10 Weeks, August 31

Ten weeks what?.. might be what some of you are asking. Many have already guessed while others have only speculated that Jonathan and me are expecting baby #3. Now early on, before we even knew we were pregnant we decided that baby #3 doesn't sound all that endearing so we have named baby "Sweet Pea" for the time being. When he or she arrives we will give them a proper name but for now Sweet Pea works. We also decided early on that we will not be finding out baby's sex via ultrasound so everyone is just going to have to wait. Sweet Pea is due to arrive March 29th, 2009 (on my Grandma Evelyn's Birthday). We will continue to keep you updated as our pregnancy progresses and have inculded a time line on our blog so that everyone can count down Sweet Pea's arrival with us.

Choo Choo!

Here is David playing with his new train set. Most of David's play time consists of cars, trains and planes.

The River of Grief

(It is now July 2013 and I realized that there were some posts on this blog that remained "Drafts" unintentionally. I never really finished this one which is why it remained a draft I guess but I thought I would post it anyway, unfinished)...

I have not writen much about our objective this summer. Late May we had a counceling session and it was good for us to talk about how things had been going since Noah died. The more we talked and listened to each other the more we realized that something needed to change. Since late October when we were told our baby boy was unlikely to survive we have been swimming (sometimes drowning) in a River of Grief. I sometimes count the months from March 6th but the truth is our hearts have been bleeding for much longer then that. I use the analogy of a river because I can not think of an image that better describes the emotional experience of the past 10 months. Water is both life giving and life encompacing. When we went for our ultrasound we were confident and calm... at that point we were walking along side the river enjoying its beauty. Before we could take a deep breath we had been thrown into the friged water and the next three days felt like drowning. Keeping our heads above water was all we could manage as we tried desperately to grab hold of something, anything. Jonathan was tosed one way and I another... we were completely separated by the crashing waves and turning currents. Then the water got a bit shallower and we were reunited. Noah's diagnosis was confirmed and numbly we moved into survival mode, preparing for the unknown waters up ahead.

Since we have taken some time away we have been able to grieve to the point where we can smile and laugh as we talk about and remember Noah. We can look at his pictures and watch video's of him and feel happy inside instead of only heartach.

Jonathan went back to work earlier this month and when I counted the days we had "off" it was exactly 50 days.

Belated Updates Part 2

On our second trip to the Island we celebrated my Uncle Ches' 50th Birthday. We were also able to visit my youth leaders Marnie and Glenn and their boys. Unfortunately Jonathan and I got the Norwalk virus starting early that Thursday morning and were very sick. I missed my drivers test on Friday because of it. Saturday we were feeling mostly better but on our way to my step Brother Ryan's wedding (& Nadia) David got sick in the van and we knew he had Norwalk as well. David was sick much longer then Jonathan and myself. We are glad for the things we got to do but it was unfortunate that we had to miss the wedding and a lot of visiting.

Belated Updates Part 1

Hello strangers. I have a lot of updating to do. Lately it feels like we have had our hands more full than usual. We got back from our second July trip to the Island over a week ago now and I am still updating from the first trip. Here is David at Grandpa's taking out the Janga tower we built. He also had lots of fun "driving" grandpa's jeep. No birthday party pictures however... the day we had a party for him at my Dad's was also the day we took him to Emergency because he had a fever. I only got 3 pictures and none of them turned out.

Here we are at Sprout Lake. It has been forever since I've swam there. I actually think the last time I swam in Sprout Lake was before I lived in Switzerland. Anyway, it has been too long. David had lots of fun in the water and on the shore throwing rocks. He didn't mind that it was cold, or that his lips were blue.

We also spent an afternoon visitting Jenn and Bronson where they were camping at Rath Trevor Beach. Sabrina came with us so we had a nice "reunion." Now that Sabrina lives in Dawson Creek and Jenn's in Pasedena we actually seem to see more of each other. We had a nice visit and Bronson and David are only a few month apart so they had a nice time together too.

Here's Jonathan and David at the Harbour Quay where we had a fun afternoon. We all had ice cream and David said "cheese" for the first time when posing for the camera.

Jonathan and I aslo managed to get away for a whole half day by ourselves! We went to Little Qualicum Falls in the morning and then to mini golf where we play two rounds oh yeah and we squeazed a lunch in between. Not the best picture of us but we had to take it ourself... Jonathan is sporting his lovely beared. It was a really nice day.

Introducing Asher...

Welcome Asher! Finally got a picture of Asher this morning. He was born July 27th at 7:23pm while we were all at Lauren and Brent's wedding reception. He weighed in at 7lbs 3 ounces and measured 18 1/4 inches tall. Congratulations Andrew and Rachel on the birth of your son. Looking forward to seeing you all soon.