Wow, 1 year already!

Carlos and I had a wonderful weekend in Niagara Falls. Since our actual anniversary was yesterday, we both took the day off and went on our trip from Saturday until Monday.

We got to Niagara in the early afternoon on Saturday and were able to check into our room early. It was a gorgeous room with an amazing view of both the American and the Canadian falls! We lucked out! Since the weather was nice, we decided to walk down to the falls and look around. We did the journey behind the falls where you can walk behind the falls and we also did a new attraction called “Niagaras Fury” which is a simulation ride about the falls. It was okay, but not worth the amount of money they charged for it. We walked around a bit more and then went for dinner. After dinner we went back to our room to watch the falls illumination. That was neat; they lit up the falls with all different colours.

On Sunday, we did a bunch of things. We went to an IMAX movie since it was raining, then walked down to Clifton Hill and went to Brick City (a whole city built of lego), and to the Rainforest Café for lunch. We then checked out the WWE store, which was neat. We also went to the Guiness World Records museum, the wax museum, and then we did this huge maze game where we had to run around and find different towers and items. After that, we did the maid of the mist, which was super cool! You get SOAKED, luckily they give you ponchos! We got really close to the falls, which was amazing. What a neat experience! After that, we were pretty tired, so we went back to the room to rest for a bit before dinner.

We decided to go out for a nice dinner on Sunday night to celebrate our anniversary (I know it was a few hours early, but oh well). We went to the Keg which was in the hotel next door on the 9th floor, so with a nice view of the falls. Carlos completely surprised me with a beautiful card in which he had written a poem for me. What a sweetie; it was amazing! He also gave me the most gorgeous diamond necklace! It has 7 diamonds in a wavy vertical line starting with smaller diamonds at the top and then the diamonds get larger on the way down. It’s SOOO pretty! I was totally blown away! I certainly am spoiled!!!!

We didn’t buy any souvenirs on our trip, but we did buy our first item for the baby. We found a Portugal onesie in a sports store that was just too cute to pass up. That was the first item of clothing we bought for the baby; all the other things we have so far my mom bought!

Yesterday, we got back in the early afternoon and relaxed for awhile. I had my first prenatal pilates class, which was fun. There are about 12 of us in the class, and I am in the middle in terms of due date, the earliest due date in the class is mid-December and the latest is late March. There is actually one other woman in the class with my exact same due date, which is neat! That’s the first time I’ve been with other people pregnant and due around the same time as me, so I’m sure we’ll have lots to talk about over the next several weeks.

Last night, we actually remembered to take the top tier of our wedding cake our of the freezer and have a piece in honour of our anniversary. It was yummy!

I can’t believe we’ve been married a year already; it’s gone by so quickly!

Now it’s back to work for another week. At least it’s a 4-day work week for me! Yesterday was my last day off until late October likely. Although, next Tuesday, I do have a couple hours off in the morning since it is ultrasound day! Yay! One week to go!

So I’m at 19 weeks now. I’m still waiting to be able to feel the baby move. They say with first time moms the average for when you can first feel the baby move is between 18 and 22 weeks. So, it could still be a couple weeks yet. Yesterday morning, I did feel a bubbling sensation I had never felt before, but that was only once, so who knows, it could have been something else.

Stressful appointment

We had our 18-week appointment with the midwife last night. This was our first time meeting our second midwife. She was okay, but a bit of a scatter-brain it seemed. Well, when it came time to listen to the heartbeat, she tried for about 20 minutes with no luck. She did say that my placenta could be at the front, which would make it difficult, or it could be a positional thing. With every minute that went past, I was getting more and more worried. She said if they couldn’t find it, not to panic, but they would likely send me to the hospital for an ultrasound just to be sure. Luckily, that wasn’t necessary. She got another midwife to come in and try, and she found it in about 15 seconds! I was SOOOOO relieved! I don’t know if it was that the baby was moving around so much that it was difficult to find, or if the other midwife had a better Doppler, who knows. I’m just glad they were so determined and wouldn’t let me leave until they found it! We were there for almost an hour and a half total since the first 45 minutes were spent talking about things and me asking questions, etc. So, we left there feeling relieved, but it was stressful!

I’m headed to Toronto in a few minutes for a meeting at the MOE. I will likely be gone most of the day, but I’m happy to get out of the office for a bit.

Back from holidays

My week off was fabulous! Spent a total of 5 days at the cottage, which was nice. The weather this past weekend was gorgeous! Couldn’t have asked for any better.

Now it’s back to the grind. At least it’s a short week! And next week, I have Monday off since it’s my first anniversary. Carlos and I are going to Niagara Falls on Saturday morning and we’re staying until Monday. So, that will be a nice weekend away; it’s been several years since I’ve been to Niagara Falls.

I’m at 18 weeks now – wow! Almost halfway there! Tomorrow, we have another appointment with the midwife. Since our first midwife is on holidays this week, our appointment is with our second midwife. We haven’t met her before, so this will be good. I really like the fact that you meet 3 midwives over the course of the pregnancy and 2 of the 3 will be at the birth – guaranteed.

And it’s only 2 weeks now until the ultrasound! Yay!

Enjoying the time off

I'm having a great week off. The time at the cottage was very relaxing. The weather was nice too. A little on the cool side, but sunny, so I can't complain.

Yesterday, we went shopping all day. We got our crib bedding (mom is getting that for me for my birthday). I know it's 3 months early, but she wanted us to have it before we go our nursery renovations, which is in October so that we can pick paint colours, etc. This is our crib bedding, although the picture doesn't really do it justice since it's way more colourful and has more animals than the picture shows. But, you get the idea. We also got the cutest lightswitch cover to match.

I also got some more maternity clothes for the fall. I got 6 tops, a pair of jeans, and a dress for the weddings I have coming up. And then of course, I had to get a shawl and shoes to match the dress ;) So, all in all, it was a very successful shopping day.

So today I have a busy morning of errands (getting my hair highlighted and cut, signing up for prenatal pilates class, registering for prenatal class for Carlos and I, etc).

Then tomorrow, we are headed back up to the cottage until Monday. I don't want my holidays to be over!

How time flies

I can’t believe it’s already nearing the end of August! I haven’t really felt like we’ve had summer yet since the weather has been so crappy. I’ve only been swimming in my parents pool 3 times so far this year since now it’s too cold to swim in since it has been getting so cold at night, and that’s even with a solar blanket on the pool!

As of 3pm tomorrow, I am on vacation until September 2nd, so that’s exciting! On Saturday, I am going to see Mamma Mia (movie) with my mom and then we’re going to a party for a co-worker of mine (who my mom is also friends with). Carlos will be gone at a bachelor party all day, so mom and I are doing a girls day.

Then on Sunday, Carlos and I are heading to the cottage until Wednesday. It will be just the 2 of us, so it will be nice to have some time alone out there. Looks like the weather should be nice! Yay! Thursday, we are going shopping in the GTA with my mom in the hunt for some more maternity clothes. And I need to find a dress to wear to the 2 weddings we are going to in the next couple of months.

Friday, we are heading back up to the cottage until Labour Day with the family and then the Monday evening we have a BBQ at my parents house to celebrate Alex and Raeh’s engagement.

So, it will be a nice, relaxing week off with lots of time at the cottage. Just the way I like it!

Oma’s diagnosis

Mom just called me and she's back from the appointment with Oma... they were there for 3 hours! And my uncle was there too, which was really good since now Oma can't accuse mom of making things up since there was another "witness" there.

Oma does NOT have Alzheimers, which is great! Her memory loss is likely related to the mini-strokes she's had in the last few years and restricted blood flow to the brain. They have prescribed medication that will help this and they are going to do more tests to confirm that this is what the problem is. The doctor is notifying the MTO that Oma can't drive, so that's official now, which is good. So, all in all, it was very positive, and we are relieved that she doesn't have Alzheimers!!!

Update

My weekend was great! On Saturday, we visited with Oma and she has really turned a corner, I think. She has really thought about things and has realized that mom only did what she thought was best because she cares. So, I don’t think she’s mad at mom anymore. In fact, Oma and mom went out to the cottage yesterday until today and mom said Oma is really coming to terms with things. Although, with her, every day is different, so she could wake up one morning and be totally mad again! But, we are thankful for the change in attitude. Her appointment with the gerontologist is tomorrow, so I am anxious to hear what happens there.

Also, in BIG news, my brother Alex is proposing to his girlfriend today! It is her birthday today, so he is planning on taking her on a picnic and proposing. He showed me the ring on the weekend and it’s gorgeous. I told him that he MUST get down on one knee when he proposes. I have always said, if there is no ring and no knee, it’s not a real proposal! Apparently, my mom also made a fuss saying he had to do the knee thing, so I think he got the message! I wouldn’t be surprised if they get married next summer. They are very young (she is 20 today and he is almost 23), but she has a good head on her shoulders and she’ll take good care of him (Alex is a real space cadet). So, that’s exciting!

Today, I have to go out of town for another meeting, so it’s a super long workday for me today… 8am to around midnight. But I am on holidays next week, so I don’t care! I will likely leave early on Friday since I’ll have the extra hours, but we’ll see. I may want to bank the overtime for all my medical appointments since I don’t think it’s fair to make the company compensate me for all my appointments, especially when they get more frequent as my pregnancy progresses.

I am at 16 weeks today! Yay!

EDIT 1:00pm

I am no longer going to the meeting tonight. My boss thinks he can handle this one on his own since he thinks it will be fairly straight forward. So, I'm happy! I don't have to work a 16 hour day today!

EDIT 3:00pm

It's official: my brother and Raeh are engaged! Very exciting!

Belly Pics

A couple of you have been asking, so here are a few pics of the belly progress so far.

This one was at 7 weeks. I'm not sure why my hubby didn't get my head in the pic!


This one is at 11 weeks.



And this one was at 15 weeks.

TGIF

This has been a stressful week. Work has been frustrating (there have been times this week I’ve wanted to pull my hair out and cry). And there has been lots of drama/stress with Oma. Not to mention the crazy migraine I had on Monday. It’s been a difficult week. I’m trying my best to stay mellow though!

So, I am quite relieved that it’s Friday today. This weekend will be a good one, I’m sure. Today, I am getting together with my friend Liz after work. She lives in Toronto, but her parents are about a half hour from me and she’s at her parents’ house for a week, so I thought I’d jump on that chance to visit with her since I haven’t seen her in months! The rest of the weekend will be spent relaxing, doing some errands, and a visit with Carlos’ parents.

Only 1 more week of work until my week off! I can’t wait! Next Friday at 3pm can’t come soon enough! Then I’m off work until September 2nd!

EDIT 11:05am

My mom just called me and I guess my aunt and uncle had a meeting with Oma and mom this morning. For the first time ever, my uncle stood up for my mom. I think before the meeting he thought mom was over-reacting, but when he spent some time with Oma, it didn't take him long to realize what's happening. He told Oma that he is behind my mom and if she's going to be mad at mom, she needs to be mad at him too. He also said that if Oma continues to treat our family like this, he will put her in a home. He won't see our family ripped apart by this. So, my mom is feeling MUCH better now. And I think it was good for Oma to see that it's not just my mom that is concerned. My uncle kept saying that this is only because we care about her... so hopefully she realizes that.

He could only handle an hour with Oma before he started to get annoyed with her saying the same things over and over again and being fixated on holding a grudge and not forgiving, so I think he's begining to see what mom has to go through day in and day out. For some reason, Oma seems to think that everything was done behind her back, which was not the case, she just doesn't remember. And she thinks my mom is lying. And she won't get past that. But this is the same woman who turned on her best friend 40 years ago because she didn't think she handled it well when Oma was widowed the first time and 40 years later, when this friend wanted to establish a connection with Oma again, she turned her down. So we already know Oma is not one to forgive. And I wouldn't be surprised if Oma loses all her friends now because she thinks they are all against her too since they talked to my mom saying that they were concerned about Oma because they care. Oma is really mad about that.

So, I think I'm going to stay out of this now that my uncle knows what is going on. I am thinking maybe I won't go to the appointment on Tuesday now since I know mom has backup in him. I don't want Oma to turn against me too, she needs someone who she can trust. Not to mention, I don't want to get caught in the middle since stress is not good for the baby.

We are all pretty blown away with the fact that my uncle has really stepped up to help. I am so thankful for that!!!! So, today is a good day!

Mom needs some back-up

Well, I decided that I’m going to go to Oma’s appointment on Tuesday morning. My mom really needs the support. My uncle will also be there, but he rarely spends time with Oma, so he doesn’t really know what’s been going on.

I stopped in for a few minutes yesterday after work and I walked in on Oma yelling at my mom. Apparently, Oma somehow is fixated on saying that mom took her car keys without telling her. Which is not the case. Mom took her car keys away over 6 weeks ago now, and of course she talked to Oma about it beforehand... and MANY times since. Well, Oma all of a sudden within the last 2 days decided that mom did this all behind her back. When mom says they talked about it many times, Oma just says mom is lying to her and that she can’t defend herself since she doesn’t remember what happened. And Oma has her key back now anyway, so I don’t know why she is so fixated on thinking mom is doing things behind her back and lying all the time.

It’s getting quite ugly. Oma stormed off and said to my mom “I hope someday your family treats you as badly as you’ve treated me!” And then she kept coming back with more hurtful things to say. So, I got my mom out of there for a bit. We went for dinner and then to the festival of lights where Kalan Porter was playing last night. So, we had a nice escape.

I feel so bad about this whole situation. I’m trying my best not to let it stress me out too much since stress isn’t good for the baby. I feel bad for Oma because I can imagine it must be hard on her to lose her mind and be in denial and I also feel bad for my mom because of the living hell Oma is putting her through. It would be so much different if their houses weren’t attached. But since mom works from home so much, she can’t get anything done since Oma comes over 30+ times a day to yell at her. It’s getting worse by the day. The appointment on Tuesday can’t come soon enough!

I’m hoping there is some medication Oma can take to help. But how do you get a forgetful woman to take medication when she insists there’s nothing wrong with her? Half the time she doesn’t know what month it is, much less day of the week. She insists she doesn’t need any help, so this could be tricky…

I think Oma should live half time at my aunt and uncles… it’s not fair that all the stress of this is put on my mom… time for my uncle to step up… but I doubt that’s going to happen.

Made it through migraine #2

Well, I had my 2nd pregnancy migraine yesterday – no fun. It lasted a full 24 hours – from Sunday evening until yesterday evening. I had to stay home yesterday; all I could do was lie flat with a cold compress on my head. If I tried to do anything else, my head pounded like crazy. And it didn’t help that we had 3 thunderstorms during the day so every crash of thunder and every car that drove by on the wet roads were torture! It was a difficult day for sure and Tylenol did nothing. But, luckily, it only lasted 24 hours and I am feeling MUCH better today. I hope I don’t have any more of those! Although, if I’ve already had 2 in the 3.5 months I’ve been pregnant, chances are there are more to come. I will definitely talk to my midwife about it at my next appointment to see if there is anything I can do. I felt bad about missing work, but that’s only the 2nd day I’ve called in sick since I became pregnant, so that’s not too bad. And there is no way I would have been able to function at the office, so it was for the best.

The Oma drama has continued. She found a car key somewhere and went out driving even though she technically doesn’t have a license. She did pass her MTO test, but never went to the office to get her license renewed. Her appointment with the gerontologist is next Tuesday, so we are anxious to hear what she has to say. It’s getting worse by the week. Now Oma is at the stage where she is lashing out at mom accusing mom of making this whole thing up and being against her. She’s saying mom has been telling lies to everyone and turning everyone against her. Nobody is against her! She’s saying things like “I can’t believe this is how you treat an old woman, especially your mother… after everything I’ve done for you!” And anytime my dad tries to stick up for my mom, Oma just yells at him to stay out of it. Oma insists that someone else needs to come to the appointment on the 19th so that there is a “witness” as to what the doctor says because Oma no longer trusts my mom. My mom already told my uncle that he needs to be there as well anyways since she can’t handle this on her own. What a mess. I wouldn’t be surprised if Oma has Alzheimers since it seems like that’s what this is. But, we’ll wait and see what the doctor says. My poor mom!

I’m at 15 weeks now – wow! I have been taking weekly pictures of how my body has been changing, so I will post a couple of those when I get a chance, likely on the weekend.

Oh, and our ultrasound is booked – September 16th at 9:10am! Yay!

We have a heartbeat!

:)

We went to see the midwife this afternoon and my mom came to this appointment, in addition to Carlos. We got to hear the heartbeat! It took the midwife a few minutes to find it since the baby was higher up than she was expecting. So, just as I was starting to get nervous, she found it! And it was the most amazing thing I've ever heard!!!!! Heart-rate was strong at 168 bpm. Midwife said that's perfect for this stage of pregnancy.

I am SOOOOOOOOO happy and relieved!!!!!!!!!!!!

So glad it’s already Thursday

Yay for short work weeks!

I have been really tired this week, so I am looking forward to a quiet weekend at home. We don’t have too much planned, which is nice. I really need to catch up on some sleep. And of course, watch some Olympics ;)

I’m a week into the second trimester, which is nice. It seems like a LONG time until my due date though… which I guess is a good thing since we have so much to do to get ready! Baby is the size of a lemon this week! Tomorrow is the big day: we finally get to hear the baby’s heartbeat! I’m so excited; only 1 more sleep!

Only 2 weeks left of work after this one until my week off! I am really looking forward to the break! Similar to our last week off, we’re going to be spending most of it at the cottage with a day of shopping in the GTA in the middle. I really need to find some maternity jeans and a couple more tops.

Sleeeeeeepy

I am feeling pretty tired this afternoon. And I don’t think it’s all pregnancy related, I think some of it is due to the fact that I slept on a mattress on the floor at our hotel in Montreal since the beds were so slanty ;) Despite the hotel misfortunes, I had a great time in Montreal with the girls. And we can laugh about our hotel room now, since it seems like we didn’t have it as bad as some other guests we were talking… at least our bathroom had a ceiling ;)

I reached 14 weeks yesterday – yay! I think my belly grew a lot while I was in Montreal because Carlos said I was showing a lot more when I got home after being away for 3 days. Now, how much of that is related to baby and how much is related to over-eating in Montreal is not known! Ha! I think he’s right though, I think I am starting to look pregnant. Maybe not to strangers yet, but I can definitely tell now… exciting!

Only 3 more days until we get to hear our baby’s heartbeat – I can’t wait until Friday afternoon at 3:30pm! It’s going to be such a special moment. I’m sure both mom and I will cry… but they are probably used to that in the midwife’s office; I’m sure it happens all the time.

Hello Second Trimester!

Finally!

Actually, when I think about it, it doesn’t seem that long ago that I found out I was pregnant. But then on the other hand, I was so looking forward to the second trimester that the last several weeks have seemed to go by slowly! I can pretty much put the worry of miscarriage behind me at this point. I don’t know why I was worried about it, I guess because so many people I know have gone through that, so I felt like I couldn’t really relax until I hit the second trimester, when the risk goes WAY down. Although, my mom told me that being a mommy means I will worry about everything with respect to my child for the rest of my life! Oh great ;)

I am feeling better these days. I haven’t felt queasy in over a week, which is nice. And I do have some of my energy back. I’m still tired and have been going to bed at 9pm, but I don’t feel like a zombie during the day anymore, so that’s good.

Even though this has been a short week for me since I didn’t work on Monday, it has seemed to go by slowly. I guess part of that could be due to the fact that I am really excited about the upcoming trip to Montreal with the girls!

Today is my dad’s birthday; he turned 58 today! We’re having dinner at my parents house tonight to celebrate : )

Good weekend

The Weird Al concert was AMAZING! What a talented guy! For every song, he came out in a different outfit (i.e. for “Canadian Idiot” he came out as Billy Joel Armstrong, for “Eat It” he came out dressed as Michael Jackson, for “I’m Fat”, he came out in a fat suit, etc.). It was very funny and entertaining! Of course, we couldn’t get out of the parking lot for half an hour after the show because of congestion. We finally got home around 1:45am and I had to get up at 5am for work on Saturday morning. But it was well worth it ;)

I actually wasn’t too tired during the day. I was awake and alert for the meeting, which was good since there were over 100 people there and 90% of them were VERY opposed to the project. But, they weren’t mad at us, they were mad at Council. We got through the meeting and I was home by 4:30pm. Then, I crashed. I managed to stay up until 7pm, and then I had to go to bed. I slept for 12 hours! Guess I had to catch up from the 3 hours of sleep the night before!

Oma had a bit of an ordeal last week. She was at my aunt and uncle’s cottage for almost 2 weeks. Turns out she choked on a fish bone awhile back. She complained that it hurt to swallow, etc. Finally, AFTER 10 DAYS, my uncle drove her back into town and dropped her off at her place and told my dad that she needed to go to the hospital. Ummm, why didn’t he take her A LONG TIME AGO!?!?! Sheesh! So, my dad drove her to the hospital and she had to see 3 doctors. In the end, there was something lodged in her throat and she had to have surgery the next day to remove it. I can’t believe my aunt and uncle would be so negligent! If that had gotten infected, her throat could have closed up and she could have died! I guess my dad really laid it into them and in the end, they realized that yes, they shouldn’t have let it go 10 days. Needless to say, my mom is not going to get Oma go stay with them for long periods of time again! They obviously don’t take good care of her!

Since I worked a full 10+ hour day on Saturday, I took yesterday off. Mom and I went shopping in town for some more maternity clothes since I just can’t fit into my regular clothes anymore. I did have some stuff that I bought at Motherhood Maternity a few weeks ago, but I wanted to get one more pair of pants (I wanted jeans) and a few more tops. First, we tried Zellers. They had 2 little racks of stuff, and none of it was worth getting. I tried on a few things, but nothing was right. Then, we went to Sears. They don’t carry maternity clothes in store, you have to order it through their catalogue! No thanks; I like to try stuff on first! Then we went to a little store in one of the malls here that had some stuff. I ended up getting 1 shirt there. Last, we tried Wal-mart, and they actually had the most stuff. They had about 3 racks of stuff and I ended up getting 1 pair of comfy dress pants and 3 shirts. So, I guess I did okay! It made me realize that there is a real market in town for a maternity store! I didn’t find jeans, so that’s one item I will definitely need to get at some point. We’ll have to take a trip to the GTA at some point in the next month or so to get a couple more items. I have enough to last me for a bit though.

I reached 13 weeks yesterday! Tomorrow is my last day of the 1st trimester; I start the 2nd trimester on Thursday! Yay! I can’t wait until August 8th when we have another appointment with the midwife to hear the heartbeat. I thought it was very nice of them to let me come back in 2 weeks just to hear the heartbeat (at this stage of the pregnancy, appointments are every 4 weeks). So, instead of making us wait until our next full appointment, she said to come back for a quick appointment just to get to hear our baby. I will be at 14.5 weeks by then, so we should definitely be able to hear it at that appointment! It was just a little early at our appointment on Friday, and we knew that going in. I was reassured in the fact that there was two times when she did find the heartbeat for a second. She just couldn’t get it for longer than that since the baby was still so low. The uterus was still in my pelvis and just barely peeking over my pubic bone, so that’s why it was so difficult to pick it up. By my next appointment, my uterus should be up into my abdomen, so no bones in the way!

A little disappointed...

The midwife was unable to find the heartbeat today. She told us before she tried not to be worried if we couldn't hear it as it is still early. She said my uterus was just barely above my pubic bone, so there was only a chance at this point. So, I am disappointed, but I'm not worried. There were 2 times when she said she could hear it for a second, so I know it's in there! Baby just wasn't high enough in my uterus yet. She said afterwards that it's no cause for concern that we can't hear it yet.

So, instead of making us wait until our next regular appointment in 4 weeks, we go back in 2 weeks just for a quick appointment to listen for the heartbeat. There is a MUCH better chance we'll be able to hear it then.

We're off to the concert soon!

Today is the day

Finally, our second appointment with the midwife! I am really excited!

All but 2 people in the office know the news now, and the 2 I haven’t told yet are out of the office until next week. It was so much fun going around yesterday telling people the news. Everyone is really happy for me. They want to go out for lunch with me at some point soon to celebrate, that may happen today, depending on if we’re all prepped for the meeting tomorrow. Otherwise, sometime next week.

Since I’m working tomorrow, I think I’ll take Monday off. I am planning on going shopping on Monday to some places in town (i.e. Sears, Walmart, Zellers) for some more maternity clothes since now I can start wearing them to work! I can finally shop in town without worrying who is going to see me… the word is officially out now! No more doing the dance routine every morning trying to fit into my regular pants ;)

Also, we’re going to see Weird Al tonight… should be a hoot!

Well that went well

I just told my boss the news. It went amazingly well. I was quite nervous, so we talked for 15 minutes first about projects I’m working on, the meeting coming up on Saturday, etc. Then I finally said “I have some news” and he had this look on his face like he knew what was coming. I said “I’m having a baby”. And he said he already suspected way back last month when we went out for our annual review and I didn’t have a drink. He said it wasn’t like me not to have a drink with them… hehe! He is very happy for me and says we’ll sit down sometime soon to come up with a strategy to deal with work while I am on mat leave. He doesn’t think it will be a problem, especially since we have 5+ months to figure this out.

I am so relieved! Now I just have to tell the rest of my coworkers. I may tell some people this week, or I may wait until next week. We’ll see how it goes.

The ups and downs

Towards the end of last week, I was starting to feel better. Then yesterday, the queasiness was back in full force. So much, in fact, that I was considering working from home for part of the day. I was going to let my boss know and I thought that would be a good lead in to telling him the news. But, every time I went down to his office, he was either on the phone, talking with someone else, or left the building completely. So, I never had a chance to talk to him. So, I decided to stick it out at the office yesterday and I was feeling better in the afternoon.

This morning, I woke up feeling fine. So, it really does vary from day to day now. I’ve gone from feeling crappy every day to maybe only half the time. That’s improvement! I have also noticed that I’m not quite as zombie-like these days. Still tired, but not nearly to the same degree. I guess I am only a week away from the second trimester – yay!

I was initially thinking I’d wait until after my appointment on Friday before I spilled the beans at work, but there is only a chance that we can hear the heartbeat at this point in the pregnancy anyway. And since I am still feeling queasy off and on, and my belly is growing, I know the baby is still doing okay. So, even in the event that we can’t hear the heartbeat on Friday, I’m still going to want to spread the news. I know logically that at this point, the chances of a miscarriage are quite low. Most miscarriages happen before a woman even knows she’s pregnant. After that, it seems like there is an increased risk before about the 10 week mark. My doctor did say, once you get to 13 weeks, the risk goes WAY down, and I’m almost there! And, heaven forbid, if I did have a miscarriage this late in the game, I think I’d want my boss to at least know since I would probably need a couple days off.

So, I think I will tell my boss this week, likely today or tomorrow. I’m really not looking forward to that conversation, but I will be so glad to get it over with. Since we’re such a new company (2 years old), I will be the first pregnant employee, so I really don’t know how he’ll react. My boss is a very nice and reasonable guy, so I’m not really sure why I’m so nervous. And when you look at our company of 12 employees, 5 of us are women, and 4 of the 5 of us are in our mid to late 20’s and either married or common-law. So, if my boss was smart, he’d realize this was going to happen at some point in the near future!

EDIT 12:28pm

Well, my boss left the office for the rest of the day, so I guess I waited too long to be able to tell him today! I will try to track him down tomorrow to tell him the news. That will give me an extra day to get up my nerve. Unless he does the disappearing act again tomorrow, at this rate, I may have to wait until next week anyways ;)

It’s going to be a long week!

I had a hard time getting out of bed this morning. Especially since I know this week is going to be a super long one. I have a public meeting to go to on Saturday which is 3 hours away, which means I’ll need to leave the house at 5:30am at the latest. And I’m out late on Friday night at a Weird Al concert, so I’ll be lucky if I’m home before 1am. At least CT is driving to the concert so I can sleep on the way home! I’m not looking forward to Saturday since this is the project where we are proposing to expand a landfill and many people are opposed to the project and have hired lawyers, etc. Should be an interesting meeting. Hopefully I’ll be home by about 4pm and then I’ll likely have a nap.

We have no idea how this happened, but Oma passed her drivers license test with the MTO. We are still not giving her the keys back though. All along, mom made sure to remind Oma that regardless of what happens with her test with the MTO, the gerontologist still needs to give the okay for her to drive. My mom is out of town this week and she took Oma’s car to the airport, so at least we don’t have to worry about Oma driving this week. Oma’s appointment with the gerontologist is on August 19th, so we just have to hold her off until then.

My ‘date’ on Friday with Mary was good. I told her the good news and she is really excited. Her son is 5 and he’s adorable when Mary told him I’m going to have a baby, he said right away “How much babies?” Most likely one! He said he wanted me to have 10! Mary and I went out for seafood and then to see The Dark Knight, which was quite good. Really long, but it was definitely worth seeing.

As of today, I’m at 12 weeks. Yay! I am SO EXCITED for my appointment on Friday with the midwife! I’m really hoping we can hear the heartbeat at that appointment! Then I can finally tell my co-workers (along with the rest of the world!). I have been keeping this from them for almost 2 months now, and I just really want to tell them since I’ll feel so relieved when they know. I’ve been having some strange dreams about me telling my boss lately and he has had several reactions, some good, some not so good. I will be so glad to get that conversation over with! I will be telling him sometime next week.

Why did I want to do computer modeling?

I have been trying to set up my first model for the last couple of days. I CANNOT get the flow model to calibrate. Every time I get close, I try to get it closer and it just makes it worse. I gave up for now, I am wasting too much time. I will have to ask the other modeler for help (for the third time). We sat down together yesterday, and she didn’t know what was wrong either. Sheesh! I gave up until tomorrow. I need to get some other work done this afternoon. Very frustrating!!! I want to pull my hair out and cry.

Otherwise, I have been feeling pretty good in the last couple of days. No headaches and even my queasiness has subsided a bit. I guess I am only 2 weeks away from the second trimester, so I could start feeling better anytime now.

Can’t wait for the weekend! Tomorrow I am telling one of my friends the news and I can’t wait!

Coming out of the fog

Yesterday, I had the worst headache. Normally, I would take an advil and I’d be fine in 20 minutes, but I didn’t want to take any drugs if I could help it. So, I suffered all day. When I got home, I checked the materials the midwife gave me, and there is a page where you can look up which medications are safe. Turns out Tylenol is safe. So, I searched the house far and wide, and did find some, but it had expired over 8 years ago – man, how long do I keep things?!?!? I think I need to do a purge!

Seeing how much I was suffering, CT went out and got me some Tylenol. I was trying really hard not to take any drugs, but after 14 hours of being in pain with my head pounding, I finally gave in at 9pm last night and took 1 regular strength Tylenol. It took the pain away enough for me to get to sleep.

I still have a very minor headache this morning, but as long as it doesn’t get any worse, I won’t need any more drugs.

That was brutal! I’m glad I know now that Tylenol is safe so if I get another headache like that, I’ll take the drugs sooner to get some relief. Only if I really need it though, I don’t want to make it a habit.

Baby is the size of a plum this week! Adorable!

My mom is leaving on Sunday to go to Minnesota for a week (as part of her PhD program). She is very nervous about leaving Oma by herself. I guess TWICE on Sunday afternoon, Oma forgot that she doesn’t have a driver’s license and made plans to drive somewhere. When she couldn’t find her keys (because mom took them away for precisely this reason), mom had to remind her that she doesn’t have a license. Then Oma got really mad at mom saying it was her fault since she cancelled the appointment for her drivers test. Oma seems to have forgotten that the reason mom cancelled it was because it was the same day as her laser surgery in her eye! So, next week should be interesting with my mom gone and my dad working out of town. Oma will be left to her own devices most of the time. I will go to check on her in the evenings, but she will be alone during the day. Unless my brothers are around, but I never know with their schedule.

I had a relaxing weekend

I decided not to go to the cottage on the weekend. Turns out both my brothers and my dad bailed, so it was just going to be my mom (who was taking work to do for the entire weekend and wouldn’t have much free time), Oma, Oma’s friend, and me. So, I decided to stay home instead. I had the day to myself on Saturday since CT was at his baseball tournament. I actually had a couple hours of energy on Saturday (which I haven’t had in weeks), so I decided to make the most of it and I washed all the floors in the house. It took a lot out of me, but I was so glad to get it done! I swiffered first, and between that and the mopping, I swear I cleaned up a whole cat’s worth of fur. Yikes! It feels so good to have clean floors now, so I have a plan to swiffer once a week and mop at least once a month to keep them clean.

After feeling quite good on Saturday (very little queasiness and some energy), I thought I may be getting my energy back. But, yesterday, I was back to feeling like a zombie and feeling very queasy. So, I had a one day reprieve and now the feeling crappy and tired are back.

I’m at 11 weeks as of today, so that feels good! On Friday, I am getting together with a friend (former coworker) and I am really excited to tell her my news. I figured I will be within a week or two of telling everyone else, so I can tell her early. We’re getting together for dinner and to go see a movie, so there’s no way I could keep this from her! She’ll be so excited! And I’ll be sure to tell her that I haven’t told work yet, just in case she talks to any of my coworkers anytime soon, she’ll know not to say anything.

I think I am definitely starting to show now. Of course, I notice it more since I look at myself all the time. But CT has also said that it is noticeable now. It also depends what clothes I’m wearing. I put on a pair of my maternity pants yesterday since I wanted to be comfy and you can definitely tell when I’m wearing those! Although, if someone didn’t know I was pregnant, it would probably just look like I’m gaining weight. We went to CT’s parents house for lunch yesterday and right away his mom says “wow, you’re getting big!” So, I guess it is noticeable! That’s why I don’t want to wear my maternity clothes to work until the word is out. My regular clothes are getting tighter by the day, but I think I can hold out a little longer. I am trying to wait until my next appointment with the midwife, which is on the 25th. If we hear the heartbeat at that appointment, then I can finally tell my coworkers. It will feel so good to get the news out. Even though I’m not looking forward to telling them, I will be so relieved when they know. Then I can start wearing my maternity clothes and not try to hide my growing belly anymore! It’s becoming quite a trick every morning trying to find something to wear that doesn’t look like it’s way too small. It seems like every day more and more items from my wardrobe no longer fit, so I have a smaller and smaller pool of clothes to pick from. This is tricky!

Wishing I was in bed...

My boss (he came into the office for yesterday even though he’s on holidays) asked me if I’d be interested in going to a golf tournament tomorrow. Considering I haven’t golfed in 4 years, I am hoping someone else will be able to go instead. I really don’t want to go since it would be a long day (it’s 3 hours away) and I am just not up to traveling that far, especially since I don’t golf. I think I would just make a fool of myself! Not to mention I have NO energy and can’t stand up for too long without feeling faint. But I didn’t tell him that part.

I have been feeling pretty crummy in the last few days (more so than usual). But as long as I’m feeling queasy, I know the baby is doing okay! Because if something was wrong, my hormone levels would drop and then I would start feeling better. So, as long as I feel queasy, I’m happy! Which is a very strange thing to say!

Exactly 3 weeks now until I reach the second trimester (which officially starts at 13 weeks, 3 days). I actually reach that milestone on my dad’s birthday (July 31st), which is neat. More reason to celebrate! We’ll use that as our official “start telling people” date. Unless we hear the heartbeat at the appointment on the 25th, in which case we could start telling people then.

CT has a friend who just got engaged a few weeks ago and he asked CT for his address because he’s getting married September 13th! That’s quick! Two months isn’t a lot of time to pull together a wedding, but I guess it can be done. Good thing we’re free that weekend because we don’t have a lot of free weekends in the next few months!

I’m glad it’s already Thursday. I have been pretty tired this week, so I am looking forward to the weekend. This weekend, I am going to the cottage with my family. CT is not coming this time since he has a baseball tournament on Saturday. Looks like the weather should be decent, so I envision lots of time outside and swimming in the lake ;)

EDIT 10:31pm

One of my co-workers is going to go to the golf tournament tomorrow, so I am officially off the hook. Thank goodness! I am quite relieved since I don't think I would have been able to handle it given the way I have been feeling this week. What a relief!

Update on Oma

Oma had her appointment with the gerontologist yesterday. My mom went with her (they asked her to bring a family member). Mom had a 10-page questionnaire to fill out! They talked to mom and Oma for a long time and apparently Oma had the attitude that it was stupid to be there, that there is nothing wrong with her memory. She got quite upset with mom about some of the things she was saying (i.e. some of the incidents that have happened recently with Oma forgetting stuff, asking the same questions over and over again, etc.). So, the nurse sent Oma for bloodwork and then talked to mom alone. She showed mom some of Oma’s memory test (the one Oma thought she passed for sure). There was one part when Oma was asked to say all the words that start with “f” that she could think of in 1 minute. The average for an elderly person would be 12-15. Oma could think of 2. With the letter “s”, Oma could only think of 3. So, there is definitely something happening there.

I guess the nurse totally sees what is going on and says this is classic, right down to Oma’s attitude of denial and offence when we say anything. They go back for a follow-up appointment in a few weeks.

Oma’s driver’s license has expired now and the ministry won’t issue a new one until she goes for the testing, which is on the 17th. We’re all hoping she fails. Even if she manages to pass, mom took her keys away a week ago and won’t give them back. I’m sure the doctor won’t let her drive anyway. We’re all hoping that the doctor is in the one to not let her drive so we don’t have to be the “bad guys”. But we will if we have to. So, that’s the latest on that.

Also, as of today, CT and I have been married for 10 months – how time flies!

Sleepy return to work

It was difficult to get up at 5:45am this morning when my body was used to sleeping in until 9am! But, I managed to get to work and am feeling okay right now. I’m sure I’ll hit a brick wall around 2pm, and I will really miss the afternoon nap that I’ve been enjoying all week. Hopefully it won’t be too much longer until I get my energy back. Only another 3.5 weeks and then I’ll officially be in the second trimester. It’s going to be a long month, I think! I am already looking forward to my next week off which isn’t until the end of August.

The rest of my week off went well. Friday and Saturday, I didn’t do much of anything. Just some stuff around the house. Yesterday, we did some errands and then went to my parents house in the afternoon for a swim and BBQ. Nice way to end our vacation.

Now it’s back to work. My boss is on holidays this week, so it will be nice to have a quiet week here at the office. And Friday, we have WHMIS training in the morning and a BBQ at lunch, so Friday is pretty much a write-off.

I am really glad I got some maternity clothes last week. My clothes are getting tighter by the day. The pants I’m wearing today were loose a couple of weeks ago and now they are tight. I have a feeling it will only be another week or so before I have to start wearing my new maternity clothes. I’m really glad I have them for when none of my regular clothes fit! I’ve now gained a total of 5 pounds. Which isn’t too bad. My midwife said that in general, you can expect about a 40 pound weight gain, but it varies from person to person. I figure that since I’m not a small woman to begin with, I may be a little less than that. We’ll see. She also said that they don’t put too much emphasis on weight gain, that it’s more about how the baby is doing. Which is nice.

I definitely notice that my belly is getting bigger, but I think I am hiding it well so far. I think it won’t be long before I have to spill the beans at work. I figure I will tell them by the end of the month for sure. I am really hoping that we can hear the baby’s heartbeat at our next appointment, which is on July 25. I will be at almost 13 weeks by then, so it is a possibility, but not definite. The midwife said that sometimes you can hear it as early as 12 weeks, but definitely by 15 weeks. I am certainly hoping! I will try not to worry if we can’t hear it though as I know there is only a chance that it can be heard that early.

Niki's comments made me laugh

I just got back from our mega shopping day. It did involve going to Reitmans, which is a store I could previously always find great clothes that fit. So, I thought I'd have no problem. Well, after trying on pants after pants and capris after capris, NONE of them fit me. Very depressing. I usually fund tonnes of things that fit. I guess my body is changing lots!

So, I went out in the parking lot and cried. I was just feeling so depressed that I couldn't fit into the clothes in "regular" clothing stores anymore. And if I were to stop in the plus sizes, they would be bigger all over and would look funny because I am not a plus size. It's only my belly that's getting bigger. The rest of me has pretty much stayed the same so far.

So, after calming myself down, we decided to go to Pickering to check out the maternity store there. I had already checked beforehand and knew there was one there. So, we went there and found TONNES of things that fit. I ended up getting 5 pairs of pants and 3 shirts. And all of the pants you wouldn't even know they were maternity unless you pulled your shirt up and saw the "panel". Actually, only 3 of the 5 have the panel, the other 2 have some elastic in the waist. And 3 of the pairs of pants actually roll up into capris, so I'm set for the summer now for bottoms. I may need some more shirts, but I think I can shop in Walmart for those and just ones that are a little roomy ;)

So Niki, great minds think alike! Because Motherhood Maternity is exactly where we went and it was very successful! At first I felt a little strange shopping there at only 2 months along, but the saleslady said that's when a lot of women need to start buying stuff because you're sort of in that "transition" stage where your regular clothes don't fit anymore. And there was another girl there in the next dressing room who didn't look any more pregnant than me, so it was good to know I'm not alone.

So, I feel much better now. I am armed with some clothes to wear for the next several months!

We also went to Babies R Us again because mom hadn't been there yet and we have our crib bedding and stroller/car seat combo pretty much picked out. Of course, I don't want to make any big purchases until I'm in my second trimester, but we've already started to pick things out. And as soon as we told the family we're expecting, Oma said she'd buy the stroller/car seat, so that's awesome!

We also went to Costco and Ikea, so needless to say I'm ready for bed!

Cottage was great

We had a very relaxing time at the cottage. It only rained on Sunday, so not bad at all! Tuesday and yesterday were absolutely gorgeous. It was a wonderful little getaway.

Today, we are off to do some shopping with my mom. We'll likely go to the major places like Ikea and Costco and I want to show mom Babies R Us too. Should be a fun day! I need to get some new clothes for the summer since I now only have 1 pair of capris that fit. I had another pair that fit 2 weeks ago, but when I went to put them on at the cottage, they don't fit.

I am having a hard time dealing with the fact that my body is changing. Right now I just feel fat, I don't feel pregnant. I spend the last 7 or 8 years of my life trying to either lose weight or maintain, so this is a little scary. I know it will all be worth it, it is just taking some getting used to. I have only gained about 3 pounds so far, but I am definitely noticing my waistline is changing... hence, the need for some new clothes! I don't think I'm ready for maternity clothes yet, but I do need some clothes for the summer, preferably with a waist that has room for growth. So, that's part of our mission for today.

Appointment went well!

We were both very impressed with the midwife. Funny part was, as soon as we walked in, we ran into one of my mom's former co-workers (I also know her) who just had a baby. So, my mom didn't even get to tell her the news, I beat her to it! Ha! I just had a feeling I'd run into someone I knew and as soon as I walked in, I saw someone I knew!

Our appointment was about 45 minutes long and she basically explained what midwife care is, how they are regulated to consult with physicians when certain things arise, etc. I really feel good about this. Over the course of the pregnancy, they like you to meet a total of three midwives (there are 6 in total in the practice) and then 2 of those 3 will be present at the birth. One to look after me, one to look after the baby.

Appointment frequency is the same as with a doctor, once every 4 weeks for the first 28 weeks, then every 2 weeks until 36 weeks, at which point they do a home visit to have some more time to discuss the birth plan in detail and to make sure they know where your house is, and then appointments are every week until the birth.

They are available 24 hours a day by pager should any problems or questions arise inbetween visits. If your primary midwife is not on call (since they do take 4 days off per month along with holidays), then you call one of the other 2 midwives that are on your "team".

And when you're in labour, you page your midwife and they come and check you. If it's way too early to go to the hospital, they will leave for a bit and come back to check you later. I found that really nice because it takes all the guess work about when to go to the hospital. No need to go hours before you need to and then have the hospital send you home.

So, my official due date as of right now is February 2, 2009. That was 2 days off from what I had previously calculated, so I changed my ticker to reflect the new date.

Well, we are heading to the cottage soon and won't be back until Wed likely, so have a great Canada Day everyone!

The countdown is on…

Only 6 hours until I am officially on holidays until July 7th. And I can’t wait! I really need the week off since I’ve been feeling very much like a zombie lately.

This afternoon is my appointment with the midwife and CT will be coming with me. I have a written list of questions to ask. Provided that we feel comfortable with the midwife, we will go with her as the primary caregiver for the pregnancy. I’m sure we’ll like her since I’ve heard great things about this practice.

Tonight, we have to go to visit CT’s grandparents since they are leaving on Tuesday to go back to Portugal. They have been here a year and a half now and they just want to go home. I guess they complain all the time and want to be buried in Portugal, so they are going back and likely won’t come back to Canada. So, we’re going to say goodbye to them tonight, which I’m sure will be hard for CT.

Then tomorrow, we are heading to the cottage and are planning to stay until Wednesday afternoon. I wanted to be back in time for my Pilates class on Wednesday evening. Thursday, we are planning to do a shopping day with my mom and then we’ll spend that weekend cleaning up around the house and doing errands and such. I’m sure the week will go by quickly, time off always does!

Good news

My mom just got a call from her boss and they are going to offer her the job! I guess the person they had originally offered it to turned it down, and mom was their second choice (mom would have been their first choice had it not been for the crazy lady). So, mom will likely have the offer letter by the end of the week. Of course, we won’t really be able to celebrate until she has the letter because who knows what crazy lady can cook up. But, I don’t think crazy lady can do much more at this point, she has already ruined her credibility within the department with her strange behavior and allegations in the last month or so.

Yay for mom! This has been such a source of stress for her in the last month, not knowing whether she has her job for another year. I’m hoping once she gets her PhD that a tenure track position will open up because then she’ll essentially be set for life!

Still one sleepy c-dub

But I am surviving. Only 4 more workdays left before I am on holidays for a week – yay! I have a feeling I’ll be spending a good portion of that week sleeping.

As of today, I am 8 weeks along in my pregnancy. That’s progress! Baby is the size of a kidney bean this week. How adorable! I’m really looking forward to my appointment with the midwife on Friday. The appointment is at 3:30pm, so I won’t even need to miss work (we are done at 3pm on Fridays in the summer). So that’s good because I think my coworkers would start to suspect if I told them I had to leave because of another doctors appointment! Oh well, only another month and then I can get this out in the open. I’ll be so relieved when I don’t have to hide it anymore.

Appointment went well

My appointment yesterday went pretty well. It was pretty basic. They took 4 vials of blood to do all the routine testing. My doctor was very supportive with going with a midwife, especially since I am very healthy and there is no reason to think any problems in my pregnancy would occur. She said midwifes offer wonderful care, especially after the baby is born. So, as long as I have a low-risk pregnancy, which she thinks I’ll have, she said a midwife is great. She also recommended giving birth in the hospital instead of at home, which I totally agree with. Just in case something goes wrong, you want to be close to all the equipment and experts.

She gave me LOTS of information to read and she even gave me a copy of all my recent test results to take with me to my appointment with the midwife next Friday. And she made sure they will receive a copy of all the testing they are doing now with the blood they took yesterday. So, it looks like everything is in order! I’m really looking forward to my appointment next Friday!

So glad it’s almost the weekend! As I mentioned before, I have a meeting all afternoon today, which will be nice. I’m leaving the office around 11:30am. Then I only have one more week of work before my week off!

How’s this for irony

Oma forgot to go to the memory clinic for her appointment a few weeks ago. Their response “Don’t worry; it happens all the time!” I guess it’s quite common for forgetful people who are being sent to the memory clinic to forget their appointment. Well, she was rebooked and no surprise, she failed her memory test. The strange part is, when she came home from the appointment, she told us all that she passed. Then, she went to see her doctor a little while later for follow-up, and turns out she failed and the doctor is referring her to a gerontologist. She is quite upset because she doesn’t think there is anything wrong with her memory. I guess she’s stubborn and doesn’t want to admit there is anything wrong.

And today, she went for her drivers license test (since she turned 80 in April), and she didn’t write down the time, so she showed up at 8:30am and they weren’t open yet. So, she went back at 9:30am (after my mom told her to call instead of just showing up), and turns out her appointment was yesterday. Sheesh! So, they will re-book her, so hopefully she actually remembers to go! We are all hoping she fails since she should definitely NOT be driving anymore! I know it will be hard for her if she’s not able to drive anymore, but the bank is only a few blocks away and there are lots of drivers in the family to take her on errands.

I feel badly for my mom who works from home 95% of the time (doing marking, prep, and work on her PhD) and only goes to the university a few hours a week to teach. Well, since Oma is lonely and forgetful, she goes over to mom’s house (I should mention that their houses are attached for those who may not know), and interrupts her to ask her the same questions over and over. My mom counted the interruptions a couple of days ago, and mom started working in her office at 6:30am and by 11am, Oma had interrupted her over 20 times! So my mom can’t get anything done! And Oma is just lonely and sits at home wanting to talk to someone.

On Friday, I was waiting for my mom to get home, and it was only Oma home, so I thought I would go and visit her. So, I spent a good 15 minutes with her until my mom got home. When my mom got there, I went over to my parents house and started chatting with my mom and about 5 minutes later, Oma comes over and asks me if I have time to go to her place for a visit. I said “I was just over there 5 minutes ago visiting you”. She had absolutely no memory of it!

The whole situation is very sad and difficult to deal with. She has deteriorated A LOT in the last 2 years or so, and it seems to be getting worse exponentially.

Glad it's already Wednesday

The conference yesterday went well. I left the house at 7am and was back by 5:30pm, so it wasn’t too long of a day. It was a nice drive (I took the back scenic route) and I enjoyed the day away from the office.

And now it’s already Wednesday! And Friday is pretty much a write off since we’re having our “year end review” where we review how the company has done in the past year (May 2007 to April 2008) and set goals for the coming year. Really, it’s just a free lunch and a couple hours of discussing things. Nice way to spend a Friday afternoon!

Tomorrow afternoon is my first appointment with my doctor. So, I am looking forward to that. It will probably be a pretty basic appointment since she doesn’t really do prenatal care, she would have to refer me to an OB. But I will talk to her about going the midwife route and see what she says. I’m not going to decide either way until I meet with the midwife next week.

So I’m at 7 weeks now and the baby is the size of a blueberry this week ;) I can’t wait until I can see the baby via ultrasound or hear the heartbeat! Those will be very exciting milestones!

Trying to keep my eyes open

This pregnancy is taking a lot out of me! I keep telling myself it will be SO worth it though! Good thing I have a week off coming up in 2 weeks! I need the time to rest.

The weekend started off on Friday morning with a massage. Delightful! Then I went to the spa with my mom and got a facial. It had been about 3 years since I had gotten a facial and I had forgotten what I was missing! It was SOOOO relaxing! An hour of absolute heaven!

Saturday, we went to a wedding which was nice. Each table had a movie as the theme and the centerpiece was 2 parts: the dvd of our particular movie (Dodgeball), and a ‘flower’ arrangement that was actually lollypops. Each table had to play a game that was themed for their movie and the top place got to take home the dvd and the second place got the lollypops. Well, I got first place and CT got second place, so we got to take home both things! Score!

Sunday, we took our parents out for lunch for father’s day. We had THE WORST service in the world! Our appetizers came after our food and my main course came after everyone had finished eating (since she ‘forgot’ to order it), and CT’s dad didn’t even get his food! After everyone else had received their food, and we had asked about 3 times about the missing food, the waitress came to tell us that CT’s dad’s food hadn’t been ordered yet. Sheesh! You’d think she would have realized her mistake much earlier when we kept asking about it! So, I shared my food with him since I couldn’t finish it. They took about $40 off our bill though for their many screw-ups, so that was good. What a nightmare! At least the food was good, when it finally came!

I got CT a Father’s Day card for a dad-to-be and I got him a book “The Expectant Father”. He’s been reading it already and is learning lots. I’m so happy that he is so interested and involved in this whole process. He really has been amazing. I had a “melt-down” on Friday evening. I had my first craving: Kraft Dinner. Which I literally hadn’t eaten in years. We had some in the cupboard, but it was expired by a year and a half. I thought, it’s just pasta, how bad can it be, and I made it anyways. Needless to say, it was gross, so I didn’t eat it. Well, CT saw how upset I was and jumped in his car and bought me more. What a sweetie!

I got a call from the midwife practice last week and I got a spot with them. So, I go in for my first appointment with them on the 27th. CT is going to come with me to that appointment and I will be at 8.5 weeks by then. So, provided we feel comfortable with the midwife that we meet, I think we’ll go that route. I also have an appointment this Thursday with my doctor, but I think I’ll go to that one by myself since CT is really busy with work these days and I would rather he comes with me to see the midwife next week.

Tomorrow, I am out of the office at a recycling conference in Barrie, so that will be a nice break from the office.

Is it 5:00 yet?

I have tomorrow off, so I can’t wait until the end of the day today because my weekend officially begins! Tonight, we’re going to a grad party for my brother’s girlfriend. So that will be nice. Then tomorrow, I have a massage in the morning, going to the spa with my mom at noon (that was her present to me for getting my P.Eng.), then for lunch and shopping with mom.

Saturday, CT and I are going to a wedding, one of his coworkers is getting married. I won’t know anyone other than CT and his boss, but I’m sure I’ll have a good time. I love going to weddings, they are always such happy occasions!

And of course, Sunday is father’s day, so we’ll try to swing lunch with CT’s parents and then dinner with my parents. So, it will be a busy weekend! I hope I have enough time to rest since I have been SUPER tired in the last week or so.

Baby is the size of a pea now. Mom keeps asking when the baby will be the size of a grape, and that’s still about 3 weeks away. Now it’s a pea, next week a blueberry, the week after that a kidney bean, THEN a grape. How cute is that?!?

Well I’m glad that’s over

The meeting last night went okay. There are these two guys who are totally opposed to the project and no matter how many times we explain things to them, they just don’t get it. It’s annoying. Glad I’m done with the meetings for this project until July! For the site visit yesterday, I actually felt okay, which is good. I got eaten alive by mosquitoes though – not cool! I have tons of bites now.

As of today, I am 6 weeks along in my pregnancy. That’s progress! It still seems so early, but I’m sure it will go by quickly.

Marathon Monday

What a warm weekend! CT set up our air conditioner in the bedroom, and I’m so glad we have that. I don’t think I would have been able to survive the heat otherwise!

I have solved the puzzle as to how my ex found out I’m expecting. I was close with my guess, but not right on. Brother Al was pretty much telling everyone he knows (I think it’s adorable that he’s so excited and he knows now that we’re not really telling people yet). So, he told his youth group leader who told Al’s girlfriend’s sister. She used to be friends with my ex and was instant messaging with him on Thursday night and he asked about me (she didn’t even know that he knew me, much less that we were engaged at one point). She also didn’t know I was so early on that we weren’t telling people. So, she told him. And now that we’ve explained that he is my ex and I don’t really want him knowing about my life, she feels awful and of course won’t pass on anything else. So, hopefully we have this contained now.

Today, I am leaving the office at around 10:30am to go out of town for a site visit and meeting. So, I will likely be gone until around midnight – yikes! I am taking Friday off though, and I likely won’t even need to use any of my vacation time since I’ll be working such a long day today. I will be spending 12+ hours with my boss today, so hopefully he won’t suspect anything. My queasiness comes and goes, so hopefully I will feel okay today!

Another piece of the puzzle

I got an email from the ex's stepdad (I still keep in contact with the ex's parents). Here is what is said:
-----------------------
I heard an interesting rumor last night, It seems according to your friends, That you are expecting???????
I can't tell you who told me other than we were video conferencing with (the ex) last night!!
So! Is it true? Don't keep us in the dark
-----------------------
The only thing I can think of is my brothers girlfriend's mom knows my ex's parents. So, she may have told them. I wonder why he said "I can't tell you who told me"!!! Very strange! Guess it's hard to keep this sort of thing a secret! I bet my bro told his gf, which is fine, but I bet she told her mom who in turn told my ex's parents! The gossip chain!

Perplexed

My ex tried to add me as a friend on Facebook… again! He did this about a year ago and I decided to ‘reject’ him. Well, today he adds me again and there is a message saying basically “congrats on the wedding! I hear other congrats are also in order. Is this just a rumour or is there a little one on the way?” I haven’t accepted his friend request, I think I’ll likely reject him like last time.

I wonder where he heard I’m expecting?!?!?! I have NO IDEA! The only people I’ve told is you guys and my immediate family. My ex’s parents are on Facebook, but I am purposely not mentioning anything about me being pregnant on there because I have one of my co-workers and several of my former coworkers on my friends list and I don’t want my boss to hear through the grapevine. I want him to hear it from me at either the 12-week mark or earlier if I get really sick.

So, I don’t know what to think about my ex’s comment. And he did say it was a rumour, so it’s obviously not from a direct route like my family because then he’d know for sure. Very strange!

Looking forward to the weekend

I have been SUPER tired this week. I have been in bed by 9pm at the latest all week and I still wake up feeling like I could sleep more. Welcome to pregnancy fatigue! I’m glad we don’t have any major plans this weekend, I think I’ll need to relax a lot this weekend! I am planning on going for a walk with my mom this afternoon, but if we get the storms they are calling for, I think I’ll just stop by her place and we can chat for an hour instead.

In terms of morning sickness, I haven’t really had much yet. I do feel slightly queasy at times, but it comes and goes. I figure if this is as bad as it gets, I’ve got it easy! I’m only 5.5 weeks along at this point, so I know it could get worse. So, I have my house stocked with soda crackers, ginger ale, ginger snaps, and cheerios just in case!

I hope everyone has a great weekend! What are you gals up to?

Got the results!

I just heard back from my doctors office. She said my Hcg levels rose well, so she said congratulations! Now it's REALLY official! My first appointment with her is Thursday, June 19th (so I’ll be at 7 weeks by then). My doctor doesn't deliver babies, but she can refer me to an OB either right away, or after 3 months. I asked about what if I wanted to go with a midwife, and she said that I could talk that over with my doctor at my appointment. But, I'm thinking I should call the midwives and see if I can get in to at least meet them before my appointment with my doctor because by then I'll know whether I'm going with them or if I am going to go with an OB. I can always change my mind later after I talk with my doctor, but I don't want to wait too long and risk missing out on the midwife option.

So YAY!!!! I thought the results would come back okay, I was just glad to hear it FOR SURE!!!!!!!

EDIT 11:53am

I just called the midwife practice and they took all my info and will call me back in about a week and a half to let me know if there is a spot available. I can't imagine they would be all booked up already for my due date range, but I know they only take on a certian number of patients because they want to be sure they can be present for the birth. So, we'll see.

Testing my patience

Well, looks like I am not getting the results from my most recent blood test until tomorrow. GAH! I spent a good portion of my afternoon staring at my phone trying to “will” it to ring. Guess that didn’t work ;)

I’m sure I’ll hear tomorrow then. I am anxious to get these results because if everything comes back okay, I will call the midwife practice to see if they can get me in to meet them/see what midwifery is all about. I know they only take on a certain number of patients for each month and are in high demand. So, I wanted to call them by the end of this week so they at least know I’m interested.

I have my second Pilates class tonight, so that should be fun!

Doctor vs Midwife

I got a notice that I have a package to pick up and the notice said P.Eng. on it, so I am quite certain that the package is my stamp! Yay! I am going to pick it up tonight after work… I’m excited!

So today I go back to the doctor for more blood work. I should receive the results tomorrow and I’ll be sure to update once I receive the results.

CT talked to his sister last night, who had already heard the news from his parents. She is absolutely thrilled and has requested that we have a girl. She wants to be able to buy pink frilly things for the baby ;)

I have already started to think about the whole doctor vs midwife thing. I know it’s still early, but I know that the midwife practice in town only takes on a certain number of patients for each due date range, so if I want to go that way, I should book in within the next few weeks. I am seriously considering going with a midwife. A couple people that I know are currently under the care of these midwives, and they are absolutely thrilled with the care they are getting. And midwives are now covered under OHIP, and they have full hospital privileges.

Other bonuses are you have a team of 2 midwives, and every time you go for an appointment, it’s one of those 2 that you see (there are a total of 6 in the practice) . So they really get to know you. And one of those 2 (they swap out as necessary) are with you right from the early stages of labour (they come to your house to care for you and assess when it’s time to go to the hospital) through the entire birth and even 3 hours after the birth to help you with breastfeeding, etc. Then they visit you at home to provide care when the baby is 1 day old, 3 days, 5 days, and 7-10 days… then you take your baby to their practice and they provide care until the baby is 6 weeks old.

I also like the fact that every time you go for an appointment, it is 45 minutes long so you have all your questions answered and they are very thorough. And they have a pager on 24/7 if you have any questions or concerns. So, it seems that the level of care you receive is just phenomenal. So, I am seriously considering going that route. I want to wait until I receive the results of the blood test this week, and if everything comes back okay, I think I’ll call the midwife practice to go for an initial interview to find out more about midwifery care and to help us decide if it is the kind of care we are seeking. I have heard nothing but good things about them. Decisions, decisions!

Update on my weekend

Friday evening was excellent. I went for a walk with my mom on Friday afternoon and was able to not let my news slip at all. Mom talked about her interview; she said she nailed it. So, she was in quite a good mood and feeling relieved. Then, CT and I went over to my parents house for dinner. The whole family was there except my brother Thom who was working. My parents, brother Al, and Oma were all there. They were all very happy and excited with our news. My brothers are already saying things like “I can’t wait to take the baby for boat rides at the cottage” and “now we’ll have somebody else to play road hockey with”, etc. They are really excited about being uncles. Thom will be 19 when the baby is born and Alex will be 23, so they will be old enough to babysit ;)

Saturday was a fabulous day. Dirty Dancing was amazing! The sets were what I found most impressive, they really captured everything that was in the movie, which was awesome. We also went shopping and mom insisted on buying some clothes for the baby. We found 2 outfits and a sleeper that are so adorable and on sale!

Yesterday, we went to CT’s parents house and told them our news. They are also very happy. This will be their second grandchild, CT’s sister has a son who is 10. So, it’s been awhile since there’s been a baby in the family ;)

My mom’s boss called her on Saturday night. She didn’t get the job. Her boss told her she should talk to a lawyer though because she has grounds for a law suit. She has been treated very unfairly. It all comes down to jealousy. There are 2 women who are very jealous of mom and are trying to bring her down. One of them is retiring in 2 years and the other one is mentally unstable and will likely not be there for much longer. So, mom is trying to think long term. If she sues the university, regardless of whether she wins or not, they would never hire back someone who sued them. So, she’s thinking it’s better to just wait it out and the situation may be very different in a couple years. She could always work part time until then. So, she’s looking on the bright side. She’s thinking it’s just a job, and she’s not going to let this come in the way of her joy about becoming a grandma! The funny thing is, Oma used to work at the university, and in 1980, when mom was pregnant with me, Oma sued the university for wrongful dismissal and won. Now, 28 years later, I am pregnant and my mom has grounds to sue the university. Strange how history repeats itself!

I hope I have an easier time concentrating on work this week than I did last week! Tomorrow, I am going back to the doctors office to get bloodwork done to check my HcG levels again to make sure they are rising. In hindsight, I probably should have waited a little longer to go to the doctor the first time, but I was just so darn excited! I was only at 4 weeks that time, so that would explain why my HcG levels were low. Still high enough to be considered positive for pregnancy, but that’s why the doctor wanted me to come back tomorrow. I’ll be at 5 weeks then and my HcG levels should be MUCH higher. I should get the results on Wednesday, likely at the end of the day like last time.

My poor Mummy

My mom just got some upsetting news. I mentioned earlier that she has to re-apply for her job since it is only for an 8 month contract, so she has to reapply every year. Well, there is absolutely no reason to have thought she wouldn’t get the job again since she does an excellent job, the students say things like she’s the best prof at the university, she was nominated for a teaching award, etc. Well apparently this has caused some jealousy within the department since she’s new and already being nominated for awards; some profs go their whole career without that. So, a couple people in the department have started making allogations towards her, accusing her of tampering with her application after it was submitted or something like that. Which of course, she didn’t do. They are also saying the university where she’s doing her PhD is not prestigious enough. They are just grasping at straws since they don’t want her to be hired. This is only 2 people out of the department, everyone else absolutely loves her. So, I think she should still be okay, but the allegation of her tampering with her application is very serious, it will have to go through the whole investigation process.

I feel so badly for her. Her interview is today at 2pm. I hope it goes well and she doesn’t let this stuff affect it! So, I’m sure she’ll want to vent for our whole walk, and I’ll let her. She can vent the whole time and then when CT and I go over there for dinner, we’ll give her our happy news, which I’m sure will pick up her spirits and cheer her up. I’m sure it will be exactly what she needs to be able to focus on something else.

Stupid university politics! I wish they would just hire the best person for the job and not let people’s own insecurities get in the way!

Is there a cloud 10?

Because cloud 9 just doesn’t seem to cut it! I am completely over-the-moon excited that CT are expecting a baby! We have been planning this for awhile. Pretty much ever since we got married, we decided we’d start trying within a year of getting married. I really wanted to get my P.Eng. before getting pregnant, and that’s what happened!

I am absolutely bursting to tell my mom our news!!! I only have to wait until tomorrow evening though, yay! Only 1 more sleep! I know she’ll be SUPER excited since she has made comments pretty much since the wedding that she is really looking forward to being a grandma. I’m not sure if she’ll scream with glee or start crying with joy. I guess I’ll find out tomorrow ;)

I’m going for a walk with my mom tomorrow afternoon, so I am going to have to make sure that she talks the whole time so that I’m distracted. I’m sure that won’t be a problem since you all know how much my mom likes to talk ;) I just hope she doesn’t suspect anything by looking at me (CT says I have been ‘glowing’ in the last few days). It’s very important to me that I not tell her until dinner tomorrow when the family is together and we give her the present, so I’ll just have to hide it for the hour I spend with her tomorrow afternoon.

Heard from the docs office

I just got the call. Which is kind of ironic because I just posted that it looks like I wasn't getting the call today (so I promptly deleted that post).

They said the results came back that I am pregnant, but very early on. Which of course, I knew since I wasn't officially late until yesterday! So, they want me to come back next Tuesday to have my bloodwork run again to make sure that my HcG levels are rising (that's the hormone that is present in pregnancy and it doubles every couple of days in early pregnancy).

So, this is good news!!! Time to celebrate! Oh, and it's my half birthday today! I am exactly 27.5 years old today! What a nice half birthday present!

Bloodwork - check!

My doctor’s office called and turns out I don’t need an appointment to get the pregnancy confirmed. I just show up at the office and they send me for the bloodwork. So, I went today at lunch. I will get the results likely tomorrow, Thursday at the latest. I would be very shocked if it came back negative since I had 3 positive pregnancy tests, but it will be nice to have it confirmed!

I will of course post as soon as I get the results!

Digital test results

After tossing and turning for a couple hours, I finally got out of bed around 4:30am this morning to do the digital test. I guess I was just too excited to sleep! I woke up CT to let him know I was doing the test. So, I went and peed on the stick and then brought it back so CT and I could see the results together. The result showed up after about a minute and it said “Pregnant”!!!!! We are both absolutely thrilled! I only got about a half hour of sleep after that before my alarm went off, so it wasn’t a good night sleep-wise. But I’m too happy to care! ;)

I called my doctor this morning (they weren’t open yet, but I didn’t want to call from work for obvious reasons) to see if I can get an appointment to have the pregnancy confirmed. I should hopefully hear back later this morning to see if I can get in this week. I am not too concerned though, we now have 3 positive pregnancy tests, so I am pretty confident that I’m pregnant! Very rarely is there a false positive, and we have 3 positives in a row now for the last 3 days.

Based on several online due date calculators, the baby would be due during the first week of February. So exciting! We went to Babies R Us last month when we officially began trying to conceive and we bought 2 “I love gramdma” bibs to give our mothers when we tell them our news (I guess we were planning ahead since the nearest babies r us is an hour away). So, we’re telling my parents the good news on Friday evening and CT’s parents on Sunday afternoon! I can’t wait! I really wanted to tell my mom before Saturday since she and I are spending the entire day together on Saturday and I wouldn’t be able to keep this secret from her. We are going shopping in Toronto and then to see Dirty Dancing.

I really wasn’t expecting this to happen so fast! It was only our second month trying! I am so happy that it did happen when it did though, I think a February baby will be absolutely perfect!

Some potentially big news

I think I may be pregnant!

I have taken a couple pregnancy tests and they came back positive. With faint lines, but the one this morning was a lot darker than the one yesterday morning. I bought a digital test and I’ll take that one tomorrow morning so that I can get a “pregnant” or “not pregnant” result instead of all this interpretation of faint lines. I am trying not to get my hopes up (good luck) until I see the word “pregnant”, but the instructions for the pregnancy tests I’ve taken so far basically say that even if the second line is faint, it’s still a positive result. I was using an “early response” test that can be used before your period is due, so that would explain the faint line; not as much of the hormone in my body as if I had waited a few more days. But, I still saw a line and it was definitely darker on today’s test than yesterdays, I wouldn’t even call today’s line faint. It’s not as dark as the “control” line, but definitely there!

So, I am VERY happy, I can hardly contain myself. I’m trying hard not to get ahead of myself until I have this confirmed though. If the digital test tomorrow morning is positive, I will call my doctor right away and hopefully I can get in this week to have it confirmed.

I love short work weeks!

It’s already Thursday; yay! This has been a bit of a slow week for me work-wise. I have had to wait for data from other people, so that’s not cool. I have what I was waiting for now, but they did the tables all wrong; sheesh! It’s the client, so it’s not as if I can complain to them. Just means my interp will take a little longer since they broke the data apart really strangely. Oh well.

Tonight, I am going out to a pub with some coworkers and a former coworker. I can only stay for an hour thought since I have a massage booked for tonight! I love my monthly massage!

So looking forward to the weekend! Saturday, CT and I are meeting nej at the zoo for some fun in the sun! Seems to be an annual thing, I make it to the zoo about once a year. At least it’s not supposed to be as hot as it was last time ;) It’s supposed to be about 20 degrees on Saturday and sunny, so just perfect. I’ll have to find my sunscreen!

Sunday, we have to study for our boating exam. We want to do the exam sometime in the next couple of weeks.

Cold weekend!

The weekend at the cottage was a cold one! When we got there, it was raining, which is never nice for crossing the lake. But, as soon as we got there, dad started a fire in the fireplace which was great. That really made the place cozy and dried us off. We were opening the cottage, so it actually was good weather for cleaning. So, we spent the weekend cleaning, playing games, eating, drinking, and lighting off roman candles. So, it was a good weekend nonetheless. And the bugs weren’t as bad as I was expecting.

So glad it’s a 4-day workweek!

Who am I jealous of?

CT! He just called me to tell me he’s already done work for the day. So, he worked a total of 2.5 hours today. I am SO JEALOUS! Oh well, I’m done at 3pm today, it just ticks me off that I work 40+ hours per week and he’s lucky if he gets to 30! Lucky duck!

I hope everyone has a wonderful long weekend! I know I am going to really enjoy the break…

In other news... As of tomorrow, I have been at my job for exactly 4 years!

How’s this for crazy…

I just called my doctor’s office to book my annual physical (I am due as of the end of May), and they are booking into July! Crazy! It’s a good thing I’m not on the pill anymore and don’t need a prescription refill! They had a couple openings on my week off in July, but since I want to spend most of that week at the cottage, I don’t want to have to come into town for an appointment. I would rather miss work, so I booked it for a work day ;)

My doctor only works 4 days a week and only 1:30-4:30pm, so I guess I can understand why she’s so booked up. And I’m sure if it was something of a more urgent nature, I could have gotten in earlier. It just surprised me! I’ll know for next year to call 2 months ahead of when my physical is due!

Well that’s done.

The drilling finished up today around noon. So, all in all, it didn’t take too much longer than I had hoped. If they had started drilling before 5pm on Monday, then it would have been done in 2 days for sure. Needless to say, we will NEVER be using this company again, it was a real pain to deal with them. And I wasn’t even the one out there with them! Apparently they had a VERY poor attitude and just complained about everything and really dragged out the work, which is not cool. So glad to have that all done!

I am really looking forward to Friday at 3pm because that’s when the long weekend officially starts for me, thanks to summer hours! Mom and I are going for a long walk after I’m done work on Friday. Then on Saturday morning, CT and I are heading up to the cottage until Monday. It will be a nice break! I think the black flies will be out, but I’m going to have fun anyway!

Speaking of the cottage, CT and I bought our very own boat. Which will be nice. CT’s father was selling it, and of course he let us have it for much cheaper. (actual price has yet to be determined, I have a feeling he may give it to us for free). The boat is nothing special, just a 12 foot aluminum boat with a 4.5 horsepower motor, but it will be perfect for the two of us to cruise around in and get back and forth to the cottage. It could fit up to 4 people or 2 people with luggage and supplies. We’re not sure if we’ll be able to get the boat up to the cottage this weekend since CT’s dad wants to fix it up a bit before giving it to us, but that’s okay. That will give us more time to get our boating license since you need it for any boats which are less than 13 feet. Strange rule, but oh well.

Misery loves company

I am having one of those days where I want to pull my hair out. Anyone ever work with geotech drillers? At one of the sites I manage, we are attempting to install 4 monitoring wells. We know the materials and the depths and only require split spoon sampling on 1 of the 4, so the other 3 are just straight installs. Should be easy, right? Think again! It is almost 4pm and they still have yet to START drilling! First, they showed up an hour late (supposed to be there at 10am, showed up at 11am). Then, they were all concerned they couldn’t get to the well location because of mud. You have a track mounted rig, buddy! Whatever, we move location slightly to accommodate. I have a feeling some of the problems we're experiencing with these drillers is the guy is 23 and has only been an operator for a month. Great.

Then they got their vehicles stuck in the mud going down an old logging road where they should have only taken their track mounted rig down, not their pick-up truck. So, I had to call the Township to get them to pull them out. That finally got all sorted out and they were all ready to start when they decided they didn’t feel comfortable drilling because of the presence of bears. Which I understand is a concern, there are bears in the area, but the noise of the drill rig in operation will scare away any bears! Give me a break. Well, they outright refused to start drilling unless we provided them with bear spray and an air horn. Our field staff only had 1 bear spray on them, so they ran into town to buy another one and the only store in town that sells bear spray sold the last one this morning. Perfect. So, I had to get our other field crew who was an hour away to drive to the site on their way home to drop off another bear spray. If we’re lucky, we’ll start drilling by 5pm and get maybe an hour or two at the most in today. GAH!

Just had to vent. Sometimes being a project manager is not all it’s cracked up to be. Because I spent half my day on the phone with our field staff and the client trying to get this all sorted out and in the end, it will get done, but likely severely over budget which I am accountable for!

Thank goodness for summer hours!

Starting on Monday, we are going on summer hours! Which means I’ll work 8.5 hours on Monday-Thursday and then 6 hours on Fridays to be done at 3pm. Which will be so nice! Mom and I are going to go for a long walk (1.5 - 2 hours) together most Friday afternoons throughout the summer, so that will be great! That should help me out with my new focus on upping my fitness level.

My other plan for getting back into shape is I’m going to take a beginner Pilates class. I think this might help me with my hip flexor problem, which is really holding me back right now. I had this problem 2 years ago, and it has crept back. So, I’m willing to give Pilates a try to see if that helps. Classes start on May 28th and will be Wednesdays from 5:30-6:30 and run for 8 weeks. Then I’ll assess whether it is helping me and decide whether I want to move on to level 2. The benefit of being in level 2 is I could take classes with my mom, which would be fun.

I submitted my vacation request for the summer, so I hope it’s approved. Since we had a very expensive year last year with the wedding and honeymoon and we have been spending a lot on the house lately, we don’t really want to spend the money on a huge trip this year (other than our weekend trip to Niagara Falls planned for our first anniversary). So, we’re going to spend 2 weeks at the cottage, 1 in July and 1 in August. I am really excited about this since last year I didn’t get to spend nearly as much time at the cottage as I would have liked.

Back to the grind

I had a fabulous 4 days off. Saturday, we worked in the basement cleaning up and getting rid of stuff. I always love the feeling that comes with de-cluttering. We also celebrated with my bro Thom who got a full-time job. Get this, the kid is 18 years old, has no education (not even highschool), no experience, and gets a job that has benefits and pension with a starting salary of $33,000! The job is working in a group-home type deal. Thom is such a go-getter, he’s already talking about saving money and buying a house and then renting out rooms to students to help with the bills. I have a feeling he will move out long before my other brother who is 4 years older than Thom.

Sunday, we didn’t do much and it was great! Monday, we went to Toronto to meet up with CT’s groomsmen from the wedding for dinner. Then CT and I went to see the wrestling event. We had AMAZING seats! 11th row and it was so awesome!!!!

Yesterday, I relaxed for the day and then mom and I walked down to WW, which was an hour walk. It felt good to get some exercise in.

Speaking of WW, I am sort of at a crossroads right now. I think all the celebrations and meals out lately have finally caught up to me because I gained 3.5 pounds this past week. Which I am sure is partly water retention, but it is depressing nonetheless. As of right now, I have been on WW for 15 weeks and have lost 3.5 pounds. Not the results I was hoping for. I am at the end of the pre-paid plan I paid for when I started, so I have to make a choice whether I want to continue with the meetings or not. I just don’t think it’s worth it to me to keep paying when this obviously isn’t working. I would rather put my money to try something else, like pilates or something. My mom has been going to pilates for the last few months and absolutely loves it. I think that would be something to help me out with my hip flexor problems since that has crept back again and is keeping me from being able to run.

I by no means want to give up. I just don’t think I want to continue to pay for the meetings when it is a constant disappointment. The weeks I lose, I feel great, but the weeks I gain, it totally depresses me and sometimes I end up crying when I get home from the meeting. And I have been gaining more often than not lately. Not something I want to put myself through anymore. I think I may even try to NOT weigh myself so often, I think I am driving myself nuts. I am also getting really sick of counting points. So, I may try the core plan for a bit on my own and see how that works out.

Can’t wait for my long, long weekend!

I am leaving today at 3pm since I have some extra hours for the week. And then I am outta here until 8am on Wednesday morning. Yay! Can’t wait until my 4 day weekend! I made myself a deal that if I leave early today, I have to exercise when I get home. So, I’m not going to let myself down! ;)

Tomorrow, we have some work around the house planned. We are replacing the door from the outside to the basement since it is in very rough shape and water is getting in. So, dad is ripping it out and putting a new door in. While the men are working on that, mom and I are taking a load or two to the dump. We have this “room of junk” that has been sitting in the basement since we moved in that we want to get rid of. It will feel so good to get rid of that stuff!

Sunday, we have no plans, but if it’s nice, I want to go for a long walk. And I’m sure we’ll play some Halo 3 too ;)

Monday, we are heading to Toronto in the afternoon to meet up with CT’s cousin Nuno and his wife as well as Josh (Carlos’ groomsmen from the wedding). We are meeting them for dinner and then CT and I are going to the ACC for Monday Night Raw. Should be a good show!

Tuesday, I have the day off too (trying to use up some of my OT). CT will have to work, but he doesn’t start until 11am. So, I will have the afternoon to myself to go for a long walk with my mom and do whatever I want! Should be a fabulous weekend!

EDIT 2:45 pm

Also, tomorrow is Zeke's 7th birthday! Hard to believe I've had him for that long! He doesn't even have 100,000 km on him yet, but he will after the weekend since he's at 99,800+ right now.