Violet Eve - 6 months

Okay, seriously, how is it possible that my baby is 6 months old??!? I honestly still think she's a newborn most of the time...it's going WAY too fast.

We had a pretty good month. We finally got her naps figured out, and she's been doing great with 3 naps each day, but I'm kinda thinking she's getting close to dropping her late afternoon catnap. Hopefully once that happens, she'll lengthen her afternoon nap a bit more.

Night time sleep is up and down. Some nights it's great - she sleeps straight through with just a quick wake up around 5-6am. This week was off for some reason...I'm thinking we'll be seeing the first tooth pop its little head up any day now...at least I hope so, otherwise I have no explanation for why my normally good sleeper has been having such bad nights. C'est la vie, I guess.

Nursing is still going well, but she's starting to get distracted more easily while eating, especially if Tessa's around and making noise. I'm not sure what she weighs right now, we have her six month doctor's appointment next week, so we'll find out then, but I'm thinking she's getting close to 20 lbs. The six month mark really snuck up on me, and I guess it's time to start thinking about solids too. She hasn't really shown any interest as far as grabbing for food or watching us eat, so I'm not in any hurry. I've been reading up on baby led weaning, and would like to give it a try with Violet.

She's starting to get a lot more mobile. When she's on her tummy she turns herself in circles, and she's started rolling from tummy to back, but not the other way yet. We pulled out the exersaucer a few weeks ago and she loves being in there - I think she enjoys the new perspective she gets from being up higher and off the floor. She really seems to want to sit up and even stand. When you hold her up, she locks her legs and is quite strong. Maybe we'll have an early walker this time.

Her little personality is so sweet. She's quick to smile at anyone and everyone, and she loves attention. Sometimes if you look away she'll squeal until you look back at her, then she lights up. She's a little chatterbox once you get her going, and her giggles are the best. She's pretty easygoing most of the day, until late afternoon - usually right when I'm trying to make supper, when she seems to need more attention or activity to keep her from getting a little cranky. But as always, as soon as she sees the bathtub come out, she settles right down and is content again.

 

Everybody comments on Violet's big blue eyes, her long eyelashes, her red hair, and, of course, her huge smiles. She's a beautiful girl in every way and she brings so much sunshine into our home.

Violet Eve -- 4-5 months

Well, so much for monthly posts...haha. Hopefully I'll have my act together enough to manage a monthly update starting at 6 months, but whatever, we'll all survive if that doesn't happen. It has never been more clear to me than it is now that I just cannot do it all, if I want to keep my sanity, that is, so I've kind of stopped trying in some areas, blogging included.

The last month and a bit have been rocky for everyone. Violet got her first cold, hit a growth spurt and a wonder week all at the same time, and I'm pretty sure she also hit the dreaded 4-month sleep regression. Not fun. I'm hoping we're through the worst of it and we can have some smoother sailing for a bit.

Routine: She's been on a 3 hour feed/wake/sleep routine since the beginning. She definitely hit a growth spurt right around 3.5 months, and was nursing every 2.5 hours for a few days. We're working now on moving her more towards a 3.5-4 hour cycle, which she's adjusting well to.

Sleeping: Just before she hit 4 months, she was sleeping 11-12 hour nights, from 7:30/8pm to 7/7:30am with a dreamfeed between 10-10:30. Then just after she reached 4 months of age, she started waking during the night again. Sometimes not until 5am, but other nights it would be 2am or 4am. I was pretty sure she was waking out of hunger, since her wake up times were all over the place, so our approach was to first try getting her back to sleep if we could, and if it wasn't happening, or if she'd go back to sleep for just an hour or so, I'd just chalk it up to the growth spurt, feed her, and put her back to bed. Now that we're closer to 5 months, we're back to 8-10 hour stretches, which I'm happy with.

Naps, however, have been a much bigger source of stress for me and have taken so much effort and work, for what feels like very little payoff. We've been struggling with short naps for the last 6 weeks or so. She sleeps about 30-45 minutes, then wakes up and it often takes a good 20-30 minutes or more to get her back to sleep, only to have her wake up again after another 20-30 minutes of sleep. We've worked on adjusting her wake time to make sure she's not too over or under tired, making sure she's not too overstimulated during wake time, and on and on. I've been driving myself crazy trying to fix it, but I think we may just have to accept that we have a short napper on our hands, take the longer naps whenever we can get them, and enjoy the extra awake time we get with her. She's almost always a happy girl when she's awake, so I have to believe that she is getting enough sleep. I'm constantly having to remind myself that maybe I need to adjust my own expectations and remember that babies don't always fit into the nice little boxes that we try to create for them. I'm doing the best I can to encourage good sleep (and I can only do so much with a toddler in the house who also needs my attention), but I can't force it, so it is what it is.

Eating: Still eating well and growing like a weed. She was nearly 15 lbs and over 24 inches at her 4-month appointment, about 75th percentile for both height and weight. She seemed to take so long to get out of her newborn clothes, but flew through the 0-3 month clothes and is now in her 3-6 month things. We also finally got her into her cloth diapers around 3 months - her legs were just too skinny before that to get a good, leak-free fit. She fills them out nicely now.

Doing: Lots of cooing and babbling, and we've been able to get a few little giggles out of her. Tessa was never a giggly baby and we were hoping Violet would be different, but so far, she's almost as difficult to get a giggle out of as her big sister was. She definitely makes up for it in huge smiles though. She's much more interested in toys now, and she's trying so hard to roll over but hasn't quite managed it yet. She tries to self soothe by sucking on her hands, but that often backfires on her when she makes herself gag on her own fingers. She recently figured out how to blow spit bubbles, so she entertains herself by blubbering away and laughing at herself. Her favorite time of day is still bath time and she splashes around and makes a big mess.

Me: I've been really struggling this last little while. I mentioned in my last post that we decided to use Babywise this time, with the hopes of getting better sleep earlier than we did with Tessa. On the one hand, I'm glad we chose this method, because we have seen some very positive results - Violet sleeps about a million times better at night than her big sister did, so I'm grateful for that. I think Babywise offers some really great guidelines on routine, structure, and teaching healthy sleep habits to babies. On the other hand, we are not seeing the 'perfect' 12 hour nights that Babywise promises and we are having big struggles at naptimes. This would probably be ok ordinarily, except that now I've got it in my head that because things aren't going exactly as the book promises they will, that somehow I'm failing. Of course I know that each child is different and that this method doesn't even work for some babies and families and for some it just takes longer and so on. I guess maybe the problem is ME - that maybe I've set an impossibly high expectation for myself and my child and don't realize when I'm pushing too hard until I get almost to a breaking point. Yes, sleep is valuable, but it's NOT more valuable than my sanity, my relationships with my children and husband, and my ability to enjoy motherhood - which, I'm sad to say, I haven't been doing lately. So, I guess what I'm saying is that we're going to take the good we gained from Babywise - a good routine, decent sleep, and most importantly, a healthy, thriving baby, and leave the rest behind. 

And one last photo of our two precious blessings...I can't even handle all this cuteness!!!

Violet Eve -- 0-3 months

Now that we've made it through the fourth trimester with Violet, I'm finally feeling like things are settling down a bit and our routine is somewhat predictable (on good days). I'm hoping this will give me a chance to take up a bit of blogging again, but I'm guessing I'll be lucky if just get a post a month done. Life is flying by so quickly and I feel like I have so many things I could write about, but there just simply isn't time in the day to sit down and write. So, I'm hoping I can at least get some monthly updates in and maybe one or two additional posts throughout the month, depending on how things are going.

I never did monthly updates for Tessa, but now I wish I had, so I want to make sure I do them for Violet. I find that I'm constantly trying to remember at what age Tessa did certain things, and where Violet's at in comparison, but other than the things I wrote down in her baby calendar or in blog posts, I just can't remember! So sad. You think you're going to remember all those little things, but unless you write it down, you probably won't. Lesson learned!

Anyway, our first three months with Violet started out easy-peasy, then got hard, and are now somewhat leveling out again. She spent the majority of her first 6-8 weeks literally just sleeping and eating, and was really content and easygoing...she'd sleep anywhere, anytime, only cried when she needed to eat, and was pretty much locked into a 3 hour feeding routine from the day we brought her home from the hospital. But then she started waking up and being more alert, and it's been hard trying to find the balance between her needs and Tessa's and finding a new groove with two, along with getting done all that needs to get done around the house. We're slowly getting there, but it hasn't been easy, and I think it's safe to say that having two kids under two is probably one of the harder things I've ever done. But it's not supposed to be easy all the time, now is it? I'm not complaining, nor do I regret having them so close together, I'm just saying that it's been hard at times. I suspect that adding another child to the family at any time is hard, no matter what the age gap is, since it's a major life change and a huge adjustment for everyone, and that's hard no matter what.

Routine: Like I said, Violet's been great with settling into a routine. She eats every 3 hours, pretty much like clockwork, which makes getting out and doing errands pretty easy. I always know I have exactly 2.5 hours to get out and back home before her next feed, and so far she's had no trouble napping on the go. I suspect that will change as she gets older, but for now, I'm taking full advantage of it when I need to. I try really hard to have both girls sleeping at the same time in the afternoons, and on good days, that happens for about 1-1 1/2 hours right after lunch. I call this my "magic hour". I really need this time to either get something done or to just sit down in the quiet and rest, so on days when it doesn't happen, I really notice and feel like I'm playing catch up the rest of the day. Tessa still naps about 2-3 hours each afternoon (12:30-2:30/3pm), so with the way Violet's naps are right now (12pm & 3pm), it also allows me to have a bit of one on one time with each girl every day, which is important to me too.

Sleeping: We've been doing things a bit differently in this area than we did with Tessa. We've been trying to follow the Babywise principles, so we worked hard to establish her on a feed-wake-sleep routine, have been trying to encourage her to fall asleep on her own, and are working towards lengthening naps and nighttime sleep. She's responded really well for the most part, and by the time she reached 3 months, she was consistently sleeping from 8-10 hours at night. Naps haven't been going quite as smoothly, but we're seeing progress and are hopeful that we'll soon get to where we want to be.

Eating: Violet took to breastfeeding like a pro, which I am so, so thankful for. Tessa and I had a difficult start to breastfeeding, so I was afraid that it would be the same for Violet, and especially with her being a preemie and having started out on bottles. She didn't even get to breastfeed for the first time until she was 3 days old, and started out with only a few minutes at a time, so I definitely worried how the transition to exclusive breastfeeding would be, and if it would happen at all. It was really hard having to pump every 3 hours around the clock for the first several weeks of her life, but thankfully that's in the past, and I'm so happy to say that Violet has had no trouble at all with breastfeeding. We are so fortunate to have a wonderful clinic in our city with two doctors who specialize in breastfeeding, and I was able to get in to see them right away once we brought Violet home. We discovered that Violet has an upper lip tie, but fortunately it hasn't interfered at all with nursing, so we chose to leave it alone. We only needed 3 or 4 appointments there before they discharged us with Violet nursing like a pro and gaining weight beautifully. She continues to nurse well, every three hours during the day, and is growing like a weed. She was in the 6th percentile for weight at birth, and at her 3 month appointment was over the 60^th and has gone from a scrawny, skinny little peanut, to a chunky monkey with lots of squishy rolls.

Doing: Like most newborns, she didn't do much of anything her first couple months, so there's really not a whole lot to say. She still sleeps a good part of the day (when she naps well), but when she's awake she likes being around people. She likes watching Tessa play and loves when her dad and I make faces and noises. She has the biggest, sweetest smiles and is such a happy baby. She absolutely loves her baths, and can go from crying and fussing to completely content and all smiles when we put her in the tub. She's not really attached to any toys yet, in fact, she kinda doesn't even care about them at this point, but she'll bat at things on her play mat and can hold on to something when you put it in her hand. She prefers her fingers to anything else, and they are almost constantly in her mouth. I love the way her face lights up when she sees me or her daddy and she always seems to have a little twinkle in her eye. I have a feeling she will be a little mischief maker when she gets older...maybe even more than big sister is!

Tessa at Two

Two years ago today, we welcomed you, Tessa, into our family. I can hardly believe we're already celebrating your second birthday.
  

You bring us so much joy and we can't imagine life and our family without you in it. You are funny, silly, weird, smart, and so sweet. I'm excited to watch you continue to grow and learn even more this year.

This year has been a big one for you. You learned to walk, went to daycare while mommy went back to work, moved to a new house, flew on a plane, and, biggest of all, became a big sister. You continue to amaze us with how easygoing you are and how quickly and smoothly you adapt to changes. You're cautious at first, especially around people and things that are unfamiliar, but once you warm up and are comfortable, you are the sweetest, funniest, and silliest little girl, and everyone around can't help but watch you and smile. You make so many people happy.

  Your dad and I are constantly amazed at how smart you are. You have a HUGE vocabulary and you speak in full sentences. You are very good at communicating what you want, and you usually remember your manners..."meese" and "tanks" or "tank you". You love reading stories and have many of your books memorized. You're getting pretty good at colors and shapes, and you know a few of your numbers. You love to color and play with playdough and it's so much fun watching your imagination come out. You are curious, creative, and clever and I hope I can always encourage those traits in you.

Photo credit Kathy Knelsen

You are such a sweet and loving little girl. You love your baby sister and always make sure to give her a kiss, a "nosey", and a hug before bed. You tell her "shhh" and "ok, Bylet" when she's crying. You rock her carseat when we're getting ready to go out the door and she's not happy being strapped in. I love the way you pay attention to her feelings and look out for her. I can't wait to see how your relationship grows in the coming years. And, of course, I absolutely love hearing "wub you, mommy".

Tessa, I love being your mommy. You are a gift and a blessing to us every day. You have taught me so much in two short years...about life and about myself. I hope and pray that I can always be the mama you need and deserve. I can't wait to see even more of who you become this year.

I love you forever...
Mommy

Welcome, Violet!

Well, I most certainly did not think that my 32 week pregnancy update post would turn out to be my LAST pregnancy update post, but that's exactly what happened. Our second daughter, Violet Eve, just couldn't wait any longer and decided to make her surprise appearance about 4 1/2 weeks ahead of schedule. I never thought I'd have a preemie - Tessa was 5 days overdue and so I just expected to go over with Violet too, and was actually completely fine with going over, since we had lots of things we had hoped to have done before her arrival. But God had a different plan, and I've learned that no matter what it seems or feels like at the time, His timing is always perfect.

So, without further ado, here's the story of Violet's unexpected arrival....

32.5 weeks - my last pregnant selfie

Saturday, October 11...

We had planned on using the long weekend (Canadian Thanksgiving) to paint our basement. Cam started the taping and priming by himself in the morning, while I went out and did a few errands with Tessa. We had lunch and I put Tessa down for her afternoon nap, then got changed and headed downstairs to help with the painting. We worked until about 3:30 that afternoon (I painted for a total of about 2 hours), then we had to get cleaned up, wake Tessa, and head over to Cam's aunt & uncle's for Thanksgiving dinner.

We had just sat down to dinner when I suddenly felt a small trickle of fluid, almost like I had lost control of my bladder for a second (if you've ever been pregnant you know that that's not completely out of the question!). I got up and went to the washroom, to see if I could figure out what was going on. I wasn't totally sure at that point, and I didn't want to make a big deal of it, so I just thought "hmm, that was strange", and went back to the table and finished dinner and dessert. The trickle of fluid happened a few more times throughout dinner, but I wasn't having contractions or any other signs that this could possibly be my water breaking or the beginning of labor, although by this point I had a strong feeling that that was exactly what was happening.

We left almost as soon as dinner was over. Cam got Tessa to bed while I made a phone call to the labor and delivery unit at the hospital. I explained what was going on, and the nurse suggested that I come in to be checked. Looking back, it seems kind of silly to me that I had to call and ask what to do. It was just so different from how labor with Tessa went (with her, I had been having contractions for hours before my water broke, and when it did, it was literally a huge gush of fluid - there was no question that it was my water breaking) and it was so early that I think I was in denial. I grabbed a few things - I hadn't even packed a hospital bag yet, thinking I had at least another month to get it done! - and drove myself to the hospital, part of me still in denial that I was possibly going into labor, the other part fairly certain that we would be having a baby much, much sooner than we expected.

I got to the hospital and up to labor and delivery by about 9pm and by 10 it was confirmed that my water had broken and my doctor had admitted me and ordered that I be started on IV antibiotics for possible group B strep - I hadn't had the test done yet, it usually happens around the 36 week mark. The plan was to wait overnight to see if my body would kick into labor naturally, and if not, I'd be induced in the morning.

I laid awake most of the night, hoping and praying that contractions would start, worrying about the health and safety of our baby, and fearing that being induced so early could mean a long and difficult labor and possibly interventions I did not want. I felt guilty, that somehow this was my fault (my first thought was that it was the painting, and I regretted that I had done it), and if anything were to happen to our baby as a result, I would have carried that with me forever. I felt sad too, that my pregnancy was ending so abruptly, with no warning. I felt like I was going to be missing out on the anticipation and excitement that comes in the last few days of pregnancy leading up to the due date. I did not feel ready for this.

Terrible selfies happen when you're bored and can't sleep in the hospital...

Sunday, October 12...

I was up early after only a few hours of sleep, and still no contractions. I knew I needed rest so I'd be ready for a potentially long labor, but I also didn't want to just sit there waiting, so I asked my nurse if I could get up and walk around to see if I could bring on some contractions. They made me wait until they could check with my doctor. They finally got in touch with him around 8am and I got the go-ahead to leave the unit. I wandered the hospital hallways for the next hour with no sign of anything resembling a contraction. I was getting discouraged since I knew I was on the clock, and we were already past the 12 hour mark since my water had broken. My doctor finally showed up at around 10am to get the induction started. He checked me first and I was 1-2cm dilated, but my cervix was still extremely high, so high that he couldn't feel if baby was head down so off to ultrasound I went. The ultrasound confirmed that baby was head down, thankfully, so we started with Cervidil to try and get my cervix ready, and once again, I walked and waited and waited and walked.

My parents arrived to our house by early afternoon to be with Tessa (they live about 4 hours away) so Cam could come to the hospital to be with me. It was nice to finally have some company while I waited for things to get moving. The day was dragging on and I was really bored (so bored that I had already read through 2 entire Hollywood gossip magazines, cover to cover - not like me at all) so it was good to have someone to talk to and walk around with.

By around 3:30pm, I was starting to feel some mild cramping, and I couldn't help but watch the clock - the cramps were coming about 5 minutes apart and lasting about 30-45 seconds. I was happy that I was finally feeling something that resembled regular contractions, but I didn't allow myself to get too excited, since I was pretty sure things were going to take their sweet time.

The rest of the afternoon went by with little change. I had supper in my room, then Cam and I walked downstairs to the cafeteria, where my parents and sister had stopped by with Tessa. I hadn't seen her in almost 24 hours - probably the longest I'd ever gone without seeing her since she was born! We sat and visited for a while and as we sat there, my contractions were getting noticeably stronger. I had to stop talking and grab the edge of the table for a few, and walking back up to labor and delivery afterwards was definitely more difficult than it had been earlier. I took this as a good sign that things were progressing.

The next couple hours seemed to go by fairly quickly, with contractions coming quicker and getting stronger. I tried a few different positions, but couldn't really find anything that was comfortable, so I alternated between sitting on the bed and standing beside it. It was around 9pm when I was starting to have a hard time coping with the contractions, so I asked my nurse for some morphine. With my previous labor, I had taken one dose of morphine and found that although it didn't really help with the pain, it allowed me to relax a bit more, which allowed my body to do what it needed to do. My nurse agreed, but wanted to check my cervix again before she called the doctor for the order. I was 3cm and still quite high (remember, it was about 9pm). I was a little disappointed as I was hoping for a bigger number and I resigned myself to the fact that it was going to be a long night ahead.

My nurse came back in a few minutes with the morphine, and as soon as she hung it on my IV pole, I felt the need to lie on my left side. It didn't take long - maybe 15 minutes - before my contractions were coming one on top of the other and I remember telling Cam that I didn't think I could do it anymore.

At this point, I was still in an assessment room, where I had been since the night before. The nurse came back and told me that there was a delivery room ready for me and we should move, but the last thing I wanted to do at that point was get up and walk down the hall. I did it anyway and by the time we got to the delivery room - less than a minute - my contractions were accompanied by the overwhelming urge to push. I sat down on the edge of the bed to take a few deep breaths, but my nurse firmly told me that I needed to lie down so she could check me. I was in complete shock but also relieved when she told me I was at 8cm. Out of nowhere, 2 or 3 more nurses appeared and were getting things set up, ready for delivery. I couldn't believe it was happening so fast (and kudos to those nurses for the way they jumped into action and were on top of things so quickly and efficiently - those girls know what they're doing!). I overheard my nurse talking to another nurse, and heard them say that my doctor was about 20 minutes away and that they were going to have to call another doctor, who was already on the unit, in another delivery, over to deliver our baby, since my doctor was not going to make it.

A few minutes later the other doctor showed up, and gave me the go ahead to start pushing. It took maybe 8-10 pushes, and at 9:59pm, Violet Eve was born. She was 5lbs, 15oz, so tiny, but so beautiful and perfect. A nurse from NICU and the pediatrician did a quick check, then I got to hold her skin to skin for a few minutes before her and Cam went off to NICU.

Her arrival was such a surprise in every way - from deciding to come 4 1/2 weeks early, to how quickly she came once my labor got going. It was a whirlwind, and I spent the next two or three days in shock and disbelief over how it had all happened. It was an unexpected, but beautiful way to celebrate Thanksgiving, with the arrival of our healthy baby girl.

 

32 Weeks (and a little life update)

How far along? 32+ weeks

Size of baby: Squash, about 3.5lbs and 15-16.5 inches long.

Symptoms: Feeling pretty good these days, other than lower back and pelvic discomfort. Braxton Hicks are pretty frequent (and getting stronger) now.

Movement: Lots of hiccups lately, and it feels like they're coming from low down - my doctor confirmed this morning that baby is indeed head down (yay!!).

Cravings: Sweets, as usual. And peanut butter, which sucks, because it gives me heartburn.

Most looking forward to: Being done work, although that's still about a month away. And of course, meeting our new little one in (hopefully) less than 2 months.

I still can't believe that in about 2 months or so, we'll have two kids! I'm not sure why - probably because we've been so busy the last few months - but it's almost like I haven't fully processed that we're having another baby so soon and that we're going to be parents of two! This pregnancy went so fast and, while I feel ready to meet him or her, we still have lots to do before the big day.

It's so funny how different things have been this pregnancy. The second time around is definitely much more relaxed and laid back. We still don't even have the nursery set up or anything - the first time, we had the room pretty much ready by just past the halfway point. We had decided on Tessa's name within a week or so of finding out she was a girl, this time we didn't get around to even thinking about names until about a month ago, and finally settled on one maybe 2-3 weeks ago. My diet's been more slack - I'm having caffeine once in a while and have eaten deli meat a few times (gasp!). I haven't even thought about packing a hospital bag. Of course, life is much different now than it was during our first pregnancy, and we've been so busy with buying & selling houses, moving, and working on our basement, and of course, being parents to a busy toddler, that we honestly haven't had the time to sit down and wrap our heads around the fact that baby number 2 will be here before we know it and life is about to change drastically! I think I'll also be much more relaxed when it gets to the end too - last time, I was impatient and frustrated when my due date came and went - this time I feel like I'm much more prepared to wait and let things happen on their own, partly because we still have so much to do, but also because I'm really feeling the need to hold on to every single moment I have left with Tessa as my "baby"...she's growing up so fast, and I know things will change so much once the new baby comes, so I want to make the most of what time we have left as a family of three.

Speaking of Tessa, I just have to say that she is SO amazing!! She is at such a fun and exciting age, where she's absolutely soaking up everything around her and learning so much every day. I seriously feel like she learns at least 1 or 2 new words every day and is picking up new skills with amazing speed (kid can already put on and do up her velcro shoes by herself! I don't know, maybe that's not that great...). She loves reading stories ("'to-wy"), colouring ("co-do"), and helping mom around the house (she'll see a spot of water on the floor, grab the towel off the oven door and wipe it up without being asked, and she loves helping unload the dishwasher and sweeping) and dad out in the garage. I love her excitement and enthusiasm for all the little things...we'll be looking out the window or walking outside and she points out everything she knows and names it with such excitement. She has quite the independent streak and can be a little strong-willed at times, but for the most part she's easygoing and follows instructions well. We've had the occasional "major toddler meltdown" that everyone talks about and fears at this age, but those aren't all that common, thankfully, and I'm truly loving being a toddler mom.

I've had people tell me that having two is "way easier" than one, but I'm not sure I totally believe that. I've heard others say it's really hard, so I guess it just depends on each individual's experience. I guess there's really no way to fully prepare, since there will be so many variables and unknowns - I don't know what this new baby's personality and temperament will be like, how Tessa will react and adapt to the change, how I'll feel, how the birth and recovery go...so, in a sense, I feel like we'll be winging it a bit in the beginning. I'm not sure if there's really a whole lot I want to do differently than we did with Tessa (I think we've done an ok job, so far!), other than maybe be a bit more intentional with routine and schedule from the get-go (or as early as I can). In our experience, life is just so much easier with a predictable (but flexible) routine and I think it'll make life with two little ones more manageable. I'm also hoping it'll help with nighttime sleep, and hoping we can maybe avoid some of the issues we dealt with last time. But either way, we're so excited to meet our new precious bundle of joy and are looking forward to being a family of four!

29 weeks

How far along? 29 weeks

Size of baby: Acorn squash, about 2.5-3.5lbs.

Symptoms: Getting to the uncomfortable stage, especially when trying to sleep. Braxton Hicks have also become much more frequent. And heartburn...at least it started a lot later than my last pregnancy and so far isn't nearly as severe, more just annoying.

Movement: Oh yes - this little one does flips and somersaults all day and all night! I've had a few good jabs from feet and elbows to the point where it almost hurts a little from the inside, but I still enjoy feeling all the movement. I've been noticing some hiccups here and there too.

Cravings: Sweets, which is pretty typical for me, and probably not really a true "craving". :)

Most looking forward to: The cooler weather of fall, and maybe some shopping for some more fall-ish maternity clothes.

My husband and his dad also started working on finishing our basement this weekend, so it'll be fun getting to pick paint colors and all the finishings and putting it all together. We're hoping to have it done by the time baby gets here - hopefully we're not being too ambitious!!

A couple before pictures:

26 weeks + Vacation Recap

How far along? 26 weeks - almost third trimester!! Yikes!!

Size of baby: Head of lettuce, about 1.5-2lbs.

Symptoms: I decided to try coming off Diclectin again, so as of Sunday night I've been off of it. It's been going ok, I still get sick at least once or twice in the morning without it, but I think that's manageable, at least on days I'm off work. I still have a few doses of Zofran left that I can use in a pinch, or that I can take with me to work and take if needed since they work much faster than the Diclectin. It'll be nice to be off medication, so I'm hoping the nausea keeps improving and I can stay off for good.

Movement: Lots! The other night I was laying on the couch, and baby was doing somersaults that I could see from the outside. My belly was jumping around like crazy. The only time I don't really enjoy the movement is when it happens after I get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and keeps me awake!

Cravings: Vanilla Iced Coffee...I could have one almost every day, especially when it's hot. And we were just in Ottawa last week and I bought a jar of Maple Butter which I am devouring on bread or crackers!

Maternity clothes: Finally found some maternity shorts so I can keep cool.

Most looking forward to: I'm going to answer this with what I'm NOT looking forward to this week - my glucose test! Ugh...that orange syrupy stuff is so gross!

I also wanted to share a bit about our recent trip to Ottawa. We had a great little vacation, got to spend time with family, watch Cam run his big race, and see some sights.

Waiting for Dad at the finish line - and posing too, of course.

Tessa did well on the flights - it's a whole different ball game flying with an 18-month old versus a 7-month old (which is how old she was last time she flew). She's much more independent and mobile now and is quick to let you know when she's not impressed by squealing loudly! Keeping her busy and content on a 3.5 hour flight was a challenge, but we all survived.

The only time she will EVER sleep while being held

 She did really well, too, with the 2-hour time zone difference and adjustments to her schedule. She napped well, slept well at night, ate decently, and seemed to really enjoy all the new people she met.

Visiting Great Grandpa

A relaxing afternoon at the cottage

Canadian Parliament

Daytime and nighttime in Old Montreal

It's always fun to get away and see different places, but is almost better coming back home to the familiar routines of everyday life. We're getting settled back into normal and have focused our energy on finishing up the last of the unpacking and settling into our new home. We have a couple more small weekend trips coming up in August & September, and then fall will be here!