I can see the FINISH LINE!

Well today is the day we have been counting down to since the beginning. DUE DATE! 

Unfortunately Baby is still not here! But I had an appointment with my doctor this morning and I am booked in to be induced on Feb 5. That is unless I go into labour before that day. Let's hope I do because I hear being induced makes labour really hard right from the beginning. So maybe our little peanut will decide to make its entrance earlier than the 5th but then again maybe not. Only time will tell! So we will have our baby in 8 days or less! I am staying positive and I will definitely try to do a lot of walking, eat some spicy food, perhaps I will try acupuncture and whatever other natural ways there are to help bring on labour. So here it goes! I hope the next eight days are good to me! And I am so excited to have an end date in sight! Baby is almost here and I am more than excited to meet this little wiggler! 

And A Happy New Year!

Jorden and I had a wonderful Christmas and New Years! We spent our time here in Taber with the Holst's. There was plenty of food, fun and family! Good times had by all!

Christmas day marked me reaching 35 weeks and then New Years day marked me hitting 36 weeks! And now I have reached 37 weeks which is considered full-term! WooHoo! It is crazy to believe how fast everything has gone by. It feels like only yesterday when I found out we were having a baby, and now I only have 3 weeks until my due date! Heck there are only 19 more DAYS! There were moments when time seemed to crawl by, but looking back at it now it has FLOWN by! I have been really lucky too. I have not had anything much to complain about during this pregnancy which is definitely a blessing. I have only just started being uncomfortable and feeling like everything is squeezed in and trying to poke out in all the wrong places. But I am so excited for this next step! Not the whole birthing thing, I really don't know what that is going to be like for me, but I am so excited for the result of finally having our baby in our arms! AND knowing what it is. We have names picked out for either a Boy or a Girl and I am so excited to finally be able to use a name and not just call the baby IT.

Jorden and I share the same Birthday, just a year apart. So this Christmas my In-laws decided to buy us a combined Birthday and Christmas present. They really did spoil us and gave us a new camera! So now we can take decent pictures, that is once we learn how to use it. It almost intimidates me at the moment. I have never been very good at taking pictures even when I have a camera with me sometimes I forget to snap a few photos in those key moments. I guess I have to get practising now! We have the tools and now we need to use them!

Since we did not feel comfortable travelling in my current state this holiday season, we were unable to see my family who all congregated in Kelowna this year. I come from a large family and get together's seem to be getting harder each year, but we are trying! There are 8 children in my family. The oldest 6 have their spouses or partners. Then there are the kids that keep coming at a growing rate. There are currently 9 Grand -kids and 2 more are due to be born this month! (Paige and I are due 5 days apart! So we will have to see which baby decides to come first!) So in total the amount of people in our family is currently 23, soon to be 25! I can only imagine that it will keep growing from here and that number will continue to climb upwards.

This week I will hopefully be able to see one of my sisters and her family. They are coming out to visit their various friends and family. We will finally be able to meet their daughter Kadence who was born back in August. So I am pretty excited for that. Hopefully they will still be around for when we have our baby!  Two birds with one stone... ha maybe not, but it is a thought.

I am still working Monday through Friday. I figured just work up until the baby comes. I would probably drive myself crazy at home anyways. At least at work I have something to do and distract me other than the thoughts of the impending birth. At my appointment this week my doctor told me things are starting to get going and baby is head down so that is a good sign. He also jokingly said, "you could have the baby this weekend, I am on call." That would be nice let me tell you, so if I could make it happen I would but the BABY will come when it is ready. I just have to keep telling myself that, and remind myself that I cannot make it happen when I want it to. Patience is something I seem to have a little less of now. I am just anxious for the whole thing and wanting to know when it will happen and what the baby is! But no one can answer those questions for me unfortunately, I just have to wait... And WAIT I shall.

I will keep all updated on when it actually happens! Don't worry! Until then, I hope you have all had a wonderful holiday season and I wish you all a Happy New Year! 

Christmas

The birth of Jesus Christ is why we celebrate Christmas and it is something to be celebrated! I hope we can all find ways to keep Christ in Christmas.
Go HERE to watch the Nativity and share the true meaning of Christmas.

Have a very Merry Christmas! 

I hope we can all try to remember the Savior, not only this holiday season but always. 

Let us remember His Birth, Life and Sacrifice. 

My thought for the day...

This is so true, at least for me and Jord. We are the strangest people I know! But that is so great. After we are laughing over something, that others may not find amusing, I usually stop and say our poor children will be the strangest little creatures because of us...

BUT they will have a lot of fun! 

We as a couple tend to laugh a lot. It began when we were dating and has not stopped. We have been enjoying each others company since we met and it has always included laughter.

Thank you Jorden for always making me laugh. 

Especially when I am not in the laughing mood. 

Thank you for Loving me as I am with all my 

weirdness and quirks.

I cannot imagine FOREVER without YOU!

Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock...

It's official! I have made it into the 3rd trimester! 

Exciting... YES! 

Nerve wracking... ABSOLUTELY, WITHOUT A DOUBT! 

This is when the count down officially begins! Yes I know there is still 11 weeks until my due date, but that really isn't a long time. Especially when I work full time and have a bunch of other things on my plate. I feel like a ticking time bomb, but in a good way, if a bomb can ever be good... The good part is there is a baby once this bomb goes off. There is just so much to do and such little time to do it in. 
Jorden and I have been trying to figure out everything, and get everything that we may need. I am trying not to stress over how far behind I feel, one step at a time or one thing at a time. But I know that it will all work out in the end, and I don't need to worry so much. 

27 Weeks 4 days
&
28 Weeks 4 days

Yes I wear pretty much the same thing every Sunday. I have plenty of casual clothes but limited dressy apparel. Need more clothes? Maybe, but oh well, not the end of the world.

We had another ultrasound this past Monday. I love ultrasounds, except for the fact that the room we were in was so hot and that I almost passed out, not such a fun experience. She had to stop the exam and help me sit up and relax for a minute, our tech was even nice enough to get me a drink of water!
BUT we did get some pictures of our little one and this time we actually got some of its face! Looks like a cute face to me! 
(I may be a little biased) 

Baby's profile

Little nose and lips!!!

 We also found out that the baby is still head down so that is good news. It looked quite cramped in there already so I am hoping that he/she stays head down or else it is a C-section for me, and I would rather avoid that if at all possible. But if that is how it needs to happen that is okay, just as long as our baby comes into this world safely!

Best Time of the Year

One is Ken's the other two are Jorden's

We LOVE the autumn time. It is probably our favorite season of the year! The colours, the smells, the weather. It's just a great time! There is one thing that Jorden loves the most about the fall and that is HUNTING. Jorden loves to hunt and every free moment that he has he goes out. It is nice that he has a hobby that he enjoys so much! Especially one where he gets to be outdoors. Pheasant season opened not too long ago and Jord has been able to go out and get a few pheasants then bring them back to eat. I have tried it and it is pretty good! This past weekend Jord was able to get two different time slots in the Taber Pheasant Festival. So he, his dad, and some family friends went out on those two days to hunt some pheasants. They did really well. The limit is 2 per day per person, and I believe they almost filled their quota each day. 

Jord's first coyote of the year, Oct 2013

Other than pheasants, Jorden has been out calling in coyotes. This will be something they will be out doing almost all fall and winter whatever chance they get. The coyote population is really high here and that causes a problem for farmers and their livestock. Also, there is a bounty on coyotes in the area so you get paid to hunt them. They have a deal with a friend in our ward that they bring the coyotes they get to him, he skins them and then sells the pelt, then pays Jorden and his dad some of the profit. Not a bad deal if you ask me. 

Big coyote! January 2013

Earlier in the year we had planned that I would be out hunting with Jorden this fall. I have wanted to start doing more of it but plans kind of changed when we found out we were expecting. So maybe another year when I do not have a baby belly. The most hunting I have ever done is shooting gophers, not as exciting as it is to call in coyotes or hunt deer, but still fun! One day I will take part in everything else but at the moment that plan is on hold. 

Just for some laughs my first gopher!
April 2011

In the end of November Jorden will be going up North for a week to hunt! He is so excited! I am excited for him! He wants to be able to get his first Elk. It will be Jorden, his dad and two family friends. They are all so excited to go and I believe they will be hunting Elk, Moose and Deer on the trip. They are hoping to fill all of our freezers with wild meat. I hope they are successful. Not sure how much I will enjoy the meat that they bring back but I still hope that they are successful. While they are gone I will probably spend a lot of time with Ruthanne as we will be without our husbands that week. It will be like a slumber party every night! Just kidding. But we will probably watch some chick flicks that we had not watched since the boys are highly opposed to girly movies. Let me know if you want to take part! 

Baby Holst

I guess this is the first official announcement, kind of late but better late then never. We are having a baby! I am due January 29, 2014 and Jorden and I are so excited! Here is the latest picture of my rapidly growing bump.

25 weeks 4 days

So I am feeling really good and it has been a relatively easy pregnancy thus far, which is definitely a blessing. I am feeling the baby move a ton, it is our little wiggle worm. During our 20 week ultrasound the baby could not stay still it was just kicking  and turning and just making the techs job a little harder. Jorden and I both decided that we did not want to find out the sex of the baby. It is a little harder to prep for when the baby arrives but I am very excited for the element of surprise once he/she comes. 

So I thought I might share how I told Jorden that we were expecting. It was back in the end of June, on a Saturday, Jorden was at work and I was home working around the house. I had decided I should take a test and so I did and clearly it came back positive. I wrapped up a shoe box (yes in Christmas paper), put a note in the bottom with the test taped to the bottom. 

I left the box on our bed just so when he came home he would go to get changed and he would see it. So I waited until he got home, which seemed so long. It was probably only 3 hours or so but it was torture for me, I just wanted to tell him and see his reaction. When he finally did get home I played it pretty cool and just followed Jorden into the bedroom, then he saw the box, opened it up, said "Seriously?!?!" and I said "Yes!"

It was probably the only time in our whole marriage where I was able to actually surprise Jorden and it was AWESOME! Any other time I have tried I get to excited and blurt something out or I am just not sneaky enough. But this time it worked and the look on Jorden's face was so worth it. We were and are so excited and cannot wait until our little baby comes!