Maya and Her Daddy

Sicky McSick Alot and Other Stuff

So we are going on day five of Maya being sick. We thought she was getting better yesterday but then last night and this morning she was a miserable cough-a-holic snot machine. This is her just spacing out in her Dora chair before leaving for her doctor's appointment. 

One minute she's cranky and tired, the next she seems like a normal bouncy todder. Doc says that its just viral, but I HATE sick toddlers.  This past weekend we tried to keep our space from the other kiddies around, and spent the majority of our time inside in the air conditioning. No fun when there's bar-b-ques and what not. I just can't wait for my little Maya boo to get better. When she has a cough attack it just breaks my heart. 

While Maya has been napping I have been trying to do some of my last minute nesting for Nolan's arrival.... and of course taking breaks in the recliner to give sweet relief to my aching back. Hence the reason I have been able to do so many blog posts lately in the past few days.  Which brings me to some of my inner thoughts today. 

Now that we have a boy on the way I have really been noticing just how gender specific our world has become. I mean, I noticed it somewhat when I was pregnant with Maya and it seemed you could not find a piece of girl clothing that didn't have pink in it.  It still irks me to this day that when you go to a toy store there is always two separate sides of the store - aisles for boy stuff and aisles for girl stuff (and nothing in between). Sometimes I want to buy an item that doesn't have either blue transformers on it or pink cinderella, for cryin' out loud!  Prime example was when I went to get Maya a foam chair and they only had pink Dora or blue Cars. Nothing gender neutral (so annoying!). 

When I had Maya I swore that I wasn't going to let stupid things like colours dictate her gender and personality (even though I myself am a girly girl and love girly things, including pink). I vowed that I wasn't going to inundate her with princess this and easy-bake-oven that. I was going to let her play with whatever she wanted, let her read whatever books she wanted, and let her be who she is.  If she likes pink ponies, great. If she doesn't, no big deal. 

But then Mr. Nolan came to be, and now that I will have a girl AND a boy, I feel like I am really going back on what I had been preaching to myself lately. Case in point: we have these swaddle things that we used with Maya and at the time the store only had pink ones so we got them. At the time I said to myself, "If we have another baby and it turns out to be a boy we can still use them again. They are only swaddle blankets, who cares if our potential son ends up having to wear pink PJ's or blankets? He'll never know the difference!".  I went so far as to put the pink girly ones in the dresser drawer in the new nursery. I was planning on packing one with me for the hospital when I stopped and realized if I did this, everyone at the hospital will automatically assume Nolan is a girl. And so, the other day when i was at Toys' R Us I bought some blue ones. 

And just like that it turns out I do care what people think afterall. I don't want my boy to be mistaken as a girl. And really if you think about it I have subconsciously been assigning gender stereotypes to my kids from day one. Just look at both the nurseries for crying out loud! They couldn't get any more girly and boyish than that! Who am I kidding, I'm just like the rest of them. Is that a bad thing? Probably not. But I still will be ok if my little boy would rather join figure skating than hockey. For real, I could care less. And if Maya doesn't like to wear skirts and makeup, I would never try to convince her otherwise. But I have to admit I do really like how some things are more boyish than girlish (and vice versa). It's just so cute when you see a little tiny baseball cap or a pink tutu.  And the other day I did accept someone's offer to give me "boy" coloured blankets for baby to replace the pink ones that we received as gifts for Maya. I don't think there is anything wrong with enjoying those things, as long as I don't limit my kids and let them be who they are (especially when they are old enough to start expressing their gender on their own). In the meantime, we'll just go with the flow. 

But yes, I still hate all things princess and refuse to give my little girl barbies and ten different baby dolls! And I still won't let Nolan play with only Tonka trucks!  I might not want my boy to wear pink, but I still don't want him thinking he can only do boy stuff. Just sayin. 

Braids

This weekend was busy. A wedding, my sis was in town, stayed with the in-laws, and a family bar-b-que. On top of it Maya came down with a fever and was fighting something. Today she stayed home from daycare cause she was still warm and miserable but after her afternoon nap she was starting to feel much better. She even let me put tiny little braids in her hair.

So cute! They didn't stay in for very long but we had fun while it lasted. 

We're getting into the home stretch, I will be 37 weeks on Friday. Between sore back, heart burn, hot flashes, head aches and everything in between I am ready to have this baby. But really I'm not. I still have to get done a gazillion things on my crazy to do list that I have convinced myself I have to get done before baby comes and I am not officially done work until August 3rd. I want this baby to come soon, but I don't want to. I want to cherish this time we have left, just the three of us (four if you count Gunther) before the crazy starts. I'm so excited to meet little one but sad that it's changing. I'm so ready to complete our family but not looking forward to the sore nipples, sleepless nights, extra weight to lose. But I can't wait to see our family evolve again, for our house to be filled with even more joy.  I love my Maya boo so much and I know that my heart will grow even more when Nolan arrives.  I know one day I am going to look back at this time and think fondly of it. I hope I live in the moment as much as I can. 

Michelle's havin' a baby....

You may remember me mentioning my BFF on here a few times. 

We've been friends since we were fourteen years old and I have now known her for more than half my life. It's kind of like with my husband who I've known since I was a teenager - I don't really remember my life with either of them not in it. We've really come into our own since then and have been through all of life's big moments. 

Here she is with her lovely step daughter. 

Here she is holding one of our other BFF's daughter after she was born. She's always loved to hold everyone's little babies and always shows enthusiasm when a new bundle arrives.

Now its her turn, she's with child!!!!!     

Michelle is the last out of our group of friends to get preggers and she has been waiting for this moment for while. When she told me the news I was already ten weeks along with my bambino and I was ecstatic that we were going to be able to have such an experience in common. Since we sometimes carpool together (we both commute out of town for work) we would often find ourselves comparing notes about symptoms, doctor's appointments, nursery ideas, baby names, etc.  The thought of having babies so close in age is so exciting! 

Michelle even had this crazy idea to take random pictures of us together every few weeks and see how much our bellies start to grow. We only got one picture so far (bear in mind we just got home from work on a Friday afternoon and were tired and not looking top notch). 

But then Michelle got admitted into the hospital on bed rest due to a short cervix. She was only 24 weeks and they obviously didn't want her going into early labour. So she has been literally sitting in bed (with the exception of using the washroom) for almost a month now. Anyone who knows Michelle understands that this is prison for her, she is a very active person and does not like to sit around and do nothing. 

My heart goes out to her, this is not what she envisioned how her pregnancy would turn out. We always joke that nothing ever seems to go according to plan for her, and so it's not a surprise that she would have to roll with this too. So I made her a calendar to put up in her hospital room where she can mark off every day that baby grows until she gets closer to her due date. I wrote down something every day that she can do to pass the time, just for fun. I try to visit her as much as I can, but you know how it is with working full time and having a little one at home, so at least she has something that shows my support. 

Luckily Michelle has a great support system, lots of family and friends who love her and will help her out. She also works at her parents' business so she doesn't have to worry about her job right now which is good. The other day she told me that the doctor may let her go home in a few weeks and she can at least be in her own bed so I am keeping my fingers cross for her. Baby M, I am rooting for you kid! Keep growing and don't come out until your momma says so!

Hello From Miss Maya

Hey everyone it's Miss Maya here!  It's been a while since we've had a visit. Mom says I've grown so much lately. It's true, I am getting really good at a lot of stuff. Look, I started walking the other day!

I've also been getting lots of practice at eating with utensils, I don't like it when Mommy tries to help, I like to use a spoon all by myself! It's a work in progress, as you can see I still miss sometimes....

Mom was not impressed the other day when I got soup all in my hair. You see, I like to play with my food a bit, but apparently Mom doesn't think it's funny cause then she has to give me a bath.  The other day we didn't have to go anywhere so Mom just let me make as much mess as I wanted. She was trying not to laugh at me but I could tell she was amused because she took out her camera and took a picture to show Daddy how good I was at eating that day. 

You think she would have learned after giving me soup for lunch but then dinner was just as tricky....

The best though, is when I get to share my breakfast with Teddy. Every morning I insist on having him join me. Mom rolls her eyes when I demand that he doesn't go more than half a foot away from me. I love to feed him cheerios and milk!

When it gets real messy, Mom just takes my clothes off right then and there, but I always make sure to help with the cleaning. I love to sing the clean up song and sweep the floors!

I promise though, most of the time I look like a normal toddler and am actually pretty cute. Just ask anyone who has met me! 

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far!

The Nursery

The new nursery is complete! Well pretty much....as complete as it's gonna get considering we're on a budget. Everything was done on fifteen minute chunks of time here and there when Maya was not taking up all my attention. Gotta fill some holes and iron the drapes, but this gives you an idea of the overall look! 

Since I am not a talented photographer those are the best pictures we're gonna get with the lighting that I had. I just sort of ran upstairs when Maya was sleeping and started snapping up a storm with my does-so-many-cools-things-but-I-just-don't-have-the-time-to-figure-out how-to use-it camera. 

The inspiration for this room began with pictures on pinterest. The two main things that got me started were the wall colour (Stonington Grey - Benjamin Moore) and a handful of fabrics from the fabric store that I snatched during a huge fifty percent off sale. I made the fabric stretch throughout the room for various projects to save some moolah. We went to Ikea and got the same furniture that a million other nursery's have and some toys to go with it.  

Actually, we bought the exact same dresser and book shelf that we bought for Maya's room only the smaller scaled down version.....

Then I threw in our old rocker / recliner chair that Chris had in his bachelor pad back in the day so that I have somewhere to rock the baby. Crib was a good deal on kijiji and most of the books were purchased with Chapters gift cards I've collected. The rest of the stuff were things we already had from when Maya was a new born. 

Another cheap addition were plastic bins for storage that I already had lying around the house. They added just another punch of colour to offset the grey walls. 

Here's the highlights of what you would find if you were to come visit the new babe!

A home made mobile as seen on pinterest.

Fabric put into frames for easy wall art, also pinterest inspired.

Nifty shelves from Ikea and crafty book holder made with double curtain rods for when baby is big enough to pick out his own books!

Book shelf from Ikea with legs attached since it sits right on top of an air vent. 

Your classic three drawer dresser from Ikea. 

My favourite project. Soft blocks. 

Personalized bunting. Yep, we picked our name already!

Fun boy toys. 

Snuggly blankets. 

Lots of little bins for storage. 

Soft teddy bear. 

More colourful storage.

I love this little clock, it is so quiet and perfect for telling what time it is when I am sleep deprived. 

Used a groupon to get this wall decal for fifty percent off. After ordering I learned that trees are all the rage in nurseries this year!

I feel good knowing that the nursery is pretty much ready to go. One less thing to do! We've got seven weeks to go people! Speaking of which, did I tell you that my BFF is also pregnant and due in October?  Yesterday she was admitted into the hospital on strict bed rest, the poor gal! More on that later!