It's a boy!

OK - we've talked with all of the grandparents-to-be and we're safe to put this on here now. Today on the ultrasound we saw a healthy baby boy! He waved at us and then stretched and went back to sleep . . . .

Baby's first pictures

Here we go! The ultrasound this afternoon went great. Baby looks perfect (although the feet were hiding, so I'll probably have to go back for another one), and weighing about 12oz., which is about a week ahead of where we should be, so baby is definately healthy! We know what baby is too . . . . but we're waiting for our parents to call up back before I post it, so stay tuned. Meanwhile, here are a few pictures!

Doctor's Appointment today

Just got back from the doctor, and wanted you all to know everything is going very well. Baby's heartbeat was loud and easy to find this time and was going at 140 bpm (babys' hearts beat much faster than ours). Tomorrow is the big ultrasound where hopefully we'll be able to find out what we're having! Now I'm off to have a nap before our class tonight!

Go Canucks Go!

18 weeks

Well, it was nice out today . . . for about half an hour! Long enough for us to BBQ some burgers for lunch and sit outside, though by the time we finished, I was ready for a sweatshirt and Byron was asking for his touque. Actually, I can't complain, though. The last couple of days have been sunny, and the snow is gone! I'm still expecting at least one more good snowfall before spring offically hits.

I'm now 18 weeks, and I've been feeling baby move a lot more this week. Here's a picture from yesterday:

We are really looking forward to going to Victoria next week (We leave a week from tomorrow). We've finished all of the projects we had to do around here before we go, so it's just one more busy week and then we're free! Yesterday I finished writing my last paper for school, and my last class is on Tuesday.

Here's another picture I'll post just because it's cute. How can you resist this face?

My new Sling

Ok - for those of you who are wondering, yes it is still snowing. Ick. No - I don't want to know what the weather is like in Kelowna.

This morning I went out and bought the sling that I wanted - I figure I can get some practice with it with the kids at church who like me to carry them but are getting a little heavy for me. So I thought I'd get some practice, and to my suprise, Tia loved it! She purred and purred and almost fell alseep on me. Hope baby likes it as much when it's his or her turn!

This morning

Are we sure it's April? Doesn't this look a lot like the picture I posted in November? Anyone know of a church looking for a kids pastor in the Caribbean?

And a few more Preggo Pictures

So when people see me now it's not a question of "Are you pregnant?" It's "When are you due?" and "Are you sure there's only one in there?" Byron and I went to the Mom and Tots fair this week and got all sorts of great information on products and services and stuff. We even found a great source for organic cloth diapers here in Calgary! Byron was very excited about this one. (He's even admitted he'll probably end up doing most of the laundry, and he's still ok with it!) We started out baby classes last week, and our second class is tonight. We're taking a course called "The Bradley Method" and it's very focussed on husband-coached, natural childbirth, which fits very well with our way of thinking already. Here's more info: www.bradleybirth.com Anyways, here is a picture of me that Byron took last night and a couple of our sweet kitties:

Kananaskis

Hi everyone! I know it's been a while since I've updated this (3 weeks), but it's just been SO busy. The current project is writing a paper that's due in 8 days (I haven't started yet). Then we need to get our taxes finished, our house cleaned up and in 21 days we leave for our Victoria holiday! We are so looking forward to getting away. Hopefully I'm feeling alright. Anyways, the week after our anniversary, Byron booked us in to the Delta Kananaskis for a couple of nights for a quick getaway. Here are a few pics from that:

13 weeks

Hi everyone - today marks 13 weeks. Here are some pics we took this afternoon.

Yay!!!

I finally figured out how to make the countdown thing work on here! So yeah - 12 weeks. Time is flying SO fast! I can't belive I'm already considered to be in the second trimester. Supposedly this is when I feel better and have more energy. Well, maybe, except that I've come down with a horrible cold that has had me on the couch for days.

Things are good around here. Jeffrey is slowly regaining his outside priviledges. (Mostly because it's getting really annoying to listen to him cry at the back door.) Tia found her way up into the heating ducts in the storage room, so now we need to figure that one out. And all three cats are generally enjoying the time on the couch these last few days. Tia comes and lies with her head on my slowly growing belly. It's pretty cute.

So - not much new around here.

More details . . . .

Ok. I left you all with that teaser long enough. If you haven't heard yet - yes, I am finally pregnant. (Can you believe I'm in tears even typing that?) After 7 years, lots of drugs and a lot of disappointments, the IUI just before Christmas worked, and we found out four days after the accident that we're going to have a baby! I'm due in mid-September, making me almost 10 weeks right now. I'm feeling pretty good most of the time, though there have been rough days the last couple of days where I can't even think about eating. but it's all good! We're just so thankful that I'm not about to start complaining now!

I did have an ultrasound already to make sure everything was ok, and there was one little heartbeat, and it was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen!

For those of you who are curious, at 10 weeks, baby is about the size of a small plum, has fingers and toes and eyes and ears. Almost everything is there already - it just needs to grow.

So please keep praying for us. We're pretty nervous that something won't go exactly the way it should - my body doesn't exactly have a good track record when it comes to working properly - so please pray for our peace of mind and that baby would grow healthy and strong. Thank you for those who have been praying already for us - both in the last weeks and the last years. It's been a long journey, but God is good and faithful and does care about what we're going through.

Accident Pictures

Hi everyone - here are the long awaited pictures from our accident on Jan. 7. We were on our way back from Christmas in Kelowna when we were rear-ended by a semi. I had hoped to have these up sooner, but life happens! We're all ok. A little sore and stuff afterwards, but it's an absolute miracle we survived this one! I'll update more later, maybe even with a picture of our new car that we got yesterday!

The three survivors - Byron, Emilie and me!

OK - so that's not totally true. The fourth survivor is too little to be seen yet, and nestled safely inside me. . . . .

Our creations

Here's the coasters that Byron painted and the ornament that I did. Too bad it can't stay on the tree - we've had to take off all the breakable ones because the tree falls over "all on its own" at least once a day.

We got the Christmas tree up!

Well, since Byron was off yesterday, we took the opportunity to get some of our Christmas stuff finished - well, after we went out for breakfast, of course! We also went to the "Fire Escape" - a place where you can paint your own potery. I'll post pictures of our after we pick them up on Tuesday.







So the tree is up! Enjoy:

And here's how the tree looked this morning. TIA!!!!!!

It's been a week

Well, it's been a really long week. my back is still hurting, and I'm still on the couch, although I've been able to get up a bit today and work on Christmas Cards. I've been to the chiropractor every day this week. At one point I told him I should probably just move in. The good news (sort of) is that I can finally take some drugs to help with it, since I'm not pregnant. The IUI didn't work. I found out yesterday. So here we go again! Another 10 days of crazy drugs and then another IUI sometime around Christmas.

Tonight we're going to the hockey game between the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames. I know that after 6 years in Calgary we really should be cheering for the home team, but it's just not going to happen! So Byron and I will be cheering for the Canucks, James will be cheering for the Flames and Doug . . . . is still trying to make up his mind? Should be fun. If you happen to be watching Hockey Night in Canada, we'll be sitting way up at the very top.

Not much else going on here. I've been stuck on the couch all week, so it's been pretty boring, actually.

Here I am on the Couch

So I was getting ready to go out today and my back decided to go out. So here I am on the couch. My chiro agreed to see me as an emergency this afternoon, so Byron's coming to pick me up and take me over.

Last night was so much fun! I took two of my girls out for dinner at the Outback and then a movie. They wanted to see Happy Feet, so we went. And being the cool adult I am, I let them pick where they wanted to sit. So there we were, three rows from the front, which I'm sure is what I'm paying for today. The movie was cute, but I don't think I would see it again. I do really want to see The Nativity Story still.

Oh - and I just remembered. It's already December 2! I started Christmas shopping for Byron yesterday. Shhh!!!!!

It's warming up!

It's only -12 today! T-Shirt weather, almost! OK, so it's still cold, and that wind is a killer, but at least things are starting to thaw out, as we can tell by how much windsheild washer fluid we're going through.

It's been a pretty quiet week in the Porritt house. The animals are starting to go crazy because of the cold, but they'll survive. We found our block heater! When this cold snap hit, we couldn't find the cord and were kind of worried that it didn't get put back in after the engine blew up this summer, but then Byron had a flat tires and while it was in for repairs, he got them to look for us, and sure enough it was there! Good thing too, because the next night was something like

-40!

Tonight I'm taking a couple of my Grade 6 girls to dinner and a movie. Kind of a rite of passage kind of idea. I'm not sure what we'll see yet. I want to see the Nativity Story, but they're talking about Happy Feet. So we'll see.

This weekend is the first of our Christmas parties - Sunday night with the Staff and Leadership team from the church. Tomorrow I'm going over to Crystal's to work on Christmas cards. My slavemaster of a boss at Starbucks gave me the day off! (But I'm paying for it next week!)

Here's a couple of pictures for you:

It's still cold!

Very cold, in fact. Yesterday's high was -25, but it felt like -38 with wind chill (That's -35F for my american friends!) It's been a pretty uneventful few days. We're working on cleaning up the house. I don't know how it gets away from us so fast. But it was bad enough that I really should have taken before and after pictures. It took three solid hours on Sunday to clean our bedroom and ensuite. Yuck! Yesterday I did the Living Room and the Kitchen while Byron was at work. That leaves just my office, the eating area and the dreaded basement. Byron and I were joking the other day that I really need a schedule like the one my mom had while I was growing up: Monday is Laundry, Tuesday is vacuuming the upstairs, Wednesday is for dusting, etc. I wonder if I'd stick to it - or would it just be an excuse for Byron not to clean up?

Tia is learning the meaning fo the word "Don't". She's going a little stir crazy with the cold, I think. She's started eating plants, chewing on odd things and scratching the side of my chair in my office.

Here's a joke for today:

I did not realize just how closely my 18-month-old toddler had been listening to Christmas carols until she picked the peas off her plate, threw them on the floor, and said with an excited smile, "Peas on Earth."—Margaret Nix Windley, Portsmouth, Vir. "Kids of the Kingdom," Christian Reader.


My reward once all this cleaning is done is going to be to put up my Christmas decorations!

Pictures

Here are few pictures for your viewing enjoyment:

Jessica's getting pudgy from eating too much kitten foodMiss Tia's taking over the house. (Tia means "Princess" in Greek)

Jeffrey's taken over Baloo's bed.

Jessica doesn't think Tia's to cute. Not impressed. Not impressed at all.

SNOW?????

Here's what we woke up to this morning. It's going up to -12 today. Saturday and Sunday are supposed to be -24. Ugh.