Oh Naomi.....

I have like a million things to blog about, but we'll start here.  Our dear, dear Naomi...Stephen's first love.  She's passed and we've now moved on to bigger and better things. 

Stpehen with Noami before we cashed her in. 

I'm sure a guy's first car means a lot more to him than to a girl.  Stephen loved this little Honda, and she sure was good to him and to us.  She landed him me!!!  He was always quick to remind me of that when I would complain regularly about the two doors.   It was very weird saying goodbye to Naomi.  We have had a lot of good memories with her.  But alas...with baby McKee on the way, two doors was just not going to happen, and Honda offered us a deal we couldn't pass up.  So without further delay....meet Holly the Honda




This isn't our exact car, because we have yet to take a picture with it, but this is a pretty good replica of Holly, our new shiny black 2010 Honda Civic with 4 DOORS!!!  We love her to bits already.  She's leaps and bounds ahead of Naomi.  Firstly...she has four doors.   Secondly...she has cruise!!!  Who knew the drive to sourthern Alberta would be that much better with cruise control????  Heaven.  She's got a bunch of new features and gadgets and gizmos that we just love about her too, but I won't bore you all with the details.  Just know that this picture depicts how we feel about our dear Holly.  But we'll always have a place for Naomi in our hearts.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!

On November 15 I turned the big 2-4.  I haven't felt old until this point.  I think it's probably because I'm pregant....or maybe it's because next year is 25!!  not cool.  I did have a wonderful birthday though.   We take our birthdays very seriously around here.  It's always referred to as birthday week, in which the person whose birthday isn't being celebrated is basically a slave to the birthday person.  It's great....when it's your birthday.  My request during my birthday week was that stephen gets zero gaming...unless I'm working.  This has been tough since the new Call of Duty game out this past week, but he's held to his promise...mostly... and hasn't played when I'm not working.  It's been just divine.  

Stephen had a ton of vacation days left that he needed to use before the end of the year so he took a bunch of time off for my birthday.  Lucky him.  I had one day off.  haha  Totally not fair, but it was a good day.  We woke up bright and early and headed to the only non-fast food breakfast joint we know.  Denny's!!  I can't wait until the iHop is done.  It actually was pretty good.  I always get the french toast.   Mmmmm....I could go for some right now...with strawberries and whipped cream.   So delicious.  Anyways....then we came back and watched some tv and just hung out until we had to primp and make ourselves beautiful for my maternity shoot with my cousin.  I can't wait to see them!!  Hopefully I don't look like a giant blimp in them.  Highly unlikely though.  Then we came home and Stephen cooked me up a delicious meal of lasagna, twice baked potatoes and red velvet cupcakes for dessert.  It was soooo good.  I love lasagna, but it's such an ordeal to make it so I only get it once a year.  So i savor every bite.  We had stephen's family over and my sister and her family over to share in the cupcake goodness.  It was there where I was showered with lavish gifts of diapers, wipes and new slippers!!  haha  I loved it.  I think we pretty much have everything for baby now. 

Stephen spoiled me....as usual.  Probably our last 'big' gifts for each other this year since little mckee is coming along.  He got me a chef's coat with my name and our wedding anniversary stitched on it.  i LOVE it.  Such a thoughtful hubby.  And he got me a KitchenAid Mixer!!!  WOOHOO!  I have wanted one forever, and I love it.  And he got me a new purse....a very nice purse....which I am in love with.  So nice. 

Here I am with my new baby, bursting at the seams....literally...of my chef's jacket.

You can see the stitching in this one

My hottie cookin for me 

Classic

Haha  so cute!!  Nadia loved little Malin.  I hope I have a girl next.  She needs a little girl cousin so bad.  There was a lot of new faces.  Malin didn't quite know what to think of it.

Oh good heavens I'm large haha!!

So that was my birthday.  I loved it...except for the fact that now I have to say I'm 24.  I'll get over it though.  In other news we finally finished baby's room and I FINALLY finished his blasted blankie, so once I take some pictures I'll post about that.  Only one more month to go!!!  I can't believe it!!

The Things They Do....

So things are just getting larger around here.....so large that many of my dad-to-day tasks are becoming much more difficult, such as bending over the sink to rinse my mouth out while brushing my teeth, walking up my four flights of stairs to go to bed, breathing and sleeping just to name a few.  But at the very top of that list is first and foremost the ability to paint my toenails.  That's what I got the big lug around for. 

Case and Point



He's such a good guy.  The best really.  He may or may not have purchased me these little beauties....the day after HIS birthday!! 

Yup, he's a one of kind this one. 

And here's proof of the bigger than life elephant I have become. 

So I'm now 30 weeks, and it shows.  So far this pregnancy hasn't been too bad.  A few bumps here and there but for the most part I can't complain....and I've tried not too.  Stephen may beg to differ, but this is my post, not his, so I don't care.  I had to go for that horrendous sugar test a week ago.  I went by myself.  NOT a good idea.  I don't do well with having my blood taken to begin with.  I have terrible veins...minimum of three pokes each visit...no joke.  And even the thought of getting poked that many times gives me anxiety...which mixed with my usual fainting problems on top of the fact that I had to fast, it wasn't a pretty picture.   But I made it through it.  Not unscathed though.  My results came back not so good so I had to go get the two-hour test. 

 UGH!!  So annoying.  I had stephen come with me this time.  Apparently he forgot the part where I told him we had to sit there for two hours.  So he left after the first hour to go grocery shopping.  Wrrrrrrong time to leave.  First of all...who's bright idea was it to have pregnant women fast for 12+ hours.  Obviously not a pregnant person.  Anyway...I made it through the first hour okay, although I had a terrible poker who already was pushing my buttons the wrong way.  That poke was the worst of them all.  I was sitting waiting for the time to fly by when I thought I could make it to the bathroom before my next poke.  Well....you guessed it....i fainted my way right into that bathroom.  Don't worry, the toilet caught my fall.  I sat for a few minutes and I was fine...just in time for the beeper to go off. 

I got to lay down after that...in my own private freezer of a room.  SO cold, but much quieter and more comfortable.  Then my lovely husband showed up and harassed his way into the freezer with me.  I beleive the conversation went something like this.

Stephen: Hi, is my wife Janna here?

Poker: I'm sorry sir, we can't give out that information.

Stephen: Is she dead or something?  Where is she?  (BAH!  I love that he said this.  Totally Stephen.  He was not very impressed)

Poker: (Eyes rolling) She's in that room, but you have to knock.

So he came in and we did cosmo tests until my time was up and the third poke was done.  It was an eventful day.  Always a good time to be had at Dynalife.  So I don't have the results back from that sugar test, but my next appointment is Tuesday so we'll find out then.  Hopefully it's all normal and I don't have to stress about gestational diabetes or anything.  I did know I would be at a higher risk because of the PCOS, but I never expected to actually get it, so I'll update once I have the results.  Other than that little hiccup everything seems to be going good.  I can't believe there's only ten weeks left!!!  So crazy!!!  But we're so excited and can't wait to finally meet our little McKee. 

Sick and Tired of being Sick and Tired

Two posts in one day.  Lucky you.  I'm actually just extremely bored and am taking it out on our blog.  But the truth is Stephen and I have both been really sick lately, and I wanted to record some of it.....mostly for myself....so I remember how this pregnancy was for me. 

Stephen's immune system...or lack thereof...is off the charts.  I don't know what his deal is, but this year alone he has had strep throat five times, bronchitis three times, and he's just getting over a cold.  It's annoying...for me and him.  He's more than frustrated.  He's had blood tests and everything, and apparently he's as healthy as an ox though.  I beg to differ.  I guess this is what we get to deal with since he takes the train everyday though.  So annoying.  The good news is he's finally getting over it, and hopefully it all stays away for the next little while.  The odd thing is I haven't caught any of it...EVER!  I haven't been sick at all.  Well...not that kind of sick.  I have my own issues.

I FAINT.   I know...weird, and scary.  The first time happened while I was working about three weeks ago.  I was screaming for stephen to come resuce me, but he couldn't hear me because I was yelling from my office.  He finally heard me and came barrelling into the room asking what was wrong.  I was in tears, white as a ghost.  He rushed to get me some water and put the fan directly on me.  Meanwhile I'm trying to finish my show.  I'm sure the hard of hearing watching the news in Toronto that night were a little frustrated.   The second time I was fabric shopping with Julie and probably scared her half to death.  I had her get me some Arby's and an orange julius.  haha  She's so awesome.   Thank goodness she was there.  I wasn't so fortunate the third time.  I was at Wal-mart.  I was at the back of the store developing photos.  Great.  I somehow stumbled my way to the front of the store to the Tim Hortons and plopped myself down on a chair, thinking I just needed to sit and regroup.  I recovered enough to get up and stand in line for something to eat.  That didn't last long though.  The stars started appearing and I started sweating, and I knew the blackout was near.  Somehow I got outside and onto the curb.  The fresh air helped a little bit, but there was no way I could drive  home.  I can just imagine how I looked.  Pregnant lady half passed out sitting on the sidewalk out front of the wal-mart.  Classy.  Good thing my sister just moved to town though.  She came to my rescue.  The last time happened while I was out shopping with Stephen.  I was actually sitting down getting my makeup done and Sephora, and lo and behold the stars appeared.  My eyes started rolling and Stephen knew it was happening again.  He rushed to get me a Cinnabon and some juice. 

Good heavens!!  What is my deal.  So i figured after four times this probably wasn't normal.  I'm really stubborn when it comes to going to the doctor, unlike Stephen who LOVES the doctor.  It's weird.  But I figured something isn't right, and I started to get worried about the baby too, so I sucked it up and went.  Turns out I have issues.  The baby is literally sucking the life right out of me.  He's taking all my blood, all my iron and all my salt.  My blood pressure was 80/50.  NOT good.  It's supposed to be 110/50.  So I'm supposed to drink 4L a day.  HA!!  Are you kidding me??  I'm not a big drinker.  I'm working on it.  My iron is also supposed to be 50 and I'm at a 9.  That number kinda scared me.  So I got an iron supplement too.  So....I haven't fainted again yet, but I still feel weak and tired all the time and am scared to go anywhere alone, so I'm usually just cooped up here at home.  So if anyone wants to come visit you're more than welcome!!!

Other than that pregnancy hasn't been too bad for me.  I feel ginormous.  Like....really really big.  Big to the point where Stephen just stares at me in aw sometimes and wonders how I can possibly get any bigger.  And I still have 3.5 months to go!!!  Geesh.  It feels like i've been pregnant for a year already.  My back is in ridiculous pain, and I had to stop doing shifts longer than two hours for work because it was just too much for my body to handle. 

Mostly we just can't wait to have little McKee HERE finally.  I got the nursery all set up with the crib bedding and everything, and my next post will include pictures of everything, but I want to decorate it a little bit more first.  So that's how we've been feeling lately.  Hopefully we're both on the mends!!  :)


haha  this is how i feel some days.

Zzzzzz.......

Oh sweet sleep.  Stephen and I were laying in bed last night and he suggested I do a blog post on our sleeping patterns.   Haha, kinda a funny suggestion, but I find our sleeping regiment a bit unusual compared to most.....and I love when my husband suggests blog posts and shows interest in our blog, so I wanted to appease him. 

Most people probably don't think twice about getting to go to bed at the same time as their spouse.......but for me I consider this a rare event and a treat.  Stephen is usually in bed by 10pm everynight, but because of my work schedule I'm never in bed until midnight or 1am.  CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPY!!  I was spoiled for about three weeks when I first started this job and I was done work everyday by 7:30 like a normal person.....but alas, it wasn't meant to be for us, and I had to revert back to my late nights and never getting my bedtime cuddles....oooooooo so cheesey Janna............but I don't care.  I cherish my cuddles.

Anyway....there are still a few things that have to happen in order for both of us to fall asleep.  Just a warning....there's a little bit of blog PDA about to happen here......just deal with it...or skip over this post to my next one.  Don't say I didn't warn ya.  Stephen and I both pull a complete 360 when we're falling asleep.  Stephen referes to it as the Three Phases.  We begin in the spoooooooooon position (Phase 1).  My personal fave.  Oh so comfortable.  I then turn onto my back and stephen switches to his other side (Phase 2).  I then turn to my other side and Stephen does this awkward half side half stomach thing (Phase 3).  I've since adopted this position since I've become pregnant and there's this weird bulge sticking out of my belly.  We both then complete our 360 and fall soundly asleep on our sides......until I get up to go to the bathroom at 3 in the morning.  Then it pretty much starts all over again. 

I'm sure by now you're asking yourself where the PDA was in all that.....or you're thinking you escaped unscathed of my mooshiness.......NOPE!  Here it is.  There are only two kisses that really matter to me...a kiss when stephen leaves for work in the morning, and a kiss goodnight.  All the other kisses take a backseat as far as I'm concerned.  I have my reasons, but I'll spare you the details.  Anyways...Stephen wasn't always a believer of this philosophy but I've since converted him.  When I drag my aching body into bed at 1 in the morning the first thing I do is give Stephen a kiss on the shoulder.....or the arm....or the ear....or the back.  It's dark, and I can't see.  So it's basically whatever body part my lips flop onto.   I basically did this for my own peace of mind, but then I missed a couple of nights and Stephen started to notice I wasn't giving him a kiss goodnight anymore.  awwwww he really does care.  So now if I forget I get a little nudge as a reminder.  Neither of us can sleep without our kiss goodnight, and I like it that way. 

We also can't fall asleep unless some part of our body is touching the other.  It's usually a foot or a finger.  It's really weird, but it's a comfort thing for both of us.  We're soul mates, what can I say.  Anyway....I'm sure you all are glad you just wasted 10 minutes of your day reading about our sleeping habits, but the truth is, I don't care about you.  I think it will be fun to make this blog into a book eventually and have our kids read it and see how lame their parents were back in the day.  We're so mooshy gooshy in love, even while we're sleeping, and I wouldn't have it any other way.  :)

Goin' to the Temple...

This past Saturday was one of Stephen's good friends wedding, Braden.  Stephen was one of the groomsman and barely made it to the wedding because he was sick all week with strep throat and bronchitis......again.....fifth time this year....but who's counting.  I'll tell ya who's counting.  ME!!!  Cause I have the lovely privilege of playing doctor each time, and Stephen tends to resort to baby mode when he's sick.  But back to the wedding.....

It was a really nice wedding....and oddly similar to ours, since our colors were the same.  Maybe that's why I liked it so much.  :)  Luckily we remembered our camera at the last second, so here's a bunch....mostly of us...not the married couple. 


                                           Here's the happy couple leaving the temple.  Yay!!

Me and my babies.  We're always laughing.  I love it!

Awwwww.  we're so cute. 

This is our friends Stefanie and Blake Hydes's baby girl Lucy.  Possibly the cutest kid....until baby McKee is born of course.

Our beloved ultrasound tech Whitney...love her.  Don't know she loves us though.  Stephen bugs her everyday with questions about the baby.  It's funny. 

All the boys.  Nothing but bad things happen when they're all together.  Good thing they're all married now.  Not sure what Stephen's doing.

Stephen and Braden

Me and my new friend, Braden's grandpa.  I'm looking quite large and in charge here.  Just lovely.

Oh Scotty B.......

Stephen with Scott's little brother Mark and his boy Thomas.  They actually served their missions together.  They also are trouble together. 

Stephen with the happy couple at the end of the night.  It was a great day!!

But What Is It???

So remember way back when when I said we WEREN'T finding out what our baby is going to be???  Ya.....things changed.  And just to clarify, I was DEAD SET on not finding out.  I seriously had no temptation to find out, and I still feel like it would have been soooo much fun to not find out.  My lovely, wonderful husband started being not so lovely and wonderful though.  He began putting pesky whisperings into my mind.  "Come on Janna, let's just find out".  "Once we know we can decorate the nursery".  "Look how cute this outfit it....too bad we don't know what it is". 

HOW CRUEL!!  Anyway, long story short it was killing me, and I caved.  What can I say, I'm a people pleaser.  It's a serious issue.   I still really wanted to keep it a secret from everyone else though, just so that it was still somewhat of a surprise, and because I knew it was driving everyone crazy not knowing, and that secretly made me happy.  haha  I'm cruel like that.  Well....I should have known better.  I knew Stephen couldn't do it.  He assured me he wouldn't tell ANYONE!!!  I had no problem believing he wouldn't purposely tell anyone, but I knew how excited Stephen would be after we found out what it was, and I knew it would just slip. 

Well, after we came home from the ultrasound we were still debating whether or not we were going to keep it a secret, and we decided we would.  I obviously still had my doubts.  At best I thought it would last a week without it getting out.  Crazy me.  It lasted exactly an hour and a half.  Stephen decided to call his parents and let them know how the ultrasound went...and out it came...smooth as a baby's bottom.   I honestly wasn't upset at all.  It was secretly eating away at me from the inside out.  LITERALLY!!!  Funny, kinda gross story, during the ultrasound the baby was munching away...at the placenta.  BAH!!  Obviously not literally but that's what it looked like.  We had a good laugh about it.   So the secret's out now, and we called all our family and let them know, so we now make it blog official. 

IT'S A BOY!!!

And here's proof of the placenta eating boy

He's so stinkin' cute!!!

So I know this is getting long, but I have to tell two quick funny stories, just so I don't forget them.  We've actually thought this baby was a boy from the beginning, thanks to my revelatory husband.  I told you...he's amazing.  The day BEFORE I told Stephen I was pregnant he had a dream that I was going to have a baby boy.  Then like two months later he had another dream where I was actually delivering, and it was a boy with a shock of black hair.  So his first dream was correct, and I'm holding him to that shock of black hair.  How cute would that baby be.  So stinkin cute!!

So my little niece Nadia, cutest little girl, such a sweetheart.  All she wants is another little girl to play with.  I sooooo wanted to give her that little girl.  As soon as we walked out of the ultrasound the first thing I said was Nadia is going to be so sad.  I was honestly nervous to tell her.  Everytime I would see her she would rub my belly and say, "be a girl, be a girl".  It was so cute.  She had me almost convinced it was a girl.  So we called to tell Hala and Collin the big news and Nadia was SOO SAD!  She almost started crying.  Poor thing.  Hala assured her we're going to pop out five or six more though, so her chances are still pretty good.  :)    The tally will be five grandsons to one granddaughter on the McKee side.  I'm sorry Nadia.  I tried.  And it will be two granddaughters to one grandson on the Steed side, so that's exciting.

Haha.  This is exactly how I pictured Nadia looking when she heard the news.  :)

So that's our latest news. 

We're just so excited to know that he's healthy and growing and lookin' like a stud already.  We can't wait to meet our little guy, and I'm already working on plans for the nursery.  WE'RE SO EXCITED!!

And here's a baby bump pic to tide you all over.  I'm a bit ridiculous.  I'm definitely measuring big, but the doc says it's just cuz I'm so small.  I'm already so uncomfortable though.  And this is possible the worst picture ever of me, so just focus on the bump.  It was a self timer, but I obviously wasn't able to get the focus before pushing the button, so this will have to do.  Can't wait for the next five months...