Katie & a haircut

So apparently, someone pretending to chew on your cheeks and tummy is most funny. It brings peals of laughter and attempted retaliatory chewing. Which, of course, is funnier than the initial chewing was.

Katie is not quite crawling, but she's definitely mobile. She can scoot across the room faster than anything. She does it backward, but she makes it there. It's really pretty entertaining. Then she gets hung up on a wall or a chair and screams for someone to fix it. She can also scoot considerably well sitting on her bum. Not sure how she manages that, it's some sort of thing with her legs pulling her, I think. When I put her in the crib, or a laundry basket, she now pulls herself to standing. Which is very exciting if you're a baby. But it just reminds Mom & Dad that we need to get on that babyproofing.

Also, I got my hair cut & dyed. It was time for a change, and I'm very happy with how it turned out.

New pictures again:
Not sure what she's doing here, but she's doing it a lot lately. Maybe it's just too easy to push up onto her knees.
Haircut

More

I made another bug carrier, this one is called a mei tai.Katie loves it, and it really makes her feel lighter than she is so I love it too.

She helped make it.

We now have 2 teeth. They have broken through her gums but no pictures yet because they're still barely visible.
More later. There has been much not sleeping here and we're tired.

A New Hat for Bug

I made this for her yesterday. Haven't had a chance yet to put together the matching jacket, but soon, I hope. I'll post pictures of the whole ensemble when it's finished. The upper brown part of this hat is made from the same fleece I used for our new pouch. I posted a picture of that fleece a bit further down the page.

lots of pictures

I'll probably post more later.

Katie and her Great-Grandma Lake.Katie and Great-Grandpa Lake.
(I think she likes him, what about you?)

Great-Great-Uncle Bob
Katie Elizabeth and Katie Alizabeth. Me & Aubrey. I can't believe she's 11 already.
Plans are in place for her to come visit us this coming summer. Yay!

Me & Brynn.
She's almost 7. Wow!
Grandpa Lake made this horse for me when I was a little girl.
With a bit of modification to the mane & tail, it is new again for my little girl. Just because she's cute.

And, I finally had a chance to finish Katie's stocking, so here it is.

Catching up.

This is going to be a big jumble, because I've got 3 weeks to update. Bear with me.

First things first, dear sister... It's been exactly 2 weeks since the last picture, not three. So there.

We have had a whirlwind few weeks. We left here on Dec. 20 and headed south. Spent the first night with Andrew's sister and her family. Left there the next morning, late because there are kids there to play with, but we made it to Grandma & Grandpa's (the Greats) house in N. Idaho that night. The border crossing was super easy. We think that we got the same guard as we had when we went down in September but he wasn't so friendly this time. I imagine that the holidays are stressful for them too. We did Christmas with Grandma & Grandpa, and also Gary, Joy & Rob on the 23rd, then headed south once again Christmas Eve to surprise my parents with an early arrival. Stayed there until the morning of the 5th when we headed back north to Idaho for 2 days, then back to Olds for a night and homeward. Katie did amazingly well travelling. We've decided that she doesn't mind long trips but she hates short ones. She doesn't like the in & out, I think. She wants to be in & stay there then out & stay there. There was really very little crying in over 20 hours of driving time, and the little crying there was could be solved by some food, a clean diaper or just turning on the light so she could see.

We arrived back in Northern Alberta just in time for "the biggest blizzard since 1968" which over the next 24 hours became the biggest since 1980 and the biggest since 1978. We're not sure what the deal is there. Didn't seem like much of a blizzard to me, but what do I know, I grew up in the Willamette Valley where it doesn't snow. There was a bunch of wind and about 7 inches of snow, but it didn't seem much like any blizzard in any book I've read. Needless to say, though, Andrew had to plow the driveway the next afternoon when we decided to venture out of the house again. Or rather, he ventured out because one of his mom's friends needed a tow out of a ditch.

We've been home for almost a week, and it is so nice to be home. Bailey was most excited to see us. Andrew's cousin stayed here for her, but that's not the same as having her family home. Although, she obviously got away with more when Aunty Kristy was here than she usually does. Charlie is happy to see us, especially since we decided to start feeding him 2 meals a day. Morgan is Morgan. She acts the same now as she did when we left. And Jose is a fish, what do you expect from him?

And, we have a tooth! You can't really see it yet, it's barely broken through, but it is out.

I think that's all for now, except maybe one parting note:
Some of you have seen our dining room chairs. For those of you who haven't, you can peek at them here. People tell me I'm crazy to have white dining room chairs. "But," I say, "they have slipcovers. All you have to do is take them off and wash them." And they say ok, but secretly still believe I'm crazy. I can see it in their eyes. Well, they were looking dingy, so yesterday I took the covers off and washed them. And they are bright, shiny white again. Not so crazy after all.

Pictures to come next.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

We've been visiting my parents and a whole lot of people we haven't seen since we were last here 2 years ago. We've had a great visit, Katie has been loving the attention.

For Christmas, Katie received, among other things, a new amber necklace to help with teething,
A cozy new sweaterdress
and some crinkly wrapping paper.


I also made us a new baby pouch out of this fun, pretty fleece.

Ho Ho Ho. & PSA

Look what I did Mommy!!

Katie is very much enjoying helping with the Christmas preparations.
We're heading south within the week. Andrew will be off a few days before we thought he would, so we're not sure now where we'll end up when. I believe that we're still planning a few days in Idaho before we head on down to Portland, but I'm not sure where that puts us.

The nieces and nephew have a school program on Wednesday, so I think we're planning to attend that, then leave sometime after. Not sure now if after means nighttime or morning. Then we'll drive as far as Katie allows each day until we get where we're going.

In the meantime, I'm cleaning up the house for Kristy, who will be Baileys temporary roommate and the official feeder of the critters. Biggest item, make sure that there is food in the fridge and make sure that all the food in the fridge is edible food. Hope to tackle most of that tomorrow.

Katie's 1st Christmas

I got Katie's 1st Christmas ornament at the Butterdome Craft Fair on Saturday. I love it.

Miss Morgan

I just realized that I've never really spoken about poor Morgan except to say that she's fat. So here's Morgan's story.

Andrew decided one day that Bailey just wasn't keeping up with the mouse population, so we needed to get a cat. So we called the people who'd put up the "free to a good home" poster and they had one kitten left. She was approximately 4 months old. When we got there, they couldn't find her, so we told them to call us when they caught her and we'd come pick her up. Then, just as I was getting into the car, she peeked around from behind a bush and then she was ours.

She's a sweetie, and an excellent mouser. She loves Bailey and Bailey loves her. So happiness abounds with the two of them. Except when Morgan catches a mouse, then they fight over who gets to eat it. I'm not sure who wins that arguement.

She's pretty too. Here she is the day we brought her home.The second day, she'd already claimed Bailey's bed and toys.
And the girls cuddling.

Here are the pictures.

Bailey!

Charlie Horse!

And, the Christmas tree.

Just because

Katie isn't the only cute critter at our house.

Here are some more recent pictures of Bailey & Charlie.

Okay, well...

I was going to post pictures of them and of our Christmas tree, but apparently Blogger isn't letting me do that right now.

Oh well. My Charlie pictures aren't that great. One makes him look like I'm starving him, and the other one makes his head look deformed. His head is actually quite shapely for a horse, and he is most definitely not starved. In fact, he's the only horse I know in real life who gets to eat grain. Well, Jack probably does, but not every day I suspect.

Rest assured, all the critters are doing fabulously. Morgan has gotten so fat that if I wasn't certain she'd already been spayed, I would swear she was pregnant. Bailey is loving the snow, as always, even though in most places it's higher than she is. And Charlie is loving this grain-every-day, spoiled life he's found himself in.

Life, love, and the pursuit of happiness

Why do birds keep running into my window? They do it even when the curtains are drawn, so I'm sure they're just stupid. Actually, I think it might be the same bird that keeps doing it. He came inside for a visit during the summer, because that particular window doesn't have a screen. Not sure why, but hopefully it will within the next couple weeks.

Morgan is fat. She's going on a diet. She now gets fed once a day, and if she wants a snack in between, she can catch mice. That's her job anyway.

We started feeding Katie a bit of rice cereal last week. She's pretty funny with it. She doesn't like the first bite. It's cold, and that's just not okay. But the second bite is good stuff, apparently.

More comparison pictures

Here we are. 1 week and 5 months +1 week.
Thanks to Great-Grandma & Great-Grandpa for the adorable dress.

Hard to believe she's gotten so big.

another picture

Well, seeing as we're having some sort of developmental or physical growth spurt, or teething or I'm eating too much sugar or something... Katie isn't sleeping well. I suspect the teething and am desperately hoping it doesn't last too much longer.

But how can you resist this face?
This is how she greets me when she wakes up. I think I'm in love.

Look for another comparison shot soon. Just waiting on our photographer (aka Andrew).

Quick update

Just a photo montage today.
Maybe I'll update later if I get a chance.

Musings from the frozen north.

I happened to find a cooking show that I didn't know was on. CBC, go figure. So as I eat my kraft dinner, I'm subjected to mouth watering video of a greek community in Montreal. A bakery with a wood oven, fresh melons, grilled seafood, fresh herbs.... Hooray for boxed noodles. I need a good cookbook with recipes from other cultures. Thai, Greek, Indian, whatever. Something with lots of spices and herbs. Yum.

I have to laugh though. We got a phone call early (okay it was like 1030) this morning from my mom. Telling us how cold it is there and they got snow! Okay, the snow is exciting, but it's not cold there. Not a chance. There is currently over a foot of snow on my truck, and it was -30 when we woke up this morning. (that's -20 for you imperialists) It's cold. If the horse didn't need to eat, I wouldn't leave the house, but I have to take him hay. So I cover my mouth with my scarf so my teeth and lungs don't freeze, and march through the yard to bring him some breakfast. For those of you who know the layout of our yard, the hay is next to the garden and I feed the horse a bit behind the propane tank. By the time I got from the house to the hay to the gate, the steam from my breath coming over the scarf had collected on my eyelashes and frozen them.

But Andrew, Katie & I are nice and warm in the house, as is Bailey, Morgan is happy and warm in the garage, and Jose is as warm as ever in his bowl (though I may move him to the table so he's not so close to the windows. Only Charlie has to be outside, and he's tough. And he's got a nice coat. Horses, after all, were designed to live outdoors in all weather.

Oops, almost forgot pictures.

New diaper!
So cute.

Katie's new favorite toy is...

Anything that crinkles.

All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth.

It's funny how fast time goes. Katie is already 5 months old. Every day she becomes more of a kid and less of a baby. It's hard to imagine life without her. She loves the shower, thinks it's hilarious when the water sprays in her face, and loves to try and catch it. She's started "talking" to her toys as she chews on them. I wonder what she's telling them. She adores Bailey, won't even look at me if Bailey is moving around the room. She's also very excited about Daddy. We're going to find her a new carseat tomorrow, she's outgrowing this one rapidly, and I don't want to be stuck with one that doesn't fit. We'll probably move her up before she's too big for the bucket. My car now lives in the garage, so it's not quite so cold in there as it is outside.

I'm very excited for Mom & Dad & my Grandparents to see Katie again. As much as I want to visit for myself, I can't wait for them to spend time with her. The last time they saw her was September, and she's changed so much since then. Only a month left till our big trip. I'm so not looking forward to the drive though.

And can I just say how much I love cloth diapers? Even without the economic and environmental considerations, disposables just don't come near to the absolute cuteness. Not to mention how much happier she is in them.

Toes!

Katie's found her toes. She actually found them a while ago, but she's decided now that they are great for sucking on. She now rolls both directions too.

Cruisin' right along.

Katie pushed up onto her knees this evening. Yikes! This means crawling could be not much further down the road. I'm not ready to have a mobile baby! But she's so cute trying to push up, and she was so excited about it. She stayed on her belly longer tonight than she ever has before, and she was really working those legs. She even managed to spin herself around almost 180 degrees.

Of course, as with all great developmental leaps, this comes with crazy sleep troubles. Still not as bad as some babies though, so I can't complain too much.

Pictures!

Here is what Bug looks like when she's up past her bedtime.

Peeking over Daddy's knee

Leave us alone, Mom. We're snuggling.

Driving Miss Katie

Andrew's been home, so I haven't been updating like I should. Silly me not spending so much time on the computer. Our morning routine seems to be fairly settled at the moment. We wake up about 9 ish, play with Katie for a while, then Katie & I usually have a shower while Andrew eats breakfast. Katie loves the shower. Then after Katie goes down for her morning nap, I head out to feed the horse. This is a good routine to get into, because he will now need to be given hay every day. He's grazed down all the grass, that's what happens in a small yard. If I get used to feeding him during her nap, then I don't have to worry about forgetting like I do with the fish.

Katie is growing so fast. Hard to believe she'll be 5 months old in only a few days. We're on the hunt for a new carseat, she's almost too tall for the bucket now. I'm going to miss the convenience for those quick trips in somewhere, but most of the time I have her in the sling anyway so it won't make much difference.

This is the most recent picture, we were playing with her (go figure) while we were waiting for some friends to get home. She is so much fun. No teeth yet, but soon enough, I'm sure. She's chomping on everything she can get her hands on. And she feels the need to yell while she's chewing. That cracks me up.

Oops, she's waking up. That's all the update for now, I guess.

In horsey news.

We (I), after much thought, decided that Jack and I are not meant for each other. We just don't have enough experience to be a good match. So I had to make the decision to let him go. Had I held onto him, he would have either become a pasture ornament, undoing all the training we just paid for, or one or both of us would've gotten hurt. It was a hard decision, but I definitely feel it was the best decision to make, and I am very much at peace with it. He is a good horse, he will go on to be a great horse, and he will make someone very happy.

Dwayne (very generously) offered to trade one of his horses for Jack. Jack is going on to cow horse schooling. When he's there, he'll be worked/trained in actual ranching work. Dwayne thinks that Jack is a rare horse that will be excellent for that work and in very high demand. I'm excited for him and I'm glad that I had the opportunity to have him in my life and bring him to a place where he can realize his potential.

In return, I have a nice, well-broke 11 year old gelding in my life. His name is Charlie, and he's a registered Quarter Horse. (I still can't figure out how I keep getting registered animals.) Charlie has been used for team-penning competitions, dressage competitions, english lessons, western lessons, trail riding, etc. He's a well-rounded horse with tons of experience and I am very comfortable with him.

Andrew built me a fence here, so I even get to see Charlie every day. Katie has petted him a couple times but as yet is fairly uninterested.

Wow.

Apparently I got distracted. It's been ages since I updated this blog.

I guess I'll start from 4 months ago, the day our lives changed.

Katie Elizabeth was born June 23. No, Katie is not a nickname. We figured if that was what we were going to call her, we might as well just make it her name. She has been an absolute joy, and we now cannot imagine life without her.

We had an adjustment period, of course, but as soon as we learned to adapt to her schedule, life has been smooth and easy. She's growing like a weed and learning so fast. She's amazingly smart, and strong. Has had good head control since the day she was born, and has no problems walking around for hours in her sling. She loves to walk around holding our fingers, yes already, she's been doing that for over a month now. She's sitting under her own power and is almost stable enough to call it "unassisted", but she still needs a bit of balancing a lot of the time. She started rolling at 2.5 months, but only when she feels like it. Hehe. Today she figured out how to pick up her soother, turn it around and stick it in her mouth.

Will add pictures later.

8 weeks left.

Can you believe it?

Time flies.

We've been busy the last while. It's been a month and a half since I updated this.
We bought a house from Andrew's brother and his wife, it's definitely not our ideal house, but it is nice enough, and has good potential. We also know all the things that need to be updated and replaced and all that, so we're a step ahead that way. And the vast majority of it is cosmetic, so no worries. I managed to get all of our stuff moved in before Andrew got his days off (had tons of help though), and most of it unpacked and set up, so he didn't have nearly as much to do as he thought he might. We have the master bedroom, a second small bedroom and an addition that we will use as a guest room/office/entertainment room. Also has a decent garage for Andrew, and a cement pad that we can park vehicles and our trailer on.

Our first project is to get the addition finished to our specifications. We haven't unpacked anything in there yet, but there are a lot of boxes in there that need dealt with because they will eventually be unpacked in there. We're going to rip up the linoleum and lay down new plywood and laminate flooring (that will be extended to the bathroom as well), paint (probably before the new floor is laid), and redo the ceiling because it sags a little.If we plan things right, we can have all that done before the baby comes.

MxPx

Well, baby got to go to its first rock concert on Friday. MxPx played in Cold Lake.

Baby was very quiet for the first 2 bands, but once MxPx started, it was having a party in there. Not sure if that's because it's familliar sounds or what, but it made me giggle.

Of course, between the glucose test in the morning, and the concert at night, baby was real tired the next morning, and much more sedate than usual. All is back to normal now though, and we had the usual morning calisthenics today.

What a great show! MxPx put on the show that I knew they would, and wowed the crowd. 90% of the people who were there may not have known who they were before, but they certainly do now. And the fan base that they're touring for.

Housekeeping.

The low salt thing is a precaution, not a requirement. It's not anything serious at this point in time. Nothing to worry about.

Baby is doing good. It's kicking the heck out of me most days.
We get to see it again tomorrow. Can't wait. Hopefully it'll settle down at least when we're having the ultrasound so they can get proper measurements this time.

22 weeks.

What a nightmare.
I won't get into it here, suffice it to say, if you ever have the urge to buy something off eBay from a seller called tc_seller, go jump off a bridge instead.

Not only have I not received the item I paid for, but he can't fathom that there is more than one city in Alberta, and now he's trying to charge me a second time. Neat, huh?

Besides that... everything's going great. We got to go to a Junior A hockey game last weekend, that was a ton of fun, even if they weren't playing to their usual standard. We're hoping to go again at least once before the season is over, they're in the playoffs so that gives us a bit more time....

Baby is doing well. I'm getting a lot of kicks now, mostly early in the morning when I don't want to be awake. It's not strong enough yet to wake me though, so I suppose that's a good thing. The only time I'm having problems with my blood pressure is when I'm at the Dr.'s office, but I have a home monitor now, and am tracking it that way, so Dr. is happy about that. Next ultrasound is the 21st. Need to get some measurements that baby was squirming too much for last time. We're excited to see the growth. Should be some pretty major changes.

almost halfway there.

Well, Thursday makes 20 weeks/5 months. Halfway there.
Anyone who tells you that a pregnancy lasts 9 months is full of it. It's 40 weeks, which makes 10 months by my calendar.

Anyway, I have another ultrasound appointment on the 21st, because apparently little Sue was too squirmy for the tech to get good measurements of the heart and spine. So more pictures to come. It'll be 5.5 weeks after the last one, so there should be some obvious growth.

I can feel the baby now almost all the time. Andrew hasn't been able to feel it except once, but I suspect that'll change quickly in the next couple of weeks. I'm getting quite the belly now, but I'm going to run out of available space at some point and baby is going to start getting cramped in there.

18 weeks = 4 months done.

The ultrasound is tomorrow. We can't wait.

Still haven't decided if we're going to find out gender or not. Not sure that it's really an option here. In Westlock, we probably wouldn't have any issues with anything, but the hospital here is lacking in more than just doctors. I'm preparing myself for a thoroughly mundane medical examination, because that's what I've come to expect here. And, because we want Andrew to be able to come too, here is where we get to have it.

Either way, we'll have a photo to share!

I went to see Jack today. He's looking great. Soooo fuzzy and cute. I took some photos, but they're not digital, so I can't share them here. Obviously feeling well too, he was running and bucking up a storm. He's still definitely the very low man in the herd, even though their herd is only the 2 of them. Sorrely didn't want to have anything to do with me, but he didn't want to let Jack come play either.

But Jack so wants to be cuddled. He cracks me up. His personality is so unlike what I expect from a horse. He was trying to play shy, but then every time I'd put the camera up to take a picture of him, he'd come running to see what that thing was. So i have a bunch of good shots of his face... Not so many of his whole body though... Finally managed to get him to come in the pen with me & shut the gate so he had to stay. He wasn't thrilled about that, because usually that means work. So he wasn't being very cooperative at first. I just made him run around the ring a couple times each direction and then stopped him and called him to me. And he came and cooperated. I love that. Then I brushed him out well, and turned him loose again. Hopefully, if I can keep this up, he'll figure out that being caught isn't such a bad thing and he'll get easier to catch. And then he goes out the gate and bucks and runs away. But when he sees that I'm leaving, he has to come running back to say goodbye. What a great feeling that my horse doesn't want me to leave. :)

Ultrasound

Just thought I'd let everyone know, the ultrasound is scheduled for Jan 13.

14 weeks

It's been 3 weeks since I updated. Bad me.

As you know by now, we rented a doppler machine and can listen to the baby's heartbeat at home.
http://www3.telus.net/public/jmidgett/baby1.wav
We love it. It came with a sound recorder that we get to keep, so I can just sit around listening to it all day. Like some other people I know. ;-)

Bailey is doing well. Got to have a little holiday at Anty Sharon's while we were in Las Vegas. Had a blast and came home absolutely disgusting. She'll have a second holiday at a kennel in Bonnyville over Christmas. Maybe we'll get them to give her another bath too.

Jack is doing well too. He's happy and healthy with Dwayne's gelding. Getting fat too on all the good hay they've got to eat. Got to hear a funny story when I went to visit the other day. Jack was getting beat up when all the horses were together. Apparently, Dwayne's gelding gets possessive if there are mares around, regardless of how well they get along without the girls. So Dwayne put the boys in a seperate pasture. And since there are no waterers, he put fencing down to the river so they have something to drink, but he didn't think he needed the fence that goes lengthwise down the river because his horses don't like to get wet. (I've never understood how people could keep their horses in that way.) Well, apparenly, they got home from town one afternoon and found a message on their answering machine from a neighbor. "Just thought you should know, your spotted horse is out." Yikes! So they run down to get him back in and see how he got out... And there he was, belly deep in the river going over to visit the mares. Now the fence is finished. Hehehe.

11 weeks, 4 days.

Got to hear baby's heartbeat on Thursday. That was amazing. I was a bit dissappointed that Andrew couldn't be there, but he'll be there next time. And the ultrasound will be scheduled in Cold Lake, so he'll be able to go to that.

Almost done Christmas shopping.

10 weeks

Well, it looks like I get to go to Westlock for my next appointment.

I refuse to go back to Cold Lake. The only way I'll go back there is if it's a complete emergency. And it's only 10 more minutes to Bonnyville, so it'll have to be a pretty big emergency.

But, since there is only 1 doctor accepting new patients (how can they justify that??) in Bonnyville, and she's booked until the end of December, I don't stand a chance of seeing her until January, and they aren't booking those appointments until the 2nd week in December. (And I'll be calling first thing Monday morning.)

So, since I'm back in Westlock next week anyway, and I like my doctor there, I'll see her for a check-up and then get things transferred to Bonnyville if I manage to snag a first appointment there. If I can get the first, the followup appointments should be fine, as they book those a month in advance. It's the first that's the trick.

I'm feeling slightly better this week. I am having good days and bad days, and the good ones seem to outnumber the bad. Or maybe I'm just being optimistic. I went swimming today during lane swim. It was so nice to get back in the pool. Hard work because I've been out of it for so long, but so relaxing and nice. I'm going to have to keep going. They have the perfect pool for what I want. Not like those ones that have the wading section in the one end. Those drive me nuts.

9 weeks 5 days.

I'm getting bad about updating.
Here's the November calendar.

I'm feeling much better this week. As long as I can keep from gagging, I don't get nauseous all day.

The baby is about the size of a strawberry now. Not big enough to be showing, obviously, but obviously there just the same. I have to unbutton my pants when I sit down now, the waistband is pretty uncomfortable otherwise. I think Andrew's getting anxious for me to get a belly. He keeps rubbing my stomach like he hopes to feel something. It'll be so exciting to be able to feel the baby though. I can't wait.

We've been having fun looking for names, borrowed a couple of books from the library. Trevor Thrap apparently has some suggestions... Bridgitt Midgett, and Andrew Junior (A. Junior Midgett). Mom says he giggled like crazy when mentioning those.

I've discovered that all sushi is not off limits when I'm pregnant. I am still allowed to eat the cooked stuff, like California Rolls, which is all I eat anyways. So yay!. And I'll be buying a bunch when I go to the city. :)

My doctor's appointment did NOT go well. The doctor was a jerk. And, essentially, I came away from it feeling like they were telling us that I'm not going to make it to the 2nd trimester, so why should they bother. That is absolutely unacceptable to me, and I am looking for a new doctor in Bonnyville. I want to get one close, so Andrew can make it to appointments, but if all else fails, I'll just go to my doctor in Westlock. She, at least, treats me like I am, in fact, an adult.

Also, it looks like we may be going somewhere besides Las Vegas. There don't seem to be any open flights on the days we have available. 2nd choice - Hawaii. That's fun too. Especially in December. :)

It's a new month.

November Baby Growth

I'm 9 weeks now, and supposedly this is the week that the nausea-causing hormones peak.
I hope so. This week has been miserable. I've been sick every day. Doesn't matter if I eat or not, or how frequently or anything. And I've got at least 3 weeks left. Which sounds like a long time, but it's already been 3 weeks, so I think I can manage. Especially if it starts tapering off.

Bailey got her bed re-stuffed last night, so she hasn't budged out of it since except to eat. Funny girl.

8 weeks tomorrow.

Click here to track our progress.

Hard to believe I'm already 8 weeks along. Seems like just yesterday that I was 5 weeks and itching to tell everyone.

I seem to have the nausea under control now. Either that or it's just coming in phases. I do know that the days that were really bad, I didn't eat anything right away and then once I started feeling sick, I didn't want to eat anything. Now, I'm starting with small snacks as soon as I wake up and it seems to be working. I think that the nausea comes immediately after the hungry, so as long as I don't stay hungry very long, I'm okay.

I have my first doctor's appointment tomorrow. I'm so excited about it. I know that all the bloodwork and tests won't be fun, but the baby is plenty big enough to hear the heartbeat now, and I'm really excited about being able to do that. Andrew may not be able to make it to this appointment, which sucks, but he's going to do what he can. And it's late enough in the afternoon, that it might be a possibility. Cross your fingers. I'm also really hoping that they'll send me for an ultrasound. That'd be fun. Plus, they'll have to give me enough time to drink a whole lot of water, so maybe Andrew could make it for that.

We're getting all our auxillary insulation put up today and yesterday. It's starting to get cold now, so we've got to get it done. It's so much easier this year, because we kept everything, and labelled it all as we took it off the trailer this spring, so we know where it goes... And we're putting it up earlier this year, so we've got more opportunity to make things easy on ourselves. Last year we were just trying to patch holes with anything we could find. This year we can do it properly and not get frostbite in the meantime. And Bailey loves it because she can race around the yard to her heart's content while we're fiddling. It's nice to have a more relaxed pace as well. We can just do a bit here & a bit there and go inside when our fingers get cold. Instead of trying to unstick tape from numb hands.

It really is amazing though, the difference in temperature between inside & outside. We got a little oscillating heater, and it helps to spread the heat throughout the house better.

I do think it's time to get out the winter coat though. I got a little down jacket, but it's not quite downy enough when I'm just standing around at dusk taping.

Anybody want a dog? She's cute....

Woke up this morning to a dog on my couch. She knows better. She also knows better than to sit outside and bark, but do you think that stops her? Argh. We so need to get a new collar. Then I can at least zap her when she's being rotten. So she's back to being tied up at nights. I am not willing to compromise on the couch thing, and I need to be able to sleep, and I can't sleep soundly if I'm always listening for her to get up there. She was being so good too.

I've found a second cure for morning sickness. Jack. Or maybe it's the half hour hike through the bush to find him... Either way, I was feeling awful this morning and almost didn't go over there. So glad I went though. Went for a nice little trail ride on Dwayne's 10 year old gelding. He's a nice horse, and been around enough to be settled. He's gorgeous too, the first chestnut I've ever met that I liked. Unfortunately, he's also possesive of the mares. So with 3 mares, a filly and Jack & Sorrely, Jack gets beat up. He's got fur missing everywhere from where he's been bitten. It's kind of sad. But he settles down so fast when I pet him. He was jumpy all afternoon until I went to pet him after our ride. I love it.

We couldn't find Jack yesterday. And there were some nice gouges in the dirt by the gate, and the gate was broken... So we were a bit worried that he'd got out. But while Dwayne was driving up & down the road to see if he could see him, I went way into the back corner of the pasture calling Jack. Pretty soon, he came barrelling out of the bush to see me. That was awesome. He has NEVER run to me, ever. He always just moseys like he wants to make sure it's worth the effort. So he came running to me and to get some cuddles, but he didn't want the halter on. We're going to have to work on that a lot over the winter. It was like he just wanted to be comforted and know that not everyone is out to get him and then he was okay to go back to the bush again. Funny boy.

Anyway, very encouraging couple of days with Jack. And I had a really nice ride this afternoon even if I didn't get to ride Jack.

Andrew's working late the next week or so doing land spreading again. It's a hassle for him, but I think he's enjoying it. Change of scenery and all. He's still home at a decent hour, so it's not terrible either.

And I am ordering a yummy pizza for supper. Because it sounds really good and I can blame it on cravings. :-p

Testing

If you can't see the new post, hold shift and click refresh.

9 Exercises to Become a Better Horseman...

9. Drop a heavy steel object on your foot. Don't pick it up right away. Shout, "Get Off, Stupid! GET OFF!"

8. Leap out of a moving vehicle and practice "relaxing into the fall." Roll lithely into a ball and spring to your feet.

7. Learn to grab your checkbook out of your purse/pocket and write out a $200 check without even looking down.

6. Jog long distances carrying a halter and a carrot. Go ahead and tell the neighbours what you are doing; they might as well know now.

5. Affix a pair of reins to a moving freight train and practice pulling it to a halt. Smile as if you are having fun.

4. Hone your fibbing skills: " see, hon. moving hay bales is FUN!" and, "no, really, I'm glad your lucky performance and multi-million dollar horse won the blue ribbon. I am just thankful that my hard work and actual ability won me second place"

3. Practice dialling your chiropractor's number with both arms paralysed to the shoulder and one foot anchoring the lead rope of a frisky horse.

2. Borrow the U.S. Army's slogan: Be All That You Can Be: bitten, thrown, kicked, slimed, trampled, frozen...

1. Lie face down in a puddle of mud in your most expensive riding clothes and repeat to yourself, " this is a learning experience, this is a learning experience, this is..."

Summertiiiiiime and the livin's easy...

K. Maybe not summertime, but I've got that song in my head now.

Yesterday, I was so sick. Completely unfunctional until like 10:30. Then I dragged myself out of the house and off to get laundry and grocery shopping done.

Today, I feel great. Not 100%, but considerably better than yesterday. I don't know what it is. I got up and ate some saltines just the same. If I eat them before I feel nauseous, then hopefully it won't be so bad. Then I had some yummy yogurt that I found yesterday, and it's all staying down no problem.

I don't think that the baby likes pork. The first twinge that I had of stomach upset was when we were having ham for supper one night. And then yesterday in town, I could smell bacon from one of the restaurants downtown, and it about did me in. That's alright, we don't eat much pork anyway. And I like turkey bacon best too. At least I'm not having problems with chicken. And so far, the only craving I have is for salad, so that's alright as well.

I ♥ Saltines.

When I said that my prenatal vitamins don't upset my stomach, I lied.
Apparently, when it says take with a meal, they don't mean that it's okay to take them after your meal if you forgot during.

And that whole thing about not being nauseous, well I think it may not be true anymore either.
This morning was brutal, but I choked down a granola bar and did okay after that. But I've been feeling off all day. And then the vitamin was not good.

Hopefully I'll be able to eat enough supper to take another one, because that one didn't stay down long enough to absorb anything. But hey, the saltines are staying down so far.

The secret is out.

There is a new generation on the way.
New generation to my side anyway, it's already being anticipated by cousins on Andrew's side.

5 weeks and 6 days along today, tomorrow will be halfway through the first trimester. We have our first doctor's appointment at exactly 8 weeks. And if I remember correctly, the nurse said they schedule the first ultrasound for 10-12 weeks, so it shouldn't be too awfully long before there is a picture to share.

No morning sickness as of yet. But from what I've read (been doing a lot of that), for a lot of women that kicks in at 6 weeks, some as late as 7. So we'll see in a few days if I'm doing as well. I'm already stocked up on crackers and gingerale just in case, but I'm hoping that I can just keep those as snacks.

We're having to fill our freshwater tank now, instead of being on running water. It's tedious, but at least we don't have to wait for someone else to bring the water, it's just a tap on the pump building. It is a bit far to our current site though, takes 3 hoses to just barely reach, so we're moving this evening to the other side and 3 sites closer to the building. Then it should only take 2 hoses and we can put ours away for the winter. Then it's just a matter of putting the bubble wrap back on and the plastic over the windows inside. Andrew figured out how to insulate the doors, and that has made a HUGE difference. Even on nights when it gets below freezing, we only have the heater on halfway if that much. Now that those doors are taken care of, we should have even less problems than last winter. Plus now that we're starting the winter with the dehumidifier, we won't have to play catch-up to keep things from molding.

The winter is looking promising.

Ankle photos

Comparison from early this morning.

Inside ankle

Outside ankle.

Well, today every muscle in my neck hurts. I can't pick up my head when I lay on my back, I have to roll over first. It's getting slightly better as I'm stretching them frequently.
My ankle hurt the most on the outside just behind the pointy bone yesterday. Today that feels a lot better, and I can even touch it with relatively little pain. The doctor explained yesterday that the inside bone ends may have some substantial bruising as well because of the way that sprains happen and the violence of my fall. Well, the bruising is definitely showing up. I can't put any weight at all on that foot. I'm just scooting a chair around the house like a little old lady with a walker. Only slower. I leant on it slightly this morning and would have fallen on it had Andrew not been there to catch me. My whole leg just buckled.

No major bruising besides the ankle, no major pulled muscles besides my neck. Though, I think I may visit the chiropractor when I can walk again. I have a little bruise under my chin, not sure how that got there as my jaw isn't sore or anything.

I'm sure I'll be having more bruises in the next few days. Will try to get pictures as they come in.

I'm also going to call this afternoon and see how Jack fared. I'm worried that I jerked on his mouth or something when I came off. I can't remember if I let go of the reins or not.

Ouch.

*disclaimer* I'm fine, don't worry. *

Yesterday I rode Jack again, on a little trail ride.
I rode the mare on the way out, and then because she's stupid and hasn't been taught properly (Dwayne's only had her a few days), she doesn't do anything right. She's nice & quiet, but extremely unresponsive to anything. So we swapped horses on the way back. And oh what a difference. You can literally ride Jack with the reins between a finger and your thumb. both reins in one hand. he responds to voice cues and neck reins. it was lovely.

Today, however.
We were doing just fine until that stupid mare started freaking out. She had a bucking fit, and apparently I didn't have Jack far enough away from her.
He was ok, just startling a bit, and then, we think, she kicked him in her fit. And away he went. Or should I say, away we went. Across the pasture full tilt. And when we came to the fence, he turned, i didn't. I hit the ground, and things are a little sketchy from that point on. I vaguely remember trying to get up, but my ankle wasn't working, so I managed to turn around and onto my back where I could look at Jack. Who, turns out, was standing 5 feet on the other side of the little fence (there was a gate) staring at me. Did not move until Dwayne came & took him back to tie him up. Then I remember lying on the ground looking around me thinking "how did I get here? we haven't even gone riding yet. Why on earth would I come to Dwayne's and just lie down in the pasture?" Since then, things have cleared up a bit, but that whole episode is more like a half-forgotten dream than something that really happened. Then I remember Dwayne's wife being there, and they had driven her car down to me to drive to my car so Dwayne could take me to the hospital. (And something about "i didn't know she has that much hair, she's always got it in that toque.")

So I got in the car and called Andrew. I remember that part now. And then Dwayne started driving, and about 5 minutes later, I couldn't remember if I had called Andrew or not. But he was 5 minutes behind us at the hospital, so I figured I must've talked to him. Andrew, for his part, figured I must be okay if I could manage to call him. X-rays say that my ankle is not broken, only badly sprained, and treatment is extra strength Tylenol and walking on it as normally as possible. My hands are raw and my shoulders hurt. I think I must've landed on my hands and jarred my back that way, because my head really doesn't hurt at all like it should if I had hit it. Doctor says my neck/back is fine, just strained.

Didn't lose consciousness at all, and my recollection is coming back. My left ankle is about twice the size of my right, and my shoulders are soooo sore. I'm sure tomorrow will be even better.

After we were at the hospital, Dwayne laughed and said, "usually when people fall off we make them get right back on." But I have a hard enough time with both feet functional because I'm so short. And there will be time enough for that later.

I know that it wasn't anything that I did, and it wasn't Jack's fault that he got kicked and scared, so I don't think I'll have any problem at all getting back on. Just not this week. :-p