Queen of the bathroom selfie

For no apparent reason, the only time I seem to remember to document my expanding belly is in the bathroom at work. Open stalls make a lovely backdrop for a photo, no?
We have done a few sporadically at home but by far I'm most consistent in the John. And so without further details:

9 months down

9 months down and we are:

• Preemptively catching up on our sleep. (well some of us more than others):

[caption id="attachment_1938" align="aligncenter" width="388"] Sleeping "beauts"[/caption]

• Panicking ok this is clearly  more me than G. He is remaining strangely, uncharacteristically calm


• Watching my stomach flip around as Gus moves and grooves


• Browsing online and in stores for the perfect adorable nursery items.  We aren't going overboard but man do I want to have a cute room all ready for Gus-so far we have a crib, my Mum is re purposing an old dresser for a change table and we have a hand me down glider....just need the cute decor stuff now


• Preparing Brooklyn for her role as a less spazzy big sister.  This is a job and a half with that crazy dog.


• Spending time together in the hammock, laughing, dreaming and swatting mosquitos


• Marveling at my ever expanding belly. Each day I wake up and it seems larger (aaand I still have three months of growth to go!)


• Putting our maternity leave budget into place. Eye opening to say the least


• Craving Ice cream like its my job.  Too bad (or too good) that Kawartha Dairy is just down the street from us.....


• Nesting. Plus side is our house is finally starting to be more organized. Just in time for an infant sized bomb to hit it.

Take you Dog to Work (Again)

Garret is heading to his Mom's right after work today and so instead of coming home to pick up Brooklyn he brought her with him to work.  I asked how it was going and got this in reply:

[caption id="attachment_1961" align="aligncenter" width="388"] Just chilling and helping my Dad review some specs...no big deal[/caption]

I wrote back to have him tell her if she misbehaved I would spank her bum when she got home on Sunday.

[caption id="attachment_1962" align="aligncenter" width="388"] She didn't like that too much[/caption]

As much as she can be a pain in the butt I am jealous that he gets to snuggle with her all day and I just get my usual cast of characters at lunchtime.  It was really cute to see her this morning when she realized instead of being left in the kitchen she was going with one of us somewhere.  After her bed and crate were taken out to the car she firmly planted herself in the door way with her whole body wagging...and pleased and punch settled herself into the truck for a ride with her Dad.  She makes us both insane but we can't live without her. (I guess yet another way she is prepping us for impending parenthood)

Fun construction!

This happened last night while I was making dinner:

How I'm feeling lately

Whenever I am in my closet vs my kitchen

Weekend Report--brief photo summary

[caption id="attachment_1946" align="aligncenter" width="388"] Decided to take "hanging out" to a primo level Fri night, snuggles with the fam in our hammock[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1947" align="aligncenter" width="388"] Trying a little too hard not to have 5 chins in my hammock pic[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1948" align="aligncenter" width="388"] G's side job Saturday afternoon. Just what every pregnant woman wants to see, her husband/baby daddy 65' above Young street. gulp[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1949" align="aligncenter" width="388"] Saturday night we had big plans for a fire or going out, but our friend Derek and I ended up watching a movie alone with two snoring Walsh characters as additional soundtrack[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1950" align="aligncenter" width="388"] Our girl letting her princess flag fly high. She won't pee outside in the rain. We kept carrying her to the end of the yard and she would high tail back for the door. G had to cover her with the umbrella to get her to do her business. High maintenance or what?![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1951" align="aligncenter" width="388"] and do they ever smell sweet. G went to the store to get garlic bread to have with dinner on Sunday night. He came home with Roses which was awesome, but forgot the garlic bread.[/caption]

Other items that I don't have pictures of.  An absolutely gorgeous Bee themed baby shower for my friend Erin, the locking of my keys in the truck in Shelburne and having to wait for C.A.A (sooooo fun), psycho nesting related cleaning while G and Derek were golfing on Sunday and 481 games of fetch with B.

Evening Stroll

Now that the weather has been so much nicer we are trying to get out and enjoy it.  Last night we threw Brooklyn in the car  and headed down to the water front for a nice long walk.  Many other fitness buffs and dog owners had the same idea, but it wasn't too crowded and we got to enjoy the lovely evening.

We thought that maybe she would be tired based on all her big yawns on the way home..but alas she was raring to go and kept bringing us every toy she owns for us to throw.  My new mantra has been "cant wait til the fence is finished" so we can let her tear around back there!

A friend showed us this video the other day which we both feel completely captures B on her walks. 

Father's (to be) Day

Father's day is coming this weekend and it has suddenly taken on a whole new meaning to me.  I am pretty gushy sentimental (as if you couldn't guess) so I wanted to do something fun/special for he who I am about to make a father.  All of my ideas involved a bunch of money which isn't so practical at the moment so instead I bought a gift that is sort of for G but mostly for the babe

[caption id="attachment_1925" align="aligncenter" width="388"] Starting Gus's love of reading as soon as possible[/caption]

There was a Father's Day section at Chapters where I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to pick out the perfect book. So obviously I ended up with two. A super cute animal one and then one about  building a dog house with Daddy.  I couldn't pass up either one.  I just thought G could read them to Gus when s/he arrives and I will just melt into a puddle of hormonal goo at how cute that would be.

I like the idea of starting some sort of Father's day tradition(s).    Letting him sleep in will likely be gift enough at that point!

Anyone have any fun/fond memories of things they did with their Dads when they were little?  One of my nicest memories is watching The A-Team with my Dad.  Fun and full or Mr. T,  but not necessarily what I  have in mind.

Weekend Report--the Ontario Road trip edition

This past weekend was amazing but not all that restful.  We (mostly Garret) did a lot of driving and had some great adventures.

Friday night I stayed downtown after work and went to see the NKOTB, Boys II Men and 98degrees concert.  My friends husband was given box seats which he generously bestowed upon us.  My Mum took me to see the New Kids in '91 or '92 and it was my first concert, and now 20 odd years later it was Gus's first concert too!  G is slightly worried I am skewing the babes musical taste, but really who doesn't love 90's music?

[caption id="attachment_1917" align="aligncenter" width="388"] The girls and Gus enjoying snazzy seats at the ACC. Anxiously awaiting our former teenage dreams hahaha[/caption]

Saturday morning my throat was sore and I think G was embarrassed on my behalf to hear that I was actually screaming my head off all night.  I am sorry but when Jordan Knight tells you to scream? you SCREAM with all you have.  Michelle and I drove back to Barrie and didnt get home until 1am (which for this pregnant chick is crazy late)

Saturday morning we were up early and drove up to North Bay to celebrate G's Grandma's birthday--I will have to upload pictures from the other camera.  It was a long trip, but definitely worth it to spend some time with family and eat a ton of baked goods.  We drove home Saturday night and just took it easy on the mega couch.

Sunday morning we headed off to Niagara with some friends for a prebooked Wag Jag night away.

[caption id="attachment_1918" align="aligncenter" width="388"] This was the only way we could figure out a "falls view" room. hahaha G is very creative.  We actually overlooked a gorgeous parking lot...oooh fancy[/caption]

We walked around for hours and took some pictures of the falls and had some relaxing time on a very loud (and grossly sticky) patio

[caption id="attachment_1919" align="aligncenter" width="388"] First family photo in Niagara[/caption]

I also made a valiant attempt to recreate a photo we took 6 years ago but kind of missed the mark:

[caption id="attachment_1920" align="aligncenter" width="310"] the top picture is from 2008 when Garret surprised me with a night away for my birthday. Side note: I am wearing the same sunglasses, and he is still crazy handsome. [/caption]

We got back to Barrie on Monday afternoon and did some house work (thrilling as it sounds)  G moved the bed out of our spare room and we moved the crib (gulp) up in it's place.  We haven't built it yet, but this gets the giant box out of our hallway so that is a start.

[caption id="attachment_1921" align="aligncenter" width="388"] One step closer to being a room ready for a baby.[/caption]

It seems that each day something happens to make us feel a little more ready or freaked out or "ermagerd this is actually happening"ish.   While we were watching a show before bed Gus was being particularly active and G finally got to feel a kick/jab (or "upper cross" if you ask him)  These things happen and then we look at each other and query if this really is happening? We are having a baby?! Then we laugh and make jokes about the babe and try to enjoy these last glimpses of what soon shall be 'what was'.

So THESE are hormones Part 2

Alternate post title:  Things I have cried about thus far while pregnant (part 2)

1. When Brooklyn was with my father in law for a week and I just missed her smooshy face oh so much


2. When we went to pick up our Storm Doors (on sale no less) only to be told that while the flyer neglected to mention it, the dark colour that we wanted would be an extra $200/door.  Insane bawling the whole way home. Garret's attempt at comfort "the baby won't know we don't have new storm doors....I love you... want a popsicle/frosty/sandwich"


3. The morning after as I remembered a dream of Garret leaving me for some imaginary lady and being mean. oooh pregnancy dreams can be brutal


4. When we got Brooklyn back and she peed in the house one time so I started panicking and crying (thankfully this was just once)


5. When my peanut butter cookies I made as a surprise for G looked like a bar instead of like cookies (still tasted awesome so all was fine)

I usually run pretty high on the emotional scale.  To quote Kristen Bell on Ellen "if I am not between a 3-7 I am crying"  But to be honest this whole pregnancy thing is really throwing me for a loop.  I feel my eyes welling up at completely ridiculous times (see #2--I had to rush out of Lowes and wait in the car due to utter devastation re storm doors) Luckily G is really good at making me laugh about it without feeling like he is laughing at me.  However I feel badly subjecting him to so many tears and then me feeling pretty idiotic when explaining I am crying because I made him delicious things that just don't look enough like cookies.

To be continued over the next 4 months I am sure

Weekend Report: The learning edition

We had a pretty ram packed weekend but all in all it was quite lovely.  Friday night G, Gus and I went to see Fast and the Furious 6...definitely an Oscar contender for this coming season.  All these movies are pretty ridiculous, but we LOVE going to watch them together, and whenever there was a lot of engine revving (which was clearly a lot in this movie) Gus would wiggle around...perhaps not a fan of loud noises like their Mumma?

Saturday we had our labour and delivery class with a really amazing nurse from Barrie.  We learned a lot, and G asked a lot of questions which made me feel good.  He said that he feels like he understands a lot more about what will be happening now so he is more comfortable with the whole thing.  We have some homework readings to do together so we can be even more prepared, but I feel that we are at least on the same page about how things are going to happen. We had friends up Saturday night for a BBQ and hang out session...they are also expecting and due a month after us so G lovingly explained all the scary stuff to the husband.  He visibly blanched when G explained about an episiotomy . haha (I am so proud he retained all that info!)

Sunday we headed to our newborn care class and again learned a lot.  I think that this made things even more real which is fun. Obviously we both know we are having a baby, but getting detailed info about how to take care of one brought us to a whole new level.  I know that a lot of it will be instinct and we will learn as we go, but I think we both feel a lot more confident now about certain things. We were both frantically taking notes in the "when baby is sick" section of the class.  We were joking about how we will obviously have our doctor on speed dial and be best friends with all the call centre workers at telehealth!    After class we headed to visit my father in law for supper and to pick up Brooklyn.  Clearly I took the cutest picture ever and posted it yesterday!  It is so nice to have her home, we missed that little bum--She has been christened "Bubble Guts" by G's dad as he was accidentally fattening her up all week...there was a slight miscommunication regarding how much food she gets, and as she indeed is a bubble guts she ate all that he set down for her...so its to weight watchers for the little miss this week.

So all in all a great weekend, we didn't get to get as much done around the house as we wanted, but we did get to see the fruits of G's lawn labour from a few weeks ago.  Our lawn wasn't looking so great after the winter, so about 3 weeks ago G put down some seed in the gross areas and we kind of prayed that the rain would do its job.  Last night we noticed that the areas are starting to fill in nicely! Hurrah...cross one thing off the list!  Our gardens have been so jungle-ish lately they are unbelievable.  Our longer term plan is to dig a few of them out because they are a lot to handle, but fortunately a gardening fairy stopped by last week and took care of two of them for us!   Our lawn has been a never ending attempt to repair project--the previous owners never  mowed it and it was full of crab grass, dandelions and the like.  For the past two summers we have invested in grass seed and fertilizer and are slowly seeing a difference, but man alive what a lot of work...astro turf for the next house!

And now a few random pictures:

[caption id="attachment_1909" align="aligncenter" width="388"] A fun pic my Mum sent me on Saturday night of her and my Nanny having a wee drink on her porch![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1910" align="aligncenter" width="388"] My sister in law got us this which we finally started on the weekend. Then promptly fell over realizing how soon this is![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1911" align="aligncenter" width="388"] FOUND THEM!!!! A random Timmies Kiosk at my work has these...made my day today[/caption]

Homeward Bound

After a week of relaxing with Gramps at the cabin, miss B is back home with Mum and Dad.