December 30, 2012

A Year In Review -- 2012

One of the blogs I've read for ages has done a year in review every year, and I finally decided it was a genius idea! Sooooo.. Here's 2012!

January
According to Facebook, nothing exciting happened. We came back to school, and as far as I remember they went pretty easy on us until the end of January. I didn't even post any pictures.

February
We got married!! We went through the temple too, obviously. Which was a big deal.


March
I spent a night in the hospital and finally started taking care of myself. And my ol' friend David came home from his mission!


April
I did my practicum for school at the U of A, finished classes, and finally got got wedding pictures!


May
Graduation!! And I did it with honors! And we moved. Which sucked. 


June
I got a job, started being best friends with Meghan, we celebrated Carter's birthday, and... yup. 


July
It was July 1! This involved Waterton, parades, fireworks, and sunburns! Then Carter had to go work in Anzac :( I went to Fort Edmonton with Shawna and my sister-in-laws, the same day that Carter nearly broke his hand in Anzac. We also went to Capital Ex too! And I got extensions! And we went to the Calgary zoo!


August
Our August long weekend was awesome! We went to the Edmonton Heritage festival and Big Valley Jamboree! It was fan-freaking-tastic. Then it was my birthday! And I got a piano! And I LOVE it.


September
My best friend left on her mission to Korea. And remember that friend Meghan? She got baptized! So much coolness. We bought a Dodge Charger. 


October
We spent Thanksgiving in Raymond and got family pictures done! And it was Meghan's birthday


November
We announced our pregnancy!! And Carter tore his MCL at work. :( AND our Charger broke down. 


December
Christmas! Obviously.. And we're in Raymond for it. We did have an incident with our other car breaking down too, but we had a great friend available to help us fix it! I'll be blogging about Christmas shortly (hopefully). 



So there's 2012 in a nutshell. Literally. Cause I did a terrible job of documenting it. Hopefully next year I'll do a better job of blogging regularly!

December 28, 2012

16 weeks.


How far along? 16 weeks
Total weight gain: Probably a couple of extra unwanted pounds considering it is Christmas break.
Maternity clothes? Yup.

Stretch marks? Hips and belly.
Sleep: A lot of dreams.
Best moment this week: Spending time with hubby in Great Falls.
Miss Anything? Wearing normal pretty jeans. And eating as much as I want. I can go from being starving to too full to function in a matter of 5 bites.
Movement: Nada.
Food cravings: Not really.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Well I had the flu this week. So that sucked. But nope.
Gender: I think it's a girl!
Labor Signs: Nope.

Symptoms: Almost nothing! Just more congestion. But we got a humidifier.
Belly Button in or out? In for now.
Wedding rings on or off? On.
Happy or Moody most of the time: I've been in a better mood for sure.

Looking forward to: Finding out if it's a girl or a boy! And my family coming home.
Must share pregnancy story of the week: I wore a bikini to go swimming in Great Falls (there's a first time for everything after all!) and someone identified that I was pregnant. So that was cool haha.


December 26, 2012

Homemade Christmas Gifts: The Petersons.

I did this one for the Petersons (Shawna, Cameron, Rylee, and Brooklynn). It was a bit of work, but I think it turned out really cute.

I bought the template (blank calendar) from Walmart for $14, and got all the pictures from Facebook and whatever. If I had gone hard it would have taken me three or four hours, but I took my sweet time and it took about 3 weeks.

The front.

January, family picture (-Mason) from our wedding.

February, Rylee's birthday.

March, Shawna's birthday.

April, the boys from the wedding.

May, Brooklynn's birthday.

June, Carter's birthday.

July, Cameron's birthday.

August, Nicole's birthday.

September, Mason and Brooklynn from Carter's graduation.

October, Rylee and Brooklynn dressed up from years ago.

November, Mason's birthday.

December, Cameron and Shawna's anniversary.




December 21, 2012

15 weeks!


How far along? 15 weeks
Total weight gain: A couple of pounds.. I'll find out at my dr. appoinment in January.
Maternity clothes? Mostly. 

Stretch marks? Yup. Hips and belly. Sucks.
Sleep: As much as possible. I took a(nother) 3 hour nap this afternoon.
Best moment this week: Carter's Christmas bonus! So good.

Miss Anything? Not feeling fat. And my family. :(
Movement: Nothing yet.
Food cravings: Just random stuff.. Pizza buns or pineapple or cheesecake or chips.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Sitting in the car for too long.
Gender: I think it's a girl!
Labor Signs: Nope.

Symptoms: Heartburn, congestion.
Belly Button in or out? In, but it's definitely going to be an outie.
Wedding rings on or off? On.
Happy or Moody most of the time: I've been pretty moody this week.

Looking forward to: Finding out if it's a girl or a boy! And my family coming home.
Must share pregnancy story of the week: Last night I had a panic attack that resulted in laughing/crying when I discovered my belly button totally blows up when I cough or laugh!


December 14, 2012

14 weeks!

How far along? 14 weeks!
Maternity Clothes? Most of the time. My normal clothes are just uncomfortable. 
Best moment this week? Sleeping in every single day.
Not so good moment this week? Being exhausted if I don't sleep until 11 or take a 4 hour nap.
Miss anything? Nope. Maybe my Silver jeans. And my belly being smaller than my boobs.
Movement? I can't wait!
Gender? I'm guessing girl.
Food Cravings? Uhh cheesecake that I didn't even eat.. Maybe tonight :)
Anything make you queasy or sick? Nope.
Emotions? Normal, I guess haha. My pregnancy is so boring.
Looking forward too? Girl or boy!! And Christmas. And going to Raymond. And Carter's work bonus :)




These are my pregnant faces. If you were wondering.

December 7, 2012

13 Weeks.

How far along? 13 weeks!
Maternity Clothes? Yep. Most of my shirts are just too small (considering how much my boobs have grown), and my normal jeans are stretching way past comfortable. So unless I'm wearing yoga pants and a hoodie, I'm probably wearing all maternity. 
Best moment this week? Being able to (mostly) sleep through the night again!
Not so good moment this week? Heartburn, I guess? That's about it.
Miss anything? Not yet!
Movement? I can't wait to feel movement!
Gender? No idea yet!
Food Cravings? Nuffing.
Anything make you queasy or sick? Nooooope. 
Emotions? Little bit stressed out, but refer to this post for information on that one!
Looking forward too? Nothing in particular. I guess getting our car fixed haha. And finding out if it's a girl or boy!



December 6, 2012

cool.

so a lot of people (*cough*michelle*cough*) have been asking a lot of questions regarding hubby and his being off of work. so here's the story!

on the 23rd, he got up and went to work like any other day. i hadn't slept well, so when he got up i put my phone on the floor so i wouldn't hear it if it went off. i woke up at 10 to a couple of missed calls from him and a voicemail from a couple hours earlier. luckily, the voicemail was very, very calm, or i would have been in a complete panic.

"hey nicole. i'm on my way to the hospital right now. nothing major happened, but i'm going to the grey nuns hospital. when you wake up, if you want to meet me there you can, but i don't - i'm not dying so.... um. yeah. don't freak out please, but i love you. alright, bye."
(just used my mad transcription skills to type that out)

obviously the first thing i did was fly out of bed and rushed to get dressed while calling him to see if he needed anything and ask what was going on and my mom so she could help keep me calm. when i arrived at the hospital he was on his way out of emergency in a wheelchair, and his right leg was in a zimmer brace.


on the way home he gave me the 4-1-1. he works for a piling company, which basically means they drill giant holes in the ground (like 48" in diameter) and fill them with concrete, and these concrete holes act as foundations for big buildings and such. he was directing the rig into the site to dig another hole, and he was doing that by walking backward. he picked up a barricade and was still walking backward. usually, these holes have covers over them, but this particular hole's cover had slipped off a bit. and this hole had a 1.5 meter drop off from the ground to where the concrete had been poured. so while walking backward, his left foot slipped into this hole and his right leg stayed at ground level. his right knee twisted and popped outward. kazaam -- torn mcl. of course we didn't know that right away. we had to wait friday, saturday, sunday, and monday. tuesday we went to his first physio therapy and that's when we found out what it was.



so he's off work for the next couple of weeks, getting paid from WCB. luckily, we got a great case worker. he's super easy to get a hold of and we've even already got a check! that's unheard of, apparently. 
so we had nothing to do after finding out what was wrong, so we decided to go to southern alberta just to get out. about 40 minutes outside of edmonton, our charger broke down. so that sucked. luckily we have a great family and a couple of cousins that came and picked us up and that same cousin is a mechanic, so he's fixing it for us! which is good, because yesterday our other car broke down as well, but we had it fixed within a couple of hours. thank goodness. i guess i should note that carter's leg is doing well, and he's in a hinged knee brace now, so he can move it.
anyways, that's the story of carter's mcl.



November 22, 2012

11 weeks :)


About You
Name: Nicole.
Age: 20.
Height: 5'6" - I always thought I was like 5'8", but the doctor shut me down today.
Pre-pregnancy weight: None of your stinking business hahah. But I'm not happy about it. Let's just go with that.
About The Father 
Name: Carter.
Age: 19. Haha.
Height: 5'10".
Are you still together: Yup! Married 9 months!
About Your Pregnancy
Is this your first pregnancy: Yes! 
When did you find out you were pregnant: Good question. Ummm.. Basically right after it happened haha. Because I miss my period in September, so I thought I was pregnant then. But all the tests were negative. Then my blood work still wasn't very convincing, and neither was the ultrasound. So I guess I finally found out on October 26.

Was it planned: I wasn't on the pill, so I guess that's a yes!

What was your first reaction: I was kind of expecting it I guess, but still relieved to know that it was, in fact, a viable pregnancy!

Who was with you when you found out: Mmmm. No one!
Who was the first person you told: Carter and my mom and Meghan!
How did your parents react: They're both thrilled. Dad was dying to tell the boys!
How far along are you: 10 weeks and 6 days ---- so, 11 weeks.
What was your first symptom: SOOO tired! And sore back.

What is your due date: June 14, 2013.

Do you know the sex of the baby: Not yet... Hoping for a girl!.
Have you picked out names: Yup.
If so, what are they: People that are close to me know, but I don't want everyone to know!.
How much weight have you gained: One and a half kilos, or 3 pounds.
Do you have stretch marks: Yes!
Have you felt the baby move: Nope.
Have you heard the heartbeat: I've seen it! But I'm hoping to hear it on December 19!

About the birth
Will you keep the baby: Absolutely. 
Home or hospital birth: Hospital, because I'm a high risk pregnancy. 
Natural or medicated birth: I always just assumed I'd get an epidural, but now I'm thinking about just trying without!
Who will be in the delivery room with you: Carter, my mom, maybe my dad?
Will you breastfeed: Yup.
Do you think you'll need a c-section: I hope not!
Will you cry when you hold the baby for the first time: Probably not -- I'm like stone. ;)
What's the first thing you might say to him/her: "Hello, (insert name here)!" or something like that.
Would you let someone videotape the birth: Hell. To. The. No.
Are you excited about the birth, or scared?:Super excited! Nervous, obviously, but mostly excited.

November 17, 2012

Hormones.

I AM SO EMOTIONAL. I just watched the finale of America's Next Top Model (yay, Laura!!) and I cried. The whole 42 minutes. Their mamas showed up, and that was when I cracked. Then when Leila fell down the stairs of the catwalk (someone always does, I'm glad it was Leila) I cried again. And then when Laura won (sorry, spoilers!) I cried again!

I'm going to see Breaking Dawn Part 2 (by myself) and I have a feeling I should take some tissues. Call me crazy, but I am a true Twihard (although I do also love Harry Potter, so don't get me wrong!). Speaking of Harry Potter.. You gotta read this. I wanna name my kitty the same thing.

And my house is freezing. And I'm fat - the zipper in my favorite Silver jeans is starting to tear. :( Time for some mat jeans, I guess. Goodbye, pretty jeans; Hello, yoga pants.

So yep.

Happy Saturday.

November 15, 2012

10 weeks!

I can't believe I'm 10 weeks pregnant (tomorrow). Double digits, baby! -- pun intended.

This is our little nugget at 8 weeks!


And this is the picture I sent to all of the missionaries (Viktoria, Adrian, Ethan, William, Nathan, and Kyle) - me being excited!


And this is the golden nugget (ahah).
I will be 10 weeks tomorrow. I took this picture today.


Can we say HUGE? Jeesh.

Ps >> How cute are my scrubs? 

Pps >> Do the poll! Top right corner! Girl or boy?!

November 6, 2012

some moooooore

more crafty things by yours truly!


this one was so easy it's almost painful. i literally printed out the pictures on white printer paper and put them in the frame. then i hot glued the ribbon to the back of all 3 frames and hung the top one. ta-da! so cute and classy. 

this one was really easy too, but more tedious. i've had this buddah canvas since thanksgiving, and i've been meaning to get around to crafting with it.. but last night i finally did it! the stickers are vinyl - super easy to peel off the painted canvas. i finally chose a quote - yoda! - and then it was a breeze.


here's the final product! i like that you can still see the buddah shadow behind the white paint. i feel like it helps it make sense. go yoda!

#relevant hahaha

pregnancy!

oh my goodness. my life is a whirlwind. carter and i are pregnant!! and i've had a lot of questions. so let me answer some of the questions!

-- so my last period was august 13. but all of the pregnancy tests i took were negative. but september came and i never had a period. october came, and i never had one. finally my doctor ordered blood work and an ultrasound for me to see what was up. this was october 10. we thought i would show around 9/10 weeks, because that's where i was by dates. but the ultrasound only showed a gestational sac, which forms at around 4 and a half weeks. and the blood work showed hcg levels that were around the same time  (4/5 weeks). my doctor broke my heart and said she believed i was having a miscarriage. she ordered more blood work and told me to schedule another ultrasound, but that if i started cramping and bleeding i needed to go directly to the ER. the day before we went to raymond i called the clinic to ask if they had my results, and the nurse said my hcg levels were high, and that i was definitely pregnant. huge sigh of relief. my ultrasound today showed that i am 8 weeks and 4 days, putting my due date on june 14, 2013. so i'm assuming what happened is that going off my birth control in august caused me to skip my period in september, and THEN i got pregnant. but the point is -- i'm pregnant!!

-- yes, i went off my birth control. yes, carter knew. carter had been working out of town in the summer, and the weekend he came home we talked about it. i had read the talk called "children" by neil. l. andersen, and i felt strongly that it was meant for us. in the talk, he quotes rachel jankovic and says, "motherhood is not a hobby, it is a calling. you do not collect children because you find them cuter than stamps. it is not something to do if you can squeeze the time in. it is what god gave you time for." i've spent my whole life wanting to be a wife and a mother. i was a wife. now i wanted to be a mother.

-- no, i'm not sick. thank goodness. i haven't been sick at all. although i do suddenly have a lot of anxiety. for example, people. haha. being at church (stake conference, the temple dedication) with a lot of people in a tight space makes me really nauseous and nervous. even walking around at west edmonton mall on saturday made me crazy nervous. sitting in the passenger seat when carter or my mom is driving makes me incredibly nervous. i get shaky and i can't even look out the windshield. and my boobs have already grown. a lot. dislike.

so there you have it. 8 weeks of nicole's pregnancy. 220 days to go! :) :) :)

November 1, 2012

Coming Soon!

Nicole & Carter sitting in a tree,


K-I-S-S-I-N-G!

First comes love..


Then comes marriage..


Then comes.....


October 29, 2012

Raymond!

we went to raymond this weekend for possibly the shortest visit ever. we left edmonton friday night at 7 and arrived in raymond at 1230. saturday i spent the day with my mom and carter hung out with his dad, sisters, and mom. sunday we went to the temple dedication, ate lunch with my mom, then said bye to everyone. we left raymond at 3 sunday afternoon and got home at 830 sunday night. *le sigh*. we're tired, but we had a good time visiting our families.

and, of course, since i've turned into the craft master.. what would be a weekend without a new craft?


super saturday with lisa! it's so cute. and so fun.

and today i hung out with meghan, blew a breaker in our little living room, and now i'm more than ready for a nap. ughhh.

but no time for that -- the 'what's for dinner' board says it's time for breakfast for dinner! yum!

October 26, 2012

type 1 diabetes

four and a half years ago my life changed forever. and not in a good way. i had been sick-ish for a couple of weeks, but i remember perfectly the day it all went downhill. i was at church with my family, and i started getting really light headed and dizzy. i thought it was just from cramps. i went out to the van to relax, and i suddenly couldn't focus or barely move. luckily, my mom came out at that exact moment and decided that i was having symptoms of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). she tested my blood sugar with justin's meter (he'd been diabetic for a couple of years) and sure enough, i was low. so she gave me a juice box and a granola bar, and home we went. but when we got home i was too weak to even walk downstairs to change, so i laid on the couch. i'm pretty sure i slept for like 6 hours. but then i started getting nauseous and i had to pee every 5 minutes, so mom took me up to the hospital. they checked my blood sugar again, and this time it read 'HI'. they gave me an injection of insulin, and the pain and nausea immediately subsided. it was then that i was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

since then i've been learning to take care of myself. there was a long time - basically all of high school - when i thought if i just took my insulin i didn't need to bother testing my blood sugar or getting my a1c drawn. even when i went to a diabetic camp as a counselor and was supposed to be a good example, i still didn't take care of me. it even got so bad that i ended up in the hospital. twice. even when i moved to edmonton, i still didn't care. it really hit me in march, just after we got married, when i had a pregnancy scare. i learned that high blood sugar can seriously affect the baby's development - like brain, spine, and organs. let's just say, i started testing a lot more regularly. like 7-8 times a day. and boy, did i learn a lot about myself. like i needed a lot more insulin than i was giving myself.

and it's quite frustrating that now - when i care so much about my blood sugars and my body - my insulin isn't doing what i need it to. it's even come to a point where i am going to be applying for the university of alberta islet transplant program, which basically would 'fix' my pancreas and mean i would be insulin independent, and even if i did have to go back on insulin it would be a lot less than i'm taking now.

my life - along with SO many other diabetic's - would be changed drastically by an insulin pump <preferably this one>. unfortunately, they range from about $7000-$10,000 a piece, not to mention the supplies that are needed range from about $300-$400 a month. some insurance plans cover it, but not 100%.

the pc government made a promise as part of their campaign that all type 1 diabetics would be able to receive a pump under the alberta health plan. but now they've come out and said that there are going to be monetary requirements that have to be met, and all other sources have to be exhausted. not to mention, the pumps may only be available to those under 18. yes, type 1 diabetes is a juvenile diabetes, but it does not go away. just because i'm over 18 and no longer considered a 'juvenile' doesn't mean i don't have juvenile diabetes anymore.

we are trying to get the attention of everyone in the alberta government. the pc party, the wildrose party.. everyone. if this is something that interests you, if you know someone with type 1 diabetes, or even if you just dislike the pc government.. join this facebook group. help us get it out there.

October 23, 2012

m's birthday!

**note - i meant to post this like.. last thursday. oops.**

tomorrow (since i'm blogging this at 2:53 wednesday morning) is meghan's birthday! you may remember the name from this or this post. i have been thinking long and hard about what to get her, but what do you get the girl who has everything? i came across the idea of ''string art'' on pinterest (of course, there's a common theme here!), and was DYING to try it. but i wanted to start small. so off to michael's i went to find cork and nails. i ended up using thumbtacks, and i already had the embroidery string. i found the font i liked, and printed out an 'm' (for meghan, obviously). i cut out the 'm', taped it onto the cork board, outlined it with tacks, took off the paper, and began stringing! i didn't want to do it all in one color, so i chose 3 random colors and just sort of went crazy! i wasn't sure if i liked it at first, but i decided that i really really do. i hope she does too!


it honestly probably took me an hour, but that's because i was also eating and watching ellen. now that i've done one successfully, i need to do another one! a bigger one! i am the craft queen!

October 17, 2012

3 AM Crafting Session.

alright. so i can't sleep. so i'm bored. like really bored. and i had this crafty thought come over me whilst i was tossing and turning next to my log of a husband.

we received this print from a couple in our stake for our wedding. and i love it, i really do. but we received so many prints for our wedding that this was one of the many that was tucked away, hidden.


i don't mean any offense to the couple that gave it to us. don't worry, i kept the print itself, tucked behind my new craft.


i've been dying to make a board like this since like i very first got pinterest. and when is a better time to do it than 3 am!?

basically i just took out the original print and inserted a piece of scrapbook paper that i had written 'i love u because..'. i decided to freehand the saying because a) my cricut is loud, and b) i thought it would be more personal that way? idk. i really like how it turned out, actually.

then i wrote on it with a dry-erase marker (which i happen to have a ton of because of a little whiteboard calendar i have hanging on our fridge) and i hung it up in the kitchen, where i know we'll both see it every day. i also want to put nails or hooks on the bottom for keys. but i can't find our hammer.


now i'm even more bored than i was 2 hours ago because the rest of my crafty ideas have to wait until normal hours when other people are awake. shame.

Things.

> sleep is a thing of the past. i am having some serious issues falling/staying asleep. terrible.
> i'm being such a good housewife when i'm not working. gone are the days of 4 standard meals, here are the days of experimenting. this week we had stew and biscuits, chili and potatoes, ranch chicken and rice, and tomorrow is chicken fettuccine alfredo. mmm.
> i've started being so crafty! i love pinterest and michael's. watch for posts coming soon - i have to wait to post them because most of my crafts are gifts!
> i have stopped drinking diet coke. cold turkey. i know, it doesn't seem like that big of a deal.. but it's the equivalent of lisa and heather stopping dr. pepper. i've had some terrible headaches lately, but it's been 4 days since my last diet coke! yay me!
> i'm literally hungry all the time.
> i am not ready for winter.
> we bought a car! 2006 dodge charger. she is a beauty. carter gets to drive her to work, but sometimes i say 'hey, take the lumina and let me drive the beaut!' and he goes 'fine'. such a good husband.
> speaking of, he likes sleeping on 2/3rds of our bed. stinker.
> k bye.

We got family pictures done Thanksgiving weekend - this is a sneak peek.

Sometimes we try on Hallow's Eve costumes at Walmart.

Our baby!