All In!

Well last night was certainly fun! Carmen and I got to participate in my Company's annual No-Limit Texas Hold'em Poker Tournament at the Stampede Casino last night.

Despite a good start, I had a hard time making hands and was pushed out sometime around 7:30, surviving longer than about half of the other competitors. After some well timed heckling once I was out, I won a gift certificate to the local malls as a door prize. But that's none of that is the fun (or really all that interesting) part.

Carmen was the real star of our household (and the show in my not-so-objective opinion). When I was pushed out, Carmen was the short stack at her table, and we both were thinking "Oh well, at least we had a fun evening out"... And then Carmen started winning. Within about 30 minutes, she had massacred half of the table, leaving a trail of shattered dreams and wounded pride as she eliminated player after player, sometimes two at a time...

Before all was said and done, she was the last woman in the game, she was at the final table and she was one of the final two to not have gotten up from her seat even once. (considering the fact that she is six months pregnant, I think she should have won a prize for not even needing a bathroom break). Her run of good play lasted for a while, but as other tables started paring down, a few big stacks joined her table (which hadn't seem any new blood, er chips all evening) and the sudden shift in play, combined with a run of mediocre cards, starting eroding the big stack.

In the end, Carmen placed 6th out of 71 people, taking home a purse of $100, so all-in-all, an evening well spent :)

Ultrasound

We had another ultrasound today, and everything is fine with the baby. We finally know the sex of the baby after waiting what seems like forever. I'm feeling a little mean today though so I'm not telling what it is. You'll have to phone us or wait another 10 weeks to find out. I didn't get any pictures from this ultrasound because the baby was positioned with it's feet up by it's head so the pictures all would have been a mess of random limbs. Baby was measuring exactly average for size, which really doesn't surprise me, because Sara measured exactly average as well until I was into 34 weeks then she all of a sudden grew like crazy. But at least I can still hope for a small baby this time.

Our Weekend

We have had very busy weekend. It started with Hannah's sportball lessons with Dan on Saturday morning. Me and Sara decided to tag along as we were going to stop at home depot on the way home in order to pick up paint for Hannah and Sara's bedroom. Well of course as much fun as Hannah was having playing sportball Sara was not happy to sit and watch so we left the gym to wander around the rec center, possibly stopping at the library. Unfortunately we never made it to the library because I was unfortunate enough to fall down a set of horrible scary looking concrete stairs. It was a rather nasty fall too, as I was holding Sara in one arm and the railing with the other hand. I fell forward, which means that I fell forward and into the railing, as I wasn't letting go of the railing for anything. Unfortunately though without another free hand to catch myself my forward momentum continued to propel me forwards and downwards. So I was forced to let go of the railing as I continued my trip down the stairs in a very awkward backwards sideways somersault. Anybody who has ever fallen while carrying a child knows that absolutely no attempt can be made to save oneself any pain as all effort is being put into stopping your child from cracking their head on the horrible scary not rounded stairs. So while I may have managed this trip down the stairs without any injury to myself had I been by myself, I have to console myself with the knowledge that by some amazing miracle I did make it down the stairs without injuring Sara.

What amazes me about this whole experience though, and perhaps the reason why I have decided to post about it, is the absolute indifference that other people showed to our plight. There is one person in particular who I am wishing at least three weeks of bad karma on. This is the person who passed us on the stairs just moments before I fell. This man actually continued on his way exiting the building while I was still laying at the bottom of the stairs trying to figure out if I was going to pass out from the incredible pain coming from the back of my head. I heard two sounds as I assessed my situation, Sara crying, and the click of the door at the top of the stairs opening. Some people may of course excuse this guy's behavior with the assumption that he wasn't aware that I fell down the stairs, but I have to dismiss this as I let out a small audible yell as I began to fall, and there is no way a pregnant women and a toddler gracefully fall down a set of stairs without making a sound, and come on, the toddler was screaming. So anyways I have to wonder how it is that anyone could possibly ignore a pregnant lady carrying a toddler who has just fallen down the stairs, I always thought that the image of motherhood was supposed to evoke the utmost generosity in people. So anyways enough about that guy there was a nice woman with a child of her own coming from the other direction who stopped to ask if I was okay, and so I hope she has a really good three weeks, and for the other half a dozen people who looked right at me sitting at the bottom of the stairs with a screaming toddler and didn't stop I wish them two weeks of bad karma.

Just to reassure everybody I did go to a medicenter mostly because my head hurt like you wouldn't believe and well I am pregnant and I did roll down a set of concrete stairs. Of course I later discovered that the reason my head hurt so bad was because I had hit it not in one place but three, and I just couldn't narrow down the sources of pain until the main one started to subside. So I have two goose eggs on the back of my head and a bruise above my one eye. and of course more bruises then I care to count going from my shins all the way up to my head. But hey Sara doesn't have any!

After this whole excursion we decided not to attempt to paint the kid's room on Saturday and instead finished organizing our basement after the kids went to bed Saturday evening. But Sunday we felt a little at a loss as what to do with ourselves so we went to home depot and picked out the paint for the kids room anyways, and I am glad to say that it is over half way done. Hopefully we will have it finished tonight and the kids back in their room by Tuesday night.

Swimming Lessons

Hannah started her swimming lessons on Wednesday and she seemed to really enjoy them. I have to say that I do not envy the instructor for a class of 6 three year olds. There was a few moments where he a little difficulty keeping one or two from wandering off. Hannah enjoyed the splashing and floating on a kick board and can't wait to go back next week. Me and Sara paid to go to the Parent and tot swim time which was available during Hannah's lessons so we got to go swimming as well, and Sara really enjoyed swimming, although she seems to have no concept of her own safety. She ducked her own head more times then I can count, first when she was using the kick board in the shallow water, and then when she was walking in the deep water. The whole outing was a success anyways and we will definitely continue to take advantage of the parent and tot swim time during Hannah's lessons.

Christmas Summary

I know Christmas was a month ago, but I can't help but feel that it is important enough to warrant a post even if it is ridiculously late. We started our Christmas holidays by traveling to Edson to relax for a few days and then celebrate Christmas. It was of course enjoyable with lots of good food. Hannah had a blast as she got into the Christmas spirit, she enjoyed Papa's lights and took great offense when the blowup figures weren't turned on. She decorated cookies and of course was ecstatic with the phone call she received from Santa on Christmas eve. Sara was a little more mellow about the whole Christmas thing, mostly wanting to play with other people's toys rather then open her own presents but she enjoyed torturing her cousins, looking for cars out the window and riding on her dump truck that she got for Christmas.

We then traveled on to Saskatoon where we spent the rest of our holidays celebrating two more Christmases and New Years. Once again we really enjoyed ourselves in Saskatoon. Hannah really enjoyed playing with her two aunts and well opening more presents. Sara continued torturing her cousin, and her two aunts. Me and Dan got to play lots of board games which always puts us in a good mood so the whole visit was a success.

We headed home on New's Year day and spent the next two weeks relaxing after our vacation.