All My Friends are Going to Humpity Bump ...

And I can't.
Cause I'm pregnant.
Okay - that's not exactly true. It's called Hump Day Bump. And, not ALL my friends are going. Just some. And, truth be told going clubbing on a Wednesday night isn't generally my thing. And, they did kindly say I could go if I wanted to.
But, I have rules about going drinking while pregnant.
Especially while visibly pregnant.
Truth be told, I really would just like to say "I went to Humpity Bump" because I think it's a really cool thing to say.
But the fun thing will be tomorrow, when they are hung over, and I can cheerfully sip coffee and maybe eat in front of them just to rub in that I'm not hung over. So, I guess it's not all bad.
It is just slightly sad that when they are leaving to go out, I will likely already be sound asleep. Ahhhh sleep. How I love my sleep!
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Yesterday I had yet another OB appointment.
I love my ob. Really. She's young and funny, and she knows what stresses me out and avoids the topic. For instance, despite the fact that I already have my c-section booked, I am really quite terrified of my baby growing large. Because what if I go into labour and don't have time to make it to the hospital (or I make it to the hospital and they send me away and Phat Daddy has to deliver the baby in the car) for a c-section? This is when I'd rather a smaller baby. Because at 8 lb 10 oz (I think) Doodle was a lot of baby to push out.
So, perhaps when my ob asked why I was so worried about size, and I told her, she was quite wise to just say the baby is a little big.
But, I've gotta tell you, this is one stubborn child already.
On Saturday when I went for my 3D ultrasound it took forever to convince her to move so we could see her face.
Yesterday I got an impromptu ultrasound (due to her increasing size) and there she was, SMILING for the camera. Seriously. I had to laugh.

Eight more weeks till I meet Miss Baby. I have a feeling it's going to be quite the ride! And, even though I won't be going to Humpity Bumpity right away, I have a feeling I'll be getting someone to bring me some sort of alcohol pretty quickly!!!

And he vaccuums ...

Four years ago when I knew I was having a son, I made some plans. I decided that no matter what, my son was going to grow up to be a man who was responsible.
Of course I wanted a child who is kind and loving, but I also wanted to have a son who is more than happy to share in the household duties. I have good examples for my son to model himself after. My father has always shared household duties with my mom. My husband usually is in charge of dishes and loves his vaccuums.
My plan has always been to just encourage Doodle to do stuff right along with us. He brings his plate to the kitchen like we do. He is awesome at making Shake 'n Bake chicken. He sort of sets the table. You get the picture.
Tonight when Phat Daddy and I were loading our new dishwasher Phat Daddy asked Doodle to tidy up his toys. We continued on checking out all of the features when we heard the vaccuum going. We walked into the living room, and in 5 minutes flat he had not only cleaned up all of his toys, he had vaccuumed the living room carpet.
Seriously.
It was pretty impressive.
Yesterday when I was at Shoppers I picked up some Method Cleaning Wipes. Since the child had very little aim at the potty I figure that I'm going to make it a fun little job to clean up all the little drips!
Someday my future daughter-in-law will be thanking me.
I just have to figure out how to get him to clean his room.

Juno, Vampires and Peace

If I could describe this weekend in on word it would be peace.
Sure the weekend was hectic. Actually, when I think about how much we squeezed into this weekend I'm surprised we got everything done.
But, despite the fact that our house is still kind of messy, we all look a little tired, and I feel like I need another day added to the weekend it was great.
On Saturday morning I went for another 3D ultrasound. I went about 8 weeks ago for a gender assessment, and found I was having a baby girl. (yippee!) But because I was only about 20 weeks along, I decided I needed to book another more complete screening. It was booked for Saturday. I spent an hour, with my family and a friend looking at images of the baby in my stomach.
It was a truly incredible experience. I've felt so anxious this pregnancy, and to get the reassurance that everything looks okay was pretty wonderful. We got to see some smiles and yawns. It was amazing.
I'll post pictures, but I need to crop out all of the personal information first. And, honestly, even though the pictures are pretty amazing it's not quite the same as being there and seeing your baby move around.
Saturday evening we dropped Doodle off at my sister's house for a sleepover and then we went out for dinner and a movie. It was incredibly nice to sit for a quiet dinner at Milestone's (a restaurant Phat Daddy designed) and have an actual adult conversation. We talked a bit about Doodle, a bit about the baby and a lot about just us - work, life, house, etc.
And then we watched the movie Juno.
It was an absolutely incredible movie. I wasn't sure that I would really enjoy it. But, I'd heard such good things that we decided to go. It was an excellent choice. And, it kind of put a lot of stuff into perspective. I feel like I've been so busy trying to make our house perfect, our lives perfect, manage pregnancy, run to doctors appointments over my lunch hour and pretend that I can handle it all - when all I really want is to sleep.
So guess what? Instead of waking up this morning and going cleaning crazy I slept in. Okay I got up at 7, but it sure beat 5 am. And when I got up I had some breakfast and then sat and read. and read. and read.
I've become completely obsessed with the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. Phat Daddy thinks it's hilarious because I'm reading books about Vampires and Werewolves. But, I don't care. I love love love these books! My friend lent me the first one which I spent a week reading on the train all week. And, when I finished it on Friday I insisted on going to Chapters to get the next book in the series (breaking my new year's resolution not to spend so much $ on books). I fully anticipated taking a week to read this one too. Ha.
I started it Friday night. Had about 100 pages read by last night, and finished the 2nd book of the series today. By about 4 pm I gave up my plan to find the last book at the library and headed back to Chapters to buy book number 3. Not only did I pick up my book, but I bumped into my sister and a friend and had a few minutes to sit and chat.
It's been a long time since I've just spent most of the day reading and it was wonderful.
And in the middle of all of that ... Doodle and I decided to have a little nap together while Phat Daddy went to pick up our new dishwasher (which he is attempting to install). I rarely get a chance to see Doodle peaceful and quiet, but today he was just that. And, when I woke him up from his nap we just hung out in my bad chatting about life.
It's those moments, these days that will matter a whole lot more than the fact that I didn't actually sort the clothes I had every intention of sorting today. Today I'm accepting that our Sunday dinner is frozen pizza from the grocery store, not a roast. And, instead of trying to get some last minute cleaning done tonight I'm going to have a nice warm bath and just appreciate the fact that I have a family who loves me, a kid who is pretty amazing and house that will survive even if there are toys strewn across the living room floor.
And, with all of that I have an overwhelming feeling of peace.

Monster Baby

Not long after we told Doodle that I'm pregnant he started talking about "Monster Baby".
Monster Baby, a girl, is in his tummy just like my baby is in my tummy. The origin of the monster book comes from a story they read at daycare from the Sesame Street books where there is apparently a monster baby.
We've never corrected him and said boys can't have babies.
He knows it's imaginary, and he likes to talk about it. In time he'll learn it's not possible, and he already knows daddies can't have babies, so he'll sort that out himself.
But, he frequently discusses Monster Baby. He'll ask how my baby is, and then he'll give me the Monster Baby update. Or he'll tell me that Monster Baby cries in his tummy. I find it quite fascinating.
The other day I was having a rough (read:hormonal) day. I was crying, and being argumentative. Everyone was getting on my nerves, and I finally turned a movie on for Doodle explaining that Mommy needed a break. He asked why I was sad and I told him that sometimes having a baby in your tummy makes you sad or upset.
I'm not quite sure how you explain mood swings to a 3-year-old.
I didn't think much more about it until today.
Apparently Monster Baby has been the cause of some unusual behaviour. For instance, when Doodle refused to nap, Monster Baby was keeping him up. Doodle pushed Liam because "Monster Baby doesn't like Liam." And there were a few other things, all, of course blamed on Monster Baby.
It made me realize just how much you have to censor yourself around your child. Realistically I knew that I was having a rough day because I was hormonal. But, I think I need to realize that this child absorbs way more than I consider.
Lately he'll come out with things that he has heard us say or do and I'm reminded yet again that Doodle is a child, a sponge, and I need to be really careful.
But, hey, we have 9 weeks to go, and if I can use the baby as an excuse for eating ice cream, being moody and other assorted problems, I think I can be a little flexible about Monster Baby's effect in Doodle's life.

The Difference Between Monkeys

Today in the van today Phat Daddy told me to ask Doodle to tell me the difference between monkeys.

Me: What's the, difference between monkeys, Peter Pan? (he likes to be called Peter Pan)
Doodle: Smart Monkeys say 'ooh-ooh ah ah.' Dumb Monkeys say 'ooh ooh eee ee."
Me: What makes a monkey um?
Doodle: Dumb Monkeys watch lots of tv. Smart monkeys only watch a little tv.

Seems like our plan to cut back on tv is working.

Sister Date & Shoes

Last night my sister and I had a sister's night.
They seem to be few and far between these days, but we decided that we were going to meet up at Yorkdale for shopping and dinner.
We had an amazing time.
I have to admit that it's been ages since we've gone to Yorkdale together minus children. I'm not sure we even had kids the last time we were there. Needless to say the stores we went into were different from the ones we would have visited a few years ago.
We were thrilled by the sale at the Disney Store (how could I pass up sparkly yellow minnie mouse shoes for baby-to-be) and then went a little crazy with gymbucks at gymboree. We easily walked past stores where we would have spent hours in the past, and then enjoyed the peace and quiet that came from eating a leisurely dinner that did not include chasing after kids or cleaning up spilled juice.
All in all a fun evening.

How adorable are these shoes???
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On the way home in the car my sister was telling me a story about my 5 year old niece (Miss K). For those of you who don't know me too well, my 5 and a half year old niece and I get along very well. People have been known to confuse our names on a regular basis because she reminds people of the 5-year-old me in many ways.
Anyway, she was at the doctor the other day, and was telling the doctor about how she was saving up her money. The doctor asked her what she was saving her money for.
"For shoes" was her answer. "I have lots of shoes and I love shoes."
So, her doctor said "how many pairs of shoes do you have?"
Her response? "Oh ... about 89." (a bit of an exaggeration)
And then she added, "My aunt really loves shoes too. She has bought me a lot of those shoes you know."
She would be right. I love shoes. I love buying shoes for myself, but I also really love buying kids shoes. Doodle isn't that thrilled by shoes, but Miss K definitely shares my passion. The brighter the colour, and the more sparkles the better.
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Sad

Today I left work early to attend a funeral.
A good friend of ours, who happened to be our real estate agent, passed away late last week.
I wrote a long post about what he meant to me, about why it makes me so sad to say goodbye. He was a good man, a man who cared about a great many people.
I introduced Phat Daddy to him last year when we were purchasing our first real home. And, he instantly understood what made this man so special.
Instead of forcing us to make a decision on our home, he told us he would pray for us.
As we jumped many many hurdles to get into the place we now call home (including the sale of our condo falling through the day we were supposed to close), while everyone around us, lawyers included, freaked out and I was just generally hysterical, I called him to ask for advice, and he told me calmly "this is the time you have to learn to trust God. This will work out."
The thing is, of all the many pieces of advice I got, his was really the only one we could take.
He checked in a few times over the past year. The thing is, he never asked for a referral. He just wanted to see how we were fitting into the community. He'd ask about our family (he's known me since I was 4).
A few weeks before Christmas he stopped by to wish us a merry Christmas. He was thrilled to find me home on a weekday, and delighted when I told him I was pregnant.
As he left he gave me a big hug, and said he was so happy to see our family happy and thriving. That was our last conversation. I found out this morning that he'd passed away at the end of last week.
The funeral I attended today was a testament to a man who cared about people more than he cared about business. And, as sad as I was to attend, it was such a wonderful tribute to someone who made a huge difference in so many lives.
I left realizing that at the end of the day what matters more than anything is loving and caring for the people around you. I hope that someday I can make as much of a difference in the lives of people around me as he did.