Surprise!!!

So last night on my first break at work I was thinking about I should be getting my period soon. According to the app on my iPod my last few cycles were around 28-29 days long. It suggested that I should of had started on Monday but when I looked at the numbers previously I thought it was wrong and that I would have started today since it is the 29th. Anyways, last night I got looking at the calendar in the app again and realized that actually my period started four days before the start of March and that yesterday was like the 33 day or something. I was sitting there like OMG!!! trying to not get my hopes up! I had my hopes up the last few months only to find out I wasn't pregnant. I know on Monday I felt like my period would start but never did. I tried emailing Chris on my ipod but of course the app that I use wouldn't send and I ran out of time to go into actual Hotmail to send it. So I mentioned to him on the phone at lunch time that I should test this morning. He was like really!? lol  I knew I couldn't wait until Saturday morning to test.

So that is what I did this morning. The test came out pretty much with two lines a few seconds after I set it down. So there we go I am prego again! It's sort of surreal!! I'm not sure want to go through the whole process again but I know that the rewards will be worth it just look at Monkey! I am hoping for a boy this time though but like last time it really doesn't matter as long as he/she is healthy!

Happy 1st Birthday Monkey!!

I can't believe her first birthday was here and gone! Where did the time go? There were SO many people in the house it was crazy and that wasn't even everyone that was supposed to come! We had a ton of food left over but I guess it's better to have too much then not enough. I had booked Friday off from work so I could prepare for the party the next day and it was hectic. I spent the day finishing the rainbow cupcakes (which turned out amazing!) and made rainbow jello shots (no alcohol of course) and Chris spent most of his night preparing everything for the baked beans he wanted to make. Our fridge was packed! My mom and sister brought some salads, Chris mom brought some sandwiches and we had some BBQ meatballs in the crock pot. Lots of good food!

Monkey got a lot of clothes for summer and a few toys which is good. She was super tired though. She normally takes a nap between 12:30 and 1. We tried to get her to sleep before that at around 11. I didn't think she was going to go to sleep sadly, and soon after Chris's parents arrived. We gave her a bit more time and finally I said that I doubted she was going to sleep because it was to early. So Steve, Chris's dad, went to get her. He said that when he went in she was standing in her crib happy as can be and had this huge smile on her face, but when she realized that he wasn't me or Chris it slowly disappeared and then she started screaming. She cried for a bit but then got used to them again and was content playing on the floor with Grandpa. 

She had her moments throughout the day where she just cried and generally was cranky but most of the time she was all cute and smiling. I don't really blame her though since it was a really busy day without a nap.






Mackenzie freaked out when we put her in her highchair when it was cake time. Since it was her first birthday I had just made the cupcakes instead of getting a cake. We were singing Happy Birthday to her with one candle on it but as soon as I got close she freaked out and lunged for it. I had to quickly pull it back and blow the candle out so she wouldn't burn herself. She did not like that and started crying! I quickly unwrapped it and plunked it down in front of her and she had a ball destroying it.  I fed her a few bites but she wasn't really interested in eating it and never tried to put any in her mouth herself. Weird kid! lol.

It was good to see everyone though. It was a good day. Long for her but I think she had fun. She looked super cute in her green Hello Kitty St Patty's day shirt and World's cutest Leprechaun pin!

Still can't believe my little girl is already a year old!

She STANDS!!

This is what I noticed yesterday after putting monkey in her playpen for a minute or to.

She STANDS!!  I was shocked when I noticed. I don't think she was able to sit back down to easily since she was standing ackwardly and almost doing the splits! She has been doing it none stop now. Pulling up on the coffee and end tables and anywhere else she thinks she can.

Today while she was at the coffee table standing and I asked her if she could sit down herself and she did! It was sort of ackward but at least I know now that she can do it. I will still be hovering behind her though anytime she does pull up onto her feet at least until she gets the hang of sitting down. I really don't want her to fall and whack her head! She is growing up way too fast! LOL

In other news I have now been back at work for almost two weeks. The first day back I fought panic/anxiety attacks the whole night because I did not want to be there. My job is repetitive and boring and I knew how long the nights can drag on and on. The only thing that I think that saved me was that since my watch band broke a long time ago I didn't have that to look at every two seconds and I came armed with some podcasts and music to listen to. I still didn't want to be there though. The second night I think I was just resigned to my fate at being a working mom. It hasn't been to bad so far except that I don't know anyone on my shitft anymore. I am however, really looking forward to family day which means a three day weekend! WOOT! It's nice to be getting my full wage again instead of just the little bit I was getting from maternity leave. Still though I miss being at home and having that free time when monkey goes to bed for the night. 

Right now the only free time I have is if I can get her to nap during the day or on the weekends when Chris can watch her for a bit. I also am getting no sleep (maybe 5 hours a night) and it sure catches up to me by the end of the week (ie tonight and tomorrow) Chris has been awesome in getting up with her on the weekends though so I can sleep in a little. I guess I have to do what I have to do and I am thankful to at least have a job.  Days go by to fast and nights go by to slow :) Monkey's first birthday is quickly approaching though! I can't believe she is going to be one soon! I really need to start planning that. I do have some ideas on the back burner but I haven't actually sat down yet to flush it out. All I know is it's going to be very St. Patrick's day like with lots of green and chocolate gold coins.  

I also should mention that we have seen the white of her two top teeth. It's really hard to get a good look at them though since she won't sit still for us to look to closely. I can't look long enough to see if it is just the top to or if the ones on the side are coming in as well. She has been munching on her fingers a lot more lately, so who knows. Its about time she got some more teeth!
 

Happy 10th month birthday!!

Weight: ~ 19 pounds. Weighed on our home scale.
Height: ~27-28inches long. Measured at home. It was pretty hard to get you to lay still enough to take this measurement so it was super quick and just a ballpark figure.
Diaper size: You are still wearing size 3 diapers and still using the cloth diapers.

Clothing size: You are still wearing clothes in the 9-12 month size. You have lots of cute things to! You have more outfits then I do lol.

Sleep: We went through a rough patch of you not napping hardly at all. It became a struggle to get you to nap at all and I ended up going into your room to lay you back down a few times over an hour before you fell asleep. It wasn't that you didn't need a nap, it was just you being stubborn. You also began to dirty your diaper exactly 30 mins after putting you in the crib the first time and no matter what time you were put down for a nap 30 mins later I had to go in there and change you. But then again you have just mastered hand and knee crawling, you started clapping your hands and pulling yourself up so I don't blame you for not wanting to lay down and go to sleep.

Feeding: You are well on your way with solid foods having graduated to the 6-8 months plus food. There have been so many assortments that I have stopped taking photos of your first reaction to trying them for the first time since really it is all a combo of things you have already had anyways. Plus you really are not a picky eater and eat anything we give you with only a rare unimpressed face.

You get about a half a jar of the bigger sized jar of baby food unless we add some sort of pureed fruit for dessert. Then we give you 4oz of formula. You are still getting 4oz of formula before naps and before bed as well as with meals.

You are also getting different types of cereal in the morning. We tried oats and wheat again and have even tried ones that have berries in it or yogurt. Since taking the suggested steps that we found online and after talking with the doctor the baby eczema has gotten tons better. So we tried the grain that we thought might be causing the problem and turns out it wasn't.

Favorite toy: You really seem to enjoy playing with the animals from the farm set we got you. In fact whenever you see that any of them are where they should be inside that is the first thing you to is go over there and throw them out. You still sleep with your purple sock monkey and crinkle bug still travels with you in the car. We have since put away the jolly jumper since I barely put you in it anymore and when I do only 5 mins is enough for you. Why would you want to jump in the same spot when you can crawl all over the place.

Nicknames: We mostly call you monkey, sometimes by your name and sometimes a short form of your name, but mostly monkey.

Funniest moments: I love hearing you giggle with whatever makes you laugh. Sometimes it's the most random thing that neither me or daddy can figure out what is so funny. Like not to long ago you where sitting on daddy's lap and he was flipping your hat with the long ties on it and you laughing because the ties where flipping through the air. Don't know what was funny about that but it was hilarious listening to you giggle. Daddy also likes to pretend his hand is a spider and tickles you until you laugh. Just the anticipation sometimes sends you into a fit of laughter. It's seriously the cutest thing ever!

Favorite moments: I love just watching you play with your toys on the floor. It's so fun to just watch you inspect everything and even talk to your toys. I have no idea what you are saying or thinking but it's pretty fun to watch. I could sit and watch you for hours on end doing this.

Milestones/things you do:
- You have expanded your new tastes more then ever trying all sorts of combinations in the 6-8mth + selection.
- You have mastered the sitting up on your bum all of a sudden. It was near Christmas time when you just one day decided to sit back and you haven't stopped doing this ever since.
- You also around this time learned to clap your hands and to crawl on hands and knees. Christmas eve to boxing day you were taking a few short moves and then would revert back to the army crawl. You had by this time went from the plank move to the downward dog, so I guess that was the next step in getting your muscles in shape to be able to move forward. The day after boxing day you took a few hesitant movements forward on hands and knees and then you just took off. It was a bit slow at first but you have mastered a nice steady pace. You look so cute crawling around!
- It wasn't soon after this that you just all of a sudden started pulling yourself up on your knees on the coffee table and at the window in the great room. It's like all of a sudden you were like BAM and hit three abilities all in a row. You have even starting putting your one leg up so your foot is flat on the floor when your pulling up on things. Soon you are going to be trying to stand up! I'm not ready for that your growing up to fast! You can keep weight on your legs if someone does hold you up on your feet. Although you sort of stand on your tiptoes. Maybe you will be a ballerina? You definitely have the knack for standing on those tip toes.
- you still only have your two bottom teeth but I can see that you are going to cut the top four sometime soon. I can actually see the bumps there now. It's about time! You beat all the other babies your age for your first few teeth and now all of them have more teeth then you. :)
-You now stop to examine any little thing that you find on the ground AND try and put it on your mouth :( So I have to keep an eye on you all the time.
- You still love music and we aren't sure but we think that some commercials that come on you recognize the songs since whenever they are on you stop and watch and listen. It is not true for all commercials.
- You have started to get mad and cry or scream when something doesn't go your way. This hasn't happened too often but I have noted it. It may have been just because at those times you were tired. You also like to throw things all over the place and are constantly throwing whatever is on the coffee table onto the floor. (we have now since just started putting small toys and bibs/clothes on top so you can do this and nothing that could hurt you in anyway.) Nothing is safe on that coffee table any longer.
- You still try and get at the cat food and are quicker in getting there since you can crawl better but because you have some new toys it's easier to distract you into just staying in the area where they are. Also you are better at staying in your playpen for a few minutes with some random toys which is good.
- You also love to look through your board books, sometimes it's like you are reading them yourself since you jibber jabber a lot when doing so. You also pay attention a bit more when we read them to you, well sometimes.

Here is to another birthday month and another month closer to your first birthday! Love you monkey!

Day 21/30 - Our Honeymoon...

We decided on going to Niagara Falls for our honeymoon. I really wanted to go on a cruise/someplace warm or a cross Canada trip via train but my fear of flying and the crazy expense to travel cross Canada on a train was so not in our budget that it didn't really leave us with too many options. I had never been to Niagara Falls before so it was definitely exciting for me. It also seems to be a popular honeymoon destination so why the heck not :) The drive up there was pretty boring but that is to be expected when all you see is long stretches of highway.

We finally got there, got our room keys and took a ride up to our floor on the elevator. I am normally not scared of elevators but when they zoom up about 60 some odd floors I tend to get a bit nervous. We were soooo HIGH up. I really was afraid that that would be the week that the building decides to snap in two, with us still in it. The hotel we stayed at had just built the new tower that we were staying in so yeah it snapping in two in my mind really wasn't that impossible. (LOL)

We had a pretty good view of both the American and Canadian falls. It was actually beautiful and after the initial look out the window wall (the outside wall was in fact just a window from floor to ceiling and wall to wall) I stayed the heck as far away from it as possible. We were HIGH and I couldn't help but envision myself hurdling to the ground each time I looked out and down. ~shudder. But we did have some amazing views! At night it was breath taking as well. We also had prime seats for the light show on the American Falls AND for the firework displays that happened once or twice that week.

The Horse Shoe Falls.

You can see that we are right across from one of the casinos. We did go in there one night and spent an hour or so blowing $20 bucks total on the penny and 5 cent machine and that was enough for me. I have never been to a casino before so it was fun in that aspect but meh. It was all electronic so it's not like you pull a lever (well you still could) and you would have your winnings come rushing out the bottom. It was a piece of paper that you fed into the next machine you wanted to play. WOOOOO fun....not.

American Falls

The Sky Wheel at night.

The Casino at night.

American Falls at night

We decided to take a trip behind the falls first. I literally couldn't stop snapping photos of the falls. They just kept turning out so beautiful. It was super loud to and really misty but it was so worth it. We got to wear these nifty garbage bag like rain coat things they give you. You can see how thrilled I am by this picture.

So awesomely amazing!

This I believe is directly behind the falls, so the water is rushing down in front of the opening.

We then trekked down along the river snapping photos because how could you not resist take a million pictures of the same falls over and over again. It really is amazing to see in person. You see that tiny teeny boat in the picture? Yep we went on that too (Maid of the Mist). That was a little scary and since we just made the boat we got stuck on the bottom level but I think that was a good thing since it sheltered us a bit from getting soaked. It was a pretty bumpy ride.

We eventually made it to the White Water Walk, where we took more photos of the water. It was soo loud here and had some interesting photo opportunities including this gem that I couldn't resist snapping. No we didn't add to it because that is sort of gross, but it was interesting none the less.

Lots of bits of gum stuck to the rocks.

The whole week went by pretty fast and I don't think I have ever done so much walking in my life. There were some pretty steep hills going to and from the hotel which got to be tiring after awhile. By the end of the week we were pretty dead on our feet. Other random things we did that week were:

We went to one of the wax museums where we saw all sorts of stars and scenes from movies. We even saw the Simpsons and unfortunately for me ET. Seriously TAM he is CREEPY!!! There is nothing cute about him (especially here depicted in wax). You can see by my face how thrilled I am that Chris made me stand in front of him for a picture. I had nightmares after my sister brought me to see ET at the movies as a child. I still can picture ET standing at the bottom of my bed when my mom turned the lights out point at me with his glowy finger. I haven't watched that movie since, well that isn't true. Over Christmas Space had ET on and I sort of half watched it. The only part where ET is even remotely "cute" is when Drew Barrymore comes in and sees him for the first time and screams, which makes him scream and everyone else scream. That is the only cute part!

We also went to Ripley's Believe It or Not where we rubbed the belly of the 'good luck statue' which according to the sign " is a statue made out of 3 million macerated US dollars. Gamblers in China believe that rubbing the belly of  symbol of good fortune, will bring them good luck." How could you not rub it's belly! Who doesn't need good luck! 

seriously I don't know why my eyes are always red in photos ;)

We also had fun running through the spinning tunnel at the end which wow made you feel completely hammered since there was no possible way to walk to the end without almost falling on your bum! Then as we were leaving the building we decided to hold hands and get a hot wax molding of them. We added our wedding date and little tiny rings to the hands and voila we had a super neat token of our wedding and honeymoon.

At some point we also went on the giant Sky Wheel. In theory I was excited to go on this since I thought it would be fun. That is until we got closer to it and I saw just how high it would go. I still managed to gather enough courage to go on it and was relieved when we got our own compartment. I was fearing we would get stuck with people that would think it was super fun to rock the compartment back and forth. If you haven't guess already I don't do well with heights. It was alright until we got near the top and then I started to freak. Chris not only took a few photos of me but also took a video of me freaking out!! I didn't know he was taking a video either until after. When I was safely on the ground and back home and watched said video it was actually pretty hilarious, but then again I am braver on the ground and was very far away from it by then.

Me trying to wear a brave face.

I also must be a sucker for punishment because I convinced myself that we needed to also go back on it when it was dark out to see everything all lit up at night. Now that I think about it I really don't know why since we could see the same views but higher from our hotel room window. None the less we went on it again, and again I freaked out when we got to the top. Although after we got off we took what is probably my most favorite picture of our whole trip! The wheel looked so cool at night all lit up.

Near the end of the week we went to visit the floral clock which was pretty impressive and also took a tour of the power plant that was near by. Then it was off to the butterfly conservatory. I doubt I will ever go back in there if we ever go to Niagara falls again because while I love the beautiful patterns and colours on butterfly's I.DO.NOT.WANT.THEM to touch me EVER. Seriously they creep me out! There were hundreds of these things flying around. No where was safe. Thankfully none actually landed on me or I don't know what I would have done. I seriously probably would have ran out of there screaming (well maybe I am being a bit dramatic here, more like I probably would have freaked out, swatted at it and squashed the poor thing). In all seriousness though, I was actually really scared that I would do just that and I am sure that sort of thing is frowned upon. They had these plates of oranges with a bunch of them feeding off of it and that was enough to creep me out. We left pretty quickly lol. Chris thought it was funny as well. Nice eh!

These are just the highlights from our trip since we did a lot more that I mentioned. There is so much to do there that we didn't really feel like we scratched the surface. By the end of the week we were so exhausted from all the walking around we got lazy and stayed as close to the hotel as we could. Then it was the long drive back to reality. I'm glad that we got a week away from everything though! Hopefully sometime we will go back again and see more then what we were able to the last time. I actually think it would be neat to see it in the winter time, just to see how different it is.

What did you do for your honeymoon? Or what is your dream honeymoon?

Monkey's first Christmas

Monkey's first Christmas was great. I don't think she really had a clue what was happening but she sure did have fun tearing the wrapping paper off of stuff, tearing the tissue paper to pieces and of course playing with the empty wrapping paper tube. But I guess I can't really blame her since all of her presents where still tightly sealed in their own boxes and what fun is that? It was pretty fun seeing her opening her stuff and eventually playing with it.

It was a quick morning though, we pretty much had to get ready to go soon after she was done opening stuff. We had about an hour drive before we got back to where our families live. My family always has their holiday dinners at noon, which is sort of nice because then we don't have to choose which dinner to go to. This way we can go to both! Not so fun on the tummies though since there is always soooo much food, but it's all sooo very good it's hard not to over eat.

Monkey had a good time seeing both families and we were pleasantly surprised that she was okay at both gatherings. There are a lot of people she really didn't see very often we were afraid she might make strange but she didn't. In fact she never stopped "talking" the whole time! That is pretty much like 8+ hours of jibber jabbering. It was pretty cute though :) For some reason we didn't take hardly any pictures that day which was sort of dumb on our part but we did get some the next day.

She got to show off her sitting up all by herself skills and her semi crawling on hands and knees a lot the second day since there was no fear that she would get stepped on. She surprised me the week before Christmas when she just plunked herself backwards, sat on her bum and just looked at me and continued playing with her toys. It's so crazy how babies just learn to do things like that.

She was pretty tuckered out by the time we got back to Chris's parents house in the afternoon that she stayed asleep when we took her out of her seat. It was pretty cute that Oz jumped up on the couch and went to sleep to. Usually he gets jealous when she is around and growls and barks at her. I guess when she is not moving and in a dead sleep he can pretend she isn't there?

The weekend went by way to fast. I wish that we could have seen everyone more and visited more but we were glad for the time we had. We also wanted to get back home in the daylight so since it gets dark at 5pm it really didn't leave to much time for visiting the second day. I can't believe that Christmas was here and gone, although it's a relief because I hate shopping for Christmas presents the last week before. We can never seem to get it done before hand. We didn't have a white Christmas this year but the day after we got back to our home it snowed enough to make up for it. I think this weekend we might take Monkey out in the backyard and take her for her first toboggan ride. That should be fun (we got her a wooden sled for Christmas).

I hope that everyone had just as good of a time for Christmas as we did. :)

Monkey meets Santa Claus

I honestly really really thought she would throw a fit and start crying when she met the big guy, especially since by the time she was on his knee it was an hour past her nap time. She surprised us though, she was all giggles and jibber jabbering to him. I have no idea what she asked him for though (We don't speak baby anymore but hopefully she will like what Santa, Mommy and Daddy give her.) There was a bit of a delay after they took a few photos for some reason. It felt like eternity before they were ready again. They snapped a few and she said goodbye as only babies can and even managed to pull his beard. He just laughed as he straightened it again and gave her back to Chris. Thankfully this Santa was one that had a real beard otherwise there might have been a bunch of really confused kids in the lineup.

The lineup wasn't to bad for the middle of a Saturday even though I think every spot in the parking lot was full. I really hate crowds so I was a bit relieved. I'm sure we were in the lineup itself for a while but with all the cute little kids taking photos with Santa the time passed pretty quickly. I was a bit shocked to see a few groups of people in their 20's getting their photo with Santa. I mean really? That was a bit odd. All in all a good day, even though we managed to check off a bunch of things off our to do list, and yet manage to not get one-single-christmas-gift! Gah! Time is running out! I guess we will once again be last minute shoppers like we are every freakin year!

Now my only question is will we have snow for Christmas! I hate winter and snow since it's a pain to shovel and drive in but Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without snow!