September, 2008:

In the past month Jacob has fallen in love with salad and when its on the table he must have more, more, more salad!   I’m not sure how he got so interested in it but he absolutely loves it.  If I had to fetch a guess I would say its because we’ve been having it on our table a lot recently and when he saw us eating it he just had to have some too.  Many people told us that he’d never “get into salad” until a much older age because of the texture of the lettuce but it seems that Mr. Jake doesn’t have a problem with it at all so he is allowed to have an unlimited amount of salad if he desires.  I think by far his favorite salad is caesar salad or anything with a creamy dressing (like ranch), however today Mike’s mom gave him some salad with a spicy italian dressing on it and he loved that too!  He’ll even do what is very hard for me to do…eat salad without any dressing on it!  I think over the next little while we’re going to experiment with a variety of different salad toppings to see just how interested he can get!  Yummy!

We’re at the halfway point!  Sweet!  As of tomorrow I officially have less time left to be pregnant then I’ve already been and that’s pretty darn exciting if you ask me.  It’s been a busy week full of appointments and my return to work so I have been holding onto most pregnancy related information for this post.

Last Thursday I have my anatomical scan ultrasound which I updated about in my post called the BIG ultrasound earlier in the week!  If you recall, everything went wonderful there but we are going back on September 24th for a re-scan due to some visibility and positionning issues.  On Friday I had my monthly pre-natal appointment which was with my regular family doctor since we are still doing shared care and I won’t see my OB until around 28 weeks pregnant.  Overall it was a really great appointment which not much exciting to report…The last time I had seen her (July) I had dropped about 17 pounds and this time I had ganied 2 pounds since I had last seen her (darn vacation and yummy food) so I am still at -15 pounds weight gain for this pregnancy.  Now, despite this negative weight loss I feel absolutely huge in comparison to pre-pregnancy and I wish I could just feel like I was -15 pounds but alas it is not in the cards.  My blood pressure which usually sits between 125/85 and 130/90 was doing better then ever this month at 120/80 so hooray for me and managing to keep that under control…my urine was perfect with no protein or sugar and I go back to see her at 24 weeks (October 10th) at which point she’ll give me the requisition form for my gestational diabetes test (blech).  After that I’ll be heading over to my OB’s care but I will continue to see her once a month for morale and to talk about the anxiety of delivery.  I know I’ve said it about a hundred thousand times before but I absolutely love my family physician and feel completely comfortable with her.

The baby continues to grow and this week is as big as a cantaloupe!  Wow!  We’re really making some progress now!

I’ve got to say that I’ve been feeling pretty good lately aside from the evening exhaustion and lack of night time sleep.  I rarely feel nauseated anymore and the back pain that I was experiencing previously seems to have disappeared….thank goodness!  The lack of sleep that I’ve been experiencing stems from not being able to find a comfortable position to sleep in and the evening exhaustion comes from not being able to sleep well at night so it’s obvious the two are working hand in hand against me.  I am trying different sleeping positions at night and hoping to find something that works for me but so far I’ve been quite unsuccessful.  I am not really having any pregnancy cravings and continue to try and eat relatively healthy throughout my pregnancy with no caffeine and no medications….I’m quite impressed with how I have been handling migraine headaches without any meds!  Yay me!

Well that’s really it stalkers bloggy people! Nothing else to report!  Onward towards the 6th month of pregnancy now….

This week we also included weekend breakfast!

Sunday – Meatloaf (since we didn’t eat it the previous week), Baby Potatoes and Cauliflower
Monday – Chicken and Vegetable Quesidilla’s , Garden Salad
Tuesday – Baked Macaroni and Cheese, Cold Veggie Tray (baby carrots, cucumber)
Wednesday –     Grilled Steaks, Mashed Potatoes, Peas and Corn
Thursday – Italian Herbed Chicken over Whole Wheat Spaghettini, Tossed Green Salad
Friday – Baked Boston Blue Fish over White Rice, Steamed Broccoli
Saturday – Pepperoni and Vegetable Pita Pizza’s with Caesar Salad

Saturday Breakfast – Pancakes and Fresh Fruit!
Sunday Breakfast – Egg, Sausage Rounds and Cheese on Whole Wheat English Muffins, Fresh Fruit

Mike and I don’t really talk about names for the new baby right now and I think that shocks a lot of people.  I’m not sure why but a lot of people have this idea that we should already be seriously thinking about names for the baby and truth be told Mike and I are just….not.  Once and a while we will throw out a name and ponder it and then put it into the back of our minds, stored away for future use.  We’ve decided this time around to keep all of our names thoughts from here on out private because we just want it to be a very special day when the baby comes around and we figure announcing the name on that day is a good way to do it.  In addition, we really don’t want to be accused of “stealing” “pilfering” or “taking” anyone else’s baby name idea so when people make suggestions or ideas I just nod my head and smile and don’t reveal if its one of the ones we’re thinking about or not.    Truthfully, I’m of the belief that names are available on a first come first served basis and that its totally ok to have two names in a circle of friends or family that are the same.  Recently, I mentionned a name I liked to Mike and without hesitation or complaint he responded with “I like that” and that doesn’t happen very often so it’s definitely one of those “stored in the back of the head” names.  We have the added bonus of getting to consider names for both genders since we dont’ know the sex of our little peanut!  I think we’ll probably get real serious about name selection around the 30 week mark! 

This morning at 7am it was the registration time for online and phone registration with Parks and Recreation programs.  We were up at 6am so we figured we were good to go and that we would definitely get Jacob into the classes we had selected for him!  At 6:57 I clicked on the registration link hoping that it would be up a few minutes early but it still had the notice saying that registration would begin at 7am so I waited until exactly 7am, clicked the link again and right away I was told that the server was full and that I should continue trying again.  Grr!  I got out the phone and started calling the registration office while I continued to click on the link, hoping desperatly that we’d get the two classes we definitely wanted Jacob to take (swimming and skating).  Eventually Mike got on the phone making the calls and was on our desktop computer trying to get in as well….over an hour later Mike shouted from the bedroom…”I’m IN!” and I raced in so that the two of us could get the classes we wanted for Jacob.  Our first priority was swim class since he takes private lessons and those fill up very fast at the pool we prefer so we clicked into it and HOORAY the class was still available!  After putting that class into our shopping cart (yeah it’s a shopping cart….ha) we quickly booted to the skating section and looked down to the arena near our house to find out that the Parent and Tot learn to skate class was FULL!  NO!  Jacob was supposed to take this class with his Papa!  I was really mad but we went ahead and put Jacob onto the waiting list hoping for a cancellation.  We decided to go through the other arenas but most of them were also full….finally we found one about a 20 minute-30 minute drive away and we booked Jacob into that one knowing that we could get our money back if Jacob was offered a spot in the class near our house!  I sure hope Jacob’s Papa is ok with the distance driving! I think he will be but we had no way of checking in with him since Nana and Papa are in Europe for another 2 weeks!  Darnit!

We started doing a family meal plan this week to help with food waste and to help keep us focused on healthy eating and I’ve got to say this is really working out fabulously for our family!  We are on day 5 of our new planned out meal life and I gotta say we’re really loving it and following through!  Mike and I realized this last night as we were all sitting around the table for our nightly dinner routine that we when we make a different meal every single night we have some leftovers that accumulate in the fridge so we’ve decided that one day out of the week we’ll put leftovers up on the menu and it will most likely be a night when I have to work so that it’s easier on Mike.  The other night we sat down and focused on making the menu for next week and went through the items that we already had in the house since we had some meat and canned goods stored up and we wanted to use them! I’m really impressed with next weeks schedule and I can’t wait to post it tomorow night!

A lot of pregnant people refer to the Anatomical scan usually performed between weeks 18-20 as the BIG ultrasound because often times they find out the gender of their baby!  Today was technically our big ultrasound except that we did not find out the gender of the little peanut in my belly.  It was a pretty normal scan just like all the others except this time the woman who did the ultrasound spoke so softly I could barely make out the things she was saying.  From time to time I could make out a word or two here or there like “posterior placenta” or “heartbeat” but aside from that she was really murmuring her measurements into the microphone which ticked me off because I actually enjoy hearing those little things.  The baby was laying completly straight up and down in my stomach with its head down…I find this very intriguing since Jacob flipped head down at 18 weeks when I was pregnant with him and he was always in that position up until the day he was born; I wonder if this baby will be the same way.  The ultrasound tech said we needed to come back in two weeks since she was unable to get all the measurements she needed so we have another one scheduled on September 24th!  I think I will be all ultrasounded out by the time this baby makes her/his appearance!!  I think the coolest part of the ultrasound was when Mike, my Mom and Jacob came in to see the baby hanging out in my belly! So, that’s it bloggy folks…nothing too exhilirating since we don’t have any BIG news to report!

I know a lot of people dont’ agree with this but I really have a strong feeling that completing household chores is a part of living in a family and so I’ve been putting a lot of thought recently into whether or not we would be offering an allowance to our children for doing chores around the house.  Obviously, I’m not prepared at this point to make a decision but what I am feeling right now is that each child will be responsible for maintaining their bedroom in good order, making their bed and other helpful stuff around the house like setting the table, or helping dry dishes (when they are older), etc.  There will be other chores that would be provided as extra pay chores which would be more in depth things that need to get done around the house so that the kids do have an oppotunity to learn the value of earning money. The important part of this idea is that the children will need to save a certain percentage of the money they earn and then keep a portion for themselves to spend on whatever they want.  I really have a good feeling about this and feel it will teach them how to save money and plan for purchasing the things they really want….even if its just a chocolate bar at the corner store or something of that sort.  I think it’s a fair deal for kids to learn budgeting and saving so I’m really leaning towards this idea but obviously we have a lot more time to think about it and if anyone has any ideas about things that have worked for their family please share!  I really feel that its important that the kids have no expectations (except saving the certain percentage) for what they need to spend the money on and that we would provide money for things they NEED at our discretion.

Recently we’ve really been inviting Jacob to get involved in helping out around the house and he’s really taken to this idea!  He loves loves loves to set the table and help clear his place afterwards (thanks lizzy for the idea!) and I’m really going to go with this and invite him to help us at dinner every day!  We’ve always made him responsible (with parent help at this age) for tidying up his room!  It’s fun to help him learn new tasks and really exciting to see how much he actually enjoys it!

Jacob seems to have a keen interest in maps and geography in general.  Mike and I have a large laminated world map and Jacob loves to pull it out and look at the countries and asks us “Which one next?” after we tell him the name of a country.  The first country that he learned was Canada and very easily he was able to find it on the map a few days later when we asked him if he remembered where it was.  Slowly over time we’ve taught him a few more locations when he’s asked and the other day when he pulled it out I was surprised to see that his memory was remarkable!  Without much problem he was able to locate Canada, United States of America, Greenland, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, China and Russia.  I confess that I was really shocked to find that he had absorbed all of the fun times with the map and was recalling the locations.  When we ask him now and then where one of the countries is that he knows he occasionally gets Greenland and Australia mixed up but more times then not he is completely accurate.  I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with this skill that he has because he’s just a toddler and he has a lot of years of learning behind him but at the same time if he continues to be interested and asks us where more countries are I feel ok with letting him know a few more now and then.  I guess every child has a different area where they excel in school, perhaps Jacob’s will be geography!

Today I am 19 weeks pregnant!  Hooray!  While I was on vacation from work the week seemed to go by really slowly but I think with me going back to work this week things will start to pick up again.  I’m not sure if it was the vacation or the fact that I am more deep into my second trimester now but I am really starting to feel better.  Slowly but surely I’ve been feelin the nausea slip away (knock on wood) and I’ve been having more energy to do things that I was putting off during the first 17 weeks of being pregnant.  I haven’t thrown up in in near three weeks which is pretty decent and the dry heaving issue I was experiencing seems to have slowed drastically which leaves me feeling pretty content at this point!  Anything is better then what I was experiencing between weeks 7-14…those were definitely the worst days.  As you may recall I spoke last week about some back pain I was experiencing but it seems to be alleviated because I can’t really complain about it this week; what a relief!  The only thing that I really can complain about right now is that I’ve been having a lot of headaches which I’ve been able to manage without pain medicine!  YAY ME!  I feel really proud of myself when I can do that!  Oh and the heartburn!  We can’t forget the heartburn!

This week the baby is as big as a mango! Must be a really big mango!  LOL

The cool thing that has started happening this week is that I’ve finally started to feel movements from the baby that I’m certain are the baby.  I know they are just rolls and not kicks or punches but I am really able to know when its happening because of my pregnancy with Jacob.  I’m certain I’ve felt them from time to time over the past couple of weeks but now I’m feeling it about one or two times a day which is great since I didnt’ feel Jacob until around 24-26 weeks pregnant!  Darn anterior placenta!  I’m really happy that I have a posterior placenta this time around.

Last weekend babies r us was having a baby sale so we went and picked up a few items that we needed for this baby.  We got a Joovy Caboose Sit and Stand stroller which will be perfect for the baby and Jacob and it was nearly a hundred dollars off the regular price!  I was really surprised and excited when my mom offered to buy it for us!  My mom also got us a new infant to toddler rocker (bouncy chair thingy) since the last one from Jacob was REALLY well used and we decided when we were putting it away that we would get a new one for a second baby!  It was regular price 59.99 and it was on sale for 20.00 so HOORAY for the great deal mom got on it!  We also picked up a new fisher price play mat because the one we had with Jacob ended up having a bad battery acid leak and definitely needed to be replaced for a new baby.  We decided to get a diaper genie this time since the baby will have its own room and we really detested the smell that came from the diaper pail we used last time so we picked it up when it was on sale and three refills for it which were only five dollars each!  The last thing that we picked up was a case of size 1/2 diapers from Costco because diapers were on sale this week!  I was pretty impressed with our budget savvy purchases!

So there you have it!  That’s my 19 week pregnancy update!  This week we have an ultrasound on Thursday and a prenatal appointment on Friday!  Wish me and the peanut good luck!