Our Ultrasound

Had our main ultrasound for baby nelson the sequel today. I was really looking forward to it to see baby as well as hopefully find out gender. I also invited our moms to the ultrasound when I found out my mom would be in town for her own doctor's appointment that day (and Mary lives here already).

Our appointment was in Edmonton at the Tawa Center which is right near the Grey Nuns hospital (where I'll be delivering). I was a little flustered before the appointment because Tyler had taken my mom to her's that morning and they were both still there. So I had to get myself and Dexter to the appointment and he was being somewhat uncooperative. Also, I wasn't 100% sure where the building was as it wasn't labelled well (turns out we were in the correct parking lot three times).  So I just made it to the appointment on time, but arrived flustered.

I went in by myself first, and the tech asked me right away if I wanted to know gender and if I wanted her to tell me as soon as she saw or when my whole posse was there (my words). Within two minutes she said "I know what it is, do you want to know now?" I opted to know right away, but asked her to tell the posse for me. She said "it's a boy" to wish I kind of paused and said "exciting"...as I had a feeling it was a girl, which was obviously wrong LOL  She got the shots she needed quite easily which took about 1/2 hour and also asked me if I'd want a picture (are there people who say no?), I said yes as I'm a scrapbooker. Turns out she is too, so she tried to get me a good profile pic (it looks better than Dexter's but I still feel like I could have gotten a few more good shots).

She then went out to get Tyler, Dexter, my mom & Mary. The group piled in beside my bed and she turned the screen to face us all. She showed baby, baby moved quite a bit and she said baby was active [oh heartrate was 166]. Then she pulled up a bum shot - I recognized it right away, she used her mouse to say, here is one leg, here is another, oh & here is the third leg which means "You're having a boy!" It was a great way to share the news :-) That was about it.  I got dressed and she gave me the disc which had these three pictures above. 

Now that we know that it's a boy, we'll start brainstorming for baby names.  Should be interesting!  The good news about having another boy is that I need minimal new stuff so the budget stays intact, and we've had a boy so it won't seem as foreign to us when he is born. On the negative side, the need to buy him tutu's is less...girl names are much more fun to choose from...and I now have to decide where we want to circumsize him at (a question for my new doctor I'm sure).

I have an appointment with my GP on Thursday to go over the ultrasound and make sure everything is in order. Then next week, September 7th, I'll be meeting my delivering doctor who will do my prenatal appointments for the rest of the pregnancy. She's in Edmonton.

Living Room Wall

The light blue was my first attempt to choose a color for an accent wall in our living room.  It was much too light & area for the living room for me.  My second attempt this weekend, is this Midnight Hour, a grey tinged brown that I like for it's warmth & depth. I think it looks good :-)

Some Things Never Change

Today is my "main" ultrasound and I am super excited but also really apprehensive.  I really, really, really want to find out gender today but because of my experience with Dexter's main ultrasound (where we didn't find out gender because the tech was 'too busy') I'm nervous that we won't be able to find out.  I've confirmed that the imagining center tells gender (as Wetaskiwin & Devon don't) but I'm still worried that it'll be unclear or baby won't co-operate.  One of the negatives of being an plus sized pregger is that I have more tissue to go through for the ultrasound and the images typically don't seem as clear.

Anyway, regarding my title 'Some Things Never Change'...I had a mom I casually know in the area come over this morning to drop off some tickets I am buying for a comedy show. I mentioned that I am super excited for the u/s today & she felt the need to tell me how with her second born they found on gender and it was less exciting. Well she went on to say that not only did they find out gender, but they also picked a name, announced it beforehand and she was induced so she had a pretty good idea when baby was coming.  Those three items combined would definitely make it less exciting. I'm a firm advocate for keeping something a secret. So if you find out gender, keep your name(s) to yourself. If you don't know gender than go crazy with names.  Simple solution.

But yeah, pretty funny that I'm still hearing the same old commentary on my decisions even though I'm more of a veteran now on the baby decision front.

Brother Evicted

As of last Monday, my brother got a new job in North Edmonton & also his own apartment in North Edmonton. Since his job location changed, it was a no brained for his to move as it will save him gas money. I haven't seem his new place yet, but I'm excited for him to have this growth opportunity. I'm hoping it will help him mature & be more independent.

Feel like making "money"

Tyler has been off work for a few weeks and I'm feeling the money crunch. We had a healthy amount of savings (in my opinion) but we've had/are having some big expenses eat it up. We had property taxes ($2400 - relatively cheap), repairs to our newly inherited truck ($1400), changed insurance companies so a deposit ($500), we building a cement pad in lieu of our rotted deck (probably about $1500-$2000 when done), and we purchased an air filter si months ago that starts payments next month. The interest is ridiculous so I want to pay it off before it becomes due ($2400 I think). So yeah, life is pricey. Our mortgage is relatively low at $1200/month but it & all our expenses add up fast. There are a few things I'd like, for instance a hypnobirthing class ($325), a doula (packages up to $800), and some other "non-essentials like a kitchen island, an extra bathroom, etc.

So, as usual I have champagne taste on a water budget lol. I don't know what kind of work I would want, or who would hire me for a short term (say September to December). If Tylers still not working he could easily watch dexter, but if he got a job it would mean we'd have to find & pay for childcare. I'm sure there are some alternative options I haven't thought of...

When I was pregnant with dexter I felt the need to earn money too, and started temping but that was simpler as I didn't have dexter yet!

Ultrasound Countdown

The countdown is on: less than two weeks until my 19 week ultrasoun where we will *hopefully* find out gender! I wasn't allowing myself to get excited before, as it seemed far away (and I don't want to wish away my summer), but now it seems just around the corner. It's on Tuesday, August 30. This time around, I've invited my mom & Mary to it as well (I called the clinic to make sure it was ok first). My mom will be in town already for a doctor appointment for herself for her tennis elbow. The bad news is she is having a painful procedure done on it beforehand, so she may be in pain or severely drugged up. However, she hasn't seen an ultrasound since my sister Calli, now 21, so it should still be a cool experience. Mary was at Kira's, but it was less than magically as there was some big drama between Tyrone & Kim's mom. I'm excited to share this moment with them as last time around I was by myself (Tyler was away at work), and the tech was snarky, and I didn't get to find out gender due to not asking at the "right time". I feel more prepared this time & of course aware that baby could be uncooperative or unclear too.

Anyway, this pregnancy still doesn't feel very real. I'm confident that feeling baby move will make a huge difference as I felt something on Saturday & it gave me that warm fuzzy feeling. Finding out if it's a boy or girl will help me connect on a logical level & give us some direction so we can start the baby name hunt.

Nice, Orderly vs Children

Before we had Dexter, I like to think that our house was fairly clean. I've always had clutter issues & I wouldn't have won any clean freak awards, but if company was coming over we could usually be okay with a quick dishes job and vacumming job.

Now, with Dexter as a toddler, it feels as though our house is never really clean. For starters, there is the constant battle of the toys.  I think I need to add "toy clean up" to my to do list because he just has so many toys and he could use a rotation right now.

Secondly, he can be SO messy with his snacks.  One of the common things he eats is Vegetable Thins (crackers), and though he is good most of the time, he frequently decides that he should dump his crackers all of the floor, leaving a nice cracker dust on the floor after we pick them up.  We have laminate so really I just have to sweep often, but it disgusts me how much is swept up each time. 

On top of the not-so-clean, is the lack of nice stuff or areas that I can display my nice stuff. I like things to look nice & kids toys are not aesthetically pleasing to me. I'd love to have an isolated playroom but we don't have the space for that.  Dexter is also the type of kid that is into everything and has to be told no a million times so I've elimatinated a lot of my nice display stuff &/or put it where he currently can't reach. 

Anyway, I love having Dexter (& baby #2 on the way) but I SO miss having nice things and a nice house :-(

Projects

Sometime, before baby comes, I'd like to complete two projects: getting Dexter to sleep in a bed & getting him potty trained. The "easier" project, or at least the one that is less of a committment throughout the day is the bed one. So we plan on buying a bed sooner than later for Dexter. Maybe as soon as this week. Our crib converts to a double bed, but we will use this crib for baby #2, so I think it makes sense to get a twin bed. We considered a toddler bed but it won't last too long. So better to invest in the long haul, then when baby #2 is old enough for a bed Dexter can move up to a double & Baby can use the twin.

I had a twin bed until I was like 16 and then I got a double which I thought was HUGE lol