Breaking Ground

Things are a-changing!!! :)

In the last few days, our backyard has been a stage with an action-filled play happening right before our eyes ;) Let me tell you, I know of one three year old boy who is caught up in the action (and his daddy ;).

On Monday, there were work crews on our yard bright and early. With the right equipment, it really took them no time at all to dig/trench our septic system and bury a 2000 gallon water cistern for our house.

This was my view from my back kitchen window at 8am. 

That snowy rectangle is my garden that is about to be no more.

I took this pic from the window at the top of our stairs.

Jett claimed the 'best seat in the house'. He was pretty thrilled. 

The crews were there doing house prep, but he got these fabulous hills to climb as an added bonus!

I think this is the tube attached to our cistern going in the ground.

There really is SO much to think about when building a house in the country. You don't have the urban conveniences of tapping in to septic, water, power, phone lines, etc. Everything has to be trenched in specifically. 

When the crews were gone, we explored our evolving backyard. The kids think it's great! I think they'll be disappointed when the house is brought and the piles of dirt flattened back into a "normal" yard. ;)

Today, the fun continued. A large excavator and truck arrived bright and early to dig our basement.

Again, this is the view from my back kitchen window.

It's really quite amazing how quickly large equipment can dismantle a yard that has been undisturbed for a century! We even had two large tree stumps that we needed removed to better access the new house site. The backhoe had them out in minutes! No problem!

Right now, our basement looks HUGE! They dig an extra 5 feet out from the perimeter of what will be our basement, which is a lot of space! It looks like we're building our own gymnasium!

I haven't been out to our house (in Hague) this week, although I'm itching to go! I think the house may be completely painted inside by the end of the week!

These next few pics are from a couple weeks ago. As you can see, the drywall is in, as well as the fireplace. We saw it last week in an incredibly dusty mudding/taping/sanding phase.

Living room ;)

Master bedroom. 

(Bed will go in the middle. Ensuite bathroom is on the left beside my walk-in closet)

Baby room

Part of the kitchen/dining room. 

Kitchen/pantry

My beautiful front windows!

Mitch saw the house yesterday and it was being primed for paint. Here are a few of the colours...

It feels like we're building some momentum as the building process continues. It's exciting to see the "ground breaking" here on our yard and I can't wait to live in my new house!

Baby #3 is a.....

And we are thrilled ;)

On Thursday morning, Mitch and I went into Saskatoon (sans kiddos) for a third trimester ultrasound.  I love ultrasounds (when baby is healthy, of course). Mitch and I both get a little giddy as we get to watch our baby move around "on the inside." I did feel a little guilty when the ultrasound tech asked me, "How far along are you?" "Just past 32 weeks," was my response. She then asked, "Is there anything your doctor is worried about?" To which my response was, "I don't think so."

We are fortunate to live in a place where it is so easy to get an ultrasound. I know this is not the case everywhere. My doctor that I see for pre-natal care (and who will hopefully deliver my baby) is a specialist and she likes to do third trimester ultrasounds fairly routinely. With Kalena, I declined the third trimester ultrasound because everything seemed good with the pregnancy and I didn't think it was necessary (AND we already knew that she was a girl ;) This pregnancy is going just fine and I have no reason to believe there are any issues with my sweet baby, BUT I 'indulged' in this late ultrasound mostly because we wanted to know the gender of our wee one (and he didn't cooperate at 20 weeks). Seems a tad extravagant, huh?

Here's a side profile picture of our sweet boy. You can see his little hand in a fist in front of his face. Those little hands were moving constantly throughout the ultrasound!

This is another side profile, but his hand is right up beside his face. Sweet boy.

In this pic, you can see our little man 'face-on'. I love how his little face looks so much more filled out than the 'hollow eye socket' look babies have at 20 weeks.

You may be thinking, face pics don't identify gender! And you're right ;) BUT I'll refrain from posting pics of baby genitalia, even in utero. Trust me, we saw the goods. He is a boy.

As we think about what we want our little family to look like in the completed form, three is looking like a good number. I come from a family of 4 children (I am the oldest), so it's taken me a while to come to terms with 3 being an acceptable number of children in one family. Mitch only has one brother, and three is seeming quite full and complete to him. ;) I really can't imagine being pregnant again! When this baby boy is born, we will have 3 children who are 3 years old and younger for approximately 4 1/2 months. (Pray for us, if you think of us ;) I think I've been pregnant more than un-pregnant in the last few years...

As I think about what our family dynamics will be like with boy-girl-boy, all close in age, I like it. Our token middle child, is also our only girl. I think Mitch was relieved to find out baby #3 is a boy ;) Already, Kalena has her daddy wrapped around her little finger, and I'm not sure he could've handled another girl! Also, Lena has three girl cousins born in the same year and two of them live close by. Lucy (my sister Carrie's daughter) and Kalena will even be in the same class at school in Dalmeny! Fun, fun, fun ;)

So NOW, we are left with the daunting task of choosing a name for this little gaffer. Mitch and I both find the whole name selection thing to be incredibly daunting. We don't agree on a tonne of names and I pick names apart way too much. As a middle school teacher, I try to think of every way a name could be made fun of... Is this helpful? Not sure...

I recently ruled out one of my favourite names for a boy. I love the name Tucker. I think it's a great name and it just so happens to be my grandma's maiden name, so there's a familial connection. BUT... we can all think of a not-so-nice word that rhymes with it. "Tucker, Tucker Bo-bucker..." You get my drift.

We will continue to scour baby names books and sites (such as THIS one) for a boy name that we love and hopefully, by the time he's ready to make his entrance, we will have agreed on one. THAT will remain secret, though. ;) 

If you have any fabulous suggestions for boy names that would sound good next to Jett and Kalena, feel free to send them our way!

The Fourth Quarter & a Head of Lettuce

10 weeks till due date. (Feels like FOREVER away still ;)

I think I can. I think I can. I think I can.

I had a prenatal appointment today. I always enjoy those, for a few reasons. #1- I get to hear that everything "looks/sounds good". (For which I am incredibly grateful) #2- I get to hear the swish swish sound of my baby's heartbeat through the doppler. Today, baby's heart rate was 139 bpm, which is apparently right in the middle of the 'norm'. AND #3- I get to have a kid-free morning. :) I am thankful for a mother-in-law who so willingly keeps my kiddos for me while I steal away and run errands.

Today, my phone also informed me that my baby "is as big as a head of lettuce." I think it's so funny that these apps/books always compare babies' size in utero to fruits and vegetables; especially since each fruit can vary so much in size! (Over-thinking this, I know.) I have put my due date as Dec. 10th because my Dr always refers to my due date as Dec 9, but my 10 week ultrasound said Dec 11th, so I went with the middle ;) Both of my kiddos, however, were three days late.... which would put me at Friday Dec. 13th. (I like the 9th or 10th better ;)

Obviously, this isn't a picture of MY baby. ;)  BUT I did book an ultrasound for 2 weeks from now. I can't wait to get a glimpse of my sweet bundle again AND maybe discover whether I'll be raising another little boy or perhaps another baby girl. Come on, baby! Talk to me. ;)

My app also compiled a list of pregnancy symptoms that some women experience at this point in their pregnancy. Unfortunately, I am experiencing nearly ALL of them.

Yep. I can't even remember all of the conversations where I've lost my train of thought in the middle... ;)  Wait. What was I saying?

Umm, ya. Although I think I'm generally a fairly clumsy person, my shins and arms a sporting more bruises than usual. 

SO so much. I sometimes just long to be able curl myself into a ball (totally impossible) so that my back won't feel so severely arched for a while! I know the belly pulls everything forward, but I'm sure that hauling my toddlers around doesn't help my cause. I think I may need to up the frequency of my massage visits...  I do try to wear my back brace if I'm doing chores around the house and many evenings I slip a bag of frozen veggies into the back of it, which does seem to help. "Get off your feet for a while"... SO not the reality for a mom of two toddlers.

YES. Having to head to the washroom more often doesn't bother me so much as long as there's a washroom nearby. Letting that bladder get too full... bad news.

Again, I don't know how to take the advice given here. Where am I going to find a dark, quiet room in my house?

I am not normally a person who is sick very often, but when I'm pregnant, I think baby sucks away all of my immunities and I get WAY more colds. I got a sinus cold a month ago and wouldn't you know it, I got another one a few days ago. I'm coughing much more with this cold, but I'm still congested. Blah! I hope baby's immunities are getting good and strong!

THIS is one of the biggest struggles I face with pregnancy. It's not every night, but several nights I lie awake, totally annoyed that I can't sleep, knowing that my sweet kiddos won't "take it easy on me" the next day just because I'm tired. Sometimes I get up and go downstairs for a snack, the internet or a glass of warm milk (isn't warm milk supposed to help you sleep?). I haven't really had heartburn or leg cramps with this pregnancy and I don't feel overly anxious, but I sometimes get very restless joints. I don't know how to explain it other than to say I feel like a wildcat getting ready to pounce on it's prey. Not the sensation you're going for when you're trying to enter dreamland. As if I could move fast enough to pounce on anything...

 I don't take many belly pics, but here is a 29 week pic I snapped last week. Yes, there is a light bulb pretty much sitting on my head.

I am closing the gap between me and the steering wheel. ;) I'm pretty sure that my belly was grazing the steering wheel by the time I reached my due date with my other pregnancies. So much to look forward to...

10 more weeks. ;)