Friday, December 28, 2007

Christmas Past

We've had two christmases this year, and both were wonderful fun. Now it's over and I'm sleepy.

Things with the pregnancy are going well. At least I'm assuming they are. I'm 11 weeks now. At 6 weeks I saw my Dr. He said "Oh No!" and sent me for bloodwork. I firgured instead of paying out of pocket it would be best to wait for my medicare card (which I had applied for in October). Unfortunately it took until Dec. 15 for it to arrive. I tried twice to get the blood drawn (I was told to come back a week after I had the test done), and had even booked the appointment, but sadly things just didn't work out. In all that time I was calling my Dr office about once a week to find out if I could just get a referral to an OB (since my Dr wouln't be delivering the baby anyway) and talked with a midwife about my options. Still, nothing happened.

Then when I called to cancel the (useless) follow up appointment, the receptionist informed me there was a clinic I could go to that didn't require a refferal! YAY!

Only problem - no open appointments for the next month. Grr.

So we're praying for a cancelation and really getting anxious to get everything in motion. Not showing yet, still feeling a bit sick and exhausted, and having a slight feeling it's a boy.

I had bloodwork done about a month and a half before getting pregnant and was given a perfect bill of health, haven't had any odd pains of bleeding, so I'm assuming all is going as it should be. Be praying that is true and we get confirmation of it soon.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Tis the Season

I love Christmas time.

I love the snow. I love the lights and decorations. I love visiting with family. I love Christmas music. I even love the malls being full.

This has always been my favorite holiday. I have only good memories of Christmas (even the year my Dad was bit by a dog and was almost in the hospital for Christmas). I can't wait for the weekend - Liz is visiting, then we're heading to Woodstock and then next week going to my parents.

We don't have a tree or many decorations this year. We did have some lights up, but between the baby and the cat they didn't stay up very long. Since we're going to be away for a couple weeks, a tree didn't really make much sense for us either.

But even without all the decorations, it still feels like Christmas. THe joy, the excitement. I can't wait to see Hana with all the lights and everything, and on Christmas morning. It's so wonderful to be able to make new wonderful memories for her.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

fun

The Golden Compass

Is getting a lot of hype. It reminds me of the Harry Potter and DaVinci Code hysteria. I've heard people say that movies like this (promoting atheistic ideas) should not be made.

I think it's a bunch of crap. The story is fantasy. Yes, there are ideas that are presented that go against Christian teachings, but how is that any different from most other movies that are made, especially in this genre?

It frustrates me when I see Christians so afraid of ideas. Ideas are powerful things, yes, but they only have the power that we give them. I think it's important to know and understand what others believe. How else can we expose the Truth if we aren't aware of what lies they believe? How can we be like Paul in Acts 17, using the culture, the beliefs, the Truth around us to bring people to God if we ignore all of those things and just pretend they don't exist?

I plan on seeing the movie. It looks interesting. I've heard it's a bit violent for young kids, but that doesn't really apply to me. I might read the books too (if the movie interests me enough in the story). I am not threatened by ideas that I know are wrong.

Thursday, December 06, 2007

Winter Wonderland

Yesterday Hana and I went for a walk. We had been in the house for two days straight because of the snow, and we needed some fresh air. I figured I could put her in her new snowsuit and walk down to the store with her in the stroller.

Have you ever tried to take a toddler for a walk after a snowstorm?

First, you get the child dressed and put them in the snowsuit. I got Hana in the pants and had her boots on, then put her int he stroller before I put on her mitts (er...a pair of my thick socks....but it worked...) and coat on. I don't know how I came up with this idea, but I'm so glad I did.

Apparently putting mitts and a coat on a toddler is the equivalent of the marshmellow man on steroids - fluffy, strong and angry. Hana tried as hard as she could to kick and arch out of her stroller. It was awful. I almost took a picture, but figured the neighbours might be wondering what all the noise was, so instead we headed out.

(one plus of the mitts, she wasn't able to take her hat off for once!!)

So we head out and once we're moving Hana settles down and even seems to be enjoying herself. We get to the main road and I'm so excited to see the sidewalk is plowed. Er, sorta. Apparently they plowed the sidewalk before some of the streets for some reason, so at the beginning of every block there's this huge pile of snow. Have you ever tried to push a stroller through a huge pile of snow? It doesn't work so well. So I would pick her up and carry the stroller a few feet. Then we turn the corner and half of the snowbank caused by plowing the sidewalk has fallen in. There was a lot of stroller carrying to be done.

We came home by the side roads and just walked on the street.

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

13 Months

Hana is 13 months old.

She is pulling up on any stable surface and cruising around on the furniture. She gets stuck because she doesn't know how to sit back down, but for the most part standing is what makes her happy. Unless it's beside her walker. She won't stand up within a foot of her walker. We try to walk her over to her walker and on the way she sits down.

She's weaned from the bottle. She gets her milk in a rubbermade straw cup - sippy cups didn't work for her, this is perfect and will last for years. She's also eating a lot better now, altho she doesn't like leftovers. If she's had the same thing within the last 24 hours and I haven't just made it fresh, she wants nothing to do with it. Anything she doesn't want gets picked up, piece by piece, and removed from her sight. If I'm not sitting beside her with a plate or my hand out, it ends up on the floor. Frustrating, but better than just randomly throwing food.

She has 5 teeth now and 3 more on their way. It's made sleeping interesting, but for the past week she's spent most or all of the night in her crib. Makes mama happy.

She is so curious, so interesting in how everything works. She loves books, and laughing, and goldfish crackers and the cat. If she's having a meltdown because the world just isn't fair I know one of the above will calm her.

She's getting so big, so un-baby like, but at the same time she still enjoys cuddling in my arms when she first wakes up or if she's having a rough day.

Snowed In



That's the view from our patio door. That's a snowbank. We're staying in today.