Baby #2

This pregnancy has been quite challenging but SUCH an incredible blessing.... our little miracle baby. Sometimes I forget what we had to go through to get to this point and last night as I layed in bed feeling horrible(sick) I started to think about how grateful I REALLY am. I am soooo grateful to be pregnant, to be growing this sweet little angel in my tummy, and to have this opportunity to bring another little spirit into this world....thankyou sooo much Heavenly Father.



Since we are quickly running out of time before this baby will be joining our family and the craziness REALLY begins, I thought I would write down some things that I have enjoyed/not enjoyed this last 9 months.



Enjoyed:

-feeling the baby moving in my tummy, I LOVE all the movements, the twitches, the stretching, the rolling, the hiccups

-actually being able to feel the little "parts" of the baby, tonight I felt the toes and OF COURSE had to tickle them, which caused the baby to pull back and then kick me super hard..hehe. I have felt my fair share of elbows, knees, bum, head, fingers tickling, back, everything and I love playing guess that part.

-seeing the baby at the ultrasounds from the first one that just was a blob and heartbeat(oh how BEAUTIFUL that heartbeat was that day). We actually have our last one (hopefully) on Thursday and I can't wait to see how big baby is going to be, and just the changes it's gone through over the last few months...plus, we are hoping to find out (finally) what gender the baby is going to be.

-talking with the baby... I LOVE to talk to the baby, ask it when the heck it's coming out, tell it how my day is going, tell it how excited I am for baby to meet it's big brother, sing to it, anything that I feel like saying to baby

-going through this experience with Nathan. It was wonderful to go through my 1st pregnancy with Wayne but there is something so special about experiencing it with my son and husband. Nate has been soooo cool through this whole thing. He has understood that at times Mommy just feels like crap and needs to lay on the couch or in bed for a while. He knows that a baby is in my tummy and he already loves this baby so much. He LOVES to give baby hugs and kisses, and most nights/naptimes when we are reading, he wants to cuddle with "baby"/my belly. He LOVES feeling the baby move and comes up with the most funny reasons why baby is squirming, like baby wants a cookie, or baby says it needs to go pee..etc...hehe. His attention/noticing other people's baby has been amazing to me... he always wants to hold the babies and when holding his cousin Farrish last week I loved watching him stroke her hair, hold her hand, kiss her, he was just soooo wonderful and it made me soooo excited to see how he is going to be with HIS own baby.

-the attitude/personality this baby already has. This baby knows what it wants already and wants it NOW. If baby wants it's back/butt rubbed it will push out like crazy till I finally rub it, and once I do and baby is satisfied then it relaxes. But when it doesn't want to be touched the feet start kicking and baby lets me know FOR SURE that it's done, and if I don't stop then the feet move up to the ribs and that's the end of that...hehe. It will be interesting to see if this baby comes out being a fiesty one from the get go...oh dear to have 2 kids that are sooo strong-willed...ai, ai, ai.

-other than being sick I've been really quite comfy...there's been the pain here and there but for the most part I have been truly blessed to be in very little pain.

Don't enjoy:

-The WORST part of this pregnancy has definately been the feeling sick almost ALL the time. These last few weeks have been really bad as I haven't been able to sleep because I've been so nauseous and puky.

-People asking me if I am SURE that it's not twins...thankyou, I really appreciate you hinting that I am HUGE!!! Oh wait, I am huge (I'm measuring 3 weeks bigger than I am), but still I don't want to hear it.

-Getting stuck in bed. You know the times when you've been laying in one position and the big belly just won't get out of the way?!?! No? Oh.... well, Nate has had to push me a few times to help me get some momentum to get up.

-Swelling....oh my. When my sister Lisa was pregnant over the summer she swelled up SOOO much and I felt so sorry for her, then I got pregnant and I guess it was my turn. It is amazing to see my little hands looking like balls with sausages on the ends, and my feet, oh boy, they are sooo big sometimes that the ONLY shoes that fit are my flip-flops...this wasn't a good thing when there was still snow on the ground.

-the knowledge that this baby HAS to come out and the memory of how it's going to feel/happen. I definatley am not uncomfortable enough yet because I am NOT ready to give birth. Nathan has been really interested in this process, and we've been able to have some good talks about where babies REALLY are in my tummy and how they really come out. The other day he said "Mommy, the baby is going to come out of your vagina, right?" I said." Yep." He said, "Oh man, that's going to hurt!!" Yes, little buddy, it really is...hehe.

-feeling like someone has kicked me between the legs every once in a while...not a fun feeling.

-knowing that this is coming to a quick end and this could very possibly be the last time I am ever pregnant again. This is probably THE biggest reasons why I don't want this baby to come yet, I would LOVE to be pregnant forever.

-not being able to do everything I want to physically, including walking more than a few feet at a decent pace....I can't wait to get my body back.

Less than 5 weeks to go, I am EXTREMELY excited to finally meet this little creature that has been boarding in my tummy for the last 8 months.

My dear sweet husband came home tonight with this:



I have been wanting one for SOOOO long and Wayne was able to get this one which is 6 quarts....WOOHOOO... I would have been happy with a 4.5 quart one.

Of course, I HAD to play with my new toy tonight and made my favorite cookies, and I would love to share the recipe with everyone.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

5 cups blended oatmeal
2 cups butter
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
4 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
3 cups chocolate chips
1-8pz. Hershey bar (grated)
3 cups chopped nuts, or 1.5 cups nuts and 1.5 cups coconut(this is what I normally do)

Measure oatmeal and blend in blender till fine powder. Cream butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Add chocolate chips, Hershey bar and nuts/coconut. Place on cookie sheets (I usually do tbsp size). Bake for 10 minutes or till just turning brown @ 375.

I have made these with M&M's thrown in as well and they were yummy too.

SO FRUSTRATING!!!!

Wayne and I decided to do some renovations this year and because baby #2 is coming, well anytime now, we thought "Hey, let's get it all done before baby comes." Sure, great idea. But Wayne and I forgot that we have THE WORST luck sometimes.

This house, which we LOVE, has been owned by quite a few people before us. Unfortunately, these people (whichever ones they are) had NO CLUE how to do certain things properly.

For instance:

Our basement shower wasn't installed properly and so it leaked for probably years. We moved in everything looked great and after a few months a baseboard got knocked off and low and behold.... MOLD. So Wayne and my brother Russ ripped apart the bathroom, cleaned up the mess, and then Wayne and Mark built a new room. Yay, we have a new bathroom. Annoying problem turned into a pretty bathroom. :)

The electrical work in this house, oh boy, my poor husband has been having to fix SOOOO many different issues it's been crazy...but at least our house won't (hopefully) burn down now, and our lighting and electrical looks better. :)

The deck in our backyard was wobbly(scary to stand on because it wobbled so badly) because it wasn't built properly and was totally rotted out, which we didn't know till we started ripping it apart. Now we have a beautiful new deck that is soooo pretty and doesn't shake. :)

There have been other problems but our "favorite" so far happened this weekend. (BTW, I will be posting pictures once everything is done.) On our main entrance stairs we had tile and on the nosing we had a metal piece that unfortunately was sharp and not installed properly and was REALLY dangerous. From the day we moved in Wayne and I wanted to remove the metal because we really have been afraid that someone would fall down the stairs and break/cut their head open. I slipped up the stairs, yes up... it was pathetic, and ripped up a chunk of my toe, ouch. Dangerous. We talked to a couple different trades guys and they both said...if you take it off, hope that there is 1/4 inch piece of plywood that the tile is stuck too that you can remove or it will be a HORRIBLE mess. Guess WHAT?!?!?! They cemented the tile to the subfloor/actual stairs.... AGGHHHHHH, no 1/4 inch piece of plywood!!!!! My sweet husband spent 3 hours grinding down the cement on the part of the stairs that you actually step on but the grinder was too big for the"up" part of the stair. So last night he tried to chip away the cement to make it smooth for HOURS.... all that happened was that he was ripping apart the stairs to the point that we might have to replace the whole stair, expensive and SOOO time consuming. We decided at 3am to just go to bed and hope it was good enough for them to do the stairs this morning.

This morning the flooring guys came in, took one look at the stairs and pretty much said "Not good enough". CRAP. Wayne is not a happy camper and honestly neither am I because I am soooo tired of our house being ripped apart and just want stuff done. So now we have to figure out some way to fix it and get it done well. If only the previous owners had done it properly we wouldn't have this problem, things would be done and we would be happy home owners. :)

The bright side of all the renos is I have BEAUTIFUL new carpet in our basement that is soooo pretty and new.... YAY!!!!

We keep telling this house that it better be good to us because we have been SOOOO good to it. Hehe... Well enough of my vent, hopefully VERY soon I'll be showing you some GORGEOUS new pictures of all the work we've (Wayne's) done.

Another fun survey.

How old will you turn in 2009? I will be 29....my last year of my 20's!!! :(

Would you date someone 8 years older than you? Not now for obvious reasons.... but when I was single I really thought I was going to date an older man that had kids already...so ya... I think I could have in the past.

What were you doing at 4am? Trying to fall back asleep after being up puking...fun huh!!! :)

What were your first thoughts this morning? Oh man, just 5 more minutes PLEASE!!!

Are you a jealous person? Not normally, but everyone once in a while I can be and it's usually if I am PMS'ing or pregnant... I use to be horrible but my self esteem had been beaten down (a HORRIBLE relationship I was in) and I really didn't think I was worth anything or anyone would REALLY want me. I am TOTALLY past that and know what I am really worth so no... I'm not a jealous person.

Is there anything that has messed up your life? I wouldn't say messed up my life... made me who I am today? for sure, but not messed up my life...

Do you have a best friend? Yes, I have been VERY blessed to have a few BF's in my life.

Where was your default picture taken? I don't think I have a default picture on here, do I?

What is bothering you right now? That my room is "hot" and I can't cool it down....blah.

Is there any meaning behind your profile song? I don't have a profile song.

Do you believe what goes around comes around? Ummm... maybe.

Do you trust people easily? Partially... I might want to trust people and I definately give everyone a chance but you screw up or break my trust and it's REALLY hard to get it back.

One thing you're looking forward to? Holding this sweet baby in my arms.... Seeing Wayne with his 2nd child...Watching Nathan meet his brother or sister for the 1st time.

What was the last thing you drank? Water... at night I have to drink at least 3 cups of water within the hour before I go to bed or I am sick ALL night... the only downfall is that then I have to pee a few times in the night.

Are most of the best friends in your life new or old? New.

Do you like pulp orange juice? I LOVE extra pulp... Wayne HATES pulp, so I usually have to buy one of both.

Which could you tolerate more, a sleep walker or someone who snores? A sleep walker... I can't stand snoring because I am not a deep sleeper and it drives me insane if I am having troubles sleeping and Wayne's having a GREAT sleep... I actually usually poke him until he stops.

Would you ever parachute off of a plane? Yes, I WILL go skydiving once my kids are grown if I can... I should have gone before I had kids, and I don't think that it would be fair to go now....just in case..but once they are grown I would LOVE to.

Is your birthday on a holiday? Depending on the year it falls on Mother's Day.

Do you want to hit something? Ummm...what kind of question is that? NO!!!

Is your ex still in your life as a friend? Ya, I have a few that I have kept in contact with.

Would you ever get a tattoo? I don't think so.

What's your mood? Content.

Who's the last person you hugged? Nathan, always before he goes to bed.

Day been rough? Ya, it was NOT a good day. I was up around 7:30 and by 11:30 I realized that I hadn't felt baby all morning. I poked the baby, pushed it around, drank some cold water, layed down, and finally drank a glass of root beer. Baby still didn't move. I called my dr. and they told me to come in. Not even 5 minutes later the baby moved around a bit. I then called my dr. back and they still recommended me coming in, just in case. I had a non-stress test and baby was still being a bum, the heartrate was staying pretty even, which isn't what they want to see I guess. After 3 juice boxes baby started behaving and the nurse said that baby is just being lazy and having a REALLY good sleep today. That's fine but next time baby, please let me know that everything is fine by twitching or something while you're sleeping. So ya, this morning was not fun.

Is there someone you want to be with right now? Wayne, he's working on things in the basement again though and I will probably be going to sleep before he's done.

Plans for your next birthday? Not to have the baby. Jen & Mark and Russ & Beth will all be out of town and they are the people that Nate will be staying with if we have the baby. So hopefully baby doesn't make an appearance at that time.

Tell me about the shirt you're wearing? It is an orange maternity shirt that Jen loaned me and I LOVE it.

Do you remember who you liked in 7th grade? Oh man, I had soooo many crushed growing up... I really don't remember any specific time frame/guy until Grade 9.

What are you up to this weekend? Putting our basement back together... the carpet will be installed on Friday...WOOHOOO!!!!

How do you vent your anger? I am a yeller, and I am really trying to work on this... and if I am REALLY mad I will start crying (this drives me insane because there have been times that I needed to be mad and needed to be strong and I break down crying). Also, if I am really angry I will say exactly what I am thinking, again this is something that isn't good sometimes.

Can you crack your knuckles? Sure can.

What color is your mouse pad? I am using my laptop right now, and our desktop has a plain black one.

What time did you wake up this morning? Which time? Each time I peed? The time I puked? Or when I actually got up?

How many different people of the opposite sex have you REALLY cried over? Too many that I cried over. But there are only a small handful that I REALLY cried over, or that I had REAL feelings for.

Would your parents be mad if you were in a relationship? Umm... I hope they like that I am married... ;)

What was the last thing you did before you went to bed last night? Snuggled with Wayne, had a drink of water and ate saltine crackers (the same thing I have done for the last 8+ months)

Do you feel comfortable with answering personal questions? Depends on the person that I am telling but usually I am VERY open.

Do you think age matters in relationships? No. Maturity does though.

What will you do after this? Get ready for bed and watch some t.v.

Are you open about your feelings or closed off? Open

What are you listening to? TV.

Are you gonna be home alone tonight? Noppers, I have both my boys here.

Is it okay if you kiss people when you're single? Uhhh... YA!!!! That's the best part of being single...kiss whoever you want...hehe...just kidding.

Would you go in public looking like you do right now? No, I am missing some articles of clothing that might get me arrested if I went out in public....being HUGE and clothing being tight just isn't working for me right now... sometimes my body needs to "breathe".

What's something that can always make you feel better? A hug, kiss

Do you think your best friend and you will be friends in 10 years? Absolutely.

Did you laugh a lot at something today? Ya, Nate makes me laugh every day.

Oh the things kids think...

My BF Jen and family were over the other day (last post was my ode to Jen & family). Jen and I were talking about how often we need to wax our legs and she put her leg up on Nate's chair to show me how good she was doing. Nate looked at her leg and then said "WOOOOOOHOOOOOO". We laughed sooo hard and Nate turned BRIGHT red...hehe.

Tonight while I was getting Nate ready for bed he said, "Mommy, Jesus has a GRRREAT plan." I said, "Really? What is it?" Nate then said so sweetly," To make Ninja Turtles stop fighting the bad guys." Ummmm.....okay, I guess that's a great plan...hehe...funny little guy.

Man I love my little Nater Pater.

Friends, no Angels!!!

Remember these guys?!?!



No? Well they have been our angels the last little while.

Wayne and I decided that we wanted to do some renos before baby comes. Great idea right??? WRONG... I am 8+ months pregnant and really relatively useless when it comes to do heavy lifting or ANY of the things that we need to do. So a few weeks ago these guys...

came over and helped my sweet husband get rid of our ugly furniture (I'll post pictures later on, once all the renos are done) and move all of our family room and play room stuff up into our upstairs living room and Nate's room... not fun but needed to be done so we could start with the "real" work (and I say we VERY lightly).

This week Wayne did a bunch of electrical work in the basement, and ripped up carpet and underlay in both rooms. I filled holes/scratches/dents, washed walls, painted trim well the trim around the windows because all the other trim had to come down, but I'll be painting that when we put it back on. Then yesterday, these people....

came over and this woman...

came over and within 3 hours painted the first coat of my family room ALL by herself (and it's not a little room). I am soooo blessed, she is soooo wonderful and SUCH a great friend. I felt pretty pathetic because all I did was sit on a chair in the room, chat with her, take care of her baby sometimes and watch. (Oh I did do what I do best, I fed everyone as well but while I wasn't cooking I felt really pathetic) She did this as a favor to me knowing that physically I could have done the room (it would have taken me 4 times as long) but I would be REALLY hurting right now. Plus, we've painted together before...

and she painted the 3 green walls while I painted the 1 blue wall....hehe...she likes me keeping her company MUCH better than me "helping" her. I think it's like when your kids want to help you and you KNOW it will just be easier to do it yourself...ya... she likes me sitting on the chair...hehe.
Mark and Wayne put together our new BBQ (which I am SOOO happy about) and dealt with our 3 boys.

Then again today Mark & Jen came over again and Jen painted the 2nd coat in 2 hours.

I HATE asking people for help, but Jen didn't even give me a chance to ask...she knew we wanted it done, she asked me what weekend would work for us and she showed up ready to go. I wish there were some way that I could say THANKYOU and I know that we will have the opportunity to pay them back, but I REALLY am soooo grateful for having such WONDERFUL friends who love us enough to help us.

So Mark and Jen.... Thankyou!!! Thanks for giving up your weekend and spending it with us, working. Thanks for being SUCH wonderful people that we have fallen in love with. Thanks for loving us and putting up with all our "differences". Thanks for being SOOO great and helping us make our house more of a home!!! We REALLY do love you both!!!!

Beautiful!!!

I don't know if you've seen this video yet but it has REALLY got me thinking the last few days.

***This is Susan Boyle. *** (click on the colored words to go to the videos)

She is a contestant on Britain's Got Talent.
Warning: if you watch this video you may find yourself watching it again, and again, and again.

Another video I have really enjoyed for quite a while is of this man,

***Paul Potts***

another contestant on Britain's Got Talent from last year.
(Watch specifically at 2:24 when his face goes from smiling to blank... breaks my heart EVERYTIME)

These are 2 people that before they walked onto that stage had NO IDEA how amazing they are or how they were going to affect everyone that saw them.
Sweet Susan Boyle- When she walked on the stage I thought... Girl, you need some serious help with that hair...I admit, just like everyone else I instantly judged her and was curious to see what kind of trainwreck she was going to perform. I did have a GREAT laugh when she shook her booty though...haha... you go girl!!! But then...
then like one of the judges said, she taught me SUCH a valuable lesson. When she started singing the warmth just flooded my body and ran out with my tears...she was INCREDIBLY beautiful!!! Her voice, as you've heard, was angelic, her determination and belief in herself was sooo intense I couldn't help but fall in love with this funny little poofy haired lady.

Then I had to go and watch Paul's performance. This little phone salesman who made me cry because of his inability to see how amazing he really is and his awkwardness. Seriously, everytime I watch it and see him go from being proud/happy to unsure right after he finished singing sooo amazingly breaks my heart.

After watching both of these amazing performances I thought about a few things:

One...how shallow and judgemental I can be. I know there are times when I will look at someone and judge them because of their outwardly appearance. I also should know by now that this is SOOO wrong and I have been put in my place many times. Some of THE nicest people I have ever met don't look like what is "normal" per the world's standards. Susan looks like one of "those special spirits" that I have joked about in the past and maybe she is a little quirky but who cares...why is it my place to judge her? Oh right, it's not!!!

Another thing is how amazing it is how Heavenly Father has hidden these amazing talents in the most interesting places. Both of these people would NEVER have gotten a 2nd look if they had walked into a normal agency and said "I want to sing for you, because I have an amazing talent." They would have been laughed out of the room. But what an amazing opportunity they have to share their talents and to teach us all a lesson. I really want to stop next time I look at someone and start to judge them and think... I wonder what their hidden talent is?

What's shocked me the most was when watching both of these performances I think that I got a teeny tiny view of how Heavenly Father sees all of us. Here we are on the earth, going about our day to day things, sometimes feeling ugly, awkward, not confident, unsure of ourselves or unsure of the way we are going in our lives. However, Heavenly Father is up there waiting for our performance, and he sees who we REALLY are and sees past all the "poofy hair", self doubt, and sees our talents and knows how TRULY BEAUTIFUL we really are. I wish/hope that I can stop when things seem to be spinning out of control and I am judging myself and see that in myself Heavenly Father has hidden VERY specific talents that are JUST for me. Hopefully I will be able to stop and see how BEAUTIFUL I REALLY AM!!!

What a sight that would be...

Many of you may know that I drive a school bus...it's been a GREAT job for me for the last few years and has allowed me to stay home with Nate. Well today I decided to take the bus to the compound (a gated area that drivers park their bus in if they don't keep them at their house) so that the bus wouldn't be stuck in front of our house over the Easter break. I was told that the compound would be locked up at 5:00 and so I arrived at 4:40. I drove into the compound, parked, and Nate and I started to walk to the front gate when I saw a car driving away.... ummm... there in front of me was a LOCKED gate!!!

I stood there in shock not sure what to do and then I quickly scanned the gated area to see if there was ANYWHERE that I could squeeze out of...HAHAHA, I quickly remembered that I was 8 months pregnant and squeezing is NOT in my vocabulary right now. :)

Luckily, I had just called my boss a few hours earlier on my cell phone and so I had his phone number.. "Hi Grant, this is Jackie S., ummm... I am locked in the compound!!"
Grant- "You're locked WHERE?"
Me- "In the compound..."
Grant-"How did you do that?"
Me- "Well, I didn't lock myself in here!!!(giggle) I got here....blah, blah, blah..."
Grant- "Oh ...... Umm... well there are spare keys (insert location here) that should open the lock."
Me-"I'll go check and call you back."

Waddle, Waddle, Waddle to said location.
I got the 2 pairs of spare keys and tried...of course (my luck) none of the keys worked.

Me-"Hi Grant"
Grant- "You got out?" At this point I was starting to feel like I was in jail or something.
Me- "No, none of the keys worked."
Grant-"Well I am in Saskatoon and almost home so if traffic is okay I should be there in maybe 30-40 minutes"
Me-**thinking**.... I NEED TO PEE!!! 30-40 minutes.... ahhhhh... I can't go 10 minutes without needing to use the potty. The chainlink fence isn't that high.. I could scale it... oh wait... I'M PREGNANT, nevermind!!!!
Me-"Umm...okay, but please hurry because... well please hurry."

I then called Wayne who told me he was going to bring the bolt cutters and break me out...hehe.. MY HERO!!! :)

Luckily I had brought a toque for Nate because the wind was quite chilly, so I threw that on him and told him to chase the flying leafs which he REALLY enjoyed.

A few minutes after our last phone conversation I had a lightbulb moment.

Me-"Hi Grant."
Grant-"Hi Jackie"
Me-"Is there anyone that lives in Warman that might have a key?"
Grant-"Let me call you back, I'll see."

Not even a minute later my phone rang.

Grant(relieved sounding)-"Hi Jackie"
Me- "Hi Grant"
Grant-"I found someone and they will be there in 5 minutes."
Me & my bladder- "Thankyou, Thankyou, Thankyou!!!!"

The man showed up, opened the gate, teased me about getting locked inside, visited for a few minutes and then left. Shortly after Wayne arrived to pick us up and all was good again.

But wouldn't that have been a sight watching me and my big belly climbing over the fence..haha.. or even better me doing the BEST pee-pee dance ever while waiting for someone to show up.