Walking on Sunshine

Today was a beautiful day! The sun was out and the temperature was around 60. It was fabulous! We made our way to a park for fresh air and sunshine. We had a picnic, Max enjoyed playing fetch, and Canaan enjoyed the playground.

I tried to get a picture of Canaan holding Jude...this was the best I got. She wasn't too sure about holding him so he's just laying on her.

8 weeks

Jude is already 8 weeks old! His two month appointment is next week. I am very curious how much he weighs as it seems he has grown a lot. He is definitely a good eater and doesn't appear to have the food issues Canaan had early on. I hope that continues.

• still an easy-going, happy baby - he only gets upset when he has a dirty diaper or is hungry
• will take a pacifier and enjoys sucking on it but cannot hold onto it for long - I am hoping he either figures it out or will start sucking his thumb soon (I can't remember when Canaan finally discovered her thumb.)
• wearing 0 to 3 month clothing
• wearing size 1 Huggies Little Snugglers diapers
• goes through several outfits each day - I don't remember this happening with Canaan
• has started smiling which melts our hearts
• enjoys laying flat to stretch out
• enjoys the bouncy seat and swing
• has been sleeping anywhere from 4 to 7 hours at night - I generally only get up with him once during the night.
• makes a lot of noise, seems to always be grunting or squeaking
• doesn't stand a chance staying awake in his car seat so far

Canaan at 8 weeks in 2009

Canaan is very sweet to Jude. She makes sure we know when he's crying. She will try to give him the pacifier and gets in his face to say hello. She is not as curious these days when we change his diaper. And generally she leaves him alone and does her own thing.

Weekend in review

This guy is still doing a lot of sleeping. I can't remember when this stage ends so I'm trying to enjoy being able to get some things done while he's sleeping. I am also enjoying watching him sleep and holding him a lot. I know the day will come when he's too busy to cuddle with me so I'm especially enjoying holding him.

When we ventured out this weekend, we bought Canaan her first board game...Chutes and Ladders. I have to say it was a bit frustrating trying to play with her. She was excited about the game, but she was not able to sit still to play it. She was running around and wanting to move the board pieces all over the place. She did enjoy spinning when it was her turn and she remembered whose turn it was each time. I think she'll figure it all out as we continue to play with her.

Snow Days

Last week we had a pretty big snow storm. Around here it was called Snowmageddon since we don't get much snow. Daycare was only open 1/2 of one day so we were "stuck" at home for much of the week. We played in the snow some, but Canaan lost interest pretty quickly each time. Every time we went outside, Canaan wanted to eat the snow. We made sure she knew to only eat the really white snow. When we asked her if she understood, she told us not to eat the red, blue, or yellow snow. At least she remembered the part about the yellow snow. There were parts of our yard/deck that had around 8 inches of snow. Unlike many in the Seattle area, we never lost power. We were thankful for that but did get a little cabin fever before the week was over.

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?

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.