Life Evolving: Happy 2007

I've been remiss in keeping up with my blogging lately. I'll try to recap our last few weeks without boring anyone.

We went "home" for Christmas this year. We haven't been in Alberta for Christmas since 2003. It was nice, but I will admit a bit of anxiety about being a province away from my midwives between 34-36 weeks pregnant. On Dec. 15, we flew to Calgary and stayed at Colin's mom's in Okotoks for 6 days. We had a busy weekend with extended family and then a bit of a quieter few days during the week, as Colin's mom had to work. On Tuesday night, she gave us a break and Colin and I actually went on a date. Those are few and far between and much needed. We went to the Olive Garden (yum) and then saw a movie (Pursuit of Happyness - such a good movie!). On Wednesday, we took Ethan to the zoo in Calgary. It was chilly, and the animals were a little quiet, but it was still fun. And nice to navigate the zoo without the crowds, that's for sure. Our silly boy, though, was quite anxious around the animals. He got more excited about the statues of animals than he did about the real ones. I think it's safe to say we probably will never have a pet in our home.

On Thursday, the 21st, my parents came to pick us up and we headed down to Lethbridge for another 6 days. My whole family was home and Ethan revelled in the attentions of all his older cousins. In fact, he turned into quite a little showman for much of the time, quite literally performing little shows he made up, to a very willing audience. We've never seen him perform so "officially", introducing himself and his show, etc. It was hilarious.

Christmas day was at my sister, Joanna's, and another interesting thing was that we had deep-fried turkey for the first time. My brother, Kevin, cooked it out on the deck and it was SO delicious! I'd go for that again. Not traditional, but over the past few years, Colin's and my traditions have shifted anyway, so we're okay with that.

We came home on the 27th. The day we left, it started snowing, and by the time we got to Calgary, it was an all-out snowstorm. Our flight was delayed about an hour, which wasn't too bad. We had some pretty bad turbulence just as we started to descend. Bad enough that I was considering the "brace positions" that are outlined in the little booklet in the seat. I don't think I've ever actually been that frightened on a plane before. I am not a nervous flyer. But we were both pretty freaked out. Ethan wasn't scared, but he didn't like it, as he kept saying "I want this plane to stop!"

We welcomed the new year quietly, with some movies from Blockbuster. This week, Colin is keeping busy at the restaurant, and a bit at school, while I am getting our homebirth kit ready and everything else ready before this baby decides to make an appearance. I can't believe we will be meeting our son or daughter in about 3 weeks. I am wanting to get all the physical preparations out of the way so I can focus on the emotional/mental preparation I feel I need to enter the labouring/birthing phase and then, of course, our new family phase. I am excited, nervous, curious. And then some. I know God has great things in store for our family in 2007.

Here are a few Christmas shots. I realized after looking at all the pictures what a serious boy we have as he opens his gifts. Sorry we can't give you any smiley shots. He was pretty happy for the 12 days we were home, we just didn't get any pictures of it. Ha!
Opening some gifts at Grandma Hedivan's