Monday, September 05, 2011

On the home stretch

After a long three months without Bryan, we had a fantastic reunion in Kenya and I'm really enjoying having him back home now that we are back in Halifax and heading into Bryan's last term of school. While in Kenya we had a great time catching up with friends. I miss having such great friends around. You know the kind, the ones that you catch up right where you left off even if it's been over a year since you've seen each other. I also got to make some new ones. We got to spend a few days where Bryan spent the summer so I got to meet all the great people that he has been working with and see the beautiful area that he got to enjoy for a few months. It was wonderful. It was so nice to be in the bush again and enjoy all the birds and wildlife that make the Kenyan bush so fantastic. I was amazed at how tall the elephants were in this area. They are massive! It was a whole new part of Kenya for me and I really enjoyed being introduced to it.

We also spent a few nights at a great resort on a small island called Chale Island. I couldn't have asked for more in a romantic getaway with my husband. They put us in our own little banda just steps away from the most beautiful beach with warm, clear ocean water to jump into to cool off a bit.

We had a few more days relaxing at Bryan's parent's cabin on the little piece of land that we own with them. Mom & Dad have been working hard and doing a fantastic job of building a small cabin on the land so we took full advantage of the place while we were there.
We spent one night with the family and then Bryan and I stayed for a few more nights on our own. With nothing much to do but sit on the porch and watch the birds we were able to let down a bit and relax. The cabin is still under construction but we did have running water and the luxury of hot showers! It was hard to leave, but I'm sure we will be back again.

Our time flew by and we got back on the plane heading back to Halifax. As nice as our time in Kenya was it sure felt great to come home and have the house complete again. It was a long summer with just me in the house and it is so nice to have some company again. Not too long after we got home we had some
friends come in from Calgary to spend a few days with us. It's always great to have visitors because then we get to have the excuse to do all the touristy stuff and eat and some of the many great restaurants around town. So we ate lots of great food with Ashleigh and Isaac, went on a nice hike and had many great conversations that often challenged us but were always encouraging.

So now we are in the home stretch. The next few months I know are going to fly by as Bryan finishes school, I wrap up my job and we prepare to head back to Calgary for a few months and have a baby! We were originally going to have the baby in Halifax but we thought that it may be a good idea to have friends and family a little closer as we welcome this little one into the world. So we are looking at being in Calgary around the middle of December and staying until the next big adventure makes itself clear.

I have been feeling really good as this little one continues to grow and it's kicks and punches get stronger and stronger. We had our first ultra sound last week and
got a glimpse of the little one wiggling around in there. It was very cool to see and I am so excited to meet this little life. Everything looks healthy and happy and all it's parts are there. We don't know what sex the baby is because in Halifax they won't tell you so I guess we will just have to wait a little longer to see if it will be a Milbert or a Milly.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Our Little Traveller

Bryan and I are looking forward to our little traveller joining us and is expected to arrived January 16! Yes it is true, we are pregnant! So this is the real inspiration behind the blog revival. Our life is about to be completely rearranged and I know there are a few of you out there that are curious as to how we are going to handle it - so stay tuned.

The first few months of adjusting to the fact that we have a baby on the way has been exciting, emotional (ok mainly it's been me that has been emotional), dreamy, some anxiety and lots of unanswered questions. But of course preparing for this change in life can't be done the regular way. As per tradition we have to do it over skype. Bryan took a three month position in Kenya with Wildlife Works as part of his Master's program. He left Halifax May 1 and thought he was just having to leave his wife behind. But a few weeks later when I realized something was a little off with me, I did the test and yes it was positive! It took a while to set in that it was really positive. I had to put the test down and walk away and then come back to make sure that it was still telling me that a little one was on the way. But it didn't change and I finally realized that I had to tell my husband the fantastic news. So how do you even go about telling someone that they are going to be a father when they are on the opposite side of the world?

So I took a few pictures with my camera and finally got one that would tell the story. However as I went to put the picture on my computer so I could send it off in an email, I realized that our card reader to take the pictures off the camera was tucked safely in Bryan's camera case, which was in Kenya. Well I guess the next best thing is trusty photo booth on my mac. So it took a few tries with the best lighting possible and I thought I got a shot that would share my excitement.

All prepared to send my picture to tell my story, I woke up the next morning and logged into skype ready to type away and Bryan unexpectedly calls and turns on the video. Usually we video skype on the weekends when we don't have to sort out the time difference and work schedules but on weekdays it's usually the trusty chatting that keeps us communicating. For some reason Bryan had an off work day that freed him up to call and talk to me 'face to face'. Well as soon as he saw me and I said that I had something to tell him, that was enough for him to guess. So all my pictures and technology frustration was no longer necessary because my husband is just too smart.

Usually this is the time where expecting mom and dad get to dream and share the excitement between the two of them until things are far enough along to safely share the news. However with limited talk time it's hard to keep all that excitement to ourselves. So our families got to hear of our news much sooner than we had ever planned to tell them. It was just too exciting to keep in. It was very wise of Bryan to be on a different continent for the first few months. He got to miss the mood swings, the nausea and the sleepy grumpy wife trimester. At 14 weeks into our pregnancy, we are still two weeks away from being reunited and actually getting to share the excitement of this little traveller that is quickly growing inside of me.