Juice Box?

So this week I had my 16 week doctor's appointment. I took Stinx along for the little trip. The receptionist passed me the plastic cup to go put a "sample" in. Stinx and I went to the bathroom and I did the routine "pee in the cup". After I left the stall Stinx spotted the cup and asked, "Mom, is that a Juice Box?".

Little Itty Bitty Diaper's Stash

I hate to admit this but I have been collecting little diapers since they day I got my positive pregnancy test. I didn't really plan it that way, I was just trying to think ahead and I thought I was buying them more for Anti-Kels. All of these diapers have been lovingly used. Most are in prefect shape. I have (in order of picture) 3 Gabby's Newborn AIO's, 3 Gabby's Newborn Fitted's, 4 Kissaluvs Size 0 (I actually got 5 more since I took the picture), 2 small Little Beetle Fitted's, 3 Newborn Loveybums Organic Fitted's, 4 small Thirsties Fab Fitted's, 1 Thirsties Cover and 2 Bummis Super Brite Newborn covers. I think I am mostly all set... I'd like to get another cover or two.

With Stinx I am mostly a pocket diaper user so it will interesting to see how I like using so many fitted's. I figure most of the newborn diapers will only be used for a month or two and then we'll be using the one size pockets.

And my biggest splurge of all was this Good Mama one size fitted diaper. It's soooo soft inside. Lovely.

Such a nerd

So a friend of mine lent me the book "Twilight" from the 4 book series. I had seen the comercials for the movie but didn't think it looked like something I'd be into. I'm not typically a "vampire" type. But, I am a sucker for romance. I had also read about it on the Half Pint Pixie blog . I should have known just by reading her posts that it would be addcitive.

I've had it for about a week and a half and hadn't bothered to pick it up until tuesday night. I picked it up thinking I'd read a few pages and then go to bed. Ha! Impossible! I sat up reading that book until 12:30 or 1am. I never stay up that late by the way. I almost always go to sleep about an hour after Stinx. All night I dreamt about the story... so lame. When I woke up the first thing I wanted to do was read the book but of course motherly duties call. But once Stinx was playing with his trains I couldn't help it. I had to! Anyways, needless to say I finished the book by the time I had to work last night.

I desperately want to read the next one but I have sooo much cleaning to do before the week end. I am throwing Anti-Kels a baby shower and we're also having some friends over. And the house looks like a tornado hit it. I really can't waste all day reading again.

So instead I am killing time blogging. Typical.

Little Gardener

Stinx is turning into a little gardener.

We've been spending a lot of time in the backyard in the last month since the weather has been warmer (although this week it is quite rainy). We have filled our huge pond with soil and planted some perennials in it. Generally I don't have a great track record with plants but I am hope full I can keep this garden. I'll post some pics once the sun comes out.

The end may be near

So it's not the end of the world, maybe just the nearing end of a wonderful saga for Stinx and I. It seems that the past few months of gentle weaning have come to some progress. It started out with just shortening the nursing sessions. Surprisingly he took to it well. He never seemed upset about the change. I have mostly used the "Don't offer, don't refuse" approach.

In the past week he has only nursed once every other day. It was hard to believe, the first few times we went a whole day, without even a short 10 second nurse session.

So while he isn't weaned yet, it seems he is on the journey to weaning himself.

I am really happy about this. I have really enjoyed every bit of our breastfeeding journey. I am happy that I didn't wean him early on when "society" tells moms it is appropriate. I am thankful that I was able to nurse my teething toddler during the rough nights. Breastfeeding my boy has been a wonderful experience and I am glad I gave my self the chance to extend it longer than "normal".

If I wasn't pregnant would I have encouraged the gentle weaning? Probably not yet. But perhaps this is just the right timing for Stinx and he may have self weaned at this age anyway.

I'm thinking of throwing Stinx a weaning party. Maybe I will call it the "Doucies all done" Party. I think I'll throw it once he's gone a few days without any "doucies".

The Divide

So today Dad and I went on the House & Garden Tour which is a fundraiser for the Alberta Ballet. It's not that we are passionate about the ballet, heck, I am not sure if either of us have attended the ballet. But I do love open houses. I love seeing places people live. Not just fancy places... I mean, I love going to open houses in my own humble little neighborhood. There's just something about seeing people's sanctuaries. The places people go to lay their heads or to read a book or watch a movie. So a couple years ago when Stinx was just a small wee babe I heard about the Alberta Ballet's House & Garden Tour. I really wanted to go but Stinx was just too small. Now that he is a "big boy" he had plenty of fun with grandparents while Dad and I enjoyed our tour.

I was expecting big fancy homes with beautiful gardens. And that's pretty much what we got. Million dollar homes in fancy schmancy neighborhoods. Two of the homes are currently on the market. One for 3.5 million, the other for 5 million. CRAZY. All of the homes had crazy huge en suite bathrooms and gigantic walk in closets which were more like the size of a normal bedroom. Seriously! Who needs that much closet space? No one wears THAT many clothes. It was ridiculous. They all had beautiful kitchens too.

In one home there was 3 children's rooms which each had en suite bathroom and walk in closet. Dad commented, "Just imagine all the extra cleaning they must do!". I was all,... "Honey, these people don't clean, they have maids... silly!" And it's so true. The work it would take to clean these houses would be a full time job in itself.

We went to an "eco-friendly" in-fill that was pretty cool. I liked the design on that one quite a bit. They had some really cool art work that was truly inspiring. They were clearly creative people, or.. they just have good taste.

There was another home in the lovely neighborhood of Scarboro which had a really modern architecturally design. Dad really liked that one.

So most of the houses blew us away, but the gardens... not so much. Out of the 7 properties, it seemed only 2-3 had nice gardens, worthy of attention. I mean, they all had nice landscaping and everything, but to be called a House & Garden Tour, I was expecting more from the gardens. Oh well.

It was a fun day despite my cold, morning sickness and exhaustion.

Afterwards though, I really couldn't help but think, of how differently MOST of us live. And I was definitely thinking of my friends who live at the shelter. It's crazy what a rich city I live in, yet the homeless population is always on the rise.

I've spent years of my life working with the homeless. Most of them only own a backpack full of their possessions. If they're lucky they have a locker to store extra things in. Maybe some clothes, shoes and books. Certainly they don't fit fancy cars, giant flat screen tv's, or king sized beds in there. It's just crazy to think that someones "closet" is the size of a room that would hold 8 people at the shelter. Crazy to think that people have such huge closets full of clothes they probably don't wear when people are in need of clothing.

It's just crazy. What a crazy city I live in. Tons of millionares. Tons of homeless.

Fainting

So on Saturday afternoon I stopped in at Superstore to buy a tub for Dad. It was about lunch time and usually I dread being there as it is so busy. But there was actually no line up in the self check out isle. Yippee! I ended up back there on Saturday night at about 9:30pm. The line up was crazy for the self check out. There was actually 2 line ups and I definitely picked the worst one. I kept having to kneel to the ground as to not get dizzy. By the time it was my turn to check out my hearing was going and I was getting pretty faint. I felt like I was going to pass out. After my transaction I sat on the next weigh scale which wasn't in use so I could rest. A lady came over and said I looked really pale and that she was worried about me. I told her about the low blood pressure and how I'd be fine, I just need to sit for a few minutes. It was nice that someone was actually concerned. And of course I felt fine after resting for a few minutes. So lesson learned, no more standing in long line ups!

This is just another reason why I should not go grocery shopping. Tis why I am in the midst of coming up with a grocery list for Dad...