OTPYWG #9

Hawaii.

I know a lot of people go to Hawaii, and yes, I am one of them too.  I have actually been to Hawaii 5 times.  Once when I was in grade 5.  Then again when I was in Grade 11 (when it was the 1999-2000 New Year’s debacle and my parents had decided what a better place to be if the world does decide to stop turning).  After I finished grad school but before I graduated in 2005, then again in 2011 when I got engaged, and then another one in 2012 when we went with my family and (at the time) boyfriend for a little baby-moon.

I have been to Maui (great place if you just want to relax), Oahu (busy busy busy so if you like traffic and shopping you can go there), and the big Island (which has many areas to it to sight see but not a lot of places to just lounge on the sand).

Here is a collection over the years (which I only have photos from the last three times as I don’t have time to scan and upload the first two… yes call me lazy over here I do not care! 🙂 )

 

Conference Woes

The conference I went to was really good.  They had great speakers (some better than others) but the content was very interesting.  I hope to cliff notes some of that probably in a later post as some of the themes are very good to place into regular life ‘lessons’.

This is not that post.

This is a post about how I feel about my social life.

I really don’t have one.  Yes I have a kid.  Yes I have another one on the way.  My home situation doesn’t make it easy to leave the kid for the evening to get out and do the stuff I did prior to having kids.  I also have a mental stopping block that because I spend so much time away from the kiddo during the day that I want to spend as much time as I can when I am at home so I have trouble breaking the cycle, part of it is my fault and I 100% acknowledge that.

That being said, I had a friend that I went to school with also go to this conference.  This is a friend that we have in the past always tried to get together (more so me doing the asking and scheduling) with not a lot of reciprocating on their end.  Part of me believes it is because we are in the exact same field and very realistically each others direct competition where we live as we live in the same town.  I had an inkling that they maybe at this conference and I hope they would be so we could finally catch up.

Well, low and behold, I was sitting in a spot in one of the rooms waiting for the next speaker and this person comes right in and sits next to me (I mean that is what everyone does when going to a speaker).  They started to make the usual small talk when you think you are sitting beside someone you don’t know, and the boom it was my friend!  It was probably bound to happen but just talk about coincidence!  We had a little chat prior to the speaker starting and I’ll admit I was nervous – why should I be though? I’m sure they weren’t.  After that speaker it was lunch so I did ask if I could eat lunch with them and who they were there with.  And then this is where I felt really awkward as they had people from their work there and so I felt like I was intrusive and not that I was asking any questions about their work activities or anything like that, I felt like I was being a spy and that is not what I want.

I have always wanted those in my profession in my town to have a good professional relationship and a one of positiveness.  Because of what happened when I first rolled into town, I always feel there is a bit of bad blood between my side and their side of things.  I know this is silly and both sides (for the most part) are happy with how things turned out.  I know for myself I feel like I have done a lot of penance for the last few years and finally things are better for me at my job.

What I felt it boiled down to as I drove away from the conference on the last day, is that I am jealous of their camaraderie.  There was a group of them relatively the same age and getting along great.  I didn’t bring anyone and at work, sure I get along great with those who work for me but I would never hang out with them after work.  That is a thing I probably did for myself, I’m the boss so I figure they wouldn’t want to hang out with me at work, but at the same time I have a big group of people much younger than me and the other set is older than me.  No one is my age.  So I just feel lonely.

I know this is a theme in my life right now and having a kid didn’t help me get out there and be more social in my outside conference life.  I know there are mommy and me groups, but as you can guess it, they are when I am working so I can’t even get involved with that.

Anyways…

Like I said I hope to have a happier content tomorrow.  I’m just in a slight funk right now that I know I have to get out of.

Family Gripes

Sorry for the little delay there.  I had a pretty busy weekend (I went to a conference) and then when I came back to work we had another day with major server issues.  Not a great thing to have when most all of the business workings is on that server… Not cool technology, not cool.

As I said I had a conference on the weekend.  And it was pretty great.  I learned a little bit to implement back into my business and I always feel so refreshed after those (except I need a few days to take my regular weekend relaxing hours, but that will have to wait until this next weekend).  Even though I said I had a great time, I have a few fairly major gripes over the weekend.

One was I got a family member to do the baby sitting as hubby was ‘this’ close to finishing seeding for the season so he would be unable to.  They had asked for a list of what to do, when to give food, things like that, to which I obliged.  When I came home, roughly around 5 pm, they had said that kiddo had just woken up from a 4 hour nap.  That.never.happens.ever.  I was a little shocked as he never does that, on the weekends he barely naps with me around anyways and even at day care they have usually two hour or less kind of naps.  They did feel bad when they saw how my mouth dropped (I was trying to form nice words to not show how much of a controller I am) as they didn’t know if they “could wake a sleeping baby”.  I was also a little shocked as 1) Although I didn’t write wake up before 4 or something like that which yes that fault is due to me I did write second snack usually at 4.  2) Sure I wouldn’t be able to answer the phone to answer a question but there is text so if you really are unsure, ask.

This made me upset as when our usual bedtime rolled around, I wanted to go to sleep but I knew the kiddo would not want to for a few more hours, so it just made me cranky.  I also tried my hardest not to get mad at the baby sitter as they were doing it for free, and I know how I get so very Type-A personality on a lot of things and so I just tried to be very light about it.

And not to always gripe about family, but since we were around a lot of family members this weekend, a lot of things were just getting on my nerves (probably related to the lack of quality sleep I get) but there would be so many times when I got back home that certain food would be offered by a grandma and I would flat out say ‘no’ or ‘we just ate’ or ‘he doesn’t need that’ but it’s like they cannot hear me even though I said it so that everyone could hear.  Which also reminds me, this person also took kiddo off my hands for a few hours on Friday night since I did not ask them to babysit in the first place (they usually have errands to run on the weekends and church goings to so I knew I could not 100% rely on them for full weekend coverage so I did ask elsewhere) but they only really did the evening because I had asked someone else.  And then, type A coming back again, they said they would only be out an hour prior so that we could go to bed.  90 minutes rolled by and so I went out to get him as it was 8 pm and we had to get started on relaxing prior to bed (if kiddo gets too worked up, good luck going to sleep).

So again I had to take a step back, bite my tongue as they were doing something nice but just got did not keep track of time (which how can you when you are outside not wearing a watch).  When I did go get him, they were giving him a crap loaded granola bar.  One that does not have a lot of good stuff in it, and of course they say “Oh you were not supposed to see that”.  And I’m like excellent, thank you, no wonder he always has the worst bowel movements when you look after him.  But it is family and grand parents so I can’t get so upset outwardly even though I am screaming inside.

Anyways, I think I will end my rant for the day here.  I will come back again tomorrow with more quips/gripes about the conference and then hopefully end the week on a little happier note.  Probably after you see tomorrows post, you will think I am in a depressive state which is a little true.

Weeks 21 – 24

I know the cliche is that the second go around for pregnancy goes faster, and well, that is truly the case here!  I’m even having troubles really knowing which week I am.  This probably started because last time I had to reschedule a prenatal appointment and even though I still see my Doc when I am the same amount of weeks since I see her the following week I feel like I’m not really 24 weeks just yet, but I am, I am.

I’m going to start doing more of a structured-ness post to this as I have seen on many other preggo bloggers sites, so without further adieu:

Workouts/Runs: Starting to get less and less.  I did do a very successful (in my mind) 5 K run the other weekend and with the extra support band I bought, I still feel good when running (no weird jiggly feeling as the baby bounces up and down) but I just tire easily.  I’m also trying to get out with the stroller more which adds a lot of resistance and so I just can’t run straight with the stroller which is okay.  The kiddo and I are just getting out there to get out there and enjoy the weather.  I still work up quite a sweat even when walking fast so I feel good about that.  I have purchased some pre/post natal DVDs and have only used one once… been meaning to do more of that.

Sleep: Sucks.  But then again it always has for the last few years… I am not getting up to go the bathroom a whole lot like last time – Doc thought maybe it was a asymptomatic UTI which because the kidneys ureters get bigger (or whatever they are called) could lead to a large infection and be bad for both of us.  I did do some cultures which came out negative so who knows.  At least I know I get longer stretches of sleep this go around until my belly gets larger and puts on more pressure.  Insomnia is about the same, I get at least one episode a week where I cannot fall asleep for 3-4 hours a night…

Eats: We are trying to get better on this as I am starting to do some meal planning so that it won’t be just quick fast meals – which I know you can make a lot of things fast and healthy so the last few months are all on me.

Movement: Hit or miss.  This time around I have an anterior placenta which means an extra layer of cushion to feel any movement.  I know with Kiddo I felt him way earlier and way often by this point.  As this one gets bigger you will just because they are bigger, I just have to wait.  The anterior placenta completely makes sense as when I went for my first pre-natal at 12 weeks, it took like 5 minutes to find the heartbeat which scared both the Doc and myself as with kiddo he was RIGHT there – those moments until you find it always make you second guess yourself if you are actually pregnant or not.

Weight: I am up 17 pounds.  The first go around I was up only 10, so even though my body is doing what it should be doing and I really am not ‘crazy’ with the eats, I don’t feel great about this amount but there is nothing I can do to really change it (or like diet I should say).  Once I see my doctor we will see if she is worried about it or not.  I know I am not as active this time (even though we spent a good 4-5+ hours outside every day on the weekend running around the farm which really does count as active – and I still can pick up my 30 pound boy easily – which totally counts as heavy lifting right? 😉 ).  I’m trying not to stress too much about it even though when I read loads of birth boards talking about “How much have you gained” and those that gain a lot they always warn “It’ll just be that much harder to lose after the baby as right now the baby maybe weighs like a pound so this is all me.

Symptoms: I wasn’t going to add this in as I don’t really have a lot of symptoms per say, but I think there is a bit of a flu bug being passed around right now.  I have had an insane headache for about three days and it’s one of those vascular kinds where when you stand up it throbs but if you stay still it’s okay (or even roll over in bed kind of deal).  I have also felt a little nauseous –> even woke up yesterday around 5 am feeling so hungry that I was almost to the point of if I don’t eat right now I will vomit kind of deal — as well I have been getting bursts of terrible indigestion.  Sure it really could be related to being pregnant but I overheard the ladies at work stating how they were feeling and I was like ‘Hmmm…”

Thoughts: I’m already starting to worry when #2 gets here how #1 will react.  He is such a momma’s boy that, oh boy we have so much cut out for us.  I also worry about our limited time together as a two-some and want to cherish these moments all that I can.  It’s not as scary going from 1 to 2 as much as it was going from 0 to 1, I know way more this time around.  I’m also scared to be able to find good help when I go back to work and how that person will be able to take care of a 6 week old and a crazy 2 1/2 year old.  I am a big worrier at heart.

Now for the pictures:

Week 21-22

Week 23-24

And for comparison last time Week 22-24

What’s a little funny, I sort of look the same from the side, but from the front, this pregnancy is going all into my hips/butt area.  I know this as when I get out of my car, my hips hit the steering wheel and these settings have not changed since I got my car (prior to pregnancy the first time).  I also feel the gain is a lot in my face but I’m sure this happened last time too.

And for fun when taking the belly photos – kiddo wanted to join in too.  He was trying to hide within my skirt:

Jade-isms

My favorite part of the day is getting into a nice hot shower at the end of the day.

 

My least favorite part of the day is getting out of that hot shower and into our ice cold bathroom.

Look who has been in the Kitchen

This gal!

On the weekend, I started by making those chicken bites.  And by goly, YUM!!!

Here’s what my finished product looked like:

This one I can tell will become a new staple in our household as it is fairly easy to make and cooks fairly quickly too.  I know the qualms about eating too much almond flour but still it was sooooooo good.  We ate this one with a side of sauteed carrots and tomato soup.

Then I made some seitan with artichoke hearts.  And just to tout myself, the kiddo said “Yummy mommy” so I know he enjoyed it too:

 

I also made an aioli which is very tasty – kiddo just liked to eat the actual lemon!

Last night we made the chicken bites (again – and it was too soon to remake them for this gal) with a side of the baked potato hemp.  Now, I guess I should admit I have never baked a potato before in my life – it’s just not a staple that I eat, I can do mashed and other stuff to it but not a plain ole baked potato.  I did do it the ‘traditional’ way and placed it in the oven for an hour, and by the end of the hour it was not cooked… so I had to finished it up in the microwave prior to cooking it with the last bit.

That was our pre-baking.  As you can see, kiddo likes to just eat the lemon.  I still need to get a better food processor.  This one is alright but not the greatest for heavier duty things (I also presoaked the cashews all night instead of just an hour for this reason).

Tonight will be a simple baked salmon with roasted veggies and parsnip fries.

To be honest, meal planning this week really worked in our favor – I have to do this more often as you really do get into the kitchen more when you do!

OTPYWG #8

Ah, Number 8.  This one takes us up to Montreal, Quebec, in April or May 2009.  This was a very fast whirlwind trip that had me and my classmates go there to take a 4 day intensive board certification that cost about $3,500 not including air fare and accommodations.  It was three days written and one day of practical.  It was intense and there was intense partying afterwards.  It was the last of several large exams that we had had to do in order to do what I do for a living (I laughed here as I haven’t said and probably won’t say what I do all day every day).

I am a very fast test taker especially when it is multiple choice and of course with standardized tests, they are always multiple choice.  This freaks out my classmates as either they think I don’t know anything or that they don’t know anything.  Usually you have like 3 hours to complete the test and I’m done in about 90 minutes to two hours and I do have to leave.  Otherwise I go back through the test and second guess a lot of answers and then take away my correct answers and put an incorrect in its place.

Montreal is very nice (I think I say this about all places), I felt safe enough to walk by myself after the exams to the hotel we were staying at.  And because it is in the area of Canada that has been here longer, there was a lot of historical buildings in the area we were at.

Here is a look of what Montreal has to offer (which of course is a lot more, we just didn’t have time to venture out more!):

A Miscellaneous Type of Friday

I apologize for the most likely incoherent flow of this post.

I listen to talk radio a lot.  I love it.  You learn something, you hear some news, you hear the weather, you hear the wonderful radio personalities have a good discussion.  This morning they had a restaurant reviewer on talking about a new establishment.  This usually isn’t the best segment to listen to so early in the morning as it puts some food cravings in your mouth – but at the restaurant she had visited/reviewed the appetizer she picked was crab cakes.  (What I also like about talk radio is how well they describe things for the listening viewers).  She had started to describe how awful these crab cakes look and how hard it is to get a very good crab cake in a land locked place that we live, but although they looked very unappealing they tasted absolutely to die for.  She then added that the chef had placed a balsamic glaze on it which she says is “Way too 1990s and all chefs should learn to just throw that stuff away”.  I laughed out loud at that comment as it is very bold for a reviewer to say – yes that is her job but in my head I was thinking “But I still really like placing balsamic on stuff, does that mean I should just throw it away?”

 

Now how about the random things that are brought in our vehicle on the way to day care:

– stuffed cow and bear

– DVDs

– Daddy’s boxers

– Race bibs

– my winter jacket (when so not winter)

– I do like my car relatively clean but with this kiddo that really isn’t possible.  I have raisins everywhere, items thrown about, and I totally can understand how when you see a single shoe on the roadway how that exactly happens.  I have yet to open up the back window when kiddo has an item in his hands but I can totally see him just throwing whatever he has out the window.

 

How about the best Christmas gift ever? A full thing of bubble wrap.  This has provided hours upon hours of fun with the kiddo:

 

How about how north I live and the fact that our weather, until recently, has been very less than stellar.  At the lake we go to over the summer there is still ICE ON THE LAKE.

But in all honesty, that is how it is every single May Long weekend is.  As per usual fashion, it is raining outside, the weather report is awful and although it is nice outside (I forgot my jacket at home even though it was raining) it is still too cold to really go camping yet every single canadian (except for me) will go camping this weekend.  This also means I will not be speeding when we do venture onto the highway later today to go out to the farm.  You just know they will have radar out!

 

OTPYWG #7

In case you have missed my most dearing series of “Oh, The Places You Will Go”  Check out #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6.

#7 Is New Zealand.  My sister had gone down there for school and so naturally we had to have a family trip over Christmas 2005.  We spent almost three weeks travelling all over the North part via van.  A lot of my family trips are spent this way, sure we fly out there, but then we get in a car and travel all around the place.  It is a good way to explore a place, but you also get on everyones nerves as you don’t have breathing room.  We had some nice family fights as you would expect.

This was my first extremely long flight, I think it was 13 hours there.  I don’t think I fell asleep on the way there, I barely moved and it was the first time I ever remember seeing my ankles swell up so very much – I think even more so than it ever did when I was pregnant with #1. But it is because I didn’t move at all in the plane ride.  A funny tidbit is that my parents booked themselves first class but let the kiddos ride coach…

New Zealand is a very beautiful place and I felt it really looked and had the same feeling of my home province.  It was very gorgeous.  Here are a very snap shots from that time:

I would totally go back, but to check out the Southern part instead.  From the Lord of The Rings series/Hobbit, that part has even more scenic areas.  Totally worth the 13 hours flight!

20 Questions

1. What brings you the most joy? 

My little family.  And this guy when he is more angelic than tantrum-er

2. What are your vices? 

Trying to say no to that sweet tooth.  This pregnancy I really don’t care too much for sweets, it is more so the salty stuff I want.  I also tend to pick at my split ends.

3. What is on your nightstand?

Alarm clock, baby monitor, kobo, phone.

4. Do you have a secret talent?

I can play piano but I do not like to perform as I get major stage anxiety, so most people don’t know my musical talents.

5. What is your greatest indulgence?

Hmm.  I think sometimes not caring about price – whether it would be groceries, toys, race fees.  I’m pretty frugal for the most part so I don’t go crazy with spending anyways.  I do like my savings.

6. What should every woman try at least once in her life? 

Go to a movie all by yourself or even eat at a sit in/dine in restaurant.  Usually everyone is so used to doing these activities with other people that even the servers look at you oddly.

7. What makes you laugh? 

Grandpa age men wearing bunny hugs.  If you know what a bunny hug is, you will know where I come from.

8. What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you?

Without sounding conceited, I’m fairly book smart.  High school was a breeze (I had a 105% in Math…).  So it’d be a big shocker for people to know that in undergrad I struggled quite a bit in the first two years almost failing a few courses –> one was ENGLISH which, yes, is my first language, and yes from my grammar here may seem awful, but when you are graded on stuff I did actually try to do my best.  My english professor hated me essentially.  I even got some of my friends who had stellar skills really help me out, proof read (not write stuff for me) and I still would get like 55%.  It was awful.

9. What is on your bucket list?

I would like to train for an ultra (50K), do a few travel-to races, get back into the travel bug as there are a few places I would like to knock off the list before I ‘kick it’.

10. What’s on your feet right now? 

My black work shoes that I actually should throw out as there is a little hole in the bottom of the right foot but then I don’t have any other black shoe to wear which means I probably should go buy one.

11. How did you make your first dollar? 

I was stuffing envelopes for my dad.

12. What superstition do you believe in?

 I don’t think I do believe in any.  

13. What items in your closet do you wear the most?

Underwear.  Just kidding, well sort of not, but I like to wear my workout pants all the time – that stretch with a growing belly is sublime.

14. What is the best gift you’ve ever received?

A large sum of money from my family to pay off some work debt.

15. What is on your liquor shelf? 

We don’t drink (pre/post baby) hardly at all.  So surprisingly we have quite a bit in the liquor shelf.  There is this Hot 100 stuff that when we were unpacking some boxes into our new house that this bottle was stuffed into, malibu, a few bottles of wine, some rum.

16. What is on your kitchen counter?

Which one?  On the island, we have our dish rack and our organics bin.  On the oven side one, we have a bowl of bananas.  On the itty bitty one beside the fridge, is my water heater upper.

17. What would you never leave home without? 

Wallet.  Well, sometimes it is this guy as he can’t look after himself yet…

18. What movie has the greatest ending?

I think it is called Deep Blue Sea.  It has LL Cool J in it and I remember this movie being the first one that the boy and girl do NOT survive, it is two men instead – so the love story couldn’t continue, which to me I was so surprised/happy that it didn’t fit the typical movie story line.

19. Who is on the guest list for your ideal dinner party?

Besides the regulars like family/friends, I feel like I am way removed from the celebrity area nowadays that I wouldn’t really care to invite anybody else.

20. What is one thing do you wish you had known when you were younger?

Things will change a lot over the years.  Although it’s nice to get comfortable, don’t as when you do, everything will change.  I also would have loved to know to treasure the time prior to babies arrival as you don’t realize how much free time you actually have and how much time I felt like I wasted!