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!

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

The end of the 2nd trimester

This pregnancy has gone by so fast. End of my 2nd trimester already. We are getting into the home stretch now. 8 weeks left of work. I'm certain it will go by very quickly seeing as there are still plenty of big projects to get done before baby arrives.

I put on 5 lbs in the past 4 weeks! So that means I am officially up 10lbs in total (15 from my lowest weight. Could be attributed to the fact that I notice myself eating more throughout the day. My blood pressure is still nice and low (115/60). I passed my 1hr glucose test, my haemoglobin looks great and I did not get my flu shot today.

I did have an important conversation with my doctor this morning. I essentially asked her if we would ever get to a point where us disagreeing on something would become too much. I started off by saying that we both really like her and would love to stay with her but that I was worried (wanted to start with positive). She knows that I strongly believe on having an absolutely natural, intervention free birth as long as both baby and I are completely healthy. If one of us become distressed, I do not mind interventions at that point. Because of this, and as long as we are both healthy, she said she doesn't mind to agree to disagree (such as with the flu shot today) as long as I understand the risk in going with/against something. She even said she had no problem with me not being induced for "lateness" as long as an OB agrees that all is still good. If we do come to a time where she feels she can no longer "take care of me", she says she will help me find someone else. Hopefully it doesn't come to that.

Keegan no longer has any deployments scheduled until the new year (as long as the Canadian Navy doesn't send any troops down to help with Hurricane Sandy devastation) so we can now get started on our home renovation projects. This weekend, we will be going out to stores to check out new flooring for both basement and bedrooms. We will be starting with the bedrooms first. Once those are done, I can finally finish Abigail's new big sister room and then get started on the baby's room.

Monday, October 22, 2012

20 chore Tuesday - Gonna try to be busy!

So Keegan is sailing for the week. The last sailing trip scheduled until the new year. It will give me a week to continue the purge for the Give500 Challenge and also to continue our work towards Abigail being able to fall asleep by herself. Here it goes

1. Be up and out of bed by 6am
2. Make eggs for breakfast
3. Take out meal for supper
4. Be out of the house before 7am
5. 1 hour glucose tolerance test (YAY!!)
6. Get back to work before 9am
7. Hopefully get another preparation time during 1st period
8. Drink 1 litre of water
9. Publish this post
10. Publish 25 week pregnancy post
11. Create Scholastic shopping list.
12. Purchase graph for white board
13. Mark gr 9 quizzes
14. Create work booklet for student
15. Put away Abigail's clothes
16. Put away dishes
17. Put on load of laundry
18. Meal plan for the week
19. Tidy up living room and kitchen before supper.
20. Leave Abigail's bedroom at lights out again.

Oh I hope I get it all!!

20 chore tuesday

Saturday, October 20, 2012

25 weeks pregnancy update

I can't believe it has gone so fast! I started peeing on 30 something pregnancy tests this time last year. So much has "happened" in the last several weeks. We met with a very natural minded OB, had a not so great appointment with my regular doctor, and nesting has started for real.

I am officially fully into my maternity wardrobe. I have put on about 10lbs over the past month or so. My pants are starting to fit a bit better but the jeans are still a little too "MCHammer"ish for my liking. I guess that's what happens with second had clothing. Certain sections are already stretched out a bit. I did however actually spend some $$ on myself and got 2 new pairs of pants and 2 new comfy tops (all 4 pieces were on clearance racks though). I still have 2 pair of skinny jeans that are nice and stretchy so I still wear those with elastics in the bottom holes to keep them closed. I do have a couple pair of yoga pants that I can dress up with a nice top. Certain days, I just want to wear comfy clothes.

We saw an OB a couple weeks ago. I'm sure my doctor was hoping that he would tell me all the risks of a Vbac and reasons why I would need all sorts of medical interventions while in labour. We didn't discuss interventions but he was the first to discuss not only Vbac risks but also the risks of a repeat Cesarean section. You can only make an informed decision when you know all your options. I am still completely on board for a Vbac. We finished that meeting with him saying that hopefully he would never really need to see me. He hopes that everything goes well a and that we would not need any extra help. I need to make another appointment to see him though because I completely forgot to ask him about all his specifics (how far past due he goes, breech, what interventions would he refer using, what were his thoughts on my wishes of dealing with pain naturally...).

I then had an appointment with my regular doctor. She was very disappointed that we didn't talk about specific interventions. She really really wants me to have an epidural. Something about it allowing my uterus to relax between contractions. I explained to her my reasons for not wanting one. I want to be able to walk around, labour in different positions as well as in the shower if needed. I can kiss those coping techniques goodbye if I were to get an epidural. Then she talked about me getting a flu shot next time I see her. I told her I didn't want one and she jokingly asked me if I was going to fight her on everything for the the rest of this pregnancy. Well maybe. A friend suggested I ask her "At what point will us not agreeing on something become a real issue?" If more problems arise, I can simply transfer care to the Ob. Actually, I'm hoping to make the cut for the Midwifery program at the hospital. They have recently hired 2 new ladies so maybe that will help my chances.

Nesting has really begun. We have started looking at new flooring for our basement and our upstairs. I am also taking part in a Give 500 challenge we have so much that we no longer use in our home. There are so many people out there who can put it to great use. I am organising charity/shelter pick ups for a couple weeks from now so whenever I have some free time, I will go through a section of our home and purge. Nothing is safe!!

So no more than another 17 weeks left of this bun baking in the oven. Still lots to do.
Refloor/paint basement
Refloor/paint bedrooms
Prepare the baby's room Montessori style
Finish baby blanket
Start Christmas gifts
Finish Give500 challenge
Meet with doula and doctor about birth plan/labour preparation.
Turn 30


I better get started soon to be sure to have enough time to complete everything!

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Homemade granola bars!

I go through periods of time where I absolutely love to bake. Being 5 months pregnant, I want to make sure that the snacks I choose to eat are healthy. Thus began my quest for an awesome granola/protein bar. I started searching for recipes. Most protein bar recipes needed protein powder which would be great for some but I'd much rather get my nutrients from real food. I couldn't find a recipe that had the things that I wanted : rolled oats, fruit, chocolate chips, and peanut butter. So after looking at many to get an idea of measurements, I created my own recipe!


  • 2 cups quick oats
  • 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
  • 1/4 cup shredded coconut
  • 1/2 cup chopped raisins
  • 1 tsp of cinnamon
  • 1/4 cup of butter
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter
  1. Melt butter, honey and peanut butter in small pot.
  2. Mix all other ingredients in a big bowl.
  3. Once melted, pour wet ingredients over dry ones and mix.
  4. Press firmly into baking sheet lined with wax paper.
  5. Put in the fridge to set.
  6. After a couple hours, slice into portions and store in sealed container. Be sure to leave a layer of wax paper between your layers so they don't stick.

I found when slicing into them, the thinner sections fell apart. Next time, I will try a smaller pan that has sides going straight up (not slanted) and will make them thicker. I will also change up the recipe and try some dried cranberries, seeds or nuts. What kind of adaptations will you try?

Enjoy!

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

20 Chore Tuesday - Sick Edition

Still feeling pretty stuffy. Bad enough for me to be taking Tylenol to help with sinus pain. Ah well. Here is my list for today.




20 chore tuesday

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Give 500

We have tons of stuff. I was mentioning to Keegan the other day that if ever we decide to sell our house, we will need to rent a storage locker just so we can purge a lot and free up some room for staging. With our second child due in February, I had been planning on doing some intense purging and nesting as it was. Then yesterday, I read an awesome post about simply giving away 500 items from your home. There are no real rules to this project.  However you count each item is up to you. Whatever time frame you set for yourself is up to you. Whichever way you choose to give your stuff away is up to you.

 We are giving ourselves to the holidays to give away 500 items. Keegan and I are pretty excited about actually having a goal to work on. We already have a corner in a room with items for us to give away. Now to start posting photos in various groups I'm part of.  The great thing about such a wide scale project is that there are lots of people across the world cheering us on!




#Give500 Challenge at Joyful Abode
Join in the challenge to #Give500 things away!

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Operation fall asleep night 4 & 5.

So night 4 was pretty uneventful. She seems to love to new routine. Loves picking her books and then crawling into the big wicker chair. And once we are done all the books, she grabs her 2 favorite ones to bring them into bed with her to read to her friends. We were both asleep by 930. I actually woke up still sitting in the big comfy chair at midnight!

Night 5, again, she loves the routine. She actually told me that it was time to turn off the light when she crawled into bed. At 915, she isn't asleep yet but hasnt said a word in 10 minutes so I'm sure sleep isn't too far off.

She just went through a couple minutes of her absolutely wanting to hold my hand. Gave her her favorite blanket and she cuddled right up and off to sleep she went. Bedtimes before 10pm are great!

I think this weekend, I will start leaving her room for short periods of time. I do have loads of laundry to fold. Whenever she will call my name, I will come back. Hopefully the periods will get longer and longer. Maybe this transition won't take months. Fingers crossed!

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Operation fall asleep night 3

So here I am, past 9pm and I have not sat on her bed once. I am in a big wicker basket chair next to her bed. This chair is awesome! May need to steal it for living room. I can actually lay back and be comfy. This belly is seriously starting to get in the way.

She has told me many times "good night". It would be so easy to just get up and walk out of her room just to see how she'd react but I don't want to set her off.

Oh my! 930 and she is asleep!! Yay!! I love her!


20 chore Tuesday Easy day

Totally making today's list completely doable!

1. Get out the door before 730am.
2. Dr appt starts on time.
3. Tell her that OB appointment went great. He went over vbac risks AND rcs risks.
4. Tell her I still want a vbac :)
5. Let her know we are working with a doula for birth preparations and labour & delivery.
6. Let her know that we want Keegan to deliver baby.
7. Get to work on time. Didn't happen but that's why I had someone covering for me... just in case.
8. Drink water.
9. Eat snack.
10 & 11. Put together "Emergency substitute plans" for grade 8 an 9.
12. Get substitute binder all set up.
13. Drink water.
14. Assign grade to gr8 quiz.
15. Enter grades into online system.
16. Eat snack.
17. Wash diapers.
18. Fold laundry.
19. Put laundry away.
20. Drink more water.

Wish me luck!!!

Visit Joyful Abode to cheer on others.
 
 

Monday, October 1, 2012

Operation fall asleep - Night 2

So here we are. Just waiting for her to finally be tired enough to fall asleep. About a year ago, bedtime was sometimes a 2 hour ordeal. And that was lights out with her in bed! She was just never falling asleep before 930-10 o'clock. Instead of starting at 7-730 and losing all my "me time", we just started bedtime later. Didn't change anything in her sleep time so we kept it like that. If we have success with her falling asleep on her own, then we can always try inching up her bedtime by a bit. But for now, I'm only tackling one obstacle.

Last night, she tossed and turned in her bed and eventually fell asleep with me rubbing her back and belly at 1010pm. She also had an absolutely crummy sleep. Woke up at 230am crying and then thrashed about in our bed until morning. I had to force her to cuddle with me hoping that her body would relaxe and stop moving.

- Tonight, we did our little routine of bathroom then reading, lights were out at 9 and she has been very calm. She is just laying there, drinking her sippy and eating some little crackers she found. She is also reading some books to herself. Sippy and books are hopefully what will keep her distracted from me and allow her to fall asleep.

- 930 and she desperately wants to hold my hand. I'm not giving in. She is just holding my arm instead. Oooh! Big yawn!

-948 and she is all curled up sideways. I'm pretty sure she is asleep but I will still wait a minute just to be sure.

-950 and I am walking out of her room. 20 minutes earlier than last night!

Bringing in a chair to sit in next to her bed for tomorrow night. Fingers crossed she stays calm like tonight.