Let the Australian Adventure Begin!

As you probably know, we had our baby. His name is Cameron and he’s currently sleeping, good for us. After 20 hours of labour and 3 hours of pushing, Cam arrived in Reynolds style (with his umbilical cord around his neck) at 6:03 on November 15, 2011. Despite our little scare, he coughed then screamed like a perfectly healthy 8lbs 4oz baby boy. We both cried, he is amazing. I mean look at him! You should have one.

But ya, he’s 2.5 months old now, and I’m just getting back to this blog thing. Sorry about that. Being a mom is busier than you think. Even though I can’t ever remember what I’ve accomplished in a day, I can assure you that its busy. The lack of showers and the bad smelling breath from an inability to brush my teeth is proof that there has been no time for blogging. Now that Chris is home and about to become a full time student, a few things have changed around here. 

#1: Mom gets to take showers everyday. I also blow dry my hair sometimes and wear makeup. Its ok other moms if you are jealous, I’d be pretty jealous of me too. 

#2: Our baby sleeps longer than expected sometimes... like right now for example. We are going on 12 hours. Dont get too excited though... he did wake up at 530am for a feed and then threw it up all over himself and me and the rocking chair, and the blanket and after completely needing to bathe us both, he had to eat all over again...ok, so maybe he’s been sleeping for 3 hours. Still... dream baby.

#3: Double parenting during the week is the best. If only we could manage to do this and still make some money. Student budgets are rough. 

Anyway, we leave for our very exciting adventure on Friday. WE ARE SO EXCITED!! Its been a long year of planning - all of which Chris deserves FULL credit. I did very little, except well, I grew our baby I guess... Seriously though, planning this year long trip to Australia has been no easy feat, and Chris really does deserve a shout out for all his work. I was pretty damn lucky to land him for a husband. I mean how many other wives get swept away to the beach for a year? Ya...pure lucky pants. 

Now I can’t promise I will write everyday, but I will share our adventures as often as I can. Maybe if you are lucky Chris will write a few of these posts too. He happens to have some mad writing skills that he rarely seems to share with many people. 

So for now, its farewell Alberta and hello Brisbane! Fingers crossed Cam sleeps for those 12 hours again on our 15 hour flight to the land down under. 

xo T.

Well ain't that just swollen... I mean swell

I fear I've forgotten how to write. This stuff used to just flow out of my mind and through my fingers. Now my fingers are swollen, and I don't even know where to start. Maybe I'm just tired. OR what I used to find painfully amusing about being pregnant I now simply find, painful.

What have you missed?
I went home, told you that....

I got some maternity photos done. I love them, and I will post them here when I get the CD of images....Please note that I don't look like that anymore. I'm a whale. Legit. Chris needs to lift me off the couch. Its brutal.

I cry all the time. Like everyday - which is double my usual amount of emotion. Facebook status' are killing me. Its like a Tim Hortons commercial I can read over and over again. Stop with the kindness people, just stop it. I'm getting bags under my eyes.

I've got 3 weeks of work left. Not sure what I was thinking when I decided to stay until November 4th. OH I remember, I was like 15 lbs lighter and still super ambitious, and loving life. I should have talked to more people with babies about this before making that crazy pants decision. I now know what it feels like to be 35 weeks pregnant and feeling like a loonie bird. Maybe it was genius... I come to work and they still pay me, despite the fact that I am swollen and useless and a little coo-coo in my mind. If I accomplish even one thing in the work day - I celebrate.

About the swelling... I can't wear my rings anymore, and I have to squeeze my fat little feet into the same damn pair of shoes everyday. I am also reaching a point where bending over to get shoes on doesn't seem worth it. I'm going to be 'that' girl wearing socks and sandals in the snow... AND I HATE SOCKS AND SANDALS!! Anyway... here is an image of my daily life:

This is me lifting my swollen hands and feet above my heart on our couch. I literally do this everyday to help the swelling go down (as if I have the hours or the patience to do this everyday). Yet, another reason why women should stop working around... oh say... 35 weeks?!? 

Also - my hair looks great in this drawing. 

We've got five more weeks of growing this guy, though he can come anytime after November 4 when Chris gets back from his work trip. Not sure who will lift me out of bed and off the couch so that I can get to work everyday. But don't worry, pregnant people are like superheros! The only thing holding us back is how giant and round we get, I'll figure it out.

Don't I just make you so pumped to have your own babies?

T.

5 Weeks of Belly Growing

According to my loving husband my grammar has suffered over the last 5 weeks. Lucky for you, today is about pictures and not about how much I need to practice my writing skills.

Here I am at 28 weeks. I feel good about this week. At the time I'm sure I felt like a blue whale, but looking back now, I would consider this a good day for pregnant Tash. 

29 weeks - Not sure why, but this shirt always makes me look the smallest. In fact, I would wear it everyday if I didn't think people would notice. Also we started to decorate the baby room. Good week. 

30 Weeks - Hot and sweaty. I nearly melted away on this day and as you can see, I've grown a ladies size 6 basketball.

And finally...32 Weeks. I think its safe to say that stripes should no longer be worn by this pregnant lady. 

**31 week photo was missed as I was in Ontizzle. 

Happy Whale watching!

T.

Guess whose baaaack....

It’s me silly pants.... and its been ages! I KNOW! But here is the deal my real “paying job" keeps me stupid busy for most of August and pretty much all of September, so I’ve been MIA. I also went on holidays to see my parents before the flight cops stopped me from crawling aboard the air craft that would need to take my pregnant-ass to Ontario where they live. Heaven knows that flying at my size was getting questionable. 

Despite the “busy” season, its been a smooth couple of weeks. Sure I’ve barely had time to blow my nose, but you’ll be happy to know I’ve somehow managed to find a way to sleep in the million degree weather we’ve been having in Calgary. May I suggest however that exhaustion does wonders for a pregnant girl in need of some shut eye (just a tip for those of you who might be pregnant and looking for a sleep remedy - if you run yourself into the ground first, you may actually sleep like the baby you’re growing)

No seriously though... I am sorry for the lack of posts... I’ve missed writing about all my woes and crazy pregnant antics. It feels good to be back. 

So to catch you up a little bit... I’m 33 weeks fat, I mean pregnant, with 7 more to go... that means 5 more weeks of work and then we wait for our giant toddler baby to be born. I’m back in yoga... only this yoga class only has like 8 people in it... so its hard to hide your farts from them... good thing I’ve managed to somehow get through most of that gassy stage. We focus mostly on labor related stuff, so its not much of a “workout”. But the truth is, I’m going to have to deliver this baby sooner or later, so I welcome the hippie advice and the awkward moments when we all practice kegels together. This is where we all just sit there avoiding eye contact and squeezing our lady bits in one final attempt to save anything that might help us “keep it together” down there. 

Note: Pregnant ladies are weird. 

I’ve also developed a bit of what they call “pregnant brain” basically this just means that you are even more absent minded than your regular self was before you got knocked up. For example - today I went swimming. After swimming I showered and my skin was feeling a little tight from the chorine. I went into my locker to grab some lotion to put all over my body to get some relief and found my little yellow bottle... put some all over my giant belly and started to rub it in - except that it didn’t rub in - it just stayed white all over my belly and I was like “what the...” when I grabbed the bottle I realized that it was hair conditioner NOT lotion. Ya... I put hair conditioner all over my torso with no time to wash it off. I had to drive home like that. That my friends is "pregnant brain"... and only one of many situations that I find myself in on a daily basis. 

Annnnyway... I have oodles of things to tell you about... but not today. Today I just wanted to assure you that I haven’t fallen from the face of the earth or given birth yet for that matter. I am more giant that you could possibly imagine. In fact, when I last looked at that 17 week photo of myself I thought “I am even pregnant?!?” Growing a love child messes with your mind. (write that down for when you’re ready to make your own love child) 

Weeks of belly pics to come.

Missed you!

T.

Is my husband a baby model or a Glee star? Its hard to say for sure...

Our baby stroller and car seat arrived the other day. Chris set them up for us and then gave me a lesson on how to click in the car seat properly so that our baby doesn’t fall out. AKA - baby safety. He then proceeded to model what it will look like when we walk him around in public. I snapped some pictures then cried from laughter. 

 In case we ever need to walk the baby in the kitchen.. we now know that we can do a complete 360 with the stroller. No three point turns in our house. What a discovery!

 This would be an example of a "regular" stroll, except that Chris doesn't really walk like this...

This is Chris on the phone to someone super important, though you can't see his phone and so it could be mistaken for a clip from Glee. (Note: Chris hates Glee and makes me tape it and watch it by myself on Sunday mornings when he is still sleeping.... so he has no idea what a "clip from Glee" really looks like....aside from actually needing some "teenager" type clothes and a singing voice - I think he'd be a natural)

Glee star it is. 

T.