Happy Father's Day

We celebrated Chris' first Father's Day today. We went out for breakfast with my Dad, Wendy, Grandma, Poppa, Uncle Steve, Aunt Jan and Meaghan; unfortunately Geoff (aka "the godfather") had to work. After breakfast we spent a quiet afternoon at home.

This is a first

Joshua was happily playing on his mat this afternoon and I was in the kitchen I look over at him and he was passed out cold. Normally he cries to tell me he is tired and closes his eyes but nothing he just played himself to sleep, maybe its from his busy day of practicing rollover and giggling up a storm. I guess I will just leave him there!

Our Family This Week

Joshua is continuing to grow like a weed, I took him to be weighed again last week and he was 15 lbs 3 oz, he is quite the little pork chop!









Last week we picked up an exercauser for him and I was suprised that his feet rest quite easily on the bottom, I was anticipating having to put a book under his feet for a little while. He seems most fascinated with the mirror on it and spends most of his time staring at himself!





He seems to be more interested in the Jolly Jumper as well, he is still not quite sure about the whole jumping thing but he is slowly getting the hang of it.

Tummy time has gotten a lot better, he seemed to go from screaming his head off with his face pressed against the floor to lifting his head up and looking around, over night. I now prop board books and stuffed toys in front of him so that he can look at them!

Jump, Jump, Jump Around!

Now that Joshua is three months, we have started putting him in his Jolly Jumper. He likes to stand in our laps so we thought he would love it. At this point he is still not to sure what to do with it other than spin around but I think it will likely take a couple of tries for him to really figure it out. Since Joshua loves to look around outside we have set the stand up infront of the big window in our living room so that he can look outside.

The stand takes up most of our living room so hopefully he enjoys it because it is quite the eyesore, oh what we will do for our children!

Sitting in Higher Places

We have set up Joshua's high chair! He still seems a little uncertain about it so will only tolerate it for a couple of minutes at a time. I think this new chair will come in handy as Joshua really seems to be slowing his swing down with his weight, even on the maximum setting it takes forever to get going..

Three months!

Last Tuesday Joshua turned 3 months. I don't know where the time has gone. I took him to be weighed the Friday before the long weekend and he was 13lbs 11 oz and 24 inches long. He has gained almost 7 full pounds and grown 4 inches in only 3 months.



He loves to sit on the couch or floor in his Boppy Pillow while smiling and talking or just plain staring at the wall/ceiling.

I packed up all of his 0/3 month clothes a couple of weeks ago (I put one of his sleepers on and it turned into a v-neck with 3/4 length sleeves) and now his 3/6 month sleepers are getting a bit snup as well, although his 3/6 month outfits still have quite a bit of room (I am bit confused by this!)

The smiles have progressed!

My days are now filled with lots of smiles, they have been coming for a few weeks and started just before my Nana came to meet him for the first time, by the time she left he was flashing his gummy smile all over the place. Now he is chatting up a storm, he will sit in his pillow and chat away and when I talk back he smiles his big smile right back at me, on a few occassions I have even got what sounded like a giggle, it is the sweetest sound!

Some much needed sleep!

I am happy to report that Joshua is pretty much sleeping through the night. It has been five nights now that I have enjoyed at least 7 hours of sleep straight (or should I say he is getting at least 7 hours straight, I need to start going to bed earlier). I have discovered that if I let him have an early evening nap and put him to bed at around 10:00 he won't wake up until around 5:30 to eat and then goes back to sleep until 9 or 10 o'clock. It is so wonderful to only have to get up once a night, although he has only ever gotten up twice a night so I really can't complain. He is also napping alot better during the day. It is true what they say, a well rest baby sleeps better!

This is an old picture, but the most recent one I have of him sleeping!

Joshua's Baptism

On April 28 we celebrated Joshua's Baptism. He was baptized at the same church and by the same priest who married Chris and I, Father Andrew.

Joshua wore the same gown that my sister and I wore.

Many visitors came to celebrate with Joshua, including Auntie Sarah, all the way from England; Great Grandma, from Ottawa; and Grand Aunt Pat, from Vancouver.

Joshua sitting in his Boppy Pillow with his Chris before the service began, we take this pillow almost everywhere we go.

Joshua and his Auntie Sarah, who is also his Godmother, and his Grandma!

Joshua and his Godfather Geoff, my cousin

Joshua and his Grand Aunt Pat from Vancouver.

I am missing some pictures that are on other people's camera's so I will update this when I get them.

Playtime!

I have to share these pictures because I laugh everytime I see the last one.

This is how play time usually starts out, all happy, he is even waving hello to the camera.

And this is how playtime ends."Please mommy I am done, no more pictures."

Tummy Time

Joshua seems to enjoy sleeping on his tummy the most, which I don't let him do, so whenever I put him on his mat for some good ol tummy time he puts his head down as if he is going asleep. I have now started to prop him up on his Boppy Pillow and that seems to keep him awake and he enjoys being able to see around much more.

Wow 2 Months Now!

Ok, it has been a while since I last updated!

Joshua is now over 2 months old and I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. He has been growing like crazy, he gained a whole pound in one week and now weighs 11 lbs 8 oz and is 22 inches long. He smiles and coos more and more everyday which makes my job so rewarding. Sleeping has been going fairly, it has been a little disrupted by the move and then by his shots, but things are getting better he still on gets up about twice a night.

Joshua is One Month Old today!

Where has the the time gone!

He continues to grow, and is over 8 lbs now, I have noticed a difference when I pick him up! I took him to the doctor yesterday and his bilirubin count was down far enough that he doesn't have to for blood tests anymore.

We are going to spend the day visiting his Nona (my stepmother) at work and we may also go and see his Opa (my Dad) too.

I think we are crazy!

Since the arrival of Joshua, Chris and have been noticing a dramatic decrease in the amount of space available in our house, wow babies and there toys take up a lot of space. We weren't really even thinking about moving for another 4 years at least but we happened to notice a house for sale down the street that we really liked. We decided to just go and take a look at it and see if it was as good as we thought it would be. Turns out it is better! So on Tuesday we put an offer on it and this morning the called and accepted our offer.

We love our current house but as I mentioned the >1200 square feet is feeling really tight now that we have another body in the house. This new house is 1562 square and has everything we wanted in a house, 3 bedrooms, two and a half baths, decent size kitchen, etc. It is also brandnew, the current owners never moved in.

Here are some pictures.

Rollin, Rollin, Rollin

Joshua has been enjoying some playtime on his activity mat, he can entertain himself for about 10 minutes by just staring at the toys that hang over him.

The other day, I put in on his tummy and he rolled over within seconds. He doesn't seem to mind his tummy time, but it has to be on his own terms.

Unfortunately, I didn't catch the moment on camera but here is some footage of him playing (don't mind my camera skills, I was just messing around).

My little Gloworm

A few days after Joshua came home, he started to develop jaundice. He is now almost four weeks and it finally seems to be clearing up, thank goodness. It was tough, since he was born we have been taking him for weekly blood tests so they could test his bilirubi levels. I am not sure who the first on was harder on me or him, thank goodness for Chris becuase he stayed with him while I stood in the hall and cried. We are pros at it now and the last two times they were able to get it from his arm instead of squeezing it out of his foot.


In this picture you can see how yellow he was!

Welcome Joshua Keith

Sorry for the delay in posting this, I was having trouble accessing the site.
Joshua Keith made is his grande appearance on February 22 at 12:47 am after a very short labour. I ended up having to be induced early because my fluids started to leak again and my OB just decided that now would be the time. I suppose all the bedrest really paid off because this was only a couple of days after I was taken off of bedrest.

I ended up getting an epidural because the pain was so intense and our nurse who started the induction said he wouldn't be born until at least 7 the next morning. However, the epidural only last 30 minutes and wore off just in time for me to start pushing. I only had to push a few times as well and then had to wait 30 minutes for my OB to come, she literally walked in the door and caught him because I just couldn't wait anymore.

Chris was fantastic (as I knew he would be) and supported me through everything, I am so thankful for him. He is such a wonderful dad too! It was really neat Joshua came out screaming, which is wonderful, and Chris went over to see him and as soon as he started talking to him, he stoppd crying instantly. He even put his feet up on the side of the bassinet and looked like he was lounging!

He weighed 6 lbs 13 oz and was 20 inches long!

Baby Shower

This Sunday my friends Corinna and Megan hosted a Baby Shower for me and the baby! I had so much fun and it was really nice to get out of the house and spend some time with friends. It was the first time I had really gotten dressed up since being on bedrest so Chris insisted on taking some pictures (35 weeks 2 days)!





Corinna and Megan planned a fun game of The Price is Right, were there were three games played.


The first game there were 6 items layed on a table and the contestent had to place the correct price ontop of each item. My friend Kristine did a great job and I learned that I had no idea how much baby stuff cost!



For the second game the contestent had to indicate the correct price for a package of newborn diapers. The incorrect price was listed on a board with other numbers on top and you had to figure out which numbers moved down to create the correct price.

And for the last game the contestent was shown an item (a Burberry Rattle) and numbers were slid across an open box and the contestent had to stop the numbers when the showed the correct retail price.\

Oh, and we got to keep all of the items used in the game!

We were very lucky and we received many wonderful gifts for the baby such as a baby bath tub, a diaper genie and a diaper champ (we decided to keep both so we could have one on the main floor), a play mat, some clothes, and other very necessary baby items! My friend Corinna sells Arbonne products and she gave me the Arbonne baby line, I am really looking forward trying them on the baby, I have heard they are wonderful.

Maternity Pictures

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AYsWbdu5atnugI recently had some maternity pictures taken (32 Weeks, 4 days), they were done by my friend Claudine. She is very talented and I am so happy with how they turned out.

Click on the picture to see the others that were taken (these are quite artistic and were done with draped fabric etc.)

Happy Belated Birthday to me!!

Last Saturday was my 26th Birthday!

The night before Chris was talking to the baby and telling him that it was "mommy's birthday tomorrow, so be very good" and I had to had "make sure you move lots so mommy knows your OK". Well that was a huge mistake, he had what I think is his most active day yet, unfortunately with those movements came extreme pain. I am not sure what he was doing but it really hurt. I was describing it to my nurse a few days later and she was concerned that they were contractions, I am sure they were the baby moving around because I could actually feel him grinding away on my insides. OUCH.

Anyways, Chris took me out for a drive that afternoon I really enjoyed looking around at the city when the sun was out (I usually only see it at night right now). Later that evening we went out for dinner with Angela and Emma to the Moxie's that they just renovated down the street. Don't worry my small outing was okayed by the nurse!

Angela gave me a beautiful necklace that we saw we were were in Bakewell, England (Pride and Prejudice Country for you Jane Austin Fans). We were in a small fair trade shop and I fell in love with it and she offered to get it for me for my birthday, I have been anxiously waiting to wear it since!

Our baby has quite the library!

I really hope that the baby likes to read! Chris and I started collecting books early on for the baby, we purchased some of our favourites for him. Over the last several months we have been receiving books from different family members and I must say, he has quite the collection.

1. Dr Suess Treasury Collection (contains 13 stories)
2. Robert Munsch Treasury Collection (contains 16+ stories)
3. Love you Forever
4. The Elephant and that Bad Baby
5. Owl Babies
6. George and the Dragon
7. Slinky Malinki Open the Door
8. Oh Baby the Places You'll Go (specially for reading in untero)
9. I'm A Manatee
10. Zin! Zin! Zin! a Violin
11. The Story of Christmas
12. Are you my Mommy?
13. Richard Scarry's Best Moth Goose Ever

I think my favourite to read to him is the "Slinky Malinky Open the Door" because it cute and a sing-song type read. The baby's favourite seems to be the "Oh Baby the Places You'll Go", he moves around like crazy when I read to him.

I started reading to him quite early, in fact I am not sure if his ears had even deveoped, so hopefully he likes reading when he is older.

Thank you everyone who has sent us books, they are already being put to good use!

34 Week Update

I reached 34 weeks yesterday, I can't believe it. I have been on bedrest for four weeks now, at times it seems to be going to quickly and other times seems to be going by slowly. I was given the green light by the nurse a few days ago that I could make dinner again, so hopefully that helps Chris out, he still doing all of the cleaning and getting ready for the baby.

Today I also got a call from the Antenatal program that they have spoken to my doctor and they are going to drop me down to 3 visits a week instead of everyday. This means that things are going well, but I am kind of sad at the same time because they really helped to break up my day.

The baby is doing wonderfully and seems to have changed positions, he is still head down but I am not sure if he turned around our what because my belly completely changed shape overnight. The nurse thinks he may have just moved further down into the birthing position, I plan to ask my doctor today at my appointment.

At my last doctor's appointment my doctor said that I would likely be coming off of bidirectional at 36 weeks so only 2 weeks to go, I am practically counting down the days. Once off of bidirectional I will be able to resume a somewhat normal life again, minus working of course. I have been creating mad lists of things that we need to get or things that we need to get done and I am looking forward to being able to completing some of them on my own and given Chris a break.

A long overdue Update

As some of you know I was adminited to the hospital almost two weeks ago because I was leaking amiotic fluid. They kept me in for two days. I am doing much better, but it was definitely a scary experience for both Chris and I. As a result I was taken off of work and put on bedrest until the baby is born, which could be tomorrow or two weeks after my due date.

Things are going much better now, I have a nurse that comes in to see me everyday and monitor the baby! Since I have stopped leaking they are hoping that they can drop me down to 3 visits a week, which would be great! I will als need to go regularly for them to monitor the fluid around the baby and make sure there is an adequate supply. They did an u/s the day after we were admitted to the hospital and everything looked good so we are just hoping that our wee little man continues to grow, I have my sights set on 37 weeks (only 5 weeks to go).

Another Big Baby Purchase

Today we purchased our stroller and car seat, actually I should say that Chris' mum purchased it for us as her gift for the baby (we have been very lucky with our family's generosity). I have been looking at some of the different models that are available as well as the the different features. We really wanted one that was adaptable with the infant car seat, it clicks from the car seat base right into the stroller or into the house. Chris was also very adamant about it not being one of the 3-wheel strollers that are available now, I love them but he is not comfortable with them and preferred one with four wheels.

We ended up with the Graco Quattro Tour Deluxe in Moonstruck (that is the color). It came with the Graco SafeSeat which is better for a bigger baby upto 30 lbs and 32 inches. Since everyone is convinced that this will be a very big baby we thought it would be better to have the bigger infant seat so that he could stay in it longer. The picture below makes it look more turquoise but it really more of a dark blue/navy color.
We also picked up our diaper bag today. I have been looking at the selection of those as well and none of them were really peaking my interested until we were in Roots today and I saw a really great one and to make it even better it was 50% off because of their Boxing Day Sale so we snatched that up quickly. Oh and I have been debating getting the Fisher Price Ocean Wonders Aquarium for the baby's crib and I was in SuperStore the other day and they had it on sale for $9.99 and it is regularly $39.99 so that was another great deal that we picked up.
We have the dresser already but it still needs to be assembled and we have the glider for the nursery on order and I am hoping that it is here soon because then I can work on finishing off the nursery. My next step will be to wash all the babies clothes and bedding and get them put away, I figure I will tackle that in February.

Happy Holidays

Better late that never right?

Anyways, Chris and I had a wonderful Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve with his mum, sister, aunt and uncle. Then on Christmas morning we opened a few presents at home and then headed back over to Chris' mum's house. We all got some wonderful gifts (including Joshua!). I got a KitchenAid stand mixer, which I am loving and have already used quite a bit, and Chris got his Playstation 3 (both of which were birthday/christmas presents).

In the afternoon we went over to my Poppa's house and spent some time with my family, I stayed for dinner but Chris went back home to have dinner with his mum. We figure this will be the last Christmas that we will be able to spend apart.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season!

Where has the time gone!

Well a new trimester and a new set of pains!

Things have been really busy with work and getting ready for Christmas so that is why I haven't posted for a while.

Today I am 28 weeks and I am now in the third trimester. The time has definitely gone by quickly, and I can't believe that my due date is in 12 weeks. I was telling Chris a couple of days ago that in 9 more weeks he will be full term and will be welcome to come at any time. Wow scary!

Joshua is still as quiet as ever, gives me the odd push/press but very few kicks. I plan on asking the doctor if that is normal at my next appointment, because so many pregnant people I talk to say there baby moves around non-stop.

Over the last day or so my hips have become quite sore and today my left knee is really sore. Not to worry though I have an appointment for a prenatal massage at Sweet Momma tonight so I should be feeling much better tomorrow. I am in trouble if this pain keeps up for the rest of my pregnancy, although Chris is being a champ and is very patient with me, and is encouraging me to rest more while I try to do as much if not more as I did before I was pregnant!

99 days to go!

Ok, so that is only 99 days until my due date but I am ok with that!

I had another OB appointment yesterday and everything is looking good and both the baby and I are measuring exactly where we should be! Chris and I are sure that the baby has some sort of manual though because since they changed my due date he has been measuring exactly where he was supposed to be and doing what he is supposed to do. At my appointment yesterday the resident was feeling around for the baby to try and figure out the position and when the OB came in and asked how the baby was lying, the resident gave the OB a puzzled look and said, "I think the baby is transverse!". I quickly chimed in, "yeah that sounds about right because all of the movement I feel is on the right side of my belly". Baby must have heard the conversation because this morning I have been having more kicks at the top and center part of my belly! Ok so maybe I am reading to much into it but I think the baby is a genius!!!

Also speaking of movement, the baby is quite quiet most of the time. I read about people whose babies are moving non-stop and I think hmm, is something wrong with my baby? I have come to the conclusion that he is just quieter than others which is a trait I hope he still has once he is born.

And in this corner...

... weighing in at 1 lb 12 oz (give or take 4 oz) we have baby Joshua!!! Yup that is what he was measuring yesterday at his ultrasound. The boxing intro is quite fitting because the whole time the tech was trying to take a picture of him he had his hands in front of his face as if he were a boxer.

We decided to have a 3D picture taken this time because he is starting to put on some baby fat and looks more like a baby than an alien!

I think I'm in LOVE...

...with a vacuum cleaner of all things!

Since we moved into our house we have had nothing but problems with our new vacuum cleaning. When the installed the carpeting they didn't properly pick up all of the fine threads that were left over, and us not knowing any better tried to clean them up with our vacuum. Turns out that they require a special machine to pick these fine threads up and it ruined our vacuum. Great. We have been making due with what we had for now, until we saw a commercial for the Dyson vacuum cleaners that are now available in Canada. Well Chris and I started drooling immediately, that is until we saw the price of these fabulous machines.

We are now deciding that it will be a good investment and we went in with the intention of getting the cheaper model but soon realized that the features on the upper models would definitely be useful with a baby on the way. We are just now trying to weight the benefits of the more expensive model against the added cost. How Exciting!!!

Not really an exciting post, but the night we went looking at them I dreamt of vacuum cleaners!

An Update

Well tomorrow we hit the 23 week mark, my how the time has gone by. For those of you who are closely keeping track, yes I am ahead of schedule because my due date has changed.

I met with my new OB last week and after reviewing my ultrasounds, she decided to change my due date to March 14, 2007. The appointment was great and we got to hear the heartbeat for the first time, what an amazing sound. I must also add that I love my new OB, she was wonderful and made me feel so at ease. I am now entering the stage of continuous testing, I go for by Gestation Diabetes Screen on Saturday as well a couple of other tests. I am not sure how I fun that will be as the GDS is a one hour test where I need to consume a beverage that I have heard described a concentrated McDonald's orange drink, but more bubbly.

I have also included a picture of my ever expanding belly, I felt quite large, but this really made me feel huge.

A Womb with a view

Well I am now 20 Weeks and 1 Day Pregnant. At times I can't believe how fast time is going by, but others it just doesn't seem to be going fast enough!

Here is a picture to give you an idea of what are wee man looks like right now.


Want to know more about what is going on in his life?

• White blood cells are under production
• Skin has changed from translucent to more opaque
• Tongue is fully formed (although at the last ultrasound the tech was sure he stuck his tongue out at us)
• Swallows more this week
• Wake and sleep periods become more consistent
• Length approximately 10.5 Inches (from crown to heel)
• Weight approximately 12.7 Ounces

I just don't get it?

I had a doctors appointment this morning and I lost 1 kg from my last appointment 2 weeks ago. What really boggles my mind is that I have been eating like a horse, I just seem to constantly hungry.

So at almost 20 weeks my weight gain is only about 6 lbs, I thought I would be in for it this week because of how much I have been eating, but apparently not. Oh well as long as baby is doing well that is all that matters.

Update on us!

I apologize for not updating this for a while.

Things are going well for the three of us. I am feeling great, although still tired, and I am feeling the baby squirming around, and my belly seems to expanding by the day!!

I recently got a membership to the Edmonton Public Library so I been busy reading what I can before the wee one makes his appearance. I have also started reading to the baby so every time I go to the library I take out a couple of childrens books. So far they have been Robert Munsch and Dr. Seuss books , as they are our favourites, and I try to read at least one a night.

We haven't done to much in terms of preparing for the baby besides what I have posted about alreaady. I finally got my camera back so I will download the pictures of the crib with the bedding, they look so great.

Other than that things have been pretty quiet for us, but we are definatly going to need to get cracking soon I think. We still have to finish cleaning out the basement, I would like to do that before it get to cold so that I Dad can bring over the treadmill that he is storing at his place, move some pieces out of the baby's room and order the a dresser and rocking chair (and these are just the getting started pieces).

I know the suspense is killing you

For those of you who are eager to know the gender of our little one, we are proud to announce that we are having a bouncing baby BOY at this point his name will be Joshua Keith. We are both very excited, but Chris seems to be over the moon happy, he hasn't been able to wipe the grin off of his face!

I hope that you all had wonderful Thanksgiving weekends

Second Ultrasound Picture

My doctor send me for another ultrasound because I was experiencing some more spotting, and he just wanted to make sure that everything is ok. We went for the ultrasound yesterday and baby is doing great, strong heart rate of 156 bpm, and very active (baby was squirming around the whole time and the tech had trouble taking the pictures that she needed).

It was a great chance to see how the baby has grown and changed over the last couple of weeks.

We were really excited to find out about the gender, but baby wasn't wanting to be too cooperative when the tech was doing what she needed to do. Once she was finished she let me go to the bathroom and she went to get Chris. I had a bit of a talk with the baby and shook him/her around a bit and the tech was able to see what she needed to and told us "It's a ..." (sorry, actual results will be released on Monday after we have been able to tell our parents). :)

Anyways here is a picture of the baby at 16 weeks 3 days although that may change because baby was actually measuring 16 weeks 6 days (doctor thought I was measuring a couple of weeks ahead so 3 days I can handle).