Random Notes

• It's almost ridiculous how good making homemade chicken stock makes me feel. There's something so satisfying about using the carcass and all of my bits and pieces of veggies that I would have otherwise likely thrown out.
• My tummy is finally showing enough that people can be relatively certain I'm pregnant and not overweight. I like getting to that stage. I like pregnancy from here on in right up till the stage where people give me nervous looks because they're worried I might give birth at any moment. That gives me the giggles, and I'm always tempted to act like I'm having contractions. *grin*
• I'm at 14 weeks, the point at which "typical nausea fades away". I wish.
• I'm getting better at doing whatever needs to be done in the moments that I feel well enough to do it...and giving myself a break when I'm just not up to it. Trev still says I'm apologizing way too much, though.
• I love that Adara reads books to Connor. I love that he sometimes takes books right to her instead of Trev or I. I love seeing them curled up together on the couch intently reading together. Too cute.
• I can't think of any more points.

Determinedly Half-Full

Bad news: still nauseous, still exhausted.

BUT....

Good news:

• Went to the doctor on Thursday for a prenatal, and got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time! For just under 13 weeks, I guess that's unusual, but it was lovely.
• We've cleared a whole bunch of unwanted stuff out of the garage this week. Last weekend, Trev made me up a detailed list, and I listed two items at a time on Freecycle until they were all gone. He has a separate list he's going to sell on Kijiji (online classified), but thankfully it's much smaller. Progress is being made!
• Haven't gained any weight for the pregnancy yet. May not seem like a big deal to some, but my biggest mistake with the first two was to gain weight early on, and I gained way too much overall both times. Mind you, it's not all my titanium-strength willpower, the nausea has a lot to do with it. Hard to gain a lot of weight when all you can stomach is soup or cereal most meals. *grin*
• We're in the process of trying out a very nice church. The folks there are friendly, and we're getting to know some families. We're going to one family's house for supper Wednesday, and we're hosting a "Just Dessert" evening on Friday for three other families. The latter is a church-wide thing organized by the church admin, we just figured it would be easier on the kids if we hosted rather than visited, plus I like to bake desserts.
• The kids are both loving the Sunday School areas that are for their age groups. If you'd told me Connor at 2 would be looking forward to saying goodbye and going to play, I would never have believed you. There's awesome security, and they've even got separate rooms for 2s, 3s and 4s. Lots of littles, and a great adult/child ratio. Very cool.

That's all the positives I can think of for now. There's a lot though!

But anyway, what you see above is a pretty literal demonstration of what my brain does every time a little voice in my head complains. Another literal voice always pipes up with "BUT..." unless I'm in a serious blue funk, or so sick I don't have the energy to argue with myself. (That sounds funny). It's one of the things I really like about how my brain works.

What a week

Tuesday AM: host first playgroup, total of five moms and 9 children. Busy, but fun. Very draining for an introvert like me.
Tuesday PM: Mom calls to report she has fallen on the ice and broken her wrist. Pack up children and take Mom to hospital. Entertain kids in emergency room for several hours. Take kids home after doctors report it will be "a very, very long wait". Mom gets picked up 10 hours later.

Wednesday AM: annual children's photo at Walmart. First indications that Connor is getting quite sick, running high fever. Got one good pic, took sicky home.
Wednesday PM: help Mom maneuver around her house sans right hand (poor Mom). Connor's fever progresses to the point he cannot be put down without wailing. First indications that Adara and I are getting sick.

Thursday AM: wake up with bad cold. Con's fever has broken overnight, he's sick but manageable. Adara's cold-induced fussiness leads to several meltdowns, the most memorable being a 90 minute doozie because I nix the idea of pink and green tights with a red and navy striped dress. Take Mom to Costco to buy frozen food she can prepare one-handed.
Thursday PM: Cough a lot. Wish often I could take medicine. Visit Mom's with kids to help unpack purchased frozen foods. Contemplate weekend plans of visiting dear friends in Red Deer and having Trev's Dad stop by to visit on Tuesday. Feel overwhelmed. Go to bed as soon as possible.

Oy.

Join the Resistance!

I never could resist a good Star Wars parody, and this one even has me feeling like I'm joining in a noble effort! *grin*

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.

Getting By, with a Few Big Changes

We're still inching along here - my nausea is slowing down our efforts at change at home, but we're getting there. I've been working my way through some whole foods cookbooks at the library, and have finally gotten around to putting together a new two week menu plan. This one has a lot more variety (Trev says it 'spans the globe') and is healthier too. I've also found a shortcut to grocery shopping, as we're trying out a local organic grocery service that delivers. It does cost a bit more, but for now it seems worth it, especially since we can go 100% organic this way on all of our fresh stuff. We'll try supplementing this weekly delivery of fruit, produce and dairy with a monthly/biweekly trip to Costco for staples.

Trevor is starting the "Body for Life" challenge tomorrow; he's got it all set up, meal plans, workout plans and everything. For those (like me) who haven't heard of it, it's a 12 week challenge you enter, with before and after pics and all that. He's a competitive fellow, and thinks it will help keep him motivated. I'm very proud of him...and I'm sure he'll do well, with all of the planning that went into it.

Sounds like a lot, doesn't it? I guess it is, it just took about 4 times as long to get there as it normally would have! Still, it's good stuff. And in the meantime, if I can keep the family (well) fed, the house (reasonably) clean, and the laundry caught up, I'm trying to be content. I'll be feeling better soon enough - at least that's what I keep telling myself.

Sweetness

I'm having a very tough day today, coping with horrendous nausea. I've been nauseous pretty much for a month now, but today was the worst yet. I'm trying not to complain, mind you, but it's necessary to tell you that so the story makes sense. Trev (sweetie that he is) took the kids out to grab a bite to eat, because I simply could not deal with the idea of food, and he asked me whether he could get me anything. I told him the only thing I could think of was ginger ale...not that it's terribly good for me, but it's my 'comfort food' when I'm feeling sick.

Next thing I know, my precious girl comes downstairs clutching her coin purse with a very determined look on her face. She tells me she wants to spend the money she's saved in her piggy bank on ginger ale, to help me feel better. We couldn't talk her out of it, she wanted so badly to help.

Makes me think of Jesus telling the disciples we all need to become as little children to enter the kingdom of heaven. What would life be like if we were all that spontaneously loving and generous?

Anyway, it touched my heart, and I just had to share.