The Morning Dew

Playing on the Deck
Originally uploaded by JenJeff

It has been awhile since I've posted (Jeff). I just thought that I'd share this story.

We were at a friend's cabin a few weeks back and Amanda had left her colouring stuff outside on the grass the previous night. The next morning, we asked her to go out and get it and told her that it might be a little wet. She asked the usual "why?". We tried to explain that it was because of the dew. She asked "what is dew?". We explained that in the fall when it gets colder at night that water sometimes forms on things because of the temperature.

Our 4 year old replied. "Oh, you mean condensation"

Meet the Monkey!

I had the most frustrating ultrasound experience ever this week! Our ultrasound was supposed to be on Monday morning, so I dutifully got up 2 hours ahead of the appointment time and drank a full litre of water. You know you're in trouble when you haven't even finished drinking the water yet and you already have to go to the bathroom! By the time I left for the appointment I was totally miserable. Then I got there and found out that the computers were all down, so I couldn't have my ultrasound after all! Jeff and I had both taken 2 hours off work and we had pulled Amanda out of daycare for the morning, not to mention the water torture, all for nothing!

They were able to reschedule us for Thursday after work (this after I insisted we would not be coming in during the day and missing more work!). The unfortunate thing was that they didn't actually book us an appointment - they told us just to show up and they would "fit us in". I also pinned them down on how much water I had to really drink because I knew I would never make the commute home as uncomfortable as I had been on Monday!

Luckily they did get us in quite quickly (I had visions of us waiting for an hour), but they whipped us through pretty quickly. I seem to remember Amanda's ultrasound taking 30–40 minutes, but I think we were all done in about 10 minutes this time! The baby was sleeping away and barely moved for the entire time. I was a bit worried until I saw that heart beating away! The heart rate was around 150 bpm (quite a bit faster than at our OB appointment 1.5 months ago) and baby seems to be measuring right on target. The technician showed us a few different views, but did go through them very quickly. The bonus was that he switched quickly to the 3D ultrasound view and the difference was amazing! We could really see baby's face (he stuck to the face since we didn't want to know the gender). Amanda got to come in and see too, and she was very excited. She did seem to understand what she was looking at and really liked it when the baby moved! We only got two photos but they turned out pretty good. So all in all, a fairly good experience, although it would have been nice to have a bit more time in there!

So, without further ado, meet the monkey:

Pretty cute, right? We make cute kids. :)

Long-Overdue Update

WOW, it's been a really long time since we've updated our blog! I guess life has really been catching up with us. Between working long hours, chasing around after a 3.5 year old, and attempting (hah!) to keep up with the house, it's been tough to update as well.

Oh, and there's this...

(Yes, that's a very faintly positive pregnancy test...that's what you get on day 14!!). So yes, we're having a baby! All 3 of us are very excited, although I admit this pregnancy has been much less fun than the first one. Between the instantly-pooching belly (seriously, at like 4.5 weeks); the strong aversion to pretty much every smell I encounter on my daily walk to work downtown (exhaust, anything resembling a food...); the terrifying bleeding that started at 6 weeks and continued throughout my 1st trimester and into my 2nd; the unbelievable irritability (sorry family!); and fatigue so extreme that I've more than once fallen asleep with my head on the dining room table while Jeff and Amanda talk around me, I've seen better days. It's disappointing, because I so enjoyed my first pregnancy, and really I don't have that much to complain about - no serious nausea and so far I'm still down about 5 lbs from my starting weight (despite feeling and probably looking like I'm about 6 months pregnant!). I keep telling myself I'll feel better "when"...but when hasn't quite arrived yet. I thought by now (17.5 weeks) I'd be hitting that lovely 2nd trimester energy spurt, but it hasn't happened yet. I will definitely feel reassured when I feel the baby moving more consistently, but this one doesn't behave very well and I'm getting only faint and intermittent sensations that could possibly be the baby. On the upside: I've had 2 ultrasounds, both of which looked good, and am really looking forward to the 20 week one (on March 17th), to which we're hoping to bring Amanda. So really, everything is good! Baby is due on August 6th, but will probably arrive sometime towards the end of July.

So what else is new with us?

• Amanda's music lessons continue to go great. She had her first recital last weekend and we were so proud of her! She didn't get nervous, even a little bit - she was just so excited to get up in front of everyone and perform. She also played a pretty hard song (Mary Had a Little Lamb) for someone who only started a few months ago and is one of only two 3-year olds in the class, and did really well, although she got a bit lost in the middle; she totally recovered by the end and felt great about her performance, which was the most important thing! We celebrated with dinner out with her grandparents, then ice cream cake back at our place. A few photos are posted on a Flickr set; here's Amanda performing the "Sunshine Song" with her class:
  
  We have a videotape of her performance but haven't pulled it off the video camera yet...will update here once we've got it done (maybe this evening).
  
• Christmas! Well, we had a great Christmas although it felt pretty low-key this year. We announced our big news to both Amanda and our families on Christmas eve, after having a very reassuring first ultrasound early that morning, so that was fun. Didn't take as many pictures as we usually do, but there's a set on Flickr, and here is my favourite picture from this Christmas - Amanda and my Dad on Christmas eve (Amanda is wearing her Christmas nightie, handmade by Grandma):
  
  
• Jeff had a particularly exciting start to his year, with two surgeries - one pretty minor to remove a thingie from his lower leg, and a second more serious to remove his gall bladder. It's quite a relief to have it all over with and for both of us (especially him!) not to have to worry about the possibility of another gall bladder attack. He is recovering well although I think it was harder than he expected.
  

Hmm, sadly that's about all that's been going on with us. We will try to update more frequently with info about the new little monkey and everything else that's going on in our lives!

Snow!

As predicted, a snowstorm hit Vancouver last night and we woke up to a couple of centimetres of snow on the ground. Of course Amanda was extremely excited...on the monitor the first thing I heard out of her was "Huh? What's going on?" and then thump thump thump thump down the hall, followed by her jumping into bed with us and saying "Did you see the snow?!". Um, yes, pretty excited.

After breakfast we got bundled up and headed out for a walk in the neighbourhood. It was really quite beautiful (I may not still be saying that tomorrow morning when I will have to drive in the stuff). It was slow going as Amanda stopped every 3 steps to pick up snow and bunch it up in her mittens. Then she figured out she could throw "snowballs" (really just handfuls of snow) at her Dad...I managed to stay safe since I was carrying the camera and that couldn't possibly get wet!! She was having a great time "sneaking up" on Daddy...i.e., telling him to come back (yeah, that's really stealthy Amanda), then stomping up behind him in her boots, giggling, before throwing a handful of snow at his rear end. Quite funny to watch...especially for me, since I wasn't on the receiving end! :)

Whole Flickr set here; a few pics:




By the way, we are once again doing the 24 days of Christmas in our household. I managed to actually get organized in time and we started today! Amanda was quite excited to see the trusty mailbox out this morning. Will post pics soon.

Santa Claus Parade

Last weekend we headed downtown to once again brave the crowds at the Santa Claus Parade. (Here is last year's post about the parade.)

The biggest difference between this year and last was that it was FREEZING!! Jeff really felt he needed to be at church (why oh why does the parade always have to be on Christ the King Sunday?!?) so Amanda and I headed out a bit early and took the skytrain downtown. It was quite the adventure since Amanda hadn't been on skytrain before (well, maybe once long ago, but she definitely didn't remember). We got there a bit later than I'd hoped, but still more than 90 minutes before the scheduled start time...and of course, it takes quite a while for the parade to make its way to Burrard & Georgia, where we were camped out. We found some pretty decent spots right down on the curb and settled in to wait. Wow, did I mention how cold it was?!? Jeff joined us as soon as he got away from church.

The most frustrating thing was that at the last minute a bunch of people showed up and plunked themselves down right on the road. They weren't directly in front of us, but they were to the right of us, which was the direction from which the parade was coming. We figured they would get booted, because last year the police came by at the last minute and made everyone get off the road. But this year that didn't happen, so huge groups of people were blocking our view. It was really irritating, but it's tough to figure out whether it's worth kicking up a stink and ruining everyone's good time. However, it kills me that those kids are learning it's OK to do stuff like this. Their parents should be ashamed!

Anyway, the parade was good, but not as good as I remember it being last year. Maybe we were all just so frozen that we couldn't enjoy it as much (or maybe it was the rude people colouring the experience for us). We did have a good time though and will probably go again next year.

A few photos (whole set here):