Author Archives: Kara

38 Weeks and How I Feel

Posted in Baby #1, Pregnancy, Pregnancy Update by

As time ticks along and the countdown to my due date gets smaller and smaller, I’ve been asked a lot about how I’ve been feeling. I think it’s safe for me to say that I’ve been feeling a lot of things. Scared, excited, nervous, anxious, tired … but most of all? Done.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed being pregnant for the most part. Other than the nauseous feelings at the beginning and how uncomfortable I am now, I’ve felt great.

But I’m done. I could go into labour as soon as I walk through the door at home on Friday and be okay with that. My ankles are now cankles, I’m tired all the time (again), I’m too warm, I can’t sleep … it’s ridiculous. And yes, I know, I’ve heard it a million times already, “Enjoy it now because you won’t get any sleep once the baby arrives!” True, but at least I won’t be uncomfortable. I don’t miss not sleeping – I just miss being comfortable during whatever sleep I get, 2 hours at a time or not.

So I’m done. I’ve over being pregnant. It’s been a wonderful, eye-opening journey, and of course, I’ll do it again, but I’m done. Little Baby Evans, you can arrive any time you like – after work on Friday :)

How far along? 38 weeks

How big is baby?  She may weigh between 6.8 and 7lbs, according to BabyCentre.ca. I’m okay with that!

Total weight gain/loss: At my doctor’s appointment on Thursday last week, I checked in at a couple decimals over 150lbs, which, according to the doctor, is fantastic! So I guess I’m not a whale – Yay!

Maternity Clothes? I went and bought nursing bras on Saturday. How fun! I’m so glad they actually look nice and have underwires. My boobs couldn’t handle not having underwire support. Not even kidding. I’ll probably have to buy a wireless one for at night, but I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.

Stretch marks? There’s a new one on the underside of my belly that I couldn’t really see unless I twisted and contorted. Kyle was the first to point it out, but it’s quite faint compared to the others I have.

Sleep: Our weather has been whacked (rain-sun-rain-rain-rain-sun-rain) so our furnace has actually been kicking in. This results in me sweating to death in the middle of the night. I also have to pee all the time as Baby gets all ready to make her arrival. Silly child!

Movement: She’s still moving around quite a bit, but I’ve also been having a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions and some light cramping (which is normal at this point in pregnancy). You can really see her sharp little limbs when she stretches out, although I can’t figure out if what I feel is a knee, foot, hand or what-have-you.

Food cravings: Of course, because my feet are swelling and I have to limit my salt intake, all I want is salty food. I have movie theatre popcorn complete with butter and a flavour shaker last week and that was a bad, bad choice. My ankles looked like they were going to burst. :(

What I miss: Need I say it again? Being comfortable.

What I am looking forward to: My last day of work on Friday! I can’t believe it’s right around the corner, and to be honest, I’m going to miss work a little bit! I’m sure that once my year off is all done, it’s going to seem like the time flew right by.

Milestones: I started packing my hospital bag and the diaper bag last week. It’s about time I prepared a bit more! Of course, now that I have things more or less ready to go Baby will be late.

Photo:

And here’s another with me NOT in my baby-bump gear, just for comparison :)

Kind of looks like a swallowed a basketball.

Listy Friday

Posted in Lists, Listy Friday, Random by

– My boss announced his retirement yesterday. This makes me sad because he’s an awesome boss! It will be strange coming back from maternity leave and having a new boss … But – c’est la vie! I wish him all the best in his retirement, which begins in September.

– Speaking of maternity leave – including today, only 6 more shifts at work until I’m off!! I’m so done with being a work pregnant. It’s too much work getting up and walking across the office, and I’m just more comfortable at home.

– I would like to point out that stating your vehicle is “lady driven” as a positive when trying to sell it isn’t actually a positive, or at least not in my mind. Not to sound all anti-feminist or whatever, but some women really do NOT now how to look after a vehicle. Hell, even I’m a dumbass sometimes. I’ve backed into things, ran dangerously low on gas, didn’t bother to check my oil until the “Check Oil” light came on … Seriously – “Lady Driven” isn’t a good thing!

– My immediate co-workers/the people in my department, took my out for lunch on Wednesday to one of my favourite restaurants (a total coincident) as a send off/congratulations lunch before I go on mat. leave next week. OMG, I’m still drooling over how amazing my lunch was! Scallop pasta in a creamy white sauce – AMAZEBALLS. I ate so much, I pretty much had to be carried back to the office. (Almost – a lovely coworker gave me a ride back)

– My internet at home died while I was writing this post. Thank goodness for auto-saves!

– Here’s a story of convenience: My doctor works at my hometown’s poor excuse of an ER on various weekends (My hometown is actually where he started out as a doctor in the area way back in the day). The biggest event of the year for said hometown is next weekend and I wasn’t going to go because I’m afraid of going into labour while I’m there. Coincidentally, my doctor is going to be working in my (our?) hometown next weekend, most likely because of said event (It’s a rodeo – injuries are inevitable). I may just have to go to town afterall! Yee-haw :)

– Kyle and I busted out the wedding cake we had saved from when we got married (it’s traditional to save the top and eat it on your 1st anniversary!). Amazingly, it was still really good! It didn’t get dried out and the icing tasted even better, lol. We were pleasantly surprised.

– I’m sure I have 100,000,000 other things to say but I can’t think of them. Pregnancy brain FTW.

What are you weekend plans?

WTW: One Year Later

Posted in Anniversary, Kara and Kyle, Love, Marriage, Wedding-Talk Wednesday by

Technically our 1-year anniversary was on Monday, but in keeping with tradition, I’m going to post these questions today. I can’t remember where I first seen them, but it was somewhere in blogland for sure!

1. How it all began: how you met, first date, first kiss, how long did you date? First picture together…..etc.
We first met when we were about 6 years old! Although we’re the same age, Kyle was a grade ahead of me (due to where our birthdays landed in the calendar year. If I had been born 8 days sooner we’d be in the same grade and who knows how things would’ve played out! I digress…). We were in the same Grade 1/2 split class and he had a huge crush on my that continued all throughout our school days until we were 16 when I told him we should hang out one night. (Or maybe he told me that? I don’t recall!)
Our first official “date” included silly online computer games, 5-cent candy from the corner store and driving around in his car. We weren’t officially boyfriend/girlfriend at the time, but when the night was over and I was home talking to him on MSN Messenger (because that’s how you rolled back in the day) I told him how I wished I had kissed him. Being a no BS kind of guy, he came back out and our first kiss was before we were even BF/GF. We officially became an item on November 18, 2002 and dated for almost 8 years before we got engaged on November 12, 2010!

Our first photo together – Just after Christmas 2002!

2. When you knew he was the one: self explanatory.. but how and when did you know?}
Our relationship had A LOT of ups and downs – but what do you expect when you’re together for 8 years? I can’t pinpoint an exact moment when I knew that he was The One,  but eventually I realized that he was going to be there for me and love me no matter what. He really keeps me grounded, and I like to think that I do the same for him!

3. Proposal: how it happened, how long were you engaged for? Was it a total surprise? Pictures of that… etc.
The proposal was a surprise and totally out of left-field! I was sitting at our dining table, eating a cupcake before I started work at my second job for the evening. Kyle had actually bought the cupcakes as a surprise to mask the REAL surprise, sneaky bugger! As I was eating the cupcake, I told him he was the best boyfriend ever, to which he responded, “Oh yeah? Close your eyes!” I did, expecting something silly like a movie I had wanted or something like that, but when he told me to open them he was down on one knee and asked, “How about I be the best husband ever? Will you marry me?” I believe I responded with, “Are you serious?” followed by a “Yes” and happy crying. I don’t have any pictures of the moment, but we were engaged for 7 months before getting married.

4. The ring: tell us about it! Did you pick it out? Did he? Pictures! Tell us about his ring too!
My ring is a diamond solitaire (Canadian!) diamond set in platinum. It’s gorgeous and simple and really suits me! I didn’t pick it out specifically, but Kyle had a good idea of what we both wanted for my engagement ring, and he did an awesome job picking it out all by himself. He did me VERY proud ;) His wedding band is a tungsten band – Simple with clean lines.

Kara&Kyle369

5. Engagement/bridal pictures: let’s see em!
We never did engagement photos, due to our short engagement. We did put an announcement in the paper, and we did have an awesome photographer for our wedding day. You can view some of our wedding photos in this post.

6. The colours: show some of the flower and colors you used
Our colours were black, white and royal blue (or as Kyle calls it, “Ford Vista Blue,” lol). The flowers that I used were mainly white gerbera daisies with black centers (which was a HUGE deal because they also have a yellowish-white centered variety). I used them in the centerpieces for the tables as well as in the bridesmaids bouquets. My bouquet was white roses and white gerbera daisies.

7. The dress: was it what you always imagined? Did you have it made for you? White or ivory?
My dress was perfect, in my opinion ;) I’m sure I’ve mentioned this a thousand times before, but I never dreamed of what my wedding dress would like like when I was little. When I put it on in the bridal salon though, I just loved how it made me look and feel. It was perfect! That being said, I didn’t have it made for me, but I did have it shortened by a couple inches or so! The official colour of the dress is “diamond white,” so it’s not stark-white, but it’s not too creamy. Really, it was the perfect shade!

8. The little accessories: you know, veil? Shoes? Jewelry? What did your bridesmaids wear?
At first, I didn’t really want a veil, but my mom insisted on one! After trying one on when I had found my dress, it really helped pull everything together! My veil was simple with delicate beading along the trim – nothing too crazy! My shoes were pretty white flip flops with rhinestone beading that I still wear to this day. (Why not? They’re beautiful!) For jewelry, I only wore silvery glittery plugs for my ears (having them stretched left things a little limited!) and for the reception I took my veil off and wore a little rhinestone hair accessory.

My bridesmaids wore matching black dresses and I bought them personalized necklaces from Ritzy Misfit as gift to wear on the wedding day. They looked stunning! And seriously – they can wear their dresses to other functions too. I really wanted to think practical!

9. The reception: where was it at? Show us some pictures! What day did you get married?
Our reception was at a local hall at a beautiful local park, which made things extremely affordable! There was plenty of parking, a bar area and CLEAN washrooms! We were married on June 4, 2011 – probably the first and only beautiful day of June! It rained all month after that!

10. The cake/food: So tell me about what you had at your wedding!
Our cake was 3 tiers, with the bottom and top tiers being vanilla and the middle being chocolate. The icing was fondant. We had a roast beef buffet for dinner with all the trimmings. It was FANTASTIC as far as on-site buffets go.

11. Favourite part of the day and least favorite part of the day: can be anything.
I think my favourite part of the day was the end when Kyle and I were in the limo on our way to our “getaway” location. It felt amazing to finally really be alone together and think of the day.

My least favourite part? Probably when my FIL kept blurting out the answers to our trivia questions. He had seen the piece of paper with the Q&A’s a couple weeks beforehand and couldn’t keep his mouth shut, even though his table already got a question right to go eat!

12. Honeymoon: Where did you go? Was it good? ;)
Other than our wedding night getaway, we never had a honeymoon. Not to say that it wasn’t amazing or anything ;) But really, I don’t regret not having a honeymoon right after our wedding. Some people think we’ll regret it, but I don’t. We’ll have one eventually, just not anytime soon.

13. Thoughts on marriage: what is the easiest/hardest part? If you could change anything, what would it be?
For Kyle and I, I don’t think marriage made anything easier or harder. Since we’ve been together for so long, life just kind of resumed! The only hard part was getting used to referring to Kyle as my husband! It was quite the adjustment after 8 years of being my boyfriend!

14. First place that you lived together: pics if you have them!
We lived in our townhouse that we had bought before we got married, and in November last year, we bought a full-size house and moved into it! (Click the links for posts with photos!) We also rented a place before buying too.

15. Kids: do you have any yet? If not, when do you plan on it? How many do you want? Any tips on good/bad birth control?
Not yet, but we have one on the way at the end of this month! We definitely want two kids, maybe three depending on how things feel after two (Kyle really wants a son, lol). As for birth control – whatever works for you the best, really. I believe that there is no such thing as a “surprise” pregnancy unless you fall within that 0.1% zone for birth control (it’s 99.9% effective for a reason). The “pull-out” method is NOT birth control either!

16. Most recent picture of you and your significant other and what you love most about them :) and any other thoughts.

Not the most glamorous photo of us, but it’s the most recent! This is after working in the yard during a hot day!

I can’t believe that I’ve been married to this amazing man for a year already! It’s been one of the best years ever and it’s only going to get better!