Baby Blessings

Ever since Jo and I first found out that we are expecting a little one, we've been overjoyed. A little overwhelmed at some points, but mostly just full of joy.

One thing I am learning, is how blessed we are. From the moment we started telling people that we were expecting the love that has been flowing our way has been amazing and unceasing.

We have been blessed with amazing friends, an amazing church family, and amazing family. We've been given so much, and offered so much more.

Danny and Des (Jo's brother and sister-in-law) gave us a ton of clothing that our little nephew Josh grew out of. There's a good 2 dozen onesies from newborn to 12 months. Almost as many sleepers, some hats, booties, socks, pants and shirts. There's also another box full of clothing 12 mo and up. Jo's parents will also be bringing out a few more boxes when they come out when bean is born.


(yes, we've been labeling the drawers with sizes)

Deb and George from church supplied us with a matching crib, change table and dresser, that also happen to match the existing decor in the room. They also gave us an exersaucer, high chair, swing, and more.


This is our new nursery. :)


Dan and Des also gave us an infant car seat (below, left), some toys, a jolly jumper and more.



Jeff and Char (also from church) gave us another car seat (above right) and stroller. It just so happens that the two car seats have matching bases so that we can put a base in each car and that seats can cycle between them. They also both fit on the stroller, which is so awesome.



And finally, here is the stuff that we bought. We picked up a crib set from Sears which happened to be 20% off. It's a pretty cute set, and I can't wait to see bean in it.

Tomorrow will mark the beginning of Jo's 32nd week of pregnancy. In about 8 weeks we will be blessed with a great little boy who will become the center of our lives. Jo's doing really well and planning on working until October 16th, 5 days before the estimated due date. She's planning on taking approximately 6 weeks off of work in hopes of putting in a few weeks of work before we head back to Calgary for a couple of weeks for Christmas with family and friends.

Effective December 1st, I will be taking advantage of this wonderful program that our government offers and turn in my laptop bag for a diaper bag. I will be on paternity leave for 37 weeks, and take on the responsibilities of a stay-at-home dad while Jo continues to grow her chiropractic practice. I'm really looking forward to it, though I'll miss my job. Taking paternity leave is a bit of a bittersweet sort-of thing, as there's talk of an opening that is taking place in the central IT staff with the division. I'm one of the school-based techs and they'll be hiring from our group for this central position. It's a huge step up, and would be an almost $20k/yr raise. It would be an Apple Specialist position, where I'd get some amazing training, and could easily move on to bigger and better things in the Mac world. It's an opportunity that I'm pretty sure I could get if I worked for it over the next few months, but I'm passing it up to raise my family; a sacrifice I'm more than happy to make.