Mine

It's interesting how a second child learns words so much quicker and differently. Little M is saying quite a few words already and the one that I always think it interesting is "Mine". She definitely knows how to use and uses it quite often. I don't know where big M was at this point, but it seems like she is ahead of him, probably mostly because she has an older brother. So, I just wanted to share that. It's so nice to be able to communicate with her a bit.

Half way there

This week marks the half way point of my pregnancy. That's pretty exciting! I had my ultrasound yesterday and it went fairly well. It's always neat to see the baby and see them move around. I think the kids thought it was pretty neat. Their only concern was that my placenta was low, but they said most often it moves up. I know with big M I had that and it moved so hopefully the same thing happens this time. They said they would probably want another ultrasound a little later on. I guess in the next while we should look through some books and think of some names too.
We're going to pick up a set of bunk beds soon. We hope to move little M into a big bed in a few months while she's in her room and then move her into big M's room after that. Big M's pretty excited about having bunk beds. They're ones that you can take apart, but we're hoping to keep them together for more space. We'll see how that goes. It'll be interesting! The whole sharing a room thing makes me a little nervous, but I know that a lot of people do it.
It's been incredibly hot here as most know. So, we've been spending a lot of time inside(although it's not much better in our house). We had a great week with my brother and his family and the kids had a great time playing together. They were in the pool a lot. One day we went to Southern Sask. for a larger family get together and we got to play in the river. It was great. Big M also got to go on a tube ride(very slowly) with his cousins, and he loved it. Visiting is over for a bit, it'll be nice to have a break.

Busy, Busy

Life seems to always be busy even though we don't do much. But this week has been busier than normal. This week we purchased our 2nd vehicle ever. We are now the proud owners of a 2002 Mazda MPV. I'll show you pictures sometime soon. We got it on Wednesday and so far we like it. Hopefully it is good to us.
We also had a wonderful visit with some friends returning to Canada. It was such a great time and we were so blessed by them. We wish we didn't live so far away. Our kids, especially big M had a great time with their kids. Most of them enjoyed some fun times running through the sprinkler and sitting in the little kiddie pool.
Then my brother and his family came down for a visit. So for the next week we will be spending lots of time with them. The kids are loving playing with their cousin. It's neat to see them play together. And they love the new baby.
My cousin and her family also stopped in for a visit last night and stayed the night. It was nice to see them again.
So, this week has been very full, but it's always so nice to visit with people that you don't see very often.
On another note, D broke his nose this week. He was playing soccer and got smacked in the nose. So, tomorrow he has to go to the hospital to get his nose painfully put back into place. And the doctor "thinks" he can get it close to what is was. I sure hope so. It's pretty slanted right now. Poor guy.
The kids are sleeping and I think I am going to try to do that as well for a bit.

What to Buy?

We are now looking into buying a minivan. It would be so nice if we could just say "I want that one and I'll go and buy it", but life is not that simple. Instead we have a low budget and have to try and find something of good quality and that we like in that category. It's hard and kind of stressful, although not too stressful yet. We've looked at a couple of vans. One was newer, but the lower price was obviously because the guy had not kept care of it at all and it was quite run down. The other was older and might have been fine, but the inside was so dirty with stains all over the floor and pictures and names written on the wall. The last couple of nights it seems that all I dream about is vans and the decision of what to do. If anybody has any van tips that you could pass on that would be great. D has done lots of looking into used car guides so that is always very helpful. That is how we came up with our car and have been quite happy with it.
So, that's our big decision right now. We would like to have it before we go to TBay so that we have more room. It's pretty squishy for long trips in the car and we can't take everything that we would like. And plus we need the van by December anyway, so why not get it a bit early and make use of it on a trip.

Weddings and Shopping

Weddings and Shopping are 2 things that little kids do not care for. That was our trip to Edmonton this past weekend. We went to D's cousin's wedding. It was nice since it was outside and even though the kids wouldn't sit, I could take them to run around and I could still hear bits and pieces of the ceremony. The reception was fine, but just not fun for kids. I am now quite thankful that D's brothers reception is adults only because it will allow us to sit as grown ups for once and just enjoy what is going on. The kids did great in the hotel room. They loved it and slept great, although they were probably pretty exhausted from the long day. The next day we went swimming at the pool and then attempted to go shopping with D's mom and aunt and uncle at West Ed. Of course, we lost his mom and didn't see any of them until later that night when they arrived back at our place for night. (A note to those going, 2 way radios are a great idea. D's mom just bought us some and they were a big help for the time that D and I weren't shopping together.) We had a nice visit with his family and the kids enjoyed seeing grandma again.
Oh yeah, the shopping. The kids were definitely getting tired of shopping. And D was nice enough to let me shop on my own so that I could actually find something. I found some more great deals at one of my new favourite stores, Hollister . It's a chaotic store, but I love their clothes. Towards the end of shopping we went to Galaxyland (the rides) and let the kids go on some kiddie rides. Little M had actually fallen asleep in the stroller just prior to that so we let her sleep while big M went on some rides. Then later she joined him. They got a special treat of cotton candy and a candy apple which they loved, of course.
So that was our 2 day trip to Edmonton. It was nice to get away again.

Spray Park

This week we went to a spray park with the mom's group that I attend. I didn't know if the kids would actually want to play in the water since last year big M had no interest in them. But I brought swimsuits and was glad I did. They both wanted to go in right away. They had lots of fun running around and sticking their heads in the spray. It was a great outing for them.
Yesterday I did errands with them. It definitely isn't as easy doing errands on your own. I can't just leave them in the car to quickly run into a store or get one person to take big M to the potty while the other continues on shopping. But, they did really well. I don't do it that often since I don't take the car that often.
This weekend we are going to D's cousins wedding. I think it'll be a really nice wedding. The groom is Asian and so there will be a lot of that incorporated into things, I'm sure. And it's the biggest wedding I've ever gone to, 350 people and like 5 or 6 attendants on each side. Just hopefully the kids do well because it's a late wedding. It'll be nice because we get to see D's mom and meet lots of his relatives.
An update on my pregnancy. I am now 17 weeks, which I think is about 4 months. I guess time does seem to be flying. I'm not showing that much, but just a little. I had a doctors appointment the other day and heard the heartbeat again. It's always nice to hear it and know that things are going well. I still don't know what I'm going to do in regards to doctors. I loved my midwives in BC and wish so much I could have them again, but obviously that is not possible. The doctor I have is nice, but she delivers in a rotation with 9 other doctors and I like to know my doctor or at least know what their thoughts are. And midwives aren't part of the system here yet and so you can have a home birth or have them as a support in the hospital, but it costs quite a bit of money. At least I still have time, but it's frustrating.