Thankful Thursday - 110

This week I am thankful for...

1. Date with myself! I had a dentist appointment on Wednesday out by Metrotown. I went to the appointment (boo), but didn't have any cavities (yay!). Afterwards I went to peruse Metrotown for a little bit and pick up a couple small things for Christmas. I was feeling munchie, so I hit up the Food Court and got a Poutine from New York Fries for the first time in YEARS! It was lovely, except for the alarm and warning over the loud speakers that they were investigating a firearm situation in the mall... I left after my food instead of doing some more shopping as planned. Oh well! Was nice to get out for a couple hours :). Advantages of having a husband with a semi-flexible schedule!! Also, Dom was SOOOO excited to see me when I got home! 

2. Reacting well in stressful situations. Maybe a silly example, but a couple nights ago at around 1230 we were awoken by a beep. We didn't think much of it until it kept happening. I sent David to check the fire alarm batteries, forgetting that he doesn't do well in the middle of the night. He wandered the house for a bit and decided he could only find one fire alarm, and the beeping continued. I asked him to press the button on the one upstairs outside our room as it sounded like that one was beeping. OOPS! Bad idea! It tested the alarm and started beeping and loudly saying, "FIRE!" Oh dear... right outside the baby's room and right in David's face. My bad... I got out of bed and disconnected the fire alarm, but the random beeps continued. It wasn't long before I realized it was the Carbon Monoxide detector beeping. Ah... quickly replaced the batteries and went back to bed. I got kind of frustrated with David and may have told him he was being useless, but I apologized after and realized I function okay being awoken like that, whereas he takes a good 10-15 minutes to "come to" when he wakes up. Haha sorry dear!!

3. David's car is NOT written off. David was in the middle of a 4 car rear-ender on November 1st. He has been sore, but mostly okay (thank goodness!). His car had some superficial damage, but ICBC checked it out and said it was fixable. We were scared it was going to be written off, because we would not get good money for it and cannot afford to buy a new car right now. That was great news, and then we got a call yesterday from the shop telling us the damage was much more extensive than they thought and the car should have been written off, but they are just going to take the hit and fix it instead. GASP! Someone must be looking out for us! Nobody could explain why this happened. 

4. A full weekend! I've been having some cabin fever lately, so it was really nice for me to fill up our weekend with fun things! 

Friday I went to the church for wreath making with the Women's Ministry. Love my new wreath!

On Saturday, Adam, Scott & Courtney came over for games, pizza and a movie. A great way to break up my day!

On Sunday I had to miss church because David had to be there to take photos, and Dom naps during church. I was sad about it, but we went over to David's parents house for part of the Grey Cup game and dinner. Then we came home and Jeff, Scott & Courtney joined us for some more games! 

Three generations of Kimber men!

Finally, on Monday Oma & Aunty Sonya came over and we made Christmas cards together all day! We had a great time, and Dom was a champ, keeping himself occupied all day!

16 Weeks (ACTION FIGURE/AVOCADO) - 2.0: Nov 21-27

• 16 Weeks pregnant now! Hard to believe. We have known about Kimber Surprise 2.0 for 12 weeks already! Time flies!
• I am feeling more movements now. They are so subtle though. I find myself wondering if it's normal to feel so little at this stage. I feel like it was more with Dom, but the most vivid memories of Dom moving around were from the end where things were crazy. He was also just a very active baby. 
• I feel like I'm still not gaining weight at a rate our midwives would be happy with. Our scale battery is dying, so it's a little unpredictable, but it still says I weigh less than I think I should. I have to work on my snacking between meals. Who ever thought someone would have the issue of NOT snacking enough!
• I still forget I'm pregnant often. It is definitely not at the forefront of my mind like it was last time. However, now that I'm feeling things every so often I do pay a little more attention. 
• I am a "bad" pregnant lady again. All the deli meat, sushi, etc. I don't miss alcohol as much as I did with Dom though. Probably not being pregnant over the summer helps with that. 
• I am living in leggings and baggy tshirts right now. Haven't really broken out the maternity clothes yet. When I really pop I'll do that :)
• 16 Weeks Pregnant with Dominic

Dominic - 11 Months Old

In ONE short month, I will have a one-year-old. I wonder if I'm going to be one of those moms that cries on his first birthday. Probably... let's be realistic, I'm hormonal and emotional as it is!

I'm grateful I'm growing a second babe at this time, because it makes me less anxious about Dom growing up I think. Soon there will be another tiny squish!

0-11 Months old!

Weight: 26 pounds (45th percentile)
Height: 29 inches (50th percentile)

Likes:

• Playing Peek-a-boo. He particularly likes being the "Boo-er". He will hold up any object to his face and rip it away and loudly say, "BA!!!" It's pretty freaking adorable. He doesn't care whether or not anyone is watching. He just loves it. 
• Crawling all over Dave and I. If we sit or lay on the floor he zooms over to cuddle and crawl and wrestle.
• Climbing stairs. We have gated off all the stairs in our house, so he no longer zips over there on his own, but sometimes I'll let him crawl upstairs to tire him out.
• Opening and emptying the diaper bag all over the floor. This keeps him busy for 10+ minutes and I know everything in there is safe, so it's a stress-free activity. Go to town Dom!
• Snuggling on our lap with his blankie watching Paw Patrol or reading a book. He has a very short attention span (10 minutes at best), but it's the best snuggles I get all day. 
• Bath time. He still gets super excited if he hears me running the bath. He will rip down the hallway in all his naked glory straight for the bathtub. 
• Getting his teeth brushed. If I say, "Is it time to brush your teeth?" He gets a big grin on his face and opens wide for the toothbrush coming in. I think the first time I did it, Sherlock came in to sniff and lick and check it out, which obviously made Dom's day, so now it's just a really exciting thing. Could be worse!

Dislikes:

• Umm... he likes most things! He sort of dislikes getting his diaper changed because that requires sitting still for more than 3 seconds. He's a busy boy!

Notes:

• He has discovered that he and I both have nostrils and he frequently shoves his finger up them... charming!
• Started signing "more" on November 7. He doesn't do it all the time, but he communicates well enough that he pretty much always wants more! We have to cut him off 99% of the time. Either that or he will just start feeding the dog all of his food when he's done. 
• His feet and under his belly button are SUPER ticklish! The best giggles!
• He has three teeth, and three more on the way! The two on the bottom, and one new one on the top. His little teeth are so sweet.
• He whistles pretty often. At first it was accidental, but I'm pretty confident he does it on purpose now. He will be a better whistler than me before long!
• He has started using inflections in his babbling. Apparently I ask him a lot of questions, as most of his babbling directed at me ends in a question tone. Haha! Are you playing with your puppy? Is that your blankie? Do you like the blue toy? Do you want some more food? Can you wave Bye bye? Is that a good noise or what?! Yup... my day is all questions!
• Copies howling noises and sirens when he hears them on the TV. 
• He has started using "words" that we can understand. He is very consistent with Mom, or Mama. He says BA for Boo. He knows Dada, but mostly prefers Mama. He knows animal sounds (do these count as words?) like Moo, Hoo (like an owl), oinking (mostly just wrinkling his nose and breathing loudly). He will copy these sounds consistently, but won't necessarily answer, "What does a cow say?" with "Moo."
• I have become so frustrated by his spitting up. I thought this would end when he started solids! This week has actually been really good, but there are days where we go through 4 outfits. He also tends to save the big spits for when we're out and about. It is exhausting!
• If I hide treats (Cheerios) somewhere he will go back there for the next few days to check if the stock has been replenished.
• If he hears the garage door open, he will look towards to stairs anticipating David walking up the stairs. 
• He is a pickier eater now. He still eats most things, but if he comes across something he doesn't like he protests and launches it off the high chair. 
• Everyone always comments on how healthy he looks. They say he must be well fed and that he has such huge cheeks! They also comment on how happy he is. He's very social! Doesn't get that from his mom!
• He is becoming more affectionate. He definitely needs more physical touch than he ever used to. He will play by himself for 10-20 minutes and then come for a cuddle and a kiss and then be back off again. No complaints from me!
• He gestures or points towards something he wants. 
• He has finally started waving at us! This just warms my heart! No clapping yet, and I was feeling a little "what the heck!" about this, but then I realized we rarely clap at home, so why would he know how to clap?! Working on this now.
• He is getting creative with the games he plays. The other day he put his little shaker egg thing into a butter container and bounced and shook it around trying to keep it in the container. When it flew out he'd go grab it and start over again. 
• He took a first step on November 23. He doesn't have great balance yet, and gets ahead of himself when trying to walk on his own, but he's close!! He pushes anything that he can possibly move all around the house excitedly and very proudly walking. 
• He sleeps SO well. I think he is the only baby in the world that sleeps way better AFTER daylight savings. He slept in that day, and has slept in every day since! He will sleep until at least 630 or 7 every day, which works very well for Dave and I!. 

Typical Day:

630am - wake up & 6oz bottle

8am - breakfast (oatmeal and cheerios)

945am - nap 1

1100am - wake up & 6oz bottle

1230pm - lunch (grilled cheese, leftovers, fruit, scrambled eggs with cheese, muffin, etc.)

230pm - nap 2

330pm - wake up & 6oz bottle

500pm - dinner with us (this can be what we're eating, or some sort of meat, sweet potatoes, fruit and/or vegetable... basically anything he can feed himself is good with me!)

7-715pm - bed time!

A few pictures from the last month <3

Thankful Thursday - 109

We often take our lives for granted, but I try every week to appreciate and be grateful for some little things to remind me how blessed we are. 

This week I am thankful for...

1. Christmas Lights. Somehow David was convinced to pull out the Christmas boxes early this year! We don't have many surfaces to put decorations on. I like to keep our counters clear (okay... so that we can pile dishes and crap on them. They're not really clear), and we don't have a coffee table, so we just put up lights, a garland, and our pantry snowman for now. The real decorations come out when the tree goes up! We always go to a farm and pick out a tree to cut down and put up, but it's so expensive! I really don't want to get a fake tree, but it does seem much more cost effective... We will see. 

2. Major chunk. I know I should be over it by now, but I think that when Dom lost all that weight in the first few days of his life and we struggled with nursing and gaining weight, I was a little bit scarred. Any time someone comments on how chunky he is or how big his cheeks are I get a little bit proud. Yup... fat baby!

3. Community. Even though I spend a lot of my time "alone" at home, I really appreciate always having friends I can turn to. Friends, I think we need to take some pictures together one day! 

Some of Dom's community :)

Lately

Life has just been zooming by lately. Every day when I go to watch the News online from the previous evening I am shocked by the date I'm plugging in. I'm watching November 21 news? That means it's already the 22nd?! Oh my. 

In a short while I'll be planning lunches and getting ready to go back to work. My official first day is set for January 8. 

This is what I've been up to lately!

Lots of hiding from the rain with my boys

Lots of supervising this MONKEY!

Lots of reading books

We missed church on Sunday due to nap time (again... I can't wait till we're down to 1 nap!), so we decorated for Christmas a little bit! I just LOVE the lights.

Dominic was naturally enthralled by the lights.

My brother's picked up this ridiculously cute Santa suit for Dom and it fits him perfectly! Here he is cruising around Opa & Oma's place with his new walker and his cozy outfit! I need a grown up one of these!

I got together with Katrina & Kerriann with their littles again. It is always so great to see them, and I still miss our weekly visits! Sam has such a nice smile in this picture. 

Lots of snuggles with the teething boy

He loves to go through the diaper bag and rip everything out of it, so I let him. And then I heard a pop and a splatter the other day. CHEERIOS EVERYWHERE! He was so excited. Frantically trying to cram them all in his mouth. I had to laugh.

I knitted some hats!! I need to get some boy colour yarn so I can knit Dom one now. The one on the left fits him perfectly, but... not sure He wants to wear the pink and brown.

Photo credit to David for these next few. Can't be in the kitchen without this little clinger! 

Interrupting my 16 week belly photo shoot <3

I am cherishing my Stay at Home Mom moments more and more each day right now as I count down to going back to work. This morning Dom slept in until 7am. If he is up at this time every day next year too, I won't even see him in the mornings! That's enough to make me super sad!
Yesterday Dom woke up crying after 30 minutes from his morning nap. Very unusual for him. I went upstairs to give him some Motrin for his teeth and give him a snuggle. He fussed and whined for 10-15 minutes and then fell asleep on my lap in the La-z-Boy recliner in his room. I didn't even have my phone with me because I didn't expect that. He fell asleep so deeply and I couldn't believe how big he was. He has never been the type to fall asleep in our arms (since he was a newborn). I can think of twice that it's happened since he was 3-4 months old. It was a really special moment for me yesterday. Between the pregnancy hormones and the stress of going back to work I definitely teared up. If this happened while I was at work I would have missed it. I would have missed the incredible feeling of his hand on my chest and his breathing. I would have missed his little twitches and smiles in his sleep, his snoring, his noises. I feel like he has never slept so peacefully in his life. I was actually able to stand up and walk downstairs and put him on the couch before he woke up because I had to check the time. Turns out I may have dozed a little too, as before I knew it an hour had passed and it was way beyond time to get up! A part of me wished I had my phone just to document that moment, but instead I took in every breath and movement with more intention than I have in months. It was something small and simple, but I wouldn't have traded that moment for anything. 

15 Weeks (ECLAIR) - 2.0: Nov 14-20

• We are 5 weeks away from finding out the gender of this little Beeb. Originally I was really hoping for a boy because I figure they could be best friends, and we're all set up for a boy already. Now, every time I go into a store I see the ADORABLE little girl clothes and can't help dreaming about a girl! Looks like it's a wash! We will be happy either way... Surprise!
• Second trimester energy is so nice. I think it's just a normal person level of energy, but after the beat-down of first trimester I feel like a super-human. I am able to keep the house semi-orderly, walk the dog, make a meal plan, occasionally follow through with the meal plan, make a budget (a very tight one...), and have time to enjoy a cup of tea and a book!
• I am feeling little flips and flops and tickles inside a couple times each day. Most of the time it's still so fleeting I hardly have a chance to clue in before it's stopped. I can NOT wait for the bigger movements! It was my favorite part of pregnancy I think. Although Dom was nice and rarely woke me up at night to dance. Here's a video from very late in my third trimester with Dom... This is scary movements. I am so glad I caught this on video. Totally creepy alien! 

• I get the most outrageous head-rushes and dizziness a lot of the time when I stand up. I've always had low blood pressure, but it's been pretty bad lately. I often just have to drop and put my head between my legs to keep from fainting. So far that has done the trick and after 10-15 seconds I'm good to go again. I'm careful not to stand up and go straight to the stairs or stand up holding Dominic for these reasons. I remember this symptom from the first pregnancy too. 
• Time seems to really be flying. All of a sudden we're going to find out the gender, Dom is going to turn 1, I'll be back at work, and then off work again, and then we will have another newborn... It still seems surreal. 
• I will eat a big meal, and I know I should be full, but right after dinner I have this feeling that my stomach is going to growl and I'm hungry again. I've learned that this usually just means I'm craving something. Lucky for me, that craving is usually chocolate! A little bite of chocolate and I'm feeling full and satisfied again! 
• By the end of this week my belly-button is pretty much an outie. This has happened so much earlier than my first pregnancy! 
• We had a midwife appointment on Thursday. 
• Baby HR: 146 BPM
• My weight: 118.5 lb. The midwife was... not concerned about my lack of gain, but she definitely addressed it a few times. I have been "ordered" to eat more frequently. She specified that I should be eating healthy too, but I just heard frequently ;)
• Blood Pressure: 107/56. She said my diastolic was quite low, and asked if I'd been light headed at all. Um.... yes! She reminded me to also drink more water and don't get up too fast. Yes. I definitely should drink more water!
• 15 Weeks pregnant with Dominic
• 15 Weeks Huggies Graphic

Thankful Thursday - 108

This week I'm thankful for...

1. A book & a cup of tea. This book was lent to me by a friend, and it is a good read. I find it a little bit one-sided, but also very convicting and convincing. I grew up with my Mom home to raise us, and I always envisioned being able to do the same for my children. It is nearly impossible financially to do so living in the lower mainland, but hopefully Dave and I can work something out. The only reason I'm okay going back to work in January is because it's for such a short amount of time, and I 100% trust the childcare we've worked out for Dominic :). If you're struggling with the decision to be a SAHM (Stay at Home Mom), or struggling to balance your career and family I'd highly recommend this read. :)

2. Snuggly snuggles. Dominic absolutely adores his blanket. Any knitted blanket will work, but his bedtime blanket is his favorite for whatever reason. He is having a rough time with teething, some separation anxiety developing, and a difficult "leap" in development. Sometimes he just needs to snuggle with Mom, but will only do so for more than 5 seconds if he has his blanket. Fine by me!!!

He may or may not be watching Paw Patrol... He loves it. And I get free snuggles before nap time! :)

He makes it look so easy.

Burrito Baby loves bath time! Also, my belly is protruding in this photo!

3. An awesome anniversary date. I'm grateful David and I were able to spend some time together as a married couple on our anniversary. We had a lovely afternoon and evening, and reconnected and talked more than we have in months.