Just an update....

Thought I would give everyone a quick update on our (busy) lives!! Dan is working very hard on a contract for a company in Vancouver so he pretty much spends all of his time working right now. He's trying to finish it asap, with an absolute deadline of August 1st so that there is no confliction with the baby's birth and him taking time off to spend with us...

Alex is doing well. I think he just went through another growth spurt because he all of a sudden looks really skinny and has really long legs. He has been in his big boy bed for a whole week now, and I think that the only think that is making bedtimes easy right now is the fact that we have to give him benadryl for an eczema outbreak he is having. I have medicated cream for the eczema, but it can only be used twice a day and it is really bad for thinning out skin so I try not use it all the time. The heat makes things worse, and Alex HATES having lotion put on (although it is a necessary evil). We still haven't broken him from the bottle, so he tends to have a bottle before naps and bedtime. Occasionally, he also has one in the night, but I noticed that now he seems comfortable in his bed, he doesn't need that one anymore. My hope is to have him off of bottles by the time the baby comes, but I don't know if that will work, or if I have the energy for it. *Sigh*.

I am surviving (barely) in the heat we have been having, and am quite happy that the weekend has been cooler. I was hoping to pick up an air conditioner for one of our rooms so that I could escape there from time to time, but unfortunately, life has had other plans. I got my income tax return this week and was planning on filling the deep freeze with food, buying the air conditioner, and stocking up on some baby supplies (diapers, wipes, bottle liners etc.). However, we went to a show on Thursday in Vancouver (I'll explain in a minute), and just as we were pulling into a parking spot, the clutch went in my car. I already knew that the catalytic converter needed to be replaced, but was not expecting the clutch to go. So, after the show, I had to have my car towed to Langley where I have it serviced to be repaired. I was just told this am that it was the clutch master cylinder that went, the cat does need replacing, it's time for an oil change, and my back brakes need servicing. So, there goes my income tax refund. Next year when I go back to work, we are going to buy a new car!

We went and saw Dane Cook at GM place on Thursday. Man, was it funny! I mean, it's kind of hard to enjoy yourself when you have no idea how you are going to get home, and no idea how much it's going to cost this time for the car to be fixed, but it was still good all the same. I would totally go see him again. I do have to say, though, I was surprised there were other comedians opening for him....I thought it was a show with only him in it. Not a bad thing---the first guy was ok, the second guy was really funny, and of course, then there was Dane Cook.

Ok, I got completely off track...I was going to get into the whole pregnancy update then got side tracked! So here is the update: The last time I saw my family doctor (May 21), my blood pressure had spiked, I had sugar in my urine, and was all of a sudden measuring 4 weeks ahead of my expected due date. Not surprising, since this was about the same time it started with Alex too. I haven't been working since the end of April, but of course because I'm not on strict bed rest, I'm still trying to run a household, which might as well be a full time job (any Mom here knows what I'm talking about). I know have to go for bloodwork every month until October to make sure I'm not toxic, and I'm now into every 2 week visits between my family doctor and the OB. I have to go for an ultrasound on June 17th to estimate baby's size, and will probably have to have another one around 38 weeks. I saw the OB on the 4th, and while she didn't say too much about baby, we did talk extensively about a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean). She explain the risks involved, gave me stats on success rates etc. I'm on the fence as to whether or not I want to try it, only because I had such a rough time laboring with Alex. I'm not too keen on going through that again, but at the same time I really feel that labor and delivery should be as natural as possible. We'll see when the time comes. My MD thinks that this pregnancy may be making me sicker than I was with Alex, and if that is the case I might have to have another c-section just for health reasons. Both doctors have said that they do not know what the next 10 weeks will bring, so we just have to wait and see. We got our 3D ultrasound done and it was successful (finally!!!!). This little one looks just like Alex, but some of the pics really look like me, so I think it's a girl. Obviously, we won't know until D-day, so, you all will have to wait!

The only other thing I wanted to mention was that we did get some sad news this week. Our good friends who tried for 6 months before finally conceiving their first baby, lost it on Monday. She was 11 weeks pregnant at the time. I am not sure exactly what happened (for obvious reasons they do not want to discuss it), but we are very, very, sad at their loss. I have never known anybody who had miscarried, so this is a first for us (and for them). Our thoughts are with them at this difficult time, and for now we are giving them their space. It's a difficult situation because at the moment, every single one of our friends who are childbearing (meaning they want and are trying to have children) are all pregnant right now. All I can say is that we love them very much and will do anything to help them through this.