Tuesday, May 31, 2011

New Mom's Group

So today Sam slept until 9:40am. Which is sort of good but sort of not. We tried the "skipping the nap" thing to see if he goes to bed earlier tonight. We'll see how THAT works out. Fortunately today is Tuesday and Tuesday is New Mom's Group day! We LOVE LOVE LOVE Tuesdays.

On the way to New Mom's we did a few errands so we didn't get to Jenelle's until 11:00 and we were still the first ones there. Olivia and Marcia didn't come today because Olivia has a bad cold and Elena, Thomas and Saige didn't come either. But Sheri, Naden and Tevan showed up a little after we did and we all hung out until almost 2! I think Sam, Kelsey and Naden had fun as evidenced by the pictures below. And I got to eat TWO slices of Jenelle's homemade bread. Oh yummy yum yummmmm :)


Sam and I had to grocery shop and pick up pictures on the way home so we didn't get home until after 3. Then we ate lunch and I did some dishes. Some of the very very very many dishes we have to do. sigh...

Now I'm blogging and Dave is making supper -- thank heavens. I'm so tired I could have a nap... Yawn...

Monday, May 30, 2011

Sam and Olivia

So we had Olivia on Saturday morning. Okay, technically, Dave had Olivia and Sam while I went to one scheduled and one unscheduled appointment :) My favourite story is that Dave was doing dishes and heard a very LOUD burp from Sam. Sam then said, "I had a Big Burp!" and Dave said, "It was definitely a LOUD burp." And Sam replied, "No, I had a Big Burp! We need some towels." (During his illness at the end of March/beginning of April, Sam referred to throwing up as "big burps" and we used lots of towels to clean things up. He also threw up this past Tuesday and again, out came the towels, so Dave was a little concerned at this point.)

So Dave goes to check, and sure enough, there's a little bit of throw up on the floor. Sam had been fine for a few days so Dave said, "What happened?" and Sam replied, "I ate the drumstick!" Sam has been sticking his toy drumstick in his mouth recently so Dave was easily able to surmise what had happened!!! When Dave told me this story, showing me the drumstick he had confiscated, I laughed and laughed and laughed :) Hopefully Sam has learned his lesson about what happens when you "eat the drumstick!


38 weeks

So Knut is 38 weeks today. Technically he/she could be arriving anytime now. Good thing we're almost ready for him/her. Physically we have everything we need, his/her laundry is all washed and put away, his/her Moses basket is ready to go as is the first outfit. Meals are made and frozen and Sam's big brother gift is bought (as of today). And Knut's mural is done. So really all we need is the baby.

BUT... I'd like a few more days (or a week) to get some other things done around the house. I know I will get NOTHING done once Knut gets here -- at least not for a few weeks, or a month :)

I'm feeling okay. My walking isn't great -- I'm not hobbling but I'm not competing for the world's most competent walker ever right now! Knut feels like he/she is taking up A LOT of room and can be very squirmy still. Elbows, knees and who knows what all are making my stomach VERY interesting to watch these days! So here are Knut and I at 38 weeks. We'll see if you get a 39 week post next week or a "Knut is here!!!" post before that :)

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Sam, the midwife

I'm hoping that this post doesn't become as prophetic as this one did but I'm sharing anyways! Barb, and her student midwife, Tracy, came to our house on Saturday for our home visit. As always, the highlight of the visit (for me) was hearing Knut's heartbeat. After Barb listened to it with her special equipment, she said that Dave might be able to hear it just by putting his ear to my stomach. So Dave tried and he COULD hear Knut's heartbeat, without instruments. I guess it was cool!


Barb used a stethoscope so that I
could hear Knut's heartbeat.

Sam putting the gel on the Doppler, which allows everyone
to hear Knut's heartbeat but with a little more interference.

Sam has the whole routine down. Here he is
turning on the Doppler.

As a special treat Sam even got to hold the Doppler himself.
I'm helping him here because it was kind of slippery,
you know, with the gel and all :)

Sam has this part of the midwifery routine down cold!

Friday, May 27, 2011

Sam's guitar

Sam inherited a "guitar" recently. Actually, it's my Auntie Myrna's old tennis racket from when she was in high school. She was trying to sell it at her recent garage sale and Sam fell in love with it so she kindly gave it to him. He also thinks it's a guitar. Today he was playing it, and Dave was playing his guitar (which actually IS a guitar!) and Sam noticed that his guitar didn't have a strap. And he NEEDED one. So Dave made him a strap out of one of Dave's older ties. Sam looks adorable playing it! See below for evidence:

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Knut's "bedroom"

Here are some pictures of Knut's "bedroom", which is really only half of my and Dave's bedroom! Dave and I are currently painting a mural for him/her and I will post a lot of pictures of that when it is done.


Knut's change table, "dresser",
and cloth diapers are ready to go!!!

The Moses basket is all set and Knut's
first outfit is in it, ready for his/her arrival.

A blurry picture of the rocking chair and our bed.
We get half the room and Knut gets half :)

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Sam and Knut -- sibling love!

Here are some pictures of Sam and Knut from this weekend. I think Sam is being very funny in some of these pictures!





Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Post-bath fun

Sam was in a C-R-A-Z-Y mood on Saturday night after his bath. So I took some pictures. Hopefully they convey some of the fun we had :)



Making food

One of things I wanted to do was cook meals before Knut comes. I don't feel like we need as many meals as we had when Sam was born (27 2-litre freezer containers full) but I wanted to have some. Since my moving around ability has been compromised, I asked Dave to help me. Yesterday we made beef stew (3 containers) and today we made goulash and cream of carrot-cheddar soup (3 containers of each). So now our freezer is more stocked. Hopefully Knut won't arrive before this weekend and we can get another couple of meals in the freezer. The meals were a lifesaver when Sam was an infant and I'm hoping these will provide the same comfort and ease of life!



Chopping potatoes.



The after-effect of peeling everything!



The final product: a lot of (veggie) beef stew!

In other news today -- we watched Boston beat Tampa Bay in hockey (Yay!) and Sam enjoyed watching hockey and colouring his thank you cards for his birthday presents. We're a little behind on those but slowly, surely, things are getting done.

Also, I went to see Marcia's awesome, amazing, miraculous massage/accupressure/cranial sacral person, Sheila, this morning, and I CAN WALK!!! Without pain! And roll over in bed! Without groaning! I feel like a new person. Sheila is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G and I am so thankful for what she did.

May 22, 2011 -- Full term!!!

So today I am full term -- 37 weeks. This means that whenever Knut comes, he/she won't be considered a preemie and that we will definitely be able to have a home birth, assuming Knut cooperates. Dave did three loads of Knut's laundry today and I folded all the clothes, blankets, hats, socks, bedding, etc that you need for a newborn. (Or that we think we need for a newborn!).

Today was also a day of getting things done and we grocery shopped, mailed a package of Sam's old clothes to Baby Will, I got my free Starbucks birthday drink, we bought some of the home birth supplies we needed and it just felt like a lot got accomplished. Yay!

As of tonight, Knut's change table is in position, his/her clothes are all washed and folded in his/her dresser (along with the bedding and towels), his/her first outfit is ready to go in the Moses basket, and the Moses basket is clean and ready as well. Double Yay!!!

Knut has still been quite active and I am definitely still feeling his/her kicks and rolls. You can see his/her bum shift from one side of my stomach to the other. (Okay, technically it's my uterus but it feels like my stomach!).

I'm wearing another dress in this picture that was part of the January shopping spree and I think I look so huge in it. Maybe because I am?!?!?!

May 21, 2011

Mom and Dad left this morning and Sam and I went to Marcia and Olivia's so that Sam and Olivia could spend some time together. It was a really good time and Dave was able to get some work done so that was awesome.

Dave did about four loads of laundry and some dishes and some other cleaning. I napped :) In the evening we planted seeds with Sam which was something that had been on my "To do before Knut comes" list for ages. We might have planted them a little late but we'll see what happens. And Sam had a good time so that's really all that counts!



Getting ready.



Sam is excited about filling the pots with dirt.



All done! Now hopefully they grow.
(It was hard to take pictures during the planting process!)

May 13 - 20, 2011

So Thursday after Dave's awesome eye appointment, we headed to Saskatchewan. It was a bit of a crazy trip since we didn't know until two hours before we left that we WOULD be able to go. But it was a good decision.

Friday, we went to Laird to help Auntie Myrna sort things for a garage sale the next day. Dave was able to help out with some computer stuff so he felt useful, which was good! Dad took Sam to Laird Manufacturing (Ted, Elaine and Katrina Regier's lawn mowing place) and Sam had a good time and got a cap. He looked like such a little farm boy. So cute!



I mostly sat out in the sun on Auntie Myrna's back deck and visited with Mom, Auntie Lorna and Grandma. Grandma has a boyfriend, Harry, and she talked about him A LOT! It is neat to see her so happy.



Saturday, we went back out to Laird to help out with the garage sale. It was another LOVELY day of sitting in the sun, relaxing. Sam had fun helping Oma, Opa and Grandma Lorna work in Auntie Myrna's flower beds. And Dave installed Scrabble on Auntie Myrna's computer which might have been the highlight of her weekend!



On Sunday, Dave did a bunch of work, I sat in the sun (are you sensing a theme here?!?!) and Dad set up Liam and Ainsley's old play centre for Sam. He also found a trike for Sam to ride. Sam LOVED being outside and never wanted to come in!



Monday, Auntie Myrna came to Mom and Dad's and there was more sitting around. It was so beautiful and sunny in Saskatoon and Mom and Dad's deck is the BEST place to relax. In fact, it's so relaxing I have no pictures of it. I was too relaxed :)



Sam had an awesome week doing pretty much whatever he wanted. He discovered that Opa's truck was a super-fun place to play and enjoyed going to the "concert" (quonset) and "Shoppers" (the shop) and Valley Road (just to where Oma and Opa's driveway met it) whenever he possibly could. Even a few misadventures (falling of the seat onto the floor) in Opa's truck didn't deter him!



As usual Oma's cooking was the highlight of the week. Sam enjoyed helping Oma bake bread and also discovered "making sandwiches" from Opa, as well as supso. I'm telling you this child was spoiled!



To be honest, Mommy and Daddy were spoiled too! We got to sleep in, have meals provided (we tried to help as much as possible but we weren't able to do much, especially at the beginning of the week), Mom did our laundry, and Dave got a lot of time to work, and I got time to read three books and catch up on all my back issues of Today's Parent and on some of Sam and Knut's baby books. That felt awesome to get so much done! And of course, lots of relaxing in the sun :)

The other thing we really got into was watching The Stanley Cup playoffs. Vancouver, being the only Canadian team, was really exciting to watch, and in the other series we're cheering for Boston. As Dave said, "At least they get snow sometimes!" It is very exciting to watch hockey on the big screen!

The last night in Saskatoon we had a wiener roast and it was so much fun! Sam enjoyed roasting wieners for the first time and I enjoyed watching him! He was so funny!



Friday it was time to say good-bye to Saskatoon and head back to Edmonton. We got back in time for a midwife appointment with Barb who shared the good news that Knut is now "engaged." This means that his/her head is descended in the pelvis. This is great news (he/she is no longer breech) but also freaked Dave and I out a little and so we headed to Babies R Us to buy a carseat, and mattress pad and sheets and change pads for the change table. And it also led to all the work we did over the next few days, which you can read about in later blog posts!

Friday night for dinner we went to The Olive Garden and had an excellent supper with Mom and Dad. It was awesome to just relax a little and enjoy the evening.

May 7 - 12, 2011

I got the call to pick up Dave on Saturday morning and the surgeon gave us the BEST NEWS EVER in that Dave only needed to lie on his left side to sleep, which was irritating but no where near as invasive as having to do it for an entire week! But he still couldn't lift Sam.

During the previous two days we had gone back and forth between "Do we go to Saskatoon so Dave can really recuperate or not?" On Friday night Mom and Dad announced that they would just come to Edmonton. That was a huge relief :)

Dave was quite tired from the anesthesia and had a two hour nap every afternoon and slept 10-12 hours at night as well. He had headaches off and on and his eye was irritated but thankfully, there wasn't a lot of pain. He also wore his new cover-everything sunglasses and hat for most of the week.


The other thing that hit on Saturday afternoon is that my back (or hip or butt) decided to have a major pain. We thought it might be from the lying upside down on the ironing board. Anyways, Sunday I walked with Mom, Dad and Sam to Shoppers and then I simply couldn't walk anymore. And I wasn't going that fast to begin with. Mom, Dad and Sam went to Save-On without me and then Dad went and picked up the car to drive me home because I just couldn't do it.

I was sooooo glad that Mom and Dad were here because both Dave and I were in bad shape. Dave called us "Limpy and Squinty." At one point I was crawling from one end of the house to the other because it was easier. I went for a massage on Tuesday and though I tried to tell myself I wasn't expecting miracles, it seems that I was because I was very disappointed when I couldn't walk any better afterward :(

In the midst of this though, there were some lighter moments. One night we decided we needed ice cream and we went to Dairy Queen and ended up with quite a bit of ice cream. Sam, in particular, was in heaven :)



The other saving grace was that the weather was absolutely beautiful that week. We spent lots of time outside, especially Oma, Opa and Sam. One day the big excitement was that the power pole in our back alley was replaced. This provided much of an afternoon's entertainment. We also BBQd quite a bit which was also lovely.


On Wednesday we went to see Barb and she shared with us the good news that Knut had turned, which was a HUGE relief. She also confirmed that going to Saskatchewan for the next week would be okay, in terms of Knut's arrival and my health.

The next day Dave had another appointment with the retinal surgeon. This appointment took half an hour from the time we arrived at the office until the time we left. We COULD NOT believe how fast it was. And the news continued to be good all around. Dave no longer had to spend time on his side, he could lift Sam and work "as much as his eye would allow." We decided to head to Saskatoon for about a week so that Dave could work without having to worry about saving strength for Sam, and Mom and Dad could help with Sam, since I still couldn't really walk.

One very funny story about the week is that I wanted to switch over our winter clothes and get out the spring clothes. So Dave and I spent about an hour or two one morning doing that. At one point Sam had been fairly quiet so we went to see what he was doing. "Sam's doing clothes too!" he announced, and indeed, he had pulled all his clothes out of every dresser drawer. I guess that's what he thought needed to be done. So below is Sam's "doing clothes" and Mommy and Daddy's "doing clothes." I guess they don't really look all that different, if you're two!

May 6, 2011

This was the day of Dave's eye surgery. I dropped him off at the Royal Alex Hospital at 10 and then took Sam to Kindermusik, fed him lunch, and he went back to Olivia's. Dave's surgery was scheduled for 1:45pm but, as we were starting to get used to, things were running late. He left for surgery around 3:30. The amusing thing was that they had Dave mark above the eye that was supposed to have surgery and I thought he had gotten some sort of weird tattoo or burn!



They brought Dave back from surgery and it turned out that he had had a general anesthetic so he was pretty wiped out. We were a little freaked out because the surgeon's orders were that Dave needed to be lying face down, and we thought that might have to be the case for a week, which seemed a lot more difficult than lying on his left side. We have an after-surgery picture but I'm not going to post it. They wanted to keep Dave in the hospital overnight so I went and picked Sam up at Olivia's, where he was just getting back from having ice cream.

The saving grace in all of this was that I knew Sam was getting AWESOME care, thanks mostly to Jason and Marcia and Olivia and that he was fine. It was a huge stress relief to not have to worry about Sam during this time.