Decorating the Christmas tree...

This is me at 8 months... decorating the tree, which, incidentally, has since been relocated to a better spot in the living room.

main floor bathroom

The basement

Again, note the boxes...

The nursery

These are the 'before' shots... stay tuned for the 'after'....

Some inside shots...

The kitchen- albeit the messy kitchen... keep in mind, we had just moved in when these were taken and no decorating had gone on yet. It looks different now.

Finally...

Outside shots of our new place in Arnprior...

Not for lack of trying...

Hey All....

We're all moved into our new house in Arnprior. I'm going to try to post a few pictures on here, but please bear with me because the one MAJOR drawback to living out here is that we only have dial up internet access. It's been a bit of a shock, particularly for Ben. But I wanted to try to put some pictures up, so that people can see where we're living now! Although, these were taken when we had just moved in and I hadn't decorated at all yet. It looks much more lived in now.

It is hard to believe, but we only have another 4 1/2 weeks to go before Jack's big arrival! Or, at least, until his scheduled arrival. Frankly, I'm just hoping to clear Christmas and New Year's. I'm getting more and more enormous by the day, and sleeping has become a bit of a joke. Ben has taken up temporary residence in one of the guest rooms downstairs, as it seems as though at least one of us ought to sleep at some point. I'm keeping busy getting the nursery ready- I will upload pictures of that when we get some more recent ones taken!

Ok so maybe the pictures won't be plentiful this time around. I have been uploading one picture for 28 minutes now, and it still isn't done. So perhaps I will wait until the next time I'm at my mom's house and mooch off of her high speed.

Sad.

First baby picture

This is a bit outdated, but the only picture we have of him so far... it was taken at 18 weeks. He is now 27 weeks.

Thanksgiving

Wow it's been a really long time since I've added anything to this. I think we'll try to be a bit more regular about it now that we are finally starting to get settled. Plus, suddenly I have more time on my hands so it will give me something to do.

Where to start- well, we are still living in Ottawa, and Ben has found a good position with General Dynamics Canada. He will be starting there on October 23rd. I had been teaching, but was having problems with low blood pressure, which caused dizziness, so I'm officially off work. I'm feeling fine though for the most part.

We have been looking at houses, and will hopefully have settled on one by early next week. That will be a huge relief, because at this point I would give just about anything to sleep in my own bed again!

Ben took some pictures on the weekend to document my growing 'bump'. I'm told it will grow astronomically from here, so stay tuned for that. At the moment I feel a bit as though I've swallowed a small animal. Who kicks a lot.

Updates...

I apologize for being a bit slack in 'blogging' over the past while. Truth be told, I have been pretty exhausted lately. The morning sickness (or, more accurately, every waking minute of the day sickness) is starting to subside, which is a welcomed change, but the extreme tiredness lingers on. We are just about finished with the first trimester, so things should be picking up soon. Overall, I can't complain really. I've been finishing up things at work (exams, marking, moving things out of my classroom) and everything wraps up on Tuesday. This week has been busy with prom, graduation, and Safe Grad, but that's all done now, and all that is left is packing! We are currently living amidst a sea of boxes- I have no idea where anything is. We get the U-Haul on Monday, and we should be out of here for good on Wednesday! I'm really looking forward to it.
Earlier this month we went to PEI for our anniversary. We rented a cottage in North Rustico and aside from the fact that it rained a lot and I was kind of nauseated the whole trip, we had a good time. Here are some pics...

And baby makes 3!

Well, it's official! We are going to have a baby! We've known about it for a little while, but didn't want to say anything until we had our first ultrasound and got confirmation that everything was going well. That was on Thursday (unfortunately New Brunswick doesn't provide pictures... cheap province that it is...) and it was pretty unbelievable. We are only 9 weeks, and so there wasn't a whole lot to see. A little peanut really, 2 cm long, but the technician was able to show us the little tiny heart beating 160 beats per minute. Apparently this is well within the normal range, and everything is going along swimmingly.
I'm feeling okay, although unbelievably tired. The whole 'morning sickness' thing is a bit of false advertising too, as far as I'm concerned. It's more of an 'all day sickness', which becomes a particular pain at about 8:30 pm. But I can't complain. I just keep munching on rice cakes and crackers, and I do alright.
They told us that our due date is January 18th. It's still kind of surreal, but we are both getting pretty excited about it. Our parents are over the moon- my mom already bought a bunch of baby things. It will be so great that we will be back in Ottawa for the months leading up to and then the actual arrival of the baby.
I'm sure that we will have many updates as the weeks go by, so stay tuned!

New Camera

I got my new Nikon D50 a few weeks ago as a graduation gift from my parents. So far it has proven to be fantastic! I love the flexibility of an SLR. You can get it to do exactly what you want it to do. Here are a few shots I took with it.

Self Portrait

Lilac on UNB Campus


Tomato


Bee on apple tree



Taken from Kimble Dr. overpass in Fredericton this evening.

Fundy National Park and Foot Path

Mom and I went to Fundy National Park for a little R&R a few days prior to my graduation. We hiked in and spent two nights at the Goose River backcountry campsites with a day hike along portions of the Fundy Foot Path on day two. We both had a great time despite the rain we encountered on our second day. Hope you enjoy the photos of our little adventure... (Click on them for a high resolution)

Mom and I at the trailhead (Point Wolfe)

Home base for the next few days.


Ahh... Nothing like a warm fire.


Day 2: Breakfast


Mucking about the mud flats in order to cross Goose River at low tide.



Mom enjoys the river before lacing up the hiking boots for the start of the Foot Path.


Up up up we go...


A well deserved break on a thick carpet of moss.


The famous "White Car"



A little hydration was required on occasion...


Down down down...


Strike a pose.


Rose Brook crossing.


Day 2: Lunch on Azor's Beach (Cajun chicken & rice mmmm...)



Back up Rose Brook on our way back to camp.


The view from Edwin's Peak (The rain had begun during lunch)


Wet but happy.



Isn't my mom awesome! This was her first multi day hike.

This is what Goose River looks like if you don't wait for low tide. Since there was no way to cross the river in order to get back to our camp site, we had to wait for a few hours until the tide went out a little.

We made a little shelter with a ground sheet over our heads to keep the rain off and made some hot chocolate.

Finally back at camp. Making supper in the pouring rain. The MSR Trekker tent that a friend lent me was fantastic. You can prop up one side of the tent like an awning to keep dry while you cook. Thanks Jean-Guy!

Day 3: We stayed cozy and dry despite hard rain all night.


Heading back to the car at Point Wolfe. Wet, tired and happy...


We saw lots of these over the three days but no sign of the beast (moose) itself.



End of the journey!