xangelle.com

33 weeks – on time for once.

Here is the “really not so exciting” 33 weeks shot.

I’m noticing that I’m rapidly getting more and more uncomfortable and horror of all horrors….i really don’t fit all that well into non- maternity clothes….and by clothes, I mean mostly shirts.

I’ve pretty much worn the same pair of maternity jeans since about 11 weeks pregnant. Which, in and of itself is amazing for me as I’ve typically worn one maternity size (ie large or extra large) for the first half of the pregnancy and then switched to the next size up (extra large or XXL) for the last half.

But, I’ve managed to hold steady on my size and for that I’m supremely grateful. Although, I can no longer consider that I fit into my pre-pregnancy pants even with the elastic in the button hole trick. I foresee a lot of skirt wearing over the next 7 weeks as I’m not about to buy any new maternity clothes.

The shirt that I’m wearing in this picture……

…….I bought recently from Superstore’s Joe line and its a large. I woulda bought an extra large, but they didn’t have any BUT…I figured that for 10 bucks I could get some wear out of it now and then be able to wear it the rest of the summer.

I do plan on checking out Old Navy in the next few weeks and picking up a few of their LOOOOOONG layering tanks. I’m hoping that they will get me through the rest of the weeks and then be suitable for the “after the baby” time this summer.

I really have not much else exciting to report on. I’ve been really careful about what I’m eating (read as eating ~~only~~ mostly healthy foods) and drinking massive amounts of water and I have not had too much trouble with swelling over this past week.

I have also figured out that if I tighten up all my core muscles and use them to hold my hips in place when I’m standing and sitting or rolling around in bed then they don’t hurt nearly as much as they have been. And so….I’ve been walking around clenching my butt cheeks together like I’m holding a twoonie. I figure that the worse that can come of this is that I end up with a tighter butt….which can’t be all that bad, eh?

I’m still feeling like I’m drugged during the day, and then am awake at least until midnight or beyond; but seem to wake up every morning at 6am regardless……I roll over and go back to sleep OBVIOUSLY! But, I really don’t get what’s up. If I’m tired, why can’t I just get a good night sleep. Oh well….

It’s only just for a short time longer and then I’ll be experiencing tired on a WHOLE NEW LEVEL….

But, I seem to be able to handle the tired because “I’m not sleeping” much WAY better then the tired because “I’m growing a separate being” inside of me.

Oh well….7 weeks to go. YAHOO!

Cooking With Siah

Yesterday Siah and I had an “at home” day.

There was a big important meeting at the office and while I could have gone in and taken Siah with me – I believe the stress level would have been quite high and having an active two year old racing around would have only added to any stress and really just wouldn’t have been necessary.

So, we stayed home!

And, we decided to cook up a storm…..well, as much of a storm as a two year old can handle.

We made some Zucchini Oatmeal Cookies and I have to say that these cookies have NEVER failed me. The recipe is (as far as I’m concerned) fool proof.

They are made with honey so can’t be considered truly vegan although they would be vegetarian, BUT regardless so SO delicious.

Here is the recipe…

Zucchini Oatmeal Cookies

Pre-heat oven to 375*F
Cook for 10-12 minutes

Â½ cup Butter (I use Earth Balance)
Â¾ cup Honey
1 Banana
2 cups Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Cinnamon
Â½ tsp Nutmeg
Â¼ tsp Salt
1 cup Grated Zucchini
1 cup Oatmeal

1. Cream the butter & Honey together
2. Add the Banana and Beat well
3. Combine Dry ingredients and add alternating with the zucchini into the mixture
4. Stir in the Oatmeal
5. Drop by teaspoons onto greased cookie sheet
6. Bake for 10-12 mins

They are chewy and moist and almost muffin like. In fact, I have just dumped the batter into muffin tins before and they are equally delicious, just bigger.

While our cookies were baking, we decided to throw together a Hot and Sour Soup that I’ve been meaning to try out.

I’d link to the recipe, BUT….i have no idea where I got the recipe from….I was looking for crockpot soup ideas and found this one and cut and paste it into a word doc and well…..ya!

But, here is the recipe that I used, which was slightly (well, actually – significantly) adapted from the original.

Hot and Sour Soup

4 cups of Chicken Broth
4 cups of Water
4 T of Soy Sauce
4 T of Rice Wine Vinegar
1 T of Sesame Oil
1/2 t of Red Pepper Flakes
1 can drained sliced water chesnuts
half a medium zucchini
2 carrots
1 package of firm tofu cut into cubes (approx 1.5 cups)

I’d have added green onions if I had any, but I didn’t….so this is what we threw together.

It simmered for a while and was AMAZING. Siah thought it was a bit spicy, but you could reduce the pepper flakes if you didn’t want it too spicy. If you like Hot and Sour soup, try it….so easy. Just throw together and let simmer….then serve.

We had a great time baking and cooking together. I love spending time with my kids and I feel like involving them in the “making” process gives them buy in especially when it comes to food.

I find that they feel a sense of ownership regarding what they’ve created and so its a great way to introduce new tastes, smells and textures.

And even though Siah is only two, he was a great help. He stirred the cookie batter in between additions and only once stuck the spoon to my shirt….and he dumped all the liquids into the pot after I measured them out and then added the tofu, zucchini and carrots in for me.

Yes, there was mess, but I find that it really wasn’t that big of a mess, took little to no effort to clean up (above and beyond what I would have created in making the cookies and soup), it’s quality time together AND….I’m teaching him from a young age to enjoy cooking; and to cook delicious, healthy foods.

Those things are well worth any amount of mess that the two of us might create together.

Sewing Up a Storm

I’ve managed to plow through all the stuff that I had on my sewing “to do” list and even some things that weren’t on my list.

I LOVE sewing, but I do hate the mess and chaos of having my sewing room consist of my dining room.

Sewing CONSUMES me and while I enjoy the creative outlet……my house….she is not happy nor clean right now.

BUT……..I AM FINISHED.

Well, I’m almost finished. I have a few ends to tie off and sew in and then I’m really, REALLY done.

I’ve packed away all of my sewing stuff and am planning on bringing it out to work on a few gifts for family and friends after June 1st…..ya know, in the last few weeks when I’m trying to keep myself busy.

I did manage to make a second crib sheet for the little crib and while I debated making a third one – I was really ready to just put every things away and be done for a month.

I made these bibs from some hand towels and some spare fabric that I had left over.

I’ll use these at some point, even if not right away and since I took this picture, I have managed to sew the velcro on, so they are completely finished.

I’ve made about 30 diaper wipes. I cloth diaper and so it only makes sense to me to also use cloth wipes. I have the perfect container to store these little square wipes in and it will fit about 20 of these so I’ll have a few on hand in case I run out or also to keep in the diaper bag.

They have cotton on one side and terry cloth on the other. I used 3 hand towels that I had up in my linen closet and then some extra terry cloth that I had left over after I made the very next item on the list……

A Baby Towel…..

It’s a HUGE towel 36″ x 36″ square and although I didn’t have enough of the patterned material to make the hood, I improvised and made the hood out of the terry and edged it with a strip of the fabric. It’s the perfect size to wrap a baby up in and it’s big enough to still use on your toddler. My sister bought me one very similar for Josiah and I’ve LOVED it.

This was a SUPER fun project and my only “issue” is that I’ve never worked with this large of a piece of terry cloth and somewhere between measuring it and sewing it to the backing material – it stretched out some and is not “perfect”. If you know me, you know that I LOVE perfect, BUT….I plan on making more of these and giving them away as gifts (so I’m sure to perfect my towel sewing technique.) And……when the towel is folded in thirds and then in thirds again, it tucks up nicely into a perfect square inside the hood and that…..that is almost perfection in and of itself and regardless, it looks absolutely darling all folded up and would make an amazing gift for a baby or a toddler.

I also made some washable breast pads. This was something that I’d not planned on making, and I really don’t remember how I thought of making these, but VOILA!!!!! Here they are.

Some of these are just a layer of terry cloth and a layer of cotton and some of them have a layer of wool in between the cotton and the terry cloth. They are certainly bulkier than a pair of reusable ones that I bought with Siah, and definitely, DEFINITELY bulkier than regular disposables BUT….I will give them a shot and if they work at all, I’ll use them around the house when and where boob circles or ridges really don’t matter.

Again, these are from the re-purposed hand towels and the left over cotton from the Quilt and so are these next items…

Burp cloths! I’ve made 4 of these, but I think that I’ll probably mostly just use these in the diaper bag for when we go out.

I did also make what we would call a “sucky blanket” for the baby to hold and cuddle.

I just used the left over scraps and pieces from the big quilt and randomly pieced together this small quilt. It’s very cute and I’d like to quilt the same stars into it that we sewed into the large quilt.

Now, I just have to figure out where I want to store everything> Right now, it’s all piled on top of the baby’s change table.

I have a couple more projects that I’m planning on doing – easy ones that will just add a little “something extra” to the baby’s area of the room and I’ll post about them as I finish them.

What a Surprise!

Jeremy has been growing his hair out for quite a while now.

A while ago he read that there was a world record for the tallest mohawk….the record was 56cm and Jeremy kept saying that he wanted to grow his hair out to have a 65cm mohawk.

Yesterday, Jeremy went with my youngest brother to the hairdresser.

He left looking like this……

It was long and scraggly and although it looked really cute on him “WHEN IT WAS BRUSHED” a huge part of the time he looked HORRID. He hated brushing his hair and it ended up with massive knots and really sometimes, if we’d left it long enough….it might have just dreaded itself naturally. In fact, Jon and I talked about get his hair dreaded at some point.

He came home from his time away with Chris looking like this….

Just ignore his “cool dude” pose…. and the crappy camera picture quality….ya get the idea. It’s SHORT!!!!!

He was so excited and kept touching his hair and trying to smooth it out. Chris and Jer had stopped at Zellers on the way home and picked up some Blue/Black hair dye and some pump gel. Jeremy must have applied about 6 different applications of the hair gel between when he came home and bed time. He went to bed with a serious helmet.

It’s very weird seeing him without the long hair, but there is something very cute about his new haircut AND…it actually makes him look older or more grown up or something. My baby boy is growing up….aaaaaaaawwwwww!

32 Weeks

I’ve passed the 32 weeks mark and in some ways, I’m feeling the pressure to get everything done. On the other hand, I feel EXHAUSTED TIRED during the day and then manage to pick up a second wind for the evening. This is equal parts annoying and awesome. I am actually managing to get some stuff done in the evenings, but I feel like I’m drugged during the day.

Once again, I meant to take a picture on Friday, then Saturday, then Sunday and…well, here we are today. Also, I managed to put the same shirt on that I had on last week for my pictures and while I felt pretty stupid about it and hummed and hawed about whether I should go and change it for the picture….Really, I just couldn’t be bothered. I did wake up this morning and put a pair of capri’s on but by the time I met for coffee with a friend, then went grocery shopping and hit three stories just to “get” everything – my pants felt like they were biting into my gut and so I put on the most comfy skirt that I own…….

I had a chat with my midwife about the 4lb 11 oz estimate that Dr. Still gave me on our little boy and she said that she’s known the “estimates” to be off as much as two to three pounds. I’m hoping that this is the case as I’m really not expecting to be pushing out a 9 or 10 pound baby.

I have started swelling. In fact, I woke up one morning and was 208 pounds. Woke up the next morning and was 213 pounds. That…….is brutal. I can feel that I’m retaining water in my hands and feet. They feel very tight. Typically, the swelling goes down almost completely by the morning, but not ALL. THE. WAY…..

This past week was a little bit stressful for many different reasons and when I’m stressed, I have a tendency to focus on “things”. I have a bunch of crafty things that I’ve been working on and I’m gonna share them over the next couple of days….

Schooling / Homeschooling / Unschooling

We have been struggling immensely with Jeremy and need to make some fairly important decisions regarding educating him next year.

I’d like to ask a few questions and I’d love to get some feedback.

1. How were you educated? (K – grade 12)

2. What do you feel was the most important thing you learned from school?

3. Is there something(s) that you feel that can’t be taught outside of the “traditional education system”?

4. Did you struggle with any learning disability type issues? (Dyslexia, ADD, ADHD, any other LD, etc.)

5. How did you feel that your school experience helped or hindered you?

6. What academic and social skills (that you learned in school) do you use every (or mostly) every day or even regularly, for that matter?

These are just some of the many questions that I have regarding school. I’d love to hear your thoughts and I’ll talk a bit more about what we are thinking about regarding Jeremy soon.

31 weeks – Just a Little Late

I’m technically 31 weeks and 3 days, but who really cares, right?

I meant to post on Friday and then ran outta time. Planned to do a post on Saturday….same thing…..CRAZY BUSY and then Sunday just blew past and well, I coulda pounded something out last night, BUT I figured that I was having my appointment with the specialist this morning and so….I could post after that and update if there was anything new or exciting.

We went to Surrey Memorial Hospital for 10:30am and the traffic was NON-EXISTENT so we got their about 20 minutes early. We had to take Siah with us as I couldn’t find a sitter for him. When we walked in the front door, we were greeted with a measles outbreak sign and boy was I ever glad that Siah is done with that. We killed some time and while I was in the washroom before our appt, Jon and Siah got into the Hospital Supplies. I came out to see this……

Jon took the picture with his phone ‘hence the cruddy quality. Nice Red Eye’s, eh?

Our sweet little boy (who is still VERY much a boy) is growing amazingly and with the 3 appts that we’ve had with them – his growth plots on the charts perfectly. I found out that I have an anterior placenta and that would explain why I feel the stronger kicks where I do. I would be feeling them on the edges of where the placenta ends….that was very interesting to me. I’ve wondered where my placenta was – for no other reason than curiosity.

The Dr measured me and our little man at 32 weeks and 6 days and his weight at about 4 pounds 11 ounces.

It was good to hear that everything looks fabulous and……..

I am officially released from seeing the specialist. YAH! I’m excited about that while at the same time it does feel like a (totally unnecessary) safety net has been moved out from under me. If there is nothing wrong with my little man or with me then I “know” that there is no reason to continue to see him, but there was something reassuring about having him as a care provider. He did say that if for any reason over the next few weeks that something felt wrong or off that I should call and they’d get me in right away. This is one of those times where I’m hoping and planning to not have to call him or to see him again.

I did have an appointment scheduled with my midwife for this afternoon, BUT….when we got home, I found a msg on our phone that she’d been called into another birth and so we have to schedule another appt. I’m waiting to hear back from the office about when that will be.

Physically, this week – I’m feeling pretty good. I’m sleeping well…once I get to sleep, but I’m finding it difficult to “get” to sleep at night. My hip is still bothering me quite a bit, and I’m barfing a bit more in the morning’s now. I basically get outta bed. Take my cup of water to the bathroom with me. Drink the cup of water and then throw it all up. After my stomach calms down I have about half an hour to get some food in my system or we’ll hit another round of barfing. It’s a race in the morning to get dressed and ready for the day before Round 2 hits. It’s like a game and really who doesn’t like to race against the clock first thing in the morning when the loser ends up dry heaving for 10 minutes. Incentive is a powerful thing, people.

Aside from those little things which are more annoyances than anything else, I’m not swelling or having heartburn or feeling too exhausted or dealing with any of the other “normal” third trimester issues.

Little man has the hiccups ALL the time and seems to move quite a bit.

I’m SO looking forward to meeting him and wish there was someway to wish the time away so that we could be full term already. I have so much love in me for this little one and I can’t wait to cuddle and snuggle and hold him.

Reality Bites or does it???

I woke up yesterday morning COMPLETELY DISORIENTED.

I had no idea what day it was or what was I was supposed to be doing that day.

It took me a while to process through that I didn’t think it was Saturday or Sunday, but I wasn’t totally certain. I wondered if it was Thursday or Friday……but that just didn’t feel right. I finally figured out that I needed to get up and get ready for work and yet at that point, I still wasn’t sure what day we were at and I was getting more and more concerned at how “out of it” I was.

When I think back now, I had a great day on Monday and yet……..I couldn’t believe that when I woke up I was so unclear on my day’s and even worse, I couldn’t remember conversations that I had with Jon the night before. (I did remember them after being prompted, just not right away.)

I’m still not sure what the deal was – I do know that continuing on (at work) I had a bit of rough morning, feeling spacey and not “on the ball” like I usually am.

I’m taking this as a sign that I do need to slow things down. As much as I’d like to believe…..I’m not a superwoman and I really can’t do everything. REALITY BITES, eh?

Even without this little “moment” I’ve been doing a lot of thinking…..contemplative thinking, if you will.

I’m headed back into some an intense “Mothering Role” time and it’s got me thinking about all the things that I will be gaining and on the flip side of that all the things I’ll be losing.

Having a 13 year old daughter (that I adore) puts some of this into perspective, but there is still the excitement mixed with the feeling or sense of loss.

See, I’ve (for the most part) LOVED working for the past year and 4 months and in a few short weeks all of the sense of accomplishment and gratification of seeing things come together (in the work environment) to work and flow smoothly will be gone.

At that point, I focus a majority of my energy and attention more on raising my infant, 2 year old, 9 yr old, 11 yr old and 13 yr old. (Wow, that sounds like a lot of work, doesn’t it?)

While the raising of the children could be considered the noblest of jobs, I will be the first to admit that
it can take a while to “see” your efforts pay off and that delayed sense of accomplishment can be really discouraging. I look back now at the years spent investing in Angelica, Xandra, and Jeremy and I can see glimpses of the teenagers/adults they will become. I can see some of their strengths and some of their weaknesses and I look forward to the process of building deeper relationship with them where I can help to influence who they become and hopefully release them off into the world fully equipped with the skills needed to be amazing successful adults and contributing members of society. And yet……it’s a process and it takes YEARS. It’s not the same as looking back at your work week and seeing what you’ve managed to do and finish. And…..to be honest, there are time when that is so, SO gratifying.

I’m thrilled that I have the perspective of the past 13 years to look back on and to know that my efforts do pay off and to also know that this is a season and that I can relax and enjoy this time and not resent the days or times when it “feels” like I’ve accomplished nothing important.

I’m looking forward to my house being cleaner (that’s one thing that suffers some when I’m working), to meals being ready more on time, to being at home when the older 3 are finished school, to baking more, to being on top of laundry and grocery shopping, but mostly, I’m looking forward to spending more time with my kids.

This is the thing that excites me the most about this time.

I love my children and I enjoy the time that I spend with them. Okay, there are times when I just wanna send them away, but I choose to look at it as fostering a sense of independence, right??? (You can put a positive spin on almost anything if you try hard enough.) No, it’s not all a giant bed of roses, but I have this opportunity to focus on my job as a Mother and as much as I do feel a sense of loss regarding my status as a member of the “workforce”; I’m also so excited to be able to get back into a rhythm or groove with my kids and my home.

It’s going to take some time and I can see a definite adjustment period as we all learn to work with and around another personality joining us, but it’s going to be good, right?

Delicious Summer Evenings

I’m sitting up in my bedroom and my ceiling fan is on and it’s SO warm and the air is still and quiet and it’s…….heavenly.

I long for summer evenings like this. I know it’s not technically summer, but there is something about the warmth and the sun that makes things seem all better.

We came home this afternoon and I sat out in the sun for just over half an hour and I felt totally recharged. Well, as much as someone who is 30 weeks pregnant can feel energized and/or recharged.

We came inside and managed to re-arrange the TV Room to include some office space. Opening up the TV Room to accommodate some office stuff meant that we could clear out some of the stuff that we’ve been storing in our bedroom, thereby freeing up space that we need for the baby and more specifically the baby furniture.

In the process, I also managed to clear about 5 things off my “To Do List”.

I’ve got about 5 pages of “Things to do” (it’s double spaced, so it’s not like it’s a million things) and last night Jon and I sat down and put a time frame or time limit to each of the items. We are aiming to get the “important” things finished by the beginning of June and then there are some things that I’d like to get done but that aren’t critical and I can finish those during June as I’m counting down the days. There is nothing worse than just sitting around with NOTHING to do just waiting for the baby to come. I’ve done that and it SUCKS!

Well, time to put my boys to bed. Oh and By the way, I’ve loved hearing your movie favorites….if you haven’t shared, there is still time to chime in with your two cents.

ps. I love light movies like Sweet Home Alabama and Failure to Launch. I also LOVE action movies like FaceOff and the Transporter, and I even love the M. Night Shyalaman movies. I think that my least favorite movies are science fiction type movies. But, it all depends on my mood at any particular time as to which movie I choose to watch and re-watch.

30 Weeks

I’m 30 weeks and creeping closer and closer to the finish line.

I’m starting to feel a bit more awkward and am noticing my gut starting to get in the way which shouldn’t be a massive surprise for 30 weeks pregnant. I’ve just not really noticed my belly “getting in the way” before now, aside from the fact that I can’t sleep on my stomach and haven’t been able to since about 20 weeks pregnant.

I had my mid wife appt on Thursday and am now into the “every 2 week” appointments. I gained a little more (5 lbs in 3 weeks) than I was happy with and I’m totally blaming that on Easter and the extra chocolate that I consumed. My blood pressure is perfect and our sweet boy’s heart rate was sitting at 144 bpm. Everything else looked good and we’re just continuing on. I have my next appt on April 26th which is also when I have my next specialist’s appointment….it will be a busy day.

I did just recently go to my chiropractor as I’ve been having quite a bit of pain in my left hip and it was referring to my right knee….how fun is that? The worst part is the fact that at this point, he can put me back into place, but I’m pretty much guaranteed that it’ll pop right back out. The Relaxin (it doesn’t just affect the one area, it’s an equal opportunity hormone – so much fun, eh?) is at play and there’s not much I can do about that but to just ride the rest of this pregnancy out. BUT…….If that’s my biggest complaint….then I’m really not doing too badly physically, am I?

So, Physically I’m doing pretty good, but Emotionally or Mentally is a whole ‘nuther ball game….and seeing as we’re just about to head out grocery shopping I’m not really going to get into it right now.

I’m okay (don’t worry) I just need to make some decisions (possibly set some boundaries) and well, that’s always so much fun isn’t it?

So, in the mean time….one of my favorite ways to avoid dealing with things is to watch movies (while I’m crafting)…..so, What is your favorite movie and why?

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