Still growing!

I've reached 36.5 weeks and 40.5" around. I'm definitely starting to feel awkward and bending over to grab things off the floor has almost become comical.

I feel like I could pop at any point now and Tim must feel the same way because anytime I start to ask him something out of the blue he things I'm going into labor! I guess the big day could be any time now, which is a little scary considering we're still getting the baby room together. Although, we actually made lots of headway on the room today. Tim has been a big help in getting all the old furniture out in order to make room for the new stuff :) There may be a space for baby McNelson in our house after all!

Hanging up the gloves

After 8-1/2 years I'm finally hanging up the gloves - today marks the last day of my long kickboxing journey. Actually, I shouldn't say that I'm done forever...I'll likely be itching to get back to it (or at least something similar) a few months after the baby is born and I'm back into the swing of things :)

I have to admit that I'm proud of what I've manage to accomplish over the years.....a first degree black belt and 2 first place trophies :) I remember when I first started I told the academy that I would only be training for 4 months because university would be too hard to balance with kickboxing classes. I guess I showed them! Lol.

The photo above is of me and "Sensei" Steve, I've been training with him since the beginning and we've always been only a few belts apart along the way. He's been a good friend and mentor over the past 8 years. It was sad to say goodbye to everyone, but exciting times lay ahead!

34 Weeks & 39.5" around!!!

Well, I'm definitely starting to feel like I'm carrying around a whole-lotta-baby these days! Mix the "livin' large" feeling with the fact that our baby has picked up some kickboxing moves over the last few months and it makes for an uncomfortable day at the office! Some days I feel like the baby never stops kicking - I guess that's a good thing though.

Aside from the lack of comfort it is definitely an interesting time. I can feel the different parts (bum, elbows, feet, etc.) of the baby pushing around on my belly. I still find myself playing 'footsie' with the baby  - it's a great way to take a break at the office :) What's even more interesting is when the baby shifts into a position where I can put my hand around his/her entire butt! I'm guessing the baby is thinking the living quarters are getting a little cramped!

I'm starting to feel more nervous about the big day, which is only about a month away. I've even been having some weird dreams about what might happen - apparently this is normal :S  I just have to keep telling myself that millions of people have done this before me and that everything will be ok......fingers crossed!

 Here's an extreme belly close up just for laughs :)

Ever growing belly! 31 Weeks and counting.

It's finally happened. I've finally grown out of all my jackets! I had to go find a larger jacket (in the men's section) to keep me warm during this cold snap as well as during our Christmas visit to Elkford. I thought I'd be able to manage using Tim's jackets for the short period that I outgrew mine, but sadly the arms on his are about a foot longer than I need them!

The baby has been kicking up a storm these days as well. I think he/she has definitely picked up a little bit of kickboxing over the past few months. Some days I've even been able to play 'footsie' with the baby and chase it's little feet around the side of my belly :)

It's crazy to think that in about 2 months I'll be meeting our little baby McNelson for the first time. Even though I'm more than a little nervous now, I'm sure it'll turn to excitement as I get closer to January 23rd.

I've been lucky to be sleeping exceptionally well these days too! Thanks to Tracy I have a new body pillow that has changed painful, sleepless nights into nights where I pass out the moment I crawl into my "moat" as Tim calls it :)

Speaking of sleep....I think I hear my moat calling now!

Visiting the Twins

This past week I've been visiting my new baby nieces in Ottawa! It's been nice to be able to help out in the early stages as Rick and Tracy get into the swing of things and it's also been really great to get a taste of what to expect when my little bundle arrives in late January. Although, caring for one is probably going to be easier than caring for two :)

Rick and Tracy have been doing a great job so far and the girls are growing at twice the average rate. Then again, I guess they did have some catching up to do as they were pretty tiny when they were born!

As my week comes to an end here I'm sad to be leaving so soon, but I'm also really excited to get back to my own family (Tim and Loca) who weren't able to make the visit :)

Professional Mama!

After 5 years of toiling away at my job I've finally been given the thumbs up from my company to apply for my P.Eng.!

On Monday Oct. 18th I made a presentation to two of the partners at my company and they said that I "presented myself confidently and professionally". The following day I got the email confirmation saying that they would support my professional application! Woohoo!!

I have to admit it feels pretty good to finally reach this goal that I have had in mind for so many years :) Hopefully I can get all my work experience submitted and tests taken before the baby arrives in January!

24 weeks!

I've hit the 6 month mark and I'm still feeling pretty good :) It's funny that this photo seems to make my belly look smaller than it actually is....or feels rather. And, with renovations under full swing (more to come in future blogs) I've started to notice that turning sideways to get through tight spaces no longer works like it used to!

As for the little bun in the oven, he or she has become quite the little kicker. Perhaps all this kickboxing during pregnancy is rubbing off! We've got a ninja in training :) The baby also seems to respond quite happily to the sound of Daddy Tim's voice, it seems when he talks to my belly the movements come more frequently.

For now it seems that this is somewhat of a boring pregnancy, but I'm more than happy to be sailing through it thus far :) We'll continue to keep you posted as we go!

Construction Continues

Well as a bit of an update from us, things are overall really great. Kristy continues to grow like crazy, I was just away for a weekend and I swear her belly is bigger than 3 days ago! It's pretty cool and becoming more and more real for me.

As an update from me I unfortunately hit a deadline I wasn't tracking, the 6-year point in a PhD where one is automatically de-registered until they submit a "proposal for an extension". Talk about kicking a guy when he's down...but anyways my days haven't changed, analyzing data, writing about it, submitting to some person/beuracracy, waiting for revision comments, rinse, repeat...Truth be told though while I find it really hard at times, it's getting more fun for me because I'm actually writing about the core of my project now, rather than all the preamble it took to get to the testing point (I designed and built my own experimental apparatus).

The design & construction work continues in 2 other places as well. For the Labour Day weekend Kristy and I took a few extra days off and spent 5 days at our cabin at Mt. Cain. We absolutely love it up there and so does Loca. Good people, beautiful scenery and wonderfully ...(in most ways)...no tv, internet, cell reception, etc. You really do unwind. Kristy made friends with the Whiskyjacks, there are 100's of tame birds that will land in your hand for a piece of bread crumb.

Our visit up there was 100% work related although we had some time at the start to walk around and enjoy the mountain. We are building a new front access to our cabin. The previous owner built this cabin himself and had put up a "temporary" construction access that is shown in the snowy cabin photo with Kristy. It ended up lasting over 15 years but was rotting and needed replacement. Our cabin is named "Timbers" and is a proper post/beam timber frame cabin constructed of huge old growth Douglas Fir. The previous owners were instrumental in the success of the Mt. Cain Alpine Park Society. Everybody on the mountain refers to our cabin as "Barry and Donna's" and we'll need at least one generation for that to change. Out of respect to them, and to be consistent with the build quality, we wanted to build a front entrance of our own that accentuates the cabin.

As you can see in the photos our front door is actually about 12 feet off the ground. The record snow year apparently saw snow half way up the door and you had to dig out the deck. That much snow eventually gets rained on and creates huge loading. We used 100% Western Red Cedar, the most rot-resistant wood on the planet (as far as I know) and 6x6 rough cut posts, 4x6 beams, 2x10 joists. Here are some pictures showing what we got accomplished the Labour Day weekend with Lee and Janice.

And here are some shots showing the fruits of this last weekend when I returned, this time with our other partners, Glen and Trish. Glen and I damn-near finished it.

In total this project took one weekend to dig/pour the post supports, the Labour Day weekend, then this last one, and as you can see we aren't quite done yet. While we're able to now leave through the front door, we still have to finish the decking in front of the door, the railing, and most notably build a stair case down from the walkway. I keep joking that our deck will hold our cabin up in event of an earthquake. It is definitely overbuilt.

At home we have new countertops coming for the kitchen and both bathrooms next week so this weekend is getting the old countertops off gingerly and repairing part of the old cabinet that suffered some water damage. And then that opens up a whole can of worms.

So yeah while it may not seem that smart, over the same time that I will making the final push to get the thesis submitted, I will also be doing tons of renovations at home as it seems like the future will require relocation and so in my eyes, both the thesis and the house have to get finished before we can move on.

Until next time...

37 Years Young

I haven't made a post yet so thought it's about time to get rolling. This is a great shot taken from my brother Paul's perspective on my birthday this year. I always try to do something fun on my birthday if possible and at 37 to still be out jumping bikes with my brother makes me feel quite youthful - especially as I'm nearing so much closer to having a child of my own. He or she regardless, I'll have them on two wheels asap and can't wait to share mt. biking with my kid(s). This year on a 2-day overnight XC ride there was an 18 year old kid with his mid forty-something mom and I thought that was really cool. I also think about me and Paul going to the BMX track with our parents as kids and can't wait to be the BMX Dad too, with the only difference that these 'young' sports aren't so young anymore so now there's master's categories for Dads (& Mom's too in some places). Looking forward to it for sure...

Until next time...

21 Weeks and Growing!

My belly has finally started to look more like a baby and less like I've been eating one too many donuts :) Things have still been uneventful (in a good way) in the sense that I haven't had any pregnancy symptoms. I count myself lucky!

For the past few weeks now I've been able to feel little kicks and movements in my belly which makes the everything feel that much more real. Last night I even was able to watch my belly move as the baby was kicking up a storm. Unfortunately, every time I told Tim to look the movements stopped - looks like someone has stage fright.

With 4 months left in the countdown I'm starting to feel the stress of needing to buy baby items. I have a list of 'essential items' and it's still 4 pages long! Hopefully we can find some (or most) of the required items second hand. Tim and I are going to try our best not to fall victim to the hype of "buy buy buy". Although, I'm sure there are going to be a few things I can't resist along the way :)

Kickboxing has started to feel much different lately. I definitely notice my centre of balance changing and my endurance level has started to diminish. Luckily I've been doing more teaching lately, which means I can take sneaky breaks to help out other students :) I'm not sure how much longer I should keep going, but friends from kickboxing that have gone through the exact same thing say that I can go right up to the 8th month as long as everything feels okay. Maybe I'll transition to just teaching for the last month - I guess I'll play it by ear.

We're getting excited to meet our new little bundle and to find out whether it's a boy or a girl. Now for the hard part.....trying to pick out names!

Home Renovations

Tim has been going hard on the home renos lately getting our place in shape so that all the work is done before the new bundle arrives in January :)

This picture here shows Tim demonstrating the functionality of our new toilet. Seems to be working pretty well! You can also see that we've ripped out the old shower (wall and all) and will eventually put in a new one with a glass door across the front. When it's all said and done the new shower will have much more light than the old one.

Other renos underway in our place include the main bathroom floor and toilet and counter tops for the kitchen and both bathrooms. I'm looking forward to it all being complete!

Our new family blog!

A shiny new blog!

The McNelson's figured that it was about time to start a family blog to keep people posted on events in our lives. Plus, with our little baby on the way it's an easy way for us to keep everyone that's interested up to date on the progress.

This is just a starter blog to test the waters, but stay tuned for some photos of our renos that we have underway in our apartment!