Favourite Things: March

Hellooooo Wednesday! I've been waiting for this day for awhile! I'm going to the doctor this morning (regular pregnancy check up) but I really need her to check out my extremely itchy baby belly!! It is driving me nuts these days!! I think it's just winter dry skin and stretching, but it is unbearably uncomfortable and I can't wait to see if there is something I can do to relieve it. Ahhhh.

I had a post like this planned for this week anyway, so I'm going to link it up with Emily at Beauty and the Greek and Kylie at Liploss and Lunges for March Favourite Things!!!

1) Banana and PB wraps

I have always loved these as an easy sandwich for lunch or for a quick post-workout snack, but I've had them mid-morning lately and they definitely keep me going. Easy to make! Today it's for lunch!

1 Whole Wheat wrap (any size)
2 TB natural Peanut Butter (in Canada, THIS one is my favourite)
1 banana

Roll and eat. YUM.

2) Come to Me by the Goo Goo Dolls


I had heard this song when it first came out and forgot about it. THEN, Amanda mentioned it on her blog a few weeks ago and I listened to it again and FELL IN LOVE. I've probably listened to it about 5 times a day since then. :)

3) House of Cards (Season 2!)
We'd be watching Season 2 faster if I could bring myself to stay up later at night. We're about halfway through it now, and it's not disappointing. I have never really been a huge Kevin Spacey fan until watching this show.

4) Fruit, Fruit Smoothies, and especially Strawberries

I've had a fruit smoothie with spinach every morning for about the last month-6 weeks. It keeps me going until lunch, and provides me with protein and nutrients. Delicious. We also got some amazing strawberries this week from the US (I like to buy local but not very possible in March in Canada!) and they are so red, juicy and flavourful that I might have had a whole container of them myself a few days ago...

AND, here's my fruit salad from last night's pancake Tuesday supper!

The most delicious thing I've eaten all week - leftovers sitting in the fridge for me at work!

5) Pregnancy pillow AKA "Big C"

(Source)

I slept with my normal memory foam head pillow and a body pillow for the first 7ish months of this pregnancy because I turned over a lot. I transitioned back to my pregnancy pillow a few weeks ago, and so far, it has really helped my neck and back pain. It just supports everything so well and allows for the best possible night's sleep. My only issue is when I need to turn over, because the whole pillow has to come with me. Brian's only issue is that it the pillow kind of counts as a third person (4th counting the baby?) in our bed, hahaha.

6) Sporcle.com triva website

I used to love this site and followed it regularly when I was in school. I've done a few quizzes here and there lately. I LOVE trivia. My father in law has recently started going to a trivia night at one of our local pubs that he raves about constantly...it makes me miss the days I had a big group of friends at trivia night downtown. Sporcle gives me a good fix when I have time though! There is an app for it too.

7) Squeez'ems reusable squeeze bags for kids

Source

I'd been eyeing something similar to these on Amazon for awhile, but then I came across these ones at Walmart last week. Molly loves fruit smoothies (she also has one everyday) and pureed fruits and vegetables. These reusable packages are great for making your own "baby food" and easy to take on the go. I put applesauce in hers, or yogurt, and we can take it in the car or she can wander around with a limited likelihood of mess!!!

What are some of your favourite things these days?? I am hoping that my April post can say something along the lines of "My favourite thing right now is spring weather!!" ;)  What are the chances? hehe. I'm actually pretty sure I'll be saying then that my favourite things are 1) not being pregnant anymore 2) raspberry beer, and 3) sushi. Can't wait! :)

Talking about a crossroad (Journal Prompt #1)

Danielle at Sometimes Sweet is hosting a link-up of sorts this week with a journal prompt. I found this prompt very interesting, and it is a topic that is on my mind constantly, so I decided to post about it today and link up with her HERE tomorrow when her post goes up. 

Here's the prompt:

Everyone has a time in their life they view as a crossroad. Sometimes you can see it as it's happening, and you're able to choose one way or another. Other times you may not realize you're there until you look back, and see what a turning point it really was. This week, write about a time you view as a marker in your life; a distinct place where things changed, for better or worse. 

I think that I have encountered two very distinct crossroads in my life that led me to where I am right now (albeit many other decisions/turning points).

The first of these was when I felt a strong pull to move to Nova Scotia to attend university at St. FX.

I had a high school guidance counselor who basically told anyone who’d listen that St. FX was the best university in the country, and that anyone who went there would agree (I have since found this not to be completely true- while I *LOVED* my time there, a few people did drop out or move away and not love it). I took a year of undergrad in Calgary at a small university college, which was great in many ways, and the courses that I took there were among the most interesting in my entire education. When I came to St. FX, I was a second year student, but I was new. It took me quite awhile to feel like I fit in, and I learned a lot about myself and who I wanted to become. 

(Via St. FX website - beautiful, isn't it!)

It was also at St. FX that I decided to pursue Psychology as my major, which in turn should have led me to an outstanding career by now (lol, kidding). Had I stayed in Calgary for university, I wouldn't have gotten to know my grandmother as a second mother. I wouldn't have made close friendships with some of my cousins and aunts and uncles. I wouldn't have met many of my current friends, and I probably wouldn't have moved to Halifax to start my life post-undergrad. I wouldn't have developed a passion for east-coast music or the Nova Scotia culture. I wouldn't have met Brian. 

Arguably, I could still be living a happy and successful life had I not moved out east. There is nothing wrong with Calgary, and I love it because it's my hometown. However, since moving out east, I have found that the pace of life and the size of Halifax are much more in tune with what I want out of life. It's hard not to feel happy walking down the waterfront in the summer, or listening to the ocean at Peggy's Cove. Although there are things (and people) I miss since moving here, I can't even imagine what I would have missed out on if I'd stayed at home for university. 

("My hometown" that will always hold a place in my heart)

This brings me to my second major crossroad, which I have discussed before (here). Meeting Brian changed my life, because our relationship was my first serious one, and it kind of came out of the blue in some ways. (You can read more about how we met here). However, the crossroad I’m talking about came after we’d been dating for 9-10 months and unexpectedly found out that I was pregnant (with Molly). This situation could have played out in more than one way, but we were fully in love, old enough and sure enough to commit to becoming a family and raising our daughter together. There are many times when I almost lament that we didn't have the same time as a “family of 2” before becoming a family of 3, but I never, ever regret bringing our beautiful daughter into the world. 

This time in my life (pregnancy/motherhood) was a crossroad because I did, understandably, drift away from some friends. Some friends had no idea how to relate to me anymore and could not accept the changes happening in my life. I was also fortunate to make new friends. Mommy friends. I also grew closer to my family, and to Brian’s family, who have been nothing but supportive of us since the day we found out about Molly. I don’t ever for a second regret the turning point that led me to this path in life. Even though it may not always be the life I’d imagined, in many ways, it has surpassed some of my hopes and dreams I’d had for my future. 

One of my close friends from university moved to Korea to teach English for 2 years in September 2009, just as I was finishing my Master's in Halifax. In March 2010, I met Brian. By the time my friend came back at Christmas in 2011, I was engaged to someone she'd never met and we were embracing life with a newborn. She had known that things would be different with me, but it was a huge shock to her (not in a bad way, but it took awhile for us to relate to one another the same way again). Sometimes life events change you, and I think this was the case with me. I was still essentially the same person, but my priorities had shifted, and I had a little person's life in my hands. 

I'm happy that these crossroads happened, and I'm content with the decisions that I made at turning points. I think there are turning points in our lives all the time. I often struggle with the "what if" aspect of making a decision. For instance, if I hadn't taken a certain job, would I be where I am now? If I had done such-and-such differently, would life be different now? It can be enough to drive me crazy, so I think it's better to just accept that life will always throw curveballs at us, and it is best to move forward with the support of those around us. I have to admit that I don't really agree with the phrase "Live life with no regrets", because I think that you can learn from regrets and move on. That being said, I think that dwelling on the past and dwelling on things that you regret can be a bit of a waste of time. If it's something that you regret and you can change, then change it! My lovely husband says that we always have two choices in any situation: You can accept it, or you can change it. (Isn't he wise? haha).

Peggy's Cove, NS

What crossroads have you encountered that changed your life? Do you regret them, or do you embrace them? 

Favourite Things Link Up

Happy Monday!!

We had a wonderful and relaxing weekend, with beautiful weather! We were able to get outside for a nice walk on Sunday afternoon, and it was really good for the soul after all the snow and cold we've had lately. We also got caught up with some family and friends, which was nice, and I got a bit of organizing done in the baby's room. Brian watched the Superbowl last night, but I only made it to half-time before it was time for bed. It was pretty clear at that point who was going to win anyway. We're not huge NFL fans in our house, but Brian was going for Denver after picking them in his football pool at work, so he was disappointed.

(Via)
I always thought groundhogs were a bit cuter...haha

Shubenacadie Sam, our Nova Scotia groundhog, also predicted an EARLY SPRING yesterday, so that's kind of exciting (but I'm not sure if I trust him! ;)). I had a friend on Facebook who was asking about the whole point of Groundhog Day since we all know that Spring comes on March 20 every year. I had to laugh because obviously we aren't relying on the groundhog to tell us what's going to happen, but it is a funny little event in February. We were going to take Molly out to visit Shubenacadie Sam yesterday since they had a huge event going on all day in the wildlife park, but it's almost an hour away and we just needed to hang out at home instead.

Today I wanted to share a few of my "favourite things" lately and link up with Beauty and the Greek who shares her favourite things every month HERE. Here are a few things that I'm loving lately!!

1) How I Met Your Mother - boy am I glad I stuck with Season 9, as in, we watched about 10 episodes over the weekend and we are all caught up to tonight's episode on TV. I love the Mother!! Every episode that has featured her prominently has also made me a bit teary-eyed, which Brian finds hilarious...but she is just so sweet! And the most recent episode with her boyfriend dying...I mean, that was sad stuff!! I am sure there are more tears to come...haha. I also loved the episode about asking Barney questions that he could only answer with the truth. I can't WAIT for Ted and the mother to "meet" in present day! By the way, do we know the Mother's name yet??

I'm sure I'm not the only one who got teary-eyed at this moment!!

2) Vector and Cheerios...as I mentioned last week, I am definitely on a huge cereal kick after not eating it much for years. I guess we'll chalk it up to a pregnancy craving?? ;) I also love that Molly calls Cheerios "Cheeewweeeweeos" with an extra syllable thrown in there.

Yum YUM

3) Simple Facial Wash. I got a sample of this in a mommy-to-be bag from Sobeys, and I loved the way it made my face feel. It's not often that I find a facial wash I like and I don't often change it up from Oil of Olay, but I'm liking this for now so we'll see how it goes! I got mine at Walmart here in Canada, and I'm not even sure if it's available in the States but it's good stuff!

(Via)

4) Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Lotion - because I live in Canada and it's the winter.

5) U2's new song that was available for download on iTunes last night until midnight tonight. LOVE it. :)

6) Water infused with cucumber, mint and lemon. (See benefits HERE). This is supposed to be a bit of a detox drink, and I am obviously not in weight-loss mode since I am growing a person, but I drank this all weekend for the first time in months and felt SO refreshed and a lot less bloated. I also had significantly less heartburn and indigestion, so I am going to stick with it for now. It is delicious :)

If you put it in a water bottle, make sure you wash the water bottle out frequently :)

I think that's it for today!! Tomorrow's tot talk is about VBACs, but hopefully not TMI!! I am also working on a few design aspects of the blog this week. I made a lot of progress over the weekend, but got a bit stuck so I'm still working on it slowly. I'll share the tutorials I used when I'm all done!

Off to tackle my Monday now. xoxo

Weekend fun and 2 easy projects

Just making my way through another Monday and reflecting a bit on our weekend, which was a nice one. I am feeling fairly rested and relaxed this morning, so can't complain about that!! :) We took it easy on Friday night and watched a Netflix movie - Drinking Buddies (I probably wouldn't recommend it but it was OK) and went to bed early. On Saturday, we (Molly and I) got haircuts (her first, not mine ;)) and that was exciting for her...then we went to visit our good friends overnight about 45 mins away - so that was fun! They have 2 kids and Molly loves to play with them (both kids are older so she often just watches them). We drove back mid-morning on Sunday and played outside in all the snoooooow in the afternoon, and then had the world's most delicious seafood chowder for supper at my in-laws' house. All in all, a pretty good weekend and both of Brian's picks for football came through yesterday so he was happy about that.

This is the view from our friends' house on Sunday morning:

I started today off with a delicious protein pancake and Molly had one too - she loved it!! :)

I have 2 fun projects that I've been meaning to share on the blog...one is VERY simple and the other is very SPECIFIC haha...but both are easy! 

Brian made Molly a chalkboard easel for Christmas. I'll talk about that more later sometime, but since he had leftover chalkboard paint, I asked him to make me a chalkboard to hang in our living room to write seasonal quotes on, such as this one:

(Via)

I think I still need to put a frame around it or something, but here's how he did mine, and set it up for me to come home to:

He used chalkboard paint from Home Depot which you can buy here and painted it on a sheet of MDF that he had leftover (although if you wanted to frame this, you could use even thinner wood or probably even cardboard). He rounded it using a fancy new tool called a router that he got for Christmas, but again, that probably wouldn't be necessary if you were framing it! Molly coloured the bottom of ours, and I have yet to find an inspirational quote for January so maybe I will just wait until it's closer to Valentine's Day to write something nice on it! :)

The other project I finished recently took me about 10 minutes and I've made 2 of these for myself and now one for a friend who is smaller than me. If you've ever been pregnant, you have probably seen these:

(Via)

They are called maternity belly bands and they rock because you can still wear your old pants, but leave them unbuttoned and wear this over top. I usually secure my pants still with a loop elastic so that they don't fall down.

When I was pregnant with Molly, I made two of these in black for myself and I have used them a lot, so I decided to make one for a pregnant friend. I used fabric which is similar to yoga pants, (bought at Fabricville) measured it around myself, cut, and literally hemmed it and it was done. You have to make sure that the stretchier part of the fabric is the wide part and not the length. You can make it any length you want,  I used the stretch fabric setting on my sewing machine:

And this is the final product for my friend, who loved it!

Here are two other more detailed tutorials if you're ever interested in making one of these :)

A Beautiful Mess

DIY Maternity

Monday nostalgia

Happy Monday!!

Back to the grind after the weekend...hope everyone had a good one though!! Ours was really good, mostly because my sister spent the weekend with us and we don't see her very often. It was great to spend time with her and I hope she is able to move to NS later this year when she finishes med school. We also took Molly swimming for the first time in awhile and I haven't seen her so excited in months. She had the time of her life, so I think we'll have to take her more often!! It definitely tired all of us out too :)

Here she is, sleeping on the floor (her preference lately - we always move her to her bed an hour later) with her doll and puppy.

During pregnancy, it's pretty normal to have weird dreams, but I seem to have weird dreams about people that I haven't seen or talked to in years. It always weirds me out a bit the next day because I am thinking about the person/people and wondering what they are up to now, but at the same time, it's not usually a person that I'd feel comfortable "catching up with". Does this ever happen to anyone else? It's funny to me too because in a dream, I am always just remarkably close friends with said person/people and we are all caught up and in each others' lives like 10-15 years hasn't even passed. It is a bit of a mind game, but it's still nice to be remembering people. I have also had dreams about people that I've never even met but that Brian knows (so I have heard about them or something). These dreams are more imaginative, but also kind of strange to experience!

via Some e-cards

As I've mentioned before, my parents are hoping to pack up their home in Calgary and move to NS this year. My dad e-mailed me this weekend about selling his 1980s MacIntosh Plus and was wondering if I wanted it. He was mostly joking, because he could get some money for it on Ebay for sure, but it reminded me of being 7-10 years old and playing this awesome game called GLIDER on this computer. I'd love to play that again but probably won't ever get the chance. In the game, you basically just build and fly paper airplanes through various levels and there are obstacles to avoid, such as light switches which will catch the plane on fire and ceiling fans that will suck the plane up. It was pretty fun as a child, and I'm not the only one who was a big fan of it. I just found out that you can get the game as an App in iTunes, so maybe I'll spend some time catching up with it when I download it later on our old iPod touch. If only there was a similar game for Android...hmm...

The first computer in my life :)

Image via AppStorm

Sometimes I like to take a walk down memory lane, and other times it can be sad too. I have many, many wonderful childhood memories and I try to write them down or at least think about them or talk to my siblings about them often so that we can share these stories with our own children one day.

Do you have any unique childhood memories that you like to think about? Anyone else having weird dreams lately? We had a crazy storm here on Saturday night, so I think that contributed to my weird dreams too.

Eating well and exercising during pregnancy

It's no secret that many women struggle to maintain the same activity levels and keenness towards healthy eating during the 9-10 months of pregnancy. I, too, have struggled with this. During my first pregnancy, I basically just embraced the concept of "eating for two" and I didn't exercise nearly as much as I should have. My main form of exercise was walking, which I tried to stick to at least 4 times a week.

This time around, I was armed with a better plan for eating and a plan for exercising and I have to admit that it has fallen to the wayside a little bit, but that I am still doing better than the first time around. Not surprisingly, I am finding my belly growing at a much quicker rate than I did during my first pregnancy, and I am also finding that I am significantly more tired due to more family responsibilities and a bit of a longer commute to work. 

In the past few weeks (over the holidays), I definitely slipped up on healthy eating more than I intended to (I think almost everyone can relate to this, though). However, I got in more exercise than usual as well. We spent a lot of time outdoors with Molly, and a lot of time walking. I did yoga and some indoor biking and a bit of strength training too. 

Here are some suggestions I have for eating during pregnancy:

1) Incorporate 5-6 small meals into your day. If I don't eat something small every 3 hours, I am ravenous, and then I eat a huge meal and can barely move afterwards. I suffered through heartburn when I was pregnant with Molly, and it is returning a bit again this time around at nearly 28 weeks. 

2) To avoid heartburn, don't drink within a half hour of eating (I find this nearly impossible to do, but I try my best), avoid certain trigger foods such as fatty foods and chocolate, drink peppermint tea, don't change positions while eating (i.e. don't walk around and eat, just sit, take small bites, chew a lot, and then move around a bit after). Here are some other tips, too.

3) Start the day with a glass of hot lemon water. I bought a huge bag of lemons at Costco and squeezed them all into ice cube trays, so I just pop out a lemon juice ice cube, put it in a mug of hot water and drink it before eating anything in the morning. This has MANY benefits including aiding in digestion and re-setting your body each morning.

4) Don't eat your calories instead of drinking. I find it difficult sometimes in social situations because my husband or friends can have a beer or two, and I can't, so I think that I tend to rationalize poorer eating choices or drink choices (i.e. drinking pop which I almost never do otherwise). It's best for me to stick to water and only eat when I am feeling actually hungry.

5) Don't eat too close to bedtime.

Here are a few videos online that I've been using as workouts:

Prenatal yoga

Labour-oriented endurance exercises

Prenatal fitness from Popsugar

and some great resources for eating healthy and meal planning:

Prenatal Meal Plan

Recipe Suggestions

I have had a harder time getting in veggies this pregnancy, and I have been craving carbs almost constantly (Christmas didn't help with that!). I've found one of the best things I can eat is a fruit-and-veggie smoothie as a morning snack or for breakfast/lunch. My go-to (self-invented?) recipe is as follows: 

I always have some sort of pureed veggies on hand because I like to make these smoothies for Molly, but you could really include anything you want! I know these are also tasty if you include frozen peaches or mangoes...whatever you have on hand, really!! 

Any tips for me? What are your favourite ways to sneak in extra veggies?

10 Things on my mind today

1) Very few people have been blessed with the ability to whistle/sing in tune. This is particularly true for Sleigh Ride...sigh. Someone I know has been whistling it CONSTANTLY...and out of tune.

2) Public transit either brings out the best or the worst in people. These days, it seems like the worst as people scramble for seats on the bus...but I have seen some kind gestures too.

3) It is usually best to assume that my 2 year old wants to try something herself first, and then ask for help if she needs it. This goes for getting dressed, getting into chairs without being lifted, etc. etc. etc. "Me do!" is a common phrase out of her mouth these days.

4) Marriage is not easy. I always knew this, to an extent, but we have had a long few weeks with my husband working a lot of overtime, so I am feeling like we need to rest and re-charge over the holidays. Marriage requires constant patience. I also discovered this blog/book in the past few weeks that has really changed some of my thinking (and self thoughts) about my husband.

5) A book is more of an actual escape to me than TV. If I'm watching something on TV, even if it's gripping, I find myself turning to my phone as well, or my computer, or just generally distracted. With a book, all my focus is on the pages. I also found this blog post interesting this week.

6) My first pregnancy was easier, in many ways, than this one. Fortunately, I do not feel exhausted all the time as I did a couple of months ago...but I am finding it harder to do certain things such as pick up toddler toys at the end of the day. Also, there is that whole caring for an independent little person each day on top of my own self-care...that definitely amplifies the lack of free time ;)

7) On the same note, it takes hardly anything to make me cry during this pregnancy. And I don't usually mean crying over my own sadness about something. I mean things like this WestJet Christmas video:

or this:

James Van Der Beek posted this on Instagram this week. Link here.

or this:

Basically any photo of a soldier reuniting with a family member has the same effect on me: tears

Yep, all tears, all the time. And in some ways, I actually like those cathartic tears that are for someone else's sorrows or joy. Furthermore, even though I only really watched two seasons of Glee, I've been listening to a lot of their Christmas music this year and my heart breaks for Lea Michele and listening to her sing duets with Cory Monteith (R.I.P.) I want to get caught up on the show someday, but I'm not sure if I can watch the tribute show for him (definitely can't while I'm pregnant or I will be soaked in tears!!)

8) I really wish that all saxophone players could either sound like Kenny G, or Braddy G (my extremely musical cousin Brad who doesn't like that nickname, haha!). The saxophones in my concert band have been absolutely demolishing the most beautiful Christmas piece ever written, O Holy Night. Each time I leave rehearsal, I have to listen to version for a little bit to get it out of my mind. Now, obviously, we cannot all be accomplished musicians, and I'm not anywhere near a professional french horn player, but it is painful to the ears.

9) Yoga is good for the mind, body and soul.

10) Keeping this image in mind anytime I am frustrated instantly vanishes it and makes me long to see my little toddler. She has transitioned into her big-girl bed like a total champ, and I love her with all my heart.

5 on Friday November 1!!! (link-up)

Hi everyone! Happy Halloween candy hangover day! I can't believe it is already November. Time is flying by these days...soon it will be Christmas! In 53 days, actually! ;) I'm linking up with Darci and her buddies (each word is a link to the blog hosts) for 5 on Friday today!!

1)   We have some exciting news in our house that I haven’t shared yet on here…Baby # 2 is coming into our lives in a mere 153(ish) days!!! I am 18 weeks along now (due Apr 3/2014) and feeling (mostly) great (more on that in a later post). We found out on the same day that I was laid off in July, so it was bittersweet at that particular moment, but we are overjoyed to be adding to our family and Molly can’t wait to be a big sister!!! We are planning to share the news with the Facebook world this weekend!! (haha)

Here are some cute little announcements I found that I might use for inspiration sometime even though most people in our lives know already:

All images via Google here, here, here and here.

2)      My little sheep had a great time trick-or-treating, but we didn’t really make it around our neighbourhood much. We were visiting my in-laws and a couple of friends which required driving and taking on/off her costume, so by the time we were ready to hit up the neighbours’ houses, she was worn out and on a sugar high. So 5 hours worth of costume making for about 1 hour of fun and photos? Not bad for a 2 year old, I guess!! The funniest thing she did this year was instead of saying "trick or treat", she would just say "treat"...she knows what she wants!!!

3)      I got back into yoga a bit this week in an effort to stretch out sore muscles and there is a plethora of amazing prenatal yoga videos on Youtube!! I was delighted to find a few that I like so I can switch it up!

4)     This quote brought a smile to my face this week.

Via Etsy

5)      I am BEYOND excited for the Veronica Mars movie coming out in 2014. I can’t wait!! They released an updated trailer this week, so if you happen to be a diehard fan like myself…check it out HERE!! I told hubby that we were going to go see it on opening night and he said “Umm…I’m not.” Haha. If you have never seen VM, you are missing out! I am totally on Team Logan (obviously) and I found it interesting that she is with Piz in this trailer, but apparently they haven't been together since college, they just recently met up again. Yes, I guess you could call me a Marshmallow.

Via http://www.captionite.com/view/37627/

Happy weekend, bloggy friends :)