A baby has a special way of bringing joy to every single day

For those that missed it in the last post, I added a subtle (or maybe not-so-subtle) clue to some big news. Next March, we will be welcoming baby number two to our family. I’m still really early (I will be 5 weeks on Monday), so we’re not officially announcing anything even to family for a week or two, but I can’t keep a secret like this all to myself and I decided everyone I know who reads my blog I don’t mind knowing. (And those of you I don’t know, can’t tell anyone I do know anyway. ) Plus, this way I can write my thoughts and such here too. I’m pretty optimistic nothing will go wrong, but realistically I know it can happen. Once my mom knows, the rest of the world might as well know too, which is why I’m waiting to tell.

We were a bit surprised it happened so quickly this time, since it took quite a bit longer than with Meredith, but thrilled too.  I’ve always wanted an early spring baby. The only problem with the timing is that my first-choice midwife is off in March. But I really love my second-choice one too (and in fact, until my first-choice one helped a friend recently with her birth, it was very close about which I actually preferred) and she is available. My first appointment isn’t until mid-September.

My only symptoms so far are some minor cramps and hunger. I’m hungry earlier than last time, but that’s not surprising considering I’m nursing too this time. I read on one site that I should be getting about 3300 calories a day. I’m going to try and follow the Brewer’s Diet pretty closely right from the beginning, since I had blood pressure problems last time that the diet really helped. I bet I’ll be really tired of eggs and chicken by the end of this pregnancy. The only problem is we’re thinking of going dairy-free for a while because Kris is definitely allergic, and we’re wondering if Meredith is too. I don’t like soy as a substitute for milk. I may just not worry about going dairy-free myself until the baby is born, and limit the amount of dairy Meredith gets for now.

I love the expression on her face in this picture.

Ogo Pogo in Kelowna

Playing on the beach in Kelowna.

More beach fun with her cousins and uncle.

The sun was in our eyes.

If this picture looks familiar, it's because I posted a very similar picture a couple of weeks ago. I find them lying together like this all the time.

Sshhh…

I’ve thought several times before that we were nearing the end of needing diapers, but it’s always ended up being a phase and we go back to needing diapers full time. However, it’s never been quite like this before. It’s usually been that she won’t have accidents as long as she’s naked, or she will signal for poos and not pees or pees and not poos, or she will signal if we’re not busy doing other things.

All of a sudden, just in the last two days, Meredith is using the potty almost 100% of the time, regardless of whether she has a diaper on or not, or whether we’re busy doing something else. The only accident she has had was while we were at the park. (She also hasn’t been dry over night, though she’s only peed once both nights.) She’s signalling very clearly; there is no second guessing whether she’s actually needing to pee or not. She’s also interrupting herself in the middle of activities to go find her potty and sit on it.

I would love to be done with diapers for now. Technically, for an EC’d child, I think she’s potty training a bit “late”, but considering how little effort it has been for us, it doesn’t bother me at all. Even though she’s still in diapers, we use far less diapers during the days than many families I know. And I’m betting she will be completely potty trained (at least during the day) before she’s two, at the rate she’s going.

I made this video for Kris for Father’s Day. Originally I had wanted to colour correct some of the pictures, add more captions, maybe make some of the transitions a bit better, but Kris’ iMac crashed around the time I wanted to work on it and so it ended up being a couple of days late as it is.

This last month we’ve really gone off the meal plan bandwagon. What with Kris’ surgery, lots of travel, Meredith teething, and just general laziness lack of motivation, it hasn’t been happening. But, I feel like we haven’t been offereing Meredith enough variety and she’s getting to that age where access to a variety of foods is going to be really important. She still doesn’t eat much, but she’s growing and healthy and happy so I’m not too worried about it. And while sometimes it feels like she doesn’t eat very healthy, other days it is driven home that I’m incorrect thinking that. Over the weekend we went to two parties. At the first there was chocolate torte and cupcakes. I got a big dish of the torte and two spoons and offered to share it with her, and she took one bite then got up and went to get herself some strawberries. When it was time for cupcakes, she picked one out, then handed it to me without even a bite and went and got grapes and rice crackers instead. I should have got a picture; almost every other person there was chowing down on cupcakes and she had a plate of fruit and crackers. She also ate some cheese and meats. At the second party she ate a little bit of hot dog and some chips and a cherry tomato. Again, no interest in the cake that was there.

I spent this morning going through our cupboards and the flyer for the grocery store and have put together a meal plan for the next week and a half or so. I kept it mostly really simple, so it would be easy to start up again. I have a few recipes for next time that I want to try, but this time I just stuck with things I know we all like and that are simple to make. I haven’t included the veggie with a lot of these recipes, because that will depend on what’s looking good at the store.

Here’s the list, in no particular order:

• BBQ steak with bbq baked potato and mushrooms
• Shepherd’s pie
• Sticky chicken
• BBQ salmon
• Tilapia with homemade fries (sweet potato and regular)
• Pasta with mushrooms and capers in balsamic reduction
• Ham and butternut squash with apples and maple syrup
• Spaghetti with homemade red sauce

I came across a contest to win a sling and I get a bonus entry for posting it here.

Sarah posted on her blog last month about a running program she’d started and been having success with. I used to run a lot. A good friend and I used to run 5k every other day, and I won some medals and ribbons in city-wide races. But it’s been over a decade since I’ve really run much, and I feel like I’m pretty out of shape. Granted, we walk together almost every night, even in the winter when it’s rainy, and in the summer Meredith and I usually go on one or two walks a day too. But it’s different.

I keep telling myself I want to start running again and get into shape like I used to be. I’ve never really had the motivation. Now that I have a dog who I can take out into public during daylight hours though, I feel like that could be motivation. I want to do agility with her too, and so we both need to be in pretty good shape for that. She came from a foster home with three other dogs, and her foster home in Arkansas had other dogs to play with too, so I want to make sure to keep up the activity and exercise now.

My biggest hesitation is that we are wanting to have another baby. When I ran a lot as a teen, I had very sporadic periods and had very low body fat. I’m not sure if that’s something I should worry about over ten years later when trying to get pregnant again? My cycles aren’t consistent even now though. Also, what if I got pregnant in week three or four or something. Is it okay to keep up a program like that while pregnant? I’m sure eventually as I got big and sore I would have to stop it, but I assume that as long as I’m comfortable and not pushing myself it would be okay to keep going, albeit maybe increasing the times at a slower pace. I was so tired and sick last time though, if it’s the same this time I might just lose all motivation to keep going anyway lol.

I sort of started this Monday night, though I keep forgetting to bring a stop watch with me and have just been counting slowly in my head. Two minutes is surprisingly not too bad at a time, though my legs feel a little bit jelly-like the rest of the evening. We have training classes on Wednesday nights, so my schedule will be modified. Maybe Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. I did some more tonight. We walk to a park in a big field every night with Meredith, so I’ve been doing laps around the field while Kris is on the park with Meredith.

Sorcha doesn’t really heel yet, but we have a regular training leash and a *gasp* flexi for her. I know flexis get a lot of bad rap, but I’ve pretty much only been using the flexi when Meredith isn’t nearby. We decided when she’s on a regular leash she needs to know not to pull and (eventually) to heel, but when she’s on the flexi she’ll get more freedom. So I’ve been putting her on the flexi while I’m running and letting her run around with it. She can only go as far as the end of the flexi so she still has to pay attention to me and which direction I’m going, so I think it will be good practice for agility when she will have to pay attention to me while still running some distance away.

Anyway, here’s the program as written from Runner’s World:

Your 10-Week Training Plan

The following running schedule was created by Budd Coates, Health Promotions Manager at Rodale Inc., who instructs a corporate beginning running program. Coates has taken nonrunners and, in 10 weeks, helped them reach their goal of running the 3.5-mile Chase Corporate Challenge.

Before you start with this schedule, get your legs ready with eight days of walking: walk for 20 minutes a day for the first four days, then increase to 30 minutes a day for four more days. Now you’re ready to begin with week 1.

Each week of the program, do your run/walk workouts on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, and take Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday off.

10-WEEK TRAINING SCHEDULE

Week 1
Run 2 minutes,
walk 4 minutes.
Repeat 5 times.

Week 2
Run 3 minutes,
walk 3 minutes.
Repeat five times.

Week 3
Run 5 minutes,
walk 2.5 minutes.
Repeat four times.

Week 4
Run 7 minutes,
walk 3 minutes.
Repeat three times.

Week 5
Run 8 minutes,
walk 2 minutes.
Repeat three times.

Week 6
Run 9 minutes,
walk 2 minutes.
Repeat twice, then
run 8 minutes.

Week 7
Run 9 minutes,
walk 1 minute.
Repeat three times

Week 8
Run 13 minutes,
walk 2 minutes.
Repeat twice.

Week 9
Run 14 minutes,
walk 1 minute.
Repeat twice.

Week 10
Run 30 minutes.

Note: After completing week 9, if you feel tired, repeat this week of training before moving on to week 10.

Meet Spice.

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Or at least that’s the name she had in foster care. We’re still debating between Sorcha and Shiloh, though right now I’m leaning towards Sorcha. Feel free to add your vote in the comments. She came from Mosaic Rescue, has already had a litter of puppies though she’s likely not far out of puppyhood herself, and was on “death row” at the shelter she was in before the rescue picked her up.

She is a sweetheart. She seems to love everyone she’s met so far and isn’t phased by loud, rambunctious two year olds. She had never been with cats before but seems to be taking to ours pretty well, though we still keep a close eye on them when he’s not on his cat post. Unlike with Tipsy, she actually pays attention when he hisses or swats and knows to back down. We’re trying to keep the interactions really positive so that there is no need for hissing or swatting, but it’s happened a couple of times.

We’ve started obedience classes with her already, and they’re going well. We’ve only done one class, but she seems to pick everything up quickly. I started working on walking nicely on the leash with her too. I was going to wait until it came up in class, but it’s way too hard to walk with a two year old and a dog who’s pulling. I’ve trained dogs to heel before. It’s actually coming along not too badly. She doesn’t necessarily always heel yet (though she’s gotten pretty good at home with no distractions), but she doesn’t pull on the leash nearly as much as she used to. I brought her to Costco and sat outside with her while Kris and Meredith ran in, and she wasn’t at all phased by the loud carts rattling by and the people walking around.

She did snap at a couple of dogs the other night, which worries me a little bit, especially since the rescue we got her from told us she loves other dogs and plays really nicely, besides being a bit pushy sometimes. The trainer we have brought her to said she can see a little bit of aggression in how she interacts and watches other dogs, but that if we keep on top of it and show her how she should react it probably wouldn’t become a problem. She said there’s a difference between an aggressive dog (our last dog), and a dog who can be aggressive at times, and that the latter often just needs to learn how to play and greet dogs properly. The other night, when she did snap at a couple, I think it was just an overwhelming evening for her. There was a huge, very rude dog that bounded up to her a few times and then bounded away. Then another rude tiny dog who came yapping up to her and started snapping. She snapped back at that one. There were a few other dogs who she sniffed noses with and was okay with. Then we were walking home and there was a dog on a leash. At that point, I could tell she was feeling a bit overwhelmed and so had planned to hang back and not have her meet that dog, when I realized the other lady was coming towards us wanting them to meet. I thought to myself that I was probably just being paranoid since our last dog was so aggressive, and walked towards her for them to meet. But I know that I was tense and I’m sure she sensed that, and she sniffed noses for a minute and then snapped at him with no provocation. Since then though, she’s met a few dogs and walked by them with no problems. Our neighbour’s dog kind of attacked her last week (she wasn’t hurt, thankfully), but I hope that didn’t make her fearful at all. I’m going to talk with our trainer about it when I see her next, since she specializes in aggression. I’m not worried yet, but I certainly don’t want to do anything wrong to escalate it to the point that it does become a problem. I wish there were more enclosed dog parks around here, so I could find a quiet time to take her and let her play with just a few dogs at a time.

Luckily though, any aggression or pushiness she has is towards dogs only. She is wonderful with Meredith, and Meredith is in love with her. I often find them curled up on the couch together, or playing outside, or Meredith walking around the house with the dog following along behind. We’ve had people come to the door and she greets them quite happily. She does jump up somewhat, but we’re working on that and she’s getting much better.

I am going through another one of those periods of time where I have so much I want to write about, but not enough time. So I end up writing nothing instead and getting even more behind! So I’m going to try and write a short recap, and come back later and write more about anything I feel like saying more about.

First, Meredith is doing wonderfully. She seems to be going through a learning spurt right now. It seems that she says a new word we haven’t heard her say before every day. She has so many new abilities, she’s even counting a little bit and seems to recognize some letters and colours. Though we don’t drill her on any of these things, so I couldn’t say for sure. I think she is on the verge of potty training. If we leave her diaperless, she will often go and sit on the potty of her own accord to pee or poo. With diapers on, she still doesn’t signal before she goes, but we’re definitely getting there. She has started sitting her doll on the potty or toilet and making our “psss” sound for peeing though, and then pointing and clapping for the doll. It’s really cute.

She finally got her eighth front tooth last week, and I think she may still be teething this week. She’s nursing pretty much constantly. It’s actually really starting to wear on me. She was up every hour or two through the last couple of nights nursing (prior to that she slept 6-8 hours in a row most nights) and it seems during the day I can’t sit down to relax without her wanting to come join me and nurse. Don’t get me wrong, I love our nursing relationship, but it is hard some days. And while most days if I don’t feel like nursing at the time she asks she is okay accepting food or a drink or play and cuddling as a substitute, these last couple of days she hasn’t been at all. I remind myself that there is a reason, whether I’m aware of that reason or not, and that the times she needs it most are not the times to refuse her. We’d been discussing how she’d gotten tall and thin, so it’s possible that it’s because she is growing out now, or maybe it’s just all the learning she’s been doing recently.

We went to Calgary for a visit with family a few weeks ago, and it went really well. My parents have been separated since the beginning of April, and it was obviously a good thing that should have happened years ago. They are both so much happier and more pleasant to be around. The trip was a bit of a whirlwind, trying to fit in so many people in just 7 days. We drove both ways, though I think until Meredith (and any other children we have in the future) are a bit older, we may fly from now on. The ride wasn’t actually that bad either way, but twelve hours stuck in a car, even with breaks, is a lot to ask of anyone, let alone a two year old. We did do most of the driving at night, but even still.

Now, we are currently dogless. We left Tipsy in Calgary with my mom. Part of me is sad and I miss her, but I have to be honest and say that mostly I feel relieved that she’s in a home where she seems much much happier, and is doing so much better. I volunteered at the SPCA for seven years in my teens and used to scorn anyone who would rehome a dog, so I never thought I would do it. I don’t think I would still ever dump an animal at the SPCA where I don’t know what would happen to it or where it would go though. Reactions when I tell people range from “It’s about time, that dog was neurotic”, to “I wondered when you were going to find her a new home”, to “When are you getting another one?”. lol, unfortunately for her, it doesn’t seem she was well thought of around here, which is too bad because she is a very sweet, friendly little dog when she’s comfortable and happy. Anyone who knows her really well actually really loves her. But she also had neurological problems and fear aggression, and because of the two combined wasn’t very trainable in some ways. We got her from a breeder who was ill, and she was the only puppy in her litter, and so for the first 6 months of her life she grew up completely unsocialized.

We didn’t walk Tipsy except at night because she was aggressive and stressed with other dogs or people around. We are the type of dog owners who want to be able to give a dog an inch and not worry about it. We want to be able to let a dog run ahead on the leash and sniff sometimes, come up on the furniture, go first out the door, sleep in our bed, get free love, etc. We are the type of owners who have a dog to be his companion and friend, not his master. Tipsy was the type of dog who if you gave her an inch, she’d take a mile, and then try and take more. We had to make sure she knew we were dominant, or she would get stressed and nervous. When new people visited, she often had to be locked in her kennel or she’d be a nervous wreck. There’s so much more I could say about her, but I don’t want to go into all the reasons we had for giving her to my mom, suffice it to say that she is doing wonderfully there, in a quieter home with a very friendly, submissive dog, and it really makes any guilt and heartache we had over the decision dissipate. My mom had a dog pass away two summers ago, and her current dog has been in mourning ever since. He loves having another dog around too and Tipsy is learning about doggy communication from him, so it’s a good partnership.

All that being said, we (and by that, I mean mostly me, though Meredith has gone looking for her a few times) really miss having a dog around. But I’m being picky about any new dog we get. He/she has to be friendly, good with kids, confident, trainable, friendly… Because I stay at home, I have lots of time to spend with a dog, but I want to spend that time having fun and going for walks, not constantly correcting behaviours or trying to change bad habits. We weren’t really in a rush, but I put out a few feelers to some local rescue groups, and as it turns out we may end up adopting one sooner rather than later.

Kris got his tonsils out last week. He’s been in a lot of pain this week. He had obstructive sleep apnea, and neither of us were getting much sleep because of it. It caused other problems too, like he has always had problems breathing through his nose. He went to an ENT who recommended a tonsillectomy. He got a second opinion from our GP, who is very holistic, and a naturopath. Both gave some suggestions on things to try, but after looking at his throat said his tonsils were some of the biggest they’d ever seen. (He also had a hygienist say the same thing to him without being asked.) He went on an elimination diet for 13 weeks, which did seem to be helping a little. He was snoring less at least, but he still wasn’t getting a good night’s sleep or breathing easier, so when we got a call that the surgery had been scheduled he decided to go ahead with it. It’s too early to tell if it fixed the sleep apnea, but we’re hopeful. He’s been drinking a lot of green smoothies and other cold, soft foods.

This weekend we’re heading out again, this time just for a short plane ride to Kelowna though, for Kris’ grandmother’s funeral. She was 95 and had lived a good life, so I think it will be more a celebration of her life than a mourning of her passing. Hopefully, Kris will be feeling well enough by then to go.

My very first homegrown food ever! My family had a garden growing up, but this is different. We did all the work ourselves. It’s such a small thing in the scheme of things, but hopefully the start of something much bigger. Meredith and I shared the strawberry, and it was delicious. We bought some strawberries from the store later and they tasted so bland and had such a different texture. The only problem with growing my own food now is that the storebought foods won’t taste nearly as good as they used to!