29 Week Check Up

Pretty quick in and out today! BP is awesome 90/60, I gained only 2lbs and my belly is measuring 32weeks. So looking like it's gonna be another big boy! Next appointment is in 2 weeks and our ob also scheduled us for a size/ fluid ultrasound first week of May!

29 week belly

29 Week belly shot! I always feel belly shots are soooo cheesy. But I know I will regret it if I don't take them lol

School House Rock - Earth

Taking care of the environment rocks! The original creators of the classic ABC TV series SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK have put heart and musical soul into 13 songs that educate and celebrate what makes our planet so great! SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK! EARTH features all-new songs and animation plus appearances by iconic characters Interplanet Janet and Mr. Morton. These fun and high-energy songs will teach a new generation of fans all about recycling, biodiversity, solar energy and more. The beloved voices that sang timeless classics such as "I'm Just a Bill" and "Conjunction Junction" are back to sing again in these all-new tunes! Think green and do your part to rock the Earth! It's the only Earth we've got!

School House Rock - Earth is being released March 31st! You can check out some clips here on the disney website:




I love love love School House Rock videos and I often use the old school grammar ones in my ESL classes. I'm so happy to see this little revival about to take place. I think the Easter Bunny may have to add this one to d's basket :D

Robot Card

Well I managed to scrap up a card for a birthday party we went to yesterday. First time I scrapped in months.

Suppplies Used:
Cosmo Cricket Cogsmog Paper and diecuts
mm brads
ac foam thicker (5)
Marvey pens
versa magic inks
misc. stamp

Come on down....

One more persons clothes means more laundry! So we have been looking to get a new washer and dryer since before Christmas. We finally ordered a duo yesterday! WOOHOO! The washer /dryer we have now is the stackable sort. So it doesn't hold a whole lot. We will be looking to sell this soon if anyone is looking lol

When MIL saw me yesterday she proudly exclaimed I had a beautiful glow about me (referring to me being pregnant), I immediately corrected her and told her I was glowing because I am the proud new owner of a front loading washer and dryer hehehe We had to pay for the set of course, but I still imagine this is how the winners on the Price is Right feel lol I will certainly be doing some escatic jumping up and down once the new appliances are set up in our house lol

We went with a front loading energy star / HE set by Kenmore from Sears. Not sure if this link will work but it's on the front of this flyer. I can't wait to see how much of a reduction we have in the number of loads I do and our energy bill! Having an HE washer / dryer also makes using cloth diaper more environmentally friendly too!!! The new duo should be here around the middle of April. So we are arranging to have it delivered with the nursery furniture.

Buyers beware... do your research most all new style washers / dryers are actually HE (high effiency) even though only a select few use HE in the branding / product name. The energy usage among them all is very similar. It's amazing how they take these terms like "he" and are able to stick them in peoples brains to get them to spend more money. Energy star seems to be the more well rounded label. If you pull out the tray where the soap goes on most of these washer you will see the little HE logo there.

Saturday is "Earth Hour"

Don't forget Saturday March 28th 830pm- 930pm is EARTH HOUR!!!





Not only is this a great way to support a great cause... but it can be a lot of fun! Kids love hanging out in the dark with their flashlights etc. I have a few ideas planned for our 2nd Earth Hour. We will make some snacks in advance and D got this cute Thomas book from santa that has a projector to go along with the stories. So it will be a great opportunity to read some of those. I've also been looking up some links and idea's for shadow puppets.

Here are some links I found so far:

Martha has some printable templates:
http://www.marthastewart.com/article/shadow-puppets



A guide for making shadow puppets with your hands:
http://neatorama.cachefly.net/images/2008-01/shadow-puppet-guide.gif

http://www.shadow-puppets.com/

Also youtube has tons of how to videos!!!

Printable Reward Charts

Found this site yesterday with free themed printable reward charts. They have everything from My Little pony to Hannah Montana lots to choose from. They also have them without the popular characters too!

http://www.freeprintablebehaviorcharts.com/behaviorcharts3-10.htm

Mural's for Niko's Nursery

Finally ordered some stuff for Niko's nursery walls. These are murals handpainted on vinyl wallpaper. I've never heard of anyone doing this before. But they are really cute and the lady had awesome reviews.

Giraffe:


Baby Elephant:


Baby Tiger:



Monkey's on a vine:

That's a Safety Violation!

In an effort to curb the messes my 3.5 year old continues to make. I decided to make some cautionary stickers to place on items like shampoo, flour, sugar and so on that he can't see to keep his little hands off. Thanks to Lou and Lou and the Safety Patrol on Playhouse Disney he recognizes orange pylons as a safety symbol. So I made this little picture and I'm going to print off a sheet of them on sticker paper and put sticker on all the items Dylan's is suppose to avoid. Hope it works!!!

Coming home outfit!!!

We got Niko's coming home outfit on the weekend. For dylan we had a GNR' onesie with the Guns N Roses logo that read "Sweet Child of Mine". So we were looking for something equally as cool for Nik! Found it on Saturday and just stumbled onto a picture of one like it:

Third Trimester

It's slightly debatable when the third trimester officially starts. But I've always gone by the mayo clinic guideline which is "28 weeks". So that's today! Wild!

Shop til you drop

Sears was a bit cracked! Can't imagine how busy it would have been if the weather had been fine. We got everything on the list. Got a great deal on a health assure mattress. The mattress and the change pad and cover we got today. Everything else is paid for and had to be ordered in. Should all be here around the 2nd week of April. Which works out well, as we are aiming to do Nik's nursery during the long Easter weekend. I still haven't decided on colors or what exactly we will do design wise. Going to try and get that decided upon this weekend!

Baby days is on for 2 weeks, and different stuff is suppose to be on sale next weekend. I'm hoping monitors. That's the only other big ticket item we need... I think lol Want to try and get over to coochicoo and get another diaper too! One a pay day is what I was aiming for, not working out so well. Mom and mil both mentioned buying a few each. Think I might have to encourage that :D

Niko: Live from the Womb!

The St.John's UCBABY was awesome! A half hour of viewing time, over 40 pictures (2 of our choosing printed) and I paid extra to get the dvd. Niko was moving and grooving the whole time. It was incredible! It may have helped that I had a full strength coffee, grape pop and a greasy tims breakfast sandwich before hand lol I had heard about people going and their babies sleeping through the whole thing. Not baby Nik! He was constantly blinking. We saw a a few yawns, and swallows and he was kicking and punching the entire time. Coolest part for me was seeing the movements on the screen coordinated to the movements I was feeling. He showed his face plenty, mostly profile but he certainly wasn't shy. The tech called him photogenic. He got lots of shots of his privates... he is definitely 100% boy!

They are suppose to have free online web hosting for the pictures, but were having problems with their system over the weekend. So I uploaded a few to our web page here. I'm also going to try and make a post-able video out of some of the highlights. The video is definitely the coolest part.

D was really into it for the first while and was easily able to pick out Niko's features when prompted "Where's Nik's nose?". It was over 30 minutes so he did lose interest after a while. But did great! The live streaming worked as well so the parents, in-laws and my brother all got to be womb voyeurs as well. Everyone was pleased and amazed at the awesomeness of modern day technology. All in all I consider it a great experience and money well spent!

UCBABY tomorrow

We also have our 3d/4d ultrasound booked with UCBABY for tomorrow morning! SO EXCITED!!! Hope the snow doesn't get in the way. Can't wait to see Niko on the big screen, and hope to get to see him moving and grooving and doing his thing! They have livebroadcasting so I'm hoping our parents and my brother will get to watch live too! I know they will all get a big charge out of that!

Baby Days

Saturday is going to be a busy morning... baby day's starts at sears and all the big ticket items on my list are going to be on sale. I went in and scouted it out ahead of time today. We are due for a snowstorm tomorrow, but as long as there open I plan to get there lol

On the list;

Quinny Buzz Stroller (black)
Crib Matteress (undecided as to which)
Storkcraft Change Table and 4 Drawer Dresser in oak (to match crib we have already)
Contour Change Pad
Change Pad Cover (undecided)

We debated on the Quinny Dreami. But after taking a 2nd and 3rd look I realised it only goes to 15lbs. D was over 15lbs at like 3 months. So assuming baby Nik will be of comparable size... it didn't seem like we would get the value out of it!

Ghost Train dilemma

We have had a huge problem d lately. He has taken to making huge messes with flour like substances. So far 2 bags of flour, 1 bag of sugar, and some rock salt have been involved in his escapades. This morning I caught him with unopened bag of oatmeal going for attempt #5. As you can imagine these are no small messes... we are seriously ready to haul our hair out. After the second time we realised what he was trying to do, he is trying to recreate a scene from one of his favorite Thomas episodes 'Ghost Train" .... start watching at about 2:20 to see the event he is trying to recreate.



Obviously he is fixated on this. So we searched web there is no "ghost train" to purchase, far as we can tell no such product exist. So now I'm thinking of ways to create one lol

Slumber Sac

Picked up a Slumber Sac @ Winners today for Niko that will match the nursery bedding/ theme perfectly.

Back when ds was an infant I used similar products but they didn't have any quality ones here in the stores back then. The ones I had were just fleece. It's nice to see a lot of the products that we had trouble buying or had to buy online when d was a baby are now much more accessible locally.

These type of sleep bags have been proven to reduce sids. Here's there "why" section:

Why Sleeping Bags?

Your baby will wake up warm and therefore be more likely to go back to sleep.
Your baby cannot slip down inside the sleeping bag; sheets, blankets and duvet's can go over baby's head.
Your baby can kick and wriggle contentedly and does not feel constricted.
Babies cannot get between the cot bars.
Sleeping bags can prevent baby from scratching.
When travelling or in strange surroundings, your baby will always feel always feel comfortable in it's own sleeping bag.
The move from crib to cot and eventually to bed is much easier.


It even comes with a little thermometer for the nursery and suggestions on how to dress baby in the bag for varying temperatures. I bought size 2 which is suppose to be for 6 - 18 months. I am expecting another big boy, plus it will be summer so we won't likely need it until September.

NL needs more maternity stores

Took d to get his hair trimmed today at the Avalon Mall. While there I popped into Motherhood and spent the last of my Christmas gift certificates on a few shirts. I had to tell the staff to "back off". Within 3 minutes of being in the store I had been bombarded by 2 staff members one to my left and one on my right. They both kept bouncing the same questions and info at me and making comments as though I had never before been in the store. This might not have been so annoying if I had not been standing there fully decked out in the stores clothing... some of which was still on racks in the store. Unfortunately, Motherhood is the only maternity store in St.John's at present. I swear if someone wants a good business idea for St.John's open up a mixed brand maternity store.

Lazy Daze

Pretty lazy weekend here compared to the craziness of last weekend.

Dh has the plastering done and started sand the playroom. I've been trying to brainstorm with d and dh over what theme to go with. If it was up to d we would just do another Thomas room, but I think one Thomas room is enough lol

Been trying to get back into the habbit of doing some writing grading for work. I figure even when I'm not actively teaching, a little grading would be a great way to keep receiving a small pay cheque.

Sid the Science Kid

Sid The Science kid started airing on PBS week days in 2008. How much do I love this show!!! It's just awesome! First of all it's a digital puppetry production from the Jim Henson company. You can totally tell too! Even though the characters are digitally animated they still have that distinguishable Muppet look to them.

The main character in the show is Sid, an "inquisitive youngster" who uses comedy to tackle questions kids have about basic scientific principals and why things work the way they do. He tries to answer questions and solve problems with the help of his classmates and family.

Like the Muppet Show it is a real variety of a show. You really do get a bit of everything mixed together with Sid the Science Kid. There is animation mixed with real video, music and comedy and so much more.

A recurring feature is the joke wall. The kids go to a section on the playground where they open shape panels and tell jokes in the style of a "laugh - in" but of course targeted at preschoolers. They did this on the Muppet show too, particularly in "the dance" section. I also remember this type of thing on "You can't do that on television" with the locker jokes. Other recurring segments include The Sid Survey, Rug Time, The Super Fab Lab, Susie sings, and Sid's "super-duper-schmoper" big idea.

D is always going around saying he has a "super-duper-schmoper idea" hehe I got him a large magnifying glass like Sid's at the dollarama and he was going around yesterday with it saying "Let's get to the bottom of this!" Way too cute!

Dylan's New Room

Well Dylan's second Thomas room is nearly complete. He had the option of any kind of room he wanted, but was adamant about having another Thomas room. Not bad for a weekends work! It's nearly done... needs new blinds and I have a secret project I would like to complete, but that will have to wait until after the playroom and Baby Niko's nursery are completed. Dylan is over the moon happy with it and that's the main thing :D

A trip to "The Rooms"

We visited "The Rooms" today and I was pleasantly surprised to see on display the Dory from the Creoula that was donated to the Newfoundland Museum upon our arrival in St.John's back in 98'. The Creoula is a schooner; part of the Portuguese White Fleet. I spent a summer sailing from Portugal to Newfoundland on her back in 1998. The dory is part of an exhibit titled "Slicing the Waves: Canoes, Kayaks and Small Wooden Boats" . The exhibit is located on the 2nd level of The Rooms and is ongoing until Sunday, September 13, 2009 . http://www.therooms.ca/

D loves visiting the museum. Cute moment of note: Right now the archives has an exhibit regarding Canada's role in Afghanistan. When d saw the model of the soldiers uniform he said "Look a Knight!". What a smartie pants to make that correlation! I am somewhat doubtful that the modern day solider will go down in fairy tale history the way the iconic knights of ole have though.

The Run Around

I had to run to the paintshop and get my paint colors altered a bit.. the blue was too girly (I should have known better with a name like "fairy tale blue" lol)and the green wasn't dark enough. All straightened out now I hope!

Next, I ran over to coochicoo. They have the bumgenius 3.0 cloth diapers there. That's the line that had been at the top of my list... So I got one! I love to be able to buy stuff I want locally. Gonna try to buy one every pay day. That way won't seem like such a huge expenditure. They have sooo much stuff in that little store... I could have stayed forever looking around!

I also went into that new/used kids clothing store on topsail rd. Pretty similar to once upon a child... but much smaller space. The name is eluding me at the moment... but its right across from the turn onto blackmarsh in the building with Reid's music. They have sizes newborn up. Also a small amount of maternity clothing. I think it works similar to once upon a child... i think they buy some used stuff there and also have some suppliers. There was a lot of stuff with tags... mostly from children's place. Probably from outlets lol I got d two pairs of old navy jeans with tags on and a mix of old and new stuff for the baby. Only spent like $35 Definitely gonna have to make dropping in there a regular thing.

Then I ran to walmart and got the new light fixture for d's room. Hoping to start the painting tomorrow... can't wait!

25 week check up

What a morning! D got into a bag of sugar as I was getting ready for my 9:45am appointment. As if that wasn't enough big D forgot about the appointment so was late coming home. Didn't really matter that I was a few minutes late anyways, as I waited over an hour to be seen. Baby N is doing good! I'm measuring 27 weeks... so might be another big boy! When I was leaving she gave me my chart to keep on me. I couldn't believe it! I nearly hit the floor. I can't believe we are that close to baby N's arrival. Crazy!

I also went and got the glucose tolerance test for gestational diabetes done today too! Man oh man that orange drink is awful!

Busy busy

Busy weekend here! More plastering and gutting and some shopping in between. Picked up some Avent bottles, pacifiers, a couple sleepers and a few other odds and ends. No real major purchases. Got d the cutest Thomas rain boots. Going to give them to him with his Easter loot. I'm sure he will freak out when he sees them!

Picked up some Kribs (Kribensis Cichlids) which d named Toopy and Binoo. I hate that show so I have to wonder if d did it to spite me lol They are a breeding pair and very nice looking fish.

Sunday night I met the girls for coffee downtown. No matter where we go it is always a riot and I'm sure quite the disturbance to the neighboring tables.