A quick recap of my 2008...
I went to my first Victoria New Years party with Brett and only knew 2 other people, this was the night that I discovered just how magical Tide-To-Go really is. I learned how to bake carrot cake, and it's utterly fantastic. I worked for exactly 2 months out of the entire year. I really wanted a cat and tried to convince Brett that we should get one, I got pregnant instead. I went on medical leave. I went on maternity leave. I went on paternity leave. I baked a hellava lot of cookies. I shocked a lot of people with my announcement that I was knocked up. A lot of trips to Vancouver were made. I got lonely. I started blogging. I bought my first maternity pants. I went to my first Gemini party. I had the best time at a party where I was sober the entire time. I finally got motivated and inspired to start sewing again. I taught myself to crochet. I was the best man at a good friend's wedding. I got to be the pregnant girl in the wedding party. I spent over $1000 on fabric. I fell completely and madly in love with a little human being that wasn't even born yet. I bought my first onesie. I found out what a onesie is. I finally had the chance to be the one to fill out a registry - a baby registry. I became glucose intolerant. A great friend threw a fabulous baby shower for me. I had my very first shower in my honor - I always thought I would have my bridal shower before my baby shower, but I'll take it. I went with Brett to prenatal classes. I spent the entire summer eating nothing but strawberries. I took Brett back to Nelson to meet my parents. Brett's mom bought us a car seat, a stroller, and a bassinet, and Brett and I spent an entire afternoon putting them all together. Brett and I went on a road trip. I laughed a lot. I laughed at Brett when his truck barely made it up a hill on the highway and he made rowing motions the entire time. I played pregnant Wii. I stayed at my first bed & breakfast. I pulled out the pregnancy card every chance I got. I paid off one of my student loans in full. I gave birth to my son, Kole. I learned how much your body can go through physically and mentally and can forge forward when you think you can't go on any more. I held Brett's hand. I learned to fully trust someone that wasn't myself, and it felt good. I got a Code Blue called on me. I had major surgery. I experienced firsthand what love at first sight is all about and it made me cry tears of joy. I discovered just how well you can perform under little to no sleep. I now have my own little family to take care of. I changed a lot of diapers. I discovered there really are nice guys out there and that I'm dating one of them. I found out that there is someone other than my parents that loves me unconditionally. I found out that I'm also capable of loving someone other than my parents unconditionally - twice in one day. I realized that I'm now someone's mommy. I took a lot of pictures. I sewed a lot of bibs. I finally got big boobs. I learned how to breastfeed. I used a breast pump for the first time. I breathed a sigh of relief at knowing that I really do have the maternal instinct. I'm can no longer be selfish. I held Kole's hand when he got his first vein-drawn bloodtest taken. I had a lot of bloodtests. I discovered how I would move mountains for my son. I learned who my friends were. I moved. I became a co-owner of a washer and dryer set with Brett - our first appliances. I got my own sewing room/studio. I discovered that silverfish ate all my sewing patterns and it makes me appreciate the new house even more so. I rode public transit a lot. I slept on the futon with a fussy Kole on my chest and it turned out to be the best sleep I ever had in a long time. I celebrated Christmas in Kelowna for the first time. I celebrated Christmas without my parents for the first time in 6 years. I got really excited over a pink rolling pin. I became a proud owner of a pink Kitchen Aid hand held mixer. I stayed home and watched Dick Clark's New Year's Eve Bash for the first time in over 10 years. I'm actually looking forward to the new year. The end.
So I've disappeared for well over a month but I must say, I've got a very good reason. I finally gave birth to my baby!
It's funny how the night before I went into labour, I was wondering and telling Brett if I would know if I was in labour or not. I just figured that I would be one of those women who wouldn't know they were in labour until they went to the bathroom and the baby popped out into the toilet. Gross, I know. Before I became pregnant I had no idea that there was such a thing as false labour and true labour. I honestly thought labour was, well, labour.
The day that I went into labour, I had woken up with strong cramps/contractions but didn't think anything of it since I had been experiencing them randomly for a few days by then. At around 3pm I realized that my contractions were getting stronger and more frequent, but passed it off as a sign that I was doing too much. Around 5pm I had texted to Brett that I thought I was going through false labour, since the contractions were getting stronger but not steady enough to raise any alarms. By 7pm I had to call Brett to tell him to get his butt home cause I was definitely in labour. The pain was intense as I was getting it in my stomach like a very intense menstrual cramp, but also just as intense, if not more, in my lower back. I was a bit confused at the time cause my contractions were coming regularly at every 7 minutes, but then I would get thrown off when a random contraction came right after one ended. I would find out later that those ones were called "coupling" and is usually an indicator that something is happening (I don't want to say that it means something is wrong, but it definitely doesn't mean something is right) and that duration of labour will generally be longer. By 9pm Brett decided that we were going to head to the hospital pronto, and after a few protests that I wasn't ready to go to the hospital, the back pain became so extreme I was demanding that we head over.
26 hours, lots of nitrous oxide, some fentanyl shots, increasingly intensifying back labour (which, I had no idea existed til then), an epidural, a lot of pushing, a Code Blue being called on me, and an emergency C-section later, my beautiful son Kole was born. He was born October 2, 2008 at 2:30pm. He weighted 6lbs 4oz, and measured 48cm long. Since I was given a million due dates by several different doctors, if you go by the first ultrasound that I had, where the Russian technician claimed in his very thick accent that "baby born October 2, yes?", then Kole was born right on time.
I won't go into any more details, other than the fact that I'm glad that we are all home from the hospital and hopefully we won't have to go back for another stay.
I still can't believe that this darling little boy was growing inside of me, and it took me a few weeks to get used to the fact that he's out. I remember waking up after the C-section and feeling my stomach, only to find that it was no longer bulging out. I was a little sad that I was no longer pregnant and could no longer feel the kicking of a little human being inside my belly. I'll admit that I miss being pregnant. I think it's because of the bond I shared with my growing baby, like a secret that we had, and our conversations were through the kicking and belly rubs. If any of that made any sense.
Kole is now a little over 4 weeks old and we are both slowly getting used to each other, with Brett slowly getting used to it all in general. Kole is healthy and doing what all babies normally do at his age, he's gaining weight, eating regularly, and is in the phase of not wanting to be out of Mommy's arms...even when he's sleeping! But I should enjoy the cuddling and bonding times, cause when he gets older he's not going to want to do that with Mommy any more.
I'm also breastfeeding Kole, and hoping to keep him as a solely breastfed baby. I came close a few times to giving in and letting Brett feed him formula, just so that I could sleep a few more hours. Luckily I came to my senses in time! I do get a great feeling of pride when I breastfeed Kole, and knowing that I am doing so much for his health and for him in general. I didn't realize just how rare it is to have a solely breastfed baby, since a lot of people do give in to the formula. Breastfeeding is quite demanding, but I think the rewards and benefits far outweigh the lack of sleep and time consumption. When health professionals told me that the first month with a newborn baby was going to be spent doing nothing but sleeping and feeding, I thought it was all completely bogus and pure exaggeration. I was over confident that I would be out and about all the time, taking Kole out for walks, going shopping, sewing up a storm when Kole was sleeping, and basically doing my usual routine. Boy, was I ever wrong! Looking back at the month of October, all I did really was sleep and feed Kole. I did get out a few times...for another stay at the hospital, for doctor appointments, and for the sake of my sanity. Other than that, I was just too tired and trying to catch up on my sleep to go out. Not to mention that Kole is so unpredictable as to when he wants to feed and when he wants to throw a fuss to the point where nothing will calm him down. We're still trying to get over that one. A bonus to breastfeeding? It helps you to lose weight. Although, you have to breastfeed for 6 months before it starts to happen. I hope and plan on feeding Kole 'til he's at least a year old. Medical professionals claim that the longer you can breastfeed your baby, the better the benefits are. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!Ok, so time for me to go check up on my little one...and trying to figure out how to use this blasted (aka - stupid) sling. I swear, it'll be the death of me! In closing, here's the cutest picture of Kole:
Aww...my heart is fluttering!! What a cutie!!
So I've been MIA from blogging for a few weeks there...I've been busy, busy, busy as of late. A lot of it has to do with that "nesting" phase that pregnant women go through during their last weeks before going into labour. Also, my friends Leana and Erin were in town last weekend so I was busy getting in some visiting time while I had the chance to see them (and while I had the energy and actual time to visit anybody!)
This nesting phase is quite interesting. I was quite skeptical about it, and wasn't sure if it would affect/hit me. I still don't think it has, but really have no other explanation as to what has and is happening to me lately. I've been on a mad spree of trying to get things done around the house, I've been writing lists galore and it seems that once I manage to cross one thing off, I have another 'to-do' to add to the list. It honestly seems and feels like I can't get the place clean enough, or like I can keep it clean. I'm starting to think I need to kick Brett out of the house until the baby arrives, since it seems like every time I get the place all neat and tidy, he comes home and it's back to being a pigsty.
The past few weeks have consisted of me cooking and baking up a storm...trying to make meals that I can freeze and will taste good once we re-heat it. I also baked some treats for when we're craving something sweet but I'll have no time to bake like I used to. I have a list of things I wanted to cook and bake, but alas, my freezer can only hold so much. I'm already a bit worried that everything in the freezer is going to come out with freezer-burn since there is so much food in there that there is no room for air to circulate! I'm trying to convince Brett that we need to invest in a cube deep freeze...I'm still working on it...
I've also been organizing (and re-organizing what has already been organized...OCD much??) the house, trying to make it look not so cluttered and claustrophobic. I'm still wondering how the previous tenants managed to live here with their baby, since there is seriously no room around here! Cleaning has also been a high priority too...but it seems like an endless battle with the dust bunnies. I'll Swift the floors and dust, but then the next day it's all dusty again! Blast!
Another high priority? Sewing...and drafting a winter jacket/coat. I've finally finished both of Brett's ugly shirts and have now moved onto trying to figure out how to sew a simple nursing cover. I think I'm making it more complicated than it actually is. At first I thought about just sewing a length of ribbon to suspender style clips so that I can turn anything into a cover, like a receiving blanket, but then I came across the Hooter Hiders website. So now it's my mission to re-create this nursing cover...
We'll see how it turns out. I'm also almost done the pattern for my winter jacket...I have high hopes of cutting out a sample tomorrow.
I have my work cut out for me...no pun intended!
This past weekend I went over to Vancouver for a very short visit. Basically I was duped into thinking my lovely friend Leana was leaving us to go to South America for some archaeological dig. Well, I was wrong. When I showed up at my friend Erin's house, it turned out to be a surprise baby shower for me!!
How lovely!!
Unfortunately I was so wrapped up with the party and pretty much still in shock that this was a surprise for me (I've never had a surprise party before), that I forgot to take any pictures. I'm going to have to pester all the people that were there that were going camera-happy for copies of their photos.
My friend Erin did an amazing job, especially since this was the first time she's ever thrown a baby shower. She had decorated her house with a baby blue and pink baby theme, had a table spread of goodies and cake pedestals full of cupcakes (so yummy!) and even had ongoing baby shower games - one of which I had won! Yay for sensitive tastes buds!! Even Brett won 2 of the games, which made him uber happy cause it just proved that he knew what he was doing as a daddy-to-be. Erin's husband, Lenny, was on hand to make everyone delicious crepes filled with Nutella, fresh summer fruits, and homemade whipped cream.
I think what surprised me even more was the stroller in the corner of the room! I had been looking at 3-wheeled all-terrain strollers in gender mutual colors. Low and behold, the stroller they had for me was a 3-wheeled all-terrain stroller in brown! What a lovely sight!! Especially when as a mom-to-be you're looking at dishing out at least $300-400 for a decent stroller.
I also had a good chuckle at when I had to open my gifts. I've always seen in movies and on TV shows when someone has a baby or bridal shower, they always open them in a circle in front of their group of friends. Everyone ooh's and aahh's over every single gift. Since I've never had a shower before, I honestly didn't think people actually did this type of stuff. Well, when it came time to opening the gifts, sure enough, there I was, in a circle of friends, opening my gifts with everyone oohhing and ahhing. I raked in quite a lot of really cute stuff. Everyone did pretty good at getting gender neutral colored things. Not that I'm too concerned with what color my baby wears. My friend Leana went a little Poo crazy and had bought 2 huge gift bags full of Winnie the Poo crib sheets, blankets, wipes, onesies, and hats. My friend Yammers also went a little crazy and had a few one pieces, socks, hats, a blanket, and the best part that made Brett cringe - Canuck booties! They made Brett cringe so much that the next day he had to go out and buy Flames booties to counteract it all.
Anyways, I'm not going to go into detail about what everyone got, let's just say I'm soooo grateful for what they all gave. I was in near tears every time I opened a gift. I think I can speak for Brett too when I say this, but with each gift, it was also a smack to the head just how real this all is and just how close we are to becoming a threesome...a family. When we got home and carried the stroller inside, it hit us both even more that having a baby is real. I'm starting to get scared!!
Thanks Erin for such a wonderful party and fabulous memory!!! I'm going to have to make you something to express my gratitude for throwing me an actual surprise party!!
For the past few months I've been bitching to Brett about how I needed an apron. Since becoming pregnant, Brett is convinced that I needed to learn and practice on how to make a proper dinner (apparently sweet crepes of Nutella and banana slices is not a proper meal) for the nights when he's unable to be home to cook due to working late or something, he wants to make sure I'm capable of feeding our child a well-rounded meal. He's worried that when our child is older and is asking when dinner will be ready, I'll be serving up donuts and Kool-Aid.
Ok, in my defense, I made those sweet crepes once. And yet he's never let me live that one down. Also in my defense, I would never serve my child donuts for dinner! I barely eat donuts myself, so why would I serve them to my own child?? And two, after dying wool with Kool-Aid in my textiles class, I had vowed to never ever let that stuff go near my lips again! With that said, my child will never know what Kool-Aid tastes like cause I will never make it for them. Ew!
Anyhoo, so I've been branching out trying to cook a bunch of different things...so far, so good. The only thing I complain about is the fact that I'm ruining all of my shirts when olive oil splatters up from the pan, or when chicken juices come squirting out when checking to see if they are done! Not to mention that the bigger my belly gets, the harder it is for me to wash dishes - since whoever designed/built the counter for the kitchen sink area thought it would be brilliant to leave a foot of space from the sink to the edge of the counter...a counter that is already so high it comes to mid-torso on me. By the time I finish washing the dishes, it looks like I took a bath as well! So an apron was a must on my list of things I wanted/needed to make.
It has taken me a little over an hour to whip this up thus far. All that needs to be done now is hand sewing the bias tape at the sides and topstitching the neck straps closed. Then voila! Apron will be finished! I used this pattern, called the Emmeline. I came across this pattern when I was surfing blogs. It's super easy and very instant gratification.
Sorry about the crappy photos. I don't have a dress form to model the apron on, and I'm home alone...and don't really think the apron will look that great on a bulging pregnant woman. So the tree outside of my house will have to be the one modeling it.
The best part about this apron is that it's reversible! I used one of my favorite color combos - chocolate brown and pink - to make sure that both sides gel and coordinate. I thought it would be nice to have one side a printed side, and the other a plain straight up hit of color. I'm quite pleased with how the apron has turned out so far. I messed up a little on the attachment of the bias tape, but hopefully no one will notice but me.
I'm thinking that since this didn't take me that long to sew, that I need to sew a few half aprons too. I have a few vintage apron patterns kicking around, so maybe I should dig them up and see what I can whip up!
I think I went a little crazy with bibs and burp cloths. The past few weeks have been all about cutting out as many as I could with the amount of cute baby related print fabric and terry cloth that I had. Who knew a few meters of fabric would give me over 30 bibs and over 15 burp cloths??? Not that I'm complaining really, since I will most definitely be needing as many bibs as possible considering that you feed a baby so many times in a day. And the idea of getting barf and spit up all over my clothes isn't really appealing, hence the need for so many burp cloths.
I accidentally commented on my FaceBook status that I went overboard in making so many, and within minutes my inbox was bombarded with messages from friends who have kids that there's no such thing as too many and that I'll be needing all these bibs, if not more. What I had meant to say was that I went overboard in the sense that I had dedicated weeks in making nothing but bibs and burp cloths. Sweatshopping myself in making the same thing over and over, mass producing such an easy project...it can really get tedious and oh so boring after a while!
The volume production class that I had to take in school really did come in handy. I had separated all the bibs and cloths into piles of what thread color they needed to be sewn in, sewed them all up before I would allow myself to settle in front of the TV to spend the time to turn them all right side out, and then planted myself in front of the ironing board to press them all. Still in their piles according to thread color, I went back to the sewing machine to topstitch everything. I'm still in the process of applying snaps, since I had run out of the easy peasy pearly set-in pronged version and don't really feel like sewing old school snaps onto the rest.
I've decided to take a mini break from these though...until I can get some more set-in snaps. Even though I'm so close to finishing the project, I'm getting bored and losing interest fast! So I've made the decision to sew some other things and let my mind revive and get some excitement happening in my brain for a bit. I promised myself that I would get all the bibs done by the end of the month. If not, I'll regret it when the baby is spewing vomit all over my shoulders. Ew.
Here is my absolute favorite print of them all:
I just wish I had bought more. I think the color scheme and the style of the owls look very 60's. I wish it was in a straight up cotton, rather than flannelette. Oh well!
The part of pregnancy that I've been waiting to happen has finally happened - I am full of energy!! I honestly didn't think I would get to this point, since I've spent half of the year overly exhausted, and could barely get the energy and will-power to get myself out of bed (and wondering what in the world was wrong with me for being so lethargic). Who knew building another human being in your belly could be so draining? Well, here I am now, in my third trimester, with waayyy too much energy!!
I've been waking up pretty much the same time each morning (at 8:30am!), and have been going to bed by midnight. Some nights though, I've been staying up until 3am crocheting away (when I'm on a roll, I'm on a roll and better take advantage of it!) but still manage to wake up uber early the next day - and not be tired. Weird, I know. Or maybe it's just summer? The fact that it gets so bright out at 5am and I want to take full advantage of the natural light, since the lighting in my place is practically non-existent. Either way, I don't think this is my "nesting" period, but I'm not complaining!!
I honestly believe that since sewing that dress for my friend's wedding, I've been on a major kick. I just don't seem to have enough hands and time to sew and crochet all the things I want to do. I have all these ideas floating around in my head and all I want to do is get started on them all. I've accomplished a few things, and there a few projects sitting on the chair next to the desk almost finished...the rush of getting something done and ticking it off my "summer to do" list is exhilarating! Last weekend I went to the fabric store here and went crazy (seriously, I spent over 2 hours in there!), then came home and rummaged around my fabric stash, then spent the past few days pre-washing, de-linting, and ironing fabric!
Sorry for the lousy photo. There's not much light in the corner where my sewing machine is. You can't see it, but there are 2 lamps hanging above my beloved Miss Juki, and when I sew I'm pointing all the other lamps in my house at my corner for extra light. The photo came out yellowish green cause that's the color of my walls! The woman who lived in my place previously thought it would be awesome to paint the walls yellow before throwing spackle all over the place, and then painting over it with this neon snot green color. Some days it drives me insane! Brett and I don't really want to re-do it all, me being pregnant and not wanting to inhale the fumes and all, but also cause we know we won't be here long enough to enjoy the fruits of our labour.
Anyhoo, so that's only a fraction of my pile of fabric that needs to be turned into something amazing! I got my work cut out for me!! Hahaha...no pun intended. I just feel sorry for Brett. I wish I had my own studio or at least my own massive room to call my own. I have fabric, yarn, supplies, and paper all over the house. I try to clean up as I go, but sometimes it's hard to when you are in the middle of a project and you want to remember where you left off the next time you go to work on it again. I'm starting to think that Brett is realizing the need to get a bigger place too. Hee hee...
This is my baby! Yesterday Brett and I went for my 21 week ultrasound. The baby's gender is still unknown, as we told the ultrasound technician that we didn't want to know. It's amazing to see how much the baby has grown and changed since the last ultrasound back in March. This time around the baby actually does look like a baby! In the side profile you can see the baby's cute little button nose. It really does make me so awestruck. Not as awestruck as Brett. During the ultrasound, his jaw was dropped the entire time, his eyes glued to the monitor. Cuter still was after the ultrasound when we went to his work and he was proudly showing off the pictures to all of his co-workers.
Here's the baby's foot. I think this is my favorite of all the pictures that we got. I think it's because when I was looking at the monitor and I saw the baby kicking away, I could also feel it too. It was so weird. I also think the baby is getting stronger. At the start of the week I could barely feel the gentle flutter of the baby moving. The only way I could feel it is when I was lying perfectly still and it was dead quiet in the room. Now, I can feel it randomly throughout the day.
I still don't look pregnant, even though I'm now 6 months along. At the end of my ultrasound Brett asked the technician how far along I was and if the due date is still the same. I was quite surprised to hear that the due date is now October 2nd! The due date that was originally quoted to me when I had first found out that I was pregnant! So far, during my pregnancy, my due date has been changed quite a few times. But it was always October 2nd, or October 10th. The technician had commented that doctors don't take the fact that this is a leap year into consideration. If it wasn't a leap year, then yes, my due date would be for the 10th. It's amazing how an extra day on the calendar could make such a dramatic difference in the pregnancy calendar.
Just when I thought I was on the road to enjoying being pregnant, my morning sickness has decided to come back and ruin that thought. At first I thought my nausea was due to something funky I had eaten, or maybe a weird smell that just didn't agree with me. But when the projectile vomiting started to happen again, that's when I realized that I was wrong. Then I thought, maybe this is a one time deal? Nope. A few days of feeling like crapola and having to stay near a bathroom made it clear that this was the second coming of the dreaded and much hated morning sickness. I was doing so well for a while there too. As soon as my first trimester was over, so was my morning sickness. Then Brett Googled it, and found out that being nauseous during the fifth month was quite common.
Great. Just great.
All I can say is that TV and movies lie!! Whenever you see a pregnant woman, you see them all glowing, serene, and whatnot. Well, reality stepped in and now I have tendinitis in both hands (apparently it's quite common for pregnant women to get carpal tunnel syndrome, who knew??), I am constantly hungry - even after I eat, my stomach feels so stretched out, my hair is a grease-ball, my skin is breaking out - which makes me feel like a high school kid, my skin is so dry that no amount of lotion seems to help, I'm paranoid that I smell, and most of all, I'm so gassy! Gross, I know.
Most days I feel like Britney Spears...greasy hair, mismatched clothes cause everything I own doesn't fit except for a few t-shirts that I've never worn in public until now, and Lululemon pants. All my shirts are starting to hike up, making my pot belly stick out. I think there are a few stains on those shirts as well...come to think of it, I'm starting to resemble Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons, minus the facial hair...I think. Ugh!
On a good day, I feel like a typical Robson Street Asian...sporting my TNA/Lululemon outfit with my high-end trainers, and my Louis Vuitton Speedy handbag (real, I might add). Just glad I no longer live in Vancouver where I could get caught red-handed looking like that!
