Laura's 2nd Birthday

     We celebrated Laura's 2nd birthday this weekend, and I realize now that having Laura's birthday party after we got home from Disney seems a bit anticlimatic, especially when Minnie Mouse (her current fav) was present when we sang "Happy Birthday" to her on her actual birthday.

What furthered the disappointment was that I'm pretty sure Laura contracted Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease at some point while we were on vacation, as she started displaying symptoms earlier this week. She wasn't too bad at first, just very tired and clingy and had a bit of a cough, but then on Wednesday I noticed she had the telltale blisters on her hands. Thursday morning Josh and I discussed our options and decided that letting our guests know that Laura has a contagious disease was probably the right thing to do. We couldn't really postpone the party because we are away next weekend already for Josh's grandma's 90th, and by the weekend after that, well, her birthday is really a thing of the past. Our one neighbour was kind enough to bring her child over for present opening and cake, but aside from Laura's grandmas and grandpas, and two of her aunts, everyone opted out of her party. :( I understand that people have to do what is best for their families, and having sick children really sucks, but I'm still disappointed for Laura, especially since only a few people showed up for her birthday last year, too, due to the weather being horrible. I guess with having a birthday in February she is doomed to these kinds of circumstances. And if we're being honest, I'm a little disappointed for me, too, since I was excited for this party and had been planning it for a long time.

     All that aside, I guess it worked out for the best that Laura's party ended up being on the small side. She was very tired, and not really into it anyway, so all of it was probably overwhelming enough as it was.

 We started with a small lunch buffet of make-your-own sandwiches,

 'Elmo' nacho dip and chips,

a 'Kermit' fruit tray,

veggies & dip, and Sesame Street cake pops.

For dessert we had 'Sunny days' cupcakes.
I decided that after the trouble I had with Laura's cake last year that cupcakes were the way to go. ;)

Sunny days, sweeping the clouds away! 

After everyone was fed, and we had chatted a bit, we headed downstairs to open presents.

Even though Laura didn't really eat anything, she decided she had enough energy that she couldn't resist kicking the balloons around for a few minutes. :)
Opening presents...

pretty little sicky

She got lots of fun toys, and when we were done we went back upstairs to sing Happy Birthday to her.

She was not overly impressed with her 'fire cake' and just wanted to be picked back up. I think she gets embarrassed when everyone sings to her. :)

We tried to get her to eat some cake, but since she is sick, she hasn't been eating well all week, so we didn't push it. I took her upstairs after to lay down with me for a while.

We gave out 4-inch lollipops from the Candy Factory as favours. On the back of the cards it said, "Thanks for coming! This party has been brought to you by the letter L and the number 2!"

    A special thanks goes out again to Josh's parents for all of their help with party preparations and cleaning, to my mom who also came and helped with party prep, to my sister for taking pictures, and to the rest of the guests who came.

Disney World!!

     At 6am this morning we finally arrived home from our long awaited and much anticipated trip to Disney World. For those interested, here is a "little summary" of our vacation:

     On Friday night we drove down to the airport and stayed over at a hotel since our flight was at 7am the next day. We used the "Park 'n Fly" service, which turned out to be the worst thing ever. At about 5am we drove over to the parking lot where we were supposed to leave our car/ catch the shuttle. It was very cold, and we were only wearing lightweight jackets, and Laura was freezing and screaming the entire time we were waiting, which was closing in on half an hour before someone finally came to get us. We finally arrived at the airport, just in time to check in, go through security, and then get right on the plane. Once we were on the plane, we were delayed because the plane needed to be "de-iced". I had never heard of that before, but it was kind of a cool process to watch. It seems like they should have allowed extra time for that, though. It is winter after all. So we were late getting away, and it was becoming difficult keeping an almost-two-year-old entertained on a plane that wasn't even going anywhere. Generally, a fairly terrible start to the day.
     Once we were off, Laura nursed for her ears and promptly fell asleep. Not something I expected to happen, but was pleasantly surprised that it did. :) Josh and I watched 'Honey, I Shrunk the Kids' on the On Demand movies on the plane because I had been bugging him to watch it with me before we left, and we never got around to it. Laura slept for the whole movie, and almost the whole flight, so things were starting to look up. Once we landed at the airport, we were greeted with a helium balloon bouquet and a plush Minnie Mouse for Laura by a representative from my mom's travel agent who booked the vacation for us. In my hormonal pregnant state, I nearly started crying. :) Laura was more than happy to have (another) Minnie, and she obviously loved the balloons too. They kept her happy while we waited in line for the bus to the resort.
    We arrived at the resort and unpacked and then hit up the pool. It wasn't quite warm enough for swimming, but we went in the hot tub and had fun anyway. We headed over to the Boardwalk area for dinner that night at a brewery Josh had been excited to try out. Laura was ... a little grumpy, so after she and Mom had eaten, Mom took her back to the room so Josh and I could enjoy ourselves. It was very nice having her there to do those kinds of things for us. :)
     The next morning we headed off to Magic Kingdom bright and early. We got there just as the park opened, which was really great because we were able to get quite a bit done before the crowds hit. Sunday was quite cold and we needed to wear coats for most of the day, but the cold also kept a lot of people away, which was nice since Josh gets stressed out in crowds. Laura seemed to really enjoy herself (as Magic Kingdom is mostly geared towards kids), and we ended the day with a dinner in Cinderella's Castle. This was something I had been looking forward to for a long time. And, to my surprise, some of the other princesses come to visit you while you are eating. Laura was so cute when the characters came over to our table - she didn't really know what to make of them, but she was enjoying herself. Many funny facial expressions ensued. We decided that we had had enough after dinner was over (Laura hadn't napped all day), and went back to the resort. We watched a bit of TV and then hit the sack.
     Monday we headed to Hollywood Studios via the boat from our resort. We got off to a slow start, thinking we could find breakfast at the park, but we couldn't. We weren't well organized that morning and ended up hungry and frustrated. Plus, it was super busy there for some reason. After we found something to eat, we had fun meeting Minnie and Piglet, Tigger, and Eeyore, and Laura really loved the Little Mermaid Show I took her to while Josh and Mom did the Star Wars ride. I spent a lot of this day watching Laura by myself while Mom and Josh went and did other things that weren't for kids/ pregnant people. Mom ended up taking Laura back to the resort around dinner time, and Josh and I stayed to watch Fantasmic. They were doing a second showing of it, so we rushed back to switch off with her so she could see it too. I felt like we did not get even close to everything accomplished that we wanted to this day, and we planned to come back one of the other days to finish up everything we missed.
     Tuesday we went to Epcot early, which ended up being kind of a bust since even though they have extra magic hours in the morning (for resort guests only), most of the rides/ attractions didn't open until regular time anyway. We stayed and did a few things in the morning and then had our second character breakfast with the princesses (again). I didn't know that the princesses came to the dinner at Cinderella's castle, which is why I wanted to also do this breakfast. However, Laura seemed to be warming up to the characters and really enjoyed the princesses' visits again. Ariel even remembered us from our Sunday night dinner. It was so cute. We headed back to the resort for the afternoon and had a great time enjoying the awesome pool area there. We went back to Epcot for dinner and did a few more things before watching the Illuminations (fireworks) show. Laura was scared of the fireworks, but when they were over she was asking for more. haha. It ended up being a late night for her, but luckily we had no real plans for the following day.
     By Wednesday we needed a break, and so we watched a movie in the morning and then spent a good portion of the day at the pool. Laura really loved it there, and they had a little waterslide that she enjoyed quite a bit, too. Josh and I headed to Downtown Disney for the evening, sans toddler, for my birthday celebrations. We looked around at the shops and had a nice dinner at Portobello's followed by going to see Cirque de Soleil's 'La Nouba'. We really enjoyed the show (although some of the acts made me feel a little queasy - tightropes, anyone?) :/. It was really nice to have a date night out, either way.
     Thursday we went back to Magic Kingdom and made a point of meeting Mickey and Minnie first thing. Laura loves Minnie, so she was pretty much over the moon to meet her. It was very cute. She even gave her a kiss on the nose. We fit in a few rides after that before we had to be over at the Crystal Palace for our breakfast with Winnie the Pooh & friends. Laura was still a little wary of the characters that had full costumes (as opposed to the princesses, who you could see their faces), but she was very excited to meet Pooh, and he got a big hug. When he was done at our table and moving on, she said, "Where you goin, Pooh?" hahahhaha. We went and did some more rides after breakfast, but Laura was starting to lose patience for lines by this point in the week. We let her play for a while on this random little playground we stumbled across, and she was happy as a clam there. We wanted to stay at the park until the parade that afternoon, but Laura ended up falling asleep for it, so she didn't even get to see it. She woke up when we decided to leave the park and were walking past a show. So we stayed and watched the show for her, and then headed back. We laid low and ate in our room that night, and Laura refused to go to sleep until 10:30. Poor kid. Her sleep schedule was soo out of whack.
     Friday we had originally planned to go back to Epcot, but we really didn't feel there was enough left there to make a whole day of it, so we opted to go to Animal Kingdom instead. I am 100% positive that we had a much better day there than we would have had at Epcot. We went and saw the Lion King show first, and got some pictures with some of the characters we hadn't seen yet. Then we went on the Safari ride, which was excellent, and we got to see many of the animals up and moving around. Laura fell asleep on that ride because she didn't get enough sleep the night before, so we opted to have lunch after we were done there while she slept. We headed over to Dinoland and I waited with sleeping beauty while Josh and Mom did the non-pregnant friendly rides. We woke Laura up after that to meet Pluto, and then went on some of the more toddler friendly rides. We also did the "Mono" (Nemo) show, which Laura seemed to like, although it may have been a tad too long for her. Josh and Mom headed off to do the Mount Everest roller coaster after that while Laura and I watched the parade. We had a front row spot for it, so she got to see everything. She was pretty into it. :) After we met back up with Mom and Josh, Mom took Laura back to Dinoland to play on the playground there while Josh and I went to watch the Bug's Life show. I'm glad we decided not to take Laura to that, because it probably would have been too scary for her. Fun for us, though. :) We felt like we had pretty much done everything we wanted to by then, so we headed over to the Animal Kingdom Lodge for their amazing buffet dinner. Dinner ended up not being so enjoyable, because Laura had had enough for the day, and refused to sit and eat like a normal human being in the restaurant, so we all had to take shifts taking her outside while the others ate. But hey, she's two, it happens.
     Saturday was our last day :( and also Laura's 2nd birthday. We had one last character breakfast at the restaurant at our resort, and Minnie was around to sing Happy Birthday to Laura. Not to sound cheesy, but it really was magical. Laura was such a fun age to bring to Disney World. We were trying to decide how to best spend the day, and although going back to Hollywood Studios was a strong contender, we ended up opting out of that for fear of the huge crowds for President's Day weekend. We ended up just packing and swimming in the pool, and then headed back to Downtown Disney for a few hours before we had to leave. Laura got to play in the sidewalk fountain there, something Mom had really wanted to do with her since we have home movies of us as kids playing in the same fountain. It was very cute. We grabbed some food to eat before hopping back on the Magical Express bus that takes us back to the airport. When we arrived there, we found out that our already late flight was going to be even later due to snowy conditions back home. Awesome. So we spent a very long time hanging out at the airport waiting to come home. Laura didn't end up falling asleep until we were on the plane and it was nearly 1am! I was losing my patience because I was very tired too and couldn't stay awake to take care of her. We did all eventually doze off, and Laura stayed asleep for the rest of the night. Even though we didn't get done at the airport until about 3am, we decided to drive home. We got home at 6am and went right to bed and slept until 10:30. Not much sleep, but we laid low all day to recuperate, and we have tomorrow to get things done, as well. All in all, it was an amazing trip, and we really had so much fun. We would love to take the kids back when they are old enough to remember it (and they don't need to be pushed around in strollers!).

Terrible Twos

Tomorrow we are leaving for a week in Florida. I am looking forward to this for many reasons:
1) I will not be responsible for cooking, and only minimal cleaning.
2) I will not have to wear a coat to go outside.
3) I will get to spend all day with my family.
4) We will be spending our vacation in Disney World, supposedly the happiest place on earth. :)
5) I will be spending my birthday not being able to stress about Laura's birthday three days later. Unlike last year.
5) But perhaps most importantly, I will not be the soul caregiver of Laura for the majority of her waking hours.

     She has become really bratty lately, and at first I thought it was just because she was getting sick, but her behaviour has only marginally improved since she got over her cold, so I fear we have reached the infamous Terrible Twos. I suppose we were due, she will be two next week after all. And really, she has been pretty bearable behaviour-wise until recently. Let's just hope it is quick and short-lived.

The Big Girl Bed

     So, as I have mentioned before, we have been working towards Laura sleeping in her 'big girl' room in her 'big girl' bed for about 6 months now. Since we started trying to get pregnant. In August. We started by taking the side off her crib. That went okay until she fell out of bed, maybe 8 inches to the floor. She was apparently traumatized by that and refused to sleep in the crib again until we caved and put the side back up. We tried again a few months later and bought a guard rail so she couldn't roll out. (In hindsight, I guess we should have done that first). But she remembered, and still refused to sleep in the crib. I wanted to 'power through', and so for probably a month we would let her get out and sleep on the floor behind her door every night. We thought she might get tired of sleeping on the floor and realize that a) she was safe in the crib now with the guard rail up, and/ or b) her bed was much more comfortable than the floor. But neither of those things happened, and after a terrible, 2-hour long battle in the middle of the night one night, we once again caved and put the side of the crib back on. Josh vowed that he was NOT taking it off again until our second child was ready for a big kid bed. Fair enough.
     After our Christmas guests left, we finished converting the spare room into Laura's Big Girl Room, complete with Big Girl Bed. We gave her a few days of getting used to the new room, playing in there, and reading, etc, and then tried having her sleep in there. The first night didn't go very well. I thought that she might fall asleep more easily if I laid in the bed with her. That was dumb. And wrong. I wanted her to fall asleep in the bed so she wouldn't get out when I left because that room needs a new window and is a bit chilly, and I didn't want her sleeping on the floor with no blankets. But, she just used it as an hour-long stalling tactic, and I ended up putting her back in the crib to finally go to sleep that night, anyway. The next night went pretty much the same way. So we gave it another break for a week or two. I was starting to get a little stressed about it because I also want to start potty training soon, and I don't want to throw too much at her at once. We only have a few more months, and I want all of these new changes to be relatively established before the new baby comes!
      A friend of mine offered for us to borrow her crib since she isn't using it anymore, should worse actually come to worst and we needed two cribs. So that was a relief to have a back-up plan, but I still feel like my almost 2.5 year old shouldn't need to sleep in a crib by then. And maybe she won't. But, if I have learned anything from being Laura's Mom, it is that what I have planned may or may not be how it actually turns out, depending on what Laura has planned.
     So, this past week, we gave the Big Girl Bed yet another go. I asked her to stay in her bed when we were saying goodnight, and, lo and behold, she actually did! I went and checked on her before we went to bed, and she was, indeed, sleeping in her bed. And when I got up in the morning, I poked my head in again, and she was still there! I was so happy I could have danced! When she woke up, I made sure to make a big deal and give her lots of praise for staying in her bed all night. She seemed pleased with herself. I also debated about letting her eat a cupcake for breakfast. The following night, she got out of bed and tried to sleep behind the door, but when I went to bed I moved her and she stayed again for the whole night. The rest of the week has been much the same, so I feel like we might actually finally be making progress! I think one of the nights she woke up and slept on the floor again, but one night out of the whole week isn't too bad. And after I was thinking about it, it will be summer when the baby comes, so her room won't be so cold, and if she chooses to sleep on the floor it won't be such a big deal. So fingers crossed things keep going well!

I found her like this one morning, and thought she had suffocated herself, but she was still breathing, so we just ditched that pillow after that! Yikes. Crazy kid.

Some Disjointed Ramblings About Baby #2 and the Ultrasound

      Sunday (yesterday) marked the halfway point of our pregnancy! On Friday we had Baby #2's "big" ultrasound - you know, the one where it takes like half an hour and they check to make sure your baby has two kidneys, ten fingers, and ten toes. And also the one where you can find out the sex of your baby. All along I have said that I didn't want to know this time (since we found out with Laura) because I want to have at least one 'surprise' baby. And Josh says this is my last shot. So, although he wanted to know, I said we weren't finding out if he isn't going to let me do this again. I have also said all along that I want to have a natural birth this time, and if we find out the sex beforehand I feel like we are jinxing it. We found out with Laura, and I ended up having to have a C-section. The two are not directly correlated or anything, but I still feel like knowing the sex beforehand would take away from the natural birth experience that I so badly want.
     I must admit, although I was very excited when we found out I was pregnant this time, I have been notably less excited during the rest of the pregnancy. I feel like I am so busy and preoccupied with Laura, and life in general these days, that I often don't have much time to think about this new baby. I often get a weird feeling in my abdomen and start wondering what is wrong with me, until I remember that, oh yeah, I have another baby in there. So, I feel a bit guilty because I spent so much of my pregnancy with Laura being super excited for things like The Big Ultrasound, whereas this time, not so much. However, for the few days leading up to the ultrasound, I was looking forward to seeing the little thumper again. :)
     Once I got in there, the very first thing I told the tech was that we didn't want to know the sex of the baby. After a few minutes, I was highly tempted to ask her if she had noticed, though. But I refrained. She assured me that any gender reference she made when talking about the baby was not indicative of anything either way. And later on she said she didn't even bother looking. She took all the measurements she needed, and at 19 weeks and 5 days, the baby is measuring 20 weeks and 4 days. At this point in my pregnancy with Laura, she was measuring 4 days behind (and ended up only being 5 pounds 14 ounces at her full-term birth). So, I am hopeful that this baby will be less tiny - maybe somewhere in the 6.5 - 7.5 pound range. :) I also went and scouted out some more newborn cloth diapers before the ultrasound, which are so cute and tiny! It helped ramp up my excitement. Another thing that has helped with my excitement is the fact that Laura is starting into the terrible twos. She throws things and spits on things (enraging!) when she is mad or frustrated, both of which drive me insane. Then I go to my calm place and think about the fact that I soon will have a new baby who won't be so defiant and beligerent for another 2+ years. :)
     The ultrasound tech asked me if there was anything wrong with my pregnancy with Laura, and when I mentioned the few minor things, she specifically checked them for Baby #2 to reassure me, and said everything was looking good. No off-kilter placenta, or anything! :)
     All in all, it was very exciting to see our baby again, and even more reassuring that everything was looking well. I feel a lot more connected to the baby now, and excited, in general. Looking forward to meeting you in a few more months!

     When Josh and Laura were allowed in to see the baby, the tech tried to angle around to get a front shot of the baby's face. She warned us that they weren't very cute at this point since they don't have much fat on their faces, and then this is the shot she showed us:

 

I laughed and said it looked like Jack Skelington. Laura proceeded to say, "Funny baby!" for the next 5 minutes or so. <3 She is also convinced it is a boy. I'm positive she does not know what a 'boy' is.

   

In the News This Week

     I haven't posted in a while, because, well, I haven't really had much of interest to blog about.
We have been laying pretty low since the holidays, not doing much. We are New Year's dieting again (mainly Josh, because I am pregnant) and he has lost about 6 pounds - not too bad. I have gained one. :) Laura has continued to be her crazy self lately - we've had good days and bad, terrible-twos days starting to crop up. She is learning several new words per day most days now, and it's so cute and funny what she comes up with. :) (Except when she throws her toys in the toilet and Josh drops an F-bomb in front of her and she repeats it.)
   Baby #2 (Thumper) has been making his/ her presence well known the last few weeks, and seems to protest when I lie on my stomach, or sit in crunched up, uterus-squishing position. Josh even said he thought he felt a kick this past week. I've also noticed that carrying Laura around is becoming more difficult - she has to be perched up higher now. We have our big anatomy scan ultrasound on Friday afternoon, so if we want to know the sex of the baby, we could theoretically find out then. I still think I want to have a surprise this time, and I think I have convinced Josh, too. We found out with Laura, and Josh says this is our last baby, so this is my last chance to have a surprise. I would be happy with either sex for a variety of reasons, but lately I have been leaning ever so slightly more towards wanting a boy. Laura is set that there is a boy baby in there, and has professed so on a number of occasions (usually without being prompted!) And even when we do ask her, she sticks to her guns and says boy. I am 100% sure that she does not know what a 'boy' is. :)
    

New Year's Organization

My first post of 2012! I have kept up my blogging for a whole year now! I find it a good way to keep track of little things that go on in our life, and as a venting mechanism sometimes. Planning to keep it up in the new year.

     So, Josh and I are back to work today after being off for a week and a half. In that time, I am happy to report, we actually completed every task on our current to do list! For the past many months, our house has been in a state of chaos in one way or another. Okay, chaos might be a strong word, but it definitely wasn't all clean or organized the way I like it to be.
     It all started when we had someone come out to do a quote for us for A/C in the summer. The salesperson also strongly recommended we switch to a tankless water heater instead of our electric. We agreed. And ever since they came to remove the electric water heater from my well-organized utility room, our basement has been a disaster. We had to take down some crucial shelving to make room for the tankless heater on the wall, and everything somehow became an unorganized heap of mess on the floor. For a long time. We finally got around to (affording and) buying some pantry-type cupboards for storage in there a few months ago, and I finally had time to sift through the large pile of things on the floor to be put away. But there was still more stuff. Plus, we had to find new homes for a lot of things we had been storing in the guest room, which was to become Laura's new big girl room. Several shelving and closet rod purchases later, I am happy to say that everything once again has a home, AND we even made room for all of the evicted items from Laura's room. I even had the motivation to clean out and organize our crawl space a few weeks ago (nesting, anyone?). After six months, I am almost in a state of disbelief that my house is all finally organized (and mostly clean) again. Love that!
Happy New Year!