New blog address

Hi everyone - sorry it has been so long since my last post. I have decided to continue the blog, but with a different website ... the blog can now be found at: http://mac1979.wordpress.com

Sorry for any confusion, but I promise this should be the last time I change things!! This new site has more options for blogs and makes it a lot easier to upload photos. I have one post on there so far, and will be updating with photos soon : )

Thanks!
Team PM

Happy Easter!

We had a great long Easter weekend and got a lot of things done around the house ... and, of course, took time to reflect on what this Holiday is really all about. Here are some photos from our busy weekend.

Here are Peter & Ainsley getting ready for the Easter egg hunt at the Officers Mess.


Ainsley saying 'cheese', but not looking at the camera ; )


Having a snack in the Mess and watching the movie they played for the kids.


Getting ready for a walk and picnic to the Peace Grove at the Cold Lake Provincial Park.


Watching some bigger kids playing in the park.


Here she is standing beside her new bed! Well, its really just her crib transitioned into a toddler bed. She is doing well so far at nights, but we are still working on staying in bed during naps.


Chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast on Saturday!


Easter egg hunt at home on Sunday morning.


'Can I have one now Mom?'


Chocolate drool - yummy. She is carrying her new mini duffel bag on her arm - it came with the little bunny inside.


Ainsley on Sunday morning wearing her new Easter outfit. It was hard to get her to pose for a photo, so I was playing hide and seek with her instead and got this shot of her as she ran out of her room to come and find me!


Ok, so she finally agreed to sit in her rocking chair to pose, but she insisted on having her doll Sophie sit with her too. (Sophie didn't have a pretty Easter dress to wear ... )


We went for a Sunday evening drive - I was taking pictures of Ainsley from where I was sitting in the passenger seat, over the back of my seat : )


'Cheese!'


Now that April is here we are getting excited for my parents visit at the end of the month, as well as our ultrasound on April 26th! We can't wait to find out if we'll have another little girl or a sweet baby boy come September .. as usual, we'll keep you posted!

Team PM, Ainsley & tadpole #2

Saying goodbye to Fletch

Today is a very sad day in the Connolly home. We had to say goodbye to our big fur baby, Fletch. He hasn't been well for a little while; we took him to the vet on Saturday and found out that he likely had a large cancerous growth on his stomach. He hadn't been eating, or drinking much and had become very lethargic. We decided on Saturday that the best thing to do was to put him down. It was not an easy decision to make ... Fletch came home as a puppy in August 2000. It was in November that year that Peter & I started seeing each other; since that time Fletch has been a big part of our family and for the first 5 years of our marriage, he was our baby.

It seems that we are starting a new chapter now, with our real baby and a new one on the way. Regardless of that, we will never ever forget Fletch and all the great memories we have of him.


Fletch
12 June 2000 - 22 March 2010
RIP big boy

Pregnancy update

I have been putting off the next two blog postings I have in mind ... I know that both will require more effort than I am willing to contribute right now! But, I thought I'd start with the easier of the two and see what happens.

First, a pregnancy update: I am now 14 weeks pregnant, feeling pretty good most of the time, but I still have some issues with my appetite at dinner time. Not that my appetite isn't there - I just don't like the thought of eating anything! I have started to show - I think I am about the same size I was at about 20 weeks the last time I was pregnant. So, for me, the tale that you will show faster the second time around is proving to be true : )


I have booked my ultrasound for April 26th - its sad that in Alberta you generally only have one routine ultrasound for pregnancy. When pregnant with Ainsley (in the UK) I got to have one at both 12 weeks and 20 weeks. Since I can't have an ultrasound to see what the baby looks like at this point, this is the next best thing for me.


This is a photograph of a 14 week old baby in utero that I found online. Knowing that my baby is currently the size of half a banana, but whose heart is beating at 166 bpm (which I heard steady and strong at my last doctor appt.), and he/she has fully developed organs and is breathing and moving and growing - makes me so excited! I feel so blessed to have another new life inside me, and already I am feeling those pangs of a Mothers love for her baby. It is amazing to me that after I heard that heartbeat and knew that my child was in there - my heart changed. Not that I wasn't excited before, but its hard to feel excited for something that doesn't quite feel real. With Ainsley I didn't hear her heartbeat until I was about 25 weeks pregnant; never did I hear at such an early stage the sounds of my child living inside me. It is quite a special feeling and I hope I never forget it.

I will try and muster up the energy to write the next blog within a few days ... it will be all about our trip to Jacksonville, which means lots of pictures, which means lots of effort ... I will try!!

Team PM, Ainsley & tadpole #2

February update!

I seem to have less and less time lately to devote to my blog. It was much easier to keep it updated before Ainsley was so mobile! And, also before I had Olivia here all the time. Well, update #1 is that Olivia and her family are moving away. So, this means that I have her until March 18 and then I'm done. This is bad news because I will miss them, but good news in light of update #2 - which most of you probably already know - I'm pregnant! I am really looking forward to having several months with Ainsley before the next baby arrives in September. My due date is the 12th, but there still might be a c-section, which would be scheduled for about 10 days before the due date. My doctor has given me the option of whether or not to have one, and its something that I still haven't decided on.

Valentines Day this year was kind of a bust. My actual Valentine was out of town and my little stand in Valentine was sick with a fever. It was somewhat enjoyable because Ainsley & I spent a lot of the day snuggled on the couch watching tv and movies. She didn't feel like playing or doing anything besides laying with me. When you have an active toddler, you'll take whatever snuggles you can get - fever induced or not! By the late afternoon she was feeling better and seemed to be back to her normal self.


She tried to leave a nice Valentine treat for her brother .. it seems that she was attempting to pour Rice Krispies into his dish, but kinda missed and lost control of the bag. I was just upstairs in the bathroom finishing up getting ready and she came to find me repeating 'uh-oh! uh-oh!' It was cute, despite the mess.


And the final update is that we are heading down to Florida next week for a week-long vacation. We are looking forward to some relaxing and time spent with my brother and Sharon ... pictures to follow : )

Team PM, Ainsley & Tadpole #2

Ainsley ...

I had to also post some shots of Ainsley ... here are a few from recent weeks.

Here are Ainsley & Olivia eating Cheerios with toy spoons! They thought of that one all on their own : )


Reading with Daddy - they do this alot together : )


Trying on Dad's Colts hat ...


And again ...


Eating her first whole apple ... she took it off the table and started eating it; it was cute so I didn't stop her. She ended up doing a pretty good job, but it was a very s-l-o-w procees, so it will be reserved for special times I think!


And, here she is checking out her new kitchen, which was a late Christmas present.





Team PM & Ainsley

Peter & his latest endeavor

If you know Peter at all, you know that playing sports is like breathing to him. Not only does it come incredibly naturally to him, but he thrives on it. If he goes too long without playing competitive sports he gets antsy! In the summertime this desire is satisfied by playing softball for two different teams. In the winter, he's tried indoor soccer ... and more recently - hockey. Now, you'll remember that I said that playing sports comes 'incredibly naturally' to him .. well, this is true for pretty much any sport - except hockey! But, of course, he wanted to give it a try anyway. He practiced over Christmas break on the little pond behind our house ... his biggest challenge is his skating skills. Finally, a couple weeks ago he was invited to come out and play for the AETE 'C' league team - 'The Benders'. His friend Pat said that many of the people on the team were just learning or had only started playing in the last year or two. SO, last Sunday off we went to the arena on base to cheer him on! We even skipped Ainsley's nap for it ... which we won't be doing again any time soon. (She was fine at the game, it was later on that day and the next day that I paid for it!) Here are some shots from the game, Peter is #71, though is still waiting for his real jersey to come in. He did pretty well and even managed to make a few shots on the net, though, he tended to fall after making the shots - but he tried : )






He is pretty determined to improve his abilities, so I don't think this is the end of hockey in our house ... now I just have to make sure he remembers to NOT leave his sweaty gear in the car overnight ever again!

Team PM & Ainsley

A Connolly Christmas!

Due to the lack of recent posts, you can see what a busy Christmas season we had this year! We seemed to skip from one event/party to the next, but we also had lots of family time, and plenty of days where we slept in until 9 - which was wonderful! Peter's brother Andrew arrived on the 16th and stayed until the 29th, which means we also were able to get some shopping done in Edmonton on the days we went to the airport - that is always a good thing!

The first event of the season was the Kids Christmas party at the Officers Mess. Ainsley got to decorate a cookie, make a craft, meet Santa (whom she also received a present from), and she won a doorprize too! It was quite crowded so it was hard to take a lot of photos of her, but here she is in the movie area where they were showing 'Shrek the Halls' - as you can see, she isn't shy!




Ainsley also helped me clean up the house after we had about 50 or so people over on the 20th for a B-I-G Christmas party! But, of all the events this holiday, we don't have any pictures from that night!



The next event was a sleigh ride on Dec. 19th. It was a beautiful day outside and we were taken out into the woods and got to sit out by a nice warm fire - it was the most perfect winter day to be outside. Our friend Vicki accompanied Ainsley on the 'kids only' sleigh ride while the rest of us enjoyed the fire and hot chocolate : )






A few days after the sleigh ride we finally got around to some Christmas baking. We toned it down this year and only made holiday cookies, gingerbread men and chocolate balls (most of which were eaten by Andrew!)









On Christmas morning we opened presents and Skyped with both sets of parents. Ainsley really enjoyed unwrapping gifts this year and it didn't take her long to figure out that there was good stuff inside those packages! Ainsley got hungry and couldn't wait to eat our big feast, so she had a snack first ; )





For dinner on Christmas day we were invited to our friends house - Krista and Corbin Ralph and their adorable baby Katie. They are fairly new to Cold Lake, and all of their family live far away also. Our other 'family-less' friends, Jon and Tanya Wiseman joined us for the turkey feast.








And with the exception of a few days, the weather was really nice outside. We discovered a small ice rink that someone had cleared just in behind our house. In the summer, this area is just a big rain reservoir. Peter wanted to practice his skating/hockey skills so he can start playing hockey at work. There is also a small hill to toboggan on so we took advantage of that and introduced Ainsley to a Canadian winter tradition : )






And last but not least, a few photos of Ainsley in her other Christmas dress. The first one she wore on Christmas Day and was from my Mom. But, Ainsleys' auntie Sharon also sent a red velvet dress with black polka dots that Ainsley wore to church just after Christmas. Isn't she beautiful?!



We hope you all had a Merry Christmas and all the very best for the New Year!

Team PM & Ainsley