And baby makes 3...

A little catching up to do...

2009-06-01T20:40:00.002-04:00

Wow, it's been 8 weeks since Ethan blessed our lives! It's hard to believe he's 2 months old already, I still think he's my little newborn - I picture him still 7lbs although he's beefed up to 11lbs 4 ozs!

Our homecoming was a fairly easy transition, Ethan sleeps well and had a fairly happy demeanor. He loved being held, it didn't really matter who was holding him. We had some issues with breast feeding, and they became VERY apparent when he had his 3 week growth spurt. The guy was eating all day, or at least he appeared to be, and he was never satiated. I thought I didn't have enough milk to feed the poor guy, so I made an appointment at the Newman Breastfeeding Clinic.

Our appointment there was anything but uneventful. We found out that he was tongue tied, and wasn't eating properly from day 1. My heart broke, but at least there was a solution - free the tongue tie. Dr. Newman informed me that it was a small procedure, a simple snip of the skin under Ethan's tongue, no more than a few drops of blood. Although I knew it was for the best, it was incredibly heart wrenching to watch Ethan scream as they held him down, and cry as they snipped his tongue. But, I put him to breast as soon as the procedure was over, and was able to soothe him. I think I was more shaken up than he was, and understand now how a parent would give their life to protect their child from pain.'

Since the procedure, Ethan's been eating like a charm! He's gained a half a pound a week! He had a slight cold the other day, but is recovering nicely. He has his fussy moments, and likes to be held more than in his chair - but who can blame him???

We're using our cloth diapers, like no one believed I'd be able to do - and I love it! They're so soft on his bum, and wash up really well!

He's had his 2 month needles, got them today :( He cried a bit, and again, it broke my heart - but he quickly recovered. He's such an amazing little guy!

He's smiling now, a lot! he giggles at his bears, and at the blinking lights on his bouncy chair. He looks for Rob when the front door alarm beeps, because he know's daddy's home! Everyday, he gets more and more beautiful - and he changes with every passing second.

I hope to be able to keep you updated, but he's up and hungry again!

Welcome Ethan Alexander Bolzicco!

2009-04-17T13:20:00.002-04:00

Sorry for the delay in posting! I've had my hands full with the most perfect little man on the planet :)

Ethan Alexander Bolzicco was born April 5th, 2009 at 5:30pm... here's the story :)

My water broke on the 4th at around 7pm, I wasn't sure if it was my water though, since it was more of a trickle, instead of a gush. So Rob and I took our time getting our things together, packed up the car and headed to my dads for a bit. Once we were in the car, it was obvious it was my water, I felt like I was peeing in the car, it was awful!!

We stopped at my dads, everyone was super excited - the baby was on the way! From there, we went to Jacob's place, Rob was supposed to go for a couple beers anyways, and we thought it would be cool to share the news. My contractions hadn't started at this point.

By 11 or so, I had started getting little pains, and the hospital told us it was time to come in - so we headed to Newmarket. We were admitted and told to try and get some rest, as we had a big day ahead of us! The next morning, we woke up and I had no pains at all - labour had stopped. I was dreading this, I knew the next step was pitocin, and I so badly wanted to try and do this natural. Sure enough, after 14 hours of no labour, they hooked me up to an IV and started the drip. At this point, my sisters and mom had showed up, and we were waiting in the room for the party to get started.

Everything at this point was a bit of a blur - I remember my sister telling me the TOCO reading was 'a doozy' or some other rendition (that measured my contractions)... and the next thing I remember, I was lying on my side - I honestly didn't think I could make it any farther. My contractions were about 2 min apart or so, lasting about a minute each! I HAD to be 8 or 9 cm at this point!!! But when I was checked, I was only 4, 1cm more dilated than when I was checked before the pitocin - and it had been 5 hrs!!!

So, with tears in my eyes, I told Rob I couldn't do it any more, I needed the epidural. I felt completely deflated, like I had somehow failed. The pitocin had me strapped to the bed with an IV and fetal monitoring, so I couldn't try ANY of the pain relief methods I had wanted to try. Rob was wonderful though, he was so supportive and helped me try and get comfortable.

After the epidural, it was a whole new ball game. I was able to get comfortable, rest a bit and let my body do what it needed to do. Within 2 hours, I was fully dilated, and the baby was coming down the birth canal. I felt insane pressure, so I knew it was time to push! The Dr. was in the OR though so I was asked to wait!

When it was time, I had Shannon, Madison and Rob in the room, Rob held my leg while I pushed, and within 10 minutes, my little angel was out! Rob was in such shock that the Dr had to ask him what the sex was - and with a look of astonishment, Rob announced "It's a Boy!". He cut the cord, and Ethan was placed on my stomach, where he quieted down, and I proceeded to cry like a baby! It was the most emotional experience of my life, and you could see in Rob's eyes that he felt the same way.

Our beautiful angel weighed 7lbs 14oz and was 20 inches long. He had a FULL head of hair, and the most beautiful pouty lips! It took a while for me to accept that he was a HE, since both Rob and I were convinced we were having a girl!

Rob went out to make the announcement to our family in the waiting room, and then they all came in to see us. Our first beautiful baby, my parents first grandbaby - and the first boy on my side!

Ethan had a touch of jaundice, but is doing wonderfully now. He's taken to breastfeeding like a champ (a boob man, like his dad lol), and has the calmest personality. He doesn't like having his diaper changed, because his bum gets cold. He loves the bath, except the getting out part!

All in all, we're doing wonderfully!

Hopefully I can get back on and update as things change, because he's growing and changing by the minute!!

37 weeks... full term!

2009-03-31T10:57:00.002-04:00

The baby weighs close to 6.5lbs and may be about 20 inches in length from head to toe. At this point, the baby's head is cradled in my pelvic cavity, surrounded and protected by my pelvic bones. This position makes some much needed space for it's growing legs and bum!

Many babies have a full head of hair at this point, some locks even measure around 1 inch in length. Don't be surprised if the baby's hair is a different colour than yours, dark haired couples are often taken aback when their children are born with bright red or blond hair, and fair haired couples can likewise produce babies with dark hair. And of course, some babies are born with no hair at all.

Speaking of hair, most of the downy coat of lanugo that covered the baby from 26 weeks has disappeared, and so has much of the vernix - the whitish substance that covered the baby. The baby will swallow this as well as the other secretions and store them in her bowels. This will become the baby's first bowel movement, a blackish waste called meconium.

So, at my 37 week appointment, the doctor did an internal exam. Wouldn't you know it, I'm 1cm dilated!!! The baby is head down and pushing against my cervix still. So, she suggested we do a stretch and sweep. Basically, the doctor stretches open my cervix, and sweeps under the bag of water. This is intended to get things going, if the baby is ready.... so we'll have to see how things go. I know that I could stay 1cm dilated for weeks, but I'm really crossing my fingers that I'll be holding my beautiful little baby soon!

Showers of Joy, for the little girl or boy!

2009-03-30T08:01:00.002-04:00

Shannon did it... she surprised me :)

I knew she was planning a shower, and I knew it was at my house - but the date was forever escaping me. When I came home yesterday from visiting Rob's family, sure enough the street was filled with cars of people we knew, there were balloons on the porch and my house was full of smiling faces!

It was a wonderful, fun day and I couldn't have asked for anything more from Shannon. She did a wonderful job planning, organizing and pulling it off. There were about 40 ladies in attendance, endless amounts of food (Thank you to the people that helped with the food).

And, no... I'm NOT 6 ft around!!! One of Shannon's games was to take some ribbon streamers and guess how big my belly is! We had a couple of close calls, but there were some WAY out there ones too! Shannon bought something like 450ft of streamer, because she figured I was about 6ft around, and she didn't want to run out! Sorry to disappoint you all! :):)

Anyways, the little bean got so many wonderful gifts, and we were completely spoiled by all our friends and family, as usual. Now, we just have to wait for the bean to arrive, and I'm hoping it's any day now!

36 Weeks

2009-03-24T15:10:00.002-04:00

The baby is still gaining weight, about an ounce a day - now at about 6lbs. The baby is measuring about 19 inches from head to toe. At this point, there is an increased pressure in the lower abdomen, this is called lightening or engagement, where the baby drops toward the cervix. This gives me a little more breathing room, but walking will become more difficult.

The good news is that by the end of this week, the pregnancy is considered full term, and I could give birth any day now! Babies are considered full term between 37 and 42 weeks, before 37 is premature and after 42 is post-term. At the weekly doctors appointment, the doctor may check for dilation (when the cervix opens) and effacing (when the cervix thins). The baby's position will also be checked, to estimate how far teh baby has dropped into the pelvis.

I had my OB appointment today, the last of the 2 week appointments, I'm in every week now :) We did my swab for Group B Strep and I'll get those results before my next appointment. Group B Strep (or GBS) is a bacteria that about 30% of women carry. It poses no risk to the mother, but there's a risk of infection to the baby. So, should the results come back positive, they recommend antibiotics after the water breaks.

Aside from that, we also did a surprise internal exam, the baby is head down and firmly pressing against my cervix. Hopefully, this means that I'll go into labour sooner rather than later (after all, I'm full term at the end of the week!) A couple people said it looked like I dropped, but personally, I think the baby is getting higher! It may just be a tall baby stretching out...

Anyways, we're on our way!

35 Weeks

2009-03-16T20:07:00.002-04:00

The baby now weighs about 5.25 pounds and is about 18 inches from head to toe. You may find an elbow, foot or head protruding from your stomach when the baby stretches and squirms about. Soon, as the wall of the uterus and abdomen stretches thinner, it will let in more light. The baby wills start to develop daily activity cycles. This week, the little one is sporting fingernails, and has a fully developed pair of kidneys. It's liver is also able to produce some waste product. At this point, there is much more baby and much less amniotic fluid in your uterus which has expanded to 1000 times its original size!

I went for my first ever prenatal massage today - Oh. My. God. I have no idea why this idea hasn't taken off yet! I don't hear from a lot of other preggo's that they've gone for massage. Already, my hips are less sore - it was unreal, like all the pain was rubbed away! I still feel a little bruising in my pelvic area, but I can honestly say, I'm like a new person! I booked another for 2 weeks from now, putting me 3 weeks before my due date, and exactly when I'd like to start my own little natural labour induction!

Anyone interested in walking the mall for hours?:D

A letter to my unborn...

2009-03-12T07:59:00.002-04:00

Dear baby,

I want to tell you how wonderful you are, even before you're born. I can tell you're exceptional, and I pray every night that wonderful things happen in your life. Daddy and I are preparing for your arrival a little bit each day - we've painted your room, set up some furniture and hung some shelves. Daddy thinks your room is too bright, but I love it and I'm sure you will too!

I wanted to tell you some things, before you're born and we lose the precious time we have together now. I wanted to tell you how much you're wanted, Daddy and I were blessed with news of your arrival shortly after our wedding, and it was the happiest moment of my life - I'm sure Daddy would say the same. I want to tell you how much you're loved - not just by Daddy and me, but by all the people already in your life. Your aunts & uncles are all waiting patiently, to hold you and cuddle you. Your grandparents are all so excited to finally meet you - I'm sure you'll be spoiled like crazy!

I want you to know that I'll miss your little nudges, when you don't think I'm paying attention... feeling you move in my belly is the best part of my day. Ask Daddy, even when I'm having the worst day, and all I want is to not be pregnant anymore, even when I'm on the verge of tears from sleepless nights... all you have to do is move a little, and a smile crosses my face that could light up the universe.

I want you to know about Daddy, and the look on his face when he finally felt your nudges. He was so frustrated and impatient because I could feel you, but he couldn't - one night he put his hand on my belly, and you moved! I've never seen a look like the one on your Daddy's face before. He said he felt like you reached out and poked him, saying "Hi daddy, I'm here!". Maybe you were...

Now, when you move around, it's so much easier to see and feel - in fact, almost everyone has felt your little rolls and nudges! I won't lie to you, when you push your little bum into my ribs, and I have to catch my breath, it can get to be uncomfortable... but then I rub the area your pushing against, and you relax. I guess you're just running out of room, and need to stretch too! The one thing I noticed is that you love to be rubbed! If Daddy and I can't feel you in my belly, we pick a spot and start rubbing, and sure enough, you push yourself up against our hands! I'll try and remember that when you're here, and make sure you get your massages!

My darling baby, I could go on forever about how much you mean to me, and how you've already changed my life. And I'm sure that I'll spend all my days reminding you of how special and important you are - but until then, I have to be satisified telling you that I love you, and I can't wait to meet you.

Be safe, my baby - we'll see you in a few short weeks!

All my love,
Mommy

34 Weeks

2009-03-10T18:58:00.002-04:00

The baby now weighs more than 4.7 pounds and is 18 inches from head to toe. The baby is filling pout and getting rounder - the fat layers are needed to regulate body temperature after the baby is born. Now is a good time to start talking to the baby, if we already haven't (we have) as hearing is now fully developed. Don't feel ridiculous if you're already chatting in baby talk, some evidence shows that newborns pay closer attention to higher pitched tones.

If you're nervous about going into premature labour, you'll be happy to know that 99% of babies born at 35 weeks can survive outside the womb, most have no major problems. Although the baby's central nervous system is still maturing, her lungs are nearly developed by now.

Many women start to notice a tingling sensations or numbness in the pelvic region or pain nas they walk. This may be caused by the pelvic joints loosening, to get ready for labour.

I had my OB appointment today, and all is looking great! The baby is head down, which is good news for a natural labour :D The heartbeat was 154bpm, which is a very healthy number, I'm measuring perfectly and we're right on track!

Madison was over the other day, and she finally felt the baby move! She was getting jealous that everyone else had felt the baby moving, and the look on her face was priceless!

I've got most of the things I need to pack my hospital bag - I went to Walmart to buy some nighties, they say you're more comfortable in your ow clothes, although I can't imagine being too comfortable at all! What I need now are just things for the baby, and some last minute packing things, like snack foods and what not.

2 more weeks until my next appointment - then we're on to the once a week appointments!

33 Weeks

2009-03-03T07:05:00.003-05:00

The baby now weighs about 4.2 pounds and measures about 17 inches from head to toe. Hopefully, the baby is getting ready for delivery, by turning upside down. The next couple weeks are crucial, because some babies will turn around again! The baby's skull is still quite pliable and not completely joined, in part so that it's easier to to pass through the relatively narrow birth canal. The bones in the rest of his or her body are hardening though, and the baby's skin is becoming less red and wrinkled. As a first time mother, the baby's head move down and begin pressing firmly against my cervix (happens in 50% of cases). Second time moms find this doesn't happen until the week before or right when labour starts. Also, the swelling and water retention (Oedema) may begin now. Staying hydrated is the best way to combat water retention!

So, I've given my notice for my last day of work!! I won't lie, I was a little nervous - I know that my boss is nervous too. I looked at the calendar, and decided that I want to get a couple things done. The baby is due on a tuesday (not that it couldn't come earlier or later) so I'll be ending work 18 days (2 work weeks) before my due date on April 3rd. The only possibly way I'll be working later, is if my replacement needs the extra week of training. But I'd REALLY prefer not to, so I can just get some rest and relax for a bit, before our little one comes to join us!

Rob's feeling the baby all the time now, but it doesn't take away the smile from his face each and every time! His favourite is when the baby is 'freaking out' and pushing super hard and kicking a lot in the same place. He loves it, I find it's a bit uncomfortable!

32 Weeks

2009-02-24T07:11:00.002-05:00

The baby now weighs about 3.75 pounds and is about 17 inches from head to toe. Although the lungs won't be fully developed until just before birth, our little one is inhaling amniotic fluid to excercise it's lungs, and practice breathing. At this point, some babies havea head of hair already, others have only a few wisps. Thick hair at birth doesn't necessarily mean thick hair later in life.

If it's a boy, his testicles should be descending from his abdomen to his scrotum. Sometimes however, one or both testicles won't move into position until after birth. Two thirds of all baby boys with undescended testicles at birth find the condition has self corrected by their first birthday.

I've got my OB appt today - everything is fine, we've just moved into the every 2 weeks stage. My next appointment will likely be March 10, then the 24th... then once a week after that!

I find I'm having a harder time sleeping than ever! I'm waking up over and over, and I'm unable to get comfortable again to fall back asleep - so I watch the clock tick by until it's a reasonable time to get up. I find that using the belly wedge helped last night, maybe it's just my heavy belly that hurts a bit, and thats keeping me up...

Rob's been feeling the baby move a lot more now - he claims the baby's getting stronger, I'm telling him it's more about bigger! There's not a whole lot of room left in there! I won't lie, I'm getting to the point I never thought I'd get to... I'm ready to get the baby out, now. I always thought I'd be that rare person that loved being pregnant so much, that it wouldn't matter how long I was pregnant. I was wrong! I love being pregnant, but I'm totally ready - so, baby, if you can read my mind... I'm hoping you're not thinking about going late!!!

31 Weeks

2009-02-17T07:38:00.002-05:00

The baby's arms, legs and body continue to fill out and they are finally proportional in size to the baby's head. At this point, the baby's weight is about 3.3 pounds, and it's finally beginning to look more liek a newborn, measuring about 16 inches from head to toe.

At this point, I may notice that the baby isn't moving around as much as before, but this isn't cause to worry - the baby is just running out of room in my uterus. As long as I can feel the squirming now and again, the baby is doing just fine. There's still plenty of growing to do, we can expect to have the baby gain at least 2 more pounds before delivery!

The baby's organs are continuing to mature, passing water through the bladder - good practice for after it's born! Brain scans have even shown that fetuses have periods of dream sleep around month 8.

Rob and I got the crib put together, so the nursery looks beautiful! Now it's just the little finishing touches, like some shelves for books, and pictures - all in good time :) We've even settled on names - we're NOT sharing them, we want them to be a surprise. So, in case anyone is wondering, for now - until birth... it's "little foot", aptly named because I'm always pushing little feet out from my ribs!

30 Weeks

2009-02-10T10:41:00.002-05:00

The baby's lungs and digestive tract are almost fully developed. While the baby will soon slow up growing in length, it will continue to gain weight until it's born. The baby now measures about 15.7 inches from head to toe now.

The baby continues to open and close it's eyes, seeing whats going on in utero, distinguishing between light and dark. In addition to turning towards a light shone on my belly, it may now reach out toward it. Some researchers believe that baring your stomach to to light stimulates visual development, but don't expect your little one to have 20/20 vision when it's born! Newborns can only see a distance of about 8-12 inches. Completing the picture, the baby now has eyebrows and eyelashes.

A litre of amniotic fluid now surrounds the baby, but that volume will decrease as the baby gets bigger. If you start to feel a little breathless, it's just your uterus pushing against your diaphragm!

So, we're almost there, I guess... 10 more weeks! We picked up the stroller, car seat, crib and dresser - everything looks fantastic! Rob and I spent most of the night last night putting the crib together, and once we were done, the room looked fantastic! The bright green is dulled down a lot, once the dark furniture is in there! Now we just have to decide on the positioning of the furniture, and I can start washing the little onesies and blankets!

Aside from that, we're both getting excited, it's getting more and more real, the bigger my belly gets...

The sweetest thing...

2009-02-05T07:05:00.002-05:00

Yesterday while I was at my 2hr glucose test, I noticed that when the baby rolled, so did my belly! I watched it lift and fall as the baby stretched out - it was amazing! Afterwards, I met up with my dad for lunch, as I was starving... I'm no good at this whole fasting thing! While we were at lunch, HE noticed the belly roll... so the baby has finally gotten big enough to stretch out my belly.

I was very excited, I thought finally Rob will be able to see it!

So, at home after dinner we both raced upstairs and I sat on the bed very still... waiting for the baby to move... nothing. We waited for about 10 minutes if not longer, and then I gave up and said we'll try again when the baby is awake.

Later on that night, as we were getting into bed, the baby was moving just a bit... hardly noticeable. Rob turned off the bedside light and put his hand on my belly. He never does this, says it's uncomfortable...

*kick*

Rob asked if the baby just kicked, I thought he wouldn't have noticed...

*kick*

Woah... did it kick again??

Rob's face lit up, and he had tears in his eyes as he said he felt it... he said he felt the baby reach out and poke him, as if to say "Hi daddy, I'm here..."

My favourite moment, thus far.

29 Weeks

2009-02-03T08:18:00.004-05:00

The baby now weighs about 2.5 pounds, and is measuring about 15 inches from head to toe. The sex organs are starting to mature, for a boy, his testicles are starting to descend from near the kidneys en route to the scrotum. The baby's head is getting bigger, and the brain growth is very rapid at this point. Nearly all babies will react to sound by 30 weeks. During the third trimester, the baby's nutritional needs will peak. Protein, Vitamin C, Folic Acid, Iron and Calcium are all very important - about 200mg of calcium is deposited to the baby's skeleton every day! The baby's skeleton is hardening more and more every day, as the brain, muscles and lungs are continuing to mature.

So, tomorrow I go for part 2 of the glucose test. My results we a tad high for the one hour test, which apparently quite common, so I need to go again. This time, I'll fast for 10-16 hours before the test, they'll then take my blood for a baseline. Once this is done, I'll drink the awful orange sugar drink and wait. They'll then take my blood again after an hour, and again after 2 hours. This will show the rate at which my body processes the sugar.

Gestational Diabetes occurs when my body can't process the glucose I'm ingesting. It's not because of diet, although a change in diet is used to help control it - it's caused by the hormones the placenta is secreting. If my body doesn't produce enough insulin for the glucose I'm ingesting, then the glucose can be absorbed through the placenta by the baby. This can cause macrosomia - which is other terms is just a big baby. But a big baby presents it's own risks when delivering - shoulder dystocia being one (when the baby's shoulders are pulled when trying to get out.)

So, I'm trying not to get myself worked up - I'll know before my appt next week what the results are, hopefully...

IT'S ALIIIIIIIVVVVVE!!!

2009-01-30T07:09:00.002-05:00

Last night, while in bed watching South Park (not MY idea, by the way...) I felt the baby rolling around. I put my book down, and looked at my belly, thinking maybe, just maybe I'll see it kick!

Well, was I in for a surprise when the area immediately around my belly button started to move... then a sudden jolt to the left, and then to the right... it looked like the part in the Ace Ventura 2 movie, where he attempts to escape from the rhino! It was so strong, and incredible to watch that it actually startled me! I grabbed Rob's arm and yelled WATCH THIS!!!

Of course, at this point, the baby knew daddy was watching, so it stopped moving altogether...

Hopefully soon, they'll stop playing these games with eachother!

28 Weeks

2009-01-27T07:08:00.002-05:00

We're in the homestretch! The third trimester typically starts at week 28, and last until week 40 and sometimes even beyond! Most women gain an average of 11 pounds during this trimester alone. At this point in your pregnancy, it's likely that I'll be having mixed feelings, ranging from feeling like I've been pregnant forever, to being super nervous abotu labour and birth.

By this week, the baby weighs about 2.3 pounds and may measure 14.8 inches from top to toe. At about this time, the baby can open it's eyes and turn it's head if it notices a continuous, bright light shining from the outside. The fat layers are beginning to form, and his/her fingernails are appearing.

So for the last couple days, I've been sore! It feels as though the baby is so low, and pushing down so hard, that it's bruised my... *ahem*... lady area. It's painful to roll over in bed, it's painful to get out of a sitting position... it pretty much just hurts. Rob assures me that the pregnancy book says that a little pain is normal. Well, we'll see about that at my next OB appt because I'll SURE be asking if it's supposed to hurt!

Other than that - we're getting ready for the baby. Rob decided he's tired of baby things lying around, so he's ready to get the crib and dresser... now we just need to decide if it's this weekend, or next. We're going to be able to finally put away some of the baby clothes, buy some essentials (like diapers) and get a hospital bag ready! And last night, Shannon gave us an awesome gift - a rainforest play mat! I was excited, so when I got home, I marched into the baby's room and opened it and attached all the little rattles and stuff.
Only about 12 weeks left!!!

Rollin'... Rollin'... Rollin' in my belly :)

2009-01-25T20:00:00.002-05:00

The all star game is on, and I'm less than excited. But since Rob's thing is hockey, so I can deal with it.
The real action isn't on the TV, it's in my belly! This little one is rolling around like crazy! We've felt it move from the left to the right and back again! Apparently, it already likes watching hockey with Daddy!

I had a popsicle, to see if I could persuade our little bean to kick a little bit, but it seems to be completely satisfied just rolling... summersaults in my belly! It's so cool to feel!

Anyways, I'm off to bribe the little guy or girl to kick Rob again... maybe it's coming around!

27 Weeks

2009-01-20T09:29:00.002-05:00

The baby now weighs nearly 2 pounds and is about 14.5 inches long, from head to toe. It's eyes are opening and closing, it sleeps and wakes up at regular intervals and may be sucking his or her thumbs. Some experts believe that babies begin to dream by the 28th week, although noone knows what they may dream about! There are more characteristic grooves forming on the baby's brain's surface, more brain tissue is developing.

At this point, any rythmic movement I may be feeling can be attributed to the baby having the hiccups - they are common at this point in the pregnancy. The episodes usually only last moments and the sensation may be strange, but not unpleasant.

Since my uterus is now up by my ribcage, I may find that I'm short of breath. And beginning now and continuing through the last 3 months of pregnancy, I may be plagued with leg cramps, varicose veins and an itchy abdomen, among other things. Keep in mind that there is a light at the end of the tunnel!

Ok, so I haven't felt the hiccups yet, although I think that would be really neat! But the problem I'm having is with this crazy feeling that I can NEVER, and I mean NEVER get comfortable at night. I would give my left arm to get a decent nights sleep, and yet, I know that for the next couple years, I'm out of luck.

A typical night goes a little like this: I go for a bath, to try and relax my muscles and sooth my back. I attempt to haul myself out of our deep soaker tub (great idea for the NON whales...) and generally become short of breath. As I attempt to lift my legs out of the tub to dry off, I notice a shooting pain through one or both of my hip/legs that causes me to grunt in pain. After drying off, I waddle slowly off to bed. Once I manage to get myself into the bed, I must attempt to get comfortable - ha.
If I choose to start on my left side, I ask Rob to grab my right arm, and pull me over - this way I use little muscles at all, and there is little chance of pain. Once on my side, I wedge part of a pillow under my belly - this minimizes the heavy, pulling feeling that is quite uncomfortable. Now, I try and fall asleep, lying completely perpendicular to the bed on my side. This lasts for about an hour, before I'm either woken up to go to the bathroom, or because I've rolled slightly in my sleep, and am now in pain. Either way, I start from scratch - I either get up and waddle in pain to the bathroom or I attempt to roll over on my own to the right side. This causes me to, again, grunt in pain and be out of breath.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Meeting the OB

2009-01-14T13:12:00.002-05:00

So, yesterday was my 26 week appointment with my OB - also known as the meet and greet. I'm not sure what I was expecting - the receptionist, and nurses were all very friendly. They had a pre-admission package for me to fill out, to help us save time when I go into labour. My glucose was normal, weight gain was only 4 or so pounds (bringing the total to under 10 pounds!) and blood pressure was low, as always.

The OB was friendly enough, but I felt rushed. I'm so used to my family doctor, who takes the time to address my concerns etc, that it was a bit of a culture shock moving to an obviously busy OB who probably won't take the time to get to know my name. She was thorough, don't get me wrong - just busy.

She measured my belly, felt for the baby, listened to the heartbeat (which was a whopping 156 beats per minute!) and then wiped off the doppler gel and was half way out the door... she did however have a second to look back to tell me that she'd see me again in 4 weeks... then every 2 weeks after that.... and every week in the last month. Oh, and she'll induce if I haven't gone into labour a week after my due date....

Ok, thanks have a great day.....WHAT??? Ok, maybe I'm being whiny (as I've been told)... but how can you toss something so important, like that comment, around so cavalier? I must have had a shocked face, because she paused at the door and asked if I had any questions. I just said, I'd like to avoid that if at all possible - unless medically necessary. She didn't answer me, and left... so I assume that meant the appointment was over.

I'm still adjusting to the idea... I mean, I have every right to refuse an induction (which I intend to do, if it comes to it, unless it's medically necessary for the baby to be born healthy).. I just can't believe that OB's are advertising that they induce pregnancies as a matter of procedure!!! Nature did just fine on it's own for centuries... I don't see any reason to change that!

26 Weeks

2009-01-13T08:50:00.002-05:00

Measuring the baby from head to toe, it's about 14 inches, and a little more than 1.6 pounds. Right about now, the baby's eyes are beginning to open and the reponse to sound is growing more consistent, as the network of nerves to the ears are almost complete. The baby is continuing to take in small breaths of amniotic fluid, practicing for when it's born!

Since the baby is growing so fast, and brain development is so intense at this stage, my nutrition is very important. A well balanced diet is key to a healthy developing baby. Prenatal classes will be starting soon (March), they'll provide us with good, clear information about the birth of our baby, and the early days of parenthood.

Our first appointment with the OB is today - and I'm quite looking forward to it. I've got a couple questions I'd like to ask, specifically about the placenta - I'm wondering if it's moved up yet. I have crossed all my crossables, in hopes that our baby is going to be able to be delivered without a c-section!

Last night, while watching the second 2 hour stint of 24, Rob threw his impatience out the window and rested his hand on my belly, for almost 2 hours. Would you believe that that was the ONLY 2 hours I've had without any movement?? The baby was kicking like crazy before dinner,a nd even now, as we speak, there's little kicks here and there... but as soon as Rob's hand hit my skin, the baby fell into a deep, deep sleep. We joked that it can sense his hand is bigger than mine, and wants to play a trick on daddy. I was a little (ok, a lot) dissappointed, because I wonder if Rob will have the patience again to wait for our little one to kick - I guess we'll see! Until then, I'm encouraging him to read the books we've got (Oh baby the places you'll go - Dr. Suess and others like it) because the baby will recognize his voice, and also it's a way for Rob to feel like he's bonding, before actaully feeling anything.

Anyways, more to come after the OB appt, another weigh in today! Different scale though, so I'm not sure if I'll trust this one!

25 Weeks

2009-01-06T07:45:00.003-05:00

The baby now weighs about a pound and a half and is about 13.5 inches long from head to toe. It's making breathing movements, but there is no air in it's lungs yet. If I were to shine a light on my belly, the baby would turn it's head, letting you know the optic nerve is working.

The baby is kicking like crazy! It's the weirdest sensation, and nothing you could ever describe, because it's so unique. Yesterday, I felt like there was a thunderstorm happening in my lower belly! The baby is kicking remarkably low, and the uncomfortable sensation has stopped - I no longer believe the baby is trying to kick it's way out through my lady parts!

When I press on my belly, I can feel the outline of our little bean, Rob does it too - thats how he tries to feel movement, he feels for the baby, and waits. The other night, he had his first stern talking to with our little one, reminding him or her that if 'daddy can't feel you moving, he won't believe you're in there' - I thought this was the cutest thing I'd ever heard! The baby was moving around, but maybe it's still not strong enough for Rob to feel on the outside - he feels rolling, but no kicks just yet.

I did the gender predictor test, and it's coming up as 67% girl! I could care less either way, all our appointments are pointing towards healthy development, and thats all I could ask for - but a little girl, that would be awesome! I imagine I'd be saying the same thing about a little boy, if thats what it pointed to! From what I hear, my dad wants to start a baby pool, when I get the information, I'll post it here, and probably on facebook. I think it would be really cool to see who guesses right - Sarah says boy, and she hasn't been wrong with anyone we know, so I guess only time will tell!

I moved my OB appointment from today to a week from today - I'm really hoping to find out if my placenta has moved up at all, I dont' want a C-Section, but of course will do whatever I have to to make sure the baby is healthy!

More soon!

24 Weeks

2008-12-31T09:27:00.002-05:00

The baby weighs more than 1.3 pounds now. Although there is still very little body fat, and the skin is thin and fragile, at least the baby is now well proportioned. The baby's brain is growing rapidly, and my uterus is beginning to fill up quickly! From head to bum, the baby can measure up to 11.8 inches.

At this point in the pregnancy, it's normal to see stretch marks on your body - about 90 percet of women get them. There may also be a dark line forming from the top of your abdomen, down past your belly button. This called the linea negra.

So, we're in Florida for the break between Christmas and new years - heading home in a couple days - had a blast in Disney. It was hard, looking at all the baby things they had in the Disney souvenir shops, and not buying anything! There were so many beautiful baby princess outfits, and cute little onesies - but since we don't know if it's a girl (although, I feel that it is) we held off.

We're off to Universal Studios today, and the sun is shining!

Talk more when we get back!

23 Weeks

2008-12-23T20:56:00.002-05:00

The baby now weighs over a pound, and is measuring about 11.5 inches from head to foot. It's hearing is well established, and can make out a distorted verson of or voices, the beating of my heart and the rumbling of my stomach. Loud noises heard in utero, like a barking dog etc, probably won't bother the baby when they're ehard outside the womb.

There are numerous studies that indicate that unborn babies prefer classical music, the baby will often move around based on the pace of the music. If the baby was to be born now, it would have about an 85% chance of survival, with the right care.

The baby is moving around like crazy!! The other night, Rob finally felt some rolling! His eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas morning, and he's even more impatient now than he has been, because he knows what he's feeling for.

I've also got my first OB appointment on January 6th - I'll probably call and change that a bit, because it's in such an awkward time slot, and right after we get back from holidays!

In other news, I've finally gained some weight - 3.75 lbs! Not a lot, but it's a start! I'm still under what I expected I'd be, so I've got some wiggle room.

Merry Christmas!!

22 Weeks

2008-12-16T08:08:00.002-05:00

The baby now weighs almost a pound, and is measuring nearly 11 inches from head to heel. It's proportioned like a newborn, just a thinner version since the baby fat hasn't developed yet. The baby is getting heavier every day, but it's skin still appears wrinkly, until it gains more weight. The lips are distinct, and the eyes are formed, though the iris still lacks any pigment. This week, the pancreas (essential in the production of hormones) is developing steadily. Even this early, the first signs of teeth appear in the form of buds beneath the gum line, soon after the baby is born, the first teeth will come through.

The average at this point is to put on about 12-15 pounds, and starting now, weight will begin to pile on more steadily - averaging about a half a pound per week!

I have another appointment next week (Monday), so I'll find out what I've gained so far. With my tally still being at zero, I'm not too worried! Christmas is just around the corner, and I'm sure I'll pack a little on then too!

Speaking of Christmas, I'm having a big dinner at our house this year - it's our first Christmas in our house, and I think it's a great way for us to really enjoy the holiday! I know it will be really busy, and a lot of work... but I'm really looking forward to it - a big turkey with all the fixings!

Last night, while watching TV, Rob rested his hand on my belly - it's become so natural that I don't even notice he's doing it anymore. The baby is far more active in the morning though, so my assumption is that it was sleeping last night. He didn't feel anything... and although he was joking, said he was failing. It broke my heart! So this morning, I've been willing the baby to rest up, so Daddy can feel the poking tonight!

21 Weeks

2008-12-09T13:48:00.002-05:00

The baby now weighs about 3/4 of a pound, and is about 10.5 inches from head to heel. It's eyebrows and eyelids are fully developed and the fingernails now cover the fingertips. The baby can now hear our conversations - if we talk, read or sing to the baby, it will hear us. Some studies have found that newborns will suck more vigorously when read to from a book they heard more frequently in utero (Rob's new favourite phrase is in utero). We've been reading a couple of them, to let the baby get used to not only my voice, but Rob's as well.

I had another ultrasound yesterday, and it was again, the most wonderful thing! I honestly don't think I could see this baby enough! If I could walk around with an U/S thing strapped on, I totally would. I got to see the baby yawning, rubbing it's eyes and kicking it's little legs! My favourite was the yawn - there was a beautiful, pixelated face that just opened up for a second or two, and then closed again, just as if our little one was waking up. It must be a tiring business, becoming a baby!

It was also cool to SEE the baby kicking! It was flexing it's legs like crazy, bending them up and then kicking them out! I would imagine that it's running out of room in there, but I'm sure I'll grow to accomodate!

Baby Freedom :)

2008-12-05T14:45:00.002-05:00

So, I just popped into my email, and found an invitation to view a website from a couple we met on our honeymoon - Dave & Alyssa. Why is this relevant?? Well.....

Rob and I missed dinner the first night, in the restaurant on the ship - we were exhausted, and just ate at the buffet and went to bed. On the cruise, they assign dinner seatings, but if you miss it there's always the buffet. The second night, we decided to try out the restaurant, when we got there, we met a wonderful couple from California. They were also on their honeymoon and remarkably like Rob and I - but to be honest, I think that Dave and I were more personality alike, and Rob and Alyssa - poor Rob and Alyssa had to deal with Dave and I the whole time LOL

Anyways, we hit it off immediately, and they became friends - it was nice to have another couple we related to, in our age bracket, that was so much fun! And wouldn't you know it - they wanted kids too, and we're planning on trying right away. We had more in common than we thought!

So, our running joke - or at least one of them, was: First to get pregnant gets to name their baby "Baby Freedom", in honour of the Carnival Freedom Cruise Ship.

So, fast forward to the email invitation to their website - they're pregnant too! Due only a week or two after us - so, lets raise a glass (or a couple bottles of wine, each) to Dave and Alyssa: Congrats on Baby Freedom!

20 Weeks - Halfway there!

2008-12-02T09:34:00.003-05:00

The baby is now measuring about 6.5 inches from head to bum, and is steadily gaining weight. There is a whitish coat of a slick, fatty substance called vernix that is beginning to cover the baby, it protects the baby's skin during it's long immersion in amniotic fluid - it also eases delivery. The baby is also swallowing more this week, providing good practice for the digestive system. After taking in amniotic fluid, it's body will absorb the water in the liquid and move the rest into the large bowel.

We've made it to the halfway point, and the time has just flown by! I remember thinking when I was 6 weeks, that I was hardly pregnant at all, and now - not only am I visibly pregnant... but I'm HALFWAY to the finish line! In around 20 weeks, we'll be holding our little angel in our arms. Its a very calming thought!

We put up our Christmas tree the other day - what an ordeal that was! Neither Rob nor I have ever done it before, I've watched my dad though, so, I was able to TELL Rob how (lol). He finally got the tree straight, and brought into the house - it looks beautiful! I strung the lights up, and then realized that one string had a loose wire, so it only worked occasionally! I had to take the whole thing down, and start again - but I've finally got a perfect tree!

Rob put our first ornament up on the tree - it's shaped like a key and says "Our First Home, 2008", which obviously brought me to tears! I couldn't believe that we've got our own tree, in our own house - it's a very surreal moment when you're hit with that reality. That was followed with the ornament my dad bought for us "Our First Christmas" and then "Great Expectations" - an ornament with a proud dad and expecting wife. We made sure to put the dates on our ornaments, as always!

So I guess the season begins!

Congrats Rob!!!

2008-12-01T09:41:00.003-05:00

Ok, so in some un-baby related news.....

Rob passed his Electrical License Exam!!!!!!

Sorry, I can't help myself - I'm so proud of him! For the last little while, he's been really putting his mind to it, and studying, really studying! He had his exam the same day as our ultrasound, and I guess it was a good omen, our ultrasound went well, and all his worrying was for nothing!

I really can't express just how proud I am - I've seen Rob go from a kid who didn't really care to try to an adult, that took the responsibility seriously.

Way to go babe, you deserve every bit of congratulations you get!

19 Weeks

2008-11-25T08:09:00.002-05:00

Almost halfway there! The top of my uterus now almost reaches my bellybutton, it will grow approx 1cm a week. The baby is about 6 inches from the head to the bum, and weighs in at about 9oz. In addition to 'breathing' amniotic fluid, the baby is now swallowing it, this then works through the kidneys and produces urine. The hair on our little one's scalp (if any) is starting to sprout.

Sensory development reaches it's peak this week. The nerve cells serving each of the senses - taste, smell, hearing, seeing and touch, are now developing in their specialized area of the brain. Nerve cell production slows down as existing nerve cells grow larger and make more complex connections. If our little one is a girl, she'll already have roughly 6 million eggs in her ovaries. By the time she's born, that will decrease to about 1 million.

At this point I should be able to feel the kicking and somersaulting of the growing baby. At times, the baby will be so active that I may not be able to sleep! The next 10 weeks are the baby's busiest, and most active time, until the womb gets too crowded.

I forgot to mention in my previous entry, at my appointment yesterday, I did the routine weigh in, and guess what?? Weight gain remains at ZERO, yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have gained NOTHING, not a pound! This puts me right on target for my target weight gain in the long run (hoping to stay around 15-20 lbs) They say in the end, you'll gain about a pound a week, and I have only 21 weeks left - so with some careful meal planning, I should be exactly where I want to be! This is a completely healthy gain for me, by the way - as I wasn't 'ideal' weight pre-pregnancy.

The results are in.....

2008-11-25T07:22:00.003-05:00

So, as the title suggests - the results are in from the ultrasound on Friday :) Baby is developing well! The diameter of our little one's head is in the 84th percentile (which is FINE by me LOL, any bigger and I'd be worried!) The measurements from the ultrasound put me at 19 weeks and 4 days, when I was positive I was 18 weeks, 4 days - not that it's a big difference, but it would move my estimated due date up to April 13 and I would be 20 weeks, instead of 19 today. My doctor said he isn't going to change my due date, we'll stick with the 21st - because the measurements are just for approximations. He did say that a bigger baby will tend to make it's escape a little earlier than expected, but not to count on it!

Other than that, my placenta is lying a little low - nothing to worry about, again, the doctor said that as my uterus expands, it generally takes the placenta with it. So a low lying placenta will move up - they'll check again around 30 weeks. If by chance it doesn't move, we'll need to start looking at a C-section to get our baby out.

The ultrasound tech didn't get a good enough look at the baby's face, so I have to go back in for a targeted ultrasound, where they'll just find the baby's face - it's a short ultrasound, so Rob won't be coming to this one.

At the appointment yesterday, the doctor did all the usual things, felt for my uterus to see how far up my abdomen it is, and he said we're 20cm, right on schedule (about 1cm ahead, which would correspond with the baby's measurements). He also brought out the Doppler, which is getting to be my favourite part of the appointments - but our little one was so active yesterday, he couldn't keep the heartbeat on the monitor for more than a second or two at a time before the baby decided to wiggle away! I knew I was feeling more movement yesterday!

Anyways, stay tuned for the 19 week update, which will come either later today or tomorrow :)

Our sweet, little angel :)

2008-11-23T08:50:00.007-05:00

So our ultrasound was on Friday, 18 and a half weeks along. The tech told me our little bean was moving around like crazy, she almost had to have me come back in, because she couldn't see the baby's spine well enough! However, as soon as she said that, the baby flipped and she was able to get the pics she needed.

Oh how our bean has grown! Our first ultrasound was at 13 weeks (i think) and then 5 weeks later, there's a little person in there! She showed us the kidneys, the beating little heart, our baby's face, the umbilical cord (which we thought may have been a little weiner... but didn't ask haha)

Rob made sure to tell the tech to check the baby's kidneys, he really is such a wonderful man - the look on his face when our baby was on the screen was something I'll never forget! He's so proud of himself!

In other news, we babysat Carleigh for the night to let Dave and Nikki get out for a little. She is such an angel! Poor little girl is probably starting to teeth, so she was a little cranky but we were fine :) I'll admit, I was terrified! I was tired yesterday, and I couldn't just take a nap - I had a little person to take care of, feed, entertain! But although I was tired, and anyone who knows me knows I like to get my uninterrupted sleep - we were fine all night! I changed her and fed her in the middle of the night - then rocked her and sang her back to sleep. What an amazing experience!

So, last but not least, here are some pics from the ultrasound!

This one is the whole baby from the back, you can see it's head, with it's arm up by it's face, and the body.

A beautiful little hand, with five clear fingers!

A little leg, or chicken wing LOL

Here's the little legs, and a bum - the baby's body is on the other side, you're looking directly at the bum!

And last, but not least.... our baby's profile! Looks like it's sucking it's thumb!

18 Weeks

2008-11-18T09:00:00.003-05:00

The baby is now about 6 inches long from head to bum, and weighs about 7 ounces. If you watched you'd be able to see it's chest moving up and down, mimicking breathing, but all s/he's taking is amniotic fluid. Right around now (friday to be exact), an ultrasound is done to check for certain birth defects, check the placenta and umbilical cord, and determine whether the gestational age, and due date is correct. At this ultrasound, we may see the baby kick, flex, roll or even suck its thumb! We'll be able to get printouts of the pictures at this one :)

If the baby is a girl, the sex organs, uterus and fallopian tubes are in place. If it's a boy, the genitals are distinct and recognizable. This, however, does not mean we'll be finding out the sex. I'll admit, we're wavering a little - we both WANT to know, but I'm on the fence, because I know it will be such a wonderful surprise when all is said and done, and Rob doesn't want to know, purely out of spite, because he wanted to know in the beginning, and I talked him out of it :) That being said, if we DO find out, you can pretty much guarantee, we won't be telling ANYONE. The only person that may hear is my dad, mostly because he's needed to repaint the baby's room a nice, dark Maple Leafs blue, should our little one be a boy :)

Another happy moment, last night while I was relaxing in the tub before prison break, reading my book, I felt 4 or 5 tiny punches on my lower belly! It was so distinct that I almost dropped my book in the water, reached to hold my belly, and waited. It didn't happen again, but I'm sure that Rob would have felt it this time, it wasn't a flutter, or a roll - it was a punch! I'm so excited now, I hope it means that now I'll be feeling our little one more often - and hopefully Rob will soon too!

17 Weeks

2008-11-11T07:38:00.003-05:00

Our baby is now nearly 5.5 inches long from head to bum and weighs about 5 ounces. It's skeleton is mostly rubbery cartilage that will harden later. The spinal cord is now being protected by myelin. The baby's heartbeat can be heard clearly with a doppler (like a microphone for my belly!), and it's the most reassuring sound in the world! Because of the growing baby, my uterus has expanded to the point where it may throw me off kilter a little bit - it's now clear that I'm pregnant by the baby bump!

The baby's movements are sporadic - some days I feel it a lot, and some days (like yesterday) I feel nothing. I'm not worried, I know it's common at this stage of the pregnancy. Rob's dying to feel our little one moving around! He's insisting that I'm hogging all the fun, but I know that the weeks will pass by quickly for him, and before he knows it, our baby will be pushing out to touch Rob's hands too.

It's officially Christmas season, despite the fact that most people like to wait until December 1st. I like to celebrate the season a little longer, and will probably be putting out my decorations and using my christmas dishes soon enough! And, with the Christmas season upon us, it's hard not to look down at my growing belly and consider what a blessing and joy it is to have this baby inside me, growing into a perfect little girl or boy.

More soon!

16 Weeks

2008-11-04T10:00:00.003-05:00

Our baby is now about 5 inches long from head to bum, and weighs approximately 4 ounces. Comparable to an avocado. In the next couple weeks, our little one will go through an incredible growth spurt, doubling in weight and adding inches to it's length. Because babies love to play, our little wiggle worm may have already found it's umbilicle cord to grasp at and pull on. There will be times our strong little one will hold the cord so tightly, it will let less oxygen through (not to worry though, it won't hold on long enough to hurt himself). Right now, the circulatory system and urinary tract are in full working order - our wiggle worm is now breathing, taking in amniotic fluid through it's lungs!

I've felt some fluttering lately, and the occasional little nudge from our wiggle worm... it's reassuring to know I can feel our baby, stretching and growing and making a home in my belly. I feel terrible for Rob who just pats my stomach and pouts - he's dying to feel it too.

My next plan is to set up the nursery, if it kills me LOL I want to get the room painted, the closet cleaned and some shelving installed. This way, I can at least feel like I'm preparing for the arrival of our little one. Right now, I've got a beautiful green room, filled with painting supplies, that needs another coat on the walls....

I'll check back in soon!

15 Weeks

2008-10-28T10:50:00.002-04:00

Although I may not notice it, my little one is frequently getting the hiccups! I've gained no weight up until now, which is perfect, based on my pre-pregnancy weight. The baby weighs only about 2.5oz, it's about 4 inches long now, from head to bum. It's legs are growing longer than it's arms, has fully formed fingernails, and is capable of moving it's limbs. If we wanted to find out the sex of the baby we may be able to now, as the external sex organs are developed at this point.

This is generally when the baby starts moving around, so I should be able to feel him or her soon! They say first time moms are generally later, because they don't know what the feeling is like, so you may mistake it for a rumbling stomach! I've felt a couple rumblings, but Rob insists that if you're not sure, it doesn't count!

At 15 weeks, we've only got another 25 to go. We're remarkably close to the half way point, which is really exciting! I can't wait to meet our little one and see if we've got a beautiful baby girl or boy! I'll be honest, i didn't want to know the sex - I KNOW I'll survive just preparing for baby. But that being said, I've booked my 19 week ultrasound, and I'm thinking maybe, just maybe I DO want to know.... It's very important to myself (and my birth plan) that we don't find out, as I want to have those first few moments after birth to be our surprise time. But man would I love to know if I'm going to have a son or daughter!

More to come later - I've got to shop for a Maternity jacket!

14 Weeks

2008-10-22T07:54:00.003-04:00

From head to bum, our baby is about 3 and a half inches and will weigh about one and a half ounces. It's body is now growing faster than it's head (like Rob said, thank God they grow into their heads!) Our baby is now getting his or her first hair, whether it's black, brown, blonde or red.... curly or straight :) Our little one is also sprouting tiny little eyebrows! The baby can effectively grasp, squint, frown and grimace - even suck it's thumb!

And I'm very pleased to say, I'm officially not nauseas anymore (knock on wood!) It's been a couple days, and not a single ounce of it! I can finally enjoy my pregnancy, looking forward to every little milestone to come!

13 week ultrasound

2008-10-17T19:38:00.003-04:00

We went, we saw - and the fetus stole our hearts!

I went in, and was INSTANTLY disappointed. The ultrasound place we went to didn't give pictures!!! I wanted to show our families - I wanted to stare at our baby day in and day out! I'll have to wait now until the 20 week U/S to get some pictures. Rob waited in the waiting room while I went in for the measurements etc. He thought he wouldn't be allowed to go in, and admitted after that he was incredibly bitter LOL

When the tech had finished the measurements, she asked if anyone came with me and then went to call Rob in. He came in the room with the BIGGEST smile on his face! I've honestly never seen him glowing the way he was when he came in the room. She then had me lie back again, turned the screen, and showed us our baby! It brought tears to our eyes!

For reference though you can google "13 Week ultrasound" and see what we saw. We saw a baby, just over 3 inches long from the head to the bum. We saw the strongest, most beautiful heartbeat that you couldn't look away from. We saw the hand, up by it's face, like it was waving at us.

We saw our hearts, on the screen of the ultrasound machine.

13 Weeks

2008-10-15T12:52:00.003-04:00

The fetus (as Rob calls it) is now just about 3 inches long from crown to rump - it weighs nearly an ounce! You can compare this to about half a banana :) It has unique fingerprints, and when I poke at my belly, the baby will start rooting, as if it's looking for a nipple.

**Please don't be offended by our use of 'it', we love our baby, but aren't finding out the sex - and Fetus sounds a little too creepy for me LOL

Our ultrasound is on Friday, only 2 more sleeps until we get to see the little one swimming around! I can't wait, and I'm totally unsure if I should go full of water or apple juice - I already have to pee ALL the time, I don't want to be about to burst when I'm there... but I dont' want to risk having a hard time seeing our bean, because I didn't drink up. I think I'll suffer with a full bladder!

And the morning sickness is back in full force! I stopped taking the Diclectin (because I was out of pills, NOT because I'm a sucker for punishment!) And sure enough, once it was out of my system, I've been feeling like crap. Two days in a row now, I've had to pull over on the highway, and get sick - totally embarrasing! I'm sure the other motorists think I'm some drugged up psycho, at 6:30am!! Honestly, if I could NOT vomit, I wouldn't!!

Rob figures that the sicker I get, the healthier our baby - so I'm pretty sure he has no sympathy for me lol I keep reassuring myself there's a light at the end of the tunnel. I just really hope it's not a train!

Week 12...

2008-10-13T11:06:00.002-04:00

Our baby weighs between 1/3 and 1/2 an ounce, the crown to rump length of the bean is about 2.5 inches. Our baby has almost doubled in the last three weeks!

So, this week (which we're almost through) has brought a lot of things, one of them being the end to the first trimester. We are officially in the second trimester (yay!). Now, I'm told that a lot of the symptoms of early pregnancy, like morning sickness, fatigue etc, fade away and the next three months are the best ones! I'll start to feel the baby move, I've already started showing (especially after I eat!! Rob calls it our food baby), Rob will start to feel the baby move... all kinds of wonderful things are in store for us in the next three months!

We have our first ultrasound on friday, and we're both so excited, we can't wait! I'll make sure to put up pictures, once we get them!

The first trimester

2008-09-29T07:53:00.003-04:00

So we're ONE WEEK AWAY from the second trimester, and let me tell you how relieved I am!!

I've had my share of morning sickness, and yes it's terrible... like a month long flu! BUT that being said, I know that pregnancy is a miracle, and I couldn't be more happy that Rob and I have been blessed with it! I'm telling myself that the sicker I get, the healthier the baby is, because OBVIOUSLY my body is over producing hormones :D

We've booked our ultrasound for our IPS (Integrated Prenatal Screening) testing - IPS testing is a 2 part test, they take blood and do an U/S - it's a prenatal screen for neural tube defects like Spina Bifida and Downs Syndrome. We've been told by our doctor that the likelyhood that a young, healthy couple, with no family history of neural tube defects will screen positive is very small. But, the way I see it, it's a completely non-invasive procedure, and we get to see the baby! So, why not?!

Rob's been asking when we get to see pictures of the baby, so I think this will make the whole experience way more real for him. Up until now, all he's experienced is my whining about feeling tired, or sick! To see our baby on the U/S will be quite the experience for both of us!

To try and prepare, before I'm unable to move around as freely as I can now - we've bought the paint for the nursery! It's a beautiful minty green colour that we plan to add pink or blue to once the baby is born - yep, we're not finding out the sex!

Anyways, I'll try to be back to update you all on our progress, when there is some!

The good news!

2008-09-10T08:09:00.002-04:00

Well, we're back from the honeymoon. Anyone will tell you that a vacation is never long enough, but in our case, it was just long enough to come home to a positive home pregnancy test!

We're having a baby!

Rob and I couldn't be more thrilled! Having kids early was something that was important to both of us, we want to be able to still play withour kids, and enjoy their childhood!

I will tell you, despite the fact that we wanted this, and despite the fact that we kind of expected it - it was still a shock to both of us! We now need to get used to the idea of baby making a family of 3.

I've got my first prenatal appointment tomorrow, so I'll be able to fill you in more after that, but it's looking like April 21st is the big day. All the future Grandparent's are happy for us, expecially "G-Diddy D" (my dad, affectionately named by Rob) who calls EVERY DAY to see how the baby's doing :)

Anyways, other than some fatigue, and slight all day sickness, baby and I are doing extremely well - we're both hoping you'll join us in this incredible journey we're about to take!

Thanks for all your love and support!

We did it!

2008-08-12T07:23:00.004-04:00

So the day has come and gone. It's a sad realization for me, but I can see many more doors opening!

Our wedding was beautiful, the weather held out with SUN until we moved everyone inside! The ceremony was short, and incredibly heartfelt - we did a great job! I'm incredibly proud of the both of us, we were smiles the whole time!

The food was great, the DJ was excellent... the booze was free flowing lol

We danced all night, and ended us having to KICK PEOPLE OUT at the end! Who would have thought?!?!?!

Anyways, We'd love to see your pictures, add to our own album... and we'll post ours when we get them.

Keep your eyes on this blog though, you never know when we'll be turning it from "I married my best friend" to "Our baby arrives!" LOL

Cheers!

Finally!

2008-07-15T07:17:00.002-04:00

Well, it's Tuesday July 15th.

We're getting married this weekend! Go ahead, ask me what you're dying to ask - am I nervous?

This question kills me, everytime I hear it! The answer is simply "no". Rob and I have been best friends for 8 years, we've loved eachother, and been there for eachother for 8 years! If I had any doubts about our relationship, I may be nervous - but I absolutely don't!

Shannon said something that made me think the other day, someone asked me the million dollar question, "Are you nervous?", and when I gave my reply, the person looked shocked! Shannon simply replied "Jenn is one of those rare people that still believe in true love".

And I do....

I do.

Pop goes the water....

2008-07-09T14:49:00.002-04:00

10 Days to the wedding, tomorrow is single digits!

We have super exciting news, in addition to the impending wedding!

AMANDA IS IN LABOUR!!!!!

I'll hopefully have pics of our new little nephew when he's born, and I'll be sure to post them up!

****Teaser****

Shock and awe?

2008-07-02T15:29:00.002-04:00

So, I was browsing through our wedding website, and came across some really awful things. Someone thinks it's appropriate to vent their anger on our wedding website.

I want that someone to know that it's mean, childish and only makes YOU look worse. Yes, I was shocked when I saw those things, but it's not bothering me, because I'm considering the source.

That being said, there's 17 days to the wedding! This is exciting as hell, and I won't let anything bring me down!

Only half??

2008-06-19T11:48:00.002-04:00

Ok, so I'm NOT a bridezilla. I think of myself as fairly laid back, and yet I'm starting to lose it. Tomorrow is the reply date for the wedding.

Tomorrow.

I don't get it, how do people forget to reply to a wedding???? I mean, you get the invitation, it has a STAMPED self addressed envelope included to send the reply back in!!!!

So next week, I'll be calling all the invitee's that didn't find it necessary to reply, and find out if they're coming or not.

I really don't want to do this, it's a huge pain... can everyone PLEASE send the reply by tomorrow, if I get them by tuesday, I'd be GREATLY appreciative!

Oh, next month...

2008-06-04T09:23:00.002-04:00

Yep, thats what I can say when people ask me when I'm getting married...

NEXT MONTH!

Tomorrow is our PDI for the house, then Friday we get the keys, so I'm going to be plenty busy! I can't wait! My sleep is somewhat restless, as we near W-Day, but I'm sure that once it's come and gone, I'll sleep just fine!

Maggie came home!

2008-05-30T15:24:00.002-04:00

Ok, so I've named my dress Maggie.

I went for my final fitting last night, and as I had thought, she fit like a glove! I felt like a complete princess, and I can't wait to put it on again! Well, in all fairness, I packed her in the car, drove home and DID put her on again!

I'm having Madison in charge of my bustle, and she was practicing last night. It was a little more difficult than she thought, because it's a 6 point bustle - which is a lot of work!

Other than that, I'm busy! I had a bit of a meltdown last weekend, I haven't let the stress get to me, I've rolled with the punches, but it was like an avalanche - one thing after another came falling down on me, until I felt like I couldn't breathe.

Rob's been an angel, despite the fact that I don't always tell him that! When I tol dhim how overwhelmed I felt, he helped me calm down. He suggested to take a project off me, so I could do one thing at a time, and he assured me that we'll be fine. I think the saving grace here, is that I'm marrying the man of my dreams, regardless of whether I've finished the programs or not!

Also, we get our house in 1 week from today! In fact, the lawyer told us the keys will probably be available at around 3pm, so I'll be a home owner by this time next week! I have to admit, I've been shopping like a mad woman to get everything I think I'll need, and I can guarantee we won't have everything!

Until next time....

I guess it's the stress...

2008-05-26T10:06:00.002-04:00

So I'm finally feeling run down. I knew it would happen eventually, I couldn't possibly be lucky enough to make it through closing the house and finalizing the wedding plans without feeling the pinch.

And with Rob working nights, I'm going it alone for the next 2 weeks. That being said, even though I'd like to have him here to help - it's free reign shopping for me LOL

Hopefully we'll have everything we need for the closing, and hopefully we can get ready without ripping our hair out!

2 Months!

2008-05-20T08:53:00.003-04:00

Ok, I had NO creative title, but I'm pretty sure that I made my point! Today is 60 days to the wedding!!!

I can't believe how fast the time is flying by, we get our house in a couple weeks, i have my last dress fitting (hopefully) on thursday, my mom is picking up her dress today...

I'm also trying to get all the little things done - like assembling our programs, which will be a real treat for those of you attending the ceremony!

I have to admit, though, I'm finding it really difficult to focus! I've got so many things on my plate right now, that I can't pick one thing in particular to complete. The excitement of everything is starting to wear me thin and I'm so tired!

I did, however, manage to pop on to eBay to purchase myself something for the honeymoon! I'm really proud of this purchase! It's a handheld 'tripod' for your camera, so that you can take pictures of yourself AND the surroundings, instead of just your face! It has an extendable arm, and a mirror so you can see exactly what you're clicking away at. I figured, this way Rob and I can have some pics of us together on the trip, as opposed to just me, or just him. It IS our honeymoon after all!

DIY Night!

2008-05-12T08:24:00.002-04:00

Well, with the majority of our paper stuff being finished, Rob and I (ok, just I) decided it was time to complete a couple things. The more we wait, the less time we have! So yesterday, Rob and I sat at the coffee table and finished up a couple things.

Our placecard holders are now ready to go, our favours are complete (finally!) and we're ready to start on the programs for the ceremony. I'm so excited for these programs! I designed them, with the help of my dad, and I can't stop reading them! Although, I already know whats on them by heart!

Another thing thats sneaking up on us is the house closing! It's hard to believe, but after a year and a half of waiting, we're 25 days away from being homeowners! It's incredibly exciting, and unbelievably surreal at the same time!

I'll check in and let you know how everything goes as we get closer!

Showers of Happiness and Love

2008-05-05T19:29:00.002-04:00

My surprise wedding shower was on Sunday, and it was everything I could have hoped for! I got to my grandpa's building and saw far to many cars that I recognized, so I was fairly excited walking through the doors! There were 67 people in attendance, and every one of them was far too generous!

Rob and I needed 3 cars to bring home all our loot, and it's now taking up prime real estate in my basement until we move in 31 days!

Shannon really out did herself, with the help of course of my mom, Rob's mom and the bridal party. You ladies all deseve a huge round of applause, I've never had a happier day :)

Rob's stag was also Saturday night, and he tells me it was a huge bash (or bitchin' time, depending on the mood he's in!). Everyone really pitched in and helped, and it means a lot to the both of us!

If anyone has any pictures from either event, we'd love it if you could send them over! We'd like to post them on our website!

Thanks again, to everyone who came out an supported us! Now we're in the homestretch!

Getting there!

2008-04-30T14:10:00.002-04:00

Well, it would seem as though we're in the homestretch!

We have just about 2 and a half months until the wedding, all the big things are out of the way and we're moving on to the details. Rob went in with my dad to get measured for his tux at Moores - they're going to look fantastic!

My dad's been reading "The Everything Father Of The Bride Book", which is highly entertaining since he's not much of a reader at all! I'm pretty sure the last book he read was Animal Farm a couple years ago - and that's only because I forced him!

He started his 'exercises' from the book and hugged me the other day, telling me just how proud of me he is - I could like this book!

Aside from this, we're getting to the nitty gritty details now. We've got the artwork for the place cards, menus and programs. Now we're preparing to put it all together. It's a lot more work than I had originally thought it would be. The invitations alone took me a solid week of working 4 hours a night. Now they're ready, I'll be heading to Rob's place so his mom can go over the list one last time. The invitations are going out tonight!

My mom went for her fittings for her dress yesterday, I called the dress store, and the lady on the phone told me that mom looked JUST GORGEOUS in her dress (as i expected she would) and the alterations will be done with plenty of time.

Which is good news, because I'm going for my first fitting in my dress tomorrow! I can't wait to put that baby back on, and feel like a real bride again! I'll also be buying my veil tomorrow, likely, then making an appointment for my hair trial so I can see if I prefer my tiara or the comb.

BUSY BUSY BUSY!

Milestones...

2008-04-11T09:21:00.001-04:00

So, you wanna talk Milestone? Today we hit a BIG one! When Rob and I got engaged, we started our countdown at the high 700's (may have even been 800, probably closer to 800).. and today we have hit double digits!

We are officially 99 days to the wedding! Thats so weird, even though I can't wait for it to come, and I've been planning my buns off for SO long... 99 days still seems so far away! I've waited OVER 650 days to get here, a month shy of 2 years!!!

Everything is so far away, yet it's happening so fast! We get our house in a month and a half - totally unprepared by the way! I dont know what we NEED to do... I've called a couple places for home insurance - hoping BelAir direct is the cheapest. We're going in shortly to see BMO about our mortgage... we're locked in with TD and RBC at a great rate, but BMO is good to us, so we'll have to see how they are with the rates.

We've got most of our furniture, hoping that we'll get our bed, bath and kitchen stuff for the shower (or at least after the shower I can go and buy some things LOL)

Man, I'm so busy, but I feel like I've got nothing to do.....

On to the crunch!

It's like a circle... not a square or a triangle, but a circle...

2008-04-07T13:55:00.003-04:00

Last big purchase... Done.

We bought our wedding bands! I've been pestering Rob to get up and go out to look for them, but he was less than enthusiastic! We went to a couple different places: Howards Jewelers, Spence Diamonds and Omni Jewelcrafters. We found a ring Rob loved at Howards, but when we went back to purchase it, it was sold and we didn't know the model number to re-order it. That will teach him to procrastinate! LOL

So off we go to Spence, where they had a gazillion wedding bands and engagement rings! We looked for the better part of an hour before deciding that they didn't have exactly what he was looking for.

The last stop was Omni, they were BUSY! We waited to have someone help us, and then picked our rings - mine is a 3/4 eternity band with round diamonds, his is a nice thick white gold band with 3 diamonds on the top.

We managed to get a great discount and left our deposit on the spot. We're expecting to have them in in a couple weeks!

I'm so excited, there's not a lot left to do, and time is running short - I've got to get Rob to sit down with me so we can finish our favours and favour boxes!

Fooled you....

2008-04-01T08:56:00.003-04:00

Happy April Fools Day everyone!

Rob and I didn't prank each other this year, last year we hid his car... which was funny, but this year, I'll let it be. Madison was great last year - Saran wrap on the toilet, the bathtub stuck on shower among other things... Poor Shannon nearly peed on herself, and then got a startling freeze when she stepped in the tup expecting to have a bath, and was blasted by freezing cold water out of the shower head!

But all joking aside - Rob and I actually made a large dent in the wedding checklist this past weekend! Yay for us!

First off, Shannon and I went to dinner at Bon Vivant on Avenue Rd. to test out the rehearsal dinner meal. It was fantastic, and we left thinking all was well. So I proceeded to make our reservation for the Thursday before the wedding, for 20 odd people. One thing down!

Saturday, Rob and I drove to Barrie to the Moores on Bayfield to choose his tux style. The ONLY thing Rob's had to do by himself (and I was there) was make this decision... we sat there for an HOUR! He couldn't decide which jacket style, then was perplexed by the vests... the only thing he was sure of was the shoes... But we (i mean he..) managed to get through it fairly unscathed. The only thing now is that he has changed his mind on the vests, and wants to go in to ammend his decision. Oy.

We've also finished bottling our wine, and began labelling the bottles, decided against the big poofy tulle wrapping for a more subdued ribbon bow on the top. I think it looks great, and showcases our gorgeous labels that I designed myself!

Anyways, we've been putting off ring shopping because, well, rings cost money! But I've re-looked at the budget, and I'm fairly comfortable saying that we're ok ;) So Looks like we may head out ring shopping this weekend, although I'm SURE Rob will try and push it off a little longer!

But, until I've got more... thats all for now!

The good news!

2008-03-26T10:34:00.001-04:00

It's getting closer and closer!!! We went on the weekend to bottle up some wine - we had a whole entourage with us! We did about 180 half sized bottles and 30 full sized bottles in the small time frame of 1 hour! Talk about quick! Then Rob and I took Maddy to a movie and relaxed the rest of the afternoon.

Mom's dress is in, she got the phone call the other day! We can't wait to go down and try it on again, yes, WE. LOL She's out searching for shoes now, she's found a pair she loves, so just has to go buy them.

Rob's going this weekend, because he has NO choice, to pick the style of his tux for the wedding. We're 3 and a half months away, and he has NO idea what he wants! On top of that, we've got to get our wedding rings.... man, it's going to be busy for the next little while!

But, on a HUGELY bright note..........

Shannon and Jacob got engaged!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't even express how excited this makes me! My little sister is getting married! Thank god too... I don't know what I would have done with myself after all the wedding planning LOL Now I can jump from mine, into hers LOL

Congrats guys!

www.ShannonandJacob.com

It's in... and it fits!

2008-03-16T16:27:00.002-04:00

Well, the moment came and went.. my dress is in!!! I went my my mom and sisters and tried it on - felt like a total princess!

The dress is perfect, not a single thing about it I don't absolutely love about it! I put it on and immediatly felt like it was right, it was THE dress!

All I need to do is hem it a bit, put a bustle on, and we're good to go! It's incredibly weird to think that in 4 months and a couple days, I get to wear my dress! Well, I get to wear it before then, I have a fitting on May 1st, but I get to WEAR it wear it in 2 months!

Side note, Rob's stag is May 3rd, anyone interested can contact Dennis, Jake or Shannon for tickets!

dennis@jsrepro.com
shannon@fasteninghouse.com

Heading into Spring...

2008-03-03T09:50:00.000-05:00

It's March, and although Spring should be on it's way, we're still plagued with some awful weather! The more it snows, the less I can persuade myself to actually get up and do something wedding related! I stopped in at the wine place on the weekend, found some pretty cool stuff I'd like to incorporate somehow, went up to see the house and noticed that the lights are all functioning now - that's right, they've finally brought electricity up to Barrie!

Other than that, we're mostly counting the days - 138 to be exact. Only 138 days to do everything that needs to be done! And man does it ever take a long time to do some of these things! I couldn't imagine being any closer to the wedding and not at least knowing how long a DIY project takes. I've got a surprise for you snacky types out there, and let me tell you - of the 200 I plan on having done, I've got about 150, and it takes for EVER to complete them. I'd say about a half hour or so to get 10!

On top of that, I'm preparing invitations, I've got to put them all together and get them ready for mailing, you'd think the invitation companies would do that for you, but oh, no... they don't.

Plus the maps, labels, programs, menus... I never thought this day would come, where I felt overwhelmed with things to do... but alas, welcome to the wedding planning funk!

Catching up

2008-02-25T18:22:00.000-05:00

I promise I'll write more, I'm just incredibly busy with us getting so close to the wedding and house!

Stay tuned!

V-day is approaching...

2008-02-12T12:32:00.000-05:00

Happy February everyone!
My lord how time is flying! My mom and I went out on Saturday to go dress stalking, with no intent on actually buying a dress. And wouldn't you know it, the most perfect dress basically jumped into the change room with her... so she bought it ;)

On the weekend, Rob, Madison and I went up to Barrie to start getting our favours prepared, and all is well! I can't wait to get the call that they're ready for us to come and package! Rob's mom has been looking around for nice organza bags to wrap them up in, I'm sure she'll find something fantastic!

We also had our menu tasting last week - don't think I've told you all about that yet. Everything went fairly well, there were a few changed to the overall menu, but I guarantee you'll all be very pleasantly stuffed by the time the dinner is over. I'll give you a quick tip - don't fill up on the antipasto and pasta, no matter HOW excellent it tastes! There are still 2 courses after that that will tickle your tastebuds!

One more week down, 22 weeks to go!

You like me, you really like me!

2008-01-30T09:30:00.001-05:00

So, I've recently discovered that I've got some Blog followers! You know who you are, making requests for new pictures and regular updates...

It's really nice to know that there are people interested in all this nonsense I come here to write. Makes me feel like I'm not alone in this giant world of ours!

So we've made some advances in the world of the wedding.... the Bridesmaid's dresses are in, I'm not sure if I've posted about this yet, but I am now - and that's what counts!

AND our invitations have been ordered, received and we're starting to put them together! I even thought about the details, I went to Michaels with Rob and bought a couple of 'sage' gelly pens, this way, the addresses on the front will match the printing on the inside! I know, I'm neurotic, no-one really notices these things, but it helps me sleep at night!

Also, you are all in for a treat - literally! We've decided on a tasty alternative to the midnight sweet table that we're sure you'll all love!

Coming soon - we have our menu tasting next week, so we'll be able to update the website with the proper menu!

Another one bites the dust....

2008-01-22T09:38:00.000-05:00

Well colour me surprised.... our limo company has gone belly up, taking our deposit with them!

So now, Rob and I have to find a new limo company, 6 months to the wedding, on one of the more popular days of the summer...

THANKFULLY we found out from another bride that is using their company, as they didn't call to notify us or anything! Can you imagine the fire I'd be breathing if I was standing around waiting for my limo on the day of my wedding!??!?!

So, now I'm faced with a new task, which I'm sure won't be TOO hard, when I found out, i panicked and emailed every limo company in the GTA, Durham and Simcoe - one of them is bound to be available, and in our price range!

Ever feel like the whole world was going to a party, and your invitation got lost in the mail?

2008-01-11T13:25:00.000-05:00

Last night, Rob and I sat down and we flipped and flipped and flipped through the wedding invitation books my mom orders from.

Wouldn't you know it, my taste is SO different from Rob's. I wanted something simple, elegant and classy. Rob wanted all those things too, but just, different.

We finally ended up deciding on an invitation we both loved. We got the wording down and everything! We even have an RSVP date, for those of you who are generally tardy - June 20th.

It's really incredible how real this makes everything! I mean, any number of contracts can be drawn up, but when an invitation is ordered, you mean business!

I really can't wait to get them in so that we can start addressing them :D

Happy New Year!

2008-01-09T14:21:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year everyone!

This year is poised to bring nothing but goodness, I can feel it! We're less than 200 days to the wedding, which is probably already the most exciting thing this year LOL

We have the first wedding of the year, Mel and Larry, on January 19th. This day is especially special because it marks the 6 month countdown for Rob and I - huge deal!

I find that since we got engaged, we went on wedding meltdown for the first year. Finished almost everything we could, planned EVERYTHING we could think of LOL then we took almost a year off of the heavy planning. We did little things here and there, but I was able to clear my mind occasionally and think of things other than wedding. Now, we've entered 2008, the year of our wedding... time's ticking!

All the things we put off because it was too early are now going to come crashing down on us! We've got the guestlist we need to finalize, menu tasting so we can finalize it, invitations we've got to choose, dress fittings, rings, tuxes, favours to prepare, rehearsals to plan.... the list has once again become never ending.

I'm thinking about enlisting my sisters to help with some of it... like the rehearsal, maybe they can do that.

Anyways... Happy New Year to you all!

And a happy new year.....

2007-12-26T21:26:00.000-05:00

Well, Merry Christmas everyone!

In a couple days, we'll be cruising into 2008, and the year of our wedding! We'll be 200 days to the wedding, 200 days.

Wow! The time has really flown by, and I just can't wait for our new lives to begin!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years everyone!

All I want for Christmas....

2007-12-12T14:07:00.001-05:00

Well we did it. The one thing we've really been pushing off...... started our registry.

We went to the Bay, and scanned a bunch of things, but the prices were so high! So we ventured to Home Outfitters and scanned more stuff, then realized that the stuff we had originally scanned at the Bay, was cheaper at Home Outfitters! So we removed that stuff from the Bay and added it to HO. Now, I'm staring at the few remaining things on the Bay registry, about to take them off, venture BACK to HO and re-scan them there, to minimize the locations we're registered at.

*whew*

On top of it all, since this is our first home, we'll be registering for all kinds of things! Including outdoor things... so I'm trying to convince Rob to go to Canadian Tire... I don't think he's too fond of the idea of MORE registries as of right now... LOL

Personally, I'm easy to please. If I wouldn't buy something for myself, with my own money, it doesn't go on the list. End of story. But we've noticed that that's difficult to do! Sure, if I had endless amounts of money, furnishing a home, complete with accessories, would be easy! As it stands, I'm trying to be frugal... so do I register for the KitchenAid Ice cream scoop that I think is adorable? Or do I just buy myself one from the dollar store...LOL

The bottom line is that I appreciate any gift, because it's just that, a gift.

I'm not even sure I understand why people register anyways... it's not like most people even bother to check. Not that that's a bad thing, but I know a lot of people that will buy something despite the registry. Like lets say person 'A' registers for blue towels.... I know someone in particular that will by WHITE towels instead. Why? Don't know. Or person 'B' registers for a cooler to go camping with - instead of buying them the cooler they registered for, I know someone that would go buy a cheaper version that is entirely different than the one they asked for!

It's like:

"What do you want for Christmas?"
"I'd like a red sweater"
"Fantastic, I'll buy you a blue one."

Kenny G and all that Jazz...

2007-11-28T11:38:00.001-05:00

Rob and I travelled to the village of Ajax on the weekend where we were greeted by Gwillimbury Music; more specifically Christopher Crossan.

When it comes to being a jack of all trades, this guy takes the cake! He plays a variety of instruments, most notably the flute and saxophone. On top of being a performer, he teaches music as well.

We sat down to discuss what Rob and I were really interested in for our ceremony and came up with some solid ideas. We booked him right then and there and are really looking forward to hearing him play at the wedding!

A welcome surprise!

2007-11-13T12:11:00.001-05:00

TBA :)

Let there be music!

2007-11-05T07:30:00.000-05:00

There hasn't been much to write about lately, so I apologize for all you avid followers! It seems like this is a slow time for Rob and I with the wedding planning.

There are a few cute ideas we've had, things to carry themes through the party... but no details just yet ;)

I did, however, make my way to the William Ashley Warehouse sale in Scarborough last week. My mom bought me my 8 place setting of China (Royal Doulton Baroness) which was really amazing! I also bought myself the 8 soup bowls that match the set (couldn't pass up the deal!). Shannon and my mom also managed to do a little shopping for my shower - little things that are really sweet!

I'm so excited that they're excited! It's nice to see that it's all coming together, not just for Rob and I, but for everyone else involved too!

Now, to the main point of this pointless blog.... ceremony and cocktail music. We've decided on the style of music we wanted, and now we're just trying to find an appropriate person to play it. There are so many options out there, we really don't know who to go with!

I'll keep you posted when we decide!

How sweet it is!

2007-10-15T08:22:00.000-04:00

By far, my favourite appointment so far was the cake tasting! Rob and I woke up bright and early on Thanksgiving weekend and drove down to Steeles (Irressistable Cakes to be exact) to taste cakes!

For those of you that have never done this, it's pretty much exactly as it sounds... you go in to your bakery, sit at a table with a binder FULL of different cake designs, all of them are ridiculously expensive, and you flip through while tasting several different flavours of cake. I think we ended up tasting something like 12 different flavours, and landed on the 5 we wanted for our cake. Yes, we needed 5 different flavours for 5 different layers!

I'm not going to give away what the cake looks like though, so don't ask! I will however tell you that Rob picked the cake - without my help. Yep, I trusted him to pick the design of the cake LOL and let me tell you, I was amazed at what he chose... it was the exact opposite of what I expected!

One last tip before I go...... the second layer of our cake, from the bottom, is Banana... and it's to DIE for!

Engagement pics!!!!

2007-09-26T11:25:00.000-04:00

Oh lord... I forgot to post them :)

So the whole event went really well.... Jen (http://www.jenniferimages.ca/) is amazing and I completely recommend her to anyone looking for a photographer!

So, the long anticipated pictures were taken at the CNE. There were some beautiful architectural spots as well as fun spots for pictures....

Now, I'll stop yapping and post them up!

All these photos are courtesy of JenniferIMAGES (www.jenniferimages.ca)

Alas, an event I can't plan....

2007-09-26T11:15:00.000-04:00

Well, we all knew it was going to happen sooner or later...

My shower.

The one event I'm not allowed to have any hand in... I can't know the where, when, who, anything.... and would you believe - I'm ok with that?!

I'm glad that I'm not going to have to deal with the stresses of closing my house, planning the wedding AND a shower!

I just hope that my bridal party knows that although I leave this in their hands, there are a couple things that I like (if they choose to listen lol):

1. I don't want my shower on a Saturday. I want a traditional Sunday shower LOL
2. I really really really really like the Italian shower cookies... incase you were wondering.
3. I don't want to show up looking like a bum, so if I look like a bum on the day, please ask me nicely to change. LOL

Thats all... simple isn't it!?

And I know I shouldn't expect a shower, and they don't have to throw me one... but I know they are :)

My one last wish is for all my bride's maids to help out... Shannon can't do this all on her own, financially or time-wise.... and I know you're all such wonderful girls that you'll offer anything you can ;)

Thats it.... bye for now :)

Tag... you're it?!

2007-09-26T11:06:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I've been a lazy blogger... but I just noticed that I was inadvertantly tagged! LOL

My wonderful photographer has tagged me... this means, I should copy and paste the rules, tell you all interesting things about myself, and then tag 8 of my friends in their blogs....

Well, I had this all done, until I tried to find 8 people I know with blogs! LOL

I think I had 3... lol

At least we know I won't be naked!

2007-09-10T10:14:00.000-04:00

I bought my dress!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ha, no pics, no teasers, no descriptions, NOTHING!

But I bought it :)

The girls also decided on the bridesmaid dresses, which was nice! It was such a blast to have all my bridesmaids together for a day. It was perfect so that they all got a say in the style etc.

Now, for anyone even suggesting that I may be a bridezilla, I'd like to set the record straight, once and for all!

I went in to the big 'try-on' thinking I wanted my girls in a floor length gown-ish dress. I also wanted light green in colour. My bridesmaids had other plans!

They chose a short number (very beautiful, but not long) and they completely overruled me with the colour I chose!

Hot pink, here we come..... lol

But I didn't lose it, I kept my cool and figured - if it's what they're comfortable in, then it's what they get!

But I better not get any sideways glances when it gets closer to the wedding!

The Looooooooove Boat.....

2007-08-23T10:06:00.000-04:00

There's really only one thing that Rob and I perpetually disagree on - vacation. He's a beach bum, and I'm a tour goer. He wants all-inclusive vacations, and I want to rough it and see the sights (ok, maybe not ROUGH it, but at least experience the culture lol).

This has obviously caused a huge thorn in my side when it comes to planning our honeymoon. We were posed the question "Europe or Aruba". And we were completly indecisive in the matter! I know Rob wants a nice relaxing honeymoon, I do too! But I also know that with a house and kids in our future, I want to have a honeymoon that will be a once in a lifetime event.

If you've read my previous honeymoon blogs, you'll see that we were completely torn! There was the land tour that did Italy, France and England - which would have been spectacular! And there's the Cayo Ensenachos, a 5+ star Cuban resort that would have pampered us beyond our wildest dreams!

What is a couple to do?

Well, no sooner than I was about to give up, and agree to Puerta Backyarda for our honeymoon, was I presented with the option of a cruise. And not just any cruise, but a cruise that leaves the monday after our wedding - thus having our flight from Toronto to Rome leave the Sunday evening after the wedding! A real honeymoon, we'll be real newlyweds! This cruise was literally made for us.... It has beautiful port cities, as

So without further adieu..... our honeymoon:

It looks like it does a lot of Italy, which it does... but there's also Barcelona, Cannes and Dubrovnik. Our schedule of events is like this:

1. Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy
2. Naples, Italy
3. Fun Day At Sea (which basically means by the pool, for some R&R)
4. Dubrovnik, Croatia
5. Venice, Italy (overnight)
6. Venice, Italy
7. Fun Day At Sea
8. Messina (Sicily), Italy
9. Fun Day At Sea
10. Barcelona, Spain
11. Cannes, France
12. Livorno, Italy
13. Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy

I know that some of the places sound a little different, but they're all really close to places you'd recognize... Like we can go and see Monaco (for the racing fans), and there's Pisa and Florence in Italy....

Lots of wonderful stuff!

SO EXCITED, so it's booked... our flight leaves July 20, 2008 for an overnight to Rome.

So amazing!

2 weddings and a photoshoot...

2007-08-15T10:32:00.000-04:00

So we've got a busy couple of weeks coming up!

This weekend, we're going to a wedding for Mike, Rob's bosses son. It should be fun, I hear there's going to be about 400 people!! Wowza! But the food will be great, and it will be nice to see all the guys Rob works with again, they're all such sweethearts!

Next weekend, my girlfriend Maria is getting married! I'm so excited for this one, I've seen her plan this baby for quite some time now - and plus, she's going to look absolutly gorgeous in her gown! It's an Eve of Milady gown, the one in the magazines that everyone loves, and no one can afford! LOL

Then on Tuesday the 28th, Rob and I are going for our engagement pictures. The venue and everything are a surprise until I post up some pictures, but you won't be disappointed!

When did I become so indecisive?

2007-08-07T14:41:00.000-04:00

In the beginning, I had no problem to committing to something I wasn't 100% commited to. Take for example, the wedding bells I bought. They were these little silver bells with ribbon on them that people could ring when they wanted Rob and I to kiss. I bought them without a second thought. I then realized that I didn't want them, and thank God I found a taker, otherwise I would have been out $100 on something I didn't want! LOL

Then take my centerpieces, I found them, I ordered a sample, I loved it, I ordered them all. There was no thinking involved, no "will this go with my theme?" oh no, I just bought them. Thankfully, they helped me develop my theme, and I'm more in love with them now than when I bought them!

But why, all of a sudden, am I completely incapable of making a decision on my own!? I can't decide if the table overlays are the right shade, or the right length... maybe the material is wrong... no, the material is ok.. it's DEFINITLY the length... maybe it's the colour... ugh!

And the flowers, I love that bouquet, but I want more green, no thats too much... add the roses, nope, not the roses.. lillies? No, thats not it either!

Seriously, I need to know why planning a wedding would send a usually sane person into an absolutly insane spiral of indecision and madness!?

Why can't I pick something and stick by it? I know I should trust my judgement, but why can't I?

Where did the time go?

2007-08-03T11:57:00.000-04:00

Wow, I just saw the ticker at the bottom of this page... 11 months, 2 weeks and 2 days until the wedding.
Yikes!

Some good news, Rob finally asked Jake to be his best man! I guess men just aren't like women in the fact that, I personally couldn't wait that long! There are so many things to do, so many things to plan.... I need my girls with me through all of this!

And the first bit of wedding blues that I've had that has been completely independant of my own family's issues: I was talking to Anna (FMIL) about table overlays the other day when FFIL came in and told me to stop talking about weddings. He just got over one and doesn't want to get started on another any time soon.....

Ok, well I have a problem with this.......... this is my only wedding. I want to be excited! I want to talk about it, I want to listen to other people talk about it! I want my future in-laws to be just as excited about their SONS wedding, as they were about their daughters!

I don't think I'm being unreasonable... am I?

Oh well, it doesn't matter too much, what matters is that I'm enjoying my wedding....
And the Save the Date cards are in the mail.... so check often to see it!

A couple more bite the dust...

2007-07-30T08:56:00.000-04:00

Ok, so before we went on vacation, Rob and I finalized a couple more of our vendors. The actual final decisions on stuff like music, colours and napkin material hasn't been made yet - but we gave them money! LOL

Our videographer is Todd from Vision Digital Studios, he did Amanda and Vince's wedding and did a tremendous job! He's very personable and I felt very comfortable with him when we first met, and again at the wedding. After a lot of email tag, I was finally able to get dow to leave a deposit (through no fault of Todd's, I just couldn't find the time!)

We also nailed down the decorator. We knew we'd be using Judi from Special Day Designs, but just like Todd, getting to see her to give her some money was almost impossible! Where did the time go!? But we did make it, and we discussed all kinds of options for table overlays, napkins, etc. And I'm going to be completly honest in saying that she is amazing! I wouldn't consider going anywhere else!

The other thing that had been bother us was the one limo. Granted, a limo is a luxury, not a mandatory item for the wedding - BUT since the company we originally booked with was SO much cheaper than all the others I've been looking into, we're able to book TWO limos for less than one limo at any other company. The best part is that I don't have to worry about the service being compromised because they're so much cheaper, they did Amanda and Vince's wedding and did a fantastic job!

So, now I need to look into a couple things... hair and makeup, dresses and accessories, ceremony music, wine and a couple other things....
It's all coming together, and it's so damn exciting!

Selfish?

2007-07-21T17:26:00.000-04:00

I wonder, is it completely selfish of me to wonder how events occuring in my life will effect the wedding? I'm talking events that have far greater pull in my life than solely on my wedding, but inadvertantly, make my life a living hell.

And is it selfish to wonder why the people involved can't look beyond themselves, to the people they're affecting?

Like, how will we work the parents' tables, if mine can't sit together?

T-Minus...

2007-07-19T09:13:00.000-04:00

One year, and counting :)

The calm, after the storm....

2007-07-09T15:44:00.000-04:00

I guess thats what this is.....

Amanda and Vince got married on Saturday July 07, 2007. It was a beautiful ceremony, absolutly moving! Amanda looked breathtaking - if you don't believe me, ask her husband! He teared up as she walked down the aisle.

As with any wedding, there are problems you have to expect, and count on your wedding party to head them off so that the bride and groom don't get too stressed. I really hope we managed to accomplish that for Amanda and Vince.

The party was a blast, from the food to the DJ - limo to hotel after. I hope it turned out to be everything they have wished for - Amanda and Vince, congratulations!

So, I guess that makes me next?!

Rob and I will be in Halifax for our anniversary this year. Depending on how you look at it, it's either our 7th anniversary, or our 1 year pre-anniversary. Considering we're both huge lobster fans, I assume we'll be having some fresh lobster for our dinner!

This also means that I won't be able to blog to you guys about the time I've got left... so here's a preemptive heads up... NEXT THURSDAY, July 19th 2007 will be:

1 Year
365 Days
12 Months
8760 Hours
525600 Minutes....

And an eternity, until our wedding!

Almost in the homestretch!

2007-06-17T11:25:00.000-04:00

I realized the other day that we were nearing the new hundred mark.... thats right, we've broken in to the 300's!!!!!!

Today is 398 days to the wedding - which, in case you don't know, thats:

1 Year, 1 month and 3 days
56 and a half weeks
9552 Hours
573120 Minutes

We're getting close! This is so exciting - apparently the next year is going to fly by! I can't wait... and I also wanted to let everyone know, that it's less than a year until we get the house!

This is so cool!

Euro-trip

2007-05-22T08:43:00.000-04:00

It really is terrible how indecisive I can be. When looking at honeymoon's I flip flop more than most politicians! I'm starting to pull away from the Hawaiian cruise/tour, for no other reason than for the same (if not less) money, Rob and I could do a European vacation!

Amanda told me that the 2008 cruise prices had come out, so I looked at a couple of the Mediterranian cruises. But the fact of the matter is: If we went to Europe, we'd want to see London, England and Paris, France. unfortunately, those two particular destinations aren't anywhere near the Med coast. We would be able to tour a lot of Italy, some Croatia, a whole chunk of Greece - but we'd be missing 2 of the three places we both really want to see!

So we thought that maybe we should investigate an inland tour instead. The one that was recommended to us was Globus Tours. They have a great website: www.globusjourneys.ca that had more European tours than I knew what to do with! They ranged from Leisurely to Fast Paced, Countryside to City.

Below is the "Essential Europe" It does everything we'd be interested in as well as an extra stop in Switzerland.

A quick rundown of the itinerary:

2 Nights in Rome, Italy
1 Night in Florence, Italy
1 Night in Venice, Italy
1 Night in Lucerne, Switzerland
2 Nights in Paris, France
2 Nights in London, England

The other one I was thinking, gives us a little more time in each of the locations. We see less places - but each place more in depth. It's called "Rome, Paris & London":

The itinerary basically divides the time up fairly evenly between the three locations. We'd do 4 nights in Rome, 4 nights in Paris and 4 nights in London.

They both really seem like dream honeymoons! Rob's a little iffy on it - I think he's worried about the budget (rightfully so)but since he has his IATA card, we'd get a pretty sweet deal on the price of the tour! Also, I'm a realist - I know that realistically, once we have a house and decide to have a family, it's going to be really tough to get out and see the world!

We're going to have to see when the prices come out for July 08 what the actual damage would be. But for now, I can dream can't I?!

One down....

2007-05-07T12:24:00.000-04:00

Amanda's shower was yesterday - It was beautiful! She got a lot of wonderful gifts and had a lot of people show up. The food was great, the people were great and best of all, Amanda really enjoyed herself!

This is one down for the summer, I don't even know how many more I have, for sure 2! Then Mel is in January.... before you know it, it will be time for my shower!

I noticed a lot of differences between Italian and Canadian showers. For one, the bride doesn't open her own gifts in the Italian shower. The bridesmaids open the gifts and they get put out on display. Second, the shower is held in a banquet hall, with a FULL meal. I'm talking antipasto, pasta, pasta (yes, 2 pasta's lol) chicken with veggies and potato, salad, dessert, cookies and cake. It really is a LOT of food! Personally, and this is only my opinion, I prefer when the bride opens her own gifts and gets to see them and then say a quick thank you to the gift giver. But, it's because thats really all I've ever known.

Either way, it was wonderful! Can't wait for my own!

Side note - Rob and I drove up to our dirt and saw that they poured the concrete footprint! I'll try to get up there tonight to take some pics, I can't figure out how to get the ones I have off my cell phone!

Counting Down

2007-04-19T13:00:00.000-04:00

This blog is here to inform you that today is EXACTLY 15 months before my wedding!!!!

15 months.
1 Year, 3 Months.
457 Days.
10968 hours.
658080 Minutes.

Wow. AND, on May 5th It’s been one year since we’ve been engaged!

It’s so surreal.

Tsk Tsk!

2007-04-04T07:37:00.000-04:00

I was just dropping in to my friend's blog, I realized that she hasn't written a new entry since March 22nd! Of course, I think she's slacking.

Then I came here and realized my last blog was BEFORE hers! Bad, BAD Jenn!

So, despite the fact that I don't have much to write about, I'm blogging.

We found a videographer that fit the non budget. He's in Peterborough, so this summer we're going to take a drive out and meet him.

Ok, sorry. I've got nothing else!

Aloha?

2007-03-20T16:00:00.000-04:00

Rob and I were at my Grandpa's place on Saturday night, discussing travel destinations. I never knew that he had done so much travelling! The man has been into every Horse Race Track in North America! Not to mention his European travel including Germany (which he didn't like) and Switzerland (he said was gorgeous).

He did take the time to recommend Hawaii to us. He said it was a gorgeous place, breathtaking in fact. He couldn't believe the size of the volcanoes or the colour of the sand. So of course, I've done a little research (with the help of my trusty TA Amanda!) and found the perfect honeymoon for Rob and I. It's the perfect amount of Beach and sightseeing to make us both happy!

See below for a quick look at "Cruising Hawaii's Paradise":

Basically, we'd spend 3 nights in Honolulu visiting things like Pearl Harbour etc. Then we'd hop aboard our cruise ship and sail around the other islands for 7 nights!

Perfect!

The Honeymoon

2007-03-16T11:12:00.000-04:00

So, I went to see my travel agent, LOL Amanda suggested a resort for the honeymoon that would be perfect!!!! It's a 5 Star resort in Cayo Ensenachos, Cuba. Now, I've been to Cuba before and I wasn't very keen on it - the food was almost un-edible. However, I've looked at the trip advisor reviews and this place sounds like it is really amazing! I mean, like Amanda said - I've never found a hotel that received such great reviews!!

Here are some pics for you to drool over!

There's also a new hotel opening up in Aruba that I'm pretty sure Rob has his eyes on.... Or Hawaii..... I've even been contemplating just going to Paris for a week....

We'll update you when we know more!

Just a teaser!

2007-03-12T09:30:00.001-04:00

Ok, so we went to meet a decorator yesterday, Judi at Special Day Designs (http://www.specialdaydesign.ca). Everything went really smoothly! I won’t divulge too much information about this trip because you guys are going to know everything about the wedding before the day actually comes! I want there to be some surprise!

But, I just wanted to blog about the appointment. I can’t leave you all completely in the dark now can I?

502....501.....500!!!!!!!!

2007-03-07T10:36:00.000-05:00

Ok, so today is a big day for us! It’s the day we break through to another level…. We move from the 500’s to the 400’s…. well, today is really the line between the two.

Yes, that’s right, you hard it hear first – Today is 500 days until our wedding!!!!!!!!
That makes it 1 year and 135 days….

Wow, time’s really flying by, but I’m not too worried, Rob and I are both so organized, I’ll be surprised if we don’t have everything done before Christmas!

Because you missed it...

2007-03-03T21:05:00.000-05:00

Sorry guys, I haven't fallen off the planet... I've just had nothing really to blog about! Rob and committed our first act of B & E when we drove up to Barrie to see the same model of our house - in drywall stage. It was fun.... strangely dangerous! LOL

We met up with Crystal last week to drop off a couple of contracts and talk about a few things. She's incredibly thorough and I'm supremely happy with our decision to hire a planner - especially this planner! There are so many things that we didn't think about that we are now able to stress about LOL. Actually, all in all, there is very little stress in lately. This is an incredibly refreshing change from the usual 'wedding planning blahs'

Oh have i mentioned that I've turned a new shade of green?? Ya, Mel bought her wedding dress..... I'm like Andres the Jealous. LMAO

Playing House

2007-02-18T15:08:00.000-05:00

The past week, Rob and I got a chance to give married life a shot. Sarah's mom took a little vacation and we jumped at the chance to dog-sit. The big bonus is that we not only got the biggest storm this winter, but we got to experience it with the same drive that we'll have when we move into the new house. Now, in no way will I say the drive is the same as it is from our parents houses. But it's completely doable.

We went grocery shopping, shovelled the driveway, did laundry, shovelled the driveway, cooked dinner shovelled the driveway, washed dishes and shovelled the driveway. All in all, our week turned out really well. Contrary to popular belief, Rob actually enjoys my cooking! Either that or he pretends really well so that he doesn't hurt my feelings!

Monday night, I made porkchops with corn and scalloped potatoes for dinner. Considering we couldn't find any of Kathy's pots and pans, dinner turned out really well! We were finally able to find all the pots and pans - after we cleaned up of course.

Tuesday, Rob made dinner. Let me explain what Rob's idea of dinner was: he stopped at his house and took one of his mom's Costco pizza's. He popped it in the oven and ta-da! Dinner.

The one things that I figured out during this experience was that making a roast beef dinner will probably be saved for when we have company over! I made a full roastbeef dinner on Thursday night, complete with roasted potatoes, corn and gravy. After rob and I ate dinner, we started to clean up and noticed that we had barely eaten half the roast!! Let me know when you'll be dropping by because I think roast will become a delicasy in our house!

Tonight is our last night, we'll be heading back home after dinner. Looks like we'll be able to handle this after all!

The wedding is still on.

Mini Me... Stop humping the "Laser"!

2007-02-09T12:03:00.000-05:00

Our appointment at Platinum went well enough, they were a very professional DJ service and Alex was very friendly and helpful. We went through everything, from the actual service right down to the lights and haze. When we put together a package, Rob and I were stunned!

The first concern was that they charge overtime. So if you want them to play a second past 1am (we know you party animals will be up much later, still dancing) there is a $50/half hour fee. The second concern was that the lighting options they offered were probably older than we are... The effect was ALMOST the same as some of the others, but not quite. On top of being dated, they didn't offer a couple of options that we were interested in. Rob's main conern here was the lasers. Apparently you can't, and I mean CAN'T play Scissor Sisters without a slow-mo laser.

Alex put a quote together for us and gave us a couple of minutes to look everything over. When I looked at the quote, I was sure I could get Good Vibrations to come down to the same number, and we'd be getting more! We took a drive over to GV and spoke with Cristina, part owner. She hammered out a price for us that was more than reasonable, considering we'll have a whole nightclub at our fingertips on our wedding night! So be booked with them and now we have the final BIG thing out of the way..... now I can focus on the mind numbing details.

And who knows.... maybe someone will try to hump the laser!

Race... to the Music!

2007-02-07T09:37:00.000-05:00

What’s a party without someone to play the music, right? And no, mom you can’t control the iPod…

That being said, Rob and I needed to begin our search for the perfect DJ. But where do you start?? Well, it’s always a good idea to start where the free stuff is, and we won that free dry ice show with Good Vibrations. So, we’ll start there.

Thursday night, we stayed late after work, had some dinner at Shoeless Joes, and drove around a bit. We made it to Hwy 7 and 27 for our 8pm appointment and went in to meet Joe. We went in for our consult and everything seemed to go fairly well. Joe was very personable, he answered all our questions in a very professional manner and gave us a great first impression of the company. Rob, however, remained bored.

When the time came for us to be shown all the different “a la carte’s” you can purchase with your DJ package, we were hauled off to a little room, painted black. Joe showed us the one light you get with the ‘basic’ package. Nothing spectacular… Then, he showed us the semi-intelligent lights. Well, don’t Rob’s eyes light up like a little boy getting his first bike! I mean, the lights, the mirror ball, the smoke effects, he wants it ALL!!

When the demonstration is over, Joe brings us back into the office and goes over prices with us. I’m not surprised to see the prices, they’re fairly uniform across the board (I think). But I am surprised that we went from: “Just the DJ, no bells and whistles, we’re fairly simple people” all the way to: “We want everything. What’s your biggest package?? Perfect!”

Needless to say, we knew we needed some cool down time. We were clearly blinded by the lasers and we needed to take a couple days to decide. Lasers aren’t cheap you know LOL

When we tell Joe that we want a couple days to think about it, he lays it on SUPER thick. I mean, really… you’re telling me you have 9 weddings booked for my day, 17 months from now? You only book 10 weddings a night? The DJ you were thinking of for us is still available?? How wonderful a coincidence! Wow…. We better hurry!

Funny how up until now, all we’ve heard is: “you guys have LOTS of time” and now, it’s a race to book or we may lose them! Well, we’re taking our chances… we booked another couple of appointments with different DJ’s. Tonight we’re going to go see Platinum Music, highly recommended by a couple girls on CB and of course Amanda. At least if we book with these guys… we can see what kind of job they’ll do at Amanda’s wedding! Then we’ve got DJ Emporium next week on Tuesday and Veriation Music the following week.

I hope we can wait that long…. We don’t want to be left without a DJ….

We WON! Now, sign here....

2007-01-31T09:44:00.000-05:00

Ok, so remember me telling you about that incredibly overpriced wedding expo I went to with Mel? Well, it wasn’t entirely in vain…. Rob and I got a couple of calls back with standard the “We picked your name” schpeel.

Now, to be fair – they were actually pretty good things we got called for. First and foremost, I was one of 10 people selected to get half price laser hair removal! For those of you unaware of just how good a deal this is, I’ll explain. Think of it this way: If you’re like me, you wax your legs once a month. To wax your HALF leg (to the knee), it costs $25.00. So in one year, on your legs alone, you are spending $300.00 just waxing your HALF leg. If you would like to laser your legs, your FULL leg is about $600.00. So with my ½ price prize, I will have justified this expenditure in ONE year. Keep in mind, laser hair removal is permanent – so after one year, I will be SAVING money. See, there I go, saving Rob money again!

Next, we got a phone call from one of the DJ companies we’re considering. When I say ‘one of’ it’s because we are the most indecisive people and we can’t seem to narrow it down. Thank GOD for this phone call – or we still may not have had a clue! We had narrowed it down to a couple different companies: Impressions Music, Good Vibrations Entertainment, DJ Emporium, S4 Sound Sensation, etc. Ok, so we didn’t really narrow it down, but we’re getting there! The phone call came from Joe at Good Vibrations – We had WON! We won a FREE, that’s right, FREE dry ice show at our wedding. Ok, so did you pick your DJ yet? NO? Great! This free offer is only good if you book with us!

Ok, so maybe it was more of a booking incentive… but hey – free is free, and they were on our list of maybes anyways….

Sorry if I've offended anyone....

2007-01-29T11:32:00.000-05:00

Ok, let me please take this time to FORMALLY apologise to anyone and everyone whose picture I've missed in one of the albums on the website.
For future reference, and please feel free to email me if you've been left off THIS list as well, these are people that were left out of the New Years Eve pictures:
Diane Good, Kathy Kreuger, Shelly Johnston, Sue Feder, Larry (don't remember his last name)

It's not that I don't care, it's just that I didn't have full control of my camera, it was being passed around.

I promise, I will take EXTRA care in getting pictures of everyone I spend time with at the next function.

Promise.

The Greatest Scam Known to Man....

2007-01-16T13:39:00.000-05:00

The Canadian Wedding Expo was this past weekend at the Rogers Center. (Side note: I think changing the name of the Skydome to The Roger’s Centre was absolutely ridiculous. Ted Rogers is an incredibly vain man.) Mel and I woke up early and made the trek down with our coffee and bagels in hand.

When we made it to gate 7, we paid our admission price, a hefty $22 each. We went in and registered for our free wedding dollars that we’ll probably never spend and began to search through the maze of vendors for the things we will actually need, then, sift through those for the ones we could actually afford.

I can only speak for myself when I say that weddings as a whole are extremely overpriced. I mean COME ON PEOPLE, what a money grab! Tell me any other time you will spend upwards of thousands of dollars on flowers or decorations or photos….. You can’t think of one can you???? That’s because it doesn’t exist! I think that the ‘group’ of wedding vendors all got together and decided that this was a great way to ruin a beautiful thing for two people in love….. over charge them.

The one thing I found that I was actually considering – for a moment – was a fireworks display at the end of the night. How awesome would it be to begin your new life as husband and wife with a huge display of fireworks?

For $1500 – I’ll pass. That’s a 3 minute display I can live without!

My Addicts....

2007-01-10T12:30:00.000-05:00

I can't help but smile..... I have groupies!

You know who you are.... you wake up first thing int he morning, stetch a little bit and make your way to the bathroom.

On your way to the bathroom, you feel a sudden pull. You're not sure what it is at first, but as you continue down the hallway, you know it's definately there.

This urge comes over you - your palms begin to sweat, your temples throb and you know you can't wait any longer.

You quickly turn into the room, turn it on and the faint glow of the screen warms your skin. You begin to feel your joints release the pressure as you slowly, methodically type your destination:

w w w . j e n n a n d r o b f o r e v e r . c o m

LOL and you guys thought we didn't know! I can sign in everyday to our site and see how many people have been on for that day. This morning, I came into work and wanted to quickly upload the rest of my Christmas/New Years pictures, I logged into my site and do you know what I saw?? 4 People had already been on! BEFORE 7:45am!!!!

Now, that takes devotion!! I wonder, do you read my blog too? DO you come on here and check to see if I've written anything???

This is awesome, maybe I'll think of a little thank you speech - acknowledge all of you jennandrob junkies at the wedding......