Due Date!

Today, August 5th, is our baby's due date. Too bad Baby doesn't know this... :)

He/she is still tucked in, nice and snugly. We'll see how things go this week. We have a doc's appointment Wednesday morning to evaluate how the little tyke is doing in there. Baby's still squirming away, so I'm sure Baby is just enjoying the full-body hugs, endless supply of food and the nice, dark, warm cocoon.

I'm off to do groceries. It never fails that when I go out, I get asked about the baby and when it's due. It will be fun to watch the faces of the people when I tell them, "Oh, today." They usually back away in terror, as if my water is going to instantly break all over their sandals, or tell me (as I was told on Friday night when Scott and I were out for his birthday date night) "Get yourself home, girl!" This woman was funny. We chatted with her and her friend for a bit and she told us that she worked as a social worker in inner city Chicago for many years and it was rare that she saw the excitement, love and happiness that we were exuding when we talked about the upcoming arrival of our little one. She said, "Babies just don't know...they don't know how much they can be loved."

So, Baby, in or out, your mommy and daddy love you very much. Happy due date! Maybe we can celebrate with some ice cream later. :)

love
b

All tucked in...

I had my weekly doctor's appt. today...baby is all tucked in there, going nowhere! The due date is August 5th, but baby can come anytime up until 43 weeks (wow--that's almost the end of August! Yowsas!). I'm sure he/she will be here before then!
The house is done! (for now...there are little projects to do still like changing out lights, etc., but the big stuff is all taken care of) It looks great!
It's hot here--this week it's supposed to go up to the mid-90s (that's mid 30s for the Canucks)--that's hot.
Tomorrow is Scott's 32nd birthday! We're going out for lunch and having cake tomorrow and Scott gets to finally open his presents (I've had them wrapped and ready to open early if needed for the past 2 weeks!) then we're going out for dinner and a movie (The Bourne Ultimatum) on Friday! Fun! :)
That's about all that's new. I'm tuckered out from baby's constant dancing during the night, so I should go take a nap!
Bye all!
Becky

up-to-the-minute update!

Love the new carpet!

I was so excited, I had to post. The carpet guys finished up and moved all of the furniture back and I put out some of the accessories and just wanted to share! (in the photos, it kind of looks pinkish, but it's a nice light beige--the colour of a white sandy beach. :)

Yay! :) ...And for all of you looking at the glass tables (and the white-sandy-beach coloured carpet...) and shaking your heads knowing that baby is on its way...we know! we know! :p

love ya!

B

Updates on the ongoing projects

Hi all,

Here is an update on our two main projects--baby-growing and house-renovating. :) Before I get into those, I want to give a couple of 'shout-outs' to some folks: Congratulations to Scott for coming in 3rd place in his age group in his triathlon a couple of weekends ago! It was a beautiful morning for a race and Scott did a great job!!

Scott biking into transition area #2 in preparation for his run.

Scott's times: 3rd in his age group; 17th overall (out of 299 competitors)

My Triathlon Hero

Scott getting his 3rd place medal.

Congratulations Jarret and Kim on their wedding last weekend! They are honeymooning now and getting ready to move to New Zealand! We're sorry we missed your wedding! Also, news of Willie and Sheila becoming grandparents for the first time is great to hear! They are waiting patiently for John and his wife to deliver sometime in mid-August. Yay Johnnie! Too bad we didn't live closer--we could all have Sunday bbq play dates and nice relaxing evenings of watching the Wonderful World of Disney like in the old days. Mom and Dad had a great visit with you and everyone in PA and at the wedding in Edmonton and it was fun to see the photos!

Best of luck to Sarah in her new job on the Paul Gauguin cruise ship in French Polynesia. She is working in the Human Resources department on the ship while also seeing wonderful sights! She'll be back home for Christmas!

Congratulations also to Stephanie, Vincent and Mattieu on their latest addition to the family--little Gabriel Alexandre! My pregger partner from afar had a wonderful pregnancy and delivery and all is well with the family!

Steph and me at my shower in May

The boys: Vincent, Mattieu and Gabriel

And now with the updates! Let's start with the baby-growing...

We're 38 weeks now, baby is pretty content in there and I'm trying to enjoy having the rock-hard abs that comes with pounds of baby-related innards pushing outwards! (Heaven knows that the rock hard abs won't be returning any time soon!) Baby's movements have ranged from both active to zonked out throughout the recent days/nights. He/she has been in the "ready" position (head-down) for a while now and with that, has become adept at giving me a swift kick in the lung every once in a while--nice! My doctor is out of town on vacation (...the nerve!) for the next week or so, but there are back-up docs in place. Our next appointment is tomorrow (Wed) and then again next Wed. It's just the waiting game these days. I have been keeping busy working on making 2 baby blankets out of the fabric from the shawl I wore on our wedding day. They worked out well, even though I rushed them (I just started this project about a week ago instead of thinking about it months ago!). They are super soft and cozy for baby #1 and future baby #2.

Scott made it home safely from his race in Edmonton on Sunday night and will be staying nearby, not traveling to the San Jose race this weekend, in case baby makes his/her debut. That's comforting. It was VERY nice to have Mom and Dad stay with me while Scott was in Edmonton from Wednesday until Monday morning. They are on their way back to Ottawa and will be back up when Scott goes to Europe for 2 races in late August. We had a great time; we went to a village nearby for a classic car show one night (ah, the good ol' days!), Dad installed the handles on the cabinets (see below for pics), we got the oil changed in the cars, Mom cleaned all of the baby toys, we had a fabulous trip to IKEA, got some groceries, and had a nice Sunday dinner of ribs, bean salad, and lemon pie. Mom also stocked us up with cookies and muffins! What more could you ask for? :) Other than the food and the help, which was much appreciated, the best part was just relaxing with my parents and spending some good time with them both.

Mom baking cookies

And now for the house-renovating!

Today is 'carpet-installation' day--phase 2! We are finally having the last of the lovely pink (ick) carpet in the living and dining rooms replaced with the beige carpet that is also upstairs. The installation crew is arriving sometime this afternoon. Good thing I have nothing to do today but sit around a grow a child. :) I'll have to do a mini update next week with all of the new carpet and decor, once we're finished with that.

This photo shows the new carpet on the stairs (which we had replaced a few months ago) and the old soon-to-be-outta-here pink carpet in the dining room.

Thought I would throw in this lovely photo--see the dirt on the pink carpet by the wall? Nice. That's from the previous owners.

Dad did a great job installing the handles on the kitchen cabinets; Ron is coming back early next week to finish up in the kitchen and then he'll attack the baby's room, installing some outlets so we can plug things in! So, the kitchen is almost finished! For the baby's room, we bought an IKEA (love IKEA...) wardrobe and Scott assembled it as well as the change table. We arranged the furniture and we are going to hang some pictures and install a little ceiling fan/light once the outlets are done, so all will be ready for the munchiken. It's a cute little room!

We sanded and stained the bannister over the dining room a darker colour to match the kitchen cabinets (Scott did the ladder-related parts!); Scott installed the toilet paper and towel holders in the half bath; we did some patching and touched up the green and white paint; we got rid of some old pieces of furniture that we don't need; we cleaned up the place a bit and installed the car seat. I think my 'list of things to do before baby arrives' is finally getting completed. I still have to sell some of the furniture pieces online, get the Salvation Army to pick up the excess stuff, get our installed car seat checked by the fire department, update the blog (hey, soon THAT will be done!), and a few other little things. It's nice to have the big things done. It's been a busy few months!

Scott staining the bannister

Oh, and the garden is growing! The front yard is looking nice (when the bunnies don't eat my flowers! Darn bunnies--they're so cute yet so mean!) and the courtyard is awash with colour! It's nice to put out our lawn chairs and enjoy a nice rest surrounded by the flowers.

The front yard

The courtyard

And that's where we are now! I'm still waiting for the carpet installation team--it's 3pm...hmm, it may be a late night of carpet installation for them! I'll post again to show that off once the job is complete!

Hope all is well with you all!

Love,

Becky

Happy Canada Day!

35 weeks on Canada's 140th birthday!

A chance of Showers

Six to be exact! I love a good party and to be fortunate enough to celebrate this wonderful occasion with 6 parties (and 6 cakes! mmm) was amazing!

Before I go into details, I want to thank EVERYONE for being so wonderful, overly generous, excited, and happy for us! This is an amazing time in our lives and it is so special to us to be surrounded by friends and family who are so supportive and loving!

My awesome team at school, the All School Team (i.e. Spanish, Art, Music, Drama, Student Services, PE, library, extended care, etc.) threw me a luncheon where we all had yummy food and they presented me with a basket of books to start our baby's library! That was a wonderful present! Scott and I have already read Goodnight Moon to baby many many times to get him/her ready to be read to often!

Then the Newman-Haas-Lanigan Wives' Club all gathered for brunch one Sunday morning to celebrate the growing Raymond and Hartsell families! Missy (2nd pic below in red--the 'other' pregger) just had her baby boy last night--a whopping 8 lb 15 oz bundle of joy! Congrats Missy and Brandon!)

Missy and me--can't wait for the playdates!
The wives! (Veronique, Laura, Missy, me, Tiffany, Laurie, Helen and Sandy and Gugge--seated)

Then Scott and I headed to Sheri's house, straight from our 'baby-toasting brunch with the wives, for a shower involving some other teachers from school--the grade 2-5 teachers with whom I work, some Student Services, our office staff and some more All School Team teachers. We got lovely gifts and our car seat! It was fun to hang out with everyone! The food was spectacular. (I love food and it was so good!) :)

Pictures of me and Scott as babies as well as us now and our little tyke's ultrasound photo.

The gang! (Cara, Scott, Jackie, Caro, Jen, Juli and Stu hiding in the back, me, Nancy, Shila, Christine, Sheri and Marianela--Diane was taking the pic!)

And another shower thrown by the Middle School teachers--I still have to get the photos from Sheri, but here's a photo of the awesomely comfortable glider/ottoman set that we got as a present and the super yummy Cake-a-la-Carol (note the shape of the baby's head in the pram--a maple leaf! ha!). Again the food was delicious and a fun time was had by all!

And over Memorial Day weekend (the last weekend in May), Scott and I traveled to Ottawa and were spoiled with two showers--one from the Raymonds and one from the Blairs/Zukichs :). It was great to see everyone--we had a wonderful time at both showers! Scott got to hang out with the guys while the ladies chatted, ate, and ooo-ed and aww-ed at all of lovely gifts! A big thanks to Trudy for all of her hard work in planning the shower and another big thanks to Catherine and Mom for all of their hard work and for Megan for opening up her lovely home for the shower!

The Raymond Shower:

This child WILL know his/her Canadian roots!

Some warm, practical (and highly fashionable) good Canadian boots!


Me, Heather, Meg, and Leah (who is due with baby #2 in the fall)

more yummy cake--thanks Anna!

The Blair/Zukich shower:

Meg and Cath getting all set up

a lovely home-made quilt from Meg

The grandmas-to-be!

me practicing with Stacey's little angel, Shelby!

Steph, Liz and me (Steph and me acting as Liz's pregger bookends!) Steph is due within the next week or so!!
Again, thank you to everyone for such wonderful parties and beautiful presents! We loved the time that we spent with everyone the most--that part was priceless!

34 and a half weeks and counting! Baby could be here tomorrow or in 6 weeks! (I'm aiming for 5 weeks--that will work! I have way too many things to do yet before baby arrives!)

Although publishing this post will allow me to cross one thing off of my very long list of things to do! Yay!

Love you all!

Becky

The Sweetest Thing

30 weeks, 5 days today.

The latest picture of our little sweetie from our appointment this morning.

See baby's little arm all curled up...cozy!

:)