Beat the Heat

Guess what I got myself for this summer heat? It's the perfect thing for smokin' hot weather when you have 8 more weeks of being pregnant. We got a sweet backyard pool.

It took 9 hours with two hoses to fill it. And it wasn't all too warm outside earlier this week, but we had to try it out anyways. Tim dove in so the shock wasn't so bad for him.

But it's a wee bit harder for a pregnant chick to dive up and over the edge. I had to climb down the ladder and IT WAS CHILLY! But I did it! I went under and everything. We warmed up in the hot tub though.

But it was super hot today and I spent the majority of my day lounging in our pool. It felt so nice. Ya, we're pretty classy with our backyard pool now. But boy, it sure is a GREAT way to beat the heat when you're pregnant!

Waterton Lakes National Park

I know you'll be shocked to hear that last weekend we went camping...again. Ya, we love it. This time we met up with my family in Waterton. We had AMAZING weather and tons of fun (minus the mosquitoes).

Our campsite that we shared with Kimmy & Brendan:

Saturday afternoon we went to Red Rock Canyon. Usually we climb into the water and hike all up the canyon. I'm not so agile these days, so I we passed on that. We did the little hike that goes along the top of the canyon (instead of in the water).

Just me looking very pregnant (31 weeks):

Tim taking the dogs down into the canyon:

Then we went by the horseback riding stables (Brendan's aunt runs the place). Jayda and Parker each went for a little ride while the rest of us tried to find some shade.

Me and Mom watching Jayda & Parker ride:

Parker waiting with Uncle Tim for his turn on the horse:

And what's a trip to Waterton if you don't take a picture by Cameron Falls? However I've NEVER seen the falls this big before. It's cuz we had too much rain this June!! There was another little hike to the top of the falls and once again I made it. Luckily we stopped about 101 times on the way up to take pictures and I was able rest.

Tim and I used a picture just like this of us on our wedding invitations (with me a few pounds less though):

We then had to take the dogs down to Waterton Lake and let them swim. It was also a great opportunity for me to ice my swollen ankles in that freezing glacier water. It worked, the swelling went down....some. (It was on the beach of Waterton Lake where Tim asked me to be his wife over 4 years ago.)

The water was so cold it burned (make sense?):

And we rented the bikes. You know THE bikes in Waterton. Those funny looking ones. So much fun. However Tim and Brendan wanted to race all the time and my legs just couldn't keep up to the fast peddling. So I let Tim do most of the work.

Sweet bike eh?

Let's not forget to mention the bears in Waterton. I don't think I've EVER been to Waterton when I haven't seen a bear. This time was no exception. There was this hill in our campground that the guys (along with Jayda and Parker) would climb up there and look for bears. Brendan spotted a ton of them throughout the weekend. I lost count after he said 8.

I finally made it to the top of the hill to look for bears too. Jayda came and sat with me.

Tim just hanging out:

I took way more pictures so check out our photo album Camping 2008 (Part 2).

Camping, Gophers, & Horses!

I've been super busy and didn't get the chance to update our blog last week. Two weekends ago we went camping with Trent, Tara, and Blake at Woolford Provincial Park. It's not too far from here, but it was nice to get away. It was super quiet there. Only a few other people there in the entire campground.

Our Woolford Campsite:

Uncle Tim is great at putting Blake to sleep:

Saturday afternoon we went into Cardston and met up with Julie, Kendall, and baby Kyla. We were so excited to finally meet Kyla. She's beautiful.

Then all of us headed out to Trent's parent's farm to check on our horses. Tim moved Jet out there late winter. Tim worked a bit with Jet in the round pen. He's now 2 years old (time flies eh?). Jet looks a ton like his mom Felize. And Tara's horse just had a little colt the weekend before.

Tim working with Jet:

Having a rest:

I got tired of taking pictures of Tim and Jet so decided to take a pic of my shadow.

Here's my baby bump at 30 weeks:

And OF COURSE if you're out at the farm, then a little (or a lot of) gopher hunting is a must. Tim, Trent, and Kendall loved it. The field was full of gophers. After the first few hours the wives and babies got tired. The guys went out for another hour. Silly boys!

Ready, Aim, FIRE!

Hmmm, I wonder who got that one?

To check out more pictures from the weekend go to our Photo Albums on the left of this page. Click on both Camping 2008 (Part 1) and Summer 2008.

Snip Snip

I was needing a change in more ways than not. I have a lovely waddle, a big belly, and I'm "puffy". Not feeling so hot these days. I phoned my hairdresser. Maybe new hair would give me a boost I had a bunch cut off and decided I needed to be blonde for the summer.

And while I'm trying to use the timer to take some pics of myself, I might as well throw in a baby bump one. Here it is at 29.5 weeks:

Tap Tap -- Are you in there?

When you were pregnant were you one of those ladies that would poke at your tummy just to see if they baby’s still in there and moving? I’m one of them. I’ll admit to it. I think a little of me has even rubbed off on my husband. He’ll climb in bed with me early in the morning (when he gets home from night shift) and poke and tap on my tummy till baby wiggles. Then he’ll go to sleep. I think it’s fair to say I’m a little paranoid. Everything has been going so well that I think trouble must be just around the corner. Do you ever have that feeling?

Yesterday I was WORRIED! And because I was worried I made my poor husband worry and my mom worry and my sisters worry and my boss worry. I had mentioned to Mom and Tim a few times throughout the morning and early afternoon yesterday that I couldn’t be sure if I had felt the baby move since last night. Mom thought maybe the baby was just having a good sleep and would wake up in a bit. Tim kept telling me to phone the doctor but I’d say well I’ll just give it a little more time to see if I feel something. You see, yesterday was a super busy day at work as it was my boss’ last official day of work before he retired. It was a madhouse around the office. So I would convince myself that maybe the baby was moving but I was so busy that I didn’t notice.

By 2:30 in the afternoon I still couldn’t 100% say I had felt the baby. I talked to Tim and Mom and they both told me to PHONE MY DOCTOR! I did. They told me to come straight to the clinic. I did. I was so worried that I chewed off all my nails on the drive there and I’m SO NOT a nail biter ever.

The clinic was great. They put my in a room right away. None of that waiting crap. But I didn’t relax right away. It took them over 10 minutes to find our baby’s heartbeat. Those 10 minutes felt like forever. I could see the nurse’s face looking so nervous because I was so nervous. She kept telling me that she wasn’t worried cuz she couldn’t find the heartbeat – she just couldn’t even find the baby. How does an almost 3lb baby go missing? But then she finally found the heartbeat and it was good and strong – 148 bpm. The doctor then explained that the baby is in a really awkward position right now which made it hard for them to find the heartbeat and why I hadn’t been feeling anything (or at least not feeling anything I recognized as movement). Sometime during the night the baby had flip itself around and is now breech plus he/she was facing backwards (towards my spine). So the little feet that I’ve grown accustom to pushing out of my ribs were pointing down and the little bumps from elbows and knees were towards my back. The doctor wasn’t surprised that I hadn’t felt anything all day, even in my back, given the position. I was so relieved.

My doctor then did a full check-up on me and the baby. I’m measuring one week ahead, but he said that’s still okay. And he told me the baby has 7 weeks to flip itself back upside down before being breech is a concern. As of this morning the baby is at least facing outwards again. I can feel so much more now. If I concentrate really hard I occasionally feel little “twinges” in my lower back that must be the little kicks. Feels completely different than when the little feet are in your ribs.

Driving away from the clinic I had a little chat with our baby. I told him/her to never make mommy worry again. Then thought, who am I kidding? The worrying part is only just beginning.....

Photo Albums

We've been taking so many pictures lately that it's just way too much to put on the blog. However I have been putting most of them into photo albums on Facebook. But for those of you not signed up with Facebook or just not friends with me on there -- I've added a link on the left of our blog to two albums that we'll be updating a lot over the summer. Do you see the links over there under the "Nilsson Photo Albums" heading just under the Baby Counter? One is of the "Baby Bump" so you can watch it grow as I grow. The other is our "Camping 2008" pictures. So click on either album and then flip/click your way through our photos. Enjoy!

We Love Camping - Writing on Stone

We love camping and we really love camping at Writing on Stone. We went twice last year (here and here). Trent, Tara, & Blake as well as Clay & Erica came with us this time. We had lots of fun. The weather was so nice on Saturday that we spent the afternoon swimming in the river. We also spent a bunch of time climbing in the hoodoos. I was pretty terrible at it this year. It's not so easy climbing in those when your balance is shot cuz you're almost 6.5 months pregnant. I had to take a few breaks cuz when I walk my stomach gets tighter and tighter making it hard to manouver. But if I stop for a bit it'll relax. Tim was super adventerous as usual and scaled all the tough hoodoos (makes me nervous). And our dogs were always right behind him. I find it amazing how well dogs can climb (and jump) if they really want to get to their best friend. (Click on any of the pictures to make them bigger.)

Tim & Dexter just checking things out:

I couldn't climb to the top of that hoodoo, so Tim came down to take a pic with me:

Tim calls this my pregnant pose and he catches me doing it every once and a while. It feels so good to stretch out my back and the hand on the tummy is trying to push a little foot out of my ribs:

Tara & Blake in the hoodoos:

Looking down on our campsite from the hoodoos:

This is me making Tim stop for a picture:

Just us and our dogs:

Our campsite:

Tim using the hoodoos as a climbing wall:

Blake & I chilling while the guys cooked steaks:

Mouse > Dog

My dog ate mouse poison. You know those green blocks that if a mouse eats them they'll die and then dry up and turn to dust (so you don't a find dead stinky mouse) -- like these ones. Did ya notice on their website they warn you to keep it away from dogs & cats. Ooops! Actually, we have no clue how he got into it. It was in one of those metal bait boxes. To be honest we weren't even sure which dog ate it or if they both had some. However the next day it was pretty easy to tell which one had. Dexter was S.I.C.K.! He had a few very bad days. The exterminator said what he ate wasn't enough to kill a dog his size, but boy did it make him sick. He wouldn't eat and yet we really needed him to eat to get the stuff moving through him. I even made a fancy treat for him with some cooked sausages with gravy over it. He wasn't interested. I had to literally spoon feed each bite into him. I felt bad for him, but at the same time I was ticked. Anywho, it's been a week now and he seems to be over it. Dex didn't turn to dust!

Sigh of Relief

Wohoo! It was fixed under warranty. Didn't cost us a penny (not even in gas to get it to the shop). A guy in our Ward has a Kawasaki dealership about 1.5 hrs away from where we live (we didn't know this when we bought our quad or we would have bought from him), but he came to our house, picked up the quad, and then delivered it when it was all done. Talk about service!!

May Long - Traditions

Some traditions just can't be broken. And one tradition that we have is May Long weekend is spent with Trent & Tara (and now Blake). We take turns planning:

In 2006 Trent & Tara took us to Kalispell area and we had a blast (in the rain).

Last year (2007) we took Trent & Tara to Lewis & Clark Caverns in Montana. Found some rain again and some snow on the way home, but once again we had tons of fun.

But this year it was a little harder to get out for the long weekend. Tim had shift work all weekend long and Trent & Tara had a baptism on Saturday and some exchange students coming on Sunday. We still made the most of it. Tim got off work Friday night at 6pm and he didn't have to be back to work until 6pm Saturday night. So we had 12 hours...and we were going camping. Some people in Trent & Tara's ward have a bunch of land down on the river in Lethbridge...so that's where we went. Trent & Tara also bought a trailer this spring so no more tenting for all of us (camping's getting more pricey though cuz now we can't a share site and have to pay for gas in two vehicles to pull two trailers -- eek). Anywho, even though it was rushed we had a good time. I think Blake loved his first camping trip. The weather was BEAUTIFUL! It was so hot. And me being so prego now, I no longer have any shorts or capris that fit -- the baby and I sweated to death. Tim took me out on Monday to buy some maternity capris. However since that day it has rained non stop here in Southern Alberta. I think we're drowning!! Come on...bring back the sun so we can go camping again!

So our May Long weekend was cut VERY short this year, but I'm glad we were able to make it out. Even if it was for only a sleepover.

26 Weeks Pregnant!

We're still adding to our baby supplies collection. We're getting closer to being ready for August. I bought a little pink sleeper and a little blue sleeper and we'll see which one gets returned to Wal-Mart. And my mom went to the States a couple of weekends ago and picked me up a Bumbo Seat. They're $20 cheaper there than here in Canada. We tried it out on my niece Danyca.

I had my regular doctor's appointment last week. The baby is measuring bang on. Not too big, not too small. Which is nice cuz last month I was measuring almost 2 weeks ahead. But now we're back on schedule. And I got the results from our ultrasound -- the baby's doing great! I also had to do my Gestational Diabetes test. You know, the glucose one. Everyone told me such horror stories about drinking the orange stuff. Thank goodness for my sister Jenn and my friend Tara who BOTH told me it's nothing to sweat about. Just two glasses of orange pop. I found it easy and I'm glad. The nurse said most pregnant woman have a really hard time getting the drink down and keeping it down. Orange pop is not my favorite, but it was easy for me to drink at least. Anywho, here's a baby bump picture at 26 weeks:

Not a whole lot bigger than my 22 weeks pic, but the baby is getting so much stronger. He/she can easily kick the TV remote off of my tummy now. And yes I know all my tummy pics have been headless. It's cuz Tim's never around when I'm taking these and I can't back up far enough from the mirror to get my face and tummy in the same shot.

Camping Trip – Fort Steele, BC

Last Friday we headed out on our first camping trip of the year. We were going to Fort Steele, BC to meet up with my parents and sisters (and their families). It’s about a 4 hour drive and we didn’t leave our house till after 7:00 pm. Too many things to get worked out on the first time camping for the year (remember last year). And it was the first time out with our new trailer. But we were so excited. We got the trailer packed and the quad loaded and headed on our way.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It’s off camping we go...

The drive took us forever as we had a lot of weight for our truck to haul (with the trailer and the quad). So we drove slowly and stopped a few times to check out how the trailer and such were doing. Tim had never been to Fort Steele before but at about 11:00 pm we saw the sign that said only 6 km more to the campsite. We were at the top of this huge hill that overlooks Fort Steele and we just had to get to the bottom of it. No sooner had I said to Tim that we were almost there when heard “it”! Yep, we had a flat…no we had a blowout!

Not much left of that tire, eh?

Remember last year when we went camping and got a flat? Why the heck does this keep happening to us?

I called my Dad and told him we were sitting at the top of the hill with a tire blowout on our trailer. Dad, Brendan, and Kimmy came to help us. At least this time (unlike last year) we now have a jack in our truck – two of them actually. Kimmy and I went back to the campfire and Tim, Dad, and Brendan showed up later. So it was midnight when Tim was trying to set up our trailer in the campsite. Lovely!

On Saturday the weather was kinda crappy. It was chilly and rainy. Tim, Dad, and Brendan went for a quad ride while us girls took the kids into Fort Steele and hung around the campsite. When Tim got home from the quad ride he noticed he had oil sprayed all over him. So if the new tire we had to buy that morning wasn’t pricey enough for this camping trip, now Tim’s quad has decided to spit oil everywhere. Tim and Brendan took the quad apart but couldn’t find where the oil came from. Perfect! Now our quad is down and out just like when we were camping at Pole Haven last year. But what’s camping without a flat tire and a quad problem right?

Here’s the quad all pulled apart:

However Saturday evening was great. We did a huge BBQ for Britnee’s 19th Birthday and for Mother’s Day. It was yummy! And then the girls all went to the live play Aida that was put on by the local high school. It was so good. Amazing actually! Jenn bought us tickets for Mother’s Day. How sweet eh? I loved the play.

We left the campsite Sunday morning. After church in Jaffray we headed back home for work Monday morning. It’s was an expensive weekend. But boy did we have fun!

Jumping Ship

Last week (May 7th) Tim started a new job. Yes, another new job. He’s now working at McCain. You know McCain…like French fries and stuff.

So he’s doing pretty much the same work he was doing at Lamb Weston (Maintenance Journeyman Electrician), but he (we) decided that McCain would be a better fit for us for the following reasons: a) 17 minute drive one way to McCain vs a 45 minute one way drive to Lamb Weston cuz we all know how cheap gas is these days (ugh) and b) better shift schedule (4 on 4 off schedule vs a 2, 2, 3 schedule). I’m really excited about the 4 days off stuff for camping this summer. Yipee!

So Tim’s been doing Monday to Friday (8 hr shifts) right now while he’s being trained. He’s first day of shift work starts Thursday. And yes, that means he works Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of the May Long weekend.

Being Replaced

Remember how much quading Tim and I did last year? I've mentioned it here, here, posted some videos here, talked about it again here, another time here, and here too. And that doesn't even come close to the number of pictures I've posted on facebook. We went everywhere...TOGETHER! I had a permanent seat on the back of Tim's quad. However I think he just took me along to photograph and video the "cool stuff". I was okay with that. I LOVE QUADING! We had so much fun. But now my seat has been replaced.

Before:

After:

(sorry the pic is bad as it was too dark outside)

With a little one in my tummy these days I've had to pass on the quad rides. But Tim's not riding alone. My seat has been replaced with a rack that our two dogs, Diesel & Dex, sit on and ride around with him. I'm bummed about missing all the quading this summer, but WAY MORE excited to be pregnant. Only a few more months and we'll get to meet our baby. Wohoo!

On an entirely different note, we sold our old trailer yesterday (yipee!) and this weekend we're going camping in our new one. We're excited! However I have to go out of town for the rest of this week for work, which leaves Tim to pack the trailer all on his lonesome. I'll leave him a list.