The Baby Bump Chronicles :: 39 Weeks

Just a quick update with the 39 week picture!

I was joking with Trevor when he took it last night that there really isn't a need since I haven't grown in four weeks :)

We're just making like vegetables, relaxing and waiting......and waiting......

A Gift From Baby For My Princess

After talking about it for the past few months, Trev and I decided that we would get Denay a little gift "from" the baby as an extra measure to make it a smooth and exciting transition for her.

I picked up a copy of Veggie Tales' new movie, Sweetpea Beauty, and a super cute necklace and bracelet set from the dollar store.....

.....and wrapped them up in pink.......

......for Denay to rip into at the right time. When that will be, we aren't sure but we don't buy stuff like that much around here so I'm looking forward to treating my little lady to a special present for how good I know she's going to be through all this!

Yesterday I spent some time moving all my birthing supplies into my closet and took a second to fill up the wipes container in the nursery that's been sitting empty. Going to see the midwives in the morning and I'm hoping to get an idea of where things are at (or not). Feeling good, sleeping well overall and enjoying lots of movement, much more than I did with Denay this far along.

I keep getting these crazy reality checks from my pregnancy ticker that says I'm only seven days away from my due date.....then at bible study tonight, I got to meet sweet Zachary, born last Tuesday and he was so small and perfect and beautiful and boy, if I could have chosen to go into labour at that second I would have!

I can't wait to hold you, sweet one, and I love you so much already

:: The Mom Song ::

My church's mom's group started up again this morning (yay) and the coodinator Lori played this video at the beginning.....I definitely had to share!

:: Just What I Needed ::

You know who you are.

And you sent me this in the mail......

I got it today.

And I love you.

Thank you for listening.

Thank you for encouraging me.

Thank you for being all you are to me.

I Would Rather......

......be blogging than cleaning, so yesterday, that's what I did......and the fresh new blog look is the product of that!

Hope you enjoy the makeover!

*and all the credit for the header photo, sidebar photos and my profile photo goes to Loni with Tuesday Photography*

The Baby Bump Chronicles :: 37 & 38 Weeks

Amongst all the other thoughts and pre-occupations flying around in this mamma's brain right now I'm finding it almost impossible to put my finger on where the last nine months went.

It really does feel like just a month or so ago that I peed on a stick and went from anticipation to uncontrollable joy and laughter with the appearance of a very faint pink line.

And now, almost nine full months later, we are, at the very very most, just weeks away from becoming a family of four and welcoming this wee life into our home.

I went in for my (now) weekly visit to the midwife this morning.......I'm 38 weeks today and the tummy is holding at 34cm, the heart rate was in the low 140's and the baby is very low (but I already knew that).

Unfortunately I tested positive again for GBS which means, if there is time, I'll get antibiotics when my membranes rupture.

We chatted a little about some crazy emotions and breakdowns that I've been through this week, and Selena encouraged me through my fears of having two kids and of how this will affect Denay....."Christy, love is not a pie chart".

I got a huge hug on my way out too.......I love my midwives :)

Last Friday (after a few failed attempts) I got together with my friend Loni of Tuesday Photography for a maternity session. I've know Loni many years and absolutely love her approach to photography. We met up alone at first and took a short hike up Mount Tzouhalem for some portraits and then met up with Trev and Denay at lovely property, that belongs to a couple from our church, for some family shots.

Here are some of my favourites......:: I LOVE this.....I LOVE her.....when she runs, she runs. :::: So perfect ::Check out Loni's Facebook page here, her blog here (for more photos) and her website here.

Thank you so much Loni (and I know you've heard that a few times in the past week) for the incredible photos and moments you captured of my family!

And that, my loyal blog readers, is pretty much it.

Now, I wait....I bake cookies with my daughter and have play dates at the pool and have cheesy chick flick nights with girlfriends named Kerry (since we can't scrapbook anymore) and rest and nest......and really spend my time enjoying my daughter and being in the moment enough to really enjoy and appreciate the last days I have to be pregnant with this baby.....

{documented}

This post is going to be pictureless and may be completely boring for my readers, but I can't ever forget this day.....

I just put my sweet girly down to bed and as per usual, knelt by her bed while she cuddled on her pillow and said bedtimes prayers.

I thanked Jesus for the day, for the rain, prayed that God would keep the baby safe and healthy and strong, bring daddy home safe from bible study and that Jesus would be with Denay and give her a good night sleep.

When I looked up, Denay had moved to the side of the bed and was also kneeling with her hands folded. I said "Amen" and then Denay said she wanted to pray too.....so I bowed my head again and she proceeded as follows....

"Dear Jesus....bless Denay a really good leep (sleep), bless mommy really good leep. bless daddy home safe. bless baby get strong. tait-tu (thank you). amen"

Then she wanted to pray again and she repeated the above, asking Jesus to make mommy strong and daddy strong and Denay strong and bless bible study and make baby safe.....

I've had an extremely emotional week and my poor daughter has seen me cry too many times, but I just couldn't help but hold her and weep.

How beautiful is the innocence of the heart of a child.

A Day At The Fair

Saturday morning, Denay and I set off nice and early to the local Exhibition that comes to town each year. We met up with my mom and one of Denay's very good friends and looked at all the animals and displays and definitely the tractor pull.....

We came back after Trev got off work because Denay was insistent on going on the rides at the carnival. We watched some more tractor pulls, a sheep dog demonstration and then made our way down (in the persistant rain) to the rides. Trev was worried that we would spend an outrageous amount on tickets and that Denay would chicken out and not like any of the rides.....Ha! Were were ever wrong. This girl didn't care a bit about how wet it was and because of the rain, there were very few kids and so Denay got a few really long rides!

Needless to say, she ended up using all of the tickets and we were "those" parents, hollering and waving every time she came around.

Life is so much fun when enjoyed through the experiences of a child!

{Lately}

Lately......we've been busy.

This week is shaping up to be much more settled and I'm hoping the weather with be nice and give me some go-for-a-walk-and-take-my-two-year-old-to-the-park weather.

:: So here's lately, with our girl, waiting for baby ::

:: Still Getting Ready ::

I definitely thought that I would "project" this baby out this week......everyday was full of to-do's and I was honestly worried I'd given myself too much. But now it's a new week and I look back so satisfied with everything I was able to complete.

I managed to get seven meals prepared and frozen. This is something I didn't do with Denay, but I wanted to be a little more prepared this time around! I made two chicken noodle casseroles, two baked potato soup, two macaroni and cheese and one mushroom chicken with rice and veggies. Unfortunately, now I don't have any room in my freezer for meat for meals so it will mean frequent trips to the store but at least this way we will be able to eat something other than grill cheese, pancakes and cereal once or twice a week once baby comes :)

The other super-duper major thing (other than my impromptu kitchen makeover) that I crossed off the to-do list was getting this baby a carseat. We decided even before we were pregnant that we wanted to sell our Graco travel system and get and seat compatible with our BOB stroller but one that was smaller and only usable for up to 22lbs. After trying to sell it for months and getting not a single inquiry, the opportunity came up for us to donate the set (and some other big baby items) to a local mom who didn't have the means to get what she needed for her baby, who is due around the same time as my bambino. We had been looking for a new carseat for months and couldn't find one that we liked that was compatible with our BOB. We fell in love with the Maxi Cosi Mico seat (which is second best rated by Consumer Reports) and decided we'd just make it work with our stroller. We tried looking used and ended up finding one about two hours north of here. It was just a year old and had a small bleach stain on it but she was asking $100 less than the retail price at Toys-R-Us. Then we started looking new in the states and figured with the free shipping they were offering, we could ship it to a friend of my mom's (who was making a trip over here) for about the same price as the used one once we factored in how much in gas it would cost us to drive up there and back. THEN, we found out it was illegal to use a carseat purchased in the USA in Canada. So it really felt like we were back a square one and with finances seeming to get tighter ever week, we were really trying to figure out how to make this work. Then my husband remembered that a few weeks before I had, on a whim, checked our AirMiles balance and had quite a number available. So we checked to see if we could redeem them for Toys-R-Us gift certificates, which we found out we couldn't. But we could get HBC gift cards. So we called The Bay and to our delight, were told they stock the seat in the color we wanted. Yay. So we ordered all of the cards we could with the AirMiles we had and they came in the mail just over a week later, on Thursday. So I called to double check that they had one in stock before I drove an hour there and found out they had one left. The lady told me she would put it aside. I got a all back from her about 10 minutes later and she had checked the stock room to find them didn't have any ones in boxes, just the floor model. I told her that wasn't a problem and that I would be in the next morning. I got to the store and found the women I'd been speaking with, we checked out the seat and then she proceeded to inform me that because it the seat was the floor model, it was on sale for $35 the regular price. I was floored! We got to the till and after the cashier rang through my five gift cards, I asked her if she could check my HBC rewards card for anything I could redeem. She came back and said that there was $10 worth and took that off the price as well.......so when the dust settled, I took home a brand new seat for $60 when it should have cost me over $250.

That lovely diddy is now installed in the truck and ready for baby! Sorry for the very long explanation but I wanted to share how God worked all this out for us and truly provided in a very real way!

Now.....I'm REALLY ready for baby. I picked up a friend's exercise ball today to labour with and retrieved my co-sleeper from another friend and we just got back from pacing Walmart for over an hour (it's raining hairy animals here) and stocking up our cupboards and shelves.

So now, we wait.......I've had a lot of people ask if I feel like it's soon, and I don't know so I think that means it's probably not. But I do know that it wasn't until 39 weeks (the day before I had Denay) that I got to point I am now, where I'm ready and I just want to get this show on the road.....

Old Kitchen :: New Look

I did it.

Part of me wanted to. The other part of me was way too lazy.

Repainting my kitchen at 37 weeks pregnant.

I was recommended by my friend Michelle (who's husband was a painter) to try Sico paint. They also have a "No VOC" line and cost $20 less than the Benjamin Moore paint. On Wednesday night my plan was to take Denay with me to bible study, when I got the call that it was cancelled. I decided right then, and packed Denay up in the car and we were off to Rona.

It only took me two hours (with a few breaks for Denay in between) and by 10:30pm, with Trev's help, the tape was off, switch plate covers on and counter tops full.

This is the before. Click the collages to enlarge and get a good idea.......

And the after........

Not gonna lie....I actually got up in the middle of the night just to see what it looked like again. My husband mentioned how stark it looked (because we were so used to lots going on) so I spent Denay's whole naptime yesterday rearranging and doing my best to lessen the starkness without adding the same amount of busyness back into the room.

All that being said......I l.o.v.e it.

We were sitting at dinner on Thursday night and I told Trevor how much calmer I felt with the new color. It's a big change and I've had moments where I feel like I might have just whitewashed the room but it feels cleaner and crisper and much more tidy but still has some color and personality.

What do ya'll think??

Bear Lake - Labour Day Weekend

As mentioned before, we spent our Labour Day long weekend about 20 minutes west of here at a small and quiet campground right on a quaint lake. I really wanted to get away but wasn't going to take a chance being too far away in case something were to happen with baby.

We had a small hiccup trying to get the trailer out of our complex (involving the trailer, the fence and a frustrated phone call to my dad) and got to the campground a little later than planned but got all set up and lit a campfire (yay for lifted campfire bans)!

Saturday was sunny enough to head to the lake and we all enjoyed a refreshing swim.....my parents came to visit in the afternoon and we had a great burger dinner before it started to pour rain. Then came the thunder.....and if you know me at all, you know I LOVE thunder and lightening.

Sunday it was cinnamon buns for breakfast and lazing around the campground before meeting my dad at the boat launch for a troll on the lake. And no, your eyes do not deceive you, these would be pictures of me, tubing while almost 37 weeks pregnant. I even took Denay out with me for a quick ride and although she was a little quiet, she seemed to have a great time.

(And sorry about the, um, fullness up top.....it's hard to get into a life jacket when you're this pregnant.)

We were home before noon on Monday and were all settled back in in no time.....I'm already scheming our May Long weekend camping trip with two kids!

The Baby Bump Chronicles :: 36 Weeks

I figured, since I'm going to be 37 weeks in a day, that this should be the first post I put up.

So here's me, 36 weeks (and a couples days) pregnant at Lake Cowichan during our camping trip.....

I had my home visit with the midwife last Thursday and we spent most of the time going on my home birth supply list and double checking that I had everything I needed.

Denay got to play helper again and pressed the button to listen the the baby's heartbeat, which was up in the mid to high 140's.

I go to see them again on Thursday and I interested to find out how I am measuring because I think the baby may have dropped.

Still feeling good but I'll be totally honest and say that I miss my body being my own....I miss being able to get off the couch and roll over without having to do a couple momentum heaves, reaching my feet, and finding a position to be comfortable in.

But I know I'm going to miss this so much when it's over and so I spend my days loving each uncomfortable moment and holding my body and mind in a state of peace and restfulness for this baby to spend it's last few weeks in.

Only "22" days to go.......

{Tick Tock}

Even though it's only been about four days, it feels like it's been four weeks since I've blogged!

The Mr. and the Little Lady and myself spent the weekend at a very quiet and secluded little campground (in our home on wheels of course) about 20 minutes west of here. I'd wanted to get in one last hoorah as a family of three before this wee gaffer joins our lives.

I'll have a post all about that coming up as well as my 36 week belly picture (which will be out of date by Thursday) later.....sometime.

For now, I've got about four projects that need attending to, one of them may or may not involve a certain room in the house where I prepare food and a bucket of paint.......

I'll also do a holler out for prayer for our little household as we get ready for baby.....I know God's got this whole thing wrapped up but the closer I get to it being time the more the enemy is trying to knock me down with fear and doubts and feelings of being incapable and totally overwhelmed.

Anyways.....my time is up.....gotta run......"see" you soon.......

My Little Ladybug

Last Saturday our church held a massive inflatables day to finish up the summer.....we took Denay knowing that her feelings toward large bouncy castles and larger the (which is pretty much all) children jumping around in them were not great but it was a nice sunny day.....nough said.

Turns out they had a "regular" sized bouncy castle for the smaller kids and Denay absolutely loved it. And what mom (certainly not this one) can resist having their child's face pained......

Notice Denay's hand in each picture.

She sat down knowing she needed to sit still and she really didn't move....an inch.

She was so very proud of her ladybug face.....and I love her.

Help Wanted!

:: Attention ::

I need you.

Yes, you.

Along with having someone there to capture my birth on film, another thing I really wanted to do last time was have music during my delivery.

So I've been working at trying to gather a collection of of soft/quiet/easy-to-listen to music/worship music that will add to the peaceful atmosphere I'm going for.

Soooo....that's where ya'll come in.

It's as simple as leaving a comment and letting me know about your favourite artist or song that I can add to my list. I'm open to anything! And I'm also a huge fan of classical music.

Let the suggestioning begin!

New.....& WAY Nicer

Last Wednesday Trevor's parents walked on the ferry for a quick visit.....we picked them up and had a great dinner at Moxie's, a stroll through the mall and a dessert stop at Dairy Queen before we brought them back again.

For our anniversary back in July, they had offered to buy us new dishes and we found these at Walmart.com. They were hand delivered on Wednesday and we weren't home 20 minutes and they were all out of the boxes. And I was in love.....

I ran them through the dishwasher quickly the next morning and what followed was a complete tidy/organize/clean/purge of my kitchen that took almost the entire first half of my day.

You can sort of see my old dishes tucked away in the top left........

:: Love ::

:: New salad plates ::

:: New dinner plates. Trev loves them even more because our old plates were concave and all the food was always sliding into the middle. Small victories, right? ::

:: New bowls. Not joking people.....I actually lost a spoon inside one the first morning I used one for breakfast. These are the deepest bowls I've ever seen! ::

:: Awesome big coffee mugs ::

After my big kitchen overhaul, standing back to admire my work, I realized I now had an overwhelming urge to repaint my kitchen the same cream as the dishes......grrrreat.

Problem being, the only paint I ever want to use anymore is the Benjamin Moore Natura paint. It's low VOC and covers perfectly in two coats. It's also really expensive. So if there are any Benjamin Moore employee's reading this, hook a sister up!

I think I'll still eventually do it, just maybe in the the new year.....but don't you worry, when I do, you'll know about it!

Thanks M&D for the fabulous new dishes.....we kinda, sorta love them.....