As promised...

I promised a few people that I would post a picture of Anika and her husband... Garrett. She claims that they aren't married but they sure act like they are... arguing and telling each other they don't want to play with one another but the next minute can't wait to get outside and play together at the park.

Ironically... Anika's first soccer game was agains Garrett's team....

Friends and Family... meet Garrett! I love the fact that in both pictures he is grabbing his crotch... do you think Ted and Lil's first picture was like this???

A little behind...

I apologize.. I'm a little behind in my updates....

I'm going to seperate the events that have been going on over the past couple of weeks in a few different posts...

15 weeks 1 day....

Well... we are almost 4 months along. I have been feeling pretty good. Nausea for the most part is done, but still have a few adversions. One in particular is fish. A few weeks ago Adrian made salmon and it looked really good, and I'm sure it tasted really good, but could only do a couple of tastes... that was it. The other thing is when we roast a chicken. Can't touch the meat, nor cut it off the bone. YUCK. Still loving all the fresh fruit I can get my hands on... Watermelon, Pineapple, Apples, Bananas, Oranges, Cantaloupe, Honeydew..... yummmmmmmm, and salad. Anything cold and fresh.

Not much is new around here. We are busy with soccer 2 nights during the week and ballet on Saturday. With that and the yard work that we need to accomplish, there isn't much time for anything else.

Baby seems to be doing fine. I am growing each week. No hiding it now. Someone at work told me that I popped over the weekend.... not sure if that is good or not - is he saying I'm fat?? My weight gain each weight gain fluctuates from 0lbs to 3lbs gained.

Here is a picture of me this morning before going to work.... definately have a belly started!!

Can't wait for the long weekend to get here. I am off Friday and don't go back to work until Tuesday :) We are heading down to Grand Forks for the weekend. The dogs are going to love being at home with the sitter rather than going to the kennel. Between going to Grand Forks and seeing her friend Maddy (from Calgary)... Anika is soooo excited. I can't wait to meet Maddy's new brother Rowan, and to see Lori :)

Thanks about it. Will update after our long weekend.... Hugs to you all :)

Help us name this baby....

I am looking for some really cool names. We are having a hard time deciding on a girls name and a boys name. Leave us your ideas in the comments part at the bottom of this post... thanks :)

GGGGGGGGGOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Heeeeheeee...

Anika had her first soccer game! It was so much fun! The kids are all 5 years old, they are all very eager to get the ball, and starting to communicate with each other... asking or telling the other kids to "pass it to me!!"

The games are an hour long, with the first 15 minutes as their practice.

Todays game was a 3-3 tie.... Next game is Thursday at 6pm - Island Lakes - Waterfront drive.

Another Great Weekend...

We had another great weekend!

Friday night was a big night for Anika... she FINALLY got her new bike! I had been out at lunch on Friday to see if I could find one, and did at Toys-R-Us... for $130.00... yes a little excessive for a 5 year old's bike, but we had looked EVERYWHERE for one that would fit her and they were either too big or too small. When I picked her up from daycare, I told her we would go by Sportchek to see if they had anythere.... sure enough they did. We were steering clear of "girl" colored bikes because what if this little munchkin in my belly is a boy... really can't explain to him that its too bad your a boy.. you're going to ride a pink bike, with a barbie basket and purple and pink pop-pom thingies on the handle bars. Just not cool. So there was the bike.. it was silver. I loved it and it was only $99.00. Nope... that one wouldn't do... Anika didn't like it. She wanted the blue one with the checkered flag decals on it... because what if the baby is a boy.. he will like them (yes.. she is coming around about the baby). Well.. I have to say my child is smart. The one she picked was cheaper than the silver one... only $79.00... now we can pimp it up with girlie things ;) I have never in my life see a child so proud, than when we got home and she saw her friends outside and she could show it off to them!! Her "husband" Garrett had to give it a try and really liked it.... told her that it was cool and he couldn't wait for them to go biking together! (I will have to post a picture of the 2 love birds).

Saturday was dance, and we still think she will excel at sports... rather than dance. She just doesn't have the coordination that the other kids have.... its quite amusing to watch! When she got home it was off with her friends for another afternoon packed with drawing on the driveways with sidewalk chalk, arguing about Garrett not inviting her to his birthday party, and how she wasn't going to invite him either... because boys aren't allowed to her party, playing at the play ground, and sharing snacks on the front step with the other kids.

Dave, Lisa and Zora came for dinner... the kids were great and both stayed up well past their bed times!! Thankfully Anika slept until 9:30 Sunday morning... Dave and Lisa didn't have it so lucky with Zora!!

Sunday we headed out to Steinbach for a visit with Auntie Kim and Uncle Ray. Anika was so excited to see them. We wanted to see their house before it got sold and they moved into their new one... so we invited ourselves out there. Anika had a blast playing with the kitties (really should have taken a picture of her and the cats - but forgot)... and then we went out for lunch. Anika loves to go out for lunch so this was right up her alley. We had a great time, laughing and eating... then we went for ice cream. Ohhhhhhh does Anika love ice cream!!!

Anika (not quite ready for a picture) with

her Auntie Kim and Uncle Ray....

Ok Mom... I'm ready now!!!

Anika insisted that we get the waitress

to take a family picture of all of us

.... so here it is...

Sunday night we went to the Moose Game, came home after Anika entertained everyone in the suite... and proceed to get a fever during the night. She complained that her throat was sore and that her ear was a little sore so we druged her with some tylenol, and kept her home from daycare today. She spent most of the day on the sofa watching her show's and dosing on and off.... she seems better tonight so she will be going to daycare tomorrow.

Hope you all have a great week!

Ciao.

Baby Dream

Last night I had my first baby dream. In the dream we were at our first fetal assessment. Everything was going really well, so the nurse said to us "would you like to know the sex of the baby?" With a little hesitation, we said "sure". She said "Its all boy!!!!"

BOY???? What on earth would I do with a boy. I know on my "guessing game" I said boy, but I just did that to stir things up a bit. What would I do with the 18 crates of GIRL CLOTHES that I've saved for our 2nd daughter??? What if this is really a boy?? What would we name him? We have been arguing over one girl name... I love and Adrian doesn't love so much.

Potentially we could find out what we are having on June 20th. We haven't both decided if we want to.... maybe we should??

12 Week 2 Days... Belly Pic

Watch me grow....

Here I am at 12 weeks 2 days.

12 Week Fetal Assessment....

Here is our little sweet pea....

We have ANOTHER stubborn child on our hands...

Thankfully the nurse was able to get the measurements needed for the nuchal fold test before (s)he decided to stand straight up and wave at us for close to 20 minutes. When (s)he decided the waving was done, (s)he layed down on it's stomach and went to sleep!!

Laying on his/her back with leg up

Laying on his/her side - Face forward

Standing up waving!!!

12 Week Appointment....

Today Anika and I went to my 12 week appointment with my GP ~ Dr. Visch. I was hoping that this might help get her in the swing of the baby thing... I was wrong.

We got to the appointment and had to wait a little bit. When we finally got into the room she thought it was pretty cool. She asked me all kinds of questions, about what things were.... like the blood pressure cuff, the ear checker outer light thingy, the stir-ups at the end of the table!!! She asked what the handles were for!!!! How do you explain that one to a 4 1/2 year old????? There were pictures of the spine when it was in good shape and pictures of when osteoperosis (sp??) had set in... great time for me to take advantage of what not drinking milk, eating cheese and yogurt will do to you!! It must have sunk in because she had 2 1/2 glasses of milk tonight at dinner.... and speaking of dinner, any of you who know my child, she has never ever ever liked salad. We have tried time and time again to get her to try Caesar Salad or even Greek Salad but she gag's as soon as she puts the piece of lettuce in her mouth. When doing a few errands after my dr's appointment,
I said "how does chicken caesar salad sound for dinner".....
Anika - "bleh" (usual response).
Me - "you know... you should try it again... you might like it. All your friends like it"
Anika "like who"
Me "Alexandra, Connor, Micah, Angela, Jenelle, Brett, Eric, jand I'm sure some of your friends at daycare like it"
Anika "Daniel doesn't. But I think Nina does"
Me "Will you try it?"
Anika "OK"

Sooooo she tried it... gagged on the first bite, but once we put a piece of chicken on the fork lettuce and cruton, she seemed to not mind it. We might have made progress!! LOL... this is a big thing for us. We eat salad every night with dinner.

Ok.. back to my appointment...

My Dr came in and we chatted a little bit about how I've been feeling and about the nausea. I told her that I was scared to go off the Diclectin and she said not to worry that I can stay on in through out my entire pregnancy if needed. She did suggest that in 2-3 weeks to try cutting back to 1 pill at bedtime and if I felt really crappy that I could take the other one in the morning or at noon. I'm not sure I want to try this or not.... but we'll see how things are in a couple of weeks. She took my blood pressure and it was great (can't remember what it was). She then checked my belly and said she could feel my uterus about an inch above my hip bone. She asked if I have felt any flutters and I said yes. It dawned on me on Saturday that this feeling I have in this one spacific spot is the baby. I am now convinced that I am pregnant, and we are having another child!! The other really good news is that I only gained 1/2 a pound. Yes.. that is right a 1/2 pound since the middle of January!! Woooooooohooooooo!!! So to my Mom that said I was looking a little "thick"... I'm sticking my tongue out at you!!! LOL

My next doctors appointment should be in a month.. at 16 weeks with Dr. Awadalla. I'm really looking forward to seeing him as he will be the doctor that will be delivering this little one.

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.... WAIT!!!

I nearly forgot the best part of my appointment! We got to hear the baby's heartbeat!!!! I thought this would maybe make things click with Anika.. but NOPE!!! When I layed down on the table, Anika sat in the chair BACKWARDS, and COVERED HER EARS. When Dr. Visch asked her if she wanted to come over and hear the baby's heart beat, she said "NOPE"! My Dr looked at me and said, "oh right.. she is in denial" LOL... Sheesh!! This kid is tough!! We laughed because she made it soooo obvious that she didn't want anything to do with this baby.

Well our little sprout has a very strong heartbeat of 160 beats per minute and it wasn't at all hard to find!!

That's about it for now... We have our 1st fetal assessment on Wednesday. I will post pictures if we get them!! I can't wait to see our little sweet pea on screen!

Our Kids...

I took this picture tonight of my children....

To the left is 6 year old Dexter (head only - he's quite camera shy)...

in the middle is our giggle monster, 4 year old Anika,

and to the right is the ever so photogenic 7 year old Chloe....

I love this picture...

Not sure if you can see but Anika is holding

dog treats in her hands to keep them close to her!!!

Whew... What a weekend!!!!

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Hello!

What a great weekend! Although it didn't start off that way, well.. for me anyways (I missed a dose of the diclectin on Wednesday night and unfortunately paid for it for 2 1/2 days.)

Adrian and I were supposed to go for Dinner then to the Moose Game on Friday night and Anika was going for a sleep over at Angela and Janelle's, however, our plans changed when I came home from work - both Anika and I weren't feeling well so we laid down for an hour, or what was supposed to be an hour, and both of us fell asleep... I woke up at 6:45 and Anika at 8:00. I felt like I had been ran over by a truck. I was nauseous beyond comprehension, and felt like I was going to be hanging my head over the toilet all night. Anika had been complaining that her stomach was sore, so we canceled the big sleepover, and just hung around the house.

Saturday started out slow for all 3 of us, but soon it was 11:00 and the doorbell was ringing for Anika to go out and play. We quickly got ready for ballet, and she flew out the door to play at the park with Garrette, Elizabeth, Nikki, Lisa, and whoever else was at the park. We then headed to ballet at noon. After ballet we went for lunch, then did some other shopping. When we got home and Anika's harem was waiting for her, so off she went.

Sunday I got up early (6:30am) and had to go into the office. Not my idea of sleeping in I tell ya!! I got home about 8:30 and Anika was just waking up. Her and I had breakfast together, then cuddled on the couch. For the life of me, I couldn't stay awake... Anika kept trying to pry my eyes open. When Adrian got up, I quickly ran up and went back to bed til about 11:00. Got up just in time to have some lunch, the tackle my income tax expenses - bleh... While working on them, I noticed Anika across the street with her "friends", they are playing soccer. They played soccer then in the sandbox, then on the swings, then tag on the play structure, then it was back home for some snacks... Anika said "Mom.. my friends asked if I could come home and beg you for some snacks??"... LOL... How could I refuse?? So I sent a big bowl of Munchie Mix out to the park, and within minutes Anika was back with the empty bowl... looks like one of them licked it out! They then got their bikes and scooters out, and road up and down the street.... always one of the bigger kids in the front of the pack... and another at the back of the pack!! Then at 5pm (might I add, that I only saw my child 2x since noon.. once for the "snack" and once because she had to pee soooo bad!!), she came in and said they were heading down to the baseball diamond by the church to play a game of baseball!! When Adrian poked his head out to see who was all going, Lisa yelled.. its ok.. I'll take care of her!! Ohhhhh.. I can't wait until Lisa is 12... only a couple more weeks!!! So off she went, and was back right at 5:30 for dinner!! She is beat! Those little legs must have put on 10 miles today. She ate dinner, was in the shower right at 7pm, had her snack at 7:30, and was asleep, snoring by 8:00.

Anika and her friends playing today reminded me of when I was a little girl, living on Minaki Bay. Outside all day long until we got called in for dinner. I think Anika is going to have an amazing summer... she is at such a good age, and the kids all play so well together (Ages 4 years old to 15). Next weekend we will have to get Angela over so she can get into the little group at the park.

I am feeling really good now. Being outside at the park yesterday with Michelle my neighbor felt great. Getting some fresh air was awesome! I hope the rest of the week is good weather and that we continue having it until summer hits. We are waiting for the back yard to thaw so we can rake and figure out what we are going to do with the yard. We want to put an above ground pool in next year, so whatever we do this year will be in the hopes of adding on to our deck and getting the pool next year.

That's about it for now. I have to get lunches ready for tomorrow, and do some laundry before I hit the hay!

Have a great week everyone!!

Happy Belated Easter....

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HAPPY EASTER!!!

Happy Easter Everyone!! We had a great Easter. Sunday morning started off with Anika sleeping in until 8:45!! Yahoooo. Adrian was already up because he has to go to work on Sunday. Aunty Danielle phoned to see if our house was on a sugar high yet, and I think that is what woke our little princess up. She started down the stairs from her bedroom... got down 2 stairs and came back up to our bedroom. She came over to the bed... tapped me on the forehead and said...

Anika: MOMMY!!!
Me: Yeah??
Anika: He's been here already!!!
Me: Who's been here? (like I didn't know what she was talking about!!)
Anika: Him... The bunny.
Me: Him who.. what bunny??
Anika: THE EASTER BUNNY!!!!
Me: How do you know?
Anika: He left eggs on the stairs!!!
Me: He didn't poop on the carpet like the Reindeer did.... did he??
Anikia: No... I don't think so.
Me: Oh good... I hate cleaning poop up.
Anika: Can I go downstairs?? What should I put the eggs in??
Me: Pick them up and put them in your basket... wait.. where is your easter basket??
Anika: Oh no... where is it??
Me: lets go down and look.

Anika had a blast looking for eggs that were filled with little chocolates, and then saw her easter basket! It was filled with Kinder Eggs, Ponytail holders, bracelettes, pens, books, stickers, markers and coloring sheets, a skip it (back in the olden days it was called a lemon twist), and a puzzle that is way to hard for even her MOTHER!!! LOL.... oh well.. can't say we don't do thing together as a family! (Shannon.. you'd love this puzzle!!!)

Easter dinner was at Danielle, Sean and Micah's. She had invited us and her friends (eeeekkkk... I can't remember their name's). Dinner was fantastic. We had turkey, mashed sweet potatoes with basil and garlic (yummm), pea pods, salad and strawberry shortcake with strawberry sauce. Ohhhhh.. I almost forgot.... they had these really really yummy Lindt chocolate balls. MMMMMMMM...

So Easter has come and gone, and its hard to believe that this was the last Easter where it will be the 3 of us. It seems so weird to think that there is going to be another person in our family... sitting at the table. Doesn't it seem weird?? Can you imagine us with another child?? LOL... probably not!

I've been feeling pretty good since I started taking the Diclectin (sp??). I seem to have 3 good days, then a bad day. I'll take that over 7 bad days in a row with no good days. I have added a little variety to my diet. I think it all started last weekend when Friday night we had dinner at Gwen and Marshall's and I ate pork roast (very yummy) and salad - hadn't done that in 8 or so weeks... then Saturday we had dinner with Teri Anne and Mark (yes Teri Anne - we really like him!!!) and the 4 kids - who I might add got along very well... we had a delicous lasagna dinner with Caesar Salad and Garlic Bread.... oh and can't forget the cheesecake, then dinner at Danielle's on Sunday.

I have had a headache that finally subsided tonight that started on Sunday. It actually kept me home from work yesterday... slept most of the day while Adrian, Ray and Geoff went to the bronze medal game of the Women's hockey. Speaking of women's hockey.. we were able to see all the Canada games except for the Gold Metal Game :( All the games were good, but the best had to have been the Canada vs USA on Saturday. We took Anika to 2 of the games, and she said she had no idea that girls played hockey!! HMMMMM... is this the start of her hockey career?? Better get her into skating lessons real soon!!

Well.. thats about it. Its been a busy week. This weekend we are going to the Moose Game on Friday. Anika is going for a sleep over at her friend Angela's house!! Hopefully it goes better than the last time when she decided in the middle of the night that she missed her Mommy and Daddy.... Gwen being her 3rd mother scooped her up and took her into her bed - kicked Marsh out!!

My next appointments are in a week and a half... April 23rd for my 12 week appointment, and April 25th for my fetal assessment.

Hope you all had a great Easter... thinking of you all... talk with you all soon :)

Hugs

K...

On the road to recovery....

Well.. I got prescription for an anti-nausea drug that is especially for pregnant women. I am crossing my fingers that this will work. I did take 1/2 a gravol pill last night and it seemed to work for a bit, so I took another 1/2 this morning and I seemed to be ok. The only problem with this is that its not recommended in pregnancy.

On a brighter note, Anika is our little superstar!! LOL.... She was asked to be part of a radio commercial for Garden City Shopping Center, to go with the print ad she's going to be in. She did such a good job. I wish I had brought my camera so I could have taken some pictures of her in the recording studio with her headphones on, standing in front of the microphone. She did this with a boy (about 12 years old - who acted as her big brother) - named Trevor. Trevor was a pro, helping Anika out. He was so good with her... giving her high fives or thumbs up when she did a good job. I hope I can get a copy of the track to put on my blog so those of you who don't live here or only listen to CJOB can hear it. Once the print ad starts, I will post the picture here. The print ad is going to be on billboards, newspaper ads, and maybe brochures?? She's pretty excited and calls it her "job".... lol.

Ugh....

This nausea is really wearing me down. I thought those wrist bands were helping, then the next day they didn't do the trick. Its 8pm and I'm ready for bed. I can't wait to fall asleep because that is the only time I'm not nauseous.... but then I'm up 3x going pee. I can't win.

Hopefully this gross feeling will be gone in the next few weeks...

Before I sign off.. I will say this... Adrian has been soooo good with me being soooo sick. Its hard because Anika doesn't know that we are having a baby, and it is really hard for her to understand why Mommy is taking so many naps, and is grouchy. I think we'll tell her soon... just don't want to jump the gun.

tata for now ;)

Appointment

We had another great apppointment today. Had no problems seeing the baby's heartbeat. It really is the most wonderful thing in the world to see. Dr. Lee seemed quite happy with what he saw. He is keeping me on the progesterone for 3 more weeks (God help me) as well as the low dose asprin. It must be working ~ even tho I feel soooo crappy.

I remembered Lori wore "seabands" when she was in Winnipeg last summer/fall, so I decided I would give them a try. Well.. who would have guessed that something so cheap would work so well. I felt better almost immediately. I am scared to take them off.

I will post a picture from the ultrasound as soon as I get one of them scanned.

Ta..Ta for now...

Holy Itch....

Well... I have developed a pretty good rash on my belly... It looks like hives. Today is day 6 with it.

If my memory serves me well, I think I had this with Anika. Can't remember when it came but I remember my skin becoming incredibly itchy. I am going to check the side effects of the progesterone... maybe I should be a little more concerned about this.

Speaking of progesterone... I am a walking, talking zombie. Oh.. and moody. I'm not even sure that moody would be a good word to describe me... I think if I ask Adrian he could come up with a few other names at the drop of a hat. I am amazed that I am still awake at 10:26pm. Normally I'm snoring away on the sofa until Adrian wakes me up and I go up to bed. One of the good things about it... I haven't had this good of sleep in ages. Both Adrian and Anika have been really good about everything. They both know when to give me my space and even encourage a little nap now and then. I love it when Anika cuddles in with me in the middle of a Saturday afternoon and we have a little snooze together. Makes being a Mom soooo worth it.

We see Dr. Lee on Thursday for another ultra sound... very excited and hope to see some growth and the heart beat a little stronger.

Until then... scratch scratch scratch

Guessing Game...

Because I feel really good about this pregnancy... I thought it would be fun to play a game.

At the top right hand corner of the blog, you will see a yellow/orange box that says "Expectnet.com ~ online baby pool". Click on it and you can play our baby guessing game. At the end of the pregnancy, once "Sprout" is here, we will award the winner with a prize ;)

6 Week Appointment / Ultra Sound

Well today we went and had a little visit with Dr. Lee at Heartland.

First thing he did after the nurse put us in a room, was poke his head in and say "I think there must be something good to report!!" He came in - confirmed that we were indeed pregnant, and then took us in to the ultrasound room. He took down my dates, lmp and ovulation and came up with our due date of November 6th. This makes us 6 weeks pregnant today :)

He then did the ultrasound and explained every little detail to Adrian and myself. He showed us the gestational sac, the embryo, and then he zoomed in and showed us this little fleck that he called a piece of fluff... and it was flashing... that was the heartbeat!! It was faint.. but we were so happy to see it. We knew going in that it was a possiblilty that we weren't far enough along, so not to be surprised if we didn't see anything. We were extemely happy. He has put me on progesterone for 4 weeks, and baby asprin. I will start my first dose of it tonight.... we'll see what happens.

We go back next Thursday at 9:40am for another ultrasound to see how things are developing and hopefully we will see a stronger heartbeat and maybe even get a picture.

How am I doing??? Well.. lets see.... I'm very tired, have nausea 24/7 that comes and goes, and have been quite crabby. Adrian has been really good about everything. He has picked up the slack around the house without me asking. I am not going to complain about feeling so lousy, because to me those are all really good signs that everything is going as planned.

Oh... and I got my 4th beta level back and it was 9970... which I think is pretty good :)

Must sign off.. gotta hit the pharmacy and the store to buy Anika some new "summer clothes" for a photo shoot tomorrow....

ta...ta...

Update... Little bit late...

Well.. Things didn't exactly go as we had hoped... we lost another pregnancy shortly after I had made my initial post about announcing it back in November.

My GP, Dr. Visch asked if I wanted to see the dr's at the Heartland Clinic, so we decided to see what they had to say.

We were able to get into see Dr. Lee. What a cute little man. He was hopeful... he thought that we were just having a run of bad luck. He told us that we were fertile like rabbits. He told Adrian that he needed to take me home, wine me, dine me and have some fun with me!! Adrian wasn't sure about him... nor was he sure about having to wine me and dine me and have fun with me... was he telling him to do this right now... LOL.

He said he wouldn't do testing until we had another lost pregnancy. Could I handle another one? Ugh... I'm not even sure that I wanted to keep trying for fear of losing another one.

Well.. we decided that we would keep trying, and put everything we had into it. I started temping my next cycle after seeing Dr. Lee, and with the help of my friends at the prengnancy place, Adrian and I are happy to announce that we are PREGNANT AGAIN!!!

I am cautious... I am nervous.... I am paranoid....

I haven't told too many people.

My GP has done my beta hcg counts (blood test) which have been pretty good. Your counts should double every 48 hours.

So far my numbers have been...

13 dpo (days past ovulation) ~ 182
16 dpo (days past ovulation) ~ 655
20 dpo (days past ovulation) ~ 4416
23 dpo (days past ovulation) ~ results on Tuesday, March 13th.

We also are going to see Dr. Lee tomorrow, March 13th to have an ultrasound. We are hoping that we will see a heartbeat.... and finally get our due date - which we think is between November 3-7th.

We are very (cautously) excited... and hoping that Anika will be as excited as we are.

If you ask her if she'd like a brother or sister.. she doesn't, and quite often you will see this expression on her face if anything baby comes up... She's happy with things the way they are... just Mommy, Daddy and Anika.