New Years Eve.

Looks like tonight will be a nice and quiet night for Adam and I. We don't have many plans for tonight, a movie and something bubbly, champagne for Adam and apple cider for me.

As I was checking my blogs out today I see that many people made a resolutions list, or a non-resolution list. I generally don't make one because I never keep them, and then I feel like crap when I realized I suck. So I try not to make them, but still nagging in the back of my head is the ever resolution to lose weight. However this year I get to not make that resolution, even quietly because I am pregnant, and I shouldn't lose weight right now. Not even right after I have the baby, I have a buffer.

It's the best non-resolution ever....

Hey! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

This year was a little crazy. Adam's parents and brother came into town last weekend and the insanity started. By insanity I mean my crazy cooking marathon, which utterly drained me.
However I did manage to impress my in laws and some friends, unless they are all lying to me!
For Christmas Eve I made a lamb roast, with roast potatoes, roast carrots and onions and a pear and Gorgonzola salad and for desert home made ice cream and baked English pudding. Everyone seemed to like it!
For Christmas dinner I made a very large turkey which I stuffed with oranges, onions, garlic and herbs. I baked it for much less that the Internet told me to and it came out perfect and moist, however because it was more moist it wasn't falling off of the bones, but that makes for dry turkey. In any case I was very proud of my turkey. I also made sausage dressing, mashed potatoes, home made cranberry sauce, sauteed beans with artichokes and a very large, yummy pumpkin and ginger trifle. And the best of the whole meal? The Yorkshire puddings my husband made. He did a great job, they were the perfect puffiness and so yummy. If I hadn't already been overheating and red faced from the many braxton contractions from doing so much I would have beamed at him for doing such a good job!
I also made hearty breakfasts and many many appies and snacks. I clearly overdid it. Adam's brother asked if I was trying to kill him with food. Then he asked Adam, in hushed tones, if I was going to keep feeding them on Boxing day, but Adam assured him that I had tortured him with yummy food enough. But it was the first Christmas I hosted with my in laws here. I had to overdo it, 32 weeks pregnant or not! Although I might arrange to not be so pregnant next time!

Oh This House, part 2, or is it 439?

Today I was peeing and I noticed that the toilet was all bubbling. I was a little confused because my pee is not so hot to make water boil, so that means there was a problem with the toilet, or somewhere along the line. So being the trained monkey I am, I still flushed and it nearly overflowed, making me panic because, A) the floor is really far away from me right now and B) EWWWW! Luckily it didn't overflow and the drain worked sucking ALL of the water out of the toilet, leaving none. Being the brightest bulb I decide to flush again, just to see what happens, but with the resolve to grab towels and call Adam to come home if need be. The toilet flushed fine. I determined that I shouldn't call the landlord and reveal this because if I don't say anything then there isn't a problem, right? I just don't have time for problems, I have Adam's family getting here tomorrow, I am making a big Christmas Eve dinner for his family and some friends from here, and a big ol' family turkey Christmas dinner. I have no time for faulty plumbing. However the universe, it hates me. Later this afternoon I got a call from my landlord telling me that there is a problem with the sewer connection and the plumber will be out later to check it out.
I cursed a lot this afternoon.
So as it turns out there is a clog in the pipes behind our house. Luckily it's in the same spot as before, so we are above the clog, so we shouldn't be affected and we are on the close side to the sewer so we can use water. But that is all of the luck we get. The plumbers couldn't fix the clog, so they left the sewer uncapped so that the backyard ladies' suites don't get flooded. But do you know what will get flooded? Yes my back yard. (Mine as in it's where the fence is delineating our "yard") So we've been told to not let the dog out since there might be raw sewage in the back yard. I'm ecstatic. Can you tell? I asked the plumber what would happen and he said all of this and I asked if it would stink, he said yes. I said "Merry Christmas" and I gave him a bag of cookies I made. (it's not his fault that this house is crap-tastic, literally, and the poor guy had to work late the day before holidays.)
So tomorrow more plumbers and sewage. Fun! Oh and my in-laws get here this weekend, to be welcomed by sewage!

Regrets

It's getting to be that time of year when we look back and reflect on the year.
This year has been mostly good to me. It started out rough and left me hopeless 5 times, and ends on a high note. I have a lot to be happy for, a baby on the way, a new house to move into in the New Year and a strong, secure, happy marriage where I get to laugh with my best friend every day.
I'm sure if I were to look there would be some regrets. However, honestly I don't look. I don't see how it's productive to look at what you did wrong and lament over it. When I do make a mistake I try to learn from it, but beating myself up over it is counter productive. That being said I have a small regret....
I missed seeing the Spice Girls reunion tour when it was in San Jose. I heard it was great. And man I loves me some Spice Girls!

Oh this house.

When we first moved in here I was totally enchanted by the cuteness of this house. I love little old houses and the charm they have. The landlord did warn us that the floor was a little sloped, but I wasn't so concerned about it, I figured that it would just add to the charm. And now? 10 months later? I want to be really mean to the house. (I would say more, but what if something did happen, I would totally be blamed!)
When we first were here we noticed that the water never got hot. It would stay luke warm, which made for a horrible shower, so we brought this to the attention to our landlord since I need to have hot showers, it's the way I like them. So he came over dubious that we knew what hot was because he had just put in a new hot water heater, which was tankless and supposed to be so amazing. Doubting that we can feel temperature he checked it with a thermometer and sure enough it didn't break 100 degrees, which isn't that hot for a shower. So he made some adjustments and put a low flow nozzle on the shower so that the pressure wouldn't over load the water heater and cause it to go cold. He also bemoaned the fact that the other tenants didn't tell him because he payed so much for the heater and the plumbers to install it.
After he "fixed" the tank Adam and I noticed that it would get hot, scorching, skin boiling hot, undulated with pee warm. We were forever jumping out of the stream of water to quickly adjust the cold to ensure that we weren't scalded. This went on for a while because Adam and I are too polite to say anything and were thinking that we just needed to find the sweet spot where we had the perfect mix of hot and cold. Except we never found it, and we had guests who got burned. So I called the landlord and he was so mad at me for not telling him sooner while it was still under warranty. I told him we thought we just needed to find the right mix. Anyhow he came out, several times to tinker with the system and it never got any better. He did take the temperature again and in the span of less than a shower it would range from 170 degrees to less than 100 degrees, which makes for a really crappy shower. However try as he might, it never got better and we just kept complaining.
Recently the hot water just won't turn on, or it cuts out completely in the middle of a shower. Since we're learning that this can be a long process I was quick to email our landlord when we realized this was happening. He came out to fix it and he did manage to make the flow consistent, however there is only hot water about half of the time. And now here we are, waiting for a real plumber, the landlord threatening to take the whole system out and me asking him to wait, because I am sure it will just be more of a headache.
I curse this house and it's faulty hot water system. I curse it for sharing a lot with two grumpy ladies in the back that make our lives difficult with their stupid garbage routine and little games. And I curse it for the one inch gap around the doors which let in a variety of bugs, dust and chills. Mostly I curse it because it's lost all of it's charm and I truly hate this house. I cannot wait to move out and I wish so badly that it was March now.

31 weeks

Holy moly I'm that pregnant!
I was in Canada for my 30th week and it was hard. I felt healthy, but I just wanted to be home with Adam. I had a great time with Tessa and my family, but I wanted to be home. Sigh. The snow was dreadful. Every time I had to wipe snow off of the car I cursed out loud to every snow flake, and there were a lot of them. I know I've said I miss snow, so I should qualify it, I miss it under my skis while I am bundled in all of my gear and the only part of me that gets touched by snow are my cheeks. Snow in any other situation is horrid.

So on to 31 weeks. The baby is about 4 naval oranges according to baby centre, it's interesting that she's moved on from being one fruit to 4.

When I remember to do my kick counts I can generally count 10 kicks in about 5 minutes. I do confess that I rarely do them because she's made it more than obvious to me that she's there and she's having a grand ol' time.

While I was in the bath the other day I was just zoning out watching the water and I noticed that it was moving, but I wasn't deep enough for it to be my breath moving it, and I realized the baby had the hiccups and she was making the little currents. So cool. Then the next day it happened again, except it was her kicking, so the ripples were much more erratic and larger. I think seeing that may go down as the most fascinating ever, more than the ultrasounds.

When my mom pointed out to Tessa that I had a baby in my tummy, Tessa immediately pulled up my shirt demanding the baby come out now. It was cute, and I had to explain to her that she can see the baby when there are flowers outside. I don't think she understood, but she stopped tugging on my shirt demanding to see the baby.

Seeing as I am in my 31st week I have 6 weeks left until I am in my window where I can safely have a home birth. (the window is 37-42 weeks) I don't profess to know if I will be closer to the 37th or the 42nd, but the anticipation will reach a whole new pitch I'm sure!

The baby still seems to react to sugar, and still hates any pressure on her. Today she was kicking the seat belt when I was driving, and I always make sure it's well under my belly, but apparently Little Miss thought it wasn't good enough.

I am getting killer heart burn and apples can barely touch it any more. I need to take lots of activated charcoal and other remedies, but if I have too many pills in me they try to pop out since the opening to my stomach doesn't close right. (yay for relaxin!) Sleep is getting harder and harder. Adam and I broke down today and bought be some really fluffy synthetic pillows because with my body being bigger my little feather pillow wasn't holding me up properly, resulting in a sore neck and numb arms. We also bought a straight body pillow 'cause my curvy one tangles me up at night. I still want to sleep on my stomach, and I kinda can, but Little Miss doesn't so much like it. I'll move if she puts up a fuss or if there's any pain. I've realized I can lay on my back for extended periods of time, which is supposed to be a huge pregnancy no-no, but I figure if there is no pain, I'm okay. That being said Little Miss doens't always like it, and I have noticed it can bring on some Braxton contractions (so I move).

My late pregnancy morning sickness seems to have abated, which is nice, but I still have no appetite to speak of. I often find that I have passed hungry and have lapsed into the shakeies because I don't eat enough, which is weird because I don't feel hungry. Normally I am on top of when I ate last and what I need now, but sometimes I get busy and without any cues from my body I don't realize how long it's been. I find this to be so strange because if you know me at all you know that remembering to eat is not an issue of mine. It has created a shift in how I eat, less crap and a whole lot more wholesome. Although in reality I've always been quite wholesome, but it's the sweet tooth that has been my Achilles heel, but now it's mostly gone.

Adam seems to be excited for the baby, he reminded me when I was in Canada that I had her to keep me company and it was strange for him to call her by her name to me. We haven't divulged her name to family yet, we want to keep it a secret, and I don't want anyone to get attached to a name and then have us change our minds. I'm also worried that someone close to me would pooh-pooh the name or suggest something else, and we love the name we've chosen, I don't want any negativity to linger in my mind about it. (and it would, I can really hold on to some things, and we did tell someone close, very early in pregnancy and they did pooh-pooh it, and I felt horrible)

So that's about it for the 31st week. We're on the hunt for a doula. When I was explaining what a doula was to my brother's fiancee, my mom suggested that she be it for me, and I shot her down fast. I think I was a little harsh, but I just don't think I would be able to relax enough with my mom or Adam's mom there. (sorry!) The thought of having non-professionals there except for Adam and I makes me a little nervous. I understand that some people need to have their whole family there, but I am not that person. I will be more than happy to have my family come around after I've established a secure breastfeeding relationship with the baby. I don't know how long that will take. Personally I would like to have 2 weeks alone with just Adam and I to bond with the baby and bond with each other as new parents. Right now Adam and I know each other so well as individuals, as husband and wife, but we don't know each other as mother and father. I am really looking forward to meeting my husband the father, and seeing my new little family all together bonding, just the three of us (and the pets). It seems romantic and deeply personal to me to have this time alone with my new family, to really learn who my daughter is and for her to learn who I am and who her father is.
That all being said I am sure I will get comments and emails telling me how great it was to have a million different people around them right after their baby was born. All I can say to that is, I'm glad you have the experience you did, and that you're happy with it. This is just a personal desire of mine, just like me wanting a home birth and a variety of other issues that we'll get to touch on later when it comes to raising this little girl.

You know, that song!

So I was in Canada last week, more precisely I was in Kelowna. It snowed a lot, it sucked. I think that I was too pregnant to not be home, because I am sure that the whole nesting thing kicked in while I was gone and it made for a loooooong week.

Anyhow while I was driving from the airport rental car place to my hotel in Westbank this exchange came on the radio. It made me laugh and be grateful that I don't live there anymore because there might be something in the water.

radio girl (RG): It's the 80s and 90s all request lunch, call in with your requests!
caller girl (CG): Hi, can you play that song? That Pat Benatar song? It's been in my head all day.
RG: Sure, which one would you like?
CG: I don't know the name of it. *giggle*
RG: Hmm, can you sing a couple bars of it?
CG: No, I don't know it. *giggle*
RG: Oh....
CG: interrupting, it's the one from Guitar Hero 3!
RG: Oh, is it this one? singing Hit me with your best shot....
CG: Yeah! that's the one, from Guitar Hero!

thunk thunk <<-- that was me banging my head on the steering wheel.

I think it's a little sad that people are learning about 80s and 90s music from video games. Or even better, Curt Cobain is now considered a legend! That really blows my mind because I remember anticipating new Nirvana albums being released, and now he's a legend. Golly if I hadn't already felt old.

A home birth

As of last weekend all of the baby's grandparents know that we are planning a home birth. Even though I know I am an adult and allowed to make my own decisions there are some* really conservative people in my life and I had a haunch that they wouldn't adapt to the idea well. So when I told my dad I braced myself for what was to come, and then nothing! He's pro-home birthing! Whaaaa? This was the same guy who told me that I probably wouldn't be able to handle the pain and probably would need a c-section because I'm short. Needless to say I'm happy that he's all for it.
When I told my mom, she said that she guessed that I would have ended up having a home birth, which I thought was funny because I didn't know, and yet another friend said the same thing. I guess I just give off that vibe. Interesting....
Adam's family has been a lot more hesitant on the whole home birth idea. To be fair no one has come out and said it's a bad idea, they just ask questions to make sure we've thought it through and know what could happen and that we have back-up. Initially I was really upset that they asked these things. After all I'm 30, I have a clue, and it's not like I'm planning to give birth in a bathroom stall in a mall or anything. Once my hormone induced pout passed I realized they just care, but they don't really know me that well. My family does, they know that I will think through my decisions and that I am going to make sure everything is in place, and they care too, they care enough to not question me and to trust that I'll do what's best for me. (They know that I am ruthlessly independent, and smart enough to make informed choices.)
Now I wonder what raising our child will be like. I know am going to be that liberal parent with strange ideas that my family and Adam's family isn't used to. I'm sure my head will explode, many times over, but I'm sure it will be from them loving my baby, and they'll learn. My family did, Adam's family will too- after all I'm just that stubborn.

*by some I mean all, including Adam, although I'm working on him, and he's coming over to the good side.