What We Will Miss About the Place We've Called Home the Past 9 Months

       Well, we're getting closer to our big move. We have settled most of the details and are counting down the days! :) At least I am! I am finished work this coming Wednesday and my parents come the following Wednesday so that leaves us with one short week to get this apartment packed up! Matthew has been done school for about a week now and has been great at helping out around the house so I'm sure we'll be able to get everything done. :) So yah, my parents are coming on May 4, Matt's brother gets married out here on May 7, our moving truck comes on May 10 and I fly home with my ma & Pa later on that night. Matt is planning on probably heading out early the next morning and will arrive home by around the 15th or so. So plans are definitely falling in to place and I can't believe that I will be home in less than 3 weeks! As we get closer to leaving both Matthew and I have come to realize that there are some things we will actually really miss about living out here. When we were making the decision to move, it was easy to overlook the good things about living in Hamilton in favor of the excitement of being back in Lethbridge with family and friends... but shortly after making this decision, a list started in my head about all the things we will miss! 
       So here's the list... Not in any particular order,  just as I think of them!
1. My brothers live here!!! That is definitely tops on the list!! (not that the list is in any particular order... :P ) We have immensely enjoyed having my brothers living just 3 blocks away, coming over for dinner, haircuts, and hockey. In the excitement of going home to family in Lethbridge, I can't forget the family that we're leaving behind. :( I love my brothers and I know Matt is going to really miss having them around too!

2. BRUEKKE! My brothers band! We haven't been able to catch as many shows as I would like, because they often play pretty late... but when we go, I always LOVE IT! And always end up leaving feeling super proud of my little brother. Make sure you check them out at bruekke.com... download their E.P. and show them some support cause they? Are AWESOME!

3. Joy Johnson. My brothers Beau. We've enjoyed hanging out with and getting to know her during our time in this city! 

4. Hamiton is also known as "The City of Waterfalls". And we're trying to see as many as we can in these last couple weeks! In fact, we are heading out to see #1 on the "Top 16 Waterfalls in the City" list tomorrow. Apparently there are 126 waterfalls in the city! We will definitely miss the scenery and beauty that this area offers. 

6. Apple orchards! I went to a couple different orchards around the area in the fall and loved picking fresh apples right off the trees and then trying out different kinds of apple-y desserts. :)

7. Our wee little apartment/first home. :) We have (for the most part) loved living in this place. It definitely has it's quirks and annoyances, but it has treated us well as our first place. I will miss the character as I really don't think we will ever find a place like this again. This was our first "home" as a married couple and we have great memories here!

8. Restaurant selection! We've enjoyed having a whole bunch more food options to choose from this past year. :) We will miss having Kelseys nice and close by as well as some of the local "non-chain" restaurants. Sorry, no pictures for this one. :P


9.The Light-house! :P We are going to miss hanging out with and visiting Jeremy, Christine, and Zachary Light. Jeremy attended seminary with Matt and I know that he really appreciated Jeremy's advice, encouragment, etc. and will miss having him to talk to. We will miss going there for dinner and games. Hoping we'll have the chance to connect with them in Lethbridge again someday. :) Again, no pictures. 


10. I know that Matt would want me to say that he will miss MacDiv. We struggled with making connections there for quite a while, but I know that he made alot of friends that he was sad to say good-bye to. We both really enjoyed the banquets that we went to and the people we were able to meet! We connected with another couple from Alberta and are sad to be leaving them behind. 


I'm sure I'm missing things or will thing of more things later, but there are definitely things and people we will be sad to leave in May. 


But with this list, there are also some things that we are happy to be saying good-bye to...
-13% HST is just EVIL! :P
-Milk in bags! Worst. idea. EVER! We were able to find a little milk market that sells 4L jugs, but you can't them at any grocery stores.
-People referring to the escarpment as the "mountain". :P It's not a mountain people! It's a hill! A hill!! Actually, after 9 months of living here we've started to refer to it as the "mountain" too, just so people know what we're talking about.
-I am happy to say bye to "Fortinos", "Metro", "Food Basics", etc. These are the names of grocery stores here and I was just never as comfortable shopping at any of these places as I am at "Safeway" or "Superstore" back home. Silly, I know... But still! :P 

Ok, I'm gonna stop list making cause this is getting long... Before I sign off, here's a quick pregnancy update.

How far along are you?

We will be 17 weeks this coming Sunday. The half-way mark is getting close. :)

How have I been feeling? 

Unfortunately, the idea of morning sickness passing once you hit the second trimester hasn't been quite true for me. But as long as I remember to take my diclectin both in the morning and at night I usually manage okay with only a slight nauseous period late afternoon. 

I've been slowly getting my energy back and have seen the clock as late as 10pm a couple nights this week. :)

Are we going to find out the sex of the baby?

Well, we have an ultrasound here on Friday May 6 (while my parents are here, so my mommy gets to come along!) and we've been told that they will tell us at that ultrasound if we decide we want to know... I think we're leaning that way, but we still have a couple weeks to decide. :)

Cravings?

Well, the Pizza Pop craving has come and gone... Just one day I looked at them and decided I couldn't eat them anymore and haven't had one since. Weird! I can't say that I've had any other odd cravings since then. 

Unfortunate symptoms?

Well, my skin hasn't ever been the clearest but I had been on ProActiv since before our wedding with great results... Unfortunately, the jury is out on whether or not it is safe during pregnancy so I have steered clear of it and I am breaking out like a teenager! Oh the fun of pregnancy hormones! :P My belly also "popped" quite early so I've been dealing with mild amounts of back pain... But nothing that can't be manged with a warm bath most nights. :)

Baby belly at 16 Weeks

Well, that's about all! I'm hanging out in the lil bedroom by myself tonight while Matt has some guy friends over for poker playing and hockey watching... maybe that's why this is getting so long. :)

We hope you are all doing well and look forward to seeing alot of you soon! :)

Big Changes in Our Lil House

Well, I haven't written for a very long while... Since before Christmas. At first, the reason for my blog absence was that my dear sweet Oma passed away on Christmas Eve and I had no idea how to even begin processing that. I felt like whatever I said, whatever I wrote, could never even come close to summing up the amazing lady she was and how big of a void was left in my life. I started several blog posts talking about her battle with cancer, her faith, determination, strength, etc., but nothing just ever seemed good enough... So I just didn't post anything. How on earth could I possibly write anything that would sum up what she meant to me? I was just so incredibly grateful that my whole family could be there with my Opa to say our final good-byes.

We came back to Hamilton and after dealing with homesickness, settled back into life... We both had a bit of a hard time adjusting to life back in Hamilton as being home for Christmas really made us realize how important family was to us and how it was harder than we had expected to be so far away. We began to talk about if we wanted to stay in Hamilton for the full 3 years to complete Matthew's degree. We had both been finding the school here to be a little less friendly and family-orientated then we had hoped and weren't quite feeling settled here. Fast - forward about a month... That's when I realized I was just feeling "off" and decided to buy a pregnancy test. It was quite the surprise to both Matthew and I when it came back POSITIVE! (I may have actually taken 3 more tests before believing the results). It took a few weeks for the news to set in, but it helped us immensely to have the support of all the very excited grand-parents and aunt & uncles to be, as well as some far away friends. We have had some amazing care by one of the doctors at the walk-in-clinic here and are starting to get used to the idea of being parents!

But with this news came a realization that being far away from family was about to get a whole lot harder. We then began to pray and ponder our decision and plans for the future. Did we want to spend the first 2 years of our baby's life 36 hours away from family and friends? Of course, people are great and promise visits, but 36 hours is FAR AWAY! I had always imagined having our moms a wee bit closer when we had our first baby! It was a very hard decision to make, but Matthew and I have now decided to move back to Lethbridge for a year. Matt will be taking a year off school and working and we will be close to family while the baby is little and then we hope to move to Vancouver in the Fall of 2012 for Matt to finish off his degree. We have done some research into Regent College which is on the UBC Campus in Vancouver and have heard that it is a whole lot more family friendly so we plan to go there for Matthew to finish up his degree. Like I said, big changes in our little house!

We will be moving back to Lethbridge in Mid-May after Matthew's brothers wedding which is out here on May 7. My parents are flying out for the wedding as well so we will have a few days to visit with them here and show them some of our favorite places and then we will be packing up to head back to Alberta. We are going to stay with my parents initially and figure out more from there. I have already been hired on to work for the summer which is great, as that means I won't lose out on Mat-Leave, and Matthew has started the job hunt as well. We are really looking forward to a summer spent at home. Two of my very good friends are having/had babies as well, so it will be great to be close to them, and Matt's best friend and wife are coming back from Australia so we're excited to see them too! (Hi Mitchell and Julie! :) ) I am excited that we will be in town for Jolene's grad and my dad's 50th birthday, as well as some family camping! We are now counting down the days! :)

Well that brings you up to speed on things in our life! How fast things can change in just a few months time!

Now some quick answers to the many pregnancy questions we have been and continue to be asked:
When is baby due?
Well, we actually just got back from our ultrasound which showed baby to be about 12 weeks 1 day, which gives us a due date of October 2.
How have I been feeling?
Well, lets just say that at around 8 weeks, diclectin became my very good friend! I was throwing up a little too much for mine and the doctors liking so she got me set up on a low dose and it's made a huge difference! I have had the normal pregnancy fatigue which has made staying up til 9 a late night for me, but I'm just resting when I can.
Are we going to find out what we're having?
Well, that's up for debate at the moment but I think we're leaning towards yes??? Don't hate me mom! :) Otherwise, we have decided that if our child is a boy, it will likely remain nameless... So if we find out the gender, we may be able to stop arguing about names! :P Our ultrasound is actually already booked in Lethbridge for the beginning of June, so I guess we have until then to decide.
Cravings?
Oh my goodness. It's kind of disgusting, but these past 4 or 5 weeks I've been craving Pillsbury Pizza Pops! And apple sauce. And that's about it. Yuck, that sounds gross to read. But Matthew makes me a fruit and veggie smoothie that I drink every morning so at least I'm getting some decent nutrition. But my appetite is on the upswing so we'll see what I'm eating in the next couple weeks. :)

Ok, here's a quick posting of my belly at 12 weeks, and then a picture from our ultrasound today and I am off to go make something for dinner. I think we still have some pizza pops left so I'll see if I can convince Matt that's what we should have for dinner... :)

Blurry Baby Van Dyk : 12 Weeks, 1 Day