Random thoughts on this whole baby thing [@ 22 Weeks]

*Overall right now I'm feeling great! Definitely in that 2nd trimester bliss that people often talk about. My energy levels are back to normal (I'm still super lazy, but not worse than before baby), I don't feel sick, my appetite is good, I'm still sleeping semi-decently during the night, no pain or discomfort or anything else too weird. My only complaint is that I have no clothes to wear! My belly seems to be getting bigger by the day now, so finding clothes (especially pants) is getting difficult. I wear more skirts/dresses now than ever before! Also my skin is getting pretty tight and itchy, and I'm starting to worry about stretch marks (pregnant moms out there, what are you using to prevent stretch marks?)

*My nesting instinct is starting to kick in, and since I don't have a nursery to work on (we won't be living where we are now when the baby's born...we don't know where we'll be living yet! It's kind of sad/scary), I have decided to just focus on our household items. I'm thinking a major purge will soon be in order, as part of my plan to try and live simply with this baby.

*I'm still nowhere near ready to buy a crib, stroller or car seat. I have, however, started purchasing cloth diapers and will start buying other little knick knacks soon. I'm still procrastinating though and I'm not sure why (probably has to do with the lack of a visual space to put all this stuff in, it's really starting to get to me...)

*Our experience with the ultrasound was much better than our experience with hearing the heartbeat. The people at the IWK are wonderful and took plenty of time to pay attention to me (that's what you get when you are 'high risk'* I guess). Anyway, we saw it and I must say I knew what I was looking at most of the time...and then they said it was a boy, and I just shook my head and kind of laughed, because I was surprised but not surprised at the same time, with 5 grandsons in a row I was bound to fall prey to the Flynn genes. Dan of course was thrilled. Now I'm very used to the idea (though I still call him 'it' sometimes by accident...oops!)

*I'm not sure how I feel about all the tests and attention that is being paid to me. In many way I don't feel high risk at all (just like I've never felt 'sick' before getting pregnant), but I'm also very glad and thankful that someone is there watching out for me in case something I don't' know about goes wrong. Sure, it means undergoing lots of tests, lots of appointments, and not getting the birth of my dreams, but if it means having a healthy little baby (and a healthy little me), then I can make those sacrifices.

*I'm starting to think about Maternity/newborn shoots that I'd like to do, and the more I think about it the more depressed I'm getting...having him in the dead of winter (mid-Feb most likely) is not ideal for taking adorable newborn shots, and neither is December for a maternity shoot. Also, depending on where we are living, the conditions might not be very well-suited for taking lots of pictures. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to make the most of it, Canadian winter and all! (Perhaps a winter maternity shoot outdoors? Does anyone have any links to something similar?)

*We're still nowhere set on a name...back in September we had made our 'short list' of baby names that we liked for both boys and girls, and I fell so in love with all the girl names that I kind of forgot/didn't care as much about the boy names, so when we found out it was going to be a little garçon, all the names on that list stopped appealing to me, so we're basically starting from scratch again. I have my old standbys but I imagine in the next couple of months we'll have to nail down a name. For now he's just called "bébé".

*Feeling him move is definitely one of my favourite parts of this period. He started nudging at around 19 Weeks but now he's full out kicking and punching me, I love it! (Last night he gave me a headbutt or something, it was the strongest one yet and I jumped!) He doesn't move a ton but as the weeks are going on I think that this will change. Dan has even felt a nudge or two, which I absolutely adore.

*I feel like now is the time that I need to 'get stuff done', since I feel fine and am not too big or uncomfortable, so my mind is jumping ahead when it comes to tasks like Christmas, packing for the move, getting things for work ready, etc. I'm not sure how much I will get done but I know that right now my brain is just buzzing with all sorts of thoughts and ideas.

*Dan has been great, as always, though to be honest, you can tell that he's starting to really notice me being pregnant, if you know what I mean. Which is ok by me, we were both prepared for it to happen, and we are still the same as always, I just get a snide little comment every now and then :)

*For those that may not know, I was diagnosed with a genetic disorder in Jan '08 called Marfan Syndrome. It's basically a genetic disease that affects the elasticity of your connective tissue. It can affect several parts of your body, the most serious being your heart. Luckily my symptoms are very mild (except for my eyes, I'm blind as a bat), but there are still complications that can happen during pregnancy (again, especially related to the heart), so I'm automatically considered 'high risk'. I'm having an echo cardiogram and an MRI in the next couple of weeks to check on my heart, and they are going to watch the baby more closely through ultrasounds to make sure that he is growing properly and that everything looks ok. Because of the Marfan it also means that I will most likely have to have a c-section in order to reduce any possible strain on my heart. Kind of sucky, but not the worst genetic anomaly I could have.

November Goals

Well, November is here, and I must say that I'm not as sad about it as I usually am. November for me usually brings images of grey skies, rain/snow, no holidays and dark nights. Nothing special, basically. But for some reason I'm looking forward to this month, I'm looking forward to seeing how my belly will grow, to getting the results from a bevvy of tests I'll be taking (more on that in another post), and of course, to getting ready for the holidays. So, inspired by Janel and Kara and many others, here are my goals for November (craft, work, baby and life related, in no particular order):

*Make a Christmas music playlist and upload it to my phone

*Research washer and dryer prices

*Pay off one credit card, start paying off the other

*Buy more cloth diapers (possibly online to save some pennies)

*Start prepping for handmade Christmas presents (research, gathering supplies, etc)

*Set a date for holiday craft making with the girls from work

*Write to Jelena (with pics!)

*Make the cute little trees found above, come up with cute display (I've already taken out my little trees, I love them for all of winter, not just Christmas!)

*Work on Consulting pitch for my job

*Go through clothes and household items, find what I can give away before we move

*Make an Operation Christmas Child box

*Research cribs/car seats/strollers

*Aim to do at least ten 52Q cards (or more)

*Start a few Christmas decor projects

*Wash and pack baby clothes that I've bought so far

*Work on new blog design (so please excuse the mess for the next little while)

*Print more pictures from the last couple of months

*Record my Week 14-20 vlog and take my Week 22, 24, and 26 belly shots

*Blog at least twice a week (and write the posts ahead of time)

*Throw out BBQ and clean off porch before snow comes

*Put items for sale in Etsy shop

*Make new baby name list

*Buy supplies needed to start December Daily album (including some cute vintage number tags); start building book and think of journaling prompts ('cause I know I'll need them!)

*Buy supplies needed for Christmas cards and look for some cute samples (like this one)

*Practise embroidering

*Take at least 10 self portraits (not just belly shots)

So that's quite the list! I'll check back in December to see how it all came along. My energy levels feel quite high right now so I'm going to try and take advantage while I can!

And, because I'm such a geek (and a sucker for a hot guy in a chunky sweater or awesome coat), here are some shots of our fav vampire, Robert Pattinson, brooding as always. Only 18 days 'til New Moon! (but who's counting...)

Happy Monday everyone!


G.

Spooky Gifting

Happy Halloween everyone!

I've said it a couple of times already, but this year I wasn't as into Halloween as I usually am (it's usually my favourite holiday, even above Christmas). I'm not sure why that was, I think the main reason was because I didn't have anyone to do activities/crafts/baking with. Last year Heather and I had a big calendar with all our activities planned out for the month, and we did lots of silly things, but this year I was on my own, so I just wasn't into it.

I wanted to do something though, so I decided that if I couldn't be with my friends for Halloween, I could make and send them little Halloween packages so that they would remember the fun that we used to have and still get into the spirit a little bit. So all month I went about making up the packages. Here's a shot of what Anna's package looks like (Heather's was basically the same except for the picture frame, she got the mini that I blogged about below.)

Since I'm not able to drink this Halloween, I each gave the girls a shot glass with some spooky drinks for them to try in my place. They sounded sooo yummy, Dan is drinking Banshees tonight, I'm a bit jealous.

Candy corn, of course, in a hand-painted little box.

The main thing I made for the girls was a "magickal herb/spell kit" I included herbs that had qualities I wanted for each of them (fidelity from their boyfriends, success, visions to their futures, happiness, etc), and I also included a personal 'spell candle' for each. Heather's is the 'love spell' because I want her and her bf to get married (ha!), and Anna's is the 'amber moon spell', which is supposed to help you find your way in life (she's currently trying to decide what she wants to do career wise.) I got the herbs and candles from a local...witch?...store that sells all these things, it was really fun to check out!

Herbs and Magick candle label.

I made this little frame for Anna, it has a great creepy quote in it, I hope she uses it next year for a decoration and thinks of me :)

So today was mostly comprised of cooking and baking...I made Dan his beloved molasses-spice cake (that he only gets once a year), and I also tried something out of Martha Stewart's Halloween magazine, sausage-apple handpies, they turned out yummy! I think tonight we'll just be hanging out, I've been handing out candy for the past hour or so (I had a little bucket of candy necklaces sitting in my porch, and some punk kids stole the whole bucket! grr.) I'm looking forward to next Halloween already though, when I'll have my own little pumpkin to take out trick or treating :)

Hope everyone has a fun night, whatever you're doing on this All Hallow's Eve!

Spooky Scrapping

So my "big" scrapping project for the month was this mini I made as a Halloween present for my friend Heather. It was quite fun and quick to do once I got the idea in my head of what I wanted to do. I used photos from our Spook session last year, and bought a really cute Fall paper pack from Michael's. The rest of the supplies was just old stash, which is always nice to use. I chose a few "creepy" quotes to include, split it up into the 3 main locations we went to, and voilà! A Halloween-inspired mini. She just received it yesterday so I can now share :) There was also more in the package I sent her (I also sent one to my friend Anna), but I will wait until I get word from her that she received hers before posting what was in the packages (they were basically the same...) I love doing things like this, I'm much more inspired to make things when they are going to be gifts for other people (and I'm hoping that this motivation will carry over into my Christmas gifts this year...more on that later.)

Anyway, here are the pages, if you want to see more I posted close-ups of each pic on my Flickr.

I've done some more scrapbooking (non-Halloween related), but it gets so dark so early these days that the sun goes down before I get a chance to take pictures of them, so hopefully I can do that this weekend.

What spooky scrapping have you been doing lately? Or have you moved on to working on your December Dailys already? (I can't wait to start mine!)

Night night.

Saw this on Kara's Tumblr today (who found it on KC's Tumblr...both very interesting.) Love it so much, and wishing I could be brave and motivated enough to live it.

Be back later today with more scrappy goodness and rambles.

Happy and inspiring Thursday to you.

10 years later, I still love 'em...

Last night Dan and I went to see one of my favourite local bands, Hot Toddy. They've been around for a looong time, but I first saw them about 10 years ago when they came and played at my high school. And pretty much since then I have seen them play at least once a year, sometimes more (though I did miss a few years here and there). I just love this trio's mix of blues, folk and bluegrass, while still seeming 'young' and not too 'country', if that makes sense. Very chill. Anyway, it was a great show and I'm glad I got to see them since it will probably be the last time for awhile (they don't play much together anymore...and oh yeah, I'm having a baby.)

*Aside: I hardly ever drink alcohol, like really hardly ever, but last night Dan was having White Russians at the bar and ooooh man did I want one (or a Vodka lime, for that matter.) It's funny how you just want things when you can't have them.

Anyway, my favourite song of theirs is called "Hard Times". It's so beautiful, I really wish I had a full clip of it for you to hear (you can check out their website though and purchase an MP3 if you're interested.) I made a layout using the lyrics about 2 years ago, back when Dan and I were separated for the 40 millionth time (well not really, but like the 4th or 5th time anyway.)

Thom Swift (the guy who wrote this song) is my favourite in the group and he's actually from the same little dirt patch that Dan is from (McAdam), which is kind of funny, he used to coach Dan's brother hockey. Small world. He's coming out with a solo record soon and he played one of his songs last night, I can't wait to hear the rest.

"I was in a hurry,
To be out on my own
You can't turn back time,
But if I could,
I would go back home."

Sigh, love.

The only video I was able to find of them on YouTube was this one, this is one of their many instrumentals called "Morning" (but personally I think they have much better ones than this one.) Hope you enjoy it!

Cloth Diapers=Woah

So I've been researching cloth diapers on and off for quite awhile now (even before I was pregnant), but only today did I really buckle down and do the research needed to see what I thought I would like, and more importantly, what it would cost us. I think I've made my decision, but I wanted to post here and see if any other cloth-diapering mothers out there could give me some advice on my choices. (Plus it's Saturday night and Dan has gone out to a party, so I'm all alone and have nothing better to do, ha!)

The main thing I've decided to do is to get a variety of types of diapers, so that I can find out what I really like and then adjust accordingly when little Kid A gets older (or for the next baby...)

Because of their price value, I've decided to buy 2 packages of Bummis Organic Cotton Prefolds, one for Infants and one for Baby. Each comes with 6 diapers and from what I can tell, they are fairly easy and good to use, even when (and maybe especially when) the baby is really small. I will probably use these mostly on days when it's just me and the little one at home, so that Papa won't have to use them too much, but I'm sure he could learn if he had to. For our budget (less than $500 from birth to potty training, including all accessories), this seems like the best way to go.

To go with these of course I'll need some Snappies (I'm not really aware of any other kind of closure devices, are there others out there?), and some covers/wraps. Based on the reviews I've read, the Bummis Super Whisper Wraps are the best multi-purpose use wraps, they fit well over prefolds, flats and fitted diapers, even non-Bummis brand ones. So I'll be buying 4 of these, 2 with Velcro closures and 2 with snap closures (the woman at the store said that snaps are better for older kids since they are harder to get off.) The patterns are so cute!

Another type of diaper that we'll be getting is the fitted kind. These will be easier for Dan and the grandparents to use, but are still cheaper (generally) than pocket and all-in-one diapers. I haven't done a ton of research on different kinds, but another mom recommended Sandy's Mother-Ease fitted diapers since they are super absorbent and long-lasting. So the plan is to buy 3 of these at the moment, and if we really like them I'll probably buy more.

Since we don't have a huge budget we won't be able to afford many pocket and all-in-one diapers, but I did buy 3 Fuzzibunz Pocket Diapers today because they were 24% off and seemed like a good way to ease into our cloth diapering purchases. I've only heard/read good things about Fuzzibunz so I have no doubt that I won't regret buying these.

So that's what I have planned out so far. The cost will be about 250$. This still only equals 18 diapers and 4 wraps (9 for up to 15-20lbs and 9 for 20lbs+, plus 2 covers for each weight category), so I realize that I'll definitely need more, but I'm hoping to find some 2nd hand and/or receive a few as gifts to fill in the gaps, and if not I'll most likely fill in the gaps myself with more prefolds or fitted diapers, and only count on my luxury diapers for special occasions. But overall I'm quite happy and excited for trying this out, I realize it's going to be some work, but I'm lucky (?) in the fact that I haven't changed a lot of diapers in my life, so I'm not used to disposables by any means, so if this is all I know then it should be easy.

Now, ideally, if I had all the money in the world, there are some cloth diapers I would definitely buy, like the Bum Genius all-in-one diaper, (or even the Fuzzibunz all-in-one diaper-as opposed to the pocket version I have), and the Bummis Bamboozle Fitted Diaper looks really nice too. And for the mother of all wool covers (with a price tag to boot), is the Aristocrats Wool Soaker.

I also love the idea though of handmade knitted wool diaper covers (even though I know they are not as absorbent), but for the cuteness factor alone I would suffer through some leaks. I mean, look how cute this is! (Mama, si tu es entrain de lire ceci, voici un autre projet pour toi, haha)

Photo from here

So that's about it. My main source so far as far as cloth diaper education and reviews go has been Simple Mom, she has a wonderful series on cloth diapering that completely sold me on the idea long ago. I've also been checking out The Diaper Pin for reviews on items Simple Mom doesn't have listed. There are so many brands out there though, it's hard to know which ones to go with, so I've basically stuck with the most popular brand names, but if there's one that I'm missing, please let me know! (I've also chosen these brands because they are available locally at a wonderful local baby boutique called Nurtured, it's gorgeous in there, and they sell mostly natural/eco-friendly products, check out their site!)

So, cloth diapering mothers, what advice do you have for me? Mothers-to-be, are you thinking about cloth diapering and if so, what brands/types are you leaning towards? I'd love to hear from someone else, since it's such a large investment and part of your child's (and your) daily life, it's important to make good choices.

Or am I just nuts and obsessive on this Saturday night?

I may just be.

PS-I totally plan on using disposables sometimes, especially when he's just a tiny itty-bitty newborn and maybe near the end when they are potty training, or just to have a pack around for nighttime/travel, but I'd like to be about 80% cloth diapered.