Hospital visit and 30 weeks....

Here is a new pic of my belly at 30 weeks. So roughly 8-10 weeks to go, hopefully. We are hoping to take a pic every week now to see how much it changes. People say the weight gain is most noticeable in the last trimester so we shall see. So far I have gained 9 kg but expect that to ramp up in the next few weeks.
We went with the midwife today to see the birthing unit that we will be in. The rooms at Wellington Hospital have all been renovated and are pretty big and up to date which is nice. Each one has its own birthing pool too, which the woman (and man if he wants) can use for labour and for the actual birth if they choose. I am not sure Bryce would be keen to get in the pool during the the birth though....


Our midwife said today that Bryce's toilet would be down the hall, etc etc. We inquired why he wouldn't just use the one we have in the room and she said, "because sometimes there's more blood on that toilet and he might not want to use it". Bryce and I both looked at each other and freaked out a bit. We have been on a steep learning curve (as I am sure most first time parents are) with all this stuff and sometimes we still get a lil weirded out by the craziness of a birth. Its gonna be awesome, but I am not a good one with looking at strange fluids on the best of days, so I am a bit concerned that I may gag a lot when yucky substances are coming out of me. I guess that it is good training for the yuckier stuff that is gonna come out of both ends of our child soon after!
Check out the bars they have installed on the wall of the birthing room for women to hang on to ease some of the pain during contractions. Wild!

Rotovegas weekend

We hadn't had enough holiday time yet, so last weekend we headed up to Rotorua with a friend/co-worker/international client of Bryce's, Luc who lives in Quebec. The weekend was supposed to be geared around work and showing Luc some of the stores where his product is being represented, but there was time to fit in lots of MTBiking so the boys did just that. They managed to fit in 4 rides in 40 hours, which was a pretty good effort for one weekend. Carl drove up from Napier to join them in the last ride, which I think was the last one Luc would have been able to endure. He loved all the riding but he was pretty tired after not having ridden in a few months (due to all the snow in Quebec!) Needless to say, on our long drive back to Wellington on Sunday, Luc was asleep within 15 minutes of the drive.

The boys riding endeavours suited me just fine as I got to do some nice walking trails in the redwoods and around Lake Taupo, plus take some time to do some shopping for clothes that fit.
It is difficult at this stage of the pregnancy to not buy maternity clothing that I will only be in for 2 more months, but to try to find clothing that fits now and won't look too big afterwards.
As you can see, I am definitely protruding out the front these days. I seem to spill more often on my tummy (when I eat) more than I have ever before (except maybe when I was a baby!) and it is hard to squeeze past people in stores and close surroundings now. Sleep is also less enjoyable and comfortable. Seems a bit unfair that just before you begin several years of sleep-deprived nights, you don;t get a chance to bank up heaps of sleep because you are too big to sleep properly! Plus, the frequent pee stops in the middle of the night add to all the enjoyment! The April project is healthy and kicking up a storm each day and all night so we are pleased that things seems to be going all right.
We started antenatal classes last week and had our 2nd one this week. So far we have had to watch 2 birthing videos, amongst all the other activities we do to learn about labour etc. Sure is an eye opener. One thing I have learned that makes me feel prepared is that if my water breaks in the supermarket, I should drop a jar of pickles......

Holiday continues...but only for a lil more...

After the cracker of a golf game, we continued on to Napier to have a yummy BBQ with Carl and Denise. My bump seems to be craving corn on the cob, so we were sure to stop at a fruit stand on the highway to get some of this goodness and grill it up on the BBQ. Denise had also made us a combined birthday cake which was really yummy (as was Rachel's and Kim's!) and so we felt like superstars yet again. What a nice holiday visiting all these friends who made us feel at home wherever we went!

This continued as we travelled a bit further south to spend the night camping with Trish and Sinka and their kids Sam and Herny. I was keen, bit tentative about spending another night in a tent, as we had spent 3 nights already in a tent and I was feeling a growing sense of discomfort having to get up several times each night for pregnancy pees, then trying to get back into a cramped little tent.
Trish lent us the cushions from inside their caravan which made our tent a haven of comfort as you can see in the picture. What a great sleep that was!!!


The next day I felt so great I even decided to take up the offer to go fishing with Sinka and Sammy on the boat. Not a great idea. Great fun, and amazing to be on the open ocean etc.....but I can get motion sickness at the best of times and I think the big belly just made things worse. Sinka wasn't loving the idea of my vomit being good bait for the fish so he turned the boat around about 40 minutes after we left. Not before Sam caught two fish and Bryce got a 1/4 of one. When I say "a quarter" I don't mean a fish that was not whole. I mean, his fish was so small, it looked like a toy. I think he was pretty chuffed he caught something though. I will also give him the benefit of the doubt to say that had his wife not caved in to the sea sickness, he would caught a "big'un"!!



SO after the fishing excursion and some yummy ginger beer to settle the stomach, we continued on home to pick up our Lil Eddie (our cat) from the cattery and enjoyed a good nights sleep away from a tent. Unfortunately, it is away from holiday feel for Bryce too, who had his first day back at work today. He came home frustrated, saying people shouldn't have to work, and just be able to vacation permanently! Someday, maybe!

More summer fun...

I forgot to mention, I felt like a queen on my birthday. I was greeted with a big hug from Kim and John's son Jackson in the morning while still in my tent. Then we went shopping, swimming and Kim even dug me a pregnancy hole for my belly so that I could lie on the sand on my front. How great that felt!! Then we had a mini golf game, which was nicely interrupted by Canadian phone calls from Mom and Dad, Tim and then Rob all within about 10 minutes!
Also, while back at the camp, Bryce dutifully painted my toes as I am starting to have difficulty reaching them! What a guy!

After leaving Whangamata, we went to Tauranga to see Pam, Andrew and Quentin. Pam and Andrew have lent us their crib/cot that was Sam's. Seeing as Sam is going to university this term, I think they decided they could do without his crib for a wee while. We feel honoured to be able to take care of it for the next few years.
(the pic below is our lunch with Pam, Andrew and Quentin, on their deck; what a great place they have!)

We went back to Rotorua for another night with Mark, Rachel and baby Holly (and another birthday cake made by Rachel!). The next day we drove off to Napier, with a stop in Taupo to play some more mini golf. I had a great game (which was a nice change from the game I lost to Bryce a few days before!) and even got the high score of the day, which resulted in my name being written up on the chalkboard. I felt like a real "afflete"!

Whangamata

We stayed in Whangamata with Kim and John and all of John's family. There were about 10 different campsites that held his relatives so we enjoyed getting to hang out with the whole Kelly tribe and feel a part of the crew. We were 120m from the beach and spent some days playing in the waves and enjoying the sunshine.


We had my birthday while up there as well, and Kim went to great lengths to organise a surprise cake for my birthday dinner at a restaurant. It became difficult due to the fact that the cake could not be taken in early to the restaurant because the new owner of the place was being very difficult and was certain that they "sold food, not given food from customers". We were pleased to take our business elsewhere to a restaurant up the street who accomodated (and made some good money) off the party of 10 we had. Of course, I knew none of this as Bryce and Kim were trying to keep the whole cake thing a surprise still!

One of the coolest things we got to do was walk to the island, at low tide, which is just offshore. It was pretty cool to navigate your way across a sand bar to get to another landmass! Supposedly, several years ago, they had to rescue some locals who walked across but then could not make the return trip due to a school of tiger sharks who had decided that the sandbar was a nice place to hang out and play. (the pic below shows Whangamata beach with the island we walked to on the left)

Holiday cont...

We drove up to Rotorua to spend a night with Mark and Rachel and to meet Holly, their 3 month old daughter. What a cutie! I learned some helpful diapering and feeding tips from Rachel and enjoyed watching Mark do some real Daddy stuff too. I am looking forward to seeing Bryce as a father in only a few months!



The next day we drove further up north to the Coromandel Peninsula to spend s few days with Kim and John and their family in Whangamata. Mom and Dad and Bryce and I spent a day here last year, but they only got to see the town from under the heaviest cloud of rain last year. Lucky for us, it was stunning this year.

Our babymoon/Summer Holiday

So New Year's was a bit quiet, with only Bryce and I spending a night at home, drinking fake champagne (sparkling grape juice), and doing a massive crossword puzzle. Felt like Nana's but really enjoyed being chilled out and not having to fuss about a big night. We got a chance to do that at Clare and Brent's wedding two days later anyway! On New Years day we went down to stay with Donal in Wellington and see Avatar in 3D. What a cool movie. It was even cooler when we stayed to watch the credits at the end and saw Donal's name in the IT section. He is really enjoying his job and is great at what he does. The movie was incredible and having the 3D effects made it more memorable. Bryce and I both ducked when a grenade flew past our heads at one point.


Clare and Brent got married on the 2nd and had a beautiful wedding in a hall in Paekakariki. The weather was not great and so the ceremony had to be held indoors, but Clare lit up the room in her gorgeous wedding dress and the hall was decorated really nicely; it was easy to forget we were inside all night.




We left the next day for a week's holiday in the sunshine, up north. It was awesome to get away and for Bryce to get some time free from work. Plus, we figured this was probably our last retreat alone together for "we become three". Lucky there was only two of us too because the car was jam-packed by the time we came home, with a MTBike and a crib/cot, plus our tent, sleeping bags and all our other stuff too! What is it going to be like with a car seat and all the baby stuff all parents need to take whenever they go anywhere? Surely the MTBike must still fit in the car......

Christmas 2009

So the marking is over; thank goodness for that, and the holiday has begun!!! After 1300 exams I am finally happy to put "physics" behind me and move on to art of baking. Truly, in addition to "baking a child", I have been baking up a storm in the kitchen. Must be the nesting starting, who knows.

We headed up to Wanganui for Christmas with Uncle John And Cushla and the rest of the clan. We had about 17 people with us for Christmas lunch and it was great to see everyone. For those of you in a winter Christmas, we had full sunshine all Christmas day. So much so that it snuck up on me while I was sitting under a tent and the back of my arms got a wee bit sunburnt. However, I must say that there hasn't been many Christmas days where I have been complaining about sunburn!

In the afternoon, we headed to the park to play teeball with some of the lil cousins. All was going well until another little boy from a different family decided to join in and grabbed the bat and ball and had a swing with the bat, then decided to take off with it; so we had to stop the game a moment to get the bat back. Too funny.
The next day was Boxing day so Bryce and I hit the stores and got some great deals on a camera and a microwave. We had been meaning to buy both for a long time, especially the camera. Never really felt the need to overheat my food quickly in a metal box (the oven has always been fine), but EVERYONE seems to feel that if you have a baby, you MUST have a microwave. So we caved. It won't be too bad I am sure. I will have to get used to using one again though. I tried putting some ham in the microwave today for a minute and luckily a friend stopped me after 15 seconds and said, "I think you will find it's done already!" as its spluttering away. Felt like a grandma with an Ipod!
After all of our shopping we went to the pool with the kids and me tummy being hard to hide in a bathing suit made me stand out a bit. First, I wasn't allowed to go on the water slide which was pretty disappointing. Then when I ran through the inflatable obstacle course that they have over the water, I kept slipping which slowed me down. Some kid must have caught up to me and landed on top of me over some hurdle and said, "oh sorry, miss, I don't think these things are meant for people as big as you!". Needless to say, I gave him a bit of an "accidental" shove to knock him in the water after that.

Yesterday, Kirstin (Bryce's childhood friend) and her boyfriend Ant from Australia came to visit for the night in the midst of their New Zealand Christmas tour. It was great to see them and catch up with Pam (Kirstin's mom), Andrew and Quentin for a bit before they all headed back up north.
No plans for New Years yet, but we are very excited about Clare and Brent's wedding on the 2nd. Then we head up north to do some "last summer as only two" holidaying before coming back to school and getting ready for the April Project to kick it off!

I'm getting bigger!

We went out for Bryce's birthday last night and I had some fun wearing this dress which showed off the bump pretty well. Don't think I will be able to fit the dress by New Years though at the rate I am going!
Just over 25 weeks now.

Meet Mr G.

More marking procrastination....

This is a clip from Summer Heights High. An australian show that involves one actor who plays 3 different characters. Politically incorrect and so funny. Maybe funnier because I am a teacher.
(Warning: there is a bit of swearing in this clip.)

23 Weeks.

What you will note here is an attempt by Candace to do anything but mark school exam papers, no new update in ages then a whole lot at once. Here is the 23 week 'getting bigger' shot.

Vball reunion

I had a game organised last week between the Senior Girls vball team I coached for 5 years who graduated in 2006 and the Senior Girls from this year. It was great to see all the old girls again and catch up with what they are doing now. Makes me feel a bit older to see how they are done, or almost done university now! Fun day though.

More photos....

I keep meaning to have a weekly update on this thing but I seem to go in cycles: whenever I have time to add to it, I have nothing interesting to add. When I am too busy to add stuff, it seems like that is when I have stuff I want to put on here!
I will just add some of the most recent photos from my phone and do a quick entry. I seem to be in one of those phases where they is too much to do right now. Doing exam marking again this year and still have about 1000 Physics papers left to mark. What was I thinking?


This is a photo of Kim and I taken at a karaoke bar during Clare's hens party.


And this one is Clare (the hen herself) and Kim and I before the night became a bit more wild. Belly dancing and karaoke were fun. Even for a pregnant chick! I found it weird to try to swing my hips, and shake my pelvis, without actually being able to differentiate the difference anymore between my waist and hips!


This is a photo of John and Bryce, the day after John had eye surgery. This is the first time Bryce had ever seen his uncle without glasses. John's vision had been improved from the surgery and he said he was feeling naked without his specs. Awesome!!


This is some of the teachers and I at school who are dressed up as zombies for our end of year "dance on stage, look like weirdos and entertaing the kids" dance. I am on the left. A pregnant zombie made some of the kids a bit weirded out. He He

New photos of the April Project

SOme photos from my trip...

What a great time it was back in Canada! Vegas was great too, but nothing beats being at home with Mom, Dad, brothers, nieces and nephews and friends! And Clamato by the bucketful!

The vacation so far...

Tim and I and our big belies. Not sure what he is growing in his though...

Robyn's parents cottage, near Parry Sound. Great place. The swimming in chilly cold rainstorm weather was interesting. Memorable though. Bryce made some good "cold" noises whilst bombing off a jumping rock.

The Knight ladies (Kristie, Maire, Mom, Kathy and I)

Mom, Dad and Bubble

The pool at Treasure Island in Las Vegas where we stayed at the beginning of the trip

The last two weeks...

Last weekend I went to a Murder-Mystery birthday party, that was set like we were all at a school reunion. We all had to dress up like school students and then had different roles, etc. My role was House nerd, or SWOT.

Yesterday, we headed down to Wellington to have lunch with Donal. It is so nice to have him back in New Zealand, as he has been back in Ireland for most of this year. He is working for WETA workshop, who is the company that did all the Lord of the Rings cool effects and designs as well as King Kong and lots of others. He says there are cool replicas of characters from all these movies all over his workplace.
We then went to the World Press Photo exhibit which has award winning photos taken by journalist around the world from the last year. ONe of the most incredible photos was of a family in China who were busy cooking in their kitchen, with the countertop all tidied and cleaned off to cook from, but there were no walls to the kitchen. Nor was there anything but rubble in the rest of the photo. (It was taken after the big earthquake in China last year). But in the midst of all the destruction, this family were using the only space they had left to cook dinner. Just amazing.
After that Bryce and I went for a walk around a forest in the middle of the city called Otari-Wilton's Bush. We hiked up to see an 800 year old rimu tree, the oldest in Wellington.

After that, we made it up to Otaki to see the Pram College canoe polo team play in the finals of their competition. Neat game similar to soccer or hockey, with the net being above the water and everyone in a pool with kayaks. Great day.

Marking and packing today and then off to sunny Las Vegas tomorrow!!

Our Plum tree

I am loving looking out the window in the morning and seeing our plum tree covered in snow. Well, actually, no snow, but the white blossoms look like snow and being a Canadian, I would expect to see snow-covered trees in the winter. It is weird having a long winter with just serious wind and rain, without snow. Lucky, we are almost near the end of it and in only a few weeks, B and I will be lapping up the Vegas sunshine!

1000 awesome things

I love this website. Anytime you feel low, check this site out and remember that bad days don't last! There is always something good in your day!

http://1000awesomethings.com/

I love this lady...

My brother introduced me to this video. How great!

Whole lotta shakin going on...

So, yep. We are fine. Nice to see so many people worried about us way down here. Nobody takes the term earthquake or tsunami lightly ever since 2004 eh?
Bryce and I were watching TV when we felt a massive jolt (biggest I've felt since being here) and then some shaking afterwards. It was all over within about 10 seconds though. Eddie sure wasn't happy about it. She jumped up real quickly (from being lazy in front of the fire) and her ears were pinned back with a thick tail.
It turns out to have been a 7.8 earthquake down in Fiordland, which is to the west of Invercargill (the southern most city in NZ). They have been having lots of aftershocks but not too much damage. One guy said that he was sleeping in his campervan and thought some young punks were standing outside shaking his caravan. He was yelling at them and when the shaking stopped, he realised after when checking outside that there had been no one around! Some other guy said he was in the bath and the water was sloshing from side to side!

This is a seismic graph from last night that shows a big shake on the drum at almost 10 pm. The red area means that the shaking was so much that they block it off from shaking too much and wrecking the rest of the graph. As you can see, the shaking has continued since. We haven't felt anything else since though, up here in the BIG P!

The reason why I ride cautiously...