Most Photogenic Animal

The winner of most photogenic animal at the Toronto Zoo, Boxing Day, 2006 goes to...
(drum roll)...

This Baby Mountain Goat!!!

Runners up: other mountain goats, a camel, turtles, foxes, a hippo's foot. Rather than bore you with endless zoo shots, I thought I'd just post the best. As you probably guessed, I got a new camera for Christmas. It's got a wicked zoom, so you no longer have to use a magnifying glass, or any "Where's Waldo" skills to find the animals in my snapshots. So now I'm on my way to becoming a professional goatographer.

Super Happy Nativity Scene

Hey, I got around to making a new X-mas flash afterall! I'm not usually this traditional but what's X-mas without a nativity scene?




Merry Christmas Everyone!

12 Days of Christmas...OR LESS!

I know it's hard to believe, at least for the snowless citizens of B-town, Ontario, that Christmas is coming THIS WEEKEND. So I thought I'd get everyone in the spirit by posting this flash I made last year. No, I'm not just lazily rehashing old cartoons, I'm creating my own Christmas tradition. Every year, me and my blogger peeps can gather around our computers for a showing of this, admittedly shoddily made, yet somewhat amusing, flashterpiece. Then get yea to the mall, there's not much time left!

Merry Christmas Everyone! (even if you're not Christian. Hey, I'm not Christian either).

Prenatal Horror Theatre

Lately I've been having some feelings of apprehension regarding my appending delivery. Okay, okay, more like terror. Some things that have contributed to my fears:

• Being that I have lead a very sheltered life, I haven't really experienced any real pain. I don't even have cramps when I get my period, so I can't even fathom what labour will be like.
• Our most recent prenatal class talked all about labour and delivery. We watched videos in which women gave birth. Even though they did all the breathing and pain management BS that people talk about, it still looked like a horror show. Was this supposed to make me feel better about going through labour? It didn't.
• I'm of the philosophy that no pain is better than pain, so I plan to have an epidural. But then I saw this episode of Bringing Home Baby where the mom had super big headaches from her epidural, when she stood up or sat up. They were so bad that she couldn't even get up to go to the washroom and her husband had to bedpan her! This seemed to defeat the whole purpose of an epidural. A browse of the internet told me this was rare, and that it happens when the needle goes too deep and some spinal fluid leaks out. It can also cause double vision and hearing problems, because basically your brain doesn't have enough fluid to float in. They can try to patch the hole by sucking blood our of your arm and injecting it in your spine, but then you might get meningitus. I hate needles enough without having to read all this!

The Dream

So last night I had this dream that I was in the hospital. I hadn't even had any contractions yet but for some reason I knew that I was about to go into labour (I don't think I was being induced, I just knew somehow). I thought that I would wait until I was farther along in labour before they would give me an epidural. That's usually how they do things in real life.

Instead, they came in right away, a nurse and a black guy in OR scrubs that I knew was the anesthesiologist. They didn't even ask if I wanted an epidural, they just said it was time, and that was that. I leaned over while sitting on the bed to receive the needle. The anesthesiologist was about to put the needle in, but the bed was so bouncy that I couldn't sit still enough. I remember asking him if he'd had any patients who'd had an epidural headache. He said he hadn't done that many, but I didn't know if he meant that he hadn't given that many epidurals, or if not that many of his patients had had the headache. I was scared that the bouncy bed would make him slip and make the needle go too deep. Eventually we just had to take the mattress off the bed so I had a flat place to sit.

The epidural seemed to work okay after that. So maybe it'll be okay.

The Good Symptoms

Today my arm hurts, especially when I move it. It feels like the tendons and muscles have to stretch beyond capacity just to move my elbow properly. This is similar to what happens to my calves sometimes when I get a leg cramp. I don't even have to look it up to know that this is yet another bizarre symptom of pregnancy. Honestly, what do my limbs have to do with growing a baby?

At this point I could grow a third arm (something that would be pretty useful right about now) and I would just be like "ho hum, yet another pregnancy symptom nobody told me about".

Even before I knew about all the weirdness, I was never one of those women who wanted to be pregnant. I wanted kids, and pregnancy was just something I had to go through so I could be a mommy. Now that I'm going through the experience, I do have to say that there are some enjoyable bits, such as:

• Baby kicks. This is hands down the best part of being pregnant. It starts at about 4 months with something that could actually be gas and increases it intensity until you have this other-worldly creature manipulating your belly from the inside. Honestly I could be the star of the next Aliens movie. When he really goes to town you can see these kicks from the outside. He moves fast too, rolling across my belly like he's dodging bullets. The novelty never really wears off either because the kid gets stronger and stronger. At this point I can kind of see the shape of him when he comes to the surface. Though I'm still not sure what part is his head.
• Not having my period. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I love not having my period. This is probably the reason why some people have 17 kids, and why some mothers continue breastfeeding until their kid is in college (breastfeeding can sometimes keep you from getting your period too). Of course, I know I'm not really avoiding my period, just banking it so I can get all the weeks at once after I deliver. Better to get it all over with in one shot, says I.
• Being the centre of attention. The pregnant bump is a great conversation piece and it means everyone around me talks to me about babies. This is fabulous because I get SO bored with small talk about the weather, what people do for a living, celebrity gossip, relationships, politics, and the weather. Did I mention the weather? Who cares! Babies is a topic I can get interested in. In fact, it's all I think about. That, and what I'm going to eat next.
• My super appetite. I can eat as much now as my 6'2" husband (usually), and when I get exactly what I want, the food tastes more delicious than ever. Sure, I'm gaining weight, but it's all going towards my boobs and baby (in that order).

That's all I can think of right now. I should also mention that I got a phone interview to be on the show "Birth Days" a Life Network show that I gather is the Canadian equivalent of TLC's Bringing Home Baby. Even if they choose us, we might not do it. Adam's shy about being on camera (I find most guys who are into photography are). Anyway the lady who talked to me seemed to want Adam and I to have conflict, but unfortunately for her we're the perfect couple.

Wicked!

I'm a big Wizard of Oz fan, so Wicked the musical wasn't a very hard sell for me. Turns out the Wicked Witch of the West wasn't that evil after all. She was just misunderstood, 'cause she was green. The big mystery of the show for me was how Elphaba (the witch's name in the musical) was able to touch the other characters without getting green make-up all over them. I'm thinking they just made the actor eat nothing but spinach and green jello for 3 months.

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed the play. I was so into the character that, knowing she was to be melted, I felt all tense and sad and scared for her.

Some highlights:

• Finding out how the lion, the tinman, and the scarecrow came to be
• The big mechanical wizard head
• The flying monkeys (they were neat-looking, much more so than in the flick)

I'm going to have to watch the Wizard of Oz again now to see if I can answer all my "now wait a second, if she isn't really wicked then in the movie why did she..." questions.

If it's good enough for Bon Jovi's kid

For the past few months (basically since we found out I was pregnant) Adam has been trolling the internet, looking for the most new, innovative, and expensive stroller technology. Daily, the husband shows me videos and quotes reviews about these stylish yet over-priced items. A stroller is like baby's first car, and should our little bundle have the sportiest model?

We talked seriously about getting the bugaboo, the trendiest and most high-priced of the lot. These things are everywhere, which is surprising since it costs $1000, and that's if we smuggled it across the US border illegally, avoiding taxes and duty by calling on my father-in-law's Polish mafia connections in New York.

My reason for going along with the plan to spend a sizable portion of baby's college fund on a stylish pram, is that many of these expensive models have reversible seats. Meaning baby can have the traditional outward facing position, or he can face Mommy. Now I read somewhere (likely when I was interning at Today's Parent) that if a child faces his his mommy (or daddy) while in his baby carriage there will be more bonding between parent and child, mommy will talk to baby and baby will observe how words are formed by watching her lips, baby will therefore learn to talk quicker, he will develop a stronger vocabulary than babies in front-facing strollers, he will learn to read faster, he will do better in school, and he'll grow up to be a genius.

So we got a stroller with the reversible option. We didn't have to go to another country, and we didn't have to pay a thou (close, but not quite). We settled on the Rockstar (pictured above) which comes with a bassinet so you can make it a pram, or a regular stroller seat that you can recline at all different angles and face any way you like. Bon Jovi endorces this carriage, so you know it's cool.

Plus, it comes in red.

What's up with this dream?

I dreamt that Bele was still alive. Someone had found him outside and brought him to me. Adam and I were visiting someone with the pigs and I wanted to clean the cage before I put Bele back in so that he wouldn't catch whatever had killed him before. We were looking for garbage bags and (for some reason) rubber maid containers. When I put Bele back in the cage, Lokai was happy to see him. I think they were actually having sex at some point (yes, I know, but this is as X-rated as my dreams get).

As I mentioned, we were visiting someone. There were lots of people, a party I guess. The pigs' cage was on the floor and some woman was walking her dog around the living room. It was a big dog, like a bull terrier. When the dog got near the cage he swallowed Bele whole!

The woman said she was sorry and reached her arm down her dog's throat in an attempt to retrieve Bele. We thought that the dog might have thrown up Bele into the garbage chute, so everyone at the party was searching through a basement full of garbage looking for him. There was a little girl there who wanted to leave. I gather she had somewhere to be and her Mom was making her stay to look for Bele. She kept saying "I want to go to _____ now." (The blank of course referring to wherever she needed to be, but I don't remember where that was.) I kept saying to everyone "You have to find him, he's my miracle pig."

I think someone did find Bele, but he wasn't as whole as we at first thought.

A Jolly Happy Soul

Even though I'm not that big for a woman entering her third trimester, I feel like a snowman with legs. You know, three big snow balls on top of each other: belly, boobs, head. The problem is the boobs. I have a smallish preggers belly with humongous breasts. GAH! My back is also protesting the change in my body. I bought myself a super expensive back massage chair with my birthday money, and I also got one of those pregnant belly cozies. All these things help, but don't cure what ails me.

On Wednesday, Adam and I took a tour of the hospital where my son will be born. It kind of freaked me out. Phrases like "labouring" and "pain management" were tossed around frequently. Of course I checked out the other pregnant women's breasts. They were just as small as ever! Honestly I bet they still wear a C-cup, so their belly looks larger and rounder, which makes them look all glowing and pregnant, instead of like a frumpy snowwoman. It is so unfair. Oh well. I bet all those women have hideous stretchmarks. And hemorrhoids.

Anyway, I'm sure it will all be worth it. I mean, look how cute this kid is:




Now I'm off to Becca and Drew's baby shower! (Their unborn son is cute too)

Jen's Fantabulous B-day Weekend

I know you are all anxious to find out what I did for my birthday on Friday. Here's the lowdown:

Friday November 10th (my birthday)

After work my husband and I went to my Mommy and Daddy's house. Mom made a super delicious, and highly labour intensive, meal of rouladen and spaetchle (with cream spinach!) It was a wonder to behold (and to eat, of course). Afterwards we had chocolate cake and ice cream.

Prezzies:
-Tickets to the musical "Wicked" (from Mom and Dad)
-DVD of season one of "The Tick" (cartoon) and "Wonder Woman Season II" (from my brother, Craig).

Next we watched a couple Tick episodes with my nephew, Hunter). Then we hung out until it was late enough to head to Karaoke night at the bar down the street. Craig, Rob (my sister), and my Adam all came and we sang and sang. Well, Adam didn't sing, but the rest of us were all up in there. Don't worry, I only drank ice tea and water.

Saturday November 11th (Rememberance Day/ 3D ultrasound day)

Adam's prezzie to me was a 3D ultrasound so I've been keeping myself all hydrated. Me, My Adam, Mom and Dad, Robin, Hunter, Craig, my mother-in-law Eva, my father-in-law Chris, my sister-in-law Julie, my best friend Eireann, and my best friend Becca and Drew, all crowded into the Ultrasound room to see my bare belly. If you were to compare Saturday's pics of my unborn son, to the one taken at the baby show demo (I'll post some pics soon so you can do that), you might think it was a completely different baby. His face has filled out a lot more and he actually looks even cuter! The ultrasound tech was cooing about how accomodating my baby was. He showed us both ears! What a good baby. We also got yet another confirmation that yes, he is a boy along with a clear snapshot of his, um, bits (to show future girlfriends).

Afterwards my Mom served everyone lunch, which was basically a late Thanksgiving, or early Christmas dinner. We had turkey and yorkshire pudding and stuffing and all kinds of yumminess. My Mom's a fabulous cook. Later the whole gang (minus the inlaws) went to see my nephew's choice of movie: Flushed Away. It was good, great slug bits, but I liked the movie with my son in it better.

Prezzies:

The ultrasound (from Adam)
A highly useful weird alien robot thing that sings different beats and can plug into a radio or mp3 player (from Becca and Drew)

According to Adam, I have another present on the way in the mail. He wouldn't tell me what it is, but assures me I'll like it.

27 weeks for baby, 27 years for me

Today is my 27th birthday and I'm 27 weeks pregnant. It's almost as if that were planned (it wasn't). 27 is actually quite a milestone (for baby, not for me) because this is the time when his lungs develop. That means that if something were to happen and I had to deliver right now, my son would have a good chance of surviving outside the womb. Apparently, being able to breathe is the secret to making it in this world.

Not that he's expected any time soon. Not until at least February 5th (my due date), and judging by the tardy, womb-loving kids in my family, likely not for a week or so after that.

Because I really can't wait that long to see him, tommorrow morning baby and I will be enjoying one of my b-day presents: a 3D ultrasound! (By 3D, I of course mean you can actually tell it's a baby and not, put on goofy red and blue glasses and it looks like the kid is floating in front of your face). I'm supposed to be well hydrated so that my ambiotic fluid isn't all murky, so today I'm drinking lots and peeing lots.

Some people don't like birthdays but I love 'em. I've feeling kind of hormonal today (my zits are back) and so I'm extra looking forward to an evening of cake and prezzies and all-about-me.

The difference between a baby show and a baby shower is the cake

So last night Adam and I went to the Welcome Wagon "Baby Shower" which is actually identical to the Welcome Wagon "Bridal Shower" that I attended last year. There are only about 10 booths to advertising their wares, and many of those aren't even baby related. That's right, Mary Kay, I'm talking about you.

So we sat through this rather hillarious maternity clothing fashion show. The models were obviously not pregnant, and compensated for their lack of bulge by wearing somewhat square pillows. The host of the show was a guy with a suit and a fake laugh whose jokes about being pregnant would've gone over a heck of a lot better had he been a woman. There was also some woman who talked for a few minutes about a parenting humour book she had written.

Smattered throughout the farce, the suit with the fake laugh would give out door prizes. Normally I don't win anything, not even free scratch tickets, but last year at the "Bridal Shower" I won a pair of earrings so I was optomistic. The odds are actually pretty good. There are about a dozen prizes for a hundred fifty people (half of whom are not preggers, and therefore not eligible). The suit had given away all the prizes and felt that downer feeling you get from not winning when you thought you might. Then, suddenly, the suit realized he had one more prize to give away. A fifty-dollar gift certificate for maternity clothes. And guess whose name they called? Mine! (Or rather a reasonable facsimile of my name, because nobody can prenounce Filipowicz correctly on the first try).

For those who love forwards

This is one of those get-to-know-your-friends forwards that we all spend our lives filling out for no reason. My friend Becky sent me this one. Being that it's Sunday, the day of nothing better to do. I'm filling it out. So there!

1. What time did you get up this morning? 8:30ish, maybe 9?

2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds. I don't wear a lot of jewelery 'cept my wedding and engagement ring, and who ever heard of a pearl engagement ring?

3. What was the last film you saw at the movies? Man of the Year. The one where Robin Williams is a comedian who runs for president. It was okay.

4. What is your favourite TV show? Always has been and forever will be Star Trek: the Next Generation.

5. What do you have for breakfast? Today? I had cream of wheat. Normally I'm a cereal girl ("I said I'd taste it, I'd give it a whirl, and now I am a cereal girl!")

6. What is your middle name(S)? Meghan. I was also going to keep my maiden name as a middle name. It's not official, but in my heart of hearts my other middle name is McNicoll.

7. What is your favourite cuisine? I like food.

8. What foods do you dislike? Brocolli, cabbage, any other foods that smell like fart.

9. What is your favourite crisp flavour? Crisp? What are we British now? I like pringles, or Miss Vickie's Sea Salt and Malt Vinegar.

10. What is your favourite CD at the moment? Maybe Caroline Whiles' new CD, I dunno.

11. What type of car do you drive? A 1999 silver Subaru Forester. Oh, who am I kidding, Adam drives it, I just listen to the radio.

12. What characteristics do you despise? Um, warts?

13. Favourite item of clothing? I like my flannel PJs and any pants that still fit me.

14. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation? To Europe! (see previous post).

15. Favourite brand of clothing? Dunno. Whatever's the cheapest and the most colourful.

16. Where would you like to retire to? My mansion on Lakeshore Rd, of course. (see previous post).

17. Favourite time of the day? This is a tough one. All times of day are pretty well the same when you're inside in front of a computer. I guess any time where Adam and I are both not at work, and we can hang out together. Oh I know! That time just before bed where the baby's kicking and Adam's lying beside me with his hand on my preggers belly.

18. What was your most memorable birthday? One birthday Adam got my book published (print run of one). That was cool. I can't really say it was memorable though because I don't remember which birthday it was.

19. Where were you born? Montreal

20. Favourite sport to watch? ZzzzzzzzzZZzzzzzz! Huh? What was the question? Someone said the word "sport" and it put me right to sleep.

21. Who do you least expect to send this back to you? Since, I'm not sending it to anyone, I doubt anyone will send it back.

22. Who do you expect to send it back first? See previous answer.

23. What fabric detergent do you use? Tide.

24. Coke or Pepsi? I don't like either. They're all fizzy and taste like sugar water.

25. Are you a morning person or a night owl? I'm a daytime kinda gal.

26. What is your shoe size? 8 1/2 or 9

27. Do you have any pets? Lokai the guinea pig. Which reminds me, it's time to clean his cage.

28. What did you want to be when you were little? An artist, a stewardess, or a bus driver.

29. When is your birthday? November 10th. Not much time left to plan that surprise party!

**********FAVOURITES****************
Shampoo? Honestly, who has a favourite shampoo?

Soap? The kind that cleans.

Summer/Winter? Depends on the weather. I do like the snow.

Favourite Advertisement? That Vanilla Miniwheats commercial is pretty catchy. You know, the one where Mr. Miniwheat sings about faling in love with vanilla flavour.

Book? I like my mommy's books. Her new one, Beauty Returns, is especially excellent.

****RIGHT NOW*****************

Wearing? My flannel PJs. Hey, it's only 10:30!

Eating? Nothing at the moment. I'm thinking about having an apple.

Drinking? Can't drink. I'm pregnant.

Thinking about? Babies.

Listening to? Barenaked Ladies, off my husband's iTunes.

**********THE LAST 24 HOURS**************
Cried? I'm not sure, maybe, could have been 25 hours ago.

Met someone new? Noone memorable.

Cleaned your room? Ha! That's a good one.

Drove a car? Nope.

How many hours sleep? Probably 8, but who knows?

*************DO YOU BELIEVE IN* *************

God? No.

Yourself? I believe in myself, it's those other turkeys that are holding me back.

Santa Claus? I consider myself a Santa Claus agnostic.

Destiny/Fate? Not really.

Ghosts? Oh come on now.

**********FRIENDS AND LIFE**********

Who have you known the longest of your friends? Probably Becca and Drew. I don't remember who else was in my kindergarten class and who I didn't meet until grade one.

Who do you go to for advice? Depends on what I need advice on. If I need to learn to cook something, there's Mom. If I have computer trouble, there's Adam. Becca's pretty good for general advice. And there's always my good friend the internet.

When do you cry the most? When the preggers hormones kick in.

Okay, that's it. I should probably warn you that if you don't fill this out for yourself and send it to all your aquaintances, you'll be attacked by some kind of rabid snake or have your tongue cut out or something.

If I had a Crazy Amount of Money

I was browsing my husband's blog (which hardly gets updated). His post of September 23rd was all about what he would buy if he were super rich. It basically listed a bunch of boy toys: cars, motorcycles, computers, and camera stuff (though if he re-did the list now I'm sure he would include a Bugaboo stroller). In response to his post, I decided to make my own list. Hey, my birthday is coming up after all (Friday, November 10th, I reach the ripe old age of 27).


A mansion on Lakeshore Rd. For those of you who know Burlington, you know that the lakefront is lined with these overly-extravagant palatial properties. This one's only a million eight, so it's reasonable. And yes, it really is for sale. Check out the mls listing below:
http://www.mls.ca/PropertyDetails.aspx?vd=&SearchURL=%3fPage%3d2%26Mode%3d0%26vs%3d1%26rlt%3d%26cp%3d%26pt%3d0%26mp%3d700000-0-0%26mrt%3d-1-0-0%26Beds%3d0-0%26Baths%3d0-0%26f%3d%26ft%3dall%26o%3dD%26of%3d1%26ps%3d10%26ptgid%3d1%26aid%3d895%26MapURL%3d%253fAreaID%253d888&Mode=0&PropertyID=4271748



I'll have one of the rooms in my mansion done up to look like the Enterprise D bridge. Of course the view screen will actually be a widescreen TV. I'll also put all my Star Trek DVD's into a massive DVD changer so I can access any episode on demand from that little remote in the Captain's chair.


A porsche 911 convertible. A red one. I did a project on porsches in high school German class. Hitler had a 911. I'm surprised porsche doesn't use that fact much in their advertising. I spent a bunch of time on www.porsche.com customizing my car. Red leather interior, the works. The car starts at 136, 000. Mine ended up at 215, 855.


A smart roadster. This car is only available in the UK, but I'm sure I could fly one over. The problem with my car choices is that these are all two-seaters, with no room for baby! So I'll also need a nice family car, for driving baby around and long trips.


This is a porsche Cayenne. Don't know much about it, but porshe is a brand I trust. And look, it has room for baby in the back. Hey! Somebody stole my hubcaps!

Enough with the cars (the garage in my mansion isn't big enough!) Vacation time!

I want not one, but several European vacations. This castle is in Germany, but I'll of course want to see every country. I have to visit every museum mentioned in my art history classes, see the Sistine chapel, attend real German Octoberfest, get my picture taken leaning against the leaning tower of Pisa, ride in one of those Venice gondolas, climb the Eiffel Tower (again), and stop for periogies at Adam's Babcia's house.

With all the leftover money I have (and they'll be lots), I get my son a really great university education (or college, whatever he's into). Maybe he can get a few degrees. You can never have too many.

Baby goes to the doctor/ Baby goes to school

This morning I had another prenatal appointment where they took my blood. This time they made me drink a bottle of orange pop (special prescription orange pop of course) and then wait an hour. The vampires wanted the blood to have a little flavouring I guess. This is the test that is supposed to tell if I've turned into a diabetic.

Anyhoo. Tonight we went to our first prenatal class (we being me, my husband, Adam, and my unborn son). The teacher was this nurse who looks about thirty but says she has a twenty-year-old daughter. She talked a bit about nutrition and exercise and other pregnancy stuff. Like any first class, we just glossed over a little of everything and didn't really learn anything new. Some highlights:

At one point, the guys left the room and the women were asked to make a list of all the changes we noticed during the pregnancy (the guys made their own list). The woman who was jotting stuff down kept censoring what I said. For example, I'd say "my boobs are humongous!" and she's write "fuller breasts", and I'd say "I'm getting stupid" and she'd write "forgetfulness." This was kind of fun. Of course, being that we all had Mom Brain, we forgot about all the positive pregnancy stuff, like baby kicks, and not having a period. I cannot stress enough how much I love not having my period.

Near the end the teacher walked us through a relaxation exercise so that we'll have something to take our mind off the pain when we're in labour (she said this was necessary even if we plan to have an epidural because you don't always get juiced up right away). I got sort of lost when she asked us to visualize stuff, running through a meadow, etc. I pretty much gave up when she told us to picture a box and put our concerns in it. I'm sitting there thinking: "Okay I got the box open now how do I put my concerns in it? What does a concern look like? How do I visualize it? Have I pictured a big enough box?" and by this time the rest of the class is down the garden path, playing in a stream or something. So I just kept breathing in and out, which I admit is pretty relaxing, though by the end I was getting bored. Can we get out of this meadow and get on with the class, thought I. Adam thinks this is due to an undiagnosed attention deficit disorder and that only I would get bored of relaxation.

Happy Halloween

Just call me Clifford the Big Red Dog. I'm wearing red Clifford ears, I drew a doggie nose on my face with make-up, and I even found a black choker that could pass for a collar. I wore my costume to work today despite the wemblings of my conservative husband. As far as I've seen, only one other person dressed up today; she came as a bloody surgeon. My theory is that people refrain from dressing up because they're afraid they won't be taken seriously. I don't worry about that: nobody takes me seriously anyway.

Anyway I'm having a great time. Everywhere I go people smile at me and tell me how cute I look, sometimes they even give me candy. People should behave this way every day! I just love Halloween.

Tonight I have class so I won't be able to see all the Trick-or-Treaters. Can you believe this is the second year in a row that my class has fallen on Halloween? I have a presentation today too, so I couldn't be "sick". Just as well, my group will probably get an A+. I mean, how could anyone give a bad mark to a big red puppy?

Baby Show!

Today Adam and I went with my parents and my nephew to the Today's Parent Baby and Toddler Show in Toronto. We got all kinds of free baby stuff (wipes, formula, rash cream, etc.) and entered our name in a million draws for a million baby gift baskets. We also got lots of pamphlets teaching us new and exciting ways to blow all our money on things like freezer space for our kid's umbilical cord blood and videos to teach him how to read when he's 3 months old.

More importantly, we got a five minute demo of one of them newfangled 3D ultrasounds. Here is the souvenir pic:



For some reason this scan makes children look all gold and lumpy, but I think our son was the most adorable one there. Now the big question: who does he look like?

Adam:


or me:



You can vote on the poll on the sidebar there ----->

The twilight zone canning

For about a month I've been doing menial work for a financial company (in this case the word "financial" is code for "a place for rich people to dump their money"). When I say menial, I mean requiring fewer brains and less skill than a data-entry clerk. My job was to pull some stuff out of a file, fax to the next room, put the file back, then repeat the process for 50 files a day. Despite the rotting braincells, I enjoyed myself. Most of the people I worked with were friendly and easy to talk to.

Fast-forward to Monday: the twilight zone events. I finished my work day, and said "see you tommorrow" to my coworkers. That evening I got a call from my temp agency lady. She said they didn't want me anymore! "Huh?" said I. I wasn't near done my extra-important monkey work.

"You're work was great, but you were a bit too chatty" was my boss's opinion of me, relayed third person via the British accent of my temp agency lady.

Okay, I freely admit I'm chatty. But wouldn't it be prudent to tell me that? I'm obedient to the point of self-deprivation and would gladly work in silence if asked. But nobody asked. In fact, the last time the supreme commander (VP with the authority to can me) talked to me at all it was my second week, to ask if I could stay until mid November! I rarely saw the woman, except the odd time when she came to use the photocopier.

Having said that, if she wanted me gone that's her call. It's the way it was done that has me baffled. I suppose it is the nature of temp work that supervisors can avoid unpleasant confrontations by simply asking the middleman to send in the next monkey. I couldn't believe anyone could be so cowardly and uncourteous. I'm not even saying that in a way that means: "That &$#@%! How dare she do this to me!" I'm thinking more along the lines of: "Huh? Do people in the real world really behave this way?" The whole thing was straight out of dreamland.

Luckily the folks at my temp agency were just as flabbergasted, and immediately got me set up with a new gig. Now I'm working in Oakville, in a warehouse full of Lego and porn, for these two supervisors who don't have time to do all their daily data-entry. Most of the time I'm alone in their office (no opportunity to be "chatty") but every once in a while one of them will come in and squeal with delight because I've finished all his boring work. It's nice to be appreciated.

Guess who came for dinner...

So my inlaws came over for dinner yesterday, which of course requires a whole day of cleaning and cooking. (I handled the cooking. Adam's better at cleaning, he's his mother's son). I made pierogi lasagna and spinach and salad. For dessert: store-bought chocolate pudding cake and ice cream.

Then for the evening's entertainment, we played Rummikub.
This is a game I used to play with my grandmother, a common activity for the McNicoll Clan. The Filipowicz's, however, never play board games as a family. They can be a pretty rowdy bunch when asked to compete.

In any case, a good time was had by all.

Best Hat Ever

My father-in-law went to Vulcan and brought me back this supercool hat. It's hillarious that he would even go to Vulcan (which is in Alberta, what were you thinking?) because he thinks everything to do with science fiction or fantasy is "for kids."

So I have this cold and on Tuesday I was in night class, blowing my nose and feeling miserable. I left class early because my brain was all clogged with snot. Some women smoke crack all through their pregnancies, all I want is a Neo Citran. Anyway, I got home just before ten, all bummed out and stuffy.

It turned out my hubby had been over at his parents house and had brought back this hat. It made me happy. (No easy task). Next time I see my father-in-law I'm going to give him a great big hug.

BTW: Here's my most recent preggers belly shot:

Baby Kicks

Yesterday we went to Caroline Wiles' launch of her new CD "I'd Like to Know." Adam and I have been fans of hers since we saw her perform at Angela's Cave (owned by my Mom's friend Angela, also a fabulous singer). Anyway the baby was kicking through most of the performance. Either he really loves loud music with a nice beat, or he hates it. If you want to become a big fan of Caroline's too check out the sound bytes on her website.

Today I hung out with my best friend Amy and her sister Steph. I subjected them to my wedding video then we went out for dinner (with the husband) and watched a DVD of the Johnny Cash movie "Walk the Line." Again, my son either loves that movie, or hates it. Or maybe he wasn't paying any attention to it what so ever and was just using the time to practice his acrobatics.

He's not big enough yet to hurt me when he kicks, but he does think my bladder is a squeeze toy.

Baby Dreams

I had two dreams last night related to babyness.

In one both me and my sister were about to give birth. Robin gave birth first to a boy named Tyler. It was like in the movies where the newborn looks like a five month old. Anyway Tyler was some sort of genius. He already knew some simple words and he had this chart where he could point to certain words and communicate that way. Adam came (you know because I was in labour) and asked if I was still pregnant. I said yes, but my sister had her baby. This all took place at my Mom's house.

In the other dream I went to the doctor's. Except instead of an office the appointment was in a car and there were two doctors. One was my regular family doctor, Dr. Jhirad, and the other was a trainee doctor. The trainee was handling the appointment and Dr. Jhirad kept poking his head in the car to see how the trainee was doing. I asked the trainee to check to see if I had a yeast infection and he got all flustered. Dr. Jhirad said that was the kind of thing we needed to do in the office. We went inside, but I lost track of where the doctors went and the place was ridiculously large. I sat down in a waiting room with overly fancy chairs. I had an ultrasound photo with me, but instead of being all grainy, it had a real picture of a baby (looked like Tyler from the previous dream). Some little girl came up to me in the waiting room and started talking to me about the photo. She asked if it was my ultrasound and I said no, it's just a picture of a baby. She said she liked how I incorporated the background. The girl's mother told her to stop bothering the nice lady.

Happy Birthday Mom

It's my Mom's birthday!

Anyway this is what's been happening this week:

I've started working at this financial company. It's a place where rich people hide their money from being taxed by making charitable donations. I got this job throught one of my many temp agencies who recently decided "Hey, this girl's pretty cool. We should give her work."

My job is looking through files to find specific documents, faxing the documents to the next room, then putting the files back where they came from. It's meanial, but it's easy and the people I work with are friendly.

The good thing about my job is that it's right near the lake, so I always eat my sandwich there at lunchtime. One time I saw a whole flock of monarch butterflies, beautiful. They must have been migrating because the very next day it started getting cold.

I work with this Irish lady who is totally amazed at how unpregnant I look and how enormous my breasts are. Yesterday we went to the employment agency together to pick up our cheques, and she told the employment agency that I was pregnant. I hadn't told them yet, and my Irish colleague felt bad to have outed me. "It's okay", said I. If I wanted to keep it a secret I wouldn't have worn my "Yummy Mummy" t-shirt. "Aren't her boobs massive?" said the Irish lady.

Anyway, once again, happy birthday MOM! (My Mom is the greatest. All my friends know my Mom and say how cool she is, even when they only met her once or twice. I'd give examples, but you'd really have to meet her to experience her full coolness.) Go Mom!

BTW: Yes I know this post wasn't really about my Mom, but she likes to know what's going on with my life.

The Name Game

As you can see on the right, my husband has created a mini poll so all you bloggers can have a say in the naming of our baby. I predict that all the names Adam likes best will win (he likes to cheat and vote several times). Oh look, I see the vote is 100% William. What a surprise. Anyhoo, I thought I'd provide you with some pros and cons to influence your voting.

William
Meaning "helmet of will" or "determined protector"
Pros:

• It was my grandfather's name
• It was Adam's uncle's name
• It has a bunch of different short forms to choose from: Will, Willy, Bill, Billy, Liam
• It's been around forever and nobody is likely to think that it's a weirdo name or an old man's name

Cons:

• My grandfather went by his middle name (Allen) anyway
• Our friends Becca and Drew are probably going to name their son William (and Becca's going into labour first)
• I'm worried that it will be too common. As a Jennifer among millions, I wouldn't want to do that to my son
  

Payton
Meaning: Village of the Warrior
Pros:

• I dunno, it's okay

Cons:

• But only okay

Rogan
Meaning: red-haired
Pros:

• It sounds okay

Cons:

• Our child is unlikely to have red hair
• It sounds a bit like a girl's name. I'm reminded of Rogue from X-men

Eret
Meaning: Honour
Pros:

• It's actually a fun bastardisation of my Mom's maiden name "Ehret"
• Other children are unlikely to have the same name
• The meaning is cool

Cons:

• I don't think my mom even likes her maiden name
• My husband's Polish relatives are unlikely to pronounce it properly

Allen
Meaning: Precious
Pros:

• It was my grandfather's name (or, you know, his middle name)
• It sounds good

Cons:

• It doesn't go well with Adam, which Adam wants to be the middle name.

Clayton
Meaning: clay settlement
Pros:

• It sounds okay
• We can call him Clay

Cons:

• I can't stop thinking of the kid from the Adam@home comic
• The meaning is lame

Bruce Wayne
Meaning: Thicket, woodland (Bruce), wagon-maker (Wayne)
Pros:

• My nephew will be super-pleased because it was his suggestion
• Batman's cool
• It actually doesn't suck as bad as 98% of the names out there

Cons:

• Oh, come on, it's not as if we'd actually consider it

Something Else
Your suggestions are welcome. Keep it mind it must go with the last name Filipowicz (so Philip is out, as is anything that starts with F.)

Bullets but no points

• I got a job and then lost it without working a shift. It was part-time office work through one of my employment agencies, a trucking company that needed a "woman's touch" in the office (no kidding that's how the job was described to me). Apparently the truckers randomly decided they needed someone who had worked at a trucking company before.
• This morning my husband made himself a sandwich for breakfast: swiss cheese, turkey meat, and strawberry creamcheese on a cinnamon raison bagel. Ew!
• I'm going to see a movie this afternoon with my sister and my nephew. Something called Everyone's Hero. Looks cute.
• My husband made a looping version of my ultrasound DVD. Now I can leave it on the tv all day and see my son everytime I walk by.
• For about $150 I can get a 3-D ultrasound (where the baby actually looks like a baby rather than an alien skeleton). I think I'll ask for it for my birthday.
• We're having trouble with names. We had picked out William, but suddenly I'm seeing Williams everywhere. As a Jennifer, I know how sucky it is to have a common name. I don't want to do that to my son. My husband doesn't care as long as his Polish relatives can pronounce it.
• My nephew wants his cousin to be named "Bruce Wayne". It was also the name of his fish.

Jailbreaks, Geishas and Hamburger Yogourt

I dreamt last night that me and my friend Eireann were cell mates in jail. Except our "jail cells" were more like the pens you find in petting zoos. At first we were just hanging out, doing our make-up to look like geishas (because we thought there might be some activity at the jail where we had to look like geishas) but then we decided to escape.

All we had was a backpack each. I pulled something out of my backpack and picked the lock on our pen and we ended up in the pen right beside ours. Our plan was to convince the guard, who was a geisha, to let us out of the building. When the geisha/guard came, she stepped over the the fence to join us in the pen (yes, it was that low). She was nice, but she wouldn't let us out of the building because she was afraid to get in trouble. The warden came by just then and all three of us hid (really obviously by ducking down and covering our heads, since there was no furniture or anything to hide behind).

Seeing that we had managed to get out of our cell, the warden put Eireann and I in another cell. This one was outdoors and was basically a chain-link fence with a hedge on top of it. The warden wanted to be sure we wouldn't escape, so he asked us (first Eireann, then me) to demonstrate how we might climb the fence to get out. I climbed over easily by grabbing onto the hedge and putting my feet in the links of the fence. The warden left, to get some barbed wire or something.

Fortunately there was a very obvious hole that someone had cut in the fence and it lead right onto the street. We were going to leave but we didn't have our backpacks. I called for the warden and told him that I needed a change of clothes and could he bring me and Eireann our backpacks. He agreed and went to get them from the trunk of his car. Our plan was to leave through the hole as soon as we had our stuff.

The warden got us our backpacks but he didn't leave. Instead he sat down with us to eat some yogourt. I kept wishing he would go away so we could escape. I took a yogourt that looked like peach but when I opened it, I saw that it had pickles, grated cheese, and a little hamburger meat in it. I realized that I had picked hamburger flavour by accident. Gross. I ate it anyway.

BTW: If anyone wants to view a slightly better resolution of my ultrasound, check out this google video link:
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-1013516036862659327

It's a boy!

My son (that's right SON) is now the star of his very first film! Hopefully you can view this masterpiece above, I don't know, I'm a video-posting virgin (though obviously not an actual virgin). The husband transferred it from the VHS they sold us at the ultrasound place (VHS is all they had. I think they just upgraded from cave painting.)

Anyway I'm super duper excited that there's a real person in my uterus, with genitals and everything! I really hope the video shows up, you can see his little hands, and his little feet, and his little brain (well, actually it's quite a large brain, you can tell he'll be a smart kid). It's a boy! Woohoo!

My life as a working mom (temporarily)

For the past two days (Mon, Tues) I've been temping at this place called Claybrooke, enjoying many hours of mindnumbing menial labour. My duties included:

• Rolling up posters,
• Sorting posters and other in-store signage for Future Shop and Telus Mobility,
• Taping up boxes, sometimes using that super gluey tape that makes fingers all uggy,
• Putting stickers on boxes,
• Packing skids with boxes (this is kind of like setting up to play Jenga).

Not too bad, easy stuff. My body isn't used to working though and I'm pretty tired. Especially since yesterday I had to go directly to class afterwards. When you start work at 8:30am, getting home at 11pm is just not cool.

The offspring has been kicking a lot lately. Not while I was working, but on the train to class, during class, and at around three in the morning when I was sleeping. I think that last time the little tyke was providing a service, waking me up to tell me I had to pee. What a good little baby. Even though it's way too early to feel the baby move from the outside, Adam puts his hand on my belly everytime I say I feel a kick. Pregnancy is a little one-sided and I can see how a guy can feel left-out when he gets none of the signs that his kid is on the way (other than the fact that his wife is getting curvier and occasionally pukes). Adam also got a stethoscope because he read somewhere that at this time you should be able to hear the baby with it. (BTW: the brand of the stethoscope is "Colorpro". The hell? What kind of colours can you get from a stethoscope exactly?) Anyway, the husband had fun listening to me digest pizza and pretending it was his son/daughter.

Pig update: Lokai seems okay, not showing any signs of sickness, or grief. With Bele gone though, he does seem a bit bored. He chases himself around the cage and it's just not the same. I've been feeding him carrots to ease the pain (he'll have fewer treats now that he has noone to steal them from).

Adam's got a blog too

Not to steal to much limelite from Jen's Blog, but I have one too
and ive just posted! http://simianguy.blogspot.com

Bele Filipowicz 2005-2006

Yesterday he was his usual chubby furry self. Today...

I went to the Lokai and Bele's cage to make sure they had enough food and water. Lokai squeaked and chirped the way he always does when there's even a slight possibility of carrots coming his way. Bele has always been the shyer, more skittish of the pigs so I didn't think it odd that he wasn't coming out of his hut to greet me. Then I saw him, lying stretched out, not moving or breathing. I knew he was dead, but I didn't really believe it. I still don't.

The thing is Bele was so young, a teenager by guinea pig standards. So why, why, WHY, did he go so soon? I don't know. Here's some things I do know:

• Bele died in his favourite place, his Riu Palace wooden hut.
• He had plenty of food and water, so he didn't go hungry or thirsty.
• He was loved.

Bele is survived by his adoptive parents, myself and Adam (though my husband hates it when I refer to the rodents as his children), and by his brother Lokai.

Algonquin Anniversary

It seems like only yesterday that Adam and I knotted ourselves together, but it's actually been a whole year (and one day). We celebrated the milestone by taking a weekend camping trip (bonus that our anniversary falls on Labour Day Weekend). I still have that cold (no pukies though), but at least I had plenty of used Kleenex with which to kindle our campfires. Anyhoo here are some pictures:


Some fine campfire cuisine. No, we were never able to get the corn quite right even though we tried soaking it, not soaking it, wrapping it in foil, not wrapping it in foil, and cooking it at various lengths of time. We finally declared it the fault of the corn and vowed never again to buy corn for 99 cents/dozen. The potatoes turned out yummy though. And the S'mores. Yum!


No moose this trip, but we did enjoy the antics of the chipmunks that lived around our campsite. Here they are having a meeting. Even they wouldn't eat our corn.


I asked Adam to send me some pictures that truly represented our trip and he sent me this one. I assume it represents our trip because a) it was taken during our trip and b)I am wearing Adam's shirt in the picture, something I often do while camping. He also sent me a picture of yours truly coming out of the washroom. My darling husband pointed out that I spent most of my time there. True, my bladder isn't what it used to be, but to be fair my body is trying its best to get rid of a nasty virus (and whose fault is that Mr. Filipowicz?). Anyway, I looked horrible in the washroom shot and refuse to post it.

In other news, I heard on the radio on the way home that The Crocodile Hunter was killed by a manta ray. I saw a documentary on manta rays not too long ago and they seemed like such nice folks. You just never know.

Sick Mummy

So the man responsible for impregnating me has now also given me his sore throat and cough. (I love you, Sweetie). All the delicious decongestants, and cough suppressants that the hubby has lying around are off limits to preggers girl, so I have to resort to non-medical remedies. Unfortunately, for some reason my first-trimester queasiness is back with a vengeance and so far most of the home remedies I've tried have lead to various flavours of puke. These include:

• gargling with salt water
• tea with lemon and honey

Oh well, upchucking is one way to get rid of a virus, right? Anyway my doctor says that none of this will harm the offspring. He also says that it's cool if I want to take tylenol. I'm afraid to ingest anything right now, medical or not.

In other pregnancy-related news: I've recently purchased my first pair of ugly elastic preggers jeans, but haven't yet worn them in public. I'm on the cusp of needing them (I'm a wee bit too big for many of my jeans and shorts but not big enough for strangers to ask to pet my belly). I also bought two preggers t's, one that says "What's Kicking?" and another bearing the heroic image of Strawberry Shortcake (who looks way too young to be having kids if you ask me) and the slogan "Yummy Mummy". Maybe I'll wear them next month.

Speaking of preggers shopping, my already oversized girls have grown to gigantic proportions. On Saturday I went to the specialty bra store (the word specialty here meaning expensive) and purchased two 100-dollar H-cup bras. That's right, H-cup. Who knew the alphabet was even that long? Certainly not Sears or La Senza. I'm four cup-sizes bigger than the largest available in the department stores and I'm not even nursing yet. My husband is thrilled.

The Alien that Lives in my Uterus

So we didn't find out this time what kind of creature is growing in my belly (girl, boy, nerd, conehead). Though you can clearly see that my offspring has quite a handsome spine, and a possible future as a contortionist.

Everytime my doctor sends me to book an ultrasound, I think no problemo, routine ultrasound. Then the ultrasound girl looks at me like I have three heads and asks why the heck am I getting this done now? The answer of course is that my doctor LOVES doing tests. He orders chest X-rays when I have a cough. Sometimes he gets my blood tested for HIV just for kicks. Anyway, I might need another ultrasound in a couple weeks so the doc can enjoy more pics of my insides.

Usually before an ultrasound or doctor's appointment I have this irrational fear that they'll tell me that I'm not really going to have a baby and there's just a dead fetus floating in there. But I think I may have felt it move this morning. I can't be sure, it was quite subtle and might have been a gas bubble or my imagination. I choose to believe it was my baby. It's alive, Igor! It's alive!

Oh, and they also took my blood. Vampires.

No Fridge No Phone

So the day before yesterday the fuse blew that connected our fridge. No problem, says my handy husband. We shall replace it. Unfortunately, even with power going to the fridge it was not its normal chilly self. It's then we noticed a gross oily smell.

We called the repair man and described the oily smell. They said such a problem would cost 400$ plus labour to fix. GAH! We had to make a decision fast. Already the popcicles had melted into a mult-coloured puddle that would make you weep.

So I called my mother, who has power of attourney over my grandmother (which extends to our appliances). She agreed that the only course of action was to buy a whole new fridge. So we did. A nice stainless steel one with the freezer at the bottom. It gets delivered on Saturday.

So for the next few days we get nothing to eat but cupboard food. No veggies. No nothing. The only cold thing we have available is the one bag of milk that we squeezed into our super-mini mini fridge.

In other news, still waiting for our phone service. I borrowed my Mom's cellphone to stay connected with reality.

Disconnected from reality

Tommorrow we have one of them nutty all day appointments to install our cable internet. Unfortunately the brainiacs at Cogeco have suddenly discovered that our building won't let them install their phone service. (Where was this illuminating fact 2 weeks ago, I know not). My grandmother's phone company, on the other hand, has been very diligent and has promptly cut off Omi's service (our only link to the outside world).

So we signed up for Vonage. Same price as Cogeco for phone but with more goodies. Like, I can call Italy for free. Because I know SO many people in Italy. I think we can also call Scotland, so I might just randomly call Scottish Carol once our phone is installed. Who knows when that will be.

Hopefully this is the last time I have to sponge my family's internet. Cheers!

Stuck in the dark ages

I'm using my father-in-law's laptop, with a frustrating "lite" internet connection, to inform you of a tragic happenstance. On Friday we moved into my grandmother's condo (which shall henceforth be known as Jen and Adam's condo). I had to hang out all day to wait for the COGECO cable guy because we had an "appointment" to install our cable sometime between 8am and 5pm. First of all, what the heck kind of appointment time is that? Come on now.

Around noonish the security guard called from downstairs and said there was one of those cursed "Sorry we missed you" notes outside the door to the building. GAH! I figure he must have come when I was on the telephone for two minutes. He could have gotten security to let him in (the guard knew I was home) or waited a few minutes and tried to buzz again. But of course the cable guy didn't actually want to get in. He wanted a smoke break instead.

So I called the COGECO customer "service" hotline and was informed that they couldn't get the technician to come back that day. "He's on to other appointments," they said. "He's way too busy for you." They also said that he couldn't come back until the 17th! Now, for the sake of cheapness and "convenience" (but mostly cheapness) we have our internet, tv, and telephone bundled through COGECO. That's right. It's the dark ages for me for 2 whole weeks.

I tried every tactic I knew to persuade the customer service rep to give me a MUCH earlier date. I pleaded, I argued, I wept, I was polite, I was impolite. It was no use. I might as well have been trying to reach the Maharaja.

"The Maharaja is very busy. The Maharaja will be able to see you on the 17th, sometime between 8am and 5pm."

Omi's got a home

My sweet german grandmother has been in the hospital now for two months waiting for a place in a home care facility. Today she's finally moving! She'll have a private room and we can set it up with some of her furniture and pictures and things. It will look a lot more familiar to her than the hospital (which is über-important for alzeimers people). I've seen the home. It has cute male nurses and serves yummy Polish food. Perfect for Omi!

This is also super convenient for us, because this is the week me and Adam are moving into Omi's condo. Now we can move some of her furniture into the home at the same time.

I love my Omi. I hope that she's happy in her new place and isn't too nervous about moving.

Scary Miscarriage Dream

I dreamt that when I woke up in the morning I was bleeding as if my period had just started. I guess I forgot I was pregnant because I threw on a maxi pad and didn't think about it.

Later I was out walking with my husband and it suddenly hit me: I shouldn't have my period, I'm pregnant! I turned to my husband and said "I have to go to the hospital right now!" My husband said "Okay" in that calm tone he always has when I'm freaking out.

In front of the hospital there was some event going on. Tonnes of people were hanging out in their bathing suits having some kind of beach party or something. We were on the wrong side of the hospital to get to the emergency room and it took us forever to get all the way around the people.

When I got into emergency there were all kinds of tables laid out and people were doing crafts and fundraising for something. My brother was there and he said "Hey Jen! You're here to help with the fundraiser!"

"No!" I screamed and told him to shut up. Then I felt bad for being mean, because he didn't know and was just being nice.

Some nurse piped in and said something like "Emergency is being used for the fundraiser today, you should go to--"

"No!" I cut her off. "This is emergency and I'm having an emergency! Help me! Save my baby!" I was crying now.

Finally a young doctor came. We sat down in what looked like a large craft closet. I told him about the bleeding and he asked when my due date was. "February 5th," I said and he started counting on his fingers to finger out how far along I was. "3 months!" I told him, getting frustrated.

The doctor said "No need to worry. There's less risk of miscarriage after 3 months."

"But I'm bleeding!" I said. "I shouldn't be bleeding. Aren't you going to examine me or sew me up or something?" But you could tell the doctor considered the visit over. GAH!

I woke up terrified that I was going to miscarry, but I checked and there was no blood so I think I'm okay.

Caught in the Rain

Today I had an appointment at yet another employment agency, the purpose of which is to find any old office job as quickly as possible and get myself some mat leave. Today's agency is about a 20 minute walk from my apartment so I didn't have to borrow a car or use up bus moneys.

As is routine when going to any kind of job-getting meeting, I dressed in my finest interview duds. My fave interview pants are these grey pin stripe babies that make me look like an office panthress on the prowl. I looked hot (in a good way) but I was a little afraid that I would be hot (in a bad way) from the burning July sun.

On the way there I was feeling a bit toasty and had to stop on the way for a bottle of iced tea, but there was a bit of a breeze which increased my comfort level and preserved my panthress hotness.

The agency gals were impressed by my test scores (which I assume the grey pin-stripes had a lot to do with) and after only 2 short hours of mindless testing I was totally ready to take on the world (and the heat) once again.

The thing about Canadian weather is that one can never assume anything as the sky radically changes personality every hour (or sometimes every few minutes).

When I got outside that nice breeze had turned into a monstrous wind that made every tree along the road look like it was having a temper tantrum. Great clouds of dust were blowing off the road construction onto the sidewalk. In the distance, fork lightening lit up the sky. For the love of Spock, thought I, please don't let it start raining until I get home!

Unfortunately the Star Trek gods were unresponsive, and in about five minutes the skies opened up and poured liter after liter of water on my poor little head. By the time I got home, the panthress had become a drowned kitten.

Oh well, at least it didn't happen on the way there, or my test scores wouldn't have been quite so phenomenal. And don't worry, I changed into dry clothes right away so I won't catch a disease that causes me to give birth to a deaf dumb flipper baby.

The condo

My sweet German grandmother is still in the hospital, awaiting a place in a home. She can't live in her condo anymore because she is too alzeimerish and needs too much care. It was my uncle who initially got the idea that Adam and I should take care of her condo. We don't want to sell EVERTHING she has out from under her and besides, Omi proclaims to everyone who'll listen (and many people that don't) that I am her favourite grandchild (though, trust me, her other grandkids are just as fab).

Omi's condo has all the luxuries I dream about: washer & drier, dishwasher, balcony. And the building has all the luxuries I wouldn't even dream about: outdoor pool, exercise machines, pool table. The deal is we live there for what we're paying in rent now (substantially less than what the condo is worth). At first I felt a bit guilty taking advantage of my poor grandmother's situation, but Adam and I are doing a lot of work packing up her stuff and fixing up the place. Plus I couldn't say no, not with the baby coming.

Anyhoo. We've been spending the past 2 weeks transforming Germangrandmotherland into Jen and Adam's happening pad. First we had to tear out the carpet (it was stained and made the whole place smell like certain bodily fluids) and find a place that would put in nice laminate flooring for not too much money.

The floor goes in Monday, so we packed up all the furniture, photos, and nick nacks and stuffed them into the bedroom. Then we took down some grandmotherly wall paper and painted the pink living room walls a gorgeous shade of lime green. To be fair, Adam did the painting. We're both afraid that if I pick up a roller, our baby will come out with a lime green head or something.

Speaking of the baby, check out the ticker at the top of the page. It's counting down to my due date, February 5th, but I highly doubt that I'll have baby in my arms by the time the stork reaches the finish line. Children in my family are too lazy to leave the womb on time. On the other hand, Adam was 3 weeks early. You never know.

Highlights of the week

Fri-Mon : Camping!

We went up to Grundy Lake (near Sudbury). We being, myself and Adam, Becca and Drew, and Kerri and Kevin. We chose Grundy Lake because it was the only park that had a site available on the Canada Day Long Weekend, so we were pleasantly surprised at the park's coolness. It's part of the precambrian shield (left here by glaciers for our enjoyment) so there's a lot of magestic smooth rocks everywhere. Trees are able to grow in the super shallow soil because of the moss, which holds 16 times its weight in water (I read the placards on a hike). Anyway it's pretty. There was a really nice beach right near our site and the washrooms were reasonably close (though never close enough for the pregnant girls).

While camping for me usually involves lots of zoodles, kd, beans and spam, Kevin preferrs playing gourmet chef. We had (among other things) pancakes with homemade strawberry sauce, homemade bread, and a ham cooked right on the fire (and not one of those pre-cooked ones either). Everything turned out delish (even the ham, which I'm not the biggest fan of). Unfortunately most of the time I felt too pregnant to truly enjoy it (I had to buy beans and spam to satisfy a craving). I was really glad Becca was there to be preggers with me.

We did a lot of swimming and fishing. I think I was the only one fishing who didn't catch a fish (the fishes that were caught by others were too small to keep). I caught a turtle though. Twice. I think he was playing a game with me. I saw his little head come up right near the bobber then a minute later I had a bite. I reeled it in and yelled "Holy sh*t! It's the turtle." I didn't really hook him, he was just holding on and taking a ride. He let go before I got him, but that's okay since I wasn't really fishing for turtles anyway. I cast again, and again I saw his tiny head peaking out near my bobber. Here we go again, thought I, as a reeled in the mischievous turtle. I think he had a good time. He never did get my worm though.

Wednesday: Adam's birthday

I wanted to make my cuddly bear's birthday special. I made a cheese cake, with strawberry sauce (the strawberry sauce I learned how to make from Kevin on the camping trip, and I thought it would be tastey on cheese cake and I was right). For dinner I made corn, garlic bread, and cabbage rolls. I hate cabbage rolls, but they are Adam's favourite. I cheated and bought the frozen kind because I figured Longo's can make them better than I can. Adam loved everything (it's all about the food). For his present, I got him some motorolla walkie talkies. I knew he'd like them because they were expensive, and yet mostly useless. The range on them is supposed to be 16km, but it's probably closer to 2. He liked them anyway. This morning I was woken up to the sound of a walkie talkie sitting on my pillow going "hissss. Are you awake yet?"

Today

My boss at the census enumerating place called and said I don't have to work tonight or ever. Though this means I'll have a lot less money than I anticipated, I'm taking this as a good thing. Apparently they got everything done yesterday (when I was home celebrating my hubby's b-day) and now there's no work at all. I find this difficult to believe, but then they keep changing their mind about stuff. Last week, they allowed everyone to take off the long weekend if they wanted it. When everyone did (duh) they threatened to close up the call centre. Now it seems they're closing up because we were too efficient and finished everything (we were supposed to work until the 21st). I'm glad it's over. About the only thing I'm bad at, and what I seem to keep having to do, is talking to people over the phone (especially when I have to sell, or convince people to do something). I'm getting better at it, because of all the unwanted practice, but I'll never be super talented at it or anything.

Today I also went with my mom to visit my grandmother. Omi was delighted to see us. I showed her my ultrasound photo, and an album of mine and Adam's baby pictures (we put that together for the wedding). She likes looking at photos, it's an alzeimer thing. Everytime I see her she asks me if I want to have a boy or a girl. I always say "a healthy baby", and she says that I'm very smart. She doesn't always remember when we visit, but she still remembers me, and tells me how nice my husband is and that I'm her favourite grandchild (unfortunately she often says this in front of my siblings and cousins).

Anyway, after we looked at photos, my mom put in My Big Fat Greek Wedding on her laptop. Unfortunately Omi's in a special bed now that's filled with air, and for some reason needs a loud fan to keep it inflated. Even with the volume turned right up on the laptop, we couldn't hear. The bed looks comfy though. Omi fell asleep and we left.

Baby picture!

As you can see the offspring (that grey blob at the bottom of the black circle) is quite photogenic. Already it's 2 centimetres long! Okay, so it's less than an inch, but considering that whole sac was 7mm less than three weeks ago, I consider 2 cm huge. The coolest part was the tiny heart beat, I could see it pulsating in the middle of the blob. That proves that there really is a baby in there (and they aren't just tricking me by showing me pics of my kidneys or something).

I'm doing much better than last time I posted. Today I puked for the first time since Friday and that was only because they made me drink a whole bunch of water right around lunch time. The idea is my bladder should be full so the ultrasound lady can see stuff better. Unfortunately, the water never really ended up in my bladder. Oh well.

This weekend we're going camping with two other couples. There's a limit of six people per camp site. Little do they know, that we're disobeying the rules. Including unborn children, there'll be at least eight people on site!

Feeling pregnanter

My kid's not even born yet and already he's disrespecting his mother. He's using his magical fetus powers for evil, causing me to feel all nauseous and gross. Whereas before I ate a lot because I had this enormous appetite, now I eat a lot so that I'll have something to puke up later. I know this is a normal part of pregnancy but I really don't see the point. Don't I need that food for me and my baby? It all seems counter-productive to me.

In other pregnant news, I think my breasts have gotten slightly larger. I wouldn't have thought my DD girls would have anywhere else to grow. They hurt too. Not a lot, just enough to be annoying. I started wearing a "sleep bra" at night and that seems to help.

Just a normal life for a baby-factory/milk-machine.

Stuff that's going on (1-3)

1 I blogged before about my sweet German grandmother. Well Omi's in the hospital right now. My whole family went to visit her on Tuesday when she got there (we all kept sneaking in even though only one person was "allowed"). Then Mom and I visited with her yesterday. We watched a romantic comedy (Omi's genre of choice) on Mom's laptop then spent the rest of the day following Omi's stretcher around while they did all kinds of tests and x-rays. She'll stay in the hospital until she can get into a nursing home. With the alzeimer's and everything, she really can't live by herself in the condo anymore.

2 On a lighter note. This morning I had my first prenatal. I just love having people poke at my cervix. Woohoo! My doctor couldn't determine my due date from the last ultrasound because it was too early, so I get to do another one at the end of the month. I had this list of questions about what to ask the doctor, but who knows where that went and I only remembered a few. He said that it's probably okay to eat peanut butter as long as it's not a million tonnes, and that bug spray with deet is no good, and to also be careful of the natural kinds because they may have funky ingredients. I have A positive blood. I told my doctor that I knew I would get an A+. He thought that was the most hillarious thing in the world and gave me a high five.

3 Still working for the census except I'm now enumerating at a call centre for an hourly rate. This is a thousand times better than getting paid per form (we were given the choice). I was on the phone calling peeps tonight from 7 to 9 and I only got 2 census forms filled out (they take about 3 minutes each). All the other numbers were not in service or nobody was home. The call list we're given sucks. No, really, it sucks. Only maybe 55% of the listings have phone numbers and another 80% of those are not in service or wrong numbers. I don't know where the government comes up with these phone numbers, perhaps they came to the prime minister in a dream.

A blog entry for Adam

This morning my darling husband told me that he's bored at work and needs a blog entry to read. If you're really that bored, sweetie, I direct you to the "Blogs I Like" section of the sidebar, since I doubt this blog entry will last anyone all day (most of the blogs listed also have "Blogs I Like" sections, so theoretically you could be surfing blogs untill the end of time).

Anyway. I need to think of a girl's name in case I have a girl. For a boy, we're thinking William, but we have no clue whatever about girls. I know it's still early, but last night I dreamt I had a daughter who looked about two years old and she still didn't have a name. I was asking her to choose what her name should be. She came up with some (I forget them) but they were stupid and you could tell she was just being silly and didn't really want to pick a name. I don't want to have a nameless daughter! Any suggestions? Please!

BTW: In my dream my daughter had blonde curly hair and looked a bit like Shirley Temple.

There's really something in there

I got my first ultrasound done yesterday. It's early, but my doctor just loves doing tests. Plus I'm a dork who doesn't know exactly when my last period was (I think April 27?). Must be about right because the ultrasound lady said my pregnancy is probably about 5 weeks along. The gestational sac (egg shaped blob where the baby lives) is about 7 mm.

When it's this early they don't print off a picture or anything (you'll just have to take my word for it that it looks just like Adam). Anyway, I'll just have to show you pictures of other people's babies. According to my friend the internet this is what a fetus looks like at 5 weeks:


I find this pretty neat because it's got organs and eyes and stuff, just like a real person. Of course this "person" is big enough to fit comfortably in a 7mm sac. (The caption on the photo said the fetus is 2mm long here).

Wouldn't it be nice if ultrasound images were that detailed? This pic is closer to what I saw yesterday:

That little round thing that gloveman is pointing to is the 7mm sac where the baby lives. This is about what it looked like on my ultrasound, too. Ultrasound lady thought we might see more if she stuck a camera right up my woohoo, so she did. With that camera we could see that there was a slightly lighter area in the blob, which the ultrasound lady said were the "contents" (in other words, the baby). She also said she'd leave it up to my doctor for any other sage interpretations of the photos.

Lasik Party

Yesterday I had a party to celebrate my fabulous new vision. I planned this before I found out the even-more-life-changing news. Anyway I had a lot of good friends show up and we had fun. I made this yummy non-alcoholic punch with fruits floating in it:

2 liters Sprite
2 liters no-name mango punch
2 liters rasberry sorbet
2 can pineapple
Some 2 bananas and some strawberries all cut up

All the boys gravitated around the Nintendo and played Mario Kart. All the girls talked about babies and weddings (my friends Becky and Val are getting married, not to each other). A few token moments were spent chatting about how the eye surgery went.

After everyone left I realized I had neglected to put up the cool LASIK Party poster that I made ages ago:



Oh well. Despite the lack of the poster, a good time was had by all.

Baby's First Outfit

I went to the doctor today but I forgot to ask a million things that I should have asked. So all he did was take my blood and say "Congratulations." I'm going to make a list of questions for next time.

My mom (who is awesome) took me to the doctor's office and then we went out for lunch. Afterwards we went shopping for an outfit for the hypothetical infant. The reasoning being that buying the outfit would change the baby from hypothetical to real. After all, only real babies can wear sleepers.

Since I don't know yet whether my little zygote is a boy or a girl, the choices were limited. We finally settled on a green sleeper set with cute elephants on it:



My baby will be totally stylin'

Still Don't Feel Pregnant

I have a doctor's appointment today with my real doctor. I'm terrified that he's going to tell me that it was all a mistake and I'm not really pregnant. My period is late now, but only by a few days, nowhere near the "Oh my Spock! I'm pregnant!" mark.

I know it's stupid to be worried, because two tests told me I am, and one of them was done in a real doctor's office (even if it was just a walk-in). Still, the few symptoms I've had are the same ones I get as my period announces its arrival. I haven't felt nauseous since the day I tested, so I figure my baby (and I use the term loosely) was just annoyed that I was ignoring it and now that I'm thinking about it it's happy. Or maybe I just imagined it and I'm not pregnant at all.

Possible pregnancy symptoms (in addiction to the ones mentioned in the previous entry)

• Increased appetite. I went out to dinner and ate everything on my plate, including the potato wedges and vegetables. This after I shared a plate of nachos. And I still had room for dessert! Do you know how often I have enough appetite to eat all that? About once a month, just before my period comes.
• Some mild cramps. Another pregnancy/period symptom. I don't always get cramps with my period but when I do, they're about like these ones. Just my uterus reminding me that it's there, but not really hurting.

Yesterday I came home from class and my husband had bought me What to Expect When You're Expecting and a bottle of pre-natal vitamins and a box of mini-wheats (we were out of cereal). He had also cleaned the kitchen and done all the dishes. I have the best husband in the world.

Speaking of What to Expect When You're Expecting, that is the most text heavy book in the history of time. The table of contents alone takes 20 minutes to read. Hopefully there's something in there that will actually tell me what to expect. It talks a lot about "hugging the toilet" during the first trimester, so I think I've been unusually lucky so far with the morning sickness thing. I'm hoping it stays that way.

What a week.

So yesterday at around 2 pm, I felt a bit nauseous. Honestly though, it was nothing. I thought I had just strained my eyes from using the computer so soon after eye surgery. I puked a little and felt better. I was sick for all of five minutes. No big deal.

One of my best friends recently found out that she is pregnant and I thought, wouldn't it be funny if I was pregnant too. I wasn't serious, of course, because I didn't feel pregnant (despite the puking). But just for fun I walked down to the pharmacy and bought a stick to pee on:



I know what you're thinking, that's obviously a positive. But that picture was taken today, a full 24 hours later. You aren't even supposed to trust the stick after 10 minutes. At that time the up-and-down line was so faint it could have been imaginary.

I called my husband and he came home right away to take me to the doctor (and because he knew I would be a basket case). My doctor was too busy to see me (he doesn't understand yet that I am his most important patient), so I had to go to the walk-in. I waited for a hundred and four years and they made me pee in a cup. Then some strange doctor told me that I wasn't imagining things. I really am pregnant.

Possible pregnancy symptoms so far:

• 5 minutes of nausea and mild puking yesterday afternoon.
• Waking up at 4 am this morning to whisper "You're going to be a Daddy," to my loving husband.
• Pacing around my apartment like a dodo bird thinking baby baby baby baby baby baby.
• Making spaghetti for lunch. I know, how is this a symptom? I don't usually make stuff for lunch. Usually I eat whatevers leftover, or I graze the fridge. The most I'll do is a sandwich. Today I boiled pasta and made sauce and everything. I wouldn't say I craved spaghetti though, I just felt like it.

That's it. I still don't feel pregnant.

I'm Back

Special thanks to my husband Adam for keeping my blog updated on Saturday when I wasn't supposed to use the 'puter. On Saturday I had my eyes lasered (see photos previous entry). According to my eye exam yesterday, my vision is already 20/20 and should get even better by the end of the week. I can't get over the fact that I don't need glasses. When I go to the washroom, I stand far back from the mirror just for kicks. My new hobby is looking at stuff that's far away.

The actual surgery was a freaky science fiction experience. I was lead into a darkened laboratory with two men and a woman wearing blue bonnets, blue pjs and white lab coats. The surgeon introduced himself to me and told me to lie down on bed that looked like it belonged in a starship sickbay, with a quasi-futuristic triangular pillow for my knees. The woman put what I assumed were numbing drops into my eyes.

Looking up I could see two small lights, the lower one was light green, the top one red. Throughout the procedure the surgeon kept repeating: Look at the red light. Look at the red light. Great. You're doing Great. Like the mantra of some bizarre cult.

After my left eye was taped over, the surgeon began by taping my eyelashes back. Then he used device similar to one used in a Clockwork Orange to pull and hold open my right eyelids. It took him three tries to get it in properly. Great. You're doing Great. Look at the red light.

Then he placed a monocle over my eye and told me that my vision would get dim for a minute. "Suction on," he ordered his associates. For a brief moment everything went dark, then I saw the red light again. As they turned the laser on the red light began pulsating, and I heard a popping, crackling sound and smelled a chemical odor similar to burning hair. Look at the red light. Keep looking at the red light. Great.

Then the right eye was done. As he was untaping my eyelashes he said that pulling the tape off is the worst part. Ha! Hardly. The left eye was.

Same drill as the right, except I felt it. Not enough to hurt. Just enough to be worried it was going to hurt, and enough to be aware of everything they were doing. When they cut my cornea this time I could see this clear plastic-looking flap being pulled up. That's part of my eye, I thought. Oh, gross, that's my eye! There's always a little more sensation in the left, one of the men said. Now you tell me.

When they were done they lead me into to one of those stick-your-chin-here-and-your-forehead-here stations and examined their handiwork. The woman held my eyes open while the surgeon painted my eye with a paintbrush. Just making adjustments, he said. Adjustments?

"You have a beautiful flap," one of the men said.
"Thanks." I replied.

After the surgery my vision was foggy. For contact lens wearers, you can compare how I felt to the irritated tearing sensation you get when contacts first go in after sitting in cleaning solution. I couldn't keep my eyes open, so when I got home I took a nap. When I woke up, 2 hours later, it was like I had never needed glasses. It was amazing.

Laser Eye Jen!

Well today is the day that Jen, went to get her laser eye surgery. it was a tough night. i suppose I (adam, Jens husband) was nervous as i couldnt get much sleep. but Jen was a trooper.. not really worried about the surgery or someone cutting both her Eyeballs (GAH!) she was just excited to finally be rid of her glasses

we got up at 7:00 , Jens appointment was at 9:00 at Lazik MD in misissauga, traffic was good we got there by 8:45, receptionist looked over some papers.. to make sure she signed her consent form. after about 30min wait Jen was called into an office where she talked to some lady who handels the $$$, after 10 min or so she came back..

Jen also recieved a fannypack with cool terminator limo Black tint sunglasses, and several small bottles of various eye drops.

the waiting room is very nice with leathery sofas all over and large plasma displays on the walls. showing the news.
also on the walls were some dali prints - (see photo)


Jen was in and out of several short exams to test her vision again or something.
after waiting and waiting and even more waiting. we finally got moved into a smaller waiting room. where jen got a hair net cap and was close to actually going to surgery




finally we were moved into the even smaller (you are almost there) waiting room. this room was dimly lit and had one sofa and two really reclined chairs. this is the recovery area

after about 20 minutes in this room. jen was taken to the operating room.
after about 20 min she returned and sat in the super reclining chair. a nurse came out and gave her drops

then we went to sit again and wait. as we had to wait another hour then jen got checked over again.
and then we waited another 45 minutes and jen had one final (for today) 1.5 minutes checkover
and then we were let go.

on the way out there is a bin where. you can leave your glasses to donate to the poor (see photo)



so we arrived at 8:45 and left by 1:30 i believe
we finally got home and jen took a nap. and got to wear some really fashionable tape on eye protectors so she doesnt hurt her eyes while sleeping. luckily she only needs to wear these for a few days




all in all. Jen is very pleased with her new Bionic Eyes! aparently she can already see better then she did with her glasses on.
and it should only get better by tomorrow. oh and we have a checkup appointment tomorrow morning at the lazik md office in toronto.

Last post with glasses

Today's the day. Today I change from Clark Kent into Superman (laser vision and all).

Last movie seen with glasses: X-men 3
Last meal eaten with glasses: Golden Grahams
Last outfit worn with glasses: Wonder Woman T-shirt and jeans

Check back later, when my darling husband will be posting pics of the experience. If anyone needs me I'll be here.