:: Couponing ::

I've never made claim to be a super-couponer and as of yesterday, had yet to venture out and do it without the guiding wisdom of my SIL. But I had been trying to collect all the diaper coupons I could in order to stock up on what we will need shortly. A bunch more came in the mail and while sorting them I realized that over half of the diaper ones were about to expire.

So last night before a church meeting, we're headed to London Drugs and came home with one package of Pampers Baby Dry (size 1) and.......

......a container of Pampers Sensitive wipes......and spent and grand total............of $1.53.
The proof is in the pudding people......I saved $24.00 and spent less than $2.00 on 84 diapers and 60 baby wipes.

It's been so awesome watching God provide for us as we get ready to welcome another person into the house.
He is faithful!

{Almost There}

You can be expecting another belly picture this week which means we're getting closer and closer to meeting the fourth member of our family. I've been slowly crossing items of my list and with only a few small things left and one big thing (carseat), times feels like it's flying by.

Just before we left for Quadra, I finally decided on and ordered a nursing cover. I have been looking for pretty much my entire pregnancy, wanting to know all my options, and ended up with a lovely handmade one from the Lillie and Bean store on Esty.

It was such a great price, a great size and let's face it.....super cute! And the best part? It completely

(accidentally) matches my awesome new nursing pillow!

I had pretty much given up on getting the pillow I wanted, knowing how expensive they were, but I knew my time was ticking and I needed to find something. On a whim, I jumped on on UsedVictoria and within seconds found not one but two pillows that were the brand I wanted......both brown and both hardly used. The best part? I paid less than half of what they would retail for!

You bet I'm one happy pregnant woman!

I also had a meeting today with my friend Rosanne of Pink and Blue Baby Portrait Art and Orange Passion Photography about doing my birth photography! This is something I would have loved to do the first time around but didn't know that I would have been comfortable with a stranger in the room during my first delivery. We've know Rosanne (and her husband, Jan) for just about a year and they are both fabulously talented and Rosanne and I are both so excited! Plus Rosanne is completely sure she knows what I'm having so this way she gets to find out sooner if she's right or not :)

Make sure and check back later in the week for the 36 weeks belly picture.......

{Still Going}

Pretty sure I said months ago, when I got Denay's Barbie plates hung, that I was all done with her room.

I........lied.

All along I've wanted some sort of bookcase/shelf for the space where we've been "parking" her cart and stroller. The ticker to your right tells me that I have less than 37 days until this baby comes (eeeeekkk!!!!!!) so I gave it one more shot to try and find something that would fit my very specific space.

Thank you Home Depot......I found this storage unit online and it fits like it was built to be there. The best part of all is that it was Denay's birthday gift from Oma & Opa.

:: The before and after of the old book arrangement ::

:: The before and after old toy arrangement ::

If you've got a clever eye, you might notice Denay's floor looking a little bare. We're still waiting for her rug to dry after cleaning it following Sunday's episode.

So I'm not going to say that I'm really all done now........

~ There's A First For Everything ~

** To all my CS Brew Pub friends whom I told last night that I wasn't going to blog about this....I changed my mind :) **

Our punkin has been acting a little strange the past few days. It all came to a head on Sunday night when we checked in on her a couple hours after when went to bed and found she'd soiled through her fourth diaper of the day. So we woke her up to change her and almost immediately she started to vomit heavily and we noticed that there was some feces amongst the vomit.

These parents panicked and right away Trevor called 911. I got Denay cleaned and re-dressed and went downstairs to wait for the paramedics. Almost right after all that "came up", Denay was instantly herself again. She was so excited about the ambulance and waved to the attendants as they came to the house.

After hearing her symptoms they recommended she been seen in the ER to be assessed. So we loaded her seat in the ambulance and off we went. The paramedics were so fantastic. This momma was still a little beside herself and they were quick to put me at ease when the first question they asked on the way to the hospital was "So, why is she so cute?".

We had an x-ray and were in the ER for a couple hours (until about 1:00am) and the doctor really felt it was a GI problem and told us to come back if we noticed the symptoms persisting.

:: Here's Denay and I just after her first x-ray with her "I had an x-ray sticker". This girl was such a trooper, part of the reason the doctor didn't think anything serious was going on, she was so happy and compliant and easy and made everyone she came in contact with, smile ::

She still hadn't been eating hardly at all and I noticed her tummy was pretty distended today so we were back in there for three hours this afternoon. After another x-ray, a blood sample (momma sang "You are my sunshine" and she didn't even flinch and didn't shed a tear), a urine test and lots of waiting later, the doctor (again, commenting on how well and happy she looked) was pleased with the positive changes in her x-ray and the negative test results said to give it sometime and she'll come out of it.

Phew.

That was our first encounter with Denay being truly sick and being pregnant and fairly hormonal made it much more overwhelming. But Trev and I both have great parents that didn't mind an 11:00pm phone call and we were well supported and covered in prayer.

All this and I also find out my sweet nephew Cole is sick and was in the hospital for tests as well. So we are sending our love and prayers for the little guy as well.

Being a mom sure is overwhelming sometimes.....can I get an "Amen Sista!"?

RaNdOmNeSs

I confess, I was just too lazy to make up two separate posts for these polar opposite topics.

Midway through our trip, my parents realized that their toaster was only toasting one side of the bread. Now, for a modern toaster, many of which have a bagel option, this might not be so bizarre but when the toaster in question is, uhh, around 20 years old, that means it might just be time to get a new one.

They were going to toss it, and believe me I garnered many strange looks, when I asked if I could keep it. The colors reminded me of my kitchen and I was not only attracted to it's vintage flair but also had some sort of weird nostalgic meaning to it and I couldn't see it just thrown away.

So today I got out the cleaner and my SOS pad and went to work....it wasn't terribly dirty before but now it shines. It shows it's age with many paint chips and I can't decide whether that's part of it's charm or whether I should take it apart and attempt to tape off and spray paint it.

But for now, it sits proudly atop my kitchen cabinets along with some decorative dishes and bowls.

Got a super-duper creative idea for my ancient Silex toaster? Please pass it along!

Books. I. Love. Books.

I didn't read as many books this year as I did last but keeping up with a two-year-old is much more time consuming than a one-year-old. This year I also tried to not just read fiction and brought along three non-fiction books: Labour Day (labour and delivery testimonials), Supernatural Childbirth (a biblical perspective on pregnancy and birth) and Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way (which I didn't get a chance to start).

I did plow through four novels and have half finished two more.......did I already mention I like reading?

{Lately}

After sorting through and editing all my holiday shots, I realized I'd had a bunch of events and photos I'd forgotten to post.

So here's the condensed version of our July.......

:: Kidz Day downtown ::

:: About a week later we met up with my parents, grandparents and a few of our friends for the annual local parade and Denay had a great day visiting with her friends ::

:: A couple randoms.....the top right photo - Denay was suspiciously quiet one day and I snuck upstairs to find her lounging in her little girl chair reading a book ::

:: Today she wandered downstairs with her Cabbage Patch doll, a baby wipe and a diaper and proceeded to clean and then diaper her baby......and then posed with her finished work. Melts this momma's heart and gives me great confidence that she's going to be the best big sister! ::

Quadra Island 2010

We had yet another fabulous two weeks up on Quadra Island this year.

We spend our days reading (more on that later), walking Rebecca Spit, floating in the ocean, boating (and pulling up the "pawn taps" {prawn traps} as Denay liked to say), laughing, playing Sequence and hanging out.

My youngest brother flew out from Edmonton to surprise my parents (we were in on it) and a week later my other young brother joined us as well. It was so nice to see Denay spending time with her Uncle's.

Trevor caught a respectable sized salmon (which we fully plan to have candied, yummy!) and the biggest event of all, our two-year-old pooped on the potty. I caught her trying to go on Friday and asked if she wanted to go on the toilet and she finally did it! We've yet to repeat the success but just picture four adults crammed into a very small trailer bathroom hooting in excitement for a twoonie sized poo.

We also found a lovely freshwater lake just a 30 minute boatride from us, complete with soft white sand and lake temperature waters......too bad we didn't find out about it until the last two days! We also took a day to roadtrip to Parksville for the sandcastle competition and a hilarious game of minigolf that I happened to win.

I digress......enjoy the pictures, there's some goodies in there, and feel free to click on the collages to enlarge them and get a better look!

The Baby Bump Chronicles :: 33 Weeks

Holy. Pregnant. Batman.

:: 33 Weeks - August 13th 2010 - Hague Lake, Cortes Island BC ::

(click to enlarge)

And this one is a stretcher. Sometimes I genuinely think that this little one's foot (or knee or arm or whatever appendage it might be) is going to bust right through my uterus (sorry for the visual). But nevertheless, still loving it and soaking up every moment of this quickly passing pregnancy.

Feeling great (albeit a lot bigger than I look).......still (very gratefully) swollen ankles free. A deep breath is a thing of the past and I am officially unable to paint my own toenails (a big thanks to my girl Natalie for saying I referred her to my favy pedicure joint and the gift certificate I received as a thank you from said salon) so this gal will be in for some foot lovin' real soon. And to answer the most frequently asked question, I'm doing just dandy in the heat. We've got a window unit air conditioner, we got for a steal a few years ago, cooling it's little heart out upstairs and we're quite comfy.

Going to see the midwife this week and am looking forward to getting a read about what position baby is lying.

Feels like just the other day, it was January and I was dancing around my kitchen with a positive pregnancy test in my hand......

I Can FINALLY Tell.....

I betcha ya'll rushed to this post when you first saw the title thinking we've decided to announce the gender of the baby.......sorry to disappoint ;)

But, as you can all understand, with a very public blog out there, I don't consider it safe to divulge my family holidays and hence invite anyone who reads this to drop by for an unwelcome visit.

So I'm still alive, still around and am going to spend the next week settling back in to the routine of normal life after a two week long camping holiday up on Quadra Island.

Lots of posts and exciting thing to write about so if you'll bear with me as I fold myself out from under five loads of laundry.......

:: Absence ::

We've been doing this.......

......pretty much every day.

So if I'm not around these parts much, it's cause I'm out enjoying the sun.

A lot.

:: Slowly Picking Away ::

Sooo, it would seem that my four year anniversary passed by on Thursday and I completely neglected to blog or take any photos for that matter.

Boo, me!

Bygones.

Husby and I had a lovely dinner out at a small restaurant in a small ocean bay on the patio, in the sun over looking the marina.

We leisurely strolled the docks (and even got to *gasp* hold hands!) before heading back to town for a stop at Timmy's for a Coldstone dessert.

Some of you with a good memory (and who care to remember anything I babble about on here) might remember my quest to sample most of the Signature Creations from Coldstone Creamery over the summer. Not only did I get to try two more flavours but we did it for half price with a BOGO coupon we got in the mail a couple days earlier! Score, us!

My pick was the Cookie Mintster consisting of mint ice cream, two whole oreos and fudge. Trev ordered the Mud Pie Mojo that was packed with coffee ice cream, REAL peanut butter, roasted almonds and fudge.

Yum, Yummy, Yum-Yum!

So, I'm slowly picking away at my list and I think next time I'll be ordering something with peanut butter in it.

We came home and before we could even get the doors to the truck opened, we heard our sweet, precious two-year-old baby yelling for us from the house and were greeted with very big and excited hugs.

Pretty much the perfect evening.

And here's a big holla out to my momma who left a very gorgeous bouquet of flowers on our doorstep.....so now I have two vases full of color and pretty-ness in my kitchen! Thanks Mom!

:: I went to bed and said hello to week 30 of my baby bump and pondered life and family and the perfect will of God that brought me from marriage four years ago to being on the verge of being a mom to two children with a beautiful home in the most beautiful place on earth with a life I wouldn't give up for anything. ::

Happy Anniversary Hunny!

Now, I'm going to help myself to a glass of chocolate milk and go to bed......

{Cheers all ya'll out there and much love from me to you}

{Introductions}

A couple weeks back, whilst wading in the lake on a hot summer day, I look up to see a head of curly blond hair bouncing towards me. It didn't take me long to recognize one of the sweetest people I know.

Michelle and I used to work together and have kept in touch over the years and I even had the privilege of photographing them a few months ago.

We got to catching up and I was delighted to hear that she'd started a blog.

{Meeting people who read my blog, and despite being subjected to the bizarre-ness that is my life, and decide to start a blog of their own always make me feel a tinge more normal}

Blah,blah.

Anywhoo.....Michelle asked if I'd mind getting together sometime and showing her the ropes, so to speak, and help her navigate Blogger and get her site looking the way she wanted.

We got together earlier this week and spent over two hours playing and fiddling and learning together.

:: Michelle showed up at my door with a gorgeous bouquet of fresh flowers.......I love having fresh flowers in my house! ::

Sooo......everyone, meet Michelle.

Michelle, meet, everyone.......

The Baby Bump Chronicles :: 29 Weeks

I LOVE BEING PREGNANT!!!

Ahhh. Feels good to get that out right at the top of the post.

Last Thursday marked the 29th week of this pregnancy and I truly can't believe that I only have two and a half months left to enjoy playing incubator for this baby.

With only a couple finishing touches left to complete the nursery, I am l.o.v.i.n.g being able to just soak up the summer and spend lots of time in the sun with my little sunshine before another being joins this family.

:: 29 Weeks ::

I saw the midwife earlier in the month and I'm growing about a centimeter behind and again, the heart rate was in the 140's. It all became very real when I was given my Home Birth supply list, hospital pre-admission form (just in case), my preferences for birth form and signed various other releases.

Only 74 more days to go........I cannot, cannot get enough of the increasing movement and feeling tiny feet bump and kick.

Have I mentioned how much I love being pregnant?

Oh, and check out this link to see my belly at (approximately) the same stage with Denay.....

Love you Baby!

Eclipse Review

WARNING: If you are new to this blog, be pre-warned that the writer of this blog (that would be me) is a fan of the Twilight Series. That is all.

I had plans with girlfriends to see the newest Twilight movie, Eclipse, when I got back from Ontario. I was super stoked when it turned out that there was nothing going on the Thursday night we were at my Aunt's, so all us girls went to see it.Unfortunately, I don't have many good things to say......to keep myself from going on and on and on, I'd have state that while Eclipse was, by far, my favourite book, New Moon would have to be my favourite movie.

I've chatted with my fellow Twilight-loving girlfriends and the consensus seems to be that, they feel the same about the movie being disappointing but liked it better after seeing it a second time.

I liked it, don't get me wrong, but it felt rushed and sort of thrown together. But I know it 's next to impossible to squash all that (awesome) book into a short two hour movie......so with the time they had, I guess they did the best that was possible.

Lemme know, you fellow followers, what were your thoughts on Eclipse??

:: Couponing, Again ::

While my SIL was out on the weekend, she helped me sort through my coupons, check the flyers, and see if I had any good deals to take advantage of.

I definitely still feel very inept with this whole couponing thing. I've had a few people contact me about giving them the gears on how it works but the truth is that I'm still trying to figure this whole thing out.....so a big shout out to my S* for helping me get these great deals :)

Here's what I came home with.......

- a Gillette Fusion Power razor (with extra cartridge)

-a 15 pack of Cascade Action Packs

-two bottles of Dawn dish soap

-an 84 pack of Pampers Size 1 Diapers

-a box of Pampers Sensitive wipes

The bill was more than just these items as I bought some birthday gifts and other small groceries at the same time but I saved $35.98 in coupons and only spent a total of $9.00 (excluding total taxes at $6) on the products in the picture (thanks again to S* for figuring out the math for me).

Crazy, right?

I'm hoping my next round, I'll be able to do it all by my big-girl self......but I'm sure that will be preceeded by a double check phone call to a certain sister-in-law of mine :)

Two years ago today......

......in the peace and quiet of our home we welcomed a dark-haired, 7lbs 2oz perfect baby girl into our lives and we couldn't imagine life any other way.

Today she turns two.

She can sing her ABC's.

She can count to 12.

She has an uncanny memory.

She can speak impecably well.

She loves sand and water and Oma's puppies.

She is beautiful, thoughtful, helpful and sensitive.

I love you Denay.

Happy Birthday.

:: Cousins ::

Trev's parents and sister and her family came over for the weekend for Denay's party and on Sunday we spent the whole day just hanging out and eating and enjoying the sun......just a couple shots from Denay's time with her big-boy cousins and grampy and grammie.......

:: I love watching these three play together! ::

~ Ontario 2010 ~

My week back east was a bit of a blur, but now that we are home and recovered, I'm so glad that Denay and I went.

Denay was such an angel on the plane and I was so grateful to have my parents for an extra couple set of hands and a couple extra laps. We spent the first few nights at my grandparents house and celebrated my grandma's 85th birthday while we were there. My mom had an amazing three tier cake made (in very Dutch form) as a gift.

:: Then it was off to my Aunt's (my mom's sister) house where we got to celebrate my cousins Brittany's grade eight graduation and her brother, James' grade 12 graduation. My aunt has fainting goats, miniature horses, sheep and lots of dogs (including four baby puppies) so there was always lots for Denay to do ::

:: We spent Canada Day at the fairgrounds in my Aunt's town. We had a pony ride (so proud of Denay), a wagon ride, enjoyed the petting zoo and made sure to get Denay a balloon and lots of Canadian flags ::

:: Our last day was finally warm enough to enjoy the weather and we all headed off to a lake for some fun in the water before heading back to my grandparents again for our flight the next morning ::

By the end of the week I was definitely ready to be at home and all together as a family again for the first time in three weeks. Denay was such a trooper.....between all the different houses and the time difference, she made it so easy on everyone!

I feel lucky to have been able to take this trip with my great parents and spend the week with nothing to do except be with family that I get to see very infrequently....treasured memories for sure.

:: Happy Birthday Baby Girl ::

We have had an absolutely crazy, exhausting whirlwind past few weeks around here......Trevor left on the 13th of June for two straight weeks of work training in Vernon. He came home at 6:00 on the 25th and 16 hours later was saying goodbye (again) to his wife and daughter as we took off for a week long to trip to Ontario with my parents for my grandma's birthday and cousins graduations. We landed at 11:30 the following Saturday morning, got home just after 1:00 and welcomed our friends and family at 4:30 to celebrate Miss Denay's 2nd birthday.

I had so much help from my husband, mom and MIL and SIL to make this party a fun and happy celebration for my sweet girly. Denay and I and my parents were running on very little sleep after an almost five hour flight and a three hour time change but it was so nice be home!

:: Details.......purple, green and white were the simple theme....all Denay cared about was cake and balloons ::

:: Our growing family......in purple, green and white to match the theme ::

(continued in post below)

{Birthday Continued}

:: The fabulous and perfect cake done by my friend Alana of CAKE By Alana....gimmie a holla if you're in my area and need a cake for a special occasion ::

:: Denay loved her cake (thank you so much Alana!) ::

:: Presents.....we asked our friends to bring newborn baby items, instead of gifts for Denay, for a mom in my area that is pregnant and in need. We got Denay a new, red, shiny tricycle with a big silver bow on it......she was in heaven ::

With lots of help from my awesome family and amazing husband, everything was tidy and cleaned and put away and thrown out and put back together in no time.....with little help from this pregnant momma who was having serious stomach pain.

I couldn't believe how aware Denay was of the fact that everything was for her. I asked her just after the party started, who's birthday it was and she yelled "Oh, my birthday party!".

We were so grateful to be surrounded with family and friends to celebrate our Denay.