Practice Makes Perfect!

1. Jason perfecting his newborn cradling 2. Ryan Elgin Baynton 3. Jason, me, Eric and Ryan

Today we went to visit Craig, Laura and Eric and their new baby Ryan. He was 4 days old today and it was the perfect excuse to squeeze in a bit of practice time. He's so tiny. I forgot how little they are when they're first born. Eric's pretty excited he has a little brother and refers to Ryan as "our baby", it was very sweet. 3 1/2 months until we have one of our own!

The Nursery - Stage 1

1. Jason putting the dresser together in our dining room 2. Jason sorting out the directions for the crib 3. Jason working on the crib 4. Baby's sturdy new crib 5. Baby's sturdy new dresser/change table 6. Baby's closet looking the neatest it ever will.

We started work on the nursery this week. It used to be our office, so everything in there got moved to our guest room. The guest room isn't as spacious as it used to be, but it's still cozy! The nursery walls are 2 shades of yellow stripes on 2 walls and the other two are painted in the softer shade of yellow. We haven't "decorated" yet because we're still hoping to find out what we're having. I'm drawn to lambs though, so I may give in and get some stuff before then. We'll take more pictures when we really start to decorate.

The view from here

I noticed today that I can no longer see my feet. sigh.

6 months down, 4 to go!

Here we are at 6 months. It seems to be going by so fast. I keep reading how around this time women start to get bored with the pregnancy and just want it to be over. How can you be bored with the constant backache and heartburn to keep you busy? ha ha! We're all doing great. The baby loves to flip and turn and kick, it seems this kid isn't fond of sleep which doesn't bode well for us. I spent the week emptying out the office (hello garage sale!) and planning the nursery. We bought the crib and a dresser/change table. Jason put the dresser together right away, but I made him hold off on the crib cause our dining room was running out of space! We're very anxious to meet this baby, but I'm enjoying my pregnancy too much to wish it through faster, and Jason loves being the skinny one :) We're really looking forward to our visit at the end of April. Until then, keep checking the blog. We love and miss you all!

Baby's First Car Accident

Yesterday I left for work and it was a day like any other. After driving an hour I made it into Owen Sound. As I was coming up to a set of lights I got this stabbing pain in my tummy right around where I've been feeling most of the baby's movements. It completely caught me off guard and scared me and I looked down, I have no idea what I expected to see, but there I was looking at my belly. When I looked up again there was a large white van making a left turn from the parking lot on my right, right in front of me. I slammed on the brakes and tried to steer to the right of the van but the road was slick and I ended up slamming into the rear right side. I came to a dead stop and the van kept making it's turn to stop a little behind me. I sat there for a couple of minutes with a death grip on the steering wheel trying to get a hold on what just happened. The pain was gone and my car was a mess. I didn't hit the van hard enough to deploy the airbag, thank god, or have any seatbelt burn, but where I hit on the van, and where I hit on my car, it looks like the car may be a write off. I eventually stumbled out of the car clutching my cell phone and shaking. The other driver came over and when she saw I was pregnant was so nice and comforting and helped me to sit down in her van. They called an ambulance even though I felt okay and I spent the next three hours at the hospital taking a bunch of tests and talking to the OPP. That wasn't fun. The accident was totally my fault but the OPP was very nice and understanding and felt the accident was caused by mitigating circumstances. He made me feel a lot better. I still was charged with running a red light and I got fined, but never having been in an accident before I wasn't sure what to expect and thought I was going to be arrested or something, so it was quite a relief. Jason showed up at the hospital as I was giving my statement and was there for one of the tests the doctors performed to check on the baby. I not only felt the baby kick for the first time during the test, but we actually saw it on a sonogram print out. That was the biggest relief of all. We don't know what's happening with the car as of yet, but as long as the baby's okay, all's right with the world.

Jumpers and booties and socks, oh my!

I went shopping for some storage containers this weekend as our office is becoming the baby's room and we have a LOT of stuff in there. I headed out to Walmart and somewhere between the front door and the cash register I ended up in the baby section. Me and the other new moms and pregnant women ooo'd and ahhhh'd over all the cute little outfits and accessories. The only difference was they all seemed to know who they were buying for. I spent 3 hours online the other night trying to find a "unisex" themed decor for the nursery and I'm now convinced no such thing exists. I found adorable outfits with little fire engines and teddy bears playing baseball and comforters with little pink butterflies and ballerinas, but nothing I thought would work either way. And then I decided, cute is cute, and this little jumper was cute. So even though I still have NO idea what the nursery will turn out to look like, at least the baby will have a cute little outfit with a happy looking giraffe on it to wear when he/she finally arrives.

5 months and counting

I'm getting quite the belly now. At this rate I'll be a whale by the time I'm due. The baby moves all the time, but it's still not strong enough for anyone else to feel but me. We're starting to plan the baby's room, but since it's taking over our office, we're putting off decorating until the spring. I still don't have any strange cravings which disappoints me a bit, but I'm sure Jason's glad he's not being sent out for chinese food and ice cream at 2am.

It's a...Baby!

Well, we wanted to find out what the baby's sex was, but it's little foot and the umbilical cord were in the way. The technician tried hard to see something but the baby is determined to keep us in suspense! What we do know is that the baby is perfectly healthy and cute as a button. This whole ultrasound experience, although not our first, has made the whole thing a lot more real for us and we're more excited than ever!

An evening with the Baynton's

1. Eric showing us his best Superman pose. 2. Laura and I comparing bellies. 3. Jason crushing Craig.

Tonight we made the drive out to Wingham to visit Craig, Laura and Eric. Eric is getting huge! It's amazing how fast they grow up, I'd swear he was eating baby formula 2 months ago. He's also the smartest little boy I've ever known. We had a good time catching up, watching Eric run around like a super hero and trading pregnancy stories. Laura's due for a C section March 24th at 8:00am, I wish I knew exactly when our little one will be making their debut!

baby's first trip to mexico!

We spent the week of January 6th to the 13th in the Mayan Riviera for our good friends Phil and Paula Jane's wedding. It was a nice break from the winter and the wedding couldn't have been more beautiful, nor could the bride.



We spent a day in Playa Del Carmen shopping. Here we are on the beach.


We decided to help out PJ with a little marital advice on how to be a good wife...mainly by panicking and flailing around until Phil doesn't notice that the laundry isn't done and takes her out to dinner. Left to Right: PJ, Mary, Cathy, Simone, Teri , Me and, of course, the baby!


The guys played poker almost every night. Clockwise around the table: Jason, Troy, Bob, John, Phil, Jameet, Randy.


Jason and Phil kayaking the morning of the wedding.


Me, Phil and Jason before the ceremony.


PJ and Phil walking down the aisle.


Me, Cathy and Simone watching the bride and groom take pictures. (That's not champagne in my hand, it's 7Up!)


Riding off into the sunset.


The happy mommy and daddy-to-be.


Our last day in Mexico. We never left the beach!

...and so it begins.

Well, here I am, 4 months pregnant. I'm HUGE! It's been interesting so far, morning sickness wasn't fun, but seeing the baby dancing around on the ultrasound monitor and feeling it move for the first time was. We find out on February 17th whether the baby will be wearing pink or blue home from the hospital. (Between you me and the wall, I think it's a boy.) Of course we'll be thrilled either way, we're just anxious to decorate the baby's room!