Breakfast: 1 glass grapefruit juice
Lunch: 2 scrambled cheesy eggs, 1 piece of bread and jam, 1 glass of grapefruit juice, 1/2 cup of wheatlets
Dinner: bowl of spaghetti with homemade meat spaghetti sauce, 1 glass skim milk
Snack: homemade apple crisp and vanilla ice cream.
Just for the record, I hate keeping track of what I eat everyday… I’m glad I only have to do this for 7 days. *sigh*
So my midwives are making me keep track of what I eat. They insist I do this, but it drives me crazy cuz who has time? I’m only going to do it for a week. So here goes:
Breakfast: 1 lg. glass Sun Rype not from concentrated apple juice, 1 pepperoni stick
Lunch: 1 sm. homemade cookie, 1 pink grapefruit, 1 glass of apple juice
Snack: 1 pink grapefruit
Supper: 1 cup of rice, salmon, 1/2 cup long green beans, 1 glass of apple juice, 1/2 slice of freshly baked banana bread.
Snack: 1 pink grapefruit, 1 glass of grapefruit juice.
*sigh* It sure doesn’t look like a lot, but I only eat when I’m hungry and when I have food that is accessible to eat. Right now I’m craving my pepperoni sticks and my Danone la creme yogurts! Grrr…. and it’s Sunday or else I’d send Ryan to the grocery store to pick some up for me. I’m craving apple juice, pink grapefruit, Danone la creme yogurt, apples, and pepperoni sticks. GAH! I hate cravings that can’t be fulfilled. I’m going to be dreaming of eating pepperoni sticks all night long now! *sigh* I’d rather have my steamy Tom Welling ones. Now THOSE put a smile on my face all day. The brain is an amazing thing.
Those are all the reason why I haven’t been posting everyday. I’m constantly dry heaving and I still feel nauseous. I’ve finally figured out that it’s because I don’t eat enough. But I also think it’s cuz the house is such a mess. I see laundry on the floor or a dirty floor and I start to dry heave. I’ve been leaving the house all day and get back in time to have supper or put the kids to bed. We’ve been eating out a lot. However, we’ve got to cut back cuz it’s so expensive to eat out. I won’t go to crappy McDonalds or any other fast food joint. I hate those places even when I’m not prego. So we go out to the Santa Fe Grill, Bistro Provencal, Mother Tucker’s, Olive Garden, El Sombrero, etc. Those places add up, especially with 4 kids.
When I’m not sick and I’ve got energy I’m cleaning, doing laundry, and making dinner. I made a bet with Ryan that I could clean out my office within a week if I could have anything I want. He agreed then asked what I wanted if I won the bet. He was leaning towards something sexual. I just laughed at him. “Sweetie I can get it anytime I want and do anything I want to you anyway… that’s not a big deal to me. Sorry. That’s your thing not mine.” When I grew silent and told him I wanted to think about it he grew worried. I just smiled.
Now this office has been a thorn in my heel for over 2 years. It’s quite an eye sore. It looks like a tornado blew through. Seriously worse that a teenagers room. It was a pig sty. Just disgusting. Anytime I had to quickly clean up the house I’d throw stuff in there that I couldn’t find a place for. So it quickly got very messy. I would go in there to attempt to clean it, but I’d feel so overwhelmed and wouldn’t know what to do with some of the papers and junk. So a pig sty it stayed.
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday I would walk by the office and feel overwhelmed. It was a losing battle. I couldn’t do this on my own. I was lamenting over the state of my office and admitting defeat to my friend Christina on Thursday. “I’m coming over on Friday to help you,” she states.
I tried to refuse, cuz it was embarrassing to have to have someone go through all the garbage in that office. She wouldn’t hear anything of it.
“It’s a challenge. I’m excited and I can’t wait. I’ll see you tomorrow at 2pm. I want you to win this bet!” was her reply.
I gave in and thanked her for being so willing to help me…
Can I just say that she is the most amazing woman I know? She is superwoman to me. If there ever was a model for superwoman she would be it. She’s just amazing. They moved into their new house in Feb 2005. In a few months she built her basement, a tool shed, a deck, laid sod, sewed curtains, laid the carpet, built her fence, built a fire-pit, built a toy box, chalkboard and wooden chairs for her deck. All by herself. Her husband hardly helped. He was too busy coaching football. She only hired someone to do the electrical work for her in her basement. She did all this while teaching Environmental Science every Tuesday and Thursday at a Private School here AND looking after her two kids AND doing a day home on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. She also took her daughter to and from school, keeps her house immaculate and has dinner on the table for her husband every night when he comes home at 5:30pm. She made homemade turtles, cookies and treats for Christmas. I swear this woman works and moves like she’s got a fire cracker stuck up her ass and any minute it’s going to explode. She is on the move from the crack of dawn until the wee hours of the night. She ALSO did all this WHILE she is pregnant. I just shake my head in amazement.
Every time I talk to her she’s drilling or sawing or doing something while we talk on the phone… and what am I doing??? I’m lounging on the couch watching the kids play as I talk to her. She’s so amazing. ANYWAY, so she came over at 2pm. She was so excited. I just gave her a strange look. I know I wouldn’t be excited to have to clean out such a hideously disgusting room! So while I got the kids snacks, drinks and settled after they got home from school she cleaned up all the papers and garbage off my floors. Another 1/2 hour later she has the desks, filing cabinets and bookshelf tops cleaned off. All the papers are sorted for me to go through.
The next two hours we tackle the office. She buzzes around me in a fury of activity and I sit on the floor sorting through all the papers she has stacked for me. I go off to make dinner and she cleans out my storage room and pantry to make room for some of the boxes and clear filing cabinets. Then she begins hauling everything downstairs. Her husband comes over and he helps haul the heavy things for her. She is after all 7 months prego. She breaks for dinner for 1 hour then continues right after dinner. Ryan and her husband go to the theatre room to watch movies while we continue cleaning up. She cleans out the two metal filing cabinets, sorts and puts everything in the two filing cabinets downstairs. She stayed till 11:30pm cleaning, sorting and helping me organize everything. She is simply amazing.
When I saw how neat and clean it was upstairs and how everything was so organized downstairs I almost cried. That’s huge, cuz I rarely cry. I’m just so, so, so thankful and grateful for her help and her friendship. Time just flew by as we chatted, laughed and organized everything. She such a wonderful friend. I just love her to bits. I’m so jealous of her. Not a mean jealous, but more of a ‘wow! I look up to you cuz you can do so many amazing things.’ She’s just absolutely gorgeous. She doesn’t wear any make up cuz she doesn’t have to. She’s a natural beauty. She is just a little too short to do modeling (5′6), but she is so photogenic and just gorgeous. Beautiful cheekbones, thick long straight brown hair, big brown eyes, with long lashes, full red lips, a cute small nose. She really has the whole package. She’s humble, kind, modest, spiritual, loving, patient with her husband/kids, very smart, beautiful and she can do anything. Wow. I wish I could harness her drive and her energy. Don’t get me wrong. She’s gone thorough a lot in her life, but she hasn’t let it jade her positive point of view. I wish I could be more like her. She’s just amazing.
So thanks to her I get to have whatever I want. I proudly showed the room to Ryan at the end of the day once they had gone home.
“So you called in reinforcements,” he says.
“Well, you didn’t say that I couldn’t and she offered, I didn’t ask.”
“Alright, you win” he smiles “What do you want?”
“My wedding pictures. It’s been 9 years. We need to pick them up and pay for them.”
*sigh* “I can think of a lot better things to do with the money.”
“I’m sure you can, but it’s what I want, cuz I won the bet.”
So hooray after 9 years I’ll have all my photo albums, negatives and big 16x20. I’m so excited.
January 19, 2006
Brandon is my sweet boy. He is shy and quiet. He is very observant and loves to laugh. If too much attention is paid to him he retreats and turns shy.
He is my biggest kid. For his weight he is in the 95% in the growth charts. He’s almost as heavy as Josh who is in the 5% in the growth charts. He takes after Ryan’s side of the family. He’s stocky. The kid is built like a brick. I can barely lift him. He’ll be my future football player. He can take down Laura and Josh in a wrestling match.
He loves his brothers and sisters. He loves to play tag with them. When Laura and Josh are away at school he constantly asks, “Where’s Wawa and Josh?”
“At school.”
“Oh.”
An hour later he’ll ask the same question. When they get home from school he runs to the door with a big smile on his face.
“Hi Josh! Hi Wawa!”
He loves his sister Mya. He plays peek-a-boo or tag with her. When she cries he says, “shhh, shhh.” If they are getting into trouble together or if he wants to take something away from her he’ll make sure he closes the door before he causes mischief. I think he figures I won’t see or hear the trouble he is getting into.
He loves to help empty the dishwasher or be “mommy’s helper.” He is starting to talk better and better.
I asked him what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday. A chocolate cake, a rainbow cake, a chiffon cake, an angel food cake, etc… Laura and Josh instantly started telling him what cake he should choose. He thought about it for a good 5 minutes. Then very quietly with a big smile on his face he said, “an ice cream cake.”
So we went to Dairy Queen and I let him look through all the cakes. There were a variety of pictures on the cakes; sports, cars, trucks, Bob the Builder, Batman, Spiderman, Superman, etc. He finally chose the Superman one. He loves Superman and constantly wears his Superman pj’s with the cape around the house all day long. He was so proud and so happy that he got to pick out his own cake. It was so sweet.
For his birthday we had steak, baked potatoes and corn. Had ice cream cake and opened presents. He loved his choo choo train from Ikea, the bank machine, Jesus story book, a sled and a play dough set.
On Sunday, January 22 we had a party for him with our friends. Amazingly we were able to fit 14 adults and 17 kids in our house and around the tables. We had a huge spread of food, so yummy. We made beef ribs, pork ribs, rotisserie chicken, roasted mini potatoes, rice, corn, caesar salad, fruit salad, buns and jello. Brandon fell asleep during dinner. He was so exhausted by playing with all the kids.
While we waited for Brandon to wake up we started on the 4 course dessert. I gave the kids chocolate muffins with sprinkles, then everyone shared the mini cherry tarts and the mini chocolate tarts. Then we had an orange chocolate cheese cake. Once Brandon woke up we had the angle food cake with whipping cream, strawberries and peaches. Oh so yummy!
The guys all retired downstairs to watch the football game and the girls stayed upstairs to watch Brandon open his gifts. He got gobs of toys and clothes. It was lots of fun and the kids had a blast playing with all his new trucks, race track and toys.
I’d say the highlight of the evening was when I smashed my orange chocolate cheese cake into Jonathan’s face…. twice. The first time he put the cheesecake to his nose to smell it. I flipped his plate but it just skimmed his face and landed on his shirt… rats… never one let a prank die until it’s carried out to its full potential I waited until everyone calmed down from the first incident.
He came walking over to me saying, “Oh that was good, but you missed… I’ll get you back…” He was within arms distance away from me so I said, “Oh ya? Whatcha gonna do?” I walked toward him and I smashed my cheesecake in his face… “This?” I laughed. This time it was a bulls-eye. Cheese cake all over his face, up his nose and in his eyes. Ahhh…. nothing like a good cake in the face. He took it in good stride and laughed about it.
It was so funny. Everyone was shocked and freaked again cuz I was starting a lil’ food fight in my living room. I have hard wood so I really didn’t care. All my couches are leather so everything is easy wipe off. I really don’t think it’s that big of a deal. I’d have a food fight in my house at the drop of a hat. I’m not anal nor do I have stuff that can’t easily be cleaned.
Well, Jonathan started ranting about how he was going to get me back. I just smiled and said, “bring it on… but just for fair warning. You DON’T want to play with me. I have a very creative and sadistic mind. Whatever you do to me I’ll unleash something much worse on you. I’m the Queen of Pranks and you don’t want to mess with me.” He starts yakking and saying that I better watch out cuz he’s going to get me.
Guy jumps up and runs toward him. Guy and Jayna have known us for about 8 years now. In his thick French accent he says, “Listen to her! You DON’T want to mess with her! You know what she’ll do? She’ll hang you upside down, then slit your insides open and let your guts spill out. She’ll feed you to the wolves! She’s crazy! Just leave her alone. You don’t want to get into this kind of war with her! Trust me! I know!”
Janae and Dennise laughed their heads off and nodded. They also have known me the longest, going on 16 years now. “Believe him! You don’t want to get Joanne started!”
I just smiled my evil smile and looked at Jonathan. “Bring it on!” I hissed.
He looked scared. Guy, Jayna, Dennise and Janae kept yelling at him, “No! Don’t! She won’t stop until she’s won. You can’t top her! Just let her be.” I just laughed… how funny… *sigh* they know me so well.
Well, we had a blast hanging out, chatting and being with everyone. I love fun parties and ours are usually memorable ones.
Happy 3rd Birthday Brandon! Thanks for having a birthday, it gave us a great excuse to have a get together.
Jan. 17, 2006
Laura: Are you tired?
Brandon: No, I’m Brandon!
Jan. 18, 2006
I took Brandon and Mya with me to my midwife appointment. They were happily playing with all the toys. Joy, my midwife, turned the Doppler machine on to listen to the baby. The steady and quick heartbeat was found. Silence enveloped the room.
“Do you hear that Brandon?” Joy asked.
Brandon and Mya are both very still and quiet listening intently to the rapid heart beat of the baby.
bump bump bump bump bump bump bump bump
“It’s a choo choo train,” Brandon concludes. Then goes back to playing with the toys.
“A choo choo train?” I asked laughing.
Brandon looks at me earnestly with his big brown eyes, “Yep, a choo choo train.”
Well, as usual my kids have given me a run for my money. I’ve been taking naps due to the gestation period I am going through, so the boys have been on running a muck while I’ve been sleeping…
OLE’
The boys decided to take the taco chips out of the pantry and dump them all over the living room carpet. They then proceeded to have a Taco stomping party. From upstairs I was awoken to squeals of laughter and the sound of stomping feet on newspaper? I go downstairs to find taco chips ground into the carpet. I handed one the garbage can and the other a bowl and they picked up all the taco chips. Then, after the majority of it was picked up I let them vacuum the carpet. It took them 1 1/2 hours to clean up the mess. They complained bitterly the entire time that I wasn’t helping them, but I just kept reminding them that I didn’t have the fun of stomping on the tacos.
Picasso, Picasso where art thou?
Ah, he resides in my little 15month old. Mya opened the art kit that Laura got for Christmas and promptly proceeded to repaint the walls and the foot-board on my bed with oil pastels, crayon, felt and wax crayon. You have to use ALL the mediums to create art work… right?
Snap, Crackle, Pop
The boys and Mya decided to try an experiment.
The Question: If we add milk to Rice Krispies that are dumped on the carpet, kitchen floor and table will they make the ‘Snap, crackle, pop’ sound?
Conclusion: Yes, they do…along with a gigantic mess.
Next experiment.
The Question: If we run and hide downstairs will the mess magically go away?
Conclusion: No. Mom will make us clean the mess.
Ryan, “You know whenever I hear someone talk about irritable bowl syndrome I think to myself that I have irritable Joanne syndrome at home.”
So I have cravings that need to be met. He’s been really good about going to a restaurant just to pick up a chocolate Rollo cake and baklava at 10pm or running off to Safeway at 10:55pm for apple juice and a red grapefruit. Hey, at least it’s not shrimp and lobster cravings like I had with Laura. Although now that I think about it….
Before I was a MOM….
I cleaned my house each day.
I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.
Before I was a Mom….
I didn’t worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.
Before I was a Mom…
I had never been puked on
Pooped on
Spit on
Chewed on
Peed on
I had complete control of my mind
My thoughts
I slept all night.
Before I was a Mom…
I never held down a screaming child so that doctors could do tests or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.
Before I was a Mom…
I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn’t want to put it down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn’t stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.
Before I was a Mom…
I didn’t know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.
I didn’t know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn’t know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn’t know that something so small could make me feel so important.
Before I was a Mom
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the wonderment, or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn’t know I was capable of feeling so much before I was a Mom.
Behind every successful woman…… is a basket of dirty laundry.
2 cups frozen blueberries
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup corn syrup
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp. cornstarch
Put all ingredients in a pan. Bring to a boil. Pour warm syrup onto pancakes or crepes.
Cool and refrigerate. Use for ice cream, pie filling, cheesecake topping, etc.
3 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. melted butter
Beat all 5 ingredients together in a blender. Pour into a greased 8x8 inch pan. Bake at 400F for about 20 min. until lightly browned. Cuts into 4 pieces.
This will grow in the oven and once you take it out it will collapse. Put maple syrup on or Blueberry Sauce. It’s a Yorkshire pudding like pancake… Mmmm… We have this for Christmas morning.
Brandon was playing with Josh and jumped on his tummy. Josh got hurt and was crying quite hard.
“Are you going to be OK Josh?” I asked as I was cuddling him.
Josh: “No! Brandon jumped on my tummy and broke my heart!”
~~~~~
We were discussing summer plans with the kids. We told them we would go to Edmonton, stay in a hotel and play at West Edmonton Mall because Ryan’s best friend was getting married.
Josh: “Married? Who’s he getting married to?”
Me: “A really nice lady…”
Josh: “He’s getting married to a GIRL!!! EEEWWWWWW that is so gross! WHY would he do that?!?”
Laura: “Because he’s in LOVE with her.”
Josh: “Oh that makes me want to throw up!”
I don’t know where he is getting this anti girl bit from since his best friend that he plays with is a girl. This kid just cracks me up.
~~~~~
Josh: “If I went on the moon, I’d ride my rocket-ship up to the moon. Then I would drive a motorbike on the moon and do these cool jumps!”
Laura: “If I went on the moon I’d bring along crayons and draw a big smiley face for everyone on earth to see.”
~~~~~
I love to tease my kids and play with their reality a bit. They know I’m kidding (usually), but it cracks them up.
Laura: “Hey Josh, did you know that astronauts pee in their space suits?”
Josh: “They do! Ewwwwwwwwwwww! That’s gross!” He sputters out between fits of laughter.
Laura: “Mom, what do they do with all the pee?”
Me: “They take it out and dump it space.”
Josh/Laura: “EEEWWWWWWWWWW!!!”
Me: “Yep, so when it rains, sometimes it’s raining astronaut pee.”
Josh/Laura: “EEEWWWWWWWWWW!!!” As they crack up laughing hysterically.
Laura: “So what do they do with the poo?”
Me: “Oh, that’s hail.”
After more fits of laughter and ewwwing,
Laura: “Ya, but poo is brown and hail is white.”
Me: “Well, it comes from space where it’s really, really cold. So as it falls to the ground it breaks up and turns white. So don’t eat the hail.”
The kids crack up laughing.
Laura: “Josh, you’ve eaten hail! That means you’ve eaten astronaut poo!”
Hahahahahahahaha….
Man, the things that make kids laugh.
I went in for my date determining ultrasound yesterday. It was thrilling to say the least. I was shocked that a little baby was growing inside of me and I was also shocked that I was 12 weeks prego already! The ultra sound tech was so nice and the sweetest woman ever! She let me watch as she was doing all the measuring on the baby.
As we were looking at the baby, it began to play peek-a-boo with us. It would put it’s hands over it’s eyes then remove them over and over. After that the baby did a dance for us, wiggling and squirming about. Then it stopped and waved at us. It was so cool! The tech was able to replay it a couple times for me. It was amazing and so much fun to watch.
It made me so excited to have another baby. I told the kids today and they were thrilled. Josh wants it to be a boy. He wants us to name it Shadrach after his friend. Laura wants it to be a girl and name it Elizabeth. The kids are thrilled and I am too. I feel complete now. I feel that our little family is done.
Over the past few months when everyone was seated at the supper table I’ve been feeling like someone was missing even though everyone was there. This little baby was the missing piece. I’ve always wanted 5 kids and since I also dream about my kids before they come I knew this one still had to be in our family. 5 is a lot. It’s busy, but I’m looking forward to being there.
I’m starting to get into the nesting mode. I wish I could harness this drug/feeling so I could take it after I’m done being prego. I’m cleaning like crazy, dejunking and decluttering. I’m tossing stuff in the garbage or giving it away to the Salvation Army. It feels so good to get rid of stuff I don’t need.
© 2005-2008 Blackberriesgirl