Facts and figures

• It's been too long since I last wrote;
• I'm 26 weeks pregnant as of today. I think that means my third trimester is about to start. Let's hope the final three months will be as smooth sailing as the first 6!
• We just got back from a week vacation at a cottage on Mink Lake (near Eganville). Miss the water and the quietness already. Mosquitoes, not so much.
• Krista, Ian Meara and Molly came up for a day to check out the lake and feed some of the ducks. We all had a blast!
• We're at the beginning of a heat wave. Or so they say. Weather predictions have been unreliable this summer. However, it is really hot outside right now!
• We had our house painted and it looks great! Fresh paint does miracles. It did take a bit of effort trying to get our house back to normal and cleaned up afterwards, but it was worth it.
• We ordered our first baby furniture and picked up a stroller (thanks Mom and Dad!). It's starting to become more real now.
• My sister got engaged a few weeks ago, and is secretly planning her wedding now :)
• Murphy and Zora have a weird relationship going on. Zora thinks she's a cat at times.
• Fertile has decided to start sleeping and hiding in the closet. Maybe someday she'll come out?
• Zora still doesn't like water, and her swimming lessons resulted in Nolan getting some decent scratches. She still loves us though.
• I have been eating more meat in the last few months than I have in the last 10 years.
• Last night, it was a toss between a hyperactive baby and itchy mosquito bites that kept me up for hours.
• I've been bugging Nolan for a couple of weeks now that I actually expect a gift for my birthday next week. 
• Since our fence is dog and cat proof, the cats have been enjoying lots of yard time as well.
• Our friend Stefanie who moved to Australia came and spend some time here. It was great to catch up.
• One of the white pine trees I planted a couple of years ago died.  I now got a butternut tree from a friend to see if that will survive.
• We also took out a willow bush besides the house (too close), but planted cuttings of it along our fence. And so far, most of them are surviving!
• Some days I feel like I might as well move to the Ottawa Valley, given the amount of time I spend at the PRF, especially this August coming.
• I need more vacation time and am not ready to go back to work on Monday.
• Our backyard looks great with lots of flowers and colours. A wetter summer does have its advantages.
• Next time I'll try to post some pictures.
• Speaking of pictures, Nolan got a remote controlled helicopter that can take arial pictures. Kinda cool!
• Nolan is also doing some additional obedience training with Zora. They both need it.
• We both wish we were still at the cottage and are now contemplating buying something for ourselves.

Pregnancy and work update

Time seems to be flying by! And really, life just keeps on rolling.
I'm now officially 21 weeks pregnant, which means that we passed the half-way mark. Wow! We had our 20 week Ultra-sound last week, and everything looks good. We don't know whether is going to be a boy or a girl, that will be a surprise. In the meantime we're trying to figure out names and are slowly realizing that it seems easier than it sounds to come up with some decent names! Hopefully we succeed :)

I'm feeling good as well, although I can tell I do get tired more quickly. But I think that's normal? What might have something to do with it, is that work has been crazy busy lately as well, to a point that it's hard to let go of it at times. Which of course doesn't help with the tiredness problem. But hopefully that will ease up soon as well. I am learning to say no more often, and take it easy, finally, so that is good.
It's the busy time of year for us though. Fieldwork is in full swing at the PRF, contracts need to be put in place, and on top of that, most of the people on my team are either on leave or have reduced their hours, so a lot of the work is ending up on my plate. Maybe taking a year of for mat leave is not such a bad idea!  Although it's hard to imagine to be off work for such a long time. We haven't fully decided yet if Nolan will take a part of that as well.

We, well mainly Nolan, spent the day yesterday emptying out our house (main floor). We having it painted this week, so everything had to be taken of the walls, all knick-knacks and plants had to be put away, and we had to empty the bookcase and hutch so it could be moved away from the walls. At least it will give us an opportunity to clean it thoroughly once their done. And of course, it will be so nice once it's done!
It's been a couple of months of house reno's. We also got a new roof last month, and we found out we had weasel (!) using our house for its hunting grounds... So we had to have someone come in to seal off the holes. Not fun, and if they were just mice (like we've had before) I wouldn't be too concerned, but weasels are way too vicious to have a nice relationship with, and I'm not sure the cats would take care of them. Their cool to see, but rather outside than inside!

Nolan is still running, and I just stick to the walking. Suits me fine and Zora likes to walk. That dog never runs out of energy! It will be great when she is old enough to take running or take along the bike. An easy way to burn of some steam. But in the meantime he's spending a lot of time playing with Murphy, and that gets him back in shape as well, so a win-win situation.

We also we finally able to put our garden in, and have been enjoying some strawberries and rhubarb this year. Hopefully the tomatoes, peppers and eggplant will also do well. And of course the flowers and plants to add some colour. Can't wait for summer to really get here!

Algonquin Park

We've had summer-like weather for over a week, and as luck would have it, we'd planned a weekend in Algonquin Park with Walt and Deb right in the middle of it. It was beautiful! The weather was awesome, albeit a little chilly at night, and no flies yet! We did several hikes, socialized, and caught up. Zora was great and I think she really enjoyed herself. All she did when we got home was sleep! We definitely had a great time, and are thinking of going back before the summer is over!

Below a couple of pictures:

Couldn't help but share!

This is just too cute. Zora and her new-found friend!

Update

So, since the big news has probably sunk in by now, we can now go back to a day-to-day basis :)
Thanks for all the nice messages though. So nice to read!
Everything is going well. We had an appointment with the midwife on Wednesday, and she was happy with how things are progressing. She also found the heartbeat, which is always reassuring (we'd seen it on the 8 week ultra sound, but that was almost 5 weeks ago), and weird and special at the same time.

In the meantime life just continues as usual. Work is good and busy, but fun. Spring is around the corner, finally, and I can't wait to spend more time outside of the office! The nice weather is also a great excuse to take Zora for long walks when I get home from work. My favourite walk is in the Greenbelt, where yesterday I stumbled across a coyote or wolf, just enjoying the sun fairly close to the trail:

It kept an eye on me, but didn't move. It was hidden a little bit, but still clearly visible. Definitely cool! And only 10 min walk from our house! Better keep an eye on Zora, she'd make a good dinner :)

Nolan is doing well. Getting excited about the nice weather as well, which should mean lots of running! My running is almost non-existent, but I walk a lot every day so at least I get enough exercise in. And it's great to have Zora. She forces us to get out, and we all love it! We're also looking forward to getting the backyard ready again for the summer. Add some colour and excitement to it. The crocuses are finally blooming and the tulips are coming up as well, so hopefully they'll bloom soon as well. This weekend we're going to cut down the willow tree beside our house (it's too close for our foundation), but we'll use its cuttings to green up the outside of the fence and create some privacy. Hopefully they'll take off!

The cats are doing well too. They're totally used to Zora now. Murphy and Zora play together, while Fertile just wants Zora to leave her alone (and Zora respects that), and she just goes her way. It works!

So all in all life is good. And actually quite normal. The fact that we're getting a little addition to the family still feels a bit surreal, but I'm sure it will feel real soon enough!

1+1=3

Finally some real news... Nolan and I thought that a puppy and two cats is not enough for our little household. So, we'll be getting an additional MacAfee somewhere in the fall of 2013! (in case you're wondering, yes, I'm pregnant!)

So far things are going really well, and we're both excited about this new adventure. I think we definitely have a lot to learn, but I'm sure we can do this. And as a good start: Zora graduated from her Level 1 Obedience class last night, and hopefully that taught us some parenting skills as well.

We will keep you posted on all the developments, but will leave some time to let this sink in first.

After all, never say never!

Long time...

Since I last posted. Almost a month ago. I guess there is just not much to tell these days! Spring is still a long way away (we haven't seen our lawn since December, as it is still covered by several inches of snow). But some birds are coming back, such as the robins and the red-winged blackbirds, so spring can't be too far away. And the fact that the days are so much longer (or so it feels) also makes it a bit easier.

Nolan was fighting a nasty flu bog for a while. We even ended up at the hospital, since they wanted to take chest x-rays to make sure he didn't have pneumonia. Luckily that was not the case, and he seems to finally get over his cough (four weeks later...).

Zora is doing great. Still puppy-hyper, but also very happy and getting better at her obedience classes, although we still have some things to learn. But she'll get there. She is definitely a great addition to the family; even Murphy thinks so! They play together quite a bit and look each other up, so that's a good sign. Fertile is indifferent, but she's old and as long as she can sleep in her bed in the sun, life is good for her (so we're hoping for a bit more sunshine...).

Work is also good but busy. We're getting close to year-end (our fiscal year runs April 1 - March 31), which is always a busy time. But I'm having fun, and that's the main thing. And next week will be a short one. I get Friday and Monday off for Easter, and decided to take Thursday off as well, so a nice long long weekend. Too bad Nolan has to work Monday :)

We went to see Whitehorse last night. A band we saw play at Bluesfest a few years ago and really enjoyed it a lot. They played at the NAC last night, and absolutely rocked. Very much worth it! And a great way to start celebrating being together for six years (today six years ago we met for the first time in person, at the Chapters in Kanata. Who knew we would actually end up in Kanata!).

Besides that, life is pretty much the same. Running has been pushed to the background. With Nolan sick, I walked Zora a lot, and didn't always have the energy to run as well. We finally started again today, so hopefully we can bring it back up again to reasonable distances this summer. And when Zora is old enough, she can join us. Right now we just walk her quite a bit, trying to keep her calm. But we can walk her for an hour, and then she easily runs like an idiot in our backyard for another 30 min. Too much energy!! I guess it keeps us in shape as well.

Happy Easter!