Kristine, Davis & Kailey

ZEST

2010-07-01T22:18:00.001-07:00

This is my sister Amanda.

This picture, I feel, typifies her.

She is in Vietnam right now doing a "school / work" thing.

(You will have to go to her blog and check out all her adventures amandamariesmith1.blogspot.com)

I have always admired Amandas zest for life.

This is how she does everything in life

All out

She absolutley excels at everything she does, and its probably because she leaps at life like she is leaping into the water.

I miss her.

I am so proud of her!

Love you

Tender Mercies.

2010-06-23T21:30:00.000-07:00

(If you didnt read the last post ... scroll down and read it.... this wont make any sense otherwise)

After I wrote that post yesterday, I went to bed feeling very sorry for myself. I layed down and tried to fall asleep, and then Tala woke up ... so I got her out of bed and took her to the rocking chair to feed her before putting her back down.

As I sat there I saw my i-pod sitting on the dresser next to me, so I reached out and grabbed it. Can I first just mention that I LOVE technology. I mean, on my ipod I have all the scriptures, the hymns, the lesson manuals, the general conferance talks, everything! Its the Gospel Library app, its free and it rocks. Its awesome. ANYWAY, i went to the general conferance talks and "just so happened" to first click on the talk by Julie Beck (love her)

It was like her talk was meant for me specifically.

It may as well have been titled, " Dear Kristine ... listen up"

If you dont remember that talk ... PLEASE go and read it!!!

I am planning on reading it and studying it a few more times over the rest of the week, but so far what I have gotten out of it is this ...

** There arent enough hours in the day for me to do everything I want to do for as long as I want to do it for ... so GET OVER IT.... make it work. Take care of the most important things first and worry about everything else later.

** I NEED revelation. period. These are daughters of God that I am raising. With His help I cant go wrong.

** Even when i try my best and do everything that I can. I am still going to have dissapointments it life , but I dont have to be dissapointed in myself.

** so much more, I am excited to really study this talk out and find more!

Awesome talk ... EXACTLY what I needed to hear, right when I needed to hear it.

No matter how far away I am from home, I am always able to get help from Heaven and I love that.

Good night world, tonight I am going to bed feeling alot better.

ps- Kailey went to bed with out screaming tonight, it was nice to have her back to her old self again. Hopefully she is back to stay.

Balance

2010-06-22T22:01:00.000-07:00

I have been the mommy of two girls for over a month now, and Im still struggling to find some balance.
Sure I could blame it on the fact that we moved across the continent 2 weeks ago, or the fact that Kailey was sick all of last week ... but really I just need to admit to myself that I am going to be busier than I am used to.
I was holding on to this illusion that I could keep my same routine and schedule and everything would just fall easily and happily into place. I would still get my nap time in, Kailey and I could still do all the things together that we used to, the house would still be (somewhat) clean. I would feel rested and happy at the end of the day. etc etc etc .. you know .... dreams.....

WHy is it that all of a sudden my 2 year old is screaming NO at me all the time? Why wont she go to bed anymore with out me singing to her and rubbing her back until she falls asleep? Why do they both start crying at the same time? Why does the baby refuse to be put down when I need to get things done?

I would LOVE to have some balance in my life right now. I want to have some alone time with Tala to bond with her and talk to her, I want some alone time with Kailey to do those fun things with her like we used to, I want to get stuff done around the house, I want to have alone time with Davis when I dont feel so tired that all i really want to do is sleep. I want to have time to myself so I can relax. I want to read some scriptures again and get myself back on track spiritually.

I just want to feel balanced and not feel guilty about leaving things (or people) alone so that I can focus on other things (and people)

To moms of more than one kid .... .... how?

Tala's Story

2010-05-18T10:21:00.000-07:00

I will post lots of pictures soon, but I just wanted to come on here and write down all the details of Talas birth before I forget!!!!!

All morning saturday I had been feeling pretty good, I had had a couple of painfull contractions but nothing too serious at all. In the afternoon I went for a nice brisk walk followed by a nap, and when i woke up around supper time I could feel some ..... shall we say .... wetness ???? I wasnt sure if it was my water that broke or not, so I kept on going about my evening, I made supper, tidyed up the place a little bit and started feeling very very uncomfortable ... this was all around 5ish.
By 5:30 I was starting to have alot of pain so Davis' sister took Kailey to my Moms house and we headed over to the IWK asap!! We werent in the car more than 10 minutes and I was in full out labour ... like painful contractions every couple of minutes. It didnt help at all that we were in the truck and every bump on the road was like a punch to the stomach. By the time we got to the assesment unit at the IWK I was in so much pain they didnt even bother to check me they got me down to labour and delivery right away and I got me some laughing gas!!! It took the edge off enough to get the IV in and to hold me over to the epidural .... ahhhh sweet relief. Once the epidural was in they checked me and I was 8 cms!!!!! By this time it was probably around 9 oclock maybe?? i dont really remember.
SO with the epidural helping me to relax, I chilled out and watched some of the Princess Bride movie .... they had just made it to the other side of the fire swamp, when they checked me again and said, OK time to start pushing!!! what the heck????
We started pushing at 10:30 and Tala popped right out 15 minutes later!! I was in shock honestly, I could not believe that it went that fast!!!!!

She is 8 pounds and 1 ounce. 21 inches long!!! lots of dark hair and chubby little cheeks!!

We named her Fai'tala Lei, after Davis' grandmother Fai'tala and his aunt Lei. We will call her Tala for short. The jury is still out on the actual meaning of the name, we were told 2 differant things by 2 differant people, but either way i really love the name and we REALLY love this little girl!

After Kaileys 20 hour labour with 2 hours of pushing, this one was a shocker to me! I could not believe that it all happened in less than 6 hours!!!

They were very good to us at the IWK and everyone is healthy and happy!!! But we got out of there as soon as they would let us go. We were discharged monday morning and we are so glad to be home now!

Like I said, I will put up pictures later on, I just had a quick second here and wanted to write down what I can remember of the weekend before i start to forget things!! It may make no sense at all to anyone, but I am too hungry to go back and edit everything and make it sound good .... sorry for the inevidable typos.....

Hippie alert!

2010-05-13T00:33:00.001-07:00

I have been reading this book alot latley.

Slow Death by Rubber Duck

Isnt that a friendly title?

This book, and others like it, are going to turn me into some kind of a hippie or hermit or something. It is really scary to think of all the chemicals and known toxins that are pumped into EVERYTHING we use all day long and we have no idea!!

Did you know that companies can put chemicals into whatever they want without having first tested them to make sure they are safe??? Even as this book has pointed out in numerous studies that companies know some chemicals they are using are toxic to human health yet they continue to use them until law suits come up and they are forced to stop..... what the?

It has been a facinating read so far and I am learning alot about the products that we use everyday.

I really really really recommend this book to everyone!

especially if you have kids!

may so far

2010-05-11T00:44:00.000-07:00

So yes, I am still pregnant. That is always the question that makes me confused. I think I got asked the question about 15 times on sunday.... "are you still pregnant"? ....

um, yes, clearly I am still pregnant.

Can you tell Im a little cranky? Over a month going on 4 hours or less of sleep a night will do that to a mama.

But on a brighter note!! Davis got to home yesterday!!! He is going to work and sell here until after the baby is born and I am soooo excited to have him around! So if anyone wants a sweet freakin security system he will totally hook you up! Let us know!

In Other news, on May 1st my big brother Aaron got married!!!!

It was a great day and we had so much fun!

Kailey loved getting all dressed up and showing everyone her "pitty dess". She was also pumped about being allowed to go around the temple! We live just down the street from the temple and everytime we see it she gets excited and points it out to us.

" Look Mommy, temple!!!!"

"Jesus house"

Its really cute.

Back to the wedding.

They did a ring ceremony after the temple because Shawna's family werent able to go into the temple. That RS room has never looked so pretty! Below is a picture of their first kiss as a married couple!!!!

They kept everything very intimate and private for the most part. Only immediate family at the ring ceremony and they didnt have a HUGE number of people at the reception either. They had their reception on the Harbour Queen for a 2 hour cruise. It was alot of fun and everything turned out wonderful!

Shawna is a great person and we are all very excited to have her in the family!

random thoughts of the week

2010-04-30T18:05:00.000-07:00

So Davis left this week for Ottawa. (he does the whole door to door selling thing during the summer) he is there now, all lonley and stuff :( and Kailey and I are here all lonley and stuff. I am one week away from my due date and far too fat to be alowed on a plane, so here I stay until this kid decides to make an appearence. THEN I can go out to Ottawa for the rest of the summer and be with him.
It is quite upsetting not knowing if I will be here for 1 more week without him or 3 more weeks with out him. Very very upsetting. Should I feel bad praying to go into labour?? Im not sure, but Im doing it anyway.

Cute story for the day.

I was laying awake in bed at 4 am (because thats the cool thing to do) and I heard Kailey wake up down the hall. All I heard her say was her alphabet .... thats it .... and then nothing more. Either she woke up with the desire to repeat all her letters, or she was saying it in her sleep, either way it was hilarious at 4am, and I am glad I was awake to hear that.
Since when is she old enough to do that?

2010-04-23T11:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was puttering around in the kitchen. Kailey was walking in and out of the kitchen. At some point I mumbled something to myself about not having any apple juice left upstairs and a minute later i hear this sweet little voice behind me.

"apa ju ... mama"

I turned around and there is my sweet little girl with a giant can of apple juice. She apparently heard me say we had no more apple juice and went down stairs to the food storage room and grabbed a can and brought it up stairs for me...

Little moments like this melt my heart.

ps- she said the entire alphabet today straight though, all by herself .... just sayin'

LOOK WHO IS 2

2010-03-03T07:13:00.000-08:00

Happy 2nd Birthday KAILEY!!!!

Its so hard to believe that she was born 2 YEARS AGO!! Some times I still look at her like she is a baby (and treat her like that), and she reminds me very fast that she is a "big girl" and she can do it "by herself"

Our birthday party was fun, we just had family over, because lets face it, there is alot of them.
In this picture she is dancing for everyone, she loves music and dancing so much ... and also a captive audiance. She enjoyed being the centre of attention for so many people.

This picture makes me sad, proud & happy all at the same time. She looks so grown up allready, how did that happen?????

Ok so, she LOVES sesame street .... ALOT .... it was a sesame street themed party. Most of her presents had something to do with sesame street. I made this cake for her.... phew!!!!! Im glad it turned out so good, because it took FOREVER !!!!!!!!! Best part of all is that Kailey was so excited with it!

I put up all the pictures of her party on face-book allready. so feel free to check them out. We had a great day and I still can't believe that she is 2!!!!

2010-02-16T17:52:00.000-08:00

If I could stand up in sacrament meeting and bear my testimony about cloth diapers ... I WOULD!!!!!!!

I wish we made the switch LONG ago.

Kailey has pretty sensitive skin and we have always dealt with rashes on her since she was born. Its only been a few weeks of using cloth, but I am NEVER going back to the disposables again, we have not had one ounce of redness on her skin!!!

The best part, is when I am putting them on her and she smiles and tells me they are soft .... :)

I am going to take a video of them to post on here soon, because seeing is believing folks!!! The more people I can convert to cloth the better!!!!!!

2010-02-13T19:14:00.000-08:00

Kristi has done it again!

go to her blog here

www.visiblevoice.com

to win some super cute handbags.

2010-02-02T17:45:00.000-08:00

72 hour kit building adventures.
Like most of you, when I thought of making a 72 hour kit ..... I shuttered ..... I'll admit it.
I didn't want to think that I might eventually need one, I thought it would take alot of money & time to put together and keep updated .... I was procrastinating ALOT.

But I knew I needed one.

Seeing the news on the earth-quakes in Haiti pushed me over the edge. The thought of not having any help for days or weeks on end and not being able to feed my child was too much for me so I bit the bullet and got 'er done.

GOOD NEWS --- it was not as hard as I thought, not as expensive as I thought, and OH my does it feel good to have them ready! They aren't completley done yet, there are still some things on my list to get, but for the most part they are good to go should we need them.

We used old gym bags that Davis had stashed in the storage room at first and while we were packing them we realized that all the zippers on these bags were broken and one of the bags had some mold action going (ewwwww) so I got on my favorite website KIJIJI and found us 2 good hockey bags on wheels for 15 bucks each.

The list of what is inside comes from the LDS website, they have a really helpful list there with lots of great ideas for what to put inside. Like with anything we had to adjust it to suit our situation (diapers and bottles for the baby(ies) preparing for the fact that its the middle of winter and freezing cold) so we made our adjustments and got a sweet list together and it only took me one morning of grocery shopping and dollar store shopping to get everything that we needed.

I was thinking of posting the list from the LDS website, but for some reason it wont let me "copy - paste" and I don't feel like typing it all out.

But if you just google - 72 hour kit list. a bunch of great stuff with pop up, the lds website is near the top and the best one that I found, but there are other great ones on there too.

Moral of the blog story for today is for me to encourage all of you to start thinking about a 72 hour kit! Heaven forbid we should ever need one, but there is something to be said about being prepared right? If you do have one allready let me know about yours, where you store it, whats inside, how often you rotate the stuff inside etc ... Im all for new ideas!!!!

give-away

2010-02-02T07:43:00.000-08:00

two lovely ladies are doing a give-away that I want to take advantage of!

check them out!!!!!

www.visiblevoice.ca

buzz agenting

2010-01-26T01:05:00.000-08:00

Wow, I have been blogging alot latley. Im on a roll! One more thing to say though! You may remember a while back that I was doing this "buzz agent" thing. ( www.bzzagent.com ) Basically they sign you up for free products in exchange you tell people about the stuff they gave you. Word of mouth marketing. ANYWAY. Last week they sent me a coupon for a free case of Danactive. They also sent me a huge pack of dollar off coupons, if you want one let me know!!!!
So after trying out the drink, here is my list of pros and cons;

-Con- it's a little small, and while not too expensive ( about $1 a bottle, its not really cheap enough that I would make it a regular part of my dietary life. (I'm cheap, what can I say)
-Pro- Taste wise, its great! really tasty!
-Pro- It is nice and small (which I know I said was a con) but it would be really easy to pack this for a lunch, or toss it in your purse (or diaper bag) for a snack. So in that way its really convieniant.
-Pro- really healthy for you.

Health facts -

- each bottle contains 10 billion L. casei probiotic cultures.
- probiotic cultures help your digestive system to fight of infections and sickness
- on their website ( www.danactive.ca ) they have a list of 24 differant studies that they did, showing how this drink helped to strengthen the immunity of the body. Flu season is still upon us, so it might not be a bad idea to drink back a couple of these bad boys!!

So long story short, what I am trying to say is that I really liked the drink, and while it may not become a daily event for me, I can see myself buying these occasionaly for trips or outings when I want a healthy little snack to bring along.

Like I said in the begining, they gave me a stack of dollar off coupons to give out to friends. Please take some from me!!!! Its a big stack and I cant use them all before they expire. ALSO they gave me some contest codes to give out to my friends, to win a year supply of FREE danactive drinks! Even if you dont live close you can still do this one, I can just scratch off the number on the card and email it to you and you can go to the website and enter it in there!!!! It would be really fun if someone won because of me!

2010-01-24T14:02:00.000-08:00

Well, I found this great idea on www.make-baby-stuff.com which was to find a great picture and bring it to this one website where they will expand it for you and then you just print it out on your computer. Its totally free (which I love) and easy (also I love that)

So I picked out a few wonderful pictures that I would like to have blown up on one of Kaileys walls. I need some votes on which one is best. The colours in her room are mainly, peach, green and pink. Which one do you like best?

I like them all for differant reasons, so I am having a hard time deciding which one to do.

Anyway, can't wait to see what this looks like! I will definetly post up some pictures when its all done.

Just in case you did'nt see it on face book .....

2010-01-22T11:22:00.000-08:00

Just in case the facebook grape vine hasn't reached everyone!!!

!!!!!!!!! IT'S A GIRL !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't tell you how excited we are to have two little angels in our house very soon!!!

2010-01-21T13:08:00.000-08:00

SO I found this really cute site.

www.makebabystuff.com

There are TONS of really cute and easy little projects.

Just in case any of you Mamas out there are feeling crafty, they have anything from clothes to baby safe cleaning projects, to babys room decorating ideas .... I have been having alot of fun today getting lots of ideas for stuff to do.

It is satisfying my "nesting" urges!!

kijiji

2010-01-16T17:48:00.001-08:00

Does anyone else have the same obsession that I do with getting a killer deal???

And I don't mean like 30% off at the mall, I mean like a KILLER DEAL!!!!!!

I got a HUGE blue recycling bag jammed FULL FULL FULL of clothes for kailey .... wanna know how much I paid for it??

20 bucks my friends. 20 pesos!!!!!

Inside were at least a dozen pair of jeans, 6 or 7 sweaters, 3 dresses, well over 25 or 30 shirts, a snow suit, and some spring jackets. All of them were in excellent condition, some even had the tags still on them, all of them super super cute!

Try getting that kind of a deal at the mall!

I have a love obsession with kijiji.ca, its sick really, but I love it. Its how I clothe my daughter, and myself sometimes, I got a bunch of awesome maternity clothes on there too!

If you have never tried going on kijiji, you seriously should, especially if you have kids and they are growing out of their clothes every other month! I mean, who wants to go and buy a whole new wardrobe for their kid every month and pay, who knows how much??? seriously try it out, it feels good!!!!

I dare you!

I love 2 year olds

2010-01-10T03:41:00.000-08:00

Kailey and I have been having some wonderful conversations latley.

Last night I was sitting on the couch, Kailey was in the "office" room playing and getting into trouble, but I was tired and didnt want to see what she was destroying, so I ignored the fact that she was in there being a little TOO quiet.

Then all of a sudden she struts out to me (and if you have ever seen a Kailey strut you know what I mean ... there are arms swinging, and hips going and she means buissness) so she struts up to me and tells me very matter-of-factly ....

" babble babble babble .. elmo ... babble babble ... cheeeese ... blah blah blah .... lights ... babble blah babble blah .... yellow ... blah blah blah .... aaaa baaa di das ... .... then there was a pointed pause where she looked at me like I was supposed to respond to that profound statement. I found it impossible to say anything at that moment, so I just smilied.
She stuck out her little lips and said ... " mmmmmmm .... yes"

I would really love to invent a toddler translator so i could know what the heck she is talking about on days like that. Anyone with more kids than me have a translation?? so far I think she was saying something like " mama, lets get a snack of cheese and watch some elmo, and while we are at it, lets turn on those christmas lights .... oh and get me my yellow (her blankie) um yes that sounds like a plan"

I love 2 year olds.

re-thinking my inks

2010-01-05T08:17:00.000-08:00

Well, I have been reading up on the cloth diaper debate alot in the last few weeks. I am still learning alot but I have found some pretty shocking things so far, that I thought I would pass along.
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Cost benefits
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For the amount of cloth diapers that I want and the brand that I want to buy it will cost me around $600 for diapers that will last me not only through one kid, but probably through 2 or more kids!
An average canadian baby will need between 5000 and 7000 diapers in the first 2 years of life. I took the average of 6000 and multiplied that by 0.25 cents (thats usually how much I pay for Kaileys diapers, those are the cheap sales too!) That adds up to $1500 bucks just for 2 years of diapers. Depending on when you potty train your kids, and how much you pay for diapers that adds up to ALOT of money my friends!!!!! Add to that the cost of wipes, creams and diaper genie refills .... phew!!
Now I know what you are thinking, "what about the cost to clean them?" well I calculated that to, according to nova scotia power the cost would be an extra 60 to 70 bucks a year. not that bad, if you ask me.
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So, one point for the cloth side! Less money!
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Environmental benefits - In Canada there are 4 MILLION diapers thrown out every day!!!! every day!! that is 1.6 BILLION diapers a year!! just in canada alone! wowzers. Add to that, that landfills are not supposed to be handling human waste, making them a breeding ground for viruses and deseases. Don't feel better if you don't live near a landfill. Those garbage trucks drive right past your front door full of biohazerdous waste! gross.
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Here is probably the most shocking thing I found out! There is a product inside of all disposable diapers called polyacrylates. It used to be used in tampons until it got linked to toxic shock syndrom and so it got banned from use in tampons, but is still being used in our baby's diapers!!! Does anyone else see something wrong with that???? Not only has it been linked to toxic shock, but also a higher rate of respitory problems like asthma and pnemonia etc etc etc.
Tin has also been found in disposable diapers, and rate of 3.6 higher the daily exposure allowable by the WHO.
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It doesnt look as hard to clean as I thought. You just dump out the diapers into the wash. You don't have to like pre-wash the poo by hand or anything like that.
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Not that I am trying to switch people over to cloth diapers BUT if I had known this when Kailey was born, I definetly would have used cloth. I would switch right now with her, but we are going to start the potty training in the next week or two, so we don't have much more need of diapers.
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And they arent the diapers that you are thinking of either. They are all pre-sewed and fitted, with velcro straps, so it makes them just as easy to change and put on as disposable!!
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Anyway, I just wanted to pass along information to Mommys, and potential mommies!!

Cloth diapers?

2010-01-01T17:46:00.000-08:00

Do any of you Moms out there use cloth diapers??

I have been reading up on them a bit and I think I know what type of diaper I want to try out but there are so many differant brands, I just don't know what kind to try out.

If any of you use cloth diapers, or know someone who does, PLEASE SHARE!! I still have a few more months of research to do, but would really appreciate the help!!!!

Twas the night before Christmas .....

2009-12-25T00:24:00.000-08:00

It is currently 4:30 am on Christmas morning and I am WIDE awake.

My body is pre-conditioned for NO SLEEP on Christmas Eve. All my life, my brothers and sister and I would wake up super early Christmas morning to sneak down to the living room to check out the presents and try to guess what eachother has, even though we arent supposed to touch the gifts until my parents get there. From those years of waking up early Christmas morning (and by early I mean like 2 or 3) my body just will not sleep, I have been up all night.

Only problem is, this is the first Christmas of my WHOLE LIFE when I was not sleeping at my parents house Christmas night. I mean, how will Santa even find me????????

So here I am awake by my self, with no one to giggle or sneak around with because everyone is over at my parents house, and Davis is fast asleep. It's ok though, I can wake up Davis at 5 am, and we are going over to the Smith house later on this morning to see Aaron off for Winnipeg.

So until I have someone else to get excited with, let me just silently scream to all of you!!

ITS CHRISTMAS !!!!! SANTA WAS HERE, SANTA WAS HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-11-27T18:01:00.000-08:00

Today I wore maternity pants ......

They are just as awesome as I remember.

I love my 'stretchy-pants'

YIPEEEE

2009-11-20T10:04:00.000-08:00

I think Davis must have read my mind!!!!

Our spare room is sort of Davis' study room/office ... /spare bedroom for visitors/Kaileys toy room/ room for things that we don't know where else they should go/ cluttered and disorganized.

SOOOO on a most recent visit from someone from Ontario, we cleaned out Kaileys toys and some clutter from that wonderful room and it looked so wonderful all clean and emptyed out. He mentioned something along the lines of getting a desk for my computer and leaving it in that room ( Kailey currently attacks my laptop when ever it is out, because its current living space is our couch) as he was talking about that I thought!!!! forget the computer, I want a craft table!!!!

So now I am looking for a table (which I think my parents have about 7 in the basement collecting dust) and most importantly looking for some ideas on cute shelves or desk organizers or something like that.

Im so excited, I don't think Davis knows what he just got himself into, because now he has to share his "office" with me!!!

If anyone out there knows of some cute ideas or stuff you like, let me know!!!

Sleepless in ..... cole harbour

2009-11-17T18:28:00.000-08:00

This used to be me ......... ...........

I used to be able to sleep like this.

Anywhere, any time, any position or amount of noise.

I think I got it from being a flight attendant, doing crazy night flights, and long long long flights, I had to be able to sleep anywhere and weird hours, in weird places (including in the galley of the plane)

Davis would get so frustrated when we would get in bed at night and 2 minutes later I was fast asleep, and out cold all night. Or if we were watching a movie together and I would fall asleep 10 minutes into the movie and then he was stuck watching it alone. poor Davis.

Since those days, I have gone soft.

It started with being pregnant with Kailey, she kicked me all night long and I couldnt sleep. Then came the no sleep nights of her waking up all the time. Even after she started sleeping better, I seemed to wake up alot at night ... no idea why, AND it would take me alot longer to fall asleep.

Now that I am preggo again, I can't seem to turn my brain off long enough to fall asleep. I am also having weird messed up dreams that wake me up and keep me up thinking about how weird they were.

So now I am the one laying in bed awake while I listen to Davis sleeping peacefully.

Does anyone have any tips that actually work to help me sleep?????? HELP!

Other than that pregnancy is going well. The tummy is starting to poke its way out further and further all the time, it might be time to dig out the maternity wear, because even my fat pants are starting to feel a little snug, and I can't just wear pjs ALL the time (as much as I want to)

I should be about 3 months now. 6 more to go!!!

2009-11-11T18:26:00.000-08:00

As I went through my remembrance day today, it feels alot differant than last year.
I have always felt sad about that young people that have died at war, I read their stories on the news, I see their pictures, and probably like most of you, continue on with my day. Grateful for their service and sacrifice, but nonetheless I continue on with my day.
A few months ago, my little brother Peter signed him self up for the Canadian Military. He is currently in basic training in Quebec.
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Now when I see those pictures on the news I find it a little harder to just continue on with my day.
I find it hard to hold back the tears, not because I am afraid for Peter (I might be alittle bit) but because those wonderful people are loved by parents, siblings, friends, spouses, children.
Now when I see those pictures, I feel a small taste of their pain, and I hope I never have to taste all of it.
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This year I have remembered, a little bit more than usual, the sacrifice that was made, and the sacrifice that is being made today as I sit here in the comfort of my safe, warm home.

To them I say Thank-you.

To my brother I say, I love you, and thank-you for being willing to make that sacrifice.

Halloween and the Flu .... oooo which is scarier????

2009-11-06T06:01:00.000-08:00

Well, the week leading up to Halloween Kailey came down with the flu ... just regular flu stuff, fever, coughing, vomitting ( I can't tell you how many vomit loads of laundry I did that week, I stopped counting after 5 or 6) after she had been like this for 3 days we took her into see our family doctor who told us she could very well have the dreaded swine flu and we could take her into the IWK if we wanted to, or just take her home and take care of her there. I choose to take care of her at home. So he told us to watch for her breathing really carefully, if she had any trouble breathing, we were to take her to the IWK, OR if she was still feeling just as crappy after 24 hours we should take her in and get some tamiflu.
Anyway long story short she sort of got worse in terms of her mood the next day so we took her in to the IWK (doctors orders) and they told us what we allready knew ...

"yep, she has the flu" ... (gee thanks ) "take her back home and keep an eye on her breathing" (again, thanks....)

SO anyway, you may be wondering why I am telling you this.

BECAUSE ... I have been noticing alot of "fear mongering" going on in the media, and while I know that the swine flu has been very serious for alot of people, I think they are trying to scare people a little TOO much. I heard people saying things like;
"if you think you have the flu you should seek immediate medical attention"
..
I really don't think that is nessisary.
They will tell you the same thing they told us (this is the point of this story, so that you dont go and wait in the hospital emergency room for 4 hours)

- If you have the flu, stay home, get some rest.
-If you have trouble breathing, THEN go and call your doctor.

When we were at the IWK, we talked to sooo many parents who were FREAKING out about their kid having a COUGH, it's a cough people, calm down!!!! meanwhile the hospital has Actual patients who ARE sick and could use a nurse or doctor, but they are all busy with these lunatics.

wooooo anyway, moral of the story, relax everyone, it's going to be ok.

so on to Halloween.

Kailey still being sick, and me coming down with a cough myself, we thought trick or treating wouldnt be a great idea... so we raided our storage room and got dressed up and had a party at our house. It was way more fun anyway.

This is the pumpkin we carved ... Kailey kept going up to it all day repeating and pointing out his " eeeeyyyyyyeeeessss .... noooooooooooooose .......... moup (thats how she says mouth)

Flu and all, the angel got some flying lessons ....

Anyway we had a fun Halloween, we have a TON of left over candy (anyone want some?)

I was so surprised by all the kids who DID NOT say "trick or treat" what is wrong with those kids??? they just opened up their bags and looked at us..... ??? what the?

And there were an awful lot of "kids" who were probably about 15 or more, who did not even have costumes on!!!!

What is the world coming to??????

This post sounds a little cranky.... sorry guys. I will blame it on prego hormones.

Let's jump back a month, shall we?

2009-10-21T18:04:00.000-07:00

Well, first of all let me just say that even though Davis really doesn't like selling security systems door to door every summer, and I really hate moving all over the county every summer, the job really has it's perks and I will REALLY miss them when we don't get them anymore.
This summer Davis earned not one, but TWO trips!!!!! The best is the week long all-inclusive of our choice and the second was a weekend get away, which we took with the two pretty people pictured below. Yes, Nathan and Caverly, and oh how I love them both.

We went to Orlando, and we had a fan-tabulous time.

This will be the readers digest version, of the summary of our trip because, A- I am pregnant and tired, and B- I lack the motivation right now to sit here and type all of the wonderful things that we did. Even though, let me tell you there were ALOT.

We only had a weekend there so we spent the first day at the wet n' wild water park. I highly highly recommend it to anyone who goes to orlando. It was a BLAST!!!!! We had sooooo much fun there that I really don't know how we kept Davis from not going there again the 2nd day also.

After a long busy day at the waterpark we went for couples massages at the water house day spa .... aaaahhhhhhhhh ....... so so so great in every way possible!!!!!!

Our second, and sadly, last day in Orlando we went to Disney World, and it was awesome. We went to animal kingdom because pregnant ladies aren't allowed on roller coasters so we thought there would be alot there that I could do also. It was great and I loved it, sadly I think I got a little cranky in the after noon because it was HOT. I don't do well in the heat, and I felt like I was melting ... anyway, I will blame it on the pregnancy.

Long story short, we had a great time and we are so glad that we got to go with Nathan and Cav. We like them alot.

So that is the post that I should have written about a month ago .... but didn't .

Right now in our lives, Davis is doing mid-term exams so he is studying ALOT. I see him when he comes out of the room (which is deamed his office) to get food, and when he crawls into bed at who knows what time. Other than that he is like a ghost in the closet, I think kailey is starting to wonder where he is. Oh how we love school.

I am feeling pretty good, although very tired and worn out all the time. But I really won't complain about that because it beats worshiping the porceline idol all day every day. I should be about 9 weeks now, and my skin is looking like I'm 13...... it's really frustrating.

Kailey is doing pretty good, she is allergic to something and we can't figure out what it is. She has been breaking out in hives almost everyday for the past few weeks.... and I cannot figure out what it is that is causing it. There is nothing new that she is eating or doing so I am stumped. My doctor wants to leave it for a couple more weeks to see if we can figure it out, OR, if it will clear up on it's own, and then after that she will go in for allergy testing. Boooooooourns.

Anyway... thats my story for the day.

Good night.

Baby Podeszwa #2

2009-10-12T18:09:00.000-07:00

Well Baby Podeszwa #2 is on the way!

I am about 8 weeks along so far, and so far I am feeling good. I haven't thrown up yet (knock on wood) I feel pretty nauseous sometimes and I have NO ENERGY, but otherwise I am feeling pretty good. Due date so far is May 8th, but if this kid is anything like Kailey, I won't be holding my breath until 2 weeks later.

Anyway I just put Kailey to bed and I am pooped out but I had to come on here and announce this news to whoever still reads this blog!

Alot has happened since I last posted anything, we moved back from Edmonton, and its great to be home! Davis is back in school for his 3rd year, I am working in the primary in the cole harbour ward, we went to Orlando with Nathan and Caverly.... but I lack the motivation right now to talk about those things...... maybe I can do it next time.

Good night!

Mother knows best

2009-08-25T09:59:00.001-07:00

Well I hate to admit it, but my Mother was right ... again.

(this is a follow-up to my last post, so if you are confused ... just scroll down)

Why fight a kids nature? Kailey has always been a bit of a grazer. Even when she was a new born, she never really sat for long nursing sessions every 4 hours like every other baby. She was more of a short drink every 2 or 3 hours. My dear Mom suggested not to fight that in her because it is probably a losing battle. So she suggested instead of trying to force her to sit down for 3 meals and 2 snacks, just stick to sitting at the table for 2 meals, and in between make up a plate full of yummy healthy snacks and leave it out for her. When she is hungry she will walk by and eat some and then keep going.

So since my last post, I have been trying that. I get her to sit for breakfast and supper, but in between I make up a plate of random things (ie. crackers, cheese, apple slices, grapes, sandwich squares etc etc) and leave it down for her. Gradually over the course of the afternoon it slowly disapears and she is much happier to be free of the prison which is her high chair, and I am much happier to not have to go through WW3 at every meal.

It is still very difficult for me though, yesterday she hardly ate anything all day, and she woke up EARLY this morning absolutley starving.... but I am sure she will eventually grasp that the food is there for her when she wants it. She is just far too busy and active to realize that she is hungry.

ANYWAY, moms always know best. Thanks for your encouragement on the last post!

My crazy monkey ... I kinda like her.

Apologies and Confessions

2009-08-21T15:13:00.000-07:00

Well lets start with the apology. I suck at blogging, we all know this by now. I would be surprised if anyone still reads my pathetic excuse for a blog. I'm sorry guys, maybe someday I will catch up to you, but for now please love me for the crappy blogger that I am.

Next up, I was reading Kristis recent blog about the amount of TV that goes on (which i completley understand). The amount of feed-back and ideas that she got has inspired me to make a confession of my own in the hopes of getting some ideas from my fellow mommies out there.
I have a picky eater, and I have indulged her picky ways for far too long. The worst of it was to allow her to watch TV while I fed her so that she would be distracted enough that I could shove some food into her mouth before she realized what I was doing. I have decided in the last month that i will no longer allow tv and food to be together. So here is the situation, Kailey is not only a picky eater, she is far too busy to sit still long enough to eat anything. WHen she does get hungry enough to sit and eat she is VERY independant and will not let me feed her, she has to do it herself .... meaning, she feeds the floor.

So to the moms of picky eaters everywhere... any ideas?????

Stilettos

2009-05-31T20:07:00.000-07:00

Today I fell down the stairs outside our apartment.
.
Not nice soft carpeted stairs, but hard wooden dirty stairs.
.
I am not sure how it happened, or why, but I fell, and it hurt.
.
But I have been in worse pain so its ok.I was holding Kailey and I dont know how I didnt drop her when I fell, but she didnt fall, and that makes me happy. As I was stuck in a very painful and awkward position on the stair case, still holding Kailey in one arm and trying to hold on to the wall with the other, the first thought that came to my mind was not 'ouch that hurt' or even 'geesh i really need to stand up because my skirt is up to my waist and our neighbor can definetly see my under-wear' no .... no .... my first thought was .....
.
" I hope I didnt break my shoe"
.
They are tan colored peep-toed stiletos and I love them. I still wore them to church today, I think they matched my purple and red swollen leg very well. Thats why I love them so much, they go with everything.

BZZ Agent - take one

2009-04-23T19:03:00.001-07:00

So, I don't know where I first heard about this company called Bzz Agent, but however it happened I joined this on-line group that recieves free products in the mail and we then are supposed to spread word of mouth advertising for them.

The first product that I got from them was from Beech Nut, which is a baby and toddler food company. They sent me a TON of toddler snacks; little yogurt covered bites, 7-grain nibblets, and bisquits. So far Kailey really likes them, especially the yougurt covered bites!

Kailey isnt really a picky eater, but she isnt at all interested in eating, so to have something that she will actually go and ask for is great because it keeps her occupied in the car, or at church, or at the store .... ... you guys know how it is... ;)

Anyway so the picture up there is the HUGE amount of stuff that they sent to me. Un-opened it is good for a year (great for food storage!!!) and there are no artificial preservatives, flavorings or colourings etc. They are low on sodium and sugars aswell so long story short if you are looking for a treat for your toddler I would recommend these to you.... especially the yogurt ones ( I may have eaten a few myself ... they are really good .... shhhhhh )

Easter Weekend

2009-04-20T18:37:00.000-07:00

Well, all of these pictures and more are allready up on face book, so feel free to go there and see our whole Easter weekend festivities.

My cousin Julia helped me out big time again in making Kailey a special Easter dress! I am making good use of the fabricville membership these days, and I am thinking that I really need to get a sewing machine ... but then again I really like going out to Julias house to use all her fancy equipment, and I like having her there to answer my questions .... AND she is good company, so maybe I should'nt get a machine after all.

I couldnt help myself one day looking at kaileys cute little toes. I was doing my own nails and she was trying to grab at the bottle of nail polish, so I sat her down beside me and did her toes too. She was so shocked that she sat very still the whole time. It has been 2 weeks almost now and she still points and smiles at her pink toes. She is Mamas girl after all!!!

Also on our Easter weekend I made some treats that we used to make at home when we were little. I made up a big batch one day and we brought some to our neighbours on Good Friday. We really are trying to get to know our neighbours, they are really nice as far as we can tell and we are sad that we wont be here in the summer to get to know them better.

I guess I should have put this picture up by the other one of the dress, but I bought this little tag at fabricville, and sewed it into the back of the dress. I like making stuff for Kailey that is differant from everyone elses stuff. Who wants to be wearing the same thing as everyone else? how embarrassing, right??

Anyway Easter was great, Kailey was all excited about the chocolate trail that she discovered outside her door, and she followed it all the way to the pile of goodies in the living room. The bowl of chocolate was sitting on the table for a day or two and everytime she saw it all she would say was " OOOoooooOOOOooooo" and point at it, smiling so sweetly at me as if to say, " Mama do you love me enough to give me just one more candy?"

Other than the commercial side of Easter, the real side of Easter was definetly on my mind while I was remembering Elder Hollands talk from General Conferance. He did what He did for us purley out of love and compassion and mercy and He did it completley alone. I think back to the times in my life when I have felt alone, and they are some of the most horrible memories i can think of, and even then I wasnt really alone. He truly had to bear more than we can imagine and I love Him for it.

Anyway Davis is deep in Exam mode the last few weeks, I am spring cleaning and getting things ready to go out west yet again. Davis leaves a week from today and Kailey and I are leaving the day after Stake Conferance. We are looking forward to another great summer, but we will definetly miss our house, family and ocean again.

Is it too early to start a count down for when we come home???

Leslie made me do it ....

2009-03-10T17:53:00.000-07:00

I was told by Leslie that I had to do another blog about Kaileys birthday and about Cuba ... Cuba will take a while, sorry Leslie. Here is the princess' birthday summary.

She is generally in a good mood most of the time anyway, but on her birthday she was especially excited, she knew something was differant about that day. She got her special "Birthday Girl" badge and wore it with pride to church. As Kathy Nelson can probably tell you, she was waving at everyone and laughing alot more than normal in sacrament meeting. She was quite proud of herself all day long.

Her Party was fun, we were going to do a big huge thing and invite over everyone we knew that had kids, but we decided that maybe she would get alittle overwhelmed and that would get alittle too crazy, so we just invited over the immediate family because they are the people that she loves the most anyway.

She was LOVING all the new books and toys, and her new kiddie lap-top from my parents, she barley knew what to do with herself, she is still excited about the pile of new stuff that is still sitting in the living room.

Am I allowed to still call her a baby or is she officially a toddler now ? She thinks she is 25 and totally proud of herself at all times. Funny Funny Funny kid, a total entertainer to the last drop. The only times when she really lets herself be a baby is when I cuddle with her before she goes to bed, I dont know when that will stop, but it will be a sad day for me I think.

Anyway her birthday was great, we all had a wonderful day

stay tuned for Cuba Leslie, its coming ..... someday .....

2009-03-01T18:25:00.000-08:00

One year of being a Mama .....

- Mother-hood has sucked the selfishness right out of me, she always comes first and always will.

- Mother-hood has taught me what Christ-like love is, I will always love her and die for her no matter what she does or doesnt do.
- Mother-hood has taught me gratitude, I am gratful for every moment with her.
- Mother-hood has taught me patience, I am far more patient than I thought I was, but I have also learned that I have a limit.
- Mother-hood has taught me to prioritize, reading books comes before dishes. Playing games comes before laundry, singing songs comes before cleaning the bathroom. House work will ALWAYS be there to do, kailey will only have a childhood one time, I am determined to take advantage of every moment with her.
- Mother-hood has taught me that I can do a surprising amount of things while holding a baby in one arm, that list currently includes things like, brushing my teeth, doing my hair and make-up, making dinner, cleaning the house, grocery shopping, folding a doing laundry ... the list grows everyday
- Mother-hood has taught me to watch myself, Kailey watches and copies everything I do. It is for this reason that I want to always be calm and happy around her so that she will be aswell.
- Mother-hood has taught me how important the gospel really is. It takes a village to raise a child, I would rather she be raised in a village of love and support and faith, than in the world where greed, selfishness and hatred are free.
- I have learned more about myself this past year than I knew in the past 24 previous years, how can I love such a tiny thing so much? How can I be so interested in the little things she does? How can I totally forget anything of myself and be so focused on her every whim ... yet I am happier than i ever have been?

She has been my greatest teacher so far in life. there are so many other lessons that I have learned and many more that I am learning everyday. I am so glad that she chose to come and be in my family, and I pray everyday that I am worthy to be her Mommy.

xo xo xo I love you Birthday girl xo xo xo

2009-02-06T16:02:00.000-08:00

I have largely ignored my creative side over the past few years, so recently I decided to get back intouch with her and see if she was still kicking around. I dont know if she is or not, but I somehow got the great idea to make an entire new set for Kaileys room. ... Really I dont know what I was thinking but it seemed like a good idea when I started, half way through I found that I was in WAY over my head as I didnt even know how to make a quilt so I enlisted the help of my dear cousin and master of the sewing machine, Julia.

She had me over a few times and showed me what I needed to do. THANK_YOU JULIA!!!!!

Anyway, here is what I came up with......

It started off so inocently with curtains for her window and also for her closet door

I made a "rag quilt" which was really easy for someone like me!!

Bumper pad and quilt together.... feels good to be done finally!!

A close up of the main fabric in the room. Green with lighter green, peach, pink and yellow polka dots.

This bumper pad was my nemisis today. I made it in one long 4 meter length for some reason .... blaahhhhhh ... I was getting pretty frustrated today with this thing ... but its done now and I am patting my self on the back.

next time I have a baby, some one remind me to just buy a crib set instead of making one.

2009-02-01T17:49:00.000-08:00

When I was in "my youth" (aka, before I got married) I always pittied those women who would get married, have kids and then feel the need to get the "Mommy hair cut" ...

I swore to myself that I would NEVER be one of those women and that I would always keep my long hair...

Now I understand why all those women did what they did.

I have chopped off all of my hair and I love it. I love that it only took me 10 minutes to do my hair this morning instead of the regular 45 minutes of blowdrying and straightening. I was starting to get discusted with myself for pulling my hair back into a messy ponytail every single day and I was bored bored bored of my hair.

SO I did it. i took the plunge, I became one of those women. I am sure one of the younger single girls is swearing that they will never do what I just did. But I dont regret it. I love it.

Anyway. JJ cut my hair on friday and I do freaking love it alot, she did a great job!!!

Again ... with the suckage ...

2009-01-12T18:50:00.000-08:00

Why do I suck so bad at blogging?

So I have over a month to catch up on now.

Kailey is crawling now, it took her a while to decide to start trying but as soon as she decided to try, she got it. Within a day or two of trying to crawl she had it down and there is NO stopping her now. She is getting into everything she can find (oh joy) today her room of choice was the kitchen, especially the cupboards with the pots and pans in them.

She loves crawling in general and just follows me around all day, its cute ... .most of the time.

We had so much fun with her on Christmas, she loved the lights and all the new toys and books she got. I think most of all she loved having everyone around her so excited and a very devoted audience.

Davis turned the big 30 in December as well, he calls it twenty-ten.

The card making was fantastic, I had so much fun with the stamp set that I got! I cant wait to get some more, these two are just a couple of the ones that I made, my two favorites.

So the new year is here and we are excited about this new year that we have infront of us. Its hard to imagine that it could be any better than the year we just had, but we have high hopes and expectations and we cant wait to see what it will bring!

Our family goals are pretty standard in terms of improving scripture study and FHE, etc etc. But one that we are really hoping to get going soon is to be more social ... we have turned into homebodies latley and want to get out of that rut asap. So expect lots of dinner invites and game invites from us soon!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

WHOA .... I SUCK AT BLOGGING

2008-11-30T17:05:00.000-08:00

I guess its time to sum up November!

Moving went pretty smooth, we were lucky that we didnt have to do a whole lot before we moved into the house. The floors downstairs took a little longer than we thought, but they got in and they look great!!!

We only painted two rooms so far, I havent decided what I want to do with the rest of the rooms yet, but I am starting to come up with some ideas, I just havent had time to sit down and plan them out. I have hopes for the new year, but we will see what I can actually do then.

First snow fall of the season happened this month aswell, Kailey and I were excited and so was Davis until he realized that he has to shovel the drive-way now. Poor Davis, he was out there for a while. Kailey was so confused by the snow, she kept trying to pick it up, there is a video on face book of her doing that, its pretty cute, but Im not impartial.

Kailey has 3 teeth now and the 4th is starting to show itself now. The first bottom two did not affect her at all, but the top two big guys are giving her some trouble, at night especially. We also survived her first sickness this past week. Again it only seemed to bother her at night, but she still slept alot better than expected. She likes her sleep I guess.

Not too much to tell I guess, just getting the house set up, gathering new ideas for decorating the remaining rooms, and getting excited for kaileys first Christmas!!!!!!!

Scratch that ....

2008-10-22T08:26:00.000-07:00

forget that last comment about Kailey not having any teeth, her first little tooth is peeking through this week. No pain, no complaining from the angel, she doesnt seem to be bothered by it at all.
what a good girl.

And so it begins....

2008-10-19T17:56:00.000-07:00

The count-down is on for moving into the house! The 27th is closing day and we have to be out of the apartment on the 31st. I have slowly started packing already, I HATE packing and unpacking. I would rather leave everything behind and buy all new stuff, but alas, it must be done.

She had fun playing in the box while I wrapped stuff up and cleaned.
I found these glasses at the dollar store and HAD to get them, I mean look at her! She is 7 and a half months now, not quite crawling but she tries. She pushes herself backward and turns around in a circle pretty easy but hasnt figured out the forward motion yet. I am okay with that for now, i cant chase after her AND pack at the same time! Still no teeth in sight, which I am totally ok with also, she bites me enough as it is without teeth!!!
Big excitement for us! My brother Peter got home from his mission on thursday! Kailey was a trooper at the airport even though it was 11 o'clock at night. she is starting to like Peter and all his funny faces that he makes at her!

Anyway, busy times for us here, but we are having fun anyway!

2008-10-09T18:29:00.000-07:00

First, I must tell you that apples are Kailey's favorite thing to eat. Which is funny because when I was pregnant with her, there was a time when all I could eat was apples, but that isn't the point. She sees apples and she gets really excited, seriously she loves them. So imagine her excitement when we went apple picking and she saw apples as far as her cute little eyes can see! She was in HEAVEN!

We also have had alot of fun feeding her solid foods, she is a really good eater most of the time although she has a habit of rubbing food all over her face when she is full instead of just closing her mouth and not eating anymore! Makes for cute pictures though.

Anyway stuff is crazy with us here, getting ready to move into the house and all that it entails. Two callings, visiting and home teaching, taking care of Kailey, School and recruiting for next summer.... long story short we have been busy here, but we are PUMPED to move into the house!
Like I mentioned we are recruiting for next summer. Great for people who are in school, obviously it is not for everyone BUT for those who dont mind grinding it out for 4 months, you can make more in 4 months than some people make all year round.... seriously, its true, we just did!! Anyway if anyone reading this is interested or know someone who is let me know!!!

Last thing we are excited for is my little bro Peter coming home from his mission! he has been in Montana for 2 years and he gets home on the 16th!!!! Cant wait for him to be back with us!

2008-09-20T07:07:00.000-07:00

I can never find time anymore to blog ... oh the joys of mother-hood ... and then when I DO find time, a month has gone by and too much has gone on to talk about.
But here is the short version ... very short....
Davis ended up getting 147 sales for the summer, I am very proud of him and all the hard work he did. Going door to door sucks and he was a total trooper! good job babes. So now he is back in school, and doing well as far as I know.
Kailey is just a cute as ever. Sitting up on her own and trying to pull herself around a little bit sometimes. Feeding her solid foods has been an adventure. at first she was allergic to the rice cereal, which i know sounds weird, but she would throw up a scary amount after she ate it every
time, but she is eating oatmeal cereal and veggies and stuff and that all goes down just fine.

So now for our biggest news, which most of you know allready, we bought a house!!! it has been a long stressful process, but everything finally went through and we move in the end of October! I have pictures to post but Kailey is seriously driving me crazy right now, trying to grab the computer.... she is just a little bit determined. oh well, maybe next time.

Where has the time gone?

2008-08-06T14:44:00.000-07:00

Whoa, alot has happened within the last month and I really do not have enough time to explain it all. In the interest of time, the readers digest version will have to do.
Where to start?

--Mid July brought a visit from the Podeszwa side of the family, Davis' Mother, Father and older brother came to visit for 2 weeks. We revisited the stampede again, this time without a hat.

We took another trip up to Banff national park. It was so pretty up there, and we had a great day walking around and taking in the sights.

We also spent a day at the Calgary Zoo, not quite as big as the Toronto Zoo, but it was alot easier to get around and the displays were really well done. I also had there my first experiance with a "Screamer" which is apparently somewhat of a Calgary delicacy... basically layers of ice-cream and slush together... sounds a little nasty but it was pretty good actually. Has anyone else seen that anywhere else? Crazy Albertans .... jk;)

Kailey was suitably spoiled while they were here and we all had a great time together.

After those two weeks I may or may not have needed a little vacation myself so we decided last minute for kailey and I to take a trip back to Nova Scotia as a surprise for everyone out there. I unfortunetly dont have the pictures from that trip on the computer yet but I will put them on the next post.
Our good friend Doreen Stuart came to pick us up at the airport and brought us to my parents place, we put blankets at the bottom of a big box and laid kailey inside. She wasnt too impressed by that, but we put her on the doorstep and rang the bell and hid inside the car. Sammy came to the door first and looked at Kailey and yelled for Mom " hey Mom it's Kailey!" Mom came upstairs and picked her up ... anyway long story short it was a fun surprise and we had a great time seeing everyone!
My Dads sister and her family from the states were up visiting at the same time so I was glad to get to spend so much time with them. Most of my time at home was spent visiting with family, going to the valley, lakes, beaches and harbour hoppers ... all in all it was a great 2 weeks and I am glad that I got to go.

Only 3 weeks left of our Calgary summer! Davis is selling REALLY well and has already exceeded his goal for the summer. Amanda is currently at her second EFY as a leader and is hopefully having a great time from what we hear!

This ended up being longer than I wanted and kailey wants some attention so I gotta go!

.

Stampede goodness

2008-07-08T16:56:00.001-07:00

SO we had the ultimate Alberta experiance .. the Calgary Stampede.

Davis made us all get "cow-boy outfits" ... I gave in and got a hat, I am not a hat person so I doubt that i will ever wear it again but I was informed that I HAD to get one. We went to the chuck wagon races and the grandstand show on Saturday and we will probably go again at some point this week. There is TONS to do there so I want to take advantage.

This is all of us at the stampede, hats and all.

One cow boy outfit that I was excited about, she looked so darn cute, i especially loved the boots, although they arent in this picture for some reason.

other than the cowboy fest, not much going on, only one and a half months left to go until we go home!! All this hot summer weather and no beaches in sight ... how do these people live?

2008-07-05T10:47:00.000-07:00

I was tagged by my dear friend Kristiane Edna Chatham, I am not very creative today so the following may not be very interesting, feel free to read if you are bored .... ;)

Joys:

1-Spending time with Kailey and Davis, its always just a taste of what heaven will be like
2-My Family, I miss them so much right now and I cant wait to see them in a month and a half!!!
3-The ocean ... sigh

Fears

1-Being far out in the open ocean/sinking boats/sharks ..... i think they all go together to form one large unreasonable fear
2-Anything happening to Kailey
3-getting pregnant again any time soon ... seriously....

Goals

1-To be more environmentaly friendly (i spend alot of time trying to find products that are eco-friendly ... use less water and electricity ... etc etc etc)
2-To loose 5 to 10 pounds of pregnancy flab. well actually I lost all the pregnancy weight but my tummy is still a little looser than it was before, i would like to fix that but hate excersizing ...
3-To do something differant with my hair soon, I dont even know what I want to do, I just want to do something........

Current obsessions

1-Watching documentaries on line. I need to be more aware of what is going on in the world.
2-Kailey.. she is probably the biggest one
3-Tea tree oil ... holy cow it works great on skin (anything from breakouts to insect bites to scratches etc ... my new favorite thing, goes right along with aloe ... except aloe doesnt get rid of acne)

Random facts

1-I am hot ALL OF THE TIME, I used to be one of those people who were cold always, but ever since I got pregnant ... I am boiling ALWAYS. I dont sleep with blankets anymore at night, I have a fan pointed at me on high speed all day long ... honestly its ridiculous ... its like Im going through menopause, I am going to go see a doctor about it because I think there is something wrong with me.
2-I eat raisin bran for breakfast everymorning
3-Davis and i found this little restaurant in Edmonton called Wok Box, and we ate there for lunch and supper for like 3 days straight ... so dang GOOD. holy cow. I wish there was one here in calgary too ... or better yet, back in halifax. Best ginger beef EVER!!

Am I supposed to tag someone now? alot of people have allready done it.... but Claudine go ahead!!!!

2008-06-24T08:39:00.000-07:00

So this past weekend we decided to drive down to southern Alberta and do some camping. We went to a little tiny town called Mountain View, seriously like population 6 1/2 (one girl is pregnant)... jk, it was a really nice little town..... but really really REALLY small. However small it was, it still had a huge ward!!! And then the next tiny town over had IT's own ward.... These mormon settlements are still a foreign thing to me, but Im getting used to it slowly.
ANYWAY ... back to camping. We were at our friend Lindseys parents cattle ranch, I think they said they had about 900 acres so its seriously huge and there is a river that runs through it so we set up our tents down by the river. It was alot of fun camping, you could hear coyotes and also their cattle, their ranch is right by the mountains and it was a spectacular view, so gorgeous!

We took a sunday drive through the National Park that is there, up in the mountains and saw all kinds of deer & other animals just walking around. We also saw this little baby bear cub.. so cute!!! I was standing beside this lake there looking at a diagram of the surrounding mountains and noticed that on the other side of the lake that i was at was Montana!!!! (my brother Peter is serving his mission in montana) i was shocked!!! i didnt realize that we were that far south all weekend! It was so tempting just to hop in the car and drive across the border.

When we were on our way back home from mountain view some ranchers were doing a cattle drive down the middle of the street, it was crazy! We took a video of that and its on face book... so weird.
All the pictures from the trip are on face book too!

2008-06-16T18:35:00.000-07:00

So not a whole lot has been going on in the past two weeks, Davis is still busy working, Im still busy taking care of Kailey and Kailey is busy learning how to laugh and discovering the joys of thumb sucking. Lots of little giggles coming out of her but so far we cant capture it on video ... hopefully soon.

For Fathers Day yesterday we went up to Canmore (near banff) and went for a gorgeous walk on a trail by a river. It was pretty much the perfect day and the mountains are amazing.

It was a great way to spend the day together and we cant wait to go back up there and spend some more time.
Ok well this picture has nothing to do with Fathers Day, but its so cute! She really is so much fun to play with all day!

Lap Of Luxury

2008-06-01T06:18:00.000-07:00

And the Award for the best husband EVER goes to ........... (drum roll) ..... DAVIS!!!!!!!

Davis took Kailey for the afternoon yesterday and sent me to a day spa! No special occasion or anything, just because he is so great! I was treated to a swedish massage and a chocolate sugar body scrub and hydro therapy massage .... can anyone say " AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH" so nice! It felt amazing actually and I still kinda smell like chocolate. WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW, It felt so good to be pampered and waited on! Anyway thanks babe!!!!

Kailey has just discovered toys ... up until now she hasnt shown any interest in stuff like that but she is starting to reach out and grab for stuff when she is laying down. I got her a couple little toys but I am pretty lost when it comes to baby toys, does anyone have any suggestion on where to go for really great baby toys? Or toys that your babies loved? Her fingers are still her favorite toy but maybe she will find something she likes better soon. Im not sure how I feel about her sucking her thumb.

Speaking of kailey she is asking polietly for some attention so I should go!

2008-05-26T12:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the frustration on the last post .. I may or may not have been a little cranky at the time. But onto better things!!

Kailey is almost 3 months old now and she is getting so funny, she has enough personality for about 5 babies and I am really enjoying getting to know her more and more everyday. I wish I could read her mind and figure out what she is thinking, it is so much fun to play with her everyday. I am really glad that Davis and I are in a position right now that I can stay home with her, I hope it stays that way!!!!

I just want to say I love my Dad .....

** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

On a completley unrelated topic, but something I have been thinking about a bit this past week, I seem to be hearing about alot of young married couples getting divorced latley. This makes me really sad. Davis and I know a couple that is about our age, they have 2 young girls, we used to hang out with them in Ontario when we lived there. ( i am only writting about them because they dont read this blog i dont think and none of the people that do read it know them ) Anyway we just found out that they got divorced ... what the heck?? We have also been hearing about other people our age doing the same thing, inside and outside the church ... I really dont want to offend anyone reading this, because things happen in relationships and I understand that. It just really makes me think, how does a young couple so inlove get married inthe temple have kids together buy a house and all that and then less than 4 years later decide that they arent in love anymore??? what happens within that 4 year period??

Like I said before I dont want to offend anyone reading this it just really makes me gratful for Davis and makes me more aware that you can never take your realtionship lightley, marriage isnt nessisarily hard work but it is definetly constant work. Its so heart-breaking to hear stuff like that about your friends, especially when they have kids. My heart really goes out to those little girls.

** ** ** ** ** ** **

Anyway on a MUCH lighter note, Davis won that 50" TV !!! we are so excited to get that when we get home!! We are also planning on buying a new couch when we get back, we have the one we want picked out on line and everything, makes me even more excited to come home! Only 3 more months and I will be back!!!

** ** **

And for the Canadian - Mormons reading this, wasnt Stake Conferance broadcast awesome??? I am so glad that we have a prophet, he is such a great guy eh?? Just love him!!

Well that is all for this post, I will take more pictures for the next one, but Davis and I always have new videos of Kailey on face book so check her out there, she is so dang cute.;)

FRUSTRATION

2008-05-21T17:31:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I hate having a laptop instead of a regular computer ... today is one of those days. I just finished writting a little update this afternoon, nothing special but I put a little thought into it and thought it was pretty good. I attached pictures and everything.
For those of you with a laptop with one of those touch pad things instead of a mouse, hopefully you will understand the anger that I felt as I was moving the cursor to push "publish post" and the computer thought that I was flipping back a screen or two and LOST the entire post that I was working on .... grrrrrr.....

Happy Mothers Day .... and other things ....

2008-05-11T21:14:00.001-07:00

One week down, and how many to go?? Too many.

My very first Mothers Day as a Mom!! We had a lovely relaxing day, I got a special dinner and flowers from Davis and Lots of smiles and slobery kisses from Kailey! I was looking forward to being able to talk to Peter on the phone too today, but his mission president apparently didnt give him permission .... what the heck is up with that?? Half of his family is here in Calgary but he wasnt allowed to call?? I wasnt having very nice feeling towards his mission pres earlier but I decided maybe its for the best anyway, we will see him in a few months and mothers day phone calls are for the moms ... not the sisters. But at least I got to talk to the rest of the family today!

so time for updates i guess ...

Dads birthday was a few days ago! Happy Birthday Dad!! He is pretty much the hardest worker I have ever seen in my life, he loves his family and does everything he can for us. Not only does he work hard for us but he works hard for the church and gives alot to help out people in the stake. Sometimes above and beyond what Stake presidents are supposed to do. I am so glad I have a dad like him!!

Davis is doing amazing so far with work! he is selling so many systems, I am really impressed! They have some kind of incentive here for them to sell more, if they reach a certain amount of sales by thursday they get a prize depending on how many they have so far. I think Davis only needs like 3 or 4 more to get a nintendo Wii. and like 10 more to get a 50" flat screen TV. Obviously we are going for the flat screen!! keep your fingers crossed for us!!

Kailey is getting bigger by the second I think. Stronger too. I cant believe how much she has changed in just the past few weeks! She is turning into such a little girl. I want her to stay tiny and cuddly forever but I am excited to see her grow too. So glad I get to be her Mommy!

And last but not least, Nathan and Cav got married on saturday. I soo wish I could have been there to see the result of my match-making abilities. I am so happy for them both, they are so cute together and I am also glad that they are going to live in Halifax so we can hang out! Love you both!

Well thats all I can think of for this week.

Happy mothers day to all the Moms or future Moms reading this!!!!!

Wild Wild West

2008-05-04T07:16:00.000-07:00

Big smile and Big hair first thing in the morning!
Kicking in the bath tub at Auntie Daisy's house!

Farewell to Nova Scotia ! :(

We left Halifax last week, I am very sad to leave, I will miss home alot this summer but I am looking forward to lots of fun things here in Alberta too.

We spent a few days with Davis' family in Ontario on the way out here. We had alot of fun with them! We went swimming with kailey for the first time and it was so funny to watch her in the pool! she is so little that we pretty much just held her head and her tiny little body just floated there. She wasnt really sure what to make of it either ... in her bath she usually kicks around and splashes but in the pool, she really didnt move at all and she looked really confused. It was priceless.

there are more pictures on facebook for your viewing pleasure!!!

Miss everyone back home!!!!

2008-04-11T08:39:00.000-07:00

Miss Kailey has been smiling at us for a while now but we have been unsuccesful at capturing the moment ... UNTIL NOW!!! we still havent caught the big smile but we got some mini ones that she graced us with the other day. oh so cute.... I just had to share!!! ENJOY!!

Well now that your hearts have been melted, I will update you on the Podeszwa house! Davis and I are going to Calgary for the summer! Davis is going to be working for a company out there selling security systems. The job kinda sucks but the money is great and it is also good for while he is in school. Davis is leaving the last week of April and I will be going out probably 2 weeks later with da baby. We are pretty excited to go out there, Davis has alot of friends out there and I know a few people too that I havent seen in forever, also fun to explore a new place for a few months. But I will definetly miss being near my family and having my Mom around to help me out!! :( :(

We will be back the end of August in time for Davis to start school! kailey will be a whole new baby when we get back ... I am going to have to figure out how to post videos of her on here when she starts to laugh and crawl and do other cute things!!!

We will miss you guys in Halifax alot over the summer!! Cant wait to see the people out west!! (Claudine that means YOU)

Kaileys Blessing Day!

2008-03-31T15:11:00.001-07:00

Our little Angel was blessed on Sunday! I am happy report no poop explosions on the white dress!! She must have known it wasnt a day to upset her mama like that. She also stayed quiet and happy the whole time ... also good ... that girl can scream up a storm sometimes.
She wore the same dress that I wore when I was blessed, it was pretty special for us to see her in that dress! I hope it lasts for her babies someday!
She is getting used to us taking pictures of her all the time, she kind of smiled in some of them but we werent fast enough to catch them.
My cousins Eden and Emily were excited to have another girl born in the family. They are terribly out numbered by boys.
Evan loved the baby too, he was so cute with her.

Kaileys Sunday Tradition

2008-03-24T12:02:00.000-07:00

So I know its only been two Sundays at church so far with the baby BUT we have a tradition starting that I need to put a stop to immediatley!! Both sundays I have dressed up my little princess in a cute little dress and make her look all pretty, and both sundays so far I look down at her during Young Womens at some point and realize that she has had a large EXPLOSION from her diaper area. Seriously all over her cute little pink dresses and white tights there is Yellow baby poop EVERYWHERE!!!
She has only leaked out of her diaper twice since she was born and both times at church in her new dresses. It isnt as though Im letting the diaper changing go too long either ... I checked her this time during sunday school and she was as clean as a whistle, but then 10 minutes later BAM!!
I need to put a stop to this before she gets blessed next week and explodes all over the nice white dress.
I can dress her up but apparently cant take her out.....

A little Bit Of Everything!

2008-03-18T18:38:00.000-07:00

I am realizing that the last post sounded a little "post-pardum depression" so sorry guys, I didnt mean to sound so troubled or anything. I really am blessed with a great kid and I just love the crap out of her! Davis and I are having so much fun with her!
Her Gramma bought her a new dress for sunday, and she looked some right cute in it too! Thanks gramma!! She was the biggest attraction at church, we walked in the door and couldnt even sit down for a while with all the people coming to oooo and ahhhhh over her!
Im not sure if she appreciated the bow in her hair, but it looked so darn cute, we just couldnt resist. Plus all that pink looks so good with her dark skin!
Also last week was my parents 27th wedding anniversary! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM & DAD!! Since becoming a mom I have a new found respect for my parents, funny how life does that eh? They are amazing parents and all around amazing people and I love them a whole lot! I lucked out getting them as my parents and I am so glad that Kailey gets them as her Grandparents! Love you guys alot! Thanks for all you do! xoxoxoxo

2 weeks of Mother-hood

2008-03-14T14:00:00.000-07:00

Wow wow wow wow wow what a crazy 2 weeks it has been!

I have never been so happy / tired / excited / nervous / frustrated / peaceful / tired / exhausted / did I allready say tired?

We have been blessed with such a gorgeous baby, for the most part she is very co-operative ... except the last 2 days she has been a serious handful .... crying ALOT, she wont eat for very long and wont sleep for very long ... Dont know if there is something wrong or not, but hopefully she will get better. We are hoping that she is just adjusting and getting used to everything. (fingers crossed for no colic)

Mother-hood has been a serious roller coaster so far and I am sure it is going to stay that way for .... the rest of my life ... what a thought eh? As dreadful as that thought is, I am very excited for this adventure, I feel so blessed with what I have been given so far and I really couldnt ask for much more .... except a nap ... can i have that ? please? ;)

2008-03-05T08:12:00.000-08:00

All of my Pictures are up on facebook but i had to put these ones up too.
This is what happens when I take a shower and Daddy is left alone with the baby .... too cute.
Apparently she was helping him finish his homework.
Our first family picture. We couldnt be any happier if we tried!!!! We LOVE our little girl!!

2008-03-04T13:38:00.000-08:00

Ok so here is the story of how my precious girl arrived. On friday I was 12 days over due, my doctor decided that we had to get something going so i went into the hospital and they did some "digging" decided that I was 2cm still ( I had been since monday) so there wasnt any promise of me going on my own any time soon. They slapped some of that gel in there that is supposed to get stuff going... and BOY DID IT EVER. I pretty much started having contraction on the drive home. ... they got more and more intense as the afternoon went on and by 1 oclock my contractions were like 3 minutes apart. we went back to the hospital and they checked again... still only 2 cm.... i got sent walking for 2 hours.... still only 2cm but the contractions were getting worse and worse. Anyway by like 5 i still hadnt made any progress so I got a little shot of somethin somethin which REALLY helped me to rest and relax and an hour later i was 6 cm and they broke my water. After a LONG night they turned off the epidural so i could feel to start pushing. and MAN i felt it ! Long story short my little girl came out March first around 8 am... labour was ok with the drugs i just rested and chilled out the whole time. delivery was the worst pain imaginable but SSOOOOOO worth it when they handed me my little girl.

Our stay in the hospital was OK, we were definetly ready to come home though on Monday. I almost died when they said we would have to stay longer (they thought she had jaundice, but it turned out not to be) I love love love being home with her, i cant stop looking at her, I am so in love I cant believe that I ever lived with out her! Davis and I couldnt be happier if we tried!

Thanks everyone for the well wishes and love! Cant wait for her to meet people! We are up to visitors anytime! Love all of you!

(I would put up pictures but I am not on my own computer right now... next one though)

41 weeks of pregnancy

2008-02-24T17:51:00.000-08:00

One week over due! Holy cow I am so ready for this baby to come out. Lots of little contractions but nothing too big. I have an ultra sound booked for monday so depending on how that goes I will be induced some time this week! At least there is an end in sight now!!
We were at my parents place the other day and got bored so we took some pictures of us with the baby belly.... i am going to put them all up on face book soon but these are a couple of them.
Hopefully the next post will be full of pictures of the new baby podeszwa!!! Wish me luck!

Happy Valentines Day!

2008-02-15T04:09:00.000-08:00

Great Valentines Day for us here, I woke up and Davis was allready gone for school but there were these great roses waiting for me on the table along with some other tasty treats!
I made Indian food for dinner and it was so good! we had planned on going to a movie also but we got to the theatre and there was a line up going outside and down the side walk, we didnt feel like waiting out side for 30 minutes in the cold so we came back home and we are going to go another time instead.

This is the card that I made for Davis, along with his gift of favorite things, this is our third Valentines Day together and it has gone by so fast! We still cant believe that we have been together that long!

No baby yet! only 3 more days until my due date, we are definetly getting excited for this baby to come!!

It's almost baby time!

2008-02-04T15:22:00.000-08:00

38 weeks down, 2 more to go!!

It is down to crunch time here in our little family! We have everything we need for new baby Podeszwa, we just have to get it all set up and ready for use! We are so excited for this baby to come out but I am also looking forward to having the next 2 weeks be all about relaxing, naps, bubble baths and pretty much just spoiling my self!

I feel so blessed, I have really had a great pregnancy (other than the first few months of sickness all the time) I do have trouble sleeping sometimes, and Im slightly uncomfortable some days but other than that I dont have any back problems or swelling etc. AND NO STRETCH MARKS!!! (call me vain but that might be the best one!)

Davis has been the absolute BEST husband ever through this whole thing, he gives me a foot rub every night and takes such good care of me! Thanks babes! Hope all you girls have a great man like him!!

We will definetly update as we get closer and after the baby comes!

2008-01-27T09:18:00.000-08:00

Baby shower!

We just had a baby shower at JJs place on saturday! It was so much fun, and really got me excited for buying more baby stuff after the little "rib kicker" is born ! There were lots of pictures taken but in most of them I have a really weird look on my face for some reason ... i always do that, which makes me wonder if I always have a strange look on my face or is it only when I know a camera is pointing at me? oh well. So glad so many of you could come and for anyone who didnt come we are going to have another baby party after the baby is born! A "zero birthday" if you will. so you are all definetly invited to come to that and come meet the baby.

Only 3 more weeks until the baby is due and I really cant wait to see this kid! Some days I think its a boy and other days I think its a girl, but most days I really have no idea. I am also excited to see wether it will look more white or more polynesian .. should be interesting!

Also a question for the girls with new babys ... I am getting my stuff ready for the 'hospital bag' do you guys have any suggestions about what to put in there? I have all the basic stuff that i will need but just from experiance what would you girls suggest?

Good-bye 2007 ** Hello 2008 !!

2008-01-03T14:16:00.000-08:00

Hope Everyone had a great Holiday! We are glad we got to see so many of you while you were here! Wish we could see you all more often!

2007 was great for us! new baby in the tummy for me! We moved back to Halifax and got all settled with a new apartment and new jobs! Back to school for Davis at Dalhousie and so much more fun stuff! We have alot to look forward to this coming year, obviously the most exciting being the baby coming in February!

New Years Eve at Dougs was great, we had fun playing games, and even though the girls totally CREAMED the guys in settlers, overall the guys won the night and now the girls have to cook supper for the guys.... really its probably better that way .... Davis is a pretty good cook, but Im not so sure about the rest of them... ;) just kidding guys.

Well happy new year everyone! Hope you all had as great a year as we did!!

December update!

2007-12-26T16:46:00.000-08:00

Wow alot has gone on this month, I'll try to give the readers digest version.....

We had our "office party" which consisted of Davis and I, Rick and Doreen ( Davis and I both work for the Stuarts at their home based buissness) SO they took us to Bomerangs for dinner, sooo tasty, yum yum, it was great, we ate WAY too much food but we had a good time. They also gave us a nice healthy $200 CHristmas bonus.... holy cow! Best boss EVER!

We also bought their big screen TV because they bought a plasma TV for CHristmas so we have a new big screen at our place! SWEET!

Davis turned the big 29 on the 20th. There was a storm that same day so we didnt get to do everything we wanted to do, but we still had a good time anyway! Lots of seafood and cake and games!

We were in the Nativity Pageant this year... it was actually alot of fun, it really helped us to get into the Christmas Spirit and do a little bit of service. It has been a tradition in my family to go and see the pageant every christmas eve, so it was really speacial for us to be involved this year. Hope everyone got to come see it!

Christmas was Amazing as usual! Davis and I made out like a couple of bandits in the gift department! lots of baby stuff that we needed, and also some fun stuff that we probably didnt need but is still fun to have! We have definetly been so blessed to have what we do and we are very gratful for it, especially this time of year!

We were supposed to have a big Smith estended family Christmas bash on the 27th , but because of some storm that was supposedly coming it got postponed :( so sad, I was really looking forward to it, I guess I can wait until Jan 1st :(

We are getting all reved up for New Years and we are very excited to have Kristiane and Claudine home for the holidays! Love you guys!

Pregnancy wise, I have started having Braxton Hicks contractions... some not painful at all, some kind of uncomfortable, and one lovely afternoon they were full of painful ones... not fun. But everything is fine, baby is still doing good in there. I still have another month and a half until I am due.

Anyway we hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Hope to see you all sometime over the holidays! call us anytime to come hang out!

2007-12-11T13:35:00.000-08:00

CHRISTMAS TIME IS HERE !!!!!

We actually put up this tree on Dec 1st but I just havent gotten around to posting the picture yet, but there is our lovely tree!!! I came to the realization that walmart has great decorations but Crappy tree toppers.... seriously the tackiest things ever!! They had a few nice toppers but none that matched the decorations i had picked out for the tree..... my trees have to match. So if anyone sees a nice gold star anywhere let me know!!!!

Other than that, life here in the Podeszwa house is good! Davis is almost done his exams, 1 more to go!! woohooo! I am getting bigger by the day, I almost died when the nurse weighed me last week, I wont even say how much it is, but I almost wanted to take my shoes off and make her weigh me again. So sad. We are excited for the pageant!! Davis saw it last year for the first time and he loved it! So we are glad to be a part of it! Hope everyone can come and see it!!

Also Davis' birthday is next week, we are going to be doing something on the 20th, not sure quite what exactly yet but we will let you know!! Hopefully everyone can come enjoy some good food, folks & fun!!!

14 days till Christmas!!!!

Check out my Slide Show!

2007-11-30T18:00:00.001-08:00

I am too FAT for a carnival cruise!

2007-11-29T12:00:00.000-08:00

So here is our story about our cruise.

First of all I should explain that the company Davis is going to be working for paid for the cruise, the flight down to california, etc etc etc. So they just told us when the flight was and we just had to show up pretty much.

So early saturday morning we got on a flight to Los Angeles!! We got in to LA in the afternoon that same day and had a nice relaxing day in the hotel, just getting excited for mexico and talking about all the things we wanted to see and do, totally getting pumped for this trip!

Sunday morning we headed down to the pier with the rest of the company (about 90 people in total) who were going on the cruise. When we arrived at the pier there was this mile and half long line up to get on the boat. So we stood there for no joke like 2 hours, waiting to check in and get our room keys and stuff. As we FINALLY approached the front of the line, the lady standing there checking ID asked me when I was due (not an uncommon question for a pregnant person to hear..) I thought nothing of the question so I told her, Feb 20th. She said ok, just wait right here for a minute. 5 minutes later this other lady came out and said, " Im sorry we cant let you on board" Davis and I were in total shock.... we were just like "OK ..... why is that" she explained to us that apparently I am too far along in my pregnancy and I am too much of a liabilty to have on board in case something happens. Also they dont have the facilities on board to deal with early labour. Keep in mind that I have 3 full months left until Im even due.

Anyway so she escorted us outside (it was kind of a cold day for california) and said just wait out here while i find your group leader and call my managers and see if there is anything we can do. so we waited outside in the cold for like 30 mintues it seems like and she finally comes back and says, yeah there is nothing at all we can do, its just too much of a risk. So at this point we were over our shock and fully into sometype of anger, we tried to explain that I had just seen my doctor 2 days before, everything is fine, she can call him if she wants, we will sign a waiver... anything. NO GO. apparently 27 weeks is their cut off and i am 27 weeks exactly that day. Anyway, this went back and forth for a while, her leaving us outside in the cold while she went to talk to more people.... it was not a fun afternoon. After we flew across the country to be there, went through all that hassel... to bad so sad, we were out of luck.

After everything it was decided, that Im just too fat and I cant get on, too much of a liability... mean while there are like 95 year old grannys in wheel chairs who cant even stand... about to freaking die at any moment, but they are ok to get on and not me.

They gave us back our bags and said you can walk over to the hotel over there and they can call you a cab. nice eh? anyway we arent too fond of carnival cruise right now, because i looked all over thier website before going down there and there was NOTHING on there about pregnant women .... i looked for a long time (searching for a reason not to go mostly cause i was scared)

BUT bright side of every story, here is our silver lining ... the company that paid for us to be down there anyway tried to get us back on and fight for us (to no avail) and in the end, got us a hotel room in LA for 3 more days, a rental car and $500 spending cash so we could still have some kind of vacation. SO we took the next 3 days to tour Hollywood, Malibu, Venice beach, Los Angeles, San Deigo... and the highlight of the trip SEA WORLD!! 4 days of being on my feet and then a red-eye flight home to halifax and my feet are good and swollen.... so gross.

I feel like this post is long enough, but i will say Sea World was awesome, i got to pet a freaking Dolphin!!! how cool is that? I will try to make one of those slide shows in a minute, but I thought i would post this to let you all in on our adventure!!!!

DAVIS' 7 RANDOM THINGS .... orated by davis, typed by teeny.

2007-11-24T18:14:00.000-08:00

1) I chew with my mouth "partially open" here is why; when you chew your food with your mouth closed there is only one option for breathing, and if your sick, your options are quite limited. when you chew your food, you want the air in your mouth to circulate so the flavour is evenly dispersed and the air can get to your olfactory sences, therefore the food tastes better. also i do it sometimes to tick off teeny, but only sometimes when she is allready ticked off....

2) i am a seafood LOVER 100% i love to catch fish, eat fish, study fish, and if teeny would let me i would have a pet shark.

3) i am petrified of bees. and all things assosiated with that species. when i was a young chap at the age of 4 or 5, a bee stung me right beside my right eye, so now when i see a bee i FREEZE.

4) i like old school rap. dont give me T-Pain dont give me Eminem, heck dont even give me 2-Pac Chakur who IS from the old school! I wanna hear first and foremost The Notorious B.I.G. THen after that you can throw on some Craig Mack, with some flava in ya ear (if you know this song your my friend) and then I wanna hear Leaders of the New School with Busta Rymes, Dinco D, Charlie Brown, etc etc. IF you dont have any of that then you better have some Tribe Called Quest ( Award Tour)

5) Why do people use LOL? When I was in High school my best friend and I (Jeremy Townsend) thought that chat rooms on the internet were the GAYEST thing, we decided to venture out into cyber space and talk with some of these people in their "chat rooms". We would intentionally make fun of these people on line to see their reactions. When we made these jokes, they responded with " LOL" and we thought this meant " Loser On Line" so we thought they were making fun of us, when really they were laughing along with our jokes. PEOPLE! why cant you just put HA HA HA when you're laughing?

6)I like to work out. working out helps me to release my wiggles, some day when teeny and I have some "ninos" I will take them to the gym and pump some iron. I always thought that the only way an ugly person could look good, is by working out and loosing some fat storage. working out also helps you to partake of the blessings of the fountain of youth.

7) ever since i was in grade 7, i cut my own hair. i went through a wide variety of hair styles in my youth. when i was in grade 7 and 8 I sported the "bowl cut" so the bottom half of my head was shaved to the skin and the top half was slicked back. in grade 9 I was the first one in my highschool to get braides like Kris Kross. as soon as everyone saw my braides they thought i was some kind of thug. one time this big indian even wanted to fight me. ... i dont know why. in grade 11 i shaved my head completly, and I kept that up for a good year and a half.

I was "tagged" ... and I am bored.....

2007-11-22T13:12:00.000-08:00

So dear Ka Ka tagged me .... I cant really think of anything funny/cool to say for my 7 things... but here it goes..... sorry if its lame, you can blame Kristiane.

1) I HATE when people chew with their mouths open, honestly of all the things people do, that one annoys me the most. It does more than annoy me actually, it makes me really angry. The pregnancy mood swings make it even worse sometimes..... poor Davis.....

2) I am coming out of the closet ... I love Harry Potter. I denied it for a long time, refused to watch the movies... definetly refused to read the books... probably made fun of Kristiane for signing up early to get the book... but i love it now.. I have read all 7 books within the last 3 months, and I have read them twice each. I cant even say how many times I have seen the movies..... it is really sad and pathetic i know, but there it is.

3) I am, as my father calls it, a "bumble bee" when it comes to my hobbies. I go through stages, for a while i was really into reading health books etc, then I was all about knitting, and now its all about making home made cards. Which are really cute by the way, Im making all of my christmas cards. But overall Im left with unused health cook books, a half finished blanket, and WAY too many cards that i will probably never use (except for Christmas)

4) I have a terrifing fear of the open water. Seriously, its bad, I used to have to close my eyes when we drove over the bridge, and then i couldnt do that anymore when I started driving, but still i just look straight ahead until we are on the other side. Davis and I went on a whale watching tour last year and we had an option to go from Halifax (and go straight out into the ocean) or go all the freaking way to digby and stay close to shore in the bay... and i made poor davis drive all the way to digby for something we could have done here in town... just because we could stay close to shore. Pathetic, I know.

5) I run up the basement steps in my parents house. Just the basement ones, none of the others. why? because there could be someone down there trying to grab my feet.... I have NO idea why I still do it. I know full well that there is NO ONE down there, but I always run up the stairs so they cant catch me. I probably have horribly repressed memories of Aaron hiding under the steps and grabing my feet as i walked up the stairs when we were kids.... I blame it all on Aaron.

6) I dont use toilet paper..... i use baby wipes. cleaner, easier on the tush, and it just feels good. I would highly recommend it to anyone. sorry if that is too much information, im running out of random things to say.

7) I hate armpits.. my least favorite part of the whole body, i rarley even touch my own armpit. And I definelty dont touch anyone elses. Like when your armpit gets itchy... most people just scratch it. I only scratch it through the shirt, or i get a tissue and use that as a buffer. I dont even like to lay my head on Davis' shoulder if he doesnt have a shirt on.... not because he is gross, or smelly (he isnt, he smells very good) but just because my face would be too close to the armpit. And that is un-acceptable.

Well, like em or not, those are my 7 things. I guess I am supposed to "tag" some people now.. um Claudine, Karen and Mel Macdonald... simply because you guys havent updated your blogs in forever.

belly update

2007-11-15T15:30:00.001-08:00

Well here is the latest belly update, just incase you didnt see it on face book allready.

Im sitting at 26 weeks right now, feeling pretty dang good. by far my favorite time of pregnancy so far. no sickness, so awkward pudgyness, obviously baby bump, but not so big that i am uncomfortable... i wish the whole pregnancy was like this... maybe the rest of it will be! (lets hope)

So Davis and I are going on a cruise to mexico next week.... long story... I will update when we get back! Needlesss to say it is one of my worst fears, but I am going anyway. If I can jump out of a plaine then I can survive for a week out in the open ocean, right? We leave on the 24th and we will be back Dec 1st! just in time for the Christmas season to start!! cant wait!

noel ... smoel.....

2007-11-05T04:50:00.000-08:00

So the tropical storm hit us this weekend out in NS... it wasnt as bad as people were making it out to be. We didnt even loose power, which im glad for. There was some damage in some areas though, pretty scarry what mother nature can do sometimes. But I got some pictures that other people took and posted them up here. Just a few really impressive ones.

the belly

2007-10-25T13:13:00.000-07:00

well, i borrowed my moms camera (since mine is still broken) and FINALLY took some belly pictures! Me in the green shirt is at 20 weeks, and the one in the pink shirt is 24 weeks!!! the baby definetly had a growth spurt this month!

I am having alot of fun with this belly, it is so surreal to look at my self in the mirror with this belly, I am still not used to it at all, but I like it!!!

Other than the belly, last night was Sammy's 13th birthday, (he is having his friends over friday, so yesterday was just for the family) We watched Transformers on the projector and ate way too much junk food, it was pretty fun. Cant believe Sammy is 13! Where does the time go?

venting and also amazment

2007-10-21T16:42:00.000-07:00

So this weekend was stake conferance, pretty fun, lots of food, folks and fun! Although I feel the need to vent maybe just a little bit. Why is it that people feel the need to touch a pregnant belly. ? ... I mean dont get me wrong, if I know you and we are friends, touch away, i dont care..!! but there are people who I dont know all that well, other than their name, and the first thing they do when they saw me this weekend was to reach out and poke me in the stomach... not only does it kind of hurt, but its kind of awkward.... some people also see it as an invitation to tell me horror stories of their own pregnancy, and to give me advice about pregnancy.
well meaning Im sure, but kind of awkward if I dont know you.

ok im done venting, sorry about that guys, chances are if you are reading this, i dont mind you touching my belly.

It was really good to see alot of you over the weekend though! I have decided that I dont hang out with people nearly enough. Davis is busy with studying during the week, but we decided to be more social from now on, we are going to try to plan some type of get together sometime soon, so hopefully everyone can come ..... ... to whatever it is that we do.......

can i also say that i am really impressed with Karens Thank-you cards??? holy cow, I dont know how she had the patience to do all of those by hand... that is a talent for sure!

ROAD TRIP

2007-10-17T04:54:00.000-07:00

So I was pressured into going on a road trip shopping spree with my mom and grandmother..... nothing like peer pressure from your grandmother....
It was actually quite fun, we drove to Maine EARLY friday morning, did far too much shopping, lots of girl talk and hanging out and then came home Sunday night. I finally got some much needed maternity cloths, which i am very excited about. I am also very proud of myself becuase I got almost all of my Christmas shopping done!!! wow!!! I think that is the earliest I have ever done Christmas shopping in my LIFE! How prepared am I?

Pregnancy is going well, I think the baby just went through a growth spurt because it feels like my belly just got 10 times bigger just this past week alone. I do have belly pictures, but like i said before my camera is broken and I need to take it somewhere to fix it, until then, you will just have to come visit me to see the hugeness.

ULTRA SOUND

2007-10-05T16:07:00.000-07:00

Ok so we had our first ultra-sound this morning!! WOW, weird, there is actually a tiny little skeleton inside of me.... but everything looks good health wise, developing well according to the nurse, all the fingers and toes, etc etc etc.... it was so weird, we were watching on the monitor and you could see the baby moving its arm around and i could feel it at the same time.... it was pretty surreal.
no pictures unfortunetly ... and also no word on wether or not its a boy or a girl. I think we have decided to leave it for a surprise but some times I want to know.... im not good with surprises. I like to be prepared.

but thats that folks, there is officially a healthy little baby in there!! not even 1 pound yet... just a tiny little 12 ounce ankle bitter !!!

PEI goodness

2007-10-04T13:57:00.000-07:00

So we went to PEI a week or so ago ... Dad and Davis and Sammy did ALOT of biking, and me and mom did alot of driving around and trying to find them on the trails. Dads goal was to bike all the way across PEI and he did most of it over the summer, but he had to finish about 40 kms so davis went along!!!

We had a good weekend, great weather for camping, going to the beach. we found a great beach that NO ONE else was on, it was beutiful. Sammy and Davis did some swimming and wrestling in the water ... among other things....

Great weekend except i got sand stuck in the camera somehow and now its broken :(

But Anyway thats my PEI story.

2007-10-03T18:08:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I finally gave in and started a stupid blog like everyone else. I cant promise that I will be quite as good as everyone else in updating and posting .. but I'll try! I'm a sucker for peer pressure apparently.

I am still learning so the blog may suck for a while, sorry guys. I'll get the hang of it eventually.