Close to the 6 Month Mark

I'm definitely an obviously pregnant lady these days, but I don't mind much. Just a few more months to get through now. We're still making progress on my "Get Done before Baby Arrives" list, and although Trev's time off didn't feel like much of a holiday, it was certainly a very productive time. We got a lot of sorting and tidying done, tackled a few long-neglected tasks, and tried to have a bit of fun too.

The time we spent out in Saskatchewan was great, although the drives out and back were not. The back spasms that plagued me with my first two pregnancies came back to haunt me within an hour of setting out, and made life uncomfortable. Sitting for extended periods of time will be avoided for the summer. Still, it was great to see Trev's family.

Trev's back at work now, and we've settled into the regular routine again. I like routine, and the kids are settling down a bit now that things are more predictable. Adara's got a new (at least to her) bike this year, and is loving riding about whenever we head outside. Connor isn't much interested in his tricycle and prefers running along. We're enjoying the start of warmer weather, and are outside a lot. Life is good.

Hormones?

I feel like there is just so much to get done before Lil' Baby Bump arrives, it's making me frantic when I think of it...which is often. I thought perhaps I was making a mountain out of a molehill, so I sat down and started a 'brain dump' list of all of the things I was worrying about finishing. At the end of my scribbling, I had 51 things and I didn't feel like I had covered it all. However, I was determined to make some progress, so I categorized the items, and left room for more in each category. My ever-patient Trev, seeing my distress, is helping me chip away at the list, and I'm hoping that will help the anxiety levels. That, and prayer...a LOT of prayer.

This past week was a very long week indeed, as Connor continued to be sick, crabby and clingy right through to today, and Adara was over-excited from all of the birthday hullabaloo and took several days to get back to her sweet self. The snow did NOT help, and the snow coming down right now and predicted for tonight, tomorrow and Tuesday is not helping either. Grrrr. Enough whining, though, let's focus on the positive.

I've finished the 16 pages that completed my last photo album, had them printed at Costco, and then put them into the album. I am so pleased with the quality of the 12"x12" photo pages! The embellishments really do look three-dimensional. And the best part was it only took a grand total of two hours to do the 16 pages for Adara's album, since there were only two pages I replaced with new ones; for the rest I just edited the text and swapped out a few of the photos! So her pages have now been sent in, and I'll pick them up in a few days and can start tackling the new albums. I was leery of digital scrapbooking, I must admit, but I can't see going back now. The kids will all have their own photo albums for when they grow up and start families of their own, with so little extra effort.

What else has happened on the good side? I've been monitoring Freecycle carefully the last little while, and this past week I got a fishbowl and free betta stuff, as well as a box of size 6x/7/8 clothing to put away for Adara's future use (she'll be wearing size 6 very soon). We have just tonight installed a resident betta into the fishbowl, and he is Adara's first official pet. She has named him "Smart Fish", I call him "Red Angus", and to Connor he is "Fishy". We'll see how he does as part of the household.

Oh, and I've finally been transferred to a maternity clinic. After 3 months of promises that it would happen any day. The good news is that the clinic isn't far away, which will make the many trips there for checkups easier. The bad news is that they're affiliated with the hospital in the NE part of Calgary, so visiting the hospital will be a much further drive (but at least I only have to go there once). And if it is in fact a scheduled C-section, then there won't be the frantic rush to the hospital, either.

So there has been good news, really there has. And once my head cold dies down and the snow finally goes away, I'll be much more willing to dwell on it. *smile*

Fluttering Thoughts of the Day

I'm at 17 weeks today. Seems like a long time since I started wearing maternity clothes, but I comfort myself with the thought that in another 6 weeks or so I can start wearing the more summery stuff, which will be all new to me. Ah, the frivolous things that consume our thoughts! *grin*

We got hit with the stomach flu last week; Trev, the lucky fellow, got it first, recovered, then got it again from me. He had to work Saturday to make up for the days he spent at home feeling miserable. Now he and I are both fighting off head colds. Hello, spring! The weather's all over the place here, one day it's +11 and the next there's a winter storm warning out. Part of the reason there's so many colds and flus wandering about, I think.

We're chipping away at the little things, despite it all. We went through our books, and gave away three book boxes full to the Calgary Symphony Orchestra's annual book sale. I adore books, and giving them away feels a little akin to donating my children, but I tried hard to be ruthless this time. We still have over two 6' bookshelves full, so we're not book-poor by any means. There's still a few things to organize in the basement, and a few odds and ends still to sell or give away in the garage, but we're definitely getting there.

I'm now only two pages away from finishing the sixteen pages that will finish my last half-done photo album. This will bring me up to the end of 2006; progress, but still a long way to go. I find it's going faster, though, now that I'm gaining expertise at using the scrapbooking program.

Otherwise, I'm trying hard to get reengaged with normal life again. I'm finding it difficult after living in survival mode for several months, to get back into menu planning and budgeting and all of that. I find it hard to care about those things after letting them slide, but I know it's important that I do. I'm also finding it hard to get into things with the kids, make the days interesting for them. They've been so good about amusing themselves that it feels much easier to let them keep doing it...but I'm missing out on the chance to connect with them, to encourage them and teach them and do all of the good things that I'm a stay at home mom for! So I'm trying to make the choice, whenever I see it, to get involved.

Life progresses, slowly but steadily, and I hope to make good use of the days.

Finally, a Bit More Energy

Today was the first morning I've had a bit of energy, it felt great. I cleaned the toilets and the sinks (finally), washed the sheets and the towels, took the kids to the local health food store, and sorted through the last of the mason jars. All before lunch!

Have I told you about my mason jar stockpile? I got hooked on garage sales primarily because of my first great deal, these mason jars. I got (I kid you not) more than a dozen big boxes of assorted jars for $10. Hundreds of jars. When I usually have to buy a box of a dozen jars for $6, it was an awesome deal. Anyway, we carried these jars around for three moves, all the way down to Calgary. Trevor finally said "enough's enough", so I sorted through them. First of all, I weeded out the big jars (holding 4+ cups) because I don't have a pot big enough to process them anyway. There were more than seventy. Good grief. Then I sorted through the smaller jars, keeping 4 dozen 500mL jars, 1 dozen 375mL jars, and 1 dozen 250mL jars. I still had over 4 dozen assorted smaller jars to give away. As usual, there were several people on Freecycle who wanted them, so the big jars are gone and the small ones are getting picked up tomorrow. This is rather an extreme area for simplifying and winnowing down belongings, most areas haven't been nearly this bad, but it's good to get it done.

The menu plan is going over very well. I thought I'd post a list of my dinner meals, the recipes are all a hit with Trev and I, and the kids like most of them.

Week 1: Spaghetti and meatballs with salad; Cianfotta (Mediterranean vegetable stew) over brown rice; spiced chicken wraps with salad/veggies; Kichiri (Indian lentil curry) with homemade chapati; steaks, baked potatoes and veggies; cockaleekie (chicken and leek) soup, salad and homemade scones; homemade pizza and raw veggies.

Week 2: Pasta with pesto sauce and salad; chili over brown rice; burgers, oven fries and raw veggies; chicken curry over brown rice with salad/veggies; lentil veggie soup with salad and homemade scones; chicken Provencal; grilled fish, baked potatoes and veggies.

A lot of the recipes have easy variations to make it not seem so repetitive. We'll have to see what everyone thinks when we've run through the cycle two or three times.

Simplifying in All Respects

These days the urge to simplify has become even stronger. Not sure why, but I can't see a downside so I'm going with it. Anything that minimizes wasted time and effort must be good, yes?

I'm revamping my holiday planning for next year with a vengeance. No more doing things just because I've done them for years. No more wasting days making things for people who really don't need (or worse, won't appreciate) what I've made. I'm not saying I won't make things - I love crafts - but I will choose my recipients, and the number of recipients, much more carefully. No more fussing over things that just aren't important to Trev or I. And much more focus on what does matter. We started a Jesse tree tradition this year, and I'm liking it a lot. I've found a few other things I'd like to try next year that help us to focus on the Christ in Christmas.

I'm getting a digital scrapbooking program to do my albums with (my Christmas present from Trev) to cut down on the time it takes to scrapbook. This one hurt, as I really do love the paper part of scrapbooking. But I got painfully honest with myself and said 'Look, it's either you do it this way, or you're eventually going to get so far behind that you'll give up'. It's true. So I'm going to give digital scrapping a try and see if it helps.

I'm going through my craft supplies. If I can't see a good reason for using it, it's gone. I've got way too many odds and ends.

I recently picked up a set of clear boxes to go in our toy storage shelves. Sorting through the toys, colouring and art supplies, puzzles and all the rest is a good way to pick out all of the things that the kids don't like or don't use, as well as the occasional piece of junk that has crept in.

I'm reorganizing my papers. I got two more portable filing boxes, and will have one for all of our owner's manuals, one for old papers, and one for current papers.

It sounds crazy perhaps, but the more I do this kind of thing, the more content I feel. When we moved to Calgary I was overwhelmed by how much stuff we had. It seemed so excessive, especially since we've always liked to travel light. Hopefully all of these little efforts will help get us back to a healthier balance.

Decisions and Resolutions

So far the eating plan is going well. It's not always easy to make the meal from scratch, sometimes I want very much to buy premade food, but I really want to give this a go, so I'm resisting. I must admit, my energy levels are good and I don't feel at all deprived. It's been harder on Trev in terms of changes because I already had so many restrictions on my diet, but he's being a trooper about it.

The pantry looks so different without any of the junk in it. I bought a bunch of glass airtight jars from Ikea, so all of the grains, rice, nuts, etc look very neat and organized. Every now and then I step in to get something and wonder if I'm in someone else's pantry, which amuses me.

We spent the weekend getting lots of long-postponed tasks done. Finally picked up a bookshelf stereo for the living room, so we have music. Put pictures in the two collage-style frames hanging in the hallway. That sort of stuff. We also made another decision, that wasn't much fun but will let us move forward: we decided to put off finishing the basement for a year or so. We'll put the futon in Connor's room and move him out when guests come, and set Trevor's office up in the little study on the main floor. The basement will serve as a storage area, as well as giving Trev space to work out with his weights. I wish we didn't have to postpone the work, but with the markets being as they are, we figure money in a savings account is better to have than money invested in the house. We'll see how things are next year. For now, we have plenty of room for everyday life, and we can make it work when guests come by.

Monday Trev had the day off to make up for the weekends he's been working, so he was able to go to the viewing for Adara's dance class. There's not much that's cuter than a group of little girls in ballet outfits. Almost all of the girls had younger siblings who tried at various times in various ways to disrupt the class, which was also cute in its' own way.

Right now, the focus is on getting Christmas cards and packages organized, so they can be sent off at the end of the month. Shouldn't be too much more to do there, thank heavens. Then it's on to putting up the tree, making the gingerbread house (decoration only!), and all of that fun stuff. Hurray!

A New Take on Eating

It has been a while! We got back from Saskatoon, and two days later Trev headed up to Fort Mac for four days, so everything's just going by so quickly. I've been pouring my energy into organizing our newest attempt at getting the junk out of what we eat, and now that I've got that pretty much under control, I can tell you about it.

It started when I picked up a copy of "The Eat Clean Diet for Family & Kids" by Tosca Reno; Mom had recommended the author, as she had previously bought the "Eat Clean Cookbook". I had been looking for a way to get us on track to eating in a healthier fashion, and what I read made sense. Here's what we've done:

• Cleaned out anything in the fridge and cupboards that has ingredients we can't identify or pronounce. Pretty much all chemicals, additives, preservatives and the like.
• Banned refined flours and sugars. Period. No artificial sweeteners either.
• Committed to not eating out at all until mid-December. It's way too easy to indulge in restaurants, and if we're going to really get into the habit of eating healthy foods, we need to do it regularly for at least a month.
• Done up meal plans for each week that have a breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, mid-afternoon snack, and supper for every single day. All meals (and if possible, snacks too) will be a combination of a healthy protein (lean meat, egg whites, hummus, nut butter, etc) and a complex carb (whole grains and/or fruits & veggies). I've borrowed the cookbook from my Mom and the recipes I have tried so far have been great.
• Drink water most of the time, with the occasional glass of decaf coffee or herbal tea. I'm trying for at least a litre and a half of water a day...Trev probably drinks more than that.

That's about it - the list doesn't seem long, but it's meant pretty big changes for us! So far so good, though. Trev and the kids have liked just about every recipe I've tried, and there haven't been any strident complaints about anything. A little bit of whining that they're not getting the fries they used to at Costco and so on, but nothing major. I guess we've always been careful to have the kids eat in a healthy way, we just haven't been as careful ourselves, so it's harder on the grown-ups. We'll see how we feel in a month's time.

That's really about it, other than I'm making progress in getting the excess possessions out of our house and into the hands of the Freecycle community. So far the vacuum, Adara's old bed, two twin box springs, a picture, three mirrors, our old microwave and a set of dishes have departed. There's lots more to go, but most of the rest requires sorting through boxes and discussion, so we haven't gotten to it yet. Hurrah for simplifying...both in what we eat and in what we own.

Catching Up

I've been having a hard time lately, and a lot of it has to do with the exhaustion I've been feeling. I've been so tired, all of the time. I've been going to bed pretty much right after the littles do, and even then the next morning I've still been dragging. No blogging, no emailing, no anything really. I couldn't figure out why. Then I read a blog post by a dear friend regarding how much more energy she felt she had when she cut out the carbs from her breakfast, and a light went on in my brain. One of the major symptoms I'd had with reacting to gluten was how tired I had been. And oatmeal is one of the 'iffy' grains for those sensitive to gluten. And I'd been eating oatmeal almost every morning lately (the kids love it). I cut out the oatmeal, and voila! All of a sudden I can stay up past 9! What a relief.

So to catch you up on my week, the most exciting thing that happened was that Mom and I took the kids to Banff on Tuesday. It was an unusually warm day for October, and we figured we'd better take advantage of it, especially since the mountains are only an hour away. The drive went well, and the scenery was lovely. We even came across a herd of mountain goats wandering along the path we were following. Connor was so excited, he kept following them and yelling "Sheep! Sheeeeeeep!", which made them quite nervous, poor things. Anyway, here are a few pictures:





It was a fun trip, and I'm glad we went. Looks like winter weather will be hitting us starting next week (highs of zero predicted) but that's alright, we've had a lovely fall.

Other stuff? Well, I got my hair cut yesterday, quite a change in style. I'll have to get Trev to take a picture. I didn't lose much in length, but it's all layered, very different look. What else...we're still weeding through the stuff in the garage, posting things on Freecycle, taking stuff to the dump, donating clothes to charities, all that jazz.

I'm really getting serious about cracking down on the amount of junk we eat. I got a few books on the subject, "In Defense of Food" and "What to Eat", which take you through how much processing most food is subjected to, and how to avoid the worst of it. I don't want a book to tell me what or how to eat, I just want to inform myself on what's in the stuff we eat regularly, and how we can avoid the additives. I'm sure I'll be doing more posting once I've done some more reading.

That's about it, I guess. Trev is putting up the Christmas lights on the house this weekend, while it's still nice, and we'll be trying to get more done in the garage. Hi-ho, hi-ho, but at least I'm not falling asleep doing it! *grin*

Trudging Along

The kids and I have all got vicious head colds, so with Trevor away so much I've dropped into survival mode of getting up with the kids and going to sleep at the same time as the kids. Extra sleep has always helped me get better faster, and it also makes me a more patient mama during the day. With the whininess and clinginess that colds bring, I need all the patience I can get! It's made for virtually no Internet time, or phone time, or...well, anything time, really...but we're getting through in a relatively happy way, which is the important thing. I'm hoping we'll be feeling better by Sunday; Trev and I have invited his coworkers over for an informal get-together that afternoon. Several of them have children close to Adara's age, so she's excited about having new playmates for a few hours, and I'm looking forward to meeting the folks that Trev talks about every day.

On the home organizing front, I've gotten into the local Freecycle group, and am already starting to farm out the things we're finding we don't need anymore. Good examples would be the five fans we have (we needed them to survive the hot summers in Fort Mac) and the Lil Tykes outdoor castle we simply can't fit in our much smaller new yard. I have a feeling we'll be giving away a bunch of things, as we're both committed to living as simply as possible. Looking at the piles of stuff stored away in our garage has been a tremendous motivation to make sure we travel more lightly from now on.

It's been a disappointing week for the kids, as they've been too sick to go to the pool, gymnastics, or the special homeschool activities at the Zoo today. Corinne (my neighbour) and her son Nelson (almost 4) have taken Adara to the playground, as she's the healthiest one of the bunch and Connor really needs his nap today. That should help Adara feel a little better about missing so much stuff that she's been looking forward to.

Speaking of Adara, she gets her first real experience of being obviously different this coming week...the girls in her dance class on Monday are supposed to come in their Halloween costumes. I've been straightforward with her, and given her the options of either going without a costume (knowing she'll likely be the only one without one) or skipping the class and doing an alternate activity with Connor and I. She's thinking about it. She's enough of her father's daughter that she's not shy about being different, so she may just go anyway. We'll have to see. We've planned a "Hurray! Christmas is Coming" party for our family for Halloween night, and are looking forward to it. I got two Christmas videos from the library today, and we'll make some special cookies and have fun as a family. I just have to remember to disconnect the doorbell that evening!

Feeling a bit blue - pale azure, perhaps

I'm feeling the weight of many expectations, worries, and to-do lists today. Singly, most of them wouldn't bother me a bit, but it's sort of like a swarm of gnats constantly buzzing about. I've got the usual Christmas preparation angst, the "I should be done unpacking by now" issue, and several more.

In addition, Trev has just had another trip that he has to take come up, and so he'll be gone to Fort Mac Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. He has to head back up there again for Wednesday and Thursday next week, and then next Saturday he's got a training course all day. He's had a lot of different things come up over the last month, and it's been hard on all of us, especially since most of them are last minute. He says this month is unusually busy, but I get nervous because that's the same line they kept handing us in Fort Mac too, month after month after month. We'll see how things look in November and December.

On the plus side, the house sale up north is finally completely done. And we've gotten other little things done too - the van has been in for its 50k maintenance overhaul, and the house's outdoor sprinkler system has been winterized. I've gotten Trev to haul a few boxes in from the garage each day for me to unpack, so progress is taking place there too, albeit slowly. Normally that would cheer me up. I'm sure tomorrow it will. Tonight, I think I'll just go to bed.

Structure

Warning: For other list-makers only, all others will likely be bored silly.

I think I've settled on a basic schedule for the weekdays...well, I suppose it's only a loose schedule really, more like a list of things that need to get done, preferably in the order I've set out. Since Adara and Connor are so active, I've tried to have some outing or another each day; I figure especially in the winter, that will make home life much happier. With the exception of Mondays, since Adara's dance class is in the afternoon, we do our outings in the mornings, come home for lunch and Connor's nap, and then take it easy in the afternoons. I'll skip the specific details (if you're really interested, I can email my Excel spreadsheet to you) but our outings are as follows:

Monday - Adara dance class, Connor gets time with Nana
Tuesday - groceries and errands
Wednesday - time at the pool (I found a great rec center that has an indoor water park, they have a special deal for parents with kids under 6 on Wednesday mornings)
Thursday - gymnastics and maybe the Zoo, depending on the weather
Friday - visit the library, Adara gets time with Nana for a few hours in the afternoon

We'll see how it works out now that the weather is getting colder, but I think it's flexible enough that it should provide a good framework. Another thing I'm doing this time around is doing all the weekly housework one morning a week, rather than spreading it out over the week. It actually only takes about an hour and a half to vacuum, clean the bathrooms, sweep the hardwood, dust, and water the plants, and then it's all done for the week. I've chosen to mop the hardwood on the weekends when Trev can take the kids out for an hour or so; it just seems easier on all of us that way.

It's kind of amusing how much happier I am when I know what needs to happen next. And how proud I am of my little spreadsheet schedule. Whatever works, right? *grin*

Just One More Reason to Love Freecycle

We got hooked on the Freecycle concept in Red Deer. There was a big community, and lots of items being given away daily. Up here, there's less than a hundred people in the local group, so there's less activity. Still it has been a huge blessing for us.

We've had several friends and acquaintances tell us we're missing out by giving our things away instead of selling them. I argue that first of all, they are ignoring the non-material bonuses, like knowing someone who needs it is getting it, and the fact that you have people come to your door and carry the stuff away. Secondly, on a purely material level, perhaps we would be if we never got anything in return, but when you add it all up I think we've actually gained more than we lost in the deal.

Tonight, we picked up my best Freecycle find yet - the Little Tykes kid-sized play kitchen and play tool bench, in absolutely mint shape. They even had all the accessories still, all the pots and pans, the tools, everything. Wow! On top of that, the lady asked me if we needed a tricycle (we've been eyeing them in the store, but they're $60 or so) and gave us one that was like new. Plus a bike helmet and pads, and skates that will fit Connor this winter.

I can't even describe how blessed and grateful I feel. I can only hope that some of the people we gave our things to felt this way too - that's what makes this kind of thing so worthwhile.

Little by Little

The last few days have been busy, but not with big projects. I've been focusing on the little things that I've been meaning to do for a while (sometimes a very LONG while) and it's amazed me how much better I felt after getting them done. So far I've:

• put away the winter coats, boots and mitts and brought out the spring coats and sunhats
• boxed up Connor's 18 month clothing, and Adara's size 3/4 clothes from the winter
• brought out the spring and summer clothing for the kids and organized the dressers appropriately
• brought out my own spring/summer clothes and packed away the heavy sweaters (being me, I leave out a few lighter sweaters, since I'm always cold)
• organized my desk in the kitchen so that it still looks nice when I put my laptop away during the day (my new routine, since I can't seem to leave my computer alone otherwise)

The part that amuses me about it is that no one else would really notice that any of these things were done - the house looks pretty much the same - but it's like a load off my shoulders knowing that they've been taken care of.

Otherwise, we're just enjoying the sunshine and being able to play in the backyard. I have a few green shoots peeking through in my garden, and it looks like at least some of the irises and daylilies I planted last year are coming back, as well as the peonies and the hosta. I do like perennials!

Trevor is full of plans of what to spruce up around the house before we sell it, so it sounds like we'll be busy for the next few weekends. He's absolutely right, though, it's the little things that make the sale. We'll likely have the realtor we used last time come by and give us some advice on what to concentrate on. Not that we have any definite plans yet, but if we have it all done beforehand, it will be much less stressful.

Listmakers Begetting Listmakers

Adara is just as into organizational details as I am. She needs to know the day of the week, the date, and the temperature as soon as she gets up. She loves to look at the weather report on my computer and give me a rundown on what the weather will be like for the next few days. And she delights in checking the daily schedule to see what will come next for activities.

The problem has been that my very detailed schedule is a little overwhelming for her. So when we were in Edmonton, I saw a small whiteboard for $1 and I grabbed it. We put it up in the playroom, and now every morning I write the day of the week and the date, followed by a list of the 3-5 most important things I want to get done that day. These can be anything from taking a walk to cleaning the bathrooms, fun things as well as chores, as Adara helps me with about 90% of the household chores.

This solution has really worked for us. Adara loves reading the list each day and reminding me of what's on it, and we both get a kick out of looking at the list at the end of the day and being able to say we got those things done. Like mother, like daughter, I guess. *grin*

Culture at Last!

Mom and I went to see Ballet Jorgen perform "Anastasia" tonight, and it was just lovely. Trevor gallantly put the little ones to bed despite their protests. Since I'm very reluctant to leave my kids for evening outings before they're at least one, these guys are really not used to the idea that Mama might be absent at bedtime. The ballet was totally worth it, though, and I'm really looking forward to moving somewhere with a few more 'cultural opportunities', so to speak. Going to the symphony, musicals, plays, the ballet, art galleries....all that good stuff.

In more mundane news, I'm going back to the menu plan system for mealtimes. I've drawn up two plans, a summer and winter mealtime rotation, and we'll tweak them as we go. Being the planning type, I've done up a menu plan for two full weeks (well, 6 out of the 7 days for each week, leaving me a flex day to catch up, eat out or improvise) for warm and cold weather. I've then done up a grocery list for each week, with all of the major items needed for the recipes listed, and added all of the recipes into the document so they're all together. I'll be able to add anything else I need for breakfasts/lunches/household stuff when I do up my shopping list Monday nights, but this should streamline the process. If you're confused but intrigued, I can email you the plans, they're done up in Word so I can fiddle with them easily. If you're confused and so very glad you're not a planner like me, that's alright too. Even I admit I'm a little obsessive about making lists and such things.