Life is about to get just a little bit crazier

Yes, it's true - Brian and I decided that taking care of Lynsey alone was not enough of a challenge for us:). We are adding to our little family come January 8 of next year! I will be 12 weeks pregnant on Friday. I felt pretty much the same as I did with my first pregnancy, 6-9 weeks being a bit yucky but never all out sickening. I sure am glad to have some energy back now, though - I was tired of being tired all the time. I am going with a midwife for this pregnancy and I'm really excited about it! I am not necessarily a big believer in the whole naturalist give birth at home sort of philosophy, but I love the idea of being taken care of from beginning to end by the same two or three women, and that they will fight for me at the hospital - I would hate to have a c-section just because the doctor is too busy to try everything else possible to have a natural birth. I have my first appointment on July 2nd, so I will know more then. In the meantime, everything seems to be similar to my first pregnancy as mentioned before - not showing yet, which is a shame really because my summer maternity clothes are much nicer than my regular summer clothes:).

Lynsey has been busy learning! She now tells when she's pooped (most of the time) - she grabs the front of her diaper and says "poo":). Sometimes I check and she hasn't actually done it, which makes me think she might be saying it when she pees as well - I'm not sure how much she actually comprehends yet. She likes sitting on the potty, but we are no where near training yet. I just count this as a first step to her being aware of what she's doing and it's great that she's interested in it - when she's sitting on the potty, she has to get up every 5 seconds or so to check if there's anything in there:). Her tantrums have definitely subsided, although we're not out of the woods yet by any means. I think she's just getting older and able to deal with her disappointment a bit better. I am also learning more about her and how to avoid getting into these predicaments in the first place. We bought her a tricycle that I can push and steer and she really likes it! The stroller just isn't cutting it anymore, so now I just put on her little helmet and off we go on the tricycle! When we're standing still she tries to pedal a bit, but when I'm pushing her she doesn't try - it'll take some time to get to that.

She is becoming more and more chatty, too - when she's talking to Brian on the phone, there's all kinds of gibberish coming from her mouth:). Brian claims she attempted to put a sentence together the other day, although I wasn't there to witness it - apparently, she put together the words "dad go work" and then when Brian confirmed that yes, he was going to work, she frowned. I love the new words she's discovering all the time! There's still a communication barrier, but I feel like it's slowly getting better as she learns more words. She can tell us now whether she wants juice or milk, or even some different kinds of snack that she might want. I have high hopes that by the time the baby comes, she will be completely self-sufficient:).

Still fighting for that independence!

We've had a pretty routine few weeks. I've posted a few pictures of a dinner I had with some of my friends a few weekends ago. It was a much needed night out! Brian went on a fishing trip with all the guys in my family last weekend (no pictures yet - not sure if he will do a post when he gets some or not) so it was just Lynsey and me for a few days. We went to Three Hills on Friday and hung out with Liz, Gert, Mary and kids. It was Mary's birthday so we went out for supper while Dylana babysat (thanks Dylana!) and then had cake. It was a really good time!

Lynsey has started trying to dress herself. I know this is a natural part of growing up, but kind of like when she started wanting to feed herself, I'm not really that excited about it. She just gets so mad when she can't get her pants on - she almost always gets both legs in one opening and after a while, this really gets to her (and consequently, to me). She is getting better and like with the feeding, I will just have to be patient while she figures this out. The tantrums come and go - she had a few this weekend that I just couldn't explain. She would hand me the remote and say "baby". Thinking this meant she wanted to watch Baby Einstein, I would turn it on for her and she just got so angry and said "baby" over and over again until she was in an all-out freak out. This happened a few times. I can't tell you how happy I will be when she can tell me more. This is an incredibly frustrating phase that she's in - she knows what she wants, but she just can't tell me properly. Kind of like when she's in her high chair saying "more" - well, "more of what, Lynsey?", and all I get is a frustrated crying and pointing to nowhere "more more more". It's been a bit tough, but I know this will just keep getting better as her vocabulary expands. She's a smart little girl - she'll figure out how to get what she wants sooner rather than later, me thinks:).

On a brighter note, isn't she a cutie??:) I love her so much, and while some days are really hard, I have so many moments where I just love her to pieces and am so incredibly thankful for her (I'm sure all you moms out there know exactly what I'm talking about:)).