Clapping!

Yay Me!

Just to let you all know, I am 17 weeks pregnant and have yet to gain a single pound. This is good news. I already have a bunch of weight leftover from last time and according to my midwife, I'm doing GREAT!!!

10 months

In a short two months, my baby will be a year old. I can't believe it. He's growing and learning so fast now. It's really cute when Nate gets home I get to show him the new things he's doing. He's not walking yet, but he'll climb up your leg until he's standing and then slowly walk behind you as he's attached himself to your pant leg. The other day he just started clapping. You could see his little mind work as he first started to just flay his arms then they slowly came together. Rachael noticed first how he only seems to move the one hand when he claps. I got him to do it by saying "yay!!" and now he does it often. Sometimes when he's finished a meal, or sees me smile at him. Very cute.

In relation to my second child, I had a dream about him/her last night. In my dream it was a her. It was time to have her and we went to this private clinic. This weird doctor was there and he was delivering 4 other babies as we waited. He then came out with this beautiful tiny little baby girl with a shock of very dark hair. He gave her to me and told me it was my baby. Ummm... ok.. he hadn't even delivered the one inside me yet. I insisted it was not mine while pointing at my protruding belly. So he took me to the delivery room and delivered, after a very easy labour I might add, the most enormous black baby girl with the biggest afro ever. She was gorgeous, but clearly not mine either. But I had given birth to her and we took her home. Anyone want to take a stab at telling me what THAT dream meant?

I haven't been able to feel the baby much... every once and awhile at bedtime I THINK I can feel it, but it never lasts like it did with Jericho. This might be a more sedate child..here's hoping. I'm also off diclectin as I ran out and I'm on day two of no vomit - a little bit of morning sickness, but not bad. That makes me very happy.

I also started thinking ahead to Jericho's bday. I'm very excited about it. I think it's a big deal and I want to plan a nice little to-do for him. Even though he likely won't remember any of it. Anyhow, enjoy these pictures of my adorable son who I LOVE.

Oh dear me

A couple hours after I posted the below, Jericho developed a rash. We were beyond worried that it was chicken pox... it really looked like it. So we rushed him back to the clinic and I was able to see the same doctor who had just called back with his blood test results. He took one look and said that no, it was not Chicken Pox... thank goodness! But, it is Rodeola Infantum or Three Day Fever. Usually it happens with 6 month to 3 year olds and they get a fever as high as 40 C and it lasts for awhile, then the fever goes away and a rash occurs. One other symptom is little seizures, which I was sure he didn't have, then Nate reminded me of Friday evening when Jericho slept between us and it was like he kept startling... I really hope he wasn't having them. But he is much, much better. Still not eating normally, he seems to prefer bottles to solids, but the doctor said that was good as he needs more fluids.

Just a little update, hope you can keep him in your thoughts as he gets rid of this nasty little disease.

Ottawa

We arrived home from Ottawa yesterday after a brief and harried trip. We were only there for a short 4 days and we crammed so much in that I am still exhausted. I saw the Parliament buildings for the first time, visited the war museum (which was actually cooler than I thought it would be), met my little neice for the first time and she is ADORABLE!!!, spent some time at a relatives lakefront property and fell in love with relaxation... etc. etc. etc. We did a lot and visited a lot and had a good time. The only downside was Jericho developed a high fever on Friday morning and it continued on until after we were home. We didn't have a thermometer with us, but we borrowed someone's and found he had a temperature of 39.2 and he was only warm then, most of the time he was hot. I called the nurse's line and she wasn't all that helpful.. and the nearest hospital was 45 minutes away. The children's tylenol was a lifesaver even though the nights were hard. I'm not used to having a baby who wakes up in the night and just cries for a 1/2 hour. I have never seen him like that and lets just say I hope he doesn't get sick a lot.

All in all it was fun, and it was great to spend time with Nate's family. A very happy 40th anniversary to my in-laws who celebrated on Sunday.

Midwife Appt.

I had my second midwife appt yesterday. They had the results of my blood work, and it turns out I am pregnant for sure. No turning back now. I find I like their scale better because it says I'm 6 lbs lighter than my home scale. Sweet! And I got to hear baby's heartbeat for the first time - it was fast for those who are wondering - 170 bpm. Jericho's was always around 140 or so.

The only thing that came up that was a little negative was that I have to go back for more bloodwork. I don't know if i mentioned it or not, but last time I went I almost fainted. I got so woozy and the room spun and I had to lay down and drink juice. I'm not looking forward to going back, but the lab technicians seem to think I have a risk of having this weird disease called something like Thallanemia or something like that. It basically is something people have from birth and their red blood cells are really small. My midwife doesn't think I have it, or else it would have shown up when I was pregnant with J-Rock. So she wants me to go in for the Ferritin test to see if I have low iron. Which might explain the little red blood cells. Otherwise, I'm doing well and she's really proud of my no-weight gain. I think by this time with J I had gained like 5 lbs. It was all that ice cream.

Speaking of ice cream, it was so hot on our walk to the midwife that we stopped at Marina's for some gelato on the way home. It was just me and the baby so I got a double cone... kinda like a celebratory YAYAY for hearing the baby and stuff... I noticed they had baby cones for free so I got Jericho his first one. He loved it and cried when it was gone - which was quickly.

Anyways, back to the grind!!!

Funny Face

I finally got a couple great shots of Mr. Funny Face. Also, some of him eating his first nectarine.. Enjoy... and so far my weight gain in this pregnancy has been nil and I'm almost 14 weeks. YAY!!

Proof

Potpourri

My son has learned what it means to do chores. We're starting early, need all the help we can get around here. And tonight Nate and I are watching "You've Got Mail" and I sobbed at the part where she had to close her shop. Sobbed. Pathetic. I sure love being pregnant.



The cutest thing Jericho does is this face... most of the time he does when he's happy and being silly. He throws his head back and scrunches up his nose and squints until his little eyes are almost closed... Then he breaths in and out from his nose in the funniest impersonation of a full-on nasal laugh. You cannot look at him while he's doing his face and not laugh. He did it at this older lady at Superstore today. Her husband insisted he was looking for a kiss. I insisted otherwise. How is it possible I have SUCH an adorable kid?

Long Walk

Last night we had a BBQ at my parents house and Nate and I decided to attempt to walk there. We live just over 10km's from them and we only left an hour and 20 minutes to get there in time. But we strapped Jericho's carseat to the back of his stroller and we were off. We made it almost 6 km's before we had to call for a ride so we wouldn't be late. Fairly impressive considering how hot it was.

9 Months

The above title describes both my children. For one, it is the amount of time he has been learning and living in the outside world, and for the other it is the amount of time he/she will spend living inside... all warm and cozy like. It's hard to believe Jericho is as old as he is already. I know 9 months isn't old in any frame of the word, but when it feels like he was just born yesterday, it just makes you realize how fast his little life has been to this point. He's so close to walking. Often, he likes to walk alongside us as we hold his hand. He sometimes can stand for a few seconds as I let go... only when he's standing on something soft of course. And when he eat, he makes these loud grunting noises to make it clear to us he thinks it's unfair we eat like kings while he is stuck with anything ground up and mushy. We give him pieces of our meals to assuage him and it works like a charm until the food is gone and he is left with tiny crumbs.

He had an appointment on Thursday at Childrens with a neuro-surgeon to try and assess what may have been wrong with his spine. Ever since he was tiny he's had this little bone sticking out right above and to the left of his tailbone. People called it his tail which didn't sit with me... period. So it was to my relief that the doctor informed us after a very traumatic x-ray that it was nothing more than a harmless bony mass. The second we notice it causing him discomfort or growing, then we are to go and see him again. But it is no way connected to his tailbone, or his spine.. so it is not a tail! Hallelujah. I had a human boy, not a puppy.

The pregnancy has been relatively uneventful, I've been on diclectin since the day after I found out I was pregnant. I was actually at a stagette and was sitting there thinking that maybe it was possible I was going to have another kid. I found out a couple days later for sure and it's been a lot of nauceousness, but not as much throwing up as last time which is a huge blessing. Jericho is a relatively good baby so taking care of him and being pregnant has so far not been as difficult as I thought. I'm just tired, a lot. But I have a great husband who comes home to often make dinner and play with the boy.

We just got home from church and Nate has just made popcorn. I don't want any, but I want some kind of a snack - oh, that's the other thing.... My appetite has dimished with this pregnancy. Food does not hold the same glory it once did. I fill my plate and get halfway through before I am completely done. It makes me sad sometimes as the food is often quite tasty. Because of this, I have not gained a single pound in my first trimester. It doesn't sound like that great of an accomplishment, but my midwife told me I could go my whole pregnancy without gaining a whole lot of weight. Instead of taking that personally, I've taken it as a challenge. My weight will not get out of control this time. Anyone want to go for a walk???

Jericho has something to tell you

The Searle household will be expanding sometime around
February 14th, 2008!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

30 years ago

Nate turned 30 yesterday. His birthday was more of a weekend event as we headed over to the Okanagan to see a lot of his very close friends. It was a very good special time for us and to be able to see so many of our friends was awesome. Part of me really wanted to have a huge party for him, but he's not like me... I want confetti and a week-long feista dude... but Nate is more into seeing people he cares about and just chilling out. He's content just to talk to people and to see how they are. Some we were only able to see for a short time, but just seeing them really brightened his day - to those we saw, know that you are loved and missed. And thanks for taking time to see us!

Yesterday Nate actually had to work, which is sad in a way... but I was exhausted from our short little trip and felt like sleeping the day away. It's a little difficult when you have an almost 9 month old whose just on the move.. But last night he was sweet and slept through the night right until 9:30 this morning. I needed that! Perfect. Last night Nate and I made a quick trip to Old Navy and picked up some new clothes for him courtesy of his Mom & Dad. Then we went for a great dinner at Earls while Jericho went to the T & A Club with my parents. They tried to drop him off but we had stopped at Steve & Michelle's and weren't home - oops! But they were okay with the extra time they got him for... except for the crying all the way to their house. It's like he knew we weren't home.

Oh - and I gave Nate his present!! His gift was to go meet his new neice Ashiah and to visit his brother Greg and his Sam as well as his parents and some extended family. He was so excited about it that now he wants me to come as well with the baby. So we're just trying to see if it's going to work or not. Hopefully it does as we don't see Nate's family as much as we should..

Anyways, enjoy these current pics - MIL if you want some just let me know and I'll send more to Wal-Mart!!!

Time Flies

Today is my third wedding anniversary. I just received the most gorgeous arrangement of pink lilies, gerberas and roses. I'm glad I brushed my hair before the doorbell rang! I was hoping I would get flowers, but the delivered kind are the best. Then I know he put a lot of thought into it.. he didn't just stop somewhere on the way home, he went BEFORE our anniversary and picked out the perfect flowers for me. How sweet!

Tonight the plan is to drop off the boy for his first sleepover at Grandmas. We might cave and pick him up in the stealth of night, but I would really love to sleep-in, so I hope we can stick to our guns. I've asked my husband to pick a restaurant where we can have a nice dinner, then we are headed to the fireworks! They will be on our anniversary, which just makes trying to plan something that much easier. I find it hard sometimes to decide what I want to do for a special occasion... I know this is only year 3, but I think every anniversary is worth celebrating. I like having an excuse to have a romantic evening with my man. It should be fun... I just wish I had the car so I could go get my hair done. Oh well...

Rain is good.

I know, I'm getting a little tired of the rain. It feels like March or April, not July! This is when we're supposed to be getting sunburnt and uncomfortable at night. Actually, I don't mind the rain. Don't hate me!! But it's nice to not be too hot especially when I'm at home most of the time with no air conditioning.

This is a busy week coming up... Our anniversary is on Wednesday. I dropped a few hints to Nate on what I would like to do, but I think he wants us to plan something together. I still need to ask someone to watch Jericho, or else we will have to take him with us. My mom was supposed to arrive home from Chicago late last night, but I still haven't heard from her as she got stuck there. I talked to my dad last night and he wasn't sure when to expect her. As soon as she gets back.. I'll ask her about the trip - then ask her to babysit on Wednesday. You may think that's a little cruel and that I only use her as a babysitter, but if you think that, you don't know my mom. She LOVES babysitting my kid. She gets upset when we come to take him home... So I think it's okay. Anyways, Thursday night we're trying to get some friends together for Nate's bday, but I haven't even started planning that. It's just supposed to be a casual BBQ, but I guess the rain won't really help that. Then, the next morning we want to leave for Penticton to see some friends for dinner Friday night then head to K-town to see some more friends. Should be good.

We've only done a few long car trips with Jericho, but he's usually okay. The only issue may be his teething. He has two teeth on the bottom now and is a little more cranky nowadays. Last Saturday I walked into the nursery to pick him up and for the first time, he was SCREAMING. It's a combination I think of teething and playing strange. Today he was playing and instead of ignoring me for most of the time and just being - he kept dropping stuff and coming to sit on my lap. He would sit for 15 seconds, then squirm off and he was good for another 5 minutes. It was a little strange.

Funny story - my mother in law emailed me to let me know she didn't have many pictures of Jericho and could I please send some over the web to the Wal-mart in her hometown. I told her I would email her first if I figured it out... but I didn't. I just sat down and uploaded about 4 dozen onto the Wal-mart site. I guess she had been to the store and tried to upload some from a disk and it wouldn't work, then they called her 2 hours later to let her know her prints were ready. She was kinda mad and couldn't figure out how they got prints off her disk when it wouldn't work, and wasn't looking forward to having to pay money for something she wasn't sure she wanted. So the guy brings out the pictures I uploaded and she was pleasantly surprised. I tried to send a bunch of ones from when he was really tiny and some from now...so hopefully she's really happy with them. I just think technology is awesome.

Well, the little sweet boy is sleeping, I should see if I could get supper started for once...

Aunt Sara Once Again.

I have a neice! My brother-in-law says he is still in parental negogiations on the name, but she was born on Sunday! YAY!!! Congrats!

Blogger won't let me write a title, but Jericho is cutting his first tooth!!! He woke up from his nap today happy as a lark, and it was fairly hot so we took him to the spray park. He liked some of it, cried for most of it... it's just too cold. When we got home I started trying to feed him and he would just cry. It didn't help that he had just fallen and bumped his head. He kept grabbing at my hands so when I let him suck on my finger, I felt a little tiny tooth trying to pop through!!!

Tired Monday

I am still recovering from a very busy, incredibly fun, extra-long weekend. We had the pleasure of hosting our friend Becky Gifford and had many adventures. She arrived Wednesday night and we just played games and I can't even remember what we had for dinner. She got to meet Jericho for the first time and fell in love. She kept saying he was so precious. We agree. Then Thursday we slept in and finally decided to go see the matinee showing of Transformers which started at 3:40. Becky and I liked it for the Josh Duhamel reason. Nate said the plot was lacking, and we failed to notice. We were late in returning home to clean and prepare for Becky's spa party. But we made it, barely. I went without dinner, but whatever... we had lots of food at the party. We had 11 people and it was great. I made ice cream sandwiches from scratch and decided they were quite tasty and ate three of them. Ordered some fun Beauti-Control items and can't wait for them all to arrive.

Friday was sleeping in, again. Then we went to IKEA and Toys'R'Us and the Shoe Company and Winners. Spent money. Good times. I was particularly wanting to go nuts in the Babies section of Toys as there were so many items I could really use for Jericho. I put quite a few back in the end for budget reasons, but made a fun inflatable purchase for him to play with as well as a more practical baby toothbrush set. Fun and busy shopping time. In the midst of this, we had been planning for this really yummy dinner. We had some chicken in a brine and came home to prepare the Ultimate BBQ Chicken with a Bacon Cornbread. The chicken was the most amazing any of us had ever had. So moist and like candy on the outside. Look up the food network Tyler Ultimate show to find the recipe. HIGHLY recommend it. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. Don't you love it when a recipe turns out WAY better than you ever expect?

Saturday was more sleeping in and by far our most exciting day. I don't remember who, but one of us had the idea of visiting a bunch of Tapa bars downtown. We dropped off the boy at my Moms with plenty of toys and food, then headed to Stella's for our first experience. It was still fairly early so they were still serving brunch, but we each had some, plus Becky and Nate were able to try and highly enjoy the best beer they had ever. I don't like beer much at all so I refrained.

We then headed to Bin 941 - very good food! We had some fun tapas and loved it, especially the guest book. After that we went to the tasting bar at Lumierre... which is Rob Feenie's restaurant. He even walked by THREE TIMES!!!! Fantasic. That place was way expensive, but so worth it. I had the Char and the Char was good.

Yesterday Nate and I got to go to a wedding of a friend of mine I haven't seen in 11 years. We've reconnected on facebook believe it or not. It was a cute, beautiful, fun, entertaining wedding. And I even won a centrepiece for dancing to YMCA. Fabulous.

So Congrats to Noel and Emily and thank-you to Nate and Becky for a very fun, memorable weekend that will take me a long time to forget.

8 Months

Guess which little man is 8 months old today!!! I can't believe how much time is flying by. And he gets a little cuter every day. He's still climbing on furniture a lot... yesterday I left Jericho with Nate so I could go pick up a few groceries and I didn't notice but as soon as I started walking down the stairs, Jer crawled all the way to the top of the stairs really fast. Nate had to quickly close the gate, but then Jericho pulled himself up and started shaking the gate and crying "Momma, Momma, Momma" He said it was the saddest thing. My poor little guy has become quite attached to his Momma.

200th Post

Not too much to say, could say a lot more than I will... But alas, I am tired and time is short. My son is growing beautifully, my sister is getting old, my brother has been married one year... Life is good.

Saturday night church was funny. That balls comment almost did me in. Too bad for pastors who don't read over their notes in detail. I love you, Pastor Derrick :)

My hubby is holding my son and feeding him his last bottle of the day. Jericho's eyes are slowing closing and he's becoming that sleepy, cuddly child who I wish existed at every moment of the day. But he is active, and I love him. He's on his way to bed, and so I must bid you all good night. Thanks for listening all these posts and making me look forward to writing.