As you can see from this photo – Fiona is a true little trend setter… only the modern woman can mix polka-dot p.j.s with red open toed heels – all while cooking apple soup in her state-of-the-art kitchen.

The hot topic of this season around here is the Swine Flu – H1N1 – Russian Flu II .  It happens to be especially hot for me since I’m one of those in the “High Risk” category due to my baby belly.

I am an immunizer. I have friends who don’t immunize at all, I have friends that choose which immunizations they will get (have their children get) and I have friends who have never even given it thought on whether to immunize or not – they just do. I fall into a different category – I gave it all a lot of thought. I read a lot of articles, books – talked to a lot of different people – those in the know and those who like to think they’re in the know. I read things from extremists on both sides of the coin and then after all of that I went with my gut. And my gut felt pretty confident about immunizations.

This time was different. I’m not quite sure why but the H1N1 shot made me feel uneasy. My gut was telling me to pay attention. So on the internet I went. I’m experienced enough now with researching controversial topics on the web to know that you will find a counter opinion to ALL opinions. You rarely actually find an answer…so I waded through all of the articles I could find. Then I talked to our pediatrician (who is the best pediatrician ever) and my OB and my naturopath…..covering all the bases you see. I also listened to a very compelling story on NPR and listened to a conversation between a friend and her friend – who happens to be a resident pediatrician at Children’s Hospital.

Whew – it was a lot of information. The pediatrician is leaning towards the shots – though she’s holding out to see the entire ingredient list. The OB didn’t waste a second to tell me GET THE SHOT GET THE SHOT. The NPR story ended with the overall feeling that everyone would much rather deal with any reaction a pregnant woman could have from the shot then dealing with a pregnant woman with the swine flu. The resident pediatrician had seen a pregnant woman die within 48 hours of contracting the virus and has performed more than one emergency C-section not knowing if the mother would survive or not. The NP? Well…she had an interesting take …. as they always do. She wouldn’t say yay or nay – she said she understood it was a very difficult decision. BUT she also said that even though the WHO puts me on the high risk list – she wouldn’t because she knows that I am a very healthy person.

That made me wonder. Do they keep any sort of statistics on that? Are these pregnant women that are dying already not very healthy to begin with?

The shots should be here sometime in the next couple of weeks. I think I’ve almost come to a decision on the topic….but waiting till the very end to know for sure. This also happens to be Greg’s travel season – which means he will be traveling on airplanes and boats and buses and trains to all parts of the world…which just increases the chances of us picking up random illnesses….this weighs in on my decision as well.

I am leaning one way…..which way would you lean?

Today was Fi’s 2nd swim lesson this year. We took her about a year ago and had a great time – and promised ourselves that we would just keep taking her to the pool on our own…..uh yah….that never happened. So I signed her back up. We have a great place very close to our house that only does little kids lessons so the water is shallow and really warm.

I’ve noticed such a huge difference already from just a year ago in Fiona’s skill level (even though we didn’t keep going to the pool!). Today she back floated….almost entirely by herself….and then with my help could flip over onto her tummy and “swim” to the edge and hang on all by herself. I know a lot of this new found skill comes just purely from having more confidence in herself and being in new situations. I love seeing the proud look on her face when she accomplishes something new and watching how excited she is to learn.

Next week crawl stroke and butterfly…..she can do it.

Fiona isn’t quite in preschool yet. I really want to get her started before the baby comes so that she has something to do each day and look forward to and so that I can have a routine I’ll need to stick with when I’m home and also a couple hours to just me and new baby. It’s hard finding the perfect school. For one I’m not entirely sure where we’ll be living once we move (which really could happen anytime between a week and a year!). It’s also really hard just finding the time to do the research…and then once I’ve done the research I need to take time off work to go visit the place and yadee yadee yadee. I’m hoping someone will just lay it in my lap and tell me “this one is the perfect one”….but so far that hasn’t happened.

Fi does go to Gymboree class once a week. Last year I was looking for something regular that would give her a chance to socialize more with kids her age and something her grandparents could handle doing (i didn’t think they were quite up to joining a play group =) A new Gymboree play place opened in Bellevue Square Mall – which is really close to the G’as and we’ve been going ever since.

Fiona LOVES it. She of course has taken over all of the classes and like to follow the teacher around “helping” the other kids as much as she likes actually doing the activities. She is very musical and loves to sing all the songs and usually comes home and teaches them to all of us so we can play school (she’s always the teacher of course=)

The other night she came home and skipped through the kitchen while I was cooking dinner singing at the top of her lungs “Frere Jacques”. Not only was she able to sing all of the song in both French and English….but she then explained to me what each phrase meant and what language she was saying it in. It was so cool to hear her not only sing it but explain it as well.

So this time around I promised myself that I WOULD NOT let myself go like I did when I was pregnant with Fi. Don’t get me wrong – I had a great time =) I ate ANYTHING i wanted and didn’t exercise hardly at all. And in the end I PAYED THE PRICE! Not only did I gain a ton of weight – which I never did lose all of – but I was extremely uncomfortable at the end of my pregnancy and I had little motivation to start exercising again once I was back on my feet.

This time is different. Last January before I was pregnant I signed up to do the Rock-n-Roll marathon with Team in Training. I knew that we were going to try for a 2nd but I thought this would give me the perfect activity to do to A)keep my mind off of it – and – B)if I did get pregnant keep me moving. I thought I would either get pregnant in the early stages or training or after the race. Not during the longest distances! But I did. I should have known….i was training for a long distance event when I got pregnant with Fi – apparently my body likes that =)

So baby #2 ended up running a few races with me. I did a half marathon on Mother’s Day…which I’m pretty sure I was just barely pregnant then…then I did an ultra relay (i ran about 13 miles of it) a couple months later with my family – no one knew then but Greg and I. The day I found out I was pregnant for sure I called my Dr.’s office to see if I could still run the marathon. I was so happy to hear that I could – just go slow – listen to my body – and make sure I wasn’t ever short of breath. My sister was doing the same race as part of the half and I was so worried that she would know something was up. I didn’t want anyone to know other then my teammates for fear of worrying them sick about me and the little one. Later she said she knew there was something – but she also knew that I wasn’t going to tell anyone so she never brought it up.

That marathon was a horrible time for me =) I had actually felt really good running long runs so I wasn’t worried and thought I wouldn’t have to slow down until the 2nd half…but the jitters and the heat and the fact that I was 2.5 months pregnant finally caught up to me and within the first 3 miles I knew I was going to have to go way slower then I wanted. I finished…..at a time I will most certainly go back and wipe off of my record sometime in the next few years….and what a story I have for baby #2!

To keep this momentum going last month I joined a boot camp class. No, not a pregnancy boot camp….just a boot camp! I go with a group from my office, it’s 3 days a week and the workouts are only 25 to 30 minutes long during lunch and mostly outside. It’s through the X-Gym….which I’m new to too – but I encourage people to check it out. I have always worked out for hours at a time to feel like it was effective. This 25 minutes with our trainer absolutely kicks my ass and I can really see results already. I think I may be in better shape after my pregnancy then I was before! Plus they have an on line food log that is part of the program so I can really make sure that my calories and nutrition stay in track. My trainer is great and modifies things for me – but he doesn’t let me slack – which I actually love – and has offered up a fair amount of prego nutrition knowledge. I don’t know for sure how long I’m going to be able to go. I feel more and more pregnant each class =) but even keeping in the habit of going and doing something I think is going to give me an edge .

I’ll let you all know how it goes towards the end when it seems the pound really start to cling – for now I’ll enjoy my long lost triceps and my endless search for maternity pants that you can actually sweat in!

Well baby number 2 is well on her way. She’s due January 30th – just 10 days before Fi’s 3rd Birthday. My sister and I were born on the same day – exactly 3 years apart – so this seems to be something that runs in the family =)

Baby #2 has definitely been a different experience so far. I am so much more relaxed about it all – even reading back in this blog when I was the same week count as I am now I am in such a different head space about the whole thing. I don’t think that any of it will be any “easier” – just different. When I was pregnant with Fi my life started changing so drastically and there was so much I felt I needed to figure out – I changed a lot of things….probably a good thing….but I struggled with the feeling of not being myself. This time I don’t feel that way. Partially because I have changed…and am a little bit of a different person then I was before kids….and partially because I’m just not as worried about it all. The simple act of having a little cup of coffee in the morning (Oh My God! I would never have drank ANY caffeine when prego with Fi) makes me feel so much more like me.

The choice to have #2 wasn’t an easy one for Greg and I – but I’m so glad that we did it. I am so excited for Fi to have a sibling. I know I can’t imagine my life with out mine.

Greg is excited too. He was of course excited about Fi – but he didn’t know what to expect either. And for a lot of guys I think it’s easy to go along for awhile as if nothing has changed because for a long time for them nothing does change. Once she got here he really didn’t know what to do and he was nervous and (i’ll go ahead and say it!) scared. I know this time will be different for him too. He has so much more confidence this time around and he’s so excited to start things off on a different foot. good times ahead.

Since Fi’s 2nd Birthday she has continued to amaze us at every turn. Everyone that spends time with her comments on her verbal skills. We have full conversations now…with complex thoughts and big words that she uses correctly. She continually stuns us with what she has to say. She loves to play make-believe and spends the better part of her day being someone else…..always someone real that we know….and she assigns rolls for everyone else in the house – including the dog! On several occasions she’s been pretending to be someone else so much that she forgets who she is pretending to be and asks us, “who am I again?”. We had to put a cap on  Zoe’s pretending because she was being called by a different name so often we think she started to get worried and confused =) Fi loves to play mommy and take care of all of her babies. We went to the ocean this summer and my cousins were there with their 4 kids – one of them a baby – and all Fiona wanted to do anytime they were around was “take care of baby Henry”. She is going to be a big help when her little sister gets here – though I can already anticipate some “do it myself” problems. Fiona is VERY independent and likes to do everything herself. Potty training is going well and I’d say we are about 90% of the way there….still night time diapers and the occasional regression – but she’s been doing great. Our next thing is to move her into a “big girl” bed – which she’s more then ready for, we just haven’t done it yet =)

It’s only been 7 or 8 months since I posted last…..not much has happened in that time =)

It seems that life’s busy schedule: work, a toddler, trying to move, a marathon, a little thing called FACEBOOK and a 2nd baby on the way has prevented me from keeping up with this blog. But in fairness to “new baby” it’s time to dust it off and get it started again – does anyone read blogs anymore? Between keeping up with statuses on FB and mafia wars or farm town I’m not sure that anyone does =) At least it will be a nice record for our little family.

I’ll try and break up what been going on with us in at least a few posts….welcome back!

Monday we woke up to a surprise with snow completely covering the ground. Fiona has loved the snow since she was a tiny little baby so the first thing she said when she saw it was, “let’s go outside mommy! right now! pleeeeaaaassssseeee mommy!” How could I resist? So we threw on some barn boots, a hat and coat over her p.j.’s and away we went. She ran around making snowballs for zoe and told me, “I love the snow mommy. Play outside All Day!!!!”

Tuesday was Fi’s 2nd Birthday – once again something that I just can’t believe.

Sunday we had a nice little party with just the family. We had cake and ice cream and Fiona’s favorite meal, mac-n-cheese for dinner.

For Christmas we were given a cute little “bear” cake pan. There were pictures of different bears you could make ; Santa, princess and soccer bear. I let Fiona choose between the princess bear and the soccer bear (she really wanted Santa bear but i wouldn’t let her =) and she chose soccer bear! I was surprised she chose that, and I checked with her several times, but that was what she wanted:

Fiona seemed thrilled with her cake and stopped by all day to talk to her new friend “teddy bear cake”. What I didn’t predict was the horror and confusion in her face when it was time to cut up and eat her new friend. “Teddy fall down momma!” “Pick teddy up momma!” “nana eat teddy’s tummy momma???!!” oops.

All in all she had a great party and received tons of great gifts :

Princess Party Fion                                     Fiona’s new bike and her Dad covering the specs with her

G-pa Predmore made her her own fly fishing rod with a fly he tied especially for her and even a fish to catch!

Cake and ice cream glaze over                                         Zoe had to get in on it!

On her “real” B-day we took her out to celebrate at her favorite place to eat….Red Robin – where she once again had mac-n-cheese and root bear to wash it all down -

All last week she has been telling me that she is a baby – not a little girl. But the day after her birthday she told me, “nanna little girl today mommy – papa (grandpa) nanna’s baby now”.