Pumpkins Galore

Went to the 8th annual pumpkin carving party at the Dunham's on Thursday. There was another great turnout with all sorts of pumpkins being carved. Always a good time. Happy Halloween everyone!!!

Progressive Dinner Party

Christien was out for coffee with a client the other day and asked her what her plans were for Halloween. She told him that she was going to be going to a Progressive Dinner Party. Apparently the gist is this. You get a total of about 3 or 4 hosts, and have each of those hosts cook a dish for the night. Could be an appy at one place, soup and salad at another, main course at another, or just a large dish at each house. The deal is you drive from house to house having dinner or portions of dinner and having someone different host. It sounds like the main idea is to have more of a mingling party. You know when you go to parties, depending on whose place you are at, there are certain people who will park by the fireplace all night, and others who will stay in the kitchen, etc instead of mingling around. The idea of the Progressive Dinner Party is to get people mingling in a different way throughout the night. Kind of a cool concept. A little un-environmentally friendly. And I think that it may work best either in a smaller city or in a city where your hosts live in either the same or a close neighbourhood. Calgary might make it a bit difficult as people are so spread out in this city. Otherwise, I think that it's a cool little idea.

Strong Beat

Went for another appointment with Dr. Lam today. So nice to hear the baby's heartbeat. And it sounds much stronger now, even though the BPM have gone down (146 today). It was so easy to pick up and so strong. The doctor did all her measurements and such and said that I was the picture of health, except for the low lying placenta, which I am having checked out again with another ultrasound in about a month. So basically, this baby is perfect. Every measurement that we've had, every scan that we've had, everything has been bang on. Not a little small, not a little large, just perfect. Reassurance is wonderful. I have an ultrasound, diabetes testing and another doctor's appointment to look forward to over the next month. Then I'll start seeing her every two weeks. Crazy how quickly time flies.

14 Weeks

Not a countdown to when this baby is due, but a countdown to when I'll be finished at work. I've decided to cash my personal days and whatever little vacation time I will have accrued in one month at the beginning of February. I think this will only led me to be taking an early mat leave of 10 days, plus the vacation that I'll tack onto that. So a good three weeks before the baby is due. Not that I think I'll have a lot to do between the beginning of February and the due date (trust me, I am basically ready right now), but I think that with all the uncomfortableness I've already been experiencing, I just might need to take it easy for a few weeks. Try to get a little extra sleep in. Have time to make dinner and maybe hit up a few work outs. That's the plan, and that's my countdown.

Mind you, there are a ton of mini countdowns going on between now and then.. next week is already jammed packed, which bring me right to the beginning of November. Then I'm hoping that my parents will be able to make it down for a quick visit/shopping trip between when they get back from Cuba and the end of November. 7 weeks till Christien's birthday! 9 weeks till Christmas! 11 weeks till we start our pre-natal classes! 14 weeks till I start my mat leave! Exciting.

We now basically have a nursery. Crib and dresser are in there and all set up. We put a nice big bamboo tree in there as well. It looks great. We're only missing a rocking chair, which is most likely going to be a glider, cause all the rockers that we can find are old and uncomfortable. Otherwise, onsies are folded in the dresser, washcloths and towels are put away, a few cutsie things are hanging in the closet to make it look less empty. Christien is working on a cute painting right now. And we're just looking for some cute bedding to bring it all together. There's not much that is plain and neutral to choose from, but we've narrowed it down to a few. I like to shop around and find something that I love, so it might take me a little while before I am good to go with something picked out and put on the bed. Franklin is starting to get a bit more curious now that there is a mattress on the bed and the room is cleaned up. We'll see how long it takes him to jump into the crib, and then it's off to the store to buy a cat net. I think that he'll be too freaked out by the baby to be around all that often.

We've also got a bit of a thumper in there right now. I swear the day after my last post, this baby started moving around and hasn't really stopped. I can't even pinpoint when I feel it most. It's gotten to the point where I just kind of ignore it during the day cause I'm getting used to it. At night or first thing in the morning, when it's moving around quite a bit, Christien always jumps in to feel it. I think that he might have felt a slight twinge about a week ago, but he hasn't felt anything since. I'll be happy when he's able to feel it too. Just one more thing that reinforces how real it is. Another appointment on Tuesday to get lined up for the rest of my tests and ultrasounds. Hopefully hear the baby's heartbeat again (that's even better then the ultrasound for me).

When am I going to feel this baby kicking???

Kalispell, Montana

I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving this weekend! We had a wonderful, wonderful time in Montana. It's so beautiful down there, I can't wait to plan another trip, but in the summer next time. The drive, although 5 hours, went really quickly and that Crowsnest highway is just beautiful. We got in fairly late on Friday night, but that gave us all day Saturday and Sunday to explore and do some shopping. And shop we did. Christien and I never do well shopping together, but man, we had a blast. The dollar was so great and the prices were so cheap. Christien scored 60 beers for $40. Can't beat that unless you are in Bali.

The weather left something to be desired. Although it was at least 0 every day, it got really, really cold at night. It was just a biting, bitter cold. When we got back to Calgary and it was cloudy and snowy, it was still warmer then it was down there in the sunshine. Hence another trip is in order when the weather gets warmer.

We had Thanksgiving dinner last night with the Dunhams and their neighbour, Rambo. BD deep fried a turkey and it was magnificent!! Was very nice to spend Thanksgiving with friends. 10:30 hit before we knew it and we were rushing to get home, to try to get a good night's sleep before it was back to work today. I could have used just one more day off.

We're now faced with cold, snowy weather. Supposed to snow until Thursday and then get up to +16. Man, this Calgary weather. I just wish it would make up it's mind.

Working Out

That's right, it's not a typo. It's been long enough, so I decided that I need to get back at 'er. Started going to yoga 3 weeks ago, and I love it. It's not quite the yoga experience that you would normally get. No intense heat and sweat, but it is a nice way to relax and find some good stretches to help out with the growing pains. Lots of relaxation and corpse pose. Sweet... Half way through the 6 weeks that I signed up for and am most likely going to sign up for another 6 weeks once this is done. I might even have a friend to join me...

Hit up the elliptical in the basement twice this week too. Swimming was good, but I only went once. It's not way far out of the way, but it takes me at least an hour an a half for a simple 30 minute swim. Still wishing there was a pool closer to our place. However, while Christien is at kickboxing, I jump on the elliptical for 30 minutes. It's not much, but at least it's not sitting on the couch. It's starting to get cold, and dark early. Our nightly walks sort of fell by the wayside once that started. We did pretty good over the summer with our walks though. Either way, I am glad to be getting back to doing something. Hopefully I'll be able to have a good go at it for a couple of months before I get too big to move around like that. I'm sure that the baby likes the extra exercise. If only it would start moving around with me. Come on baby...

Christien and I are off to Kalispell this weekend. Just wanted a quick, cheap and easy get-a-way, just the two of us. Kind of funny place to go, but it's close. Christine's in-laws have a cabin just outside of Kalispell and they normally spend every single long weekend out there. Go figure, the one weekend that we'll be making the trek down there and they are off to see her parents in Kamloops. It'll be nice to just get some shopping done and do a little exploring. We always have fun no matter where we are. The newer the place, the more fun it is.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Death Tank

My poor fishes came down with what I think is Ick. This is the second time that I've had clown loaches in my tank and the second time that this has happened. I've had them for quite a few months and they were doing really well. I thought that I had caught it soon enough, went to Big Al's and started medicating them last week. I've lost all three of them. And two other cute orange tetras in the process. Hopefully the medicine has killed what was left and I can clean out the tank and get everyone back to normal again. It's too bad cause those loaches were super cool fish. They liked to play and swim around. There's nothing better then having active fish in the tank. I'm very sad. With having a community tank, there are not a lot of fun fish that you can add. Franklin is upset too, cause it's ruining the fish show for him.

On top of that, this belly is starting to get in the way. It's not even that big yet. I guess I'm just not really used to it. I had something out of the oven yesterday, on the counter, and I was just reaching up to grab some plates, and burned it on the pan. Ouch. I guess I have to start taking it into consideration. It's only going to get bigger and bigger. I can feel the growing pains so bad today. Yipee???