Storm #2

The second storm rolled in yesterday and luckily we only got about 8 inches of snow so far. The side streets are pretty much a disaster but the main roads by us have been plowed. We parked on the street in front of our house instead of in the garage in the alley just in case we need to get out. The bag is pretty much packed and the nursery is ready. Now we just wait!



We had a Dr's appointment yesterday. Things are progressing as they should be. I will be 37 weeks on Tuesday which is considered full term so we are hoping the baby stays put until at least then. I am hoping it stays put until at least the due date.



I am feeling fine. I am sort of sick of being pregnant at this point. Not that it has been a bad pregnancy - I just want to have a normal body again. I am researching treadmills but we don't really have room for one.

In the pictures you can see me working on our new couch with my belly sticking out :)

Christmas 2006

This was the first year that we did not go back to Canada for Christmas. We were sad not to spend the holidays with our families but we actually really enjoyed ourselves!


Geoff was obsessed with getting a Honey Baked Ham. When it started storming, he called the honey baked store to change the location to one closer to the house. We went on the 23rd to pick it up and the line was wrapped around the building! We were not about to wait for an hour to pick it up so we came back later. Luckily I was there as a voice of reason and did not let Geoff get the ham he had ordered because it fed 14 - 20 people! We downgraded it a little... it was still out of control!!!!


We went to mass and then had a feast! Andy, Barb and her dog Charlie joined us. It was so fun. We did not have the semi-traditional Ukrainian Christmas Eve dinner like usual but we did have pierogies that Geoff's mom had made and froze for us when she was here a month ago. I did cook enough butter and onions for an army. Geoff of course made plates for each of the dogs (sour cream and all). After dinner we played a few games, drank wine (well I had tea), ate a few dainties, and laughed a lot.

Christmas Day we took Barb to the airport for her home flight to Ohio. We came home and opened presents. We then made my favorite meal - WAFFLES!!!! Yummmm The dogs enjoyed it too :) We spent the rest of the day relaxing, napping, playing with our new gear, and eating left overs.

All in all, Christmas 2006 was one of my favorites!

Everyone Wants A White Christmas But This Is INSANE!

Wednesday morning, I was getting ready to go to work and I turned on the TV to watch the Today Show like I normally do. Instead of the Today show being on, it was non-stop local news covering the massive blizzard that was rolling into town. I had heard it was going to snow but I didn't think it was going to be a major blizzard. I was still planning on going into the office until I heard the news reporters say we are expecting 12 to 18 inches of snow in Denver. Geoff and I both decided to work from home. Thank goodness we did! We are completely snowed in. As of this morning, we have is 22 inches of snow in our yard. It is amazing.



One of the perks of working for the company that I work for is that we can work virtually (work out of our houses) without any problem as long as we have a high speed Internet connection and a phone. I have been working normally but Geoff's company shut down yesterday and are closed until Tuesday!


Geoff and the dogs spent about 3 hours shoveling and fetching. Geoff thew the tennis ball and Frisbee at least 200 times. Gus and Jake are COMPLETELY EXHAUSTED. One of the neighbors was nice enough to snow blow the sidewalk in front of our house but Geoff still had to do all the other walks. He backed the Touareg out of the garage because he wanted to go buy a new shovel (he really just wanted to use the 4x4) he of course got stuck. He was able to move the truck back in. We are hoping that someone blows the alley out or else Geoff is going to have some serious shoveling to do tomorrow.



Poor Barb, Rachel, and Andy were supposed to be flying home. Since DIA has been shut down and the entire city of Denver is a disaster zone, their flights have been cancelled. Rachel got a flight to DC on Sunday. Barb got one out on Monday. I think Andy is going to just stay in Denver. Geoff has upgraded our honey baked ham just in case they still can't get out and want to spend it at our house. The more the merrier!!!!



The crazy thing is, they are saying another storm is on its way in tomorrow! I have a few more things to buy so hopefully I can get out to the mall and the grocery store at some point before Sunday...


It is so weird actually being snowed in. If we want to go somewhere, we have to walk. Since we both grew up in Saskatchewan, Geoff and I are not strangers to snow or winter. Occasionally we would get a big snow (6" or so) but I don't ever recall getting a foot or more in a night. We would have 2 foot snowbanks but that was from weeks and months of snow accumulating.

It is beginning to look A LOT like Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are having fun at least. Oh if I go into labor, we are less then a mile from the hospital so we could make it there.

Baby Showers

I am very lucky to have such great friends and co-workers. A few weeks ago, I

For the work shower, about 13 ladies and I went to lunch at the local Italian restaurant. They had a great time telling me their horror stories about childbirth and child rearing. It was so fun. We ate lunch, opened presents, and of course had carrot cake (my FAVORITE!). Geoff and I received lots of blankets, burp cloths, teeny socks, onsies, toys, bibs, and things we don't even know what to do with yet.

On Sunday December 10th, Barb, Johanna, Alden, Rachel, and Kelly threw me a shower at Johanna's house. Those girls are absolutely amazing - they could have a party throwing business. It was so great to spend the afternoon with all my girlfriends with great food and cupcakes! YUMMY Again, Geoff and I received some amazing presents including our car seat, pack n' play, bath tub and all the tub accessories, books, baby bjorn, diapers, and more! We are so lucky.

Thank you everyone!

Decorating For Christmas

This will the be the first year that Geoff and I will not be spending back in Saskatchewan. I decided that we had to decorate the house and get a tree so it felt Christmas-y to us.



We decided against going to the mountains to one of those chop your own tree places (we will save that for a few years from now) and just went to the local grocery store to pick out a beauty. The last time we had decorated a tree was about 7 years ago so we didn't even remember what our decorations looked like!

Geoff put up the LED lights we bought last year in Canada. We love the blue.

Baby Classes

A few weeks ago, Geoff and I took some classes at the hospital we will be delivering at. We took an infant care class in which we learned how to change diapers, bath the baby, hold the baby, and what to expect in the first few months. It was good for Geoff and I who know nothing about babies. When we were learning how to change diapers, we were given a doll that had a diaper on it. We were curious to see if it was a boy doll or a girl doll. It turned out to be a girl doll so Geoff said that we are for sure having a girl now. He then wondered what if the doll being a black girl meant anything. I nearly peed myself laughing.

We then took the Childbirth Preparation class. This class taught us all about when to go to the hospital, what to expect in labor, how to breathe, and other things to do to get thru the labor. It was quite lovely when Geoff had to practice massaging my back and shoulders. We also toured the hospital - the birthing rooms are really nice and the recovery rooms seem quite nice too. There is an option to stay in the "suites" which run a mere $618+ per night (above and beyond insurance) - you get a chef and it is apparently just like a hotel room. We thought about it for about 1 minute and then decided that we will be staying in the regular rooms.

We both found it interesting that my due date was one of the soonest and I was the smallest pregnant lady in there. I was also the only person there that had a skull on my t-shirt :)

The Baby's Room

People were starting to have panicked looks on their faces when they would ask me "so do you have the room done yet?" and I would say "umm nope - we have not even started". To take care of that on the weekend of December 8th we went from not being ready at all to having a baby's room!

Barb moved into her rental house the first weekend in December. The next Friday (the 8th), I had someone come pick up all our old furniture that was in the room plus a few other things that we had that I decided needed to be tossed (nesting is in FULL effect). Later that morning, Geoff had made arrangements for painters to come give us estimates to do the baby's room and our hallway going to the basement. The first guy that showed up said he could paint that day so we said 'sounds perfect get started'. That weekend, the crib and changing table arrived as well so Geoff put that together too! We went from having NOTHING to having a baby's room in the matter of days! It is so strange. In the pictures you can sort of see the paint color - it is a tan/beige.

In the pictures you can see our new furniture, the paint color in the room, our new dining room table, and the bugaboo!

Baby Sitting

Eric and Jessica called Geoff in a panic - their baby sitter did not show up and they had tickets to the Who concert. They called Geoff and said "You need the practice - we will be at your place in 30 minutes with Ryder." Barb, Geoff, and I all just sat there staring at the baby wondering what we were supposed to do. We were all worried about what the dogs would do: Jake just smelled him, Gus would not stop licking him, and Charlie did not really pay attention to him at all.

Ryder is the most mellow kid ever. He just hung out with Geoff on the couch and FINALLY went to sleep. I went to bed long before Eric and Jessica came by to pick him up. Geoff was exhausted the next day :)

Thanksgiving

Geoff and I went to Scottsdale, Arizona to spend Thanksgiving with my dad and Deborah. We are lucky we made it to the plane... Geoff tested me to the max that day! Our flight was at 2PM and since Thanksgiving is the busiest time to travel of the entire year, I had hoped to be on our way to the airport by 12:30 at the latest giving us over an hour to get our bags checked, get thru security, and get to the gate before boarding at 1:30. Geoff and I discussed this plan the night before we left. Since I was working Tuesday morning, I was packed and ready to go Monday night. Geoff took the entire day off on Tuesday so he was planning on packing that morning. I was showered, dressed, and ready to go at 8AM and only needed to shut my laptop down before leaving. I even checked us in and printed off our boarding passes before 9AM. Geoff decides to sleep in until after 9:30AM. He is milling around the house, disturbing me while I am on a stressful conference call, messing around on his computer, drinking a pot of coffee, he runs to the post office, takes the dogs to the park, and then at 12:00 he decides it is time to shower and pack! I was livid and starving since I was hoping to grab something on the way to the airport. It is now 12:20 and there is nothing in his suitcase.
Since I practically have smoke coming out of my ears, he asks me to help him pack. He hands me the clothes for me to fold and put them into the suitcase. We are going for 3.5 days and he hands me 6 dress shirts, 7 t-shirts, 3 pairs of shoes, etc... I am screaming at him. He narrowed his stuff down to a reasonable amount. Barb is kind enough to drop us off at the airport so it is 12:45 and we finally are on our way. The planets must have been in perfect alignment because we made it to the airport and to the gate with enough time to eat McDonald's before getting on the plane :)

Our trip itself was really great. The weather was amazing (80's), we relaxed, we were in a carbohydrate coma the entire trip, and I took $80 off my dad while playing cribbage. Dad and Deborah enlisted Geoff's help with all things technical at their house. He picked out 2 massive lcd tvs and a new laptop for them to buy - it
is fun spending other people's money. On Thanksgiving, Dad made grandma's stuffing and cooked the turkey on the barbque! It was delicious. We also had mashed potatos, gravy, parsnips, peas, and cranberries. If this was not enough, after an hour or so, we had desert. Deborah makes amazing deserts and after having her pecan pie with ice cream the night before, we of course had massive pieces of pumpkin pie. I ate enough for 4 not just 2. Dad and Deborah spoiled us!

On the baby front, it has been moving a ton! It is bound to be a soccer player, runner, or something very active. Geoff and I just stare at my belly moving like it is possessed.

I finally picked out bedding and colors for the room. The walls will be tan and I have picked out a set of girls bedding and a set of boys bedding. Since the baby will be in the pram at first anyway, I won't order it until the baby is born. I am not one for themes so it is polka dots and stripes. It is by House Inc and is their Neapolitan style.

Belly Adventures in the UK

In order to better transition some of my work to my UK teammates, I traveled over to the UK for 4 days of face to face meetings. I left Denver at 6:30PM Saturday evening and arrived at Heathrow at 10:30AM Sunday. I took a taxi to Milton Keynes which is just over an hour North of London. I was completely delirious and was nervous I was going to get car sick but instead I passed out for the entire drive. I checked into the training center, took a nap, and headed to the mall of course. I bought a few things for the baby – the main thing being a massive stuffed sheep for the nursery.

I worked out of Kent Hill for Monday and then traveled another two hours North to Yarnfield where we have a training center. I stayed in this gorgeous bed and breakfast in this quaint English town near Stone. I kept commenting how gorgeous it was and the boys kept saying “it isn’t gorgeous – it is normal”. The brilliant green country side had beautiful farm houses with sheep and cows, gorgeous Tudor houses, stones covered in moss, and the friendliest people you can imagine. Everyone is extra nice to the American lady with the “bump” as they like to say.

The food here is very “interesting”. White pepper repulses me and it seems to be in everything. On the first night my dinner was completely coated in it so I just had chocolate cake. One lunch, my co-worker had a baked potato with a scoop of tuna salad on top of it! I was horrified and when I told them we put sour cream, chives, cheese and bacon bits on our “jacket” potatoes they were completely grossed out. They drink horrible instant coffee all day and the boys eat crisps (potato chips) for breakfast. I really enjoyed my rhubarb flavored yogurt, Twirl chocolate bars, and of course salt and vinegar crisps. One night I had fish and chips with mushy peas in an old English pub and a few spoonfuls of a traditional English desert sticky toffee pudding. I am guessing it was the sugar but the baby was seriously doing painful aerobics for a several hours!

The trip was very productive. It was great to finally meet my three teammates whom I talk to on the phone several times a week. We were able to accomplish a lot of work and it was nice to get to know the guys on a personal level. Their English sense of humor is so fun and being able to show them how to do things in person made such a huge difference.

On my flight home I managed to have three seats to myself so I was able to keep my legs elevated the entire flight. This helped to minimize the insane leg swelling I had on the flight out. I had no jet leg on the way to the UK with the exception of the first day being a disaster. I am interested to see how I recover on the return flight….

The Third Trimester!

We had our 28 week appointment today. Everything looks great according to the Dr and I am feeling totally fine. I am going to the UK on Saturday so I had to get paperwork stating that it is ok for me to fly. I start going every 2 weeks for appointments now. My belly has most definately gotten bigger. The baby moves a lot and sometimes hoofs me in the ribs which is the strangest feeling. I am not sleeping like a complete log anymore which is expected. The Dr told me I will start feeling exhausted again... hopefully it is not as bad as it was in the beginning.



Nesting is in full effect. We bought a new couch and purchased slip covers for some of our other furniture. I have hauled out a ton of clutter and we have been selling some stuff on ebay too. We don't have a lot of room so we have to clear out some stuff so we can fit all the new stuff.

Barb moved back to Denver! She is staying with us until she and her lab Charlie find a place. It is dog mania here - we love it.

Gus posed for the belly shot picture with me but Jake was too busy watching out the window for squirrels...

3 Fast Chicks & A Pregnant 1

Sunday October 15th was the annagural Denver Marathon. I convinced three of my girlfriends, Alden, Kelly, and Johanna to run the relay with me. It was fantastic. Our team name was 3 Fast Chicks & A Pregnant 1. Apparently at the awards ceremony they announced our name as one of the most unique. We should have had t-shirts made up especially since I got a ton of strange looks from the crowd.

We placed 8th out of 55 women's teams. The girls ran their lungs out to make up for my slowness - which was actually faster then I thought I would run (3.8 miles at 10:24 mins per mile)


Alden 5.8 miles in 48:20 at an avg of 8:20 per mile
Dori 3.8 miles in 39:32 at an avg of 10:24 per mile
Kelly 8.1 miles 1:04:47 at an avg of 8:00 per mile
Johanna 8.5 miles 1:09:29 at an avg of 8:10 per mile

We had a blast and are already trying to pick our next marathon relay to do!