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.

Baby update

People keep asking me how I'm feeling (which is very nice), but I'm a little surprised by it. I'm in my second trimester now, when most pregnant women feel their best.

And since those two weeks early on in my pregnancy, I haven't really complained about being tired or sick or feeling plagued by any of the other symptoms that women go through. Because I haven't been. I've been lucky, I guess. (Yes, you may feel free to hate me now. Go ahead. I understand.)

Anyway - so I thought it was time for a little update on my stats. Just to let you know how I'm doing.

How far along: 13 weeks

Next appointment: Tomorrow! Wednesday, August 19th. It'll be my last appointment with my doctor, and then I'm transferring over to midwife care. So excited about that.

Symptoms: Felt a little bit of pain in my abdomen when I coughed last night. Also, I'm a bit sleepy (but that may be due to the whole getting-up-for-work-at-5:30 or 6am-thing). Other than that, I'm pretty good.

Weight gain: Not quite sure yet. I've been avoiding the scale. But I'll find out tomorrow. As I've mentioned, my pants aren't fitting anymore. So, I'm sure it'll be a significant jump in the weight-gainage. (Ack!)

Progress on preparation for baby: None. We haven't thought about the nursery much. I haven't bought any furniture (I haven't even bought myself any maternity clothes yet!) I haven't thought about what I need, or what I'll register for. And even though this is very unlike me, I'm strangely calm about it all. I think I was just waiting for the first trimester to be over and done with.

Size of baby: I found another fruit reference. Baby is now the size of a peach. How cute is that?? Baby Peach says hello!

Exercise: I've been doing a variety of pregnancy DVDs given to me by friends who have had babies, along with some walking. The walking is great. I love walking. Although, I think once the heat wave subsides a bit, I'm going to try jogging again. The DVDs... are good. But make me feel a little silly.

First of all, the "Fit Mama" DVD I'm doing is instructed by a perky blonde lady with a very strong southern accent. And the first 30 minutes of it is devoted to salsa dancing. (I use the term loosely). So... yeah. I feel kind of silly as I "scootch" my hips forward in time to some baaaaad salsa music. But, it's all in the name of staying active and fit, I guess.

The prenatal yoga DVD I've got is pretty good. But the names of the women in the DVD are Shiva, Britta and Poppy. Sort of hard to take seriously. And Shiva, the instructor, says exhale funny. She keeps saying "ex-zale". Over. And over. And over again. I can't really get past that for some reason.

Anyway, that's about it for the update on me. All is going well. Baby Peach and I are now going to try and focus on work.

Thank goodness for the tummy sleeve

Spent another weekend away in Ottawa. This time with the fam. Had a great time. Ate way too much.

Now I can't button my only pair of "dress" pants that I have to wear for a client presentation today.

Too much eating? Or growing baby?

I like to think it's the latter.

I think it'll be nice when my belly finally pops.

Demi Moore, I ain't.

It's almost time to start taking the weekly belly/bump photos, I think.

My belly? It's gettin' bigger, yo.

I've been holding off on this for a little while because, really, the thought of taking a picture of my stomach makes me shudder.

And while all the tanned, cute, tiny pregnant ladies out there take the 6-week/7-week/8-week shots of their perfectly flat little tummy (and then say things like "OMG! I'm so bloated!" or "Baby is growing... I won't be a size 2 much longer!"), I had ZERO desire to take a picture of my fish-belly white, sticky-out pooch of a stomach for all to see.

I've never, ever had a flat tummy. Which is why I'm not quite sure if I'm looking pregnant yet, or if I've just eaten too many cookies. However - it's starting to become clearer that the stomach is growing, and (thankfully!) my other chub areas are not. (The thighs are still looking pretty good. PHEW!)

Hence, the need to document my growing belly for my little Baby Lime to look back on one day and see his or herself growing. (Or, Baby Lime will roll his or her eyes at me and utter "Mooooooom!!" in an exasperated tone as I try wrestling him or her into my lap to cuddle whilst I go on and on about what they were doing inside Mommy's tummy for 9 months.) I can already tell I'm going to annoy the pants off Baby Lime with my mush. (MWA HA HA HA HA!)

Anyway. Perhaps I'll start documenting next week. And I'll post here for all to see. Of course, I'm not doing any of those bare-belly shots either. Clothing will be on. There's some weirdos on the Internet, people.

You know who you are.

No, no... not you. That other person. The weird one. Yeah... that one. You? You're normal and lovely. You can see my belly.

Simply amazing

Oh my goodness, it's REAL!

This baby thing? It's actually real.

I've known all along that I'm pregnant. I've known that the baby changes in size, week by week. I've known that I will be a Mom at the end of these 9 months.

But for some reason? It didn't seem really, truly real until this morning. When I had my first ultrasound.

It. Was. Amazing. I saw the baby opening and closing its little mouth. He/She was swallowing. Baby Lime (that's the new fruit association, btw) was bouncing around every time my belly was prodded. Andrew and I saw his/her little legs crossed. And suddenly, I realized that I have an actual human being inside me.

So bizarre.

I'm 12 weeks now and managed to see so much. I can't WAIT for my next and final ultrasound at 20 weeks when we get to see so much more.

Anyway, after the ultrasound, Andrew and I left the room and waited for my name to be called so I could give some blood. When I went to give blood, Andrew went to go wait in the car. So, I sat down, had my blood taken, left and walked through the waiting room with a big smile on my face... and then - as soon as I got out to the parking lot - I started crying.

(And I'm pretty sure I saw a bit of dampness in Andrew's eyes as he hugged me, too. So cute.)

I'm just so amazed by it all. This is real. I'm going to be a Mommy. I have a human being that's relying on me.

My goodness, this is fascinating.

Zzzzzzz.....

Constant business and pregnancy do not make for a restful feeling.

I'm BEAT today. Very very very very very very very VERY tired.

But, the good news is: I had a great time with my friends in Ottawa over the weekend, I loved having Andrew around with us, I'm pretty sure I can get to bed early tonight and I'm going for my first ultrasound tomorrow morning.

All is well in the world of Hez.

***Edited to add*** In my tiredness, I just realized I wrote "business" instead of "busy-ness". Are they spelled the same?? They certainly don't read the same. Anywho. I meant busy-ness. As in, always busy. I did NOT mean: constant "company or other organization that buys and sells goods, makes products, or provides services". Just to clarify.

Capital City

I'm heading to Ottawa this weekend with Andrew to hang out with some good friends, relax at a cottage and eat and drink to my heart's content. (Well, drink water, that is). Looking forward to the whole weekend. VERY much.

But right now I'm tired. My mind is fuzzy. And I'm not really in a writerly mood. Please forgive the lack of interesting post.

Enjoy the weekend... here's hoping that I'll be much more interesting/fun/exciting when I'm back.

Cheers, peeps.

There's a tear in my beer

So You Think You Can Dance makes me cry.

There, I said it.

Last night, when Jeanine did her solo, and then received a standing ovation, I started crying. Andrew laughed at me. I felt silly. But, there you have it. I'm an emotional being.

This reminds me of other times in which I've cried - times that are not traditional "tear-invoking" situations. Here's just a sample:

• When I went to see The Sound of Music on stage and they sung "Doe a deer". Reason for crying (in my mind, that is)... The music! It's timeless! How can you not tear up at songs that remind you of your youth?
• A sub point to the Sound of Music crying situation: When the man in front of me hugged his little daughter as Maria came out on stage. Reason for crying... A nice, happy Daddy. Hugging his little, adorable daughter, who was all dressed up in the prettiest little evening dress for the theatre. And they were both all excited for the show. That right there is a recipe for tears.
• When I really wanted popcorn one evening. I had thought about it all day. I was all set to make it, when I went to my cupboard and found we were OUT OF MICROWAVE POPCORN. Reason for crying... I really wanted that popcorn.
• When Amazing Race host Phil cried after underdog Charla (who stands at 4 feet tall) came across the finish line. Reason for crying... Phil cried. Come on. Grown man crying. Can't help it.
• When I hear sappy music montages of any sort during movies. (TV shows and commercials also make the list. But movies - oh my lanta - look out. I will cry you a RIVER, during sappy movie music). Reason for crying... I'm a sap. Sappy music speaks to me.

Sigh. Such a rational lady I am, eh?

The fig and the kumquat

Apparently I was misinformed. Last night, Andrew let me know that the fig image from yesterday is far too big to be an accurate representation of our little one.

So, you can't go from cute, little kumquat:

To giant, scary, pear-sized fig:

Instead, our mini-Hez/Andrew, is probably more like this:

Either way, I'm getting hungry.

It's pronounced mid-WIFF-ery. Tee hee

Andrew and I met with a midwife association this morning. Just a quick meet-and-greet, to find out what they offer and provide and all that.

Yeah. They totally had me at hello.

Midwives are AWESOME. Did you know that? Did you? Huh? (I'm pretty excited about it all).

The midwife I met with was so warm and friendly. She explained all about what they do and what I could expect. She made me feel informed, comfortable and happy with all the choices I want to make for my first experience. And she didn't make me feel like I had to give birth at home with just some torn rags and hot water if I wanted midwife care. (In other words, she was totally cool about everything.)

So, I called and left them a message to say that YES! I DO want to have midwife care, starting like, NOW please and thank you. Just waiting to hear back from them to see if they have the room/space. (Apparently there's a long waiting list.)

That's about all that's new with me. Oh - and baby kumquat has now graduated to baby fig. Exciting!! (However, I can't wait until the baby sites start using cute references that I can more easily understand again... like olive. I mean... who knows exactly what the size of a kumquat and a fig are? Not me. Can't say I'm overly familiar with the fig.)

Anyway, just for reference...

This is apparently the size of my mini-me right now.
Such a cute little fig, no??

Sometimes, as a writer, people completely misunderstand you. It happens. It's par for the course. But, while I do understand this, I also don't wish to have any negativity in my life during the absolutely fantastic experience my husband and I are going through right now (that being our pregnancy).

So, if you like what I have to say, please read on. If you don't, please don't bother following this blog. Because my hope is that one day, my child will read this account of their amazing entry into the world and it should be filled with the excitement of loved ones. That's all.

I have too much love in my life to worry about anything else.

Hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend!