125 Posts and 79 Days!

Apparently I have posted 125 times on this blog. Interestingly my life was emensly different 125 post ago. A good form of self-reflection could be had if I went back to post one and read them all through... but that would take time and other priorities are ahead of this one.

Life has been busy. Last weekend we drove to Fort Frances where my littlest brother (in-law) plays hockey. Jay went out there once last year but this was my first chance to see him play since he moved out there. It was great to spend time with Blake and Jim and June! Plus I had the best cheesecake for dessert on Saturday night! YUM!! It was a great weekend but I came home tired and have never really "caught up".

I think this weekend I will crash, hard, and not do a ton. Report cards are right around the corner so I guess marking and starting is my project... but I also realize that I am only 9 weeks away from being done work, and starting my new "job"! In fact the 79 days in my title refers to the number of days until my due date... seriously 79 days! That is crazy soon, I started this count-down at 200 and something, 79 seems so few! My latest focus is on what we need for this baby... I ask everyone I know! So seriously what do I NEED for this baby? Moms out there, what could you not live without, what was a waste of money? I know each baby is different and each mom is too, but I could use some advice!

A New Year... A New Adventure

A new year has begun, and with it the countdown until the biggest change in our lives! Yes, we are counting down; currently we are at 13 more Satudays! Yes, we do know baby could come earlier or later, but for now we are focused on April 10th. We know how fast Saturday's come and go, so 13 seems like very few! After spending last weekend with babies (we had friends with 7 week old twins over, and we were surrounded with little ones at church) I so want to meet our little one! We want him/her to grow a little more before we meet but oh how I can't wait to be a mom! Now that the nursery is done-ish and I see the crib everyday it is becoming more and more real to me! At times I am excited, but at times I am a little scared... I have so much to learn!

I have noticed many blog posts abotu New Years resolutions, and truth be told I don't make them, at least not in January. Usually my resolutions come at the beginning of my "year", September, but this year I failed to make any then either. I was just hoping that the puking would stop so I could think about something, anything else... so no resolutions this year at all... I am sure it will be a life changing year without them!

Christmas Has Come and Gone!

Jay and I enjoyed a quiet Christmas morning, complete with eggs benedict! We made the decision to wake up at our own house on Christmas morning and we relished in the last Christmas morning sleep-in. We then headed to Jay's aunt's house for his family gathering. We enjoyed a great meal and exchanged gifts, and ended the evening with a game of Apples to Apples.

After tha it was off to my parents, where we opened more gifts including some great things for baby. My parents got us a toy box that they had painted in bright bold circles and dots. We enjoyed a family gathering on the 26th with my extended family. It was a nice two days of celebration. Mika is starting to walk and talk, and it makes Christmas so much fun to have a little on around, but next Christmas there will be three little ones, and I am so excited!

Then the work began! Jay and dad headed home early on the 27th, mom and I followed behind not much later. Our goal was to get the nursery completed! My parents offered to help and seeing as they go away for the month of Feb. we knew this was the best time to get the room painted, lay down new carpet and get the furniture assembled. Mom and Jay did the painting, dad and Jay layed new underlay and carpet and replaced the baseboards. In two days it was all done! No, I didn't do a lot, but I am growing the occupant!!

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The toy box and crib. Jay wanted the stripes, I thought it would be a pain, it didn't seem to be too difficult for the painting crew to do, and looks so good!



The storage unit (complete with Spiderman).

I can't thank my parents enough for coming up and helping us! Jay and I are not handy people so having my dad and mom help us allowed us to actually get it done! I love it! In about 100 days we could have a baby to put in it (although he/she will sleep in out room at first).

Only three more days of my Christmas break, and then it will only be three more months of work! I can't believe how fast this is going...

Twas the Night Before...

Where did these last two weeks go! Time is flying by and tomorrow is our Christmas Program (ALREADY!!?!). I am in the process of printing off hundreds of programs and have some time to kill as I wait for the photocopier to beep at me. I am sitting at school, it is quite, except for my music and the furnace, peaceful even. The snow is falling outside, is seems like Christmas at it's finest! LOVE IT!

Christmas is by far my favourite time of the year, and this year, even among it's busyness and such, is no different. The tree is up (although that did feel like a chore last week), and every evening I enjoy sitting in the living room with candles and the tree glowing. Something about it brings great memories of my childhood, memories I hope to begin creating next Christmas with my own child (and maybe later children). But with it comes a huge question for me, one that causes me much worry. You see as a young child I believed in Santa Clause, and every year he came to my house, drank milk, ate cookies, and fed his reindeer carrots. He left presents under the tree for all of us... I loved Christmas morning, opening stockings from Santa and seeing the gifts he left are treasured memories. I however, live in a community, and teach in a community, were Santa is not present. I get the Jesus is the real reason for the season, and will read about and celebrate His birth with my children, but will we have Santa? Jay keeps telling me we have a couple of years to figure that out yet, and I get that, but hey I am already thinking about it. I imagine Walnut's cousins will have Santa, and with a small family we celebrate together often, I want him to share that experience with Mika and Bug (especially because they will all be so close in age). Those memories were so special to me that I want to create them for my kids... but how do I balance that with the reality of his life and peers too? Ahhh I know I will have much more to worry about in the future... but right now, in this season, at this time this is my parent worry...
The copier beeped, I guess it is done... time to go home...

Mourning to Celebrating!!

Last week began with mourning as we said goodbye to my maternal Grandfather. He passed away on December 3rd, peacefully at the nursing home. In some ways it brought relief as he was unhappy about how his life was ending, but of course with his passing came a sense of loss to those left behind. We celebrated his life last Tuesday, with much of the family able to make it from out of province. I was glad I made the effort to visit Grandpa on Remembrance Day last month, my last memories of him are good ones.

I felt like I lived out of my car for a week as I was back and forth from the city to home,and back again. By the time I made it home for good last Wednesday I was exhausted, and happy to sleep in my own bed.

By the end of the week I was in celebration mode as my friend Sheri married Tim on Saturday! It was a beautiful winter wedding! She was gorgeous and looked so happy and in love.

So now that that week is over it is on to Christmas concert preparation. Although my students are a big part of the play I am at school while some of my students are practicing, others are at school working on their list of things to do. In some ways it makes life easy, but those with big parts are well behind of those who have smaller roles... by the end of this week chaos will ensue! I look forward to Friday, when it all comes together! Friday is our last day of classes, and I am in the mood for two weeks off, in fact I am feeling like I desperately need two weeks off!

As for Walnut he (I really think it is a boy, in fact I will be completely shocked if it is a girl) is happy and moving about like crazy. I am finally feeling him with my hand, Dayna did too yesterday, but Jay has yet to get to feel him. Every time I call Jay over Walnut stops kicking, it kinda makes me laugh! I had a Dr. appt. last week (I went all by myself for the first time :)), it was all great! I love good dr. appts. We also got my ultrasound results last week, again everything looks good, normal and healthy. I know we are blessed to have a fairly uneventful pregnancy thus far, I pray that it continues to be that way!

I am growing and getting bigger by the day, I love looking pregnant! In fact I much prefer looking over feeling pregnant! I had a scary realization last night as I thought about how far along we are. I only have three months and one week of work left, I am one month away from my third trimester... the nursery isn't started yet! We haven't bought the baby many clothes (do I buy pink or blue), and I feel like we are just not ready to be parents... It scares me to think we will be responsible for all this baby wants and needs... and yet in the same moment I am longing for this baby to be here, to know if we should buy pink or blue, to see ten fingers and ten toes, to see this little person that I am already completely in love with.

Half Way There!

We hit the half-way mark this week! With it we saw our baby for the first time. I know the baby is in there, he kicks and squirms, and let's me know he is there. But seeing him or her for the first time made it all that much more real. We saw the spine, the heart, the head and the feet, but avoided finding out if we have a little girl or little boy on the way. Jay was able to join me for the entire thing, he had a much better view of baby through the entire thing. We are hoping that this will be our only scan... the next time we see him or her might be on it's birthday!!

Time Flies When The To-Do List is Long!

For some reason you can count on me updating my blog around report card time. I seem to write as a distraction from the pile of work that I really should be doing. Although, at this point I have a couple more comments to write, and a few things to do tomorrow at school, so I am pretty much done. Of course I should also plan for tomorrow and maybe take a nap, I guess all in good time!

I spent a great couple of days in the city this week. I hadn't seen mom and dad in a while so it was nice to spend time with them. We went to visit my Grandpa, who recently was moved into a nursing home. It being Remembrance Day it was nice to visit with him, he was in the Navy in WW II and has some pretty remarkable stories. We moved around his room so he could watch TV and laughed at his sarcastic and witty comments.

After the visit I hit my shopping list. I needed new shirts as I am slowly outgrowing all of my pre-pregnancy shirts. I also needed a ton of stuff for the house, gifts for bridal showers, and some books for school. It was a long day in stores and at the mall but it was nice to scratch so much off the list.



As for Walnut he/she (my feeling is boy) has begun to kick, or punch, or elbow me on occasion. Pretty much every day I feel him move. What a weird and wonderful feeling. It happens the most when I am sitting or lying down, and less when I am up and about. I am very much enjoying pregnancy now. Up until week 16 it was characterized by puking and nausea, now I am enjoying not feeling sick, a popping stomach, and baby movements. If the whole thing was like this you could convince me to have eight kids! I feel great, and have a lot of energy, am sleeping pretty well, and am loving it! Time is flying by and by next week I will be half-way through this pregnancy, time flies! We are looking forward to seeing baby a week from this coming Thursday on the ultra sound.

I guess I should get back to those report cards!