Announcement time!!

I think by now it will be no surprise to blog readers, but we are expecting another addition to our family! I didn't post anything on here until this time to ensure that we had told people, or that people had been told (hopefully) before reading on the blog.  If you consider that and the fact that I'm behind on my blogging, I'm almost halfway through the pregnancy.  Eighteen weeks as I write this. It feels very weird being pregnant for the 3rd time.  With the 2 girls and Scout I rarely think about the pregnancy.  As I'm in the second trimester I'm feeling really good.  When I felt awful it was easy to think about the pregnancy.  I'm also keeping up with my exercise with my daily dog walks--I think this helps to make me feel energetic, not tired, and keeping excess weight off.

I did have a rough start to the whole thing though. when I was around 8 weeks along I had something that felt like a running cramp.  We were about to go for a walk to the duck pond so I figured I'd go anyway, and walk off the random cramp.  As we got into our walk I decided that I'd better go back home.  I tried to do some stretches as well as have a bath but nothing really helped.  I thought maybe it was some sort of gas problem, but nothing seemed to help.  After putting the girls to bed we watched tv and then decided to go to bed.  Still it was not any better after laying on the couch and then getting in bed.  In fact laying down almost made it worse.  I ended up calling telehealth as our google research brought up things like appendix problems.  The nurse told me to be driven to the hospital right away.  Luckily Grandma and Grandpa had come home early from the cottage, and Maura came over to stay with the girls while we went to the hospital at 12:30am. When we got there i was in agony.  Luckily there were only 2 other people in emergency (when does that ever happen??), and I was seen fairly quickly.  When I finally saw the nurse I was saying "I need medication!!!!" The doctor who came in did a quick ultrasound to rule out an ectopic pregnancy (which I hadn't even thought about), and said that it couldn't be an appendix problem.  He alerted the gynaecologist, and kept me on morphine all night.  Mike ended up going home to relieve maura for a few hours and get some sleep.  With the medicine I was feeling not too bad, and was able to sleep on and off.  First thing in the morning the doctor came to see me and sent me for a full ultrasound.  The people doing the ultrasound seemed very surprised and the sonographer (is that what it's called?) came in to read the results right away.  It was discovered that I had an ovarian torsion--essentially a twisted ovary.  The people there were saying that it was very rare and the pregnancy threw a loop into the whole equation.  There exact words when I was wheeled out of the room were "well, good luck".  The gynaecologist came to talk to me and mentioned it was best to operate right away.  He said that the ovary was most likely not receiving any blood and would have to be taken out.  Surgeries during pregnancy are usually not advised, he said, but that we would obviously have to do it.  I wondered about how removing an ovary would harm a pregnancy and he said that they really don't know at what point the ovaries stop assisting in the pregnancy.  There was a large cyst on the ovary (pregnancy related) which likely caused it to fall over and twist.  He didn't sound 100% confident that the pregnancy would survive after the whole ordeal.  So into the operating room I went and was put out.  After I woke up he said he was able to save the ovary, and he looked pretty enthusiastic--probably a great and exciting day for him! Pretty amazing outcome.  The operation was a laparoscopic surgery so only involved 2 small incisions.  I was very bloated and sore in the abdomen.  It was very hard to walk for a couple days and the bloating and pain took a while to subside.  Mike was able to take the week off work, and we even went on a scheduled weekend away the following weekend.  Took it pretty easy of course, but without worrying about kids and dog it was easier than being at home.

Since then I have had I think 3 ultrasounds, and both baby and ovary are doing fine.  Oddly enough when I go for the ultrasounds the technicians barely believe the story and then say "oh I heard about you!" The one lady told me that they never see this problem.  But all is well as far as I know. I feel good, like I said, and the baby is starting to kick a lot, so I have no worries there.  pretty resilient little thing.  I had a lot of medication at the hospital but apparently that is fine and I shouldn't worry about it.

On Monday is my 18 week ultrasound and we are able to find out the gender.  We decided to find out this time, as we did with Rose.  Not finding out is more exciting of course, but I think the girls would love to know.  We'll all go to the appointment for the big news.

So far I haven't gained much weight at all.  I attribute that to the surgery, feeling super gross for a few weeks, and more positively, those morning walks.  My stomach is quite ball-like, but I can still wear my usual pants with the button undone.  Another reason to keep up the activity level, is our trip to Disney coming up on Feb. 1.  A lot of walking will happen there, and unless I want to miss out, I need to be fairly in shape to waddle around the theme parks.

In a way it's good to hold off making this announcement.  I never blogged about how gross I felt, so I can just pretend that never happened.  As much as I'm not thinking about being pregnant, I am excited about the new little one on the way.  I think it'll seem more real after we do Christmas, Disney, start getting the room ready (Paige and Rose have to bunk up!), etc.

Halloween...

Pumpkin Carving...

Reading!

As I mentioned in the previous post, Paige has always responded well to sticker charts.  She was starting to get jealous that Rose had a sticker chart with new stickers and she didn't.  I reminded her that she also had a sticker chart when she was potty training, but then I figured she could also have a sticker chart for reading.  I kept trying to get her to read her My Little Pony books to me, but she was never interested.  As soon as I put the sticker chart up she was reading us 1 book a night, and even though the chart is done she still wants to read 1 book a night to whoever is doing her books that night.  I think as she got going she became more confident with her reading and realized she could actually do it, and sound out most words in her phonics books and level 1 books. 

Paige also finished her chart, and her reward was to go to Chapters to pick out 2 books--one she could read to me, and one we could read to her. 

I'm really impressed with her reading.  The chart really motivated her and got her into the swing of things.  I was worried she wasn't being pushed to read at school and then a program started in the classroom where she brings home independent reading books every day.  I'm glad because before that she said they were supposed to be identifying letters at school, which she told her teacher was "too easy".  

Potty trained!!

After a few randomly successful trips to the potty, we decided to go all out on Rose's potty training.  Mike was pretty flexible with his schedule which helped with the process.  I had worried about taking Paige to school, etc. if Rose hadn't used the potty yet.  On those days, Mike just stayed wither her and tried to get her to go while I was out with Paige.  Rose didn't get out much for a few days, but with each day we had more and more success.  Paige always responded well to sticker charts, and we had set one up for Rose a while back.  Once she got going with the stickers on the chart it was a huge incentive.  We told her when she finished the chart she would be able to pick out a toy from the toy store.  After a few days her chart was done and by that point she was going every time in the potty, even telling us when she had to go. 

Here is a picture of Rose putting the last sticker on the chart.  She had just woken up from her nap and was able to go before getting Paige from school.  We all went out to the toy store afterwards and after wandering the store for a long time she picked out some Disney princess figurines. 

At the beginning she alternated between the small potty and sitting on the big toilet with the potty seat.  Now, a few weeks later, she tends to choose the toilet.  I'm glad as there is no clean up.  She has seen Paige only using the toilet of course, so she is fine to use that too.  When we go out she just holds herself up on regular toilets and can go with no issues.  No lugging potties around for us! sick.  Since she has been fully trained she has had 1 real accident, which was luckily at home.  Also, her undies are always completely dry. When we started the training process we put away all the diapers.  One of the first nights she peed in her bed first thing in the morning, as she forgot.  Since then nothing.  I was so happy to put away that diaper genie!

I'm so proud of Rose, she's so confident now with the whole process.  She remembers to flush the toilet and wash her hands too.

Pumpkins at the farm...

Another Halloween and another trip to Springridge for pumpkins.  I think we got 7 pumpkins or so. 

How many photos do we have of the girls on ponies? Tons.  Paige keeps asking me to remind her how old she has to be to go to pony camp--8.

Scout almost 7 months...

Probably won't take long before Scout is heavier than Paige and Rose combined.  Scout was spayed last week :(, and she weighed in at 42 lbs.  When we brought her home 5 months ago she was around 15lbs. 

The evening after the surgery.  Whimpering and freezing under a blankie.  The next day she was back to normal.  We still had to limit her activities, so no walks for 5 days, even though she seemed normal.  She started to get restless and destructive without exercise.  It kind of worked out well though as Mike was away and it's hard to take her for much exercise when the girls have to come too.

School, dance, gymnastics, mix and mingle...

Now Paige is fully into the swing of things at school.  She still has had barely any days of classes, as the gradual entry went on and on, but things seem to be going well.  It's hard to know.  She doesn't talk about school all that much, even when I ask questions, which I do every day. As far as I know nothing upsetting has happened, and she came home one day with an "attentive listening certificate" so I assume all is well.  One day she also came home with a ton of school resources (tracing shapes, velcro animals, etc) in her backpack which I had to explain was stealing.  Right away she said that her friend put them in her bag, which I could tell was the truth, but I think Paige still needed to learn the lesson that you can't bring home stuff from school! When we sent them back the teacher talked to Paige and the friend about it.  Apparently her teacher said "you can't put things in your friends' backpacks". I hope that Paige will branch out and try to make more friends, but she;s shy to do that unless someone approaches her.  She has her 2 friends from last year, Rebekah and Keianna, and I think they might be a bit clique-y.  They are the only SK girls, so they are sticking together.  I'm encouraging Paige to talk to the JK's and become friends with them too. Learning their names would be a good start.  

I already know the things that Paige needs to work on this year.  Penmanship, writing in lower case letters instead of capitals, and cutting with scissors! I also think she needs to learn to slow down and focus on being neat or correct, rather than trying to do things as fast as possible.  At home though she is making huge progress with reading.  She has a "my Little Pony" phonics book set.  There are 12 story books.  She read one every night for 12 days.  Lots of the books she could almost read on her own as she was sounding out the words and remembering the sight words. We put a sticker on a chart for her every night as a reward. She has branched out to other beginning reader books and is doing a great job. It's so fun to see her read.  At first she wasn't interested, but the sticker chart motivated her, as well as when she realized she could read.  That was exciting for her I think.  She's also learning to sound out words and write them down.  I don't tell her if they're wrong, I just read them if I can and tell her good job! She started a Christmas list the other day which was good practice (Yes--there is lots of talk of Christmas around here...even a couple of viewings of a Rudolph show). 

On Saturdays Paige has dance class.  First she has ballet so she changes into her ballet shoes and brings her dance bag into the class to change into her tap shoes after ballet is done.  I don't know if she knows anyone from ballet, but on the first day of class as jazz was about to start, who strolls into the studio but Rebekah and then Keianna! Her 2 friends from school! Now they see each other all the time.  Nice to see their moms once a week though to discuss school stuff. 

Here's Paige in her dance attire with her jazz shoes (and Rose copying in the background of course).  Next September Rose can start baby ballet, although we'll be at the studio for a long time on Saturday morning, waiting for both classes.  I think Rose would love it though.

On Wednesdays the girls have gymnastics.  Paige seems to be learning a few new things this time and Rose is loving it.  A natural gymnast for sure.  Superb jumping abilities, and she is FAST! I decided to get Paige an outfit as it would be easier to just put on under clothes when it is cold outside, and Rose insisted on getting one too.  They look so cute in their outfits! When Paige starts Grade 1 next year she'll be full time, so not sure what activities she'll keep up, but I think Rose should definitely keep up with the gymnastics!

Rose is also loving "Mix and Mingle", specifically the painting.  She paints for a good 15 minutes, just layering on the paint. Unlike last time, she is actually a huge participant in circle time, doing all the actions and singing along to songs she knows.  She sits right up front.  Paige was the same way.  

Oh--and obedience level 2.  Scout had a rough start.  She's one of the younger dogs out of 5 or so, and a lab to boot, but this week she did awesome.   I am determined to get her to outperform the other dogs by next week! I feel like there is so much more control over dogs than kids.  I find it fun to train Scout because she actually listens and it takes her about 10 minutes to learn something new. Kids are so much harder!!

Rose talking

Rose is on a roll with her talking.  She's slowly dropping her random "filler words", and speaking in huge long sentences. As she started talking in sentences, she would string the words together that she knew and then fill in the rest with random sounds.  Sort of like "Go, blah blah blah blah, store, blah blah blah, food".  Now she's really coherent, and able to use lots of words.  The other day I said to her that Scout would be so excited to go to puppy school that night.  Rose then says "Scoutie says Woof, I want to go to puppy school".  I thought it was so cute, as she put on a pretend high pitched voice as she imitated Scout.

She has been saying a few things quite often:

"Yes it is!"
"I want that right now"
"Good job!" (she is so positive..."good job mommy get the cereal!"
"Not nice!!!"


I feel like her talking improved once she resumed napping.

Hallelujah!

There were a couple of months where Rose didn't nap.  She'd have the odd one every few days or so, but nothing consistent.  Every day I'd put her in her bed and cross my fingers.  Most days she'd be talking away and eventually yelling to get out of her room.  I figured she was going the way of Paige.  But if my memory served me correctly, when Paige started to drop naps she was quite pleasant the rest of the day.  When Rose was dropping naps she was tired, tantrumy and disastrous.  When we went to St. Albert, Rose had 3 naps out of 10 days. With the time change, long flight, busy days, it definitely wasn't enough.  As a result she was cranky and not very sociable.  A couple of weeks after our Edmonton return we went to the cottage.  It was the first time at the cottage that Rose moved from the small playpen to the other twin bed in the girls' room.  For the 3 days we were there she had a nap everyday! You might think it was from the fresh air and activity, but the previous trip there she didn't nap at all.  I wondered if it was the combo of bed PLUS dark black curtains.  At home Rose's room was pretty light at bedtime.  After returning from the cottage we put a dark blue sheet on her window at nap time and she slept.  She never looked back.   Naps every day ever since labour day weekend!!