Another good appointment

I just got back from another appointment with the midwife. Everything is good, baby is in a good position, so now it's just a waiting game. We did discuss the protocols for what happens if I go overdue, so it was good to know about that. Of course, I'm hoping this baby comes sooner rather than later! My next appointment is on February 6th, unless I have the baby before then, of course.

Here's a cute picture of Smokey taking a nap yesterday in the bassinette that my aunt and godmother bought when I was a baby - I love how he's using a stuffed bear as a pillow! He thinks all this great stuff we've been bringing home lately is for him. Poor guy doesn't know what's coming!

Just waiting... patiently ;)

I've been having some nice, relaxing days at home. Haven't done much in the way of housework, but oh well. I have been keeping up with washing the dishes, so at least that's something. And I did clean out some of the fridge, I just haven't gotten around to cleaning the rest.

Still no sign of baby making the big entrance into the world. Tomorrow is the day my massage therapist predicted I'd give birth, so who knows. I have a feeling it will be next week, not this week. Given how "textbook" this pregnancy has been, I wouldn't be surprised if I give birth close to my due date or a few days after.

I'm trying my best to be patient!

Another appointment gone well

I just got back from an appointment with the midwife. Everything is going well. Baby's heartbeat is strong at 128 bpm, my blood pressure was still great at 104/78. She did note that the baby's head is quite low in my pelvis, which is has been for about a month now, I think. Which explains why I have to pee every 5 minutes it seems!

Our next appointment is on Thursday the 29th (as long as we don't have the baby before then!).

I can't believe we're only 10 days away from the due date! "They" say that for a first baby, it is most common to give birth 4 or 5 days after your due date, but who knows. It really could happen at any time now. I haven't gotten up in the middle of the night to scrub floors or to do any other crazy cleaning though, which I have heard is a sign that labour is coming. All this waiting and anticipation is quite exciting!

My brother and his fiance left for Florida today. They get back on Feb 1st, so who knows, they may come back and have a new niece or nephew!

Enjoying some lazy days

The last couple of days have been very relaxing. Yesterday, I went into work for a party for one of my coworkers, so that was nice. After that, I came home and had a nap in the afternoon.

This morning, I spent some time with a friend and then had another afternoon nap. I'm heading out in a bit to meet the girls from work for dinner and then we're going to see Paul Blart: Mall Cop, which looks really funny!

I am also happy to report that the carseat is in and we are satisfied with the little amount of movement now. And my hospital bags are packed!

Well, that's all folks

My last day of work yesterday went quite well. I only had to pass off one task that I didn't have time to get to, so that wasn't bad. I got all the major stuff done that I needed to and cleaned out my office. What a strange feeling. I am really looking forward to the next stage in my life, it was just very surreal to walk out of there for a year. Sure, I'll be back to visit lots, but won't have to go to work for a whole year!

In fact, I am going back to the office on Monday for lunch since it is one of my coworkers 40th birthday and we're giving him a surprise lunch. And then on Tuesday evening, I am going out for dinner and a movie with the girls at work, so on my first 2 days of mat leave, I will be seeing my coworkers, so that's neat.

My wonderful hubby took me out for dinner last night to celebrate this next phase in our lives. Probably one of our last opportunities to go out on a date before we become parents!

And of course, as soon as we got home from dinner, I completed and submitted my application for EI online, so that I can start getting my payments as soon as possible. My employer was able to submit my Record of Employment electronically, so now it's just a matter of waiting for Service Canada to approve my application. Hopefully it won't take too long; probably a couple weeks I would guess.

Tomorrow, we are planning to get some final baby related tasks done. We're going to give the car seat another go. We've talked to some recent parents, and they seemed to be in the same situation as us. The way the bases are installed, they are only belted in close to the back of the vehicle seat using the seat belt, so the whole front edge where the baby's head would be is free to move up and down. I guess they are designed on purpose that way to have some movement in that direction. We can basically take the whole seat and tip it up. As long as it is secure where the belt is fastened, we're good. Hopefully we can get it nice and tight tomorrow. And if we are still unsure, I will take it somewhere next week to have it checked.

My other tasks for the next couple of days is to get the hospital bags packed (one for me, one for baby). I have been slowly gathering things, but I need to make sure everything is in there and it's all ready to go.

Our neighbour was selling a highchair she had used for her granddaughter who has since outgrown it, so we went over this afternoon to have a look at it. Fisher Price, 2 years old, great condition. She paid $120 for it, and will sell it to us for $50. I checked the reviews for this one online and it seems like a great highchair, so we decided to take it. Score! She is going to wash it and bring it over next week.

It’s the final countdown…

Only 3 days of work left including today! I really can’t believe it! I know my back will certainly appreciate not having to sit at a desk all day! I hope I have a little time on mat leave before the baby comes, but not too much… about a week or so would be nice ;)

I am in the midst of trying to get all my outstanding tasks completed this week. It’s looking promising that I’ll be able to get it all done, so that’s good. I had a meeting yesterday with a couple co-workers who will be taking over my projects just to give them an update on the current status of each project so there will be a smooth transition. And today I have a meeting with our office administrator to discuss my upcoming leave and make sure I have all the paperwork I need to fill out. Exciting stuff!

Well, I guess I should hop to it since I have a lot to get done in the next 3 days!

Land of confusion…

Carlos and I tried to install the infant carseat yesterday… you’d think it would be simple – not so! I read the manual for both the carseat and my vehicle, and it really seemed like it was going to be simple. Well, after an hour, we gave up. It’s in there, it just has way more ‘give’ than it should. We tried it in the middle seat, side seat, with the base, without the base, and all configurations have more movement than you’re supposed to have. I just don’t see how this is supposed to be secure when you only put the seatbelt close to the back of the seat, so the whole front section is free to move about. We have another appointment with the midwife later this morning, so I will ask her if there are any resources in town where we can go for help. And thanks for the suggestion Mrs. JB, we do have a St. Johns Ambulance office in town, so they will be the first place I call for help, unless my midwife has other suggestions.

I can’t believe I’m at 37 weeks now – holy smokes! Baby is officially considered full term now, so baby could be born at any point in the next 5 weeks. I think it is more common for first time moms to deliver close to their due date or after, so it will likely still be at least a couple weeks before baby is born, but it is exciting to know that it could happen anytime now!

And this is my last week of work, so I know I will be busy trying to tie up loose ends before I am on mat leave.

EDIT 12:01pm

The appointment today went well. As usual, baby is right on track and heartbeat is strong. I was negative for Group B Strep, which is great. One less thing to worry about on the big day. As for the carseat dilemma, she suggested a few places to contact. I also remembered that we received some info on carseat safety at the prenatal health fair in town we went to back in September, so I will dig that info out since I'm sure there is a "where to go for help" section. If not, I will make some calls to places in town. Someone will help us I'm sure since we can't be the first set of to-be parents that want to make sure they get this right!

How’s this for crazy

On my drive into work this morning, I saw a guy running and he was wearing running shorts and a long-sleeve T-shirt… and it’s -20 with the windchill today! I thought that was absolutely nuts!

The countdown is at 6 days left of work including today. I really can’t wait to be done. This is a big change for me. After working here for almost 5 years, my longest break so far was the 3 weeks I took off surrounding my wedding. Multiply that by 17 and you get to how long my break will be now – 52 weeks. That is assuming I decide to take the full 52 weeks… it’s sort of a wait and see thing. I really won’t know how I feel until I get there, so we’re leaving my “return to work” date open-ended and I’ll see how I feel in the Fall. But, as far as my employer is concerned right now, I am planning to take the full 52 weeks.

I’m wondering how my transition from engineer to full time mommy is going to go… will I miss the intellectual stimulation? I know I will definitely miss the people I work with; they are absolutely wonderful. I don’t think I’ll miss the spending 40 hours a week at my desk though ;) And there is this project that I have been working on since I started this job, I definitely won’t miss that. Although it does feel really strange to pass it off to someone else since it has been my project for almost 5 years. It has caused me lots of frustration and made me want to scream and pull my hair out lately though, so perhaps it’s a good thing it can be someone else’s problem for awhile ;)

I’m really looking forward to seeing nej and lj tomorrow!

Home visit went well

At the home visit, we basically discussed the difference between early labour and active labour, when to page the midwife, stages of labour, any wishes we have for the labour, hospital stay, etc. They also checked the baby's position, heartbeat, height of the top of the uterus, my blood pressure, etc. and everything is great. I also was tested for Group B Strep, so I should get those results by the end of this week. They test all pregnant women for that late in pregnancy since about 30% of women have that bacteria in their bodies (no harm to mom), but it can be passed to the baby during the birth, which can be harmful to the baby. If it does come back positive, that just means I would need a dose of anti-biotics every 4 hours during the active phase of labour.

So, our next appointment is next Monday as our appointments are now weekly until the baby is born. And as of midnight on Sunday, baby is considered full term (37 weeks). I can’t believe it’s getting so close!!! Although, baby could be born at any point between now and 42 weeks, so it could be as late as mid-February… I hope it will be sooner than that though!

Happy New Year

Here we are at 2009. I didn't really make any new years resolutions this year, but I am really looking forward to this year since I'm going to be a mommy! So, I'm sure much of my year will be spent looking after baby and watching baby learn and grow.

The rest of my holidays were pretty good. We got quite a bit of de-cluttering done around the house, which was great. Still more to do, but we made a really good dent.

So now it’s back to work. Today is a short day in the office for me though since I am leaving at 10am to go home. We have our midwife coming at 10:45am for our home visit. Since I’ll already be at home, I will work from home for the afternoon, so that will be nice.

I’m at 36 weeks along now, so we’re on the home stretch – literally! Baby is getting so big now that the kicks are getting so strong that sometimes it feels like baby is going to kick its way through my belly! My belly is getting really big now, which is making finding a comfortable position to sleep in difficult. But, only a few weeks to go until we finally get to meet our little one!!!

Most excellent Christmas

We had a great Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve with my family and my aunt, uncle, and cousins, and Oma were there too. Usually, us kids have a 'campout' on Christmas Eve and all sleep in my brother's room, but he had a very bad cold, so I decided it best to avoid as many germs as possible. So, we ended up sleeping at our own house and then going back at 7:30am on Christmas morning for present opening. We had to go that early since Al's fiance had to work at 9am. My parents had already bought us the crib as our Christmas present, but there were still a few cute things under the tree for baby.

We then headed to Carlos' parents' house for Christmas Day with them and his sister, brother-in-law, and nephew. Baby certainly was spoiled this Christmas since I think baby received the most presents! Carlos' sister had put together a basket of a bunch of cute items for baby. We really enjoyed spending lots of time with family.

Saturday, we headed to Whitby to Babies R Us. We had a long list of items we still needed for baby and we were able to get in on some amazing boxing week sales. The playard we had picked out months ago was $50 off (reg $170 on for $120). Yay! A bunch of the other items we got were also on sale, so it was a worthwhile trip for sure! We still have a few items we need, but we are doing quite well. And some items can wait until after the baby is born.

Yesterday, we went to Carlos' uncles house for a gathering. His parents, and aunts and uncles and one cousin were all there, so it was nice to see them once more before the baby arrives.

I was lucky enough to save some of my vacation time for 2008, so I have this week off. Today, I am heading to the spa with my mom for pedicures. Then afterwards, we are meeting up with my sister-in-law-to-be, aunt, and Oma for dinner and a movie. So, it will be a girls night :)

Tomorrow, I am getting my hair cut and highlighted and then I am supposed to be getting together with a friend in the evening (still to be confirmed).

Then I have the rest of the week with no plans, which is good because I have a lot of cleaning and organizing at home I want to get done! I'm going to tackle 1 task per day between Wednesday and Saturday. The first task being wash all the baby clothes and put all the baby stuff away. That's the fun task, so I'll do that one first :)

My brother and his fiance did not get that house. Initially, their offer was accepted, but they had the home inspection this morning and I guess there are major problems with the foundation. So, they backed out of the deal and will continue their search. They are quite disappointed, but a poor foundation is a deal-breaker for sure.

LAST WORK DAY FOR ME FOR 2008

YAY!!! I can’t wait until 4:30pm today, when I’m outta here until January 5th!

The appointment with the midwife this morning went very well. Baby is measuring right where it’s supposed to again, so apparently we have a "textbook baby" according to the midwife. She also said that the baby’s head is quite low in the pelvis; so baby has really dropped down into the pelvis. She didn’t outright say it, but I am taking this to mean that baby will more likely be born early than late since baby is already ‘getting into position’. I’m thinking we may have a January baby on our hands, I’m thinking maybe January 20 something. That’s just my guess though, I could be completely wrong!

So now our next appointment is the first week of January for a home visit. We don’t have it booked as of right now though since it will be with our primary midwife and she is on holidays this week. So, she’s going to call me on Monday when she’s back in the office to set up the home visit. They do the home visit at 36 weeks so they have more time to spend with you to go over the birth plan and “day of” sort of things in detail. So that will be sometime during the week of January 5th and then my appointments are weekly from then until the baby is born. Exciting stuff!

I can't believe Christmas Eve is tomorrow! I guess I've been so busy trying to get things done at work and at home getting ready for baby, Christmas has really crept up on me this year!

I hope everyone has a fabulous Christmas!!!!

Edit 10:35am

My brother and his fiance are in negotiations now about the house. The seller came back with a counter-offer, so my brother is submitting a second offer. Now they're only talking a difference of a few thousand and a couple weeks on the closing date, so I have a feeling they will reach an agreement soon - very exciting!

Relaxing weekend

I had a great weekend. Since Friday was such a crazy day snow-wise, I decided to use a couple of my banked OT hours and left a couple hours early. It took me 40 minutes to get home (where normally it would take me 20), but I was glad to make it home safe and sound.

Saturday we did some errands, but mostly just relaxed at home. My mom came over to do laundry again. I guess she has ordered a new washer, which is supposed to be in on the 29th. Yesterday, we didn’t do much of anything, which was nice. I had all these big plans of what I wanted to get done on the weekend, but in the end, the only thing I did was get caught up on entering my bills and transactions, etc. into my financial software. I was 6 weeks behind on that, so it was nice to get that done.

Also, some big news: my brother Al and his fiancé put in an offer on a house! I don’t know many details, but I guess they looked at the house last week and then again yesterday and decided to put in an offer. Now they’re just waiting to hear if their offer was accepted. It was only the second house they looked at, but I guess they were impressed with it! They don’t need the house until June (they are getting married on June 6th), but who knows, they could arrange a closing date for a couple of months from now and it might be nice to have a few months to work on the house before they actually move in. It’s always easier to do renovations on an empty house.

As of today, I am at 34 weeks! Since the normal range for birth is 2 weeks on either side of your due date, baby could be born as early as 4 weeks from now! That’s so close! Carlos and I are both SUPER excited!!!

EDIT 11:30am

Sometimes people just don't get a hint! My ex added me AGAIN as a friend on Facebook - this is the 3rd time now. And for the 3rd time, I rejected him. Did he not get the message the first 2 times I rejected him?!?!? SHEESH! I'm no longer bitter towards him, but I have no interest in giving him a 'window' into my life and being friends or something. That part of my life is SO over, so I have no idea why he keeps adding me. I hope he gets the message this time!

Question for nej

Others feel free to pipe in too, I just thought nej would be a good once to ask since she just wrote the PPE.

Here is the situation. We have a mountain of landfill annual reports that we are in the midst of preparing. I am responsible for 6 of them, which means I have been/will be either writing these reports or reviewing them before I leave in mid-January. These reports will all be completed in draft prior to me leaving; however, they can’t be finalized until later since they need operations data, which we don’t typically get from our clients until mid-February or so once they get recycling tonnages for 2008 from their contractors.

Is it ethical/legal for me to still sign the reports even though I will be technically an employee on leave when they are finalized and submitted? I know as a P.Eng. I can’t do work unless I am paid for it, but the preparation of these reports I have been paid for since they will be 98% done before I leave. My coworkers just need to slip in a couple recycling numbers once received and then they can be finalized. So, I was thinking it would be okay for me to come in for a half hour while I’m on leave to sign the reports… what do you ladies think? Is this okay from a legal standpoint?

Birth Plan Talk and Other Randoms

I got the last of my Christmas shopping done yesterday, so now we are 100% done our shopping and most of the presents are already wrapped. Feels so good to get that done! Especially since my mind has been a little pre-occupied this year ;)

I’m glad it’s already Wednesday. I have just been counting the days until the Christmas break… only 5 days of work left before Christmas (including today)! Yay! And I have made some plans for some pampering in the days between Christmas and New Years. On the 27th, Carlos and I are making a trip to Babies R Us in Whitby (likely our last before the baby arrives) to pick up a few more items that we need. We are also going to use a gift card I received for my birthday for a fancy restaurant in Oshawa that day. On the 29th, mom and I are going out for lunch and then to get pedicures at the spa. Carlos gave me a gift card for the spa for my birthday, so I’m using that for a pedicure since I can’t reach my feet anymore and it will be good to have nice toes to look at while I’m in labour ;) Then on the 30th, I have an appointment for a haircut and highlites. Figured I should get my hair done once more before the baby comes. Other than that, my plans for my time off are to spend time with friends/family, get some organizing/cleaning done at home, and get ready for baby. I want to get the carseat installed in Zeke and get my hospital bag packed and birth plan put together. I also want to get the nursery complete ready with all the necessary supplies so that if the baby decides to arrive early, we’re ready.

My due date is starting to get really close. “They” recommend that you have your carseat installed and hospital bag packed a month before your due date, which means by New Years for us. That makes the birth seem all that more real and imminent! I am really very excited, just feeling a bit nervous about the birth. We have been discussing pain management options a lot lately, and I am pretty much of the mindset that I want to avoid an epidural if at all possible. I am telling myself that if I absolutely need it, I will accept it as a last resort. But only after all other options have been exhausted. I was very disappointed to find out that our hospital doesn’t have nitrous oxide (laughing gas) yet. Since it’s a new hospital, I guess they are slow getting some things and it’s supposed to be in place in about 6 months. The other drug option is narcotics (Demerol, Nubain, etc.), but those have to be timed very carefully and given at least 2 hours prior to the birth otherwise they can affect the baby.

So here’s my thinking: I consider myself more tough than the average woman when it comes to pain. For example, I had a compound fracture on my arm when I was 13 and didn’t know it for 2 days! I remember my doctor saying at the time that since I could withstand that amount of pain for so long, childbirth would be a piece of cake for me. Here’s hoping she was right! I do think I have a pretty high tolerance for pain. So, I’m thinking I’m going to try this labour with as little medical intervention as possible. So I am very thankful to have the midwives since they have a whole ‘bag of tricks’ when it comes to non-drug related pain management. Luckily, one of the birthing suites at the hospital has a bathtub (hopefully that room is available), so I can sit in the bath for a bit for relaxation. Hopefully between that and the encouragement from the midwives and my hubby, it should be okay. From what I’ve heard from others, the “transition” portion of labour is the worst pain-wise, but it also means you are almost ready to push. So, the good news is when the pain is the worst, it also means it’s almost over.

I have been thinking about this a lot lately since when I am at 36 weeks, the midwife does a home visit to discuss our birth plan in detail, so I want to get some of these details planned. I also know that I need to be flexible, so if I do end up needing pain medication, I need to not be disappointed in myself. Which is something I’ll have to work on.

Anybody else getting rain today?

Today, we are getting lots of rain and it’s 8 degrees out. Which made for a VERY slippery walk to my car. Water overtop of ice is no fun. So, I took very small steps and was able to make it to Zeke without mishap. Thank goodness! I’m hoping since it’s so warm today, that all the ice on our driveway will melt.

I had a most excellent weekend. Friday night was my company Christmas party, which was lots of fun. This is my 5th year going, and the first one I was completely sober at ;) We had excellent dinner and hung out and socialized. We didn’t go out to the bars afterwards since I was tired and wanted to get home, so we called it a night around midnight.

Saturday, we braved the crowds and actually had a very productive Christmas shopping day. We even bought a couple things for the baby in there too ;) We now have our Christmas shopping 95% done, I just need to pick up one more item, which I am going to do tomorrow on my way home from work. So, as of tomorrow evening, we will be completely done our shopping, which will be great! No last minute scrambling this year!

Saturday evening, my mom came over for a few hours to do laundry since her washer recently died. So, that gave us a chance to catch up on things and she told me all about her trip. Apparently my dad just fell in love with Banff/Lake Louise and wants to go back next winter. So, we are tentatively planning a family vacation out there for end of December (between Christmas and New Years) next year - my parents, Carlos, me, and the baby. And perhaps even my brothers and significant others. So, if that happens, I will let you know Mrs. JB since me, Carlos, and the baby will definitely come for a visit with your family either at the beginning or end of our trip since we’ll be flying in/out of Calgary! Of course, this is all in the initial planning stages at this point, but I think it would be awesome. So, I will keep you informed of any developments Mrs. JB!

Here we are at another Monday. But after today, I only have 6 more days of work this year and only 16 days of work left before baby! That’s do-able!

This week, I have a pretty quiet week planned. I have my last prenatal pilates class tonight and then Thursday evening is our tour of the labour/delivery and maternity wards of the hospital. Other than that, I have my evenings free this week, which is really nice. I do have to do some baking on Wednesday evening, since I have a work potluck on Thursday and Carlos’ is on Friday. So that will be fun.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Midwife appointment went well

Just a usual check-up and everything is right on track. My blood pressure is normal, baby’s heartbeat was 140 bpm (normal range is 120 – 160), and uterine height is 31 cm (it is supposed to be within 2 cm of the number of weeks along you are), so everything is right on track! Baby is still head-down (has been for the last month) and at this point, the baby will likely remain head-down for the rest of the pregnancy, which is good. No need to worry about a breech position. So, we go back in 2 weeks, so our next appointment is on the 23rd.

Tonight we have another prenatal class, the last one that is actually a class (next week is the hospital tour). Tonight we will be talking about C-sections, and bringing your baby home (what can be expected in the first few weeks, the changes to the dynamic of the relationship between mom and dad, and changes that mom will go through).

Hard to believe it’s only 2 weeks until Christmas! We are in the midst of trying to figure out when the heck we are going to celebrate Christmas with my family since my brothers and Al’s fiancé have such crazy work schedules and they are completely conflicting. It has been a logistical nightmare. But, since my mom just spent last week in Banff getting her Professional Logistician certification, I’ll let her figure it out ;)

Not much new here

I had a good weekend. Spent it doing the usual running errands and relaxing. I was actually surprised when I went to Walmart and Costco on Saturday – they weren’t as busy as I would have thought for a weekend in December! Maybe the snowy weather kept people away. We also got a little Christmas shopping done, but still have more to do. I would like to get it done this coming weekend, we’ll see how that goes.

My parents fly back tonight from Calgary, so it will be good to have them back, especially since Oma needs so much care these days. I’ve stopped in a few times in the past week to check on her, but it is much better when my mom is there full time.

My brother Thom is apparently back with his ex. This is the same girl who broke up with him so she could have causal sex with someone else and has been talking of nothing except getting drunk and high since they broke up (it’s amazing what I find out on Facebook). Seems a little strange that she would share those type of details on Facebook when we are all on her friends list, including my mom! Needless to say, we are all pretty shocked that Thom would take her back, but it’s his decision.

This coming week is another busy one and I only have 1 free evening this week: tomorrow. But, it should be a good week since my plans are fun! Pilates, massage, prenatal class, and my company Christmas party. Sounds like it will be a good week to me!

As of today, I am at 32 weeks along! Only 8 weeks to go! Things are moving along well! Our next appointment with the midwife is on Thursday morning, so I am looking forward to that.

Too cool!

Yesterday morning, as I was lying in bed, I was feeling around my belly a bit since the baby was quite active, and I was actually able to feel a little bump where one of the baby’s limbs was. It was really neat! I guess the baby is getting big enough now that I can actually feel limbs through my belly. Hard to believe I have less than 2 months to go!!! And only 23 days of work after today (but who’s counting…) ;)

I really enjoyed my day off yesterday. I wrote my thank you notes for the baby shower gifts we received on Friday, so I was happy to get that done. Other than that, I just relaxed at home, which was much needed after the crazy-busy November I had!

I finally got the details of my company’s mat/parental leave policy today. Since I am the first employee to go on this type of leave, they had to develop a policy. I wasn’t expecting any type of ‘top-up’, so I am VERY pleased that they have decided to provide this! The policy is very generous – yay!

Tonight, we have prenatal class #4. I think we will be talking about pain management options during labour and preparing for the unexpected. I’m sure we’ll learn lots since these classes have been amazing so far!

Wonderful Birthday Weekend

My shower on Friday was great. My coworkers certainly went to a lot of effort! They made a bunch of awesome food and they all chipped in together and got us gift certificates for the diaper service in town. They gave us a certificate for 1 month free of the diaper service as well as $75 to use on products (cloth diapers, waterproof covers, etc.). So, we are quite pleased with that! We are thinking we’ll use disposable diapers in the beginning since we are getting so many for free from Carlos’ family. And, when we first have the baby, we figure it will just be easier to use disposables. So, we’ll probably use disposables for the first few months. After that, we will use our 1 month free diaper service and then once that is used, I’m thinking I may just wash cloth diapers at home and use them part-time. That’s the plan anyways.

For my birthday, Carlos got me a gift card for the spa I like to go to, so I am going to use that likely between Christmas and New Years for a pedicure since I’m sure I will really need it by then! He also got me a little massaging pillow for my lower back since my back has been pretty sore in the last month (off and on) from sitting at my desk at work. My back is fine when I’m at home, it’s just for some reason, whenever I’m at work, the pain comes back. Good thing I have my pilates class tonight, I always come out of there feeling totally loosened up. Carlos also got me 3 books to read to the baby, 2 of which I remember from when I was a child. He also took me out for lunch on Saturday, so he certainly spoiled me!

Saturday we also went to the Festival of Trees, but we didn’t get a phone call last night, so I guess we didn’t win any trees. Oh well, we’ll try again next year ;) We went to Carlos’ company Christmas party on Saturday night, which was fun.

My plan for staying in my pjs all day on Sunday didn’t go quite as planned. My dad called and wanted a haircut, so we went up to my parents house for an hour so I could do that and also get a visit in with Oma. My mom is in Banff now for a week, so I wanted to check on Oma and see how she’s doing.

We also got some sad news on Saturday morning: Carlos’ grandmother passed away. She has been sick for a long time and Carlos’ grandparents were living in Canada for awhile, but they went back to Portugal in the summer since she really wanted to live out the rest of her days there. We got word late last week that she took a turn for the worse, so Carlos’ dad and uncles decided to go to Portugual (they left yesterday), but they didn’t make it in time before she passed, which is very sad. I’m glad they are there for Carlos’ grandfather though, he needs his sons around him right now. I wouldn’t be surprised if they bring him back with them when they return in a few weeks.

This week should be much less busy for me than the last several have been, which is awesome. I only have 2 evenings busy this week: tonight with my pilates class and Thursday with our prenatal class. That’s it. I also have the day off work on Wednesday to just relax and get caught up on some things. So, this should be a good week!