19 Weeks Pt. 2

I guess it's true that all good things come to those who wait. Let's begin by saying that Pauly has had a slow start in mastering some things. Not abnormally slow but slower than I'm used to. This week made up for a lot.

The little dude has never liked tummy time so getting him to crawl has been a work in progress. I can happily say he has mastered the art. In his own special way of course! He started by sitting up on his own. Easy peasy. From there he managed to lean on his hands with one leg extended to the side and the other still tucked under his bum. That's where he was for a while. He would rock back and forth lifting his bum off the ground but never managed to get his bent leg out from under him. And when you'd try to help him out...plop! On his tummy he'd be and the whining and crying would begin. Now he has figured out that he can lift his extended leg and drag the other to move foreword. Tah dah! The Pauly crawl. There is no stopping him now :)
And to add the cherry on top, the following day he started going into a sitting position on his own. It's actually very amusing. He doesn't like rolling over so it you put him on his tummy, he'll be sitting up and crawling in less than 5 seconds. My how much he's grown in the last week.

This made for a very happy Easter. The weekend started with a Fish and Chips dinner with my in-laws. We had a good time chatting and dining together. Then Easter Sunday was spent at my sister's. Again good food and good conversation. The kids also had a blast playing together except for Ciarán. He decided to have a loooong nap.

For a long while I've been contemplating on replacing my Hoover vacuum with a very coveted Dyson. Now, my hoover isn't a bad vacuum but over the years I was spending more and more time trying to get all the dog hair out of the carpet. I probably would have put up with it except for one important point. Pauly was going to be crawling and picking things up off the floor, and I didn't want everything covered in dog hair. So over the last few months I've been researching and watching for sales. It didn't take long for me to decide which Dyson model I wanted but these vacuums NEVER go on sale. So I though of other ways I could get one cheaper. I even e-mailed Dyson to ask if they had any promotions or coupons I could take advantage of. They only directed me to their refurbished section. I didn't have a problem buying a refurbished vacuum but they didn't have the model I wanted. I thought about picking one up in the USA since the dollar is so strong but they didn't sell the model I wanted there. So it was back to the old drawing board. I did a little more research and found that if you subscribe to Bed Bath and Beyond, they'll send you a 20% off coupon and keep you updated on sales and other discounts available. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to use this coupon on a Dyson but what did I have to loose? So I got my coupon and it so happens that Dyson vacuums were $100 off at The Bay the weekend I decided to look into using my coupon. You read it right. The vacuum that never goes on sale, was on sale. But, it was still cheaper to pay full price and get 20% off than only getting $100 off. So I called Bed Bath and Beyond to find out if they had my model in stock and the lady on the phone surprised me by saying they cost the same as the sale price at The Bay, but they didn't have any in the store. I said "oh, you've got them on sale too!"
She said "no that's our regular price."
"Really?" I said. "OK well what's the next closest store that has them in stock?"
"Oakville. But you might want to call them just to be sure"
"OK I will. And I'll be able to use my coupon to buy the Dyson"
"Yes, absolutely"
I was so excited. I called the Oakville store and they quoted the same price and told me they had 3 in the store. So off I went. But when I got there (about an hour later), the ticketed price was not the price they told me. I could feel my blood begin to boil so I took a deep breath and walked to Customer Service. I calmly explained what happened and they called the manager for me. I once again calmly explained to him what happened and he told me he could give me the quoted price but he couldn't take my coupon. I asked why and he said that they weren't taking that coupon for the Dyson. That's when the cashier piped up and said the STORE manager said they were allowed to. So the guy let me use the coupon. So all in all I saved a whopping $230 on vacuum that NEVER goes on sale :)
I was very happy. And now I have a vacuum that picks up all the dog hair (amongst many other microscopic particles) and it will "never loose suction". Thank you James Dyson.
As for the lil' bean, this week he/she is the size of medium zucchini which is about 6 inches crown to rump. He/she is now covered in vernix to protect it from the amniotic fluid and the skin underneath appears red due to the visible blood vessels. There are motor neurones developing which are nerves that will connect the muscles to the brain. And along with that comes sensory development. The brain is designating areas for smell, touch, taste, hearing and vision. Under the gums, there are permanent teeth buds developing behind the already formed milk teeth buds. His/her arms and legs are now proportioned to each other and the rest of the body. There is hair sprouting from the scalp this week as well.

18 Weeks Pt. 2

I'd like to start off by saying that I've finally experienced the pregnancy cravings that everyone keeps asking about. With Pauly it was different. I usually though of something I'd like to have, went out to get it and I was satisfied. Not so this time around.

It all started when I spotted a grapefruit at the grocery store a couple of weeks ago. It looked too delicious to leave behind so I bought 2 of them. Now, I've always liked grapefruit but, before this lil' bean I usually thought of it as an alternative to oranges. You know...I've had the sweet now let's have the sour. Well, after eating that first grapefruit I've never craved anything so bad. It's a good thing that these big sour balls are good for you because if they were filled with cocoa and sugar (aka chocolate), I'd be ruined. I had to force myself not to eat that second one right after the first. Instead I had it for breakfast the next morning. Then I had to deal with wanting another one and not having any in the house. So I called Paul and like the fantastic husband that he is, he stopped at the grocery store and brought home 2 more.

I paced them out this time. Only because there was a Citrus Truckload Sale happening that coming Wednesday. What is a Citrus Truckload Sale you ask? Exactly what it sounds like. A truck full of boxes containing navel oranges and ruby red grapefruit. The next logical question is how much is in a box? Well you can either purchase 20 lbs of oranges, or 20 lbs of grapefruit. Can you guess which one I bought? If you guessed grapefruit than you win. And what would you be winning? Nothing. Except for maybe a good laugh. After all, what am I going to do with 20 lbs of grapefruit? Well, I shared it. Actually I split the box with my sister. So over the last 4 days I've been having one grapefruit a day and my craving is still going strong. So next time (as embarrassing as this might be), I think I'll keep the entire box to myself because 10 lbs of grapefruit only gives you about 8 juicy, sour globes of goodness! The only problem...I think Wednesday was the last truckload sale for the season in our area. The next closest sale is about 50 minutes east of me. Is it worth it? We'll see once I polish off these last few grapefruits!

A few days before Good Friday my sister-in-law was telling me that the Real Canadian Superstore was having a sale at their photo studio. We decided to take Pauly and Logan in for some shots. They seemed to of had a good time (especially Logan) and the pictures will be a good keepsake of their first Easter together. The one down fall is that the special only included 5 minutes in front of the camera and we couldn't get Pauly to smile. Oh well. Maybe next year we'll get a group shot of all four cousins. I can just emagin how cute those pictures will be.

I also went to see the Midwife this week. They offered to do some extra exams since I haven't seen my family doctor in over a year. I quickly agreed since I like my midwives much more than my GP. Everything checked out fine. Thyroid feels fine, no lumps, no abnormal swelling in the abdomen, no varicose veins and my reflexes are ship shape. And then there's the usual bloodpressure and fetal heartrate check. All is good.
This week my lil' bean is the size of a bell pepper. All the organs are in place and will be getting more mature here on out. His/her translucent skin is now covered in lanugo and vernix will soon be on the way. The skin has actually formed into two layers this week, the epidermis and the dermis. Taste buds are starting to form and the bones are continuing to harden.

30 Weeks

This week didn't start off well. Paul called me Monday night to tell me that his friend Stan had passed away. I couldn't believe it at first and thought that maybe he'd been in some sort of accident. It was even more tragic than that. Stan was only 34 and he died of heart failure. I don't know all the details but what I've heard is that he had been born with a genetic heart defect that was never detected. Apparently the walls of his heart were too thin and although he had been complaining of chest pains for a short while, the doctors never found anything wrong. The only thing they seemed to be concerned about was a slightly elevated cholesterol level. They told Stan to exercise a couple times a week, and he did. While he was playing squash with a friend, he collapsed and the paramedics spent about 20 minutes trying to revive him. I'm not sure when they pronounced him dead but he was taken to the hospital and his family was notified. Paul & a couple friends went over to see Sally, Stan's mom and to offer help with anything. She had her sister over but was thankful for the visit. I wanted to go with them but I couldn't. I had already made plans to get my gestational diabetes test done.

I had heard lots of things about this sugary drink but it was definitely not what I had expected. I thought it was going to be a shot of some super sweet orange syrup but it was more like half a can of sweetened orange crush. I drank it and had to sit in the waiting room for an hour before they could draw my blood. It was a little boring since Paul wasn't with me but I did bring a book to read. That only made me sleepy and I decided to close my eyes for a little. There weren't a lot of people coming in and out so I didn't feel to awkward sitting there with my eyes closed. After an hour, I wasn't feeling too good. All that sugar was making me a little queasy and it had left a bad aftertaste in my mouth. The nurse then called me in and she took my blood. It wasn't long before I was out the door and heading to Tim Hortons for a coffee and bagel. I felt much better after that.

Easter was coming up and I had promised my mom I would make a lasagna for lunch to accompany her roast beef. I thought I had everything I needed but when I started cooking friday night I realized that I didn't have enough pasta and could only make the meat. I got up early Saturday morning and quickly made my way to Giant Tiger. I never took any notice during the morning but, after cooking the lasagna I sat on the couch to rub my soar feet and was surprised to see that they looked like potatoes. Apparently my socks were making my feet swell and I started cursing them. I flung them across the room and tried to keep my feet elevated until we had to leave which was only for a half hour or so. They got a little better as the day went on but didn't go back to normal. It wasn't until the next morning that they deflated to their normal size. But ever since that I day I've been folding my socks down and that seems to help a lot. My feet still swell a little because I'm on them all day but they haven't been that bad since.

Well, even though it was Easter weekend, Paul & I picked up the crib. We'd had a difficult time agreeing on which one we liked and when we saw this one we knew it was the one. It's still in the box since we haven't cleared out a room for our lil' bean but at least we're one step closer. Unfortunately the dresser wasn't available so we're still waiting on it. And since I forgot to mention it before, you'll be happy to know I now have a baby registry. It was really a daunting task but we managed to pull through. Most of the stuff we need probably won't be purchased but at least we've been through it all and if push comes to shove, I can pick up the necessities knowing Paul won't be unhappy.

Easter Sunday was also baby oriented. My sister-in-law brought over the bassinet we're borrowing and it's great. At least if we don't get the nursery done in time our lil' bean will have someplace to sleep. The other thing that happened that day was me being able to see my shower invitations. They are too cool. I decided on "monsters" as my theme and my sister-in-law came up with such a great design. They are felt monsters, sewn together with a flat stuffing to make them sort of soft. The actual invite will be placed on top of the felt monster. They are so adorable.

At 30 weeks my lil' bean is weighing in at about 3lbs. roughly the size of a cabbage. There is about a pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounding him, which will decrease in volume as he gets bigger. The soft lanugo hair that was protecting the skin is now starting to fall off. He is keeping active by moving around and this can be seen and felt. He is also practicing his breathing movements by moving his diaphragm which could lead to hiccups.