Time for a vacation

The last few weeks have been busy but good. Last Saturday, we had Ian and Ezra for the day while Mary and Dave went to a wedding. It was a pretty good day, actually - not as stressful as I thought it might be. This weekend past was really busy - we had a wedding on Friday, and Ryan and Ruthy came into town and stayed with us. It was a really good time! Lynsey and Elijah played pretty well together for the most part, although there were definitely some tense moments when it came to toy sharing.

Lynsey has been increasing her vocabulary at an incredible pace! She is jabbering away now, although a lot of words she says we still don't understand. Communication is getting easier all the time, and she is definitely learning to manage her emotions. Our days are pretty routine - have breakfast, shower, play a bit, get dressed, and go outside until lunchtime. We spend a lot of time at various parks, and Lynsey is getting really good at climbing on everything - she even slides down most slides now with no help from me:). I sometimes feel like I need a change, but I think Lynsey is perfectly happy with the way things are going. There are days when I feel desparate to join some kind of play group or gymboree or something, and then there are days when I'm so thankful that we have such a free and clear schedule to just do what we want every day. I think once the summer is over, I will join something - the thought of being inside all day every day with her is a bit daunting! Just the last few days have been a bit rainy and the temptation to just let her watch "Cars" all day suddenly overwhelms me! Not good! Luckily for me, she isn't a couch potato by nature and even though she asks for movies, she usually only pays attention to them for about 5 minutes and then ends up playing with her toys instead of watching anyway.

The pregnancy is going well - I had my first midwife appointment last Thursday and it went really well! I'm feeling really good about my decision to go with a midwife. The first thing I noticed when I walked into the office was the comfy bed instead of those wonderful cot-type thingies in the doctors offices, and I decided at that point already I had made a good decision:). We heard the heartbeat, which just as it did last time, made it seem real for me that there was a baby in there! I like the way the midwife presents me with options and doesn't pressure - she hasn't even tried to talk me into a home birth and I'm already thinking it sounds really good! I never would have thought I would be the kind of person to consider something that seems so hippy-dippy and naturalist, but it just sounds so good to me! Imagine being in the comfort of your own home . . . there are pros and cons, which is why I am not totally sold on it. The good thing is that I don't have to make a decision about this for a long time yet, so I can do my research and see how the pregnancy is going. People in our culture have misconceptions about giving birth at home (including me!) so I want to look into it more.

We are leaving for San Francisco on Thursday night! I can't wait, although I'm definitely nervous about leaving Lynsey. We will be going to Edmonton on Wednesday night already to give Lynsey the day on Thursday to get used to being at her Grandma and Grandpa's with us for a bit before we just leave her there for three whole days. I know it's time to do this, but I know I'll miss her like crazy! I am looking forward to some sleeping in, eating out, and just general r & r.

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:)).

Let the tantrums begin

I apparently didn't take a lot of pictures the last few weeks - it looks like only on the weekend when we were in Edmonton! Oops! I got to meet up with Ruthy and Elijah on Saturday which was fun. Well, it was fun except for the fact that Lynsey did NOT cooperate in the mall. She constantly wanted to push the stroller this way and that, sometimes pulling in this direction or that - you can guess how well that works in a mall like West Ed. Very frustrating. We have come to realize that she may be entering what people call "The Terrible Twos". She almost always throws a fit when I take her inside after playing outside. The worst thing about this age is that she does not understand logic or reason. I can't tell her that we just have to come inside to have lunch and then she can go outside again. I can't tell her we'll come to the park again tomorrow. There is no reasoning! She just knows that she is devastatingly disappointed and doesn't know how to deal with that kind of disappointment yet. I hope that she will learn soon how to better deal with it, and that I will learn what the best method of preparing her for it is! Ugh. She was pretty easy to take care of for several months, so I guess I should have expected things to get tougher at some point.

Sunny days outside, Mother's Day

The past few weeks have been pretty good. We visited Brian's cousin who just had a baby last Monday, and on Wednesday, Brian took a flex day and we all went swimming together. I was excited to take some pictures, which I can never do when it's just me and Lynsey, but she was being a bit funny in the pool again. The last few times we've gone, she hasn't been all that happy - we think she might be getting bored with Cardel Place. I'm going again tomorrow so we'll see if our theory is right. We've been outside at every opportunity, which Lynsey is loving! She would swing at the park for hours (literally) without a problem - I only wish I could stand for such a long time! We bought her a sandbox which she likes, but doesn't love just yet - hoping she will figure out how much playing potential there is in there soon. Mother's Day was a good day - Brian let me sleep in and made me a tasty breakfast, and then we went to Home Depot to get stuff for my garden. I actually planted some herbs and vegetables this year as well as flowers - I'm becoming quite the greenthumb! It was fun - I hope everything grows well!

She says "no" more than ever, and some days it gets a bit old - we have decided to counter every "no" with a "yes" and hopefully she'll start saying that some time soon! She started frowning when she is unhappy with something, which is kind of interesting - not like when she's crying, just like when Brian is leaving for work and she's not happy with it, she frowns. It's a bit funny, actually. Another big new thing is that for the last couple of weeks, she's been napping longer! We are putting her to bed at 8 now instead of 7:30, and she just started napping longer - like often an hour or even MORE longer! I wasn't sure that would ever happen, but she continues to teach me that she gets the sleep she needs one way or another:). I'm loving the longer breaks during the day, and overall she has a better day because she's always happier in the evening than she is during the day (might have something to do with Brian being home!).