hello. how are you? have you been alright...

uhh...hi. Remember me? I used to write this blog...

It's been a crazy few months in my little corner of the world. As a result, I have seriously neglected my blog and numerous other things. So here's the short-ish version of the story.

On February 14th, one of Steve's aunt's passed away unexpectedly. She and Steve's uncle didn't have kids and there was no other family to take care of all of the details that need taking caring of when someone dies. Normally, Steve and his brother would share the duties but since David and his wife Tera had just welcomed their first child into the world a week before, there was not a lot they could do. Steve took the lead with the rest of us helping as much as we could. Unfortunately, it was not a simple task. In addition to the funeral, etc. we also had to find care for Steve's uncle, who was being cared for by his wife until she passed. Then there was the matter of the will, power of attorney over his uncle's affairs, emptying and selling the house (no small task as they hadn't really thrown anything out since they moved into the house in the '60's), selling the car, emptying his uncle's workshop and finding a new home for the cat. (Sami has been the bright spot in all this and became a very welcome addition to our family.) And all of this was happening over 500 kilometers away in Ottawa. So when we weren't dealing with our daily lives of working, etc., we were travelling to Ottawa to take care of things there. Grueling to say the least.

Fast forward two months to mid April. In the midst of this stressful period, we find out that I am pregnant. Blogfriends, I'd like to introduce you to "Em".


This is Em at 13 weeks. We're at about 20 weeks now. Em is short for embryo. We started calling it that before it reached the fetus stage and it just stuck. So Em it will be until it emerges in early January. Needless to say, we are pretty excited. Pregnancy has a way of being all encompassing. I find it difficult to focus on much else. Especially since all I wanted to do for the first three months was sleep. This producing another human life stuff completely drains you of all energy. It's crazy.

Fast forward again to late May. Another one of Steve's aunts passes away unexpectedly. She never married or had children so again it falls to Steve and David to take care of things. So in the midst of dealing with the grief of losing two much loved aunts and the joy of a baby on the way, there is now another funeral, an apartment to empty, another car to sell and more will and estate stuff to deal with. And doesn't it figure that the closing of the house sale in Ottawa and the date we need to vacate the apartment in Toronto are both July 31. Luckily, with my niece being a few months older, Dave and Tera are able to do a ton to assist. Between the four of us, we manage to get it all taken care of. All this time, I was concerned for Steve's well being. It's a lot to put on one person but as usual, he puts his head down, gets the job done and comes out at the other end, tired, but relatively unscathed. I am very lucky to have such an amazing man for a husband.

Once my parents heard the news about the baby on the way, my father turned into Mike Holmes and started renovating our house. Seriously, he's been working on stuff that I didn't know needed fixing. He's determined to get everything done before the baby arrives but really, I think he's just been bored since he retired from his carpentry business last year. The man is a master craftsmen and spent the last 25 years of his working life making curved wooden stair cases for grand, expensive homes big enough to house a dozen families. As a result, our house is in this permanent state of flux. When I'm not working or sleeping, I'm picking out paint and flooring and consulting with dad on the next project. Don't get me wrong I am incredibley appreciative. Sometimes it's just a bit hard to live in a house that is in constant renovation.

So now it's August and I'm finally finding the time to sit down and blog about all of this. Once Em arrives in the world the posts may be few and far between again but I'm determined to blog as much as I can between now and then. I've really missed it. There is something very therapeutic about getting it all out in the written form. Even when it's not all serious life stuff like this post. The next post won't be as heavy. Promise.