Another Big Baby Purchase

Today we purchased our stroller and car seat, actually I should say that Chris' mum purchased it for us as her gift for the baby (we have been very lucky with our family's generosity). I have been looking at some of the different models that are available as well as the the different features. We really wanted one that was adaptable with the infant car seat, it clicks from the car seat base right into the stroller or into the house. Chris was also very adamant about it not being one of the 3-wheel strollers that are available now, I love them but he is not comfortable with them and preferred one with four wheels.

We ended up with the Graco Quattro Tour Deluxe in Moonstruck (that is the color). It came with the Graco SafeSeat which is better for a bigger baby upto 30 lbs and 32 inches. Since everyone is convinced that this will be a very big baby we thought it would be better to have the bigger infant seat so that he could stay in it longer. The picture below makes it look more turquoise but it really more of a dark blue/navy color.
We also picked up our diaper bag today. I have been looking at the selection of those as well and none of them were really peaking my interested until we were in Roots today and I saw a really great one and to make it even better it was 50% off because of their Boxing Day Sale so we snatched that up quickly. Oh and I have been debating getting the Fisher Price Ocean Wonders Aquarium for the baby's crib and I was in SuperStore the other day and they had it on sale for $9.99 and it is regularly $39.99 so that was another great deal that we picked up.
We have the dresser already but it still needs to be assembled and we have the glider for the nursery on order and I am hoping that it is here soon because then I can work on finishing off the nursery. My next step will be to wash all the babies clothes and bedding and get them put away, I figure I will tackle that in February.

Happy Holidays

Better late that never right?

Anyways, Chris and I had a wonderful Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve with his mum, sister, aunt and uncle. Then on Christmas morning we opened a few presents at home and then headed back over to Chris' mum's house. We all got some wonderful gifts (including Joshua!). I got a KitchenAid stand mixer, which I am loving and have already used quite a bit, and Chris got his Playstation 3 (both of which were birthday/christmas presents).

In the afternoon we went over to my Poppa's house and spent some time with my family, I stayed for dinner but Chris went back home to have dinner with his mum. We figure this will be the last Christmas that we will be able to spend apart.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season!

Where has the time gone!

Well a new trimester and a new set of pains!

Things have been really busy with work and getting ready for Christmas so that is why I haven't posted for a while.

Today I am 28 weeks and I am now in the third trimester. The time has definitely gone by quickly, and I can't believe that my due date is in 12 weeks. I was telling Chris a couple of days ago that in 9 more weeks he will be full term and will be welcome to come at any time. Wow scary!

Joshua is still as quiet as ever, gives me the odd push/press but very few kicks. I plan on asking the doctor if that is normal at my next appointment, because so many pregnant people I talk to say there baby moves around non-stop.

Over the last day or so my hips have become quite sore and today my left knee is really sore. Not to worry though I have an appointment for a prenatal massage at Sweet Momma tonight so I should be feeling much better tomorrow. I am in trouble if this pain keeps up for the rest of my pregnancy, although Chris is being a champ and is very patient with me, and is encouraging me to rest more while I try to do as much if not more as I did before I was pregnant!

99 days to go!

Ok, so that is only 99 days until my due date but I am ok with that!

I had another OB appointment yesterday and everything is looking good and both the baby and I are measuring exactly where we should be! Chris and I are sure that the baby has some sort of manual though because since they changed my due date he has been measuring exactly where he was supposed to be and doing what he is supposed to do. At my appointment yesterday the resident was feeling around for the baby to try and figure out the position and when the OB came in and asked how the baby was lying, the resident gave the OB a puzzled look and said, "I think the baby is transverse!". I quickly chimed in, "yeah that sounds about right because all of the movement I feel is on the right side of my belly". Baby must have heard the conversation because this morning I have been having more kicks at the top and center part of my belly! Ok so maybe I am reading to much into it but I think the baby is a genius!!!

Also speaking of movement, the baby is quite quiet most of the time. I read about people whose babies are moving non-stop and I think hmm, is something wrong with my baby? I have come to the conclusion that he is just quieter than others which is a trait I hope he still has once he is born.

And in this corner...

... weighing in at 1 lb 12 oz (give or take 4 oz) we have baby Joshua!!! Yup that is what he was measuring yesterday at his ultrasound. The boxing intro is quite fitting because the whole time the tech was trying to take a picture of him he had his hands in front of his face as if he were a boxer.

We decided to have a 3D picture taken this time because he is starting to put on some baby fat and looks more like a baby than an alien!

I think I'm in LOVE...

...with a vacuum cleaner of all things!

Since we moved into our house we have had nothing but problems with our new vacuum cleaning. When the installed the carpeting they didn't properly pick up all of the fine threads that were left over, and us not knowing any better tried to clean them up with our vacuum. Turns out that they require a special machine to pick these fine threads up and it ruined our vacuum. Great. We have been making due with what we had for now, until we saw a commercial for the Dyson vacuum cleaners that are now available in Canada. Well Chris and I started drooling immediately, that is until we saw the price of these fabulous machines.

We are now deciding that it will be a good investment and we went in with the intention of getting the cheaper model but soon realized that the features on the upper models would definitely be useful with a baby on the way. We are just now trying to weight the benefits of the more expensive model against the added cost. How Exciting!!!

Not really an exciting post, but the night we went looking at them I dreamt of vacuum cleaners!

An Update

Well tomorrow we hit the 23 week mark, my how the time has gone by. For those of you who are closely keeping track, yes I am ahead of schedule because my due date has changed.

I met with my new OB last week and after reviewing my ultrasounds, she decided to change my due date to March 14, 2007. The appointment was great and we got to hear the heartbeat for the first time, what an amazing sound. I must also add that I love my new OB, she was wonderful and made me feel so at ease. I am now entering the stage of continuous testing, I go for by Gestation Diabetes Screen on Saturday as well a couple of other tests. I am not sure how I fun that will be as the GDS is a one hour test where I need to consume a beverage that I have heard described a concentrated McDonald's orange drink, but more bubbly.

I have also included a picture of my ever expanding belly, I felt quite large, but this really made me feel huge.

A Womb with a view

Well I am now 20 Weeks and 1 Day Pregnant. At times I can't believe how fast time is going by, but others it just doesn't seem to be going fast enough!

Here is a picture to give you an idea of what are wee man looks like right now.


Want to know more about what is going on in his life?

• White blood cells are under production
• Skin has changed from translucent to more opaque
• Tongue is fully formed (although at the last ultrasound the tech was sure he stuck his tongue out at us)
• Swallows more this week
• Wake and sleep periods become more consistent
• Length approximately 10.5 Inches (from crown to heel)
• Weight approximately 12.7 Ounces

I just don't get it?

I had a doctors appointment this morning and I lost 1 kg from my last appointment 2 weeks ago. What really boggles my mind is that I have been eating like a horse, I just seem to constantly hungry.

So at almost 20 weeks my weight gain is only about 6 lbs, I thought I would be in for it this week because of how much I have been eating, but apparently not. Oh well as long as baby is doing well that is all that matters.

Update on us!

I apologize for not updating this for a while.

Things are going well for the three of us. I am feeling great, although still tired, and I am feeling the baby squirming around, and my belly seems to expanding by the day!!

I recently got a membership to the Edmonton Public Library so I been busy reading what I can before the wee one makes his appearance. I have also started reading to the baby so every time I go to the library I take out a couple of childrens books. So far they have been Robert Munsch and Dr. Seuss books , as they are our favourites, and I try to read at least one a night.

We haven't done to much in terms of preparing for the baby besides what I have posted about alreaady. I finally got my camera back so I will download the pictures of the crib with the bedding, they look so great.

Other than that things have been pretty quiet for us, but we are definatly going to need to get cracking soon I think. We still have to finish cleaning out the basement, I would like to do that before it get to cold so that I Dad can bring over the treadmill that he is storing at his place, move some pieces out of the baby's room and order the a dresser and rocking chair (and these are just the getting started pieces).

I know the suspense is killing you

For those of you who are eager to know the gender of our little one, we are proud to announce that we are having a bouncing baby BOY at this point his name will be Joshua Keith. We are both very excited, but Chris seems to be over the moon happy, he hasn't been able to wipe the grin off of his face!

I hope that you all had wonderful Thanksgiving weekends

Second Ultrasound Picture

My doctor send me for another ultrasound because I was experiencing some more spotting, and he just wanted to make sure that everything is ok. We went for the ultrasound yesterday and baby is doing great, strong heart rate of 156 bpm, and very active (baby was squirming around the whole time and the tech had trouble taking the pictures that she needed).

It was a great chance to see how the baby has grown and changed over the last couple of weeks.

We were really excited to find out about the gender, but baby wasn't wanting to be too cooperative when the tech was doing what she needed to do. Once she was finished she let me go to the bathroom and she went to get Chris. I had a bit of a talk with the baby and shook him/her around a bit and the tech was able to see what she needed to and told us "It's a ..." (sorry, actual results will be released on Monday after we have been able to tell our parents). :)

Anyways here is a picture of the baby at 16 weeks 3 days although that may change because baby was actually measuring 16 weeks 6 days (doctor thought I was measuring a couple of weeks ahead so 3 days I can handle).

I can't believe that I did this...

I actually took a picture of my belly. Oh and for the records, the white sticking our from under my t-shirt is my bella band (used to hold up my pants) because I am too big for my normal pants, but these pants are just a little loose still. These are the only pants that I need to wear the bella band with any more.

It isn't the greatest quality of picture so I promise a better one in a couple of weeks.


14 Weeks and 3 Days!

Woo Hoo

The Ballards are doing the happy dance.

Today I am 14 week and 2 days, we have officially reached the Second Trimester. It feels so great to finally be able to say that. Ok so I actually reached the second trimester on Sunday, but both Chris and I were in a wedding on Saturday and I was too tired to really care.

My stomach is growing more rapidly than I would like although my weight gain has been slow, which is great. I would like to try and take a picture, but my camera was sent in for repairs (for the second time). I also have also developed this lovely urge to go to the bathroom 24 hours a day (sorry if too much information).

According to my pregnancy book the baby is about the size of a soft ball or a large navel orange.

That will teach us

Well Chris and I decided that since we have heard it can sometimes take a while to have furniture/bedding delivered we would get cracking on it after seeing the baby's heartbeat. I ordered our crib (which we got through Airmiles by the way) and our bedding and Baby Bjorn (carrier) on line and the site indicated that it would be 6 weeks for the delivery for the crib and 6 weeks for delivery of the bedding. Sounded good, that would be me at approximately 18 weeks pregnant so right around when I would want to start collecting stuff.

Well on Monday our Baby Bjorn arrived, but came via Fed Ex who only deliver during the day, so Chris and I took the long journey to the other side of the city to pick it up at their warehouse.

Last night I get home and I have a notice in my door from a courier saying that have a package that weighs 109lbs that they would like to deliver, but they only deliver until 3:00 on weekdays.

Today I check my email and the bedding is on the truck to be delivered today(of course we won't be home, although I am going to try and get it re-routed).

So tomorrow I am having a 109lb box delivered to my office so they don't return it and Chris has to pick up his mum's SUV because it won't fit in our car and some of my co-workers are going to be kind of enough to take it downstairs and load it into the car. Oh the reason I can't help is my doctor wants me taking it easy after having some spotting on the weekend, so no extrenuous activity for me (I definelty think hauling a 109lb box around would be strenuous).

Anyway, here are some pictures of our latest purchases.

Our Crib, definately would have gotten a simpler one if we need to pay for it, but since we aren't likely to take any trip in the near future we got this instead.

The bedding, I fell in love with this, as soon as I saw it and turned up my nose at everything else that I saw. I love how neutral it is.
The Baby Bjorn, this product has quite a few awards, and from what I have heard it is one of the best ones available. Of course because I am who I am am I had it out of the box and on within minutes of walking in the door. Oh and of course I forced Chris to try it on too, I think it suites him! The bonus of this style is the extra back support, which I think with be great for Chris.

Let the Great Baby Shopping Spree Begin

First of all we normally would not have started shopping this early, but they were such amazing deals that we just didn't want to turn them down.

A few days ago Chris mentioned that one of his co-workers was selling quite a few baby items and he asked what I thought of the list. One of the items they were selling was a Jolly Jumper on a Stand and for only $20.00. We both thought this was a great deal and would be great to have so we didn't have to scratch our walls so we made the long trek out there to pick it up. Once we got there to take we saw the Jolly Jumper, which was in great condition, she also showed us some other items that she had. We took her up on the Fisher Price Ocean Wonders Bouncing Chair and the Fisher Price Ocean Wonders Cradle Swing. They were all such great deal and in such amazing condition, they look brand new and she even still had all of the instruction booklets to go with them.

We load the three items into the car and head home. Once we were in the door we couldn't wait to set them up (it was like kids at Christmas) so now we have all of these things sitting around our living room. The bunny (Scott) was fascinated by all of these new toys and Chris was telling me this morning that last night after I went to bed Scott jumped right into the bouncy chair, I wish I could have been there to see it.

Anyways, I have included some pictures of the items we bought (from a website because my camera is being repaired again).

We have a heart beat

Hello Everyone,

We will be using this site to keep all family members up-to-date on how we are doing and most importantly, how the baby is doing.

Yesterday, Chris and I had the opportunity to go for an early ultrasound. My biggest concern was being able to see the beautiful beating heart. Almost as soon as the sonographer touched the wand to my belly and asked "Can you see the heartbeat", of course she hadn't had a chance to see much at that point but quickly checked so that she could put my mind at ease. After she was done getting the pictures she needed and checking with the doctor she brought Chris in and showed us his/her tiny beating heart. It reminded me of a tiny strobe light. Apparently the baby was moving around a lot when she was taking her first set of pictures but when she was showing us it looked like he/she was "lounging" around. Made Chris and I laugh.

I have included a picture so that you can all take a look.