got the call

Thursday while we were running some errands I got a call from my midwife asking if I still wanted to know the gender of our baby. I said YES!! and she told us that we are having a BOY!!! I was super excited cause I was wanting a boy and really thinking it was a boy while Ronel, my mom & sisters all wanted a girl (in my family, so far the grandkids are 4 boys and only 1 girl (the oldest), plus with Neil's grandkids it is 1 of each so the boys greatly out number the girls) The midwife also mentioned that the ultrasound lab had asked me to come back in for a "urgent" follow-up ultrasound as they were unable to get clear photos/measurements of certain parts of the baby so I will be heading back for another ultrasound on April 6th. While I'm not excited about having to drink that much water and hold it again or that they couldn't see certain things last time, I am excited about seeing our son again!!!

We are just over 21 weeks now and I am definitely starting to feel and notice the changes in my body. I am excited to feel HIM kick/move for the first time.

Halfway point!!! 20 Weeks

Wow - can't believe that we're at the halfway point for this pregnancy!
I have started to notice differences in my body and am now wearing maternity pants as my regular pants are a bit snug around the waist.  I have lost 9lbs since finding out I was pregnant  - part of that is due to healthier eating, part is due to a total lack of appetite.

My appetite is slowly coming back now that I'm on the mend from the pneumonia (the dr & midwife both said it could be 6 weeks before I'm completely better). We had our ultrasound last Wednesday and got to see our baby again. It was so cool! The baby was moving all around and the ultrasound technician was so great at pointing out everything to us and got us some great photos (I'll try and figure out a way to get them online) No profile photos which the technician tried really hard to get but baby wouldn't cooperate. Hopefully in the next week or 2 we will find out if I'm carrying our son or daughter, then we can start saying he or she and look a little harder on finding names!

Baby's now the size of a cantaloupe!
Baby gulps down several ounces of amniotic fluid every day, both for nutrition and to practice swallowing and digesting. And, these days, those taste buds actually work! Studies show that after birth, babies respond best to tastes they've already had via amniotic fluid. Meaning, think about what you'd like your future child to eat as you prepare your own lunch.

event filled week 16

so we've had an eventful week 16. We're supposed to be moving this week, my birthday was this past Monday and my mom is getting married on Saturday and what does the doctor tell me today... I have PNEUMONIA! I got what I thought was a cold on Saturday - running nose, etc. Then Sunday I went good to bad and spent the day in bed coughing and I've tried to work the past 2 days but haven't made a full shift yet and now I'm not allowed to go to work for the rest of the week. I'm stuck at home (in bed, coughing up a lung!) thankfully I'm on antibiotics (which are safe for the baby - Dr said these are antibiotics he would prescribe to an infant) so I am praying I start to feel better soon, but currently feel horrible - no strength to do anything (barely enough to be on the computer for more than 10 mins) and coughing CONSTANTLY. I'm glad I went to the Dr and didn't think it was just a cold (lots of people told me it would be a waste of my time as the dr wouldn't give me anything for a cold, but after being up ALL last night coughing (Poor Ronel - I felt so bad for him but he was so good, rubbing my back and praying me through it) Ronel & I both felt I should be on the safe side and go get checked out. And I'm glad I did.

On baby news, I don't think the baby is loving all my coughing, must be like a roller coaster in there when I cough! I can feel my uterus contracting when I cough and I thought I might have felt the baby move this week but wasn't a 100% positive. Can't wait till I feel the baby move and now it is really the baby!

Oh and on top of all that, we've had record breaking cold temperatures  (not as bad as back east but still!) and we've had light snow flurries daily since Monday! Spring, please hurry and bring the sun back!

week 16

Baby's now the size of an avocado!
Watch what you say...tiny bones forming in baby's ears mean she can now pick up your voice. A few more minuscule changes: Eyebrows, lashes, and hair are starting to fill in, and taste buds are forming.





This week I had a midwife appointment and for the first time I got to hear the baby's heartbeat and also got to hear the baby kicking! It almost made me cried! I booked our next ultrasound for March 16th and we'll get to see the baby again and hopefully find out the gender! Still feeling great and my midwife told me that I needed to move into maternity pants... I was hesitant cause I have only lost weight and my pants are mostly loose on me, but she said the waistbands were too constricting for the baby, so I'm in maternity pants and I'm enjoying the benefits of no buttons and zippers when I need to make a quick bathroom stop!

Week 15!

Baby's now the size of a naval orange!
Continuing the march toward normal proportions, baby's legs now out-measure his arms. And, finally, all four limbs have functional joints. Your fetus is squirming and wiggling like crazy down in the womb, though you probably can't feel the movements just yet.






Wow - I can't believe that we are already at week 15! I've still been feeling good, starting to notice small changes in my body. Since getting pregnant, I haven't gained any weight, only lost it, which isn't a bad thing in my case! I've been eating healthier (mainly just less junk food cause we weren't eating that unhealthy before)  and I am not as hungry as I was pre-pregnancy so less snacking.

We're getting prepared to move over the next week and a half. We will be housesitting for my mom and soon to be step-dad. (Yes, my mom is getting remarried on the 26th of this month to a guy we all really like!) for April - June but because we've been having some small issues with our landlords, Neil (Mom's fiance) said why don't you guys move in a month early. So we'll be living with them for March which will allow us to lean about the house and also help my mom figure out her new laptop before their 3 month journey across the US.  Then we'll look for a place for us & baby late June and have a month to settle in before baby arrives in August.


I hope you guys are all doing well!

finishing up the first trimester

This week we hit the 3 month mark! It is amazing to believe that I am already 1/3 way through this pregnancy! I have made it through the first 12 weeks with NO morning sickness and I've been feeling great. We had our dating ultrasound on the 30th of December and got to see the itty bitty baby. I loved watching Ronel's face as the technician pointed out the heartbeat (really just a flutter on the screen) and the baby. I can't wait till the next ultrasound when we'll be able to see the baby much clearer.  Just after the New Year, I came down with some bug and got stuck in bed for a week - NOT the way I wanted to start off 2011!!

I haven't started showing yet but my clothes are definitely getting tighter around the waist!!

Happy New Year to you all!!

more changes....

Well, it has been a while but we've been quite busy since I've last posted. We have celebrated a number of family birthdays, I went away on an awesome staff retreat, we celebrated Harvest Fest (our church's Halloween alternative) and Ronel's birthday, celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary and then last week
FOUND OUT THAT WE'RE EXPECTING!!

Yes, you read that right! I'm pregnant! I'm 5 weeks and 3 days pregnant and should be welcoming our new addition in early August!

  So far everything is going good and we meet with our midwife on Tuesday. We are both so EXCITED and Ronel couldn't wipe the smile off his face ALL DAY! 
It has been a lot of fun sharing our news with all of our family & friends.
I am so excited to have my first ultrasound and be able to see and hear our precious bundle! (don't have a date for the ultrasound - just super excited about it!)
(and I know that I still owe you guys photos!)

last 5 months in photos!

I'm trying to get caught up on posting photos of our latest adventures.... I'm just a couple months behind!!


I don't want to do it all in one post as that would be a very long and photo heavy post so starting Monday, there will be new posts daily with photos of our adventures since May.

I hope you will enjoy them!

new journeys.....

Ronel has now been in daytime English classes for 3 days and he seems to be enjoying it. We were unable to register him for the school location closest to us as their day classes were full. We signed up Ronel for night classes but after we got home, we didn't feel good about it as it was 4 nights a week and we'd have only had 30 mins together between me getting off work & Ronel going to school. I called Monday to cancel him for the night classes and to find out if there were spaces in another school not that far away. There was and Ronel started Tuesday morning. Because of the hours, he has to bus to and from school and he did very well navigating the bus system -- in the afternoon, he has to take the skytrain and 2 buses! I was definitely more nervous about it than he was!

This new English class is quite different than his old one and there are only 4 students which is nice as they will get lots of individual attention from the teacher. The students are all from varied backgrounds which doesn't allow for speaking in their native tongue (which was a huge pet peeve for Ronel at his last English class - most were Spanish speaking and would speak Spanish with each other on the break as well as during class time)
So for like 5 + hours Ronel is only speaking English, which is helping with his confidence level.

Life with both of us out of the house for a large part of the day makes our evenings seem that much crazier but it is nice for both of us to have time out of the house on our own and we also both have an hour or so alone at home which is nice to get things done on our own, and then we have our evenings together.

Enjoy your Thursday!

one year

One year ago I was in Haiti with Ronel preparing to fly home together .... It seems unreal that it was only a year ago that Ronel came to Canada. Some days it feels like forever and other days it feels like it has only been a few months!! In 2 months and 4 days we will be celebrating our FOURTH wedding anniversary. Even my mom had a hard time believing me that it has been that long already!

We had a great summer - spent lots of time with family & friends. And Ronel got to have lots of firsts..... drove a go-cart, went to Kids' Camp, went camping, got his Care Card! (this one is a BIGGIE!!), went to a Canadian emergency room (he wasn't the patient, I was), played mini-golf (and beat me!) and more that I can think of right now!

I know I promised pictures of many of these things and I have them, just haven't had the time to get them online!!! I'm hoping that once Ronel goes to English classes during the day, I'll be able to get better at keeping up with the blog when I'm on my break (since I won't feel bad about ignoring him while I'm on the computer!)

Yes, we are hoping that soon Ronel will be in full time ESL classes with ELSA.
ELSA stands for English Language Services for Adults. The ELSA program provides basic and intermediate level English training for adult newcomers to Canada.  He had his assessment test last Wednesday and they put him at a level 3 (there are levels 1-5) and then tomorrow we go to register him at the school closest to us that offers the classes when we want them and find out when he can start classes.
Ronel will be in class Mon - Fri  from 9am - 2:15pm. It will be nice for him to be out of the house each day and also learning more English. He's very good at studying on his own but the social interaction will be good for him. And because of the hours... he'll be taking the bus to and from class which will be a big step for him.


I hope you all had a great summer! and that you have a great September!