happy halloween

up, up and away,

fly mommy and pilot Skye,

thru the birds and clouds,

going oh so very high. 

we hope to make it back to earth

without a great big pop,

cause it would really, really suck

to suddenly drop, drop, drop!

what to do??

Along with planning for our particular new baby comes the BIG dilemma of - where will be put said baby??! obviously in a bassinet/crib...but located where??
This has increased my stress level...

For anyone that isn't aware of the layout of our current home, we only have 2 bedrooms upstairs - the squishy master bedroom and Skye's room. We do have two big spare bedrooms downstairs, but there is NO way I am putting one of my kids, by themselves, in the basement! So there seems to be only two options (well probably three, but I will explain why the third isn't really a practical option. Maybe the other two aren't either...).

option 1: Dino stays with Skye and I stay with new baby. One pair stays upstairs and the other pair moves downstairs. Obviously being split up sucks in every which way possible, but it postpones a move, if only temporarily...which leads me to

option 2: we move.

I really am not crazy about either option, but I am really, really not crazy about option 2 - although it seems inevitable. And we knew that years ago when we considered starting a family. But the plan when we built this home was to stay here for 3-5 years. Dino wanted to sell after 2 and I said no way - we had put too much time, hard work and personalization into it (and I didn't want to go thru that again so soon after). And so we got comfortable...and the market went up and then it went down and we just stayed where we were (and I get reminded ALL the time of how we should have sold when we had the chance). Well now that is coming back to bite me in the a$$ and having to deal with this whole situation.

And while I am still not crazy about going thru the whole building process again, eventually it will have to happen. So do we deal with an interim move BEFORE the baby (and time is flying by. I figure we have 4.5 months till baby, plus 3 months of bassinet in our room) or AFTER the baby when there is more to move? And that dilemma is a very heavy weight on my shoulders...

could this be a sleep option for Skye?? - we have plenty of chairs!
then we wouldn't need another bedroom

oh yah -

option 3: we put the two kids in the same room. This, to me, is not a feasible option at all. At least not at the ages they will be. Skye was a very bad sleeper from the beginning. She has been up and down since around 1 year. She is quite good now (knock on wood), but having a newborn in the same room as her would be a disaster - nobody would get ANY sleep. She would be up with every little noise, cry, night feeding, etc.  And there really isn't space in her room for a crib and a bed anyway. 

if only our ceiling was higher...

Pumpkin patch

Yup, one more little pumpkin to add to our family next year!

Skye will become a big sister! ...but I'm not sure she will be all that happy about it IF she has to share her birthday :-(

Timing, timing, timing…can you believe that out of all the 365 days of the year (and me being the 'planner' that I am), we somehow messed this up and I am due April 1, 2014 - no joke! Oh well, I keep thinking it must have been meant to be...can't change it now (even though I had major guilt for the first couple months).

I guess it would be no different than having a twin with the same birthday? Odds are I won't have the baby on my exact due date but stranger things have happened.

I felt SO much better about this, and a little of the guilt lifted (Thanks Nicole!), when I heard that one of my friends Nicole is in a similar situation. We were off on maternity leave together last time (Audrey's birthday was end of February 2012) and we will once again share time off :-) Her new due date shares Audrey's exact due date as well - so it could very well be born on Audrey's birthday too. Crazy...

I will be 17 weeks tomorrow. Time has flown by this pregnancy already, likely because I don't have the time or the energy to dwell on it everyday - some other little munchkin keeps me too busy to let that happen. There are days in a row when I actually have forgotten that things are changing. Although getting farther along now, the pants that won't do up, are serving as a reminder. Luckily I have been feeling not too bad. I haven't been sick at all, but am having food aversions - mostly to meat, but it depends on the day. I seem to be starving in the morning and at noon, and then my appetite dies down towards supper (and especially after I have to cook it). So I usually end up eating the veggies and carbs and then having cereal for a bedtime snack (not the greatest eating habits). Lots of cereal consumed at our house lately. And I have been very tired. Oh - and heartburn. These are all very similar symptoms that I had with Skye. Except the fatigue is probably way worse having to deal with a toddler at the same time. And so far our baby looks healthy, which is the biggest reason to be thankful!

3 more weeks till we find out if it's a boy or a girl...still haven't decided whether we will share that information this time or keep it our little secret again ;-)

Thankful

The past 2 weekends have been very busy -

and both have been spent in Saskatchewan -

2 separate trips!

Last weekend we went to the farm to spend our family "Thanksgiving", since we were supposed to have a busy weekend planned here in Calgary for the actual Thanksgiving weekend. All of my family was home and we did the big turkey feast, etc. It was a good, but short weekend, as we were only there Friday to Sunday. So Monday was already an exhausting start to the week...

And then Tuesday morning we got a call that my Grandpa Joe (my dad's dad) had passed away :-( He had recently contracted pneumonia, and at the grand old age of (almost) 91 he just didn't have enough strength to fight it.

But seriously - 91!!! How many of us are going to make it to be that old and wise?

He had a very good, long, happy life and we are all so fortunate to have been able to have him in our lives for so long. He was jolly right up until the end and always had a smile on his face and a story to tell. 

We left for our second trip to farm again on Friday and arrived in time for the prayer service Friday night. The funeral was Saturday morning into the afternoon, and it was a very nice celebration. Standing in the cemetery during the conclusion I couldn't help but think that Grandpa couldn't have planned for a better day - the sun was shining and it was a beautiful country afternoon.

After the formal part was over, everyone came back to mom & dad's for the tribute "party". It was a very emotional weekend for all and there were so many hugs passed around. But it was also one of the greatest weekends our family could have had together!
I think every one of us was/is so thankful to have such a fantastic and close family to support each other and to be able to celebrate all the blessings we have.

Grandma & Grandpa - you did the best job of raising your family and it shows all the way down to the great grandchildren. Thank you!

We love you Grandpa and will miss you dearly!
Rest in peace...