update

this post is honestly only being written because i know how dull it is to check on blogs that haven't been updated for days and days. the truth is, i really have nothing exciting or entertaining to write about. i suppose if i thought about it long and hard enough, i could come up with something, but there are so many other things to do....right now i am looking at bags and bags of library books in the office waiting to be processed. i am at #500 right now and we have over 1000 books all together! as much as it excites me to think of opening the library, finding the time to work on the books is nearly impossible. but i AM going to work on them this morning before work, i really must!

so, as you can see from my last post, tristan is getting pretty darn big (though i'm hoping that it's just my tummy that's getting so large and not necessarily my son). many people have commented that i've "popped" already and it seems a little early! the nice thing is that now it's quite obvious that i'm pregnant and people no longer ask if i am, they only ask when i'm due. when i tell them i'm due in january, i usually get "wow! you're sure big already!" i'm planning on asking my doctor on tuesday during my visit if he is measuring unusually large for his age. yes, the fear is still there that i may deliver an 11lb baby. i have very vivid dreams about it sometimes!

tristan, quite oblivious to my fear, is practicing his somersaults at the moment. he definitely has periods of activity/rest that i can distinguish quite easily. if i stare at my tummy while he's moving, i can see it move every now and then! josh still hasn't been able to feel him though, just not in the right place at the right time. slowly but surely, josh has been moving things in both the office and the guest room in order to change the office into the nursery. the latest, most exciting move was the dresser. we cleaned it all out and then set to work putting all of the baby outfits that we have inside. it looks as if the theme for the room has been decided as well...baseball. josh has some really great autographed baseball bats that we're going to hang on the wall, as well as a few other things. hopefully soon we'll be able to take a trip to babies r us and target to register.

oliver has been gone for over a week now and surprisingly, i don't miss him as much as i thought i would. apparently he's made great friends with the little girl named sammy that lives at his new home. he sleeps with her at night :) that makes me happy.

the next "big thing" i'm looking forward to is that i get to see my mom in a month! she and her sisters are taking a cruise down from vancouver to san diego. i'm going to meet them at the cruise ship terminal and drive her up to their hotel in anaheim and spend the day with them! it will be short, but hopefully a lot of fun. after that, it will only be a little over 3 months before she comes to visit to help out with our newborn. yikes, time sure goes by quickly!

okay, off to tackle the mountain of books next to me...

we're half way there!!

me and baby stew at 20 weeks (taken yesterday)

farewell, my little oliver

one of my best buddies is gone. this morning we cleaned up his litter box and water dish and packed his little hair brush and play toys and kitty treats into a bag and brought him with us to his new home. he was abosutely terrified and, after leaving a few claw marks on me, yeowled the entire way there. once we arrived, he was greeted at the door by the 2 resident dogs. i don't think he was too impressed. we let him down and he slunk around his new surroundings until he found a bed to hide under. there he stayed for the duration of our visit. i had to lay on the floor next to the bed to say goodbye to him one last time. i did not cry, though i badly wanted to.

we decided that it was just the right time for oliver to go. i am allergic to him and josh has asthma, so we were a little concerned that our baby may be more succeptable to allergies and we didn't want him spending his first months out of my womb completely clogged and sneezy. also, josh isn't too fond of our cat, especially in the mornings when he cries and cries to be fed. he was an anniversary present from josh to me just over a year ago (you can read all about it in my archives if you so please) and i fell in love immediately. i love cats and i always wanted an orange one that i could name oliver. he was the perfect combination of cuddly and playful (though a little needy at times) and already, i am missing the sound of his little feet padding down the hallway. he is in a good home with 3 kids to play with him and hopefully give him enough exercise to help him loose that extra chub around his belly.

in other news, i am nearing the halfway mark of my pregnancy...i'll be 20 weeks along on sunday and will be posting a new belly shot for you. i've also started measuring my waist once a week and found that i grew an entire inch in only one week! my belly is getting itchy as it stretches, so i'm using a lot of body butter...no stretch marks yet, thank goodness. my latest craving is for pineapple and i just bought our 3rd one a few days ago along with a carton of pinapple juice. i can feel tristan moving more and more, especially just before i fall asleep. josh can't quite feel him yet, though he's tried to. it's funny, but every time i sneeze i say "sorry baby" thinking i must be completely shaking his little world and he totally wiggles around afterwards! i'm loving this whole 2nd trimester/full of energy/feeling the baby thing, it's wonderful!

oliver, saying his final adios to the camera. (okay, so i'm being cheesy and waving his paw for him, but i don't think he quite understood at that point) 

we asked him for a final pose, and this is what he gave us. 

darla darla bo barla

for the most part, i adore generic brands. buy a tin of tuna for $1.50 less than the can with the fancy picture on the outside, with the exact same tuna on the inside. however, lately i've become disinchanted with the generic brand of cereal. raisin bran in particular. it seems that no matter how carefully i pick my giant bag of "Bran Flakes with Raisins", when i get home and open it up to pour my first few bowls, all i get in flakes. the raisins love sinking way down to the bottom of the bag. i've tried shaking them back up to the top, which really only made a mess of things and didn't help at all. bran flakes for breakfast IS more healthy, i know, (especially for a girl who's prenatal vitamin is chock full of iron) but it's always reminded me a little bit of dog food. okay, enough of that, just had to vent.

so, darla and kevin and chase came and went like a flash of lightning. seriously, one moment they were here and the next they were gone. i don't think i've ever had guests stay at our house that have been so seldom seen. they were only here for 2 days and had sea world, the beach and the zoo to tackle, so it's understandable that they viewed our house mainly as a hotel to sleep in.

it was all good because both josh and i worked while they were here except for sunday, which was the day that darla and i got hours and hours of uninterrupted time together! we decided at first to go for a walk, but after going up a rather steep hill that left me huffing and puffing (i blame it on all of the extra blood pumping through my heart), we opted instead to sit in a lovely park under the shade of a giant palm tree and just talk and talk. it was really quite heavenly. we can talk about anything (and i mean ANYTHING) and not feel uncomfortable at all. once the sprinkler system decided to come on right where we were sitting, we made our way to a little coffee shop on main street for our mini blogger reunion (is it a reunion if you've never actually met the other people in person?) there, darla got to meet zandra and trish for the first time! it's quite interesting when blog life and real life collide...it's quite seamless actually. no small talk or get-to-know- you questions needed, they all just launched right in and chatted away as if they'd known each other forever while i pretty much inhaled my generous slice of carrot cake. we did get a stranger to take a picture of the 4 of us, but i didn't bring my camera, so you'll have to check out trish's blog to see it.

after coffee, we stopped in at trish's house to meet her adorable puppy, liberty, then went on down to zandra's new house in the middle of it's remodel. zandra sent me home with 2 huge boxes FULL of maternity clothes which was quite exciting! then we came back home in time to meet josh at the boll weevil for dinner with chase and kevin. chase couldn't stop talking about the "bambi" that he met at the wild animal park that morning in the petting zoo. apparently he wanted to give it kisses, but mama said no. after a tasty dinner, and quick photos, they all packed up and left. since then the house has been quite silent. they were our last guests this summer (we had a total of 4 families come to stay within 2 months) and its a bit of a sad feeling knowing that the guest room will be empty until my mom comes to visit after the baby is born. at the same time, it also means that soon we can start moving the office over into the guest room to make way for the nursury!! josh and i have already sorted through the 4 giant bins of boy clothes that jessica gave us, and they are patiently awaiting tristan as well.

by the way, a very big HAPPY BIRTHDAY out to my mom in law, chris! she is turning a "dyslexic 45" today and a fun party is planned for this evening. thanks for being such a great mom in law. i love you.

when darla was about 7 months pregnant with chase, we took a picture of this same pose. i really should have pulled my shirt in so that you could all could get a better view of tristan :) 

me & my best bud 

introducing Tristan Jacob! (formerly known as Baby Stew) 

the results are in!

wow, there sure has been a lot of emotion flying around here these past few days! my parent's visit was awesome, we just wish they could have stayed longer. the best part of having them here was finding out together that their first grandson is on the way! the doctor was VERY sure, even though what he was pointing out looked nothing like we thought it would! it's funny because from the beginning of my pregnancy, i had quite a strong feeling that it would be a girl. josh felt the same way (though he was kinda hoping for a son), and my position only started to waver after my mom told me she thought it would be a boy. since then, we've been calling baby stew a "he" and i think that kind of transitioned my mind into thinking it could be either. even so, i asked my doctor, "so, there's no way that this could be a girl?" and he answered, "this is NOT a girl!" i'm really happy that we decided to find out, it makes it so fun to plan ahead!

so, josh has always loved the name tristan, and it's grown on me too (i can remember us talking about baby names when we were still at capernwray together!) jacob was my dad's father's name. he passed away shortly before josh and i were married. thankfully, josh was able to meet him in full health and get an idea of what a loving, patient, generous man he really was. it was josh's idea to use his name for our child. immediatly following the ultrasound, my mom took us to target and had josh pick out tristan's first new outfit. my husband was so giddy at that point that, in the middle of looking at baby clothes, he turned to a random shopper and said, "i'm going to have a son!" i love how excited and proud he is. i hope we have a little towhead to take after his daddy.

since finding out, i've started to become a little bit more fearful about labour. up until now, thinking it would be a girl, i thought it wouldn't be out of the usual. however, josh was 11 lbs when he was born and has shoulders built like a football uniform. this is going to be interesting...

"hello, baby stew, this is your grandma!" my mom and dad arrived saturday afternoon. i don't know who my mom was happiest to see, me or the baby! 

it was nice and cool in the evening, so we took a walk around our pond (being very careful to watch for rattlesnakes) this is me and my dad. 

on monday my parents and i went to seaport village for the day (poor josh had to work) seaport village is actually the place where josh proposed! it was a gorgeous day, and we had a blast. 

at seaport village we had a tour on one of those amphibious vehicles that can drive on land and also go in the water. we saw a ton of sea lions and pelicans, and we also learned a lot about san diego. 

my sweet, loving parents 

that evening, josh and i introduced my parents to the BEST chinese food EVER at PF Changs 

on tuesday, after an exciting ultrasound (plus lots of shopping!) we celebrated my mom's birthday with chicken parmigiana and chocolate cake for dessert. 

we had a lovely, lovely time and our only regret is that it went by too quickly. we love you mom and dad. 

IT'S A BOY!!!! (and we have plenty of pictures to prove it) 

they're here!!

yep, my parents arrived saturday afternoon on foot...my mom told us that their car broke down in escondido, so they had to walk all the way here. for half a moment i was horrified, then realized that she was LYING and that in reality, they had merely forgotten the code to our gate and had to leave their car on the other side. so far i haven't seen a whole lot of them, as i had to work yesterday, but for the next 2 days, i have them all to myself and intend to make the most of it! today we're doing touristy things in san diego and tomorrow we're going shopping before the big ultrasound appointment.

i was too excited to sleep in, so i'm up and waiting for my parents to wake up. and since i've nothing better to do, i will play leah d's cheesy little game (yes, leah, these games are cheesy and i NEVER do these things, but because of my love for you, i'll play along)

okay, 10 things about me:

1- my gr.2 teacher? Mrs Loewen
2- my childhood pet? a kitten named katie who first introduced fleas into our home. katie mysteriously disappeared shortly thereafter.
3- name of the first boy I kissed? Dallas, my best friend Darla's brother. (that kiss is a story all in itself)
4- my first EVER crush ? a boy named reid, who many of you may know. i can remember chasing him around in gr. 2, trying to kiss him.
5- my weakness? five words: "may i have this dance?"
6- my first cigarette? 13 years old
7- how old when I got married? 24
8- Something I absolutely begged my parents for? a bunny. when they finally allowed me to have one, i named her caramel, loved her to bits and even made a little leash for her so i could "walk" her around the yard. then we had the brilliant idea of mating her. after she gave birth and ate all 5 of her babies, i lost interest. come to think of it, she also mysteriously disappeared shortly thereafter.
9- something I have always wanted? a baby
10-what would I ABSOLUTELY NEVER do? fall in love with any other man. (unless i have a son!)

the long awaited day finally arrived...my mom made roll kuchen! here is a picture of us all enjoying it thoroughly (i think the women were the most enthusiastic ones here) and, despite appearances to the contrary, josh really did like his first taste of authentic mennonite food. it was the camera in his face that he wasn't too keen on. 

tiny little thumpings

i feel it!!! ever since my last doctor's visit, when he told me i'd be feeling the baby move very soon, i've tried to just take some time each day to relax and concentrate on the feelings inside of me. up until yesterday, everything i felt seemed to be just gas (experiencing A LOT of gas lately, as josh can attest to!) but last night, we were watching tv and i felt something different. i mentioned it to josh, but we both agreed it was probably still gas. later in the evening, i was sitting in bed, reading a pregnancy magazine and i felt the same sensation over and over for about 3 minutes! it was crazy! it didn't really feel like "flutterings" to me, it was more as if someone was flicking their finger against the inside of my stomach, very lightly. i felt it again this morning...it's the strangest thing to think that a living person inside of me is making himself known! in less than one week we'll be able to start calling baby stew by his or her first name...hopefully he'll cooperate and let us get a good look!

so the "two little birth control pills" who spent the night last weekend were pretty much angels. they went to bed easily and didn't wake up too early. i had to work both days, but josh had fun playing with them....its been raining quite a bit lately, which is unexpected and SO nice after the heat wave! the cooler weather has given me a lot more energy to do stuff around the house like i used to before i was pregnant. the other thing i've been working my butt of on is getting all of the donated books ready for the church library. my awesome helper, irene put out a notice that we need more volunteers. 5 women responded and yesterday i met with all of them, showing what they can do to help!! that was such an answer to prayer, since we have over 700 books to process and i'm only on #350 after working on them for months and months. our hope is to open the new library in september.

3 days until my parents arrive! i can just taste those dill pickle chips....off to go nab some gerkins from the fridge :)