The Roof Over Us

I. HATE. THIS.

2010-06-18T04:24:00.004-06:00

Just when I think we are finally getting our lives back to normal, a new "challenge" gets thrown our way. I am beyond fed up. This past year has been THE. MOST. STRESSFUL. year of my entire life. It has been one thing after another, after another. I have been waiting for a year to have my life back... but maybe that will never happen.

I'M DONE. no... I'm BEYOND done.

Our basement is flooding again... worse than ever. Now it has DESTROYED Adelyn's new room that we worked so stinkin' hard on. My heart aches for my kids right now. Adelyn has been forced back upstairs into what was supposed to be Jaxen's room (that we also nearly killed ourselves trying to get done in time for my little man's arrival)... And Jaxen is stuck sharing a room with us forever.

So.... Adelyn has no bedroom. And now neither does Jax... and on top of it all, Jaxen had his 2 month shots today and instead of cuddling my hurting little man, I am stuck it this stupid basement sucking water through shop vacs, dumping 7 gallon pails of water down the laundry sink, and wringing out nasty towels. Poop.

I'm officially declaring it.... I HATE THIS HOUSE. It seems every time I find a new love for this house, something happens to make me dislike it all over again. Grrr....

Jaxen Kael - Our Journey So Far

2010-05-28T07:26:00.007-06:00

From the moment I found out I was pregnant I dreamed of the first moment I would get to hold this precious little life in my arms, the smell of a newborns skin, and late night cuddles. I imagined snuggling this perfect, healthy little babe and falling so madly in love. I dreamed of seeing Shaun hold his new son or daughter, providing the comfort and security that only daddy's arms can provide. I pictured the moment when my little girl would become a big sister, and those first moments as they meet each other for the first time.

Every time I heard this song, all of these things came flooding back to my mind. I am beyond blessed to have been able to have every single one of these moments turn out just the way I envisioned them, and now I would like to share them with you. Enjoy!

(Sorry it is so tiny on blogger. You might be able to see it better here)

Jaxen's Birth Story

2010-05-03T15:54:00.005-06:00

It's true... I'm attempting to write Jaxen's birth story down before I forget! Yay me! :o) As with all birth stories, read with caution and please forgive my sleep deprived brain for any grammar/spelling mistakes. LOL.

JAXEN'S BIRTH STORY

Well, for starters... my pregnancy with Jaxen was quite a bit different from my pregnancy with Adelyn. Both were good ... Jaxen's just had a lot more adventures (17 weeks of morning sickness and throwing up, a no-heartbeat scare, and 3 bouts of the flu running through our home ... yikes!). Despite all of that, it really was a good healthy pregnancy and it went by very quickly ... almost too quickly at times!

I was about 2cm dilated for the last month of the pregnancy, and he wasn't really dropping (which is somewhat normal for 2nd babies). Despite 3 membrane strips/sweeps we still ended up going a week overdue and were induced on Saturday, April 17th. I had only slept for a total of 2 hours the night before, because I was so anxious and nervous about what was in store for me in the morning. When we got to the hospital that morning I was about 3cm, so they started with a round of the cervical gel. I wasn't expecting it to do anything, because with Adelyn's labor I didn't feel anything from the gel. WELL ... I was wrong. I started having contractions right away. They were 2 minutes apart and lasting nearly a minute. After an hour of walking around the maternity floor, the nurse suggested that I get into the shower because my doctor wouldn't be there for another two hours ... I thought "2 more hours until my doctor even comes to check on me?!! Yikes!" Just then, my doctor walks into the room and says she wants to break my water. I was so excited because I knew that it wouldn't be long after that until this baby was born!! Yay! (Adelyn was born within 3 hours of my water being broken).

So, she broke the water and right away the contractions were INTENSE! I have bad back pain during labor, so I got into the shower to help relieve it. Once again, the shower was my friend during labor!!! I wish I could have my babies in the shower instead of the bed. It is so relaxing and so much easier to stay on top of the contractions when the warm water is on you. I'm not exactly sure how long I was in there when the nurse came and wanted to check me. I had to go back to the bed (which I HATE!!!). I was only 4cm. Boo. I was starting to get a bit discouraged.

I had to stay on the bed to be monitored for a bit, which totally sucked because the contractions were like a minute apart and where lasting nearly that long. I was starting to feel a little urge to push, so the nurse checked and I was only at 5cm. Sigh. However, given my history of going from 4-10cm in 15 minutes, the nurse decided it was time to get my doctor there and quickly. At the time, I thought she was nuts ... I thought for sure this labor was going to take forever because it felt like I wasn't making any dilation progress at all.

My doctor got there a few minutes later. I was at 7cm. Again, I was discouraged because it felt like I needed to push. At this point I had lost complete control over the contractions. They were so INTENSE!!!! Way more painful and strong than with Adelyn's labor! Yikes. I started yelling at the top of my lungs "I need to push, I need to push!!" and they kept telling me I was only at 7cm. BIG FAT BOO! Next thing I know, my doctor says "Ok, give it a try." Pushing with Adelyn had been a wonderful thing. I felt lots of relief to push with Adelyn ... this time, not so much. It burned so badly. I felt every single thing and it hurt! However, a couple pushes later and my beautiful baby boy, Jaxen Kael, was born! He was so perfect!!!

They put him on my tummy right away (which they never did with Adelyn), and it was so precious to be the first person to hold my little guy!!! They took him to check him out, etc. while I got stitched up.... 2nd degree tear this time around.... still bad, but a lot better than my 3rd-4th degree tear with Adelyn. I didn't have to go to the O.R. to be stitched up, and it was so nice to be able to stay in the room with my hubby and my new little man! I even got to feed him and shower this time!! LOL. Jaxen was born at 12:27pm after 3 hours of labor.

We had a great first night at the hospital. Jaxen slept wonderfully and we were all able to get some rest. We were able to go home at noon the next day ... less than 24 hours after his birth. Overall, it was a really great experience. I was able to experience everything that I felt I had missed out on from Adelyn's birth. God really answered prayers about that.

We are home, healthy, and doing well! Jaxen is such a good baby and we are beyond blessed to have him in our lives!!!!!!

Baby's Room!!!!

2010-03-16T11:35:00.000-06:00

Now that Adelyn is in her new bedroom, we were so excited to get working on the baby's room. To be honest I was stressing about this BIG TIME! When we were pregnant with Adelyn we had the room set up and ready to go by the 4th month of pregnancy (at least)... so being 8 months pregnant and not having anything in this room accomplished REALLY freaked me out. I am so happy to say that this room turned out exactly the way I wanted it too. I could not be happier to be bringing my baby home to this wonderful space!

Here was the room the day we moved in. The previous owner used this as a dinning room (hence the old school chandelier).

I actually kinda liked it, and would have loved to refinish or paint it, but that would have only worked if our baby is a girl (which we have no idea about!)... so we played it safe and decided to change out the light.
AND for the record, like I just said... we don't know if this baby is a boy or girl. Everyone thinks that because the walls are a blue-ish/turquoise color, it means we are having a boy. We may or may not be.... you know as much as we do. :o)

If this baby is a girl, we will be adding some soft pink accents around the room. It will look so fantastic with the turquoise walls!!!

Change table.

Comfy chair. We actually had a different chair that we were going to use, but the slip cover got wrecked in the laundry (boo!)... so this chair was plan B. It's not totally my ideal nursery chair (as far as looks go), but it is really comfy and any breastfeeding mom knows that is really your #1 concern for a chair!

These are the curtains I made for the room. I really wasn't sure at first, but once we hung them up I was so happy with the way they turned out. They match the crib bedding (which I also made).

Here is the crib bedding. I finished this project way back in November and was so happy to finally see it set up in the crib!! I love it.

We will be putting to black and white photos of the baby in the frames above the crib, and the baby's name will go into the frame on the white shelf.

Lamp, monitor and clock.

New light up close.

We will also be putting a picture of the baby in this frame.

The baby's name will go into this frame. 1 letter per section. This is my favorite part of the entire room!

Box shelves. The baby's first initial will go into the middle box.

New door knobs. We are slowly replacing all the door knobs in the house (as each room gets painted). They were old, gold ones... but these one's make the house look so much more modern.

So that is the baby's room! Let me know what you think... I would love to hear comments on this one!!!

36 weeks

2010-03-12T23:53:00.002-07:00

We are now 36 weeks! Can you believe how fast this pregnancy has gone by!!! They consider 37 weeks "full term," so we could have a baby as early as next week. Eeek!!! This baby has definitely grown in the last 4 weeks, and I am certainly feeling it. I'm officially a waddling pregnant lady. Yikes. :o) We have a doc. appointment next week and I'm hoping that I will be at 2cm... I've been feeling a lot more pressure there lately and some braxton hicks... so hopefully they are being productive... like i said last time, I love having progress without actually being in labor!!!!

According to babycenter.ca, here is what is going on with our munchkin this week:Baby is still gaining weight -- about an ounce/ 28 grams a day. He/she weighs nearly 6 pounds and is about 19 inches long from head to toe. You may begin to feel an increased pressure in your lower abdomen and notice that your baby is gradually dropping. However, walking may become increasingly uncomfortable -- some women say it feels as if the baby is going to fall out.

The good news is that by the end of this week, your pregnancy will be full-term and you could give birth any day now. (Babies between 37 and 42 weeks are considered full-term -- a baby born before 37 weeks is premature and after 42 is post-term.)

Big Girl Room!!!

2010-03-08T10:32:00.004-07:00

Yay! Adelyn is finally in her new room. This has been a project that we started last summer, so it's been a long time coming! It feels so good to have finished it up, and now we are free to move on to other rooms in the house. She has been sleeping in there for a week and a half and has done extremely well. She has never slept so good! Yay! She loves the room and the colors, and she is always excited to show people who come over "Ananyn's room" (that's how she says her name... it's so cute!)

So, here it is.... FINALLY!

This is the basement when we first moved in. We split this big long room into 2 sections... the back half became Adelyn's new room and the front half became a nicer family room (pictures of that are coming soon!)

This is the back half of the room, that became Adelyn's room.
Framing. We are so lucky to have my handy father help us out with stuff like this. So much better than having to hire someone to do it!
Drywall. This was our first time doing drywall, and I must admit that it is more work than it appears to be. It was pretty fun never the less.
This is the wall heater that was in the basement. We got a new furnace put in the house and had them run extra heat to the basement, so we didn't need this anymore.... not to mention that is was full of asbestos... blah! This is after the heater was ripped out (by my wonderful father).
This was an awkward space in our laundry room that became Adelyn's closet. It had no purpose and we aren't too sure why they developed the basement this way... but it worked great for Adelyn's closet.
This is the awkward laundry room corner from the other side. We took out the middle stud and re-enforced the rest of the studs.
So, here is the room design. It was so much fun to come up with a girly room!! The room turned out pretty similar to the design, and I couldn't be happier with the results. The only thing missing is her toy chest... but Shaun will be refinishing it this summer, so stay tuned for that! Here is the room all painted up and ready for carpet.
:o) Adelyn wondering what the heck we are doing to the basement. LOL. Adelyn "helping" The new carpet and baseboards... we saved so much money by doing it ourselves! Apparently my dad once worked at a place that installed carpets.... I had no idea. :o) The closet almost done. Finally!! Here is the finished product. Adelyn's bed is so tiny in this huge bedroom. :o) Here is her bed with the Ikea wall flower lights above it. I painted petals on the wall to make the cords look a little cuter. She LOVES these lights!!!
This is the other side of the room. Adelyn's name framed on the wall.
The closet finished! We were going to add a curtain or door of some sort, but we are still undecided.
Adelyn LOVES to paint and draw, so we framed some of her artwork. I just love having them displayed... she is quite the little artist!
More Adelyn artwork!

Shelves with the artwork on them and dresser with change pad. We decided to put a change pad in her room even though she will be potty trained soon. That way we can still change the new baby downstairs without having to go very far for supplies, etc. There is a diaper genie on the other side of the dresser that we got for free off of facebook (can't beat getting something for free!) We also have a monitor in her room so that we can hear every little wiggle she makes, etc.

So that is Adelyn's new room. Sorry for the ridiculously long blog post. I'm so happy with the way it turned out, and I'm even more happy that she LOVES it!

34.5 weeks

2010-03-02T17:00:00.003-07:00

I had an appointment today to check on the baby. It was the first time Shaun has been able to come in a long time, so it was kinda fun to have him there..... although we waited for 30 min. in the waiting room and an extra 10 in the actual doctors room (which is not exactly fun when you brought your 2 year old with you). Everytime I go by myself, I am in and out in 15 min.

It was a good appointment. They did the group B test thing (which I wasn't expecting, because it seems a bit early for that). She also checked that the baby was indeed head down (thank the Lord, because I thought I had felt it flipping around last week)...... while she was there she checked the cervix for the first time this pregnancy and low and behold, I was already at 1cm!!!! I love having progress without having to do anything for it. :o)

The heartbeat was 140 and sounded good. It is always in the 140's somewhere (which makes me think it's a boy because Adelyn's was always in the 150's). My favorite part of the whole appointment was when she said "it's definitely not a tiny baby!" :o)

Adelyn

2010-02-18T10:04:00.002-07:00

On Feb. 8, we celebrated Adelyn's 2nd birthday! It's a very bittersweet thought... happy because we've made it through the past 2 years with a very happy, healthy, beautiful little girl and have many more years to come.... but slightly sad because my little munchkin is growing up so fast!

I could never have asked for a better kid. She is absolutely fantastic in every way! We are so blessed to have her in our lives and I am especially blessed to be her mom. It has been dawning on me lately that I won't have this one on one time with her for very much longer, and that makes me a little bit sad.

Adelyn,

I love you more than life.
You make me laugh. You make me smile.
I am proud to be your mom. Never loose your joy.
You are beautiful, smart and creative... don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise.
You can do ANYTHING through Christ.

I love you miles and miles forever!

32 weeks!

2010-02-13T10:15:00.002-07:00

Here is my 32 week picture! Sorry it's so blurry... my bathroom mirror needs a good cleaning. :o)
I can't believe that we are only 8 weeks away from having this little munchkin in our arms! It's hard to imagine my belly getting any bigger... but I know it will happen. I'm still feeling pretty good, but starting to get puffy in the face and hands (which is certainly NOT my favorite part of pregnancy! With Adelyn, my face was so puffy I couldn't hardly smile. LOL.)

Here is some info about what's going on inside there this week:
Your baby now weighs approximately 3.75 pounds/ 1.7 kilograms and is about 17 inches / 42 centimetres long from head to toe. Although his lungs won't be fully developed until just before birth, your little one is inhaling amniotic fluid to exercise his lungs and practise breathing.

Adelyn's Birth Story

2010-01-22T15:22:00.003-07:00

I've been inspired lately to write down Adelyn's birth story before I completely forget the details of that day, AND before I have another birth to write about in just a few short months. Yes, this post is about 2 years past due... but I figured it is better late than never. :o)
*WARNING: There are some details that some readers might not want to know about.... read at your own discretion. LOL.

ADELYN'S BIRTH STORY
I had a fantastic pregnancy with Adelyn. I was never really that uncomfortable, slept pretty well, and felt pretty good overall right up until 41 weeks!!!

At about 27-28 weeks I was told that the baby was really low in the pelvis already and that I will "probably have the baby early, but hopefully not too early!" At 35-36 weeks I was already 2cm dilated and baby was still down nice and low, so doctors still told me there was no way I was gonna be overdue. I didn't really care when the baby came, as long as it was after the 37 "full-term" mark. At about 38 weeks I was about 3cm and the doc could feel the baby's head "right there" and the bag of waters was bulging.... she assured us once again that there was no way we would be overdue and it would probably happen within the next week.

At 41 weeks I was 3.5 cm, with the baby's head "right there", waters bulging, and no contractions. Not even uncomfortable. I didn't mind one bit... I was enjoying my time alone at home. Our doctor was shocked that I had gotten to 41 weeks and still no baby, so she set up an induction for us at 41 weeks 1 day pregnant on Feb. 8th.

We got to the hospital around 7:15 that morning. They admitted us, went through all the details with us and checked my cervix. I was at 4cm (without contractions!!! I was so happy to have gotten nearly half way there without even noticing!). They inserted some gel to soften the cervix and hopefully bring on some contractions, then sent us to walk around the hospital for a few hours. Nothing happened. So, we went and had some lunch in the cafeteria and went back upstairs to labor and delivery.

We waited around until 1pm for my doctor to come and decide what to do next. When she got there, she decided to break my water (since it was still "bulging" lol.) Then they sent us to do some more walking around. In the hallway we passed a nurse that made a joke about how I wasn't going to have a baby anytime soon because I was still smiling and talking. Well, after walking for about 1o minutes up and down the halls, I had my first contraction. It totally caught me by surprise and stopped me in my tracks! I had to stop and lean against the wall to get through it. Once it was over, I thought "ok, that was interesting" and we kept walking down the hall. I had another little about a minute later, and then at the end of the hall way I had another strong one. I was kinda getting nervous because they were so strong and coming so quickly. Then all of a sudden I felt super nauseous. I told Shaun that I wasn't feeling well and about 2 seconds later I threw up all over the hallway... twice. Right at that exact moment the same nurse that made a joke not even 5 minutes earlier, entered the hallway to see me throwing up. LOL. I think she was as surprised as we were. She ran to get the labor and delivery nurses, they came and cleaned up the mess and rushed me back to labor and delivery.

We were finally given a birthing room (we had been in the fetal assessment are up until this point), and they rushed me in the shower. I was so happy to be in there! I was having very regular contractions at this point and it was all in my back, so the water felt wonderful! I stayed in there for about an hour, until they wanted me to come out and be checked. That is when all hell broke loose! The minute I got on the bed, the contractions were instantly stronger and unbearable. They checked me and told me that I was still at 4cm. I was so disappointed to hear that! To make matters worse, they wanted to start me on pitocin to get things "going".... I didn't know what to think of that because as far as I was concerned, things were already "going." I was also disappointed because that meant I had to stay on the bed instead of going back into the shower.

The contractions were getting stronger and stronger and I was barely able to stay on top of them because there was no break in between. I also had a terrible nurse that made me feel insanely stupid, so that wasn't helping. We had a student nurse that was trying to put an IV in my wrist for the pitocin, but she was having trouble (I'm not sure why... I wasn't really paying attention). Then the grumpy old nurse took over and by the time they got it in my wrist I felt like I needed to push. I didn't want to say anything at first, because they had just told me that I was at 4cm and they hadn't even started the pitocin yet... but I told them anyway.

They all looked at me kinda funny, but agreed to check and sure enough I was at 10cm and ready to push. I'm not sure how you can go from 4cm to 10cm in 15 minutes, but it happened. They quickly rushed to get everything set up and get my doctor there.... then I pushed just a couple times and Adelyn was born at 4:01pm after only 3 hours of labor!!!! She was perfect and healthy, with plump little cheeks! Everyone was shocked that she came so fast... one of the nurses even told me that she didn't expect us to have a baby on her shift (she wasn't off until 7pm).

I had a really bad tear that needed to be repaired in the OR instead of just in the room, so I only got to see Adelyn for a few short minutes and then I was rushed away. They had told us that I would only be in the OR for about 15-20 minutes and then back to the room, but it was more like 2 hours later until I finally got to go to our room on the maternity floor. I was so out of it for a long time and didn't really know what was going on. Plus I had a bunch of IV's and a catheter, which made it nearly impossible to take care of Adelyn since I couldn't get out of the bed. I didn't even get to shower until 2 days later... yuck. So, all of that kinda ruined the experience for us.

Adelyn was born on Friday, Feb. 8th at 4:01pm weighing 8lbs exactly. We finally got to take her home on Sunday late afternoon. We were so excited to have a healthy, beautiful little girl! We both secretly where hoping for a girl the entire pregnancy. :o)

Belly Pic

2010-01-14T16:09:00.002-07:00

I just wanted to share this belly pic with you. My wonderful hubby took it after a recent photo shoot with some clients. The baby has had another growth spurt since then... so I will have to take a new one soon.

27+ weeks!

2010-01-11T13:36:00.002-07:00

Just wanted to give a quick pregnancy update...

We are now 27 weeks 2 days! Yipee! The end is within' reach... which is starting to freak me out a little bit! By this point in the pregnancy with Adelyn we had everything ready to go and in it's place... with this one... not so much. We have to work on getting Adelyn down to her new bedroom and then we will be able to start painting the baby's room and getting it decorated. We also have to get our room painted and decorated somewhere in there too... sigh.

ANYWAYS.... Here is what is going on in there this week:
At 27 weeks baby weighs almost 2 pounds and is about 14 1/2 inches long. She's sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing her eyes, and perhaps even sucking her fingers. With more brain tissue developing, your baby's brain is very active now. While her lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with a lot of medical help — if she were to be born now. Chalk up any tiny rhythmic movements you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on.

This is what s/he looks like in there:
This is a picture of a baby born at 27 weeks... just to give you an idea of what our little muchkin looks like now:

So mad I could scream....

2009-12-23T14:01:00.002-07:00

So.... last night around 1am Shaun got sick... REALLY, REALLY sick. We spend the next 3 hours scrubbing and sanitizing every wall, and flour in the house... not to mention about 5 loads of laundry. That's how sick he got. Sigh.

On top of that, all the craziness woke Adelyn up and she was screaming because she had no idea what was going on and was so stinkin' tired. Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep a 1 year old away from a mess like that.... not fun. So, Adelyn and I bundled up at 2am and went to Superstore for ginger ale and more cleaning supplies. To be honest, it was nice to get away from the mess for a little while.

When we got back it was more scrubbing and laundry, then off to bed.

Now, to the part of the story that has had me in tears ever since this whole ordeal started..... my business laptop was the first thing that got "hit".... a short time later it gave us the black screen of death and a terrible beeping sound (kinda sounded like a smoke detector or something).... GRRRRR.............. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've already been stressing out about our photo business lately because we have about 7 shoots booked for January and the idea of being 30+ weeks pregnant during these shoots didn't thrill me... not to mention that I will have no time to edit all of these shoots. NOW, I have no computer to edit them on!!!!!!!!!!!! GRRRRRR again!

We just bought that computer in summer and it was a sacrifice to buy it in the first place, but we desperately needed to because our other computer has issues and won't run my editing software or videos or anything like that. So, I am extremely ticked off about that... but then I realized that all my business documents, appointments, phone numbers, email addresses, and back-up photos from previous shoots are (our were) all on that computer. AHHHHHH!!!!!!! This is the part when I feel like screaming! We also lost all of our personal photos from this entire year. That is a whole years worth of photos that I will never get back. I am beyond upset about this.

GAW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please understand that I am not mad at my hubby for being sick... just mad at the situation. I have poured everything I have into this business and now it is all gone.... I have no idea how I am going to re-create everything I lost or edit all the shoots we have coming up in January.... and I have no way of replacing all of the photos we've lost (personal and business).

Some Christmas.

Sewing Projects

2009-12-18T17:34:00.000-07:00

I've been getting antsy lately about this new baby coming, and I've had a wonderful break from photo editing... so I decided to fill the time with some sewing projects!!!

When we had Adelyn, someone bought us a few of these First Years -Easy Wrap Swaddlers. It is one of the best inventions ever! You can swaddle your baby, without fussing over receiving blankets, etc. It has velcro tabs to keep it in place, and it worked wonders!
We have a pink one and a yellow one, but since we don't know what we are having this time around, pink might not work and I'd like to have more than one (since they have a tendency to get spit up, peed and pooped on. LOL)
SO....... I decided to get some funky fabric and make my own. (Yes they look a little boy-ish, but I think that turquoise can go either way, so who cares. lol.) What do ya think?

I also took my left over scraps and made a blanket out of them....

So, those projects are completed and I just finished the new crib bedding as well! Yay! I've had the fabric for that sitting around since WAY before this baby came into our lives, so it feels so nice to finally be done!!! I will post about that soon.

-T

Belly Comparison...

2009-12-08T14:36:00.003-07:00

I was digging through some old stuff the other day and came across a disc full of pictures from when I was pregnant with Adelyn. I thought it would be fun to compare my baby belly this time, to when I was pregnant with her to see if there was much of a difference.
What do you think? Is there much difference?...... Minus the fact that I actually had time to do my hair back then :o) LOL.

14 weeks with Adelyn
(don't mind the puffy hair please!)

14 weeks with "Sprout"

20 weeks with Adelyn
20 weeks with "Sprout"

22 Weeks!

2009-12-05T12:45:00.003-07:00

We are at 22 weeks already, can you believe it! The last month has been a blur! Crazy.... but awesome! Since we are snowed in today (not to mention the fact that we are all under the weather, especially Adelyn... poor thing!), I decided it would be a good day for blogging.

Here is some info about the baby now:

The fetus reacts to loud sounds.
Baby starts having a regular sleeping and waking rhythm.
The mother's movements can wake her baby.
Taste buds are forming on your baby's tongue.
The baby is 28cm long (crown to heel) and weighs over 450 grams.
The weekly weight gain has increased to around 70 grams.

Your baby is about 11 inches long and weighs in at about 1 pound. The eyebrows and eyelids are fully developed, and the fingernails cover the fingertips. Sounds from a conversation are loud enough to be heard by the fetus in the uterus. If you talk, read, or sing to your baby, it's reasonable to expect him or her to be able to hear you.

By this week, your waistline is definitely gone. The top of your uterus is now about 1 inch (3cm) above your bellybutton.

Just for fun...

2009-11-19T15:26:00.006-07:00

A while back I showed you some mood boards of the color choices we were going with in our house. Well, we haven't gotten anywhere on re-doing our bedrooms upstairs yet... but this morning I decided to make a really rough digital sketch of what our bedroom will kinda look like once we are finished. Keep in mind, this is a SUPER rough sketch. :o) (Can you tell I was bored this morning!)

Here is the room the day we moved in... the original owners left the bed, curtains and bedspread behind. We kept the bed because we want to re-finish it.

Here is the room "after".... the bed will become black and the walls will be a blue-grey color. We already have the white curtains and the brown bedspread. All the trim and doors will be sanded down and painted white. The brown things on top of the dresser are Ikea boxes for extra storage.

Ultrasound Pics

2009-11-18T20:02:00.003-07:00

So, like I mentioned in our last post, we had our ultrasound today! We didn't get to see much, but everything looked good from what we saw. This little munchkin crossed it's legs the whole time and wouldn't let us see the gender... so we get to have another surprise!

We won't find out any of the diagnostic stuff until next week sometime at our doc. appointment, but we're still believing that all is well with this munchkin. We didn't get the best pic's this time either, which was kinda disappointing, but it's all good.

Enjoy!

BABY'S HEAD AND SPINE
BABY'S FACE

BABY'S FOOT AND LEG
(to be honest, I have trouble seeing this one... so don't feel bad if you don't see it either! :o)

Ultrasound Today!

2009-11-18T11:54:00.002-07:00

We have our ultrasound today and I am so excited to see our 2nd little one again! Eeek!
I'll be posting pics either later today or tomorrow.
If they can tell us what the sex of this baby is, that's awesome... if not we can wait. :o) We both kinda like the surprise element of it all.

Stay tuned for pics coming soon!

Random Stuff...

2009-11-16T14:19:00.002-07:00

Since I have a wonderful week off from editing photo's, I thought I would spend more time this week blogging... however, I don't have much to blog about. lol! So, this may be boring to some of you, but i'm blogging about random stuff today.

We have an ultrasound on Wednesday, and I am SOOO excited to see our little 'sprout' again. :o) We aren't sure whether we will find out the sex or not, but we have 2 days to decide. We kept it a surprise with Adelyn, and that was really fun... however this time I think I am leaning more towards finding out. We will see what happens I guess... maybe baby won't even co-operate. :o) I can't believe we are 19.5 weeks already! It is going by pretty quickly. I can only feel baby moving once or twice a day, so I'm praying that will increase soon. Adelyn was moving a whole lot more at this point in pregnancy... but maybe this little one is just lazy. :o)

I've started decorating for Christmas and am hoping to put the tree up soon... maybe even today! Shaun thinks that it is ridiculously early, but my theory is the earlier you do it, the longer it lasts. I will post some pictures soon of all the decorations.

Speaking of Christmas decorations, I was seriously bummed out when we went to Wal-mart to buy some new decorations. They have tons of gorgeous stuff this year, however I really wanted a nice nativity set to put on our mantel and there was only 2 dinky ones to choose from. Lame. Half the store is full of Christmas decor, and yet it is all Santa Claus and snowmen.... nothing to do with Jesus' birth which is the real reason for this wonderful season. Sigh.

18 Weeks!

2009-11-07T21:32:00.003-07:00

Today we are 18 weeks pregnant! Yay! I can't believe how fast this pregnancy is going lately. This little munchkin is starting to wiggle more often, it is so cool to feel a precious little person dancing around in there again! It is starting to feel more and more real!!!

Here's some info on were "sprout" is at now:
Your baby is approximately 6 inches/ 14.2 centimetres long from crown to rump and she weighs about 7 ounces/ 190 grams. Her chest moves up and down to mimic breathing but she's not taking in air, only amniotic fluid.

A mid-pregnancy ultrasound scan is often done sometime in the second trimester (usually between 18 and 22 weeks) to assess fetal growth and development, screen for certain birth defects, check the placenta and umbilical cord and determine whether the gestational age is accurate. During this scan, you might see your baby kick, flex, reach, roll, or even suck her thumb. Bring your partner along, and whether or not he's able to accompany you, make sure you ask for printouts of the baby in various poses.

Church/Life Woes...

2009-10-30T12:11:00.005-06:00

I think I am in the middle of a identity crisis... sigh. I've been dealing with a lot of things lately that have me totally confused about what to do next. Since no one really reads this blog, I think I'm pretty safe sharing these things here... so I will use this as a way to get these thoughts out of my head and if someone reads it great... if not, that's fine.

What does "church" mean to you? Of course it's a place where you go and worship God and hear great preaching, etc... but isn't church supposed to be more than that? Isn't church supposed to go beyond the four walls and out into the world and people's everyday lives... not just something for Sunday morning? I am not really seeing that in our church lately.

I have had it up to my eyeballs with church clicks! It is no wonder to me that the world thinks badly of the church... church people are worse than high school students. How is someone supposed to feel like they belong to a church family, when people can't take the time to acknowledge your existence? I can't even count how many church functions, mom's group things, birthday party's, bridal shower's, playgroups, and lady's events I have not even known about until after the fact. As a matter on fact, the only time I have been asked to attend something in our church is when they needed a sound person.

Out of the blue one day I got a call from a girl that I have not seen or talked to in 2 years inviting my daughter and I over to her house to do some crafts with her kids who are about the same age. I immediately thought how funny it was that people I see every Sunday at my own church couldn't give us a second thought when it comes to inviting us to their kids birthday parties, or over for playdates, etc. but this girl thought of us out of no where and invited us over. I could not care less when I am not invited to something, but when my daughter, who is the same age as all the little kids in our church, is forgotten time and time again I get really mad.

Sorry for my rant. I am just fed up big time with people in churches pretending that they are mega Christians, but don't act any more mature than a sixteen-year-old who doesn't want to be someones friend because it's just not cool to do so.

Baby Scare...

2009-10-21T17:44:00.004-06:00

Ok, so yesterday I went to the doctor's for something totally not pregnancy related and on my way there I thought "Hmmm.... I hope he listens to the heartbeat again today!" I just love that sound and was so looking forward to hearing it again. Sure enough my doc decided to check it. Yay!

Well, after 10 minutes of trying to find it, we heard nothing. WHAT!!!!???
Since we had heard the baby's heartbeat last week and it sounded awesome and he/she was wiggling around kicking the doppler, it never crossed my mind that we wouldn't be able to find it just a week later. Sigh.

My doctor started saying things like "have you had any bleeding?" and "how many miscarriages have you had previously?" etc.... I started to panic slightly and then burst into tears right there in the Dr.'s office. He said that he would try and get me in for an urgent ultrasound and then he prayed with me before I left.

I drove home and told Shaun about what had happened. We were both pretty upset about it and weren't sure how to feel. Sigh, another huge faith test. Having gone through this before 4 other times and only having a good outcome once, it was hard to be positive and to put our faith into action. I must admit, I have failed at the faith thing several times in the past.

Today was our ultrasound.... and after spending the entire morning in tears, I suddenly felt a strange peace as we were driving there.
We got in right away... the lady turned on the monitor and said "There's your baby..."
I was so afraid to look, because I didn't want to see a baby there with no heartbeat. Then she said, "...and there's the heart, beating away!" HUGE SIGH OF RELIEF!

The baby was perfect. Everything looked fantastic and his/her little heart was beating away at 154 bpm!!!! He/she was so squirmy that the ultrasound tech could barely get good pictures. :o)

How awesome is God!!!

Yay!!!!

2009-10-13T23:23:00.004-06:00

I haven't blogged here since July... I know, lazy blogger. Sorry! We've been busy with everything but our own lives, so we've really had nothing to blog about.... until now!

Today I am announcing something that I have kept a secret for a long time. I am nearly 15 weeks pregnant and SOOOOOOOO excited to be a mommy for the second time around! We were waiting until we heard this little one's heartbeat before we told the world (or anyone for that matter)... today we heard it! A strong little thump, thump, thump! What a beautiful sound!!

We are a week into our second trimester, and perhaps I will share a little bit about why we waited to long to share this exciting news some other time... but for now, I am enjoying my new little bundle!!!

I am also about %85 sure that I can feel some little movements from time to time! Yay!!!!!!!!!!

Basement!

2009-07-09T15:18:00.003-06:00

We have started the basement reno's this week!! Yipee! It's already been quite the adventure! Everywhere I turn around there is another problem to solve and another cost associated. :o) Sigh.
Oh well. That's part of the fun, right!?

We painted the livingroom upstairs. I'll be posting pics of that soon. I just need to find an ounce of time.

:o)
-T

Electrical Panel Upgrade

2009-07-02T14:24:00.008-06:00

One of problems with buying an old house is that some very important things may need upgrading from time to time... i.e. furnaces, electrical service, plumbing etc. Sigh....
Although, we lucked out and found a great house that needed little upgrading, one of the requirements for buying our house was that we had to upgrade the electrical service from 70w to 100w within 60 days of our possession date.

This is definitely a job better left to professionals.... and since I didn't have a hand in any of this all I can do it post the pictures :o)

This is the old 70w service that we had when we first moved in. It was located beside the back door of the house:

This is the new panel. They had to move it down to the basement into the room that will become my photography office once our basement reno's are through. Although there is nothing visually appealing about an electrical panel, it is at least an improvement!

Wonderful Girlyness!!

2009-06-27T00:29:00.003-06:00

I'm so excited to be able to blog about some lovely girlyness today! We have had this bedding for a while now, but are finally able to use it since our 16 month old little girl has made a complete transition from the crib to a big girl bed! She is currently sleeping in the 2nd upstiars bedroom (which was her nursery). Over the summer we hope to get her new 'big girl room' downstairs ready and she will eventually transition into that room. Because this won't be her room for too much longer we will not be painting it quite yet.... so for now you will have to enjoy this pink, brown, and green lovelyness! :o)

Here are the blankets that we are using for now. They match wonderfully with the other bedding. There is a comforter that goes with this bedding, but we won't be using it until she is big enough for a twin bed.

This is the main pillow, it's pink on one side and brown on the other. Wonderful! :o)

These are the lovely sheets that we will be using on her twin bed once she is big enough. They are so sweet and give the room that wonderful little pop of green!

Throw pillows... too cute!

This has got to be the cutest rug I have ever seen, and it matches everything so perfectly!!!

Flower lights from IKEA. They will be hung on the walls once they are painted. They are a perfect girly addition to the room. They are also very wonderful because they provide a lot of light, but little kids can't burn themselves on the bulbs because they are hidden!

Every little girl deserves a pretty pink flower in her bedroom. We scored this adorable flower from the local dollar store for 1 buck! Can't beat that!
I loved this color scheme so much we actually used most of these items for our daughters 1st birthday party back in February! I am so happy with her 'big girl bedding' and her birthday party decor. Nothing beats getting twice the bang for your buck!!!

Projects On The Go

2009-06-26T08:17:00.003-06:00

Just wanted to give you all a quick update and a glimps of what's to come soon...
We have built the chunk of fence that was missing from the backyard, all that is left to build is a gate and then painting it to match the existing fence. Fence pics will be up shortly!!!
I'm hoping to add some plant to the backyard at some point this summer, so check back for that too!

As for the inside of the house...
-We have had the electrical panel upgraded recently. I'll blog about that soon as well.
-We have stripped down most of the original wood trim upstairs and have started to paint it a gorgeous white.

We will hopefully be getting to some of the bigger projects within the next few weeks, so keep checking back!!!

Tiles, tiles, tiles!!!!!

2009-06-19T08:30:00.008-06:00

Tile pictures are finally here! Yipee!

The upstairs bathroom had never been shower proof... in other words, you had to make sure you didn't spray the the wall since there were no tiles or backsplash of any sort.

Without further ado, here are some easy steps to tiling a shower:

1. Have a plan. Make sure you know exactly what you want before you start. Have all of your tiles, thinset, grout and tools ready and at hand. Make sure you have enough tiles to complete the job (you can always return extra's later, so it's better to have too many instead of not enough!)

2. Mix your thinset and start to trowel it on a few rows at a time with a notched trowel. Spread it evenly.

3. Set a tile into the thinset by twisting it slightly. Remove the tile to make sure you have good coverage on the back. Put the tile back on the wall and keep setting tiles using spacers in between.

4. Continue to install the tiles one row at a time until you reach the top of the shower stall. Measure up from the top of the last row. Mark a line with a level as a guide for the next row.

5. Carefully use a tile cutter to cut any tiles that need trimming. We had a window right in the way of the shower, so we had to carefully cut a tile to fit in that space.

6. Once you have tiled to the hight you prefer, let the tile set for 24-48 hours.

7. Grout the tile. Mix up your grout and use a sponge float to smooth it into the joints. After 30-40 minutes you want to wipe the excess grout with a damp sponge in a circular motion. Continue wiping the tiles down until the tile is clear of all grout.

8. Let the grout cure for at least 24 hours. Then caulk all the edges of the tile.

Voila! That's all there is to it.

Aren't the tiles gorgeous!!!! Thanks to my wonderful father-in-law who taught us how to do it! Him and Shaun did an awesome job!

Better bathroom pics...

2009-06-18T13:58:00.006-06:00

Ok, so I realize you might not see much of a difference between the "before and after's" of the bathroom... so I am putting up bigger pictures of the after's and a better explanation of what we've done.... Enjoy!

Here was the mood board of colors for the upstairs bath:

The bathroom was already sporting the red wall paneling when we moved in, so instead of ripping it all off we decided to work with it. (It might eventually go, but for now it's staying.... ps. I have a small fear of what it hiding behind it. :o) We tried to match the red as well as we could, it was near impossible finding a red paint that worked. In fact we had to buy 3 different colors to finally get this color....

1st can was not mixed well by the lovely young Wal-mart guy that said "I've NEVER EVER mixed the wrong color, so don't worry!" Bahaha... sure. It was pink... enough said.

2nd can turned out pink as well. I was trying to get latex paint instead of oil based, but apparently you can't get that color in latex because it won't get dark enough. Sigh.

3rd can was as close as we were gonna get... after 4 coats of stinky oil based paint. :o)

Thanks honey. :o)

We painted the top half of the bathroom a lovely soft tan color. We will use the same color in the kitchen and hall way. All the trim, doors and windows in this house are wood, and although they are in really awesome condition and have been well taken care of (about 6 thousand coats of varnish to keep them nice and shinny!), we have decided to paint them all white. We also added chair rail to the wall... we needed something to separate the 2 wall colors and create a more finished look.

Once the trim, and chair rail were in and painted white, the mirror looked sad in comparison. I had originally wanted to put in a new mirror, but quickly realized it wouldn't fit... so I had to think of a plan B. We had some left over trim from a project at our old house, so I framed the existing bathroom mirror with the trim to help it flow with the rest of the bathroom.

We also added this lovely new light fixture. I was a bugger to put up... but it is definitely an improvement to the one that was there before!

Like I said in the last post, the only thing left to do is replace the linoluem. Here is the one that we have decided to go with.... it is a lot darker in real life than in this picture.

I just realized I haven't shown the tiles yet, so that post will come tomorrow... I promise!

Bathroom Pics!

2009-06-05T00:00:00.003-06:00

Ok, I finally have some bathroom pics to show you!

Here's a list of what we did:

-sanded down and painted all the trim and the door white

-painted the walls (tan on top, red on the bottom to match the red panel that was already there)

-tiled the shower

-put up new blinds

-put chair rail around the entire room and painted it to match the other trim

-framed the mirror

-added a new light fixture

All that we have left to do is the linoleum. Yay! I'll post better pictures soon. Sorry these are so tiny. I will also post pictures of the shower tile soon too.

Just Because I Can...

2009-06-03T07:22:00.005-06:00

We have been so mega swamped with other stuff lately, that we haven't made anymore progress on the house.... sigh. The bathroom is basically finished, but I haven't had time to get any good pictures of it.

Since one of the reasons we haven't had time to do house stuff is because of our photography business, I encourage you to check out our new photo blog. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!

Also, if your an avid facebooker, check out our facebook page as well.

Switches & Outlets

2009-05-20T15:08:00.003-06:00

This was actually a project Shaun started a few days after we moved in to this house, but I just haven't gotten around to blogging about it... so here it goes. :o)

Most of the plugs in this house were 2 prong, which got annoying when we were trying to plug in our TV, DVD player, etc. Not to mention the less than attractive face plates... So quickly decided that this project would get bumped up to the top of the list as well.

The house originally sported a plethora of face plates on all of the light switches as well. So after switching all the outlets, we thought "Why stop there?"

Here are just a few of the gorgeous face plates and switches that called our walls home:

Now thanks to my wonderful hubby, they are perfectly white and brand new!

Since he did all the work, I will have to get him to blog about how to do it some other time. :o)

New Look!

2009-05-15T12:04:00.001-06:00

Yay!!!! We have finally gotten away from the traditional, ugly blogger templates! Although this new look is far from perfect, it's at least an improvement!

Enjoy!

Bedrooms

2009-05-13T12:55:00.012-06:00

I'm back to show you the mood boards for the 2 upstairs bedrooms.

MASTER BEDROOM

Here is the before with the previous owners curtains, bed and bedding.

Here is the mood board for the master bedroom. The color scheme is very similar to the living room.

ADELYN'S BABY ROOM

Here is the before picture of the 2nd upstairs bedroom. As I mentioned in my last post, the previous owner used this room as a dining room.

This is the mood board for the 2nd upstairs bedroom. Instead of a dining room, it is now the home of a crib, change table and of course a wonderful little girl. :o) We didn't want to make it all out girly since she will have her very own big girl room downstairs once the basement is renovated, so it is still gender neutral. The walls are a light turquoise color and the crib bedding is an awesome green, white and brown pattern. With a few pink details added, it will be the perfect room for a little girl!

The Living/Dining Room

2009-05-08T15:59:00.011-06:00

Our favorite room in this house is probably the living room. Although we are no where near finished it (or even started it for that matter), it is the best place to just sit and relax. There is a HUGE south facing window that let's in just enough sun light to feel warm and cozy :o)

Since there is no dining room or nook in this house, we had to be a bit creative with where we would put the kitchen table. Although the kitchen is a fairly decent size, the only empty space is right in the way of getting out the backdoor or going downstairs... so that is definitely out of the question. The previous owner used one of the upstairs bedrooms to house her dining room, but since Adelyn is in that room and we are in the other, that didn't work for us either.

Instead we came up with a great solution.... take the ginormous living room and divide it in 2. After searching the web to see what it would look like, I discovered this picture:

This convinced me that it could look pretty good in our house too.

I came up with this floor plan for the living/dining room before we had even moved into this house (Shaun laughs every time I show him this. He thinks I have too much time on my hands :o). It has turned out pretty much the way I had planned it, with a few alterations here and there. Un-like the picture above, we have the love seat in the middle of the room separating the 2 spaces. I hope to add some kind of pendant light fixture above the table to finish off the 'dining' space. Let me know what you think of the living / dining room concept.

Mood Boards

2009-05-07T22:20:00.000-06:00

I would love to show you some before and after pictures of our house reno's.... but since nothing is finished, I can't do that. Instead I'm gonna post the mood boards for each room so that you can use your imagination. :o) Here are the mood boards for the living room and kitchen.

LIVING ROOM

Here is the before.

Here is the mood board for the living room. The wall color is FROSTORIA GLASS and the trim is called GENTLE TOUCH, both by Glidden.

KITCHEN

Here's the kitchen before:

Here's the mood board for the kitchen. The walls will be a tan color. We will be redoing the existing cupboards a white color and replacing all the hardware on them. The ugly orange linoleum will be ripped up and replaced with a nice neutral pattern. The counters and back splash are staying the same since they are in great shape.

Bathroom update!

2009-04-28T09:59:00.000-06:00

Sorry for my lack of blogging lately! Life has been CRAZY (but more on that some other time).

The bathroom upstairs is almost finished. It's taken longer than expected, but it is turning out great! The tiles in the shower are done and look amazing (thanks to my wonderful hubby and father-in-law!), the painting is almost done (after a few small ordeals with the red paint), now all that's left is the chair rail around the middle of the walls and a new light fixture (which I haven't picked out yet)

Yay!!!

Check back for pictures soon!

3 Easy Steps to Caulking a Tub

2009-04-09T13:10:00.000-06:00

After realizing that in 56 years no one has ever put caulking around the bathtub, that project quickly got added to my ever increasing to-do list. Having never done this before I was a little nervous about how it would turn out... however I am incredibly proud of the results!

Here are some quick steps on caulking a tub:

1. Clean up all the old caulking, mildew and soap scum from the edges of your tub.

(our tub before the project, without any caulking at all)

2. You can either a) Tape the bathtub with tub tape or painters tape to ensure nice clean lines and then apply the caulking in between.

(If you do this step, make sure to remove the tape before the caulking starts to skin over. The bead should look neat and even, but if it doesn't just smooth it out with your finger)

or b) Put the caulking straight on to the tub.

I chose this approach... not because I knew what i was doing, but because I found this amazing tool called 'Caulk Rite' that allows you to apply caulking like a pro!

3) Allow caulking about 48 hours to dry completely before using the bathtub or shower.

This is the corner of our tub with one side completed.

What an amazing difference the caulking made!

Come & Knock On Our Door

2009-04-07T20:56:00.000-06:00

We had every intention of re-keying the locks once we moved into this house... because it's an old house and you just never know who has a set of keys, and because all 5 locks (front door knob, front door dead bolt, back door knob, back door dead bolt, and garage knob) have a different key. After we spent a few days in here, we realized that most of the locks didn't work well... if at all and the ones that did work were upside down. Needless to say we were more than happy to move them from the door to the garbage can.

Changing the knobs and dead bolts is a relatively easy task... the only hiccup was that the existing holes were slightly too small for the new hardware. Thanks to dad and some drill bits, that problem was easily solved. :o)

Project #2 - blinds

2009-04-04T13:00:00.000-06:00

While my hubby was at work today, I decided it was time to move on to another house project. So I packed up my 1 year old and headed to Wal-Mart (where else) to buy some blinds for the upstairs bathroom.

First off, let me start out by saying that having 2 bathrooms has been a luxury that we've never had the privilege of in our 4 years of marriage. :o) But, with that being said.... both bathrooms are in need of a little facelift. There are a lot of bathroom projects that we have yet to accomplish, but to start them all off I decided to replace the 50 year old curtain and curtain rod with some new gorgeous white blinds.

I forgot to take a before picture of the curtains, but I managed to snap this shot before they got thrown out.

And here are the beautiful new white blinds!!!

Saying Goodbye

2009-04-03T22:00:00.000-06:00

Saying goodbye is always hard to do. Especially when you have to say goodbye to something that you love.

You may be thinking, "It's just a house, what's the big deal???" Well, I'll tell you...

-1st of all, we snagged it at a great price 3 years ago before house prices went crazy

-it had 3 bedrooms on the main floor, perfect for a family with little ones

-it was our first HOUSE, and it seemed like a mansion compared to the 1 bedroom condo we were living in before it

-it's filled with memories... some good, some bad...

-we put A LOT of hard work into it (landscaping, building a fence and a garage, and lots and lots of painting)

-it's the only home our little girl has ever known and I think she loved it just as much as we did

The list goes on and on....

I still don't think it is has quite set in yet that we are NEVER going "home" again.

Thankfully, this little white house is starting to feel more like home everyday.

Here's a few pics:

My favorite part of the house is the blue front door :o)

Bye, Bye Orange Carpets.... Hello Hardwood!

2009-04-01T15:44:00.000-06:00

When our realtor first showed us pictures of this house, we were less then impressed with the orange carpets. In fact, we weren't even interested in seeing the house because of them, but boy am I glad we did.

Project #1 - THE CARPETS

First thing Saturday morning we said goodbye to the ugly orange carpet and gladly welcomed the beautiful hardwood floors that were hiding underneath!

We're Back Baby!

2009-04-01T14:49:00.000-06:00

6 days without internet access is way too many! But we're back in business... Telus finally got our internet working and we couldn't be happier.

We are officially moved in to our new house and have already started working on a few projects.

We are still living out of a few boxes, but it's getting there.

Stay tuned for more details and pictures.

A New Normal

2009-03-23T13:58:00.000-06:00

"I can't wait to have our lives back! I can't wait for life to get back to normal!"

This sentence has come out of my mouth a million times in the last few months. You see, my maternity leave was over in January and I decided not to return to my full time position as a TV Producer. In order to still have somewhat of a family life, I decided to take a part time job as Department Specialist of General Merchandise... sound fancy?.... it isn't. Ever since then, our lives have been completely different and I have been longing for life, as we once knew it, to return.

I have been holding on to the idea that once we are in our new house, life will be the way it used to be. However, today it dawned on me that normal will never be the same again. Life never stays the same, it's always changing and evolving... sometime for the better and sometimes for the worst. We're just taking it one day at a time.

This is our new normal.

2009-03-23T13:54:00.000-06:00

2009-03-22T00:03:00.000-06:00

Our New Life Adventure

2009-03-21T23:33:00.001-06:00

I haven't blogged since high school... but I wanted to share this journey with whoever is interested in coming along for the ride. My husband (Shaun) and I (Tracy) have just purchased a "previously loved" home in Lethbridge. We move in on Friday and are busy packing, cleaning, and trying to stay organized in the midst of boxes and chaos that we are slowly becoming accustomed to. We are moving from our brand new West side home to a 56 year old home on the other end of town. Life as we know it is about to change... for the better.