36 weeks family pictures

Melinda was gracious to take some pregnancy pictures of us last weekend. It was cold outside so we made it quick. I love the orange leaves that were still around. Fortunately we were able to get some pictures before any meltdown on Canaan's part. We had spent the morning looking at flooring for the house, had a late lunch, and it was way past nap time. These are some of my favorites. Thank you Melinda!

1st haircut

November 15th I took Canaan to get her first haircut. You can kind of tell from this picture the day before that her hair had gotten a bit stringy. It still was not long but could use a bit of a trim.

We were the only customers in the salon when we went so it was nice to not be rushed and that Canaan could choose the vehicle for her haircut. She chose the red airplane. There was a cartoon on a tv in front of her and she picked some toys to play with. She did a great job!

The hair clip didn't last long, I don't think it even stayed in until we got to the car. Surely by the time she's 3 her hair will have grown more, right?

New House

We were supposed to close on our house Friday October 28th. Due to issues with our sellers and our lender not having their act together, it did not happen until Tuesday November 1st. We didn't get the key until Thursday the 3rd.

Saturday we met with a general contractor to discuss some things we'd like to have done before moving in. We are waiting to get an estimate from him. We were hoping we'd be able to have everything complete and move in before December 1st...hoping that would give us time to unpack and decorate a bit before Baby Boy arrives (due December 18th).

In the listing, the sellers said they would be painting the exterior of the house. It was a very neutral gray color. The painter contacted us to see if we would like to pick the colors before he painted. It was not easy, but we picked a blue color. Every house in the neighborhood is very neutral and with the dreary weather we wanted something that would pop a bit. I really like how it turned out.

One of my favorite things about the house is the deck in the back and the slide coming off the deck. Canaan has already been enjoying this when we've been over at the house. The slide needs a bit of wax to make sliding down it a little easier.

Tinkerbell

Canaan had a Halloween party at daycare on Halloween. I left work early so I could go see her party and take some pictures. As soon as I got there, she threw her plate of snacks away and was ready to leave. She got upset at me when I told her we were staying for her party. She finally got over it and we stayed for about an hour. This is Canaan being unhappy with me.

After Matthew got home, we met Melinda and her kiddos at a local mall for trick-or-treating. They even had a band playing live music. We got a short video of Canaan dancing which was really funny. It was great to have the mall to go to for our first trick-or-treating experience. With all the small children and their parents, it was crazy! Canaan enjoyed asking for candy and seeing it in her pumpkin. Thankfully she did not end up with a large amount of candy. She has tried several things and not liked much so far. I think the only thing she has really eaten was some Sweetarts. She did not really understand what to do with a sucker. And she does not like the chocolate at all. Maybe next year, we'll just stay home and hand out candy.

31 weeks

Last Sunday, I reached 31 weeks in this pregnancy. I cannot believe how quickly it has gone by to this point.

Things have been busy around our house with work and keeping up with Canaan. She is quite the handful these days. When we were expecting her, Matthew was nervous about raising a child. I was only worried about the process of getting that baby out of my body. This time around with a toddler at home, I haven't thought as much about the labor and delivery (although I am not really looking forward to that part) but have been very anxious about actually being responsible for another person. This parenting things is harder than I thought it would be!

I am sure the next 9 weeks are going to fly by. This time of year tends to speed by. We have plans to close on a house a week from Friday. We won't know until Wednesday if that is actually going to happen or not. After we signed a contract on the house, the sellers filed for bankruptcy. So we now have to wait for the bankruptcy court to approve the sale of the house. If everything goes forward, we plan to move by the end of November...just in time for Baby Boy to have his own bedroom.

We still haven't really talked about baby names yet so we need to get to work on that. I haven't purchased a single thing for Baby Boy. I was kind of waiting until we figured out our living situation. Now I am ready to start looking at bedding and how I want to decorate his room. We have a lot of things we'll be able to use that we used with Canaan. Thankfully, we chose neutral colors for almost everything but her bedding and clothing. It will be fun to add some blue to all the pink we already have.

As you can kind of see from the pictures below, I am quite a bit bigger this time around. I feel huge and cannot imagine what I will look like and feel like in 9 weeks. I have been much more uncomfortable in this pregnancy but thankfully have not been sick. It is getting harder to get down in the floor to play with Canaan, give her baths, or even rock her as I don't have much of a lap these days.

Canaan talks about her baby brother, but I don't think she understands what is going on. Some days, she will tell either Matthew or me that she has a baby boy in her tummy. Some days she likes to talk about sisters and brothers. She has also told me how she will help with the baby...by feeding him and changing his diaper. She has been doing a lot more of this type of pretending with her baby doll at home.

31 weeks of pregnancy with Canaan

31 weeks of pregnancy with Baby Boy

A trip to the farm

Last weekend we used a coupon I recently purchased to go to a local farm. We got a later start than I expected, and this place was BUSY! For a child who loves animals as much as Canaan does, this was a perfect place to visit. This huge pig was just wandering around like you would see a dog wander around. Canaan got to pet this pig, a chicken, a miniature horse, and baby pigs.

This is what I've been getting lately when I ask for a smile (at least when she's cooperating).



She also got to go on another pony ride although this one wasn't as good as the first one. This time a young girl led the pony around the pen one time. Canaan still really enjoyed it. I think the wait for this one was more than an hour. Matthew was nice enough to wait in line while Canaan and I walked around and looked at all the animals.

This place had little tractors that kids could drive around, a huge fire pit for roasting marshmallows, a hay bale maze, a rope to swing on, a train to ride, a garden to play in, and plenty of animals around.

I think it might be fun to go back during the summer when it might be less crowded.

1st Pony Ride

While Matthew was working a couple of weekends ago, Canaan and I went to a local park's annual fair day. There was a lot going on at the park, but the very best thing was the pony rides. From the moment I told Canaan there would be horses, she was so excited. We waited in line about 40 minutes so she could ride this pony (or horsey, according to Canaan) for about 5 minutes. She got to pick the one she wanted to ride, and she picked Toby. She was really good about sitting still and holding on. She squealed several times as she went around and would occasionally pet Toby. She had a ball!

We walked around the park to see what else was going on. There was a line for everything. We also went on a ride pulled by a tractor that Canaan enjoyed. By the time we got home, this pregnant momma was exhausted. It was a fun day!

Canaan went to sleep before Matthew got home from work that day. The next day when she was telling Matthew about the park, she told him she "needed Toby." She has talked about him several times since then as well.

Pops Visited

During September, Pops came to visit. While he was here, we took the ferry to Whidbey Island and drove around. He may have been here the best weekend of the whole year. The weather was perfect! We drove out to an old fort and looked around. He and Matthew also went to the Flight Museum and to Alki Beach.

Evergreen State Fair

Over Labor Day weekend, Matthew, Canaan, and I went to the Evergreen State Fair. Canaan LOVED seeing all the animals. She got to pet this huge horse, a baby goat, and some other horses while we were there. The pigs and some of the cows were being shown while we were there so she didn't get to pet them.


She wanted to go on all the rides we saw, but the only thing she was big enough for was the carousel. She likes the carousel but really wanted to do the other things. I guess when she gets bigger and older, Matthew will have someone to ride roller coasters with.

August 2011

Toward the end of August, Grandma came to visit. The day after she arrived we got up really early and headed North. We caught a ferry to Victoria, BC and went to Butchart Garden. It was a beautiful day to be outside, and we enjoyed looking at all the flowers and fountains. Canaan enjoyed being on the boat, but she did not enjoy spending the afternoon in her stroller. Look at that red hair!

Canaan also enjoyed the carousel...the statue outside as well as the moving carousel inside.


We spent the night in Victoria...we had a nice dinner and enjoyed the scenic walk from our hotel to a restaurant for breakfast the next day. Again, it was a beautiful day.
Matthew and I took Canaan to the pool for the first time this year. We only made it once before the weather turned too cool. Canaan loved it! She doesn't like to have water on her face, but after a short while in the pool, she wanted to do it herself. She is one adventurous girl. Matthew and I learned our lesson about using swim diapers. We didn't have any so we just used a regular diaper. By the time we were finished, that thing must have weighed 10 pounds. Not only did it absorb all the water, all the insides of the diaper came apart. When we took it off her, it was full of all the little beads and got all over the place. Yuck!

While Grandma was here, Canaan enjoyed blowing bubbles, finger painting, painting with sponge sea creatures, playing with playdough, reading new books, playing with stickers, and things I am probably forgetting about.