Week 31: New stroller!

Yesterday I picked up a Joovy Caboose that I had rain checked at Toys R Us on sale for $140 (reg. $180). Woot!

For those not familiar with the Joovy, it has a seat in the front which can be adapted to accomodate an infant car seat (for use as a 'travel system') and provides a 'sit or stand' option behind the front seat for an older child. Perfect for us since it's smaller than a full-sized tandem stroller, and considering that Ben is almost three years old (how did that happen??!) he often prefers to walk, but still gets tired on long walks. We tried it out briefly last night and Ben *loved* the stand option. I didn't get any pics (dead batteries in the camera), but below is a catalogue pic of the stroller FYI.

30 week prenatal appointment last night

It was a brief appointment (because I fell ill while I was waiting, but I'll get to that later). The highlight is that the baby's heartbeat was nice and strong - no skipped beats. What a relief.

I'm up ~1 lb since my appointment two weeks ago, and presumably everything else is fine: blood pressure, measurements, etc.

As for getting sick, the only thing I can think of is that I ate something that didn't sit well. I was a little hungry when I got to my appointment (I'd snacked through the afternoon and wasn't hungry for dinner before I left) so I grabbed a small bag of Doritos and a bottle of Gatorade from the store in my OB's building. I consumed them while waiting for my appointment (which was ~1.5 hrs of waiting) and I suddenly started feeling very queasy. Very queasy. Then they called my name. Ugh.

Fortunately my appointment was quick, I rushed home afterwards and was violently ill... all night. Slept horribly last night. Nic's stayed home from work today (and has taken Ben out to one of his morning programs) - thank goodness. I'm working on keeping down water and toast. I'm not running a fever, so I think it's entirely food related.

And the bizarre thing? I also fell really ill at 30 weeks when I was pregnant with Ben, with what I think was a full-on bout of food poisoning, at least in retrospect. Lucky me!

30 weeks today!

And a certain little someone is really beginning to impinge upon my ribcage! The proof is in the photo.

Preschool drop-off wasn't so successful this morning

Ugh. There is nothing harder than walking away from your child who's desperately trying to cling to you, is crying, and screaming 'Mummy!!'

Ugh.

Ugh.

Poor kid didn't want me to leave, didn't want to take his teacher's hand (kept pulling away), wanted to hang on to me (I had to pull away from him), it was awful. His teacher just encouraged me to leave, and so I did. I think if I'd taken a few more minutes to talk to him it might've been better, but I understand why they encourage parents to just make a run for it... clean break and all that. We'll chat afterwards.

I think Ben's anxiety about me leaving was partly due to being outside. Some mornings the kids start outside playing in a giant sandbox with big dump trucks, shovels, etc., and other mornings we bring them in to their classroom. The classroom has so many different activities and toys that he's easily distracted.

UPDATE: Pick-up was great. Ben was all smiles; he'd clearly had fun and was happy to see me. He came barrelling over giving me the biggest hugs and kisses telling me he missed me. What a sweet kid.

We had a little chat about drop-offs and that I understand he's a little sad when I leave, to know that I will always come back to get him and that he'll have fun with the kids and teacher in the meantime. And reiterate that school is for kids and teachers, but not for mummies and daddies. It seemed to help. He teared up a little and tried to stall when I was getting ready to leave the following day, but he really kept it together, and again I was greeted with a big bundle of happiness when I returned. :)

'No, it's MY mama!'

Ben isn't particularly jealous of me and other children, but he does get his back up if another kid calls me 'mama' - even if they're calling me 'Ben's mama', all he hears is the 'mama' part. And so he'll quickly correct any child by saying 'No, it's MY mama. Your mama is over there!' and he'll point to said kid's mama.

It's pretty funny. Though I do wonder how he'll feel about the new baby now. He's never shown any sort of jealousy with me holding other babies, etc. and he's always very helpful wanting to bring toys and he's so gentle and sweet, but he knows I'm not their mama. Should be interesting. I hope it's not too hard on him.

No more 'Tommy', it's 'Thomas' now

Take Two.

I just typed everything out only to have Blogger crap out on me. So here we go again.

Ben has been a fan of Thomas and Friends for some time now. For the longest time he called Thomas 'Tommy' because he's been unable to pronounce 'Thomas'. However, the during the past couple of days Ben's made the leap from Tommy to Thomas. And now he's correcting Daddy who continues to say 'Tommy' - 'No Daddy, it's Thomas - not Tommy.'

And in general I've noticed a big improvement in Ben's speech and language development. His pronunciation has really improved and become more clear, and he's capable of putting together some more complex sentences.

Our sweet moment of the day

Ben had been feeling my belly moments earlier so my shirt was raised to expose my belly. The baby hadn't been responding to his pleads to wake up, etc. so finally he covered my belly back up with my shirt to 'tuck the baby in', looked at me and said 'Shhh. Baby sleeping', then looked at my belly, rubbed it, and said 'Goodnight, baby.'

Melt my heart.

Do you think he hates my singing? ;)

This morning I was singing a song from one of Ben's shows while we drove in the car. I didn't get very far into the song before Ben starts yelling 'Nooo! It's not on, Mama!' (meaning, the show isn't on so I shouldn't be singing the song - apparently the rule is that you can only sing along to the song with the show), and then he quickly followed it up with 'Stop! You're hurting my ears!!!'.

:D

'I love Ben!'

I bought two new books the other day, titled: 'I Love You, Mommy' and 'I Love You, Daddy'. When I ask Ben which one he wants to read he says 'No. Read 'I Love Ben'!!!'.

What I love about preschool

1. Receiving great big hugs and giant smiles when I return to pick Ben up.
   
2. How he looked up at me today and happily announced 'I missed you, Mama!' (he's never said that before, to anyone, actually - I didn't even know he knew how to verbalize missing someone!).
   
3. Juice mustaches.
   
4. Asking Ben what he had for snack, what he played with, what they did, if he went pee, etc. etc. etc.
   
5. Bringing home his artwork and projects... soooo cute.

I love this kid.

Week 29: Painting the nursery

Painting of the nursery is finally under way. It's been taped for a couple of weeks now - *ahem* - and I really wanted the painting done before the crib arrived (which could be this week). So Nic got started painting this morning. Ben really wanted to help out too.

Ladies, just an FYI - *this* is what almost 29 weeks of pregnancy and an seemingly endless supply of fudgecicles will do to you. It ain't pretty.

Week 29: Yesterday's OB appointment

Well, good news is that I got the results back from my glucose screen and I'm not suspected to have gestational diabetes and so I don't have to return for the 3 hr glucose tolerance test. It turns out that I am, however, slightly hypoglycemic. My OB didn't have any suggestions aside from watching how I feel after eating sweets, etc. because the sudden sugar high might make me feel queasy or faint. So far I've not noticed any problems, but I have had occassional, inexplicable bouts of nausea, so perhaps related to the hypoglycemia. Who knows.

We listened to the baby's heartbeat and noticed a couple of skipped beats. Apparently this isn't uncommon and I'm told it's nothing to worry about. If we observe skipped beats again at my next appointment in two weeks time (yes, I'm now going for appointments every two weeks!) he'll send me for an ultrasound to have the bab's heart more closely looked at. My 18 week ultrasound report says 'no abnormalities'. So I'm not worrying, or at least trying not to. We'll just have to wait and see.

Ben's first day of preschool!

First, let me say: what a great day for Ben! He was comfortable in his classroom from the moment we stepped in, went straight for the bin of Hot Wheels cars, and played with another little boy.

We arrived a little early because I wanted a moment to chat with his teachers. I also brought a copy of his last egg allergy testing which shows him as negative (to counter the comments our GP made on the anaphylaxis form - see previous entry for deets), so that worked out well and we were able to modify the form indicating that peanut is the only anaphylaxis risk for Ben.

Ben continued playing and was happy so I decided it was time to leave (there were still several parents hanging around). I said good-bye to Ben (he didn't even get up... haha... just kept on playing with the cars) and told him I'd be back in a little while.

I didn't cry when I dropped him off, or when I left, or even when I got home. I was shocked. I did, however, cry when I went to pick him up. The parents waited in the hallway until class ended and the door was opened. Everyone started spilling in and I spotted Ben sitting in a circle on the floor with some other children and a teacher. When I called his name he started looking around, spotted me, looked SO happy to see me, then ran over and gave me the biggest, happiest hug. And that's when I burst into tears. But I managed to get in control again pretty quickly... I didn't want him to think anything was wrong.

Both teachers said he had a great day. I noticed in additon to the name tag on his shirt, he also had a 'calendar helper' tag. I don't know what the 'calendar helper' is or does, but he was it! :D

And here are some photos from this morning. Ben wasn't keen on having his picture taken; he never is these days.

Just after putting on our shoes and getting ready to head out the door (he quickly turned away and yelled 'nooooooo!')
Yelling at me to not take his photo

There's no escaping the car seat... or the camera...

Running to the school door... or away from a snap-happy mama

Checking out his classroom

Playing cars with another little boy

Saying 'cheese!' and looking a little possessed

Ben's first day of preschool is tomorrow!

And I'm so nervous and excited for him. I hope I can sleep tonight!

I had a bit of running around to do this weekend, trying to sort out some last minute things. The school gave me a form required to be filled in by parents of anaphylactic students (re: Sabrina's Law) and signed by their doctor. Then I had to try to snap a photo of Ben that was ID-worthy to affix to the form. Ugh. That's a battle in itself. The kid really has to be in the mood for a photo shoot. I'm lucky to get two in a row before he runs away screaming 'noooooooooooo!'.

Only thing I'm concerned might be an issue is that our GP wrote Ben's mild raw egg allergy on the form. The form is intended for anaphylactic allergies only, which the egg isn't. And especially after having two negative egg tests and consults with Ben's allergist it's agreed that it's a very low risk allergy. Try explaining this to him. [insert eyeroll here] Hopefully I can convey this sentiment to the school, otherwise I'll have to get a whole other form filled in (I'll go directly to the allergist if it comes down to that), and pay another fee to have the form filled in, in order for Ben to be allowed to eat the same snack as the other kids. And for good measure, let me just say that our GP really pisses me off every single time we see him. And it's not the pregnancy hormones, it's him.

So, all that said, here's hoping Ben has a great first day! :)

The low-down on Ben's orientation day.

It started well, he enjoyed playing with the toys while I sorted things out with his teachers. After we tidied up the toys he was playing with and said 'bye' to the teachers things spun out of control a little. Ben started frantically swiping toys off the tables (not angrily, this is just something he finds fun). Things with little pieces, like puzzles and stuff. Good times.

An effort to get him to help tidy up the mess just resulted in more frantic dumping of toys. Gah. So I sat him in a chair, told him not to move, and just cleaned up myself (normally he'd be required to clean up after his time-out, but we didn't have time for that today). Afterwards I crouched down next to him (not an easy task for a woman 27 weeks pregnant) to explain the situation, why he was sitting out, etc. when the little bugger slapped me in the face. And then he gives me this impish look. Oooh, I was livid. Seething, even. But I kept my cool, held his hands down, explained that I did not like to be hit, then escorted him by the hand from the classroom. When we got home he took my recommendation to go upstairs to play until lunchtime; I was still pretty mad.

And the day just kept getting better from there. (That's sarcasm, by the way.) I won't get into it except to say I'm happy he's napping now and I hope he naps until 4pm.

I have a feeling we're in for a bout of the terrible 3s, because frankly, the 2s haven't been too hard on us. God help me.

Ben's preschool orientation day is on Wednesday.

Boy, it's coming up fast now! It seems like ages ago that I enrolled him. And it probably was... back in March sometime, I think. So tomorrow we have to go print a photo of Ben for his art folder, I picked up an EpiPen today (to be left at preschool, re: peanut allergy), and get a change of clothes together (also to be left at school). His classes don't actually begin until September 8th and he'll attend two mornings per week.

I've also signed us up for a 2's program at the local Ontario Early Years Centre one morning per week, so that should keep us pretty busy until I have the baby. The busier we are, the better, and easier it'll be for me in my last trimester.