We're Still Alive and Kicking

Contrary to popular opinion - we are still alive and well. And (drum roll please) tax season is over!!! Oh joy! Well actually its over on Monday but the last day of tax season is usually a pretty laid back day and we all leave early to party. So for all intents and purposes - I'm done.

Now for some updates. Emily is doing so great. She's growing like a weed still and is just about 18 months old (my how time flies). She's very tall (some of her 24 month clothes almost don't fit her anymore) and she's starting to put her words together for sentences. Her latest words of choice however are "no" and "bye".

And now for some updated pictures:

Emily "helping" Uncle Kelly and Daddy move patio stones into the backyard.

Emily and Daddy dancing before getting ready for church.

Happy Easter everybody! We had an Easter egg hunt at Grandmy and Grandpy's and then got some more goodies at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Emily cheering on the Canadian women's hockey team at the world championships which were held here at the MTS Center. Our women won the gold handily (must have been all that cheering from Emily)!

Emily riding around in Daddy's new wheelbarrow. She thought that was the greatest thing ever.

Emily helping Daddy get the tiller out so he could get started on the garden.

17 Weeks

I saw my OB for the first time on Thursday morning. I have only gained a pound in the last month which means that in total I have actually only gained 4 pounds so far. I still find that hard to believe with how big my belly is already!

I've had to start taking iron three times a day, an extra folic acid pill once a day and an extra calcium pill once a day along with my prenatal vitamin. As Dr. Taylor puts it - "those babies are sucking you dry".

I have my second ultrasound on May 3 so that will be nice to see how everybody is doing. I also had a triple screen test done last week to test for downe syndrome and spina bifida. Dr. Taylor said she would call if the test came back positive within a week so no news is good news. She said that it is possible for the test to come back positive with twins and then we would have an ultrasound to rule things out for sure.

I will be off of work and on disability somewhere between my 25th and 28th week. That puts me off of work somewhere between June 12 and July 3. I am hoping to make it to the end of June and then start July off with Emily and get to spend some quality time with her before the twins are born.

My due date stays at September 25 and we will just have to wait and see how things go and hopefully everybody stays puts until after August 25 - anything above that time the doctors consider a bonus.

I will start having fetal assessments every three weeks or so at about 22 weeks. They may be more frequent depending on what they are monitoring for but I'm hoping that once every three weeks will be sufficient.

That's all the updates for now. We'll keep you posted.

15 Weeks

I worked from home today so that I could take care of Keizer. I took him to the vet this afternoon and he is now on antibiotics for the next 10 days. Hopefully they will help him start to feel better!

Here are some pictures of Emily's new bed (although she will have nicer bedding than what the store had on display - yuck).

Emily's new dresser.

Finally, me at 15 weeks. I am about as big in this picture as I was when I was 6 months pregnant with Emily. Scary - very scary.

Status Quo

Time keeps marching on and it seems like it is going faster and faster. This past weekend, Greg and I traded parenting days so we each got a good dose of one on one time with Emily while still having time for ourselves.

On Saturday, I attended the men's breakfast at church (the men of the congregation get together on Monday mornings for breakfast but once a year they invite the daughter's of the congregation to have breakfast with them). I went with our babysitter Kathy and sat with her father's gaggle of women that he had invited. We had eggs, toast, bacon and sausages and we were served coffee and tea as well. Plus the best part - no cleanup! Following that, my mom and I went to e-children and bought the place out. We purchased a bunk bed for Emily (with a mattress of course) plus a dresser for her new room. We also got a double stroller, a second infant car seat and another set of infant bedding for our second crib. I also think I may have found a bedding set for Emily's new bed but still need to look around a bit before I make a final decision. That night, Greg went to the MTS Centre to watch motor cross and I had my girlfriends from high school over and we had a great time catching up and chatting. We always wind up eating way too much and laughing way too hard!

Sunday after church, Greg headed over the the convention center to get the autograph of some ultimate fighter guy. Please excuse my ignorance on who this person is but Greg was happy to go to the car show and get his autograph. We also made our first attempt at making "beer butt" chicken. It turned out pretty good too so I think we will make it again.

Finally, poor Keizer is under the weather. He started throwing up and has had the runs now since Friday (well the throwing up stopped on Saturday but still). So I called the vet today and now my poor boy has to fast until tomorrow morning and then he can have a bit of rice and beef to try to settle his stomach. He also has to have some Pepto Bismal to help with his runs too (don't ask me how I am going to get him to take this stuff but I'll figure it out). If he still is not feeling well, then he will be off to the vet on Wednesday - thank goodness for retired granddads who are willing to take their possibly vomiting and potentially pooping grand dog to the vet for their grateful daughter and son-in-law!

So that's our update - had a great weekend and a sick dog. I'll post some pictures of Emily's new bedroom set soon.

Wonderful Husband

I have a wonderful husband. Last night I got home after work, had some dinner and then headed off to a meeting at church.

When I got home later that evening, he asked me to come downstairs. He had made arrangements for our massage therapist Erin to come over to give me (and him as well) a massage last night.

It was a great surprise and it was nice to be pampered for an hour. I feel great today. No more knots in my shoulders and neck.

Did I mention that Greg is wonderful...

This Weekend

This weekend Greg, Emily and I went to our friends' Steve and Jen's place to spend an evening playing cards and hanging out. We had a lot of fun and it was nice to see them again because we haven't had the chance to hang out with them for a long time.

Saturday, Emily and I headed down to St. Vital mall where the RCMP and Child Find Manitoba were putting together child identification kits for parents. Emily had her height and weight taken (33 inches tall and 28 pounds) and had her hand prints done and had her picture taken. At the end, they gave us a package with a laminated photograph with all of her personal identification along with her fingerprints. We spent the rest of the morning shopping and then met up with my mom and dad for lunch. After that, we went home, Emily napped and I relaxed. Saturday night, we went for a walk as a family (including Keizer) to Dairy Queen for some ice cream and then we watched a movie.

Here is a picture of Emily celebrating St. Patrick's Day.

Emily Talking

We took a quick video of Emily one morning after she just woke up to get her to tell us the words that she knows how to say.

Enjoy!