A weekend away.

One of the things I love/hate the most about Ben is his spontaneity. As long as I've known him he has loved making spur of the moment decisions, like all traits this can be good and bad. So, a couple weeks ago Ben informs me that he bought a groupon for a 3 night stay in Banff and asked what days would work for me. Initially I was annoyed, I generally have to be the party pooper in everything and think logically, however, the more he talked, the more sense the trip made (did I mention he is an amazing arguer, I think he should have been a lawyer).

So, last Thursday we headed out. It was a bittersweet feeling, I didn't know how I was going to survive 3 days away from Ellie. Once we were on the road and the giant lump in my throat subsided, I started getting excited. We arrived in Banff mid afternoon on Thursday and the rest of the day we walked around town, looking in shops and just enjoying the environment, then in the evening after supper we went to the hot springs, which was AMAZING. We had been to the hot springs last fall but it's so much more comfortable in the winter.

Friday was our snowboarding day. I was terrified since I hadn't stepped on a snowboard in 8 years but it was amazing how quickly it came back and after 10 minutes I felt like I got it all back. It was an amazing day and it was so nice to spend it together. Ben was so patient and even though his skill FAR surpasses mine he stayed right along side me the whole day. The weather was perfect and it was total bliss! That evening we went back to the hot springs to ease our tired muscles.

Saturday, I woke up early and went for a run. Man, running in Banff was hard. The altitude is really not that much of a change from Saskatchewan but catching a breath felt near impossible. I'm glad I forced myself to do it though because I got to see some scenery that I wouldn't have otherwise. Friday afternoon we went to Johnston Canyon for a hike. We ended up doing the 11.5km hike and it was good but oh so hard! Somehow it felt like we were climbing uphill both ways.... but totally worth it, I totally want to do it in the summer. Saturday night we went to a movie and then out for pizza which was a nice little night out.

Waking up Sunday, as fun as the trip was, I was PUMPED to go home. We had enjoyed the weekend immensely but I was ready to see my baby! We had a great drive home and getting to see my little girl at the end was the perfect way to say goodbye to holidays. I think the getaway was good for us and I kinda look forward to the next one. Until then, I'm going to play hard with my girl!

Got our coffee's and we're ready to go!
 

Ready to hit the slopes.

What a view!

My view on my run, I could get used to this.

On our hike. Beautiful day!

29 Weeks!

As I'm writing this 29 week update I'm sitting in a cabin by a beautiful lake. We decided in April that we needed to get away for a few days at least one time before the baby is born, so I booked the time off and Saturday evening after work we headed out and drove the 4.5 hours to Elkwater Resort. My Aunt and Uncle own a cabin up here in Cypress Hills and they are always so willing to let us come here and enjoy what they have. So far our weekend has included, walks by the lake, great games of scrabble, excellent food, going for a stroll up to the quaint little store for ice cream (I was good and passed on the ice cream). Soaking in the hot tub (I also passed on that...), watching movies late at night, and most of all just relaxing! It's been a hoot and we still have a full day left, now on with the update!

Size:

Our little butternut squash is most likely about 2lb 10oz and over 15in! That is crazy big, however I know it's only about 1/3 the size he/she will be at term! The head is growing bigger and the bones are hardening.  At this point this little one is mainly putting on fat as well as developing those precious little lungs. 

Pregnancy Symptoms:

I still feel so lucky at how little discomfort I've experienced so far. This last week I did break down and visit the chiropractor, however it was due to a popped rib, nothing baby related and luckily an easy fix. My hips have started to feel a little 'creaky', especially after a long walk, but nothing bad AT ALL, I'm still waiting for the low back discomfort and the massive pressure of the baby pushing on 'stuff' while you walk. I did detect some swelling after our long walk in the heat yesterday, luckily it quickly went away once I sat down and cooled off so I'm not worried at all, I expect that to get worse before the end of this summer. Due to this Gestational Diabetes I have to monitor my weight much closer and I haven't gained any weight in the last 2 weeks so that's good too. I really don't want to obsess over the scale, but dealing with insulin issues you have a much higher chance for weight concerns and issues with the size of the baby so they like to monitor it quite closely (yuck). 

Life Happenings:

I guess I kind of already went over this at the beginning of the post, I'll think of something else... Other than the amazing opportunity to take it easy this week life has been pretty much the same, just the way we like it! However, Ben starts a new job in 2 weeks, which is very exciting for us. He is definitely done with being self employed, at least for this period of our lives. I only have 7 weeks left of work!!! I have a countdown on my phone and that's only 30 individual work days (I'm only working 4 day weeks now)! I'm actually not dying to be done work and if I can work past 37 weeks I'm going to try, I'm just anticipating my discomfort level once we're midway through July. 

Weekly Highlight:

Spending the weekend with Ben and Rose, I love the lake life.

Now for some pictures! 

29 week bump taken on the boardwalk by the beautiful lake.

My chubby little swollen fingers after our hike. I'm lucky the swelling went down or my ring may have been stuck on.

Ben concentrating on our scrabble match, he beat me by 3 points! Next game he's going down!

I just have to add this one too, Ben went to get a beer from the fridge and Rose jumped into his spot, I guess she wanted to play too.