A Wickedly Wilde Christmas

This year we got together in Edmonton with all my sisters, mom, kids, husbands and dogs. The house was full but we had lots of fun and very little sleep.
Danielle, Denton and Ollie came and stayed the night at our house on Dec. 21 so the boys could wake up early the next morning and hit the slopes at Lake Louise. Tyler was even able to make it. From what I understand, there were no injuries and everyone had lots of fun. I am proud of Tim because he was able to keep up! He has worked so hard at snowboarding. I am just jealous because I can't go this year!
Before heading out to Edmonton, Muffy and I hit up the Big Cheese for some delicious poutine.

 We made it to Edmonton in time to watch Erin and Tannis's basketball game. Funny thing was that they both forgot shorts and had to wear sweat pants. So trendy!

I brought bones for the dogs which helped control them. One of the dogs always tried to hoard the bones.

We built some pretty fabulous ginger bread houses. Mine and Mason's severely struggled. It just kept sliding apart so Tyler had to rescue us and managed to get it to stay upright. 

 Scarlett was a disaster while decorating. She at a lot of candy but thoroughly enjoyed herself.

The next morning, Sparkle and Bust (elves that watch the kids in the month of December and report back to Santa on if they are being good or bad), were found on top of the ginger bread houses. Cohen is so sweet and wrote a note for them to take back to Santa. 

On Christmas Eve we went to the West Edmonton water park! It was super duper fun and there was almost nobody there which meant no lines! There were 10 adults and 5 kids so we were all able to get in lots of sliding while taking turns watching kids. I spent most of my time with Scar and Ollie in the hot tub and kiddie pool seeing as my sliding ability was limited. Being 9 months (37 weeks) pregnant really cramps my style! I did do a few slides with Cohen and Tim. I basically have braxton hicks all the times so the stairs really pooped me out. 

While stopping for lunch Scar fell asleep in the middle of eating a cookie! It was pretty hilarious. She basically slumped over and was down and out for the count. Cohen, Mason and Quinn did awesome and we managed to stay for about 6 hours! We definitely got our money's worth. 

 Post swimming success! We were too busy having fun so there are no pictures of us sliding.

Post swimming we went home and Chinese food. Due to the high gluten content and major food issues with this pregnancy I opted out and had a really yummy burger. I will have been gluten free for a year in January and still haven't officially eaten gluten! I am super proud of myself. I have had some contaminations but am curious as to what will happen when I actually eat something! I never thought I would be this good at following the diet. I must give some serious props to Tim. He has been sooooo supportive and always makes sure I am taken care of and have something to eat. 

We then read the Christmas story and opened p.j's. 

Even we got p.j's this year!

The boys got some sweet toque's from my mom and Paul. They brought them back from Peru. The kids and dogs were a little nervous when they had them on. 

The kids went outside and sprinkled reindeer food (oats and red sparkles) so Santa would be able to find the house. 

When we came back in we sang a lovely round of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. The kids were not so impressed and covered their ears. 

 Erin had an app on her phone that tracked where Santa was. Cohen was obsessed. Even though he was exhausted from swimming he had a hard time going to sleep and kept asking where Santa was now. 

Once the kids were in bed we played some serious Dance Dance on the wii! So fun but I am pretty sure I almost went into the labour with all the jumping. 

 Danielle was dying but watching everybody dance was truly hilarious. Nathan is pretty good at Dance Dance and gets really into it. He danced to What does the Fox Say. It was ridiculous and awesome.

All the presents wrapped and ready for a magical morning. 

 Tim usually sews my stocking shut. This year he couldn't find string and a needle so he chip clipped it closed. This happened in early December. I tried to keep my his stocking a surprise but Erin didn't really catch this memo. We were talking about Wilde tradition to get cereal in your stocking. I said that I wouldn't have any because there aren't many gluten free cereal options. She said that I could just share Tim's Fruity Pebbles... surprise ruined! Oh well it was pretty funny! Tim was pretty happy to have 3 boxes of his favourite American cereal that just happens to be gluten free.

 Christmas came way to early for my liking but the Cohen, Mason and Quinn were absolutely dying with excitement. Cohen, who usually sleeps in, was a wild card and woke up first. He went upstairs and woke up Quinn. After that there was no stopping them. Everyone was awake by about 6:45. Christmas was controlled chaos. There was wrapping paper flying everywhere.

 My Grandma Wilde made our baby a beautiful blanket! I absolutely love it. This baby got spoiled again. I am so excited to meet him and use all of the awesome stuff I have!

 My Mom and Paul got all of us a Dyson vacuum! I am so excited. I can hardly wait to try it out.

 Tim of course got the boys more lego. It will be sad day for them when this baby is finally old enough to play lego. The boys gave Tim lego salt and pepper shakers. They are pretty awesome.

 Tim was more than happy to help Cohen put his lego together. 

Post Christmas we just enjoyed our toys, treats and some snuggles.

 Due to the early hour we started, naps became a must. Mom fell asleep mid page.

After a delicious Christmas dinner we all went for a drive down Candy Cane Lane. Danielle supplied some sweet glasses that showed Christmas shapes when looking at the lights. 

Next we went to the Leg to look at the lights and go for a walk. Even the dogs were invited on this outing. We took my stroller on it maiden voyage!

Mason loves the snow and basically rolled/ crawled the entire time. 

The next morning, Boxing Day, the boys woke up bright and early to door crash Cabella's at 6 AM! They came back by 7:30 so we could power shop West Ed. 

 Tannis was a serious trooper! She worked Christmas night and met us at West Ed to shop. She took sleep when your dead to a whole new level. It was so fun to spend all this time together. Thanks for trading shifts and working hard to spend time with us Tanny!

Erin was able to find a baby sitter for the night and we were able to go on a quadruple date. First we went to Soda Jerks.

And then went bowling. I managed to pull off a win in the tenth frame and beat Danielle by 1 point! So proud. 

Other highlights include:

-The pleasure chest- A cooler filled with snow and American pop

- Playing Telepath and Things in a Box

- Having Mason feel the baby move. His eyes got so big and he was so happy! 

- Having all the cousins together. They played so hard and were exhausted every night. I am excited to add our baby to the mix!

-Trips to 7-11 to get free stuff by using the app. We are seriously addicted and it changed my mom's life. 

-Hot tubbing

Can you get any cuter than this little boy!

All in all I had way to much fun and it was sad to leave. I am looking forward to having this baby so that we can all get back together in February for more fun. I am pretty lucky to call these crazy people my family and wouldn't trade any of them! 

Pregnancy Update

At this point I am 36 weeks pregnant and very ready to be done. I just have to make it through Christmas and then I can go at any time. Part of me wonders if I will give birth while in Edmonton but I really hope that doesn't happen. It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world but I would prefer to just have him here in Calgary.
Because I am still throwing up, not gaining weight and measuring a few weeks behind I got to go for another ultra sound. The baby is looks great. On Decemer 1 I was 33 weeks and 6 days pregnant. The ultra sound told us that our baby is weighing about 2463 grams or 5 lbs 7 ounces!!! That is massive and the baby still has 6 weeks to grow. Tim was pretty pumped because he wants a little line backer.

They additionally told me that I shouldn't be working nights anymore! So a note was written and I discussed with my manager what the best course of action was. They suggested that I could do 4 day shifts. I assured them that this would most definitely push me into labour so we settled with me only working my day shifts and my night shifts would be sick time. It is truly lovely. I have had time to do some shopping and get the nursery all finished up.
I thought it was pretty hilarious that Market Mall was being patrolled by a police man on horse back!

 I decided that it was time to buy a nursing bra. While shopping I realized how much my body had really changed and was going to continue to change. The lady who was managing the change room just gave me a sympathetic look and let me take as many bras in as I wanted.

 Due to not working my nights I was able to go down and visit my mom. We delivered Christmas treats and then made some more. 3 batches of ginger snaps later and I finally had the gluten free version down! I accidentally added waaaay to much baking soda and powder but they turned out amazing.

I was also able to go visit Jade Blumel. No pictures but it was so fun to see her again. It had been way to long. She is also pregnant and due in March! Barb Broadhead was able to squeeze me in for a quick haircut and eye brow wax. She is truly the best. After I just had to get a snow bob because I was so close and how do you say no to something like that. 

 Wrigley provided excellent company during the drive up and back.

I have had time to decorate for Christmas but I feel as though I am way more clumsy these days. I broke an ornament on our tree and attempted to super glue it back together but that just resulted in disaster. I got the broken piece stuck to my finger! It was a bit painful to rip off. 

I am also trying to make a bunch of freezer meals. Tim LOVES butternut squash mac n cheese. I found some on sale and went a bit over board!

Oh well. I will have lots of meals out of this! 

A Wright kind of Christmas

We celebrated Christmas a few days early with the Wright family. We went out Tony Romas for a delicious supper and then headed home to open presents. 

Chrissy gave us hong baos! They are seriously our favourite. Technically you are not supposed to receive hong baos once you are married so I feel lucky to be getting one of these. I am worried that our good fortune might stop once baby arrives! 

Baby isn't even here yet and he is already spoiled rotten!

The Lupke's even came up to visit. David made scarves for Evelynn and me! 

It was nice to just have a quiet low key Christmas get together with the Wright's. They have been so good to us, especially with the impending arrival of baby. It will be fun to see them as grandparents and an uncle!

November Happenings

I made Tim take a prenatal class with me. I actually found it quite informative and well worth the time. Below Tim is changing a his first diaper! So proud of him. 

A few highlights include Tim looking through the cupboards and finding a dolls head and then making some silly remarks... this is my support person and baby daddy! I also enjoyed when we were learning how to swaddle a baby Tim said that it is just like baby origami! 

The best moment of the class was during a movie a lady passed out and had a little seizure. Our prenatal instructor totally panicked and had somebody call 911... we were already in a hospital. I called a code 66 but the instructor continued to panic and wasn't sure if the lady was breathing so I upgraded it to a code blue!! By the time the team arrived the lady was coming around. We did find out at our next class that she was ok. EMS also showed up which was fairly comical. 

Tim went deer hunting in Southern Alberta with his dad. They were able to get a deer after about 20 min! I am pretty pumped about all the meat that is coming our way.  

 On the way home they stopped in Nanton for dinner and Tim celebrated with a cinnamon bun the size of his head!

November 17 is National Prematurity Day. I am very grateful that for the most part I have had a healthy pregnancy. Throwing up has not been fun but I would take that any day over a preemie! On this day I was 32 weeks pregnant. At this point my baby would still be premature but for me 32 weeks was a big mile stone. If I were to go into labour my resuscitation would only be a code green and not a code blue! My baby would most likely do quite well. It is pathetic what you look forward to after working in the NICU. I do seriously love my job. I am excited for maternity leave but I will miss those little preemies! 

Chrissy bought a crib for us! I am so grateful. Wrigley wasn't too sure about it. He keeps going in the baby room and knows that something is changing but just isn't sure what it is!

The TD Christmas party was super fun. The food was delicious and after there was a photo booth, dance and casino night. They gave you fake money you could make a team of people. The team with the most money at the end of the night won! Our team did pretty good but unfortunately we came up short. 

 Tim was in heaven playing black jack! It was quite funny to watch him. It is a good thing that the church doesn't support gambling because I think Tim could easily gamble all of our money away.

The best part about marrying into the Wright family is that every year I am spoiled with a American Thanksgiving. 

Because a lot of missionaries come from the states, Chrissy is always sure to invite them. 

 There was waaaay to much food but I was definitely not complaining. 

 Tim was all dressed up in niners gear. He was been a fan since he was a little boy and Steve Young was the quarter back. Unfortunately they lost.

 Tim had woken up at about 5 AM to go hunting one last time with his dad. He was completely pooped out at the end of the night. This was about 8 o'clock!

The next morning I was excited to hit the mall for some serious Christmas shopping!! 

 And then I opened the door to find this!

But I braved the cold and managed to find some super awesome deals!

We continue to play lots of games. Dede came over one night and brought Magic the Gathering. It is a game that Tim LOVED in high school. He says he had to quite after his mission or else he knew he would never get married. I sure do love my geeky husband!

I continue to go for a walk every day but due to my increasing size and the decreasing temperature I am now wearing Tim's snow suit. Good thing he bought this when he was much bigger because it fits me perfect! Here I am 33 weeks pregnant. I continue to throw up but am no longer working nights. It is absolutely glorious!

Dog sitting

Erin and Tyler stopped over at our house on their way to Florida. We really need to invest in some child friendly toys. Scarlett was able to find rubber bands to keep her highly entertained for at least half hour!

They left early in the morning so we watched the girls until Grandma and Grandpa Dudley could make it for the hand off.

Tim was in charge while I was getting ready for church... 

Because the girls woke up so early we were able to make it to church EARLY!! And we looked so awesome!

 Turns out church with a 15 month old is kind of a disaster! We had a lot of treats!

 We had the pleasure of keeping Rocko. 

We got a big dump of snow but that didn't deter us from hitting up the dog park just about every day! Poor Rocko was a bit chilled. 

 Due to my increased girth I have resorted to wearing Tim's winter coat. I am so close to the end that I really don't want to buy a maternity one!

 I got a pair of Sorels. They are seriously life changing. My toes have yet to get cold this year!

Nothing better than two puppies cuddling my belly!