my mom and sister this afternoon. As you probably have heard, Brady and I meet with a group of friends every two weeks for food and a small Bible study. We always plan ahead of time what part of the supper we’ll bring. This week was soup and sandwiches, but in the spirit of Easter, I said we’d bring Easter bread, or Paska. Its a pretty rich, thicker bread that usually has icing on some part of it. I didn’t know if that would qualify as a sandwich or a dessert but I figured it would be delicious anyway.

Luckily Caity was out, since I have absolutely no idea of how to actually make Paska! And she does. She makes beautiful little paska buns instead of loaves of bread. So I called her in the morning for the recipe that I know she brought along for me, and instead they invited me out for the day so we could make the paska together. Long story short, the house smelled awesome and our half-recipe turned out 5 dozen buns!!! They are all icinged (yup, its a word) and sprinkled and ready to be eaten, and I think they eight of us at small group didn’t even take down twenty. So, if anyone wants Easter buns…

I didn’t take pictures, and I’m not getting up to do it now, but they are pink and cute and nummy. My son is also nummy today. I put him in this odd-fitting tshirt that we got him for Christmas. Its massive in the neck and fits everywhere else. So likely, it will just never really fit him well, but it leaves so much of his soft skin exposed for munching and tickling, so I couldn’t change him into a different shirt! He is just irresistible! Munch munch munch!

I guess he counts as a sweet treat today too. Dekker eating pink icing is about as sweet as it gets.