Merry Christmas!

Alex really enjoyed Christmas morning. He woke up a little on the grumpy side... but as soon as he saw the tree he perked up and said "Hey, Santa leaved us some presents!" We let him open one present on Christmas Eve --- the pyjamas --- so he had something cute to wear in the photos. They're a bit long, but really warm and cozy so he really liked them.


Here Alex opened his first gift from Santa. It's a castle ("Little People") that came with some characters, horses, dragons... really, really neat. He really liked it (as did his Daddy) who played with it just as much as him.

Alex's attempts to open his stocking were thwarted by the lumpy things stuck in it, so he turned it upside down and shook it instead!

Christmas dinner... we opened crackers. Alex played musical hats, starting off with a yellow one and eventually trading everyone at the table so he got to wear each one.

And here he is... our nephew, Brandon. Cory took quite a liking to him and was able to get some giggles out of him. We visited with him on December 21st and we'll get to see him again tomorrow (the 28th) as we celebrate Christmas with Mark and Victoria.

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday with lots of good memories! Here's to a prosperous and happy 2007!!!

Getting close...

Alex and I went to the annual Foster Parent Christmas party last Saturday. The Santa was a little odd looking, but Alex thought he was pretty cool. He even managed to brave sitting on his knee for a photo opportunity for me. Santa gave him 4 board books and he was so thrilled! Two Christmas parties and two Santa visits and Alex has got a "tato head" and "books". I don't think I should dare take him to see the Mall Santa, as that one comes empty handed!!!

We are getting very close to meeting our new son (well, very likely a son... there's always room for error on the ultrasound technician's part). We've officially passed the due date that the ultrasound predicted (December 21), but based on measurements only, those have a margin of error of 10 days give or take... January 1st is creeping up on us fast and we are hoping to avoid going past that date, but if we do... I'm okay with that, as my first born (10 days past his due date) was beautiful and healthy, albeit on the large size.

Here's this week's belly (taken today at 38 weeks, 4 days). A bit of a shock seeing it on the camera. I had no idea...

We're sure looking forward to our Christmas. This year we've decided to visit around Christmas and not during. Yesterday we had a great dinner at Cory's parents house. Everyone was there. I forgot my camera, of course, otherwise I'd be posting a photo of my nephew for all to see. Last year Christmas Day was too hectic and not enjoyable for us. Cory's sleeping schedule (he works graveyards) made the day not very relaxing (he got no sleep at all) so this year we're staying home on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We'll drive to PG on Boxing Day, but we're spending our first ever Christmas completely at home. We've extended the invitation to our families and my parents are coming out for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We're looking forward to relaxing at home and letting Alex take as long as he wants opening his gifts on Christmas morning.

Merry Christmas to all if I don't get around to posting another update before then! Hope your holidays are relaxing and peaceful!

Belly of the week...

Well, here's my 37 week photo. Mom thinks I've "dropped". I sure hope so. The baby is definitely head down, so that's a good sign... and I think I'm breathing a little better these days, so it's quite possible he has dropped. I really can't tell, though, because my stomach is just so darn huge!

37 weeks is a milestone we hit on Monday. It's when the baby is considered "full-term" which is great. Pregnancy is calculated as 40 weeks, but at 37 the typical baby can safely live outside of the body with fully developed lungs. It's safe for him to be born at any time and he would not be considered premature! Yay!

The last three weeks of the pregnancy (37-40) is when the baby spends a lot of time developing fat to keep him warm after birth. Basically, just growing bigger. 40 to 42 weeks is also considered full-term, but on the longish side... after 42 weeks the baby is considered post-term and can experience complications as a result of that. So, I'm glad we made it this far. But now the waiting game begins. He could be coming any day or he could still be a month off (Alex came at 41 weeks 3 days).

Christmas is coming!!!

So, after having the tree up for over a week now, with lights, garland, and an angel only... we finally finished decorating it yesterday!

We decided to go "low-key" on the house decorations and only focussed on the tree. Everything else is staying boxed up until next Christmas. Our reasoning... with a newborn coming soon, the less we have to put away after New Year's, the better!

The photos don't do the tree justice. It really looks great at night with the lights out and the tree plugged in. The first photo is one I tried on the "night portrait" setting of my camera, but not having a tripod, I can't hold the camera still enough for a non-blurry photo. The second one is with the lights off but the flash on, so that one's not so good either.

Alex was a really big help. He handed me the boxes of ornaments one at a time and then after I put the ornament on the tree, he put the empty boxes back in our big box. So far, things are going well. Last year the tree had to go behind the couch so Alex couldn't get to it (he pulled it over on himself on day 1). This year it's more out in the open and he seems to understand that the ornaments are just to look at, not to touch. Now, if anyone has any advice for getting that message through to my cats, I'd love to hear it!!! Next year, with a 1 year old, I imagine we'll be putting the tree behind the couch again, so I'm determined to enjoy it this year.

Alex sees Santa (and other scary sights...)

Alex has been telling me for months that "I don't want to sit on Santa's knee... he's scary" so I wasn't sure how he'd react at Dad's party yesterday when Santa called him to give him his gift. He did great though... he said "He called me Alexander!" and he went up and got his gift (a "tato head") and was quite thrilled with that. And he DIDN'T sit on Santa's knee, so it was the best of both worlds!


Here's the "other scary sights"... hee hee. If this wasn't so blurry, there's no way I'd be posting it on this site. Alex graciously took my "36 week" portrait for me last week. He's getting better with the aim and the focus, don't you agree? I'm officially 37 weeks now... only 3 weeks to go until my due date, January 1st! Time's creeping up fast. Part of me feels like this baby will make his appearance before then, however it's likely only wishful thinking on my part.

ROTFL...

When was the last time you had a really good belly laugh? That's what I love about kids. They have no inhibitions about laughing their heads off whenever it pleases them to.
Yesterday Alex and I joined my parents at my Dad's Work Christmas Party. They had a bunch of bouncy, blow-up type playground equipment for the kids to play on.
Alex had so much fun, he couldn't keep his balance coming down the slide...
You can just see the total joy in his face....
Phew! Finally caught his breath!!!

Maternity Leave...

Wow, it's official. As of Monday at 8:30am, I am on maternity leave... so I guess this makes an extended long weekend for me! I return to work on December 3, 2007. Today was the crazy day at work, so the project I really wanted to wrap up sat pretty much untouched on my desk all day. So... I've brought it home. It's a small price to pay for getting to spend these last few weeks of my pregnancy at home with my family. I figure a couple of hours of uninterupted me time, and I can get the report done and dropped off at the office again next week.

Goals for next week... clean the house (let's hope the nesting instinct kicks in soon) and then set up the tree! Yay! Today Alex opened the first square of his advent calendar. We found one that had absolutely nothing to do with Christmas, just a giant picture of Spiderman, but it has 32 days on it as it goes until January 1st... so it's the countdown to the new baby... once he eats the last chocolate out of it, he'll either be a big brother or Mama will be going stir crazy! :)

So, here I am at 35.5 weeks pregnant. The lighting's a little off, but the stomach still shows!

Alex has been trying to give up his afternoon nap... however sometimes he succumbs to fatigue... here he is on the couch after fighting his Daddy for ever to not nap. Cory turned his back for a minute and lo and behold... the third photo is one I took of him after his nap. I'm thinking a haircut is in order... :)

34 weeks... and fun with cameras...

Well, here's the belly this week. Maybe not too much bigger than last week, it's hard to tell. Cory takes pictures at a funny angle. Speaking of funny angles... I'm also including Alex's first attempts at photography. I took a picture of him... and then he tried taking some of me.

33 weeks, 4 days...

Here's my "this week" belly photo (and Alex's "belly photo" too as he wanted me to take one of him after Cory took one of me). I should have been taking photos all along, but I kind of thought they'd look pretty much the same as Alex's. This baby, however is all out front, so at 31 weeks (Halloween) I decided I'd better start immortalizing this body too. This belly is so different, it feels like a giant bowling ball hanging off of me. Alex was more settled on my hips, so way easier for me to walk and get around. This time... I'm awkward and clumsy and so tired. This morning I bent over to pick up my boots and I fell on the floor. It's funny now... so go ahead and laugh. No harm done, I landed on my side, not my stomach. I waddle now and really move slowly. Bending over winds me, as does sitting with my legs together - cause my stomach rests on my lap too high and cuts off my breathing... so I've thrown "ladylike-ness" to the wind! LOL

The days are getting shorter!

Literally, shorter... I get home from work and it's pretty much dark. The time is flying so fast. I officially have 10 shifts left at work then I'm off for a year! Wow, it seems like I just finished my last maternity leave and now I'm taking another. How to take advantage of the system... actually I've been back at work for almost a year and a half. It's flown so fast. It scares me to think my boys are going to grow up so fast, right before my eyes.

There's now just over 6 weeks until we get to meet our new son. We're pretty excited. Alex is taking it well but I don't think he really "gets it". He knows that the baby is behind my belly button, and he knows that the baby is "a baby" (he points at his baby pictures and says "that's Connor?") but he hasn't grasped that this baby somehow has to actually get out of my belly. He might be in for a bit of a shock when he figures that one out! Here's a photo of my 32 week belly... it actually doesn't look as big as it feels, so maybe I'm imagining things... but at my appointment last week my 32 weeker was measuring 37 weeks.

Uh oh! :)

At the IOF / Beaverly Halloween Party on the 29th

Hmm... why the two costumes? Well, turns out I thought they were both cute so I bought both! Alex had his pick of a dog costume or a pumpkin costume. I dressed him in one for the Halloween Party and one for Trick-or-Treating. There was also a matching scarecrow costume at Zellers that I contemplated buying instead, but Mother and Son scarecrows didn't appeal to him!

Well, here's Alex's first opportunity to Trick or Treat. After we took him to the pumpkin walk we were pretty cold. We only managed to make it to 3 houses before he was ready to come home. He did, however, thoroughly enjoy himself handing candy out to the older kids that came to our house. And he got WAY too much candy for a two-year old. Combined with the candy he got at the Halloween party two nights before, I'd say Alex did pretty good! We're rationing what he eats every day, which doesn't thrill him much... but it helps for my peace of mind.

Just trying this out...

I really doubt that I will be able to maintain this blog at all as I tend to start things but not finish them. The only "hobby" (umm... some would call it an addiction) that I've really been consistently maintaining is my scrapbooking... which is how I love preserving and sharing my family's history. So... I suspect that down the road this blog will become obsolete and you'll have to come visit us to get your updates. In the meantime, though... I do have a wonderful new digital camera that Cory got me for my birthday, so I guess this will be a fun way to share our photos. I'll give it a whirl right now!