Sometimes I title a post and then I realize I already have a post by that name. Sigh. Apparently I’m not creative enough for titles, but at least I still write!

This morning was rough for me. I woke up heavy hearted (and heavy bladdered) at 5:00am and that was it for me! I know its not the end of the world, but last night I was feeling unsettled as well so Brady and I stayed up late to watch the beginning of the meteor shower thats happening this weekend and only got to bed around 1:30. It was totally worth staying up for!!! We got to really enjoy being out in our yard, on the deck we worked so hard for, watching the stars. It was nice to have a date, to be quiet, to cool off and cuddle up. I love him. However, the camera flash is unkind at that hour. We tried.

 

So while the stargazing was wonderful and we plan to repeat the occasion tonight with hot chocolate, the early morning was awful and I felt nauseous all morning into the afternoon. Not ideal but thats just how life is sometimes.

Besides that, the day went well. Dekker wasn’t sitting well through church at all but I was feeling like garbage so we went and sat in the back playroom so he could play toys and have a snack, and I could stretch out on a recliner and catch my breath a little. The service was over before I knew it, and I chased down a few people to get numbers of attendees for Dekker’s birthday party. Still don’t know accurate numbers but I have a few more on the list anyway. (PS: To anyone reading who didn’t get an invite but would like to come, please don’t take the lack of invite personally, and contact me! We’d love to have you come celebrate our son with us next Sunday afternoon!!)

From church we headed to my parents for lunch. My mom has been gone visiting her sister for a few days and her plane gets in tonight, so my dad made us a yummy lunch. We were all pretty tired and low key, but ventured out for a walk downtown for drumsticks. I don’t do great walking too far these days, with my fall-aparty pelvis, but little did I know my parents actually own a belt that is EXACTLY what I need! A “pelvic orthotic” is what its called. I tried it out for the walk and while it wasn’t perfect, it was pretty darn close! I just have to figure out the exact place to wear it and I think it’ll save me these last few weeks. Optimism! So a less-painful walk and ice cream started my afternoon off right.

Since Brady was doing van repairs yesterday, we had to drive to Saskatoon this afternoon to return some rented tools to PartSource. Apparently we followed ourselves out of town. Which was strange, and a little twilight zoney.

 

Same year even. Weird.

Dekker and I waited for Brady outside of PartSource…

 

And then the boys waited for me while I ducked into Dollarama for a few party things. Of course I was super disorganized and forgot about half of what I needed to get, but I got some cups and bowls and balloons and things like that. I need to go back for a table cloth, a few dishes for sundae toppings, and I think bubbles. Who doesn’t love bubbles?! C’mon, the kids turning two.

A certain little love was fairly emotional on the drive home, to say it nicely. He went straight to bed when we got home, and Brady and I plunked ourselves into bed as well, for some How I Met Your Mother and a rest. Apparently I was more “restful” than him because I fell asleep. I vaguely remember him asking if I wanted to nap, and then turning the laptop off and closing the door. When he woke me up a little bit later, the car was washed and the deck was swept and rearranged into party mode. I should nap more often I guess! Loved that 🙂 Thanks, my love. Apparently I slept really hard and was in quite a bit of pain when I woke up, so Brady limped me to the bathroom and back to bed, where I propped myself up a bit and took my time waking up. Then we got Dekker up and had leftover honey chicken for supper.

We always pray before we eat and depending on the setting, somedays there is more to say than others. Today we were all seated and Dekker had been pretty ready to eat so we were all served up before we prayed. So I just looked at him and said “Dear Jesus, thank you so much for our food! Amen.” and he looked at me kind of confused and reached out to hold my hand. WARMED my heart! So we all held hands and prayed again, being a bit more thankful for a few more things 🙂 My sensitive little boy.

We all had a good feed before Dekker wanted to go outside, so Brady took him out onto the deck and started the sprinkler on the garden while I snuck inside and grabbed some bubbles. Dekker raced around in them for the next half hour, completely thrilled with the situation. I kept catching the bubbles on the bubble wand and trying to show them to him, and all he wanted to do was eat them, but the last one I showed him, he pinched it and popped it, and thought it was hilarious, so he’s figuring it out. It was nice to see him running around, super happy in just a tshirt and diaper, and then take a load off on one of his tiny little lawn chairs.

It was a little bit too much fun, and going inside for night seemed to be pretty much the end of the world. Lots of screaming and hitting. Its sad to see him so sad, but thats not really an excuse to act that way either. It was hard, and bedtime routine didn’t work out. No cuddles, no pictures, nothing. But we all have days.

We’re really looking forward to the meteor shower again tonight. Therefore our nighttime routine is being nice and delayed. Brady is changing the oil in my car right now, I’m doing a load of diapers, we’ll eventually run a bath once the water heater catches up after laundry, and then when its finally dark enough we’ll make hot chocolate and go sit outside for a while. Today and tomorrow are supposed to be much more active than yesterday, and we saw about 15 shooting stars in a half hour yesterday! So I’m anticipating good things.

And a better sleep. And a home day with my boys tomorrow. Life is good.

My Hailey and her boys came over for the day today, which is always awesome. I’m not very subtle about that, and I don’t really think I need to be. They are like family, and fit right in! Its exciting for me to see Dekker stare after Grady and get excited instead of being afraid. And he loved Zaden, and shrieks and points every time he crawls or pulls up. This all gives me hope that Dekker won’t always be as shy and cautious as he is now. The boys do great together, to a point where Deks bawls his eyes out when its nap time. Usually nap time is a fun, celebrated event, but not when those boys are over! He doesn’t want to miss a thing. I don’t blame him.

While Hailey and I caught up and chatted the afternoon away, Brady was outside working on his van. We recently diagnosed the grinding sound from his van to be from a bad bearing. And yes, I say “we” because we researched it together. We both went outside and wiggled the front tires and the drivers side tire had tons of play. So just to be safe, yesterday he purchased bearings for both sides and rented a mondo socket set. This morning was when he had started work on the van, and accidentally stripped a bolt. So after Hailey and the boys were over and we had all had lunch, he headed into the city and bought a bolt remover set. That thing will come in handy I think! As soon as he arrived back, he was back to work, and the remover worked like a charm.

However, the bearing change did not. Sigh. He drove around the block to the familiar grinding sound. It was sooo discouraging. Three hours down the drain with the problem not fixed. After taking the other side apart, he found the grinding sound and changed out that bearing in one hour! Also swapped out a couple of filters and the van a/c even works again! Success for him, and very successful visiting for Hailey and I. We had lots of catching up to do, and got a good chunk of it in. When two of the three boys were sleeping, we quickly put supper in the crock pot and spent the rest of the afternoon talking. I feel like we could just talk all day. And we did. And it was awesome. We never seem to run out of conversation.

When all the boys were up and Brady was washed and happy with his van, we sat down and stuffed our faces with honey chicken on rice and cucumbers. It was super good if I do say so myself. They all left relatively quickly after supper, just for the sake of the long drive home and not wanting to get smoked by deer on the highway. It was a really, really nice visit. We love our friends! It helps when the kids are so photogenic…..

When we were officially company-less, we went out on the deck so Dekker could get some sun and we could water the garden a bit before bed. Anyone want to join him?

Then cuddles and a bath for me! Snack tonight… perhaps a nectarine? Yum.

Remember a day or two ago, I posted about my lists? About feeling somewhat overwhelmed with all the things I wanted to get done before baby girl arrives? About Dekker’s birthday party being next weekend? I made some lame comment towards the end to watch out, because if you’re going to offer to help, I’m going to take you up on it.

Someone offered, and I accepted. Today. My loving friend Willa came by armed with lunch and tools and cleaning products. We had lunch together, but after a short night (for us, anyway) Dekker was finished pretty quick and needing a nap. I went to change his diaper and lay him down for a rest, and came back to her working in the kitchen. I was not permitted to help, only to finish my lunch, and then crochet and relax while she finished my several days worth of dishes. I had that moment of embarrassment, but then decided to roll with it and just be grateful. So I was.

We caught up and had a really nice visit, reminiscing about having our babies and different experiences around that. I love having people to relate to and get excited with 🙂 And after a nice time of that, it was time for another job! So I pulled out my list and she asked for the one I was dreading the most. Sigh. The freezer. I have been wanting to tackle this thing forever but have been completely dreading it at the same time. I knew that there were things in there from years ago that I didn’t want to find. Also, part of me was nervous that a deep freeze was similar to a fridge that, if left open for too long, would just burn out. Not ideal. However, Willa worked quick! She yanked out everything and we put them into piles of chucking out, keeping near the top, and hiding in the bottom. I don’t know how long we were down there but the whole thing is done and it went waaay quicker than it ever would have had I done it on my own. I had this complex the whole time we were rearranging that I really wanted to write it all down so I didn’t have the same problem as before and basically “lose” my food. But I don’t need to write it down! I can see everything! Its sooo refreshing! Ask Brady. He’s happy too. I am sooo glad that job is over.

Once the freezer was clean, the rejects thrown out, and all the ice melting in the sink (why carry a bag of snow upstairs if you don’t have to?) we pulled out the frozen yogurt Willa brought with her and enjoyed dessert together. And then she was off! It felt so quick, but if not for that visit, my freezer would likely never have been fixed up, and my huge mound of dishes would have continued to grow over the next couple of days. Willa, I am so completely thankful.

Somehow, Dekker was still sleeping after all of this so I threw on some makeup (I know, after company left, lol) and tried to put myself together for when Brady got home. It was my dads birthday today and Brady was going to arrange with him if he’d like to come over for dinner or we could meet him in Saskatoon. Whichever he’d like. So I wanted to look somewhat presentable. While I was getting ready, however, I started having wicked rib pain. I know, it never ends. So I lay in bed for a little while and dozed in and out in front of YouTube videos. When Brady got home from Saskatoon he put all the groceries away and said dad was coming and bringing pizza! Again, less work for me, which is always nice. I stayed in my lulus and honestly, stayed in my bed until he arrived. We shared pizza and rest of my birthday cake from last week, and had a nice visit before he left around 9pm. It was great timing, honestly. The bath is running, the garden has been watered, and bed is not far away. I’m voting that I don’t wake up at 4am again. Not my favorite.

Tomorrow will be spent with my other half, Hailey, and her kids 🙂 Sooo looking forward to that. And looking forward to honey chicken. I crave it so much, its a wonder I don’t make it more…

And I’m highly anticipating next week too! Setting up plans was so much fun today! Seeing some friends, having an ultrasound, and actually being home with Brady a little bit, getting ready for Dekker’s birthday party! As I keep saying, July completely flew by. I have no idea where it went, and now Dekker is very close to turning two, and I’m just floored that it happened so fast! Looking forward to celebrating him.

I’m excited to talk a bit about my day today, but there are a few things I have wanted to add in here for a while, but having been too lazy to load pictures off of my phone onto my computer, they’ve been delayed. So, looking back over a few days…

Back to today! I’m going to be honest, right off the hop. Our entire day looked like this:

 

But we decided to try the positive approach and just go with it the best we could.

We had a full day scheduled, and got up in decent time to get to my first appointment on time. Waxing at 11:30. I love my waxing girl and as always, I totally enjoyed having my hair ripped out. No lie. I find it a comforting spa treatment and I feel very pampered having it done. Plus she always asks about my kids and how the pregnancy is going. I know she jots down how many weeks pregnant I am in my chart so she can know the next time I come in. I love.

While I was being doted on, the boys went to pick up lunch for us and Brady fed Dekker. So when I was done and back out in the car, I could just eat while Brady drove. He drove us to the mall where I did my first of four diaper drop offs! I put in a large order of diapers not too long ago for a group of us who all wanted to avoid shipping. However, it was then my job to disburse them to the rightful owners. So I left the first chunk with the “diaperers” mom at her work and continued on my way.

We hit up Dollarama really quickly for garbage bags and, not finding what I was looking for, came out with all our mini stuff to pack in the hospital bag!

After that quick stop, we headed to my prenatal appointment. We arrived fifteen minutes early and met another diaperer at the front entrance and made the exchange. I’m not going to lie. It felt like what I imagine a drug deal feels like. Bag exchanged for cash, very little said, aviators worn, stuff like that. Yet I made very little and she got diapers. So I’m pretty sure its different…

I really enjoyed our doctors appointment, like always. Heard a steady heartbeat, got to ask my questions, discussed birth plans a little, all the good stuff. Baby is still head down, which feels great to know. I mentioned to her that I was wondering about babys size. Mostly out of curiosity based on Dekker’s size, but also based on the fact that she can kick so high up and it absolutely kills me in the nether regions. Maybe she’s just tall. She explained that those muscles get more and more that way with each pregnancy. And then when she measured my uterus, it was smaller than it was 3 weeks ago! A little strange, and I’m sure its ok, but (I totally love her) she said if I would feel better booking an ultrasound she would be more than happy to give me a requisition for one. YES! I was really hoping for that! I’ve never had a scan where they estimate anything about size, or any kind of ultrasound this late! I’m really excited to call and book it tomorrow.

I ducked back into the mall after that appointment to meet the third diaperer and make another “deal.” Her baby girl was sooo friendly and cute! And exchange was quick, and once it was done, I headed to the upper level of the mall to visit Jerilee at her work. It was walking up that ramp where I realized just how much pain I was in. I was sore all morning, as in more sore than usual, but I only noticed in this moment just how sore I was. I was waddling. And not the cute, pregnant lady waddle. The sooo broken waddle. I sucked it up and kept on keeping on, visited my Jerilee for a few minutes, and then called Brady and asked him to drive closer instead of me having to walk back down to the lower level to find them back at the car, which of course he did. It seemed to get amazingly worse very quickly after that. We headed for Old Navy to buy our little girl her coming home outfit next 🙂 I mentioned this on Facebook the other day. It is way too expensive to really justify but my loving mother in law offered to pay for it! So we got to the store and they didn’t have it :*( Completely sold out! Luckily its still available in the right size online and since the order will be over $50, the shipping will be free. Win! We did pick up a shirt for Dekker though.

 

We think its cute.

However, I was completely miserable in Old Navy. Sooo much pain. So Brady ducked outside with Dekker and called my chirporactor, Dr Mike. They could fit me in very quickly, with just enough room to run into Wamart first. So we sped through Walmart, bought two colors of soft baby yarn, and then headed back to my chiro office.

Just setting foot in there brings me relief. I barely sat for a minute before they put me in a room. I waited there for maybe two minutes before Dr Mike came in. He asked how I was feeling and I told him I would rather remove my legs with my bare hands than have them attached to me feeling the way they feel. A little dramatic maybe, but not far off. I described the pain as more sharp and pretty much unbearable as opposed to heavy or throbbing. And then he asked this question that I haven’t been able to put into words until today. He asked if I felt safe walking, and I didn’t understand completely what he meant, so he said “Are you bracing for every step, as if you’re going to go down?” YES! “Pubic pain too?” Tons! He did his regular check over me and then said “Well, its gonna get weird in here.”

He wasn’t kidding. He did the rest of his normal stuff but I could tell that he wasn’t happy with me at all. With my body anyway. I asked him what I had done to be so far gone, having only seen him last week, but he said it was all just from being pregnant and my body getting ready to have the baby.

And then the shocker. He asked me to stand up and started to take his belt off. I was somewhat taken aback, but I trust the guy, so I just went with it. He laughed and reminded me that he had warned me. And I reminded him that I just wanted my legs to feel better so he could just do what he needed to do. He wrapped his belt viciously tight around my hips, to a point where he had to fight to close it. Then he told me to walk around the room a little bit. AMAZING relief! Incredible! I mean, it wasn’t perfect, but everything was pretty angry. He explained that my ligaments have basically given up, and all that was holding my pelvis together was my muscles. And muscles get tired. He said they could order me a specific belt to wear but likely it would come too late, so he gave me instructions for what to look for and where to wear it on my body and sent me on my way. It was probably the funniest appointment I’ve ever had at that office, but WOW did I learn a lot. The second the belt was off and I was back in the car, my body was aching to be all held together again. Thanks to everyone who offered to lend me one! My girlfriend Hailey has me covered 🙂

On our way out of Saskatoon, I did our last diaper drop. I swapped out six of my Kawaii diapers for six gdiapers. We’ll see how they go. I figure having other brands is probably good. Plus, they’re size small, which will be nice for the newbie before she fits well into the one sizes. But when that was done, we finally headed home. Nope, didn’t even get to grocery shopping. I knew I was finished, and so was Dekker for sure!

Brady has tomorrow off, but not really. He’s heading back to the city for the grocery shop, and then to get all the stuff he needs to fix the wheel bearings on his van, and change the oil in both vehicles. So I won’t see him at all. But I have an amazing friend coming to play with Dekker and I for the afternoon, and possibly help me get into gear to cross some stuff off my list. I’m really looking forward to that, to be honest!!!

I’m so blessed hey? My husband came to run errands with me all day, and chase our sad toddler. And I have mentioned three amazing girlfriends of mine just in this post alone!

God is good.

I loved today! It was perfect and quiet and chilly and uneventful.

Dekker slept ridiculously late. While he slept the morning away, I spent time on the phone with one of my sisters and one of my girlfriends. It was nice to catch up with people I love from the comfort of my bed while eating breakfast. It was also raining and all my windows were open, so I could enjoy the sounds and the breeze.

I eventually got Dekker up from the night and fed him his “breakfast.” Then we went downstairs to play toys. The plumber was going to come by today or tomorrow but it turned out it wasn’t today, which was nice actually 🙂 Don’t get me wrong, I’m completely happy he’s coming to fix a problem for us, but it was nice to be undisturbed. We just played. We played until it was nap time for both Dekker and I. I am definitely at a stage in my pregnancy where I’m just tired, no matter what. I didn’t experience a lot of pregnancy fatigue last time around at all, but I sure have this time! Errand days in Saskatoon are pretty much out of the question unless I have help.

Which I have! Brady worked like a dog these last couple of days to make it possible to accompany me to my doctors appointment and then help me with whatever I had planned for the afternoon. Needless to say, I’ve filled it up with a leg waxing appointment, dropping off and swapping out some diapers with other cloth diapering moms, grocery shopping, visiting Jerilee at work, and possibly shopping for a few other things since we’ll be right near a Target. While I was plunked on the couch downstairs this afternoon, I tried to set up tomorrow and get as organized as possible. I’m sure I’ll forget something important but I’ll do my best and the worst case scenario leaves me back in Saskatoon sometime next week, which will happen anyway, as it always does.

So I enjoyed today. It was low key and not demanding at all. Yet I got set up for tomorrow and did some dishes, so it wasn’t totally unproductive. Yay us!

 

*PS: Thanks everyone for the LACK of backlash form yesterdays post 🙂 I appreciate the love and support.

Lately I’ve been watching a lot of YouTube channels recently. There are a few I follow daily, mostly mothers who have vlogged throughout their pregnancies and now make updates about their kids and their lives and all sorts of that kind of thing. I like just being part of their lives, but I also take bits and pieces of advice from them, as we all do from other parents I think. Anyway, one of them did a video recently about what they liked about their journey from conception to parenting their now-three year old, and what they might do differently if they were to have another child. I thought it was an interesting video and, while I’m not a vlogger, I am a blogger, and maybe my readers would be interested the same way her viewers were interested. So for the first time since I started posting, I took today and jotted down topics as I thought of them. Things I for sure wanted to add in, things I liked and don’t want to change, things I’m planning to do differently, etc. This may result in a super jumbled post and I apologize in advance for that. I also want to “apologize” for the differences of opinions I’m sure we’ll have on some things. I’d like to throw out the Bambi rule and just ask you to keep any comments to yourself that would possibly make this pregnant, anxious mother feel badly about herself. Whew! Now that that’s all been said, to the top of the list!

The first thing I wrote on my list was in capital letters, and I think it actually is the most important thing.

LESS FEAR!!

Not a fear of having a child even, but a fear of doing it all wrong. And honestly, a fear of other people’s judgement, mostly. I was so scared when I made the “unpopular” decisions. I was scared when Dekker would spit up on someone. I was scared when he would cry in quiet places. I was scared when complete strangers would come up to me and shake their boobs in their hands in my direction and ask if I was nursing, and even more scared to tell them I wasn’t. I was absolutely freaked. No more.

For the labor and delivery chunk of this “next time around” topic, I thoroughly enjoyed how it played out my first time! The few things I might do a little different are firstly, to stand up for myself a little bit more. Or to have Brady stand up for me more. Not that he didn’t last time! We were just first-timers, and I think a lot of people will be able to relate to the feeling of it all sort of being out of your control. It isn’t. Or it sure shouldn’t be! A nurse should not be impatient to speak to me while I’m in mid-contraction. Things like that. They can wait another fifteen seconds while it comes down. I might be a bit more firm on things like that. Also, I never wrote out a birth plan with Dekker, because I didn’t have tons of requests at all. However, I think it would be helpful to write down the few that I do have so they don’t have to ask me too many times. It didn’t translate especially well last time, so I may make a short list of things, like no eye ointment, letting me hold the baby longer after delivery, letting me push slowly, things like that. Nothing too crazy.

When baby girl is new and at home, we will likely have her in disposable diapers until the tar poops are gone, but after that, an obvious big change for us will be putting her in cloth. And instead of drugstore creams, we’re going to use coconut oil on her bum. Things we will keep the same as the first will be keeping her day sleeps very bright in an effort for her to sleep lighter, and possibly better at night. We will also likely room-share for the first few weeks or maybe up to two months. All of this depends on her condition at birth, and how soon she sleeps through the night.

Another things I wrote in capital letters was BE BRAVE!! With Dekker, we formula fed, circumcised, let him cry it out, injected, used disposable everything, and all of those super unpopular things. I suppose this really ties into the LESS FEAR aspect of things. We need to do what is right for our family, not anyone else’s family. This brings me to my decision for feeding. No official decision has been made at this point about whether we will formula feed or nurse. I currently have zero desire to nurse, and I LOVED bottle feeding for lots of reasons. If suddenly my baby pops out and all I want to do is nurse her, I sure will! But if not, my baby will likely be fed exclusively formula, and I am more than ok with that. I am very pro-breastfeeding, but maybe not for me. Good on anyone who does it!

There are a few more things I would like to do differently. Brush her teeth sooner. Take her to an eye doctor sooner. Teach a bit more! I love that Dekker has just played his first two years away. He is a kid, and I think thats what he should do! But I’m realizing now that he is wickedly smart and I wish I had started a few things sooner. I mean, he learned all the features on his face in a couple of days. I had never thought to teach him those things. They didn’t matter! But growing his brain does. I know now. I would also like to introduce solid food and drinking from a cup sooner. This will depend on whether or not we have another projectile vomiter on our hands. Dekker was not ready for solids when everyone was pushing us to feed them to him. We’ll see what this one does. But yes, solid foods and sips from a cup. Might even go the baby lead weening route?

I am very happy with a lot of the rules we chose to enforce and the battles we chose, such as our kids respecting their things, and others things, and other people in general! I will, however, probably be a bit more knowledgeable in recognizing when my child is just too far gone into their meltdown or fit, and I’ll calm them a bit before we hash back into it. If I can’t hear myself talk, neither can they, and yelling doesn’t solve anything. It just makes me cry too.

And lastly, I think something very important that gets left by the wayside is myself. I need to take care of me. Yes, I fell back into shape and weight pretty quickly after Dekker, but it was done by not taking care of myself, forgetting to eat, and being low. Having come into this pregnancy with such anxiety, and having the hard pregnancy that I’ve had, I feel like I’ll need to make a special effort to take care of myself once its over. So my one silly (but ambitious?) idea is to buy Zumba for Wii and play it everyday for even just a short period of time. Sometime when baby naps, or is being held, and while Dekker is dancing beside me. I think he’ll love it, to be honest. And if he doesn’t, the kid still naps! So I’ll have chances I think. But I’m going to try for that exercise, recruit my mom to help me set up meal plans, and accept help that is offered!!! If someone comes over and offers to do a chore, I won’t be so embarrassed and brush them off. I’ll embrace it! So beware, visitors who offer to help 😉 I may put you to work!

I think thats all I have! If there is a topic that someone is interested in that I’ve missed, please let me know and I’ll give you my take on it. Thanks for reading!

I spent a good chunk of my day listing. And listing. And making yet more lists. Lists of things to do before baby comes. Lists of things to buy before baby comes. Lists of things to accomplish outside before Dekker’s birthday. Lists of what to buy for Dekker’s birthday party. Lists of what to bring to the hospital. Lists of what to pack for Dekker to stay with Grandma and Grandpa while we’re at the hospital. Grocery lists. To-do lists. Things that we don’t need to do immediately but cannot forget lists. How does everyone feel about my list of lists?

I felt somewhat overwhelmed writing it out. Especially the “Before She Comes” lists. I sort of had random lists all revolving around the subject floating around, but when I put them all in one place, it got really big and scary. I’ve been reminded by a few friends now that baby will come with very few demands actually, and besides being fed and changed, she’ll require a carseat and a place to sleep. This is very true! And for reasons like that, we’ve opted out of repainting the baby room and things like that. It would be great and exciting to have a new look, but why??! She doesn’t care, and the room looks great, in my opinion. So our expectations aren’t super huge or anything. I would really like to do things like clean out my freezer, book all my little appointments for a week or two before her arrival, paint her crib, and organize her clothes. Our list of things to buy is a bit bigger than I wish it was, but not much of it needs to be done before she comes. She literally has three sleepers, so we need to pick up some of those, plus just general things like breast pads, sanitary pads (add to list: make padsicles) and some size one disposable diapers to use until the tar poops are done. See? None of it is ominous, but I’m just pulling a few things off the top of my head. There is way more!

But I know that if she were to come today, we would be more than fine. She has a crib and a cradle and a carseat and even a sit and stand stroller. We are more than blessed just to have those few bigger items! Plus I have an involved husband that will keep his eyes open for anything we need or anything that can help his family. We are so very taken care of.

Sigh. Aaaaanyway… if anyone wants a job, I have a few to pass around, haha! Or I could even use a motivator, to help me actually get a move on these things. They are piling up but as I think/hope other people can relate to, its hard to get started sometimes. Help?

I regret to inform myself that birthday week is officially over. Today was my last birthday celebration and while I realize that Birthday Week is unnecessary and already more than enough, its sad to see it go. Every angle of it has been awesome. I remember that my last birthday was great as well, but for some reason I thought that turning 24 was ominous, approaching mid-twenties *gasp!* and for my first time, I was humiliated by my age. Yet turning 25 this year hasn’t phased me at all. I feel great! Another way to view my last birthday is from the angle of a woman trying unsuccessfully to get pregnant. That really took the wind out of my sails at the time, and I think that played into my attitude in a lot more situations than I thought it did at the time. Needless to say, I’m so glad to be where I am, when I am.

Brady and I slept in a little and had muffins and coffee for breakfast. Once we were all up, fed, and ready for the day, we headed off to spend time with my parents at their place for lunch, and likely the rest of the day. Dekker wasn’t in the best of moods when we arrived, so we gave him a quick lunch and he was off to bed. The rest of us settled in for a huge feed of mashed potatoes and pork chops in a golden mushroom sauce, cooked carrots and cold veggies. SUPER delicious! My birthday cake was candy pizza, which is essentially a mondo cookie covered in chocolate, marshmallows, Reese’s Pieces, and whatever else delicious you can find floating around. One of my favorite desserts, no question.

My mom and I wasted away the afternoon talking about baby Paddles while the boys drove back to our place to weed our garden. Yay!!! In all honesty, it was nice to lay low and comfy and have all the work done around me. I really appreciated it!

Another thing exciting about this afternoon was that my mom gave me all the receiving blankets she made for our baby girl! We shopped for flannel together a little while ago and the blankets are sooo gorgeous! And amazingly soft. I cannot wait to wrap my new little bundle up in them, burrito-style. Love me a burrito baby. Even a ten pound burrito.

When Dekker woke up from his nap, he was in way better spirits. I changed his bum and left him in just a diaper, and he raced around like crazy! We were throwing a big ball around and he was bouncing it to us, while we more than anything played monkey in the middle with him. Out of nowhere, he just lay down flat on the carpet. Takin’ a rest 🙂 I love that. We had some really good playtime and tickle time, and played a lot of piano before it was time to go. Its always sad to leave grandma and grandpas house.

On the drive home, I had a cruddy moment and started to feel really discouraged. We had a very quiet drive home, and I was bummed that such a good day was ending the way it was. When we got home, Brady gave me the option of bringing in the stuff from the car or bringing Dekker in. I usually opt for the stuff since Brady does bedtime routine with Dekker, and go throw the diapers in the laundry. But I asked for Dekker today instead. I brought him in and changed his bum, and he didn’t fight it at all, which is always such a relief. I haven’t done a nighttime diaper in quite a while, and those things are beefy! A cloth diaper with two inserts, plus a flushable liner!!! Huge. But he was so happy to be cleaned up. I handed him his blanket and he all of a sudden was on his knees on his change table, trying to climb onto my shoulder. I scooped him up and carried him to my bed for a sip of water and cuddles. He had just a shorty sip before he just leaned on me. Sooo ready to cuddle. So I lay down, plopped him down onto my chest and sang him “Twinkle Twinkle” like always. The last few days, its as though he’s become aware that I’m getting bigger and bigger, and he’s started to roll off of me but still lay very close beside me for cuddles. This way, my arm is still under him, and I can still hug him and be close. So today, when he rolled off, I tucked him under the blankets with me. We talked for a little while, and pointed out all the things in the room that he knew the words for. And then he was just quiet. I rested my face in his neck and held his hand, and he just lay still. Best. Cuddles. Ever. I didn’t dare take a picture for fear of ruining it. Finally after a few minutes, he pointed towards the door and said “da.” Brady basically sits in the dining room waiting for his cue. He came in and lay beside us, and no one moved for a goooood long while, until Dekker heaved that well-known baby sigh that means he is ready for sleeping. Bedtime cuddles were over.

And they saved the day.

Happy birthday to me.

We haven’t had a solid at-home family day in a long time! It was so wonderful to sleep in a bit, and then have croissants and coffee in bed before Dekker woke up. We went about Dekkers day as usual, with lots of eating and playing toys. It was nice and low key. Exactly what we needed! When Deks napped, Brady went out to figure some stuff out on his van, and I crocheted. I have the bug again, and while I can’t really know what our kids head sizes are going to be when toques are required, its still fun to make a few things for them and plan for others. I would post pictures but I left one downstairs and one isn’t totally finished yet. Maybe tomorrow.

All in all, I had a super relaxing day, crocheting and watching some tv, and playing toys downstairs. We put in two loads of laundry but since I like laundry now, I was more than happy about it. We accomplished little else, and it was awesome.

Tomorrow we’ll spend with my parents celebrating my birthday again! I’m having so much fun with birthday week. I wish it wasn’t over so quick! But here’s a fun way to think about it! My official birthday was July 30th, so just over three weeks after it was when Dekker was born, on August 21st. So we’re less than three weeks away from his birthday. In fact, about two weeks away from his birthday party! And exactly one month from his birthday, on September 21st is when our dear daughter is due to arrive. I know there is a lot of give and take around the date, but it makes it very real and exciting!! I don’t want to wish these days away, and I really don’t plan to. But as I’m sure people can understand, the anticipation is definitely there and growing quickly! I don’t find myself growing nervous, but more and more excited!

I can’t wait to finally be able to use her name on these posts!

Today has been one of the most fun birthday dates I can remember. For a lot of reasons!

Brady came home nice and early from work and we got ready for the evening. Jerilee came out to watch Dekker for us, and came a bit early as well so we could show her the ropes of cloth diapering him. I felt guilty about that, since Dekker hadn’t pooped yet and I knew she’d have to come a lot closer to touching it than she normally would, but she was such a good sport about it. Thanks again friend!

We left shortly before 5:00 and drove to the river for hotdogs and milkshakes. I got over the fact that we could get super delicious hotdogs at Costco and milkshakes at McDonalds for half the price and opted to enjoy the experience instead. Totally worth it.

 

Yum. After hotdogs and milkshakes we headed over to the bit tent by the Mendel Art Gallery for a production of “The Comedy of Errors” put on by Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan. And a fudgesicle.

It was by far the funniest performance I’ve seen by this company before, and the audience was really into it as well! We had third row seats in the centre section, and actually had a cast member come running down our row during a scene. It was fun to be so close to the action. The very end of the play was ridiculously hilarious and summed everything up well, with twin brothers running off stage arm in arm singing the Indiana Jones theme. It was perfect.

We intentionally parked a little ways away so it was easy to avoid the crowds and we got out right away. We opened the sunroof and babbled on and on about how great the play was while we drove to Starbucks to satisfy my desire for Passion Tea Lemonade. Also, knowing Jerilee would never let us pay her for watching Dekker, we wanted to pick her up a Starbucks gift card as well. But our closest Starbucks was closed. So we ventured a little ways back into Saskatoon and picked up our drinks and card and headed home.

While driving home, Jerilee texted me and informed us that someone was lighting our hornets nest on fire. Brady and I basically died laughing over the next half hour. A concerned neighbour decided to torch our hornets nest to bits in an effort to help us out, despite his really severe allergy to all stings. It was just funny to hear it being described, considering he was in a motorcycle helmet in the dark of night with a torch. It didn’t help that the event took place right next to her car. Quite an ordeal, but its super nice to have the nest gone.

 

Yup, I don’t miss that. You know how big Bradys head is? This thing was bigger.

We’re all cuddled up now, comfy and ready to watch some How I Met Your Mother, and maybe have a snack before bed. I had such a nice evening. Date nights are so special, and so important! I feel very blessed to have a husband that plans an outing, and a friend who was more than willing to play with my son, feed him, change his poops, put him to bed, and then just kill time while the masked man lit fires around the property. You guys are the best!

This night was the best.