My Favourite Moments

I was thinking today (because it was a tough morning) that there are 2 things I need to remember.
1) When I have a long to do list and taking care of Victoria, I need to take things 1 small task at a time.
2) I need to remember the small moments that make every day wonderful with my baby.

These are the small moments we have every day right now, but she's growing so fast that I know they will be replaced soon with other small moments and I don't want to forget these ones and I want my daughter to know about the small things that make my day with her special every day.
1) Breast feeding - because we've worked so hard to get here.
2) Dancing and singing to her. I like to sing "Believe in you" by Amanda Marshall to her. Oddly, though I've never seen the video I looked it up and it actually starts with the birth of a baby.
3) Having her soothe to sleep on my tummy all curled up in a little ball
4) Watching her look and smile at other people as they hold her

I've written these things in the little journal I'm keeping for her, and I've shared them with all of you. I want to have pictures taken of them so I can share them with Victoria when she's old enough to see them.

Most Surprising Thing

Today I went to a "thank you" meeting at work for a project that delivered to production after I had started maternity leave. I was asked by one of my teammates what I found to be the most surprising thing about motherhood. My answer would have to be just how much my brain is no longer functioning. I'm hoping this is a passing phase.

Examples of brain deficiences post partum:

• The use of incorrect homophones in writing: "here" instead of "hear", "there" instead of "their" etc
• The inability to complete spoken sentences because I can't recall a key word, maybe that's why my mom often uses thingamabob etc, this does not bode well for my brain returning to some semblance of its pre-pregnancy function
• The inability to comprehand more than 2 or 3 sentences in an instructional manual. I've been trying to apply or update various documentation for benefits for me and Victoria after the birth, but I can't comprehend the instructions and actions that I need to take and there is a timeline on most of these of 30 days

Well hubby helps out with the documentation of Victoria's birth that needs to be completed.

Home at Last

Thursday at 6:28pm little baby girl Victoria (Tori) was born after 11 hours in hospital (only 8 hours with the oxytocin drip).

Weight - 4.180 kilos (9 pounds 3 ounces)
Length - 51 cm (20 inches)

Daddy, Mommy and Baby are doing OK (I hurt OK... but man is she cute!)

Drake is also adjusting pretty well with the new family addition. More later after I sleep in my own bed and hopefully the swelling in my feet goes down.

40 Weeks + 12 days

Baby or no baby? You don't really know yet, hahahaha!

Today on FlyLady is to pick a mission, which is a little extra tidbit after the weekly quick clean. In reality, there isn't much to keeping a clean house. This is what FlyLady seems to have as a regular maintenance, it's just the 30 day FlyBaby portion adds to it and establishes a schedule and seems to get your whole house well cleaned so that maintenance is easier.

1) Morning Routine
2) Afternoon Routine (if you need one)
3) Before bed routine
4) Quick clean your house 1 day per week
5) Zone cleaning - 5 zones in the house - 1 zone per week so you rotate through in a month. The zones are the high traffic areas and you do a more detailed cleaning when you hit that week on a particular day. These are also called the missions. This week is the master bedroom and for today's challenge I'm supposed to pick one of the daily missions for the master bedroom to do today. I already cleaned off all the dressers and night stands.

40 Weeks + 11 Days

The baby is supposed to be here by now, provided the induction worked yesterday. Honestly it could have been a few days ago, I've scheduled posts for several days since I won't be home and can't access my blog from the hospital. Sooner or later you'll get a post of the birth (might be several days after I get home).

Today's FlyLady.net challenge is to delete all the emails I've received so far from the list. It's good practice in removing things we no longer need. I've actually already done that twice, so it's not much of a challenge for me.

40 Weeks + 10 Days

Another day of waiting for baby (maybe - have I mentioned that all these posts are pre-scheduled for quite a while now and there are still 4 more to go on the scheduler?). Baby does practice contractions every 2 to 3 days, and I sit for 7 to 10 hours, finally timing them in the last couple of hours. The annoying thing is, once I reach an hour of contractions that are 4 to 6 minutes apart I'll go take a shower and rest up until a more reasonable hour of the day arrives (because usually the contractions start around 6 to 8pm, so it's 4 or 5 in the morning when I've reached the 4 to 6 minutes apart) figures I end up falling asleep and the contractions go away. Sneaking baby, maybe it just wants to get the process down perfectly before it arrives.

I did find out that if we are induced it takes 8 to 12 hours typically for baby to arrive after labour gets started. Although apparently inducing labour doesn't always get things going and either you try again another day, or have a C-section.

Today's flylady.net challenge is to write down some inspirational quotes for motivation. For example, even cleaning incorrectly still blesses your family and clutter can't be organized.

40 Weeks + 9 Days

Not much time left but still waiting for baby to arrive. Yesterday after seeing the doctor I started having some feelings, not happy ones, but not sad either. I've spent some time exploring just what exactly I am feeling, because I was having a really hard time putting words to describe it.

I believe what I feel is related to the unknown of bringing home baby. We still don't have a name, the baby's room is not quite ready (haven't hung the shelves). I'm not sure I'm ready to take take of an infant which is weird because I used to babysit one with no problems. Can it really be so simple as change, feed, burp, sleep those first few weeks? What if I have trouble breastfeeding? What if like my SIL I come home from the hospital so confused and out of sorts that I can't even figure out how to make a bottle. For example, I have a microwave sanitizer for the bottles, but oddly there are no instructions in the sanitizer on how to use it. Do I put the nipples in the sanitizer, or do I sanitize them a different way? I feel like I have so many questions and no answers, and what answers I do have I'll forget when I need them.

I confess that some of this has to do with my profession as an analyst. Part of my job is to look at defined requirements and determine solutions, but sometimes the requirements are ambiguous and its my job to refine them so there is a clear yes/no path and dealing with the alternates that can occur. I've actually noticed in the last 6 to 12 months that this analysis I do has made filling out forms somewhat interesting because when answering questions the question can be somewhat ambiguous and I could put many answers. For example, the hospital pre-registration form, asked if I have any children, then asked if I had made care giving arrangements for my children and if not why not. The way it was structured is that the care giving question was mandatory and not optional based on the number of children being greater than zero and they asked it twice, so was there supposed to be a different context the second time I had to answer the question?

Then there's my need to plan, and I feel very unplanned for being able to take care of a baby. For going to the hospital I knew I would be there at least 36 hours and hubby would be with me, so care for the dog had to be arranged. He needs to be feed twice a day and let out preferrably 3 times a day. I felt the need to have plans for the following scenarios:

1. Go into labour during the day - not an emergency
2. Go into labour during the day - emergency (need to rush to the hospital, so can't take Drake to parents or boarding)
3. Go into labour at night - not an emergency
4. Go into labour at night - emergency

See, we're not sure how Drake will initially react to our parents coming over to feed him without us being home. We also couldn't take him to be boarded if it was at night or on the weekend, and since labour could occur at any time also didn't want to take him to be boarded the day before the due date and have the baby be 10 days late as that's quite expensive.

Anyway, moving on to the cleaning topic. Today's cleaning challenge is that we can do anything for 15 minutes, so I have to set a timer for 15 minutes and go through the house to throw out all the garbage I can find and take it out to the curb/garage. Then I set the timer for another 15 minutes and I sit back and read a magazine. I'm not much of a magazine reader, perhaps I'll watch TV, listen to music or read a chapter of one of my books.

40 Weeks + 8 Days

Today I thought I'd share how Drake (our dog) has been following me around for the last 3 weeks that I've been home instead of my husband. Hubby truly is Drake's favourite person, but I think that might change over the next year while I'm home and spending time with him. Drake isn't a cuddly dog, but he has been sleeping in the same room with me more frequently rather than sleeping by the front door waiting for hubby to come home. He also sometimes sleeps beside the couch I'm on, although I think that is related to me having eaten something while sitting on the couch first. Drake often comes to sleep with me for our daily nap on the bed, although if hubby is home then Drake will likely stay with daddy than napping with me.

Today's new cleaning challenge includes decluttering an area for 15 minutes. Yesterday was to make a journal of my morning and evening routines for cleaning and tidying the house and getting myself ready and organized.

There are also weekly things that FlyLady.net does. Monday is home blessing day which is spend 1 hour cleaning, no more than 10 minutes on any one chore (vacuum, dust, mop, change sheets, garbage etc). Tuesday is planning day for the next week, i.e. menu planning, date night/family time planning, activities planning, wardrobe, trips, etc. Seems this continues throughout the week, I kind of like that there's only 1 day for quick cleaning (beyond the zone cleaning and FlyBaby 30 day habit maker) and that it is at the beginning of the week so that your house starts the week out clean.

40 Weeks + 7 Days

Not sure what to say today, I have an appointment at the hospital for a weekly non-stress test to make sure the baby is still thriving. I was kind of hoping to be in labour by now though.

I did nothing on yesterday's to do list, oh well, I need hubby to help with the shelves as it's a 2 person job. The bathrooms and kitchen are done, except the floor, mostly because it's difficult to get down to scrub the floor properly.

The house is actually pretty clean and organized now, yay! I think I'll work on finding 30 items to toss and 30 to donate. Always good to purge a bit of stuff every now and then. When in doubt it's pretty easy for me to toss hair, skin care and make-up products, and to donate books or clothes (or maybe I'll sell the books to a used book seller).

Hubby's working from home because, honestly, I'm a little scared to go into labour by myself. I keep worrying I'll be one of those rarer labours that require emergency assistance and I won't be able to get to the front door to unlock it to let the EMTs in. I know, everything will be fine, and likely I'll be a scheduled induction anyway.

40 Weeks + 6 Days

Another day of waiting. Another day to do tasks around the house.

Last night I felt a pretty much rhythmic movement from the baby, I thought it might be stress from the false labour, or some other thing that was beginning to worry me and I thought about calling the on call doctor. Finally 'hiccups' occurred to me because I have felt this from the baby a couple of times before, I just never realized it was hiccups! I can't believe it took me until being almost a week overdue to recognize hiccups.

I've learned something else today, it seems that no matter how much I clean, even after I just finished some things actually look less clean? For example, I just damp mopped the floor and I vacuumed it yesterday, yet I currently see 2 doggy hairballs, I just mopped it 20 minutes ago! I'm thinking the damp mop must have caused the hairs to stick together more and then they fell off the mop. Same for dusting the (glass) coffee table, now the 2 long edges actually look more dusty with stuck dog hairs. Maybe I should be using microfibre clothes to dry dust everything first?


Today's to do list:
Finish cleaning the bathrooms
Hang the shelves in the baby's room
Clean up the construction materials in the baby's room

40 Weeks + 5 Days

Finally got the upstairs vacuumed, and I've tried to find those knitting books, but I'm at a loss, I've checked every logical place, so only the only places left are either buried in a box somewhere, or in an illogical place while I was doing a very quick cleanup must have tossed it somewhere strange.

I made my sciatica pain worse in my right leg today, so I'll likely be taking it pretty easy, maybe I'll just take a few clothes to the donation box today and tidy up the kitchen. Although today is the day to identify and spend a few minutes tidying up your hotspots at FlyLady.net I'm on Day 6 of the baby steps program.

5 more days until inducement and the baby arrives.

40 Weeks + 4 Days

Still waiting for baby to arrive. I'm pretty tired today, so I'm thinking I'll take a break from my to do list today. I did however, finally, get the thank you cards written, I just have to mail them now. I still want to find my knitting books and vacuum upstairs, but if it doesn't happen then it doesn't happen.

40 Weeks + 3 Days

The doctor and hubby and I have set a date for inducing labour. I had a choice between Nov 20 and 25th. The doctor didn't think we'd naturally go into labour by the 20th, but that we would have delivered by the 25th. Have I mentioned that I think the delivery date will be the 23rd? Anyway, at least now I have a firm end date! The doctor wants me to take it easy until the birth, so I guess some of those activities to induce labour, like walking, is off the table as an option. Can I also remove cleaning (smile)? Also shopping for Christmas presents will be online, so I suppose I should start doing that, fortunately I have a small family, although 2 family members have birthdays close to Christmas. If I send hubby to shop for his family, then I only have to purchase gifts for 5 people for 7 occassions (10 occassions if I include my in-laws).

Today's to do list:

1. Complete the thank you cards (yah, it's been on my list for 3 days)
2. Finish the composting and recycling (it's collection day)
3. Check the light in the garage, hubby thinks it's on some setting that it's not shutting off automatically
4. Vacuum upstairs

40 Weeks + 2 days

Very early this morning I thought I wouldn't be writing this post today, but alas falso alarm and here I am. I asked hubby to work from home today since I was up all night (OK until 4:30am) with labour pains, seems the hot shower at 4am helped ease the pain, relaxed me, and I fell asleep sometime between 4:30 and 5am.

Today's list:

1. Shower and dress
2. Have breakfast and coffee
3. Clean the kitchen
4. Finish the thank you cards (I went shopping yesterday instead for b-day and xmas prezzies)
5. Pack the maternity clothes
6. Find my knitting books (I did clear 2 boxes from the office/dumping ground, but didn't find my knitting books)
7. Go to my weekly doctor's appt and find out a few things, like the last possible day she would induce me, so I can look forward to a maximum length of time.

Update: The doctor will be inducing me on Thursday November 25, although she thinks I'll go into labour on my own early next week.

40 Weeks + 1 day

Well I'm 1 day overdue. I was thinking last night I should come up with ideas to occupy and reward myself while waiting for baby to arrive. I was thinking of blogging my daily list of activities, but that doesn't necessarily include a reward. Here's today's activity list though.

1. Dress, make-up and hair done
2. Have breakfast
3. Start the beef stew in the slow cooker for dinner
4. Clean kitchen & shine the kitchen sink
5. Have coffee
6. Try to find my knitting books so I can finish the baby blanket and baby sweater I'm making (this may take a few days)
7. Put some maternity clothes away
8. Put the remaining laundry away (hubby had to bring it upstairs for me)
9. Finish writing thank you cards for shower gifts - just 5 more to go

I'm thinking one of these days for a reward I would like to get a pedicure.

40 Weeks - Due Date Arrives

Today is my due date. I'm not yet in labour, and I don't think it will be today.

I started reading FlyLady.net today, the baby step to a clean and organized home on day one is a shiny kitchen sink. Well baby step number 1 is actually "a shiny sink" but since all the pictures are of a kitchen sink, I'll just be doing that.

Since I'm not in labour yet, and feeling a little motivated to do things other than sit around and watch TV, I've put together a little to do list for the day.

My to do list:

1. Eat breakfast
2. Shine the kitchen sink
3. Put away 1 basket of clean laundry
4. Shower and dress
5. Have a coffee
6. Dry hair and put on makeup
7. Apply for government maternity leave benefits
8. Apply for work top-up to maternity leave benefits - turns out this one I can't complete until I have proof of #7 being completed.

Bonus Items:

1. Fold and put away another 2 clean baskets of laundry (it was done last night to take advantage of the cheaper electricity rates).
2. Clean master bathroom tub - just in case I go into labour because apparently a warm bath can help. It's just getting down on my knees and leaning over the tub with a huge belly to do the cleaning that is daunting.
3. Take clothing donations to the donation box (maybe I'll do this at lunch time if I go pick up a lunch).
4. Put some of my maternity clothes into a box for storage (the ones that don't fit or are no longer appropriate to the season, like my shorts and Capris).

Updates:

The main list is done, and I even gave myself a manicure!

I Wonder

As my due date approaches I think about a number of things.
Will everything be ready for baby, there are still a number of things to do?
Will the baby be a boy or a girl?
What will the baby's name be, we still haven't settled on a couple of names that we love, none seem quite right?
When will I go into labour, how will I know, will my water break, what will labour be like?

All I can do is take things one day at a time, and I guess finish those last few things to be ready, or at least what I think is ready, for baby's arrival.

9 days left, or 9 days days according to my estimated due date (EDD), since that's no guarantee as apparently only 5% of babies actually arrive on that date. I suppose I should also plan that likely I would go into labour the day before the EDD.

Vacation time

Friday was my last day of work, I'm now on vacation for either 2 weeks or the baby arrives. I have to start maternity leave on either the arrival date of the baby, or on my due date, even if baby is late.

For the next 2 weeks, there are a few things I would like to do.

1. Finish hanging the shelves in the baby's room
2. Tidy up the gifts from the living room and dining room
3. Finish packing for the hospital, I have some ideas of what I want to change that is currently in the bags
4. Finish 2 knitting projects I had started for baby. I need to find my knitting books first though for the rest of the instructions

I admit to having been detached from the pregnancy, however, at my last baby shower mom gave me a cute little fleece sleeper, for some reason, after receiving it, for the rest of the day, all I could imagine was holding our baby dressed in the sleeper on my knees slightly rocking the baby back and forth to soothe the baby to sleep.

3 weeks to go

Just 3 more weeks of work to go, and this week is a short week for 2 reasons.
1) It's Thanksgiving Weekend in Canada, so Monday is a statutory holiday
2) I'm taking Tuesday off due to needing to take 6 days off before my official vacation begins and having 2 doctor's appointments on Tuesday.

I can't count on how long it will take for baby to arrive, but I can count how many days of work left, there are 14 business days left, or which I should take 6 off, so 8 days :) I probably won't get all 6 days taken, so I'll have to take a few as payout at the end of the year, but the fewer the better. At most I hope to be able to take 3 of those 6 days remaining because they are lieu and floater days, so if I don't take them, they are lost.

I still haven't taken any pictures of our pregnancy, I suppose I should do that since the baby could come at any time. I'm debating between having hubby take some, or one of our friends, since we have 2 that are professional photographers. It's more the timing than anything else.

New stuff

I've been thinking for a year or 2 now about a career change. I've decided I want it to be something related to my degree in Environmental Science. Lately 2 things have been on my mind.
1) Sustainable design - in that when furinishing/redecorating using environmentally friendly products or reusing furniture.
2) Off grid home reno - when I think about the home renos I want to do in my new place, it's all in an effort to lower my costs for utilities. So I'm currently thinking about solar panels or other alternatives for energy production. Mostly because dear hubby falls asleep in front of the TV a lot.

So while off with the baby over the next year I'm going to be doing research in what direction I want to take my career and educating myself. In the meantime, I've started a new blog about sustainability. So I invite you to visit me at Sustain & Contain It

Count Down

I'm counting down the weeks left at work until my vacation then mat leave, 54 glorious weeks away from work! Just 6 more weeks and one day to go.

I've pretty much lost all enthusiam for my job and really don't want to do it anymore, perhaps I'll consider a career change when I'm home on mat leave. I'm just not sure at this time what I'd want to do with at least some of the remainder of my expected working career of 21 years.

For some reason, I think the baby is going to be a week late, I think D-Day is going to be November 23, current EDD is November 15. I also think the baby's weight will be 9lbs and 14oz, as for the sex well I thought it would be a girl, until about a month ago, now I think it will be a boy. Only God, the baby and maybe the technician know for sure.

Tuesday the crib was delivered, and hubby and I set it up that night, so the baby's room is starting to come together. Mom, or should I say grandmom, painted it for me last week in a light green colour.

I'm finally starting to plan a bit more for the arrival, I haven't been all that communicative about the baby or pregnancy and done minimal planning for the baby's arrival, just a side effect of having had 3 miscarriages, sometimes I forget I'm pregnant until I try to pick something up off the ground and there's a big belly in the way. I should have hubby take some photos to document these last weeks of growth. Right now though...naptime.

Counting

Hubby bought some of those solar night lights for outside, we have 10, I went to tell him we needed 2 more, because it's better to count to 12 than to 10. Then I sang a little song from my childhood and he had no idea what I was talking about. It took me 20 minutes but I finally found it, the ses.ame st pin.ball song. I was also trying to find the songs for 5 and 7 which has a band I think of mup.pets playing, but no such luck. I forgot all about rock and roll telephone, but another great one from the classic ss.

So now baby's bopping around in m tummy, I should call up hubby to come feel!

Hubby Participates

For the last 2 weeks hubby's been putting his hands on my tummy trying to feel the baby move, and either the baby isn't moving at the moment or he can't feel it. Finally, today, hubby felt the baby move. I was napping on my in-laws couch and he woke me for dinner by playing with my hair. I could feel the baby moving under my hand, although oddly not internally, so I got him to put his hand on my tummy and he felt the baby move 3 times!

I still think it's sweet that he's been putting his hands and forehead on my tummy trying to interact with the baby.

The post where I declare what a naughty mom I will be

In this post I admit my short comings as motherhood approaches.

• My house will not be as clean as I like, not even close to how clean the house I grew up in was.
• Meals will be pre-fab more often then they should be.
• I won't be as active with my kids as I should be, i.e. 30 minutes a day (I don't have that kind of energy without kids, don't think that's going to improve).
• I likely won't breast feed for very long, if at all, which is why I'm not putting any of the related baby shower items on my list.
• My kid will likely be spoiled rotten with things, maybe we'll stop that by the time the child is old enough to understand they can't have everything they want (Drake isn't as spoiled as he used to be).

Things I will be doing

• Reading regularly with baby/child
• Hugging a lot and telling them I love them all the time
• Spending time with my child at home doing crafts or playing board games
• Helping with homework

More Kicking

This morning I woke up at 5am and couldn't get back to sleep. The baby was moving a lot so I thought I'd see if I could feel it from the outside, and I could. I tried to wake up hubs, but he was too tired and I didn't want to wake him up too early just in case the baby stopped moving or it wasn't as obvious to him. By 6am when he woke up the baby wasn't moving as much, so he didn't get to feel it. I'm hoping this weekend though he'll get an opportunity to feel the baby move for the first time.

Belly Rubs

Today I had my first belly rub request, which I granted since I know the person and my belly button hasn't gotten sore yet, and still exists, but is getting smaller, in fact the scar from the peircing and the gall bladder removal is no longer inside my belly button. Makes me think this is what my tummy must have looked like when I had the gall bladder surgery since they fill your stomach up with gas in order to do it.

Mostly this pregnancy has been really easy, although there are a few things to get used to. For example, half my favourite sleeping positions are no longer an option some nights. Having to go to the ladies room more often and before I sneeze. Climbing stairs makes me winded and tired and want to cry at the thought of having forgotten something up there that I need before I head out the door. Bending over to put my feet through the legs of clothing is becoming difficult and will get more diffcult. I threatened hubby that he might have to start dressing me for bed at night by the end of the pregnancy (seems easier to do in the morning). Going to bed early because I'm so tired sometimes means not being able to get back to sleep after a potty break. All of these things though are just minor inconveniences though, so I have no complaints when people ask me if the pregnancy is going well, just hubby sees me struggling at times by the end of the work day to keep going for a couple more hours so I'm not falling into bed at 5pm before even eating dinner.

Writing of dinner, I'm thinking to adjust my diet, which is pretty much what it was prior to pregnancy so that I'm eating more fruits and vegetables, and fewer simple carbs. I'm hoping it will give me more energy as I know I tire easily on a high carb diet. I'm also hoping it will keep my weight gain slow and steady for the remainder of the pregnancy (so far so good). I'm craving more fruits anyway, so it shouldn't be too hard to do.

10 selfish things I'd do if I won 50 million

In response to Julie's post last week, I'll post this week about what I would do if I won 50 million.

1. I would travel looking for a city where I might like to spend most of my time (home base).
2. I would build an ecologically friendly home - or at least one that is "off the grid".
3. An infinity pool and a hot tub
4. Get a maid
5. Regular esthetician appointments in home
6. Remove all the birthmarks/moles on my body
7. Laser hair removal
8. Dye my hair blonde
9. Hair weave when I decide on a preferred colour

Other not so selfish things I would do:

1. I would give my brother and hubby's sister enough money to pay their mortgages and then retire so that they could at least live the same standard of living that they would should they have to work for the next 25 years.
2. I might open a sustainability related business, lately I've been thinking about home furnishings in recycled or sustainable matrials.
3. Alternately I would consider donating funds to something that is close to resolving some issue of humanity.

22 weeks

Well baby is kicking a lot now, I was concerned when I hadn't felt anything for 3 weeks. It still only feels like butterflies or air bubbles. It's all the time too, not just certain times of the day. Well only 15 weeks and 1 day left until my vacation then maternity leave!

On the knitting side I messed up on the blanket and have to start over. I need to learn how to rip out stitches and pick them back up on the needle as well as how to pick up dropped stitches. The bootie on the other hand is slowly progressing.

Lastly I have to figure out how I'm going to invest some inheritance money, so I suppose I should start doing some research.

Day 2 and 3 on the project endeavour

Well, I tried 4 or 5 more times on Sunday to knit 6 rows, and still ended up with 0. It doesn't [ay to knit when tired, frustrated and pregnant.

Monday went better, I ended up with 8 rows completed (although I probably knit close to 20 and had to keep pulling them out because I kept adding a stitch).

Today I completed the 4 rows to make 12 on the first half of the bootie cuff, and then did another 4 on the other half of the cuff (although this one took me three tries to get to 4 rows, pulled out 2 rows twice due to extra or dropped stitches).

Tomorrow I endeavour to complete the last 8 rows on this second half of the cuff. I find knitting two rows at a time and then taking a break for an hour means fewer mistakes.

Knitting Day 1

So I'm making a pair of booties for the baby (actually it might be 3 booties, since the first bootie is likely to be practice.

This morning I cast on the 18 stitches and knit 2 rows, at which point I counted and realized I had dropped a stitch, so I pulled it out.

Then I cast 18 new stitches, knit four rows, all good. So I went to unpack some boxes (my hands get a little tired and I don't want to get tired and make a mistake.

Outside later this afternoon I knit 2 more rows, counted my stitches and had 1 extra stitch, so I pulled it all out again. I came back inside, cast 18 more stitches, knit 2 rows all good, so I took a little break. I took the empty boxes from unpacking my books to the garage and the recycling, bicycle pump and a couple of wire shelves. When I came back inside Drake (the dog) had stolen the ball of yarn (to which my 2 rows was attached) and dragged it and the needle up to the master bedroom from the living room. He was told he was very naughty and had to have a timeout in the corner for a while (about 5 to 10 minutes). I then pulled out the stitches again. At this point I calculated how many rows I have to stitch per day to reach the point I want to reach for my class on Thursday night. The instructions for the booties contain 2 items for which I cannot visualize and there are no instructions in the book. I need to do 6 rows a day (including today).

Grand count thus far...... zero.

I did get a nice little sunburn around my neck yesterday at the beach though.

A new craft

So I've decided I'm going to try my hand at a new craft. It's one I've tried before but become bored with doing learners crafts. I've decided to try to knit a pair of baby booties. I know, not exactly a learners first attempt.

The way I figure it, it's small, so there's not a lot of outlay for wool. There's enough difference in what you're doing than just knitting row after row of one colour for a scarf (the projects I've previously tried). I have 4 months before the baby is born and the bootie size is 3 to 6 months, so I have until next spring to make them. I'm also going to take a beginners class where you bring your own project and materials and they help you out with it.

Today I plan to go buy the wool and needles.

Last Day of Vacation.

We've moved, and I took 4 days off work to do it, today being the last of those 4 days. I still have lots of unpacking and organizing to do, but I'm hoping to get at least the kitchen completed today. At least yesterday I finished off everything at the old house, so I only need to return once more for a contractor to fix a window that sprung a leak the week before we were to move. That wasn't the only surprise my moving weekend, dad's place also received 2 offers so I spent some of that 4 days helping mom sign and fax the offer back and forth to the buyer to accept the offer. Then there was a really short closing date so mom and bro went up to the place on Sunday to clear it out. They did (mostly my bro and his friend) cleared out all the furniture and most of the garage in 4 hours. They filled 2 large dumpsters (30 yard ones, or 18ft long, 8 wide, 4 high). Yes dad had a lot of junk.

Today I'm 19 weeks along in my pregnancy, last week on Tuesday and Thursday I felt the baby move, but not since (probably too busy and stressed to notice any movement). Today is my ob/gyn appt. I also had an ultrasound last week, we'll be on the green team because hubby wants the sex of the baby to be a surprise. Baby didn't cooperate much with the ultrasound and the technician had a hard time getting all the information she needed to capture. We did get a couple of pictures though and I think hubby thought it was neat for the first 20 minutes (the room was hot with 3 of us in it and he started getting sleepy after that).

Anyway, big goals for today are grocery shopping (time for some real food and not takeout). Seeing if the place down the street does doggy daycare at a reasonable rate, doctor's appt and more organizing at home.

The other funny thing for the last couple of days the dog has been following me every where, normally he spends his time with daddy when daddy is at home.

16 Weeks tomorrow

Really, has it only been 3 weeks since I posted? It surely feels like 2 months have passed...really only 3 weeks?

Obviously I'm very excited, and I want the weeks to just whip by, they seem to go SOOOO SLOWLY! Next major milestone is the move back into the city proper on June 19th, just 2.5 weeks away. I've done some of the documentation to get the move underway in changing our address. There is still a lot of packing to do and mom has been helping me, since hubby wants to do his own packing. At least hubby takes apart the big items for the move, I just have to pack my stuff and the joint stuff.

The pregnancy has been very easy, I have only 1 complaint, I think I pulled a muscle in my back way back in Feb (due to the loose muscles & ligaments of pregnancy) and it's hurt by 6pm everyday since (OK, I got about a week's relief with no pain about 2 weeks ago). Right about now I'm debating on taking it very easy for a few days, seeing an acupuncturist, seeing a masseuse or seeing a chiropractor, any of them are covered by my health insurance at work, I just have to submit the bill, I'm just lazy.

Today I noticed that my belly is finally bigger than my boo.bs, I'm sure that will change tomorrow. Also apparently I could even start feeling movement this week, if I'm really attentive and guess correctly that it's the baby moving rather than my digestive track. It's more likely that I won't realize the movements until week 18 or so. I wonder when hubby can feel the baby moving.

Oddest craving. Cold milk, by the 1/2 litre or more (pint for my American buds). Odd because I'm sensitive to lactose, and although I have lactose free milk in cereal, tea, coffee, have yoghurt and cheese, I haven't had a glass of milk in years. I crave it by the glass though!

Finally

13 weeks tomorrow! Yippee, I've finally made it through the first trimester with a healthy pregnancy. It was easier this time in a sense, because I didn't even know until I was 8 weeks along, so I only had to really worry for 5 weeks. When I did worry I just kept telling myself I've had really bad luck, it doesn't mean that there is a repeatable reason why I keep miscarrying that had yet to be diagnosed and treated.

The expected due date is November 15 or 16, depending on which doctor or application you'd like to reference. I'm kind of hoping for the 11th, just because in hubby's family most of them have their birth month and birth day as the same value (i.e. 7/7, 8/8 and 9/9).

I've had to use some maternity clothes for the last couple of weeks, just because my pants keep slipping low under my tummy and either that's uncomfortable, also if I move my arms about then my tummy is exposed as the shirt rides up. The problem I've found with maternity pants though is that I don't have enough tummy to keep the elastic waist up, so the weight of the pant itself drags down and then I trip on the cuffs of the pant.

Anyway, very excited! I'm already planning the theme of the baby's room, I'd like to paint it a light green with a gray undertone (I want to use the term sage, but that might not be right), and then to have a jungle/safari theme to room. I've already got a stuffed elephant and a stuffed giraffe (both by Ty Pluffies). I want to also put up one of those shelf like moldings around the room at about 4.5 ft high. I've been seeing it in model homes, I think it's just crown molding with a 3 by 1 on top to make the shelf (and maybe another 3 by 1 against the wall to attach the crown molding and other 3 by 1 too).

So although I'm really excited, I'm still scared and like some of my friends say, although I might not realize it, I'm probably stressed about the pregnancy going full term and probably won't take a truly deep breath until the baby is born healthy. Which is true, I still often say when talking about plans for maternity leave or the future are prefaced with the condition that this pregnancy works out.

Cause for Celebration?

I never thought I'd have cause to celebrate a miscarriage, but that's exactly how I feel today. Yesterday I saw the doctor and since the baby had died 2 weeks ago and was so early on in the pregnancy there wasn't a possibility to test the genetics of the embryo, hubby and I are having ours done though. However, the doctor told me given the pattern of the HCG levels (the beta as she calls them), the pregnancy was ectopic. This morning I had an ultrasound to see if they could see anything in my uterus or tubes, as it's very rare for a tubal ectopic to clear on it's own.

Thankfully there is no fetal tissue found in my uterus or tubes, and I'm so happy I want to dance. I was so worried I would lose my right tube as I almost always ovulate on the right, so losing the tube would significantly reduce my prospects of becoming pregnant again.

I have one other thing to be thankful for, as often as I've miscarried I truly believe that one day I will have a daughter, and that I couldn't be more proud of the woman she grows up to be. I just don't like the idea of having to wait until my early to mid forties to have her.