Baby Engaged

Baby G's head is officially engaged. It means that his head is no longer floating around freely in the womb. Rather, his head has now descended into the pelvis and is going to, at some point very soon, start working on getting me dilated and encourage labour.

Although this step doesn't mean that labour is necessarily imminent, but it does mean that things are starting up. We have less than 3 weeks to go until the big due date and they say that second babies don't normally engage until right before labour. So I'm really not sure what this means for us. Our doctor basically said to be ready to go at anytime.

My pelvic bones feel like they are bruised and that they could possibly crack. I guess this is a sign that he really is quite low and putting pressure on everything. It's quite uncomfortable. It makes walking a real treat (note: sarcasm).
As much as I'm uncomfortable right now, and getting more so by the day, it is encouraging to know that things are finally progressing and that labour is around the corner. Yay!!

I'll keep you posted here in the next few weeks. 20 days to go.....

In other news, I'm officially on maternity leave. One year away from work to focus on nothing but family. I love it and I can't wait to spend time with Mira one on one before Baby G arrives.

24 Days to Go.....

We are in the final countdown until baby G makes his grand arrival.

I am starting feel the familiar sensations that I did with Mira before she came along. Our little 6lb (approximately) boy is starting to feel heavy in my body and I'm starting feel like my pelvis won't be able to take much more. He's been having great little growth spurts at his appointments. He has continued to impress me with his martial arts abilities in the womb.

We have finally put everything in place. Car seat is installed and ready to go. I have had the nesting instinct kick in full tilt and I vacuumed and cleaned out the van today (with Geoff's help) so that our little family can be brought home from the hospital in a nice clean vehicle (not that baby will care about if the van is vacuumed or not).

We have had our hospital tour and marked out our route to the hospital.

The final preparation is our shower this weekend where all of our friends and family will get together one last time before the little guy gets here. Our friends Heather and Edd, Brenna and Jay will be there with their new arrivals too. So it'll be a "welcome to the world" party for little Zoe and Kingsley as well. I'm hoping to make it a celebration for Mira as well as she will soon fall into the role of "big sister". It's an exciting time for my little Mira. Getting ready to welcome her baby brother into the world.

Baby Tomlinson

Welcome little baby Tomlinson!! Our friends Jay and Brenna welcomed their little man on May 21st at 12:47am, weighing in at 8lbs 10oz.

He has been given the name Kingsley McLaren Tomlinson.

He was due May 20th and missed being born on his actual due date by only 47 minutes.

Today we went to visit the new family at the hospital and little Kingsley was alert and ready to visit with everyone.

What a wonderful way to celebrate the May long weekend!

Only a month to go before our little guy joins the crew.

Exercise with Baby on Board

I have managed to maintain a fairly active lifestyle with this pregnancy. After a few complications early on in the pregnancy which required me to give up the running, I adjusted and I was able to come up with an exercise regime that was attainable and sustainable. Is it my ideal workout? No. Not even close.

However, I have considered the last 7 months without running, to be a "break" from it. The body suffers a great deal of wear and tear after 21 years of consistent running, especially running through one previous pregnancy. Rather than see my abandonment of running (albeit temporary) as a major negative, I tried to stay  positive and see it as a time for my body to heal any long standing injuries (nagging or not) and focus on merely keeping my fitness up for the big D day. My focus has been on staying healthy and working up a sweat most days of the week (unless I'm REALLY worn out).

It's been hard to look outside and see the sun shining and hear the sidewalks calling my name, beckoning me to come for a run. This is the time of year that I typically look forward to. However, I have something more important to look forward to in about a months time. :)

Signs of Growing Up

 Mira has hit some major milestones in her childhood journey. This week in particular, I have witnessed a new Mira. The slowly maturing Mira. The Mira who is compassionate, open, communicative and loving. She makes me so proud. She seems so aware of the things that are happening around her.

Since well before leaving for India, Mira has been playing with a wiggly tooth in the front of her mouth. Finally, Monday morning, the tooth came out while Mira was eating her cereal. I don't think that I have seen her more excited with this little morsel of tooth sitting in the palm of her hand and a newly formed gap in her smile.

Of course, her and I went right to work finding the perfect place for her tooth and writing the perfect note for the tooth fairy. She wanted to make it perfectly clear that her tooth would be waiting for the tooth fairy in a little hand made chest (teeny weeny) she made.

The nice thing about having the tooth fairy visit, is that there is no hesitation on Mira's behalf to get her supper eaten, her pajamas on and her books read in anticipation of having to be asleep. Eager doesn't even begin to describe Mira last night when it came to bed time.

In addition to this very tactful sign of her growing up, Mira has been eerily compliant and co-operative. There is no battles over what we are having for dinner. There are no battles over what to wear in the morning (she normally fights me to wear a skirt). It's like she just knows that it doesn't really matter. As if she knows that they aren't things worth fighting over. We all do things that we don't really want to do from time to time and we just make the most of it. It's really as if her whole perspective on things has changed. She is so agreeable. Not that she was ever overly disagreeable. Not by any stretch. But her outlook is much more "adult". Mature.

I have no idea if this is just a stage, but I'm appreciating it. I'm loving it. I'm loving watching my little 5 1/2 year old girl blossom into this little soon-to-be teenager, where the battles will likely get tougher. For now though, she's still my little 5 year old......with a gap toothed smile.