17 days.....

So I looked up at my cute little pregnancy tracker and it almost shocked me to read "17 days to go"! I am honestly so ready to have this baby!!! I believe that a healthy amount of fear resides in me but not like the fear I have been feeling in the past 8 months....I am now PRAYING to go into labour! I am over the fact that labour is going to hurt and I feel completely ready for the challenge. I guess it has been a couple weeks since I last posted so I will just go through a couple things that we have been up to in July. On Canada Day we spent time with Andrew's family and then met up with Brandon and Sydney to head to the fireworks. We got pretty good spots and were able to see all the fireworks and hear all the crazy drunk people threatening to beat each other up haha! On the holiday Monday, Andrew went out with the boys to dirtbike and my family and I went out to the lake to Sea doo. We had lots of fun and it was really nice to see Andrew finally having a REAL summer. I started back up to work the following day and only worked till Thursday because I planned a day trip to the Stampede with my mom and Brock. We honestly had such a blast at the Stampede! I am starting to regret not getting any pictures of any of these events but sometimes you just have so much fun that you forget to take pictures! We met up with my Grandma and Grandpa Lyons before going into the park and Brock was extremely excited to go in because he had never been before. Mom, Brock and I had to stop at the mall before we got to the Stampede grounds so we had already eaten lunch but we went into the BMO centre with my Grandma and Grandpa to find some lunch for them. We walked around and looked at all the different things they were selling. I got a delicious Hershey's chocolate milkshake and we stopped to watch the talent show for an hour while everyone ate lunch and snacked on treats. We then decided to face the crowds and go outside.......except everyone was pouring into the BMO centre because it was raining cats and dogs outside. I was scared that it was going to be like that all day and that we would have to go back to Chinook and spend our day inside. Good old Southern Alberta came through for us and within 20 minutes it was back to sunshine and heat! The rest of our day consisted of riding the west jet ride over the park, watching the superdogs show, seeing the illusionist and trampoline act, and don't forget about all the stops we made for TREATS. I couldn't ride rides this year....obviously....so I treated myself to a snow cone, mini doughnuts and a caramel apple :) mmm.

Last Saturday, Andrew and I went to PRENATAL CLASSES....yes! I made Andrew go to prenatal classes with me :) and they were actually so fun! I found our teacher very informative and very open to answering all of the strange questions that people were asking. Andrew even piped up and asked if babies smell when they are first born...hahah....apparently a lot of other fathers were wondering that as well. I would honestly recommend them to anyone who wants to feel very prepared for labour. I realize that the baby has got to come out somehow so it might seem strange that there is classes directed at labour and delivery but I found them awesome. I have read A LOT of books and internet sites during this pregnancy but it was nice to go up to the labour rooms, see all the different contraptions and get an overall better feeling of what we are going to face. Our class ended at 3:30 so we headed out to Waterton to have some fun together before baby gets here. We got dinner at Wieners of Waterton and walked around the park. We sat at Cameron falls and let the mist cool us off before we headed to get some of that famous Big Scoop ice-cream (AKA Nestle ice-cream). We went and visited my friend Megan at the lodge and then ran into my family on the picnic benches outside of Wieners of Waterton....they didn't even invite us!!! I swore we saw all of Lethbridge in Waterton....lol isn't that always how it goes!

This week I finished work yesterday and have been basking in my freedom! I really don't know what I am going to do for the next 2 weeks so I hope this baby girl comes early!! The only things I want to do before having her is finish our prenatal classes (this Saturday) and get my hair done sometime next week. So I'm thinking that next weekend would be perfect for her to come!!

OH YEAH! I forgot about my birthday!!! I turned 22 on Monday and had the most wonderful birthday! I slept in and then my brother Brock and I spent the whole day together! We went grocery shopping, bought Captain America and ate McDonald's in my bed while watching Captain America! I love that kid so much! He and I have such a blast together! We then went over to my parents house for pulled pork (my moms speciality) and enjoyed a delicious chocolate birthday cake :) my family is awesome! My parents gave me a large sum of money and I had already saved up my play money for the month and Andrew gave me money from his limo run a couple weekends ago....so I had enough to buy a Nikon 90D!! I am getting it on Monday and we got a screaming deal on it so I can pay for it with no stress! Happy Birthday to me! I am so dang spoiled!!!! I hope to learn how to use it before the baby comes so I can get lots of great shots of her!

Anyways.... onto the pregnancy!!! I am now 37 weeks and 4 days pregnant. I have officially gained 22 lbs in the past 8 and a half months and my fundal measurement is 37 cm, which is perfect for how far along I am. Scarlette's heart rate is down from 160 (which was the first time we heard her heartbeat) to 144 bpm! This is great news seeing as baby's heart rate needs to come down near the end of pregnancy. She has now been in head down position for the past 2 months and isn't going anywhere! I got checked this past week, for all those who don't know...it actually is more painful then what I thought and also a whole lot different then what I thought. I honestly thought when they measure how dilated you were it was an external measurement.....nope! definitely way on up there! Anyways...I am not dilated at all but apparently my cervix is very soft....I better get drinking that raspberry leaf tea! Other then that I have been feeling pretty good. The heat is really getting to me this week because it is hard for me to get comfortable and I already have an internal heater!

Anyways!! I'm off to cool down and enjoy the rest of my week!

June 25th 2012!

I have been so busy the past week that I have hardly had time to come on the computer, much less blog! I think my body is going into a weird "I gotta get everything done before baby mode" because I have had sooo much energy lately. Andrew and I are able to go on walk everyday and I could walk forever and ever and ever! I don't know if I said in my last blog that I have a pinched nerve, but I do. I thought it was just back pain but I was very wrong....so if you see me in the next couple weeks I will be sitting with a big pillow behind my back to relieve the pressure that baby Maclean is putting on my nerve! Walking feels AMAZING and when I get closer to being full term I am going to be walking crazy amounts each day....but for now I will stick to about 2.5 kilometers a day. I don't think I have too many crazy pregnancy stories....I have yet to wet myself and my belly growth has really seemed to slow. I feel like I got big really fast, kept growing rapidly and now I'm kind of at a stand still. On Sunday a few people came up and asked how many months I had left and I said 5 weeks and they were very surprised.....they thought I was quite small for 8 months....maybe they were just being nice ;) or it could be because she seemed to have "dropped" last week.

Scarlette kicked Ciara for the first time last week ( she has been very skeptical/jealous of a new baby in the family) and she just has not stopped talking about it since! She always puts her hand on my belly and watches the weird belly wave that Scarlette likes to perform, which has been pretty great! I was really scared she might think the baby was taking some attention away from her but I think our whole family could use a little piece of heaven right about now. I know I talk about the baby a lot, but I just feel so incredibly blessed to have been trusted enough by our Heavenly Father to be a mother. Andrew and I have been speculating on what she is going to look like, how big she is going to be and if she is going to look like a Scarlette in the past couple days because of how close we are getting!

A couple months ago, Scarlette was kicking around and I decided to figure out when her due date really was going to be. I thought who better to ask then Scarlette herself! So I told her that she should kick when I said her birthday. I kept saying random dates out loud until she kicked again. I probably named about 10 dates and she was very still...then I said July 24th and she gave a big kick! So in my mind, she is going to be born July 24th haha!

On friday night, Andrew and I decided to decorate Scarlette's room. We put up her letters, brought her dresser over, set up the change table, figured out how to work the diaper genie, put a little shelf up for her and bought all of our last minute baby items! Then Andrew went upstairs to watch T.V. and I decided to take all the clothes off the hangers and wash them.....LET ME TELL YOU...I almost had a big cry. I knew I bought a lot of clothes.....but I did not realize that I had bought enough clothes for triplet girls! I would buy an outfit here and there, then I would hang it up on a hanger in her closet. It took me 5 hours to take all the clothes off the hangers, cut all the various tags off/de-sticker, sort into whites, lights and darks and wash 3 loads of baby clothes. I really hope Andrew is right about us having a house full of girls because I have enough clothes to last all my babies. I also went out today and got pink drapes for her room because there were these really ugly blue ones and they only covered half the window....pretty sure that won't cut it for a newborn. Also, speaking of near cry experiences...Andrew wanted me to post this one. I try really really hard not to cry or else I will cry for like 2 hrs and go over all the things that I didn't cry about when they happened. So ...one night, Andrew and I were in the kitchen and I asked Andrew to take the garbage out because I had cleaned the whole house by myself while he had been out dirt biking all day. There was one last banana and I was REALLY craving a banana. I peeled the banana and for some reason it had been broken in half so the top half fell off.....no big deal..I just cleaned and washed the floors today. I go to pick it up and realize that Andrew had come upstairs in his gross muddy dirt biking clothes probably to tell me a story about how sick dirt biking was that day and there was dirt/ mud EVERYWHERE. So then.....(I admit this is my fault) I was so extremely mad that half my banana was ruined and the insane pregnant woman came out in me and I threw the other half of the banana at Andrew's head. Then I stormed into the bathroom and sat on the toilet....because I realized I had to pee in the midst of my banana ordeal.....and honestly had to contemplate whether or not the loss of my banana was worth the BIG CRY. Andrew is hysterically laughing in the kitchen because he thinks this whole thing is hilarious...he peaks his head into the bathroom and realizes that I am contemplating the worth of the banana. He says some smart comment about how I could have had half of the banana if I hadn't thrown it at his head and I said "Andrew....can't you tell I am contemplating having a break down over not getting to eat that banana I was really craving"...he continues to laugh even harder and then being the good husband he is, he offers to go out and get me some more bananas.....which I decline because they just wouldn't be the same as the banana that I dropped in his mud.

So this was an extremely long post....most of these stories are so I will remember them but I do hope that they will give someone else a little bit of enjoyment!

41 days!!!

Well, there is only 41 days left to go until baby arrives...at least that is what they tell me. Just a little update on baby, she is approximately 4 lbs 9 ounces according to the average and 18 inches long. She has been in head down position for the past 2 months but she recently "dropped" which means she is really getting ready to get outta there! I go back to the doctor next week and then I assume I will be having doctors appointments every week after that. We booked our pre-natal classes and I have applied for maternity leave. I plan on beginning to pack the hospital bag and wash the clothes in a couple weeks just so I don't set myself up to think she is coming right away when in reality it is still 6 weeks away.

Andrew just got back from the Yukon and were pretty sure he has a good chance of getting this job delivering dry-wall, so for the 1st summer in a long time he will be able to work a REGULAR job. He is so excited to be able to come home when it is still light out and hang out with our friends. I'm just finishing up working at Thriftway and MVO before I take a couple weeks off to chill before I'm sleep deprived!! Also, we have started the Vaz-Oxlade budget and were super excited to actually have a real budget. Since we have been married we have been REALLY well taken care of as far as money is concerned so with a regular job and me not working anymore, we are going to have to learn to budget...oh well! Today we got all our groceries for the week for $40!!

This weekend we got maternity pictures with Brittany Lowry which I am incredibly excited to see! We also had Brock's treasure hunt birthday party on Friday evening as well as my Grandpa's 65th birthday party on Saturday night! On Sunday, Andrew and I made dinner for my dad but I don't think he trusted Andrew with the steak so he made it himself and brought it over LOL!! I made home-made potato salad, cherry jello and Cesar salad. We were really stuffed afterwards. Anyways, sorry for taking forever to update it has been a little crazy the past couple weeks!!!

1 more week in the Yukon!

Well, this post probably won't be too long because our internet has been really slow the past couple days. It is my last week in the Yukon and we have been trying to get as much touristy stuff done as possible. This past week we drove all the way to Alaska to look at the beautiful scenery and to enjoy our Sunday afternoon. It was quite a nice day and we were able to stop a lot and get some nice pictures (see facebook). We even saw a black bear! It was one of the most beautiful black bears I have ever seen...not that I have seen many but it was pretty cool to see it up close without a ton of traffic behind you trying to get into Waterton. We took a couple mornings this week to go downtown and walk through all the little shops. I took some pictures which I will upload later this week that document what the store fronts look like. Whitehorse has definitely tried to keep their town looking like it did in gold rush times. Another morning we went to the Beringia Interpretive Centre which basically has a bunch of skeletons of animals that were around during the ice age. We took lots of cool pictures of a wholly mammoth and HUGE beaver. We also went to the transportation museum to look at all the old plains, trains and automobiles that were used in the gold rush. We definitely feel that we did all the touristy stuff that we could. There is a couple other small towns around the Yukon that we will have to choose between on Sunday so we can go a do some last minute site seeing. We also went to this famous fish and chips/salmon restaurant downtown yesterday and Andrew was drooling over his fish and chips....I, of course, was not open to try something new so I opted for a chicken wrap.

During Andrew's work hours I have been busying myself with painting these really cute letters for Scarlette's room. I painted them sparkly pink and red then let them sit for a couple days and then I sanded them to look aged. They turned out pretty cute but I probably wouldn't have used red after seeing the finished product. The letters are alternating in colors so it kind of brings out S-A-L-T-E and C-R-E-T hahah maybe I am just really picky. Anyways, I have also been watching some Gilmore Girls which were only 10 bucks at wal-mart and reading my last 2 books. I just finished Divergent and Insurgent.....oh my goodnesss....they may not get the best reviews online but I LOVE them. They are based on dystopian society which is the same idea as hunger games but the plot is different and I just couldn't put them down. I definitely recommend them as a good summer read. If anyone has read anything good lately I would be glad to know what it was! I haven't scrapbooked this week because we have been pretty busy but I hope to get a couple more pages done before I head home. I also picked up "what to expect when your expecting: the first year" which is super interesting. It goes through tons of stuff and you can just pick and choose what applies to you. The reason I am so excited about it was that I found it at Wal-mart and it was 40% off. I bought my "what to expect when your expecting: pregnancy" one at chapters for like $22 bucks so I was happy to save some money!

Wow....maybe this was a longer post then what I thought haha!! Scarlette is doing well, she is no longer kicking very much but I feel her moving ALL DAY. She even manages to get her little feet up under my rib cage which is always a fun place to put them! She also knows when Andrew comes home because his voice is so much lower then mine and she will usually punch him when he puts his head on my belly (it is a loving punch). Anyways, hope everyone is having a good week with their own life adventures :)

YUKON!!!

Well folks, I am in the YUKON! I can't believe that I am actually only a few short hours away from Alaska. If Andrew had his PR card and passport then we could go...but we can't :( I might just get him to drive me to the border so I can go across but that might be a pricey trip seeing as gas is $1.36 here! WAHH?? it was $1.12 when I left Lethbridge. Anyways, monday I got all packed up and ready to go. I cleaned the house and made sure to take out the garbage, packed my scrapbooking stuff, a couple books, some tv shows and my warm clothes. I knew I was going to miss Brock really bad so we had a sleepover on Monday night and I took him to school on Tuesday morning....let me just say...if Scarlette is my only girl I will be completely happy. It took me 15 minutes to feed, dress, brush teeth, do hair and pack up Brock to take to school. BOYS ARE THE BEST! So I took Brock to school and my Grandma and Grandpa picked me up at 10:30. Can I just say I have the best grandma and grandpa EVER. Honestly, they would do anything for me, they would drop whatever they are doing to help me out and I love them for it! We got to Calgary and picked up my Aunt Sheryl and then headed to Chinook mall for lunch. We did a couple errands and then my grandpa dropped my grandma and I off at the airport at around 3ish. My grandma REFUSED to let me carry my luggage through the airport even though it has wheels (haha) so she took me to baggage drop off and then we said our goodbyes. I got to my terminal and read my book while waiting to board. Can I just say I always get nervous before flying!! My first flight took my to Vancouver and then my next flight flew me all the way up to Whitehorse. The flights were alright but I doubt I will ever want to fly again pregnant. Even though it was a pressurized plane, I definitely felt a lot of pressure on my belly and it got very hard for some reason. I felt like I was a balloon ready to pop but I prayed a lot ( A LOT) and I knew I would be ok. I walked around between flights but I only had about half an hour before we boarded again so I don't think I had adequate time to stretch and get the blood moving. By the time I got to the Yukon I was pretty tired. Andrew came and got me at the airport and then took me to McDonald's for some dinner because he has no food. We then got to our hotel...which is literally right across the street from McDonald's and decided we would chill out. I chatted Andrew's ear off and then fell dead asleep haha. The next morning I was up at 7:30 because it was technically 8:30 my time. Andrew and I got ready and then looked out the window to see a winter wonderland LOL!! I laughed at myself because I have been saying all winter that I cheated it.....but it has a way of getting back at me. I took pictures but I don't have the right cord to download them right now. Andrew showed me around the Yukon and told me all the places that we are going to explore further when there isn't so much snow everywhere. Since then Andrew has drove me around Whitehorse but due to his schedule we haven't done much yet and he promised to teach me how to drive the car so I could get around during the days but he says he doesn't trust me. SO I have already read 2 books, watched the last season of OTH and had plenty of naps :) Tomorrow is Sunday so we will go to church and then maybe go do some sight seeing. Hope this post wasn't too long for anyone ;) I will take some pics of our hotel room and upload them to facebook perhaps.

Wednesday update!

MY LIFE---Well it looks like I'm heading up to the Yukon next week!!! I'm sooo excited! More so to see Andrew but it will be a fun little adventure to explore the Yukon. I am planning to pack my suitcase with my scrapbooking stuff, books and all the things I usually don't have time to do. On Monday I have a check up with the doctor and I will be 29 weeks!!! When I get back I will be 32 or 33 weeks ?? I'm not sure. Anyways the past week I have just been working at MVO and getting the house ready for the baby as I will be gone for the next month. It's not fair that Maggie gets to be in Florida during selling season and I am headed up to the Yukon lol!

MY PREGNANCY--- This week the baby has definitely been putting on weight, at approximately 2 lbs and 4 oz. I have been feeling the extra weight on my internal organs ( specifically my bowels ..sorry if that is too much information lol). I've noticed that when I get up I immediately have to pee, even if I JUST went. I have had no heartburn or indigestion that they speak about in the 3rd trimester. I have also been able to see the baby move CRAZY amounts recently. I will sit down and it will be like my belly is having a seizure because she is kicking up a storm...soon it will be too squishy for her to do this.....gwahahahhaah. My belly button is ALMOST level with my belly which is really quite creepy but as long as I don't see stretch marks I am extremely grateful. Overall I have feeling absolutely GREAT. I honestly have been so blessed in this pregnancy. I look back and feel that I have had an ideal pregnancy, obviously there is going to be some negatives but I have definitely had a great pregnancy compared to others. I'm really starting to get excited about getting to meet my little girl. My friend Brittany had her baby at 36 weeks so even though I'm not expecting a birth that early, I am aware that sometimes babies surprise us! I have approximately 8 to 11 weeks left :)

Church--I was called to primary chorister and this week I did a pretty bad job lol!! I was super prepared but I didn't feel like the kids were very receptive to me...maybe because it is primary singing time. If anyone has any good ideas for mother's day PLEASE COMMENT! I was thinking about singing songs about love and helpfulness??

Anyways have a great week everyone!!!

School is OVER!

I am so excited that school is over!! Of course my last set of exams had to follow suit of every other exam week I have ever had and land on the last days of exam week. I had one exam on Saturday night from 6pm till 8pm.....honestly who sets an exam at that time?? I kept checking the website to make sure I was reading it right...I even googled 1800-2000 because I swore it couldn't be 6 till 8. Then I had an exam yesterday at 2 till 4:30. What a nice feeling to walk out of the UofL and know that I had accomplished my goal! 4 years of school....is long....but short in some ways. I also ended up getting all my grades back today and it was A's all around! I am so blessed to have been able to keep it together during this semester while being pregnant and all. Even though the first little bit was rough I didn't really notice it was rough till I got into my second trimester and realized I was feeling A LOT better. One of the greatest blessings I feel from going to school is that my children will be able to have an educated mother. Some of the best skills I picked up from the UofL were not typically what I would have thought I would have walked away from University knowing. Firstly, I learned that you need to do your research!! Just because someone educated tells you something doesn't mean it is true, you need to go off and do your own research about it and find out if it actually is true. Secondly, I learned to work well with others....yeah we all know about those group projects and members who aren't pulling their weight. Well, life is like that!! So you have to learn how to positively motivate people to pull their weight, even if it means dividing the project into parts that everyone has strengths in (computer spreadsheets, speaking parts, research etc). Thirdly, you can get a University degree without being that smart. LOL I am honestly not that smart but I grew up with a bunch of girls that had parents who were really educated and pushed them to be the best they could be. My parents are very smart as well but sometimes I feel that they may lack confidence in themselves due to how people may look upon their career paths. University is not about being smart, it is about working hard! I worked my butt off to get the grades I did and I learned to work my butt off from my parents! I probably don't say this enough but my parents are so awesome!! Sometimes I look at people around me and think...wow....my parents really taught me how to be self sufficient and how to work hard for everything I have. Andrew and I are both very blessed but we definitely are not handed things like other people in the world. Whilst doing my taxes this year I realized that I have paid $40,000 in tuition fees in the past 4 years (keep in mind I switched majors and bought a lot of textbooks). I have a $5000 student loan and $4000 already saved up from that past couple months of working that is going towards that. WHEW!!! some people are in a lot more debt then that after they are done with University (my husband is also grateful he didn't have to bail me out of debt hehehe).

Anyways, I guess this post was just something that I can look back at and remember the way I was feeling after graduating. I am so grateful for Gordon B. Hinckley and the way he encouraged girls to get an education. I now have the ability to support our family if anything every happens to Andrew (I hope it never does). It also gives me the ability to go back to work after my youngest is in grade 1 so I can further increase my skills :) Well, time for bed! I gotta go to work in the morning ;)