Our Beautiful Niece

Here are a few pictures from a recent visit with our niece Larissa from New Brunswick. We love you Larissa.

Week 16

How your baby's growing: At 4 1/2 inches long (head to bottom) and 3 1/2 ounces, your baby is about the size of an avocado. In the next three weeks, she'll go through a tremendous growth spurt, though, doubling her weight and adding inches to her length. Her lower limbs are much more developed now. Her head is more erect than it has been, and her eyes have moved toward the front of her head. Your baby's ears are close to their final position, too. Some of her more advanced body systems are working, including her circulatory system and urinary tract. Her heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, circulating her total blood volume through her body many times. (By the end of your pregnancy, this will increase to about 190 quarts.) The patterning of her scalp has begun, though her hair isn't recognizable yet. Although closed, her eyes are moving (slowly), and she's even started growing toenails.

How your life's changing: Have people been telling you how wonderful you look? The "glow of pregnancy" is real, thanks to increased blood flow to the skin. You may be enjoying yourself more, too, now that your hormones have stabilized and nausea has eased up. You're also probably less anxious about something happening to your baby (the risk of miscarriage drops dramatically after the 14th week) which likely adds to your overall sense of well-being.Soon you'll experience one of the most wonderful moments of pregnancy — feeling your baby move. While some women notice "quickening" as early as 16 weeks, most don't until about 18 weeks or more. If this is your first baby, don't be too anxious — you may not be aware of your baby's movements until 20 weeks or so. The earliest movements may feel like little flutters, gas bubbles, or even like popcorn popping. Over the following weeks they'll start to feel unmistakably like kicks.

CAMPING!!!!

YAY - we are going camping tomorrow after Mark gets off work!!! We did not realize that Cliff, Gerry and the rest of the crew aren't even planning on being back in Calgary until late Sunday afternoon sometime. Now that we know - why stick around?!!!

We are going with my friend Tracey and her daughter Evelyn. We'll leave tomorrow around 5 ish and come back sometime after dinner on Saturday. The weather is supposed to be really warm all weekend so it will be nice. We are leaving the dogs at home though, which somehow doesnt seem fair but will make for a more relaxing weekend. The campground we are going to has a rule about dogs being kept on a leash so that isn't really fun for us or the dogs.

Other news:

I worked 5 whole hours today!!! I worked at Carewest and before my shift started (at noon) I went in for an interview. It seemed to go okay so we shall see...................................................

I put gas in my car today after work...it was $59 dollars...WOW! That's the most it's ever been to fill that puppy up! The gas is 109 here...ICK! If it keeps going up like this it may be best to downsize on the car which is unfortunite since we love our car so much but man, it's expensive!

Well, I'd best be getting back to bed now. I have a very busy day tomorrow. Grocery shopping, food prep. for the trip, walking the dogs, cleaning the house and making sure everything is ready to put in the car by the time my little honey gets home from work.

Goodnight all & God bless!

14 Weeks 2 Days

We went in for a doctor's appointment this evening. The doctor said it might be a bit early but she she got out the doppler to see if we could hear baby's heart beating and guess what - WE DID...it was very neat. Baby's heart is beating at 154 beats per minute.

I have gained 11 pounds so far and she said that everything looks fine. I will be going for an ultrasound at the end of August. Things are moving along fairly quickly.

Gerry, Pierrette & Larissa arrived on Saturday from New Brunswick. It's so good to see them again! We had a spaghetti dinner at our place on Saturday night and on Sunday we went downtown to Prince's Island Park and then wandered around downtown.

They left early on Monday morning with Cliff and Lori to go on a fabuluous trip to BC. We stayed behind because Mark couldn't take time off work. I hope they are having a great time out there. BC is beautiful and I sure miss it!!!

On Sunday night I also went to a concert..."Third Day" they are a Christian group. It was really good. Also playing was Starfield and Chris Tomlin. Both of them played wonderfully!! It was so nice of my friend Ron to surprise me with a ticket. After the concert we went through the Stampede grounds and got some mini donuts...YUM! and then we went to watch the fireworks.

So that's what's been going on. I am still looking for work, still not having any luck, and applied at another temp agency because the one I am with only has 5 hours of work for me this week which is nothing.

UGH - I have tried three times to upload pictures and it won't let me - sorry.

Anyway, have a good night.

13 Weeks and 3 Days

Well a few people had e-mailed and asked for some belly shots so here ya go!

Ugh - indigestion has hit me BIG TIME the last few days. Keeps me up at night...oh let the fun begin! My Mom said it bothered her the whole 6 months and apparently it's gonna be the same for me.

I am actually a bit frustrated with the whole work situation and mad at myself that I didn't stay in my previous position...had I known I was going to be pregnant I would still be there. Had I known a month sooner that I was pregnant - I would NEVER HAVE APPLIED for EI...how big did I screw up - BIG -HUGE ...DANG IT! I have to accumulate 600 hours or else I will not be getting maternity leave and well...it looks like there is a big possibility that I will not get those hours. Temp work is NOT keeping me nearly as busy as I need to be and NOBODY will hire a pregnant person. I loved the lady's response today "oh I am sorry dear, but it will take 3-4 months to train you and then you would be on maternity leave so it really wouldn't be a good idea for me to do that" This for a RECEPTIONIST position in a frigin chiropractic clinic. 3-4 months for training - give me a break!
I went for another interview at a dental clinic and the lady said I would be a good fit but she was uncomfortable with my being pregnant and being off work in a few months.
I am so frustrated and mad at myself and disappointed that I can't find work and that I screwed this up.

Bragg Creek

Sunday we spent a lovely day in the wilderness. We hooked up with my friend Tracey and her 10 year old daughter, Evelyn.

We stopped at "Elbow River Launch" to roast some hotdogs and we also had smores...mmmm. Evelyn loved those!

The place was really nice and we had a picnic table just up from the river and Eve went exploring and the puppies went swimming and it was a nice time.

We spent a few hours there and then we packed up and headed out to "Paddy's Flat" to do a short hike. It was a beautiful trail along the river and I took lots of pictures and Eve did a lot of exploring.

We left just before the rain started falling.

We are thinking of going camping some weekend soon.

It was a really good day and I am so glad that Evelyn and Tracey joined us!!

It is nearly 5:00 a.m. and I am awake. I have been awake off and on all night so far. This is very annoying. It's so hot and stuffy in our room and the fan doesn't seem to be helping much tonight. I do love summertime but wouldn't mind having a bedroom that got a bit of a breeze at night.

Today Mark worked on the three windows on our back deck...sanding and pulling the cauking out. He draped a big blue tarp from the roof and over the railings so that he wouldn't be in direct sunlight and he put the fan under there so he wasn't too hot.

I went over to Ron & Ed's place to do our laundry, yet again. Not sure what the problem with our washing machine is but hopefully it will be fixed SOON!

After a few hours over there I came home and hung out with Mark and pups for a bit and then we headed back over to their place for a big steak dinner..YUMMY! Then I went downstairs while the three boys watched some ultimate fighting show on PPV(pay per view). I just watched some movie on tv... son-in-law. It was okay.

So that was our day yesterday and a new day is about to begin and I've gotten almost no sleep so it should be an interesting day as we are heading out to Bragg Creek for the day with my friend Tracey and her ?? year old daughter, Evelyn. It will be so fun. I love being in the wilderness..so beautiful and peaceful. These Sunday trips are the highlight of my week!

Well, guess I shall head to bed, again, and see if I can catch another hour or so before we have to get up and get ready.

Chow!

Ramblings

Not too much going on the last few days - been working at a temp job downtown...hours are 8-5. It is a reception position and seriously - I never thought there could possibly be an office as slow as the one I quit back in September...I was SO WRONG! The phone rang a total of maybe 10 times!! Oh well - it's the hours I am interested in although of course it would be nice to be somewhat challenged.

Mark will be looking for employment soon as well because he cannot stand working for this company anymore. He is completely fed up! I think it's a great idea because he is far too stressed out and I hate seeing him like that.

I mowed the lawn last night - finally...it was bugging me for awhile..looked terrible! Finally convinced Mark to get the mower from his brothers place and then it sat there for a few days but I got er done....haha.

Oh and I have received a few e-mails from people asking about commenting on the blog and if they can comment if they don't have their own blog ... yes you can. You just have to say you are an anonymous person.

I also have been asked about when/if I will post pictures now of myself showing off my belly - yes I will. It's 12 weeks and 3 days today and I will try to get a picture taken this week sometime.

Well it's bedtime for me. Must get up at 6:40 a.m. for work!

Goodnight all and God bless you!

A few more

Random pics from our Sunday trip to Kananaskis

Pic's of my Dad hard at work....

A quick note.

We went to Rona today to purchase some supplies to paint the windows and Mark used the pressure washer to remove the excess paint. The painting or staining I should say (thanks to Neil's suggestion) will take place somewhere in the future. For some reason we aren't highly motivated right now to get things done around the house. Our lawn looks horrible- it's so long. Mark is just so tired after work he doesn't feel like doing anything and on the weekends he wants to relax. And I certainly cannot blame him for that as he works from 7am unti 5pm these days.
One of these days he will remember to bring the lawn mower over here and I can mow the lawn.

Guess what we are doing tomorrow - We are going to spend the entire day in Kananaskis country again YAY!!!!!!! How exciting. We are going with our bachelor friends/brothers, Ron & Ed. We will leave early in the morning and have lunch and dinner out there in the great outdoors. It's going to be so so nice!!

I must get back to my chores now. I am in the process of doing some serious housecleaning.

Byeee for now & God's blessings be upon you!