About Me

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I am a cloth diapering, breastfeeding, cosleeping, baby led weaning, extended rear facing, eco conscious, married mommy to two beautiful children. They have changed my view on the world we live in. It is now my number 1 goal to make it the best I can for them to grow up in. I find myself always rethinking how I want to live my life and often feel like sharing my findings and thoughts with others. So I guess here's my chance :o) I will talk about topics that interest me. If you dont like them or dont agree, well... there's nothing much I can do!

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Falling asleep by herself - The first night

Other than a night or 2, Abigail has never fallen asleep by herself. When she was a newborn, she always fell asleep while breastfeeding. Past a year old, she no longer fell asleep while nursing but would eventually drift off to sleep with someone sitting on the floor next to her floor mattress. It would, on average, take an hour before we could leave. This summer, we transitioned her to a big double bed. Since then, we actually need to be up in bed with her. It still can take up to an hour for her to fall asleep. We are extremely lucky if she is asleep by 930 since most nights, it is 10pm. Friends and family have mentioned on numerous occasions to just let her cry. We tried that once (controlled crying for 1-2-3 minute intervals) and it felt so wrong, I promised to never do it again. Even now, I feel wrong letting her cry by herself.

Her lack of bedtime routine is entirely our fault. We have never established a routine. Sometimes we start bedtime at 8, sometimes 9, sometimes we are not even home. We don't give a bath or massage every night. So figuring something out will be the first thing and sticking to it the most important.

So here is the schedule we are trying
8 - snack
830 - brush teeth, wash face, diaper, pjs, read books
9 - lights out.

I will stay in her bed for several nights until she gets used to the new schedule. Then I will sit at the foot of her bed, then on a chair and hopefully make my way out of her room while she falls asleep all by herself.

Tonight, I followed routine and am sitting here, at 10pm, writting this with one hand since she absolutely wants me to rub her back while she falls asleep. She is some lucky we lover her so much!

With a new baby on the way, it would be great I she could fall asleep on her own since I will not necessarily have 2 hrs to just sit with her for her whole bedtime routine. It may take a couple months for this whole procedure to give us a result we want. We are ready. Any ideas or tips are welcomed!

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Our monthly meal planning

Over the past couple weeks, I have had a couple people ask about how and why I do my meal planning for the month. I plan for the month because I find it easier to space out different kinds of meals (like bbq, pasta, chicken, specials...). There is also lots of flexibility as well since most of our weekly menus change a bit by the time we arrive to it. So here it is...


  1. First, on a empty monthly calendar, I write down any evening appointments, special days and when the New York Giants are playing football.   
  2. I write down what I would like throughout the month. I put easy meals on nights where I have little time to prepare anything. I put pizza on Fridays since we have fun making our own. I choose something fun for game days. I plan fresh meat meals for earlier in the week. And I always leave Saturdays empty because there is normally once during the week that we dont follow our menu so we basically make something with whatever food we have left.                                            
  3. On the weekend, I take a look at what I have planned and do up a quick grocery list. I once made all my grocery lists for each week at the beginning of the month but I found myself making slight changes as the month progressed and then my lists were no longer good. So now I save myself the energy and just list out weekly.
  4. I write the menu out on her weekly menu board. Joyful Abode showed us how she made a cute board for her kitchen. I made mine a bit bigger to include more elements

 Meal planning has allowed us to only buy what we need which also allows us to save money. I also make extra of certain meals and freeze them for later. I dont really use the lunch and snack sections right now but definitely will once our second baby blesses us with its presence and I go back to eating all my meals at home. I also plan on possibly watching someone else's child in our home so those sections will be very useful when that happens.

Do you plan your meals weekly or monthly? Let us know your tips.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

20 chore Tuesday #4

Totally cheating today. Already feeling overwhelmed with work. Do I see 13 more weeks of this in my near future, hard to say. Emily, you thought your numbers were bad last week, I just counted my weeks left of work and went from 10 straight to 13. Decided to skip 11 and 12 entirely. And I`m a MATH teacher!! ;)

  • Work
  1. Cancel Thursday's dr appt
  2. Class lists printed for fire drill
  3. Plan this week gr 8
  4. Plan this week gr 9
  5. Grade 1.1-2 gr 8 work
  6. Grade gr 8 quiz
  7. Drink 2 full glasses of water
  8. Eat snacks throughout the day
  9. Get snacks from car after fire drill
  10. List assessments throughout ch 1 gr 8
  11. List assessments thoughtout ch 1 gr 9

  • Home
  1. Put away clothes
  2. Empty dishwasher
  3. Clean cat`s box
  4. Fill out weekly meal board
  5. Drink lots of milk and water
  6. Wash diapers
  7. Put them out on the line this evening so they dry tomorrow.
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Friday, September 21, 2012

The highs and lows of week 20

This week has been full of highs and lows.

Keegan came back home last week. He has been going out to sea with the military for years and years. Being gone for 11 our of my first 20 weeks for this pregnancy was just becoming tiring. Last week, I was finally able to feel baby moving around with my hands. He was also able to feel tons of kicks one evening. Great way to start the week!

We had our first official prenatal visit with our doula. We chatted for 2 hours. Her and Keegan laughed several times. I`m glad he likes her. Makes having her there on our big day much easier! She even gave me homework. Although my doctor was worried about my lack of weight gain, she was. She suggested I get a minimum of 80g of protein each day. So our big task for this weekend is to make changes to our monthly meal plan and to check out some local organic shops for protein rich snacks. My other homework tasks from her are to have the discussion with my doctor that (a) we will have a doula with us for labour and delivery and (b) that Keegan wants to "catch" our baby :)

My huge low was a sudden rise in blood pressure. With Abigail, my blood pressure rose to the high end of normal at about 34 weeks and I was put off work. Had a sudden rise at 38 weeks that led to me seeing black dots. I was told that evening that I would be having my baby that night. So it is no surprise that I freaked out a little when, as I was walking down the hall to my classroom, I started seeing loads of black dots for a good 5-10 seconds. So I went to the pharmacy during my lunch break and my bp was most definitely up. So I just took it easy for the rest of the day and stayed in my seat as much as possible. By supper time, it had come back down a bit and then yesterday, it was down to normal. We see an OB on Monday so we`ll see what he has to say about my bp.

After being absolutely exhausted for the first couple weeks of pregnancy, I have felt absolutely great since then. Well that changed Wednesday as well. Woke up with my body yelling at me to not move. I`m just tired. going to bed and falling asleep early at night isn't helping too much. Hope it`s not related to my bp.

So here`s to hoping the next couple weeks have no lows like this one had! To jump start them back to highs, going for a swim tonight. :)

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

20 Chore Tuesday #3

Wrote this last night since I knew I wouldn't have time today. Going to be quite the busy day for me here at school. Lots of prep work ontop of regular home tasks. So here it is!
  • For home
  1. Doula visit!!!
  2. Fold laundry
  3. Put laundry away
  4. Clean bathrooms
  5. Tidy kitchen
  6. Put some of A`s clothes away in her new dresser
  7. Fold diapers
  8. Clean living room and play room for doula visit
  9. Clear through more paperwork
  10. Clear front entryway
  11. Continue flood diary
  12. Redo September's meal plan.
  13. Get cash
  14. Go over finances
  • For school
  1. Make quiz for gr 8
  2. Make assessment lists for gr 8
  3. Plan sections 5-7 for gr 8
  4. Plan ch 1 for gr 9
  5. Plan alternate schedule for gr 9
  6. Do section 2 activities for gr 9
  7. Do assessment grids for gr 8
  8. Gr 9 portfolio
  9. Send in martinity leave request

 
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Monday, September 17, 2012

20 weeks!!!

Half way there! It's feeling more and more real now that baby is giving me big kicks and punches. Baby especially doesn't like it when I have to reach and put A in her car seat. The leaning forwards holding up her weight work my core muscles a bit too much for its liking I guess.

We meet up with our doula tomorrow evening. Excited for K to finally meet her. I hope he likes her! Maybe she will have some books she will share with us to read. There is a local doula who offers vbac preparation classes. She comes highly recommended by doctors and from our local birthy community. I have decided not to take them. I think with a vbac encouraging OB, a doula, my knowledge, my awesome Twitter vbac mommas and new information we will learn as we get closer, I should be good.

I have finally started swimming. I went twice this weekend. It felt great to get back into the pool (I used to be a lifeguard and swim class instructor). I only swam a couple hundred metres each time. It was awesome to just float around in my bikini sporting my big round baby bump. But once gravity jumped back into the mix when I climbed out, wow! My belly literally felt like a large bowling ball! With the swimming, prenatal yoga I plan on starting soon, AND a toddler to run after, I should be in shape soon enough.

My meal plan for September has had to change a little bit. Need to add more carbs for me since I still have yet to put on any baby weight. My belly is still getting bigger and bigger every week but I wold feel better if I could at least fill out my jeans a bit better!

During the next 20 weeks, I'm hoping to replace the flooring in the basement and in all the bedrooms, finish getting A's big sister room all set up, and also set up the nursery again. Cant think of anything else... that is unless I'm missing something huge.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

20 chore Tuesday #2

During the summer, I started following #20choretuesday through Twitter and Instagram. It is a great way to motivate yourself to have a productive day and to encourage others as well.

Here is my list for today. It is a mix of home and work tasks. I definitely will not have it all done today but I can try!



Be sure to visit Joyful Abode's blog to cheer on many others!



http://www.joyfulabode.com/category/homeandgarden/20-chore-tuesday/

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

18 week update!

Almost halfway done this pregnancy! It has gone by so fast. These past 2 months have been great since I was on summer break from work. Abigail still went to daycare everyday. She loves the routine so why keep her home? Work officially starts back up in a matter of days. I'm sure the weeks will go by even faster. Here are some small updates.

  1. I still have not put on any weight. I have not been sick and I am eating better than I was a couple months ago. Maybe I should see a nutritionist to ensure that my diet is alright. The doctor was not too worried about it. Maybe she didn't even notice. Now that work has started, I will just make sure to eat and snack regularly during the day to increase my calorie consumption.
  2. I now feel baby move all the time. It started out with fluttering a couple weeks ago and now, I am pretty sure I feel big ol' kicks! My favorite memories from the last pregnancy is stopping in the middle of teaching just because Abigail decided it was the best time for a dance party. The students even enjoyed seeing her move around. Looking forwards to that again with the same students, just 3 years later!
  3. I have lots of appointments coming up during the month of September. We meet our new doula (yay!) and go over specifics, our 20 week ultrasound, and I also meet an OB who is supposedly very pro-vbac. What a way to start the school year! 
  4. Small projects have already been started and they are still ongoing. Crochet baby blanket is looking fabulous and my monthly meal planning helps alot since I will hopefully be swimming most evenings.
  5. I am no longer worrying about my vbac. If I have to completely ignore what some people around have to say, I will. I truly believe that Cesarean sections are a life saving procedure that some  moms and babies definitely need. If the baby and I are still healthy and are not in distress, then there will be no need for medical interventions. Plain and simple.
I'm looking forwards to establishing a great routine over the next couple weeks. Work on some of my nesting projects, go swimming several times a week and eventually convince Abigail to fall asleep in her room by herself!