The Great Clothing Purge 2015

Anyone who knows me knows I rant and rail against laundry on an almost daily basis. WHY do we have so much clothing?? WHY??

With that in mind, and given that the kids' drawers were literally teeming with clothing, we set out to do a giant purge. I really like the idea of Spring Cleaning, but for me, Fall is when I want to get RID of stuff.

We set aside 2 hours and got to work... dumping out drawers, assessing everything for size and wear and stains. The kids were a big help (if you count throwing clothing in the air and jumping in the piles like piles of leaves "help"...).

Purging is so cathartic though -- if you can put aside the emotional attachment you have to clothing ("Aw this is what she wore when she lost her first tooth!") it just feels good to let things GO.

Queue Frozen tagline in 5... 4... 3...

I'll be honest... I didn't think we had THAT much to get rid of -- maybe a handful of things that didn't fit the kids, and a few things I never wear anymore. So I was shocked when we dumped all the clothes we were parting with down into the front foyer, and ended up with this:

That doesn't even include all the outgrown clothes from the youngest -- her closet is literally full, but she was already down for a nap by the time we finished. 

Now I look in the drawers and closets and instead of feeling overwhelmed and a sense of dread (at the task ahead, of the impending laundry), it's like a breath of fresh air. Everything that's there is there for a reason, fits, will be worn. 

Well... almost everything. Turns out I don't know my kids as well as I thought I did, as the first thing that The Hubs pulled out of Baby Girl's drawer this morning was too small! D'OH! My excuse? She must have grown overnight.... ;)

My Version of "Training" for a 10K

If there's one thing I've learned about myself it's that I like to do research before doing *anything*. I study park maps, read up on planned activities, view places on Google street view before I go there. I like to know what I'm in for.

Training for a 10K is no different, it turns out. I've read about what shoes to buy, what route the course will (should) take, what clothes I should wear, and of course what training programs to consider. How to tackle going from a couch potato to a 10K runner in just over 6 months. I've tried out different apps, downloaded PDFs, plugged in dates and mileage. I've even crunched the numbers to figure out, if I invest in a proper pair of sneakers now (and ditch the $15 Payless cross-trainers), will they last until race day in 6 months? (Answer: yes)

Truth be told, that's all my "training" has been to date. I've decided on a costume (Mini!), searched online for cute accessories for said costume (people are CRAY about their costumes for these Disney running events!). I've bought a bunch of dry-core wicking mesh-lined something or other clothes, and am awaiting their arrival so I can have a little fashion show. These things are important when considering a 10K.

I've plugged in my treadmill. I put my sneakers on, and went out for a 2 k jog a few mornings ago. More walking than jogging. Okay it was a walk.

This isn't the typical training program most people undertake. Baby steps! Plus shopping online is just way more fun than running. I'm starting to think that's half of the appeal of starting a running program in the first place -- the retail opportunities. It's certainly isn't for the RUNNING.

Anyway I've found an actual training program (via runDisney, tailored for the actual event) that will get me to the finish line without dying, so I'm going with it. Since I'm still 6 months out, and the training program is 18 weeks, I still have a couple of months to procrastinate shop research.

Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs: A Freaking 10K?

Anyone who knows me knows I am NOT a runner, or an exerciser. Not by choice anyway (if a wasp crosses my path, watch out, I'm a runnin!)... But I've always said I hate running. I don't know why anyone would want to run. Ever. I have never had a "runner's high", and the whole idea just seemed stupid to me. Like, you just put on sneakers and... run away and back again? WHY?

Until the Spring of this year, when a challenge was laid down by my younger (more athletic) sister to the rest of my family: participate in the Bluenose Marathon weekend in Halifax.

After laughing my head off for a good 2 minutes, I decided... maybe I would consider doing the 5K event. After all, it wasn't a REAL race. I could certainly walk the entire thing if I wanted to, and maybe if I actually trained (hahahah) I could run some of it? Maybe? It might give me a reason to get off my butt and do something other than sit on the couch and avoid eye contact with the treadmill in the corner... Plus it would mean I could participate in my sister's "Pasta Village" event, which included wine. I decided... I was IN.

I'm not going to lie: in the weeks leading up to the event, I tried to come up with reasons I would not be able to participate. Hamstrings? Torn... something? Um... Sick kids? I couldn't come up with anything that would fly... so I bit the bullet, and got my butt on the treadmill a few times. It wasn't horrible. Again... I am NOT a runner, and never have been. But, I gave it a go, and It.Wasn't.Horrible. Truth be told, I kind of loved the feeling of accomplishment I'd get on the days where I'd be heading to work, already having been on the treadmill for 20-30 minutes that morning. "Oh, no big deal, I already worked out today." Yeah, that's pretty cool.

Now, I never did get to the point where I could run a full 5K. By the time the event weekend came around, I was able to do about 5 minutes running and 1-2 walking. I'm not winning any road races here, but not terrible. I did keep telling myself if it came down to it, I could just walk the whole 5K and nobody would care. Plus I was doing this with my 64-year-old mother who, while one of the toughest cookies I know, is also not what you'd call a 'runner'. However, she got it in her head that she wanted to better her previous 5K time (that's right -- after never exercising basically a day in her life she'd suddenly up and decided to do the occasional 5K - you GO girl!!), and so what I thought would be a fairly leisurely pace turned into my own mother yelling, "What's our time??" and then pushing my sister and I to GIV'ER! Amazing! And, honestly... IT WASN'T HORRIBLE! Dare I say it... it was actually *gulp* FUN.

In the end, my time was 43:31... and even though I was thrilled with that, it wasn't the best part. The best part was: I completed a 5K event, people. The energy and excitement around the event and the weekend was electric. I finally "got it": I finally understood why anyone would put sneakers on and just... go run. Despite my own pessimism and steadfast refusal to admit it... I was feeling this running thing.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago, when a group of online friends were talking about the Disney Princess Marathon weekend in February. Again... I laughed. First of all, it's in Florida, and I am far away from Florida. Also, refer back to sentence #1: I'm not a runner. (I have not been on the treadmill or any other form of running since the Bluenose... oopsie.) But... Maybe...?

I hummed and hawed, and then registration day came around. Like a giddy teenager scoring concert tickets for their favourite band, I furiously refreshed my browser 400 times and then felt a rush of excitement as I got through, and was suddenly registered for a 10K.

Whaaaaaat??

So... there you have it. Now I actually have to train, because this isn't just a 5K walk in my home town... we are taking a family vacation to Florida so I can put on a ridiculous costume (Oh yes! That's the best part, you race in costumes!!) and run 10K. And for some insane reason... I am actually excited about this.

Here we go.

My Kids' Tooth Fairy Sucks

Karma's a Bitch, But She's Got a Point

I've had a few run-ins with Karma lately, and it's making me realize you really just need to stop and listen sometimes.

The first run-in was over the holidays. I had a great idea that I should really minimize in the year 2015 -- get rid of anything we don't NEED in our lives. As I was packing up all the Christmas crap stuff, I decided I was just going to do it: I would toss or donate anything I didn't love. Why pack it away and store it for a whole year just to drag it all out again next year, if we didn't really love it? One of those things was a bunch of window candelabras - they don't match our other lights, they're falling apart because they're cheap, and besides they're just a bit ugly. But, old habits die hard...

All the Posts I Haven't Written

Post-holiday Hangover has finally subsided, and I've managed to bust through the haze to bring you this entry. I survived another year and so did you! Go US!

However... this is admittedly a half-baked post. I mean -- I needed to start somewhere. It seems lately I have this bad habit of only writing posts in my head... I know every blogger composes posts in their head, constantly, like a non-stop narrative of life as they go through their day. Thing is, most bloggers actually sit down and WRITE those posts, whereas I've been in this weird loop of developing a (seemingly) great post in my head, life getting in the way for a few hours or a few days, and it's gone. Poof. And repeat.

A few examples of the posts I have had in my head at some point over the past month:

Finding my Voice (and Learning to Shut Up)

When I was younger... much younger (back in the olden days, before the internet) I was a reserved, introverted, quiet loner of a kid. I know... you are all shocked to learn this (haha). Although, even those who knew me back then, and knew I was 'a bit shy', may be surprised to learn just how much it affected me growing up. I think I was pretty good at acting the part, even though internally I was an anxious wreck most of the time.

For some reason in a family full of hooligans (hi y'all!) I was blessed with the gift of social awkwardness. And by gift, I mean curse. It was awful, really -- I wanted to be out there, having fun, carrying on. I wanted to mug for the cameras and have it come easily and naturally. I wanted to have a bunch of friends that I could gab on the phone with for hours at a time. I wanted more than anything to be the type of person who actually ENJOYED that kind of thing. It seemed to me that those people were having a whole lot more fun than I was.

Shooooooot. Two BIG things I did wrong!

So, I fear I may have really screwed up my garden already this year (and it's only March!).


Error #1
Somehow, I think I may have gotten my dates mixed up and started my tomato and pepper plants way too early. How did this happen? I thought I had everything all planned out... I honestly don't know how I jumped the gun like this.

I started the seeds back in February... Thing is, the pepper plants are starting to flower. Now, I don't know if this is really terrible, or if it's okay. From what I remember I needed to start them 6-8 weeks before last frost... but I can't put them out until at least mid-May (and that's with row covers and such). So... yeah. I'm still 6 weeks out NOW, and I've already got crazy growing plants in my furnace room! Ack! Is all lost? Can I keep the plants going under lights until they can go outside? I'll be quite upset if I lose all these adorable yummy little plants.

Consider this a big ole HEAD SLAP from the East Coast.

doh.

Just to be safe, I've decided to start a whole new round of pepper and tomato plants indoors. Just goes to show you, you shouldn't put all of your seedlings in one basket. You never know when an entire tray of seedlings will dry out or what have you.


Error #2
This is a biggie. I used Miracle-Gro seed starter. 

On the surface this might not seem like that big of a deal... but it turns out Miracle-Gro is owned by Scotts. Scotts is the company that knowingly sold poisoned birdseed to customers for over two years... And is apparently also in bed with Monsanto doing all kinds of nasty stuff that's affecting not only the bird population but bees as well.

We all know the bees need all the help they can get, and there's been a huge decline in the bee population around the world, including colony collapse disorder, or CCD. There are many theories about why this is but one major concern is the use of pesticides and pesticide-laden seeds, many of which can be found in the birdseed and grass seed sold by Scotts and Miracle-Gro.

Long story short... I screwed up. I can't recommend the use of Miracle-Gro and I certainly won't keep using their products going forward.

Onward and upward.

Simplify: Try Meditation (it's not just for kooks)

In my quest to live more simply, I decided to give meditation a try. You might wonder what meditation has to do with simplifying... isn't it just another "to-do", something else to get done in the run of a day? Who has the time?

Also - isn't that for people who are a little... you know... kooky??

Let me tell you: it's not just for kooks. And it really DOES help with the quest to simplify, because for a short period of time the mind clutter is cleared away, like a breath of fresh air for your brain. It's actually pretty amazing.

I know, I know - it still sounds a little kooky. But, for someone who really doesn't know what they are doing and is just starting out, I can tell you it really does change your life. Or, at least your day.

Getting a Handle on the Ever Loving Laundry

If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the piles and piles of laundry will disappear all too soon and that you will, to your surprise, miss them profoundly. – Thomas S. Monson

Umm... nope. I will NOT MISS THEM. (The piles I mean. The kids? Sure. The piles?... NOPE.)

It seems that with each new family member you add, the number of dirty clothes grows exponentially. It's truly amazing how much laundry a family of five can produce in just a matter of days. I think back wistfully to the days when I had a "laundry day"... it came around every other week or so, I'd gather up the sheets and a couple of towels, and my clothes and start a load or two. No biggie.

Sigh.

Life Without Facebook

Every year, a friend of mine goes "offline" for Lent. Now, I am not religious at all, but every year I think, That's great! But there's no WAY I could do it. I depend way too heavily on my online interactions every day...

Which is exactly the reason I've decided to do the same this year.

An entire... month?

I won't lie, I am actually having heart palpitations about this right now. It's been exactly three hours since I made this decision, and I've fought the urge to check Facebook no less than a dozen times already.

I realize for a lot of people who aren't online all day, this may sound pretty ridiculous... But I am sadly one of the many Facebook addicts out there.

Just to give an idea of my mental state when I made this decision: my first thought when I made up my mind to do this on a whim this morning was, "But I haven't posted about my break to anyone." Meaning... I haven't prepared anyone for the devastating news that I would not be checking posts constantly, scrolling through my newsfeed, commenting on random things throughout the day, liking anything, for an entire month. How will anyone know what I'm up to? How will I know what everyone else is up to??

Clearly, I am way too caught up in the day-to-day goings-on on Facebook and other social media sites. (Who am I kidding - it's Facebook 98% of the time) I have wasted far, far too much time browsing, reading, checking, looking, mindlessly scrolling. FAR too much time.

So, there it is. Here we go, another digital diet, but this time it's a cold-turkey full-on break from Facebook. I will still be checking email and texts whenever they come in, and writing here, but besides that, you (hopefully) won't see me online in the next month. If I can stick to this.

It won't be that hard... will it?...

(In case anyone is wondering... I will share my blog posts on Facebook during this hiatus, but I can do that from my blog, so no cheating!)

Countdown to Christmas: Family Advent Tree

It was around November 30 last year when I suddenly realised I hadn't done anything about advent calendars for the kids. Now, what childhood would be complete without a countdown to Christmas?? Clearly I had dropped the ball and had to remedy the situation... STAT.

jump to activity list

A frantic search on Pinterest revealed a lot of very cute, some very elaborate advent calendars that just weren't going to cut it. First of all - ain't nobody got time for that. Plus I didn't have a whole bunch of supplies ready to go and no desire to run out to craft stores etc - this had to be something I could whip up on the very last day possible with whatever I had on hand. That's just how I roll. 

As a result, I put my thinking cap on and came up with THIS GEM... which we plan to do again this year and for years to come: A Family Advent Tree.

It's Aliiiiive!

Wow. Just... Wow. What the hell happened to me? I am here... emerging from a pile of dirt and laundry and baby puke to bring you this post...

I've actually written a TON of posts in the past few months. In my head. It seems getting them actually written and posted has proven much more difficult! Instead I'll give the Coles Notes version of my life since my last update (38 weeks pregnant - whaaaat!), and eventually, someday, I will come back to write some more in-depth posts about various topics (like birth!)...

• Remember when I said I'd prefer not to give birth thankyouverymuch? Yeah, well I hit 40 weeks and waved the white flag... I.was.done. Isn't Mother Nature FAB, setting us up for birth like that? Lauren (Baby Girl) was born on Groundhog Day - at 40w 3d and a whopping 9 lb 3 oz. One word: OWIE. Beautiful, healthy, and perfect in every way, except for the lack of a neck (which we later found under several layers of chin). I will update much more on her later - I have nearly 5 months worth of poop and drool to post about! Ha!
• Winter gave way to Spring and I got to work on Garden 2.0. Being the seasoned veteran that I am, I started a ton of seedlings at just the right times, and then waited for the *perfect* time to put them all in the garden. And waited. And... Well that time never came, and I put them all out anyway, and they all died. The end. (Alright, all was not lost, but I'd be remiss if I said I didn't shed a few tears over those poor shriveled seedling carcasses. Fear not: there are a few green things out there. Garden update coming soon, I promise.)
• The Boy turned SIX. Six years old!! He's lost two teeth to date, and is barreling towards the finish line of his first year of Big School. He's still not interested in riding a bike, but has gotten reaaaally good at Mario Brothers and Skylanders. Sigh. His French is now much better than mine (not a huge feat mind you, but considering he didn't know ANY at the beginning of the year I'd say he's surpassed even my expectations).
• The Girl. What can I say - she is REALLY good at her job. Which is, of course, to torment her mother. She is spunk and joy and stubbornness and love all wrapped up and topped with a head of curls. Her newest proclamation: "If you don't let me _____ (have a freezie for supper / go to the store without pants / ride in the car without getting clicked in....etc), I will NOT LOVE YOU!". But I also get plenty of "Watch me Mommy! Watch me! Watch! Want to see my trick??" and she'll balance on one leg or twirl or jump off a huge rock and it's pure awesomeness.

And now, here we are on the first day of Summer. Life is good!! But ohh so busy. We now have THREE giggling children who just won't stop eating all our food and dirtying up the place... And lots of plans to keep us busy over the Summer. Now I really should get to one of the many baskets of laundry whispering my name... But instead I'm going back outside to make hay while the sun shines! Laundry can keep shooting me dirty looks all it wants. Ha! Take that, LAUNDRY.

Diary of a Real Pregnancy: Week 35: Holidaze and a Cheap Tour of L&D

The whirlwind of the holidays means pregnancy 'stuff' gets put on the back burner! I'll tell you one thing, wrapping gifts goes into a whole new dimension when you have this hugeass belly getting in the way. Somehow it all managed to get done (some things a little late, like mailing packages... oops), but man did my back ever pay the price.

Turns out gaining 40+ pounds and being totally out of shape is seriously not a good idea if you want to be able to walk normally. Waddling would actually be an improvement at this point... Most of the time these days I can't even get up from a chair properly, I'm in so much pain. Pregnancy massage is *amazing*, but the relief only lasts for that one hour, and then it's back to hobbling around like an old lady. Super.

On the plus side (pardon the pun ;)), Christmas really has been wonderful this year. I'm enjoying our last Christmas as a family of four, and imagining what it will be like next year with a fifth member of our family crawling (and possibly toddling!) about. Pretty awesome.

Then... Christmas Day. A funny thing happened...

A while back I had been complaining (Nooo not me!) that the hospital where we're going to deliver doesn't do refresher labour & delivery courses or a tour of the facilities. Since we delivered in another hospital the last two times, I just wanted to have a look and get a feel for where we'd be once it was 'go time'... but, no luck.

Anyway back to Christmas day. There we were, bellies full of Christmas Morning Wife Saver (the only acceptable breakfast for Christmas morning!), presents opened, everyone in their PJs just starting to think about getting ready to head over to Nonna & Opa's (my parents). The Girl announced from the bathroom that she'd peed and wanted me to come have a look (aren't 3-year-olds the best?), which I did. Except, in the process of helping her off the toilet, we both ended up falling to the floor. 38 pounds of toddler, right on my belly.

And then...

A puddle. Beneath me. What the...?? I had an internal freak-out session. Did I just pee on the floor? Or... is that... did my water break?? I had no idea what was happening. I got myself cleaned up (meanwhile The Girl reported back to The Hubs that "Mommy peed in her pants!"... sigh) and sat there wondering what to do...

My doctor has been pretty clear as to when to go to Labour & Deliver (L&D): any gushes of fluid, or bleeding. In fact she reminded me of this every time I saw her... and this seemed like a pretty clear 'gush of fluid' to me. Thing is, it's really hard to tell the difference between urine and amniotic fluid :\

SO. Packed the kids up. The Hubs and I exchanging looks like "OMG"... We are, of course, nowhere near ready to welcome a baby home. (Turns out we're more ready than I thought, but having done NOTHING for baby at this point we really were in deer-in-headlights mode...) I threw together a makeshift labour bag, some things for baby just in case, and we headed out. Dropped the kids with my parents, headed in to L&D.

So, I did get my tour of L&D after all... on Christmas day no less. Of course, after monitoring the baby for a while (nurse laughing about how crazy active she is... kicking the monitors nearly off my belly!), and doing their various tests, it was confirmed: I peed myself. Merry Christmas to me!

I was so glad it wasn't baby time but totally embarrassed that we'd gone through all that just to find out I'd peed on the floor. So lame.

But -- it was a wake-up call... It really could be any time. (Course, just watch, I will be a full week late or something, oh dear.) Time to get our butts in gear!

Diary of a Real Pregnancy: Week 29 - Reprieve

For whatever reason, the universe decided to grant me a reprieve from every pregnancy malady that had been affecting me until now. Skin is clear, back feels okay, energy is up, heartburn disappeared literally the minute I paid for the prescription for heartburn meds. (That was weird.)

Funny thing is, it seems without all the 'bad' stuff to talk about, I really don't have a whole lot to say! I don't know what that says about me or my outlook on this pregnancy...! All I know is things are going well this week and I will take it! Of course I am still huge -- someone actually said to me this week, "Wow look at you! You're really... uhh... blooming!" Blooming?? Seriously? Pretty sure she just called me fat! All for a good cause... all for a good cause...

I have started the count-down to maternity leave and am off every Friday for the rest of the year. As well, one huge bonus of having a baby in January: if you accrue vacation while on leave as I was pleasantly surprised to learn I do, you can take said vacation at the beginning of the year (in order not to lose it... my mat leave will go until January 2014)... Meaning, with the vacation I have saved from this past year and the holidays, I'm actually off from December 19 - January 2014. WHAT! :)

That said, the career part of me is conflicted about all that time away. There are some things that I didn't get done that I wanted to... projects that I was leading that I will have to hand off to someone else to finish in my absence. All part of being a working mom of child-bearing age... and I know I have my priorities right by taking the time away to raise this baby at least for a year... But, it's still hard to reconcile that part of me and make that shift, albeit temporarily - putting the career on hold for a whole year (all for a good cause... all for a good cause...). Thankfully, I know it will be there waiting for me when I'm all done with this baby business, and for that I really am thankful.

And I admit... I'm really, really looking forward to being off for a little while, especially the month before the baby is due. I have SO MUCH TO DO!! :)

Previous: Week 28 - Baby Shower!
Next: Week 30 - Retribution

Diary of a Real Pregnancy - Week 25: Heartburn, hobbling, and denial

Alright peeps... I am back! I crawled out of the sick hole like a phoenix rising from the ashes. Waaa-laaaa! Holy heck I hope I don't get sick like that again....

Again with the Gaviscon love!

Heartburn

Now at 25 weeks, and a full 6 months pregnant (whut!), I am left dealing with the awful, awful burning of the heart. Heartburn may not be the worst pregnancy symptom (not by a long shot), but it's so, so annoying. It's just always there. Not bad enough to require actual medication -- and I know some preggos do have to go that route -- but just... always.... THERE. Lurking. Brewing. Burning.

Before this point in pregnancy I could count on a few things that would lead to heartburn (chocolate, garlic, coffee...), but now it doesn't matter what I eat or drink or do, it's there. Annoying. Thank goodness Gaviscon still seems to be working, for now at least. Though when the heartburn went up into my ears this morning, I did have to push aside my half-full coffee. I repeat: I could not finish my coffee. Fair warning: it's about to get bitchy up in this place. (More-so than usual, I mean.) I feel twitchy.


Hobbling

Hey guess what? A huge belly throws off your center of gravity. Heck even a medium-sized belly (*cough*denial*cough*) throws things off. Your back curves in ways that it just shouldn't in order to compensate for the shift. You can't lift things in quite the same way, you move funny. And doing things the way you normally would have before pregnancy means you're in for some pain. I know these things. Everyone knows these things. And yet, either in denial *cough* about my size or just ignoring it because let's face it, crap just needs to get done, I find myself in pain, hobbling around with a sore back once again.

Sigh. I think I really am starting to look like a pregnant lady. No no, not those beautiful glowy upright with-child goddesses. Haaaa hahaha, no. I mean the ones waddling or holding their back and wincing. Yep. That's me.

Which brings me to my next point.


Denial

I guess it's not so much denial but... okay it's denial. I sort of forget that other people can tell I'm pregnant. I work under the general assumption that strangers don't know / can't tell, until they make a comment indicating that they CAN, and then I'm like, Wha-aa? It's not like I'm trying to hide it, just that I try not to look in the mirror much. Or when I do, I think I'm seeing something others can't. What's that called? Body polymorphism? Just plain forgetfulness? Denial?

Case in point: we were at the pool for swimming lessons, I'm sitting by the side. (Thank-you swimming lesson gods for lessons where parents do NOT have to put on a torture bathing suit and parade their lumpy bodies around a damn pool at yuck-o'clock on a Sunday morning! But I digress.) Another parent strikes up a conversation, as they do:
Other Parent: "blah blah my kids blah"
Me: "blah blah kid one, kid two, blah blah"
OP: "Oh so you are having your third?"
Me: HOW DOES HE KNOW? Oh right. Belly. "Yup."

I took a belly picture this week just so I could see for myself what others see.

Bazinga.

Previous: Week 24 - Sick...
Next: Week 26: Doctor's Appointment and Baby To-Do List

Tired Spiral & Self-imposed Screen Ban

This morning, The Boy was talking about how he had a black eye (a couple of weeks ago, Frisbee mishap), but now it was gone. Then he looked at me and said, "But Mommy YOU have TWO black eyes!" pointing to just below his lower lids.

Sigh.

"No honey... those are just my 'mom eyes'."

I'm tired. Always tired. Sure, two small kids and one in the works will tire anyone out... but I admit... I do it to myself too.

I'm caught in the Tired Spiral right now...

Wake up late - morning is thrown off - stressed out - late for work - not productive at work - late leaving work - late getting home with kids - dragging tired self and family upstairs to do the bedtime routine - takes longer than it should because I'm tired - back down to kitchen to clean up, repack bags, make lunch, set up coffee maker...

So by this point it's 9:30 pm or so. What happens next?

Plunk tired self on couch, open laptop, turn on TV. Zone out.

By the time I drag myself up to bed it's 11 pm. If a kid doesn't wake up through the night, one or both will be up early. Turns out, this isn't enough sleep for me! Hit snooze three times, wake up late...

And, repeat. Tired Spiral.

Given that I need to be at work 8 hours of the day and kids need to eat a few times a day, and preferably be dressed before leaving the house, there are some things that just can't go. But screen time? That can go.

There are still things I need to do on my computer on a regular basis (like this!) but what I DON'T need to do is sit down and veg out for several hours. Not only is it a waste of time, it's causing me to lose sleep (once I'm down, it's very hard to get back up!), and that's not good for anyone.

So... I'm thinking about a self-imposed screen ban.

I'll be honest, I'm a bit scared about this. These are habits that are hard to break, especially when you are already so tired (but 9:00 pm seems way, way too early to just... go to bed). How can I cut out something like TV...? All the good shows just started again! Am I really that hooked on TV and my nightly online time that I can't just... turn it off?

No, I can do this. It's really not that big of a deal. But I need a few ground rules.

1. No screen time (TV, phone, laptop) after 9:00 pm
2. Only watch shows that I know I want to watch. None of this 'channel surfing'.
3. If I'm too tired to do anything but watch TV, I need to GO TO BED
4. No phones in the bedroom
5. Free-for-all Friday & Saturday nights. Woo! 
6. No snooze button! I have my alarm set for 6:35 am right now. I should be able to get up at that time.

And YES, before anyone jumps on me, I know... this will all change in a few short months when there's a newborn in the house! Believe me, I'm equally terrified about that, haha.

In the meantime, if anyone has any tips for me for how to just TUNE OUT and TURN OFF and get to bed at a reasonable time of day... please share.

Diary of a Real Pregnancy: Week 17 - Active Baby, and You Are What You Eat

Note I said "Active baby", not "Active, baby". At this point I'm sure a lot of pregnant mamas are doing yoga, swimming, maybe even continuing their aerobics or spinning classes. Not this mama! I think about being more active, a lot, but haven't actually implemented a plan...

No, the active one in this relationship is the baby. Holy heck this child likes to jump and kick! And since s/he is so little there's plenty of room to bounce and roll and catch me by surprise as a reminder that there IS a little person in there. (Yes, I do forget sometimes!)

Also early but very much there now are the Braxton Hicks contractions. Now, when I mentioned these on the blog in one of my previous pregnancies, The Hubs upon reading the blog entry, came tearing upstairs to see if I was okay and what the hell are Braxton... whatever contractions?? They are no big deal, though I will say they've started way early this time -- I don't think they started until closer to 30+ weeks last time. Apparently being a third pregnancy will do that - everything gets going sooner. Right now they aren't too bad since my uterus (gaah I hate that word) is still so small, that it just turns into this hard little ball at the bottom of my abdomen. Weird, but tolerable :)

I also learned a valuable lesson this week about eating right... Now, everyone knows you're supposed to be a pillar of healthy eating while you're pregnant. You have a little one in there to think about, after all. But... well old habits die hard around here, and for me, pregnancy = loss of all willpower when it comes to eating. People say "Take advantage of it, you have the perfect excuse to eat like crap!" Yes well, that's all fine until you can't even function because you feel like such crap yourself.

It all came to a head at the end of this week... I had the day off work and just didn't get off to a good start. I finished a large travel mug of coffee and a bowl of Fruit Loops for breakfast, didn't eat again until noon, and by then I was a crazed lunatic frothing at the mouth (just ask The Hubs, who watched this transformation take place in a furniture store... not pretty). I ended up buying, and eating, a quarter of a pizza in about 26 seconds, and downing a can of gingerale. Ahhhh! Much better. I later spent some time outside in the sun and heat, and I just craved freezies... I ended up having 3 or 4 freezies and then found myself standing at the fridge gullping juice from the container... Can you see where all this is going?

By 4:00 pm I felt so gross that I just wanted to pass out. The Hubs took one look at me and calmly but convincingly told me to get myself to bed. I said I was only going to sleep 20 minutes ("I have an internal clock") because I had stuff to do. He'd get the kids from daycare.

5:30 pm he wakes me up and suggests he can take the kids out for supper ("yes please!"). I tried to get up but couldn't move until 6:00. I felt AWFUL.

Now I don't know if baby was doing some crazy growing and it just wiped me out, or if it was the bad nutrition, but I'm not taking that chance again. It may be the perfect excuse to eat like crap but that doesn't mean you SHOULD, unless you want to feel like crap yourself. Lesson learned... eating right (and drinking water! craving freezies all afternoon should have been a clue to get some H20 in me!) actually IS important. Duhhhh...

Previous: Week 16 - I Feel (Not) Pretty...
Next: Week 18 - Not Much 

Diary of a Real Pregnancy: Week 14 - Mush Brain and Baby Names

... huh?...

This week was a follow-up prenatal visit with my doctor, which nearly didn't happen because of the whole Mommy Brain + Pregnancy Brain = Mush Brain. Being so focused on the ultrasound and telling the world our news, I completely forgot to make an appointment for this week. Thankfully my doc is awesome and squeezed me in at the last minute.

Of course having the Mush Brain means also forgetting that prenatal appointments involve peeing in a cup. Oh yeah you didn't know that either? I have this silly habit of making sure I use the washroom before I going anywhere these days... Which is why I found myself in the doc's office washroom, hovering over a teeny tiny cup, thinking "Surely I can squeeze out a few drops..." And is it just me or is aiming into those cups like some kind of a weird carnival game... but without the big stuffed bear at the end? Could they not make these things more like a funnel or something? Is it possible to pee in the cup without getting it all over yourself? No, it's really not.

In any event it turns out a few drops is all they need to do their 'tests'. Which is good, since I'm sure I could not repeat that performance or squeeze out another drop. I've gained 3.5 lbs to date, which I really don't understand since I've been eating like a maniac pothead for weeks now.And, the BEST part of the appointment... hearing the baby's heartbeat! The doc was able to find it right away - yay! Clearly I'm an idiot as I'm been trying to find it with my own home Doppler (don't ask) for weeks and nothing. It sounded lovely too :) 155 bpm. Just right.

Now, I know this is going to sound crazy... but I swear this week I started to feel some movement from baby. Being only 14 weeks and the baby is now the size of a lemon, I'm a bit confounded as to how this is even possible... but I swear there have been a handful of little "bump"s this past week. it feels just like if you gave yourself a quick little poke in the belly... but on the inside. Even having been through this a few times before, that feeling never gets old, especially the first few times.

This week the kids also started suggesting names for the wee one. The Girl is partial to "Elmo", and "Baby Sister" (wishful thinking), but has also suggested "Plate" and "Table". The Boy told me last night he likes "Abby" for a girl and "Max" for a boy. Lovely names... but I think "Plate" has a nice ring to it, don't you?

Previous: Week 13: And Now the World Knows
Next: Week 15 - I'm Old, and The Talk

Why Moms are so freaking stupid

You know that moment when you're in the middle of a conversation and you suddenly lose your train of thought... or say, "Did you tell me that already?". If you're talking to another parent, they'll likely say "Oh no worries." -- because they know. But your childless friends will look at you like "WTF, are you seriously that stupid? We literally just talked about that yesterday! You texted your husband to relay the story! You can't be that dense.". Well let me tell you: yes, yes we can.

Here's the reason: as moms, we have no less than four-hundred-and-fifty-five-thousand 'important' things running around in our brain at all times. It's a constant cycling of things to do, things to remember, things to get, people to talk to, oh right that thing I need to remember to do... it's relentless. I know I'm applying a vast generalization here, but it seems to me that Dads just don't suffer from this particular phenomenon. Either they're not thinking about all these little details, or they've found a way to keep track of crap that doesn't involve the constant to-do list scrolling past their medulla oblongata. I'm pretty sure they just don't think about all this stuff. Really, do the Dads know when registration dates are without hearing it from Mom?

Yes, the children also ate our brain when we were pregnant, so there's that... But it's The List. The non-stop frigging LIST. And here's the thing: if we need to jam something else in there, like whatever it is you just told me and said was 'critical', well something else is going to have to go, because I can't fit another thing in there. When you see me standing in front of the PIN pad at the grocery store, trying to remember my PIN (the same one I've had for 15 years), you'll understand why. Something had to give.

Here's just a sampling of the types things an average mom will have running through her head at all times.

• little one needs more diapers at daycare
• Bake Sale next week
• ran out of chilli powder last time we made chilli
• swimming registration this week... must remember to log in first thing Wednesday morning...
• must find out where that smell is coming from
• father-in-law's birthday next week or -- crap -- was it last week?
• did I remember to record The Bachelor? must check DVR...
• car is out of gas... again... must fill up before work tomorrow
• do I have pants for tomorrow?
• when was the last time I called my mom?
• it just occurred to me I didn't check to make sure the big one was wearing underwear today
• argh, the litter box...
• is this the last diaper? in the whole house?
• the kid's dentist appointment next Tuesday (alternative: when was the last time the kid was at the dentist?)
• why is my eye twitching like that?
• file taxes... right...
• what did I just step in? must clean the floors...
• library books due back next weekend
• what did we sign up to bring in for the class party? more importantly why did we sign up?
• should email some photos of the kids to the grandparents
• when did I change the sheets last?
• that damn lightbulb still needs to be replaced
• where did I put my keys
• seriously, What.Is.That.Smell.
• oh crap have to take the casserole out of the freezer
• really need to book a sitter for Friday night
• should the kids be taking a multi-vitamin?
• have to decide on summer camp before all the spots fill up
• when does the car insurance run out again?
• have to make a hair appointment... like last week
• kids' snow pants need to be dried for tomorrow
• did I lock the car?
• the big kid needs a replacement set of spare clothes for school
• how do we only have one glove for all six pairs?
• do we have cash for the babysitter?
• pay the cell phone bill
• must make our summer vacation plans
• wait, is the Bake Sale tomorrow?
• Scholastic order due on the 10th
• what are we doing this weekend
• is the little one due for more shots soon?
• we should be contributing to a college fund. Or two.
• must plan the big one's birthday party next month
• pretty sure none of the little one's pants fit anymore
• is there a kid's birthday party this weekend?
• this is the last bottle of wine. For all that is good and holy do not forget to pick up more wine.