Well, my hubby left for Honduras this morning at 2:30.  He drove up north to meet some of the rest of his team and then headed to the airport.  They had a 6:30 flight out of Toronto, with a 3-hour stop-over in Miami.  As of now, at 2:41 by my computer, he should be in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.  He should also have gotten the little note I tucked into his passport.    Yes, I'm like that.  I guess they'll get settled into their hotel and then he'll be able to email me that he's arrived safely. 
He's getting the chance to be a pharmacist for the poor there, dispensing medication at mini-clinics.  They'll set up in one spot for one day, help a few hundred people and then move on to another place the next day.  I've seen photos of some of the places they'll be working.  One of them he has to work in someone's house because there's no room for him anywhere else.   In another spot they'll be setting up tarps and then in another they'll be working out of a school that will close down just for them. 
I'm so proud of him for doing this.  I'm glad he gets to have an experience like this.  I'm just going to miss him like crazy.  I wonder how Arianna will do.  She's such a daddy's girl.
I'm glad my parents and sister are coming today, in fact they were supposed to be here by now.  My sister will be staying here with me until Thursday when we will go to my parents house until Sunday evening.  Chris will be home sometime very early Monday morning.
I think they're finally here, so I'd better go.

When I woke up this morning it was snowing lightly, but just an hour and half later, this is what I see out my kitchen window.



It looks so beautiful!  What an amazing world God created!  The picture really doesn't do a good job of showing the huge flakes that are coming down right now.  If I wasn't so tired, I'd take Arianna out to play in it, since it's only 0 degrees C.  Maybe I'll be able to later on.  The funny thing is that the weather network says to expect 2-4 cm from this morning to tomorrow afternoon.  I think more than that has already fallen. 

On Monday evening we were finally able to meet with the doctor who will deliver our baby.  It seems like it's been such a roller coaster and hassle, but we're finally moving ahead.
It was a great visit.  She is very nice.  Made me relax right away, making some comments that made us laugh.  It was nice to have Chris there, since they know each other from the hospital.  Arianna was there, just played with the toys and seemed quite comfortable with her as well.  She asked us all the preliminary questions.  I got weighed, seems I'm 10 pounds lighter than I thought.    I haven't been keeping track for quite some time.  Then she told us there was only about a 5% chance that we would be able to hear the baby's heartbeat, but did we want to try anyway.  Well, of course we said, yes.  And wouldn't you know it, she found it!  The doctor, who wants us to call her Kim, said, "There's your baby!"  Arianna said, "Baby?" and started looking around the room for the baby.  It was very cute.  We haven't really talked to her about the baby growing in Mommy's uterus.  We'll wait until there's something to really show her.  But my jeans are getting snugger already. 
We've started telling people, our small group, other friends at church and yesterday at the school where I'm directing the spring play.
I'm feeling okay.  The past couple days I've had this bone-weary exhaustion hit me at 10 in the morning.  It's here today, but not as bad.  I find it frustrating to be so tired when I haven't really done anything.  At least I know the reason for it.

On a completely different note, Chris is leaving very early Sunday morning to do a medical mission in Honduras for a week.  He'll be distributing medications to the poorest of the poor in that struggling country.  I'm excited for him, that he gets to do something like this, but I'm really going to miss him.  It's the longest we've ever been apart, except for a week while we were still dating.  And I know Arianna will miss him like crazy.  She's such a daddy's girl.  Thank goodness my sister is coming here for the first half of the week and then we're going to my parents for the second half.  I won't be on my own at all, except the Sunday he comes home very late at night.

I'd better go.  Arianna is begging me to play with her.

Don't know what happened, but one of my pictures didn't post, so here it is.
This is the one taken out our front door.

Here are some photos I took on Wednesday afternoon after all our snow fell. It looked so beautiful outside.



Not the best picture, with the screen in the way, but still shows the neat snow drifts around the BBQ and sliding door, and the snow looking out our front door.

We got a big dumping of snow yesterday and today it is -19C, -27 with the wind chill, so Arianna still can't play in the snow.  I was actually looking forward to taking her out.  I'm not a real snow fan, but it would've been so much fun watching her play.  Hopefully tomorrow.  I took some pictures, so I'll post some tomorrow for Foto Friday.

I'm feeling pretty good most of the time, just still tired.  I take a nap every day but I'm still tired by the time evening rolls around.  Every so often I get this huge wave of nausea, not fun, that part.  I've also experienced my first real food aversion.  I can't eat chicken right now and I love chicken!    There's something about the texture of it that turns my stomach.  I'm trying to be patient, waiting for Monday to come so I can finally see a doctor and start all this pre-natal care.  I wonder if we'll be able to hear the baby's heartbeat already.  I don't remember when we were able to when I was pregnant with Arianna.

Speaking of Arianna, right now she's running back and forth across the room behind me.  She gets to one end, counts "one, two, wee" and runs to the other end.  Then she counts again and runs back.  It's so cute.  I've tried to video it, but when I get the camera out, she comes running to me because she wants to see what's on the camera.

Better go.  I can smell her diaper from here.

Everything has finally worked out and I have my first appointment on the 19th.  I'll be 10 weeks along by that time!
The doctor we had initially called wasn't able to take us, or rather me.  So she emailed another doctor in the same clinic with the same receptionist, who happened to be our second choice.  I called the office and was told that this doctor was able to take me and that I should run it by my hubby and then call back.  Apparently someone had tried to get a hold of us and hadn't succeeded, although we didn't have any messages and someone had been home almost all the time, but we won't hold that against them.
I have never met this doctor, well I've never met either of them, so hopefully I feel comfortable with her.  Chris says she can be a little blunt sometimes.  Maybe it won't bother me since this isn't my first pregnancy. 
I'm just very glad to have that all figured out, finally. Yay!

Hubby and I went to a midwives info session on Monday evening.  We drove for 20 minutes for a 30 minute session.  All the other couples signed up immediately, while we sat there thinking we probably wouldn't.  They have a "huge" waiting list and we were told when we left that we had to let them know right away.  There was such a sense of urgency about it, a little over the top.  The session didn't even give us any new information really.
The problem is that for ultrasounds and if there was anything that required me to be seen by a doctor I would have to drive at least 30 minutes to the hospital, which is where I would deliver as well.  They give 6 weeks of after care which appealed to me and while they do visit you at home the first week, after that I would have to drive there once a week, not so nice.  I think that if we had gotten in at the local midwives group the decision would have been harder.
We have decided to go with one of the doctors with privileges at the hospital where Chris works.  He knows them and their birthing rooms are really nice, your own shower and even a VCR, and the great thing is you stay in that room for your whole stay, totally private!
So now, we've put in a call at one doctor, our first pick, we're just waiting to hear if she can take us, well I guess, me.  If not, we go on to the next one.  But I hope we hear back soon because I have a feeling I'd already met with my doctor by this time when I was pregnant with Arianna.
I've had a couple bad days this week, with nausea and serious fatigue, but today has been a lot better!

Wow, I really have a wonderful husband.  This morning we were deciding when we would take our showers (we sleep in and let Arianna wake us on Saturdays) and he actually said, "You take one soon, and I'll take Arianna shopping after her nap so you can have some more down time."  Wow!  And now, as I sit typing this, he is in the kitchen doing the dishes.  He really dislikes doing dishes.  He offered right away when I said I didn't feel like doing them tonight.  I am so very blessed!
Maybe part of why he's being so helpful and nice is that I feel so very tired almost all day now.  That is something about this pregnancy that is exactly the same as the last one.  I find myself thinking, How did I do it when I was working full time?  I take a nap almost every day when Arianna goes down for hers, at 1:00.  I can't believe that I probably still have a good month of that to go.  Every now and then my stomach feels a little strange or I get nauseous, but that part of things is going pretty well, thank goodness.  Unfortunately I am having an aversion to chocolate right now.
Arianna is still a lot of fun, but some days she just won't let me get anything done.  She wants my constant attention or she'll get into things she's not supposed to in order to get it.  It is fun to listen to all her new words.  She's picking them up so quickly!
Life outside our home is busy.  I have to go to church early tomorrow because the black light presentation I directed is being performed and Chris has to work, so I have to watch Arianna and get things set up for that.  Should be interesting.  My parents and sister are coming, so they'll be coming over after church and I have to feed them.  I don't know how long they are staying.  Then later, we're having a couple people over for the Superbowl.  Somewhere in there I have to find time to take a nap.  I'm also trying to get actors together for a small sketch for church in a couple of weeks.  Thankfully that has just fallen into place, but I need to find times when we can get together to rehearse.  Speaking of rehearsing, I've started rehearsals for the spring play at the school I used to teach at, every Tuesday from 4-6 and soon, every Thursday as well.  It's a little draining right now.  On top of those things are the regular meetings Chris and I have during the week.  Man, it's a little crazy!
I've also got a Close to my Heart scrapbooking party coming up.  I'm so looking forward to it!  I'm thinking of becoming a consultant.  Am I crazy?  I am, if I think about how busy life is already, but maybe it's just this coming week.  I hope.
Now, I'm going to relax on the couch, watch some TV and have a cup of tea.  Hmmm.  Did I mention that I absolutely adore my husband?

I can't believe it, it's Saturday and I missed Foto Friday.  I haven't blogged since the last one, so I thought I'd better get one in, even though it's late.

Here is my darling daughter at 10 months old.  The scrape on her nose is from rubbing it up and down the side of the playpen, silly girl!

She'd had enough of the photos, too.