Dear Baby...

Dear Baby,

     I'm sorry I've been feeding you chips, pop, skittles and mints for the last few days. But in my defense, the money I save from not buying the nausea medication is money I can spend on you. Also, it's kind of your fault I feel so sick and can only eat junk food. Can we please work this out soon? I promise you'll love avocados, broccoli, fish, and all the other goodies I will feed you when we're back on track.

                               Sincerely,
                                      Your Pukey Mommy

Long Awaited Belly & Baby Pics

For those of you who aren't on facebook, you probably haven't seen these photos yet. I thought it was about time I share a few mementos of our slowly growing baby thus far.

This is from our first ultrasound at 10 weeks and 4 days. The quality is a bit poor because we had to scan and then reformat the pictures. But that's our baby, chilling at the bottom of my womb. S/he is lying on his/her back, with the legs up in the air. You can see one foot (the white blob in the middle) and the whole other leg. You can't see it very clearly in this photo, but his/her arms are up by the head, similar to how one would lie down in a hammock on vacation. Chill baby :)

And this is our baby belly at 13 weeks. We're about 14 and a half weeks now, but you get the general idea. It's slow growing for now, but pretty soon I'm sure I'll wish for the days I could still button my jeans!

Christmas Crafting

Oh how I love some good ol' christmas crafts! My parents are now foster parenting 3 amazing children, and I decided that these kids need to have the kind of homemade goodies that I got from my mom growing up. So, I made stockings!

I was also pretty thrilled that the stockings themselves were less than $2 a piece from walmart, and the decorations only a few dollars from dollar stores. Even better - no sewing needed! All you need is scissors, glue and creativity!

Pregnancy Ads

My husband had a genius moment of hilarity I just had to share. We were talking about all the weird and random things pregnancy does to you (the no one tells you about until after you get pregnant) and he concluded that there should be ads for pregnancy similar to ads for medications. You know the ones - where they talk about the wonderful things the drug does for about 2 seconds and then spend the rest of the commercial listing side effects.

We think the pregnancy commercial would go something like this:
Pregnancy is a beautiful journey that ends with the birth of a child you will love for eternity. Side effects may include constipation, swelling of the face, hands, feet and stomach, discolouring of the face, sensitivity of the gums, round ligament pain, cramps, back aches, nausea, vomiting, headaches, exhaustion, dry skin, weight gain, increased appetite, decreased appetite, light headedness, heartburn, imbalance, nipple and breast soreness or sensitivity. Pregnant women should avoid dangerous activities, heavy lifting, eating soft cheeses, drinking alcohol and should limit their intake of caffeine. Should you experience bleeding, contact your doctor immediately.

Of course, if this ad existed, pregnancy probably wouldn't be such a popular route to starting a family!

Assembling Ikea Furniture Without Instructions

Remember how I mentioned that my christmas baking spree brought on a 24 hour migraine? Well, for some reason I decided that would be a good day to assemble the crib. I needed somewhere to put all the baby items we inherited from a very generous family member (thanks Jaime!). Naturally, I decided the best plan would be to set up the crib and put everything in it until we actually need to set it all up for real.

What was I thinking? Setting up Ikea furniture without instructions (because we bought it second hand) while suffering a migraine may have contributed to why the migraine lasted 24 hours. Oops! 

Christmas Baking

The other day I decided to pick up some crushed pecans and some red and green m&m type candies for my all time favourite cookie recipe (courtesy of Tia!). While I was waiting for the butter to soften, something came over me and I proceeded to make delicious chocolate coconut drop cookies (Karin's recipe!).

And then I went a little bit crazy and just decided to do pretty much all my christmas baking in one afternoon. Clearly the first trimester exhaustion is wearing off (although this afternoon was then followed by a 24 hour migraine... so maybe not!).

I followed up the chocolate coconut drop cookies with some butter tarts (Bev's recipe) and some shortbread (also Karin's recipe). My freezer is overflowing!

We'll be rationing these goodies to last until christmas... or, at least until baked goodies arrive in the mail... which tends to happen this time of year when you're blessed with moms that bake!

Ashan Children's Home

Given that this is the time of year for giving, I think it's important for everyone to remember that the ipods, laptops, iphones, new clothes and other goodies we wish for are such luxuries and there are so many people in the world with such greater needs. Ashan Children's Home is an example of this need. For christmas, these 60 orphaned children need new homes. Lauren, a friend I met in Ghana, recently returned from volunteering at this orphanage, and here is an excerpt of why these children are suddenly in dire need of a home:

"There are four babies and 56 children living in three overcrowded rooms. The children are currently sharing bunk beds or sleeping on the floor. In order to attempt to improve conditions, the department of social welfare has mandated that by the end of 2010, all orphanages must begin construction to convert all dormitory style housing to family style housing units, otherwise they will be shut down. The fact of the matter is that the government is mandating this change but providing no financial support, and if this orphanage gets shut down, the 60 children who are living, eating and getting an education through Ashan will be out on the streets."

If you want to read more, or might be interested in donating (even $5 can help make a difference!), click here to go to Lauren's fundraising site.

First Snow Fall

We got our first snow fall of the season last week. It was only a couple centimeters, but it sure made for some pretty scenery for the day.

It has pretty much melted now, except for a few spots that are nearly always in the shade. I can't wait until the yard is covered in a foot or more of snow so we can run around and have snowball fights with the dog!

The snow clouds ended just across the water where the mountains begin, which made for some pretty cool clear photos of the mountain peaks. So beautiful! On cloudy, rainy days it's easy to forget that the mountains are even there because you can't see anything but water and clouds. So this was a nice reminder of the view from our back yard. How lucky are we?!

Making A Difference: One Toilet Paper Roll At A Time!

Awesome! Scott brand toilet paper has come up with toilet paper rolls that have no inner cardboard tube and use no glue! That's definitely progress! It would be a bit better if they also used recycled paper for the rest of the product, but at least it's a step in the right direction.

*Side note... if you're as brave as I am, you may also venture into using cloth wipes as reusable, washable toilet paper! I don't use it for everything, but I have some super soft bamboo fleece wipes that I can wash and reuse - further reducing the amount of toilet paper I use. I'm also pretty excited that once we start cloth diapering, these wipes can be washed with the cloth diapers to reduce laundry loads and water usage!

Honeymoon Fun!

Just some photos from a very relaxing few days in Seattle!