16 Months Old

Gosh, how time flies.  As much as I love looking back and reading Matthew and Kayla's monthly updates, it's almost annoying to write them.  It seems like I just wrote Nathan's 15 month entry!

Nathan, at 16 months old you weigh 27 lbs 9 oz and are a fun-loving, attitude-filled, independent boy.

I am clearly your favourite, but you always ask where Daddy is when he is not home.



You are a great eater for the most part.  You are super-independent when it comes to eating - you want to do it all by yourself, the whole time.  This is a completely different approach Jon and I are taking (unintentionally) to feeding, as it just started happening that you would feed yourself meals.  I think it came from the lack of desire to have to feed a third child.  You are good about trying to use your fork or spoon, but when you realize that it's quicker to use your hands, you do so.  Last night you were eating boerenkool by the handfuls.  It's a battle between us to let me feed you your last few bites, but a threat to send you to bed quickly resolves the battle with a win for me :).  You're becoming a bit better at drinking your milk at dinner because I ask you to finish your cup so that I can wash it.

You like to lift your shirt up and touch your belly button.

You know where your hair, ears, eyes, mouth, tongue, feet/toes, hands/fingers, and belly button are.

You love helping me unload the dishwasher.  Your job is to take all of the cutlery out and pass them to me.  You love emptying the dishwasher so much that you even try to empty it when it has dirty dishes in it!

You love playing on cell phones.  You love Auntie Candice's because it has a picture of Lacey on it.  You love Jon's and mine because we have "Peekaboo Barn" on it.  When you want to play it, you point to our phones and say, "Boo".  If you wake up before Matthew and Kayla are awake then I lay you in my bed and give you my phone so that I can shower.  It makes your brother and sister jealous that you get cell phone time and not them :).

You are much better at sleeping at night, although it's quite common for you to wake up calling for me around 9:00pm and around 5:00am.  I check to make sure you have your soother and blankie and then you fall right back asleep.

You typically only have your soother for nap time and bedtime.  You are quite attached to it for sleeping so I'm scared to take it away.  Matthew and Kayla had theirs until they were 18 months so I don't feel guilty yet :).

You also still get a night-time bottle, which you love.  You need it.  Not sure when I'll take that away yet, either. :)

You love making sure everything is in its proper place.  You love routines, and you know routines.

Your favourite books to read are Matthew and Kayla's 'Bright Baby: First 100 Words' and 'Bright Baby: First 100 Animals" books that they received as baby gifts from Jon's sister, Michelle.  You love pointing to everything.

You always take your socks AND shoes off in the car.  SO FRUSTRATING when we are running errands and are in-and-out of the car numerous times.  

You love fruit.  Strawberries are probably one of your least favourite, though.

You love being outside.  When Matthew and Kayla were your age they could roam around on the deck whenever they wanted...but if you want to be outside I have to be with you so that I can see you.  At least when the weather warms up I can leave the house door open so that you can come and go as you please.

You love having piggy back rides from Jon.

You dislike laying down in the bathtub, but are starting to tolerate it more.

As soon as you see Matthew and Kayla colouring, you want to start colouring too.  You've learned how to take the caps off of markers...which resulted in you colouring on the kitchen floor the other day.  Luckily, we caught it quickly because they were not washable markers.

On the days that I work, as soon as I step through the front door you come up to me and point to my jacket for me to take it off.  You know that as soon as I take it off I'll pick you up...and you don't like to let me put you down.  This is cute...but when you have a counter full of dinner prep dishes and diaper bags and dirty clothes from the diaper bag and crafts made while I was at work and half-opened mail it gets hard to go through everything to clean it up.  I can't stand a cluttered counter top.  Tidy counter = happy Laura.

You've learned how to walk up and down the two steps between my parents' kitchen and family room, unassisted.

Nathan's Routine:
7:00am  Wake Up
7:45am  Breakfast
10:30am  Snack
12:00pm  Lunch
1:00pm  Nap Time
2:00pm  Wake Up (followed instantly by a sippy cup full of diluted juice, drunk while laying in my arms like he's having a bottle!)
2:30pm  Snack
5:00pm  Dinner Time
6:45pm  Bottle
7:45pm  Bed Time

When I look at you I don't see my baby anymore.  Although, I can't say I ever really did.  You were practically born a toddler :).  I look forward to hearing your speech develop over the next few months.  Being able to talk + attitude = lots of fun ahead!

18 Weeks...and I Fall

Happy 18 weeks Baby Struik...how about a fall down the stairs with Nathan and I?

Yes, that's right.  I fell down the last couple steps into our basement today, while carrying Nathan on my hip.  Luckily it was only a couple steps, and luckily I managed to hold Nathan the whole time and land on my butt...but I'm still really nervous about miscarrying.  Falling during pregnancy is never a good thing.  Poor Nathan screamed, but I think it was probably just because he was scared because I screamed while falling and then yelled for Jon to grab Nathan.  I don't think he was hurt...maybe he hit his head against the wall or the step, we're not sure.  I, on the other hand, didn't fare so well.  The soles of my feet are sore from sliding down the steps with them, my right hand is sore from landing on it, and my left upper arm took the brunt of it all.  I was carrying Nathan on my left hip, as I always do, so it was that arm that slid down the steps with his weight on it.  I think I'll have a bruise that's about 6" long tomorrow.  I quickly googled my chances of having a miscarriage from falling during pregnancy (it seems unlikely...possible, but unlikely) and then ate dinner, during which I was relieved to feel a few faint kicks from Baby Struik while eating, and then locked myself in my bedroom so I could allow my body to rest from the fall.  I'm so grateful that I already had a routine prenatal appointment booked for first thing in the morning, so at least I'll get confirmation that everything is still okay (hopefully).  I couldn't imagine having a miscarriage this far in.

Other than the fall, things are going well.  I thought I felt my first baby kicks on Saturday, February 14 (16 weeks + 4 days), but was unsure.  Now, I can definitely confirm that Baby Struik has been moving :).  It's faint, and not all that frequent, but it's happening.  I cannot wait until I can feel some powerful kicks.

And as a lovely treat, here's a picture of my (starting to look like a pregnant and not fat) belly - I mean, me - taken 10 minutes before my fall:

Maternity Clothes

My sister-in-law, Laura, graciously offered her maternity clothes for me to borrow - to which I obviously said YES!  So, out came the maternity clothes this week!  It's nice having some more modern clothes to wear that actually are meant for a round (or becoming round) belly.  Kayla was more than willing to help me go through the bin from Laura this evening.  She would take out each article of clothing, give me her opinion on it ("Oh, I like this colour Mom!") and then lay it on the ground for me to grab and try on.  She was such a fantastic helper, and so encouraging, "Mom, you look beautiful!" as I sport only my bra and a pair of capris.  "Mom, you could wear this (a dress) to a wedding!  I've never seen you wear a dress before!"  Which is true, I don't wear dresses.  It was a lot of fun.  So thankful that she loves clothes more than me - I'll need someone to help me with my wardrobe, especially because I hit the big 3-0 tomorrow.  Yikes.  I'm getting old.  I often feel like I'm 24 though - that counts for something, right?

Walk at Brae Island Regional Park

I really don't like to sit at home doing nothing, especially when we have dry days.  We were hoping to take the kids to crescent beach this morning since it has been 1.5 years since they were last there (!), but the weather didn't look like it was going to cooperate so Jon and I decided we would do a walk instead.  Jon actually suggested a hike...but I quickly shot that down due to 1) three young kids, all of whom would request to be carried at some point, and 2) my fear of running into a bear (which is justified...because when we did a hike on the Sunshine Coast we DID run into a bear who saw us while we were hiking.  Most scared I've ever been.  We did everything you are NOT supposed to do...including quickly hiding behind a bush, scrambling to find a weapon we could use to defend ourselves (ie. a small rock!) and then running down the trail to our car).  Anyways, I knew that Louise Chapman had done a blog entry at one point on local kid-friendly walks (http://www.talknerdytomeblog.com/2014/06/five-enjoyable-walks-in-surrey-langley.html) so I looked it up and we decided to head to Brae Island.  We camp there every other year with my Mom's side of the family, but we had never done the walk around before.

The kids LOVED it.  Nathan particularly.  He walked a good portion of it, and at great pace, and absolutely loved throwing rocks into the river.  I think he would have gone swimming if I had allowed him to.  We definitely hope to keep visiting, especially as the weather gets warmer.

16 Weeks

What to say, what to say, what to say?  I don't think I've allowed the reality of having four kids quite sink in yet.  My (growing) belly is still hide-able behind my ever-so-loved black (once) puffy vest, and so I often 'forget' that I'm pregnant.  I'm anxiously awaiting being able to feel movements.  With Nathan I felt kicks just after 15 weeks, so I know it could be any day now potentially.  I look forward to it.  It will allow me to become more confident and will allow me to start bonding.

I've gained seven pounds thus far, but I think I'm eating less than I did with Nathan and so I'm hoping my weight gain won't be as much with him either (45+ pounds).  I'm still managing to wear my regular jeans, surprisingly to me because with Nathan I was in maternity jeans at 13 weeks, but I think I don't have too much longer.  I had to throw my jeans out after Nathan was born, so I get to buy myself a new pair to wear this time around.  

I usually get a five-to-ten minute nap in the afternoon on the days when I'm not working, while Nathan is napping and Matthew and Kayla are watching cartoons.  Oh, how I love that nap!

Matthew is quite convinced that I'm having a boy, and Kayla is certain I am having a girl.  They were fighting the other day and so Matthew told Kayla that, "she was going to have another brother."  Kayla lost it.  She was SO angry.  He got her good!  Jon thinks that we need to find out the gender of this baby just so that Matthew and Kayla can be emotionally prepared!  My ultrasound isn't for a few weeks yet so we have a little bit of time to decide whether or not we want to find out the gender.

Other than the above, nothing else is new.  I'm plugging along at work, diligently keeping track of my hours so that I can make sure that I have enough to qualify for a maternity leave!  I should be okay, so long as I can continue to work my 16 hours a week.