Sorrowfully Neglected

Yes, it's true.  It has been nearly four months since my last blog post. Shameful, I know. I am not without excuses for my lengthy absence, but I will spare you these.  Instead, I'll try to fill you in on some of the highlights of the last quarter and get y'all up to speed on my life. 

I suppose I should start with the biggest news.  As most of you already know, I am once again "with child".  It's probably a good thing that I've taken a blogging hiatus, as my mood about this pregnancy has greatly improved with time.  The first 3-4 months were BRUTAL!  I have never been more sick, more tired, and generally more ready to be done with anything in my life before.  Thankfully, with the help of medications, the great support of family and friends, and time, I managed to survive the worst of it and am on to brighter days.  This pregnancy is still not easy, but at least I can be happy about it now. I may have a soccer player on my hands as my belly is in constant motion from all the kicks I get throughout the day.  I'm excited for the expected arrival in July.  Emily is thrilled at the idea of becoming a big sister and is taking her role very seriously.  She's matured so much in the last few months, and it has been a great blessing to me.  She's very willing to help me in any way she can, and always wants to learn what I'm doing, especially in the kitchen.

We've also managed to get some much needed renos done at our house.  I feel like I haven't been home a lot the last few months as Emily and I keep taking off to Saskatchewan for one reason or another, most recently to escape the renovation headache.  I'm still in the process of putting things back where they belong, but it's coming together.

Emily enjoying our new bathtub - part of our major bathroom reno.

Unfortunately, my scrapbook room was used as a temporary storage room for everything we had to pack up during the renos and it hasn't been returned to its original state yet.  I haven't had much desire to craft since becoming pregnant - until now.  Now, I'm itching to get my hands on paper, ribbon, and all the other beautiful things my supplies contain.  I have lots of pictures to try and catch up on before the new baby and I turn into a crazy shutterbug again. :)

Now that I'm feeling quite a bit better, we're actually get out and doing the odd family activity again.  The other weekend we took Emily to West Edmonton Mall to see the Sea Lion show there.  She loved it.  Her favourite thing was when they announced that one of the sea lions was 3 years old - just like her!  Her face lit up.  It's great that such small things can make her so excited, lol.  It was a long, busy day. But a great day! Here are a few photos of our day out.



So excited to be going out for lunch.



Enjoying all the animals at the pet store.



Getting excited for the Sea Lion Show about to start. 
Unfortunately, this is about when my camera ran out of batteries. :(



Today is St. Patrick's Day - a day where you see green all over.  Except outside.  After a few days of above freezing temps and melting of snow, we've returned to winter. It's not terribly cold outside, but it started snowing during the night last night and hasn't stopped since. I'm tired of trying to keep up with all the shoveling.  I just want Spring and lots of outdoor playtime to come.  Soon.  We've had soooo much snow this winter it'll take forever for it to all melt and dry up.  I suspect we'll be walking around our yard in rubber boots well into June this year.  Might need to buy myself a cuter pair this year, rather than the standard black. :)

In other exciting news, Emily has started school (unofficially).  I've decided to homeschool her and we just got her school books in the mail last week. Yesterday, we did 3 lessons in her art program and today she had her first phonics lesson.  She's super excited about school and wants to keep doing more and more, but I'm trying to limit her so that she doesn't get too overwhelmed. It's very neat to see her learn, but it makes me a little sad to see how much she really is growing up. I try to tell her that she'll always be my baby, but she insists that she is not a baby, but a big girl.  **sigh**

I'll leave you with these little tidbits of my life. I will try to be a more consistent blogger again.  Life is busy with lots of doctor's appointments and miscellaneous life things, so be patient with me. Thanks for hanging in there with me!

Until next time...

Buck Lake Blogger