Wednesday, August 30, 2006
ringing in the holiday season
It seems that in late November/early December many people really DO celebrate the coming of the holiday season! There are SO many birthday's towards the second half of August that it's hard for me to keep up! Happy Birthday to all of you - hope you all had fun birthdays!
enlightenment
OK, I know that a blog may not be the best place to discuss bodily functions, but I find my recent enlightenment to my bodily functions during pregnancy so freakin' hilarious, that I had to post:
1. Heartburn sucks. I've learned that little Dop is pushing my stomach up to make room for himself down below, so my stomach acid is going up my esophagus. I've never had heartburn before. I empathize with all who have it normally.
2. Last week, Dop must have been laying on my urethra. Everytime I had to pee, I found it would trickle out. No matter how badly I had to go, it would all just trickle out and I would have to sit on the toilet for 10 minutes to empty my bladder.
3. This week, Dop must be laying on my bladder. My flow of urine is back to normal, but I'm going every 10 minutes! Last night, we went to a friend's house for a couple of hours and I went to the bathroom 4 times.
4. I won't go into details about the number 2's, but I can tell you that I think that Dop was also laying on my intestines last week and he has now moved off this week!
On a more positive note, I can't believe I'm almost at 30 weeks! Sometimes it feels like FOREVER, but most times I feel like it's flown by. Liezel asked me if I'm at the point yet where I'm thinking, "Just get this baby out of me!". I told her that my fear of labour and pushing Dop out still outweighs my discomfort of keeping Dop inside me!
1. Heartburn sucks. I've learned that little Dop is pushing my stomach up to make room for himself down below, so my stomach acid is going up my esophagus. I've never had heartburn before. I empathize with all who have it normally.
2. Last week, Dop must have been laying on my urethra. Everytime I had to pee, I found it would trickle out. No matter how badly I had to go, it would all just trickle out and I would have to sit on the toilet for 10 minutes to empty my bladder.
3. This week, Dop must be laying on my bladder. My flow of urine is back to normal, but I'm going every 10 minutes! Last night, we went to a friend's house for a couple of hours and I went to the bathroom 4 times.
4. I won't go into details about the number 2's, but I can tell you that I think that Dop was also laying on my intestines last week and he has now moved off this week!
On a more positive note, I can't believe I'm almost at 30 weeks! Sometimes it feels like FOREVER, but most times I feel like it's flown by. Liezel asked me if I'm at the point yet where I'm thinking, "Just get this baby out of me!". I told her that my fear of labour and pushing Dop out still outweighs my discomfort of keeping Dop inside me!
Monday, August 14, 2006
doggie tales
This is quite literally a dog's tail. We went camping this past weekend at Manning Park. Check out all the photos (note that I think you need a Flickr account to view). As you can see, Nikita had a blast! She swam in the lake both days and LOVED it!
Unfortunately, when we got home, we noticed that she seemed a bit out of sorts. We realized that she wasn't wagging her tail at all and she wasn't walking and sitting properly on her hind quarters. We gave her hind legs a good doggie massage and she didn't seem to be in pain, but she was still acting really weird.
Finally, I decided to get online and google it. We discovered that Nikita has a broken wag! I kid you not - her tail is broken! It seems to happen to sport dogs after an active day of swimming or hunting. It can actually happen even just from a cold bath. The tail is attached directly to the spinal cord and I guess all the tail exercise from swimming just tired it out! Who would have thought?!
Anyway, it's really sad right now for me to see my dog with a broken wag - Nikita ALWAYS wags her tail. But the article says she will be back to normal in a few days, so we'll just wait and see. Man...just when I thought I had heard it all, now we have to deal with limber tail syndrome!
Unfortunately, when we got home, we noticed that she seemed a bit out of sorts. We realized that she wasn't wagging her tail at all and she wasn't walking and sitting properly on her hind quarters. We gave her hind legs a good doggie massage and she didn't seem to be in pain, but she was still acting really weird.
Finally, I decided to get online and google it. We discovered that Nikita has a broken wag! I kid you not - her tail is broken! It seems to happen to sport dogs after an active day of swimming or hunting. It can actually happen even just from a cold bath. The tail is attached directly to the spinal cord and I guess all the tail exercise from swimming just tired it out! Who would have thought?!
Anyway, it's really sad right now for me to see my dog with a broken wag - Nikita ALWAYS wags her tail. But the article says she will be back to normal in a few days, so we'll just wait and see. Man...just when I thought I had heard it all, now we have to deal with limber tail syndrome!
Friday, August 4, 2006
erp
Have you ever stopped to think what is your emergency response plan in different scenarios?
This morning, the fire alarm in our house went off at 5:21am. Now, just the fact that I know exactly what time the alarm went off probably means that my head was not in "erp" mode. I mean, my first instinct was to look at the clock. Worse yet, Brian's first instinct was to go back to sleep! I actually had to wake him up and say, "Brian! That's our fire alarm going off!".
So, at that point, Brian bolted out of bed and headed for the door. At some point the realization that he was in his underwear kicked in and he came back into the room and grabbed his shorts! If there were a 5-alarm fire in your house, would you care if you were standing outside in your underwear?! Actually, you're right. I probably would! I mean, we didn't smell or see smoke and it wasn't unusually hot in the house, so I guess we weren't REALLY in panic mode.
In the meantime, I was searching through the closet for my dressing gown (I was also in my underwear) and at the same time, my biggest worry was Nikita and what the sound of that piercing alarm was doing to her ears! So as soon as I was dressed, I ushered the dog out the back door. I don't know why I went out the back, considering our front door is 5 steps from our bedroom! But I sat down one one of our chairs on the deck while Brian investigated. No, I did not proceed to the yard, our of harms way - I sat on a deck chair - with the dog - on the deck - which is attached to our house - which could have been going up in flames!
Brian's first instinct was to go downstairs and wake up our tenant. This was probably a good thing. After he got the tenant up and saw that he was ok and the basement suite was ok, he went back into the house and found that nothing was on fire. He then turned off the alarms.
Brian was able to fall right back asleep after that, but I, of course, wasn't. I was doing a post-mortem in my head of all the things we did wrong and how we could have met a grizzly death had there really been a fire. It has made me think that maybe it was time to sit down and work out details of an emergency response plan for several scenarios - fire, earthquake, etc. It should be brainless, right? The way you react in an emergency should be a reaction that doesn't require thought (because who knows whether you have time to think when you are panicked?!). I would think that you need a plan in order to do that.
Which brings me back to my original question - Have you ever stopped to think what is your emergency response plan in different scenarios?
This morning, the fire alarm in our house went off at 5:21am. Now, just the fact that I know exactly what time the alarm went off probably means that my head was not in "erp" mode. I mean, my first instinct was to look at the clock. Worse yet, Brian's first instinct was to go back to sleep! I actually had to wake him up and say, "Brian! That's our fire alarm going off!".
So, at that point, Brian bolted out of bed and headed for the door. At some point the realization that he was in his underwear kicked in and he came back into the room and grabbed his shorts! If there were a 5-alarm fire in your house, would you care if you were standing outside in your underwear?! Actually, you're right. I probably would! I mean, we didn't smell or see smoke and it wasn't unusually hot in the house, so I guess we weren't REALLY in panic mode.
In the meantime, I was searching through the closet for my dressing gown (I was also in my underwear) and at the same time, my biggest worry was Nikita and what the sound of that piercing alarm was doing to her ears! So as soon as I was dressed, I ushered the dog out the back door. I don't know why I went out the back, considering our front door is 5 steps from our bedroom! But I sat down one one of our chairs on the deck while Brian investigated. No, I did not proceed to the yard, our of harms way - I sat on a deck chair - with the dog - on the deck - which is attached to our house - which could have been going up in flames!
Brian's first instinct was to go downstairs and wake up our tenant. This was probably a good thing. After he got the tenant up and saw that he was ok and the basement suite was ok, he went back into the house and found that nothing was on fire. He then turned off the alarms.
Brian was able to fall right back asleep after that, but I, of course, wasn't. I was doing a post-mortem in my head of all the things we did wrong and how we could have met a grizzly death had there really been a fire. It has made me think that maybe it was time to sit down and work out details of an emergency response plan for several scenarios - fire, earthquake, etc. It should be brainless, right? The way you react in an emergency should be a reaction that doesn't require thought (because who knows whether you have time to think when you are panicked?!). I would think that you need a plan in order to do that.
Which brings me back to my original question - Have you ever stopped to think what is your emergency response plan in different scenarios?
Thursday, July 27, 2006
smelly cat
I need to add a disclaimer to this post to say that I swear I'm not trying to be mean! I'm just posting this so you can sympathize with my experiences...
I had the absolute WORST experience on the Skytrain today. I got on the train to go to work and it was still in rush hour. When I looked down the train, I was thinking, "how fortunate to find a seat!" There was only one seat left and no one seemed to go for it, so I headed for it. I noticed an overweight, dishevelled-looking man sitting in the seat perpendicular and in front of the open seat, but nothing really clicked...
I sat in the seat and was immediately overwhelmed by the smell. The man smelled HORRIBLE. I cannot even describe the smell it was SO bad. But I couldn't get up and leave the seat because I didn't want to insult him - isn't that the worst kind of guilt?! So, instead, I got out my magazine and held it in front of my face to try to shield myself from the smell, hoping desperately that he would get off the train soon and that I wouldn't puke in the meantime.
I sat there hoping that I would "get used" to the smell. You know how that happens, right? But it didn't on this occasion. When the man sat still, it seemed that the odour did not waft around my magazine, so I had several moments of reprieve. But, to add salt to a wound (I think for both the man and the people around him), he had Turret's syndrome - so, he wasn't sitting still very often. And everytime he had episode, the smell would waft and I would gag.
You know, I really felt sorry for this man. It was a sad state to see a person. But, seriously, I have never smelled something SO bad and just when I was starting to take the Skytrain more and more, I think I may have to take a break for awhile...
I had the absolute WORST experience on the Skytrain today. I got on the train to go to work and it was still in rush hour. When I looked down the train, I was thinking, "how fortunate to find a seat!" There was only one seat left and no one seemed to go for it, so I headed for it. I noticed an overweight, dishevelled-looking man sitting in the seat perpendicular and in front of the open seat, but nothing really clicked...
I sat in the seat and was immediately overwhelmed by the smell. The man smelled HORRIBLE. I cannot even describe the smell it was SO bad. But I couldn't get up and leave the seat because I didn't want to insult him - isn't that the worst kind of guilt?! So, instead, I got out my magazine and held it in front of my face to try to shield myself from the smell, hoping desperately that he would get off the train soon and that I wouldn't puke in the meantime.
I sat there hoping that I would "get used" to the smell. You know how that happens, right? But it didn't on this occasion. When the man sat still, it seemed that the odour did not waft around my magazine, so I had several moments of reprieve. But, to add salt to a wound (I think for both the man and the people around him), he had Turret's syndrome - so, he wasn't sitting still very often. And everytime he had episode, the smell would waft and I would gag.
You know, I really felt sorry for this man. It was a sad state to see a person. But, seriously, I have never smelled something SO bad and just when I was starting to take the Skytrain more and more, I think I may have to take a break for awhile...
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
baby moon
We went for a "fun" ultrasound this past weekend at 24 weeks along. Our friend, Aileen, is an ultrasound technician and volunteered to do an ultrasound for us "just for fun". Thanks again, Aileen, for doing that for us! It was amazing - such a different perspective when a friend is talking to you and telling you what she sees. Aileen talked us through some of the diagnostic things she does and she spent alot of time just showing us the different baby parts! We saw Dop's mouth and arms moving and even though I couldn't feel it, Dop was kicking me over and over again! Man, the abuse!
So, of course, we went for this ultrasound to find out that one gender-defining part and we found out that little Dop is a boy! It is so exciting to know and it makes it so real for me! Yes, we have a name picked out for Dop, but no, we are not divulging the name until he is born. We'll continue to call him Dop because if I start to use his name, I'm sure I'll just blurt it out all the time!
I'll upload the rest of the ultrasound photos to Flickr, but here is a photo first for Dop - it's his first baby moon! Hehehe...
On another note, this morning, I felt Dop externally for the first time. I think it's a kick, but I'm not sure. All I know is if I put my hand on my stomach, I can see my hand move when he kicks! It makes me laugh everytime because I imagine this wee little baby in my stomach kicking me as if to go somewhere!
So, of course, we went for this ultrasound to find out that one gender-defining part and we found out that little Dop is a boy! It is so exciting to know and it makes it so real for me! Yes, we have a name picked out for Dop, but no, we are not divulging the name until he is born. We'll continue to call him Dop because if I start to use his name, I'm sure I'll just blurt it out all the time!
I'll upload the rest of the ultrasound photos to Flickr, but here is a photo first for Dop - it's his first baby moon! Hehehe...
On another note, this morning, I felt Dop externally for the first time. I think it's a kick, but I'm not sure. All I know is if I put my hand on my stomach, I can see my hand move when he kicks! It makes me laugh everytime because I imagine this wee little baby in my stomach kicking me as if to go somewhere!
Friday, July 21, 2006
culinary disappointment
One of the things I miss most about living in Vancouver is knowing where to go to eat. The restaurants in Vancouver change as quickly as the shoes in my shoe closet! While we were living in Vancouver, it was so nice knowing where to go to eat from the plethora of restaurants of every different cuisine in every neighbourhood.
Last Friday, Brian and I found ourselves in the unusual circumstance of going out for dinner in Vancouver. We were in the Broadway & Oak/Granville area and we just did not know where to go! A friend told us that there was a new restaurant closeby on Broadway, so we headed there.
We knew from the cheesy valet parking and the patrons that were dressed-to-impress at 6:00 pm (!!) that this was NOT the place for us, but without other options, we found ourselves looking for parking. It turns out that the place is a chain called Joey's Mediterranean Grill. It is an updated version of Joey Tomato's in Coquitlam (which, were were told by the waitstaff, has also had a facelift and is no longer a pasta joint).
It reminded me of Cactus Club - the waitstaff is HOT, the menu offers a nice variety and it's all OK, but it is definitely not worth the prices! And I'm still wondering why they call themselves a "Mediterranean Grill" when their dishes seem hardly Mediterranean, except for the dishes with the word "Med" or "Mediterranean" in them!
Anyway, I think I'm mostly disappointed because in the past, we definitely would have found something better. Instead, in our once-in-a-blue-moon dining experience in Vancouver, we ended up in a mainstream restaurant that did little to satisfy my palette but at the same time cleansed my pocketbook.
Last Friday, Brian and I found ourselves in the unusual circumstance of going out for dinner in Vancouver. We were in the Broadway & Oak/Granville area and we just did not know where to go! A friend told us that there was a new restaurant closeby on Broadway, so we headed there.
We knew from the cheesy valet parking and the patrons that were dressed-to-impress at 6:00 pm (!!) that this was NOT the place for us, but without other options, we found ourselves looking for parking. It turns out that the place is a chain called Joey's Mediterranean Grill. It is an updated version of Joey Tomato's in Coquitlam (which, were were told by the waitstaff, has also had a facelift and is no longer a pasta joint).
It reminded me of Cactus Club - the waitstaff is HOT, the menu offers a nice variety and it's all OK, but it is definitely not worth the prices! And I'm still wondering why they call themselves a "Mediterranean Grill" when their dishes seem hardly Mediterranean, except for the dishes with the word "Med" or "Mediterranean" in them!
Anyway, I think I'm mostly disappointed because in the past, we definitely would have found something better. Instead, in our once-in-a-blue-moon dining experience in Vancouver, we ended up in a mainstream restaurant that did little to satisfy my palette but at the same time cleansed my pocketbook.
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