Updates!

So the more observant of you will have notice 2 things:

1. Strawberries!!! I decided I needed something fresh and springy to chase away the blahs, so we're going back to Strawberry Blue Viking. And I found this awesome template with beautiful pictures of my favourite fruit. Really, it was a no brainer.

2. If you direct your gaze to the left side of the blog you'll notice a new widget. Can you guess?

Yup, that's right, Nathan and I are expecting our first baby. Most of you will already know this (everyone knows I can't keep secrets worth a darn), but I thought it was time to post about it. Our due date is September 4th, but the midwives tell me that might be wrong. Apparently I'm weird.

To start from the beginning, Nathan and I started officially trying to conceive this past September. Our grand plan was to get pregnant around the fall equinox and have the baby around the summer solstice. Well, of course that didn't work. =D Life events got in the way of our success (travel, colds, funerals, etc.). In December I was certain that nothing was going to happen because of the aforementioned circumstances, but I was okay with that because we had finally decided to get a dog. Yay for Ghost (more on her later)! We picked her up December 16th. December 23rd, Nathan suggested I go pee on a stick, just in case, so we'd know if I was okay to drink wine, port, rum, etc. over the Christmas holiday. Well, wouldn't you know it! I was completely shocked. I kept having to go back into the bathroom to look at the test. Like it would change or I read it wrong or something. The next day, I did another test, just to check because I still didn't believe it. Still preggers. So that ended up being a pretty nice Christmas gift to give our parents.

We've decided to go with midwife care for the pregnancy and managed to get in with the same people who deliver Heather and Brad's first baby a year and a half ago. It's a bit pricey, but more the style of care that we were after. As a bonus, as of April 1st midwifery services will be covered by the province. No one's sure quite how much or how it will work, but we won't end up having to pay the whole amount which is kind of nice. We're planning on having the baby at the midwives' birth centre that's on 16th Ave (west of North Hill Mall). We didn't really want to do a hospital and a home birth didn't really appeal either. This should be a happy medium.

I'm feeling pretty good, all told. I'm 15 weeks tomorrow, so I'm finally good and into the second trimester. I never had morning sickness. I was a bit queasy sometimes in the evening, but a licorice cigar cured that, and there was also a week or so where I couldn't eat meat, but other than that not much going on. I've had a couple of hormone dumps which have sent me off the deep end, but I'm pretty aware when they happen so I usually just end up laughing at myself while I'm sobbing and then I take a nap. I was really exhausted for my first trimester and there were a couple days where it was physically impossible to get out of bed. I've still only gained about 3.5 lbs so I'm right on track with what the midwives say I should be gaining.

In the past few days, I've really started to feel more like myself. I can focus on things, accomplish things at work without being convinced that I'm doing it wrong, and I don't feel nearly as tired. I also think I was a tad depressed in my first trimester, but just this past Monday I felt happy all over and like I could smile without forcing it. Must be second trimester bliss or something.

I still don't know if the hugeness of this has completely set in for me yet. Honestly, it's felt more like a university term project than a pregnancy. Fill out forms, get tests done, pay for things, eat this, don't eat that, take these pills, exercise this much and on and on. It's seemed very task oriented so far and I haven't had much time to sit and reflect. Even when we heard the heartbeat of the baby in February, it still didn't hit me. I think as things become more of a routine then I can start to put aside the term project aspect and focus more on the wonder of it all.

Anyway, that's the baby update. I'll probably post more often now with weird little pregnancy experiences or anecdotes or rants.

As for Ghost, she's the best dog EVER! She's doing very well in puppy class and we're working on her recall on an extend-a-leash so we can eventually take her off leash. She's doing pretty good and we carry the squeaker from one of her destroyed toys just in case she's reluctant to come when we call. It works great! She's definitely getting more comfortable with us and with other dogs. I think she's almost realized that she doesn't have to defend herself against every single dog that crosses her path. She's even ALMOST played! We'll get there. It's probably also due to the fact that she trusts us more and if we're not worried, she's not worried. She's definitely a teenager though (the shelter's guess was that she'd be 2 this spring). She challenges us sometimes and can be a bit bossy and stubborn, but overall is very willing to please and affectionate. We've been leaving her at home during the day and she does fine on her own for those 9 or 10 hours. We try to make sure to play with her and walk her a lot in the evenings, but it's been kind of hard with the weather being so cold and icky. It's not her that minds though, it's us! I swear she could care less if it was -30 or -3, but it makes a big difference to us! Now that it's lighter out at night and getting warmer, hopefully we can spend more time outside with her. I think she's starting to blow her coat already... lots of fur at our place, that's for sure!! I'll post a fun picture of her eating icicles when I'm on my own computer.

So there's the update! Now you know what's been up for the past few months...