Picture post

Group shot of my friends and I at our weekend away in Grand Forks. We had an awesome weekend of shopping, good food and lots of talking.

Monkey see, monkey do.

He loves to play in the dryer, which I only let him do when I'm cleaning the bathroom. He hauls toys in there and drives them along the side.

37 weeks

How far along? 37 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 26 lbs
Maternity clothes? Not really
Stretch marks? No
Sleep: Oh yeah, if I'm home, I'll nap when Caden does.
Best moment this week: Getting ready. Crib is up, car seat is waiting, bought 2 baby soothers.
Movement: Not as much now, but still a lot.
Food cravings: Chips & salsa
Gender: Still feel girl.
Labor Signs: Nope
Belly Button in or out? It’s out
What I miss: Sleeping comfortably
What I am looking forward to: Labor and delivery.
Milestones: I am now at weekly appointments.

4 weeks and counting

Only 4 more weeks to go. Which could mean anywhere between 2 and 6, but I'm gonna go with 4. Not that I am done work, and wow is it awesome, I've had time to 'nest' as they call it. I've been getting food into the freezer, I put up the crib and mobile yesterday. Caden and I went through some of his baby things and kept a few blankets and nursing pads out. Wasn't too excited about that part, but its all part of it.
We had to clean the ball pit out of Cadens room to make room for the crib. I thought he would be upset about it but he wasn't at all. He was just too excited for the crib to come. That little boy is so in love already with what he is told is a baby. He kisses and hugs my tummy for sure 10 times a day, and often randomly, like when I'm going to the bathroom. This morning he came into our room and kissed my tummy and said ' Mommy baby coming out soon?' It was so cute. I know that he really has no idea whats in store for us, but for the time being, he's pretty excited.
We are still working on a boys name, but the girls name is solid. And I still love it. We have some time...right??
Anyway, I will try really hard to post a preggo pic soon. We are off to Beausejour on Sunday for Thanksgiving with Robs family.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

What would you do?

For the last week or so, Caden has been having a hard time with the dark. He has never had a night light on in his room and the door is shut when he goes to bed. But somehow, he's discovered a fear of the dark. I'll put him in his bed for night and he'll say 'no dark mommy, no dark'.
Last night was the worst. He was crying...hard. He called me in to his room numerous times. Now with that said, let me also tell you that I don't do night lights. I do not like it when kids are so reliant on a night light that you have to pack the stupid thing when you go away for night. I've babysat kids like this and I don't like it. Just like he doesn't have any music or a fan or anything. He falls asleep hearing the noises of me cleaning up, or watching t.v.
Any ideas? I know one option is to leave the bathroom light on or something like that. But has anyone else encountered this problem with your kids? And what did you do? Will it pass? I feel bad for him, but I don't want to start something to fix it for now, if he'll get over it.

Sick Mama

I sure struggled through a bad cold this weekend. I don't know if it was worse because of being pregnant, but it was bad. Saturday was an awful day. Its hard for moms to be sick. Normally I can still funtion somewhat normally, but not this day. I was on the couch for most of the day. Luckily Rob was home for the afternoon so he took care of Caden. I definitely miss the days of being sick when my Mom would make soup, and I'd lie on the couch all day watching t.v. Not the case with t 2 year old running around. He was very good though. He musta known cause he wasn't demanding of my attention at all.
I did manage to get 6 loads of laundry done. And we mowed half of the lawn in the morning. It was something I could do while sitting, and Caden could still be outside. We have a new lawnmower so it goes super quick. I was in bed at 9:15 Saturday night and didn't get out of bed until 8:45 Sunday morning. Thanks Rob.
Anyway, I feel much better now. My voice is still a little funky, and my cough hurts a bit, but its nothing compared. And I should be thankful I got it now, instead of 7 weeks from now.

We also finally have satellite again. Just in time to watch all the premiers. We didn't have it all summer, which was great because it forced us to be outside and to do other things. But its nice to sit, relax and watch a show in the evening after Caden goes to bed.

My mom and I canned some delicious salsa last week. Tomorrow we'll do another batch with what I get from my tomato plants. They look really sad this year, although they've still surprisingly given quite a few tomatoes.

I have a doctors appt tomorrow as well so soon I'll post another preggo pic with the usual write up. Only 7 weeks to go now. I want this baby already. It moves, so incredibly much. Literally rolls around in there. I'm not sure if this means I'll have a smaller baby this time, cause it has room to move around so much, or if it means nothing...lol. Caden was 9lbs 10oz so thats what I'm preparing for. I would actually pick that over a little 7 pounder cause those little babies just feel so fragile and tiny. I liked the bigger baby.

And I need advice again. Caden found a bottle of red nailpolish at my moms house. How do I get nail polish out of clothing? I tried nail polish remover almost immediately but that didn't work. Anything??

In a nutshell

Finally, we have summer. And boy have we been enjoying it. Who would have thought that come September, we’d finally get the weather we’ve been waiting for all year long. We did take down our pool, because the water was getting really gross. We had only used it 4 times. Then of course the weather turns nice and I woulda loved to have been in there on the weekend. But instead I hauled out our blow up slide and small pool from last year and Caden still had a lot of fun. We also put the garden hose down the slide on the playhouse and let Caden slide down that. He Loved it. It was great. I wanted to try it too, but we need something bigger to land on.


I pulled out all my corn stalks from the garden, and yielded 2 whole cobs. What a waste. I was very disappointed with how my corn grew this year. I guess because of the cool weather, it didn’t grow. I also pulled out the beans. I enjoy watching my garden get cleaned out. I need to till now. I made 6 jars of pickles with my mom, and will make more, as long as Rob does the picking of the cucumbers. I’m tired of doing it, and it really hurts my back to be bend over for so long. It takes a good half hour to pick all the cukes. The tomatoes have been delicious. I’m only hoping that they will all turn red yet so that I can make some salsa. If anyone is in need of some spaghetti squash, let me know. I have about 40 of them…not a word of a lie.

Caden has decided that 6:30 is the new time to get up. It’s been about 2 weeks of that. I can not get him to go back to sleep after that, no matter what. I’ve put him to bed at 8:30, and I’ve let him stay up till 10:00. It makes no difference. It really sucks because I pretty much go to bed right after he does because otherwise I’m exhausted the next day. Naps have been happening more frequently these last few weeks and I don’t like that. I feel like I’m wasting away the beautiful afternoon. I hope and pray that this will end before the baby comes. Not only because of the baby, but because 1 week before my due date is time change, which means he’ll be getting up at 5:30…AHHHH!!!

I’ve found something else that keeps Caden occupied for a fair amount of time. Coloring with markers. I bought the pip squeak markers for him and he loves it. He’ll spend 15 min coloring. He made Grandma and Daddy a birthday card and he’s drawn a picture for Uncle Rick. We now have 2 things, play dough and markers, that will keep him busy. Oh please let this next baby be not so busy.

Thanks to Colleen, who borrowed me some Bob the Builder, and Tractor Tom videos. After his nap today, I put in tractor tom. Caden watched a whole 10 minute video. He was totally into it. Probably because there was a tractor, 4 wheeler and a dirtbike. He sang along to the songs, and imitated sounds the characters made. It was great. He has never watched t.v. in his life, which was done on purpose. I also don’t really want Caden watching t.v in summer, but once this baby comes, and with him getting up at 6:30 in the morning, this will give me a little break. Plus, winter is always long so I need to teach him now.

I only have 9 days of work left, counting today. Oct. 8 is my last day. I am so excited. The girl that is taking over my job is doing a really great job. I think she’s gonna be great, which is such a relief to me. I hate leaving, knowing that my Dad is going to have so much extra work to do. I am not planning to go back to work after this baby, so having someone there who is good will take a huge load off my mind. Once I’m done work, I have to catch up on Cadens scrapbook, make a baby book for this baby, start working on Christmas cards that I will be making for other people, as well as make a birth announcement card for baby and a 2 ½ year card for Caden. I’m hoping to get it all done.
Anyway, just thought I’d play catch up a little bit.

Baby shower

My cousin Heidi had a baby girl on Aug 22nd. My mom and I are hosting her baby shower tonight. We've got some games planned, but does anyone know of any different/fun games to play when the crowd is a mixture of older and younger people?

6 years ago.

I married this guy. Its been a crazy 6 years, but I can't wait to see what the next years bring. Love you.

Oh and happy birthday to Rob as well. He turned 33 yesterday. (Sept 5)

Bob the Builder

Just wondering if any of my local readers have any bob the builder movies they'd be willing to borrow out.
As I've said before, Caden doesn't watch any t.v. But with this baby coming, and the fact that he was getting up at 6:30 am regularly, I'm trying to get him interested. Its not working. He asks to watch a movie, but once I put it in, it holds his attention for about 2 minutes before he starts asking if he can play with toys. He does, however, like Bob the Builder. He only knows of him because of a pair of pjs he has, as well as a toy bob and scoop. I think the movies might interest him, but I don't wanna buy or rent them, only to have them sit there and hold no interest.
So, if you have any, or just one that you'd borrow out, please let me know.
Thanks alot.

one more makes 4

4 babies that is. Sunday morning I get a phone call from Pam. They are expecting baby #2 on March 7. So excited for you guys. This is the third set of doubles in our group. Erin and Shar had babies 1 1/2 weeks apart. Jodi and I are due 1 1/2 weeks apart, and Joder and Pam are due 2 days apart. Go babies.
Now if only Tiff and Candace would get on this baby band wagon...wink wink.

30 weeks

How far along? 30 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 18 lbs
Maternity clothes? Some yes, some no.
Stretch marks? No
Sleep: I want to sleep all the time
Best moment this week: 2 friends felt baby move
Movement: I can watch baby roll around.
Food cravings: Peach iced tea. Can’t find it anywhere. Nestea used to have a frozen one you could buy. Why oh why would they stop.
Gender: Feeling girl. I’m drawn to pink. I don’t feel the need to complete our boys name.
Labor Signs: Nope
Belly Button in or out? It’s out
What I miss: Sleeping comfortably
What I am looking forward to: Being in the single digits of weeks.
Weekly Wisdom: This is the time in your life when you can take advantage. I told Rob he had to do the vacuuming from now on cause it hurts my back…muah muah muah!!
Milestones: We had a girls name, a friend used it, but now we have another one which I think I like better.

Secret to share

Ah, I can finally let the secret out. After knowing about it for about 7 weeks, I can finally announce that my good friend and neighbor, Jody Wiebe, is going to be having her third baby in the beginning of March. This makes 3 of us in our girls group who are expecting a baby. Jody, Jodi and myself. Congrats guys.

Finally

After dating for almost 4 years, my little brother Randy and his girlfriend Michelle are finally engaged. It happened on Friday the 21st. Wedding date hasn't been set yet, but I just had to post about it anyway. I'm excited for them.

Grand Rapids

For the very first time in my life, I went to Grand Rapids. My Dad has been going there for years. He has a cabin there and spends many weekends each summer up there.
My parents, Rick and Amy and the 3 of us went.
Other than the long drive, with a very busy active 2 year old, we had an awesome weekend. I'm really sad that its so far away because I would love to spend more time there. The 40' 5th wheel trailer and the add a room my dad built is awesome. You can totally live there.
The fishing also left something to be desired but we lucked out with a beautiful weekend. And for anyone who knows my son, and how buys he is, you won't believe how much time Caden spend on the boat. Around 10 hours throughout the weekend. He would have gone more if I'd let him. He Loved it.
Anyway, here are a few pics from the weekend.

We arrived at the camper at 1:00 in the morning. Caden was all smiles.

Playing playdough with Papa

Mmm, Fudgee-o's.
Excuse the way I look. No make up and no shower for 3 days will do that. :-)

Hanging in the boat with Papa

My little fisherman

Whats in a name?

Someone stole our girls name. Yup. A couple from our church and care group had a baby boy on Aug 11 and they named him Finley. That was supposed to be our girls name. I was so disappointed when I got the message. However, I am over it now because we've picked a new one that I think I like even better...phew.
The funny thing is that when this same couple had there boy 2 1/2 years ago, they named him Koen, which is the name that I had picked for Caden. Apparently we think alike.
Either way, congrats to Eric and Amy on Baby boy Finley Heath.

We bake

It takes a little longer than doing it myself, but this little guy loves to help in the kitchen. From stirring, to adding ingredients, he wants to do it all. We made ginger snaps yesterday, which means rolling the cookies into a ball and dipping them in sugar. Well, he did a whole pan by himself, other than me handing him the piece of dough. You can see that they are not quite rolled in a ball, but they turned out pretty good anyway. And, isn't he just so cute in my apron. Its one that my Grandma Suderman made for me when I was a little girl.

Harvest Festival

Well another harvest festival has come and gone. I meant to blog about it earlier but the computer wouldn't upload the pics.
Caden had a great time going on the rides, although he wanted to go on the big rides. Like the roller coaster, the boat and the sizzler. If I didn't have such a weak stomach, I'd have taken him on the sizzler, but I didn't wanna throw up. Next year we'll try the 'big kid' rides.
The parade on Saturday was a hit with Caden. We watched the first 3/4 of the parade, and then when my Dad came by with his truck, Caden wanted to go to papa. So we ran after him and joined him in the truck for the rest of the parade. It was great.
Now I'll leave you with some pics of Caden at the festival.

27weeks/6 months

3rd Trimester....Yeah!!

How far along? 27 weeks/6 months-3rd trimester
Total weight gain/loss: 16 lbs
Maternity clothes? Some yes, some no.
Stretch marks? No
Sleep: I’m feeling more tired in the last few weeks.
Best moment this week: Hearing the babies heartbeat at my appointment. I always look forward to my appointments just for that.
Movement: This is one crazy active baby
Food cravings: Still just a lot of fruit. Oh and cashews.
Gender: I had a dream it was a boy
Labor Signs: Nope
Belly Button in or out? It’s out
What I miss: A solid nights sleep on my stomach.
What I am looking forward to: Just getting really anxious to meet this baby. I can hardly wait to hold him/her.
Weekly Wisdom: Why is it so difficult to agree on a babies name. I mean, it’s only the name the kids gonna have for THE REST OF THEIR LIFE!!!
Milestones: We have a girls name.

Misquito bite

Check out his right ear. I'm not sure if it happens when he gets a misquito bite on his ear, or if he just gets too many. Either way, if you've seen the movie 'Hitch' with Will Smith, I think this is pretty close to that. :-) Luckily it doesn't bother him, other than being a little itchy.

New playhouse

Well, on Monday, Rob went to the annual consignment auction here in Winkler. He called me to come and check out this playhouse. We decided that we would bid on it up to $500. I've been looking everywhere for a slide, so this was even better. We ended up paying $460 for it. I was happy. Now I just need to paint the house. I'm thinking either really fun colors, or solid brown with shapes and things painted on the side. Any suggestions?

Country boy

Cadens new favorite thing. He asks to 'cut the grass'. Usually he's not actually cutting the grass, but just driving around on the mower. He can stay on for a long time. You can see how happy he is. Its so great to live in a village. Nobody minds that we drive a mower on the street...lol.

Can you help?

Ok so maybe its the computer I use, but I notice on others blogs that you put pictures side by side. I cannot do this. Is there a trick? Once I upload my pics, they stay where they are, in the order they are. I'd like to be able to rearrange them sometimes but that doesn't work either. Any advice?

Camping attempt #4

Since our week long family camping trip didn't go quite as planned, what with the weather sucking for most of the week, we thought we'd head out again. Thursday morning my mom, Caden and I headed to Cavalier campground. We managed to get set up before the rain started. We had quite a downpour. The rest of the day was a mixture of cloudiness, followed by a sprinkle of rain. Caden had fun playing in puddles and riding his trike around the campground.
Friday was exactly the same. Cavalier has several awesome playgrounds, so we were playground hopping. Had to run back to the camper twice to keep from getting completely drenched. That evening, Rick and Amy came out as well. Crazy people. Who comes camping when its already raining...lol. J/K. I'm glad they came and so was Caden. They ended up sleeping in the camper instead of their tent because of the rain.



Saturday we headed out to grand forks for the day. I didn't find much. I was looking for black sandals, which apparently are hard to come buy. I managed to find 2 tanks for myself, 7 shirts for Caden, and a pair of shorts for Caden. I love Target/Kohls/JC Penney for Cadens clothes. I don't pay more than $5 for anything. My kinda price. Here are 2 of my favorites.

We had an amazing supper at the Ground Round. I'd recommend it. Plus you get a bucket of popcorn while you wait. Saturday evening we were up till 1:30 sitting around the fire. It was a beautiful night. Rick and Amy set up there tent, without the fly, trusting that it wouldn't rain. They were wrong. In the middle of the night Rick had to get out and put the fly on the tent. We had alot of rain.

Sunday we relaxed, played at the park and packed up. We never did make it to the beach all weekend but oh well. Next summer maybe. Rick spent a bit of time in the afternoon making balloon animals. Caden had fun with this.

Digging with Daddy...or more like watching Daddy dig.

Can you see his hair standing up cause of the static?

95 days

I missed it. I was so excited to 'mark' 100 days of pregnancy left and then I forgot all about it. But then I remembered today so figured I'd 'mark' 95 days. Feeling great still. I'm getting so excited to meet this little one. My only concern is Caden.
Not that it'll be too much with having 2 kids. I'm not worried about that at all. I'm also not worried about how Caden will treat the baby. We can work on that if we need too. What concerns me is the time that i Won't be able to spend with Caden. It doesn't seem fair that for 2 and 1 /2 years he'll have had me all to himself, and then poof, his mommy is busy with someone else.
Now I'm also lucky, because Caden is a great kid who plays very well by himself. He's never had my undivided attention because I wanted him to be a self sufficent kid. He has no problem going to play outside or in his room without me. He'll often play by himself while I'm doing other things. But I know I'm going to feel guilt for not spending as much time with him. I can only hope this next baby is as good as he was.
I've already been trying to think of special things that I can do with Caden once Baby comes, just to let him know he still has his Mommy. Any ideas from others with welcoming baby #2?

On a happy note, I think Rob and I have agreed on our girls name. I picked the name, not at all expecting Rob to like it because its not a name thats heard very often. He said it, and said it again. Then he told me he liked it. I was shocked. I told him the 2nd and 3rd names I'd picked and he was good with those as well. I was so pumped.
Now I just have to convince him on the boys name that I love.

Gum removal

Anyone have any good ideas on how to get a wad of gum out of a pair of jeans?

25 weeks

How far along? 25 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 13 lbs (told ya we ate lots while camping)
Maternity clothes? Some yes. Although I can still wear my normal jeans and a lot of normal shirts.
Stretch marks? No
Sleep: Not too comfortable
Movement: This is a very active baby
Food cravings: Cherries. I’ve gone through about 6 bags from the superstore. Good thing there cheap now.
Gender: Don’t know
Labor Signs: Nope
Belly Button in or out? Sticking out a little
What I miss: Being able to stretch in the morning without my legs cramping up.
Milestones: My mom felt baby move.

Picture post

Getting a ride on the boat. He didn't want to get off. He still asks for Papa's boat

Sleepy boy. This doesn't happen very often that he'll fall asleep on me. I took advantage of it.

Getting boating lessons from Papa.

Just chillin. He was so relaxed

Having a great time on the peddle boat. We couldn't get him off.




He saw some girls on the beach doing handstands. Well of course he had to try the same thing. This is his version.

Playing with a ring. This was fun for about a half hour.

He loves playing in the sand. Building 'towers' as he calls them, and filling holes with water.

Uncle Rick made a bow and arrow out of wood. They were playing on the beach for a long time. Rick would shoot the arrow, and Caden would run to get it.

Many thanks/Camping trip

First of all, I want to thank everyone for the advice on my post about Cadens eczema. Right now I’m trying the coconut oil, so we’ll see how that works. But I really appreciate all the help. Having a blog really is useful.

This past week was our annual ‘family camping’. I say ‘family camping’ because for the majority of the week, it’s mostly women. My mom and I, along with 1 aunt and uncle and 2 of my cousins left Monday with all 8 kids. Wednesday my brother and sil came out. Then Friday is when all the other husbands come out. We’ve done it now for 20 years. We left on Monday, and came home on Sunday. We had the worst weather we’ve ever had. From Tuesday until Saturday afternoon we did not see the sun. It was horrible. Granted it didn’t rain the whole time, so that was a blessing, but it was a long few days. Thank goodness we had a camper to retreat too when we just got too tired of the weather. Of course, cooping a 2 year old up in a camper doesn’t last for very long either. Surprisingly though, Caden did so good. I couldn’t have asked for better.

What did we do with all our time that was NOT spent at the beach? Sat around a fire all day, took trips to the grocery store, and ate. Boy did we eat. Definitely gained a few pounds over the week. We were able to let the kids play at the beach a few times during the week. Wearing pants and sweaters.

Caden had a great time with a bunch of my little cousins. He became quite attached to Nick and Jack. It was so cute. They were great little baby sitters too.

My cousins who moved to Seattle 2 years ago were out as well. These are kids who I babysat full time from the time Jasmin was 2, till she was 8. I miss them like crazy, as I’ve only seen them once since they left. It was so good to have them out for this week. Gage has grown into quite the young man. So much changes in a 14 year old when you don’t see him for a year. He’s always been such a sweetheart, and that hasn’t changed. Savannah is now almost 8, and although she doesn’t really remember me all that much, she didn’t take long to get comfortable again. She’s a very outgoing little girl.

Because the weather was so awful, we’ve discussed going camping for another week. Hopefully next week. We’ll go somewhere closer than Falcon Lake. Maybe St. Malo, although I’ve heard the mosquitoes are horrendous there. Possible Stephenfield. We’ll see. I’ll only be going from Wednesday night till Friday because I do have to work 2 days. But we all feel like we got gypped because of the weather and letting the kids spend time at the beach. I’m looking forward to it. I know Caden will love to spend some more time camping. All day Monday we was telling me that he wanted to go camping (or tamping as he calls it) He loves it.

I’ll have some pics to share hopefully on Thursday.

23 weeks

How far along? 23 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 9 lbs
Maternity clothes? Yup. I’ve started wearing a few maternity shirts, although a lot of my other ones still fit.
Stretch marks? No
Sleep: Getting a little more uncomfortable to sleep
Best moment this week: Feeling the baby move like crazy.
Movement: Yup. I saw my stomach move. Babies kicking the left side.
Food cravings: Peach flavored juice. Wish I could still find the frozen peach ice tea but its gone

Gender: Don’t know
Labor Signs: Nope
Belly Button in or out? Almost level
What I miss: Still nothing.
What I am looking forward to: Other people feeling baby move.
Weekly Wisdom: Sorry, nothing this week
Milestones: Rob felt the baby move for the first time.

Any advice?

So now that summer is here, Cadens eczema is back again. We've been lotioning up to 3 times a day. I've put stuff in his bath water. Its not helping. Does anyone have any good remedies for this? We have his 2 year appt today, but I know the doctor is just gonna prescribe hydrocortizone cream and I'm not a big fan of using a steroid on my baby. I know about switching to natural detergents and soaps. Any other ideas?

Night away

This last saturday our little family of 3 finally made it to the city for a night. We've been talking about it for a long time, but it just never seemed to happen. Well, the rain made the decision for us. What else is there to do.
We got to the city at 2:00. Stopped at best buy and future shop to look at laptops and then headed over to the Viscount Gort hotel. I was extremely impressed with this hotel. They are still undergoing renovations, but it didn't affect us at all. The rooms were very clean. There was a mini fridge, and a little counter. Bonus.
The pool was awesome. The water was a perfect temperature. They had a waterslide, kiddy pool and hot tub.
We discovered what a fish our little man is. Unbelievable. His first time down the water slide was with Rob. Everytime after that, one of us took him up, while the other waited at the bottom to catch him. I'm sure he went down the slide 60 times during our 3 visits to the pool. He also loved jumping into the pool, as you see in the picture. He definitely went under too. He must hold his breath cause he sure didn't choke on water. He had a great time in the kiddie pool as well.
We had supper at Mongo's on Saturday. Such a treat. That has got to be one of my favorite restaurants. Sunday we had our complimentary breakfast at the hotel restaurant, then went swimming one last time and packed up. Stopped at the Olive Garden for a delicious lunch of salad and soup and then headed to the mall. By the time we got there Caden had fallen asleep. See he only went to bed at 10:30 the night before and was still awake at 6:45. I thought with all the swimming he'd done, he'd sleep longer. But no. Oh well. So anyway, we decided to skip the mall and head for home.
What a great time we had. Normally things like this are saved for Winter, but I sure am glad we went. Its nice to have some uninterupted family time sometimes.
Here he is, coming down the water slide. Such a big boy

Baby