Sunday, November 20, 2011

new things

yay! we made a trip to nature's fare and i spent a good deal of time searching around for wonderful things.. and this is what i came home with!
natural lotion


new lip balm

natural, local honey





natural gum! didn't hold flavour for thaaaat long.. but oh well

yummy fruits
points card from nature's fair
oh, and some more flax seed oil.. i forgot to take a picture of that though. and i spent a considerable amount of time searching around on kijiji. and WOW. i'll be able to find so much gently used baby stuff for cheap! crib, bouncy chair, diapers, clothes... i wish i was actually pregnant so i didn't feel like such a freak buying things haha.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

thursday musings

i wish i had my blog at my fingertips at all times (i guess i could access it from my phone, but... *shrugs*). i always think of random things i'd like to put "on paper" but then when it comes to writing, i forget. perhaps i should write things in a notebook then transfer them once i'm at the computer.

- one thing i remember...
i work in a pet store. i find it very interesting that people are always asking such question as "is there dye in this?" "is this food all natural?" etc. about certain pet products... but then what about the food we put into our own bodies? it's strange that people feed their pets better than themselves. i love that people are taking such great care of their pets, but what about ourselves and our families??

- i need more snack ideas; for both the husband and myself. he spends most of the day driving, so he needs easy to eat food that doesn't require heating up. i just need something quick! no matter how much i eat before-hand, i am always starving 2-3 hours later.. and it's usually 4 hours in between breaks/going home. again, going along with the goal of eating more fruits and veggies, i guess i could start making some salads or something. simple fruits like bananas are easy to eat. i'll take crackers today. but then i usually have some sort of craving! sweet, salty, or chocolate. i have some cashews that i love, but.. why are nuts so darn expensive?!

- acquire more basket-type things. the gingers (my two cats) keep stealing things that don't belong to them.. such as my newly upcycled cloths to use in place of paper towels. (ohh, by the way, attempt number 1 = fail. i had an old towel i decided to cut up and use as rags... it left green fuzzies all over the counter. so i decided to wash them?! pulled them out of the washer only to find their all tangled in the center with a big ball of string. so i cut them all apart.. but i bet that will happen every time i wash them. obviously not a very good quality towel.. hmph)

off to work now.. perhaps i will leave a few minutes early and snoop around the value village next door. i wanna buy baby things sooo bad, but it's a little early for that


mexico - may 2011

<3

books i'd like to read :: movies i'd like to watch

books i'd like to read

1. a holistic guide to embracing pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood - karen salt(i've ordered a used copy of this online. found it on one of my current favourite, inspiring blogs "my little loves" - link found on the right)

2. natural family living - peggy o'mara
(also found on "my little loves")

3. gentle birth, gentle mothering - dr. sarah buckley
(suggested to me by my friend KM. she is currently pregnant and is having an at home birth!)

4. swing voter of staten island - arthur nersesian
(i actually began reading this on the beach during summer! i'm only about 30 pages in, and haven't seemed to find time to continue reading it. maybe soon)

5. the diaper free baby: the natural toilet training alternative - christine gross-loh
(totally seems like a great idea!)


Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Wishlist

I know.. i'm probably too excited/too-thinking-ahead-ish for someone who isn't even pregnant yet.. but I'm starting a wish list for things that I want... this way i won't forget once i have "baby brain"!

now that we ARE pregnant, i can actually make use of this list!

first off... i really want to avoid Winnie the Pooh.

1. the moby wrap
i think we may have changed our mind about the moby.. but any other sort of
sling to carry baby in would be excellent! a popular one i've read about on
many blogs is the sakura bloom sling. they're expensive though.. i wonder
where i could find one on sale...


oh, and another good carrier (garrick's more interested in this type) is
something like the baby bjorn or ergo (although i've read they only really
fit babies over 6 months) there's one called the lillebaby Nordic Carrier
2. cloth diapers -
we don't want to use disposables! so far we've got 20 cloth diapers, but are certainly
going to need a lot more!
3. Bumbo


4. Rockabye Baby!

we bought this exact cd! i'm super excited to play it. the radiohead one
would be good too!
5. Breast Feeding Pillow
there are so many out there! the Brest Friend pillow seems to be talked about a lot

the Simplisse Gia Nursing Pillow is rather intriguing to me! i've heard good things about this one
THINGS WE'VE BOUGHT SO FAR

- convertible crib (thanks to my mom and dad!!)
- dresser/change table/changing pad
- rocking chair
- pack & play
- jogging stroller
- carseat
- bouncy chair

My "TO-DO" list

Some goals for myself:

- floss my teeth more often :S

- starting in the new year, be more diligent about sending birthday cards back home. cards are wonderful to receive!!

- eat more (local!) fruits and veggies. starting next grocery shop

- eliminate paper towels from the household (and using cloths instead... which i plan to buy towels from value village and cut up into cloths. upcycle, yay!)

- start using 100% recycled toilet paper... "If every household in the United States replaced just one roll of virgin fiber toilet paper (500 sheets) with 100% recycled ones, we could save 423,900 trees"

- thrifting! i've read such wonderful things in other blogs.. i haven't done it yet, mainly because i find all the racks so overwhelming. but what a good idea, especially for baby and maternity clothes! i can expand my wardrobe on a small budget. wonderful.

- look further into cloth diapering. i found a good article about the dangers of disposables.

- learn to meditate. any good tips?

- find some really nice, natural soaps, lotions [found a great one - nov. 20], shampoo/conditioner

- oh! find a nice, local, natural shop that would sell the above. is there such a thing in vernon?

- (way further into the future) live in sustainable housing. once we find (and can afford) the house of our dreams, i hope to gradually include solar powering, etc. into it to leave less of a carbon footprint. plus, get rid of the pesky electricity bill! hehe

In other news...
I don't know if I mentioned... we're going to vegas for christmas this year (38 sleeps!) and that basically marks when we're gonna start trying for a baby! i'm sooo excited. and of course, i'm hoping to conceive right away. i've learned so much in the past week about natural things that will help have a smooth pregnancy. i think some people think i'm crazy for looking into so many things before even being pregnant, but i think it's prepared-ness. it's what i do! and i think it helps me avoid a lot of un-needed stress in the future.

if all goes to plan and we conceive in the early new year, that means i'll be quite pregnant in the summer.. and i love the idea of spending the summer in a bikini with a big belly sticking out. of course i'll still be working a ton (hopefully, anyway. i hope i can handle working [as close to] full time. if not, then i'll have more time to enjoy my pregnancy!) but when i can, i'll be at the beach/in the backyard.

i've discovered the book stores in the okanagan are sucky! recently i've discovered many books i would love to read, but they're not available. huff. do i have the patience to trump through a used book store looking for such things? hmm...

one thing i'm alittle worried about once i'm nearing the end of my pregnancy is a lack of close friends and family around. actually for the whole pregnancy this will be a little saddening. no one face to face to share the excitement with (other than hubby, which of course is very very wonderful for the two of us to experience). does that make my mom and dad sad? to not be able to watch their first grand-baby grow in person? i plan to do lots of picture posting, etc. on here, but they're not computer nuts like i am. will they keep following? will we all make an effort to video chat more? will they come for visits? we definitely plan to go home for christmas next year (hopefully with a new little one, if things go according to plan) but what about when the baby is actually born.. will i be surrounded by loving faces? and after baby.. can i handle everything on my own? *sigh* i will have to do my best to stay positive when the time comes! and who knows, maybe we'll have visitors! but not too many... lol..

<3

Thursday, November 10, 2011

NEW!!!

Okay.
I started another blog.. we'll see how successful i am at keeping it updated! and it might get too confusing to post here as well as the secret private blog that kathryn and i have. but we'll try it for now. it's purpose is more for when i'm pregnant and i want to share my thoughts, photos, etc. hopefully it will spark the creative side of me a little bit. and maybe it'll make me feel a little less lonely? i've been really enjoying social networking lately.. i feel like i'm on the hunt for another person that has things in common with me.. of course i have my wonderful husband and we are very much alike, but we of course have our differences too (thank goodness). and i have my best friend/honourary sister kath.. but we also have our differences! of course i'm not looking to replace either of them.. i'm very satisfied with our respective relationships.. but i'm looking for other people who share other similarities with me.. photography, potential mama-hood... etc. and i feel limited to finding such people in this small city.
also, i like to rant. when there's something bothering me or i'm obsessing over some thought, i want to talk about it. but there's not always someone available! and sometimes i should give those closest to me a break lol.

how am i feeling right now? anxious. and excited, of course. i'm almost done the last week of my second last pack of birth control. it's 43 sleeps until we go to vegas, and after that time to start trying to make a baby! part of me feels like because i want to get pregnant so bad, it's going to take FOREVER. but i shouldn't think negatively, right?! POSITIVE THOUGHTS ATTRACT POSITIVE ENERGY. i started taking prenatal vitamins just about a week ago (i love that they're pink.. hehe. it would be better if they were purple, but they could also be boring and white. so i'll settle with pink) just to make sure my body is in tip top condition for little one. on the other hand, i remember when i got the prescription for my last 6 months of birth control.. december seemed so far away! and now, it's just about here. so one month will go by fast. i've found a few really good mama blogs online and have been gathering ideas on how i want to document my own pregnancy (for family/friends, for myself, and for little one to look back on.. also, i suppose to compare future second pregnancy to the first!). it almost gets me choked up to think about what awaits me. i'm sooooo excited. i shared my documenting thoughts with the husband, and asked if he would gladly participate, and he said he will. i think he's a little tired of my baby obsession lol.. but i'm sure once it's actually here, it'll spark his interest even more.
for right now, i've got to get ready for work! but i've decided to try to include at least one photo with every post. what to share today....

pirate enjoying a wonderful daytime snooze by the window