Skating Party

Took Chance skating today for the first time. He did pretty good, but quickly resorted to hanging off the support bar and letting Cam push him around the ice. We were lucky to borrow a pair of skates from our friends, and they also gave us a pair of extra size 10's for use next year. Thanks again guys, we had a wonderful time!

After we were done skating we were invited to have hot chocolate and lunch at a colleague's house. Cam ate too much and ended up not being able to eat dinner tonight!

Christmas Thanks

We had a lovely Christmas morning and the carrots and cookies left for Santa and his reindeer were gone this morning, and there was a big bright yellow crane for Chance to play with this morning, so he must have been an extra good boy this year!

A big thank you to Gramma Jo and Grampa Phil for the puzzles and finger puppets, as well as Roughrider history book and framed glass wheat.

Also thank you to Grandma and Grandpa Demmans for the puzzles, new shirts and underwear and story book. Also thank you for the gifts for the grown ups, the new sweater for Dani and dress shirt for Cam are great. We had a wonderful supper with you & thank you for the great suggestion of having dinner out, no cooking or cleaning!

Thank you Great Granny Anne for the table runner and yummy treats. Chance wanted to eat them right away! Also the ambulance is a big hit with Chance, he has been going around the house saying "wee-ooo, wee-ooo".

Thank you Nana for the lovely zip-up sweater with a hood. Chance put it on and it fits great, he ran to the bathroom mirror to check out how he looked in it.

Thank you to Great Auntie Jackie for the bright blue quad and Christmas tree ornament. The quad really goes fast!

Also thank you to Auntie Lynne and Uncle Drover for the Christmas movies and tree ornaments, they are so cute!

Thank you Auntie Rennal and Uncle Glenn for the Charlie Brown story book and transformer motorcycle. The toy is so complex that it is going to stay as a motorcycle. :P

Thank you Corrinne, Graham, Kaitlyn, Laurel and Kristi for the Busy Bugs game. Chance has already had so much fun playing with it.

Thank you to Brigitte for the fantastic yellow mega blocks dumptruck. Chance has been playing with it in conjunction with Santa's crane.

Thank you to Chelsea for the little monster truck and car set. Chance's favorite is the monster truck.

Braxton Hicks Only

Must have been gas with a bunch of Braxton Hicks. Finally I took a bath and that helped me get to sleep but woke up at 5 again with B-H contractions so went to sleep downstairs rather than rolling around disturbing Cam.

Woke up at 8, house is still quiet.

Gas or Labour??

Ugh, have been up for about 1 hour with a "too restless to sleep" feeling punctuated by what I think is gas pain and heartburn. And baby is running a marathon, very unusual.

Tonight did the needle trick with Maurice and it swung up and down in a line, indicating a boy.

Supper tonight was quite good at the Delta hotel with Cam's parents. Chance was quite well behaved for the duration of the meal, which was nearly 2 hours long. Well done, my little guy! The present doled out by the hotel (a board book and puzzle set) really helped his sitting abilities.

Funny, a year ago exactly I was up late in the night too, except I was drilling a well and deciding what the heck to do with the new structural data I had received that night. Finally at 1 AM I made up my mind, having drawn and re-drawn the cross section, only to have the computer crash at the last minute, requiring an additional 2 hours of work. A lot of coffee was drunk that night.

Merry Christmas Eve

1) Woke up at 7:30 with Chance & made coffee. Cancelled insurance on Mazda.
2) Cam woke up at 8:30 and went shopping for kitty. We realized she had not gotten much this year. Perhaps undeserved?
3) Cam returned and took Chance downtown as he had forgotten a present at the office. Chance had a good time having a cookie and a pop at Dad's office, as well as racing up and down the empty hallways.
4) Ate lunch (Cam cooked, thanks!!)
5) Went outside and played in the snow, played ball hockey on the driveway, went for a short walk with the toboggan.
6) Came in and had a snack and then laid down for a nap.
7) Woke up 2 hours later and headed over to the grocery store to pick up our live lobsters.
8) Came home and started cooking dinner, munched on snacks.
9) Nearly burned the lobsters. Turned out it was just the bottom of the pot. They tasted fine.
10) Cleaned up supper dishes & toys.
11) Carefully placed carrots for the reindeer and cookies and milk for Santa.
12) Instead of a bedtime story, Chance asked for bedtime stickers.
13) Stall, stall, stall.
14) Chance in bed by 9:15.

Wishing you all out there a Merry Christmas tomorrow. Hope Santa is good to you! Much love, the Demmans family.

SOLD!

I sold my Mazda this morning! The new car will be coming in a few days!

Don't Drink the Water

What happens when you drink pool water? 4-5 days of the runs!

Chance is feeling much better now, especially since he is allowed to eat real food, like the gingerbread man that he made at his day home. And now we know that he is not allergic to sulfa drugs. After 24 hours on clear liquids only, Chance got to eat bananas, bread, crackers (& I snuck in a few cucumbers too). I'm pretty sure he thought the popsicles were pretty good though.

Prenatal Photos (2)

Prenatal Photos (1)

mazda

For Sale

Well maintained 2002 Mazda Protoge ES GT for sale (metallic red in colour). 90K km, very good condition and very reliable vehicle. Negotiable 1 year old snow tires (currently installed). All season tires are 1 or 2 years old.

5 speed manual transmission, air conditioning, cruise control, sunroof, rear spoiler, fold down rear seats, CD player, optional SIRIUS radio with 1 year remaining subscription. Power windows and power locks with 2 remotes.

This car was purchased in January of 2003 brand new. Installation of a second (rear facing) car seat is difficult with very tall driver & that is the reason we are looking to sell.

Asking price: $8950 OBO

Woohoo!

We took Chance to an indoor playground this weekend as it was mega cold outside and he had waaaay too much energy to contain in the house. Cam has taken him before but I had never been there, and wow, what a place. It cost $11 to get the whole family in and we were there for 2 hours. Chance ran his feet off, and Cam wasn't too far behind him.

The new baby has made a few attempts at a jail break but all just good strong Braxton Hicks contractions only so far. Usually lasts for about an hour to an hour and a half with contractions every 10 mins. Had them on Thursday 5-6 AM, and Sunday night ~9 PM to 10:30 PM. Doctor's visit this week will be interesting to see how much progress, if any, has been made. Last week my cervix was 0.5 cm dilated, which is way better than I did with Chance's pregnancy -- I was still completely closed up at 41 weeks pregnant! Even still I am doing a lot of the "natural" induction stuff these days. I'm even drinking that disgusting raspberry leaf tea again 1 x per day (I skipped today's though, oops). Some folks at work are getting together on Thursday for lunch as a sendoff and it is Indian food, so perhaps I'll get some really spicy stuff to bring on the contractions!!

Today at work the baby kicked me so hard that I doubled up. I had just walked into the elevator at the time and the guy getting off stopped and asked "are you OK???" -- he looked pretty panicked that I was going to go into labour or something. At the moment it feels like I've got 3 kittens play fighting inside of my abdomen, baby usually kicks up the heels at 2 PM and 10 PM most days. All in all though it is way more laid back than Chance ever was -- no bruised ribs so far (touch wood!)

Baby soon?

This morning my tummy was LOWER! I can breathe! And my hips started hurting after work -- baby has dropped, I think. Chance and I did a load of baby clothes, just in case. :) And I've got my list started for what to pack in hospital bag.

Getting ready....

We are starting to get ready for the baby to arrive, just a little over a month to go now. We have gotten the carpets cleaned and furnace blown out (now the furnace is making a vibrating noise...I'm thinking the guy didn't tighten up all the screws....) The crib is set up and Chance tested it out. When we were waiting for Chance we made Scarlet test out the crib! We have some diapers purchased and a couple of boxes of baby clothes pulled out. This morning we unpacked the baby toys and put them in the toybox. Chance personally tested out all of the toys.

Looking back at my writing from when we were expecting Chance, I found this -- written at right about the time we are at with this baby:

"Sunday, September 10, 2006

39 Days and Counting...

The baby has really been taking out his or her frustrations on my ribs! Ouch! My right ribs feel sore, tender and bruised! The baby hasn't been kicking as much over the last 2 days, so maybe found some sort of comfortable position, but my goodness it was a painful 3 days before that! Cameron likes to joke that the baby has piped down in some form of "agreement": less kicking, and he gets to stay for a few more weeks. At least that might be an indication that the feet are up and the head is down at this point - will get my doctor to check that on Tuesday.

Another random pregnancy grumble: my back is killing me on that same side as the sore ribs, I wonder if it is related to all the rib-kicking? I have a massage booked on Tuesday (actually, for the next 3 Tuesdays), at a clinic that specializes in pregnancy massage. It won't come a day too soon, I can tell you that!Slept late again this morning, got up around 9:30 AM (bedtime was 10:30 PM, and only woke up 3X, so got some pretty good sleep)."

Well, that sore right rib is back, as well as the sore back mostly on the right side. Less painful than with Chance though, perhaps baby is smaller or not kicking as hard. As with Chance, I have started having delivery dreams -- recently dreamed that we had another boy....wonder if my dreams will be as telling as they were with Chance? (I dreamed that he was a boy when pregnant with Chance).

Tomorrow we are taking Chance to Heritage Park for my company's Christmas party (kids' version). I don't think we'll go to the official Christmas party...firstly I didn't think much of it last year (nice, but a bit formal/too large), secondly I don't think anyone will really feel like going (layoffs coming in next 2 weeks or so). But we will have a fun day at Heritage Park tomorrow, and Chance will be able to meet Santa Claus, his first encounter with the "real thing". I hope he doesn't pee his pants. I heard visits with Santa will involve hand sanitizer...what a crazy germophobic society we are living in. Chance and I had our H1N1 shots on Nov. 13th so we should be pretty close to immune by now. Cam is now eligible to get his shot and plans to do so in the next few days. So far the clinics are not swarmed.

On Tuesday I'm going out with a bunch of girls to watch New Moon & drool over dreamy vampires. I am considering making a t-shirt that reads "Edward's Baby" over my tummy...

Happy 3rd Birthday Chance!!

We had a busy day on Saturday Oct. 31! It all started before 8, when Chance woke up. It didn't take him long to discover his presents waiting for him in the living room. He received a new, bigger toy box from his great grandmas and some Spiderman wall decals and night light from Auntie Lynne and Uncle Drover. From Mommy and Daddy: a couple of dinosaur pictures for his new bedroom, a silver truck and a beta fish that has been named "Fin". From Gramma and Grampa: a play mat and 8 new small cars to drive around on the mat. From Grandma and Grandpa: a dinosaur story book as well as some Transformers toys & colouring books. From the baby: a Spiderman pillow case. From his birthday guests: too many Spiderman action figures and Transformers to count, 2 puzzles and a Diego doll. Thank you to all for your very nice gifts and thank you for being part of Chance's birthday!

After the birthday party, everyone had a nap. I woke up 1 1/2 hours later eye to eye with Chance, it was the first time he has ever gotten up quietly from his bed and come to our bedroom after he's done his nap. It was quite the shock to wake up with his face 2 inches from mine! I remember waking up my own mom like this. Usually I would get hauled into bed with her for a cuddle. Now I understand why!

We had a quick supper of birthday party leftovers (pizza, veggies, guacamole) and then went trick or treating with next door neighbours, he was out for more than 2 hours! I could only do the first 45 mins as my bladder was killing me. So switched with Cam and watched the Amityville Horror (original) while tending to trick or treats.

Cam and Chance got home around 8 PM and we quickly went through Chance's haul and got rid of any toddler unfriendly candies (hard small candies, gum, etc.) and let him choose 2 to eat before bed. He chose rockets and a lime flavoured Tootsie Roll. We were about to brush his teeth and read him a story when some more neighbours showed up with their twin boys and so we had a good visit with them instead, so Chance even got to stay up late on his birthday. The next day he was a bit tired around 6 PM but not too crabby.

Near Drowning

Today at lunch I nearly drowned in front of 9 senior citizens and a fitness instructor. I decided to join an aquasize class at the Y as it is such good exercise for pregnancy. The YMCA downtown has a lap pool and a training pool, where they do the aquasize classes. It has an adjustable bottom, so that when the kids come in, it is only 2 feet deep, and it gets deeper with adult classes.

Today's class was shallow water aquasize, so in 4 feet of water. I went down the ladder and then jumped off, fully expecting to land on my feet. NOPE! The pool bottom was WAY over my head and I went right down...actually never even felt the bottom so must have been 7 feet deep or something. When I came up I had water streaming out of my eyes, nose, everywhere!! And everyone was laughing at me! (Myself included). Must have read the schedule wrong and this week was deep water work out!

The class was great and once I got a pool noodle between my legs for flotation I was off & running. After the class was over the instructor stayed with me for a bit and we tried out the different styles of bands they have in the supply closet, so next time instead of just grabbing a pool noodle from the pool deck I can use one of those and it should be more comfy.

Happy Thanksgiving

Chance shooting our Thanksgiving supper guests after dinner. Not very polite! Dripping windows are because of the humidifier we installed to help keep our hardwood floors in shape during dry Alberta winters -- evidently, we had it cranked too high!! A bonus though: have to water houseplants less frequently and entire family's skin is in better shape than usual (less eczema, dry skin, etc).

Chance totally posing next to his Halloween craft that we made this weekend. He really enjoyed making the ghosts (2 kleenexes balled up in a paper towel).

Chance and his buddy Jordan, who lives down the street. Jordan's mom is kind enough to pass on Jordan's hand-me-downs, Chance can't wait till Jordan grows out of the size 4 Cars fleece sweater...as you can see both boys are growing quickly so it shouldn't be long!

Birthday and Christmas wish list. We spent Sunday afternoon going through the Sears Wish Book and cut out all the things that Chance said he'd like from Santa or for his birthday. The toy box is something that we think he needs for his new bedroom, as he gets bigger, his toys are getting bigger and made of harder plastic, metal, etc. so not as "packable" as his baby toys. I ordered the box shown from Sears. All others are Chance's personal suggestions, I think you see a trend (robots/machines/etc.) What surprised me was the castle set, as he generally does not talk about castles, horses, etc.

Some long-due photos

Chance has really changed into a little boy this year. I realized how big a change when we took him in for family photos last weekend and I compared last year's picture to this year's. Right now all we have is a black and white printed version from the studio but the real pictures will be ready by the end of the month. I am excited to get them as we took a family picture and we have never done that (last year I had to sit with Chance for a few photos because the camera terrified him), and it was nice to have a picture of him and I together. So this year we decided everyone would get in the picture. And I guess that means everyone, because even our baby is in this photo (even though they are still inside of me, for now). We haven't actually announced it on the blog and it seems silly to do it now because everyone knows already, but we are expecting again, the baby is due in late December or early January. Before we started having troubles with this blog I didn't really want to come out with the news yet and then it has been impossible to log on until now. So far I have not gained as much weight as with Chance, and yet I still feel huge. Lynne is expecting too, 7 weeks behind me. Picture is from mid-September when I headed out there, me at 25 weeks, she at 18.

We hired a birth doula last night and hope that this makes labour a little less crazy this time around. We will be meeting an obstetrician on Oct. 15th to discuss our options for birth, at this point in time we would like to try for a VBAC and our doula thinks that there shouldn't be a problem with at least trying. I don't think that a c-section is the worst way in the world to have a baby or anything but I get nervous just thinking about having to undergo surgery when it is possible to at least try to get the baby out the good old fashioned way. Because Chance was born more than 3 years ago there likely won't be a problem.

Chance's birthday party is coming up quickly and I still need to send out some invites. We will be carving pumpkins and maybe even trying to play a few games as the kids will be older this year and have lunch with birthday cake. Chance has requested a chocolate cake with blue icing and ghosts.

Fixed!

All that was needed was a new browser. Last week spent 3 hours with Shaw and Norton trying to figure out the problem. Norton suggested a $100 US consultant to "diagnose" the computer. What a bunch of scam artists.

Thinking of our family tonight back home in Saskatchewan & thankful that Nana made it through her surgery. Got up at 4 AM this morning as Chance had wet the bed & then was too keyed up to do anything other than just lay in bed. Badly needing a night of sleep so will sign off for now.

No writing for a long time...

So something is set wrong on our computer because I can't log in at home but can while I'm at my friend Lynne's house (that is where I'm writing from now). Sorry, no photos (there are lots), but will look into getting home computer security settings fixed up when I get home from my trip to Halifax.

Quick Post

No time to post....just pictures! Have to go to bed!