21 Weeks - Baby #2

How far along - 21 weeks (cannot believe I'm over half way there already!)

Baby is the size of - a carrot

Sleep - I've been sleeping ok at night, waking a few more times to pee now but thankfully I'm falling back asleep with ease.  Starting to have some joint pains at the hips and this sometimes makes getting comfortable at night a little difficult.

Gender - BOY! We decided this week on a name, and I'm super happy about it.  We actually have already caught ourselves referring to him now by name and it just makes visualizing him joining our family so much more real.  For now we have decided to keep the name to ourselves.

Movement - Pretty steady during the day, but I admit that I'm always running around doing things around the house, or chasing Lucas that I often don't really register movement unless I'm taking a minute to relax.  I'm guessing this is most likely the reason that I feel that the baby moves more in the evening when I'm just relaxing on the couch.  We had some pretty intense kicks this weekend, and the hubby got to feel it for the first time.  Its a little difficult since most of the kicks are felt lower above my bladder since he's sitting low like his brother did.

Food Cravings/Aversions - No real cravings, just lots and lots of water, I'm always thirsty it seems.  Biggest aversion is bacon, and any pork meat that may be on the fattier side, I had the same aversion my whole pregnancy with Lucas.  Also I find that something that might sound good in the morning is no longer appealing by the time dinner arrives.

Symptoms - A little bit of nausea in the morning, not to the point of being sick, just feeling a little unsettled.  Some major joint and ligament pain around the hips and legs, which is presenting itself a lot earlier this time.  I'm walking a lot more this time than I did while pregnant with Lucas, since then I was working at a desk, and now my coworker is an energetic toddler.  A migraine maybe once or twice a week, and the worse is that it springs on me swiftly and intensely, and I still haven't found anything that works to keeps them at bay, or at least ease some of the discomfort.

Best moment this week - By far the fact that Gianni got to feel the baby, but also just enjoying some much needed fresh air and playing outside for a change.

What I miss - Some fun fruity summer inspired drinks, this is so unusual for me since I'm not really that much of a drinker to begin with, but lately a little drink in the evening is missed.

No picture this week, have been too busy to look presentable in photos lol

A Spring Weekend

You know when you have those types of weekends that you never want to end (weekends for me are more sacred since it means more family time all three of us), well this past weekend was like that for me.  Despite a sprinkling of rain on Saturday afternoon we spent a lot of time outside, at the park, and Lucas playing with his first set of golf clubs (best $7 I ever spent at Walmart).

We ran some errands, hung out at Chapters, had a great family movie night on Saturday which included popcorn in bed!  Sunday Lucas woke up really really early after an awful night of sleep, and even though I was hoping for a good nap out of him because of it, I took the one hour he slept in stride, and we all just went outside and enjoyed extra time together.  We spent the morning at Ikea scoping out some new finds for a learning/craft corner I'm planning for Lucas' room, and the little man just loves to run around a muck in the children's area.  After a full weekend, we ordered Thai from a new place near our house, and it was easily the curry I have ever had.  The hubby and I capped off the night with a movie in bed, and snuggles before calling it a night.  I cannot wait for the weather to keep warming up, and spending more weekends like this all summer, playing in the backyard, hosting BBQS, and enjoying this time as a family of three (for now lol).

Someone wants to grow up and be just like his daddy!

Bought some cool children safe bath salts that colour the water.  I should have maybe mixed the yellow with another colour since this looks slightly like he's playing in pee!  But he loved it either way.  Bonus was having daddy join us for bath time, usually I take care of this part of his routine solo, but daddy decided to join us tonight!

Made his father so proud with how much he was into this golf set.  With another boy on the way they are close to forming their own foursome!

So excited to see the garlic we planted at the end of last season blooming.  Can't wait to plant the herbs next week, and the rest of the veggies after that!

This is what happy parenting looks like.

Five on Friday

I'm glad to say that Lucas is finally over his nasty cold from last week.  He's back to his usual exuberant self, and his appetite is back ten fold!  We have had a pretty quiet week around here since mother nature decided to rain on us all week keeping us indoors for the most part, but it helped me get some things around the house done that got neglected while we were sick, and rainy weather is seriously the best kind of weather for naps :)

ONE

Monday was the only sunny day we had all week, and after hibernating with sickness last week, both Lucas and I were raring to get out and play.  We hit the park pretty early in the morning and just ran around for hours.  Lucas is all boy when he's at the park, letting out his fearless little nature and always making the most of his time there.  On this particular day he was feeling more adventurous than usual and started climbing the ladder on the playground set.  He was so focused and I held him the entire time, and he was so happy when he got to the top; however I didn't let him attempt it again, there is only so much anxiety I can take while being pregnant!

TWO  

I try everyday to incorporate a learning activity with Lucas, usually they may be letter work sheets, or shape sorting, or colour recognition.  Although there are certain things we do all the time, namely reading (we do a lot of reading in this house, I recently read a study that says only 20 minutes a day with your toddler is enough to make a difference in a child's language and cognitive development, well we easily spend double if not sometimes triple that time reading a day, spread out at different intervals), we also do puzzles, and play with animals (their names and sounds), every day.  These are usually "games" that I will include in Lucas' playtime, and I find that doing them more often, and for less time during the day is easier on his attention span than doing it for a larger block of time.  This week I added a colour matching activity to his usual playtime since he got this puzzle for Easter and is obsessed with it.  He first seemed more interested in just getting the pieces in the slot, but is slowly understanding that they need to be matched in colour, and I usually get a good 15 minutes of learning time with him on this, and even when he gets it wrong I take the time to repeat often the name of the two colours.  So happy Nonna put this is his basket!

THREE

I have a whole post planned for my nursery plan for baby #2, but we decided that we are going with dinosaurs this time around.  We did a pretty traditional sports theme for Lucas, although we will be switching it up with some Star Wars when we move him to a big boy bed this winter.  I'm keeping the wall colour and furniture neutral and plan to add pops of colour starting with these prints from Etsy as the inspiration.  I really want to have a feature on the walls, but still debating how crazy I want to go.

FOUR

Mother's Day is just around the corner, and this year I told the hubby I don't want anything but a morning to myself.  I don't take time for myself that often.  Ok, let's me honest I don't take time for myself pretty much ever.  Its not that I don't have willing babysitters, or that my husband doesn't encourage me to go out and enjoy myself; I just have a hard time doing it.  I like to be there for my son, and letting go of the responsibility and carving me time is something I struggle with.  Being pregnant has made me evaluate the need to have me time every once in a while so this year I just want to go get a pedicure, have a coffee all on my lonesome, browse Chapters in the non kid section and feel free to sit and peruse a book I may want to purchase, maybe even go watch a matinee.  This will probably happen on the weekend after Mother's Day, cause on that day I want nothing else but to be with my little man, the person who gave me my most favourite job yet!

FIVE

I leave you with this too cute for words picture of my little man, who I realized after this picture squints his eyes in photos EXACTLY like his father!  As if they weren't already more alike!

Have a great weekend everyone.

20 Weeks - Baby #2

How far along - 20 weeks

Baby is the size of - a banana

Sleep - Lucas and I were pretty sick so I was sleeping a lot, I would wake up usually at 4:30 with a lugged nose which made sleeping in the early morning a little difficult, but I was rocking 3 hour naps with Lucas in the afternoon, and I don't feel guilty about it one bit.  Caring for a sick child, while being sick and pregnant is not fun at all, and extremely exhausting.

Gender - BOY! BOY! BOY!  I can't even describe how giddy and happy I am to be adding another boy to the family.  I cannot wait to see Lucas with his future brother and all the shenanigans that the future holds for the hubby and I.  Now we are debating names, We fell in love with the name Lucas instantly together, but this time around the hubby and I are at an impasse cause we both love different names.

Movement - After being sick all week I'm guessing the baby was a little lethargic just like his mommy cause there wasn't that much movement, then this past weekend I felt him tons! Some big kicks too!

Food Cravings/Aversions - Still salads with lots of vinegar.  Kind of over the ham sandwich phase, but still loving bread.  Also some meats like chicken are making me a little queasy, except for a sudden craving for chicken wings on Sunday, where I gorged on the hubby's spicy BBQ wings and loved every minute of it.

Symptoms - Still battling awful skin breakouts on my face, and lots of dry skin particularly on my hands and legs, I've been moisturizing like a mad woman but to no avail unfortunately.  Migraines a few times a week, this is a new symptom for me, and they are so awful.  Still battling a little morning sickness sometimes.

Best moment this week - I would have to say finally seeing Lucas feel better on Thursday, and seeing him play at his nonni's house and back to his usual playful self.  It is so sad to see your child sick and not being able to do anything for them but smother them with extra cuddles.

What I miss - Absolutely nothing this week!

We are hoping to enjoy some of the nice weather this week after being in hibernation all last week!

Five on Friday

Its been a rough and amazing few weeks around here.  We had some great highs, but in the midst of it all my poor little man got his first big cold ever.  So here's how things have been going...

ONE

Things started really great last Thursday when at my anatomy scan we found out we are having another boy.  I had been feeling girl throughout this pregnancy because the symptoms have been so different this time around, but then on the morning of my appointment I had this overwhelming feeling that the news would be the other way around.  So when the technician showed me the clear indication that indeed I was expecting another energetic little man I was just so happy and excited to share the news with the hubby and Lucas.  Everything looked healthy at the ultrasound and now I am in the throes of planning a dinosaur themed nursery for my new little one, and debating names with the hubby.

TWO

On Thursday Lucas started getting really sick, and by Saturday he was just not his usual energetic and playful self.  So Easter turned out to be kind of a bust for us this year, we had headed to my parents earlier in the day and he passed out for a nap at 11:30 am which is so unusual for him, after spending the day miserable, constantly cleaning his runny nose, and nothing making him happy we decided to leave the festivities early and take the little guy home.  Sunday we skipped dinner at my in laws to keep Lucas indoors and just alternating between advil and tylenol, along with some homeopathic remedies I have at home to try and bring down his fever.  We ended up doing Chinese take out, and although the circumstances were kind of sad, it was nice to just spend the day relaxing with my boys. I snapped this adorable pic of him in the only time he was happy watching my sister's birds.

THREE

Unfortunately I got sick at the beginning of the week too so Lucas and I have been spending our days hibernating at home not wanting to risk getting worse especially with the temperamental weather we have been having.  Although its been fairly sunny its been pretty windy and cool in the mornings when we would usually go for our walks.  Lucas' fever finally broke Monday, but it makes me so sad to see him so under the weather and so lethargic, not even wanting to play with his trucks.  I snapped this pic of him on Tuesday, so cute but oh so sad eyes.  I just needed to document for his father that he was actually eating fishies, since he's been sick eating has not been high on his list, giving this mommy so much anxiety.

FOUR

Yesterday was finally a good day, and I started to see a big change in Lucas and myself.  I feel like we are at the tail end of this awful cold, and both mine and his appetite seem to be back.  My craving for vinegar took a back seat this week, and yesterday I gorged on salad with my fave new condiment sweet pickled red onions.  I had these at my mother in laws a few weeks ago, and the hubby made three jars last week.  They are divine and the perfect addition to salads and sandwiches.  Also my little man was actually playful yesterday, and I just love these photos of him.

FIVE

Yesterday was my wedding anniversary, and this year besides the fact that we have been a house full of sickies, we had decided to keep it really low key.  We made a lovely steak dinner for the three of us, and it was soooo good, and bonus was seeing Lucas enjoy his food again.  After putting Lucas to bed we just enjoyed a home date night with tv and dessert just the two of us, and appreciating everything we have in our lives, and making plans for the future.  I love this quote I found online, it perfectly describes the humour the hubby and I have in our marriage.  No one makes annoying me as cute as that hubby of mine!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Four Years

Today is my wedding anniversary!  Four years ago I had one of the best days of my life (it is now outranked by the day I gave birth to our wonderful son).  We had a small wedding by Italian/Portuguese standards with 140 of our closest family and friends, and it was a day full of love, laughter, and just a downright amazing party celebrating the beginning of our lives together.

On this day four years ago we pledged to love each other through sickness and health, stand by each other through good and bad times, and to never waiver in our love for one another; even when the going gets tough sometimes.  I can honestly say that four years later, living and building a home together, making our own family together with the arrival of our son, and the soon to be arrival of our second bundle of joy, I love my husband more today.  He has held my hand through some really rough moments, shown me that there is no storm he would not weather by my side, and made me laugh more times than I can remember.  He is a worthy opponent in the best of arguments, but we share the same philosophy of never going to bed angry and after cooling down talking through our disagreements.  He makes me a better person, and now I could never imagine a life without him in it; he gave me the greatest gift in our children, and he is the best partner in all things.

Thank you dear husband for being my best friend, my partner in crime, for being an amazing father, and for always standing by my side.  Life is better with you, and I am truly blessed to be sharing it with you.

Its a...

Sorry for the delay in announcing our news from last week's gender ultrasound but Lucas and I have been really sick since Friday and it was probably the worse cold Lucas has ever had.

On to our news.


Baby #2 is a........

BOY!!!!

We are so over the moon to be adding another little mister to our family, and I simply cannot wait to see Lucas grow up with a brother!