Nighttime Routine Interrupted

Everyone knows that there are two certainties in your anatomy during pregnancy. Your uterus will grow, and YOUR BLADDER WILL SHRINK. Like, shrink to nothingness. Like, wake up 5 times in the night to pee. FIVE TIMES. If you're not thinking about food, you're thinking about finding a bathroom. The first thing you notice when you go somewhere new is where the bathroom is. If there isn't one, you start to panic. Hikes are great for this. You know full well there's no hope but the woods. And this makes you have to go about 10 times more frequently.

              This is not a magical moment with my unborn child. This is me panicking about my                                       bursting bladder on a trail with no bathroom....

I once made a medical discovery. Yes, that's right! A MEDICAL DISCOVERY. During our travels in Thailand earlier this year, bathrooms were sometimes few and far between. This led to several desperate bathroom situations on my behalf. And so, I crafted the perfect explanation for such a situation, crafted a well thought-out email to friends, which I share with you now:

"As you know, we have collectively had quite a bit of travel experience. And there has been one ongoing issue that has concerned me. No cause for alarm, this is simply a collection of observations that has led me to this: my first medical discovery.

This issue has now been identified as FPPS: Female Pee Panic Syndrome. Allow me to elaborate...

Female Pee Panic Syndrome, or FPPS, is observed to have plagued two known females and likely countless others. Whilst traveling, there will inevitably be certain periods of time where one may be without access to a bathroom. This exact scenario is where FPPS strikes, with a vengeance. No matter what, no matter how little you drink, or how many preparatory pees you take before embarking, YOU WILL HAVE TO PEE with 150% more urgency than normal, approximately 15-25 minutes into your journey.

In cases where conditions are less than ideal, ie. no known access to rest stops, western toilets, the symptoms of FPPS are exacerbated.

FPPS has also been known to strike in the night in foreign sleeping environments, ie. camping, hilltribe hut.

Please note that no efforts to anticipate FPPS by peeing when convenient, have been successful. The logic of "peeing one last time"...just makes it worse.  Dehydrating oneself has also not held up to the effects of FPPS, and frankly is just a bad idea since you are likely traveling somewhere hot, you will get cranky, and the urgency brought on by FPPS will be out of control.

I will continue to document my findings, while hoping and searching for a cure. Boys, if you would like to consider a Fun Run of sorts, that may be acceptable, as apparently there is no such thing as Male PPS and that's just not fair.



Am I right?

Anyways, the other night as we were getting ready for bed, I thought Eric needed a fully detailed explanation of the woes of my nighttime routine, and how interrupted this routine is by my teeny bladder. When I start getting ready for bed, I pee. Then I floss (stay away pregnancy-induced gingivitis!), brush my teeth, use makeup remover and wash my face. Then I take my vitamins. After all that water running, I pee again. Then I slather on some Bio Oil (which better keep the stretch marks away or SO HELP ME...),  put lotion on my legs since it's so dry in here, and moisturizer on my face and hands. Then I go to bed and read for a while. Once my eyes start shutting, instead of just drifting off to sleep, I get up. And pee again. Bringing us to a grand total of THREE PEES during nighttime routine. This does not include the 2 bathroom trips during the night, which are now, also fully engrained into the routine.

There you have it. Pregnant women pee. A LOT. So if you ever find yourself in front of one in a bathroom line, run. Or you might end up like this:

This would be the most hilarious bathroom sign I've ever seen. Thus, I had to take a photo.

Hiking in a Winter Wonderland

On my family's last weekend in Alberta, we went to stay with them at their resort in Canmore. It had been chilly in Calgary for a while and the Canmore/Banff area was definitely getting colder. There was talk of snow that weekend.

On the way there, we stopped back at Bo Bebe to show Eric the Baby Joggers, though we had pretty much decided on the GT. Realistically, it's all we need for right now, and as much as there's value in getting the Select for the long term, we couldn't really justify the need right now, or the need for something bigger. What we need for now is something small, compact, city-worthy and easy to transport. So, as a gift, my parents bought their first grandbaby the Baby Jogger City Mini GT stroller! Save the tax, order in Alberta, ship to Ontario! Thanks Nana and Gramps to be! It's very exciting knowing we have something for baby and that one big item is off our list and off our minds.

We had a nice evening in Canmore, out for dinner and everyone went to bed pretty early. I woke up in the morning, and decided to take a peek outside....

Well, hello Whoville, it's Christmas morning! Snow, snow, snow!! It was softly snowing, with a perfect white covering on EVERYTHING. The ground was covered, trees were dusted with white, and people still swimming in the pool (weird and doesn't match the Christmas morning setting...). So pretty! After breakfast we knew we wanted to go for a hike, but the weather definitely helped shape the plans for what type/how long of a hike. We headed a bit outside of Banff to Johnston's Canyon and started our hike to see the lower and upper falls. The snow was still nice, just a bit on the ground and a few flakes in the air, plus we were bundled up and ready so it was fun!

And then it started snowing a bit harder.

 

And pretty soon, it was Blizzard Fest 2012.

All you could really do is laugh at it (or at my face here). The snow was just SO thick, HUGE flakes pelting you in the eyes as you walked, feeling your hair turn to icicles. It was blizzarding like this for at least half our time in the canyon, but started to calm down on the way out. 

 

 I swear, if Ontario doesn't deliver a white Christmas after all this in October....

We thawed out in Banff with some awesome pizza at a place Eric and I had been before. Their dipping sauce creation? Chili oil and honey. Together. Incredible! I think you'd definitely need the right kind of pizza for this, but the ones we had tasted phenomenal with this crazy combo. We had dinner in that night and Eric and I braved the pool/hot tub for about 3.5 minutes. A perfect wintery October day.

The next day we did a bit more exploring around Canmore, making our way through the snow to follow a little path along the river.

 

The photos still don't really do it justice as it was such a beautiful winter day, and great times spent with my family. I'm so glad they were out here to visit and it was hard to say goodbye, knowing that it would be a longer stretch of time before coming home. But time will fly, and I know we'll end up missing a lot about Calgary when we're back home so we're trying to savour it now.  Hopefully everyone at home and on the west and east coasts are staying safe with the crazy storms coming this week.

The most daunting task of all...

My mom apparently thinks that my maternal instincts will transfer to my fingers and create this adorable hat out of two wooden chopsticks and a ball of string.

Ok, I've tried to knit before. I've knit a little row here and there, under close supervision from someone who knows what they're doing. Now here I am, alone, just me and my knitting sticks, attempting a masterpiece. The problem is, I know I'll try it. And I know I'll mess up and get super frustrated and likely throw whatever mess I've made across the room. Luckily that fireplace isn't real fire...

So I'll give it a go. Apparently instructions are on the back of the label so we'll see. Don't hold your breath on those pom poms though...unless that's the easiest part, in which case, expect a lot of hatless pom poms.

HOLD ON.

ARE. YOU. SERIOUS.

So, I got too curious and before even finishing typing, I opened the label to read my "instructions":

Oh, I'm sorry, you also don't understand KNITTISH? I seriously might as well brush up on my Francais because that's about as much sense this is making. I'll see you soon, Google and Pinterest, and you'd better have some super basic how-to's including videos featuring nice Grannies who won't talk back when you yell at them for making your knitting not work.

Sigh... Off to youtube...

Week 16

Well, hello WINTER. Didn't expect you so soon, as in before Halloween....

Yes, what they say about Calgary is true. Just when everyone is commenting on the beautiful, extended fall you've been gifted with in September, BAM. Overnight blizzard. In go the flip flops, out come the winter boots. Brings a tear to my eye, and not in a good way. I'm all for a nice winter day, snowflakes falling on Christmas Eve, a good white dusting while you're sipping hot chocolate in front of the fire... But this is OCTOBER. Fall leaves out, brown sugary, slushy, slippery, no-one-can-possibly-walk-through-this snow IN. Oh, Canada.

We were in Canmore this past weekend with my parents and brother, and it DUMPED the first night and looked like Christmas morning when we woke up. I have to say, it made for an interesting hike that day. The snow was absolutely downpouring. You know, those HUGE snowflakes that aren't so much flakes but wimpy snowballs falling from the sky and into your eyes while you walk? That kind of snowfall. It made for some pretty spectacular photos though, which I'll share in another post.

Back to today. So it snowed last night. And kept snowing this morning. And I had my first prenatal checkup in a totally opposite end of the city. Wasn't too bad to get there, but MAN the snow was thick! It looks much nicer now as I sit in front of our fireplace that has been on almost 24/7. Mmm.

So my appointment! It was actually perfect timing since I've been having some crazy weird pains. Up to this point, I've been feeling awesome. The past few weeks, I've noticed more cramping, but read up on it and it seems to be round ligament pain, which should be happening around this time, and is just the feeling of the ligaments around the uterus starting to stretch and grow to accommodate this little avocado baby! The last 2 days though, it's been really sharp pains, almost like gas pains (TMI) that won't really go away. Tres uncomfortable! Both doctors I saw today said it's likely the same thing, crazy ligament pain, especially since I mostly notice it when I'm moving (aka anytime other than sleeping or sitting on the couch). How's that for healthy lifestyle promotion! I have yoga tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes, but as long as all is well and nothing gets worse, I won't get too worried.

We went through other standard questions, did my blood pressure, height and weight...which has continued to go DOWN (?!) unless all these scales are wrong. I'm thinking that I'm probably losing muscle from not strength training (which I neeeeeed to get back to), but weird to know how much I've been eating and how tight my pants are, yet I'm down in pounds. That sounds like something I would read from someone else and HATE them. I'm sure it'll catch up to me and I'll be a whale in no time, don't you worry!

Best part about today's appointment? BABY'S HEARTBEAT!!! This was my first time hearing it. At the ultrasound they just looked at the heart and we could sort of see the little flicker of it beating, but it was different to actually hear it! She warned me that it might still be a bit early and that if I still wanted to try, to not freak out if she couldn't find it. Well, I assure you, it's a good thing she did find it right away because I most certainly lied and most certainly would have freaked out if we heard nothing! There it was, right away, that crazy "whoosh whoosh" that you've heard in movies or on tv. I thought it sounded fast, and she listened for a long time and said that it actually was pretty fast. 165 and they like it to be between 110-150. I said it was 168 at the ultrasound, so she said maybe baby is just really active! (Does this mean we'll have one rambunctious little crazy baby on our hands??) She took it again a few minutes later and it had gone down to an average of 155, so all is well. Baby was just excited for his/her first audio debut! She asked if I was feeling any movement yet, but I don't think I have. I know it's still early, but it could be anytime now, so I'm trying to pay close attention. Can't wait for our next ultrasound to see little pea again and watch those squirmy arms and legs, and maybe feel what's going on this time! 

I'm also thankful, thankful, thankful for a spring baby and will hope that the snow is clearing out in Ontario in April for pea's arrival! 

That's right. MATERNITY SKINNY JEANS, Y'ALL!

 

To sleep and where to sleep...

Sleep.

Sleep, sleep, sleep.

I love sleep. I am fully aware that my relationship with sleep is rapidly coming to an end. The fact that I already wake up from crazy dreams, wake up to pee 5 times a night and wake up at 5am thinking about crib sheets means our days are really numbered. Oh, how I'll miss you, sleep.

Babies sleep, right?  It could happen! Especiallyyyyy...if you have the right bassinet/play yard/co-sleeper/crib/dresser drawer for them to sleep in!!! I know I know, wishful thinking. But I think about this A LOT. About more than just the crib sheets, though the ones out there are SUPER cute.

A looot of the reading I've done revolves around sleep, but more in a parenting sense. Co-bedding, co-sleeping, cry it out, sleep training...everyone has an opinion, and every baby is different. So how do you decide? I go back and forth almost every day. There are some things that I don't agree with and won't do. Some things that I feel are right and we should do. But then there's baby...and you never know what he/she will do!

I know I won't be listening to baby cry it out, but I also know that baby won't be sleeping in our bed regularly. Small condo bedrooms, double beds and sprawly sleepers who like pillows, blankets and space sort of made that decision. Even though I think I have about 3 readers at this point, I want to make it clear that I am NOT JUDGING how anyone else parents or deals with sleep. I think as long as you're doing what works for your baby and your family, go for it. My whole point is being educated. Which also means there's not necessarily a right or wrong. This seems to be going in circles... Let's move on.

In order for baby to sleep, baby has to have something to sleep IN. Yes, my Nanny put one of my uncles in a dresser drawer and he lived to tell, so you can say it really doesn't matter what they sleep in! But, there's a little thing called budget, and let me tell you, something that looks like a woven basket used by tribes in Africa suddenly costs you $300.

The cutest little modern bassinet I've ever seen is this guy:

Monte Ninna Nanna Bassinet

But heavens above, it's expensive. And baby would be able to sleep in there for what, the first 6 days? Not worth it unfortunately. If someone would like to give me this to borrow/for free, come on down! My practical side would cringe still, but my "look at my modern little nursery and my modern baby in their modern design bassinet" would jump up and down a little bit.

We're 100% getting a play yard of some sort. It's a necessity for traveling back and forth to stay with friends and family, which we do SO often now, and I plan to continue to do with baby. Plus, I like the idea of baby having a familiar sleep environment, even just while traveling, so they're not always in something unfamiliar. So, just pick a play yard and we're good to go, right? HAVE YOU ANY IDEA HOW MANY OF THESE THINGS THERE ARE OUT THERE?? At what point did someone tell Graco's pack and play to "go forth and multiply x 10,000"?! There are zillions. So. We can sift through the minute differences between the 80 Graco's and 75 Chicco's and 4587 play yards on Amazon.com.... OR.....

We go with this bad boy.

The 4moms Breeze. Watch this video immediately. WATCH IT.

You watched it, right? So you agree. No contest. This will become a huge part of my life. This is my luxury item. We can go practical and affordable on EVERYTHING else. I. Want. This. Bad. I mean, watch the video again. I usually watch it at least twice a day. In all reality, it's not too crazy expensive (see that self-justification there?). It comes with a bassinet, change basket and folds up well for travel. I've looked into reviews, and since it's fairly new there aren't too many, but every single one almost hasn't even been helpful because all it talks about is how awesome it is. I mainly wonder about the bassinet, knowing that most play yard bassinets are quite hard, and since these aren't in stores (to my knowledge, or at least not in Canada), there's no opportunity to go see one in real life. One review I found, after of course singing it's praises, said that comfort wise, it seemed to be no more or less comfortable than other play yards the reviewer had used, and though it is a bit heavier, it's so worth it in the long run for the convenience. I can't wait!!!

Why are these posts always SO LONG!

Ok, so cribs. Everyone needs a crib. Eventually. There's no way that a full sized crib would fit in our room, and we want baby to start in our room for at least the first few weeks. The crib is the one major thing that can wait on our list. We've looked at a few, but it will probably come down to price. I also think we'll probably want a convertible crib that is able to become a toddler bed/daybed, because what's the point of not being able to use it down the road! Crib mattresses are a whole other story... I'd really like to make sure we get a good quality mattress, but not go crazy. Naturepedic seems to be really highly rated, and comparable prices to other similar ones. Then I get the fun part of finding crib sheets :)

So, the dilemma is still where baby goes right away. One option is to borrow or buy a used bassinet that would just be used for the first few weeks. This is fairly limiting, and I know we both don't really like the thought of buying something that we'll have to get rid of in such a short time.

I may be able to borrow an Arm's Reach co-sleeper from a friend, which could be a good solution. I had thought about this from the beginning since we want baby close, but not in our bed. This can be attached right to the side of the bed, but can also be used as a play yard/bassinet on it's own if we wanted to keep it in our room but just move it away from the bed.

 We're still doing a lot of research on co-sleeping and whether it's the best solution for us or not, but I still think we'll have baby in our room to start before going to their own room in a crib.





The last option may be the best of both worlds, but is also a bit of a temporary thing and might not be the best investment for longevity. A mini crib. So, one brand in particular looks great, has really good reviews, but is pricey. I've looked up others on Amazon, but the reviews have been super sketchy, everything from faulty parts to being difficult to put together to emitting a weird paint smell. No thanks. Sometimes it's better to go with quality! If we could find one of these used, that would be incredible. The problem is that this particular one may only last a year. We'll be in our condo for at least 2 more years so ideally, we'd have one crib get us through the condo years and if we got something new for a house, no problem. But needing 2 cribs in 2 years may not be the most economical solution. The best part about this is that we could essentially use it as a co-sleeper in our room, since it's small and could fit by our bed/in our bedroom, unlike a full sized crib. Once baby goes to their room, we can just wheel the crib in, no problem. The other nice thing is that in this scenario, we could potentially keep our futon in baby's room for guests (where it is now) and if we have people stay over, just wheel baby's crib into our room for the night while we have guests. This is probably the most appealing part of this, as we like having people come to stay, but it's much nicer to be able to offer them their own room, especially once there's a baby! I'm hoping we can find a "mini crib" that's small enough to have all these advantages, but big enough to last 2 years.

Bloom Alma Mini Crib

What to do, what to do....

So there's our options. Plus thousands more than just these that I think I've narrowed down. I think I need to start getting the word out about this blog so I can get some comments and feedback on these long winded posts...if anyone sticks around long enough/has strong enough eyesight to read through it all! Now I feel like taking a nap.

Week 15

It's been so fun having my parents and brother here this week! Keeping busy with weekends in the mountains and trips to BC have really made the time fly by so far. It doesn't really feel like it's been that long since we've seen family! Still, so great to have them here. I'm not sure what my mom did first, hug me or go straight for the bump! This belly seems to have a mind of it's own. I thought it had blossomed over the Thanksgiving weekend, but when we got back from Vancouver, it seemed to have shrunk! Mom commented that she thought I'd be a bit bigger, and Eric and I often say (especially in the morning) that I barely look pregnant. 

Well, watch out Wednesday (when we took this photo) because here it is! I woke up Wednesday morning and thought, hello little belly! For some reason, all of a sudden on Wednesday it seemed bigger! I flaunted my new little bump in yoga, though I'm still the smallest belly in class, and by the end of the day when we took the photo, it was large and in charge!

I made an appointment for my 16-week checkup on Monday. Since it's just at a walk-in clinic, I'm hoping all goes well and I get a thorough appointment, and can hopefully hear baby's heartbeat since we haven't heard it yet! All in all though, I'm thankful I'm still feeling great and looking forward to a great weekend with my family in Canmore!

Information Overload

I used to think baby stores were awesome. Baby stores are the cutest thing ever! I can't wait until I need to start shopping there!

Baby stores TRICK YOU. They lure you in with the cute window displays, the impressive strollers, the teeny shoes and onesies. So you walk in. And you start looking around. And all of a sudden, it's 7.5 hours later and your eyes have spirals in them like a cartoon who's just been knocked out. Info Overload.

So ok, I'll admit, it's still fun. And just amazing that we're actually shopping in baby stores for our own baby. Plus, Eric has said about 38 times how much more fun baby planning is than wedding planning. I could have a few things to say about that, but the face of an excited Daddy-to-be sort of takes the cake.

So we've started some lists of our must-haves before baby, our would-like-to-have's before baby, and things that could/should wait until after baby. The main things we've been considering are the big ones: carseat, stroller, sleeping situation. I'll save sleep for another post since that's a whole other kettle of fish.

The carseat ended up being narrowed down pretty quickly. I've done a bit of research and the Graco Snugride seems to be a pretty highly rated infant seat. The big debate will always be price vs. longevity. It's hard to spend big bucks on things that may only last for a few months or so, but with this being our first of hopefully more than one baby, there's something to be said about buying products that are built to last. So the Graco Snugride! We're just between the 30 and the 35 as the 35 holds much more weight, but you never know when baby will grow out of it other than the weight requirements.

Graco Snugride 35 2012      

Strollers. This has been interesting. There are SO. MANY. STROLLERS. out there! My parents and brother are here visiting and we went to the Calgary Zoo Monday afternoon. Well, hello stroller palooza! Eric and I had taken a quick look at strollers in Vancouver at the fancy pants Jack and Lola, so we already had the Baby Jogger brand in mind. The amount of Joggers we saw at the zoo was crazy, but you had to get a bit closer to see which model it was. Before this, we were thinking of going with the City Mini. After the zoo, the Select was brought to the forefront because of the versatility for two kids and the fact that a toddler can sit in an outward facing seat, instead of so many double strollers I've seen where the toddler has to sit directly underneath and looking up at the upper seat. Anyways.

So the day after our zoo browsing, we went to Bo Bebe in Calgary. Actually, that's a lie. We first stopped at Babies 'R Us, which in my opinion was a nightmare. I truly don't have anything against this store, or those who shop there, but I was NOT impressed. I realized the selection would be different from other boutique stores we'd been to, which was both a positive and negative. There were tons of playards to look at, which we haven't seen at the boutiques. More on that later... There were quite a few strollers, but only ONE Baby Jogger (now I don't even remember which one it was). We did get to take a closer look at the Snugrides, which was great. They seem to come off the stay-in-car base very easily, and though they all feel heavy, I think it's pretty standard in terms of weight. I also like the way it looks, which isn't as important, but a plus! We don't want to get a bassinet add-on for a stroller, so we will be getting quite a bit of use out of an infant carseat as this will be key to using the stroller with a newborn. We did spend quite a bit of time trying to figure out the difference between two Snugrides, and didn't get much help from staff. We went through about 3 staff while looking at strollers as well, and none were all that knowledgeable about features, or even how to fold the strollers. I get it, one was new, and in a store like that, there's SO much product that it would be impossible to know about everything. But I can't say it was helpful.

Off we went to Bo Bebe, and the first thing we saw in the window was the Select stroller. Inside, there was a whole lineup of Baby Joggers, so we were able to compare the City Mini, City Mini GT and Select side by side. The sales woman there was extremely helpful, already a mom of two with another on the way, so she knew her stuff! We were in that small store for well over an hour, going back and forth over the pro's and con's of each, and learning that the City Mini is not really worth it at all, unless you go for the GT. So here's our list:

Baby Jogger City Mini GT
- folds insanely easily, can do it with one hand
- a bit of a smaller frame, so would be better for storage
- lightweight
- decent sized storage underneath
- like the 3 wheels, narrower for navigating in grocery store, malls, etc.
- all we need for right now

Baby Jogger City Mini GT

Baby Jogger City Select
- can convert to be usable for 2 kids in over 10 different combinations
- gigantic storage underneath, seriously one of the best things about this one
- not that much bigger than GT considering the extra capabilities
- more durable frame, can support more weight so no problem to hang diaper bag on handlebar
- best option if we're going for longevity, as it could be used when there's two

Baby Jogger City Select

Select configurations for two, though we wouldn't buy bassinet

Hmmm....

Actually, when you get it all in writing, I almost think it makes it clear that the GT will be the way to go for now. Despite the awesome pic of the variations of the Select. Really, the only bonus of the Select is for the long run, and by the time Baby #2 comes along, who knows what the latest and greatest will be. Being in a condo, tight on space and a bit tight on budget, I think we'll probably agree on the GT. HOWEVER, as soon as we left Bo Bebe, we saw about 14 Selects around the mall, plus two women in the store said that it was their dream stroller, AND I've had it recommended by a close friend. Grr...

After the stroller tests, we started talking to the store owner about cribs. There was a crib that I absolutely loooved. Something I didn't really think about before was that cribs really are relatively all the same size, because a standard crib mattress is one size. We are just so concerned with space, especially for big furniture, that the first thing I looked at on cribs was size. So, this guy definitely knew his stuff and I was glad to hear all the info he was giving us....BUT....somewhere in his description of different organic mattresses and how much everything costs, I literally started seeing spots. All of a sudden I felt hot, lightheaded, and figured I may actually pass out in the next few minutes. Best pregnant excuse in the books? "I think I need to use the bathroom." Mom looked at me and said how pale I was, so we left the store, sat right outside and got an iced tea for me. I think it was just a low blood sugar moment, but man it came on fast! Once I'd had something to drink and sat for a bit, I felt a bit less shaky, and we went to get some real lunch before heading home. I was really glad to have them there to discuss everything, but definitely wish Eric had been there to get all the info at the same time. That night I had literally 20 tabs open on my computer to all sorts of options, and went through some things with Eric. I think we'll go back to Bo Bebe on Friday so he can play around with the strollers, but other than that, we'll wait on a few other decisions. We've all agreed, there's no 100% right answer. Just whatever seems most right for us and our situation, and the rest will go from there.

So there you have the story of how I almost passed out due to baby info overload, and how no matter how excited you are for baby shopping, always take a Gatorade with you. The end.

Week 14

Again before yoga! I was actually pretty sore after our last class, so we'll see what happens this time. I really need to get to the gym more often... Now that the weather in Calgary has taken a turn for the dead of winter, it's much less motivating to stray from our cozy fireplace to go anywhere. I know rest is good, but still...need to get out more. Now that I've put it out there, I'll feel more guilty not doing it, so thanks for the guilt-trip. Jerks.

WHY YES I DID GET COLOURED CHALK!!! How sweet of you to notice! Dropped a whole 93 cents at Walmart for those bad boys. I also went on a quest for Chalk Ink, or Chalk Markers, whatever you want to try to call them when you explain them to the staff in the store who look at you like you just made something up. Yes, this is the same stuff you see on the boards at Starbucks, restaurants and cafes literally EVERYWHERE. And you can literally buy it NOWHERE. Someone at Michael's said I was about the thousandth person to ask so they were supposed to be getting some in, and for pity sake, would someone just ask Starbucks already and find out where to buy it! Anyways, Michael's lady did find some packages which were not the colour combos I'd need and were $20 each. $40 on markers? Too rich for my blood. I looked online and found a ton of great, cheap options. Then realized I was on amazon.com not .ca. Wonderful. My amazon.ca options are lacking and pricey so we'll have to see. I'll try to check the Michael's in Calgary or keep looking online, but otherwise it may have to wait for a Christmas stocking stuffer. Ok, end chalk rant. Maybe this is a sign that I'm finally getting into the baby blog mentality. When my biggest problems are finding chalk ink...

Week 13

Yikes, late in the game on posting this one! This was minutes before dashing out the door for my first prenatal yoga class! Class was good, I had belly envy as I'm far inferior to the others in the class, but I'm hoping that starting early is beneficial for the rest of the way.

Thanksgiving Belly

A mere 3 days after getting back from our Jasper weekend, we hopped on a late night flight to Vancouver. I have missed that place with a passion. I LOVE Vancouver, especially North Vancouver where my family lives. I spent a few summers in North Van during university and they were THE BEST. Not to mention (*knock on wood*) that every time I'm in Vancouver, the weather is fantastic.

This visit was no exception. The day we left Calgary was our worst weather so far. It was also my first class of prenatal yoga, which was great! The walk there, getting lost, being late, while it was SNOWING, was just okay.

So, a quick recap of Thanksgiving weekend. Wait, what? Not some typical novel-sized post about each and every thing we did? That's right, surprise! I'm being concise blogger today :)

Transit to the airport was a slight disaster, but we made it on time and our flight went by in no time. It was LATE when we got to my uncle and aunt's, but we were excited to see their newly renovated house. More like, hello Style at Home magazine! What a house!

Thursday was a day in the life of a mom of two. School dropoffs and pickups, errands to run, hockey practice, soccer, dinner somewhere in between. Crazy! We actually skipped some of the evening crazy due to free Carrie Underwood tickets! Now, someone around here has a little bit of a crush on Carrie. Something to do with her legs, so I think the 5 costume changes were much appreciated. We had some amazing Mexican food before the concert, probably the best burrito I've ever had...delish!

Friday, we took the plunge...and went to the fancy pants baby boutique, Jack and Lola. Very similar to Ella + Elliot in our neighbourhood in Toronto. Though they do carry a lot of higher end products, there are still tons of basics that I'm sure are standard prices. I'll save the rest of the details of our shopping trip for a separate post. We had a jaunt to the park with the boys on their bikes. Who knew a 3 year old could whip down a sidewalk that fast on a bike with no pedals! Apparently these bikes are crazy expensive, but we'll see if this one can be saved for us for later :) 

On Saturday, the boys, which included my seven year old cousin, did the Grouse Grind up Grouse Mountain. Given my recent Jasper experience, I declined the Grind and took the gondola up. Grouse is always a good time. We spent Saturday evening starting a bunch of Thanksgiving prep and I crafted my first apple pie (sans homemade crust).

The Grinders!

Sunday morning we actually went back to Jack and Lola with my aunt for some more information overload. Afterwards, I realized just how NOT FUN maternity clothes shopping will be. On the other hand, I've come up with my strategy for getting free lululemon for life: initiate their kids line, lululime! We'll see. The rest of the day was Thanksgiving prep and family photo time. These photos were amazing. Why I'm I telling you this? Stay tuned... Dinner was AWESOME. I think holiday dinners are a pregnant belly's dream. That belly was in full force after the meal. Plus, you don't have to feel guilty about trying both kinds of pie...you just have to be okay with feeling like you will physically burst after eating too much.

So, where are all the photos of our fantastic, festive dinner and these amazing family photos I speak of? Here's a few lovely words every photographer wants to hear: CORRUPT MEMORY CARD.

How this happened, we have NO idea. Never happened before, and better not ever happen again! We've left our memory card in Vancouver to hopefully have some luck at camera places for recovery. Fingers and toes crossed...it'll be so sad to lose those photos!

The Whistlers

So that last post? You know, me complaining about some dinky little hike with a slight elevation? That, my friends, was a CAKE WALK compared to what we got ourselves into later that weekend. See, there's a mountain in Jasper called The Whistlers. Sounds ominous right off the bat. There's a gondola that takes seven minutes to reach the top. At the top, you can enjoy the view, walk around, and even do a decent hike up to a higher elevation to The Summit.

Here's what went down.

We decide that gondolas are for the weak and we're going to just take the ride up, and then hike down. Win win! We get the view, a little hike at the top, and then a long, but not so grueling, hike back down to the bottom. Great plan, right?

Sneak Peak

Well. The devils working at this place have it all figured out. They charge you full price to ride up/walk down, but it's half price to hike up and ride down. Fancy that. Of course now we just have no options. Not only are we just super adventurous, we're also cheap, and will NOT give them the satisfaction of ripping us off. So, decision made. The last gondola down departs at 5:30. It's 1:50. It takes 3-5 hours to hike to the top. Add one pregnancy and you could conclude that we will not be making it to the top of this mountain. Compromise? Let's hike halfway up, hope for a decent view for some pics, then hike down. Wonderful!

Wait for it.

I don't know why they even bother sugar coating these deals. Why can't they just have a nice big sign right up front that says, "Would you like to turn your legs to Jello and feel your heart bust through your chest? Then please, spend the next 3-5 hours climbing exclusively uphill, over rocks, through bear-inhabited wilderness FOR FUN." Do I sound bitter? I'm really trying to be a bit more "glass half full" on this blog, but I think this post may just need to be a teensy exception.

So.

Here we go, on a pleasant, uphill stroll. Not bad, took lots of breaks, had some water, paced ourselves, chatted about babies, enjoyed the view, all while carrying every single one of our layers that we didn't need because of the unusually nice weather. Fun, right?

Some rocky bits

 



After some rocky terrain, more switchbacks, maybe 10 minutes of blissful level ground, we reached what we figured was halfway, where we crossed under the gondola. Feeling tired and hungry (what else is new), I felt pretty good about getting halfway and suggested we turn around. Someone else thought differently. "We're so close to the top!" "I bet we're more than halfway." "It's maybe another hour, tops, we'll make it in time for sure." 


Are. You. Serious.



Here's the thing. In this sort of situation, I know I'm fighting a losing battle. My headstrong baby daddy wanted to get to the top. This really fuels the fire. I know the only way to finish this hike is now to get to the top. So I take off. Amazing how much energy is generated by frustration! Off we went, up and up and up, me smacking my hiking pole against each rock, scarin' bears. It was a silent good part of an hour, other than my insanely loud breathing. 

Our last "let's actually think about taking some nice photos" photo.

 The altitude and chilling weather made the air thinner and thinner and as the sky got darker, I really started to think how stupid this idea was. I'll save you from the even more long winded account of our treacherous final ascent... It was pretty bad. I was honestly pretty terrified we weren't going to make it in time. The sun turned into cloud, forest turned into a barren, rocky, steep incline, and before we knew it, we were being pelted with crazy winds and freezing rain (apparently it was snowing at the summit). My legs have never been so sore in my life. I literally felt like I couldn't take another step, which was NOT an option seeing as the clock was ticking down and I could vividly picture us finally reaching the top only to see the last gondola pull away. THANKFULLY, we bolted into the station with time to spare, and after a few quick (gross) photos, downed a bowl of hot soup which was probably the most fantastic thing I'd ever tasted. I now regret not taking more photos, or some video, of this adventure, but in our end panic, bringing out the camera in the pouring rain was the last thing on our minds.

This is my fake smile.

 

 













I say again, this is going to be one STRONG little baby! And you won't be seeing me scaling mountains again anytime soon....