Yogurt and Giggles & Sticks and Smiles.

Okay so today there were two sweet moments shared with my son.

The first was during breakfast when we always sit together at the table for breakfast. It was different today as Briella did not want to wake up so it was just the two of us. For some reason that adorable son of mine decided to giggle everytime we took a spoonful of yogurt. I started giggling too and we continued this until the yogurt was finished; taking a spoonful, smiling and giggling.

The other time we shared today was when we were outside playing and sis was in her swing and i went to sit on the steps. Brae came over to me with a stick for each of us and sat down beside me. He handed me a stick and we sat there the two of us with our hoods up and sticks in our mouths. Mark witnessed this and he thought it was so adorable.

On a side note - Mark went hunting with his buddy from down the street. They didn't get anything but said that they had a wonderful and relaxing time.

Oh and we finally found a kitchen table which is close to the one that belonged to my Gran. I loved the table we had to leave behind and was sad to have to do so. Now we found one similar. We decided not to get a new table because the kids will inevitably nick and scratch it so we got one that was weathered already a bit and won't have to worry.

Switching to a new blog site

Well everyone - I have decided to switch to a new blogging site and so I will no longer be updating this one.

If you would like to continue reading about our life then please feel free to send me an e-mail and I will send you the link to our new blog! In the subject line just write "Blog"

Look forward to seeing everyone there!!!


Here is my e-mail address:

rock_a_berries@hotmail.com

23 Weeks with DQ

22 Week 5 Day Ultrasound

As the title reads - I had another ultrasound today. This is the first of 'serial' ultrasounds which will be every 3-4 weeks until the end or as the need changes.

Baby DQ looks good. He is measuring at 23 weeks 4 days today and he weighs in at 640 grams which is 1 pound 4 ounces...ish.

He was laying on his little belly with his head resting on a hand and the other arm stretched behind him. He looked very cute and very comfortable! He wouldn't change position for a profile picture ... that's how comfortable he was! Maybe next time we can get a good profile pic of him I hope!

They also checked the placenta and cord and flow of blood through it all and everything seems to be normal at this time. YAY!

So for now guys - all looks good :-)

Today is Dad's actual birthday so I made lasanga and a yummy chocolaty dessert that we had when back east and he LOVED it all! YAY...happy 63rd birthday daddy-0!!!

Tomorrow we will be lighting a candle for our son, Caleb, who was silently born a year ago. We welcome you to join us in remembering him as well and remembering all the babies who have been lost in such a sad, sad way. They are God's little angels now and we will never, ever forget them!
We will always love you CALEB!

Dad's Birthday Dinner

Today was a super busy day for Mark and I as we cleaned up and made a cake and went shopping all in preparation for Dad's birthday dinner with Kellie and Jamie and lil Eddie.
I picked Eddie up and we came back and we had a delicious steak dinner and a very yummy strawberry shortcake for dessert.

Body parts!

Had another ultrasound today. Unfortunitely DQ didn't exactly cooperate and so we didn't get a profile picture but we did get his leg, arm and a foot so I thought I would post those for ya.

Everything is looking good so far!


LEG ARM
FOOT

21 Week Belly Shot

Here is the latest belly shot -

didn't grow too much in the last two weeks.

I had another doctors appointment yesterday and that went well. DQ is doing well with a heart rate of 146 bpm. I am gaining weight appropriately (maybe a lil fast) and so far he is doing well. I go for an ultrasound on Friday and after that I wll have then regularly.

He is going through another growth spurt according to the doc as I have been supremely hungry again lately and eating everything in sight. I do believe I am going to go waaay over the recommended weight gain. But so long as he is healthy - who cares!!!!! I'll get the extra weight off eventually.

That's all the news on baby DQ for now.

TWO YEARS!!!

It was our 2 year anniversary on October 8th. We are so lucky to have found eachother. No, we were truly blessed to have found eachother. God knew what He was doing when he put us on the same path! I love my lil Marky-poo so so so much!

To celebrate we headed to Canmore on Saturday for the night and stayed at the Windtower lodge. The room was pretty nice cept the bed was super mushy which made it hard to sleep. We had a nice dinner at this place called "Luna Blue" which a gal from my highschool recommended (thanks Mel!) and it was super good there. We walked all around the town and went into a few neat shops and enjoyed the view of the mountains.

Our night in the hotel included a hot breakfast which was excellent - everything you can imagine and it was all so good! We were stuffed by the time we got out of there!

The rest of the morning/afternoon we spent wandering around a pretty little lake and enjoying the sunshine and fresh mountain air. It was really nice and relaxing.

We got home later in the afternoon and made dinner and headed out to watch a movie "I Now Pronounce you CHuck and Larry" which was actually pretty funny.

On Monday we spent the day making a pumpkin pie and a big turkey dinner and my sister Kellie came over later in the afternoon and we played Domino's and Skip Bo. Our Dad even came up and played a game with us which was really fun and so nice that he did that. We all finished getting dinner ready and enjoyed it together. After that we all tidied up the kitchen and relaxed as we were STUFFED!

Mark felt our little boy move this morning for the first time. It was so neat for him. YAY :-)

Afternoon walk in Bragg Creek

On Sunday Mark and I headed to Bragg Creek with the doggies for a nice walk and to take in the beautiful autumn air and take some pictures.

Hope you enjoy the pics. It was so nice out!

DQ

DQ stands for Dairy Queen. In the few weeks before I found out I was pregnant and a few weeks after...I CRAVED hot fudge sundaes from Dairy Queen.... so my friend Suzie came up with the nickname for the baby..DQ

Kananaskis and stuff

Okay so I said I would put up a few pictures from our last trip to the mountains. Here are a few of them. Hope you like them as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Someone asked in a comment which name I liked...well I can't say. I will say that it is a variation of one that was suggested and that's it. Hehe we decided to keep the name a secret until DQ is born. Basically because we won't know until that time what his name will be. DQ is going to help us pick his name!

Hmm...on a boring note I did two loads of laundry yesterday and made a delicious beef stew complete with biscuits for supper.

Tonight Mark will be working hard on the walkway as he has to pick up a compactor to compact the ground in the steps and then he needs to put the rebar (which he cut last night) in and secure it and then if we can, this weekend we'll rent the cement truck and poor the concrete and at long last we'll have steps! How cool would that be?! Around the front and the side we decided to go with cement blocks instead of pouring it because well - it's a lot easier and much much less labor intensive and waaaay faster. Snow will be here soon and we just have to get it done! That's the last project we have to complete other than purchasing gravel and putting it under the deck out back and then when we're ready we can put the house up for sale and get outta the city next year! YAY!

Oh ya you want a pic or two of the OLD walkway? OKAY!

So this is what the old walkway looked like. The new one is kinda the same idea just better. Hopefully within a week or two I can show you the pics of the new one.

K - I am off to do some chores. Byeeeeeee

19 Weeks with DQ

17 weeks
19 Weeks with DQ

Hi guys,

More belly shots!

Thanks for all the name suggestions!! They're great! I've found one that I really like - but Mark hasn't yet. We think we'll pick a few names and take them with us to the hospital so when we meet lil DQ he can kinda pick his name.

We have a doctors appointment tomorrow afternoon. So tomorrow I will have more info. about DQ.

Yesterday we just hung out at the house and yesterday we went and watched the new Harry Potter movie "order of the pheonix" which was finally in the cheap theatre. It was okay.

Today I cleaned up the house pretty good and made this really yummy tuna noodle casserole. Even my Dad liked it and he does NOT like that kind of casserole. So that was surprising.

Nothing else is really going on at the moment.

I have some pictures from another Kananaskis outting which I will post at a later date.

Question to all the family members who read this blog - did you guys even remember what Saturday was for us and for you? We didn't hear anything from any of you other than Linda & Jen & Lori and we kinda thought we would at least get an e-mail acknowleging the date and more importantly our son. It sure would have been nice to know you remembered............

One Year Has Passed...We love you son!

Well, we went for the ultrasound this morning. I am 18 weeks 5 days but our little boy is measuring 19 weeks and 2 days so he's a lil on the big side (fast developer).

I actually knew it was going to be a boy because my back has been sore lately and as Mom Coombs says - if that happens it must be a boy! She's right. Smart lady that Mom of mine :-)

Any suggestions for boy names?

Brrrrrrrrrrr it's Chilly!

It is a very chilly night here in Calgary - waaay too chilly if you ask me. The weather network states that it is + 5 degrees out there but with that wind it really does feel much cooler and would you believe - they are calling for FLURRIES tonight ALREADY! Umm hello it isn't even fall yet (well for a few more days anyway).

The cooler weather certainly does have it's benefits. It's nice to take a walk in the crisp fall air and feel the warmth of the sunshine. Also you can get more yardwork accomplished without being super hot.

Then there is my all time favourite benefit to the cooler weather...SNUGGLES with my hubby. Sigh - I can't think of anything nicer than snuggling up close when the air is cool. With him and Rocco both - one on each side keeping me toasty warm. Now that's the life! Can you really feel any more loved than in a moment like that?!

It's raining it's pouring....

What a gorgeous, gorgeous weekend we had. God got it right - nice on weekend and yucky during the week..finally!! LOL. We went to bed last night listening to the crazy wind blowing the trees around and the branches smashing into the house occasionally and we wake up this morning with the sound of rain. I love the sound of the rain falling and apparently that will be a normal sound around here for the next few days.

On another note - I am 18 weeks pregnant and yes I forgot to tell you the due date...it's February 17th, 2008! I am feeling okay. Hungry like you wouldn't believe but luckily I am in love with fruit and veggies so that doesn't do any harm to my figure and it does wonders for the growing babe. We have an ultrasound scheduled for this Friday at like 745am and at that time we are hoping that DQ will cooperate and show us boy or girl parts.

Some ppl say we should wait and not spoil the surprise and we really considered it - honest, but waiting just isn't for us...well for me in particular. So, on FRiday at some point I will be writing to let everyone know how it went.

Sunshine!

What a gorgeous day it is out there. I love it!!! It is like suntanning and swimming weather out there today...I think I could handle some suntanning. I have got a pretty decent tan this year already thanks to being back east but I can always use a lil more sunshine.

And CONGRATULATIONS to Elizabeth and Justin who welcomed a beautiful baby girl into their family on September 10th. Susannah Marie Margaret is doing well and is soooooo gorgeous! YAY!!