Pictures of Elizabeth

We are still here!

Well, obviously it has been a while, and a lot has changed since the new year.

Elizabeth is growing like a weed. She is now over 18 lbs and is growing everyday. She has started to eat solids, and so far she doesn't like bananas or carrots, however if you mix it with rice cereal, it is all ok.

Elizabeth is trying to crawl, although a little unsuccessful, she will be getting it very soon. She is already on all fours, and she will move backwards, and she rolls like it is something she has been doing all along. I have to say she is getting more and more beautiful every day and she makes me proud to be her mom. I love to hear her laugh, and it is so contagious. Just today we were in Superstore and we had even the floor staff laughing and smiling at the two of us playing Tick Tock. I don't care what I look like as long as it makes Elizabeth happy (which is a good thing, because I do a lot of really silly things just to get a smile....if I am lucky we get giggles).

I am going to start taking Elizabeth to swimming lessons on March 7. I think she will really enjoy this as she loves taking a bath.

Kelly is doing well. He is still flying with Jazz and will be trying out a month of mostly one day pairings, which means he should be home every night....YEAH!

I have started my own business called Usborne Books. I sell fantastic childrens books. The nice thing about these books is that everyone can enjoy them (including adults). They have a lot of different subjects and they have books that would be good for newborns all the way through to adults. If you want to check it out my website is http://kara.yellowducksonline.com. I have only had one party so far, but that turned out fantastic (Thanks Audrey). I also have 3 or 4 trade shows coming up in the next two months, so that should be great as well.

I have also been taking a cake decorating course. That is going really well, and I am really enjoying it. I will put a picture of my Grande Finale cake from Class one.

Anyways, here are some pictures. I hope all is going well in everyone's world.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone. I hope that the new year brings health and happiness to you all.

As I haven't written a lot lately, I will update you all.

First of all, Elizabeth is doing well. She is starting to teeth and has 2-3 teeth coming in. She is not happy with that, and tonight the only way to get her to sleep is for her to be in her swing, so lets hope that when she wakes up I can put her to bed.

Other than that, she is now on formula. Since she has been switched onto formula she appears to be a much happier baby. She stands really well now (of course with us balancing her) and she is starting to walk on us (she is moving her feet as if she was walking). Elizabeth has started to giggle now, so when she smiles and giggles, you know that your day is complete.

Kelly is doing well. He has been based out of Calgary since November 1, 2007 and he is now getting pairings instead of being on reserve all month. Although this means he is gone during his pairings, maybe this will mean more flying for him.

Kelly is loving spending time with Elizabeth and does everything he can to make her giggle for him. She is still holding back on the giggles, but they are starting to come more frequently.

Unfortunately during the Christmas holidays Kelly lost his Grandma Martin. She was a wonderful lady and she will be missed greatly.

As for me, I am doing well. I am starting to meet more people now and I am getting out a little more often. Unfortunately, last year had some interesting discoveries of new allergies, however despite all of those allergies, I have still managed to find some sweets that I can have. Along with the allergies, and all of the bouncing that I did with Elizabeth, I have managed to loose all of the pregnancy weight along with another 15 lbs on top of it. I am hoping to loose another 15 lbs, and then I will be at my high school weight (although I am not stressing about hitting this goal - it would just be nice).

Anyways here are some updated pictures for you all to see. Enjoy and have a Happy New Year!!!!

Update

Well we went to Edmonton for my 6 week checkup and low and behold everything is fine. My ECHO came back and there is nothing wrong with my heart - it is a healthy heart. This means that the fluid that was around the heart was just pregnancy related.

We had Elizabeth weighed yesterday and she now weighs 9 lbs 11 oz. She is almost at 10 lbs. Today we went and got her passport done, so now we no longer have to worry about her passport, SIN or birth certificate as they are all done now.

Elizabeth is now starting to watch things and is very interested in everything around her. She is lifting her head really well and is getting more personality every day.

Kelly goes back to Vancouver tomorrow for his last set in Vancouver. He will be based out of Calgary starting on November 1, 2007.

Well that is it for now. Have a wonderful day.

More Pictures

For those who are not on Facebook here are some pictures for you to see of Elizabeth. She is growing and the last weight measurement was 9 lbs 6 oz. She is still very colicky but hopefully in another month that will be done. She is now 6 1/2 weeks old and is in the process of going through a growth spurt. Anyways, here are the pictures.

Elizabeth

Well Elizabeth is 4 weeks old today and we are going for family pictures this afternoon. Its hard to believe that it has been 4 weeks already. In her 4 weeks here she has moved to Airdrie, seen a Pediatrician, met a lot of people and is constantly growing. Her head is getting stronger everyday and she becomes more of an ACTRESS everyday (and just so that you know this is a term used by the Pediatrician). She definately wants things done her way and right now, but she remains cute even while screaming.

In other news, Kelly is loving his job and will soon be based in Calgary. We are all looking forward to him being home more in November. I'm doing well, and I get to have my ECHO done on Monday so I am a little nervous to see what will come of the results. Anyways enough about that. I will attach some pictures of Elizabeth.

Newest Addition to the Tuftin Family

On Saturday morning, at 6:33 am, Kelly and I welcomed our baby girl, Elizabeth Anne-Marie Tuftin, into the world. Elizabeth weighed 8 lbs, 7 oz and was 21 inches long. The delivery was not what we expected (and/or hoped) but everyone made it through fine and mom, dad and baby are doing well.

Elizabeth is very pretty and has a beautiful set of hair (the hair even has natural highlights in it - according to all of the doctors and nurses she is either very pretty or very adorable (which I wholeheartedly agree with). She has pretty long fingers, which are absolutely adorable, and long toes.

Congratulations

Well, it is official. Kelly passed his ride and is now flying with Air Canada Jazz. He had his first flight today, and phoned me in between flights to say hi. Kelly is off to Seattle tonight and then he gets to fly to Portland tomorrow (could be the other way around I can't fully remember - baby brain sucks sometimes....don't worry I have it written down upstairs in case I need to get a hold of him).

It has been amazing to see Kelly's progression throughout the years. Along with family and friends, I have witnessed him getting his initial license (in Langley, BC), get the next few licenses (in school), and then progress from a co-pilot to a captain (on three different types of airplanes) with his first job. Now he is starting his second job, and I couldn't be more proud and excited for him. He is doing what he loves to do, and is doing it very well.

Congratulations on the job well done Kelly. We knew you could do it!

Keeping busy - well kinda

Well, Kelly is now back in Toronto until August 11, 2007 when he comes home for a couple of days. Brad and I dropped Kelly off at the Airport on the 1st so that he could go do his Simulator training. It sounds like it is going well for him, although it is a lot of information to learn (which is to be expected).

After Brad and I dropped off Kelly I went to my first appointment with Pregnancy Doc's. Now, on the drive from the airport to the appointment, there happenend to be a bad accident on the road that basically had traffic stopped or at least at a snail pace to go forward. The trip shouldn't have taken us that long, however it was a good 45-60 min drive to the outskirts of Edmonton from the airport. Anyone who has driven this knows that it doesn't normally take that long to get there.

Anyways, I got to the appointment (only 5 minutes late - impressive I thought), and I waited for a few minutes to go in. I happened to have a pretty good headache, so I thought this was a good time to see the doctor. I got in and they did the usual routine stuff (I saw a resident then the doctor) and throughout the appointment I was starting to feel much worse. It turns out that my Blood Pressure (BP) was quite high. So they decided to send me to the Royal Alexandra Hospital to get checked out. Now before I go any further, please do not worry I AM OK and the baby is OK too.

So I had Brad drive me to the hospital and we got to sit in the Labour and Delivery ward for approximately 8 1/2 hours. During this time, it was decided that my BP was ok however my heart rate was a little fast - please keep in mind that this had no effect on the baby at all. They took a lot of blood work, had 3 doctors come and see me and had a ECG done on my heart. It was determined that I would be staying the night and that I would be transferred down to the 3rd floor. So Brad and I went to the 3rd floor and we got to hang out there until my parents arrived. So after a few days, and a lot of testing (including a ultrasound of the baby - who now has the most adorable chubby cheeks and weighs approx 7 lbs 7 ounces, as well as an ultrasound of the heart), I am now out of the hospital. I have to say that I am glad that I am no longer in there. It is not that it was horrible, but who really wants to stay in the hospital. They do not know what caused the raised heart rate (and every doctor seems to have a different opinion, such as stress, virus, thyroid problem - still to be deteremined, unknown reasons), but I am doing better now and I am happy to be home. I did get to hear the baby's heart beat a lot and I got to see the baby on the ultrasound, so that was a bonus to staying there.

I don't think that I will be doing acrobats anytime soon, however I am up walking around, and I am no longer on bed rest (which only applied while I was in the hospital - although that wasn't told to me until I wanted to leave the room - I had to use a wheel chair and stay near an elevator). It was definately a very interesting couple of days, a couple of days which I would not like to repeat any time soon.

Other than that, I think I will be taking it easy for the next little while. I have another appointment on Friday, pick Kelly up on Saturday and then we go to Edson on Saturday night. This seems to be the plan so far. It has been a busy last week, so I am looking forward to slowing down a bit.

I hope everything is going well and I will talk to you later.

We are now down south

Well, we have officially moved down south. At the moment, we are living with family until September when we move into our condo that we have rented.

The trip down was good, and I got a picture of the barn with the Canadian Flag - my favorite thing to see while on the trip (I look for it every time). We also stopped at Alexandra Falls to check it out. It was very dirty, however very powerful looking.

We now have our trailer rented so that is one less thing for us to worry about. The moving went great (thanks to Bob, Uncle Bruce, Garton, Adam, Liz, Mom, Dad and Craig) and it is all in storage now (although some is in storage in Edson, but that we can deal with at another time).

Our not so good news is that when we came down south, we did not bring Gracie (our dog) with us. Unfortunately she was not doing so well, so Kelly and I made the decision to have her put down (this way she was no longer in pain). It was really hard to do, and we miss her terribly. It definately made the move not as exciting, but we know it was the right thing to do.

Well, that is it for now, we will post more when we have more to say. Hope all is well for everyone reading.

Moving to Airdrie

Well, it is official. We will be moving to Airdrie, and Kelly will be commuting from Calgary to Vancouver. We have a place to rent (a 3 bedroom condo that has three floors) as of September 1, 2007 and hopefully by that point we will have a new baby (boy or girl - to be determined on the birth day).

I have one morning left at work and then I am on vacation for the next 12 business days. Once the vacation runs out (July 31, 2007) I will be done work and will officially no longer be a Bosco Homes Trailcross employee. Although this is good, I have mixed feelings. I have been there for almost 3 1/2 years, and I haven't had to depend on someone else paying the bills in a long time. On the flip side though, it means that the little one will be arriving soon, which means I will have my hands full soon enough.

Anyways, enough rambling. I should get packing. I will catch up with everyone later.

Moving to Vancouver

Well, we finally have a place to call our new home (although we still need to find a place to stay first). Kelly has picked the base of Vancouver (which is better than Montreal as Vancouver is a lot closer to family) and has been put on a waiting list for a Calgary base. At some point we will be in Calgary, but until then, we get to experience Vancouver.

For those of you who do not know, Kelly will be flying the Dash 8. I am not sure which model (yes there are more than one), so I am not sure how many passengers he will be flying, but either way it will be more than what he flew with Northwestern.

I am excited about this move as I have not seen the Ocean, so this will be a first for me. I am looking forward to experiencing new things, which I am sure we will in Vancouver. The nice thing about this move is that it will be easier to move (as we were preparing ourselves for Toronto).

In other news, I am now in Edson getting ready to stand up for Colleen at her and Ben's wedding. I have a dress (and yes it fits believe it or not) and I am hoping for some two stepping music so that I can dance with Kelly. Hopefully we can get a good picture of the two of us. Kelly will be coming home for a couple of days starting tomorrow (we will be staying in Edson) so I am very excited.

Also, it looks like we are going to be able to make it to Ben and Steph's wedding after all. This makes me super excited as I thought that we were not going to be able to make it.

Anyways, that is all for now. I will post something in a few days (hopefully a picture of Kelly and I from the wedding). I hope that all is well for everyone.

Week 29

Well, I have been asked for a new picture so here you go. To add to the fun I thought I would add some useless information (although it is funny so go ahead and laugh).

The kids at work thought it would be good to measure me each week. It was forgotten for awhile, however we have picked it back up. To make a long story short here are the results so far....March 13 - 3 ft 2" round, May 29 - 3 ft 5", June 6 - 3 ft 8", June 11 - 3 ft 9". The one that I think is the funniest is the June 6th jump. In one week there was 3". Either I ate too much, or the little one decided to grow a little. Either way it is way too amusing.

On another note, packing sucks. Kelly and I started to pack the house and will be having a garage sale on Saturday. It seems like we never have enough time to do everything that we need to do before Kelly leaves next Friday. Although, really, we only need to pack Kelly's stuff now as he is the one leaving. I can always take the next three weeks to pack as I will still be here.

Anyways, that is all that is going on at the moment. We will let you know if anything new is happening. Hope all is going well for all of you.

Kelly's News

Well, it is official. Kelly has been offered a job as a First Officer at Air Canada Jazz. He starts training in Toronto on June 25th. I will not be moving with Kelly right away, however hopefully by the time the baby comes we will have a place to live wherever we are based out of. We are unsure as to where we will be based out of, but at this point, we know that we will be moving somewhere outside of the Northwest Territories.

Congratulations Kelly! I am proud of you.

Relay for Life

Well, Fort Smith successfully held another Relay for Life. The Relay is a fundraiser for the Canadian Cancer Society. Our team, the Fort Smith Furys, helped raise over approx. $6500.00. We were one of the three teams that raised the most money.

The event started at 7:00 pm with a opening ceremony as well as having the Cancer survivors walk the first lap. Throughout the evening there were different activities going on, including a luminary sale (to put in memory of or in honor of), a silent auction, quizzes, swimming pool being open, as well as many other activities throughout the night.

I entered a few silent auction items and I actually won a couple. One of the items I won was a round trip for 2 from Hay River to Yellowknife on Buffalo Airways. As this is something that Kelly really wants to do before we leave the Territories, I thought this would be a perfect opportunity.

Although I didn't make it through the whole night (I only made it to 1:00 am) I am sure the rest of the night went really well. The relay ended around 7 am this morning and Kelly said that he could hear the ending from our bedroom. Of course I was sleeping like a baby, so I didn't hear any of it. It is definitely an experience that I would not like to have missed. It is amazing how the community can come together to help out for a wonderful cause.

New website that is neat

Well, after going home due to another Kidney stone attack (and also going to the hospital to make sure that the little one is doing ok) I am now sitting on the couch (pain free after 2 morphine pills) surfing the web.

I came across this website, and for those mom's looking for new things this might be interesting, that gives free stuff away. Although this may end in May, it may continue on. We will see.

Anyways, I'm going to go and continue searching the web. Have a good day.

26 weeks

Well, I haven't posted a picture in a while so I/Kelly thought that it was time. We were looking through our pictures and the one from March compared to now is really quite different. Anyways, this picture was taken on Sunday when I turned 26 weeks. Enjoy the picture....oh and by the way, if I had a better choice of clothed pictures that would be what you see, but as I don't (the one we took didn't show very well) this is what you get. Take care and enjoy.

Kidney Stones

It turns out that I have another kidney stone. We went to the emergency room this morning and the doctor confirmed it. Although smaller (according to Kelly) it is still extremely painful. I broke down after having the pain since 2:30 this morning and finally phoned the midwife. She then phoned the doctor on call, and next thing you know I am in the emergency room getting checked out. I have to say this time it was a lot easier to diagnose (although last time we knew it wasn't confirmed until 3 weeks later).

So, the only thing to do is drink 2-3 litres of fluids and pain management. Due to being pregnant, I didn't get Demerol again, but they have prescribed Morphine, which is safe for the baby - no long term affects. I am going to try and make it with just one tylenol extra strength, but if worse comes to worse I have a back up.

The one good thing about this is that Kelly got to see the baby again. When the doctor did the ultrasound, he checked the baby out after he checked out my kidneys. The baby is doing great, the heart beat is good, and he/she doesn't seem to be affected by the kidney stone (which is good).

The baby had hiccups the other day and that was interesting. At first I didn't know what it was, but after a few hours I really suspected that it was hiccups. After consulting Carmen, it sounds like yep he/she had the hiccups.

I offically put in the date for my maternity leave this week. I can't believe that I now have less than two months left before I finish work. Time has gone fast (at least the last 10 weeks have anyways). My last day of work is the 17th of July (when I will take all of the banked/vacation time that I have and then I will start my maternity leave (should be the first week or so in August).

Well, that is it for now. When something else happens, I will let you know. I hope everyone is doing well.

Bridal Shower

Last weekend was eventful as I got to go down south and spend time with my family. As it was Jen's bridal shower, it provided some time to spend time with family I have not seen in a long time. It was great fun and it was good to see everyone again. Although the surprise was wrecked (thanks Scott) it was good to see her before the wedding.

Jen and Scott are now in Mexico along with the family and they are getting ready to be married. I can't wait to see them in June when they get back. Congratulations guys.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KELLY!!!!!

Today is Kelly's 26th birthday. I am going to bake him an angel food cake with Lemon filling with a cool whip frosting for dessert and a nice roast with potatoes and some kind of vegetable for supper.