6 weeks to go!

Michelle tells me its time to update so while Degrassi the next generation is on tv (my latest lunchtime ritual) i will express my inner thoughts on my current and upcoming state of affairs.

6 weeks to go is really exciting.

the birth
i'm nervous about leaving diedre for one to two days...we spend all our time together so it will feel weird to not have her around. i don't want her to be sad :(
i guess thats why home births would be nice, a real family affair, but i really want my doctor there. i could not imagine having my baby without him there.
i really want diedre to be able to come meet the baby as soon as possible, before any friends or anyone else. since its "our family." i really want her to feel special and involved...i know she's young, but i just know i'll miss her so much.

i'm also nervous about getting poked and prodded when its time to get internals again...ugh...and of course labour. i am hoping it goes much much faster and that the baby is not posterior...speaking of which, i better get on my hands and knees and scrub that kitchen floor (thats supposed to help keep the baby in position).

parenting
as usual, diedre is still a delight to parent. she is picking up new words all the time and unless she is sick, she is a really happy and quite obedient child. we have definitely had a few days where she's been terrible and i'm on top of everything she does, but teaching her to listen to mommy and daddy is so important that i know i gotta just do it. i'm really working on teaching her to listen on the first try. i dont want to be a "thats one" "thats two" "two and a half" "ok, you're in trouble missy" kind of parent. i think to listen immediately is important with the amount of mobility she has, i dont want her running to the road. i dont know if what i'm doing works, but thats what i do: if she doesnt listen, i remove her from the situation or do a time out or whatever discipline can or needs to be done right away.

learning to co-parent is always a challenge. i think we are doing better and better all the time. its such a learning experience. i'm with her more, so i do most of the disciplining and teaching. i really make an effort to not question what derek does in front of her and just decide if it matters or not, then talk to him later about it. i used to always be like "derek! what are you doing?!" which was not good for him or her...oops. anyway, i admit my fault and move on to a better way (most of the time).

the house
we have furniture to get diedre's room set up. my good friends bought us a toddler bed (they said it got thrown in with a bunch of stuff they bought at a garage sale on sunday) and andrew and heather gave us a dresser. i also got a toybox and shoe/coat rack thingy from another friend's neighbour. i'm really excited to get her room set up so we can start cleaning all the baby stuff (car seat, swing, bouncy seat, etc) and put it in the baby's room so diedre can play with it and get used to it being around. as well as being used to her new room and toddler bed and such. its alot of transitions so we gotta get on it soon. i really think it will be ok, because it will be our old room...i suppose if we'd planned ahead a little better we could have avoided ALL of us switching rooms, but our bedroom now is medium sized, good for diedre, and our new bedroom is a den with a sliding glass door to the backyard and deck (so traffic to go outside will go through our room).

we were very blessed to get some paint from our friends. they gave us four shades of yellow. we are looking forward to getting it on the walls.

our suite is currently vacant and we are really hoping to have it rented by the fifteenth. we are planing to lay tile, put in a new vanity and a white toilet (i'm getting it free from craigslist, my stepdad is picking it up tonight and bringing it over). of course we want to put other new floors in but don't have the money since we don't have renters. we'll see what we can do.

being landlords is another learning experience:
1. Never take "yes, i want to take it" as a real "yes" until the money is in hand! (i'm sure everyone is saying "duh, of course not" but its pretty exciting to have someone say they want it after doing soooo many showings...it gets tiring to have to not trust ANYONE's word...so i let one call go "i'm pretty sure its taken" when in fact, it was not).
2. Get all damage in writing, take pictures. The RTA site has a great checklist now for damage, do a thorough walk through first, both sign it, then do one upon move out so you know exactly the condition and the damage.
3. Don't show the suite with tenants home if possible. my tenant was sick in bed "cough cough, come on in, its fine." i guess i should have communicated better with them. i did not NEED to show it on days that they were sick in bed--but i didnt know they were! i did not need to show it on days when they were using the master bedroom and wouldnt allow us to show it--but i didnt know they would not honor our predetermined "showings schedule." next time, i hope i will remember to lay it all out: if they need to break the date, fine, just let me know. dont tell me when there are people at the door waiting for their appointment. And i would probably request that they tidy up a bit more...that may be overstepping boundaries for the landlord, but i paid for three weeks of ads to show a dirty smelly suite...not so nice.

we really did have great tenants, just upon leaving things were not so good.

anyway, gotta go visit my baby now! i hope this is enough to keep you all informed!
ciao