1.

I just made the best mushroom soup I think I may have ever made. And apart from quantity of mushrooms, it’s so easy. Based it off of Chef Michael Smith’s recipe; didn’t have a bottle of red wine around, so used 1/2 cup of brandy instead and bumped up the stock. Soooo delicious. Perhaps the 2lbs of mushrooms have something to do with it, but I’m pleased! Interested in trying it with red wine; definitely wouldn’t have thought of a red to splash it with.

2.

I’m finally starting to look into homeschooling resources. Andy and I aren’t set on homeschooling (yet), but I definitely have a strong preference leaning towards it. I think at this point one of my main concerns is finding out where I can carve out ‘away’ time still from the kids; something I desperately need each day and which will only get harder with another coming in May. One way or another, it will be a challenge I’ll have to face, whether or not we homeschool.

And I definitely have to say that the freedom for creativity appeals greatly for me in homeschooling. There are so many opportunities we can do that just wouldn’t be possible in a classroom (many of them include field trips to learn about things – like to farms, historic sites, etc. Traveling around to learn would be -awesome-!) And I am a huge advocate for hands-on learning, which I think is the best way for most people to learn, having theory come after hands-on experience when needed.

3.

I’ve planned out a new section for our garden. So, of course I went all hay-wired on the details, which never turn out exactly when it becomes reality. It should be pretty cool though, if some of it works out, and smell pretty. Smelling pretty is high on my desirability of my garden, apparently. I love beautifully scented flowers. But I also want food to eat. It’s a delicate balance, it would seem.

4.

33 weeks pregnant: Feels bigger than it looks. And 33 weeks is calculated by our understood conception date; 32 weeks if using ultrasound. I’ve been feeling Braxton-Hicks contractions all this week; some worse than others. I just remember walking up the stairs one night after putting one of the kids down thinking, ‘Wow, I could ram a wall with this hard rock!’ as a contraction hit and my belly tightened like crazy. Sumo belly mode. Somehow I don’t think I’ll find that as funny as I do now when labour actually hits.

5.

Gestational diabetic. Confirmed. I get to pokey poke for blood 4 times a day (oh yay). So far I have discovered that my body does not like oatmeal nor does it like jam on toast, even in just a half-piece (in terms of blood-sugar behaving itself). I’m still working on figuring what foods it responds best to. So far tortilla chips are on the menu 🙂

I talked with my doctor today – she can still deliver the babe if I end up needing to be on insulin, but somewhere along the lines she said that it would mean that I would need to be induced for the due date. I have a yellow flag up for that. And something about concerns over amniotic fluid and whether it is sufficient in quantity by 40 weeks. Anyone else have experience in this? I think I’ll be doing some google-research on this to vet out the concerns with using insulin. I’m hoping I can make due without it (my blood-sugar tests were only slightly elevated, not crazy elevated), but I don’t know what this body of mine will do before the end and it just might not be possible.

6.

Hair. Bangs. So done with it all. The bangs were fun for the first few weeks, but holy moly do they take way more time than I otherwise would give my hair in the morning! And even though I love the colour I had my hair dyed to, as it’s growing out I have a new-found love for my boring normal ash colour hair – it hides grey like awesome. I totally did not know that I had so many grey hairs before I dyed it; now the grey shines forth like a lamp in the night against the dark brown. And at this point in my life I’m not a type of person who wants to dye my hair to cover the grey. That sounds like too much work (not to mention money). And apparently my natural hair colour does a good job of it anyway. So now it’s just the waiting game. I’ll still love it while I have it, but I’m looking forward to having my ‘normal’ hair back after this grows out.

7.

I finished reading The Hobbit yesterday and it just confirmed that I sure love that book. Andy and I are hoping to read it to Spencer later this year; I think he’d love it, and he seems to be doing crazy-awesome with imagining things from chapter books that we are currently reading. I never would have expected it from the-boy-who-has-endless-energy, but he loves listening to stories. I’m so thrilled he loves books and reading already! Hopefully it keeps up. I’m still hoping Cassia will start to like books…she’s young yet, right? We’ll make a believer out of her.

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