You are invited.....

...well maybe not everyone but we have finalized the invites today and I have to say I'm beyond thrilled with the way they have turned out.

Sarah - my designer and girl crush - did an amazing job and I can't wait to see them all printed and ready to be sent out.

They are very non-traditional and a ton of people have had a hand in making them so spectacular.
My mom has done a the majority of the printing and cutting... I'm not sure what I would have done without her? My Bridesmaids have came down one weekend and helped assemble. It truly has been a group effort and I can honestly say I would not have been able to do it without all of you. 

I'll try and post a little glimpse of what they look like...however I'm not very technical and I'm not too sure how to do it? Cross your fingers... I'm hoping it works? 

Countdown....

I have so many things on a count down that I'm finding it hard to keep track so I thought I would put a little list together to keep my self on track....

Wedding - 4 months and 29 days!!
- crap I still have a bunch of stuff to do and little time to do it in... mental note to self "Get butt in gear!"

Babies Due Date - 11 weeks and 3 days!!
- Labour... scary thoughts!!

Braces come OFF - 10 more (long) weeks!!
- I can't believe that I will have had them on for 9 months... basically I'm giving birth to new teeth and a baby, all in the same month... lol

Last Day of Work - 9 weeks and 4 days!
- I'm looking forward to some time off with the baby and B.

Life will be somewhat normal again - 4 months and 31 days
- We leave for our honeymoon on this day.... all the excitement is over!! But this will be our first family holiday something I'm really looking forward to.

My Life will never be the same again but we have so many great things happening this year I am beyond excited to see these lists disappear.

Best Dentist Trip ever!!!

I went to the dentist today and he told me that I'm going to be able to get ALL of my Braces off on........ July 6th..... YAHOO!!!
I was so excited when he told me this I could have kissed him... however this would have made for a very awkward 30mins in his chair while he worked on my teeth, so I refrained. lol
I'm very excited that my first pictures with our new born child will be without train track teeth. This means I will most likely scrapbook them without hesitation... here's hoping I don't look like a train wreck after giving birth.. lol (I should so get some point for that comment.... Rob???)
My next appointment is in a month which means I have a new count down... 10 weeks today I will be brace free!! and hopefully pain free my teeth are killing me right now!! I figure this is nothing compared to labor so I'm sucking it up!!
I'll post pictures soon of what my teeth look like now.... crazy how fast they have moved!!

Our First Pre-Marital test

Let's just say that I have NO IDEA how to drive a standard car..... can you guess where this is going??
B purchased a new car last summer (Electric Blue - not my first choice in colour but I'm not paying for it so who really cares? :) He has been on my case to learn how to drive his car for almost a year now. One of the reasons it took me so long was because I did not feel safe learning how to drive a standard car in the winter - even though B thought it would be the best time. I just didn't feel like running over any small children or hurting B's car for that matter. Example, B does not like it when I lean against his car with jeans on because he doesn't want me to scratch the car with one of the metals parts of my jeans. I love my man to death (sorry honey!) but this is a little extreme, even for me the control freak of the century!! I respect his opinions and understand that he has his quirky little things just like I do. (I'm the person how changes people toilet paper rolls at there houses because I think it should fall over the roll not under. See I have my things too!!) BUT I did not want to be the first person to dent, scratch or dirty his car. I can just imagine the trouble I would be in if I ever hurt his baby!
I secretly started having my soon to be sister-in-law teach me how to drive her car (standard of course). I seem to pick it up nicely as long as I did not take it out of 2nd gear!! So you can imagine how fast I was going??!! I got the whole start/stop thing down but having to turn, potential shift gears and not hit anything still seemed like a far cry from where I should be. Her and I never actually left the parking lot to say the least. My STB sister-in-law just had a baby over the weekend (Matthew Owen, 7pds 10 ounces) so my private instructor is no longer available :( Therefore I had to break the news to B that he would have to teach me how to drive his car. Let me just start off by saying that I am a visual learner - I some times need to be told how to do something a couple of ways before I fully understand how it is done (I'm not stupid I just ask alot of questions). B on the other hand is the most analytical person I have ever known. We can sit and explain something to each other and be saying the exact same thing but in 2 totally different ways and not get what the other person is saying. This is our biggest down fall. (Not to mention that we are both very stubborn.) I'm sure you can now see why I may have wanted to take private lessons with someone else first to avoid any arguments.
It was a beautiful weekend, B and I decided to go shopping. To our surprise nothing was open on Easter Sunday (go figure!!) So the parking lot was EMPTY - except for a few strategically placed lamp post lol .... no worries I didn't hit any... this time!!! I decided it was about time I learnt how to really drive a car. I was so worried that B would get angry with me (weird because B hardly ever gets angry) and I thought this was going to be the true test to our relationship. To my surprise B has the patience of a saint and actually gave great directions. We drove around the parking lot for about 30 mins and I did mighty well - if I do say so my self !! With all of this new information filling my little brain - I started getting very hungry and we decided to make a "pit stop" and get a bit to eat.
As we are leaving the restaurant to go to pick up his grandmother in the next town over B decides he is going to jump in the passenger seat and make me drive 30 mins down the HIGHWAY.... yes a highway better known as the 403 with lots of cars and potential accidents. I hate driving on the highway on a good day let alone when I'm the worst driver on the road. After I wet my self - I mustard up the courage to face my HUGE, GIGANTIC fear of driving B's "BABY" and not killing us - ALL THREE OF US that is!!! Let's say it was kind of like playing a video game. I have my stick shift and steering wheel and all of the button/petals that give me power. NOW if you have ever watched me play a Racing video game you would have never gotten in the car with me. I am the queen of driving in to the walls and barricades that they set-up and always end up hitting something. Since B was so confident that I could to it I thought - why the hell not??!! I only stalled the car twice...lol... on the way out of the parking lot of the restaurant and when I pulled in to the driveway at Grandma's house. Yep - it wasn't pretty!!
To be honest - I SUCKED!!! I don't think I ever got over 105 kms on the highway (yes I was that girl) and I think every time I changed gears Brian had to remind me because I kept forgetting. Basically we made it there in one piece but it was not pretty!!
Moral of this long drawn out story is that I need to have alot more faith in B and not think the worst of everything. He did a great job teaching me and now I know he has a crap load of patience that should come in very handy when the little monster gets here. B will be calm, cool and collected and I will not! lol
We had a wicked day together and I can finally say that I drove a standard car and did not hit anything or break anything (as of yet!!)

What is a bigger word then THANK YOU!!!

I can honestly say that I am blessed with the best family and friends in the world. I love them so much that I sometimes feel like an idiot when I say thank you to them because it doesn't even come close to how Thankful I truly am!!

Examples:

Cake- one of my closest and oldest friends just finished telling me the other day that her Mom has offered to make my wedding cake... WOW!!! that is amazing. I'm a pretty simple girl and that is how I want my cake to be - plain and tasty!! Here's my dilemma- I don't know how to say Thank you!! To have someone make us something out of LOVE is the BEST gift ever but I don't know how to repay her. (E- I'm still working on this one, I promise I have not forgotten!!)

Flowers - I use to work at a flower stand in L. in High School and my old elementary school teacher was the owner of this beautiful flower stand. I loved working there in the summers. When it came time to pick flowers for the wedding I knew I really wanted to see if Mrs.G could assist me (if she still had the business). Just my luck she does and she is going to assemble all of my bridal bouquets for me. I'm so excited for these flowers that I can't even stand it. I gave her my wedding colours and she is going to put something together for me. I'm pretty easy going so I'm letting her pick everything. I am paying for these but honestly I'm so excited that she is going to be a part of my wedding day!!
Our bestman's wife use to work at a floral company back in the day and has offered to make all the boutenierres (sp?) Once again how do I say thank you?? These are such generose people and I'm floored that they would take the time to help me.

Music - I have hired a DJ, sorry correction - a KICK ASS DJ for the reception who has DJ'd at all of my friends weddings and is going to rock the house at ours. I can't wait to dance off the last couple of pounds left over from being preggers!!
However my first ever boyfriend (we met in Kindergarden and we have been friends ever since) has said he would preform live on keyboards during our ceremony. He is an amazing talent and I'm so honored that he is willing to take part in our big day!!

Dress - This one I'll keep short but I have the best family ever! I did not fit in my first dress so as a present to me some of my family has chipped in and paied for a second dress. I'm almost in tears thinking about it. I'm so grateful for their generosity that it took me two months to send them a thank you card and even then that was not enough. I love them to death and I can't wait for them to see me walk down the aisle in the dress of my dreams.

Bridesmaids - I can honestly say that I have the BEST Bridesmaids EVER!! I have made them sit through numerose phone calls about all of the wedding stuff and now baby stuff and they have been nothing but supportive. I even had them come down for weekend of wedding FUN!! Yay right it was countless hours of them folding, glueing, taping and spray painting. They did it all with a smile on there faces and a beer in there hand.
They have also just recently thrown me a shower that was so thoughtful and FUN- that I can't begin to say thank you to them (N and K). It was held at a local Bowling Alley and the Theme of the Shower was games. We had tons to eat, plenty to laugh about and I got spoiled rotten. NOt only did everyone bring a game of some sort (I'm a big fan of getting together with family and friends and playing cards/games so this was perfect for me!!) but after all of the presents were opened and food was eaten we all Bowled. I would like you to know that I consider my self a decent bowler but I sucked large that day. I will blame it on the ever growing stomach that threw me off. Sorry baby I'm blaming you :)

MOM- I can't even begin to tell you all of the things she has done for me. She listens to me day in and day out and trys so hard to make this wedding so special for me. From going with me to try on dresses, to printing all of my invitaions, to going to vendors to see if they would be good for our wedding.. the list goes on and on. I love this lady to death and I'm such a better person for having her in my life.

Is there a word greater then THANK YOU?? Because if there is I would love to know what it is? I would then say it every day to all of those people that sacrific and do so much for me and my new family.

I truly am GRATEFUL!! xoxo KL

Boy or Girl???

Before I even thought about getting pregnant I always thought that finding out the sex of the baby is such a buzz kill. A woman grows this child for 10 months (40 weeks) and has to go through all of the ups and downs of pregnancy - then the moment when pregnancy ends it's all over (or just beginning depending on the way you look at it) the doctor say's "It's a ...." and you're like "Ha - I already know." I ALWAYS felt that if you are going to go through x hours of labour that there should be something at the end that was similar to an award (because we all know they do not hand out awards at the end of it for having the longest labour or being the quietest (thanks Katie Holmes) I'll never win this one...lol.

I believe that everyone has the right to make whatever decisions they want when it comes to there body and I will never judge them, but for me finding out the sex of the baby was never one of those things I was willing to budge on.

I remember sitting in the car with B talking about "if" we wanted to find out the sex of the baby (we had just found out we were expecting) and he said "yes", I was thinking - how am I going to explain to him that I don't want to know. However - the more I starting thinking about it the more I wanted to find out. With the wedding quickly approaching and not only wedding showers being planned but baby showers too!! I figured it would be nice to have everything planned for the baby before it gets here. If you know me you would know that I'm a planner (only when it comes to my personal life). I have a day book that I take everywhere with me and I'm not too sure what I would do if I ever lost it?? I began thinking about all of the things I would be able to plan if we knew the sex of the baby! So I threw my "buzz kill" theory out the window and B and I decided we wanted to find out the sex.

Months leading up to the ultrasound B and I had started talking about names we would call the baby. B is a BIG super hero fan!! He mentions to me that he would like to name his child if it's a boy : Peter, Bruce or Clark"e". It took me bit to figure out what he was talking about?? Peter Parker, Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent. LOL ... B is so clever... at first I thought he was kidding, but he wasn't :) Fortunately we are not giving birth to a 40 year old man so Peter and Bruce are out of the equation (sorry if that's your name), which leaves us with Clarke. At first I was not a big fan of the name but it really started to grow on me. Then I made the mistake of telling my mother about this name - now she is calling our "unborn" child "Clarke". Not only does she call the baby this but she gets creative and starts putting it on things and sending it to me. Now- My mother is the sweetest lady in the world and does everything out of the kindness of her heart (she has a very big heart) she is also EXTREMELY thoughtful but I was not ready to commit on a name. What if we have a girl?
Girls names??!!?? If I really like a girls name - Brian doesn't and if Brian really likes a girls name then that name was either been someone I did not like or she was a "promiscuous" girl in High School. Clearly I'm not bringing my child into this world and give her a strippers name. As I'm sure you can guess we have yet to settled on a girls name. This whole naming thing will be alot easier if we are having a boy!!!

Ultrasound day comes and the Technician said she "thinks" she knows what we are having- but B was not in the room and I made her wait to tell me. She goes through all the babies limbs and shows us the heart and let's us hear it and says "Do you want to know what I 'Think' it is?" and I looked at B in total excitement and she told us ..... she is not 100% sure but she "thinks" it's a girl!!!

What??? We are having a Girl! I have always said that I would be happy with whatever we had, boy or girl but I have such a great relationship with my mom that I always hoped that some day I might have a chance to experience it too!!!

NOW - We have been told that she "THINKS" it's a girl but they can not be 100% at this stage? Because they were unable to get all of the pictures the first time I had to schedule another appointment to go back and have the rest of the pictures taken. Yahoo!! we can have a second opinion on the whole sex thing!! I went in for the ultrasound and I had the BEST tech ever!! The baby was not cooperating and she literally had be standing on my shoulders to try and push the baby so that it was not stuck any more. The Baby was not very happy at first when she started pushing and moving my stomach all around but eventually the baby came free and she was able to get all of the shots. (I was very thankful because they would have made me go back another time to try and get the rest of the shots- that would have made it 4 ultrasounds in 6 weeks!!) This lady was super funny and said "I can't see a penis" so it must be a girl!! The way she said it made me laugh.

Still unofficially we are having a girl. I will not be painting the nursery PINK (since I'm not a big fan of the colour) but I caved the other day and purchased a swaddling blanket in Pink and Brown, so I'm starting to come around. I sometimes still think in the back of my head that this may be a boy?? (like a 5% chance) but I guess we'll know in just over 3 months. Time is flying!!

PS- We are not going to share the name of the baby until she is born. There are a couple of reasons but primarily because we still can not settle on a name, so I guess she'll be baby Mann-Smith- (Thorpe- that's for you P) for a little while longer!!

Heart attack at the Dentist...

Every 4 weeks I go to the dentist and sit in his chair and he takes off my old wire and places a new one on. I had my upper teeth done first - in October to allow room for the bottom brackets to be put on. In December, I had the bottoms put on to complete the "Brace Face" look...lol

This past visit (like all visits) I wanted to confirm that my top braces will be off no later then September (hello I have a wedding to be in) and he generally just nods and says, "Sure, Sure!" Well this time he said, "We will be waiting to take the top and bottom off at the same time." WTF???? Remember back before I even had these put in my mouth and we sat down and said there would be no questions asked - When I want them off they come off - Well apparently we are going to have some push back from my dentist. Let's just say this first.... My Dentist is a very smart (and good looking) man with children of his own. So he should know that when a woman is pregnant she does not need any added stress - let alone that this "woman" is also planning a wedding. Here I am will his fingers in my mouth and all I want to do is BITE down really hard and say "oops!" Just kidding! But I did sit up quickly and restate that "I will not have braces on the TOP teeth by September, and I don't care if I have to take pillars to them myself they will be off for the wedding!" Then he remembered that I was getting married and like any good man does - smiled and said "of course they will be off in time". Phew!!!

I will say this - I do not anticipate that I will have the bottoms off by the wedding but I knew that before getting my self in to this situation. I will smile strategically so that no one will know the difference.

Lesson learnt by my dentist. Don't piss off a hormonal bride months before her wedding, especially when it comes to appearance.

Until next time....