Wordless Wednesday: Robot Kiernan

2 year olds really are hysterical

I just got this in my inbox and I couldn't relate more to this particular update on my 2.5 year old

Comedy, Preschooler Style

Is your kid cracking you up? Two-year-olds can be hysterical, especially when they're perfectly serious. The way they interact with the world can be downright slapstick.

Especially since about an hour ago he walked up to me and randomly licked my belly from top to bottom.

Where does that kind of stuff come from!?

I don't think we'll outgrow this one *knock on wood*

It was just over a year ago when we went through the process of buying a second car. Some people suggested we should just get a minivan then, and we considered it. But instead we went with the Mazda 5 (which we loved, but apparently never took a photo of so here's one from online ;)


Unfortunately the Mazda just couldn't accommodate our 2.5 year old and twins so we needed to upgrade to a van. We learned our lesson and went on our own this time. We test drove a bunch of vans and looked around a lot and in the end went with a Toyota (my family has been a loyal Toyota family for many years so it's almost in my blood :)

As of last night, we are officially a minivan family. I think it's very pretty :)

Email to WeedMan Ottawa

We got a call from Weedman tonight that was so horrible I felt inclined to write an email to the company so they were aware of the kinds of people they had representing them. The email bounced back saying their email box was full. Possibly too full of complaints for them to ignore? Since my email bounced back I figured I may as well post the email here instead.

As I stated below, we had no serious issues with them when they were servicing our lawn (although upon research tonight we've found that MANY MANY MANY people HAVE had issues and they have an F rating with the better business bureau) but their relentless telemarketing practices are horrifying. The guy was so awful ERIC was yelling at him!

So ya, if you get lawncare, don't go with them. They suck!

***
To whom it may concern,

We used your services last year and although we were very pleased with the service decided not to have any lawn care services this coming year. Our decision was not based on the level of service, quality of your products or anything other than our personal choice. We felt no ill will towards Weed Man and felt perfectly inclined to sign up with you again in the future should we feel the need - possibly once we have moved to a bigger property.

Unfortunately our feelings towards your company have been declining significantly since then due to the telemarketing calls we've been receiving. We feel a call (perhaps even a couple) to see if we are interested in your services again in the future are fine, however, we expressed that we weren't interested and would like to be removed from the calling list on several occasions (on top of many more times we said we simply weren't interested without asking to be removed from the list). The calls have continued to come as often as every other week since the Fall, regardless of our requests for them to stop.

The last straw fell tonight with a telemarketer for your company that was so incredibly rude and persistent that not only do we feel compelled to let you (and everyone we know) how horrible it was, but feel so angry at your company that should we need lawn care service again we would choose to go with an entirely different company! This caller said his name was Abe and ignored the fact that he was interrupting a busy time in the life of parents of young children, argued with us about our reasons for discontinuing service, talked over us when we try to get a word in edgewise and informed us that there were no supervisors above him that we could speak to.

I felt it important that you know that someone is representing you and your company so poorly to past and potential clients and also that I believe your telemarketing practices can cause more harm than good (as previously stated, a few calls spaced out over several months would have been perfectly acceptable).

I hope you take these comments into consideration with regards to your business practices and I would appreciate confirmation that we have in fact been removed from your list of numbers to call.

I want to play "being a baby" again!

Using the fear

We got a roomba for Christmas and although it requires forethought to get the rooms ready to send the robot out and there are times it gets tangled up in things we forget to pick up (read hiding balls of yarn under the couch) overall we love how much easier it is to keep the house swept/vacuumed.

But Kiernan, being a bit of a 'fraidy-cat, is scared of the robot. He doesn't like the idea of it coming anywhere near him and if it's on when he's in the house he comes running for our laps for security.

Kiernan has also decided that getting ready for daycare in the morning is not something he feels inclined to do. We argue and bargain until he's finally ready to go. Some mornings, I play the roomba card to get him going.

Me: Kiernan, time to put your snowsuit on for daycare
K: No, I don't want to go. I want to watch Wiggles.
Me: No, it's time to go, the tv is going off.
K: No, I don't want to go. *cry cry*
Me: But Kiernan, the robot is coming out to clean in a few minutes so we have to hurry up and get ready.
K: Oh! Let's get out of here mommy! Let's get out of here!!!
Me: Well, if you insist.

:)

A quick update

I saw the doctor today and his reaction to the difference in the babies' sizes was of surprise. Not a "Oh my god - this is awful, what will we do?!" but more of an "hmm. that's kind of odd isn't it" kind of thing.

Eric and I didn't full super confident with the quality of the ultrasound that we got, especially after having had the last few ultrasounds at the hospital and the doctor even commented that he hadn't heard great things about the clinic I went to (that I was sent to by that ob from last week!)

Anyways, long story short, his message was "don't freak out, it's probably nothing. we'll do another ultrasound in 2.5 weeks at the hospital and we'll see what's up then. until then, just relax." So that's what I'm doing. And the cramping I've been having many evenings (that I may or may not have previously mentioned) sounds like typical braxton hicks to him, so again I'm to relax, not overdo things and keep on keepin' on. He said "you know what a real contraction feels like. If you have any of those, then you worry, otherwise, you're fine."

So we're good :) I'm just trying to rest, keep my feet up and keep positive.

Nothing to worry about... I think

We had an ultrasound yesterday to check on the growth of the babies and there was lots of great news:

- Baby A is head down. This makes me very happy and I hope he stays that way. Baby B is breech and that's just fine with me as long as Baby A doesn't decide to follow suit. And hey, maybe getting kicked in the head repeatedly will convince her to turn over too ;)
- Cervix is closed and nice and long. I was worried about that because it seems that one of the biggest reasons for bed rest is that your body starts getting ready for delivery way too early and so far so good on that front.
- They're moving nicely, their bladders and tummies are working well, heartrate good, etc etc. yay

And then there's the thing that makes me a bit nervous. I have an appointment on Tuesday with my doctor and am really looking forward to him telling me I shouldn't worry.

Baby A weighed 1 lb 15 oz and Baby B weighed 2 lbs 5 0z. That's a really big difference!!

He's in the 18th percentile and she's in the 48th. BIG difference!!

Now, I know that we make small boys, and I DID joke that our girl would end up being the one who got my fatty genes instead of the skinny ones from my husband's side. But still... I just want to make sure this isn't an issue and will feel better when a professional tells me.

27 Weeks with twins

I can't believe I'm already 27 weeks pregnant. Much in the same way that I feel "it's only been 27 weeks?!" ;)

- On average, a woman pregnant with twins has reached the size of a full term pregnancy with just one baby at 28 weeks. That's next week! I was measuring 34 weeks pregnant last week so I'm relatively on track.
- I don't feel as huge as I did at the end of my last pregnancy - but I've gained a lot less extra weight. I do feel as tired and uncomfortable though. I ache and I have a hard time moving.
- If I do more than sit on my couch all day, I'm wiped. The more I'm up, the crampier and achier I am in the evening. So I feel like a lame-ass because I feel like I should never get up off the couch.
- One of the things I was worried about with twins was that I wouldn't be able to know if they were both ok. My doctor said a lot of women know which one is which. I do sometimes, but I often don't! And so I worry a lot and get paranoid that I haven't felt one or the other of them for too long.
- I have an ultrasound tomorrow and I'm REALLY looking forward to finding out how big they are and what positions they're in.
- The bigger I get, the more Kiernan thinks my lap is the greatest place on earth to sit.
- I think Kiernan is going to be a fantastic big brother. He hugs and kisses the babies daily and also has randomly started coming up to me and asking me if the babies are happy. He sings them songs and talks to them. It's all very sweet. He also likes to tell us that when the babies come out, they're going to cry a lot. I'm not sure who told him this, but we're not contradicting him :)

GP for me

When I got pregnant the first time I went to see my doctor and she referred me to someone to follow my pregnancy. She told me I had 3 options : OB, a different GP that followed pregnancies or a midwife.

She immediately told me she would prefer I didn't have a midwife because of my tendency to get high blood pressure and my family history of pre-eclampsia.

She then told me that I could have an OB if I wanted but that she didn't really recommend it. Her reasoning is that OBs specialize in pregnancy issues. If you don't have anything complicated going on with your pregnancy then you're just a regular old pregnant lady like they see HUNDREDS of times a year. As a result her experience was that they didn't offer the same level of care, time, and personal touch as the other two option.

So she recommended the GP because it was a good blend of the two. And I have to say I really agree.

I contemplated going with a midwife this time around but for the same reasons as I chose the GP the first time, as well as because Kiernan's cord was wrapped around his neck, I knew I felt a bit more comfortable with a doctor. I chose a different GP because I wanted to deliver at a closer hospital this time.

When I got pregnant with twins I was told by the ultrasound technician that a lot of GPs don't feel comfortable following twin pregnancies so he might transfer me to an OB. Luckily that wasn't the case - my doctor has been doing this for upwards of 30 years and he's pretty easy going about stuff - twins was no big deal to him. But he did want me to have a consult with an OB - which I had yesterday.

The OB was very nice, and maybe it was different because it was a consult and I wasn't becoming his actual patient, but I really did feel like "just another pregnant lady". And I've got two babies - that's a bit more complicated than just one...

He wasn't rude or anything. He just made me feel like he was rushed. And my questions were kind of inane. And when I told him he'd delivered a bunch of my friends' babies his response was more or less "I'm not surprised. I deliver a lot of babies". Umm. ok. Sorry, I won't try to make any conversation here.

He and his team now have my file and will be available to me should anything get more complicated with my pregnancy. So that's good. Hopefully I won't have any need for them though. And I have an ultrasound scheduled on Thursday and I can't wait to see the babies and found out how big they are (more to come soon on how big and uncomfortable *I* am ;)

What did you choose when you had a baby? Where you happy with that?