Sometimes people ask me if I miss my job, and to be honest I don’t really think about it. I’m happy to be home with Justin, seeing all the new things he can do and knowing that I’ll never get these years back again. There are always those days when I wish I could just get away from it all for a while, but I’ve never really wished I was sitting in an office somewhere. It’s especially rewarding at home now that Justin has finally started showing some affection (he actually hugs us now!)

We noticed the other day that he’s grown another inch — he’s now 35 inches tall. If you buy into the theory that a person reaches half their adult height at age two (which Justin won’t be until March), it would seem that he’s going to tower over most of his relatives. Unreal.

I too am growing (as you can see by the new Pregnancy Pics photo gallery), but I’m going out, not up. I can’t believe how much bigger I am with this baby than I was with Justin, but I blame him for stretching things out. A friend of mine who’s due a few weeks before me just had her ultrasound and discovered she’s having twins (she already has a two-year-old…God help her). My ultrasound is two weeks away and I’m counting on not getting news like that. Yikes.

Justin was an exceptionally good sleeper right from day one, so it’s been mighty frustrating lately having him throw random screaming fits at odd hours of the night. He’s the happiest guy in the world during the day, but some nights have been a little challenging, and we wish we knew why. I’m hoping it’s just a phase he’ll get through before the next baby arrives.

On that front, things are looking up. The magical energy boost of the second trimester has finally taken effect and I can get through the day without feeling like I need a nap every other hour. I’ve long since grown out of my regular clothes but maternity stuff is still too large, so I try to wear stretchy sweat pants as often as possible — which is pretty often, considering I’m a stay-at-home mom. Last time I managed to commandeer some of Chris’s wardrobe (I even wore one of his T-shirts to the hospital the day we had Justin), which will be even easier this time cause we don’t work in the same office anymore (it just looks bad when you show up at work wearing the same thing your co-worker husband wore a week ago).

Happy Halloween everybody!

Justin had some rough nights last week but seems to have settled down into a routine now, which is good for everybody. He’s been sleeping on a mattress on the floor, but the toddler bed we ordered showed up today, so I’m a little anxious about how he’ll take to that. We wait and see…

I’m going to be 30 in January and wanted to do something special, so we’ve arranged to leave Justin and go to West Edmonton Mall for a weekend. Edmonton is hardly a hot January destination, but I’m looking forward to getting away by ourselves. We’re using points to fly so we splurged on a theme room at the Fantasyland Hotel, which is pretty cool. We love the waterpark at West Ed, but I’ll be pretty large by then, so I bought a maternity swim suit today that strongly resembles a tent. I guess pregnant women can’t be picky about looks.

We have a new, easily updatable photo gallery (see the top link on the right sidebar), so you may want to update your bookmarks. That’s where all the new stuff will go.

We spent the Thanksgiving weekend in Saskatoon, although we didn’t share that news with many people — wanted to keep things low-key. Justin was the star of the show, naturally, and he had a great time, although he’s had a few sleeping issues lately that had us mystified. We finally figured out what the problem was: apparently the little guy has decided he’s too old for a crib/playpen. Sigh.

I would’ve posted new photos weeks ago, but there seems to be a technical glitch with the site, so you’ll all just have to wait until that gets straightened out…

In some ways, it’s easier to be pregnant while being a stay-at-home mom than it was to be pregnant while I was working. I can eat as often as I need to (which means every two or three hours if I want to avoid a crippling headache) and since Justin still naps twice a day, I get regular chances to rest. On the other hand, mommies don’t get sick days. Even if I feel lousy, I still have to take care of a toddler who doesn’t understand that mommy just needs to lay down. But I shouldn’t complain too much — my last pregnancy was pretty easy and this one is looking to be just as smooth. Still, I can’t wait for the relief that comes with the second trimester…

I’m pregnant again, due at the end of April. We did plan this, but that doesn’t make it any less terrifying. Up until now I’ve done the one-on-one thing with Justin while Chris is at work, but I’m going to be outnumbered in a few months. How will I handle a two-year-old and a baby? How does anybody? And why wasn’t I this scared about having Justin?

Once I look past the fear, though, it’s pretty cool. You just have to be amazed whenever you and your mate manage to create a new life. We always wanted two kids, and two years is a nice gap between them. It might be brutal for a while, but in the long run it’ll be worth it. (Now if baby #2 could just be as good of a sleeper as Justin…)

I suspect this may be true of most moms, but food seems to be the major preoccupation of my life. When you add up the time it takes to plan it, buy it, cook it and eat it, it seems like half the week is gone. And that makes it all the more frustrating when Justin refuses to eat what I give him. For a while he seemed to want nothing but bread and bananas, but he’s been better recently (although he’s currently on a Cheerios kick).

It’s funny: when I first met Chris, I was terrified of having him see how I eat (in college it was not unusual for me to eat cold ravioli out of a can) and now I’m responsible for feeding a family. You learn quickly when you have no choice, I guess…

With daytime temperatures hovering around 40 degrees these days, we’ve been spending a lot of time playing in the water: at the beach, at the waterpark, in the backyard sprinklers, wherever. Justin loves to splash and it’s a great way of keeping him cool while letting him burn off some of that endless toddler energy. He seems to tan easily, despite my vigilance with the sunscreen, but that’s OK — at least he didn’t inherit my tendency to burn. Gotta love summer!

Another successful visit with the Kingwell grandparents ended today. Besides taking Justin to the waterpark, the creekside park and various playgrounds, we also managed to spend a couple nights at the lakeside resort where Chris and I had our wedding. I’m always nervous when we take Justin to a new place overnight, but he absolutely loved it, which meant everyone else did too. We golfed, we played tennis, we swam in the pool…a good time all around.