Our Life Chronicles

Jonnie's work

2009-11-05T14:10:00.000-08:00

Concerning Jonnie's job at Chapman's Icecream factory...
Since the factory burnt down on the 4th of September, many changes have come and gone with where and when Jonnie had to be at work. We all thought that the employees were going to get a few months off work till they rebuilt a new factory, but that was not to be. The employers quickly found an alturnative factory to work in. They also had other jobs that were needed to be looked after.
So they, thankfully, gave Jonnie a week at home with me and Elliot after the birth, but then quickly snatched him away again from us. They had him working for two weeks, six hours a day guarding their scrap metal from the burnt factory in a junk yard 20 minutes away. That was a little difficult, but at least we had my mom here to help out and keep us company, while Daddy(Jonnie) was gone.
But then the most unwanted happened... They decided to send Jonnie away for five days straight to a town two hours from here to work in the factory down there. That was a hard week, being by myself with a little one. We spent the week with Nia and Papa Ducommun though and that made it a lot easier. Then the next week he was sent away again only for four days, but was still very long for us. We decided to stay stick it out at home this time. And then he had to go away again. This time I couldn't handle it very well being home by myself and really noone to talk to. Jonnie and me got to talk for a couple hours on skype, but it just isn't the same, and I missed him so much.
This week, they got two lines set up in the dry warehouse in Markdale. (The dry warehouse is close to but far enough away from the old factory to not get touched by the fire.) So they have Jonnie working as helper again on one of the afternoon shifts. We are so thankfully to be able to have Daddy back home every night.
We will see how things progress over the next couple of weeks, but hopefully his time down at Stoney Creek is come to an end!

Happy 22nd Birthday, Baby!!

2009-10-25T14:01:00.000-07:00

Today you turn another year, My Husband, My Lover, My friend...
This time last year we celebrated your birthday too,
but things have happened and we have grown closer together.
We have experienced many things as another passed.
We have grown one year older in a deep love that comtinues to grow bigger and wider as the days go by.
I love you so much, and am enjoying each and every single minute of growing older with you. Time is flying past, and next we'll know we will be rocking back and forth in our rockers remembering all the times we have had together over these years together. :)That is is you don't stick me in a loney home before then!

Our 1st Anniversary

2009-09-30T13:45:00.000-07:00

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, my love!!! The card I have for you says everything I feel inside for you, on such a special occation in our lives. I love you sooo very much! Your Gurl Forever XO XO XO

One year already, wow, where has the time gone??

We had a great day together... Jonnie had to work today, but when he got home we walked into our kitchen and my mom had our table set up nicely with a candle & a couple flowers and had cooked a favorite of ours! It was quite yummy. Afterwards we went out for some coffee and a little bit of time together just us, since it had been 13 days since our precious little one had joined us. When we came home we were even able to watch a movie together. Thank you Mommy for helping us have a wonderful evening together!

We Are Now A Little Family!!

2009-09-26T09:13:00.000-07:00

This is our little family at Inglis Falls three days ago. We took my mom to see the pretty waterfall and to see how it would look with all the leaves changing. There was hardly any water and no leaf had changed, but it was still beautiful.

Jonnie's Work Burns Down!!

2009-09-06T07:43:00.001-07:00

Front of the factory early off in the blaze.

Back of the factory.
The factory is somewhere in the middle of all the smoke.

Where the freezer room used to be.

This is where the fire started. A spark from a welder's torch started it.

The lunch room and locker rooms used to be here.

This used to be the 2Lt production room on the ground floor and offices on the second.

38 1/2 Weeks...

2009-08-27T11:57:00.000-07:00

This is 37 weeks-topish view

37 week pointed belly

38 weeks, not so pointed...

Wow! It's just over one week now till our due date! This pregnancy has gone by so fast, especially this last month and a half. Winter was long, but when summer finally came around, time has jsut taken off. My mom will be joining us in two weeks. It will be so nice having her here. It's nearly been a year since I have seen her, and will be a year since Jonnie saw her. She hasn't seen our home, nor met our precious kitties, so I am excited to show her around! She has been to Canada 9 years ago, but not up near Durham. So we will have some fun going to Timmy's and seeing around where Jonnie grew up and where we have been living the last year.

As for the pregnancy itself... going great still. I have had to frequent the bathroom more the last week or so, which has not been fun, but shows that birth is nearing. Last Thursday, we had our home visit with our primery midwife, Jane, actually in the middle of the tornado four blocks from our home. The power was out, so we talked over candle light. She was able to discuss with us what would happen if we did have an emergency at home and the stretcher people would need to come, how that would all work out in our home. And also explain the water birth and what would go with that and where would be the best place to have the little pool. It was great to be able to over all that at where we are planning on having him and kind of seeing how it would play out.

Then last Saturday Jonnie and me had the oportunity to go to a prenatal class which lasted from 9AM-4PM. Our butts and backs were quite sore, but we got to meet other pregnant couples and hear their stories and learn a little more about the labour itself. Jane was the one doing the class, so it was good to hang out with her for a few hours, kind of getting to know her a little better just through her sharing about labour and questions. That will have been my forth time to spend with her and Jonnie's thrid, so it is great we are getting to know her before she comes to our home to deliver Elliot. The videos were quite labour grafic, but it was good to see how women cope through the labour in so many different ways, and how the husbands help her to breathe and comfort her.

As for how the pregnancy is moving along... Sunday I got my first cramps, which lasted like ten seconds each, but it's a start. Then I was fine Monday and Tuesday. Then making supper yesturday I got a really long cramp which lasted till I was able to sit down and eat and drink and bottle of water 40 mins later. i started last Friday some little globual pills called caulophyllum that Jane gave me, so I have a feeling that is what is causing these cramps. I still don't know if Elliot has dropped or not, it doesn't look like it, but sometimes it really feels like it!

Other then pregnancy, Jonnie and me are doing fine. He is back into his own ice cream room at the factory, so he is back onto four day weeks 10 1/2 hour shifts. They are long days for him, but it is nice to have an extra day off. He had a problem with his back tooth on the right bottom side a couple of weeks ago. He endured the pain for a week and it wasn't getting better, so he went to the dentist to get it checked out. Ends up he has to get all four wisdom teeth pulled, because he doesn't have enough room for them on his jaw. So that will take place on the 21st of September. He will be sedated, and they said while he was under they would fill his cavities at the same time, so that is great! This would cost so much, but thankfully his job benefits will cover probly the whole thing. Prase the Lord for benefits!!!

I have a few things I have to get done after Elliot is born such as: eyes checked to get contacts and possibly new glasses, many teeth filled, and a chest xray for the governement papers. So his birth doesn't stop things from having to happen. Thankfully benefits will cover all those things for me too (except maybe the xray)! :)

Hey, my lovies! xx

2009-08-17T09:37:00.000-07:00

I know you have been sickish, and very tired from work, but I just thought I would post this to cheer ya up! I love you so much!!! xo xo xo (Hope you are feeling better soon)...

Our Maternity Photos

2009-08-16T20:23:00.000-07:00

Today we finally got to take our maternity pictures!! Thanx to Kris who did a great job at the shooting. I am 35" round now, and only three weeks till the due date!! Time is just flying...
Enjoy the pics :)

Carr at 33 Weeks and me at 37

Pictures to update...

2009-07-22T09:42:00.000-07:00

:) Jonnie's double tomato, double patty hamburger. He quite enjoyed it!

My "Big Momma" tummy at 30 weeks... 34" around. Elliot is still squirming and kicking away!

I actually got this basket out for the kitties toys, but Echo decided it was his new bed. Silly thing!

More camera fun with Dudley being her cute little self

The snuggle monsters! Don't know what they would do without each other.

Random Scenery...

2009-07-22T09:11:00.000-07:00

We just learned a few new things on our camera!!! We have been taking some actually very pretty scenery pictures, so I just thought that we would share them... enjoy!

Fishing July 09

2009-07-22T09:02:00.000-07:00

Jonnie took me out on his parents little boat one evening to go fishing on Lake Eugenia. We had a great time together driving around on the lake. We brought a picnic to enjoy as well. We fished for quite a while, with many bites, but then I got the lucky first catch. It was quite a big fish, biggest I've ever caught anyhow. Jonnie says it was between 3.5 to 4 lbs large mouth bass. I was quite excited that I had caught it, but I definately wasn't gonna take that beast off the hook. I held it for a picture though then let the poor fella go.

Through out the evening Jonnie caught seven smallish fish, so in the end we both caught the same amount of weight. We got some really nice scenery too while the sun was going down.

2009-07-01T13:11:00.000-07:00

JULY 1ST---HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!

Camping June 2009

2009-07-01T12:37:00.001-07:00

Last weekend, Jonnie and I decided that we would go camping, finally! Friday morning before we went on our grand trip, however, I had to get a glucose test done. We went in to the doctor's and they gave me the nasty glucose drink. I downed it fine, but felt really sick to my stomach afterwards. We waited there for an hour then I got my blood taken, and we were off then for a weekend of fun and adventure together. We had started off by booking a place the day before between Walkerton and Hanover, but when we drove through the camp, it looked quite trashy, so we took off up towards Mac Gregor Point. It was such a beautiful day to be out driving. Thankfully, there were plenty of spots to choose from when we got there. We went to the site Jonnie had picked, and it was a perfect little site for us. We set up, then headed down to the beach for a walk. It was quite a rocky beach, so we thought that we would head down to the sandy beach the next day to swim. That night we had our potatoes and chicken, then headed off to the showers, and went to bed. We were probly the first on camp to be in bed that night!! We had brought glow sticks though and had some fun with them.

Saturday, when we got up, we made pancakes over the fire, then headed off to the beach. The place was full, and the water looked quite disgusting, so we just sat on the beach for a little while, looking off into the distance with the binoculars. It was a gorgeous day out! We then decided to go for a little drive in Port Elgin to see what we could see. It's got quite a few stores, but as always, we were in no mode for shopping. So we headed over to Timmy's to get an iced coffee. Yummy!!! Before we went back to the park, we decided to stop at Walmart to pick up a sudoku book, but got a wonderful surprise of seeing electronic 2 million games sudoku. We both fell in love with it immediately and had to buy it. We then drove back to the beach, but it was even more full, so we jsut went back to our rocky beach, where no one else seemed to fancy being. Jonnie tried to fish, but the lake was too full of algae that kept getting stuck on the line. So instead he gathered up rocks and made an Inoonwak, while I journaled and took pictures. After he had finished his beautiful creation, we went back to our campsite and started supper. Then we sat in the hammock and just relaxed. Shmores time then came! Jonnie made me a special stick, since the other sticks were too short, and I couldn't bend over with this big belly of mine. We then cleaned up the stuff, since we heard that Sunday morning was to bring some rain our way. Then it was off to the shower for us, and then some sudoku before we went to sleep.

Sunday morning did, of course, bring rain, but thankfully all we had to do was fold up the sleeping bags and airbed, then take down the tent. All went well, and we were on the road back home by 9AM. We made it safely home to our kitties and to do laundry.

Monday, Jonnie was off work, so he was able to take Carr and I to our 9AM appointment with the midwives in OwenSound. He got to see what it was like there, meet our primary midwife, Jane, and got to finally hear Elliot's heartbeat. We will hopefully be taking our prebirth classes in August, so we are both looking forward to that.

So we had a fabulous weekend together, and are hoping to go to caves within the next couple of weekends before I can't move, as Jonnie says...:)

June 2009...so far

2009-06-22T09:18:00.000-07:00

Elliot's crib with the stuff we have for him so far

This is coming into the kitchen from the livingroom. The dinningroom at the far end, and then Elliot's room to the left and then the bathroom is the door to the left and at the back.

Dudley washing the dishes with daddy... :)

Jonnie's team practicing before the big game!

:) Busting out some moves

The Pink Fuzzy Bunnies come in 2nd place!!!!

June 4th,
We finally got to move into our new apartment!!! We painted the livingroom and the bedroom, and are planning on painting Elliot's room and the bathroom within the next month or so. But I put a couple pics up of the place just so you could see where we are now. We love this place! It is cozy and very more homey-like to us. We are still lacking in getting Elliot's room turned into a nursery and a few odds and ends like a dresser.
June 6th,
Jonnie got an opportunity to play on a soccer team with some of his friends. We were at teh feild from 9AM to 5PM. His team played very well. Last summer they got their names on the cup and a gold medal. This year, sadly, they lost the final game by 4-3, but still got silver medals!!! Their team name was The Fuzzy Pink Bunnies since their team captain accidently tiedied their shirts pink. They all had a great day and the sun was shinning the whole time.
June 16th,
I started my third trimester today!!!! It has gone by so fast, it's crazy! I have been feeling great. I have a very sore siatic nerve in my left leg, but I've had that since Week 16. Otherwise, things are going fine, I just have to make sure I eat good. Today Mom took me to emerge to get the antibodies shot, because I am RH- and Jonnie is Rh+. It didn't go badly at all and the nurse was very kind. I am 33 inches on my belly now, and have gained 14 pounds so far.
June 20th,
A couple of days ago, Jonnie and I finally got most of our stuff unpacked and put somewhere. We have plenty of closets to store stuff, which is really nice! We are still kind of using Elliot's room as a storage for right now, but that will change very soon. Anyhow, we invited the family over for a fun evening of food and games, so they could see our new place. I forgot to take a picture of everyone here, silly me, I ment to though. We had plenty of good snacks and drinks, and had a great time together playing games, talking and laughing. It was fun to finally have everyone over at our place!

Married nine months...

2009-06-19T11:19:00.000-07:00

Wow! Time has definately flown by! We are already almost married nine months. It's crazy to think about, but it's true...
We were just asked the other day by a dear friend how our first year together in marriage has been for us. Has it been easier or harder then we expected. My answer was that I wouldn't have changed it for anything! We have had our days, especially with adjusting to living together and setting up family rules and such, and then the extra commotion with pregnancy and getting ready to take care of a little one. Every day though we fall more and more in love with each other. I live with my best friend, we do things together, go places together. I serve the love of my life, cooking for him, cleaning up the house, feeding our kitty cats. I learn new things about him each day, I strive to please him, and look good for him. It is an amazing experience to be married, and I wouldn't change the man God brought to me for anyone else.
Neither of us are very romantic people. And thankfully we have very many things in common, that has made it slightly easier to adjust to living with each other. Both of us like to fish, play/watch soccer, enjoy family, love to travel and explore things, like war and action movies, like things to be in order and clean... Quite a few main things that are important to both of us that are similar. At first we did some things a little different, just from how we grew up, but in the end we both compromised and do things our own new way now.
I love this man that asked me to marry him, and the only thing that could seperate us is God Himself who brought us together in the first place.

Found out we are pregnant!!! January 7th, 2009

2009-06-19T10:56:00.000-07:00

Eight weeks pregnant

Elliot James (Sorry he's sideways)

19 weeks pregnant...just after the ultrasound

25 weeks pregnant with Echo watching my belly jump

This was a very scary day to say the least. We weren't sure if we wanted to start having kids right away or not, Jonnie saying "Let's wait" and me saying "No, now is good". Jonnie gave in, however, and so we decided that we would go ahead and try only in the month of December and if nothing came of it Jonnie promised that he would take me to the Canadian Wonderland this summer. So I was getting more excited about going to this Wonderland place and get to go on all the rides and stuff. Nearing the end of December, however, I started to not feel so grand, always being tired, crying at night because I was just exhausted. So Carrie, one of my sister-in-laws, and I decided to go get a test to see what was the result...Positive!!! No way, I couldn't believe it. I was happy, annoyed, nervous, and most of all in denial. Anyhow, I imediately called Jonnie at work. He was probably all of the above as well, the responce I got was, "Are you sure?"
The first couple of weeks were hard adjusting to a pregnant body. By the seventh week a flu broke out in our family circle, so both Jonnie and I lay on the couch all day throwing up in turns. The flu never seemed to clear up for me; it just turned into an all day morning sickness. That lasted for a month and a half, which was a trying time on our marriage as I was in bed all day and couldn't do what a wife is supposed to do.
We found out during this time though, that Carrie was pregnant as well! Only four weeks behind me. So we have come through this journey together, going to the midwives with her 21 month old Allistair and watching our bellies grow each week. We also have been going to a baby group each week with my other sister-in-law, Kris, and her 6 month old Auroralyn.
We had an ultra sound at my 19 week, and found out that it is a boy! His name will be Elliot James Ducommun. All in all, my pregnancy has gone very well, and I am now sitting on 28 1/2 weeks, due September 8th.

Our honeymoon...

2009-06-09T08:34:00.000-07:00

The day after the wedding, we flew out from Northern Ireland saying goodbye to my family, not knowing when we would see them again. We arrived back in Buffalo and Kris and Leeann picked us up. We were exhausted after a long say before and all the packing and an early start to the day with a five hour time difference. We made it back to home sweet home, Durham again though.
The 3rd of October, we drove down to Bemus Point, New York, for our five day honeymoon at a beautiful cottage on a pond. We had a great time exploring this part of the state! On the way down we stopped at Niagara Falls and went to the Ripley's Believe It or Not. We went to a pumpkin festival, and got pumpkins to carve and some apple cider our first day out. Tuesday we went to Erie Zoo in Pennsylvania. Wednesday it rained, so we just stayed at the cabin and watched some cable. Thursday we looked around the next town over to see what there was there, not much, but we did buy my a fishing rod. So we went back to the cabin and fished in the little pond, didn't catch anything though. The place we stayed at was a beautiful, log cabin, with some hunting forest, and the pond out the front. We had a great time learning about each other and just enjoying the countryside together.

We made it across the border again, praise the Lord. And thanx to those who were praying.

September 30th, 2008...

2009-06-09T08:18:00.000-07:00

Tuesday morning, ...

Hair to be done, makeup, flowers to be picked up, church to be opened and warmed, suits and dresses to be put on, car to show, and everyone to arrive at the church for 1PM. Everything went as planned though, and all was taken care of. Everyone was ready, and on the road in the wedding car by 12:30. When we got to the church there had to be pictures of the bride's family and the groom's family, which had been done before we arrived, outside the church. 1PM chimmed, and the music started to play as Judith walked down the isle looking very tall and beautiful. Then it was daddy's and my turn. I looked up at the front, and the most handsome man I have ever seen was staring back at me, my heart melted and I gave him a smile. We sang "Be Thou my Vision" and "This Gift of Love", had the I do's part with David Wilson, and then Pat Kitchen spoke. Milford gave us a huge family Bible as a wedding gift. Then we did the signing of the church book and the legal documents. Afterwards, came all the pictures you could imagine. We went to the Palace Stables garden for our photos. Thankfully it had stopped raining for that hour of picture taking.

We went on to the reception in Portadown Faith Mission Centre. A good friend of ours was in charge of the reception. He had the place done to perfection, and the cooks had the most amazing plate of food possible. We ate our food and cut the cake then had a slideshow of Jonnie's past and my past before we met, and our lives joined together.

We had the best day possible, and we thank everyone for your part in it, whether big or small.

Before The Big Day...

2009-06-09T08:03:00.000-07:00

Jonnie and I flew over to Northern Ireland on September 13th, 2008, with only two weeks to get everything sorted for the wedding. We again had good flights, and all our luggage arrived safe and sound. My parents and sister again were at the airport to meet us. It was a little easier I'd say for both Jonnie and my parents, since they had met a few months before and knew each other some already.
While we were there, prior to the wedding, Jonnie met my extended family on both the Walker side and the McIlrath. They all really liked him, and a few even told him how handsome he was. Not too embarrassing I hoped! He got along great with everyone and took on the new culture very well. Tea and bickies at British supper time(10PM), chrisps for chips and chips are fat fries, lorries are semitrucks, lots and lots of more tea...we nearly had five to eight cups a day! A lot of getting used to in the language and the accent, but after a few days Jonnie had caught onto the accent, and couldn't help but talk like them too. Why not, I guess, since he was eating and living like them.
A few days before the wedding, Jonnie's parents and brother (Mark) came over. We drove around a couple of days to see the country's beauty. We went to the Giant's causeway, the Armagh Cathedral's, an old farm house. Lynanne took plenty of pictures, and Dave bought a bagpipe cd to help set the N. Irish mood. They had a great time seeing a new place, not quite the queen, but Lynanne still loved it.

Engaged!

2009-06-09T07:48:00.000-07:00

Being engaged means, next comes a wedding...
June we went down to Panama, so my parents could meet Jonnie before the big day!
We had great flights, and the Lord spared our luggage. We flew from Buffalo, through Miami, then down to Panama City, Panama!!! I was so glad to be back in a country that I knew so much about. Over the last year I had been in three different countries that speak my language, but not my history. I was so happy as well that Jonnie could finally understand things that I would talk about, like: Panamanian food, or the tropical fruit that you yourself can pick off the tree, or just the way they drive there, and constant Spanish.
My parents and sister were there to pick us up and drive all the way back to Santiago, which is four hours from the airport. Jonnie's first experience was some Nucitas that my mom had brought along for the drive back to Santiago. Yummy! And, of course, Jonnie loved them too.
We spent a very fun three weeks with my family, going to the beach, driving up to Volcan, seeing Panama city and the canal museum, going to the pool, and just hanging out around the house having water fights and watching movies.
We even had some wedding talk and planning in there too. It was a very hard wedding to plan, because my family was in Panama, we were in Canada, and the wedding was to take place in Northern Ireland! My mom and dad helped us out a lot though with the arranging of flowers and the church and reception. While the Ducommun's helped us out with buying a new car, and visa things for Jonnie. It was a long summer of planning and getting used to the Ducommun family, but all in all, I would say it was a very good summer of getting to know Jonnie's parents in a special way that not many -in-laws would get to experience.
The was planned for September 30th, 2008, so we only had four months to get everything together, and with the Lord's help we all managed to accomplish that goal.

Secondly, the engagement...

2009-06-09T07:27:00.000-07:00

May 16th, 2008, Jonnie and his class of 99 graduated from NTBI Waukesha. His family came down to attend the special event, even Gramma Ducommun was able to make it! The next day Dad, Mom, Carr, and Allistair drove back up to Canada behind us, who were driving in poor, old Betsy. We all made it back safely though, even though Betsy couldn't go over 50MPH most of the way!!!! I was coming up with them to spend the summer with the Ducommun family on NTMC campus since I have no family in North America.
May 20th, 2008... I needed a little time just me and Jonnie since it had been a little hard for me moving in with a family that I didn't know at all really, so we decided to have a picnic in Hanover Park (17 mins from Durham). We had gotten our chips and salsa and some cookies and pop, and headed over to the park. I was sitting on the picnic table, feet on the bench, chatting away to Jonnie and feeding the two seaguls that had decided to join us. After we were done, we packed up the trash and extra food, and Jonnie went to leave it back in the van. I had a blanket wraped round me, cuz I was cold, but Jonnie took it with him to the van and said nothing! I was like "excuse me, what is going on here, I'm freezing!" Next he comes walking back with this huge gun under the blacket. I was starting to get a little worried, cuz there were police right there watching him, and it looked like he was trying to hide a gun. Anyhow, he comes over and is standing in front of me, just looking at me, as if lost for words. Then he pulled the blanket off the gun, and revealed five, beautiful, red roses. He tells me what each one signifies to him, then he pulled out a ring and asked me to marry him. I was kind of in shock and a little embarassed, so I didn't really look excited, but inside my heart was pounding so fast and I couldn't help smiling, and of course, said YES! We went and sat by the river for a little bit, then Jonnie pushed me on the swing for a bit, then we went and got icecream. That was a day I will never forget!

How we met...

2009-06-05T13:40:00.000-07:00

September 2007... Jonnie had already done one year of Bible School at NTBI Waukesha in Wisconsin, USA. I had been in Northern Ireland the previous year with my family, but joined the Bible School in August '07. We both had a great interest in soccer, which is where we met for the first time. I was new to the place, and Jonnie was out on rotation from a game in the gym, so I asked him a couple questions about the soccer games at the school. We didn't really bump into each other again for about three weeks, when again involved soccer. Only us two had shown up for a Friday night soccer game so we started talking and just kicking the ball around. After this we became friends and started hanging out together with our best friends Eryn and Zak. We all went different places together, and I got to know the three of them very well.
It wasn't till December of that year that our feelings for each other started to show. It was Christmas break (by this time Jonnie and I had become really great friends) and I had gone back to Northern Ireland to spend Christmas with my family and took Eryn with me. Jonnie had gone to be with his family in Durham, Ontario. We sent each other messages and chatted some on MSN. On New Years Eve, however, Jonnie told me over MSN that he liked me. This freaked me out, so I never mentioned anything about it for two days. After this long wait for Jonnie, I asked him two questions that mattered a lot to me before I would date any body. He answered them to my pleasing, so I said sure. He called my dad on January 8th to ask if he could date me. Daddy obviously said yes, so on January 13th, Jonnie asked me face to face to be his girl friend. I said Yes!