38 Weeks

Today is the day in my pregnancy with Matthew and Kayla that I was induced...and they were born the following day.  So glad that that's not the case this time - I'm not quite mentally prepared yet!  I keep trying to tell myself that it could be any day...but it could also be 4 weeks.  Because I'm such a 'planner', I have a hard time dealing with not knowing when it will be.  I don't need to know the day...but to know the week would be nice :).

I'm doing really well still.  My belly has started feeling really heavy, which I definitely notice when I try to roll over in bed at night.  I've stopped sleeping through the night, and it's not uncommon for me to be up at least two or three times each night.  My routine is to get out, go pee, have a drink of water, and then go to sleep right away.  This usually works out fine, unless I hear a weird creak inside or outside of the house which makes my ears super sensitive and myself super paranoid that something bad is going to happen...which leads me to doing Kakuros to distract myself or falling asleep with my bedside light on.  I'm such a wuss.  I remember with my pregnancy with Matthew and Kayla that I stopped sleeping well too, and I figure it's just my body's way of preparing myself for future nights of broken sleeps.

I've got two official days of work left, Friday and Monday afternoon.  I definitely am planning on being there Wednesday as well, and then beyond that, we'll see what happens.  I have an overabundance of banked hours still left, so I obviously underestimated the number I would require to top up my weeks and could have started topping up to 37.5 hour weeks sooner.  Oh well, I'll leave them banked and can use them if/when I return back to work, or get them paid out at that time.  It's definitely nice having the flexibility to only work when I want to!

No new stretch marks this pregnancy (yet)...but I'm sure they're coming!  I'm up to 44lbs gained!  I'm definitely not far off with my weight gain this pregnancy versus last, which is nuts.  I never thought I'd be one of those people to gain so much weight.  It's actually unreal.  I honestly don't even know where all the weight has gone.  The baby won't be huge...and I'm not that big, so where could it be?  My stomach is measuring 42.5" around my belly button...with Matthew and Kayla I was measuring 46" at 38 weeks.

I wore the exact same outfit for this week's picture that I wore with my 38 week picture with Matthew and Kayla (check back tomorrow once Jon has brought the external hard drive home that has all of my past pictures saved on it):

Above:  38 Weeks with Baby Struik

Below:  38 Weeks with Matthew and Kayla

Above:  38 Weeks with Baby Struik

Below:  38 Weeks with Matthew and Kayla

(You can totally tell I'm in complete opposites seasons...look at the difference in my tan!  Talk about being pasty white (and looking extremely tired) in March 2011!)

Watching the cookies in the oven (in their pjs!). 

Watching Barney on my laptop (yes, it's 6.5 years old already, and still going strong!)

They ALWAYS want to sit on the counter to watch what I'm doing.  Couldn't resist a picture of them :)

I had washed the bouncy chairs and left them downstairs in the basement, but they wanted them upstairs on the main floor so they carried them up themselves.  Probably a good idea that they did that so that they can get their fill of playing with them so the novelty will (hopefully) have worn off before Baby Struik comes.  They LOVE laying in them, and closing the straps around their waist.  Kayla likes to say that she's wearing a diaper when she is strapped in.  I'm trying to teach them how to open the buckle themselves so I don't have to always do it.

Yes, they're in their pajamas again.  I swear they wear normal clothes too!  I think it's because the only time I have to take pictures is when we're doing 'nothing' around the house, which is only in the morning and in the evening.

37 (and a half) Weeks

My Mom is home again, so I went back to work on Thursday and Friday this week.  It was weird having to go to work again after two weeks off.  With Matthew and Kayla's pregnancy I would have been done work already on Wednesday.  I'm hoping to get another 1.5 weeks in still.

I had my 37-week appointment yesterday (Thursday).  My blood pressure is still perfect, hemoglobin levels are good, and tested negative for Strep B.  My platelet levels are a little low, so the doctor (not Dr. Ng, but a 'substitute' doctor again) warned me that the hospital will re-draw my blood when I go into labour, particularly if I want an epidural.  Ummm...YES.  :)

Baby Struik's heart rate was 138 (down from 155 at the previous appointment).  I'm measuring 39.5 weeks, and so the doctor has confirmed, once-again, that it will not be a small baby.  Not a large baby, like my sister-in-law (!), but a good eight-pounder.  The sooner I go into labour, the better :).  Baby Struik hasn't dropped, but the doctor says it's likely like s/he won't drop as it often doesn't happen until labour starts for second pregnancies.  Baby Struik has been very cooperative and is still head-down.  I frequently have Braxton Hicks contractions, and so it's neat to see exactly how Baby Struik is laying...with his/her body on my right side with his/her feet on top of my right ribs.  I don't feel any kicking anymore, it's just all rolling and pushing.  Frequently I'll see little mounds poking out of my stomach - it's fun trying to figure out what body part I'm feeling.  A foot?  Knee?  Ankle?

Baby Struik's room is almost all ready: clothes are in the dresser, bedding is on the crib, car seat/swings/bouncy chair covers are all washed and clean.  I just have to put the bedding on the cradle and then I think we're good to go.  I started throwing some things into my hospital bag as well.  I can't believe that it's been 2.5 years since I last went through this.  I feel like I was way more prepared last time.  There's still a few cleaning projects around the house that I would like to have done still...but it's not crucial.

(Yes, we FINALLY got around to hanging things on the walls!)

Nap Time Update

(**There is a 2.5 year post below this one that I posted today**)

Knock on wood...but I think our nap time woes are solved.  I hope this doesn't jinx it though...eek.

Matthew and Kayla now sleep in separate rooms for nap time.  Matthew sleeps in his own bed, and Kayla sleeps on mine (yes, mine.  She will not sleep on Jon's side).  The first day I had to sneakily tell Kayla to sleep on my bed, which she was thrilled about.  Matthew caught on by the next day that she was sleeping on my bed, and cried because he wanted to sleep on my bed (he LOVES sleeping on my bed...I just can't trust him in my room because he would probably spend the entire nap time playing with the on/off switch of our bedside lights).  I had to bribe him the first couple days with promising him a candy after he had a good sleep, and if I had to come into his room to put him back into bed I was going to eat his candy...which I actually did a few times, right in front of him!  He FREAKED out.  I think it worked though, because now he goes to sleep instantly.  Kayla asked today to sleep on her own bed though...I guess the novelty of sleeping on my bed has worn off.  I just told her she was the special one and that Matthew would just fool around and then proceeded to tuck in all of her teddies and I guess she forgot about it.  Anyways, here's hoping this new nap time success continues!

2.5 Years Old!

Matthew:
- Weighs 25lb 13oz and is 2 ft 11.5" tall
- Comfortably wears size 18-24 month / 2T clothes and is moving into size 6 shoes
- Since Kayla has been potty trained, I dropped Matthew back down to a size 3 diaper (I only moved him up to a 4 with Kayla so that I wouldn't have to bother having two different sizes with me...but he's got such a small butt (definitely from Jon!) that he nicely fits into a size 3, which is cheaper than the size 4s)
- Still LOVES the vacuum.
- Is using 3-4 word phrases
     "Nope live there more" = We don't live there any more.
     "Want gum now"
- Often puts the letter 'a' in front of words...particularly if the word begins with an 's'
     "Aseep" = Asleep
     "Asoors" = Upstairs
- 'F's are pronounced like an 's'...which then gets the letter 'a' in front of it because it begins with an 's' now!
     "Asast" = Fast
- Every time the sun begins to set we have the exact same conversation:
    "Sun go way, very dark, go aseep now" = Sun going away, it's very dark, go to sleep now
- Since Matthew has started talking more, he and Kayla actually have conversations with each other.  It's the cutest thing ever.  I love just listening to them.
- Has learned how to blow bubbles in his milk
- Likes to race against Kayla to see who can finish eating first.
- Is the WORST when it comes to nap time (at home).  If he would only lay still in bed for 5 minutes he would fall asleep...but he won't.
- Likes to keep Kayla happy.  For example, if she's crying over a toy Matthew has that she wants, Matthew will often give it up to her willingly, without being told to.
- Will grab my hand and spit his food into it if he doesn't like it.
- Calls all flies, bees.
- Has learned the following about streetlights:
     "Deen means DOOOO!" = Green means GOOOO!
     "Red means ASOP!" = Red means STOP!
     "Osh hand, nope coss rood!" = Orange hand, don't cross road!
- Is still the first to get out of bed in the morning...and then he comes to my room to lay with me (not with Jon)
- Has really started scratching/pinching Kayla in the last couple of weeks when he's angry.
- Always calls Kayla, "Da".  I have no idea where he got that from.
- Over the past month and a half has really gotten the hang of using his balance bike.  He actually sits on the seats and uses his feet to propel himself forward, in a gliding motion.  He has beat Kayla hands-down in mastering this.

Kayla:
- Weighs 27lb 11oz and is 3ft 0.75" tall
- Is quickly growing out of her 2T clothes and into 3T and wears size 7 shoes
- "I'm tired of walking, Mom" - she says this if she's tired from crying, or just plain old tired.  She doesn't even have to be walking when she says it.
- "I want to check the toys out" - as she sees that I'm on facebook.  She knows I love my swap groups and loves to look at all of the toy postings.
- "My cheeks are red" - as she runs circles around our kitchen island.
- Likes to race against Matthew to see who can finish eating first.  During lunch on Sept 10th she was the last one done, to which she dismally said, "I beat no one".
- If Matthew is holding something she wants to hold, she says "I have nothing in my hands" while showing me her empty hands.
- Knows that only she (and not Matthew) is allowed to flush the toilet after she's used it...but occasionally she'll let Matthew close the lid.
- Likes to help Matthew with things he can't do.  For example, she'll be the first to run and find his 'baby' (doll) or the first to try and grab a toy for him.
- Waits for Matthew to wake up in the morning before getting out of bed (although he's usually the first one awake)
- Will sometimes complain about her tummy hurting...which means either a) she's hungry, or b) she has to do poo.  Usually it's the latter.
- Still calls Matthew "Ma" 90% of the time.  The other 10% she calls him "Ma-Yew".
- Often will try to take items from Matthew without asking (what toddler doesn't?), or whines if she wants it.  If I'm present then I make her ask Matthew nicely for it, which she does, and then she always reports his response back to me, "Ma said yes" or "Ma said no".  It's so cute.
- Always chooses a crazy number of hair elastics to put in her hair when I'm doing it (like 20 or so).  I have to pretend to put them all in or she'll get mad.
- Will not hold my hand if I'm holding something else in it...she won't even hold a couple fingers.  She has to hold my entire hand.

Our Routine:
7:30am Wake Up / Breakfast
9:00-10:00am Snack
12:00pm Lunch
1:00pm Nap
2:30pm Woken Up from Nap / Snack at some point
5:30pm Dinner
6:30pm Either we go to our "Big Park" (the park at the nearby elementary school...it requires one-on-one supervision as there are a lot of climbing structures that I'm not comfortable with Matthew and Kayla doing unsupervised...so we only go there when Jon can accompany us) or we go to my parents'.  We usually do one the one evening, and the other the next.
8:00pm Bed Time.  They go to bed without a peep.  No lie.  I NEVER have to get mad at them at night.  They sleep with their door about halfway open, without only a faint nightlight in the hallway on.  I'm usually the one to get them into their pajamas, but then I kiss/hug them goodnight, and Jon takes over from there.  He brushes their teeth, reads them a book, and then has a whole 'bear hug' routine he goes through with them.  They absolutely love it.  I need to videotape it one time.  If they are not listening during the story he just threatens to not give them a bear hug and they smarten right up.  We transitioned into Jon taking over bed time when we moved into this house, just so that they wouldn't be too dependent on me putting them to bed when Baby Struik arrives.  It also gives me a little extra time to clean up toys etc, without cutting into my 'me' time (because Jon doesn't do toy clean up).

36 Weeks

...and I feel fabulous, SO much better than at 34 weeks!  I 100% believe it's because I haven't been working at all, and so I'm not getting up at 5:30am and not coming home with swollen ankles and a sore tummy.  It's amazing.  If you had ask me how I was doing at 34 weeks I would have said, "I'm done."  Now, I would say "I could be pregnant forever."  Such a nice change.

I had my 36 week doctor's appointment at 8:30 this morning.  It was a bit of a mad-dash this morning, but we made it there on time.  We were let into the exam room right away, and Matthew and Kayla each took a seat with their package of rockets waiting.  They knew that they had to wait until the doctor came in the room before they could eat them.  They did SO GOOD...considering the doctor didn't come until 20 minutes later.  And it wasn't even my doctor, it was a 'substitute'.  Lame.  Anyways, she was impressed with my pregnancy/delivery with Matthew and Kayla.  By feeling my stomach, she's forecasted that Baby Struik will be born at over 8lbs, which is kind of what I was expecting.  I was hoping Baby Struik would be small enough so that s/he could wear Matthew/Kayla's take home outfit...but I guess I'll have to go shopping.  Blood pressure is still good, and Baby Struik is still head down which is even better.

To make our morning even more interesting, I was told I had to get blood work this morning to get my hemoglobin re-tested, so Matthew and Kayla came in tow for that.  And they did great again :).  On our way out of BC Biomedical (the one beside Surrey Memorial Hospital), Kayla noticed a construction worker on top of a large (10 storey?) building they are constructing and asked "How he get up there?"  It was cute.

After BC Biomedical we went to Extra foods to get a few groceries, and then we had to bring my Dad to the airport (Abbotsford), and then drove out to Ladner to spend the afternoon in the Bandstra pool.  That was two hours of straight driving for me.  Worth it though!  We came home and cleaned up the mess of toys so that Jon could vacuum (much to Matthew's delight).  At 7pm Kayla's two-day cold took a definite turn for the worse, and her voice started getting very sick sounding and her mood took a downward spiral quite quickly.  She's spent the last two nights sleeping on our bedroom floor because she hasn't been sleeping well in her bed (I believe due to her cold), but I'm hoping she'll fall in a super deep sleep tonight to last on her own.  (She sleeps on the floor because I don't sleep well anymore with them in our bed (they're too big, and I'm too big).  She actually did well!  Although she woke up totally off her blanket and in the corner of the room this morning!).

Probably one of the best free things I've picked up yet.  Jon picked it up after work, so Matthew and Kayla had no idea until the next day.  Kayla came running into the house saying, "Look, Mom!", when she saw it in the garage.  They actually are very good about taking turns.  Sometimes, they'll even each hold a handle and walk around with it.

You know you grew up with four sisters when you don't think twice about putting nail polish on your daughter...

Lunch was waffles today.  In the middle of the kitchen because there were too many crumbs under their chairs (which is why we vacuumed this evening).  Kayla was really cute in holding her baby so that she could also feed baby at the same time (hence the bib on the baby and the doll plate).

And then she wanted to feed Matthew, which is usually okay with him.

He didn't want to be fed...so she proceeded to put her hand on his head to prevent him from looking away.  I guess she's picked that up from me?  Hmmm.

36 Weeks.  I wore the exact same tank-top yesterday (washed it overnight) because it's the only thing that's comfortable/decent (ie. stomach-covering) to wear in public.  I better not go overdue, or I may never leave the house (or always be caught wearing the same thing!).  Weight gain to date:  40lbs.  Yikes

StrongStart - Attempt #2

With my Mom being in Ontario for two weeks I've realized I need to be more intentional with making plans for what activities Matthew, Kayla and I are going to do during the day otherwise they get bored of just playing at home.  No more playing each day 'by ear'!

Today, we went to StrongStart again.  Last September I took Matthew and Kayla once, but quickly realized that it would be too difficult for me to attend with two 1.5 year olds as they strongly encourage cleaning up after yourself before moving on to the next activity.  When you have a room full of toys/activity stations, that's really hard for two 1.5 year olds to do - and hard for me to do when they both are at different stations!  So we only went once last year.

Today, we went to the StrongStart program at Langley Meadows as it's now the closest program to our house...a 4 minute drive away.  There's definitely something nice about living in Clayton Heights - you're close to Langley!  The program runs from 9am-12pm, so we arrived nicely at around 8:50am because I know there is a maximum number of participants that they can accept each day and so you don't want to be late.  We were nicely on time and were allowed in.

Matthew and Kayla did great!  They stuck together at the same stations, cleaned up after themselves, and nicely shared with the other kids.  At 10:15am they had to clean-up all the toys and wash their hands, and then a snack was served (provided by the program).  Matthew and Kayla were great at sitting at their table, patiently waiting.  After snack time was circle time, where we sang some songs and read one story.  After that, it was free time outside.  We stayed until 11:30 and then packed up and headed home, much like the other parents there.  I definitely foresee us attending on a weekly basis.  Something different, and something FREE!  I would love to have Matthew and Kayla involved in more community activities...they just all add up with having to enroll two at the same time always.  The more free opportunities we can take advantage of, the better!  

Potty Training - Matthew - Day 1

Day 1 of potty training for Matthew turned into being only a half day.  I wouldn't necessarily say it was as failure...it just wasn't a success.

My plan was to get him to sit on the potty as soon as he woke up, but he didn't want to and I didn't feel like forcing it because I didn't want to start the day with him being forced to sit on the potty.  I changed him into 'big boy underwear' just before breakfast, and he managed to keep them dry all throughout breakfast.  After breakfast Matthew and Kayla had a bath...which I'm sure Matthew must have peed in.  After bath-time he went back into his big boy underwear.  I tried to get as much liquid in him as he would allow, and then I had him sitting on the potty every 10-15 minutes.  He didn't like to sit on it when I told him to, so I started setting the timer on the microwave and he knew that when it beeped he had to try to do pee, which he willingly tried, for the first bit.  After about 10 times he was no longer fascinated with the idea of sitting on the potty "just like Kayla does" and must have felt quite defeated over his inability to produce pee.  Around 10am, he was standing in the living room at the table and all of a sudden I look over and he has his underwear and pants halfway down, and he's mentioning in a confused tone that they are wet.  He had no idea why they were wet.  Oh man, that was my clue that he definitely has no idea what is going on.  After that, I kept him in his underwear until after lunch, at which point he got changed into a diaper again in anticipation of nap time.  And then he stayed in a diaper for the rest of the day, and we haven't tried potty training again.

So, what's my plan of attack right now?  Well, I'm home from work for the next week and a half so I hope to (maybe) keep trying to get a pee in the potty in the mornings, but then switch to diapers when either he or I are losing enthusiasm, whichever comes first.  I'm not going to force him to be ready for this because I don't want him to feel stressed over it, and I definitely don't feel like being stressed over it either.  He'll learn when he's ready...I was just hoping for this sake that he would follow shortly behind Kayla...and for my sake that I would only have one kid in diapers going forward.  Oh well, at least it's cloth diapers he uses and so it's not costing me a ton!  Just a little in water and electricity...which I have to pay for now that we're in a house and not renting :(.  Keep the bills a coming!  Kidding.  They can actually stop whenever...I'm actually a little sick of setting bill payments in my bank account.  I can't even enjoy making deposits because both of our employers do direct deposits!  There's something to be said for a paper cheque...