Just the Two of Us (plus one on the way)

We have had an exciting few weeks, but now that the news is out, I feel relieved and very happy to share my news with everyone! We have a new addition coming into the family early March and we could not be happier! Although our family has known for some time now, it has been hard to keep it a secret.

I “sprung” the news on Joel with a note from Monster and Chaos that sais “We are going to be big brothers” and an “I love my daddy” bib all in a gift bag with the home pregnancy test. Joel’s face was priceless and I nearly started crying. I decided that although the home pregnancy test was accurate enough to tell him, I should visit the doctor before we shared our news with the family. Joel quickly showered and near the end of June we confirmed we were pregnant at the walk in clinic. Now that I heard a real doctor say it, I could barely hold my excitement. We went home, got our puppies and went to pick up “I love my grandma/grandpa” bibs. We showed up at my parent’s house and to some disappointment my father was out at Lilac. He was working, but my mom was in town. Although she was in the shower, I placed in the bib on the bedroom door handle so when she got out she would see it. Mom yelled down the stairs “Ashley – are you trying to tell me something?!”. When I said yes, I thought she was going to cry right then and there. She was so excited. Although I got a hug, the bigger hug went to Joel. I called my dad and he was quite happy as well, although I was sad I couldn’t tell him in person. We didn’t stay long since we still had to share our news with Joel’s parents and make a phone call up to Riverton. When we arrived, Joel was very sly. He had folded the bibs into a tight little square and placed them on the dining room table. Barb was just getting off the phone with Sarah, when I motioned to Martin to take a look. He opened them up, and both Martin and Barb were ecstatic! Minutes later I called Sarah (even though it is Joel’s sister, he wanted me to call) to share our news with that part of our family. Sarah screamed. She has instant emotion, so her first reaction truly is how she feels when she hears any news. Her excitement made me laugh as she bragged about being an auntie. Jay wasn’t home, but I’m sure the minute he walked through the door he knew. I was glad our family was so supportive and excited for us. They have made things so much easier for us, and we really are grateful.

When we went camping with Sarah and Jay I was already showing, going to be bathroom frequently, and sleeping A LOT! Sarah laughed as we hiked to the bathroom every 20 minutes or so. I did take only one nap while we were out there, but when we got home I slept the entire day!

This week I have been feeling worse than I have so far. Although the nauseous feeling is coming and going throughout the day (mid-afternoon seems to be the worst unless I sleep until mid-morning), the tired unmotivated feeling is starting to get to me. I need to break this feeling, but I am not sure how. My mom came over yesterday and cleaned the house for me as well as made dinner, and my mother in law weeded and watered my garden! It was a huge relief and I felt a big weight off my shoulders. I am still not in the clear yet, but I am hoping to get back into a routine soon.

On Wednesday I was feeling quite bad in the morning so I called in sick. By about noon I started to feel better so I showered and called my father in law to see if he wanted to go shopping. We went to Babies R Us to look at crib sets, change tables, and while we were there strollers. I found a really nice crib and change table that match. They are a dark wood and the crib converts to a day then double bed. (However that is only applicable for the last little one) We will not order it until probably November sometime, but I wanted to see what was out there. After I dropped Martin off, I stopped at the Bay. There was another one there that was nice, but I like the Babies R Us one just a little bit more. By the time I got home, I was back to feeling bad so I spent the remainder of the night in bed.

I was disappointed to learn that the US Babies R Us will not ship to Canada which is where I had found the crib bedding I liked. (monkeys – go figure!) Luckily Uncle Ron had an address in the states where we can mail it to. It is only about an hour and a half from here. So I will order it then make a road trip to Pembina, North Dakota. I want to get it fairly soon so that we can pick out the paint colors for the nursery. We are thinking cream and light green. When Joel and I go pick it up, he promised we could stop at St. Jean Baptist for poutine. Although I have never had the poutine there, I heard about it on the radio. Apparently they have at least 10 different kinds to try..... I get hungry just thinking about it.

My mom has offered to paint the nursery for us on September 19th which is when we are planning another trip up to Riverton to visit Sarah and Jay. Joel is excited because Jay has Rock Band, and we are planning a Harry Potter marathon. Neither Joel nor I have seen any of the movies, so we are excited to catch up and spend another great night with family. I always feel bad for Sarah and Jay because they are always coming into the city for one thing or another. (especially birthdays, holidays, etc.) Since visiting them and finding we can make it work with the dogs, we are going to try and make more of an effort to visit them instead of always making them visit us. In the winter it may not work, but we can always see if my parents will watch the puppies while we head up for the night.

I have golf on Monday that I am going to try and force myself to go to. Last week I wasn’t feeling great. I am having a really hard time with it because it is at the start of the week and I end up feeling tired for the remainder by trying to catch up on sleep from this night out. This week, unless it is raining, I am going! I just need to keep telling myself this.

This weekend Joel and I have a pretty low key weekend. Tonight since it is raining, we plan to rent a movie and cuddle on the couch. Life has been so full of excitement (both good and bad) lately that a quiet evening will do us some good. Tomorrow we are heading out to Ste. Anne to celebrate Mel’s birthday! We surprised her at her house on Wednesday (her actual birthday thanks to Kevin's careful planning) but it was fairly low key. (Because it was during the week) We are only meeting them for dinner and then heading back to the city. (They will carry on back to Lilac for the band) Sunday Joel will continue to work on the basement. He has a little electrical to finish before ordering the drywall and moving the fridge out from the laundry room. Once those things are done, the stairs come down! We are hoping to have our basement done by the end of September. My cousin is a drywall/taper so he will be helping Joel with the walls and ceiling. Joel wired their new house (they only had switch plug instead of lights – Joel installed all new lights for their bedrooms, living room, and dining room) so Ryan is happy to exchange the favor. I can’t wait for that room to be finished!

Joel is also adding a second room beside the laundry room that will be used for the dog kennels. Currently they are in what will be the nursery, so that needs to change. We are going to put linoleum down to make it easy to sweep and I think we will need to look for something to put on the walls that is easy to wipe down or paint them a darker color. The boys bring in a lot of dirt and hair, and white baseboards and walls don’t do them any favors. I am hoping that section will be done by September 19th when my mom paints.

Well those are all the updates I have for now, enjoy ~