The Beginning

I wrote this post way back when I first found out I was pregnant.

March 9th
I woke up early in the morning, well before my alarm. I’d been waking up early all week, even on Thursday after staying up late reading the night before.

I lay in bed petting the cat and trying to decide whether or not to get up. If I got up early I could walk the dog and still have time to wash & blowdry my hair before work. If I stayed in bed I could stay in bed for an extra hour. But if I got up early I could take a pregnancy test. But if I took a pregnancy test I might end up disappointed again.

Taylor and I started trying to conceive at the end of November, and every month I’d worked myself into a frenzy thinking my period was late and I was pregnant. Like, FOR SURE this time. In December I was late and I was so sure I was really and truly pregnant that I bought Taylor an extra Christmas present that would let him know. On Christmas morning I hid in the bathroom and took a test to see if I was, but it was negative so the present went into my desk drawer. I finally got my period a few days later, an entire week late.

Apparently my body had decided it was on a five-week cycle instead of a four-week one, because I didn’t get my period again until February 2nd, which meant it was due again on March 8th. I had some pms symptoms at the end of February and the beginning of March, but they felt off- some symptoms that usually stopped well before my actual period persisted and worsened, and other symptoms never showed up at all. Then there was the waking up early and the crazy, jittery energy I’d had all week. Something was up.

I decided to take the test. I mean, my period was technically only one day late but I had a couple tests in the house (they were on sale so I stocked up) so why not? I’d taken so many tests in the sixteen months since I’d gone of the pill that I didn’t bother looking at the instructions- a peestick is a peestick is a peestick, right? After doing my business I recapped the test and idly watched as the liquid travel up through the first little window and the lines appeared. Wait, what did they mean? Why didn’t I read the instructions???

I quickly unfolded to paper insert from the test box and found the little pictures that help you decipher your results. I was supposed to wait until a single line appeared in the second window to show that the test worked correctly, and the first window had the results- a minus meant not pregnant, and a plus meant pregnant. Even a faint plus meant pregnant. I didn’t have a faint plus. I had a dark plus. A very solid plus.

A plus.

Pregnant.

I immediately burst into tears. Every time I’d taken a test that turned out to be negative I’d cried in disappointment, but these were tears of joy. I’d been pregnant twice before, but neither time had I been trying and hoping and praying for it to happen. This was everything I wanted.

March 10th
When I found out I was pregnant my first instinct was to tell Taylor straight away. He was still at work, but I thought about calling, or just texting him a picture of the positive test, but instead I decided to wait to tell him. Our third wedding anniversary was on March 21, so if I could keep this secret for twelve days, I could give him the gift I’d bought back in December as an anniversary present. I was worried it might be tricky though- I’d already complained to him that I was ready to get my period and when he came home the first thing he asked me was if I’d gotten it yet! If I was going to keep it a surprise I’d have to fake having my period and think of plausible excuses for not having any weekend beers. I was determined to do it though.

First of all, though, I needed to confirm my test. On Saturday morning I invented a fake errand (buying envelopes) so I could go out and put my name on the list at the walk-in clinic. There was an hour wait, so I came home and worked on finishing & packing a couple of banners so I’d have a second (and real) errand to use as an excuse for going back to the clinic: shipping packages. I got back to the clinic ten minutes before the end of the hour wait, but as usual the hour wait was more like a two hour wait. Fortunately Taylor likes to spend his Saturdays playing videogames and has no concept of the passage of time while doing so.

When I finally got in to see the doctor he confirmed what I already knew: the test I took at the clinic gave not just a positive result, but a strong, solid positive result. I was walking on air the whole way home (and at the post office; I really did need to mail those banners!) and as soon as I came in all my resolve the keep it a secret until our anniversary crumbled.

I asked Taylor to pause his game and gave him the present I’d been hiding in my desk. He took it into the kitchen to open it, and after cutting off the ribbons, opening the box, unfolding the tissue paper and teasing me for my dollar store gift wrapping he pulled out a teeny little hockey jersey. Yes, I’m THAT Canadian.

He looked at me. “Is this for your dog?” he asked. I shook my head. He asked, “Is this for my dog?” knowing full well that his dog already has a hockey jersey. I shook my head again. “Are you… are you trying to tell me something?” I nodded. “What is it?” “I’m pregnant.”

I was worried he would be freaked out- this whole baby plan had been my idea and it took a lot of cajoling to convince him to try. There’s a big difference between saying “Let’s try to get pregnant” and “I’m pregnant now.” He told me he was actually less freaked out than he thought he would be, so that was good! I told him all the things I’d been holding in for the last day and we hugged and kissed and he said he was happy too.

Not long after Symphony came home from her friend’s house and I decided to tell her as well. If I kept it a secret Taylor and I wouldn’t be able to talk about it openly and anyway, I am CLEARLY terrible at keeping secrets. We’d previously discussed the possibility of my having a baby, but she was still a little flipped out when I first told her. We sat down (on the floor in the hallway, where I caught her after she tried to lock herself in the bathroom) and talked it out. Once she calmed down she only had three concerns:

1. She doesn’t want to share her room (we have a three bedroom apartment so that isn’t an issue).
2. She doesn’t want to change poopy diapers (we’ll see…).
3. She wants the baby to be a girl (I told her I’d do my best because that’s what I want too, but you don’t really get to choose).

With her fears allayed she jumped straight into hardcore planning mode, pulling out all our old Martha Stewart Kids magazines from the early 2000s to try to find any good baby things, and borrowing Taylor’s iPad so we could look at the baby stuff on the Ikea website while snuggled up in my bed. I can already tell she’s going to be a great older sister.

It’s Time

It’s time to tell everyone what I haven’t been saying since March 9th.

We're Pregnant

We’re pregnant!! 17 whole weeks. I was waiting to tell my child care clients so I couldn’t say anything before today, but they all know now so no more secrets!

Of course no photo opportunity in my house would be complete with out of bunch of weird-faced outtakes.

We're Pregnant
We're Pregnant
We're Pregnant

Thanks, family.

Just In Time

Just in time for both patriotism season AND for me to make my goal of making two non-custom glitter banners a month! Ruby glitter maple leaves for Canada Day, ruby, diamond and sapphire stars for Independence Day.

Patriotism Season

These banners will be up in the shop next week, as I’m feeling too tired to take proper pictures and write up descriptions today and will instead be spending my break on the couch with some blankets, some dogs and season 8 of The X-Files.

Cat & Dog

Georgie and Claire are very good friends. They share toys, like this round red squeaky.

Dog & Cat

(Georgie throws her toys at Claire and then fights her for them.)

Dog

They share a bed.

Cat
CatDog

(By bed I mean my purse when I leave it on the floor.)

Dog

They are both beautiful ladies.

Fat Cat

(Well…

Flat Cat

… one of them is!)

Metal Heart

My husband and I have similar taste in lots of things. We love a lot of the same movies and tv shows, we enjoy the same kind of vacations, and sometimes we inadvertently dress alike. One place where our tastes REALLY diverge though, is music. Oh sure, we both listen to some of the same things but it’s really evident in our workout playlists. I have a whole ipod with nothing on it but Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, Ke$ha and Selena Gomez, and Taylor? When he’s working out he listens to METAL.

Of course we’re lazy these days so recently our workout playlists have become more like housework playlists, and nothing is more disturbing to me than coming back from a bathroom break to find Taylor dusting to the sounds of Mastodon. Maybe it’s just me though, maybe other people like working out to metal, so I asked him to come up with a list of his best metal songs to listen to while running on a treadmill- or running a vacuum.

Beneath my bearded (Ed. WHAT BEARD YOU SHORN LIAR???), flannelled indie rock exterior beats the secret heart of a metalhead. Oh sure I can discuss merits of various Grizzly Bear albums or why Bon Iver is overrated but really I’m dying to talk about how FRICK’N AWESOME Brandon Small’s Galaktikon is. Below is a good sampling of what I’d be listening to while doing my 5K at the gym if I hadn’t totally fallen off the wagon.

Mastodon – Crystal Skull
3 Inches of Blood – Leather Lord
Iron Maiden – The Trooper
Bison B.C – These Are My Dress Clothes
F_cked Up* – Royal Swan
Mastodon – Naked Burn
Dethklok – Laser Cannon Death Sentence
The Sword – Barael’s Blade
Kylesa – Static Tensions
Dethklok – Volcano
The Blood Brothers* – Trash Flavoured Trash
Mastodon – Hearts Alive

RDIO Link

Honourable Mentions because they’re not listed on RDIO
Mares of Thrace – Mandible
Brendon Small – Beastblade
* Not technically ‘metal’ but it meets my requirement of being excellent running music.

Please note that these are the opinions solely of my husband and I have like, NO IDEA what any of these songs even sound like.

Manicure Monday

It’s been so long! Honestly I’ve been so busy crafting and working and watching tv and eating with my hands to paint my nails for months, but this weekend I got a bee in my bonnet that I ABSOLUTELY needed a neon purple manicure. I looked in a couple different places trying to find the exact shade of polish I wanted, although idk why I didn’t just go straight to the source for all things neon, American Apparel.

This polish is great! I was a little disappointed with it at first because it seemed kind of dark, but that’s because I was inside and it’s in natural light that the colour really pops. The formula is good, although I could have done with a third coat for slightly more even coverage (and also maybe not doing such a terrible job would have helped, lol. I TOLD YOU IT’S BEEN A WHILE) and the colours are fantastic; they have a Neon Coral that I think I might really need. The polish dried quickly to an almost a matte finish, which was a little weird- all the shine you can see is from the Seche Vite topcoat.

Saturday Shop

I had a (repeatedly postponed and rescheduled) dentist appointment yesterday, and as a reward for finally going AND not having any problems I decided to take myself shopping. I also made Taylor come and meet me so he could stand around sulking while I tried on shoes.

I was looking for three things:
1. a second pair of those Keds-y shoes from H&M
2. sandals in a gold or light neutral colour
3. oversized t-shirts

The first shoes were easy since I knew where to get them, but when I bought the first pair there was only one other one left in my size so I was worried I might have missed out. Luckily they’d been moved to the back of the shoe rack on the very bottom, so no one else had scooped them up.

The reason I wanted a second pair was because I’m inspired by my friend Kristen to stud them, like she did with some white Converse. I think I might even have some studs in one of my craft boxes somewhere!

The sandals were harder to find; I think I must have looked in a billion different stores before I found what I wanted: something flat and strappy without being too reminiscent of my eighth grade science teacher, with little to no embellishments, in a pale gold or a light neutral. I had basically given up when I saw one last shoe store (that I never shop at) and lo and behold, they had exactly what I was looking for. They were pretty cheap too!

I found the t-shirts when I was looking for sandals at Urban Outfitters. They were on sale so I got a grey & and a black one (quelle surprise). They’re one size fits all and basically enormous, in a super soft fabric. Prefect for someone as slovenly as myself! I kind of want to go pick up some more but I didn’t love any of the other colours in the store :/

The best part is all the reviews on the site say these shirts run large. OH REALLY? THIS OVERSIZED T-SHIRT? IT RUNS LARGE YOU SAY? idek what is with some people.

Popsicle Party

Summer is here and that means POPSICLES! For my first popsicle this year I decided to kill two birds with one stone and make them out of my beloved berry lemonade smoothies.

If you don’t know how to make a berry lemonade smoothie well LET ME TELL YOU it couldn’t be easier. In a blender combine your favourite lemonade with a couple handfuls of frozen berries. This time I used strawberries but anything works. Or you could use frozen peaches, or pretty much anything that goes with lemonade ie EVERYTHING BECAUSE IT’S THE PERFECT DRINK, especially this lemonade from Happy Planet which is scientifically the next best thing to homemade and is better and more delicious than any other brand you can find in stores. Anyway I put some chia seeds in too because of health.

Chia Seeds, Lemonade, Strawberries

That jug of lemonade was full at 10am yesterday.
I don’t have any proper measurements but I think I put in 600ml of lemonade, 300ml of berries and a tablespoon of seeds. This yielded enough smoothie for Taylor and I to both have a large glass and for me to make six popsicles, so be sure to adjust your amounts accordingly. Since I’m not confident in my blender’s capabilities with things that are frozen totally solid I let everything sit for about twenty minutes to defrost a bit before I blended it all up.

Strawberry Lemonade Chia Seed Smoothie

MMMMMM YUMMY AND REFRESHING! Now the popsicles:

Strawberry Lemonade Chia Seed Smoothie Popsicles
Strawberry Lemonade Chia Seed Smoothie Popsicles

Sorry, trying to get kids to HOLD STILL DANG IT! so you can take a picture after you’ve given them popsicles is basically an exercise in futility. These were fantastic, OBVIOUSLY. I predict that I’ll be making many variations of them this summer!

SYMstagram

SYMstagram01

I only signed Sym up for Instagram yesterday so there’s just the one pic this time, but I’m hoping she has fun with it and this can turn into a weekly post.

Call Me Symmie

Sym Rock Climbing

Rock climbing; her dad took this picture. Apparently she got almost all the way to the top before she was like NOPE NUH-UH NEVERMIND I’M COMING DOWN.

Sym is basically amazing these days. Yesterday she brought home a couple of math tests for me to sign and I was thrilled to see she’d gotten 100% on both of them. She’s had some really problems and struggles with math this year (because math is for jerks but I digress), but she’s worked really hard and studied and pulled it together. The teachers had a job action thing going for the first half of the school year so she didn’t get any report cards until just a few weeks ago and it was really good- 2 As and 6 Bs (including math).

Because she’s been so good recently and because her little kid Firefly cellphone recently stopped working, the other day I took her out and got her a new phone, an iPhone. Lots of people I know on the internet (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE) thinks and crazy and gross and stupid for kids to have iPhones (or any phones or electronics other than maybe a Nintendo DS) but like… I think most people who have iPhones don’t really NEED them. I mean, what do most people use them for? Playing games, sending messages, instagramming pictures of food and pets, sometimes making phone calls, buying progressively more adorable cases for them.

I ordered her both of these.
THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT MY KID USES HERS FOR. Well, not the instagramming. YET. I pretty much hate instagram but I’m going to get it for her so I can post her pictures here and call the posts SYMSTAGRAM. Yes, I already have this planned out.