Week 37 - well almost 38...

So as you can see - I am pretty large these days :)

Little things like putting on shoes and getting out of bed are such a major ordeal at this point. It takes me forever to get ready to go out of the house and by the time I'm all set I'm in a full sweat and ready for a nap! I think I am almost to the point of having had enough of this pregnancy thing but I am still not quite mentally prepared for the labour/delivery so I am holding off on that for a few more days (hopefully...)

It has been really great to have some down time over the holidays. Jon and I have had a quiet and restful Christmas. We have both been catching up on some sleep - though its never quite enough it seems. Jon cooked everything over the holidays including a prime rib dinner with yorkshire puddings and EXCELLENT gravy! We had no need to make any dessert with all the sweets that we received from our moms for the holidays! Thank you!!

I'm off for a nap before little New Year's party - hope I can make it to midnight!

Happy New Years everyone!

A snippet of Christine and her big belly.

More pics of the baby's room.

Blogger can be picky sometimes. I had to break up the post this morning, as it doesn't seem to like too many pics in one post.
The characters were inspired by a Swedish folk artist by the name of George Nebren.
My arm was sore for a week after I had finished all the painting.

-Jon

Pics of the baby's room.

This is for those of you that couldn't view the video.
The video was mostly just an experiment - to test for future use when the baby finally arrives. We plan on posting many little videos of the baby thoughout the months and even years...

Here it is. It's a farm theme!

Sorry to everyone that has a slow connection speed. This might not work for you.
If so, soon we will post pics of the baby's room.

Pics

Just a reminder to everyone that if you would like to get a better look at the pics we have posted, simply click on them and they will enlarge.

Week 36...

Thanks everyone for your posts! Its great to know people are checking this thing:) It's been a couple of weeks since the last post so there are lots of updates. We are no longer dealing with snow in Victoria but we have been having HUGE wind storms. Luckily, those of us in the City haven't had many issues, just a lack of sleep during a loud stormy night. Doesn't matter for Jon and I as the pregnancy insomnia has well and truly kicked in so I am not sleeping much and neither is Jon because he is contending with the larger me AND my huge body pillow shifting around all night.

I have just 1 week of work left - hooray! :) I love my job but I am really starting to slow down these days as I get so big and awkward. I am pretty tired and feel like my brain is made of cooked squash or some similarly mushy substance. I am really hoping to have a couple of weeks of down time before the big arrival. Any guesses on the arrival date? We should have a pool.

I am almost 36 weeks pregnant - yikes! That whole labour and delivery thing is becoming a reality - sometimes one I am ready for and other times it scares the s--- out of me. We have good days and bad around here as we are preparing to become parents. Mostly we are really excited.

And as you can see, the old belly is growing like crazy. The baby, according to our doctor is on track to be an average size - fingers crossed she's right. Baby G has hiccups at least 3 times a day and loves to stick her butt out of the side of my belly so I am lopsided most of the time. She is quite the little trickster already, she is always in the perfect "ready for delivery" position when we visit the doctor and then as soon as we leave the doctor's office she shifts into her lopsided sideways position.

We have finished our prenatal classes as well as a class on baby care and infant CPR. These were all really helpful and great confidence builders. Jon is now an excellent swaddler and diaperer.

I had a wonderful baby shower last weekend. I am so blessed to have many wonderful friends who are excited for us. This weekend the big task is to pack "the bag" for the hospital and install the car seat. Hope you are all having a stress -free lead into the holiday season!

Comments.

Please leave a comment or two...:)
We like to be reminded that people are reading this.

A recording of our baby's heartbeat, recorded from a monitor during our November 29th doctor's appointment.

Winter in Victoria

Well winter has certainly arrived in Victoria! This is me working from home on our first snow day of this winter. (Can you tell that I am barely able to reach the keyboard these days?)

It was about -9 today which is soooo cold for us Victorians. We are surviving though :) We have had about a foot of snow in Victoria, see the photos of George enjoying the yummy snow and Beacon Hill Park. Jon really wanted to get me out on the tobaggan hill but we decided against it in the end. These days getting up off the couch is enough of a challenge.

Have I mentioned that we got "the stroller"!? It costs as much a used car but man its cool! It practically raises the baby for you - that's once you get the damn thing assembled. Our little baby will be travelling in style. This is our one major splurge in the baby gear department. We walk so much and are really hoping that this stroller will be the ONE!















I am starting to look for a few new items of maternity clothing (unbelievably!) I am getting pretty big and most of my clothes are just about stretched to the limit. Only 7 weeks to go so I hate to buy anything new but a girl has to have some semblance of a wardrobe even if she IS a beached whale :)

Well that's it for tonight, I'm tired, nothing new there.....

Movin' right along

It is so hard to believe that 8 months is just around the corner! Life is so busy and this pregnancy is just flying by. Just had our 31 week checkup - baby and I are both doing fine. I had my first flu shot yesterday (Jon got one too) I was really hesitant because I am just not convinced that they are good for you. But it is the only way to protect the baby in the event that the flu bug finds its way into our lives so hopefully it will work out. We are starting to have doctor's appointments every 2 weeks now.

We have been really enjoying our prenatal classes. We have had 4 already and are learning a lot. Yesterday we had a tour of the hospital maternity ward. It was not exactly a place that made me feel warm and fuzzy - not very zen. It didn't help that it was a stormy night and the wind was really howling in the room! We will just have to bring a few suitcases of stuff to warm the place up a bit. The reality of having to deliver this baby is really hitting home. I am mostly feeling ok about it but I do have some moments of panic - no question.

Jon and I had a very relaxing weekend together on Pender Island. It was great to have some down time together after having a few really busy months. We watched lots of movies, went swimming in the outdoor heated pool and ate too much. I also had a fabulous spa package while Jon did some exploring on the island. He did a great painting of a wave scene from Tofino on our last day there. Here is a pic of us enjoying a little walking trail by a waterfall and one of Jon's photos of the island.













For those of you who don't know about the conference that I have been volunteering for through the Y, I mentioned that I would post some more info - you can check out the conference info and the news stories on the website www.LMConference.ca.

We're Baaaaaack......

Not that we were away but it has certainly been a while since I got a post up here. It has been incredibly busy latey. Work is busy as always but even moreso and I have had a lot of work for the conference I chair through the Y. It took place on the weekend and it was a GREAT success. I will post more info about that later.

Jon has done a mega paint job on the baby's room - will will take some pics this week - it is really sweet. He is also still fixing up all the things around the house that we are hoping to have done before the arrival in January. The house is really becoming a home.

We had about 70 kids for Halloween. See one of Jon's 5 pumpkins here. We had so many comments on them but this was his favourite. He was going to paint my belly like a pumpkin but we just didn't have time.

I am 30 weeks pregnant today - I can't believe how quickly this pregnancy is moving. the baby is getting BIG, I can feel her every move these days. She is really busy and spends a lot of time kicking for daddy. This morning she was very responsive to a light we were putting on my bump. It is all so amazing and we are getting very anxious to meet our little one. Though I have told her in no uncertain terms that she is to stay put until at least the new year!

Picture Updates

(baby's music time)

Been a while since we posted any pics. Everything is trucking along. Baby is growing away and so is my belly (6 cms in the past month!). I found my first stretchmarks tonight - boohoo - I thought I might get lucky and not have any. Oh well...

I am feeling pretty good - my only recent complaint is the double charlie horse I woke up to last thursday am. Wow - it must have lasted a full minute. It is the closest thing I can think of to what labour must feel like - pretty much solidified the plan for an epidural... My calves are still in recovery!

Jon and I went to the Mothering Touch store yesterday to learn all about reusable diapers - my head still hurts... I think we will get some disposables and a diaper service for the first month anyway. Deciding on a 'system' seems like far too much work right now!

Baby's room is coming together...

Insomnia

Boy I am very deliquent in getting a posting on here. I am pretty swamped with work and volunteer work so finding time to do something else on the computer has been a challenge lately. It seems that a little insomnia has come my way so I thought I might as well catch up on some e-mail and add a posting while I'm up (or should I say we're up - Baby G is wide awake and experimenting with ways to deal with her bouts of hiccups).

Can't wait to get some new photos up - I will get Jon to upload some tommorow. Lots of me and my blossoming belly as well as baby's room progress.

I am feeling pretty good these days despite the fact that I am officially in the 3rd trimester - can you believe it?! A little heartburn and some aches and pains but really nothing too major. I can feel my energy dwindling a little but as always Jon is more than willing to cater to me which is so appreciated.

Not much to report on the belly button front - still hovering at slighting indented with an eruption threatening to make me an outie any time now.

Two of our friends have had baby boys in the past weeks - congrats Mark and Joy and Julia and Wendell! Later Gators...

Baby's Accomodations

No not the current accomodations (which of course you can see from the photos is ever expanding) but her future accomodations in our lovely little home.

We thought it was about time to start making some space in the house dedicated to our little one. Her room has been my dressing room - what luxury!- since we moved in. Slowly but surely we have moved my stuff out and Jon and I have come to an amicable (no really) arrangement about sharing the not so big space in our bedroom - I have a full dresser and the closet and he has a lovely new wardrobe (though I will note that I have let him keep all his size 13s in the closet :)

Baby currently has a dresser come change table and an almost cleared out room (when I say almost that is there is still a LARGE pile of "things Christine can no longer wear" in the corner that I will have to deal with sooner or later). We have ordered a rocking chair but can't yet seem to find a simple crib that we like for less than $1000!!! As such we are still looking...

Will keep you posted on the baby room progress!

Sleepless in Victoria

It seems the stars area aligning to prevent Jon and I from sleeping, presumable to prepare us for baby G's arrival. Last night we managed a few good hours of sleep before the disturbances began. First it was too hot so we had to open the window, then of course I had to pee but couldn't manage to get to sleep again because I have developed 'whistle nose' so I keep myself awake all bloody night with the sound of my own breathing! I am considering a good pressure washing of the naval cavity before bed to see if this helps. The baby, not wanting to miss out on anything, also gets in on the action for a few someraults and jumping jacks before settling in, I have to admit though, I still don't really consider this a disturnance :). Oh and of course just after I was almost asleep again George started to hack up a furball. Yes George is a dog and shouldn't have anything to do with furballs but alas he does, usually at 4 am...

Jon is a real trooper - I have been so uncomfortable this week (also construbuting to the lack of sleep) that Jon has literally helped me out of bed and poured me into the bath tub each morning to ease my aching hips and back. Am I a lucky woman or what??

Jon's has been planning his wardrobe for when baby finally arrives. Here's what he's finally decided on for diaper changes:

More pics.

We've been enjoying the company from Jon's dad and Rosemary as they're visiting from Ottawa. Rosemary, as usual has been cooking up a storm of great food in the kitchen when we're not out and about enjoying the gorgeous fall weather. It's been great having them around. They're good company.

We had to endure a trip to Sooke Harbour House, a gourmet restaurant out in the country, which was absolutely horrible. They made us eat all this delicious food, and put up with a view of the Juan Du Fuca Straight and the Olympic Moutains off in the distance. They even made us eat desert!

Camping weekend

We had a great visit to Port Renfrew camping this weekend. I learned though that a pregnant woman (well at least this pregnant woman) will suffer with aches and pains after sleeping on an air mattress in the cold. Ah well - last camping trip for a while I guess. It was beautiful and lots of fun.

Some pics

Seeing as I am just getting my act together with this blog thing, I thought I'd get a few photos from the past few weeks posted.

All is well at the moment - I am sleeping like a rock and enjoying it while it lasts! Jon on the other hand is up every few hours to let the dog out to the backyard - I think George is trying to train him up for parenthood. I don't hear a thing and sleep blissfully through it!

Belly button update - there is definitely some movement down there. It'll be an outie in no time.
Prego eats some dessert. pretty huh?












daddy palms the belly





















the 4 month belly















ready for work - so happy to have found an outfit that actually fits!

September 11, 2006

I am 5 months pregnant now and JUST starting this blog - better late than never I guess. Hopefully I will actually keep it up to date with fascinating facts on the little one growing away inside of me. Here goes...

Started panicking on the weekend about the fact that I only have 4 months to prepare, find someone to replace me at work and then I have to GIVE BIRTH!! I am growing away and having lots of fun still being in the smallish 2^nd trimester. I fear that I will be huge in the end though! Our little girl is kicking away (for those of you who don't know yet - its a girl!), I think for sure she is going to be an athlete. She kicks for most of the day and evening and then settles down at night thankfully so I can sleep. Though last night Jon just happened to have his hand on my tummy in the middle of the night and she kicked him really hard! It was hilarious – he didn’t know if she was saying ‘hi’ or ‘stop disturbing my beauty sleep damn it!’

I think I am going to start measuring the depth of my belly button, I don’t recognize it anymore. It is so shallow – there certainly is no worry of lint collection, long gone is my pretty little inny. The ‘pop’ is expected with great anticipation - will keep you posted and will probably have to share a photo too.

We have started on the name shopping but nothing confirmed yet, I am taking the woman’s approach (obviously) of wanting to check out every possible name in the world and then we can narrow it down from there – after all this may be the only time that I name a girl, I want to get it right! Jon’s approach is like – “I like that one – let’s go for it! Deal?”

This is week 22 - check out these photos of little baby G from 3 weeks ago at our 19 week ultrasound.