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D-Day is just over 5 weeks away. I'm starting to freak out and wish it would never come one moment and then am so ready the next I'm beside myself with excitement.

Reasons I don't want this:
1. Labour/delivery. Really, need I say more?
2. Do I have the ability to deal with two kids? The thought of a newborn and a vivacious 2 1/2 year old is quite a frightening combination.
3. No sleep.
4. I truly love our family unit as is, why are we messing with it?

Reasons why I'm excited:
1. Sierra has enriched our lives so much and the moment she arrived we never looked back so I'm hoping the same with this baby.
2. Sierra has great potential to be a spoiled brat so a sibling will do her good!
3. I want my body back.

Overall it's all good. I had the same sentiments before Sierra came, it's just part of dealing with a life change.

All Girl

When I was pregnant with Sierra and we didn't know her gender I was very conscious of keeping everything extremely gender neutral. 'Gender neutral' is a very remote concept with kids gear and therefore difficult to find, it's also a hard look to make interesting but I felt I did all right with her first bedroom.
After she was born I initially rebelled against the pink. No pink, no pink! Yeah right! With a girl there is pink. Oodles of pink. You would think no other colour existed for baby girls. It didn't take long for me to get into it too and now I love it for her. I might as well take it while I can because if we have a boy this time there definitely be no pink!
When it came time to decorate her room in our new house, pink just felt like the right colour for Sierra. She is quite a girly girl. (although she has a mean throwing arm for a 2 1/2 year old) I didn't want anyone who entered the room to feel like they were being swallowed by a giant puff of cotton candy so here's what I did:

Recap 2009

I took this from Leah: Enjoy!

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?

Many things related to completing the building of our new house. Learning to live with and shape the life of a two year old. (ye gads, poor child!) Starting running 5 km on a regular basis.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?


Huh? Resolutions? Okay, here's what I wrote last year:

1. Buy an old fashioned journal for writing in and use it for things like jotting down prayers - which I desire to do more of, cute things Sierra does and says that I'll otherwise never remember later, and any other tidbits of my mind that I feel need documenting; a private place for my thoughts and memories.

I don't think I really even began this - but perhaps a good thought for this year?

2. Get back into better health by deliberately exercising 3 times a week and drastically reducing my junk food/sugar intake, and continuing with my increased veggie consumption.

I did okay, the junk food/sugar avoidance is really difficult.

3. Tidy as I go so that my house does not end up looking like a pig-sty and require a massive top-to-bottom clean. (This is a once-we-move goal, it's a nearly impossible feat in our current abode)

This goal had it's days.

My resolutions for 2010: I prefer to call them goals, it's doesn't feel so bad when I don't meet them.
1. Survive birthing another child and living with all that accompanies that.
2. Finish decorating the main floor of our house - and I'll likely need all year for that.
3. Loose baby weight plus 10 pounds more and get back in shape. (doesn't everyone have some sort of "health" related goal every new year?)|
4. Try and increase blog exposure.
5. Come up with a wildly successful money making idea that will make us filthy rich.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?



Yes.

4. Did anyone close to you die?



Not so much as close to me as to people I care about.

5. What countries did you visit?



USA

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?



A holiday that is a week or more in length with just our little family. I don't care if it's simple like camping or a trip to Maui (definitely the preferred option but I'll take what I get)

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?



January 31 - we moved into our new house.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?



Making it through feeling like a single parent as Trevor worked tirelessly on our house and yard.

9. What was your biggest failure?


 There are many and I'm not sure I could label one the biggest.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?



No.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

Good quality leather couches. The best with messy kid, husband, and yeah okay, me too.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?



Sierra on becoming potty trained.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?



Some of the people I work with.

14. Where did most of your money go?



Our house and yard.

15. What did you get really excited about?

Getting pregnant. Every step we finished on the house.

16. Compared to this time last year, you are:


- much rounder in girth
- living on less but more consistent money
- more rich in friendships

17. What do you wish you’d done more of?



Find innovative activities to do with Sierra. Record the various things she did or said that are cute.

18. What do you wish you’d done less of?



Eat bad food.

19. How did you spend Christmas?



At my grandma's Christmas Eve and my parents Christmas Day.

20. Did you fall in love in 2009?



Here's a big slice of cheese for you: every day more and more withe my husband and daughter.

21. What was your favorite TV program?



Lost, I'll be sad that it's over.

22. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?



No.

23. What was the best book you read?



I can't remember but I did read some really great books. Chalk it up to baby brain!

24. What was your greatest musical discovery?


Refer to answer 23.

25. What did you want and get?



Awesome red canisters for my kitchen.

Pregnant

A new house.

26. What did you want and not get?

A teaching job for Trevor. A massively winning lottery ticket. A holiday.

27. What was your favorite film of this year?



Refer to answer 23 on the memory thing.

28. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?



I spent a great day with Sierra, who was then farmed off to my parents so Trevor and I could enjoy a round of golf followed by an excellent dinner out. I turned 32.

29. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?



Good question. I have so much I'm not sure I would give anything that honour. More money seems like an obvious one but would it really do that for me?

30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?



Not really a concept so much as giving a concerted effort to do my hair and makeup most days and dress reasonable nice...then I got pregnant and comfy became my motto!

31. What kept you sane?



Exercise. My parents help. My husband - he should be listed first.

32. What political issue stirred you the most?



I hate politics and I'm embarrassed to admit I don't know much.

33. Who did you miss?



My friends who live afar.

36. Who was the best new person you met?



I'm not giving that label to anyone but we got to know a number of awesome people this year.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.



I continually relearn this one but that God is always taking care of us and providing for us, even when I'm ticked off at Him and avoid Him.

Joyous!

What do a pretty, snowy landscape with the sun shining, wonderful family time, a superbly behaved 2 1/2 year old, great food, awesome gifts, and celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ all equal?

A great Christmas!

I managed to eject the grumpiness that was inhabiting my mind and let joy take over residence. There was a lot of conscious put effort into it, which has failed me more often than not lately -but itworked this time. Feeling joy again is so energizing and refreshing.

I desperately hope this mood prevails now, I've about had enough of being cranky and irritable (as have those around me I'm sure!).
"Get over yourself, your pregnant - what's the problem? Deal with it!" I'm sure people were itching to say.
It's not quite as easy as that but ...yeah, I know.

I'm down to under 8 weeks before baby is due and it would be a blessing to be able to enjoy and cherish the time with Sierra and get myself physically and mentally prepared.

Baby is still nameless. Trevor has unlimited vetoes, as he puts it, and has used them on every girl name I have suggested. He also isn't 100% sure of the boys name. Although I think he's close enough on the boy's name that I chose that it will be the name if it's a boy. I've told him he has to come up with suggestions now because I've tried with no success.
Only one person helped me out last time I asked but I'll pose the question again - any suggestions? We tend to like slightly different names but not weird or completely uncommon - but I'm open to anything.

I have a bunch of pictures and other stuff that I am looking forward to sharing with you in the new year - like Sierra's finally finished bedroom (I love it, it's so "girly".) Pictures may have to wait a bit as we re-formatted our computer recently and can't find the camera software. But our basement is in development progress and it won't be long before the office is set up down there to make room for baby so hopefully the software will surface soon.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year!

Humbug!

That's been about the state of my mind the last couple of weeks, hence the scarcity of posts. I"ll spare you the whining and scrooging about how I've been feeling because I'm sure it's mostly due to my hormones infecting me. I don't know when I'll be back but probably not until after Christmas. I truly hope that my mood improves so that I can entertain you with more light-hearted and fun posts.
Until then...Have a Very Merry Christmas all!

"Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland..."

Actually we're avoiding being outside as much as possible these days because we've been inundated with snow and plunged into a deep freeze over the weekend...but I'm sure enjoying the view out my window!

Friday afternoon a blizzard arrived, it blew and raged with a vengeance for two days, as if it had something to prove. It succeeded in blanketing our driveway in a 3+ foot drift that had Trevor saying enough colourful words to melt it while he shoveled a path for our vehicle (he absolutely hates winter and cold and snow). As it is, only 2/3 of the driveway is clear, the remaining drift is over 5 feet high and there's no practical way to get rid of it. Trevor thought maybe a propane blow torch...
This of course would happen over our busiest weekend of the season. We were required to be out and about way more than was sane with good weather conditions, never mind during a blizzard. Most people I talked to stayed in their homes. Not us! We had five Christmas production performances at our church from Friday night to Sunday night, saddled with a wedding on Saturday. Thankfully we stayed safe.

Then, as if that wasn't enough, we woke up this morning to -38 degrees Celsius, -49 with wind chill. It reached a balmy -19 at one point today.
Burrr!
I don't mind the cold and snow generally but this is a bit ridiculous. I'm quite certain even polar bears and penguins would complain.

Life Lately

Baby did a somersault last weekend and is officially head down. I can now breathe as a result and as wonderful as that is, I am now the recipient of a whole new set of sensations and pains. I've just entered the final ten weeks - yikes!

I am totally and ashamedly not into Christmas this year. I think we have been and will continue to have our plates full of too much busyness to be healthy and top that with a good helping of pregnancy and I've become a scrooge. It is so completely not me to not have the Christmas spirit and I hate it.

Sierra is pretty much potty trained. I say pretty much because there are times when it's on a "if I feel like it basis." Pooping is much easier in a pull-up but she knows full well how to accomplish the same task in a potty. She can stay dry during a nap but it depends how much liquid she's consumed. I'm not even worrying about night yet. On a whole, she wears underwear most of the time. I've packed up all the cloth diapers which is very cool because that means three months before I start that adventure all over again!

The cold weather switch has been turned on in our parts the last couple of days - a frigid -20 degrees Celcius this morning. Brrrr!

Naps are my best friend.