Introducing Hunter Gillis Went!

So the Wee-Spawn decided to arrive early! He was born on June 25th at 4:34pm and weighed 7lbs 6.5oz and was 21 inches long. So that ultrasound from early June was off in his weight and am I ever glad! He came out screaming at the top of his lungs and looking pretty handsome! I am doing fine after a hard labour and delivery and Matt is a very proud daddy! We were dischared from the hospital early in the afternoon on the 26th with clean bills of health all around. And since he arrived early we will be headed back to Kugluktuk on the 4th of July.

Any Day Now!

We went to see the doctor today and it looks like the behemoth-spawn could arrive any day now! I have already dilated 2cm and my cervix is soft- all good things! Now please keep your fingers crossed for me and I will keep my legs crossed that the spawn doesn't arrive this weekend!! Matthew is over in Dawson Creek standing in our friends wedding. I am so jealous that I could not go! If I need him, he is only a 6 hour drive away.

It is 11 days until my due date, but the doctor didn't think I would last that long. Hurray!! But I was almost hoping I would make it to July 4th so I could go and see Transformers at the theatre here on the 3rd :)

The behemoth-spawn is kicking up a storm tonight! It is so odd to see my belly moving around; it still creeps me out a bit. I guess he is just trying to kick his way downstream!

Edmonton is loud and insane tonight. I am up on the 29th floor and I think I can hear ambulance and fire trucks from anywhere in the city. And when I look over my balcony I can see all of the people that come out after dark- it definately makes me stay in my hotel! I am looking forward to getting back to Kugluktuk where it is quiet in comparison!

Wee-Spawn? I Wish!!!

I had an ultrasound done on June 6th. Yesterday we met with our doctor where she told us that on the 6th our baby was 7lbs 14oz. So that means that now- 10 days later- our baby is already over 8lbs. I don't think I want to let him out! I have 17 more days until my due date. I can expect the baby to gain another pound or so!!! Ouch! I am going to have a behemoth-spawn!

As for me- my weight finally went over my pre-pregnancy weight! I am now 2.5lbs above my starting weight. However, that means that I gained 4lbs in a week. So I think it is all water. My puffy hands and feet would agree. My blood pressure is still just fine and there are no worries.

We met with our doula this week and she is excellent. She spent a couple of hours with us going over what we can expect with the labour and delivery. I am glad that we have hired her. We also went for a hospital tour today. It is such a busy hospital; over 4000 women deliver there every year.

So I am hoping that I deliver early so the spawn isn't over 10lbs!!! However, my husband is postive that I will be late. I give him a death look every time he says that. :)

Belly Update!!

Hi Everyone!

Everything is going along pretty good! I think I have shopped out most of Edmonton already. Matt arrived last night and we have our rental vehicle now. We still have a bit of shopping left to do and friends to visit.

I was planning a trip to Dawson Creek for a wedding and to see some friends and family. But the doctor decided that I shouldn't travel- so I am stuck in Edmonton for the whole time! Matt is still going to drive down for the wedding since he is standing in it. He will be giving the speech that I was to give! I was excited about the trip because I was going to meet my nephew for the first time. But I think they are now going to travel down here to see me in early July.

Here is the updated belly picture from this morning! I am 37 weeks and 2 days. The wee-spawn is getting huge!!

Leaving the Arctic Tomorrow!!

The time has come already! I am 35 weeks pregnant and head to Edmonton tomorrow to wait for the wee-spawn to arrive. The last 8 months has just flown!

Today I am at home cleaning and packing. Matt will be following me in two weeks, so until then I get to spend all of his money. :)

I am getting really excited to see what this kid looks like. And I think he is excited today as well- he has spent the last hour kicking me in the ribs!

I will try and find to time to keep everyone updated on how it all goes. And everyone please hope and pray that I have a nice, long, skinny baby :)

Dead fish in the couch....

Well my title says it all today!! Remember a few weeks ago, I wrote about our cat Tweak falling into the aquarium.... So today we were vacuuming out the couches since I am in "nesting" mode and I found a dried out guppy!! I guess during the who chaos of the cat in the tank and water everywhere this little fishy took a death trip to the couch. Poor guppy!


In other news, Costco stuck to their end of the deal!! Our tv arrived today for free shipping, and the pressure washer arrived as well for $30 shipping. What a deal!

Where did this tummy come from?!?

Holy Toledo! I think my tummy has really grown! So I am 34 weeks and a few days along now. I leave town to head to Edmonton in 6 days, and Wee-spawn is due in just under 6 weeks. I am still under the weight I was when I got pregnant- but only by a pound or two. I am feeling pretty good and the throwing up has gotten a bit better now that it is warmer outside. So the Ravens will have to find someone else to hover over! I am missing sleep though- I think I am waking up every hour to hour and half to empty my bladder. Wee-spawn is also kicking up a storm and it is pretty creepy to see the movement!! I am walking a bit slower now and I have a definate pregnant waddle!

We have gotten a lot of stuff for Wee-spawn already. I have hit a few good garage sales of people moving south and have rounded up a crib, play pen, toys, clothing and even laundry detergent!

Tomorrow is my last day of work and then I have four days to clean the house and get myself packed. I am sure I am going to be busy!

Random Parcels and Sun

It has been pretty bright up here lately. The sun comes up at 2:57am and goes down at 12:17am. I think we are gaining about 8-9 minutes of sunlight a day. It isn't long now until the sun just makes loops in the sky for a few weeks. Being pregnant, I don't sleep that well. Last week I woke up at 3:30am, ate some cereal and watched the sun come up:



I got a parcel from my brother, sister-in-law and nephew last week and it definately entertained the post office workers as well as us! Here is the first picture of our Wee-spawn (we used to call their fetus SPOG for screaming pile of goo):

We think our wee-spawn is doomed to have red hair- and I guess according to my brother and sister-in-law he will inherit my family's redneck as well:

And they included a nice drawing of our house as well:

Thanks Townie Bastard!

The other night I was doing my usual thing of checking all of the blogs across Nunavut. I will admit it- I am a junkie. But TownieBastard mentioned that he just bought a vacuum from Costco and got it shipped there for $30. I had been on the Costco website and just never believed the shipping rates; I figured they must have some fine print in regards to us nutcases living in the North.

Well low and behold! There is no fine print, but I bet there will be some soon! We have ordered a 32" tv and a pressure washer. The tv had free shipping- seriously. And the pressure washer was $30 shipping. Now lets hope that both of these items actually arrive here. They should be here by the end of next week if all goes well. I got an confirmation email from Costco saying everything was shipped. Now this might turn out like FutureShop in the near future. They used to have free shipping, but no longer. So get out there and get what you need from Costco before they catch on!

I will update everyone next week and let you know if it all arrives! And for anyone wondering why we bought a pressure washer- well I am not looking forward to changing diapers and I am just going to hose wee-spawn off. hehhee well okay, I lie. While I am dreading changing diapers the pressure washer is for the quads. :)

Tomato plants and cake

When my mom got back down south she decided that I needed tomato plants for my new planter that I bought myself. I was content to not have tomatos this summer since I hadn't started any early. But mom insisted. So she came up with this idea- buy started tomato plants, stick them in a water bottle (cutting in half, and then taping together), add a little water, and put into an express post envelope. Well it worked! She put them in the mail from Dawson Creek, BC on a Tuesday and I got them 2 days later on Thursday! Canada post has never been that quick. So the plants look great and I have them planted. Perhaps I will have tomatoes this year!


Tomato plants in bottles:

Here is a tomato planted in my new planter. The tomatoes hang out the bottom!

I also baked a cake for a friends kid last weekend. It is supposed to be a dinosaur! I had fun making it and the birthday boy liked it- so that is all that matters!

Tagged....

Okay, I was tagged by Open Head Space- one of my favorite northern blogs. I know, I know, he is from Quebec.... but it is the Northern part- so it is alright :)

Here are my answers:
10 years ago I was...
Getting ready to write exams to leave high school! I had early acceptance into a UNBC and I was looking for summer employment. I drove my little geo of death and felt invincible.

1 year ago I was...
Celebrating living in Nunavut for one year and trying to get pregnant.

5 snacks I enjoy...
grapefruit, apples, popcorn, gummies, and my homemade caribou mipku

5 songs you know all the lyrics to...
none. I have no brain for this sort of thing. Okay, maybe row, row, row your boat….

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire...
invest so I would not be poor in 2 years, buy land, travel, build myself a huge garden, and give to a good cause- like Deiss buying a house :)

5 bad habits...
I am addicted to gummies, I leave my socks on the living room floor, I worry about everything, I always send cards and gifts out late, and I tweak out if I don’t get to check the mail everyday.

5 things I like doing...
quading, hunting, fishing, photography, and talking to wee-spawn in my tummy

5 things I will never wear again...
neon, scrunchies, the side ponytail, huge hoop earrings, and cords

5 favorite toys...
Quad, camera, new indoor planter, skidoo, and the jolly jumper that is coming for wee-spawn! I cannot wait to see the kid bouncing away in this thing!!

And as this tagging thing goes I need to tag 5 more people!

So Deiss, Trishy, Nunablog, WayWayUp, and Arctic House.... Give it a try if you have time!

31 weeks pregnant

Here I am a full 31 weeks pregnant. Only 9 more to go before we meet our wee-spawn! I cannot believe how big my tummy is. And I am now down 6.5lbs from my first pre-natal appointment. What a plan! Wee-spawn is kicking and moving a lot now and I am starting to get pretty uncomfortable. And I am still throwing up! It has been 7 months of throwing up everyday- I am really looking forward to that being over with!

Lots of pictures!

It has been a busy couple of weeks! My mom was up and helped us with a whole bunch of the renovations. It was great to have her here again. When she was here in the fall she helped us install a whole new kitchen. We now have the baby room done! It looks great and I can't wait to put our wee-spawn in there. I hit a good garage sale in town of a teacher who is leaving and manged to get a crib, play pen, change pads, snowsuits and a bunch of other stuff. That really made life easy! So I will get that stuff in a month when they head out.

Baby room:



Baby room again- notice the tree in the corner! Yes folks, it is real! The old owner of the house left me two of them. The 10 foot vaulted ceiling in this room really makes it fun!

The crib will replace go here when we get it. Thanks to Deiss for the great blanket that we are using as a wall hanging:

This is one of the neatest things my mom has built in this house. From here it just looks like shelving, but it is actually a Murphy bed. Flick a latch and a bed comes down! It is perfect when we only get company a couple of times a year. I will get a picture of it down when Matt can help me with it.

I ordered myself a Mothers Day present. It is a nifty indoor planter that I can grow stuff in the top and hanging tomato plants. I had to buy some dirt in town, and that cost me an arm and leg. I think I am going to barge up dirt this year.

Here's mom all ready for an arctic skidoo ride. Wee-spawn didn't feel like going, so we stayed in.

My husband and my mom:

Mom found this caribou skull out on the tundra:

Mom brought a gift for me and wee-spawn! An aquarium! She brought this all up on the plane with her. We have only had one fish die, but that was due to Tweak falling into the aquarium one night. That made a mess and Tweak still tries to blame the fish for it. I think the guppy died of fright :)

My mom wanted me to post up a good picture of her handy-work from the fall. So here is the beautiful kitchen that she worked on so hard. Not a bad looking place for north of the arctic circle!

Week Recap

It has been a beautiful week or so up here in Kugluktuk. The temperatures have been well above normal and I think it even went above zero for a day! Today it was back down to -20C, but still a pretty nice day. Matt was on call today, so he was stuck at home but I made it out for a couple of hours for a little skidoo ride. I think I shook the fetus up a bit- but it was great to get out! Here are some pictures from todays ride:

The Fort Hearne and a friends house in the background:

Self portrait:


Part of the Kugluktuk graveyard:

Me enjoying the sun:

A happy Kugluktuk dog:

Looking up the Coppermine River:

Me bundled up:


A little while ago the Northern Store brought in some beautiful flowers! This doesn't happen to often, so it is nice to treat myself! The price of the plant was $28.69. And yes, I did buy some cookies here too- but take note: They were 50% off.

Here is my plant. It is still nice a week later and it adds so much colour to my house!

And my husband is very happy! I ordered a new shotgun for him at Chtistmas, but it didn't arrive until last week. He has already taken out 6 ptarmigan with it, and is itching to do more damage to the ptarmigan population.

The tummy is growing!

Well for those of you pestering me to see how big my tummy really has gotten, here you go! Now before I got pregnant, it was the boobs that were bigger, but now the tummy is really sticking out. I went to the health centre yesterday to weigh myself after being sick for those few days. Well I have lost just over 2 more pounds! So I am now 5 pounds less than what I was at my first prenatal appointment in December. These pictures are from first thing this morning.

Now I know that there is a shadow in the way, but do you see my nice foot wear in the picture below? My kamiks are all finished and I have been wearing them. I love walking with them in the snow. I have always been a big fan of barefoot as often as possible, and it feels like you are walking barefoot in the snow- but warmer! I have had lots of compliments on them. And check out that beautiful carving on the wall behind me. It is one of our favorites and it is carved out of moose.

Home Sick

Well I am home sick and miserable. It started on the weekend with Matt coming down with some sort of wicked sinus/cough mess. And yesterday it started with me. And just my luck- I cannot keep any food down. I can barely hold water in. Since I got pregnant 6 months ago, I have had one day where I did not throw up- and that was just on Friday! It is a good thing I have a lot of extra weight on me- the baby is just sucking from those reserves when I am sick.

I was in for another pre-natal appointment a week ago and all is well. I have gained one pound, but I am still down two pounds from where I was at Christmas. But my tummy is really growing! My blood pressure and hemoglobin are excellent and I passed my glucose challenge test. I had been so worried when I got pregnant. I had just lost 30lbs and was feeling great. I was very concered that I would gain an excessive amount of weight and end up with high blood pressure and diabetes. I was also worried that I wouldn't fit into my parka all winter!! But all is fine. My health is good and the baby is really growing! I get the next ultrasound in two weeks and hopefully we find out if it is a boy or a girl!

I can feel the baby moving around a lot. It seems to prefer the left hand side of my body and for the first time, I saw movement on the outside of my tummy! I was sitting with some friends and I had a pillow over my stomach and the pillow was moving! So the baby is really getting big- but still making me so sick everyday!

So today I am sitting on the couch with water, crackers, kleenex, blanket, a cat and my barf bowl for when I just can't make it. I have watched The Price is Right, Oprah and Dr. Phil. I just checked out all of the northern blogs, which I am thoroughly addicted too! A nap will soon be in my future as well! I have to get the tv turned off soon- the food commercials are driving me nuts!! I want taco bell or McDonalds like nothing else. Ah well- in two months I will be out to have the baby and I can get my fast food fix.

Hopefully I have a quick recovery and can eat again soon!

Bought a family skidoo

Down south when you have a baby you upgrade to the family vehicle. Up here isn't that much different... but instead of the dreaded mini-van, we have upgraded to a two-up skidoo!

We had two Polaris 550 Supersports. Nice machines, however not very comfy for more than one person. So one of the supersports is being bought by some friends here in town and this is what we have coming up on the barge this year:
It is a Ski-Doo GTX 550 Fan. We decided to save some money and just go with the 2007 model instead of getting the newest 2008. This one is still brand new though and it is sitting down in Hay River. The dealership we bought it from will hold it there for us and put it on the barge in the spring. We got all of the bells and whistles to go with it as well. I am looking forward to bombing this around next winter.

And in other news- spring has sort of hit! Yesterday it went up to -23C with no wind! I was outside with no mittens or toque and it felt great. Today it is back down to -29C with a windchill of -40C, but I am sure that spring will come :)

The Kitty Coup

Three and a half years ago Tweak became our first cat. Three months later we got Freak.

Tweak is grey, lean, meowes constantly, is obsessed over kitty krack (cat treats), runs around the house like a wild animal and is paranoid.

Freak is white, fat, never makes any noise, is obsessed over any food, hates to move for anyone, and couldn't give a damn about anything.

Tweak has been the dominant cat since Freak arrived on the scene. Tweak steals the better part of the food (the gravy part of the food package), shoves Freak out of the good seat in the house, and general just beats the crap out of Freak.

A couple of week ago we started to see some change in the pecking order. Freak started to kick Tweak out of the tub to get the good spot for licking the drip from the tap. Freak wouldn't move out of the good seat in the house. And she finally became brave enough to face the front loading washing machine while it was running (her arch nemesis).

Last week it all came to a head. Freak snapped. She had had enough of being the docile, lazy kitty in the house. It was a full on Kitty Coup! It started late in the evening when Tweak did a sneak attack on her. Instead of laying down and taking it, Freak fought back! She yowled! She chased Tweak around the house. She hissed! She puffed up and became three times her size!

Poor Tweak didn't know what to do. Anytime she went near Freak, an all out war ensued! Nothing like this had ever happened before in our house. This went on for 48 hours. Seriously. The first night we hardly got any sleep. Anytime Tweak went into the sight of Freak- Freak would yowl and howl with all of her might. It became so bad that I opted to get out of bed for 3 hours and squirt Freak with a water bottle every time she went into attack mode. But nothing worked. I tried petting her and calming her down- but she wouldn't have any of it. We are unsure what went on during the hours we were at work, but the Kitty Coup was still on when we got home. On the second night, Tweak hid in the bedroom with us while we slept. Anytime she tried to leave, Freak would be waiting for her in the hallway. But finally after 48 hours, things have calmed down.

The pecking order has definitely changed. Freak is now the owner of the best seat in the house and Tweak hasn't even tried to get it back. Freak is strutting around here with more confidence than we have ever seen.

Now what is going to happen when we introduce our baby into this pecking order......

Here are the cats before the Kitty Coup, sharing the best seat in the house. A rare moment that had to be captured.

My view from work....

Here is a neat picture that I took a few weeks ago. Environment Canada said we had a blizzard warning in effect. It never really got that bad, but the blowing snow with the blue sky sure did make for a great picture. This was taken from the steps at the college. You are looking towards the Coronation Gulf with the Northern Store and the old college building in the way.

Fun around town

Well the Canadian Military is in town! About 100 men and women are up here doing some Arctic training. I believe they are all stationed in Edmonton. We did learn that a lot of them just returned from Afganistan about a month ago. These poor folks, they went from +50 to -50!! They have been working with the Rangers, sharing information back and forth. Good learning for both groups I would say! They put on a really nice evening for the community. They fed everyone and put out a lot of gear for everyone to check out. My husband fell in love with the packs that the medics carry around. The whole crew of them were very friendly and we enjoyed talking with them.


Here are all of the skidoos that they brought into town for the occasion. In the background is our complex where they are staying when they aren't on the land.




We watched these guys work their butts off trying to start the skidoo. From out the back door of the college, my students and I watched laughing a lot! This one poor guy must have pulled about 50 times trying to get his skidoo started. Then another guy came over and with one pull got it going. It was a lot of fun as well watching them all pile onto a kamotik. I have been trying to get a good picture of that, but no luck.
This group here was at the community night. We chatted with them and they seemed pretty interested in how we live up here. Surprisingly, none of them wanted to move here for good!




In other news! I got ahold of some funding at the college to have some great elders come in and teach my class and I how to make caribou kamiks. It was a wonderful five weeks and I learned a lot. The elders showed us how to scrape the skins, cut them, sew them and yep, even chew them once in a while! I loved the whole experience.

Here are three finished pairs of kamiks. The elders laughed at me a lot. I have really fat calves so we kept having to add strips to make them big enough. I think everyone had a great time with this project!

The Baby is Moving!

It has been a exciting week! I felt the baby move for the first time. I have to admit it actually felt pretty creepy!

Has anyone out there seen the commercial where the two Grandpas keep buying bigger and bigger stuffed teddy bears for the brand new grandbaby? Well that sums up the excited grandparents-to-be. Over the last week we have received two parcels from both! I am only halfway through my pregnancy and I think I already have nearly everything we need. My sister in law also sent 2 parcels of stuff my new nephew has already grown out of. We are already pretty damn spoiled!

Work is going good for both of us. It looks like I have about 3 more months of work left before I start my Mat. leave. Matt is also going to take a lot of leave with me. He will be off from mid June to mid September. I am really looking forward to us having 3 months together with our new baby!

And some none baby updates:

Matt was lucky enough to see two wolverines over the last couple of weeks. I think it is time for him to buy a license so he can get one the next time! The poor guy, while chasing the last wolverine, managed to get himself pretty stuck with the skidoo. It took him and a friend an hour to dig it out! Glad I didn't go! We have had no luck with the skidoos lately! Needed a new belt for one and the other one died on Sunday. Looks like we have to replace some chain thingamajig. Luckily the Co-op had the part we needed for a measley $150. Hopefully we get it up and running this weekend.

We are selling one of our machines and we are looking to buy a new two-up. Anyone have one that they could recommend? Right now we have Polaris 550 SuperSports. Not really a family machine. We will keep one of them though- the one that has electric start!

Well I think that is about it! Nothing much exciting going on around here at all!

Have a great week everyone!

The First Look At Fetus Went

We got our first look at little Fetus Went on Monday at our first ultrasound. It was great! The baby was kicking and moving its arms a lot. Everything looks good, but the doctor did say that this baby is going to be very tall! It already has a very long femur. We get another ultrasound in April. I have found an obstetrician in Edmonton and I will be out for the whole month of June. Our due date is July 3rd, so we will see what happens!

It is hard to see what is what in the pictures! But this is baby, face down and a little arm going from left to right across the body.



And the skeleton! Again, baby face down, but you can see the little spine! Head to the left, butt to the right.

And the super creepy picture of my baby!! It is a little Skelator! This is the face, facing us, and a look at the skull! You can see the little eye sockets! I cannot believe there is a baby in me!