kim through
   the looking glass

I just busy. And feeling like I’m not sure what to write. And I haven’t a clue where my camera cable is. Time for a bulleted list, anyone?

• I’m 23 weeks pregnant now. Over halfway, 5 more weeks in my second trimester. Wow. Brad got to feel Love Bug kick this morning. I think that’s one of my favourite pregnancy experiences
• Our kitchen is coming along swimmingly. Cabinets are in, sink and flooring are purchased and the counter-top people are coming on Monday to do the template.
• I’m getting sick of living in renovation-land. I’m ready to have a working kitchen and dining room and to dig my living room out from underneath the paraphenalia associated with each unfinished area. Sooooo ready.
• I’ve been reading quite a bit! I finished ‘Kids Are Worth It!’ by Barbara Coloroso and LOVED IT - thanks for the recommendation, Chelsea! I’m almost finished ‘The Continuum Concept’ by Jean Leidhoff and am enjoying it immensely. Lots of interesting information that’s making me think long and hard about Western life.
• I’m knitting too! I’ve started some Christmas knitting, as well as a pair of socks for Gwen. Too cute.
• My brother-in-law and his girlfriend are spending a few weeks with us, which I love. I love having people here to share my day with - and Gwen loves having more big people to follow around and imitate!
• Next weekend I have an all-day LLL conference to attend. Should be interesting with Gwen.
• I have an appointment with a thrombosis clinic next week to check out my varicose veins - I’m looking forward to finding out what’s going on in there.
• I’m pretty sure we’re not doing the H1N1 vaccine. 99.8% of me is comfortable not being vaccinated - after all, I don’t ever get the seasonal flu shot … but there is 0.02% of me that’s terrified by all the fear-mongering. If I wasn’t pregnant, I’d be 100% sure I wasn’t getting it.
• I’m newly addicted to the show Gossip Girl. It’s horrid. But good knitting entertainment!

It’s funny. Ever since method came out, I’ve been a die-hard customer. I even did a review a few years ago. And you know what? I still love their products! I love their liquid soap and their bathroom cleaner and their hardwood cleaner.

But now that I don’t shop at Shopper’s Drug Mart as often, and it’s one of the only store that carries the line, I’m finding it hard to buy.

And the other day, as I was shopping at my local health food store, I noticed some bar soaps. And since we were out of handsoap, I thought about it. And dismissed the idea and started looking for a liquid soap.

And then I thought about it some more.

Was I sticking with method because they’re trendy and cool? Does buying a handsoap that comes in a plastic bottle that I have to recycle afterward make sense when I could pick up a bar soap with NO PACKAGING at all?

So I went back to the display of Soap Works bar soap and picked up two - Bee Pollen for the bathroom, and Pumice for the kitchen. And you know what? I’ve enjoyed using these soaps. They smell yummy and don’t dry out my hands. And I love that I brought home soap without having to throw anything away!

Now, I need to find to soap dishes that I really like …

By this post about going sugar-free.

Hmm …

Oh you have no idea how much I want to win this. 16 months of nursing = ugly bras!

Check out this link for more details!

Wow - I can’t believe this pregnancy is statistically half over. It’s gone so quickly! Today I was invited to be a ‘belly’ for some Level II Midwifery students at my local university - what fun! They were split into groups and there were different rooms with pregnant women of different gestations. I was the earliest, and obviously Love Bug’s not terribly big yet, so they couldn’t palpate fetal postition or anything, but it was fun nonetheless.

There were two groups rotated through my room. For the first group, I was the first real pregnant woman they’d ever interacted with, the first fundus they got to feel (measuring right at the umbilicus), the first time they used the doppler and found a baby’s heartbeat. It was so much fun not only to hear Love Bug’s heartbeat all morning but also to see the looks of awe and wonder on the students’ faces as they palpated my uterus and listened to the heartbeat - still a very strong, slow 140 - 150 bpm I feel honoured to have been a part of their experience … and I remember very well what it’s like to interact with a real, live patient for the first time!

I also got to show off my varicose veins to the two groups - heehee - it was kinda funny seeing them be shocked by the extensiveness of the veins - my secondary midwife, B, who was there for the session assured them that mine were likely to be some of the worst they’d seen. At least it’s a learning experience for them!

Love Bug is about 6.5 inches long and weighs aboug 10.5 oz. He/she was moving up a storm early this morning while I was lying in bed and was enjoying stretching out and kicking the doppler while we were at the session! I’m definitely feeling more and more movement, although not nearly as much as with Gwen - stinkin’ placental position! I’m sure that it doesn’t help that I’m chasing Gwen around for most of the day and not really thinking too hard and fetal movement.

I’m getting more and more excited to see who is in there and meet this baby!

I love my daughter.

Can I just say that again?

Love her.

We were at the park this morning and she asked to go on the swings. For the whole summer, she would swing for a minute or two and then be “all done”. Now, she enjoys just sitting and swinging for a while.

Her new thing is to throw her head backward - ya know, like you used to when you were pumping super high and wanted to see how it would feel to have your hair graze the ground on your way by - and she just grins and grins and grins. And every so often as we play together I am blessed to hear a tinkling laugh erupt from her belly.

My daughter is so beautiful it makes my heart hurt. I can’t imagine not having her to share my days with - rather, I can imagine it, and I don’t like it.

Parenting isn’t easy. It’s not a walk in the park (well, sometimes it is literally a walk in the park, but I digress). It’s not something that’s quick and simple. There are no easy answers. Parenting is time-consuming and all-consuming.

But it’s just so good.

I finally knit Gwen something. It makes me feel terrible to say that I’ve knit things in the last two years and none of them have been for my own daughter! But alas, I really hadn’t found anything that was quite right to knit for my beautiful baby girl. Read the rest of this entry »