Duke of Girl

Is there really any point?

2009-01-31T22:15:00.000-08:00

I always tell John that I was meant to be famous because I think people should care about my favorite food, what kind of shoes I am wearing, and what is in my cd player. Blogs are kind of good for the wannabe celebrity because we can just convince ourselves that we have hundreds of fans when in reality it is only our moms and the odd creepy lurker.

With all that being said - I am lousy at having a blog because I never have anything to say... and I don't have any gimmicks to lure people in (like random "where is this bridge from?" posts). In my very first blog post I defined what a "blog" was - that is how desperate and pathetic I was.

Anyway, since I never have anything to say about myself, I will do what I created this blog for: to track the life of my beautiful little angel. I might as well give you the goods:

Abby is 15 months old - almost a year since my last post :P I can't even begin to write down all the new things she does since then - obviously, so I will just tell you the really cute things she does.

1) Her infamous bum scootch (John and I had a lengthy debate about the spelling of said word - so if you have a better idea let me know. <-- If that isn't a gimmick I don't know what is!) Abby is quite well known for her bum slide form of crawling. Common comments she gets are "You should put a swiffer on her bum" and "She looks like a legless beggar - you should get her a skateboard." *Editors Note: Both of above comments originated from John

2) She is a little mommy: she loves rocking her dolls while patting their backs. By dolls I mean her little babies, her rubber ducks, BSB action figures, John, and herself when she is really tired.

3) She is very cautious in life. She seems to do everything at the later end of the spectrum (roll, sit, crawl, pull-up, climb stairs, etc). However, it it is not as if she can't do, it is like she chooses not to. All of a sudden she will start doing it as if she has been able to do it all along. As a result, she almost never hurts herself and has never really had a bump or bruise. Safety first for little Abby.

4) She is a born star. We were shopping at Cosco and Abby was super crabby (Cr-Abby), but every time someone walked by her she would turn on the charm - smiling and laughing and saying "Hi Hi Hi" over and over. Once the person was gone she was back to her Cr-Self. Plus, she loves singing into a mike when we play American Idol.

5) She poops on the potty (since 13 and a half months). It is pretty cute - I am not sure at which age it goes from cute to nasty to watch someone on the can.

everybody else is doing it...

2008-03-15T13:08:00.000-07:00

Might as well update :)

Abigail is now 4 1/2 months old! All grown up already!!!

So babies have been around for a long time and there are a few things I don't know why people haven't invented/perfected yet:

1) Mobiles: our little bear mobile is one of Abby's favorite toys and it is what she falls to sleep to for her daily naps. The stupid thing is, (mind my language), that the wind-up only lasts for about a minute or maybe 2. Abby is usually just about to sleep, it stops and she wakes up again. I end up having to go in 3 or 4 times to re-wind it. This annoyance is applied to all baby-entertaining toys and playpen features.
2) Swimming Diapers: Why is size small 16-24 pounds? I do not consider a 24lb baby small. I feel they are discriminating against the 13lb babies who would like also to indulge in a little dip. Also, why are they so masculine looking. Girls like pink.
3) Why do people say "unthaw"?
4) Button-Up Sleepers/outfits.
5) Pull-over sleepers/outfits.

Fairmont Hotels Suck

2008-01-05T17:45:00.000-08:00

So John's brand new Macbook was stolen last week while at Rise Up. He had it in one of the locked conference rooms at 12:30am and when he got up at 3:30am it was gone. Basically one of the hotel staff must have stolen it because noone else would have/should have had access to the rooms from that short window of time overnight. Plus it was in the contract that the rooms must be locked due to expensive equipment and instruments, etc. While the hotel's insurance will pay for it, it still makes me mad because the hotel seems very apathetic towards the whole situation. If John wasn't continually on their case I am sure they would have ignored the whole situation. They should have been kissing John's butt and bending over backwards to suck up to him after the computer was stolen...but I don't even think they apologised. So lame! The thing that makes me most mad is that all of Abby's baby pictures were on that computer! Thankfully my parents had copied a lot of them to their computer so we were able to recover a lot of them...but still.

Needless to say, I am sure it will be awhile before we get a new computer so my internet access will be limited.

In happier news...Abby is getting cuter every day. She is now just over 2 months old! Time flies! It has been a huge treat being home for the last 3 weeks and I am sure Abby loves the added attention :) She gets her first needles this Tuesday :O

Here are some things new in her life:

1) She attended her first Rise Up conference and was held by a ton of people! Lots of fun!

2) She is starting to get eczema on her cheeks and chin - just like her mom :(

3) She now only poops once a day or once every 2 days (as opposed to before when she pooped at least 4 or 5 times a day) and so she is staining a lot more clothes

4) She is learning to grasp things such as necklaces, hair, earrings, etc.

5) Her new discovery of her workable hands has also lead to sucking her fingers...which is kind of funny because when she does, she usually causes herself to gag! Weirdo!

6) She now LOVES her bath!

Baby's First Christmas

2007-12-20T22:05:00.001-08:00

Well we're all geared up for Abby's first Christmas.

Here are the big steps Abby's taken:

1) She's discovered her tongue and loves licking and wiggling it. Its really cute.

2) She's learning to whistle - actually when you whistle at her she usually stops fussing and she starts blowing spit bubbles so we're convinced she blow Uncle Tom's 11 month record out of the water :)

3) She has started copying sounds a little bit. Mainly she makes a sound sort of like "hi" When I was at some friends she was fussing a bit and I said "Abigail can you say "Hi?" and the fuss sound she made sounded very clearly like HI. I don't count it has a first word..haha but its fun hearing her learn all sorts of sounds.

4) She had her first picture with Santa at my mom's staff Christmas party.

One of my new favorite things is when she gets up in the morning, I think because I don't burp her very well over night, she usually lets out big grown-up burps. Its really cute...in a sick demented kind of way :)

She's so big!

2007-12-15T23:41:00.000-08:00

Well the official weigh in is 9lbs13oz!
She's growing up so fast!

Here are the important milestones she's reached in the last few weeks:

1) She went on her first road trip: Saskatoon to Calgary. Normally this trip takes 6 hours but with bad weather and slow traffic it actually took 7 hours driving plus 1/2 hour for Abby feeding stops. She was SOOOOO good! She slept most of the way and when she wasn't sleeping she sat content in her seat.

2) She had her first bath in the big people tub.

3) She had her first stroller ride. Her dad had a little hissy fit trying to get the stroller in the trunk - but don't tell him I told ;)

4) She's trying to laugh. This isn't really a milestone she's reached just yet but one in progress.

5) She opened her first Christmas present - a dolly from her Grandma and Grandpa S. Her mom liked in more than she did, but she coos at her now.

6) She loves looking at the Christmas tree - again not really a milestone, but not that much has happened in the last 2 weeks so I am looking for filler.

On an entirely different topic - yesterday I mixed Egg Nog and Coke together. Originally it was because I had a bit of Egg Nog left and wanted Coke so I added a little coke to my glass to swish it out and I tasted it...and mmmmm mmmmm yummy! It sounds a little off, but I am telling you it is actually pretty darn good. It takes like a float - I have 4 witnesses. Yummy delight.

Abigail Anne Hickey

2007-12-04T22:14:00.000-08:00

For those of you who haven't heard...John and I had our baby. Its been over a month now, so if you hadn't heard than we obviously do not know each other. In which case, I am a little creeped out that you are reading this :)

Abigail Anne Hickey was born November 2nd at 3:19pm. She was 6lbs8oz. Until today I have been writing 6lbs 8 ounces because I didn't know how to abbreviate the word ounce. I was 9 days overdue and scheduled to be induced. However, early that morning I began having contractions. At 7:00am my water broke. We went to the hospital at 9am but because they still had it in their head I was being induced they seemed to take their time. Actually the one nurse thought I had just peed my pants :P I ended up sitting in observation as the contractions got worse and worse - by the time they realized I was in active labor I didn't have time to get an epidural. In the end, I am glad I did it au naturale (even though I know a lot of people do it without one, I still feel like a deserve a metal or something!) just so can say I did - and to act as motivation to insist on one the next time. The one thing I really regret is that since contractions started at about 3am the night before, I didn't really get any sleep that night so when it came time to push I was so exhausted I didn't think I was physically going to be able to do it.

Since the becoming a mom it feels like I've been living in a daze for the last month. Its been awesome though and everyday I fall more in love with little Abby.

My favorite things about Abigail:
1) Dressing her in pink.
2) She is very alert and smiley
3) When I stick my tongue out at her she tries to copy
4) When she pooped all over John
5) She pooped green the day the Riders won (which I realize isn't supposed to happen - but she's only done it once and it was right after they won, so I take it as a sign of pride)
6) She's social situations security
7) We can park in the close "parent-with-child" parking spaces
8) She is learning to coo
9) She has a lengthy stretching routine when she wakes up
10)She wasn't weird looking when she was born - she was/is absolutely perfect

The biggest challenges about motherhood
1) Abby doesn't sleep a lot for a newborn. At least a few nights a week she sleeps for 2 hours or less. She isn't extremely fussy when she's awake all night - just wide awake.
2) She often screams her head off when she is put in her car seat which makes going out a challenge. My guilty pleasure is when I finally rescue her, she is very cuddly.
3) Its too cold to take her out for walks, etc. We get cabin fever being cooped up all day - but because of #2 and the weather, and flus, its hard to go out.
4) Feeding her in public is still awkward - especially because that seems to be the time that strangers want to come up and meet her and ask me all about her.
5) Its hard to find things to make for breakfast/lunch that I can make either really quickly, or while holding a baby.
6) I am a sucky swaddler
7) When people hold her and she fusses I am always torn as to whether to jump up and take her. I don't want to be overbearing but I also don't want someone to be stuck with a crying baby if they are uncomfortable
8) The soother problem. Some people love em, some hate em. Sometimes I think she just wants to be soothed but I feel guilty giving her one now.

In other news...

I am still having rib pain - not nearly as bad as when I was preggo, but still there. After Christmas, I will hopefully get it taken care of (oh ending a sentence with a preposition - so painful).

I had various postpartum problems -not too severe I don't think. Anyway, hopefully they will be all taken care of within the next few weeks.

As much as I don't want her to grow up too fast (and I already feel like time is flying) - I am excited for all the firsts that are coming, especially in this first year.

We call her Abby or Abigail. If you want to make John mad, call her Gail...hehe I kind of like Gail though and I sometimes call her Baby Gail (which was a combo between Abigail and Baby Girl).

Baby's Got Back

2007-10-04T17:00:00.000-07:00

So I don't have any belly pictures yet because I find them awkward to take...but I still might - no promises :)

So the rib pain is a little less - well much less painful than the last time I wrote, but still there causing a bother.

In other baby news...3 weeks to go! CRAZY! Apparently, according to our little timeline above, the baby is over 6 lbs! I find that hard to believe - but you never know. I have a feeling I will be late, so maybe the baby is smaller right now.

Anyway, our baby seems to be a bit of a showoff. Lately, every time I go to the doctors for my appointment, before I go in my belly looks normal...but once the doctor enters the room the baby seems to stick its butt out so that I get a giant lump on one side and I barely look pregnant on the other. Its weird. Mooning people already.

Whine and Cheese

2007-09-23T22:02:00.001-07:00

So I just emailed my mom a whiny email that I thought I would pass on to the rest of you :)

The rib pain has hit an all-time high. I went to a chiropractor on Monday and didn't notice any improvement whatsoever - same daily pain as before, and then on Thursday or Friday I was laying on the couch and I stretched my arm and I noticed that the side of my ribs were sore to touch -which had never happened before.

Saturday the pain seemed to get worse and worse and by the end of the day it hurt to move or breath deeply, etc. This freaked me out because up until that point the pain seemed to be fairly random -as in movement never affected it, it just came and went as it pleased. I don't know what triggered the sudden worsening either. We were going to go to the ER but I decided to sleep on it so see if I noticed a difference - had the worst sleep of my life, because I couldn't turn my body without extreme pain.

I went to Mass this morning, still in lots of pain - the area very painful to touch and sore on both the front and back. I went to the walk-in clinic and the doctor told me that he was quite positive the pain had no relation to the pregnancy but like all the previous doctors said that there was nothing to be done until after the baby is born since no x-rays or anything can be given at this point. He told me in the meantime to take Tylenol for the pain (which does very little). So now I am pretty much immobile and in a lot of pain :( We'll see how tomorrow goes as I was hoping to work for one more week at least but in my current situation it doesn't seem possible.

....and now here is the stuff exclusive to this blog:

As far as pregnancy goes though, I am doing pretty good. I am finally getting some decent sleep (except for last night of course) but still generally tired. Starting this week I am going to for weekly doctors appointments until the date. We took prenatal classes over the last 3 weeks and saw very labor and delivery videos. According to John it was one of the worst things he's ever watched -I guess it was more graphic than he expected :S Awkward! We start baptismal prep classes this week. Our baptism is going to be on December 2nd (my dad's birthday) at St Phillip's Parish here in Saskatoon. Normally we wouldn't take the classes until November for that date but the parish director suggested that if we can we might as well take the classes now while we don't have a newborn to take care of. (oh ending a sentence in a preposition - what have a succumbed to?)

Its getting pretty close too so thats exciting. Its been fun learning for my sister-in-law Erin who has a 6 week old baby because everything is fresh with her so she has a lot of advice to pass on (even though she thinks I have an aversion to her baby, Maria - I don't, I'm just shy and much less aggressive than the rest of the family)

I'll try to post the latest belly picture on here "as soon as John gets home with the camera"

Its Been Awhile

2007-09-18T07:04:00.000-07:00

I had high hopes for this blog...I really did.
I will try to revive it once more

We have ~35 days to go! This is very exciting because it means that my birthday is in 40 days! And perhaps even more exciting is that the new Backstreet Boys CD comes out in 41 days! Oh life is a countdown.

In baby news...things are going alright. He/she is moving lots still - which is lots of fun.

I have been working occasionally as a casual TA again and so I am with a new staff every time. Inevitably, I always get asked the same 4 questions and usually in the same order: "When are you due?" "Do you know what you're having?" "Is this your first?" "Are you excited?" So predictable :)

I went to see a chiropractor at the suggestion of my doctor for my rib pain. He told me I have bad posture, but perhaps he says that to all his potential patients. But I do have bad posture, so he wasn't feeding me a line. Anyway, I don't think it did anything to help the rib pain, so I don't know if I will go back or not.

My other big problem is that I seem to have developed a mild case of insomnia. For the past few weeks I have been having trouble sleeping - waking up a lot in the night, etc. Then I read on one of my week-t0-week pregnancy guides that around this time pregnant moms may suffer from pregnancy insomnia. They don't know exactly why - could be your body's way of preparing itself for the future sleepless nights, could be that you're anxious about the arrival, could be hormonal, etc. Anyway, I think reading the article made it worse because in the last week or so, I have had an even harder time -being awake for 3+ hours a night, etc. Its gotten so bad that I walk around like a zombie all day barely able to keep my eyes open, but the moment I lay down to go to bed I am wide awake. Very frustrating! Gotta love naps! Actually last night I slept for most of the night so hopefully I am over that stint.

Hello

2007-07-09T17:23:00.001-07:00

No one reads people's online diaries anymore...

but alas I will continue to update.

There hasn't been much to update on as of late...and so I haven't. :P This started off so strong...

So with less than a week left in Vancouver, things are pretty crazy. I have begun to balloon so I am getting restricted to sweat pants and stretchy waisted bottoms...so sad.

I got my rhfactor shot done last week- since I have rh- blood and John has rh+ , my blood would start attacking the babies blood (in future pregos). The doc was weird though, he gave it to me like he was shooting a dart -very strange.

Voila!

2007-06-22T21:49:00.001-07:00

Here are the pictures at long last! They are kind of hard to see because of being scanned and all, but enjoy!

Arms...sorry this is upside down.

The baby's face. Look to the side.

The one on the right is a picture of the feet.

Updated

2007-06-21T15:00:00.000-07:00

So I realize that unless this update contains pictures, it really holds no weight in the blogging world...but alas the scanner is unavailable until tomorrow. :)

Its very exciting right now because John can now feel the baby kicking! The first time I felt it from the outside kind of freaked me out --like I was in the movie Alien or something....eerie. :S

We just had another doctor's appointment and things are still looking good. Our baby is doing well but we had a hard time hearing the heartbeat because he/she kicked so much! The doctor said that size wise though, all is good. :)

Next month I have to get some type of needle for having rh- blood. If I don't, since John is rh+, all our future children will be affected (my blood will attack baby's blood or something). I also have to go for a glucose screening to see if my blood sugar is too high...scary!

Erin is visiting in Vancouver for this week, so thats fun. I am convinced I will be the disliked auntie though since her baby will be moving and wiggling like crazy until I come near...then it hides.

Anyway - I will post the pictures tomorrow - I hope!

So the verdict is....

2007-06-14T15:36:00.000-07:00

We have a baby!

Unfortunately in BC, they won't even check the sex of the baby until 24 weeks (I don't know why) and I am only 21 weeks...so as far as we know, its a sexless baby :S

Anyway...it was still very exciting! I am going to scan the pictures and post them ASAP ok?

Our next doctors appointment is next Thursday to learn more about how he/she/it is doing. Its kind of a weird system because we go to the Ultrasound place and they take all the measurements and data and send it to the doctor who will in turn tell you. Seems kind of odd that the ultrasound guy can't pass on the information right to me...but alas that is how it works. It was fun! Got some hot jelly on my belly and it was swell-y :)

Boy or Girl?

2007-06-09T22:25:00.001-07:00

Hello Loyal Readers/ Obligated Family / Danielle the Lurker

So I am officially over the half way mark. I haven't puked since um...I forget, I think Tuesday. But I had a cough and my gag reflex sucks and so I think the coughing caused it. We'll see. Each day is a record.
(20 weeks)

I am still having the rib pain along the lower ribs almost near the diaphragm. I went to a clinic and they checked my lungs and my ribs and said it was either an inflammation of the ribs caused by a virus or pulled muscles from all the barfing. I don't know if I am totally convinced but we'll see. I am going to go to a pharmacist and see if I can take anything for it.

In baby news...we have our first ultrasound on Thursday and we are SO EXCITED!!! We've decided to find out the sex of the baby...to which many people are absolutely shocked. What do you think - good idea or bad? Either way - its our baby :P

But this leaves an important question...girl or boy? John and I both think its a boy. I don't have any logic behind it other than a gut feeling (that feels like a pun) But I have a 50/50 chance I guess :)

I haven't felt any concrete kicks yet - lots of fluttering. Also when I sleep on my side and wake up, one side of my stomach is hard and bulges and the other isn't -- so I am convinced thats baby. I had a dream the baby kicked through my belly and all I did was tickles its toes. Weird

So I think this post was perhaps too long to keep your interest but as you maybe can tell - I am feeling more energized these days - maybe the B6?

Baby on Board

2007-06-01T11:23:00.000-07:00

Its getting more and more real that we're going to have a baby!

Yesterday Johnny and Amber had to pull me out of Superstore when I decided I wanted to do brand comparison (one of my FAVORITE games to play) with diapers. I wanted to buy 1 pack of every brand (including no-name from Superstore, Zellars, Walmart, London Drugs, Shoppers, etc) to see which was the best. Now I realize I don't yet have a baby to do the test on - but it never hurts to be prepared :)

I am still, of course, barfing regularly :( and I have upped my B6 intake so I am not so tired. Crappy.

I also realized that in a previous picture I look enormous because I was wearing a maternity shirt that was way to big on me (we had to wear white for the game) so I thought I'd post a more recent picture. I look like I am arching my shoulders weird but this was the best more accurate take I could get.

(18 weeks)

John: 1, Heather : ~100

2007-05-24T19:17:00.000-07:00

How many words can you think of that are synonymous to barf?

So a stomach flu is sweeping SFU (wow a rhyme)
Last night it hit John while we were on stage acting in a skit for one of our events.
He held off long enough to not puke(1) all over the audience but spewed (2) shortly there after...and continued to toss his cookies (3) into the night. Of course, not to be outdone, I had my share of throwing up (4) today, but I think mine is baby :)

In other news...we had our first visit with the doctor here in Burnaby. Things went well. We booked our first ultrasound for June 14th. John thinks its too long to wait, but I will be 21 weeks so I think its a good time. We also heard the heartbeat again. It was my 2nd listen, but John's first. Very exciting. The first time he/she was beating at 160, and this time the heartbeat was 145 so slower. They say a fast heartbeat is a girl and a slow one is a boy...so apparently my baby can't decide. :)

Crocs

2007-05-18T10:52:00.000-07:00

I love my new pink crocs. Its like I am walking on a beautiful pink cloud.

Team Building

2007-05-17T21:00:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had a team building night for Impact. We (and by we I mean I watched) played a capture the flag style game with 9 teams (for each Impact family) and you had to steal socks from the other teams. The defenders had socks filled with flour that they tagged on-comers with.

Anyway, it was quite interesting. It ended with an attack of flour on staff - very funny. Actually, I think it was well deserved ;) People generally had a good time...a little chaotic, but fun.

(the entire team)

(the staff - post flour attack)

Mother's Day

2007-05-13T20:01:00.000-07:00

@}---;-----

Happy Mother's Day all you mamas!

Today we had a very uneventful day ---my favorite day so far. We went to Mass at 10:30, out for brunch and then back to SFU. The keeners (everyone but John and I) quickly made plans for the day as all the Impacters were at their parishes. John and I decided to have a date-day ---which consisted of a 3 hour nap and a game of scrabble. Party Animals!

In other news ---I guess I celebrated my first mother's day today --although as some what of an impostor as I haven't put in my years work to get a day to celebrate yet. One of the parish teams brought me flowers from Mass so I had 7 carnations pinned on my board today. Very sweet :)

(my mothers day love)

Lost and Found

2007-05-08T09:30:00.000-07:00

I don't have much to update with here...nothing noteworthy seems to be happening. On Friday I lost my keys. We went to Walmart and I guess they fell out of my purse. I didn't even notice since I was late to get home and start supper for the 55 students but when I got home they were gone. John went back to Walmart and searched but to no prevail (is that an expression?) We called Walmart but they hadn't found anything (of course by "we" I mean John). We searched the car, called Walmart three more times but still nothing. I shouldn't get so worked up about it, but they were my room and building keys and apparently they are very expensive to replace. Yikes. Anyway...enough drama...we called Walmart once last time and voila - my keys. They are now safely around my neck :P Good ol' trusty lost and found system

I guess thats about it for adventure. If you're keeping track, I hadn't puked in 12 days...but the streak is over and I had my head in a bucket this morning. :S

I am about due for another appointment and I've been having pain in my left side by my rib cage so we're hoping to see a doctor soon. I am thinking the rib pain might be unrelated but we'll see. I've been surfing the net for all the possible things it could be and kind of freaking myself out so hopefully its nothing.

John thinks I am starting to show, but I think its just fat. A few people rubbed my belly recently and all the guys on mission call me mom because I am the grocery lady...so strange. :P

Raining Men

2007-05-02T14:27:00.000-07:00

Hello my loyal fans, friends, and lurkers

Alas it is time for my first post as my blog looks so lame all empty and stuff :P

Nothing much to report from rainy BC. We move to the prisons of SFU today...in fact we are packing and loading while I type this very post.

It has been 6 days since my list puke-fest. Feels like a record...although I once didn't puke for 10 days so thats truly the record. Baby is doing fine, otherwise. :) I need to book an appointment with a BC doctor once I finalize the arrangements with my SK doc.

Peace out dudes!

PS: I promise to be less lame and more hilarious in the future :P