Happiness is...

-A kicking little person inside of me.

-A Friday with no plans or commitments... just my Trevor and me, my slippers and a movie.

-A yummy, home-cooked supper.

-Finishing my homework before going home.

-A purring lap cat (well... close enough).

-Spring in sight... or at least day dreams of it.

-A sleep-in day tomorrow.

-A new book to read that makes me giggle from page 1.

32 weeks

Here are some photos of Thumper and I at 32 weeks.

The top 2 pics are of the seven pregnant ladies of Parliament. We definitely have a good sized Sunday School class waiting to happen! Once Trisha has her's, we'll be having a baby or two a month at our church until the fall. :)

The second 2 pics are of Karri and I showing off the close cousins. Auntie Leone felt left out and decided to make an "announcement" of her own.

Today, my friend Jocelyn and I went to our church's "Old Fashioned Quilting Bee". It was really fun. We pinned and sewed strips for a quilt for a little guy at another church our church partners with. It was nice to sit and talk and sew (by machine) and hang out with ladies from my church. We didn't stay too long but still, it was nice to be a part of a larger project like that.

Today, Trevor and I finished the last coat of paint in Thumper's room. It's just a half tint lighter then the yellow we had before (sorry folks... we won't give away the gender by colour). We had some bad dings we needed to repair so, we thought we'd freshen up the paint too. It's good to have that project done. Just a little less then 8 weeks to go!

Tonight, Trevor and I are heading to my Auntie Leone and Uncle Dels'. They're kind of like my grand-parents. They are two of the most caring, giving and amazing people I know. I'm excited to hang out with them tonight. Also, we know we'll be spoiled by a fabulous meal. :)

All in all, a good weekend so far!

Balmy

My parents are currently entering their third week in Hawaii. They spent the first two weeks exploring the garden island of Kauai. This weekend, they moved over to the tiny island of Molokai. We get random emails from them. They're biggest set backs have been the occasional warm rain and some breeziness. It hasn't stopped them from hiking, snorkeling or just beaching it. Lucky ducks! I miss them. (I have to admit I'm a little jealous - I'd love a 3 week holiday with Trevor on a tropical isle somewhere away from all the little day to day concerns... ),

Quiet

Today was a quiet day around our house. A little cleaning, a little relaxing, a little walk, a little eating and snoozing. All in all, a very quiet day. I feel like I need to savor these days. Soon, we'll have our little one and our days will be a little more full.

People keep telling us things like:
"you'll never have a good sleep again"
"you won't sleep in for the next 18 years
"enjoy eating hot food now... soon everything will be lukewarm"

DUH! We know... we get it... we're in for BIG changes.

We welcome those changes as a new and exciting part of our life together. Our little Thumper is worth those changes to us.

However, it still makes us cherish quiet days like this all the more.

5 Day Bliss

This week, I'm not going to school. It's our Winter Break. I had a lovely weekend and now I have 3 more days to myself. :) Thursday and Friday are P.D. but, that's still a change in routine. It's so nice just to be at home and concentrate on little things here for a change.
I will still be coaching Improv. The Canadian Improv Games is this week. My team is competing on Wednesday and the Senior team is competing on Friday. At least I get to sleep in on the days after! :)

Valentine's Tradition

I think we started a tradition last year for Valentine's Day. Rather then go out for an over-crowded, over-priced, "rush them through" meal, Trevor and I stayed at home and cooked crab legs. They were easy to make and absolutely DIVINE. I'm salivating at the thought already. Last year, I made the crab legs, some rice and a nice salad. We didn't even touch the rice or salad, we were so taken with the crab.

We had another ultrasound yesterday. It's fun to see little Thumper squirming around in me. It's always a mind blowing thought that, as I sit and type, there's a little person growing and moving in me. We're still predicting the end of April (~23rd or 24th). Just 10 weeks away! :) Now that I'm starting to get bigger, I can see why pregnancy becomes a little uncomfortable!

Trevor finished off his job with AgStability yesterday! :) YEAH! On Monday, he starts his new job as an H.R. Generalist for ServiceCanada. He's filling in for a mat. leave but, we're sure that this will be the begininnings of his career in H.R. We're thrilled! :)

A Lesson Learned

Today, Fergus went outside. He loves to run up and down the sidewalk and stare at the birds in the sky. He saw a bird up in our maple tree so he scampered over the snow and jumped up and did some climbing. He had an intensive climb.
He was scared to come down. I watched as he hummed and hawed before he made his final leap into the snow bank on the tree. He landed in a cloud of cold fluff and got his little self stuck. It was so funny. He started to get scared and make little mewing noises as he "swam" towards the trunk of the tree. He clung to the tree until I put on my boots and waded into the snow bank. When I picked him up, he was shivering. Poor guy! I loved him up and gave him some Snappy Tuna (his favorite treat). He's been a very friendly, mellow little guy for the rest of the day.

As I blog, I am waiting for these to cook. Thanks for the recipe Laurie. I wanted to try something a little different tonight.

The Great Gender Debate

At first, when Trevor and I found out we were having a baby, we had no inkling to find out if our little person was a girl or a boy. As the bump started to grow, I was dying of curiosity. I wanted to know if I was talking to my little girl or my little boy. We'd thought of names and wanted to start calling the baby by name. We wanted to start praying for our little one by name as well.
We had the ultrasound techs check the gender (there were more then one tech in there so, they compared notes for accuracy) and had them write the gender down on a piece of paper and put it in an envelope.
That night, Trevor and I went to a cute little Chinese restaurant and had a romantic dinner. For dessert, we opened our fortune cookies and then, our envelope. That was when we found out what gender of baby we're having.
We're not telling ANYONE. Not even our very curious mothers know. Despite a lot of trickery and blatant begging, we still haven't told anyone. It's fun to have our own little secret.
We'd have been content no matter what the gender but, it's nice to know a bit more about this little person who has grabbed such a huge hold on our hearts already.

28 weeks

Eeek... I'm now in the third trimester. I've noticed the transition: I'm more sleepy, I wake up more at night, I'm still craving salmon and oranges... just more and, I'm growing. Trevor put together the crib and change table/dresser. My Mom's been working on bumper pads and a quilt. Things are starting to come together.

Fresh start

Tomorrow is the start of Semester 2. I meet my new set of lovelies and embark on 5 different curriculum adventures. I'm excited and a little nervous... I'm a 7th year teacher and I still get stage fright at the thought of new sets of eyes looking up at me like I know what I'm doing.
This semester will involved a grade 9 French class, a grade 10 French class, a modified English grade 12 class, a Psych class and some Student Support Service time (when I go into a classroom as the learning disabilities support teacher). Should be fun. I'll miss my prep though.
In other news on the work front, I'm 3 weeks away from our big Improv tourny. My One Act play rehearsals start up this week. We're competing the weekend before I go on mat leave.

On other, more fun news, my little Thumper is kickin' up a storm and growing like a weed. I've given up on my jeans and bought some elastic waisted mat jeans. Just 12 1/2 more weeks until we meet our little Thumperoo!

***Update - Buses were cancelled today. I'll probably see 5 students. This'll postpone my stage fright for another night.

Weird kid

Alright, I've faced it: I was a quirky kid. I was the girl with the big bangs and big glasses who had her nose buried in a book most of her childhood. I loved my hyper-colour T-shirt. The year my Mom thought I should start wearing a bra, I rebelled and spent a summer wearing oversized sweaters with my black and neon green spandex shorts. On top of all that, I just re-discovered two of the silliest things I did as a child. First, I've never been a purse girl. The only purse I owned until I was in my late teens was a Smurf purse. I just found it and almost died laughing. I loved that thing! The second thing almost brought tears to my eyes because I was laughing so hard. I found my beloved troll collection. Yep, hideous, wild, neon-haired, plastic trolls of the 80s and I collected them.
Now Fergus has a few new toys. I think he loves them as much as my 12-year-old self did.

Open Letter to Mother Nature

Dear Mother Nature,
What's the freakin' deal, lady? How much snow does our little city need? How many people need to get stuck (not me... not me... not me) in our back alley before you let up?
Crazy amounts of snow and then ridiculously low temps for tomorrow, what did we do to deserve this?
I know, you gave us a great Saturday. I hear you're feeling like letting up and giving us another great Saturday. It'd be great if you could balance things out a bit.
Anyways, I'd better stop ranting before you decide to drop a blizzard directly on my house.

Aversions and Addictions

Pregnancy does strange things to one's behaviour (or so I've read - no one's had the heart to tell me I'm getting strange). Here's what Baby Thumper's doing to me:
-I have an addiction to navel oranges! Usually, I prefer sweet little mandarins or a tangerine. Nowadays, I need at least one of those citrusy monsters to keep the cravings at bay.
-I have a tea aversion. Normally, I'm a tea granny. Lately, it's been hard to make it through half a cup.
-I cry more. Last week, Fergus (the cat) scratched me. I started to cry because he "hurt my feelings". Yeesh!
-My favorite new past time is playing "Animal Crossing" on the Wii. Yes, I like tocatch fish, hunt bugs and dig up fossils. (If anyone else plays, let me know... we can exchange friend codes and maybe get some new fruit growing in our villages - 500 bells for different fruit!)
-I do a double take every time I look in the mirror sideways... who is that girl with the bump?

Just 15 weeks to go!

Florida - Take 2

Trevor built a sand "snowman" on Christmas Day.

Our visit with Santa on New Smyrna Beach.
Driving on the beach?
Boogie boarding king!
Welcome to the Magic Kingdom.
Lock them away!
Finishing Slash Mountain
Harper's Mill - Tom Sawyer's Island
Barrel bridge on Tom Sawyer's Island
Riding the tram at the Alamo Transit System
Welcome to Universal Studios
Tim and Karri
We caught Jaws - Universal Studios

Florida

For Christmas this year, my family decided to go to Florida. We spent the first half of our holiday at New Smyrna Beach where we relaxed, ate ice cream,visited the Kennedy Space Center, played on the beach and enjoyed a quiet Christmas Day. For the second half of the trip, we took things up a notch and did the DisneyWorld thing where, thankfully, there were just 5 rides Karri and I couldn't go on. The next day, we went to Universal Studios to see just how the movies are made.
All in all, it was a very fun and relaxing break from the snow and cold. It was good to collect freckles and hang out with my family. These are just the New Smyrna shots. I'll post a few more tomorrow when my internet's a bit faster!

Pandora's box

We've opened Pandora's Box and taken a peek at the mystery that is our baby.
Above is the little foot.

Baby's Profile - little nose pointing up

While measuring Baby's head, Baby cranked it's little neck and "looked"
back at us. Hello to you too!

Merry Christmas! Hope your hearts are full of joy as you celebrate the
birth of another precious Baby: Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.

Christmas Bake-a-Thon 2008

Start time: 9:30 am
Chocolate Ginger cookies
Short Bread Cookies
Jam-Jams
Mennonite meat buns
homemade Oreo cookies
raspberry tarts
butter tarts
End time: 4:30

We are amazing!!!

Empty desk

Yesterday, one of my students was killed in a car accident. Today, there's an empty desk in my P3 class. This was by far the hardest day I've ever taught.
My morning was filled with the stunned silence of traumatized teenagers punctuated by sobbing.
I covet your prayers for my kids, for me and for my colleagues.

Baby Bump

Week 18 - This was the week that Trevor decided that I actually look pregnant. I think his exact words while I was cooking supper were "Oh my, I think you're pregnant!" He's just catching on... :)
Week 20 - we set up our tree at the beginning of December. Next year, it'll be a baby hazard!

Fuzzy

Yikes, today I cleaned up after Fergus' fur. I found enough fur to create a new kitten behind my couch. I wish I could shave this guy!

Backstage blur

It's that time of year again folks... it's the annual school musical. This is the time of year where I foolishly volunteer to be the back stage lady. Fortunately, I have such a sweet crew of girls (I call them ninjas because they dress in black and move the set with great agility). Silly back... I can't lift of move a thing. I feel like the stereotypical union supervisor... I do a lot of delegating and not a lot of the labour myself.
This weekend was a bit of a blur... I spent it all at school. Two late nights this week and I'm done!
Well, I hope the kids break legs and the show's a success.

Pain in the...

I woke up on Tuesday morning and could barely move to get out of bed. I stumbled around my room and the walls of my house getting ready for the day. Owch! Trevor was so sweet and helpful!
I have insane back pain. There had been tension there before and a stabbing pain every now and then but, this was pretty bad.
Now, I know that pregnancy does cause some back pain. I don't think that this was normal. I spent the rest of the day walking and moving like an old lady. My co-workers suggested that I was suffering sciatica. I looked that up and panicked... I do not want sciatica. I found pelvic girdle pain and hoped for that instead. I also booked in with my doctor to solve the mystery.
Today was much better. I have the slight twinge and I need to think through my movements (I'm getting good on pain avoidance movement strategies) but, it's not constant. I also talked to my doctor. She suspects an inflammation of my SI joint. This is related to my already uneven hips not reacting well to the 8 pounds I've gained so far. I get to continue with my pain avoidance strategies, do some stretches and see a massage therapist on a regular basis.
Poor baby, he or she finally starts to make an appearance and I can finally start to feel him or her move :) and all I can think of is "my baby is a pain already..."... what an introduction to motherhood.

Wide Wii Mii

Trevor and I really like our Wii. My favorite game is Wii Fit. Lately, Wii Fit is making me a little sad. The little version of myself (my Mii) is gaining weight... all over. My Mii does not have a cute little bump like I have. Instead, I am a chubby Mii. The game told me that I'm close to overweight. :( I feel fine, I look fine but, this game is making me sad.
So, I wrote an email to Nintendo asking them to put a pregnancy setting on their next release of WiiFit. I know it will happen... most major corporations tend to do everything I ask. :) A girl can dream...

Sustainable

Today, my enviro club and I went to a cute little prairie town to see their sustainable living project.
It was an amazing trip. We learned about composting toilets, solar energy, straw bale walls (insulation), non-chemical water treatment, geothermal energy and local dining. My kids were riveted. I came home with a pile of ideas. If I had a million dollars, I'd build the most amazing little house... (Right now, we'll settle for some new siding in the spring... maybe.)

Today was also cool because as our van drove down the highway, the kids sang and sang (they're also the choir kids) Christmas carols. This was the perfect way to usher in the snow of winter/08-09. This made me think that when this snow melts... I'll be closer to being a momma. :)

I ended this fine Wednesday with a high tea at the church's Pioneer Girls Gal/Pal night. My little pal and I dressed to the nines (I realized that I'm growing when I could barely find a bridesmaid dress or other fancy dress that fits). A fabulous evening to a great day.

The bump that is our baby

The day we found out!

Excited shock???!!!!

7 weeks

12 weeks - we could finally tell people

16 weeks

Well, here is the bump, in all it's splendor.   I'm not really showing all that much however, I'm not my normal skinny self either.  I'm in the "in-between" stage of looking "chubby" but not quite pregnant.

Whump, whump, whump

Today, Trevor and I met with the doctor who will delivering our baby. She let us hear the baby's heartbeat. Definitely the highlight of my week! :) The baby was there and then disappeared so that we couldn't hear it anymore. It's cool to think that I have a little person swimming around inside me.
I also checked out a local store that sells cloth diapers. I've been doing a lot of online research but, it was really great to actually talk to someone and see and feel the diapers. There are these great diapers called Bummis.
There was no school today. Actually, I'm not going back to school until after Remembrance Day. :) Today was payback for our absurdly long hours on Monday and Tuesday when we were conducting parent teacher interviews (11 interviews in 8 hours - lots of prep time for Jill). Today makes up for it.
Now, I get 4 days with my sweet man! Yippee!

Auntie Jill and Uncle Trevor

Yipppeee! Not only do we get to be Mommy and Daddy this spring, we also get to become an Auntie and Uncle for the first time!
Congrats to Tim and Karri! They're due in late May. This will be one fantastic spring for my family. :)

By far not the worst...

For those of you who remember my Feb/o7 field trip from Hades, today made up for it.
Today, I took 14 lovely Senior students to see Midsummer Night's Dream. My students were fabulous. We discussed the characters during intermission and I watched them take in a new experience. There were no fires lit, no change thrown at other audience members and, we didn't have to haul the kids back to school during the second act.
Unfortunately, there were about 13 other classes from my school with us. I ended up having to sit by a little yahoo who couldn't figure out why his loud whispering was being heard 10 rows down. We had to relocate a few individuals and one of my colleagues had the pleasure of taking one student out for his own foyer field trip.
My question is this: WHY? Why do we as educators do this to ourselves? We get excited about introducing the students to a new experience. We discuss what a great cultural opportunity this is. We plan and invest. Then, ~18% of the students we take wreck it. Why?
I always want to err on the side of the positive and think that, even though we don't see it now, the kids will take something away from this experience. They will have grown through a cultural field trip. Today, we gave them an opportunity some of their families might never have provided. However, tonight, I have a splitting headache. I loved the theatre's rendition of this play and the acting was delightful. Why am I still so disheartened?

A whole new world

Today, I am typing from my bed... on my spiffy new Mac lap top.  It's so sweet.  We ordered it on Friday night and here it is today... in my house already.

I already love how cute it is (it sleeps when we leave it alone) and how shiny and durable the aluminum case is.

We're livin' the high life.  We may even have to watch a movie this weekend... anywhere we like!

Feist

Feist was pretty awesome last night. She had some really neat visuals that made the concert an excellent experience. I liked that this set her a part a little from any other concert I've seen. She's also quirky cute and I always admire that.
If she comes to town again, count me in!

Yummy...

Tonight, I'm making roast (organic, free range, locally grown) chicken from http://www.farmgatefood.ca/. It was going to happen last night and didn't... ah well, nothing like a slow Sunday for a chicken dinner. It's a good way to celebrate the Riders' win.

Tonight, we're going to rock out to FEIST! I took a good nap. This is the latest I've stayed up in a while. I'm pumped!

Well... the cat's out of the bag

It's nice to finally have our big "secret" out in the open now. :)
Baby is now 13 weeks along and all is going well. I'm now finding all the locations of all the bathrooms in malls, restaurants, truck stops and grocery stores. I still long for naps (mostly during P5 French) but, I'm hoping now that I'm in trimester 2, I should get some of my energy back. I've developed a little pooch belly that I notice. I don't think I'm really showing but, it's strange to have a little belly... I'm sure the big belly will be only stranger.
It's been fun telling people. We can hardly wait to introduce our little person to the world...

Grateful

My 200th blog post happens to fall on the Thanksgiving weekend. I've decided to write about what I'm most thankful for.
1. My most excellent husband! He always knows how to make me smile and brighten my day.
2. Family - I've been so lucky to have such great parents and kid bro (and his little wife). It's cool to be an adult who's friends with her family.
3. Family-in-law - Not only do I have great in-laws but, Trevor comes with this AMAZING extended family. This past weekend, we were able to go to Winnipeg to celebrate his Oma and Opa's 60th anniversary. How awesome is that?
4. Fergus - Enough said, his little fur face is great (even when he's grumpy).
5. My job - I love what I do; how many people get to actually go to work every day and have crazy adventures?
6. My friends far and near - I never get the time I want to spend with you all.
7. My little house - it's cute and cozy (and now that there's snow... warm).
8. My church - I was away this weekend and I missed it lots.
9. My health - I know I was complaining a few weeks ago but really, that's pretty minor when I think about it.
10. Our BABY! Yep... you read right. My little bambino was officially 12 weeks on Friday and all is well! We're excited (and nervous and scared and then excited again) about his/her arrival in our lives in late April/09!

This girl's life can't get much better! :)

Open Letter to My Body

Dear body,
I'm not very impressed with you. Don't you realize that I have to teach tomorrow? I'd rather not do it while hopped up on Pepto-Bismal and Tylenol. Because of you, I think I actually have to take a sick day! Do you know how much prep work is ahead of me? I'm guessing at least a 45 minutes creating a detailed lesson plan, at least 7 emails to colleagues who will have to cover responsibilities for me and a 1/2 hour calling and calling and calling someone to sub for me. Bah! I know that, in most professions, a sick day would require just one phone call to the boss. Not so for teachers! Body, do you understand the mental (as well as physical) stress that you are putting me through?
I really hope that tonight, you let me sleep soundly and don't wake me up with disturbing gastro-intestinal issues again. I did not appreciate at that in the slightest! If you think I'm grumpy with you now, what until you see how irate I'll become if you get any sicker!
Due to your extreme behaviour, you're going to bed right after Amazing Race and don't count on much besides crackers and water for supper!

Tagged...

Amanda tagged me. I need to list 5 unusual things about me.

1. I don't like purple candies. I give all my purple Skittles to Trevor (poor man). Synthetic grape flavoring SUCKS!

2. My high school buddies still make fun of the way I say "spooky" or "milk" or "toilet" or "minute". Something about the way I elongate my vowels.

3. I work through my lunch. I'm kind of a lame teacher that way. Instead of cavorting in the staff room, I'm the hermit in my room marking and prepping. (I just don't want to take anything home).

4. I'm not a phone talker. I always struggle with what to say. I always just want to get to the point so that I can hang up. It's weird.

5. If I eat after supper, I have a 75% chance of 1) getting a stomach ache, 2) having weird dreams or 3) a combination of 1 and 2.

Great... now you know my quirks. I tag...
Laurie
Brandy
Jackie
Colleen

It's apparent that I'm no longer on holidays...

Well, if I look at the last date of my last blog, it's apparent that I am no longer on summer holidays.
School has started of relatively well this year. There's something quite wonderful about returning to the same school and to a set-up classroom instead of the stress of trying to lobby for a job and then start fresh. I teach Senior Modified English, I team-teach Psych 20 with a fabulous colleague, I split some Student Support Services time between a very large Foods 10 class and a very large Visual Arts 10 class and I teach Senior French. I actually really enjoy the flexibility and diversity of my schedule.
I've also started up with extra curr. This year (fingers crossed), I will try not to overwhelm myself. So far, it's just a RISK board game playing club, my environmental club and co-coaching Improv. It's busy but, it's manageable.
For the past two weekends, Trevor and I have been at Dallas Valley Ranch Camp. Last week, we were at the 25th reunion. That was a pretty neat time. We saw a lot of people that we grew up working and camping with. It was pretty awesome.
This weekend, we headed back out to DVRC for a Small Group Leaders Retreat. Trevor and I have been leading a small group since the beginning of 2007. It was really good to get together with other leaders and pray for one another, learn from each other and just goof around together. There was a lot of food for thought this weekend. I know that I've taken away a lot to think about.
Our days are full. Between our small group, my night class and staying on top of school work, we find that our time is just flying away on us. The past few weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind.
Hopefully, next weekend will find us at home, relaxing.