New Year. New Blog

So, its already January 2 and its my first blog posting since before Christmas. The season really just flew by this year...so fast in fact, it seems like none of it really happened.

The best part of the holidays, without question, was the amount of time I got to spend with Kieran. I find that right now is the most amazing age...I love watching him get smarter right before my eyes. He now can build Lego towers that are structurally sound enough that they don't fall over until they are well above his head. His comprehension is coming along in leaps and bounds...as my sister so aptly put it during the holidays: "he can follow a ten-page list of directions." I swear, if we could just sort out his shopping excursion behavioral issues, we'd be all set.

We spent a week visiting my brother and his family in Boston. We love to go there - especially at Christmas. (Although, we also do enjoy summer pool season....) Anyway, there is always lots going on, lots of people around, but the house is big enough that you can actually almost always find somewhere to be alone if need be. Or find a spare child to play Scrabble or watch a movie with.

Although, we did end up leaving my brother's house a day earlier than planned. Once my parents arrived and had to boot my youngest niece from her bedroom, I felt bad that we were taking up two spare rooms, so we decided to head out. Its nice to go away, but nice to get home and just chill. We had friends over for a New Year's Eve fondue, which was a real hit and was very low key, which is just how I like New Year's to be. I postponed taking down our Christmas tree too....I was going to do it yesterday, but we were having such a nice quiet family day that I didn't want to mess it up by creating any chaos.

Which brings us to this morning and a crashing end to the holiday bliss. What a disaster, starting with the fact that we realized at the last second that it was garbage day, and having missed one over the holiday, and with three full boxes of recycling (kids toys have way too much freaking packaging) we were in no position to miss it again. So there Eric was outside at 7 am, in -24 wind chill, dealing with garbage, while I'm still half asleep (stupid New Year's Eve) getting the boy ready for daycare. Finally, just as we ready to leave, both Eric and I get into the car and notice some really weird burning smell. And the battery light was on. So, deciding that the coldest day of the winter thus far would be a poor day to be stranded on the QEW, we decided to take the other car. So, Eric starts to unfreeze the Sentra, which has not been used since before Christmas and was nothing short of a frozen iceblock. Twenty minutes later we are finally on our way, almost 45 minutes later than our usual departure time. Eric has a brutal cold, is frozen solid, and we are late enough that we even bypass our semi-regular Tim Horton's coffee stop. Luckily, traffic was a breeze and since it was too cold to even attempt to walk from Globe, Eric dropped me off at the door of work, so I was even on time.

So, two days into the New Year, and we will already undoubtedly have a nice car repair bill, which does not bode well for 2008, when I will be on poorly paid mat leave for the vast majority of it. Arrgh.

Out of Control

For some reason at work, our department always has snacks. When I got back after my maternity leave, I found that person who replaced me had brought in an M&M dispenser that, when you pull the arm of the Peanut (or is the the Plain?) dispenses candy from his golf bag. Sometimes its full of M&Ms, sometimes other small round candies like Skittles but we try to keep it topped up. The rest of the company knows that they can rely on us for a mid-afternoon candy break, so we get more visitors than we otherwise would because we are, by and large, an anti-social lot.

Anyway, since Monday the Christmas gifts have been dribbling in....mainly client and supplier "Thanks Yous" and they have been 100 per cent edible. Here is a rundown of what we have had in the office this week:

1 box (2 layers) of pecan "Turtle" knockoffs
1 box 20 Timbits
1 tin chocolate covered Oreos
1 box Turtles (the real thing)
1 box Chocolate covered baklava
1 tin filled with 4 boxes of Lindor Truffles, interspersed with some Clementines (to stave off scurvy, no doubt)
1 box chocolate covered butter cookies
1 box bittersweet chocolate Pastilles
1 box Hazelnut Seashells
1 box Turkish delight
1 Sweet Marie Chocolate Bar each

Right, now there are two people in the office, and there is one more person coming later. The only things that are gone are the Timbits and the Turtle knockoffs (they came earlier in the week). And we have 6 hours to get through the rest. Thank GOD for maternity pants...this is going to get ugly.

Done! Done! Done!

I have achieved something resembling success in my Christmas preparations - which is good, considering tonight is my last night before tomorrow's Pre-Christmas Christmas in Burlington, and we leave at 6 am for Boston on Saturday.

Last night, Eric thoughtfully cleared his schedule so he, Kieran and I could have the evening to finished up the shopping, without me having to take the child on my own. We decided to pick him up from daycare and start to shop immediately in order to maximize our time before baby meltdown. After the first store, where the scenario I blogged about yesterday in regards to taking our son shopping immediately began to unfold (crying, insisting on walking, wandering off and then loudly - and embarrassingly - resisting all attempts to rein him in) we left the store empty handed and called in an emergency babysitter. Smart move.

After child and babysitter were safely at our house, we had enormous success. Shopping is now officially completed and all that is left is wrapping and packing for the trip. I'm even thinking about putting my cookie baking back on the list tonight. Unheard of success!!

I have found a great way to reduce my Christmas to-do list. Its quite ingenious really....as the days tick by and deadlines loom, I simply start to drop things I was going to do.

For example, I was planning on making another few batches of cookies to bring to my brother's house....now, its off the list completely. So are various things I was going to make for our "pre-Christmas Christmas" at my other brother's house this Friday. My Christmas card list is getting smaller by the day and is teetering on the point of complete oblivion. And, you know what? I'm not stressed out about it any more. Instead I'm going to concentrate on the things I MUST do...like finish my stupid shopping.

And you know what else? I'm just going to come out a say it. I LOATHE shopping with Kieran. Since the day he was born he has been a poor shopper. I cannot remember a single time when he sat quietly in his carrier while I shopped. I see other parents with their babies who are nestled in their car seats fast asleep while their mother leisurely reads the label on the organic baby food and I seethe with jealously. In my case, for the past 18 months every trip to the store has been like that old "Supermarket Sweepstakes" game show. For the first year or so I had a 10 minute window where I just tore through the aisles throwing what I needed into the cart before his window of goodness would slam shut with a ferocious scream.

Now that we are well into toddlerhood, it's even worse. I avoid taking him out by myself whenever possible because he's just a menace. He hates his stroller (and always has) and, yay for me, hates sitting in a shopping cart even more. Even though his face is about 5 inches from mine, he holds up his hands in heartbreaking agony, sobbing uncontrollably until I pick him up. Then, naturally, he wants to get down and he's off like a shot on some path of baby destruction and danger. So, last night, in desperation I took him to the store, where within 2 minutes the above scenario started to unfold, and to make a long story short, I wound up throwing things into the cart to the tune of $100 at the checkout while having bought almost nothing that I actually went to the store to buy. I came home frustrated and even more frazzled and praying that Baby #2 will be a stroller-lover, or at least have a 15 minutes goodness window.

Dirty Kicking

So, after my flurry of activity last week, I have basically come to a standstill as far as Christmas preparations go. I still haven't even done my Christmas cards and I even got special photos of Kieran for just that reason. Sad. Tonight though, after the child is in bed, I'm going to sit down with my list, a cup of of tea and plate of Christmas cookies, turn on the Season Finale of America's Next Top Model and write them all.

But, at least I've been busy with other things that are NOT Christmas related. My girlfriend and I went to see Dirty Dancing, the musical, last night. Highly, highly enjoyable. The only problem really was that the character who played Johhny (the Patrick Swayze role) had a curly mullet that was supposed to make him look like a bad-ass, but instead made him look like a loser. Otherwise, they did a good job of adapting a movie to the stage. The crowd loved it....mainly because it was full of 20-40 year old females who grew up with the movie like I did. I was tempted to buy a baby bib that said "Nobody puts Baby in a Corner" but didn't because they only came in pink and blue.

The baby also LOVED the show. Kicking like crazy almost the entire time, which I take to be a sign that I'm going to give birth to either a girl or a gay man. I guess the kicks could have been interpreted as "can you turn that down, I'm trying to sleep" but since this is my child, I know they were kicks of joy.

The Pressure!

So, I'm starting to feel the Christmas (sorry, Holiday) crunch. I keep thinking of all the shopping, baking, wrapping, packing (since Christmas is always spent at my brother's in the US) that all still waits to be done...most of which hasn't even been started.

In an attempt to feel like I'm doing something, I spent last night, baby free (well, toddler-free at least) tramping around the mall, wondering why all the stores now seem to only be expensive clothes stores. We barely stopped anywhere because I'm just currently NOT in the market for overpriced designer clothes or trendy teenage clothes. It was very odd....no wonder people head to big box stores in droves. Aside from minor stocking stuffers, all I bought were some new maternity clothes. (Where , incidentally, I had an exact repeat at the Bay as I had a few weeks ago - seriously, that store cannot figure out how the match sale prices on the rack with the prices that come up at the register. But I finally got the frazzled clerk to honour the sale prices, got rid of my Bay gift card and now will never have to subject myself to that colossal hassle again.) Merry Christmas to me!

Still, though. The pressure is building. I advise no one to be around when the explosion happens.

The Call Nobody Wants.

So, I didn't intend to actually make this as a pregnancy blog, but it seems to be heading that way. Or at least, there is very little else going on to blog about...the usual is happening pretty much every day...you know, baby still cute, work still boring, yadda yadda.

But yesterday I get a call from the genetics department at my hospital. As you may recall, I hadn't seen my ultrasound results because the lab had not sent them to my OB in time for my last appointment, so I've been working a "no news is good news" basis. And then the call comes. They would like to review my ultrasound results with me and can I go directly to the genetics department at the hospital at 10 am tomorrow. "Its nothing really to worry about," said the woman on the phone, but the damage was already done. Genetics department? The next day? Yeesh. Obviously, there is SOMETHING to be concerned about.

So off we go this morning where at promptly 10 am, we are ushered into the office of a genetics counsellor. Her first words? "I guess the Genetics Department is the last place you want to get called to during your pregnancy, huh?" So far, not good.

She goes on to pull out my ultrasound results where, from what I can see, everything is checked off as normal. And then she starts talking about "genetic markers" and "soft signs of Down's Syndrome" and I know, obviously, she is going to tell us that I have one, or God forbid, more than one. But she says the ultrasound detected one called an "Intercardiac Echogenic Focus" and I interrupt her. "You mean, a bright spot on the heart?" Yes, she answers.

So, oddly enough, I had this exact same marker the last time. Apparently there are several "soft signs" which in and of themselves are essentially meaningless as long as all your blood work and other ultrasound checks were fine. But as soon as the words Down's Syndrome are mentioned in connection with YOUR baby you absolutely cannot help but be stressed. Last time when my OB mentioned this result off-handedly at my appointment and reassured me that it was highly unlikely that anything was wrong, I worried for a few weeks, regretted not getting the amnio, and then managed to put it out of my mind. And everything was just fine. So, this time, I still opted against the amnio and have decided to worry even less.

The counsellor agreed...based on the weakness of this marker and the fact that the rest of my test results were "perfect" and "fantastic" they do not recommend any further testing...so really, I'm left wondering...does it do any good at ALL to summon a pregnant woman to what seems very much like an emergency last minute appointment for this reason? I know, I know. They have little, if any, choice. It's the age of disclosure and if I had decided to go ahead with further testing - especially if one would consider termination based on the result - its better to do it sooner than later. It's just that nobody wants to get that phone call. And last time, the OB just told me in the office when I showed up for my appointment, so I'm just wishing they had done it that way again.

Oh, and another thing? We're not able to find out the gender. Every single box on the ultrasound report was ticked off as being "Fully Seen" except the box marked "Gender." So, I guess we'll find out the old fashioned way...in the delivery room.