Thursday, May 27, 2010

Late Baby Bonus

This morning I got to hear baby's heartbeat for twenty long and lovely minutes - part of a routine check-up at the Mom-Baby Clinic that comes with late babies. Every expecting mama should get to do this. Often. Like once a month. We've been listening to a tiny heartbeat at each doctor's visit for the last few months but only for a minute or so each time. It was so reassuring to get to hear the strong steady rhythm for a much longer time. I'm pretty sure it was the heartiest heartbeat ever but it's possible I'm biased.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Oh Yes



And bare feet in the grass and sun dresses and embroidered tea towels and warm evenings outside and hand-dyed scarves! Original: Etsy

Sunday, May 23, 2010

It's My Party


It's 9:30 here which means two and a half hours left of Frankie's estimated birthday. So far the wee one seems pretty content as (or where) is. I think he or she is waiting to make sure that this sunshine is going to last - no point rushing out for rain and wind. R thinks it's a sign that he or she takes after me and is getting an early start on being late for everything.

At my appointment on Friday the doctor made a May 31st appointment for induction. I had been hoping beyond hope that I would somehow evade the late first pregnancy rule that seems to play itself out pretty consistently around here - placing all my chips on the fact that there couldn't possibly be any more (or even enough) room left in this belly for this baby.

Although I'm a little disappointed I do feel a renewed excitement knowing that there is now at least a definite day on which we will meet the wee one. Until then you can probably find me walking. And walking. And walking. And eating spicy foods. And possibly walking while eating spicy foods.

Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty


I have been dreaming about these sweet baby slippers for months and finally made my way to the baby store this weekend to pick them up. Luckily there was one pair left in the colour I wanted. Although they're a few sizes bigger than I was envisioning (they're a two year old size) they'll fit perfectly when Frankie is tearing around the house after kitties and kitty tails. Now just to get a matching pair for me.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

A Miracle Cure


A year ago my life was pretty different than its been lately. Busy. Like working fifteen or sixteen hours a day busy. The weeks were winding down before the launch of a big project and there was so much left to do. I was exhausted and R was eating a lot of take out.

I came home one night ready for bed and just as I was about to toss my bags on the table I saw it - a huge pizza-box shaped white heat stain on our beautiful kitchen table. I probably should have mentioned to R that the neurotic state of things at work meant that this little house of ours needed to be extra sanctuary-esque. Extra perfect. The new state of our formerly-lovely kitchen table was more than I had left and tears ensued.

When I came home the next day the stain was gone. Gone! In a feat that I did not think humanly possible R returned the table to its full glory. Every time I thought about the fix for the next few weeks I was in awe.

Last weekend one of R's friends set a pizza box on the table. No tears this time though. We set to fixing it the next day and captured the repair secret in a video sub-themed "Mad Girlfriend-Happy Girlfriend":

Travel-Baby



I bought my plane ticket for our July trip this week. I hate buying plane tickets. I get so nervous that I'm going to choose the wrong departure or destination or time in the nine pages of options it takes to actually make the purchase. I had planned to wait until after baby to tackle travel arrangements but Mum passed along an excellent seat sale so no time like the present.

We were pretty sure all along that babies flew free but get this: even though babies fly free they still get two pieces of checked luggage! This means that between baby and I we will get two carry on bags (not including baby) four pieces of checked luggage and a stroller. My flying experiences to date have been epic - not because I go very far but because we are never certain until the very last moment if my very puffy luggage is going to meet size and weight restrictions or if its going to bust open tossing socks and knitting needles all over the conveyor belt. Turns out all I needed all along was a travel-baby.

This week's other happinesses in pictures:

We took a trip to Main-a-Dieu to see a house package - buy one get one free. Pro: getting to live in Main-a-Dieu. Pro: cuuuute old yellow free house aching for a bakery and bed-and-breakfast. Con - the kind of boring and over-priced bungalow you have to buy to get the free yellow house.

The tulips in backyard are here and I swear there are twice as many as last season. What prettiness to mark the approach of Frankie's birthday each year!

Sunday, May 16, 2010

And By Tour We Mean Really Fast Glimpse


Last Wednesday was a night we had been looking forward to for some time - the Cape Breton Regional Hospital hospital tour! The last piece of the preparation pie meant to assure us that everything was going to be just fine. When we registered for the tour (like six months ago) the Public Health receptionist told us that it was two hours - from 6pm to 8pm. We arrived at 6pm (okay we were a bit late but that's besides the point) ready for our leisurely hospital hall meander and discussion.

By 6:22pm we were on our way out the door. The tour went something like this: "To your right is the delivery room, that is the table of medical instruments and that is the heater for cold babies. To your left is the room you will go to after you deliver. You will stay there for 48 hours. Up ahead is the nurses station. This is where the nurses are. Don't come in until your contractions are five minutes apart or your water breaks. Any questions?" At least it left us with plenty of time to make to make it to the Dairy Queen Drive Thru.

Do I Hear $100? $200?


Dear Frankie,

One week today. The first time I thought to myself "hmm - nine months" I may really have thought "hmm - nine years." It felt like we would never get to meet you. But slowly our waiting dissipated with each new preparation we made. In the movie about our lives this would be where a really nice song plays and the camera cuts between the pages of a calendar floating away and us painting your nursery and assembling your crib. We can talk more about who will play you once you're here.

For a while I was getting pretty nervous about your arrival but thankfully in the last fews days that seems to have passed. Your dad and I made a little text book about labour and birth and have been quizzing each other over the weekend. Nicely typed notes and lists always make me feel better. And I think I've accepted that while it may get bleak at times it will end - six hours or seven hours or twelve or sixteen or twenty-three - and then you will be here and the rest will be the makings of memories. This makes me feel a lot more peaceful in my imaginings.

I should probably tell you too that even though we've been mentioning a few times a day how excited we are to meet you (and sometimes trying to bribe you to come out with promises of money and cars) - don't rush and be careful. We'll be here giddy with love and excitement no matter how long it takes.

Your fur brothers say hi and want you to know that they're all set now as well. They've finally started to sleep through the night and that's going to make those first few weeks easier on all of us. They've also been keeping your crib and bassinet warm and alerting us to potential baby dangers around the house (like plants and garbages poised for eating and within the reach of little paws and hands).

So my little thirty-nine weeks just one week longer until we get to drink you in. And admire your bright eyes and gush over your tiny nose and pudgy baby fingers. Seven more days until we get to squeeze you to us and discover the ins and outs of the spirited little personality you've been building for the last nine months.

Love,
Your Mom

Saturday, May 15, 2010

I Made a Chicken



Best part of pre-baby vacation so far? I made a chicken. Seriously. Even though its deliciousness is but a memory I'm still basking in its glow. It was easy and delicious. How often does that happen? Carving it was less easy but fortunately there were no witnesses. Recipe here.

The next day the leftovers became part of this yummy chicken-artichoke-feta-flatbread.


I'm a bit in love with having this time each day to cook and to think about cooking (and with CBC's Best Recipes Ever). I have missed cooking that doesn't involve end-of-day-exhaustion and generally resorting to the frozen.

I am also pretty in love with these two:



Today they made their lists for Santa (early I know): empty Schooner boxes and twist ties.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Simply Breakfast


Last night we were treated to the most delicious of indulgences: homemade Cape Breton maple syrup. And so since last night I have been thinking of nothing but pancakes. Pancakes. Pancakes. Pancakes. I adore pancakes but don't make them all that often. If you love pancakes and breakfast as much as I do check out Simply Breakfast - a blog that inspires much more inspired (and tasty) mornings.

My Tuesday morning (syrup-laden) feast:


And for contemplation during the feast, the beautiful and thought-provoking quote in the accompanying card:

If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask her to gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantment of later years, the sterile occupation with things that are artificial, the alienation from our sources of strength. Rachel Carson, The Sense of Wonder

Odd and Unexpected Pregnancy Side Effect #64


Carpel Tunnel Syndrome. Not even kidding. Last week the feeling in three fingers on my right hand slowly started to fade away. To the Google!

According to Baby Centre: These sensations are most likely caused by carpal tunnel syndrome. Although you probably associate this condition with people whose jobs require repetitive hand movements, it's also more prevalent in pregnant women. Symptoms may include numbness, tingling, burning, pain, or a dull ache in the fingers, hand, wrist, and even up the arm to the shoulder. In severe chronic cases, your hand may feel clumsy or weak. Symptoms can appear at any time, but they're more likely to begin or worsen in the second half of pregnancy when women tend to retain more fluid. The symptoms usually go away gradually after you give birth, as the swelling from pregnancy subsides.

Goodness.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Happy Mumma's Day

Just when you thought you couldn't possibly love your pod anymore:




Happy mumma's day to all of the generous, intelligent, compassionate, and beautiful mummas in my life. You continue to fill me with love, inspiration and wisdom.

Friday, May 7, 2010

37 Weeks 5 Days

Doctor's advice today: don't start any big projects - the baby could come at any time. Also, the Activia yogurt I just bought expires five days after Frankie's ETA. Yippee.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Etsy Arrival Week!


Portable change pad for back-of-the-car and icky-public-washrooms changes


Lined bag to likewise help with on-the-go cloth diaper changes

Completely unrelated to Etsy treats - the car is gone! After being posted for two days we sold it for two hundreds dollars less than we paid for it six months ago. Resale win! I am equally as happy not to have to endure any more e-mails from potential kijiji buyers. Hands down worst grammar ever. The only time its okay send an e-mail with painfully bad spelling, no punctuation and random capitalization is when you are using your other hand to perform heart surgery or navigate a space shuttle.

Monday, May 3, 2010

The Two Sides to Being an Adult


Con - Having to endure the department of motor vehicles (or your equivalent) for anything at anytime ever.

Pro - Getting to sometimes eat four five warm banana chocolate chip muffins and passing that off as dinner.

The Not So Great Banana Thief


Dispatches from a kinda awesome weekend at 19 George:

(1) Recently we decided to part with one of our two vehicles. We've only had it for a short while, bought it in haste and weren't overly attached. R is home from work most days by 1pm and so if I have any distant errands to run I can plan for them then. We're pretty proud of ourselves for making such a responsible parent decision given how much this will save us in insurance over the next year.

Also, I like being without a car. If I have a car I will take it to places that I could walk to. Not so much from laziness as from a chronic and all-encompassing lateness. Then I feel silly and guilty and unorganized - getting in a car to rush to the store (three blocks away) or the bank (two blocks away). Yesterday R made the car all shiny and posted it on Kijiji and today the viewings begin!

(2) I've started to fill our super little deep freezer with yummy foods for the first week or so after Frankie arrives - lasagna and chili and pizza. Today I'm going to attempt banana chocolate chip muffins if I can keep the test babies from trying to run away with my saran-wrapped frozen bananas. So bad of them but also kind of funny.

(3) Finally finished the sixth of six Star Wars movies and moved onto Indianna Jones (which I also haven't seen). I feel like a communist bloc exchange student visiting 1980s North America. No big surprise but the first three Star Wars (Episodes 4-6) were way better than the second three (Episodes 1-3). I'm trying not to read too much into the space hexalogy but if popular culture influences our values and if the first three were more complex (as in not 90 minutes of battles and computer generated images and had some dialogue and character development) what does this mean for the generation growing up with just these types of movies. I'm so old.

Also, what happened to the Ewoks? If any peripheral character warranted being carried over it was this guy (furry and big eyes and in a basket - hello cute)


(4) The May issue of The Turnip has been delivered! We've been on a bit of a Turnip hiatus - part post-Christmas exhaustion and part not wanting to deliver 578 papers in February. But it's back and with a website: www.theturnip.net. R crafted this site (on top of his million other things to do) and I am beaming with proudness - it is as functional as it is beautiful. Included in this latest edition are plans for the first Great Northend Community Garage Sale (in the tradition of the Great Glebe Garage Sale but unfortunately with fewer rich people's things). Very exciting.

(5) We're making some progress on the test baby discipline project. Last night test baby two only scratched at the bedroom door once. This is a big improvement from the once every two hours we've been enduring for the last month or so. No matter how many times I try to explain to him that we don't sleep all day and that we don't sleep in two hour increments he doesn't seem to understand. I am returning his English for Cats CDs. He thinks if he's up we should be up. And by up he means playing with him or petting him or feeding him unless we want him to eat our hair which he does when we try to ignore him and go back to sleep. We were determined to break his awful scratching habit for the sake of the paint on the doors and pre-Frankie since I doubt they'll try to coordinate their sleeping schedules.

(6) Our backyard is starting to look early-spring lush. Aces. Last year at this time it was all just sadness - grass that was barely there, dog poo every second step and piles of dirt passing for flower beds. We invested in two bags of Eco Turf grass seed, cleaned up after the previous owners and their pooch and added some order to the foliage. I was thinking about turning one of the remaining no grass zones into another flower bed but decided instead that I'll try one more bag of grass seed to see if that does the trick. We've got three flower beds now and this might not be the easiest summer to tend to a fourth :)

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Odd and Unexpected Pregnancy Side Effect #63

A few days ago I looked up and realized I couldn't really see anything distant. Signs, objects, faces more than five feet away ... all a haze. The ancient optometrist I visited last summer deemed my prescription good as is so I could only conclude that I was suddenly and permanently going blind.

(Thankfully) when I explained this low sight scenario to my doctor she assured me that it was definitely pregnancy related - extra pressure on blood vessels causes them to dilate more than normal which, when it affects the eyes, can lead to blurry vision. Then she laughed and said that if women really knew all of the side effects of pregnancy Canada's population problems would go from bad to worse.
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