And so it begins ...

Today begins the 11th week of my pregnancy with you. Or is it that I am now 11 weeks and heading into my 12th ... hmmm ... no matter. Someday you will come to learn that I, though highly educated, am often flighty sometimes to the point of being obtuse. Quite frankly, I don't get caught up in small details such as; watching for the Empty signal in the car or paying bills before buying a shirt that will look fabulous on me. Details schmetails. I like big plans and dramatic ideas. Thankfully, your dad does sweat the small things and so we make a good team. He will make sure you get to your team practice on time and I will make sure you look great going there.

So why a blog you might ask? Why air our dirty laundry, likely to your future embarassment? Well, that's what parents do. Our parents would have done this verbally but in this age, we have the benefit of communicating not only to our close friends and family - but to the WORLD! Yes! After this first post, you will now be a player on the global stage. You are welcome. You can thank us by not putting us in some drab nursing home as soon as we begin collecting cats or I begin colouring my hair purple and talking to my hand.

Truth be told, the past year and a half has also been full of loss and disappointments and it will be therapeutic to share this, finally joyous time, with others. I don't, however, want to drag down this first post and will bypass those sad references for now.

Let me introduce myself. I am your mom, Pauline. I don't have a middle name. Nope. As the baby of the family, apparently it wasn't important to give me a second name. Or perhaps it was that my parents were in such awe at my presence that they were rendered speechless after stuttering out my first name. I will go with that.

I am 31 years old with blue eyes and an undetermined natural hair colour. I *think* I am naturally a brunette but have gone many different hues over the course of my life. I'm short and curvy. Is curvy just a nice word for plump you ask? Perhaps. But call me plump and you will be grounded.

I was born in Scotland but we immigrated when I was just a baby. We then settled in a nice little town called Kingsville Ontario, where your dad and I now currently live. I met your dad while I was attending University in London, Ontario (he was in a band and I was a groupie) - we fell in love immediately and got married only 2 years later. We have now been married for 6.5 years! About a year and a half ago we decided to move to Kingsville with the plan of having you and raising you in a small town environment. I work in a bank and your dad works for a greenhouse. The perks with these careers are endless and will be the envy of your friends; we pay less interest on the large amount of money that we owe to the bank AND we get free tomatoes! Take that!

Sooooooo ... you may be wondering how you came into play. Well, one Tuesday night in November 2008 I decided to have a few glasses of wine with dinner and ... Wait, is this inappropriate?!? I'd better leave that piece of the story and simply say; you were created in love and very much wanted.

As for the title of the blog, you will probably realize that your name is either Bridget or Sean and hence, these were names already picked out for you depending on your gender. Rather, I hope to God that you make the connection or I had better start saving for a tutor right now. There is no great significance to the names other than we really like them. Your middle name will either be Maureen (after my mom) or Marcus (after your uncle Marc).

Your life will not only include the many many family and friends that will love and spoil you desperately but the canine companionship of Tucker and Skye. Tucker is a black lab and Skye is a cairn terrier (terrorist).

I will just end this first post by saying that we are very excited for your arrival. My belly is expanding and I've had to give up wine (someday you will hear stories from my family and friends and know what an immense sacrifice this was!) but I couldn't be happier.

Stay safe in there and we will talk to you soon.

Love, Mom