They found the ark huh?

I noticed today that there has been another claim to the discovery of Noah's Ark. Judging by the article, it looks quite authentic this time around. I think it looks pretty cool! It'd be awesome to see in person if it really is the ark. I found it interesting though, that a historical find of the "biblical" nature has created such a stir within people (read the comments below the article). It seems that most people either accept it as a good possibility or get really worked up and angry about it ...as though an archeological find can be made and not be made a fuss about, so long as it is claimed to be at leaset 3 million years old and doesn't involve God;) Lol... COME ON, is there no excitement left in finding a miracle?!??

Nesting? Perhaps.... =)

I've been aching to paint our bathrooms for months now! I think I'm just getting tired of big bold colours. Mind you, I still love dark, rich colours but not in every single room of my house... haha! Too bad I didn't realize this sooner (like the first time we painted - so much easier to paint then!). Oh well, all's well after 6 hours of taping, cutting in and rolling - ug! DONE :) (ABOVE: before) (ABOVE: after) The main bath feels about a million shades brighter and slightly bigger with the new mirror we added:) (before) (after) Basement bathroom has thankfully gone from a lime green (which turned your face a nice noticeable shade of green while staring in the mirror to get ready for the day) to a bright but light sky blue. It feels SO much brighter and even a bit bigger with the mirror.

35 week Ultrasound

This week was chalk full of baby related apointments! Monday morning I packed a bag full of toys and headed to the hospital to get some blood work done (Glucose screening test - the one where you drink a bottle of what tastes like orange pop and then wait for an hour with an almost-headache from the sugar high)... the kids played quite happily the whole time! I even had a comment from a lady in the grocery store the next day who said, "I saw you in the Hospital waiting room yesterday and I said to my husband, 'those kids sure are well behaved!!'". So maybe 3 isn't such a bad idea afterall;) Haha... I'll try to remember that a year from now. Tuesday afternoon required another trip to town for a regular doctors apointment. She was pleased to see that the baby was still growing well but that it didn't seem very big... and yet I was (almost) surprised when she said that she didn't want me to go over my due date, so would induce if the baby hadn't come by that time. She is concerned that it may get too large in the end, considering my history of big babies(!), which is completely understandable. However her method of induction is by using that gel which helps bring on contractions (there are a couple types and I don't remember which one it is)... I'm not so sure about that. I think I'd prefer a more natural way of inducing if that's what it comes down to. My friend used a midwife for 2 out of 3 deliveries and both times she drank a funky concoction which also helped bring on contractions. Really, I suppose either way is a method to sort of "fool" your body into going into labour before it's ready, yet I think there has to be a balance. When I was pregnant with Atalie my body was well ready for WEEKS ahead of time, yet my water wouldn't break... once the doctor broke it everything happened on its own quite quickly. Knowing that now, I would have had him break my water weeks ahead to avoid big baby #1! Anyways, Wednesday (yesterday) consisted of a trip to Cranbrook for a final ultrasound, just to check on the size of the baby. Looks like I'm right where I should ("should", being relative I suppose) be. I'm measuring 35cm in diameter for 35weeks and the baby is 5lbs 11oz. Babies can gain half a pound per week in their last month or so, which would put this little girl at 8lbs 1ounce on her due date. One thing to consider and help control the size of a baby is diet. My plan is to watch my sugar/carb intake carefully for these last 5 weeks so I can keep her under 8lbs. My goal in doing this is to perhaps convince my doctor to allow me to wait a few days past my due date to go into labour naturally, if possible. Something I hadn't considered, or even heard of, until yesterday is the recent studies which are showing a link between induction and autism. I looked this up online b/c obviously it's a concern to me if it indeed holds true! I found a lot of speculation and a few web sites which were insistent that "studies" proved it to be true... yet when I read on, I mostly discovered that this link wasn't stumbled upon, it was looked for, meaning all kinds of studies are being done to try to FIND what is causing the rising rates of autism in children. It was mostly stated throughout these web sites that a very high percentage of children with autism also were born via induction - this was the closest link which had been found in a hope to resolve the sudden rise of autism. However, one person pointed out that when you look at the millions of babies who are born each year via induction and compare that percentage to the percentage who have developed autism, the numbers are actually quite insignificant. One thing I do know is that this generation seems to place a high priority on "scheduling" labour/delivery. I think this scheduling is partially due to pure convenience and partially due to avoiding complications during birth - which leads me ask how many of these complications are avoidable in the first place? If someone had told me during my first two pregnancies that I could significantly reduce the chances of a big baby (thankfully I had great doctors, alot of grace and a body which so far seems to respond well to pregnancy/labour) by diet alone, I would have JUMPED on the idea!!! Instead, most the information I was accessing stressed the importance of a "healthy" baby, meaning you should gain between 30 - 50 lbs and eat a well balanced diet, not skipping any meals etc etc etc... it was never once suggested that a Mother-to-be should think of that glass of orange juice as an easy and avoidable source of sugar, rather than just a rich and important source of vitamin C. My doctor told me that in the previous generations women would come into the doctors office sweating and smoking with nerves if they knew they had gained half a pound too much that month. Mind you, much has changed since then ;) however she raises a good point - how many complications were there due to a baby's size? Not many. Anyway, food for thought. And again, I also believe that there is grace for every decision when it's made with wisdom and care... we don't have all the answers and must do what we believe is best within our reach of knowledge and faith. I realize all these 2D ultrasound pictures look the same :) and yet there's still something special about each one. Just for clarification, this is a side profile: the top of her head/forehead is to the top/right; her nose and mouth come down her face to the left and just above her nose is a little hand. =) 5 more weeks!!!

34 weeks ... 6 more to go!

My assistant and I set up for another mini-photo shoot this morning. I'm 34 weeks along with only 6 weeks (give or take a few days!) to go and figured it was time to document another prego-photo. What shoot would be complete without a photo of the photographer AND her lovely assistant!??

Out with the old - in with the new! NOT.

Aiden received a little grey elephant from some friends of ours when he was first born. Both our kids (but mostly Atalie) have TONS of stuffed animals to play with, yet this became Aiden's beloved choice. He totes it around everywhere he goes, fascinated with the feeling of poking its tail or nose inside his own ear or nose. Needless to say, it gets many baths in the washing machine and has become more of a raggedy rat than a soft cuddly elephant over the past 2.5 years. As one lady in Superstore said, "It looks like a well-loved little elephant". Yes indeed. Kevin and I have been talking about trying to replace it with another, as it's a "Shining Stars" animal, easy to find in any toy store. We weren't sure if Aiden would want a new one or even accept a new one, but we decided to give it a try. Afterall, it only cost $6.99 to try. We felt bad about the possibility of taking the old one away and forcing him to love the new one just as much, so we decided to let him try the new one out and see if he'd take to it. Our chosen method was to quickly snatch the old one and put the new one down in its place while he was busy playing, as though nothing had happened. Of course Aiden is smarter than that! He immediately picked it up, softly said "nooooo", as though to tell us "this isn't the same elephant guys" and then came to me to reach behind my back for the old one. When he saw both elephants side by side he got a huuuge grin on his face, as though his little world had just gotten a whole lot bigger!! He held them both up by the tails inspecting their similarities, then sat down to hold them up by their foot and make sure they both had a star on the bottom of their back left foot, then said acceptingly announced, "TWO!" with a big toothy Aiden smile. Since then, he's carted around TWO elephants instead of one. That's TWO elephants to wash, TWO elephants to find for nap/bed time, TWO elephants to shake the dust off when getting into the vehicle, TWO elephants to keep track of in the grocery store and TWO elephants to care for... of course, I'm sure Aiden will do all the caring. We'll do all the rest;) Here we have Aiden answering my question, "Aiden which elephant do you like the most?" (holding up the old one)

Easter in Seattle

We made a second drive out to the West coast this past weekend... possibly against our better judgment, as we were sick, the weather turned wintery and our pockets were slightly short of what we'd hoped they would be... but the trip carried on! Needless to say, we're greatful we did. The kids don't mind driving long distances apparently and we didn't have any meltdowns in the vehicle over either 10hr driving period! I think they quite enjoy just sitting there, looking out the window with their stuffed animals. I put a few movies on for them but they didn't ever ask to watch one and seemed fine when we turned it off again afterwards. So glad! Here are some snapshots of our time at Mom and Dad's place: Atalie, opening her birthday gift from Nana and Papa (games!). Aiden, opening a gift as well so he doesn't feel left out;) A new Easter dress! :) Birthday cake for Daddy and Attie. A little extra help to blow those candles out;) Someone from the community donated this playground to the church (conveniently in Mom and Dads backyard, right beside the church building). We managed to sneak out twice while it wasn't raining... although it still felt quite cold with the wind and damp chilly air (and having colds). The kids didn't seem to mind of course! Atalie looks about the right size for this slide... ...Kevin however... =) About to collect some Eastery Eggs! Sunday morning was the only time we saw sunshine and the wind ceased to blow! Woohoo:) "Here you go buddy!" "Choca!" (chocolate!)