buns of steel

Finally moved in. Thanks to my husband, sister, and mother-in-law, I haven't had to unpack a single box. Not one. Now, that means that I don't know where anything is, but I'd rather look for a few minutes than unpack.

This house is huge. I like it. I will have buns of steel in a few days because of all the walking up and down the stairs. I might not like that in a few months as I get bigger, but for now, I remind myself that it's my exercise.

As for this pregnancy, I often have to remind myself that I am pregnant. I have no nausea, no heartburn, nothing except for a growing belly and a constant need to pee. I'm quite enjoying it. The midwife says everything is going great, so that's good. We heard the heartbeat on Wednesday - that's always my favourite part.

I'm glad this last week is over. Moving, a busy week at school, a concert in Winnipeg and then SAG in Winnipeg... it was crazy. I'm looking forward to a more relaxing week this week.

la maison d'hildebrand

La la la... I'm not sure what to blog about. Today, I painted and painted and really enjoyed it. I think one of the reasons that I didn't like the house that we are in right now is because I didn't get to pour any of myself into it. Sure I got to pick paint colours, but it's not the same as getting my hands dirty making changes. I love renovating and changing and painting and pouring of myself into something. Today, I just did a quick paint job, priming and painting some spots and tomorrow or Tuesday, I'll get the chance to do the final coat, and voila, we move on Thursday.

Today when I was in the new house, it became a little more real, that on Thursday it would be our house. Ours. For some reason, this is the hardest move yet. This house that we are in now, I love lots of things about it. I'm sure I'll love lots about the new house too. For some reason, I'm just hesitant about the change this time. I have a lot going on. This week will be crazy busy. Here's my secret.

I haven't started packing yet. Nothing. Well, that's a lie. I packed one box, but have rifled through it three times in the past week. So, I don't think that counts. I'm thinking of packing on Monday, and Tuesday nights... I like doing it all at once rather than dragging it out.

I think that's all for now. I'll probably be busy this week, so the next time I blog, it may be from my new house!

lots of nothing

I promised to blog more, but I don't know what to blog about. Life is crazy, crazy busy right now as we're preparing to move. This means hiring a mudder to do some touch ups in the house and trying to get it painted before we move... on THURSDAY(the 27th)!! Wow. That's soon. Not sure I'm ready for that. I really like this house and this time, I'm kind of resisting change. Normally I'm okay with moving.

I'm so in love with Chelsea right now. She is just sooo much fun and full of so much personality. She has tons of new words and repeats everything we say. It's fun. I'm loving it.

As for this new baby, I've been feeling fine, other than being extremely exhausted and not being able to eat very healthy. For some reason, vegetables and meat aren't sitting well with me, which is basically what I lived on while doing the South Beach Diet. SBD is completely healthy for pregnant women, and I wish I could have stayed on it, but I'm so far off, it isn't funny. I've already gained 10 pounds - not a good start! I'm not stressing about it, but I will be hoping that soon I can eat healthy again, and maybe lay off the fries a bit.

hmmm.. think that's it though. But because everyone likes pictures, I'll leave you with this. "Yeehaw" and "giddy-up".

No more secrets...

Well the news is out. I'm due June 3rd with baby #2. My goal was to not really announce it until after parent-teacher conferences because that way parents talk about the students and not my belly. And I did it! Parent-teacher conferences were great - the best ones I've had yet!

This "secret" is part of the reason that I haven't blogged. I wasn't sure what I could say without giving anything away - so I didn't blog. But now, it's out! So here's the story...

When school started, and I went back to work full time, I was having a really hard adjusting and would come home every day just more and more exhausted. I just thought that maybe I was doing too much or just taking a long time to adjust to working full time, being a mom, and doing cakes. But I never thought much more than that.

About the third week of school, I was absolutely hating it and I told Chris it was time for baby #2. :) With Chels, we tried for 11 months and were told we wouldn't be able to have children, so when we thought about starting to try, we assumed it might take a while. Little did we know that by the time we were starting to try, we were already a few weeks along.

Anyways, long story short, we took a test, called the midwives, and were scheduled for an ultrasound to determine a due date. We then found out we were over 6 weeks along! Fast forward another 6 weeks and here we are!

:) Life is full of surprises.

Photoshoot with us!

These photos are courtesy of marcypennerphotography. She did a great job, even though we were freezing and well, complaining a little! I love these pictures!
This one is my favourite! Chelsea was "blowing" the dandelion, only her "blowing" always brings the object right to her mouth. So cute!

No time.

I still have no time. My reports are pretty much done, but this week I'm still crazy busy, preparing for the Remembrance Day assembly on Monday, then parent teacher conferences on Friday. I dispise parent teacher conferences. I always have the craziest stories after that day and I never know what to expect. I'm so nervous for them. It's probably my least favourite thing about teaching.

But, let's talk about more fun and exciting things. Chelsea. Gah - just love her more and more each day. She is officially a big girl, and although I miss the baby girl, she is so much fun at this stage. She talks non-stop and does the silliest things. Her eye teeth are popping through, so we deal with a lot of crying, but that should be done soon.

I have to go mark some spelling assignments, but I thought I'd leave you with a few of her newest things.

1. Holding Maggie. She is constantly chasing Maggie around, saying, "Up! up!" and of course, Maggie runs away. Every once in a while, Chelsea catches her and Maggie allows herself to be held. So cute! (And yes, my dog is wearing a hoodie. We had her groomed and all she would do was shake, so Chris bought her a sweater.) Oh and note that Chelsea's soother handle is tucked under her nose. That's the way she likes it and she'll repeatedly put it back if you change it.

2. Laying on the stairs. Not safe, not recommended, but it's her new thing. She'll just lay on the stair and giggle and giggle and giggle.

3. I saw this this morning, and it made my heart melt. Way to go, Chelsea!

4. Pretties. She LOVES wearing necklaces - many necklaces, all at the same time. She's a girlie girl!

Still here.

I'm still here. Barely. Trying to survive and keep up. Swamped with school stuff.

I'll be back soon... I hope.

Pumpkin, pumpkin on the ground...

The sweetest little pumpkin that you ever saw.

Mmmm choc-o-lat-ay!

Before.

After.

I almost forget what she looks like without her mop of hair in her face!

Growin' up GP style... Part 2.

That's right. I own this. Many many moons ago, my mom thought it was important that I own a snowmobile jacket. It was a nice thought, if I ever snowmobiled. But I didn't and still don't. I'm not a winter sports kinda girl. If, and again I say, if I was the kind of girl who snowmobiled, I am NOT the kind of girl who wears a snowmobile jacket.



But yet, here I am wearing this jacket for a photo and posting that photo on the internet. See, this jacket (and the matching skipants) haven't fit for about 6 years. I've held onto it because my husband will wear it on occassion, if he goes snow mobiling. But today, while unpacking the winter clothes, the black and white checks called my name, begging to be worn once again. And so I did and posted about it for your enjoyment.



Ah yes. Growing up GP style.

Daddy's girl.

Chelsea has inherited her daddy's squint. This summer, I noticed that Chris's squint was particularly bad when we were outside. Always the same face, squinty eyes, with that weird, half-open smile thing going on...

Chelsea looks like this... alot.


Can anyone say, "Daddy's girl?"

Growin' up GP style

I didn't realize until I was grown and moved out, that some foods/meals that I grew up with weren't "normal" in everyone else's home.

Now I'm not just talking about little oddities, like ketchup on eggs. (Yum, by the way.) That's something that is at least not unheard of.

I'm talking about grilled cheese sandwiches. Yup. Just your regular ol' grilled cheese sandwiches, or so I thought. Anytime mom said we were getting grilled cheese, we knew what to expect. It was 2 slices of white bread with a thick layer of cheese whiz in the middle, buttered on the outsides, and roasted in the oven. The best part, however, is that on your plate, you would drizzle (or dunk) it with corn syrup. (We rarely had maple syrup; it was mostly corn syrup from what I remember). Yum. Grilled cheese with syrup. (My sister will back me up here.)

We also had mushroom soup on toast. Just make toast as per usual, butter it, cut it up into little peices, then pour enough warm mushroom soup over it to soak it all up. Again - yum, just not served in all households.

I'm sure there are more, (fried balogna and cheese slice sandwiches - with ketchup of course), that I could describe, but my grilled cheese is getting soggy in the syrup, so I gotta go.

Oh, and don't think that you are better than me! I know there's some weird quirks that you people have. My husband cooks pasta, opens a can of mushroom soup and mixes that together. I dated a guy from Winkler who insisted on putting salt on his watermelon slices. I've heard of people who can only eat apple pie with cheese, so I do know I'm not alone in my food oddities.

So tell me, what foods did you grow up with that you've since discovered aren't the norm. C'mon, nothing's going to beat grilled cheese and syrup.

not much.

I know, I know. I need to update.

Not sure what to say. Sitting on the edge, waiting for the house to sell. There's a few promising people and we've heard an offer may be coming in on Monday. Here's hoping.

Yeah. not really a lot to say at the moment.

Sorry I'm so boring.

The only time I'll talk about politics.

So yesterday we were over at the new house, standing in the backyard, talking to our new neighbours. We had seen the Conservative party representative walking door to door with a group of people, but thought they wouldn't come over because we were kinda hidden in the back yard. The three of us, Chris, our neighbour, and myself, had a quick little chat about this year's election, thinking we were safe from the door to door invasion.

We weren't.

The candidate pokes her head around and we chat for a few seconds about the house because she knows Chris and myself because of the school I work at. Then she says, "I'm just going door to door to see if I can count on your vote on Tuesday."

Now, it didn't occur to me to lie, but I didn't want to say whether or not I would be voting for her. I just think it's a personal thing and I don't like broadcasting my political beliefs because it is such a hot button issue for some people.

I paused for a second, shook her hand and said, "Yes, we will be voting on Tuesday."

I guess that wasn't what she was looking for because she turned and walked away. Chris and my neighbour laughed and my neighbour said, "I'm glad you said something, because I was about to say something rude!"

Chris afterwards said I was rude and should have lied.

What do you think?? Was I rude? Should I have lied?

Thankfulness.

Thankful for...
- my amazing husband. He wins all the awards I can give him.
- my healthy, happy, awesome little girl. Words cannot express the joy she brings.
- my friends. They rock. Period.
- my somewhat new found relationship with my sister. The past 2 years have been great!
- a new house soon with a huge kitchen.
- great co-workers that keep me going back to work... day after day.
- peanut butter.
- Jesus.
- good health - aside from my cold, I feel great. I just wish I could find more time to work out.
- slippers.
- A&W teen burgers on whole wheat buns.
- paycheques.
- long weekends! PTL!!
- smiles from my baby girl.
- a husband who orders pizza late at night and lets me eat only toppings.

Pizza's here. Gotta go. Have a great Thanksgiving weekend.