Welcome to our lives, Mason Angus Thomson!!

Wow, its been a while since I've posted anything at all here but judging on the amount of complaints I got I assume that it hasn't really affected anyone's lives to NOT know what I've been up to this past year!
Well, regardless of if you really wanted to know, I'm gonna fill you in anyway.

In October '08 I started working for a small office of State Farm Insurance just a few blocks from my house. Its different work than I've ever done before but I like it. It pays the bills and the people I work with are really great so that helps too. Anyway, about 2 weeks after I started back to work, Halloween night to be exact, I found out that we were going to be growing our little family of 3 into a nicely rounded family of 4! It was definitely a shocker. Jeff and I had sorta "tried" for a 2nd child about 3-4 years ago with no luck and went back to thinking that we were just very lucky to even have Annabel since he was always told he couldn't biologically father children at all. So somewhere along the way, whether it was moving to Alberta or just finally being content in my place in this world, something shook loose and BAM! Another life was created!

(I would insert pregnant pictures here but there are conveniently none to post! Sorry--kinda wish I had some now-I know, many of you warned me I'd feel that way!)

It was a good start to the pregnancy although different than with Annabel. I had more nausea but not alot of vomiting, I was definitely more tired, and obviously not in as good a shape as with Annabel so that took its toll as well. I ended up having such excruciating back, hip, and pelvic pain that I could hardly walk some days. I developed gestational diabetes in week 30 which put me on insulin but was still very difficult to control. As a result of the GB I had a LOT of excess fluid in my uterus which, by week 32, had me measuring about 43 weeks pregnant...not something ANY one wants to hear! Through it all I managed to keep my weight gaining down to roughly 23 lbs with much of that being fluid. I had a high risk of early labour and because of the complications I had with delivering Annabel we really wanted the birth to be as scheduled as possible to avoid any problems. My doctor tried to get me in a soon as was healthy for the baby and we decided on June 8th as the earliest (both because of OR time and lung development). Not as early as I had hoped for but I definitely wanted the best for the baby. (Actual due date was June 13)

SO because of all the issues affecting this pregnancy, I was scheduled for about 100 ultrasouds per week plus 2 non-stress tests per week and my regular weekly dr's appts. My last day of work was set for May 15. I had scheduled a day off for May 14 so I could manage to get to 3 separate appointments but ended up getting really sick that day and spent the entire day in bed after vomiting all night. Later that night I was feeling pretty good so I came downstairs for a couple of hours to watch Survivor (I have my priorities in order!) and went up to bed around 10pm wishing I didn't have to go to work the next day. Well, be careful what you wish for.....15 minutes later my water broke and by 11:30pm we are packing up Annabel and heading to the hospital.

Mason Angus Thomson (I always want to put "Young" in there somewhere!!) was born at 0215 hrs on May 15, 2009 weighing 8 lbs 1 oz (keep in mind he was 4 weeks premature!). There was so much excess fluid in my uterus that I ruined the surgeon's shoes by soaking them when he was brought out! The delivery went better than I could have hoped for besides the flood! The epidural was wonderful, the catheter was simple and painless (not like when Laurel and Hardy did it for me when I had Annabel!!), there were no placental issues and I remained awake for the entire procedure. It was beautiful!

Mason was taken right away to the ICN where he was given oxygen and then placed on a CPAP machine overnight. By the time I got to see him the next morning he was off the machine but had an IV for feedings and was getting heel pokes round the clock to keep track of his blood-glucose (which was always good readings). The IV came out 1-1/2 days later but an NG tube was inserted to help with feedings since he was just too tired to stay awake long enough to eat enough. Day 5 he had his billirubin levels tested and had to go under photo-therapy for jaundice which lasted about 24 hours. Day 6 he had his NG tube taken out and was feeding (by bottle) on his own. He then passed his car seat test (something they make all preemies do) and if he eats well all the way through till 2am May 22, he can come home with me later that morning!!!

Its been a long week and my emotions have been all over the place but its nearly done and we can adjust to our new little family! Annabel is so excited to be a big sister! She's held him a few times but is really looking forward to being able to feed him when he's home and help with play time--we're still in negotiations over diaper changes.

Jeff is a very happy, proud papa! We've already had discussions of the two of them working out together and playing with RC cars...fortunately Annabel is into those things too so I may end up with a few quiet days to myself!

We will be traveling back to BC through Kelowna in late July/early August to see as many friends and relatives as possible so let me know if you will be around Abbotsford then and we can try to get together.
So, that's what I've been doing.....there is more to tell but this is all I have time for tonight. Annabel and Jeff both need updating which I will try to get to in the next several days or weeks.
Hope to see many of you in July/August!!!

Love and Hugs to all!

Happy Anniversary to US!

Today marks 8 years of marriage for Jeff and I! We made it to 8! Not without difficulty I assure you. I have to say, though, that I honestly feel more in love with Jeff than ever before. I used to snicker when I'd hear people say stuff like that but now that I'm at that place myself I see how true it can be. Going through hard stuff together can really strengthen a relationship. Now, of course this is just coming from me and Jeff may have something entirely different to say about it but I THINK we're on the same page.

Anyway, its been 8 years....during that time there have been 12 job changes, 5 moves, 1 child, 3 schools, 5 pets, 6 vehicles and 4 sets of livingroom furniture! MAN! Who DOES that?? Apparently we do! I expect this 8th year will be a more settled year. We are both anxious to grow roots--at least for a few years. Its a big year full of change...new province, new school, new friends, new jobs, new house, new car (soon!), and a new set of seasons to get used to. It will be a year that neither of us will soon forget. A year that teaches us something more about being each other's best friend and a little about what it means to "come together as a family". Not that we never did this before but I think we will be doing much more of it and with greater intensity. Good things are ahead...I can feel it.
Cheers to YEAR 8!! I love you Jeff!

Settling In....finally!

Wow, its been awhile since I've made an entry on this page. I think I've been keeping everyone pretty much up to date on facebook but there are still a few of you not up with the times.

In case you didn't know, we are in our new townhouse and really love it. Its a little smaller than what I was expecting so finding a home for everything has been challenging, especially in the kitchen, but its been a good way to get rid of the things I don't really use...even though I thought I did that before we moved from BC. It never ends! We miss the familiarity of BC and those of you we left behind but we really are liking Edmonton so far. The weather has been amazing. Since moving here in July I can really only think of 3 days of rain--and they weren't even full days! We had some great storms that came and went in less than an hour and, although it is sitting around 20C it is sunny and clear most of the time. There are parks EVERYWHERE and a beautiful bike trail right behind our place that leads all the way to the river where there are off-leash dog trails, picnic sites, and more trails. You should come visit!

School has begun and thankfully Annabel is really excited about her new school! She is having a great time in her new class and is making friends very quickly--not that I doubted she would but it is a huge relief that it is actually happening. She has a male teacher for the first time this year and I think that will be a nice switch. She has been very fortunate to have had really good female teachers till now but its nice to mix it up a bit. So far its going great.

Jeff and I are enjoying the new place and brainstorming on how to get out and meet new friends. THAT will be our biggest challenge I think. We are going to a "back to school" BBQ next week where we will have a chance to meet some other parents and the teachers so it may be a good outlet. Our neighbors are great people but not the "come-on-over-for-dinner" types...at least not yet.
Jeff has been working alot to help get us caught up from the expense of moving twice in the last few months and all the hook up fees x 2, etc...that stuff adds up! I am still on EI and enjoying my time to myself right now. I am still planning to do the daycare at home but I'm also keeping my options open. There is loads of work out here in whatever area you want to work. Everyone is hiring for something or other. I plan to start back after Xmas and whether I do daycare or something else there will lots to chose from when I'm ready. We need to get started on our basement though if i'm expecting to have kids here. Its gonna be a busy fall! We still manage to get out to the football games, and take a bike ride now and then. We did find a babysitter that we have yet to use. Soon though! She lives right next door! How convenient! Our anniversary is just around the corner so I we'll probably give her a go then. Our first date in AB!

So, things that are coming up for us (besides finishing the basement) are the prospect of new friends and hopefully a fall party, Hallowe'en (which should be interesting if it gets as cold as people are saying), oh and my mom is coming to visit in December! Not much else on the agenda for now. Just the regular day to day stuff. Keep thinking of us and maybe drop a comment below (just click where it says "post comment" on the blog page--its easy!) or give us a call sometime. I'll get Annabel to leave a message on her blog page soon too. She's got lots to say i'm sure!
Cheers!

21 days left.....

Our landlord came by this evening to let us know that he is on schedule with getting our place ready for August 1. This is both great news and disappointing news at the same time. Great because I can't wait to get out of this place--the neighbor kids told Annabel she couldn't play with them yesterday. Heartbreaking!--and disappointing because we have a family reunion in McLeese Lake that same weekend and the dates will definitely collide. We are trying very hard to hire someone to move us this time 'round but with the timing being so close we may not be able to find anyone. And then there's the possibility that if we CAN hire someone we may not be able to afford the trip to the reunion.
My task this week is to find a moving company and then we can take it from there. This reunion is very important for me this year too. First my cousin is getting married and her dad, who is giving her away, is recovering from brain surgery and undergoing chemotherapy for brain cancer. Second, i don't know the next chance I'll have to see my brothers and their families and my mom since we live so far from them now. And third, we are going to be spreading my dad's ashes in the forest where he used to hunt while we are all together. I so much do not want to miss this trip. Its going to be one heck of a busy weekend if we can pull it all off. Things always seem to work out for us in the end so I'm trying not to get all stressed out...not yet.
Still 21 days. Anything can happen

So What's It Like?

A little early to tell for sure but so far it ain't so bad here. I've never been one to NOT try new things and I've lived in several very different places so adjusting to a new place isn't really that much of a challenge for me. The settling-in process is what is frustrating for me and that won't be happening for another few weeks. *SIGH*

Anyway, we've been trying to learn the city. Jeff is leaving his GPS with me during the day while he's at work so I can find my way around and its been a life-saver. Annabel and I found a really nice water park on Friday and it was such a nice reprieve from the heat--I only wish we found it sooner. It was a great afternoon for both of us. i was able to even out my burn (which has finally faded to a tan) from the drive here and Annabel made a new friend. She gave her our phone number and hopefully we'll be able to play with her again soon. I'm so not worried about Annabel adjusting. She is so quick to make friends. Its great to see that.

After Jeff got home from work we all went for a bike ride in our new neighborhood. The ravine behind it has a great trail through it and there is a large park (Homesteader Park) just a couple of blocks away. 'Haven't been there yet but plan to soon. There is also easy access to the Hermitage Park, another very large park that runs the length of the river with trails for both hiking and biking in the summer and cross-country skiing and snow-shoeing in the winter...and loads of site seeing and bird watching. We plan to head over there today.

The weather here is great. Aside from it being blistering hot while we were unloading the truck its actually really nice when you're not working so hard. The first few nights were a little tough to sleep but then we had a nice BRIEF rain storm that cooled everything off very quickly. The great thing about it is that after it rained the clouds just blew away and the sun came out again. As strange as it is to look at the horizon and NOT see mountains the benefit is that the weather just keeps moving on. It doesn't linger for days and days. So we have a 10 minute thunderstorm and 30 minutes later the ground is nearly dry again and you would never know it happened. I'm sure there are longer storms at times but these little ones are great! And the thunder and lightening is nothing like coastal BC...it actually reminds me alot of South Carolina--which I miss.

Is there anything I DON'T like?........Sure there is. i don't like that my family and friends are 1300 kms away. I don't like that these people are so far behind in their "green" efforts. I don't like the Safeway here (but I didn't like the one in Abbotsford either...it was the only grocery store I could find on Thursday without the GPS and I needed to buy food). I don't like this temporary townhouse. Pretty minor really. Overall I think I can actually begin to call this home--after we move to the other place, of course.
Till then I still just feel like I'm visiting.

We Made It!!!!

OMG!!!! I didn't think I would ever be saying this but we are finally in Edmonton! Contrary to what most people think, we will NOT be moving back because if I ever have to go through an ordeal like this again it will only be from the inside of a pine box!

Jeff arrived in Abbotsford safe and sound at 10:30am on Friday June 27th. Annabel was soooo excited to see her daddy again and didn't want to leave his side the whole time we waited for his baggage. It was touching to see their reunion.
Of course MY reunion was even more touching...and I'll just leave it at that ;-)

Packing up the truck started off the BIG MOVE....and it really set the tone for the rest of the trip. We called UHAUL the day before to find out what time we could have the truck. 12pm! Alright, I thought, its later than I wanted but we can work with that. Well we thought maybe we could see about getting the truck sooner so the next morning we called them again to see about the possibilities. We were then told we couldn't have it until 3pm. Now a brief move across town isn't really affected too much by a 3 hour delay but when you have a 14 hour drive ahead of you and people waiting to help with loading, it really does throw a wrench into plans.
Anyway, we got the truck back to the house by 3:30pm and Tammy and Quin came over to help out. Soon after our neighbor, Rick, joined in and even with the extra help we weren't able to finish before 7pm when we were due at Auntie Grace's house for Jeff's B-day dinner.

Dinner was a nice break though. Grace made her famous ham and scalloped potatoes and packed up the left overs with some wonderful homemade buns for a picnic on the road--great idea! Jeff was loaded up with gifts and cards and cake and then we had to get back to the work of packing. So after tearful goodbyes to mom and Aunts and Uncle we headed back.

We worked hard and didn't get to bed that night till about 2:30am and didn't sleep well on top of it because we kept thinking about all that still needed to be done before we could hit the road. up at 5am for more loading and cleaning! We managed to FINALLY get away around 10:30am (5 hours later than we had planned).The weather was beautiful--until it heated up. Jeff had A/C in the moving truck which was good since he was carrying the cats (poor things, by the way!) but Annabel and I were in the Sunrunner and I tell you...it was HOT!!! We had the roof turned back (not totally off) to create more airflow but in the meantime I got a lovely burn with a seatbelt mark across my chest.
Annabel was my photographer and, despite having to stare at the back of the moving truck for 14 hours, she managed to snap off a few good pics of the beautiful mountains near the Jasper area (I can't wait to camp there!!!).

Tammy and Quin and Dusty came along with us as part of their vacation and I was able to pawn off one of the dogs to their A/C'd vehicle after a while. Was nice to have them come with us even though it wasn't much of a vacation for them I'm sure!

We rolled in to Edmonton around 2am and decided to stop at the 24 hour Walmart to pick up another couple of blow-up mattresses since the beds were buried pretty far in the back of the truck and no one was interested in trying to find them. I was surprised at how busy Walmart was! Who knew so many people shop at 2am????!!! Getting through the checkout was my first taste of my new home. The cashier commented on what a great sleep we would have on these mattresses and then asked where we were camping. We then told her that we actually just moved here from Vancouver. And this is her response to that--"That's my home town....Turn around and go back home NOW! I hate it here! You're gonna hate it here! Why would you move to this sh*t hole? Just leave and go back now!" Hmmmm, what do you say to that? I just smiled and shook my head. Welcome to Edmonton, I thought.

We got to our "transition home"--very small and actually a sorta bad area of town, oh well, its temporary--and all we wanted was to fall into bed. we managed to find enough bedding in the back of the truck and went to work on getting the mattresses blown up. Tammy and Quin used the motorized airpump to get their mattress up and then started on Dusty's but the motor had other plans. It apparently wasn't charged enough to get through it. Dusty was actually already asleep on a pile of blankets so he didn't seem to miss any mattress. So i took the pump and managed to get Annabel's blown up but there was nothing at all left for me and Jeff. we slept on the basement concrete while the motor recharged and around 5am we woke up and blew up the mattress for another 3 hours of sleep.

Jeff and I then spent the next 3 full days unloading the entire 26' truck in 30 degree weather! Fortunately Quin was able to help with the massive sofa bed which we acquired from mom cuz there was no way I would have been able to help with that. I'm amazed we were able to do as much as we did. I don't really remember much of the unload. i think I have chosen to block out much of those 3 days as a defense mechanism. I may need therapy down the road for PTSD but for right now i'm happy to forget.

So here we are, in transition. We are not in love with our temporary home. The neighbors on either side are nice but the girl across from us has been using our only parking stall to store her broken down Jimmy. Jeff has been very patient for the last 5 days and even offered to help get it running so she could move it somewhere else. He told her he'd help her out at 6:30pm yesterday....she wasn't home till after 9pm. So our patience has run out and she now has till the end of today to get it gone or we'll have it towed--at the advice of everyone we have met in the complex so far.
(pictures to come)
We went to look at the new place on Monday and its nice and will be totally worth the wait. Its not huge either but seriously there are only 3 of us. We don't need huge. its a nicer neighborhood and close to shopping and parks. I still need to check out schools in the area but I'm not worried. I'm REALLY looking forward to getting into that place. Oh, and Jeff and I will NOT be doing that move ourselves. We will be hiring for that one. Its just too soon for me to attempt that again. The pain is too fresh.

And what do I think of Edmonton? So far so good. Its dirtier though. People don't seem to care about throwing trash on the ground and trying to recycle anything is a big effort--no recycling bins at the dumpster. Haven't checked out the shopping yet but we're pretty broke from the move so we'll get at that later on. Too tired to shop yet! Did I just say that?

I'm watching the morning news on Global and I have to admit I miss Steve Darling and Mark Madriga!

Last week in BC

Well, its finally here. The last week in BC and its starting to hit me that we're actually leaving. Annabel is having a bit of a tough time with it but doesn't have the capacity to verbalize exactly how she's feeling. We've talked about how she feels about moving a number of times and she's always responded by saying she's ok with it. I was wondering when it would start to affect her. Last week she started acting out a bit at school. Being defiant where she normally wouldn't be and starting trouble within her regular circle of friends. Her teacher talked to me about this on Friday. She said she pulled Annabel aside and asked her if anything was wrong and did her behaviour have anything to do with us moving. Apparently she said yes and then broke down crying. I took her out for ice cream after school and we had a little chat about how we can make this move a little easier. We talked about the good things about moving and the bad things about moving and she agreed that she would use her words to express herself rather than bad behaviour. We'll see how this week goes. There are 4 days of school left. I hope its a good last week of school for her....or we're gonna be having lots of ice cream!

I'm nearly done with packing. Of course there is lots of last minute stuff to do but I'm trying to get ahead of it all by cleaning NOW instead of leaving it all for Saturday. I'm doing pretty good. Although 6 months of planning and packing is a bit much I am glad to have had the extra time to get things done. Even so it still feels hectic. Especially since I'm doing all of this alone. I'll be really glad for the help after Jeff gets home on Friday.

Cooking has been another huge challenge. I don't want to have to move a pile of groceries so I'm abstaining from buying food that won't be eaten right away. This means supper time is a bit of a pain. I have loads of breakfast and lunch stuff for the week but my freezer is all but empty. Thankfully mom has offered to cook for us this week. Iwas hoping to get more of those invites but I'll sure take what I can get. I suppose we could have just invited ourselves over--the answer always would have been yes, but I hate to impose. I guess that's why I haven't asked for much help.

So after nearly 9 weeks apart I finally get to see Jeffy again. Can you imagine!!? We never thought that part out very well. Neither of us considered how long he would actually be away. Looking back this really was the best way to get established though. i can't begin to tell you how lonely its been!! Annabel and I will pick him up at the airport at 10:30am Friday morning and then Annabel will go out for lunch with my mom so Jeff and I can "catch up" (wink, wink). I've already told him that the longest he's ever allowed to be away from this point forward is 2 weeks and only if he can come home on the weekend.

The next time I write will be from Edmonton, Alberta. i hope to take lots of pictures of the trip and even a few of our new "temporary" home. I told someone yesterday we were staying at a Transition Home for a month but after i said it I thought that might not be the term I should be using.
So bye for now and I'll see you on the other side!! Yee Haw!!!