14 months and almost a big brother!

I can't believe another month has gone by and I'm sitting here again writing another monthly update on Isaac. I'm also a little terrified that by the time his 15 month post rolls around, I'll be writing updates on my two precious babies! I'll also be doing a post about our holiday, but I want to wait until after the New Year, that way I won't feel like I missed anything. So just hang tight:) Hopefully I won't also have a birth story to write by then... Only 19 days left until we're due.

Here is what Isaac has been up to in his 13th month!

-popping out two new teeth, including a molar-NOT fun

-walking and crawling backwards

-learning gymnastics... he likes to have his back face the wall, put his hands on the floor and use his feet to walk up it backwards. Yes I'm serious. This has happened several times.

-runs everywhere 

-is a stair master (he has no stairs at home to practice on...)

-drinking from a regular cup except when not at home

-signs "please" and "more", says "ah duuuuuhhhhhh" (all done) consistently and lots of time without cueing

-occasionally says "bah" for ball and "daw" for "dog"

-likes to do "ready, set, go" with his car

-will shake his head if you say "no"

-can identify most objects after hearing the name a couple times

-has two volumes: loud and louder. He acts like everything is life and death, which means lots of  dramatic tantrums complete with flailing, screaming, kicking, hair pulling... I've been doing lots of reading about how to best go about setting limits and boundaries and curb tantrums this week. Hopefully some of the tips will prove useful and keep my hair from greying too fast.

-points to his head and belly, in addition to his ears and mouth (and nose sometimes)

-will point to my belly (or anyone else's haha) if I ask "where's the baby?"

-can plug and unplug things-NO this is not something we let him practice, it's something he figured the first time he found an available outlet and plug at grandma and grandpa's. I taped over the offending outlet but he sat there and picked the tape until he could rip it off...

-can follow simple commands (whether he will is a different story...)

 

 -loves books

-loves to help clean and can pick out the swiffer, vacuum or broom depending on what I ask him to do

-loves showing off

-loves cuddling with stuffed animals

-loves being outside 

-loves exploring and making messes

-loves animals

-loves being a boy!

And we love him!

36 weeks...WHAT?

How am I 36 weeks already? Christmas day I'm full-term, and 3 weeks after it's d-day. I'm perfectly happy for little girl to stay in until at least 39 weeks. We don't get back from Christmas until I'm 38 weeks so I'll need that week to finish up a few last minute things and enjoy some mama and Isaac alone time before we make it a family of four. I'm a little sad (and may have cried recently...) over the fact that it won't just be him and I at home anymore. As much as I'm excited to be a mother of two, it's hard to imagine splitting my love and attention between two babies as equally as I can.

Generally I feel pretty good pregnancy wise. My only complaint is that I've been having nausea again for the past two weeks, which after having morning sickness up until 20 weeks is kind of a kick in the butt. It was so severe the other night I ended up sleeping in my armchair because the horizontal position was not doing it for me...especially not with baby girl kicking me in the stomach. She's sitting so much higher than Isaac so I'm not used to the intense pressure on my stomach but it's nice not to have to run to the bathroom every hour like I did with him at this point.

Sleeping is pretty challenging at this stage, it's just hard for me to get comfortable. Plus for a stomach sleeper the choices of left side or right side are not appealing, especially not when you have to do a three point turn and wrestle with repositioning a pillow every time you roll over. On a positive note, I have no swelling, stretch marks, heart burn or pimples (for the entire pregnancy!). And I still manage to fit into my winter coat which is pretty fitted when I'm not pregnant. Must be a tender mercy. I should have outgrown it weeks ago!

I'm trying to workout at least 3 times a week-core, arms and legs- and I found these great prenatal workouts on youtube which makes it a lot easier than adapting my normal workout to make it pregnancy friendly. Baby girl likes to kick my ribs or stretch like she's going to burst out of my stomach if she pushes hard enough. She certainly feels a lot bigger than Isaac did. Maybe I've just forgotten how big he felt, but I have a feeling she's going to beat Isaac in the weight category. By this point with him, I'd had two extra ultrasounds because I was measuring small and this time I'm right on track. So we'll see. I'm guessing high end of 6 lbs. Isaac was only 6lbs5oz so lots of room for her to beat him. The picture on the left is me with baby girl and the right is me with Isaac at 36 weeks. I guess it'd be more fair to compare if I was wearing the same shirt, which I happened to pack since it one of the only ones that fits nicely over the belly now. So maybe I'll have to post an updated picture in a day or two!

We have a short list of four names we like but we're still undecided at this point. I kind of want to wait until she's born and see what she looks like... At least we're not placing all our hopes in one name like we did with Isaac.

Not much else to report so far. I'm 1cm down as of my last OB appointment, but since I was 2cm almost two weeks before Isaac was born and it took 34 hours of labour to get to a 3, it's not that exciting to me haha. We're just hoping and praying she doesn't make a surprise (since that's obviously her style!) arrival before we get back home after the New Year, but we managed to pack an emergency bag and the car seat just in case.

That is all for updates for now. Stay tuned for Isaac's 13 month post. Have a merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

3 little rants

Over the past few weeks I've had lots of opinions that I feel strongly enough about to share, usually brought on by some news story, FB post, radio announcement etc. I don't feel like consecrating a blog post to each, even though I probably could, but really who wants to read rant after rant? I know you're all just reading to hear about Isaac anyway... *wink wink grandparents*

1) My first rant came about because of the backlash for this picture and this separate article about a similar picture. This is not about "fat-shaming". It's about "fit-shaming". Why is it suddenly acceptable to criticize these individuals, but intolerant and cruel to criticize those who struggle with weight issues? I think it's great that these women have had babies and have been able to keep in shape. This is something I'm trying to do as a mother. I don't feel the need to look like these women. Their pictures are not going to hurt my self esteem. I don't believe their pictures are trying to wound my self-image. I believe they are proud of their accomplishments and that is the motivation behind these photos. If she was fully clothed and holding a college degree with the exact same question, would the offense taken be the same? I feel like the people who claim these pictures hurt their self-esteem and feel like this is a personal assault, already have deep-seated confidence issues that would exist regardless of these images. Let's be happy for people and their achievements!

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/soccer-wife-post-birth-pictures-criticized-article-1.1533715

2) Last month I heard on the radio they were getting rid of the honour roll in schools. Why? They claimed it lost its meaning for the students who always made it and damaged the self-esteem of the ones who never did. So what about the students who set a goal to make the honour roll and achieve it? What about the ones who never did? Could they not learn the valuable lesson that sometimes one won't get external praise and validation despite their best efforts, and they have to rely on their internal knowledge that they did put their best foot forward? Or the valuable lesson that everyone has different gifts, and although academia may not be theirs, they can pursue many other wonderful talents? The after-grade-12-world doesn't deal in the "no zero policy" or "no matter how poorly you do, we'll still keep shuffling you through system". We're truly turning into a nation of wimps, scared to challenge young people to rise up instead of cruising along on the same mediocre path.

3) My last rant is about a fairly common experience (I'd imagine) for a mother. Luckily I had the positive end of this experience. Isaac was throwing a fit in Superstore (aka flailing everywhere, trying to climb out of the cart, grab all the groceries on the belt, randomly screaming) while we were stuck in line, with the till experiencing technical difficulties and needing to be rebooted. I almost opened up the box of cheerios I was buying just to get him to be quiet, but I have a thing about not feeding kids to stop emotional outbursts. Instead of making some snarky remark, rolling his eyes, or losing his cool, the gentleman behind me came up and asked if he could bag my groceries so I could tend to Isaac. I was so grateful. It was just the tender mercy I needed. Unfortunately I know that this is usually the exceptional response from strangers. So if you don't have kids, you're thinking about having them, or you've forgotten what it's like to have them, listen up!

Kids throw tantrums. They throw them at the worst possible times, in the worst possible places. They throw them for no reason or for any reason. Their behaviour doesn't mean they get away with whatever they want at home. We are not bad parents because our child happens to be choosing a less-than-agreeable time to be less-than-agreeable. We are, however, parents who need help. We can't always do our grocery shopping without our babies (but heaven knows I try!), and we're not going to just shove in a soother or buy them that cookie they're screaming about just so they'll be quiet. So if you see a desperate parent with an equally desperate child, let them go in line in front of you, try and distract their child (lots of strangers have done this for me), ask to bag their groceries (if they're bagging their own). Just do something besides thinking to yourself "If my kids ever behaved like this..." or "My kids never behaved like this..." because I can guarantee that they will or they have. We will remember and appreciate your kindness for years to come.

13 months

Our little boy turned 13 months last week. Since his first birthday, it seems like his learning has exploded and I can't believe how fast he is leaving the baby world behind...

New Skills

-clapping

-pointing (usually accompanied by a "mmm?")

-kicking and throwing his ball

-turning the TV "on" and "off"-this resulted in a piece of duct tape over the button since he would just stand there for 10 minutes and turn it on and off a million times

-building block towers

-opening doors- I found him escaping up our stairs one morning

-pointing to parts of his own face (ears, nose, mouth)- he has been able to point to parts of my face (ears, eyes, nose, mouth, hair) for several months but would never point to his own until this month

-Isaac word translation "uh"="up", "ah duh"="all done", "doh"="no" (And a whole bunch of other words haha). Yesterday before church I told him it was time to get dressed and he yelled "doh!" at me and ran away.

-mimics lots of the words we say "duh" for "duck", "at" for "hat", "bah" for "ball" etc, I'm just waiting for his language skills to explode.

-can do all ten shapes in his shape sorter in under two minutes (I show him the shape and he puts it in)

I found him like this one day...

New Habits

-putting stuff in random drawers or cupboards for later use- I'd been looking for his cup that I put water in for over a day and one day he just went to a rarely used cupboard opened it and pulled it out. A few days later I watched him put a plastic coat hanger in there, didn't take it out, and the next day he went to the cupboard and pulled it out to play with.

-has started to put things back where he got them -there's hope for me to have a clean house again!

-will come up and give random cuddles

-running to the coat closet and hiding when he's in trouble-usually after he's hit the TV with some toy or object-he usually throws the evidence as far away as he can while he's running

-likes playing the piano

-one nap a day

-wants to feed self 95% of the time, including his cereal and yogurt

-good at drinking out of regular cups

Isaac has a super silly, goofy side. He'll run around the house flapping his arms like a bird yelling "doh! doh! doh!" (which is why it must mean more than "no") or literally run into furniture and walls, bounce off of them and giggle his head off. His favourite "toy" that he's not allowed to play with is the toilet plunger, so we keep the bathroom door closed. I had left it open a crack one day and he went up to it and pushed it open a foot. First he had this look of disbelief that it actually opened,  second he got his mischievous look, snuck around the open door (he didn't open it the whole way and walk in, just squeezed around it), and shot me a smile before closing the door with the lights all off. Then he opened it a smidge and grinned at me from this inside. It made me giggle.

Mmmm lemon!

There was nothing but the peel left once he finished

He also has a nasty temper which often results in falling to the ground, throwing his head back (which results in more crying when he smacks it) and flailing around. Gordon and I have dubbed it his "floppy fish" manoeuvre. If I pick him up to remove him from something he'll try and scratch my face, pull my hair and throw his head back against me. I've been bashed in the nose, cheek, ear... Now I just carry him around like a football, tucked under my arm, when he's throwing a fit. It's a lot less dangerous for me that way.

Despite our challenges with him, he is our greatest joy and we can't imagine our lives without him!

And now some pictures of our Christmas decorating!

Getting our tree!

 

Instead of telling him he couldn't touch the tree, we let him touch it all he wanted when we put it up before the decorations were on. If he knows he's allowed to do something, he quickly loses interest. His favourite things to do are the ones he's not allowed to. So he's hardly touched it since we've decorated it. Score one for mum and dad!

100 things for my 100th post!

I decided to be very un-creative for my 100th post and write 100 things you may not know about me! After all this blog was about me first right? And I'm pretty sure it's just gonna get less about me once baby girl gets here!

1. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS or Mormons)
2. I have a bilingual BScN in Nursing
3. My first car was named the Weasley after Ron my favourite Harry Potter character
4. As suggested by #3, I love Harry Potter
5. My favourite movies are The Lion King and Last of the Mohicans
6. I am a cleaning/organizing fanatic
7. I make a weekly to do list, grocery list and meal plan, organized by days, every Sunday
8. As suggested by #8, I love lists and can't function without them.
9. I don't like or wear perfume. Not sensitive to smells...just not my thing.
10. I only paint my toenails. I can't stand fingernail polish.

11. I HATE onions. Everything about them. I probably buy onion once every 3-4 months (if that) and put the produce bag over my hand before I touch them. If I do have to cook with them, I usually make Gordon cut them.
12. I work in neurosurgery with patients who are pre-op or post-op for brain/spinal surgery
13. I've played the piano since I was 7
14. I lost 25lbs from my grade 9 to 10 year because I was in the 98th percentile for my weight. I still haven't reached my all-time high for weight even while being pregnant (although I'm sure I'll hit it with this one). Since then running and other forms of exercise are a big part of my life.
15. I taught myself to sing alto by practicing pitches on my piano.
16. My favourite singer is Josh Groban and his concert has been my all time favourite.
17. My dad taught me to play Scrabble when I was 8 and it became our weekly Sunday competition until I moved out.
18. I'm a hockey fan! Go Flames!
19. I played volleyball in jr high and my dad helped coach.
20. I'm extremely close with my mum and younger sisters.

21. I took French Immersion from K-12.
22. My favourite chocolate is milk chocolate
23. Every year for Christmas I make homemade turtles, carrying on my mum's tradition.
24. I have no eyebrows (well they're very light and sparse) so I gotta fake them.
25. I knew the sex of both my babies before I "officially" found out
26. I hate garlic peels.
27. I love the smells of vanilla, cinnamon and orange.
28.  I have a fear of birds that started when I was a teenager and I don't know why
29. I don't like milk
30. I got migraines so bad when I was 10 I lost my ability to speak for a morning, and did crazy weird things that I don't remember, but that my sister loves to remind me about.

31. I haven't ever broken a bone (knock on wood!)
32. I met Gordon at a Chili Cook-off Break the Fast at church
33. I'm very frugal and hate spending money.
34. I can't get through a Jane Austen novel. I want to gouge my eyes out. I love the movies based on her books though! (Lest you think I'm completely uncultured I don't hate all classics. I adore Jane Eyre.)
35. I also despise "Gone With the Wind". I'd rather jab needles in my eyes than watch it again.
36. One of my goals between babies two and three, is to run a half marathon.
37. I love cooking for other people.
38. Creepy crawlies (spiders, insects including bees and wasps) don't bother me at all.
39. I'm already running out of things to say...
40. I've got about 8 journals that I've finished between age 14 and 18. My life was obviously very complicated back then...

41. I love listening to movie soundtracks.
42. I wrote a song for my best friend's wedding.
43. The ring I wear on my right hand was my Gran's and I wear it t remind me of her.
44. I love wearing red lipstick.
45. My ring size is 3.5. The ladies when we were shopping for an engagement ring couldn't believe how tiny my fingers were.
46. Gordon and I got engaged at the Lake of the Hanging Glaciers.
47. We'll have been married for 4 years in February.
48. My nicknames growing up were Morgie, and Woogay (my dad's invention because my youngest sister used to call my Woogen..)
49. I used to want 10 kids. Now I think five is a good number.
50. Are you bored? Halfway there!

51. I have a huge stock of lysol wipes in my linen closet.
52. I only chew cinnamon gum.
53. Before Isaac I was a regular blood donor, then I got pregnant right when I was eligible to donate again. I'm looking forward to making it a regular habit again after baby girl arrives.
54. I have low blood sugar.
55. I've been to England 5 times.
56. I wish I was more crafty but I'm getting better.
57. I don't like bananas.
58. The first time I ever moved was when I moved to Edmonton for school. My parents moved into our family's home when my mum was pregnant with me and they are still there! Gordon and I have already moved 3 times since being married.
59. We didn't agree on Isaac's name until a few weeks before he was born.
60. Gordon and I watch Jeopardy together almost every single night.

61. I keep a monthly itemized budget in excel and have been doing it since we got married
62. My favourite holiday is Christmas.
63. I've been to Turkey and Israel
64. I'm a little bit of a control freak... if you hadn't gathered that from #6-8 and 61.
65. I eat my grilled cheese with ketchup.
66. I don't like balloons.
67. I was in my second year of nursing when my first patient passed away. I was the only one there with her when she died.
68. I love hot showers but hate hot tubs, steam rooms and saunas.
69. I'm incredibly competitive- Gordon used the term "cripplelingly competitive"
70. My only pet growing up was a firebelly newt

71. I tend to talk too much and sometimes leave a conversation realizing I didn't give the other person enough opportunity to speak or ask them enough about themselves. If this has happened to you I apologize! I'm working on it.
72. I would love to visit New Zealand and see the Lord of the Rings sets there.
73. Unfortunately for #72, I get really motion sick and it just seems to get worse the older I get.
74. I have a really hard time finding sunglasses that look good on me.
75. I enjoy creeping people's blogs way more than people's fb. Haha.
76. My favourite colour is blue.
77. The two TV shows I'm following right now are Downton Abbey (season 4!!) and Murdoch Mysteries.
78. I could listen to anything read by Sean Connery or Liam Neeson. I love their voices!
79. I rarely get embarrassed.
80. I saw The Lion King in the movie theatre with my parents when I was four and I cried so much when Mufasa died, my dad had to take me out. If he ever catches me tearing up at a show he usually says "Oh did Mufasa die?".

81. I have a really good memory, especially for people's faces and names. Sometimes I have to pretend I don't know people so they're not totally weirded out that I do actually know who they are...
82. I am currently reading The Count of Monte Cristo.
83. I do really well at the climbing part of hikes and am usually close to the front of the pack, but am terribly slow and clumsy coming down and one of the last to make it to the bottom.
84. I generally don't like running with other people. I just like to put my ear phones in and zone out. I do make exceptions once in a while!
85. When I was little I used to like watching any type of operation on TV. My mum would change the channel because it would make her sick and I would ask her to change it back.
86. I paid for my first car on my own.
87. I decided to be a nurse at the end of my grade 11 year.
88. I love boy bands.
89. My first meal after we got married was poutine at the DQ drive thru in Cardston.
90. I have a talent for pulling faces. Isaac has acquired it!

91. My hair is naturally curly.
92. I did my final nursing preceptorship (basically 10 weeks of FT work supervised by one RN) in labour and delivery, the same unit where I delivered Isaac and where I'll deliver baby girl.
93. I donated 10 inches of my hair to Locks of Love in 2011.
94. Gordon and I went to Mazatlan on our honeymoon.
95. I sprained my ankle 2 weeks before our honeymoon playing handball with Gordon.
96. We gave a kitten to Gordon's friend for a wedding present as per their request. After a week of taking care of him, I bawled when I had to give him up.
97. Mosquito bites make me swell up.
98. Baby girl is currently kickboxing with my ribs.
99. I don't buy into a lot of "health" fads or trends. I'm not going to pay more for "organic" when I can't guarantee it legitimately is.
100. This post only took 4 days to write...

Partied out!

The week of Isaac's birthday (Oct 28) was full of partying...and less than healthy eating for the whole family.

Monday was his birthday so it kicked the party week off for us quite nicely (see this post) to find out what we did. That Thursday was Halloween so we dressed him up in his homemade costume (thank you Martha Stewart diy!) and took him and Gordon's younger cousin to the mall for some trick or treating.

Daddy dressed up too (dragon and knight!)

Mummy didn't dress up, because someone had to be in practical attire in order to chase after and wrestle with monkey man

I'm not gonna lie, I was a little disappointed by the stinginess of the candy giving. We had a pretty poor haul for the hour of scavenging that we did. Next year I'll definitely be making a costume I can winterize so we can hit the streets for the good stuff! Gordon took his cousin around our neighbourhood for 20 minutes and at least tripled what we got at the mall with some quality chocolate and candy.

I may or may not have ran to Safeway when it opened the next morning for my 50% off chocolate bars...

Saturday we had Isaac's birthday party at my parents' house in Calgary. We were able to have both sets of grandparents and Aunties and Uncle there, which was awesome! (I tried to fix the font size and gave up after 10 minutes). Plus some great friends and other family:) We had lunch (build your own pasta, salad, garlic bread, fruit, birthday cake, donuts), opened presents and watched the other kiddos...since Isaac was attached to grampy J and followed him everywhere...play with the toys. Isaac sat still long enough to open a couple presents, but that task was mostly mine. He was sure spoiled! I think I get out of Christmas shopping now... right?

Partners in crime since the day they were born!

 I really wanted to do his cake this year and found a pretty easy diy car cake recipe. The cake part turned out great... it was the icing part that became problematic. I didn't realize my mum only had red food colouring, which if you've ever used it alone in icing you know it turns it pink. By then it was too late to get more, so he had pink "barbie" cakes who looked like they got into a few accidents...
I'm just glad he wasn't old enough to cry and tell me they weren't cool.

When everyone sang to him he looked around like "What the heck is going on?". I thought he was gonna cry, but he managed to tough it out.

A few hours after his party, we headed to a Halloween party and finished our week long partying with yummy food and great friends!

Paper bag princess, knight, dragon

All tuckered out after a full party day

Now let the Christmas planning begin!

The other baby

It feels like forever since I've done a pregnancy post...maybe that's because it's been 10 weeks...aka 1/4 of this pregnancy. With Isaac and work keeping me amply busy it's easy to forget another one will be added to the chaos in 10ish weeks.

 I just recovered from Halloween and Isaac's first birthday, which are three days apart (blog post to follow..eventually), and this month I'm trying to get a bunch of organizing projects done for this baby since I know next month Christmas is going to take over. Then it will only be a few short weeks until we expect our little girl. January 15th I have a feeling I'm going to see you very very quickly.

I'm 30 weeks right now, feeling large and in charge. I'm certainly bigger than I was with Isaac and already weigh as much as I do when I delivered him. Woops. Must be all that Halloween candy I've be enjoying. I'm really loving the chocolate with this girl. Need to take a new picture this week!

27 weeks on Thanksgiving

Little girl moves and grooves enough to let me know she's good and happy but not enough to drive me bonkers like Isaac did. He was partying sun up to sun down. I'm carrying quite a bit higher, so I traded my uncomfortable bladder with Isaac for uncomfortable ribs.

I'm back to sleeping with a blanket between my legs so my back doesn't get sore, but I haven't had to put anything under my belly like I did with Isaac. I sure do get leg cramps, but I've found if I stretch my muscle out right away they ease off. I remember shoving my face in my pillow a couple nights because they hurt so bad with Isaac...until I figured out how to stretch my muscles out.

I get major Braxton Hicks if I walk too fast and that is just like my pregnancy with Isaac. Luckily I've been able to work out still without any major trouble.

I'm not sure if it's hit me yet that we're having another baby. Or maybe I've become so used to the idea it just doesn't phase me... haha probably not. I'm kind of nervous about trying to find a new routine and still keep up with all the things that need to be done, especially keeping my house as clean as I like it. I know there's the common advice that all the housework can wait, but it's virtually impossible for me to relax if there are certain things that need attention. I need at the very least a clean kitchen and clean floor. I can be flexible on the other things, but those two just give me peace of mind.

I remember wondering how I was going to get anything done with Isaac but I did and I still do get pretty much everything done that is required of me, so I know I'll just fall into my own groove again. Hopefully Isaac isn't too set on staying in the old one...

I am looking forward to "starting over" with baby girl. I'm hoping to get a better handle on nursing from the get-go and hopefully she'll be just as easy to sleep train as Isaac was. Not to mention cuddling with a little newborn again. Gordon and I were just looking at old pictures of Isaac and can't believe how much he's grown. I'm definitely looking forward to having a little squishy munchkin that isn't gonna run off if I put her down!

Here's hoping they're the best of friends.

He's the big O-N-E!

I still remember vividly being in the hospital, having just had Isaac 15 hours before and feeling like I got hit by a semi...more than once. But I'd look over and my perfect little boy and loving husband and remember how worth it my little family was.

A year has already passed since then, but I truly truly remember it like it was yesterday-the good and the bad.

Yesterday I tried to make it a fun day for Isaac by going to our ward's playgroup at church for a potluck lunch-which was awesome!-and letting Isaac run around in the gym in his Halloween costume after the balls. He must have had fun because it took me 15 minutes to get him ready to go since he was throwing such a tantrum. I apologize to any sleeping babies he may have awoken.

Gordon came home early and we opened Isaac's presents, a couple of which we gave him early (bubble bath and toque/mitts). Mostly he was more interested in the tissue paper, but did like his ball and his new foam Noah's Ark book that I bought in hopes of easing his desire to escape everywhere during church. Those 3 hours are exhausting for Gordon and I. We really do our best to keep him from running up and down the aisles, crawling under the pews, distracting everyone in every class, touching everything he shouldn't etc... Needless to say, we are SO looking forward to nursery.

I made birthday cupcakes for him and let him have a whole one to himself. He was a lot neater than I thought he would be. The highchair got the brunt of the blue icing. It was a great day for us! (Sorry about the lack of pictures, my computer is out of commission and Gordon doesn't have any on here)

Helping him blow out the candle

At one year old

-weighs 20lbs (10th percentile) 

-measures 29 1/4 inches (30th percentile)

-has a noggin almost in the 70th percentile 

-has 7 teeth (4 on top, 3 on bottom)

-chatterbox and says new sounds like "f" "t" and "s", he almost sounds like an adult when he babbles

-his angry/frustrated noise scream is "DJA! DJA! DJA!"

-he learns new words really quickly and understands most of what I say

-my favourite word that he knows is "swiffer"-if I ask him to swiffer he'll go get the mop and pretend to clean the floor. Obviously he sees me on the end of it waaaaay too much.

-if say the word "snack" or "eat", he runs to his highchair and stands on his tiptoes to peer over his tray

-when I say "time to change your diaper" he runs to his room and stands by the change table which is surprising considering how much he fights when I do change it

-likes scrunching up his nose into a fake tantrum face

-loves cuddling with his blanket or sheep

-loves Baby Einstein World Animals

-helps me with laundry by sitting in the basket and passing it to me

-if you ask him to give you something, he'll hold it out to you then either smile, turn around and run away with it, or drop it in front of you

-has a show-off/goofy side and likes when people pay attention to him

-sleeps anywhere from 10-12 hours usually with no interruptions, or he self soothes back to sleep

 -takes 1-2 naps

-loves to explore (if you've ever seen him, especially at church, you know this)

-is almost running and usually makes me run to catch up with him

-will spin in circles and giggle until he falls over dizzy

-loves emptying baskets, drawers, cupboards etc.

-can copy you after only watching once- a few weeks ago I had to fish his ball out from under the piano with a stick, later he rolled it under the couch and couldn't reach it. He went and got the stick and started reaching under the couch with it and managed to poke it out.  

-loves to climb on, off and in things 

 

He always surprises me with how much he knows, how quickly he learns and always keeps me on my toes. I can't wait for many more birthdays with him!

I'm a mom.

I know the title's a little obvious...especially if you've read my blog any time in the last year. After reading a very thought provoking and truth telling blog post found here http://themattwalshblog.com/2013/10/09/youre-a-stay-at-home-mom-what-do-you-do-all-day , written by a husband and father who had to defend his wife for being a stay at home mom (SAHM), it reminded me of some conversations I encounter on a regular basis. They go something like this..

Other: "What do you do?"
Me: "I'm a nurse, but I stay at home with my son now."

First thing that's wrong with my response-I start with the more "prestigious" (in the society's eyes) of the two jobs and add the being a mom as an afterthought. In reality, my first shift back at work in 13 months is on Thursday, and I'm only working once or twice a week until Christmas. Then I prepare myself and my family for the arrival of our little girl.

Obviously, the vast majority of my time is actually spent at home mothering my son and being a homemaker and not at work taking care of patients. So, wouldn't my response be a lot more accurate if it went something like this...?

Other: "What do you do?"
Me: "I'm a stay at home to my son, a wife and a homemaker. Occasionally I work as an RN at the hospital."

The fact that I have to consciously change my answer to this question is a glaring reminder that for the most part "motherhood" is not a real job as far as the general populace is concerned. And you know what? I have to say I agree. What other job asks you to be on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year? What other job asks you to forgo all vacations, sick days, and overtime pay? What other job asks you to accept payment in the form of toothy smiles as well as temper tantrums, kisses along with kicks , "I love you mom"s and hopefully never "I hate you mom"s, but most importantly the satisfaction of seeing those you're in charge of achieve their potential?

You see, motherhood is much much more than a "real job". 

I couldn't even try and define all motherhood is. It is simultaneously the most challenging and rewarding responsibility any woman could undertake. It's impact and influence extend far beyond the home and has the ability to shape our communities, our cities and our countries. And yet, those two sentences do not do it justice at all.

The second conversation which happens a lot more in light of recent events goes something like this...

Other: "So will you be able to get maternity leave with this baby?"
Me: "No, it would require me to work full time, and my priority is being at home with my son."
Other: "What does Gordon do?"
Me: "He's working for the university but is hoping to get into grad school in January."
Other: "So how does that work financially?"
Me: "Well really it's none of your business." (This is what I think) "We'll be fine, we're good at managing our finances." (This is what I say).
Other: gives skeptical look or insincere smile with an "Oh that's good". 

When I found out we were expecting so soon after Isaac, Gordon and I did talk about me going back to work early so that I would have a chance at getting enough hours for maternity leave. It was a logical option after all. But sometimes the Lord asks us to set aside what we think is logical for what He knows is best for us. The more I thought and prayed about it, the more I knew that going back to work early was not what was best for me or for my family.

So the plan remained that I would go back to work when my maternity leave ended and work once or twice a week just to bank hours towards my license (you need a certain amount within 5 years to keep your registration active) and add a little extra to the income. We know if we do our best to do our part, the Lord will make up the rest, even if we can't always see how...and let's be honest...we rarely can.

Being a SAHM doesn't work for everyone. The circumstances of our lives are unique and individual, and each family has to decide what is best for them. But I know that prioritizing my time at home with my son, and soon to be son and daughter, is what is best for them and what is best for me. The growth I've experienced since being a mother has been exponential. I'm more selfless, more resilient and definitely more reliant on the Lord.

So when you ask me "What do you do?", know that my response isn't merely something I do. It's something that I am and am always becoming.

"I am a mom."

One away from one!

Isaac is officially less than one month away from his first birthday as of Saturday! I can still vividly remember just starting maternity leave and trying to find stuff to occupy myself until he arrived. At least I don't have this problem with baby two. Isaac keeps me plenty busy, I can't believe in 3.5 months there will be two of them!

10-11 months was BIG for little-big boy. I usually keep track of the different things each month he does on a memo in my phone, so I can record them all at the end, and it is probably one of the longest yet. I'd apologize but I figure I warned you, so proceed at your own risk of boredom.

Looks

-his hair got so light over the summer, not blonde, but definitely not as dark as he was

-starting to turn back into a little chunk (I know because I can't see his neck anymore haha)

-2 new teeth this month, with one slacker tooth that's just been hanging out for ages

-in 9-12 month tops and 6-12 month pants

Eating

-3 meals + 2 snacks

-eats whatever we eat and LOTS of it

-favourites: cheese, fruit, pasta

-officially bottle weaned!!

 

The bottle weaning wasn't easy, especially since he was exclusively bottle fed after 3 months and mostly bottle fed before that. It took us about 6 weeks to finally say goodbye to the last bottle, but I really wanted him weaned by one and knew it would be harder the longer we waited. Our success was being consistent with using the sippy cup (for formula), regular cup (for water), and not getting frustrated or upset if he refused. I also said a prayer or two twenty asking for patience and understanding with Isaac. Eventually he got used to the cups and we have been bottle free for over 2 weeks! I still have to chase him around a little bit otherwise he'd never drink anything (like his mama) but we're super happy that we've made this transition.

Catching Zzzzzs

-transitioning to one nap a day but still takes a morning and afternoon nap half of the time

-sleeps through the night (usually 8-7 but has been sleeping in later the last few days!)

-once in a while I have to go put his soother in (he doesn't go to bed with it) so he'll go back to sleep, but I've started waiting longer now and most of the time he'll go back to sleep on his own

-stomach sleeper

Mr Attitude

-has a full-on thrashing-back-arching-rolling-out-of-car-seat tantrum almost every time I put him in his car seat. My least favourite part of ANY day

-will stick out his tongue when he's being goofy

 -loves to do exactly what you just told him not to and then giggle maniacally about it

-cries any time a door closes and he wasn't allowed to follow... if it's the bathroom he either bangs on the door or sits outside and waits for me

-has a penchant for biting, scratching and pinching both playing and when angry which I'm desperately trying to curb

-he's difficult to "discipline" (for lack of a better word) because everything you do to stop him from doing what he's doing is funny to him...except take food away...which I only do if he's messing around with it. He hates you messing with his food!

Words

-says "mama", "dada", "up" (the last one is when he feels like it)

-can identify most of his toys if you tell him to get it or ask him where it is

-if I start reciting his favourite book, he'll go get it

-understands simple phrases words and phrases like "Where's your...", "all done", "more", "drink your milk", "up", "come here", "no", "go get your..."

Wiggly Worm

-took his first four or five steps on his own the day he turned 10 months

-one week later he learned how to push himself up from crawling and stand without hanging on to anything

-within that week he quickly mastered walking around the entire house

-he'll dance to any music (especially TV commercial music)

-dressing him takes forever... I usually put his diaper on in one room, his shirt in another and his pants in another...just because he will not stay still

-we've had diaper changes that take two people

Proof: we were at Gordon's parents and I knew Isaac had pooped so I went to change his bum. Since there's no change table we just change him on the floor. As soon as I took that diaper off (and what a mess that was!), he rolled and I quickly lifted him up by his ankles so he wouldn't get poop all over the floor. I stood there for a second stranded with him hanging upside down in the air, and luckily Gordon's mum walked in right at the moment. She came over and started wiping Isaac up while I had set him down so his hands were touching the couch but nothing else. He thought that was a great opportunity to make a getaway and started wheel barrowing away whilst the front and back of him were still covered and we were frantically trying to clean him up. How nothing got covered in poop is a mystery to me!

Favourite things

-being chased

-his grampy

-cuddling with his sheep pillow

-climbing anything-has scaled his high chair in search of food

-being up high and touching everything on the ceiling(thanks to grampy) 

-rearranging furniture

-climbing in things like baskets, overturned chairs, small spaces... 

 

Now onto planning a birthday party for a crazy-fun-stubborn-spirited little monkey man. 

Summer in review

I'm really sad we're saying goodbye to summer soon. Although the beautiful weather we're supposed to have this week makes it a tad more bearable. I think there's still one more hoorah at the spray park to be had. I didn't post too much throughout the summer about our goings-on because I thought it would be easier to do one big post at the end. I didn't think about having to remember it all... I shall have to do my best.

After Isaac made it very clear that he preferred indoors to outdoors-looking at the grass made him cry-I made it a goal to take him outside as much as the weather would allow. Looking back I think I did a pretty good job. It meant hauling the stroller in and out of the trunk almost every day, but it was well worth the effort. Here's a snapshot of all the fun we had this summer.

-watching dad do the Spartan

-playing at the park

-learning to crawl

-learning to like grass

 

-days at the spray park 

-visits to Calgary and Cranbrook to get spoiled by grandparents, great-grandparents, aunties and uncles

-discovery of his love for animals

-Heritage Festival

 
-farmer's market visits
-eating ice cream

-lots of walks
 -shoulder rides  

 -watching mum run the Color Me Rad 5k

-learning to climb

-learning to walk

Loved my first summer with my little boy

 Looking forward to every summer to come.