Welcome to our family news blog!

Way to go! you found our brand new family blog! This is where I am going to give you life-updates on things like:
-what josiah is ranting about these days
- how curtis's work is doing
- what we are keeping busy with
- new baby news
- prayer requests and praise reports
- etc...
BABY-NEWS
So to get things started, because some of you that I included in my initial invitation to "follow" this blog haven't been updated in a while, YES! we are pregnant! (i use the term "follow" loosely, since i have no clue how to actually follow a blog, but would instead, send you a quick e-mail whenever I have posted a new blog post). If you are one of the people that I TEXTED about this blog page, please send me an e-mail with your personal email address and let me know you would like to be kept informed!(Also, I would love your mailing address, birthday and anniversary date!)  I am due May 29'th with our second BOY. So far the pregnancy has been pretty smooth sailing. With Josiah I  had pre-eclampsia (extremely high blood pressure in pregnancy related to the placenta's attachment and formation...nothing can be done about it except a lot of drugs and then birth...exercise and diet play almost no role whatsoever). I was on bed rest for three weeks before things became too unsafe for me to carry Josiah any longer. They tried labor but we ended up with an emergency C-section at 36 weeks (4 weeks early) and a week-long hospital stay before him and I were both stable enough to be released. It was very traumatising for me and there were many issues in Josiah's first year that added to the enormous stress and eventual PTSD-like symptoms I was experiencing early on in his second year of life.

This background info is just to let you know that so far things are going better!! Far less swelling and weight gain so far which is a HUGE plus in the pre-eclampsia department. I am also monitoring my pressures daily since I had a bit of a scare at my 28 week appointment where my bloodpressure was 150/76 (top number way too high for that point). But after careful monitoring, my Doctor decided this was because I had taken my asthma inhaler right prior to my appointment... apparently that can raise blood pressure!! So with daily monitoring at various times of the day, my blood pressure seems to be hovering around the 110's-120's/70's, which is still a little on the high side for the average jo, but pretty fantastic for a pregnant me! Still, it's slowly creeping up into the 80's on the bottom number...150/90 is a magical blood pressure reading that means I have to go into the hospital and get put on meds, potentially be monitored overnight and do all kinds of fun testing... so REALLY hoping we dont get there!!

I would like to try for a VBAC this time around if possible (a natural delivery, after having had a c-section).  This can be risky because of the chance of "rupture" (where the incision tears, putting mom and baby at risk, and pretty much ruling out any future children by means of biological origins). It is also a risky decision because Josiah's heart-rate dipped with each contraction due to the issues with the placenta. This is not something we can know until the time of labor when I am being monitored...SO BASICALLY i have a 50/50 shot at a natural delivery, which would be better for baby and better for me, and sort-of set me free (mentally) from all the hul-a-baloo of Josiah's birth

JOSIAH NEWS:

Josiah is now 26 months and growing like a little weed (averaging a whopping 6'th percentile in the height department....meaning 94% of 26 month old children are taller than him! haha, he's my child...). He is LOVING anything that has cause-and-effect, or that can be taken appart or "figured out". He has my looks but his father's brain! Problem solving is one of his strong-suits right now, and we are so proud. He is also talking lots, putting words together, but mostly in his own language which sounds an aweful lot like German to me... just my interpretation haha!

He also has an enormous head, which bumps into everything, poor little guy. But he is generally in high spirits and is still quite an easy-going kid! He is definately two years old, and likes to throw tantrums, but he tends to throw tantrums while OBEYING what we have told him to do! Sort of an "I will obey but I DONT LIKE IT!!" kinda thing... hey! I can deal with that! :) I have a feeling it will all change when baby comes along since he is an extremely affectionate little boy both physically and emotionally. I think sharing me will be especially hard for him given these particular love languages of his.

My theory is, I had 9 months to get used to the idea of having two children to share my affections with, so he gets at least that long to figure out that this baby is staying and sharing his mom's time and energy... after that,  (and I know sibling rivalry is life-long) we'll start making some adjustments where needed I think...

CURTIS NEWS:
 Power Builders is getting quite busy! It was a slow winter for MANY trades, including construction framing, so that was difficult, but Curtis still managed to find work for his crew throughout the whole winter. They maybe had 5 or 6 days without work total scattered throughout the winter, which is a huge blessing for us and them! Curtis has lined up a long-term job working with another company called "LD Builders", to frame up one of the appartment buildings going up behind costco on Regent avenue! This is a huge blessing because it also means consistant wages, and that if this baby comes with complications, he will be able to flex his work hours a little bit more, leaving  one of his higher-ups in charge while he helps me as needed. It is a reassurance and a blessing that this job lined up to begin right when this baby is set to arrive! God's at work I tell you.

MY NEWS:
Not much... my life is stay-at-home-mom life, which comes day by day... so if you ask me today, I will tell you that Josiah poked me in the eye just now with a finger that required trimming... so thats super annoying! Easter has been an exciting time for me this year because I actually did a devotional plan to prepare my heart for the season. But you can read more about that on my spiritual blog, estrangednormality.blogspot.ca . I also took a cake decorating course in January/February (when it was only $10 instead of $50 through Michaels), following in my mother's footsteps for making extravegantly un-necessary cakes! :) hey why not! I'll have to make at least three birthday cakes every year for the rest of my life right!? It was fun, but I can say with honesty that I hate royal icing...with a passion... like... maybe when I've worked out more I'll enjoy it because you need to be ripped to pipe that stuff out thick enough to hold it's shape...

Well, that is all for now! Here are a few pictures from events of recent past to enjoy!

 Josiah's second birthday party with friends. Cake made by yours-truly!

 Josiah enjoying eating snow... white snow, not yellow, while playing with his cousins at his "grammie's house" (Curtis's mom)

 Josiah with "Grandma" (My mom) and the birthday cake she made for his family party

 Josiah revealing the gender of his brother-to-be

 Josiah and Grammie doing some "Cut cut cut" at the cabin

 Josiah and Curtis enjoying some quality tobogganning at the cabin with Josiah's cousins.

 Crafting with mommy

 Just a cute one... I had to throw it in... he actually hated tobogganning! Haha!

 and of course, our only photo of Harder #4 from my 20 week ultrasound! (32 weeks presently)

That is all for now (actually that was quite a lot...way to read it all! haha)