First Trimester

4 weeks, 5 days?

there's a question mark on the end because that's pretty much just a guess at this point. although i made a call to the midwife today to find out about making an appointment. she calculated i'd be due around september 21.. but every calculator online told me the 19! but it's somewhere around there. anyway, i made an appointment for february 1 @ 4 pm.. and i'll be seven weeks by then. wow.

words from papa bear...
hello my little munchkin! i'm anxiously awaiting your arrival and sooo excited to meet you. you have made me and your mother so happy already and you are the first addition to our growing family. i have so many exciting thoughts and plans for you. the most exciting one at this point is taking you to disneyland when you are old enough to really enjoy it. i was there when i was five and it fills me with joy every day when i think about it. i can't wait to share that feeling with you. of course there will be many other amazing moments in our lives and i'm really excited for them to start happening. on sunday, january 15 your mother peed on a pregnancy test. and the result was a life-changing moment. it made me so happy. now the dream of us having a family is beginning.
more later...
daddy

i found this video! looooovvvvviiiinnnnggg it. now if only i could figure out how to make a stop-motion film with all my images that i'll be collecting...


Magic- A Belly Grows from The Panic Room Videos on Vimeo.

*sigh* lovin' the belly...

today (and a bit yesterday) i'm feeling very minor cramping.. similar to menstrual cramps almost. from what i read, this is nothing to worry about and completely normal and is just caused by implantation and my uterus starting to stretch. i still think i might be more sleepy than usual.. but i could be imagining it. no pee breaks in the middle of the night yet.. i slept pretty well except for if i arched my back too much and felt a little too much stretching in my abdomen.

perhaps i should also document that we had absolutely no snow until saturday afternoon when there was practically a white-out. it snowed a tiny bit again today and felt a lot chillier than usual lately! it's supposed to snow (and sometimes heavily) all week... and get to -17 on wednesday!
<3

wonderful surprise

today was the day. the day we planned to take the pregnancy test. (actually i spontaneously took one last sunday... just a cheapy from the dollar store, not wanting to potentially waste the more expensive counterpart) we typically wake up early as it is, but on this particular morning at around 6 45 am, i was awakened by the trucks outside clearing snow off the ground. i wanted to go back to sleep and wake up an hour later, but i couldn't. it was getting to the point where i had to pee soooo badly that it was hurting! i didn't want to wake garrick up quite that early, but i didn't want to do the test without him being awake. so i waited a little bit longer, listening to his breathing, and finally a bit of stirring. i stretched, then sat up in bed. he had woken up, yay! i told him i couldn't wait to pee anymore, and made my way to the bathroom where i had everything waiting. i quickly read the instructions once more, then took the test. now to wait patiently... i brushed my teeth, waiting for the timer to go off on my phone.

an extremely faint, but clearly visible second line. do i want to be pregnant SO badly that i'm actually imagining that second, barely there, line??? back into the bedroom. i actually made garrick stop cuddling motor and get out of our big comfy bed to come verify the line. definitely there! we smiled and hugged, then wondered why it would be THAT light. i decided i would try the other dollar store test that i had just to be sure. (the cheap one said the sensitivity was 25 miu/ml whereas the one above didn't indicate at all). and.... nothing. "well it's just a stupid dollar test, we can't rely on that" was garrick's response (i'm pretty sure he was just trying to be re-assuring, but really he was concerned about it too). i decided that while we were out shopping (we were going into kelowna for a nice shopping trip! and a new blender!! so exciting) we would buy that fancy, fun, digital test. the one with the conception indicator. easy, no need to interpret test. as far as anything i had read in regards to "first morning urine" as long as i waited at least 4 hours since my last trip to the bathroom, i should build up enough HCG in my urine. we came home played some mario party on the wii, while i checked the time every 10 minutes.

i was so so so so scared that this one wouldn't work. i know that false positives are extremely rare and are usually just evaporation lines being interpretted.. but what if it was still too soon to be testing and there wasn't enough hormone? what if i just wasted $14 to ruin our "cloud-nine" feeling. what if there actually wasn't the same concentration as first morning? should i just wait til tomorrow morning? or maybe even the day after... but you'd really think that the clearblue test would be MORE sensitive. it even says on the box that chances of testing positive up to 4 days BEFORE a missed period are pretty good! well i'm 5 days late (according to my previous schedule), it's gotta work. so i tested again.. and was extremely anxious while waiting the 3 minutes. i even shut the door to the bathroom and waited in the kitchen so i wasn't standing there staring at the little tiny hourglass on the screen waiting for something else to happen.

that's it. this is for real! it's written right in plain english, and you don't get a false read or mis-interpretation with that! and right on schedule, according to my previous calculations. i jumped around and squeeled and felt like it was actually okay to believe it this time.

(ew, why is my face so shiny??)
that's all it took for us! one month. wow! and it seems as if my cycle wasn't even "off"? wow. wow wow wow. eating healthy, both of us taking proper multivitamins.. and i like to think that my visualisations of a fertilized egg implanting into my uterus helped.. and why wouldn't it? the mind is very powerful, so maybe it helped my body realize that it didn't need to kick my new tenant out!

so that's it. according to due date calculators, we're already 4 weeks and 4 days pregnant.. almost FIVE weeks! we plan on waiting until at least 8 weeks (maybe 10?) to tell the grand parents, great grand parents, aunts.. and close family members. of course kathryn pretty much got a play-by-play all day, but that's it. and i've got a wonderful idea on how to share this wonderful news with them! i'm so excited.

so begins our journey together, baby.
so far you're being good to your mom. according to pregnancy sites, i may be experiencing nausea, vomiting, more frequent urinating, fatigue, etc. and so far i haven't really felt anything! aside from on thursday... saying that i felt a little tubby and "full" around the belly. and today maybe i'm feeling a little more tired than usual? maybe i'm making it up now though.. who knows! but i'm greatful for no nausea.. yet. you are going to be an extremely loved baby. already we're rubbing my belly and talking tons about you.
daddy will work on contributing his thoughts and feelings on this. but right now i can tell you that he couldn't be more excited.
right now, you just need to concentrate on hanging onto those walls and not letting go! grow, grow, grow...
<3 mom

ohhh boy, i finally get to start taking belly pictures! i know there won't be any difference in them right now.. but just for documenting's sake! this is real now. now i have to put everything i've read into practice.. no caffeine, no raw fish, lots of rest and water... YES.

sharing a few things

I wanted to share a few things before heading off to work! (another closing shift, yes)

here's a video my husband shared on facebook that i'm absolutely in love with!

and i just love that girl and her hair (sarah blackwood)

if you don't watch grey's anatomy, you really should. sooo good. it makes me tear up just about every episode.. maybe i'm just a big baby though.

pirate is obsessed with playing fetch?!

that's about it for today! i work saturday, then we're going shopping in kelowna on sunday. i'm suuuuper excited.

<3

silly A-Z

I found this on another blog and thought i'd do it too!

A. Age: 23
B. Bed size: KING. and it's soooo comfy...
C. Chore that you hate: cleaning toilets. or cleaning microwaves
D. Dogs: none.. yet
E. Essential start to your day: cuddling with kitties and talking to the husband while he gets ready
F. Favorite color: PURPLE
G. Gold or Silver: (white) gold
H. Height: 5'5"
I. Instruments you play: i know how to play the piano, flut, and guitar.. although i don't currently play any really
J. Job title: supervisor
K. Kids: zero :( ... yet
L. Live: vernon
M. Mother’s name: terri
N. Nicknames: sweet pea, cinnamon girl, awm
O. Overnight hospital stays: 2 - when i had my tonsils removed, and when i had jaw surgery
P. Pet peeves: being told the same thing/point, etc. over and over and over when i understood the first time
Q. Quote from a movie: ahh i can't think of one at the moment... i'll post one in the future
R. Right or left handed: right
S. Siblings: 1 younger sister
U. Underwear: fuschia?
V. Vegetable you hate: tomatoes
W. What makes you run late: the internet :3
X. X-Rays you’ve had: right arm (broken), dental (and entire skull before/after jaw surgery), chest (some heart murmur thing)
Y. Yummy food that you make: meat loaf (i'm not much of a cook)
Z. Zoo animal: spider monkey... sorry you don't live in the wild

2011

i wanted to do a "2011: year in review" post since i wasn't blogging the entire year and i want to be able to remember the highlights! next year will be easier, since i'll have an entire year's worth of posts to look back on

january
- our first month in our new (and current) home! we actually started moving in on boxing day, but who's counting.
- mini house-warming party. our guests included kari and ryan, and kate and johnny
- marked my one-year at petland
- garrick got a new work truck

february

- enjoyed our new home, continued setting things up just the way we liked

- bought my purple wedding shoes! and other wedding things

march

- purple bow tattoos

- new phone! got rid of my plan with bell (moneysucker..) and moved onto the wonderful koodo's lack-of-plan.. and still absolutely loving everything about it

april

- my birthday! as well as our unwarranted visit from the police.. right at 11 pm for supposedly being too loud.. even though there were only four of us inside. buuuuutt... whatever...

- our bachelor/bachelorette parties. i headed back to edmonton (and probably broke my thumb) while garrick's friends took him to vegas

may

- mexico! where we had our wonderful wedding surrounded by so many loving friends and family

- our legal wedding in kelowna.. it meant a lot to have kate and kari as our witnesses

june

- attempted to grow on avocado plant

- adopted our pirate kitty!

july

- garrick's birthday celebration

- dyed my hair a fabulous, bright red

august

- road trip back to edmonton to celebrate our marriage with friends and family that couldn't make it to mexico

- peacock feather tattoo done by eric

- overnight stay in banff on the way back home

- had a penticton getaway

- kate and johnny moved back to calgary *sad face*

september

- camping in the absolutely middle of no where with kyle

- my love and i drove to vancouver to see pearl jam's last concert on their 20th anniversary tour

 - our first trip to the kootenays. garrick has to see a bunch of customers out there and i just go along for the ride

october

- back home for jamie and taryn's wedding... he proposed while we were in mexico! it was awesome to witness the engagement as well as the wedding.. congrats!

- decided red hair was sucky

november

- discovered a sudden curiousity into a more "natural" way of life

- aforementioned avocado plant finally started making some leeway

- got a remote control for my camera, tripod, and new photo printer

- took our christmas card photo

- took our annual fall photo

- jeff and brianna got engaged!! <3

december

- dyed my hair brown (with an all natural dye - and i am still quite impressed with it!) to cover the red and eventually get back to my natural colour

- mailed our christmas cards nice and early!

- attended both company's christmas parties

- our trip to VEGAS!!!

good-bye 2011. welcome, 2012!!!
<3

happy new year!

(originally typed on new year's day... forgot to publish.. oop!)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

welcome to twenty twelve. i'm working on an overview of 2011 at the moment.. it's a little difficult to think of all the things that happened in the year! but this is all about looking forward to the next year. i do feel like i've grown a lot in this year.. i've gone through some really tough times and lived through uncertainty. but a lot of really wonderful, life changing things also happened! this year hopefully we'll be introducing a new kopiak into the family, saving and saving for our own house (we're quite comfortable in our rental at the moment, and happy that we still have room to grow into it), attempting to go home for christmas, celebrating our 4th and another different christmas, and enjoying the beach. i'm also hoping to do something about the constantly late hours that i work.

(one of) my resolution: be more dilligent about sending birthday cards home.

this new year's, garrick's mom and stepdad merv came for a visit! they arrived after a verrrryyy long drive thursday night, and leave early tomorrow morning. we went to los huesos for dinner last night, which was delicious, then came home and they had some drinks and we all played some wii! everyone was pretty tired by the time the countdown rolled around.. we all cheered and kissed, the kitties even seemed to celebrate! and then off to bed.

the last day they were here, cathy showed me (ahem... i'm not a cooker..) how she makes scalloped potatoes and a most delicious ham! we also went for a walk about vernon.. it was really nice!

dinner at los huesos

los huesos menu

my virgin strawberry margharita.. and water



new year's day walk. up on turtle mountain (it was cold)



looking down on okanagan landing. our house is there somewhere

garrick and mama (okanagan lake in the  background)