Tagged with walking

7 Quick Takes Friday #7qt

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Are you having a bad day? Quick, take a look at these photos:

2014-08-28 21.39.41mess on defunct dishwasher, and those are weeks-old eggshells in that bowl, in case you need to know
2014-08-28 21.39.48our counter space
2014-08-28 21.39.58cleanest area

Does your kitchen look like this? No? Then feel better about yourself, my friend. You’re not that bad. Let these pictures serve you to think, ‘well, at least my kitchen isn’t as bad as this one lady’s I saw on the internets today. I’m actually doing pretty good’ I will be that lady for you. Am I proud of it? Nope. Am I stressed about it? Nope. In fact, I just finished a bag of chipotle ranch chips and am going to head to bed after this post. It’s just one of those days.

2.

Ever feel like things are going a little too swimmingly? Then you get a missed bill slapped in your face and all you can think is ‘craaaaaaaaaapppppppppps’. Hypothetically? Thankfully they don’t disconnect my internets after just 1 missed. I would cry.

3.

I successfully left the house with three kidlets by myself on foot. We ventured to the new subdivision beside us (used to be a field) that has show homes open for viewing. I was curious enough to risk it with three kids.

Time was my friend, friends. We went when most normal people are still working, so there was no one else around looking. This made my time there much less stressful. And it was by blessed coincidence that it occurred this way. On our way out of the second last house a van pulled up and a party of people jumped out and rushed in the doors as we slid out of them. Near miss.

My favourite was this layout:

2014-08-28 21.40.35and it’s not because there was free keurig coffee with real cream for the freebs in this house2014-08-28 21.40.42The house has no garage on the front like it’s mooning the street. It’s a keeper!

4.

We just had some friends visiting last night whom are from Ottawa. My, how I miss spending quality time with friends. We stayed up wayyyyyyy too late talking with them about everything that could pop into our heads. It has been much too long since we last conversed with friends in a meaningful way for longer than 1 hour. I am definitely looking forward to one day doing this on more occasions than once every 4 years…(does it happen when the kids get older? I don’t know…)

5.

Is it wrong to want to stay up all night because it’s so silent? Andy’s gone to bed early because we stayed up too late last night, so I’ve had blessed silence for about 2 hours now. I have this urge to just stay up late and do nothing. Or bake. If my kitchen didn’t look like above, I’d probably make myself something nice, big, and chocolate. silence is golden.

6.

Felicity is growing. The breastfeeding issues have largely subsided, but it’s not because we started using the bottle for her, like I last posted. Cause she said to us, in no uncertain terms, ‘no-effing-way’ to that sucker.

2014-08-20 20.00.26our little Goo Baby (so named by Cassia)

We tried everything to get her to take to the bottle. I didn’t know refusal on this level was possible. But I will tell you, it is stressful when you think she’s going to end up being hospitalized for not growing because she’s not a) breastfeeding enough b) bottle feeding any c) nor finger feeding (thank-you-very-much-no-thanks, she said).

She’s got a very little bit of chubs on her now, which is becoming of a baby. She’s growing longer (which was never the issue). I think the domperidone (or however that stuff is spelled) is finally working its magic and the fenugreek and blessed thistle aren’t hurting either. I’m so thankful that she seems to be gaining her weight now. Our doctor said to come back in a month cause she thinks it’s going better too, so yay. Very yay.

7.

5k run. This year, will be a walk. Cause that run occurs the first weekend in September, which is apparently 9 days away now.

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inevitably, when Spencer grabs my phone to play with the camera, he always takes a picture of his feet. these feet will not be running..

Have I done any training? Well, I went for that walk through the show homes…(read: nope). What was I thinking? I was thinking I could totally train with a newborn. Well, even if people told me it wouldn’t happen, I now have the experience to back up their claims. Granted, if I hadn’t had 2 other kids running around, but had the experience to know how awesome that would have been, I might have.

memeShame: none. I will walk that 5k with pride in my spit-upped shirt. Though I might run through the colour spraying portions so that I can breathe. We’ll see.

 

Be sure to check out more Quick Takes at Conversion Diary!

Quick Update

No, I have not yet had our little baby. I have, however, been occupied with two main things: 1) going for walks of 1-1.5 hours 2) baking. These have definitely caused me to be more offline than I otherwise would be.

The walks have been paying off in two healthy ways – my blood sugar is lower than previously and I believe that the baby has finally dropped. I am definitely using the bathroom more and when I compare photos, I look lower. Oh, and certain clothing choices are more breathable than they previously were, as well, which means to me that the baby is off my lungs.

The baking has just sporadically become a priority. Saturday was apple pie, today was oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (Spencer was a big boy helper!) in the morning and mini-caramelized apple cheesecakes in the afternoon (I wouldn’t use the recipe again, but they were relatively tasty. Andy may have eaten 3). I intended to make ‘Black Magic Brownies’ tonight, but I chose a bath instead :). They’re brownies made primarily with black beans…the recipe has intrigued me for over a year now, and I’m finally getting around to making them. Tomorrow will likely be the test day. I’ll keep you posted if I don’t have a baby.

Ultimately, that’s all the news I have. I’m starting to give up on the hope of an early labour, now setting my sights on being late to the point of being induced. Not my ideal or desire, but if I expect it to some degree, I won’t be as disappointed (I hope).

Big Belly

I don’t know how much bigger I can get, but I sure feel huge. My belly button has been quite itchy the past few days, likely from more stretching. I’ll find out tomorrow how much more I’ve grown over the past week when I go to my doctor’s appointment.

I’ve been doing a lot of walking this week – trying for an hour a day at least. I think it’s helping, little by little. I don’t think it’ll be too much longer, but my guess is mostly based on how tired I am of being so big. I’m sure one day I’ll look back at these photos and think, ‘Ah, to be pregnant again!’ but that’s certainly not how I’m feeling right now.

I’m also taking evening primrose oil and drinking lots of raspberry leaf tea, both which should help prep my body for labour. I’ve read about taking castor oil to start labour, which a maternity-nurse friend assures me really does work, but from what I’ve read (and also from her labour and delivery stories) it has some nasty side effects that don’t go away while you’re attempting to labour. I am highly hopeful I will not be going that route, though if it comes to that or a c-section, I think I’d probably risk the castor oil.

I have been in a crazy baking mood lately. This doesn’t mean I’m actually baking a lot, but it does mean that I might sit for hours looking up delicious recipes. I did manage to make a chocolate zucchini cake, which I’ve been slowly eating away. I can’t have much, but I am having some, and it’s so scrumptious. Also on my list of things I want to make is an apple pie, blueberry jam, and these mini caramel apple cheesecakes that I saw linked up somewhere. And likely some cookies. I really want to dunk things in milk and tea.

That’s about all I can give for an interesting update currently. I’m feeling tired, big, and looking forward to this baby making headlines by meeting us soon. How’re you feeling this week?

Sew Sew Sew!

I am realising that all that I want to do lately is sew. I wish that Spencer had more interest in watching me press and cut fabrics, cause that’s what I need to do. Alas, he’d rather I chase him.

In Spencer news, he took a new leap in walking today and decided that the house is an OK place to walk tons in. He’s such a cutie. Andy witnessed how far he’s come while he was sitting on the floor and Spencer walked across the room towards him, then Andy said, “It’s time for a diaper change!” and Spencer turned 90 degrees and walked to the door instead. He’s concentrating very hard when he walks, but he’s getting way fast at it. Apparently today was a good day for walking.

Not much else new other than the books and Spencer’s walking. Hope your day is going well!

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He’s decided his vampire soother is worthy of use now.

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Jaffa! Kree!
(This is a reference to Stargate, for those who did not recognise it)

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Young Jaffa.

Of sunburns and feta (the post that was meant to be Wednesday’s)

Spencer is definitely learning to take off, though at home he still prefers crawling. I am starting to believe it might be due to the lack of space…he seems to like big, wide areas to walk in. We went to Tulipfest yesterday and oh my! The tulips are a-bloomin! We had a picnic lunch on the grass and enjoyed the many, many people who were visiting the flowers and beautiful weather like us. There were even many dogs for Spencer to sign at. While I managed to think to put sunblock and a hat on Spencer, I failed to protect myself. I don’t know what I was thinking – something along the lines of ‘it’s still spring, it can’t be that bad,’ but oh let me tell you, it is that bad. And it was a very very foolish thing to say to myself. So Spencer emerged unscathed. I, however, might have a shoulder that looks like rare beef. Well, it might not be that bad. But it might just be that bad. I can’t decide. One way or another, this will most definitely be the only sunburn I will receive this year. I managed last year without a burn (as far as I can remember), I can now proceed knowing that yes, indeed, it is hot summer weather out and I need to prepare better for it.

The tulips were nice though.

We had a decent dinner tonight – leek, feta & chicken pitas. I think I need to adjust the seasoning, and possibly change up the cheese a bit, and maybe add some more/different veggies, but it was ok. Basically I might need to completely redo the recipe in order for it to make a great tasting meal for us, but that’s not bad at all. I hadn’t even considered doing pitas for us for dinner until this recipe came along. It does remind me of how much I enjoy feta though :). Nice feta cheese with some olives (kalamata, of course)….mmm..such a tasty combo! Have any of you tried anything tasty lately?

Video. I have video of Spencer walking. If you are on facebook, I am attempting to upload them there. Apart from that, I’m sorry, but you’ll have to miss out on it. My camera’s battery died while we were out so all I have apart from 2 photos is video from our trip.

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He’s not sure why I’m taking a photo, apparently.

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He was enjoying playing with the lid to our food.

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Spencer at least liked the idea of eating a raw leek. That is, until he actually got a taste of the juice. Then it was thrown to the floor.