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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Rambling from Kara

I went to aquasize class today. It is the third time that I have gone and I am really enjoying it. The only thing that I do not like is that I end up doing the same thing for quite a period of time while the others are doing ab work. It sucks being the only one doing something different, although the reason is the best reason in the world. It is a good work out and I plan on doing this as long as they are offering the course.

We have another mid-wife appointment on Thursday. Hopefully we will get to tape the heartbeat this time. Maybe we will also get an approx. date for the ultrasound appointment. I can't wait.

In other news, it has snowed a lot here in Smith over the last couple of days. Kelly has been out and shovelling the driveway and the paths. Gracie seems to be doing ok. She doesn't seem to accept the fact that she is on restrictive activity for the next few weeks. She wants to play like nothing is wrong. Kelly is flying a lot right now, which is good for the mileage and the time. He is loving every minute of it I am sure.

I have joined the Relay for Life (a Canadian Cancer Society fundraiser) again this year. I am hoping that it is full of fun like last year. I stayed up all night (had a panicked husband for a few hours - I almost had my hair shaved off if they had raised enough money) and spent time with friends. It was a good time. Should anyone be interested in sponsoring me you can go to the Canadian Cancer website (www.cancer.ca), click on Alberta/NWT, Relay for Life 2007, Get Involved, Make a pledge, pledge a participant (first and last name) and put my name in it (Kara-lea Tuftin). If you have problems give me a call and I will walk you through it on the phone.

Anyways, I should start getting ready for bed. It has been a long day and I need some sleep (didn't sleep well last night). Hopefully all is going well for everyone.

Update

Well, I guess I should update everyone with what is happening with our world right now.

Kelly and I have decided not to get Gracie the surgery. It was a very hard decision but with the little one coming, it is the only decision that really makes sense. It would have cost us a lot of money, and quite frankly with me going on maternity leave in 5 months it wouldn't make a lot of sense to spend our money that way, when we should be saving and paying our debt down. Don't get me wrong, I love Gracie, but we need to think of the whole picture which didn't include very good odds of working out the way we want it to. So the plan now is to keep her quiet for the next 6 weeks, and hopefully this will help heal it better. We have her on a new form of Glucosamine so this may help her as well.

Other than that, nothing much is happening right now. I was going to go to Calgary (for Gracie's surgery), but with that cancelled now, I am going to go to work instead. I am hoping that we will get to go down south at some point before May. It would be nice to see everyone.

Right now I am sitting on the couch with Gracie and we are watching American Idol. I went home from work early today because I wasn't feeling well. I am hoping that this is just a 24 hour bug, I really do not want to be sick again. I finally got out of the 1st trimester and I was thinking I was done with all of that. Anyways, enough complaining. That's all that is new right now. Catch you all later.

Monday's been unusual and interesting

Well, for a Monday, it has not been usual. I was supposed to go up to Yellowknife with Liz and hang out with her when she wasn't in with the doctor. It was supposed to be a fun girls day and a great break from work. Unfortunately it didn't work out as it looked like I was going to get bumped off the plane on the way home, so I would end up in Yellowknife overnight.

As I do have to work tomorrow, it was decided that I stay home. So instead, as Kelly had the day off, I decided we should do a day trip and go to Hay River (3 hours away with basically the same stores as Fort Smith). So after some convincing, Kelly agreed and we were off (well once we sent Gracie on the plane - but I will save that for after this explanation of Hay River). We arrived in Hay River at approx. 10 am this morning and we went shopping. It was very fun and exciting to be out of Fort Smith. I definitely needed out for a little while. It turns out our flooring that was supposed to arrive today at our house, didn't get send so we picked it up while we were there. We can finally finish the flooring in the weight room (could be the baby room but we haven't really decided yet). So I am super excited for that. The bowling alley wasn't open until 4 pm so we unfortunately couldn't partake in a fun game of bowling. We had a good trip, had lunch out and then came home. It was fun and exciting and well worth the trip (at least I think so).

In the mean time, we had sent Gracie up to Yellowknife to get checked out by the vet. She has been having problems with her right hip and she just recently has started limping with her left foot. So we phoned the vet and they suggested that she come up and get checked out. So, off she went on the plane this morning to go see if we could find out what is wrong. So they had sedated her and taken some x-rays of her. We came home from Hay River to find out that she has torn the ligament in her knee and her hips seem to be fine. The only way to fix this in a large dog is by surgery so we await the information regarding this surgery. This can be done in Yellowknife, so that is OK, but we do not know when they can do it. Once she has the surgery she will be kennel bound for three months. She is not to jump or anything while she is recovering so she gets to go pee and go in her kennel. So, we need to get a new kennel for her as she needs one larger than what she currently has now. Right now, I am anxiously awaiting hearing news from the vet. I want to make it so that Gracie is not in pain any more and I want to make sure she is getting the care that she needs. So as more information unfolds, I will let you all know.

Well that is all for now. Catch you all later.

Nothing new

Well, this week has been uneventful (at least for us here in Fort Smith). We have been taking it easy and now Kelly is doing some training for work (all the pilots are - it is one of their annual training sessions).

I got confirmation yesterday that I will be going back up to Yellowknife on March 21-23, 2007 for union negotiations. Hopefully we will be able to get this finished so that we can start on the contract that is coming up (starting April 1, 2007). This batch of negotiations seem to be taking a long time to get completed. Maybe this is the way it usually works, but it has not been this way since I started at Trailcross.

I am going up to Yellowknife on Monday for a girls day with Liz. She actually has a reason for going, but I am just tagging along to get out of town. Hopefully this will still happen - it is really going to depend on the numbers. Apparently they are starting to be very high, which is not good news for me.

As far as baby news goes, I do not have a lot to report as on the outside nothing seems to be changing a whole lot. The baby is now the size of a sweet juicy peach (I love how the books actually describe the size of the baby - it is always about food) and the eyes are now moving from the side of the head towards the middle (where they will stay). My stomach is still measuring the same size, however I have been told that I am starting to show a little. My pants are starting to get tight, so to me that means it has got to be changing a little. Maybe the toilet paper measuring does not work (it's a long story that involves my online baby group - we all measure our bellys with toilet paper every Tuesday). My belly has measured the same size since the 7th week. In the scheme of things I guess is has only been 6 weeks. Maybe I will start changing that soon.

We haven't thought about everything we need for the little ones arrival, so I was a little unprepared for someone at work asking me what I would want for a baby shower. I have been told that I need to start coming up with a list of what Kelly and I want. I have been in the "lets make it through the first trimester" mode that I haven't really thought too much about anything else. I guess that now that the first trimester will be over on Monday (14 weeks along YEAH!!!) we better start thinking about what will happen in the next year. Anyways, enough rumblings. I should go and get ready for the day. Liz, Erin and I are supposed to be having a girls afternoon, so I need to go brush my teeth.

I hope everyone is doing OK and I will let you know if anything comes up.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone. May all your christmas wishes come true and may you all have a wonderful day.

Last weekend mostly

Last weekend was full of hockey as I played in the Fort Smith hockey tournament. It was jam packed with 5 games and we ended up in 4th place. We did an awesome job, and I have improved greatly. I actually achieved my first assist last weekend (to which I won the Prize Patrol for that game). One game I successfully passed the puck to myself by bouncing it off the boards skating forward and having it hit my puck. This is really quite advantageous especially if you have a member of the opposite team standing there waiting for you to give them the puck. Kelly laughed a lot at me because I had a few really Kara-like moments (one of which I spun on the ice for quite a while because I couldn't stop spinning).

I also attended the annual Ambulance Christmas party where I managed to get rid of the Lost Sole Award. Thank goodness I took a leave of absence otherwise I think it still may have been mine (it was a close race and I only lost by 1). The party was good (I arrive 2 hours later because I had a hockey game - I'm dedicated can you tell).

I baby sat Keewaitin on on Wednesday. That was fun, although he really wasn't feeling too good. This caused him to not want to be put down, snuggle time only. He ate one cracker (which got all over me) and didn't want anything else - until Charis (mom) came over. Then I watched him get all excited and play like he normally is. He is an adorable kid.

Kelly and I are attending the Northwestern Christmas Party tonight and hopefully will be attending the Hockey Garage sale this morning. Other than that, nothing is really happening here. Hopefully something exciting will happen tonight so I can do another post.

Back in Fort Smith

Well, I got back from Yellowknife tonight (7:00) and went to play hockey at 10:00. It was interesting. I now have a jersey (and soon my name will be on it) as well as socks that match our jersey. It definitely makes me feel more like part of the team.

For those of you who didn't know I play hockey (new development this year) I am and my positions are usually the forward positions (left, center and right). It is fun and definitely a workout (which is great). We have a tournament here in Fort Smith this weekend and I am guaranteed to play four games so cross our fingers everything will go well and we will win.

Negotiations did not get finished so I will be going back up to Yellowknife to continue them at some point in the New Year. It is unfortunate that more couldn't be done this week, however we needed to do things the exact way that they happened. Who knows what will happen. I spent three days up in Yellowknife and worked for maybe a total of 6-7 hours the whole time. The rest of the time was spent shopping and spending time with friends in Yellowknife. It was definitely a good experience and a good break from work.

Well, it is late and I should really get ready for bed. That's pretty much all of the news that I have right now anyway. I will keep you posted for further news on the tournament.

Negotiations

Hi everyone. I am up in Yellowknife for Union Negotiations (for work) and I have decided I love it. This is of course mainly because I haven't had to do any real sort of work and I spent a good portion of the day shopping. Gotta love it.

I got into Yellowknife this morning at 8:10 and we went to the hotel room. I found out that I got a hotel suite. My own room, kitchen, living room, bathroom and storage room with a washer and dryer. It is sweet. Considering I thought I would have a room with a bed and a t.v. and that was it, this is awsome. Plus the hotel is right across from Wal-Mart (which for those who know Yellowknife it is also right beside the hospital - convienent especially considering my track record).

I went to supper with Ben and Steph tonight and the food was delicious. I forgot my leftovers either at the restaurant or at Ben and Steph's house (which is really unfortunate). It was good fun to see both of them again and I spent a lot of time laughing (which is great). I met their two puppies who are really cute and well behaved.

Well, not much else has happened today. It has been fun, but I am looking forward to going home on Thursday night. Well, I should go to bed now. I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow.