Countdown to the newest addition

I don't have a scanner, so I can't share the ultrasound photos with all of you, but I can share a photo of me. This photo was taken this week (at 29 weeks along). I feel like I'm a lot bigger than I was the first time around, but I've gained less weight so I'm not going to complain. The 'bigger feeling' probably has a lot to do with the fact that all these stomach muscles are pre-stressed and know that they can just relax again for nine months!

Things are going well around here. I'm still feeling well and am active. (I have to be if I'm chasing an almost two year old around the house all the time!) But I am starting to feel like I'm slowing down a bit -- I walk slower than I used to, I have that telltale waddle going, and I tire out a lot easier. But it all comes with the territory, I guess. It's funny how, although it's only been two years since the last pregnancy, you really do forget all the 'unpleasant' factors of it. More than once, I've caught myself saying, "I don't remember this happening (or this happening so soon) when I was pregnant with Austin".

Austin has truly turned into a toddler lately and is definitely no longer a baby. He's very active and very strong-willed. He knows what he wants and gets upset if we don't understand what it is he's trying to tell us. Sometimes it really is a guessing game -- but most of the time, he's pretty clear on expressing himself, even without a huge vocabulary.

But on the subject of vocabulary, he does have quite a lot of words now -- and he can string some basic ones together. For example, he's very clear at saying things like hi mama or bye bye dada.

His ability to comprehend language far outweighs his ability to speak it. He may not be able to say things like 'bath', but if you ask him if he wants to take a bath, he'll run straight for the bathroom and start to put his toys in the tub.

We're still trying to teach him about the arrival of the new baby, but so far, he either doesn't get it or doesn't care to get it. But we keep reading him books about being a big brother, and talking to him about the baby. Somehow though, I think he'll still be surprised when we bring the baby home.

In the meantime, we're working on getting the second bedroom ready at home. It used to be our office so it took some work to sort through everything, clean it out and move the necessary items to the basement. Austin is going to be moving into the 'big boy room' and a 'big boy bed' so that the baby can move into the nursery. We bought the bedding and everything already, we just have to paint. I'll keep you updated on how it goes.

Read more...

First haircut

After months of saying that Austin needed a haircut, we decided this weekend that he REALLY needed a haircut. Because honestly, we could only get away with having him look like a hippie for so long. And, on a more practical note, even he was brushing his hair out of his eyes from time to time!

So, here's the before picture.

And the 'during' picture. He was actually very good the entire time. He never once complained, but he was pretty confused and intrigued about what exactly this woman was doing to him. He was being so good and quiet, that at the end, the hairdresser even managed to get the clippers out and shave the back nice and straight. All he did was laugh because the clippers tickled.And here's the after picture. Look at this, he actually has eyes!

Read more...

Merry Christmas and other December events

Christmas has come and gone and although Ryan and I both had a week and a half off work, it was still a very busy time.

On Christmas morning, Austin still wasn't quite old enough to understand what was going on -- and at first he was more interested in playing with the toys in his toy box than he was in opening the presents under the tree. But after a little coaxing, he started to tear at the paper.

But, it took three hours to open all six gifts under the tree, because after each opening, he had to play with the new toy for awhile. It's a good thing we didn't have to be anywhere until Christmas dinner.We spent Christmas dinner with my family in Brampton (the first time in 17 years my family has not been in Montreal for Christmas) and once again, spent a fair bit of time watching Austin open presents. He liked ripping at the paper, but after a couple of gifts, he would tire of the game and be more interested in playing with the toys than opening the rest of the gifts.

Everyone keeps telling me though, that next year, he'll really understand Santa and will want to open all the gifts at once!

On Boxing Day, we drove to London where we spent a day and a half with Ryan's dad and then a day and a half with Ryan's mom. Of course, once again, there were more presents to open and more toys to play with.

While visiting Ryan's dad, Ryan and Grandpa took Austin to the stables to visit aunt Jamie's horse. Austin had a great time checking out the horse, following the horse and sitting on the horse. And at Nana's the next day, Austin LOVED chasing the dogs -- especially Abby -- who actually loved being 'caught'. Austin would run around the room shouting Abba, Abba until he caught her and pulled her onto his lap.
Other December happenings

Hannukah

As my mother is Jewish and my father is Protestant, when I was growing up, the tradition in my house was always to celebrate both holidays. So every year, we would put up the Christmas tree and light the menora for Hannukah. In fact, the first Christmas that I had my own apartment, my parents gave me my own menora as a Christmas present.

This year, we decided to teach Austin about lighting the menora and every night he helped light the candles. By the seventh and eighth night, he would get home at the end of the day and go right to where the menora was sitting, asking to light the candles.The first big snowfall
On a Sunday, about a week or so before Christmas, Toronto was graced with about 30 centimetres of snow in a 24-hour period. (And for you non-Torontonians, this is a lot of snow. Last year, I don't think we saw snow until almost February and even then there wasn't much of it.) That much snow, meant shovelling out the driveway -- and we figured we might as well put Austin to work in teaching him how to shovel.

He actually seemed to have a lot of fun trying to copy mommy and daddy, although any snow he did manage to get on his little shovel never made it onto the snowbank.

New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve was spent at our friends' Rob and Vone's house for a family-friendly party. In all, I think we were about a dozen adults and five kids. We managed to get this family shot snapped before Austin started to tire out.
I guess I'm all caught up on events for now. Happy New Year to all!

Read more...