Spring Cleaning

The one thing I don't like about winter ending: the start of spring cleaning.  
I think the fact that I chose, of my own free will, to clean my home from top to bottom classifies me as an adult. It is official.
Gone are the days of "No mom. I'll do it later..." and coming are the days of "No mom, I'll do it later!" lol. 

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Baby, Coffee, and a Good Book

My private little world is filled with to-do lists. 

Things I have to get done around the house, people to call, crafts to finish, errands to run. 

Those lists haven't gotten any shorter since Ellie came around. 

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Moments

My baby is already a month old! How is that possible?!

She's already growing out of some of her adorable outfits. 

She's already holding her head up for minutes at a time. 

She's already experimenting with new sounds. 

She's already keeping her eyes open for long periods of time during the day.

The moments are fleeting. So I'm trying to hold onto them. Trying to store them in my memory. 

Trying to remember to take a few pictures along the way :)

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Epic Baby Predictions - Baby V

Well… It's December 11th!! 

One month until Baby V's due date! 

We are sooo excited, but I'm definitely starting to get nervous. 

It's all becoming very real all of the sudden. 

Although, the lack of sleep may be influencing my ability to think clearly… 

I feel ginormous already, and as I write this I'm thinking to myself, "How can there possibly be another month to go?!"

But Christmas is coming (and going hopefully!) and then there'll be a baby here :) 

Time for the predictions!! What do you think I'm having?!?

Here are the things you are predicting: 

Birthday

Sex

Weight

Eyes

Hair Colour

I have my predictions... but I'll wait until a couple of you have posted first to share them :) 

Ready, GO!

{xoxo}

Movember Update

His beard/moustache is still growing! 

It actually looks even thicker now than this picture that was taken a couple of days ago. 

He needs some support to motivate him to shave it into a moustache though! 

(Despite how dirty I think it'll look....)

Donate HERE!!!
Support my handsome husband in raising money for cancer research.

{xoxo}

Whirlwind Winter Weekend

That's right! Winter has arrived in Grande Prairie! 

I'm not complaining though... if you ask me it was right on schedule :) 

The entire weekend was full of blue skies and sunshine with fluffy white snow on the ground. 

We made sure to spend some time frolicking outdoors and cozying up indoors - best of both worlds!

More homemade trifles we served friends this weekend. They look fancy, but take 10 minutes to make!

Some activities I took part in this weekend:

The first winter walk of the season was fantastic! It was soooo nice out!

And the puppies will take every opportunity they can to run around!

I'm not the only one that got creative this weekend! The husband began working on some of his projects too. The truck is half built here - getting ready for our annual Christmas crafting :) 

And the wood below is ready for the husband to get started with his crib building!

One day of crib building down, two months to go! lol.

Sunshine and snow makes for a great combination :) 

Hope you enjoyed your long weekend! 

{xoxo}

Movember Enters Our Home

Look at this handsome devil! 

Wouldn't you like to see him grow some facial hair?!?

A beard? A moustache? Both!?

Well you're in luck! 

He is doing just that! 

And better yet, he's raising money for a good cause while he's at it! 

People around the world will be growing Moustache's over the month of November (better known as Movember) to raise money to for more research into men's health - specifically cancers related to men's health. 

Go HERE to donate :)  

Please support my handsome husband's efforts! 

I promise to show great pics when it's done! 

{xoxo}

Hey Big Haircut!

This mama got a haircut! 

And I'm documenting it, cause it'll never look this good again.
Hope you like it! 

[Plus a sneak peak at the nursery! More (better) pics to come later this week!]

{xoxo}

Warm Tomato Soup Weekend

This past weekend was the exact kind of weekend where you want to make a big bowl of warm tomato soup :) Soup that's even more glorious because the fresh tomatoes were straight from our own garden! 

It was a weekend that made me want to cozy up inside in the evenings and take nice strolls during the day. Baking. Reading. Watching movies. Popcorn and wine with (de-alcoholized of course!). Things that allow me to zone out the rest of the world for a bit and just plain relax.

Now this didn't mean I totally dropped any agenda. Still met with some friends for tea. Still had lunch with our small group. Still visited with family.
But I didn't have an agenda. Having a weekend without any "To-Do" lists floating around my head or any goals that are getting finished is unheard of for me!
I love having goals and agendas most of the time, but every once in a while I would just like to sit down with some warm home-made tomato soup and relax :)

The puppies clearly took the hint from me that this was a weekend to relax.
They had no trouble joining in :)

Now that my relaxing is done, it's time to start my weekly "to-do" list! 

{xoxo}

I Cloud Sleep Forever

Three weeks ago, that's what I would've told you... that I could sleep forever. Sleep 10 minutes after waking up. Sleep at work. Sleep after work. Go to bed earlier than ever in my life before that. That tiredness is fading though, and now that my brain and body are catching up to my lifestyle I can start focusing on baby things! Since the cat's out of the bag, I've been getting all the standard questions... so I thought I'd answer some of them here for the whole world to know!

How are you feeling? Have you been sick?
Short answer: great and no. No one around me knew I was pregnant during my first trimester unless I told them. No one knew because I was feeling great! And I had no obvious symptoms. The only thing that I really experienced was the tiredness described above. Seriously, actually fell asleep at my desk a few times because I could not keep my eyes open! But that's it. So I'm thirlled. No nausea AT ALL! No heartburn. No soreness. No headaches. The husband might tell you that I've been grumpier but I'm sure I haven't! lol.

Are you having any cravings?
Only one. For milk :) Anyone who knows me knows that I've never enjoyed drinking milk. If I bought milk ever... it would be skim milk - the least fatty choice available. I hate that milky taste! But one day I wanted chocolate milk, so I bought some - to Mr. A's surprise! And then I came back another day with Cheerios and 2% milk. What?!!? I think I ate two bowls that night. Obviously baby knows it needs some milk to get strong bones. Plus, these days the milk doesn't taste so bad, so I guess I'll keep drinking it!

Do you know if you're having a boy or a girl?
Noppers! And we're not gonna find out! Originally I was voting for "let's find out!", mostly because I'm a planner. I want to buy the right toys and clothes and decorate the room accordingly, and know which name my baby is getting. The husband was adamant that he did not want to know and that we would not find out. Honestly, he doesn't demand all that much from me, so I feel a bit obliged to give him this one. The idea is growing on me... I am starting to like the idea of having one real surprise in life :)

Are you showing yet? (from the far away friends)
Yep! A bit. I started pulling out my fats pants around 10 weeks.... and I still hid the bump for a while with baggy clothes, but after 13 weeks, I needed to buy some maternity clothes. How people get along without them, I will never know! I do have a belly band that I borrowed from a friend, and it works great (which I did not expect!), but it's not a permanent solution for me, and it doesn't work with all my pants, and I hate the bulge from my zipper underneath... so I'm buying some maternity clothes!

Are you excited?
This answer seems obvious to me... YES! We are thrilled. Beyond thrilled. I still find it hard to believe because I don't have any symptoms to tell me that I'm pregnant! Except my belly keeps on growing bigger! Yesterday I finally heard the heartbeat again - yay! It was so so so exciting. Confirmation. Yes, you are having a baby. The list of things I am excited for is never-ending. Decorating a baby room. Buying teeny tiny shoes. Finding out if it's a girl or a boy. Buying a new maternity wardrobe.  Making little baby crafts. Finding out if he/she looks like me or Mr. A. Seeing how the dogs react to a new little person that wakes them up every night crying. Watching Mr. A adjust to being a daddy. Having a baby that just wants to be held by me! So much to look forward to!

{love}

First comes love, then comes marriage

...then comes the baby in the baby carriage!

That's the natural next step right? I don't know if this is true for everyone, but I feel like Mr. A and I transitioned into marriage very easily. Everything about our dating relationship and our time together just felt natural. I always thought (and told others firmly) that we would wait at least a year before trying to have kids. Give us some breathing time... get to know each other better, adjust to marriage, pay off debt, fix up the house, get a sports car (according to the husband). 

"So what happened?", you ask! Love happened. I have always wanted to be a mother, but once I found the right man, and had the right house, it was almost a necessity to start the baby train. Something about finding love and getting married naturally pushes you towards this. It took a little longer for Mr. A - probably because he hasn't been around a lot of children - but once some of our friends starting pumping babies out (seriously, Grande Prairie is like a baby factory!), you could see he was ready.

So we decided to try! And two weeks later I had this...

BAM! It happened waaaay faster than we anticipated! And since I knew first, I needed a way to tell Mr. A. I snuck out to buy a onesie, and snuck home to make this when he wasn't around...

He knew immediately what I meant and all he said was, "Really??" and gave me a huge hug. He said later that as soon as I handed it to him he knew what it would be. We were both wondering already.

So this is the start of a huge change in our lives. Or so that's what people tell us... so far it's been easy! lol. We're very excited and looking forward to the change. There will be many many more baby posts to come in the future!

{xoxo}

Busy Bee

Here are a few pics from another busy weekend. Eventually my life will slow down... right?!?

It's FINALLY sunny here! So I took advantage and ate my breakfast of champions on the back deck :) 

(As well as every other meal this weekend... )

I'll take the time outside when I can get it, even if it means spending Saturday morning weeding my gardens. 

A friend and I got busy doing some much needed scrapbooking! 

Baking up a storm of goodness. 

Blurry shots of Mr. A and I watching our friend sing live at a local bar :) She was awesome! 

We also saw Doc Walker in concert this weekend and he was amazing!! If only Mr. A hadn't had to work the next day, I could've stayed all night! And then I spent upteen hours on skype this weekend too... lots to talk about apparently! Lots of time outside and lots of socializing pretty much sums up my weekend - nothing wrong with that!  

{xoxo}