allow me to introduce myself

I have been called out by the oh-so-demanding Z to do an update. I suppose it is fitting, given that my last update was in January, which is a mere 7 months ago. Really, that's not too bad, it's not like it was 7 years ago. She's so demanding.

A lot has happened in that seven months of course. We decided back in late January or so that this would be the year we would try to conceive our first child, so off to the doctor we went to get all our ducks in a row. I had some bloodwork done, went off the pill, all systems came back "go" so we decided to hold off actively trying until closer to the wedding.

Well, as nature does have its way, the end of April rolls around and lo and behold, the stick says we're positive for pregnancy! We were both pretty damn excited and nervous and every other emotion at the same time. For the next few weeks we didn't tell many people other than parents and close friends and kept fingers crossed. All went well, the nausea was bad, but luckily I wasn't actually throwing up much and we decided to announce it "to the world" on our wedding day.

It was definitely a challenge, planning a wedding and a honeymoon while being pregnant - it made for a lot of stress, excitement, and emotion all at once! Our wedding day was everything we wanted it to be - except it was hot! Somehow we managed to pick what turned out to be the hottest day of the year to that point - it was an insane 37 degrees C out there! The guys in their tuxes and myself in a wedding dress, we certainly lost a few pounds worth of sweat. :) But it was a gorgeous day, the ceremony was beautiful, everyone cried, we got married, it was lovely! The reception afterwards was good food, not too much dancing (did I mention the heat?) but we had a great chance to visit with nearly all our friends and family. All in all it was a perfect day and I look back on it with fond memories, the greatest of which is that I now have a husband and an "official" stepdaughter.

The day after said wedding, we jetted off to Toronto to catch a flight to Jamaica! Unfortunately our Toronto - Jamaica flight ended up being delayed over 15 hours (never ever fly Skyservice, ever) and this did not exactly start our honeymoon off with a bang. We finally arrived in Montego Bay at 3AM local time and were quickly driven off to our resort, 1.5 hours away. The next day we got up and my god, that island is a beautiful place to be. Lush green fauna, amazingly crystal clear blue waters, it was truly beautiful. We spent the next two weeks eating and drinking (non alcoholic mostly!) and laying on the beach under "our" palm tree. It was blissfully relaxing and a great chance for us to reflect on everything that had happened over the last couple of months, and just decompress.

We flew home, enjoyed a week off at home with our daughter, and then back to reality.

Up next: Yes, thank you, I *know* I look pregnant...