A Product Rave!

Yesterday I watched Oprah and it was her Favorite Things for Summer show. Usually I watch and wish I could have been in the audience wishing I was rich enough to just buy everything I ever wanted. But yesterday's show was so great because all of the stuff she gave away was affordable! I mean the beach cover up from Old Navy, I'm an Old Navy regular! I started to think what I would put in my beach bag and a really great post idea emerged. I'm not getting to that right now cuz it's just been a bit of an insane day. However, I wanted to rave about this product from Creative Memories. It wouldn't go in the beach bag but rather at home on the wall to display pictures from my adventures and other summer memorbilia!

It's a little hard to see in this picture cuz it's small but you can check out all the deets here on June 1st! It's a great beveled, weathered frame that houses a magnetic fabric covered memorbilia board. It comes with magnets and a ribbon along the bottom with matching clothes pegs to display things. This will definitely be what my husband is getting me for my birthday. I'll just have to let him know.

You never let me down!

There has been a lot going on here in our little neck of the woods, a lot of events that would seem to be happenstance, but when I take time to reflect I can see how they all work together. It would be a really long story to tell you how we went from completely freaking out when I thought I was pregnant in December to being completely joyful as we began to share the news of Baby #3. I know that most people who stop by here are quite busy so I'll tell just the Reader's Digest version for now.

I found out I was pregnant while we are dealing with that flu that our whole household came down with and shared with some friends as well. When I first started throwing up I thought to myself, 'oy I can't be pregnant!' and when everyone else started puking as well I was sure I was out of the woods. The flu passed and we were all back to our normal selves but things were still a little off for me so I bit the bullet and picked up a HPT. If you've never had a surprise pregnancy it's hard to describe what happens when you see that little line. It's a good thing there's a toilet in the bathroom cuz I needed to sit down right away.

I shared the news with Nick and we decided to just take some time to deal with the shock. If you had stopped by our house in the week after we found out you would have found us both sitting on the couch lost deep in thought trying to figure out when and how this happened. We have been using contraception and really doing our best to make sure we didn't conceive another child until we were ready.

Although it was quite the shock Ialso felt a tremendous amount of peace. Not peace in the sense that I let go of all worry and doubt, but peace in the sense that somehow it's all going to work out. I asked Nick if it would be okay if we didn't tell anyone until the end of the first trimester. I was a little worried about miscarrying and I was feeling rather fragile in my abilities to handle an expanding family. Nick was worried about what other people would say/think and wasn't feeling strong enough to handle any 'What were you thinking?!' sort of remarks.

So we kept it between ourselves for the last 14 weeks and it has been so good for us. Instead of looking to other people for support and encouragement we've had each other and that is super great.

Ofcourse no one who left a comment let me down. Thanks to everyone for their encouraging 'Congratulations'. I know that I hear them and there's still some apprehension in accepting them, I still kinda wonder if it's going to be all right, so I imagine there are other congratulators who imagine the same thing and I like that I have people to share the journey of relying on God and working through things like this with.

And of course 'Anonymous' you never let me down either. I waited to share this news until I wouldn't be affected by your negativity. It's so funny that I anticipated your comment and knowing myself waited until it wouldn't phase me in the least! I know that I don't need to justify myself or my life to you, but I would just like to state for the record that I have never been on welfare in my adult life and we are not leaving outside of our means now.

Since both of our girls seem to have thought that due dates were ridiculous, I've decided I don't have one for this pregnancy. Ofcourse my doctor and I know differently and will use it to assess when this pregnancy ends. I look forward to announcing the arrival of our bundle in the middle of the Christmas rush! (Sometime in the first half of December).

...and now for something completely NEW

Outta Here!

This weekend Nick is away in Ottawa. I am trying hard to be angry at that because I really need a break from mommyhood, but I can't be angry at all. Nick works so very hard, way too many hours. Even though his work isn't physically draining it takes a lot out of him emotionally which in my opinion is harder work.

This weekend he is working with this guy , and even though it's technically work it's a total break for him. I know that he'll come home having slept way too few hours and not get a break before he's back into the swing of things here, but he'll look a little rejuvenated and his spirit will be lifted. I am excited that he got to go away as it really is an unexpected opportunity.

While he's gone I had plans to do a zillion things. Things accomplished thus far, 3. I am just so exhausted! Isabella decided not to wear her diaper to her nap, and leave me a nice present on the floor. Not to mention that it's been 30 degrees before humidex here since he left. Tonight the heat broke, (and I was hoping for thundershowers, but got none), but it's only 12 degrees right now. So good.

I think I'll head off to try and get some more of those zillion things done, or eat ice cream.

Burning

I posted some pics of Belle earlier this week. Just in case you can still see, here are some equally cute ones of Brooklyn.

New Occupant

A long time ago, we began a tank journey. I can't recall when I actually started writing posts about it, but this is one of them. It has been quite the journey for us. Our friend Jeff has been helping us through the process and he's such a trooper because it's hard to schedule things with Nick! We are so thankful for him. Last week it was decided things were finally ready! They took some water in to be tested. Apparently there was a dead fish in our tank, which is confusing cuz there haven't been any fish in our tank dead or alive. The fish store guy said there might be something dead in our conch shell. So out it came. Then Nick and Jeff took out water and refilled it a few times and left it a couple days. The water was retested and there is still a level of something, (I think nitrates), that is too high, but we can't find a cause for it as there hasn't been anything alive in there. So Nick and Jeff went out and bought our target fish and put them in there. We're going to wait and watch them for a month and as long as they're okay we'll be adding the fun fish next month!

Our target fish are Battle Sharks. These guys are medium sized. You can see one clearly on the right hand side. Target fish grow to a certain size and all the other fish in the tank will not grow any bigger than the target fish. This means we don't have to worry about our fish outgrowing our tank. The sharks are a really light grey so it was hard to get a good picture of them as our tank is open on all sides. If there was a background in here you could see them really well, but there's not. There are three sharks in there now.
The sharks are swimming around and getting used to their home. They're a bit skittish right now so they dart away from you when you get close to the glass. It's really fun to have something alive in there finally!

Cuteness

Check out Isabella's two year pictures here .

Made of Moments

Isabella is at this stage where she needs an afternoon nap, but she doesn't like to go to bed in the middle of the day. I make her stay in her room for 2 hours in the afternoon. Sometimes she trashes her room for the entire 2 hours but usually she plays for a bit and then crawls into bed and falls asleep. The other day I went to go and see if she was ready to get out of bed, I found her like this. A girl after my own heart as I really was a bookworm growing up. If she's still asleep at the 2 hour mark I take her baby gate out of her doorway so she can come downstairs when she wakes up. She came down after this nap all disoriented with the book. She didn't say a word just handed it to me and then she walked away. I wonder what that girl dreams?
I have a serious lack of pictures of Brooklyn as of lately. I must get some because she is now sitting on her own, belly crawling faster than I can keep up with and doing this weird back crawling thing that I really need pictures to describe. This is a picture of her the day she cut her two bottom teeth. I think that's what I looked like too.

Not Quite.....

Last week I forgot to wash Isabella's swim suit in time for her to go to lessons. I remembered that she had been given this adorable suit at her baby shower, and pulled it out for her to wear. She will not be able to wear it again. It's a great suit, but my girl doesn't have enough ghetto in her booty. It's a good thing they were swimming with life jackets as the strap that goes through her legs kept the bottoms on. The legs fit great on her thighs, but the back didn't come up high enough and it sagged like she should be carry around a few extra pounds back there. It was so cute, but her other suit suits her so much better.

It's about time.

This week it was Monday, then I blinked and found it was Saturday. I literally have no idea where the week went. I have lots of weeks that go quickly, but it has been a long time since I lost 5 days. I am not a fan of that feeling. It really bugs me when I think about all the things that are not tucked in my memory bank, or written about somewhere. I wonder how many things I just didn't notice were happening. It's truly bizarre.

Brooklyn cut her first teeth about a week and a half ago. She is getting so big and she is so fun. She is much quieter than Isabella. I think Brooklyn is going to be a bit of an introvert. She is still social and likes to hang out but she is content to just be in the room with you. She is almost sitting on her own, she gets it and then discovers her toes again and head dives into the floor. She is almost crawling, she's rocking and then just falls over her arms instead of moving them forward. She is adorable and getting more so everyday. I took her in for belated 6 month pictures on Saturday and it was a great time.

Isabella is talking a blue streak 24/7. It's fun but man is it loud. She is also potty trained but if she should happen to be wearing a Pull Up she'll go in there as opposed to taking a break to pee in the toilet. We've put the potty top on the actual toilet now so I don't have to rinse poop off of anything. I like it, a lot. Belle truly amazes me everyday in the things she's picking up. She's also in love. In love with our friend Rory. She asks for him at least once an hour and will not be happy until we tell her we're going to see him later in the day or I let her pretend to talk to him on the phone. He was over last night and when I took her up to bed she said a general good night to everyone, and then a special good night to Rory. I can't get over this infatuation.

Nick finished his course and I think he got a high enough mark to not have to go to school ever. again. I like that. He has been working on the workshop in the garage in his spare time and it's going good. Crop nights are set to begin May 18th! It's been quite impressive to watch Nick do this project as it's his first handyman type project. He's helped a lot of other people with their projects, but he's never led one before. The floor looks fabulous, we're just painting and then we'll be laying laminate and then I get to take over to decorate it!

What else have we been up to? Just the usual day to day stuff but man has it been going by fast. I am at a loss for where the days go. I really would like to slow things down a bit. I like being busy and I like having a tonne of things on my plate but this is a different kind of busyness. I don't know that I can explain it any better than to just say it's different.