A segue from seafood to murals

Wow. Yesterday's post could be today's too. Cause..... I'm frickin' starving again. Woo! Second trimester is going to be fun.

Mind you, I plan on fully teaching Hunger a lesson over the next two weeks on my vacation. (Musical interlude a la Simpsons: Oh Margey! You came and you made me a tur-key... On my vacation from work-y!)

Sorry bout that. I'm a bit excited for vacances to start.

Andrew and I are heading out east for all things seafood, gorgeous scenery and east-coast-with-a-hint-of-Irish culture stuff. Should be very fun. And full of food. Did I mention the food?

In other news... When we get back, I think we'll start work on the nursery. We have some leftover yellow paint for the walls. Then a good friend of ours is going to paint a mural on the wall for us.

We've been discussing what we want. The traditional murals are really cute. Like, Winnie the Pooh. Or a nursery rhyme or something. However, being a book nerd (and a HUGE lover of kids books), I thought that maybe this would work.

It's from the book, The Giving Tree. One of my all-time faves. Here's the cover of the book:

So, we wouldn't have the title or author on the mural. But anyway - I love the book. It was so sweet and cute and reminds me of being little. But I'm not 100% sure if this will work on the wall the way I want it to.

It definitely needs some colour. Just haven't figured that all out yet. Either way - if it doesn't end up on the wall, I love the image and I love what it stands for.

Well, that's about it for me.

I probably won't be blogging while we're off on vacation, as I won't have access to a computer. And I highly doubt I'll feel like sitting in an Internet cafe in front of a computer screen on my time off.

After all, it would interfere with the eating.

And Baby Lemon and I just can't have that.

Just ate lunch. Still hungry. Welcome, 2nd trimester.

And... make yourself at home.

I realize I've always had a bit of a love affair with food, but um... yeah. I am hungry. Like, capital H, Hungry. All. Of. The. Time.

For lunch today I gobbled down a lovely pad thai with lemongrass shrimp, courtesy of Ginger, in the bustling Yonge and Bloor area where I work. And I am now sitting at my desk feeling as if I haven't eaten all day.

Mind you, I did only have a plum as my morning snack. (On Monday, I had an entire bagel, an apple with peanut butter and a hearty helping of cottage cheese as my morning snack. Can you say "lack of portion control"??)

Anyway. Since all I can seem to focus on is food, and since many of you have requested the pictures to keep coming, I now present you with this: A picture of my dinner preparations from Sunday evening.

You've got your mushrooms. You've got your spinach. You've got your red, yellow and orange peppers for colour. Add some philly light cream cheese and a half a cup of skim milk... and voila! Almost all the ingredients needed for a very delicious and healthy pasta primavera!

Mmmm... drooling over the thought of pasta. Love my carbs. LURVE them.

Anyway. On to other things.

Like, my midwife appointment this morning. I met with my midwife, chatted about my family health history, got weighed (I've gained 10 pounds already! EEK!!!!!) (PS: I'm sure this has no relation whatsoever to my not-so-new found love of food) and heard my baby's heartbeat. That was beyond amazing.

Oh, and almost equally amazing, when my midwife was prodding my tummy in search of my uterus, this conversation actually, really, truly occurred:

Midwife: "Do you work out?"
Me: "Uh... yeah. I would say yeah." (I wasn't sure if yoga and walking is considered "working out").
Midwife: "Yeah. You have excellent abdominal muscle tone."
Me: (blink, blink) "........................" (In stunned silence). "Thanks!!"

So, not only did I hear my little Baby Lemon's heartbeat, but I was also told that my tummy is muscular. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

Not a bad start to the day.

Road trip

Andrew and I are leaving for our East Coast Road Trip Adventure in 3 days.

In preparation, we've got a road map (all nicely highlighted by the folks at CAA), a trip tic (or however it's spelled) with detailed maps, a handy-dandy new tripod for our camera and a general idea of where we want to go.

What we don't have is any clothes to wear. I have to do a few giant loads of laundry Thursday night so we can pack everything Friday, as Andrew wants to set out at 7am Saturday morning. (Road trips = painful amounts of driving and no fun, according to Andrew).

Teasing. But - we do want to get to Quebec City on Day 1, which is about 9-10 hours away.

Anyway, so now that it's only 3 days away, that's pretty much all I can focus on. Vacationvacationvacationvacation.

Of course, I do have a midwife appointment tomorrow morning that I'm pretty excited about. Midwifeappointmentmidwifeappointment. (Hmmm... doesn't have quite the same excited flavour to it as 2 weeks of eating, sleeping, seeing beautiful sights and spending time with Andrew does).

Sorry baby Lemon.

Familial feeling

Last night I supped with my cousin Angela, my aunt and my Mom. It was a good ol’ girl/gab/giggling fest.

When we first met up, we all smiled broadly at each other, we hugged, talked quickly and excitedly to catch up. My aunt and my cousin wished me congratulations and gave my tummy a little pat.

And amidst the laughing, appetizers and wine, as I glanced around the table at their faces, I realized something.

I am a very lucky person.

Despite not having seen my aunt in a long time and my cousin even longer, last night I was enveloped in genuine, 100% authentic love.

There’s something so pure about the love of a family. My aunt has always made me feel undeniably special and unquestionably loved by her. My cousin is one of the best people I know. So happy, such a beautiful outlook on life. And my Mom – well, for all of you that know me, or read this blog, I really don’t have to say much more about my incredible Mother.

It made me happy and hopeful for the little Lemon. He/she will have a big family who loves them so much – who loves him/her so much already before having met.

There will always be someone to make Lemon feel special. To make them feel cared for. To hug them when they need to be hugged most. To laugh with them over silly inside jokes. To be excited for Lemon when they reach an important stage in life. To cheer Lemon on, just for being.

Baby Lemon, you’ve got one heck of a start.

And I have one heck of a family.

Picture time!

In lieu of actually writing lengthy updates about how Baby Lemon (new fruit reference) and I are doing, it's time for some pics, folks! (PS: All pics are clickable, for a closer look!)

Here I am at 14 weeks. Mind you, this is right after a hearty breakfast, so my belly is slightly larger than normal. Or, that's what I'm telling myself anyway. Let me live in my dreamworld, dammit!!

Andrew and I thought it would be all super-cute and "first-time-parents" of us to take belly shots every Saturday morning to keep track of our growing baby. Of course, what you don't see behind this picture is the 10-minute bicker-fest we had about where and how I should stand, what kind of lighting we needed, how close he should zoom in and so on. Ah, such love.

And here is my first-ever baby gift! Yay! Baby Lemon received these 3 absolutely adorable onesies from Grandma and Grandpa a few weeks ago. Too cute for words. Grandma has also offered to purchase a glider/rocking chair for the nursery. So generous, me Ma is.

These cute little tiny baby outfits were given to me by my friend Kim. Her boys wore these days-of-the-week onesies, but are now too big for them. She tried not to sob too much as she passed them on to me.

A closer look...


CUTE! That's all I have to say about them.

I can't imagine having a teensy, tiny little baby that fits into these mini outfits.

But I will. And he or she will be well-dressed from Monday to Sunday.

Here's a pic of my handsome hubby. Just cause.

In summation, I'm getting more and more excited for Baby Lemon. Can't wait to have a little squishy baby to hold and dress up and love and hug and all that yummy stuff.

My love affair with Snoogle

Sleep is a wonderful thing, no?

I’ve always loved it. Actually – that’s not entirely true. When I was a little kid, I didn’t recognize sleep for all its many qualities and benefits. But ever since I hit university (a period of time that I look back on and remember great exhaustion), sleep became a dear, dear friend of mine.

So, when I started having trouble with it recently due to lower back pain, I became a little concerned. Was sleep abandoning me? Did sleep think I was too needy? Should I give sleep some room?

Anyway. I decided that sleep had no choice when it came to our relationship. I wanted it. I needed it. And I would have it.

Enter the Snoogle.

I had heard about Snoogle (a body pillow made for pregnant women to stabilize their hips and back and help them sleep) from a few people. So I thought I’d go check it out.

Andrew and I happened to be out for dinner and not too far from a Babies R Us, so we dropped in on our way back home.

I asked the lady working there for the “Snoogie” I had heard so much about. She tried to hide her smile, and directed me to the Snoogles at the front of the store.

And thus began a beautiful friendship.

Snoogle and I have been cohabitating in my bed for the past few nights. And as such, I’ve felt comforted, supported, protected and rested.

I’m happy to report that Snoogle has successfully brought sleep and I back together again. We’ve reestablished our relationship and things are moving along fantastically.

All’s well that ends well.

In awe

It was only a ten-minute appointment.

I went in. Sat and waited. Got weighed. Had my blood pressure checked. And all the other prenatal stuff you do in the 10 minutes allotted to you at the doctor’s office.

But then.

Then the nurse asked me questions. Questions that made me feel like I wasn’t just another patient. Questions that made me believe she was happy for me. She didn’t just look at me. She saw me. Saw my eyes shining with excitement as I looked up at her and described my first ultrasound experience from last week.

And then.

Then the doctor measured my stomach. Told me I was right on schedule. Said that my baby is posterior, resting at the back of my stomach. But all I heard him say was my baby. My baby.

As I walked out of the office, I remembered the 3 little onesies my Mom and Dad had given me weeks ago as a gift. Little elephants and lions and flowers adorning their soft, cotton exterior.

I remembered all this. I felt all this. I glowed with excitement at the future and what it holds for Andrew and I.

And it was only a ten-minute appointment.