2 weeks and counting

2 weeks today our bub is due! We are really hoping he makes an early appearance, but we'll see what happens :)
The Olympics are hard to ignore, and Nathan is finding it hard to study with exciting Olympic events and practice contractions happening.
Tiredness has really hit me today, I'm hoping it's just because Daniel got up early. Lots of naps for me today.
Today my friend Ramie rang and said "can you come watch the ladies gold hockey match right now?" Unfortunately I couldn't as Nathan was locked away in a study room somewhere, but it would have been awesome! We've been cheering on the Canadians (especially since Aussies aren't in every event) and getting a little more into the hockey.

Today we spent the morning at Jericho Beach. Daniel had fun chasing crows, ducks, seagulls, and climbing logs. Glad we packed gumboots, as the ground was surprisingly muddy.

Clear days should be treasured in Vancouver!
We finished off the morning with a picnic in a sheltered spot. Vegemite sandwiches for D and ham & salad wraps for us.
Daniel couldn't even keep his eyes open for the trip home! A successfully busy morning for out little guy :) We'll have to come again before we head back to Australia, he had so much fun.

Olympics, baby & sunshine!

Well, it's impossible to ignore the Olympics here in town. On Tuesday night I went downtown with my friends Jackie & Ramie, and we checked out the Olympic flame (behind it's chain-mail fence), LiveCity Downtown (one of the celebration sites), and the general buzz near BC Place where Canada was playing a hockey match. We even got a photo with one of Wayne Gretzky's jerseys (a very very famous Canadian hockey player). Tomorrow night Nathan and I are watching Russia & Slovenia ladies play ice hockey here at UBC (one last date before the baby comes!). Speaking of which, the midwife told me today that our baby's head is engaged and ready to go, yay! That was one of my big fears, that he wouldn't engage - just like Daniel. So hopefully sometime in the next 20 days we will meet this little guy! :)

And the sun has been almost constantly shining lately, which definitely improves moods everywhere. Nathan has cloistered himself indoors at the top of the high-rise right near us, as there is a study room up there with lots of windows. He is getting a good amount of work done which is great. Daniel and I are spending a fair amount of our time out in the sun. If it was rainy, I'd find it really hard to be bothered to get rugged up to go outside (yes, my energy is on the low side!) Yesterday we even played with some water and watering cans in our little garden (warm water from the kitchen tap) as it wasn't too cold. He is missing his little playmate Ixmu, and was glad to see her at playgroup on Wednesday.

It's February!

February has arrived - not that it is too significant mind you, I don't feel like anything really big has happened, but time is definitely passing.

I have 5 weeks til my due date - kind of scary, it has definitely snuck up on me. Feeling a little daunted to say the least. I mentioned to some of my friends that I didn't feel 'big enough' compared to my first pregnancy. Guess little boy Cunneen heard me! I'm not huge, but I did stack on a few kilos in just a few weeks. I'm partly blaming that large packet of Doritos that was sitting in the pantry with its MSG-laden tastiness (an extra ingredient not found in Aussie Doritos). And the ice-cream I bought for visitors. And watching TV during Daniel's naps.

The Winter Olympics will be starting in just over a week. And in just over 5 weeks Mum will be here :) Looking forward to that! Australia has almost 50 athletes registered which is pretty good considering we don't have much snow (maybe as much as Vancouver haha). Mind you, Canada has around 200 athletes - the benefits of being the host country! By the way, we could definitely do with snow on some of our mountains if you feel inclined to pray for some 'good' weather.

Busy Weekend

The weekend has come and gone already, soon it will be February! I am feeling that we are very busy of late, and it doesn't look like settling down just yet.

Friday night we participated in a Burn Notice Premiere party - thanks Ziggy! Burn Notice is a TV show that we love, and are excited to have caught up to mid-Season 3 just as it is being aired on the telly.

On Saturday, Daniel spent most of the day with his friend Ixmu (the girl I care for during the week) while Nathan and I went to a Prenatal Refresher course. We all enjoyed ourselves, and even learned some new things. And it was nice that Daniel was still happy when we picked him up at the end of the day :-)

And yesterday we went snowshoeing with Frank and Amber to Mount Seymour in North Vancouver. There's not very much snow up there! Quite a bit less than when we went on NYE. I wondered if I was crazy for going snowshoeing when 7 months pregnant? Needless to say I made the call to head back when I decided my bladder and muscles couldn't take too much more. Daniel was in a backpack carrier we borrowed, which Nathan & Frank used. Unfortunately he was colder than we realised, so a little miserable. But he was being a trooper, and pepped up once we had lunch. He spent quite a while smiling and staring at a boy blowing bubblegum bubbles, it was very cute!

We were excited to also catch up with Nathan's sister Ellen on Skype - she has just moved to Disney World in Florida for 6 months.

Tonight I am going to a 2 hour knitting for beginner's course (just for fun!) with Amber, we are visiting Mark, Angela & baby Isaac on Wednesday, and Thursday/Friday we are hosting a prospective Regent student, plus all the regular stuff that goes on during a normal week. (And missing out on a few things too :-(, hopefully we are not too busy!)

Bread

Fresh bread with butter. Yum. Was still hot too!


Daniel & I were pretty full from dinner, but it was too tempting. Nathan will be jealous, and ask why I made fresh bread the night he was at class! I squeezed myself onto the other chair (hope I don't break it) and we sliced, buttered and enjoyed. May be the best loaf I've made yet! :) Whenever I make it I always wonder why it's been so long since the last time. Daniel helped poke and prod this one while I was kneading.

Allergy Testing

Here is Daniel's arm -- track marks care of the allergy doctor we saw this afternoon. They had me put on a topical anesthetic cream an hour before and that did the trick - he had a numb arm, and Daniel watched as every needle was inserted (5-10 mins between each one).

We were at the doctor's for 3 hours. I took our laptop so we watched some Wiggles, looked at some photos, as well as read, played with the toys in the waiting room, and made a few trips to the washroom (for me, not Daniel ;) ).

I know this picture isn't very clear, but the column on the right had the two main allergies (bottom, and 3rd from bottom) which were carrots (incl celery and parsnip) and corn (which is in eeeeeevvvvverything! corn starch/flour or glucose....have a look at ingredient labels). No more cornflakes for brekky, sorry buddy! He also showed allergies to oranges (therefore all citrus) and beef/veal (I didn't know you could be allergic to beef!). So the next month will be interesting as we cut those things out and see what happens. But it does mean that we will be able to reintroduce cow's milk, which is easier on the budget than soy. I hope he still likes the taste!

About half-way through the testing Daniel looked like he had had enough (it was nap time). Apparently you're not supposed to eat during the testing. But the doc said we could have a snack, and that helped out a lot. Little boys can't go for very long without eating!

Anyway, he was very very brave, the staff were very impressed, and now it is all over! I'm not sure if these are permanent allergies, or if he has the possibility of growing out of them, but I'll be asking that in the follow-up appointment in a month. Makes me wonder what I could be allergic to! But since I'm not showing any symptoms I'm not going to spend all that money to find out.