the home stretch

By all accounts and due dates I have hit my third trimester of pregnancy ~ the home stretch. It is weird to think in a mere 3 months we will have a little one as part of our family, yet at the same time, it feels like I have been pregnant forever. I spent the first 3 months in bed sleeping and complaining that I was too tired to do anything (only to find out why). The second trimester I felt great, I was active, motivated and more “like myself”. These past few weeks have been hard. I am growing so fast that I am finding even the simplest task hard to complete ~ putting on socks, bending down to get containers, and cleaning the bath tub are among almost impossible things to do. I am tired again as I am not sleeping well, besides the joint pain which wakes me (my hips are killing me), the bathroom breaks make sure I am up every hour. It is almost as accurate as an alarm clock. Joel doesn’t even hear me anymore.



I am looking forward to the holidays as they are just around the corner. Besides enjoying 10 days off work with Joel, we have a few things planned. We will finish setting up the nursery including baseboards (despite Joel’s protest), carpet will be installed in the basement, we will clean the house and put it back in order, and then we will enjoy some family time.


This year is a different one for us as some of our family will be away for Christmas. Sarah, Jay and Martin are heading down to beautiful Arizona for 10 days to enjoy among other things, the warmth! I am very jealous and wish we were joining them this year, but know they will also enjoy their alone time together.


Since we would not be together at Christmas, we knew we had to celebrate early so Martin and Barb hosted us for “Christmas dinner”. We enjoyed a great meal (turkey, stuffing, the works!), our gift exchange and 2 games of Cranium. As many people know I often opt out when games get brought up as I am very competitive. I know this about myself, and realize it doesn’t show off my best qualities therefore I choose not to play, and am fine with watching. The Hayward’s are not known for their graceful wins (Songs of “We are the champions” are often sung full volume), but I decided since last time we were at Sarah and Jay’s and played a game (that I sucked at but had fun playing) I would give it another try. My mom had bought me Cranium a few years ago for Christmas and I had never played before, so Joel and I brought it over and we played after the gift exchange. We split up into 2 teams ~ Sarah, Barb and myself vs. Jay, Martin and Joel. Although our first game was a learning experience, we still had fun winning. 


Martin and Barb bought me a beautiful baby carrier ~ a peanut shell! (what a perfect name since we have nicknamed the baby peanut) The carrier says it will work from newborn to toddler, and includes a video to learn different ways to wear it. We also received a gift for peanut, a very cute little hat and the Robert Munsch book “I Love You Forever”. This is one of my favourite books (even now) and while reading it the following day I spent 30 minutes crying.


My parents have had a good week as their house finally sold. It had been on the market for about 3 weeks and my mom was prepared to pull it off the market for Christmas. Luckily she does not need to worry about it anymore and they are getting ready to move the weekend of January 22nd.


That weekend also happens to be the weekend of my shower, the day after my birthday, and the day before my sister in laws birthday! We have planned a family dinner to celebrate the birthdays on that Saturday night.


I went this past Saturday with my friend Dana to register for gifts for my baby shower. I found it hard, overwhelming, but fun all at the same time. Dana was so patient with me while we spent the entire afternoon in the baby section of various stores.


This week my mom has been over to paint the nursery for us. Joel and I are both impatient when it comes to painting and neither of us are perfectionists like my mom. She did an amazing job and so we will start setting up the furniture later this week and weekend. (Assuming Joel does not have to work ~ if he does I will ask for my dad’s help) Once that furniture is set up, I can wash all the bedding and move it out of the downstairs bedroom which will also mean I can start cleaning my house. This excites me because I know it will be a big job that needs to be done before Christmas Eve, and if I can do a little every night it will not be as overwhelming.


Well, I better get going and feed my little peanut. Enjoy ~

Pictures

I will write about what a great weekend we had at a later date, for now here are some pictures my mother in law took. Enjoy ~

100 and counting....

Tomorrow marks a special event ~ 100 days until I am due. Now of course we all know that it is unlikely (not impossible, just unlikely) I will deliver on my due date (which I am saying is March 15), but I am still excited! I have started to purchase essentials for the baby and me (post pregnancy) each pay cheque ~ things like diaper wipes, breast pads, etc. I started packing my hospital bag, which although that might shock some of you, those who know me well will say it is very typical of my personality. I like to feel organized and since I cannot yet set up the nursery, or rearrange my room to accommodate the bassinet, this was the next best thing.



This week had many work highlights. Yesterday I attended the WCB Basics seminar which is a full day class offered to explain basic WCB principals including how they calculate your rate. Although I went in thinking it would be dry, it was actually super interesting. I feel confident explaining what I learned to our industry and why a safety program will benefit them. We are always gearing our messages to the “WIIFM” (What’s In It For Me) group, and now we will have another resource to show them safety pays.


I am in the middle of designing the December MRFA (Manitoba Restaurant and Foodservice Association) newsletter which will be printed and mailed late next week. I will also start working on our electronic December newsletter next week.


I have made many changes to our tool kit which is a free resource we provide to restaurants (within our WCB rate code) to assist them develop a workplace safety program. When I first started at MTEC, this tool kit redesign was one of my priorities. I knew restaurant owners, managers, supervisors, and workers would have a limited safety background (as I did) and this guide was supposed to lead them step by step to building a full safety program. After reading it my first week (and yes, I think it really did take me a week to read it cover to cover), I knew we had to reorganize it, simplify it, and make it much more user friendly. I asked Christine if we could make this our priority for the year, and she loved that I was willing to make open suggestions to how we could improve it. (It was created before she started here and knew it needed work) This week I just completed edit number 3 of the book, and we hope to launch it for the beginning of January! (Both online and paper based) Our new tool kit, although far from perfect, does provide industry specific examples, sample forms and checklists, and is more of a step by step guide on how to build a safety program. You literally could pick up the book and if you followed each section until complete, you would have a solid safety program. Of course, we did not include everything, but for our industry this would be considered an advanced program. We are still a far way away from the construction industry, but are starting to see some real growth within our program.


We hosted our first in house free WHMIS training session last Tuesday! We had 12 participants attend from various organizations/industries. (This was not specifically designed for restaurants, although the MSDS example is for a dishwasher chemical) Christine hosted a similar session in Thompson yesterday and had 9 attendees for the course. We have scheduled more classes for January – March.


MTEC has hired someone to replace my maternity leave that will start working with me one day per week in late January or early February. I have agreed to continue supporting MTEC with producing and distributing their monthly electronic newsletter as well as any website changes or maintenance while away for the year.

Enough about work.....


This weekend Joel will move the dogs downstairs on Sunday after my mom completes a few touch ups on the basement. It is fully painted, and carpet has been scheduled for December 22nd to be installed. Joel should receive the linoleum this week to put in the puppy room, but for now their crates will just rest on the subflooring. (Pictures coming soon)


My mom is also planning to paint the nursery ceiling tomorrow. Once it is dry, she will start on the walls and hopefully all will be complete for next weekend. If it is, that means I can start setting up the nursery! I am starting to get a little impatient with the mess in our house, and feeling some pressure to get it done before Christmas (only because that is my preference), but seeing an end in sight is really starting to lighten my mood.


Saturday evening we have plans with family. Since Sarah, Jay and Martin will all be celebrating Christmas in Mesa Arizona (so jealous!); we are having our family dinner and gift exchange. Barb is making dinner, and although I offered to bring something she declined. This is actually a huge relief as I would like to clean the house, finish laundry and get a few things organized.


Sunday will be a relaxing day I think. My parents will be over as they have another open house from 2-4pm.


Monday I will attend my workout class for the research study, Tuesday I have the MFPA (Manitoba Food Processors Association) Christmas dinner to attend with Christine, Wednesday we have a doctor’s appointment (probably our second last one with Dr. K before I start going to the Boyd Medical Group for appointments), and Friday I have the MTEC Christmas lunch as well as Joel’s Christmas party to attend. It is shaping up to be another busy week!


That’s all for now ~ enjoy!