Day off for flying

In the midst of all that shopping, we took a day to relax in the sun (me) and go paragliding (Stef). Here we are at the Mackenzie launch. I just took pics and then drove the car down, did the crossword and took a nap. Stef stayed in the air for about 4 hours. Little Freya didn't seem to mind the bumpy road!

Aloha babymoon

It has become tradition for couples to take a 'babymoon' -- one last romantic holiday for two before the baby arrives. So we went to Oahu for 10 blissful days of sun, surf and snorkling, from 20-30 March. Here's me immitating a beached whale:



We stayed in Kailua, a laid-back town of locals without highrises or hotels or beachside cocktails, where Obama apparently spends his holidays. We stayed in a cute little place called D&D's B&B, just a 5 minute walk from Kailua's beach and park (a steal at $75/night). The water was actually cool (bizarrely, it had hailed in Oahu the week before we got there), and the weather too windy for paragliding. But that didn't stop us from getting around and getting a tan.



We saw a macadamia nut farm (Stef is adept at breaking open nuts, as well as at eating free samples), hiked up the hill in Lanakai, the rugged Olomana '3 peaks' hike/rock climb (I only did the first peak, Stef did the second, and we skipped the third, for a 3-hour humid return trip), and the muddy Maunawili falls. We kayaked out from Kailua to Mokolua Island on a wavy day (it was very entertaining watching novices try to land without tipping into the surf), snorkled at Hanauma Bay (which is much less impressive than it used to be, back when they let tourists feed the fish! Now it's far less colourful and popluated by reef fish) and off Electric beach on the west coast (the best spot for snorkling by far -- fish are attracted to the warm water outflow pipe, which has become an artificial reef), swam with dolphins from Ko Olina resort (expensive at $120 each but worth it), and generally mooched about the beach, shops, and highways of Oahu. A highlight for Stef was Bookends, a new and used book shop in the heart of Kailua (every restaurant seemed to be locatable in terms of 'steps from Bookends'), where he found a book he'd been looking for for 10 years!

Now it's back to the grindstone... more literally for stef than for me.

Pregnancy highlights from the trip:
Freya is kicking like a boxer now, the little fighter! Sleeping became a real pain, with hip ache waking me every few hours and getting me up at the crack of dawn. But by the end of the holiday that had much improved. Long flights with a big belly are not comfy -- those seats are a pain in the back, literally. Otherwise, Freya caused no problems and enjoyed her time in the sun.

Engineer's stamp

On Wednesday the house was inspected by the engineer who approved our plans in the first place; he needs to stamp a document saying it has been built properly, and that no one has drilled through any important supporting beams when putting in the plumbing or electrics. We had a few minor infractions that need fixing (that's normal), by sticking in an extra small beam under a doorway here and there. Mainly this is because the electrician did, actually, drill through important beams (silly). Our framer will do the fixes on Monday. But under the understanding that this will happen, we've got our stamp and approval! Horrah!

To celebrate, we went for a long walk from the house to the lake and back, stopping off at the kiddie skate park (where 8-year-olds are pulling some gnarly tricks; we've decided 'danger' is a dangerous middle name that would put too much peer pressure on a local kid) and the bakery, all in glorious sunshine. A perfect day. Now I'm 5.5 months in to the pregnancy, however, such a long walk (well, about an hour) is quite trying... I basically fell asleep as soon as we got home. I'm also having difficulty putting on socks. Other than that, though, all is well.

Now the local building inspector will come in and look at it on Tuesday to give his thumbs up (apparently this is basically guarenteed once you have the plumbing and engineering approved). Next stop: insulation.

It's a girl!

The results from our 19 week scan say that monkey is a girl. All our friends tell us this is 'easier' than a boy, at least up to toddledom. But the first thing Stef said was "I'll have to buy a shotgun". So he's looking forward to teenagehood already.

We have a name picked out already. If you hate it, please feel free to keep that to yourself.

Freya Kendall Miller

We're very excited to meet her :)

PS - the name has now been 'stress tested' by our neighbour Jerry, who has heard of such classic names as: Wayne King, Chris P. Ness, and the brother-and-sister duo Sam and Ella. He couldn't find anything amusing in ours. If he can't, no one can... (famous last words?)

Monkey's first ski tour

On Saturday, under blue skies, we headed up Cayoosh Creek to take 'monkey' on his/her first ski tour. This is pretty much the easiest skiing you can find near Pemberton. The trail up to the cabin is a gentle incline on a wide trail, and it takes only 1.5 hours or so to ski (or snow shoe) up to the hut. Once there we had our sandwiches and soup, then hiked a couple of hundred metres up a steeper slope to get some nice powder turns in on the way down. At the end of the day, we met two moms carting their less-than-one-year-olds up the hill; they were on skiis, the little ones in front-packs. Me: "You guys get bonus points." Them (not huffing, breaking a sweat, or slowing down): "Gotta train them early."

All in all we were out a little more than 4 hours. Once I got back in the warm car I fell asleep nearly immediately from exhaustion, and was groggy the rest of the afternoon. After a nap and an early night, I woke up at 3am. So now I'm jetlagged. (Ski tour lagged?).

The official doctors' advice on skiing during pregnancy is mixed. My first doctor said it wasn't a good idea after 3 months, in case of falling or injury, and gave me a letter with which I got my ski pass put on credit with the mountain (so I can use the money towards a ski pass a year or two from now, rather than losing the cash). But our more usual doctor, when she returned to her post, said: "Gone are the days when we considered pregnant women as ill or incapacitated. Go for it! After all you better stay fit -- birth is the biggest workout of your life. Just don't get yourself into a situation where you might experience serious trauma. Falling over at slow speed is a-okay." So that's the advice I'm taking. My 'What to expect..." book tells me I shouldn't get my heart rate above 140, so I'm also going slower than usual (though the doctor said this advice, too, was unnecessarily conservative).

Baby update

Lots of people have been asking about the exciting new addition to the family, so here's an FAQ for you:

When are you due?
July 13, according to the doctor and the size of the baby in our first scan. Weirdly, they originally count your pregnancy due date as 40 weeks (yes, that's more than 9 months) from the start of your last period, NOT the date 2 weeks after that when you actually conceived. So, weirdly, the official start date is BEFORE you have conceived. For us, that also means that on the official start date (1 Oct) I was in England at a party at a friend's house, and Stef was back home in Canada. Hmmmm.... This obviously sounds very dodgy, but it's just a funny joke. Obviously we were together for the REAL start of proceedings.

Is it a boy or a girl?
We don't know yet. We'll find out on 18 Feb, at our 19-week scan in Vancouver. This is conveniently scheduled for smack in the middle of the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting, which I'll be attending, and which lots of our friends from the UK will also be at. So I could announce the gender, if I wanted to, at the international science writers party that very evening. Fun!
Bets are split so far. I have no idea, though I did have a dream a few weeks ago that it was a boy, with a specific name too...

Have you picked a name?
Yes. But I'm not telling you what it/they is/are. One early contender for a boy was to give him 'Danger' as a middle name (so he could say "Danger is my middle name" and not be lying). No joke. It still may happen.
In the meantime, we're calling the little bundle of joy 'monkey', with extras added on for its size, as in: Rice monkey; plum monkey; orange monkey; etc...

Any morning sickness / weird cravings / other symptoms?
Not so much. I dry heaved a handful of times in the first trimester, but always kept all my food down.
Funny story: in December I was down in San Francisco for the American Geophysical Union annual conference. Worried I might have morning sickness in the middle of their gigantic convention centre, too far from a ladies' toilet, I stole some sick bags off the airplane (smart, eh?). As it happened I was only sick once, and happened to be passing the Hyatt toilets as the urge came on, so I locked myself in a cubicle to cough up. The lady in the next cubicle says: "Vitamin C! It's flu season! You've got to take vitamin C!" Me: "Thanks. It's morning sickness actually." Her: "Congratulations!!!!" I never saw who she was, and she never saw me. She's the first person (aside from hubby and parents) I told I was pregnant.
I've no cravings for strange foods. I'm just hungry all the time. I swear I'm eating the same amount as before, just in more sittings. Yet strangely I'm gaining stack loads of weight. How odd.
Other notable symptoms: when they say your breasts might be tender at first, this is an understatement. They HURT. For months. Not a good sign of things to come. Also my gums are bleeding now (which apparently is common).

I'll keep you posted.

The Best Christmas Present Ever

While we're spending all this time building a house, we've also, behind the scenes, been planning to fill our family home with a little more family. After 2 years of 'trying' we've finally got me up the duff :) We're expecting a baby to join us in July! This is extremely exciting (obviously!) and also provides a handy new deadline for the move in date. Stef keeps wandering around the house with a whole new perspective, he says: things look different when you imagine a little kiddie running around inside. We'll need a protective fence or something around the stove. And kiddie locks on the sliding doors. And it's going to be wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.

Merry Christmas everyone!



This is us practicing parenthood with the cat, Floosie.