Happy Anniversary!

Three years of wedded bliss.













Honey bunch it's been swell. Thanks for all the fun!

P.S. A very Happy Anniversary goes out to the parents of the hubby as well!

Belly shots, bruises & dinosaurs.

Recent familial begging compels me to post the following belly shot, taken last weekend when it was sweltering hot (it is still freakin' hot!). Ignore the laundry basket background & the relative darkness (though the shadows certainly make my ass look lumpy!).


Belly shot 23 weeks. Like my new bikini?

Things are moving around a whole lot in there now & I'm beginning to breathe with difficulty when I tie my shoes. Midwife (yes I decided on the midwife.... I love her!) says everything is looking good, blood pressure great, heartbeat around 160, fundal height normal despite ultrasound measurements being a few days off. Whew! Now if I can just get rid of this crazy heartburn!

To compare belly roundness I've decided to also post the following photo of Calvin's ass. Actually I thought the bruise was looking rather artistic so I thought I'd share it with the rest of the world. I'm so sure he won't mind.


Calvin's left butt cheek.

Remember the superman fly I posted previously about? Well this is the end result.


Nice one.

A couple of weekends ago we went out breakfast & came upon this lovely outfit at a store next to the cafe. Since our genious nephew Thomas loves dinosaurs & just learnt the word palaeontologist from his uncle Calvin we decided we had to get it. It's the vinyl crocodile material combined with the tie-up on the shirt that cracks me up. Anyway Thomas loves his new uniform & has informed people that he is now a qualified palaeontologist since he's dug up real bones & teeth already.

Thomas' new outfit.

So that's the update for now. I'm sure there'll be more photos to put up after this weekend as we're off to Vermont for a camping adventure. We'll see how much sleep I actually get on a thermarest. I'm bringing lots of pillows. I'm mostly looking forward to the Ben & Jerry's & the fresh cider doughnuts. Mmmmmm donuts..... I can smell them already!

Bike stuff

So a couple of weekends ago I decided to clean out the shed since Calvin did a piss poor job of it by himself. The bikes needed to be taken out so I could get a broom to all the broken glass still left on the floor. I proceeded to put them (sans front wheels) beside the pool. They were sturdy. I swear. Turns out this happened:


Oops!
Possible scenarios: a) it was way windier than I thought, b) we have vindictive backyard fairies, c) NRS stands for Not Really Sturdy bike.

Don't ask about the chair..... seriously, no clue.

The next weekend (last) Calvin decided he wanted to show off for me so we go to Kanata Lakes where the goat dog proceeded to eat copious amounts of grass & managed to not throw up.


Goat dog.

Then Calvin took his great leap into the unknown. Note the bridge thingy he made (he's ever so proud of it.... tell him he's talented or he'll cry).

So the jump goes well until he puts his foot down at the end (technical term: "went squirrely") & he proceeds to do a superman fly about 6' through the air.

The big leap.

Here's the end result.

The aftermath.

All in all a great day.

How is my dog not bald?!

The hairball of horrors!

Seriously. How does an animal loose this much hair in two days & still look this good?


Sniffin' out the groundhogs at Kanata Lakes.


Testing out the new sweet ride.

Nerf?

Your Baby's Development This Week (22)
Age of Fetus—20 weeks

Your baby is able to pick up and react to more stimuli. (Poking is good.) For example, music, sudden loud noises, or vibrations from a bus ride (Speedy likes going over bumps & driving really fast in the car.) can stir your baby into activity. If your baby is a boy the testes will have started to drop. (Not even going there!)

Other changes that are happening:
Your baby's brain is growing rapidly and will continue to grow for the next five years. (Just not so much that I can't squeeze out your enormous genious melon. OK baby?!)
Though your baby is gaining important amounts of fat, he or she is still very lean at 1% body fat. (mmm baby fat... wonder if it tastes like bacon? ..... mmmmmm bacon.)
The baby's eyelids are making blinking movements though they are still fused shut. (Freak!)

Baby's Size (head to rump) and Weight this week:
Size: About 7.6 inches
Weight: Approximately 12.5 ounces (The ultrasound tech said it was about 12 oz. but then said we were a week behind. So do we have a small but fat alien or is something else going on here?)

Right now your baby is about the size of a child's mini Nerf football. (Ya whatever you say Babyfit!)

Super fly disco baby

"Right now your baby is about the size of a large banana."

Can someone tell my banana to stop making milkshakes in my belly?

We went for our big ultrasound on Monday. At first the tech couldn't get any great views so I got to hear the joyous words "why don't you go to the bathroom & empty your bladder". Thank you nice Scottish tech lady! After that it was all good pictures & scans & measurements & crazy disco moves. I swear it was doing the hustle. In fact it moved so much that we coudn't get the 3d pictures we were willing to pay for. Silly baby, now what'll we do for entertainment? So it was a bit dissapointing to not get our fancy photos, but the lovely Scottish lady printed off some extra black & whites for us (I'll scan & try posting later) which still weren't that great but better than nothing. Turns out the disco bun is measuring a week behind (probably exercising too much!) , but I'm sure it'll catch up soon as I'm starting to get hungry again.

Started going to prenatal yoga at Santosha which is great, though I do ache a lot afterwards in my oh so flexible yet tight hips. It's really cool seeing all the other ladies in different stages of knocked-upidness. One of them looks like she's ready to pop! Yesterday I also did the belly dancing class again. It's actually the next level up from what I had tried before so I'm missing some technique, but managed to catch on pretty good if I do say so myself. Guess all those years of dance training has to pay off sometime. Anyway I'm exhausted today & slept in until 9:30 (though of course I was up at 12:00, 3:41, 5:55, & 7:20). Now I'm just grumpy & really want some Starbucks.

Midwife or OB?

Having trouble deciding now that we have a choice. First thought at the beginning was to go with a midwife in a hospital. Couldn't get in, so was put on the waiting list & referred to an OB. A couple of weeks ago we get the call from the midwives' office that I'm no longer waiting, but am now one of the special few who get in. I don't even want to think about the reasons why someone else may not be so special anymore.

We met the midwives yesterday (the primary Chantal & the almost midwife in Canada, having previously been one in the Philippines - name might be Teresa?) & they were great. Very informative, laughed when I asked if I could page them to bring me KFC whenever I desired & just all around nice. Answered lots of questions from our silly internet list & let us listen to the heartbeat (roughly 150 - 160 beats/minute.... make whatever guesses about the sex you want from that... not the sex you want silly!).

Today I had my appointment with the OB/GYN who is also super nice & basically said I can have any birth I want at the hospital. Au natural or totally doped up - my choice (within reason). So now I'm very confused as to who to choose. I really liked them all & don't want to offend anyone by not choosing them. Totally ridiculous I know but hey..... thanks for that indecisiveness gene mum!

So I need to make a choice this weekend & call them all up on Monday which is also our big ultrasound day. We are going for the total entertainment package where if you spend $30 you get 3d pictures afterwards. Could be completely creepy or very cool. Cheaper than a movie at least & we'll get something to torture the little one with for the dating years.

Other than my new dilemma, things are going well. Blood pressure, weight & measurements all normal. Results from the Integrated Prenatal Screening were great, bringing our chances of anything abnormal down from 1/330 (age related) to 1/3400 & 1/5100 (spinal). Yay! Starting to feel more movement - Calvin even said he could feel something this morning. Little bugger likes to poke the internal organs though so hopefully we can start disciplining soon!

20 Weeks

OK Family... here''s some belly pictures. Too sunburned & tired to post more right now.


Me, Nanik, the Spider & the Belly.

20 Week belly .... half way there. Joxer will soon loose his pillow.

Rolling soda can

I think I got a kick on Monday night, lying in bed after belly dancing class. That's right, belly dancing.

For some weird reason I'd been thinking about belly dancing, did some googling, read about how great it was for knocked up chicks & then fate stepped in & displayed some live belly dancers at the half marathon (apparently the close up view was not so great, but hey.... I was across the canal) with their scarves, jingly hip belts & crazy gyrations. Looked like fun so Jo & I went to try a class & had a great time. We're going to sign up next week. Yay!

Since I've been finally feeling better this week (turns out that barfing was from some stomach virus - yuck!) I've also tried a prenatal yoga class & went swimming today. The yoga was not as much of a workout as I thought it was going to be, but some muscles were a bit sore the next day so it must have done something. Strangely, I was as always, the most flexible person there... I thought that was gone since I hurt my back.

Swimming this afternoon brought on all sorts of weird sensations in the belly. Not sure if it was muscles stretching or alien life form swimming laps with me. I kinda think the latter as they still seem to be going on. I don't even think I have words to describe the feeling. Intermittent pressure? Anyway, I remember now why I stopped going swimming at lunch a while back. The weirdos come to swim then. The worst are the loud talker & the hummer. FYI people, we can hear you fine if you talk at a normal decibel &, more importantly I really don't want to hear the stupid soundtrack that is running through your head. I'm tempted next time to start singing the Who-hoo song.... see how she likes it. I really shouldn't be so critcal - I was after all, dancing to a Culture Club song in the grocery store the other day.

National Capital Race Weekend

Here's some photos in random order of last weekend's National Capital Race Weekend. Congrats to all our pals who ran in various races. Some good ass kicking going on! Being in my "period of confinement" (read excuse to be lazy) I got to make signs, hand out a power bar & cheer my friends on wearing the brightest clothes I could find that fit. Surprisingly the weather turned out great.. no thunderstorms at least, though apparently the 16km mark (or so) got really hot & Calvin lost his sweat glands. Calvin & I also got to spend almost $40 on Chateau Laurier breakfast consisting of 1 egg, 1 bagel, 1 order of bacon & toast, 1 oj & 2 coffees. Looking at it now, we probably should've spent the $21 each & got the extra special buffet. Besides that, it was a great weekend & it was fun to have Christine up again. My goal is to do the 10km this time next year.... remind me in about 8 months ok.


Oh the pain.... these firefighters "ran" the entire marathon like this. Then there was backpack man who made me cry, wearing a 70 lb army backpack. I know it was his choice, but still.... I feel teary just thinking about it (damn hormones!).

Barefoot & pregnant in the kitchen. Nice.

Timbit likes the glassware.

Cheering on mom. Congrats Katherine on your 10km! I'll join you next year.

7 am smiles. Waiting for the start of the marathon... getting hungry.

Leaders of the pack. Holy crap are these guys ever fast.