Seattle

It's 9 pm and Lucas juuuuuuust fell asleep, after about an hour of me trying to put him to bed. He is still getting back into his routine after our trip to Seattle.

Normally at about 8 pm we read a few stories while he has his milk, I give him a kiss and put him in his crib and say "Goodnight Lucas" and he says "Bye" and then goes to sleep. How wonderful. Of course this routine just didn't magically happen, we had to work at it, but 4 nights away from home has put us back a few steps. So a bit of cuddling in Mom's bed and a few cartoons to get him to sit still and calm down isn't the end of the world.....I guess. Besides, he was such a little trooper during our trip that he deserves a bit of leeway.

I knew traveling with an 19-month old was going to be different than any of the trips Terry and I have taken together before, and I think it went really well. There were definitely some challenges, but all in all Lucas was a great little traveler and I think we came pretty well prepared.

We brought our massive Tonka-truck of a stroller, and even though it is huge and bulky (the Air Canada customer service agents were probably swearing at us under their breath trying to wrap that thing in plastic, which would explain why it came back looking a little worse for wear after our return flight....) it was a necessity and it would have made for a tough trip with just a little umbrella stroller. We have a Quinny Freestyle, probably the one baby thing that we splurged on when Lucas was coming, and already it has been a worthwhile investment. Every morning we would load it up with what we needed for the day and head on out. Lucas would fall asleep in there for his afternoon nap, I could recline him and throw a blanket over top, and voila, afternoon nap without having to go back to the hotel, and two hours of sleep time.

Seattle is a nice city, but not what I expected really. The waterfront is so industrial and just....well not pretty like Vancouver. There is no green space at all downtown. The only time Lucas got to run around in a park was our trip to the zoo. The Pike Place market was amazing. Everything is so fresh. The fruit and fresh fish were delicious! The kids play area at the downtown library, the zoo and the aquarium were Lucas' faves for sure, and great places for kids, but next time I would skip the Children's Museum. I think the highlights for Terry were taking almost every mode of transportation possible. The monorail, the streetcar, the city bus.....super exciting Terry.

For me, I just loved seeing Lucas have a great time. He loved loved loved all the animals at the zoo and the fish at the aquarium. I think he would have jumped right into the starfish tank if we would have let him. He learned a few new words while we were there (notably elevator....which sounds more like eeevvaaaooorrrr? when he says it) and developed a love for buses. Seeing Amy play soccer was also one of my favourite parts, I haven't seen her play in what seems like forever and she had a great game. It is so crazy that we planned this trip not knowing that she had a game in Seattle at the very same time. Couldn't have worked out better.

Of course I did just a little shopping while I was there, but being pregnant helped keep me under control. What is the point of buying clothes that aren't going to fit me in a month anyway??? So instead I took advantage of some maternity stores that we don't have and scored some great deals at Gap Maternity. Pea in a Pod on the other hand was not a great deal, that stuff is crazy expensive!!!! But I got a few lower priced items that will last me through the summer. Maybe this time my pregnancy wardrobe will consist of more than my pink bunnyhug and Lulu pants.

We stayed at the Grand Hyatt Seattle and it was fantastic. I used priceline.com to bid on a hotel room, which I have done once before, and it worked out great again. We got a downtown hotel room for $100 bucks a night, which was about 60 % off of the normal price. I highly recommend it and would do it again in a second. You don't get to pick your exact hotel that you want, you just pick the area and the number of stars for your hotel, and then enter what you are willing to pay.

Air Canada, not so fantastic. This trip was on a tight budget, so we used Air Miles and didn't get to pick our airline. Their planes are old and noisy, and everything was just sub-par compared to West Jet. No TV's to watch World Cup games. Boooooo.

I didn't win the $50 million Lottomax jackpot so I guess it is back to work on Monday.....sigh.

Mee-mo?

I just want to stay home and watch the World Cup all day. I don't feel like I am having a good World Cup "experience" since all of the games are on while I'm at work. I can't wait to know the scores of the games, so when they are replayed later I already know what happened and it's just not the same. Another reason to become a wealthy socialite. I am sure socialites get to stay at home and watch soccer all day. Paris Hilton is probably having a great World Cup experience.

Dudes I am still pregnant. I think Terry is getting quite sick of me saying "Terry you are going to be a Dad of TWO. TWO BABIES" or "Terry there's a baby in my belly". He said to me that he thought I would be less amazed that I am getting a belly and how fast my body changes the second time around. Nope. I forgot. Still don't quite believe it, even though we went for an ultrasound and I have a picture to prove it.

Stop reading now if you are squeamish OR if you are my mom. Ha ha ha....just kidding mom.

Along with a growing belly I also have HUGE BOOBS. Thanks for nothing hormones. Seriously how come they just explode all of a sudden? I had a bra fitting last week because I was busting out of my clothes and I went from a B cup (which I was super happy about, juuuuuuuuuuust right) to a DOUBLE D. The lady said I was borderline triple.......whaaaaaaaaaaat? So dumb.

Lucas is learning words like mad. Copies almost everything we say. I was talking to my mom on the phone and Lucas was pulling random sharp objects out of my cupboards. I said to my mom that Lucas was being a little bugger and immediately "bug-ger????" out of Lucas' mouth. Don't learn that one buddy. Work on please and thank you instead.

Da-do da-do da-do (Lucaspeak for thank you)
Peaz? (Lucaspeak for please)

I am starting to get a little worried about Lucas' Finding Nemo addiction. I needed to get something done (like shower I think) one day and there were no episodes of Sesame Street left to watch, so I found one of the only kids movies I own and popped it in. How was I to know I was creating a monster??? EVERY TIME we go downstairs now, all I hear is "Meee-mo? Mee-mo? Mee-mo?". If I don't put it in, he then goes and finds the DVD, takes it out and tries to jam it in to the DVD player.

TWO BABIES

I AM GOING TO BE A MOM OF TWO BABIES. TWO.

Just for clarification that is Lucas + 1. I still haven't quite come to grips with this concept, and probably won't until I am holding baby #2 in my arms.

We have chosen not to find out the sex of the baby this time around, mostly because I don't feel like I need to know. There is no way I could have waited 9 months to find out if Lucas was a boy or a girl but this one seems different. Boy? Awesome, a brother for Lucas super close in age. They will have a blast together and drive their Mom crazy and never fight. Girl? Fabulous, one of each and I finally get to use my girl name. As long as it is a healthy, non-colicky, good sleeper baby. Fingers crossed.

I am finally beginning to be able to drag myself off of the couch in the evenings. Those first three months were rough. I don't remember this phase when I was pregnant with Lucas, but that could be because I could come home and nap on the couch without someone asking me to play trucks or put a sticker on my nose. A little more nauseous that I was with Lucas, but nothing major. I do not enjoy being pregnant, not even a little. And I don't even have anything to complain about!! I have heard of people having awful pregnancies for the whole 9 months, so I feel guilty that I dislike it. I don't like that my clothes don't fit, I don't like feeling tired all the time and I am really not going to like getting huge. I remember that part quite well.

I gained A LOT of weight with my first pregnancy. I am not sure if it was because I broke my ankle pretty early into it and never really exercised, or if I indulged a little too much, or if it was just having a baby in my belly. I resolved that this time would be different, that I would get as much exercise as I can, eat healthy and do what I can to stay within a normal range. A few problems with this;

#1) I didn't realize (or maybe forgot) that after working for 8 hours, I would have no energy left.

#2) Chips. Why can't I crave carrot sticks, or apples, or milk????? Stupid chips. My nemesis. I shared some chips last night with Terry while we watched Glee and felt so guilty after that I couldn't sleep. Chips, we are done. No more. I don't want to see you again, probably ever. Maybe once a month.

I am a little bit ahead of the game this time because I weigh less that I did when I got pregnant with Lucas, but I DO NOT want to be as big as I was last time. Not sure if I have control over that or not but I guess we will see.

I am trying to enjoy all of the Mom and Lucas time I can before this one comes along and steals some of Lucas' thunder. We had a great time together this morning. Well it didn't start out so great I suppose. Lucas was opening drawers in the bathroom while I was brushing my teeth and fell somehow while shutting one of the drawers and sliced his finger. Poor guy, looked like it hurt. We cuddled and watched Finding Nemo to ease the pain, then went on a trip to the park. You would think from listening to Lucas scream while I was attempting to put a band-aid on that
I was trying to cut his finger off. He forgot all about it after a few swings and slides at the park followed by a mini-picnic with Teddy Grahams and a juice box.

I have had so many thoughts in the first three months that I wanted to blog about but couldn't, and now they are all gone.