39 Weeks

Yikes… I never imagined what it would be like getting to this point! Being so close, yet still feeling so far away somehow!

I decided this week that baby is just going to come when it’s good and ready, and therefore I need to go about my life normally, without trying to think about it too much! I can let my mind wander and that’s when things start to get difficult!

That being said, I have been having lots of contractions, some mildly uncomfortable, most just lots of added pressure.  Nothing too substantial.  I’ve also been feeling some ‘stinging’ around my cervix (before the past couple of weeks, I never knew what it could feel like to have pressure on your cervix — obviously — but now that I have it, it’s like feeling a brand new part of your body!) — not sure if the stinging is just from babes head pushing, or if perhaps it may be effacing! My definite hope is that all these contractions and pressures mean progression :)  I might be able to confirm that fact tomorrow at my 39 week appointment.

I would say I’ve had a half-productive week, being incredibly lazy some times and other days actually accomplishing a thing or two. Let’s see; I completed all the laundry (except for the cloth diapers, which for some reason I’m procrastinating really hard with), vacuumed again, more dusting, general cleaning and tidying, bought some cute things for baby & the nursery, and rewarded myself with a trip to the hair salon!  I found a hair place just over a km away, so I could easily walk to and from and then also get some exercise in.  Getting my hair done was incredibly relaxing.  I would say it’s a ‘mommy-must-do’ in the last few weeks of pregnancy — not just because it helps to make you feel better about the way you look (which becomes increasingly difficult when you’re nearing 200lbs and NOTHING fits anymore!), but also because once baby comes, I can’t see myself having time to get my hair done for quite awhile!

I also wrote out some prayer cards for during labour (& I’ve been reading them before bed time to continue working on the positive thought train!).  I learned about this idea from pinterest, and I can’t see anything being more helpful during contractions than God’s love and peace surrounding me.  If I can focus on His promises and ask Him to be with us, I know it will only be beneficial to the cause.  It will also give me something positive to focus on and repeat so I can get my mind in tune with my body, and we can therefore work together to meet our baby!

Above is a picture of my ultimate relaxation spot.  I really love our house, it’s clean & simple (because I’ve taken about a year and a half to even somewhat decorate!), and the amount of natural light we get makes me happy.  We have an old couch with a recliner, so I pop a pillow behind my back, and I’ll either read a book, crochet, or throw on netflix.  It’s even better when David sits beside me and edits… sometimes we can successfully sit quietly together, but more often I’m babbling on about baby things and he lovingly pretends to be interested :)

The picture below is the progression of my now complete blanket for baby.  It’s the second I’ve made during this pregnancy, but the first one I sent off to Calgary for a very special friend and her equally special baby boy.  I love that our babies will have matching hand made blankets!  As soon as baby and I are feeling more settled, we’re going to venture out west to spend some time with said friend & baby.  I haven’t seen them since her babe was born in early November, so it’ll be a special trip!!

 

Speaking of trips, I fully plan on flying with baby at least three times (return trips) this summer.

Calgary for sure, not sure when.  My dad lives in Myrtle Beach, so that is also a must!!  Vancouver is on the docket, since my big sis is getting hitched in August (in Kamloops).  That’ll be a 2-3 week trip, since we have a friends wedding just north of Vancouver the weekend after my sisters.  Baby is going to get it’s full of the west coast right from the beginning!  I’m a tad nervous for that trip, only because I’ve never traveled with a baby before and I’m not exactly sure how we’re going to maneuver around so much.  At least baby will be young enough to not be on any kind of specific routine, or need to be very active (praying daily that we are successful in learning the beautiful art of breastfeeding!).  I’m actually pretty excited for the plane rides, since young babies sleep quite peacefully in the air (in my experience at least!), and it means I’ll get to see some airline friends and have them meet baby!  I plan on bringing at least two carriers, will hopefully be able to use them more than our stroller, although the stroller, car seat & base will be accompanying us as well. This will not be a trip for light packing!  Also haven’t decided if we’ll be cloth diapering on this trip either.  I have lots of disposable, flushable, biodegradable liners for them, so that’s a pretty good option.  Although since we are using disposables along with cloth (I’m not confident enough yet to exclusively cloth diaper!), they will most definitely be joining us while traveling.

As it is with every aspect of life, nothing really ever goes to plan — so usually when I go on and on about this idea and that idea and how I’m excited for whatever, I am most definitely keeping myself available for plan b.  Plan b to me, is going with the flow, and being okay with some things not working out the way I had hoped.  That being said, I will always remain excited for all the things I have planned for baby and parenthood!  Until things change, and I have to adapt — which I fully plan on happening :)

Our Nest (so far!)

David and I have been very blessed with the opportunity to be home owners, and have a house to move into for day 1 of our marriage (which, by the way is only 64 days away!!).

Not only do we have the blessing of a cosy roof over our heads, but we also have 5 very handy, hard working, and creative men to help make it a little more personalized (David, his father, two brothers and brother-in-law).  David’s father has a large hand in the creativity and production, and I could not be more appreciative or happy with the decisions he’s made to make the house look the way it does thus far.  Him and David have been busy putting their heads together to come up with many many great home improvement idea’s, and it just keeps on going!  My step father Bob, who went to heaven in 2006, was a contractor, and built the house my mother and I still live in.  It was always the best thing to have a handy guy around, even if just to fix things.  The creative and independent portion is icing on the already delicious cake!  It is for these reasons (plus many more) that I am so thankful to be marrying into this family.

Since we’ve received the keys to the house at the end of March, I haven’t been able to make too many visits, since it’s in Hamilton, I’m in Guelph, and I am working a whole lot!  Also, David and I decided that it just made sense if I were to be assigned all the wedding tasks, and he could take care of the house tasks.  It’s a great deal if I may say so myself!

However, yesterday I was feeling a little lonely, and a bit annoyed with the wedding planning — I needed a break, and some time with my future husband.  David told me they were starting to paint the tin siding on the house, so I jumped at the chance to help!  I’m definitely not one for a lot of hard labour, but painting I can do!  I quickly got myself ready to go, and made my way over (of course however, with a quick stop to pick up a 2L of chocolate milk, and 5 junior bacon cheeseburgers for the guys!).

I was sure to bring my camera so that I could finally capture all the changes that were going on.  I was so impressed to see everything!  Tree’s moved from here to there, hedges gone, new plants, interlock patio and pathway, shelving moved, door installed, back deck bigger, new dry wall…. the list is endless!

To start things off, we have the living room, as we saw it when we first got our keys.  Changes to be made: new paint, new curtains, take down the shelving, and get rid of the carpet!

Here is the living room today: Shelves gone (but being used elsewhere!), paint drywalled, sanded, almost ready for painting, curtains gone.  Also you can see the new oven that will go in the basement apartment when the flooring is done.

This is the basement as we first saw it. Changes to be made: new flooring (take out carpet and vinyl), new cupboards and create a separate entrance for a renter.

Below is the basement today: The new door/exit gives it so much more light! David took the shelving that was originally on the wall in the living room, and used the wood to make a new shelving unit in the tenants sleeping area. It also creates a wall that wasn’t there, so that the bedroom and the kitchen are now more separate. The boxes on the floor contain the new basement tile!

Below is the basement from the kitchen angle, looking into the bedroom.  I didn’t take a picture of it, but there used to be a door on the right wall (according to this photo), that led into the common area, and access to upstairs.  It no longer exists, which makes the apartment more private, and gives us our own basement space (most likely being used for storage).

Below you see the laundry room on the left, the door to the apartment bathroom in the middle, and the stairs leading up from the basement on the right. Through the bathroom is the only access the tenant will have to our house, in order to use the laundry. There also used to be wall hiding the stairs, which is now evidently gone, in order to open up more space.

Below is our backyard as we first saw it! (*Something to note: our house is on a corner, so where we lack in backyard, we gain in side yard! Unfortunately I don’t have a photo of the side yard for you yet!) The changes that have been made so far: deck is painted and slightly larger so that the stairs don’t walk straight into the new basement entrance, the black fence is gone, the lamp post at the verrrrry back of this photo has been moved to the front side garden, and the green siding/awning has been painted (phewf!).

Below is the view of the backyard from the other angle (I didn’t take one that matches the above photo, and yes, that’s me helping out!).  You can see the deck is painted, and the green colour of the siding is now charcoal.Above you see the first angle of our beautiful walk out! Below is another angle; eventually there will be railings around the edges (safety first!).  David’s dad made the smart decision of removing the black railing from the front walk way, and so we’ll be able to use them here instead.

Below you see our new patio! Unfortunately I don’t have a before photo for this, but originally it was a car port, that eventually was turned into a patio, but was still black pavement with car oil stains when we got it.  David’s dad had the brilliant idea of getting rid of  the debris from the walkout, by laying it under interlock brick.  Now we have a more aesthetically pleasing patio! This picture was taken before we painted the green tin (the ceiling) with the charcoal colour.  The wooden steps are also new!

Then you can see (above) that we painted the ceiling, and posts.

The photo above shows a bit of the difference from the green to the charcoal, and you can see our new side garden and trees, that help to kind of take attention away from the yellow hydro poles. We had to stop painting as it had started raining.

Below is another view of the side garden, the new placement of the light post, and the new walkway to get to the apartment/backyard.  You can also see the new rock at the end of the driveway — it used to be just wood.

The last two pictures below are a before and during photo of the house from the front.  Looking forward to doing another post of more after photos!  Also that is when I will include more photos of the interior!  Have to get a lot of painting done before that happens! Thanks for reading! Excited to have everyone over for a patio dinner sometime!

Home

This has been a long time coming.

4 years ago I moved out to Banff, AB, with the intention of only staying 6 months.  That quickly turned into 9 months, and then soon after turned into 3 years in Vancouver.

Even though I had left, my plan was always to return and settle in Ontario. David had the same plan, so it wasn’t hard to be away — knowing we’d return.

I could write a VERY long post about how my move (drive) back went — but I’m not really entertained by the thought of writing it out right now! Let’s just say, it took us 48 hours from Calgary to Hamilton.. with minor stops in between… no sleep.. and we made it out alive, and still in love!  Much thanks to God! I was terrified driving through both nights, in Manitoba and then from Thunderbay to Sudbury…. ugh.. i shudder at the thought…

I really can’t believe that I am officially back here, though.  The past 4 years have gone by VERY quickly.  I know this is quite cliche — as lots of people tell me to enjoy each day — but I had always waited on this day to come.  It’s quite anti-climatic, as I’ve been home numerous amounts of time before the big move, but it feels quite settling.

My car is still packed to the brim, as I am exhausted and could care less about unpacking right now… but I do feel ‘home’.

I’ll be living with my mother again, for about 9 months, until David and I are married and will, for the first time, be living together as Mr. and Mrs. Schuurman!!!  That is the biggest thing I am excited to move home for… David.

We met here, started our love here, took it across the country and back, tested and strained it until it almost broke — but we made it!

Now, I get to participate in family dinners, bridal showers, baby showers, trips, get-togethers… the list goes on!  I also am able to finally vacation some place OTHER than Ontario (which, for the last 4 years, has been my vacation destination of choice, for family matters).

So on that note, I’m going to hop into my bed, in my old room, that has been waiting for me all this time!

Can’t believe I’m here for good!

I leave you with a picture of David and I, on the side of hwy 8 — our departure photo!

I’ll finally be moving home at the end of this month.  It’s been 4 years coming, and I’m very much looking forward to it. This is what my drive will look like:

Hopefully everything will go alright…! David will be flying out to join me on my drive home. If we make good time, maybe we’ll be able to stop in Chicago.. I’ve never been there before!

I have one more pairing in Calgary before my pairings start out of Toronto. It’ll be nice to finally be in Ontario with the rest of my family (aside from my sister in Vancouver), and David’s family.  Plus my dad lives in upstate NY so it’ll be great to be able to visit with him more often too.

I don’t have much more to say today, so I’ll just leave you with a few photos!

Deer in Kendra’s backyard

Some baby boots for Kendra’s future babe

Kendra got us cupcakes from Crave and they were definitely amazing!