Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Random Blurbs

You know that scene in Fried Green Tomatoes when Kathy Bates' character is looking for a parking spot. She finally finds one, waits and signals her intention, and then backs up to let the other car out. Meanwhile a car comes around from the opposite direction and takes her place. A young, "hip" woman gets out of her shiny, new car and calls Kathy Bates something (I can't totally remember...it's been awhile). Today I felt like her...Kathy Bates' character. A "frumpy", tacky, "older" woman who was going for this spot when a younger woman came from the opposite direction to take my spot. I was sure feeling like smashing my van repeatedly into the younger woman's car (what Kathy does in the movie), but instead I just settled for the "evil eye". Oh yeah, I think she knew where I was coming from.

My children can't be trusted. When they're hungry and there's food anywhere, and I mean ANYWHERE that they can reach. They will reach for it. We have this rule that if they don't eat supper, they don't get anything else to eat. Well this causes all sorts of problems in the morning when our kids wake up around 7 am and neither Steve or I are morning people, so come 8:30 -9 am when we finally make our way to the kitchen we find all sorts of surprises. Whole bunches of grapes mysteriously gone. Cookie jars half empty. Bananas half eaten (and then put back in the fruit bowl). Containers of chinese food (rice no less) on the kitchen table with spoons sticking out of them. Yesterday Callah actually came downstairs with an orange and a very sharp knife. They just can't be trusted with empty bellys. But it's not our fault they don't eat their suppers and we're not morning people...right?

Did anyone see Extreme Makeover Home Edition last weekend? They rebuilt a farm house for a woman and her 6 children after their father/husband died. It was a real tear jerker, especially then they replayed the 911 call. Very tragic.
Anyway, one of the designers put a sandbox in a 2 year old's room! A boy's room no less! Are they crazy??? The designers actually "polled" a crowd of Mom's... and the Mom's agreed it was a good idea!!! You name me 2 Mom's who would love to have a 5ft long sandbox in their 2 year old boys room!! Crazy.

I went for my 32 (or as I like to think ahead...33) week check-up on Monday. I was looking forward to it. This was the day I was suppossed to switch over to the replacement who will be delivering our baby (our real doctor is in Africa somewhere I believe). Well first off, I weigh more than I apparently should (the doctor always tells me that my weight is coming along "a little too good" - cheeky english doctor guy who is replacing my real doctor...that's right, this pregnancy I'm seeing 3 different doctors!) and then he does the hand to belly probe where he checks the babies position only to tell me that the baby is breech again. But don't worry, it's not something we worry about till 34 weeks (uh yeah...that's like A WEEK AWAY!). Then to ease my mind he has trouble locating the heartbeat, and according to my ears, it appears a little slower than it has the past 6 months. No, I'm not worried at all. So back I go to the little english man in a few days, and this baby has rotated again into the proper birthing position, then hopefully I can switch to the other doctor.

We had a really good Mom's Committee Meeting today. I feel like we're going to be touching our inner "child" with some activities coming up. Should be ALOT of fun. I'm really looking forward to it.

Anyway, Steve's sick in bed (I tell ya, he's gone all weekend at a youth "retreat" comes home and is in bed the next 2.5 days with a severe head cold...sometimes I wonder about him...), the kids are fast asleep and I hear a warm bath calling.

Later.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

George

Last night was a bit of a mess. I don't sleep very well when Steve isn't around (I know I would nearly die if he was doing shift work or gone for weeks like many of your husbands do) so I try to stay up as long as I can and then go to bed. Friday nite I watched Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 'till about 1 a.m. Last night I watched Must Love Dogs 'till 12:30. And I thought I was tired, but not tired enough I guess. Maybe it was the 2 tall glasses of ginger ale that did me in, as I was up every 20 minutes to pee or maybe I'm just not used to sleeping in the basement yet as every little squeak and noise caused my tired eyelids to bolt open and become completely alert. Either way the last thing I remember was thinking about George for some reason.

Ahhh...now there is one sexy man.

Friday, January 26, 2007

Ho hummm

Even tho' Steve technically hasn't left the city yet, so begins my 48 hours of being housebound. He's leaving to take 6 youth to Norquay, Saskatchewan on a youth retreat 'till Sunday. This isn't the first time, but for some reason, this time really sucks. Maybe it's because I'm pregnant, maybe it's because it's winter, but more than likely a combo of the two as I've been left home alone before, carless, in the winter and it hasn't bothered me this much before.

Ho humm...and already the kids are testing my patience. It's like they know that Daddy is gone and Mommy's tired and slow, so let's take advantage of her.

Oh well, Steve should be back in roughly 47 hours, 48 minutes and 15 seconds.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Words that start with "h"

Hemorrhoid. Heartburn.

This is going to be an awesome post!

And from there I'll just stop.

I've had alot on my mind lately and yet nothing seems to stay there for very long. I'll think of something and the next completely forget and it'll slip my mind until it's too late to do it or too late to ..well...do it. I don't remember pregnancy being like this before. Is it something new? If so, the 4th is looking less and less likely. I can just see myself running around stark naked, in my 3rd trimester with a feather boa wrapped around my middle! That'll look really good in the baby book!!

So the other night I had a dream. I was late for aquasize and really had to pee, but when I got to Marion Aquatics, the bathrooms were out of order, so then I had to go back outside and enter through a different door. At first the lady at the counter wasn't going to let me in to use the bathroom (b'cos I wasn't signed up for classes there), but I eventually weasled my way in and was completely amazed when I saw their "version" of bathrooms. It was like 3 rows of 20 or so chairs, all side by side and completely in the open. So much so, that you could see what everyone was "doing" (if you catch my drift). I was completely disgusted, but had to pee REALLY bad, so I sat in one of these chairs and then I couldn't get the little pedal to move (like an outhouse toilet) and so it went everywhere. What a mess! Of course I don't remember having to clean it up, I must've just ran out of there and back into Marion, where surprise, surprise, they had fixed the toilets and was late for my aquasize and it completely ruined my night!

Last night, I ran out the door for aquasize, a little later than usual, and really had to pee. Hmm...deja vu? Luckily everything was in working order and aquasize went on without a hitch.

Crazy.

Then (and I'm just going to mention this 'cos it just happened a little while ago) today Callah comes downstairs and I could smell that she's done something nasty. She's says, "Mommy, I poop." Okay, at least she's telling me, so I swing her around and it's BUBBLING up her pants! No word of a lie, there's pooey bubbles coming out. Sick!! I've never seen that before, part of me is amazed and the other is completely repulsed! Anyway, she's all showered and clean now. So it's all good.

Mom's today was pretty cool. Melissa Drury shared her love of photography and for someone who's never taken a class (on the subject) she sure knows alot. Of course, nothing against her, but I'm a firm believer that anyone can take a picture. So originally I was going to post some of my latest favourites along here, but my computer is acting up and freezing and that just won't do for now. So maybe later. But you can check out these sites that I like to browse from time to time.

Chow.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Pepsi

I really have nothing new to say just that I really like that Pepsi commercial with Parker Posey and Jimmy Fallon.

Always makes me want to get up and dance.

That's all.

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Turn right...NOW!

Today Matthias drove us home from the library, all by himself.

Well not exactly.

When he told me to turn left at the lights onto 1st Ave, I thought I'd let him direct me the rest of the way. And he was bang on!! We just have to work on giving directions BEFORE the actual intersection. Luckily traffic wasn't that busy.

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Rattin' *&%$%*!@$# stupidhead

I realize the last thing I should be doing is writing on this thing when I'm fuming mad, but really, he doesn't read it, so who cares?

Sigh.

It's already been one of those days and all I want to do is curl up in my bed with a 2L of ice cream. Chocolate ice cream. With bits of fudge and chocolate mousse in it.

Sigh.

Well, after taking a 15 minute break and some seriously deep breaths I've calmed down some and will continue this post in a different direction.

A friend and I have started taking aquasize. I took it almost 3 years ago (wow it's a lot longer than I thought!) when I was pregnant with Callah as well. Not sure if it actually did anything (I can remember taking more pee breaks than actually excercising!) but figured it was better than sitting around doing nothing in the cold winter months. So here I am again, with the same thought process behind me, only this time around, instead of being 4-7 months pregnant, I'm STARTING the crazy thing 8 months pregnant and will be ending 1-2 weeks before I'm actually due. Now you tell me...good or bad idea? Sometimes I wonder. However after the first 2 lessons I'm feeling pretty good and have had no new pains or discomfort. That's a good sign. I think it's more pyschological than anything. If I let myself think about doing it this late on, I worry that I'm doing the right thing. On the other hand, I know that if I go at my own pace and do what I can I should be alright. So really there's no point in worrying. Right?

And then there's Callah. Since we started potty training, she's mysteriously become...how do you say it? "Plugged"? I was a little worried, again if you read Dixie's blog you'll know that they've had problems with Madeline holding in her poop. And Callah's always been regular before, so I started to think of things that always make me...uh...go. Macarooni, fast food, cheese and finally we hit the jackpot today! Slurpees! Who says they're not good for anything? Got a bowel problem? Drink a slurpee! Man was it a doozy!! Hopefully we'll figure out what's plugging her up and fix it before it causes some serious problems. And I really hope it's not from potty training, she's actually doing pretty good!

Sometimes I wonder about my crazy in-laws...

Monday, January 15, 2007

That's better

This morning I went for my 30 (or 32 week depending on how you look at it) check-up. B'cos my ultrasound put me 2 weeks ahead (usually they go 2 wks behind) and all my measurements are bigger than they "should" be (or it's a freakin' huge baby, which I'd rather not think about) I go more by my ultrasound due date, which is March 10. Besides, I'd rather be 32 weeks than 30 weeks anyway. That much closer to popping this thing out.

Speaking of thing... in church yesterday it's like the baby did a complete 360 roll. I told Steve the next thing I expect it to do is rip out of my stomache and start singing and dancing (think Spaceballs). We both got a chuckle out of that.

I don't know why but everytime I get pregnant, until I actually see a baby, I think alien.

In other news, since we're in this stinkin' deep freeze, and the kids and I aren't really going anywhere, we decided to give potty training a try with Callah. Ideally of course, we'd love to have her trained by March, but who knows. So far she's done pretty good. She's managed to go in the potty a couple of times every day and poop for the first time today, so that's a bonus. We also introduced Smartie's as a "prize". For every time she goes potty, she gets a Smartie. So now, of course, she spends most of her time on the potty just hoping something will come out so she can get the special treat!

Anyway I just remembered what I wanted to mention that was "better" before I got completely sidetracked with the alien story. So I went for my check-up and I only gained 2 lbs since my last check-up BEFORE Christmas! I was pretty stoked. To get thru the holidays and only gain 2 lbs is a special feat, but to do it while being pregnant, shoot, I should win peanut buster parfaits for a year!! That would be truly awesome!!

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Talking Heads

This week has been a real doozer. Started out by waking up Monday morning to all 4 of our tires slashed on the van. The rest of the day pretty much sucked. Think all you want on things like the jack breaking, poop flying, food slopping and things dropping. Think the worst and that was our day. It ended nicely, we were warm in our comfy beds and all was quiet, so I won't complain about that.

Tuesday was snow day. Steve's neck was hurting like a bugger, so he ventured out to the chiropractor and rented some movies on the way back. That pretty much sums up the next few days as well. I hate snow days. And reading other people's blogs and what they thought of the "worst storm in 10 years", was kinda funny. I can remember walking 5 blocks to school, back when I was younger, through blizzards. I'd be so decked out, with long johns, pants and ski pants. Toques, hoods and my Grandma's homemade scarf wrapped like 8 times around my head so that just a little slit of skin was open so that I could see. That was winter. When there were snow drifts as tall as our van. It doesn't get like that anymore, and when it does, like Tuesday, the world seems to stop. We can't cope with the winter's of the past.

And then of course, after the snow came the cold. I'd still rather take cold than hot anyday of the year. You can always put on more clothes, but there's a limit to what you can take off. So the cold doesn't bother me. The only problem these days is I can only fit so much under my skipants. They're a wee tight themselves. And with the cold comes troubles all it's own, like vehicles not starting and so forth. The kids are getting antsy so we threw them outside today. Before you get the wrong impression, it was their idea. So they went, and they lasted for about 15 minutes before coming back in and saying it was too cold. At least they tried.

Then came Friday and I was able to get out on my own to do some errands like visiting my Grandma at the hospital which was infuriating in it's own way. She looked so tiny and frail in that hospital bed and you just wanted to kick all the nurses standing around talking and laughing while she waited for someone to wash her face...for the first time that day...at 4:00 in the afternoon. That night I went to a movie/fondue/prayer meeting. It was great and made the rest of the week so worth it. Thank you ladies!

As for the subject heading. Steve and I rented Clerks 2 (not recommendable) and we stopped it about 10 minutes in. I told Steve that the best thing about it was the song they played during the opening credits. It was Nothing but Flowers by the Talking Heads. My Dad went thru a Talking Heads phase back when I was about 12. They were awesome!

Anyway, I just hope next week is better.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

And so it begins

There's nothing like trying to have a relaxing nap when you start feeling little Braxton Hicks . Luckily they only last about 30 mins and were pretty tame. I guess it's about that time. Is there a time? 30 weeks and counting. I told Steve the other night, 10 weeks to go. Somehow that makes it seem like it's alot sooner than saying almost 8 months. 10 weeks...wow.

In writing this marriage story for Mom's Morning Out I'm realizing that with both previous kids, in some way or another, I've jipped them of joy. With Matthias, we weren't planning on having kids for 3 years after we got married. 6 months after however, we found out we were pregnant. It was a total shock and not something we were looking forward to at all. So in that way, I feel badly like I've robbed him of my happiness over the occasion. Of course now, I couldn't imagine NOT having him and he brings me more joy than ever thought possible. Same with Callah, while I was looking forward to her birth, when she finally came (15 days overdue) I had postpardum and wanted nothing to do with her for the first few days (even weeks) again I feel like I robbed her of the joy over her birth. And of course, she's a complete cutey now that I love to bits.

So when it comes to this little baby, while I'm totally excited over the soon to be birth, I pray that I will remain that way afterwards and not feel so badly about jipping this child of any sort of happiness.

Sunday, January 07, 2007

The Environmentalist in me

Last night Steve and I cuddled (as much as my body would allow) on the couch to watch the movie An Inconvenient Truth. Something I've been wanting to watch now for a long time. So finally I got the chance last night (altho' I'm sure it wasn't Steve's first choice). I know I've mentioned it before, but I feel that it's worth mentioning and worth seeing. It's written, of course, by Al Gore and therefore has a VERY American feel to it, and there are numerous American "bits" in it that make you wonder if they actually have anything to do with the theme of the movie itself. Overall tho', I enjoyed it, not because it was action-packed or anything, but thought provoking. Steve and I lay awake for a bit afterward just talking about it and what we thought. To our "unschooled" minds, I saw things very black and white, much as they seemed in the movie. There are tonnes of facts, numbers and charts to back up Gore's thoughts. Steve was kept wondering. There were a few references to events in the past that left him wondering what exactly happened and what were the consequences of these events. Gases that are all "natural" being released back into the Earth...were they here all along? Are they really bad for the environment?

So again (and I'm sure I'll say this at least a few times more) I think everyone should see this movie. It's amazing how something as simple as replacing our 60 W bulbs with the newer energy efficient ones and turning down the furnace when we're not at home can effect the CO2 we put into the air therefore lowering the spin of everything else that is affected. Really interesting stuff. Totally worth seeing (there said again!) and recommendable. You can also check out this site for more info (which is the official site). The DVD also has changes in the environment and stats that have happened since the making of the movie (2005), so that was cool.

My brother is also an environmental "quack" and I'll actually say "quack" 'cos he's alot more into it than I am. He's seen David Suzuki speak a couple of times and has gone to lengths to be earth friendly. This Christmas he gave everyone in the family glass water bottles and here's why:

"Why a glass water bottle?
For years, hikers, bikers, campers, and other outdoor recreationalists have favoured wide-mouthed water bottles made from Lexan polycarbonate plastic, like those sold under the brand name Nalgene. According to new research, it may, however, be imparting unhealthy doses of a chemical called bisphenol-A (BPA)... BPA has been identified as an endocrine disrupting chemical, or a chemical that easily mimics hormones when absorbed by the human body. In the case of BPA, the hormone being mimicked is estrogen...This uneven distribution of genetic material can in turn lead to cancer, miscarriage, and birth defects that include Down Syndrome. Low levels of BPA, including those well below the current regulatory safety threshold, have also been shown to affect prostate development, promote prostate tumours, affect breast tissue development and sperm counts, and even possibly create and enlarge fat cells....For several years now, experts have warned against washing polycarbonate bottles with harsh detergents and/or using older bottles for food or beverage storage, especially those with scratches, discolorations, or other readily apparent signs of age... Unfortunately, polycarbonate plastic bottles and containers are identified by the plastic recycling symbol #7, which is used for a wide variety of plastics and plastic mixutres that fall into the "other" category....Scientists also advise against the repeated use of plastic water bottles made from plastic type #1 PETE as there is evidence to suggest that such bottles leach a compound known as DEHA, whish is classified by the EPA as a possible human carcinogen, as well as acetaldehyde, which has received the same designation from the International Agency for Research on Cancer."
(Source - Labour Environmental Alliance Society 604-669-1921 Vancouver, Canada)

Now that said, I googled BPA and came up with this site, which I'll e-mail to my brother and you can believe whatever you want to believe.

Chow!

Saturday, January 06, 2007

what do I look like?

Is it just me or do other Mom's look like kleenex? I figure I must look like kleenex 'cos my kids always come up to me and wipe their noses then leave.

Anyway...
Mom's Morning Out starts up again this Tuesday, Jan.9. First day is the usual kids craft cutting bee, the next week the sessions start with yours truly giving a Marriage Talk. You can check out the schedule here. You may be wondering what right do I have to give a marriage talk. Well you're right in wondering. I know nothing more or less than anyone else, but that's the point I'm hoping to get across. It all came about after a prayer meeting I had back in November, when we were talking about how nobody really says how difficult marriage can be. When you get married you (sometimes) mistakenly think that you'll have this honeymoon period and that life will be grand and having kids is easy and life just rolls on. In reality, as most of us know, life is not like that. So this next session we're having a series of 4 talks by Moms who have been married for various lengths and what they've learned and mistakes they've made and how they're normal for doing and making them. I'm also hoping that Mom's listening will maybe hear stories similiar to they're own and realize that they're not alone in many of the conflicts that we all seem to face.

I'm looking forward to it. If nothing else it will give Mom's a chance to talk about their marriage and life, which is something we tend to do when we get together anyway. I remember back in Decemeber on our last Mom's Day Out trip to S'toon, the whole way to S'toon we talked about labour and delivery of our children. We can't escape it, even if we want to!

I'm also thinking of another Mom's Nite Out here at the end of January. We'll be doing the supper/bowling thing. I'm not sure of the dates, but stay posted if you're interested and I'll let you know soon.

Otherwise, hope to see you Tuesday!

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Happy New Year?

In theory it should've been just that...happy. The night started well with the kids and I sitting down to watch one of our 2 movies we had rented (Mulan 2 and Barnyard). We had our popcorn, apples and cheese. Steve was at the church with the youth (the last New Years we spent together was back in '02). The kids had been wanting to see Mulan 2 for awhile so they were pumped and sat quietly through the whole thing. Then came baths. We have to be clean to welcome in the New Year! Then we started watching Barnyard. We got about half way through when that little siren and flashing lights started going off in my head. I don't think we should be watching this. The movie wasn't that funny to begin with but there are these coyotes. And the coyotes were what caused the problem. I shut the movie off, but not soon enough.
"Mommy let's pray that God will lock the door to keep the coyotes out."
"coyotes scary."
"The coyotes are going to eat us."
There was no amount of "the coyotes aren't real", "God will keep you safe", "the door IS locked" that would ease their little minds. So after Steve got home at about 1:30 am, the kids crawled into bed with him. It was about an hour earlier that my tummy decided to start tossing and turning so I decided to tough it out on Callah's bed. That lasted for about 1.5 hrs. I then went back downstairs and pulled out the hideabed, where I continued to toss and turn for the rest of the night.
The next morning brought about 2 tired parents and 2 tired kids. Happy New Years.

But wait, the fun doesn't stop here. I started to have my usual cereal concoction and only got about 2 bites into it when my tummy once again said, "if you eat this, it will surely come back out". So I went back downstairs to my makeshift bed and asked Steve to bring me some honey toast. That lasted in my belly for about an hour. The next 12 hours were filled with...well let's just say "yuckiness in a bucket". I couldn't even keep water and tylenol down. There's nothing like wretching when your 29 weeks pregnant.
At about 4:30 am this morning I could feel a change for the better and aside from 2 dry heaves this morning I'm pleased to say I'm feeling much better. I even ate some chicken for supper! :)

So with all that said, I hope your New Years was better than mine and it continually improves from here! Happy New Year!!

You know your emotional when...

You know your emotional when you start crying during the retirement of Stevie Y's jersey #.