24 weeks and counting..

I'm beginning to look very pregnant these days. At work Iam extreamly fussed over. Iam the only pregnant women in the office, and since I have been there so long everyone knows me and loves to comment on my growing belly. I do love everyone caring about me and my baby, it makes me feel good. I do work with alot of good people, and I'm glad I got to work with them throughout the first 6 months of my pregnancy. But I never did think I would hear the word "cute" so many times in one day. I probably getted called cute about 5-8 times a day by different people, a word I never thought I would hear when being pregnant. I still don't really know what people mean by that because I defiantly don't see myself as cute at this point, but hey I'll take it! Yvonne, a very nice british women I work with said to me that Iam the cutest pregnant women she has ever seen...and that it suits me (being pregnant).

I still can't really believe that Friday (tomorrow) is my last day. I'am so excited for this, however it is going to be very strange. I have worked there for almost 4 years! that's a long time, and I have gotten in quite the routine. As much as I hate the work part, I do enjoy seeing my buds at work. I told them I would go visit when I'm like 8 months, and of course I will come in to show off little Mia later in the summer. They all seem very excited to see her.

I'am feeling pretty good lately, however it's hard getting used to having such a big belly. Since I have always been quite small I'm finding it hard to do alot of things without difficulty. Just putting on my boots is a battle. I have crouching down because I feel like I'm crushing baby and hurting her in some way... I can't imagine how I'm going to be by 8 months...ah! I'm super excited though...I love experiencing all these new challenges!

Joe has been superman lately, He does alot around here so that I can take it easy. He is obsessed with little Mia already and loves touching my belly. It makes me feel amazing that he is so excited for Mia's arrival. He is taking a week off from work after she is born, and also taking a week off in August for our cottage trip. I can't wait!

I went to Value village yesterday to look for a little dresser for the nursery but they didn't have any...however, the baby clothes are amazing there! just as good as Talize! I'm obsessed with baby girl dresses! there are so many nice ones. I love the little dresses that come with little panties to go over the diaper...just precious. I found this amazing hippie like dress for when Amelia is one, I have to wait abit but I had to buy it! Kate you will love it! Imagine Mia wearing this little dress with a little purple headband and little sandles! Just adorable..Joe loved it too!

A great $4.99 purchase!

I leave you with a picture of my growing belly...I know Kate will be shocked as she was with the last picture, however I'm much bigger now!!!haha

Later dudes!

A country walk..

Cold but sunny, Joe and myself went out to his parents house to take the dogs out. We love taking Marley and Zen to see their bro Zack, they are so happy playing together and they non stop run, which means a peaceful night for Joe and I. Here are a few pictures from our country walk..

Marley, Zen and Zack walking up the gravel road.

Horse with a coat

This is the horse farm down the road from the Strongs house. I always love seeing the horses. It will be nice to take little baby for a walk down the road to see the horsies in the near future.

Joey and myself
From left to right, Joe, Marley, Zack and Zen

Marley looking sharp

Zenner

Baby Gear!

So Joe and myself went to pick up some stuff from a women that was selling a baby swing and boxes of baby girl clothing 0-9 months. The swing is great. It's in perfect condition and we got it for a great price. Here is a picture of the boxes of clothes we got...lots of nice things! She also gave me blankets, bibs, some shoes, and other little accessories. I'am very pleased...A very nice start to Baby Strongs wardrobe. The swing is the Fisher Price 3 in 1 swing. It is great because you can take off the seat and it turns into a infant seat, and when they are older it can be a little rocker. It has 5 different songs that baby can listen to and the reason I like it so much is that you can easily take off the seat, fold up the stand and take it anywhere. It's great because I can quickly and easily bring it on the deck and she can swing in it while Joe and I eat or when we need to do something in the yard. The pattern is also very nice with little safari animals- It's also green which I love. It will be moving into the living room closer to the time, for now it will stay in the nursery.

The dogs were very interested in all the new things we brought home. When Marley came inside and saw the swing in the nursery he started barking at it and didn't know what to think of it..lol. He was fine once Joe and I explained to him it was alright and it wasn't going to hurt us...haha. Everytime they walk past the swing they go up to it and give it a little push and snif. I think they are beginning to relize something is going on...lol.

The Quinny Freestyle!!!!!Gotta have it.

This is going to take some of my finest whining and convincing to get this,


Quinny Freestyle 4XL Green Travel system.

The set I want comes with the stroller and car seat. I am taking the pram from mother dear that she got from Maryanne, however we need a stroller that is more sporty and durable. This is exactly what I'm looking for. I want something with big tires so we can take Mia out with us when we walk the dogs. This is also great for the winter months as the tires go threw anything. I also love the look of the stroller and car seat- and I love the colour. All the reviews are very good and I have only heard good things about Quinny products- Here is one review:

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!!
on August 25, 2009
This is the best stroller that I have ever used. I live on a dirt road but this stroller just glides on it. We use it every where we go, walking trails, the zoo, the beach, even the mall. The adjustable handle is a dream come true. I come from a tall family (ranging from 5'10" - 6'6") and no one has had any back pain from 'hunching over' to push to stroller.

This women brings up a great point about the adjustable handle. It is something I would have never thought of but it brings up great concern for me considering Iam 5'2 and Joe is 6'3. Joe's back in already messed up and I don't want him bending while he pushes little Mia.

The stroller and car seat are very good quality so I figure it is a good purchase because it will last for all of our children, the colour is also gender neutral so it works for both a boy or a girl.

I'm already sold, but now I have to convince papa Joe which won't be easy because the price of these two wonderful products are $479.79!! however after I'm done having children I can sell the set for a decent price. I have looked on Kijiji and most people selling this set still ask for $300.00 used, so we will see. Joe already knows he wants to buy a stroller like this, he wants one with big tires that we can take on all of our adventures. Maybe I can tell Joe to work some extra hours??!! hahah JK!

JUICY FRUITY BABY!

I'm in love with this!

I found this crib bedding set on the internet today and I must have it. Take a look.

The set comes with eveything above,

This is excactly what I wanted! The room is already painted green so this set with look awesome in the room. I think they overdue it in the room picture, but I just want the bedding and mobile. I already have my mosquito net that Iam hanging over the crib and I think it will look awesome. It isn't very cheap but I have to have it. Little Mia will love it. I figure I can sell it all for a decent price after so that's something, I really want to make her room inviting and cheerful and also warm, and I think the bedding and crib have a big part of the final look. I also just love knowing she will be sleeping in a beautiful, comfortable, relaxing space. When people walk in I want them to think to themselves " What a lucky baby" lol. Let me know what you think of it!

I love Baby clothes!

Baby, baby, baby

I love baby clothes. There is something about baby clothes that just melts my heart. The funny thing is, I remember feeling this way even when I was young. I have been obsessed with babies for as long as I can remember really. Ever since I fell deeply in love with Joe I have wanted a baby with him. I knew we would make beautiful wonderful little children and I have been waiting for this for a couple of years now. I'm very lucky that Joe wanted children at a young age like myself. We have always had the same goals and dreams, and we both knew we wanted to have a baby shortly after getting married. I have always pictured us as being the young, hip, energetic parents, that aren't like most mom and dads you see. I can't wait to see Joe hold baby Mia, I think I will probably cry the first time I see it. I have been waiting to see this since I basically met him. Women at my work have mentioned I should start getting used to all the women hitting on Joe because women can't resist a young, good looking guy with a baby...I must admit this is true. Whenever Iam out and about and I see an involved dad that is young and good looking I just get a huge smile on my face and I can't stop looking.

I'm sure you can tell how excited I am about Mia's upcoming arrival. Above are some of her clothes. A huge thank you to Ellen who sent me a beautiful little outfit. The denim hat, Pink long sleeve shirt and the adorable pink socks! I love them. The teddy bear is from Silvia from Christmas..I thought it was very nice of her to think of us. I found a women on Kijiji selling a whole bunch of baby girl clothes and I am picking the lot up on Saturday along with a swing that she is selling to me as well. The clothes are all basically new ( the women had her baby girl in May) and most are name brands. I figure it will give me a good start and it will save money because even when you go to Talize your paying on average $3.99 per item of baby clothes, and this way I'm getting like 80 items for a very good price. She also has a 3 in 1 Fisher Price swing that is in excellent shape, and Joe and I wanted to get one anyways for in the living room, so this will save us more money. We are picking that stuff up on Saturday so I'm excited to see more baby clothes!!

Bye for now!!

*Shopping for Miss Strong = FUN

So today I did abit of shopping. I needed to buy a pair of maternity jeans, as well as a good bra. My first stop was Talize. I was so happy to find a great pair of maternity jeans - it was like they were made for my body, they fit so well. They are also in brand new shape and the pouch that covers your belly is a very nice light fabric so they are extremely comfortable. I can no longer where any pants that aren't maternity - minus some yoga pants, but most of them I find to tight now. I am now starting to get bigger...when I was in the fitting room I was shocked when I looked at myself, maybe it was because it was a different mirror then at home, or maybe it was the terrible lighting in the fitting room. Anyways the pants I got are awesome, they are also stylish to..Joe complimented my bum in them today so I guess that is good...lol. Here are pictures of my great $9.99 purchase:

This picture doesn't show miss Strong to well for some reason so here is a better shot of how big I am as of 22 weeks (5 1/2 months)

I am now beginning to feel the effects of being bigger. Before I never thought twice of what I did with my body, I was like a crazy monkey, but now I'm finding it much harder to do alot of the things I do everyday at the speed prior to pregnancy...It's even a challenge sometimes getting in and out of the truck.

Of course I went to the baby section, I have actually been waiting to do this since I found out that I was having a girl. I did find some cute stuff, I could of bought alot more but I controlled myself. There is tones more for girls, it's crazy...Now I know what Ellen was talking about...I would be a very frustrated shopper if I was having a boy...there is just so many nice baby girls clothes and this is just Talize, wait til I tell you about the nice stuff I saw at Winners. Anyways here are some of my buys at Talize.

Miss Strong will look adorable in this red Tommy Hilfiger dress

Baby Gap purple dress

I love these colours together- pink and brown...Little old navy sleepy with little frills at the feeties.

Rock star baby

I knew if I ever had a baby girl I would want her to wear a hat like this....so cute!

Her closet has begun...but not nearly as full as it will be in a couple of months. Joe's friend and his wife just had a baby girl last month and they let us know they will give us the clothes she grows out of which is very nice of them. Anyways after Talize I head to Winners to buy a new bra and some new undies. I know I will soon need to buy a nursing bra but the girls have gotten way to big for my old bras to handle. I did finally find a good bra, but it did take some time. I then made my way over to the baby section and woah such nice things! Again the girls section is 3 times the size of the baby boy section. I had to really resist myself when I found an adorable pink Ralph Lauren dress with frills at the bottom and they also came with little panties to go over babies diaper. It was $20.00 which isn't that much money but when you see the amount of fabric your getting for that amount and when you think how fast she will grow out of it then I did think twice....well to be honest with you the only reason I didn't buy it is because I didn't want to take the chance of Joe being mad about my decision. But when he got home from work he didn't even seem like he would have cared if I bought it so I wished I did indeed purchase this adorable outfit. I could just picture her in it. There was so many beautiful dresses for baby girls too...So when baby Strong is 12 months it will be summer and there will be tones of dresses to put her in, most of the dresses that were really nice are more for when there 12-18 months so that will work out just fine.

And by the way we are working hard to making Miss Strongs name official so I can start calling her by her name...We are thinking Amelia will probably be the name for our future baby boo, but I can't say it's official yet.

Anyways I should be off, were at Joe's parents house and we will be leaving soon. We rented the movie 9 which I can't wait to get home and watch.

Ellen Thanks for the last email, very informative! You are full of good advice, I'm extremely lucky to have you helping me out. We are hoping to get the nursery done by March at the latest because we have many projects to complete in the spring before baby comes...including minor kitchen renovations, and many things to do in the backyard including ripping out the old fence and putting up all new privacy fence, and ripping out the corner deck and other landscaping things. We want this all done by May so we will have our full. I am excited to go to Ikea in the near future and see what they have for little babes room. I will be excited to show off her nursery once Iam done with it.

I'm out for now though!! take Care