GFs from waybackwhen

here are michelle, amanda, jodi

we are girlfriends from way back.


here we are in 1996 preparing for our grad party (person on left is another michelle)

jodi and i both lived out of town and went to elementary school together but really became friends later as bus-buddies.

michelle and i became friends in grade 6.

we had such a nice visit. i think michelle is a terrific mom and very encouraging friend to talk with about the future. jodi is a supportive and kind friend. it was a great time.

Bishops & Jodi came to visit

michelle, kaeden & ellia bishop


michelle, jodi & ellia reading a story


kurt, michlle, ellia bishop (kaeden is running around somewhere), jodi, and the salmons


derek & kaeden reading. michelle wrote some really nice things about derek interacting with kaeden.


ellia & peaches. derek was photographer for this. ellia is such a cute girl.

we spent most of our visit indoors, but we did bring ellia out to see the horses and she petted dynamo. she looked like a little starfish in her snowsuit. we got it on video.

32 weeks...only 8 weeks left!!!

well time sure does fly. its been 32 weeks now. i am still enjoying pregnancy although looking at pictures of myself is not as fun now, because i think i'm starting to look big. i still don't feel particularly big, but the baby's weight is supposed to double in the next 8 weeks (its approximately 4lbs now) and 15.5 inches long.

baby salmon is still very active and has a really sharp jab to my left side.

peace

Vyn Family Singers

We went to visit the Vyn family last night. We had a great visit. Chris was our best man at the wedding.

here is chris' left arm


here is chris' right arm


here are the salmons & vyns (raechelle pretending to be pregnant).

Renee-bee

Derek and I went out for dinner with Renee, Chris and Elliana Schartner. It was good to visit her since I hadn't talked to her since before she was pregnant with her daughter, now a one year old.

Grandma Salmon

here is amanda, derek and grandma salmon on Boxing Day. We went "down home" to North Augusta to visit. Grandma Salmon has so many knick knacks around her home and she is always giving them away. she used to sell Avon and so there are many Avon products in the mix. She always sends me away with many little gifts. She gave me a really pretty watch with sapphires in it and a horse figurine to derek.

Our First Baby Shower

Here is the North Augusta Community Hall where Sharon and Judy organized our first baby shower for December 26 at 2pm.


Here is a quarter of the people who came to the party. I did not get pictures of the whole group although we did get video of it. Derek and I (and especially mom and dad) were blown away by the response. Both sides of the family came (Salmon and Hodgkinson) for this event.

We received wonderful gifts:
-some handknit baby blankets with handknit matching outfits (a little yellow one and a little white one)
-a couple sleepers in neutral colours, onesies, a matching gown for me and baby
-3 handmade baby quilts
-several rattles and teething rings, pacifier clips
-other soft baby blankets, hooded towels, receiving blankets
-nursery care kit (thermometer, little clippers, nose cleaner)
-a huge teddy bear (that everyone said we can have sit on the plane with us!)
-a gift certificate to buy some baby books and money to put towards a larger item like a crib or whatever else the baby will need

we really appreciate all the generosity of the family and are excited to return to show off our little darling when he or she arrives.

The Salmon side mostly said we are having a boy and the Hodgkinson side ALL said we are having a girl. So many were saying I was carrying so high, but back in BC, no one had said that before.

Christmas Day

here's marsha opening a gift from us on Christmas morning.


mom and dad salmon surprised us with a handycam...derek looks very uncomfortable because he was soo surprised. they said it is a gift for them as well so they really wanted to give it to us. they got marsha a nice digital camera too. she was very surprised also.


happy birthday daddio! we celebrated with a birthday cake for dad after Christmas dinner but everyone was too stuffed to eat any. we decided to save it for marsha's birthday celebration on dec 27 (her birthday is dec 30).

Jewelry from Derek

Christmas necklace from Derek

Christmas Eve

amanda, derek and marsha salmon getting ready to go out to visit some friends before the Christmas eve service.


we went to chris (our best man) and raechelle vyn's new home for tea before the service. they have such a cool looking house, its so retro and seems perfect for them.

Time Change

its really early...i stayed awake until midnight EST last night and now i'm up already. i kept thinking of baby names and wanted to come online to look some up.

yesterday was 31 weeks pregnant and it was pretty exciting to let mom and dad salmon feel the baby kick. Marsha announced that i'm having a girl when she first saw me because she says i'm carrying so high...but she said she would prefer that i have a boy, so we'll just have to see. mom shrieks nearly every time the baby kicks.

derek says he is trying to gain 10 lbs while he's out here, and he's already gained one. he's so silly.

the plane ride was really good. i got plenty of water and this one steward, Ping, even brought me a personal bottle from Business class (i found out later, when i asked another person for a small bottle and she said they don't have them in regular class). the movie was Elf, but i wasnt feeling to into watching it because i was already so tired from staying up late the night before.

i guess i'll look up those names and try to sleep a little more.

peace and rest to all

Decorate the Tree & Dynamo!

so we arrived safely in Ontario last night. I was sooo tired I thought I could go to bed by 10pm EST...but we stayed up until 1pm visiting. I had wanted to try to get adjusted to the time better and get up early, but we slept until 11.30am this morning and got up in time for lunch.

Here is mom salmon and derek putting final touches on the tree. They just got it yesterday but waited for us to help decorate. Marsha was disappointed because she hates decorating so she just sat and watched and took pictures.


Derek, Amanda, Dynamo, Mom, Dad, Marsha. Dad has been helping out the neighbours train their stallions. One day, Patty asked Dad to come and get a horse, Dynamo, a race horse who'd hurt his leg and was going to be sent away for meat. Patty said if Dad wanted him, he could have him. He is such a soft horse. His leg is still healing and when it has, then he will be good to ride.

it was a great first day to spend time with the family. It was SOOO cold with the wind. There was freezing rain so the dinner party Marsha planned had to be cancelled for tonight, but we hope to see most of those friends tomorrow night before the Christmas eve service.

Baby Due Date 50/50

We were at our rockclimbing gym Christmas party last night and a couple friends were trying to help come up with names. This evolved to them wanting to do a 50/50 draw for the baby so they could guess the birthdate and time...so here goes.

TERMS
1. The cost is $5 per guess (Date & Time of arrival).
2. The "winner" would be the person who gets the closest without going over (like "The Price is Right"), if no one gets that, then the closest person afterwards.
3. You would win half (50%) of all collected funds.

Estimated Due Date: Thursday, February 24, 2005

Guesses

1. Ken: February 17 2005 8pm
2. Marty: February 25 2005 4pm (his birthday)
3. David: February 22 2005 7.35am additional predictions, not included in the wager from David-- girl, 8lb 7oz, Penelope Francine Salmon, Future rugby player, will really like strawberry milkshakes--thanks David!)
4. Kristin: February 21 2005 4pm
5. Grandma Jen: February 21 2005 6am
6. Brent: February 23 2005 11.59pm
   

If anyone else is interested, email me your guess (date & time) and phone number (so I can contact you if you win) and be prepared to ante up the $5.

Thanks Ken and Marty for all your "great" name ideas and your encouraging support for our baby. Merry Christmas!

we're off to Ontario now, I will probably still blog from there.
peace to all

goodbye mike r

i just found out that my uncle mike r died today. i'm very sad for my cousins and aunt. God please comfort them during this time.

Just have to say it

Derek's awesome :)

He gave me this great luggage set that I've been thinking about all day...then he calls me around noon because he finished work early and said "I'm done now, so i'm coming to get you, you're sick right? cough." ha ha

he asked if he could come by to see me and he brought me flowers :) so sweet.

Interesting Article about the Generation Raised With Internet

since we are soon to be parents, I take great interest in the internet activity of kids and how it has shaped they way they think and relate to one another. This article is pretty interesting. have a read: Generation Raised With Internet Grows Up

Mellenger/Gagne/Salmon Christmas

Andrew, Heather, Miles, Mom and Richard and Derek and I had our Christmas gift exchange over the web cam at Andrew's house yesterday. it was fun. Baby Salmon got his/her first few gifts: a nice white knit sweater and a large white knit blanket (Grandma & Grandpa Gagne), three receiving blankets and three face cloths (aunt Heather serged some large receiving blankets).







Mom and Richard gave Derek and I a webcam so we'll have to set that up when we get back from vacation (2 work days to go!). I am still so excited about the set of luggage from Derek and Andrew and Heather. It will make travelling so much easier on both of us. They're very sturdy in a nice red.



Derek got Dosage Vol. 2 (a climbing video) which he watched some of when we got home and really enjoyed it.

Derek is going into the recording studio tonight and was preparing late last night. I didn't want to go to sleep and then wake up grumpy (if i got woken up) so I decided to stay up (until 1 am) and wrap the rest of the gifts we're bringing to Peterborough. I packed all the gifts and it filled the middle sized suitcase! I really hope the security people at the airport don't unwrap the gifts...it should be fine, they have those scanners.

We also went to a church party last night and got to say goodbye to our friends. It was kind of weird for me, i'm not used to everyone remembering when we are going away, they usually say "oh, you're going somewhere?" but this time, there were a few "aww, i'm gonna miss you!" so that was nice :)

so we are going to be pretty busy the next two days before leaving, Derek's recording tonight, we gotta pack, we have a party at the rockclimbing gym tomorrow night and then we gotta drop off the pets to be taken care of and do a final cleanup at home. wow. we're so excited about going to Ontario. It should be fun! It will be so nice to spend time with Derek's family and I am really hoping it works out to see Michelle et al and Jodi and Renee :)

5 days til Christmas
2 months & 4 days til Baby Salmon is due!

peace to all

10 weeks to go & results are good

Here I am with my week 30 belly. I can hardly believe its been 30 weeks already, this has gone by so fast. i read this morning that the baby is as high up as it will get at 30 weeks, and now it will just grow out and down really. so i'm hoping that means i might not get kicked in the ribs (since its several inches away right now). we'll just have to wait and see/feel.

the baby has been so active lately. my stomach will feel totally hard, yet these pointy little hands or feet or elbows or whatever will stick out. the movements are pretty strong and seem to never stop. its great fun. i'm really enjoying it. i can rub my belly and find the baby easily now. theres usually a point of easy contact, a hard area that if i push, gets the baby moving. according to my pregnancy newsletter the baby is about 3lbs and 14.5 inches long. wow. thats getting big!

Derek and I just returned from my staff party. The food was really good and I didn't get any heartburn, but I was getting really uncomfortable sitting for so long. Derek was chosen out of the audience to be part of a silly dramatization of Cinderella...he was chosen to be Prince Charming, I thought "what a perfect choice." He did really well, got right into his role. He even had to dance with this little lady as part of the play (it was improv) and lots of people made comments on our way out about how great a dancer he was. it was cute.

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and got the results back from the gestational diabetes test. I do not have gestational diabetes, I had a very low score and the doctor said that I was no where near a risk of having it. I also found out that I am safe to fly next week, no problems, I am low risk :)

At the last two appointments my belly has measured slightly bigger than normal (usually I would be the same # of cm as weeks gestation). This week, it all met up and the measurement was the same which the doctor said is probably because the baby has dropped a bit. so at 30 weeks, i'm 30 cm (or the womb is, i guess). anyway, good news as far as i'm concerned. so i can be justified if someone says i'm huge "my measurements are right on track." (honestly, is about 50/50 with people saying very nice encouraging things and people saying "you're huge" or "you seem to be much more pregnant than 7 months." i mostly just listen to the nice things ;)

a new thing this week was heartburn with acid reflux. I had it pretty bad for about 3 days then the last two days it hasn't really occured at all, which is great. i know that i just need to drink lots of water, sit tall, eat slow, and dont eat too much at once. i enjoyed a hearty dinner tonight, and no heartburn, so that is great.

only 3 work days until vacation :) we have a few more parties to go to before we leave and we have to fit packing in there somewhere, should be interesting.

in our corporate prayer time today there was a good talk about Christmas, how the message is three fold of God being with us, God being for us, and God wanting to be within us. i found it inspiring as I don't want to get caught up in the fun stuff about Christmas without understanding and remembering why. i found the way it was explained really helpful for me. its really amazing, that God would want to come and be with us, to do so much for us, and then to offer to make so many changes within us, giving us a new way to live. i am thankful

peace

SLEF shot

miles was looking so cute in the row behind me that i had to take a picture. andrew and miles at church on Dec 12. Danielle and Rick's are sitting next to them. Its their last sunday. They are leaving for Nova Scotia this week and won't return until March when they are married. The girls and I decided to throw Danielle a last minute lingerie party and met over at La Vie en Rose on Monday night and had a fun time.

Family Christmas Lunch

Aunt Deb organized a little get together for those of us who would be going away over Christmas. We had a wonderful time visiting and eating Deb's gourmet cooking.



Mike & Deb gave Derek and I a beautiful Baby Records Book with Victorian artwork throughout. I'm so excited to get a gift like that so we can record all the baby "firsts" in it.


heather & miles reading his gift (Peter Rabbit book) from aunt Deb and uncle Mike


aunt Char and aunt Deb


aunt Deb & uncle Mike


karl & alicia, the newlyweds!


danika, miles and luke. danika & luke are alexa's children and second cousins to miles.

TruthMedia Christmas Party & 29 weeks

Here we are after a great dinner at my staff Christmas party. I'm 29 weeks pregnant today and feeling really good. The baby measures about 14 inches long and is 2lbs 10oz (according to my pregnancy weekly newsletter). I started to feel officially huge this week, and i made myself really sick on grapefruit...other than that, we are so excited for our trip to Ontario :)


Here is the team I have been working with since September. We are called IdeaLab and we do internet marketing for TruthMedia websites. Its been a really good experience of learning and working together with Brent and Rob. Rob and Patricia are leaving the area soon and Rob's last work day is tomorrow. Florence is raising support and will be coming to work at the office in the New Year. (L to R: Derek, Amanda, Florence, Dan, Patricia, Rob, Brent, Kelly).


Here is Amanda & Leah at the party. Leah's looking great and enjoying her 27th birthday today! She got sung to twice by huge groups and blushes to tell the tale. She's also looking pretty small tucked in there behind my big belly!

miles is 3 months old today!

here is the mellenger family: Heather, Andrew and Miles

since miles is 3 months old now, his colic should stop any day now

you two are doing a great job! my nephew is sooo cute

it snowed again

i arrived home from work and there was some snow on our lawn. here's a pic of our little house on the salmon farm

maybe starbucks is not for me either...maybe

Patricia made some great observations about Starbucks vs other cafes. which actually made me reconsider why I go to starbucks...

i know i used to always say "i'm too cheap, i'll just go with the free coffe drinks from downstairs" when the girls from work would invite me.
Then at some point, I decided to give it a try and since the girls from work would invite me to go alot, I started to go too...
Then there was the Christmas gift certificate...and i became officially hooked
Then there was the fact that drinking dairy helps you lose weight, so during my time with weight watchers, i'd drink lattes as a treat and a healthy choice (non-fat, no whip)

anyway, since i am soon to be a parent, i know i will need to cut down on erroneous spending so i will probably have to let starbucks pass or have it once in awhile...

Patricia had a great point about the full menus available at other fine establishments, like wired monk...they've got great sandwiches, but starbucks lemon cranberry scone will always be my favorite scone i think...except for the ones my brother made that time...they were goood (lemon poppyseed made with whole wheat flower).

anyway, the other cafes definitely have more options and are therefore more satisfactory...but my tastebuds still long for the Pumpkin Spice, Toffe Nut, or Gingerbread lattes available at starbucks...oh, this may be some habit to break!

merry christmas

Friends Christmas Lunch & Gift Exchange

our friends had a hard time juggling our Christmas schedules, but we settled on a lunch to have a Christmas Party and Gift Exchange.

I tried to figure out how to a screen shot of the event and link to it, but i couldnt figure it out today and i'm sick of trying so i give up for now :)

peace

engagement dec 4 04 @ 4

congratulations to carabin-eR & dani-L engaged!

Avril vs. Chelsie...

chelsie found this pic from J-14 Dec 2004 issue of Avril Lavigne where their innocent smiles looked very similar... 

Chelsie and the Salmon's play Killer Bunnies

chelsie enjoying Killer Bunnies


derek and chelsie NOT enjoying Killer Bunnies...i beat them...but its all chance, honestly...i hope they get over it soon, they were really mad

uh oh

the countdowns

i took a vacation day today to go to Courtney however, Poppa said it wasn't a good time and January would be better. we decided that i would still have the day off so we could get the rest of our Christmas shopping done because in the next few weeks we're gonna be busy!

starting this weekend we have the parties to go to on the following days:

sun dec 5
thurs dec 9
fri dec 10
sat dec 11
sun dec 12 (2 of them)
thurs dec 16
sun dec 19
tues dec 21

fly to ontario for vacation dec 22!! yay

crazy!!!

so with that in mind, we are going to use this as a much needed day of rest prior to the apparent busyness that is impending.

Ok, now for the countdowns:

2 months 21 days til Baby Salmon's due date
22 days til Christmas
19 days til vacation (12 work days :) )

oh, we heard a really interesting thing about Christmas carol origins on the radio last night:
God rest you merry, Gentlemen actually means (in the Olde English) God make you mighty, Gentlemen which makes sense since the song goes on to say let nothing dismay you. anyway, interesting factoid from Dennis Rainey: An Angel's Song

peace on earth

12 weeks to go & Prepping for Winter

28 weeks today! i did my gestational diabetes screen this morning. i will find out if i have gestational diabetes at my next doctor's appointment. its just a standard test that is supposed to be done around 28 weeks so it worked out perfectly :)

the baby's movements are becoming more intense. i feel little hands or feet or knees quite alot. there isn't as much kicking but more like stretching or internal hard pushes where it makes a little lump stick out of my belly. i'm pretty round as you can see but feeling great.

anticipating going to Ontario for Christmas, I've been thinking that I need winter boots...plus it snowed this week! anyway, i went out for a quick shop over lunch and found a great deal for some warm & fuzzy (inside) new boots as seen above.

we're so excited about heading to Ontario for Christmas! seeing mom & dad salmon and marsha and mom and richard and lots of family and friends. only 20 days to go!!!

i have some extra vacation days available to me, so i'm going to take tomorrow off so we can go to Courtney to visit Poppa & Diane. Derek has the day off too and plans to help Poppa clear a lot full of trees.

merry christmas

family blog spot

i decided to move my blog to this location because it is a more suitable name for derek and i to manage together. i plan to encourage derek to post here as well so you can see how he's doing first hand.

as you can see, i've already moved over many posts (they will still exist on the old site) that pertain to our baby announcement and the updates since august. I hope you will find "thesalmon" a fun place to read up on what we're up to.

i will focus on updating this site frequently and will continue to remind my faithful friends, family and other readers as much as i can to look here first.

:) amanda

Michelle, this ones for you!

a funny thing happened today, it snowed nov 29 04
Well Michelle asked me what winter was like in BC earlier TODAY.

I emailed her and said the weather is fairly warm, doesn't really hang around below zero that much, and it might snow, but don't count on it...

I was going to take a picture of what winter looked like around here because I wrote that its that fall brown colour, kind of been wet and ugly...however, I was proven wrong again. Ok, I know, I'm not in control, I don't know everything! how humbling