Thursday, August 30, 2007

Baby's room

If all goes according to plan, John will be painting the baby’s room this weekend. I’m so excited to start organizing the room and setting it up! We’ve gotten so many nice things from friends and family, but I haven’t been able to unpack it and organize it all since the room’s been a total disaster. So by the end of the weekend I should be able to start putting things away and really decorating. Yippee!

September will be a busy month for us. We have 3 weekend prenatal classes, I’ll be taking my maternity photographs, and it’s my dad’s birthday as well. Thankfully, I can see work finally slowing down, ‘cause I don’t think I’ll have time for it all with all this stuff we have to do!

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Working too much

I have nothing new to update on that’s exciting. I’ve been working. A LOT. I’ve had no time to relax for a while now, or at least it seems that way. So obviously the new business is going really well at the moment, and that’s great. The downside is putting in all the extra hours between that and my regular job. I just want 2 days off in a row where I don’t have to think about anything. Looks like I probably have 2 more weeks of this though *sigh*. At least our bank account will be happy!

In other news, I drove the car! And John thinks I did really well. It was good to drive again. I’m still a bit of a nervous driver, but I’m sure I’ll get more comfortable as time passes.

I’m getting a friend of mine to take maternity photos for me. She’s a really talented amateur photographer who wants to go pro. It’ll be good to have some nice photos of the belly! We’ll be doing them sometime in September, I think. Gotta work out the details!

Thursday, August 23, 2007

The ever expanding belly

I’m definitely pregnant. There’s no doubt about it now. I can no longer hide it with baggy shirts. There is a big belly now! And a baby growing bigger by the week. Literally. I look at myself in the mirror everyday, and on Sundays I see a distinct difference! It’s quite funny. I run (waddle) to John and yell “look at how much bigger my belly is!” and he laughs and calls me “tubs”.

The little guy is a real kicker too, and has a love for my right side ribs. I can’t tell if it’s hands or feet, but I often get little tickles up there that actually squish my lungs a bit and make me have to take a few deep breaths. And never on the left side, always on the right!

We got the new car, it’s so beautiful. And I can drive it! It’s an automatic! John isn’t too thrilled, but I am! For those of you that don’t know, I haven’t driven in about 7 years or so, although I do still have my licence, so this weekend we’re going take a little refresher course. Exciting!

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Pimp Mommy's and Daddy's Ride


Little Baby Churchill is costing us big bucks already. First there was the house and now we've upgraded our car. Who knew such a tiny baby will need so much room?

We bought a Hyundai Sonata last Thursday and pick it up next Tuesday.

With most dealers blowing out their 2007 inventory of cars and our due date rapidly approaching, I had begun to pay attention to the 0% financing offers on the radio and in newspapers. I had always thought that we would take a hard look at Hyundai when we purchased our next car. I've noticed that they have been getting rave reviews for their cars and racking up JD Power awards. Since they still struggle to overcome the misconception that their cars are junk, they are priced much cheaper than cars they regularly beat in road tests - even topping royalty like the Camry and Accord in some notable reviews.

After briefly considering a minivan and learning that Steph was even more averse to a mini-van than me, we focused in on the Hyundai Sonata. As a full-sized family sedan, it is much larger than our current car and while it doesn't have the storage of a mini-van or SUV, it comes in a much more efficient package that should meet all our needs. Plenty of room for strollers and diaper bags for people other than me to use.

While we were originally considering the 4 cylinder base model, the dealer was trying to unload a fully loaded V6 Premium model - yes it still gets outstanding gas mileage (earned top spot from EnerGuide for most fuel efficient full sized car). As much as I wanted to stick with the 4 cylinder, the Little Baby Churchill showed a strong preference for the blinged out 17" wheels, powerful motor and leather interior of the Premium model. Okay, so that was me. I figure that since I won't have a life, I can at least live vicariously through my fog lights. Oh yeah, it also has a bunch of less important stuff like 5 star crash rating, traction control, stability control and ABS brakes.

We armed ourselves with some techniques learned from our friend Jason. He hooked me up with dealer invoice and manufacturer incentive information. With this information and after devising a negotiation strategy that involved Stephanie being 'bad cop', we got an amazing deal. I almost feel guilty about it. Stephanie's job was to scowl, act unimpressed and openly remind me in front of the salesman that that Dodge had a much bigger sale on Caravans, which were more practical for a family.

Poor salesaman didn't stand a chance

Thursday, August 16, 2007

My husband, the incredible cook

Some of you already know this, but for those of you who don’t, John is an incredible cook. This has been fantastic for me, since even though I enjoy cooking, I don’t love it. So I’m thrilled that John has become great at it, and has discovered a real passion for it. I’m thinking (hoping!) this will be even handier once the baby comes and I’m too tired/frazzled to cook anything interesting.

We’ve recently received a BBQ as a gift from my mom (merci maman!), and John has been putting it to great use. Last night, he made salmon with terragon on a cedar plank, along with these veggie packs that my mom taught us how to make (aluminum foil wrapped veggies baked in the oven, then on the BBQ for a few minutes. Fancier than it sounds). It was delicious! He has informed me that this weekend he will be attempting ribs on the BBQ as well. Can’t wait!

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Daddy Churchill

I thought I'd throw my hat into the ring and try out this blogging thing.

As our midwife appointments become more frequent and our house begins to fill up with foreign furniture like a crib, bassinet (who knew they weren't the same thing?) and high chair, this baby stuff is becoming more real with each passing day.

While the whole process is very cool and exciting, the "its okay, we've got 9 months to figure it out" has been replaced with "holy f$^% , we've got 3 months to go and I don't know anything more than I knew 6 months ago". I'm sure this is a very common feeling, and one I'll have to get used to, but its difficult to appreciate it until you experience it.

I *am* reading books to prepare myself and I've found one I really enjoy. Its called "So you're going to be a Dad". The cover shows a man standing at a crossroad, one sign reading "being a Dad" and the other "having a life". The author is hilarious, so its a fun read. I find myself reading most of it to Stephanie so she can find out what I'm laughing about.

My brother has passed on some advice that I think will be very helpful and calming. He said, "prepare to worry for the rest of your life". Okay, that didn't sound so helpful or calming, but he delivered this seemingly profound message with such peace and confidence that I'll assume he was passing on a philosophy of relativist peace, rather than being an @sshole.

Oh yeah, I have to stop swearing so much. Yes, Dad. I know you told me so.

Our midwife is very calming and has been a good choice. I have to admit, I initially felt hesitant about going with a midwife. Even with a full understanding of the advantages, using a medical doctor just seems so ingrained into my psyche. With that said, I'm 100% sold now. Every Doctor I've ever visited has sucked. While we were on a waiting list for our midwife, we visited a doctor for 2 appointments, and surprise, surprise, he sucked too. He was rushed, didn't explain anything and seemed annoyed by our presence. On the other hand, our midwife is unbelievably pleasant and calm. She reserves an hour each time we meet with her to ensure we have time to talk about anything we want. She explains everything clearly and calmly. Her focus is on empowerment of the mother and a minimalist approach to medical intervention. After giving birth, she will come to our home every second day for the first week or so to ensure we're adjusting well and the baby is feeding properly.

I think our child will be a handful, like I was as a baby. He already consistently kicks me when I rest my cheek on Steph's belly and talk to him. He either finds me comforting or wants me to shut up so he can go back to sleep. I suppose we'll never know. Either way, he'll have to put up with it because it amuses me. When it comes down to it, getting kicked in the face by our baby is about the coolest thing that's happened so far... or at least its right up there with the first ultrasound. I can't wait until he pops out so I can kick him back.

Busy weekend!

What a weekend! We were incredibly busy and even had a home crisis.

Saturday evening we had dinner at Diane & Dan’s house. Wonderful meal with wonderful friends. We don’t see them often enough, and will make a bigger effort to see them more often from now on. Their 2 kids are awesome too! Full of smiles and giggles. Diane also lent me a ton of maternity clothes. Thank you!

On Sunday, Lisa, Gerry and the kids dropped by and gave us a bunch of their stuff. Love! We got a stroller, infant car seat with base, nursing pillow, jolly jumper, etc. Cole was showing off his fabulous The Incredibles running shoes which light up, and Keira was wearing THE CUTEST little blue outfit with flowers. Wish I had thought to take a picture!

Later, our a/c burst and semi-flooded our basement! AAAAAAAH! Luckily we caught it within an hour or so, so our basement isn’t completely ruined. We still had to pull back some carpeting though, and we were stressed out for the remainder of the day. The furnace-a/c guy came and it looks like it wasn’t a HUGE problem, the a/c part of the furnace had never been cleaned and was therefore backed up. He cleaned it and it’s been fine since. We were lucky to have caught it so quickly, often we’ll go days without going in the basement… imagine if it had been 3 days instead of 1 hour! Yikes. John’s parents came and helped us clean up the mess the flooding had done, and brought over a dehumidifier, which has already helped immensely.

I had Monday off and Theresa & Bo came for a little visit. Bo is the cutest baby. He’s smiling and giggling lots now, I can’t get enough! Bo and Little Baby Churchill had better get along. They won’t have much choice in the matter.

I’m now 27 weeks along. Only 13 weeks to go. I’ll have to take a belly picture soon!! We had a midwife appointment yesterday and we had the option of starting our 2 week appointments already. We opted for 3 weeks this time, since I’m feeling fantastic. But it’ll be 2 weeks from that point on! Where did the time go??

Friday, August 10, 2007

Belly, belly, bellybutton

My belly is cone-shaped. It’s bizarre. When I’m lying down and contract my stomach muscles to sit (my rock hard abs!!), my belly goes in the shape of a cone. It’s pointy!! It makes me laugh so hard, and then John looks at me funny. Hopefully Little Baby Churchill won’t be too cone-headed.

My bellybutton isn’t even close to being an outtie yet, but it is stretching. My bellybutton ring holes are all wonky. The bottom hole is now a good quarter inch ABOVE my bellybutton. Good thing I’m over the whole belly-ring thing.

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Baby furniture

Here are the pics of our new-used crib and change table:

Generosity

Our family and friends are incredibly generous. We’ve gotten tons of hand-me-down clothes, lots of baby accessories and furniture, and offers to get us baby gifts from parents. Not to mention all my buddies that gave me their maternity clothes! You all rock! We love you!

A highchair! And apparently more to come! (courtesy Lisa, Gerry, Cole & Keira)
A onesie! (courtesy Laura) A dress?! (courtesy Natasha & Evyn, before we knew we were having a boy–she gave us lots of other stuff too)
A bassinett! (courtesy Ghyslaine & Valerie)
A hippo! (courtesy Guylène–and other stuff too)

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Productivity

We had an incredibly productive long weekend. John busted his butt ALL weekend painting our main floor. He did SUCH a good job. Our place now looks amazing, I’m in love with our walls! While John painted, I hung out with my dad on Saturday (it was a gorgeous day, we hung out on the front porch with the dog ALL day) and I unpacked the office on Sunday. Monday I took down all the paint tape. Poor John is so exhausted. And he still has the basement, baby’s room, and kitchen cabinets to do! Did I mention I love my husband very very much?

We also bought a crib with mattress and change table for an incredible bargain. We bought them used, but you couldn’t tell by looking at it, everything is in pristine condition. The woman we bought it from even included a full crib set, a bag of sheets, AND a bag of baby boy clothes! All for $125!!!!!!!!!!!! A.maz.ing.

Photos of the walls AND our new furniture to come later tonight.

Oh, and I’m 26 weeks pregnant today!

*Edit* We didn't get any pictures tonight. Sorry! Tomorrow for sure.

Friday, August 3, 2007

Ice Cream

I love ice cream. It could be pregnancy related, but I think it’s just a “me” thing in general. I usually eat a Haagen Daaz container in 2 sittings. So bad. Only guilt stops me from eating the whole thing in ONE sitting. Well, that and a numb tongue. John is trying to get me to cut back by saying I can have 1/2 a cup of ice cream per day, and he’ll reciprocate by only having one Rocket per day (red, white and blue striped popsicle). John lies. He’s completely unable to do it!! It was even him who came up with the idea, and then THAT VERY DAY he found an excuse to have a second one! His excuse? Rockets have less calories than ice cream. That’s not the point! It’s the PRINCIPLE!! He SAID one Rocket for 1/2 cup ice cream, and he re-negged. So I had a full cup of ice cream last night. *ha*

Thursday, August 2, 2007

Hobbit feet

Here are my fabulous hobbit feet:

Apples, Oranges and TVs

I promise not to do too many of these, but I found a couple of contests to enter, and I all I have to do is write about it in my blog and link back to them.... soooooo.....

Contest time!
"5 Minutes for Mom" is giving away a free 37" Flat-panel LCD-HDTV! It's sponsored by Best Buy. How cool would it be to win a TV??? Go visit ASAP. It's a pretty cool blog too. Here's a direct link to the contest if you want to enter too:
"5 Minutes for Mom" contest

Another contest:
Apples n' Oranges is having a contest to win a cute onesie. Go to their site to see it. I've been keeping track of them for a while, they're a couple of local Ottawa moms starting a new business selling funky kid items. I like supporting the little guys, since I'm one too.
http://shopapples-n-oranges.blogspot.com/

First blog post EVAH!

Here's our little baby Churchill at 21 weeks:


I am now 25 weeks and 2 days preggers. Everything is going great! Except for the swollen feet. It's so irritating! And I normally have such cute feet, and now... not so much. My SIL even called them hobbit feet!! *waaaaaa* And my one fingertip is numb. But really, I shouldn't complain, I've had it REALLY good so far.

We've picked out our baby room theme. Farm! It's unisex, so we can pass it on if we have a girl next time around (did I mention we're having a boy??), OR, heck, maybe the u/s tech was wrong!