Under that hand and inside that belly is a healthy little boy ..! We had our 21 week scan yesterday morning and everything with the baby checks out just fine – a great relief. He’s been very active the last couple of weeks – it’s the most amazing feeling, if not a little surreal – all those kicks and bumps and what I can only guess is a lot of gymnastics. Feeling good and happy and full of love.

We’re getting our last trips in (before baby-jail) towards the end of this month with a visit to New York followed by some weeks at home in Vancouver. It’s not far off now and the days are flying by. Work is still hectic (which I always like best) but I can definitely feel the need for a breather. There hasn’t been the time for the extra sleep and rest that I’m supposed to seek these 9 months – so I’m hoping to find a better balance in that regard when what’s in between is the time to explore new places and revisit old favourites. Looking forward to going home for a little while.

Some news that’s been rocking our world lately: around the 2nd of January, us 2 will become us 3 …!

We’ve been open to the possibility for about a year, but never actually counted days or planned specifically – feeling that if it was supposed to happen – it would happen. And then it just did, a little soul out there picked us.

The timing couldn’t be better – after these 37 years I’ve had the time to travel, study, be curious, be educated, travel some more and work my career to my heart’s content – so much that it’s spilling over with plenty to share. We both have. So here we are finally ready – and it feels like a really good time to give all that happiness on to someone small and new.

There are still a million things to think through and make decisions about – thankfully there are 5 months left (and beyond) to tackle that. In the meantime it’s one day at a time and plenty of fascination with all the changes along the way.

We couldn’t be happier!

 {Edit: I won’t lie and say I wasn’t a little freaked out when I first saw the positive test result. I backed directly out of the washroom, put on my running shoes, and ran 10km – like lightening – for the first time in my life. Let’s just say it helped me remember that the scary changes are, more often than not, some of the very best ones.}

My sister and I shared a room once. I came up with the brilliant plan of taping off a dividing line between her side and my side. The door was on her side. It wasn’t such a brilliant plan. We played and explored in the woods, the ponds and the tall grassy fields. Every single day. Until we were whistled back in for dinner.

One summer we were consumed with collecting tadpoles and keeping them in a fish tank in the garage. 90% of them probably died, but a few miraculously turned into tiny tree frogs. I say miraculous because I don’t recall ever remembering to feed them. We found a mole baby on the road once and made a shoebox bedroom for it with tissue paper, fabric and cardboard. We thought we were saving it from having to live in the cold dark dirt.

We dressed the cat in doll clothes and drove her around in a little pram. She wasn’t very impressed. We created caterpillar circuses with tight ropes and high wires galore. Those sticky caterpillar feet of theirs got them across those high wires no problem. We pulled clothes out of closets, put a pillow on the floor and practiced our gymnastics hanging upside down from the bar. We roller skated around the neighbourhood until we just couldn’t any more.

We played Lego every weekend morning (after cartoons) on a wheeled wooden platform that we could roll out from under Dad’s pool table. We built houses and farms and horses. Lots of horses. We took a pottery glass once and built nothing but horses until Mom insisted that we please create something else for gods sake – so we each made a vase and then continued with our horses. There may have been a dog among the mix (probably a horse attempt gone wrong in the legs). We took riding lessons for years and didn’t think there was anything better on this earth. We were lucky kids, getting to go to riding lessons.

We played and imagined and made make believe rather a lot, my sister and I. I miss living closer to her and the little worlds we created all those years ago.